A/N: Okay! Lots of you seem to like this story, so here's chapter two! This one has multiple outcomes, so I'm sorry if it's a little confusing. I tried to keep it interesting. Robin might have been a better choice for this situation, but I figured Marth would work just as well. Someone can be a swordsman and a good tactician, am I right?

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The Counterfeit Coin

Marth was one of the greatest tacticians in all the realm, but ever since he criticized the kingdom's tax laws, he was locked in the dungeon with only a marker to count the days.

"That's five," Marth muttered, recapping his pen and sinking to his knees on the cold, stone floor. When was he going to get out of here? Part of him wanted to stand against his captors, but without his sword, any escape attempt on his own would prove fruitless. He knew that valiant warriors, like Robin, Corrin, and Lucina, would do everything in their power to free him, but seeing as there had been no sign of them for the past five days, Marth was beginning to doubt if they could break through the King's defenses.

That was okay, though. Marth wasn't especially keen on having to be rescued. He'd rather find his own way out. Unfortunately, there wasn't one at the moment, so for now, he had to cooperate with his captors or get into even worse trouble. He would, however, under no circumstances, take back what he said about the king's outrageous and completely unjust tax laws.

The swordsman's musings were interrupted by the loud bang of the dungeon door as a short, round creature dawning a dark blue cape and a metal faceplate entered the room.

"The king would like a word with you," Meta Knight said, and, his golden blade drawn, led Marth out of the dungeon.

King Dedede sat on his throne, looking angrier than usual. How this greedy tyrant became in charge of the entire Smash Kingdom Marth would never understand. The blue-haired swordsman stood and stared straight ahead, waiting for the giant penguin to speak.

The king was furious that the prisoner hadn't bowed to him, but he decided to let it slide, this time. After all, this man was one of the cleverest in the kingdom, and may prove to be some use to him. "All right, listen up!" King Dedede snapped, "One of my twelve governors has committed fraud and paid his taxes with a fake Smash Coin, which has already made its way into my treasury."

With taxes as high as fifty percent of the kingdom's income, was it any surprise that at least one or two people would try to get away with that? Marth didn't say that, of course, as recent circumstances told him that this may not be the best time. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and feigned surprise.

"Generous king that I am, I've decided to give you a chance at freedom."

"Have you?" Marth asked, keeping any form of emotion out of his voice.

"Yes," Dedede straightened up in his throne, which looked as if it took a lot of effort. "You must identify the fake coin. Perhaps now you'll learn some respect for my fine tax system."

Marth highly doubted that, but nodded, indicating that he was willing to complete the king's challenge. Before him was a table with twelve identical gold coins and a silver balance scale. He knew that the fake coin would be very slightly lighter or heavier than the rest.

But, the king was not a patient man, and explained to Marth in no uncertain terms that he'd only be allowed to use the scale three times before he was thrown back into the dungeon.

Marth looked around the room for anything else he could use, but found nothing. The only things in the room were the twelve Smash coins, the balance scale, and the marker he carried with him from his time in the dungeon.

The astute swordsman quickly set to work.

Since he could only get three uses out of the scale, he couldn't very well take each coin and weigh it against the rest. Marth ran his finger up and down the stack of gold coins, trying to think of a way to get the most out of his three weighings.

Meta Knight, the king's top lieutenant, watched with interest as Marth divided the coins into three equal piles of four. "Hm, what are you up to now?" he muttered, unbeknownst to anyone in the room.

The swordsman than placed two piles of four on the scale. To his astonishment, they both balanced. Was this some kind of a cruel joke the king would play on him to get his hopes up?

"These first eight are all real…" Marth murmured to himself. At that moment, a thought occurred to him. "How am I going to keep track of all this?"

Then he remembered his marker. He uncapped the pen and marked each of the eight real coins with a zero. "So far, so good…" Marth then gazed down at the four remaining coins, his sober expression reflected in the shiny plating of each one.

This gold should have been given to the people, not put away to tarnish in a safe somewhere. It belonged to Peach and the children at the orphanage, to Rosalina and her adopted star baby Luma, to Link and all the other hard working men trying to support their families, not to a pampered king and his spoiled governors whose only goal was to expand their castle and by more treasures that they didn't really need in the first place.

But, Marth was getting ahead of himself. He'd figure out how to help the people after he finished playing Dedede's ridiculous game.

Since all eight coins on the scale had balanced out, the swordsman took three of the coins marked with zeros off of the right side of the scale and replaced them with three unmarked coins.

The metal squeaked as the right side of the scale moved ever so slightly upward. "Hm," Marth chuckled to himself, as if he had expected this.

The tactician removed the three unmarked coins from the scale and marked them with minuses. One of them was the fake Smash Coin, lighter than the rest.

He marked the other remaining coin with a zero, confirming that it was real, and put it with its eight identicals off to one side.

After a glance up at King Dedede, Marth realized he didn't have much time left. He had already used the scale twice, and if he didn't identify the counterfeit by this next weighing, he'd be thrown back into the dungeon and he'd never be able to help the people, as he and the other warriors had been planning to do for months now.

"Just three left," he whispered, placing one minus coin on each side of the now empty scale. Heart pounding, he waited for the scale to move, but it didn't, confirming his estimate that both coins on the scale were real. Had the scale moved, the lighter side would have yielded the counterfeit, but it appeared this wasn't the case.

"Here's your fake Smash Coin," Marth declared triumphantly, holding up the remaining piece of currency.

The king raised an eyebrow and tightened his mouth with concern, and the sick, twisted feeling in Marth's stomach told him that the king wasn't satisfied just yet. "What if the coin was heavier?" he asked.

Marth tried to keep his impatience in check. "Then I would have marked the coins with plus signs and the heavier side would have had the fake coin, if it was put on the scale at all."

The king thought for a few moments, then, to Marth's relief, motioned for Meta Knight to escort the swordsman out of the castle, the counterfeiting governor Wario taking the swordsman's place in the dungeon.

After five days in the dark, the bright sun and blue sky were a welcome sight to Marth's eyes. He never thought he'd miss the songs of birds and the warm breeze on his face so much. It felt good to be back in the encampment with the other warriors again. After he had eaten and gotten a new change of clothes, his comrades demanded to hear everything that happened in Dedede's palace.

When they were all settled on the floor of one of their tents, Marth told them about his time in the dungeon, about the king's challenge, and how he solved it. Lucina smiled and nodded, hanging onto every word the swordsman spoke, her blue eyes shining with admiration.

Once Marth had explained about the coins and the scale, Robin nodded, then got a quizzical look on his face. "What if the scales hadn't balanced on the first weighing? What would you have done then?" he asked, his tone not so much challenging as it was curious.

Marth thought for a moment, twisting his pen between his fingers. "Well," he began, "You would mark the coins on the heavier side of the scale with plusses and the ones on the lighter side with minuses. The four coins off the scale would be marked with zeros…" He allowed himself more thinking time, glad this hadn't happened in the King's palace. He didn't think Dedede would be patient enough for him to figure out the solution.

"And then?" Robin pressed, his eyes twinkling.

"…Next, replace three plus coins with three minus coins, and put three zero coins where the minuses were… After that, there are three different ways this could go." He sat up straighter, trying to collect his thoughts. "If the previously heavy side remains heavy, then the remaining plus coin on that side is heavier, or the remaining minus coin on the other side is lighter. You'd have to weigh either one against one of the zero coins to determine which is true."

Marth's fellow warriors nodded, indicating they understood, so the swordsman continued. "If the heavier side becomes lighter after switching out the coins, one of the three minus coins you moved is the fake. You'd have to weigh two of them against each other. If they balance, the remaining minus coin is fake. If they don't, the lighter one is."

"This is confusing…" Corrin muttered, scratching his head.

"We're almost done," Marth reassured, facing his friends. "Finally, if the two sides balanced after being switched, then one of the three plus coins you moved would have to be the counterfeit. Weigh two of them against each other. If they balance, the remaining plus coin is the fake. If not, the heavier one is."

There was silence around the circle, then Marth's friends nodded approvingly at his findings, glad to have their friend and fellow warrior among them again.

"I can't believe you outsmarted that giant penguin with just a pen!" Lucina praised.

"Well," Robin chimed in, "Sometimes the marker is mightier than the sword."

Marth smiled. If only that were so when it came to changing the king's tax laws.

A/N: Whew! This was one of the harder ones I found. Thanks for sticking with this story! Also, Deathmaywrite is a writer on here who I've been messaging, and I wanted to thank him and all of you awesome people for your support!