Here's the third chapter! Yahoo.
Snake was right behind him and Tom was right behind him, after hastily sliding a couple quarters into the meter.
"Hey!" Ike called.
Marth spun around, his hands instantly in a defensive position. Then he was streaking towards them and grabbed Ike in a gorilla hug. "Ike! Snake! Thank goodness!"
"You better thank goodness," answered Snake. "Without goodness we'd be dead right about now."
Marth motioned Peach over and instantly began pressing them for information. "Who is that?"
"Tom."
"Who is he?"
"Someone helping us. You guys need a place to go?"
"Yes. How did you escape?"
"Suffice it to say it wasn't easy," Snake responded. "How'd you get clothes?"
"A small amount of begging with Lucas," he answered, giving a weak smile.
"Where is everyone else?" Snake asked.
"Well," answered Marth, rolling his eyes. "We didn't think it would be a good idea to walk down the street leading a gorilla."
"Ah," said Snake. "Where are they now?"
"Hiding out behind an abandoned store. Let's go there now."
Snake followed.
It was a small hike in the hot sun.
"We were just looking for free food," Peach explained. "After the first store said they couldn't offer anything to us, even though we hadn't eaten in one day, Zelda and Samus went off one way and Marth and I went off another. Mario and Link are holding down Donkey Kong."
"Oh, I bet he's a fun one when he's hungry," Snake snorted.
"Not really," came Link's voice, as they rounded the corner and saw him sitting on the gorilla's neck. "It's pretty hard." Snake noticed the blonde elf was red in the face and sweating. He grinned and Link glared at him. "Oh, you wanna take a turn?"
"Is Lucas okay?" asked Ike.
"I'm fine, Ike," said Lucas, walking up to hug him around the leg. He hugged Snake next and returned to sit by a small tree. "I'm hot."
"There is a young man named Tom who is going to take us all to his house," said Marth.
"What?" exclaimed Tom behind them, his mouth dropping open.
"Isn't that what you said, Snake?" Marth asked, confused.
"It's not exactly what I said," answered Snake. "It's what I meant, though. Why not, Tom?"
"You guys are crazy! I don't have room for all of you in my room, and my parents would be bound to find out if a gorilla was living with me! They'd be fit to be tied!"
"This gorilla poses problems," said Ike. "What say we stick him in a cage?"
"Ike, that's the best idea I've ever heard!" shouted Link, leaping off. "He's dumber now, so I think he'll be fine with a pile of bananas."
"Okay," said Snake. "We have to find a place to stay, find a place for Donkey, buy him some bananas, and then figure out how on earth we're going to get back home."
"I agree," stated Marth calmly. He turned to Tom. "Do you have… any suggestions of where we could go?"
Tom was rubbing his chin, staring at Marth. Finally he nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to call a bunch of my video game geek friends. You guys might have to split up in where you each are going to stay, but you can all get together at my friend Patricia's house to plan. For right now, I'll just call some people real quick. And you guys go get some drinks or something. Here's twenty bucks. Buy a whole thing of water bottles from in that store. You look dehydrated."
"Are you saying that because we haven't drunk any water since yesterday?" asked Link sarcastically.
It was two hours later that three other cars pulled up outside of the building. Tom had already moved his car and the smashers were all sitting there, happy and refreshed, the pile of mutilated plastic water bottles beside them, littering the ground.
"It really is!" exclaimed a girl, jumping out of her pink truck. "No way! Marth!"
Marth turned a bright pink and scooted closer to Ike, who scooted closer to Snake, who bumped him angrily with his elbow.
"Marth, I am totally your biggest fan," said the girl, blushing and smiling. "I'm Patricia."
"Pleased to meet you I'm sure," said Marth.
"You don't know how I've dreamed…!"
"Can we just figure this out quickly!" interrupted Snake, annoyed. Despite his rudeness, Marth tossed him a grateful glance.
"Right," said Tom. "Thanks for coming guys. You understand why we have a big dilemma on our hands."
"You bet," said a few other young people, hoping out of their own cars and walking up.
Samus and Zelda, having arrived a half hour before, instantly began talking.
"Peach, Sheik, and us two will go with Patricia, no sweat," said Samus.
"One guy could be with Tom in his room, maybe, but Marth, Ike, and Mario can be with you, sir with the weird hair, and Snake, Link, and Lucas can be with you with the dark skin." Zelda was plainly pleased with her planning skills. "Who wants to take Donkey Kong?"
"My house is farther out," said Patricia. "I'll take him with the girls and we can tie him up or something and give him plenty of food and water."
"He needs shade too," said Sheik. "He's not meant to be out in the sun."
"I don't think any of us are," Snake added, wiping his face and flicking the sweat onto the ground. "Let's get out of here."
"Great," said Tom. "You guys can ask to use your host's phones if you need to contact anyone, like me or… you know."
"I'll take care of Lucas, Ike," Link assured the mercenary.
"No thanks. He's coming with me," Ike answered bluntly, folding his arms.
"Mario, you can be with us," Snake said. "And Lucas can go with Ike."
"Sure." Mario shrugged and walked over to the medium sized gray van.
"Well," said the dark-skinned young man, raking his fingers through his afro. "I'm Jim. Nice to meet you all. A big fan." He flashed a white-toothed smile. "Let's go."
Jim blasted air conditioning the whole way to his house and Snake relaxed enough to fall asleep.
"We're here!" announced Jim cheerfully.
Snake was up in an instant, banged his head on the roof of the car, and gave everyone a death stare as he climbed out of the car.
"This house is huge!" exclaimed Link. "You're rich, huh?"
"No. Not at all," Jim responded. "I live up there by that potted plant. Other people live in the other houses."
"Oh," said Link, blushing.
"People," said Mario quietly. "Is this-a safe?"
"Yeah," Jim answered, confidently striding towards the stairs. "Don't worry about a thing. Brian's got the harder job. He's got two guys with purple and blue hair." He cackled and Link smirked.
They trudged up the flights of stairs and Jim unlocked the door to his condo. "Well here we are. It's not super spacious, but I'm sure you won't complain about all sleeping in the same room on the floor."
"Air conditioning and a carpet?" exclaimed Link. "Luxury!"
Snake smirked. "I'm starved. I'll make the lunch if you want."
"I'm starved too!" Link exclaimed. "And you actually ate dinner last night. What say I make my famous spicy curry?"
"No way!" Mario and Snake both thundered.
Link chuckled. "Fine."
"Uh, guys." Jim was tapping his foot.
All turned. "This is my house and y'all are my guests, so why don't you just mind your manners, don't forget to ask before you do things, don't be stupid, and I'll make you some pasta, okay?"
"Pasta?" asked Mario. "Delicious! Thank you, Jim. I will try to keep these hooligans under control." He cast Link and Snake a superior glance, winked at Jim, and sat down on the couch, lying down, and shutting his eyes, his cap pulled down over his head.
The pasta was delicious, and despite Snake's hoping he would have enough energy to figure out a plan, he realized he didn't and fell asleep as soon as the meal was finished. He slept through the night and so did everyone else.
The next morning all gathered together and Jim gave out clothes to the smashers who didn't have any.
"Snake, you're okay, though your shoes are a little weird."
Snake rolled his eyes. "I can walk, run, and jump in them. They're fine. When you guys are done I'll be by the car."
Snake was practicing his flips when the others arrived.
"That's pretty cool!" exclaimed Jim, impressed.
"No it's not!" retorted Snake. "I used to be able to do many flips in a row, plus tons of kicks etcetera! Something happened."
"It's just because you aren't in your virtual world anymore," Jim answered, shrugging. "We're going to meet at Patricia's house."
Patricia's house was small, but cozy. She lived with her grandmother away from the suburbs, but had thankfully been able to get the old woman to go shopping.
"Don't worry. She'll be gone for hours. Trust me."
"Sure," said Jim, bobbing his head, but rolling his eyes.
"Well, she'll certainly be surprised if she comes in and sees all of us sitting here," smirked Samus.
"You said it," answered Ike, sitting down on the couch. It groaned under his weight.
"Watch yourself or you'll break it," murmured Snake.
Ike gave him a sharp glance and Snake grinned and sat down next to him. The couch groaned further.
"Careful!" exclaimed Patricia, glaring at the two. "Honestly! You act like regular boys."
Ike and Snake turned to look at each other and then turned back to look at her and Snake caught Sheik laughing behind Patricia's shoulder.
Snake pushed himself up, and leapt over couch. Resting his arms on the back he nodded at Marth.
"Go ahead, prince. Tell us all what brilliant idea you came up with while we slept."
Marth glared at him and folded his arms. "I slept right along with all of you. You think I wasn't just as exhausted as you?"
"I thought that Snake and Sheik, being the two slyest of all of us," began Mario, "should go sneak back into the house and try to find out how they got us here."
"Good idea!" exclaimed Ike.
Snake frowned. "Marth's pretty sly."
"Not as sneaky," Marth answered, smiling. "Mario, you are a genius. I was guessing they got us in with a portal, but the only way we can find out is by spying."
"Admit it, Snake," said Samus. "You love to spy."
Snake admitted it to himself, but he wasn't prepared to admit it aloud after Samus told him to. "What exactly will our weapons be?" he asked.
"You won't have any," broke in Tom. "That would be too dangerous. You might kill someone and that's the last thing we want to have happen."
"As if they give a single thought to our lives!" Snake retorted, growing angry. "As if they were trying to only hit Ike's arm in order to wound him so he couldn't escape. No, Tom, they were trying to kill him!"
"No one can kill Ike," said Lucas loyally.
Ike ruffled his hair. "I beg to differ. But I think Snake is right and his request is reasonable. He and Sheik should at least have a defense."
"Then Snake shouldn't go," said Tom. "I've played your game, dude," he added, frowning. "You're violent."
"You have to be to survive."
"Not in the real world," Tom retorted.
"I'm fine going as we are," broke in Sheik. She flipped her bangs out of her eyes. "I know I can handle it. Can you Snake?"
Snake frowned at her and his eyes sparked dangerously. "Well, there's only one way to find out, now isn't there."
...