Chapter 3: Catch
One by one, the Smashers appeared in a brick-built building.
"Nice place," said Kirby. "But it's a bit boring."
The room was a simple hall with a podium and door at one end with the exit at the other. The Smashers had appeared on a large stone pad with a mark composed of three triangles and three circles.
"This is the Temple of Time," explained Link. "Seven years ago, I took those three Spiritual Stones here to claim the Master Sword so I could defeat Ganondorf."
"And you haven't yet." Yoshi was investigating the temple's scents.
"Well…the sword locked me up for seven years, giving Ganondorf time to take the place over. But I'm almost ready to face him now. I just have to finish off a nasty beast in the Shadow Temple."
"That sounds-a scary," said Luigi.
"It's definitely one of the spookier temples. Stalfos, Dead Hands, Wallmasters. I would bet that at least someone here would be freaked out."
"Oh yeah? Try me!" Falcon scoffed.
Link raised an eyebrow. "Okay then. There're some bad guys just outside. Go pummel some of them."
"No problem!" The F-Zero racer flexed his muscles. "I'm a bounty hunter in my spare time. I've got Pyrogloves and Pyroboots. Nothing out there can withstand my moves!" He rushed outside.
"Is he daft or what?" Samus had gone back to her standard vocal projector.
A few seconds later there were a multitude of screams.
"Um…maybe we should go help him," said Fox. "Yeah, he's probably learning something right now, but we don't want to lose anyone."
"Eh, good point. Okay now, listen up." Link took the Ocarina of Time and blew through it a few times. "There are ReDeads out there."
"I'll take a wild guess that they're not dead anymore," said Yoshi.
"You could say that. They move pretty slowly, but their scream will paralyze you. Then they grab your body and start draining your energy."
"This seems familiar." Samus' arm cannon reconfigured itself into a taller shape with white energy seeping through the cracks.
"Luckily, I know a song that will paralyze them right back." Link demonstrated the Sun's Song. "Once they're frozen in place, we can attack safely."
"Let's do it!" yelled Pikachu.
"Pikaa!" mimicked Kirby.
The Smashers dashed out of the Temple of Time. There were about six ReDeads wandering the decrepit town square. Falcon was seen hiding behind a building.
"Here it comes!" Link played the tune.
The ReDeads all turned white and froze.
"Attack!" Yoshi hurled an egg at the closest zombie. It beaned and toppled it.
Mario leapt towards a ReDead, decking it with a multitude of punches. Samus shot an Ice Beam at the third, freezing it solid just before DK came in with a concussive punch that broke the enemy into fragments. Pikachu Tackled another before unleashing a Thunder Shock while Fox destroyed the fifth with a few Blaster shots and a bunch of kicks. The last ReDead was taken out with a pillar of Ness' PK Fire.
"Wow!" Link put away the arrow he was about to shoot. "You guys went though those ReDeads really fast! I'm impressed."
"Well, there are a lot of us," said Fox.
Falcon walked over. "Peh. If that one guy hadn't frozen up my muscles, this would have been over in no time."
"Whatever." Link walked around collecting the Magic Decanters the ReDeads dropped.
"What's in there?" asked Yoshi. "Zombie juice? Distilled double-defunct drink?"
"Green potion." Link took a swig of the stuff. "Diluted, but it still does a good job of refilling magic power. ReDeads are magically animated, so they drop tons of the stuff."
Kirby snatched one of the vials and drank it. "Hmm, tastes like 7-Up. BUUUURP!"
Meanwhile, Mario was giving Yoshi a sideways face. "Did you-a say 'distilled double-defunct drink'? I-a thought your vocabulary was limited."
"In the last few weeks, I've been hitting the thesaurus pretty hard. It's really activated my dormant wit." The dino tried some of the magic juice. "Zesty! Piquant yet poignant."
"So, Link," said DK. "I don't suppose you'll want our help with the rest of your enemies? 'Cause I'm ready for it."
Link thought for a moment. "You guys would sure be a big help in combat. But I don't think we'll get anywhere very fast. The Shadow Temple has tons of illusions that can only be seen through with the Lens of Truth, of which there is only one."
"Illusions? Like what?" asked Fox.
"Invisible enemies, fake floors, that kind of stuff."
"Bummer," said Samus. "We could really tear through this place."
"However, I do have an idea of something other than fighting we could do together." Link pulled out the Ocarina again. "I think we'll all have to grab onto each other for this."
Pikachu latched himself onto Link's leg. Yoshi grabbed Pikachu's tail and the rest of the Smashers joined the "line of touch".
"Here goes." Link played the Serenade of Water. All the Smashers dissolved into blue sparks and went flying across Hyrule.
Everyone reappeared on an island in a lake.
"This is Lake Hylia," said Link. "There's a fishing pond over on the other side there." He pointed to a building to the east.
"So we'll have to swim," said DK.
"Yeah…I don't know why there's no bridge or anything."
"Let's go then!" Yoshi dove into the lake and started paddling. Most of the other Smashers followed suit, but Samus and Falcon remained on shore.
"What's wrong with you two?" asked Fox.
"I shouldn't need to swim!" Falcon said loudly. "I'll just run across the lake!"
Falcon started running but had no chance of running on the water. He sank quickly, obviously not knowing how to swim.
"You moron." Samus used her Grapple Beam to pull Falcon out of the water before using a Super Missile to launch him across the lake. She then stepped into the lake and sank like a rock.
The rest of the Smashers were climbing out of the lake beside the Fishing Pond.
"That was fun!" Kirby sprayed water like a fountain back into the lake.
"Are-a you okay?" Mario asked Falcon, who was laid out after he collided with the wall.
"I'm fine, of course!" He tried to sit up but fell back down.
Link had a facepalm. "Here, drink this." He gave the downed racer some Red Potion.
Samus walked out of the lake, her Power Suit having turned a purplish-blue.
"Gravity Suit," she explained just as Ness was about to ask. "Eliminates water resistance."
"I guess you need that kind of thing if you can't float," said Jigglypuff.
"Okay then," started Link. "It costs 20 Rupees to rent a fishing rod. I'll pay up front if you don't have any money with you, but I expect to get repaid sometime soon."
"Uh, problem." Yoshi produced a few Coins from his hammerspace. "I bet pretty much none of us share the same currency."
"Hmm." Link furrowed his brow. "You're right. Since our universes have never been connected before, there's no set exchange rate."
"Why not set it a-now?" asked Mario.
"I don't see why not," said Fox.
The Smashers all took out some money and started debating exchange rates. It was quickly decided that for most currencies, the rate would simply be even, although the fact that Pikachu had a crumpled 100-Pokédollar bill prompted a 10:1 rate for it.
"Alright then." Link pocketed the money that the others paid for fishing and started writing things down. "20 Coins from Mario, 15 from Luigi, 20 from Yoshi, 12 from DK, 20 credits from Samus, 100 Pokédollars from Pikachu, and 10 dollars from Ness." He rustled through his hammerspace to pull out his wallet. "Hopefully currency converters will be available sometime soon."
The dozen Smashers entered the Fishing Pond.
"Woah!" The pond's owner did a double-take. "This is an odd group you got here. What bottomless pit did you yank 'em out of?"
Link waved his hand dismissively. "Just give us some rods. Here's the money." He dumped 240 Rupees on the counter.
"Okay then." The man fished some rods out from behind the counter. "So, you new guys, here're the rules. Don't disturb the fish. Don't use unapproved lures. Don't take rods off the premises."
"Yes sir, etcetera." Yoshi did an army salute and dashed over to the pond's far bank. He made a cast which instantly got stuck on a weed.
The rest of the Smashers took up spots on the pond's shores.
"So basically, once you feel a tug, start reeling," explained Link. "Try to pull in the same direction the fish is moving."
Pikachu gripped the rod with his tail and made a big cast. He got a bite almost immediately, but he fumbled with the reel.
"Darn!" Once he had finally fixed his tiny hands on the reel, the fish had gotten away.
"That's okay," said Jigglypuff. "I bet no one gets it the first time."
Falcon made a big one-handed cast and leaned right over the pond with an expression that suggested he had to catch something or else.
"What a maroon," Yoshi remarked to Kirby. "He probably won't even accept the biggest fish in the pond."
"He probably thinks…" Kirby felt a tug. "Hey!" He started reeling and caught the fish.
"Nice work, Kirbs!"
Link looked over. "Hey, that's a Greengill. Nice start."
"I suggest you don't eat it," said Yoshi. "I don't think the owner would be happy."
"Awww…"
The Smashers fished for about an hour. Aside from Kirby's catch, DK caught a Hylian Bass, Fox caught a Hylian Pike, and Link caught a very large Hylian Bass.
"Woah!" said the pond owner. "That's gotta be at least 22 pounds! Congratulations!"
"Thanks." Link placed the fish in the display tank.
"Here, have this!" The owner gave Link a Golden Scale.
"Ooh, wow!" Link stored the item.
"I think we're done here," said Samus.
"Yeah, let's-a go do something else," said Luigi.
The Smashers returned their rods and left the building.
"That was fun," said Fox.
"Hmph." Falcon was in a bad mood after not catching anything, save for a boot.
"Oh, come on, Mr. Grumpy," Link said. "No one's guaranteed to succeed at something on their first try." He pulled out the Ocarina. "I think we'll have to return to the Temple of Time in order to leave this universe."
"And then where should we go next?" asked Ness.
"Well, the pads-a were arranged in a circle," said Mario. "We'll just take what-a-ever's to the right."
"Okay then. Let's go." The Smashers left.