Chapter 4: UP B

Bowser stood on a small balcony in Dr. Wily's Fortress, watching as a group of his minions heaved a gigantic wooden box onto the main laboratory floor. He pressed a large red button on the control panel in front of him, causing the shadowy image of an older scientist with gray hair and a large mustache to appear before him.

"I must thank you, Dr. Wily, for your generous donation to my operation," Bowser said.

"No problem, King Bowser," the figure replied, "Just remember that this beast is very unstable and should be handled with great care. Do not let it out of its confinement until it is absolutely necessary. Also make sure you are well out of its path when you do."

Bowser chuckled. "Don't worry," he said, "I won't be the one to let it out."

"Alright, guys," Pit said, leading Villager, Rock, and the Wii Fit Trainer onto the central platform of the stage based on Villager's hometown, "Today, we will be covering aerial techniques. As the main part of this stage is in the air, I felt that this would be an excellent stage to practice on without too much danger."

Villager glanced nervously at the edge of the stage no more than ten feet away. He was inwardly kicking himself because he hadn't packed anything even remotely flight capable. He looked at his comrades Rock and the Trainer, neither of whom seemed to show any trace of his concern. Rock probably had a rocket launcher or something that would get him up in the air. As for the Trainer, Villager couldn't imagine what she could possibly use to become airborne, but after seeing her final smash, he was pretty sure he didn't want to know.

"Now," Pit continued, "One of the primary methods of getting airborne is what we call an UP B move. Are you all familiar with those?"

They all nodded.

"Good. Most if not all of these UP B moves that our various fighters have used have been capable of allowing the user to recover or become airborne. A few examples of those that do not do so include our long runner Jigglypuff and one of our founders, Yoshi. However, as they were both largely capable of becoming airborne on their own, they found little reason to require it to."

"But, so are you," Villager pointed out, "And your UP B will still get you higher."

Pit grinned. "Yes, that's true," he said. "Would you all like me to demonstrate?"

The three nodded. Pit jumped into the air, flapping as high as he possibly could. When his wings had run out of steam completely, he closed his eyes and focused. In a matter of seconds, his wings turned blue and he was able to fly even higher than before, the glowing blue wings carrying him up and up. Eventually they too ran out of steam, and Pit floated gently back down to the ground. Pit stretched and flexed his wings. "Sometimes it pays to be one of the best fliers in the tournament."

Rock and the Trainer both nodded thoughtfully. Villager was sure that they both had ideas for what they could use. As for him, he had absolutely no idea what he was going to use.

"Now, do any of you have an idea of what you can use?" Pit asked.

"I got one," Rock said eagerly.

"I am ready as well," the Trainer said.

Villager mumbled incoherently.

Pit nodded. "Alright, alright," he said, "We can work with this. Wii Fit Trainer, as you are our newest arrival, why don't you go first?"

"Alright," she said. She flicked her hand and three colorful hula hoops appeared out of nowhere.

"Hula hoops?" Rock scoffed, "What do you think you'll be able to do with those?"

He nudged Villager, who laughed as well. Maybe Villager wasn't so hopeless if that was all the Trainer could come up with. Trainer glared at the two of them, then slipped all three hoops around her body. She started them spinning, moving her body in time to keep them going. As they spun, she started to glow a little. After a matter of seconds, her feet left the ground and she floated up into the sky. Villager and Rock stopped laughing and stared as she floated over their heads. After a few moments she floated back down to the ground.

"Well done, Trainer," Pit said, "How about you, Rock?"

Rock stepped forward. He placed his fingers in his mouth and whistles. After a few seconds, Villager thought he could hear a faint bark out in the distance. A small black shape zoomed toward them through the sky. As it got closer, Villager could see that it was bright red in color. Soon, he could make out a distinctly canine shape. A few second later, the newcomer touched down. It was a dog completely made of metal just like his owner.

"Meet my dog, Rush," Rock said, patting the dog on the head. The dog panted excitedly and licked his owner's face.

"How is this going to help you get into the air?" Villager asked.

"Simple," Rock replied with a thumbs-up. He jumped onto a small circular platform on the dog's back. A spring under the platform activated the moment he landed, rocketing him into the air. Rock did a double flip before landing in a pose.

"Ta-da!" he said.

"Well done," Pit said. He looked at Villager. "What do you got?"

Villager bit his lip. He started pulling items from his pockets. Bowling ball? No. Axe? No. Fireworks? Maybe he could sit on them or something and let them shoot him upwards? Villager shuddered at the very thought. His net? Maybe he could catch air with it or something? He raised the net into the air. Nothing. He swished it around, trying everything he could to try and get it to do something.

"Wow, germ," Trainer said mockingly, "That's really impressive."

Villager dropped his net, realizing how silly he looked. Rock leaned toward him. "You got anything else, buddy?" he whispered.

Villager started going through his pockets again, but came up with nothing. He dropped his head. "No," he mumbled.

"How's the training going?" a familiar Italian voice said.

Villager looked up to see Mario approaching. "Mister Mario, sir," he said, jumping to attention.

"We've just been discussing UP B moves," Pit told Mario. "We've run into a problem because Villager can't find anything to use."

Great, Villager thought, tell the head of the tournament that his new recruit can't even do a stinking UP B move.

Mario looked down at Villager and scratched his chin. "You know, I just might have something you can use for the time being," he said. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a small red cap with a pair of balloons tied to it. "This belonged to a member of the Balloon Fighter Corps," he explained, "Luigi was recruiting him to be a secret fighter, but due to certain circumstances, he . . . may not be joining us after all. Perhaps you can put the hat to some good use."

"Are you sure?" Villager asked.

Mario shrugged. "It's better than just letting it collect dust on my desk."

Villager tentatively took the hat and placed it on his head. As soon as he put it on, the balloons started to fill themselves with air. Soon, the hat was lifting him into the air.

"Whoa!" Villager said, looking down on the stage and his fellow fighters.

"How does it work?" Mario called up.

"It's awesome," Villager said, "This is amazing. Um . . . how do I get down?"

Link sat at the guard station overlooking the front gate. Mario had stationed him here to keep an eye out for his old friend Toon Link, who was supposed to be arriving soon. He had his feet up and he was currently playing tunes on his ocarina with a bottle of Lon Lon milk sitting on the table next to him. His constant fairy companion Navi was floating nearby, observing a bush just outside the booth.

He was halfway through an epic rendition of the Super Mario Bros. theme tune when Navi interrupted him. "Hey, listen," she said, "Listen. Hey, hey, listen. Someone's coming."

Link put down the ocarina and sat up. Navi was right. Emerging from the trees in the distance was a lone figure. From this distance, Link could just barely make out a short stature and bright green clothes.

"Toon Link," he said, hopping out of the guard booth and hurrying to open the gate. He hurried down the trail toward his old friend. As he got closer and closer, he could see that something was very wrong. Toon Link was staggering along slowly, and now that Link was closer. He could see bright patches of red mingled with the green of his tunic and hat. Soon, it became apparent that Toon Link had been attacked or something. He had a black eye, a vicious cut on his leg, and deep red blood matted his blond hair and stained his tunic. His shield was cracked almost in two, and his sword was nowhere to be seen. He staggered forward a few more steps before collapsing to the dirt.

"Toon Link!" Link said, rushing to his side and raising his head up.

Toon Link's eyes flickered and he tried to say something before passing out completely. "Navi," Link said, "Find Mario! Quickly!"

"Okay, Link," Navi replied, hurriedly zipping back toward the Smash Grounds. Link stood, hefting his little buddy into his arms and hurrying back down the trail.