(From the Creative mind of Lizardon the Dragon)

Duck Hunt!

Robin!

Lucina!

And Mega Man!

In another exciting episode of…

DUCK HUNT MYSTERIES!

This episode: "Art Failure!"

Sorry for the hiatus!

….

The bright morning sunlight filtered through the cracks in Master Hands metaphorical eyes. Groggily, the disembodied hand slowly rose into the air, his blankets falling haphazardly off his body and onto the bed. He stretched his fingers out, and peered at his Voltorb alarm clock: 6:30am. Giving a small groan, he proceeded to make his way to his private bathroom, in the next room over.

"I don't know why I bother getting up so ea-" he interrupted himself with a great yawn. "-early. It's not like anyone actually gets up at the designated hour."

*plip*

It took the glove a few seconds to register the sound.

"Huh? Is someone there?"

He turned and scanned his bedroom. Nothing out of the ordinary. Master Hand suspiciously turned around and continued to the bathroom.

*plip*

He wheeled around. 'Alright, I know I'm not just hearing things! Who's making that dripping sound?!"

Again, he was left with no answer. This time the being took a bit of a closer look at his surroundings. On the floor in front of him was a small drop of some pink liquid.

*plip*

Master Hand did a quick about-face, only to be met with two more pink spots on the floor, closer to him than the first. At this point, Master Hand was starting to get very concerned. He glanced upwards to see if the roof was leaking, but that was not the cause.

*plip*

He widened his "eyes" in surprise. Looking directly below him, he saw yet even more pink dots. This time, however, there were two yellow dots too.

"Wait a second…"

He looked up to his bed, across the room. To his shock, the entire spread was tainted pink, with smears of yellow mixed in. He gave an audible gasp and sped to his bathroom mirror.

Looking back at him was a glove painted pink with yellow polka dots.

The entire mansion, ironically, was woken up on time that morning by the infuriated scream of their boss. Up in the attic, a tall being seeping pink and yellow paint cackled.

…

"-Never been so humiliated in all my day-plbplbplbpblbplb!"

Master Hand angry rant was cut off as he received another Hydro Pump to the face, courtesy of Greninja. The paint was soon washed away, but unfortunately for the glove everyone in the mansion managed to get a good look at the polka-dotted Master Hand before he got clean.

"Do not be so spiteful sir. I'm sure whoever did it meant no harm…" Greninja spoke to his boss, using a special dialect created by his old master, Koga, to permit greater communication between Greninja and non-Pokémon beings.

"NO HARM!? How could you be so naïf?! Of course they meant harm! This vandal has embarrassed me in front of all the mansion, there's no greater dishonour! I'm sure you know all about honour, Greninja, and how important it is!"

"Actually sir, that's a vicious ninja stereotype created by ignorant and racist wes-"

"Regardless! Whoever did this will be found and punished severely! And I know just who to go and solve this case!"

"It would be my pleasure to-"

"The Duck Hunt Mystery Crew!"

Greninja paused, his eyes opening fully from their traditional half-closed state.

"The who?"

….

Robin eyed his competition nervously. One wrong move, and the whole thing would be lost. His forehead began to sweat, and his tactician brain worked furiously. He couldn't lose this. But it was only a matter of time until…

"Robin?"

The magician looked up at the sound of his girlfriend's voice.

"Huh? What was that, Lucina?"

"I was just going to say it's your turn…"

Robin turned red. He glanced across the table at his other friends, Zapper and Mega Man, both of whom seemed to be falling asleep.

"It's been his turn for 13 minutes, Lucy." Zapper mumbled drowsily.

Robin's face flushed even further. "S-sorry. I was just overthinking, I suppose." He said as he lay down one of his remaining two cards on top of the pile. "Seven of hearts."

Zapper sat up suddenly in his seat. "It's my turn now right? It's too late for him to change his move, right?"

Robin began to sweat profusely. "Y-yes?"

The sharpshooter grinned and slammed his last remaining card on the pile. "BOOM! 2 OF HEARTS, BABY!" Dog and Duck, who were sleeping under the card table, were woken up by their owner and simultaneously hit their heads on the underside of the table.

Robin sighed in defeat. "I knew I shouldn't have changed the suit…"

Lucina gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. Mega Man, who had been silent for the past 15 minutes, cleared his throat.

"I have four of a kind."

Robin and Lucina both gave him a queer look. Zapper was still doing a small victory dance off to the side.

Mega Man blinked. "That means I win, right? Besides, Zapper didn't even say 'UNO' before he put down his card."

"Do you even know what game we were playing, Rock?" Lucina asked.

"Doesn't matter what game we were playing. Robin still lost, eh?" Zapper said as he returned to his group of pals. Dog and Duck emerged from behind him, with comedic sized bumps on their heads. They were nodding profusely in agreement.

"Fair's fair, Zap. I'll buy lunch next time." The Ylissean sorcerer said, with a slight tinge of irritation in his voice.

The four smashers began to pack up their card game, when a loud voice rang out through the mansion like an intercom.

"Will Robin, Lucina, Mega Man and the Duck Hunt Trio please report immediately to Master Hand's office? Ooooh, you guys are in tro-ouble!" Crazy Hand taunted at them, following his announcement.

The six stood there, slightly surprised, but left to meet with their boss regardless.

As they left, a shadow in the corner of the room disappeared unnoticed with a puff of smoke.

….

Zapper knocked on the large, imposing doors that lead to Master Hand's office. None of the fighters had any idea what they were being called for, although it usually wasn't a good thing. The last fighter to get summoned to the office was Ganondorf, after he Warlock Punched an irritating Pichu halfway down the hallway, and he got suspended from the tournament for more than 2 months. The group waited a few seconds before Zapper spoke.

"Well, I guess he isn't home. C'mon guys." He turned to leave, only to be met face-to-fingers with Master Hand. Without a word, the sharpshooter turned back around, pale as a sheet.

"Forgive my tardiness. Please come inside." The glove said, pushing past the frozen Zapper and opening the doors. The group shuffled inside, and the doors shut themselves behind them.

"Master Hand, if I may ask, what is this about? I don't believe any of us have broken any of the mansion rules…" Lucina started, but trailed off when she noticed Dog and Duck to her left, vigorously shaking their heads and shushing her.

"I'm well aware of whoever breaks the rules in this mansion," he quickly glanced at the Duck Hunt Trio, "but that's not why you're all here. I have a mystery on my hand…"

…...

Somewhere in the mansion, Crazy Hand started laughing hysterically.

….

"…and I would like you to solve it for me." He finished.

Duck Hunt breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is that all? No problem, chief. We'll have this mystery wrapped up in no time!" Zapper said, confidently.

"Just tell us what's up, and we'll get to the bottom of it, sir." Added Mega Man.

"I knew I could count on you all. Truly, the cream of the crop of the Mansion…don't tell anyone I said that." Said the floating hand. Dog and Duck grinned goofily to themselves, but Dog's smile faded as his keen ears quickly picked up a sound easily missed by everyone else. For a split second it sounded like someone was gritting their teeth.

"So, what's the mystery then, sir?" Robin inquired.

"Some scoundrel thought it would be funny to prank me last night, and they painted me a horrid pink color with yellow polka dots!"

The group had to stifle their laughter. Thankfully, it went unnoticed by the raving hand.

"I want whoever's done this thing to be brought to me at once for repercussions! Understood?"

"Yes sir." They all replied.

"Sir, did you say you were painted pink?" Lucina asked.

"Absolutely positive! I inspected the liquid myself: there's nothing else it could have been but paint!"

The group all stood in thought for just a moment before they all came to the same conclusion.

"Bowser Jr."

….

"Alrighty, this looks pretty good so far, just a couple more tweaks and it should be done…"

Bowser was once again hard at work, shut up in his room. The Koopalings were all gathered around their father, ready to help with the important task if need be. Then came the inevitable door-pounding.

Bowser sighed. "It's open!" he called. He'd been getting visitors quite a lot lately. If it wasn't because his kids had played another prank, then it was because something was broken. Whatever the reason, people usually blamed Bowser and his family for everything.

The door swung open and the gang walked in. Bowser looked up in surprise. It wasn't since the Dr. Wright incident almost a year ago that these yahoos payed him a call.

"Yeah?" he asked. "What do you want? We're kinda busy here…"

Lucina stepped forward. "Well, Mr. Bowser, we don't really want to cause any trouble, but we'd like to speak with Bowser Jr."

"BECAUSE HE'S A CRIMINAL AND WE NEED TO BRING HIM TO JUSTICE!" Zapper added, suddenly. The group gave him a stern look. "What? I thought we were gonna go the Good Cop, Bad Cop route…"

Bowser returned his attention to his work. "He's in his room, you can't go see him."

Robin raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "And why not?"

Ludwig waddled up to the magician. "Because father grounded him, you oaf! For a tactician you are remarkably stupid." The Koopalings all threw back their heads and howled with laughter. Robin cringed. "How could I possibly have known that…ugh, forget it."He mused to himself before regaining his composure.

Mega Man walked up to Bowser. "How long has your son been grounded, exactly?"

Bowser snorted in the blue bombers face. "Aren't you nosy? Why do you want to know so badly, anyway?" the Koopa King put down his tools of construction and stood up, gaining an easy 3 feet on Mega Man, who shrunk back ever so slightly.

"W-well…Master Hand asked us to solve a mystery, and the only clue we had to go on was that the culprit uses paint." The robot replied, meekly.

Bowser narrowed his eyes. "Of course. Blame the Koopa family eh? Well, hate to break it to you goody-goodies, but Junior's been grounded all week. Hasn't left our room once, not even for a match. He's innocent. You want proof? Check the closet over there." He pointed.

Dog and Duck pulled on the door, and it swung open quickly. The door comically slammed in the twosome's faces. The Koopa Kids laughed and laughed. The others turned their attention to the closet. Inside were 8 large paintbrushes, each labeled with the name of the Koopaling who owned it. Bowser Jr.'s was completely dry, with a bit of dust coating the handle. Clearly, it hadn't been touched for quite some time.

Lucina and Robin exchanged glances, then turned back to Bowser. The dragon had already gone back to his project and gave them a quick wave of his claw to dismiss them. Sheepishly, the gang left the Koopa room, with a dizzy Dog and Duck stumbling behind them.

"Those yokels are starting to rub me the wrong way…" Bowser mused . "Oh well. It's finished, kids! Who wants to test it out?" The Koopalings all began to clamour for the chance to test out their Dad's newest Super Mario Maker level.

….

The group began to make their way down the hall, towards the foyer. With their only lead ruled out, the team was stuck.

"I can't even think of another person in this Mansion that uses paint. At least, not regularly." Mega Man thought out loud.

Zapper stopped and called to his friends in front of him.

"Hey guys, I have a theory!"

"Alright, let's hear it." Robin said, turning to face his comrade.

"We're dealing with a gigantic living Paintbrush!"

The others gave Zap a deadpan stare.

"How could you possibly come to such a ridiculous conclusion, Zapper?" Lucina asked.

The rifleman simply pointed down the hall to their left. Everyone turned to look, and immediately jumped back.

Standing before them, in the frame of the hallway, was a humongous Paint Brush. Zapper was not kidding when he said it was gigantic: the apparatus was standing at least 7 feet tall. It had a large, toothy grin on its shaft, with no eyes. The bristles were combed neatly at the top of its head, like hair, coated in all kinds of colours that dripped from the overhanging tip. It had a set of spindly legs and long clawed arms, also coated in paint. The Paint Brush Monster advanced towards the group and gave a loud screech.

Everyone screamed at the unexpected and frankly terrifying sight before them, and ran off in different directions. The Paint Brush Monster cackled and gave chase to Robin and Mega Man, who took off towards the foyer.

Despite being so disproportionate and gangly, the Monster was surprisingly fast, and was quickly closing in on the two fighters. Once it got close enough, The creature whipped its bristles around, sending paint flying in all directions. A beautiful splatter of bright orange appeared on Mega Man's back.

"I'm hit!" he cried and fell to the floor, face first. Robin stopped fleeing and ran back to help him comrade, who was at the mercy of the utensil. The Ylissean jumped in between Mega Man and the monster and pulled out his book of tomes.

"Elthunder!" he yelled, and a powerful blast of lightning came flying towards the beast. It made contact and blew up in a cloud of smoke and paint. Robin and Mega Man were both subsequently soaked in paint. The monster gave a screech of agony, but as the smoke cleared, it had completely vanished. The two fighters looked around the now obnoxiously coloured hallway for any sign of their attacker, but it had seemingly vanished into thin air. Robin wasn't sure why, but his splattered robes felt a lot heavier all of a sudden.

….

Lucina and Zapper had finally stopped running to catch their breath.

"Is it gone?" Zapper panted.

"I think it went the other way. We'd better check that our friends are all right." Lucina said firmly and began in the opposite direction.

"Or, y'know, we could not…those boys can handle themselves. We should look for some clues, or something. Right?" The gasping man said, trying to persuade Lucina. The swordswoman took in her friend's words and sighed in defeat.

"You're right, Zapper. The sooner we figure out this mystery, the better. I just hope they'll be alright."

*plip*

Zapper sprang to his feet and hugged Lucina for protection.

"Whoa! Zapper, what are you doi-"

"SHHH! Listen…"

*plip*

This time Lucina caught ear of the dripping noise, and drew her sword. Zap leapt back and nervously pulled out a pistol.

*plip*

"That creature is large, it can't just sneak up on us. Keep an eye on the halls, Zapper." Lucina ordered. The gunman nodded.

*plop*

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Zapper screamed his head off and began running in circles as a drop of water landed on his nose. Lucina, startled, swung her sword around, hoping to hit the monster. Instead, she nearly sliced her ally in half. Thankfully, his reflexes were enough to make him drop to the ground right before he became sashimi. Lucina began to berate her partner.

"What are you doing, you simpleton! You scared me to death!"

"Not my fault! That thing got me with some paint!" Zapper retorted.

*plip*

Lucina rolled her eyes. "Paint, nothing. That's water you dolt. There must be a leak in the roo-" realisation quickly hit Lucina. It was the middle of summer and it hadn't rained for at least a month. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.

"Greninja? Are you there?" she called out to the empty hall. Silence greeted her.

"I know you're there, you snake! Why are you spying on us?"

A voice came out from somewhere behind her, causing her to jump.

"Aren't you clever, Lucina? Although I don't know why you'd jump to the conclusion that I'm spying."

The ninja frog Pokémon stepped out of the shadows and walked towards his fellow smashers. Zapper stood up to face him.

"Well, since we're the only ones around in the hall and you were hiding yourself, I'd say spying is a fair assumption."

Greninja shrugged. "Sue me."

Lucina was feeling a bit uneasy. Greninja usually kept to himself in the mansion. He never interacted with anyone besides the other Pokémon unless there was some kind of event. To have him spying on them while they were alone was enough to make anyone suspicious.

"What do you want?" she asked.

Greninja looked at her with his half-closed eyes. "How about a bet?"

Zapper and Lucina were both extremely puzzled at this. Though they didn't know much about him, this kind of attitude did not seem like Greninja.

"You guys are getting a bit of a reputation as 'Mystery Solvers,' huh? And yet none of you even know what you're doing."

The two humans frowned at their visitor.

"So this is what I propose. I'm going to solve this Paint case first. When I do, Master Hand will see his mistake in not asking me to help, and you guys will give up with gallivanting around as detectives."

Lucina couldn't even believe her ears. She gave a snort. "High stakes. What happens if we solve the case first, then?"

The water type thought for a second. "Up to you. Do you agree to my terms?"

Zapper tugged on his friend's sleeve and whispered.

"Lucy…this is really fishy. Don't do it, okay? He's just jealous."

Lucina tensed her jaw, torn between her decision. Greninja smirked.

"Well? What do you say? Figured you of all people would be eager to take up a challenge…"

"I accept." Lucina said. Zapper was taken aback. Greninja and the swordswoman shook hands to seal the deal. "But when me and my friends solve this first, you'll wish you had left us alone."

"I'm sure."

The two locked eyes and glared daggers at each other. A cackled echoed through the halls, making Zapper jump. The other two didn't even flinch, or lose eye contact. Slowly they stepped away from each other. In a puff of smoke, Greninja vanished once again. Lucina turned and began back towards the foyer, with Zapper close behind.

….

TO BE CONTINUED…

…...

Author's Note: Bet you all thought I was dead, huh? Not yet, but the past half a year (maybe more!) have been really rough on me. Going through some drama in my life while juggling school and work have made it pretty hard to have the time or find the motivation to write. The semester is wrapping up now, and issues are resolving, so hopefully I'll be a little more frequent with these updates.

Anyway, episode three is a two-parter! I had a lot of ideas floating in my head for this one, and I decided that it should be split into two parts with this much action going on. I wonder if any of you readers can guess the culprit? Please leave a favourite and Review if you enjoy Duck Hunt Mysteries, it certainly keeps me motivated!

-Lizardon the Dragon