A/N: The second to last chapter is up! Time for Robin's evidence! This one was pretty fun to write and I hope you all enjoy it too. Thanks to all my readers! You guys are fully awesome!
telesoap: I'm not so very good at Ness either X) Robin's evidence is here, you don't have to wait any longer. Thanks for the review!
silverheartlugia2000: I couldn't help but add Nurse Joy XD I couldn't make them enemies for long, I much prefer them as bros. Thank you for the review!
Mew29240: I'm sure Robin didn't like that XD I thought that Toon Link would be the type to do that. It would have been weird for Ike to be the only one who outright didn't doubt Link, I think and Marth needed a chance to be awesome XD Thank you so much for the review!
Also, special thanks to InkWoven who pointed out, and helped me fix, a serious flaw in the previous chapter in regards to some of the things Marth said to Eroc. Thank you, It is much appreciated!
Chapter 7: The Truth of the Matter
Toon Link raced down the hallway towards the storage room, intent upon his mission. That mission was to free Ike. He dashed into the room and then stopped short in surprise. There was a twisted jagged hole in the front of the now dented and warped metal panel of the locker and the box itself was empty. It was as if Ike had first punched or carved out the hole in the middle, just large enough to be able to slide free the middle bolt. He then must have bowed out the center enough for him to slip his arm out and remove the top and bottom bolts as well. All that, however, was only the first surprise.
Ike was standing tall in the middle of the room, the metal plated gauntlet missing from his right hand which was warped in a crude blood-soaked bandage that went almost to his elbow. In front of him, a large group of assist trophies were gathered and armed for battle. Ike raised his sword into the air and the action was mirrored by the many assist trophies as they echoed his battle cry.
Toon Link had no idea how Ike had done this, but not only had he broken free from his prison, but he had also somehow managed to convince many of the assist trophies to take his side, his position, and follow him into battle. Toon Link stood dumbfounded for a moment at the mercenary's rallying skill. Then he headed forwards to stand side by side with the assist trophies, with a furious looking Midna on one side and Lyn on the other.
~x~X~x~
"What do you mean?" Eroc demanded of the tactician. "All the evidence against Link is irrefutable."
"I don't believe that anything is totally irrefutable," Robin said in reply. "Well nothing aside from friendship or love, and occasionally hunger, but that's beside the point. Though it does bring me to my first point."
"And what, may I ask, might that be?"
"The point is this, I could not find a motive for Link to suddenly want to kill or injure his friend."
"Then you obviously weren't looking hard enough, because I can see several and first and foremost is jealousy," Eroc said in the manner of one who considered himself in expert in such matters. "It's obvious that Link likes Zelda, and what happens at the start of the season? Instead of being paired with her like last year, she gets paired with Marth. He is then forced to watch in silence, unable to do anything as they grow closer and closer, until it gets so that she is spending more time with the prince than with him. The person he loves is not only refusing to return his affections, but she is also giving her love to another.
"That's what happened isn't it Link? You were losing her to another, and didn't it just drive you crazy even while it broke your heart? Soon it got so that you could no longer stand the sight of them together. It just made you so angry, didn't it? It made you so angry that you decided you needed to get rid of Marth once and for all."
Link's mouth dropped open, his eyes nearly bugging out of his head at this ridiculous unfounded spiel.
"I what?" he nearly squeaked, his face growing hot with anger and embarrassment amongst other things.
A strangled painful noise sounded behind him and Link turned around worried, to see that Marth had fallen to his knees, his left hand pressed into his side, his head bent. The breathy noise came as his body shook, and he seemed to be having trouble breathing properly.
"Marth, are you alright?"
"Of course he isn't alright!" Eroc cut Link off. "The truth of the matter has brought him to his knees!"
Marth doubled over then, the shaking intensified.
"Marth?" Link put a hand on his trembling shoulder, only to realize that Marth was laughing, and almost crying with pain at the same time because of it."
"More like… the…" Marth choked again between breaths, "the humor of… the matter," his body shook with silent mirth, tears streaming down a face that seemed to be a mix in expression between humor and agony all at once. "Tell him… to stop, it…." he gasped, still clutching his side, "it hurts too much…"
Link turned then to face Eroc, while Marth strove desperately to compose himself. Link shook his head.
"What you said isn't at all true," Link said as his face took on a confused expression. "And even if it were, what would give me the right to presume claim like that over another, over my queen, over a friend? She is my liege lady, I swore my life and my fealty to her. Her heart is hers to give to whomever she pleases. She is answerable to no one in that respect, least of all me. How can I lay claim on what is not mine to take—let alone be jealous of its loss?" He asked, looking genuinely puzzled. "Jealous enough to harm my own brother?" the last was muttered with a sick expression on his face and he shook his head again. "I can't even imagine the malice and selfishness that such thoughts and deeds would require; and it is in my experience that true love, real love, is never selfish. Also, I don't believe that either Zelda's or Marth's happiness could ever make me unhappy."
Eyes all over the stadium flicked from Link to Eroc who seemed to be rendered momentarily speechless. Marth, having finally collected himself, stood at Link's side.
"As for me, my heart has only ever belonged to one woman, my Caeda. She is everything to me," he said quietly, as if the mere thought of ever hurting her or betraying her was an anathema to him. "I do not think that I have any more of my heart left to give to anyone in that way."
A hush fell over the smashers as they knew instinctively that both of them were speaking the truth.
"Also, aside from those glaringly obvious reasons, I know for a fact that Link never tried to kill Marth because, if that was actually his aim, Marth would already be dead." Robin went on. "Whilst I was waiting outside for news that night and early morning after the incident, I saw Link give Zelda healing medicine from his land to give to Marth, and I know that she did."
There came murmurs of agreement as the people who had visited Marth recalled seeing the empty glass bottle.
"That was from you?" Marth asked, and when Link nodded Marth thanked him.
"If Link wanted to kill Marth," Robin continued, "then all he would have had to have done would have been to poison the medicine in some way. He didn't though, and that means killing Marth was obviously not his intention."
"Maybe he didn't want to kill him, maybe he just wanted to insure that Marth wouldn't beat his score in The Hundred Man Smash, so he wouldn't lose the prize money."
"Can't be," this time it was Samus who spoke. "I know for a fact that they planned to share the money between them."
"Maybe he didn't want to share any longer."
"Then why make the deal in the first place? They did it just before the match." Samus shot back.
"Alright then," Eroc said. "Maybe he just wanted to teach Marth a lesson he wouldn't forget. Everyone knows how arrogant he is; perhaps Link felt that he needed to be put in his place. Perhaps he just wanted to humiliate him in front of everyone and did not intend for it to go as far as it did. That would explain why he gave Marth the medicine later, to soothe his guilt."
"That might be more believable—about the guilt I mean," Robin said, "But that theory alone isn't enough to refute the evidence that I found. You see, when I could not see a motive, I began to have some doubts, which was why I asked Master Hand to try and find the sword."
"What would that have to do with anything?" Eroc's voice sounded annoyed.
"Because Marth's sword is Chrom's sword—that is to say, the earliest version of it. That means the properties of it should be the same." She addressed Marth, "Your sword was once your father's right?"
Marth nodded.
"And before that, his father's, correct?"
"Yes."
"Which brings me to the point of this: Falcion can only truly be wielded well by a member of Anri's bloodline. Marth, if you please, would you let Link hold your sword?"
The prince seemed puzzled by this out of the blue request, but he nodded. He flipped his hold from the grip to the blade itself and held it out to Link, hilt first. Link looked a question at first Robin and then Marth and, when both nodded at him, he wrapped his fingers around the hilt, gripping it just as Marth let go. The point of the sword dropped immediately to the ground and slightly left.
Link's face showed total surprise. With a bit of effort, he lifted the sword and looked a question at Marth.
"The blade is thinner than mine but, at the same time, it feels like it has more weight and the balance is a bit weird. How do you fight so effectively with this?"
It was Marth's turn to look surprised. "The blade isn't heavy, and the balance is perfect."
"Just as I thought," Robin said almost smugly. "It is the same with Chrom's sword. Link responded just like a person would if they had never touched the sword before." She held up her hand to cut off Eroc's protest before he had the chance to voice it. "I know that he could just be pretending now that he had never held it before... but that still doesn't change the fact that you, Eroc, didn't even bother to pretend when you held it, right after it was found in Link's room.
"You held it then like one who was already accustomed to the feel of it, which means that either you are of Marth's bloodline, which I doubt since you are not even from the same world, or that you had wielded it before. Also, I believe the reason you asked to hold the sword in the first place was on the off chance that you were not chosen to oversee the fingerprint test. If your prints were found on the blade, everyone would just assume it was because of that."
"That's a fascinating theory, but it still doesn't explain the note in Link's handwriting, his fingerprints on the blade, or his recorded image."
"No, but, once I saw you with the sword, I began to search to find out how all those came about. I started with the letter. It took me a while to get my hands on it but when I did, I could see that there was something wrong with it. Though the handwriting looks like Link's, what caught my eye was the fact that the ink of a few letters were smudged by the author's hand as it touched the paper when they wrote.
"Link does that a lot in his own writing it's true but, like I said before, there is a problem. You see, Link is left handed. That means he would not have smeared the last letters in a line of words, like it is here, but rather the first. There is no reason why a left handed person should ever touch their hand against the last letter in a line. It is a totally wasted motion. If Link really wrote this, then only the first ones should be smeared."
She held up the letter in question and then passed it down to the smashers below.
"You just so happen to be right handed, don't you Eroc? Also, you did get the job to oversee to see the fingerprint test, didn't you? And that means you could easily have rigged the results. The only thing I can't figure out is how you got yourself to look like Link in the recording, and lured Link away from Marth to begin with; but I am guessing that it has something to do with some form of magic."
By now, all the smashers were looking straight at Eroc, their eyes either showing suspicion or anger.
For the first time, Eroc gave up his false pretenses and grinned maliciously.
"Really Robin, you are quite clever, but you don't have a clue as to how deep this goes. I have not yet played my final card, moved my final pawn in this game of mine. I started this mostly for the power. It was fun to play all of you. I wanted to know how long I could manipulate you all and rule you without notice—but now that that hand is revealed, I have no choice but to end this game in bloodshed.
"I still have the upper hand. You see, I still have control of the Mii games. You made a decent counter move but the final plays are still mine." He raised his arm to his the control panel on the side wall. "I hope you all will enjoy seeing Marth and Link die. The only thing I have left to say to you Robin is: check."
At his words, Link returned Marth's sword and the two exhausted and injured fighters stood resolutely back to back, weapons upraised. Though there was not much hope in their manner. They were totally spent, and would end up at their enemy's mercy, they knew. Eroc pressed the button with an air of finality, but nothing happened. He pressed it again, his expression puzzled.
"Checkmate," and angry voice said as a figure dropped into the observer's box from above.
Apparently, Eroc did not have control over all the pieces. Ike landed catlike and rose to his feet, sword pointed at Eroc.
"Having trouble controlling the stage?" The mercenary asked expressionlessly.
Behind him, Toon Link and some assist trophies surrounded Master Hand who had, so far, neither said nor done anything.
"How?" Eroc snarled,
"I have positioned magically and mechanically skilled assist trophies in the control room in order to override you."
"Your idea?" Eroc asked with an angry leer as he backed away from Ike as far as he could go.
"Mostly, but it does help when you view those around you as more than game pieces."
Eroc growled in frustration.
"I'll accept your surrender now," Ike said. His face was still expressionless, but his eyes were hard and dangerous.
Eroc let out a howl of rage and then threw himself at Ike, his pale hands upraised like claws. Ike's sword rose to met him and Eroc collided with the blade with a scream. He stood with the sword through his body before he began to dissipate. He vanished from view, turning into a shuddering dark shadow before disbanding like shattering black glass.
Link frowned as he recognized the sight and realized something else. When he had chased the shadow before, Eroc had still been able to attack Marth at the same time. That meant he was a magic wielder with the capability to split himself. Instantly, he tried to focus and get a sense of where Eroc could be now. He felt himself near swaying with fatigue and pain as he tried to pinpoint a location.
Suddenly, he knew instinctively where Eroc was. It was the only thing that made sense, when he thought about it—the only reason why the person he had been thinking of had been acting so strange for the past couple days.
"Ike!" he yelled. "He has control of Master Hand!"
Ike turned just as Master Hand began to move for the first time since the pause in the game. Ike, Toon Link and the assist trophies stood their ground, readying themselves for an attack. Unfortunately, the Eroc-possessed Master Hand didn't seem interested in them. Writhing with fury, the hand sailed above their heads and floated towards the stands to attack the smashers. Ike gave swift orders for his troop to help the smashers fight against their possessed leader.
Link turned to Marth. "We can't let Eroc hurt anyone else. If I can get to Master Hand, I believe that I can free him from Eroc's influence. Though this isn't my Master Sword, it is still a version of the Blade of Evil's Bane. It can separate Master Hand form Eroc's influence.
Marth nodded and took a step forward before faltering slightly and pressing a hand to his side. He closed his eyes briefly before he spoke.
"The problem is that we can't get out unless someone lowers the shields on the stage."
As if in response to the prince's words, the shields began to lower with the stage—no doubt the work of the assist trophies. As soon as it reached ground level, the pair of them stepped off, supporting each other as they headed towards the stands. Ike and his assist trophies, as well as Robin, had reached the other smashers. However, things were looking grim as none of the smashers, aside from a few villains, really wanted to hurt Master Hand. Link knew that they needed to act soon, before something nasty happened, but he and Marth were getting nowhere fast, there were too many stairs.
"We need to find a way to get him to come to us," Link said in between raged breaths. "So I can get close enough."
"Aright," Marth said as he let go of Link's arm to stand on the seats of the bleachers. He gathered himself for a moment and then pushed Link behind him.
"Hey Eroc!" He called out at the top of his voice, his bearing suddenly becoming unspeakably arrogant as he nearly posed. Though he shouted loudly, his voice still sounded poised and almost nonchalant rather than enraged and angry.
"For claiming to be some great chess master, you sure have the skill of a pawn when it comes to implementing your schemes!" He flicked his hair away from his battered face with his free hand in a saucy gesture that was so prideful and conceited that it even managed to slightly irritate Link.
Though it annoyed him, at the same time, he realized why Marth was doing it. Most people who actually knew Marth knew that he was not, in fact, arrogant. But Marth knew as well as Link, that the only reason Eroc would have brought that up earlier was if Eroc found Marth's princely and confident bearing irritating. That was why he was overdoing it now. He wanted to make Eroc angry.
"Perhaps I judged you too hastily," Marth continued shouting over the fading noise of battle as he caught Eroc's attention. "Maybe your skill is more comparable to the board itself: flat, useless aside from being a place holder, and rock stupid. I mean you couldn't even kill Link, let alone me, and do you know why? It is because each time you were outwitted by an uncultured mercenary—a veritable backwoods peasant, and a hylain child! I take back what I said oh great chess master, I think even a board could outwit you!"
"You think that I can't take out one pathetic, insolent, princeling?" The possessed hand screamed in rage.
"Eroc, you couldn't even take out a Pikmin," Marth said in a bored manner. He drew his sword and then sniffed disdainfully as he turned his head away as if totally unconcerned.
The possessed hand roared with rage, forming into a fist and shooting forwards towards Marth with frightening speed.
"You might want to get ready," Marth suggested mildly.
"No kidding," Link called back as he readied Toon Link's blade. "In fact, I think you might have overdone it a bit."
Marth stood composed and unmoving as the hand barreled towards him until the last possible moment.
"Now!" he shouted and leaped aside, revealing Link standing with weapon pointed forwards. The possessed hand realized the danger too late for him to stop and the blade sunk home. Master Hand screamed. Light and particle like pieces of shadow began shooting out of him. Link was thrown backwards and to the side, straight into Marth. They both tumbled to earth, Link hitting his head hard.
The world swam. The last thing he heard and saw was massive amounts of that shredded shadow pouring forth from Master Hand's limp form and then gathering together in the shape of a jagged shadow man with blazing red eyes. It raised its head and howled.
"I am Eroc Retsam—Master Core, the oncoming swarm! I will destroy you all!"
Link's vision began to blacken as he dimly saw the smashers and assist trophies rally to face Eroc's true form. Then his world went dark.
A/N: Final chapter next week! I hope you all have been enjoying the story so far. Feedback is really helpful and appreciated!
My inspiration for this chapter is the inordinate amount of detective shows I have accidentally hooked myself on, not to mention the numerous books *sheepish grin* I can't help myself, I love a good mystery X3
Question: Who do you think has the best final smash?
