(A/N) Don't have much to say right now, except that school is officially over for me so hopefully that will allow updates more frequently.
Enjoy!~
"Falcon Punch!"
The door split in half with a loud crack, wood exploding across the hall in a burst of flames. Captain Falcon peeked his head through the doorway, cautiously looking left and right before stepping through and lifting his hand, forming a thumbs-up motion. Samus, clad in her power suit, and Link followed behind the racer. Link clutched the Master Sword firmly in his fist.
"I think they may all be gone," Samus spoke; her speech interfered with the slightest bit of static from the power suit having endured some damage.
Link walked in front of the two, his forehead creasing with concentration. The swordsman continued to remain silent, causing his companions to exchange curious looks with one another.
Link quickly spun around to face them. "We have no business left here."
"You think it's time to move on?" Samus questioned, earning a nod from the Hyrule warrior.
"I don't think those creatures will intend on returning here if they knew that no one was left," he thought aloud, returning his sword to its place by his side. "From what I dealt with earlier, they appeared to be more focused on capturing us than destroying the mansion and driving us out of our home."
Captain Falcon snapped his fingers. "So there's no threat to the mansion if we aren't here to protect it?"
"Exactly."
Samus stepped over the debris from the ceiling that had settled in the middle of the room. It was difficult for the men to tell what exactly she was doing due to her mask covering her face- they assumed that she was inspecting the damage.
After a few moments, she let out a sigh. "At this point it might be worth it. There's nothing left here but waiting for those monsters to potentially return."
Link strode up to the woman, resting his hand on her shoulder. "It's what's necessary."
Captain Falcon stepped forward. "If we don't have to worry about the mansion, is it worth getting our ships?"
Samus paused. "Probably not. We might draw too much attention to ourselves."
The F-Zero racer scowled, likely disappointed with the response from the bounty hunter, but chose not to argue. As Link and Samus began to walk away, Captain Falcon cast one more glance back towards where the garage was, clenching his fist and turning to follow his companions.
The three walked, a few minutes passing without any exchange of words between them. As they progressed through the mansion, the amounts of damage varied; some of the hallways looked untouched, the worst offense being the paintings on the wall looking askew, to others being near impossible to get through. Parts of the ceiling had collapsed onto the flooring below, doors were detached from their hinges, and gaping holes were now present in the wall.
They finally reached a single wooden door at the end of one dimly lit hallway. Samus reached out and grasped the doorknob, twisting it to open the door. She shook it back and forth a few times when it refused to open, and then lifted her leg, kicking outwards and causing the door to snap open. The companions stepped outside to see the dark sky above becoming towards the horizon, the sun barely peeking over the line of trees.
"It can't be any earlier than 5:30," Samus deduced, looking to the others for confirmation. Captain Falcon merely grunted while Link said nothing. The woman involuntarily rolled her eyes at the men's behavior, facing the greenery. "How are we going to find anyone else who made it out?"
Link's eyes lit up. "Their tracks," he mumbled.
Samus whirled around. "Their what?"
"Their tracks," he repeated, louder this time. Link walked around the bounty hunter, his neck bent downwards as he stared at the dirt path. "If anyone came out this way recently, they would've left a trail." He glanced over his shoulder at her, grinning. "They would have left tracks."
"Well don't just stand there!" Captain Falcon cried out, exasperated. "Find someone's footprints!"
Link began to pace around the area slowly, analyzing the ground. The air was still, and time moved slowly, or at least felt it moved more slowly than usual. The Hyrule native continued his work, unperturbed by the two other people present who were progressively losing what little patience they had left- Captain Falcon leaned against a lone tree standing in the grass while Samus resorted to tapping her boot on the ground.
Link came to a stop, moving to crouch in order to get a better look at the ground with the minimum amount of light provided. Samus and Captain Falcon walked over to stand behind him.
"You find something?" Samus prodded, craning her neck to spare a look at what Link was inspecting.
He pointed at the ground, revealing a large print in the dirt. It resembled what appeared to be a hand belonging to a human- however, it was much larger than any human's hand normally would be, the fingers also seeming to be thicker.
"That is, without a doubt, Donkey Kong's print," Link stopped speaking for a moment, narrowing his eyes at the line in the dirt that was besides the footprint. He moved his index finger, gesturing to it. "I think he must have been carrying or helping someone walk. It looks like they were dragging their feet." Link finally stood up. "I can't tell who that is that was with him."
"We can't afford to waste any more time," Captain Falcon announced, heading towards the forest in the distance. "That person could be injured, or worse dying. We have to find them. And quick."
A low rumble wailed out, followed by some cursing. Kirby rubbed his stomach with sympathy, criticizing himself for not having found anything to eat yet. The puffball searched the area around him, crying out in frustration to find the trees bare of any fruit that they could possibly hold.
"What I'd give for an apple right about now…" Kirby whined, dragging his large feet underneath him. The puffball sniffed miserably, flopping to the forest floor with defeat, rolling onto his back. He shut his eyes, listening to his stomach growl a few more times. "This is ridiculous." Kirby's eyes fluttered open briefly then snapped open completely as a red light shone in the corner of his field of vision. He jumped up, breaking into a run towards the red object. Sucking in a large amount of air, he jumped up and began floating upwards towards the tree home to the object.
Kirby let out the air he was holding, landing on a branch before bouncing upwards, hopping from branch to branch. He reached the top of the tree with relative ease, plucking the apple from the branch it was hanging off of. His mouth stretched into a wide grin, and he sucked the apple in, the food being gone in a matter of seconds.
His stomach growled loudly again, dissatisfied. Kirby rolled his eyes. "Shut up already. I know you're hungry."
Kirby looks down to jump out of the tree when he suddenly froze, noticing movement on the ground below him. He sat down on the branch and sucked in a huge breath to remain as quiet as possible.
"Just hang on. I'll find us some food and you somewhere to rest." The voice was reassuring, Kirby noted, but also similar to an extent, as though he recognized it from somewhere. "Hang on, Mario."
Mario?
Kirby launched himself out of the tree, not bothering to hold onto the air within him in order to soften his fall, and landed on the ground with a thump. Donkey Kong reflexively jumped backwards, clutching the half-conscious Mario to his side. Mario groaned, coughing and sputtering, attempting to fill his lungs with air.
"Kirby?!" D.K. exclaimed, shocked. He held his free hand to his chest. "You scared the daylights out of me! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" The gorilla bared his teeth at the puffball, who in turn ignored the monkey's rage.
"Is Mario okay?" The puffball gasped, his eyes wide with concern. The anger on the monkey's face vanished, and his stance relaxed. He readjusted his hold on the plumber.
"He'll be fine. He just needs time to recuperate."
Kirby gulped, nodding at him. "I am glad to see you. I've been wandering through this forest by myself for hours it seems like."
D.K. blinked in confusion. "You mean that no one else made it out?"
"At least not with me," Kirby shrugged. "I was with Meta Knight. But we got separated when a few of those monsters found us." The look on the puffball's face grew solemn. "I don't know what happened to him or if he got out okay. Meta just saw someone in trouble and flew off. He told me to just run and focus on survival."
"Mario could have used that advice," the large monkey commented, placing said plumber on the ground, positioning him to lean against the trunk of a tree. Kirby shifted from foot to foot, staring at the back of the monkey. Donkey Kong looked back at the puffball with an unreadable expression plastered on his face.
"We aren't safe. Don't think that for a second," he warned. Kirby shuddered at the comment.
"What are we exactly in danger of anyway?"
"Or who might be a more appropriate question." Donkey Kong slumped to the ground next to Mario, whose head had rolled over and rested upon his own shoulder. The plumber snoozed, but coughed every now and then, his face scrunching in discomfort. Kirby said nothing more, settling down in the forest clearing himself, and stared up at the sky, which was now turning a bright blue, signifying the new day to come.
(A/N) This chapter is an iffy for me. The past two or three really have been acting more as a "let's figure out where out main characters are at" kind of chapters, so it's mostly dialogue and little to no action.
My apologies. I'm gonna try and fit some in soon.
But yeah- now we know where everyone is at. A quick recap:
-Mario and D.K. are now with Kirby in the forest
-Ness, Luigi, and Yoshi are together, likely in the forest
-Captain Falcon, Samus, and Link are trying to track down D.K.
-Fox and Pikachu are with one another, and they left the mansion, but we don't know their current location
And that's that! As always, I hope you guys enjoyed. Please feel free to tell me what you think so far, and I am also always open to any ideas for maybe potential enemies you would like the heroes to face, or maybe even situational stuff you would like to see happen. Thanks again!