SBS Time!
?
: The name would sound better without the 'I'.
Game2002: Falhard… That doesn't sound any better…

Chapter 6
Results



The Master Arwing flew in a circle in the air and slowly descended onto the ground. Both the space animals came out from their vehicle and ran up to the Mario Bros. and Snake. "Are you guys all right?" Fox asked them with concern.

"Yeah, we're fine," Snake replied. "You saved us the trouble of blowing him up too."

"Who was that guy anyway?" Falco asked, turning his glance to the knocked out Failhard. "We saw him attacking you nonstop from the air."

"We have no idea," Mario answered. "That-a guy showed up and attacked uz for no reason whatsoever, and we asked him many times but-a he neva gave an answer."

"All he kept saying was," Luigi stated, and then he mimicked the voice of Failhard and even showed the same type of expression on his face. "Gyahahaha!!! Fail! Fail harder!!! Yahahaha!!!"

"Sounds like a freak if you ask me," Falco mused.

"Yeah, a freak nonetheless," Snake said with a nod.

Then there was beeping sound and everyone got out his membership cards to look at it and noticed the card flashing in red color and there was the time showed above it in the form of a hologram. "It's one in the afternoon already," Fox pointed out. "The time is up!"

Then green sparkles appeared all around the Smashers' body as well as their vehicles, and slowly, they disappeared into nothing.

-

"Uh? We're back?" Luigi wondered. He looked around and saw that they were back in the familiar garage they were in before they went to the farmland. He saw that all the other participants were back in this place too.

"Yeah, we're back-a," Mario said.

The big screen hanging on the wall before them turned on and Willis himself appeared on it saying, "Congratulations on making it through the first round, participants of the tournament! I hope that you have enjoyed your stay in Old McDonald's Farm of Wack and did your best to rack up to one hundred points! Do not worry if you do not get up to that much, because your performances will still be rated and added up to the points. Please take a rest for today and we will display to you your results tomorrow and you will know if you can pass on to the next round or not."

"I can't wait!" Wario said with enthusiasms. "Surely we will pass!"

"Yeah, we did get over ninety points after all," Waluigi reminded him.

"Before you leave, there is one thing I would like to announce," Willis continued. "And that is someone had broken the rules of the first round." This statement startled everyone and they started looking around to see who he was talking about. "The person that had broken the rule of killing a participant is none other than… Failhard!"

Immediately, all eyes averted over to the burned madman that was sitting in the center of a pile of machine parts that were originally his vehicle. Failhard slowly looked up still with a demented smile and simply cackled at Willis's words. "Failhard had killed one of the participants named Mr. Eelayven, and after that, he attempted to kill the Mario Bros. and Solid Snake. However, he was finally struck down thanks to their combined efforts, and I am much pleased they did not attempt to kill him for his threats against them."

"Well, I wouldn't want to break the rules and get disqualified anytime soon," Snake said.

"For the breaking of this sacred rule, Failhard," Willis said in a stern voice, "You are officially disqualified from this tournament!"

Instead of being shocked by this news, Failhard simply stood up and cackled continuously, and then he burst out yelling, "FAIL!!! FAIL HARDER!!!! GYAHAHAHA!!!"

"Dang! That guy really is crazy!" Luigi said with unbelief. "How can he still be laughing knowing he is kicked out from this tournament?!"

"He's damaged his brain, I tell you!" Snake said.

As the madman continued to laugh like crazy, a couple of policemen came running into the garage and went in his direction. "That's the guy! Get him!" They grabbed Failhard by his arms and then dragged him out of the place. "You're coming with us to spend your time in this place's prison until the tournament ends."

As he was being dragged out of the place, Failhard continued to laugh and shout out his usual phrase over and over. "FAIL HARDER!!!! FAIL EVEN HARDER!!!! YAHAHAHAHA!!!"

-

Mario, Luigi, Snake, Fox, Falco, Samus, and ROB left the garage together and walked down the streets of Wonder Town and talked among themselves of everything that happened. "That sure was a frightening experience," Luigi stated. "I hope we don't run into someone like that again."

"I'm sure that-a will be da last-a time we see him," Mario said.

"Let's hope so…"

"So what did you think of the first round?" Samus asked. "Was it easy?"

"There were challenges in some of them, but they were mostly at the levels of beginners," ROB replied. "I had a great deal of memorable experiences after all this however."

"Makes me wonder what the next round will be like," Luigi said.

"According to the instruction manual," Fox stated, "You will need to invent gadgets that can help you while in the wilderness and also vehicles capable of traversing through such place. It didn't say where the next round will be located at though."

"We now have an idea that the next round will take place in the wilderness," Snake said. "Maybe like in the mountains, the desert, or the jungle."

"None of them sound like a fun place to be at…" Luigi commented. "But if I must choose, the mountain seems like the safest place. Um… Actually… there is always danger of falling down from tall heights. The desert will make you thirsty, and the jungle… I don't want to think about it…"

Samus noticed the other Smashers coming out from the theater building not too far away and said, "The others are over there!"

They quickly met up with their comrades and greeted each other happily. "I was so worried when you were being attacked by that madman!" Peach said to them. "But it's great to see that you're all right!"

"Ha! You can thank me that everyone is safe!" Falco boasted.

Luigi noticed Pichu and Jigglypuff and said, "You guys are back too!"

"Of course we are back! What's there to be surprised about?" Pichu asked.

"It is fun!" Jigglypuff said.

"I bet you guys must be starving from your stay over there. What say we head over to the nearest food center and have lunch?" Yoshi suggested.

Luigi patted his stomach and said, "Yeah, I do feel hungry. We really didn't eat all that much at the farm."

They all agreed and turned to leave, but a voice called out to them and grabbed their attention. It was the chairman of the tournament, Willis, who called them. "Smashers, I have something to say to you."

"It's the chairman!" Snake said. Everyone around the place bowed down as a sign of respect as Willis walked up to the Smashers.

He held out his hand and motioned for them to get up. "Raise your heads. There is no need to show that much courteousness, for I am not of royal status and is but a normal human being like you all."

They raised their heads and Mario asked, "What-a eez eet that-a you inquire of us, Chairman Willis?"

"I would like to apologize to you for the horror that you have experienced in the last few hours of the first round," Willis told them. "If I had known what kind of person Failhard is, this would never have happened to you."

"We were able to deal with him, so it wasn't any big deal," Snake said. "Plus, we all came back unscratched and alive and that's what matters most."

"And that guy was a pushover anyway!" Falco claimed.

"You should've been around longer to see what we were up against…" Luigi mumbled, gazing in his direction with half-closed eyes.

"Still, I feel the need to apologize to put you all into danger when I intended this tournament to be safe and of no harm, even though there will be skirmish among rival participants," Willis said, lowering his head with shame a bit.

"That's quite-a all right," Mario said. "You do not-a have to apologize anymore."

"I just want to ask one thing though," Snake stated. "Who is that guy anyway? He's a total freak…"

"His name is Failhard," Willis replied. "And he was a member of Gamfax before that site was shut down. I'm sure you all heard of the name Gamfax." The Smashers were all very surprised when they heard this.

"We sure know as hell the name Gamfax!" Link said. "It brings back bad memories!"

"And that guy used to post on that demonic message board?!" Ness said with disbelief.

"That would explain how demented he is…" Luigi said.

"Come to think of it… Maybe he was the person Wolf told me…" Fox said.


FLASHBACK

Fox and Falco had landed onto the grassy pasture to settle down for the night of the first round. As they set up a campfire and cooked themselves dinner, someone stepped up to them and they both were surprised to see who it was. "Wolf?!" Fox said in shock.

"Doing your best here, Star Fox?" Wolf asked him. "I sure did. It seems clear already that I'm progressing to the next round!"

"And your question isn't even worth being answered anyway," Falco told him rudely. "We are more than ready to go to the next round! Underestimate us, will you?"

"I'm glad to hear that! That makes you worthy of being my rival!"

"What do you want, Wolf?" Fox asked him. "I didn't hear anything about you entering this tournament."

"Maybe you weren't catching up with what the wind has to tell you," Wolf told him. "I am a participant in this tournament. My other two buddies aren't really interested in this though, so I'm all alone here. And I'm just here to give you a friendly visit and greeting. It's getting late already, so I won't disturb your dinner." As Wolf began to walk away, he turned his head around one more time to say, "By the way, have you ever met a Gamfax user in real life?"

"You mean a person who posted on Gamfax message boards?" Fox asked. "No, and why'd you ask?"

"Let's just say… They're the nastiest and craziest life forms that can possibly exist in this universe. You'll be scared if you ever run into one yourself."

END OF FLASHBACK



"Wolf is in the tournament too?" Samus asked Fox.

"Yeah, we ran into him yesterday night as we were settling down for something to eat," Fox told her. "It seems that he ran into Failhard that time or something like that."

"Seeing the reputation of Gamfax before it was shut down, I'm no surprised if the people posts there are really demented people," Ganondorf commented.

"But are all the people who post there like that?" Pikachu asked.

"Who knows? I've never run into any other Gamfax users in real life," Ness told him. "But I think it's safe to say a good number of them are. You rarely find someone with common sense there, trust me."

"I sure don't want to run into anyone like that…" Popo said. "It's scaring me already…"

"Now that Failhard is being kept behind bars, I believe the tournament will go on safely and without the same thing repeating itself. Once again, I apologize for this incident that you had to face," Willis apologized as he lowered his head again.

"Don't-a say that-a," Mario told him. "Eetz not-a your fault-a. Like Snake-a said, the fact-a that-a we're all safe eez all that-a matters."

"I wish you luck throughout the remaining days of the tournament and hope that you will be in high spirits to get ready for the next tournament. I wish that you have your inventions and vehicles ready for the next round which will start three days later."

"Three days? Why the long wait?" Samus asked.

"Your results will be calculated and shown tomorrow, and after that, we will need to contact the local residents of the next location to get their approval and job objectives ready. At the same time, I would like the participants to get their vehicles and inventions ready, and inventing something new surely takes time. Therefore sufficient amount of time is required in order to start the next round without problems."

"I see… That sounds good to me," Snake said. "I'm going to upgrade my vehicle to a stronger form so I can take on stronger opponents."

"I wish you luck for the rest of the day then. Please enjoy your stay!" Willis was about to turn to leave when Ness suddenly called him to a stop.

"Wait a minute! I've been wondering this for a while since I came here," Ness said. He pointed to a gigantic rectangular structure that could be seen in the distance behind several buildings. It was easily the tallest architecture on the island; even higher than the main headquarter of Willis. "What is that thing? I was thinking that it is your office but then there are no windows and seemingly no entrance …"

Willis looked at the thing Ness was pointing to and replied, "That is the Wiistation 360."

"Wiistation 360?" the kids said curiously.

"As for what it is, you will find out someday," Willis told them with a smile, and then he walked away.

"Wiistation 360… That's like a combination of Wii, Playstation 3, and XBOX 360…" Young Link said.

"Well, that thing does look like a cross between those three consoles if you ask me," Ness said. "It is slightly slanted like a Wii, has buttons and lights on the front like the XBOX 360, and its color scheme is the same as Playstation 3."

"I wonder if it has the Red Ring of Death," Popo wondered.

"Before it dies, you see the ring…" Parry said in a creepy-sounding voice jokingly.

-

Soon after this, the Smashers went separate ways to look for lunch. We currently focus on a group consisting of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Lucario, and Kirby as sat around a large round table eating lunch.

"So did you have a great time over there?" Bowser asked Mario.

"Eet wuz fine," Mario replied while wiping his mouth. "Eetz actually easier than I thought-a."

"Save for the frightening experience with that guy, it wasn't really bad," Luigi said. "Winning seems really easy."

"I'm sure eet'll become harder and harder."

"I just care that we won't into anything dangerous again." Mario lifted his eyes and spotted three familiar people walking past their table. "Hey Sonic!"

Sonic turned over to him and waved his hand with response, "Yo guys!"

"Eef you cannot-a find a place to seet, seet-a here then!"

"Don't mind if we do!" Sonic took his seat next to Kirby and Tails sat next to him. The table was then full already but there was one person left without a seat.

"Hey! Where do I sit?" Amy complained.

"Sorry, it's full," Sonic told her. "Find yourself another one if you can."

"You bet I will!" She turned and ran over to the nearest seat and pulled it away just as Barney was going to sit down on it, and the dinosaur slammed his big butt onto the floor and spilled his tray as a result. Amy squeezed in her new seat in between Tails and Sonic and sat down there. "There!"

"Um… I don't think that was a nice thing to do…" Tails said, looking back at the fallen Barney.

"So how do you think you fared at the first round? Tails and I both did really good! We even had fun with Eggman if you know what I mean!" Sonic said.

"We don't know really," Luigi replied while twirling spaghetti off his plate with a fork. "We only scored about eighty points… Of course, we still do not know the total score since the overall performance haven't been added to it yet."

"I'm sure the both of you will pass," Peach said. "You did pretty good within your vehicles from what we've seen so far."

"Yeah! Think on the bright side!" Kirby said. "Just look at me! I'm smiling all the time and nothing has ever come to me at all! I get food all the time just by being optimistic!"

"Yeah, I hope we can win," Luigi said. "Thanks for the comfort."

"So what are you guys going to do about the next round?" Bowser asked. "Any ideas on what you're going to invent or how you're going to upgrade your vehicle."

"We don't-a know what-a to do yet," Mario said. "We will have to think-a over theez for the next three days."

"The next location should take place in the wilderness, but of course, we do not know the exact details," Tails said. "But I would suggest that inventions that can help you survive in the wilderness and vehicles that can travel through those sorts of terrain to be the best ideas."

"There are lots of possibilities for a location in the wilderness though," Luigi said. "It may be the mountains, the desert, the jungle, or dry and famine place like Africa…"

"If it is to take place on the mountains, then vehicles that are capable of scaling rocky walls work best. For desert, I recommend inventions that can find water and vehicles that can travel through sand. Jungle settings will do with vehicles that can penetrate the thick plants and such."

"I have a better solution," Yoshi suggested. "Just make something that can be used in all those places. Problem solved!"

Suddenly, Pichu popped up onto their table and said, "Hey guys!"

"Whoa! When did you get here?!" Bowser said with surprise.

"Just now! Anyway, there's something I want to tell you," Pichu said. "Since I was at the farm giving out objectives at that time, I was also informed of what the next location will be."

"Where eez eet?" Mario asked.

"I heard that it's going to take place in a jungle."

"Jungle? I have a bad feeling about this…" Luigi said.

"Well, that's all I know really. I'm still thinking if I want to visit that place, but I do know DK and Diddy are going there to give out jobs after I told them where the next round will take place at. Anyway, hope my information will help you!" After saying this, Pichu jumped down from the table and went his way.

-

That evening…

"Man, what a crazy experience that was…" Macchi groaned as she limped back to her hotel room along with her two partners. "I seriously cannot believe how a bunch of little critters can own us so easily. We even had to let a fat ugly man save us… I don't even know if we can make it to the next round again."

"If we do pass, we'll have to work harder," Kanna said. "It was really shameful if you ask me on the first round."

The Mario Bros. and Peach watched the three girls as they walked into their room and Peach said, "Looks like they had a rough time at the first round. I wonder what happened."

"No idea," Luigi said.

"Oh well, it's getting quite late already, so I'm heading back to my room. You better get some rest too. I'm sure you had a tiring day today," Peach said, heading over to her room.

"Okey-dokey! Let's go back-a to our room too, Luigi," Mario said. "I'm sure you want-a to see our results fast-a tomorrow, so let's-a rest early."

"Yeah, I'm feeling tired… Yawn…" Luigi said as he stretched and yawned.

The two of them headed over to the door of their room and were opening it when a girl came up to them to open the room next to theirs. Mario recognized her and said, "You're that-a girl from yesterday!"

"Oh hi! Nice to see you again!" Setsuko said. "Surprised that our room is next to each other!"

"Did you do well at the first round?" Luigi asked her.

"I'm sure I did pretty well. I have faith that I can make it to the second round!" she said enthusiastically.

"Well, let's-a find-a out da results tomorrow!" Mario said.

As they walked into their rooms, there was a mysterious person spying on them from around the corner. "Just you wait, Smashers!" he said angrily under his breath. "I'm going to avenge for the fallen comrades! I will that you should've never messed with our organization!"

-

Due to lack of things to write anymore in this story, night went by really fast and the next morning came in a blink of an eye.

It was about nine o'clock in the morning when a large blimp hovered through the skies of Wonder Town and many people turned their eyes to it. "Ladies and gentlemen!" said the voice of Willis as it was broadcasted from the blimp. "We are glad to report to you that the results from the first tournament have now been calculated! We are now going to show the name of all the participants who have passed on the big screen underneath this blimp, as well as the points you have. Remember, it the points that you have gathered from jobs and your overall performance. If your name is not own here, that means you have been disqualified from not meeting the required points."

"Snake! The points are about to be released!" Captain Falcon, who was standing on the balcony of his hotel room, called out to Snake. "Come see fast!"

All the participants rushed over from whatever they're doing and glued their eyes to the large screen hanging down from below the blimp. The screen started flickering and slowly, words started to appear one by one on it, each of them showing the names of participants who have passed as well as their scores.

Snake saw his name on the list and said in a happy voice, "What do you know? I passed!"

CF patted him on the shoulder and said, "Congratulations on passing the first round!"

-

"Yes! I see our name!" Wario shouted with joy and his mouth still had toothpaste from brushing his teeth. "We passed! We passed!"

"Stop spitting foam onto me!" Waluigi yelled at him.

-

"Yes! We did great!" Sonic said happily, giving Tails a high five.

"We sure make a great team!" Tails said.

"Sonic! I'm glad that you've passed!" Amy exclaimed. She tossed herself onto Sonic and gave him a squeeze that may result in death. "That's why I love you so much!"

"Ack! Can't… breathe…" he cried.

-

"Wow! We passed! And a close one at that too!" Luigi said with joy, pointing at their name visible on the monitor.

"That-a sure eez good to see!" Mario said. "Let's try our best-a for da next round then!

-

All the people who had successfully passed the first round were all overjoyed. There are several people who passed and saying them out one by one would take forever, so just keep on reading this story to know who had passed and who have not.


TO BE CONTINUED

Well, what can I say? I can't really say this chapter is pulled well. It seems quite bland and boring if you ask me. That doesn't mean everything is doomed from now on. I apologize for this lackluster chapter and I will make up for it with the next one.

Trivia:
1. Failhard's inspiration comes from a GameFaqs user who has a grudge against Sega and his favorite phrase is, "Fail harder."


PROFILES OF WONDERFUL AND GREAT INVENTORS

Robotic Operating Buddy AKA ROB
Age:
Unknown, but rumored to be more than a hundred
Favorite food: Unknown since he is never seen eating
Like: Gathering knowledge of other planets
Dislike: Disobedient people
Bio: ROB was formerly the king of Cybertron, but during the war against the Decepticons, he ended up in Tooneria and lost his memory before being found by the Smashers and starting a new life. After recovering his memory, he returned to his planet and ended the war with the help of the Smashers and passed on the throne to Optimus Prime before starting his new life as a commoner with his new family, the Smashers.

Stack-Up
Description:
A vehicle with a flat, square body with four extensions coming out from the front, each with blue and red pads at the end. The driver's seat is raised from the center. For a better visualization of this vehicle, think of his Stack-Up kart in Mario Kart DS and you'll get an idea.
Features: The four pads contain concealed weapons. Two of the blue ones contain a machine gun and a gyro disk launcher whereas the two red ones contain a flamethrower and a laser gun. The driver's seat can be detached from the body and hover around and yet still the body through wirelessly.