Chapter Nine: First Impressions


~*Afternoon of the First Day*~


The King Koopa stared at the fallen trophy of Zelda before commanding a batch of purple fog towards the shiny figure.

"Shadowbugs," Bowser rumbled, "go."

The fog swarmed over the trophified Zelda and began to meld with its shape. The whole mass collapsed for a moment before reforming into a false princess, who got to her feet. The possessed Zelda looked exactly like she had before she had been attacked, except that her irises now burned a seering yellow and streams of violet emanated from her body. In short, the once elegant princess had taken up a fearsome appearance.

And that was how Bowser liked it.

The reptilian's mouth twisted into a slight grin, before he deposited his weapon at False Zelda's feet: a Dark Cannon that shot the infamous black arrows. The false princess took the signal and hefted the gun-machine into her grasp, glancing at Bowser in hesitation. Her commander gave a grunt of confirmation and pointed towards the top of a nearby hill. False Zelda nodded and began making her way up the incline with the Dark Cannon in tow.

Bowser watched the Shadowbug-possessed princess, then caught sight of a rucksack along with several coins laying on the ground around it. He paused before deciding to leave it.

"It all adds to the mystery," he remarked slyly, before shuffling away to indulge in more dark business.

*.*.*.*.*

If there was one thing that Link knew about Yoshi, it was that the green creature was easy to please.

After they had attempted to pursue the dark battleship they had been able to keep up with it for a good amount of time, until nature had intervened. The dirt road they had been following – in a remarkably straight line – had come to an abrupt halt at a cliff face. Link had deducted that it was too hazardous to descend the rocky decline, so they had begrudgingly given up on following the airship, for the time being.

Prompted by the thought of hovering objects, the Hyrulean swordsman looked up to the sky. Clouds were beginning to roll in, and he had a feeling it would bring something wet. Nevertheless, he glanced at Yoshi, who was trotting ahead. Link's companion had gone through a remarkably short period of moping about in a bad mood when they had reached the cliff face – before quickly reverting to his usual quirky self.

Link grinned at Yoshi's optimism before once again remembering his original reason for being in this world: the Tournament. A view of the engulfed Stadium flashed in his mind.

"Yoshi," he said, capturing his friend's attention instantly, "do you fight with any weapons in the Smash Brothers' Tournament?"

Yoshi shook his head.

"Do any of the other competitors fight with weapons?"

The creature nodded. Then he spotted the tip of Link's scabbard poking out from behind the swordsman's back. "Yoshi?" he said, pointing at the object that had caught his attention.

"Do you want me to show you my weapon?"

Yoshi nodded eagerly.

"Alright." Link drew the Master Sword from its blue and gold sheath that laid across his back and held the blade in front of him. Yoshi stood mesmerised as the flawless metal reflected the remaining sunlight and seemed to amplify its radiance. Link was always impressed at the sheer perfection of the holy blade, even now.

"You know, whenever I look at this I think something along the lines of: 'By Nayru, this must have been forged by a deity.' It's not called 'the Blade of Evil's Bane' for nothing."

Yoshi blinked, remaining silent and still hypnotised.

Link laughed. He was always amused by Yoshi's innocent simplicity.

"Say, Yoshi..."

His addressee met his blue eyes.

"Would you like me to show you this in action?"

The emerald animal wore a thoughtful look for a moment, resting his hand on his chin before leaping up excitedly and squawking "Yoshi, yoshi!"

"Haha." Link moved back a few steps before swinging the Master Sword through the air expertly at several angles.

Yoshi applauded enthusiastically and released a stream of his trademark gibberish.

"Here comes the big finale," Link remarked, unable to resist cracking a grin. He made sure there was a wide space around him before he twirled around swiftly, slicing the silver blade through the air in a spin attack. He regained his balance afterwards without so much as a stumble.

Yoshi was dumbstruck.

When Link's head stopped spinning he saw Yoshi with his mouth hanging open. Then he felt sheepish after showing off in front of his green friend. He felt like he needed to say something as Yoshi remained speechless.

"Well, I finally figured out how to do that without falling over," he explained. "Anyway, you don't want to show weakness in the face of the enemy."

Yoshi nodded slowly, his wonderment eventually fading.

*.*.*.*.*

As Mario and Pit trekked through the forest, they could see that they were coming to a break in the trees. It had taken the pair a long time to travel with the angel's injury and they had not met any competitors en route.

Both of them were very irritated, but neither of them wanted to vent in front of the other. They had to get help.

The dwindling density of the trees felt like a hopeful spur for the two as they emerged from the vegetation and somewhat eagerly left the greenery behind them.

"Finally," Mario breathed, spreading his arms out as if embracing the open air. Pit stumbled as he avoided the plumber's limbs. "Sorry," Mario apologised when he noticed Pit jerk away.

"It's alright," Pit said, righting his balance and trying not to lean on his sore leg. He stared at the sky, relieved that he was able to lay his eyes on its vast blueness again. A faint gut feeling prompted him to explore the hill a short distance off.

Without warning Mario, he lifted off on his wings, staying close to the ground.

"Where are you going?" the red-garbed plumber called.

Pit didn't look back as he noticed a figure on top of the hill. As he got closer he discovered that the figure was a person who was shrouded in an ominous purple aura. He continued to approach the mysterious person. He made a bit more ground before alighting onto the ground and peering intently at the figure, whom seemed to be armed with some sort of bulky weapon.

Then he recognised the person and the weapon in a shock of confusion and horror.

"No way."

*.*.*.*.*

False Zelda searched for a target. She swept her golden gaze around at the scenery, finding nothing of interest.

Several minutes passed and possessed Zelda did not move from her post until she caught sight of something at the bottom of the slope. There stood two figures, one humanoid and the other some type of animal.

Prey.

She shifted the Dark Cannon into a position in which to fire with. She observed her two targets. One was swinging a sword around and the other seemed to be standing still and watching the other flail the blade around.

False Zelda considered her targets. Aim for the armed one. For some subconscious reason she could not identify in her possessed state, she felt slightly reluctant to aim the Cannon at the swordsman. She dismissed the feeling, pointed the weapon at her prey and began to charge it. It began to vibrate with accumulating power.

Then everything went haywire.

The possessed princess was thrown back by a sudden blinding force. Her Dark Cannon was ripped from her grasp and it had somehow been sliced perfectly in two. In a split second the Cannon had exploded in midair. False Zelda steadied herself with her magic and shot a deadly glare at her assaulter.

A winged youth garbed in white stood to her left, twin blades drawn as if he had just finished a swipe with them.

"Zelda?" he stammered. "It's me... Pit."

False Zelda continued to stare at the angel. Pit caught the eerie yellow glare and froze in peculiar fear. Then Zelda abruptly summoned magic and sent a fireball at him.

Pit dodged the fireball as best he could. "What's gotten into you?" he asked as he felt the searing heat brush past him then dissipate into thin air.

False Zelda paid no heed to his question and threw a string of fireballs at Pit, whom rolled out of the way. He swatted the last fireball away with a blade as he remained on the ground and in pain.

The purple-shrouded princess held out her palm and a light arrow materialised in it. She sent it blistering at her target, whom was just able to manoeuvre out of the way and suppress a yell as he did so.

Then False Zelda was hit out of the blue by a blast of fiery magic from the side, causing her to fall.

Mario had finally caught up.

"Princess Zelda, what's going on?"

"She's turning on us for some reason!" Pit exclaimed and slowly eased onto his feet.

The fuming Zelda turned her attention to Mario and flung several shots of raw magic at Mario. The plumber blocked the attack with a wall of fire that seemed to emerge from the ground.

Thinking that Zelda was distracted, Pit rose into the air and dive-bombed at her. In the nick of time she swung around and battered him away. The angel was fear-struck by her golden gaze once again before he went sailing through the air. Lost in confusion, he was unable to catch himself and landed heavily. He cried out.

Mario had meanwhile switched to the offensive and had begun sending fireball after fireball at False Zelda, who had produced a blue diamond-shaped barrier around herself. The plumber took a gamble, hoping to catch the princess by surprise and summoned a fiery wall of intense ferocity behind her. It broke through her spell and she was thrown to the ground.

Pit finally shook off the pain in his leg and watched the scene that played out, with Mario gaining the upper hand against False Zelda. He rose once again, steadied himself and combined his blades into the bow. He took aim as a sky-coloured arrow formed on the weapon and waited.

Pit let the arrow loose.

The aura around False Zelda seemed to intensify in her fury. She raised her head but before she could register what was happening, she saw a bright blue flash heading straight for her.

In a shock of brilliance, possessed Zelda was forced backwards and trophified.

Mario and Pit looked at the silver trophy of Zelda laying on the ground as if waiting for it to do something, then began making their way towards it. It indeed did begin to shimmer and pulse after a long moment and the pair stopped in their tracks. The trophy's shape dissolved into one obsidian mass, before the fog lifted off its surface and disappeared into the air.

The duo stood wide-eyed.

*.*.*.*.*

Link had to admit that he was having fun goofing off in front of Yoshi. Apart from already had an allurement to the thrill of swordplay, he also enjoyed watching Yoshi's reactions, from his jigging on the spot to his facial expressions to his unintelligible gibberish.

Suddenly, there was a distant flash of light out of the corner of Link's eye. He stopped swinging the Master Sword around and turned his gaze to the top of the hill they were near. There he saw three figures: two standing and one fallen.

He couldn't see them very well from his position, so he made his way up the incline with suspicion hanging in his mind. Yoshi wondered why his friend had halted the show, so he followed Link. He tried to communicate with Link in gibberish but was interrupted by a hand gesture that told him to be quiet.

The emerald-skinned Yoshi remained silent as he trotted behind Link. He finally saw what had Link so interested. He was about to open his mouth to talk, however Link ceased walking for a tense moment.

Link could finally make out the three figures. He didn't recognise the red one or the white one...

But he could recognise the fallen one anywhere.

As if struck by a bolt of invisible lightning, Link was thrown into a blinding rage and charged up the hill. Yoshi tried to calm him down, but his cries fell on deaf ears.

Mario and Pit had been about to revive Zelda, but before they could touch the trophy's golden base, a shrill battle cry cut the air – like their assailant's sword.

Link lunged at Mario, leaping into the air to deliver a powerful downward stab, but Mario cleanly dodged away. Pit backed away hurriedly and promptly fell over in shock.

Yoshi had caught up with his companion and was attempting to stop the imminent brawl, but the plumber and the swordsman were too involved in the sudden intrusion. Link stepped defensively in front of the trophy form of Zelda, whom still laid untouched.

"STOP!"

A commanding yell and a high-pitched yap froze the two opponents. Link and Mario turned to see Yoshi and Pit standing side by side, with Yoshi jumping on the spot and Pit pointing his bow threateningly at Link.

"Don't move," Pit said shakily but loudly. "Anyone."

Link's grip on the Master Sword tightened before he lowered his sword and shield.

"Yoshi?" Mario exclaimed in disbelief. "You were with him?"

Pit silenced the plumber. "If I don't want this guy to talk then I don't want you to either."

Mario straightened his cap and glanced disapprovingly at the Hyrulean.

"Who are you?" Pit continued, addressing Link. "What do you want?"

"You did something to Zelda," Link answered gruffly, looking darkly at Mario and Pit. "How do I know you're not an accomplice of the ones who destroyed the Stadium?"

Pit slackened his grip on his bow.

"How did you know about the Stadium?" Mario asked.

"I was going to compete in the Tournament."

"And you know Zelda?"

The swordsman paused for a moment before replying. "I'm Link."

Pit stared on, mouth hanging open. "You?" he said. "Zelda has mentioned you."

"She says you're her friend," Mario added. Then a knowing look crossed his face. "I understand now." He smirked to himself, then walked over to Zelda and touched the trophy's base.

The four competitors shielded their eyes from the light as Zelda reanimated, and sat up.

"Who's there?" the princess breathed, looking around in a daze and blinking rapidly. "What happened?"

"Zelda!"

Link dropped his equipment and rushed to her side, involuntarily shoving Mario out of the way.

"Princess," Link said, kneeling down next to her as she regained her bearings. Zelda looked uncertainly at Link.

"Link?" asked. "What are you doing here?"

Mario couldn't help but look sideways at Pit and Yoshi as if sharing an inside joke, standing next to the Hyrulean pair with arms crossed. Pit and Yoshi looked in bewilderment at the plumber, until a moment later the angel understood and had to hold in a giggle.

The princess attempted to get to her feet.

"Do you need help?" Link asked.

"I'm fine," Zelda replied as she unsteadily but surely regained her standing position. She took in her surroundings, looking at the four competitors. "I'm assuming you got off on the right foot?" she joked.

There was a heavy silence and Zelda frowned. "So, no?"

The stillness continued for another uncomfortable moment before Link spoke up. "Let's just say I didn't make a good first impression of myself."

Zelda's expression didn't lighten up but she looked at Link with an understanding look. Link couldn't help but feel foolish.

"Well," Pit interrupted, sounding more cheerful than he intended to. "We can fix all that, right?"

The group looked around at each other and couldn't help but share a laugh.


A/N: I've decided to add a timestamp sort of thing to the beginning of each chapter because the SSE juggles between several characters. It's just to give a better idea of the time that is passing.