When Link had called him, the only things he said to him were 'I need your help' and get over here as fast as you can'. At first Roy thought the mansion had fallen under attack or something after hearing the panic in Link's voice. When he rushed over and was simply told that he was going to be acting as Link's lawyer, he was convinced that everyone was playing some sort of practical joke on him. Now, two hours later in the mansion's official courtroom (because they had one of those apparently) Roy started to think that maybe they weren't joking.

"Please tell me you've got plan or something, Roy," Link asked right beside him.

"Huh? What? Oh, of course I do! Who do you take me for?" That was a complete and utter lie. I have no idea what's even going on here... He rested his head on one hand and absentmindedly tapped his desk with the other. Is this whole court thing really necessary? I mean, a mask got stolen. It's not like anyone was murdered or anything. Even then, how was he supposed to play lawyer? It's not like he was here. He had no idea what happened to land Link in this mess. I'm still not sure if this is real or not! I bet they have cameras hidden. And that party ball? He glanced up to said party ball that was hanging innocently from the seiling. I bet it has a banner inside with the words 'You got punked!' written all over it.

Tap tap tap.

A prodding at his desk snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked around for the cause, but he didn't see anyone other than Link, who didn't seem to have noticed it. Huh.

Tap tap tap!

There it was again! This time Roy peered over his desk at the floor and-

"Hiiii!" The cheerful form of Kirby bounced onto his desk, nearly bonking him in the face. "Heya there, Marth! Say, you look different... Did you do something with your hair? It looks redder."

Ignoring Link's snort of amusement, Roy let out a groan. He's had this conversation with Kirby before. Many times. "Look. Just because Young Link is actually Link and Dr. Mario is Mario, doesn't mean that I'm actually Marth! I mean, where did you even get that idea?"

"Huh? Then why were you kicked out? Master Hand said he didn't want different versions of the same person fighting. That's why Young Link, Dr. Mario, and older Pikachu weren't invited back. And no one really knows where Mewtwo went," Kirby sat down on Roy's desk as another thought occurred to him. "Come to think of it... We have Toon Link now. I wonder what that's about. But I guess that Link isn't the same Link as Link," he glanced to Link, " unlike the other Link who WAS the same Link as Link. That Link what linked to you, Link. But what about Pikachu then? That Pikachu's not the same Pika-"

"I don't have a clue what you are saying and I don't know why Master Hand didn't let me return," That's what Roy said, but he was fairly certain the over sized glove was just spiting him for some reason. Roy never did find his jokes funny after all. "So, did you have any reason for coming over here?"

"Oh yeah!" Kirby jumped to his feet and reached behind him, producing a notepad from... Somewhere. "This has all the notes I took about what happened today. Take a look!"

Roy hesitantly took it. "Do I... Want to know where this came from?" Nonetheless, he flipped through it, seeing not only recordings of some suspicious events, but also some statements from Kirby and friends about what they witnessed during their stakeout.

"This might actually help us out, Kirby," Link commented. "Thanks, but why are you giving this to us? Shouldn't you be on Meta Knight's side?"

Kirby's normally happy exterior faded away. "...Don't just look on the outside. Be sure to look on the inside as well," he said cryptically. Before either Roy or Link could ask what he meant, Kirby hopped from the table and returned to his seat.

"What was that about?" Link asked.

Roy only shrugged. "Beats me. He probably got a sugar crash or something."

"No that's not it..." They both started as Zelda jumped into the conversation. She watched as Kirby slowly returned to normal as he talked with Yoshi. "There was something in his eyes. I think he might know more than he's letting on, but he doesn't know how to say it... Or... maybe he doesn't want to."

"Z-Zelda? Where did you come from?" Roy asked her.

She smiled at him. "You don't mind if I give you guys a little help, don't you?"

"Er, no."

"Good. Looks like everyone's almost here."

Most of the seats had been filled, but there were a few straggling Smashers still entering through the doors. Among them, Roy saw Meta Knight enter, his mask now returned to him.

I don't really know how a court works, but shouldn't that have been confiscated as evidence? Roy found himself scoffing as the knight strolled through the aisle. How could this little guy have everyone walking on pins and needles? He watched as Meta Knight took a seat... At the table directly across from his.

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor," he said.

"H-Hey, wait!" Roy yelled as he stood to his feet. "I thought he was the victim! How can be the victim and the prosecutor? Hey Judge! Is that allowed?"

From the judges seat, King Dedede only shrugged. "Works for me. Do I look like I know how to run an actual courtroom? Oh, and if you're going to talk to me, call me Your Honor," he added.

"You seem to have that part down..."

"Okay, let's start this thing. Now what was I supposed to say again?" King Dedede fumbled with some papers on his desk, squinting at the nonsensical jarble written on them. "Ehh, forget this crud," he tossed them nonchalantly over his shoulder. "Let the trial of the missing mask begin! Take it away Meta Knight. And bailiff! Go get me a snack." Next to him, the bailiff, a simple Waddle Dee holding a spear, saluted and waddled off.

"Of course, Your Honor," Meta Knight left his seat and began pacing across the courtroom. "The prosecution accuses Link of theft, destruction of property, and leaving threats."

Roy nudged Link with his elbow. "Hate to be you, huh?" Link didn't bother to respond.

"I'd like to call myself to the stand as a witness," he looked to Dedede for approval.

"Munch...Munch.. Do what you want," he replied through a mouthful of donuts.

"Psst! Roy!" Zelda whispered to him. "Listen carefully here. This is where you cross examine the witnesses. If anything about their testimony seems odd or if you need to know more about something, press them for it!"

"...What is this, a tutorial?"

"Is the defense done chatting over there?" Dedede asked dryly.

"Y-Yeah! Go ahead, Meta Knight," Roy answered. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Zelda glaring at him, probably a little miffed at his 'tutorial' comment.

While they had been talking, Meta Knight had already taken his place at the witness' stand. "I first noticed my mask had been stolen early this morning-"

"Could you give an exact time?" Roy cut in, only for Meta Knight to shoot a pointed glare at him.

"I was getting to that. It was the same time I always get up. 8:00 a.m. on the dot. I reached for my mask only to find it wasn't there."

"Where do you normally leave it?" I hope I'm doing this right... He snuck a glance at Zelda who nodded encouragingly.

"I leave it next to me, on a stand near my bed," Meta Knight explained more patiently than before. "Upon realizing it was missing, I investigated my room for any clues. I found that the screws on the vent were loose. The culprit must have came in from there."

Roy pounded on his desk. Because that's what lawyers do. Well, he thought so anyway. "Hold on a moment! How could Link have reached the stand from the vent? He couldn't have dropped down. The bed was directly below him!" he said confidently. I bet he doesn't have an answer for that! Meta Knight only turned to him calmly. Roy's shoulders sagged. Aw, crap. He has an answer for that, doesn't he?

"Link has something called a hookshot, does he not?"

"Shoot!" Roy mumbled under his breath, though Dedede somehow managed to hear him anyway.

"Yup. That's exactly what that thing does. You shoot it and it retrieves things. Not looking too good for you, Link."

Roy shrunk back from Link as he glared daggers at him. "Um... Whoops?"

"Several hours later," Meta Knight continued, "Kirby came looking for me. After telling him of my condition from inside my room, he gathered his friends and searched for the culprit on my behalf."

"You holed yourself up in your room for that long?" Roy asked.

"I don't see what this has to do with the issue, but yes. No one sees me without my mask, and I'd rather not have many people seeing me wearing my... Substitute mask. It was not long after Kirby left that I recieved a note," he reached into the folds of his cape and supplied a slip of paper.

I am the one whom you seek.

Find me at the ruined castle at sunset.

"There is only one ruined castle around here: King Dedede's castle."

Roy heard Dedede grumble something rude about Bowser from his seat.

"I set off for it immediately and waited. No one showed, even as the sun sank below the horizon. It must have been a ruse. I should have known."

"Well, you guys got anything to say?" Dedede said in a bored tone. Before Roy had a chance to reply, he continued. "No? 'K, we're done with you, Meta Knight."

"Hey, listen..." Roy whispered to Zelda. Beside him, Link shuddered.

"Please don't say that..."

Ignoring him, Roy went on. "I can call people up to the stand too, right?"

Zelda gave him a weary glance. "Just as long as you know what you're doing..."

"Of course I know what I'm doing! Hey, Jud- Your Honor!" he quickly corrected himself. "The defense would like to call Ganondorf up to the stand!" In response to his request, the courtroom burst out in quiet murmurs.

It took a bit of egging, but eventually the Gerudo King took his place at the stand, though he looked far from pleased. "Hurry up and get this over with. Why did you call me up?"

"I think everyone here would agree that you have the most motivation to frame Link," Roy explained. "It wouldn't be too far out there to say you stole the mask as a roundabout way to get back at your nemesis, wouldn't it?"

"That's quite an accusation, Roy," Meta Knight said. "But while it is common knowledge that Link and Ganondorf are mortal enemies, you still need proof before you can go around accusing anyone."

Everyone froze as a bone chilling laughter boomed throughout the court room. All eyes turned to its source: the Gerudo King at the witness' stand. "Please. I don't need to be defended by you, Meta Knight. I'm fully capable of speaking for myself. Really though, if I wanted to get back at Link, I wouldn't stoop to something as childish as stealing masks and leaving 'threats', if's that's would you could even call them."

Man, I really hate this guy. "And what exactly were you doing today?"

Ganondorf folded his arms, a look of utter disinterest settling on his face. "I was in my room all day. Until this whole debacle started anyway."

"Objection!" Roy roared as he whipped his arm out in front of him, his finger pointing at Ganondorf. Woah. That felt pretty empowering!

"Calm down a little, Roy..." Link murmured to himself, massaging his sensitive ears. "I think you almost broke the sound barrier..."

"You're not quite telling the truth, Ganondorf. According to this statement from Yoshi," Roy placed the notepad onto his desk, "You were seen wandering around the garden at sunset. And while it's true you were in your room for some parts of the day, Jigglypuff mentioned some suspicious activity going on when she stopped by earlier. Care to explain?"

Ganondorf let out a shocked grunt and grit his teeth together. He tightened his grip on the railing with one of his hands. Behind him, the courtroom buzzed with excitement.

"What, so Ganondorf did it?"

"That would make sense, I guess. What with framing Link and all."

"I dunno... I still say Link did it!"

"Heh... Well, it is always the quiet ones you have to look out for..."

"Grahaha! Really? Stealing a mask? That's pretty wussy. I could do better!"

"What, like stealing defenseless Princesses? Yeah. Reeeal macho."

"Excuse me! I am not defenseless!"

"Beep beep beep!"

"Hey! Order! Order!" Kind Dedede ordered, slamming his hammer down. The impact caused a giant crack to splinter down his podium. "Whoops... Err, bailiff fix that would you? And Ganondorf, care to explain?"

"...Hmph. You're correct. There was something in my room, but I didn't steal it nor was I trying to hide it."

Is he saying it wasn't the mask? If that's the case then he'd be right back at square one. "And what was it?" Roy pressed on anyway.

"A Pikmin," he spat the word out as if it were a bite of some disgusting food, "somehow managed to sneak in. No matter how many times I threw it out, it always found its way back. I only left my room that one time to return the creature back to its negligent master."

"It's true," Olimar spoke up from the crowd. The offending red Pikmin was perched on his helmet. "This one was newly sprouted. I took my eyes off of it for a moment and it went and disappeared on me."

"Still," Ivysaur chimed in from a different part of the room, "Imagine my surprise when the King of Evil himself came to return a lost baby Pikmin. There's a heart in you yet, dear!"

The sound of splintering wood resounded across the court. Roy gulped when he realized it came from Ganondorf's iron like grip on the railing. He's probably imagining that as her skull...

The bailiff, who was currently patching up Dedede's podium, let out an invisible sigh and left to get more duck tape.

Dedede took in the damage and made a decision. "Seeing as the courtroom is in need of repair... I think now would be a good time to call for a break. Be back in ten minutes everyone!" He pounded his hammer (lightly) against his podium. It proceeded to completely fall apart. "...Make that thirty!"

The bailiff, who had just returned, let out an invisible sigh and left to get even more duck tape.

"Well, there goes our main suspect," Roy sighed. Most everyone had gathered in the mansions main lobby and were currently discussing the courtroom's events amongst each other. "Now what?"

"We're not completely out of luck," Zelda said. "We still have some leads to go on thanks to that notepad."

Roy had done nothing but look over the notepad for the past ten minutes. There really didn't seem to be anyone who'd want to get Link in trouble. "Marth and Diddy were acting strange, I guess, but you don't really think...?"

"I think it wouldn't hurt to ask them," Link offered. "We'll at least be able to clear it up then."

"...All right. You guys wait here. I'll go take a look around and see what I can find out."

Marth was pretty easy to find. He seemed to be talking with Peach and Bowser near the main entrance. It was an odd trio, though Roy guessed that Bowser was probably stalking Peach like he normally did and Marth was trying to bail her out.

"Hey, Marth! Mind if I ask you a few questions about today?" Roy said as he approached them.

Marth cast him a confused glance. "I don't mind... But, if you'd forgive my asking, why are you talking to me? Shouldn't you be trying to help Link?"

"We've kind of hit a wall... The only things we have to go on are a few loose ends that happened earlier today. Like the marker incident for example," he said, gauging Marth's reaction.

The prince stiffened slightly. "...What about it?"

"Meta Knight's mask and his room were targets of graffiti. Both were confirmed to be from a marker. Yoshi said he saw you with some markers and that you seemed to be hiding something," Though he didn't mean for it to come out that way, it almost sounded like he was accusing Marth. "Ack... Sorry, but I need to know the whole story in order to help Link," For a moment, Marth said nothing.

"What's this?" Bowser jeered at him. "Does our perfect lil' princey actually have a mean streak?"

"Bowser! Hush!" Peach scolded him.

"No, it's okay," Marth said. He let out a long sigh. "I suppose you should know. Here," He gave Roy a piece of paper. Peach looked at it over Roy's shoulder while Bowser rudely pushed Marth aside to see it.

"What!? This is what you were hiding?" Bowser growled in disappointment. "Lame."

Peach had quite a different reaction. "Marth... Did you draw this? This is beautiful!"

The paper in Roy's hands depicted a beautiful sunset drawn with marker. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn he was looking at an actual photograph. "I gotta admit, this is pretty cool. Why were you trying to hide it though?"

Marth chuckled bashfully. "Well... I have plenty of people making attacks on my masculinity already, and if word got out I liked to draw..."

"Graha! This is pretty girly-Ow!" Bowser yelped as Peach decked him in the nose.

"I think it's lovely, Marth," Peach told him earnestly.

"Yeah. Sorry if I sounded like I was accusing you earlier," Roy said as he handed back the picture. "I guess the only people I have left to ask are Diddy and Squirtle."

"Diddy had come by to ask me for some markers earlier. He said he wanted to make a happy birthday banner for his uncle. As for Squirtle... He's a prankster, but he wouldn't leave threats like that."

Frustrated, Roy ran a hand through his hair. "Great. That leaves no suspects. How am I supposed to help Link now?" He glanced at one of the clocks hanging on the wall. The court will be back in session in fifteen minutes.

"Why don't you try looking around Meta Knight's room?" Peach suggested. "There could be some clues there."

"I guess that's the only option I have left..."

"So... Pikachu was standing outside the door, Yoshi was out on the balcony, Kirby was in the vent, and Jigglypuff was in the room..." Roy thought out loud. "That leaves the vent after Kirby got knocked out and the bathroom... No, there isn't much point for the culprit to come in from the bathroom. Why would he need to knock Kirby out then? Wait. In order for him not to be seen when he was writing on this wall, Kirby would need to be taken care of. But if he did come from the bathroom, how'd he sneak past Jigglypuff? He'd also have to walk past the balcony's doors, so there was a good chance he'd be caught by Yoshi... Grah!"

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Okay think... The note was signed 'Link', but how do we know which Link signed it? It could have been Young Link. Or Toon Link, whatever his name is," He read the message scribbled across the wall a few times before he concluded that Toon Link couldn't have done it. "The message is at least six feet from the ground. Even if he was standing on the bed, Young Toon whatever Link wouldn't be able to reach."

Roy slumped down on Meta Knight's bed in defeat. "This sucks. Link's counting on me..." He pounded the wall behind him with his fist. "And I can't do anything to help him!"

Thump.

He jumped when he felt something land on the bed. He looked to his left to find a grey tin can. Directly above it was the vent. It must have fell when I hit the wall. He picked it up and examined it. It had a green label with a picture of a pink berry.

"...Don't just look on the outside. Be sure to look on the inside as well."

Roy found himself holding his breath. Was this what Kirby was talking about? Slowly, he peered into the can. Nothing but a bunch of brown and green crumbs. "Feh. I should have known better," He let the can drop to the floor and watched as it rolled away. "Kirby's always spouting some sort of nonsense."

He got up and walked forward until he was lined up with the sliding glass door and door that led to the hallway. "All right. Let's try to retrace their steps. Jigglypuff was standing here... Hmm," He sat on the ground so he was at her height. "And she was looking at the mirror," He noticed something strange. Why did she have to be standing so far away from the mirror? It was a good five to six feet in front of him. "That's weird... Don't people normally stand close to mirrors if their fixing their hair? Ah, it's probably because of those giant eyes of hers or something."

The mirror itself was pretty big, Roy noted. When he looked inside of it, he could see part of the message on the wall written in reverse. Wait... When I look in the mirror... I can see part of the message... So if Jigglypuff was looking in the mirror... That means...

"...Be sure to look on the inside as well."

"That... That's it..." Roy let the words slowly pass through his mouth. "I know who did it... I know who did it! And in order to knock Kirby out..." He spun around and saw the tin can still laying on the floor, the picture of the pink berry facing the ceiling. He scooped it up and dashed out of the room.

"Okay, now that we have everything all patched up," Dedede said, giving his podium, which was now more duck tape than wood, a pat, "Let's say we wrap things up here, huh? Roy, does the defense have anything they'd like to share?"

"Actually, Your Honor... We do," Roy stood up at his desk, feeling much more confident than before. "We'd like to call up one more witness to the stand."

"Do you actually have a reason for calling this person up, Roy?" Meta Knight asked him. "I hope you don't plan on flinging any more accusations without evidence."

"Don't worry. This next person holds everything we need to know."

"Hey Zelda, I think Roy actually knows what he's doing this time," Roy heard Link whisper.

"I'd like to call... Jigglypuff to the stand!" The courtroom broke out in murmurs once again.

"Jigglypuff? Wasn't she in the room when in happened?"

"You think she saw something and is keeping silent about it?"

"Don't worry, Jigglypuff. Just go up there and be honest and everything will be fine."

"Yoshi! It looks pretty scary up there! It'll be okay though! Don't worry."

"Jigglypuff... Nevermind."

"Order!" Dedede called. He didn't even bother to use his hammer. "All right, you heard him Jigglypuff. Get up here."

Everything was silent as Jigglypuff jumped onto the witness' stand.

"Go ahead and tell your story. And make it quick!"

"Okay. Umm..." Roy listened carefully as Jigglypuff recounted her tale of the stakeout. "...And when I turned away from the mirror, I saw that the wall had been written all over. It scared me so much that I let out a scream and fell to the floor."

That was all he needed to hear. "OBJECT-"

"Not this again, Roy!" Link snapped, covering his ears. "Say it normally!"

Ruin my fun why don't you... "Ahem. Objection. Your Honor, the witness' testimony holds a one large contradiction."

"That's... A lotta big words," King Dedede blinked at him. "Explain?"

To be honest, I'm not even sure what I'm saying myself! "If Jigglypuff was looking in the mirror when the culprit was writing on the wall, she would have seen the culprit through the mirror's reflection! In other words... She's lying!" Roy watched as Jigglypuff winced and looked down to her feet. At this point, the courtroom absolutely exploded.

"Order! Order!" Dedede yelled, trying to get everyone under control.

"Perhaps Jigglypuff was too focused on the mirror to notice anything going on in the background?" Meta Knight countered before the noise even settled down.

"..Yeah. I can get really caught up when I'm in front of a mirror. There could be an earthquake and I wouldn't even notice!" she joked uneasily.

"I doubt that. But there is another piece of evidence I'd like to show you guys. Here!" He slammed the tin can he found onto his desk. "Take a look! Sure, this can may look innocent, but inside it holds a dark, terrible secret!"

"Getting a little too melodramatic there, Roy," Link said.

"And what is this 'dark, terrible secret'?" Dedede asked.

"After finding it in Meta Knight's room, I took it to Dr. Mario to have it examined. And found mixed in with the crumbs at the bottom of the can was a green powder... Known in the Pokemon world as Sleep Powder. This can was given to Kirby... By none other than Jigglypuff!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Pikachu yelled from his seat. "Jigglypuff and I both ate from that can as well and neither of us fell asleep! Explain that!"

"That's obviously because..." It took a moment for Pikachu's words to finally catch up to Roy. "Wait, what did you say?"

"Exactly! That Sleep Powder must have been planted in that can afterwards! It doesn't make sense otherwise!"

"It makes perfect sense," Meta Knight said, surprising everyone. "If you remove the pellets beforehand, pour the Sleep Powder in the can, let it settle to the bottom, and put the pellets back in, the pellets on top would be perfectly safe to eat, provided you didn't shake the can too much. And knowing Kirby, he probably poured the entire thing into his mouth without a second thought."

"...After waking up a bit... I remembered that I tasted something funny..." Kirby said quietly.

"You made sure you were the one in the room. When Kirby asked you to watch the vent, you declined because it was too dusty, how did you know it was dusty anyway? Unless you had been up there before to steal the mask! Anyways, you purposefully choose Pecha flavored pellets because you knew they were a favorite of Kirby's. He would eventually ask you for some, and even if he didn't, you would have offered him some. Am I right?"

Jigglypuff didn't say anything.

"The writing on the wall threw me off for a moment because of how high off the ground it was. It would have looked like someone tall would have wrote it, but in your case, you can fly, so it was easy to write the message at that height. Now my only question is why you would frame Link. What did he do to you?"

"Hey! Quit being mean to Jigglypuff!" It was Yoshi who called out this time. "She would never do something like this!"

"Right!" Pikachu added. "Where's your proof? Anyone could have put that Sleeping Powder in there beforehand! Kirby, say something!"

"I..." Kirby looked down. "J-Jigglypuff wouldn't..."

"It's okay, everyone," Jigglypuff said. She removed her sunhat and reached her hand into it, pulling out a black marker. "You're right, Roy. I did it. But I didn't mean to get Link in trouble at first. Meta Knight was the one I was after."

"Why?"

She glared at the knight. "Do you know how hard I worked, how hard I trained for the Melee tournament? I wanted to prove myself. And I did. I was proud to say that I was able to hold my own as one of the best fighters. And then this guy thinks he can swoop on in and dominate every fight like it was nothing! What's the point? Why bother fighting in this tournament if there's always going to be someone better than you no matter what you do?

"I eventually decided it would be better if you were out of this tournament, so I tried to scare you away. Even if my threats didn't scare you, I was hoping you'd get so fed up you'd just drop out of your own accord. When we staked out your room, I did exactly as Roy said. As I was writing on your wall though, a thought occurred to me. If I was the only one in the room, that'd leave me as the prime suspect. I needed to do something. It was then I remembered something Pikachu had said. Link hadn't been anywhere to be seen. Hesitantly, I wrote his name at the end of my message. It would throw the light off of me for awhile at least. I'm really sorry though, Link. But don't you think it's a little too much to bear at times? Being considered one of the worst fighters?"

To Roy's surprise, Link didn't seem that angry at Jigglypuff. The Hylian thought about her question for a few moments before answering. "...I take it as a sign that I have much left to improve on. I don't envy other people's strength. I admire it. Because you know what, Jigglypuff? They worked just as hard to get that far as you did during the last tournament."

"Jigglypuff," Meta Knight said, "My fighting skills are the result of decades of battles. I wasn't born strong, and just because I didn't participate in the earlier tournaments, that didn't mean I was weak either. And you speak as if I'm unbeatable. I have had my fair share of losses. Some of which were to you, even. That just shows you still have that potential to get stronger."

"Quit talking as if you know me!" Jigglypuff snapped, her eyes becoming misty in her anger. "You know nothing about me!"

"I actually do know quite a bit about you," he answered, surprising her. "After the first tournament ended, Kirby wouldn't stop talking about all the people he had met. Yours was a name that came up quite often. From what I gathered, you didn't know how to fight or even fly. Apparently, your entire being there was a complete accident. In spite of that, Kirby took the role of mentoring you, much like I mentored him, and taught you how to fight. In a way, that makes you a student of mine as well. If it wasn't for that, you wouldn't have been invited back, and probably wouldn't have wanted to come back either. Am I correct so far?"

She sniffled. "I wanted to come back because I felt like I found a place here... And I wanted to see all my friends again..."

"And aren't your friends more important than your placing in a tournament?"

She sniffled again, letting the tears spill from her eyes. "What... What was I thinking...? Meta Knight, I'm sorry for being so selfish! Kirby, Yoshi, Pikachu... I'm sorry for lying to you! I'm so sorry!"

"Umm.. Uh... Wow. Didn't see this coming," Dedede commented. "I guess that means you're off the hook, Link! The court finds you... Not guilty!" He pounded his hammer with a sense of finality. Above, the party ball that was mentioned like 5,000 words ago popped open, spilling confetti everywhere.

Roy let out a sigh of relief. "So glad this is over..."

"I really owe you one, Roy!" Link said, patting him on the back. "Anything I can do for you?"

"Could you convince Master Hand to let me back in?"

"...I don't think I can do that."

"Then what good are you?" Roy said, though he didn't really mean it.

"Hey..."

Zelda giggled at their exchange. "Congratulations, you two," Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the bailiff taking Jigglypuff away. "What do you think's going to happen to her?"

"Probably nothing too serious. My guess is she'll have to repaint Meta Knight's room," Roy answered. "It looks like she really regrets what she did."

The following morning found Jigglypuff painting over Meta Knight's room, just like Roy had predicted. All of his belongings had been moved out into the hallway, so the room was completely bare. She let out a sigh as she sweeped over the black markings.

"It was pretty stupid of me to get so worked up over something like this..." She said to herself. She dipped her brush into the navy paint. "To be honest, I had gotten a little lazy between this tournament and the last. That's probably why I'm so far behind everyone. I just wanted a scapegoat or something to pin the blame on... I just hope everyone forgives me."

"Don't worry!" Jigglypuff nearly screamed at Kirby's loud voice. He had somehow managed sneak next to her without her noticing. "We forgive you! We all make mistakes sometimes. Like, there was this one time I almost committed mass genocide over a slice of cake! Thinking back on it, I might have overreacted..."

"K-Kirby!? What are you doing here!?" She noticed Pikachu and Yoshi standing behind him. "You guys..."

"We're going to help you paint the wall," Pikachu said. "I mean, we don't really have anything else to do today, so why not?"

"Yup!" Yoshi chirped. "Besides, you'll be done faster this way, then we can all go get something to eat and it'll be fun! Oh, and Meta Knight's here too!"

Jigglypuff peered over Yoshi to see the knight busily painting the wall. "What? This is my room after all. Oh, and thank you for not using permanent marker on my mask. There would have been consequences otherwise."

"E-Everyone..." she felt herself getting all choked up. Oh, no... I'm not going to start crying in front of everyone again... Sniffing, she turned to a different wall. "I'm... I'm just gonna paint this wall over here..."

Kirby, Yoshi, and Pikachu all shared a smile. No one bothered to point out that that wall didn't even need to be painted.

Aaaaand we finally reach the end of this arc! Whew... This was a long chapter...

I openly admit I have no idea how a court works. Like, my only knowledge comes from a single Phoenix Wright game I played several years ago that I barely remember. That's all. Forgive me if I broke everything!

And props to Nintendofreak for figuring out that Jigglypuff did it! Looks like she got pretty fed up being stuck at the bottom tier, huh? I tried to throw some hints in without being to obvious. Like in the first chapter of this arc, it was mentioned a few times that she was acting strange. (The reason she knew something was going to happen was because she was the direct cause of it!) And remember Kirby, Yoshi, and Pikachu's 'I Believe in You' Friendship Power Moment? Jiggly didn't have much to say on that, did she?

See ya later!