Author's Note:

Okay, folks, this is where I start introducing the Brawl Smashers! There's no real specific order, except that I'm saving the secret, unlockable characters for later so those of you who haven't found them yet don't get the reading experience spoiled for you. (Then again, it's been years since Brawl came out; you've probably beaten it. Oh well.)

Chapter #10: A New Band of Brawlers

Food Court, Top Floor

Donkey Kong was walking past the Food Court when he heard loud shouting…in gibberish? Scratching his head, he entered the court and Yoshi and Boshi sitting in their chairs, their bellies full of pizza. Pizza boxes were stacked beside them, and Yoshi's stack was taller than his rival's. Because of this, Boshi yelled angrily at his opponent, who simply folded his arms and smirked at him silently.

"Ook ack ook, ook eek ack? (Hey Yoshi, what happened?)" the curious ape asked.

"Oh hey, DK," Yoshi greeted him casually, and then stifled a burp. "I just beat Boshi here in a pizza-eating contest."

"Eek! Ack ook! (Oh! Good job!)" He looked at the screaming dinosaur and tilted his head. "Ack ook ook eek? (What's he saying?)"

"It's the Yoshi language." Boshi hurled a few more insults, and Yoshi's cheeks turned red. "You don't wanna know what it means."

"Ook… (Oh…)" DK he turned to Boshi and scowled. "Eek ack ook? (Are you done?)"

The blue dino stopped in mid-sentence and stared at the hulking gorilla, losing his voice.

"Eek, ack ook eek ook ack ack ook eek."

"Uhh…what did he say, dude?" Boshi asked his rival.

Yoshi's eyebrows rose. "He wants to challenge us!"

"Huh? In what?"

DK answered confidently, "Ack eek eek eek ook ook ack ook!"

"A banana-eating contest!" Yoshi jumped up from his seat (nearly toppling over because of his full belly). "I'm in!"

Boshi also got up, but took a bit longer to do so. "So am I!" he said, not about to back down from a challenge.

The two Yoshis waddled as fast as they could over to the counter to find the stash of bananas; Donkey Kong sat on a table, barely able to hide a grin of rare cunning. Those two gluttons had no idea what they were getting into…

Parking Lot of Smash-Mart

"Oh a-dear. This could-a be a problem," Mario said with a gulp.

He and his brother were clinging tightly to the tree in the parking lot. Below them, the swarm of Goombas taunted the two plumbers; sometimes one took a big leap and snapped at them, missing by only a couple inches. However, after a few minutes of this, they stopped and began to grumble loudly.

"I thought this would be easy, Boss!" one said.

The Goomba leader (the one Young Link and Luigi had met in the grocery store) growled, "Me too. I spent all morning tracking these two, and now I can't even get a bite in! That creep that got us to do this should've paid us more!"

Young Link, much to his embarrassment, got backed against the tree by the old Koopa; after dealing a blow that made her cane vibrate, he scrambled into the tree to join the Mario Bros. He managed to catch the boss Goomba's comment and stared at him. "Huh? Somebody's paying you to maul us?!"

"Not me!" objected the old lady. "I'm only in it for the milk!"

At that, the Hylian boy clutched the milk carton to his chest and rubbed it, hissing, "My Precious…" This earned curious stares from his comrades in the tree.

Luigi picked up where Young Link left off. "Who is a-paying you to bug us? And a-why?"

"Th-that's none of your business!" stammered the leader, realizing that he has said too much. Then, to the old lady, "Can you climb up the tree and finish 'em off?"

In reply she whacked him over the head with her cane. "Of course not, you ninny! I'd break my back!"

Suddenly one of the Goombas screeched and popped into the air, and all who were watching noticed the arrow stuck in his back. Without warning a black dot in the sky dropped into the middle of the Goomba swarm. It was a human boy wearing white robes, sandals, and a golden crown of leaves on his head, and he was armed with a golden bow and quiver full of lethal arrows. But the strangest thing of all was that he had a pair of wings on his back. Before the astonished spectators' eyes, he broke the bow into two dual blades and beat the Goombas around him to a pulp. The creatures scattered in terror, and he launched back into the air and took aim with his rebuilt bow at the loners.

The portions of Goombas that managed to escape from the arrows darted for the place where they had parked the jeep and trailer; but they find it gone! Bewildered, they took cover behind several packs of cars in the parking lot, and they sighed in relief as their assailant's arrows missed their targets. After about ten seconds of no more arrows, they swarmed out of their hiding place and made a frantic dash for the exit from the parking lot. Just as they were about to escape, something rolled out from behind a nearby bush and stopped at their feet.

The leader screamed, "Yikes! A stun grenade! Run for your—"

Bam!!!

Fungus flew everywhere, and the entire crowd was knocked out.

"Whoa! That was cool!" Young Link cried as he slid down from the tree. "I wish my bow could split like that!"

"But what a-happened?" Luigi asked.

Mario dropped to the ground ahead of his brother, his eyes on the bush. "Look over a-there!"

Suddenly a cardboard box painted to match the bush crawled out. It stopped in a place with no unconscious Goombas underfoot, and then it was thrown off, revealing the person inside. It was another human, a man much older and taller than the winged boy, and he wore a dark blue sneaking suit, a belt full of grenades, and a blue bandana tied around his head. He observed the damage he had caused with a battle-hardened frown. "Objective accomplished," he grunted quietly.

The winged boy flew over to him and yelled with a grin, "No fair using a stun grenade! Go get your own!"

The stranger looked up at him and replied with a small grin of his own, "In your dreams, Cupid."

"I've told you! My name is not Cupid!"

Young Link scampered over to them, interrupting their conversation. "Thanks for saving us!" he exclaimed happily. "And who are you guys? I've never seen you before!"

"We're new in town," explained the winged human, landing beside his quieter partner. "I'm Pit. And Mr. Trigger-happy here likes to be called Solid Snake."

Mario and Luigi caught up, and the green plumber asked, "Where did-a you come from?"

"That Master Hand guy made us Smashers a few hours ago, and we came to look for the rest of the team."

"Solid Snake" folded his arms and said, "I'm assuming you're the Mario Brothers. I've been looking for you."

"Hmm? A-why?" Mario exclaimed.

"Master Hand told me that…" But in mid-sentence, he stopped and looked around. Spying the old lady watching them from a safe distance, he frowns more and lowers his voice. "…I'd better not tell you here. Where is the Princess?"

"She went a-back inside, I a-think," Luigi said.

"Then we'd better find her quick." Before anyone could inquire why that was necessary, Snake darted for Smash-Mart. The others had little choice but to follow him, their curiosity aroused.

What urgent business could this mysterious newcomer have for them?

Meanwhile, on a street several miles from Smash-Mart…

"Beep bop bop beep blip bop bop, boop beep! (You'll never take me alive, coppers!)" screamed Mr. Game & Watch as he careened around a street corner, with several police cruisers in hot pursuit. One pulled up alongside him, but he wheeled the jeep into it and forced it into a telephone pole. The two-dimensional Smasher laughed maniacally and rammed another one on his left side.

Like something out of a street-racing game, he heard the cops shouting through their radios. "Let's set up a roadblock and force him into it! He'll never know what hit him!"

Game & Watch snickered and decided to have some fun with this blockade idea. Barely thinking about the groceries stashed in the trailer, he turned onto another street, following the cops' lead.

Bookstore, Middle Floor

In a large bookstore, Dr. Mario, Falco, and Kirby found themselves in a predicament similar to the Mario Brothers and Young Link's. Dark Samus had them pinned down behind an overturned bookshelf, and she peppered the store with laser fire to ensure that her targets didn't escape.

"Boy, are a-we in a pickle," Dr. Mario said.

"You got that right," agreed Falco, flattening his body against a shelf as more laser blasts zipped over their heads. "The perfect time for my blaster, and I lose it in the mall!"

"I still don't get it. Why has Samus gone insane?" Kirby asked.

Lombardi shouted in his face, "That's not Samus, you blockhead! It's Dark Samus!"

Kirby whimpered and turned into a block. "You don't have to yell."

Dr. Mario grabbed both of them by the wrist. "Quit a-fighting!" Then he dragged them to another bookshelf just before their old one was blasted to smithereens by a plasma-cannon shot. "Right a-now we a-need to find a way out of a-here!"

The proverbial light bulb appeared over Kirby's head. "Hey! I have an idea!" He suddenly rolled out from behind the bookshelf and yelled at the top of his lungs, "This fight isn't fair! We aren't armed!"

"What's the little goofball doing now?" Falco muttered. "He's giving away our position!"

But before Dark Samus could fire on the easy target, a hard blow struck her from behind. She sprawled to the floor, unconscious. The doctor and the bird peered out from behind their cove and gaped at her attacker.

"Isn't that Kirby's rival Meta Knight?" Falco whispered to his comrade.

And Meta Knight it was. He sheathed his sword and nodded to the pink puffball. "If there is anything I detest, Kirby," he said in his low voice, "it is an unfair fight. When you are ready for another battle, let me know. I'll be ready." He whipped his blue cape over him, and in a flash, he vanished, leaving the stunned Smashers alone with Dark Samus's unconscious body.

"He doesn't like you but will help you beat an enemy in an unfair fight. You've got a weird rival, Kirby," remarked Falco.

"Yeah, he is pretty mysterious," Kirby agreed. Then his stomach grumbled. "Oh man, I'm hungry again. Maybe Yoshi left something back at the Food Court. I'll catch ya later, guys!" With a final wave he departed, giving Dark Samus a wide berth.

There was a pause, and Falco studied the knocked-out villain uneasily. "Now what should we do?"

Then Dr. Mario froze and gulped. "Um, a-Falco, have a-you forgotten a-something?"

Suddenly they heard blaster fire coming from the other side of the mall, and they spotted the shots zipping around in an arena next to a certain sporting goods store. They both looked at each other and shouted frantically, "Fox!"

Sporting Goods Store, Middle Floor

"Wow! I've never seen Fox go nuts before!" Ness exclaimed as he watched the unusual scene occurring in the dance-off arena.

Only a few minutes earlier, Captain Falcon had been losing to Link in their dance-off. After the Hylian had performed another, more complicated break-dance number, Falcon had reluctantly done the only other song he knew besides "The Chicken Dance": "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy". He'd even had the pink tutu to boot. Tom Nook had never gotten to rate it, for two reasons. One: he and the others had been laughing too hard at the sorry scene. Two: out of nowhere, a deranged Fox had charged in, armed to the teeth with the two stolen blasters.

With a maniacal laugh, Fox sprayed the arena with blaster fire, dotting every surface with holes; he was too focused on what he was doing to care if his friends were in the crossfire. As the overheating guns shut off to cool down and recharge, he called out hoarsely, "C'mon, raccoon, come out and fight! What are ya, chicken?!"

"What's with Fox?" Marth asked Link, who had hidden with him behind a table.

"I have no idea," replied the Hylian with a shrug. "But someone's gotta calm him down before he hurts somebody."

Suddenly Ness jumped out and yelled to Fox, "Hey Fox! Where'd you get those blasters, huh huh? Can I have one, can I, can I pleeeeaaase?!"

Roy grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him behind their table just before Fox fired a shot in his direction. "Get back here, pea brain! McCloud's out of his mind!"

"What do we do about it?!" Captain Falcon whimpered, nervously chewing his nails (or rather, the tips of his gloves).

Tom Nook shouted back to him, "I think I know what! I'll lure him out of the store! You find some help!" He jumped out from his hiding place and waved his arms to get the shooter's attention. "I'm over here, sir! If you want to maul me, you have to catch me first!"

The brave raccoon bolted to the front door of his store. Fox took the bait and followed, but instead of bringing his blasters, he exchanged them for a hammer! Upon seeing this, Nook sped up, and the two disappeared from sight. The other crawled out from their hiding spots, wondering what to do.

Then Link suggested, "Let's get Falco and Dr. Mario! They could probably stop him!"

Right on cue, Lombardi and Dr. Mario raced into the shop, only to find that they were too late. Both of them groaned.

"What's wrong with him anyway, Doc?" Roy asked.

"A-well, Fox is a-reacting to his animal instinct," the Italian doctor explained. "A-foxes and raccoons a-don't get along very a-well. Anyway, come a-with us! We a-might need you're a-help with a-stopping him."

The entire group of Smashers and the Nooklings followed Falco and Dr. Mario out of the sporting goods store. But could they safely bring down their deranged comrade?

Sears, Top Floor

The Smashers in Sears (minus Samus, who thought she had seen Dark Samus watching them and had left to search the store for her) had been chasing the Ice Climbers' runaway lawn mower all over the store, but somehow it had managed to stay a few feet ahead of them. After several laps around the store, the princesses and the evil fighters had grown tired of running after it; they had opted to wait until the possessed thing runs out of gas.

They were somewhere between the lawn care and carpeting sections; Bowser and Ganondorf were lying spread-eagled on the floor, wiped out, and the two princesses took up a bench beside them. As the Ice Climbers made another pass by them, they could be seen fighting over the wheel—Popo wanted to keep riding, but Nana was begging him to stop.

Suddenly they all heard the sound of another engine, and a yellow motorcycle soared over the villains' heads. It hit the ground with a clunk but raced after the mower, leaving several tire marks on the floor. The four Smashers bounded to their feet in surprise.

"What the heck?!" exclaimed Ganondorf.

Daisy studied the back of the rider, and she groaned in disgust. "Oh great. It's…"

"It's-a me, Wario!" the rider sniggered, pulling up beside the mower. He grinned at the stunned Ice Climbers. "Need a lift?" They nodded vigorously; even Popo was getting scared of the ride. They leaped off the mower together and landed safely behind Wario, who wheeled the motorcycle around and headed back to the other Smashers.

Zelda was relieved. "Wow! Thank you, mister, uh…"

Daisy, on the other hand, wasn't impressed a bit. "Wario," she said flatly, with her arms folded and her eyes on the fat rider. Then, to Wario himself, "Why did you do that? No wait, let me guess: for a reward."

Wario chuckled and gave a sarcastic bow to the princess. "Oh, but course, Your Highness," he sneered. "Princesses like you reward do-gooders handsomely."

Daisy grimaced, trying to think of a way to avoid paying the greedy Wario. Then there was a loud crash; everyone looked and saw that the mower had crashed into a wall of the store, now nothing more than a pile of twisted metal. This gave the princess an idea, and she grinned.

"You can have that mower, Wario. Since the Ice Climbers crashed it, it's technically ours, and now we're giving it to you. …Of course, we haven't quite paid the money for it yet; you'll have to do that, I'm afraid." When his eyes bugged out of their sockets and he opened his mouth to protest, she added, "Ah, ah, ah. You don't need to say it. You're quite welcome for the reward. Goodbye now."

She pivoted on her heel and walked away, leaving a flustered and angry Wario gaping at the wreckage. The other Smashers followed her, several of them snickering at Daisy's cleverness.