Chapter 11: Replacing the Smashers
In the Dungeon
"I wonder who's going to replace who?"
The three Pokemon were sitting together, facing all the other smashers. They knew that two of the Pokemon were going to be exchanged for two other smashers, but the One hadn't told them which ones were going to go.
"I really hope I get to stay," Pichu said, "I really want to play with the toys."
"Fine by me," Pikachu said, "I'd rather get out of this hell-hole."
Jigglypuff nodded in agreement.
"I thought we were going to get out?" Young Link said, "because it would be kind of hard to advertise in here."
"Who knows what these people are going to do? They could very well keep us here and broadcast us advertising to the places we come from."
Young Link frowned at that possibility, having not thought about that before.
"Hey, if they do record you guys, would it be alright if I walked in front of the camera like this?" Mr. Game and Watch beeped along, walking very slowly and deliberately.
"Pretending you're the company's logo?" Kirby asked, a small smile forming on his face.
"Sure!"
Pichu, Jigglypuff, and Kirby laughed at the 2-D figure's antics, but Young Link and Pikachu remained serious, looking at each other.
"I wonder when Master Hand is going to come back?" Pikachu said, "and what he told the others?"
"I'm still disappointed that my older self was involved in this awful scheme," Young Link shook his head, "and I'm surprised Ness wasn't brought here too. I wonder what's happened to him?"
"Oh, stop worrying, you two and have some fun with us," Jigglypuff said, prodding the downtrodden electric mouse in his side.
Pikachu merely moved away a couple steps, settling back down before saying, "but I'd rather take this seriously. It's not a game, even if it does involve toys. I mean, we were shot out of cannons and locked in a cage, for goodness-sake!"
"It's been really fun!" Pichu exclaimed.
Young Link rolled his eyes and said, "I didn't get the joy of the cannon, but it also seemed too dangerous for a mere toy company. And I still don't trust this situation entirely."
"Boring!" Pichu frowned.
Pikachu turned to face Young Link. "So your older self joins the evil guys and my species' baby form is having fun because of that." He paused before he smiled, "that is kind of funny, isn't it?"
Before Young Link could reply, the One burst into the dungeon, looking around. He expected the smashers to be wailing in agony but they appeared to be happy. That was unacceptable.
"Look, I know that I told you I'm part of a toy company and that probably makes me less intimidating, but it is part of the netherworld and I do deal with demons," the One said, "you should be scared of my unpredictable wrath."
"We haven't seen any unpredictable wrath on your part," Mr. Game and Watch said, "you really need to step up your game. We're smashers. We deal with people even scarier than you on a daily basis."
The other smashers nodded in a agreement. The One scratched his chin, looking at the 2-D smasher thoughtfully.
"You know, that is a good idea," he turned and exited the door, looking back and narrowing his eyes at the smashers, "just you wait and see, I'll become the scariest nightmare you've ever seen!"
With that, he slammed the door shut. The smashers breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness he's gone," Mr. Game and Watch said, "though I doubt he'll be any scarier than Ganondorf or Bowser."
"Or Mewtwo," Pikachu added.
"Right."
Mr. Game and Watch started resuming pretending to be the Toy Company's logo while Pikachu and Young Link discussed plans on potentially getting out of the place.
In Some Random Area
They searched. And they searched. And they searched.
And they never did find Nana.
Deciding that it was possible she was somehow back at the mansion, all the smashers got together and started heading in the direction of the mansion, Mario and Luigi leading the way. Link and the other smashers who had originally participated in capturing their fellow smashers knew they wouldn't be welcome at the mansion, but there really wasn't anything else for them to do.
"We'll just try and explain to them what happened and hopefully they'll be forgiving with us," Link said.
After passing through the cave, they retraced Mario's and Luigi's steps and continued along, hoping that they wouldn't run into the mysterious one or any of his cronies along the way.
In the Mansion
"All smashers present in the mansion report to Master Hand's office immediately. IMMEDIATELY."
All the smashers present started, looking up towards the intercoms nearest to them. Master Hand had entered the mansion unnoticed, immediately heading towards his office to make the announcement.
"I repeat. All smashers present in the mansion report to my office IMMEDIATELY."
Still a bit distrusting of the sudden disappearance of their boss—and their fellow smasher Game and Watch—they all slowly ambled towards the office, exchanging confused looks as they passed by one another.
One by one they entered the office. Samus was distraught, having found very little information on her Internet searches while the others reported to each other that they hadn't found anything useful in the little time they had to search the security cameras around the mansion.
"I have an announcement to make," Master Hand said unnecessarily.
Master Hand cleared his throat, but before he could say anything, Yoshi spoke up, saying, "where are the other smashers?"
"I was about to address that," Master Hand snapped, "the others are—"
"Wait, is Mr. Game and Watch with them?" Samus interrupted.
"Actually I can probably answer the little dino's question," Bowser spoke up, hoping to get all the glory in his fellow smasher's eyes, "the other smashers are—"
"Quiet!" Master Hand yelled, quickly explaining, "they've been taken to a place where they're being held for someone representing The Toy Company, a business which develops toys to entertain demons of the netherworld."
Bowser looked quite interested while the other smashers looked at Master Hand blankly. What in the world would a toy company want with a bunch of smashers?
"Apparently the guy, who calls himself the One, wasn't even sure what to do with the smashers," Master Hand continued, "but now we've decided that the smashers will serve the company by advertising the toys that they sell, promoting them in all the different nations of this universe. Because there are three Pokemon in the captured bunch, the One has requested that two of you change places with two of them so that the toys can be advertised in a bigger variety of areas."
The smashers looked at the Hand stunned before Samus spoke up. "You're kidding, right?"
"No, I am not."
Bowser sighed, frowning. "I was hoping that they were going to do something really mean and awesome to them, but just advertising? Why did I go out of my way to capture them for something so lame?"
"Oh, oh, I wanna go! I wanna go!" Yoshi said, jumping up and down, waving his arms ecstatically.
"Don't you want to know what this actually entails?" Dr. Mario asked the dino.
"I want toys!" was the simple reply.
"Uh huh," Master Hand said, "anyone else? We really need more people to take their places."
Bowser walked over to Ness, grabbing him by his shirt and throwing him towards the boss of the mansion. "You could take this little guy, he looks young and stupid enough to advertise toys."
Master Hand shrugged while Ness got up and gave Bowser a nasty look.
"I think that's good, yeah," Master Hand said, "for now. I don't know, I'll just take you two back and probably bring back Pikachu and Jigglypuff."
"So what are we supposed to do in the mean time?" Dr. Mario asked.
Master Hand hesitated, not entirely sure what the One was planning. The One had teleported the Hand to the mansion and told him to go to a certain place so that the One could teleport Master Hand back to the dungeon. Apparently the One really did not want to disclose the information to the whereabouts of the underground dungeon and took special precautions against it. Master Hand wasn't sure when he'd be able to come back to the mansion and he certainly didn't want the smashers running around with no ruler.
So he decided to call upon Crazy Hand. The other Hand was on vacation at the time, but he wouldn't mind cutting it short so he could look after the smashers, right?
"Oh, no way, we are not going to have Crazy Hand rule us alone," Samus said after Master Hand revealed his plans.
"Why? Crazy Hand is not that bad."
"We've been doing fine by ourselves while you were gone," Mewtwo spoke up, "just look around this place and you won't find that many messes."
"Besides there's a chance that Crazy Hand will just make things worse," Dr. Mario said.
Master Hand sighed. He knew there was going to be disagreements about the other Hand. He did leave the smashers alone before but that was because he didn't feel he had much choice, being utterly frightened of the One and all.
"I could be the ruler," Bowser offered, an evil grin on his face, "I'll make sure everyone stays in line."
"I think Giga Bowser would be better suited, seeing as the other smashers could just fight you…easily…and win," Crazy Hand said, suddenly brightening with the new idea, "hey, that's a good idea. Both Crazy Hand AND Giga Bowser should be in charge."
"And me," added Bowser.
"I should be a leader too," said Mewtwo.
"No, no, no, we were doing just fine by ourselves!" Samus insisted.
The smashers started arguing among themselves and Master Hand just sighed, grabbing Ness and Yoshi and heading out the door. He hadn't checked the rest of the mansion after he got there so he wasn't sure how much damage was done by the smashers. But the mansion was still standing so it probably wasn't too bad.
Ness was silent while Yoshi was bombarding the Hand with questions about the One, The Toy Company, and where they were being taken.
Master Hand answered the questions at first but later ignored the dino, especially when the same questions were being repeated.
"I'm sorry," Yoshi said, "I'm just so excited I can't stop."
"I thought you would have been worried and scared about this whole ordeal," Ness said, "not excited."
"Demonic toys! How can that not excite you?"
They finally arrived at the destination where Master Hand was told to go, a small clearing surrounded by a wall of trees. A couple moments later, Gato leapt out of the trees and tackled the Hand, teleporting them all to their next destination.