Ok, I'm going to say some stuff now, as opposed to the end of the chapter.
I know the story is going to seem VERY rushed in this chapter, and it probably is, but that was the way I intended the story to go. It's kind of the point, given the situation.
And hey, good news! From here to the end of the story, I'll be uploading chapters every other day! Just like I did in the beginning!
Finally, the chapter following this will be very short. That's not because of the uploading every other day, though. I'll explain it in the next chapter.
Samus woke up after a night of restless sleep. 2 full days had passed since the day she saws the black room in the teleportation. Later that same day Kirby had defeated Jigglypuff. Samus had asked if he'd seen anything, but she couldn't really understand anything he said. Meta Knight had told her he was too young to know full speech, his fighting was Star Warrior instinct. The following day Peach had defeated Fox, but she told Samus she was so freaked out she hadn't really been thinking about the teleporting. Zelda took down Falco, still nothing out of the ordinary.
Then the third match that day brought down the entire group. Ganondorf had defeated Red. The rule was Red could only use one Pokemon, since he was going up against Ganondorf he chose Charizard. Unfortunately, Ganondorf was able to take advantage of Charizard's wings and throw him off the edge. Red was sent away, nobody was able to say bye.
"DAMN IT!" Link yelled as GAME! was called.
"Link!" Nana said, shocked to hear the language coming from someone usually calm. She turned to Zelda, who simply shook her head. Samus knew Link was going to have a hard time for now. His mortal enemy was the reason he wouldn't see one of his friends again. She knew Zelda probably felt the same, but Link was a bit more open when he was upset.
Link stormed out of the room into the Transporter Room. "Link!" Zelda called out, going after him. Samus and Pit followed after. Link had his sword drawn and was holding his shield in front of him. Ganondorf was holding his hand out, emanating some sort of dark magic.
"Bastard!" Link spat.
Ganondorf grunted. "You knew this was an inevitability. Sheath your sword, this isn't the time nor the place."
Zelda came up behind Link and rested her hand on his. The look he gave her was pained. He knew Red was gone and taking on Ganondorf wouldn't change that. But he felt that the Gerudo King was his responsibility and he should've done something to keep Red around. Zelda returned the conflicted look. After a few moments, Link lowered his weapons. Ganondorf just nodded and left the room. Link put his sword and shield away and turned to the three that followed him in.
He looked at them, his eyes filled with a mixture of anger and sadness. "We're not slowing down."
Samus thought about what Link had said. What did he mean? Did he mean that losing Red wouldn't set us back in regards to stopping Tabuu? Or did he mean the number of people at the Mansion was dropping quickly and there was no way of slowing it down? Even without understanding exactly what he meant, Samus still felt herself completely agreeing with him.
Yesterday the group had been rather quiet until the fights began. Pit was up against Sonic, so the rest went to support him. Pit had won, but it was a close match. He felt a bit of guilt, but no different than what any winner had felt. Later that day Meta Knight had defeated Mario, and Ness had beat Mr. Game and Watch. After so much time had passed and nobody had seen it, the dark room Samus saw was beginning to bother her.
That night, the group had gone out to the garden. Sitting in the center by the torch light, it was the first time they all got together to talk since they lost Red.
"I guess with the more people that we lose here, the more likely it is that we'll lose each other." Peach said, solemnly.
Pit sighed. "Well, we knew it would eventually come to this."
"And we're not doing any favors by acting like we're not eventually going to all leave." Ike said, folding his arms. "Only one person can stay. We're going to fight each other, whether we like it or not."
Everybody stayed quiet for a little while.
"Do you guys think Tabuu has a sense of humor?" Popo asked, prompting some confused looks.
"That's a bit of a strange question." Peach said.
"Yeah, do you think he likes jokes?" Nana asked, with a hint of a smile.
Popo shook his head. "Not like jokes. But do you think he's happy seeing some people fight others?"
Link rubbed his chin in thought. "So you're wondering if he sets up the fights in a way that he'll enjoy the most?" Popo nodded.
"I don't think so." Pit said. "He seems much more like a computer, not someone who acts on emotion."
"It's not impossible though." Zelda spoke up. "Even if he is a computer, then he may just be pairing people up based on who would be a fair fight."
"Do we know the entire mansion?" Samus blurted out of nowhere. The entire group looked at her. "Sorry. But do we?"
Link blinked a couple of times, processing the change of conversation, then said, "What do you mean?"
"Have we been through the entire Mansion? Is there a basement? or an attic?" Samus asked.
Ike was slightly annoyed. "What does that have to do with anything?"
Zelda nodded. "This is a bit out of nowhere, Samus."
"Sorry. Ok, do you guys know how I've been wondering if you saw anything when teleporting back after your matches?" They all nodded. "It's because I swear I saw something."
"Like what?" Peach asked, slightly concerned.
"I think it was a room." Samus told them, thinking back. "It was dark, but I'm pretty sure it was. In the center I saw a counter that said, '22 fighters remaining'. And I'm worried since nobody else saw it."
They all sat around, trying to remember teleporting. Ike shook his head. "Nah, that doesn't ring a bell."
Peach agreed. "Sorry Samus, but that really doesn't sound familiar at all."
Samus sighed. "But, if it was real, do you think it could've been somewhere in Smash Mansion? Have we really looked all over?"
"I guess it couldn't hurt to check around." Nana said.
"Yeah, maybe we'll find something!" Popo added.
Link sighed. "At the very least, it's something to keep us focused instead of constantly worrying about the next fight. How about tomorrow we start looking around?"
Samus got out of bed. She was anxious about the search today. Her lack of sleep didn't help either. It wasn't that the room was haunting her, but the possibility of finding an answer to their situation was always taking up time in her mind.
She showered and put on her Zero Suit. She walked to the cafeteria and saw Zelda, Link, Peach, and Pit sitting at a table. She joined them.
"Hi Samus." Peach said, with a smile. Samus returned the smile.
"Where should we look?" Link said, abruptly.
"I'm sorry?" Samus said.
"Oh, right." Link said, shaking his head. "We've been talking about your idea, that we haven't explored the entire Mansion. I was just wondering, where do you think we should check first?"
Samus thought for a moment. "The basement would probably be our best bet. If the room I saw really is in the Mansion, it's darkness makes me think it would be down there."
Zelda nodded. "That makes sense."
"Let's wait for Ike, Popo, and Nana first." Pit said. "In the meantime, we can just eat breakfast."
The five went and grabbed food then returned to the table.
"Is there anything to the room that you maybe haven't mentioned yet?" Link asked Samus, taking a bite of his waffle.
Samus shook her head. "No, just the platform and the counter. I didn't see it long enough to notice much else."
"It sounds scary." Peach said.
"And it was pitch black?" Pit asked.
"Nearly. But it wasn't that it was dark, now that I think about it. Just black, if that makes sense." She tried explaining.
"Not really." Link sighed, scratching the back of his head.
"THE NEXT MATCH IS ABOUT TO BEGIN."
The group's looks shot up to the ceiling.
"What?" Pit said. "It's way too early for a match!"
"WILL THE COMBATANTS —ICE CLIMBERS— AND — CAPTAIN FALCON — PREPARE TO FIGHT."
"Hey!" Link yelled up, hoping Tabuu would hear. "What's going on? There shouldn't be a match yet."
"I HAVE DECIDED TO HOLD THE REMAINING MATCHES ON AN CONTINUOUS BASIS."
"What?" Zelda gasped.
"Why?" Pit yelled. "And what does that mean?"
But there was no response.
The five looked at each other. "Well, whatever Tabuu is trying to get at here must be really important." Samus said. "He's trying to speed things up to get there."
"Or maybe he's trying to stop us here at the Mansion." Peach suggested.
"Stop us from what?" Link asked.
"Maybe finding something we shouldn't?" Peach suggested, shrugging. "He probably knows we're going to look around the Mansion."
"Whether it's the room Samus saw or something else, Peach may be right." Zelda said, nodding.
"We should go to the Spectator Room." Pit said. The group agreed and began standing up.
"Wait." Samus said. The other four turned to her. "You guys go. I hope Popo and Nana do well in the brawl, but I really need to look around."
"Samus…" Peach said, concerned. But Zelda stepped forward.
"We understand. We'll try to find you after the fight." The Princess of Hyrule said.
"Thank you."
Samus sighed as she walked to the Transporter Room. If the Mansion had a basement, Samus had no idea how to find it. There were no doors, stairs, or hidden paths anywhere that she could find. It didn't make much sense for there to be one in the first place, as she thought about it. But there may still be an attic. She would talk to the others when she met up with them.
"THE NEXT MATCH IS ABOUT TO BEGIN."
Samus looked up and glared. So that's what he meant. It's going to be one match after another. I've got to find that room!
"WILL THE COMBATANTS — BOWSER — AND — GANONDORF — PREPARE TO FIGHT."
Samus began running for the Transporter Room. As she approached the door, Captain Falcon left the room. He hesitated when he saw her, but just frowned slightly and kept going past her.
No…
She ran inside the Spectator Room and the rest of the group. Ike was there too, he must have met them at the room. In fact, everybody but Captain Falcon was sitting in the room. They must have figured what Tabuu meant by continuous matches and came there to wait. Samus's friends all had dark expressions. Most were sad, except for Link and Ike who just grimaced at the screen. They heard Samus come in, but nobody acknowledged her.
"Did they…" She began.
"Yeah." Ike said bluntly.
Samus slowly walked over and sat down next to Peach. They were all silent for a minute then Peach said, "So did you find the basement?"
Samus shook her head. It got an "Oh." from Peach, but nobody else said anything.
This was the moment everybody was worried about. Not only were they beginning to lose their friends, but it was happening at an even faster rate. If Tabuu continued to have matches at this rate, everybody would be gone by the afternoon. Except for the last fighter. The one Tabuu wanted.
The screens came on and everybody watched the fight.
The matches began moving in a flurry, the progression of people disappearing began striking fear in Samus. It was only a matter of time now. Bowser had defeated Ganondorf, followed by Ike beating Marth and Kirby beating Olimar.
Then they all sat in stunned silence as the next match was called.
"WILL THE COMBATANTS — LINK — AND — ZELDA — PREPARE TO FIGHT."
They all turned to the Hyrulean couple, wondering what they were going to do. The entire room was motionless for minutes on end. Finally, Link stood up, and asked for Zelda's hand. He helped her up, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her in for the kiss, as if they were completely alone in the room. Without ever parting, the two were teleported to Final Destination.
The two stood looking at each other. GO! was called, but still they did nothing.
Are they waiting for the Bob-ombs? Samus thought to herself.
Suddenly, Link turned around. Zelda's eyes widened and she began screaming for Link to stop. He began walking forward towards the edge of the platform. Zelda chased after him, but she was too late. Link jumped off the platform, prompting GAME! to be called.
Samus was taken back by Link's selflessness. Giving up the match for Zelda's sake was incredibly noble. The group all stood up and ran to the Transporter Room. As Zelda appeared in the Transporter, she already had tears in her eyes. She ran for the person closest to her, who happened to be Pit as he arrived first, and just began crying. Her tears wouldn't stop as she kept saying, "Why? Why? Why?" in staggered breaths.
"He knew exactly what he was doing." Ike said.
"He's right, Zelda." Peach said. "I'm sure he would do the same thing again if it meant you were ok."
She left Pit's embrace and tried wiping her eyes, but she didn't stop crying. "I know."
"Zelda, he loves you." Samus said. "There's no way he regrets what he did."
Zelda smiled at her friends, the tears slowing. "He's not gone."
"That's right!" Pit said. "He's just waiting for you back at Hyrule!"
"THE NEXT MATCH IS ABOUT TO BEGIN."
"Big surprise!" Ike yelled sarcastically.
"WILL THE COMBATANTS — PEACH — AND — SAMUS — PREPARE TO FIGHT."
