"Ahhhh!" Ike said as he flung open the great doors of the Battlefield Fortress. "It feels so good to be home! Feels like we've been gone forever!"

"I'd have to agree with you on that one," Marth said as he led Celice up the stairs. "C'mon with me. We have a ton of extra rooms, but a lot of them aren't that nice. We have a two-bedded room that's very comfortable, but then you'll have to share with Roy."

"That would be fine," Celice said quietly. "I'm used to worse."

"Why are you so, like, medieval?" Ike asked Celice. "I mean, you're just so polite and stuff! Like you're speaking out of a book! Man, you're only seventeen! Live a little!"

"I... this is how I was raised," Celice mumbled. "I'm not as exposed to modern culture as you two are."

"Ike, that was so rude." Marth shot a nasty glance at Ike before opening the door to the double-bedded room.

Ike couldn't resist. "Hey, Marth, remember when we slept together in here?"

At first, Marth tried to maintain his composure, but he soon dissolved into laughter along with Ike.

Celice looked at them with a strange expression. "Um... did I miss something?"

"Inside joke," Ike chuckled.

"Anyway," Marth said, "you can stay here. Tell us if you need anything."

"Alright," Celice said as he laid down on the bed. Marth and Ike left.

Celice stared at the ceiling. He hoped that the people would be okay without him. He hoped that no one would fall deeper into darkness when he was gone. Then he remembered that Yuria had wanted to video chat.

Celice got up and walked toward the dresser, where there were two computers. He turned one on and logged onto his account. He saw that Yuria was online, and engaged her in a chat.

Yuria's beautiful face appeared before him, her worried expression changing to one of relief.

"Celice!" She said with a smile. "You're alright! Ike told me that you were almost killed by a dragon!"

Celice waved his hand through the air. "Ah, he was exaggerating. I'm fine. A little disconcerted, but otherwise fine."

"Everyone's being nice to you?"

"Of course. Marth and Ike are extremely gracious Lords. They've made me feel at home here."

Yuria smiled wider. "Oh, Celice, I'm so glad. We were all so worried when you disappeared."

"Ike told you that I'm stuck here, right?"

Yuria sighed. "Yes, he did. I miss you already! Oifey and I will hold down the fort until you get back."

"Good. And another thing-"

Suddenly, the door to Celice's room opened and Ike walked in with a confused expression on his face.

"Who are you talking to-oh. Hi, Yuria."

"Hello, Ike," Yuria greeted him warmly. "Celice and I were just talking about you."

"Mind if I join you?"

"No, not at all." Yuria gestured for Ike to come in. "I mean, it's not like we'll be kissing over the monitor." She laughed.

"W-w-wait... sh-she's your... girlfriend?"

"Yes."

"I thought she was your... your sister. That's what Oifey said."

"Yes. That too."

"B-b-b-b-but... th-th-that's... not..."

"Aha. Finally, something I'm comfortable with that you aren't."

"What, incest?" Ike sighed. "Oh, my. This conversation I want to hear."

Yuria giggled. "You're funny. You remind me of Patty. She's a thief."

"Right... Yuria, about Patty," Celice said, his expression turning serious. "Have you noticed that she's been stealing more often as of late?"

Yuria blinked, and her eyes seemed to unfocus for a second. "Uhhhh?" She said woozily.

"There! Yuri, you've been doing that more and more often. Zoning out like that."

Yuria touched the side of her head as if she had a headache. "I've noticed, Celice. And what was that about Patty? She's been stealing more?"

"Yes. And have you noticed another thing? Leaf hasn't been looking well lately either."

"Is he ill?"

"No... no. Not exactly ill, just... drained."

"Mentally ill, you mean?" Ike asked with a small smile.

"Actually, that sounds accurate."

"Who is Leaf, exactly?" Ike asked.

"He's my younger cousin and the Prince of Lenster, but he seems to be getting affected by this... taint."

"What taint?" Yuria asked.

"People have been acting strangely, Yuria. Surely you've noticed. Leaf's been acting strange, Patty's been stealing more, you're zoning out... stuff like that. And it's happening all over Fire Emblem World. Marth and Ike told me about it just before I was kidnapped."

"Fire Emblem World is being tainted? By whom?"

"We're not sure exactly, but we know what their motive is. By tainting Fire Emblem World, Angel Land, and Hyrule with evil, the perpetrators hope to gain control of those Worlds and ultimately take over the Video Game Universe."

"Well phrased, Celice," Ike complimented him.

"Thank you, Ike."

"Oh, dear. That is rather disconcerting." Yuria exhaled. "Don't you have any idea at all about who's behind all this?"

"That's what we're working on right now." Ike and Celice jumped. They hadn't noticed Marth walk into the room.

"Hello, Prince Marth," Yuria greeted him.

"Hello yourself, Princess Yuria. Anyway, what our next step is is figuring out who's behind all this. We know who one is-Lilith Stalitler of Angel Land."

"I was hoping to help stop the taint from spreading, but I can't now that I'm here." Celice sighed. "And I'm sorry, but you can't do it. You... no offense, Yuria, it's just..."

"Your will isn't strong enough," Ike finished. "Don't take it personally, though-most of the citizens are being affected by this."

"But wait..." Celice thought for a moment. "Marth, you said that Aless wasn't getting affected because of his strong will. He could help!" Aless, otherwise known as the Black Knight, was Celice's strong-willed best friend and the Prince of Augustria. With his imposing persona, demonic sword, hot temper, and incredible fighting power, Aless was not a man to be trifled with.

"Well, if it's a matter of strong wills, it's no wonder Aless isn't affected," Yuria said with a small smile. "I'll try to get him to contact you later. For now, I should tell Oifey about all this."

"Yes, do," Celice said. "Love you."

"Love you too," Yuria smiled. Then Celice's screen went dark.

"How can you be in love with your sister?" Ike asked Celice incredulously.

"She's only my half-sister."

"Not important! You're related by blood! How can you, like, love her?"

"I didn't even know she was related to me until a very long time after I met her," Celice said patiently. "Besides, incest is legal in Jugdral. There's pretty much no way around it. I mean, it's possible for Aless and Nanna to fall in love in the game, and they're cousins."

"Whatever." Ike got up. "I'm happy with Lyn."

Ike left with Marth. As soon as they were out of earshot of Celice, Marth glared at Ike with a displeased expression.

"What?"

"Why do you have to be so mean to Celice? First you make fun of the way he talks, and now you're giving him a hard time about his girlfriend!"

"You mean his sister?"

"Ike! Shut up! You're missing the point here! Celice is going through a very tough time right now, and his life hasn't been very easy anyway. I'd really appreciate it if you could act a bit nicer to him."

Ike hung his head. He had been acting unnecessarily mean to Celice, and he felt sorry about it. Selfishly and ridiculously, he had worried that Celice might steal Marth's best-friendship as Ike had stolen him from Roy.

"Oh my Ashunera," Ike mumbled. "My mind is like a flipping yaoi soap opera."

"What?" Marth laughed.

"Nothing. Bottom line: I'll be nicer to Celice. Promise."

"Good boy." Marth patted Ike's head and walked away.

...

"So, Isaiah," Pia said as she, Isaiah, Pit, and Aegeus were walking through Skyworld's garden. "When exactly did you get captured?"

"After I started trailing Lilith. Apparently, I'm like the worst stalker ever, 'cause she found me instantly." Isaiah sighed.

"Wait... right after you started trailing Lilith?" Pit asked, slowing down.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, we got an e-mail from you that said you were tailing Lilith and it didn't seem like she was up to anything suspicious and that you had started to tail Sho."

Isaiah frowned. "I never sent an e-mail like that. You sure it was me?"

"Well, it looked like it really showed your incredible spelling skills, but come to think of it..." Pia dashed inside the cottage with Pit, Aegeus, and Isaiah trailing behind.

Pia opened up the e-mail on her laptop. "Yeah... it's not like you to spell 'investigate' right. They slipped up."

"Huh. So they forged an e-mail from 'Saiah's account and you fell for it?" Aegeus said snidely.

Pia shot him a withering glance. "Oh, shut up. We need to think. So, right now, we just need the identity of the mastermind behind this, right?"

"And where he or she is located," Pit added.

"Right. We know Lilith is high-ranking, but not necessarily the mastermind."

"I suggest that we all do research and try to figure out who the main villains from Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, and Legend of Zelda are," Aegeus said. "The absolute masterminds, the sneaky ones who hide behind others."

"Yeah, and we can rule out any villains that we encountered in Purgatory, right?" Pia said.

"Yeah." Pit verified.

"How do we find out where they are, though?" Isaiah asked.

"It doesn't matter right now, luckily. The Worlds Teleporter is broken. We can't leave." Aegeus reminded him.

"Oh, yeah." Isaiah paused. "So, bottom line: we try to figure out who the mastermind-or masterminds-behind this brewing trouble stuff is or are by doing research on all the games involved?"

"Yeah, basically." Pit got up and looked out the window of the cottage, worriedly staring down at the ground. "I really hope Sasha and the others are okay."

...

Roy blinked woozily. Everything was spinning, and it was far too bright. He squeezed his eyes shut. Then he remembered.

"Ah! Ike... dead... ghost... ugh... where...?"

"Take it easy, kid." Roy blinked again, and the blurry form of Link came into focus. "You just fainted."

"What about Ike? Is he dead? Does he want revenge?" Roy asked, his voice climbing into the early stages of hysteria.

"Roy. Seriously, man, take it easy. Ike is fine. You were worshipping his guardian angel."

"Oh." Roy could feel his cheeks burning. "But then... why was Ike saying stuff?"

"What? Oh, yeah. He was just hamming it up."

Roy scowled. "Why, that big-sworded stuck-up commander. I'll get him back one of these days."

Link smiled. "Look, Juliana, Roy is awake."

The little blond-headed Mexican angel smiled up at Roy from his bedside. "Hola, un pelirrojo còmico. I am glad you are not dead." She smiled innocently.

Roy smiled back. "Yo tambièn, Juliana." Then he looked at Link again. "Where's everyone else?"

"Sasha, Shoshanna, and Lyn are still being treated here. Everyone else went back to either Skyworld or the Battlefield Fortress. And, by the way, the Worlds Teleporter broke down, so everyone's stuck in Brawl World now."

"Man." Roy frowned. "And right in the middle of this brewing trouble stuff, too. That's kind of irritating. I was planning to travel back to Elibe after this to help my people."

"Sorry."

"Ah, don't worry." Roy waved his hand through the air. "I'll be fine." He got out of bed slowly. "So Ike isn't dead?"

"No, Ike is not dead. But we rescued Pia, and we restored her kidnapper, Ike's guardian angel Aegeus, to sanity. Now, since the Worlds Teleporter broke down, we're going to try to figure out who's behind all this."

"Personally, I'd nominate Zephiel for one of them. After all, he's the one who was controlling Idenn in the first place."

"Hmmm. Sounds legit. We'll look into that." Link stood up and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Roy asked.

"Check on Sasha, Sho, and Lyn. You wanna come?"

"Sure. Vamanos, Juliana."

...

They checked on Sasha first. He had just woken up a little while before Roy and Link had arrived. His skin was ghastly pale, and he looked even weaker than he had before.

"You okay, Sasha?" Link asked softly.

Sasha smiled weakly. "Do I look okay?"

"Man. You didn't even fight and you look worse than the rest of us," Roy said.

"Where's Pit and everyone else? I take it you rescued Pia, right?" Sasha coughed.

"Pit, Pia, Aegeus, and Isaiah are up in Skyworld. The Worlds Teleporter broke down, and you're going to have to stay here for a while."

Sasha sat up, wincing. "So everyone is in better shape than me? That's good to hear."

"Sho's pretty beaten up, but she's mending. Lyn is just exhausted. She hasn't woken up yet. Everyone else is pretty much fine."

"Celice is okay?"

"Yes, he's fine."

"Oh, good. So now we're all stuck here in Brawl World?"

"Yeah. I'm really sorry, Sasha."

"It's fine. Except for just one thing."

"What?"

"The girls you have here are absolutely insane," Sasha whispered, just before Peach walked in, wearing a white dress and apron.

"Feeling better, Sasha?" She asked, giggling.

"Are you even a nurse?" Sasha asked dubiously.

"Of course I am!" Peach ruffled Sasha's already-messy auburn hair and smiled. "I'll be checking on you again in about five or six minutes." And with that, the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom sashayed out, humming a happy little tune.

Sasha groaned and flopped backwards onto the mattress. "This is like that scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail where Sir Galahad is trapped in the Castle Anthrax with all the seductive women dressed in white who all want him to spank them."

Link raised his eyebrows. "All right then," he said cautiously. "Are you sure you're alright-"

"I loved that scene!" Roy burst out. "Did you see the part where the white rabbit is just randomly killing everyone?"

"Are you kidding? Man, that's the best scene in the whole movie!" Sasha smiled a real smile for the first time in a long time.

"I'll just leave you two to discuss that, then," Link said slowly as he left to go check on Lyn and Shoshanna.

LLOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGG and I didn't realize it until I was done. LOL! Well, Celice is involved in an incestuous relationship with his half-sister (who is also known as Julia), Isaiah's e-mail has been hacked into, and Sasha is being harrassed by girls and is comparing it to a Monty Python movie. Just another normal day in Brawl World. Reviews appreciated.