Author's Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Bros or any of the characters involved in it. I am earning no profit from this story, other than the enjoyment of writing it and sharing it with others! I hope you all enjoy reading it!
The next six weeks passed as usual. Link stuck to his regular schedule, unless someone he knew well had a fight, in which case he would help them recover afterwards. Fortunately, Ganondorf hadn't lied to them. Master Hand did seem to leave every three weeks. Once that fact was confirmed, Zelda, Robin, and Shulk began preparing to raid Master Hand's office. Everyone who knew about the plan volunteered to head into the office. Sheik, Samus, Young Link, Cloud, Link, Shulk, Pit, Palutena, and even Bowser offered to be part of the dangerous mission.
Zelda, Robin, and Shulk eventually ended up deciding to send Sheik, Shulk, and Palutena. Sheik for the obvious reason that she was a ninja and stealth was her thing. Shulk in case he received a vision of Master Hand returning, which might give them enough time to get out before he did. And Palutena because she could sense magic. If Shulk's foresight failed to see Master Hand's return, she could sense his magic a few seconds before he arrived, at least giving them a moment to prepare for a futile fight.
The final three weeks before the raid seemed to drag on indefinitely. The only important thing that happened was all the fighters had discreetly informed everyone else of what was going on. That way, everyone was on the same page, and they'd be ready to take out Master Hand and Crazy Hand when the time came.
While they waited, Link was unfortunate enough to have two fights. One against Samus, wearing her suit, and another against Lucario. Link quickly discovered that his memory recovering ability was both a blessing and a curse. When he went to visit his opponents after his fights, as was considered a respectful gesture, the sight of them triggered the memory of the fight.
Both fights had resulted in Link losing, so he was subjected to unbearable pain as he endured the flashback. It was awful. He could feel the pain, even though the fight was over and he was fine. He felt his bones shattering and his skin bruising. And he could do nothing to help himself. He could not control his own body, nor stop the memory. He could only wish for the end of the fight to come.
During his fight with Lucario, the power orb made an appearance after the fighters got stuck in a fruitless standoff for several minutes. Only this time, Lucario got it. His eyes glowed yellow, and he was enveloped by a rainbow colored aura. He released the power, and flew up into the center of the arena. He thrust his paws forward, towards Link. From them erupted a solid laser of blue fire. The fire rained down upon Link for at least five seconds. During that time, he could not move. He felt the intense heat of the fire rushing across his skin, the agony only growing worse and worse. Link was not burnt; that was part of the curse cast upon all fighters. Fire attacks did not burn. But it didn't mean they hurt any less. When the river of fire finally ceased to flow from Lucario's outstretched paws, and Link was released from its hold, the hero was flung into the hard ground of the flat arena. He heard several of his bones completely shatter. But he didn't even have time to revel in the pain before the force of being flung into the ground caused him to ricochete far off the arena's platform and into the electric net surrounding its walls. The shock was too much for Link and he blacked out, ending the match.
After that particular memory, even Young Link had seemed to pity the older hero. Zelda later informed Link that he had screamed so much that several of the robots had come to investigate what was going on. Shulk had quickly told them that Link was simply recovering from his fight earlier. That explanation had been good enough for the mindless machines, and they had returned to their posts.
Finally, the three weeks were over. Shulk, Palutena, and Sheik prepared for their mission the night before. Their goal was to retrieve a total of seventy four orbs, one for each fighter, and as many weapons as they could carry. Young Link had made sure they prioritized his Fierce Deity Mask. Zelda had agreed that its power would be immensely helpful, and Shulk had promised he'd get it. At six in the morning, so they had as much time as possible, the group entered the office. Samus took care of the robots posted outside. She hacked them to short circuit for exactly twelve hours, and even wiped their memories of the time they'd spent malfunctioning. Master Hand would never know they'd been shut down.
And now that the raid was underway, all anyone else could do was wait. That was incredibly hard for Link, but even more so for Young Link. The two of them hated not being in control. If something went wrong, there was nothing either could do to fix it. Palutena had promised that they would be out by six o'clock exactly. If they hadn't returned by 6:01, something had gone wrong. It shouldn't take more than twelve hours to collect the orbs and weapons.
As the hours dragged on, Zelda did her best to entertain Toon Link, who looked about ready to charge into the office alone. She read to him, played board games with him, played tag with him, and anything else that even slightly distracted the young hero.
Cloud and Snake played poker, neither daring to look up at the clock. They both knew it would only make the time seem even longer. Fox, Falco, and Samus joined their game, but no one was enjoying themselves.
Young Link and Pit went outside to play, but there weren't any sports being played that day. The robots had set up a volleyball net, but no one seemed interested. Young Link and Pit returned to the main room. Young Link sat at the dining table and rested his head in his arms. Pit headed to the fridge and grabbed himself an entire pizza.
Bayonetta paced back and forth across the room anxiously, her tall high heels clacking on the wood floor in an endless rhythm that almost instantaneously got on everyone's nerves.
Bowser sat with his children, speaking with them softly. Bowser Jr. was curled up in his father's lap, desperately holding onto his arms. The others were huddled around him closely, staring up at the clock, silently begging time to move quicker.
The air in the mansion was thick, and the tension was almost unbearable. Few words were spoken. The few sentences that were said were uttered hurriedly and quietly.
"Sheik once told me that the flow of time is always cruel," Young Link began in a futile attempt to lighten the mood, "but I didn't think it could ever be this cruel!"
His declaration was met by a few hollow laughs from around the room. Most people simply ignored him.
Young Link sighed, and returned to sitting at the table with Pit, watching the angel stress eat anything he could get his hands on.
Finally, the clock read 5:52. The group had yet to return. Bayonetta's pacing quickened. Bowser's children hugged their father tighter, alternating between staring hopefully at the hallway leading to the office, gazing worriedly at the clock face, and looking into Bowser's eyes for any reassurance. Bowser had given up trying to comfort them. He let them cling to him, but his own face was falling, his hopes quickly fading.
"Are they alright, Zelda?" Toon Link whispered.
Zelda hesitated before replying. Then she faked a smile and patted Toon Link on the head. "I'm sure they're fine. Probably just trying to bring out as many weapons as possible."
Toon Link didn't seem convinced. But he went back to stacking the blocks Zelda had provided him absentmindedly. His tower crumbled after he applied a few more blocks. He didn't bother to rebuild it.
Pit had finished his third pizza and was sitting at the table with a pained expression on his face. He had a hand planted on his stomach. He looked like he wanted to throw up. His eyes were glued to the clock.
Young Link was decidedly done anxiously waiting. He fired fire arrow after fire arrow into the target set up on the room's wall. The target was falling apart at this point. Young Link had fired so many arrows it was mostly the shafts of the old arrows piled on top of each other. But the young Hylian refused to stop. He refused to let his thoughts wander. He feared what his imagination would come up with. Anger carved into his face, Young Link continued to shoot the target with his arrows.
Link sat beside Zelda, the Master Sword resting unsheathed in his lap. His right hand was wrapped firmly around its hilt. He kept his eyes trained on the hallway, should Master Hand return and attack everyone else. It seemed unlikely, but Link was not going to be taken by surprise. Zelda had long ago given up on easing the hero's mind. She simply held his left hand, taking comfort in his presence. When the clock read 5:59, Zelda let out a long sigh. She squeezed Link's hand desperately, refusing to believe that this had gone wrong.