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!
When Link woke up, he was in his bed in the mansion. Sitting up in alarm, he looked around the room worriedly. He shouldn't be here! Master Hand was dead!
Right? Or was it all a dream? Or a simulation from the torture room?
Surrounding Link's bed were all his friends. Shulk, Pit, Toon Link, Cloud, Palutena, and Robin stood in the doorway. Young Link had taken off his mask, and stood with them. Zelda sat on Link's bed, holding his hand. Queen Zelda sat next to him, staring at her knight with deep concern. At least four empty bottles were scattered on the floor.
"What…" Link began slowly. He was still very disoriented. And every nerve in his body was still aflame with agony.
"Save your energy," Zelda interrupted. "We'll explain everything."
"Your queen was quite the hero," Young Link admitted, nodding to Queen Zelda. "Saved us all."
Queen Zelda blushed. "I-it was nothing. I just helped a little. You all did most of it."
Zelda smiled. "Without you, we'd still be stuck here and you know it."
"Not to mention Link would be dead," Pit added.
"Nice, Pit," Palutena scoffed.
"Just saying!" Pit exclaimed.
"So...I'm not dead...correct?" Link questioned.
"No, you're not dead," Zelda promised. "You're going to be just fine."
"Why...are we...still here?" Link asked weakly.
"Because apparently things going right for us is illegal," Young Link muttered. "We've still got no way home. Master Hand used magic to create portals to whatever world he was invading, but then he'd destroy them."
"Not to mention the mansion is basically a ticking time bomb now," Pit stated.
Palutena sighed. "Yeah. They're both right. And yes, I'm aware I'm a goddess. But even my powers have limits, and I'm afraid that travelling to different worlds just isn't something I can do! Master Hand was clearly an entity with more power than even I thought possible."
"But we killed it!" Toon Link cried happily.
Palutena smiled. "Yes, we did. But let me explain the whole 'time bomb' thing. See, Master Hand created this mansion on an entirely new plane of existence. In really, really simple terms, he created a new world. No doubt it took both him and his brother's power to do it. But without them alive, the power is fading. This world, the mansion, is dying, in a sense."
"And we've got less than two hours to figure out how to create a portal to every world we need to get to from absolutely nothing," Cloud concluded.
"Basically, we're going from one problem right to the next," Young Link sighed.
Link nodded slowly, taking that in. "And if we don't…?"
Shulk sighed. "Well...it's not good. What happens is that this world collapses on itself, and this plane of existence ceases to exist. But everyone here can't just not be on a plane of existence at all. So, portals to all kinds of worlds open up. The way I saw it, in a vision, it looks like holes are being ripped in reality. We all fall into one of the portals and into a random world. Then the vision ends, so I've got no idea where any of us end up.
The only good thing about that is that all the portals will be to someone from here's world. Since Master Hand opened portals to those worlds before, they'll be closer to this plane of existence than any other world. But the likelihood of ending up in your own world is pretty slim."
Link nodded again, but he was still confused.
"So, in regular language, we'll be sent to a random world that someone else here lives in normally," Queen Zelda summarized.
"Thanks for that translation," Young Link snickered.
Link attempted to stand up, but the effort proved to be too much. "I...want to help."
"No need," Zelda assured him. "We've got Samus and Ganondorf combining their knowledge of magic and technology. We're trying to come up with something."
"Zelda, Palutena, Queen Zelda, and I were helping until a few minutes ago," Robin added. "But Toon Link told us you were waking up, and we wanted to make sure you were alright."
"That...is very kind," Link groaned.
"Right, he's all caught up now," Young Link decided. "You four better get back down there if we want to get back home."
"Of course," Queen Zelda agreed. She got up off Link's bed. She smiled at him faintly. "I'm glad you're alright."
Zelda leaned forward and kissed Link lightly on the cheek. "We're going to figure this out," she promised. "Then we can go home."
"I...don't want to go home," Link whispered.
Zelda sighed. "I know. Me either. But everyone else does. We can figure this out later, alright?"
"...Alright," Link decided.
"Whenever you two lovebirds are done, we've got at least seventy other peoples' lives on the line!" Young Link snapped.
"I'm coming!" Zelda replied sharply. She got off Link's bed and followed everyone else back downstairs. Link refused to be left by himself where he wasn't being useful. His inventory bag had been placed on his desk, just a few feet away from his bed. And inside, there were at least three Hearty Elixirs, which served the same purpose as red potions.
Link just had to get to it, which would prove to be quite the challenge. He pulled his sheets off of himself, and scooted to the end of the bed. He attempted to stand up, but sat down quickly as nausea and dizziness struck him. He waited a few minutes for the feelings to fade. When they did, he pushed himself off the bed with as much strength as he could muster. He stumbled forwards two steps and fell forward into the desk. He coughed as the force of falling into the hard structure knocked the air from his lungs.
For a few moments, Link just hung on the desk desperately. Once he could breathe again, he reached for his bag. He curled his fingers around the small, cloth bag tightly, and brought it towards himself. Now that he had the bag, he released his hold on the desk. Without the sturdy, wooden platform to steady him, Link fell onto the ground. He opened his bag and pulled out a Hearty Elixir without bothering to get off the floor. He uncorked the bottle and chugged the entire thing. He sighed in relief as the pain lessened slightly.
Link sat himself up and leaned back against his bed. He still didn't have the strength to stand, but he was getting there. He drank another elixir, and the pain faded more. Once the third had been downed, Link felt much better. Still not perfect, most of his muscles were still sore and his head pounded with a horrible headache from moving around. But he could function again, and that was good enough. None of his bones were broken anymore, and his throat no longer felt like it was on fire.
Link stood up weakly. He had to lean on his bed for support, but he was able to walk to his doorway, hurrying across the empty space between the door and the bed. Once he made it through the door, he hugged the wall and slowly made his way downstairs.
It took him a very long time to ease his way down all three floors of the mansion. But he didn't stop walking, no matter how tired he felt. Link refused to rest until he was back in Hyrule. Until then, he would be helpful. Finally, he made it into the main room. Every one of the fighters were huddled around a whiteboard in the corner of the room. Countless scribbles and sketches covered it, in place of the usual robot's writing describing what food would be available that day. Speaking of the robots, they seemed to be deactivated. They were still scattered around the room, but their red eyes were dulled and they didn't move.
Ash noticed Link first. The Pokemon Trainer probably didn't have much advice to offer when it came to opening portals to new worlds, as he was standing near the outside of the huddle. He sent Charizard to assist the weak Hylian in walking across the room. Link leaned heavily on the huge, orange dragon as they walked. Charizard happily helped him, even offering the hero his hand. Link gratefully took it, muttering a quiet 'thank you' as he walked.
Ash smiled as Link joined him in standing at the back of the group. "Good to see you," he said. "We weren't sure if you were alright."
"I'm not quite sure you could call my condition 'alright,'" Link admitted. "But, yes. I'm not dead."
Ash nodded.
Shulk and Robin were debating something up near the whiteboard.
"Let me see the marker!" Shulk demanded.
"I'm using it!" Robin snapped, drawing on the whiteboard hurriedly. His sketch was absolutely meaningless to Link. It featured a bunch of circles that all had labels. They surrounded a large circle with a much longer label. Link couldn't read any of them, but all the small circles each had only one symbol on them, though each was different, while the large circle had a bunch of symbols combining to form presumably one word. Thin lines connected each small circle to the big circle.
Shulk rolled his eyes and snatched the marker from Robin's grasp. "That will never work! We don't have enough power for that!"
"If we channeled the power of the Monado, Toon Link's Master Sword, Link's Master Sword, Young Link's gauntlets and his mask, and Pit's bow, we'd have enough!" Robin insisted.
"Doing that might release the Fierce Deity!" Young Link added. "Then we'd really be dead!"
"It'd take years to collect all that power!" Queen Zelda exclaimed.
"Here, this is a much better idea," Shulk began, uncapping the marker and erasing Robin's sketch.
"We're never getting anywhere if you don't cooperate!" Zelda scolded. "How much time do we have?"
Shulk checked the clock on the wall. Link couldn't read it, but Shulk's face paled. "The clock in my vision read 8:11."
Zelda let out a long sigh. "Right. We've got a little less than an hour and a half to get his figured out. Now, we need to work together, or it's not happening."
"It's not happening no matter what we do," Ganondorf grumbled. "The amount of magic required is absolutely unimaginable."
"You know we're done for when a goddess can't do what we're trying to do," Marth added.
"Don't give up yet," Zelda insisted. "We beat Master Hand. We can do this."
"And what if we can't?" Snake asked. "What if it's just not possible?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," Shulk decided. "Here. This might work." He had completed his own sketch. His showed the large circle labeled something as well. But the other four circles were much farther away, and were connected by a line that split up to reach each circle.
Robin shook his head. "We'd have to have someone able to channel the power from the main portal to send the desired people into their world at exactly the right moment. Quite a feat, even for someone not being thrust through countless planes of reality. As we go through, we'll be lucky if someone remains conscience, much less able to control that much ether."
Shulk sighed, nodding in agreement.
"Have they gotten anywhere at all?" Link whispered to Ash.
Ash shook his head. "Not as far as I can tell. It's just been back and forth between Robin and Shulk mostly. Zelda and your queen have offered a few suggestions, but they didn't seem to be plausible either."
Link nodded. "How unfortunate."
"I don't think we're getting out of here," Lucas sighed.
"Me either," Ness muttered.
The two young boys were always together. They never did anything without the other, and they never disagreed. Currently, they were both perched on their tiptoes in a desperate attempt to see the whiteboard. They acknowledged Link with a nod, but then returned their attention to the debate up front.
"I'm sure they'll figure it out," Peach told them firmly. "They've gotten us this far."
Ness and Lucas shrugged.
Theirs wasn't the only nervous conversation being held. Most fighters had lost interest in the whiteboard and useless drawings, and were mutting to each other quietly.
Link wished he could do something to reassure them, but his energy was currently focused on just remaining upright. He glanced around the room, still relying on Charizard for support, and shook his head. "Surely someone knows something helpful."
"Well, Samus worked at it for a while, and Fox and Falco talked about something called 'astrophysics,' but that didn't seem to be helpful. Then Ganondorf talked with Sheik about just how much magic would be required for this. How you can measure that, I've got no idea. Anyways, they came up with an answer. But their answer was different from Robin and Zelda's answer, so that didn't get anywhere. Queen Zelda suggested using something she called 'Sheikah technology,' and everyone else ultimately decided that wasn't going to work. Shulk's been trying to utilize something he calls 'ether,' that I've never heard of before, but he hasn't been any more successful than anyone else," Ash summarized.
"So, in short, we're doomed," Cloud finished for him, walking up to Link. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed?"
"I was never strictly ordered to remain there," Link stated.
Cloud shrugged. "Suppose not. But you don't look so good. And Charizard's going to get bored of carrying you eventually."
"He isn't carrying me," Link objected. It required too much effort to raise his voice.
"And he doesn't mind," Ash added quickly. "Do you, Charizard?"
Charizard growled something back.
Ash laughed. "He just likes being helpful. And he thinks you're cool, Link."
"Link's a role model now?" Cloud laughed. "Way to go! But, in all seriousness, why did you come down here? It must've taken a whole lot of effort."
"I wanted to be helpful," Link answered truthfully. He had realized by this point that he had nothing to offer in this debate. But he didn't want to bother walking all the way back upstairs now that he had worked so hard to get down.
"Well, I can tell you're going to be just as helpful as I am," Cloud sighed. "You and I, we're soldiers. Tell us to kill something, we're on it. But creating portals to other worlds? Forget it."
"Unfortunately, I have to admit you're right," Link sighed.
"If you want to rest, I can have Charizard help you get back upstairs," Ash offered.
Charizard nodded enthusiastically.
Link shook his head. "I want to stay."
"Nothing to do except wait for our time to run out," Cloud muttered.
"Do you not have confidence in them?" Link questioned.
Cloud snorted. "Look, I know Zelda's your girlfriend and all that. But honestly? No, I don't. If Palutena can't do it, and she's got all her power back by the way, how could anyone else possibly make it work?"
"Certainly with two Triforces of Wisdom working together they'll come up with something," Link insisted.
"It's been almost an hour since Palutena realized the mansion was collapsing," Cloud retorted, "and absolutely nothing has gotten done."
"I hope they figure it out," Ash sighed.
Link nodded.
"I have an idea!" Zelda announced suddenly. "I don't know how we didn't think of this before, but power's the problem right? No matter what method we're using-technology, magic, ether, whatever- we don't have enough power." She seemed to be addressing everyone in the room, not just her consultants. "Well, we have the largest power source in all the worlds available to us! The orbs!"