The next day, neither Marth, Roy, Fox, Samus, or anybody else aware of the possible link between the kitchen noises and Falco's missing weapons had time to look; it was round two of the Ultimate Tournament. Master Hand decided to start the first fight at ten o' clock, giving the fighters plenty of time to sleep in and get ready. There was an aura of anxiety surrounding the kitchen.

"Are you ready, Marth?" Roy asked.

The Four Swordsmen were all sitting together at the same table. Only Young Link wasn't moving onto the second round; the other swordsmen needed some good luck wishes and pats on the back.

"Now, remember," Marth said, "only one person out of the entire tournament can be the champion. Likely, it isn't going to be one of us. So if we fail...we fail. Someone else moves on. No big deal."

Of course, nobody entirely believed that, but it was true, in a sense. Only one winner in a tournament. Still, they all had their dreams, which they weren't willing to let go of so easily. Marth sighed and took another sip out of his water.

"Even so, it's a little embarrassing to lose right in the first round," Young Link pointed out.

"This is the second round," Link answered. "And besides, I...made it up to you during the party."

"That was totally worth it," Young Link muttered.

"Anyway," Roy interrupted, "I'm getting a double-serving of coffee this time around to prepare for it. Now before you can object, Marth, Samus said it was okay; two cups of coffee is fine. I'm not going to explode."

"Not yet," Marth said, pretending to hide it in a cough. Roy heard it and glared at him.

It was nine o' clock. There was only an hour left before the first battle would begin. In this case, the first battle was between Yoshi and Ganondorf. Marth didn't voice it, but he was positive that Yoshi would lose and Ganondorf would move onto round three. Marth glanced at the clock nervously and downed the rest of his water.

After everybody was done, Marth, Roy, Samus, Fox, Falco, Link, and Young Link went searching for Falco's weapons again. Half an hour passed very quickly, frustrating the searchers; according to Fox, they would have to intrude in everyone's personal space and snoop around their rooms if they even had a chance of finding Falco's things. Nobody (except Falco himself) was ready to do that at that point, so they decided that they would save that as a last resort.

"Besides," Falco had said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly, "Slippy can always make me another Fire Cloak and Reflector, and the Cornerian Army can always supply me with another Blaster. I guess it's no big deal, but I'm still going to beat up whoever has my stuff."

Marth didn't know how serious he was, so everyone was prepared to restrain Falco if it turned out he was trying to beat on an unsuspecting Jigglypuff. They checked in the kitchen, the library, the lobby, the hallways, even the Teleporter. They still came up with nothing. The clock reached 9:45, and everyone became much more short-tempered.

"At this rate," Marth groaned, "the only places we have left to check now are everyone's rooms, the stadium, the arenas, and the Target Tests, and I don't think it'll be in any of the latter three."

They decide to hold off on that area of the investigation until the round was over. With only ten minutes left, they decided to get ready doing warm-ups and drinking water. Marth took the time to think to himself.

Will we ever find them? he wondered as he slumped on his bed. We've checked just about everywhere. Whoever hid them hid them well. What if whoever stole them knows this place better than we do? Do we have a chance? And I guess Falco's right. Maybe it's really no big deal. He can always get his stuff remade back in his own world. But whoever took them might plan on using them for something bigger and worse than we think...what a depressing thought....

Ten minutes came and went quicker than it should. Marth groaned and got up off his bed when he decided he should forget about the weapons for then and go watch the first battle of the second round. He went to the Teleporter and warped to Yoshi's Island, where the battle would be held.

The battle was pretty fierce. Ganondorf didn't give Yoshi a chance to rest. Even with the dinosaur in his own homeland, Ganondorf was mercilessly pummeling Yoshi. Yoshi rolled into Ganondorf with his Egg Roll move and bashed into him several times; Ganondorf's response was a kick that shattered the egg shell and knocked Yoshi through two sets of blocks and on top of the large, green pipe on the left side of the stage. Enraged, Yoshi attempted to ground pound on Ganondorf, who sidestepped and let Yoshi crash through the gap of blocks that led to certain defeat.

"Pathetic, really," Ganondorf muttered, leering down the gap.

Ganondorf moved onto round three, and everyone left Yoshi's Island for a half-hour break. Nobody seized the opportunity to look around, because they could very well miss the opening of the next battle if they were too late, and they didn't want to really concentrate on it until the whole round was over. Roy munched on a large, salty pretzel, nervous about the fight two battles away.

When half an hour passed, everybody went to the Teleporter to watch the next match. The two Ice Climbers were squaring off against Donkey Kong on Onett. (Marth still wondered how they could stand the intense heat in their thick suits.) It was absolute mayhem. Donkey Kong started the match off by using his long and strong arms to smash Popo in the face, while Nana behind him retaliated by bashing his fingers with her hammer. When Donkey Kong leaped at them, they hit him repeatedly with hammer blows until he crashed back into the ground. When he got back up, he kicked them both away, then threw Nana into the air and clapped his hands above his head when she came tumbling down. Popo froze him in a block of ice with his blizzard and helped Nana recover while a car narrowly swerved around the frozen Donkey Kong. The ape burst out, head butted them both into the ground, smacked them both several times, then finished them off with a spectacular punch when they pulled themselves out. They hit the arena's blast lines, and Donkey Kong was declared the winner.

"I'm gonna go get another pretzel," Roy murmured after the match.

"Ease up on the pretzels," Marth told him. "You'll do fine. And if you lose, then at least it's over with. And you get to battle the others who lost. It isn't nearly as bad as it sounds."

"I'm still nervous."

He had a good reason to be nervous. His next opponent was Mewtwo, who was well-known for being a ruthless and powerful fighter. Despite being wise, he was also savage in and out of battle and would not hesitate to harm someone if he needed to. He also preferred his privacy and space, and when it was invaded, intruders were met with an intimidating glare.

"Roy," a deep voice said.

Roy flinched as Mewtwo addressed him. As always, the legendary Pokemon teleported to the lobby out of nowhere. He floated an inch or so off the ground, gaze fixed on Roy. As a Pokemon, he technically could not speak human language, but using his psychic skills, he could project his thoughts out into the open air. His voice was deep and wise but was also slow, cold, and devoid of humor.

"Yeah?" Roy asked nervously.

"I would like to wish you luck on our next battle," Mewtwo said without even using his voice box. "I hope you have trained well, for I expect a challenge. If you win this match, congratulations. But if you do not, train harder."

Mewtwo teleported away. "In other words," Roy translated, "if you lose, you're a dork. I'm gonna go do some warm-ups."

--

Roy faced Mewtwo on the Brinstar Depths arena. Most fighters, including Roy himself, were very nervous on this stage. Not only was it tricky and dangerous, but there was a sea of lava flowing beneath them. The blast lines came before the lava, however, to prevent fighters from further injury. But worst of all was the giant monster looming in the background, Kraid. It was about four times the size of the stage itself. It turned the stage at various angles by swiping at the fighters. Although Master Hand had assured them that there were two Kraids and this was the fake and weaker one, accidents happened frequently where a fighter would be nearly rent in two by one of Kraid's claws. The Smart Shields were the only things saving them from a very painful death.

Mewtwo, however, did not look the least bit frightened. In fact, Roy guessed that, if he wanted to, he could destroy Kraid himself in a matter of a few easy seconds. Roy was starting to wish he would.

"Welcome to the third battle of the second round of the Ultimate Tournament!" Master Hand boomed. "In this battle, Roy will be facing Mewtwo in the dangerous Brinstar Depths. Whoever wins moves onto the third round of the tournament. 3...2...1...go!!"

"Show me what you have learned," Mewtwo said challengingly.

Roy ran forward and sliced his sword down at Mewtwo. His sword was met with thin air. Mewtwo wasn't there anymore. Instinctively, he looked behind him. Sure enough, there Mewtwo was, still not attacking.

"A very foolish strategy," Mewtwo commented.

Roy, angry, swung his sword several times at Mewtwo, he dodged each one without even moving his feet. After awhile, Mewtwo blocked the sword with his mind and hit Roy with a shadowy punch in the stomach that sent him flying backwards.

Kraid had risen up out of the depths now and was looming over the stage menacingly. Roy recovered his sword and stumbled to his feet. He noticed Kraid swinging his hand forward out of the corner of his eye and ducked just as Kraid's claws slashed at him. He was saved by the gap in between the monster's two fingers. The small, floating island turned over right. Roy hopped forward to avoid falling, but had the wind knocked out of him when he jumped into Mewtwo's tail. He grabbed onto the edge of the arena, then kicked off and landed on a small, floating rock. When he turned around, Mewtwo was right behind him again. Roy stabbed at him, but he merely floated sideways around it.

"I ask for a challenge," Mewtwo said, "and this is what you give me?"

He picked Roy up without touching him and hurled him behind him. Roy bashed into the side of the floating island and landed back on the small rock they were on. Mewtwo's tail held him to the ground, even though not much effort was used. Roy swiped his foot with his sword, jumped back up, then swung his sword and positioned himself to counter in case Mewtwo retaliated. Sure enough, Mewtwo dodged around the swipe and attacked with his tail, which hit Roy's sword. Roy smashed the sword back at him and knocked him on top of the floating island.

"Very good," Mewtwo said. "You have learned."

Roy jumped up after Mewtwo, who was charging a Shadow Ball, then leaped over him but was met by Mewtwo's long tail yet again. He fell back onto the ground, then got blasted by the fully-charged Shadow Ball. He fell downwards just as Kraid hit the arena again. Roy grabbed onto a piece of the wall and clung on tightly as the arena flipped completely upside-down from its starting position. He sheathed his sword to grip with two hands. His muscles trembled--he didn't know how much longer he could hold on. He was directly on the underside of the stage, holding onto just a small, metal protrusion.

He gasped as Mewtwo's floating form arrived right in front of him. Mewtwo's face was just inches away from his. If Roy used one hand to grab his sword and strike, he would surely plummet and lose the match. What now?

Mewtwo merely watched with amusement until Kraid flipped the stage back on its right. Mewtwo followed the stage's tilt until he was looking at Roy upside-down. Roy hopped off and got back on top of the stage, unsheathing his sword. He spun around in a circle, sword outstretched, and hit nothing. Mewtwo teleported in front of him. Roy, flying into a frenzy swung his sword fourteen times and missed with all of them as Mewtwo saw them coming in advance and moved almost lazily to avoid them. Roy realized that he had backed Mewtwo off of the stage, and he was now hovering in the air.

He saw a couple of balls of light come from Mewtwo's eyes and connect directly with Roy's. Suddenly, the room became darker, and his sense of equilibrium was so off, the floor might have well been the ceiling. He didn't know where Mewtwo was or where the pain was coming from, but when he finally recovered his vision, he was falling down towards the bottom blast line. He grabbed onto the edge of another floating rock and pulled himself up. He sank to his knees, panting. He didn't even bother to look as he heard Mewtwo land gently behind him.

"I guess...I lose," Roy said between pants.

"As I said before," Mewtwo said, "train harder."

Roy was grabbed by psychic energy, then hurled over Mewtwo's shoulder and fell down past the bottom blast line.

"And the winner is..." Master Hand boomed, "...Mewtwo! Congratulations! You will move onto round three!"

--

Marth immediately went to greet Roy the moment he saw him come out of the Teleporter. He arrived five minutes after everybody else did. Marth suspected he was having a moment alone on the Brinstar Depths.

"You did well, Roy," Marth congratulated.

Roy didn't look at him. "I think I can safely say that you are lying," he muttered. "I got maybe one or two hits, and he was toying with me the whole match. It isn't just that I lost; I lost horribly."

"Most people are the same way with him," Marth replied. "Most people can't beat him."

"Just leave me alone for the time being," Roy said, walking past him.

Marth decided to let Roy be. He would recover in time, but he could tell Roy felt terrible. Not just from the aches and pains, but from how he never even put up a real fight. He decided to find Link and talk to him about something. He found the Hyrulian hero in his room, getting ready for the fight early.

"Did you talk to Roy?" Link asked.

Marth nodded. "He's pretty upset. I think we should make it up to him somehow."

Link scowled. "I am not eating salsa again."

"I was thinking more along the lines of another Swordsmans' Night Out. Where Roy gets to pick where to go and everything."

Link's expression brightened up a bit. "Sounds good. When are we going to do it?"

"Tonight, if it's possible."

Link nodded. "Okay, when the round is all over, we'll all head on over to wherever Roy wants to go. How about we go to whatever restaurant Roy picks for dinner?"

Marth agreed to it. "Now get ready. Good luck on your fight."

"Thanks."

Marth left the room, feeling better. Perhaps Roy wouldn't feel so bad after all.