AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just got a Wii recently! (No, not everybody has a Wii these days.) And with that, I got Super Smash Bros. Brawl. So now if I wanted to write a Brawl sequel to this story (among other stories), I could. The game rocks, seriously. My two favorite newcomers are Ike and Pit--talk about wrecking balls. (Which also means that if I do make a sequel to this, one of those two characters will likely become the protagonists.) Sorry for talk about something mostly-unrelated to the subject. Let's get back to the story.

--

Marth was very nervous. There were a lot of things on his mind; first of all, another Swordsman was having his match in about ten minutes, and Marth didn't want Link to join Roy in the just-lost group. Secondly, his battle was right afterwards. And then there was the matter of the Swordsmans' Night Out. Marth was determined to make sure Roy felt better before the night was over.

The ten minutes came and went. Marth stretched and went down to the Teleporter. Link was fighting Mario on the Rainbow Cruise stage. Although the scenery was beautiful and breathtaking, most of the fighters never paused to look at it; they were concentrated on the person trying to beat them up. The people in the stands, however, were left to admire it. The match would start on an elaborate flying ship, which would then crash into an obstacle course. Master Hand designed it so that the blast lines would move continuously during the obstacle course until they made their way back to the start.

Marth sat down next to Roy and sighed. "It's okay, Roy," he said. "We're going to make it up to you tonight."

"Chugging salsa?"

"No. We were thinking of a Swordsmans' Night Out where you get to pick where we go to eat."

"No fair!" Young Link's voice called out from behind them. "I lost, and all I got was to watch me, in reality, eating salsa!"

"Then we'll let you order something nice wherever we go," Marth said.

The match started. Right off the bat, Link threw his boomerang at Mario, who dodged it but got whacked in the back of the head when it came back. Link seized the opportunity to dive at him and smash him with his sword. Mario rolled back to his feet and dodged a bomb thrown at him, then leaped and spun Link around with his cape. Link was kicked in the back and landed on the back part of the ship. Mario jumped up and hit him repeatedly with his Mario Tornado technique. Link swiped him several times, then rolled to his feet when he hit the ground. Mario came dashing back, and Link swiped his sword and kicked at the same time. Mario ducked under the blade but got hit in the face with Link's boot.

It was about this time that the ship crashed into the obstacle course and began "sinking." Link turned and dashed onto the obstacle course, then hurled as many bombs as he could scrounge up at Mario. Mario almost fell off the back of the ship but finally made it on. He was met by Link's sword and was knocked past the blast lines.

"Well, that wasn't too hard, fortunately," Marth sighed.

--

The next match was Marth vs. Bowser. Everyone knew Bowser was no cakewalk (especially Mario, who had recounted many a story about their fights). But fortunately for Marth, that worked to his advantage. Because of his great strength, fiery breath, and strange pride as a villain, Bowser was overconfident. Marth still wondered how he could let his guard down so often when Mario had beaten him time and time again. Even so, Marth would be prepared.

"Hey, blue-haired guy!!"

And what do you know, Marth thought, here he is now.

"You'd better watch it during our match!" Bowser boomed. "I've been training and working out like crazy. That wimp Luigi couldn't even beat me. Trust me when I say you don't have a chance."

"Well, don't get overconfident," Marth advised. As usual. "That's one wide road to failure."

"Failure? What's failure?" Bowser sneered. "Something you do?"

Oh, please, Marth thought. His jokes aren't even funny. "You forget you've said the same thing about fifty times, and Mario beat you every time. If you beat me using your skill and strength, then good. ...Well, maybe not, because you're a bad guy." Bowser smirked at that. "But don't get cocky, because when people do that, they often fail."

Bowser shook his head and walked out. "You'd still better watch it!"

Marth couldn't help thinking one thing: What a jerk. No wonder he lost so much. That was a good thing, though. Marth decided to get something to drink as he waited for thirty minutes to pass.

--

Marth would be fighting Bowser on the old Kongo Jungle stage that had been featured in the First Generation. He landed lightly from his teleporting pad and unsheathed his sword. Bowser was already there, proud smirk on his face. Marth scowled.

Master Hand began the announcements while Bowser punching his knuckles together menacingly and made other threatening gestures. Marth fought the urge to roll his eyes and paid attention to Master Hand. When the announcements were done, Master Hand began counting down.

"3...2...1...go!"

Marth approached Bowser cautiously, sword held out in front of him. Bowser breathed his fiery breath, and Mario leaped over it and swiped him in between his horns. Bowser jumped backwards to try and hit Marth with his huge shell, but Marth rolled around it and swiped Bowser in the belly. Angry, Bowser swiped at the nimble hero with his claws repeatedly. Marth dodged under the first two, blocked the third with his sword, but missed the fourth and got swiped backwards.

"Well?" Bowser mocked. "That's a little something I like to call--"

He didn't get a chance to finish. His eyes widened as Marth leaped back and hit Bowser first in the hit, then stabbed him in the belly. He used his momentum to spin around and throw all his weight into a sword smash that sent Bowser flying off the stage. When Bowser tried to leap back on, he jumped over him and slammed him downwards by hitting him with the point of his sword. Bowser flew straight down and would have been defeated instantly if he had not fallen into the floating barrel beneath the stage. Marth groaned and back away from it cautiously. No doubt Bowser would be aiming for him when he blasted back out. The barrel rolled several times. Marth hoped Bowser would fall out, but he had no such luck. On the third roll, a giant reptile came bursting out. Before Marth could react, he was bashed by a heavy enemy and knocked into a tree. Marth felt the wind whoosh out of him.

"Now you've made me mad," Bowser growled.

Marth didn't respond. He was crouching on the ground, trying to recover from the attack. The Smart Shields barely blocked it. He wouldn't be surprised if he had broken a bone or two by the time the match was over.

Bowser blasted Marth with his fiery breath, then threw him behind him. Marth's head went off the edge of the floating stage and hung in the air. He lifted himself up carefully and saw Bowser standing over him. Marth swung his sword at him, but Bowser sidestepped it and put one foot on Marth's sword arm, the other on his chest. The air went out of Marth's lungs again.

"I guess maybe there's something wrong with overconfidence," Bowser said, "but in this case, it helps to be angry." He put more weight on his right foot. Marth groaned in pain. "Normally I'd gloat over your loss a bit and cause you more pain, but I realize now that wouldn't be the smartest move. No, the smart thing to do would be to get rid of you now."

He's got me pinned! What do I do!?! Marth thought frantically. Kicking probably wouldn't work; Bowser's hide was too thick for that. The King of the Koopas was now pushing his foot up, pushing Marth more and more over the edge of the stage. With his free hand, he grabbed his sword from his trapped hand and swiped Bowser as many times as he could. At first Bowser tried to endure the pain, but then it became overwhelming and he had to let go. Marth jumped up and stabbed Bowser in the belly, then jumped to the side instinctively. Bowser dived past, and Marth turned his body to bring a kick into Bowser's shell, helping push him over the edge. Before Bowser could climb back on, Marth hit him with the point of his sword again, and this time, there was no floating barrel to save him. Bowser crashed down below the blast line and lost.

Marth, however, did not feel as happy as he normally should have after defeating Bowser. He sheathed his sword and clutched his right arm. He was glad that he was moving onto the next round along with Link, but he was still much more sore than he normally was after a fight. He would go to the Recovery Room after the match was done.

--

"Nice, Marth!" Link congratulated.

"Thanks."

"What's wrong, Marth?" Zelda asked, noticing his arm.

"My arm hurts. You saw what Bowser did to it."

"Is it broken?" she asked.

"I don't know. Hopefully not, considering I have another match soon."

"You should go to the Recovery Room," she urged.

"I was going there anyway."

Marth followed Zelda as she led the way to the bright white room. He felt childish, hopping up onto an examination table.

"Why do hospital rooms have to be so boring?" Marth complained. "It's like snow season twenty-four-seven here: White and cold."

Zelda ignored him and felt around his right arm lightly. "Where does it hurt?"

"Ow! Right there, top of my wrist! Where your fingers are!"

"Can you move it okay?"

Marth turned his wrist and flexed it. "Yeah, but it hurts."

Zelda turned on a high-tech machine. Marth had no idea how it worked since technology was about nonexistent in his dimension. As a matter of fact, it was almost nonexistent in her dimension, too. But being one of the doctors, she was taught how to use it. Apparently, this sort of technology was rare even in Mario's dimension and only showed up in dimensions like Fox's and Samus's. From what Marth understood, it somehow detected breaks in bones. Zelda let a beam of light scan Marth up and down. Marth closed his eyes as it shined over his face. A green light flashed on the machine, and "No breaks detected" appeared on the screen.

"Looks like it isn't broken, but got pretty close," Zelda said. "Just be careful using that arm for awhile."

Marth thanked her and hastily walked out of the Recovery Room. He hated being in that room. It made him feel so childish and helpless. Tired, he went up to his bedroom, closed the door, and took a nap.