Marth was lying on a cold, metal table in the Recovery Room. If Samus hadn't returned from wherever she was, Marth would have been killed. He wasn't fearing so much for his own life as he was the knowledge of the crime disappearing down the tubes.

"Thanks, Samus," Marth said.

"You've told me that about seven times now."

"That's because I mean it."

Marth had his shirt and cape off as Samus was checking around his body for injuries. According to some high-tech machine which Marth had no idea how it worked, there were no serious breaks detected, although very minor ones were present.

"Samus, why exactly are you touching around for areas that hurt if we already know I ache all over?"

"To see if you can go on."

"Go on with what?"

Samus sighed. "Marth, you've been stepped on by a giant turtle, nearly had your arm crushed, and now you were nearly bludgeoned to death by some of the toughest enemies in existence. I know that even I couldn't take a beating like that and stand. Not easily, anyway." She looked Marth right in the eyes. "And if you're trying to find a villain strong enough to take on both Link and Zelda at the same time who's more cunning than we think, you can't go looking for him and barely be able to walk."

Samus stepped back from him. "Can you stand and walk okay?"

Marth sat up, groaning as he did so, and hopped off the table. He wobbled and almost fell on the spot, but caught himself and stood up straight. Samus looked at him critically, hands on her hips. Marth grabbed his sword, then swung it around, fighting an imaginary enemy. Although pain shot up when he pushed himself, he could ignore it and fight as normal.

"I can still fight," he said. "And as much as I feel like a wyvern trampled on me, I can still walk fine, too."

"I suppose I have to be Altean to understand that analogy," Samus muttered. "And don't lie to yourself; if you really can't fight or even walk, don't push it. Are you sure you can--"

"Yes," Marth interrupted. "I won't say I feel peachy because I don't. However, I feel ready to fight in another battle if I have to." He sighed. "And I don't think I have much of a choice, either. We have to find our friends, and time's running out. I'll have to fight to find them."

Samus nodded. "Alright, put your clothes back on. I think we're done here."

Marth put his shirt and cape back on, glad to escape the cold of the Recovery Room.

"You know, Samus," Marth said, "when all this is done, can we paint the Recovery Room orange or something?" Samus stared at Marth with what everyone called the "Samus Eye," where she tilted her head down to the side and stared at someone with a critical expression. "When everything's white, it becomes boring and uncomfortable. Not to mention when someone's bleeding, bright red against a pure white background makes things look creepy." Samus continued to give Marth the Samus Eye. "And is it possible to make the examination table warm and fluffy instead of cold and metal? Nobody feels comfortable sitting on that. No wonder people don't like doctors." When the Samus Eye became unbearable, Marth switched the subject in order to break Samus's eye contact. "Where were you when I was looking for you?"

The Samus Eye vanished. Marth exhaled and hoped Samus didn't notice. "Tailing Ganondorf as part of our little Trackers thing. He didn't do anything suspicious, though. Peach almost blew my cover." Samus scowled. "She said you wanted me and that it was important. Does it have something to do with Mastermind?"

Marth nodded. His previous excitement returned to him. "I think we may have him, Samus. I went to the pond where Link and Zelda disappeared and found a bunch of prints. I could discern what some of them were, but--"

"But you need me to see what most of them are," Samus finished. Marth nodded.

"You were trained in this sort of thing, right?" Marth asked. "Besides getting in your Power Suit and shooting things left and right, you were trained in espionage, tracking, and, apparently, footprints."

"The Chozo were responsible for most of it," Samus said. "Especially my athleticism. The Galactic Federation taught me the other half. ...Well, more like other quarter. But anyway, let's get going."

"If we're lucky," Marth said excitedly, "we can find Mastermind today. What do you think?"

Samus thought for a bit as they left the Recovery Room. "If he doesn't cover up the clues you found and if he doesn't leave Smash School, likely we'll find him. Or her, of course. Then there's the matter of beating him."

"We can do it," Marth said. "If we know what he's up to, I'm sure we can beat him. And if we get captured as well, maybe we can escape and get the secret out."

Samus remained silent as they walked. Neither of them talked as they made their way to the pond. Marth used the silence as a chance to think some more.

I think we've got it, he thought. If the prints are still there, Samus can read them and see who they belong to and what happened. And I now doubt that Samus is Mastermind, because I was about to be killed by those Wire Frames. I was complete T-O-A-S-T toast. There's no reason for stopping my execution if I'm about to die anyway.

Finally, they arrived at the pond. Marth, fearful of the worst, closed his eyes. If the tracks were gone, their hopes were destroyed. He would have led Samus to the scene for nothing and raised both of their hopes only to crash them back down. Inhaling, he opened his eyes.

The tracks were still there.

Marth exhaled deeply. Their hopes were still intact.

"A little nervous?" Samus asked half-jokingly.

"Just a little," Marth replied. "They're still there. I thought I would go insane if I opened my eyes and saw that they weren't." Marth bent down with Samus to examine the tracks. "Can you make anything of them?"

For the next few minutes, Marth sat back while Samus examined the tracks and footprints. The sun was starting to set; it had been a long day. And Marth felt like it was only going to get longer. After everything he had been through, he was still going to attempt to tackle Mastermind. He was either brave or crazy.

"What's your dimension like, Samus?" Marth asked. He wanted to ease his tension. If he was a stick, he was close to snapping. "I don't know much outside of my world. I know everybody else has these weird, advanced machines, and I don't understand how any of it works."

"Actually, from what I've heard," Samus said, still examining the tracks, "I'm even more advanced than most of the people here, although Fox, Falco, and Captain Falcon are about on par with me. Basically, a lot of research has been done, and we've found new ways to build things and have discovered more and more of the universe. As for how machines work...well, we just use different power sources that never run out to fuel things. Some very old-fashioned people still use electricity."

This puzzled Marth. "You can use lightning to power machines?"

Samus laughed--one of the few times Marth had ever heard her do that. "Well, not lightning, but...." Samus stopped mid-sentence.

"Have you figured it out?" Marth asked.

"Pretty sure," she said. "Have you noticed these burn marks on the ground?"

Marth looked over Samus's shoulder at what she was pointing at. Part of the ground had been blackened and sunk in a little bit.

"What caused it?" Marth asked.

"Well, I've got a theory," Samus said, "but I'm not saying it until I point out the rest of it. Did you see the big footprints?"

"Yeah, I saw those. Who do they belong to?"

"The only people with feet that big are Bowser, Ganondorf, and Donkey Kong."

"So one of them was the attacker?"

"Yes."

"But none of them are exactly good at sneaking around," Marth pointed out. "Can you imagine Donkey Kong trying to squeeze himself against a wall to hide in the shadows? You can't."

"You're right," Samus said, "but they didn't necessarily have to do it themselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Who controls a large army loyal enough to go around stealing a bunch of things without being spotted?"

The answer hit him. "Bowser."

Samus nodded. "Burn marks from his fire breath. Big footprints that match the size of his feet. And the power and authority to get someone to go snooping around for him. Not to mention the size and strength to knock out someone with a single blow. Bowser is Mastermind."

Marth stood up and looked back in the direction of the Super Smash Bros. Academy. "I still don't know what Master Hand was thinking when he invited Bowser to the mix," he said, "but I can tell you now it ends here. Bowser's either dying or going back to where he came and not coming back."

"We need to prepare ourselves," Samus said. "Bowser almost defeated you when you fought him in the tournament battle. Furthermore, his time in the Super Smash Bros. Academy has taught him to fight melee-style rather than using the same attack or device over and over again. He's smarter now."

"I'm already prepared," Marth grumbled. He started to move in the direction of the academy but was immediately stopped by Samus, who could move at an unnatural speed to the point where she was just a blur passing by.

"I'm not just talking about fighting," she said. "We need to do this strategically. We can't just fight it out in the academy, because we could destroy much of it. And if Bowser uses his fire breath, he could burn it down. Do you see where I'm going?" Marth reluctantly nodded. "I know you want to fight, but we need to sit down and think it through."

Marth sat down on the sand and sighed. "Okay, so what did you have in mind?"

Samus, also on the sand, thought for a bit. "We need to lure him away from the building. I'd like to get him as far away as possible, but not to the point where he becomes suspicious. I just don't know how to do that."

Marth thought about it. "I think we all know he likes Peach, much as he denies it."

Samus shook her head. "I don't want to get anyone else involved."

Marth laughed. Samus eyed him strangely. When he stopped laughing, he decided to answer Samus's unsaid question.

"You have blond hair."

Samus got it. "Listen, Marth, there is no way I am wearing a--"

"Alright, alright, we won't do that," he said. He couldn't help but let out another small laugh. Samus gave him the Samus Eye. Marth ignored her and kept thinking. His rumbling belly interrupted his thoughts.

"I guess we can't stay thinking for too long," he said. "We'll have dinner to get to."

Samus blinked. "Dinner...there we go! I think I've got it."

"Think you've got what?"

Samus propped herself up sitting on her legs. "Bowser likes meat. Almost to the point of insanity. So what we'll need to do is get a steak and then let him smell it. He'll follow it to wherever it goes, so we'll need to lure him far away from the academy."

"And then we gang up on him and beat him up," Marth finished. "We just need to make sure no one else smells it. That could ruin the whole plan."

"I could always open his window when he's not looking," Samus said. "It would be an easy matter to sneak into his room, open his window, and then escape. And since Bowser's got a more powerful nose than most other people, he'll probably smell it from afar and come looking for it."

Marth nodded. "Where do we get the steak?"

"Peach will probably bake one for us without a complaint if we ask her," Samus said. "You know how much she likes to show off her culinary talent."

Marth stood up. "It's settled, then. We do this tonight; if we wait until tomorrow, it might be too late."

Samus's eyes widened. "I just lost track of time! I didn't even realize what would happen tomorrow!"

The next day was the final day of the Ultimate Tournament. That was likely when Mastermind--or rather, Bowser--would strike. If they waited until tomorrow, likely, they wouldn't have a chance to stop him anyway.

"You're right," Samus said after she recovered from the shock. "We do this tonight. How's this for a plan? We eat dinner. Then, you ask Peach to bake a steak--which will likely attract Bowser anyway--and I sneak into his room and open his window. When the steak is ready, we carry it off to a spot far off."

Marth grinned. "I like that plan. Let's not kill any more time. Let's go."