The world wasn't real to Marth. It was as if his brain had suddenly pushed reality way, and everything around him was numb and fuzzy. It felt like looking through the wrong end of a telescope.

Within the numb shell that was Marth, thoughts and emotions built up. One such emotion was relief; I did it. They're saved. Another, sadness. And I'll never live to see my friends again. And a third, which was also numb, as if it was right on the doorstep but not in the house, was pain. He knew every part of him ached--his chest, where Ganondorf had kicked him multiple times. His throat, where he was almost strangled to death. And all his muscles had been screaming in protest for the past...how long was it since he'd gone into the cave? It didn't matter.

In the end, relief and comfort won over all other emotions. I did good. It doesn't matter what happens to me. He closed his eyes and let himself fall freely. He was aware of a cloudless blue sky and the sun shining through his eyelids. He thought it was very symbolic. He hoped his friends would enjoy it.

Strong objects wrapped around him...a crowd of people...confused voices speaking...and then all went black.

--

Marth was laying on a cloud. It was very comfortable and molded around him. The air was fresh and clean. He breathed in great gulps of it. It was like water to a man dying of thirst. All around him was shining light which generated an aura of peace. It was a spot that he never wanted to leave. How could he? How could anyone? He rolled over on the cloud and grinned.

But his conscience, which seemed like a part of him watching from a distance, stabbed through the peace and seemed to bring a wave of reality to him. You're not supposed to be here...you can't sleep on clouds, you'd just fall through....

Marth's eyes opened, and he sat up quickly. It was a dream; he had not been floating through the air. And he was not lying on a cloud--it was a fluffy bed. The shining light around him came from light rebounding off of pearly white floors and walls. He knew the place, he was sure of that, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was. It was like seeing something you recognize but not knowing where it came from.

This is the Recovery Room, he thought. Yes...and we're in the Super Smash Bros. Academy. Why? What happened?

His mind went into reverse, going through the dream, the voices and people gathered around him, falling through the sky, battling a dark somebody on a floating battlefield. Faces also flashed into his memory: Samus, Link, Roy, Zelda...Ganondorf.

Every bit of his memory came back to him. He remembered what happened. The building and everyone in it had been threatened. He had fought Ganondorf and hopped off the arena before a gargantuan explosion occurred. Curiosity seeped into him. Where was everybody? What had happened since? Was everybody alright?

He tried to leap out of bed, but several sharp pains in various areas of his body forced him to groan and lie back down again. Oh, yeah, forgot about those...and another memory returned to him; Ganondorf getting the upper hand in the battle. He laughed slightly. How could he have forgotten?

A door far away to his left opened, and a young blonde woman walked out of it: Peach. He was so grateful for company, he probably would have welcomed Bowser's presence. He grinned widely and sat up as far as his sore body would let him. Peach seemed surprised at first, but then an equally broad smile lit up her face. "You're awake!" she shouted, nearly dropping the medical equipment she was carrying.

"Where is everybody?" Marth asked. "Are they alright?"

"Well, they looked a lot better than you," she laughed, setting her equipment down for the time being and sitting in a chair next to his bed. "A lot of people sustained injuries from the fight with the Wire Frames. A few had to sit it out because they were exhausted or beaten. But their injuries pretty much paled in comparison to yours."

"What did I look like?"

"Well, your clothes were all ripped and torn, and a few bones had been broken. You were pretty bloody, too. There were bruises all over your body. Suffice it to say that you didn't look in good shape."

Marth tried to sort out his building questions, tried to decide which to ask next. "Was the building damaged at all?"

"Not from the blast. Obviously, Battlefield and Final Destination are gone, but the only damage that was suffered was from the Wire Frame battle. Some areas were chipped and scuffed, windows had been shattered, that sort of thing. Work has already begun to patch it up."

"How long have I been in here?"

"About a good twenty-four hours. I say you're lucky to wake up that early."

Marth was about to ask another barrage of questions, but the Recovery Room doors burst open, and four figures flung themselves in. Marth's second grin surpassed his first; he could not have been happier to see three blond-haired people and one redhead.

"You're awake!" Roy yelled. He nearly knocked himself over Marth's bed from flying into it so fast. The three others crowded around it, beaming. When he racked his brains, he realized that he had never seen Samus smile like that before. She was usually a very serious individual.

"Are you all okay?" Marth asked.

"We're all fine," Samus assured him. "You were the one we were worried about. We didn't think you had a chance of survival."

"I was pretty angry when Zelda told me what happened," said Roy, "about how they had sent Final Destination away with you on it. I'm not saying I didn't believe in you, but I was pretty sure there was no way out of that. I knew it had to be done, but...." He shrugged. "Nobody likes losing a friend."

"I almost lost all of you," said Marth. "I know that would have hurt. When I was falling, I wasn't afraid of dying, I was afraid of what you'd be like when you saw me. I didn't want to think about how sad you'd become. That is," he added, injecting a little humor, "if you'd be sad to be rid of me. I'm just kidding," he reassured them hastily when they began to respond. "Come to think of it, what happened? The last I remember, I was falling...."

"Mewtwo and I went to fight the Wire Frames," Zelda said. "I was pretty tired from exerting my magic, so I had to back out soon. Around the same time, Mewtwo teleported to the top of the building and watched the skies for you. After the two structures collided, he began flying around the area where the explosion took place. When he saw you, he teleported near you, grabbed you, and teleported you back before you hit the ground. The Wire Frames froze where they were and began to fade from existence."

"That was probably because...." Marth stopped midsentence. "What happened to Ganondorf?"

"What do you think?" Samus asked. "An explosion the size of Tallon IV collided head-on with him. I think it's safe to say he's gone for good."

"Great," Marth sighed. "He never should have been here in the first place. To think he'd endanger so many lives just for his goal...."

"That's not news to us," Link said darkly. "Ganondorf wouldn't care how many people he hurt so long as, in the end, he got what he wanted. Instead, he's always gotten what he deserved."

"So now his threat is gone forever," muttered Marth. "So...what?"

"So what, what?" Roy asked.

"What are we going to do? Are we redoing the end of the tournament?"

"They're talking about it," Roy replied. "They think they will; Master Hand says everybody didn't get into this just for a near-death experience. After that, we're going to have another party, and I think it's going to be huge."

"Speaking of Master Hand," said Marth, "where is he? I want to talk to him. And I don't mean to run you off, but...privately."

They all nodded and left the room. Peach went into the back room Marth had first seen her come out of and shut the door. He laid back down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, waiting for Master Hand to arrive. So many questions still needed answering. Questions such as, "Why invite a heartless killer to the fold?" and "Did nobody know of a cave beneath the academy?" Surely they'd be answered when Master Hand came.

A few minutes later, a strange sound on the table beside him made him jump. Gadgets and devices had always been all over it, but he had never really stopped to see what they did. One of these devices was small, black, and circular, and was humming. The outer edges of it were whirring while the center remained stationary. A glass (or something similar to glass) core glowed orange, getting brighter. The light erupted into a reddish-orange, hand-shaped figure which seemed to be constructed out of whatever the Wire Frames were composed of.

"You wanted to speak to me, I believe?" Master Hand's deep voice boomed out.

Somehow, the device was projecting an image of Master Hand. Recovering from his initial shock, Marth launched right into his set of questions that sat ready for asking. "Why did you invite Ganondorf here? You knew what he was like. You must have known something like this would happen."

Master Hand was silent for a moment, apparently deliberating on a response. A few seconds had passed before he said, "The Super Smash Bros. were not formed just as a means to fight. Part of it was also to learn about other dimensions and those who lived in them. But one of the other reasons I brought them together was to form new friendships. I believed that even those cold at heart could realize how wonderful doing good and building friendships could be."

"But it didn't work," Marth said before he could stop himself. He couldn't help but feel slightly angry at Master Hand for missing such an obvious flaw.

"For the most part, it has," Master Hand contradicted him. "Bowser himself has not attempted any wrongdoing above stealing food from the kitchen--in which he has been caught numerous times. Despite how mean and cruel he is to most of the people here, I can see a small bond forming between them all."

"I think Bowser's ready to beat up anybody who gets in his way," Marth pointed out. "No offense, but I really can't see a bond building."

"Nasty as Bowser is to most of you, he probably could not imagine killing, kidnapping, destroying this building, or coming up with another of his brilliant domination plans. There may be some exceptions to these rules, such as Mario, Peach, and, more recently, you. But much as Bowser may not like to admit it, he feels a small amount of friendship between most of you."

"How would you know that?"

"By observing a number of occasions. Such as, for instance, not long ago, when Bowser mentioned that you did a brilliant job killing Ganondorf and saving the academy, all enmity between the both of you forgotten."

Marth remembered how he had tricked Bowser into following him to a spot where he and Samus had laid a beating on him, believing him to be Mastermind. He felt an unexpected rush of gratitude and apology toward Bowser. The evil Koopa King praised him loudly and proudly, even if he had just saved them all?

"I didn't know that," Marth muttered.

"Back to the point, I was hoping Ganondorf might follow suit. He didn't. This is an error on my part. A large error. I believed that if any of the former villains decided to become present villains and try anything wrong, we would still be safe. I thought I knew where to check look for missing things, that I had the technology and the resources to crack anything, that the many talented fighters here would discourage such activity. It surprised me when I realized that I was powerless. I tried everything in my resources. I tried sending small robots to spy on everyone, much as I knew that it was an invasion of privacy. I could not find anything. My last resort was to wait until the tournament was over and send everybody out looking for the missing ones. Thanks to a certain someone, it did not come to that."

Marth reflected on what he'd heard. His anger at Master Hand had ebbed away to be replaced by sympathy. He should have guessed how terrible Master Hand must have felt, thinking that everyone was safe and then not being able to protect the people he was hosting.

"It wasn't just me," said Marth. "I did very little, actually. Samus figured out most of the clues, and Link, Zelda, and Roy helped me fight."

"Yet it was you who took the initiative to form the Trackers, you who strived daily to figure out the truth, and you who fought Ganondorf one-on-one."

"Well, I--how did you know about the Trackers?"

"Your friends told me."

His friends...he wanted to see them again. As soon as possible, he wanted to get out of bed and be out and about again. But he still had a few other questions to ask, so it would have to wait for just awhile longer.

"The cave beneath the academy..." he began.

"Yes, the cave. I believe that was Crazy Hand's creation." At the puzzled look on Marth's face, he elaborated. "As you are only too aware, Crazy Hand loves chaos. Did you know he wanted to make the academy full of traps and secret passageways?" Marth shook his head, surprised. "I obviously didn't let that happen, but I do believe that he did manage to create a few secret passages without my knowing. No particular reason; just so that it wasn't orderly and it was, well, chaotic. That cave must have always been under the academy. All Crazy Hand probably had to do was create an entrance for it in the academy. I never even knew."

They were both silent for awhile. Were there any other secret passages nobody knew about?

He decided to put thinking about that off until later. "Do Roy, Link, and Samus have their things back? And Falco?"

"Yes. After you were safe in the Recovery Room, we sent a party down into the caves to look for other things, including their items and weapons. One of the tunnels led to a room containing those items."

"And is the Ultimate Tournament continuing?"

"The answer to that is also yes. I have yet to decide where, but I'm considering either the Hyrule Temple or Peach's Castle. That's not for a few days, however. You'll have plenty of time to rest until then."

Marth asked his last question. "Are we creating another Battlefield and Final Destination?"

"Maybe. I will have to talk to Crazy Hand about that. If we do, extra precautions shall be taken to ensure that nothing of this scale ever happens again."

Marth nodded. "Thanks. That's all I wanted to ask."

"It's natural to ask questions when you've saved the world and haven't been awake for the past twenty-four hours."

Marth grinned at him. He heaved himself up higher and slid his legs out of bed.

"You know, of course, that Princess Peach will protest," Master Hand said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I suppose I'll have to deal with it."

And sure enough, before he could reach the door, the back door opened and Peach came out. She hurried over and guided him back to his bed, insisting that he was not well enough to be moving out and about, and Marth had no choice but to lay back down on the bed, waiting for the next time Peach would turn her back.

--

Three days later, Marth couldn't have been happier.

He was out of the Recovery Room (when Peach had finally buckled the previous day) and was sitting in the stands floating near Hyrule Temple, cheering on the three figures fighting beneath them. It felt good. He was no longer fighting and no longer searching for clues in order to save the lives of the people at the academy. He was free from that burden, and it felt good. Sitting in the stands cheering was just where he was supposed to be.

The match was long an action-packed. Giant Punches, Shadow Balls, and Final Cutters whipped around everywhere. At the end of a very suspenseful fifteen minutes, the match came to an end. The winner stood victorious in the middle of the ruined temple. That winner....

...Was Kirby.

The stands erupted into applause, celebrating the winner of the Ultimate Tournament. Nobody even heard Master Hand's announcements as he handed a trophy and a keycard to the Personal Bank (a machine in everyone's room that could transfer money from their vaults) to Kirby. He didn't look immensely happy or even stunned; he just had the innocent, blank stare on his face, accompanied by the slightly open mouth.

They all gathered in the lobby, congratulating Kirby for his victory. Not everybody had expected it; most thought Mewtwo was to be the undoubted winner, and some others figured Donkey Kong would take the trophy. Very few (if anybody) thought Kirby had a chance. But just like there were zero odds for defeating Ganondorf and he overcame, Kirby also overcame.

Final plans were being made for the party. Peach had a list of what food was to be cooked and what decorations were to go up, but a few last-minute adjustments were being made. Peach wanted a banner to hang across the kitchen saying something important (Roy had suggested "Never underestimate a marshmallow," but Peach thought it was hardly appropriate).

"And we'll have his trophy up on a pedestal," she finished, forming an invisible pedestal with her hands. "Kirby, where's your trophy?"

At the mention of his shining prize, all eyes turned on Kirby. The trophy was nowhere to be found.

A long silence followed before Kirby answered. "Well, I was hungry, and it kind of looked like chocolate...."

"You ate your trophy!?!" someone bellowed. Some people laughed; everybody else looked shocked. Marth grinned. He was just happy that Kirby was still around to eat his prize. That day was going to be a great day indeed.

--

FINAL AUTHOR'S NOTE: This ends Super Smash Bros. Melee: Ultimate Tournament. The story will carry on soon when the Brawl sequel, Divided, is up. You shouldn't have to wait long; I plan on writing it very soon.

I sincerely hope you enjoyed this story. Stick around; Divided should be even better. Plans are not complete for it (meaning the entire story isn't developed and the general list of chapters isn't up yet), but I believe it should dwarf Ultimate Tournament in terms of length and will focus more on action, adventure, and some suspense rather than mystery. Keep your eyes peeled, and goodbye.