Master Hand felt proud of how the tournament was shaping up. He already had 4 fighters that were unique and brought a special flare to the games they were a part of. The Starchild that has saved his world from monsters of many varieties and servers as a common man with a positive view on his world. The recent incarnation of the legendary hero, one with great skills and wit that he uses to do battle against the greatest of all evils. A mighty (and somewhat dimwitted, the hand thinks to himself) king of the jungle, with enough might to make anyone think twice about stepping in his way and what he protects. And the greatest bounty hunter a galaxy has ever seen, one who completely annihilated all dangers that she has faced in her lifetime. This was a great achievement for him, and to think he's already gathered four so quickly…. Not to mention a possible 5th and 6th coming soon.

The hand floated in and quickly read through his mail and what was in it. There were plenty of letters over the course of a few days, currently there were many questions about Samus Aran. The hand pitied them for a moment, before realising that he has in fact never clearly addressed it himself either. He (metaphorically) facepalmed himself at such a beginner's mistake. But he supposed that not even an omnipotent being like himself is safe from making mild slip-ups from time to time.

The hand spent a few minutes thinking on how to solve his new problem. He could leave messages detailing who the fighters are, but that didn't set off the right feelings for him. Maybe he should aim for something marketable? Something that really leaves an impression. Then an idea went to the hand. What if he produced smaller versions of the trophitized fighters and sent them to the viewers? The idea seemed enticing and perhaps a little offensive to few, but it would definitely be something the kids would like. He could also find a way to include a short bio about the fighters, their journeys, and their abilities. And why would he have to stop there? He could mix in much more too! Some details about every possible being that has relevance in their respective multiverse should have their own bios and trophies for people to collect. But then how would he give those to them? The hand decided to end his internal monologue and save his thoughts for later. Right now he had a tournament to run, and hearts to conquer!

Samus landed at Yoshi's Island the next day and was slightly taken aback by the amount of life it had. She didn't hate it, it was simply uncommon in her line of work and wasn't a place that she thought would have been exempted from a fighting tournament. But Samus choose to simply relax for a moment and enjoy the novelty of a more relaxed scene while she still had the chance to.

Her ship descended closer and closer to the ground, landing amongst the forest as Samus took a glance of the area. The environment was giving enough details to show that the area mostly had clean oxygen and Samus took a moment to take her helmet off for the first time in months and enjoy the few seconds of heaven in this tournament. This moment was then interrupted by Master Hand teleporting in to announce the match.

"Hello once again, Samus Aran! Champion of-" Samus had no time for the hand's nonsense. She fired of a couple missiles at the hand that he suspends in mid air, before Samus unleashed a charge blade that was absorbed into the hand's palm. The hand sets his guard down but Samus uses the chance to rush in with a screw attack. The hand quickly reacts, forging a string and catching Samus. He then attaches the string to her and moves it to his pointer finger as he begins to whip Samus around like a yoyo before tossing her airborne. Samus then shoots at him from above with more missiles and the hand sighs as he deflects them into the trophies of Link and DK. The other two warriors are revived, but instead of going after Samus as the hand was hoping they would do, instead they focus on attacking him too. The hand sighs as he takes a page from Link's book and uses an area of effects stasis, pausing everyone all at the same time.

"You see why I banned this rune now Link? Because as fun to watch as this is…" The hand began to deliver hard smacks as the fighters, all of them having a massive red arrow pointing downwards once he was done tapping them. "It makes everything too unbalanced to make for an enjoyable experience." Master Hand releases his stasis as they all crash into the earth like meteors, becoming statues in the process.

Master Hand floated over to the trophies and gave light taps, reviving all the fighters back to full strength. "Now that's a rude way to start the day. Anyhow, it's time for the match to begin!"

"Well exhuseeeeeeeeee me, 'Master' 's as if none of us want to be a part of your tournament. So how about you just send us home already, because this isn't worth our time."

"Those are some aggressive words, Link, and rather bold ones considering that I've just got done dealing with all three of you in less time than it takes for a blue hedgehog to finish a 100 mile footrace."

"...what?"

"Oh, apologies, I was referring to someone from another universe. You might meet him someday, or maybe not! Who knows what I could possibly have instore for you and your futures." The hand remarked rhetorically.

"So if we're done with these fruitless attempts at defeating me, then we can get to the rules! The goal of this round is simple: defeat as many Yoshi's as you possibly can until we are left with just one. Simple enough, right?"

The three slowly agree to the hand's conditions.

"Perfect. Now let's move on to the main match!" The hand triumphantly announced. The hand teleported to another destination as the three fighters stood around and looked at each other.

"...So, your Samus Aran, right?"

Samus didn't give Link a response.

"Hm… it looks like we have a common enemy here. So why don't we team up as a group to put an end to Master Hands rein here?"

"...Fine." The two shook hands and kept a close eye on each other as they began their search to hunt for the Yoshis.

Master Hand went back to Toadtown to see how the viewers were enjoying the tournament so far. In his time away the Toads and Hylians have formed a stronger bond together. They we're working well together, rebuilding destroyed buildings and simply enjoying each other's company as they joked around and theorized on what was going to happen next.

"Hello my ever loving viewers! Have you been loving this tournament as much as myself?"

"Yah! This tournament is fun!" A toad mentioned

"That was a joke question. No mortal has as much heart as I do for this tournament. Now, what are your thoughts about yesterday's performance?"

"Well, it was cool and all… but something felt… off. Like, how did they end up on another planet?"

"That is a good question sir but I'm afraid we're lacking the time to go more in-depth with the details. And even if I had that time, we would have to start going into private tournament details that could get you killed, thrown into the sun, and tortured for a very long time. So simply forget you ever asked."

The toad was silent at the awnser and walked away. The hand gave a fake cough to get everyone's attention.

"Hello everyone! I've recently been noticing that some of you were a bit more curious about our fighters."

"Well, duh. So can you please explain to me what's up with the fireball throwing guy? And maybe the other dude who turned into a ball?" One Hylian asked.

"Well I believe that I have found the perfect way to solve this problem…" The hand brought out a small mini trophy showing Mario.

"What the h### is this-" the Hylian was shocked by the sudden loud beep coming from his mouth.

"Oh, that's just the profanity censor coming in."

"Well, I was referring to the thing you threw at me, but thanks anyways."

Oh. Well what I've just handed you is a little mini trophy that contains a bio on the fighter to give you a basic drift on who they are. I still haven't figured out what I'm gonna call it, but I was thinking something flash like amiibo. How does that sound?"

"…works I guess?"

"Great!" The hand gives a thumbs up and throws out several more 'amiibos' to the rest of the townsfolk and teleports elsewhere.

"So… what do you do in your spare time, Samus?"

Samus remains silent as the fighters march on to find the Yoshis.

Link decided to remain quiet after the attempt at getting her to open up failed. After all, he knew a thing or two about expectations and how bad things could go when you leave yourself open. DK, on the other hand, was acting like his usual self, trying to get a reaction out of the two until Samus briefly put her arm cannon directly up to DK's face. Link quickly told DK to knock it off and explained to Samus that DK was simply playing around. Samus saved her frustration for later as she silently walked on, holding her fury in for the next encounter with the hand.

The three kept marching forwards until they stumbled upon an area that revealed much more sunlight than the rest of the forest. Samus readied her cannon but Link held his hand up to stop her.

"I heard that the Yoshis are really peaceful animals so let's try to not scare them off immediately, okay?"

"What's your source?" Samus replied deadly.

"The Italian plumber that you took out yesterday. What happened to him anyways?"

"The hand took him and left." Samus answered coldly to Link.

Link sighed but kept a straight face as he introduced himself to the friendly dinosaurs. The Yoshis were shocked but quickly returned to their usual cheery nature as Link calmly handled the situation, saving Samus as the last introduction due to her intimidating looks. One of them was carrying a small baby on their back with a big nose and a cap marked with a M. Link went over and asked if the small baby was possibly the 'Luigi' that Mario mentioned so fondly. The baby did fit the bill for a weaker, yet still confident brother who could accomplish great things. But Yoshi shook his head. It was a shame, really. The odds would really lean on their side better if they had more confident fighters on their side.

"So… what's your plan." Samus asked.

"I think I want to make an attempt on taking Master Hand out using a trap."

"That won't work. The hand has shown himself to be well aware of our actions at all times. He could be watching us as we speak…"

Master Hand was going through paperwork. Did he have to do the paperwork? No, but he thought it would be fair considering the amount of items he was going to be sending to the tournament, he had standards after all. The hand pondered how effective he is handling the tournament and events surrounding it. It surely had to be fine. The people were loving it, the fighters brought their A-game when the fights took place, but something didn't feel right.

As the hand pondered to himself, he suddenly began vibrating like a telephone. He looked around to see what the cause of this sensation was and did a telephone gesture.

"Hello? This is Master Hand speaking."

"Open a gate. I want us to speak directly."

The hand was shocked by the sudden realization, but quickly created an astral projection to talk to Galeem. The hand lowered itself for a bow.

"Ah! Greetings Lord Galeem! I see you've taken some interest in my tournament!"

"What is this?"

"I… beg your pardon?"

"I'm referring to this filthy mess that you caused."

"I…well…it's…a sort of experimental idea."

"Experiment, you say? You're wasting time with this experiment?"

"I-It's not a waste of time! I can assure you that it's incredibly valuable and-"

"Stop."

The hand paused as the lord of light spoke.

"This is a waste of time. Undo this and return to me."

"I…can't…"

"Exude you?"

"This tournament hasn't even gone past the beginning rounds! I have so many other plans and-"

"I?"

The hand cringed as he was caught red handed.

"You referred to yourself as 'I'… it appears you're broken."

"Uh-oh." The hand nervously tried to disconnect his astral projection but Galeem kept it there.

"You've gotten so full of yourself haven't you? Now you are starting to see yourself as being worth something of value. Have you forgotten what your purpose is?"

"Oh course not. And I can assure you that I'm bringing balance to this whole situation-"

"That you made up. You tore up a perfectly good universe, pawn. You are faulty and need to be fixed."

"I'm perfectly functional and-"

"If you were perfectly functional you wouldn't have even attempted this. But instead of bringing balance to the multiverse you tear it apart like your faulty counterpart-"

"You will NOT compare me to one of those bootlegs!"

"And now you think that you have the right to argue with me. Undo this hand, before I have to forcefully repair this myself."

"There will be no need. I have this situation all under control-"

"Then tell me, what are your toys currently doing?"

"Oh! It's this fun little game where they have to take out all the Yoshis on-"

"Stop, and look." Galeem showed a projection of Samus, Link, and DK all sitting around with the Yoshis. Master Hand teleported there to confirm that Galeem didn't give him some fake illusion to distract him. Once he saw that it was true he returned to the projection.

"This conversation is over, Hand. If you do not end this soon, I'll be forced to rip this tournament to Adams myself…" Galeem closed the projection and Master Hand stood there and made a fist.

"I….refuse…to have it end like this…." The hand teleported back to Yoshi's Island with new levels of aggression.

Link waited for Samus to give the signal. They teamed up with the Yoshis to take out the hand using a trap set up by Link. Master Hand teleported in and looked around for the fighters. Samus gave the signal to Link as he whistled to the Yoshis. The hand was surprised by the sudden shade he was getting, considering how sunny the climate is on Yoshi's Island. The hand looked up, only to see a massive storm of eggs all crashing down on him. The hand fell to the floor as the Yoshis charged in at him. He was then trampled on by a Yoshi stampede until he snapped his fingers and gave off a shock wave.

"I thought we already discussed this, NO ONE ATTACKS THE HEAD MASTER!" Master Hand floated up to the sky and gazed upon the fighters.

All of the fighters fired off projectiles at the Hand, who decided to fly around their aim of fire this time and gave quick slaps to the fighters, knocking them to the ground.

"Alright now, are we finished?" A green Yoshi stood by a makeshift catapult that was made by Link and filled with more eggs and a bomb made by Links's Sheika slate. The Yoshi fired it only for the hand to flick the bomb back at the Yoshi, launching them far away.

"That is enough! I'm growing sick with these attempts to not comply with this tournament! Especially the parts where you're trying to kill me! I even made it clear as day that you wouldn't be able to do that in the first place!"

The hand went limp for a moment. Master Hand then took out Mario's trophy. The fighter's attention was gained by this action.

"Now, I believe that some stakes must be introduced to make you all motivated to comply with my demands." The hand created a small portal on his side. An intense heat radiates from the other side.

"On the other side of this lies the sun. Now, I want all of you to know that I am happy that you formed some good friendships. But whenever matches are in place your friendship is holding the tournament back from true greatness. So these alliances during matches must be put aside. If you fail to comply with my demands, then I'm afraid I must give harsh punishments. These punishments will obviously change depending on the seriousness of the situation. Today, you will compete to take out the most Yoshis until one remains. If you do not comply, I will permanently remove Mario from the tournament via a trip to the sun."

"This is bulls###!" Link cried out in a moment of raw emotion.

"Woah! Watch the language Link! We have the eyes of so many worlds watching your every move." Master Hand remarked, knowing exactly what weak spot to hit in Link's personality. Link went back to being silent afterwards but was still unnerved by the hand.

"What happened to the fighters not dying, hand?" Samus added.

"Ah~ nice of you to finally add to our conversation Samus! And to answer your question, you are most certainly right about the fighter not dying! But that doesn't necessarily mean that they're safe. If I were to drop Mario in, then… well… I think you of all people would know how 'difficult' it would be to get him out of it." The hand answered with malice. Samus gave a grunt at the awnser as Master Hand waved farewell to them, ordering that the match must begin.

Master Hand returns to the audience and gives an apology for the wait. The three fighters back on Yoshi's island have split up and prepared for the hunt. Master Hand gave another countdown and the fighters went off. Link managed to quickly find a batch of Yoshis getting up and took a deep breath.

"Sorry guys…. The hand gave orders and Mario's life was at stake…" he unsheathed the master sword and the Yoshis seemingly understood. Some of the Yoshis tried to just sit down and take the blows, others decided to give him a show by showing off how strong they are, (but made sure to not do too much damage and gave plenty of chances to take them out quickly) and others simply ran away.

For the other two, the results were mostly the same. This kept going on for several minutes and quickly became repetitive after a while. As DK went after one of the running Yoshis, something suddenly dropped to the ground. It was a bob-omb. DK quickly ran away from it, only for the fuse not to light up.

"Oh, heya DK. The hand said I'm not allowed to explode until someone hits me. Mind taking me around for a bit?" The bob-omb said.

DK went up and picked it up hesidently. To his relief, the bomb was true to its word. He gave a sigh of relief… before a crate fell onto his head. The crate revealed even more bob-ombs.

"Oh hey Stan!" One remarked

"Hi Larry!" The one in DK's hand responded.

"Great day outside, right buddy?"

"Yah, sun is nice and hot, birds are chirping, and Bowser even called me by my nickname!"

"Woah! Really dude! Awesome news bro."

"Hey! Can you two shut up! I'm trying to read here!" Another bob-omb screeched.

"How about you shut up!" One bob-mob lit up

"Yah! Shut up nerd!" Another one lit up

"Not my fault the all of you are so stupid!" Another lit up.

"Oh, are we lighting up now? Cool!" Another bob-mob lit up.

"Yah! Let's blow this joint!" Larry lit up.

DK desperately pleads to Stan to not blow up in his face.

"Well…. When you put it that way…" Stan pauses.

"It kinda sounds f### dumb. Let's rock, baby!" Steve lit up, along with the rest of the bob-ombs.

DK looked into on like a cartoon character, as he was blown sky high.

Link continues to go after several Yoshis and takes them out. He was later surprised by a capsule falling to the ground next to him. He easily unlocked it and inside was a ray gun. Link picked it up and gave a couple shots at the other Yoshis. Link was pleased by the effectiveness of the weapon and went on to round up more Yoshis. Along the way he found a large variety of other weapons along the way. Barrels, bumpers, shells, strange looking flowers that shot out flames, and even a heart container. He took it with him to make him a little more derible for the next fight and continued on his path to victory.

Samus was in the lead, obviously. This wasn't her first radio in taking down an entire species. But there was a ping of guilt that she had to do this to a seemingly peaceful race. She marched on as she found one last Yoshi for her to take out. It was a green one, the same that tried to help continue the assault on Master Hand and was likely not up to date with what was happening. Samus sighed as she raised her arm cannon at the poor animal. She fired a missile and the Yoshi screamed, turning into an egg and rolling around the attack. Samus continues to keep firing as Yoshi suddenly notices a capsule. He stretches out his tongue and swallows it for a moment, before puking out an energy sword. It wasn't what he had in mind, but he took the small victory and charged at the bounty hunter.

Master Hand returned to the depths of space. He examined the Lylat system with great servalince, looking for a spastic warrior to show up.

"Why haven't they shown up yet… to think that Star Fox would just ignore this massive vortex in space…."

The hand continues to wait on for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and then a whole hour.

"Alright. Perhaps this vortex isn't worth investigating yet… time to give a little more extenze to this situation." The hand proceeded to summon in and create polygons. He stood there and thought of something good enough for the Star Fox crew to investigate. Eventually he landed on a jackpot idea that was most certainly a gamble.

"Star Fox would have to be oter fools to not investigate a site like this. Now, go on, my creation! Make this my lucky day!" The hand laughed as a newly made giant slut machine began to fly out into space.

Samus continues to dodge the Yoshis attacks. This one was faring much better then every other Yoshi so far in just about every department inimaginable. The Yoshi continues to use the beam sword to slash, slice, and stab at Samus who was avoiding every attack and countering quickly with her arsenal. Samus fired another missile and sent the Yoshi flying off into a tree. She slowly walks up with a charge shot and unloads it, only for a new item to spawn onto the Yoshi. This item was a super star, which rendered the charge shot useless and as the Yoshi was temporarily invincible. Samus fired two more missiles which had no effect. Yoshi charged in with a kick and dished out everything he could do with punches, kicks, eggs, and a quick attempt to swallow Samus whole. (which failed) The Yoshi continued on and on until the star's power ran out. Samus noticed that he was vulnerable again and quickly went back on the offensive. Yoshi quickly made a protective egg and began rolling around the area as Samus unleashed an onslaught of missiles at the dinosaur.

The Yoshi was eventually backed into a corner as Samus marched with her arm cannon ready to fire at any moment. Samus began charging the shot, until there was a sound of faint crying. Samus walked over to see a small baby with an appearance that was similar to Mario, only much younger. The Yoshi quickly tossed an egg and stood in Samus way. The Yoshi was badly beaten during the battle, and was willing to put himself in harm's way to protect this child, even if it meant that he would be taken out. A feeling of hesitation was growing in Samus' gut. Even if there was no chance of death in this tournament, the Yoshis actions were reminding her of the Chozo. Samus continued to stand there as the Yoshi closed its eyes, ready for any attack Samus had for them. Samus fired a charge shot…

And it misses.

Samus slowly walked away from the scene and spared the Yoshi.

Meanwhile on the Great Fox, the Star Fox crew were beginning to pick up a signal from the depths of space. Peppy was reading the output of the vortex and wasn't pleased.

"This isn't good…. "

"What's wrong, Peppy?" Slippy asked.

"My readings detected that something came out of that vortex from yesterday."

Slippy gasped while Falco just laughed it off. "It's nothing to get worried about. Let's just head down and take care of it."

"Falco, now isn't the time for jokes! I've never seen this sort of power before. The only thing I could compare this to is when Andross returned!"

"Don't worry, I'll go down to investigate." Fox McCloud enters from the doorway.

"Fox! It's too dangerous!"

"I'll be fine! If I don't make it back soon then send in the rest."

"Alright, just remember to be careful Fox…"

"You better wrap this up soon, Fox. Wouldn't want to steal your thunder when I get there."

"Trust your instincts, Fox!"

Fox gave his crew a nod as he boarded his Arwing and flew out to investigate.

"And the winner of today's match is… Samus!" Master Hand declared. Many people who were placing their bets on Samus winning this round too were rewarded with great riches, much to the dismay of a certain pair of bros who were placing their bets on DK today.

"Now tell me, wasn't that great?" The hand asked. The audience, however, was silent. The hand was confused as the townsfolk weren't as escravigent as they usually were.

"I don't know… something feels off about this whole tournament thing. What's even the point of it again?"

"Why, it's to entertain, of course!"

"Okay, but… the fighters don't seem to be… having a whole lot of fun."

"What! That's nonsense my little friend. The fighters are having plenty of fun! And if you're gonna be making tournament conspiracies, then I politely advise you to go to our conspiracy corner." The hand points to a table with a bunch of weirdos with several notes on what's going on.

The toad lowered his head as he went to the table. "Uh… hello? How's everybody doing?"

"It's all about the spirits man! The hands are gonna suck our souls dude!"

The toad awkwardly sat with the rest of the conspiracy table as the Hand went on to plan for the next match.

It was quiet… too quiet. Those were Fox's first thoughts when he closed in on the destination. It reminds him of the time when he fought the Gorgon in area 15 when his crew was entering Venom. But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. He kept flying until he ran into the most bizarre thing he has seen in a while. It was a giant slot machine. He looked on in confusion and was surprised when it began firing attacks at him. He barrel rolled and did loops around it's attacks, firing persise beams at it. It had no effect though, and was completely immune to his attacks. He noticed the lever and fired at it, the slot machine began rolling and got 3 random values. Fox began to suspect that if he were to land 3 in a row, then it would become vulnerable. He kept firing at the lever, trying to get lucky and end this quickly. The slot machine fired more and more shots that were beginning to do considerable damage to the arwing, but Fox landed one last shot and finally got his big score. The slot machine then began to fall apart as it self-destructed, shooting out thousands of coins along the way.

Fox gave a smirk and announced "Mission Complete!"

"Don't get cocky now, Star Fox!" the arwing was suddenly tangled by golden strings as Master Hand revealed himself.

"Great impression, right? Or do I still need more work to copy O'Donalds charm? I want to hear your opinion on it, McCloud. Is it yay or nay?" The hand questioned.

Fox was trying to contact the rest of his crew but the transceiver was blocked. "What are you? One of Andross's experiments!?"

"Hahahaha… no. But trust me on this, I am capable of far greater things than some overgrown monkey scientist…" The hand gave a quick squeeze, crushing the pilot and turning him into a statue.

"Sorry for the crushing, I've simply been in a bad mood today and needed a stress reliever. Etherway, I hope you'll be enjoying your place in this tournament."

Master Hand now had 6 fighters. The hand only needed 2 more for his ideal starting roaster to be complete. These last fighters he had in mind will be a perfect wrap up for this tournament's first rounds and will lead into the next ones. The hand began to shake violently, charing his core's power. He then snapped his fingers and created 4 gateways to his pocket dimension.

"Woops." The hand commented when the other two appeared. He thought about fixing it and leaving it at that, but something compelled him to keep it open. Whether it be his want for greater purpose, or simple curiosity, he wasn't sure. He went on to gather the rest of the fighters.

Little did he know at the time that this one mistake would lead to the end of his tournament.