18

18. Revision (Master Hand)

Dead?

Mistress can't be dead!

This ruins everything!

How dare she die like this? I never had my revenge on her! I mean, sure, I turned her into a box, but I was supposed to kill her the second time! What could have happened?

Frustrated, I send a mental message to my scout who reported Mistress's death to me.

"Do you know what happened to her?"

But my message never goes through. I feel the mind-link close abruptly, and I realize that the scout has also been killed.

Something bad is happening in the toy dimension, and I'm going to find out what.

And I will have my revenge on those who denied me my revenge on Mistress.

I start to leave, but I receive a telepathic signal. I eagerly answer it.

"Sir, we have everyone except Mario, Juvenor, and Samus."

Wonderful. Once again, I manage to get everyone except the people I hate the most. Irritated by my many failing plans, I shout, "Bring them here and go get the other three."

"Yes, sir."

I slam myself onto my platform in anger. How could she die?

19. Battle (Samus)

I've never been in a battle this intense since…a long time. I actually kind of enjoy it.

Juvenor is amazing with his gun, even more so than Fox. And Mario, well, we all know how much experience Mario has with fighting. It looks like we may win this battle, until an army of polygons appears in front of us.

"Not them again!" Mario whines.

"I know!" I agree. "I'll take care of them!"

"Alone? You can't-" Mario tries to stop me, but he's too slow. I jump over Kirby's Final Cutter and rush toward the Fighting Polygon Team. Mario looks at me worriedly, but shakes his head and returns to the matter at hand.

The polygons are familiarly shaped, but, obviously, purple and extremely polygonal. I see one that looks like Mario try to attack me, but I smash hit it out of the way. Soon, four fighters converge on me, and my spinning sweep kick barely gets them out of my way in time. Now, five more are attacking me. My screw attack eliminates two, but another punches me in the stomach. I grunt and recover just quickly enough to extend my grappling beam and toss it away. However, while I am recovering from that, another polygon hits me with a sword. It hurts, but I ignore it. I have to keep them all away from Mario and Juvenor.

Looking back, I see that Juvenor has things well in hand, shooting my counterpart until it doesn't get up. Mario does his Mario Tornado to an unsuspecting Jigglypuff, and then Fox is pulled into the vortex of punches. Just in time, I remember my own situation, and turn around to see DK charging at me. I jump over his assault and drop a bomb on him.

Suddenly, I am punched in the back. I turn around to see a somewhat short polygon that I don't recognize. I punch it, but it darts away and swings its yo-yo at me. So that's why it hurt so much. I knock Ness out, but the attack, along with the many others that I have received, has weakened me. Apparently Mario notices this, because he rushes over to help me, leaving Juvenor to deal with the other Smashers.

"Samus, you shouldn't have-"

"Don't tell me what I should or shouldn't have done, Mario. We're all heroes. We all would have done the same thing."

Mario sighs and nods. We begin pummeling polygons, as we hear Juvenor's merciless laser gun in the background. Mario, the experienced polygon fighter, uses Super Jump Punches and Mario Tornadoes to their fullest extents. My energy blasts and smash hits also take out many polygons, and finally, they stop coming. I almost collapse from exhaustion, but Mario supports me. I feel the injuries that I had ignored coming back to haunt me, as my vision slowly fades to black.

"Mario…thank you…" I manage, then faint.

20. Capture (Fox)

Well, we seem to have failed. All of the search parties who were looking for Mistress are now here with me, locked up in ten separate cages. Mario, Samus, and Juvenor aren't here yet, so that's a good sign. But they weren't looking for her.

"Welcome, Smashers. Remember me?" Master Hand flashes into existence in front of us.

All of us respond angrily to the glove's arrogance.

"What do you want this time?" Kirby asks. "Haven't you been defeated enough?"

Master Hand growls and snaps his fingers. Suddenly, the bars of Kirby's cage become charged with electricity. Kirby screams and falls unconscious. Master Hand swings his finger around, pointing at all of us.

"Anyone else have anything to say?" he growls. Hearing nothing, he begins to speak again.

"Your search for Mistress was noble but pointless. I have just been informed that Mistress is dead."

We gasp in collective shock. I try to keep the mood happy.

"He's lying!" I shout. "Don't listen to him!"

"I assure you, I am not lying." Master Hand responds. I didn't really think he was lying, but if I could stall him long enough, he might tell us his plans. "In case you forgot, Mistress was my wife. I am saddened by her death too."

"Oh, please!" Pikachu shouts. "You killed her the first time, and I bet you killed her again!"

"Ah, so the rodent can speak now. Interesting." Master Hand chuckles. "First of all, I never intended to kill her the first time; I didn't realize she was there. Second of all, why do you think Juvenor was worried about her? He was worried that I would try to seek revenge on her for kicking me out, and he was right! I did want revenge, and someone has denied it to me! I want to find out who as much as you do!"

"Nice speech." Ness comments. "But I don't believe a word of it." We all nod our heads in agreement.

"Fine! I was going to ask your help in solving the mystery, but if you're going to be difficult…"

Master Hand snaps his fingers, and electricity runs through our cages. I hear scream after scream as the others fall unconscious, and soon, I join them.

21. Discovery (Mario)

The last polygon finally goes down. I sigh in relief and look at Samus. She looks absolutely terrible. I go over to steady her. Before I can tell her that, she thanks me weakly and collapses. I struggle to keep her supported, but her suit is heavy! Slowly, I lower her to the ground and turn to see if Juvenor needs help.

Just then, an unconscious Mario flies toward me and knocks me backward.

"Sorry, Mario!" I hear Juvenor shout.

"No problem." I reply, throwing the unconscious toy out of the way. "So you seem to have done fine."

Juvenor shrugs. "I like this gun."

I grin and turn to walk around. "Are the toys around here always so aggressive?"

"No, not at all. Something is wrong."

"Hmm." I look around. "What do you think-"

I stop talking mid-sentence, seeing a box, ripped into pieces. I slowly walk over to Juvenor and point it out to him. He runs over to it, and I follow.

"Was it-" I start to ask. He nods.

"Father, you will pay for this!" he shouts, screaming loudly. I go over to comfort him, and I see that the scream has woken Samus up.

"What's-" She stops when she sees the box. "Oh…I'm sorry…"

Juvenor stood there silent for a long time. Finally he stood up straight and started walking away. He silently raised his hand and opened a portal. Samus and I look at each other, and we slowly approach him from behind.

"No." he says, apparently hearing our advance. "You go back to your own lives; this doesn't concern you."

I roll my eyes. "Of course it concerns us. We're coming with you." Samus nods in firm agreement.

"I had always read in comic books that super heroes were always noble, putting other people's lives before their own." Juvenor mused reflectively. "I had always wanted to meet real super heroes. Now, I guess I have."

I blush. Samus probably does too, but who knows?

"Let's go." She suggests. Juvenor nods, and we all jump into the portal after Master Hand.