22. Interview (Master Hand)
As I emerge into the toy dimension, I am immediately struck by how different it is. There are no toys around, and everything is a mess. There are several scorch marks, where my son and the smashers must have encountered the polygons. And there is Mistress. Hmm. I look around curiously, trying to find a clue.
Suddenly, I see a small cave-like hole in a nearby hill. I inquiringly go over to look inside, and see Bowser!
"Master Hand!" Bowser roars, seeing me. "What are you doing here?"
He doesn't sound happy. I guess he didn't get over the disaster last month as well as I did.
"I would like to ask you some questions, Bowser-"
"You aren't asking me ANYTHING! I should barbeque you right now for what you caused last
month!"
Guess I was right.
"I would love to see you try. Now, then-"
"Oh, you're asking for it, you arrogant, um, glove! Take this!"
With that, he takes a deep breath and fires a blast of fire at me. I sigh and fly over it, then fall back down and punch him against the wall of his cave.
"Now tell me what's going on."
Bowser groans. "All right, all right, I'll tell you. That was unnecessary."
"Well, go on."
"It all started a few hours ago. We were all out here, enjoying ourselves as usual, when all of a sudden we were attacked by someone. There were explosions everywhere! Then, Apocalypse came out and told us to find a place to hide; he would take care of everything. I heard Mistress scream and later I heard Mario and Samus and another voice. That's all I know."
I stare at him suspiciously. "That's all?"
"Yes." Bowser replies. "Like I said, I was told to take cover, so I didn't see anything. I'm sorry about Mistress."
"Yeah, me too." I sigh. "Well, thanks anyway, Bowser. No hard feelings?"
"No, of course not." Bowser smiles, but I doubt that he's just trying to be friendly. Either Bowser is lying, or he's hiding something. I can't bring myself to believe that he didn't have anything to do with this. Call it a hunch, but I think that Bowser was one of the people who killed her. And I am going to find out.
23. Reunification
Mario, Samus, and Juvenor emerged from the portal onto Master Hand's platform. They saw Master Hand apparently just leaving, so they explored the platform. Eventually, they found the other smashers lying unconscious in cages that were suspended in mid-air. A few laser blasts, fireballs, and energy blasts were sufficient to free them all. Link woke up first.
"Wh-where am I?" Link looked around suspiciously. "What's going on?"
"Don't worry, Link." Samus said soothingly. "We're here."
Link nodded and stood up. "Thanks. How are you guys?"
"Better thana Master Hand, I'lla bet." Mario put in. Samus glanced at him oddly, unused to his voice, and he smiled.
"What's wrong with Master Hand?" Kirby asked, just waking up. Slowly but surely, the others woke up too.
"You don'ta know?" Mario asked.
"Nope. Master Hand knocked us out a few hours ago, I guess." Falcon replied.
"Oh…" Mario paused, not wanting to speak. "Samus, why don't you-"
"I'll tell them." Juvenor sighed. "Mistress has been killed."
A wave of shock visibly passed over the smashers.
"Wow…I'm sorry…What happened?…Are you OK?" came various responses to the sad news.
"We don't know what happened, but I am fine, thanks for asking. All I want to do is to get revenge on my father." Juvenor replied grimly.
"Yeah, I sure would too." Fox agrees. He was certainly upset when he had heard that Andross had killed his father. Of course, now his father may still be alive, but that's beside the point.
"Well, we just saw Master Hand leaving." Samus remembered.
"He's probably heading to the toy dimension." Juvenor suggested. "We should follow."
"Sure, but-"
Ness's statement was interrupted by a portal. When it opened, Master Hand emerged, and he did not look happy, even for a glove.
"You!" Juvenor shrieked. "You killed Mistress!"
"Actually, I didn't, and I would appreciate it if you told me who did."
"What? Of course you killed her?"
"She was ripped to shreds! How could I have done that to her?"
"Um, well…" DK paused to think about it.
"That doesn't prove anything! I know it was you!" Juvenor continued, unfazed.
"It wasn't me, Juvenor. Get a hold of yourself. Actually, I just thought of who it probably was."
"It was YOU!" Juvenor refused to listen to his father.
"SHUT UP!" Master Hand roared, pointing at Juvenor menacingly. "It wasn't me, and you know it. Now listen to what I have to say, and maybe you'll learn something!"
Juvenor stood, stunned, as Master Hand moved away.
"Thank you. Now, I haven't told anyone this, but you have a brother, Juvenor. His name is Ob, and-"
"How come he gets a name and I don't?" Juvenor growled. "He's younger than me, or I would have known about him!"
"Actually, that's more of a nickname." Master Hand replied. "It was the first syllable out of his mouth."
"Oh, that's so cute!" Jigglypuff said. Everyone stared at her (it? him?). She shrugged sheepishly.
"So how old is he now?" Yoshi asked.
"I guess he's about…13 or 14."
"Hmm, a rebellious age." Link pointed out.
"Link, didn't you skip those years of your life?" Ness asked, having read Link's mind and having learned his story.
"Um…oh yeah!"
Everyone sighed and started laughing except Juvenor.
"Get on with it! So you think–Ob–did it?"
"It woulda makea sense." Luigi pointed out. "Introducing a character ina the middle of a storya is usually a deada giveaway."
They nodded in agreement, but suddenly, Pikachu stiffened and looked around. "Maybe not! Juvenor is gone!"
24. Plans (Apocalypse)
Weird things have been happening in this dimension. They all started when Master Hand first came here five months ago to start his tournament. Now, it's gone from weird to weirder. This dead box really puts suspicion on us, but I have a strong reason to believe that no one here did it. I saw Master Hand here a few minutes ago; I'm sure he's concerned about his wife. More likely he's trying to find out who stole his revenge from him or something.
"Apocalypse! Stop daydreaming!"
"All right. Is everything ready?"
"Of course everything is ready with me! Is everything ready with you?"
"Yes. Let me tell everyone we're leaving."
I am surprised by this turn of events, to say the least. A mysterious stranger came to me last night and told me he could show me who killed Mistress, but that I would need to bring a team of fighters with me, but not ones that were too powerful because he "wanted to keep it interesting". I chose Bowser, Captain Commando (only because he has so many weapons and allies), Doomsday (from Superman), and Knuckles the Echidna. The stranger told me that was good enough, and so now we're about to leave.
We all climb into a room and wait for something to happen. We hear the voice again.
"Now, when you get there, just attack everyone you see. It doesn't matter who it is."
That sounds odd to me, and the others seem to agree. However, we don't press the point, and I say that we are ready to leave.
The entire room starts to glimmer and flash. What the-
Suddenly, the flashing stops, and I anxiously wait to see where we are.
"Mistress?" I hear a voice say. What the-
Suddenly, the box disappears, and my allies jump into battle. I gasp when I see who we are to battle.
25. Battle (Pikachu)
Even as I stand here arguing, trying to figure out where Juvenor is, I see a box shimmer into view in front of us. I can only begin to imagine who the box is.
"Mistress?" Master Hand shouts, incredibly confused. I'm sure we all are.
The box, which apparently is Mistress, disappears from view. In her place stands Apocalypse, Bowser, and three other action figures that I don't recognize. I don't think anyone does, but they charge into battle, so we really don't need to introduce ourselves.
Apocalypse looks a bit confused, but that doesn't stop him from knocking Kirby out with his huge arm thing. I am being charged by a tall guy in a blue suit who doesn't seem to be able to do anything. I prepare to shock him, but all of a sudden, he shoots a flame jet at me out of nowhere! I shout angrily and recover quickly. As I prepare to counterattack, he holds out his hand and a ninja-like figure appears next to him and throws ninja stars at me! Before I can respond, they explode, and I fly to the ground. He runs over and slams the ground, creating a huge pillar of blue energy that sends me flying against a nearby wall. That does it.
He summons the ninja and two other friends, and they all form a nice arrangement and fire a huge blue laser at me. I quick attack out of the way and use my thunder attack, dispersing the three extras and shocking my original attacker. I follow up with a quick throw into a wall, and I hold him there with a jolt of electricity. I kick him for good measure, and see how everyone else is doing.
Well, Bowser, Master Hand, Mario, and Luigi are tearing into each other. A red figure with spiked fists challenges DK, Yoshi, and Link, while an intimidating black figure is facing Kirby, Falcon, and Ness. Finally, Apocalypse seems to want to fight Samus, Fox, and Jigglypuff. I decide to help Kirby, Falcon, and Ness, because the big guy has already swung his arm wildly into a wall, shattering the rock. As I read him, he shouts, "I am Doomsday!" loudly and punches Kirby squarely. Kirby flies away and crashes into a far-away wall. Meanwhile, Apocalypse has apparently just punched Jigglypuff against the wall near us. This is not looking good.
Master Hand winds up to punch Bowser, when suddenly he screams in pain. We all turn to him to see that electricity is coursing through him. Soon, we realize that he is being shot by a continuous, very powerful laser. Master Hand's screaming halts all of the battles, but when he collapses, we all see who shot him.
Juvenor.
