Chapter 1: Recruiting Begins

Mario woke up slowly and reluctantly. Lying still in his bed, he waited for Toad and Peach to come in to wake him, or for a loud roar from Bowser, or even a challenge to a "friendly" game of tennis or golf from his friends.

He waited in vain, though. No one came. Mario waited a full half-hour before getting up by himself for the first time. He got up to look out the window. He didn't see anything interesting, just the same old Mushroom Kingdom-

Wait! That's a portal!

Mario suddenly became overwhelmed with memories that weren't his. Collapsing on the floor, he began to see visions of recent events that involved him-but didn't.

After a few seconds, Mario stood up. He understood everything. There had been another tournament, and now he was being recruited to join a war. He ran downstairs, waking up his brother on the way.

"Luigi! We'vea got worka to do!" Mario shouted. He had never been sure if Luigi knew about Mario's real voice, so he used his fake voice just in case.

Luigi woke up quickly and ran downstairs. Mario filled him in on the way, and they met the rest of the smashers outside.

"Mario! Congratulations!" Peach shouted.

"Um, wella, it wasn'ta really me…buta thanks."

Peach giggled. Bowser groaned.

"Come on, show-off! We've got a lot of recruiting to do!" Bowser growled.

Samus nodded. "We should get moving."

Mario shrugged, and the group jumped back into the portal.

"Wherea to next?" Mario asked.

"Well, I guess we're going to Fox's dimension now." Link replied.

"Yep…I've got a friend in mind who can help us out." Fox put in.

They exited the portal inside the Great Fox.

"Stay here." Fox warned. "I don't know if the security systems are on."

"Security systems?" Master Hand shouted.

"Don't worry…just don't move too much." Fox grinned, and disappeared down a hallway.

The smashers waited impatiently for a few minutes, then DK started shaking.

"DK! What are you doing?" Ness hissed.

"Got too…sneeze…" DK responded. Everyone sighed.

"Don't move, DK!" Falcon warned.

"I…can't…help…it…" came the forced reply.

Suddenly, a giant sneeze erupted from DK. A loud red alarm went off.

"Warning! Intruders! Warning!"

"Oh, great job there DK." Kirby sighed.

"Pika." Pikachu added, slapping his face with his hand.

"Sorry." DK mumbled.

Just then, Fox appeared with a blue bird. "Guys, this is Falco. What did you do?"

"DK sneezeda." Luigi replied.

Fox sighed. "Falco, I'll introduce you to everyone later. Come on, let's go."

"I guess we'll head right to the Pokemon dimension then." Master Hand suggested.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu voiced his approval (at least that's what everyone assumed).

So, the smashers entered the portal again, and ended up in front of the now-familiar boy with the red cap.

"Chu!"

"Hi, Pikachu." Ash answered. "How have you been?"

Ash had given up asking where Pikachu kept disappearing to, because Pikachu couldn't answer him anyway.

"Chu. Pika pika!" Pikachu shouted, presumably calling someone.

"Jiggly!" Came the reply.

"Oh, great. Here comes Jigglypuff." Samus whispered to Mario. Mario grinned.

"Pichu!" Another mouse came bounding out of the grass. This one looked somewhat like Pikachu, but smaller, and with blacker ears. Overall, it was a lot cuter.

"Awww! How cute!" Zelda almost shrieked. Peach chimed in.

"Um, Ash, right?" Link asked to the young boy. "What is that?"

"Oh, that's a Pichu." Ash answered, trying to sound smart. "It's the devolved version of Pikachu…in other words, it evolves into Pikachu."

"Why would we want a – devolved Pokemon helping us?" DK wondered.

"Why not?" Yoshi answered matter-of-factly.

Yoshi's English lessons were coming along, but they still had a long way to go. DK had long decided that the Pokemon were hopeless.

"Well…" Falcon started to say, then stopped. Pichu was just walking up to join the group, and Jigglypuff was having an animated discussion with Pikachu.

"Anyonea else you wanta to invitea, Pikachu?" Mario asked.

Pikachu stopped to think. Ash turned to Pikachu. "What about th-"

Ash stopped midsentence. In fact, everyone stopped. It seemed that time had frozen for everyone except the smashers.

"What the?" Samus voiced everyone's concern.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light above the smashers. A second later, a Pokemon hovered in its place. It was slightly humanoid, but pinkish, with an odd tail and somewhat globular hands and fingers.

"I am Mewtwo…the strongest Pokemon on the planet."

"Pika!"

"Well, OK. Not quite the strongest. But close enough!"

The smashers looked at each other suspiciously.

"Hey, I froze time, did I not?"

"How did you-" Falco began.

"I'm psychic, you fool. That is what makes me powerful." Mewtwo replied arrogantly. "And I notice that you are in need of powerful allies, especially after recruiting such weaklings."

DK couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. Pichu shocked him angrily, then fainted.

"Huh?" Mario stared.

"Didn't you know? Pichu can't control his electricity, and hurts himself when he uses it."

"WHAT? What good is that?" Bowser roared. "That's pitiful!"

"It doesn't matter. With my power, this weakling's ineffectiveness will be negated."

Mario shrugged to Master Hand, suggesting, Who knows, maybe this thing is right! Anyway, we could use more fighters. Master Hand agreed, and Jigglypuff, Pichu, and Mewtwo accompanied the smashers into the portal.

"We're going to Hyrule next, aren't we?" Mewtwo asked, showing off his mind-reading powers.

"Good job Mewtwo." Master Hand replied sarcastically.

As they arrived, Link mused, "Hmm…I can't really think of anyone to recruit, actually."

Master Hand sighs. "Well, let's just leave then."

"Oh no you don't!" a voice came from the distance. Link and Zelda recognized it immediately.

"Ganondorf!" they shouted in unison.

"You bet! And I'd like to know where you think you're going without me!"

Before they could object, Mario interrupted. "Hey, if hea wants toa come along, he'sa more thana welcome."

Link grinned. "Good point. OK, Ganondorf, we're going to fight a war against a bunch of evil shadows. If you want to join us, go right ahead."

Ganondorf paused. That obviously wasn't the answer he was expecting. "Really?" he asked. It must be some sort of trick, but he wasn't going to be scared away. "I would love to help you with your, um, war."

Master Hand whispered to Samus, "He thinks we're kidding!" Samus laughed.

"OK, Ganondork, last chance. You want to come along or not?"

"Don't call me that! Of course I'll come along! I can take on these shadows!"

The entire group burst into laughter at this. Ganondorf growled. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing." Zelda replied. "Come into the portal with us, and we'll be on our way to the shadow dimension."

"OK then. I'm ready." Ganondorf replied naïvely.

Trying to contain their laughter, the smashers went into the portal that led to Eclipsia.

(A/N: OK, so I was kinda mean to Ganondorf in this chapter. That's OK, though, no one likes him anyway. Also, Mewtwo's opinions about Pichu are his own, not mine. Don't flame me about them.)