Chapter 6: Ending Search

It took a while, but the other smashers eventually woke up. They began to think about Giga Bowser's ambiguous clue.

"Well…it could have begun in the toy dimension." Ness suggested.

"Why?" DK questioned, confused.

"Why not?" Ness replied, and shrugged. Mewtwo sighed.

"This is foolish! Let's just pick somewhere and go!"

"All right, Mewtwo, all right. Let's hear your idea." Samus sighed.

Mewtwo paused to reflect, taking ideas from the others' minds as necessary. After a while he said, "What about Final Destination? Apparently that's where you all met for the tournament?"

Mario stared. "Fine. Let'sa go."

Clyne shrugged. "Worth a shot."

He opened a portal, and the fighters emerged once again onto the familiar platform.

"He's not here." Falcon observed glumly.

"But look who is!" Peach pointed to a cage at the edge of the platform.

"That'sa…Toad!" Luigi recognized.

"Don't youa have Toada witha you?" Mario wondered.

"Yeah, I thought so." Peach mused, pulling Toad out of nowhere.

"Yep, here I am. Hi, everyone." Toad said cheerfully, and disappeared.

"Then who…" Marth began.

Link interrupted, "Hey, it's someone in a cage. Let's let him out and figure stuff out later."

"Leavea that toa me." Mario volunteered, jumping forward and swinging his fist in a powerful midair punch. The bars shattered easily…too easily.

The Toad landed and started moving his mouth noiselessly. Somehow, words appeared over his head. As Mario and Luigi read them, they became infuriated.

It read:

"Thank you Mario! But Crazy Hand is in another castle!"

The false Toad emitted a shrill laugh not unlike Crazy Hand's, and started to change color. Soon, it looked black and red instead of white and red.

Mario, Luigi, and Bowser stared in confusion. Everyone else stared in even greater confusion.

Suddenly, Clyne shouted, "Get BACK!"

The smashers jumped back instinctively. Suddenly, the false Toad exploded dramatically.

"Nice try Mewtwo…but it seems you're wrong." Falco commented amidst the explosion. Mewtwo scowled.

Clyne opened a portal instinctively and pulled everyone in.

"Where are we going Clyne?" Ganondorf questioned.

"Hmm…I'm not sure." Clyne realized. "My subconscious took over."

"Pika." Pikachu sighed.

They emerged onto a completely unfamiliar area. It looked quite a bit like most of their regular homes, except that huge needle-like structures and flying vehicles punctured the sky. Clyne laughed as soon as he looked around.

"What's so funny Clyne?" Popo wondered.

"No wonder my subconscious took me here! This is my home!"

"Wha-?" the smashers emitted a collective gasp.

"Hey, what's that?" Yoshi pointed off in the distance.

"It looks like…" Falcon began, squinting. "A hand."

"Hand?" Mewtwo exclaimed. "You mean this dimension is where it all began?"

"Hmm." Clyne mused. "I guess Master Hand began here, in a sense."

"Yeah, whatever. Time for battle, Crazy Hand!" Marth yelled eagerly.

Crazy Hand turned and rocketed forward. "I didn't expect you so soon. You must be smarter than you look!"

Mario scowled. "Geta on witha it. Whata do youa want?"

"Well…technically, you figured it out, so I guess it's time to fight." Crazy Hand replied.

"Jigglypuff!" Jigglypuff shouted angrily.

"Yeah, bring it on!" Ness translated.

The smashers prepared for battle, but Crazy Hand shook his…um…head.

"No, not here. We can't fight here."

"Then why did you TAKE us here?" Fox sighed.

"It's a cool place to be. Besides, I couldn't lead you right to Master Hand!"

"So…now…" Ganondorf prompted.

"Oh. Now I'm going to lead you to Master Hand."

Bowser roared in anger. "What do you think we are, idiots? Get on with it so we can fight!"

"I was just getting to that, my dear turtle. If you'll all follow me into this portal…"

Crazy Hand opened a portal and jumped in. The smashers followed warily.

A second later, the smashers found themselves on the old Battlefield again, where the original 12 had fought Bowser, Ganondorf, Giovanni, and Andross.

"Can't you be a little more original?" Link wondered.

"Chu!" Pikachu agreed.

"Hey! I came up with all those clues, didn't I! I'm very original!"

Yoshi sighed heavily. "Let's just fight!"

"Yes, of course." Crazy Hand sighed. "You people are so touchy…"

With that, a phalanx of wireframes appeared, and Giga Bowser came into existence behind them.

"Nota you again!" Mario sighed. "Haven't wea beaten youa enough?"

Giga Bowser roared. "Come on, Mario! I'll show you who'll beat who!"

Mario rolled his eyes. "You'rea terrible ata comebacks."

"Bring Clyne, too! I'll take you both!" Giga Bowser taunted, ignoring Mario's comment.

Clyne shrugged and accompanied Mario over the wireframes, to Giga Bowser.

"No cheap tricks this time, Crazy Hand!" Samus warned.

"No, of course not, my dear." The insane glove replied, promptly firing a rocket at her. Samus quickly rolled out of the way.

The wireframes charged. Luigi, Marth, Roy, Kirby, Zelda, Peach, Ness, Bowser, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, DK, Yoshi, Falcon, and Falco chose the wireframes as their targets.

Luigi fired himself at a group, knocking them over. Peach dispersed another group with her hip attack. Zelda used Din's Fire to eliminate a few more. Kirby's Final Cutter reduced the number further.

Meanwhile, Samus, Link, Fox, Pikachu, the Ice Climbers, and Ganondorf attacked Crazy Hand. Crazy began by dropping bombs on the smashers, which kept a few at bay, while Pikachu snuck up from behind and shocked Crazy Hand with electricity. Ganondorf jumped and did a flip kick to increase Crazy Hand's damage. Nano threw Popo into the air to hurt Crazy Hand a bit more, then shot an ice block.

Crazy Hand roared in pain and swung his hand…um…himself wildly, and managed to connect with a few of the fighters.

Meanwhile, Giga Bowser found himself somewhat overwhelmed by the combined abilities of Mario and Clyne. While Clyne distracted the gargantuan, Mario snuck up from behind to smash or use his cape, to allow Clyne to attack.

Giga Bowser was weakening dramatically, and so was Crazy Hand. The reserves of wireframes were almost gone, and it looked to be an easy win for the smashers. Crazy Hand was getting desperate, and, giving up all hope, he started to spasm violently on the floor, knocking away anyone in his path. There were too many smashers, though, and this ploy soon failed. Crazy Hand wailed, sensing defeat, and prepared to order a last stand.

Samus prepared to end part of the battle by firing her energy ball secretly at Giga Bowser. Suddenly, though, Giga Bowser became ebony in color and faded away. Crazy Hand started to do the same, but Samus's attack hit him and he collapsed unconscious instead. Marth destroyed the last wireframe, then looked around, confused.

"What just happened?" he asked.

"Hmm…black…evil…looks like the work of the shadows." Samus mused gravely.

"Yeah." Mario replied. "Gooda shot, though." Samus chuckled.

"I guess that battle's taken care of. What next?" Falcon wondered.

"What do you think?" Clyne shot back. "The war."

(A/N: No, this fic is not over yet. Did anyone notice that they didn't actually find Master Hand? Well, they haven't, so wait for one more chapter. I know, I know, this fic is getting long. But you wouldn't want the smashers to leave poor Master Hand alone on the Battlefield, would you?)