Disclaimer: I do not own SSBM or anything I could be sued for
Marth paced around his room, the white walls gleaming and his wooden furniture shining like bronze gold. Grinning to himself at his own handy work of house cleaning, he sat down with a happy sigh on is blue comforter on the edge of his bed. Looking around his room, he let his thoughts flow to his brain. "Wow…even without all my servants and maids, I can still get a decent job out of my room. MY room." Just then, the closet door broke open, spilling out a mountain of clothes, sword polish cans, empty and filled, and other small assortments. Sighing heavily, Marth slapped a hand to his forehead. "Or not…"
***
After a second attempt at cleaning his room, Marth sat back down on the bed, but this time more heavily than before. "Ok," he thought to himself as he looked around. "I have made. My. Room." As he looked around cautiously, Marth slowly counted to ten in his mind. "…Eight…nine…ten…" Then, seeing nothing was opened or had exploded, Marth sighed happily and fell back onto his bed. "Man…" he thought. "Doing all this housework makes me think about the maids at my castle. Back home…in Altea." Rolling over on his side, Marth put both his hands under his head as it they were pillows. "Altea…" he thought. "I don't know why I left to get into this stupid tournament. But…" Sighing to himself, Marth felt his eyes close in sadness. "Altea needs the money…even since that last war…and this tournament…may be my ticket to helping my country." Sitting up and brushing his clothes off, Marth gave another sigh and headed for the door. But just before he left, a picture caught his eye. A beautiful girl with long blonde hair and a light pink dress had her back turned but a bit of her face showing, as if the girl didn't know the picture was being taken. As Marth opened the door he sighed a bit and then blew the picture a kiss. "Good bye…Zelda…" and then closed the door. Just after, a drawer exploded spilling papers.
***
Later, Marth and Roy were sitting around a good-sized TV on a soft couch when Link walked in through the door. "Hey guys," he greeted cheerfully when he had stepped through. "What's going on?" Promptly sitting next to Marth's right side, both teens turned to look at him with somewhat happy looks. "Hey Link," Roy said as he turned back to the TV and sighed. "It's that psycho babe again. Fighting an unfortunate Fox." As Link snapped his head around to look at the TV screen, he gasped. "What?!" he cried as the "psycho babe" Roy talked about slammed her circular golden wand into Fox's side which sent him flying off the screen. An all too familiar "GAME!" followed. Link sighed and sank back into the couch as he ran a hand through his hair. "Again?" he asked. "That girl's gonna kill us all one day…you know that?" Marth sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Chicken. What's so special about her?" Link laughed for a bit. "Cause she can kill you!" Rolling his blue eyes up to his head, Link made a fake impression on the girl in a high pitched voice. "I am the dragon fire magician!" he screamed. "Prepare to die!" Making a fake slash upon an invisible Fox, he ended with a shrill, "Heeya!" and then shared a laugh with Marth and Roy.
As the laughing continued by hyper Link and Marth, Roy thought he heard a sound behind him. As Marth and Link continued poking fun with each other, Roy got a sinking feeling that someone was watching and snapped his head around. As his eyes widened too see who it was, Roy quickly kept his eyes on the newcomer while trying to hit Marth and Link to get their attention with his flailing hand. "Uh…guys?" Roy asked nervously as the figure came closer, its gaze piercing Roy's like butter and a hot knife. "Guys?" Hearing nothing but laughter, Roy then said loudly, "GUYS!" As both Link and Marth turned around to face Roy, Link had his hand in his hair as if brushing it back like a girl and Marth was holding a pretend wand in his hand as if to bring it down on Link, they both gave a, "What?" As they looked up to see who it was, they gave a little and meek and an annoyed, "Oh…"
There, standing in the doorway was a girl about Roy's age, with black baggy boots with a gold trim, complete with an evil red stone in the top lining of each boot. Following up, one could only glimpse at her tight black pants and then her skirt that fell to her knees made up of a bronze colored front made of metal scales. Scales that went up to the front of her with black cloth filling in the slits on the sides of her skirt. Her loose brown belt that hung off her waist was just below her black collar shirt and her brown leather straps crisscrossing over her shoulders, but under a cape that also hung loosely off her. To finish it off, a single silver shoulder pad connected the red cape, which was only on her right shoulder. A gold rope, which, connected to a small gold button on her other shoulder to hold it in place sat upon another shoulder pad shaped like a dragon's.
The other arm had just a long black sleeve with a visible black glove that had black buckles on the forearm and a large flat red stone on the back of the hand which as some knew, claws protruded from. As the trio stared up into a pair of fierce brown eyes that were half hidden by a helmet shaped like an evil black dragon's head with red eyes. Behind the many horns sprouting from the side and the two largest from the top, a row of teeth could be seen at the bottom of the mouth under the figure's face and a dragon's lower jaw underneath, also with teeth. Behind her, the helmet had a long black tail that fell down on her back and dragged to the ground while two black wings were folded behind only showing only a red stone, which was part of her wand. Back to the helmet, long strands of black hair showed underneath in the back. Roy gave a weak smile as he stared down his glaring fellow smasher. Behind him, Link was also giving a sheepish grin and getting up muttering something about needing to polish his sword. Marth however, stared straight ahead into the figure's eyes and showed no sign of worry. In fact, he had a raised eyebrow and showed signs of unimpressed annoyance.
While Roy was shaking in his boots, the figure just stared the two teens down. Roy shakily raised a hand and said meekly, "H-hey Johin…" he muttered. "H-how was the fight?" Johin said nothing as she stared down Roy for a minute. Then, without a word, she slowly crossed past them in front of the TV and on the way without stopping, she swept her way across the room and out another door, closing it behind her. Roy sighed heavily as he sat down in the chair. "Man!" he gasped as he ran a hand through his red hair. "That was a close one…" Grinning at his friend, Marth snickered. "So you're afraid of Johin?" he asked. "I thought you were the brave prince!" Clasping his hands together, Marth made an impression of a princess in trouble. "Oh, Roy…" he began, his eyes big and wet. "Please, so brave and courageous, and noble, and…" Roy smiled at his friend as he continued his rambling. "Yes I know." He said grinning at Marth. "All those and more." Marth gave a secret grin. This was the chance…
"And you're a CHICKEN!"
Roy instantly stopped smiling and turned to Marth, his fist clenched and teeth barred.
"SAY WHAT?!"
Laughing and ending his princess act, Marth waved a hand at Roy. "Afraid of a smasher. And a woman at that! How can you call yourself a prince?" Laughing harder, Roy was ready to explode. "Why…you…!" he growled. But he never finished as Zelda and her friend; Yuriko came walking through the door. Yuriko was a girl, and her long white hair, gray eyes, and her silver dress. The dress had golden cranes flying over the bottom of the skirt and her top had one big silver crane flying over the other small ones. Her white gloves only went to her wrist and a band of gold rested on her forehead.
As if on instinct, Marth instantly got up, smiled a big smiled at Zelda, and bowed deeply. "Good afternoon Miss Zelda." He said with regal-ness in his voice. "You look lovely today." Zelda smiled back, but not with the same devotion. "Thank you Marth." She said. "I did put on a bit less make-up today." While Marth grinned idiotically at Zelda, Roy and Yuriko tried not to explode again with not anger, but laughs. Shooting Roy a secret look of anger that was shared between them, Marth turned his attention back to Zelda. "So what are you doing today?" he asked casually. "I mean…are you going to challenge someone?" Zelda nodded as she smiled. "Yeah I was. In fact…" she lowered her voice and her head as she whispered, "Yuriko and I need your help."
Instantly Marth felt alarm bells ring in his ears. Ignoring Roy's faces, Marth gave a small bow. "What the lady's wish, I will serve." He grinned. He was handsomely rewarded with a giggle from the blonde. "Thank you Marth." Zelda smiled, as Marth felt a thousand times lighter. "I knew I could count on you." Her expression became grim again as she continued. "You know Johin right?" Marth instantly frowned.
Johin?
What did Zelda and Yuriko want with her?
"Anyway, you know her right?" Zelda continued. Marth felt himself sinking back to earth as he nodded silently. "I've heard of her." He said. "I've never fought her. I never got the chance." Jabbing a thumb back at Roy, Marth sighed, "This dork is always challenging me before I can get to her." Yuriko slowly and secretly kept one eye on Roy, as she slowly looked him up and down in boredom. "Zelda," Yuriko said as she pulled on Marth's arm. "How about I tell him?" Zelda opened her mouth as if to say something, but then finally nodded. "Yes, what I was thinking," Yuriko said as she pulled Marth into another room, Roy sensing danger, getting up and following behind. "Is that no one really likes Johin." Yuriko said as she stopped once they were secluded. She's always pushing us around and treating us like we're shit. She's always glaring and she never wants to talk. She acts like she's queen of the world." Marth didn't catch on so he shook his head a bit and said, "So?" Yuriko silently slapped her forehead with her hand in her mind. "So, a group of us got together and we decided on one thing to do with her…" she said silently. Marth could feel his world sinking further and further down. "And that one thing would be…?" he asked having a bad feeling.
Yuriko smiled a bit as she took Marth's hand in hers. This move made Marth gulp really hard. "So, " Yuriko cooed. "We decided it would be best if we got rid of her." Instantly, Marth and Roy snapped into reality. "G-get rid of her?" Roy asked. "How? When? Why?" This was only responded by a "Shh! She could be listening in on us!" As Yuriko gave Marth a sweet look, Marth felt his collar get very tight and hot. "Marth, I don't expect you to agree to this, but you're our best bet. Everyone knows that you're not afraid of her and that she's never challenged you either…" Roy stepped in rudely as he raised a hand like a school boy. "Um, Teacher Yuriko?" he asked. "Johin's never challenged anyone. Everyone's challenged her."
Instantly, shots of poison were blinding Roy by Yuriko. "Don't get into things you won't understand boy." She sneered. Then, turning back to Marth, she smiled at him again. Marth didn't smile back this time. "So what do I have to do?" he asked. Yuriko smiled more as she squeezed his hand a bit. "All you have to do is get close to Johin and then…"
"Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Hang on a minute sister!" Roy shouted as he broke the connection with Marth and Yuriko. "You want Marth, to get close to the PSYCO BABE?! No way! She'll kill him five times before he hits the ground!" Embarrassed, Marth tried to move Roy by putting a hand on his shoulder and pushing a bit. "It's all right Roy, really." He said comfortingly. "I think I can-…" but Roy spun around again and faced Marth with angry and anxious eyes. "You think?!" he practically screamed. "YOU THINK?! Marth, I've seen this girl fight! She's a killer! A murderer! Didn't you see Fox just then? She beat on his ass without breaking a sweat!" Marth stared into the other boy's blue eyes. "I…I've never seen Roy this angry before…" Marth thought. "He really doesn't want me to go…he never did let me challenge Johin." But then, Roy's voice continued, breaking his thoughts. "Zelda!" Roy angrily growled as he turned to her. "You and you're friend are giving MY friend a DEATH SENTENCE!" Pushing Marth back into another room, Roy glared. "Do your own dirty work!"
Zelda and Marth caught each other's eye while Roy vainly tried to shove Marth out of the room. "Roy," Marth said finally gently taking Roy off him. "I think I'll be all right. I'll be ok." But then, to Marth's surprise, he suddenly felt himself being slammed backwards and into the wall. "MARTH!" Roy cried as he cuffed Marth against the wall, tears beginning to appear. "You're not LISTENING! If you tick her off, you'll die! You'll die damn it! Is that what you want? All you think about is yourself!" Marth smiled as he gently grabbed Roy's hand and pulled it off his cape. "Roy…" Marth said calmly. "I know I can handle it." Marth slowly brushed his way past Roy to Zelda and Yuriko. "Where do I go?" he asked. "I'd like to get more information…" Zelda smiled as she motioned for him to follow her. "This way…" she said. Roy watched helplessly as his best friend walked out to what was the beginning of certain doom. Feeling anger and sadness at the same time, Roy couldn't take it. Tears falling down his face, he screamed behind them, "You're a dead man Marth! You can't care for others and you're a dead man! Do you hear me?" Walking in front and away from Roy, Marth tried to block out his friends pleas and angry cries.
"You're a dead man!"
***
As Zelda, Yuriko, and a miserable Marth walked down a white hall, Marth sighed. "So what's the whole story?" he asked finally. "Why are you doing this? What happened?" Yuriko smiled sourly as she stared straight ahead. "Johin…" she spat. "She's my worst enemy. She…she…she stole something very important to Zelda…" Zelda glared ahead as she clenched her fists in anger. "And I intend to get it back." Zelda added. Marth tried to look at the girl's angry face. "What was it?" he asked. "I can help you get it back." More than anything, Marth hated having something stolen from anyone. It was a crime against the heavens in his mind.
That, and a hundred other things.
Zelda smiled as she turned to Marth. "Thank you." She said. "It was a time ago…"
*Flashback Zelda*
"Zelda?" a voice said. "Zelda are you in there?" Zelda looked up from her book and got up from her chair. Opening the door a tiny bit, she peered out. "Who is it?" Staring back at her, two red eyes stared back attached to a dark figure. "I'm sorry, Zelda said. "But who…" but before she could finish, the dark figure swept past her and shoved her back, causing Zelda to sprawl on the floor. "No!" Zelda screamed as the figure swept down and pressed a wet cloth to her mouth. Then, the world began to slide in and out of focus. "…No…" Zelda muttered before she fell asleep.
***
When she woke up, it was the morning and her room was a mess. Paper and books had been thrown everywhere and the bed mattress was overturned. Getting up instantly, Zelda began searching for all of her things to take inventory. Seeing after a while nothing obvious in the room was stolen, she had one more place to look. Swiftly, she bent down and then, after counting a few floorboards, she pulled on one, which silently came up. Peering inside, a golden music box sat, brightly decorated with cranes and trees. Opening the box, seeing nothing inside made her gasp.
***
"So…what was in the box?" Marth asked as they stopped in the hall. Zelda sighed and put a hand to her heart. "The Spiritual Stone of Fire." She said finally. "Now that it's gone, I'm having trouble with my powers. My three attacks, Din's fire, Faeroe's Wind and Nayru's love, they're all powered by those stones and that puts me at a disadvantage. Because if one is gone, all are affected." Marth gritted his teeth in anger. A handicapped enemy to him was a fight not worth fighting and was a dishonor if you fought him and had an easy time winning.
A crime against the heavens.
Again.
Marth looked away as he ran a hand through his hair. "Are you sure it was Johin?" he asked warily. "I really don't want this to be a wild goose chase." Yuriko nodded angrily. "Of course it was her!" she glared. "Who else has a set of red eyes and dressed in all black?" Marth was about to say, "Not all black" but he decided against it. Yuriko continued. "If you help us," she said. "Zelda can give you three billion hyilian rupees and a castle." Yuriko smiled. Not many people could turn down an offer like that. "All you have to do," she continued. "Is get close enough with her to get back the stone. And then you're home free. It's easy." Marth pondered for a minute. "Well, all right." He said. "I'll think about it over night, but let me tell you…" Marth bent close as he glared a bit. "I'm only doing this because she stole something for you. Not for the money." But deep down inside, Marth knew he was lying to himself. Yuriko smiled triumphantly, knowing her plans were in action. "Thank you Marth! I promise to uphold my end of the deal." But Marth was already walking away.
***
That night Marth lay in bed, his arms behind his head staring up at the ceiling. "Why did I get into this?" he thought. "I mean, Johin stole a Spiritual stone? Why would she do that?" Thinking about Johin more, he sighed. "Well, why wouldn't she do that?" he asked himself. "But getting close to the 'psycho babe' is not going to be a piece of cake…" But then an image of Zelda and three billion rupees flashed in his mind.
"On the other hand…"
Please R&R!