Disclaimer for 'The Warriors Arena'
Nintendo gets full credit for each and every last character in this story. Anyone who says I tried to steal any of these characters is a fumbling moron and deserves to be shot. That said, I will begin my story.
Chapter 1
Invitations

Link stepped to the Great Hall in Heirule Castle. He looked to the throne, kneeled, and spoke, his head still lowered. "You called me, Princess?" he asked.
Zelda stood. "Yes, I did. I wanted to let you know, you have been invited to a tournament to test your blade against opponents of great strength," she said. "We know some of them personally, but there are others I have never heard of."
"A tournament, is it? I will gladly go to test my mettle against any opponents who try to stand against me, and hope only to defend the honor of Heirule!" Link shouted, springing to his feet. He was excited to be able to fight worthy opponents at last.
"Calm down," Princess Zelda commanded. "Pack your bags, for you leave at sunup."
"Yes, princess!" Link shouted, placing one hand over his chest and bowing. He then moved off to the stables to get Epona ready to ride.

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Kirby sat under the apple tree. He was snoozing very happily, dreaming of large cakes and ice cream and all sorts of such goodies. He was starting to dream about a lollipop when he received a rude awakening.
"You've got mail!" a cheerful little bird told him. It had a mailman's hat and a bag of mail slung around its shoulder. Kirby didn't exactly speak the best English, so he simply nodded in understanding. The bird reached inside its bag and pulled out a single letter. It was in a fancily decorated envelope, and Kirby took it and carefully opened it, making sure not to destroy the pretty encasing it was in.
The bird flew off as Kirby opened the folded paper. He began to look over it, and then remembered one thing: He couldn't read. He trudged back to town to get someone to read the letter for him.

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Peach rushed downstairs to see who was at the door. "Oh, my! Who is it?" she asked.
"It's 'a ME, Mario!" a very Italian voice told her.
"What do you need?" Peach asked, throwing the door open.
"Is 'a Luigi here?" Mario asked.
"Yes, I think he's upstairs," Peach told him. "What's going on, anyway?"
"I have 'a no time to ex-'a-plain!" Mario told her. He ran upstairs, shouting "Luigi! Luigi! I've 'a got good 'a news!"
Luigi looked down the stairs. His brother was hardly ever this happy, so something incredibly good must have happened. Maybe Bowser had kicked the bucket? "What's 'a happening?" Luigi inquired.
"We've 'a been invited!" Mario shouted.
"In-'a-vited to what?" Luigi asked.
"Look 'a dis letter, stupido!" Mario said, flinging the paper into Luigi's face. Luigi read the letter. His eyes bulged, and he hugged Mario. The two started prancing happily about in the main hall, dancing with each other.
Just then, Peach walked up the stairs. She took one look at the brothers happily dancing around, and sweat began to form on her brow. "What's... going... on?" she asked.

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Ness looked at the paper in his hands. He had just gotten back to Earth, and really didn't feel like going off again. However, this opportunity seemed too sweet to pass up. "Mom!" Ness shouted.
"What is it?" Ness' mom answered.
"Come here real quick!" Ness pleaded.
"You come here!" his mom shouted.
Ness trudged up the stairs to find his mom. "Where are you!?" he asked.
"I'm in here!" his mom answered.
"Where is here?"
"In your room!"
"MOM!"
"What?"
"How many times to I have to ask you to stay out of my room!?"
"Sorry, Hun, now what is it?"
Ness handed the envelope to his mom. He gave her a chance to look it over. "Can I go?" he asked, at length.
"Sure, I don't see any problems with it," she said.
"Thanks, Mom!" he shouted, as he ran down the stairs. His mom tried to tell him to be back in time for supper, but Ness was already long gone by then.

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Fox Mc. Cloud stood on the bridge of his ship. He was reading a message that had come on his view-screen. "A tournament, eh?" Fox said, "I think I'll miss it."
"Miss it!?" Falco said. "Why would you do that!?"
"It looks boring," Fox replied, casually.
"Boring?" Slippy asked.
"Getting to fight in a tournament like this isn't exactly what I would consider 'boring.'" Falco stated.
"Fine, fine, set a course," Fox said, irritably.

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DK sat in his Jungle Tree-House. Suddenly, his nephew, Diddy, charged through the door. "Hey, Unc, guess what I found!?" he shouted. DK grunted. "Look!" he said, slapping the paper on the table. DK grunted again and peeled a banana. He ate it, then peeled another and ate it.
After he had eaten a whole bushel of bananas, he went over to the table and looked, confused, at the paper. He looked at his nephew in a "What the heck is this?" kind of way. Diddy picked the paper up and read it to his uncle. When he was done, DK's eyes were bulging, and he was rampaging around the tree-house, knocking an assortment of novelties over.
Diddy Kong chased his uncle for half an hour before DK went inside and started eating bananas again. Diddy, however, didn't see him go in, and continued 'chasing' his uncle for another fifteen minutes. Finally, he got the idea that his uncle wasn't outside any more and went in, just in time to see DK leave for the tournament he had been invited to.

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Ash Ketchum was walking down the path, on his way to win yet another badge on his endless quest for all the gym badges. Pikachu was at his side. Ash was, as normal, bragging about his greatness, Brock was looking at a guide to the beaches of the next city, and Misty, not falling out of her usual routine, was complaining. What they didn't know was that they were being stalked...
As Pikachu rounded a corner, someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him into the bushes. Pikachu tried to cry out for help, but a puffy hand covered his mouth. Pikachu tried to see who was behind him, but Jigglypuff showed herself, giving him the "SHH!" sign. Pikachu spoke in his own poke-tongue to ask what was going on. Jigglypuff answered him in her poke-tongue, then showed him the invitation she had received. Pikachu let out a shout of excitement, but was silenced again by Jigglypuff. Ash couldn't know this was happening. Silently, they snuck off to the tournament together.

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Kirby wandered for what seemed to be hours. Finally, he found himself in the middle of a high way. He was ready now to give up and go back to the apple tree. Just as he was about to turn around, a blue car ran him over. It screeched to a halt, and the top popped open. Out stepped Captain Falcon, who was on his way to the next F-Zero Grand Prix. He ran to Kirby's side, wondering what he had just killed.
Dazed, Kirby got up. He staggered around for a few minutes. "You 'aight?" Captain Falcon asked him. Kirby nodded, then picked up his letter. He gazed at it for a moment, then looked up at Captain Falcon, then back at the paper, then at Captain Falcon again. He continued on with this routine for several minutes. "You 'aint okay, are ya'?" the Captain asked. Again, Kirby nodded, and then handed the paper to Falcon.
"What the..." Falcon began. He looked down at Kirby, who was obviously waiting for something. "What do you wan'?" Kirby floated up and tapped on the paper, then tapped on his mouth. "Um..." the Captain said, unsure of what to say. "I'm guessin' you can' talk," he stated. Again, Kirby nodded. "Tha' usually means 'ya can' read, either." For the fourth time, Kirby nodded. "So, you must wan' me to read this," the Captain concluded. Kirby happily shook his head up and down, then fell to the ground in dizziness. Captain Falcon picked up the letter and read it.
Dear Mr. Kirby,
We here at the Game World Arena are hosting our annual tournament. You have been selected as one of the participants in this honorary event. We would be humbled if you would choose to come.
Sincerely,
Roy
President of the Game World Arena
PS: Directions to the arena may be located on the back of this letter.

"This soun's intrestin'," the Captain said. Kirby was dancing around making freakishly high-pitched noises, flipping and cart wheeling all over the pavement. Another car whizzed by, flattening him again. He got up, shook off, and hopped into Falcon's car. "You wan' me ta' take 'ya?" Falcon asked. Kirby nodded. "Awe, shucks. I'm gonna' miss warm-ups!" Kirby's eyes glistened, as though he were on the verge of tears. "Awe, screw warm-ups! I'm gone!" Falcon concluded. He hopped into the car, and Kirby gave a squeal of joy. The Captain put the petal to the metal and sped toward the Arena.

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Samus Aran fired her weapon. She turned and sped from the giant Metroid that was chasing after her. It was the biggest one she'd ever had to destroy. She jumped down a ravine, laying a mine there. The Metroid hit it and kept flying at her.
At length, Samus finally got to her ship. She turned the engines to maximum burn, and the fire that erupted from the ship enveloped the Metroid, catching it on fire. Samus sunk back in her chair, relaxing. The ships computer spoke to her. "You've got mail!" the voice informed her.
"I've really got to switch from AOL. That voice is so annoying," Samus said, making a mental note. "Display the message," she commanded. A letter popped up on her screen.
Dear Mrs Aran,
We here at the Game World Arena are hosting our annual tournament. You have been selected as one of the participants in this honorary event. We would be humbled if you would choose to come.
Sincerely,
Marth
President of the Game World Arena
PS: Directions to the arena may be located on the back of this letter.

"This sounds too tempting to resist," Samus told herself. "Computer, set a course!" she barked. This would be fun.

************************************************************************ Trust me, it gets better people. I'll add another chapter when I get my first review.