A/N: What?! An update?! Yeah, so it would seem. Yippee. After this I think I'll take a break and start working on some other ones, namely the Angel of Death Book 2 and Soul Calibur 2003 (Or should it be 2004? Nah.). Also should start working on Metroid stuff s'more… We'll just see.

Chapter Two:

The Arrival(s)

~~~

The train was empty except for three people. One of them was a girl with auburn hair and blue-green eyes. She wore a black denim jacket over a black T-shirt and baggy dark blue pants, and had her hair tucked up in a ponytail underneath a brown newspaper boy cap. She was watching Spirited Away on the TV screens with wide eyes. Another of the three was a girl with dark brown hair in a ponytail and blue eyes. Her hair was also in a ponytail and she wore a baseball-type shirt that said "Hell's Fire" on it, and tight denim capris that stopped at the knees. She was also watching the movie, but with less interest. The third girl was glued to a laptop, on which she was playing the Sonic 2 Beta ROM. She also had dark hair, but glasses rimmed her dark brown eyes. She wore a purple and black tank top and dark jeans.

"JJ…… I'm boooooored…" The light brown-haired girl groaned.

"So read," the blue-eyed girl replied.

"I've read all the books I brought."

"Draw."

"Can't think of anything."

"Watch the movie."

"Seen it."

"Sleep."

"Not tired."

"Jeez, Megun-chan," The brown-eyed girl whined. "How about you run up and down the aisle and get rid of that excess sugar?"

"You're one to talk, Chrissy," JJ and the brown-eyed girl exchanged looks. Megun-chan stood up and huffed.

"Maybe I will," she frowned, and ran up and down the aisle, making as much racket as she could. After a few laps, she stopped and sat down again. "I'm still bored."

"Hey," Chrissy turned around in her seat to look at the other two girls. "Don't you think it's weird that we're the only ones on this train?"

"Yeah," JJ took out a letter and looked at it impatiently. "Out of all the people in the world, why were we selected to go to this tournament thing?"

"Maybe they played darts with a phone book?" Megun-chan suggested, and withered under the looks the other two gave her. "Sorry. They said that in a movie once. It was an idea."

"Or maybe it's because we're such big Nintendo fans?" Chrissy shrugged. "But we really don't know how to fight…"

"There's gonna be training there," Megun-chan turned around in her seat and looked over the back of her chair.

"How do you know?" Chrissy asked.

"Why wouldn't it?"

"I see your point…" Chrissy folded the laptop and opened Fushigi Yûgi graphic novel number 5. "Otherwise they wouldn't have picked us, would they?"

"Unless they did throw darts at a phone book," JJ leaned back in her chair. "And didn't know that we totally suck at fighting."

"Well, I don't know about you, JJ…"

"They wouldn't do that without knowing," Megun-chan replied. "There are a lot more people out there who don't know how to fight. And awhile ago, you didn't seem too keen on the darts idea."

"Well, it's possible…" JJ replied shortly. "And it would make sense…"

"After then look you gave me after I suggested it, I thought you didn't like that idea!"

"Yes, it is a stupid idea, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, does it?" JJ snapped.

"Well, ex-cuuuuse me, Princess!" Megun-chan smirked as JJ shuddered. Reciting that line from the 80's Zelda series was Megun-chan's favorite way to push her friend's buttons.

"I still think that man on the platform had something to do with it," Chrissy piped in.

"Yeah, he was weird, wasn't he?" JJ agreed. "I mean, he-"

She stopped suddenly as the intercom came on. "Approaching the last stop, Mushroom Kingdom. Repeat, this is the last stop. Mushroom Kingdom, everybody off…"

The screens turned off, and the girls stuffed their things into their backpacks. They hurried off the train onto an empty platform. The train station was rather small. Separating the platform and a dirt road leading off in three directions was only a ticket booth and a restaurant.

"What the-" Megun-chan took her hat off. "Nobody's here…"

"Excuse me!!" A voice called out from close to the ground. A Toad was jumping up and down and waving his arms excitedly. "I'm down here!!"

"Oh!" Megun-chan bent down so she could look the Toad in the eye.

"This really is the Mushroom Kingdom, isn't it?" JJ looked around. "But I can't see the castle…"

"Your train arrived early!" The Toad spoke up. "The others are arriving by boat, and won't be here for another few hours!!"

"So what do we do?" JJ took the bags from the conductor and dropped them in front of her and the other girls. "Can we go to the castle anyways?"

"I suppose you could…" The Toad frowned, thinking. "But it would be better if all the fighters went together."

"Let's go to the docks," Megun-chan said. "I've never been to one before."

"It would be pretty cool to see the Smashers, wouldn't it?" Chrissy asked.

JJ sighed. "Okay," she said. "But how will we get there?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Chrissy laughed as she pointed to a green pipe that appeared at the entrance to the restaurant. "In those!"

"Oh dear God no…" JJ smacked her head.

~~~

Krystal was sitting Indian-style on a chair in the lounge when Samus came storming in the next morning, clothed in her Varia Suit. She had never seen the bounty huntress in such a bad mood. Of course, not a lot could be given away if Samus wasn't in her armor. However, the way she threw open the door and made a lot of noise when she stomped across the lounge into the training room was nothing short of angry.

"…………Man, she looks PO'ed," Link said as he handed Krystal a glass of juice. "Oh, which reminds me, we'll be arriving at Mushroom Kingdom today, pass it on."

"Thanks," Krystal nodded.

Wondering how Samus's temper reminded the Hylian of their destination time, she leaned backwards and tapped Bowser on the shoulder, relaying the message, which passed around the present members Ring O' Evil and made its way around the rest of the room in about a half an hour.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to make an announcement?" Kirby asked.

"No, because some people are probably still asleep," Ness replied, with the slightest emphasis on "some".

Peach, who was sitting next to Krystal, forced down a laugh; Prince Marth, his redheaded friend Roy, and Falco, among others, were infamous for being able to stay up till four AM and sleep until one o'clock PM.

"You've got to feel sorry for their roommates and the people in the rooms next to them," Zelda smiled, still watching Kung Pow: Enter the Fist on the television. "I don't know who it was, but somebody was playing the White Stripes really loudly across the hall from Peach's and mine's room." She suddenly started laughing very hard. "Mu-shu-fasa! I love this part!!"

"Probably Ridley," Samus barged in, taking off her suit to reveal neon pink bike shorts and a large black t-shirt. Unlike the night before, her hair was loose, and her bangs had fallen over her right eye. "He's in the same room as Wolf." She took a pack of instant ramen and thrust in the microwave that was perched on top of one of the speakers.

"God help us," Krystal laughed. "Oh, Sam, did you hear the message?"

"No, what?"

"We're going to arrive at the Mushroom Kingdom today," Katt had her feet propped up on the table and was playing Final Fantasy Tactics on a pink Game Boy Advance.

"Oh. 'Kay," Samus pulled her ramen out of the microwave and walked over to her Varia Suit. Ripping open one of the giant shoulders, she dislodged a red and silver CD player and some headphones from the suit, walked back over to the table the girls were gathered at, slouched in a chair, propped her feet up like Katt, and submerged herself in loud rock music.

"What kind of CD is that?" Peach raised an eyebrow and looked astonished.

"I burned it," Samus shrugged.

"And on the CD is…"

"…………………Garbage," Samus closed her eyes.

"That's not a nice way to talk about the music you like…" Zelda frowned.

"No," Samus sighed. "I meant the band is called Garbage."

"Oh," Peach nodded "You like Garbage, don'tcha?"

"Duh."

The door opened again, and this time, two teenage boys walked into the room. One had dark blue hair, which was usually neat but now slightly disheveled, and was taller and older than the other boy. His comrade was a redhead, and his hair was also very messy, which it usually was. Both boys were dressed in medieval armor, and were yawning as they slouched in chairs in front of the TV.

"Good morning, gentlemen," Zelda said in a rather loud, slow voice. "We'll be arriving soon. At the Mushroom Kingdom."

"We understand you, Zelda," Marth scoffed with a vague Japanese accent. "Just because we don't normally speak English doesn't mean we're stupid."

Zelda blinked, taken aback. "So much for my previous assumptions," she said, just as a large bag of thick, big pretzel sticks flew across the room and hit her directly on the head.

"Cigars, anyone?" A smooth, clear voice cut across the room.

"STUPID CANADIAN!!!" Samus screamed without warning. "YOUR AIM SUCKS!!!"

"Ex-cuuuuse me, Princesses!!" With an unusually catlike agility, the gray wolf leapt up onto the back of an empty chair, and swooped down on the fallen bag of pretzel cigars.

~~~

Elsewhere in the Nintendo Universe, a teenager with brown hair stiffens, falls over and starts twitching uncontrollably. Megun-chan and Chrissy stood above JJ as she was having her seizure.

"JJ, are you okay?" Chrissy asked.

"N-N-No…"

~~~

Back on the ship…

Peach blinked and Zelda scowled. Katt hid a snicker, and Krystal scoffed and grabbed a Snicker's bar she had been hiding under the couch. In the blink of an eye, though, Samus ducked down and grabbed the pretzel cigars from the ground and held them high above her head. Wolf just stood still and looked straight up at her.

"You're very tall," he commented.

"Shuddap." Samus ripped open the bag and stuck a pretzel cigar in her mouth.

"Hey, guys!!" Ness exclaimed as Mewtwo opened the doors to the lounge and entered. "Guess what Mewtwo-sama and I found out!!"

Mewtwo instantly turned around and began to walk out.

"Hey, c'mon, Mewtwo-sama!!" Zelda called. "What did you find out?"

Mewtwo rolled his eyes and turned around. "Stupid human," he narrowed his eyes at Ness. "You waited until I got in here, didn't you? Forget it. I'm gone."

"We found out who the other fighters are going to be!" Ness smiled triumphantly.

"Yeah, right."

"You're kidding, Ness!"

"Is that true, Mewtwo-sama?" Wolf looked at the psychic Pokémon, "Do you know who the other victi- err, fighters- are going to be?"

Mewtwo lowered his head and thought for a moment. "………….No. Ness is just an idiot and he's making it up to get attention."

Ness frowned. "If I did, then why did I include you?"

Wolf snatched the bag from Samus and earned himself a punch in the gut as well.

"Because you were going to say I didn't do anything and take all the credit for yourself and prove you're better than me," Mewtwo visibly smirked as Ness's frown deepened.

"Liar." Ness stuck his tongue out.

"Ladies and-a gentlemen!!" Mario's voice rang through the lounge as well as the rest of the ship. "We have arrived at the-a Mushroom Kingdom!! Please return-a to your staterooms and begin-a-"

BOOM!!

Everyone was suddenly shoved to one side as a violent motion moved through the ship. Any further announcements made were drowned out by shrieks of terror, cries of annoyance, and a shout of "Iceberg, dead ahead!!" by Wolf.

"Mama mía!! Eh… sorry about that-a, folks…" Mario exclaimed. "We hit the dock a little-a rough-a. No big deal, though. Just-a pack your stuff and-a prepare to depart-a the ship."

"'No big deal', he says," Krystal rolled her eyes. "Stupid plumber. I bet we'll be under water in less than five."

"Seconds or minutes?" Roy looked up, a little frightened.

Krystal rolled her eyes. "I was joking, Roy…"

~~~

"WOW!!" Megun-chan brushed her bangs from her eyes as she gawked up at the ship. "They came in that?! It looks like the Nautilus!"

"It seems big enough…" JJ blinked. "And look!! Someone's coming out!"

The first person to descend the stairs to the dock was an attractive woman with shoulder-length blonde hair laden with duffel bags. The Toad saw her, and ran to the end of the flight of stairs.

"Greetings, Miss Aran!!" he chirped excitedly, "Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"W-Wait a minute…" Chrissy did a double-take. "Samus Aran?! No way!!"

"Why not?" Samus smiled and lowered her bags. "Who were you expecting? Peach?"

"Yes?" Peach waved her arm energetically. "Did you call me, Sam? I'm up here!!"

Samus rolled her eyes. "No, Peach. I didn't. Come on down."

Megun-chan and JJ exchanged glances, and frantically looked at Chrissy, who had her hands clenched and a look of contempt on her face. "C'mon, Chris… This is stupid," JJ put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"That… dumb… blonde…" Chrissy gritted her teeth.

"Oi!!" Samus glared at Chrissy. "I'm blonde!"

"But you're not dumb," JJ cut in, and walked over to Samus. "Chrissy has bad experiences with the whole Mario series," She whispered.

"Why?"

"Wouldn't you be mad after learning that the person you spent countless hours of your live trying to save can fight?"

"Oh."

Next down came the other girls, who greeted Chrissy, JJ, and Megun-chan, and grouped around talking. In order to impress Samus, Captain Falcon tried to grind down the railing of the stairs (without a skateboard), but lost his balance and fell into the water. Ridley saw this as he flew off the deck of the boat, and had to land quickly so he could fall down laughing properly. Pichu tried the same thing Captain Falcon did, and succeeded, but only because Mewtwo helped balance him with his psychic powers. One by one, they all came off the ship in their own way and greeted the girls.

Falco and Fox were the last ones off. "Sorry," Fox shrugged. "I had trouble waking bird brain up."

"Excuse me?!" Falco whipped around. "Forget it. I'm going back to sleep when we get to the castle."

"Awwww… Poor poor Falco-san…" Katt smiled and glomped his arm.

"Get off me, Katt!"

Katt let go, and gave Falco a deserved kick in the shin. "Jerk," she grumbled.

Megun-chan couldn't help but laugh. The laughter caught in her throat, however, as she spotted Kirby, who was mocking Falco behind his back. Falco noticed her staring, and turned around. "Oi, you little-"

"He's mine!!" Megun-chan said quietly, and stepped forward. Kirby did the same, confused but ready to fight.

"Kirby, you're a cute little thing and I have nothing against you, but YOU MUST DIE!!" Megun-chan roared as she lunged at Kirby.

"O…kay…" Marth blinked. "If she doesn't have anything against Kirby, why does she want to kill him?"

"Her little brother always played as Kirby," JJ replied.

"Ah." Marth looked at JJ and found he was blushing. "Er… uh… I don't think I've caught your name. You have me at a disadvantage."

JJ looked up and blushed as well. "Uh… J…J… I'm JJ." She suddenly broke into a huge smile. "Marth, you're hot!!"

Marth blinked. "Well, thank you! I'm glad you think that!"

"That's all fine and dandy," Roy said quickly. "But shouldn't we stop them?"

Megun-chan and Kirby were dustcloud-fighting fiercely, and struggling towards the edge of the dock. It took the combined power of Samus, Link, Ridley, and Mewtwo to separate the two. Kirby was torn away by Samus and held tightly by Link, while the still-struggling Megun-chan was pulled back by Mewtwo and held still by Ridley.

"Come on!!" Megun-chan shouted. "Let me get this out of my system!"

"You can do it later, Megun-chan," JJ said disapprovingly. "Now let's get to the castle in one piece."

Obediently, Megun-chan relaxed. "Okay…"

~~~

"Well, here we are…" Luigi, Mario's younger, green-clothed brother, opened the doors to the castle and took a deep breath. "Home, sweet home…"

"Your rooms are upstairs, as they were last year, and the year before…" Mario gestured up the stairs to a corridor that stretched to the left and right. "Will the girls please show our newcomers where their rooms will be?"

"Yeah," Samus looked at Megun-chan. "I guess you'll room with me, kiddo."

"Don't call me kiddo!" Megun-chan frowned and stamped her foot. "I'm not a little kid! Besides, that's what JJ's sister calls me."

"What? I thought you didn't mind when Kori called you 'kiddo'." JJ shrugged. "Then Chrissy and I are stuck together."

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing!!" Chrissy exclaimed.

"Of course not!!" JJ grinned. "I was just kidding."

"Training doesn't officially start-a until-a tomorrow," Mario nodded, "but the-a tournament is-a less than two months away. After you-a put your things away, you can-a choose to-a train some or just-a hang. Let's-a get started!"

~~~

The man sat in the dark lounge chair, watching the All-stars disperse in the main hall through a live video feed. "Are they all here?"

"A few will be coming later, my lord." A monotonous voice responded. The man stood up and turned to face the speaker; a man constructed completely out of blue and purple wires. The man himself was middle-aged, and dressed in a black tuxedo with shiny black shoes and white Mickey Mouse-style gloves.

"Good." He smiled and turned back to the screen, and with the pushing of a few buttons, the video feed switched to show each of the All-Stars in their rooms, the training halls, the kitchen, and other rooms in the castle.

"Let the games begin…"