Chapter Two
The Poké Ball erupted onto the stone castle and Pikachu leaped out, ready for battle. On the opposite side, Link touched down from a beam of light and stood, waiting. Pikachu saw him and froze, shocked.
"Link? But... but I thought you were outside. Why are you here? Are we going to fight the enemy together?" he whispered.
"First battle for Pikachu! Pikachu versus Link! Three, two, one... GO!" the announcer shouted. Link raced forward, whipping out his sword and brandishing it before him. Pikachu cried out in surprise and jumped out of the way. Link slashed skyward, but Pikachu used a Zap Jump to escape it. He landed on a ledge and caught his breath.
"Link?! Why are you fighting against me?!" he yelled, "I thought we were friends!" Link smiled and leaped towards him, ready to slash again.
"I serve Master Hand! I have no loyalties to you or anyone else!" he laughed and stabbed right where Pikachu would have been if he hadn't jumped back and away. The mouse landed with an angry cry.
"'Loyal to Master Hand'?! Link, what's gotten into you?! You're a Nintendo character! You're one of us!" he yelled and dodged another hit. Link continued to chase and slash, laughing cruelly.
"Simple-minded rat! You will all become the slaves of the great and powerful Master Hand!" he shouted and hurled the boomerang at Pikachu. The mouse was hit and knocked back. Some damage points were added onto his meter up on the Hyrule Castle scoreboard, beneath the picture of Pikachu. The mouse got to his feet and used a Zap Jump to escape another attack. He landed on another ledge and growled at his opponent.
"I really thought we could be friends, Link. But if you're gonna turn traitor on me, then I'm taking you down! SNES Link can take your place just fine!" Pikachu yelled and fired an Electric Attack, zapping Link. While he was stunned, Pikachu jumped down and fought furiously with kicks and headbutts. Link put up a strange, red bubble that acted like a shield against Pikachu's attacks and rolled away, attacking the mouse from behind. The damage meters on the scoreboard went higher and higher as the two fought.
A tornado appeared on the stage and raced across the stone. Pikachu noticed it, grabbed Link by the collar and threw him into it. The tornado spun him around, causing damage, while Pikachu ran for a small black object that fell from the sky. He pulled up to it and sniffed at it.
"What's this stupid thing?" he wondered and picked it up. He turned it around and stared in confusion at the little pair of eyes that blinked back at him. "Oh, wait a sec. Mario said that these things are Bob-ombs. Hey! We can use Nintendo stuff here?! Cool!" Pikachu hopped around and glared at Link, who was still being tossed about in the whirlwind. "Take this, you back-stabbing blonde brat!" he snapped and twisted the little key on the Bob-omb before he hurled the tiny bomb into the tornado. It exploded in a huge cloud of fire and debris. Link shrieked in a fury as he was thrown off the stage and slammed into the force field. There was a bright flash of white and then, nothing. Pikachu stared at the wall, horrified. What had he done?!
"Link defeated!" the announcer declared, "The battle goes to Pikachu!" The mouse Pokémon sniffed and walked to the exit portal, which appeared in the center of the stage.
"I can't believe Link would turn on me. And I only wanted to take him down, not kill him. Link, Link, why did you do this? I thought you were in trouble. Was this all a trick?" he whimpered and exited the stage.
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Pikachu stepped out of a door and onto the ledge that had appeared earlier. The door behind him was shut and then sealed. Curious, he looked around, then began to walk around the mountain and see if anyone else was there. Soon, he began to hear voices.
"Wake up! Wake up, Link!" Samus cried. Pikachu perked his ears up in shock and raced ahead. Turning the bend, he found Samus and Mario both trying to wake up a still bruised Link.
"Link?! But I thought I killed him!" Pikachu cried as he ran up to him.
"So did I!" Samus remarked, wrapping another bandage around Link's arm. Link groaned and slowly opened his eyes, looking up at the bounty hunter groggily.
"What's going on?" he mumbled, sitting up and looking out at the group dazedly.
"I thought the same thing, until I came out of the arena and found Link there on the wall." Mario added, "As soon as I touched the iron bands, they disappeared. Link almost fell over the edge but I caught him in time." Samus scooted behind Link and pulled him back to rest against her armor. One by one, the other Nintendo characters began to show up. DK was grinning proudly, until he saw Link.
"Hey! I thought I beat the stuffing out of Old Sunshine! What's up?!" he yelled. Pikachu turned on him and gave him a jolt.
"'Sunshine'?! I told you, his name is Link! Now, shut up and stick your foot in your mouth or do whatever idiot banana-brains do to kill time!" Pikachu shrieked and turned back to watch Link, who had closed his eyes again with a moan and looked like he wasn't fully conscious. Fox limped up and leaned against the wall of the mountain.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting a little tired of this tournament thing." he grumbled.
"What happened to you?" Yoshi asked and Fox grinned painfully.
"Link packs a mean swipe with that sword for a rookie. He got me good, but I ate some kind of tomato and it healed me right up. Then I threw the dorkster into a tornado and the lousy thing threw him clean into the sky!" he laughed.
"Hey! That tomato's mine!" Kirby yelled and got into an argument with Fox while Yoshi began to ponder the situation.
"So, each of us got into a fight against Link?" he asked aloud. "But that's impossible. Link was out here the whole time. If Link was out here, then who were we really fighting in the first match? Who are we really going against?"
"Copies." Link replied weakly and everyone turned to him. Link cringed slightly, eyes still closed, then went on. "We're fighting copies of ourselves. It's Master Hand's sick little game." Samus pat his head a little.
"Shh. Quiet, Link. You need to save your strength. Rest now." she told him. Link struggled slightly.
"We're fighting clones, duplicates. They're just like us. They have our attacks, our weapons, our voices and looks. It's to throw us off." he murmured and cried in pain. Samus rapped the top of his head with her knuckles.
"That's enough, Link! Everyone! Set up camp! We'll need to rest and recover before we can go to the next level." she ordered as the ledge shuddered and lifted up to a row of doors. The ledge got wider and everyone looked around, startled. "Looks like this is the next level. Don't go in the doors! Set up camp!" Samus barked out. The characters jumped and began to set up a small campfire. As the sun began to set, they had a fire crackling, dinner being cooked and a bed for Link to lie on while he recovered.
"Why do I have to be the mattress?" DK complained as he lay sprawled on his stomach. Samus picked Link up and scowled at DK.
"Either you do it like this, or I skin you and use that for his bed while you become dinner. Would you like that instead, Mr. Allstar?" she snapped. DK grinned sheepishly.
"Uh, no thanks. I'll pass." he replied.
"Then hold still and don't you dare do anything to Link while he's in this condition!" the bounty hunter barked and carefully put Link down on DK's back. The ape grumbled and rested his head on his arms, waiting for dinner. Pikachu hopped up and sat next to his friend.
"Link? Buddy? It was weird fighting that copy of you. It looked like you, it sounded like you, but there was something weirder about it." he told the elf and held out a strand of something thin and shiny. Link opened his eyes and turned to see him.
"What is it?" he whispered and Pikachu gave him the strand. He fingered it and studied it as the mouse stepped back in order to let Fox walk up with a bowl and a spoon.
"It was left over from that Link copy. I don't know what it is, though. I thought you might know." Pikachu replied. Link put the strand away as Fox helped him sit up and held out the bowl.
"Here. It's some of my special soup. Don't ask what's in it, I'm not sure myself, but it does restore energy and strength. Everyone else is eating and it's making them feel better." he told the hero.
"Thanks." Link muttered and took the bowl, "Um, Fox. I have to tell you something. Those copies... they're not real." He thought back to the head in his hands and shivered. "They're something worse. Things aren't what they seem. There's more at stake." Fox gave him a strange look.
"Hey, Link. The guys that beat you up... they didn't, like, do anything funky to you or anything, did they?" he asked, suspicious. Link scowled and turned away. "Fine, be that way. Lousy punk." Fox grumbled and began to walk back to the fire.
"What about my dinner?!" DK wailed. Fox shoved a banana into his mouth, plugging it.
"Here! Now shut up and be a good mattress, monkey boy, or I'll shove your supper up the wrong hole!" he snapped back and stormed away. Pikachu snickered at the ape and turned back to Link, who had begun eating the soup slowly.
"What did you mean by that? 'Things aren't what they seem.' Is there something about the clones that you know is wrong?" the mouse asked, "What is it? What's the deal with them?" Link winced and sipped at his spoon again.
"I can't tell you." he murmured and lifted the bowl to his mouth. Pikachu blinked.
"Can't tell us? Why not?" he asked as Link went on drinking from the bowl. "You know something, but you won't tell us what it is. Why? Is it because the guys who beat you up told you not to tell us? Come on, Link! They're pushovers! We can take 'em! Tell us what's the deal!"
"I can't, okay? Just... forget it. It's nothing. We'll beat the clones and go home and have everything go the way it was." Link muttered, staring down into the brownish liquid that was his soup.
"What? And have Donkey Brains call you 'Sunshine' and 'Blondie' for the rest of your game career? What happened to you wanting to be an Allstar?!" Pikachu exclaimed in shock.
"You can't make an Allstar out of a character who's a mistake." Link muttered and put the bowl down so he could lie back down and get some rest. Pikachu watched him, then, frowning, jumped down to join the other warriors.
"Yeah! Banana!" DK cheered as he pulled the fruit out of his mouth and began to peel it to eat.
As night descended on the group and the Nintendo fighters slept peacefully, Link tossed and turned restlessly. In his mind, pieces of a puzzle floated around in his head, waiting to be pulled together to be formed into a plan. Fox was curled up in a ball near the coals, Pikachu did the same. Mario used Yoshi's dozing form as a pillow, Kirby lay on his back and slept soundly. Samus was sleeping with her back against the mountain and DK was out like a rock. Link sat up, unable to sleep, and got down off of the ape. He winced slightly, his left arm was still a little sore. Digging around in his pocket, he pulled out the strand Pikachu had given him and studied it. The strand did look odd. It started as one color, then suddenly turned into another color halfway across the strand. "It looks familiar. Where have I seen those colors before?" Link muttered and put the strand away as he walked around the mountain. There were doors all around and each one had two symbols above it. One had a Poké Ball shape and an egg, another had DK's initials and an egg, a third had two eggs. "What's up with the pictures?" Link muttered until he came to a door with the Triforce symbol and an egg.
"This one..." he whispered and pulled off his gauntlet, holding his left hand up to the door so he could place the Triforce symbol on his hand directly over the symbol above the doorway, "...belongs to me. My next challenge is in here." Link whispered and frowned, "But who has an egg for a symbol?" Unable to figure it out, he headed back to camp and tried to get some sleep.
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An earthquake, or something similar, startled Link awake and before he could do anything, he found himself dumped onto his stomach and then crushed by a huge weight. He struggled fiercely, feeling suddenly very claustrophobic, and let out a scream.
"What the-?! DONKEY KONG!!! GET YOUR BIG, FAT, SMELLY, DISGUSTING BUTT OFF OF MY PAL!!!" Pikachu shrieked and unleashed a load of electricity on the thing crushing Link. DK squealed and rolled over to get away. Link lay flattened as the other fighters ran up to see if he was okay. "Link! Link! Buddy! Palsy! Speak to me!" Pikachu pleaded as Samus pried him up and turned him over.
"I'm going to have nightmares about this for a very long time." Link slurred as Fox brought up another bowl of special soup. He spoon fed Link half a bowl before the elfin hero regained his senses and sat up. "Okay, I'm fine now. Can we get started?" he griped and got to his feet. The other characters looked a bit startled, but got up to survey their new challenges anyway. They walked around the mountain and spotted the first door.
"A Poké Ball, huh? Must be my door." Pikachu muttered and walked up to it. He knocked on the door and growled, "Little pig, little pig, let me in. Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin! Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll use Thunderbolt on your house and make your electric bills go crazy!" Link laughed brightly and Pikachu smiled up at him as the door opened to let him in. "That's better! It's good to hear you laugh, Link. Take care! I'll be back in no time!" he remarked and walked into the room. The door shut behind him.
The remaining fighters went on until they found the second door. DK flexed his muscles, grinned at Link and tapped on the door. Link snorted, unimpressed. The ape made a face at him and disappeared into the door.
"Here, little chick, chick, chick! Come and get your medicine! Ha, ha!" the ape called out as the door slammed shut. The group pressed on and came to a third door. Yoshi studied the eggs and nodded grimly.
"Looks like I'll be up against my clone." he muttered and knocked on the door. Fox turned to Link.
"Don't you have anything to tell us about what we're facing?!" he asked, "You were the first to enter the tournament! You were beaten up for a reason! What did you find out that Master Hand is trying to keep you from telling us?!" Link turned his face away.
"I can't tell you. Not until I'm sure of it. It's just a wild guess, but he has a bigger plan than what he told us." he murmured and frowned in thought, "One of us is a mistake. Which of us is not supposed to be here?"
"I'll take out that other Yoshi in record time! Just watch me!" Yoshi declared and strode into his room. The door came down behind him. The next door the Nintendo fighters came across had the Triforce. Link glared at the door for a few moments.
"There's something more to this. I know it." he muttered and put his hand up to the door. It opened without him touching it and he walked in, the door closing behind him. Samus looked worried as the group pressed on to the next door. The fifth door had a star and an egg.
"Mine! That's my symbol! I know it because my world is shaped like a great big star!" Kirby cheered and ran up to the door. He bumped it with his head and skipped along inside cheerfully when it opened. "Yummy! Eggs!" he giggled.