A/N: Actually, I'm not entirely sure how I came up with most of it. The story is actually a third version that was completed, the first two were snippets of dreams I had based on different tournament scenarios. Originally, the characters were a lot more coarse and spent time in a break room before fighting each other to see who was strong enough to take on Master Hand.

The second version was written after I watched The Wizard, that movie with the kids in the video game tournament. It gave me the idea of a super-power sending the characters after Master Hand to save the world. I dropped that idea for a short time and finally created this version. It eventually evolved into the Game Realm series and the idea of the super-power leading game characters returned. That's where I got the ideas for the Entities of the Game Realm; Nin, Tendo, Sega, Sony, X-Spirit (X and Baux) and the newest addition, Sammy.

The idea for the Allstars ranking came from my favorite snack, Nintendo All-Stars Fruit Snacks. The characters used were Mario, Luigi, Peach, DK, Link, Yoshi, and a Starman. So I used that to set up the Allstars here in the story. The Link Lock is from that basic expression on Adult Link's face in Ocarina of Time. He looks like he swallowed a lemon and doesn't want anyone to know.

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Chapter Five

Morning finally came and with it came the next challenge. The Nintendo fighters stared at the doors in confusion. Link glared, unhappy with what the symbols showed him.

"Uh...." DK began. Pikachu held up a tiny hand.

"Don't tell me." he began and crossed his eyes, putting a finger to his head as he stuck his tongue out goofily, "Dah, I dun git it!" He mimicked DK's former remark in a warped way. Link burst into laughter and hugged his sides as he fell back and kicked at the air. DK glared at them, but didn't finish his sentence.

"Okay, we have Link's Triforce and Fox's Star Fox Insignia against two mushrooms." Mario remarked. "DK's initials and my mushroom against two mushrooms. Kirby's star and Samus' lightning bolt against two mushrooms. Pikachu's Poké Ball and Yoshi's egg against two mushrooms. Anyone see a pattern here?"

"It's another fight where the enemy comes at us in teams. Master Hand has decided to toy with us by letting us fight them with a friend to help us. We're to go in two at a time. Our chances of winning is increased with the addition of a helper, but so are our chances of losing because both fighters could fall in only one battle whereas before only one fighter risked losing." Link replied softly. Everyone stared at him in amazement. DK snorted.

"I was gonna say that." he remarked. Pikachu rolled his eyes.

"Really? When? Next century?" he asked and laughed again.

"Okay. That's enough for today." Mario scolded the mouse and walked up to the door with his and DK's symbols, "Come on, Donkey Kong. Let's get this done." The two Allstars disappeared into the room.

"Who's the other guy we're fighting?" Fox asked as he walked up to Link to enter their door. "We know the mushroom is Mario's symbol. Do we fight two Marios?" Link tightened his mouth and cocked his head, just as puzzled, but unwilling to admit it. "Never mind. At least since I'll be with you I can finally figure out what you do with these copies that has you zoning out faster than DK on Banana Day." the pilot sighed as they entered the room.

"See ya later, Link!" Pikachu called and bounded to Yoshi's side. "Come on, come on! Let's go!" The two of them ran off to their door and entered it. Samus watched them leave and looked to Kirby.

"I guess that leaves you and me. Come on. Let's see if we of the non-64 generation can match wits and brawn with the rest of them!" she declared. Kirby smiled and nodded.

"Ready when you are, Samus!" he replied and they headed to their door.

"What am I supposed to do?" Captain Falcon wailed to them.

"You can draw in the sand, dear. We'll be back soon!" Samus called over her shoulder sweetly as the door closed behind them.

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A warp opened and Samus stepped out of it as the star carrying Kirby smashed onto the scene. Castle Peach was the arena, with two wedges and a dual-level stage with a moving platform and a bumper set up high above the area. Opposite the two friends, a pair of green pipes appeared and the copies of Mario and Luigi popped up out of them.

"So that's who the second mushroom represented. Luigi!" Samus remarked as she looked over the edge at the bottom level, where Kirby and Luigi faced off.

"Fourth battle for Samus and Kirby! Samus and Kirby versus Mario Brothers!" the announcer declared, "Three, two, one, go!" The two brothers jumped and fired off a barrage of fireballs at the two friends. Samus activated her shield, then ran in and began to use Superspin attacks on Mario while Kirby inhaled Luigi, swallowed and stole his fireball power, a green Luigi hat appearing on his head. Luigi jumped up to join his brother, double teaming on Samus.

"Give it up! We're too strong when we're together! You may as well surrender right now to Master Hand's awesome power!" the Mario and Luigi copies both yelled in one voice.

"Not if we can help it!" Kirby yelled back, jumping up and using a Rock Drop on them. The two brothers were blown apart and Samus chased Mario down while Kirby ganged up on Luigi. Items began to drop from the sky, an egg and a capsule. Kirby grabbed the capsule while Mario snagged the egg. Both of them cracked open the items by hurling them at opponents.

"Aaah!" Samus cried as she flew off the arena. She hit a floating wedge and was bounced back onto Castle Peach. "Whoa! Close call! Look out, Kirby! Mario's got a beam sword!" she cried out as she scrambled to her feet. Kirby grabbed at the tomato that appeared from his capsule and threw it towards her as Mario raced forward and whacked at him with the sword. Kirby was thrown back, only to be grabbed by Luigi and sent into a whirlwind attack. Samus began to charge up her gun. "Hang on, Kirby! Don't fall!" she screamed, "I'll help you in a second!" Mario turned on her, slicing at her with the sword. Samus was thrown out of her charging mode and hit the moving platform.

"Sometime today, Samus!" Kirby yelled, getting hit back and forth between Mario and Luigi like a volleyball. Samus jumped back onto the upper ledge as a crate fell onto the lower one.

"I'm doing the best I can!" she yelled back and finished charging. She fired the huge shot at the Mario Brothers and they were blasted out of the arena. Luigi fell and hit the force field, but Mario returned by using a super jump.

"Luigi defeated!" the announcer declared as Samus and Kirby taunted the fallen clone.

"You'll pay for that!" the Mario copy yelled and chased down Kirby, grabbing on and whirling him around before throwing him at Samus. The two friends collided and were sent flying over the ledge onto the platform below.

"Crate! There's a crate! Let me get it!" Kirby wailed and scrambled to get to the box. Mario jumped down and laughed maniacally.

"These items are mine! And with them, you shall meet your doom!" the clone declared and used a smash attack on the crate. It was booby trapped. The crate exploded, slamming Mario into the force field and ending the match.

"Did he just kill himself?" Samus asked Kirby. Kirby shrugged as he tossed away the Luigi cap to remove the powers.

"I guess he was secretly suicidal." the star warrior replied as the exit portal opened and let the two of them out.

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Samus and Kirby were joined by the other teams as the ledge moved up and they celebrated their victories with a dinner of more rations. Link was still in silent thought and Pikachu sat beside him, watching him worriedly. Fox told tales of Link having used a fan item on himself and him having to take it away and use it on Mario to build up a little damage before hitting him with a Poké Ball. Mario and DK weren't on speaking terms for the moment.

"It was the easiest thing in the world to just pick them up and throw them overboard!" DK declared, "I've wanted to do that for years!"

"You didn't have to enjoy it that much." Mario grumbled, "How dare Master Hand send a copy of my brother against me. And the dummy here was giggling as he slammed the clone me and Luigi to smithereens."

"We should be done with these challenges in no time! We finish off Master Hand, stop his evil plans and go home hunky dory happy!" Fox exclaimed and laughed, "I'll finally get to see the end of the game so I can report back to Nintendo!"

"It's getting late so I think we should get some rest before we go up against the next set of challenges." Yoshi remarked, "It was hard. The Mario Brothers acted like they had one brain that they shared. Weird." The other fighters wondered a bit about it, then began to find sleeping spots. Link watched them doze off and thought harder.

"The Link copy started with red hair. GB Link and the others have red hair. The hair turns gold suddenly. My hair is blonde. The clone must have been built with the old Links' looks, and then were abruptly made over to look like me when I was beamed into the battle. That must have been why I was unconscious when I entered the Hyrule stage. The robot needed time to be redone." he whispered, "But if the robot was designed for the old Links' specifications, then that means... I'm the mistake! I'm not supposed to be here! Master Hand wanted the most popular Nintendo characters! He wanted GB Link, but he kidnapped me instead!" The elfin hero looked up at the top of the mountain, which was hidden in thick clouds. "If Master Hand finds out I'm the wrong Link.... Don't think about that, Trainee! Think about a plan! How can you beat him when you reach him? You can't do it alone. Master Hand will probably be the hardest boss in the entire tournament. He's not called a master for nothing."

Link settled back and studied the characters. He had found the blue transmitter in the Mario copy and destroyed it first. The announcer had declared Mario to be defeated even though Link still had Mario's body. With Fox too engaged in beating up Luigi with a ray gun he found, Link studied the computer in the body and figured out the control mechanics. He learned how to make it walk and jump and do a few simple attacks like punch and kick. Then he threw it over the edge before it could yell out that Link had gained access to its control systems.

"I could use that knowledge somehow." he muttered and looked up at the doors. A Poké Ball symbol appeared on each one, the next opponent was a Pikachu clone. The plan that was scattered in his brain finally began to shape up. Link smiled. "That's it! I can't beat Master Hand alone, so I'll sneak a character in with me to team against him! But if I make the switch out here, he'll find out. However, if I can do the switch in another team battle, please let there be another one soon, then I can replace the real character with its robot copy. I'll just control it with a few new programmed codes. It'll get defeated pretty quick and Master Hand will think it's the real thing and not expect him to come back later." he whispered happily. He studied the group of characters. "I'll need someone to switch with. Someone I can hide easily with me. Someone I can trust." he murmured and looked up at the doors again. The Poké Ball.

"Fox got a Poké Ball in the battle. Pikachu can fit in one. I trust Pikachu. I can hide Pikachu in a Poké Ball in my bomb bag. Perfect!" Link laughed, "I'll steal the Pikachu robot, switch it with the real Pikachu, hide him in the ball in my bag and carry him with me up until I get to Master Hand!" Confident and content with his plan, Link settled back and slept peacefully.

Link Versus Pikachu

No one could quite understand why Link was in such a confident and upbeat mood. Morning had dawned like any other day and they had the usual light breakfast, but instead of being gloomy and muttering about how he felt inferior to the other characters, Link was cheerful and joked with Pikachu.

"I think he's lost it." Fox remarked under his breath to Kirby.

"I don't think he had it to begin with." DK grumbled as he poked at his plate. With breakfast done, the group got up to see who their next opponent would be.

"Aaaahhh! It's the clone me!" Pikachu shrieked, "I can't attack that! It'll have my Zap Jump!" Link picked him up and gave him a hug.

"Don't worry! You can beat him! You've got to! You can't leave me alone to deal with Dorky Kong there." he exclaimed. Pikachu glanced at the ape and chewed on his lip.

"Well, okay. I'll give the copy-Meowth everything I've got, but only because I owe you for making you lose your Allstar qualifications." he replied and jumped down to face the door with his symbol. "All right! I'm coming in so get ready to say your prayers, you Pika-fake!" the mouse declared and marched into the room. The other characters spread out to find their doors.

"What about me?! What am I gonna do all day?!" Captain Falcon wailed. Samus pulled out a pan and pushed it into his hands.

"Get started on making dinner. And go easy on the grease, I'm watching my figure." she told him before entering her room. Link smiled up at the Poké Ball on the door.

"Now I know what to do, Master Hand. And you're not going to win this tournament!" he remarked and entered the door to start his master plan.

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The beam of light set Link down on the Silph Co. building gently while a Poké Ball slammed down to unleash the fake Pikachu. Link looked up at the scoreboard and took in the view of the arena. Lots of platforms and gaps. He could easily dump the transmitter down one gap and smuggle the robot out under his shield. Content with the plan, he stood ready for the fight.

"Fifth battle for Link! Link versus Pikachu!" the announcer declared, "Three, two, one, go!" Pikachu zipped forward at high speed.

"Prepare to meet your end, Link!" the mouse robot declared as it used a powerful headbutt to ram into the elf and send him flying back over a gap and onto another platform. Link picked himself up and winced in pain, holding up his sword as a block when he saw Pikachu come at him with a drilling headbutt. The mouse bounced off and used a Zap Jump to get reoriented. Link used the time to run up to a crate that dropped from the sky.

"Let it be a Poké Ball!" Link cried as he hurled a bomb at it. The crate exploded, showering the rooftop with a ray gun, a star wand and a Poké Ball. "Finally!" Link raced to the items and grabbed the ball as Pikachu zapped up and nabbed the gun.

"You're not getting away so easily!" the robot declared and began firing the gun. Link was hit and thrown against the doors of the Pokémon box on the building's rooftop. Over and over the hits came, building damage up on Link's health meter until it hit fifty-two percent. When the gun ran out of ammunition, Pikachu threw it at Link, adding a little more damage to him. The doors behind him opened and a Venusaur popped out, firing Razor Leaf attacks and sending the two battlers flying through the air. Link held on to the ball and struggled to his feet. Pikachu landed on a nearby floating platform and got up.

"Have you guys found the wrong character yet?" Link taunted wearily, "I bet Master Hand is really mad about it!" The robot shrieked and raced at him, leaving himself open to a flurry of sword slashes. Link slashed as fast as he could, then grabbed the mouse and hurled him into the box. A Porygon charged out with a headbutt, slamming Pikachu into a platform, which bounced him off and onto the rooftop again. Link looked up at the scoreboard and noted that Pikachu's damage meter was going up fairly high. "I'd better get this done quickly, or I'll lose the copy." he muttered and jumped down to stab the Master Sword into the robot's tail, pinning it to the floor.

"You can't do this! This is not in accordance to the laws of the Master Tournament!" the robot Pikachu screamed. Link planted his foot on the tail, pulled out the sword and slashed open the robot's belly to reveal the gleaming blue transmitter and main computer.

"Rules have changed." Link growled and pushed a few buttons on the computer, shutting down the robot. He tore the transmitter out and threw it over the building into the force field. Quickly, Link threw down the Poké Ball to empty out the creature inside and repacked the ball before it could vanish. The transmitter hit the field and disappeared.

"Pikachu defeated!" the announcer declared, "Hostage being released!" A large metal box was dropped down from the sky and landed on the roof of the Silph Co. building. Link reprogrammed the mouse robot to obey his commands, then packed it under his shield. He looked up at the box suspiciously, then headed up and knocked on the metal door.

"Who's there?!" a voice wailed. Link blinked and tried to look into the tiny barred window.

"Uh... Link." he replied.

"Oh, great! Somebody came to rescue me!" the voice cheered, "Uh... which one?"

"Um, the Nintendo 64 version." Link answered.

"Oh. Okay. Hey, you haven't seen my brother around here, have ya?" the voice asked. Link scratched his head in confusion and then smiled.

"Wait a second! I know you! You're Luigi!" he declared and laughed, "Yeah, your brother's right outside! Boy, is he gonna be happy to see you!"

"Great! Now get me out of this little box. It's stuffy." Luigi remarked. Link opened the door and Luigi stepped out, patting his head with a frown. "Man, I can't believe those things took my hat." he grumbled.

"What things?" Link asked him as the exit portal opened.

"These funny purple things that look like they were made out of metal or crystal or something. It's freaky, but one of them had Mario's fireball attacks." Luigi replied as they stepped out, "So, what are you doing here? Did you get out of your jail cell?"

"Nope. I'm a fighter in this tournament thing. Ask your brother about it. Mario has the info and I'm kind of busy right now with something." Link replied and tightened his mouth. Luigi recognized the look and dropped the subject.

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"Mario!" Luigi cried some two hours later when the red plumber came out of his room with a few bruises.

"Luigi!" Mario exclaimed joyfully and ran to him for a hug. The brothers cried happily and chattered about how much they were worried about each other. Link watched for a moment, then turned to walk next to Pikachu's door and wait for him. While the plumbers talked about the situation, Link pulled out the Pikachu robot and began to push buttons in it for walking, talking, and attacking. He packed it away quickly when he saw DK arrive from his battle.

"I got a baseball bat and I gave that rat a whack and he went slammin' into the force field! You should've seen it! It was awesome! Like playing baseball with a fuzzy little mouse-ball!" the ape declared and laughed, "We're gonna beat this tournament, no problem!"

"Don't be so sure of yourself." Link muttered as one by one the other characters emerged. Pikachu came out at last, exhausted.

"That had to be the hardest challenge I've ever taken. And I was right. The stupid copy had my Zap Jump." he grumbled as Link picked him up, "Well, did he go easy on ya, or what?"

"I got shot a few times and he rammed me in the stomach. I'll be okay after I eat and get some rest, and you should be, too." Link replied and smiled briefly before turning serious. "Pikachu, listen. I have an idea on what to do about Master Hand, but I'll need you to cooperate and help me. I'll tell you my plan tonight, when everyone else is asleep. If they find out, my plan could be ruined." he whispered to the mouse. Pikachu blinked up at him and nodded, grinning fiercely.

"I already like the sounds of it!" he replied.

"Hey, everybody! Look who Link rescued! My brother, Luigi!" Mario declared to the group. They cheered happily and welcomed Luigi warmly. Captain Falcon held out a pan of bacon and pointed at the pot of stew.

"Who's gonna eat all this?! I hated cooking!" he demanded. With dinner set up and another Nintendo Allstar back in their midst, the Nintendo fighters settled down to eat and recover from the battle against a difficult clone Pikachu as the ledge rose to another level.