Chapter Eleven
Link entered the arena and looked around for some idea of what was going to happen. Three platforms hovered above him, set over a small island floating in some strange dimensional space. He drew his sword and prepared to fight.
"Tenth battle for Link! Link versus Fighting Polygon Team!" the announcer declared as three crystallized fighters dropped onto the arena. Link glanced at them and gasped. They looked just like the creatures that had beaten him up at the very beginning of the tournament! "Three, two, one, GO!" The three fighters began to leap around as Link jumped up to attack.
"What are you things?! You move like us and fight like us!" he shouted angrily. The fighters laughed as they attempted to gang up on him.
"We are Polygons, jewel creatures of Master Hand's creating! We live to serve the great Master Hand! You shall fall and join your comrades in slavery!" they declared. Link glanced up at the scoreboard and yelped softly. There was a whole gang of Polygons in the match! Master Hand really was cheating! "You now have to deal with thirty of us! Master Hand has lost his patience and demands the identity of the fake Allstar!" they went on.
"Well, you're not gonna find out from me!" Link snapped and whacked the DK Polygon out of the match. Another one came down to take his place and the battle heated up. Though they were easily knocked off of the arena, some Polygons had the abilities of the other characters to return to the platform. There were even some modeled after the kidnapped characters! By watching the attacks of the Polygons, Link learned to recognize which Polygon represented which Nintendo character.
"Master Hand will take his rightful place as ruler of the Realm of Humanity and the Realm of Games! You can not stop him! This tournament was merely to serve its purpose as entertainment for our lord!" the Polygons taunted Link. Items fell and they even managed to use some against Link.
"You guys made the big mistake of messing with Nintendo characters! We won't let you threaten the Players! Not when they mean the world to us!" Link shouted and cried in shock when one Polygon knocked another Polygon into the force field just to get at him. "You even destroy your own comrades?! What kind of monsters are you?!"
"It matters not to us if we kill our own kind! We will achieve our master's goal at any cost! This makes us strong, and you weak!" the Polygons declared, dropping around Link as he jumped and ran to avoid their attacks.
"That's what you think! That attitude is the reason why you all will lose this match! You're down to twenty fighters already! And I've only got thirty points of damage!" Link declared with a laugh. He grabbed a fallen capsule, slammed it into another Polygon, and watched the booby-trapped capsule throw off the tightly grouped Polygons into the field. "Make that seventeen fighters." he amended with a grin.
"You will soon grow weary and that is when we will strike!" the Polygons yelled as another set of three arrived to continue. Link turned to keep up the fight.
"I may get tired, but I get strength knowing that I'm not just fighting for my freedom, but for the freedom of all the Players in the Realm of Humanity!" he snapped back, "And that's why I'm gonna win!" With that, he charged the Polygons, throwing them all off the arena one by one using the disguised Master Sword. The team number began to drop rapidly as the elf went on slicing and hacking with fierce determination. Polygons fell to their demise screaming in fury.
"This can not be possible! There are thirty of us! There is only one of you! How can we be this close to defeat?!" The last three Polygons exclaimed in shock and horror. Link breathed hard, wielding the sword expertly.
"Wrong on both counts!" Link yelled, "There are only three left of you, and many of my kind! Each Nintendo character has numerous counterparts, but only one of each group is considered the most popular of the current trend! Allstars are those who will remain popular no matter what!" The Polygons charged at him in blind rage, easy pickings for an elf to mow down with sword stretched out. "And your idiotic tyrant overlooked that most important of facts, resulting in his own failures, once we reach that monster at the top of the mountain!" he added as the last of the Polygon Team fell to the field below.
"Fighting Polygon Team defeated!" the announcer declared, "The battle goes to Link! Access granted to the Master Arena!" A portal opened and Link dropped to one knee, exhausted. There hadn't been any recovery items for him in the fight and his damage meter had gone to a little over one hundred percent as he battled the Polygons. They weren't as easy to defeat as Link told the fighters, and the weariness of the constant battling was beginning to take its toll. If he didn't get a good long rest before the final challenge, Link was almost sure he'd fail.
"Need sleep. Need food." he wheezed as he stumbled into the portal.
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The Nintendo fighters needed a couple of days to rest and recover. The ledge had risen up to the top of Tournament Mountain and they could see space from where they stood. The stars shone brightly and comets streaked across the sky as they plotted and planned their next attacks. All of the fighters were granted access to the Master Arena and the final fight against Master Hand himself. Link stood against the mountaintop and looked out at the beautiful sky. When the ledge rose, the Nintendo fighters discovered that the set of four doors had been replaced by one, huge set of golden doors. This meant that the characters would have to enter the arena one at a time, but who would go first?
"I should go in first. I'm the lead Allstar. I have more experience fighting bad guys so I should stand a better chance of defeating Master Hand." Mario pointed out over dinner as the other characters sat around a campfire.
"No way! It should be me! I'm faster and more agile! I can avoid attacks better than anyone else here!" Fox snapped, "We can't lose you, Mario! You're Nintendo's number one Golden Mascot!"
"It should be me! I'm the smartest of the bunch! I can outwit Master Hand and wrap up a victory for the home team!" Yoshi declared.
"I shall go in and defeat this Master Hand punk and rescue my beautiful bounty hunter!" Captain Falcon shouted.
"For the last time, ya nitwit, you're not in the tournament!!" the whole group of characters yelled at him, "Get it through your empty head!" Captain Falcon clamped his mouth shut and huddled, grumbling to himself.
"Why not just draw straws? The short straw goes first, long straw goes last." Link finally said, still watching the stars. He wanted them to be quiet so he could think of what to do next in his plan.
"Now there's an idea." Yoshi remarked in surprise, "Why didn't I think of that?"
"I could've said the same thing, but GB Link beat me to it." Fox put in as Mario dug around in his pockets for straws. He pulled out a handful of toothpicks instead.
"Sorry, but toothpicks are all I have." he sighed and held them out. Link walked over to them and pulled out four of them.
"They'll do. I'll cut them up." he replied and pulled out his sword to cut the toothpicks into different lengths. When he was done, he gathered up the sticks, turned away from the group and rearranged them in his hands. "Okay, time to pick!" Link faced the three fighters and held out his fist. The four toothpicks all stuck out from within and set up so no one knew which toothpick was the short one.
"I'll go first." Fox said and reached out to pluck out a toothpick. Mario pulled next, then Yoshi. Link was left with the final toothpick. The four of them compared their toothpicks.
"Ha! I go first!" Yoshi declared in triumph. Mario would be second, Fox would be third and Link would go last. If Yoshi defeated Master Hand, none of the others would have to go in. The three other fighters silently hoped they wouldn't have to be called in to fight. "All right! I'm ready! Lemme at em! Lemme at em!" Yoshi declared and marched up to the giant doors. Link watched him, suddenly fearful. What happened if none of them could win?
"Please work." he whispered to himself as he thought over the double team plan one more time.
Mario and the other characters sat around the campfire, wondering about what would happen. They couldn't help but notice that Link acted a bit more strangely than usual. He was jittery, sometimes very quiet, and always sitting alone.
"Link's not acting right." Fox remarked. Ness played with the yo-yo Fox had given back to him and looked up at Link. The elf was pacing, nervous.
"GB Link is always confident. Why is he so worrisome now?" he wondered.
"Maybe he's worried over that rookie of his." Capt. Falcon muttered, "You know, the little screw-up?" The others shushed him and glanced to see if Link had heard that. He did, but Link pretended he didn't. "You know, if the little wienie had stuck around, we could have thrown him into the Master Arena and seen what happens. Then you'll know if it's booby-trapped."
"Captain Falcon! N64 Link's not a booby! You don't just throw a kid like him into a dangerous area to test the enemy!" Mario snapped.
"It wouldn't have been a big loss anyway. Who'd miss him? We could always redesign another Link to take his place, and this time we use the standard design! This blonde Link nonsense was fine for a laugh, but now we have to get serious." the driver pressed, "After we deal with this insane tyrant and go home, we'll activate N64 Link's shutdown code, stash him in Omega Vault, and build another Link with the specs we've always used; red hair, green eyes, green and yellow-green outfits. That'll save Nintendo."
"Will you shut up about that?!" Fox barked, "You sound like you want to kill the guy and stick some other guy in his place! It's too late for that! Ocarina of Time is out and the next game is already being built!"
Link moved to the other side of the mountain ledge, shivering and trembling, one hand clutching the neck of his tunic, the other on the mountain wall to support him. That's what they really wanted all along! They never liked him from the very beginning! It had all been a lie!
"That's why they rejected me! My face, my looks, I'm not the real Link! I'm not Link after all!" he exclaimed softly and fought to keep from sobbing loudly, "Now they're going to kill me and put another Link in my place. I wasn't good enough. They never gave me the chance to prove myself and now I'm being written out of existence!" He rubbed his tears away and took a shaky deep breath. "All right then. But at least let me prove that I can save Nintendo! If not by being in the Zelda games, then by taking on Master Hand and defeating him!" he decided determinedly.
Yoshi Versus Master Hand!
Yoshi dropped onto a wide platform floating in space with stars and comets all around. He looked around warily, where was Master Hand? He heard sounds coming from nearby and looked up. There were four glass capsules suspended in the air. Within each capsule was one of the fallen characters, banging on the walls and shouting angrily. Pikachu, Samus, Kirby, DK, all of them were pounding their fists and yelling.
"Don't worry, guys! I'll get you all out of there!" Yoshi declared.
"Yoshi! You don't understand! Master Hand is enormous!" Samus screamed out as a massive gloved hand swooped onto the scene and settled just above the platform, opposite of Yoshi.
"Are you the wrong character?!" it bellowed with a voice that seemed to emanate from its whole being. Yoshi ducked and shut his eyes tight, then looked up in shock at the thing.
"Are you Master Hand?" he squeaked. The hand shook angrily.
"Answer my question!" it demanded. Yoshi stood up and swallowed hard. "I know that among the four remaining fighters, one is the false star! I have checked these other characters! They are all true stars! Are you the fake?!"
"Yoshi! That's Master Hand! He's a giant hand!" Kirby shouted down. DK pounded on the glass but still couldn't break it.
"Pika! Pika! Pika!" Pikachu yelled out over and over. Samus looked at him, confused. Pikachu hadn't said anything but that word and his name. It was as if he couldn't speak. What was wrong with him?
"If you're Master Hand, then I'm at the right place!" Yoshi shouted, feeling braver now that his anger replaced his fear, "I'm no fake, that's for sure! Bring it on!"
"As you wish! Prepare to meet your end, little dinosaur!" Master Hand declared and suddenly slapped at him. Yoshi didn't even have a chance to react. He was thrown into the air, slapped again and sailed over the edge of the platform. The Nintendo captives screamed in horror, but Yoshi quickly recovered and began to use his Flutter Jump ability to get back on the stage.
"What was that?!" Yoshi exclaimed in shock as Master Hand shot off into space. He felt bruised and tired and he had barely started the fight! He looked up at a nearby screen. Master Hand had 300 health points. Yoshi had to knock the count down to defeat him, but the slaps gave him 22 points of damage! "This is harder than it looks." Yoshi muttered as he looked for Master Hand, "Now where did that creep go?"
"Yoshi! Look out!" Kirby screamed out at him. Master Hand zoomed out of the background, slammed Yoshi with his middle finger stretched out, then turned a curve and slammed him again. Yoshi was thrown about and collapsed onto the platform. He struggled to get up as Master Hand floated just beyond the platform, laughing.
"Weak and pathetic fool! You can't defeat me! You can't even touch me!" he declared. Yoshi got to his feet and breathed hard, turning to face him. "Prepare for doom!" With that, Master Hand dove down below the platform. Yoshi blinked, then began to scan the area, searching for a sign of him.
"Where is he, Samus?!" he shouted out loud, "Samus! I can't see him anywhere!"
"He's coming up behind you!" the bounty hunter shrieked as Master Hand rose up, hand open and slapped the platform, slamming himself right on Yoshi! "NO!"
Yoshi lay battered and bruised on the platform, unable to move from the pain. Master Hand waited a second, then slapped at him to knock him over the edge. Yoshi fell to the field below and hit. Shrieking in pain, the little dinosaur disappeared into the field, the rematerialized in a new capsule that was added to the row of captives. The capsule had a machine at the top of the tube that scanned him. It reported that he was a true Nintendo star.
"No matter. I will find the false star soon enough. Yoshi, too, shall witness the fall of his comrades." Master Hand murmured, then laughed at the other captives. "See? See how weak and worthless you are? You will all fail as easily as this one! And soon, you shall all become my slaves while my clones replace you in your games!" Yoshi trembled in the capsule, hurt and angry that he had lost.
"Mario's next." he muttered, "I hope he can help us." Samus looked at him sadly. "Mario's our best chance for winning this stupid contest."