Disclaimer: I don't own anything that has to do with Nintendo!
I'm sorry, if I take long on some chapters. It's probably because the County Spelling Bee is coming up and I have to study hard for it (I was chosen Spelling Bee Champ for my school) so please be patient with me. So please RR and no flames (er… whatever that means…)
Falco's POV
Link rushed down the hall, his vision blurred by tears. Link swallowed. He had to get some one. Anyone. His wish was granted, as he smashed against me.
"Hey watch where you're going. You might hurt my precious face, pretty boy." I drawled a perfect impression of a snooty kid. Then I grinned (If you can picture a bird like me grinning) and said, "What's up Linky-poo? Why aren't you with Zelda? She seemed quite mad at you for some reason. Watcha do? Make the wrong connections? Or did you do something… bad?" I grinned nastily at him.
He didn't look like he cared about Zelda at the moment. "Falco, get Master Hand… its Marth, he's-" he groped for words, "dead. And… there's… written… wall…"
I was stunned for a second then grinned. "You can't pull that on me anymore, I know that trick you pulled off last time got me but no matter how good you get you can't-"
"SHUT UP!" Link shouted, his left arm, gripped my shoulder for support. He was obviously hysterical. Link never was hysterical. Maybe Marth was seriously injured. "Marth's dead! D-E-A-D! DEAD! I need to get Master Hand… and Doc! Right now!"
Normally no one ordered me around; they were afraid of what I could do, if I got really annoyed and angry at them and when I was angry, you don't mess with guys, (uh… birds) as cool and handsome as me. My public could turn on them.
But now since it was a desperate matter I rushed towards Master Hand thinking, why is his office all the way on the 13th top floor? I rushed up the stairs; the elevator was way slower. I dashed up floor after floor, my breath becoming more ragged with each floor I climbed. 7…8…9…10…11…12…I clung on to the handrails now, dragging my feet towards his office. 13! I burst through the door.
"Master… Hand! Marth… is… dead…" I panted hanging on to the doorknob, catching my breath that seemed to be left down on floor 9.
The floating hand immediately got up (err… floated up) from his chair.
"What! Marth? Dead!" He zoomed to the elevator and I watched the doors close while he float, paced around the floor space in the elevator. I just dragged myself to the desk and sat myself down. I knew I wasn't supposed to be here alone but I couldn't go all the way down again. I tried to process the information properly in my head now.
Marth was dead. Or so Link had told me. What had Link also said? Something about the wall? Maybe there was a threat message on there or something. I shuddered, a cold chill creeping up my spine. Marth was a friend of mine. I remembered all those times when, we, that is, Peach, Link, Zelda, and Roy (before he drifted away from us and started being irritated at us and stuff) used to make fun of him. We called him, "Pretty Girl," "Tiara boy," "Cupcake" and "Princess." He always took it good-naturally. Samus never joined with us, because they had liked each other more than friends.
Marth… Who could've killed him? Everyone loved Marth. He looked the serious type but he was always fun to hang out with. My mind drifted to suspects. I only had three in mind; Bowser, Ganondorf, and Roy.
Peach's POV
The hospital room only had a few visitors at the time; Link, me, Zelda, and Samus.
Link was the only one up, while the rest of us sat down waiting until Dr. Mario and Master Hand was finished with Marth. Link was pacing around impatiently muttering darkly to himself; they had kicked him out of the room because he was beginning to get jumpy. His boots were the only noise that we could hear other than Samus's quiet sobs. His boots shuffled up, down, up, down…
Zelda seemed to be in a trance. She definitely looked tired and was trying to calm herself down. She sometimes looked up at Link with a blank stare, and other times she looked down and looked nervous and scared. She fidgeted with her hands and sometimes coughed when she looked like she was about to cry. I felt sorry for her. First it was the Link incident and now this. The poor girl.
Samus was dressed in her lurid red pajamas and crying quietly on my shoulder. Her face was as red as her shirt and pant. She would constantly cry loudly then reduce it to quiet sniffles only to start over. When she had first heard of the news she fainted and we had to drag her here. It had only been a few minutes ago that she had woken up and realized that it wasn't her worst nightmare; it was real.
As for me, I could only look down and sometimes occasionally pat Samus on the head sympathetically. I fidgeted with the turquoise ring that was incased in pure gold. I was worried and obviously thinking real hard (every time I fidgeted with my ring I always think hard) I was thinking about Roy.
Link had told me about that paper he found in Roy's room. He said it was swordsman. Could he be referring to Marth? I twisted the ring around and studied the turquoise. I had thought Roy and Marth were closest friends. But then again before Marth had… been murdered (I hated to even think Marth as dead) Roy hated him. An unpleasant feeling overcame my stomach. I felt like vomiting, but I held it down.
Dr. Mario emerged from the emergency room door, interrupting my thoughts.
He cleared his throat before saying something that shocked us all (and didn't make any sense to others), "Petrified. But in a very critical condition."
Some of us looked thunderstruck, some confused, and some simply relieved. Samus was a mixture of thunderstruck, and confused. Apparently she didn't know what petrifying meant.
"I-is that g-good?" She half whispered half sobbed, her voice wavering.
I opened my mouth but Zelda replied before me, "Petrifying is actually good, Samus, but the cure is very rare… Marth will need five leaves of the Asylpha bush that grows only in one spot; Nadinale. It is quite dangerous to make a journey that far, because only the bravest, cleverest, strongest group can get to the Nadinale. Besides the Asylpha bushes are very expensive. What I mean by dangerous is, this group has to go through every single stage in Super Smash Bros. field and defeat a hundred wire people each. And on the last stage Final Destination (A/N: sorry for giving away whoever hasn't gotten this stage yet) a hundred Cruel Wire Frames will attack. Once you defeat this and meet all requirements a secret doorway will appear and if you go through it you will reach Nadinale. "
We stared at her. How did she know all about that? She looked soberly back at Dr. Mario as though she had just swallowed one of his textbooks.
"Yes… But what does petrifying exactly do?" Samus asked impatiently obviously unimpressed with her wealth of knowledge.
This time I spoke. "Petrifying freezes people temporarily until they get the antidote that cures them. So for now this is a good thing because Marth is not dead and petrifying freezes the effect of his injuries as well. So whoever did this to him, apparently didn't want to actually kill him." I said analyzing the information.
"Thank the lords…" she faintly exclaimed and gripped my shoulder harder to support herself. "I have to go on that quest to get those Asylpha leaves." She told herself, but I could hear her.
"No Samus, I already have constructed the perfect team for this job. From what Zelda has told us we cannot afford to let you go." A grave voice answered.
Everyone turned around except Link who knew that Master Hand was already there.
"But, but, I have to!" She wailed, and sank more onto my shoulder. I winced. "You don't understand! The only person Marth would trust on this journey is me!"
We all knew that what Samus said was true. She was the closest to Marth, and they always relied on each other. But Master Hand just eyed her gently and said in an even gentler manner, "I know how much this must feel to you but you simply cannot waste your life. If you fail, then not only you will die but also Marth. We cannot let this afford to happen. The team that I have chosen has a better chance than you. You must try and understand."
Samus let go of me and hung her head in disappointment, very close to tears. She knew that Master Hand spoke sense, but she couldn't accept the fact. She simply gave another sob and slowly walked out of the room, leaving me, Zelda, Link, Master Hand, and Dr. Mario who was wheeling a petrified Marth toward us.
I stared sadly at Marth, close to tears as well. He had a blank shocked face and his arms were tightly crossed over his chest. In pain I thought. There were slashes across his arms and he was in a bloody mess. A wave of nausea was overcoming me, and I doubled over and staggered to the sink. Dr. Mario rubbed my back sympathetically as I vomited into the sink. Once I was finished, I noticed that the tears had escaped my eyes and were rolling down my cheeks. I left the room with Zelda staring blankly at Marth, and Link rubbing his hand against Marth's bloody arm in a brotherly affection.
Young Link's POV (This is during the time Zelda, Peach, Samus, and Link were waiting for the results of Marth)
The KASAE members were in my room discussing what had happened (rather seriously for once) about Marth. As far as we could tell, Samus, Peach, Link, and Zelda (plus us) were the only people who knew that Marth was petrified. For once Kirby and Jigglypuff weren't bickering over the cookies and milk.
"So… Who do you think petrified him?" I asked my eyes downcast for once.
There were many "we don't knows" and "Haven't got a clue" and the chatter started again. However, I noticed that Pikachu wasn't saying anything. In fact, he was squirming rather uncomfortably in his seat.
"Uh… Do you need to use the bathroom?" I asked him.
He jumped up surprised and squeaked, "No! No I didn't see anything. I don't need to go!"
"What did you see?" I asked warily.
"Nothing! Honestly."
"Pikachu, we need all the information we can get! If you don't tell me what you saw this mystery might as well never be solved." I sighed.
"Fine." He muttered, "But let's go somewhere private."
"What about the rest of the KASAE members?" I asked loyally.
"It'll be too bug of a party, and M- Some people might suspect what we're up to, and I don't want that to happen." He responded. "But perhaps you could take two more people with us."
"All right. HEY NANA! POPO! I NEED TO SEE YOU!" I shouted through the noise.
They walked quickly towards me. "We have some information, and Pikachu's going to tell us. Once he tells you, you're going to have to relay the information to the rest of the KASAE members. Got that?" I hissed.
We walked towards Pikachu's room. I opened the doorknob silently (Kids that were below 13 weren't allowed to be out at midnight) and entered his room and turned on his light.
Popo sat on a chair while Nana plopped on the floor. Pikachu sat on the bed and I sat on a bean bag chair.
"I think that, well actually I know who's behind this all." Pikachu started.
We waited in anticipation, our breath's drawn in.
He whispered the name out loud and Popo and I gave a gasp. Nana uttered a soft scream.
"You've got to be serious!" Popo exclaimed.
I couldn't believe what Pikachu had just said. "How do you know this?" I asked, not wanting to believe this.
"I needed to charge myself up so I went to the power plant room. Over there I saw him talking about it." He whispered and added on, "Before Marth became petrified. It's him I know it."
"We need to tell someone." Popo said. He was now on the floor comforting Nana who was starting to tremble.
"I'm afraid you're quite a bit late for that." Came a cold, quiet chuckled. I spun around, my hand reaching for my sword. My fears were confronted. It was him.
"You know what happens to filthy brats that snoop around?" He hissed at us. Nana looked like she was about to burst to tears. "They get caught." He hissed in Nana's ear.
"Leave her alone!" Popo shouted angrily at him.
"You guys are in so much trouble."
I gulped as he neared toward us. I had to get to the door. Just get out and everything will be okay. I thought. I suddenly dashed toward the door and snatched at the doorknob. However, like a flash of lightning he gripped me by the ankles and I tripped and winced as my body hit the floor. It was over for us.
"It's over for you…" He whispered coldly as though reading my thoughts as he took an advancing step toward us…
There was still hope though. "We promise we won't tell anyone. Please spare us s!" I cried dropping to my knees and putting on my best sorry look.
It seemed that he took it because he snarled, "Fine! But for this night I will lock you in to make the effects much more permanent." He laughed and strode away locking the door behind him. We were trapped.
Roy's POV
It was 5:00 AM in the morning and I had a bad feeling in my stomach. Most of the time I did. Being a loner doesn't exactly get you started for the day. But it was even worse today and I felt like vomiting. The last thing I needed was Peach to open the door looking very teary and sick.
But she entered in. I studied her closely. She wasn't wearing any lip gloss like she usually did and she looked very tired. There were tear streaks that went down her cheek and it looked like there were more to be coming soon. She gave off a smell of sweat. And when she sat next to me I could smell her fetid breath. It gave off a smell of vomit.
"R-Roy, I have s-some very b-bad n-news." She stammered trying hard not to burst into tears.
"Is this one of your pranks?" I asked grinning, trying to make her feel a little better but worse at the same time.
She shook her head and stayed silent for a moment trying hard to control her emotions. Then she finally said it really fast, "Marth's petrified and deeply injured. Almost dead. We really don't know if he's going to live or not. He has a 25 chance of living."
It took me a while to process this information and when I did the grin slowly slid off my face. I said nothing and watched Peach twist her ring around. It was harder to keep my emotions. After all I wasn't used to crying as much as Peach was. I bit my lower lip hard and then put my hands up to my face trying to hide the tears that fell. Peach was still sitting and began crying silently too. But she didn't hide it. Then she said something that made my heart drop another inch or so.
"You are now on everyone's suspect list. Perhaps the first one too. That paper you drew with the guy hanging got everyone to think it was Marth."
My mouth dropped a little but of course Peach didn't see it. After all my face was buried in my hands. I felt her hand pat me lightly on the back. I found this comforting and lifted my face off my hands. I didn't look at her but looked straight toward the door.
"How?" I managed to croak.
"Link found him lying there, petrified and close to death. He also found a message on the wall from the to-be-murderer in Marth's blood saying, "You will never find me, and by the time you do, you'll end up like him perhaps even worse."
"D-do you believe the rumors?" I asked now turning to her blue eyes.
"No. I'm going to find who did this. For now I really don't think it's you. I," She looked at me, "want to help you. There is something wrong with you, whether you like it or not. You never used to be like this. And if you keep this up you'll be the only one on our suspect list."
I replied coldly back, "Thank you for your concern but if your parents taught you manners, you would know better than to nose into my affairs."
"Well you won't be in that tune for long. Soon you'll wish you'd taken my advice because you just signed your loner contract." She said in an equal manner.
"That's what you think, but I look tougher than you think." I sneered. Why wouldn't she leave me alone?
"Oh really? So do I." She answered breezily.
"You are getting on my last nerve." I growled at her, reaching for my sword.
"Hmmm really? That's what I was aiming for." She said not caring about the sword.
I lunged at her about to slice it at her waist and she parried it off with her Toad in a flash. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she plucked a turnip out of the ground while I readied my sword. It had a bizarre face.
I had never seen it before but when she threw it at me I dropped to the floor and panted, "Fine. You win. But that was a lucky spot."
She gave me a smug look and walked out as if nothing happened.
"Wait!" I cried out and she whirled around looking at me.
"What must I do?" I asked.
"Start being like you used to be. I don't really care why you were acting so weird but, now that things have changed you need to act like you used to."
She left the room. Once she slammed the door shut I laughed bitterly and started to sob. Little did she know how much I knew about this murder.
END OF CHAPTER 3!
Okay for some people like Roy's war goddess riku, I just wanted to tell you that Roy doesn't have anything to do with this. He knows who is behind all this but he's not apart of it!
Oh and I did lose the Spelling Bee (All those hours for nothing!)
