Well, here's the next chapter for your enjoyment...here you go! Shout-out to Nintendo Nut1!

Responses:

Ri2: Sounds like someone's brain is on the fritz...

ExuroFlamma: You know, not everything in a fan fiction has to be proven true with science or facts. That's what makes it fan fiction, and it more importantly creates the fine line between fantasy and reality. Super Smash Brothers is begot of nothing but fantasy. I mean, sure I have to be careful with things when I type up the story in terms of criminology and forensic science, but that doesn't prevent me from having some fun while I write! Fantasy doesn't need a point, and if you don't lose yourself in that fantasy when you're writing, you'll never have any fun!

Nintendo Nut1: Hey, update is now.

Anters: Well, that's good.

BTW, here are the Smashers and their book counterparts:

Fox-McLeod, lead detective
Falco-Lombardo, crime scene investigator
Link-Lucas, forensics
Zelda-Sharice, interrogation
Dr. Mario-Dr. Martinez, medical examiner
Krystal-Karen, Ballistics and Trace

"Well, that's just great..." Link muttered after rejoining everyone in the medical labs. "That case file might've been destroyed in that great apocalypse!"

"Talk about some bad luck..." Falco muttered.

"Well-a, I-a can't do anything about-a the cold case unless-a I have a file-a." Dr. Mario replied. Everyone just sighed in defeat, and the good doctor replied, "Let's-a just solve-a this murder for-a now."

"Oh, yeah, I just remembered something." Fox replied. "That new restaurant in Nelson's Landing is opening today."

"You mean that chicken and ribs place?" Krystal asked.

"That's it...I promised the chef, Gumbo, that I would attend its grand opening today."

"Fox! What on earth did you do that for?" Zelda asked, one eyebrow raised and the other scrunched in curiosity.

"Look, the guy's a family friend, okay?" Fox answered. "My father and Gumbo were old poker buddies. I'd sometimes come along and play at the pachinko tables he had at his house, so it's only fair I come to the gala of the restaurant."

"I think that's very nice of you, Fox." Krystal replied. "Can I come?"

"He said I could bring as many friends I wanted, so why not?" Fox replied.

"Yay!"

"Does-a he cook a mean-a chicken?" Dr. Mario asked.

"Yep. His food's really good."

"I'm-a in!" Dr. Mario chanted, removing his blood-stained gloves and putting a scalpel on the metal tray. "I-a need some-a soul food right now-a."

"Meh, might as well come along...that food's gotta be better than what the crap-geezer cooked up." Falco replied.

"We'd better come along too." Link replied, with the Hylian princess in his arms. "There's no sense wasting an infinite invite to a restaurant."

"Sure...let's go there right now; I'm starving..." Fox replied, grabbing some keys and worming over to the garage.

Gumbo's Chicken and Ribs, Nelson's Landing

"Mmm...this is really good." Link replied, biting into a chicken drumstick. The chef, Gumbo, was grinning ear-to-ear.

"Ah, thank you for the compliments." He replied in a deep Southern accent.

"I told you his food was good!" Fox said.

"No kidding." Falco replied, swallowing some garlic potatoes. "Your friend's a good cook."

"Mmm...yummy!" Zelda said. "I'm glad to have come along with Link..."

"I know." Fox decided to spy out what was happening at the other tables. One had a couple eating (and feeding each other, he noted with a hint of disgust), another had several kids who were playing and not much else, a third had a moody young woman who was lost in space, and a fourth had a rowdy character that was eating single-mindedly from a series of plates. Across the street, he saw an elderly couple struggle with a series of boxes in a nearby house. "Hey, need some help?"

"What's up?" Link asked, he and Zelda following Fox.

"Oh, thank you." The elderly woman replied. "We bought a new house uptown, so we're taking many boxes of items with us."

"We'd love to help." Zelda replied sweetly.

"Ah, the younger generation isn't as bad as we thought it was." The elderly man said. "I am Kennedy, and that's my wife, Evelyn."

"Hello. I'm Zelda, that's Link and that's Fox."

"Thank you, Zelda. The rest of the stuff is inside." Leading them into the house, Kennedy showed them a stack of boxes piled up in the living room. Link just shrugged and began lifting. Fox took the time to browse at various pictures on the wall, and Zelda was helping Link with some of the heavier boxes. This was the case for 15 minutes until there were few boxes left. "Thank you for your help. You can go now."

"Okay, we'd better-hey, what's this?" Link saw a white box on a high shelf in the house.

"No, wait!" Too late. Link had tried to grab the box, but he stumbled and fell, taking the box and the shelf with him. All fell to the floor in a shower of splinters.

"Oops...sorry."

"Link! I'm sorry for my boyfriend's behavior." Zelda said to Kennedy.

"Yeah, we never meant to..." Fox trailed off and began to read what was scribbled onto the box in magic marker. "What's this?

Sep '00
Clemenceau, D.
HS-172

"Weird." Fox mused. Several bits of information came together in his head, though, and realization soon dawned upon him. "Hey, wait a minute..."

"Doesn't that name sound familiar?" Zelda asked.

"Clemenceau...hey, it's the file for that David person; the one who died in a traffic accident five years ago!" Link realized. He turned, and Kennedy sighed resignedly. "Why do you have this?"

"It's...it's the only thing left to remind me of our son..."

"Wait, so you and Evelyn...?" Zelda began.

"You're David's parents..." Link gasped.

"So, why do you need this?" Kennedy asked.

"We believe the mayor's assassination may have something to do with your son's death." Fox said matter-of-factly.

Kennedy sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Was there anything that your son did before his death?" Zelda asked.

"None that I know of."

"I know something..." Evelyn said, and Kennedy's eyebrows rose. "It was three days before David's death..."

FLASHBACK

As Evelyn walked up the stairwell to the master bedroom, she thought she heard a moaning sound from David's bedroom. She decided to peek into the bedroom, and David was in his bedroom with a blushing Marianne.

"David...do you know how much I love you?" the girl asked.

"I already know..."

"I just wanted you to know again...tee hee..."

"You know, you're so beautiful when you giggle like that?" David had pressed his lips against the blushing girl and she squeaked when she felt him push against her. But she returned the kiss, letting go of all her fears and worries.

All this time, Evelyn was watching from the crack in David's door, and she looked somewhat distraught and puzzled.

END FLASHBACK

"So, does this girl have a name?" Fox asked, jotting down notes in a memo book.

"I think it was Marianne Langley." Evelyn answered. "She and David were friends since childhood, but I never imagined them to be that close..."

"Well, that's all for now." Link replied, handing Kennedy a card. "We'll be in touch..."

"Wait!" Before Zelda left, Kennedy pressed a photo album into her hands. "David took photos of his friends and put them into this album...I hope you find it useful."

"Thank you..." Zelda said, before rushing out the door of the small house.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY!" Falco shouted, calling the attention of the whole restaurant to them.

"Ssh...you're not helping..." Krystal warned.

"Yes-a, you should-a calm down...besides, here-a they come." Dr. Mario pointed to where Link, Zelda and Fox were walking up to the table carrying the white box and a photo album. "What do you have there?"

"You won't believe what we found!" Link said, showing Dr. Mario the case file for David Clemenceau.

"Whoa-a!" Dr. Mario breathed. "We-a must examine-a it at-a once! TO THE MANSION-A!"

"You're a bit loud, aren't you?" Zelda asked.

"Um, excuse me..." The Hylian princess turned to face the moody young woman from table three. "Can I...see that?" She pointed to the photo album.

"Sure..." Zelda replied.

"Speaking of which, why did Kennedy give us that?" Link asked her. Zelda shrugged.

"I don't know...he said it would help in the investigation..."

"Well, if it's evidence, bag it!" Falco said.

"It's MORE than evidence!" the moody woman yelled, sobbing a bit. Her outburst surprised Falco and called the table's attention to the young woman. "At least, to me it is...sniff..."

"To you-a?" Dr. Mario asked skeptically. "What-a the hell are-a you talking about-a?"

"Wait," Zelda whispered to Link. "David's father said he had a girlfriend named Marianne. You don't think...?"

Link was already two steps ahead of her. "So, did you know David or something?" The young woman dried her tears as best she could, and nodded.

"I was in love with him...sniff..."

"Then you're Marianne Langley?" She gasped, and Link explained, "We learned your name from David's parents, who live in a house across the street from here. We're reopening the case because it might have a possible connection to the mayor's assassination."

"You're reopening the case?" Marianne asked.

"We-a are..." Dr. Mario replied.

"...sniff...why did he have to die...? Is it fate's being cruel...?"

"That's what we're trying to find out. Is there anything you can tell us to help?" Krystal asked.

"Well...something did come up at least five days before the school dance...six before his death...and it was like a free-for-all..."

"A what?" Falco asked.

"A free-for-all is when different music is played and different dances can be performed. They sometimes played classical music or dance music and we got trophies based on our performances...I loved those dances." Marianne sighed.

FLASHBACK

"Hee hee hee...that was good!" David told Marianne, smirking a bit. His smirk became a wide grin. "I think we can see another trophy being awarded to us this year!"

"Really?" Marianne asked. "I...I didn't do too badly, did I?"

"Come on!" David grinned at Marianne, whose heart seemed to melt. "You're being too modest! Besides, you'll do just fine! Just don't get too nervous."

"Okay!"

"Hey!" The two jumped, and then turned to see Thomas standing beside them. "I can do something you can't accomplish in a million years!"

"Really?" David's head cocked in curiosity. "Don't just stand there! Show us!" Thomas then showed David and Marianne his dance, or at least, tried to; he kept tripping and David tried not to laugh, but Marianne wasn't so successful. A little giggle escaped her lips, and Thomas wasn't happy at all.

"What? Are you laughing?"

"Um, no..." Marianne said, trying to hide her laughter.

"You're laughing, aren't you?" David's eyebrows rose; he had never heard so much anger in anyone's voice before. "I'll show you who will win that trophy, Marianne. I'LL SHOW YOU!" Thomas rushed out of the dance studio, but not before directing a rude gesture with his left hand at Marianne.

"What on-what a rude thing he did!"

"Forget it," David sighed in resignation. "Once he has his mind on something, it's hard to turn him away from it."

END FLASHBACK

"So, who was that man who you set off?" Link asked.

"He's another friend of David's, Thomas McCallister. I almost always teased him, but we'd end up laughing about it." Marianne's expression had softened. "But he seemed so angry when I teased him that time."

Link and Zelda exchanged glances. Fox looked mystified; Krystal and Dr. Mario compared notes. Finally, Falco said, "Thank you, Marianne. We'll need your phone number for further contact, though."

"Here..." She jotted a series of numbers onto a napkin and handed it to Falco.

"Thank you. Come; we'd best be off." Falco replied.

"Thanks for the food, Gumbo!" Fox yelled to his father's friend.

"'Twas nothing. Come back soon!" Gumbo yelled.

"So, the M.E. get anything?" Lombardo asked McLeod off-handedly.

"Well, we have a new M.E., so I really can't say..."

"New M.E.?" Lombardo's eyebrows rose.

"Yeah." McLeod said. "Lucas said his name was Dr. Martinez or something. I wouldn't know what-oof!" He ran into someone carrying several boxes stacked on top of each other, and both persons fell as boxes flew all over the room. He was about to curse the person when it turned out to be a very beautiful girl with short blue hair. "Oops...I-I'm sorry about that..."

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing..." the azure vision answered. "Oh! You're Detective McLeod, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am?"

"I'm Karen." The blue-haired girl replied. "I'm working in Trace, and I hope to not let you down!"

"Oh, okay." As the girl walked off with the boxes, Lombardo turned to stare at the detective, who had zoned out. "McLeod...McLeod? YO!"

"What? Oh, sorry..."

"What was that about?" Lombardo asked the detective. McLeod looked love-struck, and Lombardo snickered. "Having some fantasies already, huh?"

"Shut up..." McLeod growled as they reached their office.

"Krystal!" She looked up from where she was typing and saw Zelda in the doorway.

"What is it?"

"Dr. Mario might have found something odd in the crime scene photos!"

"Coming..." She saved her document and ran after Zelda to join her at the medical lab.

"I-a don't like-a this..." Dr. Mario replied. He was staring at the autopsy photos. "I-a feel as if there's something missing..."

"Yeah, the car..." Link said. "If he was killed in the car, shouldn't there be something there?"

"No, that's-a not it..."

"Then what?" Dr. Mario said something that shocked the other Smashers.

"We-a need to exhume David-a from the grave."