--Somebody set us up the bomb!--

The trouble all started later that day. Mewtwo came out of his shell a bit. That's not the bad part. It's good. He's okay, when you get to know him. We played videogames, which isn't the problem either. The problem was the whole 'bomb in the mansion that exploded in front of our faces' part.

Link and I were playing Sonic Heroes while Samus and Zelda argued over who won the last Mario Kart game. Samus thought that Zelda had cheated, but Zelda insisted that her tactics were legal, and anyway, was Samus a cop or something?

I was playing as Team Dark and Link, Team Rose. (He likes cats.) Before our first match was over, we heard a rumbling. He looked at me. "Hungry?"

"No, that wasn't me."

Then the floor bounced us up in the air. At least, that's what it felt like. We all flew up a foot or so, then landed, sprawled on the ground. The TV jumped, too, and headed for Zelda. I grabbed my cousin and moved her out of the way before it could crash into her. The couch also bounced and ended up on its back. Something snapped inside of it, and out of the corner of my eye I could see that two of the legs were broken. Mewtwo was taken with the couch and ended up on his back, and the side table had smashed into Samus, breaking. Falco was lying on his side, having rolled out of the way of the lamp, which had also broken, but in large pieces. Link had been hit by the Gamecube, but he also sort of managed to catch it, so there wasn't much damage done to him. All of this happened in about four seconds. Then Falco said, "Who's dead?"

"Me," groaned Samus, the splinters of the table on her. She and Link started picking the wood off of her.

Another groan came from behind the couch. "Mewtwo?" I called. I was answered by a "Raaaghh," and Mewtwo's feet sliding off the seat of the couch. He crawled around the couch to see us.

I looked at Zelda next. "I'm fine," She said, pulling brown-blond hair out of her face. Then Mario and Captain Falcon ran in, followed by Luigi and Kirby.

"A bomb!" Kirby greeted us frantically.

"Bomb?" echoed Mewtwo, stunned.

Mario looked grim. "Yes. In a the basement. Someone left us a present."

"And the power's going off—" began Luigi, but he was cut off when the lights went out. "In some places," he finished lamely.

"Gather the others," said Mario, everything about him saying 'no-nonsense time', "And assemble at the a meeting room. The upastairs hasn't been searched a yet." He turned and left, Kirby and Luigi following him. Falcon, however, had spotted Samus and come over to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, helping her up.

"Yeah," Samus replied, holding her side. "But I think I bruised something." They continued talking quietly. Link jabbed me in the side. "I know," I mumbled to him.

Link tried not to giggle. I smirked and followed Mewtwo, Falco and Zelda out the door and into the hallway. The lights were out, and when Mewtwo pushed the buttons, the elevators didn't respond.

"I thought so," said Mewtwo, cradling his arm. It looked bruised. "Shall we teleport?" I nodded, and the next second we were in the hallway upstairs.

"Heeeellllllooooooo?"

"Fox? What's going on?" said a voice from the men's bathroom.

I shoved the door open. It was DK. He was staring at the sink, and his hands were all soapy. "The sink stopped," he said.

"Apparently," said Falco, ripping a towel from the dispenser and giving to it DK. "Somebody bombed us."

"Bomb!" cried Ness, who had come up behind us. "That's why nothing's working?"

"Hello?" called Marth from his room. We spent the next few minutes finding everyone and explaining what had happened. No one on the top floor was hurt too much by the explosion, and the furniture was only a little out of place.

When everyone had been found, Mewtwo transported us back downstairs. We headed for the meeting room. Inside, Mario was already at the head of the table. Falcon and Samus were sitting together, and the others were getting seated, too. I noticed bruises and cuts on some Smashers, and Princess Zelda, Roy, and the Ice Climbers weren't there at all. Link glanced at Mario when he realized that his friend was gone, but he didn't say anything. He knew it was Mario's show.

After we'd all sat down, Mario said, "As youa know, an explosive device of some sort wasa planted in the downstairs rec room. Those in the immediate vicinity were hurt and are in the medic a room."

Link mumbled something in Hylian. Since we were pals, I understood it to be a curse. I glanced at him and saw that he was gripping the little Triforce on the necklace he always wore. He looked angry and horrified.

"I do not know who seta the bomb, but we will find out as soon asa everyone isa better. I—"

"You didn't call the police, right?" said Falcon. I saw Link give him a dirty look, so I patted the stressed-out Hylian's back, and he subsided.

"He didn't have to," answered Mewtwo in his usual cool, detached voice. "There's an anxious mob outside our door, complete with police cars."

We all looked at him. Then Zelda dashed to the window and yanked the shutters open. Sure enough, there was a large crowd of people outside, and a moment later, we heard the whine of sirens.

"Even a fire truck," murmured Mewtwo, seeing one ride up next to the cop cars. "My, my."

Mario looked out the window, then back at us. "Okay," he sighed. "I'ma out to do damage control."

"I'll come with you," I volunteered. He nodded and smiled at me.

"I'll see if I can get the power back up," said Luigi, standing up. Kirby and DK jumped up too.

I looked at Link. "I'm going to the medic room," he mumbled, without looking at anyone, and stood up shakily. I patted him on the back again before we all went off. I followed Mario and Samus outside, where we were stampeded by reporters, cops and fans.

"Mr. McCloud, can you tell us—" began one reporter, but a burly-looking dog cut him off.

"This is no time for news stories!" he barked. "For all we know there's a terrorist group in there, and people could be hurt!" He turned to me, and I realized that it was Captain Ben Merf, a Cornerian policeman whom I had worked with once. "Fox, what happened? Do we need to secure the perimeter?"

"I don't think so," I said. "We went all around the mansion, and we didn't see anyone who wasn't supposed to be there."

"There are a few hurt," said Mario, stepping up to him, "but they are beinga treated. It'da be nice to have a doctor come to look at them, and the police cana have a look around…"

The nervous citizens crowded around us, asking questions, talking to each other, looking worried, pointing out the damaged building to others. Several of the closest to us were talking to us and tugging on our sleeves. It was overwhelming, but I've been in crowds before, so I knew how to handle it. "We're fine," I kept saying. "There's no permanent damage. We don't know that much, but we'll find out…yes, we're fine."

"Where are the others!" demanded a man. "There are only three—"

"They're inside, you nimwit—" retorted another, but he too was interrupted.

"What about the—"

"Should I call an electrician, Mr. McCloud?"

"Mister Fox—"

"What if there's someone in there—who wasn't noticed—"

"But an explosion—"

"—Would dare do—"

"Look at that smoke!"

"—property damage—"

"That's all you can think about! There could—"

"Shut up!"

Before the crowd could turn into a riot, Samus flagged down the officers that weren't looking around the building and they got the crowd under control. Ben was saying, "…should probably get the people settled down…"

"Yes," said Mario, "Get a them calmed down, then we can a investigate…"

"Will you all be safe here?"asked Ben, brow furrowed. "Maybe we should move you somewhere else. To be safe."

"No," replied the plumber. "Not a for now, at least. You should a take care of the fans, and I a think we'll be wanting in on a the investigation…"

"We will," said Samus. I nodded.

Eventually, the crowd dispersed and our crowd-control duties were over. I came in to see that Luigi had managed to activate the reserve lights, which were dimmer than the normal ones, but it was better than nothing. He had also put up a handwritten sign: Please use the stairs located in the common room until the elevators can be fixed. Samus and I thundered down the stairs and into the boiler room to find Luigi and DK peering at the electrical boxes while Kirby reset dials on a box on the floor. After more exploring we found the room where the bomb had gone off. Mr. Game&Watch, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, and Falco were examining the blackened sunburst on the floor. The furniture was also blackened and tossed about, and the couch was reddened…

"We didn't see anything," said GM. "It just exploded in front of us."

"Us?" repeated Samus.

GM made sort of a nodding motion. "I was sitting there." He pointed to the couch. He looked down. "Next to the Princess."

I swallowed hard. GM noticed. "How is he?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know."

"Pika!"

We looked over at the little Pokemon. He motioned to the back of the blown-out TV. "Pika! Pika!"

Falcon looked. His eyes widened, and he bent down. When he came up he had a piece of blackened metal.

"What is it?"

"It's got writing on it."

We crowded around to look. After examining it, Falco announced, "Can't read it."

"No, really, Falco."

"Well, I can't!" He said, growling at me.

"We'll ask someone later," said Samus, no-nonsense. "Put it in the bag." She held out a plastic bag, like those bags used to collect evidence.

Falco looked at her, then the bag, then her. "You really are a cop," he said, sort of awed, "aren't you?"