Mask Madness

Chapter 2: Arrivals

Link heard Zelda gasp beside him as he thought, Faore! Both Marth and Roy started to talk in some strange tongue, and all four of them held on for their lives. Link closed eyes as he felt his stomach drop. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, it finally stopped, and the plane was once again level.

Link opened his eyes, and found everything to be the same, well, with the exception of the strange looks that he and his medieval group were now receiving. Fox and Falco looked lazily back at them, then smirked, "You guys okay?" All four of them seemed to come back to life at this question, and nodded mutely.

"Yeah, just, well, it was nothing I've ever experience before." stumbled Roy.

Everyone murmured in agreement, then Marth added, "I'm never doing that again." Falco laughed, "You will be if you plan on going back home after the tournament." Marth frowned at this fact, but remained silent.

"How long will it be until we get there anyways?" asked Zelda.

Fox shrugged, "I don't even know where we're going."

Falco leaned back in his chair, then added, "Might as well get comfortable."

All of the swordsmen looked at him as if he were crazy, as Zelda curiously examined the covered window. She figured out how to slide the cover, and peered out the window. However, immediately after, she shut it abruptly, catching everyone's attention with the noise. Link looked at her curiously, "Is everything okay, Zelda?" She blushed, then replied, "Yeah, I'm fine." Link raised an eyebrow, but didn't push the matter any further.

The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, everyone keeping to themselves or their own little group. Link and his group fell asleep after awhile, but then woke up to the pilot informing them that they were going to land in five minutes. At this, Link was wide awake again.

"Um, is landing as bad as taking off?"

Fox wearily turned his head toward Link and blearily opened his eyes. "It's pretty much the same..." He then yawned and stretched, then woke up Falco, who's response was a punch in the face.

"Ow! Damn it Falco, get up! We're landing soon!"

Fox then punched Falco in the shoulder, and the bird man scowled at Fox, "Fine, I'm up." Link thought about waking Zelda, but then decided she'd be better off if she slept peacefully through the landing. Link braced himself once again, closing his eyes and trying to ignore his current situation. This better be some tournament... thought Link.

When the airplane landed and rolled to a stop on the runway, everyone else woke up and commenced to stretch and yawn. They then all grabbed their stuff and left the flying machine. As they walked together in a huge group, everyone avoiding Bowser, who simply rolled his eyes, they came out front of the airport where they found a large bus waiting for them.

Great, thought Link, another "machine thingy". At least this one doesn't fly... After this tournament thing, though, I am NEVER nearing another airplane in my life again.

The bus continued down through the small town, then turned onto a dirt road. After a little less than a mile, the competitors arrived at a large mansion, which almost everyone gaped at in awe. The building rose high out of the ground, pure white marble, and as wide as the eye could see. A beautiful fountain sat in the middle of the enormous, emerald green lawn, little droplets of water spraying off of it as the angel stood gracefully in her wind-blown dress.

"Wow, this is almost as nice as the castle." said Link.

Zelda smiled, "I have to admit, it is fairly impressive."

Everyone gradually entered the massive building through its giant oak doors, and admired the large, beautiful windows of which had sunlight pouring through them, creating little spectrums of rainbows.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to the Melee Mansion." Everyone averted their attention to the large, white glove that was apparently somehow speaking. "I am Master Hand, and I am the manager of this tournament. Here, you will face your most difficult battles, for I have invited only the best of the best to this tournament. Now, this is how things are going to work: Each of you will have your own room, and food will be provided in the dining hall. Off to the side of the mansion is a large, strange dome-shaped building. Here, there are warp pads that will send you to your battles. Well, that's the brief overview. Any questions?" Master Hand took the continuing staring as a no, and said, "All right then. Go ahead and get settled, then the battles will begin tomorrow." Master Hand left, then everyone started to talk to each other excitedly.

"Well, shall we go find our rooms?" suggested Zelda.

Link nodded, "Sure. Any preferences?"

"Let's go upstairs."

Link smirked, "Never one for changes, are you princess?"

Zelda crossed her arms and scowled slightly, "I simply like to be comfortable."

In Hyrule

"DAMN IT! THERE MUST BE SOME WAY OUT OF THIS HELL!"

Eternal darkness surrounded Ganondorf as he floated angrily and miserably through the Sacred Realm. He had no idea as to how long he had been trapped in this horrible place, and had no idea on how to get out. He didn't eat nor drink; he simply lived off of one, single thought: revenge. That is why he had not given up; that is why he still circled aimlessly through an absolute nothingness that only frustrated him.

Suddenly, Ganondorf turned his head abruptly, swearing that he had seen some kind of flash of light. He narrowed his eyes, and quickly, so quickly that the gerudo wondered if it was even truly there, a peak of white light shone through. A rasp could be faintly heard, then it gradually turned into coherent words,

"Master? King Ganondorf, can you hear me?"

Ganondorf responded quickly, "Who are you?"

The raspy voice came again, and as it spoke, the light blinked along with the words, "It is Dark Link."

Ganondorf smiled, "Excellent. How are you contacting me?"

The light came back to life, "I got a spell book."

"And in this book, did you find a way to release me from this dimension?" asked Ganondorf hopefully, while still retaining his strong and calm voice.

"Yes, master. It is here, in the book." Ganondorf smiled widely, revealing his horribly yellow teeth, "Well done, Dark Link. Will you be able to pull it off?"

"Yes; I already have what I need."

Ganondorf laughed, "Let's begin!"

With the SSBM

Link rolled his eyes, "Come on, Zelda. We've looked at all of the rooms twice already."

Zelda huffed, "If I'm not comfortable, how am I supposed to battle well?"

Link sighed, "Okay, I understand that, but the rooms are pretty much identical!"

Zelda frowned, "No, they aren't. You just can't tell the difference because you grew up in a forest."

Link retorted, "At least the forest didn't make me unnecessarily picky."

"Fine, fine. I've made up my mind anyways."

"Thank the goddesses!"

Zelda rolled her eyes, then continued toward her room. "Come on, fairy boy!" "Hey! I finally got Malon to stop calling me that! Well, to an extent at least..." "See, just - "

Zelda stopped abruptly in front of "her" room. "Pikachu?" Pikachu, who was currently curled up in a corner, looked up blearily and yawned. "Pika." "Should have picked your room earlier." said Link.

Zelda sent a scowl at him, then returned to her current dilemma. "Um, Pikachu? Did you pick this room?" "Pika pi."

Link chuckled, but was silenced with a smack on the shoulder from Zelda. "Chu?" "Uh, I was wondering if you were using this room, and if not, if I could use it."

Pikachu came up to Zelda, looked up at her curiously, smiled, then held out his paws, "Pika!" "Ummm..." Link stepped in, "I think he wants to trade." Zelda raised an eyebrow, "Trade?" "Yeah. He's a mouse creature, isn't he? Maybe he likes cheese."

"Maybe. Do you think he'll trade the room for some cheese?"

Link shrugged, "I don't know, but I could go get some from the kitchen."

"Thanks, Link." Link dashed off, and Zelda smiled down at Pikachu hesitantly, "So, what brings you to the tournament?" This time, Pikachu raised an eyebrow. "Pika?" "Ummm, can you understand me at all?" "Chu? Pika pi chu pi!" Pikachu stood up straight, took in a deep breath, then started to, as far as Zelda could tell, sing, followed through with a little dance.

Although confused, Zelda went along with it, being polite, but then as she got into it, she began clapping along. Finally Link showed up after what seemed like forever, and handed Zelda the cheese.

Zelda smiled in gratitude, then handed the cheese to Pikachu. "Pika!" Pikachu's face lit up, then he took the cheese, bowed, and ran back into the bedroom, eating happily.

"What?"

Zelda stared blankly, then realized that Pikachu had danced for the cheese, and had not planned at all on giving up his room, having had no idea that that was what Zelda had been asking for in the first place.

Link smiled, "Cute little guy."

Zelda smacked her forehead, then turned on her heel and went next door instead. "Okay, room #2." Thankfully, this room was empty, and Zelda walked right in. "This room's the best one anyways."

Link shook his head, "I'm going to unpack next door, okay?" Zelda nodded, then continued to unpack her own belongings.

In Hyrule

"Is the opening becoming larger, master?" asked Dark Link. Excitingly watching the white circle enlarge, Ganondorf replied, "Yes! Keep going!"

Outside of the Sacred Realm, Dark Link turned toward a large figure disguised by the dark. "Master says it is working." The figure nodded, "Excellent."

"Ah!" The whole Sacred Realm trembled, and the white circle started to shrink. "Damn it, Dark Link! What's happening?"

Following orders from the figure, Dark Link replied, "Master, the spell of your imprisonment is fighting back, and you need to use your triforce piece of power against it."

Ganondorf grinded his teeth, and his piece of the triforce began to glow as he struggled against the strong magic. He looked over at the white circle, and grinned and pushed even harder as he once again saw it opening up.

"Excellent work, master. You're almost there." Some of the white from the circle began to spread through the darkness of the Sacred Realm in thin threads, breaking it apart. Shaking now from fighting against the imprisonment, Ganondorf was thrilled to hear Dark Link shout, "Go through the portal now!"

Ganondorf quickly dove head first through the portal and his way back into Hyrule, again thinking about the word "revenge". As he left the portal, Ganondorf grinned widely, but then grimaced as he hit went headfirst into a solid rock wall.

"Damn it! Dark Link, why do you have this portal right in front of a damn wall!" Ganondorf slowly made his way to his feet, then went to strangle his creation, when another figure caught is attention.

"Who the hell are you?" "I am the one who brought you here." "You? Ha. It was Dark Link, you fool." "Master, it was him who performed the spell that released you." "What?" Ganondorf immediately became suspicious, frowning, "Why?" The figure smiled, "I heard that you have also had some problems with this "Link", and desire to have your help in destroying him." "So... what has the brat done to you?"

"Back in Termina, when I had finally escaped from my own infernal imprisonment, he ruined my plans and had me trapped back into the very mask I had just managed to get away from, using other masks that contained powers of their own..."

A/N: Now more into the plot. For those of you who reviewed, THANK YOU. I really appreciate that. And Fenix of the light, I am definitely open to ideas. Also, this is set for SSBM; Ganondorf and Young Link are just coming in later. Keep reviewing, por favor!