Mario wandered around the sparring fields deep in thought. Thoughts of the fight that ruined the arena, and thoughts of who exactly it was that had called this tournament. Who was the owner of the omnipotent voice, and what was his purpose. As he brooded deeply, his thoughts once again drifted back the contestants whose combat had destroyed the arena.

That-a ninja… So very-a brutal she was. As if she-a did not even-a care for her opponent's-a life. Also that-a creature, such-a power in such a small body.

As Mario continued his pondering, Luigi came running at him with a wide grin on his face. As he approached, Luigi began to speak hastily. Mario could only make out a few words. One thing he did notice though, was the word ­'Shroom. When Luigi came to a stop, he explained that in order to get Mario to lighten up, he had gotten some 'Shrooms for him. At this, Mario immediately forgot all about is worries, and began to inhale the 'Shrooms as if they were oxygen necessary for his survival. Luigi stared blankly as Mario consumed the 'Shrooms, and when Mario started to smoke one of them, Luigi just sighed wearily and wondered where his parents had gone wrong...

Roy strolled eagerly across the fields, observing all sorts of fights and matches. He managed to catch the end of a fight between a blue-haired swordsman, and a man draped in enormous black armor. The fight had been a draw. Roy grinned widely, so many great fighters were here, and he wanted to fight them all. Roy swung his sword around in anticipation, as he searched for an opponent. He did not even realize when he nearly lopped the ear off a familiar man. The man began yelling as he turned to look at Roy.

"Hey, watch it where you swing that thing you little-" the man began, but he stopped abruptly as he realized just who it was he was speaking to.

Roy turned to see Ganondorf staring at him, and seething with rage. Roy gazed at him in vague recognition, as the man brandished his sword.

"YOU!" raged Ganondorf, "Draw your sword! NOW! We will fight, and you will die! No one crosses me and lives!"

"Hey," Roy said warmly, "How you been gramps?"

At Roy's response, Ganondorf yelled in fury and rushed at him. Roy however, simply drew back into a defensive stance and waited. When Ganondorf approached, instead of hammering Roy with his sword, he leaped over the young lad's head. Roy looked puzzled for a moment, and then began to turn around. Ganondorf though, was not in a in a good mood. Before Roy could finish turning, Ganondorf launched a devastating kick to the back of Roy's head. Before Roy knew what had hit him, he was laying face first a patch of flowers, forty feet from where he had once been standing. When Roy pulled himself to his feet, he put a hand on his head and groaned. As his vision began to clear, Roy was greeted with a roundhouse kick to face, courtesy of Ganondorf. Roy flew twenty-five feet through the air, and went crashing through a tall oak tree. Roy jumped to his feet and yelled, "Dude, whatever happened to using a sword?"

Roy looked around frantically trying to spot his attacker, but he was nowhere to be seen. As he wondered where Ganondorf could be, he heard a deep and arrogant laugh coming from above him. Ganondorf was falling towards him at an alarming speed, feet first. At the last moment before impact, Roy managed to thrust his sword upward. The Sword of Seals impacted Ganondorf with a storm of flame and heat. The blow caused Ganondorf to rocket back into the sky, and land a great distance away. Roy laughed to himself, and dashed over to where Ganondorf had landed. This fight was getting hot, and he loved it. By this point, Roy and Ganondorf had drawn quite a crowd.

Got to give the fans what they want, yeah? Roy though eagerly.

Ganondorf screamed furiously as he leaped out of the crater he had been laying in. Roy arrived at the mouth of the crater, just in time to receive a large uppercut slash from Ganondorf's sword. Roy staggered backwards as Ganondorf landed gracefully in front of him. Roy scarcely managed to parry blow after blow as Ganondorf came at him relentlessly. Roy was strong. He knew it, Ganondorf knew it, and the crowd knew it. Yet, even with his strength, he could not hold out forever against an onslaught like this. Roaring loudly, Ganondorf swung his sword in a massive horizontal arc. The blow glanced off Roy's right side, and Roy dropped his guard for half a second. A half-second too long it seemed, as Ganondorf exploited this opening with a shoulder charge to Roy's stomach. Roy flinched from pain, but managed just barely to pull into a defensive stance as Ganondorf's next blow hit. Ganondorf tried to pull away, but he tried in vain. Roy's sword erupted in flame as he activated his monstrous counterattack and launched Ganondorf skyward with an insane level of force. Lucky for Ganondorf, he flew mostly vertical, giving him the chance to prepare a descent attack. As Ganondorf's rise turned into a fall, he began to channel torrents of his dark purple energy into his sword. On the ground, Roy too was preparing for an attack. He had pulled himself into a ready stance, and had begun to pump massive amounts of fire and power into his sword. The Sword of Seals radiated a reddish orange, as it filled with energy. The onlookers unconsciously stepped back several paces, as the felt the sheer level of destructive force build in the swords of the two fighters. Roy gritted his teeth and stared defiantly up at Ganondorf. Ganondorf however, grinned widely with a look of sheer confidence on his face, as he fell ever faster down towards Roy. When the time came for the two to unleash their attacks, it was as if time had slowed to a stop. Like the calm before a storm, the there was a deafening silence, and a feeling of excitement. The onlookers gazed in awe at the scene before them, a scene that seemed to last ages. Yet the ages were fractions of a second, and the effect of time-freeze eventually fell away. The two attacks connected with such explosive fury, that most of the crowd was blow to their feet. As a field of power formed itself around Roy and Ganondorf, the two each struggled to force the other back. The power struggle was intense, but short lived as the two of them were forced to drop the connection. The two were thrown in opposite directions as the gargantuan power from their attacks imploded in upon itself, and exploded furiously in nova of orange and purple energy.

Roy pulled himself to his feet and stared across several hundred feet of scarred land at Ganondorf. Roy grimaced as he reached for his sword, which had flown from his grip during the explosion. Ganondorf however, held up his hand, signaling for Roy to stop. Ganondorf looked Roy in the eye as best he could from the distance, and nodded his head slightly. He then grabbed his sword off the ground and began to limp towards a medical tent the wireframes had sent up during the course of their battle. Roy simply collapsed to his knees and sighed deeply. He managed to pull his sword to his side, and thought for a moment. Did Ganondorf really signal the end of the fight? Roy knew that Ganondorf could have finished him off if he had wanted, so why? Roy did not find the answer there on the field though, and he slipped in to sleep's peaceful embrace as some wireframes came walking towards him.

Sitting in the medical tent, Ganondorf thought deeply about the battle, and his young opponent. The boy was truly incredible, his skill and power rivaled even Ganondorf's own. The boy may be an insolent whelp, but he is a great fighter, with great power. Not even Link's level of power is at that magnitude. Ganondorf smiled slightly as he thought to himself.

That boy isn't so bad, he needs to learn to respect his superiors, but he is not so bad. He has earned my respect, and that is something not so easily attained.

Ganondorf rested peacefully in the care of the medics. He still despised the wireframes, but just this once, he would let things slide.

Bowser sat on the cool grass in horror. He gazed blankly in front of him as a myriad of thoughts filled his mind.

I'm screwed! Why, why is everyone so strong? I am the King Bowser! I should be able to crush these puny men like ants! Ahhh! It's not fair!

Bowser wept quietly as he sat on the field wallowing in his own self pity. As he continued to wallow, a familiar figure approached him.

"Um, Bowser?" she said airily, "Are you crying?"

Bowser jumped his feet and guffawed loudly, and breathed a column of flame for good measure. Bowser, roared loudly then spoke "Of course not! The great and fearsome King Bowser never cries! Wahaha!"

"Like, okay, but you still have tears in your eyes." She responded blankly.

"S-Shut up Peach! No I don't! Some dumb Goomba just left a bowl of onions near my face! Yeah, that's it, onions."

"Look Bowser, we've been friends for years, I know when you're crying." Peach said shrewdly.

"Shut up! What are you doing here anyway? It the Mario's see us talking, you'll blow our cover!" Bowser demanded.

"We've been scamming Mario for ages, what makes you think he is going to wise up today?" she said as she ran her fingers through her hair, "Look, I'm here for a reason, we made a clean billion last time you 'kidnapped' me. This time though, I think we can get at least five billion."

"What do you mean this time?" Bowser yelled, "We're in the middle of a tournament!"

"Exactly!" Peach said enthusiastically, "If hire some bumbling fool to 'rescue' me instead of waiting around for Mario, my kingdom will easily pay five billion coins!"

Bowser stared drearily at the prospect of going through the kidnapping scam again. Last time, Peach totally trashed his castle with her parties, and to top it all off, she drank all the Pepsi.

A hundred gallons of Pepsi, gone! Thought Bowser angrily, I'm getting to old for this crap. I should totally kidnap her for real next time…

Bowser got to his feet with a groan and backhanded Peach in the face. As she flew screaming into a nearby group of bored contestants, he began to walk towards the stadium.

Peach looked with great annoyance as Bowser stalked off to the stadium. She pushed her way out of the group of contestants she landed on, and also headed off towards the stadium.

How dare that stupid turtle offhandedly discard me like that? I may be con-artist, but I'm still a princess! Heh, and a fine princess I am too. That makes it all the easier to con these sorry saps out of whatever I need from them.

Peach decided to go cheat some fool instead of going to the stadium after Bowser. That dumb turtle would come crawling back as soon as he ran out of money. This she knew, as she searched for a sucker. She noticed Wario not too far away, and he was carrying a pizza. Peach decided she was hungry, so she strolled over to Wario as sexily as she could manage so soon after being backhanded by Bowser. Wario's attention was caught immediately. He was so entranced that he almost dropped the pizza.

Don't drop the pizza you porcine sack of lard! Peach thought irritably.

As Peach approached, Wario gaped like a fool. When Peach asked if she could have a slice of pizza, Wario didn't so much offer her one, as he did drool a river and go into a coma. Disgusted by Wario to no end, Peach took the entire pizza, and strutted off. She ate half a slice, and then chucked the rest at some koopa who had managed to lose its own shell. Now after having conned her way into a meal, she headed off to the stadium to try and get a free place to sleep.

While she attempted to sleep, wireframes worked tirelessly on the arena. It would not be long before the arena was restored, and the matches would resume. She was not looking forward to her match. She was a thief and a princess, not a fighter. Eventually she pushed the thoughts from her mind, and began to dream dreams of attaining vast riches, and countless servants. The fact that she already had all these things, and more, was no reason not to dream of more.