YES IT'S THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!
(cue extravagant orchestral fanfare)
ROUND TWO!
and the elusive help that zelda so deperately needs to find out young link's secret
as well as tragic tales of laser guns and bounty hunters!
and, an added twist to the tournament!
ENJOY!
XXVIII. ROUND TWO, PART ONE: Tragic Tales of Laser Guns and Bounty Hunters.
Zelda and Link entered the stadium. Link joined up with Roy and Marth. Zelda saw Young Link all by himself. He looked different. His eyes were darting all over the place, a petrified look on his face. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Ness went up to him to say 'hi'. Something is definitely wrong with that child, and I intend to find out what. She walked over.
"Z-Zelda!" Young Link exclaimed.
"Hey Link, I—"
"No! NO! NOOO!" Link screamed as he ran away.
"Wait! Link!"
Young Link ran straight out of the stadium. No. Can't. Tell. Zelda.
Zelda just stood there, confused. "What is up with him?"
Need help?
Zelda screamed, "AAAHH! WHAT THE?"
Calm down. Yeesh, all you Hylians are so jumpy.
"WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY HEAD?"
Be silent! This is Mewtwo.
"Whowho?"
Mewtwo, you know, the great psychic Pokémon? Ringing any bells?
The Hylian princess said not a word.
Oh nevermind. Anyways, I am telepathically contacting you.
"You can do that?"
Yes…
"Then why can't I? I'm psychic."
You can! Try.
"Um... How?"
Just think.
Just think? This guy is nuts.
See! You did it!
"I did?"
Yes!
Oh… so that's how you do it. So, you mean to tell me, everything I've thought while here, you've heard?
Well, no. I choose when I want to listen.
Oh… why didn't I ever learn this?
I suppose you're too young.
What? I'm nineteen!
That's nothing. My two hundred and seventy-sixth birthday comes this week!
"WHOA!"
A few people looked at Zelda.
"Oh, uh… hi!" She sheepishly smiled. I must've looked really silly standing here talking to myself.
You did.
Say, where are you?
"Behind you."
Zelda screamed. She spun around to find a tall, purple, cat-like creature. "Really, you should make an effort to not scare the living daylights out of people."
"Sorry, bad habit."
"So… you said you could help me?"
"Yes. I sense you are troubled."
"Sense? You sensed I was in troubled? What, with like ESP?"
"Yes, I guess you could say that. Anyways, you want to find out what Link is hiding?"
"How can you help me there?"
"Well, being that he is not psychic, you can't talk to him telepathically. You can, however, read his thoughts."
"Read his thoughts? But isn't that invading his privacy?"
"To some degree, but I'm sure, in this case, he would be grateful if anything that you did so."
"I suppose you're right. So how do I go about doing it?"
"Make sure you can see him. He doesn't have to be looking at you, but keeping him in eyesight will help greatly. Focus on him. Think of nothing but him. In due time, you should start hearing his thoughts. They will be very scattered and random at first, but try to lock on to what you think is useful. Things will become clearer. Be warned though, this process can be very draining, I advise you to be well rested before reading his mind. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Sounds easier said than done, but I think I can manage." There was some silence before Zelda spoke again. "Say… what have you read from my mind during the tournament?"
"Not much. As I said, you can only read someone's mind when they are relatively close to you. Just anxious thoughts about if you will win or lose the tournament. You also think a lot about Link. You love him a lot don't you?"
Zelda blushed. "He is one of a kind, I'll say that."
"Yet you think of Marth a considerable amount too."
Zelda blushed at this. "He's a nice person."
To Zelda's immense relief, the two Smash Brothers entered the stadium, thus giving her an excuse to end her embarrassing conversation with Mewtwo.
"Welcome to the second round of the Smash Bros. Tournament!" Said Gerald. "I must say, I was very impressed by the showcase of exceptional fighting skills in the first round, and look forward to this round with great anticipation!"
"As you can see…" Ronald withdrew a large poster, with all the smashers arranged on a neat diagram, "Today will be quite interesting as we pitch you against eachother in the most widely of pairs."
The smashers huddled around the poster. At the foot of it, there were all the smashers listed, with half of them crossed out, obviously the losers of the first round. It then showed the names of the twelve that stood in the stadium that day, above which was a web of unlabeled lines, finally narrowing down to two vacant lines. The two vacant lines then led to two letters: MH, standing, undoubtedly for Master Hand.
"We've added a new twist. Each battle will be held in different parts of the Nintendo Universe! Which means you could find yourself battling in the depths of a distant Brinstar, or the heights of Icicle Mountain."
"How are we getting to those places?" Asked Roy
"Ah, good question. We shall be using a special teleportation system. Portals have been set up everywhere in the Nintendo Universe. Rest assured, the commute will do no harm and measures will be taken to make sure no one is left in, say the crumbling ruins of an ancient Hyrulean temple."
The smashers were buzzing with bewildered conversation amongst themselves.
"Enough chatter, Ronald." Gerald said briskly. "Rules are as last time. A two-minute match, gain a point for every KO you dish-out, lose a point for every time you are KO'd. Sudden Death matches will be in effect as well, should a draw occur. Now, let's have our first contestants!" He paused to examine the poster. "Roy and Peach." Both the Princess and the Prince were shocked to hear this.
"What? Why?" Peach managed to stammer.
"It's clearly written here." Ronald said, pointing to the poster. In the bottom left hand corner they could see printed: PEACH VS. PIKACHU. Next to that was KIRBY VS. Roy. Both Kirby's name and Pikachu's were crossed out and Roy and Peach's names were re-written above, in the SECOND ROUND section.
"Oh." Roy said.
"Well, let's get moving. You two, to the portals." Gerald pointed to two round, brown platforms, floating in the middle of the arena.
"But what about you?" Peach asked.
"We shall remain here. We can watch the match with cameras placed at all the fighting arenas."
"We're going alone?" Asked an apprehensive Peach.
"Certainly. You'll be fine. It has been tested and perfected. Step lively now, we're running behind schedule. I hope to end this before Lunchtime."
Roy and Peach stepped onto the brown platforms, which they found were emblazoned with the Smash Bros. insignia. A column of light surrounded both of them, and they found themselves being lifted into the air. In a heartbeat, the two royals vanished from sight.
Just as instantly as they disappeared, they had re-appeared at another pair of portals. Peach staggered off the round platform and stood there dazed. She was feeling a little dizzy, but it was better than she expected.
"You okay, love?" Asked a stunned Roy.
"Just fine. You?"
"A little dizzy. Where are we?" The two gaped at their alien surroundings. They were standing on a small log bridge, suspended high up over a waterfall, where they could see the occasional log float down. Beyond the waterfalls were two more hunks of land, slightly higher than the then they were standing on. "This place looks freaky." Roy said.
"It seems somehow familiar…" Peach said quietly. Just then a stout little bird on a red, flying carpet swooped down, causing Peach to fall over and scream. "OH MY GOD! IT'S A PIDGIT!"
"A what?" said Roy, arms above his head, swatting at the fluttering rug. "A fidget?"
"PIDGIT! WE'RE IN SUBCON!"
"Where?"
"Okay, here's the story. One fine day, Mario decided to go on a picnic, with Luigi and I. Father sent Toad along for my protection. A good lot he did, we wound up stumbling across some dark cave and into this godforsaken dream world.
From a loudspeaker hanging from a nearby tree bellowed the voice of an angry Ronald Smash. "GET A MOVE ON YOU TWO!"
"But I can't fight my sugar dumpling Roy!" Peach said.
"And I can't fight my little Peach pie!"
"YOU DIDN'T COME HERE FOR A PICNIC!"
"But! But—"
"How about this for incentive. The loser will be forced to take love dust while staring at Bowser!"
"OH NO, ANYTHING BUT THAT!" Peach and Roy screamed."
"On my signal then. Take your places."
Peach gracefully hopped onto a log, and leaped off it to land softly on the elevated land.
Roy, on the other hand, was a sceptical of jumping onto the log, so he made a valiant leap for the edge and grabbed it. He pulled himself up.
"Okay then. Ready? GO!"
Peach jumped off the ground and proceeded to float over to Roy, who was charging up his sword for a Flare Blade.
As Roy glowed a violent shade of red, Peach pulled a turnip out of thin air and aimed it at Roy's head. With tremendous force, it hurtled towards him, and as it made contact, Roy lost concentration and his Flare Blade was broken. Infuriated that Peach interrupted his favourite move, he went into attack frenzy as he executed his Double-Edge Dance attack, striking Peach multiple times.
She retaliated with a slap. And another slap. Followed only by a dozen more.
Roy managed to block the last one and struck again with his sword. Peach flew backwards.
Back at the stadium, the smashers watched the battle intently on a large television screen.
"What are those numbers at the bottom?" Asked Link.
"Show's the percentage of damage each smasher has." Ronald said, informatively.
"How does it work?" Zelda asked, intrigued.
"It's a very complex system. Complex yet effective. Ooh! Nice move from Peach!"
Peach had whipped out her tennis racket and sent Roy flying into the wall. He got caught in the waterfall and was brought down to its watery depths.
Much smoke and light erupted from the place where he fell, and somehow, Roy returned on a mysterious metal platform. Wasting no time, he jumped off the platform and took a mighty swipe at Peach. She was knocked back again, further this time. She slipped off the edge but managed to grab it again to haul herself back up. She tripped Roy up with a low kick and then she stabbed him with her parasol, throwing him up in the air. With a well-planned Peach bomber, Roy was sent off the stage again.
However, as all the other smashers could see, Peach had acquired a considerable amount of damage points and it wasn't long before Roy smashed her clear into the sky. The score was now two to one, in favour of Peach. As the smashers at the stadium had a television screen showing the battle, another one was situated on the battle stage to show the score and time remaining. Thirty seconds left, Roy had to act quickly. He heard a light thump behind him, and he found a strange little object sitting there. He picked it up and examined it. He noticed on movable part. He pulled it and a green beam of light shot out one end and hit Peach, who jumped and screamed.
"Ooh. I like this weird thing!" Roy said with a stupid grin. He pulled the trigger over and over again, still as amused as the last time it happened, as Peach flailed around in the air with each oncoming beam. Roy pulled the trigger again, only to hear a faint click. He tried again, to no avail. "I broke it." He said sadly. He looked down, mournfully at his beloved Ray Gun.
Peach saw her chance to sneak up from behind. She crept up behind Roy, but before she could lash out her golf club, Roy had tossed the Ray Gun over his shoulder. Peach soared away on impact, therefore making the score even.
"5! 4! 3! 2! 1! TIME!"
Peach floated back to earth on the recovery platform. "That was so cheap!" She cried, as she jumped off.
"I know," said Roy, "Only sixteen shots!"
"AW! Hmph!" Peach turned her back on her boyfriend."
"SUDDEN DEATH!" Bellowed the loudspeaker
"What? Ah!" Peach shrieked. "No! I'm not ready!"
"Ready?"
"No no! I said I wasn't!"
"GO!"
Roy lunged at Peach, and she hurtled out of the fighting area.
"GAME!"
"Yay!" Said Roy, doing a little victory dance.
"This game's winner is: Roy!" Said Gerald through the loudspeaker as a short orchestral fanfare sounded.
Peach was fuming. Before stomping onto a portal, she whipped out a turnip and chucked it at Roy's head. She then disappeared in a flash of white light.
"Wait Peach!" Cried Roy. He hopped onto a portal and teleported back to the stadium.
Peach had jumped off the platform and stalked off, pushing past Link. Another person materialized on the other portal, and Link ran up to give Roy a big hug.
"Erk! Link what are you doing?"
"You're back!" Link cheered, squeezing Roy even tighter.
Zelda appeared behind Link, and proceeded to drag him away by the ear, sputtering curses. "…No good dirty rotten…"
"Hey!" Link cried, squirming. "What's that for, OW!"
"Ahem!" Ronald Smash cleared his throat. Next is… Aha, Mewtwo and Bowser. Onto the portals now."
"Uh… I'm not gonna fit." Bowser said, eyeing the brown platform.
"Nonsense. Just stand on one foot."
"But happens if I fall along the way?"
"Oh for heavens sake. Can somebody do something for our large friend here?"
"Here." Zelda sighed. With a wave of her arm, the platform doubled in size.
"Hurry up now!" Ronald said.
Mewtwo and Bowser stepped onto the portals. In an instant, they were teleported to another strange land. The television had informed the smashers that Bowser and Mewtwo were in Jungle Japes.
Gerald spoke into a microphone. "Take your positions. Ready? GO!"
Bowser lumbered towards Mewtwo, but he expertly teleported to the other side of the stage.
Mewtwo taunted Bowser as he stood on the small wooden platform. Bowser jumped for Mewtwo, but fell short and plummeted into the rapids below. Mewtwo let out an evil cackle. He effortlessly floated across the gap and started to charge a Shadow Ball, which he quickly lashed out when Bowser reappeared. Bad move. As Mewtwo soon realized, you can't hit someone right after they've gotten off the recovery platform. Makes for some really cheap hits. Completely unfazed, Bowser stomped right over to Mewtwo, grabbed him by the chest, and threw him onto the ground. As he lay there, thrashing his arms about, Bowser landed on top of him belly first. As he got up, he decided to flame broil the psychic Pokémon. He kept at it for quite some time, thoroughly enjoying watching Mewtwo suffer. He enjoyed it so much; he did it for two straight minutes.
"5! 4! 3!--"
"Huh?"
"1! TIME! This game's winner is: Mewtwo."
"WHAT! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA THIS SUCKER!"
"Points are awarded for KO's only."
"BUT I--"
"No matter what the circumstances."
Infuriated, Bowser punched Mewtwo, who being damaged so much, flew far, far away.
Bowser stomped to his oversized portal and teleported back to the stadium.
Mewtwo was now tumbling down the river at a dangerously high speed. Swerving around rocks and logs, he managed to zap himself back to the battle stage. He floated over to the portal.
Back at the stadium, Zelda was talking to Samus.
"Samus, are you okay?"
"Y-y-yes." She said, trembling.
"Nervous?"
"More like terrified. Tell me, are all the things true about Ganondorf?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Ganondorf! I'm fighting him! Is it true? Is he really that bad?"
"Well, er… I've never really fought him myself."
"Oh! Oh oh oh! I'm so scared!"
"I'm sure you'll do fine Samus. Though getting yourself worked up won't like this help you. Calm yourself. Breathe with me. In," Zelda drew in a big breath, "Out." Zelda slowly exhaled.
"In out, in out in-out-in-out-in-out-in--"
"Samus! Not so fast!"
"Inoutinoutinout"
Samus was hyperventilating now.
"Oh my god! Samus! No! Calm down! Oh my god someone help me!"
Samus was lying on the ground now, convulsing madly, breathing as rapid and harsh as ever.
Marth and Peach ran over.
"Oh my god! What's wrong with Samus?" Peach asked.
"I don't know, but something really bad is happening!"
"We need help, fast!" Marth said. "Gerald! Ronald!"
"I'm sorry! I don't know what to do! We need medical help!" Gerald cried.
"I know! Mewtwo can teleport back to the hotel quickly to find Dr. Mario." Peach said
"No good," Ronald said, "He's gone sulking. He's no where to be found. Zelda! You'll have to go!"
"No! I can't leave her!"
"ZELDA GO!" Peach screamed.
Reluctantly, Zelda got up. She tried to focus on conjuring up her Farore's Wind, but she couldn't concentrate. Zelda was panicking.
"Zelda! What are you doing?" Peach shouted.
"I-I can't!"
Peach was starting to worry too. Oh my god! What to do? What to do!" Then it hit Peach. "Link!"
Link and Roy were probably the only ones now who hadn't noticed what was going on."
"LINK!" Peach screamed.
He looked up to see Samus convulsing and turning purple. "DEAR DIN!"
"LINK! USE FARORE'S WIND AND FIND DR. MARIO! DO IT NOW!"
"Oh, er, right!" He put his hands together. Between them formed a ball of green. He threw it into the air and it and it spread into a dome around him. He disappeared.
Link's Farore's Wind was a little slower, but it was easy for Link to do it. In times of great panic, Link managed to keep his wits about him. He soon found he was back at the hotel. He went to look for Dr. Mario, but he couldn't walk. Link looked at his left leg. HALF OF IT WAS STUCK IN THE WALL! "Ohh crap! Of all times!" At the top of his lungs, he screamed "D O C T O R M A R I O!"
Dr. Mario, who had heard the call right away, hurried to the source of the voice. Down two halls, he found Link, stuck in a wall.
"DOC! THE STADIUM! SAMUS! SOMETHING'S WRONG!"
"Mama mia! We must go at once!"
"Hold my hand!" Link said. He conjured his Farore's Wind again, and the two were sent back to the stadium.
"Holy guacamole!" The doctor exclaimed, as he pushed through the crowd of smashers.
"One side people! Doctor here! Give him some space!" Link was barking commands at the others.
"Goodness." Dr. Mario said, examining a now unconscious Samus.
"What is it doc? What happened to her?" Peach asked.
"I really can't tell. She must have passed out from being under too much stress. She was hyperventilating wasn't she?"
"Yes doc."
"I can tell. We'll have to take her to the hospital."
"WHAT?" But she has to fight!"
"She is in no condition to do so. She isn't just taking a nap. She is in critical condition, we must take her to the hospital for testing."
"I'd take her, but I'm up next." Zelda said.
"I'll take her." Said Link.
"I hafta come!" said Peach.
"Where Peach goes I go!" Roy said.
"Come now!" said Ronald, "We can't have all running off now. There's still the matter of the tournament."
"Roy and I are already done, and Link will be back in time for his battle."
The Smash Brothers looked very uneasy about this, but reluctantly agreed.
"I cant teleport with four people!" Link said.
"Here Link, you take Roy and Dr. Mario, I'll take Samus and Peach." Zelda said. "It will only take a minute," She said to a complaining Ronald Smash, "I'll be back in time to fight."
Before Ronald or Gerald could protest, Link, Zelda, Roy, Peach, Dr. Mario and Samus vanished. They reappeared in Nintendo City Hospital.
"Let's take her to emergency." Zelda said. They walked through the doors and to the counter.
"Yes welcome to Nintendo City Medical Clinic how may I help you?" Said the receptionist.
"Yes, well," Dr. Mario started, "This girl has passed out from severe trauma."
"Symptoms?"
"Hyperventilation and convulsions."
"Okay. I'll inform one of the doctors. Please take a seat."
Roy, Peach and Dr. Mario sat down as Samus was put on a stretcher.
"Link and I should be getting back," Zelda said. "We'll be back as soon as we're finished to check up on you and Samus." She disappeared
"Bye Roy." Link said. He disappeared too.
"What was that?" Peach asked.
"What was what?"
"THAT!"
"I'm afraid 'that' isn't very clear."
"'Bye Roy.'"
"Oh come off it Peach! Link wasn't hitting on me."
"I say! Hitting on you?" Dr. Mario said with a horrified expression.
"Zelda has spiked their food with love dust." Peach explained. "Now they are head-over-heels in love with eachother for three days."
"Now that is an exaggeration!" Roy asserted.
"Okay then, maybe just a little crush."
"Very interesting." Dr. Mario said.
"Do you think you could help us?" Roy asked pleadingly.
"Certainly!" Dr. Mario said, "All the love dust has done is thrown off the sensitive hormonal balance in yours and Link's bodies. The chemicals from the powder send mixed messages to your brain, so the hormones are stimulated in situations they normally wouldn't be."
Peach and Roy were staring wide eyed at the doctor.
"So… you can do something for them?" Peach said.
"Well, it will take some doing. I must find out what chemicals were used and what antidote can effectively null their effects. You wouldn't know the love dust recipe, would you?"
"No, but Zelda does, she'll be back soon."
"Dr. Mario." Said the receptionist. "A doctor will see Miss Aran now."
"Right. Thank you. I must leave you two now." Dr. Mario got up, and pushed Samus's stretcher through the a pair of swinging double doors.
"I hope Zelda and Link come back soon." Peach said worriedly.
well how was that? purdy good, eh? lol. im no doctor, so i cant say that i used all the correct terms, but it sounds good to me. anywayz, zelda might finally find out what link is hiding! isnt that smashing? get it? smashing? oh, i kill myself. :) hope you liked those chaps. chapter 29 up soon!. i'll tell you this, im guessing 5, maybe 6more chapters now. i sorta dumped the sequel idea for now, i only have like 2 parags, but im working on another lil project that has ALOT to do with this story. its not exactly a sequel, but i wont tell you whtat t really is, cuz that would give it all away! heh. anways, thanks for readin, and keep them reviews flowing in!
ciao! double H 128