"An old rusty truck with a rickety wooden trailer? That's our transportation back the hotel? Is this some kind of joke?"
Falco's words summed up how all of the round one champions felt about what was sitting in front of them. Not even hours before they had been suffering from severe injury while they fought to survive, and now they had to ride on an old truck with an overly large bed through a massive desert before they were able to attain their well-earned rest.
"Okay, this makes no sense," Captain Falcon began to say with his usual cocky tone. "That freaky hand thing can teleport us to places he created that look exactly like our homes, but the only way we can get through a desert on this planet is to ride some piece of crap truck?"
The others nodded in unison with this observation, but the wire frame that appeared to be the driver had an explanation ready. "Ah, but you are mistaken there. The telepads don't actually bring you anywhere. Rather, they keep you in the stadium, but in another reality, where the stadium has an altered appearance suitable for fighting. Quite amazing, really."
"So why the hell hasn't he developed anything better than a rusty truck for this reality?" Falcon continued, cocky as ever.
"Well look at it this way. You have to get to the hotel. To do that you must cross the desert. If you'd rather walk, be my guest." These words ended the cocky remarks.
The wire frame climbed into the cab of the truck, next to another but much larger wire frame, and motioned for the warriors to climb into the back. Captain Falcon and Falco pushed their way in first, followed by the massive Bowser. The four swordsmen climbed in next, followed by Mewtwo, who floated silently to where he would sit. After all eight warriors were seated (comfort was not an issue, as it was impossible to achieve in a wooden truck bed) the wire frame slowly started up the old truck and began to drive out of a small opening in the side of the stadium.
The fighters remained silent for most of the trip. Not only were they all worn from battle, they were all from their own worlds and had no idea how to talk to anyone else there. The only thing that united them was this tournament they had been dragged into against their will. However, that is what ended up breaking the silence.
"So did you all see how I slaughtered that princess?" Falco proudly said out of nowhere near the end of the trip.
Captain Falcon, who was not one to miss the opportunity to brag, quickly piped up in response. "Ooh…good job birdman. You beat up a girl. Real tough guy aren't ya? I think I'm the one who should be proud here. See the way I took out her boyfriend? That midget didn't stand a chance!"
"Are you serious?" roared Bowser. "He almost killed you! If it weren't for a stroke of luck in finding that bat you would have been done for!"
"Hah, what's wrong Godzilla? Did that plumber beat you up before?"
"Why you…" Bowser began to stand, but as he shot small flames out of his nose and was moving forward in his spot on the bed, he was slammed right back into side he had just been leaning against."
All eyes turned to Mewtwo, who was sitting with his arms crossed and eyes closed. Sensing he had just drawn attention to himself, he spoke up in a deep and troubling voice. "If you would have stood up, this truck would have flipped and we would be eating dirt. I stopped that."
Everyone was a bit taken aback by the extremely quick and unexpected reflex by Mewtwo, and remained silent for a few moments.
"So yeah," Falcon said, breaking the silence, "I pretty much rocked that fight. That plumber was dead before I threw my first punch."
"Guys!" a young adult voice shouted from the corner of the truck. All eyes turned to Link. "You're talking about killing other people just like us. Heroes who were dragged into this just like you were. How can you be proud of killing them?"
Falcon just snickered and looked away, ending the conversation.
The sun had begun to set even before the truck had left the stadium. Now that it had been driving through a seemingly endless desert filled with polygon guardians for well over an hour, the light had mostly faded and the sun had pretty much disappeared beyond the horizon. It was then that the warriors noticed that the path the polygon creatures had been making before them the entire trip begin to grow narrower and narrower. It also seemed as though the truck was driving much faster than before.
Roy, who was still sore after his recent battle, knocked on the rear window of the truck cab. After it was opened by the large wire frame in the passenger seat Roy nervously said "Is it just us, or have you noticed the polygon things closing in on us?"
The wire frame who was driving hurriedly responded, saying "Yes, yes, I've noticed them. I told Master not to let these things live. I warned him that you all wouldn't get off this planet anyways. But no…he let all of the rogue polygons loose on this desert." The driver swerved to avoid a small round polygon creature that had just jumped in the middle of the truck's path, causing the warriors to smash into each other on one side of the truck bed.
"What do you mean? Aren't these his loyal followers like you?" asked Crono, speaking for the first time as he ducked to avoid a polygon creature lunging at his face.
"No…well…they used to be. But as they grew in number he couldn't control them all anymore. They aren't all that intelligent but they sure can fight. Anyway, Master lost control of them. They wouldn't follow his orders anymore; they just wanted to destroy anything in their way. That's why he put them out in this desert; to prevent anyone from escaping the stadium. And during the day they're fine, and will even refrain from attacking us superior wire frames. However, once night falls, they get rebellious for whatever reason. Attack anything that moves, including us. They tend to stay away from the stadium, but even that isn't safe half the time. Anyway, the hotel's right up ahead, if we can just make it there we'll…" The sound of shattering glass cut the wire frame off and immediately after the truck swerved out of control.
The fighters looked toward the cab and saw a polygon creature with its sharp arm stuck through the windshield of the truck and its now lifeless driver. A moment later the truck crashed into a group of polygon creatures and rolled, throwing the fighters out into the crowd as it did so. None had time to just lie around where they landed either, for the polygon creatures began their assault as soon as the warriors hit the ground.
Bowser, being the biggest target, was the first to receive damage. Not even a second after hitting the ground his right leg was stabbed by a long purple polygon limb. Letting out a roar of pain he began flailing his arms and shell about, knocking over and immobilizing several polygon creatures in the process. To further release his anger from being stabbed, he grabbed a few of the creatures at a time and bit into them, tearing them in half.
As Bowser tore into his attackers, the other warriors were busy with their own fights. Falco was busy picking the polygon creatures off with his laser blaster. Mewtwo was busy using his psychic powers to throw them all around, all the while maintaining a personal barrier for protection. Falcon let fiery punches and kicks off in every direction, sending creatures down to eat dirt every second. Link and Roy had landed next to each other and had their backs to each other as they slashed at random foes, even if it pained Roy to do so with his unhealed injuries. Isaac and Crono also fought off the endless onslaught with their blades, cutting down on their enemies as they closed in.
After about ten minutes of defending themselves, the heroes were backed into a circle surrounded by the polygon creatures. The hotel wasn't far off and it was probably the only nearby place they would be safe, so it seemed a safe bet to get over to it as soon as possible.
"Guys, we need to get over to that hotel," Link said as he cut down a hulking polygon before him. "We'll need to work together to do it."
"And just what do you suggest, hero boy?" Falcon mockingly asked.
"I have a plan," Mewtwo said. With that, he tapped into his fellow warriors' minds, detailing a strategy he had been devising. It was good to have a psychic warrior present in situations like these. After a few moments, everyone nodded in unison and took action.
Bowser faced the hotel and took a deep breath. A moment later he let it all out in the form of a stream of fire, torching polygon creatures for a very good distance in front of him. Falcon and Falco then began to charge themselves for their fire attacks, and launched themselves into Bowser's breath to get even more energy. After a few seconds of this, they took off forward to eliminate more creatures. As the fire from Bowser's mouth died down, the four swordsmen ran through the newly opened path taking out stragglers that were lucky enough not to be ashes at the moment, followed closely by a wheezing Bowser. Mewtwo floated behind, facing the opposite direction and trying to maintain a wall of psychic energy so that the group couldn't be pursued.
At last the group of warriors passed through the hotel gate, which was immediately slammed shut by Mewtwo. Everyone collapsed to catch their breath and try to let what just occurred sink in. As they were doing so, a familiar figure approached them. They looked up to see the same wire frame that had been sitting in the passenger seat of the truck towering over them.
Seemingly in response to the confused looks that had spread across all of their faces, the wire frame spoke up. "Congratulations, you have passed the Master's test with flying colors. Good work."
"What?" Falco shouted. "That was a test? We were almost killed over a test? Isn't almost dying in a tournament enough for that freak of nature?"
"The Master wants to be sure that whoever he fights is worthy to challenge him. Such a thing requires tests beyond the tournament. You have all done well; much better than those at the stadium fared. You're all still alive after all. Clearly you are the superior half of the warriors on this planet."
"Wait," Link said, "you mean the stadium got attacked by these things too? With Zelda in it? Is she okay? Tell me!"
"You will find out tomorrow who made it and who didn't."
Link was about to speak up again, but was cut off by the enormous wire frame.
"If you wish to go through the night without anymore threats on your life, I recommend you stop asking questions. Now then, I will show you to your rooms."