A/N: Hello, and I hope that everyone who celebrated their Independence Day had a great time! Sorry for the lack of updates, I've had a lot of things in my way lately! I've decided that an update will come every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The next update will come on Thursday after this one. This chapter is going to be based on Independence Day, and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 5: Independence Day
"Today is Independence Day in Smash-City, the day where all of the citizens and smashers celebrate the day that their corresponding land won their independence. They used to have a celebration for every single Lands' Independence Day, but they decided to mash it all up into one day where they would all celebrate their Independence. Independence Day was celebrated much differently here than other countries celebrate it. First of all, there's the Running of the Mascots. The Running of the Mascots was an event where each Land would have two representatives, who would dress up as their Land's mascot and compete in a race with the other representatives. Then, they would have a cooking contest. The winner would have the honor of making the food for the Feast of Unity. The Feast Of Unity reminded us that even though we come from different places, we are all united under one sole purpose: to beat each other up! So, what do ya think, eh? Pretty great, huh?" Luigi had finally finished his speech which took him hours to think of. He had decided to tell his speech to the kids, in hopes to educate them. But they weren't listening.
They were playing tag at the park, and didn't hear a word of what Luigi said. "Uh-huh. Sounds great." Ness said, tagging Popo and quickly running away. Luigi felt proud of himself for enriching the minds of the youth, and went along to prepare Mario and himself for the Running of The Mascots.
The Running of the Mascots
"Who's ready for a race!" Captain Falcon roared over the microphone. The crowd cheered back in response. I could get used to this. He thought. "Alright, then. We have five teams for you today! Team one consists of everyone's favorite plumbers, Mario and Luigi, racing for the Mushroom Kingdom!" the crowd roared as Mario and Luigi walked onto the starting line, both dressed up as mushrooms. "The second team we have for you is none other than the dynamic duo of destiny, Link and Zelda, racing for Hyrule!" Link and Zelda, both dressed up as triforces, ran to the finish line, to be greeted by cheers from the audience.
"The third team we have for you today is none other than the freedom fighters, Marth and Ike, racing for Crimea!" Marth and Ike, dressed as stereotypical knights, ran onto the starting line, blowing kisses all around. "The fourth team we have is the fiery pilots, Fox and Falco, who are racing for Corneria!" Fox and Falco raced onto the finish line, both dressed as, well, foxes, and waved to the audience. They were greeted with cheers all around. "And our last team for you are the playful animals who will literally make your heart burst with their cuteness, Pikachu and Jigglypuff, racing for the Kanto region!" The crowd "Aww"ed in unison as the as the two pokémon skipped happily onto the stage.
"Now that that's out of the way, let me explain the rules." Captain Falcon said, putting on his reading glasses and taking out a sheet of paper. "The course is designed so that you have to work together as a team to win. There are a total of five obstacles in your way that you must pass in order to win. The first one consists of a two walls close together. You must work together to find a way up the two walls. The second obstacle consists of horseback riding. One of you must get on the horse and ride, while the other person disables and enables platforms and traps to help them cross. Once the horse rider makes it, then the other person will be teleported to them. The third obstacle consists of a chess puzzle. You will be put into a scenario that you will have to get yourself out of, and checkmate the other side. The fourth obstacle is a plane ride over the forest. You must ride over through all of the rings, in order, before touching down back at the starting line. The fifth obstacle is the maze. You must find your way out of the maze, to get to the final leg of the race, a leg race! The first one to cross the finish line wins!" Captain falcon said this all in one breath, and really quickly. Nobody understood what he said.
"Um… could you repeat that?" Marth asked.
"Nope!" Captain Falcon said, "Three, two, one, go!" He said this really quickly again, so when the gun went off to signal the start of the race, the teams were confused.
"I said GO!" Captain falcon screamed at them. The teams realized that the race had started, and bolted to the first obstacle…
The teams had arrived at the first obstacle, and they all stopped, trying to think of a way to get up it. Mario and Luigi both wall-jumped up the walls without a second thought, taking the lead, and headed to the next obstacle.
Link whispered something into Zelda's ear, and they linked arms, back-to-back, put their feet against the walls, and started shuffling their way up. "Where'd you think of this?" Zelda asked as they climbed up.
"This one movie about this emperor who turns into a llama." said Link. Zelda just shrugged, and they were up. Once the other teams saw what they were doing, they immediately mimicked them.
They got to the second obstacle, and they saw that Mario was already halfway through the obstacle. Link got up on a horse, with Zelda at the platform enable/disabler. Link bolted through the obstacle course, gaining lots of ground to Mario.
The rest of the teams got on their horses, and started on the obstacle. The pokémon were having a difficult time, since they couldn't hold the reigns of the horse with their hands. But, they were doing better than team Star Fox, who tried to keep up with Link, but kept getting knocked off the course, and sent back to start.
Link caught up to Mario at the end of the obstacle, with the rest of the teams a bit behind them. They ran to the third obstacle, the chess puzzle. They had to enter different rooms, so nobody could cheat on each other.
Mario was staring at the chess puzzle for a long time. "Hey, bro? Are you going to do something?" Luigi asked. He didn't know how to play chess.
"I'm thinking… Just give me some time." Mario said, stroking his mustache.
The rest of the teams finished the third obstacle at the same time, and headed to the chess puzzle. Team Fire Emblem immediately started thinking of a battle plan. Being the strategic geniuses that they are, they immediately got out of their predicament and started backing the other side into a corner.
Back in the pokémon's room, they were both confused at the strange sequence of black and white of the screen, and started to randomly move the pieces around. Team Star Fox were was having a bit of trouble. "I don't know how to play chess, do you?" Fox asked.
"Nope! But at least I have my chess instruction manual with me!" Falco answered, taking a piece of paper out. they started studying.
Team Mushroom, Hyrule, and Crimea all finished at the same time, checkmating the king with their queen and rook. They started off to the next obstacle, the plane ride. They strapped on, and headed off into the skies. Every team had their own course so that nobody would crash into each other. Team Mushroom had the red rings, Hyrule the Green, Crimea the Blue, Kanto the yellow, and Corneria the orange.
Team Mushroom had a tough time figuring out the controls, while Team Hyrule and Team Crimea both missed rings and had to go back for them. Once Luigi got a hold of the plane's controls, they caught up with the other two teams.
As if by some miracle, the pokémon checkmated their opponent, and the door opened for them to head off into the skies. Team Corneria had quickly grasped the fundamentals of chess, and checkmated their opponent, as well. they both took off running onto their planes, and took off. Team Corneria were expert pilots, and they breezed through this obstacle, regaining their lost time by finishing at the same time as the other three teams.
Team Kanto, however, were not skilled pilots, and lagged behind the rest of the group. When they finally finished, the rest of the teams were already making their way through the maze. But then, Pikachu had an idea.
"Pika, pika pik," he said pointing at the ground. Jigglypuff nodded, and they started to burrow their way under the maze. After all, nobody said that this wasn't illegal, right?
The maze was full of twists and turns, and many traps. There were fire traps, which caught Link by surprise, trapdoors, which got Mario, paths that went on forever, which frustrated Ike, and even a whole corner of a maze made entirely out of mirrors. It drove Team Corneria mad. But, they eventually made it out of the cave, at the same time, and onto the final runway.
They all looked at each other for a few seconds, and then they all bolted for the finish line. There were many people waiting there, including Captain Falcon, who was commentating on everything, and was holding a giant golden trophy.
Fox tripped Ike, but Ike grabbed his leg before he fell, causing him to fall on top of him. Marth grabbed Pikachu to throw him back, but Pikachu electrocuted him, sending them right into Luigi, who threw fireballs at them in self defense. Luigi, Pikachu, and Marth, all on fire and electrocuted, started careening toward Zelda. Link pushed her out of the way, only to be crashed into by them. Zelda fell down and landed on Jigglypuff, who got a hold of one of Link's bombs. It exploded on them, and caused a chain reaction that caused the rest of Link's bombs to explode, causing them all to pass out.
The crowd was silent. Then, as the realization of what just dawned on them, they all cheered wildly, chanting for someone to get up. Marth tried to get up on his feet, but he then fell back down again, passed out.
"Well… looks like it's a tie!" Captain Falcon shouted, to which the crowd cheered to.
"So… who wins?" asked Falco, who was now being healed by medics.
"Well…" Captain Falcon said, stroking his chin, "since none of you crossed the finish line, none of you get the trophy! So, I guess we'll just have to do the exact same thing tomorrow to decide the real victor! For now, I'll keep the trophy. See you guys then!" He took the trophy, and went to prepare for the cooking challenge, leaving the racers groaning on the finish line.
The Cooking Contest
"The cooking contest is a team event. There are eight teams, each consisting of four people. Two teams will face off, with the winner moving on. They will have to create a three course meal from a basket of ingredients, in under two hours. They were graded on how the food looked, the creativity, and the taste." Captain Falcon said, reading the rules once more. "There are three judges for you today, Link from Hyrule, Mario from the Mushroom Kingdom, and Kirby from Dreamland!" The crowd cheered as the three judges walked to their table.
"Ok, Peach, you can do this… let's just hope that he isn't participating." Peach said to herself, fanning her face with her chef hat. "It's ok, Peach." Zelda said, trying to cheer her up, "We'll do fine. And even if we do lose, it's all in good fun, right?"
"You don't understand! My cooking is my life! I mean, do you ever see me doing anything else?" Peach said, glaring at Zelda. "I mean," Zelda began, "You are a soccer player, a hockey player, a go-kart racer, a-"
"Ok, I get it." Peach said, "But, why lose... when you can win?" Peach asked.
"Alright, our first match of the tournament, Princess Peach versus Toadette!" Captain Falcon Shouted.
"Well, here we go…" Zelda said. They walked onto the stage, and started the tournament.
Peach's team blazed through the competition, getting the vote 3-0 from the judges against Toadette. Her team moved forward to battle their next opponent, Krystal's team.
Peach made her signature cupcakes, and let the rest of her team make the rest of the meal. then, they went to the judges table.
"I vote for Peach. Sorry Krystal." Link said.
"I'm sorry Peach, but I'll have to go with Krystal on this one." Mario said, hiding his face."
What? Mario, why? Peach thought, looking at Mario, crestfallen. Kirby pointed at Peach, and they moved on to the finals.
Peach walked up to Mario before the finals. "Mario, I- how could you do this to me?" She asked.
"I'm sorry, Peach, it was just my honest opinion. I wish I could pick you, but I can't play favorites." He said, looking down.
"Alright, I understand." Peach said, walking away. Just try to focus on the last opponent. We can do this… Peach thought to herself.
"And now, the main event!" Captain falcon shouted, "The finals of the cooking contest! Peach versus… Mr. Game & Watch!" Oh no… him. Peach thought, walking onto the stage. Mr. Game & Watch walked onto the stage as well.
"These two have met on the battlefield before, with Mr. game & Watch being the victor! Will Peach finally get her revenge?" Captain Falcon said, "The ingredient to incorporate into all three meals is… peaches! Now, without further adieu, let the cook-off… begin!"
The two teams quickly started cooking, wasting no time. The audience was in awe as Peach gracefully started making her Peach Cobbler, and as Mr. Game & Watch started preparing his peach parfait. Peach's team decided to go all out on the dessert, making a peach cobbler, a peach cake, and a peach sundae. Mr. Game & Watch's team had the same idea. The concentration radiated from the two teams during the next two hours could rival Marth's concentration when playing Stratego.
"And… Time! Put everything down!" Captain falcon shouted. Both teams put their hands up, and they shook hands. Then, the judging began.
When they tried Peach's cobbler, they literally, figuratively, melted to the floor. Peach got a glimmer as hope, but Mr. Game & Watch's parfait had the same effect. The judges huddled together in a circle after tasting all of their food, and started discussing the food. After five minutes of total agony, they finally broke and went back to the judges table.
Kirby went first, and pointed at Mr. Game & Watch. his team cheered as Peach got even more nervous. "Well, first of all, I'd like to say congratulations to both teams for making it this far." Link said, "If I could choose both of you, I would. If I could hire both of you as my personal chef, I would. but, only one can be chosen. As the winner, I mean." Link adjusted his hat. "Peach." Peach beamed as she got her first vote against Mr. Game & Watch, and smiled at Link. Link nodded back.
"Oh! It's 1-1 right now, folks, and the victor will be decided by Mario's vote!" Captain Falcon said. The whole stadium got deathly quiet as Mario tried to make up his mind. He looked at his watch. Then the floor. Then at Kirby and Link. Back to the floor. Then, he fainted.
When Mario woke up he was in a hospital bed. Kirby, Link, and Peach were by him. Peach was hunched over on the chair, with her hands on her knees, looking at the floor. Kirby was sleeping next to Mario's foot, cuddling it, and Link was awkwardly trying to find a way to beat a puzzle he was working on.
Link was the first one to notice that he was awake. "Hey, Mario, you're better!" Link said, putting the puzzle away and walking to the bedside. Peach saw him, and smiled.
"How long was I out?" Mario asked.
"About ten minutes. Doctor said that you fainted because of stress. He said you'd be out of the hospital in time for the Feast of Unity." Link said. "Well, I gotta run. Glad to see you're ok!" He picked up Kirby, holding him like a baby, and started walking out of the room. "Oh, and Peach, congratulations." He said, before leaving.
"Congratulations? What does he mean?" Mario asked.
"Well…" Peach said, "While you were knocked out, we had Lucario search your feelings, and he decided that you felt that I deserved to win!" Peach hugged him, and Mairo felt glad that his feelings didn't betray him. He actually did think Peach did better this time. He sighed, and fainted again, in relief.
All the citizens of Smash-City and the Smashers gathered in the stadium to start the Feast of Unity. First, the mayor said a quick speech, and the feast began. Peach had cooked the best food that the citizens had ever tasted, and made sure not to leave anybody out. She made sure that everybody would like the food, and she succeeded. Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi ate five cakes between the four of the. Kirby, Yoshi, and King Dedede ate everything, twice. Link and Zelda got drunk off of Lon Lon milk. There was steamed Bulborbs with pikpik carrots on the side for Olimar, and a golden fruit salad for the Villager. Everyone had a great time, and it ended with a blast, as fireworks roared across the sky, and everyone sang the Nation's National anthem, which was a combination of every Land's national Anthem, made by Link. It was wonderful, until a certain captain threw a Chili Dog at a certain plumber, again.
A/N: Wow! This is by far my longest chapter yet! It took my three sittings to finish it! Nevertheless, if you read this far, thank you! I hope you enjoyed! Suggestions welcome, and if you catch a typo, please tell me, and I'll fix it. Until next chapter, which will feature Mr. Game & Watch!
