A/N: Did anyone think I was dead? I haven't updated in a while, but that's because school started up again and everything sucks. After this story arc, though, I'll update more frequently because I've already written a couple chapters ahead of this.

So, I was planning to do a chapter about the real world coming to Smash-City. Kind of like the opposite of the movie Pixels, but I ultimately decided not to for multiple reasons. First of all, I don't want to keep interrupting the SherLucario Holmes story arc. Second, bad things would've gone down if the real world visited Smash-City. Third, the Pixels movie apparently sucked. I haven't seen it myself, but apparently it was panned. Soooooo... Yeah.

One day I might make a story where purely Nintendo fans visit the city.

That's all I'm gonna talk about it for a while, though! To the chapter!

Chapter 39: The Captor

The captives looked in surprise as the young teenager got up, dusting himself off.

"Ugh..." Red rubbed his head. "What the heck just happened?" He opened his eyes and was surprised to see the crowd of smashers staring at him. "Whoa! What are you guys doing here?"

Toon Link was the first to speak up. "Well, you're one to talk! W-what are you doing here?"

Red shrugged. "Heck if I know. One minute I'm training to be the very best, like no one ever was, and the next, I'm falling through a black void and landing in this..." He looked around, "...place with you people! Not that you guys are bad or anything..."

"Yeah. We're not bad. YOU ARE!" Roy yelled. "He's the one who kidnapped us, isn't he? Let's get him!"

"Wah!" Red cowered in fear as Roy and a number of the other smashers charged at him.

"Hold it!" Snake yelled, causing everyone to stop and get quiet. "If this wimpy boy truly is the kidnapper, why is he here with us? He came to this place the same way the rest of us did. Through that hole." Snake pointed to the black hole in the ceiling that, for some reason, allowed people to fall out of it but not into it.

Peach gasped. "Wait a minute... That means that-"

"Precisely. Red is not the kidnapper... He was kidnapped himself!" Snake gasped. Everyone else soon followed.

"Kidnapped? Is that why you're all here?" Red asked.

"Yeah..." Luigi sighed. "And the thing is, we can't get-a back up the hole. For some reason it's-a one way only."

"Wait a minute..." Pit, who had been watching the whole scene unfold in confusion, mumbled. "Is that why we're all here? We've been kidnapped?"

"Yeah. And now we have to find a way out." Snake said. He got on his codec once more, and was soon mumbling to himself in the corner.

"I guess we better start searching!" Peach said. She started searching around the area, and everyone else soon followed.

Meanwhile, the smashers back in the city were quickly losing hope as they fruitlessly tried to reopen the portal.

"Argh! It's no use! Sorry, Lucario, but I can't fix this." Mario said, closing the control panel.

Lucario closed his eyes and thought to himself. "If we can't reopen the portal, what are we to do?"

"What if..." Lucina said, holding her hand over her chin, "...we looked for another portal?"

"That's ridiculous. We only have one portal machine, and that's this one." Lucario replied.

"Yeah, Lucina!" Link joked, nudging her arm with his cast. Remember, he still has a cast on his broken arm that he received during the karter arc. His leg was healed, but his arm wasn't. Just a refresher since many of you probably don't remember. I haven't updated the story in a while, after all.

"That's not fair..." Lucina mumbled.

"Wait a minute..." Zelda said. "Earlier you told us that the kidnapper left a note for you somewhere in the city, right?" Upon seeing the Pokemon nod, she continued. "What if he left something else for us to find? We should look around just in case."

Mario gasped. "That's not-a bad idea!"

Lucario nodded approvingly. "I completely agree with this plan. But Smash-City is too big... We can't possibly check all of it in a timely matter unless we split up."

"It's a plan then!" Ness said happily. "Megaman, Villager and I will check out the smasher houses."

"Already on it!" Megaman yelled from a few blocks away. He was already running towards the houses.

"Hey! No fair!" Villager yelled, chasing after him. "You got a head start!"

Ness started running that way as well. "You're all a bunch of slow pokes!"

"The rest of you guys split up into two groups to search the bazaar and the stadium." Lucario said. With a quick wave, he set off to catch up to the three boys.

"Um... Alright!" Mario said. He turned to the rest of the smashers. Besides him, Link, Kirby, Zelda, Lucina, and Pikachu were left. "So, I guess I'll go with Kirby and Pikachu to the stadium, and the rest of you can go to the bazaar."

Zelda nodded. "Sounds like a plan! Come on guys, let's go."

Link smiled, "Maybe I should sneak a few treats out of Rosalina's cafe while we're there..." Link mumbled as they walked down the street.

"You will do no such thing! Unless you get some for me!" Lucina said as they rounded the corner, escaping Mario's vision.

"Alright, guys, let's-a go!" Mario cheered, turning to Kirby and Pikachu. Kirby was asleep and Pikachu was lying down, gazing at the stars of the night sky. They looked like they had no intention of getting up anytime soon.

"Kirby? Pikachu? We have to-a go search the stadium. I can't do it alone!" Mario said. They didn't budge. "Hello?" He prodded them. Kirby slowly opened his eyes. "Poyo?"

Mario waved. "Good morning! You ready to go now?" The pink puffball just shrugged him off and went back to sleep.

Mario's patience had run out. "LETS. A. GO!" He grabbed Kirby by the hand and Pikachu by the tail and started dragging the two squealing creatures towards the stadium.