A/N: MGS5 looks sooooo cool. So does Super Mario Maker. Sorry about the slow updates, life and stuff. I'm planning to have some weekly updates for a little bit once this arc is done, though! Oh, and the past chapters were a little short for my liking, so I decided to make this one nice and long. Thaaaaaats what she said.

I'm sorry. I guess I'll just raise the rating of this story to M++ now.

To the chapter!

Chapter 41: Through the Door

The three groups split up and searched their respective areas. Kirby, Pikachu, and Mario searched up and down the stadium. Mario even flipped through every stage that the stadium had, but nothing of any interest popped up. Well, besides a love letter to a certain swordsman from a certain smasher-ess. But you guys aren't really interested in that, right?

Link, Lucina, and Zelda searched the bazaar for any clues, to no avail. Well, Link did get some treats from Rosalina's cafe, and they did discover the multiverse-shattering secret of what was behind Rosalina's bang, so I guess it was a small success. Only a small one, though.

Now, the real interesting stuff happened with the kids and Lucario...

Lucario and the kids ran into the residential district and immediately found something.

So exciting, amiright?

In front of them stood a medium sized portal, similar to the one that the smashers took to get to Mt. Silver. "Hmm... This portal seems dangerous. We better call the others here before doing anything else."

"Already got them!" Ness yelled happily.

Lucario turned around, astonished to see the other two groups there already. "W-wha? How did you get here so fast?"

"It's a long story." Lucina grinned.

"We walked." Link said. "That's the story."

"Ok..." Lucario mumbled, still unsure of how they got here. "Well... We found something."

"I say we let Mario go in first!" Lucina said, raising her hand.

Mario trembled and stepped away from the approaching Lucina. "Oh no! We don't-a know what's beyond that-a portal!"

"Fine. Then what about you, Link?"

Link shook his head. "Nah."

"Too bad!" She grabbed his good arm and rushed into the portal, Zelda following close behind. Her screams for him to be careful could be heard even after she completely disappeared through the portal.

"Alright," Lucario said, stretching in preparation for what lay on the other side, "I'm going in. If you guys want to follow, stay alert and don't let your guard down." He walked over to the portal. "Good luck!" With a powerful leap he flew into the portal, which gobbled him up, creating a couple of ripples, like a stone being dropped into still water.

One by one, the rest found their courage and entered the portal, with Mario being the first through and the rest following soon after.

Going through a portal was a weird experience according to Mario. When he first walked into the purple portal, his eyes were filled with a brilliant light, and he could feel himself falling. He closed his eyes immediately, and when he opened them a few seconds later, he found out that he was falling through an endless black abyss of nothing. It was weird because he could see himself clearly, even though all his surroundings were black.

"It was-a trap!" Mario gasped. Was he gonna be stuck here forever? He didn't know for about five minutes. However, soon he saw a small white light in the endless abyss, and he regained hope. As the light grew bigger, he could thought he could see Link inside the light.

"... Am I dying?" Mario asked. "And is... Link the Angel?" As Mario approached the growing light, he closed his eyes and waited for wherever happened when you died. Usually he just stopped, stop in circles in the air and then fell through the floor and into the ground.

However, this death he didn't because, well, he didn't die at all. Actually, he fell right into the light and landed on top of Link, crushing the poor guy's broken arm even more.

"Oeowowoowowow!" Link howled.

"Wah? Where am I?" Mario asked, sitting up. He realized that he was right on top of Link. "Oops. Sorry."

Link pushed Mario off of him. "Man..." Link groaned. "Those planks Wii Fit Trainer made me do while carrying my wrecking ball on my back for two hours was heaven compared to this..." He chuckled weakly, sounding almost like a maniac.

"Eh..." Mario frowned. "Sorry about that."

Link just waved it off. "It's fine... I think I'll just... Lay here for a while."

Mario looked at the hole he came from. It was right above Link. "Um... I'm not so-a sure that's such-a great idea..." Mario said. Right after he said that, Lucina fell through the hole, landing right on top of Link and his broken arm.

"Oof!" Lucina yelped. "That was a harsh fall! Good thing this cushion was here to break my fall... It's quite soft and comfortable, too..." Lucina looked down. "...oops."

Lucina good up as fast as she could. "I'm so sorry!"

"...thanks, I guess." Link mumbled through gritted teeth.

Mario looked at the hole nervously. "Hey, Link, maybe you should move out of the way before the others fall-"

From the hole, the rest of the people who went through the portal fell through, one by one. Every single one of them landed on Link.

"Oops! We're sorry, Link!" They all said.

Link stood very still for a long time, then muttered something incomprehensible. From what Mario heard, it sounded kind of like he said "Puck Two."

"Today's just not my day..." Link finally said after muttering some more things under his breath.

"You want me to move you to the couch over there?" Lucina asked.

"Please."

She picked him up bridal style and started walking over to Mario, when she accidentally slipped and dropped him again, causing him to groan again. "Oops."

"When he hangs out with you," Zelda muttered, feeling Link's broken arm, "It's never his day."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Lucario cleared his throat. "Um..." He said. "I think I sense people around us!"

Mario looked around. They were in a white room with a bunch of doors leading to other rooms. A bunch of boxes lay in one corner, a TV hung by the wall, and a couch lay in the middle of the room facing the TV. Currently they were in between the couch and the TV. "Where exactly are-a we?"

"Oh! A pile of boxes!" Ness yelled. He jumped into it and started building a fort. Villager followed.

"Well, wherever we are, it seems that the kids don't really care." Lucario mumbled. Looking over to the right, he saw a lone box in the corner, away from the rest of the boxes. "Hm? Why is this box all alone?" As he got closer, he could feel the aura of someone hiding inside it. "Gotcha!" He lifted the box to reveal Solid Snake, whose back was to him. He was chatting away on his codec about the taste of a corn snake. With a bit of tarantula on the side. Snake was pretty hardcore.

"Snake. Should've known." Lucario chuckled. "Hey, buddy! Get off the phone!"

Snake turned around. "Lucario? Zelda? Mario? What are you guys doing here?"

"Kept ya waiting, huh?" Lucario asked. MGS fans will get the reference. "We're here to get you out. Do you know where the others are?"

Snake got up. "Get us out? How?"

"Um... I'm not sure yet, actually." Lucario said.

"Great. Well, it looks like you've been kidnapped too, then. At least for now." Snake said.

"Is everyone else here?" Lucina asked.

"Yeah. Hold on, I'll call them." He went on his codec and mumbled something. In a few seconds, everyone who was kidnapped earlier were busting through the doors and spilling into the room.

"Toon Link!" Ness yelled, running to his friend. He rushed at him, a box over his head. The collision was not pretty.

Luigi ran towards Mario and started swinging him around, tears in his eyes. "Marioooooo!" He yelled happily.

Now, I could dictate the rest of the happy reunions, but it would take a while. So I won't.

"I can't believe it!" Nana squealed. "SherLucario and his pals are here to save us!"

"Um... About that." Lucario said, scratching his head. "We sorta don't have a way out." A collective gasp grew throughout the crowd.

"We... We don't?" Mario asked. "What do you-a mean we don't?"

"Well, I had no idea what would be on that portal! I certainly didn't think we'd end up in a black hole that led to this place! Hey... Wait a minute... The black hole!" Lucario looked up at the black hole from whence they came and jumped towards it. When he reached it, he bounced off it as if it was just painted onto the ceiling.

"I already tried that." Said Pit. "Didn't work."

"Hmm... What about that door over there?" Lucario said. "I didn't see anybody come to here through that one. What's in it?"

"Ohh no, you don't want to try that door. It shocks anybody who touches it. We can't blow it up either." Snake said.

"It shocks whoever touches it, eh?" Lucario smiled. "Well, we just happened to have brought an electric Pokemon with us. Pikachu, get over here!"

Pikachu walked over to him and Snake with a confused look on its face.

"Can you open that door over there?" Lucario asked. Pikachu walked over the the door and reached for the door handle. When it touched the doorknob, Pikachu was not blown back from the electricity, which gave Snake and Lucario hope. However, the electric Pokemon's stubby hands weren't enough to twist the door handle.

Pikachu looked back dejectedly. "Pika..." This is why the Pokemon house had little doggy doors.

Lucario sighed. "Well, I guess that's not going to work."

"Hmm..." Snake said. "What else could we do?" Their train of thought was interrupted by a loud outburst from Link.

"Ahhhhh! OWOWOWOWOWWW!" Link pulled his broken arm away from Peach, who was trying to mend it. Zelda, Marth, and Pit were there as well to lend their support.

"Oh, shush!" Peach said. "With this Hot Spring Water that Palutena gave me from her own personal hot spring, and my heart power, your arm will be healed in no time!"

"That reminds me... Where is Palutena? Wasn't she trapped on Mt. Silver along with the rest of the smashers? Now that I think about it... Not all of the smashers are here! Where are they?" Zelda asked

Peach shook her head. "I dunno. They're probably back at the city."

Link gritted his teeth. "Um... Guys? What about my arm?"

Peach gasped. "Oh right! If you drink this water while I'm rubbing your broken arm, it should get healed. It'll be painful for a few minutes, but when it's healed, you should be unable to feel pain for a few minutes!"

"Why's that?" Link asked.

"It's because the hot spring water heals whoever gets into it. Drinking it intensifies the effect, but is painful for mortals to do. This is also from Palutena's personal hot spring, so it's even more special."

"Ok... She doesn't... Bathe in this water, does she?" Link said, holding the small vial of golden water in his hand.

"Um... Just drink the water." Peach said. She took the vial from him, and in one swift motion, shoved the drink down his throat.

Lucario turned to Snake. "Did you hear that? After the full effects of the hot spring water are in effect, Link will be invulnerable to damage for a little bit! We could get him to open the door then!"

Snake nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. We just have to wait now."

Link gulped down the drink. "So... I'm supposed to be in pain now? I don't feel any different- OH SHOOT, THERE IT IS!OWOWOWOWOW!"

After five minutes of agonizing pain, Link could feel his pain subsiding. He opened his eyes and sat up, gasping.

"Wow. That was... Intense." Link panted. "But... My arm feels better! Aw, thank you so much!"

"Hey, glad to see you're back in action!" Pit said. "Now we can have our rematch!"

Ike laughed. "And now we can finish our hand-wrestling competition."

Link chuckled nervously. "Um..."

Lucario walked over to them. "Link, I'm glad your arm is feeling better. You said that the water from the hot springs would make you unable to feel pain for a little bit, is that correct?"

Link shook his head, "Oh yeah! Let's see if it's true..." He punched himself in the gut as hard as he could. "I didn't feel anything! That's so cool!"

Lucario continued. "In that case, could you open that door over there? It shocks whoever tries to touch it, and Pikachu can't turn the doorknob with those stubby little arms of his."

Link nodded. "Sure. Let's see that door..." He walked up to the door and put his hand on the doorknob. Lucario sighed with relief when Link didn't fly away. Instead, the Lightning surged around his body, making him seem suspiciously like a Super Saiyan 2. Everyone watched the hero in anticipation as he twisted the doorknob and, to everyone's happiness, opened the door. "Got it!"

"FREEDOM!" Pit yelled. He pushed through Link and ran through the door before anyone else could react. Lucario ran after him.

"Pit, wait!" He stepped through the door and was met with...