Elsewhere in the woods, another Smasher awakens...
Robin found himself in a completely blackened area, devoid of any features. As he found himself in here, he then realized he was dreaming, but he knew from the start of this this was no ordinary dream. As he looked around, however, the light returned around him and with it many things were then evident. As the light shined on it, he knew he was in a battle-scarred wasteland, with craters left and right, as well as several stray flames. As he looked closer, Robin then noticed there were several fist-sized trophies strewn across the area, which look just like his fellow smashers. His calm outlook easily turned into a worrisome demeanor, and his breath went from a slow pace to a panicked huff.
"Gods... w-what happened here?" Robin quivered. As he moved forward, however, he kicked over a trophy, but as soon as he looked down to see just what he kicked over, he then immediately froze when that trophy was none other than Lucina. As he was trying to understand just what was going on, he then finally escaped from this nightmare and woke up...
What followed was him waking up with his back to a tree of sorts. When his eyes opened, he then took note of some large, orange humanoid over by a creek that is looking through a bag of sorts. After trying to figure out just what this thing was, Robin realized that his bag was not there at his side, which lead to him taking a look at the creature's bag he is holding, he could only conclude that it is his bag that the orange creature was looking through.
"Hey! Put my bag down!" Robin then shouted. The creature snapped around and took notice of it's unwary victim, finally awake. The creature gave a shrill cry, then took a blade from the ground and charged towards Robin. What followed was Robin, wasting no time, unsheathed his Levin sword and got up from against the tree, ready to defend himself. This creature then stopped dead in it's tracks and circled around Robin, looking for an opportunity to strike Robin.
"Take this!" Robin shouted, as he lifted the Levin sword high. What followed was several bolts of lightning coming out of the air and striking this creature down to the ground, with it screeching in pain.
"Phew, at least I stoppe-" Robin was about to finish when the creature's corpse suddenly burst in a purple cloud of smoke. As he tried to wrap his head around just what exactly happened, he went and picked up the bag that the creature dropped and put the few baubles and items he had stored in it away in from the ground.
"Hmm... not quite the awakening I was looking for..." He then said, as he looked around the forest's surroundings. He was rather confused as to where to go, as this was no forest he was familiar with. After some searching from the spot he struck down the creature from, he found a dirt road with flat stones strewn in it, concluding that this could be a path to civilization. He then got onto the path and analyzed a few footprints on the path, noting that some of them are heading towards where the sun is currently at in the sky (East). Robin then went ahead and followed where the footprints were pointing, but not without a doubt that he could be heading the wrong way...
The journey along the path was rather dull, with Robin looking at the sky most of the time. As he was making a right turn on the track, though, he noticed a rather large bulb in the ground off near the path. As he approached, the smell went absolutely rancid, and was rather unbearable for Robin's nose. When he got close to the flower, and prodded it with his bronze sword, it suddenly sprang up and sprouted legs. It was then evident that this supposed plant was actually sentient, with a rather brain-dead look on it's real face. Robin was taken aback by this sudden realization that this bulb was alive and scurried back along the trail, all the while that the live bulb was running from the opposite direction as he was. Robin then took the chance to catch his breath, because that smell was absolutely horrid and he absolutely needed the fresh air.
"What is with this place!?" Robin asked himself, as his calm walk went to a rather fast pace.
The walking continued until he found a sign on the road, with a split in the path. As Robin looked, one of the signs that pointed to his right that could not be deciphered due to the elements wearing the text away, while the other one was in a barely legible text that said 'Bram Fort'. Robin was still not too sure just where that road with the unreadable sign lead to, so he thought he might get help from whatever was in charge of this Bram Fort.
After what seemed to be a rather short walk, the fortress was to the left, with a dirt road leading inside. The gate itself was open, but with a few pieces of wood strew around, almost charred. Robin knew some battle went down here, but when he looked at the turrets of the fort, he noticed there were no soldiers, let alone people. He then walked into the fort, with his trusty Thunder tome out, ever watchful for a threat that could attack at any minute. The fortress from the inside of it's walls looked even more run-down than the outside, and there was even more blackened bits of wood left and right. Robin took a chance to identify a few of the trees around the area as well, and they actually looked rather burned as well. Something must have really torn this place down, but what kind of force would have use this much firepower against a small fort like this. Robin then made his way to a door that leaded into the fortress proper, and then opened it, using quite a bit of strength to open the heavy, oaken door.
As Robin walked in, he saw some torches that were lit, which removed all doubt that this fortress was not occupied. "But just what could be here?" Robin thought as he unsheathed his Bronze sword in tandem to holding his Thunder tome in his left hand and continued along the path. As he walked, he smelled something like smoke, which he thought might have came from the torches, but it smelled far stronger, as if something was actually ablaze for a second. Robin's head raced as to what would make such a strong scent of smoke, and continued on as he was pondering the possibilities.
As he made a left turn from a corridor, he found himself in another hallway, with a door on the end of it. Robin knew he had to keep pressing on to see if there were any survivors... When he reached that large, wooden door, he turned around, and saw something looking straight at him, which caused him to freeze on the spot.
"What are you doing here!?" A figure that was looking at Robin roared. This figure had his head hidden under a red hood, with only a set of orange eyes that was looking directly at Robin and sizing him up.
"Oh... my apologies. You see, sir, I was lost in the woods, and needed help..." Robin then explained, trying to seem like he was not some intruder.
"I don't give a damn, just leave this fort and be on your way!" The figure shouted. As the robed man was scolding Robin, he took note of something on Robin's hand... a mark of sorts that Robin had as long as he remembered. With this, the hooded man's voice went from a slight pinch of anger to a particularly venomous tone.
"Hmm... you seem to have a specific destiny..." This hooded man said, still sizing up Robin...
"W-what? Me?" Robin then said.
"I don't exactly know just what was in store for you when you were born, but I am so, terribly sorry... I cannot let you leave now..." The hooded main said.
"So what, are you going to try and kill me now? I am sorry, but that is not happening!" Robin retorted.
"Bwahahaha... young boy, you do not realize just what power I have..." This hooded man said. As soon as he said that, he outstretched his hands in the air, with a particular red stone in his hand. As this hand was stretched, this robed figure suddenly transformed from his current form to a monstrous looking dragon with scales of red. Robin knew just what he gotten himself into when he laid eyes on this dragon... and reacted accordingly, by staring in awe at the fearsome creature that materialized before him.
"Burn!" The dragon roared, as a orange light welled up in his mouth. Robin, who had to act quick to avoid being burned, opened the door he was going to open and closed it immediately. As he shut the door, the dragon launched a fiery burst of flames that struck the door Robin just closed. The wooden door simply could not take this fiery attack and immediately charred away in flames. Robin ran to the left and hid behind a dinner table, trying to figure out just how his luck would turn out for him to have a murderous dragon chasing him.
"Damn me, why does this have to happen!?" Robin then murmured as he got out the thunder tome, and was charging up an attack for his favored spell, Thoron. As the pages in the tome flipped by themselves, as by magic, the ball of lightning in his hand went from a yellow spark to a orange ball, which then cycled to a orange-red color and eventually to a white ball of lightning. "Perfect, Now I am ready." He then whispered to himself.
"Bwahahahaha, you cannot hide, not from a Dragon!" The dragon then shouted as he crawled out of the opening where the door was, into a mess hall area. As soon as the dragon looked to the left, he saw Robin, who was standing there, behind the dinner table with his hand crackling with electricity.
"I am not letting you get the best of me! THORON!" Robin then shouted and he extended his arm and from it came forth a beam of pure lightning. The dragon was immediately struck from the blow and grunted in pain before getting back on even footing.
"Grah! You pest, you will pay for that!" The red dragon then grunted as he lurched forward and swiped his claw at Robin. Even though Robin did his best to dodge, he was too late, as the dragon struck him on the side, sending him hurling sideways into a door, which broke upon impact.
"Urgh, I can't lose... not like this!" Robin groaned as he got back on his feet, still aching from the impact he received from the claw and the door. He then kept running from the dragon in an attempt to formulate a plan. As he looked for places to hide, he realized there were no such curtains, or any other hiding place among the fortress. "Ugh, guess I gotta keep running..." He thought as he swiftly made his way through the fort. He just knew he was not prepared to face that dragon, not in this kind of position, so what other choice did he have but to run away and find a plan? After taking a right turn, he appeared to have made it to a dead end, with only a door in the way. "This better lead to someplace to hide or I am as good as gone!" Robin then huffed, as he opened the door.
When he entered the room, he saw a few assessment of chests which were closed. Unfortunately, this room indeed lead to a dead end, which caused Robin's heart to drop. As he looked around for a place to hide, he saw an ornate blue tome sitting on a podium in the front. Seeing no other options before he sets up a last defense to fight for his life, he grabs it, and sees just what he had obtained, a tome, unlike anything he has seen in his world. The tome itself was a bright blue, but with the image of a series of crystals embedded on it, which gave the book a mysterious look.
Robin peruses the tome as he backs up the the wall of the room where the door was, to at least stay hidden if the dragon barges in here. After a few seconds of looking, he then know just what kind of tome he has gotten...
It looked to be just the thing he needed to slay this dragon for good.
"Alright, time's up, now it's frying time!" The dragon then bellowed as he smashed the door down to the room robin was in. Robin then decides to get up in front of the dragon from his hiding spot and confront it head-on. "Hehe, decided to fight like a man, eh?" The dragon then sneered. "Bah, I guess it's time that you now die like a man!"
"I don't think so, dragon." Robin then shouted as he opened the tome he got from the podium and outstretched his hand, while a bone-chilling mist emanated from it.
"What? You fool, how dare you turn one of my hard earned treasures against me!" The dragon then shouted as he then breathed in, as to scorch Robin in his seething flames.
Robin was done preparing the spell he had and unleashed it at his full power.
"You're finished! FIMBULVETR!" Robin then shouted. As he shouted those words, a mighty blizzard wracked the whole room, seemingly out of thin air, before a maelstrom of ice, snow, and wind engulfed the dragon. As he struggled in it, a crystal of ice suddenly enveloped over the dragon, with him feeling the searing pain of the chill (Which his Fire dragon blood could not take), until he was completely frozen. As the spell ended, the ice shattered, dropping the now dead dragon on the floor, as it slowly reverted back to it's humanoid shape.
"Gods, I actually killed him..." Robin then panted, as he checked the corpse to make sure he was truly dead. He then identified this man as a Manakete, a person who could transform into a dragon with the aid of a dragonstone, which he assumed was the orange stone he was holding when he transformed. Robin never thought he'd have to fight one, let alone by himself with no aid from anybody else. He was just glad he did not end up falling victim to it's fiery rage...
As he looked around the room, he found something unusual on a table in the corner of the room, right out of view from the door.
"No..."
This object was a trophy, the same ones from his dream.
This one looked to be wearing a green hat and blue overalls, which looked similar to the attire Mario wore. He then knew that this was Luigi, who must have fell victim to that dragon that had the run of the fort. Robin, without thinking, grabbed the trophy and clutched it tight, before the trophy transformed into a mote of light which fell on the floor.
Back at the world where the smashers lived, being turned into a trophy was almost like death. A smasher's soul was turned into a trophy once they lost their life force in order to keep them from truly dying for real. The process of reverting a trophy back to a smasher was simple, since all another person had to do was clutch a trophy tight, and focus their mind on reviving the smasher from their inert state.
As it fell, it suddenly changed shape to the form of Luigi, until at last, Luigi was back on the floor... screaming...
"AHHHH! AHHHHH! AHHHH! AHHHHH!" Luigi screamed, thinking he was still in pain. When he realized he was not ablaze, he looked at Robin. He then grabbed Robin's legs and started sobbing pathetically, clearly traumatized.
"Luigi, calm down, it's fine... But tell me, what were you doing here?" Robin asked of Luigi.
Luigi stopped whining enough to speak to Robin, albeit in a cringing voice. "W-w-well... I woke up in the woods, fount a fortress, and found this room in it..." Luigi then explained. "And as I was looking around, a voice called me a thief and suddenly I was staring down a big dragon" Luigi added.
"Ok, go on..."
"And suddenly, I was being thrown around like nobody's business! I was not sure what to do!" Luigi then said.
"So, you did fight back, right?" Robin asked.
"N-no..." Luigi then said.
"Wait, You did not even fight back? Not even a single punch or fireball was thrown?" Robin responded, rather miffed at Luigi's choice of action
"What was I supposed to do!? He was big and I was little!"
"Then again, I don't blame him, this dragon was rather frightening, especially to somebody who has not even experiences something like this..." Robin thought to himself...
"I'm sorry..." Luigi Lamented. Suddenly there was footsteps outside the room. Footsteps that decidedly belong to two people...
"Quick, Luigi, with me!" Robin then whispered as he dragged Luigi behind the wall holding the door. As the door opened he heard a voice coming from outside... a rather familiar voice...
"Mama Mia! It's-It's-It's!" A familiar voice shouted
"Yeah, Mario. A corpse..." Another said.
"That voice..." Luigi whispered. "Mario!" He then shouted, as he came out of hiding, in front of the door.
"L-L-Luigi!" Mario then said, as Luigi came towards Mario, and gave him a great hug, overjoyed that he could finally be reunited with his brother. Mario then just simply hugged back, patting the sobbing Luigi.
"It's fine, little brother, I am here for you." Mario then said softly.
"Uh, sorry to interrupt this reunion, but where did you come from?" Robin asked Link and Mario, who was busy letting Luigi have a moment... Robin then thought he should just let Luigi go for a little bit, he was clearly scared out of his wits and seeing Mario alive did help him win back his confidence... for now at any rate...
"But I can't figure it out..." Robin then thought to himself. "Just what was with that dream?"
And with that another chapter is finished! Stay tuned for Chapter 3!