Ace: Now Isa and crew are getting near Runi's base! Alright! But... Never mind. Here's the chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Super Smash Bros.

Chapter 19: The Maze

Isa

"So... You're telling me that Link and Pit managed to beat Palutena," I said to Ike.

"Yep," Ike replied.

"You did help," Zelda pointed out as she healed me.

"How does charging like a psychopath at a Goddess count as helping?"

"While she was distracted with you, Link and I attacked," Pit exclaimed.

I sighed. "I messed up. I wasn't strong enough to fight her- at least, mentally. I was also drained."

"Does it have something to do with the dragon tattoo?" Link asked.

I buried my face in my hands. "Go ahead and laugh. And it's not a tattoo! It's a magic seal!" I snapped.

Mizuneko put a cool cloth to my forehead. "You're stressed out. Relax."

I stood up and walked off. "Don't fuss over me. I'm fine. We need to hurry and defeat Runi."

"Isa, you need our help," Marth pointed out. "If you go alone, you might meet Takahiro's fate..."

I winced. I heard Marth get punched and Roy mutter, "Nice going. You set her off."

I winced again. Turning around, I looked at Marth. "I'm sorry... It's just that- It's just that my life is hard right now. My brother's dead, my nemesis wants my powers, my friends have bad luck surrounding them, and I could die."

Pit walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I once get turned into a eggplant and tempura shrimp- in less than twenty minutes. Add a cranky Palutena, Viridi, an angry boss after me, and some monsters in the mix, and I had the same problems as you."

Surprisingly, I laughed. "I doubt that the monsters could get lost in a paper bag."*

"Want to bet?" Pit asked.

Diana got between us. "We can talk about this later. I think I know a shortcut to the location Lila showed us. Follow me."

...

After several minutes of walking through the woods, I leaned closer to Marth. "She seems suspicious. How did she suddenly know about this?"

"That's not normal," Marth replied. "Unless she happened to-"

"Stop gossiping," Roy snapped. "We can't afford for that to happen if we meet the enemy."

I glared at Roy, but he didn't see it.

"We're almost there," Diana declared.

After five minutes of aimlessly walking through the forest, we suddenly entered a giant clearing.

A giant green castle stood before us. It was ten stories high, and was as wide as Smash Manor.

"That's definitely Runi's style. He loves the color green," I said.

Link nodded. "Weird choice, but regardless, let's continue forward."

"You mean through the maze?" Dark Pit asked.

A gigantic labyrinth loomed ahead if us. It was black and covered in vines, creeping me out slightly.

"This makes things twice as hard," Mizuneko meowed.

"We're adventurers," Diana said. "It shouldn't be that big of a deal."

"I might be slightly insane," I murmured as I walked up to Diana, "but even I know that something bad is going to happen. We need to make sure that it's safe to enter."

Diana huffed. "Says the girl who didn't last long against Palutena."

"Hey, I may have lost to her, but I'm not about to waltz into a maze full of monsters and die!"

Diana blinked. "Monsters?"

I pointed to the maze. Several Primids, along with what looked like Porky Minch and Petey Piranha, were patrolling the maze.

"Oh? Are you scared?" Diana sneered.

I glared at her. "Sanity declares that we make sure that it looks safer to enter!"

"But don't you want to save the world?" Diana countered.

"I-"

"That's enough!" Zelda stood between us. "Both of you shut up! We are going to investigate the way Diana said, and don't you dare argue, Isabela!"

I stumbled back in shock. I cast a glance to the others, and they were glaring at me- even Mizuneko was. Only Marth, Ike and Dark Pit were giving me concerned looks.

"All right Zelda... You win." I said. Then I blinked. Apparently my Scottish accent reappeared.

This is getting out control quickly, I thought to myself.

With a huff, Diana led the group to the maze. I reluctantly followed at a distance.

Ike stopped for me. "You okay?"

"If you call that being okay," I said sadly.

Ike sighed. "As a warrior, you had the sense to make a plan. That's admiring."

"It was Hiro's logic that he drilled into my head. I occasionally listen to it."

Ike looked towards the castle. "Rushing into the maze is a bad idea."

"Agreed."

"Ahhhhh!" Zelda screamed.

I snapped into focus. "What the-" I dashed towards the others with Ike following.

The Galloem had grabbed Roy, Zelda, and Marth, and the others were kicked to the side. With a metal cackle it disappeared into the maze.

"Zelda!" Link screamed.

"Marth! Roy!" I yelled as I reached the others. Seeing that there were only minor bruises on the others, I did the only thing I could think of, despite it being the last thing I had wanted to do. I dashed into the maze, screaming Marth's name out.

Ace: Isa should have smacked Diana at that point. Then again, her adrenaline kicked in, so naturally she wants to save Marth...

Notes:

*Isa has a lot of mood swings lately, so blame Seth's insanity curse for this.

I've been thinking of writing two spin-offs for Warriors of Smash (although I'll keep updating it) Runi and his people won't appear, but Takahiro, Shiro, and Hiro will.

The first story will be about Toon Link's chronicles of the Smashers' daily lives. They all live in a hotel, and it is all about the craziness that comes from living there.

The other story will be about Marth waking up in another world… wearing an outfit that he dislikes. He'll fight armies, meet interesting people, travel with Ike… and see Isa wearing a fancy hat and suit and throwing sword-fighting parties with her brother Takahiro. Wait, did I seriously write that last part down? Yep.

I'll eventually put these stories online, and they are currently being worked on.

Until next time.

Ace