Hey Guys! Smashy's Back! Sorry for yet another long delay between chapters, but this has got to be the busiest January school-work wise in my career. Yup, School's to blame yet again. Who invented it anyways?

So, when we left off in Chapter 8, Yoshi and Olimar heard an argument, and plan to check it out.

So without further ado, it's time to answer reviews!

Colton: That would be something to behold. Will it happen? Wait and see. And thanks for the compliment. I do think my writing skills have improved since Chapter 1, and SSB: Survivor for that matter.

Bustman: . . . Well….Here's the update!

Ripper22: Good thing to know it can freak people out. That's the goal of the horror genre you see. XD Thanks for the support guys.

Smn08: Sorry, but I can't really fill out requests on who to keep alive. Maybe some of them will survive….Or not.

Silent Sands: Nice to know the story's popular enough to have an idiot come in and predict the upcoming events! That was a milestone right there! LULZ, just joking around. Hmm….I can't really say anything…..for obvious reasons, but that's an interesting theory right there.

So….Without further ado, here's Chapter 9 of Engulfed by Evil! Right after the disclaimer!

…Eh, what the heck. Crazy Hand, even though you'll probably do something erratic, do the disclaimer.

Crazy Hand: *twitching violently while flying in circles around one of Snake's Cardboard Boxes* SmashEd owns everything in the Smash Universe! *cackles wildly before slamming into a wall* But not any of the Gaming Companies mentioned here!

I knew I should've picked Master Hand…..

Sunday, March 9th, 2008- 5:13 AM- Dining Hall

Olimar and Yoshi were sitting together at the far end of the long table, the only ones awake. Olimar's left arm was limp, because it was just a sleeve. He was munching on a PikPik Carrot, with his arm inside his helmet….somehow. Yoshi was gulping down a Watermelon, continuing his meal: A Giant Bowl of various fruits. Both glanced out a nearby window; some snowflakes began to fall steadily.

"So I suppose once we're finished we'll wait until everyone wakes up before leaving. No point in drawing suspicions." Olimar stated, before munching on another PikPik Carrot. Yoshi just nodded, as he was busy feasting on an Orange. The Yoshis are big fruit lovers.

Just then, a drowsy Diddy Kong wobbled in, fur fluffed out, his eyes half open. He tiredly took a banana from a plate on the table, and plopped down next to Yoshi, still half-asleep.

"Morning Diddy!" Yoshi greeted, in between apples. Diddy's eyes opened fully, and he peeled open his semi-ripe banana.

"Hey guys." Diddy grunted as he took a bite out of his banana.

"Did Meta Knight say anything about when he would check out the hallway?" Olimar asked the chimp.

"Already left." Diddy replied, to the surprise of Olimar and Yoshi.

"Already Left?" Olimar repeated. Diddy nodded.

"Said he wanted to do it at night so no one would follow him. I told him that the murderer might be up and about, but he told me not to worry, that he could escape. With that cape of his, it probably was the truth." Diddy explained, before sighing in exhaustion. Right as Diddy sighed, who else but Meta Knight would walk into the room, causing the trio to jolt in surprise.

"So, what did you find?" Diddy asked the Knight who was covered in his purple cloak.

"A lot of things actually." The knight began ominously.

". . . Like?" Diddy asked the knight.

"Blood. There were droplets in the walls. By the looks of things, Snake could've taken a one-hit KO to the nose or chin." Meta Knight informed the trio.

"Anything else?" Olimar asked him.

"Nothing on the 5th floor no." As the knight finished his sentence, he stared long and hard into Olimar's and Yoshi's eyes. The glare from the ominous yellow eyes scared Yoshi and Olimar; it was as if Meta Knight was reading something.

"I suppose you 2 heard the fight as well?" Meta Knight questioned them. Yoshi blinked in surprise, while Olimar gulped.

"How did you?"

"All in your eyes. That, and the fact I heard it as well. At about 11:30, 10 minutes after I heard the 3rd floor argument, I arrived at the location."

"What argument?" Diddy asked this being all new to him.

"That is the question. I found more blood. A window was partially cracked as well." Meta Knight continued to inform them of his findings. "This is why you don't wander at night." Meta Knight stared into Olimar's eyes solely this time. "Nobody. Whoever the argument involved, they're keeping it to themselves. Everyone is accounted for, besides the missing Snake and Young Link of course, so both must've returned."

"Well, there goes today's plan…." Diddy murmured referring to him checking out the 5th floor hallway.

"Continue your investigations with caution. It is only a matter of time before he starts murdering us in the day. Jigglypuff was an exception. He intended to wipe out all but those with quick reactions yesterday. It is a miracle she was the only one killed. Good luck." Meta Knight finished. With that, he wrapped himself in his cape and vanished.

"Why does he always do that?" Olimar asked. Suddenly, Meta Knight re-appeared across the room, next to the Kitchen doors.

"It is a very convenient transportation method." The knight replied. He then entered the kitchen, leaving the 3 alone once more.

"I wonder if he has any spares." Olimar pondered to himself. After a moment of silence, Diddy spoke.

"I'm going back to bed." He yawned as he left the room.

"I'm serious about the cape thing."

"He'll never give you one." Yoshi replied bluntly.

8:00 AM- Hallways

Yoshi dusted off his shirt as he looked upon his repacked room. It looked just as it always had, the walls painted a vibrant green and white, in an egg pattern for obvious reasons. His shelves were filled with pictures of him, Peach, Mario, and Luigi over the years. He even had his own refrigerator, 'To keep him from starving the rest of us' Master Hand had said. There were other trinkets throughout the room as well, and Yoshi marveled at his success. Out his window, the snow kept coming, it finally coating the ground and trees.

"Yoshi sweet home…." Yoshi stated as he clicked the door shut. The loveable green creature than gleefully traversed the hallway, in his usual cheerful mood. Nobody really knew how Yoshi kept his high spirits through every waking moment, but that Yoshi always did. He was never often seen in sorrow; the main exception being his failure to prevent the murder of DK.

As he walked through an intersection of two hallways, Yoshi was nearly trampled by the stampede of the young smashers: Kirby, Lucas, Pichu, Pikachu, Popo, Nana, and even some of Olimar's Pikmin, all decked in winter gear. The youngins obviously were going to play in the snow. Yoshi sighed sadly as he remembered Ness and Young Link being part of that bunch.

Yoshi then slid down a nearby banister, making his way down to the floor below him.

8:05 AM- Olimar's Room

As the aging Hocotatian turned off the Sparkling machine, a small knock made Olimar quickly turn to his door. It was Diddy Kong wearing his usual clothing, except his T-Shirt had been exchanged for a similar shirt with longer sleeves.

"How do you feel like checking out the basement?" Diddy offered out of the blue. Olimar knew that Diddy was dead set on solving the case, but so did everyone else. Olimar always feared that Diddy would get himself killed, but also feared that if Diddy continued to work 24/7, that his mental wellbeing would crumble too.

"I know you want to solve this Diddy, but…..don't you think you should rest for a while?" Olimar countered.

Diddy shrugged. It seemed like he himself didn't even know the answer.

"Well I think you do." Olimar glanced out of his window to see the young smashers having a snowball fight. In the 5 minute span, it seemed like another inch had accumulated on the ground. He then walked to Diddy and put his arm around his shoulder. "How about you, me, and Yoshi teach those little ones how you start a REAL snowball fight?"

Diddy stared at Olimar, confused at first but finally gave in. "Fine." Diddy then raised his voice and grinned. "But only if DeDeDe gets in on this action. With him, we'll be unstoppable." Olimar grinned at this as well.

"I actually have a White Spacesuit that I can use to blend in with the snow. Camouflage." Olimar announced. "You get Yoshi and DeDeDe, I'll get my army." Both friends nodded. Before the whole murderer's spree, Olimar and Diddy had never been really close, as they had two completely different backgrounds. But since the murders began, they somehow had, odd to say, bonded. It was quite a curious development, but the two never really spoke of it.

Diddy then shut the door behind him. Olimar mentally hoped that this would calm Diddy down a bit. He really needed it.

9:07 AM- 'No Man's Land'

The large field behind the smash mansion was a plain of smooth undisturbed snow. It looked somewhat like an ocean, with the field's various hills causing the snow to bank upwards and downwards, like waves. With all the young smashers in the mansion, it was very hard to believe the snow was still in its undisturbed state. Well, most of it anyway. There was a medium sized pile of snow, somewhat resembling a small fort, far away from the smash mansion. On the other side of the field, a Red Pikmin's head popped out from under the snow. To his right came a Purple pikmin, to Red's Left, a Yellow. The three solo pikmin moved forward sneakily, barely standing out from the snowy background.

The three pikmin advanced twenty feet or so. The fort still lay about 150 feet away, and the pikmin stopped. A larger figure emerged from the snow, his 'stalk' slightly glowed a clear white color. Olimar scanned the field silently, looking for any other signs of life. A Brown lump emerged from the snow next to him, and stood up straight.

"You're taking this a bit far." Diddy observed, as Olimar rolled ahead on top of the snow.

"Get down!" Olimar hushed. "You stick out like a sore thumb!" Diddy, rolling his eyes, ducked down, with his hat barely visible.

"They all probably left. It's freezing." Diddy groaned, as Olimar continued moving ahead.

"That's what they want us to think." Olimar winked as Diddy groaned and followed him. "Yoshi and DeDeDe are advancing behind them, so we'll surround them."

"Four on Six. Bright idea." Diddy observed as the duo grew within twenty feet of the eerie fort.

As Diddy finished, a white sphere flew between the Yellow and Red pikmin, kicking up some snow as it landed.

"I told you to get down!" Olimar whispered angrily, as two more spheres nearly took out Olimar's Purple Pikmin. The three pikmin yelped in fear as they vanished under the snow, reappearing next to Olimar. They stared at him with wide terrified eyes, like they were asking him for advice.

"Red, go back to our fort. Assemble the army and come back here." Olimar stated, as another snowball barely missed Diddy's tail. The Red Pikmin nodded and ran off, disappearing into the blizzard.

"So, what now?" Diddy asked as he packed some snow in between his hands.

"Fire!" Olimar ordered. The two pikmin he had fired tiny snowballs, the size of a pea at the fort. They hit their mark, but obviously did no harm. As Diddy fired his snowball unenthusiastically, yet another slushy projectile hit Olimar's stalk, causing him to duck in cover.

"You think you can best us!?" Popo was heard from inside the fort. "We're the Ice Climbers! Ice and Snow is our territory!"

"Popo, we're best at Climbing." Nana was also heard. "That's why we're called the Ice Climbers, not the Ice Hurlers or some other stupid title."

" . . . Why do you have to be so technical Nana!?" Popo replied angrily. Suddenly, light snow, similar to powder, flew into the air on the other side of the fort. "Man down, man down!"

"Pichu!" Pikachu was heard over the wind, which was steadily increasing.

"Yes!" Olimar cheered silently, enough for only Diddy and his two pikmin to hear. "DeDeDe."

"Pie, pie, pie, pie, pie, pie, pie, pie, pie!" DeDeDe said, similar to machine gun rounds as snowballs flew at the Young Smashers' fort. DeDeDe and Yoshi came into view as Yoshi ran to Olimar.

"DeDeDe nailed Pichu with a huge snowball!" Yoshi chattered, as he was quickly getting cold in the blizzard. "Went straight through their wall!" Yoshi's teeth chatter grew even louder as a gust of wind blew through the field.

"You alright?" Diddy asked Yoshi.

"Well let's see, Olimar's in his suit, you have fur, and DeDeDe is a penguin! Of COURSE I'm freezing! Let's just get this over with so I can get some Cocoa!"

"Pika Pika pikachu!" Pikachu cried as he launched a slushy snowball at Yoshi, which hit him dead on in the nose. The watery snowball drenched his face, so now he was even colder.

"I….hate….the cold…." Yoshi mumbled as he fell back onto the snow.

"Snow is fun!" DeDeDe stated dumbly as he launched another snowball into the fort, which apparently hit Lucas right in the face, due to the cries of:

"Lucas!" "Ouch. Right in the face too…." "Wouldn't want to be him." "Pika."

"We're winning!" Olimar chirped. Diddy just stared at him.

"You are REALLY creepin' me out Olimar."

Olimar shrugged. "This is only my second…'Snowball Fight' in my lifetime. Hocotate is a desert planet, so we never get this….'snow'."

"That still doesn't give you the excuse to act like a snow-obsessed maniac."

"Snow is fun, snow is fun, snow if fu-huh-huh-huh-hun!" DeDeDe chanted giddily as he continued to fire snow piercing snowballs at the Young Smashers and their fort which started to look like Swiss cheese.

"And you said I'm a snow-obsessed maniac." Olimar said, rolling his eyes.

Behind them, numerous small cried were heard as the Pikmin army, probably about 150 Pikmin in total, charged across the field, turning the white snow into a vibrant rainbow of color.

"Here comes the calvary!" Olimar yelled as he pulled Diddy out of the way of the pikmin stampede. The pikmin swarmed the fort, many entering through the holes DeDeDe made with his snowballs. All the pikmin had snowballs, and even though they were tiny, they add up.

The four watched the rainbow colored fort as cried of pain echoed from inside the fort, and after several minutes, the assault stopped, and a white flag waved from inside.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu yelled out.

That would roughly translate to 'We surrender!'

"Hooray!" Olimar cheered as his pikmin 'de-swarmed' the fort.

"154 to 6. Real fair." Nana mumbled as she shook the snow off her parka.

To that, Olimar just shrugged.

"What can I say? Those pikmin love snowball fights." Olimar stated sheepishly.

The 6 young smashers then threw snowballs at Olimar, which clunked him in the helmet, causing him to lose his balance and fall over into the snow. The 6 ran inside, leaving the 154 outside in the blizzard.

Olimar wiped the snow off his helmet.

"Sore losers." Olimar mumbled.

"Hey….Guys?" Yoshi chattered, he still freezing because of his lack of warmth.

"What?"

". . . Haven't you noticed the snow is red?"

Olimar and Diddy looked down to the snow. There was a trail of red snow. It seemed to begin where Olimar fell, and trailed off for about 35 feet.

"….Blood red." Diddy stated, wide-eyed. "Oh boy."

"I suppose we must follow it." Olimar groaned, as he obviously did not want to find the source of the blood. Yoshi, Diddy and Olimar ran, following the trail of blood as DeDeDe, and the 150 pikmin tried to catch up.

The blood trail ended with a slight bulge in the snow, with the slightest hint of red.

Diddy swiped some of the snow off with his tail, and instantly jumped in shock. Below the ice and snow, the mutilated carcass of the Murder's latest victim lay, frozen blood still oozing out of their wounds……

END, OF, CHAPTER!!!!

Why the snowball fight? Why the snow? I just wanted to make a snowball fight in the story. IT'S MY STORY, NOT YOURS.

Heh. So, I say this was a decent chapter if I do say so myself. I hope the wait was worth it. If not, I am sorry, for I shall try to follow it up with a CHILLING Chapter 10.

Puns. Who could live without 'em?

So anyways: Why didn't the smashers notice the blood sooner? Is Snow in the 5-Day Forecast? Who got murdered? And Does Diddy want a Banana?

Those questions and more shall be answered in Chapter 10 of Engulfed By Evil!!!