Super Smash Exam
"No Ron, I haven't gotten to your vacation request." I tell Ron over the phone.
"Bla bla bla bla bla." The phone babbles.
"Of course I'm not just pretending that I don't have it." I lie to him.
"Bla bla bla."
"Oh don't you take that tone with me!" I bark at him. "Ron, stop talking phone babble and do the disclaimer!" I order.
"Disclaimer: The author does not own the licensed characters or Game2002's characters, he does own his OC's and the story itself." Ron said coherently. "Bla bla bla bla."
"Bla bla bla bla bla bla!" I respond.
…It Ends Now…
"Who are these guys?" Y. Link asked.
"I don't know, I can't read anyone's mind here." Ness said.
"I have data about someone who uses a tactic like this." Helmet said.
"Who?" The Ice Climbers asked.
"They're a team of dupli-ghosts from the Mushroom Kingdom." Helmet said.
"Dupli-ghosts? Since when could dupli-ghosts do this?" Ness asked, noting the tons of copies.
"We can't sit here and ponder this while they're closing in on us!" Y. Link shouted. He rushed the nearest copies and began slashing through them, his sword simply passed through the copies without doing any harm. "Huh?"
"Why can't we hit them?!" Nana shouted while swinging her hammer at them, doing no damage whatsoever.
"Based on my information these dupli-ghosts have received special training. They not only do they have their typical transformation abilities, but they also use Magikoopa magic to create illusions of themselves." Helmet explained.
"Yeah, Mario mentioned that Magikoopas sometimes made illusions of themselves." Ness said. "But that means the real ones are in here somewhere."
"So what are we waiting for!?" Y. Link pulled out his boomerang and hurled it in to the crowd.
"Yeah! Hammer squall!" The Ice Climbers locked arms and began twirling around and around with their hammers outstretched.
"Wait guys! It's obvious they're wearing us down to…" Ness started.
"Oof!" Y. Link got hit in the back of the head by a ball of ice. "That couldn't have been an illusion!" Y. Link turned around and hurled his boomerang in that direction, but only hit illusions. "What?!"
"What's going on!?" Ness shouted.
"They must be hiding in the crowd and timing their attacks with the illusions." Helmet responded. "Whoa!" He had to duck underneath an arrow.
"Okay, where are you!?" Ness pulled out his yo-yo and began twirling it around in front of him.
"Oy… I guess this is the only thing we can do now…" Helmet sighed. Helmet rushed in to the illusions and began throwing punches and kicks everywhere.
"PK Thunder!" Ness fired an orb of electricity and guided it through the swarm of illusions, not having any luck hitting anyone.
"Try bombchus!" Y. Link set down devices that had mouse like masks on them. He wound them up and let them wander across the ground before they exploded.
"Blizzard!" The Ice Climbers let a blast of cold air fly from their palms freezing the ground but none of the illusions.
"Where are they?" Helmet asked out loud. "Oof!" An arrow flew in and struck Helmet in the shoulder.
"Hiyah!" Y. Link turned and gave his boomerang another throw.
WHACK
"OW!!" The boomerang nailed a Nana in the back of the head.
"Gotcha!" Y. Link jumped at the Nana he just hit.
"Wait you hit the real one!" Ness shouted. "OUCH!!
"Ha! I got one!" Popo shouted before throwing another block of ice at Ness.
"Wait I'm the real GAH!!"
"This is confusing." Helmet commented.
This series of misses and mistakes, hitting only copies and themselves as the sun began to rise over the horizon.
"Hoo… hoo…" Ness was trying to catch his breath.
"Whew… man…" Y. Link was also tired. As were the Ice Climbers and Helmet.
"Hee hee hee." Three dupli-ghosts came out of the bushes with smiles on their faces. "Man you guys made this easy."
"Yeah, we'll take your Smash Ball easily like this."
"Uh-oh…" Popo said.
"I'm too tired to put up a good fight." Helmet stated.
"Let's go!"
"…" Ness and Y. Link stared as the three dupli-ghosts ran forward.
"HIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!"
KABOOM
"WAH!!" They shouted when the ground suddenly exploded underneath them.
"Ha ha! It worked Ness!" Y. Link shouted.
"Huh?" Nana and Popo looked at Ness and Y. Link.
"Y. Link placed bombs underground while I used my PK powers to trigger them from here. Although it wasn't easy." Ness sighed.
"Oooooggg…" The three dupli-ghosts slowly staggered to their feet. "How did that happen?"
"Blizzard!"
"Huh?" The team of dupli-ghosts looked on either side of them to find Nana and Popo aiming their palms at them.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH
"Aw n-n-nuts." One of the dupli-ghosts said through chattering teeth. The Ice Climbers had encased the dupli-ghosts in blocks of ice, leaving only their heads exposed. "W-w-what d-do y-you w-want?" He continued to stutter due to being cold.
"We want your Smash Ball! What else would we want?" Y. Link asked.
"W-we d-don't h-have it."
"Hold on." Ness closed his eyes and focused. "Okay got it. That one is holding their Smash Ball, and it's the one we need." Ness said, pointing at the one to the right.
"What?! How'd he know!?" The particular one asked.
"You guys have practiced shielding your thoughts pretty well, but still I found a crack in your defenses." Ness said, waving a finger at them. "PK fire!" Ness fired a spark at the one he pointed at a moment ago.
"GAH!!" He shouted.
"I've got him!" Nana whacked him in the back of the head with her mallet and knocked him out.
"No!! Lenny!!" The other two shouted.
"His name is Lenny?" Popo asked.
"I've got it!" Y. Link shouted, holding out a Power Smash Ball.
"Well, that turned out to be easier than I thought." Helmet said. "Hmmmm… almost eleven o'clock." Helmet said.
"Wait… that means… okay twenty-four hours was up at eleven on the second day, then forty-eight, then seventy-two… and this will make ninety-six… Hey, we'll be a day earlier!" Ness said.
"Then why were we in such a rush a while ago?" Y. Link asked.
"Well if it weren't for Helmet we wouldn't have even thought about getting close to the tower to find our Smash Ball." Popo said.
"Yeah, thanks Helmet." Nana said happily.
"No really, the pleasure was mine." Helmet responded politely as the five of them walked off.
"Uh… guys? Hello?" One of the dupli-ghosts started.
"Lenny? You up buddy?" The last one asked his unconscious partner hopefully.
Later at the tower…
"Finally here!" Y. Link shouted.
"Here it is." Helmet said.
"Hey Helmet!"
"Hm?" The five of them turned around to find two other guys approaching. One of them had glasses, a cloth mask over his face, and a katana sheathed on his back. The other one had shades, a cloth mask like his partner's, and samurai armor on his body. "Oh hello."
"What took you?" The one with the sword asked.
"I got a little side-tracked." Helmet said as he went to join his team mates. "Oh, Ness, Y. Link, Nana, Popo. These are my teammates. This one goes by Sword." He said, pointing to the one with glasses. "And he goes by Armor." He said, pointing to the one with black shades. "Well, see you in the next exam." Helmet told them.
"See ya." Team Awesome responded before heading in to the closest tower door.
"So let's see." The four of them stepped in to the room and ended up in a small room. The room had a TV, a door that had bars locking it, and two slots large enough to fit two spherical objects, one was colored blue while the other was colored red.
"Huh? What's this about?" Y. Link asked.
"Hmmmm…" Popo looked at the slots. "Hey Nana, could you get the Power Smash Ball?"
"Sure." She said, taking it from Y. Link.
"Hey!" Y. Link said.
"Okay." Popo pulled out the Wisdom Smash Ball and turned to the blue slot. "Place the Power Smash Ball in that red slot."
"Oh I get it." Nana said.
"Oh…" Y. Link said.
"I wonder what it does exactly." Ness said with interest.
"…" The two Ice Climbers placed their respective Smash Balls in to the corresponding slots and backed away. The Smash Balls glowed for a minute, then some lines leading from the slots to the floor, and finally to the TV lit up. The TV began to give off an intense white glow.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING!?" Y. Link shouted while shielding his eyes.
"IT'S SO BRIGHT!!" Nana shouted.
"I CAN'T SEE!!" Ness shouted. The TV then flicked off and stayed black.
"Wait… that's it!?" Popo asked.
"That was anti-climactic." Ness commented.
"SURPRISE!!" The TV then flicked on and Crazy Hand shouted through the TV loudly.
"AH!!" The four of them were so surprised that they fell over. "Ouch…"
"CRAZY!! GET AWAY FROM THAT CAMERA!!" Master Hand then appeared on TV and pushed Crazy off the screen. "Ahem… hello, and congratulations on passing the second test."
"Thanks Master Hand." Y. Link said.
"And no need to thank me… after all this is a pre-recorded video-tape and thus I can't hear what you're saying." Master Hand continued on the TV.
"Right." Y. Link said embarrassed.
"Really, stop responding to what I'm saying." Master Hand continued.
"Why?" Y. Link asked.
"Never mind why!!" He shouted. "Ahem… anyways, whether you just fought the first team you met or set up a plan, you had to overcome a trial to acquire the second Smash Ball."
"…" The four kids stood where they were watching this tape.
"Obviously this tested your survival skills since you may have had to stay in a dangerous environment for a prolonged period of time, but this test also had many other tests behind it." Master Hand said. "It tested your ability to work as a team, to analyze your situation, to judge your next move based on your environment, allies, enemies, your skills, and numerous other things."
"It tested your ability to plan your next move. Is this enemy too strong to take the Smash Ball from? Is this a trap? Can we trust this person? You may have asked yourself any or all of these questions and/or other questions while you were going through this test. And if you have then it is a sign that you are learning and developing."
"Of course those Smash Balls represented something as well. Despite that joke Matt may have given you, he tends to joke around a lot, the Smash Balls do represent Power and Wisdom. While having these qualities is a great thing, you must remember that you must not forsake one for the other. Without power you cannot put your wisdom to use, vice versa without wisdom you will not have the knowledge to use your power most effectively."
"As a Smasher it is my sincerest hope that once you join you will have learned the meaning of power and wisdom, learned to analyze your environment, and most importantly, I hope you have learned that you have friends with you. So congratulations on passing, and good luck in the next test." Master Hand finished.
"Wow… that was a mouthful." Y. Link said.
"Yeah it was." Ness said.
"Duck-billed platypus!!" Crazy Hand shouted randomly off the screen.
"CRAZY!!" Master Hand shouted before the video finally ended.
"Hey look!" Nana said, pointing at the barred door. The door was now opening of course.
"Finally, we can go in now." Popo sighed.
"My only problem is that we still have to wait a bit." Ness said as the four headed through the door.
Meanwhile…
"I trust that this test proved most fruitful for you?"
"Yes it did." Helmet answered a shadowy figure while Armor and Sword stood behind him silent.
"So, what did you learn exactly?"
"Oh don't let me bore you with the details." Helmet said as he pulled out a deck of cards. "All of the information, old and new, is right here." He said as he placed the deck of cards in to a pale hand.
"Hm hm hm hm hm hm… you've done me well." Orochimaru stepped out of the shadows with a smile on his face as he looked at Helmet with his snake eyes. "You've done very well Kabuto."
"Thank you Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said as he removed his helmet, revealing his young face with a twisted smile.
…Notes…
"Crud… this feels very lame."
"Well it is the end of test, and you shocked me with that." Ron Host said.
"Oh well…" I sigh. "Anyways, as I warned you guys last chapter, I'm now putting this story on a brief pause since I feel the urge to write "Chronicles of the Dusk" again."
"I took a look at that story, and you seem to have it going in a good direction."
"Right. I encourage you guys to also take a peek at "Chronicles of the Dusk" a story comprised entirely of original characters that go through action, suspense, drama, and the strain of dealing with dual-lives."
"Well, until later… see ya!" Ron Host waved bye.