Chapter Five: Garnering Allies

"You have a visitor Dr. Eggman, sir," one of his orange and yellow robots said.

"Really?" the evil genius asked, looking up from his desk; he was not expecting anybody. "Let them in."

"Long time, no see," Bowser said, walking into the room.

"Well, well," Eggman said. "If it isn't Bowser. What are you doing here? I haven't seen you since the Olympics. What brings you here?"

"I have a proposition for you," Bowser replied.

"Do tell," Eggman said, interested.

"I assume you know about the Brawl Tournament."

"Of course. I'm planning an attack while Sonic is away fighting in it. I assume you have similar designs on the Mushroom Kingdom."

"In a way," Bowser replied. "How would you like help from other villains?"

Eggman leaned forward, intrigued. "What are you planning?"

"The small group of villains participating in Brawl, including myself, has decided to team up with villains from the other worlds in order to gain world domination once and for all."

"And what makes you so sure that this plan will succeed compared to other schemes? Neither you nor I have a record of success."

"We are mostly counting on the element of surprise to throw the heroes of balance. Also no attempt of world domination on this scale has happened before. The results could be disastrous…for the heroes I mean. Aliens armed with cannons facing soldiers with lances or those with magic against those without. The possibilities are endless."

Eggman pretended to mull the idea over, but he had already been won over. "Alright Bowser, you have my help."

"Excellent," the Koopa King said with a smile. "I look forward to working with you. We'll keep in touch."

--

Silver and Blaze smiled as they returned to the future after visiting Sonic and friends. Actually, they did not see Sonic. The world's fastest hedgehog was busy fighting in a tournament. They had watched live coverage of Sonic's fight versus Nintendo's mascot, the Italian plumber named Mario. Sonic's victory had been highly celebrated. Amy had been ecstatic. No doubt she was still celebrating.

Their smiles fell when they noticed the bleak landscape around them.

"Silver," Blaze said.

"Yes," the hedgehog replied.

"I don't know about you, but I remember the future being a lot more…bright."

Silver sighed. "Something must have happened in the past to change the future. We're going to have to see what." Silver used his time-traveling powers to glimpse back into the past to see what went wrong. "Blaze, come look at this."

"What is it?" she asked, peering back into the past. Her amber eyes narrowed. "What is Bowser doing with Eggman?"

"Whatever it is it can't be good," Silver said. "I'll bet it has something to do with this bleak future. We have to warn the others."

Blaze nodded. "Once again we're messing up the time-stream continuum," she muttered, following Silver into the vortex.

"I'm afraid I can't let you interfere with Eggman's plans," a sinister voice said as they stepped out of the vortex. Silver's hands glowed green with telekinetic energy while Blaze had two fireballs ready to throw. "Predictable," the voice said, right behind Blaze. She started to pivot around, but something heavy crashed into the back of her head. She crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Silver's amber eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in anger. "Mephiles," he hissed. "What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm stopping you from telling Sonic and his friends about Bowser and Eggman's plan," the dark hedgehog said.

"So Eggman let you in on his plan?" Silver asked.

"No, I overhead his discussion with Bowser," Mephiles replied. "He may not know I overhead them, but I'm sure they'll appreciate my help. This gives me the perfect opportunity to exact my revenge on Sonic, Shadow, and you. I could care less about their plans for world domination."

"Well, I'll just have to stop you right here," Silver said, lifting up a nearby boulder with his telekinetic energy.

"Do you really want to do that?" Mephiles asked. His hand glowed with dark energy. He aimed his attack at Blaze's unconscious form. "She'll die if you do."

Silver grimaced as he held Mephiles' gaze angrily. Slowly he lowered the boulder back to the ground.

"Good," Mephiles said. His attack struck Silver instead. The hedgehog cried out in pain before fading into blissful oblivion.

--

Mewtwo glowered at his reflection in the water. He had been part of the Melee Tournament, and now he had been discarded like a pile of trash. All of his skill had been quickly forgotten. No doubt the other Smashers had replaced him with Lucario in their minds.

"Hello Bowser," he said without looking up. "I am curious as to how you got through Kanto undetected."

"I didn't," the Koopa King replied. "I scared two little girls half to death. It was actually pretty funny. Another boy thought I was some kind of legendary pokémon. I just swatted his pokéball away."

"So you and Ganondorf still want to go through with the plan?" the psychic pokémon asked.

"We have some new allies," Bowser replied. "We have much more aid to pull of this plan."

"I see," Mewtwo mused. "Then why do you still need my help?"

"We need a representative from the Pokémon lands," Bowser said. "Besides you are intelligent, and an original member of the plan. Will you help?"

"Of course," Mewtwo replied. "After Nintendo so carelessly gave me the pink slip, I'm ready to bring those heroes down. Bringing them down will bring Nintendo down."

"Great," Bowser said. "I'll see you in about a week."

Mewtwo smiled. Revenge would be sweet.

--

Vaati and Zant looked up as Ganondorf entered the room. "About time you got here," the wind mage muttered. One withering glance from Ganondorf silenced him.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Ganondorf said. "Aghanim is busy at Hyrule Castle."

"How much longer must we remain idle?" Vaati asked. "I'm sick of these endless preparations. Surely we can see some action."

"In good time," Ganondorf said. "If we do not proceed carefully, this whole plan will fall apart." He turned to face Zant. "I trust you completed your mission."

Zant nodded. "Her Highness was certainly surprised to see me again."

"What did you do with the Twilight Princess?"

"She's locked away in a prison. There's practically no way she can escape."

"Practically no way is not as reassuring as a definite no way. Make sure someone is guarding her at all times. Last time you thought her unimportant and she ended up ruining the entire plan. We cannot allow that to happen again."

"Of course Lord Ganondorf," Zant replied.

Ganondorf turned to face Vaati. "You will see your action soon enough. Right now continue what you have been doing."

"Yes sir," Vaati said through clenched teeth.

--

Wolf sighed as he looked at the interior of the strange alien vessel he was aboard. He had just finished convincing the space pirates to join their cause. (Not an easy feat, but mentioning Samus Aran had done the trick; there was not a single space pirate alive who did not loath Samus.) He had even gotten the dragon Ridley to join them, but now a strange group of aliens had captured him. He waited for the leader of these aliens to appear. One of the doors opened and in stepped a tall, menacing, black alien.

"Who are you?" the alien asked. He spoke with an authority that marked him as the leader.

"I am Wolf."

"Clever name," the alien said sarcastically. "Where are you from?"

"Isn't it customary to give your own name in reply?" Wolf asked.

The alien stared at him. "You have courage; I admire that. Very well, I am known as Black Doom. Now where are you from?"

Wolf thought about making some smart retort about the cleverness of this alien's name, but decided against it. "I am from the Lylat System."

"Ah yes," the alien said. "An agreement I made with a certain Andross kept my soldiers out of it. But Andross is dead now, isn't he?"

"You know Andross?" Wolf asked after a shocked second.

"I believe that is what I just said," Black Doom replied. "But what is one from the Lylat System doing here? Few people from the Lylat System have access to this realm of space. I assume you must be from the Super Smash Bros. Tournament because only those contenders have full access to other realms."

Wolf studied the alien critically for a moment. "You are very observant. How did you know of the Tournament? Are you an enemy of Samus Aran?"

"I do not know anyone by the name of Samus Aran. My main quarrel is with two certain hedgehogs: Sonic and Shadow."

"Then you are not from this realm."

"No, I am not. I found this realm shortly after I was beaten by Sonic and Shadow. I intended to take over this world, but the Space Pirates and bounty hunters are proving quite troublesome."

"Perhaps I could help you some way. I am part of a group of villains working together to destroy the heroes once and for all."

"I know," Black Doom said. "My spies have informed me of the deal you made with Dr. Eggman. He is an all together incompetent human, but I suppose he has his uses."

"So would you help?"

"Perhaps I could provide you with assistance, but you will have to help me in return."

"As long as the reward you ask for is not ridiculous, I think an agreement would not be too hard to fix."

"I think we could make an agreement. I will give you most of my requests later, but I do ask one thing: you leave Shadow the Hedgehog for me to finish off."

"I can assure you that you will get your revenge," Wolf replied.

--

Garnef paced across the chamber of his small tower study. He was once a powerful, dark mage, but was now reduced to a weak, old man. This was that Altean prince's fault – Marth. Strange how one word, one simple name, could send such intense hatred through his body that he was nearly driven insane by it.

The door to his study barely cracked open. "I will see no one," Garnef said.

"Ah, but I have a proposition for you," a dark voice said. "A tall man entered the room with dark skin, gold eyes, and fiery red hair. Garnef could see avarice in this man's eyes.

"What do you want?" Garnef snapped.

"I am giving you a chance to get your revenge against Marth."

Garnef's eyebrows rose. "I'm listening. How do you know Marth?"

"I come from a distant land known as Hyrule, and let's just say that my enemy has become good friends with Marth, making Marth my enemy."

"Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to destroy Marth, but surely you need something from me? That bastard has reduced me to nothing but a wrinkled, old man. If you need my help, you must find a way to restore my power."

The man chuckled. "You want power, and I have the Triforce of Power." He held up his right hand and a golden triangle glowed brightly on it. The golden light filled the room, and instantly Garnef could feel his strength returning to him.

"Amazing," he breathed, standing straighter and taller than he had in a while. "Who are you."

"My name is Ganondorf."

Garnef smiled. "And I am Garnef."

--

Wario looked at the small assembly of villains in Smash. "So when do we launch this massive attack? I am tired of waiting."

"In good time," Ganondorf said. "There are some loose ends to tie up. We are still uncertain of the full extent of Tellius' aid, even though our work there went well."

"Ike will certainly be surprised to see King Ashnard and that general alive again," Wolf said.

"Those loose ends will take how long?" Wario was impatient for action.

"Our first attacks will be in four days, but we have one more stop to make," Ganondorf said.

"Really where?"

"Elibe."

--

"Very good Roy," Marcus said, watching the young swordsman train. The aged paladin sat on his horse, admiring the speed and grace with which Roy fought. "Fighting in that tournament has improved your skill beyond my expectations."

Roy absently nodded. Yet I was still discarded like a sack of trash, he thought bitterly. A seed of resentment at Nintendo was growing inside him. He felt jaded and betrayed.

"Sir Marcus," a servant said. "Lord Eliwood wishes to speak with you at once."

"I see," Marcus said. He turned to face Roy. "Finish your training then you can take the rest of the day off. You deserved it."

"Yes sir," Roy replied, turning to face the practice dummy. The training grounds were strangely empty except for him.

"Is this really a way to be wasting your talent?" a familiar voice entered his mind.

The swordsman turned around. "What are you doing here, Mewtwo? What if someone sees you?"

"I already caused one serving maid to faint," Mewtwo said with an unconcerned shrug. "Are you mad at Nintendo?"

"Mad?" Roy asked. "That's a huge understatement. I'm not mad: I'm furious, enraged, pissed…"

"The how would you like to get your revenge on Nintendo?"

"What are you saying?"

"You help me and… others in a plan to overthrow Nintendo and control all the worlds; we would let you rule your own lands instead of imposing our will here."

"Would that put me against Marth and Link?"

"Your so called 'friends' don't seem to care much for you. They've already replaced you with Ike. Have they even sent you a single letter or postcard? I don't think so."

"How would you know?" Roy asked. He glared at Mewtwo, but felt there was a certain truth in his words. He had not received even a "Hi, how you doing?" from anyone. Not even Mario had sent him a letter of condolence. They had just forgotten him.

"I sense your anger," Mewtwo said. "You would be a valuable ally to our cause. What do you say?"

Roy thought about it. He did not want to fight Marth or Link, but they obviously did not care about him. Plus he wanted to show Nintendo that he was not weak. He could make them pay for cutting him. What to choose? Friends or revenge? Were his friends even worth that much? Finally he made up his mind.

Author's note: Mwahaha…Cliffhanger ending. Sorry but you'll have to wait for the next chapter to see Roy's decision. Will he be a good guy or a bad guy?