Chapter Six
"They're what?" Marth, Zelda, Samus, and Link cried in unison.
"You heard me! They're dead! They died last week! They want to kill us!" Roy shrieked from the steps. "Get over here!"
"No!" Samus cried defiantly. "Roy, you're always goofing off and telling lies, and you think we're going to fall for that?"
"Please!" Roy begged. "I'm not teasing you!" He glanced nervously at Mewtwo and Ness, coming closer. Marth was the first to move. He was by Roy's side in seconds. The others stayed put. Mewtwo and Ness drew nearer, taking their time. "Please, guys! Trust me on this one!" Zelda took a hesitant step towards Roy, and then finally ran. Link followed her, knowing her judgment was best. Samus remained.
"You people are idiots. Why would Mewtwo and Ness want to kill us?"
Mewtwo and Ness were so close, Roy couldn't take it anymore.
"Go somewhere. Hide! Anything! Just stay away from those two!" Roy ordered.
"Hide? We're Smashers; we don't hide!" Link cried.
"But you guys don't have fire powers! The dead are afraid of fire!" Roy stated.
"But I have fire powers..." Zelda started, but Link interrupted her saying, "No offense, but you're a girl! This is Roy's job! C'mon, let's go!" Zelda was about to protest, saying Link was sexist, but Link and Marth pulled her down the hall into the darkness of the Library. Roy threw himself from his spot and rolled as he landed, right between the said dead Smashers and Samus. He had no need for his sword; he generated a fire in his hands and prepared to throw it.
"Get back!" Roy shouted.
"Please calm down, Roy," Mewtwo spoke, deadpanned. "We tried to tell you."
Samus and Roy simultaneously took a step back. "Tell us what?" Roy still held the fire before him.
"It's not easy," Ness said. "Sometimes the worlds of the Death and Living intertwine..."
"Get away!" Roy threw his fire forward. Mewtwo and Ness dodged it, but it was clear they were quite afraid. "Samus," Roy hissed so only she could hear. "Get to the Library with the others." Samus, now convinced, dashed to the Library. Roy created another fireball. "Don't come near!"
"Roy, stop this. We need to talk," Ness took a step.
Roy retreated, but held the fire firmly. "Talk now!"
Mewtwo sighed. "All right. The thing is, you're—"
Suddenly, the screams of Roy's four friends reached his ears. He turned around, forgetting he was letting his guard down. He quickly turned back.
"They have been found..." Mewtwo said slowly. "It will not take long for them to realize the truth..."
"What's going on?" Roy cried shakily.
"You have no choice now but to go and speak to them," Ness ordered.
"To who?"
"The beings."
"They have my friends?" Roy whispered.
Mewtwo glanced at Ness. "In a way."
Roy walked backwards to the Library, keeping an eye on the two dead Smashers. He let his fire out, knowing he could generate it again if they came near. He entered the dark Library, and listened to the voices drifting towards him from the conference area.
"Why are you still here?" Roy turned the corner of a bookshelf and was surprised at what he saw. Samus and Zelda stood behind Marth and Link, who were in a corner. At the conference table was five people: a round, blue creature with bat-like wings and flaming sword, a boy with mousy brown hair and feathery wings, a man dressed in gray and black with a bandana around his forehead, a squat fat man in purple and yellow, and a girl in a black leather jacket with straight black hair. Her eyes were closed. She was the one who asked the question. She repeated it.
"Should we answer?" Zelda whispered.
"They may leave us alone if we do tell her..." Link reasoned.
"What does she mean by 'still'?" Marth observed.
The others fell into silence. Samus stepped forward.
"We're here for the Smash Tournament. Everybody knows that..." she spoke.
"They say they are here for a tournament..." the girl told the others.
Roy cocked his head in confusion.
"They don't know..." the angel-boy said softly. "They wander around...not knowing..."
"Not knowing what?" Roy cried, but only his four friends acknowledged him. The others ignored him.
"Is it true?" the girl continued.
"Is what true?" Marth replied.
"You don't know?" the girl inquired.
Link spoke, "What's going on?"
"They don't know what has happened," the black-haired girl spoke gravely. She paused. "Is it true Master and Crazy killed you all?"
It took seconds for her words to register in the teens' minds.
"Impossible!" Zelda screamed. "They didn't kill us! We're alive!"
"They say they're alive..." the girl said.
"We are alive!" Marth cried. "It's you guys who are dead! We're alive! We're not dead!"
"I'm getting the same things from supposedly Marth, the late betrayed Prince of Altea..."
"Late? I am alive!" Marth shouted.
"We're alive! We're not dead!" Link joined in.
Roy rushed in on the four at the table and planted himself right in the girl's face. "Listen, bitch, we aren't dead! We're alive!"
"A very forceful spirit has just entered our séance..."
"What the hell is going on?" tears began to pour down Samus's face. "Master and Crazy didn't kill us..."
"When was the last time you saw them?" the girl asked.
"Last week..." Roy answered cautiously.
"It all fits..." the girl nodded her head, eyes still closed. "That's because Master and Crazy killed you all. That is why you never see them."
"They did what!" the blue bat-like creature stood up. "We have to get out of here!"
"We're...not...dead!" Roy shrieked, and hit the girl. She gasped and fell to the floor, and her eyes shot open.
"We...we...did it...again..." she breathed to the other three. "We made contact...once...more..."
"Are the spirits gone now?" the man in the gray and black asked.
"No, Snake, they are not. They are still in this room, but now the connection is gone due to..." she rubbed the side of her face where Roy had struck her, "...difficulties."
"Please, you're a medium...tell us the story of this place..." the angel-boy said softly.
"I have done my research," the medium replied. "Last month the Hands, Master and Crazy, held a tournament in this mansion, a tournament of who could be the best fighter. The Hands gathered various warriors from different worlds and universes. The Smashers would fight each other, and the losers were thought to go home, but would just go to get slaughtered by one of the Hands. The winner had to fight both of the Hands, and probably ended up being killed by them."
"Who was the winner?" asked Snake.
"The betrayed Prince of Altea, Marth," the medium replied. "He is with us now, but is not connecting."
Marth gasped. "I...I..." he couldn't find any words.
"Why did they kill them?" the bat-like creature asked.
"I don't know, Meta-Knight. I think it's because they were the most strong and powerful warriors of all time. Instead of hunting each one down, the Hands devised a plan to collect them all here and then kill them off. With the brave and powerful out of the way, they could easily control certain worlds."
"But why are we here?" Snake queried.
"Perhaps they have brought you here to kill you off as well," the medium replied.
"We-a have to-a warn the others that-a are coming!" the fat man stood up. His accent reminded the teens of Mario.
"Yes, we must. Then we will plan an attack on the Hands," Meta-Knight cried honorably. "To avenge those that have passed before us."
The others nodded, and all stood. The medium turned to the corner, and it seemed as if they could all see each other. "Spirits, I hope this life will be good for you. You are sadly stuck in the world of the living, and until the right time, will stay here until you move on."
They all watched in shock as the small group left the Library. Roy fell to his knees. "We're...we're...dead..."
"That's why we never saw the living...we could only hear them..." Samus said, staring blankly at the wall. "That's why we never saw Master Hand...nor Crazy..."
"And that's why Young Link was so afraid of them..." Roy spoke. "He told me he'd seen the 'ghosts' before, but never told them. He said he didn't want to--but really, they were never there!"
"And our weapons...they probably were going to be stored away or saved because they didn't know we existed!" Zelda gasped.
"Who knew...?" Marth said, almost laughing. "Who knew we thought they were ghosts? When we were the dead ones all along..."
"This is so confusing," Link whispered.
"I told you it wasn't easy to explain."
The teens looked up to see Mewtwo and Ness standing by them.
"You knew?" Zelda queried.
Ness nodded. "We knew as soon as we were killed, because of our powers. We brainwashed everyone so nobody would freak out, and we hoped to break it to you slowly. That's why none of you thought you were dead."
No one spoke until Roy choked his words out,
"The medium said we were to be here until we move on. When's that?"
"No one knows," Mewtwo shrugged. "We don't know where we're headed. But in the meantime, we're stuck here."
Everyone was silent for the longest time.
"What do we do now?" Zelda said in a voice barely above a whisper.
"Do what we always did," Ness grinned. "Battle each other. Have fun. Do what we can until it's time for us to go to the next life."
No one spoke again. This would be the most peculiar thing one had ever encountered.
"In that case," Roy grinned, and stood up. "Mewtwo, I challenge you to a battle."
The End
Ta da! I hope you liked it! I based the medium off Suze, from the Mediator series by Meg Cabot.
Anyway, this story seems to be needing a sequel. Man, I've made so many promises for a sequel and never actually started any. Crap. Well, I do feel the need to make the Smashers be able to come back to life, so, I'll see what happens...if I can get around to it...sigh.