Fountain of Tears
Where could Peach be by now? I really hope she hasn't encountered any trouble in her quest for Ness and his three friends, Mario, a plumber from the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Peach's beloved, thought anxiously as he waited for her in the Intergalactic Travelers' Center, or ITC, at the center of the Nintendo universe. When Peach had told Mario of her intention to disguise herself and rescue the four Earthbound children after they had been wormholed to an unknown part of the Nintendo universe, within two hoursMario attempted to inform all of the space travelers among the SSBM fighters that Peach was also in quest to save the boy Ness and his three friends Paula, Jeff, and Poo—identifiable under her disguise by a SSBM fighter's badge. As far as Mario knew, though, Starfox crew commander Fox McCloud was the only fellow SSBM fighter who received the tip-off.
Mario tried to divert himself from his worries for Princess Peach by reading some of the science magazines scattered throughout the ITC lobby, but he found them to be insufficient. Not that his worry was without foundation—only two days ago, Mario woke (with tears in his eyes, according to his brother, Luigi) from a dream in which he saw a fading star in the sky and ran toward the place above which it diminished only to reach a fountain of tears, with a large bird perched on its edge and a shattered sword lying in the fountain basin. He didn't know what the dream meant, but he feared ill fortune to befall someone that he cared about: probably Luigi, or probably Peach.
For nearly three hours Mario's anxiety increased painfully, so that he eventually took to pacing about near the N-gate nearest the doors leading outside to a street of shops. When at last he could no longer bear to wait, Mario ventured near the communications booth to attempt to make contact with fellow heroes among SSBM fighters again—but the sound of the lobby doors opening stopped him in his tracks.
Two fellow SSBM fighters from the land of Hyrule—a swordsman in a green tunic named Link and his ladylove, Princess Zelda—ran in through the doors. A sense of great urgency was clear in both: Link looked extremely wary, while Zelda seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
"Link! Zelda!" Mario exclaimed in shaken surprise. "You're not searching for the Earthbound kids?"
"We're here—well, Zelda at least—is here probably for the same reason you are," Link panted, sheathing his sword.
Princess Zelda could not stop herself and blurted out in her alarm, "I sensed that Peach was in mortal danger, so Link and I came to…"
"It's too late."
Those three words fell like the knell of doom.
All three SSBM fighters turned to the N-gate to see the fellow fighter to whom the voice that spoke the words belonged: F-Zero pilot and bounty hunter Captain Falcon, carrying the limp body of a woman in his arms and flanked by a Gamemaster's agent and four members of an Emergency Response Team.
"It's too late to save Princess Peach," Captain Falcon repeated the words of bad news. "She's dead."
Mario was paralyzed with shock. Princess Peach dead? No, it couldn't be—but there she was as she was laid down on a long table: the hood of her reflective dark-purple cloak (fastened with a SSBM fighter's badge) had fallen to reveal her golden hair tied back but somewhat disheveled, and her face was pale and empty of life. Her reflective purple suit appeared torn in several places, including one that revealed a dangerous-looking blade wound to the right side of her body, and a large area around that torn place was stained dark reddish-brown as if it was soaked in blood.
"She was killed in a battle?" Zelda finally managed to ask.
"Peach apparently found Ness and his friends being held hostage in a secret base near the Lightning Loop Cross racetrack. She tried to take the children via Hoverboard to Port Town, either believing that taking the long way to an N-gate would be safer than trying to use a nearer one or knowing that she was likely to receive assistance—or both," explained the Gamemaster's agent, "but Black Shadow's soldiers chased them down. In the ensuing battle on the outskirts of Port Town, the children got recaptured, and Peach was badly wounded and lost from the fray."
"She kept following an N-gate locator in an attempt to get to the Central Hospital," Captain Falcon continued with some difficulty, "but the nearest N-gate was seven miles into the town—too far for her to reach on a badly damaged Hoverboard. I myself was wandering in that part of Port Town, near the N-gate, and I turned around a corner just in time to see the Princess collapse. But at that point she was beyond my aid. She lived just long enough to tell me what happened to Ness and his three friends."
It didn't take long for grief over the loss of Princess Peach to overtake those in the gathering who cared for her—Link blinked back a few tears as he supported the weeping Princess Zelda in his arms, and Mario sank into the nearest chair, not even bothering to wipe the tears from his face as he sobbed uncontrollably.
Of the SSBM fighters gathered thus far, Captain Falcon alone shed no tears. "I have to find the four children—when Peach died I swore to get them safely home, and that's what I'm going to do," he told his grieving fellow fighters.
The Gamemaster's agent delivered an order to headquarters via a portable communicator: "Send two Assault Teams to assist Captain Falcon in the rescue of Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo." When the bounty hunter protested that he had to accomplish the rescue alone, the agent insisted, "With one rescue attempt already made, those who hold the children captive will have tightened their security. Highly capable though you are, you're sure to need some help."
Just before leaving the ITC through the lobby N-gate, though, Captain Falcon strode over to the chair where Mario sat crushed with grief. Placing a hand on the plumber's shoulder, he attempted to offer words of comfort: "If it comforts you at all, Mario, Princess Peach did ask me, in her last breath, to tell you that she loves you."
But these words had anything but a comforting effect, for Mario's sobs began anew, and once again tears rolled down his face.
Captain Falcon lingered a moment longer, but then he departed, perhaps not wanting to be affected anymore by the sorrowful displays by Mario, Link, and Princess Zelda.
Within the minutes that followed, more and more characters made their way to the Intergalactic Travelers' Center to find out what was going on; many had either sensed a disturbance or heard rumors that a SSBM fighter had been killed. With Mario incoherent from sobbing, Princess Zelda barely able to choke out an explanation, and Captain Falcon absent on a renewed search for Ness and his three friends, Link bore the burden of repeating explanations of what happened.
Meanwhile, onboard the black shuttle that bore the villain Nephorius and his henchmen (disguised as Black Shadow and his soldiers), Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo were locked in the brig. Each child's hands were bound together in the front with energy binders that delivered electrical shocks whenever struggled against. Nephorius put on the appearance of the king of evil Black Shadow and visited the brig to offer water and hard bread for the children to feed upon.
"It's poisoned—you want to kill us!" accused Poo, refusing to eat.
To this Nephorius only laughed. "No, no, you're worthless to me if you're dead, so I can't afford to kill you," said he with an evil smirk.
"Then let us go, we're just a bunch of kids!" Paula yelled at him.
The other children waited with bated breath for the blow to fall as the supposed Black Shadow approached Paula. But to their surprise, he did not strike at her. "On the contrary, little missy, you and your friends are far more significant than you think—especially this boy next to you." With these words, he seized Ness by the collar and pulled him to his feet—then he halted and appeared to reconsider as he released Ness and spoke to him thus: "Though I guess, for your sakes, I should hope the girl's right and you are just four insignificant kids—we wouldn't want to be responsible for the death of another fellow SSBM fighter, now would we?"
Ness tried hard not to show his tears as he sank back into his corner, but it hurt unbearably to realize the truth: Princess Peach hadn't made it to an N-gate in time after being wounded in the battle on the outskirts of Port Town. Worse yet, she had almost certainly crossed the path of fellow SSBM fighter Captain Falcon just before she died—and he was not able to save her, only to hear her out about the failed effort to rescue the children. If, upon witnessing the Princess's death, Captain Falcon made his own rescue attempt, would he fall into Black Shadow's trap and be killed?
"If it's any comfort to you, Ness, you and your little friends aren't the only ones crying for Princess Peach—I'm sure by now from all those who are good in the Nintendo universe flows a great fountain of tears, in a figurative sense," remarked Nephorius mockingly before leaving the brig.
"Don't fret, Ness—what if some Gamemaster's agents found out about what happened to Peach and are coming to find us?" Paula managed to say once the children were alone again.
Jeff found this idea insupportable. "If they just found Peach hopelessly banged up, they wouldn't know how she got that way unless Mario knew about Peach's plan and told the agents," he responded with a heavy sigh. "And then they would never have any clue of where to find us unless there's another SSBM fighter who knew Peach tried to rescue us and couldn't do it."
"That's just what I'm afraid of!" Ness cried out before being overcome with sobbing. Because he was the only SSBM fighter among the children, he alone understood the likelihood of Black Shadow's prediction coming true.
"Ness is right," remarked Poo. "Black Shadow must be using us as bait, and if any other fighter tries to get us home, he'll probably wind up faring even worse than Peach did."
A/N: Have you been paying attention to the symbols and signs? Tell me what you think (and even though he's being held captive at present, Ness can still hit you with PK Fire if you use Fire Flowers).