Chapter 2 - Recruit

Wolf O'Donnell

Wolf opened his eyes. Blugh. Everything was still blurry. He blinked a few times, cleared his vision, and he saw a huge green serpent, right in front of him. It appeared to be looking for something. It must have been the one to wake him up, and it looked pretty threatening. But he had to fight back. He growled, and got out his blaster. He stepped forward, and tripped out of the trees he had been sleeping in. Wait, sleeping? When did he go to- oh fuck, it saw him! A tail swipe nearly knocked him off his feet, but he deftly backflipped, and landed on the monster's body. He sprinted up the serpentine body, and delivered a fierce claw attack right to the leviathan's eyes. It gave an ear-piercing screech, threw him off, and flew away, apparently deciding he wasn't worth it. He'd probably gone off to look for someone else to devour.

Now then. He did not remember going to sleep, least of all in a bunch of shitty random-ass trees in the middle of nowhere. Come on. Think, Wolf. Last he remembered, he was flying around the Wilds in his Wolfen, aiming to finally take down that bastard Fox and his mangy bird mate. Then… Then a great explosion happened, except it was all… black. His ship got sucked into it. Was there a blue-skinned man involved somewhere? Pah, this isn't important. What was important was to find his Wolfen. It had better not be damaged, or there would be hell to pay.

Taking care not to upset the great serpent again, he sneaked past the forest towards the lake. With his great nose, he proceeded to search around the shore. Sniff. No trace of his ship, but…. Sniff. Wait, was that…? Sniff. Yes! There was definitely the scent of Fox around here. He gave a grin, and started running at a berserk pace, following the scent. The trail ended right over here… And there it was. The Arwing. Except it seemed to be destroyed. Well, if Fox was dead, then all the better for him, he supposed. Just to make sure, he peered inside, and found … nothing. Typical. He turned and walked away, when a very familiar voice shouted out. He stopped right in his tracks, and very slowly turned around.

"… Andross?"

"Wolf O'Donnell. It's a real pleasure, seeing you again."

"I- I thought you were dead."

"I am. This is just a copy of me, revived from an Assist Trophy. Before I was called back, I was able to hack into Fox's Arwing, and here I have remained, in a purely technological form."

"Fox… is he dead?"

"Yes and no."

"What the fuck does that even mean?!"

"It means he has simply been turned into a trophy. He is not truly dead, but he cannot do anything by himself, at least."

"A… trophy?"

"Yes. When a Smasher like yourself is defeated, they turn into a trophy, a petrified state of themselves that can be revived only by the touch of another Smasher."

"Smasher? Damn it, Andross, stop speaking nonsense."

"You've lost your memory, too?"

"Uh. Not all of it. I can remember who I am and all that, but I'm not sure how I ended up here. Wait, what do you mean, too? Who else has been here?"

"That's not the most important thing at the moment. What I want is for you to find Bowser's trophy. He's a big turtle with a green shell. And he can be found here…"

The HUD displayed a map of the entire area, which Wolf tried to take in all at once. Then, it displayed this Bowser's location. He appeared to be all the way across the entire lake. He gave a brief nod to his former partner, and was on his way. He flew all the way across the lake in his Wolfen, preferring to have his only companion with him. Besides, it'd help if that great snake from earlier went on a rampage again. He looked down, and saw a golden glint. That must be the trophy, he decided. He flew down, and looked closer. It was indeed a turtle, bigger than an average one, but not very big. And besides it, there was another trophy, but with an odd thing made of paper on top. He went over to touch the turtle. As he did so, he wondered, what exactly was a Smasher? Did it have something to do with why he was here? And, where was Fox's trophy? If he was defeated, like Andross said, who was the one to defeat him? And how could he kill him like this? His mind reeled with questions, and he was overwhelmed, until a blinding light interrupted his track of thought. The turtle seems to have revived, and it looked at him blankly.

"Um, are you Bowser? Andross wanted to talk to you."

It said nothing, and simply started walking straight ahead.

"Hello? Follow me, or I'll have to resort to force."

Nothing. Wolf snarled and took out his blaster. This seemed to register with "Bowser", who started spinning towards him. Wolf leaped back and gave it a kick, which sent it reeling out of sight. Then it just kinda poofed away in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind a tomato with an M on it. He stood there bemused for a while, before stomping the ground once. Damn. He got away. How would he explain this to Andross? He failed him yet again. He sighed, and went over to touch the paper man, perhaps to see if he would be of some help. If not, he'd just shoot a hole right through it. I mean, it was made out of paper! Right? Looking closer, it seemed a bit odd. He touched it, to try and feel it, but that damn light nearly blinded him again. A BEEP further irritated him as it came to life. So it was a Smasher, then? Looks weak. And annoying, he thought as it, well, seemed to look around. It was only looking in two directions, but that seemed to satisfy it, as it jumped up and cheered.

"Who are you?"

"BEEP BEEP BEEP."

"Huh? Man your accent is pretty damn thick, I couldn't understand that."

"BEEP BEEP BEEP."

"Mr… Lame and Botch?"

"BEEP BEEP BEEP!"

"Oh. So you're Mr. Game and Watch? Hmph. You're a weird one."

He suddenly remembered he had to go and tell Andross of his failure. Miserably, he got in his Wolfen, and was about to start it up, when Andross' voice rang out around him.

"Yes, Wolf? Where is Bowser?"

"Andross! Get out of my ship's computer!"

"Ha. Your ship was unguarded and easy to break in. Serves you right, I guess. No, Wolf. Do not worry, I don't plan on breaking your ship. Now bring Bowser here."

"Uh. He kinda attacked me, so I kicked him away. It was in self-defense, alright? Then… he just kinda poofed away."

"…Poofed?"

"Yeah, it was weird. Say, he wasn't actually as big as I expected."

"Did he have spikes on his shell?"

"No."

"Fool. That was not Bowser. That was just an ordinary Koopa. Bowser is the King of them, see? Now go and find him! He shouldn't be too far. "

"Oh."

He got out of his hijacked Wolfen, sighing. That Game Man Watch was still there, too. It waved and beeped. Eh, why not. He decided to ask it where Bowser was. It beeped out a negative, then pointed at him and beeped inquisitively.

"Oh, me? I'm Wolf O'Donnell, great leader of the Star Wolf assault force. And I have to find Bowser. See ya."

He walked away, totally ignoring him. Unfortunately, it followed him. Damn, so he got a new pet, huh? He turned.

"So, you want to join Star Wolf? Unfortunately, I don't just allow scrubs in. Ya gotta do me a favor. Walk that way, and try and find Bowser. He should be a trophy, big green turtle, spiked shell."

It beeped a salute, and ran off. There, that got rid of it. He began walking towards where he thought Bowser was. He should have asked to look at the map again, he mused. Nothing of importance happened on the way over, except for maybe a few more Koopas, which he simply used the blasters on. They weren't very strong. So, he pondered his existence. He really had no idea how he came to be here. All he knew was that he was chasing down Fox and Falco, then apparently, he was somewhere else, he remembered as he dug through his memories. Andross had said he lost his memories, so what exactly happened? There was that black explosion. It looked a bit like a black hole, but it seemed to rapidly expand. There was that "Koopa" that had poofed in smoke dropping a strange item behind, and the other Koopas that did the same. And, there was him being a "Smasher"… Just what did that mean? If it meant he smashed Koopas, then he was doing a good job of it. He chuckled, when, as if it was called for, a Koopa came up around the bend. Sighing, he blasted it, and waited to see what would come out. It was a circular thing with a B… wait. Was that… a smart bomb?! What the hell? Walking carefully towards it, he picked it up and placed it on his belt. This would definitely come in handy later…

An irritating BEEP just barely tickled Wolf's ears, yet it was enough to make him growl. Damn, it was back. He calmed himself, thinking this must mean that it had found something. It was beeping frantically, motioning for him to follow it. Hm. They walked, and it wasn't far until they found another trophy. Hmm. Large green turtle, spiky shell. It must be Bowser. He simply touched the trophy, and a blinding light came out of it. Immediately, a monstrous roar echoed across the land, then Bowser started breathing fire at, well, everything. Grass was lit aflame, and trees started burning down. Then, as suddenly as it started the fire stream stopped.

"Whuh- huh?"

"Damn it, you idiot! Don't just"

"Shush, you. Where am I? Was I just a trophy?"

"Grr. Yes. Whatever that means."

"GRAAAAAH! He got me, too! Ugh, this is just too humiliating! Makes me wanna…"

"Don't you start. Andross called for you, and I'd better get you back to him, before I get my ass handed to me."

"Andross? Who the hell is that?"

"Just follow me."

"No, wait. What happened? Did we get him? Or did he get us?"

"Who is this damn him?"

"Tabuu, idiot. Oh, whatever. I thought you might be another one of us, you know. You do look a little like this Fox guy."

"Don't compare me to Fox! Wait, you know him?"

"Kinda. He was a Smasher like me, but that's all I know, really."

"Smasher? There's that word again. So he's one as well? Why would we both be Smashers…?"

"BEEP BEEP BEEP."

Bowser gave a bit of a jump, having not noticed Mr Game and Watch. "Wha? Oh, it's just you, Game and Watch."

"Sigh. Okay, so we're all Smashers, whatever that means. Let's just go, Andross is getting pissed."

They went back to the Wolfen, talking a bit as they did so.

"BEEP BEEP BEEP."

"What? Everybody has been defeated, you say? Damn! That bastard! I will crush his head under my feet!"

"So what is this Smasher thing, anyways."

"Grr. Oh. Uh, it's like, this whole tournament thing? Um. Somehow, I can't really remember a lot of it. But I do know that Tabuu is killing us off. The last thing I remember was dying to him."

"Well, yeah, me too. Only thing I can remember is getting sucked into a black void. That's why I'm asking you."

"BEEP BEEP BEEP."

"You've got it worse, then."

"Hey, how can you understand him so easily? I still struggle with that accent."

"Oh, it depends on how old your first game is."

"My what?"

To be continued

A/N: I know it might be a little confusing here, but I'll try to clear up some of it in the following chapters. In the meantime, just enjoy the ride!