Chapter 6

-o-

A Very Personal Bus

"It's pointless."

That was the first thing Mewtwo said when he woke up. It was not unusual of him to start the day off by questioning the meaning of existence. What was he doing here? Why even bother to ask? It was pointless. And what about that annoying giant Slaking-like primate that had been following him around? No matter. That was pointless to bother about as well. Being a genetic experiment created for no purpose other than to serve humans' selfishness did not exactly bless one with the most optimistic view on life.

The sun had not risen over the hills yet. None other than him should be awake. Hovering a few inches off the ground, he made his way for the kitchen and on the stairs met Prince Marth. Neither tail nor cape was allowed to brush the other when they passed. So somebody was up? Mewtwo guessed that some humans woke up early too. Although that was pointless to take any notice of.

Some slept until lunch while other woke up at the first break of dawn. No one had even suggested that they would try to have breakfast together. There could be downsides with over twenty people digging out whatever they could find to eat as the morning went along, especially during the crowding hours. Mewtwo did not have an opinion on the eating habits of humans although he did find their noise unnecessary. Yet, even if he ate when no one was up, it was pointless to leave the kitchen once there. So he stayed until one could count the empty seats on one hand.

"Hey, everybody!" Roy tried his best to shout down the breakfast conversations when he burst into the kitchen. "The sun's shining. How about going swimming?"

That most people were out of their beds was not the same as to say that they were awake enough to make any use of their ears. Those who were, were either busy talking or simply stuffing their faces. Impatient as ever, the lord held out for three unendurable seconds before he scurried over to Peach who was frowning in concentration while trying to drink her morning tea.

"Tell everybody that we're going swimming," Roy said and Peach's eyes flew open.

"Swimming?" she said, putting down her cup. "Why, that sounds wonderful!" She clasped her hands together. It was a lovely idea. Splendid. Completely irresistible. The spark she usually got in her eye when things were in motion appeared. Mario who was drinking a cappuccino next to her, in Roy's seat, nearly choked on it. He knew all too well how her mind worked.

"Peach, don't-a forget about the other projects-a you thought about yesterday," Mario reminded her and chuckled. She was at her cutest when involving herself in some big project. Refreshing like a sweet-brier and even lovelier. It was amazing how much enthusiasm she could summon up, and no wonder she always made people feel so loved and cared for.

"Don't worry. I haven't forgotten," Peach said.

"Always hands-a full," Mario mumbled and leaned back with arms behind his head to enjoy the sight of Peach thinking hard. Her eyes rolled towards the ceiling and her lips began to pout while she rocked back and forth.

"I'm sure everyone will come," Peach said after some careful observation of the ceiling. "Who'd seriously want to miss out on? Mario, doesn't it remind you of our latest vacation?"

"Si."

"Just think about spending time together and not having to worry about anything. There's nothing I would like more than a day at the beach with my Mario-honey-bunny–"

"Excuse me," Roy interrupted, tapping his foot. "If I may cut the fun short, time's ticking."

"You're right," Peach said and jumped up from her chair, the tea dangerously close to spilling. "We're wasting valuable beach time."

Roy nodded. "Words do nothing. Thoughts will achieve nothing. It is through actions we progress."

Roy and Peach united were a force to be reckoned with. Their joint ambition was not one to be taken lightly, nor was the fire in their eyes that would make any resistance melt to useless goo. Soon enough they were running around the house and informing everybody about the news with megaphones.

"START PACKING!" Peach shouted into Fox's ear and made him fall over. "We're going swimming."

"WHAT ABOUT DINNER?" Fox shouted back before it hit him that he was not making a very good impression on the princess by raising his voice so he pulled a bouquet of roses out of thin air and smiled at her instead before he added, "chérie."

Peach answered by pulling out her golf club from nowhere and hitting him on the head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she muttered as she walked away with the club over her shoulder.

"WE'RE GOING SWIMMING!" Roy yelled into the megaphone. He put a foot on the armrest of the sofa and scowled at the kids who were watching television.

"Sweet," Ness said, pulling his stubby fingers out of his ears. "Where? Is it far?"

"No, we'll walk," Peach told him, popping up behind Roy with her big smile.

"Walking? Then I'm not going," Bowser announced to the whole room.

Ganondorf looked up from the book he was reading. "Me neither," he said.

"Oh," Nana sighed. She was sitting on the couch next to Popo and the moment she sighed they both, without looking at one another, reached out to grab each other's hands. "It sounded like so much fun doing something all together."

"Exactly," Peach said and nodded happily. "It's to raise out spirits and make us grow closer as a group."

"How wonderful, you've planned a trip all together," yet another voice cut in. It was the little Noki that had come out of his office and was walking slowly down the stairs with his short arms behind his back.

"No way," Bowser said, taking it upon himself to speak for the Smashers.

"There's no way there? Ah, I see, you need some kind of transportation," the Noki said and nodded to himself as if he had understood everything perfectly.

"That's not really it," Peach began to explain.

"Of course, of course," The Noki cut her off, still with a tone of complete understanding. "You already know about the bus."

"What bus?" Young Link said, finally tearing his eyes away from the television.

"Why, the bus of course," The Noki said and was answered by a bunch of questioning faces. "No, no. No need to look so questioning, of course I'll drive you, no need to bother about finding a driver."

"We have a bus?" Popo asked wide-eyed, with Nana making an identical expression next to him.

"Sure, I somehow had a feeling that we'd use it today. It's right outside."

Everyone rushed to the windows to get a glimpse of the bus and their excitement was soon to fade.

"It's… yellow," Peach said.

"Yellow won't work," Roy said with a nod. This made Peach look at him as if she saw him clearly for the first time. He was this willing to agree with her and state it loud and clear without a second thought?

"Yellow? Doesn't-a it-a make you all happy inside-a?" Mario said when he showed up beside Peach, placing himself in-between her and Roy. He was far too good-natured for anyone think that it had been on purpose.

"Of course it doesn't make you happy!" Peach burst out."This is our bus. Would you choose something you do not even. Find very nice? And people will think that we have chosen it."

In "Peachish" this basically meant that no sane person would want to be seen in that horrible ugly wreck on wheels if so under death threat or bribed with half a kingdom.

"The way you like-a the bus, that-a way I like-a the bus," Mario said with a shrug. The bus looked nice either way.

"I think it-a should be green," Luigi said when he joined the group by the window. Unfortunately, no one listened because they were already busy discussing what color they thought the bus should be. Meanwhile Luigi stood on the outside and tried to get a word in, together with Popo.

"At least-a you and I," Luigi began and turned to the little boy, but did not get further before Nana squeezed out of the crowd and grabbed Popo's hand.

"Which color do you like?" she asked him.

"Blue."

"I want pink."

"Okay."

Nana pulled Popo with her, back into the group of people, while she loudly made it clear to them that Popo preferred pink as well, and Luigi was left outside alone.

"How about-a green?" he said, raising a shaking finger.

"Green's a pretty neat color," Mario said to himself, something which Young Link just so happened to hear and there were also a few nearby heads turning in the plumber's direction.

"Green's the best color," the young Hylian cheered, throwing his arms up in the air.

"No, no, we want pink," Peach insisted and gestured at herself and the Ice Climbers.

Luigi tried to push himself into the circle but to no avail.

"I. Want-a. Green!" he said through huffs and puffs as he pushed and thrust with all his might. Falco happened to be one of the people who did not appreciate when somebody tried to force him out of the way and elbowed the offender without first checking who it was. Luigi tripped and landed right behind the feet of his big brother.

"You're awesome for going with green, Mario," Young Link said.

"Mario, I thought you were on my side," Peach complained and tried to win her beloved plumber over with her puppy-dog eyes.

"How about-a red?" Mario said to appease her.

"Fiiine!" Luigi yelled at the top of his lungs and everyone fell silent, waiting for the younger Mario brother to get to his feet. "I'll just paint it green myself."

Now it happened to be so that a group of small buckets with paint magically happened to be standing in a corner and Luigi went straight for them and armed himself with a bucket of green paint and a paintbrush. Peach was three steps behind him and, with a sweep of her arm, got a hold of some pink paint.

"Not so fast," she yelled and pointed a paintbrush at Luigi. "Everyone should have a say in this. What do you think, Mario?"

Mario held up a paintbrush and a bucket of red paint. "Do you want it-a pink with red lines or maybe polka dots-a?"

The princess slapped her forehead with the paintbrush in her hand.

More Smashers were closing in on the paint buckets and Luigi saw his escape route about to be extinguished.

"For green and freedom!" he cried and ran for the door, through the narrow spaces still existing within the crowd.

"No!" Nana cried in turn. "He's getting away!"

"After him!" Popo shouted.

Peach and the Ice Climbers ran after Luigi while the rest stopped and stared after them. No one so much as blinked until the little puffball Kirby picked up a paintbrush and skipped out the door. There were a few exchanged glanced before everyone threw themselves at the paint buckets and brushes. In a cloud of dust they ran outside to put some of their own flair on the, currently, yellow bus. Only Bowser with his stubby legs and hatred for running suffered by ending up in the back, yelling, "fire, I want to paint fire!"

Mewtwo would have preferred staring at a wall to painting buses but Donkey Kong put a paintbrush in his hand and pulled the hovering Pokémon along like a balloon.

Roy ran upstairs to get Marth and nearly ran into Zelda exiting from her room.

"What's going on down there?" she asked.

"We're going to paint our bus," Roy told her. "I'm getting Marth."

"Bus? What bus?"

"Why, the bus of course," Roy said and ran down the narrow corridor towards the second set of stairs. Zelda shrugged and headed for the living room. So either the hands or the Noki had bought a bus? They were doing a fairly good job.

Upon entering her eyes were immediately drawn to the upper left corner of the room, which was specked with blotches of color. What a mess. She approached, frowning at a fallen over paint bucket. There were two wide paint brushes left on the floor. One of them found its way into her hand and she twisted and turned it in her palm when she looked out the window. So that was what Roy had meant. She had a bad feeling that she would be in the way, or intrude, showing up late and trying to join. Laughter was already entering from outside. To her a wall she would have to overcome in order to be a part of such joy.

She leaned against the pastel wallpaper and closed her eyes, gripping the paintbrush tightly, and listened to the sound of their eager voices blending together. She exhaled. It really was not anything to think hard about. Then why these doubts?

"Come on, you snail. There won't be anything left for us to paint!" Roy pulled at Marth's long navy blue cape and the prince sauntered after at his own pace. At the sight of Zelda, however, Marth stopped abruptly, which resulted in Roy tumbling down the stairs.

"Are you okay?" Zelda gasped, rushing towards the twitching Roy on the ground.

"I'm fine," he said and raised his hand to wave, signaling that he was indeed fine. Marth walked down the last few steps and stopped silently opposite the princess. Roy grunted when he picked himself off the floor and let his gaze wander between them. He smirked.

"Isn't that a paintbrush in your hand, Lady Zelda?"

"It is," Zelda said, fighting the sudden urge to hide it, and the feeling of being caught red-handed.

"It is," Roy said and nodded. "Marth, we can't let a lady be left to fend for herself. Have you seen the chaos outside? She's in need of an escort. I would help her myself but why offer the lowly hand of a marquess' son when a prince is at hand?"

Silence fell as Zelda glanced at Marth, who looked back without showing whether he considered his friend's words in the slightest. Roy stood in the middle, looking smug. Finally, Marth bent down and picked up the last paintbrush.

"I knew you'd agree sooner or later," Roy said and patted the prince on the back before he tugged at Marth's cape with unnecessary force. "We better hurry or Princess Zelda will not find a good spot to paint."

Marth made a slight bow and Zelda started walking, her escort joining at her side. Roy grinned victoriously while following, and actually let Marth's cape be.

"My butterfly!" Nana cried out when Bowser splattered red color on the pink-and-yellow-striped wing she had put so much effort in to come out right. When Bowser snorted at her Popo, who had been painting a blue butterfly next to Nana's, threw his paintbrush on the ground to replace it with his big wooden mallet.

Ness and Young Link were too involved in their conversation to notice the wild swinging and fire-breathing breaking out next to them.

"I think I'll paint a… Triforce!" Link said.

"A whadda?" Ness raised an eyebrow at him. "Some kind of gear or toy? Isn't that kind of childish?"

"It's the most powerful thing in the world. It will make any wish come true."

"Cool!"

Young Link dipped the black tip of the brush in the yellow color and began to paint the three holy triangles. Ness looked on for a while before his eyes started to wander. Mewtwo had painted a purple line he was staring at. Luigi was being picky about a dot on his mushroom until he noticed that Mario had made an identical mushroom, which in comparison to his own was receiving a whole lot of praise. Pikachu and Pichu, the two electric Pokémon, painted a whole family of Pikachus and Pichus snacking on a bunch of bright red apples. Jigglypuff had changed to using a waterproof black pen to draw some very interesting patterns and figures on the bus. Peach covered Nana's eyes once she spotted what Fox was painting, before she ran over to scold him. Captain Falcon had unmistakably painted his blue F-Zero machine.

The racer glanced over at Samus who was looking sullen next to him and then at the bus. There was an unidentifiable alien-like blob in front of the bounty hunter. It could very well be a bacteria but there were some squiggly tentacles growing out of it. In the end, Falcon could not hold back a snicker. Samus straightened up to her full impressive height and turned in his direction.

"Nothing," he said and went back to painting, careful to avoid looking at her or the blob. Samus glared at his work. He was not an artist but he was good. Her stomach turned. This thoughtless jerk, in her eyes completely incompetent, was better than her? She could not stand to even think the thought. She had to look away, and thanked her lucky star when her eyes landed on Link. He was clearly doing worse than she was.

"Now don't try to steal any of my ideas, Samus," the Hylian said once he caught her looking. She shook her head and patted him on the shoulder to show her pity. Link scrunched his eyebrows while she went back to painting her spaceship, which in all honesty did look more like a martian. She could tell. She had seen a few.

"You're worse than me," Link said, sensing her thoughts. Samus answered this with a sweep of her paintbrush, drawing a line straight across the chest on Link's tunic. It would have been mean to ruin his beautiful Triforce.

"Come ooon," Link moaned, stared down at his clothing. He got into fighting stance and looked back up with a sly smile and his own paintbrush ready, if not Captain Falcon chose that time to lean in to whisper.

"Better watch out, kid," Falcon muttered quietly. "This guy gets insulted whatever you say, and he is violent enou–"

Before he had time to finish Samus lashed out at the blue racing machine on the bus's side. Falcon gripped her wrist just in time. "I don't think so," he said and fixed her with his white glowing eyes. Samus was only taken aback for a second before she punched him with the cannon on her other arm and Falcon clutched his gut.

Link took a step back to admire his finished masterpiece. It was clearly the Triforce. It was tempting to go and get Zelda to show her. He could not imagine anything else than that she would like it. She loved art and the history of Hyrule was very important to her.

It was settled. The Hylian hero rounded the bus and skidded to a halt. His younger self was putting the finishing touches on a much more impressive Triforce than his own. Link groaned. How did one get worse over the years? The boy was not even that good. Where did that leave him? He was about to turn back around when his eyes were drawn to someone waving at him.

"Haah," Link exhaled when he caught sight of his princess. Her face lit up and she smiled brightly at him. While his mind tried to digest that he was the cause of such radiant happiness his hand lifted on its own and made a timid wave back. It could not do any harm to talk with her for a while. He did not have to mention the Triforce.

When Link came closer he noticed that she was working on an elaborate landscape. It looked like a place he would not mind to dash across on horse, with the blue sky over his head and the wind in his face. He was about to compliment her when he noticed Marth working on the same picture. All of a sudden the sky looked flat, the grass too thick and clumsily handled and the trees like monsters. He could bet it was all Marth's fault.

"Zelda," Link said and cleared his throat. Both royalties looked up. "You look like you could use a break. Can't you come with me for a while?" He grabbed her hand but she did not respond.

"Let her finish this wonderful piece of art," Roy leaned into view from behind Marth, paint all over himself. "Right, Marth? We're just getting up the steam."

Marth went back to working on a small flower patch, painting the same spot over and over. Link frowned at the silent prince and tightened his grip around Zelda's hand.

"Could you please come with me, Zelda? Won't it be nice with a small break? I promise it won't take long," he said and Marth shifted his gaze back to the Hylians when Zelda finally complied and started cleaning her brush. She put it in a spot of shadow and grabbed Link's hand.

"Looking good there." Link threw a glance over his shoulder at Marth being left with the half-finished work covering a big part of the bus. "I'd make the stems a little greener if I were you."

Marth's lips were pressed into a thin line and his gaze grew even colder.

"I'm sorry. I'll be back soon. You can take a break too if you feel like it," Zelda said and followed Link who had already started walking.

Roy bent down to get a look of Marth's face but the prince was almost touching the bus with his nose so it was impossible. The young lord licked his lips. It did not feel right to tease right now.

(A/N)

Whom of Link and Marth that will end up with Zelda is my eternal, inner battle. Personally, I prefer the struggles on the way over the ending. So I have not decided, and when I think I have I change my mind (so when the end draws near you can nag on me about who you want Zelda to end up with).

Now, about the fights. They will be in the story. I find them hard to write but when I do I think I will need some kind of issue to focus on for emotions rather than purely describing movements. For example, I have a great team battle planned with Marth & Zelda vs. Link & Samus (might switch Samus to someone else though).

Thank you all of who have reviewed up till now, my usually empty inbox is dancing the conga and my heart beats twice as fast every time I open a new mail with a review.