Chapter 4

Olimar stared at the virus. He had been expecting to see it in its host, but it was standing in front of him without its mask. It was a large black shadow that looked like it was unstable. The edges of its body were fuzzy. Olimar, however, was focused on the eyes. They were pointed on the far ends, and Olimar could see the glee it had at catching its prey. "Where's you host?"

"Not here," the virus said. "The author didn't want to ruin the mystery yet."

Olimar gave the virus a confused look. "What?"

"Dang it!" I exclaimed. "You can't break the fourth wall!"

"So you just expect your readers to accept these odd things that allow the plot to continue building suspense when the logical decision would be to use my host to get rid of Olimar."

"Pretty much. It's a fanfiction."

"Fine." The virus turned back to Olimar. Olimar wasn't sure how to react after what had just happened. The virus smiled viciously at Olimar. "It doesn't matter now. Even without my host, I'm still capable of taking you down while you lack pikmin." The virus touched a control panel. Wires began to shoot out and grab Olimar. Olimar quickly blew his whistle before the wires had him suspended in the air. The virus smiled and slowly walked over. "Such a pity you had to figure out the truth. Once I was aware of you trying to discover the truth, I decided I had to get rid of you."

The virus put his hand on the side of Olimar's helmet. Black smoke began to fill up the helmet. The virus thought he had Olimar until he felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg. He turned and spotted a yellow pikmin hitting its leg. The pikmin was joined by a red pikmin and then a white. A dozen more entered the room and began attacking the virus. The virus turned and began crushing the pikmin. He grabbed the only purple pikmin and used it to crush them. He killed the purple pikmin and turned back to Olimar. The sight of empty wires greeted him. Olimar was nowhere to be seen. The virus screamed in frustration and tore through the control panels. He threw chunks around and soon destroyed the entire room. Despite all of its efforts, Olimar had successfully disappeared. The virus had to grind its teeth to avoid screaming. It walked over to one of the broken wires and entered it to travel back to its host.

A minute later, Marth passed the room. He stopped as he registered all the carnage in the room. Shattered glass littered the floor. Marth searched through the room. There was no sight of Olimar. Marth quickly turned and ran out of the room. He met Link in one of the halls. "Where's Master Hand?" he asked.

"He hasn't returned yet," Link said.

"He hasn't? What about Crazy Hand?"

"No one ever knows where he is."

Link began walking away, but Marth stopped him. "Olimar is missing and the security room has been destroyed. Do you know anything about it?"

"No, but he should be in the lobby. We're gathering to welcome the next member of the roster."

Marth nodded and followed Link. As they were walking, Marth muttered to himself, "Kudasai be there."

When they reached the lobby, Marth immediately began looking for Olimar. It didn't take him long to see Olimar wasn't there. However, he was hoping Olimar was just late since Mega Man, Donkey Kong, and Luigi were also missing. His hope began to disappear as Luigi entered the lobby. Donkey Kong entered next, followed by Mega Man. "Sorry I'm late," Mega Man said when he arrived. He joined Marth. "I couldn't find Olimar anywhere."

"I think he was in the security room again," Marth said. "It looks like the virus got Olimar."

Mega Man turned to Marth with a stunned look on his face. "He's gone?"

Marth nodded. "The room had been yabutta apart."

"But did you find Olimar?" Marth shook his head. Mega Man smiled. "Then he might still be out there."

"I guess." Marth turned his attention back to the door. They watched and waited for the door to open. It took about a minute before they heard something grab the doorknob and turn it.

The door swung open and revealed Rosalina on the other side with Luma flying around her head. "Welcome Rosalina."

Rosalina smiled at them. "Thank you," she said. "I'm very grateful I was invited to join all of you."

"Rosalina," Mario said as he stepped forward. "We-a must apologize. Master Hand wasn't-a able to-a make it because-a of an issue. Usually, when a new-a member arrives, he shows that person around-a the mansion. Luigi and I have-a decided that-a we will be the-a ones to show you around."

"Thank you Mario." She turned to the rest of them. "I hope when I'm done, I will have the pleasure of meeting the rest of you." Luigi joined his brother, and they walked off to show Rosalina the mansion.

As soon as Rosalina was gone, Kirby asked, "Can we eat now?"

"Might as well," Pit said.

"Master Hand has been gone for a while," Fox said. "Should we send someone to look for him?"

"No," Samus said. "Master Hand should be able to take care of himself."

"I don't know," Toon Link said. "It's been several hours, and he said he was heading to the temple. That's less than a half hour trip."

"He's fine." Peach said. "We should be patient."

"What ni tsuite the thing with the red eyes?" Marth asked.

"It only showed up yesterday," Bowser said. "Whatever it is, we can deal with it later."

"It's weird to say, but Bowser's right," Pit said. "Right now, we should focus on getting Rosalina settled it."

"I don't know." Everyone turned to Pikachu. "This thing is scary. What if this thing is dangerous?"

Samus bent down next to Pikachu. "It hasn't done anything yet."

"It has," Marth said. "It hacked the kameras and ruined the footage. Olimar is missing, and the security room was torn apart. Nandemo it is, it isn't friendly."

Marth seemed to get a few to listen to him. They seemed sad or lost in thought. Pit finally said, "We can't do anything yet. If we're going to find this thing with red eyes and Olimar, we should wait until Master Hand or Crazy Hand returns. Until then, we should just be patient."

The others agreed and began walking towards the cafeteria. Marth, Toon Link, and Mega Man were the only ones to wait. Toon Link hesitated before asking, "Do you think it got Olimar?"

"I hope not, but I think so."

"He survived crashing on an unknown planet," Mega Man said. "He'll be fine." Toon Link smiled, and they walked into the cafeteria together.

The majority of the people there seemed relaxed as they ate. They talked about things such as Rosalina, who else might join, and some of the battles they remembered having. Mario, Luigi, Rosalina, and Luma joined them after several minutes. "Here we-a are," Luigi said. "This-a is where we eat."

"Thank you Luigi," Rosalina said. Rosalina and Luma took a little bit of food and took seats at the table where the smashers had all gathered. "Hello."

"Hello," Pikachu said. "How are you?"

Rosalina looked down at Pikachu and gave him a small, kind smile. "I'm fine, thank you for asking. What is your name?"

"I'm Pikachu."

Luma came out and took a spot next to Pikachu. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Luma." Luma, Kirby, and Pikachu began talking.

The rest of them began talking with Rosalina. They each introduced themselves to her. Link asked, "Are you and Luma going to be working together,?"

"Yes, I understand I'm not the first one to do this."

"The first were these two kids named Popo and Nana," Bowser said. "We called them the Ice Climbers."

"Have they not arrived yet?" Rosalina asked.

"Not everyone comes back," Fox said. "The second tournament had five other fighters that didn't return. A few people had close calls."

"I guess there are limits," Samus said. "The amount of people here can't go up the same way it did between the first two tournaments."

"Then I better thank Master Hand again when he returns," Rosalina said.

"How close are you and Luma?" Mega Man asked.

"We have become very close over time. He has been my companion for hundreds of years."

"There are only a few that can say they have a bond like that," Link said, causing him and Toon Link to think of Zelda.

"Now I must ask you a question," Rosalina said. "Mario informed me that Luma and I are the nineteenth and twentieth people here, yet according to my count, there are only nineteen of us here. Where is the twentieth?"

The smashers hesitated to answer. They weren't sure whether they should alert Rosalina to the current crisis yet. Samus eventually responded, "We'll inform you later, after you have become comfortable."

Rosalina smiled and nodded. As they continued, people began leaving. Only a few were left when Luma tapped Rosalina's shoulder. "I'm tired. Would you mind if I went to our room to get some sleep?"

Rosalina giggled a little. "It is perfectly fine. You don't need to ask." Luma smiled and left to get some sleep. Rosalina turned to people still at the table. "What would you like to do?" she asked Peach.

"We could go swimming," she suggested.

"I'm good," Marth said. "I went for a swim this morning."

"I can't swim," Sonic said.

"I would love to," Trainer said.

"Samus?" Peach asked as she looked down the table.

Samus shrugged and said, "Sure."

Peach smiled. "Oh boy, a girl's night."

The four women went off to the swimming pool. Marth and Sonic left to find something else to do. An hour had passed before the women were finally done. "That was fun," Trainer said.

"Thank you for helping me feel comfortable," Rosalina said. "I was worried I wouldn't feel like I belonged."

"You do belong here," Peach said. "Everyone here is unique. We all have something different that makes us stand out. Despite that, we all get along."

Rosalina smiled and said, "Thank you." She turned to her door, opened it, and turned on the lights. As soon as she got a glimpse of what was on the other side of the door, she gasped and backed away. Her room, like everyone's room in the mansion, had been decorated to suit her. The ceiling had been turned into a realistic and accurate depiction of the night sky. There was a large telescope by the window, It wasn't as big as the one in the northwest tower, which had become an observatory, but it was still incredible and powerful. The entire room had been filled with her stuff and things decorated to match with her and Luma.

However, that was not what surprised her. Mario and Luigi had already shown her the room. She had been surprised then, but not in the same way she was now. The room had become a disaster. The black ceiling with white stars now had red. In the middle of the floor, with a large gash straight through his chest, was Luma, dead.

That escalated quickly. If it became a little boring and you skipped up to here, make sure you read the last paragraph. So, as always, leave a review giving me suggestions on what I can improve on. I hope to become a great writer, but I'm blind when it comes to seeing my own mistakes. Also, tell me who you think is corrupted and now a murderer. I can now be faster about getting chapters out sooner. Thank you for reading.