A/N: Hello, my patient readers!
Sorry this chapter took so long! I've just been under a lot of stress and pressure lately, and things haven't exactly been going my way in terms of friends and stuff, so I've been a bit busy. But thank you for waiting so patiently!
This chapter was betaread by a friend of mine, AJ. I'm looking for a new permanent betareader, so if anyone wants to volunteer for that, I'd be most appreciative!
As always, enjoy, and please read and review!
There was no possible way to fathom how that was good news. A duel against Master Hand, one of the only people-er…things able to keep a reign on not only Crazy Hand, but the Smashers as well. A duel like this could end in certain death. Something that Twilight was unable to afford.
She tried all manner of tactics to avoid the duel, but Link, by just being a ditz, managed to foil them all. The rest of her friends tried to convince her that a duel with Master wasn't going to end in death, chiding her into finally accepting her fate.
Twilight was now pulling out her hair trying to devise a method of defeating the giant appendage.
"Honestly, Twilight," Zelda looked up from a book of Equestrian history (as Master Hand had come through with the Equestrian literature. He assured Twilight it was all correct, but she had not had time yet to look it over). "It's not that hard."
Twilight let out an exasperated laugh, picking her head up from the multitude hastily scribbled notes. "Not that hard?" she screeched, flinging her conclusions around the room. "Well, that's fantastic! Not only do I have no chance of winning against this thing, but nobody has any info whatsoever on the Hands! The multitude of ignoramuses out there is simply astonishing! Most of them don't even know we have a library, the swine! I have no plan, nothing, unless your 'Just improvise' counts! Let's just charge in there without thinking! Great plan, Zelda! Let's just throw my life away!" She giggled manically before thunking her head back down on the desk.
Zelda rolled her eyes. "You're not going to die. What you need to do is calm down. Go play with Pikachu or Squirtle or something. That always calms Link down."
Twilight let out a lengthy groan, before hauling herself up and trudging to the stairs, knowing that Zelda would not stop nagging unless she stopped freaking over planning.
Hmm…well, she is right. There's just too many things going on right now… Maybe Red might have good advice. Too bad they don't keep logs on who fights Master Hand…Celestia's mane, this place is so unorganized…
A low grunt and a spike just inches from her nose stopped her short with a terrified squeak. She glanced nervously upward, not recognizing anything about this man. Abnormally tall, fiery red hair, spikes everywhere, evil aura…Twilight recognized him as Ganondorf, Link and Zelda's main foe.
"Er…sorry about that," Twilight apologized quickly, fearing the man's temper. Ganondorf grunted deeply, glaring coldly down at her. She let out a nervous laugh, scooting around and quickly away from the intimidating Gerudo. The man watched her with his cold... green eyes?
Twilight did a double take, staring into the wrongly colored eyes. Ganondorf's eyes were yellow, not green! And they were empty, almost, devoid of emotion. Her Hylian friends had attested that Ganondorf's eyes were full of hot hatred and anger, not this freezing emptiness.
There was something wrong.
"Um…excuse me," Twilight spoke up with her best princess voice, all fear gone from the pony-turned-human. The impostor turned and glared at her.
"Yes?" he hissed, the 's' drawn out almost comically, sounding a lot like a bug buzz.
"What happened to Ganondorf?"
A hurl of emotions passed through the green eyes, Twilight able to name none, but she smirked nonetheless. Then the eyes cleared again, and Twilight heard a faint buzzing in the air.
"My master is currently ill, and I have been instructed to take his place."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Well then, 'minion,' why hasn't a doctor seen him?"
The "minion" paused. "It is merely a head cold, but it makes him unable to function properly."
Twilight nodded and turned, but was still suspicious. The impostor's flash of emotion earlier was a dead giveaway that Ganondorf didn't really have a "head cold", but was lying. She'd have to tell the others about this…
The day of the duel had come.
Twilight had been unable to sleep all night, and was now stocking up on caffeine at ten in the morning. She had discovered the interesting drink of 'coffee', and now it was her favorite morning beverage. Why in Celestia's name did Equestria not have coffee?
Link had re-fallen asleep on the counter, snoring and drooling comically, like something from a cartoon. Marth was awake and sipping some tea, while glaring at Ike's extreme bedhead while the blunette warrior yawned largely. Zelda had joined Marth in the partake of tea, and had gotten up earlier than the rest of them, as was her custom.
"So, Twilight, you ready? It's not every day that a Smasher fights Master Hand," Zelda asked quietly, attempting to not disturb her sleeping warrior.
"I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she responded, using her perfect library voice. "I can't really do anything else but hope for the best." The others nodded.
There was small talk among them until thirty minutes before the duel, when Twilight excused herself in order to stretch and get there before everyone else arrived to stare. Stretching is always a must when exercising, and Twilight had no idea why the other Smashers didn't do it. If they did, there would be a significant drop in sprains, cramps, and other such ailments that the poor doctors had to deal with.
She was nervous, almost as nervous as she had been when Princess Celestia had assigned her the task of saving the Crystal Empire. Failure could mean certain death, or major wounds at least. She also had no information, which means she couldn't use some fact to her advantage… This was a terrible situation for her. At least she knew a bit about the Crystal Empire! All she had now was the fact that he was a giant floating hand. Not much to go off.
Then the intercom came on, Master Hand's calm voice filtering through it. "Twilight Sparkle, report to the waiting room, Twilight Sparkle, report to the waiting room…"
Twilight inhaled to calm her nerves, and rose from her stretch in the waiting room. The time had come for the duel at last…
