Ganon was up to something, and Bowser wasn't the only one who had that feeling. Dark Pit glanced at the Gerudo King over his cards. What the villain was writing down seemed very suspicious as it wasn't in a human language and it radiated darkness.

"Pay up," Wario grunted as he laid down his cards, revealing a royal flush.

Dark Pit scowled as he pushed part of his candy pile towards the fat Italian. The angel wasn't in a good mood, and part of it was because of Pit. Palutena had healed the lighter angel and sent him off to bed, but Dark Pit could feel something seriously wrong. The connection, the single string that kept their souls attached to one another, was tense, as if it were being pulled by opposing forces at both ends. There was also something radiating from Pit's end that made the dark angel feel uneasy. Dark Pit hadn't felt this way since the whole Chaos Kin ordeal, but something about this seemed worse than that, if it was possible.

"What's the matter with you?" Wario demanded as he dealt the cards for the next round.

"One royal flush is lucky. But five in a row? You're cheating," Dark Pit accused in a sour tone that matched his mood.

Wario shrugged. "I always cheat, but you've never complained before. Tell me, what's really going on? Doesn't have anything to do with that Pat guy, does it?"

"Pit," the angel corrected through gritted teeth. "His name is Pit. And mind your own damn business; I don't poke my nose around in yours."

"Fair enough."

Dark Pit saw Ganondorf leave the room out of the corner of his eye. He lowered his voice and said, "What's the deal with that guy?"

"Who? Ganon? Ah, he's a bastard. A bastard who screwed me over. I could've been rolling in dough, but he sent me after that damn Pokemon trainer and that little kid. Instead of collecting trophies and selling them for money, mine were stolen and I was turned into one."

Dark Pit rolled his eyes as Wario returned to his cards. It wasn't at all surprising to him that Wario went along with one of Ganon's plans as a way to get rich quick. Honestly, Wario would do anything for money- anything except exercise, that is. That still didn't answer Dark Pit's question. Something was off about Ganondorf, and it wasn't just because he was a bad guy. The angel contemplated putting the bug in Link's ear, but how to do that without making the Hylian hero suspicious of him was another story.

Dark Pit glanced at his hand and resisted the urge to scoff. Wario was definitely cheating. Lesson learned, don't ever play cards against the minigame proprietor. He made his bet, small but not small enough to make Wario suspicious. Right now it was beneficial to keep Wario in a good mood.

Not many people in Smash Mansion trusted the angel. It was probably because he was the darker version of Pit. They originally had thought he was the bad guy of the most recent Kid Icarus game, but Pit and Palutena quickly debunked that rumor. Still, the other Smashers were always on their guard whenever he was around.

Dark Pit was an outcast. The heroes didn't trust him and the villains knew he wasn't one of them. The only people that associated with him were Pit, Palutena, Wario (abet grudgingly as they were both using each other), and-strangely enough- Ike.

"Anyway," Dark Pit said, "is he always like that?"

"Like what?" Wario grunted.

"I don't know… Evil?"

Wario laughed. "He is the King of Evil. What did you expect?"

Dark Pit deadpanned. "That's not what I mean and you know it. It just feels like something's off with him. Like he's planning something."

The greedy man set his cards down on the table and met the angel's crimson eyes with his own beady orbs. "Look, you're a smart kid, could even become my intern someday," Dark Pit cringed internally at this, "but if you know what's good for you, you'll stay far away from Ganon. It's common knowledge that he's always planning something, next takeover of Hyrule or whatever. Just stay out of his way, otherwise…"

He drew a line across his throat; the dark angel got the message.

Ike quickly slammed his door before Peach could catch him. That girl had an umbrella and she knew how to use it. Ike really didn't want to be on the receiving end of her blows. The last time she pulled out her umbrella when she was angry… Well, let's just say Wolf had a hard time sitting for a week.

Somehow (*cough*cough*Zelda*cough*), she had found out about Ike's pre-dinner snack. Though it hadn't spoiled his dinner as Ike never, ever turned down food, she was angry that he had broken the rules. So Ike, being the genius that he is, fled to his room and shoved the dresser in front of the door. While she could use her umbrella with excellent precision and could send the likes of Bowser and Ganondorf flying in battles, she still wasn't quite strong enough to kick down the door when there was a dresser in front of it, especially when that dresser was Ike's, which was full of various heavy equipment and armor that he couldn't bare to throw away (he never knew when he needed a knight's lance or a steel bow, even though he himself couldn't use them).

"Open this door, Ike! Now!" Peach yelled as she beat her umbrella into the door, not that it was going to do much damage. His door was made of solid steel. Ike had grown smart since the last tournament. Now he just needed to get a mini fridge to keep his KFC leftovers in (a waste of money though, since he couldn't take it home with him; the struggles of living in a Medieval European-like society: no mini fridge, electricity, or KFC).

"What did he do now?" Marth asked from his room.

"Hey now! Why do you assume I did something wrong?" Ike retorted.

"Because it's you," the prince replied. "Wait a while, Princess Peach. He has to come out sometime to eat."

He heard Peach huff and storm off. Now that Ike was out of imminent danger, he had to wait a while before he could leave. Lay low, snack on chicken, and mull over how to keep Bowser Jr. to hold up his end of the bargain.

Ike was not stupid. He knew the value of a good spy, especially one that wasn't really aware he was being used. The mercenary was one of the few that hadn't quite forgiven Ganondorf, though he didn't mention it to anyone as the King of Thieves had seemingly redeemed himself in the eyes of many by fighting Tabuu in the end. Bowser Jr. was his key to keeping an eye on Ganon. It was no secret that Bowser, the King of Koopas himself, hated Ganondorf. The only reason he didn't outright fight the other was because of his beloved son. That, however, met that Bowser always kept an eye on the Gerudo King. He could be sneaky when he wanted to, but Ike had his way of finding out information.

He just hoped it wasn't too late when he finally pieced it all together.

King Dedede huffed as he flopped on his bed. As punishment for acquainting Sonic's head with the brick wall, Master Hand ordered him to clean the blood (and various other bodily fluids) off of the floor of several arenas, a job that would take weeks to complete. Of course it wasn't like he was actually going to do it; that's what the waddle-dees were for (and Kirby, if he could trick the little puffball into doing it).

"I thought Master Hand gave you a job to do," Falco said suspiciously from the doorway. The pilot was making his way to the laundry room to fetch his clothes when he noticed that King Dedede was in his room.

"Psh! You think I'm actually going to do it? I am a king after all," the so-called King of Dreamland said with a laugh. "I have minions for that kind of menial work."

Before Falco could say something in response, Ganondorf shoved him out of the way. Now, King Dedede had a reputation around the mansion for being completely oblivious of anybody except himself, but that wasn't quite true. Yes, he was the most important one in the mansion (or so he thought), but he did pay attention to the others. Not their lives obviously because he could care less about whose boyfriend broke up with them or whatever, but what they were doing. It was always beneficial to know what those around him were planning. It is how he knew to create his badges after all.

King Dedede strained his ears to listen to what Ganondorf was mumbling about. The King of Darkness was always up to something, so he always had to be on his toes to avoid being on the wrong end of whatever plans Ganon was cooking up.

"Yes, I know we need him. I know how powerful his kind is. To control him is to control the ultimate wrath. But how to avoid its nasty side-effects… Anyway, we don't have to worry about that; I've taken care of it. He will join us out of desperation; we will have him begging for mercy."

The ultimate wrath? That definitely didn't sound good, especially if it had nasty side-effects. And who was he talking about? Link? That was the only logical explanation. And what's this about "we"? It was no surprise that Ganon was planning something- and exploiting a powerful being in the process- but if he was working with someone, that could be very, very bad for the residents of Smash Mansion.

But the part about the "ultimate wrath" bothered King Dedede the most. It sounded like something magickey, and the self-proclaimed king was not a big fan of magic. Yes, yes, he was supposedly the King of Dreamland, but he didn't like magic like Ganon's or Bayonetta's because it was so complicated and scary. Maybe Bayonetta would have some ideas on what this "ultimate wrath" thingy was. It sounded like it was right up her alley- magickey and dangerous.

But just how to ask without her killing him…

"Link is friends with Pit, isn't he?" Palutena asked as Zelda poured Lucina's tea.

"Yes," Zelda replied thoughtfully. "Despite their rivalry, they're friends. Why do you ask?"

The Goddess of Light hesitated. Something was up with Pit, and both she and Dark Pit knew it. But getting Pit to admit something was wrong was like trying to tame a wild bull: tricky and dangerous. The angel would never, ever tell her if he even had a cold, let alone if something serious was going on, and he was extremely defensive and likely to lash out if someone confronted him about it.

But Palutena hoped he would trust other friends enough to confide in them, figuring they wouldn't tell her. If only she knew where to find other angels as she had a sneaking suspicion that he knew more about their whereabouts than he let on and regularly communicated with them (she couldn't exactly prove it; she knew there were more angels out there somewhere, but angels, including Pit, were very secretive about the whereabouts of their homeland, the legendary City of Angels).

"I was just wondering if Pit mentioned anything to him about anything going on," the goddess replied.

Robin snorted into her tea. "I thought Pit told you everything."

"Yes, I've never seen a servant so devoted to their patron until I met him," Peach added. She had calmed down from her earlier temper tantrum, though Ike hadn't been seen for hours.

"Well, Pit doesn't tell me everything," Palutena said. "He is entitled to his secrets like everybody else. I'm just worried about him. Something seems off and I can't put my finger on what it is."

"I'll put the bug in Link's ear to listen for anything," Zelda said.

"Well, tell him not to approach Pit directly. Pit takes it as an affront to be asked about his personal life. He sees it as nosing around his personal business."

On that happy note the other women changed the subject to who was dating who and what pairings would be cute together. Of course, Lucina sat on the edge of the group regarding the others with an uneasy hesitation. She didn't really understand the frivolities of "shipping" coming from a destroyed future. Of course Robin, Zelda, and Peach gladly partook in it. Palutena normally did too, but she was just too worried about Pit to talk about which male smasher would be cute with Samus (a woman who definitely did not appreciate being set up on blind dates).

She just hoped whatever was going on with Pit wasn't anything to be concerned about.

I still don't own the SSB Characters, but this plot is completely my own.