Thought we forgot about this, didn't you?
Over our graves. Here's the next chapter.
As you can imagine, rehearsals for Hansel and Gretel are well under way. The rest is obvious. However, this summer there may also be a chance that I get to run off to the Festpeilhaus over in Bayreuth, Germany for the Wagner festival! Even better, I might have the chance to play in a youth thing over there where we perform one of the operas! Whee! First the student, then the master, eh?
My school orchestra gets to skip the district adjudications this year! We forgot to turn in some things on time, so we don't have to sit through something that a shitty orchestra would do good on waiting for the bored crowd to be wowed by something! Whee!
Oh, and BBC Music magazine just named Wozzeck one of the ten most influential operas in history. Being the big Wozzeck fan that I am, you can imagine how happy that makes me.
With the music scene, it can't seem to get any better for me. Unless they turn me down at Bayreuth.
So with that, I give you the next chapter of this story. Enjoy!
Chapter 10
Bowser sat in his bed, thinking.
Way too much had happened the day of Mario and Falco's match for him to process it all at once. He was sitting in his bed for precisely that reason.
Shortly after Popo came in with the news that Falco had lost his match, Zelda ran in and announced that Master Hand had been killed. Bowser figured that this meant that Master Hand could not have been the killer, since he would not and could not impale himself six times with spikes. Thus, the position of 'prime suspect' was pinned on Ganondorf.
Since they had to look at Master Hand's body to figure out if it was a suicide to clear his name, they were not in time to save Falco. Marth and Peach had been walking outside of the mansion looking for Roy when they found Falco's body with twelve crossbow bolts embedded in his skin. Isolde was still sulking in a small part of the basement where the bodies had been stowed until a funeral could be arranged.
Bowser also went to Roy's room to check Marth and Peach's testimony; however, he found Roy asleep in his bed. Bowser felt that Marth and Peach had lied to him, but he decided not to blame them since there was too little proof against them.
The investigation group had also asked Albrecht to cancel the tournament. However, Albrecht gave them a very hard time, with his philosophies of 'once you start something, you should finish it' and other things similar to that. Bowser grunted as he thought about the fact that they finally lost to his argument.
This led to Bowser sitting in his bed.
A tear formed in Bowser's eye as he thought about his son, Bowser Jr. Bowser had made a promise to his son that he would return with a trophy and some other tidbits that would come with victory in the tournament. However, Bowser knew that more was on the line if one lost. He knew that he would look like a failure in his son's eyes, but now he also knew that he would be killed if he lost.
Bowser wondered if he would ever see his son again in his life.
As he thought about this, Bowser suddenly realized he still had the postman.
The king of the koopas jumped off of the bed and walked to the desk.
He then got out a sheet of loose leaf paper from within the desk's drawers and began to write.
By the time he had set his pen down, he had written one of the more moving accounts that he had written.
Bowser got up from the desk, sealed the letter in an envelope, addressed it to his son, and went to the postman.
The letter went something like this:
Dear Bowser Jr.,
I am aware that some of the vocabulary in this letter may be beyond you; however, you are always free to ask what each word means.
This is your father mailing you. I promised you that I would come home with more things than even I can imagine. I still remember you talking about how honored you would feel to be the son of a champion of the world's most well known tournament. To lose would mean to be felt like a failure to one such as you, and thus I know I have to win.
However, a terrifying series of events has occurred that nobody saw coming.
A murderer is among us. As each competitor loses, that competitor loses not only their reputation, but their life as well. It has been tragic, but right now eight have been killed mercilessly. At the rate he kills, all the losers will have lost their lives by the time the tournament ends. And that is twenty-five lives lost to something as terrible as murder.
I promised I would come home a victor. However, now with my death as my token of defeat, I believe that what I am about to ask you is for the best. It is best for me, and it is best for you.
When you receive this letter, I want you to come to me and the tournament. I am very aware of the danger you would be in to do so, but some people say that you have to take risks to get anywhere.
The reason I want you to come is that I will not want to lie on the ground dying and thinking about the cold letter that my son would be sent when they discovered my body. Then, you would be plagued with the guilt of not being with your father when he died for the span of your life without me. I would never want you to linger on something like that, so I believe this is for the best.
Words evade me as of how to close this letter without it seeming to be awkward. I really wish that things could have been otherwise; however, wishes for me do not do anything. Sometimes, you must do something to avert a situation.
With love,
Your Father
Isolde sat by a coffin in the basement. This coffin had the body of Falco Lombardi lying in it.
The dark paid no heed to her tears. These fell as freely as they came, and they came after every five seconds.
Isolde had been mourning Falco's loss for quite a bit. She, like everybody else who was going through the tournament and the murders surrounding them, was aware that Falco had developed a crush on Isolde. Isolde mourned Falco not because she loved him as well, but because she felt sorry for him in the end. Perhaps if things had been different, then Falco would have made a relationship a reality.
But unfortunately, Isolde knew that no matter what she did, Falco would always lie in that coffin with an unconsummated relationship forever held in his now silent heart.
A set of footsteps sounded in the darkness.
"Are you sure you can stay down here all night?" asked a male voice.
Isolde knew that it was Marth. She knew that he did not want Isolde to be too uncomfortable, but she felt she needed some time.
"I am quite alright," said Isolde.
"Are you sure?" asked Marth. "I would not think it healthy for one such as you to be sitting in the dark. After all, a murderer is on the loose."
"I am not a target," said Isolde.
"I would not care about that," said Marth. "After all, you never know what you can catch in a basement such as this."
It was then that Isolde let out a heavy sigh.
"You care enough, don't you?" she asked.
"Indeed," said Marth.
Footsteps drew closer to Isolde.
"Here," said Marth's voice. "Let me help you upstairs."
"I will not be in need of it," said Isolde. "However, I would like some company."
"You shall have it," said Marth.
Isolde felt a warm hand on hers, and then she was led to the stairwell.
As they walked, Isolde could not help but feel strange by looking at the walls.
"Is there anything funny about the walls that you can notice?" asked Isolde.
"Not particularly," said Marth.
"I don't know either," said Isolde. "However, something is not right about them…"
"Too dark?" asked Marth.
"That may be it," said Isolde.
A chuckle came from Marth's direction. Isolde stiffened immediately.
"Relax," said Marth. "It was me."
"Oh," said Isolde. "You frightened me there."
"It may be nothing then," said Marth. "Come. You should get some rest."
Marth led Isolde out of the dungeons in this way.
The next morning, Popo woke up with a start. He had a lot to do that morning.
First, he had to go to Fox to wish him luck on his match versus Link that day. He knew that Fox could use all the luck he could get, especially now that lives were on the line for losing. Not that he wanted Link to die, but for him Fox was more valuable than Link was in the investigation.
Second, he had to find his CD player which he had brought to the tournament. For some reason, it went missing in the mess that was the night before. It was quite strange actually: Popo was not carrying it anywhere, and yet it disappeared when he returned to his room.
Third, Popo had to get into the investigation again. Apparently, they were in a standstill, and they needed extra help. Since Popo felt he was part of it, he would help out as much as he could.
That was quite a list for him, being the ten year old child that he was. Of course, he knew that finding Fox and wishing him luck was the first on his list of priorities.
He left his room as soon as he slipped into his blue parka.
Fox faced Link in the portal that was supposed to take the two of them to their match.
Link brought his arms around in a circular motion, thus stretching out both arms.
"May the best fighter win," said Link.
Fox wanted to add a small portion about life with victory, but decided it was not good, since it would reveal the investigation.
"Smashers ready?" asked the announcer.
The two smashers nodded. The portals took them on a journey to a large fountain.
"Ready?" asked a voice.
The portals brought them to their destination.
"Go!"
Zelda stood where a ruined picture of Albrecht lay on the floor. She then looked to the spot where it supposedly used to be. Surrounding her was Bowser, Isolde, Mario, Nana, and Popo.
"So, this was that place Ganondorf mentioned?" asked Zelda.
"Yep," said Mario.
"Looks like he punched the frame," said Nana.
"Probably got angry at the murders and took it out on the frame," said Bowser. "Then, his hand went through the wall."
"Right," said Isolde.
"There's something I don't get though," said Popo.
All eyes traveled to the young Ice Climber after this question.
"How do the walls become impermeable one second and semi permeable the next?" asked Popo.
"That is a bloody good question," said Zelda. "My guess that it would be a portal that leads to another dimension."
"I would not know," said Isolde. She walked up to the wall, put her arm through the wall, and waited.
Her arm stood suspended in the white screen for quite a while. Nothing happened though.
"No," said Isolde. "That is not a dimensional portal. Otherwise, it would have sucked me in."
"I see," said Bowser. "I wonder what's inside…"
Bowser was the first one to step into the wall. Isolde and Zelda immediately followed, with Mario, Popo, and Nana coming up behind the group.
Bowser heard a splash as he entered the room from the wall.
"What could that be?" asked Bowser.
"More blood?" asked Isolde.
"No," said Zelda. "It's too loud to be blood."
"Strange," said Nana. "You think it has something to do with water?"
Mario walked to a control panel.
"You mean water in a tank like this?" asked Mario.
Upon saying this, he pointed at a large tank filled with water with electrical probes jutting in.
The group stood dumbfounded.
"He was…" said Isolde.
"…Electrocuted to death…" said Bowser.
"…In a body of water," said Zelda.
"Does that explain some of the blood on this panel?" asked Popo.
"I would not be surprised," said Bowser. "So we know that some of these murders can't be done without the victim being teleported somewhere."
"Would Ganondorf know anything about how to use the controls?" asked Nana.
"Not that I'm aware of," said Bowser.
"So we can assume that he is not really a prime suspect," said Isolde. "So we have no prime suspect now…"
"Interesting," said Zelda. "The murderer has us in a stalemate."
"Indeed," said Bowser. "I guess the only thing to do now is to help the smashers survive."
"Indeed," said Isolde.
"Well, we've seen enough," said Bowser. "Let's get out of here before anybody suspects us of doing anything when we are just looking for clues."
Everybody except Isolde walked out of the room.
Isolde did not walk out because she noticed something about the walls behind the tank that were a little too similar to the walls in the basement…
Link took a last look at nothing in particular as he sailed away towards his loss.
Fox seemingly had been an easy opponent to defeat, as everything that Link did managed to lower Fox's stock count all the way to one. However, instead of embracing the inevitable, this last stock made him a far better fighter for that match. Link figured that some magical trace had done something, but he had no time to register it; for as quickly as the young fox had been depleted of his stocks, Fox managed to deplete the stocks of the young Hylian.
And unlike Link, Fox had managed to bring Link's stock count to zero.
That meant that Link had lost.
And now, Link was sailing to the end of his match.
He felt the impact of losing just as the announcer shouted "Game!"
Link felt himself in an unwavering blackness. The portal would have picked him up by then, but Link noticed he was still suspended.
The young Hylian wondered why this was when suddenly he remembered Fox and Master Hand mentioning rooms were people were killed.
Link punched the air as he realized something.
Damn it, he thought. Why did I have to be next in line to be murdered?
He then felt a light impact as he hit the bottom of something that was definitely not the match lounge.
"Hello," said a somewhat raspy voice.
Link gathered himself together as a dim torchlight illuminated the place he was in.
Link was surrounded on four sides by glass, he was walking on glass, and he saw a glass dome on top of him. The dome had two tubes running through it, and there was a hooded figure standing at a control panel.
"I know what you're up to!" said Link. "I'm not about to go down without a fight!"
"Maybe so…" said the hooded figure's raspy voice. "But I prefer that you do not. After all, the aquarium you are in is designed to usher in water and bring the air out."
"You wouldn't dare," said Link maliciously.
"Oh, I do," said the hooded figure. "I do many times, my friend."
The figure pulled a lever.
Link's heart skipped a beat when he heard the constant splash of water pouring in.
That was when Link realized that he could try to break the glass with his sword.
He turned to see his sword to find that his legendary sword was nothing more than a hilt.
"Nice try," said the hooded figure. "I specifically programmed the portal to make your sword disintegrate. I guess there is—"
The hooded figure was cut off as Link let out a frustrated yell and threw the hilt at the glass.
Upon contact, the glass did not shatter.
"Well, I thought about that too," said the mysterious man at the control panel. "There is no escape for you, my friend."
The water had by this time risen to the level of Link's knees.
Upon hearing this, the young Hylian sank to his knees and covered his face in despair.
The water rapidly rose as Link thought of nothing else but his impending death.