Okay, back with another chapter! This took longer than I had hoped, but only because I was on vacation with no access to OpenOffice for a week. I'm gonna have fun writing this now...the annoying introductions are out of the way.

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Chapter 4

Crash Landings

Samus ran down the white hallways, her years of bounty hunter training making her far faster than her comrades. Paralyzer at the ready, she screeched to a halt in front of a door labeled "Morgue/Autopsy Room/Game Room". Coming up behind her, Kirby jumped up and opened the door, giving way to a very ugly spectacle. Lucas ran in the room, only to swiftly back away in shock. Game and Watch took the hint, and decided to wait to find out what happened. R.O.B. immediately went to work, scanning every corner of the room. Meanwhile, Samus and Kirby looked up in horror.

Mario's body was dangling from the ceiling, neck in a noose, eyes gouged out, blood dripping onto his labcoat. R.O.B.'s eyes brightened briefly.

"IT APPEARS THAT I HAVE FOUND EVIDENCE. COMMENCING ANALYSIS." the robot said, picking up a piece of hair. The robot whirred, beeped, and shook for about ten seconds, before stopping and lowering his head. "THE SPECIMEN CONTAINS DNA OF A SMASHER. NAME: NESS. HOMETOWN: ONETT. UTILIZES PSCHIC ABILITIES." All in the room gaped in shock.

"Wait...NESS? As in, THE Ness? The one who went on the great journey and never returned? THAT Ness? HE killed Mario?" the small pink captain blurted out. R.O.B. nodded. Samus frowned.

"Impossible. He died, right?"

"Presumed dead." Lucas listened to them, shock, anger, and grief flooding through him all at once. He silently crept out of the room, and then ran through the halls towards the exit. The remaining Agency members didn't seem to notice him...they were too busy mourning their fallen friend.

Lucas burst through the front doors, racing to God-knows-where. Ness was alive. His best friend was alive.

And killing people, by the looks of it.

You know the feeling you get when you learn that your best friend is really a killer? I sure don't, and hopefully never will. Lucas, on the other hand...he was experiencing it now.

Shoving his feelings aside, he tried to think where Ness would go next. Then Lucas remembered Ness' hometown: Onett. Lucas walked a block away from the Smash Detective Agency building, stopping in front of a plain suburban row house. Eventually, a taxi came. Lucas hopped in and handed the driver a twenty.

"Take me to Onett, please." the blond boy said quietly. The door shut, and the cab zoomed down the street, a one-way trip to Onett.

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Fox couldn't think very clearly at the moment. Then again, let's see you try after falling 2000 feet and landing in hard soil. Come to think of it, why was he still alive? He should've died as soon as he hit the ground...his body shouldn't even be intact. Fox's eyes widened (or tried to, it's hard when they're kept shut by heavily packed soil), and he realized where he must be. Pulling himself out of the ground, he looked around and confirmed his hunch.

He was in a flowerbed, mostly made up of strange fireball-resembling things on stems with eyes. There was a waterfall close by, the light blue frothy water pouring into a river, and then a small lake. Turning around, he saw a large, pink-and-white castle, with a red roof and four towers supporting it. Above the main entrance was a stain-glass portrait of a blond woman in pink. Fox grinned and ran towards the castle entrance, only to be greeted by a small mushroom.

"Fox! What brings you here?" the mushroom said.

"I got...dropped from...from my ship, Toad...I landed here. I need to...to see the princess." Fox panted, breathless. Toad gave him a thumbs up, before opening the great red door.

"Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom, Fox!" the Toad said. Fox walked through, proceeding to the throne room.

After all, what other place is there where fat plumbers survive such huge falls?

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Marth woke up in a white, fluffy featherbed, draped by equally white curtains. Looking around, he saw that he was in a bed chamber...a royal bed chamber. Marth could only wonder as he rose from the bed, and then walked towards the wooden door. Hand on head from a migraine, he opened the door and walked through.

He was in a throne room, the exquisitely decorated gold and silver pretty much everywhere. The floor was carpeted, a deep red carpet with three golden triangles.

Suddenly, Marth realized where he was.

"The Triforce...am I in Hyrule Castle?" the prince muttered. He could hear light footsteps behind him as he said so. Whirling around, he saw yet another friendly face...a friendly one this time, thankfully. She wore a regal purple, gold, and white dress, with braided brown hair behind her head.

Princess Zelda.

"Yes, Marth...Link found you lying on the ground, and he rode you back here." the princess said softly, feeling Marth's forehead. Marth pulled away, nodding.

"And Ike? Did Link find Ike?" the Altean prince said. Zelda frowned.

"He's missing, Marth. Probably dead." the prince smiled again.

"Here's a funny story..."

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Kirby sat brooding in the black van. While this probably looked cute, Kirby felt no happiness. Mario was dead. His colleague, Mario Mario. The hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, saving the world countless times, and entering into God-knows-how-many relationships with a certain princess that were never brought up again. He was dead. It was unbelievable.

They knew that Lucas had left. They didn't care. They knew Wario and Mario's killer, and it wasn't Lucas. He had to pity the poor kid. To find out not only that your best friend was alive, but was also a murderer...that had to hurt.

The pink puffball only sat in the backseat of the SDA van, brooding. His remaining team members were equally somber. Even R.O.B. had his head bent, despite not technically being supposed to have emotions. Chaos was erupting all around the streets. Police cars swarmed around the alleyway that Wario was murdered in. People ran to their houses screaming.

The playgrounds were empty. The anthropomorphic citizens of Smashville were no longer happy. While this was not a crisis by any means, it was still a great excuse to be unsettled.

Four Smashers had been killed. Of course, the citizens didn't know about Mario yet, so only three for them. Wario, King Dedede, and Meta Knight...all of them proud, mighty warriors...all of them dead.

What was more, Falco and Fox hadn't been answering their communicators. This was frustrating to Kirby, as they would give him satellite view of the globe, whatever the situation may be.

And that's where Kirby figured to head next.

"Game and Watch!" he ordered to the 2-D man in the driver's seat. "Change of course! Get us to Lylat." Game and Watch looked puzzled.

"Sir, Lylat is at least three days away by car, and that doesn't include traffic! Must we?"

"Yes. We need to locate the Great Fox. It's our only link to satellite view, and Fox is unresponsive. Falco too." With that, the driver nodded his paper-thin head, and immediately took a sharp turn to the right.

R.O.B. whirred and clicked again, resetting his internal GPS unit. In a strangely effeminate robotic voice, he said "Turn right...in .5 miles..."

"Stop that and talk in your regular voice, nimrod." Samus growled, irritated. If robots could chuckle, R.O.B. would've.

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"So you're saying..." the Hylian princess muttered. "That Wario gave you multi-colored feathers and told you to bring them here. And...Ike took them from you?" Marth showed her the fresh notches in Falchion.

"Yes, your Majesty. He is alive, and he stole those feathers from me, for whatever odd reason." the Altean prince sincerely reported. Zelda raised her eyebrows.

"Stop calling me Your Majesty, we're both royalty. Also, I'm not sure if you heard...Wario was found dead earlier today." In response, Marth gasped.

"WHAT!!?? How? Why?"

"Meta Knight and King Dedede are dead as well...both of them holders of the Dragoon. If the multi-colored feathers that Ike stole are what I'm thinking of..." Zelda and Marth both realized the answer in unison.

"Someone's trying to unite the Dragoon!" they both exclaimed in unison. "There was no way Ike could reach Meta Knight, Dedede, and Smashville in one day! There's a network here...but who's the leader?" Marth pondered.

"I think..." a new voice said from behind them. "That we shall go find out." It was a mystical, sparkly, energetic voice.

Zelda whirled around, smiling. "Navi! Link! Are you willing to go on another quest?" Link smiled back and, being mute, had Navi talk for him.

"Of course, princess! But, you stay here! We'll take care of this!" Link nodded, and began to walk out of the castle door.

"Wait! Link!" Marth yelled, running to catch up. "I'm coming too!" Link glanced at him, then nodded with a smile on his face. They shook hands, then took off before Zelda could even say "Goodbye."

Zelda sighed, and would've sweatdropped if this were an anime. "Boys...hmph."

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Mario's limp body suddenly came crashing to the floor, the rope cut. The rope than vanished, and Mario rose, all wounds gone. He was about to run out the door, but his limbs were bound by a strange, unseen force.

A psychic force.

Mario was forced to the ground again, a lone figure walking behind him. He was short, maybe 13 years old at the most, with black hair and a striped shirt. He used to wear a red baseball cap, but he had lost it. His name? Haven't you already guessed? He was named Ness.

Now, this boy laughed, a deep, cruel laugh, one unfitting of a boy once so cheerful and happy.

"Illusions. Work every time." Ness said, hoisting up the helpless Mario with telekenesis. "Come along, plumber boy. We've got work to do."

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What with school, vacation, and stuff like that, this take way longer than expected. Well, point is, it's done, so hooray! Next chapter shouldn't be too long, just don't be so sure that I'll fulfill any votes yet...

Different vote this time. Will Mario survive? Yes or no?

Anyways, read and review!