A/N: Back in business, thanks to Super Smash Brothers Brawl! Yes, it took me almost 2 years, but WE ARE BACK! Maybe not funny, maybe not random, but sure as hell doing something about that island! If you'll remember with me, the mansion blew up and everyone was spirited away to a deserted island! Original, no? The survivors so far are as listed: Marth, Roy, Link, Samus, Ganondorf, Mario, Fox, Master Hand, Ness, Yoshi, Peach. Not necessarily in order of appearance, but something close. Anyway, bear with me, and I deeply apologize for the slow update. Or...the ice age-like intermission between chapters. Let's hope I can carry through with this. Read and review, if you care to support me.

Chapter 3 - Survivors Phase 2

Day 9

Master Hand etched another mark on his tree, nine in all. The smashers were getting hungry.

Seated around the omnipresent fire, the smashers eyed each other warily, a sequence of thoughts going through their heads. Ness is too small. Fox is too furry. Roy...no, he's too skinny. Mario... They all turned to Mario, who stared back in fear. Yes, his time was drawing near.

Link had been working on his raft day in and day out, but Samus continued to reprimand his poor craftsmanship. Peach and Marth went on worrying about their clothes and their hygiene while everyone else concerned themselves with rescue and food. Master Hand was only praying that the smashers would get along and not eat each other. Unfortunately, (see above paragraph).

On this Day 9, Peach was sitting with a notebook and a piece of charred driftwood, writing. Samus came up to her and sat down. "What are you writing?"

Peach jumped in surprise and hid the notebook page from view, but Samus could've sworn she saw the word "Casualties" at the top. "N-nothing!" the princess stammered, smiling nervously. Samus just looked at her before nodding.

"A list of people we've yet to see, huh?" she guessed, shocking Peach even more. The girl, too, nodded slowly, relaxing so that Samus could read the paper. "I'm sure they're out there somewhere."

Peach read the list aloud. "Donkey Kong, Kirby, Pikachu, Zelda, Luigi, Falco, Popo, Nana, Captain Falcon, and Bowser. I wonder where they all are." Samus sat in thoughtful silence before pointing out that Peach had forgotten Mr. Game and Watch. Peach agreed, and yet still did not add his name to the list.

"They're safe, wherever they are. I mean, they're smashers. They wouldn't die just because the mansion exploded and they got blasted about 1,000 miles from civilization." Peach gave her a worried look. "We're still alive, aren't we?"

Peach was about to say "I guess so" before Link came from around the corner. "Hey, you guys. I heard something in the forest. Wanna go check it out?"

Samus rolled her eyes. What kind of guy goes up to a couple of girls and invites them to danger? "Sure, I'll go. Peach, you should stay here." Peach complied readily and the other two walked off.

"Heard something in the forest, huh?" Samus laughed, shaking her head now. "Like what? It must've been pretty peculiar for you to have to come and get someone."

"Well, the thing is, I heard someone that sounded like Mario." Samus raised an eyebrow. "But Mario was standing right next to me at the time." Samus raised her other eyebrow. "And, I didn't know who it was or if I was going crazy, so I went to go get you!"

"Link," Samus started, glancing at her bewildered friend before putting a hand to her head. "That was probably just Luigi. You know, his brother? You should've gone to see who it was and maybe let him know he's not alone out here." Link was quiet, and Samus stopped walking.

"What?"

"You say he was talking?" Link nodded. "To who?" Link shrugged. Samus sighed. "Let's just go."

In the forest, they walked for a long time along unfamiliar paths with strange shrubbery and even stranger animal sounds. They stopped several times to listen for sounds of human voices, but they didn't hear anything. That is, until Link remembered where he'd heard the sound in the first place.

"Why didn't you tell me about this first?" Samus asked as they walked to a clearing in the forest. Link didn't answer, and instead stopped just before they reached the clearing. Two figures were talking to each other. The Hylian motioned for Samus to be quiet, and they both knelt low.

A man, distinctly wearing green and overalls, was talking to what looked like an angel. Samus covered her eyes with her hand. "Dammit, he's dead!" she cried, Link reaching over to pull her down lower.

The two in the clearing turned around at Samus's exclamation, and they soon discovered it was indeed Luigi. The angel, however, they didn't know. Samus was thoroughly convinced the plumber was on his way to heaven though.

"We can't let that angel take him! He has to stay with us! He has to be reunited with Mario one last time!" Samus was struggling to reach the inner clearing, but Link held her back.

"Would you be quiet?!" he exclaimed. By the time Samus had been partially subdued, Luigi and the angel were standing in front of them, confused. "Uh...hi."

"Link, is that you?" Luigi smiled after Link told him so. "Oh, I'm so glad! There must be other survivors, right?"

"Other survivors?" Samus asked in dismay. "You're dead, Luigi!" Luigi gasped at this and became pale. Samus gave him a questioning look. "You mean...you didn't know?"

"I sure didn't!" the angel said, though he looked more like a messenger than an angel. Samus and Link looked at the messenger blankly.

"What do you mean 'you didn't know'? You were taking him away!" Samus pointed an accusing finger at him, as Link was still holding her back. The winged one put a hand over his heart in apology.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't aware..." Link frowned in dumbfounded shock. Either Samus is extremely persuasive or these guys are just plain gullible.

"No one was going to heaven, no one's dead, and no one should be apologizing. For starters, Luigi, there are other survivors." Luigi sighed in relief. "Now tell me who this Hermes wannabe is!"

"Oh! My name's Pit," he said. There was a silence. "I...I was just out getting water, like I always do, when I ran into this person." He waved an arm at Luigi.

Link folded his arms. "So wait, you saying you live here?"

The angel shrugged. "More or less. I've been stranded here for...almost a year now!" Everyone's jaws dropped. Samus looked at Link, who looked at Luigi, who looked at Pit, who...did nothing. "What?"

"You've been stranded..." Samus began, shaking her head as if to clear up the unbelievable thoughts.

"For almost a year..." Luigi tapped his chin in thought.

"And you have wings?!" Link clenched his fists and stepped forward. "Do you have any idea how stupid you are? Just leave!"

Pit scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, th-that's the thing." Pulling one of his wings forward, he showed them a large cut that ran from the base of his right wing to the tip, branching out along the way. It looked old, but still prevented him from flying. Link nodded knowingly.

"I see. So that's what got you stranded here. Are you alone?" To everyone's surprise, Pit shook his head. "Really?! You-"

"I'd love to tell you the whole story, but I'm really thirsty. I came out here to get water, remember?" The boy left before anyone could say anything else.

"He's gone!" Link cursed, stomping his foot. "What if the people he was with were people from our mansion?"

Samus shook her head. "Unlikely. He's been here for months, and we crashed here a little more than a week ago. If he'd encountered any of them, he would've told us for sure."

"I'll tell you what's unlikely," Luigi cut in. "Someone else is stranded on this island besides the lot of us!"

Link, Samus, and Luigi decided to head back and tell the others about the survivor they found.

- Back at the beach -

"Hey," Fox said, walking up to Marth. "You want to go look for food with me and Yoshi?" Marth shook his head, avoiding eye contact, and Fox crossed his arms. "Do you want to be useful at all? Because if not, we can eat you first."

The prince contemplated these words before standing and walking to the forest with Fox and Yoshi.

Yoshi smelled the ground with his large nose. Fox, gun in hand, looked around in the trees. Marth trudged slowly behind them with his head down. "Yoshi!" Yoshi exclaimed, grabbing the other two's attention.

He pointed at mysterious footprints, and Fox gave him a skeptical look. "Since when do you say your own name like that?"

"Sorry, I couldn't think of anything else," the dinosaur apologized. "But still, footprints! I don't recognize the print of the shoe." Taking a closer look, Marth measured the clear print in comparison with his own foot.

"Smaller than my shoe, but not a child. That doesn't really match up with anyone."

"Let's follow them, then. Maybe it's someone we lost." Fox led the group further down the path. Before long, they could hear the sound of rushing water. Yoshi was about to shout his name again, but Fox beat him. "A waterfall?"

Running down the path, the three emerged from the forest to see a clear yet small lake with an ample supply of bright, clean water. Yoshi rubbed his eyes as if dreaming, and the other two stared in awe. What they saw next, however, surprised them even more.

"Go, Pokeball!" they heard a voice yell, and to their left, a person stood on a flat rock over the lake, throwing a small sphere at their own Pikachu. The Pokemon hit the ball back with his tail though, refusing to be captured. The trainer cursed in anger. No doubt, he'd been at this for a while.

"You there!" Marth called, catching the trainer's attention. Pikachu, upon seeing familiar faces, dashed over to them immediately. The trainer, however, descended reluctantly from the rock. A Squirtle was playing happily in the lake.

"I'm sorry," the trainer said. "I didn't know it was yours." He was referring to Pikachu, and Marth winced at the thought of owning such a nettlesome Pokemon. The trainer extended his hand in a friendly gesture. "It's nice to see someone else on the island for a change."

Marth shook the stranger's hand. "My name's Marth. What's yours?"

The trainer shrugged. "Don't have one. Just call me 'Pokemon Trainer'."

Seeing that the fool wasn't kidding, Marth tilted his head and smiled cynically. This guy must really take his occupation seriously.

Fox stepped forward and brought up an earlier subject. "We don't own Pikachu. He just...knows us." A terrifying gleam appeared in the trainer's eyes as he reached for his belt and picked up a Pokeball. "But, er, please don't catch him. He's...you wouldn't want him."

As Yoshi and Pikachu joined Squirtle in the lake, the other three sat on the jutting rock. "So, how long have you been on this island?" Fox asked Pokemon Trainer.

"Almost a year," he answered after thinking about it. Indeed, his clothes were tattered and he was adequately tan, but didn't look malnourished. "I have a camp with my friends who were stranded with me just through the forest that way." He pointed towards the setting sun. Fox and Marth exchanged glances. More people meant a better chance of survival.

"We've only been here about a week. Pikachu came with us, but we thought he was a goner." Fox jerked a thumb at the yellow creature, still playing jubilantly in the water.

"More like wished he was a goner," Marth added under his breath, but smiled politely when Pokemon Trainer looked his way.

"If you'd like to meet the rest of my friends, you can come eat dinner with us tonight," Pokemon Trainer offered, and Marth and Fox looked at each other once again. Seeing that their group was lousy at collecting food, they agreed. What did they have to lose?

Pokemon Trainer summoned his Pokemon back and the five of them started towards the west.

- Back at the beach -

"Where the hell does everyone keep disappearing to?" Ganondorf complained, looking around as he piled on more firewood. No doubt, he was just concerned with finding someone to eat.

"They'll come back," Master Hand said monotonously. Peach, Mario, and Roy all sat by the growing fire.

"Marth better be getting us some food," Roy mumbled, eyeing Mario suspiciously. The Italian just looked away in fear. Peach, having no idea what was going on, simply giggled and looked back at her list of thought-to-be-dead people.

"Come to think of it," she said all of a sudden. Samus and Link never did come back either. I hope they aren't working on that raft together and thinking about leaving us behind." Roy and Mario nodded in agreement, but Ganondorf just stared at them blankly.

"What are you talking about? The raft is right over there." He nodded at the raft, floating silently in the water, tied to a palm tree. The three sighed in relief, and Ganondorf rolled his eyes. "Whatever, if they don't come back, we can eat without them and conserve our food supply."

Mario, after receiving dangerous looks from the two redheads, swallowed nervously and stood, walking away.

A/N: Well, how was that for an update? SSBB got me back in the swing of things, so naturally, I had to put a few characters in there. Well, please review. I need to know how many people are still reading this! (probably 0)