Yes, my friends, I have updated!! Hooray! Sorry it took longer than expected! But to the chapter! And for our disclaimer, the man...er, puffball of the hour, Kirby!

Kirby: Um...UM doesn't own anything besides the fic itself. All other characters belong to their respective owners.

Me: Good job, Kirby. Here you are, a cookie. (tosses cookie)

Kirby: Yum, I love cookies! (chomps down on cookie) Read the chapter, people!!

"What happened?" asked Meta Knight anxiously. Accidents during brawls were few and far between; if anything went wrong, more often than not it was on purpose.

"Kirby's in the infirmary, that's what happened!" Samus cried.

"WHAT?!" Meta Knight was not the only one to shout this. Everyone in the other room had now stuck their heads out in shock. Jigglypuff looked the most shocked of all.

"Why?!" she cried. "How could that happen?"

"Yeah, what about pain simulation?" asked Falco. Samus shook her head.

"Something must have gone wrong!" she said. "Master Hand sent me to tell everyone!" She looked back down the hallway. "I'd better get back," she said. "Peach and Zelda might need help."

"I'm coming with you!" said Jigglypuff. Wolf nodded to say that he was coming, too.

"I am, too," Meta said. As much as he was not in a good mood with Kirby right now, he was still worried about the poor puffball. What could have happened? The group dashed down the hall to the infirmary. Master Hand and Bowser were waiting outside.

"We might have a problem here," said the Hand. Bowser looked down at the ground.

"I'd used that move a million freakin' times before," he muttered. "It never did anything like this..."

"Like what?" asked Wolf. Zelda popped her head out.

"You were right, Master Hand," she said unhappily. "I can't see how it happened but...Kirby..."

"He's not dead, is he?!" Jiggly cried. Master Hand shook his...um, hand...

"No, thankfully not," he said. "Although he might have been if that brawl went on any longer."

"Why, what happened?" asked Meta Knight, seeing as Jigglypuff was still in too much of a panic to do anything besides question Kirby's death.

"It started just like a regular Brawl," Bowser answered for Master. "We had just begun fighting, and then I used my Bowser Bomb, you know, like I usually do?" His voice was unnaturally shaky. "Well, I landed on Kirby, like, almost dead-on, and then...then I could have sworn I heard something crack."

"Something...crack?" Wolf asked. The Koopa nodded.

"Kirby shouted in pain, and then I got off him, but he...he wasn't moving. He was trying, but he couldn't get up! Then Master Hand suddenly stopped the brawl, and I realized that Kirby was... He was bleeding!" Mouths dropped here.

"Bleeding?!" cried Jiggly. "But how?"

"I thought the pain simulators made it impossible for anyone to truly get hurt!" Meta Knight said. At that moment, Marth ran up to them.

"I checked, Master Hand," he said. "The pain simulator button was switched to off!"

Oh. That would explain a lot.

"Whose shift was it?" asked Master Hand, his voice taking a deadly tone. Marth shrugged.

"It was Peach's," Zelda said. Peach, who was in the infirmary, looked up at her name.

"Uh oh," she said quietly. Master Hand glared at her. Well, not really glared, but you got the vibe of it. "Okay, okay, I went out to get coffee for one second!" she said. "Someone must have come in and switched it then!"

"Maybe... Could you have pushed it accidentally?" Marth asked.

"There's a huge red sticker next to it that says 'Do Not Touch'," said Wolf. "I think it might be kinda hard to push it accidentally."

"Still, this is Peach we're talking about," Samus muttered, too quietly for anyone to hear. Master Hand clenched himself into a fist.

"We need to find out how this happened," he said. "No more brawls until we figure it out. Everyone," said the Hand suspiciously, "is a suspect."

"Um...can we just see what happened to Kirby?!" cried Jiggly. Zelda looked down.

"Broken leg, broken collarbone, and a concussion," she muttered. "He won't be able to get out of bed for a while..."

"WHAT?!"

"That's impossible!"

"I don't believe it!"

"I'm never using that move again!" Bowser looked away from the group. "This is just perfect. Wonderful. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Master Hand nodded, and the Koopa walked away sadly.

"Aw, great, now Bowser feels like a piece of crap," muttered Wolf. Meta sighed. Well, this was just perfect. He looked in at Kirby. The puffball was all bandaged up and was lying on the bed, asleep (although comatose might be a better description...). Suddenly, he realized something. Kirby wasn't going to be able to get out of bed for a while... Jigglypuff was going to the ball with Kirby... If Kirby couldn't get up...

Jiggly must have realized that same exact thing. Her eyes went wide. "How long will he have to be in here?" she asked nervously. Zelda looked to Peach.

"If he was almost anyone else," the Mushroom Kingdom princess said, "he'd probably be out in a few days. But because of his body shape, he'll most likely be in for longer." She paused for a second. "He won't be able to go to the ball," she finished sadly.

If you had some kind of sick, wrong sense of humor (looking at you, Snake and Ganondorf), you probably would have laughed at Jiggly's face right then. Eyes wide, pupils microscopic, mouth wide open. It was plain to see what she was thinking.

Oh. Crap.

Meta Knight sighed again. Things were probably going to get a lot more panicky from here on out.

It was late that night, and Jigglypuff was in the kitchen. Why? She was inhaling ice cream to try to calm her nerves. The brain freeze wasn't helping very much, but she kept eating anyway.

This was not good. There were four, count 'em, four days until the ball. Four. And she was dateless. Jiggly sighed as she plopped another spoonful of mint chocolate chip into her mouth. Who could she ask? Pretty much every guy in the mansion already had a date. She didn't know anyone from outside Smash Mansion that would actually go with her. Basically, she was sunk. Jigglypuff dug her spoon into the tub again to find that she was all out. She threw it away and opened the freezer to get another gallon. When she looked inside, there was nothing. Great, she had eaten all of the ice cream.

The other Smashers weren't going to be too happy.

She closed the freezer slowly. Why wasn't she all sugar-hyped like she normally was after she ate a lot of ice cream? There were probably about ten gallons of ice cream in there. Yet she felt like she was about to collapse. Something was definitely wrong with her.

Jiggly decided that she was going to go to bed. Tomorrow, she'd go on a massive asking spree. Maybe she'd find someone who felt sorry enough for her to take her to the dance. She trudged down the hall to her room, opening the door quietly. The balloon Pokémon peeked in. Good. Meta Knight was asleep. She was surprised he hadn't woken up at the sound of the door, seeing as he could be a very light sleeper when she didn't want him to be, but the day had been rather hectic. Jiggly crept into the room and sat on her bed. She looked at the sleeping Meta Knight. Lucky, she thought. He doesn't have to go through any of this. He was smart, backing out of this while he still could. She sighed and looked down. There was probably no chance of finding a date this close to the dance. And Peach was probably going to make her go anyway.

Suddenly, Jiggly let out a very large yawn. She quickly closed her mouth. "Maybe it's time to go to sleep," she said quietly. She lay down and pulled the covers up. The balloon Pokémon took one last look at Meta Knight. For some reason, she felt a smile creep onto her face.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Meta Knight woke up early that morning. He looked at the clock.

Five in the morning. Since when did he get up this early?

Meta sighed. Well, he wasn't going to be able fall asleep again, so he figured he'd get up. He looked over at Jigglypuff, who was still sleeping soundly. He felt sorry for her. The poor puffball had been on cloud nine, and then everything had come crashing down. And the ball was a mere four days away, counting today. Meta got out of bed and walked over to her. During her sleep, the balloon Pokémon had somehow managed to push the covers off of her. She seemed to be shivering a little. Meta Knight gently pulled them back over her and smiled. Then he walked out into the silent hallway, thoughts of the ball still in his head.

He should probably be relishing the silence, seeing as Jigglypuff was most likely going to be in total panic as soon as she got up. Who could have turned off the pain simulation? Maybe it was someone who hated Kirby...but who did? The pink puffball was considered adorable by nearly everyone, if not a bit annoying. But no one hated him. Meta Knight sighed. The mystery would have to be revealed later. He was hungry.

Meta walked into the kitchen. He took out a bagel from the cupboard and grabbed a cup of decaf from the Smashers' coffee machine. He took a straw from the dispenser next to it. Yes, he drank coffee with a straw. He drank everything with a straw. It was easy to pop under his mask, so he didn't need to take it off to drink anything. Once, Meta only drank with a straw when the other Smashers were around, but that changed one night when Ness walked in on him while he was drinking a glass of milk. He had threatened...er, convinced the boy that telling anyone what he looked like underneath the mask could quite possibly result in a untimely demise, so that was taken care of. But Meta Knight never took his mask off unless he was in a private place with a locked door ever again.

He was half finished his coffee when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. See, this was why he didn't take off his mask. He looked up to see Samus, still in her pajamas. "Good morning," he said.

"Morning," she replied, by now used to the sight of Meta Knight drinking coffee with a yellow bendy straw. "How long have you been up?"

"All of five minutes," said Meta.

"Is anyone else up?" the bounty hunter asked. He shook his head.

"Not that I know of."

"Good, then I have a question," she said. Meta looked at her.

"Does this involve hypothetical situations of any kind?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Never mind, just ask the question." Samus took a deep breath.

"What were you and Wolf talking about yesterday that made him start to panic as soon as I showed up?" Meta froze. Exactly how was he supposed to answer that?

"Um...he asked me a question...," he started. She raised an eyebrow. "...about the ball...," he continued, hoping that that would satisfy her. She didn't look satisfied. "...about who to go with..." Maybe if he implied it, but didn't technically tell her, Wolf wouldn't kill him. However, Samus didn't seem to be getting it.

"And he was panicking why?"

"And I thought you were one of the smarter people here," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Meta glanced back and forth. He was going to have to say something eventually. But what could he say? "He asked me how to ask someone he liked to the ball," he said.

"You're repeating yourself now," Samus said cynically. Meta Knight narrowed his eyes. What did he have to do to drill this into her brain? "Are you hiding something?" she asked. "You're being awfully mysterious, even for you."

"Well, I'm sorry that, contrary to common belief, I really would not enjoy getting beaten to a bloody pulp by Wolf because I told you that he wants to take you to the ball!" Meta instantly shut his mouth. Crap. He really needed to work on his reactions when it came to stereotyping. The bounty hunter simply looked at him, her mouth slightly open.

"Wait," she said at last, "he what?"

"Um..." Great job, Meta Knight. Wonderful job. Well, there was nothing left to do but continue what he started. "He wants to go with the dance with you, alright? But whatever you do, you didn't hear that from me. Got it?" he said. Samus nodded, still in shock. "Good." Meta turned to walk down the hall. And, of course, as soon as he turned the corner, he ran into the person that he least wanted to see at the moment. "Um...morning, Wolf!" he said nervously. The look on the Star Wolf commander's face confirmed the fact that he had heard everything. Meta was at a loss for what to do, so he did quite possibly the most uncharacteristic thing he had ever done.

"Wolf, Samus wants to talk to you, okay? Bye!" He pushed Wolf into the room and dashed down the hallway, glancing back and hoping that his pitiful matchmaker attempt didn't result in horrible pain later on that day.

And people asked him why he didn't get involved in this kind of stuff.

There you go, peoples! Sorry if it was a little short. And, before I forget, I have now started a Meta KnightxJigglypuff army! Which is basically a group of supporters of MetaxJiggly, except I give out cookies to everyone! PM me if you want to join! See you next update, and cookies to all reviewers!

Ciao!

-Umbreon Mastah