Gamer4 in. Well, you probably know what I'm going to say already, so I'm not going to waste time saying it. Let's get right to it.

Disclaimer: Still nothing.

Chapter 6

Ganondorf and Meta Knight

"Where are we going?" Firestar asked.

"We only have time for one place before the brawl, so I figure we should look at the weight room."

"Weight room?" Graystripe asked, not knowing what either word meant.

"It's where we go to make ourselves stronger. Mario would probably be better at explaining these things, he's read the series."

"What, Zelda?" Mario asked, appearing suddenly.

"I was saying that you'd be better at explaining things to Firestar and Graystripe," Zelda said. "You've read the series, you'll know what they'll understand better than other things."

"Where are you taking them?" Mario asked.

"She said she's showing us the wait room," Graystripe said, with one eyebrow raised. "Though I don't see how waiting makes someone stronger."

"Oh," Mario said. "It's not like that. We lift weight in the weight room, and it makes us stronger. We don't have mentors, like the clans. We train ourselves."

"Then how do you learn new things?" Firestar asked, with both eyebrows raised.

"Well," said Mario, thinking about that. "We don't really need to. We already know enough fighting."

"Then why do you train yourselves?"

"Well," Mario said. "We can make the moves we already know stronger. As Lionblaze said, there's always room for improvement."

"Who in Starclan is Lionblaze?" Firestar asked.

"Your grandson," Mario said without thinking.

"Grandson?" Firestar asked.

"You've read the stories that far?" asked Graystripe.

"Why?" asked Mario turning around. Then it seemed to dawn on him. "They're from Darkest Hour?" he asked Zelda.

"Yes," she said.

"Oh," Mario said. "Right."

"So?" both of them asked at once.

"Well, you still have a lot of interesting stuff ahead," Mario said, knowing that this was the understatement of the year, possibly of the century.

"Like what?" Graystripe asked.

Mario, not wanting to break the nearly endless list of bad news to them, at least not now, turned to Zelda for help. She seemed to understand, and saved him by saying loudly, "Oh, look, the weight room."

XXXX

Only two smashers were in the weight room at the time: Ganondorf and Meta Knight. Ganondorf was using the bench press, presumably in preparation for his fight against Bowser. Eye of the Tiger was playing on a radio next to him. Meta Knight was on the other side of the room, using the butterfly machine with his wings. Ganondorf looked around when they entered, dropped the weight, stopped the radio, and walked up to them.

"So we got new smashers, do we?" he asked, looking down at the two. "They don't look like much."

"Neither did Link," said Zelda, jumping to their defense. "And who always beats you?"

Ganondorf didn't seem to like that. "We'll see who's top dog in this brawl, won't we?" he sneered.

"It's only between you and a turtle boy who thinks he's the werewolf king," Mario pointed out. "It wouldn't exactly be an achievement nowadays."

"Watch it," Ganondorf said, seeming to get angrier. "Bowser may think he's the werewolf king, but I know that I'm the lord of evil."

"You lost that rank a long time ago," said Zelda. "And these two are great warriors."

Mario could tell, without looking, that Firestar and Graystripe liked that description. "And so was Link when he beat you, wasn't he?" he asked.

"Great warriors?" came another voice. They turned to see that Meta Knight had appeared beside them. "Kind of thin, aren't they?"

Mario turned, and noticed that they actually were. He remembered that they were, after all, in the middle of Leaf-Bare in the series. Food would have been scarce. It made sense that they were thin.

Zelda opened her mouth to defend them, but it seemed that they didn't want her to. Firestar came in with a comeback first. "Better thin than have the weight you have on you. You're completely round. You make Smudge look like he's starving!"

Mario was willing to bet that Meta Knight had no idea who Smudge was, but he knew when he was being insulted.

"You listen here," he said, getting right up in Firestar's face. "I don't know who you are, but you'd better watch yourself. I'm the greatest warrior where I come from."

"Then I'd hate to see how big everyone else is," said Graystripe, joining with Firestar.

Meta Knight looked at them angrily, but went back to the butterfly machine. Ganondorf turned back to them. "He's got a point," he sneered, looking Firestar and Graystripe up and down. "Kind of thin to be great warriors, aren't they? They seem weak compared to me."

"Let us handle him," Mario whispered in the warrior's ears. Then he turned to Ganondorf. "At least they can outrun slugs on the jogging track, Ganondork."

Ganondorf turned red with fury. "I could take them out anytime."

"If we stood still in front of you, maybe," Firestar said, realizing that Ganondorf must have a reputation for being slow. "But I bet we could dodge you easily."

"You'll see," Ganondorf said, looking down at them. "You'll see."

"They probably will," said a voice at the door. They turned to see Master Hand floating there. "It's time for the brawl."

Meta Knight looked up from his butterfly machine, jumped off, and came over to Ganondorf. By this time, Master had left. Meta Knight didn't seem as angry as he had seemed earlier. In fact, he seemed to be looking at the warriors as merely a challenge. Ganondorf, on the other hand, looked downright furious. He looked at the four, muttered, "You'll see," turned, and left. Meta Knight gave the warriors one last mysterious look, then turned and left too.

And I say again, what do you think? With Meta Knight, I don't not like him, in fact, he's one of my favorite characters. I just thought that a rivalry between him and the two warriors could make some good stories. Please R&R, constructive criticism accepted, but no flames. Just tell me how I did. Gamer4 out.