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Chapter 10

"Hey!" Marth shouted towards the ground, shifting his position and tightening his grip on the tree. "We're getting close! At least, I think."

"What'd you see?" Ike called from the ground below, taking a step back so he could get a better look at Marth.

"Well, I'm not sure, but I think I can see where we were when Ness got sick! We're not too far away- a day, maybe two, more!"

"Good!" Dr. Mario exclaimed, then focusing on Roy again, who was sitting on the ground and leaning up against a tree. "See anything else? Any other Smashers, maybe?"

Marth looked around the forest and sighed. "Nope, nothing! A couple of forest fires but I don't see the Smashers anywhere… well, I'm coming down now. No use staying up here much longer!"

As Marth started climbing down, Ike hefted Squirtile onto his shoulder and Dr. Mario felt Roy's fever. "Well, you're getting better. When we finally run into these bastards, you might be able to kick some ass."

"What do you mean, 'might'?" Roy demanded, crossing his arms and and slumping over his knees. "I'm not going to be sitting back on the sidelines and watching everyone else have some fun in a fight. No one gets an Akaneian warrior sick and gets away with it!"

"Stuck up moron," Ike muttered under his breath and drew his sword, raising it so sunlight reflected off the golden blade. "I'm even from Akaneia and I don't talk like that."

"Give him a break, Ike," Marth said, jumping lightly to the ground and landing in a crouch. "He's been unconscious for almost a week. Let him live a little."

"Yeah!" Roy exclaimed, getting to his feet and drawing his sword as well. "I don't need you guys babying me. I can fight, I can fight!"

"Oh, really-"

"Squirtle, Squirtle!" The pokemon cried out, breathing a stream of water out at the fighting warriors. "Squirtle, Squirtle!"

The force of the water knocked them all back to the ground. soaking their clothes and spilling into their mouths. "Hey!" Ike coughed, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes and leaning back on one hand. "Squirtile, stop it!"

Dr. Mario laughed, picking up the pokemon and setting him him on his shoulder. "Well, I see what Squirtle thinks about us fighting each other. Come on, you three. Up you get. We've got some more land to travel today. If we're lucky, we'll be at the Smash Mansion soon."

Chuckling, Marth and Ike pulled each other upright, their blue hair soaking wet. Roy rolled his eyes, his red-brown hair dripping water all over his clothes, and got to his feet as well. They walked down the path, Dr. Mario with Squirtle on their tail. They were making good progress. It was only a matter of time before the Smashers either reunited with their friends or found the enemy.

"There, Fox," Lucas said softly as he finished wrapping part of his shirt around the animal's leg. "Should stop the bleeding for a while."

"I know, I know. I'm a soldier, I've treated war wounds before," he said sharply, then continued limping forward. His right leg was cut badly from when his arwing had crashed. "And, Lucas? You do know that you have that ice power- 'PK Freeze'? Can't you use that to put out the fire theses bastards are using to keep us here?"

He nodded, clasping his hands behind his back and shaking his blond hair out of his eyes. "Yeah, I do. Mario already suggested it to me, but we decided to wait until we find the other Smashers. Then we'll have a better chance of fighting them and winning."

Fox gritted his teeth in both pain and annoyance before nodding in agreement. Fox limped closer to Falco and Wolf and began to discuss quietly their plan for action before Mario stopped them. "Wait!" he exclaimed, "Fox! Shh. We think that one of those people can read minds. Don't think about what's going to happen later. Think about something else and when we start fighting, you'll have to go in without a plan."

Fox could hardly contain his laughter; actually forcing himself to lean on his bad leg so the pain would distract him. "Read minds?" he chuckled quietly. "Yeah, right."

"I'm not kidding. We tested it earlier; we thought about trying to escape on one side of the circle and Ace stood guard there almost instantly. And after everything else that's happened? Trust us on this. Don't think about anything important," Mario ordered before looking around nervously. "I'm going to tell the others."

Barely conscious, Samus gazed blindly at the ground, her eyes half-open. She moaned softly, a drop of blood from a wound on her forehead dripping into her eyes. The wolf-girl had torn her apart. She was slung over one of the elemental warrior's shoulders- after the wolf had knocked her out, the creature had healed all her teammates, dropping Samus in a slump over one of the human's shoulders, then taken off in another direction.

She was bleeding a lot… too much. It didn't hurt anymore, and that was what warned her that she was losing too much blood.

Her vision blurred with a red haze and she closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall into unconsciousness… not even caring that if she went to sleep now, she probably wouldn't wake up.

Breathing hard, Pit flew higher, flapping his sore wings over and over again before glancing over his shoulder- he and Charizard were still being followed.

"Smash Mansion… is close…" Pit panted to Charizard, who roared in response. "Yeah, yeah… I know it doesn't mean much. We're still being tailed."

"We're getting close. I can sense the others. They're near by. We'll be at the Smash Mansion in an hour, maybe less."

Toon Link rubbed Pikachu's head softly and wrapped an arm around Nana's shoulders. This was good. They just had to keep following these elemental warriors and soon, they'd be at the Smash Mansion- with any luck, where the other Smashers and elemental warriors were gathering.

We're in the final stretch, people! Short chapter, I know, but… we're getting there.