Happy reading all!

She gulped water at the drinking fountain and left the mansion. The sun was warm and comforting and the grass was spongy underneath her feet. She crouched and did a series of back handsprings, a back flip, and landed in a pushup position.

There was a dull thud and she turned to see a knife imbedded in the trunk of a tree directly behind her. Her breathing stopped as she leapt up, frantically searching for whoever it might have been. No one was in sight and fear took over. She fled; away from the mansion, away from everything, fear tearing at her heart, her breath loud in her ears as she ran as fast as she could, over the grass, through the trees, leaping over the rocks. She spotted the lake up ahead and veered towards it, hastily glancing backwards to see if she was being followed.

She hit something and bounced back, landing on her rump and staring up dizzily at a giant. Her vision cleared and she realized it wasn't a giant. Only Ike.

It didn't matter that she didn't completely trust him. What mattered was that he was there and he could protect her. She bounced to her feet and dashed behind him, grabbing his arms just below the elbows in order to move him as her shield if she needed to.

"Sheik?" Ike's voice was slightly amused, but mostly worried. "What's wrong?"

"Someone threw a knife at me," she hissed, eyes searching the trees.

"What?" Ike scanned the forest as well and turned to pull her off of him. "Who?"

"I don't know!" she snapped. "Either way, I didn't stick around long enough to see if they would show themselves as they threw another one!"

Ike pursed his lips and bent his head to look closely at her. "Something definitely scared you."

"I told you!" she practically screamed. "Someone's tried to kill me!" Her face paled. "Oh no. There's an hour before dinner. That's when Marth said he was going to…!" Sheik looked at him in horror.

"They might kill him, too!" she exclaimed.

"Who?"

"I don't know!" she retorted. "I don't know! We gotta help him! Peach is on their watch list, too! And now that I'm asking you for help… so will you!"

Ike was glaring now, similar to how he looked in brawls, and she stepped away from him. But his voice was rather normal as he spoke, only filled with gravity. "Is Marth in real danger?"

"Yes," she answered, sternly. She instinctively knew that his 'fighting for his friends' motto would kick in.

"Let's go," he said, and took off at his slow run back to the mansion.

Sheik hated to follow, but she hated to stay as well, and caught up with him, saying nothing as she ran beside him, hoping he wouldn't be dead from a knife soon and it would be all her fault.

Ike walked solidly down the hall and knocked twice on Master Hand's door.

Sheik swallowed and calmed herself as the door opened and she peered over Ike's shoulder. Marth stood there. He smiled briefly, gave Sheik a strange, troubled look, and motioned them in.

"Greetings, Ike. Sheik. I was only speaking with Master Hand about the televised brawls."

"What do you two need?" asked Master Hand. His voice sounded the same as last time and didn't have a trace of evilness or anything of the sort.

"I was just looking for Marth," said Ike, shortly. "I need to talk to him."

"Does it have something to do with Sheik?" asked Master Hand.

Sheik swallowed as Ike nodded. "Yes."

"Marth," said Master Hand. "Have I answered all your questions?"

"I'm sure you have," the prince answered. "And I was also wondering about the announcers. I thought they were supposed to be unbiased, yet they all appear to be from Wii Fit Trainer's city. Is there a reason for that?"

"I'm not in charge of that," Master Hand answered stolidly. "Master Core is."

"Who's Master Core?" Sheik asked, suddenly wishing she hadn't spoken. Master Hand turned so he seemed to be looking at her.

"Master Core owns Super Smash Bros."

"So he's the chief authority?" Sheik pressed, instantly yelling at herself for being so bold. She was sure she would regret it later.

"He is the boss. Any more questions?" His voice, now slightly tinged with annoyance, implied they would make him angry if they had anymore and all shook their heads and exited.

"Did you almost die, Marth?" Ike asked.

"Shhhh!" Marth and Sheik hissed.

Ike flushed and looked annoyed. "Seriously."

"Seriously be quiet!" Marth snapped. "Where can we go, Sheik?"

"I don't know," she answered quietly. "I don't know."

"The lake," said Peach, dashing up to them and grabbing Sheik's hand. "Come on."

"Peach, tell me you didn't let anyone else know."

"I… But you said Zero Suit Samus already knew!"

Sheik's stomach turned over and she turned a flaming red. "Peach, how could you? Don't you know that the more people…!"

Ike's hand was over her mouth and her yelling ended in a 'mmmmf'. Ike removed his hand, staring down at her. "Sheik, control yourself."

"It's not like you even know what's happening!" she flashed back.

"Well, I might learn if you guys would stop speaking in code and take us somewhere where we can talk without you two freaking out." He glared at her.

"Yeah! Well that might not even be safe."

"Stop arguing!" hissed Marth angrily. "You realize we're still on the Hand's floor. They could hear."

"And they might have cameras and bugs," added Peach.

They took the elevator down to the ground floor in silence.

"Should they check their mailboxes for threats?" asked Peach.

"I wouldn't bother," answered Sheik anxiously. "We don't have time."

"Hey, Sheik! Wait up!"

Sheik froze at the sound of Zero Suit Samus' voice. She turned around to see the blonde running towards her with her robotic sister and Cloud behind.

"What are you doing?" asked Sheik nervously.

"I came to talk with you in more detail about…" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "The Hands."

"What is there to talk about?" asked Sheik, trying to keep her voice light and innocent and failing miserably.

"Sheik," said Cloud in his deep voice, holding his sword in his clenched hand. "If there's danger to you there's danger to us all. Don't keep it from us."

"Look at the size of his sword," added Peach earnestly. "He'll probably be a great protector."

Cloud gave her a withering look and Sheik took a deep breath and nodded. "Yes. Come. Now. All of you."

By the lake they talked and Sheik told all she knew as best as she could.

"What it sounds like is that Wii Fit might not even be bad," said Samus.

"True," agreed Zero Suit. "That authority guy, Master Core, sound like the bad one."

"It is possible that he was the one who cut of the hands of the male Wii Fit Trainer," Marth acknowledged, "but we have no proof. Perhaps he is the authority of that city."

"Why would he cut of the male's hands?" asked Cloud.

"Maybe the male stood up to him," Ike answered, shrugging. "So he was considered a threat and dealt with. The Hands may have different brains than the male Wii Fit had because we know they certainly see differently than with eyes."

"True," Sheik nodded. "But that makes us a threat too."

"He won't find out," Zero Suit said emphatically. "Why would the Hands tell him if they aren't on his side?"

"Maybe the Hands are on his side," contradicted Marth. "And maybe, if they weren't at first, they are now."

"What about Wii Fit?"

"She may be on his side," said Ike.

"Or she may merely want to keep all of your noses out of everything so that she doesn't get nabbed by the Core and her hands chopped off." Cloud gave them all a hard stare. "Don't make more enemies than you have."

"We're just being careful," said Peach. She looked a little green.

Sheik frowned. "I say we tell no one else. We need more proof. The problem is, more proof can only be gotten by snooping, and I've already been almost killed by someone and Peach got a death note in the mail."

"Sheik also got a note," Marth added. "She told me. Now here's the catch. We are probably all in danger. If we act now we may be able to eliminate the danger before it kills us. If we act now, we might also be killed by this danger. And if we don't act, at least we know Sheik and maybe Peach will die, and perhaps all of us, if they find out about this."

"I would suggest acting!" roared Ike, leaping forward to grab Sheik and Zero Suit in one arm, and tackling them both to the ground.

Sheik's breath flew from her lungs as a giant shadow loomed over them all. It was a black shadowy bulk and flanking it on either side was Master Hand and Crazy Hand.

This was a little shorter of a chapter, and, I know it might be annoying for some, but there probably won't be another chapter until... I write another one. And it might take a while this time around. Plus, not generally being a very good battle writer, I'd like to make this dawning battle more cool (and not confusing). Cheers.