This is personofawesomness's request! No, I am not telling you what it is, just read it!

Disclaimer: SSBB belongs to Nintendo, not me.

"Welcome, one and all, to our final brawl of the day!"

The brawl stadium was full to the brim with excited fans. Below, the stage was set up as the Bridge of Eldin, and up in the announcer box sat a boy-Aaron-whose captivating voice contrasted sharply with his small physique. When he spoke, the crowd cheered with anticipation.

Below, where the brawlers waited to be warped up onto the stage, Link stood on his warp pad in complete darkness, staring at the spot where his feet should be and waiting for the area around them to glow. Across from him, he assumed Meta Knight was waiting in a similar fashion. He momentarily considered calling out to him, but before he could make the decision he was startled by the pad under his feet lighting up gold. He was instantly warped up and mentally flinched when the screams of the crowd hammered his ears after the silence of the holding room. He just caught the last bit of his introduction: "-favourite Hylian, Link!"

The crowd erupted even louder. Link grasped the cool purple hilt of the Master Sword in his hand and unsheathed it. He then swung it around, and the crowd continued to deafen the nation.

Once the crowd had quieted somewhat, Aaron continued with the next introduction. "And now, his formidable opponent, the masked marauder Meta Knight!"

The crowd exploded once more, and the spot where Meta Knight was to appear lit up blue. As the glow increased a little, Link's fingers began to tingle in anticipation, and in the span of a second, the glow intensified and went out.

Meta Knight wasn't there.

The crowd that hadn't been silent since its formation was like a morgue for about three seconds before the anxious whispers set in. Link, in the centre of the Bridge of Eldin stage, was very confused and felt incredibly awkward, so he was terribly relieved when Aaron spoke.

"Well, that was rather unexpected, now, wasn't it? Since the opponent has not presented himself, the match is defaulted to Link. Congratulations!"

The crowd applauded absent-mindedly, even throwing in a weak "Hooray!" Link waved half-heartedly before dashing off stage, eager to get out of the situation.

"You must be happy you won, right?"

Under normal circumstances, Link would have been disturbed by the fact that Marth was leaning on the wall right next to the shower curtain behind which he was rinsing off, but today his brain was too preoccupied to take notice.

"Not really. Don't get me wrong," he continued before Marth could interrupt, "I wanted to win, just not like that. I'm even considering asking for a rematch..."

"I see. Wonder what's up with Meta Knight…?"

The tap squeaked loudly as Link twisted it, cutting off the flow of water. Just as the last drop of water fell, the curtain was flung back and the Hero of Time stepped out, sporting a towel around his waist and another draped over his shoulders. His blue eyes lit up maliciously when he said, "That's what you and I are going to find out."

As Marth watched the Hylian strut confidently away, he sighed, smiling and shaking his head knowingly. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this…?"

Exactly twenty minutes later, Ike, Link, and Marth stood outside of Meta Knight's closed bedroom door. Link had several odd items in his hands, including a metal detector and a stethoscope, Marth was leaning coolly against the wall, and Ike looked uneasy.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the warrior squeaked. "I mean, I've seen Meta Knight angry before, and it's not pretty, and I'm afraid that if we open that door he just might-"

"Relax!" Link chided. "It'll be fine! Watch." He knocked on the door.

The three outside waited with bated breath for something to happen. The only thing that did was the spider in the corner at the end of the hall crawled across its web.

Link frowned, clearly displeased that his plan didn't work. He raised his hand to knock again, but was interrupted by a newcomer.

"What's going on here?"

"Zelda!" Marth smiled. When Link glared at him, he retaliated by sticking out his tongue. The Altean then turned back to Zelda and explained, gesturing toward Link, "He's trying to figure out what's going on with Meta Knight."

Zelda studied Marth's face for a moment, and then smiled softly. "Oh, I see. Well, good luck with that, then," and she left.

"Thanks," Link said absently while fiddling with the door handle and a bobby pin.

"She was talking to me, elf."

"You wish," Link scoffed, "and don't call me elf."

"Whatever."

After several more minutes of doorknob jiggling and bobby pin stabbing, Link heard the sound he had been waiting for: a sharp click.

"Hah!" he laughed. "Got it!" He turned the handle. "Here we go…"

Link pushed the door back. He looked into the room, followed by Marth and Ike who looked over his shoulder and head, respectively. All three pairs of eyes were bright with excitement at what they would find inside.

The room was pitch black.

"Oh look, he's not here, let's go," Ike mumbled quickly, turning around and attempting to drag the other two by their collars.

"Ike, enough of this!" Marth cried. "It's all going to work out fine!"

Ike immediately released Marth and Link; while the latter dashed back into Meta Knight's room, the other gave Ike a look and then followed suite. Ike, knowing what was coming and not wanting to be around when it did, left.

Meta Knight's room was one of those little anomalies; the room was actually much bigger on the inside than it seemed from the outside. This is why Link was having difficulty locating and conversing with Meta Knight.

"Meta Knight! Where are you? How am I supposed to talk to you if you won't come out?"

"I am not showing myself," Meta Knight's deep and gravelly voice emanated from the dark depths of his room, "and that is that."

Link sighed audibly. "Fine. Have it your way. Now, tell me why you didn't show up at our brawl today."

"And why, pray tell, should I do that?"

"Because," Link began confidently, "I…er-…well…ah…erm…" Over in the doorway, Marth snickered at Link's stuttering. That's when Link lost it. "Oh, for crying out loud, just tell me already!"

Meta Knight spoke from the darkness again. "As you wish. I did not present myself today, for I am missing a rather important piece of my costume."

"You know they have spare capes in the locker room, right?"

"Idiot! Let me finish. I am missing my mask."

"Oh." Link scratched his head. "Well, I suppose that's a good reason for missing."

"What are you going to do from now on, though?" Marth piped up, still in the doorway. "You can't keep missing brawls like this. You'll have to find your mask sometime or other." He grinned, as if he had a great idea. "Why don't you let us help you look?"

"Sounds fine. Start searching people's rooms. I've already thoroughly checked my own, and I am certain the mask was stolen."

"Will do!" Link cheered, throwing Meta Knight a thumbs up as he bounced out the door. Out in the hall, he turned to Marth. "So, where should we check first?"

"Hmm," Marth thought, "let's check our rooms first. So we can rule ourselves out as suspects," he explained when Link went to protest. "We'll start with yours, elf-boy."

"NOT AN ELF!"

"Link, you really need to clean your room."

"Oh, like YOU'RE one to talk!"

Sifting through Link's room to see if Meta Knight's mask was there was proving to be rather difficult, considering the piles of clothing, sheets of paper, and empty video game cases that littered the floor. Marth already had a black and blue splotch forming on his right forearm after slipping on a random t-shirt and whacking it against the dresser.

"I'm pretty sure it's not in here, Marth." Link's muffled voice came from underneath his bed.

"How can you tell?" Marth pulled a face at the yellow shirt he had fished off a chair that had a ketchup stain on it. "Ugh, don't you ever clean this place?"

"It WAS clean, but then yesterday I was having my lazy day and-"

"Yes, yes, that's nice, now will you get out from under there and check your dresser drawers so we can get out of here?'

Link pushed back out from under the bed. "Calm down," he said, "what's got you all excited?"

Marth quickly regained his composure. "Nothing. Check your drawers."

"Fine."

Link walked over to his dresser and pulled out the first drawer. "There're just socks in here."

"You should check under them. There are some very crafty people in this mansion."

Link was getting suspicious, but he peeked between the pairs of socks anyway.

There, in all its pristine glory, and with a folded note on top, was Meta Knight's mask.

"How the hell…?"

"Read the note."

Link picked up the note and unfolded it, all while watching Marth out of the corner of his eye for suspicious behaviour. He then glanced back to the note and read it. On the paper, in perfect script written with cobalt ink, were the words Gotcha, elf-boy. Oh, by the way, Meta Knight's going to kill you now.

Link slowly lifted his head toward Marth, eyes glinting dangerously. Marth just met his gaze, smiling hugely.

"Gotcha."

"YOU IDIOT PRINCE!" (1)

In the hallway outside the cafeteria, Samus and Zelda stood watching the Altean prince and the Hero of Time chase each other around, the latter trying to kill the other, and the other laughing hysterically.

"So everyone knew about it but him?" Samus asked Zelda about Link.

"Yes," Zelda replied. "It was quite well done."

Samus tapped one finger against the side of her head. "So let me get this straight: Meta Knight agreed to let Marth hide his mask, all in an attempt to get back at Link for doing what?"

Zelda tried not to laugh when she said, "Changing all of Marth's ringtones to songs by Justin Bieber."

Samus clapped a hand against her mouth. "Oh my gosh, that's hilarious! Marth hates Justin Bieber!"

Zelda couldn't resist the urge to laugh a little as well. "Oh look, here comes Meta Knight, about to join the fun."

Sure enough, standing at the end of the hall, was Meta Knight, mask and all.

"Time to die, elf-boy," he said just before charging into the middle of the fray. Marth jumped back out of the way. When Link saw what was coming, he shrieked and bolted down the other hall.

"I'll get you mask stealer, and your little elf hat too!" Meta Knight yelled, flying down the same hall. He left Marth, Samus, and Zelda behind, laughing and leaning on each other for support. Marth finally caught his breath enough to say something.

"Link got the rematch he wanted, but I don't think he's getting his victory."

(1) Props to whoever can figure out where I got this line from! (P.S.- I don't own that series, either.)

Next up will either be something with assist trophies or more pokémon insanity. And since I'm probably not going to update before then, happy new year!