The True Master of the Smash Brothers part 17.5

"The Original Super Smash Brothers,"

"You needed to speak with us Master Hand?" Mario's voice stated approaching. Alongside him are Link, Fox, Samus, Pikachu, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, and Ness. The Original 12 gathered before the Hand right before the final charge to confront Omni. After Sonic had broken the weapon Master Hand had retreated into the Halberd to work on repairing it.

"Yes I do," Master Hand stated turning to the twelve.

"Can you make this really quick Master, I want to join Sonic and the others in saving Lucas," Ness said with crossed arms.

"I know you all think it extremely cold of me to basically send Lucas to the gallows. I need you all to understand what it is we're facing, and the only ones who know that better than anyone is you twelve,"

"We still don't remember most of what happened to us Master Hand," Link pointed out.

"Yes, I know…I had a hand in that, no pun intended,"

"We'd figure as much, but why?" Samus asked with her helmet under her arm so she could show her face directly to the Hand so he could see her expressions.

"I wanted to protect you…protect you from the knowledge you hold within yourselves. You twelve are the Original Smashers, you are the ones that breathed life into this world. There was nothing but death and destruction before you. You helped construct that city for all the slaves Omni had trapped, the refugees of destroyed planets, or outcast sentences to rot in an alternate reality. It is no coincidence that there are a multitude of different species living in that city, because they are the ones who were left when no one else wanted them. They have nothing else but this place…"

"We built that city?" Link questioned.

"Yes, you all did,"

"Why did you seal our memories of all this?" Luigi asked.

"Because, I didn't want to burden you with the well-being of this world. You all had actually decided that you were not going to return to your worlds," This made the twelve grow stiff as they returned shocked expressions toward the Hand. "That's right you all were going to make this place your permanent residence. You decided you loved it too much here, fought too hard, shed too many tears, and felt unsatisfied to just leave the world as is. So, I erased your memories of everything involving Omni, then I told you that you all had been inducted into a tournament for heroes,"

"Super Smash Brothers," Mario stated.

"Yes, and you all accepted that. You fought, had fun, but had no obligation to stay so you all left. That is why I forbid you all from going to the city, for if you reconnected with the people there again, you might want to stay permanently,"

"Wow…we all were willing to throw away our lives to stay here…" Fox said astounded.

"It's not so much of a stretch when you think about it," Captain Falcon said with a shrug. "I mean, we all love it here, when the tournaments over I feel a little depressed for a little while. If I could live here for the rest of my life with you guys, I would. But our worlds need us,"

"Yes, that is exactly the truth. Although, you all were taken early in your careers before you all actually accomplished anything just yet. You were not truly the great heroes you are now, at that time. Maybe when the day comes and you all can rest I may allow you stay as long as your heart desires, but not before then. Besides, your presence here creates oddities in the Smash Force anyhow. I would hate to see what would happen if you all stay too long,"

"So what is the point of this meeting here Master?" Ness questioned with crossed arms growing impatient. "To reminisce?" Kirby scooted over to Ness to nudge the boy in the side with his head. Ness looked down at the puffball displeased but his face softens a bit seeing the puffball's innocent stare back at him. The message was clear as Ness relaxed his body a bit. "Sorry, I'm just really worried…"

"As well as you should be, but I think it's time. You all need every edge you can get in this conflict. So, in light of all this I can't send you out there Ness without you having your full memories, none you actually. So I shall restore them now,"

"No way…really you can do that?"

"I'm not called Master Hand for nothing,"

"Pika!" Pikachu said excitedly.

"Don't thank me just yet," Master Hand clenched his fingers to form himself into a fist as shining blue light begins to shine through. The light gets brighter and brighter until the Hand unclenches his fist to reveal a shining blue orb. Suddenly, the orb broke apart into twelve strings of light that rushed toward each member of the Original 12 respectively. The lights stop and then take shape until they take on the appearance of mere dolls. These dolls were in the likeness of each Original 12 member, the dolls were all pointy looking, lacking detail, even having blobs for hands instead of fingers, and they showed blank expressions on the ones whose faces could be seen.

"What the heck are these?" Samus questioned turning her doll over in her hand.

"Dolls, obviously Sammy," Falcon responded.

"Obviously, but what do they have to do with our memories?"

"And mine is kinda creepy looken," Ness added.

"Mine is even worse, what's up with this scowl?" Fox questioned.

"Yoshi!" Yoshi exclaimed waving his doll around.

"I don't know Yoshi, I wouldn't say it looks nothing like you," Luigi said with a laugh.

"Listen, these dolls represent your memories, your first time here in Smash World," The twelve all stared at Master Hand with blank expressions.

"Why dolls?" Mario questioned.

"It was a last minute choice get off my back, I'm the embodiment of creation, I could only create something to store them. I wasn't the best with the computers-,"

"You still aren't," Fox cut in.

"Whatever, I needed to physically store them and I made it so I wouldn't mix the memories up. Easy and simple,"

"Except how we get them back," Samus groaned turning her doll in her hand over and over to see how this item could be so important for such a light show. Donkey Kong was waggling the thing in his face trying to understand it himself.

"Press the dolls forehead against your own…and hold on tight…everything will come rushing in at once. You may want to sit down," His last statement was ignored as all the Originals stared each other down looking around to see if anyone had any objections. There were none. So Mario took the lead taking a breath then being the first to place his doll against his forehead, and soon the others followed as well. The dolls each began glowing a blue color as the light began to overtake their bodies as well. Suddenly, the dolls merge with their bodies as a sudden rush of energy came out of them. When the light finally died down a bit they opened their eyes, and Master Hand instantly knew that the change in them took effect immediately. They looked at each other with a hint of horror, shame, also they seemed emotionally distraught as well.

"Whoa…" Mario stated. Mario looked at his brother who quickly broke his gaze to look away. "Luigi…"

Luigi shakes his head. "I…I-a can't believe…I-," Luigi stares at his hands with them trembling with something other than nervousness for a change.

"I killed someone…I killed a kid…just like me…" Ness gasped as brought a hand to his face. "I killed him in cold blood…while his back was turned…"

"So much fighting…how did we live through that?" Samus wondered placing a hand to her face. She was distraught as well, despite all the things she's done, she was upset like the others. "I had always thought of this place as the one place I can let my guard down. The place I could finally make friends. I never thought something like this could happen,"

"Well it happened," Fox said with his arms crossed. "So we each remember what happened now. We remember the competition a lot clearer now. Put up in the wilderness for a long period of time, hard to tell how long it was…it felt like one long day that would never end looking back on it,"

"Even to me," Falcon said.

"I can't say we actually had counseling for this stuff," Mario says.

"The memory wipe was counseling," Master Hand stated.

"I suppose in a weird way it was…" Link said. Yoshi approaches Donkey Kong and gives a brief bow which the ape quickly waves off as if he's trying to apologize too.

"But still it's weird," Fox added. "We started out as enemies, but we all saw the need to stick together. I feel bad for those five that fell…but we survived…only because we worked together. We may not have trusted one another, but still fought like a real team,"

"We depended on each other," Link said.

"Like how you had to teach Falcon how to start a fire, poor sap still can't do it," Samus said shaking her head.

"Nobody could get firewood like I could!" Falcon protested.

"Well that is true," Donkey Kong gave a roar as he beat his chest. "That is true, Donkey did bring a tree,"

"Well I don't have ape strength!"

"Glad you all can joke," Ness said bitterly. Attention shifted to him. "I…I killed that kid…the boy that was with us…"

"Oh, you mean…Isaac right?" Link questioned. At his name the animal portion of the group seemed to wince or shutter.

"Yeah…him…" Ness said glumly. "He called me his friend…he was so strong…"

"Looking back on it…I'd say you're like him with Lucas involved. I forgot you used to be kind of shy too,"

"Stop that, these are not happy memories!" Ness exclaimed. "These aren't times you can joke about, ever!"

"I agree," Luigi stated in a stoic state.

"But what's done is done," Fox said sternly. He approached Ness to lay a hand on his head. "Isaac was a worm Ness,"

Ness flinched at that as he stared up at Fox, "What?"

"He was using you. He had the ability to copy the abilities of others, between everyone here, if I were him I'd make friend with the psychic real quick. He leeched off you and I saw what happened at the lake,"

"Then how can you-,"

"He would've killed you if you didn't kill him first Ness. I saw he had something to stab you the moment you got close. I'm glad you sensed something was wrong before it happened. Isaac was a snake we watched him carefully since we knew you just saw him as your friend,"

"The other four?"

"The only one worth anything that I actually feel deserved title of Smasher was Yami," Mario stated sternly. "That guy was no doubt a strong and noble fighter…I would've been pleased to see him here with us,"

"I did in the witch, something I actually don't feel a ounce of regret over," Samus stated coldly.

"Payne was fearsome foe who valued no one but his own ambition. I beat him without regret," Link said.

"Tar, he was an assassin. His allegiance was with whoever paid. He saw no gain in all the fighting besides survival, but when he was promised something by Omni he turned on us in a heartbeat," Falcon spat. Donkey Kong pounds on his chest as if in triumphant. "Yeah, thanks for taking that guy out Donkey,"

"We were a team before we even knew it. We stuck to our instinct, stuck to what made us who we are, and everything sorta fell into place,"

"Which is the entire point of why I chose you twelve because you stuck to who you truly were and never faltered. I am proud of you all, but you remember the battle with Omni correct?" Everyone visibly shakes at this particular memory. As if the mere horror of remembering it may cause them to relive the entire experience.

"I've…never felt so overwhelmed before…so much power," Link growled.

"Poyo…" Kirby said gripping on Ness' shorts.

"If we hadn't gotten that Oracle Sphere…we'd all have died…" Ness said.

"Exactly, even with half of his power, it was still split twelve ways, now it is split almost 35. Well now you all are stuck on your own strength with no enhancements or enchantments,"

"That's not exactly true Master," Mario stated. Mario opens the palm of his hand for fire to ignite in the palm of his hand. "As-a Smashers, we have amassed our own energy source, strength far beyond what you collected. We-a didn't know it then…but we-a know it now. Our strength lies within each other. Lucas is still a Smasher, and he-a will help us too," Mario turns to his brother to slap his back. "Luigi…what happened was beyond your-a control. We weren't in our proper state of-a mind when…we tried killing each other…at the last moment…you managed to regain yourself…that's-a what is important," Luigi faced his brother with a nod and a small amount of relief seeing his brother smirk at him.

"Wow, so much hope in here it's almost suffocating!" Crazy exclaimed.

"Ness, make sure Sonic and his team saves Lucas," Mario instructs.

"What, but-," Master Hand was astonished.

"You gave us our memories hoping that we would be helpful in persuading Sonic against this course of action. Knowing what we know now, I do doubt Sonic can even hope to pull this off. But I believe they can especially now with a fully awakened Original on their side," Mario approaches Ness then squats down to be on eye level with the boy as he places his hands on his shoulders. "Listen Ness, I need you to go out there and try your very best. Save Lucas, we'll get this weapon ready so Omni may never be a problem ever again,"

"You're not gonna-,"

"No, it-a isn't going to be for Lucas," Ness looked at Mario a bit confused. "It'll come to you-a I know it,"

"Alright Mario if you say so," Ness said with a nod. Mario stands to his full height then ushers Ness to hurry since he knew Sonic was probably out on his world already.

"This is insane," Master Hand sighed. "Crazy, go open the portals so the other Smashers can do damage control at the city,"

"Okie dokie," Crazy said flying off.

"We'll assist with that too," Mario said turning to the others who all nod. "Calls us when you're done and we'll come back," The other Original Smashers all rush out but Master Hand stops Mario.

"What are you up to plumber…you're not usually crafty?" Master hand questioned.

"I guess you-a will have to wait and see," Mario said as he hurries to catch up with the others.