A Walk Among Giants, Chapter 46: The Smasher Games!
Hello there!
Fresh new thankies to:
UltimateCCC: Well you know what they say, cheaters never win.
And that may be true, however not only would she not admit to it, it would be near impossible to prove…
Waka waka waka waka… Lucina turns and sees a giant sphere chomping at everything coming right at her, she panicked and picked up the pace. She was still on lap one while Pac-Man was already coming around in lap two. The supposed race was ten laps around the large tracks to the finish. As Pac-Man neared she began to flash different colors oddly enough, and just as Pac-Man reached her she turned a solid color. As soon as they make contact a game over tune plays and Pac-Man melts into a puddle of yellow mush on the floor with bright red letters with the words 'GAME OVER' floating over the mush.
Lucina looks in shock for a moment and backs away, Wario begins yelling like a mad man at her from the bleachers. He then began yelling at Captain Falcon about something to do with sabotage and disqualification. Since she was on the other side of the track she couldn't hear clearly, however Cpt Falcon puts down his magazine and looks over at the track towards the bluenette. He shrugged and waved her off, motioning her to continue, much to Wario's annoyance he started hopping around in anger. Lucina looks back at the yellow mush one more time before she continues to run.
Wario turns to the others and then points a giant finger at Pittoo, "you're-a cheating you-a cheating bastard!" He says while poking the dark angel on the chest.
"Ok first of all, get those sausage fingers out of my face if you wish to keep them, secondly, we're just going to ignore the fact that your partner just tried to eat mine?" Dark Pit retorts. Wario growls to himself while grinding his enormous teeth against each other.
"He's right, clearly your plan to decommission the others backfired miserably. At least have the dignity to admit that and accept your defeat." Ganondorf remarked. Wario grunts and walks away grumbling to himself. Ganondorf then sighs in frustration while looking off into the distance. Robin, now a tiny spec in the distance, was still running like a mad man. He started off great, but the problem was he didn't exactly get the memo that he had to run around the track. And just kept going in a straight line and despite a few others calling out to him he was determined to keep going on his own path. Ganondorf grunts in annoyance before he too stood up and walked away. At that point Dark Pit was so glad that Link drank the smoothie he tried to give Lucina. Because he took the recipe straight from Ganondorf, and unlike Lucina, Robin got to drink his drink, which Ganon dissolved into an energy drink. If she had taken it she would've most likely also been running off into the distance.
The Mii on the warp star comes to its end when the star comes in contact with a random floating butterfly, which causes it to blow up mid air and thus blow up its rider. Who falls to the ground like a meteorite and lays in the field with smoke emitting from it. King Dedede jumps up and down in frustration before he wobbles away grumbling to himself about how useless Mii's are.
Lucario, still in his mega form kept punching himself in the face which made him crackle with more power and pick up speed. It was easy to tell when it happened because he kept yelling every time he did it. Bowser had a massive grin on his face knowing that there was no way his plan could fail. What nobody seemed to notice however was Meta-Knight who was gliding through the track at a quick and steady pace. However every once in a while he would use his cape to cross the line and go into the next lap, which wasn't cheating according to him, because it was just him moving faster. And compared to what everyone else tried pulling, his strategy was pretty tame. Still though this put him neck and neck with Lucario.
"I don't know about this Pittoo, she's going too slow and not to mention doesn't have some special power of her own…" Pit murmured as they watched the Bluenette steadily making her way across the line. He was right though, she was literally three laps behind the others. She wasn't alone though, F Corrin like her didn't seem to be hopped up on anything and they were briskly running side to side.
"She'll be fine, I guarantee it," Pittoo remarked with a smirk while stealthy taking out a certain little plastic brick. He grins to himself as he launches it towards the track as a certain pokemon is coming around. He steps on the brick as expected and then begins yelling in pain while holding his foot, his power however goes through the roof as indicated by his aura shooting out of him looking like a torrent of blue flames reaching towards the sky. He then leaps into the air leaving a large crater where he stood and literally disappeared into the sky as a tiny star shaped glint.
Bowser roars angrily while a few spits of flame shoot out his mouth, before he punches the bleachers leaving a large dent on them and storming off. He was so confident his plan was foolproof but he didn't take into account that his partner can overexert himself. Now it was down to the last three contestants. Bayonetta must've been planning something herself as she was completely laid back despite her partner going way too slow and steady.
"That I did not expect" F Corrin states while looking up towards where Lucario disappeared.
"When you've been here long enough, you get used to oddities like that quickly." Lucina says before pausing for a moment, she's been told that countless times since her arrival. However being exposed to countless shenanigans and even more baffling situations she slowly became desensitized to it all. She had come full circle now and here she was now telling the newcomers that they'll too eventually become desensitized to the insane ongoings. Lucina smiled to herself and shook her head slightly, to think she was in the newcomers position not so long ago.
"So are we going to be partaking in a lot of these odd endeavors?" F Corrin asked curiously.
"Pretty much, it's odd though, in some way shape or form you end up taking some part of the shenanigans." Lucina explained.
"PICK UP THE PACE!" Pittoo shouted from the bleachers. He sits back down and grumbles to himself. Meta Knight was so far ahead in terms of laps that he was casually walking along the tracks. Still Pittoo glanced to the side and Bayonetta was still completely relaxed, she definitely had too much confidence in her partner.
But then it happened, as if it was a scripted event, Meta Knight takes off again to get some more distance from the other competitors before going face first into a pigeon. He goes out of control spirling through the air like a deflating balloon before crash landing onto the track and skidding to a halt. Lucina and F Corrin look at one another before rushing over to the star warrior's side.
"Are you alright?" F Corrin asked, flipping him over, he groaned while slowly rubbing his head. Right before they hear what sounded like glass slowly cracking. Just then Meta Knight's mask shatters and splatters on the floor by his feet. Without a thought Lucina grabbed F Corrin and turned her around while covering her eyes.
"Don't Look!" Lucina says quickly while she too turned from the now unmasked warrior. Meta Knight blinks twice before seeing his mask broken on the floor before him, he gasps in horror before wrapping his cape over himself and disappearing.
"What's wrong?" F Corrin asks before Lucina makes sure the coast is clear.
"He wears a mask for a reason, and seeing his true face is basically condemning yourself to a curse." Lucina warned while F Corrin looked at her horrified.
"What kind of curse?" She asked worriedly.
"That kind that shows up in the middle of the night…" Lucina mumbled before motioning the newcomer to keep going.
Meanwhile at the bleachers, Mewtwo groans in annoyance before he himself vanishes into thin air. Pittoo now smirked to himself knowing that if he played his cards right he could get the spoils of war.
"Looks like it's down to me and you now," F Corrin says while looking around, the place looked more empty than earlier.
"Guess so, though I have no care or interest in this knowing I was bamboozled into it. So much so that I'm tempted to just let you win just to spite that asshat over there." Lucina says while motioning her head towards the bleachers.
"What is that idiot doing?" Pittoo remarked as he watched his partner moving at a steady pace, right when they were so close to total victory. "Screw this" he says under his breath and takes out his phone. He opens an app on his phone that opens a camera that has a target on it, he moves it around until he finds the runners. He locks on to F Corrin who was still casually conversing with the bluenette. He mashed a little button that launches a miniature dart towards the newcomer. And just like a scripted event, he too like all others before him, became a victim of their own demise.
Corrin steps on the plastic brick from earlier and ducks down while holding her foot and wincing in pain. "Are you alright?" Lucina asked, concerned right before she felt a slight jab on her neck. "Ow?" She says while bringing a hand to her neck and looking around.
"I think I'll be fine," F Corrin says while looking at the little plastic brick before tossing it aside. Lucina takes out a thin little prick and looks at it before tossing it aside. They both continue to jog along while Pittoo grinned to himself like a madman. As far as he was concerned he had this in the bag, he was even rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
It wasn't long before Lucina's vision began to blur and her movement turned sluggish. She then starts huffing like a rhinoceros and twitching slightly. It was then that she realized she had been sedated and that's what that prick from earlier was. She starts going in circles completely losing her sense of direction. She stumbles around a bit before going face first to the ground and sliding along a bit before coming to a stop. She groaned out as if she was trying to speak and twitched in place a little before going limp.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dark Pit shouts in agony while getting to his knees.
"Oh, what a bummer…" Bayonetta says to herself before she turns her head and smirks at the angel. Her patience paid off as from the very beginning her plan was to let everyone else sabotage themselves trying to win and that's exactly how it all played out. "Thanks for playing, I'll be taking my prize now" she says before walking away.
Captain Falcon blows on his whistle and runs over towards the last one standing and declares her the winner. "I won?" She asked, puzzled as the racer raised her hand in the air.
"Congratulations, here's your compensation." He hands her a thick envelope and walks away. Bayonetta approached her with a large smile on her face, she placed her hand around the fellow newcomer and shook her a little.
"See, didn't I say we would start to make an impact!" Bayonetta says, taking the envelope and peeking inside, seeing the countless bills inside. "Here keep this safe, the best part comes later!" She says patting F Corrin on the shoulder before walking away.
"Guess the lesson here is, cheaters never win…" Pit says to his dark counterpart with a sly shrug.
"Dont!" Pittoo says while holding up his hand.
"All i'm saying-"
"Pit I swear if you keep talking I'll rip your face off and wear it as a mask to show you just how annoying you look!" He growls while grabbing the angel by the collar, he shoves him back before stomping away.
"What about your partner?" He says motioning to the sedated bluenette in the middle of the track.
"She's got legs, she can walk home!" He calls out before taking to the air before Pit could say more. The angel lowers his shoulders and walks towards the tracks.
*later*
"So who won?" Jill says while looking around the others in a dase.
"Oddly enough, Corrin did…" Pit replies.
"And… that?" Lucario asked, pointing at the still sedated bluenette on the floor, now in a puddle of her own drool. He wasn't better off either, he was in a wheelchair with his legs in casts. He may have had a tremendous takeoff but his landing wasn't as graceful unfortunately for him.
"Should we do something? Like is she even alive?" Jill asked while poking her with a stick. Earning a gurgled groan from the bluenette which alleviated their concerns.
"I think I remember reading something about not being able to move someone if they're sedated, or it can cause harm or something." Pit says while everyone else looks at one another. "It's the only reason why I haven't done anything about her unlike the rest of you." He adds while kneeling next to her and poking her a little, earning another groan.
"So she's sleeping?" Jill asked.
"I don't know, maybe?" Pit says while standing back up and scratching his head.
"And I think you can move someone who is sedated, you must be thinking of another thing that doesn't allow you to move someone." Lucario says while looking in thought for a moment.
"Why don't we ask the brains here?" Jill says motioning towards Robin.
"Because he's definitely out cold!" Pit says, turning towards the tactician who was in his own wheelchair. But he was completely down, unlike the bluenette his eyes wouldn't even flutter open and he was snoring obnoxiously loud.
"I don't feel so good…" Pac-Man says from the back of the group sitting on one of the bleachers.
"I think it's all those power pallets you ate in one sitting, there's a reason you only get one in every corner." Pit says, "don't worry though I called Dr Mario and he'll be here shortly to make sure you'll all be fine." He adds and just on cue he hears a golf cart approaching. However to almost no one's surprise Dr Mario himself wasn't the one who arrived. Peach in her nurse's uniform steps off the cart and looks around with her hands on her hips.
"Shady race I take it?" She asked Pit who nodded his head, "when will they learn…" She says while rolling her eyes and walking back to the cart. She takes a clipboard and flips through it briefly while checking things off, "yep, yep, uh huh, and still haven't learned huh?" She says while tapping Lucario's leg casts.
"It wasn't my fault, I got sabotaged… Again!" He grumbled.
"I mean what did you expect, becoming a racehorse for the shadiest group around." She replies while handing him a small cup with two pills inside and a small bottle of water. "Take this and you'll be back on your feet." She says while walking over to Jill and handing her some medicine, "you might have a concussion so take this and go take a nap, try to refrain from any more tedious activity." She said and then turned to Pac-Man and held out her hand in front of him, "alright hand them over" she said.
"Awh man…" he says before handing over a little baggy with pallets in them.
"You have a problem…" Lucario remarked seeing the size of the bag.
"You're weird!" Pac-Man remarked and turned from him and crossed his arms.
"Aaaand what do we have here?" Peach asked while looking down at Lucina splattered on the track.
"She's been tranquilized, however as to who and or with what is currently unknown." Pit says while slowly rubbing his arm.
"Hmm…" Peach hummed while she knelt down next to the bluenette. I think I may have an idea as to what happened. I've encountered this once before." She states and takes out a syringe and injects it into the bluenettes arm. "There we are, just give it a minute or two." She instructed before she gathered her things and jumped into the card again. "Please, no more shady races, next time you'll be forced to endure all your unfortunate side effects as punishment!" She warns before starting up the cart and speeding off leaving the smashers there in awkward silence.
They all get startled by an angry yell and turn to see Lucina now on her hands and knees. "What the hell!" She says before getting up and looking around.
"Hey! You're up!" Pit says cheerfully before she grabs him roughly.
"Where is he!?" She demands.
"Who?" Pit asked timidly while leaning away from her.
"Who do you think!" She says while shaking him.
"I don't know!" He says, "please don't hurt me!" He blurts out while covering his face.
"Not cool dude…" Jill remarked from behind, shaking her head slowly.
*Meanwhile…*
"That's it, that's everything I know…" Dark Link says before running a hand through his hair and putting his cap back on his messy head.
"Excellent, finally I can put an end to all these buffoons who think they can undermine my rules!" MH says while tapping his fingers together and leaning back in his seat.
"Yes, I just need a few hours and I can patch all these loopholes." Samus says while looking over some files on her tablet.
"Well as I'm more than pleased with the information you've provided I'll keep my word, you're free from the confines of Crazy's room, we'll move you to a normal cell." MH says while it couldn't be seen he was grinning to himself.
"What about DTL?" He says while looking up towards the hand.
"What about him?" Samus says while looking away from her tablet.
"You said he'd be exempt from the punishment if I cooperated, and he hardly had any direct involvement in my schemes afterall." Dark Link says while Samus and MH look at one another and then turn back to him.
"That is yet to be determined, we'll look over the case and get back to you at a later date." MH says, "Go now, there will be someone outside waiting to take you to your new cell." He adds while shooing away the dark hylian with his hand.
Dark Link gets up and walks away, he stops at the door that opens up momentarily. He steps out of the back room and looks around but nobody was there much to his confusement. So he heads towards the large doors leading out of the Master Hands office. That is until he was shot by a stun gun from above and he fell to the convulsing.
"I got you, you piece of shit!" Someone says from above before dropping down next to the dark hylian. He looks up and sees Link standing there holding the stun gun.
"What the hell man?" Dark Link says before Link pushes him back down to the floor.
"Shut up punk, you're going away for a long long time!" Link says while slapping some cuffs on him before grabbing him and forcing him to his feet. "Now move it punk!" Link shoves him forward, "and don't you even think of trying anything funny!" He warns while waving the stun gun in Dark Link's face.
"Would you relax? What could I possibly do?" Dark Link grumbles but Link simply pushes him forward.
"No talking punk!" He says as he pushes open the large doors of Master Hand's office. He grabs Dark Links shoulder and leads him down the hall. Right before they hear an explosion that shook the mansion.
"I see nothing has changed around here much," the dark hylian remarks with a chuckle.
"I'm sure there is a very plausible reason for that," Link states before shoving him forward again. Eventually they reach the point of the mansion where the wallpaper was more worn and torn and all the colors were more faded. Not to mention the furniture looked old and worn as well, there was a booth with a Mii standing behind the glass. "Buzz me in, I'm here to put this turd where it belongs, a dark cold place where his stink won't bother anyone ever again." Link says in a gruff voice while sliding his ID towards the Mii who scans it to let him in.
"Wow, did you spend all day working on that?" Dark Link remarked while motioning towards the notepad sticking out of Link's pocket. There was still stubble where it was obvious Link ripped out several pages.
"No!" Link says while pocketing the little notepad deeper and then shoving Dark Link into the cell room. "Welcome home" Link says while leading him down a hall full of empty cells. They made it to one way in the back that looked bigger and bulkier than all the others. Link steps forward and the lights around the cell turn on, Link inserts a key card into the reader and the cell hissed open. He removed the cuff from the dark hylian before shoving him in. Dark Link rubs his wrists while looking the cell over and then turning towards Link. The door hissed shut again and flashed with a blue glow and the glass seemed to flicker.
"I remember this cell, it was built last tournament to house the others for their contribution in the subspace war." He began, "this one in particular was Ganon's" he remarked while Link gave him a look.
"What makes you say that?" He asked while leaning against the wall.
"That," Dark Link says while motioning towards the wall, which had a carving of Link on the wall with Xs over his eyes.
"Yeah well, I guess now you get to break in this luxurious commodity" Link remarked while padding the glass before he turned and walked away.
"Wait, where's DTL?" He asked, seeing the other cells completely empty.
"You don't know?" Link says while stopping near the door, "someone needed to take your place."
"What!?" Dark Link shouts angrily, "that wasn't the deal!" He bangs his hand against the glass. Link ignores him and walks off, "THIS WASN'T THE DEAL!" He shouts again while repeatedly slamming against his cell.
*Meanwhile at the back office…*
"You haven't found him yet have you?" MH asked the bounty hunter, who sighed and placed her tablet down on the table.
"Not yet, I don't know how he's doing it but he's completely slipped from our radar. He even managed to remove the tracker all Smashers secretly carry in the case any of them go rogue. Nobody aside from you and I know of such a thing, yet he managed not only to find it but also remove it." She explains to the Hand who appeared to be in thought.
"Where was the last ping detected?" He asked while tapping his fingers on the table.
"Not far, he actually traversed the forest outside the mansion grounds for a while before he vanished off the system near the city outskirts." She says while he hummed to himself.
"I want you to put together a task force, gather the best trackers and begin sweeps of the city, if he's there it will be easy to find him considering he has nowhere to go and also has nothing to sustain himself." Master Hand says while she nods and stands from her seat. "One more thing," he says while she stands at the door and turns her head to face him. "How is your internal investigation going? Once you expose the lackluster attributes of your fellow members we'll be able to finally tie up all loose ends." He claims while tapping his fingers together gleefully.
"It's coming along smoothly sir, only a matter of time." She replied before heading out the door without another word.
*living room*
"Hell no!" Lucina exclaimed and crossed her arms stubbornly.
"Come on, it's just one more time!" Pittoo pleads while jumping up and down on the sofa. "Besides this time I'll be with you no funny business!" He added before he resumed hopping around like a child.
"I said no, so stop asking!" She says before turning up the volume on the TV.
"Come on Blue, when have I ever asked you for anything?" He says prompting her to turn and give him a look. "Besides, your honor is at stake here, especially considering your blunder earlier."
"My honor? My honor was never in question here, especially considering that the whole event was rigged from the start and it was nothing more than a gambling front." She states
"So you're okay with being not only sabotaged but robbed blindly?" Pittoo states before taking a seat across from her, she looked like she was thinking about it.
"How much did you lose?" She simply asked while flipping channels.
"You mean we lost?" He corrects her to which she quickly turns to him with a more frustrated look.
"WE!? what, we?" She exclaimed.
"I maaaay have pooled our savings together to more than quadruple our returns…" He says sheepishly.
"YOU. DID. WHAT!?" Lucina shouts while grabbing him by the collar.
"Look, we can sit here and argue all day, or we could be working to get our money back ten fold!" He says while raising his arms to his side.
"No!" She shoves him back, "you're going to get our, scratch that, MY money back or so help me gods…" she warns before getting up and walking away. However he quickly rushes after her and stands in her path.
"I will, the problem is I can't do it alone!" He states while holding her by the shoulders.
"Then figure it out, you supposedly always do!" She states and pushes past him.
"I already did, but like I said before I need you!" He says getting in her way again.
"You know, as soon as Master Hand announced the joint accounts 'to further encourage cooperation between partners,' I knew something like this was inevitable." She says while giving him a look in particular at the last part.
"Then stop whining and HELP!" He says while throwing his arms up. "Look this time around it's a scavenger hunt, meaning there is no rigging. How can you possibly rig a scavenger hunt?" He explained to her while she pinched the bridge of her nose. Of course she had seen the fliers around, there was a big upcoming event called 'The Smasher Games' that happened every so often. Basically it was the cast running around the large hedge maze outback looking for random objects to solve a puzzle and make it to the center, where a massive grand prize awaited them.
"Are you kidding me? Everything can go wrong!" She says before walking off yet again.
"You'll change your mind, it's only a matter of time before you do!" He calls out to her but she ignores him for the most part. He groans loudly before walking off down the hall towards the library.
"I highly doubt that," she mumbles to herself as she walks up the stairs. She stops near the top when she hears several objects falling down below. She leans over the railings and sees Robin picking up a few books that fell out of his hands. When she suddenly got an idea, not a good one, but an idea nonetheless. Especially considering that Dark Pit potentially lost all their funds which could end up biting them further down the line. She makes her way down and takes some of the books into her arms.
"Oh, thanks…" He says awkwardly while trying to balance the other book in his arms.
"Here let me help with those," she says while taking some of them into her own hands. "So what crazy thing has you scrambling for answers now?" She says while he takes a moment before sheepishly shrugging his shoulders.
"Actually this time nothing in particular, I'm actually looking for something to occupy my mind." He admits to her while she gives him a puzzled look, "well as it turns out," he begins while motioning her to follow him down the hall. "Turns out that my mind for the longest time now has been stuck in a war state if that makes any sense. From the moment I awoke on that field that fateful day I've known nothing but war. And even though we managed to secure victory and bring a peace of mind to those involved, unfortunately my mind stayed in its wartime state. Which clouded my mind and made me believe there was an enemy where there was none." He explained while they walked to the far back of the mansion, the parts that seemed to have been forgotten as it looked run down. Master Hand definitely hadn't gotten to rejuvenating that part of the mansion as he had done with the rest of the more prominent parts of the mansion. This part looked more run down than even the lock-up part of the mansion as some of the lights seemed to have burnt out years ago, however the place received plenty of sunlight for visibility.
"You know in a weird way, I get what you mean, after the war I myself felt lost mainly because I felt so out of place." She replies while he stops at an old door and creaks it open. "What is this place?" She asked curiously while looking around. The room was damp and dark, mainly since the windows were covered with old and torn curtains.
"This," he begins while lighting some candles, "this used to be the old small and limited library of the smash mansion back in the first tournament. Except back then it was more so the Smash House, since the very first tourney Master Hand has been adding and expanding the house until it became the massive mansion we see today by the third tournament." He explained as the candles now lit the room better, the walls were adorned with many shelves most of which were empty and some filled with books both new and old. Other shelves were stacked with various journals with a mess of papers sticking out of them, no doubt footnotes that were added to the information later. The room was very sizable however paled in comparison to the current massive library that spans at least three floors. This one while spacious was contained to a single floor, it was about the size of the locker rooms. There were two large desks in the middle stuck together with a mess of papers sprawled around. "Sorry for the mess, we don't usually get many visitors," he says, "You can place those over there." He said pointing to a half filled shelf in the back. "We discovered this place when we found various inconsistencies with the maps to the mansion. Turns out Master Hand had boarded up this whole place because he didn't know what to do with it. We approached him about it and asked to take it off his hands, we would even handle any and all required repairs to the place. Master Hand eventually agreed to our proposition and we turned this place into a private study of sorts. Which was perfect since due to the map's inconsistencies no one would ever come back here, which allows for total privacy." He explained while he moved some stuff around on the table to make room for the books he carried.
"So this is how you two managed to disappear from the public eye whenever convenient huh?" She remarked while looking around. The more she did the more she noticed some of the furnishings including the large desks were fairly new compared to the other worn and torn furnishings.
"Pretty much, we've slowly been pooling our funds together to liven this place up. Though the one thing we never managed to do was restore power, that hardly mattered to us. We can cope without it like we've done all our lives anyway." He says while flicking some switches in the back that didn't do anything.
"How is it that we've never seen this place from the outside?" She asked while peeking out the window and only seeing vines.
"Oh well you know that weird place out back where that broken down shed that is completely covered in foliage?" He asked the bluenette who thought for a moment.
"Yeah, where the supposed garden supplies are at but nobody uses them anymore." She says while he nods his head in confirmation.
"Yeah, that's pretty much what's out those windows, which is also why this place wasn't observed from out there, it's too overgrown out there." He adds while she takes a peek.
"Well now I guess I should say why I sought you out." She says while still looking out the window. He pulls a chair out and sits at his desk before turning to her. "I'm sure you've seen the fliers around the game taking place later." She says while he leans back and hums.
"Ah yes, the provocative game in the hedge maze later," he says while taking a flier out of a stack of papers and showing it to her.
"Yes, well under normal circumstances I wouldn't resort to measures such as these. But at the moment due to my partner's negligence regarding our finances, I find myself backed into a corner." She says with a frustrated sigh before turning to him.
"Yeah, I heard about your blunder earlier," he says. "I'm actually more surprised that you got roped into that whole mess."
"Honestly so am I, but I guess the sweet little lies eventually enticed me…" she admits while slumping. "I have payments coming up and I can't exactly do that with zero funds in my account. So now with my hands tied I guess I'm left with the only option, which as you can tell I'm not necessarily proud of… " She says with a defeated sigh. He shrugged her off casually however as it was no bother to him..
"Well, no worries, blunder or not I'm more than happy to help out an old friend. Besides, it'll actually give me something to do and I do enjoy a challenge." He says getting back up and patting her on the shoulder. She takes him into a hug which completely caught him off guard as he was not expecting it.
"Oh, uh, sorry…" She says awkwards while he waved her off, "and thank you" she says before walking out the door.
"Helping Lucina out of a tight spot… This seems oddly familiar," he says to himself before taking his seat again and looking at the flier.
*unknown…*
"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!?" he shouts but he is promptly ignored and another cookie is shoved into his mouth. "I WILL… *munch* *munch* destroy… *munch* you… *munch* so good!" He says while he eventually begins savoring the flavor as usual.
His captor giggles as she offers the tied up captor another fresh baked warm cookie. As he ate it off her hand she pets his head as if he was a tamed pet. "How was it?" She asked, petting his head still.
"Tasted like shit!" He exclaimed and turned his head from her.
"You know the rules! No foul language or you won't get any more treats!" She scolds him and smacks him with a rolled up magazine over the head. He begins to struggle in his binds again and she sighs while shaking her head. "Why can't you be like my other friend Mr. Sparkles, he listened to me." She says while he begins biting the rope that binds him to the small plastic chair he was in. "Hey stop that, do I need to fetch the cone again?" She says sternly while crossing her arms.
"I want my freedom, you crazy lunatic!" He says while hopping in place defiantly.
"Well I guess you proved you're not ready for that…" she shakes her head with a tisk.
"IM. TOON. FREAKING LI… HPHMMMM!" he shouts before she gagged him and dragged his chair into the closet and shoved him in.
"Now you wait here until I return, after that we'll see if your nasty attitude changes and you'll be let out like Mr Sparkles." She says before closing the door and locking it while he let out a muffled angry yell.
*elsewhere*
"Are you sure we don't need anyone else?" Pit asks the dark angel following closely behind him.
"Why would we need anyone else?" Pittoo states before stopping and moving aside to reveal the duck hunt dog. The dog barks happily while wagging his tail excitedly.
"Uhhh…" Put says dumbfounded while staring blankly at the dog. Dark Pit facepalms before turning to his lighter counterpart with a deadpan look.
"Don't you know anything?" He says, "these guys are the best trackers ever, why do you think his previous owners used him for hunting?" Pittoo says while Pit silently 'ohed' to himself.
As they turn the corner and enter the lobby area Lucina is coming down the stairs and Pittoo stands there crossing his arms with a sadistic smile on his face. "Why do you have that stupid look on your face, did you get my money back?" She says while placing her hands on her hips.
"Better, I found a more suitable and compliant replacement for you, and now you're going to miss out on all the riches!" He states while she looks behind him to see the other angel awkwardly standing there.
"What, Pit?" She scoffed while Pittoo shook his head.
"Nope, even better!" He says.
"You guys know I'm standing right here right?" Pit says but is still ignored.
"Behold!" Pittoo steps aside to reveal the duck hunt dog sitting there panting and staring off into space. Lucina couldn't help but chuckle at his absurdity.
"Oh no, I've been replaced by a drooling animal, whatever shall I do?" She retorts sarcastically, however Pittoo didn't falter and kept his smug look.
"You do know I can perfectly understand you, right?" They hear suddenly, which makes Lucina jump into the air in shock and almost quite literally jump into the dark angels arms.
"D-Did he… Did he just?" Lucina blurts while pointing down at the dog.
"Yes I did, Mr. Peppers at your service!" He says while giving the bluenette a nod.
"How?" She blurts out.
"Talking hedgehogs, turtle dragons, a jackal, a fox, a bird and she draws the line at the talking dog." Dark Pit turns and remarks to Pit.
"At this point what did I expect…" She sighs, he had a point after all. "You know he's just using you right? Whatever he promised you I guarantee you it's not worth it." She knelt down next to him and explained.
"I wholeheartedly disagree, miss, I don't expect us to win by any miracle, however it's nice to be included for a change." The little dog replies while she turns to Pittoo still with his smug look.
"You have no shame, taking advantage of others like this!" She says while poking him in the chest.
"I'm not, we're going to be continuing hanging out afterwards, win or lose, I agreed to be his walking buddy for his morning walks." He explained to her nonchalantly while shrugging his shoulders.
"You're so full of it!" She retorts.
"Is it so hard to believe he'd do something nice for others?" Pit chimes in.
"You do know we're talking about him right?" She says while making dramatic hand gestures towards the dark angel.
"It's true miss, my agreement was he takes my morning walks with me, I do rather enjoy morning walks in my old age." Mr. Peppers said while she still looked skeptical.
"What's your angle?" She asked, "you always have an angle" she claimed.
"Well getting up early and going for walks will keep me sharp which is important considering this is a tournament. I mean unlike you, you've been very sloppy and lackluster lately." He states, she decides to ignore him however and just walk away at that point. She figured there was no point pressing him further, he'd only use it to mock and or humiliate her as always.
"I don't see how agitating her will help your case…" Pit says.
"Serves her right, she doesn't believe I got a foolproof plan to take the win!" He states.
"And do you?" Pit asked, while Pittoo turned to him with a blank look. He then just points off towards the distance and Pit immediately turns and runs off in that direction.
"Your friends don't seem as enthusiastic as you, it seems." Mr Peppers remarks while the dark angel just waved him off.
"Well that'll make our victory all the more better." He states.
"Sorry I'm late, I couldn't find my ID…" They hear behind them, they turn and see Raven fumbling with a purse.
"Nah it's fine, it gave me time to catch up with others," he says.
"Right let's go, we got more filling in to do," she says while holding her little notebook and waving it about.
"Right, OH, and before I forget to mention we got some company today!" He says stepping aside to reveal Mr Peppers.
"Alright… Just know you're picking up after him if he goes…" she states while pointing down at him.
"I can pick up after myself thank you very much," Mr Peppers states, making her jump and stumble back as well.
"Good gods it talks!?" She exclaimed as she stumbled backwards.
"Is that so hard to believe, here of all places?" Pittoo remarked.
"I guess you have a point…" She said sheepishly, "so shall we?" She said motioning towards the door.
*unknown*
She walked down the path silently while staring down at her tracker machine. It was beeping more rapidly now meaning she was more close to her target, so naturally she picked up the pace. She pockets it in the large trench coat she was wearing while looking around her vicinity. She was in an open area with a large fountain in the middle and several benches around it. She takes out a walkie talkie and holds it up to her face. "I found the target's location, everyone converged on my location." She says before pocketing the thing. The thing buzzes with static for a moment before a voice comes from the other side.
"You forgot to say 'over', you know the rules… Over." The voice comes through. She growls under her breath and holds up the thing again.
"Just get your ass over here!" She says, "over," she adds.
"On it!" The voice replies simply. It isn't long before Link, in a bad noir disguise steps out of some bushes and stands before her.
"Samus, what's up?" He asked casually. He was wearing a ridiculous noir disguise which wasn't exactly helping him avoid attention.
"I found him," she says, tossing him the tracking device that was beeping rapidly. Soon they are joined by Cpt. Falcon, wearing an oversize hoodie and large biker sunglasses. Lucario, wearing a ridiculous dog disguise and trying miserably to walk on all fours. Sheik, who was wearing a scarf covering the lower part of her face and a sun hat. And lastly… Ness… who was simply wearing a hat with a propeller on top of it as a disguise.
Samus looked at the boy and crossed her arms, "why are you here?" She asked the young smasher sternly.
"Hey don't look at me, he practically dragged me out here!" He protested while sticking his thumb back towards Link. Samus then gave Link a look, not the slightest bit surprised.
"Hey don't give me that look, we're looking for someone right? And who better to bring along to find someone than a psychic!" He proclaims while she pinches the bridge of nose.
"I told him I don't work that way but he didn't believe me…" Ness shrugged.
"Whatever just keep your eyes peeled for Dark Toon Link, obviously he'll be easy to spot since he'll stick out here with all the bright colors everywhere." She explained before swiping the tracker back from Link who fiddled with it.
"Somethings off," Lucario chimes in.
"Why's that?" Samus asked.
"I don't sense his aura." He states before his eyes flashed open and he looked around.
"But you supposedly can't use your powers out here?" Ness said, puzzled.
"Master Hand made an exception this once at my request." She explained while he threw his hands up.
"What the freak, why didn't I get special treatment too?" Ness protested.
"Because I wasn't aware you were even coming!" Samus states while turning to give Link another look.
"You told me to gather good trackers, again who better than a psychic?" Link protests in his defense.
"I don't even have my powers!" Ness huffed and crossed his little arms.
"I can't believe you were the only one available from the six," She remarked while slowly shaking her head.
"Oh come on Samus, you know you love having me around I've never seen you more cheerful than with me!" He says while throwing his arm around her, she however had the most stoic look on her face.
"Just keep your eyes open for the little runt!" She instructs and walks away again looking down at her tracker.
"You know you aren't really selling the whole dog thing…" Link then remarks when he turns to see Lucario awkwardly sitting on the floor completely un-dog-like.
"That's because I'm not!" He growls, "and this isn't exactly the most comfortable of outfits, it's very hot and stuffy in here." He adds while tugging on the ridiculous outfit. "And is this really necessary?" He says while holding up the leash around his neck.
"You heard Samus, we have to fit in, you know how grumpy Master Hand gets when we get caught in public." Link shrugs.
"Will this help? Like if you sniff it and catch his scent?" Ness teased while holding up one of Toon Link's hats to his face. Lucario just growls at him and he runs off while giggling to himself.
"Let's just stick to the aura that never fails." Cpt Falcon says, who happened to be holding the end of the leash.
"Ugh, fine the faster I can get out of this the better." Lucario says and he proceeds forward on all fours but with very wonky movement. They looked like a typical guy out just walking his dog… His weird looking dog with loose skin and googly eyes. Link sighs and turns to see Samus standing still and looking puzzled. He walks over and looks at what she was but it was just a bunch of kids playing at a nearby park.
"Don't tell me he's in there…" Link gulped, there were kids everywhere running all over the place and climbing on everything. Looked like an ant colony that had jumped on a piece of food that conveniently landed near the colony. "The clever little tyke," Link remarked while crossing his arms.
"Well how about that, turns out your blunder ended up working in our favor." Samus remarked while he turned to her with sparkles in his eyes.
"Link do good?" He says with a bright and cheery smile. She ignored him however and walked over to Ness who was sitting at a bench eating gummy bears.
"Well, Ness, guess what, we actually have a need for you and I have a special assignment for you." She says while taking a seat next to the boy?
"Woughlly?" He says with a mouth full of candy.
"Yes, see that playground over there, our target is in there. But as you can see the others and I wouldn't exactly fit in there. And it just so happens you would fit in perfectly in there without drawing attention." She says while motioning over towards the playground.
"Does this mean I get to have my power?" He says with wide hopeful sparkled eyes.
"No, just take this and find him, we'll take care of the rest." She says handing him the tracking device while he frowns.
"What if he attacks me? We both know what he's like!" He protested.
"Is that really the case, or were you just hoping to show off in front of all those kids?" Samus said while he smiled sheepishly.
"Nooooo…" He says while shrinking in his seat.
"Just go, or I'll replace you on the task force with someone else who'd no doubt be ecstatic to replace you." She warns while he furiously shakes his head.
"No! I can do it! You'll see!" He says taking the device and running off towards the playground. As he approached the jungle gym the tracker kept beeping rapidly. He looked around puzzled as he stared at a stuffed toy bear in front of him. The tracker was insisting that what he was looking for was the bear or maybe what was in the bear. He pocketed the tracker and picked up the stuffed animal looking it over. He approached it and took it into his arms looking it over for any reason the tracker said it was its target. However it was the typical stuffed toy bear. He even shook it but there wasn't anything inside either.
"What are you doing!?" A voice shrieked, making him drop the toy and back away holding his arms up.
"I-I uh… I…" Ness blurted out, a little blonde girl with curled pigtails with a pink dress slowly stumbled into the jungle gym. It was hard to see her clearly as the outside of the jungle gym was crawling with children obscuring the sunlight. "I just found it really interesting and I thought it was abandoned." He says after composing himself. She takes the bear into her arms hugging it tightly while eying him curiously.
"It's my friend, Mr Snuggles," she says as some of the children start jumping off, letting in more light. A streak of lights illuminates Ness and she begins squinting at him suspiciously.
"That toy wouldn't have happened to be made of anything interesting would it?" Ness asked her, wondering if somehow DTL was in there in some way shape or form.
"You look vaguely familiar…" She remarked while stepping closer to him.
"Yeah I get that a lot, I was in a cereal commercial once." He shrugged her off but he figured she probably made him out due to his terrible disguise.
"No that's not it…" She says, "you look like-"
"Oh look at the time! I gotta go!" He says motioning towards his wrist and then jumping out of the jungle gym and skidding off towards the others. She stood there puzzled for a moment before shrugging and walking off with her bear in hand.
He runs and then jumps behind a bench where Cpt Falcon and Samus sat trying to fit it with everyone else. "Where's the runt?" Samus asked not even turning towards the child smasher.
"Ok this is going to sound crazy, but I think he's been killed and his ashes got put into a stuffed bear." He says while peeking over the edge of the bench. Samus pinched the bridge of her nose before giving him a sideways glance.
"What are you on about?" She says in an irritated tone.
"Ok, ok so, as I followed the tracker you gave me it led me to this little stuffed bear that was odd as freak. And then it turns out it belonged to this little creepy girl, and I think she murdered DTL and then burned his body and put his ashes in that bear. And I think she found me out and I had to bolt out of there before I got turned into a stuffed bear. Samus shook her head at the absurd tale then turned to the captain.
"Falcon," she says before adjusting herself in her seat again and looking down at her tablet.
"On it." He says and taps his shades before looking over the playground.
"There!" Samus says making the captain halt. She was seeing everything he was through his shades on the tablet. "Zoom in" she says as he zooms in on the little girl walking off with her teddy bear in hand. "Times four" she says, making him tap the shades again, while she carefully looks over the footage. "Times eight" she says, making him tap the shades again. "There!" She says looking at the face of the bear in particular.
"What?" Ness asked, puzzled while looking over her shoulder.
"Proof," she says simply, one of the button eyes of the bear had a little metallic pin on it that was the tracker on DTL. "Everyone coverage on my location, we've found our target." She says into the walkie talkie. It isn't long before everyone shows up but the little girl was already heading off towards a car about to leave. "We need to move, now!" She says as they begin running after her, but she already boarded and the vehicle takes off. "Lucario, track her aura," Samus instructs while the pokemon nods and his eyes shine before he closes them to focus on the little girl.
"Got it" he replies while the vehicle sped off out of sight.
"Well looks like he's gone forever, what a shame… Welp, that's lunch everyone!" Link says and begins walking off before Samus grabs him by the collar and dragged him towards the vehicle they came with with everyone else following after them.
"We're not done until I say we are!" She states firmly while Link slumped his shoulders.
Once they all piled on into the vehicle Samus handed Lucario the little device for instructions so he can guide the vehicle. "Finally I can take this off!" He says and rips off the ridiculous dog costume and takes the device. "Her aura is faint now but I can still feel it, they're not far." He says as he puts in directions and the Mii driver is off.
"Hey what happened to the other guy?" Link asked while looking at the Mii, it was the usual Mii driver.
"He was decommissioned due to being broken," Samus shrugs plainly.
"What? How?" He says with a look of complete shock. "I liked that one, he had a really friendly look, this one looks like he has road rage…" He remarked in a whisper.
"He must have been the one who drove Lucina and Dark Pit." Sheik says with a shrug, "heard the whole thing from Zelda, they found the vehicle crashed into a tree and the Mii a few miles off." She adds.
"Aren't they always fighting?" Ness piped up, "who's the genius who thought letting them roam around the city was a good idea?" He says while Link smiled sheepishly and Samus ignored the boy.
"If I remember correctly, didn't Master Hand do that as some sort of appeasement for a mistake?" Sheik says while Smaus now crossed her arms and mumbled under her breath.
"Lemme guess… Zelda?" Link asked the Sheikah.
"Mmhm," she replied plainly while Link leaned back with a large frown on his face.
"You know I don't like how much you and Zelda like to gossip…" He remarked while she scoffed at him.
"We're sort of sisters at this point, who else do you expect she'd go to for a little chat?" Sheik explained making him huf to himself. "If you're worried about her rambling about you don't worry, we tend to keep convos regarding you on the down low, we've had enough Link throughout the day practically every day so there's no need to add more to that." She assured him but he still didn't like that.
"What? That's impossible you can never not have enough Link!" He protested.
"You're kind of contradicting yourself there bud," Ness says while messing with the propeller on his hat.
"Oh what do you know…" He grumbled.
"I'm psychic, remember?" He replies plainly.
"Aha see! I told you he could do freaky stuff!" Link exclaimed to Samus while motioning towards the small smasher. Samus Looked at Ness with a large mischievous smile on his face then back at Link.
"Why did it have to be you…" Samus said to herself rather frustrated.
"His heart is not in the mission because he holds resentment for the target and is sabotaging himself in hopes of getting off the team." Lucario says randomly without much of a thought.
"Dude… So not cool!" Link protested while shooting Lucario a look of betrayal.
"I knew I was a means to an end!" Ness says while crossing his little arms.
"I don't know if you're the biggest idiot I know, or a secret evil genius, why didn't I think of that." Sheik remarked.
"I know you all aren't fond of the little runt, but you really think it's best to leave him out in the city where he's completely unsupervised?" Samus says while they all go quiet.
"We're here!" Lucario states while the vehicle comes to a halt in front of a large house.
"I'll deal with you later!" She says to Link before stepping out. Lucario and Cpt Falcon follow her out only this time Lucario was wearing an oversized hoodie as well. "Can you sense him?" She asked the pokemon who had his eyes closed and was concentrating.
"He's in there, but it appears that it's not willingly. And there are several others in there." He says while she looks in thought for a moment.
"Well we can't just knock and ask for them to hand him over, we might make a bigger mess of things if we do, so things are about to get complicated." She says while looking around the building.
"There, my scans indicate that that window there can be easily bypassed as an alternate entrance." Cpt Falcon says while looking over the building. Samus took out her tablet and looked over the footage of what the captain was looking at.
"Alright you keep looking out, Lucario, you're going to be my eyes in there." She says handing him an earpiece. "I'm going in," she says, taking out her stun gun and using the plasma whip to propel herself to the roof of the building. Lucario sat near the front of the large home focusing on all the auras of the individuals inside. Falcon was leaning against the van they came in while keeping an eye on Lucario.
Samus carefully approached the window and pushed on it making it easily flip open. She managed to easily slip in through the opening and looked around. She was in a dusty old attic and spotted an exit at the far end. "Lucario, check if the next room is clear." She says while leaning against the wall next to the door.
"All clear, proceed." He responds plainly. "Take a left up ahead and find a place to hide, someone is heading your way." He instructs and she carefully maneuvers the hall before quickly slipping into a utility closet. Once she heard the footsteps fade away she asked for the next instructions. "Proceed down the hall and take a right, however the room you're looking for appears to be behind an obstacle." He says.
"I see it." She says while looking at a giant large wooden horse with springs on it to simulate riding an actual horse. She knew she could easily move it because of the small wheels at the bottom, the reason was because Link had actually bought one of those because he claimed he missed his horse and was 'horse sick' whatever that was. She moved it aside but found that the door was sadly locked, so much caution for the room only confirmed that the target was indeed inside. "Lucario, keep an eye out for any more incoming persons, the door is locked and I have to pick it." She says while getting some tools out.
"Got it," he says while concentrating on all the auras in the house and their precise location to Samus. It isn't long before they hear a loud commotion coming from the van and it also begins to shake violently. "Can you calm them down? They're breaking my concentration!" Lucario growled at the captain. He nods and turns, taking in a deep breath preparing himself for whatever shenanigans awaited him. He slides open the back door and immediately ducks as a baseball bat comes flying out at him. And to everyone's horror it flew straight towards Lucario, who was too busy monitoring the situation inside to notice the thing flying at him. It bonks him on the head with a loud and audible WHACK before clanking to the floor. He was out cold at that point and everyone gasped in horror, because if Samus learned they knocked out her guide she'd definitely make them pay in the most excruciating and gruesome way she could think of once they returned home.
"Why did you duck!?" Ness said in a loud and shrill voice at Link, Ness knew first hand about Samus's punishments from the few times she was put on babysitting duty, something she was very against since the start and fought with Master Hand every step of the way.
"It's my natural reflexes! I'm literally hardwired to dodge any and all incoming projectiles!" He argues while flailing his arms about, "why did you dodge you're always with a helmet on!?" He turns to Falcon who tugged on the hood over his head.
"We're dead! We're so dead! What are we gonna do!?" Ness said as he went into the corner rocking back and forth while sucking his thumb.
"We? You mean you because I was never here!" Sheik states and disappears in a puff of smoke.
"That's not fair!" Link exclaimed at no one in particular. It was then that everyone heard Samus harshly trying to reach them without raising her voice so as to not give herself away. However no one was answering because they were too busy arguing. Finally Link jumps out of the van and rushes towards the knocked out Pokemon. He takes the earpiece and wears it himself and using his best gruff deep voice tries to imitate Lucario. "All clear!" He said and there were several moments of silence which felt like an eternity.
"Link? Is that you!" She finally replies while Link looks around nervously.
"No it's me… Lucario… Aura and stuff…" He says while there was another long awkward pause.
"Link I know that you! Where's Lucario?" She hissed at him.
"He uh… He uh…" He fumbles with his words while looking at the others nervously.
"He ran away, he wanted to be free and now lives upstate with a nice farm family…" He replied sheepishly while he heard her growl under her breath.
"LINK!" She whispered harshly.
"Alright, alright! He had to go ok!" He said while he could feel her getting more irritated by the second.
"Go!?" She hissed, "go where?" She asked, obviously irritated.
"You know… Go," he said.
"Go? Now?" She said in disbelief.
"Hey when you gotta go you gotta go…" Link shrugged.
"Link…" She began but didn't finish and communication cut off.
*inside*
"Who are you?" A voice suddenly comes from behind. Samus freezes before slowly turning around, there stood the same little blonde girl from the playground. It appeared the jig was up, she could still hear Link trying to reach her from the other end…
Alrighty folks, thanks for tuning in until next time, toodles!
Next Chapter: Ready? Set. Go!