Author's Note: Wow, SWOL made it to chapter 10. Admittedly, I thought it would take longer for this to reach chapter 10.

Anyway, we're at 20 followers! Thanks you to snowyangel277, SuperKitty4789, DarkHero762, J-man12, Tuananh Hoang, LNDJV, Defender31415, and ssupersonic12 for following!

Another quick note, things are getting about hectic for me since I have to study for finals. I'm not sure how this will affect updates but I just want you guys to know what's up if there is no new chapters for a while.

Disclaimer: I should probably take these seriously though. I don't own Nintendo, Smash Bros. or any character/franchises represented. I only own the Ocs.

Chapter 10: I suck at driving

"Could you tell me now?" I asked Crazy. We left Anna's Emporium a few hours ago and were heading north. At first, we tried going to the big lake but neither of us knew how to drive the boat there. So, here we were, back on the path we were just on.

"Tell you what?" She replied, "The secret to better jokes?"

"How about you tell me that later. I'm talking about the spirit that went into the store," I elaborated. "I could tell that the spirit was probably Anna's but how come she has a body and the other spirits we have don't?"

"I'm actually not sure. The most likely reason is because we were next to her store. Since we were so close to a location she is familiar with. That familiarity would allow her to break free of being in spirit form and go back to her old body," Crazy quickly backpedaled on her hypothesis though. "Granted, it could be for some other reason."

I thought for a moment. How many spirits do we have so far? I'm guessing about 10 if you count the Smashers. That was about 10 people who don't have a body and their own unique lives. They could be scared witless but Crazy and I couldn't tell or have any way to calm them down. "Is there some way we could give the spirits we have right now physical bodies?"

Crazy sighed and I began regretting my question. She might've already asked herself that. "Since we don't know exactly why or how Anna has her body back, we can't do that. In the long run, it might actually be better anyway."

"Really? What do you mean?"

"Being a spirit seems to put people in a kind of stasis," Crazy began to explain. "Anna only vaguely remembers being a spirit and I don't feel any emotions from the spirits we have now. As far as I can tell, leaving them as spirits for now is safe. Besides, if they did have bodies, they wouldn't have anywhere to go. They could be attacked by Puppet Fighters or starve to death due to a lack of resources."

"I guess that makes sense." I raised my head and noticed something. "Speaking of Puppet Fighters, get ready for a fight."

Charging at us were four identical kids, all blond with a strange set of headphones, a black jacket, shorts, a tank on their back filled with some yellow liquid and what looked like a water gun. Crazy swore before pulling out her Staff to start sniping them, "Try not to get covered in ink."

"What?" My question was answered a second later when I got shot. Instead of torpedoes or lasers, the kids shot what I guess was yellow ink from their guns.

Recoiling as some of the ink got in my mouth, I rolled away from the kids while spitting it out of my mouth. Two of them followed me while the others followed Crazy as she retreated. One jumped above me which I knocked away with my Beam Sword when I noticed something. The tank on their back seemed to be lower. "So they shoot the ink in the tanks? That means they run out at some point."

Ink kid 1 threw a something at me, filled with ink and shaped like a glass pyramid, it was probably a bomb. Before I could kick it away, the bomb exploded in a giant splash. So much of the ink exploded, I tried to wipe it of my eyes but I just made it worse. I was completely covered in the ink.

Something grabbed onto my jacket hood before I was thrown away. When I landed, I felt something strike me in the back, sending me flying again and probably towards the ink kid that threw me. Tossing the Boomerang behind me, I threw my foot forward and felt it connect with something. I wiped the ink on my hand off using my pants leg before clearing my eyes, letting my eyes eee again. Chasing after the one I kicked away, I shot using the Steel Diver before swinging with my sword. Ink kid dodged by, turning into a yellow squid.

"Are they kid or a squid?" I questioned, dodging a swing an ink brush and catching the Boomerang. Throwing the Boomerang at the one which attacked me, I followed it with another torpedo. Both projectiles landed a solid hit on the enemy, causing her to collapse into smoke.

Turning to face the second one, I jumped over and grabbed her by the collar. After hitting her with the hilt of my sword, I kicked her into the path of the Boomerang and slashed with the sword as the blade grew.

The spirit floated up from the remains of the one I just defeated. "Crazy, quick question. Why the heck were they shooting ink everywhere?" I asked as the ink on me began to dissolve. Thank goodness for that, I don't have access to a washing machine right now.

"They're Inklings. Their attacks do more damage as their opponent gets covered in more ink," Crazy explained, collecting the spirit. "The first few practice fights with them left stains so we modified the ink to evaporate after fights."

I was about to respond before I was rudely interrupted by what sounded like, engines? We followed the path until we reached what seemed to be a raceway. As soon as we got to the fence, cars flew past us with roaring engines. There was something off about the cars though, "Are they floating?"

"Those are F-Zero machines, meant to race and race at sonic speeds. It's a shame there hasn't been an F-Zero Grand Prix in a while." Crazy explained. The track that the machines were racing on looked like a figure eight and in the middle, was a Smasher Statue. Unlike the ones before, this one was covered in heavy chains, glowing with an otherworldly light. Despite being in the middle of the track, the statue didn't seem to affect the racers as they quickly swerved around it without crashing into each other.

As I watched, the racers completed another circuit at speeds that would turn me into mush if they hit me. "Any thoughts on how to get to the statue without, y'know, getting killed? And what are those chains?"

"Oh, simple," Crazy answered, walking further up the path. "We kill the other racers. The chains are most likely there to stop us from awakening the Smasher until we can defeat the Puppet Fighters."

"Crazy, we can't just go around killing people."

She just stared at me before explaining, "The racers are Puppet Fighters and what do you mean we can't go around killing people? That's what we've been doing already."

I could only follow her quietly as we walked past the fence where a green F-Zero machine sat, ready to be driven. Opening the hatch, we peeked inside. "Do you know how to drive this?"

I turned my head to Crazy, shocked, "What do you mean do I know how to drive this? Amnesiac, remember? Don't you know how to drive this?"

"The last thing I drove was a war chariot. I just teleport everywhere," Crazy flatly said. "Anyway, you're the fighter so you drive."

Before I could argue, Crazy pushed me in and shut the hatch. I grumbled as I put on the seat belt and adjusted the seat I was on. "Oblivion, you there?" I whispered. He knew how to use a sword so, maybe he could give me a crash course to hopefully not crash.

No response. "Oblivion, you better not be ignoring me because you don't know how to drive," I muttered. "Okay, what do we have here?"

There was a wheel in front of me to steer and pedals by my feet. I lightly stepped on the right pedal, feeling the car move forward lightly and stop hard when I stepped on the left pedal.

Stepping on the pedal, I shot off onto the track, almost immediately hitting another racer. I jerked the wheel as we both moved away from each other, only for the racer I almost hit to crash into another machine and they went off course, crashing and burning against the wall.

The racers turned a corner and I pushed a car that was the closest to edge of the track. Successfully, the racer flew off and crashed into a pile of tires. "These cars are floating," I thought as I looked for my next target. "Why would there be tires?"

I swerved again, this time almost hitting the statue. After I managed to right the car, another racer pulled up next to me, a blue car, and the hatch opened. The racer looked like some kid in blue armor and as I watched, his hand retracted into his arm and formed a cannon.

I turned away as he began to shoot what looked like lemons at me, only for another racer to push me back towards Blue Boy. The hatch of this racer opened, revealing some fox guy who pulled out a pistol and began firing lasers at me. I was sandwiched in between the two as they shot at me, thankfully not breaking the glass yet. But they weren't turning. We were approaching another curve and I tried braking but Fox and Blue Boy were carrying me to the wall.

"Why am I getting deja vu?" I muttered. The wall was growing closer and I was about to undo the seat belt, maybe I could jump out before crashing. But at the speed we were going, there was no guarantee that would be entirely safe. My hand brushed against something next to the seat belt holder. Looking down, my hand had hit a lever labeled, "Ejection Lever. Emergencies only."

Yanking on the lever, the hatch opened and my seat shot out like some cartoon. A parachute shot out and I watched the two racers crash into the wall with the empty F-Zero machine I was driving a moment before. Floating down, I began looking for the last racer. The last car had almost made an entire lap and would probably hit me a few seconds after I land in another explosion of guts and gore (I think that would be the fifth explosion this race).

Thanks to the laws of physics, my seat began a descent as I looked through my inventory. My Beam Sword wouldn't help, Steel Diver is a maybe, Deku Nuts are a probable no because of the windshield and Banana Peel is a no because it's a banana peel. "I'm actually surprised it's not rotten," I commented as I pulled it out to check. A thought struck me, maybe the Banana Peel could help. I fought evil as pink puffballs, robots, an ape, and I'm travelling with someone who's a disembodied hand-god.

"Don't be ridiculous," I lectured myself, "There's no way a banana peel could stop a car. And these cars probably have something like anti-gravity technology. This won't stop it." I was interrupted my seat landing softly on ground. I have about 4 seconds before I'm turned to mush.

Tossing the Banana Peel over my shoulder onto the path of the upcoming car, I undid the seatbelt and leapt to the side of the track, only for my arm to get tangled with the seatbelt. My leap turned more into a tumble and I fell flat, unfortunately not off the road. The roaring engine grew louder and I looked. A red and black F-Zero machine flew at me, growing closer and closer, until it flew over the Banana Peel. The car spun out, narrowly missing the chair I was attached to by centimeters and hitting the flaming wreck of Blue Boy and Fox's crash.

"Oh wow, you're alive." I untangled my arm and turned. Crazy was walking over to me with popcorn in her hand.

"You're a jerk."

"I've been called worse. Here," She offered the popcorn to me. "How about about we just make camp and deal with the statue tomorrow?"

I looked up, the sun had already begun setting, painting the sky a blood orange. "That sounds good."

We made camp, with Crazy picking up the spirits from the car wrecks. and after a quick dinner, Crazy ducked into her tent while I walked over to the statue. I wouldn't fight the smasher until tomorrow but it would be nice to who it was.

Smasher No. 11

Captain Falcon

"Great," I muttered. I'm fighting another smasher that I don't know. A yawn in my head broke me from my thoughts.

"What'd I miss?" Oblivion asked through another yawn.

"Oh, just the usual. There were some ink kids and ME ALMOST DYING IN A HORRIBLE CRASH OF METAL AND FIRE!" I mentally screamed.

"Oh, okay."

"THAT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU JUST SAY, 'oh, okay' TO!" I sighed, calming down a bit, "What were you up to while I was busy fending for my life anyway?"

"Sleeping," He replied in a flat tone.

"You're a voice in my head, how the heck do you sleep?" I questioned. "Do you even need sleep?"

"I haven't always been a voice," Oblivion answered vaguely.

"Wow," I said, drawing it out. "How bloody mysterious of you Oblivion."

"You're sounding pretty stressed," Oblivion commented.

"How about because of this annoying voice in my head that's pretty annoying."

Oblivion went silent for a moment before speaking up again, "You're also irritated at Crazy for pushing you into the car, aren't you?"

"Yeah, a little," I admitted.

"What do you think of Crazy anyway?" Oblivion asked, "I'd be interested in hearing your opinion."

I took a moment to think. I had literally only known her for days and I still wasn't sure what to think of her. She's been helpful but also somewhat secretive. Her pushing me into the car didn't help improve my opinion but I do feel at ease around her. "I guess that even though she can be a little snarky and keeps things to herself, Crazy is trustworthy."

I waited for a response to no avail. "Oblivion?" I asked. "Oh, sure. Just stop talking to me whenever you want. You just love having me talk aloud to no one but myself and make me look like a weirdo, don't you?"

Walking over to my sleeping bag, I threw myself down and shut my eyes. After a few moments, I fell into another dream.

I was in the same tent as the last dream. The guy in the cloak was there, looking the same as before. However, the tent was different. The table in the middle was slightly smaller and instead of a map, a chess board sat with Cloak Guy on one side. Sitting across from him, was a guy in a business suit.

Despite looking about 20, he already had white hair which was slicked back. Something about the way he looked vaguely reminded me of Crazy. Maybe it was the facial structure. Maybe it was the way their eyes pierced you. Maybe it was how they carried themselves, somewhat calculated but also a little aloof. Maybe I was just seeing things.

As I watched, the cloaked man flopped back in his chair, tilting it back on the hind legs. "Come on M.H. Why do we have to play chess? It's sooooooooooooo boring."

M.H. just smirked a little at the nickname and complaint, "You just say that because you're terrible at chess."

"Exactly!" Cloak Guy shot forward, leaning towards M.H. "Where's the cannons? The ships? The ninjas that seduce and assassinate the opposing commanders? This is nothing like war!"

"Calm down a little." M.H. began to reset the board. It seemed like M.H. had a sweeping win the previous game, he had only lost half his pawns and a bishop while the black side only had the king left. "Why don't you use this as a mental exercise?"

"I'd rather play cards," Cloak Guy commented, watching as M.H. moved a pawn forward before moving his own.

"You're a little better at cards but you bluff quite a lot," M.H. said, moving another pawn as he spoke. He punctuated his sentence with a slam of the chess piece, "Unfortunately, when it comes to real lives, you're just as sloppy as when it comes to chess along with your terrible bluffs in cards."

The air became tense as the two began staring each other down. Any moment it seemed like one of them would tackle the other and start hitting them. Even though I couldn't be interacted with, I felt like I should get someone before a murder happened. Fortunately, Cloak Guy just made a resigned sigh, breaking the tension, and asking, "Is this about Squadron 13?"

"Yes, this is about Squadron 13!" M.H. yelled, knocking his chair over and slamming a hand on the table, "You took an unnecessary risk and got 50 of our men killed! You could have simply had a scouting party search the area for enemies instead of having armed soldiers trampling through an unknown area. I need to make sure you won't get the rest of us killed."

A pregnant pause followed M.H.'s outburst. With a sigh, Cloak Guy simply hung his head, "This is why I tried to refuse the position of tactician for the army. Trusting me with your lives was a terrible mistake."

Fixing his chair, M.H. sat down. Another silence followed. "I'm sorry for the outburst. It's unfair of me to get angry when I'm the one who pressured you into the role of tactician, but you still got men killed. Why don't you have me check your orders for risks before you send them out?"

"That be impossible," Cloak Guy bluntly stated. "There would be no way to have you check orders when you're somewhere else. And think of what the soldiers would see, an inexperienced tactician that could get them all killed. Of course, they could already be seeing that."

"That's also why I asked for a council," M.H. said, "Have all the commanders convene and we decide on something together."

Cloak Guy sighed, "Fine. I didn't want it in the first place because I felt like I would end up stabbing someone but, I guess it's better than bumbling in the dark."

Right as they shook hands to make up, someone burst through the tent flap. Looking about the same age as M.H., she had the same white hair as him but cut to neck-length. She stood tall at about 6 feet and dressed in plated, silver armor. Held loosely in her left hand was a lance that was just as tall as she was. Unmistakably, the newcomer was Crazy Hand.

"Hewwo!" Crazy announced. "Did you two have some sorta special male-to-male moment?"

"Don't phrase it like that," M.H. chided. Seeing them side by side, M.H. and Crazy looked almost identical. That might mean they're related. Crazy did call Master Hand brother so is this Master Hand? The initials match up.

I think I'll just keep calling him M.H.

"Yeah, yeah." Crazy replied nonchalantly. "Anyway, dinner's ready so are you two coming or not?"

"Go ahead without me," Cloak Guy answered. "I have some business to take care of."

"Okay! Just don't tire your hand out too much!" Crazy winked at him and M.H. smacked her head as they left.

Sighing, Cloak Guy muttered, "I swear, she'll be the death of me someday."

He walked to the back of the tent and entered a flap there, presumably to some private room. I moved to follow but my feet were stuck. I couldn't move. The ground beneath me began to crack and I fell through, into darkness. The tent and what I had just seen was swiftly swallowed by the darkness, plunging me into black.

Somehow, my free fall stopped but I hadn't hit anything. Before me, a single eye slowly opened. The iris was slitted, like a cat's, but the eye was demonic, with blue and yellow instead of white.

"DO noT BeLiEVe tHat gaLeEM iS yOur oNLy EnEMy," A voice spoke out to me, garbled and it felt like it was coming through static but I understood it.

Slowly, I opened my mouth. I had no idea who this was but what it said was clear. I whispered back into the darkness, "Fight me."

Save File 2: Saved

Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion (?), Crazy Hand

Items: Nathaniel-Beam Sword, Steel Diver, Boomerang

Crazy Hand-Staff, Deku Nut x2, Green Shell

Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Villager

Author's Theater:

Nathaniel: This sucks.

Crazy: What do you mean?

Nathaniel: When MG started Author's Theater, he stated it was an after-chapter place to just fool around. Has he done that? No. He just uses this as basically another spot for Author's Notes but titled differently.

Crazy: Well, he said Chapter 7 would be the last chapter of 2018 and then posted Chapter 8 on New Year's Eve. Maybe we should take what he says with a grain of salt?

Nathaniel: How about no?

MG: MMph mmh mmph mmmph!

Nathaniel: No, I am not untying you or removing the gag.