Legend of Zelda 1. Letters from the Master

Gery: Hi guys, I'm back! Okay, I really wanted to write something else, and I will, I'm working on other stuff, but I just had to get this started. The beginning to the Sequel to Silent Courage, everybody! And a crossover with Super Smash Brothers! This is going to be fun, but a little difficult. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine ^_^

Nura: Gery doesn't own Zelda or the Smash Bros. series

Alex: If she did, they would suck

Gery: You're still mad at me, aren't you?

Alex: Yes, you killed me!

Gery: I said I was sorry. If you haven't read Silent Courage, I suggest you do that, if you don't want to be confused about some things or have spoilers happen. Enjoy!

Adam: Let's do this!

Chapter 1: Letters from the Master

With a quiet gasp, Link sits up in her bed fast, causing blood to rush to her head. She rubs her temples, eyes closed as she runs the dream through her head.

She was walking down a path, but there was nothing around her. Just a long void of darkness, with just a small circle of grey light surrounding her wherever she walked. Then the path would crumble under her feet, sending her deep into the depths of the void. There she would be stopped short, landing on her back, having somehow turned around. As she stood, there was a low, familiar laugh that vibrated around her, and she would feel like she was being strangled. The laugh became louder with each passing minute, before it faded as her senses dulled. And before she woke up, she heard a voice shout out to her. A cry for help. She reached out to help them, but she missed their invisible hand, and that was always the part she woke up.

Link inhales deeply, trying to calm down her pounding heart. Once it falls back to the right rhythm, she turns her head to the drawn curtains. She can see a stream of silver light peeking through and grumbles, lying back down in bed and pulling the covers over her head. Way too early to wake up. Stupid nightmares, always ruining sleep.

-A few hours later-

Sheik opens the door to Link's room gently, looking through to find her snoring under the covers. With a fond smile, he walks over and shakes her shoulder. "Hey, Link, time to get up."

'Fif mer mints,' she thinks groggily, turning over. He chuckles and sits on the edge, shaking her more.

"No, you need to get up now. Zelda's asking for your help with something."

'But I don't wanna!' she mind-whines, curling up.

He shakes his head. Time to use the last resort. He starts tickling her, making her squeak and thrash about, trying to get away while her face turned red from laughing. 'Sh-Sheeeeik! Stooop!'

"Will you get up?"

She just nods, still laughing, and sits up. 'What time is it?' she yawns, rubbing her eyes with her hand.

"Still morning, ninth ring," he sits up, going over to the curtains and opening them. Link flinches from the light and blinks, clearing the spots dancing in her sight.

She mind-grumbles. Still too early. 'What did Zelda want?'

"I'm not sure, I didn't have time to ask. And I need to get going, the new trainees are coming today," he says, kissing her forehead before going to the door. "I'll see you around midday."

With a sigh, Link pushes the covers off and gets up, dressing into a blue tunic and grey breeches. She ties her Rupee Bag on her belt beside her Twilight Dagger and takes her shield off of the wall. She smiles as she runs her hand over the face. It's still as amazing as the day Rusl gave it to her. Her heart aches for the lives lost that day, but she pushes the thoughts away, trying to think of happy things.

But it's hard to smile in the face of death.

The Siege of Hyrule has left many scars, some not fully healed. The deaths of husbands, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters has weighed heavily on families. But, slowly over the last five months, Hyrule is recovering. The field the battle was in has regrown, the buildings have been rebuilt, the dead have all been buried in their respective graveyards, and families are picking themselves up.

She comes out of her thoughts when she almost bumps into somebody. "Watch where you're walking, will ya, Twi-Twi?" Shadow asks. He and Vaati disappeared for two weeks after Link, Sheik and Zelda got out of the Demon Realm. No one but themselves knew why they came back, since they were done their job fr the Goddesses, they were free to go. But they just stuck around. Link didn't mind, she liked going pranking with Shadow. And even Adam joined in sometimes, when he wasn't taking care of Aly.

She nods her apology and goes around him, continuing her search for Zelda. Luckily the Princess isn't hard to find, she's just in her study, reading some letters. "Good morning, Link," she says, not looking up.

'Mornin'. What do you need me to do?'

"I was hoping you could drop by Telma's Bar and give her her pay. The only messenger who's in Hyrule Castle Town right now is sick and he can't go," Zelda pushes the bag of Rupees toward Link, who takes it and stores it in her Baggie.

'Sure thing. What're you writing?' she leans on the desk, looking at the writing upside-down.

"Just a reply to Sonja. She only has a few more trials to finish up and so far only several have been found guilty of their charges."

Link snorts. 'Doesn't surprise me. Osamu was a spiteful stinky butt.'

She looks Link in the eye, noticing how tired she looked. She frowned. "Did you not sleep well last night?"

'I was hoping you wouldn't notice,' she sighs. 'Yeah, haven't for the last few weeks. Last night was the closest I've gotten to a full night's sleep without being woken up by nightmares.'

"What happens in these nightmares?" Zelda takes some paper out from her desk. Link tells her and the Princess hums, brushing the feather of her quill over the paper. "Can you recognize the laugh?"

'Sorta, but that's the thing I forget the most outta the dream. It's never fully clear to me.'

"If you have this dream again, come to me straight away. Your dreams tend to become real."

'Will do,' she nods and leaves the room to deliver Telma's pay.

-Later-

She's making her way back through Castle Town, keeping her head low when people noticed her. She can hear their whispers from here. "I still can't believe she's a girl," a very familiar red-head whispers. Link smirks to herself, that's one of the girls she throws eggs at. She was never really nice to anyone, even when she thought Link was a boy like the rest of Hyrule.

"I still find it funny that you had a crush on 'him'," one of her friends laughs.

"Shut it," Link hears her say before she gets out of sight. Sadly she's not the only person who hasn't accepted her yet. She got many dirty looks from some of the boys and girls her age, both for different reasons. The girls because she doesn't act like a 'lady', and the boys because they had all tried, and failed, to beat her in a sword fight. Some came close, but they've never fought Grandpadorf or Majora.

At the thought of Majora she brings her hand to her face, frowning. A bandage is wrapped around her wrist and part of her hand, but under it her hand is still an unpleasant sight. The cauterized wound has healed mostly, but it still aches and itches sometimes. Sheik's injury hasn't healed yet either, but he adjusted to having only one eye much faster. Although he does knock things over sometimes.

In her musings, she bumps into somebody in a less crowded street and falls back. She curses quietly when she lands on her tailbone and looks up. "Oops. My fault, sorry missy miss!" the man she bumped into smiles and lends her his hand. She grabs it and he brings her to her feet with surprising strength. The man has snowy white hair and red eyes, making Link think he might be a Sheikah, and he has a bit of a wild look to him. She can almost feel the crazy yet powerful aura coming off of him.

'Oh _please_ don't let this be another Majora,' she prays.

"Ye're Link, Heroine of Time, yes?" the man asks. She nods. "Good! That wasn't too hard. I have some letters fer yer friends and yerself. Be sure to read all o' it," he smiles after handing her three letters and turns sharply. "Final place! Final place! Finally I am done! No more worlds, no more times, laady laady daa!" he sings off-key as he skips down an alley. Link frowns. There's no way out of that alley other than the way he went. She walks to it and blinks. He's gone. The only proof he was there at all are the letters in her hands. She slowly looks down at the letters and sees her name written in Ancient Hylian. Tucking the other two letters into her Baggie, she reads it.

'To Link (Heroine of Hyrule/Twilight),  
You have been invited to a special occasion that has been held only a couple times before; the Smash Tournament. This Tournament is designed for people and creatures from different lands and times to fight one another in combat. It is all friendly competition, no real harm will come to anyone you fight or yourself. If you accept this letter, a portal will appear for you a day later. That will give you enough time to pack and inform anyone of where you are going. If you decline, the letter will shred itself and you can go about your life. We hope you take the time to consider coming.  
Master R. Hand.'

She reads the letter over three times, making sure she understands everything. Whoever this 'Master Hand' is, they know her alternate title and somehow know where she lives. Although, the Post System always confused her. And what happened to mister 'laady laady daa?' She shakes her head and heads off to the Castle, looking over the last two letters. One's for Sheik and the other for Zelda.

She walks with a skip in her step, a goofy smile on her face. Despite the confusing letter, she's excited. What if she and her friends can go? It would be so much fun! A nice vacation with no worries about saving anybody! Just friendly competition and that like. Link's smile grows at the thought of going. She really, really wants to go. 'I really hope Zelda and Sheik agree!'

'I gave Telma her Rupees and got some letters from a weird man,' Link thinks as she enters the study, but frowns when she doesn't see her. 'Eh, guess I'll give Sheik his letter first, then.' She backs out of the study and turns down the right hallway, toward the Training Courtyard.

She hums when she doesn't see Sheik. That's odd, where are those two at? She leaves before the training Knights spot her (they always try to fight her the most of out anybody, it got annoying really fast). 'They don't have anything to do outside the Castle today. Or at least I think so. Where in Hyrule are they?'

When Link enters the Mess Hall, she only sees a few servants cleaning up. One notices her and walks over. "Lady Link," she bows her head. "I assume you're looking for Princess Zelda?" she nods. "She just went to the library."

'Should've figured,' Link thinks, giving the maid a wave and running out of the Mess Hall. She finds Zelda sitting in her usual armchair near a fireplace. 'Finally found ya. Here, I got a letter for you,' she fishes it out and hands it over before sitting on the arm of the seat.

"Who gave it to you? I heard no news of a Messenger coming today," Zelda says, opening the letter.

'Some man gave it to me. Along with one for me and Sheik each. I already read mine.'

Link stays quiet as Zelda reads, watching her brow furrow. "Smash Tournament?" she mouths before putting the letter down. "I think I've heard of that before."

'Really?'

"Yes. But I don't know how, it's not in any books I've read, I know it. Maybe our ancestors went to a previous one."

'Maybe. I didn't get any feeling it was familiar to me. Will we go? It could be a nice chance to relax for a while. That trip to Ordon feels so long ago,' Link looks at the ceiling, thinking of the visit. She took Zelda to Ordon a month after the Siege, introducing the Princess to the Village. They welcomed her with open arms, like Link expected. Zelda had seemed surprised about it all.

'Ordonians tend to give warm welcomes,' Link had told her. 'Why d'you think I was able to grow up here without any problems? They accepted me as part of the Village right when I was left here. Although I was a handful.'

"I will have to think about it," Zelda says, cutting Link out of her thoughts. "There's still so much to do, I can't just abandon Hyrule for a bit of fun. There are still bills passing through that I have to accept or decline, letters coming from the construction of Tamriel**(1)**, messengers giving treaty declarations to the Wind Tribe and over the North Wind Sea to those lands."

'Can't the Chancellor deal with those? Why can't you have any free time to yourself?'

Zelda smiles slightly, shaking her head at Link. "It doesn't work like that. No matter how close we get as friends, I'm still a Princess, Link. And I'm almost nineteen. Soon men will come from all across Hyrule, perhaps even farther lands, to try and court me."

'I don't care if you're a Princess, you're still a person. And people need time to themselves.'

"If only it were that simple, Link. You really do have so much to learn about Hyrule."

'Still don't care. We should go. We could probably even make friends and have an adventure! One that doesn't end with us having to save the world! Get someone you trust to take care of the treaty stuff and let's go!' Link punches her fist into the air. If she could speak, she probably would have yelled that and gotten kicked out of the library by Gladys.

Zelda sighs. "I'll consider it, but don't hold your breath," she receives a hug and laughs. "Would you go without me?"

'Nope,' Link smiles. 'Even if it would be fun, I would like to know at least a few people. And it's always great to talk to somebody.'

"Go find Sheik and give him his letter. Last I saw him he was in the field."

'See you later, Zelly!' Link waves as she runs out.

She smiles when she finds him, playing his harp in a tree. His eye is closed and he's slightly humming. Link laughs lightly, she keeps forgetting Sheik gets really into his music. 'Hi Sheik!' she mind-yells and he jumps lightly, opening his eye and looking down. He smiles when he sees her.

"Hey, Link," he tucks his harp under his arm and jumps down. "Are you more awake now?"

'I guess,' she replies, stretching her arms behind her back. 'A weird man came this morning and gave me three letters, they seem to be about the same thing. Both me and Zelda opened ours,' she hands him the letter.

"Smash Tournament, huh?" he asks. "Are you thinking of going?"

'Of course I am! It'll be the first time I fight strangers for fun and not saving my life!' she grins. 'And I managed to get Zelda to think about it, too! So we might all be going! She says not to get my hopes up, but I bet she'll come.'

"I don't know, Link. She's still busy."

'That was her excuse,' she rolls her eyes. 'Fifty Rupees says she comes.'

"I don't gamble."

'Fine,' she sighs in fake disappointment. 'Are you thinking of going?'

"Maybe. Sonja still needs help with the odd task at the City."

'Oh. How is everything?' Link asks, trying to hide her nerves. It looks like, at this rate, neither Sheik or Zelda will be going.

"Better than it was," he says. They start to head back to the Castle. "Of course, anything is better than Osamu."

'Agreed,' Link thinks bitterly.

"Will you go?" Sheik asks after a few minutes of silence.

'I dunno. I will if you guys will, but I don't want to go alone and have no one to talk to,' she looks down. 'I'd like to go, but it wouldn't be as fun without you and Zelly.'

Sheik just nods. When they reach Castle Town, Link pulls out a cloak and drapes it over her. He snorts. "Still disguising yourself outside the Castle?"

She mock-glares at him. 'You try having the entire kingdom convinced you're a boy, then let them know you're really a girl and see how you like it. Girls pester me about acting like a lady and guys won't stop bugging me to fight them. More now than before. I think they don't believe I was the one who saved Hyrule.'

He raises an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Link shrugs. 'Dunno. There are only about five of them who seem to think I didn't save Hyrule. I think it's because of my height.'

"You...really think it's because of your height?" Sheik asks, sceptical.

'Yep. What else could it be?' Link tilts her head. Sheik lets out a heavy sigh, shaking his head.

"As innocent as ever," he mutters. This makes Link blink in confusion. What'd she think?

'How come you keep calling me 'innocent?' I mean, I don't think I can be very innocent after all the stuff that's happened to me,' she ducks behind Sheik when they pass the group of girls she and Adam used to throw eggs at.

"It seems that no matter what happens to you, you're as innocent as a child. I don't know how you do it, but it's just how you are," he smiles over his shoulder.

'Um, thanks?' Link tilts her head the other way. She didn't think she was very innocent. Having almost been-she shivers at the horrible thought-two times and being tortured for no reason other than being born a Hylian. Besides, she was eighteen! She wasn't a kid anymore! No matter how much she acted like one sometimes.

They got to the Castle without anyone realizing who she was and went to the courtyard near Link's room. They look at each other and laugh at remembering the first time they were here together. They sat down under the tree, Link leaning into Sheik with her head on his shoulder, and Sheik has an arm wrapped around her.

After a fifteen minutes of silence, Link sighs. 'I had a nightmare last night.'

"Did you?" he asks. "What happened in it?"

'Nothing much. I walked down a path, I couldn't see very far, then the ground broke under me. Then I felt like I was choking and heard a voice. It felt a bit familiar to me. I tried to reach out, but whatever was choking me stopped me. And I kept hearing a dark laugh. Then I would wake up. I've only gotten it a few times, about five the last three weeks, but it still worries me.'

"You should tell Zelda. It's not usually a good thing when you have a nightmare."

Link yawns. 'Already did. She told me to tell her if I have it again.'

He nods and they fall silent again. A moment later, Link fell asleep, making Sheik chuckle as he brushed a bit of hair from her face. "Only you, love," he whispers.

-Later-

Luckily she doesn't get any nightmares, and when she wakes, she finds herself on her bed. She smiles to herself and sits up, looking around. The sun is about to set. She groans. Great, now she'll be up all night. Her stomach growls loudly and she blushes lightly, even though no one's around. 'I can't believe I forgot to eat all day,' she thinks to herself, strolling down the corridors. 'Can't even remember the last time I forgot to eat because of running errands.'

"I don't think it is safe, Princess," Link stops in her tracks in front of Zelda's study, her left foot not even on the ground. She glances around before going to the door to listen.

"Why do you think so, Chancellor?" Link makes a face. Oh, the new Chancellor. He's apparently close friends with Matthew, the father-in-law of Adam and Alex. He lost the will to lead and fight after Alex's death, and he retired early from his position, giving it to a greasy-haired man/wizard named Salvator. He doesn't like Link very much and she doesn't like him. She likes to call him Salivator.

"This Tournament doesn't seem safe. Fighting for fun? No. That is not what Princesses do."

"I am fully aware of what I expected from a Princess, Chancellor, thank you. But I believe it could be a nice change."

"That gender-confused Hylian convinced you, didn't she?" Link pouts, she's not gender confused! Goddesses, this man doesn't know the difference between a disguise and a cross-dresser.

"She is not 'gender-confused' as you say. She was hiding as a boy to attract less attention. As you should know, Chancellor."

"She still wears tunics and breeches."

"We're not here to talk about my friend. I'm going to this Tournament, Salvator, and I'm putting Nura, Adam and Maria in charge while I'm gone. You'll pass bills and such to them. Understand?"

Link smiles, Zelda doesn't fully trust Salvator yet.

"Yes, Princess," Salvator growls out and Link's heart skips a beat when he comes to the door. Thinking fast, she hides behind a suit of armour on the left of the door and waits for his footsteps to fade before coming out.

'Whew, got outta that one,' she grins to herself.

"You eavesdrop too much," she jumps and spins, seeing Zelda standing in the doorway, arms crossed. She smiles sheepishly.

'Heh, sorry. So you're coming?' Link's face brightens when Zelda nods.

"I thought it through, and you're right. I need some time away from the Castle."

'Yes!' Link jumps in the air, clearly excited. 'I really hope Sheik can come.'

Zelda smiles, watching Link jump up and down. "I'm sure he will. We'll wait to accept the letters until we know he's coming."

'Okay,' Link stops jumping, but she still bounces a bit. 'I'm going to run around the field.'

She takes off and Zelda laughs, shaking her head fondly.

Once she got to the field, Link hit the back of her neck, shifting into a wolf and shaking out the mane-like fur around her neck. She stretches her front legs forward and lets out a yawn before straightening and bounding off, running as fast as she can. She weaves in and out of the trees, rolls down a few hills, and splashes in rain puddles. She turns into a wolf every week and goes out to have fun, so she doesn't fall out of being used to a wolf. It's a useful weapon and also very fun to be an animal. Plus howling is the closest thing she can get to singing, and that's something she's always wished she could do.

There's no moon tonight, just stars twinkling when the few clouds don't cover them. She's just a shadowy blur in the darkness, unseen by any late-night travellers. Which is a good thing, she doesn't want to risk getting injured or killed because they think she's a threat. Coming down a hill, she doesn't spot a large dog, about twice her size, sitting at the bottom. She bumps into it, making her stop short, and she takes a few steps back, ears on her head as the dog turns on her, snarling. She lies down, putting her head on her paws with her ears flat on her head. The dog sniffs her, trying to find any sent of danger. It doesn't find any and licks her snout. "You should watch where you run, Wolfos," the dog, a male, says. "My Master is hunting right now and trusts me to guard his stuff," he looks at the camp. "He doesn't like your kind, so you must run and get away before his return."

Link nods, her heart still pounding slightly, and runs off. That had been close. She likes animals when she's human, in fact she loves them (except cats. Cats are evil), but when she's a wolf, she's in more danger around animals. She's just lucky that dog didn't wish to harm her, he could have easily overpowered her small, runty form.

She finds a small waterhole and sits down to take a drink. Small fireflies fly above the water and the occasional bat flies down, but other than that, the night is peaceful. She stays by the waterhole for a while longer before deciding to go back to the Castle. She finds a branch low enough to hit her neck and bumps her head on it when she's human again. Sticking her tongue out at her own clumsiness and rubbing her head, she walks back to the Castle.

On the way, she trips over a reed and sighs, pulling her foot out. She looks to see what reed she tripped over and her heart aches. It's a Horse Call Reed. 'Epona,' she thinks sadly, plucking the reed. She missed her horse. Much more than anyone knew. She watched her being born, she was the first horse she rode, she was her loyal, stubborn mare that saved her life. Some people think she's stupid for feeling so sad over a horse, but she can't help it. Epona was her companion, her Familiar, a part of her. She can't even think about getting another horse, even though Zelda and Sheik both mentioned it. No one seems to understand that Epona was as much family as Rusl, Ilia or Charlie.

For old-times sake, Link blows on the reed, hearing the tune ring through the wind and air. It echos on for a bit before dying out, and she looks around sadly. She almost half-expected Epona to come out from behind a tree, neighing at the sight of her.

But instead, a roar comes from above and she looks up, seeing a serpentine body flying overhead. It circles around her and lands, a loud, happy purr coming from it. "Hi, Ma. Are you alright?" Rocky asks, lowering his head onto the ground to get a better look at Link. He has been talking more over the last few months, now that he's had actual social contact with other creatures. He had been alone inside Death Mountain for six years after all.

She sighs, looking at the reed disintegrating in her hands. "You miss Epona?" he asks, curling around Link and putting his massive head beside her. She nods. "It's okay. Everybody misses somebody. I missed you," he licks her face, making her smile despite her sadness.

'I missed you, too,' she thinks, scratching between his eyes. He purrs. After a while, Link takes a deep breath and gets up, patting Rocky's nose. 'I need to get back to the Castle.'

Rocky nods and picks her up, hugging her. She looks like a toy in his talons. "I'm going north soon, Ma. Time for migration."

Link nods, wrapping her arms around his neck. Sort of, she couldn't reach her arms fully around. 'Stay safe,' she thinks and he puts her down, knowing full well he would make the Townspeople uncomfortable with his presence. He licks Link's entire face before taking off. Link smiles as the air currents whip around her, being manipulated by the dragon. He soars away and she lets out a sigh. Good thing she saw him before he migrated, he'll be gone for the next five months. She wonders if he'll find any other dragons.

Back at the Castle, she finds Sheik sitting on the windowsill in her room. "Good, you're back," he says, looking at her. "I thought it would be best if I told you I'm coming to the Tournament."

Link beams. 'Really?' she sits beside him on the windowsill, vaguely remembering Midwinter's Eve.

"Yes. Sonja sent me a letter, she's completely done with the trials and is going to start reforming the City. She doesn't need my help at the moment."

'Whoo! We're going!' Link cheers, laughing with giddiness. 'This is going to be great! Oh! I should get my Clawshots, shield, bombs, bow and a decent sword. Those would be good for a Tournament, since no one will really be hurt.'

"Sounds like you're ready," Sheik smiles. "Zelda and I have signed our letters and they vanished. I assume they were taken to this Master Hand person. You should sign yours."

Link nods quickly, fishing out the letter and taking a quill on the dusty desk she never uses. She signs her name and, as Sheik said, the letter vanishes in a puff of smoke. Now with the task complete, they will be going tomorrow night! Link's smile grows even larger. This is going to be great! No harmful adventure, no saving the world, and no injuries. She can't wait.

Gery: There we go! First chapter! Now, a quick warning about all this. I am back at school, as many people are, and may not be able to write nearly as much, so I hope you guys can be as wonderful as you always are and be patient. And also, some of the other characters, like Marth and such, may be a bit OOC, because I haven't played some of their games. I'll try my best, but cut me some slack if I get something wrong, please? *puppy dog eyes* Thanks for your consideration! And yes, these chapters will be shorter than the ones in Silent Courage, hope you don't mind. See ya!

Question: Who are your favorite characters to play as in SSB? Mine are (Melee): Ice Climbers, Young Link, Pikachu and Kirby and (Brawl): Wolf, Lucario, Pokémon Trainer (Ivysaur), Kirby, Toon Link and Olimar (I get him a lot when I'm random and I beat my friends with him most of the time, even when they laugh at me :D).


	2. The Smash World

To Lady Fai: Yay! And I have _no_ idea :D

To InvaderKimofExorcismandAlchemy (Long name is long): Thank you! Yeah, it is sad, but I thought it would be good to see how the characters are after the losses. I grew up with Melee, so I can say it's fun by being bias. I like to play as a lot of characters too, I'm just better with the guys I mentioned before. I'll keep doin' what I'm doin', don't worry ;)

To Spottedears nee-chan: Hahaha, good to know ^_^ I was planning it for a while. Wow, really? Thanks! You've read it five times? You probably know more about it than me XD No worries. (I won't drop this, don't worry) How'd you know I was debating between that and this? You're psychic 0_0

Gery: Okay, I just remembered I forgot to mention what the (1) thingy in the first chapter was. I was going to say that the pronunciation of that town is tam-real and it is being built in the west-most part of Hyrule Field (AKA, the field you first get to in the game). I was just being silly and forgot about it

Alex: You forget a lot of things

Adam: Gery doesn't own LoZ or SSB. She only owns her OCs

Gery: Enjoy!

Chapter 2: The Smash World

Zelda wakes up slowly, feeling nausea hit her like a hammer. Gritting her teeth, she rolls to her side, wrapping her arms around her stomach. Her head pounds and her body aches, as if she fell down a hill. She can't hear anything, only an eerie silence hangs in the air. _Where...am I?_ She wonders, opening her eyes to look around. She seems to be in a corridor. There are no lights or windows and the floor is cold to the touch. _Metal?_

Confused, the Princess sits up slowly, her muscles stiff and sore. Blinking spots from her eyes, she gets to her feet, stumbling a bit and having to use the wall to support herself. Once the dark corridor stops spinning, she scans the area. Behind her is a flight of metal stairs, and in front of her the corridor stretches on as far as she can see. She absentmindedly rubs her neck when she looks at the stairs. Maybe it was those she fell down.

_But that doesn't explain where I am_, she thinks and looks around again. "What was I doing before this?" she asks out-loud. Then, like a slap to the face, she remembers. She, Link and Sheik had entered the portal to the Tournament, but something caused them to get separated. Then Zelda had felt herself fall for, what seemed like, half an hour. And then she woke up. "Link? Sheik?" she calls, her voice bouncing off the walls. Only the echo replies. With a sigh, Zelda looks down the hallway. She might as well go that way first.

She wanders the corridor, hearing nothing other than the sounds of her footsteps. The silence is unnerving. She never passes any torches or windows, either. She almost turns back, but then she hears another person's footsteps. Taking caution, she summons Din's Fire and hides in the shadows, keeping her hand behind her to dim the glow. When the footsteps came close, she showed herself, hands raised in defense.

She blinks. A woman, maybe a year or two older than her, jumps and pulls out a...pan? She's wearing a pink dress with a hot pink rim, pads on the hips and collar and has white, arm-length silk gloves. A blue jewel surrounded by a gold ring is in the center of her chest and she has blue earrings, bright blonde hair and blue eyes. She also has a gold crown on her head with several jewels. Another Princess or Queen, perhaps?

"Who are you?" Zelda asks, weary.

"I am Princess Toadstool, of the Mushroom Kingdom. My friends call me Peach. And you are?"

"Zelda," she says, leaving out her title. She doesn't know why, either. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"Yes. We're in a Stadium of some sort. My friend and I found ourselves here a while ago, but we had some trouble along the way."

"What kind of trouble?"

"We were coming with Mario's brother, Luigi, but he got lost when we entered the portal. That was," Peach thinks for a moment, "two hours ago, now. We've been really worried. Luigi is...he scares easily. How did you end up here?"

"I came here the same way as you. My friends and I were traveling through a portal to get to the Smash Tournament, when we all got separated. I know they can take care of themselves, but Link tends to get hurt in some way or another. She's probably more worried than I could ever be," Zelda sighs. The little Hylian will probably even forget any injuries she might have in her search for her and Sheik.

Peach looks Zelda up and down for a moment before smiling and making the pan vanish. "I'm sorry if I surprised you," she says, giggling. "I guess you're not used to this type of hallway."

"That'd be correct," Zelda nods. "Do you know the way out of here?"

"Yes, it's back that way, up the stairs." Zelda resists banging her head on the wall to give herself brain damage. Of course it's that way. Why wouldn't it be? The Goddesses love to laugh at their Champions.

The two find themselves on the second floor, where a few windows are. Thankfully. Zelda can't take much more of the dark hallways. They talk a bit on the way, telling each other about their friends and about what to do. Soon, they come to a large, solid wall with a red button attached to the wall beside it. The half-Hylian quickly grows confused. What in Hyrule are they going to do?

Peach goes up to the glowing button and presses it, making the wall _rise up_ with a loud clang. Zelda winces, both from the noise and the sudden light seeping through the opening. The sounds of cheering make her curious as Peach walks out, unaffected by the wall. She follows and can't help but gasp in awe and wonderment at the scene around her.

An arena surrounds them, the stands crowded with faceless figures, all jumping and hollering in excitement, waiting for something to happen. The arena itself is blue and silver, with a large screen**(1)** rising above one of the stands, only a strange sign on a blue background. The sign's a simple circle, with two lines cutting through it, one close to the left side of the circle, and the other close to the bottom. The circle is multicoloured, just like the portal had been.

They're at the same level as the risen platform in the middle of the arena, where fights will most likely be held. Zelda frowns, searching the crowd for Link or Sheik. But her Triforce doesn't itch, signaling a Triforce Holder nearby. Link's not here, but could Sheik be? She stands as tall as she can, but she has no way of knowing if he is around. The crowd is too big.

_Please be alright,_ she prays. Then a small, pink puffball lands beside her, making her look down. The blob is some sort of a creature. He-somehow she knows its a he-comes to Zelda's knee, has red feet, pink skin, and blue/black eyes shaped like ovals. He has two stubby arms at his sides and he looks up at Zelda with a smile so big that she can't help but smile back, despite her worries for her friends.

"Hello, Kirby," Peach says, crouching down. "How have you been since the last Tournament?"

"Poyo-Poy!" he cheers, jumping and hugging Peach. Zelda just grows more confused. Last Tournament? When was the last Tournament?

Peach giggles. "Cute as ever," she lets him go and stands, smiling at Zelda. "This is Kirby, I met him at the last Tournament, which was actually the first one I was in. There was someone else there that looked like you, another Princess, but she had blonde hair instead of brown."

What? That can't be right. If the last Tournament had one of her past lives in it, then how in Hyrule could Peach, or Kirby for that matter, be alive? Her last life had been around during the Hero of Time's quest, and that was over a thousand years ago. Is it possible that Hyrule is aging faster than the Mushroom Kingdom? Or wherever Kirby comes from? And if that's so, then how much time is passing in Hyrule at this moment?

Then a loud voice blasts through the arena, bringing Zelda out of her thoughts. She looks around and sees Kirby puffed up like a balloon and flying over to the platform. A man in blue overalls with a red shirt underneath stands on one end, arms crossed. From here, she can see he has brown hair, a mustache and blue eyes. He's also short, maybe just as tall as Link.

"That's my friend Mario," Zelda looks at Peach and can swear she sees hearts in her eyes. "He's saved the Mushroom Kingdom a lot from Bowser."

"Bowser?"

"He's the King of Koopas, and wants to take over the Mushroom Kingdom by getting me to marry him," Peach frowns.

_W__hat in Hyrule's a Koopa?_ "Sounds like a hassle."

"You have no idea. What's your Kingdom like?"

Zelda sighs, looking away and leaning on the railing in front of her. She absentmindedly watches the fight between Kirby and Mario. "We're at peace at the moment, but a few months ago we had a war. Back in the winter."

Peach gasps, covering her mouth with her hands. "What for?"

"A Demon Army was attacking Hyrule Castle. In the end, we won, but the losses were heavy. I lost many friends."

"Is that why you have that scar on your neck?" Zelda brushes the faint scar, remembering Ghirahim's torture.

"It was during that time, yes. But this doesn't hold a candle to what my friends got. Sheik lost his left eye, and Link lost two fingers on her right hand."

"The Mushroom's been invaded before, but never something to that scale. That must have been awful."

She nods, trying to forget the Siege. "I hope you're Kingdom never faces war like that."

From there they sit in silence, watching the duel. Both Mario and Kirby are evenly matched. The way they fight, it's almost as if it's a friendly spar. Peach did mention that she was here before, perhaps Mario was too. She makes a mental note to ask them about anything that will be useful to know. Suddenly, before the match can finish, the air becomes frigid and the arena grows dark, consumed by shadow. The Princesses look up to see a large, flying ship soaring overhead, dark red/purple clouds following in its wake. Zelda shivers, that thing radiates cold, dark forces.

A plate at the bottom of the ship opens and purple spores fall to the platform. The spores form creatures with green torsos, dark faces, arms and legs, and two red dots for eyes. They have a spout of spores coming out their backs and they lock target on Mario and Kirby.

Glaring, Zelda teleports to the platform, appearing behind Mario and Kirby. She pulls her right arm close to her chest and summons Din's Fire, ready to fight the creatures. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Peach float down on a parasol, and decides not to question other people's methods.

"Peach, if things get out of hand, run away from here," Mario says. He has an accent of some sort, but Zelda has no idea what it could be.

_Some vacation this turned out to be,_ Zelda thinks as the Primids**(2)** circle around them. The first to attack is a Primid with a blue sword, which makes a strange sound when it's swung. Kirby, who was the target, jumps over it and summons his hammer, smashing it into the head of the Primid, sending it back to hit two Primids behind it. Then all Din's Hell breaks loose.

The Primids all attack at once. Mario fends them off with fire balls and pushes them back with some water devise, effectively pushing about ten Primids off the edge of the platform. One comes up behind him, but he drops to the ground, putting one hand on the ground, and spins, knocking the Sword Primid off its feet. He comes up and punches down, making the head cave in on itself. But instead of blood, the purple spores pour out before the Primid itself dissolves into spores. Five Primid dog pile him, but he jumps up and sends them all over the platform. He comes down and lands on a fallen Primid's stomach.

Kirby runs at a Primid, spinning on his head and kicking it rapidly before bouncing to his feet and kicking it in the gut. It hunches over like an actual person and Kirby swings a machete, jumping up and coming down to decapitate the Primid. He looks at it sadly, but doesn't get any time before a Sword Primid attacks him. He hops back and opens his mouth wide, sucking the Primid into his mouth. He swallows it, getting the sword, but not anything else. He turns sharply, swinging the sword at two Primid behind him, and keeps swinging until they dissolve. Then a cloud with a face and a battery on its back flies down, purple electricity surrounding it. It shoots a ball of electricity at Kirby and hits, making him cry out as he's flung backwards.

Zelda notices and teleports into the air, catching him before he could fall over the edge. She quickly teleports back to the platform and puts him down, standing in front of him as Primids corner them. The same cloud from before attacks, but Zelda reflects it with Nayru's Love. The attack hits the Spaak and it becomes enraged, turning into a dark gray storm cloud and coming at her with more force. She looks from the Spaak to the Primids, who are closing in, and summons Din's Fire. She burns them, but it doesn't do nearly enough. What can she do? Then, out of nowhere, a disk-like item falls in front of her. It's a light red, with a white face with the number five on it. What is it?

Kirby, who's recovered by now, looks up at what Zelda has and smiles. He jumps and makes an animation of throwing it. Trusting his judgment, Zelda hurls the item at the hoard coming towards her. It blows up, creating a sphere of fire as it consumes the Primids and Spaak. When the sphere cleared, they're no longer there.

_That's one powerful bomb_, she thinks, nodding at Kirby in thanks. He smiles back before they run into the fray again.

Peach fares pretty well. She's able to knock down Primids with her pan and deflect their attacks with her Toad dummy. But she fights tentatively, not completely sure of herself. Yes, she's been to a Tournament before, but that had been for fun, not for whatever reason this is. And why did these things attack in the first place? And who's driving that ship?

Luckily, the Primids and Spaaks are all defeated, and the purple particles, that almost seem like bugs, disappear into the air. But the dark clouds linger, as does the flying ship. Then, flying down from the ship, is a sort of cloaked creature. It looks at the four with glowing yellow eyes before dropping a ball with a red X painted on it. The ball lands and two robots with long necks, wide bases and binocular-like heads land beside it. They insert their arms into either side of the ball and break it like an egg, showing a timer. Mario's the first to act, charging towards the ball at full speed. Until a canon ball shoots out of the clouds and hits him to the sky.

Zelda sees a shadow cover her and looks over her shoulder to see a plant looming over her. It slams a leafy arm down at her feet, knocking her off balance for a moment, and drops a cage over her. She scowls and crosses her arms, irritated. How did she get caught by a _plant_? If Link sees her now, she will never hear the end of it. She grabs the bars, but they zap her and she pulls her hands back. She tries teleporting, but a yellow energy hits her from all around, preventing her from doing anything. So this cage repels magic. How could a plant know she has magic in the first place?

Luckily, Kirby manages to smash the cage enough to break her out. She smiles at him in thanks, when a scream behind her makes her turn. Peach stumbles as the plant tries to hit her with the broken cage, and Zelda runs forward, using Din's Fire. The plant engulfs immediately and roars as it burns. The fumes make Zelda cough and she covers her nose and mouth, eyes watering. Through the smoke, she sees Kirby hop over to her and feels him grab her dress to stay close. She sees something move through the smoke and risks lowering her hand to call, "Peach? Are you there?"

She hears her muffled scream among the smoke. "Wario?"

The scream's followed by a laugh and Zelda wanders through the smoke, trying to find the other Princess. Kirby hops onto her shoulders, putting his hands on her head, and looks around, too. "Poyo!" Zelda looks up to see him pointing to a spot that's just clearing of smoke. A fat man in tattered clothes and a helmet pulls out a large, black canon and slams it on the ground. Peach is backing away, trying to look for a way out.

The two start towards her, when the platform shakes violently, throwing them off their feet. Zelda puts her hands below her before her face meets the ground and looks up to see the canon shaking and gathering a yellow light. The man, Wario, gets hit with recoil as a black arrow surrounded in yellow light shoots from the canon. It goes right through Peach's stomach. Zelda winces violently, closing her eyes. When she opens them, she sees Peach in a frozen state, fear written on her face and her mouth open in a silent scream. Her skin and clothes also become a dull gray, as if she's nothing but a statue. Wario laughs and jumps over to the frozen Princess, picking her up and lifting her on his shoulder.

He lazily turns to the duo as they run at him, intent on saving Peach, but he just smirks and jumps over the gap between the platform and stands and disappears. Zelda grits her teeth, when her ears twitch. She turns her head to see the countdown of the ball only ten seconds away from detonating. She looks for a way out, when Kirby summons a yellow star and hops on, waving for her. Looking around on last time, Zelda hops on and almost gets thrown off when the star shoots forward.

A large explosion follows their escape and they look back to see a large, dark purple sphere consume the entire arena. Its the exact same shade of purple as the Shadow Bugs. They look ahead and travel in silence, deep in thought. Many questions run through their minds, and a few of them are the same. What is happening to the Smash World? What are those things that attacked them? And how are they going to stop it?

The sun starts to set, and Kirby lands his star at the entrance of an abandoned castle in a large forest. Or what's left of it. The castle is crumbling in on itself, the gates, which have broken letters that look like they read SM on them, are rusted so much they seem like they could break under her touch. The front courtyard of the castle has dead grass and a single dead tree in the middle of, what could have been, a fountain. The forest around them has an eerie, lonely feel about it, and that gets the two moving. Zelda opens the gate, it creaks loudly on its hinges, and is able to squeeze through. Kirby just flies over and waits on the other side.

As they walk towards the large double doors, one of which is collapsed, Zelda gets a feeling of nostalgia. So her past self, the one who came to the last Tournament, has been here. She wonders to herself, could this have been something grand back then? And what could have caused it to fall apart?

They enter the castle, finding dust an inch thick carpeting the floor. Cobwebs are strung out in all corners, be it the room itself or picture frames with crumpled, yellowed photos. The frames themselves look like they've been eaten by termites, and a low creaking sound echos though the abandoned halls every now and again, sending shivers up their spines.

Kirby looks around with sad eyes, actually tearing up a bit. Zelda frowns and bends down, putting a hand on his head. He looks up and she smiles gently. "Did you come to this place before? Is that how you know about it?" he nods, looking down. "Hey, it's alright. I'm sure this place can be fixed up." It's false hope, Zelda knows this, but she can't stand to see the little guy upset. "We'll remake this place once we figure out what exactly is going on here. Who knows? This place might even have a map or two lying around."

This cheers Kirby up a bit and he jumps up, hugging Zelda in thanks. She laughs lightly. "You're welcome. We should find a place to get some rest. It's been a long day."

They wander the halls of the castle for an hour, and finally come across a room with two beds, an old dresser, and two windows. The walls of the room are painted a sky blue colour and the carpet is navy blue like the night. Kirby smiles and flies over to the closest bed, snuggling down in the thin covers. Zelda takes the bed closest to the window and sits on it, sinking slightly into the old mattress. She looks out the window to see rain starting to fall, creating almost a lulling sound as it beats against the glass. She sighs, hoping Link and Sheik have found shelter, and also hoping that they're together. They'll probably go sick with worry if they aren't. She hears the howl of a wolf in the distance and subconsciously hopes it's Link.

Her mind then drifts to the arena, and what happened. That bomb, whatever it was, is something evil. She can feel it. Something dark is residing in that darkness. But what it could be is the question. And why did that man, Wario, take Peach? What kind of canon was that?

She lies down on her stomach, crossing her arms and putting her head on them. She looks over at Kirby, who's already sleeping, and smiles softly. He fought well today. She closes her eyes and tries to sleep, but when half an hour passes, she knows she can do no such thing. She gets up and exits the room, looking down the dark halls.

First things first; if they're going to be traveling, they'll need supplies. Water, food and a map will be the top priorities. Hopefully she can find good water and unspoiled food. If she has to, she'll go hunting. Now she's very glad she decided to bring her bow. But right now, she sets out to find a map. She needs to know what's in this world.

She walks through the halls, going into many rooms and coming out with nothing, before she finds a library. The shelves are littered with thousands of books and scrolls, and she feels like Midwinter's Eve has come early. Shaking her head, she mentally smacks herself._ Now's not the time_, _Zelda_, she thinks and walks down an aisle. She searches the library for a bit before finally coming across a map. Smiling, she takes the roll and opens it on the table nearby. She blinks at the land. It's massive, with a plain, forest, a desert, a mountain, even an island with a jungle on it. It seems to stretch for kilometers around, with an ocean to the north. All she can hope is that this map is up-to-date. She tucks the map into her satchel and looks around a bit more before leaving. Now to find water.

This is the hard part. She spends most of the time just trying to find a kitchen, and when she finally does, there's no sign of a bucket or spring. But there is a rusted, metal sink. There are two handles on either side of the strange nozzle on the back of it and, curious, the Princess turns one. A loud, rattling sound moans through the nozzle until water comes out. It's completely orange at first and she steps back, surprised. Soon, the water turns clear and she cautiously steps closer, not sure what to make of the strange sink. She runs her hand near the nozzle, feeling heat come off the water. There must be a hot spring somewhere. She's mindful not to burn herself as she turns the other handle. More water comes out and cools the hot water. This just makes her confused.

Deciding to just leave it as one of the Smash World's mysteries, Zelda collects the water in a canteen. It won't be enough for travel, but for a night or two it should be fine.

The rain still pours down outside, making the kitchen grow darker before she can leave. Sighing, she creates a fire in her palm and heads back to the room. As she does, she passes a portrait on the wall. She can't see much in the dim light, but she swears she sees two, white hands hovering over a platform, as if holding something. The right hand looks normal, but the left's fingers are crooked. Something stirs in her gut the longer she looks, and she turns away from it. Something about those hands makes them seem very powerful, but controlled.

"I need to stop thinking of this," she says to herself. "My first priorities are to find Link and Sheik and figure out what those things are."

She goes back to the room, finally feeling fatigue weigh her down. Stifling a yawn, Zelda lies down on the bed, hearing thunder outside. Now she _really_ hopes her friends have shelter. She was just lucky enough Kirby knows about this place.

_Please be safe._

**1:** Zelda doesn't know what the modern technology stuff is, I just didn't feel like saying 'that thing with the this thing on it' and stuff like that. So no, she doesn't know what the screen is.

**2:** Just like the screen, I'm putting the names of the enemies in. They won't know what they are until they hear their names, but until them, pretend they don't know. Much easier to write that way.

Gery: Meh, yeah, it was short, but I couldn't think of what else to add -_-' Anyway, we start the Subspace Emissary, and there will be changes, like them getting to the castle (you can probably guess what it is) and the smoke during the Petey Piranha fight. Honestly, the SE will probably be a bit hard to do, considering how much fighting there is. Oh yeah, and this is the second try writing this chapter. When I wrote it the first time, it was...bad. Just everything about it. The pacing was bad, the wording was bad, and the dialog was bad. I'm much happier with this one. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter! See ya!

Question: What's your least favorite enemy to fight in the Subspace Emissary? For me, it's between the Feyesh and Armights. I cringe whenever I see those guys.


End file.

Legend of Zelda, Adventure, Friendship