A/N: Hello! I've finally updated after a long while. Sorry! I've been busy with summer school as well as my Soul Calibur fiction. Again, I apologize. So please enjoy this next chapter!
Chapter 8: Actions Lead to Consequences
All eyes in the room were watching her intently. She could practically feel each of the Smashers' stares on the back of her head when she had finished her side of the story as she stared at the wall. It was rather unnerving for she was not really accustomed to being the centre of attention amongst an audience. If she was the centre of attention within a group of attacking Space Pirates, then that was a whole different story.
"And… well, that's what happened before you two came," Samus concluded with a heavy sigh and a shake of her head. "Kirby followed Gannondorf and I hate to admit this… but I don't think he can handle that damn bastard."
Utter silence filled the room. Slowly, Samus turned to face the group, seeing all but one, bearing faces of helplessness. Mewtwo's expression was that of deep thought; with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. The Pokemon hovered above the floor by mere millimeters, appearing as if in a trance.
When Samus laid her eyes on the psychic creature, it was then that Mewtwo spoke first, "Ganondorf has broken the rules and yet no action has taken place against him. Do you all not find it strange?"
Zelda nodded, her sapphire blue eyes narrowing at his words. "Indeed," she whispered, placing a delicate gloved finger to her chin. "Ganondorf has committed a crime. Why hasn't Master Hand announced this?" She turned to Roy who seemed most admonished.
The redhead glanced to the side, not from humiliation but from absolute unease. "It didn't take long for Master Hand to find out the incident between me and Link before the last tournament," he murmured as he began to remember.
Marth lightly smiled but soon furrowed his brow. "It didn't even take you two one round until he announced both of your punishments to everyone," the blue-haired prince recalled. He had not moved from his post ever since the others had returned with Mewtwo and Samus.
The bounty hunter nodded in agreement. It was hard to forget the (hilarious) incident between the redhead and the Hylian. At the time of the second Smash Bros. Tournament, Samus, along with Link, Mario and many others, were veteran fighters and they were handed down with the task of accompanying newcomers such as Roy, Marth and Zelda to teach and show them the world of Nintendo. Samus wasn't there at the incident, but she definitely heard about it.
Both Roy and Link were cocky swordsmen looking for a challenge. It was a male thing, obviously. The two ended up getting on each others' nerves from the constant exchange of taunts and mockery and so they fought out in public which was a prohibited law. Master Hand had appeared before them in rage soon after the two started and punished them both for disturbing the peace. Their punishment was humiliation – Master Hand had announced their crime out loud in a voice that reached all of Nintendo. Also, they were punished for one round in the tournament by having a Handicap of 7. And humorous enough, both swordsmen lost early because of that.
But it didn't spoil the warriors' moods too much. They both laughed about it soon after and actually joked about it.
Every Smasher had learned their lesson after that. The rules of Nintendo could not be broken.
However, more than one rule had been broken just recently and Master Hand had not even noticed! There was no announcement or anything.
"Something is wrong," Zelda told everyone the obvious. "Ganondorf must have done something to Master Hand. But… I do not know how it could be possible. We need to get to Master Hand's headquarters." She turned to Mewtwo whom nodded.
"It would be best," the Psychic Pokemon responded. "I have been unable to sense anything at headquarters and I fear that Ganondorf's power is the cause."
Samus frowned. "We need to search for Kirby and little Link too," she added. "We should split up and get the others to help us."
The redheaded prince stepped forward. "I'll go lead a search," he offered.
It was Marth's turn to step forward. "Very well then. Zelda, Mewtwo and I will head for Master Hand's headquarters. Roy, gather everyone available and do a thorough search. And Samus," He turned faced the bounty hunter. "Stay here with Link."
Blue eyes widened. "What? I want to join in the search as well!" she protested.
The blue-haired young man shook his head lightly, a hint of concern in his eyes. "You're injured, Samus. You should rest," he told her and the others agreed.
"But –"
Zelda walked over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Leave it to us," she said with an assuring smile. "We'll tell you everything we find when we return. So please, watch over Link while we are gone."
Samus didn't like to be told to stay put out of danger for once. She was always the one that was told to go into the danger. A damn annoying turnaround it was. She had suffered more injuries before and that never stopped her.
But… that was when she was working alone. She was around friends who were willing to look out for her for a change.
However, she always enjoyed being right in the action too. She loved the sense of combat.
With a disgruntled sigh, she finally shrugged and nodded. "All right, I'll stay," she muttered. "You guys be careful. Don't end up like me, huh?"
Zelda smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "We will fine. Well, I hope we will be." She strolled over to Mewtwo. "Will you be able to take us to headquarters?" she asked the creature.
Mewtwo nodded. "I will be able to reach the gates but no further. Something is distorting the space inside," he explained.
Marth was already by the Pokemon's side. "I wish you luck on your search, Roy," he told the redhead.
"Same to you all," the redhead returned before leaving the room with a meaningful nod.
The three remaining in the centre of the room gave Samus one last look before they vanished in thin air.
Now that the room was nearly empty and silent, the bounty hunter made her way to Link's side and sat upon the edge of the large mattress. A frown settled on her brow as she watched the sleeping Hylian.
"Link… I'm sorry. I tried to protect you…"
It was the coldness that woke him up. The icy sensation touched every part of his skin and even the core of his body. He shivered uncontrollably.
Forcing his eyes open, he saw hardly anything for it was horribly dark. There was very little light coming from numerous small green flames on what seemed like stone pillars that surrounded him.
Where am I?
He had no idea where he was or what had happened to him. His head hurt as did his throat. When he moved, his back started to sting with pain.
Wincing through it all, he managed to prop himself into a sitting position. The place was completely intimidating – nothing but a dark abyss waited beyond the circling stone torches. It was eerie and awfully unsettling. Just where was he?
The darkness was as cold as the deepest dungeon and the air held a strong earthly scent. He could assume that he was deep underground. But was he still in Nintendo?
For all he knew, he could be in another world because…
"Ganondorf…" Link whispered when he suddenly remembered the confrontation with the dreaded warlock. He was already up on his feet before realizing it, fighting off a wave of dizziness. Breathing heavily, he had fallen to one knee. A headache started its way to his forehead, throbbing in agony.
He cringed and took a deep breath. In a slower pace, he rose to his feet once more. The boy tuned his senses to detect any danger. Fortunately, there was nothing lurking in the dark. Disturbingly, there was nothing in the dark. Ganondorf was nowhere in sight (well, not that he could see beyond the black abyss but he could definitely tell that the Evil King was not around.)
Just what was the Gerudo planning to do with him? The cursed man had blatantly demanded for Link to follow in return that no more harm would be inflicted to his new friends. The memory brought anger to arise within him.
Samus and Kirby were injured by the evil man and regrettably, Link was unable to do anything. He cursed sharply to the side at the weakness he had portrayed. He didn't know what happened to his friends… Ganondorf had unleashed a powerful wave of energy and struck all three of them.
He was captured now, he knew that. But… for what reason? Was he just left here to rot in the dark?
Blue eyes fell on an empty space where two stone torches were supposed to be placed to complete the circle. The flames could have gone out for all he knew since he couldn't see anything in the shadows. Hm, but that wouldn't make sense… all the other green flames were of the same size.
Link peered at the ground under his feet. He furrowed his brow in frustration, it was too dark to see anything! His boots were hardly even visible.
But he knew that the circle was no decoration. It held a purpose.
Cautiously, he made his way over to the empty gap in the circle. His right foot kicked a piece of stone lying on the ground. Curious, the boy knelt down and felt the ground for it but felt instead more than one piece of stone. The pieces ranged from jagged to smooth, giving him the knowledge that it was a broken pillar.
He headed towards the other possible position for a pillar but ended up tripping over something softer than rock in between the two pillars. Yelping in surprise, Link fell onto his face and groaned in pain.
The thing he tripped on moved from under him and made a tiny noise. "Ow…" it had said. The voice was recognizable.
"Kirby!" the Hylian cried, quickly rolling off his little friend. On his knees, he reached out and touched the pink creature. "Are you all right?"
The round warrior stirred as he regained consciousness. "Oh… Link?" Kirby nearly gasped in surprise. He bounced right up and grabbed the boy's hand in his squishy grasp. "Link! You're okay!" he exclaimed in relief. His happiness soon dwindled when his voice sounded sad. "I thought… You weren't moving… I tried to protect you but Ganondorf – he was strong! Link, I couldn't fight him… I let him hurt you… I'm sorry…"
The young Hylian frowned, his hate for the dark warlock ever growing. He slowly shook his head and placed on a small smile even though Kirby probably couldn't see it. Gently, he patted the round warrior's body and spoke in an assuring tone: "Don't worry, Kirby. I'm all right now." Link glanced to the side as he continued in an angry, reluctant manner. "Ganondorf is a powerful enemy. You shouldn't have fought him in the first place."
He felt Kirby shift his body to look at him. "But Link! I promised to protect you!"
"It's okay. I'm fine now," the boy assured in a happier tone. He sensed the round creature's worries almost disappear. Kirby nodded, squeezing the Hylian's hand. "Ganondorf isn't around; we should find a way out of here."
"It's so dark though," the round warrior whispered. "It wasn't this dark when we first came here."
Link climbed to his feet. "Do you know where we are?"
"No…" He saw Kirby's shadowed form move closer to the centre of the circle. "Before Ganondorf took you away, I grabbed his cape. I saw purple before we ended up here."
Purple? Kirby must have meant the warlock's black magic Link could awfully recall.
"I'm sorry." Link was surprised to hear the pink creature apologize out of the blue. "I tried to fight him but I couldn't. He was too strong."
"Kirby, it's fine," the boy told him softly. "You did this, didn't you? You broke these two pillars?"
Link saw Kirby jump as if caught in a terrible act. "I-It was an accident!" Kirby cried in embarrassment.
Grinning smugly, the Hylian laughed. "No, it's good that you did it. I think Ganondorf needed them for whatever it was he was planning to do."
"Really?" the little one gasped.
"Yes. You've bided us some time. We can find a way out of here before he comes back."
Kirby made a little sound of joy as he grabbed Link's hand. "We should hurry then!" He pulled the boy with him outside the circle of green flames and into the black abyss. "It's so dark, we'll get lost. We need to stick together."
Link nodded and voiced his agreement. "Yeah… Let's be careful." Even though he was determined to find an escape, Link could not help but shiver at the bitter dark. It was a massive void of nothingness that brought a sense of eternal fear.
The dark was absolutely quiet. Their footsteps were the only sound that disturbed it.
Every muscle in Link's body was completely tense. He really didn't like the dark. Blinded, he had to rely on his other senses to navigate through. Kirby was keeping in pace alongside him, his soft hand still held within the boy's grip.
It was admiring to sense that the little fellow wasn't afraid of the darkness. Link, on the other hand, felt a twinge of fright settle within him as they journeyed deeper to wherever. Those other warriors of Nintendo, including his older self – did they know what had happened?
"Don't be afraid, Link," Kirby suddenly spoke up. "I know Samus and the other Smashers are probably looking for us right now."
The Hylian smirked. So the little warrior knew what was bothering him. "Do you think so?"
Kirby gave a little tug on the boy's arm. "They'll find us! Just wait and see!"
As hopeful as it was, Link wasn't too sure how to react to that. He did want to be found and yet he still did not want to be discovered by his older self and Zelda. He truthfully did not look forward to confronting them face-to-face.
Not wanting to let his friend down, he soundly grinned and formed a lie: "I hope they find us soon."
The first Smasher Roy managed to find first (actually, to trample over first) was Pichu. The redhead had rounded a corner at a quick pace and unexpectedly stepped on the little Pokemon's tail. The poor thing burst into tears.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Pichu!" the young prince tried to apologize but the mouse continued to sob. Pikachu, the older electric Pokemon frowned and tried to calm the little one down with a supporting hand. Roy knelt down on all fours and hesitantly patted the crying creature on the head. "Hey… I'm sorry, little guy. Don't cry, okay? There's… there's something we have to do."
Pichu sniffed while Pikachu blinked at Roy's tone of voice.
"Kirby's missing," Roy told them. They both squeaked in shock. "Not only Kirby is missing but his friend… Ganondorf took them somewhere. He was the one that caused that 'explosion' on the tenth floor."
The Pokemon made a noise of surprise before worry was evident in their features. "Will you help me, guys? Will you help me get the others to search for Kirby and his friend?"
The yellow mice nodded. Pikachu's face was stern while Pichu wiped its remaining tears away and mimicked the other; its pain forgotten.
Roy stood up and grinned. "Then let's go!"
A/N: It begins! Everyone is starting to get involved now and I hope you will all be anticipating to see your favourite Smashers appear soon. Oh, no Ganondorf in this chapter... Anyway, leave a review!
Mmm, I can't wait for Brawl to come out. I'll be playing that game to death just like how I'm still playing Melee.