The rode to the mountain was a long one, and Samus was tired. Her three companions were hardly much for conversation, which unfortunately left her alone with her own thoughts. Samus had long thought that being alone with her own thoughts was a bad idea, which probably explained why she spent so much time on her own. Whatever, this was better than going after some alien overlord in the far reaches of the galaxy.

  Pichu and Pikachu ran ahead of her, playing. Pichu had a surprising amount of energy for a newborn, running around like she had some kind of rocket tied to her. Pikachu had been trying to show her some electrical attacks like the ones he used, but so far all of Pichu's attempts had literally blown up in her face. Game and Watch was around too, but he didn't tend to walk all that much. He just was there when she looked for him. In all honesty, he creeped her out.

  She leant against the tree for a moment. The mountain was getting closer, but she didn't know how she was supposed to get to the top. If only she had some more of her gear with her...

  "Chu!" Pichu did something that looked like a sneeze. A small ball of electricity appeared in front of her nose, then went wild and slammed into her face. She fell backwards. "Pi..." Her eyes welled up with tears.

  "Hey..." Samus knelt down next to her. "It's okay. You'll get it next time, I'm sure."

  "Pika, Pikachu," Pikachu agreed. He slapped the red spots on his cheeks, producing a few sparks of lightning. Then he looked at Pichu and puffed out his chest. "Pi!"

  "See, Pikachu believes in you," Samus said. "I think you've got this."

  Pichu nodded. She stood up and took a few deep breaths, before looking nervously at Samus. "Go on," she said.

  "Pi, Pi, Pi, Pi... Pichu!" Pichu slapped her cheeks. A few sparks appeared like they had with Pikachu. Pikachu cheered, and Pichu grinned, before losing control of the electricity. It arced upwards and tweaked her ear, making her yelp.

  "Oh dear," Samus said, holding her hand out and letting Pichu climb onto her arm and shoulder. "But that was a lot better than before. I know you'll be great." All of a sudden she was glad that her helmet covered her face, because she gaped at herself realising where these instincts were coming from. Well, she definitely didn't want to think about that.

  "Pikachu, Pi, Pika." Pikachu climbed onto her shoulder and gestured with his tail.

  She scratched him behind the ears. "You hear something?"

  "Pi."

  "Okay. You look after Pichu while I go and check it out, okay?"

  Pikachu shook his head. "Chu."

  "Well, it could be dangerous."

  "Piiii."

  "Fine." She turned her head to look at Pichu. "Hold on tight, okay little one?" Pichu nodded. Game and Watch was there as well, looking in the direction that Pikachu had pointed. Well, she had better go and check it out.

  Samus crept through the undergrowth, keeping her centre of gravity low. Her arm cannon was ready to fire, and she held it with her free hand to be able to use it as quickly as possible. She could hear it too now. The sound of voices, that suddenly went quiet. They must have heard her, she realised, cursing internally.

  Ahead of her was a large rock. She crouched behind it, aware from the small sound patched through her helmet that someone was crouching on the other side. She knew she couldn't afford to wait long - multiple voices meant the potential of being snuck up on.

  Three. Two. One.

  She hurled herself around the rock, and heard the sound of the other doing the same thing. She raised her cannon, ready to fire, and looked directly down the shaft of the arrow that was pointing at her.

  "Pika!" Pikachu leapt off her shoulder. Link lowered his bow and allowed Pikachu to be caught by him.

  "Hi there, Pikachu," he said. "Am I glad to see you." He looked up at Samus. "And you, of course."

  "I was about to say the same thing," Samus said. She let her helmet retract so that she could look Link in the eye. He looked tired, like he'd been through a few fights since the last time she saw him, but it was indeed good to see his face.

  They clasped on another's arms in greeting.

  "Who are you with?" Samus asked.

  Link raised an eyebrow. "You really are good, aren't you. You can come on out, guys!"

  Two people emerged from the undergrowth. The first looked a lot like Link. Scarily like him, in fact. He could have been Link's younger brother, their faces were so similar. He was frowning at Samus, like he couldn't remember where he had met her before. The other was probably the most beautiful woman Samus had ever seen. She was dressed like she was going to a ball rather than for hiking through the wilderness, but her pink gown didn't even seem to have a speck of dust on it.

  "This is Young Me," Link said, gesturing to the child. "And this is Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom."

  "Princess?" Samus had learned at one time or another how to deal with royalty, but she couldn't remember if the hunched form she remembered was universally applicable or had been limited to just the one planet. She tried for a simple bow. "Nice to meet you."

  "Likewise." Peach answered with a curtsey. "And who are your companions, may I ask?"

  "Oh, yes." Samus drew herself to her full height. It felt appropriate, after all. "This is Pikachu, and Pichu. And this is Mr Game and Watch."

  Young Link stared at the black outline of a man behind her. "What is he?"

  Samus sighed. "Honestly I don't know." She looked at Link. "Have you seen anyone else?"

  Link cleared his throat. "Yes. And I said that everyone could come out!"

  Samus heard running footsteps, then noticed the tall man running towards her. "Samus!" Captain Falcon yelled. He pulled her into a bear hug that Samus was sure would have cracked her spine if it weren't for the power suit.

  "Falcon," she said. "It's nice to see you."

  When Falcon put her down, Peach approached her. "I assume you're one of the first to come to this world," she said. "Would you be able to share with us what you know?"

  Samus nodded. "I don't know a lot, but we really should catch up."

  Night fell as they compared notes. Link and the others told her about Ganondorf, and him talking about working for Crazy Hand. Samus shared her encounter with Bowser, and how she had come to meet Game and Watch.

  "If only we knew what all this meant," Peach said, when they were done. "I can't help but feel like we only have a small piece of the puzzle."

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Samus stroked her chin. "I keep thinking about what Ganondorf said, about using the princess as a key to another world."

  Falcon frowned. "You mean, Peach?"

  She shook her head. "I mean Link's princess - Zelda. If he was there for Peach anyway, he must have known that he would have to beat Link in order to take her. So he'd probably have Link with him, in that case. Why did it have to be Princess Zelda?"

  "He was also here for Princess Peach," Link said. "Maybe they're after rulers."

  "That could also be why he never came after me," Samus wondered aloud. "I'm a warrior from my universe, but I definitely don't rule it."

  They all looked at Peach. Pikachu and Pichu snored in the middle of their circle. "Well," said Peach. "We won't solve anything tonight. Everyone should get some rest, and we can figure out our next steps tomorrow."

  Young Link made a fire, and Peach prepared a shelter for them before turning in. Pikachu and Pichu found their way into her bed and fell asleep on her chest.

  Link found Samus at the edge of the camp, looking off into the dark sky.

  "I miss them too," he said. "The stars."

  Samus smiled. "I lived my life in the stars," she said. "It feels weird being so far away from them." She glanced at him. "So, how do you have a young version of you running around?"

  "Well, you remember those headaches I was having? Turns out there were too many versions of me in one, and he was just trying to get out."

  "Ah," Samus said, like that explained it. "Has this happened to you before?"

  "Not really." Link glanced over at his young self, who was fast asleep at the base of a tree. "The how I sort of understand. It's the why that I'm confused by. Why am I carrying so many versions of myself? And why was this one the one that emerged?"

  Samus pursed her lips. "Maybe..." she said. "He's here because you need him to be here."

  Link frowned. "That sounds right. But then again, you didn't really say anything at all."

  Samus grinned. "Come on, I'm trying here. This magic thing isn't really my strong suit. Give me a laser rifle any day."

  "I don't know what either of those words are," Link said. "But I get the point. Sorry for bothering you with this."

  "No, it's okay," Samus assured him. "Honestly, I'm just glad to have found you. I needed someone to talk to."

  "Yeah," Link said. "It's nice to see you again."

  They continued to stare up at the sky. For an instant, as though it was a gift, the clouds moved enough that they had a glimpse of the stars.

  Marth was glad when he had solid ground beneath him again. The last few minutes had been a cycle of teleporting, beginning to fall, and teleporting again. It had made him, frankly, motion sick.

  Zelda looked just as tired as he felt. He supposed using that much magic would probably be exhausting, and he felt bad for having her bring him all this way. Even if it was Popo's idea, he could have said no. He thought of his friend struggling his way up the mountain, and his grip tightened on the Falchion. He had a job to do.

  "Come on," he said.

  The top of the mountain was like a basin, with high walls mad of roots and stone. If he had to guess, he would say it was a few hundred metres wide. A few doors were dotted around the edge, no doubt leading below, but Crazy Hand hadn't been kind enough to label any of them as the prison.

  "What do you think that is?" Zelda asked him.

  Marth followed her gaze. In the centre of the basin, a large device was under construction. It was shaped vaguely like a hand, though most of the fingers and the palm were like a shell, with a core of pulsing black energy within the wrist. It was in the centre of a gently swirling mass of matter - metal, stone, wood, something Marth hoped wasn't flesh. Every few seconds something would leave the cyclone and find a place on the device.

  "I don't know," he admitted. "But I think we have to break it."

  "I wouldn't allow you to." The Crazy Hand appeared between them and the hand-shaped device, dark smoke leaking out of the end of its glove. Marth hadn't actually seen it until now, but he knew there was nothing else it could be.

  "All of my efforts to get a hold of you, and you come to me on your own," Crazy Hand said. "This is the problem with being good."

  "Yes, we came," Marth said. "So let Nana go. You don't need her anymore."

  "I could," the hand admitted. "But I will choose not to."

  Marth grunted angrily, and his hand went to the falchion. Zelda put her hand out in front of him, bring him to a stop. "What is that device?" she asked.

  "I doubt you would understand," Crazy Hand said.

  Zelda shrugged. "I'm a scholar as well as a princess. And I'm sure you're happy to tell someone about it."

  The hand considered them for a moment. "Very well," it said. "It's not as though you can change anything. This is the Melee device."

  "The Melee device?" Marth asked. "What's that?"

  The hand sighed. "And now I have to explain myself. You see, Hero King, the multiverse has barriers between its worlds that are hard to pass through. And yet, they can be passed, as water passes through a dam. But if the dam allows to much water through, the dam will start crack. The actions of the Master Hand, allowing fighters to travel between universes, has damaged the barriers. The Melee device will take advantage of the fractures and punch through the barriers altogether."

  "But why us?" Zelda asked. "Why have Mewtwo come after Marth like that?"

  "Let's say that the device is... imprecise," Crazy Hand explained. "A lack of precision can be good, but if we spill all the worlds open at once, our chaos won't overcome their natural order. So, we choose three worlds to take first. The darkness will breed there, and we will spread to all worlds in this multiverse. For that purpose, I chose candidates who had two qualities. First, they had to be the ruler of their kingdom. Zelda, the Princess of Hyrule, Marth, the Hero King of Archanea, and Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. But you each only ruled a small part of your universe, so I needed something stronger. Zelda, you are connected to the power of the goddesses through the Tri-Force of Wisdom which you carry. Marth, you carry the legendary Fire Emblem, the mark of a hero. As for the Princess Peach, she holds the hope of her world. All of its goodness is held by her."

  Marth and Zelda exchanged a glance. "So our worlds are the first targets?" Zelda asked. "I'm afraid we can't allow that."

  "I agree," Marth said. Then he paused. "But, only three of us?"

  Zelda looked confused. "What are you asking about?"

  "Just..." Marth waved his hand at the machine. "All of the fingers look the same. I don't really get the mechanics, but if we're needed for this machine, we'd have to be part of it, right? So only three of the fingers would need to be ready for us."

  "Very astute, Hero King," said the grating voice of the Crazy Hand. "There are indeed two more, though their worlds are safe for now. One is simply a power source, while the other is an anchor to the world of Smash, as the only creature to have been born here which still lives."

  "But isn't this world only a few weeks old?" Marth asked.

  "So you're targeting a baby," Zelda said, finishing the thought. "Then we'll stop you."

  The Crazy Hand laughed. The sound was excruciating. "I hoped you would say that."

  Its fingers closed into a fist and opened again. Dozens of bombs rained down from its fingers, flying towards the pair. Marth and Zelda nodded at one another and ran in opposite directions: Zelda left, Marth right. The bombs curved in the air to follow them.

  Marth pulled the Binding Shield from his shoulder and swung it onto his arm. He held it over his head, and two of the bombs exploded against it. More tried to come at him from behind, so he slashed with the Falchion and cleaved them in two, before diving away as they exploded. More bombs followed him, so he ducked and swung his sword over his head. They all flew past him, pieces cleaved off, and exploded a small distance away.

  Zelda created a shield of light. The bombs thudded into it and exploded, making her grunt from fatigue. She collected the fire from the explosions and turned it into a whip of flames, which she swung at the other approaching bombs. She hit about half of them, taking them out of commission, but the others dodged her and dove down at her. She quickly teleported up, and the bombs exploded against the ground beneath her.

  Marth ran at Crazy Hand, sword raised. It extended its pinkie finger and swung it against his blade. He expected some kind of cut, but heard only a clang instead, like he had met another sword on the battlefield. The Crazy Hand continued to parry his strikes, twisting unnaturally in its socket.

  Zelda created a fireball in each hand and threw them in long arcs towards Crazy Hand. The three fingers which weren't fighting against Marth raised up over her, and blue lasers extended from each of them. They formed twisting lines through the air, striking down her fireballs before making sharp turns towards her. Zelda teleported out of the way again, and focused on her Sheik form. Light folded itself into clothes around her, and her ninja apparel appeared on her body.

  "Impressive," Crazy Hand said. "But ultimately futile."

  Sheik ignored him and threw a pair of shuriken. They hit the hand's white glove, but they didn't seem to do anything. The finger fighting Marth withdrew into a fist which backhanded him, hard, to the edge of the basin.

  "Marth!" Sheik yelled. A shadow passed over her, and she looked up to see the splayed fingers of the hand over her head.

  "Focus on yourself," Crazy Hand warned. And it slammed down.