The smoke that had been created by the clash between Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon was torn away by the strong winds of the forest, revealing that the ape was lying beaten on the ground. Captain Falcon was barely standing, hands on his knees, as he surveyed his beaten foe. "Not bad, big guy," he said.

  Master Hand floated into the view of the rest of the fighters, flailing happily. "That was wonderful!" he crowed. "And I know that the rest of you want to get onto the next bout, right?"

  Mario looked over at Yoshi. His reptilian friend hadn't moved much since they arrived, and Mario had assumed that he was sleeping. It was only now that he saw the keen focus in Yoshi's eyes. Of course, he reminded himself. Yoshi might not have been blessed with the power of speech, but he was still an intelligent creature.

  As for his opponent... Pikachu was currently asleep on Samus's lap. He seemed much more of an animal than Yoshi was, given how he had acted so far. He woke up as Master Hand now called his and Yoshi's names, and snapped his fingers to bring them to the new battlefield.

  This arena strongly resembled Yoshi's home island, with its brightly coloured plants and distant sea and sky that looked like they were stencilled. Unlike the others before him, Yoshi didn't react to seeing the copy of his home, setting his sights firmly on Pikachu. The yellow mouse was still waking up from his nap, looking around at the surroundings with a gentle curiosity. He sniffed a flower and made a contented face.

  Samus felt herself gripping the edge of the seat in front of her. Before she had time to reflect on this behaviour, Captain Falcon slid into the seat to her left, and Donkey Kong sat down to her right. She was almost crushed by the two of them.

  "Excuse me!" she snapped.

  Captain Falcon flashed her a grin. "Sorry. Just wanted to get a better view of this match. Curious about what made the hand bring these two here."

  Donkey Kong pointed at himself, and to Captain Falcon. "Strong." He pointed then to Mario and Link and said "Good fighter." He ignored Kirby and Jigglypuff in his analysis, probably because there were no words that could accurately describe Kirby, and Jigglypuff had barely gotten the chance to show off.

  "That Yoshi thing is from your world, right Mario?" Fox asked.

  Mario nodded. "He's been by my side on many adventures. I can see why the Master Hand brought him here. But as for the Pikachu..."

  "All he does so far is sleep and look cute," Ness said.

  "Go!" Master Hand yelled.

  Yoshi grabbed an egg from somewhere on his body and threw it towards Pikachu. It shattered against the mouse, hitting him hard enough to throw him towards the edge of the grassy verge they were fighting on. "Pika!" he yelled in alarm, before catching himself. He looked over at Yoshi, surprised by the attack. They had eaten together, hadn't they?

  Before he could work it out, Yoshi ran at him again and jumped into the air before coming down and slamming him with his tail. Pikachu was knocked to the ground, where he struggled to rise before receiving a two footed kick.

  "Can he even fight back?" Fox asked.

  Pikachu answered that question with a furrowed brow and a yell of "Pikachu!" When Yoshi came close again, his zig-zag tail crackled with electricity which he fired in a straight beam towards the reptile. Yoshi yelled in surprise and jumped backwards, losing his footing and falling. Pikachu charged, moving suddenly very quickly and headbutting Yoshi in the stomach as he was rising, sending him flying all over again.

  "Wow," Ness said.

  All eyes were on Pikachu, who stood in the middle of the battlefield with sparks of electricity arcing off his red cheeks. His tail was up and aware, and his eyes were pressed back against his head. Samus's visor flashed with information and she gasped quietly. "Pikachu is generating thousands of volts of electricity," she said.

  Luigi frowned. "What does that mean?"

  "It means that it's like a living battery," Fox explained. "Getting hit by anything it puts out would be less than fun."

  Pikachu jumped into the air and fired another bolt of lightning at Yoshi. Rather than try to dodge it, the reptile charged, taking the electricity head on. It slowed him, but he kept going in the face of it and eventually reached Pikachu. When he did, he stuck out his tongue. Pikachu was taken off guard by this, and the tongue hit him in the middle of the chest, grabbing onto him like a firm hand. Then the tongue went back into Yoshi's mouth, taking Pikachu with it.

  "What?" Ness yelled. "Why is everyone eating one another?"

  Yoshi made a strange twisting motion, and an egg popped out from the space beneath his tail. It wriggled violently, as though something was trying to force its way out out.

  "Oh my," was all that Captain Falcon could say. "That was... something."

  Even Mario looked surprised. "I was always riding on his back," he said. "I never saw the egg come out the back before."

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  "That's what it always looked like, bro," Luigi said. He was the only one that didn't look surprised by what they had seen.

  Meanwhile, the egg was still shaking. Could Pikachu not get out? It was on its side - it was rolling towards the edge. If it went over, Pikachu would lose!

  This competition was a farce. It would mean nothing back home, and the wins and losses here appeared not to affect anything. But all the same, Samus found herself standing up and gripping the railing with both hands, her visor sliding back to allow her to speak. "Pikachu!"

  She didn't know if he would hear her, but he must have heard something. Because a moment later there was a huge clap of thunder that accompanied a large bolt of lightning dropping from the sky onto Pikachu's egg. It split in two, releasing the mouse who immediately charged at Yoshi again. As he ran, lightning from the bolt seemed to envelop him, and he crashed into Yoshi like a bullet, sending the reptile flying from the battlefield. Pikachu had won.

  Samus's helmet slid into place and she muted her audio processors just in time to cheer. Of course, bad news for Yoshi, but he seemed okay when he was brought back to the stands. She had wanted Pikachu to get the victory. He reappeared on her lap, and look at her emotionless visor. "Pika?"

  "Yes," she said, answering whatever the question had been. It seemed to satisfy him, so he curled up and started to sleep again.

  Samus wished that she could let him stay there, but she wasn't being given that option. She stood up, placing Pikachu carefully on the bench, and looked up at the floating hand.

  "Let's get this over with!" she told Master Hand.

  Fox shared her impatience. "Yeah, come on! I have a fight to win!"

  Samus rolled her eyes.

  "I'm glad you're finally getting into the spirit of things," Master Hand said. "Very well. Samus! Fox! Proceed to the stage!"

  A new battlefield appeared in the space that floated before this stands. It was darker than the ones they had seen before, with a series of jagged black and green platforms making up the battlefield. They floated above a pool of bubbling acid. Samus recognised it as being similar to Planet Zebes, but as soon as Master Hand set her down on the stage she could tell this wasn't her home galaxy.

  Fox regarded her carefully. "This one of yours?"

  "Yes."

  "Not the real thing?"

  "Of course."

  Fox nodded. "Well, I have to say, I've been interested to see what that armour of yours can do."

  Samus watched her opponent carefully. The only weapon she could see was a pistol, which she didn't expect would do much against her. But then again, she didn't know this Fox or his home. She couldn't afford to underestimate him.

  "Ready? Go!"

  Fox's first shot slammed into Samus's chest, and she blinked in surprise. She hadn't even seen him grab his pistol, but here her suit was, registering damage. The damage was minimal, hardly scraping the paint, but before she could move she was hit three more times. He was fast.

  She raised her cannon and fired a quick cluster shot of fiery blasts, hoping that she might score a hit. Fox moved quickly, so quickly in fact that she thought she had hit him before realising that all her shot had torn through was an afterimage. In an instant he was in front of her, developing a series of kicks to her midriff before she even had time to look down, before darting out of range.

  "He's fast!" Captain Falcon said, standing up in surprise.

  Samus fired two missiles towards Fox. He skipped away from her, jumping out of the way of the first and dodging beneath the second. She charged an energy blast from her cannon, but he touched his belt and a shimmering blue shield appeared in front of him. The energy shot bounced off and fell into the acid, creating a huge splash.

  "You're good," Samus admitted. Just a little longer...

  "Thanks," Fox replied. "And you haven't even seen everything I can do!"

  Samus took a step back to solidify her stance. "Show me."

  Fox put his head down, and seemed to blur for a moment before disappearing. Samus looked around desperately, her sensors scanning the surrounding area to find Fox, but they couldn't pick him up. He was moving too fast.

  She felt a kick on her back that made her stumble forwards. Before she could even regain her balance, there was another impact to the side of her head, and another one from the side. She was being treated like a toy!

  Samus swung around to her left and fired a cluster shot, but it only met open air. Fox appeared again, but he was standing further away. His gun came up and he fired three times, targeting her cannon. The casing cracked and it sputtered, currently useless.

  Then he was in front of her, kicking her hard enough in the chest that she was thrown into the air. Fox didn't stop, closing in on her with great speed and kicking her again, and again, pushing her higher each time. Samus's vision swam as she looked up at the dark sky.

  "Here we go!" Fox cried. He knelt down and focused, and fire started to gather around his feet.

  "He has fire powers too?" Luigi asked.

  Link nodded. "And look at how expertly he's commanding them. He has some kind of soldier training, you can see it in his control."

  "Fire Fox!" Fox yelled, and leapt into the air, he fire enveloping him like a ship re-entering atmosphere. He struck the power suit hard, cartwheeling Samus through the air. She began to fall, down towards the acid. Her eyes closed, and she was swallowed up by it.

  "Pika!" Pikachu cried at seeing his friend in distress.

  Mario looked up at Master Hand. "He hasn't called the match..."

  "Which means she's alive down there?" Luigi asked.

  Ness leant over the railing and craned his neck looking into the acid. "I don't see anything."

  On the battlefield, Fox was breathing hard. Moving that much had tired him out a lot, and he had expected that his Fire Fox move would have finished this off. But, here he still was. He scanned the green lake for any sign of life. Where was Samus?

  He spotted it just in time - a parting in the acid that warned him of the ball of energy that rocketed upwards towards him. He jumped backwards just in time, but then the acid behind him exploded. He turned and saw something spinning, a ball of steel and electricity covered by acid, before it hit him in the chest. He collapsed backwards as Samus Aran landed on the stage in front of him. Her armour was chipped and damaged, her visor cracked, and her cannon was smoking, but he felt a sense of dread bubble up inside him.

  Samus didn't hesitate, and she aimed the cannon at him. It flashed once, and Fox was enveloped in light as a huge energy blast struck him. Samus fired again, a smaller blast this time but more than enough to wind Fox. She fired again. And again. And again. Fox tried to rise, but she struck out with her leg and knocked him to the ground again. She then jumped backwards, firing three missiles. Fox managed to scramble to his feet, dodging the first and second but being clipped by he explosion of the third. Nevertheless he was still on his feet, so he pushed himself into the speed that was invisible to everyone but him, darting around the back of Samus and going for the kick that would send her out of the ring.

  But Samus was ready. She jumped, activating her suit's morph ball. She spun in the air for a few seconds, a ball of steel and lightning, whose exterior Fox glided off before he was thrown to the ground.

  She landed on top of him and pointed her cannon down. "I win," she said, and fired.