A/N: Two months.. I took a two month break.. and last chappie's ending was pretty much a cliffhanger. Yeah, alright, I seriously deserve to be pelted with rocks and sharp shiny objects now.. :( But I'm back now! And I will be updating regularly again. :D
Review Responses:
Gooey: Yes, he's a tricky/sneaky little plumber.. haha.
Aelsthla-Mental: Good guesses! ..Though I won't be including Brawl characters in this story.. so that kinda rules Ike out I guess. XD
Jeo the Fire God: Yesh, you win special prize for longest review I've seen yet. XD -hands trophy- XD I play as Dr. Mario sometimes in Melee.. though I play as Roy or Marth most. :D Dun Dun Dunnnn... so many suspects, so little time.. well, actually, there's a bunch of time.. so keep guessing! XD Yes, Link is very dense. I always pictured him as the goofy, dense type guy, but I guess we'll never know since he never talks.. but in stories he does. :3 Ohhh cutting off there would be evil.. I actually thought about doing that, but I'm not that evil.. so, yeah. XD The Luigi theory is actually a good theory.. I'll say that much, but I won't say anything else, muwahah. Hmm yeah I suppose you're right. Haha I love long reviews. XD Long responses are fun too. :D
Fantasia14: Ooohh.. good guesses! You're on the right track, I'll say that. :D
Midnightxwolfx: So many possibilities, so many theories, so little time. XD
x-V. i. r. g. o.-x: Hiiiii! XD Luigi is a likely suspect.. he's suspect number 1 right now, actually. Poor guy. XD Glad you like my story so far and thanks for the review! :D
iPod Junkie: Hehe yup.. I'm actually surprised no one guessed that Mario was the murderer. XD Eep! -gets clonked on the head with a rock- Oww..
His Sacrifice: Glad you like my story so far. XD Good guess. :3 Luigi is a very likely suspect right now. Bleh, homework. XD Thanks for the review! :D
Alright, on to chapter 6! Enjoy!
...
"M-Mario? There's no way.. I mean he was murdered, right?" Link looked shocked. Mario was someone everyone looked up too. It seemed highly unlikely the plumber would do anything as gruesome as murder, he didn't even really like fighting that much, though he was always forced to fight against Bowser whenever Peach would get herself kidnapped. Though seeing as no body was found, and he was the first to be murdered, Link brought a hand up to his chin and gave the subject some more thought.
"That's what we though. But like I said, this guy I fought was.. different. His eyes.. his voice.. everything about him was different." Roy sighed. "Heck, I don't even know anymore. All I'm saying is just that he resembled Mario."
"Dr. Mario, you don't happen to know anything about this do you?" Marth turned to the small doctor, who looked rather shocked at the sudden serious question.
"I'm afraid I-a don't." Dr. Mario sadly shook his head and placed down the papers he was looking through. "Though, you-a could try asking Luigi. Maybe even Bowser or-a Peach."
"Hm. Well, what do you guys think?" Link asked, and both Marth and Roy agreed it would be a good idea to ask around. Dr. Mario smiled and got up from his desk. Reaching into a cabinet, he pulled out a pair of crutches and tossed them to Link, who fumbled, but managed to catch them both.
"You-a could use those to-a help you walk, Roy. Just-a be careful, and don't go fighting or-a anything just yet." Link handed Roy the crutches, who gratefully accepted them. Pulling on his tunic, he slowly managed to get up out of the bed with the help of the crutches. He decided to leave his cape and armor behind for now, as they would only be a hindrance in his current state.
"Well, then, let's go guys!" Link pumped a fist in the air, and the three of them headed for the living room.
...
The trio asked any of the smashers they happened to run into if they knew anything about the killings, but none of them seemed to know anything new. They had already checked and asked anyone in the lounge and cafeteria, and their next destination was the hallways. They spotted Yoshi and decided to ask him if he knew anything. The three sighed as Yoshi shook his head and headed down the hall for the cafeteria.
"So how many have we asked so far?" Link huffed.
"I lost count.. we've asked pretty much everyone besides Peach, Samus, and Luigi. Ah, and Bowser, but I haven't seen him around all day for some reason." Marth replied.
"Oi, guys, how about we head for Peach's room next? We haven't asked her yet, and since we're near her room.." Roy suggested, and the others agreed as they set off down the hallways towards Peach's room.
Their pace was slowed due to Roy having to use crutches to walk, but after a few long minutes, they eventually made it to Peach's bedroom.
Marth knocked lightly on the door, and was answered with a small "Come in" from the inside. They entered to find Peach sitting on her bed brushing her long gold hair.
Peach smiled as the three of them approached. "Well hello boys. What do you need?"
"Well," Marth began, "we were wondering if you knew anything at all about how Mario had died."
Peach's mood suddenly dropped, as she frowned and placed the brush down next to her on the bed.
"I'm afraid I don't know anything about how he was murdered. Though, before the day Mario was murdered.. he was acting strangely."
The three looked at Peach with questioning looks, asking her to continue.
"He was acting rather paranoid, and was extremely jumpy. It was unlike him. He seemed sad as well, and... he just wasn't the same. It's like something had happened to him. I tried asking him, but he would just assure me everything was fine and smile, even though I knew that he had forced the smile. I was forced to drop the subject when I figured he wasn't going to tell me no matter how hard I tried." Peach sighed. "I tried asking Luigi as well, though he didn't know anything about it. Luigi was spending most of the time in his room, probably inventing some new gadget like he always does. I only saw him around breakfast, lunch, dinner, but even then he didn't talk much. I'm not exactly sure why, but you could try asking him about it."
When Peach finished, the three thought about the new information they had just received. They thanked Peach for talking with them, and left her room, their new destination being Luigi's room which was at the very end of the hallway.
"Alright, so here's what we know so far. Mario is supposedly the killer. Peach said he was acting weird the day before he was killed, and Luigi was working on a new project." Roy went over the information, and the other two just nodded their heads.
"Right." Link and Marth both said in unison.
"Let's head for Luigi's room now. I have a feeling he may know something." Marth said, and soon they were on their way down the hallway towards Luigi's room.
It didn't take them long to arrive, since they were pretty close to his room already when they visited Peach. Marth knocked on the wooden door, but there was no response from the other side. He hesitantly turned the doorknob, opened the door, and stepped inside the room with the others following close behind.
"Hey, Luigi, you in here?" Marth called, but yet again got no response. Sighing, he looked around the room and took in the surroundings.
The room was small, but was fit for Luigi. Various gadgets and gizmos was strewn across the floor, tables, and a few tools were hanging on the walls. Various notes were on the table just next to the light blue bed. Someone had recently been in the room, as the curtains on the window were pulled away, allowing light to come into the room. Link strode over and inspected one of the bookcases against the left wall.
"Geez man, look at all these books.. I don't even understand most of the titles on these things!" The hylian sighed as he pulled out one of the books and flipped through the pages, obviously stumped by the big words within it. Not wanting to feel stupid from attempting to read the book any longer, he placed it back on the bookshelf and examined another book, that was almost exactly the same as the first one.
Sighing again, Link put the second book back on the shelf, and decided to try another one.
"Link, stop trying to read those books, you'll only end up hurting yourself trying to read those." Roy laughed as the elf glared at him and placed the book back on the shelf.
"What are you three doing?" A new voice shocked the three swordsman in the room, as they turned towards the doorway.
Luigi stood in the entrance, holding a toolbox and looking at the three suspiciously.
"Ah! Luigi! There you are. We were looking for you, we need to ask you some questions." Marth smiled, and the plumber entered the room, closing the door behind him and seating himself on the bed.
"Alright. What did you-a want to ask?" Setting his toolbox aside, he gave the swordsman his full attention.
"We were wondering if you knew anything about Mario's death. Did he tell you anything before he died, or was he acting strange at all?" Marth asked, and the green plumber thought it over for a moment.
"Now that I-a think about it, yes, he-a did seem strange. Jumpy, paranoid, and sad. I-a didn't get to-a talk to him much though, as I-a was working on a new project just before he died."
"Can I ask what that project was?"
Luigi coughed, and shook his head. "I'm-a still not done with it yet. I would-a prefer to not say until I finish it." He smiled, and Marth gave him a suspicious look.
"..Alright. Well thank you for your time Luigi." Marth quickly ushered the other two out of Luigi's room and down the hallway towards the lounge.
"Woah, woah! What's the rush? And slow down! I'm still using crutches, y'know?" Roy grumbled, and Marth uttered an apology. Link remained silent, obviously still trying to understand the words in the books he had read in Luigi's room.
"I found these." Marth pulled out a stack of post-it notes from his pocket. They were in Luigi's room, the same size and color as the ones the killer uses.
"Seriously?!" Link snapped out of his daze and stared at the notes.
"Yes, but I can't be sure it's Luigi just yet. I mean, anyone could have post-it notes. These alone aren't enough proof." Marth added.
"Yeah, guess you're right. But still, he did seem a bit suspicious, not telling us hardly anything at all, other than things we already knew." Roy said.
"You have a point there, but-"
"MARTH!" A sudden shout from the end of the hall near the lounge interrupted the blue haired swordsman, as he turned to see Samus running towards them, a note in her armored hand.
"Samus? What's wrong?" Samus panted, looking as if she had just ran a long ways in order to reach them, and handed Marth the small note.
He took it, and read it aloud.
"Hee-Hee!
Oh my, my, my! It seems someone can't really deal with the cold well! What a pity!
Only 19 remain, oh dear me, the numbers are decreasing so fast!
Hee-Hee!"
The bottom of the note was cold. It was as if it was frozen, but there was no water or ice.
"Who..?" Marth looked up to Samus, who shook her head.
"Mewtwo was found in the meat locker.. it was too late. By the time he was found, he was already frozen."
"Dangit.." Link smashed one of his fists against the wall, creating a loud thud to resonate down the hall. "We're always too late.. we can never save anyone with this guy on the loose.."
"Ahem." Roy coughed and waved at Link.
"Yeah, well, Marth was just lucky he found you when he did.." Link sighed, and so did Roy.
"Anyways, since you're here now Samus, may I ask you a question?" Marth asked, and Samus looked at the blue haired swordsman.
"Go right ahead."
"Do you know anything about Mario's death?"
Samus thought it over for a moment before answering. "Aside from him acting strange, I do remember finding something when I was cleaning up his room after the murder." Samus rose up her armored arm in front of her, and after hitting a few buttons on it, a small compartment opened on the arm. She reached in and pulled out a small piece of fabric and handed it to Marth.
"What's this?" He asked, examining the fabric. It appeared to be a think material, and was a deep purple color.
"That.. wait a minute!" Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out what look to be a piece of the same material. "That's the same material as the guy I fought wore. It's the fabric his cloak was made out of."
After examining both pieces, they came to the conclusion that they were indeed the same type of fabric, but only with a slight color difference. Between the one Samus handed him, and the one Roy had torn from the attacker's cloak, the one Roy had was slightly lighter than the one Samus had.
"Interesting. Only a slightly difference between the two. This means that there was indeed a killer before Mario.." Marth muttered the last part, not wanting Samus to hear him and start with the questions.
"Do you two mind if I take these? I may be able to analyze them and see if they provide any hints as to who the person behind the murders is." Samus asked, and Marth smiled and haded her the fabric. "Thank you. I'll take them back to my room to analyze them, and let you know what I find out." With a slight nod, she headed down the hallway towards her room.
"This is great, we're getting closer and closer to finding out who the killer is!" Link grinned, and Marth and Roy laughed.
"You're probably the only one who could still be slap happy in a situation like this, elf boy." Roy chuckled, and Link shrugged.
"Better than being sad an depressed, I always say." He gave a goofy smile, making the two laugh.
"Right, right. But you guys do know that now, it is possible that the killer isn't Mario at all. Unless there are two killers.. or the killer is a shapeshifter." Marth suggested and the other two thought it over.
"But.. there's no one here who is actually capable of shapeshifting, right?" Link asked, Marth shook his head.
"No. Mewtwo was the only one who is really capable of phsycic abilities, but now.."
"Yeah. So what now?"
"I think we should do a bit of looking into this 'project' Luigi is working on. He seems a bit suspicious if you ask me." Marth and Link looked at Roy, obviously surprised by his sudden suggestion.
Marth and Link nodded. "It's a good idea. I have a feeling we might find something interesting if we take a look at whatever he's building. But.. where exactly is the thing he's building, anyway?" Link asked. The other two shook their heads. They apparently didn't know either. "'Kay.. well we need to find it first in order to look into this further."
"Hey, guys.. now that I think about it, Luigi was working on something in the garage I think. I found him the night we split up to look around. He was trying to fix the lights, but when I left, he stayed behind. We could try checking the garage first and see what we find?"
"Why didn't you tell us that before?" The pyro smiled sheepishly, and Marth sighed. "Well, whatever. Let's head for the garage then."
"Actually guys. I had better go find Zelda. I left Young Link with her earlier to watch him while I went with you guys.. I know he can be a handful, so I had better go check up on them and see how they're doing." Link smiled at the two, and without waiting for an answer, waved at the two and ran down the hallway to find Zelda.
"Looks like it's just me and you now." Roy sighed, as did Marth. The elf was always leaving them behind and running off to do something.
"So I guess now we just-" Marth blinked when he felt a small tug on his pants leg.
A small yellow mouse looked up at him with teary eyes, obviously upset about Mewtwo's passing. Marth smiled, reached down and picked the small mouse up into his arms.
"Hi there Pichu. Would you like to come with us?" He asked. Pichu nodded and hopped onto his shoulder.
"Looks like you got a buddy, Marth." Roy chuckled and Marth rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get going."
...
A/N: End of chapter 6.
This chapter was more of a 'building the plot' type chapter, if you want to call it that. XD Anyways, hope you all enjoyed! Thanks again to all of my readers and reviewers, you guys are great!
Don't forget to leave a review! :3