Episode Two

THE SMASH HAND TOURNAMENTS! THERE'S SOME CATCHING UP TO DO!

Ness gave an exasperated sigh as he stood before the Mansion, Lucas next to him. It had been twenty years since he last stood before this mansion, and it felt odd doing it again after so long. He looked behind him upon hearing footsteps and saw Young Link and Toon Link approaching, giving each other very dangerous glares. Nana and Popo approached from the right, and Luke came from the left.

Lucas gave a relieved sigh. "Good! For a second there, I thought just me and Ness were attending."

"Word on the street is a lot of the next generation are, too," Nana announced, swinging around her old hammer, testing it out. "Dakota's not, but I think I heard Shaun is, though..."

"I hear Lance couldn't make it, but I could be wrong!" Popo added, nodding to the sky. "Hear his ceremony is happening real soon, too! He's going to be a captain of the army!"

Luke gave a frown, fixing his hat. "What about Pit? Is he retiring?"

Lucas nodded, turning to his friend. "Yeah. I heard from Captain Falcon that Pit's moving right here in Smashville."

Ness turned back to the doors, giving another sigh. "Just like old times, I hope..." he muttered, turning to his friends.

The Link twins remained silent.

Even Ness was aware that Young Link had changed a lot, becoming more neurotic and then some. Toon Link had become a little more aggravated since then and bit more short-tempered, and Ness was sure it was because of what was going on with his brother. Link had lost a little of his mind, too. Come to think of it... Something had gone wrong between Marth, Ike and Roy as well.

What was happening to the Smashers? Whatever happened to all that loyalty and the family they had all created?

The doors to the Mansion opened, revealing Smash Hand, a right hand with a glove on with a black wrist.

"Greetings! I am Smash Hand. You must be Ness Onett, Lucas Tazmilly, Nana and Popo Ice, Toon Link and Young Link Hylia, and Luke Triton! You are most welcome," he greeted, moving out of the way, allowing the group passage. He led the group down the hall and before the auditorium. "Most of my challengers are already here. If you will be so kind as to step in, please."

At that, the Hand turned around and left the group standing before the doors. The seven old friends turned to each other nervously before stepping through, seeing the vast amounts of people that they recognized and didn't recognize sitting in the theatre.

"We're going to have to fight through all this..." Popo muttered to his friends. "I'm getting too old for this... You see Yaya or Jojo, Nana?"

"No... I don't," Nana replied with a sigh, looking around. "Those two must have chickened out at the last minute."

"I see Rinku and Maven... no Zel, though," Young Link mentioned with a grin, turning to a rather annoyed Toon Link. "What about you?"

"I see Ness' kid. Strange that Paula let that happen, eh, Ness?" Luke brought up, pointing in a direction that Ness was now staring down. "I thought you said Paula would kill you if you let Wally attend the tournament."

"Oh, don't worry. He won't make it through the first round of challengers," Ness assured Luke right away, already coming up with a plan in his mind. "It'll work out."

(###)

Ness' theory ended up being right, as he himself had taken care of his son in the very first round of an all-out Brawl. In the end result, the older of the next generation of Smashers and the seven of the original Smashers, as well as a few people that were in Rumble when it lasted, and a few newcomers, were the victorious.

To get a feel for who he would be fighting, Ness found it necessary to check the roster on the door as he and his six friends exited the building the day. There were names that he recognized, such as Shaun Greil, Maven Hyrule, and Cain Lowell, and others that he didn't, such as Reif and Apollo. He smiled at the large amount of people still on the roster, and turned to his friends and frowned.

Lucas was the one standing next to him, with Luke behind him and the Ice Climber twins watching a rather heated argument between the Link twins.

"What's wrong this time?" Ness groaned.

Lucas' only reply was a shrug and a whimper. Luke only gave a sigh.

(###)

They found themselves back in the Roost, each having a drink in their hands as they sat around a table. The room was empty, save for Brewster cleaning some mugs behind his counter. They were mostly being quiet as each of them took a sip from their mugs, except for the cautious looks that they gave each other every now and then.

The worst offenders of this had to be Ness, Lucas and Luke. Ness and Lucas kept glancing at the Link Twins, who had decided to sit across the table from each other so as they could give each other occasional, worried/annoyed glares. Luke found himself glancing at Ness now and then and occasionally the Ice Climbers.

The scene was quiet for a while before Ness finally spoke.

"I hear Falco's back in town… apparently he brought Aera and Raven," he mentioned out of the blue.

"Yeah, I heard that, too," replied Popo, looking around the room. "Apparently he wants them to be in the Smash Hand tournament…"

"Kind of silly, really," Nana added with a scoff. "I mean, they'd just be clones of each other, wouldn't they?"

"Not necessarily," Luke answered with a smirk. "Aera and Raven have different fighting styles and thus would be using different moves."

Ness gave a smile at Luke in reply and looked down at his drink. "I also think I saw Kiba there at the battle, and I think he won his round along with Shaun… I didn't see Pit or Lance, though."

"I could have sworn that I saw Justin and Aaron," Popo added.

Nana nodded in agreement, adding, "I think I saw Cain, too…"

Toon was quiet for a moment before adding, "I saw an old friend."

Young gave him a wary look before raising an eyebrow. "Isn't he supposed to be…?"

"Yeah," Toon replied with a nod, appearing slightly annoyed at the idea. "Not sure how he got here on his own, but…"

"What?" Lucas asked, curious. "Who's here?"

Both Link twins turned to each other and had a bit of a mental conversation before turning to their five confused friends.

"… Vio," they both said in unison.

(###)

Having no idea that he was now the topic of discussion at a table in the Roost, Vio was very patiently eyeing the Smash Hand as he progressed through the names for the roster. He approached quietly before eyeing a few of the names.

Reif? Who was Reif? And 'Apollo Justice' for that matter. Such a weird collection of names, but then again the Smash Tournaments had always allowed anyone from any country in Sedaindo to attend. For all he knew, these people were probably from that fourth continent that Master Hand had finally decided to let join in on the fun.

"A lot of people, Vio… a lot of people. I can't decide out of all these fighters! How did Master and Crazy deal with all this?" Smash Hand queried, turning to the purple Link.

Vio found himself smirking. "Well, for Rumble, Master Hand dumped the whole thing on Little Hand."

"Where is my sister and brother anyhow?" Smash Hand questioned curiously, turning to a picture of Master, Crazy, Little and Nutjob all in their human forms.

"From what Master Hand tells me the two are off studying with Ancient Hand…" Vio replied, looking somewhat thoughtful.

Smash Hand mock-nodded before turning back to the roster.

(###)

In a suburb of Smashville, a small little Hylian girl we all know suddenly appeared in an alleyway and cautiously left, peering down both sides of the sidewalk before walking down with a smile and a proud swagger.

Who knew what Chrislma was planning anyhow? She surely was not allowed to be here out in the open. She ignored this fact as she walked by Samus and Snake and almost had a fit when she realized that she had just walked past the amazing Lucario and his daughter, the cute Riolu.

What was she doing here? Well, here's what she was doing.

Chrislma ducked into a garden and crawled across the bushes of roses and tulips, amazingly not being seen by the Pikmin that were taking care of it expertly. She stopped before a cute little green bush with pink flowers.

"I found you!" she happily sang, picking up the entire bush, revealing it to actually be a Pokémon.

"Yay!" happily squeaked the Pokémon, Shaymin.

"Oh, Shaymin, I'm your biggest fan! My name is Chrislma and I am an Aethour," Chrislma explained as she looked at the cute wittle Pokémon. "I wanted to gift you with the ability to break the fourth wall because I am under the belief that you are the most Epic Legendary Ever."

"I appreciate your love very, very much!" chimed the Shaymin, blooming a few Gracidea flowers. "I am very grateful for your gift of breaking the fourth wall."

"You're welcome!"

(###)

Red, Blue, and their son Teal walked through the gardens with their Pokémon, not even suspecting that the Shaymin that once lived there had been kidnapped.

(###)

"Dad, can I ask you a question?" asked Riley as he popped his head up over a desk as Snake worked on the robot that was currently taking up the homework desk.

"Well, I didn't have much of a choice, now did I?" he muttered.

"Sorry, Dad… but my question is: Dad, why can't I fight in the tournament?"

"Because you're too young."

"But Uncle Toon was twelve when he was admitted into the Smashers, and his twin brother was just eleven!"

"That doesn't mean anything. The Link twins had saved Hyrule, so Master Hand had deemed them strong enough for the tournaments. You, however, have not saved a country or a town yet…"

Riley huffed as he hopped down and crossed his arms childishly, turning away from his father with a pout. "But Pear and I have devised this really cool move together – it's going to blow away the fans!"

Snake also huffed as he looked up at his son, turning away from the robot. "Riley, I highly doubt that Mario would even let his daughter attend the tournament. The discussion is over."

At that, he turned back to his creation, leaving Riley to pout in the corner.

(###)

Meiko was washing the dishes again. She looked up from where she was and turned back toward the sitting area, where she saw the Professor calmly reading a newspaper.

As she turned back to a teacup, Meiko found herself pondering. As a programmed individual, she was surprised at how much room for freedom and free choice that Snake had left in her code. It was because of this that she sometimes found herself pondering over pieces of code that slipped into her A.I. and the small, pointless things to her that she found herself wondering about.

Right now she was thinking about the charges that Snake had told her to take care of. Those 'charges' were, of course, Professor Hershel Layton and his assistant Luke Triton. When the Professor had his heart attack last year, Luke was still feverishly ill with the flu that had been going around. Snake had wasted no time sending help over when he had realized the problem, and the one that he had chosen for the job had been her.

His reasoning had been this:

"Because you are the first that I build and activated, Meiko, you are the best one for the job. Your older, you have more experience, and thus, you are the more mature. Take good care of them."

She still wondered why he hadn't sent Miku, for she had more motherly instincts than Meiko had. But now she figured that she understood, after thinking about it.

Miku's processor would have crashed from all the work that had to be done. With the professor still weak from the heart attack and unable to help, Meiko had a lot of responsibility. She had to make sure that Luke had his breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the same with the professor, with afternoon tea added into the mix. Because the Layton house lacked a dishwasher, she had to do the dishes. Laundry had to be done, beds had to be mad, desks organized, and every now and then she had to kick out the random Pokémon or creature that Luke decided to bring home. Furniture had to be dusted in the places that Layton could no longer reach from his wheelchair, and every now and then, when he dropped the paper, Meiko felt obligated to get it for him.

The emotional aspect to her programming code, which Snake had added shortly before the professor's heart attack, allowed her to feel emotions to some extent. Once the professor was well enough to come home again, and Meiko had had some experience after taking care of a bedridden Luke, she felt like part of the family. She had never met Flora Reinhold, who had moved away shortly after Rumble to return to St Mystere for some time and never returned, but she was allowed to read the letters she sent once a week after the professor and Luke had read them.

But, Meiko knew better. She had a feeling that, although the professor and Luke appreciated her help, that they felt that she was only that.

She was just a robot that Snake had built. She was just a robot that he lent to them to help them through a hard time.

She was meant to be thrown away.

"Meiko, my dear, may I please have your attention for a moment?" came the professor's voice.

"Absolutely, Professor," Meiko replied right away, in her electronic voice. She dried the synthetic skin on her hands before she entered the living room, seeing the professor reading the newspaper at his chair. "What seems to be the problem?"

"It appears that Luke is rather late tonight," he pointed out, glancing at the clock. "If you could, I would not mind if you put off making dinner. I'm not feeling particularly hungry right now, anyway and I understand that the laundry has to be folded."

"That is true, Professor," Meiko pointed out with a smile. "If it is any difference, I wasn't quite sure what to make anyway and I was thinking of having Luka over to do it instead."

The Professor gave her a smile in response. "That would be nice. Her talent is the fish, is it not?"

Meiko's smile widened into a big grin, her teeth showing. "Tuna, to be exact."

(###)

Luke was racing through the streets, Toon Link, Ness and Lucas tailing after him as the four raced after a small figure holding what appeared to be a bouquet of pink flowers.

"Hey! Come back here!" Ness called out after the being, trying to read the figure's mind. "That Pokémon is Smashville property!"

"No it's not! No it's not!" called back the figure in a high pitched female voice.

If this were an anime, viewers everywhere will now know that the figure the four were chasing was Chrislma, the Aethour who seems to be the Aethour of the episode. We would also know that the "bouquet of pink flowers" wasn't just any bouquet of pink flowers.

It was that Shaymin she kidnapped earlier.

"Weee!" chimed the Shaymin.

The race went on through very many streets, with Chrislma nearly tearing through the Hyrule twins Zel and Maven, barrelling over the Pikachu, Pichu and Jigglypuff, and ramming right into Marth, who in turn fell back into Link. As Luke, Ness, Lucas and Toon Link raced by, they found themselves apologizing for the girl that had run them over.

Whether or not they ever did catch would be a mystery to those people. To Axann, it was blackmail material.

Chrislma was finally caught when Snake raced out of his house (having been contacted by Marth on the phone) with Miku, Rin and Len in tow, and a giant net. Chrislma, in her cute and stupid glory, ended up ramming right into the net, both Shaymin and her screeching from the surprise.

The four that were chasing her ran up to Snake, Luke leaning forward once he stopped and trying to catch his breath.

"Thanks…. Snake…," gasped Ness as he tried to catch his breath.

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" Chrislma screeched at high volume, causing the Shaymin to complain about volume. "I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE EXPLOSION DOWNTOWN!"

"What explosion?" asked Snake, Ness and Lucas, with Rin and Len looking at each other in confusion and Miku to look like an idiot.

Luke was still trying to catch his breath.

Chrislma blinked as she realized what she said. "Oh! I thought you were all chasing me because Wario had accidently blown up some shop downtown and you thought that I did it…"

"I appreciate your honesty!" chimed Shaymin excitedly.

Ness blinked in confusion at Chrislma as he noticed her Hylian ears. "You're… Hylian…"

"Yup!" (Chrislma) (Chrislma: 01, Brawlers: 00)

"You look barely older than seven…" (Ness) (Chrislma: 01, Brawlers: 01)

"I'm twelve! I'm just short! So's my brother." (Chrislma) (Chrislma: 01, Brawlers: 01)

"What are you doing wandering around town with a Shaymin?" (Lucas) (Chrislma: 01, Brawlers: 02)

"I was heading home." (Chrislma) (Chrislma: 02, Brawlers: 02)

"With a Shaymin?" (Ness) (Chrislma: 02, Brawlers: 03)

"With a Shaymin!" (Chrislma) (Chrislma: 03, Brawlers: 03)

"I appreciate her adorability and adoration to me!" (Shaymin) (Chrislma: 03, Brawlers: 03, Shaymin: 05)

There was a moment of silence, as everyone registered the information that Chrislma had just given them.

Snake grabbed hold of her shoulder. "Kid, I think you and your Shaymin should come with me…"

And now for something completely different…

Toon Link stood up as his spot as Captain on the Starship Brawler. Every Ensign, commander, and everyone else stared at the screen before them, where Vio's face was now.

"I am Captain Toon Link Hylia," Toon Link greeted, stepping forward. "To whom am I speaking?"

Vio gave a nod before he introduced himself in only a manner that before only Nero could pull off. "Hi, Toon Link, I'm Vio."

The Trivia:

1. This episode was somewhat harder to write as the Tournament hasn't happened yet and thus nothing really remotely interesting is happening yet.

2. Shaymin is now and official cast member of not only Smash Generation, but Aethour as well, as Chrislma's pet.

3. Chrislma's twin brother, Elijah, will be making an appearance in the upcoming "Chrislma in Wasteland", to be released in the "Epic Mickey" section.

4. We were struck dumb when we realized we have no Shiroi in this episode. No worries, she makes an appearance in the next one.