Disclaimer: I don't own anything Super Smash Brothers related.

She could hear the ocean's roar in her ears and for a moment, she really thought that's where she was. She could almost smell the salt, the wilderness, the breeze of the waves crashing around her.

But then she opened her eyes and there was Palutena in front of her, regal, beautiful and majestic, sitting on a throne. There was no ocean. Only white.

"My Goddess," she tried to bend on one knee as she had so many times before but discovered she did not have knees. Serenity was replaced by the quickening of a pulse that could only be described as fear. But when she looked down, she discovered she didn't have a pulse. She didn't even have a body. She was nothing. "What's happening?"

The Goddess Palutena only smiled as she had many times before. It is not your time yet, young one. Recover.

"What's happening to me?" Rio's voice cracked. "Where am I? Am I dead?"

That is up to you to decide... If you give up now, you have died a hero's death. I would welcome you to the top gates of heaven, where all the angels go. But you will never see your friends again. And they might never catch the killer without your help. You must give them something Rio.

In a flash, Rio remembered the bright red pain that had clouded her mind. Seeing Brandon's horrified face before it crumpled into insanity. What had he seen? Had he seen her die?

And was she really dead?

She thought about Palutena's options. On one hand, she really wanted heaven. No pain, only the sound of the ocean to calm her down. It was a tempting offer. To come back to life would mean to go back to all that she left behind and as far as she knew, all that was there was death and the constant fear of death. And she wouldn't have to witness Ike with Peach anymore. The last part tore at her heart more than anything else.

Because as much as she hated Ike, as much as she wanted to strangle him, as much as it hurt her inconsolably to watch something that she couldn't have, she still couldn't bear to see him killed in a violent way. Or Drey. Or Cammy. Or anybody that she'd met here.

What could I possibly give them if I survived? Rio wondered to herself.

She knew what the right decision was. But she wasn't sure whether she wanted to take it.

"Are they alive?" Drey asked breathlessly.

"I don't know," Samus snapped. She and Mario were in the infirmary. Samus's face looked haggard as she was on the hospital's computer that controlled the machines. Mario was wearing a pair of scrubs. Half his face was blocked by a surgical mask. He was doing something to Rio, but Drey couldn't see what it was. The medical tray next to him was covered in blood because of all the instruments he'd used on her so far. "Brandon's brain keeps sending off strange signals. I'm sure he's still alive, and his brain signals indicate he's not brain dead. But something must have made him react this way. It's possible he might have seen the killer. We won't know what's wrong with him until he wakes."

Drey's blood ran cold. "There's a possibility that he saw who it was?" She hugged herself. "Dammit!" she swore. "If only I'd gotten there sooner! What about Rio?"

Beside her Toon Link was waiting with pressed lips, fear etched all over his face. He had not said a word since they'd found Brandon unconscious. They'd found the door wide open and when they peered in, they saw Rio in her own blood. Drey nearly passed out herself, but she'd held it together. She wasn't aware of what happened after that. All she knew was what Toon Link had told her afterward. He had called for help. Samus had ran in with Donkey Kong and Bowser - The bulkiest Smashers she could find. Together, all of them had brought Rio and Brandon to the infirmary.

Samus's fingers stilled on the keyboard momentarily. "I don't know," she said quietly. She felt like like such a failure. How could she have let this happen under her command? This was all her fault. She squeezed her eyes shut and willed herself not to panic. Maybe I can't be the leader after all. But who else can I rely on?

Drey felt her eyes burn and a minute later the tears came. "Oh dear Greeah, don't let her die," she prayed.

At that moment, Ike burst into the room followed by a slightly irate, yet worried Peach. "Where is she?" he asked.

Drey only pointed at the bed where Dr. Mario was working at. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to feel too annoyed. This was all Ike's fault. If he hadn't been so difficult and stupid, perhaps Rio would not have walked down that corridor alone.

She exhaled as she watched Peach put on a mask and wash her hands with antibacterial soap. Then she began operating as well on Dr Mario's other side. Drey had to admire the fact that she did not seem affected by the sight and stench of blood and flesh.

She felt a small, warm hand come on top of her's. It was Toon Link. "You don't look so well, Drey. Maybe you should get some sleep."

At the word, "sleep," Drey suddenly realized how fatigued she felt. Her muscles, which had been working well under the supplement of adrenaline, now felt loose and useless. Sleep... She felt like she hadn't done it in days.

...Maybe... Maybe just for a moment...

She could just close her eyes...

Morning crept through the windows the following day, grasping the windowsills by its fingertips. Nobody wanted to wake up. Nobody wanted to hear the announcement that Mario - who hardly had any sleep, himself - was going to give. They all knew that Wario was dead, that Rio was in a comatose state and it was likely she would be that way for the rest of her life. Already, her hair was starting to change from pink to blue. Pit had said that sometimes, this happened in weakened states of angels.

Nobody even liked Wario. Every Smasher couldn't even count the number of times they'd been duped by his monetary schemes and were still waiting for all the money he still owed them. But still... It was Wario.

Ri stared at her plate full of eggs. "You okay?" Zack asked.

She looked up at him, not registering his face. "What?" she croaked.

Of the three who had found the body, Ri was hit the hardest. Where had all her warmth and happiness gone?

Zack hesitated, for a moment before covering his hand over her's. He had hoped she would feel better upon human contact, but instead she flinched and swiped her hand away, nearly bumping into Joeb who was wolfing down his sausages. "Hey," Zack said, putting his hands up in a 'I'm unarmed' way.

Ri didn't meet his eyes. "Zack, I... I'm sorry. I can't..." she said. "I can't get that smell out of my head. He smelled... He smelled awful." She shuddered, trying to keep the tears at bay.

Joeb's mouth was grim as he regarded her. "It's over, Ri. Nothing you can do about it now," he said.

Jeka was frowning, his arms crossed over his chest. He hadn't touched breakfast yet - Lynn could sense that something was troubling him and she decided to reassure him. "They say Brandon will be okay," she told him.

Jeka's eyes swiveled to her's, his eyes hard. "What?" he asked.

Lynn almost blanched at his rudeness but recovered quickly. "You must be troubled over your friend. You are... worried, yes? I can sense it."

Jeka rolled his eyes. "What are you? Lucario, now with your aura senses?" He muttered under his breath, "Freak..."

Lynn narrowed her eyes. She tried to tell herself that Jeka was just being mean because he was freaked out, but her anger towards him was overpowering any sane or rational thought. Coupled with the fact that she was feeling on edge... This wasn't going to be pretty. She could feel, see, and smell nothing but red.

"Lynn?" Cammy's voice came out as a warble.

Lynn blinked and the madness of the outrage she'd felt was gone. She turned to see a Cammy, whose eyes were wide and blank with fear.

"What?" Lynn asked, wondering for a moment if she were going insane. This wasn't the first time Lynn had almost been set off edge.

"N-nothing," Cammy responded. Should I tell the others what I saw? she wondered. She knew what she'd seen. She'd seen murder written across the pokemorph's eyes. She shuddered.

Jeka finally dug into his own eggs, completely unaware of what had transpired in Lynn and Cammy. He eyed Elizebeth, his eyes darkening.

"What's up?" Joeb asked Jeka, noticing the way he studied her.

Jeka bit his lip, then switched his eyes to Joeb. "Don't you think it's... weird?"

"What is?"

Jeka nodded towards Elizebeth who was sitting quite alone at her own table. She looked sick with fear and worry while nibbling on a piece of toast. "She was there at the scene when Sean died. Yet nobody asked where she was during the time Wario could've died. Can't they all see it's her?"

Joeb studied Elizebeth as well for a long time. "Well," he began cautiously after a pause. "We don't know anything yet. Just because she was the first one to discover Sean's body..." he trailed off. "What makes you so certain she committed the murders?"

Jeka brushed his white bangs away from his face as he swallowed the last of his eggs. He faced Joeb with a raised eyebrow. "What makes you think that she didn't?"

"She didn't," Ri cut in unexpectedly. The look she gave Jeka was watery but still firm.

"How do you know, though?" Jeka pressed.

Ri shrugged. "I - That is to say, Zack, Pit, Lucas, Snake and I - we looked at her background file. There was nothing in there that suggested she's... crazy."

"You checked out her file?" Jeka asked, looking surprised. "You didn't look at the other's?"

Ri looked down at her hands, as if she'd found them very interesting. "No. We made a promise, Zack and I that we'd only look through her's and Sean's. At that time, we didn't think that we had a serial killer on the loose. We just thought..." she sighed, unable to complete her thought. Zack placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it comfortingly. This time, Ri didn't pull away.

Joeb regarded her for a moment. "That was very foolish. You should have looked through all of them. That way, we'd have a way of knowing what we were dealing with."

Zack glowered at him. "No," he said. "It's not our business to go into other people's private businesses. We need to trust one other. We can't believe that it was one of us. Besides," he said, looking over at the Smashers, who were also huddled together. "There's a strong possibility that they're the ones who did it. They never wanted us here in the first place. Now one of us is dead, one of us may as well be, and one of us passed out from insanity. Meanwhile, what's their death count? One. And that's Wario. Who liked Wario? So far it looks like it could be one of them."

Nobody said anything when Zack completed his little speech. Joeb stroked his chin thoughtfully, Ri simply looked distraught, and Jeka was playing on his phone.

"You've got a point," Joeb said finally. He poured himself a cup of coffee, breathing in the heady scent of it. The steam warmed up his face. "But," he said. "Right now I don't trust anyone. People are dying. And for all I know it could be you, or even Cammy. I'm just sick of this bullshit. I don't trust any of you."

Zack regarded him coolly. "Well I don't trust you either."

So much for everybody's cooperation... Cammy thought to herself sadly as she looked at all the Chosen Ones who were now glaring at each other.

At that moment, something rang within Joeb's pocket. He cursed under his breath. "Sorry guys, I gotta take this." He flipped the phone open and said into the mouthpiece as he walked away, "Mom? Hello? Yeah, nothin' much, it's great here..."

The three stared at his retreating figure. "Did he just...?" Jeka asked, looking up from his phone.

"Yep, the thirty-something year old who's apparently a crack shot with a rifle, was just talking to his mom," Zack snorted.

And much to the boys' shock, Ri giggled. Her eyes were still wet, but she was smiling. The tension and guilt Zack had felt in his stomach lessened slightly. He was glad she was smiling. It had been a long time since he had really cared about anyone since what had happened at Crossington...

He forced his thoughts away from that memory. It would not do to think about what had transpired there and why he had left.

When Brandon opened his eyes, he noticed it was no longer night time. It was late afternoon, judging by the golden light that streamed through his window. Wincing, he sat up. There was a throbbing pain at the back of his head and when he touched his fingers to the lump, he wasn't at all surprised to find that the pain increased. Taking a shaky breath, he looked around, taking in his surroundings. He must be on the top floor, where the lab was because that's also where the medical ward was. He looked down at the wires attached to him that were monitoring his pulse. No needles sticking in him which was good, although it seemed that, judging from the bandaid on his upper forearm, that somebody had taken a blood sample.

He closed his eyes trying to remember what had happened. He remembered the disorientation of watching Rio go down and felt a wave of nausea cross him. He remembered the insanity he had felt seeing her die. Rio... he thought. He was not close with the pink-haired angel - In fact, he did not even particularly like her. He thought she centered her life too much around Ike. Her emotions were everywhere.

But it didn't prevent him from feeling what he'd felt when she died. Even worse, he'd felt ashamed. Instead of passing out, he should have done something. He should have saved her. But Brandon... Brandon was not a hero. He was...

...He was a coward. He had panicked, and that was why she died. It was all his fault. He bit his lip, staring at his fisted hands. "Damn," he said very quietly to himself. "Damn. Damn, damn, damn!"

"Brandon?" a faraway voice asked. His head shot up. Somebody was here with him, he had not anticipated that.

"Who is it?" he called out warily.

"Don't be frightened. It's just me. Drey." He heard her walk towards him before pulling his curtain open to stare at him.

She normally looked very pretty, Brandon had to admit to himself - it probably was a side effect of having dragon blood in her - But today she looked like a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was a tangled mess, and her skin was paper white, as if all the blood had been drained from her. Upon seeing him awake though, her lips split into a wide grin. "Oh Brandon, you're alive," she sighed. And then she started to cry.

Dumbstruck, Brandon watched her silently, not knowing what to say. He didn't like her much either - Their meeting on the plane had not left a pleasurable favor on him. So he watched her for a moment.

"You're alive!" she said to herself, and gave a wild little laugh. "I thought you were going to die or be committed to an insane asylum or something. I thought I was too late..."

"Um, Drey?" Brandon asked weakly.

"What?" she snapped, despite her tears which she'd successfully stopped. She gave him a furious look. "Do you know how long I've been here? All night, ever since they brought you both in."

Wait, both? Brandon looked at her questioningly. "Who else was brought in?"

"Rio obviously!"

"Rio... Rio's alive?" The question came out as a hiss.

Drey's face crumpled further, but much to Brandon's relief, she did not break out crying again. "She's alive, but barely. The doctor thinks she's never going to wake up. Her health has been deteriorating. Her pulse has been growing weaker and weaker. She's on life support."

Brandon felt like he'd been punched in the stomach by a soccer ball. "What?" he wheezed. "What happened? Tell me everything."

So she did. She told him how she'd gotten the message from Dioclopse, how she'd raced to the mansion as fast as her and Toon Link could, and how Dioclopse had almost directed her to the spot. How she'd found him unconscious and finally, finally, how she'd seen Rio lying in her own blood.

"Did you see anyone in the room?" Brandon couldn't help but eagerly ask.

Drey bit her lip and shook her head. "No," she said. "By the time I got there, the murderer, whoever did this to Rio was gone." Her face showed rage. "But I'll get them."

Brandon studied her for a moment, an idea slowly forming in his mind as she was talking.

Could it be... Could it be...

Could the murderer be...

It couldn't be Drey?

But, he thought as his pulse quickened, some of it fit. Drey had the blood of the dragons in her. Hybrids or changelings, Brandon knew from reading about them, were usually unstable. You only had to look at Lynn. What if it had been Drey all along? What if she'd found Sean, and he'd said something and had gotten her upset and... and... Brandon knew Drey had a serious anger management problem. Perhaps that's what had happened when she'd killed Sean and Wario. Nobody liked Wario. Sean was still a mystery, but maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After all, wasn't he found in the basement.

It just didn't make sense how Drey had found Brandon and Rio so quickly.

But there was still one thing that didn't make sense, and that was this: Why had Drey killed off Rio and not Brandon? Did she not have enough time to do so?

Brandon had to admit, his theory was extremely weak, especially since Drey's method of using things like guns seemed implausible. Especially since Drey already had a witness with her the whole time. All Brandon had to do was question Toon Link to know whether Drey's whole story was true.

"We'll find out who it is," he said with steely resolve.

The murderer would not best him in wits.

"Bye, Mom," Joeb said and with a sigh he shut off the phone. He wasn't going to tell her what he was facing here. He knew it would only make her worry and stress out over him. He didn't want anyone to care about him enough to question him. That wasn't the way Joeb worked. Questions only led to answers that could get him diagnosed with some psychotic problem.

Purposefully, he set off down the corridor that led to Master Hand's office. It was on the main floor he knew. If Zack and Ri were too moral to look through all the files, then he'd have to do it himself. It was best he worked alone. Bringing people along would only slow him down.

Unfortunately for Joeb though, there'd be people following him whether he liked it or not. First, he ran into those pesky twins in parkas. What were they called? Ice Shooters? Snow Climbers? ...Like it mattered, really. Joeb had never been a huge fan of Smash Bros.

The Ice Climbers were followed by a couple of other suspicious looking people like Lyn, Elizebeth, Snake, Lucario, that angel guy they called Pit, that Robot that was so imaginatively called ROB and a few other Smashers. It seemed like all the Smashers and Chosen Ones alike were always nearby. He had to face the facts - this Mansion was a lot more cramped and crowded than he'd initially thought it was on TV. The business with bunking was already driving him up the wall, not to mention the fact that there were no people to pick up after him.

As he stalked down the hall and approached Master Hand's Office he paused. His hand quickly went to his holster, as he felt like he was being watched. His pulse was still normal - Joeb wasn't the kind of person who got frightened quickly. But he wasn't going to let anybody sneak up on him.

He whirled around, withdrawing his gun so fast and at the last second made his finger stop pressing the trigger because the people in front of him were none other than Cammy and Ness and both of them looked just as surprised as he did.

"What are you doing here?" All three of them said at the same time.

"Looking for clues," they all responded.

They all narrowed their eyes at each other. Joeb had the decency to put his gun away. He had some psychotic problems he knew, but he wasn'tcrazy enough to shoot a couple of kids even though he wasn't about to rule them off his suspects list. Finally, he spoke first. "You were looking for the files, right?"

Cammy nodded slowly. "It's our best bet to solve this once and for all."

"How am I supposed to know that you didn't come here to destroy it?" Joeb asked, his grip on the gun tightening.

Ness cocked an eyebrow. "What makes you think that we don't think the same thing about you?"

Joeb narrowed his focus on Ness. "You were the guy who found Sean's body. What if it was you who killed him?"

Ness looked startled. "It wasn't! Why would I do it?"

Joeb shrugged his shoulders lazily. "Who knows? It's not like I care. I just want to put an end to this. So how about this - Say all three of us walk in there? That way all three of us can check those files out and make sure that nobody here's hellbent on destroying them."

Was it his imagination or did Cammy actually start to look nervous? "Um," she said. "Wait..."

But before she could get another word in, Ness cut in. "Yeah, I agree. Let's do it."

Joeb was more curious now than ever. What could Cammy be so nervous about? Unless there was something she was hiding in that room... It had been the first time Joeb had seen something that wasn't mischievous or happy on her face and he wasn't sure whether he liked it or not.

"Okay, listen up team," Mario said. All eight original Smashers were in the Lounge where Rio had been shot at yesterday. After Samus and Captain Falcon had taken blood samples and pictures, the place had been thoroughly cleaned. "You are the only Smashers I can trust because I've known you to be apart of this group for the longest time. We're the originals and therefore, it is our job to take care of things while Master Hand is away."

They all looked solemnly back at him except for Samus, Link and Pikachu. All three looked as exhausted as he felt. The four of them had stayed up all night trying to make sense of it but none had come up with any solutions. It was Samus who had suggested that all the original Smashers - That was to say, Mario, Link, Samus, Pikachu, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Luigi, Ness, Jigglypuff, Yoshi and Fox - Could be trusted with the actual investigation. Mario trusted these twelve with his life and he knew the others felt the same. So while Jigglypuff, Luigi, Captain Falcon and Ness were off to spy on those they felt likely were suspects, the rest of the eight were inside the lounge having a meeting.

"We need a plan to catch the murderer. We need to catch him fast. Aside from knowing that he's one sneaky bastard, we don't got much information unless we work together. Any ideas? Samus?"

Samus cleared her throat and snapped to attention at once. "Well, from the autopsy of Sean, it was discovered that his heart was missing meaning that somewhere here the heart is around. Maybe we can search for that."

Luigi spoke up too. "Also, when we got to Wario's body, we found his right arm missing. We don't know if it was simply burned off, but when Samus and I checked the boiler, we couldn't locate any burned off limbs."

Kirby swallowed nervously. "So what you're saying," he squeaked. "Is that the murderer collects trophies."

Mario scratched his chin - He hadn't shaved in a day and a half and he could already feel stubble around his face. "Serial killers often do that. They collect things. This however," he paused. "This is highly unusual. I don't think I've ever found anybody who collects body parts because it's messy. Whoever the killer is must either be very crazy or very stupid. I'm about to go with the former."

Fox crossed his arms. "So all we have to do then, is follow our noses."

"Easy for you to say," Link said, rolling his eyes. "How come we haven't been able to smell rotted flesh? Unless you have?" he asked, looking at Fox who frowned and shook his head.

"I haven't, come to think of it."

Samus scratched her head. "Maybe," she said. "Maybe this person has some sort of technology or," she swallowed as if she was about to say something that she'd regret. "Magic. Or something. Something that preserves or at least conceals the smell." Link couldn't help but smile humorlessly - Samus was a staunch disbeliever in magic despite seeing people like Zelda and Ganondorf using it all the time.

Donkey Kong cleared his throat. "Okay, now that we've established to look out for hearts and missing arms, what about the motives, huh? Why would anybody do this?"

It was a question they all pondered. "Jealousy?" Luigi asked quietly.

Yoshi shook his head. "We can't rule out the fact that it may be one of ours. If it were jealousy that would mean it would be one of our guests, but let's face it, it could be one of us too. We can't rule out everyone."

"Then why are we ruling out ourselves? Who's to say it wasn't one of us?" Pikachu shot back.

"Quiet!" Donkey Kong roared, slapping his chest with his palm. "We're not going anywhere by accusations!" All the Smashers looked at him. In a more quiet voice, he said, "Yoshi brings up a good point. We have to consider that the other Smashers could have done it. But on what grounds?"

"Revenge?" Kirby asked. "Remember that message on Sean's chest? 'You all are next?' Well what if it's revenge on something? And remember Wario? He was dressed up to look like a pig being served as the main course."

Samus ran a hand over her hair, shuddering at how his body looked, charred and deformed with that shiny red apple in his mouth. "The killer clearly was sending us a message. I'm not so sure about Sean - maybe the killer didn't know Sean that well - but it looks like each of his victims, if he or she has the time, makes sure that the victim is made to look at his worst. In Wario's case it was well known that he was well, greedy and selfish. Like a pig."

"Then how do you explain Rio?" Luigi asked.

"I can't," Samus admitted. "But I'm thinking since it wasn't really a clean kill - meaning that she's not dead - he or she didn't have time to 'dress' up her death, if you know what I'm saying."

A heavy silence followed this as the Smashers contemplated this. Finally, Luigi had to ask, "Do you think Rio's going to wake up?"

Another long silence.

Fox rubbed his nose wearily and finally said what they were all thinking. "I don't know."

"So where exactly are the files?" Joeb asked as they all entered the room. Master Hand's office was spacious. But the only pieces of furniture in the room were the enormous desk in the middle, the chairs on either side and the bookshelves that aligned the right and left walls. In the back, there was a large window that overlooked the spacious lawn and the dock that sat upon the shallow end of the lake.

Ness shrugged. "Lucas said it was in his desk." The psychic boy quickly walked over towards the desk and stared at all the desk's drawers. There was a locked one at the end on the right side. "That one has to hold it. Lucas told me that Snake had to pick a lock to get to the files."

Joeb frowned. "I don't know how to pick locks. Do you?" he asked Ness who shook his head, looking embarrassed that this was one thing he couldn't do.

Cammy smirked. "Cammy can do it!" she exclaimed, and then realized what she'd just said and quieted down. Joeb once again saw the worry written all over her face - What was the little girl trying to hide? Joeb didn't want to rule out anyone in the Mansion as a suspect, but if he had to guess, he wouldn't have thought Cammy capable of...

...He forced his thought away from that. The truth lay in that desk, and no matter what Cammy was trying to protect, he'd get those answers. "Can you open it? If not, I'll just shoot the lock off. I doubt Master Hand'll care if there's some valuable information in there."

Cammy nodded slowly. She took two bobby pins that were somehow hidden in her hair and crouched over the desk and inserted one at the bottom and the other one at the top. For two minutes, she worked at it, fiddling with the upper bobby pin until finally there was a faint click!

Ness eagerly jammed the cabinet open and then stared for a moment. From his point of view, Joeb couldn't see why he'd done so.

"What is it?" he asked.

Relief was evident over Cammy's face, which made Ness's next sentence understand. "They're gone. Somebody, someone... they must have taken them."

Slowly he slid the cabinet shut as a hopeless sort of ringing filled Joeb's ears. All he could think of was that whoever the murderer was was always one step ahead of them.

How long has it been? I don't even want to... :P But here you are. Sorry I kept you waiting and at quite a cliffhanger! Many of you thought Rio was dead, but nope... Not yet. And I can tell you something else too. She won't be the next one to die either.

In the span of this chapter and the last chapter I've managed to delete 2 fictions... But don't fear, I'm not deleting this one yet. I have the plot all down and even though it's difficult to write (Not in terms of plot because I already know what's going to happen, heh) I'm not giving up yet! No sirree. I'm going to keep this up 'til the very end. I'm not sure how long it'll be in terms of chapters... But I'm thinking it'll maybe be around 20? If that's the case then we're not even halfway finished! Guess that means I've got to quicken the pace!

Stay tuned... Keep giving me your guesses and your feedback if any of you are still around. Muahahahahaha!