FILE 08 - "DS Division"
Master, I have a report that is very important to make.
Your hearts have decreased quite dramatically. Replenish some of your life at the earliest opportunity.

Little Link's eyes opened. A smell dominated his nose - trash, garbage, rotten food.

Where was he? The last thing he remembered was Fi alerting him about suddenly being warped to a safer location, but where was this? It smelled like trash and garbagee, and the smell was less than pleasant. He sat up and removed a banana peel from his shoulder before he decided to take a look around where he was.

Seagulls... seagulls were in the sky!

"Ah!" he cried out, jumping out of the green trash bin. Was he back home?! Was he back in his own time, back at the Great Sea and his adventure and...

"... My word," said a sudden voice.

Little Link's head snapped to the source, seeing a rather pleasantly dressed man with a rather large tophat, accompanied by a young boy around his age with a blue sweater. "Um, who are you?"

"We were just about to ask you the same question," quipped the boy. "We heard a crash, and then spotted you in the trash bin."

"Are you alright?" asked the man.

Little Link had to stop to think about that. "... I'm sure I'll be fine, after I get a bit of red potion..."

The man smiled a bit at that and pointed down the street. "There are various shops down this road that sell the potion that you would like. We can take you down it, and show you the way. I am Professor Hershel Layton, and this is my assistant, Luke."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" chirped Luke.

Little Link smiled. "I'm Link, but my friends call me Little Link. Where am I, by any chance?"

Professor Layton smiled even more and crossed his arms. "You have landed in the DS Division, just off of Wii."

While Professor Layton and his young assistant were a tad bit too far to see the explosion and crumbling of the building that had occurred in Gamecube, everyone in the surrounding areas had seen it. People closer to the Division that had been in Wii had seen the smoke and had heard the blast. Everyone in Advance had heard it and most had seen the smoke and the crumbling of the building with their own eyes. People in SNES had seen the smoke and worried there had been a fire. Those in 64 had felt the tremors and feared there were an earthquake. Duster and Kumatora feared Lucas had been involved.

They couldn't have been more right.

Samus, meanwhile, counted heads and swore rather loudly when she realized they were missing one. She turned when she noticed Zelda approaching her and quieted down, deciding to let this Zelda speak to her. She hadn't yet spoken to this new form of Zelda and extremely disliked her brown hair, when she was used to blonde. Her eyes were too sharp, she seemed more like this new Link that she was still growing accustomed to.

"I understand your frustrations in dealing with new incarnations of the Zelda and the Link that you once knew," spoke the new Zelda rather suddenly, putting her hands together before her heart. "I understand that this was all somewhat sudden and unplanned, but you must understand that this is in our nature, and it is a part of our life and the way that we live. I also understand that while this is true, it does not yet excuse the fact that you had grown attached to our previous incarnations and their sudden replacement hurt you greatly.

"Furthermore, with this mind, it makes what I'm about to say much, much harder for me to say to you, understanding that you were attached to my previous incarnation, and she probably did not say to you what I am about to say. It is hard, but it must be said. Your actions today, while they have saved many lives and the state of this Division, still caused harm and destruction of the homes of thousands of people, these farmers included. I cannot say that I forgive what you helped sow, but you did cause the destruction of the Alloys' base here and helped in the elimination of their weapon that they had been using."

The group was silent for a long time. Did Zelda basically tell Samus that all this was her fault? Samus couldn't believe it, and she clenched her fist tightly and tried her best to hold back her emotions and anger toward this woman. How dare she... She had only been trying to help! She didn't mean to cause this, and really, destroying the building had been pretty much the only option, as Maleficent had locked its controls and she had been unable to shut it down.

Footsteps. More footsteps. She looked up to see Link stepping up to his Princess, signing somewhat furiously at her, yet his expression remained stone-faced. Zelda read them with a bit of a frown before she erupted in signs herself, and the two of them began a rather intimate argument. The two of them were going so fast that Samus had trouble reading them, and Captain Falcon grunted angrily before turning to her.

"Well, while the Secret Sign Language Club is having an argument, let's try to decide our next move. We need to find Little Link," he told her. "Where could he have gone?"

"I don't sense him around here," Ness brought up, looking between the two adults. "Which means he somehow left the area completely and wound up somewhere else."

Lucas fiddled with his fingers for a moment. "I-I... I think he m-might h-have warped s-so-somehow..."

"Warped?" Samus asked, looking down at the tow psychics.

"Well, it's not possible that he's dead, otherwise, we would have known," Ness pointed out. "So Lucas has a point with saying that it's possible that Little Link probably warped somehow to another location. The question is - where would Fi send him?"

"It's time like these I wish we had scanners," Captain Falcon brought up with a slight grunt of annoyance. Samus could only nod in agreement.

"Right, agreed. So, I guess our only option is to not worry about it until we find him. Maybe he'll find us," Samus hoped, holding the bridge of her nose in annoyance. She wanted coffee. Or maybe a beer.

"We... We can't just... just leave him b-b-behind!" Lucas stuttered, tears brimming already at just the idea. "We... we ha-have to fi-find hi-him..."

"We will, Lucas, don't worry!" Ness chirped happily.

Samus quickly glanced back at the newly christianed "Secret Sign Language Club" to see that their argument was still going. Some of the nearby farmers also seemed to be betting on the winner, which she found somewhat hilarious.

The DS Division, Little Link decided, was very nice.

It wasn't dirty like SNES, or lowly like 64, or run down like the harbours of Advance. It was very much like the clean streets and buildings of the Wii Division, and he liked that. He had a smile on his face as he held his bottle of red potion in his hands, sipping away at it as he followed the Professor and his assistant down the streets.

As it turned out, the good Professor Hershel Layton happened to know a "Smash Brother" that lived around these parts. Luke had happily stated that the two of them would be happy to help Little Link get there, so he could do nothing but agree, as he didn't know his way around here very well. The streets were paved nice and straight and the shopping around here seemed to be good - or so he figured, there were a lot of girls carrying quite a few bags walking about.

Eventually Professor Layton and Luke stopped before a townhouse residence. Professor Layton turned to Little Link and smiled.

"Here we are, Link, my boy," he said with a smile. "The Smash Brother that I told you about lives here at number 3. His name is Marth, and he lives here with his friend Roy."

"Big Brother told me that he met Marth and Roy," Little Link said with a smile of his own. "I'm sure I can figure it out from here. Thank you, both of you!"

"It was our pleasure," Professor Layton assured him.

"Oh!" Luke suddenly exclaimed, taking out a notepad. "But first - this is tradition! I want to tell you a puzzle."

Little Link blinked. "Okay, let's hear it. I solve puzzles all the time."

"Wonderful! Perhaps you'll like this one. It goes like this..."

PUZZLE 020
40 PICARATS

A, B, C, D and E are sitting on a bench. A is sitting next to B, C is sitting next to D, D is not sitting with E who is on the left end of the bench. C is on the second position from the right. A is to the right of B and E. A and C are sitting together. In which position A is sitting ?

A. Between B and D
B. Between B and C
C. Between E and D
D. Between C and E

Little Link pondered.

... Oh, did he ponder. He went over the question multiple times and even asked Luke to repeat it one more time when he thought he had the answer. Luke simply smiled and repeated it with ease.

Then, Little Link had it. He gave a big smile and pointed his pointer finger at Luke. "I've got it!"

ANSWER:

B

The answer is B!

The seating arrangement is explained as D "not sitting with E, who is on the left end of the bench", which would place both of them on opposite ends. Putting into consideration where everyone else is sitting, the arrangement goes like so:

E, B, A, C, D.

Therefore, the answer is option B!

Luke gave a big smile. "That's right! You are amazing at puzzles, Link!"

Little Link blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his head. "I have to solve a lot of them on my adventures."

Professor Layton gave a smile, and together the two puzzle-solvers led the way to number 3, waving goodbye as they left Little Link there to ring the doorbell on his own.

A sudden panic rose inside Little Link, worried about how he would have to explain just how he had gotten here. The door slowly opened to reveal a red-haired swordsman, who broke into a grin.

"Hey, it's the little Link! It's me, Roy, remember?"

Little Link could only shake his head. "Um, no..."

"Aw, don't worry too much about it, I only helped out in the battle of the Wireframes, anyway," Roy scoffed slightly, waving his hand absentmindedly. "What are you here for, Lord Marth?"

"I'm just here for help, really," Little Link explained. "I have to get back to the Gamecube Division, I got separated from my group."

Roy nodded understandably. "I can understand that, Lord Marth arrived just recently with Lord Ike and a few others, saying that they can't find Mr. Game & Watch. Perhaps you can help each other."

"Roy?"

Both turned to see Princess Peach standing in the hall, appearing concerned. "Roy, Marth wants to know who's at the door..." Roy stepped out of the way and Peach gasped, putting a hand to her mouth. "Oh! It's the new Little Link, oh, dear goodness..." She rushed up to the small Hylian and hugged him slightly. "Oh, dear, I've been so worried about the children! Are the other two okay?"

It took Little Link a moment to realize she meant Ness and Lucas. "Y-Yes, they're okay. They're with Samus, and Captain Falcon and Big Brother, so they should be."

"Oh, that's a relief, then," Peach replied, clearly glad about the news. "But how come you're all alone? Where did they go?"

Little Link then went on to explain, in great detail, what had happened since they started standing up to the Alloys, to what happened in 64, Advance, and SNES, to what happened in Gamecube and Samus' attempt to stop their launching by aiming the attack in the building. He explained how they attempted to leave the building, but as it turned out, they had no chance and so Samus bolted out a window, clutching Lucas, followed by Captain Falcon with Ness. He explained how Midna had teleported Link, but not him, and then he stopped.

Grasping the sword strapped to his back, he explained what Kumatora had done in Advance while they had visited Lucas' family. He explained Fi, or as much as he knew about it, and how she had informed him that the Goddess warped him away, landing him in the DS Division. Once he was done with his story, he looked up to see the shocked faces of Marth, Peach and Roy, soon joined by Ike, Pikachu and Kirby.

Kirby looked up at everyone, before deciding to say something. "Poyo, poyo?"

Pikachu gave a mock shrug. "Piiika."

Ike crossed his arms. "It sounds like you need to get back to Gamecube then, that is, if they haven't moved since you disappeared from them."

Little Link nodded, clearly worried about that. Did they leave without him? Were they still there?"

"No matter," Marth brought up, stepping up to dictate like a leader and flipping his hair. "We shall aid Little Link in returning to his party. Besides, it would be good to help the Gamecube Division to recover after the attack that they have suffered."

"Lord Marth is right!" chirped Roy, agreeing instantly as always.

"I'm from that Division," Ike pointed out, a frown forming. "It would be nice to check if everyone is alright."

The rest of the group nodded as well, and inside, Little Link felt something swell as he watched it. These people that the kind Professor had brought him to - they were willing to help! Being a Smash Brother, it must be so much fun, all that loyalty that they have to each other and the Divisions that they are from. He was surprised that they had agreed to splitting up like they had. What would have happened, perhaps, if they had all been there when the Alloys had attacked 64? Would that Division have suffered as much damage as it had?

Fi alerted him all of a sudden, and he placed his hand on the hilt instantly, summoning her to the room and startling everyone but him.

"Master, a report," she started as usual. He wasn't sure, but even in her emotionless glance that she kept so strong and firm, he detected a bit of worry. "Statistics state that the Alloys have fled the Gamecube Division after the destruction of their base that your friend Samus had created. After going over the data that I have collected, I can report that I have made a theory of their next movement, which, with all data considered, states that they will be attacking the Gameboy Division next."

"The Gameboy Division?" Peach spoke in worry, a hand moving to her lips. "Oh, that's horrible... It's such a small place, what could they possibly be thinking?"

"Theories state that the Alloys, although they appear to show signs of their own personalities and sometimes act on this, they do not have a mind of their own and do not do their own thinking. It is possible that they are A.I.s, much like myself," Fi stated, turning slightly to face the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. "My theories on the Alloy's next movement and this behaviour are only that - a theory. Whether or not I am create in my conclusion remains to be seen."

The group grew quiet until Marth turned to the others. "We have a choice here to make. We can either take Little Link here to his party in the Gamecube Division and help with recovery, or go based on Fi's theory and check on the Gameboy Division, and eliminate any threats the Alloys create."

Roy stepped up next to his friend. "All those in favour of going to the Gamecube Division, raise your hands."

Kirby, Ike and Roy raised their hands.

"All those in favour of going to the Gameboy Division, raise your hands."

Pikachu, Peach and Little Link raised their hands.

Roy turned to Marth. "We have a tie, Lord Marth. What are your orders?"

The group watched as Marth narrowed his eyes.

FILE 08.5 - "SEPARATION"

Oh, my sweet boy...

So strong, so brave, now, yet still you stutter.

Don't worry, love. Mommy's still here. Mommy's still watching you.

Mommy's still protecting you. Always.