Act 251: To Hyrule!

From Accct Wiki

Marth found himself running back into the open grassy field with little time to spare. "Oh no, I'm gonna be late!" He shouted as he ran across the plain.

He arrived at the purple tent to be greeted by Nana and Jigglypuff, who looked like they haven't been waiting for too long. "Yo." Greeted Nana, a mallet slung across her right shoulder. "It took you long enough. I already got like five angry whispers from Popo."

"Sorry." Marth apologized. "But I ran into someone I knew in town."

"It's no biggie." She answered. "Let's just get the quest now."

Marth nodded and the three of them walked into the tent. Inside, Katrina was still sitting, her hands forever moving around the glowing crystal ball. "Greetings! I am Katrina, the quest giver of the Mushroom Kingdom. What quest shall you take part in today?"

Marth opened up the list of quests and scrolled down till he found the one labeled 'Epona's Run'. "Alright everyone. You two ready?"

"Yup!" Nana replied with a grin.

"...I guess..." Jigglypuff whispered.

"Here we go!"

Marth hit the A button on the control. As he did, their screens went black. It stayed that way for a moment, then slowly the picture began to filter back in. Sad music played in the background as a cutsceen began. Marth, Nana and Jigglypuff, with Marth in the front, all turned to see a young girl walk into the tent. She had long red hair and a white dress that went down to about her ankles. Her pointy ears gave away her race and around her neck she wore an... interesting brooch. "Oh, oh!" She cried out, looking extremely distressed. "Are you the heros who have accepted my quest?"

"Yes, young lady." Said Marth, as the cut screen programed him to say. "Tell us, what is your name?"

The girl began to rock back and forth. "My name is Malon. I live in the far away kingdom of Hyrule. My father and I raise horses there, on our farm, the Lon Lon Ranch."

Marth nodded. "Very well, Malon. What is it that you need us to do?"

Malon's face filled with worry. "You see, friends, my favorite horse - Epona - has recently come down with a rare sickness that effects horses. There is only one cure... and no one in Hyrule grows it. The only people who do are the mushroom men of the Mushroom Kingdom." She explained. "Worried for my horse, I came here with my father to purchase the medicine. We were to head back tomorrow... when we received word that Epona's situation had grown worse.

"Yes. Go on."

"The journey from Hyrule to the Mushroom Kingdom on foot takes atleast a two days. Epona needs this medicine by tonight, or... or..." Malon's eyes began to fill with tears. "Please! You must help me!"

Marth crossed his arms. "Young lady, you must understand that we travel at the same speed as you. We will not reach Hryule by night."

"Not on the normal path!" Malon cried. "You see... there is another path. If you were to take it, you could arrive in Hyrule by the night. My father and I would take this route but... it cuts through a dark and dangerous forest... known as The Lost Woods."

"I've heard of the woods." Marth answered. "So, Malon, you want us to go through these woods and arrive at the Lon Lon Ranch with the medicine before night falls?" Malon nodded. "This is no easy task you ask of us."

"Please! I will pay anything you ask!" Malon yelled, taking a step forward. "Anything, just please! Please try!"

Marth looked down at the ground. "..." After a few moments of thinking, he nodded. "Very well."

Malons' woeful face began to brighten up. "Really? Thank you, thank you! Here!"

You've received EPONA'S MEDICINE from MALON

"Please hurry, Marth!"

The screen faded to black once more. Another moment passed, then the image of Marth and his party standing infront of the counter was seen on their computer screens once more. "You have accepted this quest." Cackled Katrina. "Go, now, to this area and complete the quest!"

You can now travel to THE LOST WOODS

Marth spun around and smiled. "Did you guys see me in that cutscene? I was so cool! Haha!"

Jigglypuff blushed slightly. "Um, yes, you were..."

"Well then, are you guys ready?" Jigglypuff nodded but no response came from the Mallet Smasher. "Nana?"

Nana seemed to be lost in thought. "That cutscene... how... since when?"

"Nana!" Marth said again more forcefully, shocking her out of her thought.

"Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking of something." She nodded. "Yes, I'm ready.

"Then off we go!" Marth announced, walking out of the tent. "Off to The Lost Woods!"

Jigglypuff smiled weakly and followed her friend forward. However, Nana stayed behind for a moment, still deep in thought. "That doesn't make any sense." She muttered, slowly following her two party members. "Since when could NPCs speak a players name?"

--

I ran Marth's avatar right up to the large white portal. "Alright then... here we go!" I call out, entering the void, and selecting my destination.

Finally... I was only a quest away from gaining answers...

--

--The Lost Woods--

Marth, Nana and Jigglypuff appeared ontop of a large grassy hill. It was a sunny field, with the rays of the sun beaming down from behind realistic looking clouds. Of in the distance was a huge and dark clump of trees with a single road leading into it, which Marth presumed to be the Lost Woods. Beyond that, there was large castle sitting in the distance. "Wow..." Marth said in awe. "This place looks... more real."

"It should." Said Nana. "We're no longer on the Mushroom Kingdom server. Marth, Jigglypuff... Welcome to Hyrule!"

As Nana finished her sentence, the background music began to flood in. It sounded loud and energetic... like some sorta of theme to an epic legend. But the beautiful music was cut short by the yell of another player. "YOU'RE LATE!"

They turned around to see Popo behind them with his arms crossed and an angry look on his face. "Popo..." Jigglypuff muttered meekly, taking a step back.

Popo took a few steps forward and stopped infront of Marth. "Okay, Marth. Click me, then go into party. From there, go to the add member button. Once you click it, it will ask if you want to form an alliance with me. Got it?"

"Yeah..." Marth answered, following Popo's instructions. His name and stats soon appeared in a new box below that of Marth and his current party. "Uh, so... where is your team?" Asked the swordsman as he began an alliance with the boy in the blue parka.

"Don't ya worry about them." Popo replied. "Let's get this quest over with!" He ran to the side of the hill and jumped off, soaring through the air for a bit. When the game's gravity finally reclaimed him, he skidded down to the foot of the hill and began to run off in the direction of the forest.

"He's sure in a rush." Said Marth as he began to walk calmly down the hill with Nana and Jigglypuff following. "Nana, do you think he'll mind if we take our time?"

Nana gave an unsure look. "Uuuuuh... why are we going to take out time?"

"I've never been here." Answered the swordsman. "I'd like to take a look around. It looks so much different then the other fields."

"Like I said, we're not in Mushroom Kingdom anymore." Explained the mallet smasher. "This is Hyrule. Each of the different servers has its own style, although they all fall back to the same core idea - fantasy. Mushroom Kingdom was more... out of this world fantasy. Hyrule is more... once upon a time fantasy. Ya get it?"

Marth nodded as he and Jigglypuff reached the foot of the hill. The two looked around the large grassy field. The field itself seemed different. As Nana had said, the graphics in this area brought a more 'real' feel to the game. "Look at the colors in the flowers." Jigglypuff said, bending down to look at a small flower. "It doesn't have eyes on it, either!"

Nana couldn't help but smile at the two players as they ran about the empty field, enjoying their first time in Hyrule. "Ah... to be a newbie again... urh, wait, what am I saying?!"

Jigglypuff and Marth found themselves laying down in the grassy field, staring up at the realistic sky. "I really like it here." Jigglypuff said with a smile as Nana loomed in over them. "As much as I love the town and victory outposts, there is rarely a time you can just relax in an area."

Nana shrugged. "I guess... but guys, we really should be moving. Popo isn't one for waiting."

Marth stood up and sighed. "Alright. C'mon Jigglypuff." The three began to walk together towards the dark and impending trees of The Lost Woods. "So... Jigglypuff, anything big happen today? When I logged on, we went right to leveling up. You do anything else?"

"Oh, um yes..." Replied the Pokemon. "My friend from the other day... the mouse guy, he came and invited me into a guild."

Marth looked confused. "A... guild?"

--

Guild... guild... sounds familiar.

"Yes. Its a group of people who sorta join the same... team, I guess." She explained. "Like... we all can talk to each other and stuff. It's really cool. Marth... I thought you knew about guilds?"

My face went red. "Uh... Of course I did!" I quickly shouted back. "I was... testing you to see if you knew what you were getting yourself into."

There was no way she bought that...

"Oh! Hehe, well, thank you... but I know."

...Hum...

--

"So, um..." Jigglypuff began to play with her fingers as the trio walked towards the forest. "Would you like to join our guild, Marth?"

"Eh?" Marth turned in confusion. "Join your... guild?"

Jigglypuff nodded. "Yes. I'd love for you to be in it!" She said with a blush. "I just, um... can't invite you. Let me as my guild leader."

Jigglypuff paused in the meadow for a bit causing Marth and Nana to stop aswell. Nana let out a sigh and said, "Well... Popo is gonna have one heck of a hissy-fit when we get there now."

"Sorry." Marth apologized with a grin.

Nana sighed again as Jigglypuff let out a quick yelp. "Oh! Marth... I'm sorry..." She began, looking down at the grass. "But they only allow... certain players into the guild. I'm really sorry if I had gotten your hopes up."

"No, no, its fine." Marth replied with a laugh.

"Are you two done procrastinating yet?" Nana asked, crossing her arms. "Or are we going to stand out in this field all day? Don't you too want to get to Hyrule?"

The three continued on their way, approaching the eerie entrance to the forest. As they did, the bright light from the sun began to fade, bringing the trio into the dark shadow of the trees. Jigglypuff's character even shivered upon reaching the shadowy entrance. "It must be cold here." She guessed, continuing to walk.

Once enter they were met with a sight they were expecting to see. An angry Popo with his mallet slung across his back. "You guys sure did take your time!" He said as they walked up to the waiting player.

"Sorry, Popo. We got help up." Nana explained with a smile. "But no worries, we're here now, y'know!"

Popo sighed, then smiled and took a step into the woods. "Alright then. Let's get this over with."

The party of four began to march through the dark woods. Every which way they would look, all they could see were dark shadows of the trees. The leaves themselves were covering the forest sky, filtering out all light. The only light in the area came from small holes in the leaves. Ironically, these holes, though extremely small, gave enough light to brighten up the forest to atleast some level of visibility. "Popo, do you know where we are going?" Marth asked at they marched.

"Of course I do!" He called back. "Just make sure you follow me. See, The Lost Woods is just as it says. It's very easy for a player to lose the main road. And once they do, its almost impossible to find their way back to it. Many have to restart the quest."

"Oh."

They continued on, marching through the woods for a bit until Popo lifted his hand causing Marth and his party to stop. "Time to fight."

Infront of Popo three orbs of light began to float up from the ground. Marth smirked and took his sword out while Nana and Popo readied their mallets. Jigglypuff took her staff and took a few steps backwards, getting into her healing position. "Here is how we'll fight. Marth, you go in first and take their arggo. Me and Popo will sneak in from the sides and deal damage. Jigglypuff, heal Marth before us. Do you know Ember yet?" Jigglypuff nodded. "Okay, fire one of those in if you have the MP." Nana explained.

As the ords of light transformed into the beasts they were about to battle, Marth's mouth dropped in shock. "What the heck are those things!" He cried as the epic battle music began to boom through the headset. The orbs had transformed, not into cute little turtles or brown bumps, but into human sized, brown corpses that were rocking back and forth, their arms outreaching towards the party as they gave haunting moans.

"ReDeads." Popo answered, lifting his mallet. "Were you expecting Koopas?"

"Well... I wasn't expecting those things."

"Marth, Go!" Nana cried as the ReDeads began to slowly lumber forward.

Marth readied his blade and dashed towards the first ReDead. He managed to slice it twice, dealing 43 Damage in total, before the corpse was able to get a hold of him. "Ooooh!" It moaned, bringing it's head down on Marth. 50 DAM! Floated above his head. "Ooooh!" It moaned again, biting Marth once more. 50 DAM!

"They're strong!" Marth cried as Jigglypuffs' Life Up aura finally reached him, healing his HP. Marth pushed the ReDead back and prepared another strike. The ReDeads continued to march towards him. "Nana... Popo... I can't fight them all alone..." When no one replied, he glanced to his side. "Huh? They're gone?"

"MALLET MAYHEM!" Cried two high-pitched voices. From the sides of the battle field Popo and Nana flew in, their mallets glowing red. Both of them managed to slam their weapons right down on one of the two ReDeads on the side, dealing about 130 damage to each and knocking them to the ground. The ReDeads moaned and began to rock their way towards the mallet smashers, who charged up to their respected ReDead and began to swing their Mallets wildly. Each strike they managed to land did around 15 damage and slowly lowered the beasts HP bar.

The ReDead that was heading towards Marth back a turn and started to walk back towards the other two to help it's fellow monsters. Marth quickly noticed this and thrusted his saber forward, striking the retreating monster for 20 damage. The ReDead turned back towards Marth and lunged forward, at which the swordsman easily managed to dodge. While the ReDead stumbled, his blade began to glow blue. "DOLPHIN SLASH!" His avatar cried, striking the ReDead with his powerful blade, dealing 93 damage.

Behind Marth, Nana and Popo were having an easy time dealing with their ReDeads. Nana was jumping about, striking her monster from all different angles, not allowing the ReDead enough time to try and grab the little warrior. "Ya!" She would cry, swinging her mallet across the back of the beast, dealing about 13 damage and knocking it forward.

Popo was busy knocking the ReDead about the fighting area. He kept using special moves that knocked the ReDead down and across the ground, after which Popo would follow. "MALLET MAYHEM!" He cried again, swinging his red hammer at his ReDead. His attack sent the monster flying across the field and slamming into a tree. As the damage affected the ReDeads HP bar, Popo charged forward. The ReDead was limp on the tree, having a hard time try to get up. He lifted his mallet and brought it smashing down on the ReDeads helpless body, dealing a major hit for 30 damage and destroying his monster. "Got it!"

"Ooooh!" Popo turned to see that Nana's ReDead had finally gotten ahold of her and watched helplessly as her HP bar dropped drastically.

"Life Up Alpha!" Cried Jigglypuff, healing the Mallet Smasher of her wounds. "Life Up Alpha!" She called once more as the ReDead attacked again. "EMBER!" Jigglypuff pointed her staff at the beast which had just let go on Nana. A small flame appeared at the feet of the beast. The ReDead moaned and looked down just as that flame exploded into a group of larger flames, dealing a major hit of over 100 damage and destroying the ReDead. "Wow. Are they weak against fire?"

Nana nodded. "Yes. Thanks, Jigglypuff."

Marth continued to strike his ReDead monster with his blade, dealing good amounts of damage. The ReDead went forward again, trying to grab onto the swordsman, however, the attack missed and allowed Marth to give a major hit. But in the end, it was Popo who managed to jump up and swing down his mallet, crushing the ReDead to nothing and delivering the final blow. The ReDead moaned and exploded into pieces of colors as their EXP flashed across the screen.

--

That was pretty tough... for my first battle in Hyrule, I suppose.

"Good work guys." I said, watching my experience points slowly fill my EXP bar. "Let's get a team high-five!"

But instead, Jigglypuff blushed, Nana smiled then looked away and Popo just kept on walking.

So much for team spirit...

--

--Hyrule--

Link and Ness appeared right outside of a white portal. The portal was right infront of a bridge, that lead out across a moat and into a wild open field. "So, how much longer do you think it will take for that idiot to get here?" Ness asked as the two began to walk towards town.

Link shrugged. "No idea. It all depends on the path he chooses."

The two players headed down the brick path until they walked into the middle of an open space in the middle of a town. All about them, old, medieval looking cottages and stores lined the streets. Players and NPCs alike sat on the sides of these houses, selling various items and weapons at low prices. There were four big stores in the middle of the square, two on each side, sharing the same large building. On the left side there was the armor and weapons shop, and on the right was the two floored items shop.

Beyond those two stores were two streets lined with more of the cottages of the town. These two roads lead to even more winding road, that lead to even more and more, until you finally reach the huge wall surrounds the entire city. Off in the distance, there was a lock metal gate, which lead to an open grassy hill. Sitting atop the hill was a large castle. Though the sight was from far away, one could make out a huge central tower, that appeared to shoot up into the very sky itself, with a bunch of smaller towers connecting to it through long, brick walkways.

The background music began to flood into Link and Ness's speakers. It was a very... bouncy tune, something you could run through the fields too. It suited the city's cheerful attitude. Once that had entered their speakers, soon after came the voices of many chatting players. "I'm sure you remember how annoying it was to complete that quest, Ness. One way leads to tough riddles, the other leads to tough battles."

Ness nodded. "Yeah... I guess."

The two walked over to the right street and took a seat down on the side of the weapons and armor shop. "I really don't see the point in inviting him to join, though." Ness added. "He's useless to us at his current level, right?"

"Ness, you're only level sixteen now..."

The boy looked over at the Hylian with a stern look in his eyes. "But you know how much help I am! I can even use my Final Smash! He can't yet. And if they're really getting stronger like Zelda said... then do we have the time to waste teaching him how to use his?"

"We have time." Link answered with a smile. "I don't even think we've found all of the avatars yet. Plus those wired things... and Broken Characters... there is much more going on in this game right now then we know."

"Yeah, but-"

"Ness..."

Ness turned to see a moderator look-a-like standing infront of him with a yellow and white dress. "Hey there, Nessy!" Greeted Daisy with a smile. "Oh, and Link too. Hey there, long time, no quest." She gave a wink to the Hylian who laughed in response.

"What do you want, Daisy?" Ness asked, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

Daisy sat down from across the two. "Oh, nothing. I just came here wondering... about those wired beasts." Link and Ness's attention suddenly went directly to the healer. "I see you've both heard of them."

Link smiled. "No, sorry! I haven't. I've only heard rumors about them on the forums." He said with a dopey grin while rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Same here." Ness answered calmly.

"You're both lying, and I know it." Daisy said with a smirk. "Marth told me about the little adventure you and him had the other night, Link."

Link's goofy face quickly changed to a serious one as Ness looked up at Link worriedly. "Daisy..." He started. "I..."

"Before you start giving me all those lies, how about you just tell me the truth, kay?" Daisy asked with a grin. "How about you guys start by telling what they are. Some sort of random event, right? With a super cool prize?"

The Hylian continued to look sternly at the healer. "What happened the other night... is nothing of your concern." Link replied standing. Daisy looked confused and she was about to say something when Link cut her off, "Please, stay out of anything involving those wired monsters."

She looked up at the Hylian confused. "Huh? Hey why?!"

"Its dangerous for a player like yourself to get involved."

"What do you mean, 'like myself'?" Daisy yelled, standing up aswell. "Why can you deal with them, but I can not?"

"Ness told me that you encountered on of them, right?" She nodded. "That must be why you're so interested. Daisy, listen... drop the notion that this some sort of event. Don't contact Marth about this again. Forget that ever happened."

Daisy looked shocked. "Are you serious?!" She screamed, gathering the attention of some players passing by. "The wired beast that I couldn't harm, but the newbie could... the broken character showing up out of nowhere and destroying it... the way Marth's body was disappearing when he died! It's all so weird, how do you expect me to just stay out of it?!"

All of the yelling began to attract a crowd. Ness looked about nervously. "Link... too many people." He whispered, standing up.

But Link's face never changed from his stern glare at Daisy. "You said you couldn't harm it, right?" Daisy angrily nodded. "Then there you have it." She watched as the Hylian began to walk away. But before he left the area he shot her one last glare, his eyes with such force that it seem to pierce through the very monitor of Daisy's. "You're useless to us."

Daisy let out a loud gasp. "I'm... what?" She said weakly as her character fell to her knees.

"C'mon Ness." Link said as he began to walk away. "Zelda is waiting for us."

Ness nodded and chased after the swordsman while Daisy remained on the ground, staring at the brick road. Players who gathered around her began to ask, 'Are you okay', 'What did he do?' and 'Did he use an item on her?'. But Daisy didn't respond to them. She bit her thumb and looked up at the receding shadows of Link and Ness. "You two... I will find out what is going on. No matter what!" She then stood up and logged off, leaving the players wondering what had just happened.

"Don't you think that was a little hard on her?" Ness asked Link as the two made their way towards the white portal.

"It was for her own good." Link replied. "Who knows what dangers could happen if a normal player gets involved with the 'Event'."

When the two reached the portal, Ness was ready to warp off. "Ready?" He asked the Hylian.

"No... wait." Link paused for a few moments, checking something over. "Ness, go on ahead. I just noticed something I need to take care off. I'll join you in the field in a while."

Ness looked nervous. "Link... are you sure you're okay?" Link nodded. "...If you say so. I'll meet you infront of the castle, then."

"Okay. See ya." Link dissolved the party and Ness warped off.

--

Marth's blade sliced through the rotting body of a ReDead, cutting the creature in two. It let out a moan as it fell into halfs to the floor before exploding into pieces of colorful data. The four of them gained their EXP and began to walk on. "These fights are getting easier and easier..." Marth said as the group ventured deeper into The Lost Woods. "I bet I could solo them!"

"I'd like to see you try." Popo answered with a smirk, though it couldn't be seen in the darkness of the forest. "Lets see... we should be coming up to the crossroads now."

"Cro-Crossroads?" Jigglypuff asked confused.

Nana nodded. "Yes. You see, in this quest, you can choose to go one of two ways. Both ways lead to hard challenges, although they are all able to be completed."

"Which way are we going?" Marth asked.

Popo shrugged. "You're the leader. I suggest going left, though."

"Why?"

Before the mallet smasher could answer, the ground reached a fork in the road with a large stone in the middle of where the two paths diverge. "Oh. We're here."

Just as Popo spoke, at cutscene began. The sound of things rattling began to echo through-out the forest as a shadowy figure appeared upon the top of the stone. Marth took out his sword and pointed at the creature. "Who are you!" He was programmed to call.

The shadow figure began to giggle. Ther was a pulse of purple, which lifted the shadows from the figure. He wore a red tunic, with green gloves and red curled shoes. Below his tunic he wore green pants, that were ripped to give the appearance of grass. On its head it wore a hat that was shaped somewhat like a flower, and on its face it wore a mask shaped liked a purple heart with spikes and bulging eyes. "Hehehehe." It cackled as it twitched its head back and forth.

"What kind of creature is this?" Marth asked, gripping his sword tightly in both hands. "A demon? I see now why this forest is dangerous."

--

No... I mean, the hordes of walking corpses didn't give you a clue, huh Marth?

--

"Hehehehe." It cackled again. "Hello, weary travelers." It finally spoke. "Welcome to The Lost Woods. I see you've made it this far into the mysterious forest without becoming lost. But without my help, hehehehe, you shall remain lost in these woods forever." It laughed once more. "So will you trust me?" It quickly noticed the look of distrust upon Marth and his parties faces. "Hehehehe, is that a no?"

"How can we trust you, demon, when you have to give us your name!" Marth asked.

It cackled. "My name, I have none. I have forgotten it since I became lost in these woods. You can call me Skull Kid. And as for trusting me, hehehehe, you don't have much of a choice, or do you want to be lost forever?"

Marth put his sword back away. "What will you have us do, then?"

"To your left, there is a path. If you were to take it without my help, you would reach impassable boulders. I shall open them for you, if you can answer my riddles. Hehehehe. And to the right, the forests, which is filled with corpses, shall attack you and drag you into the darkness of the woods. With my help, I shall guide you through the maze of trees and bodies to make it out safely."

"Which way should we go, then?" Marth asked.

"Hehehehe... that is up to you, friend. But choose wisely. If you remain in these woods too long, you too shall join the ranks of the skull kids, and your bodies will be left to the forest!" As it cackled, more rustling began to be heard. The group began to glance around as more of the Skull Kids began to crawl out of the bushes. They each cackled in time, filling the air of the forest with an eerie laughter.

"What the!" Marth said, as he and his party drew their weapons.

"Do not worry, friends." Skull Kid spoke. "They shall not harm you... yet. But if you can not make it out of the woods by sunset, hehehehe, you shall become one of them!"

The Skull Kids all began to cackle once more as the cutscene ended. "Wow..." Jigglypuff muttered, clenching her staff tightly. "That was... kinda spooky."

"Well, this game is rated PA for Post-Adolescence." Nana answered with a smile. "It'll have some freaky things like that. It kinda made me a bit nervous, too. The first time I saw it, I mean."

"This isn't your first time doing this quest?" Marth asked.

Nana shook her head. "No. See, I'm a Mallet Smasher. Mallet Smashers are advance jobs, jobs you can only get once you've reached level seventy. Unlike the other jobs you can get at level twenty, you can only use that advance job by making a new character. So when we made our characters, we had to start back at level one."

"I see." Marth said as he looked over at Popo, who was busy tapping his foot. "That would explain why he's in such a rush. You've done this quest before, haven't you Popo?"

"Of course!" Answered the Mallet Smasher.

Marth nodded. "Alright then. I trust your judgement. We'll go to the left."

Popo smiled. "Kay, cool. I already know all the answers to the riddles, anyway."

And so, the ground set off down the left road. They continued walking into the darkness, looking left and right for any sign of the boulders or Skull Kid. After about five minutes of walking with no battles, Jigglypuff began to get worried. "Maybe we went the wrong way?" She suggested as they continued.

"Not likely." Popo commented. "Infact, look. Theres the first of the stones."

He pointed to a large round boulder that placed in the middle of the road. On both sides of the boulder were thick clumps of trees, the spaces between them too small for the characters to pass. As they approached the boulder, there as another pulse of purple energy and the Skull Kid appeared. "Hehehehe." He laughed. "Welcome to the first stone. Answer my riddle and I shall let you pass. How many letters does the right answer to this riddle have? You have three guesses..."

Marth and Jigglypuff glanced at each other with confused looks. Nana brought her hand to her chin and began to ponder the question. "...Oh, I know it."

Popo smirked. "Heh, this is the easiest one." He walked up to the rock and called out, "Four."

"Good Job, Good Job!" Cheered Skull Kid, who vanished in another purple pulse. "The next two will not be as easy!" As his voice echoed out, the front part of the stone fell forward, revealing a pathway the group could walk through.

"Oh. Hey, Popo, thats no fun!" Marth called out as they walked through the archway. "Let us try and answer the riddles. I know you know them all, but..."

Popo shook his head. "No, lets just get this quest over with."

"Oh, Popo, come on..." Nana said as they continued past the rock. "Why not let them have a little fun? I didn't know the answer right away, either."

"Hmph... well... if you say so, Nana. But if we use up two of our three guesses, I'm stepping in."

Marth smiled at Popo's comment. "Good. Now it'll be more fun!"

"So, um..." Jigglypuff began to ask. "How did you get that riddle? I didn't understand it..."

"Four is the only number that has the same amount of letters as the amount the number represents. Four letters to the number four." He explained. Marth and Jigglypuff both gave perplexed glances. "...It's really very easy if you think about it."

"...No its not!" Marth cried as the group continued on their way.

--

--Hyrule Castle--

Ness stood outside in the middle of a huge grassy field, staring up at the amazingly beautiful, yet very haunting Hyrule Castle. The weather around the tip of the castle was forever clouded, giving the look of a forsaken kingdom. Just then, the boy heard the sound of someone warping into the area. "You're late!" He cried, turning around to meet Link's face.

Link gave a laugh. "Yeah, yeah! Sorry. I just realized I was out of items and I needed to stock up." He answered with a smile.

"Took awful long to stock on items, eh?" Ness replied, raising his eyebrows. "Could it be that good ol' Link is really PKing in his spare time?"

"What?! Never!"

Ness broke out laughing at how defensive Link got over his joke. "Haha!"

"Let's just go in. I'm sure Zelda has been waiting long enough." Link said, cracking a smile at the laughing boy.

Link and Ness entered the huge castle and began to march down the long isle towards a single female hylian. "Oh, looks like we're the firsts one to arrive." Ness muttered as they continued forward.

"The tale of the godless twelve ended." Link called out as the two reached the end of the walkway.

"And the tale of the twenty-seven begins." Zelda turned around and smiled. "Oh, Link. Ness. Wonderful. I was wondering if anyone would arrive."

Ness glanced around the castle. "Yeah, it seems that we're the only ones here... where is Sheik? Luigi? Pit?"

Zelda shook her head. "I don't know. I sent them messages and not one of them have replied yet."

"It might be for the better." Link said with a smile. "You see, Marth has finally reached level ten! Infact, he's on his way to Hyrule right now!"

"Really?!" Zelda said with exicement filling her voice. She clasped her hands together infront of her chest and smiled. "That's excellent news!"

Link nodded in agreement while Ness shrugged. "I don't really see what the big deal is." He muttered, looking away. "He's just a newbie. Can't do much. And there is still no gaurentee that he'll even join the guild, y'know? All this build up will be for nothing."

Before Zelda could answer, the sound of another person warping into the area filled the quiet castle. The group turned to see a female human in a pink dress and blonde hair walking towards them. "Zelda." She said quietly as she apporched the three. "News."

"Yes, what is it, Peach?" Zelda asked, stepping down from her perch and walking to the other woman.

"Woah! No way that can be Peach!" Ness cried, looking shocked. "Peach... the system admin of Mushroom Kingdom!? What is SHE doing here?!"

"I have no clue!" Replied Link, who was in as much shock as Ness. "Zelda... whats going on?"

Zelda turned and smiled. "Oh. Sorry. Recently, Peach and I have been keeping in contact about where those wired monsters have been showing up."

"We call them 'Wire Frames' at the office." Peach added.

"Yes. She has been giving me the locations on where they show up. Did you really think I told you to go to Donut Hills on a lucky guess, Link?" Zelda asked. "Peach would be exploring these areas herself... but she's tied to her duties."

The administrator nodded. "Thats correct."

"So, even though you know the full scale of this problem..." Ness began. "You're still too busy dealing with setting up stupid events, instead of dealing with the things that could destroy the game, right?"

"Ness!" Zelda and Link called out in unison. But Peach seemed unphased by his comment.

"Please understand that the administrators are doing as much as we can to combat this problem." She explained calmly. "But you must understand, it is difficult for us to keep the game working, and solve this problem ourselves. That is why I have my two closest friends... and you, Zelda and the rest of your guild helping us out. And, you and I both know this... no matter how strong the administrator is, they will not be able to stand up to those creatures."

Ness crossed his arms and looked away. "Whatever." He muttered.

"That may be true, but why are you getting regular players like us involved?" Link asked. "I mean... I know our avatars aren't normal, but... yours isn't either, right? Why don't you just solve this problem while the others keep the game running?"

Peach looked confused. "Link... you should know that this battle is not just the administrators. Not to mention... its not possible for a single person to defeat this problem on their own."

Link blushed. "Oh, yeah... that was a kinda stupid question on my part. Hehe... but-"

"Oh!" Peach shouted quickly. "As much as I would like to answer more questions, my duties are calling. So please, allow me to deliver my message so I can be on my way. I promise I will return and answer any more questions you have later." Link and Ness both nodded reluctantly. "Thank you. Zelda. That area I told you we found traces of the Wire Frames..."

"Yes?"

"Well... its hard to say... but it seems it's no longer there." Zelda looked puzzled as Peach began to explain. "You see, not too long ago, a player got to where the Wire Frame was, and managed to not only defeat it, but got those Broken Characters to show up and delete the beast. If that isn't odd enough, the player tried to capture the Broken Character, for reasons unknown with what I presume to be a hack."

"Do you know who it was?" Zelda asked, to which Peach shook her head. "Oh."

"Their data was too well protected. We couldn't find his GID number, or his account number. I believe it was one of Bowsers hackers, it seemed to be the same type of hack he would use." She took a breath and continued on, "However, I have no conclusive evidence that this person was indeed a Warlock. And as such, I can not put that down on record as of yet. Still, it's a pretty good chance it was."

Zelda pondered the thought for a little bit. "...Okay. Is that all?" Peach nodded. "Very well. Thank you, Peach."

"It's no problem. I will keep you posted on any other areas." Peach waved good bye and turned, heading down the main hallway towards the door.

"That was very odd..." Zelda said once the mage had left, crossing her arms. "...It seems that Bowser really has been taking an interest in the 'event' since Sheik and Pit failed to get the stone. We'll have to keep our eyes open for him at all times, got it?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Ness and Link replied, saluting the arcane Hylian.

Zelda let her arms fall to her sides. "Well... it seems there was no point to call the guild together today. You two can go back to leveling up if you want."

"Hey, hey! There is still a point!" Link called out. "We can make a welcome party, for Marth! Y'know, make him feel like the guild is ready to greet him with open arms." Ness rolled his eyes and Zelda smiled.

"Good idea. Alright then... I'll continue to try and get in contact... Oh! Look at that." She started to giggle. "Pit just sent me a whisper. He's on his way."

Link smiled. "Alright then! Zelda, you gather the other members." The swordsman began to walk towards the open doors of the castle. "I'm gonna go wait in town for Marth!"

Zelda nodded. "Alright. We'll be waiting here."

"Hey wait! Don't I get a say in this!?" Ness yelled, looking helplessly at Link, then back to Zelda, who smiled and replied,

"No."

--

--The Lost Woods--

Marth and his party continued on forward. "Hey, Popo..." Marth muttered, looking over the shoulder of the mallet smasher. "We're not lost, are we?"

"Of course not!" He called out with a smile.

"Then, where are we?"

Popo's happy face turned nervous. "Shouldn't we have passed the second boulder by now?" Jigglypuff asked.

"Yeah... Popo..." Nana inched closer to their leader, her mallet slowly being raised into a fighting position. "We're not lost, right? We can't be lost, right? Right!?"

"We're not lost!" Popo replied, this time not as confident. "I'm just... taking the safer route. Y'know, so we don't get lost. The forest gets very confusing." He said with a nod or two. "This path is just longer because... there are no false paths you can take that will lead you away! Yeah!..."

The three others exchanged worried glances as Popo continued to march bravely into the dark forest.

--

--The Lost Woods--

"See!" Popo exclaimed, pointing up at a huge boulder that stood in between them and the path to Hyrule. "I told you I knew where we were going."

"Yeah... after you had to take a ten minute bathroom break." Marth said, eyeing the players carefully. "Thats totally not enough time to check online for maps and guides to help us out on how to get there."

Popo crossed his arms in a huff. "Well... its not my fault I have bladder problems."

"It's true, he does have them." Nana agreed with a nod, causing the boy to blush a red so deep that his face could barely be seen in the dark forest.

"Shut it Nana!" Popo yelled causing the female to laugh.

Jigglypuff as well let out a slight giggle as Marth apporched the huge boulder that stood in the way. "Ready guys?" The group stopped their laughing and nodded, all taking a step forward to fill in behind Marth.

There was a pulse of purple energy and soon appearing above the rock was the floating NPC known as Skull Kid. "Hehehehe." Cackled the little boy-looking creature. "You've made it far, my friends. But now, can you answer my second riddle?"

"Bring it." Marth said with a smirk.

"I can not been seen by the likes of you..." Began the Skull Kid. "But its said that ever creature has me. My existence is still under much debate, yet I have my own style of music. What am I? Hehehehe... you have three guesses."

Marth looked stumped. He glanced behind him and looked over at Jigglypuff, who shrugged, then at Nana, who was pondering the question. "Popo, you know the answer to it, right?" He nodded. "Okay. So anyone got a clue?" A moment passed and no one answered.

"I think the answer to the riddle lies in what he said at the end of it." Nana finally said, breaking the silence. "The part 'I have my own style of music' is what throws me off. I was at first thinking a name... but then the second part destroyed that theory."

Marth agreed. "I was thinking maybe like a spirit or time, or something, but... yeah, neither a spirit nor time doesn't have its own style of music, right?" Nana and Jigglypuff shook their head. "So... then what."

"It's really not that hard, y'know." Popo said with a shrug. "I got it much faster."

"A voice, maybe?" Jigglypuff suggested. "I mean, we can't see it... and we all have one... and you can sing with it."

Nana nodded. "Yes, but... since when as our voice been under debate of it's existence?"

"Oh, thats right..." Jigglypuff muttered, lowering her head. "Sorry..."

"Then again, if you think about it..." Marth said, bringing his hand to his chin. "It may be voice. Since people still debate over whether or not animals can communicate through their grunts and moans in a way that we do."

The Mallet Smasher in pink raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought most people almost all agreed on that answer..."

Marth shrugged. "Well... there might be some who don't. I'm just guessing. It's worth a shot, y'know."

Nana didn't seem to thrilled with Marth and Jigglypuff's answer, but she slowly nodded. "Alright. Give it a shot then. The worst we could be is wrong, anyway."

The blue haired human nodded and stepped up to the stone. "Voice!" He called out to the Skull Kid.

"Hehehehe... WRONG!" Skull Kid snapped his fingers and the ground around Marth and his party transformed into quick sand.

"What the-!" They called out as they slowly began to sink into the sand. "Aahh!"

Skull Kid couldn't help but giggle. "You have two more guesses. Use them wisely, friends."

Marth turned around and faced his sinking party members. "O-Okay! It wasn't voice!"

"Then what could it be!?" Jigglypuff cried out in a panic. Nana tried to calm her down, but she too was starting to get a little nervous over failing the quest.

"Popo... can you give us any hints?" Marth asked after the group finished their panic.

Popo laughed. "I thought you guys wanted to solve this on your own! Haha... well, alright." He calmly began to reveal his hint, "Well... instead of focusing on the whole 'it doesn't exist' part or anything, why don't you guys just start by... listing different types of musics?" Popo suggested.

"Different types of music?" Marth looked confuse. "Well... alright. Let's see." He began to count on his fingers as he listed types of music. "Theres rock... and rap... and heavy metal... and folk..."

Nana continued for the swordsman. "Blues, Jazz-"

"J-Pop!" Jigglypuff blurted, gaining the attention of her party members. "...Sorry."

"Well, yeah..." Nana continued, "Blues, Jazz, J-Pop, Pop itself, Reggae, Ska, Soul, Tencho... Disco... um..." Nana paused to think of more. "Contemporary?"

"Ragtime, Punk, Classical..." Marth added, scratching the back of his head. "I don't see where this is going. How is this suppose to help us, Popo."

Before he could answer, Jigglypuff let out a small yelp. "Oh! Nana. Could you repeat you're list to me? I think... I know..." She asked.

Nana looked confused, but nodded. "Alright. Blues, Jazz, J-Pop, Pop, Reggae..." Her eyes shot wide open as something in her mind clicked. "...Of course!" She slapped herself on the forehead and began to laugh. Jigglypuff smiled and knowing that her guess was correct, she began to wade her away across the quicksand up to the boulder. "Marth, you weren't far off with your first spirit guess."

"Huh?" Marth turned to see Jigglypuff calling out her answer. "What was it?"

"Soul!"

As she called out, Skull Kid began to cackle again. He stood up and clapped as the quicksand vanished and an archway appeared in the boulder. "Very good, friends! But still one riddle awaits you! The hardest yet, hehehehe, you shall not get! Good Luck!"

"Good job, Jigglypuff." Praised Popo as he once again took the lead and began to march through the forest. "I was a little shock you didn't get it sooner though, Nana. As for you Marth..." He turned and smiled at the swordsman. "I'm not too surprised with your results! Although I was impressed you were on the right track so early."

"Um..." Marth raised an eyebrow. "Thank... you?"

Popo turned back to the road and started up a new path. "This way guys. We're only a riddle away from arriving in Hyrule!"

--

--Hyrule Castle--

Outside of the castle, Peach made her way down the grassy hill, staring up into the cloudy sky. "I guess this is far enough from any players to see." She reached her hand out and caused a white orb to float out from her palm. The orb traveled forwards a bit, and then transformed into a large, oval portal, with the image of the Mushroom Kingdom in the middle of it.

"Mingling with normal players again, I see. Haven't you learned yet, Peach?"

Peach froze as she was getting in the portal. She turned around with a shocked expression as she came face to face with another system administrator in tight purple spandex. "...Oh. What do you want, Falcon?"

Character: Captain Falcon Race: Human Level: 100 Class: Blackbelt/Buffer HP: 755 MP: 500

The man, named Captain Falcon, took a few steps up to the woman. "Oh, nothing." Falcon replied, crossing his arms. "I just came around to play with the normal players is all. You know, like we're suppose to do?" Peach glared at Captain Falcon, who smirked at her response. "Peach... why are you still doing this?"

"Doing what?" She answered quickly.

"Informing the normal players about something that the system administrators should be taking care of." He replied.

Peach couldn't help but laugh. "You of all people should know that this is above the power of the system administers, Douglas!" She said, calling out the players real name. "You were present the first time this event happened. You know the admins can only do so much. You and I are the only ones who can truly do more then a normal player."

"Well, then, Pauline..." Captain Falcon said, taking a few steps to the left, while thinking of his answer. "The last time this happened, I couldn't do this." He bent down and ripped out a good chunk of the grass from the field. He closed his fist around it and when he reopened his hand, the grass was destroyed and broke up into little blocks of data in his palm.

"You know you can't just delete those creatures!" Peach cried. "We don't know how to destroy them yet! And they have enough power to bypass our own protections and delete other players! The only avatars that can deal any damage to them are those chosen by the game itself!"

Captain Falcon pointed an accusing finger at Peach. "And THATS why we should be working on finding methods to either copy their avatar's data, or asking the players to give their avatars to the system administrators... instead of filling their minds with these thoughts of taking the game problems into their own hands."

Peach was about to call back when something caught her eye. Captain Falcon also noticed and turned around. They saw Link run out of the castle and into the large grassy field. The Hylian took a quick glance over at the two and muttered something to himself before he disappeared, being swallowed by a green warp pipe. "...Where is he going?" Peach asked herself.

"Who cares." Replied Captain Falcon, turning back to the other admin. Peach opened her mouth but was cut off again by something appearing on her monitor. She glanced up to the left, showing that she was reading the message. "Something wrong?"

"I've got to get back to my server." She replied, turning around. "Ashley just told me that the boss is on his way down the hall."

Captain Falcon nodded. "Alright. But we're not done with this, Peach." Peach didn't answer. Instead she walked into the portal and vanished. Falcon sighed and held his hand up to the sky and he himself vanished in a flash of light.

--

The group continued on their way through the extremely dark and forsaken woods. "Popo, how close are we to the next boulder quiz place?" Marth asked, sighing in boredom as they walked. "Maybe we should have chosen the fighting path, now that I think about it..."

"WERE NOT LOST!" Popo cried.

"I know we're not. I trust you navigation skills completely." Marth replied with a smile. "Thats why we've been wandering around in this forest for about an hour or so. We're just enjoying the sights. I mean, it's been so long since I've seen a tree with a knothole in it. I mean, when did we see the last one? Like ten seconds ago?"

Popo was about to answer, but he quickly came to a stop. "Hold on a moment..." He said meekly.

The swordsman nodded. "Kay." Popo's avatar sat on the ground as his player left the keyboard in the real world.

"So, um..." Jigglypuff began, looking about the dark woods. "Nana, how do you and Popo know each other?"

Nana looked surprised. "That's kind of a rude question." Jigglypuff gave a confused stare. "It's not rude to me, but thats not just something you go about asking random people on an online game, you know."

"OH!" She cried out. "Sorry! I- I didn't mean to! Oh, I feel bad."

The mallet smasher laughed. "No, no. It's okay." Nana looked up into the dark leaves of the trees. "It's just some people might take offense. Well... what we are in real life isn't important. But in the game, we're brother and sister. And since we're not in the real world right now, then thats what we are." She looked over at the two. "As long as we're playing this game, Popo and I are brother and sister. And thats all you need to know, right?"

Jigglypuff nodded. "Alright. Thats cool."

"Uh oh..." Popo muttered as he stood up.

"Whats wrong, Popo?" Asked Nana as she walked over to her 'brother'.

Popo sighed. "Well... you know. We're running out of time."

"Huh?!" Marth exclaimed. "Theres a time limit on this quest?"

"No... not that." Popo shook his head again and began to run down the path. "Hurry guys!"

Marth and Jigglypuff looked confused. Nana caught on and explained. "You see, Popo is currently playing his character at his job. His break is about to end... and if he doesn't get back to work as soon as his break is over, he may get fired."

"Then we better get a move on." Marth said as he broke out into a run after Popo. "Let's go!" He called as he disappeared into the distance.

"Wait up, Marth!" Jigglypuff cried as she and Nana picked up speed and chased after the two other party members.

--

--Bowser's Castle--

Bowser sat alone in this throne room atop the very highest tower in his castle. In real life, his player was busy going over computer files and logs of the game, in an attempt to find out where and when the next location of the Wire Frames will be. His silence was ruined soon by another player warping into his throne room. "Lord Bowser." He heard a voice call.

The hacked character didn't move at first, but after a moment, he snapped back to life. "Who goes? Ah, Deceiver! What a wonderful surprise it is to see you."

The player who had warped in was slightly shorter then Bowser, standing with a thick black cloak covering him. His figure more then likely meant he was a Human or Hylian, and upon his hood he brandish the bold number one. "Heh. I bet it is."

"What brings you to my castle?" Bowser asked, getting up off the throne and walking towards his number one warlock.

Deceiver held out his hand. In his palm was a small, diamond shaped item. "It didn't work." He said calmly.

"Really? My net didn't work?" Bowser reached out and took the item for himself. Certain items, such as hacking tools, could not be traded in the normal way of an item. "I see. Tell me, what happened."

"I followed your instructions and went to the area on Kongo Jungle called Hot-Top Volcano." He began to explain. "I found the Wire Frame called WirFra./YOCHEE and battled it. In the end, I managed to defeat it. But when the Broken Character arrived... the net failed to capture it." Crossing his arms he finished, "It seems they're harder to capture then we thought."

Bowser nodded and walked over to his throne. "I will have my hackers work on this and improve on it. Thank you for testing it out, Deceiver."

"No problem."

Bowser placed the item in mid-air. It floated for a bit, then disappeared as a white box surrounded it and teleported away. "You can stay if you'd like. It could very well be only a matter of minutes before either my hackers complete their update... or even the location of another Wire Frame is revealed to us."

Deceiver crossed his arms again. "Mmm..."

"Something wrong?"

"Well..." He put his hand on his hip, pausing to think of a way to approach the question, and then began to explain, "I have... somewhere I'm suppose to be."

Bowser turned. "A previous engagement?"

"Yes." Deceiver answered with a nod. "I've got to keep up playing the game normally, you know. So that I don't become a suspect of being part of your guild and banned by the system administrators."

Bowser chuckled. "Oh, please. You? Banned? Highly unlikely."

"You never know." Answered Deceiver with a shrug.

"Well, alright then. Go to your party - or whatever it is." Bowser said, dismissing his Warlock with a wave of his claw. He turned back to his throne and began to walk up towards it. "I just hope you aren't betraying us. I didn't give you that name for just any reason, my friend." As Bowser sat on his throne, he eyed the cloaked man. "You aren't, are you?"

Deceiver chuckled. "Like I just said. You never know."

"Bwahaha!" Cackled the beast, clapping his claws. "Good, good! Very well, Deceiver. You are dismissed." The Deceiver bowed and warped out of the room. "...So it seems that these characters are alot harder to capture then what I originally believed." He brought his folded claws up to his snout and growled. "This might be more troublesome then I thought..."

"Lord Bowser!"

Bowser turned to see one of his hacker lackies walk into the room. "What is it?"

"I'm just bringing you notification from our hacking section that we received your item and are currently working on fixing the problem right now." Bowser gave the player a blank look. "Uh... we're doing the best we can and we should have it done within the week sir." He continued to stare at his servant with a blank look on his face. "Uh... thats it?"

"...Good job, do you want a cookie?" Bowser asked, raising an eyebrow. "Cause I could make one, you know..." The servant shook his head quickly and left the chamber, fearing for his character's life. "...So hard to find good help these days."

--

"This it?"

"Yes!"

"Finally."

"I told you I knew where I was going."

The four party members found themselves standing infront of the final large boulder. Marth apporched the stone, causing the mysterious Skull Kid NPC to appear, floating above the stone as he did the other two. "Hehehehe." It cackled, clapping its hands together. "You have reached the final stone. But now, my friends, you're fate is put on the line. If you get this riddle wrong, then you shall remain here with us forever!"

"Just tell us the riddle." Marth called out.

"He can't hear you..." Nana whispered to Marth. "He's an NPC."

"..." Marth glared at the mallet smasher who giggled and took a step away.

"Here is your final riddle." Spoke the Skull Kid. "It is at the beginning of eternity, its the end of time and space. It's the beginning of everywhere and at the end of everyplace. What is it?"

"Huh?!" Cried all four of the players, each giving their own shocked gasp.

Skull Kid began to jump up and down. "Hehehehe. You have three guesses! Good luck."

Marth brought his hand to his forehead. "Oh geez... this riddle... it makes my head hurt. No wonder it's the last riddle. Real tough."

Jigglypuff nodded. "Yeah."

"I don't even get this one." Nana said, looking at the forest floor confused. She looked up and glanced over at the other mallet smasher and asked, "Popo, you know the answer right?"

But Popo was doing as just Nana was doing - staring at the forest ground confused. "I... well..." He turned towards the other three hopefully looking faces and gave a nervous smile. "This is a new riddle. They must have changed it, haha..."

The three others' faces took a grim expression. "...And that means?" Nana finally asked.

"I don't know it."

Marth and Jigglypuff gave each other worried stares as Nana crossed her arms and sighed. "It figures..." She muttered. "Well then... let's get to work on guessing."

The group went silent, each of their players trying to find an answer to this difficult riddle. "Well... knowing these riddles, its totally going to be something that we're going to kick ourselfs over when we find out what it is." Popo answered, breaking the silence.

"So we should think of a more... common answer?" Jigglypuff suggested, at which Popo nodded.

"I highly doubt this answer is going to be something complex... then again, it may. Who knows."

Another break of silence. "Anyone have any ideas?" Marth finally asked.

"I think its a mother." Jigglypuff said. "Since within a mother's womb is where life seems to be created... it could be where entirety begins, since thats where human life begins, right?"

"What about the end of time and space part?" Nana asked.

"Well... I don't think time and space would exist within a mother's womb, do you?" She asked, to which Nana shrugged. "I don't know, thats just my guess. What are yours? I don't want to suggest anything that could be wrong."

Nana looked worried. "Mine is a bed."

"How did you arrive at that, Nana?" Marth asked, confused.

"When you go to sleep, time and space seem to stop. You're dreams are endless, like eternity..." She explained. "So, it could be a bed, since we all are pretty much born in beds also... and we tend to die in bends, or atleast in some way end up laying down before our bodies are destroy. So that could justify for the end of everywhere part of the riddle."

Marth nodded. "I didn't even think of that." He then turned to Popo and asked, "And how about you?"

Popo shook his head. "I highly doubt its as complicated as Jigglypuff's answer. Nana's could be right, I suppose. What I think it could be is some sorta of... god answer. Like, a god, or an alpha-omega, or something like that." But then he shook his head again and said, "However, for that to be the answer of the last riddle... it makes no sense. That seems to be the simplest answer ever."

"The beginning of eternity... the end of time and space..." Marth muttered to himself. "How could anything be the start of something that goes on forever, and the end of something that goes on forever?"

The blue mallet smasher suddenly shot up. "A circle!" He exclaimed. "That has no beginning, no end. And its simple enough to make us go, 'Oh, yeah, duh!' if it was the right answer." He turned to Marth and smiled. "Try that?"

Marth looked over at the other two, who seemed to agree with Popo's answer. "Alright." Marth took a few steps forward and shouted up to Skull Kid, "A CIRCLE!"

Skull Kid cackled and began to clap. "Very good, very good!" He called out.

The blue haired swordsman smiled and turned to his party. "Hey, we were rig- ehh?" Marth's sentence was cut short but a huge, metal thing poking him in his back. He turned around to see a canon facing the group. Skull Kid sat near the fuse of the canon with it's finger lit on fire, hovering near the wick.

"Very good guess! But guess again, friends! Hehehehe."

Marth took a step back. "Okay, so it's not circle... Anymore guesses?"

Nana and Jigglypuff shrugged as Popo shook his head. "Nope. Not us." Nana said. "You could try one of our guesses... But I highly doubt either of them is right."

The human swordsman grimaced. "It's not like we have a choice, you know. I'll try your guess, Nana. Jigglypuff, yours doesn't seem to cover all the bases as well as her does. And it's way to complicated." Jigglypuff nodded and Marth called out, "A BED!"

Skull Kid giggle, then lit the fuse on fire, causing Marth and his party to jump backwards. "Nice try, but the next wrong answer, and then you die! Hehehehe!" It cackled.

"Damn it! We need the right answer like right now!" Marth said in a panic, backing away from the fizzling canon.

"Relax." Popo said calmly. "It won't fire unless we get the next guess wrong." Marth looked slightly relieved, but Popo's face stayed stern. "But we still need to hurry... my break is almost over."

Marth gulped. "Uh-oh..." He, as well as the group exchanged worried looks at the sound of the shorting fuse filled their headsets.

--

Luigi slammed the doors of Hyrule Castle open and began to run down the long strip of carpet to Zelda. "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry I'm laaaate!"

Zelda turned as she, Ness and Pit watched the plumber looking human dash up to the group. She smiled as he fell on the ground, his avatar out of breath. "You're not late, Luigi. Didn't you check my message? We canceled the meeting for today."

"We did?!" He shouted, looking up in shock. "Oh... but why are these two here?"

"We're here just because we like the background music." Pit explained with a nod.

Ness sighed and Zelda continued, "Well... we may be getting a new member today."

"Really?!" Luigi exclaimed, jumping up off the ground. "...Is it going to be Pit?"

"No."

"I see. THATS COOL!" Pit glared at Luigi, who quickly realized his error in speech. "I, um, didn't mean it like that."

Pit began to sulk. "I don't get it, Zelda. You're letting some new player join the guild, but you still refuse on letting me join it, even though I'm pretty much part of the guild now, anyway?"

"If you're part of the guild, do you really need to join it?" Zelda rationalized.

The angel huffed and crossed his arms defeated. "So, who is this new member?" Luigi asked.

"He's part of the 'Event'... the blue haired swordsman. His name is Marth."

Luigi crossed his arms. "Marth, huh? ...I see."

Zelda nodded. "We're going to hold him a welcoming party to Hyrule. Perhaps he'll feel welcomed enough by the guild that he'll want to join."

Ness growled and took a few steps away from the other three. "Newbies..." He muttered under his breath. "Always needing their hands to be held... Bah. I guess that runt is no different then."

"What was that, Ness?" Zelda asked, looking over in the boys direction.

Ness shook his head. "Nothing... How much longer till he gets here? It didn't take me this long to finish Epona's Run."

"I heard the server admin recently changed up the spawn and the riddles to make the tougher." Pit said. He paused and thought about it a little more. "Now that I think about it... he only updated it today."

Zelda looked puzzled. "Hm. Well, then I hope Marth can mange to make it through the woods then. It would be a real shame if we've all gathered here for nothing, right guys?" Pit and Luigi nodded while Ness just sighed again. Zelda smiled at her guild and turned back to face the large stain-glass window. "Alright then... only a little while longer till he arrives."

--

Marth and his party sat on the forest ground, each deep in thought about the riddle, the only sound filling the forest was that of the sound of the fizzling canon. "...Everyone still doesn't have a clue, huh?" Marth asked, glancing around the circle of players. Nana and Jigglypuff shook their heads while Popo hollered,

"If we DID, we would TELL YOU ALREADY!" The group looked over at the mallet smasher in shock, who blushed and looked away. "I'm... sorry. It's just I really don't have any more time left. If my boss catches me on..."

Nana inched closer to her ingame brother. "Popo... you can log off, if you want. Marth, Jigglypuff and I will finish the quest, and I'll redo this quest with you a bit later, when you get off from work, okay?"

Popo grumbled something then shook his head. "No. I can't do that. I like to make sure to stick to things through the end." He stood up and pointed at the sizzling canon. "WE'RE GOING TO GET THIS RIDDLE RIGHT AND MOVE ON!"

"Hehehehe." Cackled the Skull Kid. Although it was programmed to cackle, it's timing couldn't be better.

Marth stood up aswell. "Maybe Link or someone will know the answer." Marth typed out his message with the keyboard and sent his whisper to the green hylian swordsman.

>MARTH: Can u help us w/ the final riddle to Epona's Run? >While in THE LOST WOODS, you can only call out for help, but no one can return to save you

"What the?"

"Yeah, we're blocked from getting whispers." Popo explained a bit too late. "As long as we're in this board, we can send whispers, but can not receive them."

The swordsman sighed. "Wonderful. So we can't use any outside help..."

Jigglypuff looked about the forest. "...Then we'll have to solve it the normal way." She said, standing up. "Like Popo said earlier... the answer is likely to be something that we'll kick ourselves over after this quest is complete. Right, Popo?"

Popo nodded. "Yes. If you think about it, the other two riddles seemed like difficult answers, but if you knew what it was talking about, it was very simple." He turned to look at the canon, the cackling Skull Kid and the large impassable boulder. "I'm sure there is a stupid catch to this riddle also."

"It can't be something too overly complicated." Nana suggested as she joined the trio. "Our original guesses were too complex. This game is played by people of all ages and of different backgrounds. Different world views... the games programers wouldn't choose the answer to be something controversial like we suggested."

"And lets look back at the other riddles." Popo added. "Infact, all riddles in general. The riddle itself tells you the answer. Like the first two."

"Well they'd be unanswerable if they didn't, wouldn't they Popo?" Marth replied with a slight taunting tone.

Popo rolled his eyes. "Well, the first one told you what the answer was. The second described to us what the answer was. So... how about we look at the riddle instead of looking for an answer right now?"

"That seems to be the only choice we have." Marth said. "Let me go grab some paper..."

--

I reached over to the left side of my desk and pull a piece of paper out from the printer. I picked up my black pen and began to scribble down the riddle. "It is at the beginning of entirety, its the end of time and space." I spoke as I wrote down the riddle. "...It says its at the beginning of eternity... ugh... what the hell could that be."

I shrugged it off and wrote some more, "It's the beginning of everywhere and at the end of everyplace... What the hell is it?"

"Got any ideas yet, Marth?" I heard Jigglypuff ask from the game.

"No, not yet." I replied.

I looked over the paper. Taking my pen, I drew a line in between the first sentence and the last sentence. "There, maybe that will make things easier... I'll focus on the first part of the sentence, first."

"Good luck." Nana said.

"HURRY!" Cried Popo.

I nodded though they could not see me and began to scan over the first part of the riddle. "It's at the beginning of eternity. And its also at the end of time and space. It's at the beginning of eternity and the end of time and space..." I kept repeating myself, hoping some odd door would fly open in my mind.

What could be at the beginning of eternity and the end of time and space? How could something that has no end have the ending of two other things that shouldn't end as its beginning? "ACK! I just confused myself!" I screamed, grabbing the sides of my head.

Popo sighed. "Think HARDER! I want you to think so hard you have a brain freeze!"

I kept tapping my pen over the words of the riddle and repeating myself, "The beginning of eternity, the end of time and space..."

My ramblings soon turned into scribbling as I continued to write down the phrase over and over on the paper. "It's at the beginning of eternity... and at the end of time and space..."

THUD

I slammed my head onto the desk and moaned. "I don't get it at all..." I said groggily, causing my teammates to sigh. "How could such a complex riddle have an easy answer?"

"Try looking at the riddle literately." Nana suggested. "Stop trying to find an answer, just look it over and see what it is."

Lifting my head, I began to tap my pen infront of the word entirety. "It's at the beginning of eternity..." I muttered as I moved my pen to the other words. "The end of time and space." I started tapping near the end of the sentence out of confusion. "...Hey, wait."

That couldn't be it, could it?

I went back to the first part of the sentence. "It's at the beginning of eternity... it's at the end of time and space..." I checked the bottom half of the riddle. "...Its at the beginning of everywhere... and its at the end of everyplace! I GOT IT GUYS!"

--

"I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Marth shouted, jumping about the forest like a giddy school girl.

"Really?!" Nana and Jigglypuff shouted in disbelief.

Marth nodded. "Yup! And you guys ARE going to kick yourself when you find out the answer!"

Popo lifted his mallet up to Marth's blue hair. "Just make sure you got it right, 'kay little boy? Or else I'll pound your head in."

Popo's threat came off as a mild joke to Marth, who simply smiled and hugged the little man. "Oh, no, I know I got it right! I did, I did!"

Marth whimsically made his way up to the front of the canon and placed his hands on his hips. A huge smile was strung across his face as he boldly began to shoot out the answer. "We're doomed..." Muttered the other three as they covered their ears, awaiting the canon shot.

Marth took in a deep breath and shouted,

"THE LETTER 'E'!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Cried the others in shock.

Skull Kid suddenly began to cackle and clapped. "VERY GOOD! VERY GOOD!" It shouted, floating up into the air as the canon disappeared. "You've passed my last riddle! Amazing, friends! Go, now! Go through the boulder!" The boulder's center disappeared and an archway took it's place. "Go, now, to Hyrule!"

Marth smiled and continued to walk through the boulder. He had barely passed through when he was pulled back by the hand of Nana. "What kind of ridiculous riddle answer was that?!" She exclaimed, staring at the perplexed Marth.

"Well, think about it." Marth said as he turned around to face the others. "The letter E... it appeared in the beginning of eternity, and at the ends of time and space. It appears at the beginning of everywhere and at the end of everyplace."

Nana just stared. "Ha! I knew it had to be some stupid answer." Said Popo as he walked past his confused sister. "The letter E... who would have guessed. I'm gonna have to ask my friends that riddle later."

"Look, guys!" Jigglypuff called out as she took the lead. She pointed ahead to a bright orange light at the end of a long tunnel of the trees. "I think thats the exit! We made it to the end!"

The group began to pick up speed, the light of the exit coming closer and closer with ever step. Finally, Marth and his party emerged from the dark forest and into the field open field of Hyrule. Marth looked about the field and smiled. "Finally! We made it!" Infront of them were large white walls, turned golden in the setting sun. Near them there was a hill, which ontop of which was a ranch. "That must be Lon-Lon Ranch!" Marth cried, taking a few steps towards the ranch.

He only managed to take a few steps before a cut-scene began. Marth and his friends began to dash up the hill, but were stopped mid run by a pulse of purple energy. Floating infront of the group was Skull Kid, who was clapping and chuckling to himself. "Skull Kid..." Marth spoke. "Thank you for your help, Skull Kid."

"No, no, friends! Hehehehe, I should be thanking you!" Skull Kid said, clapping some more.

"I do not mean to be rude, but I thought your soul was bound to the forest?" Marth asked. "Should you not return to where you belong?"

Skull Kid began to laugh. It continued to laugh until it fell over, holding its sides. "Hehehehe, you see, friends, with you successfully exiting the forest, so too did my soul! I am no longer bound to the woods! I am free atlast!" Skull Kid floated into the air and crossed it's legs, cupping its chin and looking away. "I must think of a way to repay you, travelers, for this."

Marth smiled. "There is no need for a reward. But, if I may suggest something, please stand aside. We are in a rush to-"

His sentence was cut off by Skull Kid floating forward. "I know, I know!" It announced. "I'll repay you and your party by devouring your souls quickly!"

"What!?" Marth shouted in shock, taking a step back.

Skull Kid lifted its right hand and began to cackle. A large gray circle began to appear floating above its hand. "Hehehehehehehehe..." As the cackling continued it changed from that of an innocent sounding child to that of a demonic creature. "Farewell, friends!" The huge orb began to slowly turn around, revealing eyes, a nose and an evil smile. As it showed the face of the orb, the cutscene ended.

"What the..." Called Marth as he took out his sword. "Aw man, I thought Skull Kid was good!"

"Well... what kind of quest would be complete without an epic boss battle?" Popo asked with a smirk as he lifted his mallet. "Ready guys? Let's pound his face in quickly!"

The heart-pounding battle music began. Marth targeted the cackling Skull Kid and charged forward with Popo and Nana following closely behind, their mallets glowing as they dashed across the field. Jigglypuff remained in the back, holding her staff tightly in both hands. "TAKE THIS!" Screamed the Skull Kid and it launched the huge gray orb towards them.

"We've gotta dodge it!" Nana cried as the orb began to roll towards them at high speed. Marth and Popo rolled over onto the right while Nana dodged to the left, all three of them barely missing becoming flattened. Jigglypuff had a longer warning period and was able to run away from the orb before it even came close to her.

Marth stood up off the ground and ran at Skull Kid. He swiped his blade across the monsters body three times, dealing a total of 70 damage to the boss and lowering it's HP only slightly. "It's strong!" Marth yelled as Skull Kid held out its hand. It touched Marth's chest and with a pulse of purple energy, sent him flying backwards and dealing a heavy amount of damage.

"LIFE UP ALPHA!"

Skull Kid turned to face Jigglypuff's direction, but his view was quickly blocked by a mallet slamming into his face. Popo prepared for another swing as Nana herself swung, dealing double damage to the beast in half the time. The two managed to swap blows on the beast two more times before Skull Kid sent them flying away with another pulse of energy.

Jigglypuff pointed her staff at the two. "LIFE UP-" Before she could finish calling out her attack, Skull Kid launched forward and delivered a punch right into the chest of the fallen Popo. Popo's character screamed in pain and his HP fell to, according to the HP bar, 3. "ALPHA!" Her healing spell recovered the Mallet Smasher just as Skull Kid was preparing another punch.

The punch never hit the weakened warrior, however, as Nana managed to swing her glowing hammer into the side of Skull Kid. "ICICLE CRASHER!" She called, knocking the monster into the air and causing his HP bar to decrease.

Skull Kid cackled as it flew upwards and looked as if it was about to prepare another attack. Marth charged in from the left. "DOLPHIN SLASH!" swinging his blade at the mid-air monster. Skull Kid was knocked to the left and fell to the ground with a thud, interrupting his charging move.

"LIFE UP ALPHA! LIFE UP ALPHA!" Jigglypuff's aura's healed both Marth and Nana as the two neared in on the wounded Skull Kid.

Skull Kid laughed and floated back into the air. He caused another smiling orb to appear above his hand and hurled it at the two waiting fighters. Nana and Marth each jumped to opposite sides, avoiding the huge orb as it rolled harmlessly away. Skull Kid growled and was preparing another attack, this one aimed at Marth. "Die die!" It called out, pointing its finger at the swordsman. However, Popo jumped up from behind the busy boss and brought his mallet down on it's skull, knocking him to the ground and dealing a major 30 damage.

While Skull Kid was stunned, Popo swung his mallet three times, dealing around 15 damage for each and finished off his swipes by slamming his glowing mallet down on the boss. "MALLET MAYHEM!" He cried as the damage lowered the Skull Kid's HP bar. Marth and Nana dashed forward, in an attempt to reach Popo before Skull Kid could regain the upper hand, but before they could reach their friend, Skull Kid shot out another pulse of purple energy, sending Popo flying backwards and slamming into the ground hard enough to crack the earth itself.

Marth and Nana skidded to a stop and readied their weapons as Skull Kid floated out of the hole. It growled and pointed it fingers towards the two. As it did, a whirlwind of leaves and twigs surrounded the two. Marth and Nana's characters let out screams of pain as the leaves and twigs cut into their avatars, dealing around one damage each. Although the damage was so low, it was done steadily over a long period of time, the whirlwind locking the two fighters within. "Life Up Alpha!" Jigglypuff cried again, healing Marth. She quickly cast another recovery spell on Nana. But no sooner did she return their HP did the leaves and twigs cut more into the avatar.

By the time the whirlwinds had faded, Jigglypuff had used all of her MP just barely keeping the two alive. Marth glanced over and saw Jigglypuff's avatar fall to the ground. "Jigglypuff! Did you bring a mushroom to recover your MP?" Marth asked as Nana charged forward at the Skull Kid.

She shook her head. "No, I... I didn't know you could get items like that!"

"Huh?!" Marth looked confused. "Well you see, in towns-"

"YAAAAAAA!" Nana went soaring backwards behind Marth and slamming into a nearby tree.

"...I'll teach you later! Rest right now!" Jigglypuff nodded and sat up, closing her eyes. It was the same position Ness used so very long ago, she was recovering her MP faster then normal.

Marth took a few steps forward and was about to strike when Skull Kid held out its hands and an in battle cutscene began to play. "TATL!" It cried, causing a white orb with wings to appear near his right palm. "TAEL!" This time, a dark purple orb with wings appeared near his left palm. "GET THEM!"

The two orbs shot forward and the cutscene ended. The purple orb flew off out of Marth's viewing range. However, the white orb flew right down towards him. He swung his blade, the first time missing the orb, but the second time striking it. It recoiled in pain, then flew back towards Marth again. Marth took a step to the side, narrowly avoiding the orb, then turned around and slashed it with his sword, destroying it. "Got it!"

"HELP!!!"

Marth turned around to see Jigglypuff being raised into the air by the purple orb. "Jigglypuff!" Marth helplessly cried. He took a step towards her floating body, but another in battle cutscene began to play.

Jigglypuff's body was held mid-air by the floating purple orb as Skull Kid apporched. Jigglypuff wiggled in an attempt to escape his grasp, an act that only caused the Skull Kid to laugh. It then held out its hand and placed it on the pokemon, its palm glowing a deep purple. "Hehehehe!" It cackled, its voice deep and eerie. As it finished its laugh, Skull Kid fired a huge wave of purple energy at the poor mage. Jigglypuff's character screamed in pain as she was completely submerged in purple energy. The blast only lasted two seconds, but when it finally faded, Jigglypuff's limb body fell to the ground.

"OH NO!" Marth cried as the cutscene ended. Jigglypuff's body slammed into the ground and her HP turned to zero. Her body began to slowly take on the form of death as Marth stared. "Damn it! He got Jigglypuff!"

"MARTH! LOOK OUT!" Marth turned around just in time to see Popo jump in between him and an oncoming Skull Kid, whom he smashed away with his mallet. "Do you have any Heart Pieces or 1-Ups?" He asked, gripping his hammer tightly. "I forgot to stock up on them before we left."

Marth nodded. "I have one..."

Nana jumped near her brother and readied her mallet as well. "We'll cover you, Marth. Go revive Jigglypuff. We'll make sure Skull Kid doesn't interrupt you."

"Okay." Answered the swordsman with a nod. He dashed over to the fallen Jigglypuff's body and placed a hand on her corpse. "I hope this works." He muttered, scrolling through his items. He found the item labeled Heart Piece and clicked on it.

--

>Use on target: JIGGLYPUFF? >YES/NO

I selected the yes button and a translucent red heart with a blue outline appeared above the fallen pokemon's body. It slowly began to descend into Jigglypuff, and as it did, an aura of white light began to shine. The heart itself, however, was moving at nothing more then a snails pace. "C'mon, c'mon!" I edged on, shaking my fists. Behind me I heard the sounds of clanking weapons and yells of avatars.

Popo and Nana's HP bars were quickly going down.

"NANA HERE!" Popo screamed. A moment later, I saw Nana's HP slowly rise back up.

A Maximum Tomato? I hope so...

But no sooner did her HP go up did Popo and Nana let out yells of pain. "AH!!" I also cried out as I saw their HP bars fall into the red and bringing their life into the double digits.

"I've gotta do something!" I searched through my items and found a Maximum Tomato. But when I clicked on it, an error message appeared on my screen saying that 'You can not use two items at once'. "DAMN!"

"MALLET MAYHEM!"

"I'll recover you! Popo!"

"WATCH IT NANA!"

"AHH!"

A loud rolling sound filled my head phones followed by Nana's HP reaching zero. "WHAT!? NO!" I moved my camera around to see another large gray orb roll away into the Lost Woods. In it's wake there was the lying body of Nana, her HP finally expiring. Before I could act, the white light finally reached it's brightest point. There was another big flash and then the light finally faded.

"Ugggh... Marth?"

--

Marth looked down at Jigglypuff, who sat up with her head on her forehead. "Marth? I'm alive?" She asked, her eyes half closed. "My HP and MP... they're so low."

"TAKE THIS! YAAAA!"

Marth spun around and watched Popo charge towards Skull Kid with his mallet glowing a bright gold. "Quick!" Marth said, helping the mage up. "Do you have enough MP to heal Popo? I'll heal you!" He reached into his item pocket and pulled out a Maximum Tomato.

While he healed Jigglypuff, she in turn pointed her staff towards the charging Mallet Smasher. "LIFE UP-"

But she never finished her spell. As Popo reached the awaiting Skull Kid, the demon only had to deliver one fast attack to finish off the player. So it swung its right fist at Popo, smashing into his face and sending the blue Mallet Smasher soaring off to the right, his body slowly beginning to turn gray as Popo's HP hit zero. Jigglypuff's staff quickly recoiled and returned to her body as an echoey metal error sound rang through the area.

"My heal..." She whispered. "It didn't make it in time."

Marth took a step back. "No... no way... Nana... Popo... They're both dead?"

"Can you revive them like you revived me?" Jigglypuff asked, clutching her staff. When Marth shook his head she began to panic. "Marth... wha- what will happen if both of us die?"

"I think..." He began nervously, "...we'd fail the quest..."

Jigglypuff and Marth exchanged worried glances, then stared back at the Skull Kid, whos fists were balled tightly at it's side. It's entire body was now surrounded in a dark purple aura as it laughed to itself, "...Hehehehe..."