Different

Hello everyone! Welcome to Planned All Along's new Halloween Special! It might not be the scariest thing I wrote, but it's still something with some bad implications. As usual, there's comedy in there as well. I hope you will enjoy reading this, even if it doesn't scare you!

Read the 2013 Halloween Special here.

---

I don't speak much, but I listen. I always listen. Whatever it is that my fellow combatants say, I hear them. I enjoy their company; they're all I know.

Our world has always been a strange one. We suddenly appeared in a mansion, with numerous doors leading to nine platforms hanging over nothingness, all with different styles and feels. Our story is also very odd; we were only twelve, at first. There was no explanation as to why we appeared suddenly in this place. Then we met this ominous entity, which called itself Master Hand.

We didn't know anything about ourselves. We did not even know our own names. We discovered them when we ventured on these floating platforms, and began fighting. We heard our names being chanted by an unknown crowd, or spoken by an invisible announcer. From then on, we knew our names; but we still could not tell much else. We studied each other's attacks and attitudes, and deducted part of our personalities from there. We were video game characters; but none of us knew where we came from. It's like this was a whole new universe, and we were mere copies of true heroes who had their own adventures somewhere else.

Since we seemed to be here only to fight, we organized a tournament; we'd fit all of us into a single tournament chart and see who would win. However, after these fights, we encountered Master Hand again. And whoever had won all of the battles had to defeat it to be declared the grand winner. It wasn't such a difficult fight, but it was still a great way to end these tournaments.

After a few years spent like this passed, this universe (dubbed the Smashverse due to me and my fellow fighters using it to battle) changed. A wave crossed the Smash Mansion and hit everything around and inside it, which caused all of us to change. Not a transformation, mind you; but we became more detailed, we looked better than before. The Smash Mansion also changed a lot: Many new doors were added, with some leading to alternate fight modes for us to try. There was also a new trophy room. We welcomed fourteen new characters, who appeared in the Smash mansion at the same time as the changes happened. Among them, there was a princess I immediately knew would be an ally, a dark-skinned redheaded man I feared and hated as soon as I saw him, and... strangely, a younger version of me. But that's not all; the little Pikachu also welcomed a younger version of himself (or maybe another creature altogether, though the resemblances were so striking I doubt those two weren't the same character, or at least related in a way). Mario also met a clone of himself dressed like a doctor... appropriately named Doctor Mario.

At first, we explained how this universe worked to the newcomers. It took us a while, as though we tried to explain what this place is, we still couldn't answer in much detail to their question: “Who are you?”

We couldn't even answer to their other question: Who were they?

The tournaments resumed. We discovered a lot of new things around the Smash mansion: There was the all-new trophy room, but we also had a new opponent in the form of Crazy Hand, which appeared at the end of some tournaments, when we least expected it. We could also visit small parts of many worlds we (apparently) came from. It's only around that time that we learned more about ourselves and started understanding who we were. All the trophies came with descriptions, bits and pieces of our Originals. It is thanks to this that I learned that Princess Zelda is, in fact, one of my allies, and that the dark-skinned man, Ganondorf, is my enemy in another life. But aside from those instinctive feelings on who we could and couldn't trust, we couldn't explain everything; the trophies would tell us what our roles were in the other worlds, but not what our role was in the Smashverse. As if our only reason to exist in this universe was to fight any and all of the other battlers, regardless of who they were.

Years later, after we became comfortable with the way things were, another wave ran through the Smash mansion, transforming us again, making us different from before. Samus, the woman in a full-body metallic armor, described it as an “upgrade”. It took us a lot of time to get used to the new physics on the battlefields. Once again, we welcomed many new fighters in the group. Sadly, we also had to see a few of us depart. It is complicated... Something happened to them. They were forbidden entrance to the battlefields. They are still living in the Smash mansion, but they cannot participate in the tournaments.

For the first time, we discovered the world outside the Mansion. It was a large world, with many locations to explore. Many Smashers left the mansion to take a look at that great big world. We were no more confined to a single place, we could roam this land as we wished. Sadly, every good thing must come to an end. One day, while Mario and Kirby were fighting on the Midair Stadium (one of the locations in this great world), we saw the arrival of the Subspace Army, a group of villains none of us had ever heard of. It took us all by surprise; Meta Knight's battleship, the Halberd, which had somehow appeared in this world, got stolen. Bowser, Ganondorf, and even a few of the newcomers betrayed us and became a part of their organization. We did not know who to trust anymore. Subspace engulfed the Smash universe, piece by piece... leaving nothing else than the Smash Mansion behind. Impossible to say why; as Samus tried to explain, the Smash Mansion being engulfed by Subspace would mean the end of our universe, so it was protected through a “program”, or a “coding”. I never understood this jargon, but I guess it has something to do with the nature of a video game world.

By that point, however, we had recovered our personalities – or, in some cases, created new ones that weren't quite identical to the ones the trophies gave us. It was reassuring that we weren't blank slates anymore, like our memories had come back. But it was still difficult to abide by what the Smash universe asked us to be, even though we lived a much different life from the ones our counterparts lived. We didn't have the same interactions, the same relationships, the same experiences. Even though, in appearance, we were clones of heroes and villains, some of us had become completely different characters.

We're not the ones you think we are. If it wasn't for those trophies, we still wouldn't know who we were in other lives. These pieces of us told us about people we met, objects we've used, scenes we've encountered; except “we” did not; “they” did. The original "us". Yes, it is very complicated.

Where was I... Oh, right. I was discussing the sudden arrival of the Subspace Army. Me and my fellow combatants, we fought our way through the many traps set by the minds behind this invasion, and we won. It ended with a fight against “an extra-dimensional being”, like one of my friends put it. We eventually destroyed that entity, though there were many losses. Even our “enemy”, the mighty Master Hand, did not come out unscathed from this adventure. It was being manipulated by the entity like a puppet. Thankfully, at one point Ganondorf saw through the deception and managed to free Master Hand from the extra-dimensional being's control. Even if it was our final opponent at the end of each tournament, we'd come to know Master Hand, and I can say it has never been the same afterwards. Even after the being was destroyed, after the Smash world was restored, after things came back to normal, it seems Master Hand has kept scars, on its fingers but also in its “mind”.

Recently, our world has “upgraded” again. Once more, we welcomed into our world numerous new characters. But Master Hand has become more distant. Oh, it wasn't exactly friendly to us, but it seemed to avoid company altogether. Its attacks seemed more vicious, it was more prone to anger. We didn't want it coming towards us, in any place that wasn't a battlefield.

It got especially bad during difficult tournaments. We were giving our all into the fights, and the great winner wound up facing a merciless opponent. It's like Master Hand was not fighting like us anymore.

I'd say there was one time in particular we learned it had become a real problem. We had just ended another tournament; Most of us were resting in the main hall. The children fighters were playing with Duck and the dog, which they had nicknamed Hunter (their trophy indicated Duck Hunt, so they imagined a name from there). Some of the current tournament players were discussing with the ones who had been forbidden entrance into the competition between the last Smash universe and the new one. Snake was trying to impress Rosalina, without success. Young me and Toon me were sparring for fun, trying to see which one of them was better.

The great winner that day was Pit, and so he was allowed to participate in the final fight against Master Hand. He reappeared in the main hall after his defeat (where we “respawn” when we have lost all our lives on the stages), and looked terrified. “It's... it's all darkness in there!” he said between two gasps.

We cannot see the final fight against Master Hand, so we had no idea what happened. All we knew was that Pit was in a state of shock. And we couldn't tell why. Also, he lost the fight against Master Hand, so it must have been brutal. We did not know what to do at the moment. Master Hand didn't come out through the door leading to the Final Destination stage. We decided to wait until the next day to try again. We figured we could only figure out what happened in there by attempting to run into it willingly numerous times. Isn't it the main strategy, for characters who cannot die, to try again as often as needed, so long as they come back to life?

That night, I was learning scriptures with Princess Zelda – how else do you think I learned to write? - when she confessed her love to me- No, I made that up. She did, however, confess that she didn't like what happened earlier.

“What if Pit was right? Something wrong could have happened behind that door.”

I shrugged. I had no idea what to reply.

“Master Hand is a strange being. Even now, we still don't know its origins. It's like a puppeteer that has always controlled us, in a way. What if it wasn't the same Master Hand as before?”

“Huh?”

“Maybe there was a problem during the last update to our world... to use Samus's expression.”

I smirked. Seems like I am not the only one around these parts who can't get used to those words.

“But Master Hand really hasn't been the same since it was used by Tabuu.”

“Urgh...” Sometimes I wish I could say more. I hated that adventure. The Subspace Army had a nasty way of turning us against each other. Its Shadow Bugs could take on the form of any of us, and used this to divide us as a group. There could be an infinite number of those bugs, so they were very dangerous. In the end, we had to fight clones of just about every one of us.

“What if Tabuu or the Shadow Bugs took control of Master Hand in another way?” Zelda asked.

I shrugged.

“We never saw what happened to Master Hand after we entered the Great Maze. We never found out. Maybe something happened to it while we were chasing Tabuu through that large dungeon...”

I was wondering myself how did it come back from Subspace. After we destroyed Tabuu, the pieces of the Smash world returned to their place, all except for one. We escaped just in time. However, Master Hand wasn't with us. It reappeared, at some point, after what seemed to be a long trip. Fox explained that Master Hand might have found a way through the Final Destination stage, since it seems to be crossing worlds and dimensions during its flight... even though it can always be found behind the same door. I gave up a while ago on trying to understand how that works.

“But if Master Hand has become a threat, what will we do?” Zelda asked.

I picked up my sword and brandished it. “Aaa-yaaaaah!” I yelled, like I was ready for battle.

Another voice came from a nearby room. “Shut up, Link! Some of us are trying to sleep!” That sounded like Samus, out of her armor. Okay, okay... I sheathed my sword.

“You're suggesting we fight Master Hand all together if it becomes too much of a danger?” Zelda asked. I nodded. “Well, we need to encounter it at the end of a tournament first, so I'll discuss this with the other fighters and we'll prepare another tournament tomorrow. Now, back to the scriptures...”

*

The next day, Princess Zelda spoke with the fighters. Finally, they agreed to participate in the tournament. That's the main reason we're all here, so I guess they couldn't say no. However, Pit refused. This earned him a bit of mockery by his evil counterpart, Dark Pit. I practiced a little with my sword and my bow, trying to get ready for battle. I'm not the strongest fighter in this world, but I am very agile, and I have a large arsenal of weapons that I can use anytime.

The fights began. I sat near Pit, who stayed a little further from the gang.

“It's a bad idea,” Pit said. “It's not Master Hand anymore. It's... darkness.”

“Uh?”

Pit turned to look at me. “What I've seen in there is scarier than anything I've seen in Subspace. Scarier than any of us has seen back then.”

I sighed. Guess he just doesn't want to be any clearer. I hate people who speak like riddles. Unless he's in shock, or he's not able to explain what he saw. I patted Pit in the back.

“Don't tell me it's going to be alright. That thing on the other side... It's not Master Hand. It came out from Master Hand, but it's... something else.”

I looked at him with a puzzled expression. It... came out from Master Hand??

“I can't even describe what it looks like! It changed its appearance after a bit!” Pit replied.

My turn was about to come for the tournament, so I waved Pit goodbye and headed towards the door leading to the stage on which my match would take place. Jigglypuff was already there, waiting.

“Jiggly!” The Pokémon said, waving at me. I waved hello. Jigglypuff was the oddest character among the twelve ones we were at the very beginning. But I can say she has become very liked around here. Always nice, willing to help the others... And when one of us had insomnia, they just asked her to come to their room and she'd sing her lullaby. She never got angry when we fell asleep, as she knew the effects her singing has on us. And that same ability was powerful on the battlefield. Do not stay near when she starts singing. Or when she seems to fall asleep. Outside of the battlefield, though, she's a very sweet Pokémon. Good friends with the Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon, with Pikachu and with Kirby. She quickly became friends with Rosalina as well.

I put a kneel down and high-fived Jigglypuff, then gave her a thumbs-up. Wished I could just tell her “Good luck” instead of relying on hand signs. Jigglypuff replied with a little “Jiggly!”, by which I guess she wished me good luck as well.

The door opened, and we entered the stage. Distant Planet? Hm. Any stage works. This one isn't among my favorites, because of the big insect monster that comes by and often gulps down one of the fighters. For losing a life that way, I can tell you: It's very unpleasant. Sure, we reappear on the stage moments later if we had more lives or back in the mansion if we lost; but being inside a creature's mouth is disgusting and creepy. Many stages have a surprise like this: One kind of way for us to die that we really dislike.

The fight started. The place was quite calm at first, and as a result Jigglypuff and I exchanged a few punches. It still felt playful. Then, the rain started. We remained on the floating platforms while the rain poured, but we were now trying to knock each other towards the steep cliff. Sadly for me, Jigglypuff was even more agile, so she came back to the platforms each time I tried to knock her into the cliff, which acted like a waterfall at that moment. She also tried to knock me there, but I resisted. She almost succeeded, and I nearly fell in the abyss under the stage, but I used my grappling hook and held on to the platform instead. That was a close call.

Shortly afterward, a Smash Ball showed up. Both of us noticed it, and began chasing it. Jigglypuff tried to punch it; I pushed her out of the way and slashed the ball with my sword. However, gravity happened and I fell back to the stage. Jigglypuff was going after the Smash ball once more. I jumped, then jumped in mid-air, and spun around with my sword, letting out a powerful “Raaaaaaaah!” This move tossed Jigglypuff further from the Smash Ball. However, once I landed, I noticed I had flung Jigglypuff pretty far. I jumped twice, then slashed at the Smash Ball. Bam! I broke the mighty item, and the stage suddenly got a lot darker. A yellow-ish aura covered me. Jigglypuff's expression was clear: “I have to get away from him!” But she wasn't able to fly much further by now. I jumped and then lashed at her. I released my Final Smash! A Triforce appeared on the poor Pokémon, and I slashed the little Jigglypuff two, three, five times. After which there was a final slash, and the ball-shaped animal was flung off into the distance, after which I was declared winner by the announcer.

I came out by the door, like the winners do. The losers get warped back to the Mansion, exhausted and unable to fight; we are only protected from death on the Stages, which are designed so that we never really die. I walked to Jigglypuff. I held two thumbs up to her, as a way of saying “That was a good fight”. She extended what I guess was her hand (Pokémon biology is bizarre), so I gave her a handshake. It's good to know that most of us are good winners and losers; only a few are sore losers, or sore winners. I remember the first time Wario won a tournament. He was such a braggart about it that he kept annoying everyone and treating them all as inferior, so we ganged up on him to teach him a lesson in humility. I doubt he has learned it, but at least he stays calm now. He's stopped bragging about it when he wins. Another example is when Dark Pit lost his first battle; he tried to get into a fight with the one who had defeated him (it was Donkey Kong), but once again, there was a whole group ready to stop him, were he to cause trouble.

The fights went on and on. The tournament was going smoothly. The number of characters still able to fight was getting smaller, while more and more battlers joined the ranks of the defeated.

I did very well myself, even by the end. From about 50 fighters, we went down to 25, and then 12 (there was a 1-on-1-on-1 match), and then six, and then three. This tournament was full of surprises. Some fighters who usually performed poorly somehow managed to win a few more matches today. We were at the final battle before Master Hand. I had to fight against Wii Fit Trainer and Bowser Jr.

Unlike my fight with Jigglypuff, I don't remember every detail, but I know I was very lucky. I picked up a Master Ball and threw it, revealing a bug-like robotic creature. It attacked Wii Fit Trainer and Bowser Jr, and knocked out the little Koopa. WFT survived but was weak. She tried to attack me but it tossed a bomb and threw it at her. The item exploded on contact and tossed her off the boundaries of the stage. I had won the tournament.

I came back into the waiting room, victorious. Wii Fit Trainer passed by. “Great fight there, Link.” I didn't hear from Bowser Jr., but that's probably for the best. Like his father, I don't think he easily accepts defeat.

I headed to the door leading to Final Destination. I looked at Pit a final time. The angel didn't get up to wish me good luck. It's like he knew this was going to be a defeat.

I entered. A few moments from now, I would be alone, on a great, flat platform, against a Master Hand that may or may not be the one we know, and might or might not hide a monstrous entity.

I arrived on the Final Destination stage. Master Hand appeared, identical to how it has always been: A floating right hand covered by a glove. Or maybe just a glove. It should have the same attacks it usually has. However, since we were at a higher difficulty today, I expected Master Hand to be a little more difficult to defeat... But I never expected Crazy Hand to be there, too! Pit completely forgot to mention that detail!

I was trying to avoid the attacks from both hands, while attempting to deal enough damage to them. Having two enemies against you is never easy, but when those two are “bosses”, it can become VERY hard. I tried my best to avoid the nasty attacks used by Crazy Hand, but at one point I was hit by Master Hand's drill attack. Ouch! This really broke my strategy. From there, the battle became painful. I could lose the fight easily. However, I kept fighting. I managed to deal more damage to Crazy Hand, and then some to Master Hand.

Then it all stopped. The Hands stopped fighting. It felt odd, so I aimed at Crazy Hand, intending to defeat it... but Crazy Hand rose in the skies. Master Hand stayed on the field. I turned to the Hand... and saw it transforming before my eyes. The pearl white glove got covered in particles of darkness that seemed to come from the hand itself. Like Master Hand's insides were coming out.

The hand shape slowly vanished, as the particles of darkness covered it. I couldn't see the original Master Hand at this point. Then, the particles of darkness spread around, revealing that the Hand had, in fact, vanished. The particles then took the shape of swords. Oh no...

The battle was on! I now had to fight this.... this... these swords. They were dangerous. I had no idea how much damage they could take. I tried to fight. I noticed, however, that I could harm any of the swords. Since they kept moving, I decided to just hit any of them when they passed by, all while trying to avoid their attacks. But there seemed to be no answer: What are these things? What are its origins? Why is Master Hand transforming like this? Was Zelda on to something when she suggested it had something to do with the Shadow Bugs?

I was hit by one of the swords while I was asking myself these questions. I have to be careful! This thing's serious! After a while, I managed to hurt the swords enough. The shadowy particles stopped moving, then shook and compacted themselves near the stage's floor. The mass then reshaped itself to become a large humanoid creature... which looked a lot like me. A larger Link, all made of darkness. It reminded me of the shadow clones we fought in the Smash world and in Subspace... Except more dangerous.

The fight was on, and for the last time, I hope! Not only was this enemy stronger than I was, it also had all of my attacks! It used a bow, a sword, and bombs, just like I do! This fight was not going to last very long... My percentage was very high, I could get knocked away of the stage at any moment. Sooner than I expected, as the evil Link slashed at me with its sword, sending me flying.

The announcer's words resonated all over the stage and in my head as I felt myself hitting the border of the “room” and warping back to the Mansion. “GAMER OVER.”

I stumbled out of the main teleporter, and fell to my knees. I was breathing heavily. The other smashers grouped around me.

“Are-a you okay, Link?” Mario asked.

I have no idea what that THING was! That's not the Master Hand we knew! Has it always been that thing, deep inside? Was this the thing that was supposed to come out every time? Or was it caused by Tabuu? This raises too many questions! If Master Hand comes out of the Final Destination room, can it be hurt enough to turn into this monstrosity again? Here? Where there is no way to stop it? ...Does Master Hand have control over that thing? Can it be stopped? We still haven't succeeded... Is it indestructible? How many forms does it have? What else can it do? Why does it exist in the first place? ...Are we doomed?

“What's wrong?” Mega Man asked.

If this thing gets out... no. It can't get out! ...I hope it can't. It must NOT get out! If it gets out... We're protected on the Stages... But here...

“Dude, you look like you saw a ghost or something!” Sonic said.

...but here... If Master Hand becomes like this here... If it gets out...

“Bring him to Dr. Mario, quick!” Princess Peach said, as worried as all the others.

Pit knew. He knew what I saw. He stayed in his corner of the room, silent, aware that I had seen the same thing just now.

I tried to make sense of all this. But it was impossible! ...And before all my worried friends, I screamed, louder than I thought I ever could.

---

Who would have guessed that it was about Master Core all this time? I mean... Okay, for whoever has Smash 4 or keeps him/herself informed on the game, it was pretty obvious why I would pick Master Core; it's the scariest boss the Smash series has seen, and its sole existence brings up way too many questions. As for the hints I used at the end of the Top 12 scary Nintendo moments? If you were to read the block of 5X5 letters column by column, from left to right, you would get "THE MASTER CORE AWAKENS". And the reason I didn't include Master Core on the list is because it's from a very recent game, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, so I felt like it was still a bit early for it to be on the list. Seriously though, if you've never heard of Master Core, look it up. It's a great idea for a boss, but it might very well be the scariest thing Masahiro Sakurai has thought of. And we're talking about the guy who made the Kirby series, which has lots of those scary monsters!

(Also, fun note: the idea of a Smash Mansion linking all the Stages and in which all the characters live is nothing new in fanfics; but it's the first time I tried writing about it.)