“Hold on everyone,” Trick said, holding up his hands. “Let’s think this through! We’ve just been pulled into a video game designed for friends to beat up and kill one another. Id this really something that we want to do!?”

The White Glove, the Master Hand, rumbled, “Yes you do. Otherwise none of you will leave! And you will become collectible digital trophies!”

“Well, that makes it very easy,” Phineas. “I’m no trophy boy! Unless, I’m going into Samus’s room…”

Everyone gave him an odd look before Reggie called up to the Master Hand, “Can we do team matches, or is this a free for all?”

“You may team up,” The Master Hand confirmed. “But you may not all be on the same team. This is critical. The price for freedom is blood! One must perish!”

Reggie sighed and looked with grim resolution at Naomi. “Naomi, team up with me and Phineas. This is a very simple. Trick sucks at this game. We can team up against and save ourselves. This is the best solution to our current predicament.”

“Are you kidding me? Are you for real,” Naomi screeched. “That is not an option Reggie! There is always another way.”

“Naomi, snap out of it!” Reggie drew himself up and walked over to them, shoving Trick to the ground. “We are in a video game! I know how these stories go! This isn’t some SAO bullshit! We can’t just program ourselves out of here! These games in all stories are straightforward and easy to understand. Someone has to die, otherwise we’ll be trapped in here and who knows what will happen to us?”

“Listen here, Reggie, I have been in a video game before,” Naomi insisted. “There are always other ways that we can deal with these problems. There is a solution that we do not see. We just have to take the time to see it.”

“You’re just trying to save your pathetic boyfriend there,” Phineas sneered. “Why did you bring that wimp with you anyway!?”

“Hold on,” Reggie said, holding up a hand. “We are fortunate. If she hadn’t brought him one of us would have to die. I consider this fortunate. Please Naomi! We need to work together if we are going to get out of this!”

“I agree! But not by murdering Trick!”

“I should get some say in this,” Trick mumbled weakly. He was so shocked that Naomi’s friends were willing to kill him so quickly, that he was barely able to speak. He was glad that Naomi was there to defend him.

“Master Hand, how do we do this thing,” Phineas called up to the giant, floating glove.

“You will choose an avatar and become that being,” Master Hand declared. With a flourish the cast of selectable Nintendo characters appeared. “You will then decide on the parameters of the fight, your stock, items, and time limits.”

Phineas and Reggie looked over to Naomi and nodded between them. Reggie called out, “There will be two teams. Reggie, Phineas, and Naomi versus Trick-”

“No!” Trick finally found his voice. “This is not right!”

“Shut up,” Phineas drawled loudly.

“There will be two teams,” Naomi shouted fiercely. “Myself and Trick against Phineas and Reggie!”

“No,” the two guys snarled together.

“Yes! You either fight me and Trick, or we don’t fight at all! Though I can tell you right now which option is preferable.”

Reggie grimaced and Phineas looked murderous. “Fine, if that is what you want.”

“Are you guys seriously set on doing this? It’s not too late to stop this and work together,” Trick pleaded. “We’ve been through something like this before. We can still find a way out! There’s a tournament option, isn’t there? That might be another way!”

“Only death,” the glove thundered.

“That settles it,” Phineas spat. “We’re doing this. Sorry Naomi, but I don’t want to be stuck or die in a video game! We’re ending this on our terms!”

Naomi screeched loudly to the Master Hand, “There will be two teams! Trick and myself against Phineas and Reggie! We’ll have three lives each, no time limit, and all items are available!”

Reggie gave her a hard look as the Master Hand asked, “Are all in agreement?’

“Sure,” Reggie sighed. “Phineas and I will kill you both. This is going to be difficult to explain with two missing people.”

“It is decided! Choose your avatar!”

“We’ll wait until later to figure that out,” Phineas said angrily, glaring at Naomi. “I’ll be Donkey Kong!”

“Donkey Kong!,” the announcer’s voice for the game rang out, causing them all to shake.

“I’ll be Pit,” Reggie announced.

“Pit!”

“I’ll be Lucina,” Naomi declared.

“Lucina!”

Trick thought for a moment. He sucked at this game! But there were some characters who particularly aggravated the two guys, and they had allowed him to live longer than with most. He grinned at Naomi and gave her a quick wink.

“Metaknight!”

“Metaknight,” the announcer echoed.

“You’re going to pay for that choice of yours, Patty,” Phineas sneered. “I’m going to love killing you.”

“And that is why you should be locked up,” Trick said lightly.

“Fight!”

The board of character disappeared, and the display of potential arena popped up. The three other players quickly agreed that selecting the randomizer was the most fair way of playing the game. However, Trick got the feeling from what Phineas had said and the way Reggie was looking at that they felt confident that they could defeat him no matter the arena. The real problem was going to be Naomi.

With the boys having chosen two highly mobile tank characters, Trick knew that he was at a disadvantage, even without his deplorable skills in the game. His only hope would be to use what tricks he did know about Metaknight to help him stay alive. But that brought up another problem.

“How do we use our characters,” he asked the Master Hand.

“You will be them! And by being them, you will have access to all of their abilities and powers.”

“Oh,” Trick said, still feeling a little confused. He would somehow magically know everything that he needed to in order to operate a video game character he was becoming? That made total sense.

The randomizer chose Dream Land, and with brilliant flashes of light all four of them were teleported to the stage. Trick instantly felt different as he stumbled out of the portal of light. He felt, well, shorter. And heavier. It was probably from the helmet that covered his entire avatar. The sword was in his cute, ball-like hand, and a cape billowed out from behind him, making him feel cool despite his diminutive size and shape.

“Three!”

Naomi walked gracefully out of her portal next to him. She was exactly like Lucina, with flowing black hair and a kick butt red uniform. She rocked that sword! After getting stuck in Legend of Zelda that one time, she said she always wanted to walk around with an open blade. Even months later, she still talked about.

“Sure, we should restrict access to guns, but Trick! Having swords would solve s many problems! Just think about it,” she would always gush to him.

“Two!”

Donkey Kong and Pit popped out of their portal across from Trick and Naomi. Reggie and Phineas glowered at Trick. He knew that they would be after him first. They hated it when he used character with cheap tricks, fast K.O.s, and the unique ability to dodge. Essentially, the hated noob characters.

But Trick realized in that moment that such an attitude would be their downfall. If they focused on him, Naomi could easily engage them from behind and deal some serious damage. All Trick had to do was not die too many times, and his partner could make short work of them!

“One!”

Then again, Reggie was a killer with Donkey Kong! And these two ‘friends’ of Naomi’s were out for blood. They did not think they could escape the game without killing someone. And maybe they were right. But Trick did not want to die today. And definitely not in a video game! He hoped his face didn’t betray his fear before remembering he had a helmet on.

“Go!”

Donkey Kong struck out immediately, grabbing Metaknight and launching him hard across the arena as the happy, but fast music of Dream Land played over them. Metaknight quickly recovered and started flying back to the platform. Donkey Kong flew up to meet him. Metaknight pulled up and brought his sword down.

He hit, but Donkey Kong took a hold of him again and dragged him down.

What is he doing, Trick panicked, as he was brought beyond the edge of the platform. They were sinking to oblivion!

Donkey Kong finally released him with another hit and whirlwinded his way back to the top. Metaknight flapped after him, trying to avoid death. As he reach the edge of the platform, He was shot with an arrow. Trick felt himself falling off to the side. It hurt so bad to get hit with that.

He tried course correcting in the air. He sucked at this part. But kept getting hit! Pit was there, lobing arrows into him, and following him with his own wings. Trick noticed that Donkey Kong was now slapping the ground and pummeling Lucina.

Crap! They figured they would tag team us! Pit can move fast enough to evade Lucina while Donkey Kong would put me in this predicament! Then they swap and kill us this way. Damn them!

Trick thought no more as he was pushed beyond the boundary by Pit’s arrows. He blew up.

Death wasn’t too bad, Trick thought, as his body reformed in the portal of light. He felt his body and soul knitted back together, and he felt pretty strong, almost perfect, as he came back to life. He also felt a few other things. He appeared right above the fighting, where the massive monkey and the juvenille angel were trouncing Lucina. Trick was about to push himself back into the fight to help his friend. But then he noticed something. A few somethings.

He could see off in the distance the damage counter for all of the characters and their stock of lives. It was like a strange scoreboard off in the distance, but large enough for all to see. That didn’t help him too much, it was just good to see that there was a way of tracking the damage that was dealt out. But what was better was that he noticed more about himself. He not only felt Metaknight. He was Metaknight!

Trick was not just flexing an avatar’s cute hand. It was his hand, and he looked to his sword, and he knew he could wield it as a perfect extension of himself. He could feel all of his abilities flowing through him, and he understood strategies. But there was another bit in there too that he recognized. How should he describe it?

The portal booted him out and he landed on the platform again. Right as Lucina was blown off the map. Trick’s enemies rounded on him. He glanced at the scoreboard and saw that they had not taken much damage, especially that blasted Pit! It distracted him, and the others pounced. But looking at the board proved to be good fortune.

There was Pokeball there!

That’s right! Items!

Trick snatched up the ball and hurled it as hard as he could at Naomi’s one-time friends. Pit easily dodged, but the ball took Donkey Kong straight in the stomach, and hurled him back. It opened and something large shot upwards. Metaknight could not see exactly what it was as he and Pit started sparing.

Metaknight knew how to use his sword, but Trick felt that there was something else… Something more he could do.

Wait a sec! I’m not just me, or Metaknight. I’m both of us! That’s it! I can use both what I know about fighting, and what Metaknight can do!

Snorlax came crashing down and smashed Pit. The angel went flying, and without any sense of direction. Lucina came out of her portal at the same time! Metaknight swooped past her and slashed the confused Pit. He knew exactly what to do now, and he looped through the air, stabbing his sword upwards. The shot blasted Pit even higher and beyond the stage’s boundary. He exploded it light.

Metaknight then plummeted downwards, right at Donkey Kong. he could almost hear the ape calling him foolish, as he moved his hands to clap. But that was the thing. The regular Metaknight would have been launched to the side with massive damage. But this was Trick-Metaknight! He angled his sword downwards and took Donkey Kong right in the face.

A barrel appeared and Metaknight heaved it over his little body. He then chucked it at Donkey Kong knocking him backwards. Items bursted out everywhere.

Metaknight flew over to Lucina and said hurriedly, “Naomi? Ca you feel it? We are a combination of both the game characters and ourselves. That means that we can change how we fight!”

Lucina gave him a look and said, “You know what? I enjoying looking down on you.”

She started laughing and gasped, “You have the cutest blush! You should stay in that form!”

Metaknight harrumphed and said, “All the more reason to get out of this quickly! I don’t know what people would say if I came back to school as a little blue ball!”

Donkey Kong took up a mighty tomato and healed himself quickly. Metaknight picked up a flaming flower and blew on it, sending a stream of fire towards Reggie. Lucina jumped up and slammed into Pit. She weaved her sword expertly, and got around the angel’s defenses, landing hard blows. He was forced to summon his shield as Lucina hammered away at him.

Reggie jumped and and span over to Lucina to ward her away. Metaknight used his cloak to shift his position and got right behind Pit as Donkey Kong engaged Lucina. Pit dropped his shieled as Lucina was forced to retreat. Metaknight took the chance, and started thrusting at high speed.

Pit screamed in pain as he was shot backwards. There was a sudden ringing sound and someone shouted, “Homerun!”

Donkey Kong flew off screen. Lucina held the homerun bat, it glimmered dangerously. She had taken some bad damage to hold her ground, but the item had wonderfully fallen and given her a chance against Kong.

A hammer fell from the sky and Pit took it, plummeting back to the arena. Metaknight dodged and watched at Pit and Lucina went at it. Hammer music and homerun ring clashed. Both were launched off the platform and out of the bounds.

Metaknight found himself alone, but the lights were already appearing heralding that everyone would soon be back. Metaknight noticed that they were matched in stock between the teams. But Lucina was down to one life. They would gang up on her and take her out! He needed to prevent that!

He positioned himself right where Donkey Kong appeared and performed a very noob move. He blew on the flower and washed the oversized monkey in a stream of flames. Reggie roared and started smashing the ground, causing an earthquake. Metaknight leaped into the air and avoided the hit. He began tap dancing on Kong’s head, the strange down-pinning movement the little knight had.

Pit took flight to the side of the platform and started launching arrows as quick as he could. Lucina cut them from the air, and tried to make her way to the angel. He flew over her and to the other side of the arena. Metaknight could not help her, as he was fully engaged in taking on Donkey Kong!

Lucina scooped up a Bob-Omb, and threw herself into the air.

Pit laughed and shouted, “You’ll never hit me with that!”

But she twisted at the last second and pitched it right at Donkey Kong. It exploded and engulfed the monkey is another wave of flame, dealing out a lot of solid damage. Metaknight started slashing, pushing his foe upwards. Lucina twisted once more in the air and landed a solid strike right down Pit as he hovered stunned in the air.

Donkey Kong did not stand a chance as Metaknight knocked him further and further into the air. He felt sick to his stomach as he realized that he was about to kill someone. He felt the cold of his night in memmelsruhe. He smelled the iron scent of spilled blood, and sweet scent o Oreos. The tell tale signs of a Jedspawn killing someone.

But… Just like then, if he didn’t act, someone he cared about was going to die!

Metakngiht flew into a loop, and knocked Donkey Kong off the map. He blew up, and the announcer shouted, “Donkey Kong, defeated!”

I just killed someone, Trick realized with horror.

Lucina was launching items at Pit, driving him back to the edge of the boundary. Once he was far enough away, Lucina jumped at her foe. It was a very quick exchange of leaps and charges in the air. It happened so quickly, Trick couldn’t follow it, but Pit was again thrown away and blew up.

Lucina zipped back and clung onto the edge. Metakngiht reached to help her up, but she jumped and flipped back onto the ground.

“Reggie is dead,” she stated. “Good. I’ll take care of Phineas. There’s always been something wrong with him.”

Trick was confused by that nonchalant way of addressing her friend’s death. Hem just shrugged his cute hands and followed Lucina to where Pit now jumped out. Phineas went right at it, throwing arrows their way. He made his way to landmine and tossed it their way. Lucina snatched a Pokeball as it fell from the sky and tossed it coolly at Pit. He dodged, but she made sure not to throw it over the side. It opened up and unleashed a deluge Beedrills.

The insect Pokemon covered the entire arena and stung Pit, trapping him in the sky with their barrage of attacks. Lucina once more jumped into the sky to dispatch her friend in the way he had done just before. This time, however, Pit managed to evade through a set of dodges and shields.

Lucina barely managed to rush back to platform before falling into the void below. Just then, the great wind for the arena blast them, blowing Pit farther off course. A wand fell from the sky and again, Lucina plucked it as if it were an everyday thing.

She threw it with tremendous force and struck Pit in the chest, launching him out of bounds.

As her friend blew up, Lucina turned to Metaknight and said, “That was a good tip. We caught Reggie off guard, and it allowed me to take down one of Phineas’ lives. However, he learned from our two exchanges. We just got very lucky with the items dropping. Otherwise, Pit might have won. He is too OP a character if used correctly.”

“Pit, Defeated!”

There was a flash of light, and both Lucina and Metaknight were forced to swing their blades and pose in epic glory. They found themselves atop a high platform, and the Master Hand descended from spotlights above.

“Victors! Congratulations! You escaped this game, but now your quest begins!”

He snapped his finger, or really himself. Strange, thick sheets appeared in their hands with scribbles and shapes they couldn’t make out in the light.

“And for your rewards! Lucina! The Sword of Heritage! Metaknight! The Cloak of Transition!”

There was another flash, and Trick and Naomi found themselves in Phineas and Reggie’s apartment. The same old smells assaulted their noses. It was all familiar, but the guys were gone. And in their hands, the sheets of paper and their video game prizes.

Naomi forced Trick to sit down and said, “Alright, before we lose our heads here, we need to talk. We need to figure out what exactly is going on here!”