Wherever they were, Link, Mario, and Kirby searched for a means of getting out of their strange new predicament. After a time, a white light glowed from a doorway in their arenas, and they passed through them cautiously.
The three of them found themselves in a large, blue room, empty save for a few floating platforms and each other. Startled by each other's appearance, they attempted to run back through the doorways, only to find them gone.
"W-Who are you?" asked Link wearily.
"Who are we?" Mario blinked. "Well, I was invited here to fight in some kind of tournament."
"You too?" Kirby chipped in.
Mario and Link nodded.
"So you guys are the other participants in the tournament, huh?" Link gently released the grip he had subconsciously had on his sword.
"That's us." Kirby smiled.
"Well, as long as we're here, we might as well introduce ourselves. I'm Kirby."
"My name is Link"
"I'm Mario." said the plumber. "Glad to meet you guys."
"Do you think it'll be just us fighting?" asked Kirby.
"I don't think so." said Link, looking around. "But then again, no one else has showed up, so it is possible."
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a giant, white-gloved hand slammed down onto the ground near them. The three new friends lost their footing and tumbled into a heap. The hand reached toward them and plucked Link from the pile.
"HELP!!!" the Hylian screamed, drawing his sword and slashing wildly.
"We'll save you!" yelled Mario, readying a fireball in his hand.
"I'm not sure if I can swallow something THAT big!" Kirby gulped.
"Just get me down!!!!!!!!!!!" Link hollered.
Mario made the fireball blaze until it was big enough to throw. Kirby, wondering what to do, watched the plumber and got an idea. The little puffball inhaled the fireball, much to Mario's shock.
"What did you do that for?" the plumber yelled.
Kirby swallowed the mini-inferno and expelled the fireball back into Mario's hands. Then, turning to their common opponent, Kirby fired a mouthful of flames at the giant hand.
Despite his intense surprise, Mario, too, began a fiery assault on the glove grabbing Link. The combined flames burnt the hand badly, loosening its grip just enough for the Hylian to get a good stab with his sword into it. The hand shook Link viciously, rendering the hero nearly unconscious.
Seeing that the hand was weakened, Kirby expelled the power star and opened his mouth wide to suck the hand in. The hand clung tightly to Link, but as it realized that it was being pulled into the abyss that was Kirby's mouth, it quickly let go and fled.
Kirby did not have time to shut his mouth, and before anyone could react, the puffball had caught Link in his mouth!
"Vet me adda here!" Link struggled inside the oral prison.
"Kirby!" yelled Mario. "Let him out!"
All of Link's struggling was more than Kirby could take. His mouth reflexed the wrong way and swallowed Link, who a second later appeared right behind him. The Hero of Hyrule shook his head to regain his senses and looked around wildly.
"W-What the hell just happened??" he clumsily sheathed his sword with a shaky hand.
"Sorry about that." said Kirby. "I was trying to catch the hand in my mouth. I didn't mean to suck you up instead."
"I'll tell you one thing," said Link. "You've got quite a mouth!-Hey! My hat!"
"Huh?" Kirby blinked curiously. Then it hit him; a green, floppy cap identical to Link's covered his head, and there was a boomerang in his dimensional pocket.
"How did you DO that?" asked Mario.
"I guess when I accidentally swallowed you, I must've absorbed your powers." Kirby explained. "Whenever I swallow something, I can use its powers. In this case, it's your powers."
"Weird…" Link's eyelid twitched nervously.
"You did the same thing with my fireball." added Mario. "But you threw out a star and didn't breathe fire anymore."
"I can only have one power at a time." said Kirby. "So I got rid of the fire power and was able to take on Link's, though I wish I could've gotten that hand's power instead."
"Well," Link got up. "At least we know what got you qualified for the tournament. What about you, Mario? That fireball looked impressive!"
"A fire flower will do that to you." the plumber explained. "When you pick one up, it allows you to throw fire. However, since I've had so much exposure to them back home, the effects are kind of permanent now."
"Cool." Link remarked.
"What about you, Link?" asked Kirby.
"As for me," Link rested his hand on his item pouch. "I defeated the evil wizard, Gannon, who was trying to take over my world, Hyrule."
"You saved your world too?" Kirby blinked.
"Are we noticing a pattern here?" Mario snapped his fingers.
"Did you save your world too?" Link twitched his pointy ears.
"Yeah," Mario nodded. "From that slimeball, Bowser Koopa. I rescued the princess from him."
"And I rescued Zelda from Gannon!" Link cried.
"I put the Star Rod back together after DeeDee and the Nightmare broke it!" Kirby scratched his head. "We all saved our respective worlds!"
"Is that what qualified us?" asked Mario.
"Must be." said Link. "This is too weird!"
"Tell me about it!" Mario cracked a smile. "I haven't felt this out of place since I fell into the Mushroom Kingdom!"
They all laughed together warmly.
"Your worlds must be strange and beautiful places!" said Link.
"Rainbow Resort is always pretty." Kirby smiled, picturing his homeland in his mind. "Of course, so is Orange Ocean if you don't fall into it!"
"Why wouldn't you want to fall into it?" asked Link.
"Sharks! That's why!" Kirby replied.
"I hear you!" Mario laughed. "I've got the same problem, except with Cheepies!"
"What are Cheepies?" Kirby inquired.
"They're like flying fish." said Mario. "Only they have the dumbest looks on their faces!"
"Speaking of faces," Link began. "One the ugliest faces I've ever seen back in Hyrule is an angry Moblin first thing when it wakes up! Think of a bulldog with a man's body and a ticked off expression even when they're happy."
"I can almost picture that!" Kirby laughed.
After a while of chatting and getting to know each other better, one question popped into each of their minds.
"So, where do we go from here?" asked Mario out of the blue.
"I don't know." said Kirby, looking around. "I guess we just wait here for now."
"Let's just hope that that hand doesn't come back for round two!" Link chipped in. "That was one tough palm!"
The three friends chattered on for awhile, discussing what their worlds were like and their thoughts on this weird tournament they were supposed to be involved in. An hour or so later, a glowing door opened up and silently beckoned for them to enter. Cautiously, they made their way to the ominous pathway…
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This is Chapter 4. Where would you like to go next?
