Dear [Fighter].

  You, of all the beings in the multiverse, have been chosen to join Smash! You should be proud, as this means that you are one of the premium fighters of your world.

  What, you ask, is Smash? I am glad that you did ask - Smash is the homeplace of the greatest battles in the universe. You will come to my world and fight for me against the champions of other worlds, to discover who truly has the most power.

  I should also add that, should you refuse, I will erase you and your entire world from existence. I would be loathe to do so, and to lose such a capable fighter, but I leave the choice in your hand. If you have decided to accept, press the seal on the envelope. You will be transported to my domain.

  The battle will begin soon. I await you.

  Master Hand.

  Peach looked up from the letter that Mario had shown her. "And you don't know who this Master Hand is?"

  "No," Mario confirmed. "But I don't think I have any option but to say yes."

  "Me neither," Luigi added. He elbowed his brother in the ribs. "We both got an invite, after all."

  Mario shook his head. "Maybe you could stay home. He probably just wants one of us, after all."

  "No," Luigi said. He tried to say it firmly, but the quiver in his voice gave him away. "We don't know what he wants. We have to do what he says, or he could hurt everyone. Daisy, Peach, the Toads..."

  Peach nodded. "Luigi is right, Mario. Is this "Master Hand" wants you both, then you have to go." She knelt down so that she would stand at the same height as the rather diminutive plumber. "I'm counting on you two to protect the mushroom kingdom for me. Can you do that?"

  Mario nodded. "Of course. And maybe when we get back..."

  "Yes," Peach said. "I'll make a cake for both of you."

  It was a cheerful farewell, but a sinking feeling in the pit of Mario's stomach made him think that it would be a very long time before he got to have that cake. He turned to Luigi.

  "Last chance to back out, bro," Luigi offered.

  They both pressed the seals.

  It seemed for a moment as though the world had frozen as a still image. Then they heard two slicing sounds, which cut through their visions like it was paper in the shape of a cross, whose two lines crossed in the bottom left of their vision. The four remaining pieces peeled away, revealing a new world in its place.

  Mario was no longer standing next to Luigi. Instead, he was standing on a floating platform in what appeared to be outer space. He could tell from the way everything around him moved that he was travelling very fast, but he couldn't feel any movement. The world beyond his fingertips could have been a screen, and he would never know except for how real it felt.

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  The platform was in a ring with eleven others, though for now he couldn't see the figures that stood upon them. They were there, certainly, but when he tried to look at one of them it was as though his eyes wouldn't focus on them.

  And in the middle of this circle floated who could only be the Master Hand. It was strange, Mario thought, that Master Hand looked so much like one of his own gloves. It was at least twelve feet in length, towering over Mario, and moving slowly with a precise control. He wondered if this was the hand of some giant being, or if this was all there was.

  "Welcome," said Master Hand. "I am pleased to see that all twelve of you have accepted my offer."

  He didn't have a voice, exactly. It was as though the words appeared in Mario's mind, unbidden but impossible to ignore.

  "Now that all of you have come, I will introduce all twelve of the fighters that have been summoned for this competition," Master hand continued. He rotated in the air, pointing to one of the platforms to Mario's left. "First: the universal saviour, Kirby of the Stars!"

  Mario was suddenly able to focus on the fighter. A short, spherical creature with two large black eyes and a pair of nubs on the sides of its... head? Body? Were those its arms? It looked around, as though confused at why it was hear.

  "Ness, the Slayer of Giygas!" This fighter was a child - exactly how old Mario couldn't tell - with a red cap and a striped yellow and blue shirt. He held a cracked baseball bat in one hand.

  "The Lightning Rodent, Pikachu!" A small yellow creature resembling a mouse. It was asleep, with its lightning bolt shaped tail waving gently back and forth above its head.

  "Jigglypuff, with the Song of Sleep!" A creature that was similar in size and shape to Kirby of the Stars, with a body that was a slightly lighter shade of pink and... was that a pen in its hand? It made an annoyed face and started to inflate like a balloon.

  None of these four would have struck Mario as incredible fighters.

  "The saviour of the mushroom kingdom, Mario!" Mario suddenly felt that ten pairs of eyes were all staring at him at once. Were they assessing him as a threat?

  "Luigi, the brother of Mario!" Luigi looked at the ground, ashamed by the way he had been introduced. No-one would think much of him if they thought he was just the brother of another fighter.

  "The Great Ape, Donkey Kong!" Mario and Luigi both gasped at the name, and at their sudden ability to see their old acquaintance. He met their eyes and gave them something between a smile and a glare. Mario didn't like the idea of having him as an opponent. Hopefully they wouldn't need to fight.

  "The protector, Yoshi!" So Yoshi was here too. The small, green dinosaur shifted uncomfortably on his platform as he looked around at the others. He didn't think of himself as a fighter, but if nothing else he was glad to see Mario and Luigi here.

  "The captain of Star Fox Team, Fox McCloud." A fox which walked on two legs and appeared to be wearing a pilot's uniform. Now, Mario thought, he had seen everything.

  "Captain Falcon, the Port Town bounty hunter!" A man in a blue jumpsuit and red helmet, with a gun in a holster at his side. He stood tall and straight, hardly seeming to be affected by anything around him.

  "Samus Aran, the last Metroid!" This figure was a tall figure in a suit of orange and red armour. They were staring intently at Captain Falcon for some reason. Mario didn't know what a Metroid was, or how one became the last of them, but he was wary of this figure.

  "And finally. Link, the Hero of Hyrule!" Mario's attention was drawn to the last of the fighters, a young looking man wearing a green outfit with a pointy hat, with a longsword over his back. They locked eyes for a moment. There was something about this man. Something he couldn't quite pick up on.

  His attention was robbed as Master Hand spoke again. "Now that all of you have seen one another, I will send you away to await the beginning of the fights tomorrow. Don't kill each other until then."

  And with that, the world was once again split into four and everything went white.