Olimar scanned the muddy ground below him; anxiously in hope to find the next recruit and finish the daily job that the lazy, big-headed (not literally) camp director had bestowed upon him. Squinting through the dark night sky, all he could see was a swirling valley of mud below him. Once more, he paused to clear the fog off his helmet and continued through the pouring rain and roaring thunder.

Finally, Olimar spotted a speck of light on a hill amidst the vortex of churning mud. Praying that the eighth time was the charm, he began the careful descent towards the muddy ground, his multicolored faithful friends the Pikmin following not so anxiously in his wake. No matter how steadily he went, as he landed he was once again immediately greeted by the muddy tornado in the swampland. Luckily his full-body space suit was waterproof or he’d be drenched from head to toe. As it was, he was already damp with puddles in his shoes. His Pikmin assisted him in getting out of the mud, which pulled at you like quicksand, and he headed on his way to the light source: A small little hut made out of branches, what looked like manure of some sort, sticks, rocks, and what else: mud.

“Is this the residence of Puddleglum?” Olimar asked dryly, even though that was the opposite of what he actually was.
A stout little woman with an apron, a crooked nose like all Marshwiggles, green curvy shoes and her hair in a bun stood there astonished that someone was out in this weather and at this time. “I don’t know why I’m here either” he wanted to say, but instead he tried to smile. It didn’t work too well.

‘Oh deary me! What are you doing out in this weather? Come in, come in, don’t be shy; your friends to, come on in. We were just having hot cocoa and cookies,” she persuaded, and Olimar agreed, far from reluctantly.

As he entered, he was pushed back by the rush of a heavenly aroma. He smelled his favorite food, apple crumble, but what he saw was even better: The home was perfect for him and his family. They had small plates, small tables, small TV sets, small lamps, a small stove; everything was the right size for his family. Better than the small tree trunk he was living in now with his wife Olimina, son Olibob and daughter Olimay. Along with the Pikmin side of the trunk, there was barely any room.

Olimar sat and the nice Marshwiggle gave him a plate of quiche and apple crumble with hot cocoa and cookies which he accepted graciously. The eight false alert descents into the mud had drained a lot of energy out of him; this would bring it back for the trip home. The food was perfect. There was even whipped cream, little marshmallows and a cherry on the cocoa and ice cream on the top of his pie.

“Thank you so very much misses…”
“Marsha. Marsha Marshwiggle. And you might be if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Not at all. It’s Olimar. Pleasure to meet you Marsha. If you don’t mind, do you know anyone by the name of Puddleglum?”
“Why yes, he’s my son. Would you like to see him?”
“Yes please, I wish to invite him to our camp. I’ve searched for an hour and a half looking for him. You see, we have a very specific guest list.”
“Okay, one minute - PUDDLEGLUM?!?” Marsha shouted up the stairs and a hoarse, bored voice answered, “WHAT MOM! I TOLD YOU, I’M NOT WATCHING PORN! AND I’M NOT GOING TO THE STUPID FESTIVAL!”
“Not in this weather he’s not,” she murmured than proceeded to yell once more,” COME HERE YOU HAVE A GUEST!”

The Marshwiggle that slumped down the stairs wasn’t the one with sunken cheeks, a thin face and a hat with a wide flat brim and a high top as described in the book. He mad a black toque, no hair, jeans and a black tee-shirt that was ripped in several places including the end of the sleeves. He still had his sharp, long nose, except with two piercings, and was wearing brown flip-flops which were concealing white socks vaguely. The only thing that distinguished him, as a solemn, serious Marshwiggle was his skin color (the color of the marsh surrounding them when it wasn’t a tornado) and the Wiggleboards logo on his shirt.

After meeting Martha, Olimar regretted the decision to do Dionysius’ bidding, but it had to be done. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered sadly as he kissed Marsha on the cheek, left her a pack of paper in which the brochure and info of the ‘camp’ that Puddleglum was selected to go to. He then took two Deku Nuts out of his front pocket and threw them to the ground, dizzying Marsha and Puddleglum so that Olimar could take Puddleglum and strap him in on his spaceship, which appeared when he clapped his hands three times.

When Puddleglum was strapped in with the others, Olimar headed to the drivers seat to find a small yellow hedgehog-like creature. It sighed in a way that looked and sound demented, and floated up to the roof. Olimar shrugged and kept on his way.

“Who’s the new guy? And one recognize him?” said a male voice. Puddleglum was confused, but still didn’t think that he new the person.

A few “nope” ’s went through the room - at least that was what he thought it was - before a female voice - rowdy and joyful instead of the leaderly first voice - said, “Hey, dude? You awake?”

Puddleglum uttered a “Yah, what happened?” and got a bunch of shrugs and grumbles from people. Now that the drowsiness effect had worn off, Puddleglum looked around the room and saw 33 others - he was very precise on every detail being perfect - ranging from a panda and elephant to a princess and a monkey. There were girls, a few guys, 4 babies and some other things that he didn’t even want to guess.

The room they were in turned out to be in a spaceship, which he got from the first person who got on - a professor sort of man who introduced himself as E. Gadd. The space alien that abducted him was Olimar - a “nice young lad’ as E. Gadd described him - and he was taking them to participate in the event of the century, and that he was lucky to have been chosen.

“Sure, lucky.” Puddleglum thought dryly. He was lucky to have been abducted? Well at least he was missing the festival for himself. He got mauled all the time, and it was embarrassing to make a speech.

As he was thinking, Olimar entered through a door and strapped two more creatures in. A cat of some sort, with three tails and a green two legged hawk. “Last passengers, next stop: The Smash Mansion!”

The spaceship headed off, and Puddleglum learned some names. Horton the elephant and Po the Panda, both able to talk, were nice, but a bit strange. Both thought that they had superpowers and were masters at defeating enemies. Toadette, Toadsworth and Toad were there, from the mushroom kingdom. They pointed out Birdo, a pink dinosaur-like thing that Puddleglum immediately decided to stay away from, the princesses Daisy and Rosalina, the four babies (Baby Mario, Luigi, Daisy and Peach) the monkey dressed as a pirate named Funky Kong, and a skeleton creature named Dry Bowser. An alien-like thing which the grammatical Puddleglum couldn’t even describe called himself Fawful.

The rest of the passengers had to wait, as Olimar parked the spaceship and told them to follow him.

“Where are we?” said the boisterous Toadette. He started skipping along behind Olimar as the others trudged unwillingly.

“We’re going to see the stars from super Smash bros. Brawl and participate in a competition with them that might take weeks.” Said Olimar. “The winner will get to be in the next brawl, AND get there own game.”

Everyone there (and most everyone not there) had heard of Brawl, except maybe the babies. You could watch all the matches on TV, and even gloomy Puddleglum liked it. Everyone had a favorite character, and when Olimar told them the news, each new brawler hoped that they could meet his/her/it’s idol.

Funky Kong thought he could have a game like DK’s - his idol - where you play the bongos, or you fly with barrels in a race. Fawful wanted another superstar saga game staring himself, with some changes including the fact that the bad guys win. Zeol would have an adventure game, like Fire Emblem, whereas E. Gadd would love a second Luigi’s Mansion game.

No matter what, each new brawler wanted to be in brawl, and would do anything to win. In fact, some would cheat, some would make alliances, and some would win every challenge thrown at them.

They might not succeed however, as the next thing Olimar said was, “in this first challenge, 22 people will be eliminated.” At this, everyone froze and had second thoughts about winning it all.

Olimar: Now meet the host of the show, MC Ballyhoo and his pal Bigtop!

Ballyhoo: Welcome one and all to the competition! I’m Ballyhoo-

Bigtop: And I’m the talking hat, Bigtop!

Ballyhoo: Seeing as our appearance in Mario Party 8 was a complete success, we were invited to host this show, and we accepted.

Bigtop: As Olimar has told you, there are 70 brawlers in this mansion. So in this first challenge, 22 of you will be eliminated. One challenge after that, we will make teams, and about ten challenges later, we’ll have every one for themselves. Good luck to you all.

Deathborn: I don’t need luck…

Po: Yah, there is no secret ingredient, it’s just you!

Meowth: What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Ballyhoo: Anyways, this may not seem fair, but we’ll be starting the first challenge right away. Entering the door on your left, you’ll be in a stage called new pork city. If you fall off the edge, you are out of the round, but not the competition. Every third person to die will be eliminated. For example, Rosalina dies first, then Tak, then Birdo. Rosalina and Tak will be transported out here, and will be safe and in the next round automatically, but Birdo is out of the competition, and you won’t see… it… again.

Birdo: Birrrrrrr!

Fawful: The melon due moose is correct as a frog’s loop. She won’t get out, unlike the leopard skinned monkey in the restaurant.

Funky: Is he referring to me? And how can he understand the dinosaur… anyways, LET’S FIGHT!

Popple: You can’t understand princess Birdo? Weird.

Daisy: Last time I checked I was the only princess. That thing isn’t a princess.

Rosalina: Hey, what about me?

Toadette: You’re overrated.

Bigtop: Hey, stop it! Anyways, let’s get started, like Funky said. Remember, one live, no items, every third person out dies. And watch out for the invincible chimera.

Funky dashed in automatically, waiting to fight someone. The others tried to ask more questions, but Ballyhoo pushed them all in. The battle was on.