Chapter Text
Prologue
They say Smash is for good boys and girls. For a long time, this was true. Good-hearted, family-friendly fun. Then, nobody knows quite what happened, but those days ended in the same place they began-- the Colosseum. The first reported case happened there. Kirby, of planet Pop Star. He seemed afraid at first… almost uncharacteristically paranoid. Upon being asked what was wrong, he attacked. Mario was lost that day, and others were either injured or infected. It is a day that lives in infamy.
Other cases have sprung up since then, with the game’s brightest minds working to figure out what’s going on and how to fix it. In spite of this, tragedies keep happening. People are still dying. People are still getting sick. No matter what precautions we take, it’s as if tragedy is unavoidable.
It’s every fighter for themselves, now. Spirits and bosses may not be safe either. Though immune from the actual illness, they aren’t immortal.
What used to be a haven for collaboration and friendly competition has been divided into factions, everyone fighting for survival.
Where did the hands go? They should be able to fix this, right? They made this world, they could save it if we knew where they were.
We can’t even leave this game if we want to. Where would we even go? Would the pathogen spread if we did go somewhere else?
Pray to whatever god you believe in that you make it through this hellscape unscathed. Someone, anyone, end this madness if you can hear these pleas for help.
Chapter 1
A castle floats miles above the ground, the walls are secure. Within its walls, a man strides to his destination and enters a laboratory. Clipboard in arm, he picks up a flask and observes the preserved material within. Viruses are infamous for being fickle in preservation or observation, so it is a miracle this sample is still kicking. A shame someone had to die for these samples to be obtainable, but science does not come without sacrifices. From a medical perspective, this infection is an anomaly. Even Dracula, in all his advanced medical practices and technological advances, cannot detect samples in a victim’s blood or organs. Dracula sets the flask back in place, ties his silver hair back out of his face, and scrubs in to encounter this new test subject his forces dragged in.
Whatever this is, it is beyond science. It is a miracle Dracula has any samples of the virus to begin with. There is only so much anyone can do in this scenario, short of genocide. Even stranger, blood has been developing in other victims. Dracula knows this hasn’t existed in the game until now… it has to be related to the virus, right?
No matter what… the mysteries of the universe must be answered, no matter how strange. I am prepared to do whatever it takes for my answers , Dracula repeats to himself as he looks over his notes.
He looks at his clipboard as he veils his fangs with a face mask. Name: Toad. Game, Mario… so it’s one of those less violent games in this tournament. White mushroom cap with red spots. Pale skin. Approximately 4 feet tall, 1.2 meters if we’re being scientific. There’s an injury from one of the infected specimens outside the castle walls. He takes a deep breath and looks to his aide, the specter of Death itself. “You made sure he’s unconscious and under anesthesia, correct?”
The spirit nods and ensures the specimen is strapped to the examination table. The vampire nods in response and takes a syringe in hand. After taking a moment to ensure his tools are clean, he draws blood, and sure enough, his blood is still deep red as opposed to black, but it shouldn’t be for long if he is allowed to live post-op. He sets the syringe aside for the sample to be put into a vial. He takes his scalpel in hand and starts to harvest from his victim.
Spores and mycelium from the cap are delicately carved from his head. Delving deeper into his head, eventually removing the full cap itself from the body, he cuts into the skull and delicately and swiftly moves the brain where it won’t quickly rot to observe its degradation outside the safety of the skull. The patient should still be aware upon being woken up. The full nervous system has been removed and is thankfully intact. In this vacuum, I should see how the virus attacks the nervous system. The eyes are removed and set in their container for further study. Dracula moves his focus to the torso, cutting down the middle and, with some help, holding the incision open with retractors. With enough effort, the ribs and sternum are removed from the body and set aside. First, the lungs are removed, as they are not needed for this study. The true prize is his heart-- it’s actually shocking this species even has a heart… though in all honesty, if it has eyes and a brain, then it likely does have a heart. Finally, the heart is removed, the victim is taken off anesthesia, and the pieces that are discarded are sent to an incinerator.
Within a matter of hours, what’s left of the victim’s consciousness wakes up to the horror of what happened to him. “Who are you?! What did you do to me?!”
“Now, now,” Dracula speaks with an air of indifference, “No need to panic, this is for your own good.”
“Own good?!” the victim starts to quiver in his life support, “What is so good about this?”
“Would you rather suffer where you can hurt people? You’re infected, it’s better for everyone else this way,” Dracula grimaces and crosses his arms. After shaking his head, he continues, “Now. You are in this state for a very specific purpose. Your blood is currently being flowed through your nervous system with help from that machine,” he gestures. “The goal is to see how you slowly degrade over time while we have a visual of what it looks like. This is for the greater good. I recommend you get as comfortable with being a brain and spine as you reasonably can. It’s downhill from here.”
Day 1: It is the first day of this study. The subject is panicked, so this should accelerate the rate of infection. It will be placed in a secure area should the victim reach the final stage and manage to escape. I think it should be fine, given the safety measures I have in place. That’s all the notes I have for the time being. I’ll write again if something new comes up or if I notice a new development.
Dracula leaves the area and checks to ensure he has enough food to last a while. Nope. This is to be expected, with a large army to feed and test subjects to keep alive. After shifting his cape to a hood, he takes his hunting gear and leaves the castle to hunt and gather more food in the castle.