It was a crisp fall morning. The leaves were turning many colours and the air was colder. However, this wasn't what was interesting. Today was the day before the season opener for the Smash League.

The Smash League was a league based around fighting. This sport took place at a place commonly referred to as Smash School. The school consisted of a few buildings: a mansion where the smashers lived, a cafeteria where they ate, a training building to train at and the battle arena. Everyone referred to the arena as Battlefield.

Sakurai was sitting in the office, getting the papers together. He was pretty excited for the next season of Smash to start. Ah, I always enjoy a new season of Smash, Sakurai thought.

However, Sakurai also had a bad feeling. Something doesn't feel right, he thought. I get the feeling something bad will happen... Ah, I'm just a little nervous. It's probably nothing. He resumed sorting through the paperwork.

*Meanwhile, at the mansion...*

The Mansion was in a state of controlled chaos, but then again, it always was. As per the usual, Captain Falcon was trying to get Zero Suit Samus to be his girlfriend, even though she made it very clear that she didn't want anything to do with him.

"Aw, come on. You know you like me!" Captain Falcon said.

"For the last time, I'm not interested in you!" Zero Suit Samus replied to the captain. She then kicked him in the gut. He keeled over in an instant.

Dr. Mario came out of his room. "Mama mia, not again," he said in annoyance. He ran over to treat Captain Falcon. Dr. Mario had returned to battle after being cut a few years ago and he was glad to be back in. He had been getting tired of treating medical problems for the last few years.

Mario and Luigi were chatting with each other about Italian cuisine.

"Luigi, it's so obvious that spaghetti is better!" Mario said.

"You're off your rocker, Mario!" Luigi shot back. "There's so much more to be found in lasagna!"

"Spaghetti is more flavorful!"

"No, lasagna is!"

They seemed to argue at least once a week.

Bowser was plotting a scheme in his room.

"...and when they pick up the pizza, that's when the old bread kicks in..." he muttered to himself. "Man, I need some food..."

Ganondorf marched up to Link's room. His door was closed. Perfect, he thought. I'll catch him off guard and take him out.

Ganondorf opened the door. In the room, he saw Link and Zelda making out. He stumbled and fell backwards.

Link heard the noise and looked at Ganondorf. "For the last time, knock before you enter!" he said.

"Will do," Ganondorf groaned.

Mario was finished arguing with Luigi (they still couldn't agree which dish was better) and he now approached Pit's room. He entered to find Pit and Dark Pit in a heated conversation.

"You're still inferior to me," Dark Pit stated.

"Are you kidding? I'm so much better than you!" Pit fired back.

"There's only one way to solve this," Dark Pit concluded.

"Fight to the death?" Pit asked.

"Fight to the death," Dark Pit confirmed.

"No!" Mario shouted. "I've told you before that there will be no death matches at the Mansion!" Mario began to walk away. "I swear, if those two try to get into a death match one more time, I'm going to scream."

Mario entered the lobby. "Has anyone seen Marth and Ike?" he asked.

"They're in the training room, practicing with Robin," Shulk replied.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Mario asked. The folks from Fire Emblem practiced often, but were never fatigued for some reason.

"Isn't it almost dinner time?" Wario questioned, tuning his bike while he asked.

"Yes, Wario," Mario sighed. "As soon as we get everyone together, we'll eat. Other than Duck Hunt and the Fire Emblem guys, we're all here."

"I'll go find Duck Hunt," Sonic said. "Someone should probably tell Little Mac that he can stop training."

"More like tell Doc Louis," Mario said. "He's the one that practically forces Little Mac to do all this training."

"Perhaps you should tell him," Peach suggested.

"OK, I'll do it," Mario agreed. He entered Little Mac's room.

As per the usual, Little Mac was sending flurries of punches at the bag. However, he looked spent. He was clearly ready to end training for today. "Hey, guys!" Mario called. "It's time for dinner!"

Little Mac opened his mouth to speak, but Doc Louis cut in. "He can't go yet," he stated. "He's still got an hour of training to go."

"Doc, Mac needs a break," Mario stressed.

"Nah, he's fine," Doc said. "Right, Mac?"

Little Mac said nothing. He fell flat on his face and didn't try to get back up.

"He needs a break," Mario stated firmly.

"Fine," Doc grumbled. "I'm getting a little hungry, anyways."

(About 15 minutes later...)

"All the Smash fighters were sitting around the table in the dining hall, enjoying the dinner set before them: a few roast chickens, plenty of vegetables, mashed potatoes, stuffing and lots of soda. Everyone ate heartily, celebrating the beginning of the new Smash season.

Mac easily ate the most; once he had woken up, he realized that he was starving after another four-hour training session.

After about an hour, Mario got up to announce something.

"Fellow Smashers!" he announced. Everyone stopped and looked up. "Now, before I begin, I would just like to say a few things. We welcome the newcomers to the series: Villager, Mega Man, Rosalina, Little Mac, Duck Hunt, Shulk, Robin, Lucina, Dark Pit, Wii Fit Trainer, Greninja, Pac-Man, Palutena and Bowser Jr." There was a loud applause and a few even whistled.

"I would also like to welcome back the returning characters from Melee, Dr. Mario and Mewtwo," Mario announced. The others cheered again.

"Lastly, I would also like to welcome Joe, Bob and Jane, the representatives from Mii Plaza," Mario concluded. The others cheered again.

"Now, onto the subject of tomorrow," Mario began. "As you all know, tomorrow is the beginning of the new Smash season. I just want to go over the format for tomorrow's matches." mario brought out his Smart Board and turned it on. It displayed all the matches for tomorrow.

"OK, tomorrow we have 10 matches," Mario stated. "The match-ups are as follows: me vs. Kirby, Link vs. Ganondorf, Meta Knight vs. Mega Man, Sonic vs. Captain Falcon, Dr. Mario vs. Dark Pit, Jigglypuff vs. Pikachu, Lucario vs. Mewtwo, Little Mac vs. Ike, Marth vs. Luigi and Fox vs. Falco. As always, you'll have three stocks and the matches will have an eight minute time limit. If neither fighter loses all their stocks when time runs out, it goes to Sudden Death. Does everyone understand?" Everybody nodded.

"All righty, then!" Mario stated. "Let's finish dinner!" The Smashers resumed dining.

(30 minutes later...)

By now, all the Smashers had finished eating. Some were hanging out in the lobby area, while others were in the gaming lounge playing Wii Sports Resort.

Marth, Ike and Shulk were in the lobby, chatting it up.

"So, you think I got a chance to win the Smash Cup this year?" Shulk asked.

"Well, maybe," Marth answered. "Meta Knight and Fox aren't as powerful this time, so the rest of us might have a chance."

"Who won it last year, anyway?" Shulk inquired.

"Surprisingly, Ness won it last year," Marth replied. "He just barely beat Wolf in the final match. He won it using his PK fire move while Wolf was off the ledge; he couldn't recover from it."

"Where is Wolf now?" Shulk asked.

"Mr. Sakurai decided to cut him for some unknown reason," Ike replied. "He won't tell anyone why..."

"Well, I'm sure he had a good reason why," Shulk said, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"Yeah, you're probably right," Marth said. "Want to head upstairs and play some DDR?"

"Sure, why not?" Ike said. I'll probably lose again, he thought.

"Shulk, you want to join us?" Marth asked.

"Sure!" Shulk replied. They headed up to the gaming lounge.

(At the gaming lounge...)

Mario and Samus were in a heated Pick-Up basketball game. There were 20 seconds left and Samus was ahead by 2.

"Come on, Mr. Amazing! Live up to your name!" Mario shouted, referencing one of the Miis on his team. "Surely you can beat out a Mii named Hobo Joe!"

Those watching the two were laughing hysterically, and Luigi was even taking a video of it.

"This is hilarious!" Link said to Luigi.

"Oh, just wait until he loses," Luigi said back. "Watching him rage is even funnier."

Time ran out and Samus won by two points. As predicted, Mario flew into a rage. He threw his remote at the TV (a magical barrier had been put on it, so it didn't break). He began yelling, but nobody could comprehend what he was saying. He then fell on the floor and began thrashing everywhere, screaming as loud as he could. By now, everyone was dying of laughter.

It was around this time that Marth, Ike and Shulk walked in. They were greeted by the sight of Mario throwing his tantrum over losing.

"Let me guess, Mario lost again?" Marth asked.

"Oh, yeah, big time," Bowser replied in between laughs.

"Well, that's not a surprise," Ike stated. "Mario tends to lose to Samus in video games."

"Well, anyone want to play some DDR with us?" Marth asked.

Luigi, Link, Bowser and Zelda joined them. The first match-up was Marth vs. Ike. Marth chose an easy song and they began the game. While Marth had perfect timing every time, Ike was having trouble staying upright. By the end of the match, Marth had a perfect score while Ike's face was against the screen because he tripped over his own feet.

"You win again, Marth," Ike said, his voice muffled by the screen.

"Anyone else want to play?" Marth asked.

"Sure," Luigi answered.

"I'm in," Bowser said. The song began.

Surprisingly, Luigi and Bowser were evenly matched, and when the song ended, Luigi just barely won. Typically, Bowser would start raging if he lost to Mario or Luigi, but he was trying to avoid getting upset too often, so he swallowed his anger and shook Luigi's hand.

Marth yawned. "Man, I'm tired," he said. "We should probably pack it in for the night."

"Yeah, you're right," Ike agreed. "It's getting real late, and tomorrow's going to be rough."

The Smashers went off to their rooms to rest up. However, two of them still had a score to settle.

"Hey, Pittoo!" Pit said. "I'm still better than you!"

"First of all, stop calling me that," Dark Pit replied. "Secondly, we both know I am the superior Pit."

"There's just one way to settle this."

"Fight to the death?"

"Fight to the dea-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Mario's scream could be heard for miles.

(During the night...)

Mario was swimming in a pool of spaghetti.

He was happy like he had never been before. Surrounded by his favourite food, he never wanted to leave. He was eating some of it. He didn't have a care in the world.

Suddenly, he was transported to another world. This world was filled with garlic and had millions of Warios running around everywhere. A few came up to him and farted in his face.

Mario became very upset. "MEWTWO!" he shouted.

Mewtwo was awake and chuckling. When he couldn't sleep, he would mess with people's dreams. Through these same powers, he could watch their dreams and hear what they say. He got a lot of entertainment out of it. He messed with Mario a lot, but he messed with others a fair amount, too: he sent Luigi to a prison cell filled with ghosts, he sent Peach back to Bowser's castle and he even took away Link's hat.

Satisfied, Mewtwo decided to go to sleep now, greatly anticipating his return to Smash.

(The next day...)

It was late in the morning, around 11 am. The Smash Arena was filled with fans and Smashers alike. It was common for the crowd members to bet on who would win the match, but the Smashers were practically obsessed with it. If they weren't fighting that day, they were in amongst the crowd, betting on the matches. Some really crazy bets had been made, though most of the crazy bets weren't made in cash.

The first match of the day was Mario vs. Kirby. The fighters dropped onto Battlefield and the announcer began.

"3... 2... 1... GO!"

The two fighters charged at each other. Mario slid into Kirby, knocking Kirby back. Mario tried to grab Kirby, but Kirby dodged and grabbed him from behind. Kirby pummeled Mario and threw him at the ground. Mario rolled back and shot a fireball, hitting Kirby. Mario tried getting in closer, but Kirby inhaled him, copying his ability. Now donning a Mario hat, Kirby tossed a fireball at Mario. Mario used his cape to reflect it back. It hit Kirby, and Mario charged at him, grabbesd him and tossed him off the edge. Mario leapt off the stage and meteor smashed Kirby, sending him downward. Mario used his recovery move, the Super Jump Punch, to return to the stage. Kirby also recovered using his floating abilities and recovery. Mario was waiting for him, though. He charged his smash attack, waiting for Kirby to get in range. When Kirby was in range, he spun his legs around like a break dancer, sending Kirby flying sideways. Kirby had to recover again, but Mario looked to finish him. He charged another smash attack. When Kirby got to the stage, Mario threw his hand forward, creating a small explosion. Kirby didn't have a chance. He flew outside the boundaries of the stage, exploding in a brilliant display of light. Kirby lost a stock.

When Kirby respawned he immediately went after Mario. Mario, now in danger of being launched, kept his distance from Kirby, sending a barrage of fireballs his way. Kirby got hit by one or two, but dodged the others. Kirby charged at Mario, grabbed him and tossed him off. Mario barely recovered, but Kirby sent him flying with his hammer. Each fighter now had two stocks left.

Mario respawned and grabbed Kirby. He slammed him into the ground, which caused Kirby to catch some air. Mario jumped up and kicked Kirby. He followed this up with his Tornado move, which sent Kirby to the right and off the stage. Mario meteor smashed Kirby again, but because Kirby was so far away from the stage, he couldn't recover. Kirby lost another stock.

Kirby respawned again and went after Mario. He quickly inhaled him to gain his power again and began throwing fireballs. Mario dodged them with ease and slid at Kirby. This threw Kirby off balance and gave Mario another opportunity to punish him. He grabbed Kirby and threw him upwards, followed it with an aerial kick and used his Super Jump Punch on him. Mario landed on the stage and rolled away, anticipating an attack from Kirby. Kirby tossed a fireball, which Mario reflected with his cape. It got Kirby, leaving him vulnerable. Mario grabbed him again and threw him down. Kirby caught air again, but Mario didn't go after him this time; instead, he charged his smash attack. When Kirby came in range, he hit him; Kirby was gone instantly. Mario had won the match.

(A few minutes later...)

Kirby was brought back to the stage for the finishing handshake, which always occurred after a match. However, when Mario reached kis hand out, Kirby gave him a funny look and ran away.

That's odd, Mario thought. Kirby knows we always shake hands after a fight. Why did he run away?

Sakurai, who was watching the fight, was also confused.

Why did Kirby run away like that? Sakurai thought. We established early on that handshakes after the fight are a mandatory gesture of good sportsmanship. Perhaps something is wrong... Ah, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, I would hate to lose the first battle of the season, too.

(Back in the changing room...)

Mario was sitting there in shock. He couldn't comprehend why Kirby acted the way he did. About then, Luigi entered the room. "Mario, are you OK?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Mario replied. "I just can't believe Kirby would run away like that."

"Maybe he just suffered from a case of poor sportsmanship," Luigi mused. "After all, anyone would be upset if they lost the first match of the season."

"Perhaps you're right," Mario said with a hint of apprehension.

"Let's go watch the rest of the fights," Luigi suggested. "I put down some serious cash on the Lucario - Mewtwo fight, and I want to see how it goes."

"Sure," Mario replied. "I'm sure everything is fine."

As all the Smashers would later find out, everything wasn't fine, and Kirby's strange behavior wasn't just poor sportsmanship...