Ethan (Brawler)

I was sitting in the recliner, staring at the TV. There was a show on, but I wasn't really watching it. I felt myself starting to fall asleep.

It had been three days since our first training session. After beating up Sandbag for a number of hours, Sakurai snapped his fingers and our Sandbag disappeared, along with all the others. He called us all over and told us that the next training session would be in a week. He turned and left after that without another word. We hadn't heard anything from him in the days since.

I didn't know what to do with myself over those few days, so I spent most of it hanging around my apartment.

Maybe I should go outside and do something, I thought. But what should I do?

I got up and looked outside, in the hope of getting some inspiration. I almost immediately noticed the dumpster outside, and it occurred to me that I hadn't picked through it in a few days and there might be some good stuff in it.

I rushed into my room and grabbed my trusty picking jacket, a dusty brown coat I had owned for ages. I threw it on as I rushed out the door.

I approached the elevator and pushed the button. Almost immediately, the elevator door opened and Ganondorf walked out. He had a brown backpack in his hand.

"Hey, Ethan," he said flatly. "Where you headed?"

"Just going outside for a walk," I replied. "You?"

"Going back to the apartment. I need to finish planning."

"What are you planning?"

"I have an outing in mind, and I want you to come with us."

"Good idea. I've been bored stiff the past few days."

"As have I. Don't take too long, all right?"

Ganondorf walked away toward our apartment. As he did, I heard a faint clinking noise. I suspected it was coming from his backpack.

I didn't have time to think about it at that moment, though, as I had to get to the dumpster before it was emptied.

The elevator dispensed me at the ground level. I exited the building and walked around the side, looking around to make sure no one was watching. Normally, I wouldn't be so paranoid, but I didn't want to make a bad impression on the people here.

I opened the dumpster and gazed inside. Every time I opened a dumpster, I got excited; I often felt like a kid at Christmas, opening a massive present, not knowing what I would find. After the disappointment of the last time I checked this dumpster, I was hoping to find something usable this time.

I immediately noticed a table lamp and grabbed it. Looking closer, it appeared that the lamp was merely missing a lightbulb, as the rest of it looked fine. A little more digging around netted me a fedora with a worn brim and a weird stain. I dug to the bottom of the dumpster and found a smartphone.

Wait, a smartphone at the bottom of a dumpster? I thought. That seems a bit odd, especially since it seems perfectly functional.

I pushed the power button on the side, and sure enough, it booted up; unfortunately, it was password protected. I couldn't figure out who owned this phone, so I decided to take it back with me for now. I stuck the phone in my pocket and the other items in a box and made my way back inside.

As the elevator rose, I thought about what to do with the phone. I was tempted to keep it, as I didn't own one myself. At the same time, I couldn't help but think that this was important to someone.

The elevator reached the correct floor and opened. As I walked out, I decided that I would hold on to it until I found the owner. As for the other items, I had to take a closer look at them, but all they appeared to need was a little repair and a good wash.

That would have to wait, though, as Ganondorf was waiting in the living room, looking somewhat annoyed. "What took you so long?" he asked, audibly irritated.

"I went on a long walk," I replied.

"What's with the box?"

"Oh, this? This is a box from my truck. I forgot to bring it in when I got here."

"Eh, whatever. Drop off the stuff and let's get going. The others are waiting."

"What others?"

"You'll find out in a few moments."

I walked into my room and set the box down on my bed, to make sure I wouldn't forget about it. I took off my jacket and put it back in the closet, waving my hand as I did in order to rid myself of the dust.

I stepped back out of my room and Ganondorf rose off of the couch. He hefted the backpack onto his back and smirked. "Good, now we can get to the good stuff," he said. "Follow me; we'll meet the others outside."

I followed Ganondorf into the elevator. I felt a little uneasy; I didn't know what he had in mind, nor who he had found to join us. I shook my head a little and pushed my concern out of my mind; I was certain that he wouldn't lead me into a truly terrible situation.

As soon as we got back outside, I quickly realized there was another member in our little party; I figured it out before I even saw him, as the stench clued me in first. I looked over to the parking lot and noticed Bowser standing there.

It was the guy next to Bowser that caught my attention. He was considerably shorter and pudgier than the rest of us. His denim jacket and helmet gave off a biker vibe. This was furthered by his strange, stringy mustache, but was contradicted by his unusually excellent dental work. The stench was easily the worst part; he smelled strongly of garlic and flatulence.

"You're here," Bowser said. "We've been waiting forever!"

"You know we can't leave without the whole crew!" Ganondorf exclaimed.

"You gonna pay me now?" the pudgy man asked, holding his hand out.

Ganondorf shoved his palm forward, summoning purple smoke above the man's hand. It collapsed inward and turned into a pile of gold coins, falling into his hand. He closed his hand and shoved the coins in his pocket.

"You, introduce yourself, now," Ganondorf demanded, pointing at the pudgy man.

"Sure," the man said, turning to me. "I'm-a Wario. I'm-a gonna win!"

"...What?" I asked.

"Eh, he's like that," Ganondorf explained. "Let's get going. Hop in my car."

Thoroughly confused, I got into Ganondorf's car. His car was rather nice, with leather seats and a screen on the main console. Bowser crammed himself into the back, while Ganondorf sat in the driver's seat.

"Wait, where's Wario?" I asked.

Just as I asked that, Wario rode by on a large motorcycle, being a pretty decisive answer to my question.

Ganondorf started his car and began to drive. I settled into the seat as we drove through the city.

"You know, Wario is the kind of minion I like," Ganondorf said suddenly.

"Wario's your minion?" I asked.

"I'm the King of Evil; of course I have minions."

"That makes sense... I suppose. But why is Wario such a great minion, then?"

"It's because of his motivations."

"His motivations?"

"The best minions are the ones with simple motivations. A minion with one simple motivation is the easiest to control."

"So what's Wario's motivation?

"Money. That's why I gave him a pile of coins. I give him money, he does whatever I tell him to do."

"Huh..."

We finally arrived at our destination just as we finished our conversation. Ganondorf parked the car next to a random shop and got out, taking the backpack out with him. Bowser and I hopped out shortly after.

Wario was waiting by his bike. "Took you long enough," he said.

"Shut up and follow me," Ganondorf shot back. He walked down the alley between the buildings; we followed closely behind.

Once we were a ways in, Ganondorf stopped and set down the backpack. He unzipped it and opened it, revealing its contents.

"Spray paint?" I questioned. "What are we going to do with that?"

"We're going to tag the walls with graffiti," Ganondorf replied casually.

"Okay, but why?"

"Because I feel like it."

"I don't know if I want to do this..."

"Ah, don't worry about it, no one will notice. Besides, you need to live a little, right?"

"...I suppose..."

"Then grab a can and join the fun!"

"Mmm... okay, why not?"

"That's the spirit! Now grab a can from the backpack."

I dug around the backpack and pulled out a can of red spray paint. My body felt weird as I gripped the can and moved to find an open spot. I raised the can and hesitated for a moment. Every part of me told me this was wrong, and yet I also had the urge to push the trigger and start spraying immediately. In the end, the urge to spray won out, and I began to paint. As I did it, it felt oddly... natural, or even right. As I embraced the moment, I wasn't even aware of what I was creating.

I looked around to see what the others had created. Wario had painted a large coin, and a crude one at that. Bowser's creation was a similarly crude picture of a large flame. Ganondorf's was perhaps the most impressive, being three triangles arranged to form a bigger triangle.

Ganondorf turned to look at my creation. "Huh, that's not bad," he said.

I turned to get a good look at what I had created. Turns out, I had written 'What' on the wall in large red letters.

"You're confused a bit; I get that," Ganondorf said approvingly. "It's an expression of your feelings. That's the idea of graffiti."

"It is?" I said, somewhat in awe. "Wow..."

These guys can relate to me...

Arthur (Swordfighter)

I was staring into my closet, wondering what to wear. A number of days of having nothing to do left me looking for some way to keep busy or entertained.

However, today Robin had something planned. He had told me about it the day before, although he hadn't told me what exactly he had in mind. He did seem rather excited about it, though, so I agreed to join him without knowing what i had gotten myself into.

That's why I was staring into my closet, still half asleep. Having no idea what I was in for, I had no idea how to dress for the occasion. After pondering for what felt like hours, I finally decided on a button-up shirt and jeans, my go-to outfit in most circumstances.

Having gotten ready, I stepped out of my room and saw Robin waiting by my door. "You're looking sharp today, Arthur!" he said, smiling.

"Thanks, Robin!" I replied. "You seem a lot more chipper and alert today."

"Well, I decided to go to bed at a reasonable hour for once. I don't want to miss out on our plan for today."

"Right, the plan. Are you going to tell me what this plan is?"

"I'll tell you once we get there. I want it to be a surprise."

"Okay, fine. Can you at least tell me who's all joining us?"

"I won't really need to. We're going to gather the others."

"So we're all going in the same vehicle?"

"Don't know how else we'd get around. Let's get moving. We want to have plenty of time to enjoy ourselves."

"Shouldn't we get breakfast before we head out?"

"No need to stop for breakfast. I went and bought a box of muffins earlier."

"Sweet! Let's go!"

We hiked out the door and down the hall. We turned to the door right before the elevator. Robin handed me the box of muffins and knocked on the door. A moment later, the door opened and revealed Kamui standing at the door. Her summer dress flowed nicely, adorned with flowers on the edges, almost giving the impression that they were swaying in the breeze.

"Robin! Arthur!" she exclaimed. "Good to see you! Are we finally going on our outing?"

"That we are, Kamui," Robin replied. "You ready to go?"

"I am. Let's do this!"

She exited her apartment, closing the door behind her. We entered the elevator and moved up a few floors. We approached another door, and Robin knocked.

The door opened and I found out that this was Ike's apartment. Ike stood in the doorway, adorned in a wrinkled t-shirt and beige pants. His face conveyed a serious look. "We're going on that outing, yeah?" he asked.

"Correct," Robin replied.

"Great. Let's roll."

We jumped back in the elevator and zipped a few floors down, with Robin once again knocking on a door and the door opening, this time revealing Lucina, sporting a hoodie and jeans. "Morning, handsome," she said to Robin, walking up to him and kissing him on the cheek.

"Morning, Lucina," he replied, smiling and blushing a little. "Okay, that's everyone. Now we can get going!"

We piled into the elevator one more time and made our way to the ground floor. We exited to the parking lot and turned to look at Robin. "Whose car are we going in?" I asked.

"Assuming we can fit in it, we'll go in my car," Robin replied. "It's just over here." He pulled out his keys and pushed a button, causing his car to make a noise.

We walked over to his car. I stared into the window and looked at the backseat. "Uh, I don't think we can all fit in here," I said, slightly nervous.

"Ah, don't give up so easily," Robin said. "We can totally cram five people in this thing!"

Robin jumped in the driver's seat and Lucina took the passenger seat. I opened the rear door. I then turned to look at Ike and winced a little. Kamui stepped inside and shoved over to the left. I followed suit and sat directly in the middle. I looked to my right and braced myself for discomfort as Ike crammed himself into the seat next to me. Ike was a rather large man, so he ended up squishing me against Kamui, and squishing Kamui against the door. I looked over at Kamui, the look on her face reflecting the same discomfort I felt.

"Great, everyone's in!" Robin said. "See, we can absolutely fit in this car!"

I resisted the urge to yell at Robin for forcing us to cram in the back like luggage as we pulled out of the parking lot.

"So, are you finally going to tell us where we're going?" I asked.

"Well... I guess I can tell you now," Robin conceded. "I've planned for us to go bowling today!"

"Great idea, Robin!" Lucina said approvingly. "But have any of us gone bowling before?"

"Um, well... no," Robin stuttered. "I figured it would be a good chance to broaden our horizons."

Suddenly, I remembered something somewhat important. "I think I might have once gone bowling in the past," I said.

"You have?" Robin asked.

"Yes... Yes, now I remember! I went bowling once about ten years ago. I recall it being rather fun."

"Well, that's encouraging."

"Hey, Robin..." Ike began.

"Yes, Ike?" Robin asked.

"You know the bowling alley is closed right now, right?"

"...What?"

"It doesn't open until 11. It's currently 10."

Lucina looked over at the clock. "He's right," she noted. "The bowling alley is closed for another hour."

"Huh... Well, guess our plans are changing a little for now."

"Are we still going bowling?" I asked, hopeful we would.

"Of course," Robin replied. "We just need to take a detour for an hour or so. Anyone got any ideas?"

"I got one," Kamui said. "There's a park not too far from here. We can go there, enjoy our muffins and take in the scenery!"

"Sounds good to me. Do you know where it is?"

"Sure do. I'll guide you there."

Thus, we drove through downtown, Kamui guiding Robin along the way. I stared out the window the whole time, taking in the huge buildings all around. It was truly awe-inspiring; so many structures that made me feel tiny and insignificant, very different from what I was used to at home.

One more turn, and the park appeared before us; it almost seemed to shine. Robin located a parking spot right in front of the park and slowly parked his car, just barely avoiding reversing into the car behind us.

We shuffled out of the car. I stretched out my arms and rubbed my side where Ike's elbow had been digging in. I turned to the entrance and joined the others as we entered the park.

The park was indeed rather scenic, with incredibly green grass and short trees taking up the majority of it. Beige gravel paths weaved throughout, and flowers adorned some patches of the grass. There were a few other people already in the park; some were on the benches, some were walking on the path, and two were throwing a frisbee somewhere in the back.

"You were right, Kamui, this is a rather nice park," Lucina observed.

"Hey, there are a few empty benches over there," Robin noted. "Let's go grab them."

We meandered over to the benches and took a seat. Robin opened the box of muffins and said, "All right, now we can enjoy these muffins."

"Hey, Robin, why are half of these muffins bran muffins?" I asked.

"Because bran muffins are delicious."

"They taste like baked packing peanuts and everyone knows that."

"Would you just try one first?"

I begrudgingly grabbed one and took a bite, slowly trying to choke it down. I stared directly at Robin.

"You know, I was wrong, Robin. This muffin doesn't taste like baked packing peanuts."

"It doesn't?"

"No, of course not. It actually tastes like baked cardboard."

Everyone started laughing hysterically, except Robin, who just looked disappointed. I placed the muffin back in the box and grabbed a non-bran muffin, in the hopes of having a decent breakfast. The others grabbed a muffin, deliberately avoiding the bran muffins, confirming my suspicions. Robin grabbed the same bran muffin I had taken a bite out of and began to eat it, causing me to gag a little.

I sat on the bench directly across from Robin and began to eat my muffin. I polished off the muffin in a very short amount of time; I hadn't realized how hungry I actually was until I started eating a muffin that actually tasted good.

Kamui sat next to me. "How was the muffin?" she asked.

"Pretty good," I replied.

"What kind did you get?"

"Hmm... I think it was banana nut, but I can't say for certain."

"Not surprising, seeing how quick you ate it."

"...You noticed that?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. Actually, I was about to go take a closer look at the flowers. Want to join me?"

"Sure."

I rose from the bench and tossed the wrapper in the nearby garbage can. I stopped for a moment. Did I really just agree to go stare at flowers? I thought. Meh, maybe I'll enjoy it.

I walked up to the field that Kamui was kneeling in and kneeled next to her, making sure to avoid crushing any flowers. She was smiling sweetly. "Aren't these flowers beautiful?" she asked me.

"They sure are," I replied. I looked around at the flowers, in so many colours, and realized they really were beautiful. There was such a nice variety around, as well.

Kamui reached down and plucked a daisy. She then reached over toward my head and placed it in my hair. She giggled a little. "It suits you," she added. I was a little embarrassed about it, being a warrior with a flower in his hair, but at the same time it was kind of nice and Kamui seemed to like it.

I looked around and found a white lily growing next to me. I plucked it and leaned over toward Kamui. I carefully reached up and tucked the stem of the lily under her headband. I leaned back again. Kamui looked kind of cute with that lily on her head. She blushed a little and giggled again. "Now we match," she said. I smiled back at her, feeling rather happy about it all.

Someone suddenly poked me in the back. I turned around quickly and saw Robin standing over me. "The bowling alley is going to be open soon; if we go now, we'll get there as soon as it opens."

"So I assume you want to get going?" I asked.

"That should be rather obvious, yes."

I got up from my kneeling position and reached my hand down to Kamui. She grabbed my hand and pulled herself up. We walked with Robin back out of the park and crammed ourselves back into Robin's shoebox car.

We began to drive over to the bowling alley, cutting back through downtown, the traffic starting to pick up by now.

"So, none of you have ever gone bowling before?" I asked, legitimately confused.

"Nope, never have," Robin replied.

"How is that even possible?"

"Bowling doesn't exist in my world," Ike explained. "I imagine it doesn't exist in any of their worlds, either."

"He's right, you know," Robin said. "We all exist in a time where swords and magic are the most advanced weapons in existence. We're all a bit behind when it comes to technology."

"Ah, I see," I said. "So this will be a unique experience for all of you."

"Yep."

It was around this time that the bowling alley came into view, directly on our right. Robin drove into the parking lot adjacent to the alley and backed into a spot, lightly bumping the car behind him.

"Er, that's kind of bad," I said. "Shouldn't we do something about that?"

"Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine," Robin replied. "...That said, we should probably go before someone notices us..."

Robin pulled out of that spot and parked in a different space. "There!" he exclaimed. "It's like it never happened!"

I facepalmed and shook my head, and yet, I couldn't help but chuckle a little. We left the vehicle and entered the bowling alley.

The carpet inside was a little stained, presumably from the many years of use. The lights were a touch dim, but I could still see fairly well regardless. The air felt a little stale, as well, as though not many people came around.

Robin looked around. "So, uh, what do we do now?" he asked.

"I think we should go to the front desk," I suggested.

So we did just that, walking over to the desk to speak to the attendant there. He looked up from his newspaper and looked at us. "You here to bowl?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Robin replied. "What do we need to do?"

"It's five bucks per person."

Robin handed the man the necessary money. "Okay, what next?" he asked.

"You're going to need shoes. What size shoes do you need?"

We each told him our shoe size in turn, and he handed us our shoes as we did so. We quickly tied them up and walked over to the lane that was set up for us.

Ike picked up a bowling ball. "What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked.

"Throw it down the lane," I replied. "You're supposed to knock down all the pins."

Ike nodded at me and turned to the lane. He wound up and threw the ball down the lane. As he did so, I realized with a twinge of panic that I should've actually told him to roll it down the lane, as Ike launched the ball at the pins like a baseball. We watched as the ball flew and smashed through the pins with a massive crash.

"...Ike, that's not how you throw the ball," I said. "You're supposed to roll it down the lane."

"Oh..." Ike said, grabbing another ball. He rolled the ball down the lane and missed the two pins that were still standing from his first throw. "Well, this is kind of fun."

"Oh, looks like it's my turn!" Robin said excitedly. He grabbed a ball and readied himself. He stepped forward to throw a ball, but it appeared his hand slipped, and the ball got thrown backwards. The ball hit the floor with a loud thud.

A moment later, I jumped about a foot in the air and let out a loud, "GAH!" I clutched my chest and tried to calm myself.

"Whoa, what was that?" Robin asked.

"I don't know," I replied, greatly confused. "I saw it coming, and yet I was still spooked by it."

"Huh, weird. Well, back to my throw."

Robin picked up the ball again and lined up his throw. He rolled the ball and managed to knock down every single pin in one throw. Robin threw his hands up and cheered. I got up from my seat and put my hand up. Robin smacked my hand with his.

"Is that what I was supposed to do?" Robin asked.

"Yes," I replied. "That's called a high-five; people do it in celebration of something awesome happening."

"Cool. Hey, look, it's your turn, Arthur!"

I stepped up to the lane and grabbed a ball. My hand was sweating and shaking a little; as I had told these guys that I had bowled before, the pressure was on for me to not screw up. I took a deep breath, rolled the ball, and... watched as it rolled into the gutter, missing all the pins.

Now I was panicking a little; it was going to look bad if the only person who had gone bowling before threw two gutterballs in a row. I grabbed another ball after wiping my hand on my pants. I breathed deeply and stepped forward to throw. Unfortunately, as I did, I overstepped onto the lane and slipped backwards onto my back. I propped myself up and watched the ball hit one of the outer pins.

Lucina came up behind me. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.

"Hey, at least you knocked down one, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Lucina offered her hand; I took it and pulled myself onto my feet. I walked back over to my seat and sat down. Robin put his hand on my shoulder and said, "You did good, Arthur." I smiled as he said that.

We should do this again soon.

Melanie (Gunner)

I was laying on the couch, staring at the ceiling, observing the popcorn texture. One would not think that one week of nothing to do would be that long, but with no guidance, I was at a loss for what to do.

Samus sat down on the loveseat, a cup of coffee in her hand. "Well, you're looking lively today," she commented.

I chuckled a little. "Right back at you," I replied.

"I'm so bored. I don't know what to do."

"Well, we should do something other than sitting around."

"What do you suggest?"

"Hmm... Why don't we go for a walk?"

"Where should we go?"

"We don't have to go anywhere."

"...I'm confused."

"We'll take a walk around the university."

"What's the point?"

"We can explore this place! I mean, think about it, how much do you really know about this place?"

"Now that you mention it, I actually don't know much about the university; at least, not in terms of its layout, anyway."

"Then we should go check it out! Maybe we'll find something unexpected!"

"Yeah, let's do it!"

I jumped off the couch, while Samus set down her mug. We stepped outside our apartment, closing the door behind us.

Samus turned to me. "So, which direction are we going?" she asked.

"Let's go down the elevator," I suggested. "The rest of the university is past the dorms."

We jumped in the elevator and waited. The elevator rushed down at what felt like an unnaturally fast speed; it threw off my balance a little.

The doors opened to the lobby. We left the elevator, walking past a couple of people waiting for the elevator. We walked through the hall, over to the entrance to the main building, and began to explore the university.

As we looked around, there appeared to be a number of large conference rooms, similar to the one we were in during orientation. After a few rooms, we finally found something different. It was located right next to the training room; the door was directly next to the entrance. I opened the door and saw a massive number of Sandbags.

This must be the room where Sakurai retrieves and stores the Sandbags, I thought. How did I not know about this? We walked right past it!

We closed the door and moved deeper. We passed more rooms before noticing one somewhat out of place door; it was bright red, sticking out among the brown doors surrounding it. I opened the door to reveal a room the size of a janitor's closet. It clearly wasn't a janitor's closet, however; the room was stacked with many boxes. They were all sealed, so I couldn't look inside to see what was in them. 

This turned out to be unnecessary, as there was an item on top of one of the boxes, which I assumed was the same as what was in the boxes. I picked it up and looked it over. It was a strange-looking ball, white on one side and purple on the other, a white M emblazoned on the front.

"Huh, what a strange item," I remarked. "I think I'll take it with me."

"Isn't that theft?" Samus asked.

"Eh... not really? No one will miss it."

"It's still theft."

"I don't really care. I'm taking it with me."

I'll take a closer look at this later, I thought.

I jammed the ball in my pocket and closed the door. "All right, let's keep going," I said, gesturing to the hallway.

We continued walking around, getting more amazed as to how many rooms there were. I was starting to get a little dizzy from how many rooms there were.

"You know, this reminds me of my adventures in the past," Samus remarked. "So much exploring, just with significantly less variety."

We found a flight of stairs and decided to ascend to the second floor. As soon as we arrived, we approached a set of double doors. I looked at the small plaque on the door and read it; the plaque read, 'Tea Room.'

"Wait, Tea Room?" I asked aloud. "What kind of place has a room dedicated entirely to tea?"

"Should we go inside?" Samus asked.

"Of course we should! We have to see this for ourselves."

I turned the handle and pushed the door open. The room was somewhat small, with a number of round tables scattered throughout. Elegant chairs surrounded each table. A station was set up at the side of the room, presumably to store the tea bags and hot water, though I didn't have a good view of it.

However, I did have a good view of one table in particular; it was the table in the back, and the only one with anyone sitting at it. There were four people seated around it, facing toward the door. They turned to us after the door opened.

The two at the back were women, both with blonde hair, one brighter than the other. Their dresses were long and elegant, giving off a more sophisticated appearance. The two on either side were men, one with longer blonde hair, the other with shorter brown hair and a large mustache.

"Oh, Samus!" the lighter blonde said. "How nice of you to join us!"

"And I see you brought a friend," the other woman added. "I don't believe we've met."

"I'm Melanie," I said, smiling slightly. "Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you, too! Why don't you and Samus take a seat? There are two empty chairs right over here."

Samus and I walked over to the table and sat in the two empty chairs. I took the chair next to the mustached man, while Samus took the other chair.

"My name is Peach," the lighter blonde said. "Would you like some tea? It's no trouble at all."

"Well, since we're here, we may as well," I replied. "Any kind of tea is fine with me."

Peach got up and walked over to the station to make tea. We turned to look at the other woman.

"Oh, yeah, I should probably introduce myself, as well," she said. "I'm Zelda." She elbowed the guy next to her. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Oh, uh, sure," he said. "I'm Link."

"I better introduce myself, as well," the mustached man said. "I'm Mario."

"Wow," I said, a touch anxious now. "How am I going to remember all of you?"

"Don't worry about remembering our names," Link said reassuringly. "We're all understanding around here."

Peach returned with two cups of tea, placing them on the saucers in front of us, the teabags still in the cups. "Careful, it's hot!" she cautioned. "We don't want you to burn your mouth."

"Thanks, Peach," Samus said. "I do enjoy a good cup of tea."

"You know, I just realized that I've never had tea before," I noted.

"How is that even possible!?" Peach exclaimed. "Everyone has had tea before!"

"Well, time for me to join the club, then."

I took the cup in my hand and blew into it to cool off the tea. I raised the cup to my lips and took a sip. The liquid flowed through my mouth, a bold flavour enveloping my entire mouth. I let it sit in my mouth for a moment before I swallowed, the tea warming my body as I did so.

I sat still for a moment, processing what had just happened. "Whoa," I managed to say.

"Yeah, that's the reaction I had the first time I had tea, too," Mario said casually. "You get used to it eventually, but you never get tired of it. Believe me, I know; I've had quite a few tea times with the princess."

"You've had tea with a princess?"

"Yeah, and she's right here next to me."

"...Peach is a princess?"

"Sure is. Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, my homeland."

"Zelda is also a princess," Link interjected. "She's the princess of Hyrule. I am also a resident of Hyrule."

"Wow, so I'm surrounded by royalty," I said, fully in awe. "Nothing like this ever happened back home."

"Don't worry about it too much," Peach said. "You don't need to concern yourself with formal etiquette. Around here, we're all friends."

"Friends.."

What a strange place this is...

Sakurai

I found myself at my desk once again, sifting through paperwork. I had let it pile up again after attending multiple planning meetings. I thought for a moment about what this paper would look like if I set it ablaze, but quickly shook the thought out of my head; as nice as that would be, I still needed all these documents, so I went back to sorting it.

I looked up from my paperwork as the door to my office opened. Reggie entered my office, another folder in his hand. He approached my desk.

"Good afternoon, Reggie," I said, smiling. "Do you have the documents I requested?"

"Of course," Reggie replied. "They're all here in this folder."

He extended the folder toward me; I took it from him and opened it to reveal its contents. The info for three more fighters spilled out from the folder onto my desk. I quickly gathered it all back up and placed it back in the folder.

"Excellent work as always, Reggie," I said approvingly. "Do you have the final roster with you, as well?"

"...Oh, yeah, thanks for reminding me!" Reggie exclaimed. He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a sheet of paper. "The whole roster has been confirmed and all invites have been sent. There are still five students that have not yet arrived."

"Have you made contact with the missing students?"

"Of course. They've all told me that they have adventures to wrap up before they get here."

"Good, good. Your service is most appreciated, Reggie."

"Thank you, Mr. Sakurai."

Reggie remained standing before me, while I remained at my desk. We stared at each other for a short while. Finally, I couldn't stand the silence any longer. "Okay, Reggie, what's the problem?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Reggie. I can tell something's on your mind, now out with it!"

He stared at the ground for a moment. "...Okay, fine, you got me. I have a problem with the training schedule."

"I see. What issue do you take with my training schedule?"

"It's too lax! The students have way too much downtime!"

"And why is that a problem?"

"How are they supposed to get any better if they train once every few weeks?"

"Giving them time to adjust to their new lives will help them focus better during a fight. Wouldn't you be a little disoriented if you suddenly found yourself in a new city, living somewhere foreign to you?"

"Uh... I guess you may have a point, but... I still have my concerns."

"Thank you for your input, Reggie. It's much appreciated."

"Even though you disagree with me?"

"I value all of your opinions, Reggie."

"Thank you, Mr. Sakurai. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Reggie turned and moved toward the door. He put his hand on the door and paused for a moment before leaving my office.

I picked up the roster and looked it over quickly, confirming that all the information was correct. I set it down on my desk and turned around to face out the window at the stadium. Reggie's words echoed through my head.

Am I doing the right thing here?

A/N: At long last, this chapter is finished! I apologize for taking so long to publish this, but I feel the time was well spent; including this author's note, this chapter is over 6300 words! It's the longest chapter I've ever written. Anyhow, feel free to give me feedback/criticism in the comments, and I will do my best to publish the next chapter in a timely manner.