Ethan (Brawler)

Another day had begun at the university. I had woken up and freshened up already. I was staring into my closet, specifically at one outfit.

It was my fighting outfit.

I had yet to try it on since I received it. It was unquestionably nice and well above the kind of clothes I normally would wear. I especially appreciated the red shirt, as red was my favourite colour.

I grabbed the outfit out of my closet and put it on: shirt, pants, boots and padded gloves. I was surprised at how well it fit; it was almost like it was custom made just for me. I couldn't wait to break them in during training today.

I prepared myself some toast and chowed down, finishing very quickly. Just as I finished eating the toast, Ganondorf burst out of his room in much the same way he had done the previous day. Today, he was clad in brown armor and a red cape with gold fringe; the cape almost seemed to be flowing majestically even without any wind.

"Hey, Ethan, your attire's looking good!" Ganondorf said, pointing at me and smiling approvingly.

"Right back at you, G-dorf!" I replied. "It's finally time for us to get to the fighting."

"Indeed. Now let's get going."

"I'm right behind you."

We left our apartment and walked out of the apartment block. We walked past the room where orientation had taken place. We had to walk deep into the university itself to find this room.

Finally, we found where we needed to be. The room was difficult to miss; the symbol for the university was emblazoned on the doors, glowing red, beckoning us to enter.

We entered the room to find that a number of students had already arrived and begun training. They appeared to be gathered in small, isolated groups. Sakurai was at the door, watching the students.

He turned to us. "Ah, welcome to the first day of training," he said calmly. He walked over to the nearby closet and pulled out a large punching bag. "Today is more of a warm-up than anything. Official training will begin later. Use Sandbag to practice your moves, and shake the rust off a bit."

I looked closer at the bag. I noticed two large black ovals on the front. Suddenly, the ovals blinked. I jumped back a bit. "The sandbag is alive?!" I exclaimed.

"Indeed, he is," Sakurai replied. "All of them are. Hit Sandbag as hard as you want; he's designed for it, and he never gets damaged or hurt."

"Good, good," Ganondorf said, taking Sandbag from Sakurai. "Come on, Ethan, let's beat the crap out of Sandbag."

I followed Ganondorf over to an isolated part of the training room. While I did that, I looked around the room and was astounded at the scale of the room. It must have been 50 feet from floor to ceiling, with a large amount of floor space for the students. We had more than enough space to launch Sandbag at incredible speed and watch it fly.

Ganondorf set Sandbag down on the floor. He took two steps back and grinned. "Heh, time to see if this bag is really indestructible as Sakurai says it is.," he said, smacking his right fist into his open palm and emitting dark energy from his hands. "I'll start slow."

Ganondorf took one step forward and got into his fighting stance. He suddenly jabbed his right arm out, his palm open. His palm connected with Sandbag, emitting electricity as it did. Sandbag moved a little, remaining undamaged. He stepped closer, lifted his foot and delivered a solid kick to Sandbag.

"Huh, the bag is still unharmed," Ganondorf remarked. "Not bad. Time for some more powerful attacks." Ganondorf reached back, and I watched as a massive claymore materialized in his hand. "Let's see if it withstands my blade."

Ganondorf grabbed the claymore with both hands and lifted it above his head, a crooked smile on his face and a glimmer in his eye. He brought the claymore crashing down on the bag, emitting a loud crash when it connected. Sandbag was still unharmed.

"Argh, this thing is still unscathed!" Ganondorf growled, visibly upset. He turned to me. "Ethan, why don't you take a swing at the bag?"

"All right," I replied. "I'll start with a jab." I stepped up to the bag and curled my fists. I took a deep breath and began. I threw out a quick right jab, followed by a left. I followed that up with my rapid jab technique; I jabbed many times rapidly using only my right fist, and finished with a short right uppercut. Sandbag remained unharmed.

"Interesting jab you got there," Ganondorf said approvingly. "What else do you have?"

I turned back to Sandbag and prepared myself for my next move. I crouched, placing force on my back leg. I paused for a second, then I sprung. I extended my leg, performing a backflip with my legs extended to hit the bag. I managed to complete it, nearly falling forward when I landed; luckily, I stayed standing and took a moment to right myself. I stepped back with my left leg and drew back my left fist. After a brief pause, I stepped forward and delivered a solid punch directly in the center of Sandbag.

"You have some power," Ganondorf remarked. "You should keep working at it."

Just then, Bowser ran up to us. "Sorry I'm late, guys," he said. "I slept in. So, what are we doing?"

"We're pushing the bag to its limits," Ganondorf replied. "You want to try it out?"

"Obviously," Bowser stated flatly. "Now step aside and let me tear this thing to shreds."

Bowser approached Sandbag. He slashed at the bag three times in rapid succession. He then immediately spewed fire breath on the bag, engulfing it in the flames. He stopped breathing fire and tucked himself into his shell, spinning rapidly into the bag. Finally, he leaped out of his shell and crouched for a moment. He jumped forward and dropkicked the bag.

"The bag still isn't damaged!" Ganondorf yelled. "How is it even possible?"

"I'm more curious as to how our bag hasn't flown away already," I said.

"I asked Sakurai as I entered," Bowser explained. "He said that each bag has a forcefield around it so it doesn't go flying away."

"Wow, he really did think of everything," I stated.

"I have one more trick up my sleeve," Ganondorf announced to us. "If this doesn't break it, nothing will."

Ganondorf stepped back up to Sandbag. He drew back his fists, preparing for a backhand punch. Just as he finished pulling back, more dark energy accrued around his fists. He unleashed his punch, sending forward a powerful burst of dark magic with his punch and bouncing the bag around the forcefield.

"Even my warlock punch can't break it!" Ganondorf yelled.

"That is some impressive engineering," I remarked.

"Well, I think that's enough testing for now," Ganondorf said. "Let's get to the actual warm-up now."

I stepped back to absorb everything I had just witnessed. Dark magic, fire breath, dropkicks, claymores; so many different specializations.

I wonder if I can keep pace with these guys...

Arthur (Swordfighter)

I was sitting on the couch, waiting for Robin to get ready. It was early in the morning; the sun hadn't even risen yet. I wanted to get started on training as soon as possible.

I had already geared up as soon as I had awoken. A tunic, pants, boots, gloves, armor for my elbows and knees - it was all here. I even had my own sword and sheath; the sword had my name engraved on it. It was slung on my back for now.

After what seemed like forever, Robin finally emerged from his room, donning his tactician's coat and wielding a green sword and a book.

"Finally, you're up!" I exclaimed. "What took so long?"

"I was up late," Robin replied. "I want to do as much research as I can, so late nights are frequent for me."

"Grab something from the kitchen and let's get going," I said, moving towards the door. "I want us to be the first ones there."

"I doubt we will be," Robin said. "I know at least one person who is probably already there."

"Maybe we can train with them," I suggested. "Now grab some food and get moving."

Robin grabbed a banana and rushed to the door to join me. We walked over to the training room, following a guide I had received when I got here.

When we opened the door, we saw Sakurai waiting nearby. He was smiling a rather warm smile. "Welcome to your first day of training!" he said. "Do you want your own Sandbag, or do you want to join the folks that are already here?"

Before I could say anything, Robin stepped in and said, "We'll join the others that are here already."

"Wait, do we know those people?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're some of the people I introduced you to yesterday."

As we approached the two people slashing at the Sandbag, I recognized them as Chrom and Lucina. Chrom looked over at us and strolled over to Robin. "Hey, how's it going?" he said.

"How are you up this early?" Robin asked. "I know you sleep in just as much as I do."

"Lucina forced me to come down here early; she told me that we need to train as much as possible," Chrom replied. "I'm still a little groggy, to tell you the truth."

"Wait, you know Chrom?" I asked.

"Know him?" Robin began. "Of course I know him! He's my best friend! I'm his tactician!"

"He has never steered me wrong; the Shepherds never would have won the war if Robin had not guided us the whole way," Chrom added.

Lucina came around from behind Chrom. "Robin, you're here!" she exclaimed. "It's nice to see you up early for training."

Lucina walked up to Robin, wrapped his arms around his neck, pulled him in and kissed him on the lips. It took Robin by surprise for a moment, but he  quickly responded by kissing her back while wrapping his arms around her torso. They stayed like that briefly before releasing from the kiss.

"Wait, Robin, you and Lucina are.." I began.

"We're currently engaged!" Robin explained. "We would have gotten married already, but the war got in the way, and now Smash is occupying our time."

I thought for a moment and realized something odd. "Hold on a moment," I said. "Robin, you said a few minutes ago that Chrom is your best friend, right?"

"That's right."

"Lucina, yesterday you said that you are Chrom's daughter, right?"

"You're correct," she replied.

"So that means... Robin, you're engaged to... your best friend's daughter?"

"Well... yes, that is true," Robin admitted sheepishly. "I know it's a bit strange, but since time travel exists in our world, it's kind of difficult to assert what's really normal anymore."

"My father has said it's okay, so everyone's generally cool with it," Lucina added.

Robin let go of Lucina and grabbed his sword. "Well, now that we've settled that, what do you say we get to training?" Robin suggested. "That is what we came here for, right?"

"You have a point," I replied, drawing my sword. "Let's do this."

"Lucina, let's see what you've got," Robin said.

Lucina drew her sword. She swiped upward at the bag twice, followed by a third, stronger swipe. She drew her sword back and delivered a strong downward blow to the bag. She crouched and jabbed at the bag, and then stood back up. She drew her sword back, striking a dramatic pose as she did so. She then lunged forward, stabbing her sword directly through the bag with a mighty shout. She finally lowered her sword and stepped back.

"Excellently done, Lucina!" Robin said. "Now let me do my thing!"

Robin stepped forward and began slashing at the bag. I noticed that Robin's style of swordfighting was significantly less elegant than Lucina's. Robin never did any stabbing motions, only slashing, all of which seemed a little stiff and awkward, as though he wasn't accustomed to fighting with a sword.

"Okay, that was a good start," Robin said. He turned to me. "All right, Arthur, let's see you do some damage."

"Well, if you insist..." I replied, drawing my blade and stepping forward. I stared down the bag for a moment before taking three horizontal swings at it in rapid succession. I leaped back a bit and made a dashing slash at the bag. I crouched and poked at the bag quickly. I grabbed my sword with both hands, drew it back as far as I could, and swung my sword as hard as I could, letting out a shout in the process. I stopped for a moment and caught my breath before sheathing my sword.

I turned to Robin. "So, how did I do?" I asked him.

"That was an excellent display!" Robin replied. "I've never seen a fighting style quite like that."

"I assume that's a good thing?" I asked.

"Of course. It's good to be different."

That was honestly really nice to hear, as I had never been complemented on my specific style before. No one had really brought it up before, but it was nice regardless.

I looked over to Chrom and Lucina, who were both smiling and generally showing their approval. It meant a lot to me.

Maybe I really do belong here...

Melanie (Gunner)

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"Stop moving already! It'll be less painful if you stand still!"

"Get your hands off of her!"

"You stay put and shut up, or you'll be next!"

"Agh! Get away from me!"

"No... NO! I won't let you do this!"

POW!

I jerked awake in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. That was just terrible... I thought. I hope that dream doesn't come back again. I took a moment to calm myself.

"Oh, good, you're finally up."

I jumped a bit at the sudden voice. I quickly looked to the side and saw Samus standing next to my bed. She appeared to be somewhat concerned.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked.

"A few minutes; it hasn't been too long," Samus replied. "I was waiting for you to get up. We have training today, after all."

"...Oh, yeah, that starts today," I said, rubbing my eyes in an effort to wake up.

"Are you OK?" Samus asked. "I heard you mumbling in your sleep. You sounded kind of... scared."

"Eh, it was nothing to be concerned about. Anyway, both of us should get suited up if we're going to start training. Give me a few minutes."

"Sure thing. I need to get my Power Suit on, anyway."

Samus left my room, closing the door behind her. I finally emerged from my bed and walked over to my closet. When I opened it, I immediately noticed my fighter outfit, as it stood out so much from the rest. The whole thing was here: a grey jumpsuit, a yellow jacket, boots and gloves. I put all of my gear on, adjusting it so it was just right.

Finally, the last piece of equipment was ready to be equipped. My arm cannon waited within a metal box sitting at the bottom of my closet. I opened the box to reveal the large metal contraption I would be attaching to my arm. To anyone else, it would seem like a contraption that no one could wield.

And yet, I was attaching it to myself.

I lifted it out of the box. It felt a bit heavier than usual, likely because I hadn't used it in a while. I slipped my right arm into the cannon and grasped the handle inside. I pushed the cannon back, locking in on my arm. Finally, I was ready.

I left my room and moved to the door, where Samus was already suited up and waiting. "That's some nice hardware you got," she commented. "I have to see what you can do with it!"

"Then let's get going!" I replied.

We quickly made our way to the training room, where we saw Fox waiting for us at the entrance.

"Hey, guys, nice to see you again," he said.

"You want to train together?" I asked.

"That's why I'm waiting here. I'll get a Sandbag; you guys go find an empty spot."

We found a spot right in the middle of the room. I took a moment to look around and noticed just how many students there were. There were already quite a few students here, and I knew there were more on the way.

Suddenly, we were approached by someone. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that this someone was actually a bird of some sort, decked out in a jacket very similar to Fox's.

"Hey, is Fox with you?" he asked. "I heard he was hanging out with you guys."

"Uh, yeah," I replied. "Who are you?"

Fox arrived with the Sandbag in hand. "Okay, I have the Sandbag," he stated. "Hey, Falco, what's up?"

"So you're Falco?" I asked the bird.

"You didn't introduce yourself?" Fox asked. "Really, Falco?"

"I was just getting to that!" Falco replied. "You interrupted me!"

"Well, anyway, this is Falco," Fox said, gesturing to Falco. "He's my best friend, and a fellow member of Star Fox."

"Star Fox?" I asked.

"We're a group of space pilots," Fox explained. "I'm the leader, and the rest of the crew consists of Falco, Peppy and Slippy."

"We fight criminals," Falco added. "Criminals such as Wolf O'Donnell."

"Well, at least we don't have to deal with him here," Fox said.

"Um, about that..." Falco started.

I heard the clink of metal behind me. "Think again, Star Fox," a deep voice behind me said. A chill ran up my back as it spoke.

I turned around to see who had arrived. Turns out, it was a wolf, presumably the one Fox and Falco had just been talking about. One look at him made me understand why I had gotten such a chill: the claws, the eyepatch, the leather jacket and all the sharp metal made him look incredibly intimidating. His smirk sent another chill down my back.

"Star Wolf!" Fox exclaimed. "How did you get here!?"

"I was invited here," Wolf explained. "Now I finally have a chance to beat you in direct combat, and I assure you, I won't waste this opportunity." He turned and began to walk away. He turned his head toward us one more time and growled, "Watch your back, Fox."

"Great, just great," Fox said, shaking his head. "On top of everything else, now I have to worry about Wolf terrorizing me and Falco."

"We've taken that scum down before; we can do it again," Falco stated, a determined look on his face. "We shouldn't concern ourselves with him for now. For now, we should focus on training."

"You're right, Falco," Fox said. "What should we start with?"

"Why don't we use our pistols and shoot up the bag?" Falco suggested. "I heard you went to the shooting range yesterday. Let's see if you can shoot straight with your own pistol."

"How about you shoot with me?" Fox asked. "Your pistol arm is probably a bit rusty."

"Oh, it's on, Fox!" Falco exclaimed.

Fox and Falco drew their pistols and began firing at the Sandbag. I quickly noticed that their pistols were both laser pistols, and that their shooting styles were different; Fox seemed to shoot considerably faster.

They both put their pistols away again. "Nice shooting, Fox," Falco said.

"You, as well," Fox replied.

"Wait, Fox shoots faster than Falco," I noted. "So does that mean Fox is a better shot?"

"Not necessarily," Falco explained. "Sure, I shoot slower, but my lasers are different from Fox's, as mine can stun people briefly."

"Mine just damage folks without the stun," Fox elaborated.

"Huh, neat," I said.

"Hey, Melanie, why don't you try it out?" Samus suggested. "I still want to see what that weapon of yours can do."

"Well, all right," I said, a little shaky.

I stepped up to the bag. I could feel my hand shaking in my cannon a bit; I wasn't entirely certain I could do what I needed to do. It had been so long.

I braced myself and shot a short energy blast at the bag. I felt myself stop shaking. Feeling more confident, I crouched and made an explosion with my cannon. Finally, feeling reasonably confident, I stood back up, raised my cannon, lowered it toward the bag and rapidly fired a volley of blasts at the bag.

It felt surprisingly good to get back to firing this thing after such a long time. That familiar feeling was coming back to me.

"Hey, you've got some skill!" Samus said approvingly. "That rapid fire move of yours is really cool!"

"Thanks, Samus!" I said. "Why don't you try it out?"

"Sure thing," she replied. She stepped up to fight the bag.

I looked down at my arm cannon. I ran my hand over it, feeling the familiar form of it. I finally had the chance to prove my worth with this.

I better get this right...

A/N: Well, another chapter is finally finished! I know how inconsistent my releases are, but please bear with me. I'm certain the story will start to pick up from here. Anyway, feel free to leave a comment telling me what you think of the story or my writing style; I'm always open to suggestions for improvement!