Author's Note: This story mainly focuses on the following characters: Ness, Lucas, Toon Link, Villager, Peach, Samus, Robin, Lucina, Palutena, Zelda, Ike, Link, Marth, Shulk, and Pit. More characters will be focused on as the story progresses or have their own times to shine later.
Chapter 1: To Camp Smash
Beyond the smiling reflection of me in the window, I enjoyed the view of autumn-colored trees in a summer setting.
Peaceful trees, the sky, and a view of a great lake as well. As I sat in this seat of mine, I was getting closer and closer to the lake. Specifically, my destination was a small settlement of multiple cabins near one edge of the lake.
There, was Camp Smash.
A couple weeks before, I had gotten a letter that greatly asked for my attendance for the camp. A brochure included in the letter described all sorts of activities to do at Camp Smash. I had no positive opinion over camping—it wasn't something I actually liked in general.
Socializing with strangers, let alone making friends, wasn't my strong point, so that added a reason as to why I did not want to go. But my mom and dad were greatly interested when the brochure described "meet campers of all kinds and ages." They also thought it would be a good for me to experience outdoor "fun."
Even though it wasn't something I was looking forward to... I had a strange urge that told me to go, regardless.
Claus, my twin brother, wanted to come along, but unfortunately the letter also stated that while my family could board the arriving bus and see me off at camp, only I was allowed to attend the full experience of Camp Smash.
Minutes ago, we all had just stepped on said bus that appeared in front of our house at a specified time. No driver was inside, nor was anyone else strangely, but the opened doors welcomed my family and I inside. The clear words painted on the bus said "Camp Smash"—my destination. We all took a seat in the lonely bus, and the vehicle operated itself. Before I knew it, the scenery of my home island changed into something more of a grand summer-autumn forest.
The letter enclosed that many clothes and toiletries suitable to our liking would be available immediately for the two month period. I was very curious and suspicious at the statement—how could an unknown organization know what I liked to wear or use? But just to be on the safe side, I brought a backpack filled with enough clothes to wash every other day, miscellaneous spare toiletries, and a few mementos of home.
"This still sucks," Claus said to me.
"Huh?" I looked back at him.
"I want to go to Camp Smash too," he told. He leaned his head against the seats in front of us.
"Now, now, Claus," Mom said. "If you want to go camping so badly, then we'll take you out to see Grandpa after we get home."
"Mom, no," Claus responded. "I want to go camping with friends! Meet new people! It's not fair that only Lucas gets to go. Besides, he doesn't even want to go."
I shifted my eyes away innocently.
"How about we take the town kids along?" Dad suggested.
"That'd be a good idea," Mom said.
Claus frowned and sighed. "Sure, whatever."
The bus steadily rolled closer to the camp scene. The trees lessened in numbers, and the road grew a little wider. We stopped before a large fence of black iron, which was the gate entrance to the camp, as told by the wooden sign hanging above the archway.
We got off the bus and gazed at our surroundings. There were some more buses with other people…and animals standing on their hind legs? While it seemed strange to my family's eyes, all the new people felt natural-looking to me. There was a family of apes, a fox, bird, a rabbit, a frog, and wolf-faced animals on their two legs in uniforms, a green-haired lady and two guys with realistic angel wings, various bright-colored creatures following a young boy in red-themed clothing, two small kids in thick winter suits, and a group of adults (and a bizarre fairy-thing) following a guy with a strange red sword. Thankfully there was another human family, with a boy who seemed like my age. Everyone was parked outside the entrance with us. We were all waiting in the fresh breeze for something to happen.
A woman in a pink dress was happily skipping towards us as the iron gates opened for her. She waved her hand up high in the air while carrying a clipboard in her other arm.
"Yoo-hoo!" she called. "Everyone, over here!"
All of the families outside looked at each other before walking closer towards the woman. We all stopped a few meters before her.
"A-hem," she began. "My name is Peach, and I'm one of the counselors of Camp Smash." She looked at each one of us. "I assume there are some families, or supportive party members here. You have my thanks for being so kind as to see your camp attendee off. But just a reminder, that only whoever is stated in the invitation letter may only attend Camp Smash. Everyone else will return to the buses and back to their homes after we are done here. However, I assure that your camp attendee will be taken care of with all our heart."
Peach looked at her clipboard for a moment. "So, this is the afternoon arrival party... okay! I will be calling camp attendee names. If you hear your name, please take anything you brought with you and step behind me. Also, this is your last chance to say good-bye for a while, so please do so if you haven't yet. After I am done, the attendees and I will be heading into the camp."
She began reading from a list off of her clipboard. People (and strange animals) were already beginning to say their farewells to each other. Claus held onto my shoulder until my name was called. Mom hugged us from behind, and Dad put a hand on my other shoulder.
One by one, the attendees were forming a unique group behind Peach. As soon as Mom and Dad told me to have fun, and Claus messed with my hair and pushed me away, I joined the group.
Peach checked the list once more. "And lastly… Ness?"
The other boy of similar height as me in the party stepped forward and began walking towards us. He took my side. Our faces met for a moment, and he smiled at me. I tried smiling back.
There was a strange feeling I got from staring at him... but I couldn't tell what it was for now.
"And… that's it!" Peach smiled at everyone. "Again, thank you for seeing your new campers off. We hope to see you back in two months!"
The families and friends just stood there, watching us turn our backs. I had no idea when they were going to leave even after we began walking past the closing iron gates. I only took one glimpse back at Mom, Dad and Claus, who were waving at me. When I was far enough, I returned to the view of the camp interior.
And it was more amazing that I first thought. Clear cut grass, shiny wooden buildings, and…
Immediately ahead was a large stage that seemed like the center of the whole camp. No one was there at the moment, but we all stopped near the back-row seats. We all paid attention to Peach.
"So everyone, welcome to Camp Smash!" she began. "Again, my name is Peach, and you may call me that at any time. I am one of the counselors, and so if you need to know anything about the camp, just politely ask!"
She waved her arm to the stage behind her. "This is the Smash Center. Here will be public announcements or shows; most of the events being required. But don't worry—in case you're sleeping in or anything, you won't miss what's going on because it's pretty loud. Tonight, after the last of the camp attendees arrive, we'll have our camp orientation here, where you'll learn more about what's where, what to do and what not to do, and the sorts of fun activities that we'll do here!"
Peach looked at her clipboard after flipping a paper over. "For now, you're just going to go to your cabins, which is at the Cabin Circle over there." She pointed in the northeast direction past the stage, where a circular settlement of large cabins was placed around a rather large building. "And sorry if this disappoints you, but you've been assigned cabin mates already—boys with boys, and girls with girls. That building in the middle you see over there will be the public bathrooms and showers, in case the one bathroom in your cabin is occupied and you need to hurry for something. But no worries, everything is neat and shiny—I made sure of it."
Peach smiled at us. "So now, let's give you all your cabin numbers, and see if you already have cabin mates here. Beginning with Red, Pikachu, Squirtle and Charizard, you have Cabin 1…and Lucario and Greninja, you have Cabin 2. Let's have you guys step out of the group."
The "Pokémon" stepped off to the side with a tall boy. He gave the creatures a smile; some smiled back, the next two, Lucario and Greninja, only gave apathetic expressions.
Peach continued. "In cabin 3 is… Ness, and Lucas. Step forward, please."
I walked a little bit away from the group, along with the other boy that met my face just a while ago. He was holding onto the strap of his backpack with one hand, looking like he was carefree or cool or something. It kind of fit him.
"So you're my roommate, Lucas?" he asked me.
"Yeah," I replied. "And you're… Ness?" I sounded his name a little awkward.
He didn't mind, rather, he grinned like it was a little joke. "Yeah. Nice to meet you!" He extended out his other hand., and I shook with it. He had a nice grip. I could tell he genuinely wanted to be my friend.
Peach kept calling out the names of cabin mates until we were all in small separate groups. She ended after calling out the names "Jigglypuff, Ivysaur, and Nana." The three females, one human and two Pokémon, didn't move from their spot as they were the only ones left.
"Okay, that's everyone in this group!" Peach told. "So again, tonight is camp orientation, at 7 PM sharp. Until then, you are welcome to explore Camp Smash in areas that don't have a "Do Not Enter" sign. And if you are hungry at any time, the mess hall over there has plenty of food—"she pointed to a long building with opened doors behind Ness and myself. "If you have any questions, you can ask me, otherwise, you're free for now! My recommendation is that you head to your cabins and get settled in as soon as you can!"
Everyone conversed with their cabin mates or non-cabin mates, initiating friendships with each other. Peach attended to the questions of the female members she called out last. Some went in the direction opposite of the cabin area, others went to settle in their cabins.
"So, shall we go to our cabin?" Ness said to me.
"Sure," I answered.
We started walking side-by-side on the trail towards the Cabin Circle.
"This camp sure has lots of different… people," I mumbled.
"No kidding," Ness agreed. "But they all seem nice. So, where are you from?"
"Tazmily Village," I told.
He gave me a strange look. "I've... never heard of it," Ness said.
"No? What about Nowhere Islands?"
"Nope."
"Huh… what about you? Where are you from?"
"Onett."
I returned his strange look back at him. "Never heard of it."
"Huh. How about Eagleland?"
I shook my head. "Nope."
Ness turned his whole body around, walking backwards as he looked at the other campers. "I wonder if we're all from very different places."
"You might be right," I said, trying to fill the conversation gap.
We reached the Cabin Circle as soon as Ness turned his body back around. From afar, they looked like regular small cabins, but up close they were like small houses neatly arranged around the public bathroom building. It was hard to believe there were twenty cabins, as we saw the number 20 as the last cabin on our immediate right. Ness pointed out Cabin 3 for us and we headed towards it. In the small window beside the door, we already saw a small figure moving. It wasn't clear, but he looked like our height, and possibly age.
Ness knocked on the door. "Hello?"
"It's open!" called a young-sounding voice.
Ness opened the cabin door and we headed inside. I closed the door behind us. On our right was a green clothed boy with messy yellow hair.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Are you my cabin mates?"
"I would guess," Ness said. "Are you assigned to Cabin 3 too?"
"Yep!" he stepped over his bag of luggage and extended his hand. "I'm Toon Link! If it's too much to say, then TL is fine. Nice to meet'cha!"
"Toon Link, eh?" Ness repeated. He smiled, shaking the other boy's hand with confidence. "I'm Ness! Nice to meet you too!"
Toon Link then brought his hand to mine. I shyly shook with it. "Lucas," I told. "Same here."
"Nice to meet 'ya." Toon Link looked around for a moment. "So as you can see, I just started to settle in."
His bag was open, full of the same green tunic and tights as he was wearing right now. Though I did see a few other clothes, like blue pajamas. It looked like he was just starting to put his clothes into one of the closets, which was on his side of the room, and I assumed that because of the two bunk beds in the room, the top bunk bed behind him had green sheets in his theme color.
"You brought your own bedsheets and blanket?" Ness pointed out.
"Oh, of course not. I got them from the Supply Cabin. It has all kinds of stuff."
"Supply Cabin?" I asked.
"You didn't see it when you were coming to here?" Toon Link asked. "It's just a little away from the Cabin Circle."
"I guess we didn't notice it," Ness told. "So what, you're saying it has green bedsheets?"
"Not just green colored bedsheets," Toon Link told. "ALL kinds of things. It has anything you want. Bedsheets, clothes, supplies, all colors and all sizes! Although I didn't get any extra clothes right now—I was going to get some later. I just took what I could take for now. But yeah, it has everything for everyone."
"One cabin has all that?" I asked.
"Oh yeah," Toon Link nodded assuredly. "You're gonna want to visit it soon."
Ness looked at me. "Let's go look at it now."
"Sure," I responded.
"I'll come too!" Toon Link told. "I need to get more stuff."
Toon Link led the way to the Supply Cabin, which was conveniently just a small walk from the first cabin in the circle. At the entrance, the green-haired lady from earlier, Palutena, as well as the white-winged angel, Pit.
"Oh, you're so nice to carry my things, Pit," Palutena told.
"Ugh—n-not a problem at all, L-Lady Palutena! I-It's not like you were compelling me in the first place, anyway! H-Haha…aaa…"
"Well, off to Cabin 15!" She happily walked along the trail with Pit struggling behind her.
"Poor guy," Toon Link commented. "Well, let's head on in!"
The insides of the Supply Cabin wasn't anything special. It was a normal maple wood cabin, except it was filled with large boxes sitting next to the walls. Signs above the boxes pointed out the contents of each box.
"Hey," Ness called to me. He pointed to another sign on the wall at the entrance that we just stepped in. He began reading it out loud, "To obtain an item of your liking, simply imagine it as you grab from within the box. Should it come out wrong, throw it back in and try again."
"Huh?" I sounded.
"Basically, think of whatever kind of thing you like as you pull out of the box," Toon Link stated, demonstrating a gripping motion with his hand. "Here, watch." He walked over to the box for "Bedroom Items." He reached deep into it, and as he pulled out, in his once empty hand was a light-green pillow.
"That's so cool!" Ness exclaimed.
"And if you don't like it, you can drop it back in." Toon Link dropped the pillow into the box.
"We can take out and put back in anything…?" I asked.
"Seems like it. So it's all up to our imagination." Ness rushed over to the Bedroom Items box, reaching into it. Then, he pulled out a tan-colored pillow with a strange creature on it.
"What's that?" Toon Link asked.
"A Mr. Saturn," Ness answered. "Funny lil' guy, isn't he?"
Toon Link chuckled at the design. "He does look funny."
I walked over to the box and reached into it. It was a little cold around my hands, and it felt like the box was infinite. But once I imagined the design of a pillow shaped with my pet dog's face, something materialized within my hand's reach. I gripped it and pulled it out.
"A dog-faced pillow?" Toon Link questioned.
"It's my dog, Boney," I told.
"Aww, he's cute!"
We played around with the Supply Cabin for quite a while, pulling out all sorts of fun items we made from our minds. Ness and I finally pulled out stripe-themed bed sheets in our shirt colors, and matching Mr. Saturn pillows, because I thought the creature was kind of cute. Toon Link grabbed some clothes for his self and hung them over his arm as we headed back to our cabin.
At the door of our cabin, we saw another shadow within the building. He was kneeling over, as if reaching for items in a backpack he set down.
Loud music was erupting within. It drove shivers through all of us.
"DECK THE HALLS WITH BLOODY CORPSES, FA LA-LA-LA-LA, LA-LA-LA-LA"