Look, my first ever multi-chaptered fanfic. Yay.

Anyways, this fanfic is about the unlockable characters in SSB4, on what they are thinking before and when they are battling you. I've had this idea for awhile now, but I just never got around to writing it. I haven't even started planning the second chapter yet, lol.

Also, updates come unpredictably. I could update within the next day or a month, I don't know. So don't expect me to update every single day, sorry. However, I can say that the next update won't be in the next few days, because I have a bunch of school stuff going on, and during this time I will have no access to any writing tools. But I can still review, so if you see me around, I'm not procrastinating on this, I just can't write.

Falco might be a little OOC, sorry. It goes in the order in which the respective Smashers challenge you, which means Falco is first, Wario is next, etc.

Okay, onto the fanfic, and I don't own anything. Thanks for reading the first chapter.

It won't be long, they tell him. Ten battles have to be fought and then he can challenge them, they tell him. It should go by quick, they tell him.

And Falco scoffs when they say this because it's such a stupid thing to say to him, because of course it won't be quick. Not quick enough for Falco Lombardi, who likes speed, and who knows, perhaps better than anyone, that he will be locked(trapped) in this room for a long, long time.

But before he can get these words out of his mouth—before he can get any words out of his mouth—they (Fox Mario Link Samus Kirby Pikachu) are gone and he's in this room, utterly alone. And then he's cursing himself for not opening his mouth quick enough ("stupid, Lombardi, stupid!") and sits down on the cold, tiled floor. There is no roof overhead, so that way he can keep an eye out for a blue portal in the sky that will signal him to challenge an opponent.

He tells himself not to look at the sky, but he does anyways and searches the horizon for the blue entrance, but of course there is nothing up there. Nothing will ever be there, he reminds himself, for a long time. Only the dark canvas dotted with bright-bright stars will be there when he looks up.

But that doesn't stop him anyways, and he constantly checks the sky, over and over, waitingwishinghoping that the shimmery blue portal would appear.

It's not until the thirtieth time he looks does he realize that he only wants the portal appear because he is lonely.

Falco Lombardi is used to being alone, but he doesn't like being alone. It's a reason why he's so arrogant—he wants people to pay attention to him, to hang out with him—

—but he knows that being loud and arrogant doesn't make people want to hang out with you, it only scares them away. But he has always hidden this knowledge away, piling a bunch of excuses on top of it so that way he would never have to hear the truth.

But there is no point in hiding it anymore because this is the first, second, third time he's been thrown in an empty room and told to stay put, and his pile of excuses have come crashing down—he is lonely and that is final.

(the truth is hard to hear, but it's even harder when you have to hear it alone.)

He looks up and is astonished to see the blue portal, shimmering slightly in the sky.

Without thinking any further, he jumps into it.

Falco looks around at the Gate Orbital Assault map and smiles when he sees that Marth is his opponent—and then he scowls, because Marth has always, always been an unlockable character (just like him) and now he isn't, and it sickens Falco because they let Marth stay, they let Marth stay-

Is it because I'm not human? Is it because I'm ugly? He wants to scream, but he doesn't, and instead gets into his fighter stance.

Funny, he doesn't feel like fighting now.

Marth has been nerfed from the last competition; he used to be extremely deadly, but now he isn't and Falco is glad, because he couldn't take Marth on one-on-one last time.

That isn't to say that Marth isn't downright terrible though, because he still is pretty good. But at least he's equal to Falco now, so the fight will be long and fair.

But Falco doesn't want a long fight. He wants someone to win or lose this battle—but he's not sure which one he wants to be, the winner or the loser.

And Falco Lombardi realizes he has two options:

1. He could lose to Marth, throw the whole thing out the window, and never be alone again (for awhile, anyways). But it would definitely hurt his pride and his ego, which are both pretty big and important to him. And Fox would probably never stop teasing him about it too, how he lost his very first battle on the turnaround, which was uttermost torture.

2. He could win this thing, and knock Marth out, then be locked in that room with the dotted stars and seemingly neverending midnight sky until Marth tires him in each battle until finally, he is worn out. But that would mean that he would be in that room for awhile, and he would get even lonelier as the days would pass.

He has a choice, and the outcome isn't great either way.

But then Falco remembers the room with the eternal sky and how lonely he gets in there, how he feels vulnerable and awful and horrible.

And that feeling is definitely worse than his hurt pride and Fox's taunting words.

So Falco lays his gun down, and watches as Marth's sword nears closer and closer until it fatally stabs him.

It hurts (a lot), but Falco looks down sees the wavy crimson lines, running along the side of him.

He grins. Marth has just KO'ed him. Falco won't return to that room, not for a long, long time.

Falco Lombardi has picked the first option.