Rated T for character deaths, language, minor violence, drug references, alcohol consumption, and other themes I will add later.

This was totally not planned with The Paper Snowflake. This came first, but was published later.

Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction, so it's pretty obvious I own nothing.


It is time to strike.

Yes, yes it is. They will know fear.

Yes, yes they will. At the prime of their lives, the Smashers will be defeated, and we shall be victorious!

Yes, yes we shall.

And for once, there is no one who can stop us...


Chapter One: That's Just The Way It Is


Dr. Mario finished his flask of whiskey and started the delicate surgery.

He drank like most people: to forget. Mainly, to forget that he was nothing but a clone of Mario. He was a stupid, worthless copy of the iconic hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. It was all Master Hand's fault too. The giant hand needed a couple more men for Smash Brothers and who better to add than an exact clone of Mario. He would never admit it out loud. He was too proud. Anyone who said it aloud would soon find themselves face-down on the floor; it was the Dr. Mario guarantee. He was his own character, and no one should ever forget it.

God, he thought as he cut open the man, what the hell's was wrong with this man? Had he ever heard of a carrot?

Dr. Mario tried everything in his power to prove he wasn't Mario, even going so far as to adopt another accent. Instead of living in a pipe house, he owned an apartment. He didn't even have a sorta-girlfriend like Peach, just a flask of ale to pass the time. Instead of being a plumber, he tried other service industries, like being an air-conditioner repair man (it turned out to be something way out of his skill set and got fired the next day). Eventually, he went back to being a lousy doctor, like everybody wanted him to be. He abhorred his job with every fiber of his being. Drug people up with pills, do a surgery, drug more people up with pills, another surgery, more pills, more surgeries. It was an endless drone of a cycle.

He cringed as he moved layer after layer of fat out of the way. Seriously, did he realize how hard it was to operate on him? Lose some weight.

"Says you." The hypocrite inside him said.

It was hard to separate himself from Mario. Everyone knew the plumber, and as soon as they saw his twin spectators would crowd plaster around him like flies to honey and ask questions like, "are you Mario?" or "Where's Mario?" or "Mario's the greatest ever and you'll never amount to as much as he has anything in life."

Ugh. He just wanted to be alone at this point, away from the people that pestered him and, most importantly, away from the plumber.

He was pulled from his musings briefly to make another incision in the patient… there was the tumor… best to be careful.

When the Brawl Era started, Dr. Mario was crushed. They had moved the mansion—the same mansion he had spent countless hours working on—to a new site, making all the hardships he had endured worth nothing. Master Hand, the same person who had created him from nothing, had fired him. He had fired the good-for-nothing clone. That's when Dr. Mario withered away into the empty husk that he was now and his newfangled hatred of Mario began to bloom. Of course Mario got to stay. Why wouldn't he? The hero of the Mushroom Kingdom was far more important than some lousy old doctor. He had a brother, friends, a princess... all he had was the very thing he didn't want to do: medicine.

He looked up at the clock ticking on the wall. "Just need to seal it up, and I can go home."

The doctor had hit rock bottom. He had nothing. Since Master Hand had created him, he had nothing to go back to. For weeks, he lived on the street, surviving on what he could get. Finally, a doctor position had opened at the hospital. It wasn't glamorous. They had him doing simple, useless thing like this surgery. Humph. At least it payed the bills.

He took up drinking, an easy escape to the misery he had to endure, making him poorer than a Toad selling mushrooms. He barely saw the other Melee castaways, so the doctor had become friendless. The worst part was that there was no explanation. Just a pink slip. The perfect world Master Hand had promised him had collapsed on him. He was broken.

"And... done."

"Barbara!" He called to his assistant. "We're done here. I'm heading home and taking the rest of the night off."

"Shouldn't you be supervising his recovery?" Barbara poked her head in. Her dusty brown hair and ill-fitting nurse's outfit always bothered Dr. Mario, but at least she did her job decently. The doctor always wondered why she still worked here. They had met a while back when he had first hit rock bottom, and for one reason or another she decided to stick around.

"Does it look like I care about this lowlife?" He grumbled. Louder, he said "I trust you."

"Have a nice night then, sir!" She called after him as he slammed the doors of the surgery ward shut. Quieter, she added, "You complete and total asshole."


Dr. Mario arrived at home. After throwing his keys into the key bowl on the small table he kept near the door, he immediately face-planted onto his couch. His home wasn't any better than work. No matter what he did, he always found misery in everything he was doing. He hated his crap shack of a house, and the reek of trash that accompanied it. He hated his neighbors, especially that damned Al—

DING DONG!

"I hate you too, universe." Dr. Mario grumbled, getting up to open the door. Standing on the other side, as if on cue, was his all too cheery neighbor, Alph, who could find happiness in sweeping the dirt off of a dirt road.

Smiling, Alph greeted him. "Today's the day! Are you excited?"

"No, go away." Dr. Mario deadpanned, trying to slam the door in his face.

"Aren't you even a little bit excited?" He asked, grabbing the door before it closed. Swinging it back open, he entered the doctor's apartment.

"Invite yourself in, why don't ya?" Dr. Mario sighed. Louder, he said, "No clue what you're talking about. You're going to have to be more specific."

"Why, it's the fourth Smash Commencement Banquet!" said Alph, taking a seat on the couch. "Just think: all of the Smashers gathered in one room, celebrating a new era of Smash! Can't you just see it now?"

"You know, they do that regularly when they live together." Dr. Mario snorted as he plopped right next to the Koppaite. Opening an old box of mushroom pizza, he took a bite as he spoke. "Why should I care?"

"Aren't you going?" Alph asked, surprised. "You're invited."

"I repeat my previous statement." Dr. Mario deadpanned. "I'm not going to some stupid dinner and I'm not becoming a Smasher again. My days of fighting are over."

"Oh, come on!" Alph protested. "Imagine the fun we'll have! We'll get to see Captain Olimar, Ness, Link, even Mario!"

Dr. Mario's face immediately grew red. "Exactly why I don't want to go."

"You know you'll have a great time. I can just tell!" Alph said, trying to cheer him up. "You have the best jokes... although most of them are rude and aimed at me... but that has to amount to something!"

"It's my one night off, Alph." Dr. Mario lied. "And I don't plan to spend it at some stupid banquet." Exasperated, he added, "Please go away."

"I'll make you a bet," countered Alph, leaning towards the doctor, "that you'll be smiling bigger than Bowser watching an execution if you go. In my opinion, you're just acting this way because you're afraid you won't be accepted back into Smash."

"Want to know the difference between this pizza and you opinion?" said Dr. Mario, holding up the slice. "I asked for this pizza."

"How about this: if you do come and hate it, I won't bug you for a whole year." Alph counter-proposed. "However, if you come and enjoy it... well, I won't ask you to do anything more for me. Deal?"

"Hmm..." Dr. Mario was losing his nerve. "Nope, stopped caring."

"Okay..." Alph let out a dramatic sigh. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, shut up."

"Are you positive?"

"I already said NO."

"Come on, everyone else is going."

"Do I look like a freaking lemur to you?"

"What if I-"

"SHUT UP!"

"How about-"

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET OUT OF MY APARTMENT!" Dr. Mario screamed, finally snapping. "I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT HELLHOLE FILLED WITH ASSHOLES, AND ESPECIALLY NOT WITH THE LIKES OF YOU!" Alph jumped, frightened at the doctor's outrageous demeanor.

"Oh... okay." Alph looked down, which made Dr. Mario feel oddly sympathetic."I... I understand. I'm sorry for bothering you. I'll go now." He got up and started heading toward the door.

"Wait..." Dr. Mario called after him. "I'm... you at least need someone to get you there, and your car's in the shop. Let me at least drive you there."

Alph turned around and smiled. Half-jokingly, he added, "Are you sure? I thought you didn't want to be seen with the likes of me."

"It's just a car ride." Dr. Mario retorted. "It's not like you'll actually be seen with me."

"I'll get my Pikmin and then we can go. Thanks Doc!" With that, Alph ran out the door.

The doctor paused for a second, before grabbing his keys. A strange feeling came over him like a wave of cold water. Why did he feel like that encounter was planned? It wasn't like Alph didn't know how irritable he was, and it wasn't like they were friends… why did he come over to invite him out of the blue like that? Dr. Mario shook his head, wondering if he should be regretting his decision to take Alph. Like a whirlwind, he put on his finest lab coat and shoes and dashed after his compatriot.


Through the first hall on the right of the newly-rebuilt Smash Mansion, behind the two double doors that guarded it, Master Hand nervously floated/paced around his office, constantly looking at the grandfather clock near the door. The banquet was due to start any minute now, and he still hadn't prepared his speech. He had spent the past few nights writing and rewriting that cursed monologue, but so far he had nothing. He just hoped that he could just improvise something by the time the toast rolled around.

All of a sudden, Crazy Hand burst through the doors (quite literally) and rushed towards his brother. "Bad news!" He screamed. "We're out of Fun Dip!"

"Crazy," Master Hand sighed, putting down his speech notes, "we've never had Fun Dip to begin with."

"Oh. Yeah, I knew that." Crazy Hand banged himself against the wall, shaking Master Hand's paintings. "Silly me. I'll make sure that the Primids have everything in order though. I brought Cranberry Sprite!" With that, he ran back out of the room.

Master Hand curled his fingers in mild irritation."One day I'll—" but he was interrupted by a loud snap coming from the other room.

"Sorry!" He heard Crazy scream. "How was I supposed to know you couldn't play Twister ROB?"

"I'M A ROBOT! HOW THE HECK AM I SUPPOSED TO BEND LIKE THAT?!" ROB yelled back.

After hearing the yells, he decided it was best not to look beyond the door. "One day I'll understand my brother." Master Hand mused. "But tonight's not that night."

"Sir." A Primid awkwardly entered the room through a recently formed giant hand-shaped hole. The Primid paused to admire the new dent. "Freakish red weather is reportedly heading this way. Should we cancel the banquet?"

"Red?" Master Hand repeated. "That's weird. I've never heard of red weather in the World of Trophies. Or, actually, in my case, I never added red weather into the World of Trophies."

"The storm has already covered up about a third of the continent, and it's getting bigger by the minute." The Primid informed him. "We've lost all contact with anyone inside."

"How long has it been there?" Master Hand asked.

"About three hours. It just popped up out of nowhere." The Primid was oddly calm about the news. Primids weren't known to be overly emotive beings, and Master Hand was well aware of this, but the calm, matter of fact way the Primid spoke sent a shiver up his wrist.

Master Hand paused to think. "That's some freak storm... This could be a problem." He walked over to his desk and pressed a button.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line said.

"Hey, it's Master Hand. Patch me through to HAL Labs. It appears as though we might have a situation."


As Dr. Mario, Alph, and his four Pikmin rode towards the manor, Dr. Mario combed his hair in the rearview mirror, constantly looking back and forth between his hair and the road. Alph gripped the safety handle for dear life as the tires screeched down the asphalt road.

"Could you slow down?" Alph screamed, as they barely avoided crashing into another car on the opposite side of the road.

"Sorry!" Dr. Mario slammed on the brakes, eventually settling on a steady cruising speed. One of Alph's Pikmin flew forward, hitting the front windshield. Alph sighed as it turned into a ghost.

"I just want to look my best." Dr. Mario said as he quickly checked his teeth.

"I thought you weren't going to the banquet." Alph joked.

"Eh, I'm halfway there." Dr. Mario shrugged, trying to play it off. "Anyway, I'm hungry, and let's face it, I could use the free shower. Just don't let anyone near me." His face darkened as he hunched over the wheel.

"Cool." Alph smiled. He sat there, looking at the doctor in silence with a huge smirk stretched across his face.

"What- what?" Dr. Mario's curiosity had given in. "Stop that."

"See! You are afraid of not being accepted back in!" Alph told him.

"What gives you-" Dr. Mario shook his head. "You know what, whatever. I'm just there for the free food, and then I'm out. Got it?"

"Sure." Alph leaned back in his seat and kicked his feet up on the dashboard.

"Stop- stop that!" Dr. Mario growled, but he couldn't push back the half smile forming on his face.


"Look, I'm just saying, this storm could be a really huge problem." Master Hand spoke on the phone. "We should hold off the dinner off for another night, to wait for it to pass."

"Listen here, Hand." The voice at the other end sneered. "You're indoors, so it doesn't even matter! Nintendo's riding on Super Smash Bros. to pull through for the Wii U, and we can't hold off the game for another day. Either you host the Commencement Ceremony, or Crazy Hand takes over. Got it?"

"... Got it." Master Hand reluctantly hung up the phone. Angry, he added, "Nintendo bureaucrats."

He paused. Memories flooded back of a time where Nintendo never tried pulling stunts like this. Back in the 1980s, Master Hand wasn't a tool; he was a partner. If Nintendo ever needed a new idea or character, Master Hand just snapped his fingers and BAM! they would appear. Mario, Link, Pikachu, Samus... All of them just like that. He only had one rule: never, ever tell them that they were in a video game.

Then in 1999, he had a vision. What if everyone lived in the same universe? What if everyone was united, like brothers and sisters? Master Hand, without the approval of Nintendo (then again, he didn't need their approval back in those days), snapped his fingers and created what he liked to call the Nintendo Universe. There, he created the World of Trophies, a place where all of his creations could meet and train. He started small, only moving a few worlds at a time. When Nintendo tapped into that gold mine, it was an instant success. Soon people from all over the worlds came to the "perfect world," starting cities, such as Smash City or Shore City, and a whole economy of "Smash Coins." In his excitement, he moved more worlds over, even adding villains to the smash mix. The proudest moment of his life was when back in the Melee Era all of the Smashers had built themselves a Mansion to live together, unbeknownst to him. He was so stricken with pride that he nearly passed out at the sight, but pure joy kept him afloat.

"Today's the day," Master Hand had said, his voice cracking in his happiness. "That I welcome you to the happiest days of your lives. Congratulations."

If he was Master Face, he would have cried.

Then Nintendo grew greedy. More worlds, they had demanded, more characters, a new mansion! Bigger, grander, better! Master Hand had to move the site of the Mansion over to the very same cliff where they had defeated Tabuu due to lack of space. Money was heard more than enjoyable or playable. Master Hand was now a tool, creating whatever terrible idea they could come up with. Now they wouldn't even listen to him when he warned them of impending evil. He sighed, looking back at his speech.

Of course he could create whole universes, he mused, but one stupid speech is one too much.

"What are we to do, Master?" The Primid from earlier entered the room, interrupting his thoughts.

"I guess we just have to wait it out." Master Hand sighed, happy to procrastinate. "Start letting the Smashers in. The banquet will go just as scheduled."

The Primid was about to say something else, but its words were drowned out by Crazy Hand screaming. "How was I supposed to know water wouldn't stop your bleeding, R.O.B?!"

"BECAUSE I'M— *buzzt* —A FREAKING ROBOT! I DON'T— *buzzt* —BLEED!"

"And please," Master Hand groaned, "get my brother out of here before he destroys R.O.B."


"Alright guys, come on out!"

Five Pokéballs were tossed up in the air, shining a bright blue beam down as the Pokémon inside materialized on the ground. Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Lucario, Charizard, and Greninja looked at their new surroundings. Blue was sitting in his car, holding five Pokéballs in one hand, like a boss.

"Good news guys," Blue said. "You're here. The bad news is that I just lost five Pokémon. Smell ya later!" With that, he drove off.

"What a jerk..." Pikachu mumbled.

"Where are we?" Charizard asked, looking around.

"The Smash Mansion lawn." Jigglypuff told him. "It looks different from last time."

"I heard they remodeled it." Lucario nodded. "They had added new dorms and individual bathrooms."

"Thank Arceus." Jigglypuff stretched. "I'm tired of sharing a public bathroom with Donkey Kong. Pokémon and animals have totally separate ideas regarding bathroom etiquette."

"Should we start walking towards the manor?" Lucario gestured. The others nodded in agreement and started heading down the stone path.

As they quietly walked down the path, Greninja tried starting a conversation. "How long will it be—"

"Wait a second!" Lucario stopped. "I forgot to give you all your universal translators."

"A what?" Pikachu was staring off into space.

"The thing that allows you to speak to anyone, remember?" Charizard smacked the mouse in the back, snapping Pikachu back into reality.

"Oh, yeah, thanks." Pikachu grumbled, taking one from Lucario's palm. Once everyone had placed it into their ears, they continued down the path.

Greninja tried talking again. "I have been working on my stealth tactics regarding the other Smashers. I—"

"Hey, why did Blue take us here?" Jigglypuff said, interrupting him. "Where's Red?"

"He sorta went insane." Pikachu told her. "He keeps in running into walls and talking to a Helix Fossil. Blue's taking over guardian duties until Red gets some help."

"That couldn't happen sooner." Charizard added. "Blue's a jerk."

"He's gotten better!" Jigglypuff said, trying to defend him.

"Yeah, sure." Charizard snorted. "Back when I was a Charmander, Blue would throw rocks purposely in battle just to screw me up when I was fighting his Pokémon. Now he just screams really loudly and flaps his arms like an Aerodactyl."

Greninja looked curious. "How did you manage to overcome such a difficult opp—"

"Woah, check those guys out!" Pikachu pointed ahead of them. Dr. Mario was slouched over, grumbling as he listened to Alph chat away.

"Dr. Mario's back?" Jigglypuff chuckled. "Wasn't he the one who-"

"-broke into a liquor store and got tasered? Yeah!" Pikachu broke out laughing. "It's all over Smash Tube!"

"Look at that kid." Charizard noted, pointing to Alph. "Isn't he Olimar's tag partner?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jigglypuff asked.

"You see," Pikachu smiled, clearly joking around, "Olimar is so short that when he has to reach the bottom shelf of the library, he calls in his tag partner to give him a boost."

"Says the tiny mouse!" Charizard snorted. "That's a lie. You remember that Olimar has a job, right?"

Jigglypuff and Greninja nodded, both clearly fascinated with the conversation.

"Well," Charizard explained, " a couple of months ago, towards the end of Brawl, Master Hand got an e-mail saying that if Olimar didn't come into work at least for a day a week Hocotate Freights would stop sending money to his family. So from now on, everytime Olimar's called into work Alph takes his place until he can get back."

"*Cough* Clone character! *Cough*" Pikachu "coughed". Then he smiled cheaply. "Oh, I'm sorry. I coughed before I could say clone character."

Charizard shot him a glance, but sighed. "Yeah, he's the literal definition."

"Guy can't even get in the legitimate way." Pikachu shook his head. "How unoriginal. Who's next, Dr. Mario? Oh wait, that's right, he's up ahead!"

Greninja tried speaking again. "Master Koga always said never underestimate your—"

"Drop it, my friend." Lucario pulled Greninja aside, waiting for the others to walk ahead. "Logic doesn't work with these people." Greninja tried speaking, but the Aura Pokémon cut him off. "We know the difference between wrong and right, but they fail to notice their own follies. Just let them have the night and I will personally chastise them tomorrow."

"Okay." Greninja dropped it. "So anyway, I have heard you are an excellent fighter. How do you—"

But Lucario was gone, moving on ahead to talk with the others. The Pokémon sighed and sadly trudged behind.


"I can't wait to meet Captain Olimar!" Alph told Dr. Mario.

"I've heard you say that about a million times," Dr. Mario snapped. "I could have taped a voice recorder to a Koopa and couldn't have told the difference between you two."

"Do you even know why, though?" Alph smiled.

"You've been telling me why since we got in the car." Dr. Mario rolled his eyes. "He's a hero, blah blah blah, he found P— er, whatever the planet with Pikmin is called—, blah blah blah, he's from a different planet than me— I really don't care."

"Aren't you just a little excited to see Mari—"

"Hey, we're here." Dr. Mario took three very large leaps to the front steps of the Mansion. He knocked on the doors as quickly as he could, hoping for a response. As Alph climbed the remainder of the steps, the doors swung open as a Primid greeted them.

"Invitation please." It said, looking at the doctor.

Dr. Mario rolled his eyes and quickly patted himself."Oh what a shame." He said flatly. "I have lost my invitation. Isn't there a guest list?"

The Primid paused, staring him down. "One moment please." He grabbed the clipboard on the stand near the door. "Ah, Dr. Mario, you're here. Come this way please. Feel free to indulge in the refreshments as you wait for the banquet to commence."

"Don't mind if I do." Dr. Mario strolled inside, leaving Alph behind. As Alph got to the top of the stairs, the Primid shook his head.

"What a complete and total asshole." It said to Alph in disgust.

"Tell Master Hand I'm working on it." Alph promised. "I'll get him to change."

.o0O0o.

The banquet hall was rarely used, except for special occasions. The last time the doctor had been inside the Smash Banquet Hall was the Melee farewell banquet, and he had only shown up to retrieve his watch from Luigi, and before that... well, he couldn't even remember. Now he was in a different building in another dining hall. The worst part was that new dining hall looked exactly like the older one, which made the memories sting even more. Huge wooden beams aligned themselves on the wall, holding the ceiling firmly up. The long wooden table sat in the center of the room, stretching across the smooth granite floor. The walls were strung with paintings of the Smashers in overly-dramatic poses. Dr. Mario snorted as he saw the painting of himself holding two pills in his hands. Those were the days...

The truth was, his one true love unexpectedly turned out to be smashing. Back in the Melee Era, he loved the sheer joy of harsh training, the friends he had made, and the mansion they had built. It was beautiful. He had poured his heart and soul into the creation of the foundation of Smash. He had spent hour after hour making sure there was enough of everything. He had taken great care in making sure there were enough dorms for the future generations of Smashers, to even stocking the Smash Pantry with the best food for optimum fighting performance (he was a doctor after all) to even the particular tiling the bathrooms (heated tiles of course).

Dr. Mario had never been happier. But then again, that was nearly seven years ago.

Looking around, the doctor noticed that some people were already splitting off into groups. Star Fox was engaged in a heated conversation with Robin and Marth, and the group would occasionally shout at each other. In another corner, Kirby and King Dedede were already in a competition, trying to suck down as much of Captain Falcon's famous "Falcon Punch" punch as possible. Wario, Ganondorf, and Bowser were cackling away as Yoshi ran around in a circle, trying to avoid a hoard of the Cucoo. It was pretty much so just a normal evening.

Then Dr. Mario saw her, his other one true love. Rosalina was talking to Palutena not far from him, looking as beautiful as ever. You see, Dr. Mario had a huge crush on Rosalina. They had met only once: while he was walking home from a bar. In a desperate attempt to impress her, the daringly drunk doctor had broken into a liquor store to bring her some fancy wine. A moment later, he was on the floor being tased by a police officer, who just happened to be standing next door. Some punk kids had recorded it, and like most things on the Internet, it refused to disappear. Dr. Mario hadn't seen Rosalina since.

Now there she was, flipping her hair as she talked to the goddess. This time, Dr. Mario knew he couldn't screw up. Gathering up all of his courage, he took a deep breath as he walked over. His palms were sweating, and his heart raced faster and faster. Just as he opened his mouth, he heard another familiar, irritating voice.

"Hey there-a Rosalina!"

Dr. Mario stopped dead in his tracks as Mario went up to her. "We're going to-a sit near Master-a Hand. Care to-a join us?"

"Sure." She smiled at him. Saying a quick couple of words to Palutena, Rosalina and Mario left hand in hand to the other side of the room. Dr. Mario could only stand there with his mouth hanging wide open as they passed right by him as if he were invisible.

"Of course she remembers Mario," the doctor told himself. "Why would she talk to a loser like me?"


Meanwhile, Greninja wasn't having much luck either.

The other Pokémon had already started reminiscing with the other Smashers, leaving the ninja alone. To be honest, Greninja wasn't much of a small talker. Master Koga had taught him to keep his personal interests out of the way and learn as much as he could about his enemies; however, no one seemed to want to talk strategy. Instead, he was being bored by talks of gossip or fashion. Nothing interesting to him, quite frankly.

Finally, he heard a conversation that looked interesting. Stroking back his tongue scarf, he walked over to Samus wearing her Zero Suit and Captain Falcon, who both were drinking some "Falcon Punch."

"Yeah, sucks to see Wolf and Snake go." Samus noted, taking a sip. "Good men."

"I still remember Snake's last words..." Captain Falcon reminisced. "'DLC bitches.'"

"Were they formidable opponents?" Greninja asked as he approached.

"Who's the frog?" Captain Falcon joked. "Slippy, I presume."

"Greninja, master assassin from the Ninjas of the Night." The Pokémon introduced himself, happy that his translator was working.

"Ninjas of the Night, huh?" Captain Falcon smirked. "Who created your group, Kermit?" Chuckling at his own terrible joke, he finished his punch with one swift gulp before crunching his cup and throwing it aside.

"Poisonous Ninja Master Koga, Indigo Plateau Elite Four member." Greninja responded, trying to keep calm.

"That lunatic?" Captain Falcon taunted. "Wasn't he one of the Elite Four members from Johto? Wait a minute, yeah, I remember him! He's that poison-type user who rarely used poison-types! Red swore he moped the floor with him in five seconds. What a whimp. If you learned from that loser, you're not worth my time." With that, he turned back to Samus.

Greninja looked infuriated. "Show some respect, you joke! At least people have actually found new Pokémon! All they find with you is outdated memes!" Captain Falcon stopped cold.

"I'm leaving before you idiots tear each other apart." Samus said, walking away.

Captain Falcon spat as he turned around. "Are you saying that Falcon Punch, probably one of the most famous things about Smash Brothers, is an outdated joke?"

"No. You did." Greninja retorted.

"That's it. Let's go." Captain Falcon held up his fists. "It's on like Donkey Kong."

"I usually refuse such a duel with people like you, but sometimes it is an evil we all must confront." Greninja prepared his Water Shrunken.

"I wasn't aware I had ordered French food, but looks like I'm having some frog legs tonight!" The bounty hunter smirked. But just as they charged at each other, Dr. Mario leaped in the way.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Dr. Mario growled. "What is this, the battlefield? Calm down, you idiots."

"What are you going to do about, clone?" Captain Falcon spat on the doctor's face. Dr. Mario turned to look at the bounty hunter, annoyance plain on his face.

"Mega Melatonin." He grumbled, sending a white pill flying at the Captain's face. The racer had no time to react as it entered his mouth. As he swallowed it, Captain Falcon immediately fell to the floor, asleep.

"That's got to be one heavy dosage to knock him out instantly." Pit noted from afar. "What do you think?" He looked down at Duck Hunt Dog who was licking punch straight from the bowl. "I forgot you were a dog for a second..." Pit said with a sigh.

Dr. Mario wiped the spit off of his face with his Super Sheet. "I remember why I hate this place." He grumbled, walking away.

"Hmm..." With nothing else to do, Greninja followed him.

.o0O0o.

The doctor loved the view from Smash Cliff. He would often go there when he wanted to think or solve a problem. Tonight, he thought that things would be different, that people might talk to him like a normal person. But alas, nothing had changed. He heard people call him a clone behind his back. He heard people talk about his "incident" at the liquor store. Worst of all, Mario had just taken the person who he liked away from him. Sighing, he took a seat on the edge of the cliff.

"I thank you for your actions." Greninja said behind him. He too took a seat on the cliff. "I detest fighting."

"I hate it too." Dr. Mario agreed. "That's why I carry around Mega Melatonin. Speaking of which, that was my last one."

"Master Koga encouraged me to try avoiding conflict when possible." Greninja said, looking at the starry night. "He told me: 'the best way to destroy an enemy is by eliminating them through stealth.'"

"I'm pretty sure that's not how that quote goes." The doctor pulled out a cigarette case. "Want one?" He offered.

"I do not smoke."

"They're candy cigarettes." Dr. Mario said, popping one in his mouth and crunching on it. "I can't stand the smell of tobacco, but I gotta look tough at the same time."

"Then I shall take one." Greninja grabbed a cigar and started chewing. "These are delightful."

"Yeah." Dr. Mario sighed. "Name's Doctor Mario by the way."

"Greninja."

"Alph." Alph said from behind. The two Smashers turned around to watch the Koppaite as he took a seat besides them.

"What happened?" Dr. Mario asked. "I thought you were going to talk to Olimar."

"He... he said he didn't want to be seen with me." Alph's lips quivered.

"Man up." Dr. Mario said unexpectedly. Greninja looked surprise at his bluntness. "The amount of times I've said that to you... you should be immune to that by now."

"He's my hero though..." Alph whimpered.

"No, he's not." The doctor began to look more confident with each word he spoke. "If he treats you like that, then he's no one's hero." Dr. Mario paused, thinking for a moment, but continued. "We all came here expecting something different to happen, something better. But nothing happened. As a matter of fact, everything turned out worse for me. But hey, at least we have each other, right?" He looked at both of them. "At least we're together."

"Here, here." Alph smiled through his self-pity.

"Agreed." Greninja nodded.

They all stared in silence for a few minutes, staring at the starry night.

"It's a beautiful night anyway," Alph said, taking in the scenery.

"Sure is." Dr. Mario sighed. "Sure is."


"Attention all Smashers!" A Metal Primid announced. "If you could make your way to your seats, Master Hand has a few words he would like to say before we start."

Master Hand made his way over to the head of the table from his seat. He was still unprepared. He was shaking, and as he began to speak, his fear vibrated in his voice.

"Welcome everybody," he said quietly.

From the other end, Dark Pit shouted, "Louder!"

"Welcome everybody!" Master Hand boomed, trying to gain more confidence. "You are here at the fourth Smash Commencement Banquet. I, obviously, am Master Hand." He paused, looking at the unconscious Captain Falcon, who had just face-planted into his soup. "Is he okay?"

"Don't worry about it." Pit said, quickly picking up the captain's head and waving his hand for him. "Everything's fine. Just— just keep going."

"..." Master Hand paused before continuing. "We are about to embark on a new journey, one that unites all of us together. Today, we celebrate the fourth generation of Smash!"

He had expected people to clap, but it was only followed by awkward silence. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Okay... I'm pleased to inform you of the new and returning characters, such as Dr. Mario and Greninja." He waved towards their seats, only to find them empty. "... Where are they?"

"They left earlier, sir." The Metal Primid whispered. "Just keep going."

"Uh..." Master Hand looked down at his speech, stuttering as he searched words. "And... Uh... Welcome?"

The room started awkwardly clapping, causing Master Hand to blush (if he could). Sighing, he took his place at the table.

"Great job bro!" Crazy patted him on the back. "I couldn't have said it better myself!"

"I know..." Master Hand mumbled, disappointed at his speech. "That could have gone worse."

"At least you got your point across." The Metal Primid said, trying to encourage him.

"It's just... it's not what I wanted..."

"Master Hand!" A Fire Primid ran up to Master Hand. "A red storm just hit the campus!"

"As expected." Master Hand sighed, happy at the distraction. "Has it damaged anything?"

"No, but..."

"But what?"

"Sir, umm..."

"Spit it out already."

"Well... I don't know how else to put this, but this letter just appeared at the doorstep." The Primid held out an envelope.

"Hmm?" Master Hand grabbed and opened it. As he read, he started to tremble even more than before.

"Bro, what's wrong?" Crazy Hand asked, trying to look at the letter.

"We need to leave now."

"But what about the party?"

"We need to go now, Crazy."

"Why are we ditching every-"

"NOW."


A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! Any feedback would be appreciated. I've been planning this story since October, and I decided it was finally time to publish it. Anyways, let me know what you think, and I'll see you next time.