CHAPTER 1: THE GAME OF ALL GAMES

While Conner and his best friend Jo are at home, their Super Smash Brothers Game goes haywire, and sucks in Conner's little sister.

A young boy sits on the floor of his living room, playing his game absentmindedly. "No," the girl beside him mutters, constantly pressing the button. "No," she mutters again in an innocent frustration. The match is reaching its end.

The boy bites his lips.

"No...!"

"Saying 'no' to the screen isn't going to do anything, you know," Conner mutters after the third 'no'.

Jo pouts. This isn't the first time this so called conversation has come forth when they'd play Super Smash Bros. "Sorry. Force of habit you know that," she apologizes.

"I win."

"Huh?!" Jo turns to the screen to see Conner having tossed her character off screen, signaling the end of the match. Their two characters appear, with Peach clapping behind in 2nd and Sonic up front with 1st place. "Aw, you won."

"What with how spaced out you get it's no surprise," Conner scoffs.

Jo sighs, putting down her game cube controller. "Alright, break's over. We need to finish our homework at least."

"Aw come on one more match. To finish my streak."

"Dude we've been on break for like, three hours," Jo chuckles, dragging her school bag towards his couch. She and Conner were in high school, anxiously waiting the next few days until summer vacation would start.

As Jo starts to bring out her books, she sees her little brother coming in and trying to steal her gamecube controller on the floor, with him and Conner both fighting over it. "I wanna play!"

"No way squirt I'm beating your sister first! I wanna complete my streak!"

Jo subtlety smiles, shaking her head slightly before spotting Conner's little sister around the corner. "Hey Elise," Jo waves. Elise shyly waves back before heading into the kitchen, wordless as always.

Elise is such an adorable girl. She looks just like her brother, but, in little-girl form. They're practically opposites too, with her being so shy and quiet. But Jo knows that girl is probably the most important thing in Conner's life. She saw their bond since probably day one.

It's been years since Jo's and Conner's family started the baby-sitting routine where one family watches all four kids and back and forth. Jo and her little brother Andy, and Conner and his little sister Elise. And there was one thing that held the elder siblings together.

"I WANNA PLAY!"

"No way!" Super Smash Brothers.

Jo takes her school stuff to the kitchen for a quieter place to work. It's a little more peaceful, though she can still hear Conner and her little brother arguing over the second controller. "I still don't see why he doesn't just let him play," Jo mutters, setting up her stuff near the table and the fridge.

She notices a couple of photographs held up by magnets on the fridge, of her and Conner in their childhood – a good number of them playing Super Smash Brothers. It was like they were obsessed, and Jo smiles in a small hint of laughter.

"Whatever," she hears Conner say. Before long he's waltzing into the kitchen to grab a water.

"Finally gave up the Controller?" Jo asks.

"I let Elise and Andy play, for now," Conner frowns, sitting across from me at his table. He takes out his own books, but when he opens them, Jo notices the empty lines, void of words.

"I could help you catch up, you know," Jo frowns, noticing how far behind the guy was.

"It's fine," Conner refuses, clicking a pen.

Jo doesn't say anything else, but for once she's a little sad that he isn't asking for her to do his homework for him. How ironic, right? Growing up, Conner used to be the slacker, and Jo the goody-two-shoes bookworm. And in between their babysitting game-play on the GameCube and Wii, he would get her to do his homework for him if she lost the match.

And she lost a lot.

"You sure?" Jo asks one more time, a little concerned he won't be able to finish by tomorrow. He had probably two weeks worth of work to due in the next four hours.

"I said it's fine," Conner repeats with a face. "I'm like, fifteen now. I can do my own homework."

Such foreign words to Jo she was hearing. Jo frowns, sort of knowing the reason behind this. Ever since Conner's dad left, she had noticed something change in her friend. He became more reclusive; quiet. A loner if not for her and Elise needing to be babysat every now and again.

It's like… he doesn't want to rely on anyone else. Even me.

Conner won't accept help from anyone anymore. Jo even talked to him about it once in school, but he'd just say excuses like 'it's growing up' or 'maturity' or whatever he could think of to change the topic, but Jo knew better. He was so close to his dad… Does he really not believe in people anymore?

"So…" Conner speaks up, bringing Jo out of her thoughts. "You're awfully quiet."

"Hm?" Jo asks, looking up. "Ah no, just thinking."

"Is it about that Tyler guy at school asking you out?" Conner teases, a toothy grin coming up.

A fluster of red flies to her face. "H-How do you know about that? Whatever, it doesn't matter. I don't like him anyway."

"Why not? He's a big guy. Aren't girls into big buff dudes like him?" Conner asks. "Oh, wait, sorry I forgot you're not into relationships yet, you pre-pubescent boy." A glare in return from the girl. "Well you are."

"It's biology and genetics, Conner. So I'm not as full as the other girls at school - So what?" Jo says, trying to hide her annoyance by the topic. She was used to being teased by Conner, but it still hurt.

"What do you mean 'so what?'. Hot girls are hot girls and you need to get there someday, even though you probably never will." This is also why he never finishes his homework. He likes patronizing. "So with a guy like Tyler coming after you, well, why not? It's not like you're Samus so take what you can."

"You're horrible you know that?" Jo laughs, tossing a pencil at him.

"Alright alright. Just small talk is all."

Jo laughs a little, but she frowns a little. "Small talk, huh?" Since when did we ever need to resort to small talk? Jo notices his distance from everyone at school, how Conner never talks to anyone anymore – just video games and food and sleep. His only social contact now is with his little brother, Elise, and her. Mostly her, and Jo knows that isn't a good thing.

Sure he may act like himself a little bit with her, but, it' not good. Sooner or later, maybe he'll even drift from her. And secretly already, it felt like her best friend was slipping away. There're days he ignores her, days he stays aloof to himself, days he pushes her away to the point she feels saddened or guilty for something that isn't her fault.

"AAAHHH!" a girl's voice screams from the living room.

Conner and Jo both shoot up their heads.

"Jo! Jo I need you!" Andy's voice screams.

"Andy?!" Jo rushes panicked, wondering what happened to her little brother. Conner runs right behind, also knocking over his kitchen chair.

Back in the living room, the two teens rush to a halt at what they were suddenly seeing. Winds are blowing everywhere, but not from the window. Instead, the television screen is somehow open and swirling, like a vortex. "What the hell?!" Conner yells, one hand on the wall and the other on Jo's shoulder.

"Andy what'd you do?!" Jo screams, unable to comprehend what's happening. Weren't they just playing Super Smash Bros?

"Where's Elise?!" Conner demands, realizing she isn't in the room. He prays she never was, but when Andy panic-stricken looks to the once-TV-screen, his eyes widen in horror and anger. "No."

"Something happened! She got sucked inside and-!" Andy shields himself with his arms as another gust of wind comes from the vortex.

Jo holds her arm open like a protective mother. "ANDY GET OVER HERE!" she yells over the winds. The little boy runs to her waist, but Conner squeezes her shoulder for a second before walking forwards against the winds. "Conner! Conner what're you doing!?" Jo calls out.

"I need to find Elise!" Conner shouts, actually feeling the winds trying to push him away. How the hell is this even possible? Is it even? What the hell is this anyway?

"Let me come with you!" he hears Jo shout.

"NO!" Conner holds his arm back to halt her. He couldn't bring her with him. What if it was dangerous? Can't drag Jo into this, too. "STAY HERE! I'LL BE BACK IN A MINUTE!" Conner could still hear Jo's cries after him as he unwillingly jumped into his 'screen'. And his ears hold onto the girl's calls after him as he fell and fell and fell, until he could hear her no more.

But now, his priority was finding his sister, and returning home to Jo. But important things aside, where the hell was he going? What have I done to myself….? Little did Conner know, but he had just flung himself into what he thought was his favorite game – a game that he'd never look at the same way ever again.

Location: Home

Featured Character Profiles:

Conner Bensen
Partner: Link
Strength: POWER
Player Color: Red
WEAPON: Beam Sword

Preview:

"You're on the screen, Conner. You have four lives and zero percent damage. You're IN the game, you do understand me!"

x-x-x

"That shadow," Conner says, squinting his eyes. And standing there was a trademark character of the game. "Link…"

x-x-x

"Like I said before, something weird is happening in this world. And I don't mean just Eldin Bridge either. Other Stages too; strange stuff acting up and all. I can't get to the bottom of it by myself, and something tells me you being here has to do with it."

Conner narrows his eyes at Link. "Are you saying my being here is causing all the strange stuff to happen?"

"No. But maybe you're here to help stop it," Link suggests seriously.