As the sun peeked through an old pair of curtains, a young boy stirred under the sheets of his bed. Mumbling slightly, his hand emerged to his bedside table where it searched, half-asleep, for something it needed. Feeling through a yoyo, some loose change, and the handle of a baseball bat, the hand finally found what it was looking for and grabbed a red cap before retreating back under the covers. A few seconds later, the covers shot off as Ness yawned and got out of bed slowly, using his cap to hide his messy black hair.
Deciding to wear something different today, Ness trudged to his wardrobe in his pyjamas and opened it, only to see masses of blue denim shorts and yellow and blue striped shirts, with a few extra backpacks too. Vowing to buy some different clothes, despite knowing he would forget, he pulled on the closest clothes he could find.
After freshening up for a few more minutes in his room, Ness decided to venture outside. Instantly, he was greeted by having to jump back against a wall to avoid getting in the way of Marth, who was trying in vain to catch up with Toon Link for something or other. As Ness risked heading downstairs, he was almost flattened again as Sonic ran past him, desperate to get breakfast. As Ness got off the stairs and headed to the kitchen, he heard swearing coming from above him, and looked up just in time to roll out of the way of Toon Link, who had managed to escape Marth by skipping the stairs and jumping from one floor to another.
Ness entered the kitchen cautiously, but nobody else was there. Opening a cupboard, Ness cringed as he took out a box of 'Smash Cereal'. Strongly regretting letting Master Hand force them to advertise products, Ness did his best to ignore the huge words 'The cereal of heroes' and grimaced even more when he saw the picture of himself pointing at the box, with a speech bubble emerging saying, "They're PSI-Rockin!"
Pouring himself a small bowl, Ness searched for the milk for almost half an hour before he remembered that it was one of the casualties in Kirby and Wario's eating contest. Giving up on the idea of having a healthy breakfast, Ness opened the fridge and took out a handful of candy bars and a bottle of water, before joining the other Smashers in the living room to see if anything interesting was on TV. Hearing something Japanese, Ness peeked in the open door and saw that the remote control was currently being held by Ike. Sighing, Ness decided to train instead of watching television.
Training didn't prove to be any more relaxing that any other activity, as Captain Falcon was already inside the gym, and he was using all the best equipment. The punchbag, the weights, and the treadmill were already in use, and although the Captain sent a friendly greeting in Ness' direction, Ness knew better than to interrupt him. Groaning slightly, Ness exited the gym and decided to try his luck in the garden.
Upon entering the garden, he saw why a few other people had been staying out. The young fighters were having a football/soccer match, whilst some of the bored adults were supervising it. Link and Zelda were leaning against the wall watching, while Peach was doing her best to referee, much to the amusement of Samus. Although Mario and Luigi weren't some of the youngest fighters, they still decided to play, being about as tall as the other players, Lucas, Popo, Nana, Olimar, and Toon Link, who had managed to escape Marth once again.
Popo and Nana were playing excellently, passing it to each other with great ease, while Toon Link was in a huff about being made a defender for the other team. However, an argument started when Lucas had a shot at goal and Olimar missed it, only for the ball to be kept out by Toon Link's boomerang.
"Hey, that's not fair," exclaimed Nana. "You're not allowed to use your boomerang, that's cheating?"
"How?" answered Toon Link, "And may I remind you, if I was a striker, there wouldn't have been any problem here!"
"Calm down you two, it's just a game!"
Ness watched as the argument got more and more heated. Popo and Nana were screaming at Toon Link, while Lucas and Olimar were both nervously staying out of the fight, and Mario and Luigi were trying to split the fight up. Eventually, Peach stepped in to try and stop the disagreement, but she couldn't stop Toon Link from sulkily picking up the ball and angrily kicking it as far as he could to show how angry he was. Ness barely had time to react before the ball flew towards him and hit him in the stomach, winding him.
Ness coughed several times and fell to the ground, hearing nothing but his own wheezes. Eventually, after taking in some deep breaths for a few minutes, Ness looked up, and felt like fainting. Peach, Samus, Zelda, Link, Mario, Luigi, Toon Link, Popo, Nana, Lucas, and Olimar were all crowding around him.
"Are you ok?" asked Peach slowly. Ness tried to reply, but when he opened his mouth, he started coughing again.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" stammered Toon Link nervously as he began to feel guilty for hurting Ness, despite how Ness immediately tried to reply 'It's fine' but had to mouth it and gasp for air instead of speaking normally.
Even though he was beginning to feel better, Ness could see that Peach was panicking, and before he could try and explain that he would feel better soon, Peach had picked him up and started to run to the hospital wing of Smash Mansion. (Ness had always wondered why they called it Smash Mansion, as it always seemed to be much too small) Bursting into the medical wing, Ness caught sight of Dr Mario, who had been allowed to stay in the Mansion to treat others, despite not taking part in the fighting. Before Ness could say anything, Peach placed him on a nearby bed, ran to Dr Mario, and dramatically screamed,
"He's been hit by a football!"
After Dr Mario got Peach to calm down, Ness had time to look around and see the other patients. Marth was there with a twisted ankle (Ness later found out that Marth had unsuccessfully tried to repeat Toon Link's one-storey jump) while Diddy Kong looked like he was suffering from a bad stomach ache. The last bed was occupied by Falco, who had the misfortune of being the victim when the teleporters to and from the arenas were broken, forcing him to spend two whole hours with Wario. Looking back, Ness could see that despite Dr Mario's training, he still couldn't calm down Peach, and he could do nothing as she ran to his side and held him like a baby.
"Don't worry Ness, it'll be alright," she wailed, rocking him back and forth, not realising that he was nowhere near as distressed as she was. Peach had a reputation for treating the younger fighters like her children, but sometimes, she went a tad too far. Eventually, Dr Mario ushered her out of the room, proclaiming that Ness would need his rest, and although Dr Mario only said it to get Peach out of the room, when he turned back, Ness had taken his advice to heart and was already half-asleep. Dr Mario decided it wouldn't be worth it to disturb him.
When Ness woke up, it was already afternoon, and he was the only one still there in the hospital wing. Leaving quickly, he went back through the hallways to the dinner hall, but nobody was there except for Jigglypuff and Meta Knight, and they didn't look like they wanted to be disturbed. Upon further investigation, most of the Smashers were watching a current match of Pokemon Trainer VS Kirby VS Fox, but Ness wanted to do something active. Heading back out into the garden, Ness found only Toon Link, who was absentmindedly kicking the same ball into the same goal over and over again.
"Hey Toon Link, what's up?"
Toon Link jumped a little when he heard Ness' voice, but soon saw that he wasn't angry.
"Nothing much. Sorry 'bout the whole football thing."
"No problem, I like sports…"
There was a long silence as both of the youngsters tried to think of something else to say, until Toon Link spoke up.
"Ness, can I ask you a favour?"
Ness was surprised that an incarnation of the Hero of Time would ask him for anything, but responded positively.
"Sure, what?"
"Could you… teach me how to play baseball?"
3 hours later…
Toon link threw a ball towards Ness, who pulled his arms back, then smashed the ball out of the garden completely. Toon Link was in awe, and Ness was having fun teaching him how to swing, but their study session was quickly interrupted.
"Ness, Toon Link, get back inside, the sun's setting."
Ness let out a loud sigh. Even though he was almost 16 by now, he would always be seen as a child by the other competitors. Shaking hands with Toon Link briefly, Ness tried to think of something else to do, then just gave up and decided to take an early night. After all, tomorrow morning he was in a match against Sonic, and he needed to be ready.
Trudging back up to his room, Ness quickly got changed back into his pyjamas, took one last look at the 'Runaway Five' poster on his ceiling, and climbed into bed as the sun set completely. Despite having a varied day at best, Ness fell asleep with a smile, like he always did. No matter what day he had, he always had one positive thing that made him feel thankful.
Life with the Smashers was never boring.
