A Smash Brothers Christmas

Chapter 1: Lucas Screws Up Everything

It was the holiday season, the time of year when loved ones get together around the fireplace and sing Christmas carols, when acts of charity are doled out to the disadvantaged, when parties are thrown. And no group of people were in the holiday spirit more than the Smash Brothers, a group of characters from various Nintendo franchises. Oh! If only you could have seen their mansion! It had a game station, a flat-screen TV, various accessories for each of the residents, an outdoor pool, a built-in restaurant, bowling alley, and for its Pokemon residents, Pokemon feeding centers. Around this time of year, the Smash Mansion was decorated with red and green everywhere as a sign of holiday spirit.

Now what did the residents of this mansion do to prepare for this season, ask you? Well, my friends, they did various tasks each year. This year, Kirby, the pink warrior from Dreamland, was in charge of baking the various treats: pumpkin pie, candy canes, Christmas brownies, and the like (but he had to do this under Meta Knight's supervision, for he, Kirby, has a bottomless appetite). Pikachu, the iconic black-and-yellow Pokemon mascot, was in charge of powering all the Christmas lights that ran all around the mansion. Mario and Luigi, everyone's favorite Mario Bros., had gone out with Yoshi shopping for gifts for everyone. Marth, the heir to the Altean throne, had just finished propping up a large tree from the Altean forest. And everyone else . . . everyone else was just hanging around waiting for December 25 to roll around, and not worrying about anything.

Until now.

Lucas, a small, blond ten-year-old boy, was just as psyched as everyone else was for the holiday season. He went to his friend Ness's door and knocked on it. "Come in!" was Ness's reply. Lucas eagerly opened the door. There his friend Ness was, decorating a small tree with icons of his favorite EarthBound items. "Cool tree," Lucas said.

"Thanks," Ness said. "I have been working on it for a while. But here is the best part. PK FLASH!" The green orb of energy hit the power source, and the tree lit up.

"Whoa," Lucas said. Unfortunately, he was so rapt with wonder that he did not notice that something was burning. It was only until Ness let out an angry yell that he realized what was going on, to his horror. Without meaning to, he had set the tree aflame with his PK Fire. Lucas tried to apologize, but no words could come out, so he got out of the vicinity before Ness could go berserk. Unfortunately, he didn't notice where he was going and so he bumped straight into Samus Aran, a young intergalactic bounty hunter of Zebes origin. Normally, Samus would have been glad to see Lucas, but today, she scowled heavily at him.

"H-Hi, Samus," Lucas spoke nervously. "W-what's up?"

"Oh nothing," Samus answered, with increasing sarcasm, "other than the fact that you caused me to scratch my Power Suit when you ran into me. Can't you see where you are going?" She stepped aside to reveal a large scratch on her Power Suit, which had been caused when Samus's Plasma Whip made contact with the suit.

Lucas started weakly, "Samus, I-I-"

"Save your breath," Samus interrupted coldly. "You have no inkling how much this had cost me on Zebes. Now get out of here before I use my Paralyzer."

Lucas ran the other way, not wanting to feel the Paralyzer, yelling, "I'M SORRY!" all the way. Sadly for our friend, he bumped straight into the Crimean warrior Ike, who let go of his sword, Ragnell, in shock and watched in horror as the sword made contact with Marth's tree. Sure enough, Marth came out to see what was making the racket, and saw the now shredded Altean tree. In Japanese, he angrily asked Ike whether he, Ike, had destroyed the tree.

"Of course not!" protested Ike. "It was Lucas!"

Marth angrily turned to Lucas. Though Lucas did not speak Japanese, he did not need a translator to know that both Fire Emblem warriors were very mad at him. Hopelessly, he turned and ran the other way, but this time, he bumped into Link, who accidentally dropped one of his bombs into a piece of Christmas cake that Ganondorf, his arch-rival, was about to eat. The cake exploded everywhere, leaving crumbs on Ganondorf's face, as well as on Link's tunic, Lucas's hair, and both Marth and Ike's capes. Meta Knight came out of the kitchen, and the scene of Christmas chaos met his yellow, unblinking eyes.

"I don't believe it." He angrily faced Lucas. "All my hard work, gone down the drain thanks to your ineptitude." Lucas felt the eyes of everyone in the whole room boring into him.

"What's your problem, Lucas?" Link scowled. "Why did you have to mess our preparations up?"

"I . . .It was an accident," Lucas mumbled weakly.

"I don't get it." Ganondorf stood up, bent out of shape. "This is the one time of year that I don't seek to conquer Hyrule or usurp the Triforce. I make peace with my enemies this time of year. What did I do to deserve someone like you?"

"Guys," Lucas said weakly, "it was . . .it was an accident …"

"Lucas," Ike interrupted, raising his hand. "Say no more. You have ruined Christmas for all of us." He turned. "Let's go."

One by one, the Smashers followed him, glowering at Lucas as they passed, leaving Lucas with a horrible feeling in his stomach.

That night, Lucas went to bed, feeling as if he was better off never having been born. "It's all my fault," he said. "I have ruined things for everybody. Thanks to me, there will be no Christmas this year." He turned. "Guess I'll have to leave for Tazmily Village first thing in the morning. My friends are all better off without me anyway. They won't hear from me anymore."

And so, he turned restlessly and sorrowfully in his sleep, tears as bright as diamonds streaming down his face.