AN- Does anyone remember that Ten Random Characters story I wrote a while back? Well, I was thinking re-reading it the other day, and I decided I sort of regretted cutting it off, but I didn't want to just pick back up where I left off because it kind of sucked in places, so I decided to reboot it! It will have the same concept and plot structure, but with a bit better put together characters and character interactions, I hope. I promise I will try not to bring crazy dimensional conspiracies into this, but I do not promise the Norfair Alley will remain unbroken. The questions used are mostly from Zelda12343 and numbuh-15-fangirl on DeviantArt, but I might add more, and submissions are welcome but not guaranteed to be used. Also, my dear friend AngeloHeroOfLight came up with the title for me, so thanks to him. So, I only own my own ideas, thank you, and please, enjoy! –Twilight Joltik
Random Encounters
Chapter One- Twelve-Player Smash?
Peach sat in an empty room, one of an uncountable multitude in the Smash Mansion. All the people she'd invited for her game, would any of them come? Anxiously, she kept her eyes fixated on the doorknob, and her heart leapt as it turned and the door was shoved open. That surge of joy quickly soured when she realized who it was, though.
"Miss Robin, I did not invite you here," she coolly stated, narrowing a glare and bearing it into the tactician's many-eyed cloak.
Robin replied with a small smirk. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not gonna play," she explained as she sat down on a wooden stool in the corner of the room. "I just want to watch you and make sure you don't get a leg up on our game."
A deep sigh escaped the princess. "Alright, I suppose it's best I keep you where I can see you anyways," she countered.
Neither exchanged another word, for they were too deep in thought. Peach was making notes on the several pages she'd printed off for her game, while Robin was making notes in a thick leather-bound tome labeled "Shipping and Shipping By-Products". This was not a title she had ever explained to anyone, not even her son, who she had taught all of her war tactics including supports, but many presumed the "Shipping By-Products" part meant children.
Minutes passed, and Peach was roused from her last-minute revisions by Palutena literally bursting into the room in a spray of light. Once the goddess seemed to realize her display was for such a small audience, she sat down quietly next to Peach.
Pit, as always, closely followed his goddess, smiling brightly. Also as always, Ike and Marth arrived in a pair. Peach was a bit annoyed when she noted Roy was not with them, but tried to shrug it off. Sure, she'd expected him to come, but it was to be expected some would decline her invitation, right?
One person she would have very much expected to decline it, however, arrived shortly after. Lucas, who was acting as uncomfortable as one would expect in such a large group, wasn't normally one to participate in social events. Peach had only sent him an invitation to be polite, but to be honest, she was pleasantly surprised to see him. However, trailing him was a rather nasty one.
Rosalina, the person Peach probably hated the most was accompanying the young psychic. The space freak smiled kindly and waved at her, like she didn't know that Peach knew exactly why she would play nice around her. Clenching her fists, she tried to ignore Rosalina and hope that she wouldn't end up ruining everything.
Luckily, the dreadful shock of seeing her was quickly banished by the entrance of another she didn't expect in the least to see: Dark Pit. He looked somewhere between bored and annoyed, as always, and was closely trailed by both the male Robin and Shulk. Shulk? Things only got stranger, as she hadn't invited the seer, for she'd feared the female Robin would accuse her of foul play in their own game if she'd invited every single piece in play. He failed to acknowledge the fact of his intrusion, sitting down next to the tactician, who was exchanging an odd look with the dark-winged angel on his other side, as if an unspoken pact was running between them.
(That was absolutely true, but neither she nor anyone but the other Robin knew that at the time. She also failed to notice the bag Robin had stuffed into his cloak, much to her later chagrin.)
The room was really starting to fill up, and Peach was beginning to look forward to what she had planned even more. Only a few players were lacking, and one of them quietly slipped in and took her seat next to Dark Pit. Peach had to wonder why Lucina seemed to have chosen deliberately to be as far from her ancestor as the room would allow, but didn't think too much on it, as someone she hadn't expected to come entered not a moment later.
Link was probably, besides Dark Pit, the last person she would have expected to show. In fact, she and practically everyone else openly gaped at him when he entered the room and sat pretty much as not-close to anyone as he could. (Next to Marth, but considering the prince was practically on Ike's lap, there was plenty of space between the two.) The Hylian looked around nervously before turning to her, his hair catching the light in a way she would never admit she would gladly swoon over, and muttered "Um, Zel' said she wouldn't be here and to tell you she's sorry about that..."
For a moment, she almost felt bad about asking Link to be there. He seemed so uneasy among them, even more so than Lucas. It seemed a bit odd to her, given how confident he seemed in battle and with Zelda or his smaller double, but she supposed most people tended to act differently in battle. Heck, it had taken her quite a while to wrap her head around the fact that the brash, one-line-spouting Shulk she often faced was the same as the quiet, awkward boy who frequented the library.
After doing a quick once-over of the room and checking her list once more, she realized two things. Firstly, all she'd invited were either there or confirmed absent, given what Link has said, the fact Roy would have been with Marth if he were coming at all, and how Mario had told her he was "busy" that night, and second, there seemed to be twelve players rather than the ten she'd expected. Scribbling out a revised list, she cursed Rosalina under her breath for contributing to her having to rewrite the rules a bit.
She was snapped out of this anger-fueled revision by Pit raising his hand, as if expecting to be called on by his teacher. "Yes, Pit?", she said as she looked up.
"What exactly are we all here for?", the angel quickly questioned. "I mean, your invitation thingies just said something about a game, so…"
A smirk came to the princess's face. "Ah, yes," she began. "I saw this game on someone's Fanfiction profile-" A collective groan came from practically every male in the room. "and I thought it would be a fun thing for us to play. So, there's this list of, well it was ten, but…" She paused for a moment to glare at Rosalina, who didn't seem to notice it at all.
After a moment, the pause became painfully awkward and Marth cast an odd glance at her and prompted "Go on."
"Yes, so I had to revise it for twelve players," Peach continued, still waiting for Rosalina to notice her glare. "Basically, I read off scenarios with each person's number, and the people with that number have to say what they'd do in that situation."
She was met with a very confused "Huh?" from an indeterminable source, though the Smashers' faces showed they all were thinking it.
After thinking for a moment, Peach could totally see why they were so perplexed. "Yeah, I guess I need to demonstrate. So, let's say, um, number one was Pit and number two was Palutena. So, number one and number two discover a secret cave. What do they do?"
"Woo!", Pit cheered. "I'm number one!" His joy made Peach hastily make another revision to the game, switching Pit to the number one spot for real.
"Yes, but what would you do?", Peach prompted.
The angel seemed to think deeply about it for a moment before arriving on something. "I know! I'd make it into a super cool secret base! We can have cool lights and a couch and a boat and-"
"I think we should make it into a dungeon for unsuspecting explorers!", Palutena suggested. "Just think, we could put all sorts of enemies and death traps and maybe a mini boss. Probably should put some sort of treasure at the end too, like an empty bottle or something."
Pit gave a small frown. "I liked my idea better," he muttered.
"Okay!", Peach cut them off, hoping it wouldn't become a squabble. "Now that we get the point, I'll assign numbers and we'll get started!"
AN- Number assignments here:
1- Pit
2- Ike
3- Lucas
4- Lucina
5- Palutena
6- Marth
7- Peach
8- Robin
9- Dark Pit
10- Link
11- Shulk
12- Rosalina
Tried not to give anyone the same number as last time, but if I accidentally did, sorry. Also, I'm sure the characters that were cut from the last one will show up at some point… So, thanks for reading! –Twilight Joltik