Hello everyone! The long-awaited Brink is finally here! This is going to be a three or four chapter arc, depending on whether or not I decide to write a little idea I've been turning around in my head…But either way, after this is done, I'll get back to one-shots, and then do an arc, then back to one-shots, etc. until everyone gets bored or I run out of ideas, whichever happens first. XD But don't worry; hopefully that won't be for awhile.
A MEGA thank you to ClumsyHeart17 who gave me the initial idea for The Brink. I'm glad you like the Ike/Sheik paring. I was a little worried about how people would take that, but it seems to have worked out. I personally don't get the whole football thing either, but it was fun to write. XD The swordsmen are pretty awesome. I keep meaning to focus on the other characters, but they keep stealing the spotlight! Apparently people don't mind. XD
Another thanks to River Seas (new reviewer! Yay!) for your compliments, and I loved your idea for a chapter. I laughed just thinking about it. A chapter based on that will pop up after I finish The Brink arc. Thanks again!
A third thanks to Foxpilot; thank you for catching that steelers vs. stealers typo. XD As usual, I laughed out loud when I read your review. Yes, football IS (sadly) the true American sport. I think I preferred baseball, but they had steroid issues too….oi vey. ;_; Thank goodness we have brawl instead, right? XD I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Y'know, I've never been to a place like The Brink, so I have no idea what sort of clothes they'd actually wear to it. I just made it up. XD Don't judge me too harshly on that. I just let myself get carried away. Lots of descriptions in this chapter…Hope I don't sound too wordy…
Disclaimer: Nobody belongs to me. They all belong to Nintendo. The only thing here that actually DOES belong to me is The Brink and their odd choice of clothes. How sad is that?
And with that pessimistic thought, please read on, enjoy, and then review!
Chapter 6: The Brink: Part 1
Sheik rapped on Marth's door with her knuckles which, for once, were bare.
An almost unrecognizable man opened the door, and Sheik was on the verge of asking who he was and what the heck was he doing in Marth's room? when she recognized a tint of blue in the man's hair and his azure eyes.
"What did you do?" she asked instead.
Marth had…she wasn't entirely sure what he had done. It looked like he had rubbed ink into his hair, dulling the bright color to the point where it looked unnatural, like he had dyed it. Only the tips had been left totally blue. Combine that with his Brink-style clothing; a tight-fitting black shirt with one sleeve pushed up to his elbow, a pair of white jeans that were just a little too loose to be called skinny with a studded belt that hung a little too low around his hips, and a black bangle around his left wrist with the Altean crest engraved into the silver piece inlaid into the cuff's center, and he hardly looked anything like his usual self. For lack of a better word, he looked punk.
Marth laughed dryly as he leaned against his doorframe, his eyes skipping down to Sheik's body for the smallest of seconds. "You ask me what I've done?"
Sheik opened her mouth to snap back, then remembered what she was wearing and decided that she probably was being a little hypocritical. At Zelda's suggestion, she had gone with a black low-cut tank top with a hot pink slash across the center. It barely covered the belt buckle of her loose-fitting cargo pants. Zelda and Samus had both been trying to talk Sheik into a mini-skirt for about a half-hour, but Sheik refused to budge. The tank-top had been a sort of compromise. That and Ike's whispered request that she unbraid her hair for once. As it was, Sheik was feeling much girlier than she cared to admit, and she didn't particularly like the way Marth was looking at her.
"Jeez, you'd think you've never seen a girl before," she blurted, and Marth quickly looked away, catching her drift.
"Hey Marth?" Quincy asked, sticking his head out into the hallway. Following Link's advice, his hat wasn't crammed over his head like usual, and his brown hair stuck up all over the place. He had worn a black short-sleeved sweater that was left unzippered. He still wore his usual blue jeans, but he still looked much darker than he usually did.
"Yeah?" Marth asked, making eye contact and smirking when the pokemon trainer blinked. "Ignore the hair thing. It washes out. How may I help you?"
"What is The Brink, exactly?"
Marth grinned. "It's absolutely crazy. Probably unlike everything you've ever done." Sheik prompted him to say more, so he continued. "The Brink is actually short for The Brink of Insanity. It's like an all ages club."
Quincy broke into a smile. "That's so cool!" Then his face fell. "Do I have to keep this a secret from my parents?"
Marth shook his head, sending dark strands of hair whirling around his face. The darkness still startled Sheik when she looked at him. "It's all totally parent-friendly. In the daytime, five-year-olds have birthday parties there."
Quincy shot an apprehensive glance at a digital clock in his room. "But we aren't going in the daytime."
"No we are not," Marth said simply. "It gets way cooler at night, trust me. But your parent's don't have to worry. It's all totally safe. The bouncers are great at stopping any undesirables from getting in. No drugs, pervs, or dirty-dancing allowed." He flashed another one of his confident grins. "But you can usually get away with that third thing, if you really want to."
Sheik flicked his forehead with her index finger. "Marth! You'll freak him out!"
"Joking!" Marth had skipped backwards into his bedroom, his hands held up in denial. "I was joking!"
Pit pin-wheeled into the corridor, throwing himself into a barrel roll to make the tight corner. He liked to call himself The Blue Angel, and it remained his username on any online video game. He flipped into a landing, almost stepping on Quincy's foot. He waved at Marth and Sheik. "Almost time to go!"
"Wow," Sheik mumbled, shocked by Pit's transformation. He had abandoned his usual washed out jeans and hand-me-down T-shirts in favor of dark jeans and a crisp new T-shirt that was so white it almost glowed. Sheik could already imagine how it would look under the rave-style lights at the Brink. In his hand he held what looked like a leather jacket with some sort of design sewn into the back. Something glinted around his neck, and Sheik saw that it was a dog-tag necklace, although she couldn't see what was written on the tag.
"You're going to keep your wings inside the jacket, right?" Marth asked pointedly.
"'Course." Pit nodded enthusiastically. "Normal people are going to be there, right?"
Marth nodded. "That goes for you too, Quincy. The Brawl staff is going to be there, but there's going to be normal kids there too. Just try to blend. Wings and Pokemon appearing out of thin air do not blend."
Pit smiled a very un-Pit-like smile. "Yeah, don't worry. I won't smite anyone with my awesomeness today."
Sheik shot Marth a glare. "I think you taught the kid a little too well."
Marth grinned and shoved his hands in his pockets, quickly assuming a 'who, me?' expression.
"When are we leaving?" Quincy asked excitedly, ducking out of the way as Pit stretched out his arms to shrug on his leather jacket.
"Nice," Marth chortled when he saw the design on the back of Pit's leather. It was a complicated-looking stitch pattern that resembled a pair of wings, folded up against Pit's back.
"I thought so too," Pit said modestly. "It was a compromise. You look awesome too."
"We're leaving as soon as everyone gets their act together," Sheik grumbled.
"How's the car situation working out?" Marth asked curiously.
"We've got eight people going, so we're all going to cram into a Honda pilot," Pit said. "Ike said he can drive."
"Heck no!" Marth blurted, making the 'time-out' gesture with his hands. "No way. Ike drives like a maniac. He'd kill us all."
A large hand 'thwacked' the back of Marth's head, sending him stumbling forward with a little flurry of stifled swear words.
"Do not," Ike grumbled. He stood in the hallway, wearing jeans that looked like they had been through WWII and worse. His shirt was bright red with black claw marks slashing down from his left shoulder. A single silver chain wound out from underneath his shirt hem before attaching to one of his belt loops. His hair had been smudged with dye like Marth's to make it look less unusual. Behind him, Link stood in black pants and a plain-looking T-shirt that Marth remembered to have a glow-in-the-dark insignia on the front.
"Where are the girls?" Marth asked, angrily rubbing the back of his head where Ike had hit him. "And whose car are we taking?"
Ike dangled a pair of keys smarmily in front of Marth's face. "Nintendo provided a car."
"The girls are en route," Link started to say, but was interrupted by Samus's voice correcting him with "The girls are here."
"….Wow," Pit managed after a minute.
"You look stunning," Marth said calmly, and everyone else instantly envied him for being able to say something like that so easily.
"Thanks," Samus answered, flipping some of her blonde hair over her shoulder. She and Zelda were both in skirts, making Sheik look a little out of place in her baggy cargo pants. The skirts were florescent; Samus's a neon blue and Zelda's a vivid purple. Zelda was wearing a spaghetti strap tank-top with the tri-force emblazoned across the chest in glow-in-the-dark lines. Samus was wearing a tight-fitting blue turtleneck, which happened to match the color of her skirt exactly. She had worn leggings underneath her skirt, and those were black, as opposed to Zelda, who had worn high socks that were striped pink and neon green like a candy-cane that had recently fallen into a barrel of radioactive waste.
"We're all here?" Ike asked, tossing the keys idly to himself. Marth made a snatch for them on the third toss, snagging the key ring with his pinkie finger. "Let's go."
Pit and Quincy, flushed with excitement, immediately started to sprint down the hallway, making a dash for the external exit that would beam them down to ground level, underneath the Brawl stage.
The older teenagers walked a bit more slowly, but they shared that same stifled excitement. As they rounded a corner, Ike body-slammed Marth into one of the walls, grabbing the car keys out of the Altean's momentarily slackened hand.
"Hey," Marth complained mildly, rubbing his shoulder. "Stop hitting me."
"Not my fault," Ike shrugged. "You keep asking for it."
Zelda jumped in-between the two before they could start grabbing for each other's necks. "Oh come on. We're about to leave. Let's not ruin your outfits by bleeding all over them, okay?"
"Ten bucks says Marth wets himself from excitement before we get out the door," Link commented sarcastically from the back of the group. Marth instantly dropped back to punch him.
Fifteen minutes and two more punches (one from Link and another from Samus) later, they were all in the car, arguing over seatbelts.
"That's mine!" Pit insisted from the back row of seats. He, Quincy, and Sheik were sharing that row. Marth, Zelda, and Link were in the middle (in that order), Ike was driving, and Samus had claimed shotgun.
The clock on the dashboard read 9:47 in its bright green numbers.
"Who's going to pull an all-nighter?" Samus asked. Everyone shouted back, "I AM!"
Ike twisted the key in the ignition, put the car into gear, and lurched it forward.
"You're doing it wrong," Marth said smarmily.
"Shut up," Ike grumbled as he reached back to cuff Marth's head. Then he remembered to take off the emergency brake. Much better.
And they were off.
….And there goes whatever was left of Pit's innocence. Wow…my longest chapter yet. This bodes well for the rest of the arc.
This is totally random information, but I had the song "More" but Usher stuck in my head the whole time I was writing, which is weird because I usually don't listen to that stuff. Oh well. It set a good mood.
Please review! Let me know what you think! It makes my day! :)