Disclaimer: Brawl belongs to Nintendo. Not me.

Note: Thanks to being knocked out of my Writer's Block, I can update more frequently again, aren't you excited? I hope you like the chapter!

Second Note: I don't have the capacity to describe every single turn in every single Party, thus, after a turn or two, I will skip a bunch of turns unless there's a surprise plot element. Brownie points go to anyone who catches the song reference. Also, the pick-up lines are from ecrush(dot)com, not me.

Dedication: Mind Seeker, for giving me inspiration through her fics and mail. Then there's all of the wonderful reviewers that have kept this thing going. You all get major kudos from me.


Chapter 7: Oh the Tangled Webs Hearts Weave

Time seemed to fly on the Party Board. In Smash Mansion, however, time couldn't go fast enough. Everyone in the lounge of the mansion was ready for the party to be over so they could sleep worry-free.

Master Hand's voice came seemingly out of nowhere, booming, "All right; due to the late hour, the rest of this Party will have to be postponed to tomorrow." A white-orange light appeared, and the first four Party members stumbled from the light onto the living room floor. "Dinner will be served in thirty minutes." With that, Master Hand was gone.

Ganondorf, Olimar, Mr. Game & Watch, and Marth suddenly found themselves being bombarded with questions. "What was it like?"

"Do you even know where you were?"

"Is it as cool as it looks on the TV?"

"Hold up, wait a minute –"

"Put a little love in it!"

Marth resisted the urge to send the Mushroom princess an evil glare for interrupting him. "Settle down, all of you!" he yelled. "We'll give you details after dinner… Well, it's more like I'll be giving you details since Mr. Game & Watch can only be understood by one person, Ganondorf will probably be too stubborn to say anything, and Olimar's mute."

Excited, consenting murmurs spread throughout the room. The Smashers paired up with their closest friends and began discussing different things, from what they'd be served for dinner to who's the hottest female Smasher.


Yoshi, Meta Knight, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff all grouped up, deciding to head to the dining room early. As usual, Pikachu and Yoshi walked ahead of the other two, the latter flirting with the former quite helplessly. "So, what are some of the best pick-up lines you've ever heard, Pikachu?"

Pikachu grinned. "One of the best ones I've heard is, 'I can sense that you're a terrific lover, and it intimidates me a little.' Red used that one on his friend Blue once, it was hilarious. Oh, then there's 'You are my rose, I am your tree, and our love will be our garden.' Those are my two favorites. So what about you; what are some of your top pick-up lines?"

"Hm. Let's see… Aha! 'I'm fighting the urge to make you the happiest woman on Earth tonight', 'The man of your dreams was on his way, but I beat the crap out of him so I could get to you first', 'If you throw it, I'll catch it', and 'Does this rag smell like chloroform?'. Those are definitely my top ones."

The response Yoshi got was exactly the one he wanted; by the time he finished his list of pick-up lines, Pikachu was almost roaring with laughter. "I've gotta remember the chloroform one…" she answered as she caught her breath. "And that one about the guy of your dreams. Those are awesome pick-ups."

Jigglypuff's eyes twinkled. "They'd make such a cute couple," she told Meta Knight. "Don't you think so?"

Meta Knight nodded. "You know, they actually would. I'm usually not the type for this romance stuff, but I know some other people that would make great couples…"

"Oh really? Who?"

The mysterious Star Warrior's eyes turned magenta. "You'll find out soon enough, Jigglypuff, I assure you. Some of them should be coming in for dinner soon," he noted. He side-glanced at the pink Pokèmon as he noticed that she looked prettiest when she was happy, then he kicked that musing into the back of his mind… For now. He couldn't afford to be developing feelings for her – not here, not now.

Green eyes met magenta-turned-blue for a moment. "What's wrong, Meta Knight?"

"It's nothing, Jigglypuff, don't worry," suddenly royal blue eyes turned yellow.

A small, pink hand covered Meta Knight's gloved one. Jigglypuff gently squeezed his hand before whispering to him, "I'll talk to you later. Okay?"

"Fine."

Samus walked into the dining room with Wolf, and they sat across from each other. Soon Marth and Zelda came in, followed by Nana and Toon Link, and Bowser walking in with Peach. Then the others came in at the last minute, sitting down with the Smashers they were closest to.

For dinner: poultry. From duck to quail to turkey, all sorts of cooked birds and side dishes were laid out on the table. Each Smasher gladly dug in, to each his or her own.


As they walked back to their rooms, Marth and Zelda found that they were holding hands. When the two members of royalty saw this, they blushed, but neither one moved to change the fact. Eventually they ended up at Zelda's room.

"I guess this is your stop," Marth told her nervously. "Should I come and meet you for breakfast tomorrow?"

Zelda smiled. "That'd be nice," and kissed Marth on the cheek. "Good night." She closed the door.

As Marth left for his room, he couldn't help but smile.


Luigi was on his merry way to his room when all of a sudden - wham! - he bumped into Link. "Oh, I'm-a so-a sorry! ...What's-a wrong?" he noticed the sad look in the Hero of Light's eyes.

A sigh came from the Hyrulian boy. "Zelda likes Marth, and Marth likes her... The catch is, I like Zelda too. A lot. It hurts pretty badly."

The green-hatted plumber whistled as harsh memories came back. "That's a pretty harsh-a. I've been in the same-a situation."

"Really? How did you handle it?"

"I-a saw that Daisy was happy with Waluigi, and I-a moved on. For-a her sake, and my own."

"Thanks a lot, Luigi," Link smiled. "I appreciate it."

"It's not-a problem. Good-a night."

"Good night."


Meta Knight sat on the roof alone at five til midnight. His eyes changed color constantly, which happened when he couldn't pinpoint his emotions. He heard the door to the roof creak open, forcing his eyes to stay yellow and his voice to stay level as Jigglypuff came and sat beside him.

"Seriously, man, what's wrong?" Of course she'd cut to the chase; that was just Jigglypuff being herself.

"I've been worried about this Party, is all," he answered. It wasn't a complete lie, something about the Party really did unnerve him. He couldn't tell her the entire truth until he knew for sure what he was feeling. Or is it that I already know, but I won't tell?

Jigglypuff grabbed his hand for the second time that day. "Meta Knight, look at me," she murmured. He did so with no protest. "Everything will work out as it should, don't worry so much." Without a second thought, she hugged her friend. "It'll be all right at the end. I promise," she gave him a smile, "Now I'm going to bed. Good night."

As she left for their room, she couldn't help but notice that her heart was racing. What exactly was she feeling?