NOTE: This chapter contains Autism Speaks. Please no debates in the reviews about it. We're all friends here, and I hate to see people go into heated debates over that kind of stuff.

Also, this has been edited due to how much I hate how I wrote it. Thank you ZacharicO for the concrit! :D

Chapter 10

When his mother told him that his father had left them, Matt wanted to cry right there. Maria drove the car in silence, sniffling occasionally as she tried to calm herself down for Matt's sake. Matt also said nothing as he gripped Snake in his hand, and in his mind, Snake was trying to comfort the teen as much as he could. Thoughts brewed in his mind about the fight that had happened between his parents this morning.

Matt knew that Johnathan was verbally abusive, but despite that, he was still his father. Many children and teens would hate their abusive parents, but Matt doesn't want to hate him. Matt wanted to see his father's good side; somewhere, deep inside, Johnathan had some good in him. Not all of him was bad.

But there was one thing that bothered him: what his father had told him that fateful morning.

"WHY DON'T YOU ACT NORMAL FOR ONCE?!"

Matt gulped, trying to hold back tears. Was his Asperger's making him not normal at all? Perhaps that was why he was picked on back in elementary and middle school? Could that be why his father was abusive towards him?

If I'm not normal, nobody would want me...

Maria figured that her son was shocked with the news of his father leaving the family. Wanting to cheer him up, she drove up to a McDonald's and ordered Matt's favorite food: a hamburger with cheese and ketchup only, plus a bag of fries and a Dr. Pepper. After paying for the food and grabbing the bag and drink, she handed them to Matt.

Matt didn't even noticed that they drove up to a McDonald's, and he also didn't notice the food being handed to him. After a few more seconds, Maria called, "Matt. Burger and fries today."

Matt looked up, and he frowned upon seeing the brown bag containing his favorite dinner. As much as he wanted to eat the food, his appetite was shot down thanks to his thoughts.

"I'm...not hungry, Mom."

Maria stared at him, an eyebrow raised when he denied the food. Whenever Matt was given his favorite food, he'd stop what he was doing and eat it up. Perhaps Johnathan leaving had taken its toll on him?

"I thought you love burgers and fries? I made sure they got your burger right, too. Cheese and ketchup only, right?"

Matt nodded, his frown intensified as he sighed. "Yeah, I know. But I'm not hungry. I'll eat it later. Sorry, Mom..."

"Matt…"

Knowing that Matt wouldn't eat his food, she placed the bag and drink to the side, and she drove them home. As soon as the car drove up to the house, Matt grabbed his school bag and got out. Running up to the door, he quickly opened it and ran into his room. He jumped on the bed, and he curled up into a ball, sniffling as the tears finally started to flow.

Snake looked up at the teen, frowning. Despite being part of Matt's collection for only a few years, Snake felt that he knew the teen well. Placing a hand on Matt's cheek, which was soaked with tears, he whispered, "Hey...it's gonna be okay. I know that he's your dad, but he's been a jerk to you from what you told me."

Matt looked up at Snake, and he sniffled. His body was shaking all over from the sudden event in his life, and his left hand was going "crazy" again. "I-I know…" Matt spoke in a low and cracking voice. "But he's still my dad. I know that he's abusive, but it still hurts…"

"Matt?"

Matt looked up to see Ike and the other toys, each and every one of them with concerned faces. Ike was the one to get the teen's attention, and he spoke in a comforting tone. "Hey...cheer up. At least you have your mom." Ike tried to comfort Matt as best as he could. However, Matt felt that they were false words of comfort, and he sniffled, tears still falling down as he tried to wipe them away.

"Yeah, but―"

"NO BUTS!"

Matt and even the other toys jumped when they heard a boy's voice. Matt and the others turned to see Toon Link, a serious expression on his face. When Young Link was nearly broken, Matt's uncle on Maria's side of the family had fixed him into Toon Link. Even though he wished that Young Link was still around, he was appreciative of his uncle's handiwork, and he kept Toon Link as if he was a brand new toy.

"Matt," Toon Link spoke sternly. "I know this is gonna be hard on you, but you still have us! Even if your family or friends abandoned you, or if you felt you're all alone, you have us! We may be just toys to everyone else, but to you, we're your best friends. We're family to you, Matt. You went through other tough obstacles with us, so I'm sure you can go through this!"

The other toys stared at Toon Link, their eyes widened and their mouths gaped open. While the young boy was naive, he did have some wise words to Matt, and during the years since Matt had him, Toon Link was usually the one to help him back up on his feet.

"Yeah," Wolf piped up. "I agree with the kiddo. We're not gonna abandon ya like that good-for-nothin' dad of yours. If anything, we'll always be there for you forever."

"Squirtle, Squirtle!" Matt turned to see Pokémon Trainer's Squirtle jumping up and down, as if agreeing with Wolf and Toon Link. Ivysaur joined in her teammate's jumping, as Charizard nodded in agreement with his two friends.

"Squirtle and the others agreed," Pokémon Trainer translated. "As long as you have us, you're not alone, Matt."

The other toys chattered, all of them agreeing with everything Toon Link, Wolf, and Pokémon Trainer had said. Matt's heart warmed up, and tears continued to flow down his cheeks. However, they were no longer sad tears; they were happy tears this time.

"Everyone...thank you! We'll pull through this...together."

"GO MATT! GO MATT! GO MATT! GO MATT!" the toys chanted, all of them glad to see that Matt hadn't given up yet. As his best friends and family, they didn't want to see Matt this upset, so seeing him standing up and determined to hang on made them happy that they were a part of Matt's life.

Matt got up from his bed and ran towards the shelf holding his toys. Taking them one by one, he held them all into a huge, tight hug. "Thank you, everyone...I'll do what I can to make sure we'll get through this."

"We'll-a do the same for you, Matt!" Mario cried. "We-a won't let you down!"

"Jiggly!" Jigglypuff agreed, her stubby arms up in the air to emphasize her agreement.

As the toys continued to chatter, Matt smiled. I won't let you guys get hurt like Roy and the others did long ago…

"Matt! Are you doing your homework?"

Matt turned his head upon hearing his mother's voice. With a small smile, he grabbed his bag and pulled out a binder labelled "English class". He then grabbed a pencil from his pencil bag, and he opened the binder, which was full of blank pieces of paper.

"Doing it now, Mom!" Matt called back.

"Do it right, okay?"

"I will, Mom!"

Once he was sure that Maria was gone for now, Matt took the first piece of paper in his binder and began writing. His pencil moved from side to side as he wrote on the upper left side of the paper:

Matt Jones

English II, 5th Period

Story Assignment

He hummed, placing his pencil's eraser in his mouth in deep thought. Even though he knew how to start off the story, he had no idea what to title it. However, each and every one of the titles he thought of, he felt they were bland.

Should I name it 'Super Smash Bros Story'? Or Adventures of the Smashers? Or―

"BEEP BEEP!"

Matt heard the beeping in his mind, and he turned to see ROB raising his robotic arms in the air, as if trying to get the teen's attention. Matt tilted his head, wondering what the robot wanted.

"Yeah, ROB? What's up?" Matt asked.

"I-a think he has an idea for a title, plus a few twists you should add in the story," Mario translated.

"Really?!" Matt gasped, his expression changing into a smile. ROB may not speak English like most of the other Smashers, but he had faith in the robot that he could think of a good title. "Go ahead, ROB. Tell us!"

All ROB could do was make beeping sounds, confusing Matt. Matt wasn't an expert when it comes to robotic language, but thankfully, he had his other toys who could help translate what the robot toy was saying.

"I think Tails told me about this...robot language," Sonic piped up. "ROB is saying, 'How about we name it…The Subspace Emissary?'"

Matt's face lit up. ROB's title was perfect. "Yeah! I like that! I think it fits the story well! And the twists?"

ROB continued beeping, and as he was "talking", Sonic translated for him. "'I think I should be the antagonist. Using Bowser, Wario, or Ganondorf is a bit predicable in my opinion."

Matt smiled widely at ROB's idea. "That's a great idea, ROB! I'll definitely use that! Thanks, guys!"

Before he could write down the title and the beginning of the story, he heard a squeaky voice from his toy shelf.

"Say…"

Matt looked up at Lucas, who had a small smile on his face and his hands interlocked. "I-is it okay if we could help you with your writing?"

Matt nodded even before Lucas could finish his sentence. With his "friends", he was sure that he could make his story assignment a good one, and he knew that he would get a good grade on it thanks to them. "Of course, Lucas!"

With that, Matt got up and placed his binder and pencil on the bed before going to his shelf. Gathering up all of his toys, he returned to his bed and placed them by both of his sides. Sitting down, he grabbed his binder and pencil and began writing. In his mind, his toys looked down at his binder, with a few of them pointing out any mistakes Matt made along the way, to which he scratched out and rewrote.

The Subspace Emissary

The arena was massive, with the crowd rooting for two fighters to appear. In the audience were the two princesses: Peach from the Mushroom Kingdom, and Zelda from Hyrule.

PEACH AND ZELDA

The two looked at each other, smiling as they waited for two of their friends to appear and battle…

The next day at school, Matt focused solely on the story assignment during the lectures throughout each of his classes. He added on the ideas that Wolf―whom he brought to school today―told him. So far, Matt enjoyed writing the Subspace Emissary, and he was already at the point where Link and Yoshi were fighting against more of ROB's minions, the Primids.

During fifth period, he asked James to look over his story for any mistakes he might had made along the way. To Matt's surprise, James praised his work. "Wow, Matt...this is a great story! How did you thought of all this?"

Matt chuckled bashfully, rubbing the back of his blond head. "Well...let's just say that some 'friends' of mine had helped me." He lied, not even bothering saying who his friends were. If he told James what his friends actually were, James would think of him as a "weirdo" or worse, no longer be his friend.

"Nice. Well, keep it up, Matt. I bet you'll get that A in no time!" James encouraged, to which Matt smiled. He never expected to see someone be this nice to him, despite how "different" the teen was. James could end up being a friend Matt wanted to keep for the rest of his life.

Sixth period came around after lunch and recess, and Matt was the first one to enter his health class.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Jackson!" Matt greeted his health teacher.

Mr. Jackson simply grunted to greet his student, since he was too busy looking over his paperwork. Matt didn't mind Mr. Jackson's grunt as he went to his seat. Pulling out his English binder, he opened it and began writing his story assignment once again.

Luigi jumped back upon seeing the Waddle Dee walk up to him, his hands up in a karate motion, ready to fight if the Waddle Dee attacked. The puffball creature simply looked at him briefly before it went on its way. Luigi watched as it walked away, and he "whewed", wiping off the nervous sweat on his face. When he turned, he saw another Waddle Dee right in front of him, and he jumped back in fright. Yelping and holding his hands up in a karate motion again, Luigi shook, fearful of what the creature could do to him.

Little did he know that there was a large figure behind him, and the figure raised his hammer and―

"Matt Jones!"

Matt looked up to see his health teacher standing over him. The man had a stern expression on his face, his teeth gritting in annoyance when he saw his student not paying attention at the start of his class. When Matt looked at his surroundings, he realized that the other students arrived, possibly a while ago. Sitting beside him was the girl he met yesterday, Chelsea. She smiled and mouthed a "hello" to him, not wanting to upset Mr. Jackson more by speaking during rollcall.

"I've been calling your name three times," Mr. Jackson growled. "Please say 'here', or I'll mark you absent."

"Y-yes sir!" Matt gulped, and he raised his hand, calling out, "Here!"

As soon as he said that, he turned to see the other students staring at him, some of them raising their eyebrows as others tried to hold in their chuckles. Matt's features turned red in embarrassment, though when he turned to Chelsea, she smiled in a comforting manner. Sighing, he placed his English binder in his bag and readied himself for his health class.

Mr. Jackson marked his rollcall paper, and he returned to his desk. At that point, Mr. Jackson gave the class the usual lecture, to which Matt wasn't really paying attention to; all he was thinking of what to add to next in his English assignment. Wolf tagged along with helping with his story, telling him some amazing ideas to use. There were some ideas that Wolf suggested that Matt actually denied, thinking that it probably wouldn't work, and Wolf just simply shrugged and let it go.

However, there was one thing that Matt was stuck on: the ending and the final conflict.

I don't want ROB to be the main antagonist in the story, Matt thought, his elbow on his desk where his hand was holding his head. Perhaps I could use Master and Crazy Ha―

The moment he heard Mr. Jackson say "Autism Speaks", Matt's head shot up. He had no idea what his teacher was talking about, but he immediately raised his hand by impulse.

"What's Autism Speaks?" Matt blurted out.

Mr. Jackson raised an eyebrow when Matt blurted out his question. "Have you been paying attention?" he asked.

Matt gulped before looking to see the other students staring at him. His heart pounded so hard that he was sure that it would burst out of his chest, or worse, everyone in the room could hear it. Jeez, Matt...that was a stupid question…pay more attention next time!

"Well, since Matt asked, I'll tell you what it is," Mr. Jackson spoke. "Now class, pay close attention to what I'm about to say."

Matt didn't hesitate to pay attention. He stared at Mr. Jackson intently, though he didn't make eye contact with his teacher; he instead stared at his health teacher's neck. Perhaps this Autism Speaks could help with his Asperger's? Mr. Jackson was a health teacher after all. Maybe he could tell him and the class what Asperger's actually was, and even make him feel better about himself and his condition―

"There are many organizations about autism, and Autism Speaks is one of them," Mr. Jackson started. "They had helped those who have autism, or in some cases, Asperger's, with treatments. I fully support their cause."

Matt's eyes widened when Mr. Jackson explained what Autism Speaks was. This organization helps? He thought. Perhaps they could help me with my Asperger's…

Matt raised his hand again. "Do they have a website?"

Mr. Jackson nodded to answer his question. "Google 'Autism Speaks' and you'll find it there."

Matt's smile grew wide, now realizing that this Autism Speaks could help him. Perhaps it could even explain why he had Asperger's in the first place, or even better, help his condition.

As soon as Matt got home, he immediately jumped on the family computer. Thankfully, Maria wasn't working on there, so he took the chance to look up what Autism Speaks was. He clicked on Google Chrome's icon on the task bar, and he was sent to the Google site.

He didn't hesitate to type in Autism Speaks in the search bar.

However, there was one thing that caught his eye in the search results.

"Autism Speaks bad".

Matt raised an eyebrow, wondering what that actually meant. He heard many good things about this organization, so why was it bad? Was it something they did in the past? But he knew that whoever thought of the organization wanted to dedicate their lives to help those with autism—

However, he was curious enough to click on the "Autism Speaks bad" search result, and the first thing he saw was one site:

"Why I am Against Autism Speaks (and you should be too)".

His eyebrow was raised even higher at this. Curiosity struck again. Why was this person against Autism Speaks? Wasn't it helping those who had autism or Asperger's? They were supposed to be good! Why would this person be against it?

When he opened the page, every question he asked in his mind was answered.

Autism Speaks actually was against those who actually were autistic. Apparently, they thought that autism should be cured like a disease, and even comparing it to AIDS and cancer. Not only that, but they thought that those who had it were only a burden to everyone else and should be "cured" to get back to normal.

This had upset Matt more than it should had. He quickly exited out of the page, and he turned off the computer without a word. He didn't even bother picking up his school bag as he ran into the bathroom, passing Maria along the way to her confusion. Slamming the door and locking it, he curled up on the floor and sobbed his eyes out. He realized it now: he wasn't normal at all, and he was only a burden to his family and friends. His Asperger's was a curse.

I...I'm not normal. Something's wrong with me. Dad's right...I'm nothing but a mistake who can't be normal...I'm sorry Dad…for being born like this...

Sorry if adding Autism Speaks offends anyone. I in no way don't think about Asperger's like that: it's just to build up the tension and feelings for Matt in this story. Please be mindful with your reviews when it comes to that, please.

Credit goes to thecaffeinatedautistic on Word Press for their page title and the resources on Autism Speaks! :)

Constructive criticism is welcomed!