A/N: Jokes! It didn't take that until summer for this chapter to come out after all! It's already here!

Well, I hadn't intended for it to be a lie. Just, I found a little inspiration again recently (as well as the realization that I still have a lot of room for improvement), and more importantly, I'm procrastinating as hard as I can for finals… Which is really, really bad, but this has been nagging at me.

Still been a little while, though. As usual, been hopping games and manga, although I put in a little effort and hit Gold in LoL, lol.

So, visitor's day; it's exactly what it sounds like. People who aren't Smashers, but closely linked to them, get to visit today! As you might expect, that means this will be a good couple chapters, considering just how many Smashers there are. I do hesitate in calling this an arc, though, as the previous two really shouldn't be called arcs, either. They're just stories too large to contain in one chapter.

Anyways, Icefire6, I promise the brawl will come next chapter, although it probably won't be anybody you expect, lol. Have fun reading!

EDIT: Right, I knew I forgot about something. Umm, the choice to make Sheik and Zelda into two seperate people. Well, I guess the simplest answer is that I thought it would be more interesting. Lol.

Going more in depth, well, the biggest part used to be because I thought Brawl needed more girls. I mean, seriously, I've already made a token effort (i.e. more than two or three lines in a fic) for almost all of the females characters (I'm not touching right now; writing kids is hard .) while I'm not even halfway through the male characters. More than that, though, Sheik's shared history with Link and Zelda lets me establish an interesting dynamic between the three, who are all roughly the same age, but have very different backgrounds and personalities. I'm not going to expound too much on that, since I might use some of it later on, but if you want a sense of perspective, I'll say this much; when they first arrived, a little less than a year had passed since the end of the game. That should leave me enough time to build up relations if I ever get to that point :3

Disclaimer: These characters and places do not belong to me, they belong to their respective companies. It would be pretty sweet having a mansion in the mountains, though :)

"How long until they come?" Marth asked Ike, as he paced impatiently.

"Should be about now," Ike said, lounging in the patio chair. He glanced at his watch. "A couple minutes 'till ten." Without changing his position, he raised his voice. "Yo, Pit! See anything?"

"Nothin' yet," came Pit's voice, floating down from his perch on the oak tree. "It's not time yet, right?"

"Nope."

"I haven't felt anything like last time yet, so I don't think he's even started," commented Zelda from her seat at the table. She frowned at Marth. "Come sit down, Marth, you'll wear yourself out if you keep pacing like that."

"I'm fine. I've got so much energy, I could fight ten brawls in a row," he boasted, half-heartedly. He seemed distracted.

"Das no good," said Link thickly from his seat beside Zelda. He swallowed his mouthful of breakfast potatoes. "You won't have any time left over to make out with Shii-dikins."

A couple of the others rolled their eyes, but nobody said a word in response. With the possible exception of Link, they all seemed a little edgy, a little distracted. After all, it was Visitor's day, the day every year that Master Hand could bring in people from other worlds. A large group of the Smashers, about half of them in fact, were waiting by the patio in the Mansion's backyard. Master Hand himself had disappeared, just as he had last year, and though most of the Smashers were curious where he went and how he did it, the only thing they knew for sure was that he produced results. Around fifteen visitors had come last year. How many would this year?

Ike looked at his watch again. On a whim, he started to hum, matching his beat to the seconds ticking down on his clock. As soon as it reached zero, he muttered, "Now."

Zelda suddenly felt an explosion of magic, washing her magical senses in technicolour static. Just like last time, she felt her own magic rise up in response, and just like last time, she forced it back down under control, causing her the triforce on her hand to glow. "It's coming," she called, a little unnecessarily as many of the others had already noticed the light coming from her hand, bright even in the light of day.

At the same time, Pit's eyes widened as he watched trees ripple in the distance. "It's coming!" he shouted, as he tightly gripped the branch he was crouching on top of. All of the Smashers readied themselves, most of them opting to cover their faces with spare appendages: Yoshi with his tail, Pit with his wings, and Link with his breakfast plate. A veritable wall of wind hit them the next second, bending the trees along the walkway until they groaned under the strain, and bringing with it a small storm of leaves that pelted the windows with a sound like falling rain. The wind stopped the next moment, visibly dispersing even as it continued to ripple past the Mansion, and the Smashers all began to relax.

Peach tutted, an annoyed expression on her face, when she saw the state of the gardens, and R.O.B., with a couple leaves stuck in his body, went over to turn the fountain back on. The rest of the Smashers brushed leaves off themselves with varying degrees of nonchalance, although Luigi had to cough out a mouthful of leaves, making Peach and Mario both recoil. After they'd settled down, though, all eyes went to Pit, who had stood up, shading his eyes with his hand as he looked for signs of movement.

He saw them almost immediately. "They're here!" he shouted happily, as figures began to make their way towards the Mansion. He almost immediately jumped off his branch to run into the woods.

First was Bowser Jr., arriving by flying device with a cool "Hey, Dad." Bowser roared joyfully when he saw his son, and trundled forwards to initiate a crushing embrace. "Ouch!" he roared almost immediately, unwrapping his arms from around his son. "Have your spikes grown recently?!"

Bowser Jr. chuckled a little self-consciously. "Yeah, I have."

Bowser's face creased into a gruesome looking grin. "My son's all growing up!" he roared, loudly enough for everyone nearby to hear. His son ducked his head self-consciously, and mumbled quietly (for him, which meant everybody could hear), "C'mon, stop it, Dad, you're embarrassing me." He took his father's paw and the two quickly disappeared into the Mansion.

As the door slid closed behind the two, Mario turned to Peach. "Eh, a-Peach, I a-know I already asked, but-a…"

"He is NOT my son," Peach stated firmly, eyebrows drawing together dangerously. Her hands unconsciously curled into fists that Mario and Luigi both watched warily.

Luckily for them, Peach forgot all about them the next moment. "Hey Peach!" came a cheerful voice from behind. Recognizing the voice, Peach gasped, and spun around immediately. "Daisy!"

"And Toad," a voice floated up from the ground. The two princesses were already in the middle of a hug, however, and beyond hearing anything at that time. "Oh well," shrugged Toad. "Hey Mario, Luigi. How's the princess treating you? Still need rescuing all the time?"

Mario grinned upon seeing his old friend. "She-a is still-a slave driver, but-a she takes better care-a of herself." Luigi, on the other hand, nodded in recognition, then abruptly poked Toad in the head.

"What the hell you doing?" asked Toad. Luigi blinked and looked disappointed at the reaction. "Was wondering if you were going to spray spores," he explained. Toad looked at him with a deadpan expression on his face, then turned back to Mario. "Wanna show me around the place?" Mario nodded, and with a tug on a gossiping Peach's arm, brought the five of them inside.

The fourth visitor, blue-haired and beautiful, walked down the pathway towards them, briskly, and yet at the same time, gracefully. She was carrying a slender, six-foot long spear in one hand, and when Marth saw her, his eyes widened. "Shiida!" he shouted, before he vaulted over the patio fence, breaking immediately into a full run.

In response, she dropped her spear, and her steps quickened, until she was also running, straight towards him. "Marth!" she called joyfully, before the two hit each other in a tackle-turned into hug. "Marth," she said again, as she hugged him tight, resting her head against his shoulder. He took a deep breath, smelling a faint hint of soap on her hair, before he called her name again in response, whispering it her ear. "It's good to see you," he said, and meant it.

"It's good to see you, too, Mar," she replied. He felt her voice buzzing against his skin, not uncomfortably, and he smiled. "How're things back home? Is Malledus managing Altea alright?"

He felt her pull away at that. With an annoyed look on her face, she said, "Are you serious, Marth? It's been a year since we've seen each other, and the first thing you ask about is that dusty old guy?"

Marth smirked as he took her scolding in stride. "Well, you're here, aren't you? I can see the changes for myself," he said gently. "I can see that you've gotten a bit taller than before... I can see that new signet ring you're wearing… I can see that your hair's gotten a little longer since last year…" He touched her hair with the back of his fingers; her expression had softened completely. "I can also see that you've put on a little weight."

"MARTH!" she barked at him, enraged. She strode forwards dangerously, as if to punch him. He quickly backed off, laughing, his hands held up to protect him. "I'm joking, I'm joking!" he said. "You're not fatter at all, not even a bit!" She obviously wasn't mollified, but she did stop coming towards him. Instead, she glared at him, clearly not amused. "Besides," he said, in a lower voice, "If you did, by chance, get larger, it all happened in all the right places." He smirked at her again, and was pleased to see her go red.

"Ugh, Marth, I swear, you're such a pervert whenever I'm with you," she harrumphed, pissed, embarrassed, and somewhat pleased all at once.

"Then I guess that makes me the luckiest man on earth, since you love me anyways," he said smoothly, with a seductive smile, as he watched for her reaction.

She blinked in surprise. "Marth…" She looked away…

And then she covered her mouth with her hand as she started shaking. "If only you could see yourself right now," she laughed.

Ah, drat. He frowned. "Was it that bad? I guess I did go a little far," he said thoughtfully.

"No, no, I don't mind it much," she replied, still chuckling a little bit. "Hearing something like that, I almost feels like you're courting me. It's just-" she hiccupped as she tried to suppress her laughter- "you had the most grotesque expression on your face when you said that. I was actually worried for a second, it looked like you were in so much pain."

"You're joking, right?" he said incredulously. She shook her head, a broad smile still on her face. "Damn," he cursed. "I've got to work on that. After all, I technically am courting you."

She smiled sweetly, yet for some strange reason Marth felt she was… annoyed?

"Technically," she repeated. He must've been imagining things, because the next moment, she slipped one of her hands into his. "Should we say hi to the others?" Marth blinked, then nodded and led her back to the patio, They passed by Ike, who was deep in conversation with two new arrivals, one an effeminate-looking man, the other with cat ears and a tail. "Hey guys," he called out to Link and Zelda, who were the only ones still sitting at the patio table. "This is Shiida. Remember her from last year?"

Zelda rose smoothly from her seat and greeted Shiida with an inclination of her head. "Of course. It's a pleasure to meet you again, Princess Shiida."

Shiida responded in kind. "The same to you, Princess Zelda. I trust you've been well?"

The boys just stared at both of them. As Zelda began to respond, Link said incredulously, "Come on, what is this? Why aren't you guys talking normally?"

Zelda's forehead creased ever so slightly as she turned her head towards him. "Please, Link. There are certain formalities to follow when greeting fellow royalty. I don't know her well enough to discard them, although I'd certainly like for that to happen in the future." Zelda smiled at Shiida, who first looked pleasantly surprised, and then smiled back.

"I feel the same. We should find some time to talk today," she said, to Marth's slight dismay. He'd wanted to spend the whole day with her, but, well, he supposed it was also nice to see her making friends with Zelda.

Then she turned towards Link. "I remember you." Link chuckled sheepishly, rubbing his neck and avoiding her eyes. "The back of my neck still tingles from time to time."

"Eh-heh, right. Sorry about that," Link said, with a sheepish smile on his face as he looked back at her. Unlike what he'd expected, she didn't look angry. Instead, she was smiling at him… a little too widely.

"It's alright, I've already forgiven you for your little prank," she said. "I'm sure we'll get along fine, as long as you don't have anything planned for today." Her eyes narrowed a little bit, like a hawk zeroing in on her prey.

"You don't, right, Link?" said Zelda. He looked at her. Uh-oh. She had her dangerous smile on.

"R-right…"

Nearby, Marth was smirking as he watched Link squirm in discomfort. Unfortunately for him, Shiida saw that, and her eyes narrowed a little further as she decided to take him down a notch. "Oh, it won't be a problem even if he does have something set up, because I'll just switch seats with him for dinner," she declared.

Both of the boys looked stricken, which made her feel a little bad, but Zelda clapped in delight. "Perfect! The boys can sit with each other while we'll have the chance to get to know each other." She smiled happily, as she turned to Marth. "You don't mind, do you, Marth? I mean, you have her for the whole day, and this would be the only time I could get to know your girlfriend."

"R-right. I guess it's fine," Marth said, a little begrudgingly. He hesitated for a moment, then quickly grabbed her hand. "Well, times-a-wasting. Better start spending my day with my girlfriend," he said as he started walking away, a fake smile on his face. Annoyed, Shiida was about to pull away from him, when a thought occurred to him. Is he jealous? Of… Zelda? The thought made her giggle, so, instead of pulling away, she waved goodbye towards Link and Zelda as she let herself be dragged away.

"Is he… jealous?" Zelda wondered aloud.

"What?" replied Link. "No way. Jealous? Who would he be jealous of?"

Zelda frowned thoughtfully. "…For a second, it felt a lot like the way you get prissy when I spend too much time with Sheik."

"What-" Link spluttered. "I don't get prissy- Wait, why would I even be jealous of Sheik in the first place? And I'm not like him at all!"

Zelda rolled her eyes at him. "For Nayru's sake, Link, are you joking me? You guys are so similar, it scares me sometimes."

"No, we're not!" protested Link. "He's right-handed, I'm left-handed. He was born in a castle, I was born in a tiny village. Half the time, he talks like a snooty snot, while I always talk normally. Honestly, Zelda, you have more in common with him than I do."

"Wow, you know what, you're right?" replied Zelda with fake brightness, mischief colouring her smile. "Maybe I should be dating him instead of you." She watched Link closely out of the corner of her eye, and was pleased to see his spluttering reaction. She wasn't the type to keep up the charade (admittedly a little cruel) for long, though.

"Come on, Link, I'm just joking."

"Agh- Pfft, I knew that! I'm just insulted that you'd even joke about that!"

Yep, he's fine, Zelda thought wryly. She took a look around them; the garden was a lot emptier than it had been a couple minutes ago. "It looks like most people are here," she said to Link, who heard the serious note in her voice and stopped fuming. "Is she coming?"

Link shook his head. "I don't know. I asked Master Hand to send on a message, but I have no way of knowing if she got it."

"All we can do is wait, I guess," sighed Zelda. "I wonder if Pit found his friends. Where did he go, anyways?"

The words were barely out of her mouth when she heard the sound of fluttering wings, and a white comet shot out of the trees, quickly followed by a black comet.

"Get- back- here- you- slippery," growled the black comet with a voice that sounded a lot like Pit's, only lower.

"Hold on! Wait until we get to the brawling rooms, Pittoo!" shouted Pit, while desperately dodging the black angel's lunges.

"Don't call me that!" yelled the black angel, redoubling his efforts to catch Pit.

"Holy guacamole!" exclaimed Pit, as he frantically twisted away from an especially vigorous lunge. The maneuver left him hanging upside down, and he quickly tried to reorient himself, spotting Link and Zelda in the process. "Link! Zelda!" he had time to shout, before he was slammed into by a black comet.

The two of them watched expressionlessly as the two angels crashed into the Mansion wall and fell into a bush, both of them thinking the same thought. Did he seriously just say that? A second passed, and then another, before the two angels popped right out of the bush, still entangled.

"Get off me-" grunted Pit, before shouting. "Link! Zelda! Hel-mmfh?!"

"Oh no you don't," growled Dark Pit as one of his wings accidentally smacked into Pit's mouth. Face flushed, his legs were wrapped tightly around Pit as his hands snaked into Pit's shirt, and started tickling him. "How dare you tickle attack me as soon as I arrive here? You're going to pay for that."

"Pfft- Bwahahaha," laughed Pit uncontrollably, tears coming to his eyes. "Ah- stop- HahahaHAHAHA!"

Watching the two wrestle on the ground, Zelda began to smile, and shook her head, as if to keep herself from laughing. Link, on the other hand, didn't hold himself back at all. He simply burst into laughter. "Oh- Oh my god, your face, Pit!"

A delicate, yet lively giggle followed Link's comment. It belonged to a voice that neither Link nor Zelda recognized, so they both turned towards the source: a green-haired woman who was so stunningly beautiful she looked like a goddess, standing beside them on the patio. Link was momentarily confused, but Zelda recognized her almost instantly. "Lady Palutena?" she asked, making Link look at her questioningly.

"That's me, yes," replied the green-haired goddess in a friendly tone of voice. "You're Princess Zelda, right?"

"Yes. It's an honour to finally meet you in person," said Zelda, inclining her head respectfully. "Pit successfully convinced you to come visit, I presume?"

Palutena nodded in reply, smiling. "I'm looking forward to the rest of today."

"Oh, right," said Link, having finally remembered who Palutena was. "You're the pretty- er- Pit's mistress, right?" Wow, that came out wrong.

Palutena blinked at him, unsure of how to respond. "Err, well, I think patron goddess might be more accurate, but at least it looks like you remember who I am. That's nice."

"Haha… right, sorry about that," apologized Link. Although he was smiling at the goddess, internally he was a little more preoccupied by the sense of danger that was coming from behind him. At least Zelda wouldn't do anything while the goddess was watching, right?

Just then, Pit yelped loudly, causing Link and Palutena to instinctively glance over at them. Shit, I just jinxed myself, didn't I? thought Link, right as Zelda elbowed him in the side.

"Hurrk-"

"Don't say things that'll cause misunderstandings like that, Link," hissed Zelda under her breath. She'd already withdrawn her elbow by the time Palutena looked back at them curiously, leaving Link to keep holding his smile (although by this point, it was more of a grimace). Zelda took a smooth step forward, drawing Palutena into a conversation at the same time.

"So, how do you feel over here? Is your magical power still intact?" she asked the goddess.

Why does Zelda hit so hard? wondered Link, now free to massage his side. He decided not to take part in the conversation, just in case he said something stupid again by accident. Instead, he went over to the two still-wrestling angels, who'd managed to get out of the patch of bushes, at least. Pit was still caught by Dark Pit, but Dark Pit moved from a tickle tangle into some sort of sleeper hold, pinning Pit to the ground. He crouched over them, and waved. "Yo."

"Guh- Link! Help me!" said Pit, his voice muffled since his cheek was smushed against the ground.

"Hmm…" mused Link for a second. "Ya, I guess I should, huh?" Sighing, he leaned forwards and hooked his arms under Dark Pit's armpits, pulling him away.

"Hey! What are you doing?" shouted the black angel as Link hoisted him into the air. "Stop!"

"Hup! Here we go," grunted Link, as he started to swing Dark Pit away from Pit. Something black and pink flashed at the corner of his vision, before he was kicked in the face. "Guff!" he grunted, and promptly dropped the angel. Dark Pit immediately began to chase after the other angel who had taken the opportunity to escape, but not before saying, "Serves you right, creep."

Link rubbed at his cheek; that was probably going to leave a mark. T_T. What did I do to deserve all of this? He wasn't good with kids (or so he thought). Jeez. Where was Sheik when you needed her?

Fifty meters away and one floor down, Sheik sat in a large, plushy, comfortable armchair. It was one of a set of two, currently facing each other across a coffee table. Resting comfortably in the other chair, reading a paperback novel with one hand lazily propping his head up, was Ganondorf.

Sheik had been watching him intently for the past little while. She still continued to watch him now, but she'd decided that she could get in a more comfortable position, so she leaned back and put her legs on the table. Ganondorf's eyes flickered to her feet when she did that, and he said, in gravelly tones, "Can you take your feet off the table?"

"Why do you care?" replied Sheik, feeling uncooperative.

Ganondorf's eyes flickered towards her, then back to his book again. "It's disgusting."

Sheik's eyebrows narrowed. After a brief moment, she shifted in her seat, and took exactly one foot off the table. Ganondorf's eyes flickered to the remaining foot, and then they seemed to roll before going back to the book, leaving silence once again.

Because of the expected influx of visitors to the Mansion, Master Hand had opened up several previously locked rooms to accommodate the new capacity. The room that Sheik and Ganondorf were sitting in right now was very similar to the lounge, only it was for Smashers that didn't have visitors over. It was fairly empty for the moment; Captain Falcon had just breezed through looking for his helmet, and the kids had gone outside to play. The only other occupants right now were Snake and Samus, who were playing chess, as usual.

Having reached the end of his page, Ganondorf licked one of his fingers before using it to flip to the next page. Sheik, watching him, shuddered, a little grossed out. The warlock noticed, eyes flickering towards Sheik.

"If it bothers you, you may leave, you know," he said as he went back to reading his book.

Sheik's eyes narrowed once again as she studied Ganondorf's face. Did he know what she was doing? Was he trying to find an excuse to throw her off? Well, it didn't matter. She wasn't moving from this spot unless Ganondorf moved first.

"What are you doing, anyways?" he asked in a bored tone.

"…I've got my eye on you," she replied shortly. Did he really not know?

"And?"

"I'm making sure you're not getting up to mischief!" she declared. "I'm not letting you ruin today for the others."

Ganondorf gave her an incredulous look, putting his book down. "And so… You're just going to watch me? All day?"

"Yeah. It's been working like a charm, so far."

"…" It seemed to Sheik that Ganondorf almost facepalmed, but instead, he simply stood up. She did the same, and followed him out the room.

Ganondorf looked over his shoulder at her as they both walked down the hall. "Are you seriously following me to the bathroom?" he asked, incredulously.

"Yep. Who knows? You might set a bomb in there."

"Dear lord…" sighed Ganondorf, apparently exasperated. "Why aren't you with the other brats? Don't you have somebody to meet, as well?"

Sheik hesitated before answering. "Everybody I would care to see right now already lives here. That's why I won't let you ruin their days."

"How self-sacrificing of you," commented Ganondorf sarcastically.

"I know, right?" replied Sheik in a similar tone.

"Now, can you please get out of the bathroom?" Ganondorf asked dryly. Sheik blinked, and looked down to see porcelain tiling.

"Alright… but no funny business."

"I'll see you in a bit, Link," Pit called out as he went into the Mansion with Palutena and Dark Pit following him. "Just let me beat Pittoo first- ouch!"

"Yeah, alright!" Link waved back, although Pit, who'd started arguing with Dark Pit again, probably didn't see it. He turned back to the forest, frowning, before he took a seat again.

Most of the Smashers had already gone inside with their visitors; there were only seven of them left waiting. Link and Zelda were both still waiting, although Zelda seemed to have started worrying, at this point.

"She hasn't come yet," fretted Zelda. "Maybe, she's not…?" She let the thought trail off.

"Let's wait a little longer," said Link, although he was also a little worried by this point. "Toonie isn't gone yet either."

The number of Smashers waiting slowly dwindled lower and lower as the visitors came slower and slower. There were only four Smashers left when Link heard Toon Link shout joyfully, "Tetra!"

Both he and Zelda looked up hopefully when they heard that. If Tetra's come, then that means… Link stood up and went to the patio fence immediately, looking towards the forest, and so he caught sight of her.

She was clothed in a black dress that only barely failed to hide her gender. She had orange hair the colour of autumn leaves, and skin the colour of a smoky grey. She could not be called beautiful, but neither could she be called plain; she had a husky foreignness to her that still had the power to kindle desire. She also wore a smile, as she walked up the stone path, and on seeing her, a weight in Link's chest that he didn't even know was there seemed to lift, at the same time that his throat went dry.

"Midna," he half-rasped, half-whispered.

A/N: Once again, only a semi-decent place to end, but I need to study for exams quite badly T_T.

This is definitely gearing up to be long story, since, well, I haven't even gotten through the morning yet! Lol. I'm still not completely sure how to go about organizing all my thoughts, but at least all the major players are present now. Now, what should I put my characters through now? Kekekeke…

Poor Link's become sort of a butt-monkey right now. Not in the original character design… but at least I have pretty much everybody fleshed out properly in my head, now! Hooray! Now I just have to put it on paper! (Somehow, the girls were originally more distinct than the guys… Does that say something about me? XD)

Oh, right. Final note, I recently started a new fic for the 2011 anime Guilty Crown, so if you've watched it, feel free to check it out (and if you haven't watched it… feel free to watch the anime first, at your own risk).