Rewrite number three, here we go. Let's see if I can get it right this time. Anyway, first, I want to retcon a few things. First, I made a mistake with how the dorm buildings are set up (because I don't make rough drafts, for some reason), and basically said there were communal bathrooms and a bathroom for each dorm. I'm going with communal bathrooms, so I'll get that out of the way. Secondly, having Ender fight off the Federal agents was a mistake. Fighting a Federal officer can earn you a lot of jail time and I hate that Ender only got off with community service, but I can't really go back and change that part, now can I? Mainly cause he's the main character. Anyway, I think that's all, and I hope you all enjoy!
School Life
Ender's alarm rang softly in his ears. He sat up; his back hunched over, and turned it off, followed by his music. He unplugged his ear buds and swung his legs over his bed then gathered his clothes and left the room for the communal bathrooms at the end of the hall. He only encountered a few other students there before leaving. He stopped back at the dorm, grabbed his bags, nodded hello to Meta Knight, and left. The brisk morning air, what should've been normally cold to Ender, barely bothered him. Ender suspected it was something to do with fire powers and ignored it. He stepped out of the campus grounds and immediately got a chill down to his bones. Ender rubbed his arms and continued forward, surrounded by the woods. They weren't particularly frightening, more so… off. There were secrets in them. Like the wolf that had attacked him, Peach, and Daisy a few weeks before. He pushed that memory away. The fact he could've died on his first day at the new school scared him. What scared him even more was the power he used. He didn't like it. Or rather, he was suspicious of it. Nothing about it felt natural in the heat of the moment. All this, Ender pondered on the long walk to his stretch of the highway. When he arrived, he tossed his bookbag by a tree and dug in the duffel bag he was given by the government. This was his last day so he'd be leaving it here after he was done. He threw on the orange vest and got to work.
2 Hour Time Skip Cause I'm Not Writing Ender Cleaning up Litter
Ender ran his hand through his hair and set the heavy bag next to the other two. He took off all the gear and stuffed it into the duffel bag before beginning the long walk back to campus. Every once in a while somebody would pull over and ask if he needed a ride and every time he declined. The wind whistled through the trees and the birds chirped. Ender basked in the sounds, choosing not to play his music. Finally, he came to the campus a little bit before school was starting. The majority of the students were still filing in though. He entered the square building and yet again was blown away by the sheer size of the inside. Not looking like much outside, the inside of the school actually had a very… strange layout. In the middle of the lobby the ceiling stretched uninhibited towards the top, where a skylight sat. Floors rung around it, with doors leading to different classrooms. There was an office to the right of the doors and a stairway on the left. A wide hallway led down the middle to the gym. On the left and right respectfully were the huge cafeteria and auditorium. In between the staircase and cafeteria on the left there was a hallway, leading to other classrooms, as well as on the right. On both sides of the gym were also hallways, feeding as a loop around it. Ender took the stairs to his left and continued up them to the third floor, his first class of the day, which the staff had deemed as Earth History (considering there are many non-Earth races in the school, as Ender has figured out) and met up with Sora along the way.
"You finally done with the community work?" Asked the brown haired boy and Ender nodded.
"Yeah, just shouldn't have gotten off that easily," Ender replied.
"Well why not?"
"I was curious so I looked up jail times for it. 15 years, Sora, 15! And I got community service? Seems unfair," Ender explained, keeping his voice low to not attract attention.
"Well, now the U.S. Government knows about… all this," Sora said, gesturing to the school and students around him.
"Is that really a fair trade though?" Ender followed up with, eyeing his roommate.
"I don't know but it feels significant," Sora rebutted. Ender sighed and shook his head.
"Alright, fair enough," the two stepped into the room and took their seats on opposite sides of the room. As Ender surveyed the room, he was beginning to realize how truly "diverse" this classroom was. The people ranged from anthropomorphic animals to a literal pink puffball. And of course, a literal Goddess as the teacher as Ender has now figured out. When the bell rung, Palutena stood and in rapid succession teleported to the door, closed it, and teleported back to her desk. She cleared her throat before addressing the class. "Alright, as you all know, these past two weeks we've been talking about the Roman Empire. Today, we'll take a quiz on it to see what you know and then move on to the Ancient Greeks for the next part of this unit," Palutena finished, grabbing a stack of paper off her desk. "When I give you your paper, you may begin," she said, beginning to pass them out.
And Another Time Skip
Ender and Sora had said their goodbyes at the classroom door. For the rest of the day they had no classes together. Ender's next class was across campus so he had a little ways to walk. Across campus there was another… gym, if you will. Except, only a few buildings were indoors. Most of it was outside, with things like tennis and basketball courts, baseball diamonds, and an Olympic sized swimming pool. There were groups of students strung along the path that Ender walked, all of them presumably in his class or another class over there. The gym back inside the school was used more so for exercising, this one was used for, as the faculty had described, power training and just general games area. Ender had liked this part so far. They had learned the concepts of special powers but hadn't had anything pushed on them yet. The gym teachers were waiting for something. What, Ender didn't know. So, for now they had just been playing games and running an obstacle course that was changed weekly. From behind Ender, a hand clamped down behind him and he jumped. A familiar laugh reached his ears and he found Dark Pit behind him. The dark angel was laughing hysterically at the jump scare and Ender shrugged his arm off.
"Does being a dick make you happy?" Ender didn't really like Dark Pit… at least not yet. He was sarcastic and egotistical and always whining about something. Dark Pit sighed and stopped laughing.
"Maybe, but you'll probably never know," Dark Pit said, falling in beside Ender.
"So what do you want? You never interact with the rest of us," Ender said, eyeing the angel. Dark Pit's wings twitched, as if he was trying to stretch them but couldn't figure out how.
"Eh, I don't know, just felt like scaring ya," Dark Pit forged ahead, leaving Ender behind in unsurprised silence.
Alright, whatever, Ender thought, following behind him by a few feet. Finally, the class reached the outdoor area. Their teachers were standing by the baseball diamond and beckoned them all over. One of them, the mannequin looking one who went by the name Wii Fit held a kickball under her arm. The other one, a muscular man named Captain Falcon, was explaining.
"So I'm fairly certain you've all played Kickball at least once, but does anyone need a refresher or general rundown of the rules?" Captain Falcon. A few hands went up and Captain Falcon nodded.
"It's simple, really. Baseball, but you kick the ball instead of hit it with a bat. Got it?" All the students nodded their heads and Captain Falcon laughed. "Alright, then pick team leaders and let's head out to the diamond," the two teachers watched as the class struggled to arrange themselves into teams, though finally they did so, with fifteen students on each side on each side. Captain Falcon tossed the ball to Ender's team leader. "You all are on defense first. The rest of you, line up and take turns," Captain Falcon and Wii Fit walked off to the sidelines as the students took the field. Ender took the outfield, mostly because the kids on the other side looked like good kickers and he was a… decent catch. The ball rolled and the first kid shot it into the air, off to Ender's left. A kid broke from behind first and ran to catch it but fumbled. He threw the ball as hard as he could to the girl at second, who threw it home instead of third. The kicker stopped abruptly at third and the ball was thrown to the pitcher's mound. It went on like this for a few more innings, when the small puffball stepped up to kick. Ender's team chuckled amongst themselves and moved in a little closer. The ball was rolled, albeit slowly and the puffball charged. He spun around in a fast circle, so fast he caught on fire. He hit the ball head on and it flew out of the diamond. The puffball pasued then began to run as fast as he could. Ender and two other outfielders ran for the ball. Ender backed up when he noticed the other two and waved his hands for it. The one who got it tossed it to him and Ender turned around to toss it to the pitcher, who hit the puffball before he could run across the plate. Captain Falcon was watching with renewed interest and smiled. The bell rung though and Captain Falcon retrieved the ball and sent the class on their way.
Slight Time Skip Past Two Classes
The bell rings and Ender leaves for the lunchroom. The entire student body all goes at once, which can be a nuisance, but instead of trying to fight the crowd for food, he just secures a seat to hopefully sit alone. Instead, Zelda and Link walk over. Ender looks up at them and waves.
"Hey Zelda, hey Link," Link nods in hello and Zelda responds verbally. Ender scootches over so Link can sit down and rest his arms on the table. "So how've you two been?" He asked, looking to dispel any awkward silence.
"Oh, good. I've been reading up on my file and anything I can find about where I come from and… well it's been interesting to say the least," Zelda replies. Link merely nods and puts a thumbs-up. "What about you Ender? Have you done any research?" She asked, tilting her head slightly. Ender rubbed the back of his head and shook it.
"Nah, not really. Just never got around to it," replied the younger child.
"Well that's alright. All at our own pace, right?" Zelda asked.
"Yeah," Ender paused for a moment, thinking up another question before turning back to Zelda. "Speaking of which, what have you found out about where you used to live? I'm curious, if that's alright," Ender said. Zelda nodded, smiling.
"Of course. It's a wonderful place called Hyrule, where I'm actually a princess!" Zelda was excited about the last part and Ender's eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Well that's cool," he said.
"I know! Anyway, Hyrule is a huuuuuge place. There's around… five species that inhabit it. Hylians, Zoras, Rito, Gerudo, and Gorons. They all inhabit an area and have their own politics, but the Hylians act as a binding force," Zelda continued. This lasted the entire lunch time and Ender listened attentively. It was certainly interesting. Link drew beside him in the meantime though. Finally a bell rang and Zelda and Link stood to throw their food away.
"Thanks for listening Ender. I haven't been able to talk to anyone of Hyrule yet," Zelda said, walking backwards.
"Yeah, of course, it was interesting. Talk to you later," Ender replied, walking out of the cafeteria door.
Time Skip to Last Few Minutes of School Day
Ender was barely listening to the teacher drone on over the notes. This had been the procedure for the past two days and it was beginning to get annoying. To be fair she was trying to make sure they were all ready for an upcoming quiz but this wasn't the right way to go about it. Ender was paying attention just enough to get all the notes down. Finally, the piercing ring of the (surprisingly) outdated bell caught his attention and the students around him began to pack up. He put his folder away and stood, shouldering his backpack. He flowed with the sea of students out the doors, all of them mostly dispersing back to the dorms or down the path to the gym area. Somebody ran up behind him and tapped on his shoulder. He turned and saw Sora.
"Hey," said Ender turning his attention back to the way he was walking.
"Hey. I was wondering; wanna head to one of the sports courts or diamonds or something after school? We could probably find a few quick games," Sora asked, watching Ender.
"We can use those after school? Well that certainly explains why a few kids are heading down there," Ender replied. He mulled it over for a couple more seconds then nodded. "Sure, why not?" He said.
"Cool, I just got some homework to do," Sora responded, readjusting his backpack.
"Yeah, me too. Wanna work on Ms. Palutena's homework together?" Ender asked.
"Definitely, I'm probably gonna need help on that," Sora responded.
"I mean, I understand why, but, like, why are you so unsure?" Ender asked.
"Well, at the… assembly… a few other memories got jumbled in," Sora explained. Ender stayed quiet but nodded.
"Alright, makes sense. Yeah, let's do that then we can head out," Ender said. They had reached their dorm by then and walked in. Ender walked into the kitchen and opened the mini fridge.
"Who got drinks?" He asked.
"I did, you're welcome," Sora said.
"I was gonna say, thanks," Ender said, opening a can of Pepsi. He took a swig and placed it on the counter before walking over and leaning on the desk Sora was sitting out. He dug in his backpack for his homework and placed it next to Sora's. They both scanned theirs for a moment before turning to each other.
"Should we use Google?" Sora asked.
"Well, she said everything's supposed to be in the textbook…" Ender brought up.
"Well yes, but Google's faster,"
"Fair point,"
"Duck!" Ender turned and ducked in time before Dark Pit's book hit him in the face.
"The FUCK!?" Ender yelled at him, picking up Dark Pit's book and tossing it back at him.
"Sorry, it slipped," Dark Pit said, a lying grin on his face. Ender sighed and pulled out his phone.
""I'm gonna murder him," he muttered, loud enough for Sora to hear.
"Not yet, he needs his redemption arc," Sora said.
"What?"
"Nothing, just get to work," Ender and Sora focused on the homework, using Google of course, while Dark Pit sat on his bed and scrolled through his phone. The dorm was mostly quiet for the next hour and a half as Sora and Ender worked on their homework and Dark Pit did his thing. Meta Knight arrived at one point but was gone soon after, to do what they didn't know. Finally Ender sighed and put his homework away before laying back on his bed to await Sora. Soon after, Sora was done too and he stretched.
"Alright, let's go see if we can find something," Ender nodded and rolled off his bed.
"Where are you two going?" Dark Pit asked.
"Gonna go find some games to play down at The Compound," Sora said.
"The Compound?" Ender asked, eyeing him questioningly.
"Nickname some of the students gave the outdoor area," Sora replied. "Anyway, wanna come?" He asked Dark Pit. Dark Pit hopped from the bunk bed and shrugged.
"Sure, why not," he followed the other two out the door and down the path.
0-0-0-0-0
The boys had arrived at The Compound and had been walking around for a couple minutes, looking for a game. Ender raced Dark Pit on the obstacle course once and that was about it so far. Sora was looking for games with open spots in the meantime, the other two trailing him. Finally, the found a kickball game to join. They were divvied up with Sora on one side and Dark Pit and Ender on the other. The ball was rolled and the game was on. The first kid on Sora's team shot the ball way out to left field and sent the outfielder there running. The kicker ran to second and stopped there to sighed and settled into a ready stance to play the game.
0-0-0-0-0
Ender was laying in the elongating shade of the trees at the edge of The Compound, Sora and Dark Pit beside him. They were watching the waning groups of kids keep playing. Finally, Ender stood and stretched.
"We should head back. Getting dark," he said.
"Agreed," Sora said, taking Ender's now outstretched hand. Ender tried helping Dark Pit up but the angel shoved the hand away. They left for the path mostly in silence until Ender spoke up.
"Why is it called The Compound?" He asked.
"Cause it's a badass name,"
"The emos named it," both Sora and Dark Pit answered at the same time and Ender laughed.
"I'll take both answers," he said, smiling. Dark Pit slightly shoved into Sora as a non-verbal "Fuck you," because he knew he was a part of the demographic and Sora shoved back. Dark Pit retaliated and eventually it was a shoving match, albeit one Sora was partaking in as a joke. Dark Pit was angrier. Sora finally laughed and jogged ahead of the dark angel and kept him behind him. This was what was happening the entire way back. Sora and Dark Pit shoving each other and Ender watching.
0-0-0-0-0
Ender walked into the dorm and flopped on his bed. Meta Knight was in his bed and reading a book.
"Hello," spoke the small ball and Ender put a hand up in a simple hello. Sora and Dark Pit walked in next, the air between them angry and somewhat awkward. Sora had gotten tired of the shoving match but Dark Pit had still been trying to instigate a fight.
"If I may ask, where were you three?" Meta Knight asked.
"The Compound," Sora answered, opening a book.
"The… Compound?"
"It's what the Emo kids named the outdoor gym type area," Ender replied.
"Ah…" Meta Knight simply responded before returning to his book. The room was left in silence for pretty much the rest of the night. Sora was first to fall asleep, followed by Meta Knight, then Ender and Dark Pit. Pure darkness fell over the small town of Gravity Falls and subsequently the school. In the wilderness, the wolves howled and beasts roared in response. There are many new secrets to be unlocked with the strange arrival of this school. All in due time though.
I am so, so sorry this took so long to get out. In all honesty, I haven't worked on this story since the beginning of the year. Hell, I've hardly worked on any stories since the beginning of the year, and have started several. Being even more honest, I think leaving the SSP killed my motivation so I'm happy to be back. Speaking of which:
If you wish to join the SSP, a Discord server for Smash fan fiction over a hundred strong (although only a small few of us talk regularly) and advertise your fics, find friends, and just get help with fic ideas or… help in general, the mods are almost always on and there are a lot of night owls. So come on and join us, the code is gDK48ua. Would be great to see you!
Now that the commercial's out of the way and I have a few more songs to get through on my playlist, time to stretch this out a bit more. I'm kidding, hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you all next chapter!
Actually, I do have one more thing. I hope I did well characterizing the featured characters! I know barely anything about Kingdom Hearts so take Sora with a grain of salt. I'm trying to make them all seem like teenagers, if that makes sense. And, what's one more reminded that I stole this idea from Volix, so definitely go check out their High School AU, it's much better than this one. Alright, sorry for stretching it out more, bye!