A/N:
Massive thanks to Afro Thunder for continuing to review this story. It's helped massively with self-esteem and everything man, so seriously thanks.
Act I: Climbing the Mountain
Volume 12: Under the Table
[ - Little Mac - ]
Monday 10th August 2076, 18:26.
Boop-boop. The transit card beeped on the e-reader, and I went to go sit down.
My thoughts floated back; the beautifully painted purple of the sky appeared in the background of my mind's eye.
The back-and-forth with Samus yesterday burned into my brain, and it was a little confusing, but it was sort of like a cloth had been lifted over a big part of my life that I never really knew existed.
Do I want a girl?
I started speaking and realised I almost said it aloud. Luckily, no one heard or bothered to look back at the absolute idiot on the bus talking to himself.
Do I want… a girl? If so, what would she look like, what would we do together… and who would she be?
Looking at girls like Palu, who were beautiful and… desirable, and that I thought of in a more raw, masculine nature… spending time with her felt eccentrically cooling.
It felt pleasurable; it was pleasurable, not simply or only because of her body, but the feminine energy she exuded and the laugh she called. But I don't think once had it crossed my mind that perhaps I would be in a situation in which I had a girlfriend, or a 'partner'. Maybe it was because I never deemed myself worthy, or perhaps I wasn't really acknowledged enough by people, in high school, and even here.
More trees rushed by.
Two Wingull fought over a piece of bread on the sidewalk, pecking at each other rapidly. A larger one swept by, carrying the well-earned dinner in its mouth, flying off into the distance. Light reflected right off its blue striped wings. The other two birds hopped down and began placidly pecking at the crumbs remaining, seemingly unaffected by the exchange.
Girls.
The biggest weakness of man, Doc'd said.
This was just like Dante back at home - he'd gotten a girl. She was pretty as hell, and both of us knew it. She was a year below him. But, she had issues, and then they stopped talking halfway because they 'didn't know what they were', and then she acted cold, and he turned off, and then aargh. Damn.
The bell tinged, and a gorgeous young brunette woman alighted, lightly skipping onto the pavement from the bus platform. I wondered what she was like; introverted or bubbly, open or secretive, honest or deceptive.
All these women on the bus were all different; and it was quite full, being six pm on a Sunday. A happy couple in their thirties; a middle aged group of women chattering to themselves, glad to get away from their husbands; an aloof-looking eighteen-year-old tapping away on her phone.
I want a girl.
The thought had more popped into my head than I had actually thunk it. It might've been the fact that I'd been feeling so goddamned lonely the last few days, or maybe it was because of all the time Palu and I spent together; maybe I was looking for that. Having a partner in crime might make things look up, even if just a little.
Palu.
The hydraulic pistons hissed again, and the bus started up. The entire scene; it was strangely placating, in it's own uniquely weird way, the scintillating scenery that served to relax. In no other city I had been to, been able to travel to for the WVBA, had I seen anything like this - the urban was so peacefully intertwined with the natural - people from all over the 'multiverse' coming about to celebrate the same thing they loved, Smash.
She was my best friend already, and I'd known she was gorgeous, but maybe…?
Maybe. That's all it is.
The corner of the baby blue concrete building swept by and I frantically pushed the red button. The bus' bell tinged as it pulled into the corner.
Leave it at that.
There was something I was repressing; I was self-aware enough of that, but there was a time and place for everything. I tapped the card and leapt off the vehicle, watching my thoughts drift away into the distance as it started up once more, chugging off into the distance.
( - Veilstone City [Daytime] | Pokémon Diamond and Pearl - )
The smell of the gym was homely and familiar, albeit unpleasant - the strong scent of leather would be overpowering had I not been used to it. There weren't that many people in; this section of Jane's fitness studio was private and only granted access to Smashers.
Right now, though, it was just Link, Roy and I. We barely 'spoke' - Roy yelled. Looking around the gym, it was quite the luxury to share this treasure of a facility amongst just three people. On the left side of the gym, there was a long row of monkey bars. Along the back, there was a long row of dumbbells and tough, black iron plates, starting thin and small on one end to thicker, more imposing on the other. Numbers, in increments of five or ten, printed in imposing white font on them punctuated their appearance. Barbells stood up in their dark stands, mildly serrated knurling followed by a smooth steel centre, then another section of knurling on their bodies. Medicine balls lay in the corner of varying shades of grey, the largest one fifteen kilograms, a hulking purple beast.
Lastly, three white punching bags filled the right end of the gym, of three different densities and thicknesses. Eyes adorned the bags - the different eye colours were difficulty indicators, positioned at their centres of mass.
I grabbed the bottle. I brought it to my mouth, tasting literal relief. My arms held a dull ache. Water… I finished drinking and put the bottle back down. Across the room the Hylian warrior was doing pull-ups on the bar with ease.
In spite of his youth and age, Link was muscular. He had a narrow, agile frame and was below average height; but by the way he moved on the pullup bar, I knew not a single pound on his body was wasted - built for power and functionality. Link saw me and nodded with the hint of a smile, hands still firmly on the bar.
I nodded back to him as he continued his set. He'd had already done twelve or so without any signs of struggling; no loud exhales, no trembling. That's amazing - he makes it look like an art. He dropped from the bar lightly and landed without a sound.
On the other hand, Roy, 'the young lion' roared just like one, even without his flashy armor with that medieval sheen on. He stood in the squat rack, flexing his biceps, hands firmly gripping the knurling of the barbell, each rep causing a small blood vessel in his arm to pop out a millimetre or so.
"Ahghaa!" The pained scream he let out finishing his set, red in the face, was animalistic and was followed by him slamming the barbell to the floor. It bounced twice.
It weighed thirteen kilograms.
"You really do live up to your name, hey, young lion?" I commented.
Luckily, he couldn't discern the snark.
He laughed, slightly embarrassed, but nodded. "Yeah, s'pose I do, heh, 'bruiser from the Bronx'." It wasn't unkind, but I snorted lightly.
"What was up with that upset against Game and Watch?" Roy was an interesting character, to say the least; with the range of his sword and the passion he brought to matches, it was shocking that he'd fallen against an opponent who seemed to have neither.
"Meh, it was nothing," he said, despite the hint of a flush showing in his ears. "Just a fluke - it won't ever happen again. What about you and Ganondorf, hey?"
"Hey, I got close. Few seconds was that deciding factor, I guess."
"Ah, well, that's a shame." Roy walked off, seemingly nonchalant.
It was almost as if he interpreted me asking about his game as a… slight to his pride.
Well, what a productive conversation. I strode over to the other side of the gym, only to find a large humanoid 'cat' with red and white fur entering the room.
Are you meant to call cats 'it' or 'he'? Its arms and legs were jacked, complete with four-pack abs and broad pecs.
I mean if it was human it'd be a guy, but that's not the problem… Its crowning glory, however, was its belt of fire, small circular embers dancing around its hip.
Okay, definitely a he.
Cats don't wear goddamn wrestling belts.
Despite his broad frame, he only looked a few inches taller than I. "Hey man." I extended my hand. "They call me Little Mac, but I just go by Mac nowadays."
"In-cineroar!" With gusto, he shook it. Ah, so that was the guy - the Pokémon - in the cutoff slot I read about, Incineroar, hey? "Incin?" He pointed to the nearby pullup bars in interest.
"Never been to a gym before?" He shook his head. "Cin."
"Okay, so those bars over there are for you to hang on, like the ledge at the edge of the Smash stage." He considered it for a moment, then strode over to it.
"Mmh, so you wanna give that a try?" He grabbed one of the bars, opposite a questioning Link, whose expression turned from amused to impressed. Despite appearing extremely heavy for his frame, Incineroar looked smooth on the bars.
"One, two, three, that's actually pretty good already," I interjected, barely able to keep up with him for the initial reps, "four, five," I continued, as he slowed down. He hung dead on the bar. Flexing his arms, he roared.
"Six, come on!"
Incineroar dropped down again on the bar like a block of lead.
"C'mon, get seven." He pulled, and pulled, and as he gradually ascended, his body shaking, Incineroar let out a cry.
As he yelled out, the fiery weight belt of his burned brightly, singing my hair.
"JESUS!" I yelled, throwing myself to the floor, hands on my face. I heard Roy drop his barbell and run over. Instead of helping, though, he said enthusiastically, "Wow! That was cool - another fire specialist! Nice to meet you-"
Incineroar jumped down from the bar and roughly pushed Roy aside. The big cat offered me a hand, scratching his head all the while.
"Cin?" I grabbed it gratefully.
He joined his index and thumb together in an 'OK' sign.
I laughed. "Haha, it's alright - just be careful next time, yeah?"
Roy shook his head, muttering under his breath as he retreated to the squat rack.
"Okay, I think that's enough pull-ups for a day." Out of the corner of my eye, Link smiled, amused at our antics. Incineroar's sheepishness was replaced in an instant with the same curiosity and adventurousness; he looked around the facility in slight wonder, cocking his head.
"I'm about to do some bench press. Why don't you join me? I can show you some new stuff if you'd like." He nodded, grinning. "Cin." He got on the bench snugly.
"Uh… Incineroar?" The Pokémon looked up.
"You're lying down the wrong way…" He raised his eyebrow, looking at the position of the bar right above his fiery wrestling belt, nowhere near his chest or arms.
"Rrngh." Incineroar rose without any change in his facial expression before pumping out a minute's worth of reps with no issue.
This creature…
The door opened suddenly, and Jane's tall figure approached. "Mac, there you are! Good to see you, bud!"
"Heya, Jane." I re-racked the bar for Incineroar right as he finished his set.
"I see you've met Incineroar already!" Her warm glow was starkly different to the cold shoulder I got the last time I saw her, which felt like ages ago, despite only being like four days.
"Wait, he's a regular? I thought he was new - he looked at everything like it was his first time here!"
"Curiosity kills the cat, but this cat won't kill his curiosity." Jane replied.
Incineroar's grin grew eerily wide.
"Mmh."
She laughed. "Do you want to go train specialised Smash? I know you were in the middle of a set, but, er, I have something I want to test out for you."
"Oh, really? Yeah, sure. Incin, wanna join?" The cat growled happily in response.
"Good to hear," Jane exclaimed. Even though her back was turned, I heard the smile in her voice, and couldn't help but feel fuzzy. Link waved a goodbye as we left.
Jane ran both the gym-fitness and the Smash studios, so instead of having a separate entrance for each, there was simply one reception and one corridor. The hidden door on the left led to the Smash studio, whereas the big entry on the right led to the one with weights from which we came.
She unlocked the door, jogging to the other side of the room into the control area Pit was so fascinated with the other day. "Actually, Incineroar, I reckon this is where you come in. Get into the Loading Chamber."
He re-emerged after thirty seconds, with a nod of his head, gesturing for me to get in. The machine whirred a couple times with a few spinning bright green lights.
"Mac - the iron pad."
"Gotcha." I stepped onto the plate. Incineroar extended his closed fist to me.
I bopped it.
Next thing I knew, I awoke to the sound of a muffled voice. "Mac…? Mac!"
"Yeah…?"
"Snap out of it, we're training."
"Okay, okay!" Incineroar growled at me from across the stage.
"Mac, I want you to practice some K.O.'s today. Sparingly use it, because Incineroar's gonna take a beating on your behalf."
"What do you mean?"
"Catch."
"What?"
Jane disappeared behind the glass and brought out a small... energy bar? She dropped it down a chute.
Out of thin air, the small purple-packaged chocolate bar landed in my hands. "This is something that I asked the lab to formulate - it gives you the K.O. punch instantly, Mac."
"Isn't that illegal?" Smash Athlete Barred From All Tournaments Following Doping Scandal. The words echoed in my mind's eye.
"Of course, it's illegal to use in combat, but it's useful in training and wears off in the short term, so you're good. Go on, eat it up."
Incineroar gave me a puzzled and somewhat concerned look as I chomped on it. It burst with crunchy sweetness, and my mind immediately got cast back to Doc; he used to love these - in fact, he always used to joke that his beer belly wasn't from alcohol but actually from sugar. My chewing slowed because of the stickiness, and blood rushed into my jaw, tensing it up. I grimaced.
"Uh, Jane?"
"Hmm?"
"Where do I chuck this out?"
She burst out laughing, banging her fist on the glass. "Oh, Mac… Just chuck it over the side." The cat Pokémon opposite too chuckled, offering me a hand for the wrapper. Old habits. I passed it to him, shaking my head.
Suddenly, my vision went black and my entire body went hot. I felt it, as though the heat was melting my skin, outside of my own body. Two hands grabbed my side; they were warm and furry - then there was a dark... blur. I found myself staring at the infinitely high blast zone.
I'd almost fallen over the side of the stage when he'd caught me. His eyes looked off, and fire seemed to be coming off his entire body - not just his belt. Everything looked saturated with colour and I felt like vomiting.
Closing my eyes, Jane yelled, "Mac, are you alright?" It was so loud. I heard the veins throb in my forehead - one, two, then three, four; the skin around them moved and shifted to meet their demands.
"There's so much, so much happening, Jane," I panted, "what the hell?"
"Mac, use your K.O. punch on Incineroar!"
"WHAT? HOW?"
"Just do it! Feel the rush through your body; you'll know it when it happens!"
I saw Incineroar brace himself. I flexed my right fist, bringing it up an inch to ready myself. It flared white hot and abruptly burned through the restraint I put on it.
My fist flew upwards, and Incineroar rocketed to the sky.
[ - The omnipresence of God - ]
( - N/A - )
Tuesday 11th August 2076, 01:52
"Clovis." A singular tone rang out as the dark man's hands went to work, picking up the phone with a deliberate grasp.
"I see you're not one for niceties, hey?" The other man's nasal voice laughed, an eerie sound in the black of the garage. His giggle was effeminate and oily; the person speaking behind the phone only made it more revolting. "So, what did you call me so late for?"
"Clovis, I'm telling you right now that Operation Solenoid isn't going to work."
"You never opposed it before… and you aren't and can't be our only source of capital for this project, mind you."
"We both know we need more money for this; that's a given. But did it never cross your mind blatantly nerfing unpopular fighters is bound to get called out by fans, Clovis?" He hissed the last word at the glib man.
Radio silence on the other end of the line.
"It does more good than harm to this. If they complain… well, the old fighters will soon be forgotten, with so many new Smashers we have yet to invite. This cutoff makes sense."
"In with the new, out with the old? Is this what this is turning to?"
A high-pitched laugh came from the other end. The man wiped dust off his overalls and cringed at the grating noise. "How humorous! I thought you yourself should understand as an engineer. Isn't your job, your career, centered around optimising the new in favour of the old?"
"You aren't wrong about that… but if you won't budge, I need a favour."
"Mmh-hmm?" It was tauntingly sing-song, the voice on the other end, how full of himself and power-hungry he was, the sick pervert.
"Fighter number forty-nine."
"What about fighter number forty-nine?"
"He is in a rather precarious position on the leaderboard; if someone gave him a little nudge upwards, I don't think anyone would notice."
"Oh? Mr. Ethan Williams, thinking about anyone but himself?" Without waiting for a response, he giggled and continued. "How lovely. But, we both know that's impossible, isn't it? After all, you said it would be too obvious for a fighter's position to be shaped - no?"
"It's one fighter - in fact, the final leaderboard doesn't need to be made public, does it? Fighters who got in, or out, they can be told that individually, can they not?"
"Those silly fans and analysts and whatever… we both know how much they fancy their tier lists and rankings and all that; now, on to more pre-"
"I'm stopping you there. You tell me who is supplying 31.5% of the funds for this operation? If just under a third of the money for this goes missing… I'm not sure it could go through successfully, now, could it?"
"Now, now, Ethan, all you needed to do was ask! Ask and it will be given, my golden boy. Our very own…" There was the sound of clicking in the background. "-Little Mac will be in the Ultimate tour - scout's honour." Venom trailed, oozing, from his tone.
"Alright, Clovis - I have one more demand."
"You're getting on my nerves, Mr. Williams… Go on, my friend."
"Nerfs for fighter twenty-four. If you're going to implement the cutoff, I want him gone."
"Too late. He's thirty-seventh on the roster, or as they say - 'likely high-tier'," he scoffed, "with one fight left to go. It would be far too obvious; Ethan, I'm sure even you would be able to understand that."
"Hmph, alright then. What did you say you wanted to tell me, then?"
"Since research began, the geeks have discovered two things. The first is the particle that radiates enough dark matter. The geeks have dubbed it a CORN - a Cold Originated Radiating Nucleon. They call it that, a cold originated particle, because it only arises from pair annihilation - when one particle and its parallel collide. Upon observation, flashes of very faint reddish light are found when this occurs."
"There sounds like a 'but' in that sentence, Clovis."
"Patience, Ethan. As I was saying… it is borne out of pair annihilation, which makes it extremely unstable. The CORN's lifespan is less than half a picosecond."
"Hmph. Well, you mentioned something else?"
"The mountains in northwest Aurest. Them and their wonderful colours; they're caused by reacting certain transition metal complex ions with other naturally occurring substances. Now, this sounds well and truly fair enough, except for one thing. The only metal complexes that generate them are cobalt and iron, both of which are naturally ferromagnetic… yet, no traces of magnetism are found in the area."
"That sounds more a coincidence than anything else, Clovis."
"I like to be precise in my calculations, Mr. Williams… but this is a lead we have to work with; further, no other radiation emits light - and radiation levels in the area are significantly higher than here in Smashville. Why do you think few animals reside in the vicinity?"
"Hmm."
"Now, I'll leave you with that - I've got to go get my beauty sleep. Ta-ta!"
The hangup tone was final, and the man sighed, putting his phone on the table. The particles had been made.
But the most important thing wasn't that; no, he didn't even care about Mewtwo - he would take care of him if it got to that; if it was necessary. A massive weight felt as though it was off his shoulders, and to an extent, he wondered whether it was just waiting for him to be off guard before tumbling back down again.
It would be awhile before it felt like a reality.
Mac is in.
Mac is in.
Oh… this is just the beginning.