AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, I think I've got to agree with luigi rocsz: This story isn't getting many reviews. (I thank luigi rocsz for being a faithful reviewer, however.) Remember, the less reviews I get, the less motivated I will be to update this story. And since I'm currently juggling multiple stories, if I get too bored of one story, I may even delete it. Since I like this story, I probably won't delete it, but if you can, please take a second and make me feel warm and fuzzy or something.

--

"It's time to get up, Marth."

Go away, I'm sleeping, Marth thought grumpily.

"Marth! Come on!"

Marth turned away from the voice.

"I'll set Mr. Game and Watch on you if you don't get up in five seconds."

Do it, then. What do I care?

"The next match is about to start, Marth!"

Marth felt the jolt of sudden panic you yourself are probably familiar with; while you are resting in bed, you suddenly forget who and where you are and what you've been doing recently, and the moment somebody tells you, everything rushes back and you realize you are late for something important. Marth opened his eyes immediately and sat upright instantly.

"Huh? What?"

Marth turned to see Young Link standing by the bed looking very impatient. He was scowling up at Marth.

"The next match will start in about two minutes! Are you coming or not?"

Marth nodded and hopped out of bed so fast that his feet got stuck in the comforter and he landed on his chest on the floor with his feet stuck in a big blanket. He winced as he landed on his injured part. He quickly untangled his feet, crawled out, got back up, and dashed out the door. Young Link was right behind him. When they got downstairs, Marth slid across the floor, changed directions, and headed for the Teleporter. He almost left Young Link behind as he hit the necessary buttons and the doors almost closed on the small boy. Young Link looked like he really wanted to say something about it, but decided not to say anything anyway.

"Sorry," Marth panted.

The Teleporter rumbled as they warped away in separate teleporting pads, which were small platforms that used the energy harnessed by the Teleporter to switch dimensions or warp to a certain spot. Marth arrived behind the other fighters in the floating stands outside the blast lines. Fox was fighting Kirby in the Jungle Japes level. The first people to turn and look at him were Link, Roy, and Zelda.

"Just in time," Link said. "It's going to start in about four seconds."

"After you didn't appear," Young Link said, sitting down next to Zelda, "they sent me after you. Can you at least set your alarm on the clock or something?"

"I don't know how," Marth said, shrugging. "Pieces of technology still fascinate me."

Before anybody could say anything else, Master Hand started announcing the start of the match. Marth set down next to Link and yawned. It seemed like there was never enough sleep in a nap. His arm and chest still hurt from when Bowser stepped on them.

"3...2...1...go!!"

Fox jumped off his part of the house on stilts and landed on the larger middle part. Kirby hopped down and joined him. Fox released several shots from his Blaster, then flipped over Kirby and did a kick. His foot met nothing. His leg was a good two feet or so over Kirby. Fox grimaced as he realized he had forgotten about Kirby's miniscule size. Kirby inhaled Fox, then copied his form and spat him back out. Fox growled when he saw the pair of furry ears on top of Kirby's head. When most fighters were inhaled by him, they felt like their privacy had been invaded.

"Take those ears off," Fox growled.

Kirby's response was to pull out a Blaster lookalike and shoot Fox with it. He got hit with the first one, reflected the second one, and jumped on top of Kirby. His foot landed on the ground. Kirby had done a simple sidestep and was now beside his foot. Before Fox could react, Kirby tripped him, then grabbed him with surprising strength for his tiny form, flew up into the air, and slammed him back down into the ground. When Kirby floated after him, Fox kicked Kirby, then pulled out his Blaster and fired several more shots in quick succession. He almost landed in the river, but caught onto the edge of the house and pulled himself back on.

Kirby created a wave of energy using his Final Cutter, which Fox reflected back at him. He ran at him in an attempt to kick him, but Kirby sidestepped it and kicked him off the edge of the house. Before Fox could pull himself back on, Kirby gave him several kicks to the stomach, then grabbed him and threw him down into the river. Fox's eyes widened as he realized he couldn't get out of the water. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not swim back to safety. The river rushed him past the boundaries, and he lost the match.

"And that is why Kirby is so dangerous," Samus said, sighing. Marth remembered that she had lost to him during the first round. Despite the small creature's tiny size and simplistic look, he was definitely a skilled fighter.

--

"Dinnertime, Roy."

Link, Marth, and Young Link walked into Roy's room. Roy was working on a book of brainteasers, staring intently at its pages. He glanced up as Link said as name. "Okay."

"That means it's another Swordsmans' Night Out."

Roy closed the book suddenly. "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Although it really isn't necessary to do this for me. I mean, nobody else is doing it--"

"Then let's do it for Young Link," Link suggested. Roy couldn't argue with it, so he set the book down and followed them.

"Where do you want to eat?" Marth asked Roy as they walked to the Teleporter. Along with going to stages to fight and going to stage to watch people fight, they could also teleport without blast lines so they could freely explore each dimension. Going to another dimension without telling anyone and not coming back for days was forbidden, and could sometimes get fighters kicked out of Smash School. Nobody had ever gotten lost or been kicked out, fortunately. In order to teleport back, all people teleporting, including teleporting to matches, were given wristwatch-like devices that could send them back to the Teleporter.

"That one place in the Mushroom Kingdom," Roy answered. "I keep forgetting what it's called. Makes the spaghetti I like."

Spaghetti was a new dish that Roy had discovered he liked, much like Coffee. Marth had also tried it and liked it. "Okay, let's go there. We're going to the Mushroom Kingdom, guys."

They all stepped into the Teleporter and pressed the button for the Mushroom Kingdom. They all teleported separately to a spot in the dimension, right next to a place called Toad Town. (If they had warped right in the middle of it, it would have scared some people.) They were always surprised by the mushroom-like citizens, and Young Link still couldn't understand why it was called Toad Town if no frogs lived there. Roy had given up trying to explain what a toadstool was.

They walked along a path and finally arrived in the middle of Toad Town. They saw many Toads, the citizens, walking around. They tried not to stare at one another, because both were rare sights to each other. The restaurant Roy liked was in the southern part of the town, so they headed south. They found the restaurant Roy liked and walked inside.

The restaurant was not overly fancy. It was a sit-down kind of place, but not "fast food," as Marth believed it was called. They all sat down in a semicircle booth and relaxed.

"You did convert the Smash Coins into the currency used here, right?" Marth asked Link. He nodded.

The Toad waitress walked up to their table. Although she was smiling, Marth could tell she was thinking, Oh, great. These weirdos again. "Hello! How are you guys today?"

"Pretty good," Marth answered. It was fortunate that, for a strange reason, nobody minded four people with all kinds of deadly weapons walking into the restaurant. He was also surprised when Mario had said it wasn't an uncommon thing for someone with an axe or sword to just walk around town. Still, it didn't seem to change the waitress's mind about them being psychotic weirdos.

"Are you all ready to order?" she asked.

Marth looked around the table. Roy nodded; Link nodded; Young Link was reading the menu impatiently.

"Need help?" Marth asked.

"I can't find where the drinks are!" Young Link muttered.

Link leaned over. "Did you check under 'beverages'?"

"How was I supposed to know what 'beverages' meant?" Young Link complained. "They can't just put 'drinks'?"

Marth ignored him. "Do you have any grape soda?"

The waitress nodded. She turned to Roy. "Have any coffee?"

"Yep."

"Then I'll have some of that."

She wrote it down and moved onto Link. "Just water for me."

Young Link's expression brightened up. "Can I have hot chocolate?"

Hot chocolate? What was that? Wasn't that food, not a drink? And wouldn't hot chocolate melt? Would Young Link be drinking a gooey mess? He decided not to think about it and let the waitress write it down. She told them she'd be back shortly and that their drinks were on the way.

"By the way," Marth asked as the waitress left, "any word on Falco's missing things?" They all shook their heads. "Well, we now know for a fact that somebody stole them. He didn't just drop them, and nobody took them without permission and didn't put them back. Someone deliberately took his items, and they hid them well. Why would they take his stuff, though?"

They all thought for a bit. "Well," Link finally said, "to be honest, it sounds to me like some sort of evil plot. I don't think somebody stole them to get revenge or anything. I think somebody stole them with a plan in mind, like they're going to use these for something."

Marth had never thought of that. He had always assumed that it was personal revenge, or a prank, or maybe just somebody trying to get away with something naughty. He shuddered at the thought of something big, something that could affect them all. Something they couldn't sit back and watch as it unfolded.

"If that's true," Marth said slowly, "this places finding his items on a much higher scale. Let's hope it isn't, though."

Link nodded. "I hope not. But anyway, perhaps we should save that for a later time. This is supposed to be a happy time."

Marth nodded. As important as it was, he didn't want to ruin the whole thing by talking about depressing matters. He was glad when the waitress came back with their drinks.

"So, what's hot chocolate?" Marth asked as Young Link's drink was set down.

"It's kind of like Roy's coffee," Young Link said, "but it's chocolate, and it doesn't make you hyper."

Roy took a sip of his coffee and frowned. "This doesn't really taste like the coffee back at Smash School."

"That's because coffee is made different wherever you go," Link answered. "But it's still good, right?"

Roy grinned. "He can it not be good?"

Marth drank his grape soda. It was slightly different as well, but still had the same general taste. "Do they have soda in Hyrule, Link?"

"Nope. Totally new stuff. It's really good, too. I'm going to have to take this stuff back home."

That made Marth think of something else. "Hey...do any of you think you'll stick around for the Third Generation?"

Marth looked around him and realized that everyone heard them and thought they were nuts. He couldn't blame them; the Third Generation? No grape soda? Hyrule? What were these people talking about? He smiled and turned his attention back to the group.

"I definitely am," Link said. "Remember, I was here in the First Generation. It just keeps getting better and better each gen."

"Maybe," Roy said. "And if I don't, I'm taking some coffee beans with me and starting my own coffee farm."

Young Link shrugged. "Probably not. I still have a whole forest and everything to go back to."

Marth had always wondered how Young Link and Link could exist at the same time. Once he had asked Master Hand about it, and his only response was, "Never you mind, Marth." He had decided to let the matter be, but was still intensely curious.

"I think I'm staying," Marth said. "I think it'll be interesting, seeing the new fighters and meeting everybody and learning about their pasts. When do you think the next generation will come?"

Link sighed. "Probably not for a long time. There was a pretty long gap in between the First and Second Generations, and this generation just started. But it will come, and I'm sticking around for it."

The waitress came back, and they all ordered their food. Roy, naturally, got his spaghetti. Marth ordered a hamburger, which was another new type of food that he found was addicting. Link ordered a cheeseburger, and Young Link got some chicken tenders. The sheer list of food to order was immense. No wonder Roy liked the restaurant so much.

The night lasted a long time. There was a watch built into the Home Bracelet (as it was called) which told the time, and Marth was surprised to learn they had spent an hour and a half at the restaurant. When it seemed like everyone was full, they were mysteriously able to cram in ice cream on top of all that they had. When they were done, they got up and left the restaurant, then warped back to the academy using their Home Bracelets.