"We have to get in!" I shouted over the noise of the battle. There were speakers all around the viewing area, and they were designed to project all sounds emanating from the Brawl. The snarls of Bowser ricocheted off the walls as he, Little Mac, and Wario triple teamed against Peach, who was managing to stay alive. But she couldn't hold her own for long.

"You can't enter a fight if the Brawl has already started!" We have to help her from here!" Sheik yelled back at me.

"How do we do that?" Zelda shouted.

"We can spawn in items for her to use!" I responded. We couldn't keep yelling forever. Sooner or later, our voices would tire out.

"How do we know she'll be able to use them?" Pit yelled back.

"I don't know! But we have to trust her!" Chrom shouted.

Suddenly, a new noise burst from the screen. Now aiding Peach was Lady Palutena and, of course, the teacher's pet, Marth. After a series of blinding combos, Marth turned and looked at us. Through the screen, I could tell that Marth was very excited to be showing off his skills to Zelda.

"Watch this!" He called, then closed his eyes. The sky darkened to accumulate the power of Marth's final smash, just waiting to be free. Lady Palutena and Peach sensed his actions, and grabbed Little Mac and Wario. Bowser ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then, Marth let out a yell and surged forward, driving his sword through all three bullies, immediately sending them flying through the stratosphere. As soon as their bodies hit the barrier, a deep voice boomed, "GAME." The battle was over.

"It must have been a stock battle," Pit said as Peach, Marth, and Lady Palutena struck their customary victory poses, while the other team clapped. This was traditional, and something that hadn't been ignored since brawl had begun.

When Marth stepped into the common room, Zelda rushed over to him.

"That was amazing! You're so powerful!" She said. Then her smile melted into a frown. "I was worried about you. I know that brawling doesn't allow you to get hurt, but still." The scene pulled at my heart with cold fingers. It was getting harder to bear seeing Zelda and Marth together. But, I had to admit, Marth's fighting skills were amazing from what I'd just seen. He was faster than me, and he knew his blade very well. His dancing blade technique was admirable. If there ever came a time that Zelda was in danger, it was possible that Marth would do a better job protecting her from threat than me.

"Although these boys have been taught a lesson," Lady Palutena said, snapping me out of my daze. "We'll need to be taking this to Principal Ganondorf and Mimii."

"Who's Mimii?" I asked.

"She's my older sister," a voice said. We all turned to see the owner of the sentence. Standing in the doorway, splattershot in hand, was none other than Camii. "Mimii is the student observer, and head of the student council. Though, she does take the role of guidance counselor at times. Now, let's take this to the main office, shall we?"

On the way to the office, Lady Palutena informed us on how she had found out about the fight.

"As teachers, we of course have full access to the brawl room in our school. There are many more out there, as we all know," she said. "I saw you rush by, and then Lucina and Robin filled me in on the story. Marth, who was talking to me and Ike about the test Friday, volunteered to come with me. After that, with my authority over the system it was easy to input me and Marth into the battle." We stopped outside of the office doors as Camii asked for permission to enter.

When we stepped into the office, I was surprised by its size. There was main room with a table, and the other offices were connected to the larger room by doors. At the table clearing up after the Student Council meeting were Samus, Shulk, and another girl. The girl had jet black hair that had been cut short, going perfectly with her cold eyes, which resembled pools of silver. I remembered seeing her in the hallways before. She was a third year, and was said to be one of the best student brawlers in the school.

"Oh, hi Sheik," Samus said, looking away. "I didn't think you'd be coming back here today. Anyways," she said, her gaze flicking over to me. "Link, have you met my older sister, Bayonetta?"

"No, I don't believe I have," I said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine," she said, and we extended arms to shake hands. "If I remember correctly, I might be visiting students during gym class in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure we'll rock," she said with a wink.

"I'm looking forward to learning something new from a more experienced brawler. I'm sure there's more to fighting than meets the eye," I responded.

Bayonetta nodded. "You have a bright mind in between those blonde locks. Stay sharp." And with that, Bayonetta, Samus, and Shulk left the room. Just as soon as they had disappeared down the hall, Camii reemerged along with Principal Ganondorf and an inkling who looked just like Camii. That's probably Mimii, I thought.

"Now that we're all settled," Principal Ganondorf said. "Let's discuss what happened in the gym today. Your guardians have been notified of this situation, so you can sit back and relax for now." Ganondorf's cold, obsidian eyes found mine on the last phrase, and the hair on the back of my neck began to rise. But, I was reassured by Mimii's and Camii's presence in the room.

It took a while to coax out the truth, but it turned out that Peach had been bullied by Bowser and Wario since last year, when the three of them had started attending the school,with Mario and Luigi last year. She hadn't been that great of a fighter, and had always needed help from the teachers. But over the summer, she'd been training hard, and was managing on her own just fine now. That was probably why Bowser had gotten Little Mac to join his group. He'd been afraid that the timid girl he'd picked on last year would come back with vengeance on her mind. And he'd been right. But I sensed there was more that they weren't telling us. This story and our encounter yesterday didn't match up. After a brief discussion about in school suspension for the three bullies, and words of praise for the rest of us, we were allowed to go home. Toon had car pooled to baseball practice with Kirby and Jigglypuff, so Sheik, Robin, Lucina, Pit, Zelda and I had the road home to ourselves.

"I wish I could have done more to help," I told Zelda with a sigh as the last of our group pulled away.

"I wish I could have done something, too," she responded. "It's a good thing that Lady Palutena and Marth were able to get there." Now it was her turn to sigh. "I'm still pretty bummed that Marth can't be on our team for the smash tournament." Each word of her last sentence squeezed tightly on my chest. The way Zelda talked about Marth made me feel hollow. Maybe I really did like her, but Marth had jumped ahead. I shoved the thought away. And just in time.

"Do you still have the picture that I drew you?" Zelda asked.

"Yes, I still do. My uncle laminated it for me," I said.

"My father doesn't know about your drawing. He said that drawing wasn't worth my time." She turned back to me. "You said your uncle laminated the drawing. If you don't mind me asking, where are your mother and father?"

"... I never knew them. They… Died when I was young," I said. "But sometimes, I remember something like a feeling. And that's enough for me."

Zelda nodded in understanding. "My parent situation is tough as well, although not like that." With those words echoing in our minds, we parted ways. I had a feeling that this topic wouldn't be brought up again.