Chrom had been to Smash Mansion before but not as a fighter. Somehow that was enough for the entire place to feel different, like it was suddenly a battlefield where weakness couldn't be shown. As he followed behind Roy of Pherae to the lounge he tightened his grip on the sheathed Falchion. Chrom stood a small distance away from the door as Roy entered the lounge. Roy had asked Marth, Lucina, Robin, and Reflet to gather there shortly before Chrom arrived at the mansion. "Thanks for coming here on short notice. One of the newcomers just arrived and wants to see you," Roy said. On cue Chrom walked into the room.

"Father?" Chrom grinned as Lucina, Robin, and Reflet all failed to hide their shock. Robin had even dropped his book. Marth smiled from his spot near the back of the room.

"Roy's been helping me train over the past year. I don't think I would have been accepted if I didn't have his help," Chrom explained.

"Even if you use my style it was your own skill that brought you here," Roy said. "I wanted to tell you guys that I was training Chrom but he told me not to so it could be a surprise." Robin reached down to pick up his book.

"Then when Master Hand approved my entry I wanted to tell you but then Roy insisted on all of this set up," Chrom said. Roy rubbed the back of his head.

"Regardless it's good to have you here as a fellow Smasher Chrom," Robin said.

"Since we both use Falchion I look forward to having sparring matches with you," Marth said. He walked over to Chrom and shook his hand.

"I would be honored to," Chrom said. It still felt strange talking directly to his ancestor but Lucina said she had gotten used to it after a while. Besides they had met before during Chrom's visits to Smash Mansion to see Lucina. That first meeting had been extremely awkward and Chrom did his best not to think about it.

"Now please excuse me but I need to go talk to Link about something," Marth said. He walked out of the lounge, Roy followed him out. Reflet leaned over to Lucina.

"Hey Lucina, are you going to tell him about your-"

"Don't you dare!" Lucina shouted. Chrom could tell from the way Reflet had been grinning that she was up to some mischief he shouldn't ask about. "Sorry about that. Let's go father, I can introduce you to some of the other Smashers."

"While you do that Reflet and I should go work on improving our technique. Master Hand needs people to test some new training area he has set up anyway," Robin said.

"I'll see you around then," Chrom said. Lucina stood up and walked out of the room with him.

"Let's go to the garden, one of the other newcomers should be there," Lucina suggested. Chrom gave his approval and Lucina led the way to the garden. Despite all of his trips to Smash Mansion he still felt like he was relying on Lucina to know where they were going. He was bad at visualizing things in his mind, which was why having a tactician like Robin had been such a godsend. To memorize the layout he'd have to walk around by himself and brute force it.

The garden was large and filled with a variety of plants. The size and vision blocking hedges made it hard to judge how many people were in it but there were two right by the entrance. One of them he recognized as Olimar, the other was a woman in an orange dress he didn't recognize. Chrom and Lucina walked over to them. "Father this is Daisy, the princess of Sarasaland and one of my friends. Daisy this is my father, the Exalt of Ylisse and the newest Smasher," Lucina introduced.

"Please just call me Chrom."

"Nice to meet you Chrom," Daisy said.

"I see you've been promoted, Lucina's been hoping for that for a while now," Olimar said. "I wish I got that kind of promotion at my job," he half muttered. Lucina had an embarrassed look on her face. The door into the mansion opened as two red Pikmin carried a flower vase down the steps, a flying Pikmin following behind them. Daisy picked up the flower vase and thanked the Pikmin.

"I've seen them before while aiding Robin in battle but what exactly are those Pikmin?" Chrom asked.

"They're an odd type of creature that also qualify as plants. I'm not sure why they started helping me but if it weren't for them I wouldn't be here," Olimar said.

"Well they're my favorite part of this garden so I'm glad both of you are here," Daisy said. She kneeled down and pulled up a flower to put into the vase. The Pikmin wandered off further into the garden. "Anyway after what happened with Ridley it's nice to have a newcomer people are actually happy to have around," Daisy said. That was an unfamiliar name to Chrom.

"What happened with this Ridley?" Chrom asked.

"Long story short the archenemy of one of the original Smashers just became a Smasher and neither of them can stand the other's presence," Olimar explained.

"I was able to have a conversation with Samus but I could tell that she was still seething with rage. With the kind of history they have I can't blame her," Lucina said. Chrom thought back to some of the more unusual recruits he had gathered for the Shepherds. Sometimes he had to remind himself why he had even recruited that dastard Gangrel. Of course the answer hadn't changed since he had made that choice, because after everything that happened Gangrel had gone from a threat to a pathetic joke. He had a feeling Ridley hadn't gone through anything like that.

Chrom felt a vibration in his pocket as a chime went off from some item Daisy had on her. He reached into his pocket to grab the communication device Master Hand had given him, something called a phone. Lucina, Olimar, and Daisy all took out theirs at the same time. There was already text on the screen reading Alert: Samus needs help in teleporter room. "Come on," Chrom said as he took off back into the mansion. The others followed behind him, Daisy put down the vase and quickly typed something out on her phone as she ran to catch up.

They were the first to arrive at the scene. Samus was collapsed on the floor in front of the door to the teleporter room, a small yellow creature that had a great resemblance to Pikachu was standing over Samus. There was no movement from Samus. "Pichu what happened?" Lucina asked. Pichu gestured for Lucina's phone, when he got it he typed 'fell unconscious' on the screen and handed it back. Chrom and Lucina pulled Samus up and supported her between them. Pichu climbed up Chrom and stood on his shoulder while taking hold of Samus. Pichu gave off a few sparks of electricity but they were so weak they only tingled Chrom.

"Where should we take her?" Chrom asked.

"Doctor Mario has a clinic, he's already waiting for us," Daisy said. She started walking in the direction of the clinic as the others followed. Chrom was about to ask how she knew that Doctor Mario was in his clinic but then he remembered what Lucina had told him about the technology at Smash Mansion. Those devices they handed out let any Smasher communicate with each other instantly so she probably just used hers. Chrom wondered how differently things would have gone in his world if they had that kind of technology, he could already think of one time it would have saved lives.

When they reached the clinic Pichu jumped off of Chrom's shoulder as he and Lucina laid Samus down in one of the beds. Doctor Mario shooed Chrom and Lucina away before they had a chance to give Samus space of their own accord. After some examination Doctor Mario sighed. "She hasn't slept at all since that purple bastard showed up, this is just a case of someone who thinks they're too good for sleep learning otherwise the hard way. With some rest she'll be back to her usual self," Doctor Mario said.

"That's good to hear," Chrom said. "Are you sure she wasn't attacked?"

"I'm sure she was raiding the Space Pirates again but I doubt she left any survivors for you to worry about. Ever since Ridley joined she's been in and out of my office killing as many of them as she can."

"And you didn't stop her because…" Daisy said accusingly.

"You try negotiating with someone who has an arm cannon. Not my fault if she doesn't want to listen to someone with an MD," Doctor Mario said.

"It doesn't sound like we can do anything more for her. We should let her rest," Olimar said. Chrom didn't want to agree but he had no choice so he left the clinic with the others. Even if he barely knew Samus being powerless always infuriated him. No matter how minor they were moments like that brought back memories of Emmeryn's sacrifice. He could almost feel the sand under his boots as he clenched his fist.

"I'm off to the tennis court. I need to let off some steam after this," Daisy said. She walked away. Olimar choose to return to the garden and said goodbye. Pichu went with Olimar.

"I'm not sure what we should do next," Lucina admitted. She glanced at the door to the clinic with concern written all over her face. "You've already seen most of this mansion from your visits."

"Then let's go somewhere else. I've always wanted to see what these other worlds look like," Chrom said. Lucina nodded and they walked back to the teleporter room. When they got into the room Lucina selected a destination on the console and then joined her father on the platform.

Teleportation spells had always made Chrom feel a little dizzy but the new sight that greeted him was far more disorientating. They were in a city filled with massive buildings, some so tall they looked like they were trying to pierce the sky itself. Even the castle in Ylisstol wasn't that high, Chrom wasn't sure if his world even had the technology to reach that height. Most of the city had a floor of cement but he and Lucina were standing in a small park on familiar grass and dirt.

"Where are we?" Chrom asked.

"New Donk City, this is somewhere in Mario's world. Peach was telling me about it the other day. She said they had some great shops here," Lucina said. They waited for the traffic signal before crossing the road and walking down Dixie Street. It was only a short walk to the store Lucina had in mind, Crazy Caps.

"Wait, we should convert our money the local currency first," Chrom said.

"The teleporter should have already converted our money," Lucina explained. Chrom pulled out his wallet, it was now filled with golden coins that had a rectangular indent in the center. He briefly questioned how that had happened before remembering that he had already decided the odd things about Smash Mansion were better off unquestioned. Lucina walked into the store and Chrom followed after her.

Despite what the name implied Chrom could quickly make out many articles of clothing for sale that weren't even headwear let alone caps. He never had much of an eye for fashion so he just stood by as Lucina looked over the different clothing for sale. Lucina found some combination she liked and went to the dressing room in back. Chrom was filled with dread.

Lucina walked out of the dressing room wearing a clown suit paired with the same strange double hat the employees of the store were wearing. It felt like an attack on Chrom's eyes and dignity. He was thankful for the Hero King's absence. "How do I look?"

"Er, you look… gods no I can't do it. Lucina change into something else please. You're embarrassing me and it should be the other way around," Chrom pleaded. Lucina gave a disappointed sigh and went to change into something that wasn't a mockery of their entire bloodline. This time she came out wearing a black suit and matching hat. "That's much better."

"You should try something on too," Lucina suggested. Chrom picked up a black suit in his size and walked into the dressing room, he walked out looking less like a king and more like a CEO. Lucina grabbed a hat identical to the one she was wearing and put it on his head to complete the look. "There, now we match."

"This is more comfortable than I thought it would be," Chrom admitted. At that moment Reflet and Dark Pit walked into the store. The latter didn't look like he came willingly and Reflet had an evil smile on her face. It was what Chrom had dubbed her 'trickster mode.'

"Oh what a surprise to run into you guys here. That's a good look for you two," Reflet complimented. She was clearly up to something but the fact that she didn't see Lucina in the clown suit meant she had already lost. "I was just dragging Dark Pit here so he can dress up nice if Lucina wants to go on another date with him."

"What!" Chrom already had Falchion unsheathed and pointed at Dark Pit. They were going to have a long talk.

"It wasn't a real date Reflet tricked us into it!" Lucina and Dark Pit shouted at the same time. Chrom pointed the Falchion at Reflet instead.

"Oh, yeah, you guys can just mention that part. I forgot to plan around that," Reflet said. She took a nervous step back towards the store exit.

"Reflet, what did I tell you not to do?" Chrom asked.

"Play matchmaker with Lucina."

"What did they just testify to?"

"Well you see, sometimes you just get bored and you know what they say about old habits so… ah screw it you'll never catch me!" Reflet shouted as she ran out of the store and into the city with Chrom hot on her trail. He pushed through the door so fiercely it broke and the anti-theft alarm went off. Dark Pit broke out into laughter.

"I'll pay for it," Lucina said to the cashier. The cashier seemed extremely eager to get the purchase over with.

"What's with the smile?" Dark Pit asked Lucina.

"I'm just glad I can have moments like this with father. There wasn't any time for things like this in the future I came from. Now you're coming with me so we can stop my father and Reflet from accidentally destroying this city," Lucina said. Before Dark Pit could protest or groan in annoyance Lucina was already dragging him with her out of the store.