Disclaimer: I do not own Nintendo, Smash Bros., or any of its third parties. I only own Purpy Draggo and the D3G SP Ensemble.

VIII: March

It was 6:10 in the morning on the day of the Smash March, where the great video game army would march into a battle with Purpy Draggo. The day ahead of them would be tiring, but it would be for a good cause: the existence of the Smash Bros.

The members D3G were setting up their instruments for the Smash Bros. Pre-Alarm that Dassi mentioned the day before. (AN: These pieces are available to listen to in my public YouTube playlist, "D3G's Pre-Alarm".) They were setting up in a just big enough room with an intercom audible on all floors. They made the intercom quieter so that their alarm wasn't too loud.

At 6:18, they finished setting up, and began their Pre-Alarm. They opened with A Hero's Welcome by Doug Spata. They played it as a string quartet with Nina playing the first violin part, Dassi playing the second violin part on her viola, Lee playing the viola part, and Kero playing the cello part.

The young chamber ensemble played A Hero's Welcome was flowing and expressive. The hero depicted in this piece was welcomed with a warm and meaningful melody.

The next piece they played was the second movement of J.C. Bach/Casadesus Viola Concerto in C Minor. Lee was the viola soloist for this piece with Kero accompanying on the piano, Dassi accompanying by playing the second violin part on the viola, and Nina playing the first violin part.

The tempo for this piece was Adagio Molto Espressivo, and Lee took that seriously. He [and the rest of the ensemble] played it slower than usual, and Lee passionately vibrated his notes. In addition, Lee was physically expressive. If you watched him play this movement, you would see intense facial expressions, and his black shoulder-length hair would sway with his extreme body movements.

The Largo from Handel's Xerxes was the next piece of choice. D3G played this piece as a String and Percussion (SP) Ensemble. Nina played violin one, Dassi played violin two on the viola, Lee played viola, and Kero played the cello part on the marimba.

The teenage musicians gave this piece a pleasant baroque feeling. Kero's marimba playing was articulate and prominent, Lee's part was like Kero's but prominent, as Nina and Dassi's melody overshadowed it. Their playing gave life to the melody of Xerxes by letting it flow to portray Xerxes I of Persia admiring a plane tree.

The work after the Largo was the third movement from Telemann's Viola Concerto in G Major with Dassi as the viola soloist, Kero on the piano, Lee on the second violin part with the viola, and Nina on the first violin part.

This movement had a special place in Dassi's heart because she learned this movement with Kero a few years back. They both enjoyed it and learned the whole concerto. Her playing style for this movement had mood swings. Some sections were somewhat aggressive, and some were more relaxed.

Next on the list was the ballad from Divertimento for Woodwind Quartet by Christopher Nichols. The instrumentation of this woodwind quartet was different than usual. Usually, a woodwind quartet is comprised of a flute, oboe, clarinet, and a bassoon, but they couldn't play some of those instruments. Instead, Nina played the flute, Dassi played the oboe part on the clarinet, Lee played the clarinet part on the French horn, and Kero played the bassoon part on the bass flute.

They performed this piece like the Largo in terms of expressiveness. This ballad wasn't meant to portray anything. Because of that, they played this movement with musically descriptive elements to give it a ballad feel.

Gymnopedie No. 1 arranged for unaccompanied marimba was the next music to be played. This was Kero's calm solo for the Pre-Alarm, and it was just him playing the marimba because it was an unaccompanied solo. Kero used a delicate touch for this four-mallet solo. His playing was quiet and he struck the marimba bars lightly most of the time. There were a few times where he accented some notes, but overall, it was a delicate and peaceful solo.

The second movement of Vivaldi's Concerto for Violin in A Minor followed Kero's solo. This was Nina's solo, and it was also the final solo. Lee and Dassi played the first and second violin parts on the viola to accompany Nina, and Kero played the piano to accompany Nina. Her performance of this movement was very intense. Every note was vibrated to some degree. Sometimes is was a harsh vibration and other times it was a neutral vibration. In the end, all four players ended on a relaxed note.

The grand finale for D3G's Pre-Alarm was Air on the G String by Johann Sebastian Bach. D3G performed this air as an SP ensemble. The teenage musicians gave this musical work an airy feeling. To accomplish this, they played all of their parts were played at a low volume. It was almost as if Nina, Dassi, and Lee barely had their bows on the string and Kero was barely touching his marimba. Their sustained notes gave the piece a feeling that was like a relaxed summer wind.p

The Pre-Alarm was over, and it was time for Kero to break out his crash cymbals. After putting all of his instruments from the Pre-Alarm back in their chip form, he got out his crash cymbals and took the elevator to the first floor with dorms. When he got their, he made his presence known with some loud full crashes. He did this while walking down the hallway. When he reached the end of the hallway, he played some marching cymbal music while walking to the elevator.

The Asian percussionist repeated this process a few more times. By 7:30, everyone was ready and waiting in the cafeteria area for instructions from the SP Ensemble.

"ATTENTION!" screamed Lee.

Everyone looked up at him.

"As we told you yesterday, we are able to track Draggo. He is located at a log cabin inn in the forest. We're going to march toward that inn. Are there any questions?"

This time, there were no questions at all.

"All right. Let's go. Your going to sort yourselves brawler/swordfighter/gunner again when we get out there."

The congregation promptly went outside and sorted themselves. When they had finished, they began marching towards this inn. They were on their way to a pressuring battle. This was a fight for their lives. A loss for then would mean the end of the Smash Bros., and they were quite popular in their world. The end of Smash Bros. would be terrible for their fans.

The warriors began to realize this. As a result, they got nervous and scared. What if they were all going to die? What would that mean for their fans or even their homes? The citizens of their homes would probably mourn the losses of their brave heroes and be relieved that the villains were dead.

The heroes and villains. The heroes wouldn't get to fight and defeat the villains or other opponents, and the villains wouldn't get to torment the heroes and innocent civilians.

And the other parts of their lives. They all had friends at home and in Smash. What if they never got to see them again? What if they never hung out with them ever again? What if they never had a conversation with them ever again? What if they participated in an activity with them ever again?

Overall, there were so many what ifs to worry about for them. They were truly saddened by these what ifs. Notwithstanding, they needed to stay strong, and they knew it. If they didn't stay strong, then all of these what ifs could become a reality, and that was not something they wanted.

Because of that, they decided to give this battle all they had. Even if they went down, at least they would go down knowing that they put up one last ferocious fight for themselves and for their brothers in Smash.

These thoughts filled their heads for fifty minutes. On the fiftieth minute Kero noticed something in the distance. He wasn't able to figure it out immediately, but as they walked closer to it, he determined that it was Draggo and his army.

"STAGGERED COLUMM!"