She smashed her fist on the mahogany desk.
"No! No way!" she shouted. The thought of it absolutely disgusted her. She jumped out of her chair, knocking it backwards onto the floor with a crash, and began pacing back and forth in front on the desk.
The man behind the desk moved to remove his sunglasses in exasperation. Halfway up his gloved hand paused, as if deliberating, then instead returned to the table.
"Look, I know this is a shock for you, but you're not the only one to have gone through this. There's no need to make it person-," but she cut him off.
"It is personal!" she yelled. "You know what he's done to people! To me!"
The man sighed. He grabbed a white letter bearing a seal. The seal was that of a circle with a single horizontal and vertical line. The woman stopped pacing and stared menacingly at the letter, as if she had a grudge against the piece of paper. The man turned the letter over in his hands before tucking it into his jacket.
"Samus," he started, "I knew you wouldn't take pleasure in me inviting him, but you have to learn to settle things. You're not the only pair I've had to reconcile. However, I always have this conversation with each person this happens to. I think you'll agree that they all turned out fairly well at least."
Samus didn't look at all satisfied. Her narrow eyes were still fixed on the point where the letter had disappeared into the man's jacket. She then dropped her gaze to the floor.
"Why him," she muttered.
"Well," he said, relieved to see her temper had somewhat subsided. Samus had a habit of wrecking things when words failed her, a habit that multiplied in frequency when her roommates were around. He had packed away some of his more prized possessions before bringing her in because of this.
"I thought you might be somewhat happy to hear that he can't hurt anyone here, or at least won't be able to without someone stopping him. I can't imagine he'll decline the invitation, so he won't be causing any more havoc where you're from either."
Samus kicked the chair back off the ground and sat back in it. She refused to look back at the man. Instead, she looked to the window. It was a brilliant summer day. The grounds outside the mansion were bright green with a rather wild arrangement of gardens. She saw a couple of figures doing loops in the sky above.
The man, meanwhile, hadn't lifted his gaze off Samus.
"You think I'm insulting you by doing this?" he asked rather pointedly.
Samus shuffled slightly in her seat, but still didn't look from the window. Yes, she thought it was insulting, but she wasn't about to tell the man that she felt that way. It was a childish assumption, for he had never done anything with the intention of causing any of them unnecessary grief.
"My hope," he said, "is that perhaps this experience might help him grow and understand things a bit more. You know what he's like out there. He's alone. Here he'll be able to meet several people who have been there before."
Samus finally looked back at the man. There was still a lot of stubbornness in her expression, but this was natural. The man knew the important thing was that she might give the person in question a chance when they showed up.
Rather than, of course, attempting to obliterate him with a laser cannon upon his arrival.
"I'm not forgiving him," she said.
"And I wouldn't expect you to," he replied. "And I don't think he'll expect you to either. He might not even want it, but at least you have a chance to settle things. For all you know it could save people back where you're from."
Samus looked back to the window. "May I leave?" she asked.
"Of course."
Samus got up from the chair, far more gracefully this time, and exited through the door, her blond hair flashing through the frame before it closed shut.
The man relaxed into his chair. Thankfully, he thought, that went better than he had thought it would. These kinds of meetings always seemed to result in disaster. He remembered one incident some time ago where someone shot the invitation with a blaster and he had to remake it, hence why he put this one into his jacket when Samus got fired up.
"Isabelle!" he called. There was a scraping of a chair and scuttling of feet just outside the door. It flew open and a small figure stood in the frame.
"Yes, sir?" she asked.
"I need to go deliver these invitations. Meanwhile, we're going to need to renovate the mansion for our new guests," he told her, opening a drawer where several more letters identical to the one in his jacket resided. He picked them up and turned to Isabelle.
"Adding on, are we?" she smiled. "Shall I draw up some new plans?"
"Oh yes," said the man, smiling back. "But not just suites. We'll need to add two more floors to the place to accommodate everyone."
Isabelle's eyes widened and her mouth dropped a little in shock.
"Two…whole floors, sir?" she repeated.
"Yes, ma'am," he replied, smiling more broadly. "Two whole floors will be needed, and we're moving back to 4 person suites again."
Isabelle jumped in place. "Well I must get right on that then! See you when you return, sir!" She scuttled back out of sight.
Today, thought the man, was turning out to be a great day. He got to deliver his invitations, in person nonetheless, his meeting with Samus didn't result in half his office being shot with lasers, and it was a beautiful day.
He adjusted his glasses, grabbed his walking cane next to the door, and set out into the hall.
A gloved, fur hand smacked down on the table, a couple of bank notes underneath it.
"Seven hundred says he'll kick one of those sword wielding heroes out."
A man with light, wavy hair and a blue tunic sitting opposite of the round table laughed. "I'm not sure whether I should be offended by that. I call. There's no way he's kicking out one of those guys. They're too popular with the crowds."
The man, or at least someone who had the figure of a man despite looking more like a fox, slouched in his chair and crossed his arms. The notes remained on the table.
They were sitting in a red carpeted room lit brightly by a chandelier which was hanging above the table. There were some handsome couches, a huge whiteboard, and a small handful of people.
"C'mon," he said, gesturing with one arm, the other still folded. "there're six of them. Guarantee one of them will go."
"Nah. They'll add more of them before they start kicking them out. Have any of them actually been kicked out after getting in?"
"Roy."
The man in the tunic paused. "Okay, I'll give you that, but he still came back last time."
"At the end."
"Who-a do you think will go then, Fox?" said another man also at the table with a thick Italian accent. "You are-a not getting rid of Marth, that's for sure. Even-a Ike is going to stay. So, who?"
Fox mulled over his thoughts for a second. "Either Lucina or Robin. I don't think they have the clout to hang around too long."
The blue tunic man scoffed.
"Well throw down your money if you're so sure, Link!" Fox exclaimed.
"Fine," Link replied, tossing out a pile of his own notes onto Fox's pile.
Fox smirked, then called out to an animal sitting next to the large whiteboard on the wall. The board had a table on it with various names and amounts of money along with bets written next to them. A few of them were:
Mario DK 150: Bayonetta - back
Link Samus 500: Palutena - back
Kirby Yoshi 400: Little Mac - kicked out
"Put me and Link down for seven hundred each that one of those Emblem people get kicked out!"
What looked like a large yellow rat with a lightning bolt shaped tail, a more likable face, and red pouches on its checks bounded up a ladder leaning against the board and began scribbling on it with a marker it held in its mouth.
Fox Link 700: An Emblem Member - kicked out
"This includes Roy and Corrin by the way, Pikachu," said Fox, pointing at Link with a smug look. The yellow rat at the top of the ladder nodded, marker still in its mouth.
Link rolled his eyes. "Fine."
"Does-a anyone know where Samus is?" asked the man with the accent. There were eight members of this group, but only five of them were there. Kirby and Yoshi were on their way down, but the hunter hadn't arrived.
"Last I saw her, Mario, she was saying somethin' bout meeting with Hand," said the fifth member of the room, a great ape who was sprawled out on the floor going through a box of bananas.
"Hand?" said Fox, sitting back up. "I thought he's supposed to be out right now delivering invitations."
"Did she say what it was for, DK?" asked Link.
DK gave Mario a look. "Could be the same thing."
Mario, Link, and Fox all made eye contact, but none of them said anything. They had all been invited to a meeting with Hand just before he went out to give invitations before. Mario's hadn't been that bad, but Link and Fox's were less than pleasant. DK had just come back from one, annoyed, yet somewhat indifferent.
THUD.
The three members of the table jumped. DK started choking on a banana, and Pikachu fell off its ladder.
"What the-?"
"Huh?"
"Oi!"
Wheeeeze.
"Pikaaa!"
The noise had come from one of the windows. It had been totally obscured by a great pink mass.
"Oh, for the love of…" started Fox. Link hopped up and ran to open the window. The pink mass came tumbling in and formed into the shape of a ball followed by a small green dinosaur.
"You know," said Mario, "we have-a door." The round pink ball turned around. It had huge eyes and two stubs on each side for arms. It remained silent. The dinosaur, who was about Link's height, got back onto its feet.
"Sorry about that, Mario. Kirby and I wanted to get down here quicker, so we tried to just float on down through the window. Kirby ran out of breath halfway and when I tried hovering into the window, we found out it was closed. But by then it was too late."
"Why don't we leave it open?" asked Link.
"No, it's way too hot outside today," said Fox.
Link sighed, "What're you talking about?"
"You put a ton of fur all over your body and tell me how hot it gets!" he snapped back.
"Guys. I think that-a we should start our meeting," said Mario. "Samus will be here soon enough."
The four standing at the window took their seats. DK rolled off the floor away from his pile of bananas and into his chair. Pikachu bounded up and across the table into its own chair. Seven of the eight chairs at the table were filled.
"So, the-a usual formalities," began Mario. "We know Mr. Hand wants to start a new competition. As members of the original eight we are-a obliged by him to help sort things out leading up to and just after the start of the competition. We'll need-a to assign roles. We'll need-a to run orientation for all the newcomers. Mr. Hand hinted to me there could be more than-a usual this time, so we'll have to split up the roles. Fox."
"Hm."
"I-a want you to show everyone their rooms. I'll-a get you a map of the place." He pulled a couple pieces of paper out of a folder on the table.
"Er, Mario, I don't need a map of the place," said Fox, slightly confused. He had been a member of the mansion for nearly twenty years.
"Hand told-a me the whole place is getting redone with new floors added."
"Really?" said Link.
"Hand must be tryin' to add a lot of people if he's adding space," said DK.
Link turned to Fox with a smirk. "Still think you're winning that bet?" he said.
"I'm not backing down," he replied. He took the papers from Mario and looked down at them. "Two whole new floors?" he shouted.
"Wait really?" said Yoshi, running over with the others except for Mario to look over Fox's shoulder at the plans.
"Look like we're gettin bigger suites as well!" said DK excitedly. "Four to a group now instead of three."
Link began to laugh. He looked at Fox, who groaned, and then looked at the betting board. "Oh, I am so winning those bets!"
BANG.
The door to the room was thrown open. Samus walked in, slamming the door behind her. She looked murderous.
"Ha!" said Link, bounding over to Samus, completely oblivious to her current state. "Still confident about our bet? Looks like-ow!"
Samus, not sparing a look at him, had punched Link square in the face, knocking him over. She walked to her spot on the table and threw herself into it grumpily. Without a word to any of the members of the room staring at her, she put her arms on the table and buried her head in them.
Mario, Fox, and Link from the floor rubbing his eye exchanged looks again. Yoshi looked to ask Samus what was up, but Mario motioned to not bother her. Everyone returned to their seats.
"So, Fox," said Mario after everyone had sat down, as if their meeting had only been interrupted by a mere freight train, "I'll get-a you the list of roommates once Hand gives them to me. You know all-a the social workings around here well enough, you should be able to tell the newcomers what they need to know. Who's where, what to expect, what doors not to open unless-a you want a sword crashing down upon your head…"
Link snorted.
"…and so on," Mario finished. Fox nodded, collecting together all the floor plans.
"Next, we'll need food, and lots of it. People are going to be exhausted after their travel here and orientation. Kirby?"
The pink ball jumped up with a smile, nodding happily.
"Seemed-a like an easy choice. You've been-a pro with food for quite some time. Someone will also have to show them where they can store all-a their equipment and stuff. Swords, shields, blasters, chainsaw swords, or whatever-a fad comes up next."
"I can do that," said Link, raising his hand. "I've got plenty of stuff down there anyways I can show them."
"Alright, that-a works out great then. We'll need someone at-a the front handing newcomer's their plans for the day as they come in."
"Pika!"
"Sounds-a good. We'll have-a Pikachu doing that. Yoshi, could you go over-a some of the house rules with them? No need to-a be too specific. They'll-a learn most of them just living here."
"Sure!"
"DK."
DK smirked, "You'll be wantin me to do that fighting demonstration with ya, I bet?"
"Of-a course," chuckled Mario.
"Only if you're ready to get whooped again," DK replied, stretching out his massive body. Mario shook his head.
"And-a…Samus," he said a little tentatively.
"Hmph?" she groaned. Face still in her arms on the table.
"Could-a you help store all their equipment away once Link shows them where it's at?"
"Mmph." Mario took this to be a groan of agreement.
"Well I-a think that's all we needed to make sure we covered. Isabelle-a should have everything prepared by this evening. We should-a go collect that later so we have everything for tomorrow, especially you Fox. You have-a lot-a stuff you'll need to read through. Kirby, you should-a start working on that food. That's-a it."
All the members except Mario and Samus got up and headed for the door.
"Still want that bet, Foxie?" laughed Link, elbowing Fox.
"Shut-up or I'll put one of those bombs of yours in your cereal tomorrow," retorted Fox. Link's laugh faded away as the door closed.
Mario looked to Samus, who still hadn't moved.
"So," he started. Samus still refused to budge. Her hair had formed a dome over her, obscuring any view of her face. "I-a have a good guess as to what Mr. Hand wanted to talk to you about."
Samus groaned, pounding the table with her fist.
Mario laughed a little, "You are-a not the only one with a villain here, Samus." Samus finally looked up. Where others may have suspected tears, Mario wasn't at all surprised to see her characteristic stubborn face.
"He's inviting him," she hissed. "Why would he do that?"
She looked at Mario. He noticed a look of desperate confusion under the stubbornness. Tough as they could come, Mario had learned enough about the people he had spent so long with to know when they were at a loss.
"You-a know, I think you should perhaps talk to Link and Fox," he said. "They had their own experience with this."
"And you?" she asked.
"What-a bout me?"
"I know you had to have had this conversation once, when Hand was about to invite Bowser."
Mario laughed clearly this time. "Ah I always forget! Him and I used to be at each other all-a the time!"
"You still kinda are," Samus muttered, looking to the side.
Mario, still smiling, looked out the window Kirby had smashed into previously. "Yes, we still have-a our fun, running me through those contraptions and mazes of his. But where-a do you think we would be if we didn't have each other? Beating up-a all you people here?" He winked at her.
Samus slouched back in her chair. She ran her hands through her hair "I'd be better off without him."
"Perhaps, but don't-a go counting him out just yet. You might be surprised with-a what you find. Mr. Hand is good with picking out people with good potential. Anyways, no one is-a saying you have to be around him. He will probably have-a his own group."
With that, he patted her on the shoulder and said, "Let's-a go. Kirby will have-a eaten half the lunch room by the time we get there."