If feasts were usually chaotic, they were tenfold more so on the day newcomers arrived. There had been a considerable number of tables added, and many people were thrilled to interact with the newcomers. Simultaneously, the newcomers were now basking in presence and attention of the most famous champions ever. Red had even asked for Mario's signature on an empty Pokeball he had.

Red and Leaf had brought their two groups of roommates together at a table. Isabelle was constantly accosting Villager about not grabbing any food until Kirby said it was ready.

"Can't you just wait one moment?" she snapped. "They spent all day making this!"

Peach was listening attentively to Leaf talk and the Inkling Girl was beside herself with excitement interacting with Red and Leaf's Pokémon. Leaf was explaining to Peach how she had been wanting to join Red as a champion ever since he got to go.

"And so I was telling everyone when he was battling here last time 'That's my friend Red! I'm working to go there as well!'"

Incineroar had formed an immediate perfect chemistry with his roommates. They were each chugging a large soda bottle as fast as they could. Sonic finished first and slammed his down, followed immediately by Incineroar.

"Atta boy!" yelled Sonic, punching him in the arm.

Simon and Richter were pouring over some of the smaller weapons Snake had procured for them to look at. Meanwhile Snake and Marth were observing the odd tools the other two had brought with them.

"Snake!" called Peach once Richter had picked up a guided rocket launcher, cutting off Leaf midway through describing a battle. "Don't just let them play with that! They'll blow the table up!"

"It's fine," replied Snake, waving her concern away. "Safety's on." He seemed too intrigued by the glass bottle Simon had shown him. "So this explodes into flames when you toss it?" he asked Simon.

Ike and Ken were engaged in an intense arm wrestling match which was causing the table to bend slightly under the pressure. Luigi, Lucas, and Mega Man we're close by watching Ryu and Little Mac cheer them on.

Next to them, Cloud was staring hard at a chess board. Across from him was Robin, who had a small smirk on her face as she toyed with her opponent. Cora, Corinth, and Robbie were talking to Zelda, Rosalina, and Palutena. Lucina, meanwhile, was excitedly chatting with her father Chrom.

A curious case was Ridley. Ganondorf seemed to have taken it upon himself to get Ridley comfortable, and was loudly recounting the many times he had fought with Link.

"And so get this. I seal the guy in a time warp for seven years. Seven years! And what's the first thing he does when he gets out? What does he do when he's seen the world permanently altered, the town destroyed, and the sky black? He goes around smashing pots and cutting grass again! Never mind the castle now hovering over a pool of lava and the zombies in the streets, he's got dishes to smash!"

Dedede roared with laughter. Even Wolf was chuckling. Ridley was easing slowly into the group hearing that he wasn't the only one to have gone through this transition. By the sound of it, this Ganondorf guy had been wrecking havoc on Link for generations before they came here.

Link, back over at the table with Mario, Fox, and DK, scowled at Ganondorf.

"He knows damn well people hid good stuff in those pots," he grumbled. "Where else would you look if you came back to Hyrule seven years later and needed to get supplies?"

"Still," chuckled DK, "I'd like to have seen you smashin' pots while the world was on fire."

"Coming from the guy who chucked rolling barrels at the one person famous for jumping," retorted Link.

CLANG CLANG CLANG

Kirby appeared at the front of the room.

"Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed.

No one had a clue what Kirby was saying, but they all knew it had to mean dinner was ready, so they cheered. Incineroar's table began banging their fists on it in sync.

"Not yet!" hissed Isabelle as Villager reached for the starters. "Honestly, is this how you have acted when I haven't been here?"

Mr. Hand appeared next to Kirby.

"Really quick just before we start eating. Welcome, newcomers. I see you all have gotten to know everyone here and are fitting in well. That's good to see. However, as you all know we are a business and there are some business things I want to remind you of."

"The media day starts tomorrow at nine in the morning. There will be times posted on each floor with everyone's schedule. Obviously the older, more well known veterans will have longer time frames, but newcomers expect to have quite a bit of time as well. The press wants to get to know you so put on your best face. You may not have had your first battle but this is your first real impression to everyone of who you are. After that the first round of battles will be posted tomorrow night at nine. Again newcomers, be prepared to be jumping into the fray soon as many people will be interested to see you perform. That's all!"

"Poyo!" announced Kirby again, and proceeded to literally inhale an entire dish of food. Plate included.

"Uh, I think that means we can start eating," said Fox.

"Sounds good to me," said Link, diving in.

There was a huge clanging noise of dishes and silverware hitting each other as everyone passed food around to each other.

"I thought-a you were cutting down the wings?" Mario called over to Bowser as the latter dumped a dozen onto his plate.

"Special exceptions for feasts," he growled back. "I only get a few of these days per year."

"This is amazing," said Leaf, struggling to decide if she should continue eating the carbonara she just started or the soup she was eyeing on her left.

"Yes, Kirby has been known for being quite the cook since we met," said Peach, stretching to hand the salt over to the next table to Captain Falcon.

"Thank you miss," he said curtly, before turning around and rashly dumping it all over his steak.

"How do you even stand that?" asked Ike from the table next to the captain.

"Gotta build up a tolerance," said Captain simply.

"Huh?"

"It's been a while since I tasted the tears of my opponents," he continued. "Gotta build up the salt tolerance."

"Uh, okay pal," said Ike, turning back to his table.

"He seems confident," Ken said curiously to Ike.

"Confident doesn't come close to describing his brashness," said Ike, stabbing at his plate of chicken and rice. "The guy would jump off the new dorms right now if he thought it'd make him more popular with the ladies."

Over where Cloud had been playing Robin in chess, things were getting desperate.

"Cloud, eat some food before you try and move," laughed Robin. "I won't hold it against you."

"No, you're trying to distract me," said Cloud with a determined tone. He hadn't moved a muscle for nearly two minutes. "I will not let you do that to me."

With his queen, both rooks, a knight, and half his pawns gone, things were looking bad for Cloud.

"Eat fooooood," said Robin, pushing a plate into his line of sight.

"So how'd you guys get so good at chess?" asked Palutena. "I don't think I've ever asked."

"We used to be tacticians where we came from," said Cora. "We found chess was the closest thing to what we used to do all the time, so we started playing it a bunch against each other."

"Pichu Pichu!"

Pichu and Game and Watch, a two dimensional, short, solid black figure dubbed by the others as GW, had lined a series of pie slices in a straight line across their table. In one smooth motion, Pac-Man chomped his way through them all. This seemed to entertain Pichu a great deal for some reason. So many new faces were now here since the electric rat had last been a resident, and it was almost too much of a stimulant.

"Isn't that the mini-Pikachu that always hurt himself?" asked Fox.

"Yep, I think it's got itself more under control now," said DK. "The Pichu I knew would've already exploded and knocked itself out with all this stimulus. 'Member how it would occasionally knock itself out at Cap's parties?"

Link choked on a piece of hamburger. "Yeah, because we jacked it up on energy drinks and it started blasting off the walls until it blasted itself with an electric attack. That was hilarious, although we probably would've been laughing less and more worried if we hadn't been drunk."

"Ahh, you-a neglected to tell me that part when I asked what-a happened," said Mario, eyeing Link. "Let's-a not give the extremely small creature enough caffeine to wake Bowser up again, shall we?"

About an hour later, the atmosphere was much more subdued. Satisfied stomachs had quelled the excitement from before, and people began to slowly meander their way to their new rooms. The party table had consumed all the beer and wine near them until Isabelle snatched it away from them saying, "The last thing you need to do, Captain, is show up on the first day hungover! You're supposed to be a role model!" They proceeded to loudly sing their way out of the dining room and to the dorms.

"Alright, we should probably pack it in," said Fox. "We always get signed up for hours of press time so I want some sleep."

"Good idea," said Link. They both got up from their table and left the room.

"Hey guys." Zelda and Palutena appeared from behind on their right as they approached the dorms.

"Oh hey guys," said Link. "How's Lucina?"

Fox felt another pang of guilt.

"Oh she's great," said Zelda. "She couldn't stop talking with her dad. It's obviously a huge relief for her. Not that I thought that she was in much danger. What's wrong, Fox?" She said suddenly.

"Oh," stammered Fox, "I uh, you know. I just felt a little guilty about the whole thing."

"Guilty?" questioned Palutena.

"Oh um…you know," he was really floundering now. "I just would've felt bad for her, you know? Being around so long and her getting kicked out after working so hard."

Zelda's eyes narrowed.

"You bet on her getting kicked out, didn't you?"

"How-?"

"My power is quite literally wisdom, Fox, you should know that. I can figure things out."

"Mine's courage," boasted Link awkwardly.

"Interchangeable with stupidity," Zelda threw back. Link shrunk away from her but was still speaking defiantly.

"Hey, I betted in favor of her, thank you!"

"That doesn't mean anything!" Zelda snapped. "You were still betting on her! She's a person!"

"I don't see how putting my money in faith of her doing well is bad," grumbled Link.

Zelda was unconvinced.

"Well, see you guys tomorrow," said Palutena, eyeing Zelda's icy glare. "Another big day."

"Yeah, see ya," said Fox. The two girls left up the stairs while they walked into their room.

When they got inside, Fox turned to Link and put on a ridiculous expression.

"Mine's courage!" he exclaimed, then bust out with laughter.

"Shut up," said Link, red with embarrassment. "Hey, there's our media day schedules." He pointed at four slips of paper on the table in the common room.

"Oh boy," said Fox somewhat apprehensively. The Big Eight always got heavy media day schedules filled with reporters barking at them for hours. "Looks like Hand wants us set up by eight forty-five. Ugh, the eight of us are stuck with the big shot reporters for the first two hours."

The reporters for the biggest news companies covering them and their battles were always trying to grind every little morsel of information out of them. Press conferences with all eight original members were extremely rare. Any time they did occur, it was hours of being shouted at over obscure, sometimes difficult to answer questions, and they always had to be careful what they said on some topics. Say something bad about another champion on accident, and the next day the leading story will be about the made up grudge the press concocts overnight.

"Remember when we used to deflect questions to Mario all the time?" Said Link.

"Yeah, and then he got so fed up with it he just never said anything when we did it again and it resulted in some really awkward silences."

Link gave a short laugh. "Good times. Had to have been at least fifteen or so years since we last did that."

"We only got away because none of us knew what we were doing back then. Schedules got mixed up, rules kept changing, there weren't any standards to what we did. Now it's all etched in stone, probably kept in a shrine guarded by Isabelle's vengeful soul. Pretty sure if they got to follow me giving the newcomers a tour of the dorms the top story tomorrow would be about me wanting to lock some of the people here in a basement."

"Sorry, what?" Link asked.

"Never mind."

Link looked further down his schedule past their first press conference.

"Solo interviews for another hour after a break. Gross. Hey at least we don't have to do joint interviews with any of the newcomers! Those spots have already been filled!"

"Good," said Fox flatly. "I hate how they always throw them out there without any training. The veteran always has to cover for dumb things the newcomer might say. I'd rather get electrocuted by Pikachu over and over than do that."

"Ole Ganon has Ridley," observed Link, looking further down the paper. "Wonder how he's going to deal with that. Can Ridley talk? He brought some weird voice contraptions with him to the equipment room. I didn't want Samus within twenty feet of the guy so I handled all his stuff myself."

They both had sat down on the lounge chairs facing the table.

"Yeah, how'd that go with her? She try to blast his face off?" asked Fox.

"No, she just ignored him like at the reveal ceremony," said Link. "Don't think he cared. He's probably glad she's not giving him attention."

"Weird. Oh, and Cap has Incineroar," said Fox, pointing further down the schedule. "That's a disaster waiting to happen. We don't even know if they'll show up sober."

"Incineroar might get excited but Cap usually knows when to draw the line with the press," Link pointed out. "He's all fun and games here but he's always quiet outside."

"Fair," replied Fox. They both examined the rest of the list. "More interviews with some of the smaller reporters throughout the day. Those are never too bad. Then schedule releases later on. We'll get swarmed by questions then once we know who we fight first."

Mario and DK arrived through the door.

"Well," said Link, tossing the schedule back to the table and getting up from his chair, "I think I'm going to start prepping for bed.

"All-a ready?" asked Mario.

"Might as well," said Fox, also standing up. "Hella full day tomorrow. Don't want to loose focus and have to deflect more questions to you."

"You've done your own interviews for far too long for that to work anymore," said Mario.

"Single file please! You should have your seating assignments already! Do not sit somewhere else as we are expecting full attendance!"

The morning sun was shining brilliantly on the front lawn of the mansion. Dozens of stations had been set up along with thousands of chairs facing them. Even more daunting we're the hundreds of cameras placed everyone overnight with wires going all over the place.

It was eight fifty in the morning and the Big Eight were sitting apprehensively at a long table in front of at least 200 chairs, all of which were being filled by reporters. There was a good deal of commotion as the seats had been tightly packed near the table they were all sitting at. Behind the chairs, cameras were all pointed at the table expectantly, their operators lounging before the event began.

"Please, let people by who need to get to the middle!" called a security guard desperately. The hired enforcement was being paid generously to deal with the mess of media day, but it didn't diminish the stress.

"This is nuts," whispered Fox to Link. "I always say I forget how many people usually show up for this, but this is way more than we've ever had."

"What even would they want with us," asked Link. "We're not even the main talking point right now, they should be focused on all the returners and newcomers."

Once everyone had sat down they got very quiet as they looked expectantly at those sitting at the table. Fox looked over at the other tables.

Ganondorf had volunteered to be Ridley's spokesperson. Champions who couldn't speak well or at all usually had someone appointed as their spokesperson who would answer questions on their behalf. The two of them were lounging. Ganondorf seemed to had figured out a way to get some basic communication down, because he was discussing something with him. The chairs in front of them were empty, they had a while before their interview started.

Lucina had, obviously, paired with her father Chrom. She was bouncing in her chair, still ecstatic from the day before. It made Fox happy to see her so cheerful. Their chairs were also empty as they didn't have any events slated for a bit.

Captain Falcon and Incineroar, however, did have a small group of people talking to them informally. Fox was astounded that they both looked in perfectly good shape after last night, but with the Captain's helmet, Fox could never truly tell if he was hungover.

A bell chimed somewhere in the city. Nine o'clock.

Mario tapped the mic. "So, I-a think I'll just start here in the front row," and he pointed to someone Fox recognized from many other interviews.

"Kaitlin Panther, Corneria News," she began. "What are each of your opinions on the vast expansion of champions?"

On the far right, Pikachu and Kirby began hammering at touchscreens. While both weren't capable of speaking, they didn't need a spokesperson. They had learned to communicate via machine for these events, even if it took some time. Meanwhile, Yoshi began speaking.

"I think it's very exciting," he started. "I'm sure all of us here remember the more intimate times when it was just the 8 of us, but I feel that the addition of new people has been good for both spectators and us. It provides many more scenarios and styles for people to enjoy and for us to experience."

"I see it as a net positive," said Samus. "Sure keeping track may get a little chaotic but more champions means more characters and more battles for people to get excited about."

Fox was next. "I can't imagine anyone who would be disappointed with more. It adds to the excitement in my opinion."

The remaining four also gave their same pre-planned answer, Kirby and Pikachu's via a computer. They all knew this softball question was coming and knew how to answer it.

The next hour was to be filled with the same cycle. Question, everyone takes a turn answering, next question. Most of the questions were obvious, and they all had their answers made for them. Occasionally there would be one about the newcomers they had to think quick for, but nothing challenging. Easy was the expected format for the first hour.

But then someone asked something that threw them all off balance.

"What's your plan to maintain the entertainment value for the spectators?"

It was asked by a reporter from the very city they were in. Fox stared at the guy for a second, mouth slightly open, before looking at Mario. Even Mario looked a little taken aback by the question.

Plan to maintain the entertainment? Fox thought incredulously. They were the sporting event everyone watched. What maintenance of entertainment could possibly be required?

Mario, quick on his feet, came up with an answer.

"We believe-a the formula we have been using for some time is a tried and tested one that provides something-a spectators enjoy and will continue to-a utilize it."

But the reporter wasn't done. He continued by asking, "Are there any plans to make any adjustments to the current system for the sake of entertainment?"

Mario definitely looked confused this time, and he simply replied, "No."

That was a good an answer as any in Fox'a opinion. The question was totally random and didn't make a whole lot of sense in his mind. However, they didn't have time to think about it as the next question was already being launched at them.

"Are there any plans to change the current format of the competition?"

Now Fox really thought he was hearing things. The format they had settled on was forged through years of trial and error. Why would anyone want to go back to the chaos of changing the rules all the time?

Once again, Mario didn't have anything to say but "No. We feel that the-a current system has served us quite-a well over the years and don't see-a need to change it. No point in-a fixing what isn't broken."

The following question ("Which newcomers are you most excited to face?") was much more par for the course and things began to settle down, but Fox was still suspicious.

"What the heck was up with that?" he said to Link after their conference was over.

"Up with what?" Link asked.

"The questions about 'entertainment value' and changing the rules. Where did those even come from?"

"Oh yeah," said Link. "Honestly I'm just glad we had Mario again to back us up. I don't think anyone was ready for that to be asked, but he handled it pretty well."

They began heading towards the resting area that had been set up for the champions to enjoy between sessions as the summer day wore on. A large tent with water and food.

"I just want to know what kind of story they're trying to write that requires those kinds of questions," said Fox.

"I wouldn't sweat it too much," said Link, taking a lemonade. "People are always trying to get new, fresh angles on stories. I don't think it meant anything."

Fox didn't have his personal session for some time, so he decided to sit at the back of the crowd for Ridley's. Since the Big Eight has wrapped up, all the individual champions were getting interviewed, starting with the newcomers and returners.

"I'll be speaking for Ridley today," said Ganondorf into the mic. "I got an opportunity last night to train with him some and get a feel for his fighting style so I'll be ready to answer any questions on that."

Fox wondered when Ganondorf could've possibly found time to train one-on-one with Ridley between the feast last night and sleeping.

The first reporter raised their hand. "Could you give us an overview of Ridley's style and if it compares to anyone we know of?"

"Strong, slow hits," started Ganondorf. "He will have an easy time keeping people off of the stage while fighting. He's got some projectile style attacks that are versatile. There are some problems with being such a big target due to his size, and his slow hitting nature makes it easier to dodge, but I'm sure the latter can be worked out with time."

Sounds like you, thought Fox. Ganondorf himself was quite slow with some devastating attacks that would leave anyone they hit sore for the next week. Ganondorf seemed to leave the second half of the question unanswered since this fact seemed obvious.

"How does Ridley feel being here as a Champion?"

"I think he's a little surprised to be honest. I don't think he expected someone of his type to be called in to a competition like this, but hey, he's not the only one like that. I think once he's warmed up to the crowd he'll actually enjoy the spotlight."

"Really taking him under your wing aren't ya, Ganondorf?" muttered Fox. It seemed like the best option. Ridley had to make sure Samus wasn't around because she most likely would go nuclear on him if they got too close, but he was just like all the other villains here. Feeling like an outcast at first before settling in and getting along.

"Are you Fox," said someone on his left.

Fox looked up. It was the reporter from Corneria at the morning Big Eight conference. She looked like a walking cat.

"Yeah, that's me," said Fox. "Kaitlin, right?"

"Yes. Big fan," she said, shaking his hand. "My parents were in the shelters at Corneria during the Aparoid invasion so I can't really thank you enough for what you did."

Fox waved it aside, "I'm sure anyone in my position would've wanted to help at the time. Is there something you wanted?"

"Well, just off the record, what do you think of all these newcomers and returners? You've got a huge crowd now."

"Yeah," said Fox. "And a much bigger set of dorms to show for it. I honestly think it's more fun this way. More people, more types of fights, more new stuff to experience."

"Hmm," Kaitlin said thoughtfully.

"You don't think so?" Fox asked.

"Oh no I think it's great as well," she said. "But I'm also of the mind that Hand can do no wrong with what he's got here. I trust him. It's just, I don't think everyone else does."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she started. She wasn't quite making eye contact with Fox. Instead she was focused on Ridley up on stage. "Some think he's gone a little overboard, bringing this many people on."

Fox paused, then remembered the one reporter from in town at the conference.

"Like the guy who asked us about maintaining entertainment value or whatever?"

"Yes," said Kaitlin, "people like that. They seem to think Hand has lost his touch a little bit, and that he's compensating by making the number of champions bigger than ever."

Fox rolled his eyes. "They can think that all they want," he said. "They'll shut up when our ratings blow all the records out again."

"That is what I'm hoping," she replied. "You know how people like that are. Any sign of weakness and they'll jump all over it and turn it into the biggest story around. Bunch of vultures…" she finished venomously.

"I would just let things go. They'll see how well we're still doing and they'll crawl back into the shadows again until this happens years later," said Fox.

Kaitlin nodded. "Well, I look forward to seeing you out there on the field again."

"Thanks," said Fox, shaking her hand. She left him.

After Ridley's interview Fox made his way back to the tent. He had a little bit longer before his own interview. Quite a few champions were here, as everyone was either at a station answering questions or waiting here for their next assignment.

"Hey there, Fox boy," someone growled. Fox turned and met Bowser's giant hand patting him on the head. "Saw you talking with that nice lady back there. Not hitting on the reporters already are ya? Can't imagine Krystal would-"

"Shut it," said Fox, swiping Bowsers hand off his head. "She just wanted to ask more questions about what I thought of all the new people joining up."

"Ah, well that's boring," said Bowser, sitting down at a table.

"Have you already done your interview?" Fox asked.

"Yeah," said Bowser. "They flooded us after you guys were done with them. Seemed to care about the newcomers more than us, as per usual."

"Yeah, they couldn't stop asking us questions about them," said Fox. "Pretty typical, honestly."

"Mario said you had some curveballs, though?"

Fox shook his head. "Just some guys looking for a story. Talking about entertainment value and what not, as if we aren't the biggest sporting competition around. You'd think someone from in this city itself would be aware of that."

Bowser chuckled, "Seemed to get you riled up plenty."

"It was just a stupid question," said Fox.

"Hey guys!"

Leaf had just returned from her interview.

"Heya," said Fox.

"So how'd you do?" asked Bowser. For all his roughness, Bowser made a point to give newcomers a break and be nice with them. Once they were settled in, though, they were fair game.

"Not too bad I don't think," she said. "Red covered some of the hard questions for me. I think I got off easy since Red and I use the same Pokémon so everyone already kinda knows what I'm like."

"Figures," said Fox.

"Least you're not like what Ridley and Incineroar have to go through," said Bowser, looking towards Incineroar's giant crowd. "The reporters are having a field day with them."

"How's Incineroar?" asked Fox.

"Cocky," snorted Bowser. "He'll fit right in with Cap. Probably bring half the new dorms down with them. Did you notice they're right underneath Zelda's room?"

"Seriously?" said Fox. He thought back to the floor plans. "You know, now that you say that, they would be in the room under them. Haha, that's going to result in disaster. Cap is the biggest flirt in the house, and they already generate so much noise as it is."

"I overheard Zelda telling him that if he gets too out of control she's sending her knight down to clean them up."

"Couldn't she just teleport down there and deal with them herself?" asked Fox.

"Not through walls and floors."

"Ah, that's right."

Leaf slumped into a chair. "Ugh, there's going to be so much I have to learn about everyone if I want to have a chance. You guys have been doing this for years and I'm just starting."

"You'll be fine," growled Bowser. "Red got his feet under him in no time. Hand wouldn't have invited you if he didn't think you could handle it."

"Positive Bowser?" Fox joked.

"Only to the newcomers," Bowser growled. Anyways, I'm too burnt to start anything, and it's too damn hot out."

"Didn't you literally live in lava filled castles at one time?"

"Yeah, temperature controlled, lava filled castles," Bowser corrected him. "What do you think I am, a savage?"