First Round – 40 hours remain

It felt like forever until Jeff decided to leave his room to get something to eat. As much as he wanted to avoid the place where Lyn was murdered, he couldn't ignore the ache in his empty stomach anymore and he might as well eat now that there wasn't anyone planning on killing him. And while he had just made an alliance with Ashley, he didn't feel like meeting her at all, so he was pretty relieved to find Chrom in the way to the kitchen.

Seemed to be a recurring thing between them.

As much as Jeff didn't want to talk to other people, Chrom was at least a more comforting person to talk to. It almost made the boy feel sorry for him for being dragged into this game. Almost. On the bright side, he knew Chrom was trustworthy. The prince would never kill anyone, right? Right, so he had nothing to worry about. Kind of a selfish thought, but it was much too late to feel good about himself, so it was better to at least be sincere with his own feelings.

"I just realized that I hadn't eaten a thing since we have arrived here," Chrom said, bringing Jeff back to reality. "I'm starving! What about you?"

"I wouldn't say starving, but I'm still pretty hungry," Jeff said as he walked towards the fridge. "I'll admit it feels kind of weird being able to eat whenever without knowing if you're having lunch or dinner."

"Indeed it is."

As they've both prepared their lunch, a simple tuna sandwich, Chrom couldn't help but notice Jeff's sullen face. At first he had no idea what could have put him in such a bad mood, but then he remembered the whole incident with Lyn and why they were having a break from needing to murder each other in the first place.

"You alright?" he asked once they've both settled down on the marble table, each with their respective meal.

"Still feeling down, but at least Lyn is in a better place," jeff sighed. "Well, a better place than here, at least."

"I see..." Chrom said in sympathy, "You two were really close, weren't you?"

"Nowadays, yes, but we didn't talk that much back in the Brawl era," the boy explained as he munched on his sandwich. "I used to hang out only with Ness and a few other Smashers. We started hanging out more when the new tournament was around, when we were in charge of showing the newcomers around."

"Showing the hotel around, uh? I don't think I was there when this happened."

"You weren't?"

"Not really, I was just kind of thrown there and had to figure things out for myself," the prince shrugged his shoulders. "I had both Robins and Lucina by my side, so I wasn't completely lost, but then again, they were also newcomers, so the four of us were lost together."

"But every Assist Trophy had this tour..."

"I'm not an Assist Trophy, remember?" he said, with just a hint of bitterness in his voice, "I'm just Robin's accessory in their Final Smash."

"...That's rough."

"I'll live with it."

"Well, let's hope you do."

"Ha! Good to know you haven't lost your sense of humor."

Chrom, eight participant:

"Honestly, the fact that I'm just part of Robin's Final Smash makes all the more unfair that I'm here," Chrom said as he slumped over the red couch. "But I guess Crazy really wanted to have me here, I'm pretty sure the lottery was rigged."

He then scratched his head, his eyes not focusing in anything in particular. The lottery probably wasn't rigged, that was just his imagination.

"But I guess life's not fair," the prince said with a somber expression. "We are nothing but pawns to his sick, twisted game, fated to just jump at each others throats thanks to constant fear and paranoia… Never to be rescued, because what is the point in hoping that someone will worry about us? Why should we fight the inevitable, since in the end, we don't matter?"

Maybe Chrom should lighten up the mood, this was getting depressing real fast.

"Maybe Crazy should start considering becoming a decent manager and stop toying with his creations."

Ha, fat chance! I'd be caught dead before giving up now on this game!

...I mean, Chrom looked up with a slight frown on his beautiful face, clearly not looking at anything.

"Do you feel the need to narrate everything that we do here?" he asked.

Little did Chrom know that narrating was essential for this show. He knew nothing, the innocent one.

"You know what? I'm done here," he said as he got up from the couch, "This is giving me a migraine."

After his lunch with Chrom (as much of a lunch a tuna sandwich could be), Jeff decided to spend some time at the recreation room. Maybe he could find some game to pass the time, or even waste his hours away watching television. He had expected to find anyone there, but if there was one person he didn't expect to meet was Ashley. Either she had been following him, or that was some awful coincidence. He was still kind of wary of the girl, despite their new forged alliance. Besides, aside from said alliance, he had absolutely no idea what to talk about with her. Ashley was such a mystery and Jeff up until that moment didn't feel like getting to know her. That was probably why he didn't have too many friends to begin with. But he was pretty happy with the ones he had, so who cares?

Jeff needed to stop those divergent thoughts. They were bad for concentration. Right now, he had to come up with some topic to discuss with Ashley, or else, they would just stand there awkwardly and it wouldn't be fun for anyone. Besides, it wouldn't hurt to know more about his new ally.

"So, uh, I didn't expect to find you here for a second time," he said, awkwardly walking towards the girl slumped over the couch. "The first time was already enough of a surprise."

"Is it really that surprising?"

"A little… I kind of expected you to be locked up in the library, sitting behind a pile of books."

There was a ghost of an amused smirk on her lips, though Jeff didn't notice it in time before it disappeared.

"Do I really look like such a nerd that all you can imagine me doing is studying?"

"Well, no, but you do seem to spend an unhealthy amount of time studying witchcraft."

"Can't argue with that," she shrugged her shoulders. "But I do like games every now and then. Trust me, when you work at the place I used to work, you kind of learn how to at least like them a little."

"Wait, you used to work?!" he asked, completely taken by surprise. "Where?"

"At the WarioWare company. I was responsible for creating all kinds of mini and macrogames there."

She used to work for Wario? Now that explained why he used to see Ashley talking to the fat man every now and then, they had a history together. Jeff felt horrible for thinking she was a creepy shut in who never left the house. But the again, how could he know that someone as young as Ashley had a stable job? In this economy? He couldn't help but admire her a little more after that.

"And… did you you like it in there?"

"The people were nice, can't really complain about them," she held her game closer to her chest and brought her legs closer. "I mean, I didn't talk to them much, but they were nice."

"Oh, really?"

"Hm..." she nodded, getting clearly uncomfortable where the conversation was going. "So what about you? How was your world before waking up in this realm?"

"I used to study at a private school in a place called Winters," Jeff said, now sitting at the edge of the couch, just mere inches away from her feet. "It was one of those intern schools, so I didn't get the chance to go out much into town. I'm still surprised to this day I actually ran away from it to join Ness in his quest to defeat Giygas."

"Not much for going out?"

"No, not really," he scratched the back of his neck. "But after my adventure, I felt like I've missed a lot because of being such a shut in. Despite all the emotional scarring part, visiting all of those places was really cool and I've made three great friends. Before Ness, I had only one true friend, really… I think he had feelings for me, but I mostly ignored it."

"Wow, you really are a jerk!"

"That's rich coming from you."

"I don't try to disguise it, at least."

"I like to think that I got better," Jeff said, suddenly feeling down. "This was way before my adventure, and, well, I never really got the opportunity to talk to him about this, so..."

"Whatever, it's all in the past, right?" Ashley said, finally sitting up. "What matters is the life you live here, not the life you can never go back to living."

"Well, I guess, but I still want to know if I ever apologized to him or not," Jeff looked up. "I never got to sort my feelings out, so I wonder if the original Jeff did."

"Sort out your… feelings?" the witch looked confused at him. "What are you implying?"

Jeff just shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.

"Weren't you and Lyn a thing?"

"W-what?! No, no, of course not!"

"I could swear..."

"Ashley, she's way older than me! What were you thinking?!"

"That can't be possible," she crossed her arms. "She can't be more than a year older than us."

"I don't know, she never told me her age. I just always assumed that she was at least 18."

There was an awkward pause between them, as if both wanted to drop the topic but had no idea how to smoothly change the subject without making things even more awkward. Jeff felt even worse, now realizing he had no idea how old his friend was. He could swear he had hear Lyn commenting that she was 18 at some point and took that for granted, but what if he had just imagined? Once he left that mansion, he would ask her. He simply had to.

His line of thought was interrupted by the playful banter behind him. As both Jeff and Ashley turned around, they saw Dillon and Midna entering the room, both surprisingly and calm and amiable towards each other.

"You had to see his face when I canon balled out of the stage and him while he recovered," Dillon said, earning another laugh from Midna. "I don't think I've seen Link look so mad before. I bet he still won't admit that Pit won that day."

"Ha ha, that sounds like Link alright!" Midna clutched her ribs. "No, but seriously, it's like I never am summoned by him, only against him. Link's probably starting to think that I'm doing something with the system just so I can go against him."

"And you are?"

"Of course not! It's just bad luck, that's all," she said as waved her tiny hands. "Just like my whole life. It's one strike of bad luck after another."

It was only then that they realized the other two occupants of that room. Dillon tipped his hat in a respectful manner at them, while Midna greeted them with a wave of hand.

"And just what are you two doing here, all alone?" the twilight princess teased.

"Nothing that concerns you," Ashley said, now with her more familiar emotionless tone.

"We've been talking, nothing more," Jeff said, making sure to be friendly for both of them. "What about you guys? Are you here for a game of chess?"

"Pfff, chess?" Midna smirked, "Please, I only accept Othello."

"Othello, really?" Ashley looked at her in disbelief. "Who even plays Othello nowadays?"

"I do, and it's certainly way more interesting than chess."

"Midna kept sayin' this game was great, so I might check it out," Dillon said, "'Sides, she told me the loser had to take two shots of tequila as punishment."

"If she's a pro at this game, wouldn't that make it more probable that you're the one who's going to lose and take those shots?" Ashley raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah!" the armadillo gave a toothy grinned.

"This is dumb," the witch groaned and got up. "I'm leaving."

Ashley walked away, leaving behind two dumbfounded Assist Trophies and an annoyed Jeff behind. To think a few moments ago they were actually holding a decent conversation…

"She doesn't have much of a filter on, does she?" Midna asked.

"How can ya stand someone like this, Jeff?"

"She can be sort of nice when she wants to," Jeff said, though he still felt annoyed. "Ashley's just stressed, leave her be."

"You have the patience of a saint for putting up with her, Jeff," Midna said.

No, he just didn't want to go through this game without an ally. He was not being altruistic, he just forced himself to put up with Ashley because he believed that their alliance would benefit both of them. Ashley wouldn't be out for his head and maybe he could convince her to not play along by Crazy Hand's rules.

But above all, he was just glad to feel less alone, even if the person in question was someone he still felt a little afraid to trust completely.

How he wished Lyn was still there with him…

"Well, where's that Othello board?" Midna chirped, walking towards the tall shelves next to the snooker table.

Okay, so maybe calling both Midna and Dillon stupid might not have been the brightest idea, but the fact that Dillon wanted to play that game just so he could use it as an excuse to drink made her skin crawl. Why even give that excuse, when he could go to the nearest bar (she was sure that mansion must have had one) and drink? Ashley hoped she hadn't made two potential enemies with that little commentary, but it more probable that she did, so she might keep an eye out for Midna and Dillon.

As she passed through the living room, she found Riki napping on one of the couches, as if he had no worries in the world. So far the Heropon was one of the most carefree people Ashley had ever seen. It almost made her jealous. Almost.

"Hello? Ashley, can you hear me?"

Ashley yelped at the sudden, new voice that called out for her. She turned around to face the TV screen that hung on the wall, only to find Isabelle's image staring at her with gentle eyes.

"What..."

"I'm sorry for scaring you like this," she apologized.

"You didn't scare me," Ashley huffed, "You caught me by surprise, that's all."

"He he."

"But what are you doing here anyway? Where's Crazy Hand?"

"He's out for a while, trying to fix the Miiverse stage," Isabelle explained, "He decided to have me as his assistance in the game, since he can't watch over you 24 hours per day."

"Oh, great, so you're part of this too," the witch groaned.

"Not because I wanted to. It was either this, or be locked in my trophy form until the end of this game."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Crazy Hand had decided that the rest of the Assist Trophies were a threat to his plans, since one of them might tell about it to one of the Smashers," Isabelle said, bringing her paws close to her chest. "He decided to lock everyone up and told the Smashers that we were all out camping, since technically we're all on vacation."

"You've got to be joking!"

Isabelle shrugged her shoulders.

"So nobody will really miss us," the witch mumbled, biting her nail beds as the situation sunk in. "I mean, I know they wouldn't miss me, but they might miss the others and we might have been rescued, but now..."

"I'm so sorry, Ashley, I just couldn't do anything to stop this," the secretary sniffed. "And to think that Lyn and Waluigi had already appeared here in their trophy forms… They were promised their suffering would be over, but it was no better for them either."

"Can't you do anything at all?"

"What can I do? I'm just one Assist Trophy, what power do I have to overthrow Crazy Hand's plans?"

"You're free! You can go out and alert the Smashers!"

"I'm in the control room, Ashley, I can't go anywhere without risking being caught by Crazy..." Isabelle's face then lighted up, as if realization suddenly hit her, "But that doesn't mean someone can't go in my place!"

"What do you mean?"

"Lyn and Waluigi's trophy forms are here with me, I was supposed to store them in the room next to this one," she said in glee, "I can free Lyn and she can alert the Smashers of your situation! She's certainly a lot faster than me and would less likely get caught."

"What about Waluigi?"

"...Maybe we should free only Lyn," she said, fidgeting her paws. "For… discretion reasons."

"Yeah, okay, not gonna argue with that."

Isabelle then looked over Ashley, at where Riki still slept soundly. A warm smile spread across her face.

"Listen, I need to go now, there's no time to waste," she said, "I'd hate to wake Riki up from his sleep, so can you tell him that I said hi and that I'm grateful for him saving me from this game?"

"Sure, I'll pass on the message."

"Thank you, Ashley, you're the best!" Isabelle beamed, earning an embarrassed blush from the girl. "I'll try to update you on what's going on outside, okay? Later!"

The TV screen turned off and it took a few good seconds for Ashley to move again from where she stood. Well, that certainly was something. Ashley probably should tell the other Assist Trophies what had just happened. But what if one of them decided to tell Crazy? Even if by accident?

What about Jeff? Should he at least know, since he was now her closest ally?

"Hmm..."

Riki snored and broke her concentration.

"Hey, Riki," Ashley said, shaking him with one hand, "Isabelle said thanks for saving her from the game and that you're great."

"Heropon… always great..." Riki mumbled and let out another snore.

My job here is done.

To anyone wondering, Crazy only narrates scenes of the confession room. If he was the narrator of the entire story and knew what was going on, you bet he wouldn't let Isabelle get away with what she's about to do.