Disclaimer: The only thing I own is my imagination. Everything else belongs to someone else.
'thoughts'
Chapter 2: What starts with 'T'
Colours swirled around Pit as he tried to orient himself as he travelled through the vortex. He couldn't tell which way was up or even the direction he was heading in. His stomach began to churn as he flipped and spun around out of control for what seemed like the hundredth time.
None too soon for Pit, the colours around him began to fade.
Unfortunately, when the colours faded Pit saw that he was one hundred feet in the air, extremely disoriented and falling upside-down towards the ground at an extremely fast pace.
Pit struggled to turn around so his wings would be able to catch some air. His head and stomach were still spinning slightly so it was around thirty feet from the ground before Pit was finally able to right himself. He used his wings to slow his fall and glide towards the ground instead of crash into it. He gracefully landed on the mattress that was being –
'Wait, mattress?' Pit thought confusedly as he looked down. Sure enough, there was a mattress. At the four corners of the mattress were several white and red toads that looked as if they had just run a marathon by the way they were breathing so heavily.
Pit was rather confused but didn't have enough time to ask why they were running around with mattresses when he heard a voice male call out behind him.
"That was some nice moves for having just exited the portal. I don't know what Master Hand was thinking when he decided to use devices made by Crazy Hand to transport the contestants across several dimensions."
Pit turned to see a fifth toad, this one with yellow spots on its head instead of red. He seemed to be the leader of this group of toads and gestured for Pit to follow him.
"Uh, thanks," Pit said as he left the group of toads who were still holding the mattress behind. "So, that was a portal?"
The toad nodded. "Yes, yes. They've been a load of trouble. Dropping people left and right without any notice. And if that wasn't bad enough, Crazy Hand decided to drop people anywhere from twenty feet to a hundred feet in the air! We didn't know this was going to happen when the first guy came in, so he got injured. That's why we decided to get the mattress."
Pit nodded, that made sense. The toad kept on rambling on about how irresponsible Crazy Hand was but Pit was more interested in his surroundings. Pit hardly ever came down to land so he was always greatly surprised at how different everything was from Skyworld.
They were walking through a large field that had several trees spread throughout the area and along the edges. Different types of wildflowers in about twenty different colours were growing in clumps and birds could be seen flying overhead. It was slightly windy and there were only a few clouds in the sky to remind Pit of his beloved home.
Pit turned around and realized he was standing in front of a large, elaborately-decorated golden gate which was situated between two dark, stone walls. The gate was probably three times high as Pit was tall, and in the centre of the gate were the letters 'SM'. Beyond the gate was a stone path lined with numerous types of flowers and freshly cut grass. The path wound out of sight, leaving Pit to wonder what lay at the end.
Pit was slightly nervous about meeting his roommate. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He was the youngest captain ever for Palutena's army and had taken on the archenemy of the goddess, and yet he was nervous about meeting Red, his roommate. 'I wonder if he will like me?'
Just then, Pit heard a weird whirling noise from behind him. In less than half a second, Pit had drawn his bow and had a glowing, blue arrow pointed at the swirling ball of light that was a few feet away from him. When the light subsided, a boy was left standing in its place looking slightly disoriented. His dress was rather causal, consisting of only jeans, sneakers and a jacket. The boy also wore a red hat that obscured part of his face from Pit's view.
The boy seemed to sense Pit at that moment and looked up sharply, all traces of disorientation vanishing from his face. When he saw that Pit still had an arrow aimed at his head, the boy took a wary step back and reached into his pocket. Before either boy could do anything, a strong voice broke the silence.
"Now Pit, is that anyway to treat your new roommate?"
Pit turned his head but kept his bow trained on the boy. When he saw that Master Hand was hovering in front of the golden gate, Pit immediately lowered his bow and relaxed his arm, the bright blue arrow disappearing before his eyes. 'I definitely need to thank Palutena for the gift,' Pit thought, 'I can already see how much faster my form will be.'
"At least he got a nice landing," one of the toads muttered, "We'll see you later Master Hand." With that the toads went through the gate with their mattress and disappeared.
"I apologize," Pit said sincerely to Master Hand but without shame for being on his guard. "I did not recognize the noise. I simply … reacted."
Master Hand laughed. "No worries Ca- …Pit. I can see why Palutena chose you. Your reflexes are quite remarkable. Having you around will make things very interesting."
Pit nodded before turning back to the boy, who Pit now knew to be Red. Pit had wanted to make a good impression and because of his battle-honed instincts, he was afraid he may have messed that up. Pit said in a slightly embarrassed tone of voice, "My apologies for holding you at bow-point."
Red laughed. "Don't worry about it, I'm not completely defenseless."
To prove his point, Red reached back into his pocket and pulled out what Pit recognized to be a Pokéball. Red tossed it into the air and when it reached the ground it exploded with light before snapping back to his hand.
Where the ball had landed now stood a huge, orange dragon with a flaming tail, whose dark eyes were currently staring at Pit with interest as he turned his horned head. Pit had seen a Pokémon of this type once during a match he had watched, but never before had he seen one tamed. Pit could see from how the beast seemed to size him up that he was much more intelligent than Pit thought Pokémon were. Pit knew just by looking at the large, leathery wings that sprouted from the creature's back and clawed hands, that he would be a difficult opponent not only on the ground, but also in the air.
Two more Pokéballs hit the ground, bringing out two more Pokémon. The first one looked like a relative of the earthquake-causing behemoth from the last tournament, only a little smaller and with a pink bud with leaves on its back instead of a fully grown plant. Its light green skin was decorated with darker green triangles and it also seemed to survey Pit critically. When standing on its 4 feet, its bud came up to Red's shoulder and its shoulders came up to Red's knee.
The third Pokémon was a turtle and looked like a very distant relative to the massive turtle who had 2 cannons on its back and shot water at the fighters with awesome force in the previous tournaments. This turtle was a lighter blue with a longer and swirlier tail than its relative and showed no hints of hiding any cannons in his orange shell. He also looked much friendly in Pit's opinion, especially since he seemed to smile at him when he saw Pit.
"Squirtle!" The turtle said happily as he suddenly started running at Pit. Pit took a step back, ready to defend himself. Instead of attacking him however, Squirtle (Pit assumed that was his name since it definitely wasn't his) jumped up and hugged Pit. He only came up to Pit's waist, but he easily jumped right into Pit's arms and started chattering to him happily.
"You have chosen then, Red," Master Hand said in more of a statement than a question.
Pit put Squirtle down in time to see Red nod in response. "I have. Charizard would never forgive me if I asked him to go back to a weaker form, it took enough time to get him to trust me as it is and I don't want to break that trust. Besides, having the ability to fly will be useful. Blas – Squirtle volunteered to go back to his first form, I think he missed being as carefree and mischievous as he used to be. Ivysaur didn't mind going back one evolution for the tournament since he knew that afterwards he'd be able to go back to his proper form. The special Pokéballs you gave me worked just like you said they would. It was slightly discerning to watch as the Pokémon that came out of the Pokéball was different than the one that went into it."
Master Hand chuckled. "I'm sure that would be weird. About the flying, Pit this pertains to you too... Flying will be different than how you are both used to in the arena. It will be explained more at a later date but I just wanted to give you some notice in case you started practicing early."
Pit looked over at Red to see if he had any idea as to what Master Hand was referring to. When he noticed Pit was looking at him questioningly, Red shrugged. Clearly, he didn't have any idea what was going on either. 'I wonder if he's ever watched a tournament,' Pit wondered as Master Hand turned in midair to open the gate, 'Does Master Hand plan on letting him use his Pokémon in a fight? That would be very different…no different than having a several-hundred-year-old angel who is supposed to be peace-loving I guess.'
Pit, Red and the Pokémon followed Master Hand silently down the stone path. Gently sloping hills rolled out on either side of them, rising just high enough that Pit couldn't see what was over them. The further they walked down the path, the more Pit felt the anticipation inside of him grow. 'I wonder if they will have training rooms inside the mansion,' Pit thought letting his mind wander, 'I don't want to fall behind.'
They rounded one more curve and suddenly, Pit could see the great Smash Mansion in the middle of a small valley that had cliffs on either side and opened out to what Pit assumed was an ocean.
The gray, red-roofed mansion was bigger than Pit thought it would be, nearly the size of Palutena's Palace. It was three floors tall and the second and third floors had several balconies on them. The red-roofed building was in squared-off a 'U' shape, with the upper branches extending out behind the building towards the sparkling ocean. Two large fountains shot water towards the heavens on either side of the path in front of the large, black double doors that held the identical golden letters 'SM' from the gate they had entered through. The entire scene was pretty much picture-perfect. Off to the side, another large building stood by itself and Pit wondered what it was for.
Pit had stopped walking when he had caught site of the mansion, as did Red. They both looked at each other and shared a look of awe when they realized that this is where they would be staying for the duration of the tournament. Pit couldn't wait to go see what the inside of the mansion looked like.
Master Hand chuckled. "You are both unusually quiet for having seen Smash Mansion for the first time. Do you have any question?"
Pit thought about it, 'What is there to ask? Surely Master Hand or someone else will inform us about whatever is relevant for us to know.'
"Are we the first to arrive?" Red asked quietly, which in turn made Pit wonder. He wasn't sure if he was ready to meet everyone else yet. Pit wanted to spend the day getting familiar with where he would be staying for the next few months. The dimension travelling had also taken his toll on him.
"You are the last, actually," Master Hand said with a laugh, making Pit want groan at his misfortune. "The Elites and Veterans, those who competed in the first and second Super Smash Brothers tournaments, arrived last week. The other Newcomers, those who have never fought in a tournament before, have been arriving a few at a time so that I could explain things to them individually rather than in a large group so that they aren't overwhelmed. None of the other Smashers are likely to bother you today. The first day they arrive, Smashers are allowed to have dinner in their rooms since dimension travelling and entering the mansion can be very overwhelming and they may not be up to going down to the Dining Hall. If you so desire, you can go down to the Dining Hall to eat dinner with the others but no one will fault you for choosing not to."
"Won't they just come to our room, then?" Red asked curiously as they started walking again.
Master Hand seemed to contemplate his answer before responding. "They may, but since the formal introduction of all the Newcomers is tomorrow they may just decide to wait to see you until then. Also, rooms are close to sacred here at Smash Mansion. Tensions have been known to run high amongst some fighters, so at the start of the Melee tournament a new rule was created: No one is allowed to enter another Smasher's room without being invited in, for a Smasher's room is his or her sanctuary amongst all the fighting that goes on around him. In a double room, such as the room you two will be sharing, guests are only allowed in the common area and cannot be brought into the other person's sleeping area."
"Sounds fair," Red said thoughtfully. "It will be nice to have my own space."
Throughout the entire conversation, Pit remained quiet. He listened to what they were saying while in continued to observe his surroundings. It was the captain and warrior within him coming out, every time he went to a new place he was always had to analyze every aspect of what was around him. From his observations, he could tell that there were at least four people in the windows, watching the two Newcomers approach. He couldn't tell who they were since the windows were dark and they were too far away, but Pit could tell they were there by the movements of shadows in the glass. There were also two cases of unusual rustling in the bushes, which Pit suspected were caused by other Smashers as well.
Before long, the group had reached the front doors of the mansion, which seemed to swing open outwards on their own accord. Once they were full open, Pit saw that it had in fact been a different toad with yellow spots instead of red on its head that had opened the doors.
"Hello!" the toad said jovially.
"Afternoon," Master Hand said kindly, "All is well I assume?"
The toad nodded before looking at Pit and Red. "These are the last of the Newcomers?" he said as he eyed them. "Hmm…. Nice to meet you. Front doors close at midnight, sharp, so don't be outside too late."
Pit gave a small nod as he pondered the toad's reaction towards Red and himself. 'He didn't seem too impressed with us,' Pit thought as he looked at Red, who was frowning, 'Red noticed it too. I hope we don't have everyone doubting us before we even have a chance to prove ourselves…'
Master Hand made a sound similar to the clearing of a throat, which was odd since he didn't have one. "Yes, well… let's move on." He said hastily before floating towards the centre of the large room they were in.
Turning away from the toad, Pit saw for the first time how beautiful the inside of the mansion looked. A deep-red carpet covered most of the floor, while the rest of the floor and the curved stairways were made of a beautiful, glossy, maple wood that matched the wood of the railings that framed them. The two staircases curved towards each other from the first to second floor, where a small wall-fountain sat on the landing. There were no stairways up to the third floor that Pit could see from where he was, but he guessed they were likely down where the second floor walkway disappeared behind a wall. Pit could still see onto the third floor since the area was open with large windows letting light stream in from the far wall were clearly in view. Golden sashes of fabric hung across the railing in sweeping arches and where they touched the top of the railings, other than those on the staircases, small decorative plants draped over either side of the handrails. The cream coloured walls were mostly bare besides the paintings on either wall of each Smasher to have lived in the mansion. Several doors and hallways lined both sides of the main floor and a large, crystalline chandelier hung from the centre of the ceiling. Below the chandelier, a circular statue sat that had a large, white hand at the centre which looked an awful lot like Master Hand.
Pit was pretty impressed. 'It's nowhere near as beautiful as Palutena's palace,' Pith thought as he watched two more toads, these ones with blue dots on their head, walk across the third floor landing, 'but it's definitely nicer than I thought it would be.'
Pit thought he saw a shadow on the second floor landing at the far left end but when he turned his head for a closer look, it was gone. Not quite sure if he had imagined it or not, Pit turned to look at Red, who was staring at the mansion in awe.
Master Hand chuckled at Red's open-mouthed expression. "Let's move on to your room now, shall we?"
Pit nodded and Red could only follow in a daze as they walked towards the stairs that led to the second floor, the Pokémon following behind them and looking around with varying degrees of interest. When they reached the second floor, Master Hand paused and turned around in the air to face them.
"Normally, I would go up the staircases, but since you both have access to wings, would you like to fly to the third floor with me?"
Pit nodded, a large smile making its way onto his face. He loved to fly. Beside him, Red answered by calling his smaller Pokémon back into their Pokéballs and climbing onto Charizard's back, who immediately took off as if he understood what his trainer wanted.
'Yep,' Pit thought as he too took to the sky, 'definitely more intelligent than they look.'
They reached the third floor in no time at all, thanks to their gifts of flight. Red slid off Charizard's back and released his other two Pokémon again. Master Hand led them down the right hallway to wear Pit assumed their room would be.
They walked in silence. Pit assumed that Red was still in awe of his surroundings, or he didn't have any questions left. Pit was too busy looking at all the golden nameplates as he passed by to see who he would be competing against.
'Toon Link… Sonic… Lucario... Wolf… Donkey Kong… Diddy Kong…' There were so many names that Link didn't recognize at all, but that didn't worry him too much. He just assumed that they were Newcomers, link him and Red.
They turned left at the end of the hallway and continued walking. They past a few more rooms, and Pit quickly stored their names in his memory.
Pit and Red's room turned out to be the very last room in the hall, with the door facing the entire hallway instead of being on the side. Below Red's nameplate, Pit could see his own name in the loopy writing that everyone else had, but he could also see a faint outline of something else. Pit leaned closer so that he could try to make out some of the letters.
"Ah... about that," Master Hand said in an unsure voice, "these nameplates had been created and mounted before you told me that you preferred to go by Pit. I couldn't get you a new one because Crazy Hand had made off with the rest of them, so we had to try and fix this one up. It worked, mostly…"
Pit waved him off with a smile. "It's quite alright Master Hand. Do not worry needlessly on my behalf. I don't care if the plate isn't spotless or not, that type of behaviour can be saved for royalty and the like."
Master Hand seemed to nod at him. "I will remember that in the future Pit," Master Hand said with an odd tone to his voice before he continued quietly, "You are definitely not what I expected."
Before Pit could ask what he meant about that, Red spoke up from where he was closely examining Pit's plate. "What did the plate used to say?" Red asked.
Pit tensed. He didn't want Red to treat him differently for being a captain. He got enough at that living in Skyworld.
Before Pit could say anything Master Hand answered for him. "It said Captain Pit Icarus," Master Hand said happily, "Pit here is captain of the Skyworld army, second in command to the goddess Palutena."
Red looked at Pit in awe, making Pit feel something drop in his stomach. 'I guess he would have found out eventually,' Pit thought sadly. To Pit's immense surprise however, Red's awed look disappeared and he smiled a Pit.
"Cool," Red said with almost a shrug to his shoulders. After a few seconds a smirk began to form on Red's face before he said, "Let's go check out our room."
It was Pit's turn to be shocked as Red grabbed a set of keys that Master Hand snapped into existence. The shock disappeared after a few seconds and was replaced with happiness and gratitude for the boy standing in front of Pit. Pit held out his hand while Red unlocked the door and Master Hand snapped another set of keys into existence which landed in Pit's outstretched hand.
Their room was pretty amazing.
A huge, flat black object was mounted on the right wall, with a dark coloured shelving unit surrounding it which was currently empty. A small table of the same colour sat in front of a massive black couch unit that was shaped like an 'L' that sat against the wall to the left and had some white and red pillows resting at the sides. Beyond the couch and black object was a small dining area with an elaborate table and chair set, a fridge, a sink, and some cabinets. Behind the table was a huge window giving a beautiful view of the mountains and the ocean in the distance. White carpet lay on the floor where the couch and black object sat, matching the white walls of the room, but where the kitchen-like area was were gray ceramic tiles, probably so that if someone was eating there they wouldn't stain the carpet.
Two doors were situated on opposite walls between the eating area and the strange black object, just before the carpet ended. On the left door was a drawn bow with an arrow pointing up towards the left and on the right door was a giant Pokéball.
Pit assumed that the door on the right was for Red, so he went to the door on the left. After unlocking his door, Pit stepped inside and heard an identical click across the room so he assumed Red was doing the same thing.
Pit was pretty impressed by the room. Another door was against the wall on the left, and after a quick check Pit confirmed that he had no idea what it was for except that it was equipped with a rather large basin-like object with holes in it, making Pit wonder what it was for. It also had a smaller basin that had water in it and something behind it, along with a large, frosted glass case but Pit had no idea what either of them were either. Deciding to ask Red later, Pit looked around the rest of the room.
A large sleigh bed with a dark red blanket on it sat against the wall opposite the door and had two small tables made of the same dark wood as the bed frame situated on either side of the bed at the top where a person's head would go. On the same side of the room as the door sat a desk with a chair in front of it, and small, rectangular black object on it. Pit wondered what it was along with the bigger black object in the other room but decided to just ask Red later. On the other side of the door, further away from Pit, was dresser for clothes and beside it was a full length mirror. The floor was covered in the same carpet that was outside, but instead of having white walls, the walls were a soft golden colour. Directly across from the bathroom, Pit noticed, there was a set of arching glass doors that led to a balcony.
Unable to help himself, Pit but his bag down on the bed and his bow on a stand that had been hidden from his view on the far side of the bed before walking towards the glass doors. The doors opened with a click, and Pit noticed that they were locked on the outside. Testing out his keys, he found that the key to his sleeping area was also the key to the doors on the balcony.
The balcony was rather small, and empty. There were no chairs or anything to sit on, but Pit didn't mind. He had enough room to stretch his wings if he wanted to have a short flight, which was all Pit wanted or needed. 'Not to mention,' Pit thought with a smirk, 'this way I won't ever have to deal with that pesky toad at the front doors. I can just fly straight to my room.'
Pit's balcony was right at the edge of the wall, so if he lent over he could see the entire courtyard and all the other balconies surrounding it.
There was a large swimming pool in the center of courtyard, with a smaller pool off to the side. Comfortable, cushioned lounge chairs sat around the pool, some even had small tables and umbrellas beside them. Beds of vibrant flowers lined the walls of the mansion, separated only by the occasional set of glass doors. A stone path made of the same stones that surrounded the pool led out of the area and off into the distance towards the ocean.
Just like with the rest of the mansion, Pit was pretty impressed with what he saw. The one thing that Pit found slightly strange was the lack of Smashers around the place. So far, Pit had seen absolutely zero Smashers, and yet he and Red were supposed to be the last ones to arrive. 'I wonder where they all are…' Pit thought to himself.
"Pit!"
Pit was broken out of his musing by the sound of Red calling his name. Turning around, Pit saw that Red was leaning through the doorway to look at him, but wasn't actually in his room.
'Master Hand wasn't kidding when he said rooms were private,' Pit thought to himself, 'Red won't – or maybe can't – step into my room even though he's my roommate.' Shaking himself out of his thoughts Pit asked, "Yeah, Red? What do you need?"
Red made a 'come here' gesture with his hand. "Master Hand wants to talk to us."
Pit nodded and walked back inside, making sure the doors to the balcony locked firmly behind him. Deciding to leave his bow where it was, Pit followed Red out of his room to wear Master Hand was waiting for them.
"I trust your rooms are adequate?" Master Hand asked pleasantly.
Both 'teens' nodded, but only Red spoke. "Thanks for providing the pillows for my Pokémon to sleep on," he said gratefully, "I try to keep them out of their Pokéballs as much as possible since they are my friends, but a lot of people don't think of Pokémon that way."
"You are quite welcome, Red. It was no trouble," Master Hand assured, before moving on to the next topic. "Now, there are a few things I need to tell you about concerning your rooms. First, while you do have a fridge and eating area in your room, most, if not all, meals will be eaten in the Dining Hall. The purpose of the fridge is for you to store special food items or snacks for yourself or your Pokémon Red. If you, or for your case Red your Pokémon, follow any special diet, speak to Telma when she comes up to get your orders for dinner tonight.
"Also, no fighting is to take place in the rooms or hallways on the mansion. All fighting between Smashers is to take place outside away from the mansion or in the training rooms in the basement. If you can, try to keep all fighting for the matches, but I understand that almost all of the Smashers are born fighters, and those that aren't are pretty much just evil, and it can be difficult to contain that aspect of your personality.
"The training arena and important aspects of the mansion will be further discussed tomorrow, during the Newcomers Orientation.
"Red, Pit doesn't know anything about the internet, and probably a few other modern things as well. I ask that you help him with this, especially since the blogs need to have something written on them by next week." The way Master Hand spoke seemed more of a demand than asking a question, but from the way Red just nodded solemnly, Pit knew he would do what Master Hand wanted.
"Great!" Master Hand said enthusiastically before floating out of the door. Once he was back in the hallway, Master Hand turned around and said, "I'll send Telma up in a bit to get you boys something for dinner, for now just make yourselves comfortable since we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
The door magically shut, leaving the two teens by themselves standing in the living area awkwardly.
"So… You don't know about the internet?" Red asked carefully, obviously trying not to offend Pit.
"Nope!" Pit said enthusiastically as he shook his head. "Angels don't really use a lot of the modern technologies since we prefer to live more simply. Plus, we'd have no way to run them since we don't have what's it called… electr-something?"
Red laughed lightly. "It's called 'electricity', but I guess I never thought of it that way before. I guess it would be weird if angels were always on the internet instead of flying around. Let me grab the laptop they gave me from my room and you can grab yours, and we'll work on out blogs together, kay?"
"Sure," Pit said in agreement. Red smiled and swiftly walked back into his room to grab this 'laptop' of his. Pit was about to go into his room to grab his own laptop before he realised he had a problem: he had no idea what a laptop was, never mind where it was.
Twenty seconds later, Red walked out of his room with a small, black rectangular object and a long black cord. When he noticed Pit just standing there, Red's eyebrows knotted in confusion.
"Aren't you going to grab your laptop?" Red asked.
Pit felt his cheeks warm slightly as he looked down and shuffled his feet slightly with his hands behind his back. "I don't know what a laptop is," Pit admitted softly, slightly ashamed with how little he knew about the world he was now in.
Red's look of confusion changed instantly to a look of understanding. "That's my fault," Red said as he put his laptop down on the table in front of the couch. "You just said that you didn't know anything about modern technologies, and here I am assuming you know what a laptop is! I'm kind of absent minded like that at times, never really grew out of it. If you invite me into your room, I'll show you where your laptop is."
Pit gracefully accepted Red's apology with a nod, even though he was still felt slightly embarrassed for not knowing even the simplest of things. Pit led Red into his room and after inviting him in, Red went straight for the desk. Pit's eyes however, were on the door that led to the other room.
"What are those strange basins in that room?" Pit asked as he pointed to the room he was thinking about.
Red stopped walking to look in the direction Pit was pointing at. Seeing what Pit was referring to, Red's face morphed into an expression of astonishment.
"You don't know what a bathroom is?" Red asked incredulously, as if such a thing were completely unheard of.
'It probably is,' Pit thought to himself as he fought down another blush while shaking his head.
For a few moments, Red seemed at a loss of what to do. Just as Pit was about to say that he didn't need to show him the 'bathroom', Red gathered himself and marched towards the door.
Red first pointed towards the large, empty basin. "This is a bathtub," Red explained before pointing to the glass case, "and that is the shower. Both of these are used for washing yourself, the bath just takes longer since you actually just lay down with the water around you while in the shower you stand up and let the water run over you. With me so far?"
Red could probably tell from the expression on Pit's face that he was still confused. Deciding to actually show Pit what each one did, Red placed the stopper in the bottom hole of the tub and turned a dial. Pit jumped back from the sudden rush of water, making Red chuckle at his reaction. Red then took the time to teach him how to make the water hot and cold while it poured through the nozzle, and he even showed Pit how to work the jets that were apparently 'very relaxing'. Pit just nodded and took Red's word for it since at that point Red let out the water and started explaining the shower.
"How do angels get by without these?" Red asked Pit after he had finished explaining the contraption that was known as the shower.
Pit shrugged. "Angels are different from humans I guess. We don't sweat nearly as much as normal humans partly because where we live is colder so we don't overheat as much and partly because our bodies are just more… efficient while running at different temperatures so we don't overheat while doing physical exercise. It also helps that most angels have much higher natural stamina than mortals due to the ambient magic that all angels have within them. When we do need to bathe, we tend to just use a river or a waterfall that runs through some of the denser clouds or on some of the floating islands that exist."
Red seemed to accept Pit's understanding before he turned to the last unknown object in the room.
"Uhh," Red said awkwardly, "Please tell me you know what that is so I don't have to explain it."
Pit looked at Red in confusion. "No. Should I?"
"It's what you use when you have to…," Red fingered his hat nervously before blurting out, "…go."
"Go?" Pit asked in confusion.
"Ya, you know… go." Red said awkwardly. "Like… relieve yourself? Go to the bathroom? Take a piss?"
Pit sort of had an idea what he was talking about. "You mean what mortals do to get rid of unwanted wastes and extra from their body that they got from the food they eat?"
"Ya, that." Red muttered.
Pit felt slightly awkward as well, even though he didn't have a full grasp of the subject. "Angels don't need to… go. We drink Nectar and eat Ambrosia or fruits from the Tree of Life, which contains just the amounts of nutrients for angels' bodies to just absorb everything and not have to secrete anything out since those foods are also blessed by Palutena. Even if we eat a lot of them, are body just keeps on absorbing the nutrients and we go into a sort of hyperactive state for a while before we are back to normal."
"What happens if you eat human food?" Red asked curiously when they walked out of the bathroom.
"I wouldn't know," Pit said with a shrug. "I've never tried it."
Red looked mortified. "You mean you've never even tried chocolate?"
By that time, Red had grabbed the thin, black object from Pit's desk – Pit assumed that was the laptop – and whirled around to in shock as he currently stared at Pit in bewildered astonishment.
"No, why is it good?" Pit asked.
Red got a dreamy look in his eyes and muttered softly, "It's the best," before he grabbed the black cord that was on the desk and walking out of the room, leaving Pit to run after him.
Red placed Pit's laptop beside his own and gestured for the angel to sit on the couch. Pit obliged and watched in rapt attention as Red opened his laptop from a crack around the sides and made the separated part stand at 90 degrees. As carefully as he could, Pit copied the actions with his own laptop.
"This is the keyboard," Red said as he gestured to all the little buttons with letters and numbers on them that Pit had not noticed before. "This," Red said as he pressed a large, circular button that wasn't labelled, "Is the power button. It's what turns you laptop on and off. Go on, press it."
Pit pressed the circular button and watched in fascination as different lights suddenly came to life on different parts of the laptop. A sudden soft whirling sound started coming from his laptop and Pit looked at Red with a startled expression on his face, afraid that he had already broken the laptop.
"Don't worry about the noise nothing is wrong," Red assured Pit. "That's just the sound most laptops make when they start up. The only time you have to worry is if the sound gets really loud… I think."
Pit was distracted form Red's explanation as the part of the laptop facing him suddenly lit up into a blue screen with the symbol of the bow and arrow inside a blue box and a smaller, white box beneath it with a white arrow inside a dark blue circle beside it.
"That's the log in screen. That's where…" Red started talking, introducing Pit to the world of computers and later, the internet.
Pit had a lot of fun learning new things, and learning about the internet was no different. Even when Pit go frustrated at how slow he was typing compared to Red, Pit just kept working at it and even got to a semi-acceptable speed – by Pit's standards – when they started working on the blogs. Red seemed to enjoy teaching Pit about computers, and the two learnt a lot about each other during that time.
Pit struggled with what he wanted to write on his blog. Master Hand had said he could write whatever he wanted to, so long as it had something to do with Pit himself in some way. Red gave him some helpful ideas, such as what his favourite colour was, and other things like that, but Pit was eventually left to his own devices as Red left reality to enter a world of his own as he typed furiously away at his keyboard.
Pit was afraid that he would write something that would make him the laughing stock of the Smashers, and of the people who watched the show. While Pit was captain of Palutena's winged army, he was still in a lot of aspects just like any other teenager. One way in which Pit was akin to a normal teenager was his desire to find somewhere to 'fit in'. Deep down, Pit wanted that more than he cared to admit. All of his life Pit felt like he was different, an outsider even at times, and he just wanted somewhere to belong…no matter how girly that sounded.
Pit finally settled on writing a bit about Skyworld. In a roundabout way, Pit was talking about something to do with himself since he lived in Skyworld so he figured that it was acceptable. Pit wrote about the beautiful palace where the goddess Palutena lives. Pit wrote about the festivals and celebrations that angels held to celebrate life and the light that their goddess represented. After much deliberation, Pit even mentioned Medusa right at the end and how she had been a threat to all of Skyworld, therefore all of humanity by extension, and that she had been defeated. Pit didn't write that he had been the one to defeat her, since he figured that would sound like he was bragging.
Just as Pit hit the 'save' button, there was a knock at the door to their room. Red and Pit shared a glance before Pit got up to open it.
Pit opened the door and on the other side was... an extremely voluptuous woman who took no shame in showing off her body. The woman was wearing a black and white jacket that had only one button done up, revealing a lot of her orangey-yellow lacy bra underneath. The woman also had blue and white sleeves coming out from beneath her jacket, but Pit had no idea where they came from since it didn't look like the woman was wearing a shirt. A purple band was around her next, contrasting sharply to her braided dark red hair that was pulled high away from her face. Golden earrings pierced her pointed ears, and golden hoops hung at the bottom of her jacket atop a purple embroidered apron that was covering her black skirt that stopped just above her sandal clad feet.
"Well aren't you a cutie," the woman said with a wink, making Pit take notice to the coloured dots beneath her eyes. "I'm Telma, nice to meet you."
"Pit," the Angel said as he shook the woman's hand. "Are you the woman Master Hand spoke of who was to speak with us about having an evening meal?"
Telma nodded before looking at the other occupant in the room. "And you must be Red." Telma said warmly as Red got up to shake her hand. "What can I get you boys for dinner? We have steak, soup, chicken, various vegetables, bananas… what would you like?"
"I'll just have some soup and vegetables, if you don't mind," Red said slowly. "My stomach is still churning slightly from the dimension travelling, so I don't want to risk eating anything heavy. Also, I was wondering if I could possibly get some food for my Pokémon as well?" The slight raise to Red's voice as he finished speaking made it sound more like a question than a statement.
"Of course!" Telma said with a smile. "We actually have a Pokémon chef on board, names 'Rock' or something, very useful considering how many of the contestants are Pokémon. What type of food do your Pokémon like and I'll have him whip something up."
Pit was astounded by how happy Red looked at that moment. "Great! I know they'll be in good hands then. Charizard likes spicy food, Ivysaur likes sweet, and Squirtle likes sour. They'll be so excited to get some good food again."
'Wow,' Pit thought as he watched Red's face glow with excitement. 'This 'Rock' guy must be really great if Red's this excited.'
"And what can I get you, honey?" Telma asked, breaking Pit out of his thoughts.
"O-oh… uh" Pit stuttered unsurely. "Angels don't really eat human food. We only need Ambrosia and Nectar to survive."
Telma nodded her head understandingly, shocking Pit since he didn't expect anyone not from Skyworld to know about the needs of an Angel. "I heard that one of the Smashers had an extremely special diet. We had a package arrive earlier today, and I'd bet my bar that your food is inside it. Don't you worry honey, I won't let you go hungry. I'll be back in just a bit you boys. You'll both have full stomachs before you know it!"
With that, Telma turned and left. As the door fell shut behind her, Pit turned to ask Red what that was all about only to see that Red had gone back to his room. Through the open door, Pit could hear Red telling his Pokémon about the amazing food they were about to eat.
Pit shrugged his shoulders before he walked back over to where his laptop was. After a few minutes, Pit found the 'off' button and turned off the device. As delicately as he could, Pit folded the top half back down so that he would not break the unusual electronic object. Pit carefully carried the object to his room and set it back on the desk. The glass doors called for Pit, he wanted so badly to go outside and stretch his wings, but at that exact moment there was a knock on the main door and Telma's voice was heard on the other side.
Pit walked back out of his room to see that Red had already got the door and had grabbed the bowls of what Pit assumed to be Pokémon food out of Telma's hands. Red then proceeded to rush the bowls to his room where the excited cries of his Pokémon were heard. Red then reappeared in his doorway a few seconds later with a huge smile on his face as he looked at Telma.
"Thanks so much Telma," Red said happily as Telma handed him his food. "I try my best to make good food for my Pokémon, but Brock's cooking is on a completely different level! With this great food as incentive to stay, I know we've got a shot in this tournament."
Pit was taken aback at the confidence in Red's voice. 'Could food really make the difference for Red's team?' Pit wondered as he watched Red wolf down his own dinner. 'How can I hope to compete with Red's team if all it takes for his team to do well is good food? I've got to start training as soon as possible so that I can do my very best in this tournament.'
"Here you go honey," Telma said to Pit, drawing the angel's attention back to the woman. Telma was holding a tray consisting of a plate of Ambrosia and a glass of Nectar. "I wasn't sure how much food you needed to eat, so I just grabbed a bunch of it and put it on a plate for you."
Pit smile reassuringly towards Telma, and grabbed only a single piece of the bread-like Ambrosia. Pit then picked up the glass of Nectar and held both up for Telma to see.
"This is all I need," Pit said with a soft smile. "Thank you."
Telma narrowed her eyes slightly. "I don't know about the eating habits of Angels, so I guess I'll have to take your word for it. Enjoy your meals boys!"
With that, Telma gave a small wave and walked out of the room. The door slid shut beside her and Pit walked over to take a seat next to Red at the main table.
"That's all you're going to eat?" Red asked, pausing from where he was inhaling his food to stare wide-eyed at Pit.
Pit nodded and took a bite out of his slice of Ambrosia. It was impossible to describe the exact taste of Ambrosia to one who hadn't tried it before, it was simply beyond description. The texture was what most people imagined eating a cloud was like, incredibly soft to bite into before it melted on your tongue while exploding with a flavour that was unique to every Angel who had ever tried it. Pit closed his eyes at the amazing taste, completely forgetting about Red's question as he savoured the energy that was already coming back to Pit just from that one bite.
Either Red was too hungry to push for an answer, or he noticed that Pit wasn't going to answer, but he didn't speak to Pit for the rest of the dinner. Pit slowly ate the rest of his Ambrosia before he started to sip his Nectar. The Nectar was just as indescribable as the Ambrosia, yet different at the same time. Nectar had an extremely rich taste and was cool as it slid down Pit's throat, before there was a pleasant warming sensation that filled him after each sip. Before long, Pit had finished off his glass of Nectar feeling completely rejuvenated. Pit left Red to finish eating his food with a quiet 'good night' as he walked into his room.
This time as he walked into his room, Pit was not able to ignore the call of the outdoors and walked over to his balcony. Pit carefully unlocked the door and after making sure that he had his keys with him, softly shut the glass doors behind him so as not to wake anyone who might be rooming nearby.
Pit stretched out his wings as far as they would go and with a jump, took off into the sky. With a few flaps of his feathered wings, Pit was above Smash Mansion and rapidly approaching the few clouds that were floating in the sky. Pit knew that if he flew high enough, he would eventually cross into Skyworld – only possible for Angels, any other being would just reach space – but that was not his destination this night. Tonight, Pit just let the feeling of wind flowing beneath his wings sooth him and calm his nerves for the next day.
Pit didn't know if it was because of the empowering feelings of eating and drinking Ambrosia and Nectar, or if it was simply the exhilarating and calming affect flying had on him, but Pit had completely forgot about the anxiety he felt earlier about facing Red and the rest of the Smashers. Pit felt much more confident by the time he was ready to fly back down to his room.
'Master Hand wouldn't have chosen me if he thought me to be incompetent,' Pit thought to himself determinedly as he slowly started his descent. 'I have just as much a chance as anyone else here, probably more than some because of my experiences. I'm going to make Palutena and all of Skyworld proud by fighting better than I ever have and showing these Smashers just what an Angel is capable of!'
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amethystdreamstar: I am so, so, so, SO sorry for the late update. University was much more intense than I thought it was, and I had virtually zero time for writing anything even though I tried a few times. It's even worse considering this chapter was pretty boring, just the introduction between Pit and Red at Smash Mansion, but this chapter was needed. :S
That being said, I promise to never abandon this story. Even if it takes me a long time between updating chapters, I will always come back to this story. I will also try my best to update more often, for all of my stories.
I would like to thank all of my reviewers, it was really seeing those responses that got me motivated to write again, especially the one from my friend Nelson. I cherish each and every review that I receive, they make me want to try even harder to make a better story for all of my readers!
One thing I would like to ask if it's not too much trouble. I don't know what a lot of the characters are like from a lot of the games. So, if anyone knows what these characters are like and would like to let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it: Olimar, Samus, Captain Falcon, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Mr. Game and Watch, Wolf, Fox, Falco, Ike, Marth, Mario characters like Yoshi and Wario (not a lot, just a bit needed here), Ice Climbers, Kirby, Meta Knight, Ness, Lucas, Snake.
Not all of these characters are going to be major characters, I just need enough for Pit to be able to react with them believably and without completely butchering the other character since I never plaed the game they were from.
Thanks so much :)
May 28, 2012