Team brawls are coming up!
They entered the mansion and heard the bell ringing. "We better hurry," said Peach. "Or we might miss lunch."
The dining hall was full of smashers and Peach got her food and instantly went to join Robin F, Zero Suit Samus, Rosalina, and Lucina, pulling Sheik with her.
"Hey, you guys! Sheik and I went swimming!"
"No way!" exclaimed Robin F. "That's so cool! You gotta show us where it's at."
"Just a lake," muttered Sheik, shrugging.
Peach bumped her. "It's beautiful. Come on, Sheik. You don't have to be so selfish that you don't want to share."
"I can't swim," admitted Rosalina. "I've never learned."
"But you can pack a punch with Luma!" called Roy from another table.
"Thank you," returned Rosalina, smiling and patting her star.
Sheik ate quietly, listening to the girl's discussion, which was mostly about Chrome. Apparently Robin F had used him on Luigi, and Robin M had used him on Zero Suit Samus.
"You said he was your coach! He's so cute!" insisted Samus. "I saw him come out of nowhere and then shoot towards me. Besides the fact that I couldn't move anyway, I wouldn't have been able to he was so handsome!"
"I wouldn't try to get your hooks into him," remarked Robin, giggling. "First off, he's already married, and second off, he isn't very nice."
"I'm not going to get my hooks in him if he's married," returned Samus, shrugging. "But, hey, he's your coach, so he's probably only mean to you."
"Yeah," admitted Robin. "Honestly, my brother's cuter looking, I think."
"That's interesting," said Peach. "Most sisters don't think their brothers are good looking."
"She has to think he's good looking," Samus informed her, smirking. "They look exactly the same except for the hair length."
Robin's eyes sparked and she folded her arms. "We are not exactly the same, just because we're twins… with the same name." She glared. "I'm a girl, for one, and I act like a girl, and he's a guy and acts like a guy. We're different in our own ways."
"Agreed," said Sheik. "Like the Corrins."
"I wonder what the male Wii Fit Trainer looked like," said Peach, instantly gasping in her water and choking.
Sheik's hands shook and she hastily covered up. "I mean, her brother. If she has a brother. I think I heard she had a twin somewhere."
Rosalina raised the eyebrow that wasn't hidden by her blonde bangs. "Who told you?"
"I think it was her," Sheik continued, shrugging. "Maybe that was in my dream."
"You tell Peach your dreams?" asked Zero Suit Samus curiously.
"I mentioned the 'male' Wii Fit Trainer to her as we were by the lake," she answered, shrugging again. Her heart was beating fast.
"Male Wii Fit Trainer?" said a voice behind them.
Sheik turned to come face to face with the Wii Fit Trainer herself, the eyes staring hard at her.
"Oh, I just had a weird dream," said Sheik, licking her lips beneath her mask.
"Oh," she answered, narrowing her eyes, and turning back.
Sheik let out her breath slowly and stood. "I'm done. See you guys at two o'clock."
She jogged out of the room and down the stairs, not wishing to take the elevator and bump into anyone. In the front room she saw Ike and the robotic Samus talking together by the mailboxes.
"My mailbox," she muttered. "I haven't checked it." She doubted she would have mail, but she might…
Sheik approached them, waved slightly, hoping they wouldn't think she was coming over to break up their conversation. She took out her key and fitted it in the lock.
"Checking for mail?" asked Samus.
"Yes."
"Do you usually get mail?"
Sheik glared as she opened her mailbox and pulled out a few letters. "I don't care one way or the other." She hoped Ike wouldn't think she wasn't crazy as she dashed into her hallway and down to her room. She opened her door, shut it, locked it, and dropped the mail on the ground with a sigh. She put her mail key back in her suit before bending down to pick up the mail. There was an advertisement and she rolled her eyes. "I do not need glasses. Good grief."
Another one was from her parents and she smiled. It was just like them to send a letter when they could easily text. The last two were both from fellow smashers and her eyebrows rose in surprise. One was from Ganondorf and the other was from Meta Knight.
She opened the one from Meta Knight. He was the round ball that looked like Kirby except with a mask and bat wings.
Sheik,
I just wanted to say that I like your mask. It's neat. Could be shinier, but it's neat.
MK
Sheik grinned and folded the note, tucking it into her nightstand drawer. Then she pulled out a needle and neatly slit open her letter from Ganondorf.
Sheik,
Don't shun me if you want to talk about something. We can be friends. I know you're not afraid of me, so don't pretend to be. You're not friendly and I'm not friendly, but we're both friendlier than we let on, and I know that. By the way, your burn mark on your chin is our little secret. I wouldn't tell anyone else for the world.
Ganondorf
Sheik felt tears sting her eyes and she swallowed and pressed the letter to her heart, blinking and letting twin tears slid down her cheeks. She straightened, dumped the glasses advertisement in the garbage, and straightened her looks in the mirror, carefully making sure nothing was out of place and anxiously wondering what these team battles would mean. She sat down on the bed and unfolded her letter from her parents. She froze as she read it.
Keep your nose out of other people's businesses or you'll find trouble.
It wasn't signed and Sheik let it slide from her hands to the ground, instantly shivering and looking all around. Someone knew that she was interested in the hands. She leapt up and slammed herself against the door, grabbing the handle in one hand and jerking out her phone.
There was a knock on the door and she leapt away from it with a small scream, staring hard at it as she pulled out her needles and held them at the ready.
"Sheik? Can I come in?"
It was Peach.
Sheik didn't trust her. After all, she had told Peach the secret and then this had come in the mail.
"Yeah? I'm busy!"
"Oh, okay? Can I come in real quick?"
Sheik kept her needles carefully concealed, opened the door, and leapt lightly back, every muscle tense as she studied Peach.
"I'm so sorry!" the princess started. "It just slipped out…"
Sheik shook her head viciously. "C'mere."
She didn't want to let Peach out of her sight, but… Heart pounding she pulled out a piece of paper, slipped her threat under the bed with the toe of her shoe, and grabbed a pencil from her drawer. "Might be cameras and bugs," she wrote furiously, glancing up at Peach to make sure she understood. It was hard not being able to completely trust her and she was half tempted to show her the note and read her reaction, but if Peach was against her, she could tell the others who were involved.
Sheik hated being alone, and licked her lips as she studied Peach's face. It was the picture of innocence and she nodded firmly. "You're right. Um… So I was thinking that it'd be great to take… the bluenette to our swimming hole on a starry date." She gave a sheepish smile and Sheik had to grin back. Peach was terrible at coding her sentences, but at least the message had gotten across.
"Uh… Sure. We'll figure out a date later."
"But I thought you said you wanted to tell M…" Peach clapped a hand over her mouth and gave Sheik a queer look.
"A literal day," answered Sheik, smiling.
"Oh." Peach cocked her head and then sighed. "I'm scared…"
Sheik shook her head and Peach gave a coy smile. "For the team brawls."
Sheik chuckled. "Oh, yeah. Me too. Let's go."
The two headed out together for the Announcing Room. A few other smashers were already gathered there, including Wii Fit Trainer. She didn't look at them, which Sheik decided was a good sign.
The team brawls were easy to understand as the Announcer explained it and Sheik found herself waiting breathlessly to see who she would be paired with.
"Sheik and Megaman versus Bowser and Wii Fit Trainer."
Sheik's heart jumped in her throat and she swallowed, but kept her face firm.
"Hey, good luck," said Ike behind her.
She turned and raised an eyebrow. "Well, thanks. You fought either of them before?"
"No. Just general encouragement." He winked, but looked confused. He bent his head closer to hers and she instinctively pulled away. He took her hand in his.
"Something happen? You get strange mail when you picked yours up?"
"Ike, someone's talking to you."
Ike straightened and turned to acknowledge the speaker; Wii Fit Trainer. Sheik squeezed Ike's hand and released him to his brawl. Maybe he'd get the message, but either way, she knew he'd made a terrible error. He'd let Wii Fit Trainer know that she had picked up her mail. It meant that, if the woman was involved, she knew that Sheik had received that letter. Any more meddling Sheik did could prove fatal.
She forced herself to raise her eyebrows confidently at the woman. "May the best girl win," she said stiffly, and walked over to join Megaman.
The brawl was rather enjoyable, even though their team lost. At one point Sheik collided with a mushroom that had fallen from the sky and she suddenly found herself very large. It was frightening, but her attacks were more powerful. Wii Fit Trainer stole a heart right out from under her nose and, with restored energy, kicked Sheik back and hurled a black bomb at her. It exploded the masked girl off the stage, but Sheik regained the ledge and avoided another attack.
Still, Sheik was able to knock Wii Fit Trainer from the stage and felt triumphantly happy doing it, even while Bowser grabbed her in a crushing grab, leapt up, and slammed down on her, knocking her breath from her lungs.
Megaman, who had been knocked off by Wii Fit Trainer, was nowhere to help, and Sheik, after struggling to her feet, was met with a line of fire that shot her off the stage. She righted herself in midair, jumped up, pulled herself onto the surface, striking out, and was met with a spinning shell.
In the misty room as she clapped alongside Megaman, she had to admit that Bowser, though slow and seemingly dull-witted, was actually a more powerful opponent than she'd thought. And Wii Fit Trainer seemed to have a well rounded knowledge about the things that fell from the sky.
"Did you win?" asked Zelda, walking up to her in the announcing room.
"No," Sheik answered stiffly.
"Your fault, or your teammate's fault?"
"I won't blame my teammate, and I don't think it was his fault. It was our opponents fault," Sheik snapped.
"Okay, okay. Settle down. I didn't win either. It was too confusing," she added. "So many people to fight from all sides. Plus, with the random choosing, Rosalina and Marth got teamed together and slaughtered us."
"Who were you with?"
"Kirby."
"Oh."
"Yeah, well." Zelda shrugged. "Hey, have you checked out your Smash Social app yet?"
"You're certainly friendly," Sheik answered, folding her arms suspiciously. "And no, I haven't."
"It's so cool! It's like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all rolled into one and you can contact people outside of the Smash Mansion too."
Sheik rolled her eyes. "I'm not one for socializing on screens."
"I know," answered Zelda, rolling her eyes back, but grinning.
The Announcer's voice began and both waited.
"Rosalina and Peach versus Mario and Luigi!"
"Corrin M and Robin F versus Corrin F and Robin M!"
Sheik gave Zelda a look and Zelda pursed her lips and nodded. She knew what was coming.
"Ike and Roy versus Marth and Lucina!"
"Kirby and King Dedede versus Meta Knight and Megaman!"
"Captain Falcon and Samus versus Zero Suit Samus and Fox!"
"Zelda and Ganondorf versus…"
Sheik facepalmed.
"Link and Sheik!"
"Tough luck," responded Zelda, sounding cheerful herself. "We'll see what happens."
What happened was their brawl was labeled the most interesting of the day. Whenever Sheik got in an attack, she would yell an insult at Link and whenever he got in an attack he would yell one back. Zelda continued to gain damage on both of them by staying out of the way shooting her fire and Ganondorf, gaining heavy damage in the middle of both of them, inflicted heavy blows himself until Sheik followed him off the ledge with an aerial kick, spiking him to infinity, and then leapt up to grab the ledge. Zelda was waiting for her and a shoe in the face sent her careening down into the portal.
She appeared in the misty room, Ganondorf nearby.
"Good game," he grunted.
"Same to you," she grunted back. On a screen in front of them they could easily see the brawl as it continued. Link was attacking Zelda full force now, but by statuses at the bottom of the screen Sheik could see his attacks were weak due to a high percentage of blows inflicted by her red fire and Ganondorf's purple fire.
"Bet you he's going to lose."
Sheik felt it would be disloyal to her partner, even if he was a world class jerk and didn't like her as much as she didn't like him, to bet Ganondorf that he was going to lose as well and calmly shrugged. "We'll just have to see."
Zelda's damage began mounting as the furious Link hacked at her with his sword, but Sheik could see that his face was getting purple and once his sword completely left his grasp. As he dashed to pick it up she saw his hand was red with blisters from clutching it so hard. But he wouldn't give up.
"I have to hand it to him," continued Ganondorf. He had paced around and was standing behind her. "He's no quitter."
"I just wish he'd end it all already," growled Sheik. She leaned her head back and found it was resting on his chest. After a few seconds she straightened as Link knocked Zelda off the wall.
With a scream she squeezed her eyes shut and teleported right behind him, spinning around so her dress revealed the black stockings underneath, and knocking him off. The blow wasn't that strong, but it was enough and Link, with a cry of pain, shot off the screen.
Sheik stepped away from Ganondorf and watched as Link materialized behind her. Both clapped, not looking at each other.
Is it a little funny that they lost? Anyone think Sheik and Ganondorf's relationship is... weird?