...Have a good read. Don't forget to R&R with questions, criticisms, or general encouragement! And, by the way, I like analytical reviews. As much as 'that was great!' is nice to read and encouraging, a little more about why it was great (or wasn't) would be awesome. Thanks!
Sheik smiled softly and leapt off the bed, filling her tea cup with the now scalding water, and dropped in her tea bag.
After sipping her hot drink and reading more posts and a long string of comments that was a complete conversation about the team brawls, she pulled on some jeans, a different shirt, some ankle high black boots, put her hair up in a loose bun, and pulled on her tight black mask that made her look like a ninja before exiting for dinner.
"You look epic!" called Ness from his table. "Come sit!" He eagerly patted the seat beside him and Sheik tried not to sigh. The only people at his table were Megaman, who she certainly didn't want to talk to out of fear he would blame her for their loss, and Lucas, who didn't talk either way except to add a shy comment occasionally.
She got her food and walked over, sitting down next to Megaman. "You did a good job," she said. "Sorry I lost."
"No worries," the boy answered cheerfully, smiling. "I died first anyway. Or fell off at least. Anyway, team brawls are hard."
She nodded deftly and looked up to see Wii Fit Trainer standing there, her plate of food in hand. "Could I sit here?" Her tone implied it wasn't a question, but Ness answered it by nodding eagerly and she took her seat.
"Hello, you two," she said, addressing Megaman and Sheik. "Good brawl today." She took a bite of food, but her pupil-less eyes didn't stray from Sheik's face.
Sheik determined to act amiable and shrugged. "It was okay. I don't like team brawls."
"Neither do I," Lucas softly agreed.
"They're hard," nodded Ness. "Nice mask, Sheik."
Sheik smirked and calmly pulled it down so that it still covered her chin, but she could eat. "Thanks. By the way, I was wondering if any of you knew that we had a lounge. I just figured out today. Those hands make things pretty comfortable here." She avoided the Trainer's gaze and glanced with curious eyes at Ness, her heart beating fast.
"They sure do," agreed Ness. "But like I said on Smash Social. It's pretty strange that they can float and stuff. A little creepy, right?"
"It's not strange."
Sheik's heart began pounding faster at Wii Fit's interruption. She kept a smile off her face as she took another bite of food. The trainer was looking ready to sink into the floor as all eyes, except Sheik's, turned towards her.
"Think of all the others smashers here," she continued, her voice shaking briefly. "Ness, you have strange electrical powers some might label creepy. Sheik constantly wears a mask. Definitely creepy. Those Emblem people? Their strange hair is creepy. My eyes, for instance. Some might label them creepy." She glanced at Sheik as she said this and Sheik, taking a sip from her cup, choked; spewing water all over her food.
"Are you all right?" asked Ness, standing up in his chair and motioning to Megaman to pat her on the back.
"I'm fine," she gasped. "Some water just went down the wrong way."
"Careful," said the Wii Fit Trainer, calmly taking a bite. Sheik was sure the single word was meant two ways.
Sheik made her way down the hall and opened the doors to the lounge. A few other smashers were already gathered. Robin F was sitting on Ike's lap and whispering something in his ear. Robin M and Marth were arm wrestling and Roy was cheering on Robin M. Captain Falcon was texting and Zero Suit Samus, sitting next to him, was doing so as well, smiling at something on the screen.
Link, lounging in a chair and engaging Peach, nodded at Sheik. "Hey!"
Marth, Robin M, Roy, and Ike stood in respect for a lady, something Sheik found amusing, since Marth and Robin M were still clutching hands and Robin F slid off of Ike's lap, stopped from hitting the ground by his quick arm.
"Nice to see you, Sheik!" exclaimed Lucina, dashing up to her and giving her a hug.
Sheik raised her eyebrows at Lucina's enthusiasm. "Th-thanks, Lucina."
"Come on. We were just about to turn it on."
Lucina sat down at the end of the couch and Sheik hesitated. If she sat next to Lucina she would be sitting next to Ike, on the other side, and for some reason she didn't really want to. Then again, if she sat on the other couch Ike or Lucina or both would think she didn't like them or was sore over something. She sat down next to Lucina, as close to the bluenette as possible. Robin F squeezed down next to her in the spot that wasn't large enough for her hips between her and Ike. Sheik rolled her eyes.
"Hey," Ike said, bumping Robin M. "Can you move over, so I can move over, so Sh… Robin F isn't squished."
"Sure."
With more room to breathe Sheik relaxed between the two girls and settled back as Link turned on the television.
He re-winded to the beginning and a female announcer appeared on the screen, a male announcer beside her. Both looked similar to the Wii Fit Trainer and Sheik shivered, but determined to enjoy herself and tuck this information in the back of her mind for later.
"Oh, pass the popcorn!" exclaimed Zero Suit, as her robotic twin entered, Ganondorf, Shulk, and Cloud behind her.
"The first brawl of the day was Zero Suit Samus and Fox McCloud versus Captain Falcon and Samus, Zero Suit's twin."
"This is going to be good," smirked Zero Suit, sinking into her chair and casting the room a haughty look.
"You make it boring if you make it so clear who won," snapped Roy, folding his arms. "Be quiet."
"Shhh!" scolded Marth, giving them both hard looks. They tossed their own icy glances back and silence reigned as the brawl commenced.
It was interesting since the cameras got close up shots that showed the faces each smasher made as they attacked. Occasionally fire, from Falcon, omitted visibility, but for the most part it was fascinating.
"Ugh!" exclaimed Zero Suit Samus, when the brawl was over and the stats were shown on the screen. "That face I made when I knocked Falcon off! I was so ugly! I looked like I was vomiting!"
Ike unexpectedly burst out laughing and most everyone was quick to follow.
"Stop laughing," Zero Suit snapped. She glared at her twin. "You're lucky you have a visor so nobody can see the faces you make."
Silence fell like a stone and everyone turned to look at the two Samuses.
"You're a girl in there, aren't you," said Roy, amazed. "That's right, since you two are twins! That's… amazing. I never thought of that."
"Of course I'm a girl!" Samus snapped. "You thought I was a boy?"
"No," Marth hastily assured her. "It's just… Do you look exactly like your sister?"
"No. I was almost killed in a fire and I…"
"She had to have instant surgery and she…" Zero Suit paused and bit her lip, glancing sideways at her sister. "That is…"
"I look ugly under here, okay?" Samus snapped. She sounded angry.
Sheik was prepared to say, "I know how you feel." She bit her tongue instead. If she remembered and had the time later she might consider comforting the robotic girl, but right now there was no way she was going to get the whole attention of the room on herself.
"And that concludes that brawl," said the Announcer cheerfully.
"Aw, you guys made us miss it!" exclaimed Link, turning all attention back to the screen, though Sheik knew their thoughts probably lingered with Samus' true face and form.
"The Emblem brawl was definitely a highlight brawl today. Ike and Roy versus Marth and Lucina. Short bios were then given and Zero Suit folded her arms, glaring. "That's not fair! They didn't say anything about us from Star Space!"
"Maybe we're just more famous," said Robin F, giggling.
"I think Emblem is just a bigger town and maybe they assume more people from Emblem watch television."
"Why?" snapped Falcon. "Are they loafers?"
"Well, there are some bakers," said Roy, cackling at his joke.
Marth gave a smirk and shook his head. "No. But when television was introduced, let's just say Emblem was all over it. If you don't have a television… you aren't… cool."
"I'm guessing you had a T.V."
"My family did, yes," he answered calmly, raising an eyebrow and folding his arms.
All turned back to the television as the brawl commenced. As Sheik had suspected, most of the camera close-up shots were of Marth, who never made a strange face, but always looked confident and calm, even as he was knocked back, fought forward, did a flip, and was knocked back again.
Marth was amazing and Lucina looked ready to melt with happiness at the impressed looks everyone gave as they stared at his face on the screen. Sheik knew that, for Lucina, it was better than them giving her attention.
His fate came during the second bout of the brawl. All had lost one of their 'lives' and were gaining damage steadily. Marth leapt down after Roy to begin fencing him. He was beating him, it was obvious, but Roy, though getting knocked back, was also advancing quickly, causing Marth to back up more and more towards the other side of the stage where Ike was growling with fury as he tried to smash Lucina with his heavy blade. She was focusing on dodging and finally jumped up and out of his way, starting a counter.
Instead of following her up Ike turned and pulled his sword back, waiting, his eyes glaring hatred (something all noticed during an exceptional close-up) as he waited for Marth to back into the trap. Roy's confident look as he attacked with fresh vigor, knowing his partner was behind his opponent, caused Marth to leap backwards in alarm, right into Ike's sword blade which slammed him into the ground with a terrific crash.
Sheik flinched as the prince gave an agonizing shout and shot from the stage with a terrific cry.
Everyone in the room winced. "That hurt, I bet," was Link's short comment.
Marth gave the room a dry look and settled back in the couch.
Lucina, on the screen, looked upset and the announcer gave her look words. "And with Marth out of the battle Lucina realizes her mistake in failing to help her partner and sees she's up against two powerful opponents."
Lucina dodged and fled the rest of the time, getting in a good hit on Roy that was enough to send him flying far off the stage. As he attempted to land Ike dashed at Lucina, his sword hit her full on, and she exploded off to join Roy as both plummeted down, down, down. "And so ends the brawl, Ike and Roy happy winners."
The stats appeared on the screen and Ike gave everyone a grin. "Well, I was happy, but I hope you guys know I'm not angry all the time. It's a faze that comes over me in brawls. I've had it since childhood. I get angry in fights."
"He got bullied a lot," Roy explained off handedly. "As soon as he realized his dream of being Smash he started training and beat up all the bullies. That's how the Robins met him."
"Yeah," said Robin F, smiling up at Ike. "I was getting beat up a little…"
"Teased," Ike interrupted uncomfortably.
"And Ike flipped in and saved the day."
"I tell you," said Robin M, rolling his eyes. "Robin F was hanging on his arm like she'd never let him go and started talking as soon as I showed up. He was her prince charming jumping in to save the day."
"Literally jumping," muttered Ike. Sheik, watching the screen, but definitely listening, saw him cast her a look out of the corner of her eye. She scolded herself and decided he was simply looking at the screen. Which they all started doing, since the Tri Force battle was on.
"Oh, Zelda told me snippets about this," said Lucina, cheerily. "I heard it was good."
"Of course she said it was good," said Link, folding his arms. He looked hard at Sheik and she stared hard back, finally winking as she turned back to watch the screen.
There was plenty of laughter as their brawl replayed and Roy and Captain Falcon were laughing so hard they started crying. Robin F was also crying from laughter and Samus rolled around on the couch, clutching her stomach, as she giggled, chuckled, cackled, and laughed.
Zelda and Ganondorf looked annoyingly pleased with all this attention and Sheik and Link watched grimly, arms folded. Ike's chuckle sounded above Robin F's high pitched laughter in Sheik's ear and she rolled her eyes as Link, red and sweating, finally shot off the screen.
"Nice stockings, Zelda," said Peach. She was lying on the floor, tears of mirth standing in her eyes as she watched the statuses appear.
"Obviously the most interesting brawl of the day, the Tri Force brawlers had a little argument about it afterwards."
"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Link, leaping to his feet. On the screen, for all the world to see, was his red face as he bawled at Sheik and her blazing eyes and hair, dripping with sweat, as she roared back.
Link sank back onto the couch and punched his hand. "How dare they get that private moment with the cameras?"
Zelda burst out laughing. "Private? Link, you guys were yelling at each other for all the world to see like a married couple that's mad at each other."
Link froze and turned an interesting shade of pink. Sheik felt a flush creep up her cheeks as well and she gave Zelda a cold stare as the room grew silent. Ike chuckled and the laughter started again, Link reluctantly joining in until even Sheik had to giggle a little. It had been amusing, even if it was at her expense.
Now I realize that this is a rather mature way to look at things. Laughing at a joke even if it's at your expense? Who does that? ...