"I thought so," Samus opens the door to the nurse's office and sees everyone's current position.
. . .
"You guys seem sort of busy..." Samus slowly closes the door.
"We're not!" Red jolted.
"Then what are you doing?" Zelda sweated as Samus opens the door again.
"Uh, stuff..."
"Uh-huh..."
"S-So! What about the whole finding students thingie?!" Marth tried to get off topic (again).
"Woah, woah, woah. Please back up," Lucina said.
"Well I don't know about you, but if you haven't noticed, everyone is bound to get killed," Samus said.
"Ah." Lucina and her friends blinked a few times.
"Really? You didn't get that?" Samus sighed.
"No, no, no-"
"You repeated that three times again-"
"We were aware that everyone at this school was in danger but we weren't aware that there was going to be a massacre plus the way on how you said it really nonchalantly made us dumbfounded," Rob said with a fairly meek voice.
"So? Are you in or out?" Samus asked.
"What?" Shulk asked.
"She's asking will you join us to rescue the students that are left," Pit clarified.
The four newcomers looked at each other, seemingly waiting for one of them to answer.
"Of course, doing this will put you in danger too, once you're outside the nurse's office," Samus said.
"Are you trying to make it seem like we can't protect ourselves," Robin said, fairly confidently.
"No, nothing of the sort," Samus smirked, catching onto Robin.
"You are talking to prodigy transfer students," Robin declared with a hand on her chest, "Alright. We except you're challenge."
"Wha-?! Robin?!" Lucina yelled, "This isn't a game of chess! We're talking about life or death!"
"Exactly." Robin said, "As long as we're trapped here like mice in mouse traps, we should- no- we need to try to change what these 'cats' are going for."
Paula smiled, "Glad to have you on the team."
"Alright, time for a plan," Samus declared.
As the others started planning, Shulk couldn't help but notice that Rob was fairly quiet.
"Hey, are you okay?" Shulk asked worriedly.
"..." Rob gently held his neck, "'Life or death'... death..."
"Rob, don't think about it," Shulk said.
"But, it's not like you can keep your promise in a situation like this," Rob smiled bitterly.
"Hey, as long as I'm here I'll keep that promise," Shulk playfully punched Rob's shoulder.
Rob smiled a small smile but it dropped into a frown once Shulk began to pay attention to the planning.
"Don't make me regret my connections with you..." he mutters.
Little did the two know, Red had a short attention span so he had long ago lost interest in the planning. He heard their conversation.
"Don't think about it"?... oh... Red realized what Shulk meant and couldn't help but glance at Pit, who was laughing at their friends off topic arguments.
I wonder... Red thought solemnly.
"Alright!"
Everyone paid attention to Samus.
"With a pen and the map of the school campus, courtesy of Paula," Samus began, pointing to said person who waved, "We're splitting up into groups of around three. Each group will be decided depending on skill along with location."
"Right now, what does each person have a skill at?" Samus asked.
"We have around three fencers here," Marth said, referring to himself, Link, and Lucina.
"Two specializing on tactician skills," Robin said, referring to herself and Rob, "Of course we can battle with a sword too."
"Two on archery," Pit said, referring to himself and Link.
"One gunner," Samus said.
"'Gunner'?" Marth raised a brow.
Samus lifted up her skirt.
"WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Popo yelled.
"Calm down," Samus scoffed, pointing to the tights she was wearing beneath her skirt. There was a belt on each leg with the belt on her right leg holding a hand gun with extra bullets and a whip on her left leg, just in case she ran out of bullets.
"I'm pretty sure the school doesn't allow that," Popo sweated along with the others.
"You can get away with anything when you wear a long skirt," Samus smirked.
"That leaves only..." Paula looked over to Red, Nana, Ike, Peach, Zelda, and Shulk.
"Er, Shulk's a bit complicated if we're talking about putting him in a category," Rob said.
"I can smash things with a hammer but I can't really do much without Popo," Nana said.
"The best I can do is help with any injuries," Peach said.
"Same," Zelda said.
"Great, then that leaves us with eight again," Samus sighed.
"Hey! Just because I don't have a skill doesn't mean I'm willing to stay here!" Red protested, "As long as I can move I am able to help others! With or without skills!"
Samus glared at him, but gave in and sighed.
"Fine. If you want to come with us then do! But just know that we're not responsible for what happens to you."
"Well, you know what they say, it's the worst to be the bystander," Ike huffed in agreement.
"Ugh, okay, then that bumps us back to around 13," Samus massaged her temples.
"Next, groups," Robin said.
"I'll go with Red," Pit said.
"Hah?! Like I'd let someone like him be paired with you!" Samus yelled.
"Hey!" Red yelled in offense.
"If it makes you feel better I can go with them," Marth said.
"That makes me feel worse," Samus's face darkened.
"Eh?!" Marth sweated.