Sorry to keep you waiting! Because real-life circumstances decided to conspire to keep me away from the magical interwebs, I haven't been able to work on much fanfiction recently.

In addition to that, I've been using the time I do have on my computer to work on future chapters and... I kinda sorta totally forgot about finishing this one, the one I actually should finish. But now I have, so now you can enjoy it! And it's a long chapter, too. Extra food for your, uh, fanboying/girling?

Shulk looked to his left, but all he could see was a grey blur. He looked to his right. The blur followed him. The sky was clouded over with blurred grey, too. Everything was blurred.

He held a single hand out until it started to rain. The raindrops fell into his hands, yet he never actually felt the wet sensation of water on his skin. It was humid, but he didn't feel muggy, and his clothes weren't clinging to his body.

It was almost as if he was in a dream.

"... ... fate!"

Suddenly, he felt a sword force its way into his back.

He could feel the dreamlike sensation fading now. The rain felt wet, and his clothes were drenched. And the sword in his back most certainly hurt a lot. He tried to focus on the feeling of the rain, but pain overrode all his senses. All he could think was "it hurts it hurts it HURTS."

Just when he thought he couldn't stand the pain anymore, the stranger drew the sword out of him. He collapsed face-first in a puddle of rain. Blood flowed from his chest, coloring the puddle a deep red.

He used what strength he had to turn himself over, and as his vision faded, he saw a blurry figure standing over him and holding a sword.

"W-why...?" he managed to say.

"I... will not-"

Shulk's eyes shot open.

He checked his back. There was no wound, but he still felt sore. And he was drenched in cold sweat, too.

He checked the clock. 4:20 am.

All of a sudden, he realized that going to sleep way too early yesterday was a bad idea. But what really bothered him was...

A vision... in my sleep? he thought.

To put bothering in his bothering so he could be bothered while being bothered, the Wii Fit Trainer (but he preferred Wyatt) was fully awake and ready to jog around town.

"Oh, you're awake already? Want to go running with me?" Wyatt said.

"Wha...?"

"Awesome sauce! Let's get going now!" Wyatt dragged Shulk out of bed and down the stairs. "It won't stay cool for long, you know!"

Shulk was about to go with it, then he realized that he was running down stairs. "...Wait a sec!" he said. "What are you doing? Where are we going? What is the meaning of life?!"

"We're going running in the park! You agreed to it yourself."

"I'm still in my pajamas! I'm barely even awake!"

"Well, you're at least somewhat awake now, and that's what counts."

"I need to change!"

"Nawww. Pajamas are easy to move around in."

"I need to pee!"

"Oh, we're not gonna be out there that long."

Wyatt and Shulk spent an hour jogging in the park, which apparently was supposed to be "not that long." Shulk was gasping for air by the end of the run.

Also, when he got back to the bedroom, he lost control of his bladder... right in front of the bathroom door.

...If Wyatt ever got his hands on a meme, Shulk was definitely going to take it from him.

A plan began to formulate in his head, and he started to laugh evilly. "Muahahahaha! AHAHAHA-"

"Uh, any reason you're laughing evilly like that?"

"Just seeing if I could pull it off."

"Oh. Cool beans."

"Yeah. Totally not planning anything suspicious or anything like that."

Shulk gave an awkward laugh. Wyatt didn't seem to suspect anything. Good.

Shulk threw a soapy towel over his mess and started to scrub. Whatever, he would get his chance another day. Today, he was supposed to challenge Little Mac, and he wasn't going to deviate from that. Once he finished cleaning up, he decided to go downstairs to eat breakfast and then do just what he had planned.

Little Mac was sitting with his friends, the Bara Bros, which consisted of Ike, Link, Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, and Marth. They were called the "Bara Bros" because they liked to do stereotypically manly things.

"Excuse you, I am fabulous!"

...Well, except for Marth. Marth was really just there to balance out the rugged manliness with his, and I quote, "touch of handsome bishonen class."

"Bruh, you just sparkle. You're not fabulous," Ike said. He slouched back in his chair with his legs spread, creating the ultimate manly air.

"You have it all wrong, my friend. Vampires are the ones who 'just sparkle.' Bishonens have a certain... finesse that sparkly vampires lack." Marth flipped his hair, creating a cloud of sparkles.

"But vampires can suck blood and go fast," countered Little Mac.

Sonic shouted "YE!" in the background.

"Yes, and they can be driven away with garlic and killed with stakes. Wario could easily defeat a vampire with his stench alone." Marth plucked a stray sparkly hair out of his cape and dropped it on Captain Falcon's head. "I, on the other hand, am merely sickened by Wario's... unpleasant aroma."

"WAAAHHH! WARIO!"

"Ah... ah- FALCON ACHOO!"

Everything went slow-mo as an absolutely horrific event happened: Falcon sneezed from Marth's stray hair, making Link go "Gyaaahhhh!" and fall SPLAT! onto Ganondorf's ice cream. The bowl slipped off the table and clattered to the floor and suddenly ice cream was everywhere and then the flow of time returned to normal, as if nothing terrible had just happened.

Pit's floor-ice-cream senses started tingling. He walked over to the Bara Bros. table, saw Ganon's strawberry ice cream, and got on the floor and ate it all up.

Ganon sniffled and tried to hold back his tears.

Shulk happened to be walking past the Bara Bros. when he saw Ganon. He stopped in front of the table and frowned at Marth. "Look what you've done, Marth. You monster."

"I- I didn't even do anything! It was Link!"

"You made Ganny cry, Marth. Look at him."

Marth glanced at Ganon. Tears were falling from his eyes and he kept wiping his snot from his nose. Marth immediately felt like a horrible person and backed away from the table.

Link wiped the ice cream off his face and then awkwardly patted Ganon on the back. "I'm sorry, bruh. I'll get you some more ice cream, okay?"

Ganon nodded. "Uh... uh-huh," he whimpered. And the two of them went back to the line to get some more ice cream.

With that problem solved, Shulk decided now was a better time than never to do what he had planned. He turned to face Little Mac.

"Hey, Mac and Cheese," he said.

"Yeah?" Little Mac said.

"You really feeling a Smash?"

The Smashers began to murmur amongst themselves. Hearing someone challenge someone else to a Smash was very, very uncommon, and as everyone in the mansion knew, Smashing was SERIOUS BUSINESS.

"Do you think Shulk's got a problem with Little Mac?" Zelda whispered to her roommate, Samus.

"I don't even give a crap."

"But Smashing is SERIOUS BUSINESS, Samus! Especially challenges. Something's definitely up."

"Whatever."

"Stuff like this doesn't happen every day, you know."

"I don't care. 'S none of my business."

Zelda paused for a bit to look frustrated before leaning closer to Samus. "Maybe they're fighting over someone," she whispered in an even lower voice.

"So?"

Zelda puffed out her cheeks. "Why is this so unimportant to you?!"

"I told you already- I just don't give a crap."

"Augh, I guess I'll just be blunt with you." Zelda leaned so close to Samus they were practically touching. As softly as she could, she whispered, "Samus, they might be fighting over you."

Actually, Shulk wasn't challenging Little Mac because of Samus (though, he would admit, Samus was one of those ladies he would love to draw like one of his French girls). He just wanted Little Mac's memes. But Samus seemed to be taken back by Zelda's assumption anyway.

"...Oh. Well, uh, cool," she stammered.

Again Zelda said, "Smashing is SERIOUS BUSINESS."

"Well, Mac and Cheese? Challenge accepted or no?" Shulk yelled at Little Mac.

Mac shrugged. "Why not."

"Alright, let's do it. For Glory in the boxing ring, 4:20 PM today." Shulk said, turning around. As he walked out of the cafeteria, no one said a word. He could feel their piercing stares follow his every step. He pushed the doors open and glanced back.

"Don't be late, Mac and Cheese."

And the doors slammed shut.