"PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!"

Little Mac saw one of the windows shattering, revealing a large figure flying out of the now open window.

"..."

"..."

"...Well, that ain't good."

Master Hand seemed to clench himself(?) into a balled fist before calming down. With a slightly disappointed tone, the hand muttered, "I should have expected something like this to happen."

Little Mac thought to himself, Then what am I not supposed to expect?

With the flick of a finger, Master Hand brought back the figure that just flew out of the window back into the mansion, and the fragments of the window slowly picked themselves up, floating toward where they once remained assembled together.

"Anyway," the glove said, turning to Little Mac with a thumb up, "you'll be living here. Don't worry! I'll try to keep you ali- er, comfortable."

With a somewhat shaky nod, the lightweight boxer nodded. For some reason, he felt much more comfortable with the hand now. Maybe it was because of the fact that someone just punched a random person out of the place he would be staying at.

The mansion itself was surprisingly great. Some ornaments decorated some of the walls, with pictures of the tournament hung on the walls. As the three went deeper into the mansion, however, the place slowly began to look more like a regular house. It felt strange, but Mac himself liked the fact that not everything looked fancy. He never was one to walk around flaunting wealth.

There was a disturbingly quiet atmosphere within the mansion at the moment.

As he followed the Master Hand, however, he noticed that a person other than Doc Louis had finally appeared. The blonde woman wore a dark-blue, hoodless jumpsuit, running past the group of three. Master Hand seemed to recognize her, though he did not make any clear notions of it. After walking down flights of stairs, and a series of "wows" directed at the well-designed mansion by a chocolate-eating Doc Louis, Little Mac found himself standing in front of a door.

Somehow... the entrance of what just might be a dormitory seemed familiar. It was as if whoever designed the entrance knew about Little Mac and the gym he trained in ever-so-frequently.

"Mister Mac," Master Hand spoke, startling the young boxer, "unfortunately, we were unable to complete the entrance of your dormitory. On the brighter side, the dormitory itself is finished."

Little Mac nodded, his hoodie still over his head. He liked wearing the hood for some reason.

With Master Hand's information in mind, Little Mac opened the unlocked door, pushing it open with a boxing glove.

Behind the door was a comfy-looking room. In fact, the entire dormitory did not seem like... a dorm at all. It actually looked like the interior of a big house. Marble walls, wooden floors, and a certainly high ceiling. This did not look hugely different from his actual house; the only clear difference Mac was able to spot was the size of the room.

"Feel free to make yourself home, Mister Mac," Master Hand urged playfully. "Doc Louis and I have set a schedule for your tryouts. There, we will be able to clearly calculate your strength among the fighters. Do not consider it as a test, however, as I am already planning on permitting you to join the tournament."

Little Mac felt puzzled, which Master Hand seemed to catch onto by just looking at the boxer's face.

"Simply put," the glove stated with a somewhat prideful tone, "a friend of mine watched some of your matches. From the Minor Circuit to the World Circuit, he told me some of your tales, though I initially did not believe him because he's sort of... crazy."

"Y' mean that Crazy Hand fun stuff?" Doc Louis asked, barely able to suppress a fit of laughter. "'Ey, I still remember how he slapped you, Master Hand!"

The glove let out a sigh of disgust, remembering how Crazy Hand pimpslapped him to make a good impression when Doc Louis first encountered them.

Meanwhile, Little Mac proceeded to look around the room. Everything did not seem as bad as he thought it would be. Whoever worked on the dormitory certainly captured the feeling of his home quite well. There was even a sandbag placed at the corner of the ro-

"..."

"...Hm? Son, what's wrong?"

The lightweight boxer felt one of his eyes twitch as he pointed at the sandbag. This one... had googly eyes.

Just how the heck did the sandbag he attacked appear in his room?

"Oops," Master Hand muttered before he quickly zoomed past Mac, picking the sandbag up before putting it outside of the dormitory. Returning to the Doc and the boxer, he explained, "I originally put that there in case he would want a copy of Sandbag, but it appears that our boxer does not like him all that much."

Mac nodded. There was no need to lie on that part; he would probably Star Punch himself if he saw the Sandbag blink.

"Anyway," the Master Hand said as he began to float out of the dormitory, "I will be leaving with Mr. Louis to discuss some things about your new career here, Mac. Would you mind any visitors?"

At this, Little Mac tilted his head in confusion. The glove chuckled before explaining once more,

"There may be some fighters that would like to meet you firsthand. Your name is not an all-too foreign one, after all."

The boxer nodded, though he quickly regretted doing so. He realized that he would have to put up with people that could punch others through windows, and possibly create an indoor brawl for no justified reason. Right before he could shake his head, however, Doc Louis shouted heartily,

"That's the spirit! Good thinking, Mac."

...And now, he really could not decline the offer. With a sigh, Mac watched the glove and his mentor move out of the basement.

Knock knock.

"...?"

Little Mac looked up from the carpet he had been staring at for so long, getting up from a leather sofa. Walking up to the door, Mac was about to open it when he realized that it had been unlocked all this time.

He decided to pretend that he was unlocking the door before actually opening it.

Behind the door stood a somewhat peachy lady. Her pink, lacy dress complimented quite well with her bright blonde hair, and the tiara resting on her head confused Little Mac. He concluded that she was just a rich lady who just wanted to meet a newcomer.

With a small and curious smile, the lady bowed slightly, greeting him with a moderately high-pitched "Hello!"

Little Mac nodded.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"...Umm... my name is Peach Toadstool!" The woman said, awkwardly attempting to drive a conversation to somewhere. She politely let out a hand for a handshake.

Now, Little Mac did not know that this person was the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. In fact, he had no idea that there were any princesses at all in the world he was in. If there were any princesses that really existed, they all would probably be at some random castle, or maybe fighting evil alongside heroes. Little Mac never lived a life of consistently fighting supernatural forces, despite the fact that his victories themselves seemed supernatural.

So, Little Mac, with his boxing gloves on, nearly whammed a hand onto the woman's, shaking her hand as firmly as possible. Much to his dismay, however, the lady looked hurt by the exchange, as she cringed just by the feeling of her fingers being pressed far too tightly against each other.

"Ow...!"

He forgot that boxing gloves could provide an iron death grip under the wrong circumstances. Luckily, the boxer was quick to react, as he literally jerked his hand back. Unfortunately for him, Peach still tried her best to keep shaking the death grip, only to get pulled towards him.

Little Mac wondered what he should do. There was a pretty woman being pulled towards him. His first option was to punch her away and state (while apologizing) that it was all because of his boxing career, though that might sound like an insult directed towards Doc Louis. His second option was to dodge sideways and attempt to grab her away from a faceplant on the wooden floor, though Little Mac never really had experience in grabbing as much as he did in punching.

His final option was to just use himself as a cushion, but that too sounded unpleasant. Fate seemed to hate him, for he immediately fell backward on the ground.

There were good news and bad news for the lightweight boxer.

Now, there was a pretty person resting on his chest. Mac did not know whether to feel embarrassed or proud of himself, though he decided that the former was the correct reaction. She felt warm and cozy like a... peach. Or something.

Then there was the fact that he saw someone running out of the basement right after he opened his eyes.

...He decided not to pay too much attention to that, however, as the delicate lady groggily woke up. As she shook her head lazily, Little Mac took this as a chance to get up, softly push the woman away from him, and smash his face against the ground.

Just what was he doing on his first day in a world he had no experience living in?

"Ah! Are you okay?" Peach asked.

Mac remained in the fetal position, simply shaking his head with his face flat on the ground. The rich lady lightly grabbed Mac's head, pulling him out of the little faceplant he did. Now there was an imprint of Little Mac's face randomly smashed into the wooden floor.

"So what's your name, mister?" The rich lady asked nicely, her smile returning.

"..."

...

...

...

...

"...Mac."

"Oh! It is an honor to meet you, Sir Mac!"

"Just Mac."

"Huh?"

Peach blinked at the man in the pink jumpsuit, who proceeded to pull his hoodie back over his head. For the first time in a long time, however, he smiled without feeling like he was forced to do so.

"I see," Peach said, nodding twice to herself. "Then let me rephrase my greeting! It is an honor to meet you, Mac!"

Mac nodded.

Peach was a nice person.

Peach definitely was a nice person.

Before she left off in a hurry to somewhere, the rich lady had given him a basket of sweets and... mushrooms. While the mushrooms confused Mac a little, he presumed that it was some sort of cultural thing. But then again, he heard of Americans being stereotyped as people who carried around baskets of hamburgers and french fries.

Mac did feel like eating a burger, however. Smiling at the welcome gift he received from the nice lady, he put the basket at the living room before leaving his dormitory.

Doc Louis and Master Hand never mentioned anything about Mac leaving the dormitory, but at this point, Little Mac knew not to go overboard with wandering around the new world he was in. And the mansion he now lived in had a fair amount of mysteries that still needed to be looked into. Perhaps Mac would be lucky enough to not get punched out of a window while he was at it.

The boxer left the basement, standing still in the lobby that connected all of the dormitories together. He smelled something good coming from what appeared to be a cafeteria. Making sure that his hoodie was still over his head, the lightweight champion headed straight towards the cafeteria.

Sporting rather a simple look, the cafeteria had no one but robots in it. Mac picked up a tray and a plate, placing it on a small platform before watching a robot slowly place food on the plate.

Burgers.

Perfect.

Mac felt really hungry, even after consuming a fair amount of chocolate bars. More than that, he wanted to taste something he was familiar with first before he began eating possibly foreign foods. The boxer picked his tray up off of the platform, causing it a green light to briefly blip out of it.

After the light shined, Mac placed the tray on the platform again. He saw the robot place yet another burger on the plate.

He repeated this until he had five hamburgers sitting on his plate. Carrying a tray full of burgers (and some fries), Mac quickly snatched a small pack of ketchup, proceeding to consume his food on a random table.

Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched.

Oblivious to his surroundings, Mac first decided that eating was a good priority for his hungry condition. He ate a burger, some fries, another burger, then another burger, until he was left with two burgers and some fries. He then realized that he had not drank any kinds of liquid during the meal, so he quickly got up and went over to a drink stall. Soon, he returned with a coke. With his drink in hand, Little Mac proceeded to continue his feast.

"Whoa," one of the voices commented outside of the cafeteria's entrance, "he eats a LOT."

"Someone who finally eats more than your mom," stated another voice. Soon, a swarm of voices joined the conversation.

"If the Captain was here, you'd be tasting a healthy Falcon Punch again."

"Say what...?!"

"I think he must've been-a really hungry! Look at all the food he's-a eating."

"H-He might eat m-more than Bowser, Mario!"

"At least he took his gloves off. It would've been freaky to see a dude with boxing gloves eat burgers..."

"By the way, Link just beat down Meta Knight."

"Return of the classic high-tiers?"

"Hey, where did the Ice Climbers go?"

"In your mom's house."

"For crying out loud, Ganon..."

Little Mac continued to eat, not knowing that there was a huge swarm of fighters right outside of the cafeteria. After eating half of his fourth burger, he noticed that someone other than him had finally entered the cafeteria.

It was Peach again!

When the lady saw him sitting by a table, she waved lightly before heading towards his direction. Mac stood up from the table, mimicking Peach's polite bow before sitting back down. He felt a little better after he accidentally pulled Peach down.

"Hey... does she know about him?" One of the voices pointed out.

"I dunno."

"How am I supposed to know?"

"I fight for my friends."

"Shut up, Nike."

"It's Ike."

"Ikea, shut up for a second."

"You shut up."

"No you."

"Ganondorf, make a your mom joke."

"Fool. I make jokes when I feel like it. Go die in Din's fire."

"Dang it, Ganondork!"

"...What did you just call me?"

As Peach sat down, Little Mac could not help but notice that something about her felt really off. He did not notice earlier, but the lady seemed a little too polite, even for a rich lady. And the way she smiled at him just made him smile back. Perhaps this was the "happy virus" effect that only a few people were able to host?

"There was Smash battle not too long ago!"

At this, Little Mac jerked his head up, all of his attention directed towards the woman in front of him. Noticing that the news of a battle caught his attention, Peach proceeded to explain further,

"There are a lot of friendly matches, you see. Don't worry! If you're a part of the tournament, I don't think you're missing out on too much. The matches always play on the television channels, so feel free to take a look once in a while!"

Nodding, the boxer relaxed his shoulders. Still, his curiosity teetered over to the idea of a battle against someone who did not just box. He still needed to get the hang of what the tournament was like first, and Doc Louis seemed intent on doing just that for Mac.

Now that he thought about it, the woman in front of him had been spending a fair amount of time within the mansion all by herself. The lightweight champion realized that the peachy woman in front of him was probably a contender in the strange series of battles known as the "Super Smash Brothers" tourneys.

The SSB Tourneys were, according to some of the spare magazines he found back at his dormitory, tournaments that consistently took place to entertain a crowd that loved excitement, tension, drama, and turnovers. It actually sounded very similar to what his career back at the WVBA sounded like: a wild crowd, wild opponents, and a wild world of boxing in general. The only person that was not wild, from what he remembered, was a particular referee who he saw very frequently. Something about the referee always reminded Mac in many boxing matches that he himself did not live an ordinary life.

Little Mac blinked, noticing that he had actually gone silent for a fairly long time. He looked down at his food. There was one burger and several fries left.

The boxer looked up at Peach, then at the food.

He consumed the burger in a matter of seconds.

"Wow!" Peach exclaimed, laughing at the bizarrely fast consumption of the food. "Maybe you'd get along with Kirby! He likes to eat a lot, too."

For some reason, the name "Kirby" only brought up another boxer Mac knew of.

After he ate everything on his plate, Mac felt laziness take over.

Laziness... That was definitely not a good sign.

Doc Louis always told Mac to make up for laziness with the soaring inspiration to become the number one boxer, but in this case, Mac would need to become number one in the tournament somehow. He felt that he would be able to compete in some way, but at the same time, seeing someone punch a dude out of a window with immense power made his confidence fall a little. Despite his fairly quiet demeanor, Mac had an attitude; that very attitude made him eager and bright enough to overcome his weaknesses.

And so, Mac stood up from the table, startling the princess. He never was one to have the same mindset as others, as he did not spend much time training on his social skills. If there was one redeeming feature for his social awkwardness, it would be the toothy grin he always let out whenever he won a boxing match. That was practically it.

"..."

Little Mac turned to Peach, who simply stared at him, still startled by how abruptly he stood up. The boxer picked up his boxing gloves, turned back to Peach, and wore the gloves quickly. With the gloves snugly covering his hands, Mac lightly smacked the gloves against each other two times before pointing outside of the cafeteria with a grin. His facial expressions made him look as if he did not know where to go at all.

"Oh! I see," Peach said in realization. "If you turn to your left outside of the cafeteria, then the gym should be available."

Mac nodded before walking away.

"Have fun!"

The lightweight champion stopped, turned around, and waved at the pretty woman with one of his gloves. He then turned back before he started walking again.

As Little Mac approached the exit of the cafeteria, however, he noticed several whispers right outside of the place. Curious as to who the whispers belonged to, Mac walked out of the cafeteria, looking in the direction of the whispers.

Nothing was there. The whispers had also vanished for some reason.

The boxer looked around, making sure that there weren't any spidermen waiting to attack him from the ceiling, before turning to his left. He then jogged down a large, spacious hallway.

"...One more, Wario. One more wedgie, and I'll-"

"Shat ahp, Ikea."