Little Mac did not consider himself to be the greatest boxer of all time. Maybe he was pretty good at being perseverant, but he fit very few qualities of "the ideal boxer."
He always considered himself to be an average person. Even after working his butt off to become fit for the strange competition known as Smash Brothers, he still felt normal. And it was a good thing, because he preferred being normal. Many of the contestants around him were heroes, villains, beings who made contact with supernatural foes. The only supernatural foe Mac faced before he joined Smash Brothers was Great Tiger, an Indian boxer who startled the Bruiser from the Bronx dozens of times. And even then, Great Tiger did not utilize his magic to its fullest extent because it was not meant for combat, but rather, meditation.
He was neither hero nor villain. If anything, he was a messenger to his fans. He showed the world that an ideal man was not always the best. For a flawed man who worked harder than an ideal man who worked just a bit would obviously win.
And when the ideal man worked hard, the flawed man would work with dedication that could catch up to perfection. The flawed man would eventually expand the idea of "the ideal worker" and overcome his flaws. He would bring a new meaning on what defined a man or woman who was perfectly suitable for catching dreams.
He showed just that. He wanted to show that and taste the dream of being a champion.
The boxer stared at his kitchen before standing up from the couch he had been sitting on.
Some chocolate wouldn't hurt, he thought as he moved over to a green jar with a lid snugly covering a stash of snacks. A small grin crept its way in to his usually stoic face as he picked up a chocolate bar, opening the wrapper before taking a bite out of it.
The contestants had, so far, displayed mixed reactions. Some of them seemed to care little about his presence, some expressed joy in having a new fighter around. Much to his own surprise, none of the contestants actually hated him. Not even Ganondorf, a man who clearly hated peace in the mansion, spoke of him with despise. It was a strange feeling to be accepted as a contestant so quickly, especially with the fact that everyone around him seemed to be miles beyond his league.
…If there was one thing he wanted to change, however, it was Robin's supremely strange personality. He did not seem like the type who would try to catch his attention and ask thousands of questions. Heck, Mac did not even know what Robin, a tactician who literally defeated an almighty dragon according to some textual evidence, would want with him. Perhaps it was a cover-up behind stranger intentions?
No; Robin seemed too excited to be around him.
The dark-haired pugilist had no idea on what to think of the tactician. On one hand, Robin was funny. His sense of humor was not the greatest, but his strange actions and thought-processing made him feel different from most of the people he interacted with. He was not "Disco Kid" strange, but there was something about the tactician that let Mac take him less seriously. Little Mac definitely did not view Robin as a fool, but he viewed him as a unique fellow who could easily pop up in his head.
One day, he would try figuring out why Robin wanted to become friendly with him. He decided to put the matter to a later time to solve.
The chocolate bar in one hand, the lightweight boxing champion left his dormitory.
The lobby of the mansion looked vaster when he came up from the basement. It was then he noticed that the couches and sofas had been removed from the lobby. Instead, he found a familiar Hylian he faced earlier hugging a large box. The swordsman, Link, walked over to the other side of the lobby, placing the box next to another group of boxes.
Little Mac decided not to butt in. The pugilist immediately headed for the cafeteria.
As soon as he entered the cafeteria, however, he found something even stranger.
There was a huge crowd of people in it. In fact, not only were there people, but there was a huge crowd of strange creatures as well. He failed to recognize nearly all of them.
Mac grimaced. [i]Not good,[/i] he thought as he turned to walk out of the cafeteria, intent on finding a place around the mansion to relax at.
Whether his own luck was messing with him, he did not know. As soon as the pugilist turned, he bumped head-first against another person.
Said person was someone he thought about a little earlier.
"Sir Mac," Robin said calmly, though his voice seemed to waver. "It's pleasant to see you here!"
It seemed that Robin wanted to say something else, for Mac quickly recognized the shining eyes that remained unique to Robin.
"What's going on?" Little Mac asked as he glanced at the large group of organisms within the cafeteria.
The white-haired tactician leaned to see what was over Mac's shoulder before putting his attention back to the young pugilist.
He then made a small smile as he reached for something behind him.
"A surprise party hosted by none other than Mario and Princess Peach themselves," he said. "Since it's the first day of April, they decided to prank us by saying they would never host a party for the rest of the year after today... and took advantage of what they claimed. A good chance to make a good April Fool's, they said!"
Mac felt like applauding Super Mario and Princess Peach so much, he felt like clapping with his arms stretched out.
It did surprise him, but it seemed like something Mario and Peach would do.
…
Yup. Seemed like something Mario and Peach would do.
Suddenly, a strange noise came from Robin. The boxer turned to the tactician, who raised a hand at chest level as he stared at what appeared to be a watch.
It was strange to see a watch on someone like Robin.
"Well, would you look at the time?" The tactician asked no one in particular as he slowly lowered his hand.
Mac swore that instead of regular numbers, there were twelve sets of words that read "Tip the scales" on the antique watch.
"I'll be going out on a little trip with a friend of mine," the white-haired slayer of Grima said as he slowly began to head out of the cafeteria. "Have fun, Sir Mac!"
Waving at the pugilist, Robin darted off as quickly as he showed up. A confused Little Mac raised a hand over his head before lowering by his side.
Contrary to his beliefs, the mansion seemed to enjoy doing some of the most random things he'd ever seen. So far, he did not have problems with that.
"Smashing," he said to himself with all of the irony he could muster.
The party was certainly filled to the brim, indeed. There were many unfamiliar figures… though, he was able to remember some of them. It took him a short time to notice that the people and creatures around him were the characters who appeared as Assist Trophies.
Assist Trophies were, so to speak, usable characters that could be cast in a Smash battle. Of course, they mostly popped up in friendly matches because no items were available in the competitive matches. From what he knew, the Assist Trophies were merely replicas of actual existing beings.
Mac wondered if floating, polygonal heads actually existed, but decided to disregard the thought as much as possible to maintain his sanity.
It really was interesting to see the people who were only known as Assist Trophies to him walking around talking with each other. They were filled with life, unlike the trophies that were hellbent on grabbing points for their summoners. So far, Mac did not activate an Assist Trophy before.
The lightweight boxing champion walked deeper into the cafeteria, wondering where he could sit. His eyes wandered amongst full tables… before landing on a particularly empty table.
Good.
His eyes on the prize, Mac walked towards the table before taking a seat.
"…"
I did it.
For some reason, he could not prevent a smirk from inevitably sprouting. It quickly fell as soon as he found his composure again.
He took a bite out of his chocolate bar again.
Peace settled in his heart as he relaxed a bit.
After consuming the rest of the chocolate bar, Mac remained seated at the lunch table. The party refused to die, and he declined the thought of leaving immediately. He had done a plentiful amount of training, though he did plan on training even further. He wanted to try carrying Doc Louis's advice into action.
The time for action seemed much harder to spot than he initially thought it would.
Still… watching the beings that lived in the strange world he was in proved to be surprisingly interesting. The sight of Captain Falcon and Ganondorf stuck in a standstill at their arm wrestling battle amused him, and the blue hedgehog that suddenly sat at his table earned his attention.
Admittedly, Mac did not expect the hedgehog to start talking in perfectly fluent English.
"Hey, Mac!" Sonic the Hedgehog asked with a grin sprouting on his uniquely proportioned face. "Whatcha doin' all alone here?"
Sonic the Hedgehog was a peculiar thing. The hedgehog loved to laze around, but only when he got his fair share of exercise. He seemed to contend in a never-ending battle of pranks with several other contestants, and his smile never got old to get disgusted at. A good and short description of Sonic would be "likable."
…Which was funny, considering that some people hated Sonic's personality.
"Eating," Mac answered as he crumbled up his finished candy bar. "And now I'm done."
The blue speedster blinked as he stared at what was left of the chocolate bar. "…Huh. What about some real food, man?"
"…?"
With a wide grin, Sonic motioned over at Mario, who laughed after eating his slice of pizza. He stood next to his brother, Luigi, whose slice remained clean of bites.
"It's a party, man! You should snag some big stuff rather than just chocolate bars."
But chocolate means business, Mac thought sadly. He, however, understood what Sonic meant. Parties were not an everyday thing, and knowing the randomness of the cafeteria's menu, the quality of his meals were not always guaranteed. With that in mind, Mac decided to stand up.
Sonic seemed satisfied with Mac's response. In fact, his actual intention was to get Mac into the scene and fit in a bit more. The hedgehog had noticed that the boxer seemed fairly quiet despite not being the particularly anti-social type. He just wished that Mac himself could know how to fit himself in with his new surroundings.
His grin turning into a toothy smile, the blue missile of Smash Brothers walked away in great haste, wondering what his friends were doing with a mysterious chili dog that looked like a mechanical egg.
The lightweight boxing champion soon found himself surrounded by fair amounts of beings. He slid past the bigger party-goers as he arrived at what appeared to be a series of long tables with food placed neatly on them. He raised an eyebrow when his eyes fell upon a chocolate cake with small chocolate bars sticking out of the thing.
It practically screamed "Doc Louis." The sight of chocolate bars sticking out of the cake caused Mac to snatch a slice. A plate rested snugly within his hands.
"…"
Now that he had his plate, he could just go back to his table and eat at peace.
His eyes fell upon a particular individual that prevented him from doing so.
The boxer blinked as he stood still, watching Lucina talk excitedly with an exasperated Hero King. As soon as he watched the two for more than two seconds, however, the blue-haired woman apparently sensed his gaze and looked up.
At that moment, Mac realized he was in for something when her soft gaze turned into a business-like glare. The glare lasted for only a split second, however, as she soon relaxed and gave him a small smile.
Around Lucina, Mac felt monitored. It felt uncomfortable in some ways, but she was definitely not picking on him for no real reason. From what he could tell, she was looking for something, but he could not tell what it was.
Needless to say, Mac felt like performing an airborne haymaker while jumping away from her as far as he could.
I still don't get why she's mysterious, he thought as he turned away after giving her a quick nod. I can read her actions like a book, but I'm no mind-reading master. It'd be nice if she kept less of her thoughts to herself.
The boxer eventually walked out of the cafeteria without even knowing it. As soon as he stopped blanking out during his walk, the boxer thought about turning back when he saw something lying on the ground.
"…?"
Curious as to what the object was, Mac walked over to the thing and plucked it off the ground. He gave it a good hard look, analyzing the object.
But there was no need to give it a hard look.
A coin?
The lightweight boxing champion glanced around his surroundings.
…Weird, he thought as he proceeded to walk over to one of the coffee tables at the lobby, placing the gold-colored coin on it.
With the coin on the coffee table, Mac sat on a comfortable couch as he proceeded to consume his cake. He ate the cake quite quickly.
What he did not know was that the coin would, eventually, become a part of something quite absurd.
Something really absurd, to put it very lightly.
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Long, long ago...