"Monado's spaghetti." -Ganondorf
Some question each other about the future, some question about the past. In the end, everyone questions about something that does not exist in the present.
The future; what lies ahead? So many possibilities- many of them being good, horrible, or neither- were made up by mankind's colorful minds. People fear things they do not know. But they instinctively fear the things they do know about more, especially when they know they cannot do anything to stop or change such things. Being concerned about the future is a good thing; it keeps the world's people from losing dreams of helping everyone around them.
The past; what has not yet been recorded? So many possibilities- many of them shocking, jaw-dropping, or surprisingly passive- were sought out by mankind's skillful people. People fear things they do not know. But they instinctively fear the things that could be different, especially when it could change their future. Being concerned about the past is a good thing; it keeps the world's people concerned for not only the present, but also the future.
Those who control the past in the present control the future.
Little Mac stared at his television as he channel surfed like a semi-pro. He had grown used to pressing the buttons on his remote control. After all, what did he really do in his room other than laze around with the television? All of his important physical activities took place outside of his dormitory, so he considered his dormitory to be a safeplace for all of his less active tendencies.
He was honestly waiting to see what the next Fire Emblem Roy episode would be like.
The boxer blinked.
As he flipped the channel, he came across an interesting program.
It was simply named "Shulktime."
Mac raised an eyebrow as he watched the program, which actually turned out to be a CG movie. He saw a huge man with an all-too feminine face do a suplex on some unlucky wrestler. As the huge man whose face looked exactly like Shulk's stood up from his epic attack, he threw his arms up in the air as he shouted in Shulk's voice,
"Now it's Shulktime!"
And thus, the weird combination of a boyish face and a manly body bodyslammed his opponent.
Mac turned the television off and immediately put on his pink hoodie.
There were weird things in the world he lived in.
As he prepared for his jog, the boxer realized fate had decided to be cruel on him. For the instant moment he left his dormitory, he met the wielder of the Monado.
He actually met him before. Shulk was a pretty good guy.
"Ah! Heya, Mac!" The blond boy exclaimed excitedly in his usual, foreign attire. "Seems like you're out for a jog today, too?"
The boxer nodded.
"How about we jog together, then?"
The boxer nodded again.
"Great!"
The boxer nodded yet again. He really considered hitting the lab to find a new response he could use other than nodding.
As Shulk went to his dormitory and returned with his own crimson track suit, the two eventually jogged outside of the mansion.
The other day, Mac had spent time with Lucina- just the two of them. And surprisingly enough, it led to interesting results. First things first, he actually did not know what she thought of him anymore. When Mac woke up at dawn, he found her following his advice by talking with Robin at the lobby. They were laughing, but when Lucina spotted the boxer going to the gymnasium, she paled before unknowingly letting a bunch of blood flow into her head. She then proceeded to make frantic hand motions for Mac to go away while Robin was trying to set up a chess board.
The blue-haired swordswoman's dedication in befriending Robin touched Mac. He hoped they would be best friends.
Forever.
Needless to say, ever since that day, he actually did not mind doing his daily activities with a partner. Sure, Shulk was technically the very first person to run with him after Mac's memorable shenanigans with Lucina, but the boxer just felt that way. It turned out that as long as the person running with him was not trying to kill him, everything felt okay to him.
So even when Shulk entered a furious bullet-hell of conversations, Mac did not feel angry at all.
"I keep telling Doctor Mario not to bother Riki," the blond wielder of the Monado sighed, "but he keeps bothering him."
"…Why?"
Shulk shrugged as the two of them went down the same route Mac went through ever since he encountered Samus. "He said something about Riki not paying him for hospital bills. From what I know, Doc could get pretty scary."
"…"
After a few seconds' worth of silence, Mac asked Shulk,
"Who was Doctor Mario again?"
At this, Shulk beamed brightly. It was so easy to tell whenever he was either happy or disappointed.
"Doctor Mario is one of the Smash Brothers contestants! From what I know, he's one heck of a doctor. No one knows where he came from, though. He says he's from the Mushroom Kingdom, but boy, he's pretty scary for what he is…"
Now that Mac thought about it, Shulk had a point. The first time he met Doctor Mario was when he went for a simple check-up a few days ago.
Little Mac sat in a hospital, waiting for a check-up.
A voice exclaimed something behind the doctor's room. It belonged to the patient who just went inside.
Said patient was blasted out of the locked door with mysterious foot marks all over his body.
Little Mac quickly concluded he was too healthy to be dealing with this kind of check-up..
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Mac nodded. Doctors sure were scary.
He wondered why.
"…Taking a break," Mac stated in a flat tone.
"Perfect timing! My legs are giving out a bit," Shulk agreed as the two went over to a convenient bench.
As they sat at the bench, Shulk whistled as he observed the large lake placed right behind them. What lay near this lake were several simple things: a white road made of stones (which they had been running on), a park right in front of the few benches near the lake, and of course, the benches themselves. Master Hand had the decency not to shove this thing right in the middle of a city unlike Crazy Hand, who had an eighty percent chance of doing exactly what everyone would have hated to see.
"Mac, I have something to ask of you."
"…"
The blond boy sighed as he leaned over, his elbows resting on his knees.
"I've had some trouble with a friend, you see."
"…Friend?"
"Yes! A friend. Are there any friends you have on your world?"
Mac nodded. He had Doc, his parents, and a couple of psychotic boxing opponents. If angry rivals counted, he had plenty of friends on Earth.
"Ha ha, I see. I don't know why, but…"
Shulk sighed. As he looked up, he leaned against the bench with an idle expression.
"I have a friend. Her name is Fiora."
Mac nodded.
"I greeted her the other day, but something weird happened."
"What happened?"
Shulk remembered just what exactly happened. He turned to Mac with an extremely serious expression as he answered,
"She kicked me."
"…"
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"…She kicked you?"
"In the face."
"Why?"
Oblivious to his friend's anger, Shulk shrugged. And Mac had to agree that it did seem confusing that this friend Shulk had would suddenly kick the blond boy in the face. Shulk did not seem like the kind of person who would anger people easily.
Or maybe Mac was just too dense to feel angry about Shulk's big mouth. He knew he had good intentions whenever he spoke, but the boxer could somewhat understand impatient people getting fed up with the constant barrage of words the swordsman often uses.
"Did anything happen before that?" Mac asked, wondering if Shulk had to consider getting new friends.
"…Anything that happened…? Hmm…"
As the wielder of the Monado fell into deep thought, Little Mac turned to the lake for a brief moment.
"Aha! I think I know."
Mac turned to Shulk, whose eyes brightened with an apparent discovery. The boxer slightly tilted his head, curious as to what Shulk had come up with.
"Fiora was asking me if I liked her, and I said yes! Then I told her we were the best of friends, and she proceeded to punch me in the face."
"…"
The boxer remained silent. Hm. So maybe Shulk did need new friends.
"Did you specifically point out," Mac asked, his idle expression slowly contorting into a thoughtful one, "that she was your best friend?"
"…?"
"Think about it. How long have you spent time with her?"
"Since the beginning of my memories, I'll be honest."
"Then you should have called her your best friend."
"…!"
Shulk bolted up from the bench, his eyes shining as he let out a massive "OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Mac blinked.
"So that's it! Fiora is angry because I'm probably her best friend as well. And since I didn't mention anything about her being my best friend, she would obviously get super angry! You're a genius, Little Mac!"
The boxer wanted to nod, but he decided to get straight to the point. "You should go tell her that."
"Yeah! In fact, I'll go do that right now! Thanks, Little Mac!"
And thus, Shulk ran off excitedly to take the matter to his hands. He would end it like a boss!
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...
"Fiora!"
"…Huh? What is it, Shulk?"
"Fiora, when you asked me if you liked me…"
"…!"
"I am sorry that I did not give you the proper response."
"…"
"I should have been more decisive with my words, but I was too careless. I know how serious you are with these kinds of things. You've always been a romanticist with words, you know that?"
"…R-Really? Huh… Um… Yeah…"
"So, Fiora, let me tell you what I feel about you with all of my honesty."
"O-Okay, Shulk."
"Fiora…"
"…"
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"YOU ARE MY VERY BEST FRIEND, FIORA! WE ARE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER! THERE, I SAID IT! I SAID THE TRUTH! THIS IS THE MONADO'S POW-"
"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The sound of a thousand punches erupted from a house sitting nearby the Smash Brothers mansion.
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The next day, Mac found himself sitting on a bench with Shulk again.
"…So it didn't work."
The blond swordsman sighed as he nodded.
"Mysterious are the ways of women," he muttered quietly as he stared off at the park. Mac looked at the park as well, finding a flustered Lucina bonking Robin's shoulder lightly for some random remark he said.
"…Yup."
But then again, men were pretty mysterious in their own ways.
Author's Notes:
This chapter was short because there was not much to write about it in the first place. My B.
The next chapter is a secret.