"You must defeat my Tatsumaki-Shoryu-Senpuu-Shinku-Hadouken to slightly stand a chance." -?
…
…
…
Little Mac jogged.
Every day, he jogged. He made sure he jogged at least twice per day. He had jogged for a good amount of years, and even after his WVBA career ended, he kept jogging. He had many reasons to jog. Jogging cleared his mind. It also exercised his body. Not to mention, jogging was a habit that he developed to remind himself that there was always something productive he could be doing at any moment. This prevented him from lazing around for the entirety of the day, as jogging motivates him into doing full-out exercises such as jump-roping and bench pressing.
In a sense, one of his forms of meditation was jogging.
The dawn sky let out a dim light as he jogged. He had participated in a training match with Mario not too long ago, and he got pummeled around due to his relatively small knowledge in getting out of aerial attacks. The plumber from the Mushroom Kingdom definitely knew how to pack a punch in the air.
He needed to learn how to maneuver through the air better.
Mac jogged.
Dawn remained still, waiting for Mac to jog a bit more. It soon left, letting morning take its place. Mac jogged faster.
Sometimes Little Mac felt alone when he practiced. He knew that Doc Louis was still around, so he did not necessarily feel saddened, but it did dawn upon him that training oneself could be much harder than training with others. Little Mac still remembered the lessons Doc taught him, so he decided to expand upon said lessons for the Smash Brothers tournaments.
A swift punch. A set of phantom jabs. A punch to the knee. A punch to the gut. A punch to the face. Without a shred of mercy, Little Mac smashed a Wireframe fighter out of a ring.
He trained yet again in the new room that had been installed within the large gymnasium. No one ever really visited the place, however. Sometimes Little Mac would find Pikachu playing with the various training equipment that proved to be useless for the Pokemon. Other times he would find a strange two-dimensional man known as "Mr. Game And Watch" loitering around the walls. Whenever Mr. Game And Watch wandered around the small room within the gymnasium, Mac would find himself narrowly dodging the flat man due to the brick walls making Game And Watch look like his own shadow more than anything. The two-dimensional fighter did not seem to dislike him, so that alone was good enough for the boxer.
Little Mac huffed.
After finishing his training up with another Wireframe battle, the boxer left the gymnasium. He wore his usual pink jumpsuit.
The instant moment he entered the lobby, he heard an explosion. Curious, the lightweight boxing champion walked further to see what the fuss was about.
He saw Captain Falcon and Ganondorf punching each other in the face simultaneously.
Oh, he thought, unsurprised at the thought of the two eternal rivals fighting. It's just Captain Falcon and Ganondorf.
The mansion was filled with so many strange things, at this point, Little Mac did not feel surprised at the slightest to find two supernatural opponents duking it out in a large shelter.
He stood still as he mulled over his thoughts, ignoring the explosions that erupted throughout the entire lobby.
…I can go for a burger right now, he thought as he headed to the cafeteria. He heard Ganondorf yell something manly, but it was probably something Mac had already listened to.
With an idle expression, the WVBA boxer entered the cafeteria and immediately snatched up a burger.
At least, he tried to.
Right before he picked up the food, a pale hand caught one of his arms. Little Mac turned to find… an unfamiliar man with grey hair and eyes.
Judging by the grey-and-blue set of yoga clothes the man wore, Mac presumed this person to be one of the famed Wii Fit Trainers.
After researching the fighters' backgrounds a bit, Mac found out that there were two Wii Fit Trainers that participated in the Smash Brothers tournaments. These Wii Fit Trainers were known for intense work ethic and their strong beliefs in living healthily. At first, they would let one get away with eating something useless to the human body. After a while, however, the trainers would begin to bother the person about how a balanced nutritious diet is required to be healthy. It was possible to drive them away, but they were persistent apparently.
So when Mac witnessed the male Wii Fit Trainer preventing him from getting the burger, he quickly concluded that he had become one of the many targets under the trainers' radar.
"Mister Mac," the pale-skinned man said with a respectful tone, "I highly advise you to-"
"No."
"…"
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
"Mister Mac-"
"No."
"Please hear me out."
Little Mac nodded. Taking a deep breath, the male Wii Fit Trainer recollected his calmness as he asked, "Have you at least worked your body out?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Five hours."
"When?"
"A little after I got up."
"…"
"…"
Though the Wii Fit Trainer did not want to admit defeat, he accepted it as soon as he sighed and hung his head low. "Sorry for taking your time," he said as he slumped over to one of the tables.
Little Mac was just happy that he would not be forced to eat the Chu Chu Jelly being provided alongside the burgers. Without taking a single bit of jelly, Mac took three burgers and some fries. He sat an empty table.
Placing his tray at the table, Little Mac stood up and quickly went to the restroom. He returned to the table as soon as he washed his hands.
As soon as he took a bite from his first burger, he felt something tap his shoulder. He turned, only to find Crazy Hand floating behind him.
No, it was not the clearly sane and intelligent right hand. It was the clearly insane and destructive left hand.
"SURPRI-"
Right before Crazy Hand dropped a bomb on the boxer, Little Mac instinctively punched the Hand and sent him spiraling towards the ceiling. The large hand ricocheted off of the ceiling before slamming against the ground, coughing in pain. Surprised at how he reacted without even thinking, Little Mac apologized.
"My B."
"You don't sound sorry at all."
Letting out another cough, Crazy Hand slowly pried himself off of the ground as he muttered, "Master Hand's been wondering if you want to be interviewed."
"…Interview?"
"Yes, an interview. In case you don't know what that means, an interview means that there are people out there in the public wanting to sap bits of your private information out of you. And they will do so slowly, catching every aspect of your life as they-"
"Who?"
"-…huh?"
Mac swallowed his food as he tilted his head. "Who wants to interview me?"
Crazy Hand remained silent for a brief moment before answering, "Well, there are some insignificant mortals that want to interview you. Nothing more. They wanna know your thoughts in joining the tournameeeeeeeeeent and your thoughts on the otheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeers and your thoughts on whether you would win or nooooooooooooot and stuff like that."
The boxer nodded. "I'll do it."
"Alright, so you're not gonna- Wait, what?"
Mac blinked. "I'll do it," he repeated, but this confused Crazy Hand further.
"You'll do what?"
"The interview."
"Why would you want to do that?"
The lightweight boxing champion wondered if he needed to punch the hand again, but that would only make him out to be an impatient fool. "I do not mind being interviewed," the boxer stated clearly.
Crazy Hand's startled reaction confused the WVBA boxer. Just before Mac asked if there was a problem with being interviewed, the hand simply stated,
"I had no idea you knew how to do interviews."
Mac decided to ignore the hand and take another bite out of his burger. At this, Crazy Hand decided to simply remain in place, twitching erratically as he waited for some kind of response from the boxer.
As soon as the hand became bored, Crazy Hand left Little Mac alone and floated away. He punched Wario for no good reason.
Peace returned to Mac as he quietly ate his burger. He planned on further honing his ability to jump and maneuver across the air. From his experience in the friendly battle with Mario, despite keeping the plumber at bay on the ground, he was nearly useless in the air. He needed to find some reliable measures he could keep whenever he was sent airborne above or away from the battlefield. Of course, he would keep his pace as he trained. Overpacing himself would only yield bad results, which he directly witnessed when he fought Super Macho Man back when he actively pushed through his WVBA career.
The thought of Super Macho Man's face scrunching up to undeniably horrifying levels made Little Mac cringe. He still wondered why the tall, tanned boxer had so many problems with him despite not meeting Mac that much. Perhaps something about Mac bothered the rich boxing star?
The days where he paid intense attention to the WVBA's boxers had gone by, however. Now, Little Mac had to focus on a completely new kind of tournament. The Super Smash Brothers tournament did interest the boxer, as the battles were not solely centered on boxing anymore.
Scarfing down the remains of his first burger, Little Mac ate some fries before moving onto his second burger. As he ate, he heard the sound of a chair being moved next to him. He turned, only to find Robin sitting down.
With Lucina following suite.
I'm not even surprised, the boxer thought as the blue-haired swordswoman sat next to the white-haired tactician. After all, Lucina wanted to be Robin's Best Friend Forever, and it was an admirable thing to be considered a Best Friend Forever. What more could Lucina want aside from being Robin's friend forever, anyway?
As she made herself comfortable with her seat, the blue-haired princess looked up and noticed Mac staring at her.
He glanced at Robin, then at Lucina.
A smug grin came across his face.
The color of Lucina's face resembled that of a Maxim Tomato.
How cute, Mac thought as Lucina barely prevented herself from shouting something at him. She wants to be his best friend so desperately, she's following him around.
Life was full of surprises. After all, not all people had similar opinions in everything. If there was a majority for a thoughtful idea, there was always a minority for an idea that directly conflicted with the other.
Mac was unknowingly a part of a minority.
"I saw your friendly match with Mario, Sir Mac!" Robin said excitedly with a composed smile. He had calmed down by a considerable level, and that made the boxer relax a little. "I must say, you definitely improved your aerial prowess."
…I wouldn't necessarily call my air-game an "aerial prowess," Mac thought as he recalled flailing around the air and barely dodging a fist that nearly sent him plummeting below Battlefield. Despite disagreeing with Robin, the boxer simply said "Thanks" as he took another bite out of his second burger.
The tactician smiled. "Speaking of which," Robin spoke as he set something on the table, "I thought you might want to take a look at this."
With one of his cheeks bulging out, the boxer chewed as he put down the burger and pulled what appeared to be a black notebook. He opened it, revealing… a drawing.
Of himself.
"…What is this?"
Robin beamed as he explained, "Why, it's a notebook, of course!"
Little Mac gave a "don't-you-give-me-that-sh#%" look as the white-haired tactician decided to properly explain what the notebook actually was.
"It's a notebook that your fans drew on. Everyone received their own fan notebooks, but I'm surprised that your notebook is filled up plentifully!"
This sparked a bit of curiosity within the dark-haired Bruiser from the Bronx. Taking a look at the notebook's simple cover, Mac opened it. The first page had the words "Little Mac Fanbook" on it.
He flipped to the next page. A drawing of a tiny Little Mac punching a Sandbag popped up. He flipped again, revealing an expertly drawn portrait of himself. He flipped yet again, finding an ink drawing of him facing Master Hand and Crazy Hand.
He flipped through the pages. He had to admit that the very act of making something for him sounded endearing. What surprised him the most, however, was the fact that despite being very new to the Smash Brothers tournaments, the notebook had been completely filled up.
Mac smiled a bit as he looked over the notebook again.
"On another note," Robin stated as he put up a thoughtful look, "I heard some of the fighters did not have their notebooks filled up completely."
"Who?"
"Well, there's Bowser. He isn't much of a fan-loving guy, and he's kind of rude. I don't know why but all of Ganondorf's fans talked about disrespect in his notebook. He at least had his notebook filled out, though. Pacman did not have his entire notebook filled out, either."
"Pacman?"
Robin grimaced. "He… was an interesting fellow."
"…Was?"
"I do not want to talk about it too deeply. You will see what I mean when you meet him."
Another nutcase, I presume, Mac quickly concluded as Robin continued on.
"The same goes for Olimar because he's not well-known even to his fans; they don't know his actual personality. And Doctor Mario… burned his own notebook, so I do not know."
"Dr. Mario? Is Mario a doctor?" Mac asked out of curiosity.
Robin perked up at this and frantically waved a hand at the question. "Nononono! Mario is not a doctor. Dr. Mario is a doctor."
Mario is not a doctor. But Dr. Mario is a doctor.
"Are they different people?"
Robin nodded. "It's impossible for them to be the same people. You'd be surprised at how different they are. I once tried to share a joke with him by preparing a simple doctor joke."
"…And what happened?"
"He kicked me."
"…"
"In the face."
Mac kept note of yet another person he should be aware of.
"But it's strange," Robin muttered. "I am certain they are different people just by how drastically different their personalities are, but I never saw them together."
The boxer shrugged. Maybe the doctor had some sort of silent rivalry with the plumber? It still confused him as to how there were two Marios with different personalities and jobs. He needed to keep in mind that they would probably look different as well if his expectations were accurate.
As soon as the boxer finished his second burger, Lucina perked up as her lips trembled a bit. After mustering up her courage, Lucina tried to say something at Robin's direction.
Her voice did not come out, for someone else had called out to the tactician first.
"Mister Robin!"
Robin turned and found Peach walking to the table. "Hello, Peach!" He said as he smiled brightly. "How are the flowers today?"
"They are feeling comfortable," she said with a sheepish grin. "I think I gave them too much water, though. They're being a bit lazy, actually."
"Well, that's a first, for sure."
Lucina pouted as she remained silent. Mac finished his fries. As the boxer put his tray away, he felt Peach tap his shoulder.
Little Mac turned to find a straw basket lifted up to his face.
Startled by the basket, the lightweight boxer blinked as he simply stared at the thing. As if to wake Mac up, the princess shook the basket lightly as she giggled.
"Take it!"
It was hard not to take it.
Taking the basket from Peach, Mac looked inside the basket and found several chocolate muffins and mushrooms in it.
"I planned on giving this to you a while ago, so I remade them. I hope they taste good!"
"…"
Little Mac looked up and nodded. "Thank you," he said as he looked back down at the basket in his hands. Peach's smile widened.
...
…
…
Donning a pink jumpsuit, Little Mac walked out of the mansion.
Having received a gift from Princess Peach, the boxer decided to take a stroll down the backyard. He had to admit, the blonde princess did a great job at picking gifts for others. Sure, the mushrooms did initially feel strange to look at, but he heard that eating enough of them would let him grow at least by a little bit. That information alone made him consume the mushrooms as soon as he brought them to his room.
A delightfully pleasant day to live in.
As Little Mac went past the garden Peach grew, he found someone standing on the road to the Observatory. A man with a red headband stood, his white ki and black belt forming a ubiquitous set of integrity. His rugged red gloves, toned muscles, and sharp eyes told Little Mac that the man held a great power within him.
Even though neither of them spoke a single word, both of them clenched their fists.
Silence entered the once peaceful day.
A fighter- this man was a fighter. Mac could tell just by looking at him. Despite the fact that they literally met each other for the first time several seconds ago, the boxer and the world warrior before him instantly sensed something strange within each other.
Mac did not know what he felt. Something drove him into taking his boxing gloves out. Something drove the world warrior before him to readjust his own gloves. They wanted to fight each other. Right at that moment. The moment was just a perfect time to fight for them. They did not know why; they only knew that a fight awaited.
The boxer raised his gloves as he prepared an offensive stance. The martial artist prepared his own stance, constantly bouncing his shoulders in a rhythmic and smooth pattern.
Little Mac attacked first. Dashing towards the martial artist (for no reason), the lightweight boxing champion swung a flurry of jabs at the world warrior (for no reason). As if he had seen the attack coming from a mile away, the man in the white ki dodged the blows as he backed off. During the onslaught of jabs, the martial artist caught one of Mac's gloves as he threw it forward, causing the boxer to spin around in place. The man with the red headband pulled one of his legs as he took a step forward, throwing out a donkey kick at Mac's direction (for no reason).
Little Mac managed to catch his balance right as he threw a fist forward. Both the glove and the fist collided with equal force, sending the two skidding away from each other. Dirt flew as they both came to a halt.
Without a word, the world warrior gathered a strange energy as he composed a ball of wind. He then threw the ball of wind towards Mac, who ducked underneath it as he dashed towards the martial artist. Having expected the boxer to go through the projectile, the martial artist held a fist behind his head before throwing a collarbone breaker forward. Little Mac naturally dodged the attack, rolling behind the fighter as he did so.
It seemed as if the flow of battle did not favor one of the fighters more than the other. Right before the lightweight boxing champion threw a Star Punch at the martial artist, the world warrior twisted his body and suddenly soared towards the boxer's direction. He spun like a hurricane as he flew towards Mac, his kicks barely zooming past the lightning-fast boxer. At the end of the hurricane kick, the man with the headband landed and twisted his body, his eyes widening as he gritted his teeth. Little Mac gritted his teeth as well, putting his energy into a single strike.
Both fighters threw out punches that collided against each other's faces. Determined to overpower one another, they released a burst of energy together before they flew towards the skies.
Little Mac and the martial artist fell on their backs, slightly away from each other. A few seconds later, the two slowly got back up.
They were both fighters. And as faithful fighters always did, they were able to communicate through their fists.
"My name is Ryu," the world warrior finally revealed, no longer holding a fighting stance. "I see you are a truly powerful fighter."
"And so are you," Little Mac responded.
"This was a good warmup," Ryu said as he bowed slightly. "I hope to spar with you more when we both have the time to do so."
And so, the wandering warrior went to the mansion's direction. Little Mac could only watch the martial artist walk away. He met a man who took the art of fighting seriously; he could tell just by exchanging blows. Yes, this man known as Ryu… He knew the charm of overcoming obstacles through one's own will and power. The two of them used no weapons other than themselves, and that alone brought Mac to a conclusion that Ryu was similar to him.
The art of fighting was truly a piece of art when both sides knew what to fight for.
The only thing that confused Mac was why they suddenly fought in the mansion's backyard as soon as they met without any justified reason. Needless to say, Little Mac wondered if this kind of thing would happen on a weekly basis.
…
…
…
Author's Notes:
Next chapter! "A Familiar Face"