Physics Week: Part 2

DLC Trains

Smash Mansion, Afternoon

Edelgard von Hresvelg's eyes slowly opened. She shifted to check the window. While digital clocks were on every bedstand, Edelgard hadn't gotten used to them. A clock in one's room was an absurd luxury in her home country, to the point where only the richest (and gaudiest, in her opinion) of the rich had them. Even then, having the numbers displayed in plain numbers, as opposed to numerals on a difficult to see clockface was something she had difficulty programming her mind to register. Instead, she stood and looked out the window. Trained to be an officer in the military, she found it most efficient to calculate the time by looking at the position of the sun in the sky. As she ran through the idioms mentally that helped her remember, the realization hit her like a shot from a ballista.

"HUBERT," screamed the princess, "WHY ARE WE LATE FOR THE TRAINING?"

As if by magic, Hubert materialized at the door to her room. The man was light-footed and speedy as to be ridiculous.

"I had precisely the same question when I didn't hear from the bear at sunrise as was instructed. The bird, however, was raring to go, and was quite mouthy when I asked."

Edelgard smirked, "By the Goddess, those two. I wonder how they function together, despite having such opposing personalities?"

Mirroring her smirk, Hubert muttered, "Your guess is as good as mine milady,"

As Edelgard and Hubert shared a light chuckle, both their communicators rang. It was a new message from the "DLC" group chat from Terry.

"Banjo says he'll be ready in 20 minutes. HEY C'MON."

Edelgard rolled her eyes, "Why does Mister Bogard insist on littering his written word with his verbal ticks?"

Hubert paused, putting his finger to his chin, mulling over his next point, "I feel like all the psychological study in the world would fail to pin down the habits of everyone here, The brightest minds in the field would be left stumped."

Edelgard nodded, with a knowing grin, "Yes. To understand our new friends would require principles we haven't begun to theorize about yet. Now, please allow me to change into my armor."

Hubert nodded, "Of course Your Highness," he sputtered as he left the room.

15 minutes later, Stage Floor.

DLC wasn't a hard crowd to find. Ambling outside the door labeled Spiral Mountain, on what had been dubbed "The Stage Floor," the place where one could directly access the many available arenas of the tournament. As Edelgard took in the scene, Hubert dutifully behind her as always, she noticed everyone was off in their own worlds. Terry and Corrin were chatting off to one side, Joker was leaning lazily against the door. Altair's eyes darted around as he stood rigidly next to Quinn, who was shadowboxing with vigor. The only one who looked even remotely comfortable now was Erdrick, who was flicking a small ember up, and then catching it as it came down.

"Good afternoon Erdrick," called Edelgard.

Erdrick let the flame extinguish naturally as he looked up to greet her, "Same to you Lady Edelgard, Sir Hubert,"

"Hello Lady Edelgard," greeted Corrin as she and Terry turned to look at them.

"Hello to you as well Lady Corrin. Everyone seems…cross today,"

"It's because Banjo just got out of bed," explained Corrin, "We've had to stand guard all morning to make up for lack of promptness,"

"I will have a word with Mister Banjo when he gets here," snarled Hubert.

"You will have to wait in line behind me," Altair muttered.

At this, Quinn stopped shadowboxing. Edelgard suppressed a giggle as the already thick tension in the group turned even thicker.

"I suggest," she began, "That we quiet our irritation with Banjo. Divergent work ethics and sleep schedules are something one must deal with when accounting for a large group like this one. Banjo will get his comeuppance in due time when he must truly wake up early."

"Ever the wise words Your Highness," rang the voice of Hubert behind her.

"Yeah," nodded Joker, "The amount of times I've had to drag Ryuji out of bed almost gives me honorary rights as his parent."

Hubert chuckled. Now, every pair of eyes, even if they'd only been half paying attention was focused on Hubert. Edelgard had to suppress yet another giggle. Hubert wasn't a man without humor, but it came out very rarely, in lightning quick bursts, so it always shocked people when Hubert wore anything beyond a dower frown, let alone expressed anything

"Speaking of which," asked Corrin, "Where are the rest of the Phantom Thieves?"

Joker rolled his eyes, "Where else? The Game Room. Futaba is trying to conduct a history lesson on the wonders of Final Fantasy 7 with weird HD texture pack she found, but it's mostly her just crushing on the women."

Corrin snorted, "And how is that going?"

"I mean, Makoto told everyone she can't wait to meet her aunt when Tifa appeared on screen, so, I'd imagine well."

The group chuckled, only to be interrupted by a shrill, squawking voice they knew all too well, "Sup nerds, the fun's arrived,"

Everyone turned to look down the hall, to see Banjo walking towards them, his ears uncharacteristically low, with Kazooie in his backpack, flexing her wings in a theatrical fashion

"You have a lot to answer for bear," snarled Altair.

"I'm so sorry," Banjo spoke, his voice rife with embarrassment, "Sometimes I sleep through my alarm,"

"Apology accepted Banjo," Edelgard said, glaring daggers at Altair, "Just try your best next time."

Banjo nodded happily his ears standing upright now, "Gyuh-huh! Now, let's head in!"

One by one, each of the eight Smashers entered the room, Banjo being the last, shutting the door to the, at present, all-white room behind him. Immediately, Kazooie began to crow, "I wanna change the music!"

As if at Kazooie's word, an arcade machine like console appeared in a corner. Quinn sat cross-legged and began to meditate as the bear and bird bickered over the music selection. As quickly as it began, the two came to a happy agreement, over the "Treasure Trove Cove" song. The blank arena terraformed into a lush green field at the top of a spinning mountain, overlooking an even lusher, more serene field.

"So how are we going to do this?" Joker asked.

Kazooie and Banjo shrugged simultaneously, "Just kinda monkey around I guess," squawked the bird, her tone flippant.

Edelgard nodded enthusiastically, "Ah! Live exercises always bring the most informative lessons. Good luck to you all!"

Rules: 5 stocks, Items: All, Low

Stage: Spiral Mountain

Music: Treasure Trove Cove

3

A murmuring chorus of "good luck" quietly cut across the slightly chilly mountain air as DLC all took quick glances at each other, assuming their fighting stances

2

1

GO!

The sounds of a groovy beach tune rang in the air for a split second, and then it erupted. Almost as if on autopilot Quinn found himself quickly ducking and dodging sword swipes, eggs, fists, and whatever magical funk Joker's moveset consisted of. Taking a few errant hits from Altair and Erdrick, he realized how over his head he was. He had done multiple eight-way Smashes in his days in the Brawler school with his classmates, and co-training with a few offshoot Mii Gunner and Mii Swordsmen training camps, but once you'd seen the odd charge blast, or learned how to best bring your fists to a sword fight, you'd more or less seen it all. However, this was completely different. A sword slash from Erdrick knocked someone into him. The shock made his body go numb as he lost a stock. He didn't even feel the time with the Healing Plant, the next thing he knew, he was back on the halo platform. Somewhere, someone opened an assist trophy and a Metroid ambled past him. Quinn jumped off the halo platform to jump back into the fight As Quinn jumped into the air, only to be pummeled by a Wonder Wing, trying to jump while using his somersaulting thrust kick to gain upward momentum, miss the ledge, and lose a stock. He felt anxiety overtake him. His brain might be a confusing mess, but his body was autopiloting. Years of training for exactly this kind of thing meant that this was as natural to him as walking to the refrigerator. Leaping into the fray once again to introduce his kick pad to the faces of Banjo, Altair, Terry, and Corrin, and this time nailing a recovery flip kick when Corrin had tried to respond by swiping him off stage. Across the field, Joker had unleashed the wish-granting Pokemon Victini on the world, granting him a Final Smash. As a result, the world turned dark, as if a storm was brewing overhead. As it soon became apparent, the only storm in the forecast was an All-Out Attack, unleashed on poor Erdrick. As Joker's gremlin friend commanded the rest of the Thieves to "Beat 'em up!" Joker struck his pose, and Erdrick's fifth stock ceased to exist. Erdrick came back into the fray angry, on the side of the field in which himself and Terry had gotten into a martial arts exhibition, waylaying each other with punches and kicks, and blocking accordingly. They'd also taken the opportunity to touch base.

"Damn it," Terry had said as he blocked yet another kick from Quinn, "I'm down to three stocks."

"Are you? I haven't noticed," Quinn muttered, "Really, everything that's going on has just been noise."

Terry laughed, "Tunnel vision is getting to you too huh? My brain can't even process what's goin' on!"

Suddenly, Quinn had felt a hot flash of anger well up within him. Being a Smasher was his life work, and in the face of such a miserable performance, Terry was laughing? Quinn cried out, an angry howl ripping at his throat as he threw an elbow at Terry's nose. Terry's proboscis immediately broke on impact, blood cascading into his mouth.

"Heh," Terry spat, "So you wanna play rough eh? I like it!"

"Mister Bogard, I am so sor-"

"HI-YAH"

As quickly as Quinn heard Erdrick's angered cry and the following slice of cold steel connect with his shoulder, he was flying. His ragdolling body blew past Terry, knocking them off of the grassy comfort of the mountain, and into the air. Quinn jumped to get back, feeling his boot connect with Terry's hat. Pushing off The Legendary, Wolf, he landed back on the mountain, seeing the colorful explosion behind him that signaled the continued dwindling of Terry's stock count.

My first kill as a Smasher, and it's by complete accident, nice, thought the young Brawlet, the inner sarcasm ripping at his soul despite that no one had willed that negativity into the world but him.

Quinn barely had time to register the orb of darkness hurdling toward him, which, upon contact, erupted, consuming yet another stock. Three stocks down. The routine had become familiar and embarrassing in equal parts. Void, healing plant, halo platform. This time, a Galaga had speared, taking Edelgard who, with a hint of humor in her voice, cried, "My battle ends here!" as the pixelated spaceship dragged her towards a flashy star KO, and crushed a stock.
Another Smash Ball had spawned, and again, Joker had siphoned its power into himself. Again, All-Out Attack connected, Joker's gremlin friend hooted something about pain. This time, both Erdrick and Edelgard were victims, that latter of whom who had gotten off the halo platform with a wreckless vigor, and paid the price. As it was on to do, Quinn's brain made him imagine himself in that exact same scenario, for no other reason than to mess with him the Brawler figured. He took note of his mischievous imagination with a knowing nod.

New plan. Dodge everything. Survive Quinn decided.

Jump, jump, flip kick. Grab onto the ledge. Jump, jump, flip kick.

He felt the volts of electricity that came with Erdrick's basic lightning attack and….did Kazooie just shit a grenade? He heard Terry cry out, followed by the warmth of a blast of fireworks that signified a KO Joker had yet another Final Smash somehow and had taken Erdrick out of the equation again. The voice of Joker's friend was like nails on a chalkboard at this point. . In all the fracas. Quinn missed his flip kick again, earning himself a completely unnecessary knockout. Terry meanwhile was whacked over the head with Kazooie, sending him to the blast zone for the penultimate time as well.

New plan, kick everyone's ass the primal voice inside of Quinn's head.

For the next few minutes, Quinn was vibing. Not as well as he would've liked per se, but vibing. Landing punches and kicks, including hitting five of his seven opponents with the same midair thrust kick. He felt more confident taking damage too. Maybe he could hang with the big boys. Take a big, clubbing midair forearm from Banjo, That's no problem! Just grab the ledge and…
The ledge slipped out of his hand. Quinn tried to pathetically flip kick his way up, almost on reflex at this point, but it only prolonged his meeting with the loser's board.

QUINN HAS BEEN ELIMINATED!"

A quick bath in the light of the Healing Plant later, Quinn found himself in the auditorium above the Spiral Mountain stage. He felt numb. He watched the action below him, but he felt nothing. Maybe he had hoped against hope that a ticket to the Ultimate Tournament would turn this average, studious, Brawler into the second coming of his teacher Hart Bromeister himself?

TERRY BOGARD HAS BEEN ELIMINATED

A few seconds later, Terry appeared before him, grinning from ear to ear,

"WUBBA WUBBA! Did you see that?" crowed the Hungry Wolf.

"Nah, kinda got lost in the moment just there," muttered Quinn, not taking his eyes off of the action below.

Terry's big, American smile faltered for a nanosecond, but then picked back up. "Erdrick's Final Smash. He summons all of his friends and slices you with his power imbued sword like some magical girl anime crap."

"Ah," was all Quinn could muster in response.

At this, Terry finally frowned, "Are you okay?"

"Not the time Terry,"

"No man, I'm genuinely asking, you hanging in there?" asked the blond, edging closer to Quinn.

EDELGARD HAS BEEN ELIMINATED

With the same pause between elimination and deposit in the auditorium, Terry had been treated too. Edelgard appeared,

"Blast that Erdrick," muttered the future Empress, "His swordplay is beyond even my ax skills, and his spellcasting could outclass the finest mages at the Officer's Academy without a thought,"

Terry laughed, "Yeah, that spikey-haired dude's a tough cookie. All of 'em are, the rest of DLC and Erdrick's anime friends, else wise they wouldn't be here. But we'll figure it out, won't we Qui-"

Subconsciously, Terry had begun to throw a friendly arm over Quinn's shoulder, but the young man brushed it off, stomping up to the top of the auditorium, and genuflecting facing the wall.

"Hey, was it something I sai-" Terry protested

Quinn could barely make out whatever Edelgard whispered in response, but Terry let out a soft, "Ohhhh," of understanding.

And that was the way Quinn Marmaduke sat until the near end of the contest, only breaking into a smile when he heard Banjo bellow "GYHUCK THAT GYHUCKIN' ALL OUT ATTACK CRAP!" before eliminating Joker with the same big clubbing forearm that had led to his own elimination. Eventually, after a well-timed upward sword thrust to Banjo and Kazooie, Altair won the bout. Immediately, Corrin began speaking, "We have five seconds until the camera drones come for us. When they focus in on you, clap!"

As if on cue, seven drones flew into the room, each focusing on one of the losing Smashers. Meanwhile, in the Smash Mansion courtyard, Altair dove from off-camera into a waiting hay cart.

ALTAIR WINS!
Pulling an impossible backflipping pirouette out of a hay cart, landing so perfectly as to make the coldest Russian gymnastics judge blush, and victoriously thrusting his sword into the air, the camera cut to a red splash background, focusing in on Altair in that pose. The Smash 64 tournament bracket theme began to play (the tune Smash veterans referred to as "The Hold Music") as the camera suddenly faded to black, and Altair was before them. The seven drones floated out a single file, and the elevator to bring the gang back to ground level appeared. Over his shoulder, he saw Altair cast a sympathetic yet knowing glance at him, nod, and make his way to the elevator, the rest of DLC eventually doing the same. Quinn wiped the tears away after what seemed like sitting in silence for an eternity. Hopping up and down on his toes to get blood back into his legs, he eventually departed Spiral Mountain's auditorium.

Dormitory Hallway

Eating was beyond him at the moment. He was too sick with dread and embarrassment to eat. He couldn't face Altair, nor could he bare Sans' inevitable jokes. The room and the dining areas were out of the question, so at this point, snywhere to go would do.

As if by magic, a door that he had never seen open flung open. A tiny green star with eyes thrust itself out of the eerie rainbow emanating from the door, whooping victoriously, before snapping to attention and floating back in. Out of sheer curiosity, Quinn found himself walking into the light. On the other side was a softly lit room, only lit by a few candles. The other lights in the room came from the veritable rainbow of multi-colored stars sat around a carpet, as one might see in a pre-school. In the center was a beautiful woman in a aky-blue dress. She appeared to be reading a book to her star companions.

"So the wolf showed his teeth and said 'I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll BLOW YOUR HOUSE DOWN!'"

The stars clamored amongst each other excitedly. But suddenly, the woman's gaze snapped up. The eye that Quinn could see, her left one was a urethral blue. Her hair was cut unevenly, so her other eye was covered by a platinum bob.

"I-I'm sorry to bust in like this I just…" Quinn stammered, reeling from the woman's sudden gaze.

"It's not a problem. One of my Lumas got a bit too hyper and opened the door. Maybe it destined for us to meet this way."

Quinn simply nodded.

"My name is Rosalina, and these are my children, Lumas."

"Oh, hello Rosalina," he said, doing a general wave around the room, "Hello Lumas."

Rosalina, meanwhile, addressed the room of colorful stars "Children, Quinn has decided to join us! Say hello to our new friend everyone."

The stars spoke in the same chitter that they had as the woman read to them, but the infliction was consistent with a "Hello Quinn,"

Shaking himself out of his stupor in order to right his understanding of the world, Quinn stammered, "How do you know my name? I've never seen you before."

The woman giggled, "Mario communicates with me, plus the Lumas saw you exercising the first weekend we were all together."

"Oh? What did they tell you about me?"

Another giggle. Absolutely heaven-sent.

"They don't 'tell' me anything. They are much as part of me as I am of them. Therefore, I see what they see when I choose to. I believe Doctor Mario remarked we had a 'symbiotic" relationship, which is fitting as we are all one. "

"Uh-huh…" grunted a slack-jawed Quinn.

One of the Lumas, a powder blue one, began to circle around him, stopping and grunting squeakily. The black saucers the Lumas had for eyes didn't betray any emotions at all, but, judging by the long, sad squeak that emanated from the thing, it was one of concerned.

"Yes, I agree little one," Rosalina said to the Luma, now making eye contact with Quinn, "You seemed troubled. Would you like to tell us what is wrong?"

Quinn opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly he shook his head, "Nah, it's too fresh. It'd get too angry and ruin the vibe you have going,"

"I respect that," nodded Rosalina her eyes baring down on him with genuine, motherly concern, "Would you like to join us for storytime?" she asked.

Quinn nodded and took a seat in between two Lumas

How is this woman real he asked himself as she softly cleared her throat to begin.

And so, Quinn listened as Rosalina regaled the Lumas with the rest of The Three Little Pigs. Despite the simplicity of the story, the Lumas hung on every word, reacting at all the right points, and in all the right ways as well. Quinn had been around such good-natured naivety in a long time. Eventually, Rosalina finished the story (jarring to Quinn, as he hadn't remembered that the Big Bad Wolf had ended up as the pig's supper) as the Lumas cheered happily.

"Now," Rosalina said, "You're free to go play!"

The Lumas took to flying out of the large, open, bay window behind Rosalina to dance about in the evening sky. Rosalina, meanwhile, used magic to shelve the book in an enormous bookshelf to one side of the room. From there, she locked eyes with Quinn once again. Quinn waited for the kindly woman to speak, but as she continued her silence, hands regally folded in her lap, Quinn cleared his throat, "Thank you Rosalina. That… um… reminded me of my own childhood."

Rosalina nodded, "I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you don't mind me asking, what was your childhood like?"

Quinn paused before speaking, "My mom and dad…um…disappeared when I was five. I barely remember them, but I do remember them reading books with me and playing with me as a baby, hence why…all of this was so warming."

"Oh, how dreadful! You must have been awfully sad growing up,"

Quinn shook his head, "No. The orphanage that I grew up in was super kind to me and all that. And, it's not as uncommon as you think it is for a Mii's parents to disappear."

The woman's forehead wrinkled, "Is it?"

Quinn nodded, "Sometimes Miis get called away from Wuhu to another world and just…don't come back. It's kinda what drove me to be a Smasher at first so that I could see the multiverse and find them. Once I got started, I realized that I liked the fighting."

Rosalina nodded softly, her concerned eyes locked on Quinn, "Perhaps you…lost your way in both those regards today?"

Quinn blushed, expression downcast, "You could…say that."

Rosalina smiled, "It's quite alright. When I took the first steps in my journey, I often longed to go back, to nestle in the comfort of where I began, but as my understanding of my situation grew, my desire to cower from the challenge lessened."

Quinn pondered Rosalina's wisdom. He felt the weight of his anxieties lift ever so slightly.

"You're right. I'll keep that in mind. Enough about me though! What about you? What was your childhood like?"

Rosalina's lips parsed into a smirk, "That, my friend, is a story for another time."

Quinn mirrored her smirk, "I suppose you have that on your bookshelf too?"

"Oh, I do."

"I was joking."
"I know."

The two were silent for a while before Quinn piped up.

"Well, I gotta grab dinner!"

"Ah, do enjoy it!" Rosalina said with a brisk wave, "I'm sure we'll be in each other's company sooner rather than later,"

"Yeah.." Quinn trailed off as he headed out the door.
What the hell was that was Quinn's final thought on the subject as he trotted down to dinner.

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