Round 6: Day 2: The Road to The Crew Battle
Smash Mansion
500
Quinn rose from his and Rosalina's shared bed so early that even the Luma's still slumbered, floating in the air them, their normally bright exteriors muted by slumber. No sooner had he risen to a sitting position, his feet hanging off his side of the bed, his communicator rang with a text, Mario had sent everyone involved in today's festivities the same text.
All team captains and their teams are to report to Smashcraft 1 in one hour. We will be discussing the tag rules for the crew battle, as well as entrances and promos. Look forward to seeing you.
He glanced over to a soundly sleeping Rosalina, kissing her on the cheek. One by one, the Lumas that slept above them flickered for a brief second before resuming their darkened slumber.
Morning routine, Quinn reminded himself: Brush your teeth, polish your sunglasses, put your gi on.
He floated through his morning, anxiety pounding at the back of his head like a drum.
"The situation isn't unique," Quinn whispered to himself as he put on his gi, "We put our fates in the hands of other people every day. We…"
Rosalina suddenly squirmed, "Sephiroth," she groaned worriedly, "Quinn…watch..."
As she drifted back to sleep, Quinn felt a shiver up his spine as if Masamune itself was resting against his bare back. He shut his eyes, breathing deliberately and slowly. No one wanted to fight Sephiroth, nor did anyone want to see him gain the bye into the next round. But the potential outcomes were few now, and he had to face them no matter what, believing that his friends would push fate toward the most desirable outcome.
With that, Quinn nodded to himself, heading out the door. The Residency Hall was as barren as he'd ever seen it. Daisy, Luigi, Sonic, and Isabelle spoke in hushed tones at the opposite end of the hall. Quinn picked up his speed, jogging down the hallway and ducking past the opposing team. He headed to the main dining hall where his team had already assembled.
"HEY!" Terry called, "There's the man!"
Sans slurping from a thermos was the only sound that regaled his team's third of the table.
"Oh yeah, shoot," Sans said,
"That's what I get in the morning now?" Quinn said with a grin.
"Sorry, it's this coffee I picked up from La Blanc. Sojiro does make good coffee,"
"You didn't pick it up, I made it here at the mansion, But yeah, Sojiro taught me everything I know about coffee," explained Joker, "It's better than Brewster's or Starbeans by a mile."
Haru spoke up next, "Yes, Brewster's use of pigeon milk is..suspect at best."
"Hey, I resent that," Isabelle called as the remainder of Team Luigi entered the hall, "It's about the best milk you can get anywhere."
"I suppose, but he is a pigeon. Is he milking himself?" Haru's nervous question was palpable.
"Listen," Isabelle said, "I'm probably the second most powerful person in Smashville besides The Mayor and Ton Nook. The fewer questions you ask about the circle of life around there the easier it is."
Sonic, dutifully following behind Isabelle, frowned, "Gotta say, Belle, I prefer old man Sojiro's coffee."
"The fact that they let you have caffeine should be a war crime, Hedgehog.." Ganondorf's booming voice heralded the rest of Team Sephiroth.
"If we're all meant to assemble here," Ridley hissed, "Then where's the man in red and his woman?"
"Hey, at least all of our captains showed up," Kazooie snapped, "Pretty boy and his beard too cool to show up?"
"Mario, Peach, Wario, and Sephiroth have already boarded Smashcraft 1," ROB's disembodied voice boomed through a speaker, "Please finish your breakfast and proceed to Smashcraft 1."
Quinn looked down at the table before him. A Power Pellet sat on fine china. As the realization set in on his face, Sans snorted with laughter.
"You always forget, don't you kid?" he said.
To this, Quinn kept his focus on his food.
"Yeah," he mumbled as he began to cut up and eat the fruit.
"Damn Quinn," Futaba remarked, "You eat like a shonen protagonist."
"I'm just," Quinn mumbled through his last mouthful of the protein-rich fruit, "So used to running late."
"Preaching to the choir here," Ryuji laughed.
Makoto sighed, "Unfortunately,"
Morgana hurriedly gestured to Team Sephiroth, who had already begun to head towards the Mansion's front door, the remainder of Team Luigi quickly following behind Quinn wolfed down his food, and then led his team out the door. The gargantuan transport ship was docked a few feet away from the door. As ROB had said, the others waited,
Smashcraft 1 was also unusually quiet. A craft that sat 100 plus now housed less than 20 people. Quinn waited inevitably for the moment the teams would chitter amongst each other. That moment never came, an especially odd circumstance with notorious talkers like Sans and Daisy aboard Only the music aboard the luxury liners for the rich thumped, echoing over a silent city recovering from last night's hangover. Just as Quinn began to absent-mindedly peer into the city's great expanse, Smashcraft 1 touched down,e
"Alright," Daisy sighed, "Let's go,"
Daisy and Luigi were once again the first ones up, navigating the length of the craft. As they had before, the rest of Team Luigi followed. Team Sephiroth exited next, Terry glaring daggers at the crew the whole way as he remained in his seat,
"You heard the lady, we gotta go," Quinn muttered.
He stood, his team standing with him. Quinn was suddenly hit with a wave of nostalgia, the noise of the opening ceremonies flooding through his mind. Where there was once excitement, there was now dread, while Team Sephiroth grinned all the way, like executioners headed for a freshly set pair of gallows.
Immediately after stepping into the Stadium's open air, they saw what was different. A third tunnel and ramp had been built, interconnecting the two usual entrance tunnels.
"As you can see," Mario narrated, "Each team will make their entrance down their section of the ramp triage. You can either do separate entrances for each member, or a team entrance."
"All of my team will be entering to Team Chaotix's song of choice," Sephiroth explained, Wario nodding along.
Sonic snickering was the only thing that cut through the still air.
"You know what I've wanted to do bro," Luigi said, brimming with confidence.
Suddenly, all eyes were on Quinn.
"What about you?" Mario asked.
"Can we do a combination?" Quinn asked, "Like, everybody makes their entrance to their own music, and then they all walk down to my song? The thing is, I haven't chosen a…"
"Ken and Zangief took care of that," Mario interrupted, "As far as how we're doing entrances, is that okay with everyone?"
Murmurs of agreement echoed through the empty stadium.
"Alright, now the next thought," Mario said with a snap of his fingers.
Red doors sprouted out of each ramp with a small window, high enough that the average human could peer into it with no effort.
"Ugh," Sonic shivered, "These are…"
"A modification of the old Subspace doors yes," Mario explained,
"Sorry," Sonic said, "Still get the heebie-jeebies whenever I think about Subspace,"
"No problem," nodded Mario, " As I was saying, each team will have one legal member at a time. Team members will tag by entering their door and swapping out with another member. Each platform on Battlefield will have a team door."
Quinn listened as the teams seemed to chitter amongst themselves. The consensus seemed to be unanimous, stay toward the middle,
Mario smiled, "I'm glad you're all getting the right idea! For those of you not tagged in, you'll wait behind your team door. Beyond that, it will work like a standard one-stock battle until the other two teams have been eliminated. The captain of the last team standing gets the bye for the semis. Any questions?"
"Yeah," Sonic said wearily, jogging in place, "When does this thing start?"
"Approximately 1030. It'll be broadcast at the Mansion as background viewing over brunch!" Peach chirped excitedly.
Sonic sighed deeply, causing Isabelle to giggle, "Oh no,"
"Wait, bro," Luigi asked, "What about Quinn, Sephiroth, and me? Are we just gonna stay in the back?"
"No, you'll be there!"
Mario pointed to the upper right of the stadium. Everyone followed his finger. A whole new section of the stadium had been built, an empty circle except for three thrones.
Daisy audibly gagged, but Quinn laughed, "You're lucky I'm not throne-averse like some."
"HEY!" snapped Daisy.
Peach, Mario, and Luigi grinned, while the rest looked confused.
"Do we have any questions?" asked the elder Mario brother.
Immediately, the good vibes from Quinn's jostling had evaporated, uneasy glances being cast around the arena.
"Alright. A Wire Frame will lead everyone back to the locker room and take notes on entrances. Nikki will be by for the interviews and the video package stuff. See you out there folks, and may the best team win."
At those words, three Wire Frames rose through the floor. The automatons spoke in triplicate directing the teams down their entrance tunnel, but chaos descended on the Phantom Thieves. Joker had locked eyes with Akechi giving him the thumbs-down gesture, signature cheeky grin intact. Now, Team Sephiroth was pulling Akechi down the tunnel, and the Phantom Thieves doing the same down Team Quinn's tunnel. The rest of the teams hurriedly followed the scramble back up the tunnel, Team Luigi watching the fracas from the center of the three ramps.
Core Machine Room
945
Marth worriedly watched the three active screens, one for each of the teams. The scant few times the prince had been relegated to this duty, it came with a cacophony of emotions, and today was no different. Barring the fact that technology could be used to surveil without consent, the tension was palpable. It brought back memories of his army's most violent defeats and the turgid, ornery marches through the mud of Altea.
"Oy," said a new voice, "Tea's here."
Marth spun in the swivel chair, the smell of Ginseng tea hitting his nose before he registered who had spoken to him. Shulk trotted up to him, a cup of tea in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. He gingerly handed Marth the cup of tea.
"Thank you Sir Shulk," Marth nodded, taking a sip of tea.
"No problem at all mate," Shulk nodded back, "Needed to stretch my legs anyway."
Through another sip of tea, Marth grinned, "Miss Trainer lectured you on the benefits of tea versus coffee didn't she?"
Shulk's eyes widened.
"And I thought I was the one with the paranormal abilities," he said.
Marth chuckled, "Nothing paranormal about it. I can trace the exact number of steps it takes to get from the kitchen to here. Knowing your surroundings to such a degree is just, as they say, tactics 101."
"If you've got such a sixth sense," a smirking Shulk asked, pointing at the screen, "Whaddya think about all this?"
Marth finished the last of his tea, setting the cup aside and pondering the three teams in front of him.
"I wouldn't dare hazard a guess," Marth concluded.
"What're you on about bruv?"
"Too many x-factors. We haven't seen what Team Chaotix can do for example."
"Right," Shulk nodded, "I'm willing to bet Team Luigi picks up the duke, you don't get a better team than them."
Marth shrugged, "Team Sephiroth consists of primarily Wa-ffice members, so the same could be said for them. Besides all that raw power is not to be discounted either.".
"Nah, I think Team Quinn has more raw power behind it."
"But they aren't a unit like the other two."
Shulk raised his free hand frustratedly, letting it slap his hip.
"The point is," Shulk said, "Has everyone been on their best behavior."
"As much as you can expect anyway," Marth sighed, "Wario's been talking the entire five hours in Team Sephiroth's locker room, basically about how their cut of the money is on the line."
Shulk frowned, "So we just disbanded the Wa-ffice, only to let him bring back the Wa-ffice. I'll never understand Mario's infinite penchant for kindness as long as I live."
"I do," was Marth's defiant response, "My time in Askr taught me that even the greediest of scoundrels can be coached. They simply need to be reminded of their place from time to time."
"Fair enough. What about the others?"
"Terry, Banjo, Kazooie, and The Phantom Thieves are playing a mutual game of some sort on their portable gaming consoles, Sans went to sleep right after the interview. Altair is meditating."
"What about Team Luigi?"
"Just the same, meditating. Peach has surprisingly taken after Miss Trainer in that regard. Truly,"
Shulk raised an eyebrow, "Daisy and Sonic are meditating?"
"Daisy is, shockingly. Luigi being this close to the big win seems to have tempered her flame quite a bit, or at least that's what I believe.. Sonic and Isabelle are sparring," Marth explained.
Shulk finally took a long, wistful gulp of coffee, and all was right with the world.
"We should get ready to throw to the production truck and all that, it's almost time."
And with that, the two set to work.
Cafeteria
955
Rosalina was among the last to filter into the cafeteria. The eating room's usual tables had been dispensed, leaving only the chairs angled at a gigantic projector. Every Smasher that wasn't on a semi-finalist's team was there chatting eagerly amongst themselves. Rosalina slid into one of the open seats. Looking to her right, she saw Yoshi, licking his maw clean of some sort of fruit and its juices.
"Ah, hey space girl," Yoshi said.
A grin overtook Rosalina. Rosalina didn't know how old Yoshi was, but she had been able to deduce that he was the only sentient being anywhere close to her age that she'd ever met. As the two elders in Mario's zany crew of friends, they clicked instantly.
"O-oh," stuttered Rosalina, "Hello Yoshi."
Yoshi's eyes looked back at her with a glint of mischief.
"Nervous?" asked the dinosaur.
"For Quinn, yes."
"I wouldn't be," Yoshi shrugged, " Quinn's gonna fight his absolute hardest no matter who he has to go up against. Reminds me of Mario in that way."
"Yes," agreed a bashful Rosalina, "I think that's why I took to him."
Yoshi gave her a knowing look just as the projector in the back of the room flared to life. Mario was eye to eye explaining the rules of Crew Battle to Wario at the conclusion of the last round. The words Team Quinn flashed to life, the program theme blaring out as a sizzle reel of Terry, Banjo-Kazooie, Joker, Sans, and Altair's tournament highlights.
We walk alone,
In the unknown
We live to win another victory.
Next was Team Luigi. Peach, Mario, Isabelle, Sonic, and Daisy's tournament highlights were shown.
We are the young, dying sons,
We live to change the face of history
As soon as Team Sephiroth appeared on screen, Akechi, Ganondorf, Dark Samus, and Ridley were booed. Team Chaotix got mild applause.
We are one, we are one, we will stand together
Number one, number one, the chosen ones
"And now," said a deep-voiced announcer, "The Super Smash Bros present, The Crew Battle!
We are one we will fight forever
We are one, we are one, and we won't die young!
Rosalina gulped. There was no turning back now, Quinn's fate was in the hands of his friends, and they could only watch.