Intermission 15

Luigi

"Hon? Hon, what's wrong?" Daisy asked.

Luigi bristled, then deflated. He'd hoped that his eyes darting nervously between the opposite ends of the Smashers Box, Quinn meditating with the Street Fighters on one end, and Red stood against a wall on the other, the brim of his trademark red hat pulled over his eyes.

Luigi shot a defeated look over his shoulder, where Daisy stood, the brunette princess compulsively rubbing her fiance's shoulders.

"I guess you can tell when I'm nervous huh?" he said softly.

"Duh!" Daisy declared so loudly that a few conversations stopped to look at them, "We've been together how long?"

Luigi sighed, "Yeah...yeah."

Now Daisy had moved to his side, sitting in his lap and turning to face him.

"Walk me through it love," she whispered, "What's wrong?"

"Both of 'em are so calm," whispered back Luigi, "We've got Cloud or Sephiroth in our midst and they're calm."

Daisy smirked, "I doubt Quinnie is calm. It's just that Ryu and Ken's discipline is so mental health focused. That…"

"Okay, but what about Red?"

"He faced down literally all of the bad guys his universe has to offer in an afternoon, which, if I understand Peach correctly, included the embodiment of evil. He ain't sweatin' Quinnie, at least not as much as he should."

"But if you stress as much as you should around here, you become me," Luigi concluded with a half smile.

"Maybe that's the ticket though," Daisy concluded.

Luigi raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"Balance," Daisy said.

Luigi remained unchanged.

To this, the woman in his lap sighed, "At this point in the tournament, whatever happens happens. You've improved by so many leaps and bounds, and yet you managed to use items to get by. I say you have all the boxes checked."

Luigi's face changed to a pondering expression, the plumber rubbing his chin.

"You're right," he concluded, "So what plan do you have?"

"We have, what, 16 days? There's some places I've wanted us to go on dates, and I'd like to get that done before the tournament ends. You can train in the back half of the time off bro!"

Luigi chuckled, "That sounds good babe, let's do it."

"Awesome, but I wanna watch this match before we talk about anything."

Daisy scooted off of Luigi's lap, taking the seat next to him, but not before coyly intertwining her hand in his.

Red

In the theater of his imagination, Red reflected on the last few days. The heat of Bruno's Rhydon's Hyper Beam, the sizzling impact of Terry's strikes, the way that the ground rumbled whenever one of Chuck's Pokemon used Dynamic Punch, the pine smell of ancient Dragon-type magic being washed away by Squirtle's Surf attack, the claps of thunderous clap of every one of Jin's strikes.

"Red!" snapped a familiar voice.

His eyes snapped open. Green was staring daggers at him. her hands on her hips.

"You ready?" she asked.

Red simply nodded.

"You'd better be, considering why you found out about…"

Red placed a finger to his lips, Green clamming up immediately.

"He seems calmer than he used to be," Red thought aloud, "But not cockier. If he had some insane ace up his sleeve, he'd be a lot more cocky."

"Like Nemona and her friends?" Green chided.

Red's confident, relaxed exterior dropped briefly, the young man frowning.

"But he doesn't have anything like that, and if he does, we'll prepare for it.

Quinn

Quinn's relaxed face bristled into a frown for a half second.

"Quinn!" barked Ryu, "Focus."

Like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar, he straightened quickly.

All I was thinking is how cool it would be to have a healing move, Quinn whined internally.

"Bring balance to your light and dark ki," Ryu whispered, "Your reality of where you are now versus what you want to be. To perceive what is real and to imagine what's ahead in equal measure, this is true balance. This is the Power of Nothingness."

"Was throwing Hadokens part of the plan?" Ken whispered to Chun-Li, "Because it seems like that's where we're heading."

"Quiet," hissed Chun-Li.

"You've summoned your inner strength in your battles through courage, through understanding, and that's how you will proceed onward."

"Yes Master Ryu," Quinn whispered.

Quinn opened his eyes just long enough to see Ryu grin.

"Our session has concluded." Ryu announced.

Quinn uncrossed his legs, heaving himself to his feet. Immediately, he felt Terry's hand on his shoulder.

"Jee-zus," barked the Hungry Wolf shooting a grin in Ken's direction , "I thought that wax on wax off stuff was never gonna end."

"Hey, don't you channel Mother Earth in your style?" Ken joked, "You'd think he'd be as much of a hippie as he is."

"I ain't gotta deal with an evil version of me accidentally slipping out if I stop thinkin' about it," Terry laughed.
"I know I've said this several times, but I envy you." Ryu sighed, "You can even lower your inhibitions with alcohol and not worry about the consequences."

Once again, the blond in the trucker hat laughed, "You ain't missin' much buddy, most of that stuff takes gross."

Turning from a conversation with the Fire Emblem contingent across the suite, Corrin announced, "Except for that Salsbury Steak Ale I'm going to get you,"

"God," Terry said, "I'm gonna marry that girl."

"I heard that too!" announced Corrin.

"Oh, forgot about your dragon hearing again," Terry said as sarcastically as he could muster.

"Speaking of marriage," Ken jerked a thumb behind him.

Ryu and Chun-Li glanced in the direction he pointed. In the fracas, Quinn had snuck off for a silent embrace with Rosalina a few feet away.

"So you think that's three royal weddings we'll be in the guest list for?" Chun-Li asked.

"Four," Ken added, "Mario and Peach are getting married after Luigi and Daisy."

"Four times I must attend in a suit," Ryu grumbled.

"Luigi and Daisy hate formal dress as much as you do I think," Chun-Li reassured her companion, "Quinn and Rosalina wouldn't care, and I'd be surprised if Corrin and Terry didn't just sign the papers and invite us for tacos."

"You know me too well Chun," Terry laughed.

"So I must dawn a suit only once," Ryu said, sounding much happier, "I can do that for Mario and Peach, certainly."

All of the conversation in the booth was broken by Mario clearing his throat.

"Red, Quinn, you're up."

Two simultaneous kisses on the cheek, one from Green to Red and one from Rosalina to Quinn echoed across the silent booth, the two warriors wordlessly heading down separate tunnels down to the main arena.