Chapter Text
It was a new morning in the mansion, and the busiest week of the year had arrived just like that - the end of the season. On top of that, the council's selections for the next year's new fighters were to be discussed before the day was done. It didn't seem like it had already been five years since the last drafting, but hopes were high among the general public, and this year, it seemed like nobody could make any solid prediction who might be chosen. This differed from the last time around, where a few assumptions could be made, some of which proving to be correct. For example, both Marth's idle comments and not-so-idle complaints about Roy's lack of presence may or may not have persuaded a certain mustached hero's underdog brother to cast a vote for him. It made Luigi all the more happy to see the two friends reunited when Roy did finally arrive. The mansion was already emptying to begin the downtime, the next four months ahead being dedicated to the fighters being able to go home and be with their loved ones on a more permanent basis, travel, attend to their duties and whatnot. Having the mansion empty was always strange, no matter how many people and various other creatures had been residing in it for the better part of the year. It was both a soothing environment and an eerie one, walking down from one hallway around the corner to another and not having passed at least one other fighter, not even as much as a door left ajar. Kirby made his way down the hall to the conference room, feeling a strange sense of being alone, an anxiety creeping along his back until he finally made it to the room where all his friends would be waiting for him.
To anyone who wasn't one of the 12 members of the council, the sight would be a little intimidating, a round table in a long room with a tall roof, a huge stained glass window casting a rainbow of color onto every surface the sunlight could find below it. Mario had always been a big fan of the look of stained glass windows, thanks to Peach, so there were a number of them built into the mansion. The biggest and most grand one, however, was reserved for this room, which held the various important meetings that took place as the season went on, or in some cases, when a threat had made itself known to the mansion's residents. Kirby took his seat at the table, taller than the others to accommodate his height, or rather lack thereof. "We're still waitin' on Samus and Falcon," Mario announced to the room, standing off to the side of the room and thumbing through some papers he was holding, then turning to the table and setting them down in his space, the other members around the table having their own papers. "They're helpin' some a' the other fighters get their things packed up." The picture that the setting painted looked a little funny, a few men, a kid, a gorilla and a talking fox all accompanied by three various blobs with appendages was hardly what you'd call a grand council based on looks alone, but the truth was that they all knew more about the workings of their world than anyone else in the mansion - well, most of them, anyway.
Once Samus and Captain Falcon made their way to the room with the proper documents, the council was all there; Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Link, Samus, Captain Falcon, Ness, Fox, Pikachu, and Jigglypuff. Although the setting was formal, the meeting that would be taking place was pretty far from it. Vote casting was always a matter of discussion rather than dissertation. "Glad to have all a' you guys here," Mario began as he stood at the head of the table, then taking his seat. "Where should we start? The ballot has been all kinds a' weird this go-around, I gotta say- Like..." He looked through some of the papers he had, pulling up a neatly typed-out list of names that had come in from the public ballot. These were the names of the many other people, animals, robots, or anything in-between that the public had voted to have a place in the roster of the great battles. Mario and Luigi had founded this fighting club a long time ago at this point, and while they'd never given it an official name, the rest of the world had dubbed it The Collective of Smash Brothers, and the name had kind of stuck. Mario continued, his brow furrowing as he read over the list, each name accompanied by a brief description of who they were and where they hailed from. "Whoever this Freddy Fazbear guy is- I wouldn't wanna get within a mile a' him." Link looked from his place to Samus, signing something to her as she took her helmet off and placed it on the table. She nods, directing her attention forward. "Link says he's seen that guy in the Crossing." Link signs a little more vigorously, Samus mending her statement. "-and, he's as scary as he sounds like he is."
"Are we even really gonna entertain the ballot results? Nobody takes it seriously no more." Captain Falcon retorted, poring over the list of names they'd all been given. Mario sighed. "All a' the ones that made it to the list are serious suggestions. We got systems for this, y'know. One of my picks this year actually made it onto the list." Everyone's interest was piqued by that little tidbit. Who the council wanted, when compared to who the rest of the world wanted... Those two things rarely overlapped. But, their breaths would need to be held, since Mario was always the last to reveal his choices for the roster update. "We already agreed that we'd be inviting everyone back this year, right? That should be interesting," Samus mused, reading over her documents. Luigi nodded. "Yea, Mario and I thought it was a little unfair to kick people outta' the group, as much as it made for a little healthy controversy..." When the Collective was first initiated, it was Mario and Luigi who made all the choices, the very people who were now sitting alongside them, helping make the decisions. These were the people they trusted most with making big decisions like this. "So, does anyone wanna tell us a little bit about their choices before we write out the letters?" Luigi asks, directed at nobody in particular. Fox crosses his arms. "Not that I wanna spoil the choices I've made, but, I went with a theme this year."
The rules for fighter selections had always been fairly simple despite the gravity of what the choices meant for the Collective. One, the individual had to have originally hailed from a video game. This meant that characters who had found that duplicates or variations on themselves were made to resemble them in a video game format were disqualified. This didn't stop the public from sending in all kinds of fan mail and official ballots asking for visual media turned video game characters like Shrek, SpongeBob SquarePants... Goku. You name someone from a show or a movie that got its own video game, they'd probably been asked about by fans. Two, the council was allowed to choose as many new fighters as they liked, of course within reason. Most council members never went beyond two or three, but there was one update year where Mario made up 5 of the choices on his own, being particularly indecisive before Brawl Era. Three, whatever choices each council member made would have to face against them in an inaugural match in the week before the next season's opening. The practice was put in place to rid newcomers of any first-fight jitters by putting them up against the very person who'd brought them there, someone they knew was of immense power. Any fight against anyone else would be less intimidating, and therefore, they'd fall into familiarity with the workings of the battles quicker than if they'd just been thrown into it. It also had the added benefit of reigning in any particularly hubristic council members, causing them to be a little more choosy about who they wanted to invite, given they'd have to fight them. Well, it worked most of the time.
"You all know our little rivalries with some of the other cast members make the fights a much better show, yea?" Fox asked, addressing the table. "I know better than anyone the benefit of facing off against your own bad guy, so I wanted to really amp that up this year. Everyone I chose this time around is, in fact, a rival of one of yours." Some of the council members seemed to be a bit uneasy about the suggestion, but Mario and Samus seemed to be on-board with it. "You do know you gotta fight these people, right?" Samus asked. "Worry not, blondie, I got you and Donkey Kong to help me figure that out when the time comes. Oh- And I should speak with Cloud as well..." Donkey Kong's brow furrowed, and Samus picked up on his confusion along with her own. "Wait, just who are you inviting here?" Fox scoffed incredulously. "I don't wanna spoil the surprise, that'd be, like, entirely against the flow of things. You'll just have to wait and find out when we write out the letters," he says, leaning back in his chair.
"Alright, then... Anybody else wanna have a go?" Mario asks, followed by a brief silence. "Huh. We're all that sure of our choices this time, eh?" He smiles, happy to see that the selection process for the coming Era was looking to go off without a hitch. Luigi clears his throat, speaking up. "Before we all write our letters and reveal our choices, I've... Had a concern I've been wantin' to bring up during the next meeting." His expression was serious, directed towards the entire room, but the question ahead posed mostly at Mario. "Do we all still really agree that... This whole mansion thing, keepin' everybody here... That that's the best way to do this?" The other competitors looked at him a little funny, apparently not having shared in his perspective. "Whaddya mean, Luigi?" Captain Falcon asks gruffly, his arms crossed. "I just mean- Things can never just be straightforward when you have this many powerful people in one place. It's gettin' more and more dangerous every year to have all of us here... Should we consider alternatives?"
Mario looked at his brother with a sense of concern. "What is it that you think's gonna happen, Luigi? You haven't heard any rumors about, have ya'?" "No, no, of course not, it's just- Well, that kinda thing keeps me awake at night sometimes. We've had some really scary things happen to us all, not to mention at the hand of some a' the other fighters here. Even if it wasn't entirely their faults..." The room grew silent for a moment. He was right, but at the same time, it very well may have just been Luigi's signature apprehension that was causing him to give this so much thought. "What are ya' worried about, Luigi?" Mario asked, placing a reassuring hand on his back. "There hasn't been an attack in years, besides, we've upped our security and had a buncha' friends help out with the technological side a' things, c'mon... If something bad was gonna happen, it would get stopped short, trust me. Let's focus on the task at hand, hm?" Luigi nodded, agreeing to drop the subject and move on to the whole reason why the meeting had been called in the first place.
The fighters put aside the papers they had, replacing it instead with the Collective's familiar stationery. Each invitation sent out from the Collective was hand-written by the council members, and for those who were less than nimble with their hands, worry not, even the most illegible handwriting was corrected to be readable, and translated to whatever language the recipient was most comfortable reading it in upon opening the letter. The writing process always took at the very least two hours or so, with each letter being written very wholeheartedly and personally to each new fighter. How much effort or heart was put into each letter was, ultimately, up to the person writing it, but most council members took it as seriously as they would a threat to their worlds, many of them finding it to be one of the most fulfilling parts of the job. Most would never think even Captain Falcon would have a sappy view like that. After the letters were written and closed away in their envelopes with the Collective's iconic wax seal, they were collected by Mario, who would take the stack of letters - very sizable this time around - and set them into a drawer underneath a huge screen at the back of the room. He shut the drawer, and immediately, the screen blinked on, buzzing to life, an artificial voice taking over the process of reading out the final choices and from who they'd come. Once the letters were set into the computer, there was no going back, ensuring that the selection process was entirely up to each council member and could not be swayed to reconsider after the fact of announcing their choices. It also meant that this portion of the recruitment meeting was always the most nerve-wracking one.
"Council head Jigglypuff, roster number 012, has chosen: Daisy, Super Mario Brothers series, and Isabelle, Animal Crossing series. Reasons given: 'I like cute things! These are two very cute and charming, and I think the fanbase will love them.' Daisy and Isabelle are assigned roster numbers 084 and 068." Interruptions very rarely took place while the announcements were being made. The room filled with general sounds of agreement, not unlike any other instance of casting the new roster. "Council head Captain Falcon, roster number 011, has chosen: Ken, Street Fighter series, and Terry, Fatal Fury series. Reasons given: none. Reasons deduced: The two choices appear to be high-octane fighters and strong men, alike the Captain himself."Captain Falcon rolled his eyes under his mask. Even if you didn't present a reason for your choices, the computer was able to find a line of best fit between them to find a likely factor behind said choices."Ken and Terry are assigned roster numbers 088 and 074. Council head Ness, roster number 010, has chosen: Steve, Minecraft series, and Hero, Dragon Quest series. Reasons given: 'I think they are friendly.' Steve and Hero are assigned roster numbers 077 and 072. Council head Luigi, roster number 009, has chosen: Chrom, Fire Emblem series, and Richter, Castlevania series. Reasons given: 'Both are stand-up men who serve as inspiration to everyone who comes to know them- It's my personal honor to uplift those kinds of people.' Chrom and Richter are assigned roster numbers 086 and 089. Council head Pikachu, roster number 008, has chosen: Incineroar, Pokemon series. Reasons given: 'Incineroar is a cool Pokemon! Everyone will love Incineroar, and we can face off!' Incineroar is assigned roster number 069. Council head Fox, roster number 007, has chosen: Ridley, Metroid series, Sephiroth, Final Fantasy series, and King K. Rool, Donkey Kong series."
The air in the room ran cold, not a word spoken, but a nerve definitely struck. Donkey Kong turned towards Fox, his eyes wide, Luigi having more or less the same expression. "Wait, wait, are you outta' your mind, Fox?" Luigi asked, Mario putting a hand on his shoulder and seconding his idea, in a much less brash way, of course. "Let's not get too excited now, Luigi. Fox explained this already... Whether or not this stacks up to be too much of a wise decision, well... We're just gonna have to see." Link signed something in response, Samus nodding along in agreement. "Link brought up a good point, we've all beat our villains, we know how to keep 'em in check. They're not as powerful where we hold the fights, anyway. Interzonal technology makes the battlefield a neutral space, nothing permanent can happen... They couldn't hurt anyone for good even if they wanted to, it's what makes all of this possible." Link nodded in agreement, adding something onto his statement. "And, besides, it's not like we haven't invited villains here before." "Yea, what they said," Fox added. "I wouldn't've made these choices if I didn't think they were manageable. We've all got this, don't worry, let's just listen to the reasons I gave." The nerves alleviated a little, the council returned to parsing through the selections. "Reasons given: 'What's better for the love of good entertainment than inviting your greatest enemy to spar with you for a living? Apologies in advance to my friends, but I've fought Wolf enough to know a little rivalry on-stage is good for you'. Ridley, Sephiroth, and King K. Rool are assigned roster numbers 065, 078, and 067. Council head Kirby, roster number 006, has chosen: Piranha Plant, Super Mario Brothers series, and Joker, Persona series. Reasons given: 'They feel like cool choices nobody will expect! I'll also look cool with their abilities.' Piranha Plant and Joker are assigned roster numbers 070 and 071."Fair enough.
"Council head Yoshi, roster number 005, has chosen: Banjo and Kazooie, Banjo-Kazooie series. Reasons given: none. Reasons deduced: They are similar to Yoshi in their whimsical manner. This may have swayed his decision to choose them. Banjo and Kazooie are assigned roster number 073 as a team. Council head Samus, roster number 004, has chosen: Dark Samus, Metroid series, Pyra and Mythra, Xenoblade series, and Simon, Castlevania series. Reasons given: 'I will be honest, I was talking with Shulk recently about being lone representatives for our games. I decided I might put my vote towards remedying that, with a little twist.' Dark Samus, Pyra and Mythra, and Simon are assigned roster numbers 083, 079, 080, and 066." Samus shrugged. "Guess I was kinda on the same page with some of you guys. It's an odd coincidence we both picked someone from Castlevania, Luigi," Samus says politely, smiling at him. "A welcome one," he adds, smiling back at her. "Council head Link, roster number 003, has chosen: Byleth, Fire Emblem series, and Inkling, Splatoon series. Reasons given: 'I am reminded of myself by Byleth and the Inkling, both this version and the versions I interact with daily. I have chosen fighters who represent both sides of the coin I have found myself to be.' Byleth and Inkling are assigned roster numbers 075 and 064. Council head Donkey Kong, roster number 002, has chosen: Kazuya, Tekken series. Reasons given: 'I wanna test my strength against this guy's. Other people would probably wanna try too.' Kazuya is assigned roster number 081. And finally..." Everyone held their breath for Mario's choices. From what it sounded like, he had a real ace up his sleeve this year. The new roster members were already exciting enough, and to add Mario's selections on top of it..."Council head Mario, roster number 001, has chosen: Min Min, ARMS series, and Sora, Kingdom Hearts series." Pause.
"Wait, can we do that?!" Luigi asked in shock, the first to speak. "We've been asked about him for years, you tellin' me this is finally the year?" Captain Falcon added, Link signing something with a confused look on his face. "Link says he thought there were some conflicts with his agents, did we get those cleared up?" Samus translates. "-Or is this just you trying to shock-and-awe them into agreein' to let him come?" Fox suggested, the council obviously in shock that Sora was among one of Mario's choices. The fans had been asking for Sora for years on end, almost to the point of annoyance- It appeared that Mario had finally gotten some red tape cleared, a big smile on his face. "Let's show some excitement for both a' my choices, please...""Reasons given: 'These two are both rays of light and hope to their friends and to fans of each series. Inviting them both here is monumental to a small amount of fans, and a large amount of fans. I wanna show that, no matter the size of your fanbase, any support is immense, and will get you far.' Min Min and Sora are assigned roster numbers 076 and 082." With that, the letters were sent out, and the room was cleared, leaving only Luigi and Mario behind to gaze out the window at the world beyond. The physical place where the mansion was situated was some sort of strange pocket dimension, a Subspace crafted from a middle ground of sorts inspired by the homes of every fighter there. The technology used to stabilize the dimension drew information from all of the fighters, making it a grave concern of both Mario and Luigi's that the technology could somehow be seized and leveraged to put an end to the world, a sense of relief overcoming both of them that the events taking place during Brawl Era didn't culminate in something involving it. That being said, the world beyond the mansion was vast and beautiful, a view of lush trees, grand plains, oceanic landscapes and a bustling city in the distance all perceivable from the window of the council room. The mansion was empty at the moment, the two brothers taking it to relish in the Era they were at the forefront of establishing. Mario pulled Luigi in for a hug, the two of them laughing in understanding that they both had a similar disbelief that they'd started all of this.
The following four months of downtime went incredibly fast. The first month was always solely dedicated to quiet on updates regarding the coming season of the fights, even before years where there'd be an update to the roster. The fighters were again scattered back to their respective corners of the world beyond the Subspace, but it didn't necessarily mean that they didn't willingly go hang out amongst themselves or greet one another in the Crossing, a mid-space similar to the Subspace, used for traveling between worlds, which did connect directly to the Subspace itself. The second month was similar in terms of not bothering the roster members, but pre-made teasers and advertisem*nts for the coming season would start to be distributed. During the third month, the newcomers would be invited to the mansion by Mario and Luigi to film trailers for the new Era, to announce the new faces fans would be seeing. The first half of the fourth month was an in-between preparation period, and the last half was full-blown Smash Brothers boot camp. The mansion was bustling again with fighters new and old, the rooms filling quickly and their inhabitants making themselves perfectly at home. The way roommates were decided was entirely up to the mansion itself, which had a sort of magic-like sentience to it. It would pair individuals with similar enough desires for their living quarters together, and once the assigned dwellers arrived to their room, it would morph from a white, empty space full of detail-lacking white boxes to something more resembling a home fit for both members. It was the first day of the pre-season, and the mansion wasloud. The excitement was so palpable, and since the mansion had determined the best way to allow the course of the day's events to go smoothly, everyone was having fun getting moved in and getting acquainted with one another. Surprisingly civil for the fact that multiple people who had killed multiple people were just roaming about dressed in hoodies and sweatpants.
The newcomers were always invited first to get situated in their rooms, so that they could go fight the council member who had voted for them to be there while the other fighters were getting set up after them. 12 fights would commence all at the same time, with the additional fighters that each member chose being set aside in the pre-fight waiting room. The fights would play on screens throughout the common areas of the mansion for members to gather and watch as they milled about and got readjusted to life there. Link was prepping for his fight against Byleth, the two of them conversing with one another as they waited for the match to officially get called."You know sign language?"Link asked Byleth, signing to her. The Byleths had decided amongst themselves that they'd send their female form to face off, given they were an avatar and had arrived in a pair, much like Robin, who had to go through something similar when they'd arrived. It was... Odd, to say the least, both for them and the other fighters, to get used to two people essentially being the same person, but the concept had grown on them since 4 Era. "I have a student who's hard of hearing,"Byleth signs back, sticking her sword into the ground to free up her hands. "-so I taught myself sign language to communicate with them better." She rolled back on her heels a little, looking out over the stage, seeing her students standing to the side of it. The whole stage had taken on the appearance of Garreg Mach Monastery, despite having been nothing more than a white room and a few white platforms in the center of it just minutes before. All of it was an illusion, she had to remind herself. Her friends, her students, were all somewhere else without her. "Are you alright? We can turn the spectators off, if they're bothering you," Link offers. "No, that's okay."
"So, what's stoppin' you from just stretchin' over here and grabbin' me?" Mario asks, his match with Min Min about to begin. "Nothing, really," she answers, the automatic translators in the Subspace at work deciphering her words from Chinese to English, and Mario's from English to Chinese, the way she heard it. Many of the fighters hailed from different places with vastly different languages and dialects. As more and more people joined the Collective, it became more important to have reliable translation, and with the addition of Marth and Roy to the roster for Melee Era, Mario had automatic translation coded into the Subspace. Some more personable fighters would also dedicate time towards learning at least some of the various languages on display among the roster. "My ARMS do only go so far, but from where we're standing now... I could probably grab you," She says, smiling. In another room, Ness was matched up against Hero, who had also arrived as multiple different people. The invitation letters, and primarily the writers of said letters, never did know when to specify between multiple characters of the same title or name in a series. This did create some conflict sometimes, but a solution would be figured out during downtime. In this case, four versions of Hero were invited rather than just the one. Ness had suggested the two of them look for bugs on the stage form that Hero had brought with them, the outdoor setting making this more possible than it was for other stages. The Hero that was sent to battle him, Luminary, obliged, and was now crouched on the ground alongside Ness, helping him look for a bug or two. On another stage, Luigi was chatting with Chrom about the road he'd had to go on to get this far. "Sorry again about invitin' you here for that trailer... Mario though it'd be a cool reveal." Chrom laughed. "It was, I can't deny that. I was happy for Robin and Lucina. Thank you for considering me, Luigi, I'm grateful to be here at all."
"Now, this is gonna befun." Fox remarked, his match against Sephiroth lined up. Sephiroth smiled wickedly, gripping his sword in one hand, his body sort of turned away from Fox, his wing idly moving back and forth. "It's... Interesting to be here. I hope you don't come to regret inviting me..." Fox chuckled. "You tryin' to scare me? Psych me out, or somethin'? I got this..." Pretty much in unison with one another, the fights were called, and commenced between each newcomer and the council member who'd invited them there. In the main foyer of the mansion, some of the fighters who were quicker to get set up in their rooms were already gathered and watching the matches play out on the biggest screen in the house. The male form of Robin was sat in the center of the U-shaped couch in the room, probably one of the biggest couches in all of Subspace, if not the universe, Shulk opting to sit on the floor beside him and leave the room for someone else. Both Robins had made it a point to get done with their rooms in time to see Chrom fight, and just across the room, the female form of Robin was sitting at the end of one of the bends of the couch, Lucina sitting next to her. Pichu crawled up next to male Robin, squeezing under his arm and plopping down onto his lap. "We're watching Chrom," he explains, holding Pichu there comfortably, his fingers running across the Pokemon's fur and conducting the electricity it emitted.
The room filled slowly, most fighters deciding not to populate the most busy room in the home, but that didn't mean that quite a crowd didn't turn out for the opening battles of the pre-season. It was a little bit like watching a sports game, both inside the mansions and to fans when the fights were broadcast, with distinct teams being decided by them and the inhabitants of the mansion. To fans, teams ranged from being composed of fighters who had all debuted during the same era, fighters who all hailed from the same game, and even fighters who had the same type of fighting style. There was always a tournament held every year, prompting fans to make predictions about who they thought would win. Who might win this year was surely a question at the forefront of many fighters' minds, since learning who all was new to the roster. The past years had proved that all of the fighters were fairly evenly matched - thanks to balancing efforts in the code of the Subspace, both for safety reasons and due to limitations in the technology - given that nobody had ever won the tournament twice, and even some of the most regular folks on the roster had made it pretty far up the levels of the bracket. Ike and Roy had come into the room, sitting on the couch next to Robin and Shulk. Pichu left Robin's lap and crawled up onto the redhead's shoulder, rubbing his face against Roy and giving him a little zap. "Hey, careful," he says gently, lifting Pichu from his shoulder and setting him down between himself and Ike. He leans forward and catches Robin's attention, waving his hand at him. "Your friend's good! He's related to Marth too, isn't he?" Robin nods. "Pretty distantly, but, yea, he's Marth's great grandson. Separated by an exorbitant amount of "great"s, that is." Roy nods, then turning his attention to Ike. "Where isMarth, anyway? I haven't seen him yet today.""He's not roomed with you?" Ike asks, his brow furrowing a little in confusion. Roy shakes his head, his expression absent. "That's weird. I wonder who he's-" "Sephiroth," Marth says, leaning down from behind the couch between Roy and Ike and startling all the guys sitting there. Roy gives Marth's arm a weak punch, a mischievous smile on Marth's face. "Sorry, I saw all of you sitting here and I couldn't resist sneaking over. I'm surprised you didn't see me talking with Lucina," he says, hopping over the back of the couch and sitting down on Robin's free side. "Are the battles that riveting this year, or have you all become rusty in your observational skill during the downtime?" Robin chuckles, knowing Marth and Lucina alike were both quiet on their feet. It made their presence all the more intimidating when they entered a room and announced it with their aura rather than their footsteps.
"We're all watching Chrom fight," Ike explains. Marth nods, his eyes training on the screen above them, the excitement of watching another of his descendants fight seeming to further brighten his mood. Palutena and Bayonetta had joined the group, bringing Pit and his temperamental dark clone along with him, the four of them sitting alongside Lucina and Robin. They greeted one another, with Lucina being particularly close with the two women. A common occurrence in the mansion was fighters finding new friends there, and keeping in touch with them even when they weren't living in the same place together. This was why the Crossing was expanded on, to include as many places as what existed, to allow even non-members of the Collective to explore the world beyond their own. "Oh, Pittoo," Lucina began, Dark Pit somewhat scowling at the use of the name, which had become more popular in its use specifically at the mansion. On the one hand, though, it did give him more of his own identity, rather than his sole moniker basically being "the dark version of Pit". "Did they ever give you a reason for why some of the fighters' roster numbers changed? My number was reassigned, and I heard yours had been too." "Oh! I think it's because they on-boarded a lot of fighters with similar fighting styles to people who're already here," Pit interrupts, with Pittoo having explained the whole situation to him just an hour earlier. "He knows that because I'm the one who told him," he growls, elaborating on Pit's point. Pittoo gestures up at the screen above them. "The numbers were initially decided based solely on that, and your dad's roster number would have placed him after Roy, but time of arrival was being considered, too. That's why I'm still placed after you, since you got here first. We're just further down the roster." Lucina nods. "I guess that does make sense. I know the numbers don't mean anything, but I just found it a little confusing... How did you hear about all of that?" Pittoo's eyes averted from hers. "Lady Palutena told me..." Bayonetta chuckled warmly, turning to Palutena. "Where didyouhear about it, then?" Palutena returns Bayonetta's smile, then directing her gaze to Lucina to offer her explanation. "Samus and I were discussing it. She's one of the people in charge of care over some of the computer systems here, and she ultimately decided that it made more sense to avoid cases where similar fighters would be doubling up on numbers. It makes them feel more like their own people. That's how she explained it, anyway..." Lucina looks back up at the screen, seeing her father fighting against Luigi, and actually winning at the moment. "I guess it does stave off unfair comparisons between us and our inspirations, huh Pittoo?" He couldn't help but smile at the thought, agreeing with her sentiment. "Yea, I guess things are better that way..."
Ryu came into the room with Lucas lifted up onto his shoulder, striding behind the couch and letting him down onto it, ruffling Roy's hair. "Hey, kiddo," he says expressionlessly, Roy straining his neck to flop his head back and look at Ryu. "Ryu! You come to watch the fights? It's gonna rotate around to Ken's match in a few seconds." "Yea, came to see what the guy's got," he responds as he leans on his arms on the back of the couch. Everyone's eyes momentarily left the screen, the sound of loud stomping growing louder and louder down the stairs, Bowser having come down to see how things were playing out. He grunted with effort, carefully lifting his feet and keeping mind of where they landed, a cloud of Pikmin having raced down the stairs underneath them, Olimar not far behind, squeezing past to catch up with them. A steady stream of fighters was now making its way into the living room, and it became clear that something in the air was different this year. More fighters than usual had chosen to share in watching the opening fights in the main den, rather than in their rooms or even the dining hall, which was also a popular spot to watch along. Bowser's kids had all followed him, being trailed by a couple of Pokemon that had likely found some interest in seeing the new fighter of their kind that they'd be battling, Mewtwo, Lucario, and Greninja promptly taking their places upon some of the ample remaining space on the couch that was quickly filling up. Young Link and Toon Link chased one another across the carpet in front of the coffee table there, with Ganondorf plucking one of them up off the ground and setting him onto the couch with a laugh, the other fleeing in the opposite direction. Cloud and male Corrin arrived to the room, joining the other guys, Corrin taking a spot next to Marth and Cloud sitting next to him. A steadier drone of noise filled the room, the space on the couch becoming less and less, until eventually, it was practically every unoccupied fighter sat in the room and watching the fights play out. The first day was always a time of camaraderie, a reminder that the mansion was indeed a home away from home, its inhabitants a sort of messed up family of people who would normally be at one another's throats under any other circ*mstances. What benefit did it pose to any of them at all, to be there? It begged the question,
"What gain would be so alluring that even the worst of enemies could force themselves to cooperate?" A cold voice strains in a dark room, addressing its companion beside it, their faces illuminated only by a lone screen - a portal, rather - glowing ambiently before them in a red hue. The all-seeing eye of Dharkon, employed by its current bearer, the brash and cunning Aeod, was giving both him and his partner, Aegis, a clear view of the mansion's living room. "That is what we're trying to find out, after all..." He murmurs as he opens his eye, his iris yellow and glowing, his left eye having been slashed out long ago, when he'd sworn his body to Dharkon. Aeod and Aegis both appeared almost inhuman, the only thing resembling humanity being their general forms. Aeod's skin was a deep brown, nearly black, undertones of red complimenting his red hair, choppy mid-length, almost fin-like protrusions from his head that only echoed the suggestion of hair when you got up close. He donned black leather clothes with red accents, vine-like tendrils and hot red gems adorning his outfit, a long tail stretching from the back of his clothing outward. His partner was entirely his opposite, a person of ambiguous gender, bright, almost gleamingly white pale skin, short hair in somewhat of a messy bob and much softer in appearance than that of Aeod's. Their eyelashes and irises were also a bright white, their outfit primarily consisting of three panels of fabric draped over them, bordered with an almost imperceptible light golden outline, the shape of wings on either side of their chest, reaching down from their collar to the end of their clothes, faint streaks of yellow, blue, and pink tucked beneath each wing. They did also have functional wings of their own, folded neatly behind them. Aegis was much more mild-mannered when compared to their partner, and relied on reason rather than being head-strong. While the two couldn't be more contrasting, they also could not succeed nor exist without one another. Aeod's voice was deep, commanding, took up a presence by filling the room when he spoke, Aegis's quiet, somewhat hoarse or tired-sounding, gentle, and almost like the voices of two people layered upon one another at times. Vessels of the beings Dharkon and Galeem, they paralleled their gods perfectly. "Did you find out anything more about the coding in the Subspace?" Aegis shook their head. "Unfortunately not. There is only so much of the technology the Collective uses that can be considered beneficial to us. I fear I have discerned the most useful information I possibly can from outside of the Subspace. I would need to actually get into its Interzone to find out any more." Aeod nods, letting out a sharp exhale. "Sounds like that's the next move, then. But how do you suggest we do that?" Aegis smiles, pulling a white blindfold from the layers of their clothes, tying it over their eyes. "Leave me. I'll find a way." Aeod placed a finger under Aegis' chin, being mindful of the sharpness of his nails, like claws, a smile tugging on his lips before pressing them against theirs, then turning to leave the room. "I trust your judgement, Aegis. We will succeed." Aeod left the room, and took the darkness with him, the walls shifting from a suffocating black void into a glowing, bright white to accommodate Aegis' senses instead, allowing them to get to work.
"Yes, indeed, we will be successful..."
