University of Smash

Initial Descent

Ethan (Brawler)

So, another training day had passed. Once I had spent a number of hours on the simulator, repeatedly destroying my clone and picking up new techniques for shielding, Sakurai shut down the simulator and told me that training was over.

He also gave me a piece of paper detailing the next event. Turns out, the next event was not training, but rather, an actual fight. All it detailed was where and when to meet; there was no mention of who my opponent would be.

Regardless, it left me with a lot more time on my hands, and just like before, I didn't much know what to do.

After sitting on the couch for an hour, staring at the wall, I decided to actually do something. I jumped up and marched over to my bedroom. I shoved aside the box of items I had dug out of the dumpster earlier that morning, promising myself that I would get around to looking at them eventually.

I sat down at my desk and pulled out the items that I had found before the last training session to take a closer look. I first looked at the lamp. I pulled out a lightbulb I had purchased yesterday and screwed it into the lamp. I then plugged it in and flicked the switch on, and sure enough, the lamp lit up, as bright as if it were new. With the light on, I saw much more clearly that the lamp needed paint; it was worn to bare metal in many spots. I made a mental note to pick up some paint later and pushed the lamp off to the side, keeping it turned on.

I then picked up the fedora. I was still baffled as to why someone would throw out a hat, of all things. Regardless, it was mine now, and it was in decent shape. I first tended to the stain; I rubbed some cleaner on it and let it sit there. As far as the worn part of the brim was concerned, I knew I would need some thread and a needle to fix it. I shuddered at the thought of pricking myself repeatedly with the needle, like the last time I tried to sew clothing. I set the fedora aside for now.

Then there was the cellphone. I pulled it out of the drawer in my desk and stared at it. I turned it on again and stared at the lock screen. Whoever owned the phone had set the background on the lock screen to a sunset. It was a beautiful photo, but it gave me no clues as to who owned the phone.

Suddenly, Ganondorf burst into my room. I quickly threw the phone back into the drawer and slammed it shut; he didn't appear to notice.

"Hey, Ethan," he said. "What are you up to?"

"Oh, just sitting at my desk," I replied, trying to not look suspicious. "You doing something?"

"Yes, and I need you to come with me."

"What? Why would you need me?"

"It'll make sense once we get there. Follow me."

I hesitated for a moment, asking myself if it was a good idea, but ultimately decided that he hadn't given me any reason to refuse, so I followed him.

We hiked over to the elevator and took it to the ground floor. Ganondorf turned to the right and grabbed the handle of the door to the right. I looked at the door and noticed it was a door to the basement. I froze for a moment; this didn't seem like a place we should be going.

Ganondorf looked over at me and grunted. "Don't worry about it," he said, seeming to read my mind. "It's just the basement. If he didn't want us going here, he would lock the door."

His explanation made sense, so I decided to continue following him. We descended down the stairs and arrived in the basement. It was just as new as every other part of the building, and yet it had a different atmosphere from the rest of the place; it almost felt like the air itself was crushing me. I had no way of knowing why I felt this way.