The Wrath of Mama Game & Watch

Author's Note: Going to try bolded author's notes this time. So here's a story I'd like to file under "random ideas," or an idea I've had for a while but never had a chance to write about until now. This story will be short, likely spanning only 2 or 3 chapters like some of my other smaller works. It's basically my attempt at giving one of the more iconic Super Smash Bros. characters some much needed love here in the fanfiction community.

Oh, and for the record, Mr. Game & Watch can talk in this story. I normally don't like doing that, but since he is a main character I kind of have no choice but to give him some dialogue. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Game & Woes

The coming of September brings with it many wonderful things. It is a time of reawakening, of starting anew. More importantly, with September comes the autumnal season, also symbolically known as the season of change. The leaves turn red, children return to school, but for our friends in the Super Smash Brothers, life becomes anything but a press to the restart button. The tournament, now officially celebrating its first ongoing year, was livelier than ever with characters and combatants coming together to prove their worth in Master Hand's ultimate test of skill. Who will reign supreme? Who will stumble to the bottom of the loser's bracket? Surely none of the fighters who were desperately training themselves to the bone, like Roy and Lucina sparring in the courtyard, or Donkey Kong and Little Mac trading blows in the Boxing Ring. Those who didn't have any upcoming fights planned found solace in taking a well-deserved break, busying themselves with their own personal schedules like Fox McCloud who took the liberty of fine-tuning his Arwing in the hangar.

As expected, even during the off-hours the Smashers made no hesitation to keep themselves occupied however they saw fit. Some had their hands full more than others of course, but for the most part there wasn't much interactivity going on throughout the mansion. People typically just hung out in their own groups, while others who just didn't seem to have enough time on their hands felt it was their duty to assist their friends whenever they could.

And thus, we arrive at the heart surrounding this little tale. A tale about a humble man who never asked for anything from anybody, but discovered a newfound courage all thanks to a simple yet obnoxious knock on his door.

"Yo Game! Open up!" hollered Captain Falcon. "Special delivery!" He continued to hammer his free fist on Mr. Game & Watch's dorm room, his other arm currently occupied due to the large stack of books he was carrying.

"I wonder what's taking him so long," muttered Zelda, alongside the F-Zero racer with her own stack of books in her hands. "Is he even home?"

"Should be," replied Falcon. "I checked the schedule and it says he doesn't have a match until Monday. The heck's taking him so long?" He knocked on the door again, almost dropping his books in the process.

The two of them had been standing out in the hall for a few minutes now waiting ever so patiently for Mr. Game & Watch to open up and take back the cookbooks that they had borrowed from him. Well, Zelda was actually the one who had borrowed these, but she was employing Falcon's help partly because he was an able-bodied man and partly because he really had nothing else going on today. Additionally, the books had been used by both Princess Peach and Link, but to have more than two people doing this job was overkill, thus Princess Zelda took it upon herself to deliver these books to their proper owner on her own accord.

"Maybe he's out back doing some Target Blast?" asked Zelda, but she was just grasping at straws at this point. Mr. Game & Watch wasn't exactly the busiest guy around. Most of the time, his presence around the mansion usually went unnoticed, but of course it didn't help that he was nearly impossible to physically see at some angles of view.

"Pfft, yeah right," scoffed Falcon. "No one likes Target Blast." He grabbed the doorknob and started fidgeting with it. "Game & Watch! Open up! We have—"

In almost no effort, Falcon turned the knob and the door swung open as if it was caught in a blustering wind. The two friends were then immediately met by the sight of Mr. Game & Watch running around his room juggling a broom, a feather duster, a vacuum cleaner, and a frying pan all in his arms. The sounds of vacuum cleaning, cuckoo clocks, and kettles boiling rang throughout the air with such force that Falcon and Zelda were forced to drop their books and cover their ears for dear life.

"What the hell's going on in here!?" cried Falcon.

"Mr. Game & Watch!" shouted Zelda.

Fortunately, Game & Watch noticed his friends' distress, and promptly turned off his vacuum, as well as the kettle and the alarm clock (that was going off for some reason). He dropped all of his things and ran up to the two Smashers who were still having trouble trying to stop their ears from ringing.

"Oh, hi guys!" he greeted. "I didn't know you were here."

"How could you when you've got everything but the kitchen sink running a marathon in here?!" shouted Falcon, but he didn't realize he was yelling since he still had his hands over his helmeted ears.

"Ah! I almost forgot!" Mr. Game & Watch suddenly ran back to the kitchen to turn off the sink. "Thanks for reminding me."

Zelda looked around, noticing that this place was an absolute wreck. Normally the dorm rooms in the mansion were kept neat and tidy thanks to the Waddle Dee servants, but Mr. Game & Watch's room looked like it was nearly hit by an earthquake! From furniture to musical instruments to the very floor itself, everything had been turned completely upside-down.

"Just… what exactly are you doing in here?" asked Zelda seriously. "This place is a total mess."

"Hm?" replied the 2D man, almost as if he didn't notice the catastrophe that was his room. "What, this? It's nothing. Just me doing some, you know, spring cleaning heheh."

"Who does spring cleaning in September!?" cried Falcon in disbelief.

"Yeah, I know it's a little unorthodox." Game & Watch picked up his feather duster and dusted a nearby shelf, which had a few knocked over pictures and a trophy of the Octopus Final Smash. "That's just uh, a tradition among my people. You 3D folks wouldn't understand." He set the pictures back up, showcasing some nice photographs of himself with Master Hand, as well as another photo of a flat person who bore a strikingly similar resemblance to that of him. "So what brings you guys here?"

"We were just dropping by to return some books," replied Zelda, picking up a few of the fallen items. She looked around for a place to put them but to no avail. "Did you… need any help?"

"Who me?" asked Mr. Game & Watch. "Nah, I got this place taken care of. I've been at it for almost two days now and I'd say I'm about eighty percent complete."

Falcon and Zelda glanced around the littered room again just in time to see a light fixture break from the ceiling and shatter on the coffee table in the sitting area. Mr. Game & Watch twitched an irritated smile ever so slightly before retaining his normally static expression.

"Okay, if you say so," replied Falcon as he turned around to leave. "Call us if you need anything!"

Zelda quickly grabbed the racer by the shoulder and spun him around again so that he was back in the conversation.

"We don't mind lending a hand with all of this," said Zelda warmly.

"We don't?" asked Falcon.

"Aw, I couldn't do that to you guys," replied Game & Watch. "This is my room so it's my responsibility to make sure it's spick and span before Mom shows up."

Zelda's ear twitched at the mention of the word, and had Falcon been drinking a beverage at that exact moment, he wouldn't have hesitated to spit it out all over the floor.

"M-Mom!?" spat Falcon. "Your mom's coming to the mansion!?"

"Whoops, let it slip," muttered Game & Watch. "Um, well yeah she is. You guys weren't supposed to hear that."

"Is she coming here to meet us?" asked Zelda. She recalled a time earlier in the year when Lucina's father had paid a visit to the mansion in order to meet the Smashers. Of course, the tournament was still ongoing at that time so not everyone had a chance to see him.

"Eh, no not really." It was easy to tell that Mr. Game & Watch wasn't at all that comfortable with talking about this subject. "She's kind of just coming to see how I'm doing and everything."

"What, you too good to write letters or something?" asked Falcon.

"It's not that," said Game & Watch. He twiddled his 2D thumbs nervously. "You see… I kind of… sort of… may have… mentioned to her…" He took a deep breath. "That I won the tournament."

His statement was met with awkward silence as Captain Falcon and Zelda tried to comprehend what he was saying. Unfortunately, they didn't mishear him at all. Normally the Smash Bros. tournaments ran for multiple years, the longest one thus far being the Brawl tournament, which spanned seven years. For someone to come out on top in such a short amount of time was absolute ludicrous, and the very thought itself was somewhat insulting to Master Hand's rulesets and the way he organized these things.

"How could you have won the tournament though?" asked Zelda, slightly puzzled. "The tournament is still running. It's been running for about a year now since the newcomers arrived, remember?"

"Yeah!" chimed Falcon. "Not to mention you're not even close to the top of the leaderboards."

Mr. Game & Watch heaved a heavy sigh. "I know…" He lowered his head in shame.

"So… you lied to her," said Zelda. She suddenly felt sympathetic towards Game & Watch if only for a few moments. She knew that he wasn't the most popular Smasher, let alone one of the most powerful or recognized. Being the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom, it didn't take her long to realize exactly why Game & Watch had lied to his mom.

"I was just trying to impress her, you know?" he said looking up at them. "Every month she calls me to see how I'm doing and every time she just wants to hear more news about how I 'defeated Mario in a one on one match' or how I 'destroyed three fighters in a four stock free for all.' I don't exactly have the most positive win rate." He shrugged his shoulders. "I thought that if I told her I won the tournament she would stop asking me about how my matches are going, but it's only gotten worse and now she's coming down to visit to celebrate my 'victory'."

Captain Falcon scratched the side of his helmet in a rather cartoonish manner pondering how they were going to get Mr. Game & Watch out of this predicament. He was all for helping his friends, but it looked like no amount of Falcon Punches was going to be able to cheer up Mr. Game & Watch. It looked like they were going to have to figure out a way to make being the mother of Game & Watch something to be proud of.

"Have you tried talking to your mother about this at all?" asked Zelda.

"No," replied the 2D man. "I can't tell her any of this because it's embarrassing. Especially since I left home and never came back. I'm just an average contender with nothing to show for it..."

"Hmm…" muttered Falcon, the gears in his head turning as he conjured up a plan. "I think I know how we can fix this."

"You should just tell your mom," said Zelda seriously, keeping the topic of discussion on track. "I'm sure she'll understand."

"Well it's too late now since she's already flying in from Flat Zone," replied Game & Watch.

"And that only leaves us with one choice!" said Falcon, sticking up an index finger. "We have to pretend that Mr. Game & Watch really did win the tournament!"

An awkward silence soon befell the group.

"Um… Come again?" replied Zelda in confusion.

"It's easy," continued Falcon. "All we have to do is pretend that he's the champion for a whole day and that's it! Your mom's coming just for tomorrow right?"

"Yeah," replied Game & Watch.

"Alright, then that settles it! We just have to show Mama Game & Watch that her son isn't a complete and utter failure."

"Hey! I never said that…"

But it was too late to stop Captain Falcon. Once he went off on one of his tangents, it was hard to get him back on the road again. Kind of ironic considering he was a race car driver.

"I don't know, I still think he should talk to his mom…" said Zelda. "We might be able to put in a good word for him."

"And you expect that to work?" asked Falcon. "You heard what he said; his mom is as tough as nails. She's not going to buy any of that goody-goody crap." He knelt down and put an arm around Game & Watch's shoulder. "Don't worry buddy; I got your back. I know what it's like to be a mama's boy."

"I'm not a mama's boy!" retorted Game & Watch. He promptly shoved away from Captain Falcon. "I just… I don't want to let her down."

"And you plan to accomplish that by lying to her?" questioned Zelda. Seriously, she wasn't buying any of this. If anything, lying about Mr. Game & Watch's status in the tournament was only going to make the situation worse.

"What mama don't know won't hurt her," replied Falcon. "Besides, he's got us on his side! We'll round up some of the others and deck this place out to make it look like the palace of a real two-dimensional king! We'll treat you extra special, maybe give out a few snacks here and there, and then wham-bam-slam, your mama thinks you're the next best thing since Super Mario Bros.!"

Zelda bit her lower lip, glancing at Mr. Game & Watch as he debated whether or not this plan was going to work. Unfortunately, she wasn't the most assertive princess, but she knew most of all that if she had a bad feeling about something it usually wasn't a good sign.

She ought to take a page out of Peach's book.

"You'll help too right?" asked Falcon.

Zelda blinked, hesitating slightly as she realized that Falcon was talking to her.

"Of course," she replied, "but only if he promises to talk to his mother when he sees her tomorrow. Putting on an act like this is just sweeping dust under the rug."

"Just the way I like it." Falcon gave a wink before turning back to the shorter fighter. "So what do you say, Game? You game?"

"I think it could work," replied Game & Watch. A small pixelated thought bubble appeared above his head as he continued to give it more thought. "She might not even stay that long if she finds out how well I'm doing." He paused again before arriving at a conclusion. "Okay, let's do it!"

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!" cheered Falcon, giving the 2D man a high-five.

"You're awfully excited about this aren't you?" muttered Zelda curiously.

"Well someone has to!" replied Falcon. "And besides…" He got close and whispered in the princess' ear. "His mom might turn out to be a real foxy lady!"

"Ew…"

"Ha! I'm just kidding of course." He crouched down to Mr. Game & Watch's level before saying, "But in all serious man, if your mom is good at baking pies or knitting things or whatever, then hook a brother up."

"And here I thought you were going along with this out of the goodness of your heart…" commented Zelda with a sigh.

"You guys…" said Game & Watch quietly. "Thank you for this. It really means a lot to me."

"You can thank us later," replied Falcon. "Right now we got some decorating to do!" He clapped his hands. "Hey Marth! Where you at!?" Falcon dashed out of the room in an attempt to recruit more Smashers to Mr. Game & Watch's cause. Zelda didn't even bother to chase after him since, well, it's not like it would have made any difference.

"In any case," she said, "we're going to have to clean this room."

The sound of an oven timer could be heard going off in the kitchen, followed by a pair of flying toasts that soared overhead and landed on the television set.

Mr. Game & Watch chuckled sheepishly. "I'll get the vacuum cleaner."

Author's Note: Whelp, that does it for chapter 1. And from the looks of things, this is probably going to be a triple-hitter (as in three chapters). Do the bolded author notes really make a difference? I know I typically just keep everything in the regular font, but who knows, if people are so used to seeing notes like this nowadays maybe I'll just adopt it from now on. Hope you guys liked it and I'll catch you on the flip side!