A new tournament means a fresh slate. The sins of Ganondorf and his gang were forgiven for the most part, having been chalked up to the influence of Tabuu; however they definitely weren't forgotten. Every veteran Smasher remembered what happened in Subspace perfectly, and who's fault it was that it even started in the first place (*cough* Ganondorf *cough) and who his two henchmen were. Peach, Zelda, Ness, Luigi, and Donkey Kong were still sore about the whole being turned into trophies, and several other smashers remembered their little tiffs with Wario and Bowser. But King Dedede, the only one who seemed to look back fondly on the whole adventure, told the newcomers (and anyone else who would listen) over and over that his ingenious plan ultimately saved the day. This of course lead to an inevitable argument between him and Sonic, arguing that he saved day by shattering Tabuu's wings.

"I wish they would give it a rest already," Pit commented to Dark Pit one day. The twin angels were training against each other, when King Dedede and Sonic got into another one of their arguments about who really saved everyone from an eternity stuck as trophies in Subspace. "I mean, they both saved the day. Without King Dedede's badges and Sonic's speed, most of us would be trapped in Subspace while Tabuu used us as pawns in whatever sick game he was playing."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but for once I agree with you," Dark Pit replied. While Pit was an airhead most of the time, he could actually be perceptive when he wanted to. He had to be, otherwise he'd still be a simple messenger instead of the Captain of Palutena's Guard. Usually, his perceptiveness came out when Palutena wasn't around (both Viridi and Dark Pit came to this conclusion). "What's the big deal with this Tabuu anyway? It's not like most of the people here haven't faced worse."

Pit grimaced as he dodged Dark Pit's blow. "No matter what blows we dealt, it felt like we weren't doing any real damage to him. What made it worse was he pitted Smashers against Smashers at first. And don't get me started on the maze. Besides, do you know what it's like to be turned into a trophy? It's horrible, like Hades's gut horrible."

Dark Pit knew to drop the subject after that. Pit was a very open person, but there were certain things that he kept to himself. His unintended (and, needless to say, unwanted) adventures in the innards of the Lord of the Underworld was one such topic he kept to himself. He refused to even talk to Palutena about it, which was saying something since he told her almost everything. Almost. If Pit was comparing what happened in Subspace to Hades's insides, then he wasn't going to talk about it. Besides, if Dark Pit really wanted to find out about what happened in Subspace, he could interrogate another veteran Smasher about it (preferably not King Dedede or Sonic, though, as they were kind of annoying with their petty "No, I'm the hero!" catfights and hissy fits).

Suddenly, there was a loud crashing noise nearby. Pit turned to look, leading to a pretty serious looking cut on his left arm courtesy of Dark Pit's silver bow, but he was too distracted by the scene in front of him to notice, or even care. It appeared that King Dedede decided to end the fight once and for all. He was holding his huge, wooden hammer triumphantly over a disoriented Sonic. The self-proclaimed king had whacked the blue hedgehog and sent him sailing into a nearby sword rack against the brick wall.

"Ouch," Pit hissed with sympathy. "That has got to hurt."

"What's got to hurt, Pit?" the familiar voice of the Goddess of Light asked as it rang through both angels' laurel crowns. She was somewhere else in Smash Mansion, but now Pit would revert to his air-headed self. At least she wasn't in the training room, otherwise the lighter angel would follow her around like a lost puppy with its tail between its legs.

Dark Pit scowled. "He's talking about Sonic's new head injury. Dedede just knocked him into the bricks."

"Should I send Dr. Mario down there?"

"That's probably a good idea, Lady Palutena," Pit replied dutifully. "Sonic probably has a concussion. You might want to send reinforcements too. You know, to stop King Dedede."

"Already done," she replied. "What about your arm, Pit?"

"My arm?" Pit asked in confusion before looking down and noticing, to his surprise, that he was wounded. It was bleeding alarmingly heavily now, but Pit was acting like he didn't notice before. That was strange because not even Pit was air-headed enough to not detect a nasty wound like that. "It's fine, Lady Palutena. Nothing a few band-aids and a soak in a hot spring won't fix."

"It's bleeding rather heavily," Palutena said with concern laced in her voice. "You mean you weren't even aware of it until I said something?"

"I was distracted," Pit defended. "It's fine. Really, Lady Palutena."

"So you said. But are you sure you're feeling alright, Pit? Other than your arm? It's not like you to be so absent minded when it comes to injuries. Especially injuries like that."

Pit was already wrapping a makeshift bandage around it using supplies he pulled out of some random lockers. "I'm fine, really. I was just distracted by the scene that King Dedede and Sonic were making."

Palutena didn't reply, but Dark Pit could feel her concerned silence on the connection. She was trying to come up with a way to respond that wouldn't alarm Pit. She seemed to think something was up and, though Dark Pit didn't want to, he trusted her judgement when it came to his lighter counterpart. Pit spent so much time around his beloved goddess that she knew him better than he knew himself. If anyone could truly judge if something was off with the angel, it was Palutena.

Finally, she broke the silence. "Just come see me and I'll heal you. I'm in my room. Pittoo, I want you to escort him on account of blood loss. Just to make sure he doesn't get hurt."

With that, she broke the connection. Pit sighed. "Come on, Pittoo. We better get going or Lady Palutena will activate the power of flight and drag me to her room."

Dark Pit said nothing, not even to correct that blasted nickname, as Pit headed to the doors of the training room, stumbling slightly. He looked down and saw, much to his surprise, a pool of blood where Pit had been standing. The lighter angel must have been bleeding pretty heavy, but not heavy enough to pass out.

The pool of blood was all it took to convince Dark Pit that something was wrong with his counterpart. There was no possible way that nobody, not even Pit, wouldn't notice a wound seeping that much blood, even if they were distracted. Not unless something was seriously wrong with them.

Concerned for his twin, the dark angel took off after his twin. Besides seeing Pit safely to his goddess, Dark Pit needed to have a serious conversation with Palutena.

For once, he was grateful for his twin's connection to the goddess.

As a certain dark angel was worrying about his twin, several of the mansion's inhabitants flocked like sheep down to the training room to see what all the commotion was about. Ike, however, was not one of them. The swordsman saw this as a perfect opportunity to raid the fridge and smuggle out some of his "secret" stash of KFC, his guilty pleasure. Peach, a dictator in the kitchen who had a no snacking between meals rule, was one of the many Smashers to go downstairs and see what was going on now. Ike couldn't normally access his "secret" stash until after midnight when Peach was fast asleep because she watched the fridge and the cupboards like a doberman. The last time somebody tried to raid the fridge between meals wasn't a pretty sight, even though they had the legitimate excuse of having low blood sugar due to skipping breakfast (one reason nobody should skip breakfast). But now was the perfect chance to nab some chicken and flee to his room for an hour since she was distracted.

"Peach is going to kill you," Zelda said from by the stove. "You know the rule."

"My workout routine and lifestyle requires a higher calorie intake," Ike replied. "It's not like I'm eating 10,000 calories a day and laying on the couch all the time like Wario."

"True. How he hasn't had a heart attack yet is one of life's biggest mysteries," the Hylian Princess agreed. "That still doesn't mean Peach isn't going to skin you alive for spoiling your supper."

"I'll probably be hungry again by supper," the swordsman said dismissively. "Besides, Peach isn't my mother. She doesn't scare me. And what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

Zelda glared at him. "I'm not going to lie to Peach if she asks."

"Then I'll do what Ness did that one time and fake having low blood sugar."

"He wasn't faking," she scolded. "Eighteen hours is a long time between meals." She suddenly picked up a butcher knife and slammed it into a nearby cutting board. "Don't even think about it, Bowser Jr.!"

The young koopa prince froze in place with a chocolate bar in is scaly grip. He suddenly pointed an accusing finger at Ike. "But he's taking chicken from the fridge!"

"Yes, I'm well aware of that. But Ike's an adult and he's going to face the consequences of his actions like a man. You, however, don't need to be like him. You can have a chocolate bar after dinner."

She snatched the candy from Bowser Jr. and set it on the counter out of his reach, causing him to storm off with a pout on his face. Ike took that as his cue to leave too. He grabbed his red-and-white striped bucket from the fridge and closed the door. He went over by Zelda and laid his free hand on the counter before looking down into the pot of whatever cooking on the stove-top. "Looks delicious. Can't wait to eat it. Well, it was a pleasure talking to you, Princess. See you at dinner."

He quickly exited the kitchen and closed the door behind him. There, Bowser Jr. was waiting with his hand extended expectantly. Ike pulled out the candy bar that he snatched from the counter and handed it to the koopa prince. "Don't let Peach catch you with that. And I fully expect you to hold up your end of the bargain."

"Don't worry about it," Bowser Jr. assured the swordsman before sprinting off with his prize. Ike stared after him for a moment or two before shaking his head and starting upstairs to his room.

"Well considering we'll have a huge problem if you don't…"

Not everyone had adopted the "forgive and forget" attitude when it came to what happened during the Brawl tournament. Bowser was especially sore about the whole ordeal, especially when it came to the touchy topic of Ganondorf's betrayal. Once upon a time the King of the Koopas was best friends with the King of the Gerudos. Now, Bowser couldn't even stand to be in the same room as Ganondorf without the overwhelming urge to murder him.

Ganondorf avoided direct confrontation with the other for one reason and one reason only: Bowser knew something that would get Ganon booted from Smash Mansion and banned from Super Smash Bros. forever. Absolutely nobody but Bowser knew that Ganondorf had started planning the whole Subspace situation back in Melee, minus Tabuu of course. If Bowser revealed that crucial piece of information to Master Hand (who had been reinstated as head of the mansion) and the other Smashers, the Gerudo King would be in serious trouble.

Bowser had been tempted on several occasions to rat Ganondorf out, but thought against it. At the moment, that secret was the only thing that kept Bowser and his son safe from Ganon's wrath. Had Bowser Jr. not been in the mansion, the Koopa King would've done it already as he could take the other villain. But he wasn't about to put his beloved son in danger.

"Where have you been?" Bowser grunted as his son came down to the training room. The Koopa King had come down to see what all the commotion was about.

"Upstairs with Pit and Dark Pit," Jr. replied. But Bowser knew better. He had seen Dark Pit dragging an injured Pit upstairs most likely to find Palutena, meaning the twin angels had been in the training room. He could also see the chocolate stains on Jr.'s bib. But Bowser decided to let it go, for now.

King Dedede was nearby hollering about how Sonic started it as Donkey Kong, Marth, Link, Captain Falcon, and Lucina restrained him. Dr. Mario was attending to said blue hedgehog, whose head had been acquainted with the brick wall by the overgrown penguin's hammer. Bowser would've laughed at the sight, if Ganondorf hadn't been nearby watching him. Instead, Bowser felt his fight-or-flight sense activate in order to protect Jr., if need be.

"Why don't you go upstairs and find Lucas and Ness?" Bowser suggested, making eye contact with Ganon and glaring.

"But Papa—" Bowser Jr. began to protest with a whine.

"Now!" Bowser barked, causing Lucina to jump and let go of King Dedede's flipper.

Link and Marth gave him a weird look as Jr. scampered off, but Bowser never took his eyes off Ganon's.

It's been awhile since I've written a Super Smash Bros. fanfic, so I'm a little rusty. This might not be the best work. I don't own Super Smash Bros or it's characters.