SMASH GAMES 2: CHAOS | Super Smash Bros.

7 - The Orientation and the Illness

Rosalina 

They were all seated in a large, homey living area. It had a lower area featuring a large hearth in the middle, carpeted by a large, plush rug where everyone was sitting. It might've been pleasant if Rosalina hadn't felt so sick, and if green ROBs hadn't been everywhere, brandishing cattle prods. 

Rosalina? Luma was sitting beside her, staring up at her with wide eyes. Are you all right? You look awfully pale. 

"I'm fine," she murmured. "It's just the lighting." 

"Excuse me?" the boy to her left said-the white-haired boy Rosalina had seen on the gurney a few days ago, being rolled down the hall. He seemed perfectly fine now, maybe a little cold.  

"Nothing," she said hastily, pulling Luma a little closer towards her. Contrary to what she'd said to him, she certainly didn't feel fine-that brief respite she'd had from her nausea and fingertip-pain back in the Facility had since vanished, leaving her always on the verge of vomiting and/or collapsing. She wasn't sure of what had made the pain go away, or what had given her that ugly clarity, that frightening certainty that she needed to take down Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Peach. Its absence was the one thing she was grateful for; maybe her sickness kept it at bay. 

With a creak, the doors at the rear of the living room opened up. The sounds of rattling chains and metal filled the air, but Rosalina couldn't see what caused them since all the ROBs were in the way. 

Wario, who'd been sitting, bored, in front of the fireplace jumped up. "Finally, the shorty's here!" he said with a laugh. "What took'ya so long, buddy? Ain'tcha never smelled a fart before?" 

Rosalina shuddered, not wanting to remember that-she'd been far enough away to get only a small whiff of Wario's stench when he'd exploded outside, and she'd nearly fainted. She couldn't imagine what had happened to the man in the black T-shirt. She was surprised that he was up on his feet... 

...and decked head-to-toe in chains. A trio of ROBs pushed him into view, displaying the unnecessary amount of shackles on the man's person. A pair on his rock-hard hands, of course, another clipping his feet together, forcing him to shuffle. Both sets of cuffs were connected by a metal braid to a pole being manned by one ROB. A brace was around his neck, attached to another pole being manned by another ROB. 

Rosalina raised her eyebrows at all the bling. They were a testament to Wario's unease about the man.  

The ROBs shoved the man down on the carpet beside Rosalina, forcing him to kneel with his hands in his lap. Her eyes began to water a second later; was it just her, or did the man smell putrid? 

Wario saw her cover her nose and laughed. "Anybody else smell the elephant in the room?" he guffawed. "But hey, that's no problemo-I got some masks here for anyone who needs'em." Sure enough, he pulled a box of sanitary masks out of his back pocket and began passing them around. More than one person took one; Rosalina refused, when the box came to her. She didn't favor disrespect. But she gave one to Luma, who was all but begging for one. 

"All right," Wario said when everyone was more or less comfortable. "So folks, this is the first and the last gathering we'll be having for one month. On behalf of the Facility and the Gamemakers of the Smash Games Quarter Quell, welcome to Subspace, your locale for the Games, your new home." 

Nobody bothered clapping. Wario nodded, as if that's what he'd expected. 

"Let's not be sore losers now," he said. "Sure, you were kidnapped, and sure, you're being thrown into a Game against your will for someone else's entertainment, but hey, it ain't that bad! You're the Hunters, for Pete's sake. Be glad you aren't the Prey."