The room was illuminated with the dim flickering of cheap, Walmart-brand candles. Giant bowls of candy and chips were littered across the coffee table. A couple of beer bottles lay on their side, motionless on the floor. The screaming could be heard from two dorm rooms down, but very rarely did Finn have his friends over long enough to play a round of Smash Brothers.

It was tense- Adam was Duck Hunt, tossing frisbees like it was nothing. Michael was Mario, nailing out combos, whacking everyone off the stage, Cedric was Luigi, using luck on his side to ruin our day. Shane was Ike, swinging his gigantic sword and countering even faster. Finn was Ness, knocking out PK Fires like the annoying little shit he was. And Jarod, well he was Isabelle, using her fishing pole to fish off the edge. But hey, still fun!

The competition was tense. Five straight minutes of random grunts and screams from the 2014 TV, the TV with one busted left speaker, because Jarod refuses to replace it. The crackling sounded a lot like an old, busted Wii Remote. Finally, a loud noise was heard and a flashing red and white light appeared in the corner of the screen.

"Player 3, defeated."

Adam was out! He chuckled and flopped onto the couch, tossing the controller onto his lap. The fighting continued.

Shane went to target Cedric, walking towards his character. Cedric ran around Shane fast, tricking the location of his sword. Luigi charged his side B before realizing the grave mistake he made. Shane quickly unleashed his down B, a counter. Everyone's eyes widened watching Ike swing his hammer down, sending Cedric out with a blast of red and white, and the announcer once again blaring over the glitchy screen.

"Player 5, defeated."

"Man," Cedric sighed. "Good one, Shane."

"Shane does nothing but counter," Jarod barked back. "I don't think he even knows how to swing that sword."

Shane didn't say a word but wore a massive grin on his face. Finn could see Ike waltzing towards him, and he gripped his controller tighter.

"Hey, hey, hey," Finn warned. "Michael is the pro player, why are you coming after me?"

"Because I am tired of your PK Fires," Shane laughed, his character now running towards Ness. Finn flicked the joysticks around, spamming buttons to get the hell away from Ike. Shane all of a sudden became eerily aggressive, and Finn resorted to playing defense. Shane knocked Finn's character off the ledge, and as Finn charged up his PK Thunder to recover, Shane charged his sword.

"Don't do it," Finn muttered.

"Oh, I'm doing it."

Ness barreled to the stage, and with a sudden thwack, a large swing of the sword, Ike sent Ness shooting off the stage, with bright red and white flash.

"Player 1, defeated."

"Damnit," Finn hissed. "You suck."

"I suck?" Shane asked. "I'm still on the stage!"

This was it. Adam sat up from his lying position and the group had their eyes peeled to the screen. Shane started to do his gentle walk towards Michael, who was bouncing back and forth in the same spot.

"Are we going to get Jarod?" Michael asked. Shane shook his head.

"No way, Mr. I Won Second Place at my State's Super Smash Bros competition," Shane sneered. "I'm going to knock you off this stage."

"You can try."

Everyone's eyes were locked on the pair, Ike the heavyweight versus Mario the relatively speedy mediumweight. Michael stormed in, trying to land a couple of combos in. Shane smirked and countered, pretty much missing all of them. Michael didn't break a sweat, he backed away from Shane and began to toss some fireballs. Shane jumped, but being a slow character, he couldn't dodge them all. With a gentle hit of the fireball, it was enough to stun Ike, making him easy target for a relatively simple Mario combo, balancing him in the air. Michael sent Shane flying, juggling him for roughly twenty seconds before Shane did an Up-Air. Ike swung down, and landed Mario around 20% of damage. The fight was intense. There was no shouting, just the blare of this old TV and the flicks and rapid presses of controller buttons. Finn broke the silence, muttering, "Kick his ass, Shane," and everyone followed through. The room was rooting for Shane, chanting his name. The stage chanted too, "We like Ike, we like Ike," and the room joined in. "We like Ike! We like Ike!" Shane could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body. But he missed a step. Michael knocked Shane off the edge, and as he was recovering, Mario released a saved FLUDD from earlier. Ike flew back where he came, where he gently descended to the void below. Another flash of red and white.

"Player 2, defeated."

The room erupted in sorrow, cheers turned to boos, and then erupted laughter. Michael was undefeatable, even to this day. But the match wasn't over yet. Michael looked at Jarod.

"Hey, uh, are we going to fight?" Michael asked. Jarod didn't look away from the screen.

"Nope," he said, immediately making Isabelle fall off the cliff. The game faded to the victory screen, showing Mario as the winner. The rest of the player characters were clapping.