Imagine. You're a young strapping hero player. You've never competed in an offline tournament, but you've done pretty well online. You usually go at least 2-2 online, and you've managed to top 8 some smaller brackets in your region.

You use this information to push your belief that Hero is top 10. You constantly rt @.ant_ssb's tweets while constantly arguing under MU charts that Hero should be put up a tier. People call you out for it, but it's fine. You know you'll show them once offline comes back.

Flash forward a few months and you're at your first offline local. The crowd is eager and excited--they haven't been able to do this in over a year. With the venue packed, a couple of people walk over to a setup where you're playing some friendlies.

"You're that Hero player we keep hearing about, right? You genuinely think Hero's top 10? You're delusional.", one of them says. You fight back. "I stand by what I said. I'll show you how good he is when I win this bracket.". Fighting words have been spoken.

You're in loser's side top 32. After having lost to a Falcon that shouted "IDJ!" like a foreign disk jockey, you get up on the Stream setup to play your next match. It's a sonic player, but you're not worried. You can just react to his specials and get an easy punish. Easy.

You start playing, and the sonic begins to do things you've never seen before. You can't keep up. Before you can even read your menu he's in your face, and you can't use your aerials to effectively keep him out. Something's wrong.

The set was over before it began. You saw the "GAME!" screen it in your mind minutes before it happened in real life. Suddenly, the same guys you saw before your bracket run come back.

They mock you. "Hey, before you put Hero in top 10, maybe you should try and GET him in top 10!". You're a laughing stock. "Maybe...hero isn't that good?" you think to yourself. No. NO. You just need to talk to ant again. He'll show you just how good Hero is.

You search up his tag on twitter, but something's wrong. "@.ant_ssb has been deleted", the website says. You reload the page but get the same thing. You decide to check discord, but you're greeted by "Deleted User #0000" instead of ant. You go to Herocord. Maybe they know.

"Has anyone seen Ant? He deleted his discord and twitter.", you type in #general. "Who's ant?". Your bewilderment has grown. Frantically searching for answers, you receive a random twitter dm from a Dr. Joseph Stein.

"We regret to inform you that twitter user @.ant_ssb was part of a 2-year long Harvard Study." You keep reading. "We conducted research on the origins of cult behavior inside certain twitter sub-groups. We have received the necessary data for analysis, so @.ant_ssb was deleted."

"We apologize for potentially deceiving you and for any parasocial relationships you may have formed because of this account." What? This couldn't be real. "To compensate you for your efforts, we are providing all @.ant_ssb's mutuals with a $20 Nintendo eShop gift card."

Thoughts race through your head. You've gone from hero to Zero. From thwack to wack. "Why me?" you think. You almost close your laptop screen, but you receive one more message. "Note: you must create a tier list where Hero is below top 25 to receive your compensation".

Fin.

Thanks if you read this whole thread btw, boredom is a powerful tool.

@ant_ssb