"Haaah!"
The spiky-haired man screamed as he swung his sword at the small boxer (Little Mac), knocking him off the Boxing Ring. As the spiky-haired man spun and sheathed his blade in victory (and by "sheathed", I mean "magnetically attached it behind his back"), he immediately collapsed to the floor on his knees, brushing the sweat off his forehead.
( BGM Playing – Victory Fanfare -Cosmos- from Dissidia: Final Fantasy )
"That…was not an easy opponent." said the man, as he huffed and he puffed. "Luckily, his aerial attacks didn't reach that far, compared to my blade. That was a rather flawed opponent."
"That was quite the performance!" The warrior turned around, but did not get off his knees. The voice came from a gorgeous, green-haired woman who wore a Greek-styled white dress and wielded a gold staff with a blue shield. The man looked up to the woman, almost as if he was kneeling before a goddess. The woman was giggling to herself at the sight of a newcomer to the Smash Tournaments unintentionally kneeling before her.
"What…what's so funny?" asked the man.
"You." She pointed to his face, still smiling. "I've come this way to greet the newcomer and the first thing he does is bow before the goddess of light herself, Palutena".
( BGM Playing – Order That Must Be Protected from Dissidia: Final Fantasy )
"(Goddess…)" The man thought to himself, as he hid his face and glared to ground, not wanting to be rude to someone he just met. Something about gods really didn't sit well with this man.
"Is something the matter?" asked the goddess.
"It's nothing…" the man replied.
"Your mouth says no, but the way you looked away from me says otherwise." Said the goddess with a concerned look on her face.
The man closed his eyes. "Let's just say that I've…had a history with somebody with a god complex. And two others who dragged me into a war. They were not pleasant experiences."
"Oh…" muttered the goddess. "I apologize to hear that. But I can assure you, uh…"
"Cloud."
"Cloud, that you're not alone in these parts. I can assure you that you'll have a wonderful experience here!" Palutena stated with a big welcoming smile on her face.
"(I won't be expecting much.)" Cloud thought rather cynically to himself.
"I promise. You're gonna meet some people who've been through situations worse than you!" The green-haired deity stated happily.
Cloud was rather weirded out by this statement. "I don't think that's something you should state so cheerfully about. Besides, you don't know a damn thing about me."
"Oh, but I've heard a LITTLE bit about you!" Palutena smirked. "I hear you're a legend among humans! Popular enough to rival against the likes of Mario, Sonic, Mega Man, Pac Man, and others!"
Cloud was taken aback by this statement. "A…a legend? Me?"
"That's right!" said the goddess or light cheerfully.
"I…I'm flattered. I'm no legend in my world. Or in that other world that 19 other fighters and I were forced to partake in." Cloud stated, putting a hand on his right hip. Yeah, he saved his world from Sephiroth and successfully defeated Chaos alongside the other Warriors of Light, but for his actions to not go unnoticed in different parts of the universe was quite a surprise for him.
"Tell me…have you been getting along with the other fighters here?" asked Palutena.
"Well…"
Cloud's mind immediately flashed back to the moment he was introduced to the other fighters by Master Hand. Mario, Samus (who was in her Zero Suit appearance at the time) and Fox walked up to him and greeted him with a friendly handshake, Pikachu leaped onto his right shoulder and played with his spiky hair, Kirby leaped into his torso and hugged, Donkey Kong glared at him while giving him a big toothy grin, and lastly, four warriors who go by the names Link, Marth, Pit, and Shulk went up to him and began to, in Cloud's words, "analyze him" (as in, Link was squinting at him, though it ambiguous whether this was in a friendly or hostile manner, Pit and Shulk expressed amazement at the giant sword that he carried behind his back (to the point where Pit asked if could hold it, but Cloud turned him down), and Marth introduced himself as the famous "Hero King" and begun to brag (although he admitted that he didn't like doing so) about his many achievements in the previous Smash Tournaments up until now). He was also greeted by the other "late addition fighters" (aka DLC fighters), Mewtwo, Lucas, Roy, and Ryu. Cloud's mind immediately flashed back to the present.
"I'd say…err…yes in some circles and maybe not in others?" The Buster Basher replied, struggling to find a good answer. As well as embarrassing himself.
"Hahahaha! That's good to know." Palutena chuckled. "Ooh! Actually, I have someone I'd like you to meet! Come with me."
The goddess grabbed Cloud's arm and teleported each other to a different area. The area itself was a medium-sized, circular battle arena with a symbol in the middle.
(BGM Fades)
"Here we are! Arena Ferox!" Palutena stated as she released the blonde-haired man from her grasp.
"There's no one here." Cloud said as looked around himself. And indeed, nobody was there. No fighters, no audience, nothing. "Are you sure this is the right area?"
"Of course!" said the goddess with a warm smile. "Oh! Here he comes now!"
"He?" Cloud asked with a warry expression.
Enter a short-haired blue-haired masked swordsman from a door near the stands. The swordsman ran down from the stairs, then immediately jumped off from the stands and into the arena with a leap of faith. He landed into the Arena with a three-point landing.
"(A bit of a showoff, are we?)" Cloud thought to himself.
"You two have fun now!" said the deity in a motherly-like tone of voice. "I'll be back in 15 minutes."
Palutena then left the arena with a bright flash.
…
…
…
Silence.
It was complete and total silence.
As the two swordsmen stared at each other for a good 15 seconds.
Cloud began to raise his right hand and placed it on the grip of his blade behind his back. The swordsman in turn did the same with his blade which was mounted near his left hip…
…Until the blonde-haired man decided to let go of the grip, lowering his right hand. The swordsman was taken aback by this action and decided to do the same, begrudgingly so.
Cloud began to walk around the circular symbol he was in front of. The swordsman did exactly same.
The two warriors stopped walking around the circle after a full lap. They decided to walk in front of each other, until they were standing two feet apart.
( BGM Playing – Altar -Main Menu- from Blazblue: Calamity Trigger )
"You seem to be enjoying copying my every move." said the spiky-haired man, with his hands on his hips. He was looking closely from bottom to top at the swordsman's stature and couldn't help but feel like this reminded him of Marth for some odd reason.
The swordsman said nothing as he put his own hands on his hips. Cloud rolled his eyes in response.
"So…what's a masked figure like yourself doing here alone?" The Ex-SOLIDER asked, attempting to stir up a conversation.
"What I am doing here…is none of your business." The swordsman replied harshly.
"(Oof.)" Cloud thought. "Aren't you an interesting one."
"Flattery won't let you win."
Cloud was starting to get annoyed. Who the hell's this guy putting on some kind of bravado?
"…Cloud."
"Huh?"
"My name. Is Cloud."
"…Marth." Cloud was surprised by this response as he raised an eyebrow. Another warrior named Marth? "Judging from your expression…I take it you've already met the other Marth?" asked the swordsman.
"Yeah. And who are you supposed to be? His fan? His stalker? His copycat?" Cloud questioned the boy, lowering his eyebrows.
"If you must know…I am Marth. The Hero King." The swordsman replied as he boldly stood up against the blonde-haired Buster Basher.
Cloud, dumbfounded by this response, began to squint at him, slowly losing his patience. Cloud took a deep breath to calm himself. "Oh, really now?" The spiky-haired man asked, crossing his arms.
"Yes. Really." The blue-haired man replied back, crossing his arms as well.
Cloud and the other "Marth" began to grit their teeth at each other.
"There's already a Marth here. There's already a 'Hero King' here." Cloud said through his teeth.
"So? There's another Link here. And another MARIO here." "Marth" replied as he was getting a little too close to the Ex-SOLDER's face for comfort.
Cloud was weirded out by this response and backed off. "…This is a weird tournament I stumbled across." Cloud stated, no longer gritting his teeth.
"Tell me about it." The blue swordsman said in a different tone of voice that didn't sound like his usual bravado at all. "Marth" immediately realized this mistake and covered "his" mouth as Cloud was starting to loom over him in suspicion.
"You're not Marth." said Cloud.
"Y-Yes I am. I've been here long before you have." "Marth" uncovered his mouth and argued back.
"Take off the mask."
"No."
"Take off the mask."
"No."
"Take off the mask, or I'll do it by-"
(BGM Stops)
As Cloud attempted to grab the blue warrior's mask, a sword was quickly drawn and aimed at his neck.
"My name is Marth and that is FINAL!" screamed the blue swordsman, as he was holding his sword at the Buster Basher's neck and losing patience himself. "Now draw your blade, commoner!" said the swordsman as he took a leap back and readied himself in battle position.
( BGM Playing – Duty (Ablaze) from Fire Emblem Awakening )
*sigh…* Cloud didn't even know what was going on anymore. And the fact that this Marth called him a "commoner" made him question if was fighting against the real Marth or a faker. But one thing's for certain: When he met Marth, the real one, he didn't call Cloud a commoner nor did he have this bravado persona. Yeah, he spoke highly about his achievements in the previous Smash Tournaments, but that Marth didn't seem like a bad person, Cloud thought. This one, on the other hand…
"Very well, 'my liege'." Cloud replied sarcastically as he readied himself. This response angered the "Hero King".
Both warriors engaged in yet another staredown, only this one lasted longer than 15 seconds. The Falchion user slowly started moving forward as the Buster Sword user was slowly moving backwards away from the very center of the circle, with both sides stopping in place in a standoff.
(BGM Fades, as the screen pauses on the standoff)
