Hey everyone! Unruly Scrawler here! Here's the first chapter of my newest story! Hope you enjoy it!

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Stadium- or Brawl Stadium for short. The newest building in a short but very impressive line of fighting arenas, where the participants (Brawlers, as they like to call each other) live in districts named after the stages in which they fight.

In this issue of Brawl Weekly we'll be interviewing Falco from the Lylat District and Yoshi from the Yoshi's Island District, as well as an exclusive interview with the head honcho himself- Crazy Hand! We'll also take a look at the latest Brawler fashions and some Brawl Monthly exclusive snapshots from the first matches! And don't forget to check the back pages for favourite Brawler quotes and polls...

Marth closed the newspaper and slowly rolled it back up, scowling the entire time.

Marth was from Brawl Stadium's older twin- Smash (Melee) Stadium. He, like all the other Smashers, had been surprised to hear from Master Hand about the opening of the new stadium, which would be run by his brother Crazy Hand. They'd also been shocked by the idea that new Smashers- or Brawlers- would be joining them, and that not all of them would make the cut and get to move on to Brawl Stadium.

He had, of course. Marth had expected that would happen, but he had still been a bit relieved- and wary- when he received his invitation. It meant he was good enough to transfer to the new stadium, but did he really want to?

In the end, he'd taken a leap of faith, and had landed solidly. Brawl Stadium had turned out to be one of the best things that had ever happened to him.

Why? Because of who didn't make the cut of course.

Marth smiled to himself as he tightened his hold, crushing the newspaper.

Mewtwo hadn't made the cut- and boy was that a blessing. Not only was the purple pokemon a sadist that had taken a liking to bullying Marth, he was also a delusional dictator.

(In Zelda's opinion, Mewtwo was just irritating. She wouldn't rant to such an extent as Marth. But Zelda is off doing something else right now.)

Then there was Pichu. Maybe not the worst, but still bothersome. A greedy little pokemon who had no morals and didn't mind blackmailing.

Marth's scowl darkened. Ok, she was pretty bad too.

(Zelda actually liked Pichu.)

Young Link hadn't made it either, and Marth would never cease being thankful for that. Young Link was obsessed- with him, Marth- to such a degree he would copy whatever colour the older boy was wearing.

(Zelda had to agree. Young Link was a brat. A whiney brat.)

And finally, there was Roy. Roy- who was an excellent Smasher and had placed second in their largest tournament ever. Roy hadn't made it. Roy, his skirt-chasing, half-witted brother, hadn't made it.

Marth reached for his coffee, feeling as smug as he had when his invitation had arrived at their apartment, and his only.

(Zelda didn't mind Roy, but he was related to Marth, which wasn't a good thing in her books.)

The point was, most of Marth's annoyances had been eliminated. Except for two who had, unfortunately, come to Brawl Stadium as well. Link-

(Link.)

-and Zelda.

Though Link was bad, he was more like a speck on your windshield that just wouldn't come off, unlike Zelda, who was more a giant, distorting crack in the middle of the windshield, threatening to shatter the whole thing in on you at any time.

(Zelda, personally, thought she was excellent.)

But still, at least Roy and the others were gone. Reassuring himself of this wonderful fact, Marth took a long sip of his coffee.

"Hey Marth! What's up?"

Marth nearly spit out his coffee, (and that's saying something). Whirling around, the knight glared at the young man coming through his front door.

Correction: their front door.

He may have lost four annoyances, but he'd gained one. His cousin, Ike.

He and Ike shared an apartment in the Castle Seige Distract. It was like living with Roy again, except minus the skirt-chasing and half of the half-witted.

At least Ike understood to stay away from his coffee. And his room. And his business.

All things Roy had never been good at.

"Nothing." Marth grumbled in reply to Ike's question, sipping his coffee moodily.

Ike came over to the dining room table and picked up the newspaper, "What's this?"

"Recyclable." Marth muttered.

Ike ignored him and started flipping through the pages, "Hey, there's an interview with Falco and Yoshi in here! The Yoshi one isn't very long..."

Marth snorted. Yoshi was, in a way, like a pokemon. The only question it could get the right answer to was it's name.

Mewtwo and Pichu would have killed him for saying that.

Marth smirked.

But Mewtwo and Pichu weren't here.

"I didn't know we had a newspaper." Ike said, turning the page again, "Who runs this?"

"Daisy." Marth growled. Why was Ike home? He was usually off practising during the day- something Marth only did when Crazy Hand made it mandatory, which was pretty much once a week.

"Daisy?" Ike repeated, giving Marth a startled look, "Who's that?"

"The brunette Peach." Marth replied.

Ike continued to blink stupidly at him, "Who's Peach again?"

Marth sighed, "The pink thing."

"Oh." Ike drawled. A moment later and he was back to the magazine. Suddenly, Ike brightened. "Hey Marth! Look at this!"

Before Marth could tell his cousin he didn't care about anything he ever wanted to show him so they should just never converse, and then have to explain what 'converse' meant, Ike shoved the newspaper in his face.

Marth barely had time to register the blue blur in front of him before Ike pulled the paper back to marvel over.

"What is it?" Marth asked, forgetting he didn't care. When he remembered, he mentally slapped his forehead.

"Me!" Ike exclaimed, staring adoringly at the pictures, "Look at that pose I'm striking! So heroic! Such a manly pose!"

Marth rolled his eyes and grabbed the newspaper, ignoring Ike's protests as he looked at the snapshot pages. Sure enough, there was a picture of Ike; in the background, half cut off, behind a battling Fox and Meta Knight, throwing his sword in the air.

Marth handed back the newspaper and grabbed his coffee.

"What do you think?" Ike asked, eyes on the picture again, "Should I frame it? Put it in my room? Add it to my collection?"

Marth pushed back his chair and got up.

"Or should I scrapbook it? Nah, actually that's a bad idea. Girls scrapbook. I'll put it in a photo album."

Marth left the room.

"Or maybe I should send it to my mom?" Ike stroked his chin, "Or I could send it to Roy, show him how great I am- I mean, how great Brawl Stadium is. But he didn't write me back last time I did that. Do you know why, Marth? Marth?"

And, of course, Marth didn't answer.

But Ike didn't even notice he was gone; he was back to admiring his picture.

"My, do I look handsome!"

...

Zelda was in her sitting room, drinking tea. Because that's what princesses do when they're not being captured or getting married.

Or maybe it's because tea is just devilishly good and- let's face it- princesses rarely end up with a husband that can satisfy them more than tea can.

All thoughts of marriage aside, Zelda was in a good mood. After all, here she was in the reconstruction of Temple District, all alone, on her own, without anyone else to bother her.

There had been a Temple District in Smash Stadium too, but Zelda hadn't been the only one with an apartment there. Marth and Roy had lived there also and- to make things worse- the three of them had been required to share a kitchen.

But that was a long story, and it had a lot to do with coffee. And Zelda hated coffee.

Anyways, the point was Zelda was loving Brawl Stadium. Although she missed Pichu, she was all too happy to see the backs of the other vexations. Not that she couldn't handle them. Of course she could. She was Zelda after all.

There was a reason they called it 'The Legend of Zelda' and not 'The Legend of Link'.

Speaking of Link, she was seeing less and less of him, which was even better! She'd been devastated when she first found out that Link would be living on the Bridge of Eldin model that connected the Temple District to Brawl Stadium, but she'd soon come up with a brilliant (if she did say so herself) plan to keep him out of her hair. And face. And closet.

And it was working.

Now less Link wasn't the only good thing about Brawl Stadium; Zelda had found herself a whole new body of agents to do her dirty work. It was much better asking them to get things done behind the scenes than try and order Link to do anything at all. That's why Link was there, a guard sent by her father to keep watch over her.

It was really the other way around.

Suddenly, Zelda realized she wasn't alone.

Gently laying down her cup, the princess turned around. As she was turning she caught a wisp of blue hair in her peripheral vision.

Why was he-

But no, she realized, it wasn't him. It was Lucario.

"Lady Zelda." Lucario said, dropping into a bow, his nose touching the floor. Zelda swore he just liked sitting like that- or crouching, whatever you would call it.

"What is it?" Zelda sighed, unusually disappointed (relieved, she told herself, at not having to go through the bother of kicking him out of her district).

"An odd brunette girl that smelt of flowers is on her way over here." Lucario reported, "I believe she is going to request an interview with you. I took it upon myself to warn you, Lady Zelda, for she has already made a fool out of two of our fellow Brawlers."

Zelda raised an eyebrow. That sounded like Daisy, but was she honestly able to make a fool out of anyone besides herself? She was related to Peach, after all.

"What did she do?" Zelda asked, to which Lucario whipped out a newspaper and proffered it to the princess.

"Pages six and seven." Lucario said.

Zelda flipped through until she found the right sections. She scowled at it, "Who interviews Yoshi?"

"Please read them, Lady Zelda." Lucario said, "The summaries at the bottom of the interviews should be duly noted."

"Yeah, yeah." Zelda said, waving a hand dismissively at Lucario as she read the interviews, "These seem fine so far. Dull, but fine... Wait; 'what's your sexual preference?' What kind of question is that in a Brawl newspaper? 'What's Falco's sexual preference?' Why would she ask Yoshi..."

Lucario didn't say anything and Zelda kept reading. By the time she finished, she had her hand clamped over her mouth to keep back the giggles.

"Ok," Zelda managed, trying to fight back her laughter, "So, according to these summaries, Falco and Fox have been having an illicit affair, which Falco recently broke off because he fell in love with Yoshi, who left Berto for him, then Berto and Falco got into a cat- er, bird fight over Yoshi, who could only watch helplessly as Berto tried to drown his 'true love' in the river at Jungle Japes. Luckily Falco got out alive, but the couple isn't suing Berto, because they didn't want to make a scene, and Falco is still having trouble accepting his love for nintendo dinosaurs?"

"Yes." Lucario said, "That sums it up."

Zelda couldn't keep it in any longer and started laughing, "This is ridiculous! Oh, but my favourite part is right here, when Daisy asks: what do you like to do best with fellow Brawler Yoshi? And Falco says 'ride him'!" Zelda burst out laughing, falling back on her couch, "Oh my god! She set them up so well!"

"She did." Lucario said, rising to his feet and dusting himself off, "That is why I felt I should warn you, Lady Zelda, since she wishes to interview you."

Zelda froze, "Right, thank you Lucario. I'll be sure to turn her down."

Lucario nodded, "Then I shall take my leave, Lady Zelda." at the Princess's nod, Lucario disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.

Only then did she recommence her laughing.

"I wish I could show this to Pichu!" Zelda exclaimed, "She loves this kind of stuff!"

Which was true enough. Pichu had written a romance/drama about Link and Young Link that was over fifty two chapters long. It was a rewrite; Link had hacked onto her computer and erased the original when they were still in Smash Stadium.

And so, when Zelda had recovered enough, she started ripping out the interviews to send to her green backpack wearing pokemon friend.

...

Link was sitting on the Bridge of Eldin, twirling his boomerang on his finger. Under Zelda's orders, of course. She'd told him it was easier to protect her if he guarded the bridge, instead of hanging around inside her apartment and having a full out battle there, where she might be put at risk. It was logical, Link had to admit. And he was glad that, for once, his love was thinking about her own well-being.

It's because the evil sorcerer demon is gone, Link told himself. Zelda had barely seen the demon at all since they'd come to Brawl Stadium, and so the spell must have been broken. (The spell that had bewitched Zelda and made her fall in love with the demon, that is).

But still, the demon might come back any time, so Link had to be on guard.

Which he was. On the bridge. Every day.

It was better than having to fight him each morning, Link told himself. And having to put up with the demon's brother, and his own brother (who was very close to being a demon in his own right) and his brother's demonic pokemon sidekick.

Yes, Brawl Stadium was, on a whole, better.

Link's boomerang toppled over. Reaching for it to spin again, Link realized the silence of the bridge wasn't quite as silent as it had been. There was music. Faint music.

And it was coming from behind him.

Link whirled around. How had someone snuck past? He'd been on guard! Were they going after Zelda? Maybe it was the demon-

The last thing Link saw before fainting were the bricks of the Eldin Bridge.

...

Several minutes later, Lucario was walking down the bridge. Usually he just teleported everywhere, but now that he'd informed Zelda of the danger, he wasn't in any hurry. It was getting late anyways, so his shift was pretty much over.

Lucario paused a moment and looked around the empty bridge. He passed this way many times (though he was never spotted) and thus something appeared to be missing. But he just couldn't put his finger on what.

"I need a drink..." Lucario muttered, dragging a paw tiredly over his face, before going off to find his drinking buddy for a well earned night at Jungle Japes.

He only hoped he didn't see Berto. The last time she was there she'd hit on him relentlessly. And boy had that been awkward.

"Three drinks." Lucario decided, "I definitely need eight drinks."

So there it is! Took me long enough to finally post! I've been debating putting this one up for awhile, but I'm going to give it a shot! If you want to leave a review, that would be great! I'd love to hear what you guys think so far, even if this isn't much to go on! I'll have chapter two up as soon as it's done- within a week at most!

Anyways, thanks for reading! ;)