First attempt at a fanfic, I want to thank any potential readers in advance! Any comments and critiques are greatly appreciated!

Note: Nintendo, Capcom, Square-Enix, Sega, and Namco-Bandai own all the respective characters that are in this story. I do not and don't plan on owning any of them in the future. This is just for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 1: What an Annoying Group

Footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. The harsh florescent light glared off the metal walls. Two women walked quickly, discussing amongst themselves.

"It's been three years, you would think it would get easier to find the board room." One whined.

"Patience, your Majesty." The other spoke soothingly, "The Hand does enjoy moving his rooms around."

The women looked at each other. Both wore slightly different shades of pink, and the hair was worn differently, but it was not surprising why they were sometimes called "The Royal Twins". Princess Zelda smiled to her counterpart. Princess Peach frowned and huffed in frustration.

"Master Hand has always been a pain in the butt!" Peach growled. Zelda giggled, further exasperating the fellow royal. "And what, may I ask, is so funny?"

"Maybe it's the fact that royalty shouldn't use foul language like 'butt' in public." came a voice from behind. Peach and Zelda turned around. Behind them stood a mountain of a man, he ragged blue hair unkempt and held by a red scarf. Both the princesses knew that behind the exterior, that the mercenary Ike had a heart of gold. And a mouth of coal.

"Ike, as the queen of the Mushroom Kingdom, may I remind you that 'butt' is not an improper word in my country? I believe that royalty such as myself would know what's appropriate or not." Peach curtsied, sarcasm dripping from every word. Ike smiled, and began to laugh.

"That's very inappropriate for a princess, right?" Ike flashed a grin, "Being late and using such sarcasm?" Ike passed by the two princesses, motioning to his right. "Door's right here, by the way." Ike entered through the door. Zelda looked at Peach, and smiled reassuringly. As she walked away, Peach signed with resignation. "Why do we even have these meetings?"

The board room was focused around a large mahogany table that took up much of the room. The table fit 14 chairs around it, made of dark leather. Twelve of the fourteen seats were occupied by the time Peach and Zelda entered the room. And even though the room was dimly lit, the confused and annoyed expressions of each member in the room.

"It's not like you two to be late, what kept ya?" What looked to be a fox with futuristic headgear and a flight jacket questioned. Next to him, a bird with a similar fashion sense looked up from his communicator. He looked the most casual, his feet laid on top of the table. Zelda and Peach knew these two as Fox and Falco, two members of the mercenaries Starfox. Zelda nodded graciously, taking her seat.

"How am I supposed to know that Master Hand has a creepy obsession with security?" Peach scolded Fox, "I'm just glad we made it." Peach huffed and took her seat next to Zelda. She looked down the table. On Zelda's left sat Ike, followed by another blue haired swordsman, by the name of Marth. Marth, the former king of Altea, was one of the few chosen by the blood of Naga, or whatever that was. Peach knew that even though he maintained a shell of regality and aloofness, he was actually a very friendly king. Next to Marth came a bright light. A young boy with glowing wings, reddish-brown hair, and a long white robe. He was known by the name of Pit. Pit looked over at Peach and gave her a bright smile. Peach liked Pit, his light was contagious, and unaffected by the two next to him.

Those two always made Peach shiver a little internally. To Pit's left was a large man, even larger than Ike. His crimson hair was brought out by his dark skin and permanent scowl. His aura reeked of the darkness. He was Ganondorf, king of evil, enemy of Zelda and her comrade Link. Peach feared him, unlike the man to his left. The koopa king deserved no respect from Peach, the koopa king deserved no fear from Peach. The princess had become less afraid and more apprehensive towards Bowser's attempts as of late. Still, Peach was wary of the lizard king.

Across from the two villains sat Fox and Falco, to Fox's left sat a strange blue hedgehog. Peach knew him from their times competing against each other in various games. Everyone else knew him for his late heroics in Subspace. His name was Sonic, and he was the newest member of the board.

To Sonic's left sat a beautiful woman, covered from the neck down in orange battle armor. Samus Aran was an enigma, even after three years of dealing with her. Still, Peach liked to think that Samus, Zelda, and herself were good friends. Samus was next to a small masked individual. Metaknight had taken Kirby's place at Kirby's suggestion. Anyone that knew Metaknight knew that his decision making was much better than Kirby's, so the idea was accepted by the group. The small yellow pokemon by the name of Pikachu sat to Metaknight's left, and Captain Falcon, the F-Zero driver and bounty hunter, sat across from Peach. The princess heard a mechanical whirring sound, and noticed several wire frames handing out small tablets to the seated smashers.

"Yes, yes, it is very good of all of you to come today." A voice came from the end of the table. A wire frame wheeled in another chair, and Peach could make out a distant 'thanks much' from the end of the table. Bowser and Fox seemed surprised, Ganondorf amused. Falco was once again focused on his communicator. Peach guessed that the others could not see their guest, nobody else seemed to be reacting. The chair was turned around to reveal a small raccoon wearing a blue sweatervest and white button up shirt. The raccoon hopped onto the table, as to get a good look at all the smashers at the table. Peach heard Zelda sigh out, "so cute". If she was not mistaken, both Samus and Ike were also overcome by his cuteness.

"Yes, yes," the raccoon continued, "I'm Tom Nook, proprietor of Smash Industries and Nook's Homes, major sponsor of the next smash events." He gestured to the middle of the table. Some of the table had retracted, and a hologram machine rose from the open space.

"We were expecting Master Hand, Mr. Nook." Marth spoke cautiously, "And we've never heard of you before. Has something happened?"

Tom Nook shook his head. "No emergencies, but Handy Man told me to notify you of new members. I am a recent . . . part-owner, so I decided that, both introductions to me and your new friends, this could be!" Nook nodded his head in his own internal rhythm. Peach frowned. Before she could speak, Samus raised her hand.

"Mr. Nook, we expected to have some say in the vetting system for new candidates. You're telling us that the new smashers have already been picked?" Samus stared down the small businessman. "What's this board's purpose if the owners have already decided?"

Nook raised his paws in mock surrender. "Ah, Mizz Aran! You mustn't be so upset, no? You all are qualified fighters, but once you see our candidates, you surely will agree with our choices." Nook motioned to the tablets each member had in front of them. "We will go over a list of the candidates. Additional information can be found on your tablet, yes, yes!" Peach looked down at her tablet. 18 faces were on the screen.

"18 new smashers?" Peach looked up. Falco had spoken up. "You serious? I know that there's some crazy demand for an expanded group, but this is ridiculous!" Falco waved his wing at the tablet for emphasis.

"You understand that your role is just to be notified of these changes, yes? You may not like it, but you do not have much of a say." Nook scolded the mercenary. "This meeting is not for you to tell Mr. Hand what his job is, but how to notify each of these new members, hm?" He pulled out a small controller, and pressed a button. The first face appeared onto the screen. Peach recognized the blonde hair covering one eye, the deep blue eyes that seemed to reflect the whole of the cosmos back to you. Her small star companion looked adorable, but Peach had seen firsthand the power that this woman carried.

"Rosalina and her companion Lumas." Nook pointed out to the rest of the group. Bowser visibly cringed, the rest seemed interested. "Her place of residence is difficult to reach by both person and drone." He looked at Peach. "Princess Toadstool, do you have an easier way to reach her?"

Peach nodded. "I'll meet her myself, I could use a good tea date." Peach knew Rosalina would appreciate the privacy that a drone or an official would not bring.

Tom Nook's face brightened. "Excellent! That is a pleasant surprise! I'll leave it to you!" Nook pressed another button on his remote. Another familiar face appeared on the tablets. Peach looked over to Bowser, who was almost bursting with pride.

"I assume the Koopa King will handle his sons and daughter?" Nook looked over to Bowser. Bowser grinned and nodded in affirmation. Peach was looking through the other new members, before it slowly dawned on her. Before she could protest, Captain Falcon spoke up.

"Sons and daughter? How many children are we talkin' about here?" Falcon asked, obviously annoyed. Bowser glared at the race car driver. "We don't need more of these jokesters runnin around."

"You have a problem with my kids, Doug?" Bowser sneered. "You don't think you can handle 8 sweet koops?" Bowser stood up. "Or are you jealous that I'm a better parent than you could ever be?" The comment connected to Falcon, though Peach couldn't tell if it was the insult, or the fact that Bowser called Falcon "Doug".

"You wanna run that by me again, smartass?" Falcon's voice had grown quieter. Both the Koopa King and Captain Falcon jumped onto the table, all while Tom Nook tried, in vain, to keep both parties calm. Peach heard a rush of wind, and suddenly, everything was quiet and tense.

"Interrupting a meeting with this pettiness is certainly not befitting men of your stature." Marth held his sword close to Bowser's neck. Metaknight had his sword focused on the back of Falcon. "You can take your childish squabbles to the battlefield later." Marth's eyes flashed a deep sapphire. Bowser's breathing became shallower, and both he and Falcon slowly sat back in their seats. Peach frowned. It's been three years, and I still can't read all of Marth's movements. And Metaknight's speed only compounds the problem. It's a wonder I can compete with these monsters. Peach was brought back to earth as Nook cleared his throat.

"Let's expedite the rest of this meeting, yes, yes?" He pressed several more buttons. "Palutena and this 'Dark Pit' can be trusted with Pit. Pikachu can handle Greninja. Mega Man, Pac Man, Shulk, Bayonetta, Cloud, Little Mac, Wii Fit Trainer, Duck Hunt and Ryu can all be handled by our messenger drones. That leaves 'Villager', Robin, Corrin, and Lucina." Tom Nook looked at Marth and Ike. "Could you two possibly assist in this?"

Ike shook his head. "According to this information, Robin and Lucina are from a distant future. Our presence could be a major problem, if Fox's 10 minute lessons on science are to be believed." Ike paused to gauge Nook's reaction. "We can grab Corrin, but that could still raise potential problems."

Tom closed his eyes in deep thought. "Very well, you two shall go get Corrin, and I'll take care of the Villager, he owes me a favor or two." He opened his eyes and looked at each individual. "We still need someone to grab our last two members." Samus shrugged and raised her hand. Nook shook his head. "No, no, not unless you have someone accompanying you. Master Hand has not forgotten the Dream Land debacle."

"Neither have I." Metaknight chuckled to himself. "Grand old memories..."

"If Lady Aran joins me, will that suffice?" The room looked at the speaker. The quiet Princess Zelda had spoken, determination echoed through her words. Tom Nook smiled and nodded.

"Yes, yes! That would be a wonderful solution!" Nook shut off the hologram. "The meeting today is now adjourned. Master Hand wanted me to remind you that fighting is prohibited amongst members until the Smash season begins, yes?", he eyed Bowser and Captain Falcon. "No. Fighting." He turned up the lights in the room, and the members slowly filed out through the door.

"Hey Peach, I'm going to talk to Samus, ok?" Peach smiled at Zelda, who had a slightly nervous look in her eyes. Zelda and Samus had always had a weird, tenuous relationship. Samus had tried to be friends multiple times, Peach knew, but Zelda was always too shy. Plus, if Peach recalled right, there was always some bad luck. How was Samus supposed to know that triangles made Zelda anxious, or that she was allergic to cashews? Only cashews? It was surprising that Zelda had volunteered to join Samus, especially on a job to meet new people. Peach nodded and gave her friend a hug. "Good luck, have fun." she whispered. Zelda gave an awkward smile, and went back into the room. Peach had her own job to take care of, and honestly, she was lying when she said she wanted a tea date with Rosalina.

"Rosalina..." Peach muttered to herself. "What a weirdo."