In the Hands of Fate
"You know, I'm sick of being an Assist Trophy."
That was Shadow. He was slouched on the couch, watching Sonic go up against three other "Smashers" on the large TV in the "Sonic the Hedgehog Series" room. Knuckles was sitting beside him, a can of soda in his hands. He raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean? I think being an Assist Trophy is great!" Shadow pinched the bridge on his nose.
"You only just started a few days ago." He shot the red echidna a glare. "While I've been around since the "Brawl" tournament. I think it's time for me to join the fight." Knuckles sighed.
"Well, what Master Hand says, goes. If he doesn't think you should be on the roster, then you're not getting in." Shadow threw his hands in the air.
"I've tried everything to get on the roster. For years, I've been stuck in Sonic's shadow, waiting to join. Hell, I'd settle to be an Echo Fighter of him, even if I am far superior to him."
"I dunno… Sonic's kicked your butt on multiple…"
"Can it Knuckles!" the two sat in silence again as they watched the battle rage on. What irked Shadow the most, was that recently, as a practical joke, Crazy Hand had added Piranha Plant to the roster. But he grew such a liking from the spectators, that Master Hand actually decided to keep him on. Just thinking of the stupid pot plant made Shadow's blood boil.
"Damn it!" He held out, giving Knuckles a fright. "I'm sick of this. I'm going to see Master Hand right now and tell him what I think."
"Yeah, and that'll definitely get you on the roster." Knuckles quipped. Shadow stopped and let out a sigh.
"I just don't get it. Why does a bloody house plant get a fight? It's just not fair." He said, almost sounding childish. Knuckles had to hold back his laughter.
"Hey, at least you get a physical body Shadow! Try having to float around in a bubble and then come back and complain about fairness." Shadow and Knuckles looked to a colourful bubble that had floated up to them. Inside the bubble, Rouge's ticked off face was glaring at Shadow. "While you get to go out there and actually do something, I have to link up with the fighters and give them support." Her bubble shuddered. "I had to link up with that disgusting fatso the other night, and believe me. You do NOT want to be behind him when he farts." Knuckles shrugged.
"Well at least you don't have to share a Spirit like the Chaotix has to."
As if on que, another bubble flew by, bouncing all over the place.
"I need to go this way. I want to watch Sonic fight!"
"Charmy! Quit it! We need to go to the kitchen."
"Why? We can't eat as a Spirit."
"I need something!" A sigh could be heard coming from the same bubble.
"Can you two please be quiet? I'm trying to meditate."
"Shut it Espio!" Espio nodded to the others as Vector overpowered Charmy and the bubble disappeared into the kitchen. Rouge chuckled.
"I guess you're right Knux. It could be worse." Shadow sighed and flung open the door to their room. Rouge turned to him again. "And where are you going?"
"To see Master Hand. Where else?" Rouge pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Knuckles is right you know. Asking to be on the roster is just going to get you sent back here. I really don't see you talking him into…"
"Oh yeah? Well you never know. Something could happen today."
"Sure. Like it's not going to turn out like the last three gazillion times you've asked." A tick mark was present on Shadow's head.
"And how do you know?" Knuckles gulped before slinking back down onto the couch, not eager to relive another one of Shadow and Rouge's fights. Ever since they'd arrived at the Smash Mansion, Rouge had been listening to Shadow's complaints, once he'd discovered that he was an Assist Trophy again. It had been wearing her thin and Knuckles knew she was going to snap at him any day now.
And it appeared that today was the day.
"I know because you've gone and asked Master Hand about it every day. The answer is still going to be no, no matter how many TIMES YOU ASK!"
"WELL I'M SICK OF BEING AN ASSIST TROPHY AND I WANT TO JOIN THE FIGHT! IS THAT SO HARD TO ASK?" Shadow roared.
"YES!" Shadow was trembling with anger. He knew she was right, but he wasn't going to admit it. "Face it Shadow. You're not getting in unless Master Hand's boss tells him to put you on."
"Maybe I should take this up with his boss then." Knuckles sighed as the two continued to argue.
"This is getting on my nerves."
"Is now a bad time?" Knuckles glanced back to see Princess Peach and Daisy standing in the doorway. Peach had a cake in her hands while Daisy had a look of wonder at the black hedgehog arguing with a Spirit. Knuckles jumped over the back of the couch to greet them.
"Hey! If you ignore those two, you'll be right. What brings you two here?"
"She subconsciously made another cake again. Seeing's as I haven't really gotten to know you yet, I made the executive decision to bring it here." Daisy said without hesitation. Peach blushed.
"I don't make cakes subconsciously…" Daisy gave her a neutral face.
"Yeah, you do."
"Do I really?" Knuckles let out a laugh.
"Well who am I pass up the opportunity for free cake? Thanks." He took a slice off the plate before taking a big bite out of it. He let out a sigh of content. "This is delicious! How do you make cakes so good?" Peach blushed at the compliment again.
"Oh it's… a knack." There was a loud crash behind them and their heads whirled around quickly to see Shadow lying upside down against the wall. Rouge was floating above his head.
"That's what you get for trying to punch a Spirit dumbass!" Shadow grunted.
"I clearly didn't think that through…" Peach put a hand over her mouth.
"Oh my. What happened?" Rouge's eyes flicked toward the girls and Knuckles before floating over to them.
"Oh hi! It's been a while. Shadow here is still trying to make the roster and we were arguing about it again and Mr. Bright Ideas decided to try and punch me. Guess he forgot that I don't have a physical body." Daisy let out a loud laugh.
"I'll say." She glanced to Shadow. "You've been trying for years. Have you not worked it out yet? You're clearly not…" She was interrupted by a shining light that turned on underneath Shadow. A quick glance to the TV showed an Assist Trophy capsule out on the field that Daisy assumed was Shadow's, seeing's as the teleportation spell was under him. Shadow quickly stood up and brushed himself off.
"You'll have to wait to tell me what you think. I've got another fighter to assist." Suddenly, a thought flew into Shadow's head. He grinned. "…Or some fighters to smash." Knuckles eyes went wide.
"No way man! Master Hand made it very clear…"
F**k Master Hand." Were Shadow's last words as a fighter on the field grabbed his capsule and held it up to the sky. Peach fainted at the strong profanity while Daisy quickly caught her. Knuckles let out a sigh as Rouge chuckled.
"This'll be good."
…
It was Wario that was the one who summoned Shadow. The large treasure hunter, who was at 123%, laughed as Shadow landed on the ground.
"All right! Slow down time for these suckers!" He pointed to the remaining two fighters that were fighting just above them. Shadow glanced up to see a giant purple space dragon battling against Sonic. Shadow grinned.
"I'm through being an assist trophy."
"Eh? What did you say?" Wario went wide eyed as Shadow spun around, delivering a powerful kick to the obese treasure hunter's stomach. The force alone was enough to throw him off the stage and into the abyss below, KOing him.
Sonic was currently lying on the ground, holding a Home Run Bat against Ridley's chest, as the Space Pirate tried to bite down on him.
"Dude! Have you ever heard of breath mints?" Ridley just growled as he powered up a plasma blast in his mouth. "Oh. This is going to sting."
It would have, if the sound of a fighter being KOed didn't grab their attention. Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"Snake was knocked out a while ago. "Who KOed Wario?" Ridley shrugged.
"It's my turn to fight now!" Sonic was surprised to see Shadow appear at the end of the platform that the two were fighting on. He moved into a fighting stance before gesturing to Ridley. "Bring it on." He taunted.
Ridley didn't take too kindly to this and let go of Sonic. He spread his wings and flew quickly toward Shadow. He spat out some fireballs as he got near. Shadow simply smirked before using Chaos Control to slow him down. Swiftly dodging the fireballs, he returned Ridley to his normal speed and brought his foot up onto the Space Pirate's chin. While he didn't go far, the power behind the kick was enough to do some decent damage to him. Ridley growled again before charging at him again.
Somewhere else, in a room full of screens, an alarm went off, startling a previously asleep, giant gloved hand.
"Huh? Wha… What's going on?" A quick look to one of the screens that was blaring "Rouge Assist Trophy" proved his suspicions.
"SHADOW!" He roared.
Sonic watched on with a slightly shocked look. He knew how much Shadow wanted to be on the roster, but he wasn't expecting him to go rouge Assist Trophy. No. Scratch that. He was mildly expecting it, seeing how on edge he'd been lately.
Sonic watched as Ridley was thrown into the air and out into the distance. He glanced down and saw Shadow smirking.
"So it comes down to this, huh?" Sonic gulped as Shadow teleported up to Sonic's platform. "Come on Sonic. Like old times." Sonic sighed and stood up.
"Why'd you choose now to go rouge?"
"Rouge."
"Ah. You two were fighting again?"
"That doesn't matter. Come here and face me!" He got into his familiar fighting stance and faced Sonic. The Blue Blur chuckled.
"Ok then. Don't expect me to go easy on you though." Shadow smirked.
"Good." Shadow took off toward Sonic and Sonic did the same. The two drew back their hands to…
"Enough!"
Master Hand appeared out of nowhere and blasted the two apart. Both Sonic and Shadow fell backwards onto the ground. Master Hand pointed a finger onto Shadow's face.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Shadow grunted and pushed the large finger off his face.
"I'm proving that I'm worthy of being a Fighter because you didn't believe me."
"What… You… Argh!" Master Hand clenched his hand before sighing. "We're not having this conversation here."
With a snap of his fingers, Sonic and Shadow were teleported to their room, startling Knuckles, Peach and Daisy. Master Hand loomed over Shadow.
"You can't just go rouge just because I won't let you on the roster." Shadow glared at the floating hand.
"And why not? You won't put me on when I ask for you to, so what else should I have done?" Sonic listened to the, slowly heating argument going back and forth between the large hand and the Ultimate Lifeform. Rouge flickered over.
"How do you think this is going to turn out?"
"Master Hand's going to put him in his place and eveything'll go back to normal."
"Yeah… I don't know." Their arguing was getting louder and louder.
"I can't add you if I'm not allowed to Shadow. I do have a higher up that tells me what to do!"
"Well tell your boss that I'm going to join the fight!"
"No!"
"Why not?!" Master Hand chose then to drop the shocker.
"To tell you the truth, we were planning on introducing you as a Fighter later! A "DLC" Character if you will!"
There was utter silence. It was completely different from a few seconds ago. Sonic saw Knuckles drop a pin. The tiny ping of it hitting the floor was heard through the room. Daisy glared at him.
"What?" He asked sheepishly. "I wanted to hear the pin drop."
"DLC?" Shadow finally asked. Master Hand nodded.
"If you had been patient, you would have been added eventually." Shadow's eyes went wide before letting out an uncharacteristic cheer.
"YES! I'm going to join the fight! This is the best…" His voce quietened as Master Hand's words sunk in. "Wait… Would've?" Master Hand floated pasted him.
"If you hadn't have gone rouge today, you would have had a spot. However, accounting for all the bugging and today's stunt, I'm not going to be able to put you on. I'm sure Sakurai would agree with my decision." Shadow stood still, processing this information before slumping to his knees.
"I… I… I'm going to be an Assist Trophy forever?"
"No. Not forever. You do have lives outside of the Smash Tournament." Master Hand said. "Although, now that you've been de-confirmed, who will fill his spot?" He looked around the room. Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't there other candidates out there?" I know there's a girl with purple hair that want's to join…"
"Shantae? Oh don't worry about her." Master Hand changed the topic at lightning fast speed at the mention of Shantae. "I need a new "Sonic Series" Character to fill Shadow's spot. Let's see…"
He glanced around the room as Sonic's friends began to appear from around the room at the mention of a possible spot on the roster. Soon the room was filled with colourful Spirits. Master Hand gulped at the sudden increase in people.
"This is a larger selection than I thought." After a moment of looking around, he finally came to a decision. "Seeing's as Shadow went rouge, I think it's only fitting to have Rouge join the battle." Rouge's eyes went wide.
"Wait. Me?!" Master Hand nodded.
"Indeed. I'm sure there'll be a way we can incorporate you into the game. You'd be perfect!" The other Spirits grumbled before floating back to whatever they were doing beforehand. Rouge was stunned.
"But… I've never…"
"No need to worry. You do fine. Just get Sonic to show you the ropes." Rouge glanced to Sonic, who shrugged, then to Shadow, who was still mumbling to himself on the floor. She smirked.
"You know what? Bring it on!" Master Hand chuckled.
"That's the spirit! Now hold still."
Master hand waggled his fingers before the colourful bubble around Rouge began to move. It was sucked up into his hand, appearing to take Rouge with it. Once it was all sucked up, there was a bright flash, blinding everyone in the room (Except Shadow, who wasn't paying any attention to what was happening around him.). When it died down, everyone opened their eyes. Rouge did a quick check of her body, confirming that she had it all back. She flexed her arm before grinning.
"Now this is what I'm talking about! I'm back baby!" Master Hand laughed.
"Welcome to the roster Rouge. But you won't join the fight just yet." Rouge glanced to the hand.
"What do you mean?"
"Well you are going to be "DLC". The main tournament has just begun so it'd be weird to have a new character join in on the second round. Sakurai and I were thinking of introducing you and the other "DLC" Fighters in the fourth round just before the Semi Finals. That should give you enough time to get ready."
"That seems fair."
Now. As for you." He turned back to Shadow, who was still curled up on the floor, muttering to himself. "As punishment for what you've done, I'm going to turn you into a Spirit." That seemed to snap Shadow out of his mumbling.
"What?"
"Oh so now you're listening, are you? I said that I'm going to turn you into a Spirit as punishment for what you've done."
There was dead silence again as Shadow stared at the floating hand, and then to the full bodied Rouge. He glared at him.
"You'll never take me alive! Chaos Control!" He said uncharacteristically quickly. He warped out of the room and left Daisy and Peach stunned.
"Wha… Did he just…"
"Yeah. He can do that." Knuckles confirmed.
"Huh." Was all Daisy said. Master Hand chuckled.
"I thought he'd do that. Luckily, I have the perfect solution." Master Hand closed himself up into a fist before light began to pour into him. After a moment of charging, he released a single beam of light that seemingly darted in Shadow's general direction. He chuckled as Sonic glanced to him.
"Was that…"
"Yep."
"And it's going to…"
"Yep."
"How?"
"I've had a few lessons from Galeem."
…
Two weeks later, the DLC characters joined the fight. Sonic had taught Rouge everything she needed to know about the Super Smash Bros. Tournament and some more. With the absence of Shadow being an Assist Trophy, Master Hand brought in Tails to take his place. When someone summoned him, he would jump in the Tornado and would fly around the fighting area, ramming into anyone in the air.
Alongside Rouge, four others joined in too, such as Joker and Shantae, the latter of which, was very excited. Sonic and co headed to her room to congratulate her.
And what happened to Shadow you may ask?
…
"Phew. I there's no way I'm being a Spirit. Being without a body and all." Shadow shuddered. He'd teleported just outside the mansion on a near by hill. He sat down and let out a sigh of relief. "Maybe I should just head back home. I'm sure G.U.N would need some help looking after the place."
He was about to get up and leave when a beam of light flew out of the mansion. Shadow paused as it danced around in the air for a little bit.
"Huh. Isn't that… Nah. It couldn't be. There's no way. I am curious what it's doing though. Why is it flying around like that? Why is it coming towards… OHGODNO!"
Hiiii! Long time no see. So Christmas and the New Year have been an gone and I kinda missed several boats when it came to my stories, like finishing my Christmas Specials and that. Sorry. Look. I've been terrible at updating lately an I have no idea when things will be finished. I'm really sorry again, but you're all just going to have to sit tight and wait for when I can actually get my butt into gear and finish my other stories
But aside from that, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone. I'll see you all in the next update people!