avatar: Hi! This is my newest fic, The Tryouts. It's all about new Smashers having to fight current Smashers to get into Brawl. This fic will contain several fight scenes - indeed, that's the bread and butter of this fic - and will probably continue irregularly until we know the full character line-up for Brawl (and maybe a bit after that). Also, look forward to seeing the regular Smashers do things you've never seen them do before (at least not in Smash Bros.)! Disclaimer by Pichu!

Pichu: avatarjk137 does not own any of the videogame characters in here. He only owns the contents of this story... hey! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU DO TO ME HERE! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU, AVATAR!

avatar: jeez, Pichu, enough sailor talk. It's your fault, anyway.

Chapter 1

Entrance Exams

Mario and Luigi stood sweating. Each faced the other, their clothes burnt and torn from the battle. Link, who had already been defeated, watched from the announcer's room on Big Blue. Mario and Luigi each had only one life left, and the Falcon Flyer was their current position. Dr. Mario stood by Link, waiting to give medical attention if anybody got hurt.

Luigi was the first to snap. "Ha!" He began shooting his green fireballs. Mario ran, jumped, air-dodged, and rolled through the flaming barrage, and used his Super Jump Punch to launch Luigi into the air, spraying coins across the arena. Luigi landed on the number 28 car before Mario, and ran forward with a flurry of blind punches. Mario landed and put up his shield, blocking each blow. "GOT-A YOU, BROTHER!" Luigi cried, his voice exultant with his impending victory over Mario. He loved it when he beat Mario, which wasn't as often as he lost. He hit Mario with his Fire Jump Punch, the full power engaging due to their close quarters. Mario was launched airborne, hit the top of the Falcon Flyer, and dropped back down. Luigi was ready with his Luigi Cyclone, but Mario engaged the Mario Tornado at the same time, and both attacks canceled out.

Luigi tried a hard left hook, but Mario was already behind him. With his famous speed, the red-clad plumber grabbed Luigi's leg and began to spin him around… and around… and around. "Sorry, Luigi, but not-a today!" Eventually, centrifugal force took over, and Luigi was sent flying, screaming like a girl. He hit the road, rolling and skidding to a stop. He got up, clutching his head… and screamed as the number 9 connected with his face.

"The winner is… MARIO!" Luigi and Mario, along with Link, materialized in the Smash Fortress, a beautiful castle that for some odd reason hurtled through a void at breakneck speeds. At any rate, it was a good place for the Smashers to live between tournaments. The third tournament was drawing near, and everybody was on edge. The exhibition matches they often held to stay fresh (or to settle disagreements) were only enough to be a temporary distraction.

"All Smashers, report to the conference room, I repeat, ALL Smashers must report to the conference room," a voice boomed. Everybody recognized the strong voice as that of the Master Hand, and if he was calling, it might be what they were all anticipating. Everybody in the gateway room for Big Blue nodded and filed out, toward the conference room.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I called you here," Master Hand said. In front of him stood all 26 Smashers (counting Nana). "Would anybody care to take a guess?"

"I'm guessing the next Smash tournament is finally near its starting time," Roy ventured. He was watching flames dance up and down his sword as he spoke, and unless you heard him speaking, you'd think he had shut out the outside world. Roy was a notorious pyromaniac among the house, which the villains loved to use to their advantage. "You wanted to tell us we had one week to prepare or something." The flames leaped around and off the blade and encircled him in a way he had precisely calculated to make him look cool. "Am I right, Hand?"

Master Hand's creepy laughter rebounded off the halls. "Actually, Roy, you are only half-right. The new SMASH! Tournament is approaching. However, I wanted to tell you all… about the new arrivals. I am accepting possible new Smashers for the impending tournament. Before we are through, new Smashers will have been picked to train with you for the several months still remaining before the tournament. Come, the first batch has arrived." He teleported them all outside, to the castle's courtyard, a beautiful garden with the most bizarre skyline one could hope for in a castle, due to constant dimensional shifting. A multicolored bridge had extended from nowhere to the front gate. Rapidly ascending the bridge was a round yellow figure on a motorcycle, which promptly crashed into the front gate, shattering it. The figure came into a rolling stop in front of the Smasher gathering.

"Nooo…" Mario muttered in mild disbelief.

"Yessss…." Wario replied, leering. He then began to laugh maniacally. Ganondorf and Bowser soon joined in. Then Master Hand and Mewtwo joined in, creating a cacophony of evil laughter.

"SILENCE!" Master Hand suddenly screamed, and he got his request. Two more figures were approaching from the sky. First Pit lightly touched down. He was greeted with a bit of polite applause, and derisive laughter from Falco, Ganondorf, Bowser, Captain Falcon, and Donkey Kong. Meta Knight came crashing down a second later, and although he was less than one-fourth Pit's height, he commanded a bit more respect. Kirby's eyes took on a determined expression that looked a bit out of place. "As you can see, Wario, Pit, and Meta Knight have already cleared themselves with me and earned the right to participate in the next tournament, as has one other. He is already among you." After a full minute of searching, they found a cardboard box that hadn't been there before. From under the box… came Solid Snake.

"You can't be serious, Master Hand!" Marth exclaimed. "Letting a non-Nintendo Realm COMMONER into the tournament?!"

"For special cases, swordsman, I have opened my doors, so it would be wise to drop your elitist attitude IMMEDIATELY. Snake will participate. That reminds me… There will be more. Our Mansion will be out of rooms, and we can't have that, so some contestants… will have to go. Crazyyyy Haaannd…"

"BWAHWAHHAYHAHAHAYAYAHWHWHAA!" Everybody froze at the disjointed, maniacal laughter of Crazy Hand. Crazy Hand rose from the ground directly in front of them, his index and middle finger extended. He suddenly rocketed forward, and at the speed he moved, only a few Smashers, such as Captain Falcon and Fox, could dodge. Dr. Mario wasn't one of those Smashers. As Crazy Hand reached Dr. Mario, he snipped his fingers shut around the Dr.'s waist, slicing him cleanly in half. He changed hand position and direction, flipping backward. His thumb and forefinger closed around Pichu's head, and squeezed, with pleasing (to him) results. Before anybody could blink, Crazy Hand sank back beneath the ground.

"I-is he gone?" Fox asked, his blaster probing the ground randomly with it's laser sight.

In response, Crazy Hand burst from the ground beneath them, sending several Smashers airborne as his maniacal laughter returned. He grabbed Roy in midair, shattering his armor, and squeezed the air from his lungs so that he could not cry out. Crazy Hand disappeared back below again, then returned, his hand empty of Roy. He zoomed toward Falco and Young Link, who were hugging each other for comfort, but stopped an inch from their faces. "Dr. Mario, Pichu, and Roy have been ELIMINATED from this competition. Falco, Young Link, you are on notice: unless you come up with more techniques to separate yourself from Fox and Link, respectively, you will meet a similar fate. Are we clear?" It was Master Hand's voice that spoke. A set of light-based strings were extended from his fingers, holding Crazy Hand at bay… barely.

"Crystal, SIR!" Falco yelped. Young Link nodded in agreement.

"Say," Zelda said, "without Dr. Mario, who will tend to our wounds?"

"You'll figure it out," Master Hand assured them cruelly. Crazy Hand faded from view, his insane laughter echoing in their heads. The mutilated bodies of Dr. Mario and Pichu also faded. "Mario, you can wear the Doctor uniform as an alternate costume for the next tournament, once the Wireframes clean off the bloodstains.

"That reminds me… there are more new contestants than the four you saw. That's why I called you all here. These people are untested, and I don't really feel like testing them, so you guys will have to. They will each fight one of you in a duel. The duels will be against Smashers of similar nature, so hero Vs. hero, sidekick Vs. sidekick, villain Vs. villain, so on and so forth. They will be fighting at full strength, and I need you guys to as well for proper judging. That means the new techniques you are all hiding for the next tournament – and I know you all have some – will be used as if they were part of your normal repertoire. Do I make myself clear?"

"Who-a are these guys?" Mario asked boldly. Of the Smashers, he was one of the few who would talk back to Master Hand.

"I'll let you find out then, but you already know some of them. Most are from Nintendo realms, but I have made a couple of special exceptions besides Snake. I bid you all adieu."

End of Chapter

Next Chapter is our first real battle! I won't tell you who the new fighter is, but I'll give you an obvious hint: he's Viewtiful, baby!