"Welcome to the 2018 Smash Bros. Tournament!"
The audience in the stadium roared with cheers. The 32 competitors in the tournament all stood in the center of the stadium floor. Incineroar glanced around at the other 31 competitors vying for the victory alongside him. Lucario was right; he'd definitely find competition here.
Among those there were: a penguin-creature-thing with a giant hammer, two Arctic explorers who also weld hammers, a green dinosaur, a goddess, a purple dragon as well as the one who brought him here: Lucario. All in all, he'd definitely be getting a challenge.
"Now please welcome the co-heads of the tournament: Master Hand and Crazy Hand!"
Everyone applauded as the two made their way up to the podium. Confused, Incineroar turned to Lucario.
"These are the leaders of the tournament?"
"Yep?"
"Two giant gloved hands?!"
"Yea. Just go with it."
"Mmm."
"Welcome to the opening ceremony for the 2018 Smash Tournament!" Crazy Hand shouted in the mic, garnering cheers.
"First off, we'd like to congratulate each competitor for being invited to compete. To be invited, you had to have shown some amazing fighting skills. Even if you get eliminated in the first round, you are a definite winner for being nominated. So, give yourself a...well...me!" Master Hand joked.
After the applause and laughter died down, Master Hand continued. "Now, this will be a 32 man single elimination tournament. If you lose your fight, then I'm sorry, but-"
"YOU WILL DIE!" Crazy Hand screamed into the mic.
After a few seconds of confused murmurs, Master Hand grabbed the mic back from his brother to clarify. "He's kidding, guys. You will NOT die if you lose. However, you will be eliminated from the tournament."
"Now then, the moment you've all been waiting for: the brackets!" Crazy Hand exclaimed, pointing to the giant television screen above him. Everyone looked up and saw the first round matchups:
East Bracket:
Jigglypuff vs Incineroar
Fox vs Villager
Wario vs Captain Falcon
Mario vs Pit
Falco vs King Dedede
King K. Rool vs Mr. Game & Watch
Mewtwo vs Paulentina
Pikachu vs Ness
West Bracket:
Lucario vs Luigi
Snake vs Little Mac
Wolf vs Lucas
Sonic vs Samus
Ice Climbers vs Link
Ike vs Kirby
Donkey Kong vs Ridley
Ganondorf vs Marth
"We have an amazing tournament to present for you, ladies and gentlemen!" Master Hand told the crowd. "Those matches will begin tomorrow!"
"Have a woooooooooonderful evening, ladies and gentlemen. We'll see you tomorrow," Crazy Hand told everyone.
As everyone exited the stadium and the other fighters walked to the locker room, Incineroar felt a poke on the ankles. He looked down to see the source of the poking was his first round opponent, Jigglypuff.
"You know, I've been doing these tournaments for about two decades," the pink Pokémon bragged to her opponent.
"So?" Incineroar asked.
"So, I wish you good luck. Because you'll need it."
"I could tell you the same thing. No offense, but it looks like I can launch you as if you were a soccer ball," Incineroar replied with a chuckle.
Jigglypuff's body inflated, making her look like a beside-herself balloon. "Watch yourself, pussycat! I'll Sing you to sleep then blast you outta the park with a nice Rest!"
Before the two could fight further, Lucario stepped between the two. "That's enough, you guys! Save it for the Battlefield!"
"Pfft. Whatever," Jigglypuff said dismissively before taking her leave.
Once Jigglypuff was gone, Lucario turned to his fellow Pokémon. "You have to make sure your temper doesn't get the best of you, even if your opponent trash talks you!
"I'm sorry! But I'm used to immediately German suplexing my opponent if they talked smack."
"I get that, but Master Hand is strictly against fights that outside the tournaments and the training room. You could've been disqualified if that came to blows."
Incineroar sighed. "Really? Ugh, I can't wait to get my hands on that puff ball."
"Don't let yourself be deceived by appearances. Jigglypuff is quite agile. Her singing can put you to sleep for a few seconds, opening you up to a potentially devastating attack."
"And what did she say about her 'rest'?"
"That? Well, if her Rest attack connects, you could be ko'd as it is a rather strong attack."
"Is it true she's been doing this for nearly two decades?"
"Yea. She was one of the original fighters. She's been to every single tournament."
"Huh."
Lucario thought for a moment. "Hmm...do you still want a fight?"
"I could always go for a fight."
"Great! So, how about we do a round of sparring before our matches tomorrow?"
This was an easy answer for Incineroar. He always wanted a fight. And on the off chance that the two would face off in the future, it'd be helpful to get a feel of his fighting style.
"You're on."