Author's Note:

Super Smash Flash 2 is based on the popular fighting franchise by Nintendo and is currently going through its beta stages. This story, which is based on version 0.6, takes the characters, unlockable and otherwise, and the stages as they are to form the map of the imaginary world of Smash Flash. Each update twists the story drastically.

I am a guardian. I am not a mediator of issues. Such a role would surely lead to an uprising of sorts. In such an event, I could easily slaughter them all. It is the pure goal of avoiding this outcome that I must be a guardian of lassie-affair policies. Therefore, I will allow this tournament. Anything hosted by the Great Mario of Mushroom Kingdom is very much credible in my eyes. It is averting their tension. I could see it keeping Megaman busy.

"Damn it, I'll show Sonic. I'll tear him apart in front of everyone. They'll leave me alone then. They'll see." Megaman mumbled to himself as he shot off a saw blade into a nearby rock. The blade quit cutting about halfway through. Another failure. He sighed. "My match is first. I've got to win. If I lose" he began charging his megabuster "that's it for me."

Ichigo's vision still bothered him a bit. But he trained alongside Naruto in Konoha anyway.

"Are you sure it's still safe to participate in the tournament? Shouldn't you be playing it safe?" Naruto was concerned for his friend.

"It's Megaman. If anything bad is going to happen to me, it won't happen while fighting Megaman."

"Hm. One day that robot's gonna go insane from comments like that."

"If he self-destructs from the stress, it might just mean his first (and last) victory." Ichigo smirked as he turned his head toward the sun. "It's the only way I can see him defeating me."

"You know, if you win-"

"When I win."

"When you win, you'll have to face Mario in the next round."

"I'm well aware. I'll be ready. The only thing I don't like about the bracket is that when I defeat Mario, it might take a lot of excitement from the tournament. I know everyone is expecting Mario to at least make it to the finals. That makes everyone on his side of the bracket an underdog. I guess the feeling's not new to me. But If I were you, I'd worry more about myself. Sonic is definitely not the opponent to look past."

"So he's got a stride or two on me. I'm a ninja. It's nothing I can't handle."

"But as a ninja, a great part of your arsenal thrives and hinges on the ability to outrun and anticipate your opponent. You'll definitely be handicapped in that regard when you fight him."

"I bet I'm still faster than you."

"I bet it wouldn't matter."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Of course not. Remember, I have a warm-up match soon. You just focus on trying to meet me in the Finals, alright." Ichigo turned his back to his friend. "I'll be seeing you." He fled.

In the Comet Observatory, Mario prepared to supervise his peers.

"On this day, I will raise tensions." Mario thought to himself. "And then I will lay them all to rest. I wish things didn't have to be this way. But then, I wish I had come up with this idea much sooner. I suppose it's time to round them up."

And again, I heard it. But it was as if they were aware that I could hear them. One of them was trying to distort the conversation. But in the back of my consciousness, I heard them again in Twilight Town.

"We've waited long enough. When may we strike?"

"Do not be a fool, boy. I know when it is time. If we attempt to strike prematurely, we will fail miserably. Only once the tournament is over will we be strong enough to attack. And when we attack, there will be little they can do to resist us."

"Faster, Game. It needs to happen faster. I'm getting too anxious."

"Good. Like your friends, that anxiety will be additional fuel for slaughter. And when we are done with the fuel, your friends shall be revived, Sora. Trust me."

"I . . . I trust you."

Kirby was aware that he would have to fight Link in the tournament. In the Dreamland stage, he trained as hard as he could. But he must have sensed the same presence I did. It interrupted his training. He began watching the sky cautiously until Mario suddenly phased through the nexus to his stage. He landed in front of Kirby.

"What do you want, Mario?"

"I'm only here to inform you that the Tournament will begin shortly. Only I am required to attend today, as I have to bear witness. Ichigo will fight Megaman today. I thought I'd explain some rules to you on my way to get the combatants. The tournament is guided by ranks. We have all been ranked, 1 through 8. One being the best."

"Whose number 1?"

"Me."

"You don't think that's arrogant or biased at all?"

"It's not biased. It's only arrogant and factual. But then, that just motivates my opponents to knock me off of my high horse, doesn't it?"

"Sickly."

"Am I? The ranks are really only significant for the first two rounds. Whoever is ranked higher will get to choose the location of their fight."

"That's not fair at all!"

"You sound like you're not expecting a high rank."

"But getting to choose the location gives an obvious advantage to the higher rank! Shouldn't the lower rank choose, for the sake of balance?"

"No matter who has what rank, if one fighter is better than the other, it shouldn't matter where they fight. Besides, who knows? Maybe the higher ranked will be considerate of their opponent's desires. Hm, I didn't even make this ranking system."

"Then who did?"

"A friend. You may continue preparing. Do inform the others of the rules, if you can. I wasn't able to get to all of you." Mario began to leave.

"Wait, I am fighting Link in the first round. Where do he and I rank?" Mario stopped and turned his head halfway to answer.

"Link is number 5."

"And me?"

"You are number six. Be ready."

"With that, he fled for the nexus."

Back at Hyrule Temple, Link and Lloyd work hard to prepare.

"You really pulled a tough card Lloyd." Link said. "I commend you for even going through with it."

"A victory over Mario in the first round would shock everyone."

"Especially with that ranking system he told us about. You really think I belong way down at number 5?"

"You certainly belong below me, and I'm number 4. It's close enough." That comment incited Link's rage as he tossed his boomerang at Lloyd. Lloyd blocked it, sending it right back at his friend. "Feel better now?"

"Fuck you."

"Speaking of which, you ever miss Zelda?"

"What?" Link's eyes squinted at Lloyd.

"Zelda. The girl you told me about."

"We agreed that we wouldn't talk about this anymore."

"I can get you to talk to me about her. It wouldn't be hard. You know that. You may as well answer the question." Link knew that Lloyd was right. He didn't want to risk Lloyd saying something to get him angry again.

"Well of course I miss her sometimes. But I try not to think about it for too long at a time."

"Why not?"

"Because it would make me angry."

"But I do that anyway. If you're going to be angry, wouldn't you rather be angry thinking about someone you really miss, instead of someone you want to hurt?"

"Like you?"

"Exactly."

"Hm, hmhmhm, mhmhmhmhmhm." Link chuckled with his eyes closed. "You've got too many sides to ya Lloyd. You really never know what you're gonna do. What's gonna come out of your mouth. Don't ever change, man."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"I guess I would rather anguish over missing her."

"Of course."

"So when I die, bury me here."

"What?"

"I'm hoping I don't have to die in this world. And I'm hoping you don't outlive me. But it's not looking like we'll find a way out soon. This place is the only thing in this world that even remotely reminds me of what I used to do, of the people I used to see."

"Like Zelda."

"So I'm going to do my best not to die in this world. But if I fail, I want you to see to it that I'm buried here. Promise me." Link said, stepping closer to Lloyd.

"I promise."

Sonic had become used to training alone. It helped him to focus. But sometimes this focus did bad things to his mental state. It left him time to think about the future. About the past.

"A sorry excuse for a fighter, eh." Sonic said quietly to himself. "I'll show him a sorry excuse." He clinched his fists, pulling them to his waist. "This is my last chance. I won't fail."

Mario had managed to find both competitors for the first matchup of the tournament. He led Ichigo and Megaman to the Hueco Mundo, as 2nd ranked Ichigo wished to fight last ranked Megaman there. When they arrived, Mario explained the rules.

"Gentlemen, this first match is upon us. You may notice the lack of spectators. We don't need them. I will witness and record the result myself. When one of you has had enough, I will stop the fight. Failure to stop the aggression will result in your immediate disqualification. Are we all clear on the rules?" Both fighters shook their heads. "Excellent." Mario said as he got clear of the opponents. "Begin!"

"This shouldn't take long." Ichigo said as he blocked a megabuster blast and began charging at his opponent. Megaman put up his shield in preparation for the attack. Before Ichigo got close enough, he disappeared. Megaman dropped the shield, puzzled. Ichigo reappeared behind him with a slashing sword. Megaman was sent in the opposite direction. Megaman lie on his back in incredible pain, but still in one piece. Ichigo's weapon wasn't strong enough to crack the robot's armor; at least not with an attack like that. Rolling back as Ichigo pursued, Megaman got up in time to land a rising uppercut. Megaman charged his cannon as his opponent stumbled back. He was almost at full power as Ichigo was coming to. Dropping his hand from his face, Ichigo taunted: "Come on. I dare you." As Megaman released the blast, Ichigo drove his sword into the ground. The rising energy was enough to protect him from the blast.

"Amazing." Megaman said. Again Ichigo disappeared, landing the same previous attack. Megaman got up immediately this time, shooting a saw blade as he got up. He was surprised to see the blade hit no one.

"Huuuuuh!" Megaman heard Ichigo as the swordsman came crashing down into him, blade first, an almost fire-like blue aura surrounding it. Megaman attempted to block it with his armored sleeves, but the blade came with too much force this time and cracked the armor on his cannon. Ichigo followed up by smashing his opponents face with the handle of his weapon. Instinctively, Megaman turned his cannon to his foe, but nothing would come out. Only a small electrical surge surrounded his cannon when he tried. "You firing blanks, buddy?" Standing over his opponent, Ichigo laughed at the effort and stomped Megaman's cannon arm flat on the ground. He raised his weapon high as if to stab. Driving the tip to Megaman's face, Ichigo was interrupted by Mario's falling hook to the jaw. Ichigo and sword flew several feet from Megaman.

"This fight is over. Ichigo wins." Mario said with authority.

"Wait!" Megaman shouted, struggling to his feet. "What makes you think this is over?"

"You're disabled and I probably just saved your life. You've lost."

"FUCK!" Ichigo said, holding his head as he got up. "You could have just said it was over!"

"I did. Well done. Be ready for the next round. I have a feeling I'll see you. I'm going to update the bracket." Mario left and with that, there came the awkward silence until Ichigo finally said with headache:

"Get the hell out of here, Megaman." At defeat, what could the robot do but obey?

Hey there fanfic faithful. Battalion Ice here. Let me start off by saying that if you read my previous works and you're reading this now, I am so sorry for the unannounced hiatus. But in my quest to obtain a 4.0 for my first semester of college, I sort of abandoned you guys for a while in favor of another writing project. You deserve better than that and I'm here to tell you that you can expect at least three more chapters before the next inevitable hiatus (next semester). Once again, thank you for being here to read, because at days end, what do I write for?