Sorry about the long wait. I've been grounded for like forever! If this chapter sucks, sorry! I typed it all up in about three days. The second day was all about banging my head on the keyboard because of the dreaded writers block anyways, enjoy!

First Fight


"Greetings Ren…"

"What the- who are you? Show yourself!"

"Put away those swords of yours, I am here to help you. I am a… friend."

"A…friend? What do you mean? I have no-"

"Hey! Ren, wake up!" A female voice calls out, jerking me back into reality. I reluctantly open my eyes to see Samus hovering over me. "Yes?" I ask.
Samus walks away towards the desk when she sees that I'm awake. "Ike called to say that he'll be waiting for you in the dining hall," she takes out a card from a drawer before saying, "By the way, it's already 9 o' clock. You're lucky today's a free day. Usually we would have to wake up around 8. "

I don't reply as I sit up. What happened? I usually wake up at dawn, but more importantly, what the heck did that dream mean? Whatever, it's just a dream. However, as I got up, I couldn't help thinking about it. It seemed so real… so disturbing, yet… so tempting.

I stretch and push the thought away from my mind.

Samus takes the crystal-object that contains her power suit and opens the dormitory door.

"I'll be at the training grounds," she informs, and then she left.

As her footsteps fade away, I stride into the restroom and do my daily hygienic chores. I brush my teeth, comb my hair, and wash my face. Everything an ordinary girl would do.

Still, I like it better then people think I'm different, strange, or even extraneous.

I change and wrap my scarf around myself again. Finished, I walk out and grab my twin blades. I strap them on as I step out into the hallway, but stop as I suddenly recall seeing Samus taking a card from the desk.

Curious, I turn back and open the drawer and see a card with my picture on it. Labeled on top of the card was, "ID card." Good thing I was trained to memorize things in perfect detail. This is probably going to be important to me.

I pocket the card and walk silently down towards the dining hall. Towards Ike.

Ike's POV

Right now the time was 9:30 am. Where was Ren? She didn't seem like the type of person that would be late. Perhaps she got lost? Nah.

"So where do you think she is?" Marth asked after sipping some tea, "I want to meet her."

I shrugged as I leaned back and rested my feet next to Marth's teacup. He wrinkled his nose in disgust and pushed my feet off the table. They fell back onto the floor with a thump.

"Why do you always do that? You know that's disgusting and impolite, right?"

"How would I know? You're a prince, and I'm not," I look around, bored out of my mind until I see Ren walk into the hall.

"Ah, there's Ren," I inform Marth before grabbing his upper arm. "Come on, she's here."

We hurry over while Ren glances around at the few people that were chatting over a late breakfast.

She spots us and merely examines Marth and me as we approach. She must be in a better mood than yesterday.

"Hey Ren, how'd you sleep?" I say.

Ren seems to hesitate before shrugging. She then directs her attention over to Marth and scrutinizes him up and down.

Marth notices and flashes a 'stunning smile' at Ren. "Good morning, Ms. Striker, I'm Marth. A pleasure to meet you."

I almost snorted at that moment. That was so not him, but then again, it was his job to give everybody a good impression.

"Yeah, you can probably tell that Marth's a prince. Hey, Ren, do you want to eat something before we show you around?" I ask, trying to be friendly.

Ren shakes her head, remaining as silent as she was the day before. It suddenly occurred to me that I have never heard her say anything yet. Not one word.

"Well, follow me then. Oh and Marth, don't you have a training session with Link?" I ask.

"Damn! Yeah, thanks for reminding me. See you guys later, Ike, Ren!" And then he runs off.

I glance at Ren from the corner of my eye, who was examining the emblem on her glove; sign language that said, get a move on! I twitched. Maybe I shouldn't have reminded Marth…

Meanwhile

"Have you done it, Ganondorf?"

"Yes, I have implanted the mind probe and I made my first contact. It took a lot of my magic, but soon you will have full access."

"Good…good," the thin voice murmurs. Ganondorf bows his head and after a moment, he looks back up to the mirror on the wall. Instead of seeing a reflection of himself, he sees a translucent blue man, floating in a background of dark blue, black, and purple.

"But ah… excuse me for this question; why her?"

A dark chuckle echoes within the dim room.

"You'll see. She will eventually be useful. Useful for my plan to take over the world of Brawl."

"…You still remember our…deal?"

"Of course, but remember, I want you to keep an eye on the newcomer. See if she adapts to the probe well."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then kill her. There shall be no evidence of this."

"Of course…" Ganondorf turns away from the mirror hanging on the wall with a flip of his cape, "Tabuu."

"See? He's not really the serious and majestic he was trying to be," I say while leading Ren to the Game Room, which has three plasma screen TVs, and a bunch of game consoles. "This is the Game Room. People come here to chill, play games or watch TV."

Ren glances around indifferently. I could tell that she was never going to come into this room.

We walk down a hallway and I point to a couple of doors, identifying them. "There's the door to Masterhand's Office, the kitchen, the Ballroom, and… there's the training room!"

"Wanna go check it out?"

Ren nods. I start to feel frustrated. Why won't she say anything? She's way to silent for my likings. Perhaps she's…mute? Nah, that's not right. Maybe I shouldn't have volunteered to show her around.

I shake my head in disbelieve and walk through the doors into the training room. The room was completely white and the only things that seemed to be there was a large machine with a computer on top and a white sofa in front of a large TV. The TV currently showed a furious fight between Samus and Lucario. Ren trails behind me, ignoring at the TV and eyeing the machine with interest.

As we approach the machine, the screen flickers on to an image of a service lady dressed in a light blue uniform.

"Greetings Master Ike and…er… oh! You must be the newcomer. Welcome to Smash Mansion, Mistress Ren. My name is Melanie, have you come here to train?"

I look over at Ren and see her staring at Melanie with wide eyes. I chuckle softly; I remember feeling awed and out of place when I first came here.

Ren regains her former expression when she hears me laugh, glares at me for a second, and then turns away to the TV to watch the fight.

"No, I'm just showing her arou-" I start, but was soon interrupted.

"Would you like to fight?" a smooth, unfamiliar, and slightly accented voice asked.

I look around wildly to find the source of the voice. No one but Ren, Melanie, and me were here. I knew that Melanie and I didn't sound like that, so the last possible person was Ren.

I turn my gaze over to her. She was still facing the TV, but her head was slightly turned towards me and her eyes were filled with amusement.

"W-what?" I sputter, unsure if it was Ren who spoke.

"I said; would you like to fight?"

I couldn't help but grin. Ren has spoken.

Ren's POV

I almost laugh when I see Ike's expression. Shock and surprise flashed through his face as he realizes it was I who spoke. But right after the surprise, he lets out a smile. Why? People usually shy away from me as soon as I start speaking; it's very amusing.

"Sure," Ike says in response to my challenge. He turns to the computer-lady, Melanie.

"I guess we'll fight then, Melanie. One life, no items, and… Ren, I'll let you choose a stage."

I look up at the screen where Melanie's image used to be and see small images of lands and areas. Below the images were the names of the stages. PictoChat? Norfair? Frigate Orpheon? What queer names. I quickly scan all the pictures and finally see one to my liking.

"Bridge of Elden," I state. Melanie comes back on screen.

"One life brawl with no items on the Bridge of Elden, am I correct?"

Ike nods.

"Please scan your ID cards."

Ike takes out his card and swipes it under a red light. I do the same.

"Step through platform two, please."

Ike walks over to the far wall and waits until a shimmering circle appears. "Ladies first."

I smirk and step into the circle. Immediately, I feel a strange tickling sensation, as I am suddenly teleported over to the Bridge of Elden.

Then I find myself standing on a floating circular platform. I hop off and land in the middle of the bridge. Immediately, I become entranced with the beauty of the area. The sunset colored the scene with hues of orange and red, and distantly, the silhouette of a castle stood tall and proud in the background.

I take a mental snapshot of the area. Perhaps, when I get back, I'll paint this scene.

I see Ike step onto the bridge a couple yards next to me.

I whirl around and pull Dusk and Ebon, my blades, out. Ike was already ready.

He held his large golden sword in front of him. With his cape flying and his headband trailing in the wind, he struck an impressive pose.

"Prepare yourself," he calls out.

I grin and motion for him to come. After all, Ike should be an interesting opponent.

"Humph!" he grunts as he jumps towards me. I catch a glimpse of his muscular arms flexing as he raises his gleaming blade to strike. He swings his sword, and I slip into his shadow, momentarily disappearing from sight.

As Ike looks around for me, I appear behind him and slash at his back. He slightly lurches forwards and twists around to smirk at me.

How could I be so weak? Either that or he's too heavy.

I was about to slash at him again to wipe that stupid smile of his face when he suddenly counters my blow and swipes his large sword across my stomach. I wince as I skid back a few feet.

Damn! He's strong.

Although there was no mark upon my waist, the pain stayed for a few seconds, and then left, leaving only a throb as a souvenir.

Although I remember Samus telling me that there is no fear of real physical damage in the stages, I snarl at myself for letting him hit me. If this had been for real, I would have already lost lots of blood.

I retreat quickly to a farther part or the bridge where I would have the upper hand. As he lands behind me in pursuit, I retreat to a safe distance and start to summon my strength into Ebon. He must have figured that I was charging up a strong attack for he started to race towards me, trying to ruin my focus.

Too late.

Spinning in a circle, I swing both my swords and start to do one of my specialty moves, Raven Plethora.

I toss Ebon upwards, and swing Dusk towards Ike, making him hop back. The emblem on my glove glows as I wave the floating blade towards Ike. I hear him gasp as the floating sword flies with blinding speed towards his chest.

He twists to the right as an attempt to dodge, and the flying blade merely cuts his shoulder.

I smirk however, for the damage is already done.

Ike's POV

Ha! My dodging skills are pretty good actually, that blade she threw only cut my shoulder, and it barely hurt! I look up and see Ren standing a few feet away. She raises her gloved hand and the sword that she flung at me flies back into her hand.

Then she starts to run at me. Fast.

I grab my sword and start to charge up my Eruption, but then… what the heck? I can't move my sword arm!

My eyes widen as I look over at my right. From where Ren's sword cut me, shadows that looked like ivy stretched all over my arm and waist, preventing movement.

I twist madly as I try to get the vines off…

Crap.

Ren rushes up to me in a flash and rakes both her blades from my right shoulder to the left side of my waist. The shadow-ivy disappears as I am flung into the air. I flip around to land on my feet only to see Ren charging at me again. Perhaps Ren, the newcomer, will be the challenge that I have been looking for.


Read and Review please! I need help with my fight scenes. xP

- Crystaura