Chapter 7: Test of Wills

There was a virtual battle stadium in the Mansion, something that was strange to the Displaced Knight, if they had a stadium that can change its environment with nothing but a button press, why do they still use swords?

The Star Warrior and the Displaced Knight stood at opposite of the electronic stadium, the base of the stadium being null black and the ring outlines being a dull neon green, Meta Knight looked as stoic as ever, his sword resting beside him, James on the other hand had his axe unhooked, ready to face impossible odds.

"Prepare yourself False Knight, for I will teach you a lesson in humility…" Meta Knight growled, intimidating James as Meta Knight's unnerving yellow eyes looked deep into James soul.

"…I am not giving up." James responded as suddenly a voice chimed in, causing the Displacement knight to jump in response.

"Welcome! Welcome! Choose your stage fellow combatants!" The voice asked as a holographic screen appeared in front of James and Meta Knight, broadcasting a wide variety of stages that either fighter can pick.

James recognized all stages, they were all playable stages in Smash Bros. 4, and James didn't want to pick a gimmicky stage, so he just picked Final Destination which was James favorite stage, Meta Knight on the other hand, picked the Halberd stage, his home stage technically.

"My my! Two different stages!? Let's see what the roulette wheel chooses!" The Announcer yelled in a excited tone, quickly the two stage selection screens disappeared, being replaced by a holographic roulette wheel, one side of the wheel was the Halberd Stage and the other side had the final destination stage.

The wheel spun, it was fast at first but second by second the wheel got progressively slower and slower until a stop, to James luck, it was the Final Destination.

"Final Destination stage it is! Ready up Combatants!" The Announcer shouted as he began to count down, Meta Knight laughed devilishly as he got into a battle stance, James also attempted the same, refusing to use his sword and instead rely on the battle axe.

'Finally, a fight where I can understand, a Smash Brothers fight…Be confident for once James…You can do this…This fight means nothing, I don't have to be afraid of dying or causing others to die…'

"3…" Immediately, the null black and dulled neon green stadium began to morph and shift into a platform with an endless abyss below and an endless abyss above the platform, one side of the platform was crisp and chill like a stone-cold tablet, while the other side was heated and burning, like a lava bed.

"2…" The announcer slowly said as the background for the stage began to form, featuring a planet slowly closing into a sun.

"1…" Meta Knight appeared on the fiery side while James appeared on the frozen side of the platform, James growled as despite his doubts about his chances of victory, he wasn't going to give up.

"I hope you know how to use that sword, and that Hammer." Meta Knight pointed out, James inwardly cursed himself when he realized that he still had Regis's hammer, which could give him an edge in this battle if he knows how to use it effectively.

"GO!" The announcer yelled, immediately Meta Knight dashed forward, using his wings to propel himself forward to James, the Displaced Knight growled as Meta Knight came in, slashing James right in the chest, before James could retaliate, Meta Knight did his signature shuttle loop attack, swooping upwards to dodge an axe swing from James.

Meta Knight remained in the air, landing back to his original spot, James charged to Meta Knight, axe raised, Meta Knight parried the axe swing with his golden sword, before disappearing with his cape shroud.

'Got to be patient James…' James told himself internally as Meta Knight appeared behind, quickly slashing the Displaced Knight in the back and then kicking him back near the edge, James stopped himself before he could fall into the abyss.

"Where is the fight within you False Knight?" Meta Knight sternly taunted, James growled as he attempted to Cleave Meta Knight in two, turning around with a wide and deadly axe swing, Meta Knight once again did another Shuttle loop, flying upward like an uppercut attack, this time staggering James, and leaving him unbalanced and unsteady

"Hmph, your form lacks strength, sort of like you." Meta Knight scoffed while he was in mid-air, he swooped in ready to slash James once again.

Meta Knight swiped his sword in a vertical strike, only for James to surprisingly, grab the Star warrior's sword by the blade, James growled in pain as he gripped the sword within his free hand.

"What!?" Meta Knight exclaimed as he tried to pull the sword out of James grasp, he even propelled himself backwards with a gust of his cape-wings, only for the sword to still remain in James grasp.

"I'm tired…Of being weak and inexperienced…Despite the shell I am now…I fear of losing my life and causing other lives to be lost…But in a place like this?" James said with almost calculating whisper, his eyes darkening to the point that his helmet had just a black void within the insides of his helm.

"I am going to fight…Which means…You're going to…"

"DIEEEEE!" James roared wrathfully as he dropped his axe, on the ground, curling his free hand into a fist.

*CRACK!* was all James heard as with plenty of might, punched away Meta Knight before he could do his dimensional shroud attack, Meta Knight went flying, tumbling on the ground only about a foot near the icy edge of the stage.

"Disarming?! How disgusting, a true knight would never resort to such dishonorable tactics." Meta Knight growled in rage as his gloves was weaponless, James couldn't believe it himself, he never did something like that…It was…Dishonorable and unruly, but then again…

"You said it yourself…I'm no Knight… But I'm a…MONSTER!" He roared as he dropped Meta knight's sword on the ground, quickly brandishing his own sword against the blade-less Star Warrior, James Motioned for Meta Knight to come to him.

Sure enough, Meta Knight did, quickly propelling himself forward with his cape wings, James growled as he knew that the Star Warrior wasn't going to be direct.

"Drill rush!" Meta Knight shouted as he spun around in a narrow drill-like tornado, without Meta Knights sword, his attack wasn't as effective, he spun against James, the Dishonored Knight laughed violently, absorbing the hit with relative ease.

"My turn!" James howled as once Meta Knight stopped spinning, he smashed Meta Knight to the ground, Meta Knight quickly used his Dimension shroud to avoid being sliced by James sword.

"…I thought Knights don't run away?" James questioned as he felt confident enough to wield the axe along with his sword, he growled as he simply paced back and forth, waiting for Meta Knight to come to him.

"Shut your mouth!" Meta Knight shouted back, suddenly, the announcer chimed in, summarizing the action.

"Seems like it's a stalemate between the irresistible force and the immoveable object, let's see who comes out on top in the end!" The Announcer roared in enjoyment

"Drill Rush!" Meta Knight yelled, doing the attack once again, James then charged, wanting to clash against the Star Warrior.

"DIIEEEEEE!" James shouted, using his deep and monstrous voice to his advantage, Meta Knight smiled inwardly as he then stopped mid-way, quickly using his dimensional shroud once again.

"WHAT?!" James exclaimed as he was then slashed in the back multiple times before getting drill rushed right in his back, the Displaced Knight roaring in pain as he knew for sure that Meta Knight got his sword back.

Meta Knight propelled himself back to avoid being attacked once James turns around, but when the Displaced knight did turn around, he threw his axe at the Star Warrior, Meta Knight barely dodged the axe by using his shuttle loop move.

The axe was still flying as it was thrown into the black void, James didn't care, he readied his newly-acquired weapon, the Hammer of Regis, despite being made of stone and concrete, it was as light as a pillow for the Knight of Dishonor.

"…You shouldn't have done that!" James roared as he began to sprint to Meta Knight, the Star Warrior was confused at first, until he realized that Shuttle Loop makes him turn into a helpless state!

"…No…" was all Meta Knight said as he struck by the Claymore of Dishonor and the Hammer of Stone, causing him to go flying, about twenty away from the platform's edge, luckily, Meta Knight was able to recover, flying towards the edge and grabbing onto it.

Meta Knight huffed tiredly, slowly getting on the platform as James began to taunt the Knight, who was fully focus on the fight.

"Get up, I'm still standing…" James barked at the Star Warrior, Meta Knight slowly did, he got into a battle stance once again.

"I told you…I wasn't going to give up…" The Knight of Dishonor said in a chilling tone, before Meta Knight could respond, a smash ball appeared right between the two combatants, Meta Knight without a word quickly began slashing the smash ball.

'Oh no…' James said internally, quickly he threw the Hammer of Regis at Meta Knight, the Star warrior effortlessly dodged it right before breaking the Smash ball.

"This could be the end!" The announcer chimed in as Meta Knight was now basked in a golden aura.

"Time to end this…" Meta Knight said, quickly disappearing by the usage of his dimensional shroud, James looked around frantically, as he knew what's going to happen next.

"I'm up here!" Meta Knight called from Above, James gasped as Meta Knight was up in the air, he propelled himself downwards as he activated his final smash.

"Galaxia Darkness! Behold my power!" He said as he covered James completely with the shroud of his cape. There was complete darkness…And silence, an eerie tone began to take over.

James knew what was going to happen next, a mere second later, James was slashed with a mighty swift strike by Meta Knight! If it weren't for James armor, he would most likely be sliced in two, James fell down to the ground, completely defeated as Meta Knight heard clapping, Meta Knight was confused to hear such a thing, there has never been any spectators anymore ever since their numbers dwindled.

"And your winner is…Meta Knight!" The Announcer said as the stage morphed back to the original stadium, Meta Knight saw at the sidelines, Palutena, Pac-man, Pit, and Wario, all clapping politely at the performance for both fighters.

"Good job Meta Knight! Looks like you still got it!" Palutena said as she gave Meta Knight a thumbs-up, Pac-man almost jumped for joy when he saw Palutena do this, joining in as the Hero of Pac-land gave Meta Knight a thumbs up.

"Wah wah wah! Although Wario can do better, You two were pretty good!" Wario said as he was now eating from a large family-sized bag of potato chips.

James got on his knees as he was struggling to recover; Meta Knight only stared at the Knight of Dishonor.

"You fought well…Knight." Was all Meta Knight said as he cloaked himself with his cape.

James couldn't help but to stand up to Meta Knight and bow respectfully.

"As you do…As expected from the Leader of the Smashers."

XXXXXX

Lucina knocked on her Mother's door.

"Please…Mother…We need to talk this out…" Lucina said as she attempted to stay strong

"Come in…Lucina." Was all the blue-haired Heroine heard, she did so, opening the door and entering inside, she saw a messy bedroom on par with Palutena's, there on a messy blanket-ridden bed was Robin, she was still crying.

"I'm sorry Mother…For getting mad at you…" Lucina started but she was cut off.

'I'm sorry too…When Rob left…I knew it was an omen for us to leave too…" Robin admitted, Lucina frowned as she tried to not start crying when she mentioned Rob.

"I can understand that…I didn't want to leave because we're a family…And a family is supposed to stick together…" Lucina said as she sat beside her mother, looking down to the wooden floor to avoid eye contact.

"…I personally know who killed Rob…" Lucina added on, Robin sighed as she was too depressed to even respond to such a statement.

"Me and James fought him, if I knew beforehand that he was Rob's murderer, than I would've killed him, no matter if James tried to stop me…" Lucina admitted, Robin stared at her daughter.

"Lucina…That…Knight that you brought in…You weren't mad at him for sparing Rob's killer? Even after knowing that fact?" Robin questioned, Lucina was a bit taken aback.

"Well…We all make mistakes…And his mistake was letting him go…" Lucina answered, the two Ylisseans looked away from each other, not wanting to face each other and see their devastation.

"I miss Rob…" Was all Robin said as Lucina could hear her, she was out-right sobbing; Lucina began to well up in tears and without much of a second thought, quickly embraced her mother, wanting to show that she cares for her mother, despite the arguments, despite the fights, she wanted to show to her mother that she loves her.

Her mother was completely silent as Lucina hugged her, Robin then began to sob more so, hugging back her daughter, accepting the gesture.

"I miss him…Too…" Lucina responded, her tears rolling down her face.

"Lets…Agree to this...We're going to fight the new threat to this world…For Rob…" Lucina suggested as she rubbed the back of Robin's head, she sniffled and even gag before going into eye contact with her daughter.

"For Rob…" She said before crying once again, they were warriors, war heroes, but deep down, they can be just as sorrowed as any other normal person.

"I love you…Sweetie…" Robin said weakly, as she kissed Lucina on the cheek as an attempt to show motherly love, Lucina couldn't help but hug her mother.

"I love you too…" Lucina said as despite all of what happened…She felt…Strong…Not physically, but as if her emotions weren't taking over, she felt awful and horrible yes, but she wasn't as…Broken as her mother was, not to say that her Mother was a weak woman, but Lucina was handling the loss with a bit more silence rather than sobs and wails.

The two spent the whole half hour in silence, embracing one another and letting each other know that it's okay to cry for their loss.

"Are you ready to go out to seek the others Mother?" Lucina finally asked her Mother, she gagged and wiped her tears before finally answering with a nod, Lucina smiled lightly as she wiped her own sadness away.

"Good…Remember…This is just a scar…Scar's won't heal, but with time we'll accept it." Lucina said as she took her mother's hand, the two slowly walked out of Robin's room to go to the main hall.

To their surprise, no one was there…As if they all went to watch the battle between James and Meta Knight.

"I guess we're going to wait for the rest to come back…" Robin concluded as she was quick to take her seat, Lucina was also going to take her seat, but it was a knock on the front door that alerted the Blue-haired Heroine.

"Do you want to get it Sweetie? You don't have to, surely one of the toad helpers will do it…" Lucina shook her head as she walked to the front door, she opened it, only to her surprise it was Bowser's son, Bowser Jr.

"Hey there! My Daddy told me to go here!" Bowser Jr. said as he was still in his clown car, his Magikoopa care-taker Kamek tailing right behind the Prince of the Koopa Troop.