Chapter 10:

A Dark Omen

GAME SET!

Bass blew the smoke that came out of his cannon as King K. Rool plummeted into the cool waters of Delfino Plaza. The black robot smirked as the crowd cheered him on. The king of the crocs wasn't as strong as he anticipated. Despite his size and somewhat menacing demeanor, King K. Rool was clumsier than Bowser. A few punches and a charged shot sent the obese croc flying to a much needed bath. The robot watched as Kritter wept for his 'fallen' king, making him scoff.

"Pathetic." He thought as he scanned the crowd. Eyes occasionally stopping at a fighter. "All the people here just a bunch of weaklings. None of them are actually worth my time." The golden finned robot glanced up, soft blue eyes meeting his piercing red ones. "Except for one of course..."

Megaman continued to stare back at the black robot. The two had fought many times in the past and in each fight, both seemed to get stronger and stronger. Now, Megaman, or Rock, if you prefer, had fought many robot masters...But none like Bass. The black robot had turned on Wily countless times, but his goal always remained the same. The blue bomber hadn't the slightest clue why he tried and tried again, hoping to finally defeat him. What was it that drives him so? Was the title of 'the strongest' really that important to him?

"Rock, are you okay?" The blue bomber turned to his sister, her eyes filled with worry.

"Don't worry about it Roll." He said with a smile on his face. "I'm just thinking. That's all." Roll kept looking at him. The started to sweat under the robot girl's gaze. No matter how hard he tried, his sister always managed to read him like a book.

"It's about Bass, isn't it?"

Silence.

The blonde sighed. Of course it was. When Master Hand announced that Bass was going to fight, Rock looked like he was gonna short-circuit. She had heard her brother talk about the golden finned robot many times and she had watched them duke it out hundreds of times...

"Rock, calm down..." She said, putting a reassuring hand on his arm. A sad smile graced his lips.

"I am calm...It's just...I'm just so tired of this." Roll looked at the blue bomber quizzically. "Why is Bass so set on beating me? Ever since we met, all he talks about is defeating me to become the strongest...He's gone against his own creator, several times I might add, just because he wants to be the one to due me in." Rock sighed as he watched Bass float away on his platform. "I just want it to end..."

Roll couldn't help but feel sorry for her brother. Bass was...a very strange case. He held respect for humans, like them, but still sided with the guy who want's to take over the world. Was it his programming? No way. Bass's betrayals were proof that full-time loyalty wasn't built into him. Even though he helped Wily, the black robot did things for his own agenda...

To destroy Megaman...

And take the title of the strongest...

Isn't that what this tournament is all about? To become the ultimate smasher?

Heh...Irony's a pain.

"My lord," Litnor said as he followed his master's gaze. "why those that robot intrigue you so?" Orvus watched Bass with interest. Their was something about that robot...the way he fought was cold, merciless...Apparently not ALL the villains were sided alongside him.

"I'm thinking he could make an excellent candidate for our alliance Litnor...Did you not watch his fight? He reminds me of myself when I started fighting..." Litnor could of swore he saw a ghost of a smile on the card dealer's face. Unfortunately, it quickly faded as he turned his attention to his cards.

"My lord, you're not thinking about...her again. Are you?"

...

Litnor felt a cold sweat form on the back of his neck. He gulped when he felt the icy cold kiss of shadows. Orvus glared at him, darkness and shadows lashing out of his body and enveloping him in a small hurricane of darkness. Litnor could feel those midnight purple eyes glaring into his soul. Eyes that sent even the most powerful demon running back to Hell. However, it died down as the card dealer growled.

"I thought I told you not to mention her..."

"M-my apologies my lord...I didn't mean to-" Orvus hushed him.

"Forget it. But now my suit's ruined." He said looking down at his now tattered clothes. Even his hat showed some wear n' tear. "I'm going to need a new one. Go to my quarters and fetch me my spare." The masked demon nodded before disappearing into a flash of darkness.

Orvus sighed. Litnor was one of the few demon's he respected, but he could still do things that irritated him. He placed his hand in his back pocket and took out an old photo...

"It's been years...Is there still hope Ariel?..."

Ike, the leader of the Greil Mercenaries watched the roulette begin to spin as he sat on his seat. Ike looked a bit different than he did in the last tournament, now deciding to wear his "Hero" clothes for this tourney. The hero of blue flames subconsciously gripped the hilt of Ragnell as the characters continued to spin. Ike had been wanting to battle all day! And he had to admit, he was starting to get antsy.

"Come on...Please be me..." He said, his grip tightening.

"I didn't think you were one to get antsy Ike." The mercenary jumped when he heard that soft voice next to him. Standing there was a familiar hyrulian princess. The mercenary smiled.

"Zelda. It's nice to see you again." The hylian smiled as she took a seat next too him.

"The pleasure's is all mine...You look different than last year." She said, noticing the mercenary's change of wardrobe. Ike chuckled as he tugged at his clothes.

"This? Oh, just thought I'd come a bit more ready for battle this time." He said, earning a chuckle from the princess. "Where's Link?"

The princess pointed up. A few seats above them, Link and Pit were both chatting ecstatically about the next tournament... well, Pit was at least. Link, being the man of few words he is, listened carefully to the flightless angel.

"Pit stole him from me." She replied, earning a laugh from the mercenary.

"Can't really blame the kid. Link was practically his first friend when Brawl started." Both of them smiled as they remembered how Pit was when they first met.

You see, Pit was very shy when he first joined the Smashers. He was amazing on the battlefield, but people noticed he was very self reserved. Even more than Lucas. It wasn't until Link er...talked to him that he started becoming more like the goofy and happy Pit we all know and love.

You see, Link was the silent type. He only spoke when necessary and that wasn't often, so Link only responded to anything the angel said very few times. However, it was Link's silence that seemed to break the ice.

Unlike the others that tried before him, Link listened more to what the angel had to say. Sure, at first it was difficult, seeing that Pit didn't talk much at first too, only usually saying 'Hi' to the twilight hero, but Link treated him like a friend. He would help him whenever he needed something, helped him train many times, but it wasn't until a certain run-in with a gerudo king that their friendship was set in stone.

Unfortunately, that is a tale for another day.

"It still amazes how much he changed..." Ike said, smiling at the angel. Zelda nodded. Link truly was capable of very incredible things. However, the princess' expression turned solemn, which did not go unnoticed by Ike and someone else sitting behind her. The mercenary sighed.

"Something big's gonna happen, isn't it." The hyrulian princess sighed. Ike was good at reading her.

"I felt a disturbance even before I was invited to this tourney..." She said, looking down at the Triforce of Wisdom on her hand. "And it keeps getting stronger..."

"Ganondorf?" Zelda shook her head.

"No...Something even worse..." Ike's eyes widened. Ganondorf was probably the most vile competitor in these tournaments...How could anything be worse than him? "I had a dream before I came here...A man cloaked in darkness rose with an army by his side. Standing in his way was another cloaked in light, with an army of his own. The dark one's shadow lashed out an took two of the light one's men. He consumed one...and turned the other into one of his own. The light one saw this and his light burned brighter than ever... he jumped towards him and then...that's it." Ike stared at her.

"THAT'S IT?!" He said, making the princess jump. "YOUR DREAM ENDS THERE?!" The hyrulian nodded, dropping her head in shame.

"I"ve consulted it's meaning with the wisest sages of my kingdom, but so far..." Ike sighed.

"No avail..." He finished for her. "How many people have you told?" She glanced at Link, then back at Ike.

"Only Link and you. Though I'm afraid I'll have to consider speaking with Master Hand about it." The mercenary nodded.

"Excuse me," A voice behind them said. They turned to see Tsuchi, twirling one if his guns in his hand. "but if you're talking about that surge of power that happened all of a sudden, I'd be more careful if I were you." Ike looked at him strangely.

"Surge of power...?" He said, causing the gunslinger to roll his eyes.

"Yes." The princess said, startling him. "I just recently felt a strong surge of darkness nearby. However, I did not know someone else felt it as well." She said, eyeing the gunslinger suspiciously.

"I have a friend back in Altea who's a mage." He said bluntly. "I must've picked some stuff up with him." Zelda wasn't convinced, but she let it slide.

"Altea? Isn't that the place Marth's from?" Ike asked. The hooded mercenary chuckled.

"Oh, so you know that douche of a prince too?" He asked, earning a bit of a glare from the two. "Yeah, I know him. I'm mercenary who's been a part of his army for a while. Can't say I'm really fond of him, but he pays well." He took lit a cigarette as he spoke. "The name's Tsuchi. Ring any bells?" The princess put a hand on her chin.

"Now that I think about, I do recall Marth mentioning that name once..." She said. Tsuchi blew out a puff of smoke as he glanced at the altean king from afar.

"Meh...Probably saying shit about me." The two raised an eyebrow.

"You have issues with Marth, don't you?" Ike asked, earning a chuckle from the Altean mercenary.

"You have no idea.. and what about you two? What are your names?"

"I'm Ike."

"My name is Zelda. It's a...pleasure meeting you." The mercenary chuckled before blowing out another puff of smoke.

"No need to be so polite. I was never fond of formalities." He said, looking back at the prince, Caeda (or Shiida as she has been called throughout the story) and Kaze. "I still don't see what's the big deal about this tournament...It seems fun and all, but it's kinda ridiculous..." The veterans smiled, which did not go unnoticed by the gunslinger. "What?"

"Should we tell him?"

"I don't see why not."

"Huh?" Was all Tsuchi said. Ike smirked as he leaned on his Ragnell like a cane.

"Tsuchi, do you know why we fight in these tournaments?" The mercenary shook his head, causing Ike's smirk to grow. "It's because we love fighting together, but some of us are too proud to admit it."

"Say what now?" Tsuchi said. Zelda glared at the hero of blue flames, before turning to the confused mercenary.

"It's not like that...At least, not so literaly." She scanned the audience, her eye occasionally stopping at a contestant. "When Master Hand first created this tournament, he summoned some of the greatest warriors to battle each other for one reason..."

"Too prove who was the strongest..." Tsuchi finished, earning a smile from the princess.

"Correct."

"However, while the main goal of the tournament was to simply find out who was the strongest, it ended up becoming much more."

Kaze and Caeda both listened to the altean king tell his tale.

"What do you mean Ouji-sama?" Kaze asked. The king smiled at the both if them.

"It's hard too explain..."

"Come on Marth." Caeda said as she leaned closer to him. "It couldn't possibly be that difficult too explain. Can you at least try?" The prince winced as both Caeda and Kaze gave him the most adorable puppy-dog face ever seen. He bit his lower lip before sighing.

"Fine. It's like this. The first smash tournament was different than this one. I don't know all the detail, seeing that I wasn't there, but I know enough to explain it to you guys." The two nodded. "During the first tourney, the smashers only encountered each other when they fought. There wasn't a mansion or anything like that. They would live their lives normally until they'd be randomly telleported to a fight." Kaze tilted her head.

"So they didn't know when they'd fight?" She asked. The king nodded.

"Nor did they know who they were gonna fight." Marth looked up at Master Hand, who was patiently waiting for the roulette to stop. "Captain Falcon told me that Master was a bit...sadistic at the time." He turned to his two comrades, both giving him a weird look. "It wasn't until Master decided to kick things up a notch that things started to change."

"What happened?" Caeda asked.

"Master Hand put the original smashers in a world he crafted, one that combined the most dangerous parts of all their worlds. Their goal was simple: work together to reach him and then fight him." Marth paused. "I don't know the details...but to summarize, the smashers didn't get along very well at first. Samus was a loner and no one understood Pikachu, Kirby, Donkey Kong or Jigglypuff because the translator wasn't invented yet. Mario and Luigi were the only two who understood Yoshi and the green Mario Bro. was afraid of everyone. The only ones who actually tried to work together were Mario, Captain Falcon, Fox, Ness and Link."

"Jeez...Was it really that bad?" Kaze asked, prompting the king to shrugged.

"From what I've heard...worse." His two friends winced. It was a pretty bad thing to imagine.

"What happened next?" Marth opened his mouth to talk when a *click* interrupted him. All eyes turned to the roulette, which had finaly stopped spinning.

If there was one word to describe how Master Hand felt, it would probably be "horrified".

On one side, Falco Lombardi, but on the other...

"H-how?" The hand thought as he trembled. What kind of omen was this?

The final match of the day was set.

Falco Lombardi v.s. Orvus Creig.

Hey everyone! Been awhile since I've written one of these. Just wanting to give you guys a few heads-ups

1. I've been noticing a lack of reviews since I started posting again. I'm not one to complain about something like that, but it's been starting to bug me for a while. I'm not gonna turn into one of those guys who only makes the next chapter if he gets a certain amount of reviews, but it would be a bit of a motivational booster. So R&R please!

2. I've started a poll on my account. You see, after this story and Jotkoh, I plan to write a spin-off. But I'm having trouble deciding what it should be about. I know I should focus on my current stories for now, but I just wanted to see what you guys would like! So please vote, but just know that the top voted option might NOT be the first one written. It depends on how my story progresses, but the order is pretty much decided with the votes.

3. I'm pleased to announce that Jotkoh is now out of hiatus! I'm beginning to write the next chapter as we speak, so it should be out by next month. That and another project I'm working on :)

See you next time!

Silver Lion is out!