A/N – Welcome back readers! I'm really sorry for the late update. Anyway, due to popular demand, I will continue the story. Any and all suggestions are welcome. I'm really excited that this story is gaining popularity, so thanks a bunch to everyone who reads this.

Also due to popular demand, I may have to do other characters such as Melee rejects and incoming characters. I will, of course do these characters AFTER BRAWL. Once all Brawl characters are done, then come Melee rejects, new characters, the Hand Brothers, and finally, I may do some OCs. I will mention them here and there, but I'm not sure if they should still live in the Mansion. I'll think of something.

So with that out of the way, I don't own anything. NOW ON WITH THE SHOW!

Chapter 11: Red

Pacing, pacing, pacing. That was all he could do. Charizard had been confined to his Poke ball, and now Red was pacing around his room. He could scream with anger. He wanted to take a hammer and just smash down a wall in frustration. Red clenched his fists. He wasn't mad at Master Hand. Sure, he was a little upset at his punishment of not being able to brawl for the next month, AND he had to work with Bowser to plant new grass in the courtyard. No he wasn't mad at that. He was mad at Bowser, and what he had said to cause the fire. Red took a deep breath and replayed the whole thing over in his mind…..

"Come on, Charizard!" Red said to his trusty Pokémon. Charizard followed behind. They were on their way to a training session with Lucario, Jigglypuff, and Pikachu. They had planned for it to be an all-out Pokémon battle, just the four of them. That is, it WAS going to happen until Red turned around and ran smack-dab into Bowser. The Koopa King stumbled back a bit and growled.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Bowser said, rather rudely. He was obviously in a bad mood, a horrible mood to catch Bowser in. Red sighed.

"Sorry Bowser. Look, I need to go, so if I could just pass through…." Red said, but was cut off when Bowser growled and grabbed him.

"Nobody rams into me and gets away with it!" Bowser said back. Whatever was bothering Bowser, it was deadly serious. He was almost never in this bad a mood. Bowser threw Red to the ground.

"OOF! Hey! I said I was sorry. What's your problem?" Red raised his voice. Bowser's bad mood was becoming contagious. He could hear Charizard growling behind him. This concerned Red. He didn't want to get in trouble with Master Hand for fighting in the courtyard, but at the same time, he wanted to get back at Bowser. He looked up at Bowser.

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT MY PROBLEM IS!" Bowser roared and released a string of fire from his mouth. Red had barely enough time to react.

"CHARIZARD, USE FLAMETHROWER!" Red commanded. Instantly the fire Pokémon was in front of Red, breathing fire right back at Bowser. Both fires collided, releasing a string of sparks that floated to the ground.

Not good, not good! Red thought to himself as he saw the sparks. He looked at Charizard and Bowser. Both were focused, determined to win their little contest at any cost. The heat radiating from the struggle was overbearing, and Red was becoming more concerned by the minute.

"Alright, Charizard. You can stop now…" Red said worriedly. The Pokémon didn't seem to hear him, and just kept going. Sparks were flying, and the heat itself was just fanning the flames. Suddenly, the grass below them caught on fire. Bowser and Charizard didn't notice, but Red began to panic. The fire was spreading quickly, very quickly.

"CHARIZARD! RETREAT!" Red shouted as loud as he could. This time, the Pokémon heard him and jumped out of the way. As he did, he saw the damage that had been done. Charizard looked at Red with a look of fear.

Bowser cackled widely before noticing the expanding flames. The fire had covered almost the entire courtyard by now. The fire was spreading so quick, Red wondered if Master Hand used gasoline to water the grass.

Red looked around when something caught his eye. He peered into the forest across the road from the mansion, when he saw it again. The movement was slick, silent, and almost ninja-like. Red shook his head. He had no time to deal with strange things hiding in trees.

Other Smashers began screaming and running. Red suddenly remembered that he had brought his other Pokémon, and immediately pulled out Squirtle's poke ball.

"Go, Squirtle!" Red shouted as he released the Pokémon. Squirtle saw what was happening and acted before any commands were issued to him.

Red saw Snake and Ike burst through the door and drop their jaws. Red rolled his eyes. Come on; don't just stand there, HELP ME! He wanted to say, but he had more urgent matters to deal with. He looked around and realized that the fire was too big and spreading too quickly to put it out with one Pokémon. Red called to Squirtle and Charizard and ran inside with Bowser. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snake rush into the fire. He didn't know what he was doing, and he really didn't WANT to know what he was doing, so he just ran. Once inside, Red sat down to catch his breath. All of the other Smashers were talking amongst themselves. Red groaned and put his head in his hands. Boy was he in for it now.

Red put Squirtle back into his respective poke ball. He was about to put away Charizard when Master Hand came in…..

Red stopped his flashback there. He didn't want to re-live the Lecture of a Thousand Threats. Red shuddered. He was thankful Master Hand hadn't done something truly awful, like completely expel him from the brawl. He loved adventure, yes, but he had made far too many friends to leave now. Red took a deep breath and went back to pacing, but then stopped suddenly.

Remembering the events that had taken place had stirred a memory. He thought back. Something was pulling at the corner of his mind, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Then he remembered it. It was that movement. The movement he had seen from within the fire. The shape was strangely familiar. He had seen it somewhere before, but where.

Red went to his computer and checked the Brawl Database. Maybe there was some information he could use. He had noticed something odd about the shape. It was as if it was running with a long scarf trailing behind it. He looked over the Database. When he didn't find anything, he decided to check the Melee Database.

"Nothing here either." He said to himself. He couldn't just give up; the shape was too familiar to do that. Failing everything else, he finally decided to check the Pokémon Database. He scrolled over it, half expecting to find something when he stopped and smiled. There it was, the figure he had been searching for. He parted his lips to whisper the name to himself.

"Greninja"

A/N – Yay! Happy Mother's Day! Late update is late. So anyway, that's how the fire started, and that's how I'm going to tie Greninja into all of this. Please review, favorite, and follow. Oh, and check out Zrbrcr's profile. So while I'm on The Pokémon Trainer, I might as well start the Pokémon circuit. That means that Pikachu will probably be next. So please, Prepare Yourself.