Over a year of frustration, disappointment, and waiting leads to this battle. I'm about as excited as you are.

Black Shadow and Phoenix rematerialized at Final Destination. Phoenix was feeling pretty good about his victory, but didn't want to boast. Many, including Captain Falcon, were moderately impressed. Black Shadow was utterly mortified.

Most of the large group cheered as Phoenix walked over.

"That was something," said Fox.

"Yeah, that was fun to watch. Good job," Banjo commented.

"I shocked myself in that fight, believe me," Phoenix said, looking for a good spot. During his look, he passed Falcon. They looked at each other. Neither pilot spoke, but they could each feel a kind of mutual respect for one another. Falcon nodded, as if to say, "You did good". Phoenix nodded, as if to respond, "Thank you."

Master Hand returned to the platform after 3 minutes of light chatter.

"Phoenix moves on to the next round. Evil guys have no luck, right Black Shadow?"

Black Shadow said nothing.

"Yeah. Let's keep it moving. Shadow Mario versus Peach. Let's go."

Peach stood up. She knew this fight was going to be weird, and tough.

"Yes! It's my turn now, Dad! This victory will be for you!" Bowser Jr. said, quickly getting up, brush in hand.

"Don't be so sure, 'Shadow Mario'. I mean, look what happened to your father," Mario called out.

"You be quiet! Just watch. I'll win. I have to."

Both Peach and Bowser Jr. walked to the center of the platform. The Koopa Prince put on his mustache mask and prepared to transform. He jumped several feet in the air doing countless somersaults. The fighters noticed that he seemed to remain afloat whilst flipping. In a matter of seconds, he began to shine a bright white which caused many in the area to shield their eyes. When they could see again, there were two somersaulting figures. Shadow Mario flipped right beside Bowser Jr. They both landed at the same time. Shadow Mario looked at Bowser Jr. with glowing, red eyes, and a distinct air of curiosity. Bowser Jr. wondered how and why this happened. He was complete with his own paintbrush.

"The randomly selected stage was Station Square. Are you two ready to battle?"

Peach eyed her mysterious opponent while nodding. Shadow Mario nodded as well. The two vanished instantly.

(Station Square is the city hub featured in Sonic Adventure. It very closely resembles downtown Manhattan. This stage is situated like Fourside, with platforms being the roofs of tall skyscrapers. There are 5 of them, with the tallest being 2nd from the right. In the background, the sun is setting behind the ocean.)

Shadow Mario and Peach appeared on their respective platforms. Both examined their surroundings.

"Ready?"

The two landed.

"GO!"

Shadow Mario jumped up high, from the tallest building, and looked down at Peach. He began to paint a ball of sludge in his left hand, vastly decreasing his descent. Peach plucked a turnip from the ground and waited for his next move. Shadow Mario chucked the sludge at Peach at an angle. She jumped onto the building in front of her. The sludge behind her made a tiny, icky explosion on contact, and covered half of that building's roof in pink, slippery sludge. Shadow Mario still had plenty of airtime and began to paint another ball of sludge. Bigger this time. Peach continued her advance. She ran and jumped atop the next building, the longest and second tallest, narrowly avoiding a fairly large, icky explosion. Shadow Mario began to paint his last ball. Peach jumped to the tallest building and threw her turnip straight up, as hard as possible. Shadow Mario threw his sludge ball straight down. Both projectiles canceled each other out, and now it was just princess against imposter.

Shadow Mario tumbled backwards, quickly, with brush extended. Peach quickly sidestepped and grabbed him before he could land. She slapped him repeatedly (and if anything ever felt good, that was it). Utilizing her newfound anger, she became a raging fireball, burned Shadow Mario multiple times, and slapped him with all her might. He didn't fly very far, but he did have 19 percent damage dealt. He retaliated with an aerial roundhouse kick to her head. Following that, he slashed diagonally forward with his brush, painting a portion of the ground in red sludge. The sludge emitted small flames (and Peach was burned as well). Peach floated above the sludge and started to remove her crown for a powerful strike. She swung. And technically missed.

At the moment she attempted the strike, Shadow Mario turned into a small bubble, glowing black and blue. In this state, it was like he was in another dimension, and couldn't be attacked. And he could move in any direction he wished. He chose to fly up a bit, leaving a few afterimages in his short trip. After regaining his normal form, he made a full vertical stroke of the brush, splattering Peach all over with a paint of pink and yellow mixture, doing a measly 4 percent of damage. She was disgusted.

Gross! This paint better run, or he'll be sorry he ever became his own creature!

A Star Rod appeared on the building farthest left. Peach turned around and jumped, while Shadow Mario assumed bubble mode. Peach noticed that her jumping height was roughly halved; the paint was a bit heavy. She also noticed that when she landed, her traction went straight to hell. She decided to float the rest of the way. But Shadow Mario could fly slightly faster than Peach could float. When he reached the rod, Peach was on the building right beside it, still covered in paint, and holding a turnip. He swung it horizontally with one arm and launched a star. Peach quickly sidestepped to avoid it.

He fired another. Faster and stronger. Peach quickly sidestepped to avoid it.

He began to coat the floor of his building with blue and yellow paint. Peach's paint ran off, so she jumped and threw her vegetable. Shadow Mario jumped and launched a quick star. The vegetable broke through.

Not good for Shadow Mario.

The turnip was her strongest, the dreaded "stitchface". It landed a direct hit on his face, dealing a brutal 36 percent damage and knocking him a good distance (just enough to get magnified). Peach took out another turnip and prepared to edgeguard.

A Crate appeared on the second tallest building. Shadow Mario took immediate notice. To address the small matter of getting there, he double-jumped forward, rapidly somersaulting in the same direction. Peach followed his ascension and threw her turnip at him. Shadow Mario assumed bubble form; the turnip went straight through. He flew forward. Peach followed him atop the buildings. He flew as fast as she could run, so trailing him wasn't very hard. By the edge of the 3rd building from the left, Shadow Mario returned to normal, and started to fall. Peach prepared an upward Smash. When she realized that he wasn't going to attack, she canceled her Smash and jumped after him. Shadow Mario grabbed one of the edges of the tallest building (think Fourside) and quickly jumped. Peach was right on his semi-transparent tail.

Until that Star Rod hit her in the face.

Shadow Mario chuckled and continued toward the Crate. When he eventually reached and broke it, a Metal Box, a Cloaking Device, and an Invincibility Star emerged. He got all 3. Now he was an invisible, metallic, invincible danger zone. (The invisibility was ruined by the sparkling, but still, it was menacing.) Peach stood atop the tallest building and stared at the heavy, invisible, invulnerable imposter. He ran towards her. She kept staring. A Bunny Hood dropped in front of his run, and it was picked up.

She kept staring.

He ran faster, leaping extra high upon reaching the edge.

She still stared.

Shadow Mario was 25 feet above Peach's head, coming down fast and preparing an unstoppable assault. Peach weighed her options.

If she jumped forward, he'd get her.

If she jumped backward, he'd get her.

If she tried to dodge, he'd wait, then get her.

If she attacked...well, duh.

That left only blocking. Well, let's see how that worked out.

Peach shielded lightly and prayed. Shadow Mario fell and barraged the shield, first reverse somersaulting before landing to strike with the brush. He made a full vertical stroke, covering Peach's shield and most of the roof in dark green sludge. A millisecond before the invincibility wore off, Shadow Mario grabbed her. Then he painted her blue and yellow all over, and whacked her away when he was done, dealing 7 percent damage. During her flight, she came into contact with a Poison Mushroom, rose too high, and was KO'd.

Shadow Mario looked around for any other items in the vicinity while Peach revived herself. There was a Screw Attack on the building in front of him and some type of shiny, blue, rodent-looking item on the building behind. Peach revived where the Screw Attack lay, so he went for the other one. Peach picked up the Screw Attack first, then sought revenge. She saw Shadow Mario go after some strange item, and didn't know what to expect. She decided to wait atop the tallest building.

He was staring at her. It gave her the wrong kind of chills, opposite of those the true Mario instilled. The stare-down lasted until the Bombchu blew up by her feet. The Screw Attack was dropped. Shadow Mario easily got a hold of it, and went after the princess. Peach, who had garnered 26 percent damage, hadn't flown very far, and tried to counterattack. Her aerial spin connected. But that was all.

His incredibly high jumps effortlessly claimed her 2nd life.

Peach was revived. She had to kill him at least once. She owed him that. But he was too good. How could she possibly overcome this fake? She didn't have that much time to think, as Shadow Mario was already after her. He was atop the tallest building and coming down on her, above the 2nd tallest building. A Bob-omb appeared at Peach's feet, sitting stationary. She picked it up. Shadow Mario extended his brush downwards, and looked as if he was about to make multiple brush strokes. Peach threw the bomb into his attack; the resulting explosion just barely heated up her crown.

Shadow Mario was sent flying diagonally up, and lost his first life.

As he revived, Peach cheered. It was about time. Could she survive long enough to do it two more times? He had revived on the building to the left of Peach. There was a distinct playfulness in his eyes previously, even with the glowing redness. Now he was just angry. The glowing seemed more intense. Peach felt that she was in for a world of trouble now.

Shadow Mario made another vertical stroke, but Peach jumped right before the red, flaming sludge reached her. He coated his roof with dark green sludge as Peach floated above his head. The imposter jumped up and backflipped, kicking Peach and rising above her. She tried to double jump after him, but he followed his previous attack by somersaulting and bringing both feet in a 50-degree arc, Meteor Smashing Peach into the sludge. She was quickly covered in it, and the effects appeared to be the same: increased weight and greatly decreased traction. Peach tried to run and jump to the next building, but she moved much slower than normal, and the roof's slipperiness coupled with her already low traction caused her to be moving slightly backward.

Oh no...

Shadow Mario landed and grabbed Peach, covering her in more sludge, colored blue and yellow. She became heavier and slower, and as an added effect, was electrocuted every 2 seconds, with each shock dealing 3 percent damage. He didn't bother to throw her. He just made another vertical stroke at close quarters, not only damaging her, but covering her in red sludge, adding to the previous effects and burning her every second, dealing 1 percent damage. At this time, Peach could barely move, and was getting 6 percent damage every 3 seconds. And that's without all the jabbing Shadow Mario was doing with the pointed end of his brush. The pain was like nothing she ever felt before, and tied with being KO'd for the worst pain she ever experienced.

The paint completely ran off after 12 seconds, after which Peach had accumulated 62 percent damage, which, added to the initial kicks, made a grand total of 83 percent damage done. Before Peach could perform her downward Smash, she was jabbed hard by Shadow Mario's forward Smash, another poke with the brush's opposite end. It dealt 12 percent damage and knocked her all the way to top of the tallest building. She landed on her back. She could see a Hammer towering above her. She quickly got up and grabbed it, embracing its rampage. She jumped off the building and eyed Shadow Mario directly below. He still looked angry, but she didn't care. She came down with vengeance. It was going to feel really good bashing this freak's head in. And he was just standing there?

But...why?

Shadow Mario jumped back and unleashed his Fire Flower. He used it to push Peach against the wall of the tallest building, and then just watched her descent. Embarrassing couldn't begin to describe what just happened to her. By the time the Hammer wore off, she was a foot from the blast line, with no way of getting back up. She'd been bested. But at least she got him once. Shadow Mario couldn't help but chuckle.

"Game!"

If anything ever took forever, that was it.