A/N: The last part of this chapter coulf be a trigger warning. I don't think it's too bad but I warn you anyway. Thanks.
Robin (F) POV
"…..I know you're there. Whatever you're trying to accomplish by hiding…isn't going to scare me."
"Maybe you're right. I must admit it's fun screwing with your mind while you sleep, though."
"Well could you stop?" Your power is fading and you know it. Whatever you tried to do to the Smashers and I has failed." I tried to sound a lot more confident than I was but I could still hear my voice shaking slightly.
"You wish, Spell-caster. My influence extends far greater than you know."
"You would say that. Trying to make it look like you're still in control. You've revealed too much and now I know everything about you."
"Except who I am, who I work with, how I'm doing this, or why I'm doing this. Great work." The voice laughed coldly, echoing around the expanse of the void. "But you do raise a fair point. You DO know too much, Robin. You and that annoying vision guy."
"Leave Shulk out of this!"
"Oh don't worry…I will. I'll take care of you first, I think."
"Why?"
"I thought you'd have worked it out by now, Miss Tactician. It's because you're weak."
I jolted awake, the words threatening to pull me back under. I glanced around the dorm, bleary eyed. Shulk's bed was empty and already made up. Speak of the devil, he walked in from the bathroom, fully dressed.
"Robin, you're awake," he said, sound surprised. "I was starting to wonder if you were gonna get up at all. It kinda makes sense though since you came in at, like, two in the morning."
"Yeah…I had some stuff to do," I muttered. "What time is it anyway?"
"10:30."
"WHAT? You let me sleep until nearly lunch?"
"Lunch isn't until one."
"Shut up, I'm angry with you! Why didn't you wake me?!"
"Well you looked so peaceful sleeping so I didn't want to disturb you," he admitted. "But I did get you some toast from the breakfast hall." I snatched the toast he presented out of his hands.
"And of course I missed breakfast. Perfect start to a perfect day." I bit into the toast. Bone dry. "You couldn't have spread anything on there, could you?"
"My pockets would've got sticky," he said, not missing a beat. It's like he knew I was going to say that. Maybe 'morning me' is predictable? Whatever. I finished the toast, feeling it scratch the inside of my throat as it went down. Great.
"So what's happening to…wait were you watching me sleep?" His face flushed slightly.
"I couldn't help it. I had to make sure you were ok."
"And…watching me sleep helps you, does it?"
"Well you were tossing and turning pretty hard about an hour ago. Was that…them?" I sighed, leaning back onto my pillow.
"Only the female. She kept taunting me about how we knew nothing and that they'd get what they wanted."
"We don't even know what they want."
"She mentioned that too. I think she got some sort of sick satisfaction out of it. And then…" I trailed off, remembering her final words.
"And then what?"
"She said she was going to stop me from interfering anymore." I left out the 'weak' part. 'Morning me' isn't the kind of person to deal with that. 'Me' at all isn't comfortable with it either but I tried to ignore that.
"What does that even mean?" Shulk sat down on his own bed, bemused. "She's going to 'stop' you?"
"Apparently. We can deal with it later."
"Are you sure you can…"
"What's going on today?"
"Well…" I could tell he wasn't happy to drop the subject but did so anyway (probably for my benefit). "Master Hand has called a meeting to discuss the official beginning of the tournament tomorrow. Technical stuff I suppose."
"You do like the technical stuff."
"Yes I suppose I do." Silence, punctuated only by me repositioning myself under the covers.
"So are you going to get dressed or…"
"I think I missed my window to get up today," I murmured, snuggling further under. "It's either get up on time or don't get up at all."
That dream she had must've been worse than she's letting on. I've never seen her so…apathetic. I have to fix this somehow. "If you don't get up you'll miss the meeting. There's lots of tactical planning things I'm sure you'd like."
"When's the meeting?"
"In about five minutes." I was already dressed by the time he could open his mouth in surprise.
"…That was quick."
"I already missed breakfast. I'm not missing that meeting."
"Alright then."
"You told me we were going to be late," I yelled over the din of conversations I could hear. We were once again packed into the meeting room where we'd met Lucas and Mewtwo and (just like before) the noise levels were near deafening.
"I thought you'd get dressed a lot slower," he fired back. "I didn't realise you were 'Sonic fast' or anything."
"Like you said…how could I miss something with so many tactical details? Of course I want to get here on time."
"I should've guessed," he mouthed, now not even trying to compete with the din. Master Hand could create things out of nothing, right? So why didn't he make the meeting hall bigger? But instead he seemed to want me to be squashed up against Wario on one side and the body of Bowser Jr's clown car on the other. I had to watch out that propeller didn't break my shins, now that we were outside of the safety field of the arenas. In other words: not ideal.
Shulk got the better end of the deal, having got swept away from me in the mosh and ending up next to Pit and Palutena. Coincidentally this was about as far away from Mewtwo as one could get (who was levitating next to Lucario on the far side). I was snapped out of my thoughts by a familiar nasally voice.
"Hey could ya budge over, girl? You're on my side of the room." I made the mistake of looking over to Wario, catching the full force of his garlic breath in my lungs. Was he serious right now? We were all packed in like sardines (and in Wario's case, smelled like them too) and there was literally nowhere else to go. He wasn't joking and proceeded to shove me over anyway to make way for his extra girth.
Now I was properly squished up against the cold metal of the clown car, earning a glare from Junior (and the face of his vehicles), before he then resumed stuffing his face with crisps. Instead of focusing on whatever Master Hand was going to say I was going to have to half concentrate on not having my legs hacked at. Before I could ask Junior to possibly move (which he'd likely refuse, the brat) Master Hand appeared on the stage, microphone levitating once more. The conversation died down, alleviating me of one of my discomforts.
"Thank you, thank you," he boomed. "We'll get straight down to business. First, as you all know, the tournament format this year is teams. In other words it's two vs two." Chatter swept back through the masses, some clearly happier than others. I remembered Zelda saying the randomly allotted picks of the doubles format last year had led to some…unfair combinations. Needless to say Meta Knight and Marth had done a lot better than Luigi and Olimar, amongst others. Some of the Smasher's had no doubt remembered this and protested quite vigorously.
"Come on, again?! Moaned Falco. "Are you seriously gonna buddy me up with some skill-less idiot again?"
"Well that's entirely up to you, Mr Lombardi."
"Hmm, what?
"I've taken into account the feedback from the last tournament about my random pairing system so I've decided to scrap it. You may pick your own partner for this tournament." The conversation was no longer a ripple but a surge. Everyone was talking at once, trying to pair up with the best fighters possible. Bowser Jr's clown car sprouted wheels, which he then ploughed through the crowd to where his dad was. Meta Knight vanished under his cape, likely to avoid the onslaught of offers he'd receive.
I wished I could disappear as well. It stood to reason that once all the good fighters had gone, people would then pair up with their friends, which was a front I was distinctly lacking on. I had Shulk (who'd already received half a dozen offers from various veterans), Rosalina (who was in deep discussion with Dr Mario), and Palutena (who'd probably go with Pit).
I was on friendly terms with lots of Smasher's no doubt, but it never got to the point where we'd be considered friends. I got on well with Fox despite his cockiness but he was already leaning towards either Marth or Samus. Olimar and Luigi were likewise taken. Lucario and Mewtwo appeared to have already joined forces and it was clear the other Robin and Lucina were together. It was little consolation once Master Hand managed to calm everyone down again.
"Yes I can see the response is much better this time. Once your pair has finalised your choice, make your way to the main hall with the scoreboard and write your pair down. Please do this by the end of the day to avoid last minute scrambles tomorrow when I organise a schedule. Now, secondly. Items will still be active during the tournament." A few more groans. "Yes, yes I know but they serve to liven the action up a bit. Those with less skill can have a chance at victory if a smash ball sails their way, hm?" Silence. Everybody loved the smash ball. A chance to unleash ultimate power onto an enemy or humiliate them by crushing their victory? Everyone had their own reasons. No one was going to argue its inclusion.
"Good. I've thrown a few special items into the running to give the audiences a little surprise. It'll be a surprise to all of you as well, I think, as it won't be revealed beforehand what I've put in." More chatter, speculation probably on what 'special items' Master Hand had included. "The tournament will be 3 stock, as usual. Does anyone have any questions so far?" A hand sheathed in blue latex shot up from the crowd. "Yes you still have to do a victory pose, Samus." The hand went down. "On that subject, you'll have to work on your victory poses as a team and coordinate yourselves. Don't mess it up or viewers won't root for you. Taunting is still allowed but don't abuse it. Stages will be selected at random. Other than that I think that's about it. Gather in the courtyard tomorrow after breakfast. That is all." Just like last time he vanished, leaving the room to descend into pandemonium once more.
I made a beeline straight for the exit, the noise levels having already shot up past uncomfortable. The hall wasn't much quieter but was at least cooler: so many jostling bodies in an enclosed space made it feel like Ylissean summer in there. I felt a pang of homesickness but tried to ignore it. Right now I needed a plan of action. Except…I didn't have one. At least with the other Robin pairing with Lucina people wouldn't be able to pick him over me in terms of ability.
"Hey wait, Robin!" I turned to see Shulk burst out of the room, looking relieved. "I thought I lost you for a second."
"Lost me?"
"Yeah I was wondering if you'd like to pair up with me."
"What?"
"For the tournament."
"I heard you…but what? I thought you'd want to go with a veteran with more skill than me like Link or Mario."
"Robin, you're my best friend here. Why would I not pick you?"
"…"
"And if it makes any difference I think you're more skilled than any of the veterans. You're a tactician in the military and have worked on the front lines. You've got the know-how. With my visions and your forward thinking, we'll be a great team."
"Wow, um…I…I didn't know you had so much faith in me."
"Why wouldn't I?" I opened my mouth to reply but he quickly interjected. "Wait don't answer that! Positive feelings are what we need to win, Robin. I believe in you and you should too."
"…Thanks. I guess."
"More enthusiasm, please."
"Thank you, Shulk." Before he could react I was hugging him. I'm not really sure why but it seemed like the right thing to do. Thankfully he didn't object (and in fact returned it).
"Come on. Let's go work on our victory poses somewhere." I released the hug, shooting him a quizzical look.
"Yeah what's that all about? Why do we have to do them and why doesn't Samus like it?" He beckoned me to follow him.
"Well you know that all of our matches are broadcast to everyone, right?"
"Um…"
"Master Hand broadcasts every match live out of the pocket dimension the mansion is in to everyone else in the universe. Anyone who has a receiver will pick it up. The idea of the world's greatest heroes and villains competing to see who the best is apparently very popular, hence why Master Hand shows the masses."
"Ok. I'm with you so far…I think. But no one back home will be able to watch the matches because we don't have screens."
"Neither does anyone in Skyworld but they've got magically generated viewing portals instead. Palutena uses them all the time to watch where Pit goes on quests. I'm sure you've got a similar thing."
"Well we do have magic users but I don't know about viewing portals. I'd be interested to find out."
"Great. Before I forget, at the end of a match the teleporter doesn't take you back to the courtyard right away. You instead go to a separate area where those that won can pose and the losers clap."
"…What's the point of that? I think I'd feel very self-conscious if I had to do that."
"It shows people who're watching that we're people to root for and make them like us more. It can help influence peoples bets on the winner amongst other things."
"Is that why Master Hand does it? To make money? Running an operation like this can't be cheap," I mused. Shulk just laughed.
"Seriously, Robin? He's Master Hand, remember? He can create things out of thin air and that includes money. He's got basically an infinite supply of the stuff. Besides who'd he pay? We're in a separate dimension and he runs everything here by himself. Money's meaningless to him."
"That sounds irresponsible. What about inflation?"
"He's not reckless. Just…disconnected."
"Wait so all the coins in coin battles…?"
"All real."
"What's to stop someone stealing them?"
"Nothing really but you'd have to teleport out unseen with them. No one's going to do that."
"Yeah I guess."
"Anyway back to our victory poses. You got any ideas?" I shrugged noncommittally.
"A few. Nothing too flashy. We don't want people to get the wrong impression."
"What've you got in mind?"
"Well…it goes like this…"
"This was a good result!"
"I've got your back… Do we have to keep doing this?" I asked. "I feel ridiculous."
"No way! I think we both look cool. Besides we haven't quite got that timing right. Again, Robin." I looked at our reflections in the mirror. This must've been at least the 40th time we'd done the routine and (considering it was only a few seconds long) the feeling of boredom was beginning to set in. Shulk was still insistent that we perfect our three versions so we kept rehearsing.
"I can change the future!" Shulk yelled, swinging the Monado out in front of him.
"Ha. Checkmate."
"Perfect," Shulk enthused. "The audiences are gonna love us.
"My lines sound so cheesy," I muttered. "Are you sure they don't make me sound like a silly?"
"Well…maybe."
"Then can I….?"
"But I think they add to your charm." If I wasn't in front of a wall spanning mirror I might've blushed. "I don't think you can pull off a super serious fanfare like Meta Knight or Captain Falcon but this is good in its own ways, trust me."
"Um…thanks. I guess."
"We can't all be dark and mysterious or hardcore but we can be ourselves. That's what people want, right?"
"Why're you asking me? You clearly have a better grasp of the situation than I do."
"But some dumb reassurance is always nice. Now let's try number two again." I held up my hands in defence.
"Shulk, we're fine. We don't need to practice this stuff anymore. We've got our silly taunts worked out and…"
"I'm really feeling it."
"Please stop doing that. You're weirding me out."
"…Sorry."
"Whatever. We should be doing actual training instead of this PR crap. As much as the public loves us, if we don't win our matches then they won't see our victory poses, right?"
"Yeah I guess. Speaking of training, I've got a chess match with Lucario soon so you'll have to do your own thing until whenever." I raised an eyebrow. "What? Mental training is just as important as physical training. You know that…"
"Sure. You'll just use your visions to cheat, right?" Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.
"I like to think I'm fairly honorable. Maybe you could go and write our names on the scoreboard so Master Hand knows we're together?"
"Do you want me to do your laundry while I'm at it?" I could almost see the sarcasm sail cleanly over the top of his head
"…But all our laundry is automated."
"Never mind. I'll see you in…whenever you finish chess." I turned to leave but he caught my arm.
"Don't think this is me abandoning you, Robin. I'd love to train with you but Lucario's a hard guy to persuade once he's made up his mind. He was very insistent on how his aura and mine compare or something like that."
"No I completely understand. We can't hang out all the time, right? That's ok."
"…Thanks for understanding. Give me a shout if you need anything."
"Sure." I resumed my exit, thankful to finally be away from those ridiculous exercises. What'll Master Hand think of next? Adding music when we pose? I wouldn't put it past him.
After several minutes walking I eventually reached the main hall once again. A few Smasher's were milling around between the marble columns or checking the teams on the scoreboard. As I got closer I could see all previous scores had been erased, giving everyone a clean slate. In other words: it was getting serious.
I looked around at the names so far that were listed. Around half the slots were already taken by the looks of things. Mario and Yoshi. Samus and Meta Knight. Robin and Lucina. There were less obvious pairings but one in particular caught my eye.
"Palutena and Mr Game and Watch? Huh. I thought she'd go with Pit."
"So did I." I turned to see Pit himself staring at the names. "She said we needed to be in other groups to maximise the chances that Skyworld would have a winner."
"So you're not with Dark Pit either then?"
"No. Pittoo's gone with Link just to annoy me."
"What's wrong with Link?" I asked.
"…It's a long story. But hey I got to go with Zelda to annoy Link so it all works out."
"Right…" The angel wandered off, probably to hang out with Ness. I'm pretty sure he went with Lucas seeing as how happy they were to see each other.
I dug around in my coat pockets for some paper to write our names on but ended up with some of my pancake from the other morning instead. Gross. I also managed to find some keys, a pencil, an elixir, a speed wing, my Smash bros. initiation letter, and a tonic I'd long forgotten the purpose for.
Come on I must have some parchment somewhere. I continued to stumble around, considering ripping out one of the pages in my thunder tome to use or writing on the back of my letter. Luckily it didn't come to that as I my fingers grazed a papery surface at the bottom. I thought there was only a single scrap but to my surprise another three fell out onto the floor. I quickly gathered them up and was about to shove the excess back down to the recess of my coat when something caught my eye.
There was writing on one of the scraps. I didn't remember writing anything down recently so I began to read out of curiosity.
"Robin.
I promised to help you in any way that I could and now I hope to deliver. I believe I have some valuable information to further this investigation. Meet me as soon as you can at the back of the library. Trust or tell no one. I don't think she's the only one.
S."
I stared down at the note, feeling almost queasy. Who was 'S'? How had the note gotten into my pocket? Actually that one was easy. We were so jam packed into the meeting hall earlier and jostling for space someone could've quite easily slipped something into my pocket.
I quickly scrawled mine and Shulk's names onto the blank piece of parchment I was still holding and stuck it hastily onto the board. I looked both ways but the hall was still mostly empty. What the hell did 'trust no one' mean? Presumably exactly what it said: 'trust no one'. Well as long as I didn't run into anyone on the way to the library I wouldn't have that problem. Luckily I could still remember the way thanks to all my late night browsing.
"I don't think she's the only one." That line really bothered me. Who was 'she'? The female voice that continued to taunt me in my nightmares? It sounded ominous enough to be plausible. Shulk and I already knew she wasn't working alone thanks to his controlled visions and the sighting of the elusive male voice. Was that who 'S' meant? And who was the male voice anyway? It was distorted whenever we heard it, same as the female so no clues there. It was clear he was in charge, though. Ordering around the other and calling the shots. Maybe I'd find out who they really were when I got to the library? I was going to find out soon.
Shulk POV
"Check."
"Hmm." The Aura Pokémon moved his bishop back between his king and my own bishop. "Smart play, Shulk. Are you sure you're not using your visions?"
"Wouldn't you know if I was, what with your aura abilities?"
"Yes. But I also like to ask to encourage honesty," Lucario explained. "Besides I'm holding back on my abilities same as you to even the field."
"...Knight down to F4."
"Castle to A6."
"…"
"…I think we've reached a stalemate. Or have we? Pawn to…" I didn't hear the rest of his sentence for the world had taken on a blue glaze. A vision had come to me. At first I couldn't see anything. But then as my eyes became accustomed to the gloom, I could see the blackness was swirling. All there was, was that swirling dark purple fog that I saw before. No wait. I peered closer. In the centre of the vortex was a body, face contorted in pain. No…it can't be…
"Robin…NO!" I jumped up, scattering the pieces. Rather than berating me, Lucario's face was deadly serious.
"I sense it too. Your friend has put herself in terrible danger."
Robin (F) POV
"Hello?" I whispered. "S? I got your message." No response. The library was seemingly deserted. And yet I had that prickling sensation on the back of my neck. The one you get when you feel like you're being watched. I shrugged it off; libraries always had that feel to them. That's never usually a surprise but now I wasn't feeling so sure. "S?" I wandered through the sections, the noise of my footsteps vanishing into the carpet.
"…Nhhm." A groan. It was close, only two rows from the back.
"S?" I peered around the corner. I quickly took stock of the scene, my breath catching in my throat. There was a body on the floor, unmoving. The body in question was that of Shadow the hedgehog. "Shadow?!" I quickly kneeled down, checking for any signs of broken bones. Thankfully there weren't any but he was still unmoving.
"Unghh…" He moaned, trying to stretch his leg unsuccessfully. Now that I looked closer it appeared to be bruised in some way.
"Shadow! Shadow it's me! Who did this to you?"
"Nghhm."
"Shadow, it's Robin. Who did this?" His eyes opened a crack. His gaze was unfocused like he was dazed somehow.
"Nhhhgh…Robin…run….trap…" His eyes closed, letting him slip back into unconsciousness. I stood up, as if seeing the library for the first time, properly. I was acutely aware of everything. It's like when a wild animal knows something's wrong. That prickling sensation was near burning now, screaming to me to run. But I wasn't going to leave Shadow here, alone.
"So you're not going to run? How noble."
"What the…?" And then there was only pain. Pure, raw pain coursing through my veins. All around me the darkness had gathered, slamming me backwards into the bookshelf, sending books tumbling out. It pulled me upwards so I was at least a foot off the ground, suspended by a tightening force at my neck.
"It's a lot less fun if I don't get to chase you. You ruined my fun and so I'm going to make this that much more painful."
"Rghaaghhhhh." It was unbearable. Every single cell of my body was on fire, begging to be released. I tried to clutch at the pounding in my skull but my arms were frozen by my sides. I could only watch in horror as the swirling blackness gathered at my feet, slowly rising up my body. Its very presence was agony, let alone it creeping upwards. Every millimetre it consumed sent spasms through my nerves but I couldn't move at all. That itself was painful.
"I warned you, Robin. I told you to stop interfering but of course you didn't listen. Now you're going to pay the price." The shadows were up to my knees now, slowly rising evermore past my thighs. I could feel the blackness in my mind, corrupting me. Everything I was, was being undone, I could feel it.
"Ugughhgh…NO…" I forced all my remaining energy into my arms in an attempt to break free but the grip was vice like. Immovable and incredibly painful. I could feel my vision starting to blur from the intensity.
"Oh? Where's this famous tactician I keep hearing about?" The voice mocked. "All I can see is this sweaty, quivering mess. Pathetic."
"Hrrrughhhh…hgh…help." Black spots were beginning to dance in front of my eyes before consuming me completely. The pain. Too much. No one was coming to help. The shadows were past my chest now, slowly corrupting more of my body. "Aghhrrr…who….youarahggnnnn…?"
"Who me? Someone you won't even remember in a few seconds. Someone who tried to make you take the easy way out. I'm not sorry it had to come to this. It's your own fault." It was at my chin now, slowly lapping at my mouth like waves on a beach. I could feel it force its way past my lips and into my throat but I didn't even have the energy to cough as it began to choke me.
Through my remaining pinpricks of sight I could see the remaining shadows were melding together. They rose upward and peeled away from the floor to take a three dimensional form. The slowly pulsating mass rearranged itself into a body, tall enough to make eye contact with me without jumping off the floor. It was also a body I knew.
"Y-you…?!" The blaze of crimson red that I could only assume were its eyes through my haze bore down on me.
"Shh, Robin. Your will is broken. Goodbye, Spell-caster. It's time for you to take your final bow." The blackness finally reached my eyes, washing over them and into the rest of my mind, finally granting me release from the pain. Then…there was nothing.
A/N: 28 chapters gone already? I'm building up quite the collection here. Whether that's a good thing is entirely up to you but I assure you this fic isn't over yet (we've still got that tournament jazz to do. I wonder who's going to win?) Don't you hate it when someone writes a fic, doesn't plan ahead, and then has to retcon everything to make the plot make sense? Classic.
I understand that the ending to this chapter was fairly intense and if that distressed you in anyway I apologise. I personally think I kept it to an ok level but if you weren't ok with that just let me know.
The pairing up of the fighters into teams can be paralleled into fire emblems 'pair up' system. Robin's final Smash is called pair up and is a pair up with Chrom. Why doesn't Pit like Link? In the 'Palutena's guidence' conversation about Link he express's a rivalry with Link. Figures.
Anyhoo on the subject of plot holes, it was pointed out to me (and I'm sure anyone [like 3 people] who played Awakening) that there could potentially be some discrepencies in Robin and Rosalina's exchange in the last chapter. Worry not, pals, for I will resolve such a situation by...explaining it. By the way, MahNati, you're totally not nitpicking. I can see you raise several vaild points which is why I will attempt to ease your mind.
Firstly, on my play through of awakening, I never married Lissa (who's Chrom's sister) to anyone. No one seemed right for her so I just didn't. Hence from Robin's point of view without Lissa marrying and producing an heir, Robin is in a bad position to marry Lucina as they can't produce an heir either. Secondly, I married Chrom to Sumia (as you do) but due to poor planning I accidently let Cynthia (Sumia and Chrom's future other daughter) die in battle so Lucina was an only child because of that. Bloodline stops with her.
Third, Lucina was from an alternate future and so when Grima was defeated, that timeline never came to be. So where would Lucina travel to if she went forward in time? Maybe because the timeline changed Lucina is able to travel there with no trouble as events have changed to compensate. Or maybe she ceases to exist. Robin has no way to know if Lucina actually made it, only that she tried to travel there. Remember Robin is probably paranoid that Lucina may not have made it at all (afterall, time travel is serious business).
4th, why didn't Lucina go back as soon as her baby self was created. I just the 'back to the future' model of thinking, where changes happen slowly and aren't always obvious. Hence why it may have taken time for adult Lucina to release that her prescence was having an adverse effect. 'Back to the future' isn't exactly the most reliable but is at least respect throughout the sci-fi comunity for being an amazing film so that's why I used it as my template. It was either that or Doctor Who and that show borders on the hilariously inconsistent at times. Of course there are other holes but with Awakening (and anything invloving time travel) there's going to be. There should be tons of horrific paradoxes ripping Ylisse apart but for the sake of the plot there isn't. Anyway, hopefully I cleared up some potential holes there.
So I won my first online tourney...as a Waluigi Mii. So satisfying. Have any of you played tourney mode? What's your thoughts on it? Advice from me: don't choose a tourney with customs on. I played a guy who had auto heal on and all speed and then they rolled across the map. Impossible to beat strategy on a big map (this was bridge of eldin).
Whoever this was...not cool. There's no honor in playing like that, kids. I got to the finals of another one and it was 3 vs (cos the 4th guy quit). It was 3 stock but it was a timed stock. Me and another were down to two and the other had one. Timer ran out. Guy with one stock won because he was the one to KO us. In other words he was doing worse than us but still won. Come on. But it's forgiven because I won my first tourney with a Waluigi mii. Take that, everyone who didn't vote for him in the ballot. I didn't either but shhh.
MahNati: You can totally nitpick. You can be my unofficial lore checker or something. If anything you help me be consistent so thanks for that. Also the reason I didn't marry Lissa to anyone...you know the reason ;) There's only one person for her. Watch Inside out. That isn't a suggestion.
MinerKombat: Your words make me feel awesome. Thanks, brah/sis. Also didn't you review way earlier once back in the early chapters with suggestions of fighter pairings in the tournament? I might use one or two of those if you don't mind.
Heman2000: I'm a big fan of ace attorney as well. Do I want Phoenix in Smash? Maybe not but at least he's in Marvel vs Capcom. I did notice the 'objection'. I wondered what it was about and now I know. Shulk is a defensive character (though if the opponent has projectiles you should stay close) so countering is a part of his style. Just don't over use it. You look silly. Airslash is Shulk's best killing move outside of a smash. I used to use him a lot. Not so much anymore. Guest user has posted a lot of things. I don't really know what to say about that. PS is your Wii U ID Heman2000 as well? I think I saw you somewhere and I just wondered.
Yugiohfangirl: You can comment whenever you feel like. All thoughts are good (except the Kardashians.) Your schedule sounds awful. Should've taken German over Spanish 're the driving force in Europe right now or something crazy. Thanks for your continued support and I will, indeed, see you later (or at the next chapter if you feel adventurous.)
Wiltarrow: That isn't the only trick I'll be playing. There won't be plot twists for the sake of it (like some fics I read not one minute before posting this) but I'll keep you on your toes. It's no fun if you know everything before the end. That's why it's called the end.
Guest: I'm glad you're loving the story. PS maybe you could change your name from 'guest'. I feel strange calling you guest all the time.
Now, words of wisdom from PozzyP. I play for glory. I also play for fun. In both my experiences there are certain things you should and shouldn't do. I present to you my list of do's and don't in Smash4. This probably makes me look like a condescending twat but we're all Smash brothers (and sisters) and I want to help out my fellow players. I think ZeRo said that once. I can't be sure. Anyway, most of it is just common sense (and yet I'm guilty of half of these things. Crazy.) but you'd be suprised.
DON'T: Dash attack on shield. It doesn't work, kids. You set them up for grabs. This is really for little Mac/Falcon but others do it.
DON'T: Dash attack immediately in sudden death. Come on really? Who does this?
DO: Tech. Teching is your friend. Hit shield right before hitting the ground after an attack sends you there to right yourself immediately/Roll away. Very useful.
DON'T: Fast fall past the ledge. You'll miss and chances are you're recovery won't be enough. Bad way to lose.
DO: Spot dodge. Not as predictable as rolling but don't overuse or they'll catch on.
DON'T: Abuse the rolls. You look silly and it's annoying. Don't say it's a mindgame. It isn't. Also don't roll into someone charging an attack (although it's VERY satisfiying if someone rolls into a fully charged smash). Speaks for itself.
DO: Attack out of shield. You don't have to spot dodge or roll when you're in shield. Attacking may suprise your enemy.
DON'T: Pick Link if you want to be my friend. Ok that's not a real one but I stand by it. Link's skill cap is so low anyone can pick up and be great with him. But, you say, isn't that the point of Smash bros? To be accessible to everyone? If by accessible you mean projectiles everywhere all the time and rolling then yes (Robin gets dangerously close to that with the rolling out of thunder charging). I've said it in previous A/Ns and I'll say it again: stop picking Link! I will never respect a Link main, no matter how 'good' they are. I will also never not dump on Link, So sue me.
That raises a question for me and now you: Who's the one character you absolutely hate to play against? I don't mean who you see in for glory all the time (Falcon *cough*), I mean who would you rather never play against in a match, be it competitive or otherwise? Let me know in a comment. Mine's Link, but I'm sure you know that by now. My profile says it, my author notes say it. Don't pick Link, kids. Pick your favorite character. If that's Link then...well played. Have a great day, pals.
P.S. I won a second tourney as a mii of Winnie the Pooh. Good times.
