"This looks like the place," Richter said to himself as he walked up to Smash Mansion. Part of him still worried that the whole thing was a trap. Past experiences had taught him to be very careful. He had considered rejecting the invitation outright, but Annette had convinced him to take it. She thought it would be a good change of pace for him. Richter felt some kind of presence near him and stopped the recollection. He readied the Vampire Killer and looked around.
"Well well, it looks like we have another vampire hunter here," Bayonetta said. She was sitting on the roof of the mansion. She leapt off the roof and descended gracefully, aided by a pair of large butterfly wings that emerged from her back. Richter looked at her shadow, which appeared to belong to someone else entirely, someone who wasn't human. He prepared himself for a battle. "My, you're just as rude as the other one too. Surely you can tell the difference between a witch and a vampire."
"If you're with the forces of darkness I'll fight you anyway," Richter said.
"Cheeky aren't you. Vampires are just too dull for me, but we can still have some fun. Though the hand might get cranky if I don't take you out to dinner first. Come along now fledgling, let's get this tour over with," Bayonetta said. She walked up the steps and pushed open the front door, letting it close behind her as she walked in. Richter kept on guard as he opened the door and followed her inside.
At the very least Smash Mansion had a friendlier décor than Dracula's Castle, it looked like a place the living spent time in. Richter kept the Vampire Killer ready as he followed behind Bayonetta, who seemed to be making a point of pretending Richter wasn't there. She reminded him too much of Shaft and the series of events that definitely put Richter as the laughingstock of the Belmont clan. There was failure and then there was reviving your own enemy.
The first stop on the tour was one of the lounge rooms. There were a few couches and chairs around the center, a TV (Bayonetta called it that but Richter didn't bother asking what it was), and some tables. A woman with the symbol of an eye on her white shirt was seated on one of the couches while a small blue anthropomorphic hedgehog sat on the other end playing a few notes on a guitar.
"Hey Bayo, is that the new guy?" The hedgehog asked. Before Richter could react, the hedgehog was in front of him and extending a hand. Richter shook it. "Sonic's the name, speed's my game."
"I'm Richter Belmont."
"Oh, are you Simon's cousin or something?" Sonic asked.
"Simon?" Richter asked. He had an ancestor with that name, but he didn't know of any other Belmonts who were still alive.
"Must be a coincidence I guess," Sonic said. The woman on the couch got up and walked over to them.
"You can call me Sheik. It's nice to meet you Richter." They shook hands as well.
"Well now that we have that out of the way, I think we should get going," Bayonetta said.
"Sounds like somebody's in a rush," Sonic said.
"Like you're one to talk hedgehog. Though if our little fledgling wants to take his time then I'll kick back for a bit," Bayonetta said. She jumped over the couch and landed on it, with her legs covering the armrest. Sheik gave an irritated sigh in response.
"Is she always like that?" Richter asked. He pointed to the armrest that was now a legrest for emphasis.
"Unfortunately, yes, and she is far from the most disruptive person here," Sheik said.
"Hey, don't be so hard on her. She's just got her own style. You have to respect someone who doesn't compromise on stuff like that," Sonic said. "So what do you do in your free time Richter?"
"To be honest I just train whenever I'm not goofing off. It helps me clear my mind," Richter said.
"Do you like listening to music?" Sheik asked.
"Haven't had too many chances for that, well aside from Maria and Annette singing. The two of them are great singers, makes me wish I had that kind of talent. Vampire slaying stops being cool when you run out of vampires," Richter said.
"That's the paradox all heroes face. Victory means a world where you're no longer needed, more people here deal with that feeling than you'd expect. Still, if you're skilled enough to be here I'm sure you can pick up some other skills. Why not try learning some form of music? I could show you how to play a harp, and Sonic is a skilled guitar player," Sheik offered, gesturing to Sonic's guitar.
"I'm up for showing you how to play a few notes if you want. Sheik knows some cool magic that works with music," Sonic said.
"You say that, but you turned down learning how to use it yourself," Sheik said.
"Just because it's not my style doesn't mean it isn't cool, or that it isn't Richter's style," Sonic said.
"Well now I'm definitely interested. Maybe you could teach me how to play the guitar and Sheik can show me some of that magic. I can try to teach you some of the magic from my world in return," Richter said.
"That would be nice. We should let you get on with your tour before Bayonetta becomes too complacent. Just message us when you have time," Sheik said.
"You mean with this thing?" Richter asked, pulling the smart phone out of his pocket. He had read the instructions for the smart phone, but found them too confusing to understand.
"Maybe you should do a test run of it here. Just press the red button and wait for the screen to light up, then press the icon in it that reads 'public chat,'" Sheik said. Richter followed the instructions and watched curiously as the smartphone came to life. He pressed the icon he had been told about and the screen changed to show lines of text with names next to them.
"That's the main chatroom, everyone gets to post there. You used to be able to set a nickname there, but it got scrapped after a few incidents. Try sending something to introduce yourself," Sonic said. Richter was about to ask how, but he saw the letters pop up on the screen. There were also a variety of different symbols to use. He quickly got used to the interface and sent his first post.
"That is a… great quantity of emojis," Sheik commented when she saw the post.
"Ha, I like it. Anyway, just press that arrow in the corner when you need to back out of something. It can also do direct messaging between people and make calls, and it has an alert system too if you ever need help. A lot of people struggled with it at first so don't be afraid to ask for help," Sonic said.
"Now that I'm actually using it this feels a lot easier to understand. I'll get in touch with you guys later," Richter said.
"Shall we get on with the tour then?" Bayonetta asked. She kicked herself up to a standing position and moved out to the hallway.
"See ya," Sonic said as Richter moved to follow Bayonetta down the hallway. Richter was able to quickly draw a map of the mansion in his mind during the tour, a little trick that had been passed down through the Belmont clan. Dracula's Castle kept changing its layout so that skill had taken the place of just handing down a map of it.
"There's something you should be warned about fledgling," Bayonetta said. "Some of the other newcomers are being rather naughty. Dark Samus has really soured the mood here, and she's just such a bore on top of that. Try not to let her or her goons gobble you up. You can always run and hide behind the better Samus if you get too scared."
"I thought the invite strictly said no fighting outside of scheduled matches?" Richter asked.
"You should read more carefully little fledgling, it said no fighting in the mansion. There's nothing against taking little trips to other worlds and fighting there," Bayonetta said.
"Well if they know what's good for them, they'll keep out of mine," Richter said. He hadn't realized he was putting his world in danger by accepting that invitation. Then again, if Master Hand could get to it there were probably others who could find their way into Richter's world. At least now he could be prepared if invaders from another world appeared. Richter would have to intensify his training in case that happened, another failure was not acceptable.
"Naughty children never know what's good for them," Bayonetta said. They walked through the hangar and out to the field on the left side of the mansion. There were courts for different sports laid out in the distance. At the moment two people were using the field for training. One of them was a boy with blue hair in a top knot and a tank of blue ink on his back, the other had a whip that looked like the Vampire Killer. Actually, when Richter compared them he saw that it was in fact the Vampire Killer. The two strangers turned to look at Richter and Bayonetta.
"How do you have Vampire Killer?!" Richter and the other whip user shouted at the same time, entering their similar fighting stances.
"Really Belboy? We have enough noise already without your screaming," Bayonetta complained.
"How many times do we have to go over this? It's Belmont, Simon Belmont. My family has fought Dracula for generations, the least you could do is get our name right witch," the man said. Richter's eyes went wide as he pieced things together. It seemed impossible, but he was in another world after all.
"Simon Belmont? The same one who defeated Dracula twice?" Richter asked.
"Yes, you could say that I did that. Now why do you have the Vampire Killer?"
"Because I'm your descendant, Richter Belmont." Simon looked down at his Vampire Killer and to Richter's. The two of them stared at each other, whips lowered.
"You know, this isn't even the first time someone met their own descendant here, so don't go thinking you're special or anything. Master Hand likes to take people from different points in time for some reason, he's quite a strange one," Bayonetta said. She circled the two of them like a shark, obviously amused by the turn of events.
"I take it Dracula and his servants are still a threat in your time?" Simon asked.
"Yeah, don't worry though, I beat them back. I made some screw ups, but everything turned out all right in the end," Richter said. He looked down at his Vampire Killer, he couldn't bear to mention what happened with Shaft. Not in front of one of the greatest Belmonts.
"Hey, I'm here too," the blue haired boy said. Now that Richter had a closer look parts of the boy's hair looked more like tentacles.
"Oh, sorry, what's your name?" Richter asked.
"It's Nept," the boy said. He got into a stance that looked somewhat similar to the one Simon had gotten into and made a face that was most likely supposed to look tough. Richter could spot several weaknesses in Nept's stance.
"Nept, why don't you go run to the lake and back?" Simon suggested.
"But that's so boring," Nept said. He immediately reverted to standing normally.
"It builds stamina. Now go," Simon said. He crossed his arms and gave Nept a stern look. Nept sighed and started running, still carrying the ink tank on his back.
"You're really putting that little one to work," Bayonetta said.
"He asked for training, he's getting it. That's all there is to it," Simon said. He kept his arms crossed as he shifted from watching Nept to giving Bayonetta a very unamused look.
"Something tells me the little one doesn't feel the same way. His constant prattling about 'mister Belmont' is getting a tad irritating." Bayonetta said.
"So, uh, sorry to interrupt, but how are we going to handle this time travel weirdness?" Richter said.
"Just treat me like anyone else here, I've never been one for formalities anyway. If you're here you must have some accomplishments to your name worthy of respect. I'm looking forward to fighting by your side, or against you," Simon said.
"Nah it'd be kind of boring to have a fight with both of us in it, I stuck pretty close to the old family techniques. No point in a fight with identical fighters," Richter said. He tugged on his headband.
"Oh my, sounds like somebody is a little scarred grandpa is better than them," Bayonetta said. She was right, but Richter wasn't going to admit it.
"Just ignore her. A battle between us would be a great way to refine our ancestral style. Take some time to get adjusted first, but I'm sure there's much I have to learn from you," Simon said.
"Yeah, sure, I'll see you later, need to get my room set up and finish this tour so I can get rid of her," Richter said, pointing to Bayonetta with his thumb. He turned away and walked back into the mansion, clenching his fist. He wished Annette, Maria, or even Alucard were at the Mansion. At least Alucard couldn't be disappointed even further. The rest of the tour went by in a distracted blur that concluded in front of his room. Which was right across from Simon's room. The potential for humiliation was far too high.
"Well fledgling here's your new little nest, have fun decorating it and don't come crying to me for help. It's Simon's job to let you bother him now after all," Bayonetta said. Richter didn't bother giving a response that he knew would be either ignored or used as further ammunition for teasing.
All of Richter's belongings were in the room, waiting to be unpacked. He already had all the furniture he needed: a bed, shelf, desk, and chair. Richter's dagger, axe, and cross were all hung on the wall opposite of his bed. His pocket watch was placed on the windowsill by the bed while the bottle of holy water and bible were placed on the shelf. Vampire Killer was kept at Richter's side for the moment, but a spot on the wall above the head of his bed was set aside for it, since he would have to sleep at some point. He had tried sleeping while holding Vampire Killer once, the night after he was freed from Shaft's control. It did not end well. With the weapons out of the way Richter put his spare clothes in the closet and the ancestral scrolls on the shelf. Last were the papers and pencils for when he wanted to write letters back home. Annette and Maria had both forced promises out of him to write frequently.
There was a knock on the door. Richter didn't bother wondering who was on the other side when he opened it. Which was good since he didn't recognize the woman who had been knocking. "Hello, you're the newcomer Richter, right? My name is Peach, princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. I wanted to come and say hello, I know how much of a handful Bayonetta can be at times."
"Yeah that's me. It's nice to meet you, your highness," Richter said.
"Please just call me Peach." Peach put her gloved hands together and looked around the hallway. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about. May I come in?" Richter stepped back and let Peach in, who closed the door behind her.
"What is it you wanted to talk about?" Richter asked.
"You see, there's a museum in town that Master Hand has contributed a lot to, and he has powers that lets him enter our worlds at any point in time. So, there's an exhibit about your world with information from your future, and about what you went through. If you don't believe me, I can take you to see it," Peach said.
"I don't think I want to see it. I guess if Master Hand could bring Simon here from the past it makes sense he could go to the future too."
"Simon feels the same way, I heard he had the quite reaction when he first saw the exhibit on your world. I think the exhibit may be more detailed than either of you would like, it mentioned… what Shaft did to you after your first fight against him," Peach said. Richter's hand went right to the Vampire Killer, then returned to hanging at his side since there wasn't anything to fight.
"At least Simon doesn't know," Richter said. He tried to make his body less tense, but his hand wouldn't leave the whip. Shaft had gotten him when he had just dropped his guard.
"I don't think he would judge you for it, you're family after all. I know what it's like to have your own body controlled by someone else. You don't have to say anything about what happened, it'd hurt for me to talk about what my experience was like too. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone with this. I know this is all sudden, but if you need to talk with someone who experienced something similar, I'm here," Peach said. Richter hadn't been expecting that reaction. Annette and Maria had both asked about what it had been like being possessed, Richter had found it difficult to describe it to them. He had no problem confiding in either of them, it was just something only those with firsthand experience could truly understand.
"It's creepy how hard it is to remember what you actually thought during the possession. Makes it hard to know what you really believe sometimes," Richter said. He often heard the words Shaft made him say echo in his head. What was his purpose now that Dracula was gone for the century? He had never thought of that before Shaft controlled him, then the question became inescapable.
"And how strange it feels to move even a little bit afterwards, it felt like my arms were attached to strings the day after I was freed," Peach said.
"I was worried I couldn't walk anymore for a few seconds. Glad it didn't turn out like that, the whole thing was bad enough already. Doesn't help that the one who broke the spell fought alongside one of my ancestors, I don't want to think about how pathetic I must seem compared to Trevor," Richter said.
"You sound like Simon, he's talked about struggling to live up to Trevor and Leon's standards before." Peach said.
"Why would Simon need to worry about that? He beat Dracula twice, in my time he's listed among the greatest Belmonts," Richter said.
"Everybody has their own doubts. You're a Smasher now, that means you have your own strengths too," Peach said. A ringing sound came from her pocket, Peach pulled out her phone and gave Richter an apologetic look. "Sorry, this looks important. Hello, what is it Snake? K. Rool is doing what?! Well I guess he's not harming anybody now, but keep an eye on him. I want you to look into how he built that machine too, and if he's building anything else like that." Peach ended the call and turned to Richter. "It looks I have to go now."
"What happened?" Richter asked.
"K. Rool, one of the newcomers who's been causing a bit of trouble, apparently built a racing machine just like the ones in Captain Falcon's world and is taking it for a spin. On an abandoned racetrack where it's illegal to race, and his racing machine isn't registered so that's even more illegal. I'm more concerned about what else he might build, Master Hand can handle the paperwork if K. Rool gets arrested," Peach explained. She hurried off to handle the situation in person. Richter didn't want to slow her down, so he didn't ask who Captain Falcon and K. Rool were.
In her rush to leave Peach had forgotten to close the door behind her, giving Richter a clear look at the door to Simon's room. Even with the knowledge that Simon was outside just the sight of the nameplate that read 'Simon Belmont- #66' made Richter feel nervous. Richter looked at the nameplate on his own door, he also had the 66 next to his name. Apparently Master Hand considered the two of them equals in some way. With their doors set up like that avoiding Simon wasn't going to be an option.
Richter made up his mind to head out and train with Simon. The Belmonts never fled, Simon had faced his curse head on and overcame it, so Richter would follow in that example. Before leaving his room there was something else Richter wanted to do. He took a piece of paper and a pencil, and started writing a letter to Annette about how the day had gone so far. After a bit of thought he found the words for the important part of the letter.
I know you've been worried about me ever since Shaft possessed me, you've always been able to see right through me, but I think I'm finally getting past what happened thanks to the people here in Smash Mansion. I even met someone who offered to teach me how to play the guitar. It'd be great if we could play a song together sometime.
A/N: It took way too long, but at long last Richter's chapter is done. Richter was oddly difficult to write and a lot of plans for this chapter ended up not panning out, like Alucard appearing and being forced into his Captain N outfit. Peach sort of forced her way into the chapter and brought the Brute Trio subplot with her, but I think her conversation with Richter was my favorite part. Simon's relationship with both Richter and Nept/ Agent 4 is definitely something I plan on exploring more, if not in a later chapter then in its own fic. You can also expect to learn more about K. Rool's antics in Isabelle's chapter.
Lastly I'd like to give a shout out to Super Smash Prose, a discord server for Smash Bros fanfiction and fanart which helped me with finally getting Richter's chapter done. If any of you are interested in joining it the code is gDK48ua.