Knight sat in front of the fireplace in the lounge, waiting for the inevitable fight with Ridley to be announced. Knight felt no fear for the fight he was coming and felt no worry for what Ridley could do to him . . . or what he could do to Ridley. If his friends were safe, he was fine.

As Knight waited and stared at the fire, the fighters that walked by felt uneasy around him. They weren't scared, but they felt nervous since he would be fighting Ridley. Ridley had shown his violent ways of fighting and many of the fighters felt scared for what could happen to the small creature.

Peach, Samus, and Zelda were all sitting at the bar, they had all been watching Knight for a few minutes and they all wondered what he was thinking.

"You think he's nervous?" asked Zelda.

"Hard to tell, he doesn't really have a face." said Samus.

"I'm sure he is, but I think he's got this." Said Peach with a smile. Samus and Zelda looked over at Peach.

"Yeah but, will he be okay after the fight?" asked Samus.

No one spoke. None of them knew what Knight fought from wherever he came from. What trials he faced, what monsters he defeated, or even how he kept himself alive. Samus figured he didn't require food or water since she never saw him eat or drink. He didn't seem to sleep all that much either. He had a room, with a soft bed and fluffy blankets, but he always stayed near the fire, every night, and he was always in the exact same place every morning.

Samus felt a small chill go down her spine, she thought Knight was cute, but at times he was unnerving. Soon Palutena sat at the bar next to them and ordered a drink.

"Hey guys, how are all doing?" she asked as a Boo wearing a bowtie passed her cup of tea.

"Were good." Said Zelda. "Knight's got us worried though." She nodded her head towards the fireplace. Palutena looked in her direction.

"I'm sure he'll do great." She said. Then she smiled. "And hey, sometimes small things in life hold big surprises." She took a sip of her tea with a smile.

"Still," said Samus. "he's in for one hell of a fight."

"Attention!" said the voice from the speakers, much louder this time. "It's time for the final battle between, Knight and Ridley! You two know the drill! Knight meeting room 2, Ridley, meeting room 3! You got five minutes!"

None of the girls spoke. They all looked over to Knight who was getting up and began walking to the door. Before he entered, he turned around and looked at them and waved. They waved back and he left the lounge.

"Well, this should prove interesting." Said Palutena.

"No kidding." Said Peach.

All the girls turned around to face the TV to watch the fight, except Zelda. She was busy looking at something that was near the fireplace. She got up and walked over when she was near, she noticed a small book was lying on the ground. She picked it up and started flipping through the pages. What she saw ranged from cute to terrifying. There were what looked to be small, cute bush creatures, to horrifying monsters with spider legs, tall insect looking bugs with swords, and one creature that looked a lot like Dracula.

She closed the book. Zelda started to think about how the creatures looked, familiar. They all looked cute but also unnerving at the same time. Then it dawned on her. This is Knight's journal. She had two options, one, show it to the others since they were curious about Knight's background. Or two, respect Knight's privacy and keep it safe until he gets back.

She wanted so badly to read through it to read about the creatures Knight had seen on his journey, to see what he fought, the trials he faced, and how he survived the monsters she briefly saw. But she knew better. So, she tucked it away in her pocket and went back to the bar with the others.

She would ask Knight about it later.

Knight sat in the chair in the meeting room. As he waited, he began picking which charms to use.

He removed all his currently equipped charms and started to put on different ones. He kept Sharp Shadow since he liked being able to dodge and deal damage. He then added Quick Slash so he could attack quicker with his nail. Unbreakable Strength was added which would make his quick attacks both fast and deal more damage. He also added Longnail which would help with range. And finally, Sprintmaster, which as the name implies, allows the bearer to sprint much quicker. Knight wanted to be quick to avoid any attack thrown at him but also wanted to deal a huge amount of damage at the same time.

Knight felt prepared, but he knew even with his charms he was still in a for a hard battle. Soon the door opened, and a square-circular red eyeball walked in. He wore a helmet that was much, much bigger than he was. It had four red horns, two that curled upward and two that curled on each side of the helmet. He also looked menacing even though he was just an eyeball.

"Knight, right?" he asked. His voice didn't match his appearance, it was deep and harsh. Despite his cute appearance, he was most likely middle aged. "My names Gong, I'm sure you know the rules." Knight said nothing. If he could speak, he would tell him that he looked like he was apart of the Grimm Troupe.

"I'll take your silence as a yes." He opened the elevator. "Fight well out there."

Knight got up and entered the elevator.

Knight and Ridley stepped out of the elevator and were now in the arena on opposite sides. The look of the arena was hellish. There were five platforms, one in the middle and the rest next to it the corners of it. Each platform was surrounded by lava and the heat was intense. On each platform, there were what looked to be naturally made pillars spiraling upward. Each platform had a random amount of them, some small and thin, small and fat, tall and thin and tall and fat.

"Man, this fight is definitely going to be hot!" shouted Howard.

"Would you shut up with your bad jokes!" shouted Kreese.

Knight and Ridley walked to the center and waited for the announcers. Both kept their eyes on each other as they took their fighting stances.

"You'll pay for ruining this moment." Growled Ridley.

Knight said nothing.

"Fight!"

Ridley lunged forward slashing his claws but missed when Knight Sharp Shadowed through him, dealing a small amount of damage. Ridley turned around only to be greeted with Knight continuously slashing at him. Knight's strikes were quick but thanks to Unbreakable Strength, each hit to Ridley felt like a great sword slicing into him. It cut deep into him and he hated it.

He stopped the attacks by swotting his hand at Knight which sent him flying into one of the pillars, crumbling it to pieces. Knight dug himself out only to be hit with a fireball that sent him back into more pillars. He got up and started to dodge the multiple fireballs coming toward him. Thanks to Sprintmaster it was easy, but Ridley was flying closer as he fired. When he was close, he grabbed Knight and pounded him into the ground. But he didn't stop, he continued to fly while he dragged Knight through the round, ripping up the ground as he went.

Knight's head was pounding, he felt like his shell was about to crack. He had to think quick, so, he pulled out his mantis claws. He normally used them for climbing up walls, but he couldn't reach his nail while being dragged. He pulled one claw out using his right arm and started digging into Ridley's flesh. He dug the claw in and did whatever it took to make it as painful as possible, Knight used the hook of the claw and dragged it down so it could grab more flesh.

Ridley screamed in both anger and pain. He Flew high in the air and threw Knight down, but Knight used his Monarch Wings and landed without a scratch. He looked up and saw Ridley diving down and dashed out of the way.

Knight looked over at Ridley, he looked awful. The claw marks and cuts from his nail were doing their job well. Ridley's blood leaked down his body, LOTS of blood. Ridley was starting to feel light-headed, the huge amount of blood he lost was making it harder to focus.

But he was still angry.

"You'll bleed more, trust me." He growled. Ridley was about to strike when he noticed something behind Knight, it was something shining between two pillars. The Smash Ball! Knight turned around to see where Ridley was looking, he saw it too and immediately started sprinting. "Oh no you don't!" shouted Ridley.

Knight was closer and was able to reach the ball since it was stuck between two pillars, he Sharp Shadowed through the pillars, grabbing the ball. He slightly cracked it and was about to hit with his nail when-

"MINE!" shouted Ridley.

Ridley grabbed it from his hand and started flying upward, Knight grabbed onto his tail and jumped up and took to the ball back. Knight was falling and was about to dash away when Ridley flew under and took it. They were both on the ground, only a few feet apart, Knight lunged at Ridley with multiple slashes with his nail. Since Knight's attacks kept Ridley busy, he was forced to use one hand to block Knight's attacks and use the other to hold the ball. Ridley's arm started to bleed even more but he didn't care, he had the ball. Knight got sick of using his nail and instead used Shade soul which hit Ridley's face.

Ridley growled in pain and dropped the ball, the ball started to roll away and Knight made a run for it. Ridley swatted him away and started running for it, only for Knight to use Descending Dive which pinned Ridley to the ground. Knight was close to the ball, but Ridley shot a fireball which caused Knight to stumble. The ball was now lying next to a pillar and Ridley began flying towards it, Ridley was about to grab it. Finally! He thought. Time to win! However, when he was above Knight, Knight used Abyss Shriek which caused Ridley to fly backward. Ridley hit the ground hard, his head ached, the blood in his body began leaking more, and his whole body felt sore. He slowly got on his feet and looked to where the ball was. His eyes went wide when he looked.

Knight was standing and facing Ridley, with the Smash Ball in hand. Ridley was about to fly towards him but was too late, Knight slashed the ball with his nail, it was in pieces and an ominous glow emanated from Knight.

Knight felt an energy flow through him like nothing he ever felt before, he had no idea what would happen when he used his own Final Smash, but he didn't care, it was time to win.

Knight activated it.

Knight felt his shell start to crack, dark sharp looking tentacles grew from his back and Void started to shoot out from his body and eyes. Soon his shell shattered and all hell broke loose. Knight was no longer cute looking, he was now the size of a building with eight, white, soulless eyes. The Void that made up his body was constantly shifting and his hands and arms were no longer stubby. He had four hands and arms, they were huge and sharp. The tentacles on his back were moving rapidly and he unleashed a mighty roar that made the audience silent in both awe and fear.

Knight was no more, before them all, was the Shade Lord.

Ridley was terrified. He didn't know where to go, Knight was huge and the monstrosity before him showed no sign of mercy, sympathy or and care of his safety. Ridley was about to run but was grabbed by one of the huge, sharp looking hands. The Shade Lord brought him closer to his face, which scared Ridley even more. The Shade Lord growled in anger and squeezed harder which made Ridley gasped for air. Then he started using his other three hands to claw at Ridley. The clawing never seemed to stop, the cuts were deep, Ridley screamed in pain, the audience flinched every time a hand clawed him. The clawing got faster and harsher and the hand that held him finished the Final Smash by slamming him down on the ground, pushing Ridley deep into the ground where only half his face showed. The heat from the lava made the ground sting Ridley's entire body.

Soon the power of the ball faded, and the Shade Lord began shrinking. Soon all his terrifying features vanished, and his tentacles retracted back into a small body. The Shade Lord was gone, and Knight was back, even his shell had returned somehow.

Knight stood victorious, Ridley remained still and unconscious, and the audience was speechless. For a solid ten seconds, not one sound could be heard except the wind softly blowing. But once eleven seconds passed the audience cheered and roared louder than ever! The tournament was over, and Knight was the victor. Confetti rained down all over the arena and fireworks exploded from above the stadium. The audience was once again cheering "KNIGHT! KNIGHT! KNIGHT!" As Knight stood victorious as Space Pirates were busy digging Ridley out of the ground.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Shouted Kreese.

"Holy shit what a battle! And the newcomer won!" shouted Howard.

The elevator came up and Knight entered. He survived.

Everyone at the bar was speechless.

For a few minutes, no one said a word or even moved. Soon the fighters started to talk among each other and the only thing on their minds was Knight's Final Smash. Some found it fitting since he was cute like Kirby, and Kirby's Final Smash was powerful. However, Kirby remained the same, just with a hat and a huge sword. Knight took on a whole new appearance and had the look of a demon.

As the other Fighters discussed, the girls were busy talking amongst themselves.

"Well . . . Holy shit." Said Zelda.

"I-I wasn't expecting that." Said Peach.

Samus was amazed as well but kept silent. She really didn't have anything to say, she just sat quietly and smiled. Nice one Knight. She thought. Soon, Knight entered the room and at first, no one clapped. They were all still a bit shocked at what just happened. But soon one person started clapping, Kirby, who was smiling as always. Soon the girls joined in, and then everyone joined. Every fighter had a compliment to give, each more positive than the last, even Ganon and Bowser who gave Knight a handshake.

Knight sat the bar and al three girls smiled at him. He said nothing.

"Good job out there." Said Samus.

"Oh, Knight." Said Zelda as she got up from her seat. "I think this is yours." She gave him his journal.

He took it and put it back in his cloak. He nodded his thanks. He was about to watch TV when Zelda spoke again.

"Hey so, if you don't mind me asking. Would it be alright if we could see what creatures you fought?"

Knight tilted his head in confusion.

"Zelda what did you do?" asked Peach as pinched the brim of her nose.

"I found it on the ground, thinking it was just some dumb book. But then I flipped through the pages and figured out it was yours. Sorry." Zelda sunk her head to hide the blush of embarrassment.

Knight said nothing for a moment. The journal didn't contain his writings, they were The Hunter's notes. He thought about how he could get that across. But then it hit him, his quill. He pulled it out and wrote on a blank part of the book. After he finished, he showed it to Zelda.

It read: Yes, you can read it. The writing is not mine. This journal was a gift to help me.

"Really? Thank you." Said Zelda.

"You could write this whole time?" Samus said dryly.

Knight said nothing. He honestly forgot he had it.

"Oh, who cares? Let's see what you fought." Zelda sat in-between Peach and Samus so they could see. For the rest of the evening, they read the Hunter's Journal, talking about the creatures he fought, and the notes The Hunter made. Some were funny, some interesting, but most were horrifying. Zelda thought about asking how he handled all these monsters but then remembered his Final Smash, she had a rough idea as to how.

As the night went on, one by one each fighter went to their rooms, and Knight was alone in front of the fireplace. As he sat there, he thought of everything that happened, meeting new friends, fighting new enemies. And all around having a good time.

He also started drawing and taking notes in the journal, there some blank pages he used.

Samus:

Strong and tough. She uses an arm cannon that can shoot different projectiles. Hates Ridley and Likes Peach.

Peach:

Nice and lovable. Uses a wide array of weapons, frying pan seems the deadliest. Likes Samus.

Bowser:

Big and deadly. Has a strong spike-like shell and breaths fire. Fights best up close. Somewhat slow.

Ridley:

Vicious and angry. A dangerous dragon-like monster that cares little for living creatures. Can shoot fireballs. Fast when flying and on foot.

Zelda:

Kind and sweet. She mainly uses magic and a bow. Likes my weaverlings.

Kirby:

Fun and joyful. Can copy people's abilities for himself. Good up close and at range. I played video games with him.

Knight closed the journal and went back to the fire. As he sat, he started to feel something. It felt odd and yet, he liked it.

It was an emotion, and it was happy.