A Walk Among Giants, Chapter 35: Barking Bad.
Hello! Hello! Hello! Welcome ladies and gents, Bs and Gs to the one the only! Story still doing Sm4sh… (Probably?)
And a nice cold refreshing thanks to the following:
The fastest review in the west! AKA… UltimateCCC: people faint at those? Huh…
Nope, but now it has been taken into consideration and worked into the story, because frankly I love this idea! Expect this next chapter!
TheShadowStarr23: Well it wasn't so much mothering as it was grooming, still I had a feeling you'd love that heh. Yes, for a while now Shulk had been out of character for the longest time, and now it is finally revealed. And well the bros will always be together. And that was to introduce all the new guys, sort of…
Yes well that's still one conflict that needs a resolution, and you know Robin's just well, being Robin about it. Well it would all depend on who he hears it from and how don't ya think?
The pepper sneeze idea only came to me when I happened to have done that to myself, although I didn't sneeze on anything though. Yeah I thought I'd pull a sneaky and put a reference to Waluigi pinball since the dope was there. As for Viridi she has opted to take a more aggressive stance towards Pit to annoy the shit out of him. Which she likes to do, she and Dark Pit like to mess with him. And besides that her acting very straightforward with him flusters him, so yeah passive aggressive stance if you will.
Tysm! (*/\＾▽＾)
"Watch out there's risen all over camp who want my apples!" Chrom exclaimed as he shot up from the floor.
"Woah, woah easy there big guy!" Sumia says, trying to calm him down as he looks around completely dumbfounded.
"What happened?" He asked as he slowly shook his head placing his palm on his forehead.
"He happened" Ike points out motioning behind Chrom towards the blue prince.
"My gods' so it's true!" Chrom said, completely baffled "the hero king in the flesh!" He says rather excitedly. "You have no idea what an absolute honor this is!" Chrom said as they shook hands.
"The pleasure is all mine," Marth says, placing a hand over his chest and bowing slightly.
"I just have to absolutely pick your brain about something, er… If you wouldn't mind, that is?" Chrom said.
"Not at all, I'm sure we have lots to discuss" Marth said as they both headed out back into the hall casually as if nothing had happened.
"So are we just going to ignore what happened?" Ike states while everyone else seemed to shrug it off already.
"Oh why get hung up on the past Ike, let bygones be bygones" Caeda says while Roy stepped up.
"Something else just caught my attention" the redhead said while looking back and forth from Caeda and Lucina. "This whole time we assumed Lucina took after Marth… When in reality she has more of a resemblance to Caeda," Roy said while stroking his chin.
"Hey he's right, I totally see it!" Ike adds.
"Oh speaking of which, you, i've been meaning to introduce myself to you" Caeda said as she approached Lucina. "Oh Marths told me so much about you!" She says giving the bluenette a hug.
"Oh I'm sorry Marth failed to mention you, Caeda was it?" Lucina responds while Caeda sighed.
"Of course he did…" She said somewhat annoyed, "look at you though, I have to agree with the others you're like the spitting image of both Marth and I combined." She adds while stroking a strand of Lucina's hair.
"And here I thought she took after me…" Sumia says in the back and Caeda turns to her.
"Oh you must be her mother then, yes Marth told me I'd also find you here, Sumia is it?" Caeda asked.
"That's me!" Sumia sings as she and Caeda hug, "aaaaand, I'm sure we have lots to discuss as well!" Sumia adds as she and Caeda head back out while dragging Lucina along.
Meanwhile…
Thwack!
Dark Pit took another heavy blow sending him crashing through a door. "What's the matter scared?" Wolf taunts while coming into view while Dark Pit gritted his teeth. He quickly gets back up and turns to face the grinning lupine.
"Yeah you wish pal" he remarked while Wolf lunged at him again but Pittoo sidestepped. He then grabbed Wolf and began to rapidly punch him in the abdomen repeatedly. Wolf bit into his shoulder making Dark Pit cry out while slamming him against a wall. He kicked Wolf away while clutching his shoulder and growling under his breath, this guy was getting on his nerves. He could see in the other room the rest of them stood there watching, he couldn't let himself be taken out now. He fought from day one to barely squeeze into their group since it was the only group that would have him, however it always felt as if they never fully accepted him either. Then everyone starts going on about him going soft, him, he would always laugh and scoff at them. He isn't going soft, not one bit no matter what anyone thinks, he can still kick everyone's ass if he feels like it.
But today he walks down to the basement during lunch and what does he find? Apparently some visiting feral dog from the last tournament. Apparently this guy was the bee's knees when it came to being the most sadistic in the cast. In fact it is rumored he was such a problem that Master Hand kicked him out and on top of that wouldn't allow him to return. Though he claimed he left out of his own will, saying the tournament bored him, he even arrived late to the last one completely missing the subspace war.
So they met and after a few remarks thrown back and forth the unexpected happened. "So how tough are you angel boy?" Wolf said recalling how he slapped around Pit during Brawl. This schmuck looked no different cept a color swap.
"This son of a bitch could take a beating and give a beating!" Dark Link said while patting Pittoo on the shoulder. Dark Pit just gave Wolf a sadistic smirk while leaning back in his seat. "Or at least that was the case" he quickly added.
"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Dark Pit retorts quickly sitting up.
"You've gone soft!" Wario states while pointing at him.
"Yeah I mean you're getting along with Pit now, and most importantly rumor has it you've grown fond of your partner!" King Dedede adds.
"You're one to talk, you're practically best friends with Kirby!" Dark Pit remarked while the king of dreamland huffs and turns from him.
"Regardless, you're not as you once were" Bowser interjects, crossing his large arms.
"Oh yeah says Mario's punching bad and the little bitch of dreamland" Pittoo retorts causing Dark Link to snort loudly with a wide smile.
"It's a shame really this place can really change a guy huh" Wolf says and then smirks.
"I can still kick your ass!" Pittoo says getting up from his seat and pointing at Dedede, "kick your ass!" he adds pointing at Wario, "your ass!" He points towards Bowser, "all of you!" He adds while moving his finger around the room and stopping at Wolf. "And I'll have no problem kicking your ass too!" He says while the lupine slowly stood from his seat.
"Is that so kid?" he replied while slowly walking over with his hands on his belt. They both just stared at each other for the longest time while everyone looked on enviously. All the while the grin on Dark Link's face grew by the minute as he enjoyed every second of this.
"Fortunately for you I'm not in the mood to put down strays today" Pittoo remarked and made the mistake of taking his eyes off Wolf.
Thwack!
Everything slowed down at that moment as Dark Pit's face rippled with the impact of the fist colliding against it. Black dots danced all around his vision and the world turned blurry and all sounds faded. Saliva and a few drops of blood flew out of his mouth before he hit the cold concrete floor. Wolf shook his hand and grinned to himself while looking down at the dark angel sprawled on the floor.
"Ooooooooooooh!" The others cried out as it all unfolded.
He did not just do that, oh he picked the wrong person to try and place under his boot. Dark Pit slowly lifted his head and spat onto the floor while now glaring furiously. "I'm gonna turn you into a fur coat!" he said in a slow menacing tone. In a blink of an eye he lunged at the pilot and the two started duking it out then and there.
"You are both mindless fools, this is pointless" Ganondorf remarked while shaking his head slowly. "Shall I intervene?" He hears Mewtwo's voice in his head. He turns to the legendary pokemon hovering in the back watching the chaos unfold. Ganon waved him off and then turned back to the brawling pair. "No let the imbeciles tire themselves out" he thought to himself and Mewtwo nodded his head and went back to meditating.
Eventually Wolf uppercut's Pittoo, sending him crashing through the black door. "What's the matter scared?" Wolf taunts while coming into view while Dark Pit gritted his teeth. He quickly gets back up and turns to face the grinning lupine.
"Yeah you wish pal" he replied then spat on the floor as he prepared to go back in. "You're going to be my new rug when I'm through with you!" Pittoo exclaimed and charged at the pilot. They then both proceeded to beat each other up and down the basement while the others just looked on. Wolf however kicked the dark angel making him tumble backwards and crash onto the stairs leading out of the basement.
"You got this all wrong kid, first you got to defeat me before you can run your mouth!" Wolf remarked and jumped at the angel who crawled up the stairs to avoid the pounce. He is then kicked in the face making the lupine tumble down the stairs…
Meanwhile again…
"Oh you just have to have seen it, she was so adorable with her little dress she decorated with her own ribbons." Sumia says, "I must have commissioned hundreds of portraits of her!" she added while Caeda awws and placed a hand over her chest. Lucina kinda lagged behind them and groaned to herself, the dress looked like something a seamstress would have made if she was blindfolded and had a missing finger or two. Truth be told, when it came to fashionable wear, it was like showing a toddler a blueprint and expecting them to know how it works. It wasn't her thing, she technically never got the chance to branch out and try the simplest of things. So future Lucina thought it would be a good idea to give preset Lucina things she never got to see or experience in her time. Which was mistake number one, the second thing was buying all sorts of fabrics and seeing what they both could create with it…
Now she wasn't about to just hand over a needle and thread to a child, no one in their right mind would do that. So she tried making 'herself' a dress, aaaaaaand it was botched up from the beginning. By the time the thing was 'finished' or at the very least wearable, she thought she could sparkle it up by adding ribbons to it to give it vibrant colors. Well her and her toddler self might have gone a little overboard with the ribbons… The final fatal mistake was showing Sumia what they had created and well, Sumia was absolutely smitten with the thing however and believed that the child did it herself… When in reality it was the adult who did the majority of the work… It wasn't until she saw how she literally almost killed someone who couldn't stop laughing at it that she made a booboo. She decided to try to get rid of everything and she would sneak into her younger selfs room at night and take the thing and burn it. Until like her mother stated she literally commission hundreds of portraits of little Lucina and her dress, worst yet she used it a lot as Sumia absolutely loved the thing. She even had a little stand for it because she as she claimed she didn't want it to collect dust in some old wardrobe. She knew if she got rid of it now her mother would lose her mind and she didn't quite feel like making Sumia go ballistic. Now every time she hears of it she always thinks back and wishes she would have done things differently…
Sumia and Caeda giggled to themselves as Sumia finished explaining every last detail of the 'dress' and how much she loved it. Lucina however pretended to plunge a dagger into herself overly dramatically purely due to the huge embarrassment. "Oh if only we could've had some of those little magic boxes everyone seems to carry around here, I could've captured every moment!" Sumia adds with a slow sigh.
CRASH!
The door to the basement was flung off its hinges as something within crashed against it. Lucina stepped in front of her mother and super great grandmother while waiting for something to happen. Pittoo came forcefully flying out moments later and crashed against the wall making the table that was thrown at him completely shatter. Sumia and Caeda hugged each other while Lucina quickly ran over to her partner. "My gods' Pittoo! why are you always getting into trouble!" She says grabbing him by the shirt to get him up. She then hears loud obnoxious laughter from behind and loud stomps coming up the stairs.
"So it's true!" The gruff voice says, "you need your little partner to hold your hand for you?" He adds while coming into view. Wolf had a massive grin on his face and the dark angel slapped her hand away and sat up. Before he could say anything Lucina stepped between them and pulled out her sword from seemingly nowhere.
"You better step back and crawl back where you came from" she warned but he just chuckled making his grin grow. He extended his hand making his claws grind against the sword. But before Wolf or Lucina could do anything someone else stepped into the hall making Wolf go stiff as a board.
"Freaking hell!" She yelled, "I knew it smelled like a wet dog in here!" Samus says as she begins making her way towards them. Wolf just smiled sheepishly and tried to go back into the basement but she grabbed him by the collar of his jacket before he could. "You son of a bitch" she says, giving him a cold glare before dragging off the infamous pilot. "Don't mind me, I'm just taking out the dog!" Samus said before they disappeared into another hall leaving them in awkward silence. Lucina sheathed her sword and turned to her partner who was slowly getting up and holding his abdomen.
"Dammit Blue I-" he began before she roughly grabbed his bruised arm making him wince in pain.
"We are not doing this, you are not doing this, not now, not today!" She harshly whispered to him while motioning behind her towards Sumia and Caeda. Both ladies just kinda stared at them blankly before Lucina added more pressure to his bruise making him face her. "Are we clear?" She whispered to him, giving him a very sincere look.
"Alright, alright just let go of my arm you demented freak!" He says pulling back his arm and rubbing it slowly. From the ladies perspective it simply looked like Lucina was checking his arm which caused him to wince. Sumia and Caeda approached them while Lucina stepped back and nervously cleared her throat.
"He's fine, a little bruised but other than that just fine" she says while Pittoo just put on a stupid smile again.
"Who was that horrible furry man?" Sumia asked and she gently tapped a bruise on the side of his head.
"Didn't you hear the nice blonde lady, it was a stray that happened to have wandered in." Pittoo remarked before he winced again as now Sumia was checking his wounds.
"That was Wolf…" Caeda says while looking in the direction Samus took him moments ago. "But he isn't part of the roster this time around, or was I mistaken?" She says turning towards the duo.
"No he's not in this tournament" Lucina confirmed.
"Apparently he managed to piggyback on Fox's invitation due to his son getting sick and his wife staying behind because of it." Pittoo said while he raised an eyebrow while Sumia stroked his wings.
"Yes I remember her, Krystal, she was such a lovely lady" Caeda says while going through her memories of the last tournament.
"Oh thank the Pegasus!" Sumia sighs in relief, "the wings weren't damaged!" She adds while softly stroking his feathers. He just looked at her as if she grew multiple heads. "Where and why did you have your sword with you?" Sumia adds, turning towards her daughter who shrugged.
"Trust me mother when you've been in this crazy place as long as I have you learn that it's always best to carry your weapons with you." Lucina replied and of course she hid the weapon under her blouse which concealed it.
"That sounds a little barbaric…" Sumia admits while again her daughter just shrugged and turned towards Pittoo.
"Come on you little trouble maker lets get you patched up" Lucina said, taking his hand and dragging him away, and before he could protest she crushed his fingers making him hiss instead. The other two just look at each other before they shrug and follow after them.
*Master Hands Office*
"In any case to conclude all this he breached the mansion unauthorized, and worse yet violated several of the rules while doing so" Samus finished her rant to MH who sat behind his desk leaned back in his seat looking in deep thought. "So just give the order sir and I'll be more than happy to drag him out and throw him back to the slimy pit he crawled out of!" Samus adds shortly after while glaring at the Pilot who just sat in a chair with a smirk.
"I'm actually glad you came back, Wolf!" MH simply said while he stood from his seat.
"You WHAT?!" Samus yelled and quickly turned towards the glove, she slams her hands on his desk giving him a sincere look. "Did you not hear a word I just said?" She asked angrily.
"Oh pipe down will you, he was accordingly invited by Fox, in fact I personally made the adjustments for his arrival when I heard Krystal couldn't sadly attend. I also made sure to send a get well card from all of us to his son." MH said before moving her aside and stepping towards Wolf.
"Out of everyone from that entire system, why did you choose him!" Samus says in disbelief.
"Oh come on Samus I know what this is really about, are you still pissy about the fact that I showed up to our annual costume party dressed as Ridley?" Wolf says with an amused smirk making her give him another cold glare. "I mean I distinctly remember issuing you a formal apology for the misunderstanding, even though you almost killed me in a wild frenzy you flew into. And on top of that I even sent you a bunch of lovely flowers." Wolf says while resting his chin on his fist and giving her big puppy dog eyes.
"Piranha plants are the worst thing to send someone as a way of apologising, they ate our furniture and tore the room to shreds!" Samus says and turns from him crossing her arms while fuming.
"Well that's all in the past, and he's right you did try to kill him which is an unacceptable thing to do here. Yes even if that someone is Ridley you have no right to try and harm him while in my premises!" MH says and she instantly turns around.
"What are you implying!?" She quickly states but he just cleared his throat and brushed her off.
"In any case it was a shame you chose not to come back this time around…" MH said with a slow sigh and hung his head.
"You know how it his boss man, with Fox out of the Lylat system I can go about my business without having him come in and blow stuff up around my hideout." Wolf replied while placing his hands behind his head and leaning back. "And business is good!" He says with a toothy grin.
"You wouldn't consider possibly coming back would you? Not here and now mind you as emissions for the 4th tournament are officially closed. But a future tournament, see this one got off to a slow start so this time around im preparing far in advance in case we decide to keep going with these. My plan is to have everyone back this time around to make it a big blowout and of course that means you" MH explained while Wolf looked in thought.
"Seriously this guy!?" Samus said while motioning towards Wolf, "hell why don't you Invite Dark Samus while you're at it too!" Samus said sarcastically while MH snapped his fingers.
"An excellent suggestion Samus!" he says, going back to his desk and scribbling some stuff down.
"That was sarcasm! Sar-ca-sm!" She states.
"Oh but there has been lots of expressed interest in your dark counterpart ever since we made it an assist trophy in this tournament." MH said as he continued to scribble without looking back up. Samus just groaned to herself and decided to just leave before the hand got any more crazy ideas. "You know the reason I throw these big invitational parties is to look for potential new candidates" MH says as he finished scribbling and placed his pen back into the little magical ink jar. "Take the one in Brawl for example, Palutena attended and here she is now, so is Bowser's son who came along, Rosalina who was invited by Peach last time." He said while Wolf just grunted.
"Well I guess I wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity to come back if everyone else is, won't look good for the rep if everyone comes back and I just back out. You got yourself a returning fighter!" Wolf agrees while shaking MH's hand. He then turns and begins to head out before MH speaks up again.
"Also could you please restrain from battling others outside the arena, it's there for a reason and I won't be there to hold back Samus like last time." He warned but Wolf just scoffed.
"That was nothing, just a friendly greeting. Besides, I actually like the new kid, he's got spunk!" Wolf says giving MH a final salute before heading out the door. As the doors shut behind him something smashes over his head and he crumbles to the floor and is dragged off.
*Cafeteria*
"Ow!"
"Sigh, could you please hold still?"
"Are you also this rough on your pegasus?" Pittoo says while Sumia bandages his arm. She tugged on the bandage making it tightly coil his arm making him hiss in pain.
"I would never hurt her! However, she knows I'm trying to help her when she gets hurt during a battle, and she's a real trooper about it too. Hell I've even heard less winning from baby Lucina when I let her outside and she gets her booboos." Sumia says while still keeping focused on his arm.
"Heh" Lucina laughed while she held a bag of ice up to his cheek that was really bruised.
They were seated in one of the empty booths while Lucina helped her Mother tend to Pittoo. Since Dr. Mario was oddly out today they just used a first aid kit that was conveniently placed in the kitchen, for obvious reasons. Sumia actually insisted on it since she claimed to have done the same for Chrom back when they were still at war. And indeed Lucina heard all about the stories of how she took care of him and went out of her way to make sure he took care of himself as well.
"Marth was also a little squirmish" Caeda says, she was behind them leaning over the booth.
"Oh don't get me started on Chrom, he was too reckless sometimes. You know he actually went out on walks late at night by himself. He was even approached by a bandit one night who luckily didn't think he was worth the trouble." Sumia says while shaking her head as she finishes patching up Dark Pit. "There we are, and the good news is your wings are perfectly intact. And you better keep it that way!" She says, giving him a stern look.
"Erm yes ma'am" he replied awkwardly.
"Good" she said and ruffled his hair, "and how could you let your companion go off by himself?" She turned to Lucina who just looked at her mother in confusion.
"Wha-"
"A person could only go so far without the boost of their companion to help them go further" she says while cutting off the blunette, Pittoo however crossed his arms and looked on in amusement. "Do you really think I would've gotten this far without my pegasus by my side? Or even your Father had we not had each other's backs, I saved his life as much as he saved mine." She continued while holding up a finger as Lucina was about to intervene. "Coordination is key here Lucy, I mean think about how far your father managed to get with Robin at his side." She finished as she put away all the medical supplies.
"Your mother is right" Caeda spoke up, "while yes Marth accomplished great feats, it would've been for naught if he hadn't relied on those loyal to him." She says while Lucina just lowered her head and took in a deep breath.
"I see your points but it's not like I control him, if he wants to leave he can leave, I have no obligation to make him stay." Lucina says while motioning towards the dark angel who kicked up his feet and was lounging around.
"That's not what I'm saying Lucina, you think I control and command my pegasus? No, it was a mutual bond that we formed where both parties were at an understanding" Sumia replied. "What I mean is instead of ignoring the fact he left you could've asked where he was headed and offered to accompany him" she explained.
"Oh sure mother let me just follow him into a stinky basement full of villains who would have no problem stabbing you in the back once you turn your back to them!" Lucina replied sarcastically.
"All the more reason to have someone there to watch your back!" Sumia quickly replied. Lucina just opened her mouth before she just promptly slammed her head on the table. "And maybe you could've at least inform us you left, at the very least we would've known you'd be in a terrible place and maybe have even showed up to aid you." Sumia said as she turned towards Pittoo patting him on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind for next time, my bad…" He replied, "you guys were just having a moment and I didn't want to interrupt that." He adds shortly after giving her an apologetic look.
"Oh it's alright dear we would've understood" Sumia assured him. Lucina just balled up her fists knowing her mother was falling for his good boy act he put on. He always made her look like the bad guy and it was getting on her nerves. Just then the doors to the cafeteria swing open and Marth and Chrom step in looking worried.
"We heard there was a skirmish in the hall involving you, are you guys alright?" Chrom said, walking over and taking Sumia's hands into his.
"Oh yeah we're quite alright, it was our daughter's partner who had an unfortunate run in with a wolf man." She says while Chrom looked at the bandaged dark angel then at his daughter with her face pressed against the table. Marth calmly walked over and stood next to his wife while they leaned in to each other.
"Yeah the wolf man turned out to be quite rabid" Pittoo remarked as he sat up and tapped on his bandaged arm.
"It was Wolf he unfortunately encountered," Caeda chimes in.
"Wolf? How is he here?" Marth asked, not being aware of his arrival.
"Krystal couldn't make it, and apparently he was her stand-in," Caeda informed him.
"Well where is he now?" Marth asks, Lucina slowly lifts her head and turns towards Marth.
"Samus took him," she told him while blowing some hair out of her face.
"Ohhhhh no…" Marth whispered to himself.
"What's wrong?" Chrom asked, worried at the concerned look on Marth's face.
"They didn't leave on the best of terms and chances are she didn't take him to Master Hand as per protocol." Marth says, "I need to find her, I'll be back" he says and begins heading towards the doors.
"Hang on I'll come with you!" Chrom says and goes after him.
"Thanks I appreciate the assistance" Marth says and they both nod to each other before heading out.
"What's all the fuss, if Samus wants to torture the mutt I say let her" Pittoo says while Lucina gave him a look.
"He may not be nice, however torture is never a justified punishment" Sumia states.
"She wouldn't do that, sure Samus is rash but she has just as much brains as she does brawn," Caeda assured them. "And I have to ask who instigated this whole unpleasant encounter?" She asked while looking sternly at the dark angel.
"Ok well if a rabid wolf man isn't enough of a clue let me spell-" Pittoo began before Lucina roughly kicked him under the table, he slightly lowered his gaze as he let the pain pass.
"Are you alright?" Sumia asked as he took a deep breath.
"Peachy" he breathed out while Lucina glared at him giving him a stern warning with her gaze. "As I was saying I was having a laugh with my buds down there when he showed up and started barking up the wrong tree." Pittoo explained while Caeda looked in thought.
"So you confronted him for some remarks?" She says and the dark angel was about to reply before his partner roughly pinched his arm, again under the table.
"Mother-" he breathed out "F-Fudge!" he says while trying his absolute best in keeping his cool. "However it may appear I assure you he struck me first" he finally says before giving Lucina a wtf look. "And yes he and I made remarks however again I did not start that either."
"Well I believe you!" Sumia says, giving him a warm smile.
"Oh, well thanks I appreciate that!" He says enthusiastically, just then she became his new favorite person.
"Yes I believe he was being honest, there is nothing to suggest otherwise. He didn't outright dodge the question nor try to sugar coat it either. He outright admitted to having an unpleasant verbal exchange before things got physical. And that's very commendable if you Dark Pit" Caeda says, giving him a nod while he turned to Lucina with a sadistic grin on his face. She just shook her head giving him a disappointed look, she knew he was lying. This was Dark Pit they were talking about afterall, he lived for fights, he starts them more than he ends them. There was no doubt in her mind that he straight up went up to Wolf and provoked a conflict. Hell she was already convinced that Wolf was the victim here and not her brute partner.
He however was just thinking about what happened down the family line, Caeda was calm and reasonable, Sumia was gentle and caring, aaaaaaand then there is his partner, Lucina. She ridicules him and she is rash and impatient and very ill tempered and unreasonable. Something went horribly wrong down the line, he thought to himself.
*undisclosed location*
He groaned as he sat up in the dark damp room, he was sitting on one of the corners propped against the wall. He shook his head slightly and rubbed the back of his head that was slightly throbbing. There was a single dim bulb lighting the room so it was hard to tell what his surroundings were, although one thing was for certain the room was pretty empty. Except a figure who was seated on the opposite corner of him on a metal folding chair. It creaked as the figure stood up and slowly walked over to him.
"Ugh, what's going on?" He said in a groggy voice while still holding his head. "W-Where am I?"
"Oh, you mean you don't remember your favorite play room?" A woman's voice softly said.
"Play ro- what…" He responds, he looks up to see Samus standing under the bulb with her arms crossed.
"Ugh, dammit what do you want now?" He groaned as he tried to stand up.
"The truth" she simply states while shrugging her shoulders.
"You already know the truth, Master Hand brought me here!" He states in a huff.
"You expect me to just believe that?" Samus said, reaching for something in one of the dark corners.
"What are…" He began before his eyes went wide, now he remembers why this was her playroom. All those countless times she extracted information from him in the most cruel and menacing way possible, like ever.
"Remember roti? Well he sure missed you!" Samus says playfully, although in a very menacing sounding way still. "Now is there anything you want to tell me?" She asked again but he just turned his head and crossed his arms.
"No" he states plainly while she sighs deeply and shakes her head.
"Guess we're doing this the hard way…" she says, patting the big ol vacuum she brought in. Wolf just sweated nervously while looking at the thing and then turned his head again as if he didn't care about it. She just smiled as she slowly reached out for the switch on the back, and casually flicked it on. All the hairs on Wolf instantly stood up as the loud whirring sound filled the room and he yelped loudly in surprise and backed up into the corner. Every time she would bring it closer to him he would bark in a very high pitch at it. This repeated several times before Samus decided to switch it off and Wolf breathed a huge sigh of relief while still huddled in the corner. "So anything you'd like to share now?" She asked but he huffed and looked away. "Very well" she said, flicking the vacuum back on and moving towards and away from him, while he barked at it in a high pitch yelp bark.
"ALRIGHT!" he yelled, "I GOT BORED AND MISSED THIS PLACE ALRIGHT!" He shouted while he buried his face into the corner. Samus flicked off the vacuum and just stared at the lupine cowering in the corner.
"..." Samus just stood there puzzled for a moment, "That's it, you didn't come to blow something up like you used to do?" She exclaimed.
"What, me being here for nostalgia isn't enough for you?" He says while turning his head to face her.
"You were always up to something so excuse me for not wanting to look under the veil. Only to find out you just crawled your way back because you're sad and lonely?" She asked.
"Well don't look so disappointed..." He says, "but yes as soon as I heard that Krystal was unable to go I convinced her to give me her invite," He adds while getting up and dusting off his pants.
"Yeah you begged her to let you come didn't you" Samus said plainly while he held up a finger.
"I didn't say that" he says sternly.
"Yeah you don't have too, I can see it written on your face" she said as the ends of her lips somewhat curled up.
"Well look at that… I thought the only expression you were capable of showing was frowns" he says with a big ol smirk of his own.
"Don't push your luck" she says placing her hand on the vacuum which made him back up a bit. Just then the door to her secret room burst open and Marth came tumbling in.
"Samus don't do it he's not worth it!" He quickly blurts out while the other two give him weird looks. He just quickly scanned the room until his eyes fell on the vacuum. "Samus, not this stunt again…" He groaned lamely.
"What I needed information and I got it, excuse me for doing my job of keeping this place secure." She responds plainly.
"Yeah but Master Hand stated very clearly we aren't supposed to torture anyone regardless" Marth says while she scoffs.
"This isn't torture, its interrogation" she states.
"Same thing," Wolf remarked.
"You zip it" She said pointing at him while still keeping her gaze on Marth.
"Well what did you get out of this charade?" Marth asked.
"Nothing important, he just picked the worst person to aggravate" Samus said while giving Wolf a look.
"Fine, let him go now and you," Marth said motioning towards Wolf, "Stay away from that boy and his partner. Last thing I need is him dragging his partner into his charades, which she will most likely willingly partake in." Marth says and then steps aside motioning the pilot out with his head.
"Well I'll be…" Wolf said thinking back to the person who came to Dark Pit's aid earlier, she looks an awful lot like… "Marths gone and got himself a little girl hasn't he?" Wolf said with a sadistic grin turning towards Samus while Marth gave him a cold stare.
"Don't worry bud, I'll play nice I promise" Wolf says as he slowly leaves the room. "Hey who's the chum on the floor?" Wolf says standing at the doorway.
"Oh right I forgot about that…" Marth says and hurries over to help Chrom to his feet.
"What happened here?" Samus said as she stepped out of the room into the hall, Chrom looked like he was launched into the wall, even leaving a small dent on it.
"Uh…" Marth began…
*Flashback*
The swordsmen were rushing down the halls in quick succession while Marth scanned the doors in the halls looking for a peculiar one. "If I know Samus, she'd have most likely taken him to her little interrogation room." Marth says as they both skid to a halt when Marth found the door he was looking for. He tried the knob but it was of course locked, as he suspected. "Ok well we'll have to brute force our way in" he says looking at the keypad next to the door but Chrom got the wrong idea.
"Alright I can kick it down it down then" Chrom says as he takes a step forward and prepared to deliver the mightiest kick anyone has ever seen.
"Wha- oh wait WAIT!" Marth quickly blurts but it was too late as soon as he made contact a large spark explosion went off making Chrom crash into the back wall with great force. Chrom looked around super dazed with little sparks dancing around his head before blacking out. "Right he's never brute forced technology before, think Marth, think!" The prince tells himself as he smacked his forehead. Samus added a mechanism to prevent others from bursting into the interrogation room, which had happened more times than one would think oddly enough. He checked on the fallen bluenette before he took a deep breath and headed back towards the door. Marth busted open the little key pad and pulled out some wires which powered down the doors defences and unlocked it. He then rushes into the room…
*flashback end*
Chrom came to his senses shortly after looking around, Marth was nelt next to him with his hand on Chrom's shoulder. "Wha- What happened?" Chrom groaned while rubbing the back of his head.
"I should have been more specific, I'm sorry that's on me," the price said. Wolf was already heading down the hall but he was hollering to himself and holding on to the wall as he laughed his ass off. "In any case Samus you should join everyone else outside, you're so caught up in your routine that you've allowed paranoia to take hold of you." Marth says as he turns towards the bounty hunter who just gave him a flat look.
"I'm not paranoid, and if you need proof then fine, I'll go join Zelda and her glowing friend in that thing they wanted to do." She replied and walked off while shaking her head.
"We should probably get back to the others," Marth says, turning towards Chrom again.
"Right yeah" he replied as he got up and dusted himself off. "If we had doors like these everywhere, it could make an impenetrable fortress," Chrom said as they walked off.
"Not quite, there is a possibility of power failure and you got yourself a disaster, not to mention they could also be hacked." Marth stated plainly while Chrom scratched his head.
"I didn't understand half of that, but it sounds more problematic than helpful." He admits while Marth chuckles.
"Let me show you the elevator then," Marth says with a smirk.
"The ele- what?" Chrom asked…
*outside*
"Ok, ok, this one has got to be one of our greatest victories to date!" Pittoo said while taking a sip of his drink. "So there we were right, one stock left with barely one minute on the clock. Luigi and Fox had us cornered at that point as our damage percentage was way higher than theirs. Worst yet they had us seperated on either side of the stage while they firmly held the middle. They both would focus on one of us to push us back then the other, we were getting nowhere fast and we knew it. Blue here decided to jump at them from above while charging that jab of hers, when I noticed a pitfall had appeared. The perfect plan was laid out for us, now we needed to make sure we executed it flawlessly. Blue lands her jab perfectly on them, sending them off the stage, and when they try to get back to the stage I toss the pitfall at them and hit both of them. That is a very rare occurrence, luckily it happened then and there and we completely turned a losing battle!" Pittoo finished and slammed a fist into his palm.
"That sounds exciting!" Sumia says while clapping rapidly.
"That was just pure dumb luck" Lucina says while leaning back.
"Hey guys the arena is open for all smashers and their guests so they can get a real taste of smash!" Ike says, appearing behind the group. They all sat atop the hill again sharing their tales, Sumia gasped and grabbed Lucina's hand.
"Ohhh that sounds exciting, we should do that!" She squealed out but Lucina looked unsure, being in a smash battle can be very bizzare for first timers.
"I know Marth and I will be there," Caeda says.
"Come on Ike, hurry up! I wanna go kick butt with my big brother!" Mist says, appearing behind Ike and tugging on his arm.
"Alright, alright sheesh lets go!" Ike replied as his sister dragged him off.
"Maybe we should hold off-"
"Oh come on blue, don't be square about this too!" Pittoo says crumbling up his tin can and tossing it behind him.
"Im. Not. A. Square!" She whispered harshly to him. Sumia however was giving her a pleading look to go to the arena. She groaned to herself and hung her head, "alright fine let's go…" She caved in while Sumia stood and let out a cheer.
"Yay lets goooooo!" She exclaimed and grabbed her daughter's arm and walts off. Pittoo quickly got up and went after them with his arms up in the air. Caeda just smiled and followed shortly after.
The arena was conveniently next to the Mansion grounds and it was roaring as usual. As they neared they could hear the crowd going wild along with the sounds of battle. "Where are you guys off too?" Someone says from behind and they stopped and turned, Marth and Chrom were heading out as well.
"We're going to check out the arena, we can join Lucina in battle!" Sumia says excited while hopping in place.
"Erm…" Chrom said, puzzled as to why his wife sounded so thrilled about a battle.
"Oh don't worry it's all simulated, like a make believe you get to actually experience!" Sumia assured him.
"Shall we?" Marth said, extending his hand to Caeda who took it gleefully.
"You know it," She said and winked at him.
"Aye guys you're all going too!" Roy said as he bumped into the group with Lilina.
"Who wouldn't?" Pittoo says, still looking up at the large stadium taking in the sounds.
"So how about it Marth, you want that Melee rematch or what?" Roy said, turning towards the prince with a large grin.
"If I recall correctly we won that match" Marth states putting an arm around Caeda.
"Wasn't it a tie?" She asked while Lilina nodded.
"I believe it was, it ended with two victories each" she says.
"Then let's break that tie" Roy says while Marth just smirks.
"You're that eager to lose?" He remarked.
"Oh you're on blue boy, team red is taking you down!" Roy says while Marth just cleared his throat and motioned towards Lilina's hair. Roy turns and glances at her before he quickly turns back around, "that doesn't count!" He states while Marth chuckled. "Alright, team Roy is taking you down!" He adds.
"Game on" Marth said as they both gave each other a competitive look and dash towards the arena.
"Shall we?" Lilina says to Caeda while motioning towards the stadium.
"Might as well try to catch up" she replied and they both head off after their spouses.
"Make believe huh" Chrom says while scratching his chin and watching Marth and Roy race towards the stadium.
"Yeah you can literally be smashed into the ground and be unscathed." Pittoo says still taking in all the sounds.
"Oh we should hurry, I want to see how my baby does in make believe battles" Sumia says as she resumes dragging off Lucina.
"Speaking of battle, has anyone seen Robin?" Chrom asked as the tactician seemed to have vanished.
"He was with his sister last time I checked," Sumia says while they walk.
"Right… Sister… That's still tripping me out" he says to himself. Once they were near the fighter only entrance the sounds were almost deafening.
"OH MY GOSH IT'S CHROM!" A bunch of fangirls started screaming and hopping when they noticed the bluenette. Of course there were barriers and security Mii's keeping all the fans snapping pictures of the passing fighters behind the line. Chrom held up a hand to his face as he was overwhelmed with all the bright flashes going off. "CHROOOOOOOOOM" Some of them began to shout and wave at the confused and startled man. "NOTICE ME CHRROOOM!"
"Who are all these people shouting my name?" Chrom asked, turning towards Lucina who sighed.
"Yeah… I forgot to mention that, here people tend to know who we are and sort of idolize some of us…" She says while Chrom looked back at the crowd.
"But I have never been here before. How do they know of me?" He says, completely baffled.
"Well anything and everything in the tournament is known about in this universe, be it a fighter, item, or any other reference. That person or object and their entire world becomes public knowledge, all of it. So with Robin and I being here they know all about you. And like I mentioned before some of them idolize us, and some to an extreme intent." She explained while more fangirls began to show up to wave at Chrom.
"Oh… Well maybe I could chat with a few of them I guess? As a nice gesture." He says while Lucina placed her hand on his shoulder firmly.
"I would not go anywhere near them, trust me they'll tear you to shreds" She warned him while he looked at her horrified.
"That's an awfully barbaric thing to do to an idol!" He exclaimed and she simply shrugged.
"I don't mean literally, but it's best to keep your distance regardless, '' she says.
"I got you signed up, Lucy!" Sumia reappears, handing her a little slip of their match details.
"That's great…" Lucina replied, she remembered her first match was a disaster so she knew this would go badly. "Wait, mother you're not on here?" She adds when she reads over the little slip.
"Well," her mother began, "jumping straight in is not the best strategy, for this first match I decided to hang back and watch you instead, learn the ropes from the sidelines. It is afterall how I learned to do battle back home as well." Sumia explained.
"So then who…" Lucina said and turned to see Pittoo with a massive grin, of course he wanted to jump in. "Your fight with Wolf wasn't enough!?" She groaned mentally.
"That is the most advantageous stance Sumia!" Someone says heading out of the stadium.
"Robin there you are!" Chrom says approaching the tactician and patting him on the shoulder.
"I was just about to head out and look for you guys," Robin said.
"Well we're already here, and good thing too I need someone to enter the battle with." Chrom said while Robin chuckled.
"Funny thing is, you've actually been in the arena with me before" Robin says while Chrom gives him a puzzled look.
"Let me explain" Robin begins as he puts an arm around Chrom and they walk off towards the registration table.
"Well we better hurry you guys are next after all" Sumia says ushering them along.
"You're gonna love this" Pittoo said as he cracked his knuckles.
"And then after the move is finished you vanish" Robin finished and handed Chrom a slip, "we should head to the observation deck until it's our turn to step in." Robin adds and heads in. Chrom took one last look at the roaring crowd behind him though.
"CHROOOOM I LOVE YOUUUUUU!" One of them shouts while pointing at her shirt, which had a big ol picture of his face slapped on it inside a heart. He just awkwardly smiled and hurried inside, he managed to catch up to the others just as they boarded an elevator.
"Why are we cramming into this little room?" Sumia asked from the back.
"These little rooms take us to different floors actually" Chrom said as Robin pushed the up arrow.
"Really? How?" She says surprised.
"No idea…" He admits.
"Ropes and pulleys" Robin says.
"Who's pulling them?" Sumia asks again.
"They kinda pull themselves" Robin says while lifting his shoulders.
"Woaaah..." she responds as they hear a little ding and the doors reopened. Sumia then grabs Chrom from by the shirt while pointing out. "Look at that! we're in a different location!" She says completely surprised, for a moment she thought they might've been pulling her leg on that. As they step out she turns around to look at the elevator again as the doors closed and it descended again.
The place they ended up looked very fascinating, there were sparkling lights all around the place. And rows of seats for them to sit on as well as a snack bar way in the back attended by a Mii. The seats all faced a large glass panel that overlooked the stadium, speakers were all around the massive room so they could hear what was happening outside. Two chutes off to the side open up and Ike and Mist stepped out with her frowning at him.
"IIIIIIIIIIKE!" she groaned, "why did you let him fart on me!?" She exclaimed.
"What was I supposed to do? Waluigi was burying me into the ground with his giant foot," he replies.
"Guys, the next match is starting!" Pit shouts excited while tossing popcorn everywhere as he hopped in his seat.
"Uh Huh…" Viridi replied while seated next to him and playing with her hair. There was a massive Tv off to the side as well that showed who the combatants were, their icons, damage gauge, and stocks. The screen flashed as it changed showing Marth and Caeda on one side of the screen and Roy and Lilina on the other, separated by a giant VS in the middle of the screen. A massive bubble swallows the stage and transforms it into the castle siege stage omega form, making it look like the combatants were actually there while everyone in the arena could still see in. The fighters appeared shortly on different platforms of the stage while the countdown began.
3.
2.
1.
GO!
The voice boomed out and they all dashed at each other. Roy and Marth were constantly trying to slash at each other while rolling behind the other. The others however were in a completely unique situation of their own, Lilina was trying to keep Caeda at bay so she can accurately cast her magic. However it was sort of difficult to do with the vast range of Caeda's lance attacks, or in this case her special weapon the wing spear. This didn't deter the mage as she had a few tricks up her sleeve. Roy's shout could be heard across the stage as he did his vertical slash to recover and dealt a significant amount of damage to Marth, while pushing him back in the process. Roy then grinned as he locked eyes with his wife, "now!" He shouts while Lilina lets loose a large whirlwind that pushes both Marth and Caeda towards Roy. Who was charging his neutral attack making his blade become engulfed in flames. When the whirlwind got them close enough he brought down his weapon, creating a small fire explosion and sending the other two soaring across the stage. The crowd began to roar, then gasp as Marth recovered and grabbed the ledge. He rolls onto the stage and dashes at the enemy surprisingly quick while Caeda lands behind him.
"The hero king sure is fast!" Chrom said while observing the battle, Marth then proceeds to jab at the others very quickly and rapidly. He then rolls back as Caeda rushes forward with a powerful jab sending the other duo flying off.
"That's the thing with Marth, he's very quick and nimble. If not careful he can easily rack up your damage for a KO." Robin says while he leaned forward in his seat taking mental notes as he watched. Marth then tossed Roy off the stage and jumped down after him charging his neutral. When they were at the same level Marth let loose his jab sending the redhead into the blast zone.
"Player 3 defeated!"
The booming voice called out, on the other side however was a different story. After quickly hitting her with an upward slash Caeda is blasted back by a wave of fire and knocked off stage, before she could recover Lilina dashed towards the edge and released a giant bolt of thunder that struck Caeda head on. She plummeted to the bottom of the stage disappearing in a flash of multicolored lights.
"Player 2 defeated!"
"She sure is skilled with magic!" Sumia says with a surprised gasp. Lilina then turns around just in time to see Marth recover from KOing Roy.
"Now this seemed vaguely familiar" she says while he chuckled.
"Talk about dejavu huh" he said and smirked. Last time he dashed at her without precaution and she KOed him, not something he would repeat this time. He did dash at her but he was anticipating her to make the same move she did before, luckily for him it seemed she was. She sent a wave of fire at him as expected. He jumped up and was about to go over her before she looked up at him with a large playful smile. She raised her arm towards him and sent a chilled wind at him dealing a fair bit of damage before encasing him in ice. The attack almost resembled the Ice Climbers chilled breath attack. While Marth was helplessly frozen she began to charge her next attack to finish him off. The prince however quickly breaks out of his icy prison and quickly rolls behind her as she strikes the empty space where he was encased. By the time she turns around it was already too late as he had charged up his jab attack.
"Oooh dear…" she says before being struck and sent flying straight to the blast zone. The crowd began to roar again before she exploded in a flash of multicolored lights.
GAME!
And the winner is… Blue Team!
"That was amazing!" Sumia says while she clapped rapidly.
"Truly a remarkable feat" Chrom says while four chutes in the back opened up and the four fighters step out.
"GG man" Roy says while he shakes hands with Marth.
"You guys nearly had me there," Marth said, pretending to wipe his brow.
"Oh I let my confidence get the best of me, fatal mistake!" Lilina said.
"That was such an exhilarating battle, you were great out there" Caeda says, patting her on the shoulder.
"Aw thanks! You did pretty amazing yourself there, I was almost wiped!" Lilina responds while they share a hug.
"That had to be the most amazing amazing thing I've ever seen!" Chrom says as he approaches Marth.
"Truly, so you think you're ready to have a go at it, I'd love to see how another of my descendants does in battle." Marth says while Robin approaches them.
"Actually we're probably going to be dead last to have a go" Robin states while Marth looked in thought.
"Well this isn't exactly a tournament, all matches are random, if you don't mind I'd like to have a round with Chrom here and his lady." Marth says while turning towards Robin.
"Actually that would be a very interesting match, by all means proceed" Robin says as he motioned towards the chute.
"What do you both say?" Marth says as Sumia appears behind Chrom.
"Are we actually ready to do this? I mean facing the Hero-king on our first go seems a little intimidating to be honest." Sumia says while she leaned on Chrom.
"It is, however there will never be no greater challenge to help us hone our skills" Chrom says.
"I actually felt the same way mother" Lucina says as she appears between them. "But now ol gramps here is but a battle like all others" Lucina jokes while slapping Marth on the back.
"Lucina!" Chrom said in shock, "that's the hero king, you should know better than to treat someone like him like you would the tavern fool!" He says sternly while Lucina lowered her head slightly.
"Yes father, my apologies…" She says looking ashamed, she seemed very much like a child just then, like the kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. That is before Marth holds up his hands.
"No please! I'd prefer it if you would treat me as an equal and friend, I highly prefer not to be acknowledged in such high regard. And it took me months to break her from that habit. I'd really rather she didn't regress," Marth states while patting Lucina on the shoulder.
"But it's you, how else could we possibly acknowledge you without such high regard" Sumia replied while Chrom nodded.
"This explains a lot actually…" Marth whispered to himself and glanced at Lucina then back at her parents. "Well I am nothing more than a man, same as you friend." Marth replied while he now nodded at Chrom, "besides that, the matter still remains we are family after all no? Surely at least you can treat me as such and not like a deity of some sorts." Marth adds while Sumia and Chrom look at each other.
"He's got you there," Sumia says.
"He has the same problem back home don't you?" Caeda says while she brushes Marths hair behind his ear.
"I guess if you wish it so, I'll compromise" Chrom says with a defeated sigh.
"Well why don't we blow this all over with a round of smash, that's if you can handle it old man?" Lucina says all cheery again and punches Marth on the shoulder. Chrom looked like he was about to explode but instead smiled when his wife squished his shoulder. Marth just laughed nervously, he knew it was going to be very awkward from here on out.
"If Lucy can do it then so can I!" Sumia says while smacking the palm of her hand with the other.
"That's the spirit, shall we then?" Marth says motioning towards the chute.
"Right then, Let us see how we fair against the hero of legend" Chrom agreed as they all step into the chutes. The four of them are then transported to the control room where they can set the match and ready their gear and attire. Chrom looked down at himself surprised as he was engulfed in a soft light, was then dressed in his usual attire and his blade materialised in his hands. The same with Sumia she was back in her old garb and with her lance.
"You too huh…" Caeda said while motioning to her own weapon with her head.
"Yeah, say I have to ask you wouldn't by any chance happen to be a…" She says while Caeda quickly catched on.
"Pegasus knight? Of course!" She says while Sumia squealed.
"No way, me too!" She says while they both hold hands and jump in place rather excitedly.
"Alright everyone in the portal pad" Marth says stepping into the large pad followed by the others. They are engulfed in light and soon after reappear on the stage, arena ferox. As all four of them began to appear the crowd began to roar out in excitement.
"Is this… No way…" Chrom says completely surprised.
3.
2.
1.
Go!
Okay dudes and dudettes that's it for now tune in next to catch the epic battle that lies ahead. Comments, suggestions, criticisms would be welcomed down below. Toodles with a side of noodles! (* ^∀^)ﾉｼ
Next chapter: Fanfare…