Kaitlin sighed heavily, clicking through an endless list of emails. One cup of coffee had not been enough to get her through a full day of writing and editing articles for the start of the new competition. Her boss was anticipating that her star reporter would crank out a detailed rundown of every new and top champion out there. She had already written the first eight, all focused on the Big Eight. The rest of the week she had all the newcomers to do as well as any other popular big name that was desired.

Kaitlin eventually shook her head and stood up. Hoping to knock off any sleepiness, she walked around the office taking the longest route to the coffee machine that she could. Other reporters were here, writing their own smaller articles that would feature alongside hers this week. This was Corneria News' Champions Branch, which was basically a fancy way of saying it was a sports news branch of Corneria News focused on the champions fights. Kaitlin had moved here after finishing her studies on Corneria to pursue her dream of studying the champions up close and getting to talk to them in person. She had always been a huge fan of the competition.

"Long day?" asked one of her co-workers who had just packed up to leave for the day.

"Just one day of a long week," grumbled Kaitlin. She poured another cup of coffee and walked over to his desk. "How's that rundown of the new champions complex? Anyone let you in on the details?"

"Honestly, I've hardly been given anything," he replied. "I'm not sure where they got all the funds for it, especially given they contracted with that one company that builds things instantly."

"Pretty sure Isabelle has some connections there," said Kaitlin thoughtfully sipping her drink.

"Well, she must've called in all her favors," he shrugged. "Anyway, I'm headed out. See you tomorrow."

"Mhmm."

Kaitlin wandered back to her desk, again taking as long as possible to reach it. When she plopped back down, she noticed another email had appeared.

"I've been gone for two minutes," she mumbled, but then she saw who the sender was.

"Zelda?" she said to herself quietly. She didn't even realize the champions had professional emails. They sure never sent her anything from them. She had Hand's contact, and a few of the board, but that was it.

She opened the email and began to read. It was lengthy. Her immediate thought was that this was the worst prose she had ever seen written by a supposed princess. It wasn't awful, but she had expected something a little more refined. The next thought was the concern about what it entailed.

Apparently, the champions were going to have a pre- and post-game interview following the fights next week, but since it was experimental, they were only inviting a few reporters in. The idea was certainly interesting to her, but this was a change, and the business model of that company hadn't changed in a long time.

"So, this is your first play, Hand?" she said curiously. It certainly wasn't a bad idea. She would definitely go, and she immediately replied to Zelda that she would be there. However, as she leaned back in her chair, she knew this wasn't going to be enough. It was a trial for sure, a way to test the waters and see if they could begin to turn things around some. Truth be told, they desperately needed to.

The opening day ratings were shocking to say the least, and some of the more fringe publications had jumped all over them, hailing the end times for the champions competition. Of course, none of the larger, more reputable news agencies had gone beyond writing about a noticeable drop in viewership. Throwing their biggest source of content under the bus wasn't a wise idea, but even Kaitlin had found it challenging to write about the precipitous drop in an unbiased way. Clearly, Hand had felt the need to start taking heavier actions. She wondered if the board had begun to apply pressure to him. After so many years of roaring success, it was difficult to imagine Hand being in a potentially compromised position with his employers.

She looked idly at one of the papers that had published a doomsday prediction that was sitting on her desk under a pile of far more important material. RATINGS CRASH! roared the headline on the front page. She wasn't exactly sure what the picture was supposed to be. It looked like meteors were falling on some of the champions in the stadium.

"Pfft," said Kaitlin dismissively, "tabloids." Yes, it was certainly far too early to be claiming the end of days just yet, but without a turnaround soon that could be different in a few months.

Kaitlin stared at the time. It was well past the end of the workday, and the coffee wasn't hitting her as hard as she had hoped. Figuring she could just continue writing her champion rundowns at home, she packed up her stuff and left the office.

The next morning, Kaitlin made sure to down two cups of coffee before jogging out of her apartment in her dress pants and blouse and onto the first hovercraft at the station. She marched into the office with a bit of extra pep in her step, ready to tackle the next batch of champion rundowns. However, before she could reach her desk, her boss called her over to her office.

"What's up?" Kaitlin asked, shutting the door behind her.

"How're those rundowns on the champions coming along?" she asked. She was propping her head up with her hand on her desk and was scrolling through something on her computer absentmindedly.

"Pretty well. I've got the Big Eight done and I did a few more newcomers last night," replied Kaitlin.

"Good, but don't let the work kill you, alright?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Anyways, I wanted your opinion on this," and her boss held up one of the articles that had been published recently proclaiming the end times for the champions competition.

"Just a tabloid, ma'am, desperate to get attention," said Kaitlin simply.

"The competition has been running into a few monetary problems recently though, hasn't it?"

"It has, but we reported on that accurately. One bad day of ratings isn't going to sink the biggest sporting event out there instantly."

"So, nothing these guys are reporting is particularly accurate?"

"Im pretty sure one suggested half the roster could be released by next week, so no. That would be…. mind-blowingly unexpected, to say the least. Not to mention that's something that would only happen if the company was on the edge of total failure. As far as I'm concerned, their stadiums are still selling out."

"Okay. So, there's nothing you need? Nothing I can get for you to make sure you're getting access to everything? You do work for Corneria News, after all."

"No ma'am, I'll let you know if I do."

A week later, Kaitlin was standing under the stadium, digital pad and stylus in hand, awaiting what was going to be the first pre-match interview done by the competition. It was Ike versus Snake to start the day.

There was only one camera, a single stationary camera at the back of the room pointing at the table up front. That camera would be distributing the feed to all the stations that needed it. There was also her and a few other big-time reporters from other large news agencies. No fringe or unknown writers from what she could see. This was clearly something they were just trying out.

Ike appeared first. He moseyed to the table up front and took a seat. The lights seemed to be bothersome to him, and he kept fiddling his fingers. Kaitlin wondered whether it would've been better to have someone much more experienced like the Big Eight be the test runners for something like this, but given they just fought last week and they were probably short on time, this is all they could do.

Zelda was standing in the corner of the room with her own mic. "We'll just start with a round of questions from each reporter today," she said. "Feel free to go left to right and fire away."

"Guess that means I'm first," breathed Kaitlin. She looked up at Ike, who seemed determined but out of place. He certainly dwarfed the table in front of him.

"Is there anything new you're expecting against Snake, given it's been so long since you last fought him?" she asked.

Ike thought for a second, maybe a second too long for comfort, then replied, "Uh, not really, no. Um, I watched him some on the training field and, uh, it looked pretty familiar from what I remember. So, uh, no, I don't really expect too many surprises."

A serviceable response, thought Kaitlin, albeit poorly delivered. She immediately thought of Zelda's writing in her email and wondered briefly if the Big Eight had been carrying the picture of eloquence for the rest of the champions at bit more than she had realized.

"Are you excited to see Snake return?" she continued. Another softball question, but it wasn't like there was much precedence to go from to ask anything harder.

"Uh, yeah," said Ike, "of course, yeah. Um, it's great seeing everyone back, really. Place gets a bit crowded I guess," he added with a short laugh, which at least got everyone in the room to smile lightly, "but yeah, really excited to see everyone again. It's been a blast." He finished his response on a slightly stronger note.

Kaitlin indicated that was all she had. They didn't have much time to work with before the fight, so they had to keep things short.

The next two reporters asked their typical cookie cutter questions, which Ike slowly got better at answering more confidently over time. The fourth reporter, however, had other plans.

"Are these interviews part of a new business strategy we might be seeing more of to address the rumored financial problems within the company?"

Kaitlin's jaw dropped slightly, and she stared at the reporter out of the corner of her eye. He was from Laurissa News, another big agency in the nearby city she lived in. They focused on a lot of city-related matters but also covered the champions competition.

The other two reporters raised their eyebrows curiously but didn't look at the Laurissa reporter.

"Um," started Ike. His confidence that he had built up over the past three rounds of questioning had vaporized. "I believe that's, uh, a question you'd want to, um, ask Mr Hand. He, er, usually handles those kinds of things."

The Laurissa reporter nodded and indicated that was all he had to ask.

Real subtle, thought Kaitlin, still side eying the Laurissa reporter while Ike left the room.

Snake left the back room too early, resulting in a temporarily awkward engagement between him and Ike in which a "Sorry" and "No problem" we're exchanged before they made their way past each other.

Kaitlin noticed this and decided to change her intended questions. "Looks like you and Ike get along well," she remarked, giving a small smile to hopefully build confidence early.

"Yeah, he's a great guy. They all are, really. I'm just excited to be back. Great people."

Kaitlin couldn't help but feel like this was a half mangled prepared response to an easy question. Something about the bright lights and sitting in the open wasn't playing well with Snake, either.

Once again, they all ran through their prepared questions.

And once again, the Laurissa reporter threw a curveball. "Have you been provided any reasoning to the change in format with these interviews?"

This time, even the other two reporters turned to stare at the Laurissa one, but he wasn't paying them any attention. He was intently focused on Snake, who responded, "Um, like Ike said, I think Hand is the guy you'd want to talk to about that."

And the Laurissa reporter once more nodded and indicated that's all he had.

By now the thundering crowd above could be heard anxiously awaiting the fight. Zelda wrapped up the interview and Snake disappeared backstage.

"What was that about?" Kaitlin asked the Laurissa reporter as they packed up.

"What was what about?" he replied.

"Those curveballs you threw at them. About the business format? You know Hand is the one who deals with all of that."

"I'm just trying to ask the questions the readers want."

"And your readers want to read about corporate business strategies and decisions over champions?" asked Kaitlin with a raised eyebrow. The other two reporters were listening intently.

"Two weeks ago, they didn't," he said. "But now, with the rumor mill going full speed about all their financial issues? It's starting to become an interesting topic. People want to know what's going on here."

He put away his tablet and threw his bag over his shoulder. "Anyway," he continued, "I doubt people would be overly interested in hearing about how excited a champion is to be here for the thousandth time." He left the room, leaving Kaitlin to ponder. She didn't like his attitude. It came across as a bit too highbrow to her.

But he wasn't wrong.

Zelda snapped.

"Alright, furball," she said, turning to face him. "Let's see how tough you are."

"Uh oh," muttered Fox from the couch at the edge of the room. He and Link had been lounging at a breakfast table, taking things easy since they had a while before their next fights. Today they got to rest all morning then take the afternoon off watching other fighters duke it out before hitting the gym to train.

Zelda was staring piercingly into Incineroar's eyes, who was looking smug.

"Let's head to the arena. Right now. First one to get knocked off loses," she continued.

Sonic and Falco were egging Incineroar on. Behind them, Fox saw Captain Falcon smiling, but his wide eyes were giving away his apprehension.

Link snorted and returned to his cereal, "This is going to be almost comical."

"You'd think Cap would stop Incineroar. Maybe he's just not able to think of a good enough excuse to get him out of this. Anyways," Fox added, looking at the fire Pokémon, "Incineroar looks like he thinks he can actually win this."

"He's tough," said Link, "but Zelda has fifteen years of experience. She's going to walk all over him."

The altercation was attracting attention from other breakfast groups. Leaf was looking back and forth between the two, her mouth slightly open. Right next to her, Bowser was staring at the pair grimly. Bowser had been with Leaf yesterday giving her pointers and advice throughout all the matches.

Incineroar didn't flinch. Zelda whipped around and swiftly left the room for the arena.

"Yeeaaahhh!" yelled Sonic and Falco. Captain Falcon just laughed, rubbing his head awkwardly.

A bowl landed on Fox and Falco's table. Lucina dropped in the seat across from them. She was also in her night clothes.

"Hardly seems fair," she said to them softly, "having Zelda go up against a total newbie."

Link shrugged as he watched Incineroar also leave to head for the arena, "It's his fault really. Shouldn't have pushed her temper so much."

Link turned around. "Wanna go watch him get his ass kicked?"

"I've got nothing better to do," said Fox. Lucina merely nodded as she was now midway through eating cereal. She picked up her bowl and shuffled after the other two.

Bowser and Leaf met up with them just outside the mansion doors.

"What're you guys doing?" asked Fox.

"Same as you," growled Bowser. "Going to watch Incineroar get flattened by Zelda."

"Do you really think it'll be that bad?" asked Leaf nervously. "Incineroar was a real big shot where I'm from. Is Zelda that much more powerful?"

"Easily," said Lucina. "You saw these guys and the rest of the Big Eight yesterday. She's just about as strong as them. Incineroar won't last more than a minute."

"Excellent learning opportunity," laughed Bowser. "Watching someone make a fool of themselves."

They hopped on the private tram alone and it took off towards the arena. The city buildings flew by them while Leaf stared outside the other way at the passing landscape. Lucina was focused on preventing her cereal from spilling. It was technically against the rules to bring open food containers onto the tram, but it was an early morning. Things were lax.

"So, what're you like her teacher now?" joked Link.

"You oughta be coaching some newcomers yourself," said Bowser pointedly to Fox and Link. "Me and Ganon doin' more charity work than you two heroes."

Coaching and helping give pointers were typically unwritten rules for the veterans. Getting new champions up to speed helped everyone improve by improving weak links. It also made battles closer and better for business.

"Yeah yeah," said Link. "I'll help people when it looks like they need it. Unless they're dumb enough to piss Zelda off."

"Oh, of course," mocked Bowser, putting a hand up, "anyone that upsets your babe is off limits."

The other three laughed and Link told Bowser, "Shut it."

They arrived at the arena and headed into the stands. From there they could see Captain Falcon manning the control room. Zelda and Incineroar were still nowhere in sight.

"Be right back," said Fox, jumping up the stands to the control room.

"Howdy," said Captain Falcon when Fox arrived. From up here they could see the entire stadium plus deep into the arena. The city buildings also were easily visible from this high up.

"Hey," said Fox. "So, uh, you're okay with letting Incineroar do this? Like, you know he's gonna get crushed."

Cap shrugged. "He'll learn. Valuable part about being part of our group is knowing who's buttons you can push and how far. A good kick in the mouth from Zelda in a place like this where he can't get hurt too badly is the best way to show him that. Better that then having her set him on fire in the mansion."

"Alright," said Fox, not entirely convinced. "He might not get physically banged up but his pride will."

But Cap waved this off. "That'll heal just fine."

Fox left the control room and headed back down the stands to the group.

A few minutes later, Cap's voice boomed over the announcer's speakers. In the nearly empty arena, it echoed forcefully.

"Just gonna turn that down a tad," Cap said after seeing the small group of spectators shield their ears against the explosive voice. "That should be good. Alright, stage is ready, you guys can hop on whenever."

On the left side, Incineroar leapt onto the stage, flexing his huge muscles and smiling broadly. On the right side, Zelda teleported in, completely straight faced and unreadable.

"Damn," said Link, "she's really pissed. Bet she's using this to get back at them being so loud recently."

"She has been complaining a lot about that," said Lucina. She was slouched deep into her chair looking quite comfy as she observed the stage with her breakfast.

Bowser, meanwhile, was already instructing an attentive Leaf.

"Now, Zelda has a lot of projectiles she likes to use, so she usually fights from afar and keeps her opponent pinned down."

"Usually?" asked Leaf.

"Yeah," said Link, "but she outmatches Incineroar so badly that she could just walk up to him and kick his face in."

"Alright, we ready?" called Cap. "First one to knock the other off the platform wins! Go!"

Incineroar took off sprinting towards Zelda, arms spread and palms facing forward. Zelda tossed a fireball towards him. Incineroar paused to take the hit, but being a fire Pokémon, it didn't seem to do much damage at all.

Incineroar shook off the smoke with a grin and resumed his pursuit. Confident in his motions, he winded up a powerful hit and launched it towards Zelda, who hadn't taken a step.

That's when a knight, a full blown, armor clad knight, smashed Incineroar in the face at a full sprint.

"Oof," said Fox and Link together.

"Ouch," muttered Lucina.

"Wait what?" shouted Leaf.

For a moment, a squat knight with a gigantic sword and a huge shield towered over Incineroar. Incineroar looked back at it, bewildered. It vanished as soon as it had appeared.

"That's legal?" said Leaf. "I mean, I know Link has his bow and boomerang and Fox has his blaster, but a full-blown knight to deal the damage for you?"

"Course it is," said Bowser, "and you gotta be careful 'bout that. Lots of people here have a gimmick or two. Trust me, it threw us off when we saw Red switching Pokémon. One moment you're trying to pulverize a little Squirtle, the next Charizard is setting you on fire."

"Or the fact that half the sword users here are damn near perfect at counter attacking," grumbled Fox. Lucina smiled through a mouthful of cereal.

Incineroar stood back up, no longer looking smug. Zelda's expression hadn't changed. Incineroar assessed the situation before sprinting into attack. He leaped high into the air and then dive bombed straight at her in a fiery rage.

"Well, he's toast," said Link, unamused.

At the last second, Zelda side-stepped the furious attack, and before Incineroar could reestablish himself, she grabbed him. He attempted to escape, but she was using magic to make the grip extremely powerful. There were a few yelps as Zelda pummeled Incineroar before she tossed him up in the air. A half second later, she jumped up and whipped around, sending a furious aerial kick into his gut. The impact was monstrous, sending Incineroar flying off the edge of the stage from which Zelda had been standing on the whole time. He fell to the bottom of the arena and outside the boundaries.

Leaf was still processing things. "What-?" she started.

"Overzealous attack," said Lucina simply.

"Pretty much," said Bowser. "Zelda will kill ya if you get too hot headed around her. Gotta make sure ya don't overstep or she'll punish you for it."

Zelda whipped around and teleported off the stage. She reappeared at the foot of the stands and made her way up to them. Her expression still hadn't changed.

"Well, that was entertaining for the whole thirty seconds that it lasted," said Fox.

Zelda sat next to Lucina. "Idiot just needed someone to shut him up," she replied.

"Yeah, but you could've at least let him wail on you for half a minute before you put him down," said Link.

"I wasn't exactly in the mood for teaching," she growled back.

"I thought you were awesome," said Leaf, looking up at the princess from her seat next to Bowser. This at least made Zelda crack a smile.

"Thanks," she replied. "I'm sure you'll look just as good when you're out there."

"Oh, I'd don't know," Leaf said, turning away shyly and scratching her head. "Everyone seems to think I'm going to be just as good as Red, but I don't have any experience here."

"Which is why you'll get out against other newcomers at first," said Bowser. "Obviously, there's a reason you won't be fighting any veterans right out of the gate."

Leaf still didn't look entirely convinced, but she didn't push the issue.

"Well, that was entertaining," someone said behind them. They all jumped a little and turned around.

"Kaitlin?" said Fox. Kaitlin was strolling down the steps of the empty stadium. "What're you doing here?"

"Wanted to get out of the office so I headed down here early for the pre-game interviews," she replied.

"Those aren't for hours though," said Zelda.

Kaitlin shrugged with a tilt of her head, "It was enough of an excuse to get out of the office. So, what was up with that?" she watched a freshly patched up Incineroar be unceremoniously dropped back onto the stage. He lay there for a moment, staring at the sky in disbelief. Captain Falcon strutted over to him, hands on his hips, and looked down at his defeated friend. He was saying something to him they couldn't hear. "Didn't realize there was an unscheduled fight going on this morning."

"Someone just made Zelda a tiny bit mad, that's all," said Fox, looking back at the stage.

"You want a story about it?" Kaitlin said with a smirk.

"Eh," said Link, "you know how Hand and the board are about reporting unofficial stuff that goes on between us. Thinks its unprofessional or whatnot."

Kaitlin shrugged again, "I thought it was pretty funny. Anyways, see you later!" she walked back up the steps towards the stadium exit.

Bowser turned to Zelda, "How'd the interviews go yesterday?"

"Mmm," started Zelda, "they were alright? They certainly weren't bad, I guess. The post-game interviews were a lot more interesting, but by then most people are already anxious for the next fight. I think everyone's just going to have to get a little more comfortable with them. It's not like we can give the same prepared responses like on Media Day."

Captain Falcon yanked Incineroar off the ground and hopped off the stadium with him, disappearing from their sight.

"Has it helped with anything?" continued Bowser, cutting more to the point with his question. In the past week, most of the champions had at least picked up on the fact there was a big problem brewing within the company. Some of the more veteran champions, including all of the Big Eight, had been filled in by Hand on the crisis.

"I'm not sure yet," said Zelda, shaking her head. "I don't think we'll really know if it made a difference until the end of the week."

Lucina put down her bowl of cereal. It was only three fourths finished, but she had suddenly lost all her appetite.

"Let's go," Browser growled, standing up and heading for the exit himself. "Gotta get back to trainin'."