Author's Note: Firstly, I am really sorry this took so long. The editing for this chapter took some time, but I can promise that the normal update schedule resumes with this one.

I won't be including many scenes of actual matches in this story, but this is still a tournament, so they will be included, or at least snippets of them will. Special events are a bit of an exception.

A few notes about how the characters do battle here:

-Other than certain signature moves (like Ike's Eruption) I am not following any specific movesets for this fic. Most moves derived from any moveset will be from SSB4, but for the characters not present in that game, I'm using their Project M movesets as inspiration. However, any inspirations for Mewtwo and Roy will be drawn from SSB4.

-Characters with a reflector and/or shield (like Link in the latter case if you're confused) can't use a standard shield.

-I will be using some Smash technical terms in narrative and in speech, notably gimping and teching. If you don't know what they are, Google is your friend.

-Something else to note is that Mega Man's weapons aren't going to function only as they do in SSB4; if they differ from how they are used in their source game, both applications will be featured.

-As I did with I Want In, all characters can switch between custom moves at will if they are physically different from the standard one (so, for instance, variations of counters are excluded) and/or not part of another character's moveset (for example, Wolf Flash will stay exclusive to Wolf here).

-Weapons that can be aimed, like Blasters, can be fired in any direction (multidirectional f-smash for Mega Man, I want this in-game!).

-Mechanics-wise, the battles work the same way as standard Smash, but I am adding my own twist on the rules for this tournament and for others. Notably, team attack is always on, because it doesn't make sense otherwise.

Thank you for bearing with me through this giant A/N, enjoy the chapter!

Lucina's eyes flew open, her mind already on alert as she quickly reconnoitered her surroundings. To her surprise, the sun was just rising. The digital clock - another convenient invention that Ylisse did not have - on the desk read 7:00. She sighed, hoping to have gotten more sleep. The tournament wasn't supposed to start until after breakfast, at 11:00. It was almost impossible for her to fall asleep once she woke up, a conditioning courtesy of her past routines.

The tournament. Butterflies exploded in her stomach as she remembered that today was it. A hard week's worth of drilling on the mechanics of Smash, formulating strategies with her teammates, and incessant practicing against bots would come down to these next few hours. As she started to change into her armor she noticed she had shaky hands. Hopefully the nervousness would be unfounded.

A stupefying wave of anxiety surged through her, making her stomach churn. Lucina took a few deep breaths to calm herself before resuming dressing, but her hands shook worse than ever.

"Don't think about it..." But try as she might she couldn't take her mind away from the looming prospect of her first Smash tournament.

"Since I'm awake, I might as well continue reading about items," the swordswoman thought to herself as she strapped her weapon to her waist to complete her outfit. Although she only headed to the archives, out of force of habit she always kept Parallel Falchion with her. "Perhaps some reading might distract me temporarily..."

"Morning, Ike," Snake said as the Radiant Hero sat down next to him. The spec-ops soldier was eating a doughnut with mug of coffee, a stark contrast to the full plate his partner had. "You seen Lucina yet?"

The latter took a moment to swallow his food before replying. "Not yet, but we shouldn't need to worry. She's good about remembering important things." On cue the princess appeared out of the crowd and Snake beckoned her over with a wave.

"Good morning, you two," she greeted, as she sat down across the table from them.

"Morning, Lucina," the soldier replied, as Ike was busying himself with his food again. "You nervous?"

"No," she lied, picking at her food with her fork.

He chuckled and leaned forward, adopting a condescending tone. "Listen, sweetie, I'm a veteran of a lot of battles myself in addition to Smash. I know battle nerves when I see them."

Fortunately, Ike decided to take break at that moment. "What Snake means is that we all get nervous, don't let it get to you."

His comment didn't do much other than add to Lucina's embarrassment at being so easily read.

"C'mon, lighten up. You can't do your best if you're so highly-strung." Snake had abandoned his earlier tone. "Besides, we've got one of the best teams in the tournament: a projectile user, a heavy hitter, and an aggressor. Covers almost any move the enemy tries to make."

When she gave no acknowledgment of hearing his words, Ike stood and came to her side. He put a hand on her shoulder and getting down on one knee to make eye contact. "We've both been in this position before; the important thing is to overcome it. Look at me, Lucina." She obeyed, her glance alternating between darts towards the floor and making brief eye contact. "Do you think we will win?"

"Well - "

"There isn't any intermediate to this. Give me a straight answer. Do you think we will win?"

"Yes..."

"That's hardly a confident response. If you truly believe we will win, look me in the eyes and repeat after me: I think we will win." She complied, but the words left her mouth as a mumble.

"Lucina, this half-hardheartedness is not a mentality that will help you in combat! If you truly believed in our victory, you wouldn't be afraid to declare it to this room!"

"But everyone else has faced other humans in combat before - "

Ike sighed. "So you're nervous because this is different from the fighting you're used to." She nodded to affirm his guess.

"My two cents' worth: Combat is combat, regardless of who you're up against," Snake interjected. "It's only when you think back on it that the difference in adversaries means anything."

"Snake's right. Just focus on the battle itself and not who you're up against. I wish I could tell you how, but I am afraid my answer may not be yours." The Radiant Hero put his hands on Lucina's shoulders. "You are my friend, with more than her fair share of troubles already. I assure you that no one here seeks to add to them, least of all me. If someone's making things hard for you, they'll have me to answer to."

"Ike..." she raised her arms out and received the desired hug in return, although it was light and only for a moment. "Thank you. I think I am better now."

He smiled warmly at her and returned to his seat before continuing to eat. Snake glanced at him with a brief look of exasperation before the usual impassive mask was back, and he continued taking methodical sips of his coffee. Lucina picked up her fork again and started to eat. Her grip was still a little shaky, but the butterflies in her stomach felt like a pair rather than a swarm.

"Alright, it's the day you have all been eagerly anticipating!" Master Hand's voice rang out over the grounds as the Smashers assembled before him. "Now, time to explain the rules! Your goal is to take all the stocks from your opponents! Each team will have a pool of 4 stocks to share, and each KO by your team earns you one of the opposing team's! You will need to remain focused throughout the entire match, or the opposing team could make a total comeback! Of course, to keep things from dragging on for too long, we will be spawning items in at progressively faster rates as the match goes on, so don't let your guard down! Now then, the bracket if you please, Crazy!"

The other hand unrolled a giant scroll while his brother explained it. "As you can see, there are a lot of battles to do, so let's not dally any longer! As always, we will be running four matches simultaneously for the first and second seed, one at a time for the quarterfinals and semifinals, and two at a time for those in between so that you may rest and recover! Those of you participating in the first four matches, please come see Crazy or myself to draw for stage selection! Best of luck to you all, Smashers!"

"Alright, looks like we're one of the first teams up, we should go see Master Hand," Ike said to his partners, a grim expression on his face as he looked at the bracket.

"Dammit, I was hoping not to deal with that team so early on," Snake growled. "We're going to have to be really quick about grabbing items."

Their opposing team, consisting of Villager, Toon Link, and Ness, already waited in front of Master Hand. "Ah, there you are," the latter said as they approached. "Well, Ness and his teammates have called heads, so here we go!" He flicked a golden coin upwards with his hand.

"Back away a little, Lucina," Ike advised. "It comes down fast because he tosses it high." Sure enough, the flash of gold as it fell from the sky was almost too fast for them to catch. Master Hand examined it. "Tails! Better luck next time, you three. Snake, let me know when you and your team reach a decision!"

"No need, we already got it figured out," Snake replied. "We'll take Town and City, normal mode."

"Very well, Town and City it is! Good luck!" Master Hand floated away and the six fighters began walking towards the stage selection room, keeping with their teammates and giving the other team enough space to ensure they weren't overheard.

"Fighters! On my mark... 3...2...1...GO!" Master Hand's voice echoed from a hidden location.

Toon Link unleashed his arrow then rolled aside as Ness threw a PK fire to stop any retribution. But Lucina had anticipated their strategy and approached using the platforms. Ness barely dodged her landing strike and his retaliatory hit fell far short of the range of Falchion's blade. Villager knocked Ike down with a Lloid Rocket before turning around to help his teammate, and Ness let loose a PK Flash for his teammate to pocket.

But instead of pocketing the projectile, when Villager reached out, the air around Lucina warped and she vanished from sight with a cut-off scream. Immediately the fighting stopped.

Villager blinked. "That...wasn't supposed to happen..." He tried to take her out of his pocket, but there was nothing in it. "...neither was that..." Most odd. He could see her struggling inside, (even feel it as she stabbed at the inside of the pocket), but he couldn't seem to take her out...

"Unpocket her!" Ike demanded, towering over him.

"I tried! I don't know what's going on!"

"Do I have to state the obvious? Turn out your pocket!"

Villager stuck his hand back in and tried but it refused to budge. Meanwhile his pocket started squirming more frantically as if underscoring his own desperation. He had to get her out before Master Hand got the wrong idea...

"Villager, what did I tell you about appropriate uses of pocketing?"

"I swear I didn't do it! I don't know what's going on!" Villager panicked and took a step back as Master Hand made a finger-gun gesture and shot a bolt of energy at him. When it struck Lucina appeared back on the stage with a flash.

"It seems I was wrong to trust that you would use your Pocket within the guidelines I specified, Villager. From now on, I will set them for you; it's not even a minute into the first tournament and you're already causing trouble. Disqualification!"

"Master Hand - !" Toon Link protested.

"Not another word! Out with you and your teammates! NOW!"

Toon Link was about to object again but Villager stopped him. "No, he's right. I don't know what happened, but if I don't know what I'm doing then it's a risk to everyone else." He turned to the opposing team. "I know you probably don't believe a word of what I said, but for what it's worth, I'm sorry." He tossed his teleporter beacon down and was warped away. Ness and Toon Link followed, the latter looking rather annoyed.

Snake made to follow, but Ike stopped him and pointed at Lucina, who sat facing away from them. One arm was around her knee, the other on her chest. She took a shaky breath and exhaled slowly.

"Something wrong, Lucina?" Snake asked.

She took another breath and stood. "What was inside...was clearly not meant for humans."

"Well, since it multiplies the damage of anything he pockets, I'd imagine so."

Ike shot him a glare and came to her side. "Do you want me to get Dr. Mario? He can give you something to help you forget that memory - "

"No, I just need a little time to put it from my mind."

"If you insist. We have an hour until our next match, do you want to practice?"

"Yes, I think some additional practice would be good."

Plegia Castle

"I never expected it to be so simple," Grima rasped as Tabuu's form separated from his, their test complete.

"Master Hand likes simplicity; when you organize something as big as the Smash Brothers, things need to be. But that is also a weakness."

"One that we shall continue to exploit. And you are sure he suspected nothing?"

"That was merely changing the target of the Pocket, everything else could have happened as he set no restraints on what it can grab. Such a subtle influence would hardly be noticeable, I am more concerned about him detecting our breach of Smash's defenses. We must be more subtle in our attacks or Master Hand shall discover us quickly; at my current state, I am no match for him. I know of a few portals that were opened in this world, but all of them are in Ylisse and one of them is most definitely out of reach. We must be cautious when approaching and using them. A military escort is out of the question even if you should wrangle such a favor from Validar, it will draw too much attention."

"Then we must move and act by night only. But no matter, we have proven their little bubble isn't as safe as they think."

"Indeed." Tabuu did not mention to his temporary ally that once he had a host in the Smash realm he would abandon him.

"I do not think Master Hand suspects anything yet, perhaps we might push the boundaries a little further?"

"But we cannot strike in the same place twice, or the chance of detection becomes too great. Perhaps we could alter how some of the items work, that will still have the desired effect while being much more difficult to detect. Manufacturing defects in these items happen."

Grima shrugged. "You are the expert."

"Then let us get to it."

Master Hand's Office, Smash Mansion

"Something wrong?" Crazy asked as his brother slapped the door shut with a thunderous noise.

"Villager never struck me as the type to disobey the rules..." the latter muttered to no one in particular.

"Well, you may want to take a look at this before you do anything." Crazy guided his brother to a screen that had the camera feed of the Town and City stage. He toggled a switch and suddenly the image went black-and-white, though instead of being sensitive to heat, this was sensitive to influxes of magic. Master Hand had specifically developed this type of imaging as part of his additional security measures in the wake of the Subspace Emissary incident.

As they watched, a dark spot appeared from underneath the stage as the fight began. If not for the black background from which he emerged, it would have been impossible to see the form of Tabuu emerge and spread his broken wings. Another dark spot appeared in Villager's outstretched hand as he reached out to pocket the PK Flash. The air around Lucina turned darker too before rushing into the former's pocket, taking the unfortunate swordswoman with it.

Master Hand remained speechless for a while. "...Crazy...thank Sakurai that this was the one moment you were paying attention."

"Don't be so quick to use that sentiment," the other hand replied, gesturing at another monitor.

Master Hand took a moment to note the location. "Let's go, Crazy!"

"Ooh, do we get to beat up people now?" The left hand cackled. "Sweet."

Item Vault, Archives, Smash Mansion

"Here exists all manner of experiment and retired items that Master Hand has locked away, usually because of their extreme annoyance to the fighters or because they were deemed too powerful," Tabuu explained with a gesture of his arms.

"Both of which suit us perfectly." Grima was examining a trophy he had picked at random off a shelf. Tabuu took notice and chuckled.

"Perhaps we should start by adding that one back to the pool of assist trophies."

"May I inquire as to why?"

"It was removed on both of the aforementioned accounts."

Suddenly the lock on the vault rattled. Tabuu thrust his arm out at the entrance and the noise abruptly stopped as the mechanisms melted. Now that he was in the Smash realm, his power was far greater. As the antithesis of Master Hand, it only made sense for him to be strongest here.

"Give me the trophy, we must make haste in our espionage." To emphasize his point the vault shook and echoed with a loud bang as whoever was on the other side pounded the door. While Grima looked nervous and edged towards the portal, Tabuu took the trophy and suspended it in a cyan glow between his hands. The trophy began to glow until, with a flash, it disappeared and an assist trophy case lay on the floor in front of him.

"Now what?" Grima asked, a hint of urgency in his voice as the vault door cracked from another attack.

"I must summon it. Once that is done, he will automatically enter the assist trophy pool." Tabuu threw the case down and as the trophy emerged Tabuu spread his limbs and faded back into his temporary host, who ducked back into the portal without waiting to see if their sabotage worked. Just before the portal vanished from sight, the door was blasted down by a sphere of dark energy and two hands swooped inside.

"Well, it doesn't look like they did any major damage," Master Hand surmised as he took stock of the room. "Other than one, the security seals on the others are intact. Come, Crazy, we must stop them now." Master Hand swooped over to the portal and though he opened it partially, he could not keep it open and go through it simultaneously. Crazy Hand came to his assistance the two pried it open enough to slip through, one after the other, into the courtyard of Plegia Castle.

"I should have figured you wouldn't take the hint to stay away, Tabuu. And what's this? You've gotten Grima to take your side as well? How the tables have turned since our last meeting."

"Circumstances change, and with it, the rules. Since you've taken so many security precautions this time, I take it we are in agreement?"

"Certainly. And the circumstance of your existence is about to change." The hands split up and Master Hand lunged, trying to grab Grima. The Fell Dragon pulled out a dark tome and blasted the magic he summoned at Crazy, who was moving to follow up the grab in case his brother missed, but the hand caught it neatly and tossed it in the air before backhanding it at its caster.

Plegian soldiers were scrambling to form ranks to assist their Supreme Hierophant, and the archers on the battlements had already succeeded in pegging the hands with multiple arrows each. Mages were also starting to add their magic to the assault, but were scoring far fewer hits as they had to predict where the hands would fly and cast their tomes at that spot. The melee infantrymen, however, were having no success as their weapons were not capable of reaching the height the hands loitered at while planning their next attack.

"Stay merged with me," Tabuu spoke in Grima's mind. "If we separate I will become easy prey, and you will not have the strength to fight them." The Fell Dragon usually did not take orders, but he was inclined to agree and so complied. The only reason his host body hadn't disintegrated from the stress of combat and repeated magic use was because of Tabuu's assistance. He rolled aside as Master Hand slammed into the ground in a bid to catch him and barely eluded the fingers as they closed into a fist.

"Give me that!" He swiped a sword out of a nearby soldier's hands, before the latter processed what happened, a blast of energy intended for Grima struck him. Meanwhile, Crazy cackled madly as he swooped over the battlements, dropping bombs on the archers stationed along their length.

Master Hand made another dive at him, and Grima responded with another blast of dark energy from his tome. As he predicted, Master Hand held his palm out and absorbed it, but his opponent took the opportunity to drive the sword into the hand's palm up to the hilt.

"GAAAH!" The scream of pain reverberated throughout the courtyard. Clumsily, Master Hand managed to pry the sword out with his fingers, but the wound was clearly affecting his strength. His attacks were becoming less precise and slower. Meanwhile, a quick-thinking foot soldier had taken advantage of Crazy Hand's momentary distraction by his brother's injury to pin him to a battlement turret with a javelin.

Crazy slid backwards along the weapon's shaft and slammed the soldier to the ground before turning around and flicking him off the battlement. A glance across the courtyard at his brother conveyed a mutual understanding: they needed to finish things quickly otherwise the sheer number of soldiers would wear them down. Aiming for the largest concentration of soldiers in the courtyard, Crazy dove low to the ground and raced at them. As they scattered Master Hand flew in from another angle, fingers balled in a fist, and smacked many of the soldiers aside or even over the battlements.

With most of the guard now incapacitated, the hands dove as one at Grima, with Master Hand finally managing to trap him in his fingers.

"Both of your little games end here. Crazy, would you do the honors?" Master Hand shifted his grip for Grima to see Crazy Hand charging a massive sphere of dark energy.

"Place your hands on his fingers," Tabuu suddenly advised. "I will help you escape this situation, but it will cost me the remainder of my power. May the knowledge I have given you continue to fulfill our interests."

Just as Crazy tossed the giant ball of dark energy and big enough to blot out the sky above the castle courtyard, Grima's body glowed cyan. The glow also enveloped Master Hand, and with a cry of pain he let go of Grima on reflex. A second later his fingers clenched, but it was too late. Caught in the anticipation of the moment, Crazy did not see his brother drop their target as he slapped his giant projectile toward him. The blast of energy struck Master Hand with enough force to send him through the castle wall, leaving a giant hole. Weakened by the dark energy and his previous injury, the hand was unable to stop his fall or fight off Tabuu's last assault.

Just before he hit the ground, Master Hand convulsed once more and with a flash, disappeared. Crazy swooped down only to find his brother's trophy. He stared at it for a second, then laughed.

"So this is your so-called 'great' sacrifice, Tabuu?" he mocked. "Turning my brother into a trophy? Good riddance to you!" He touched it and with a flash Master Hand reappeared on the ground, albeit still bleeding from the sword wound.

"Ugh...Crazy, quit trash talking and let's get out of here," he groaned. "We did what we came here for: Tabuu is finished. Let's get out before we have to wipe any witness' memories."

His brother opened a portal back and dragged him through. Meanwhile, Grima watched from the ruined battlement, smirking with satisfaction. Now that Tabuu was gone, with the skills and knowledge handed to him, the Fell Dragon was free to do as he pleased.

Smash Mansion

"Nice zero-to-death KO on Jigglypuff," Sonic complimented as he walked briskly out of the stage selection room, his partners running to keep up so as to avoid the three sullen Pokemon behind them.

"Well, we wouldn't have won without Link stopping Greninja," Rock replied, his armor pixelating into his normal attire. "He deserves some credit too."

Sonic teasingly nudged him. "C'mon man, it won't hurt you to recognize your achievements for what they are. Anyways, when's our next match?"

Link looked at the schedule he'd somehow kept throughout their battle. "It's in an hour, against - well, the winner isn't decided..." his voice trailed off as ink was written on the page. "Never mind, looks like we have our next opponents. We're up against Robin, Marth, and Samus."

"Well, sounds like they're projectile-heavy," Rock surmised.

"Not quite, looks like Samus isn't using her Power Suit for this tournament."

"Well, I can more than match her and Marth on speed, but I can't take both of them, especially if Robin is bombarding me with tomes." Sonic twirled a fake Chaos Emerald on the end of a necklace that he'd bought from a shop in town.

"I can handle either Marth or Robin," Link volunteered. "I'd probably be able to block most of Robin's tomes with my shield, and my blade reaches as far as Marth's."

"Since Marth has no projectiles, I think I'll go for him; no matter how fast he swings that blade it's useless to him if he can't get in range," Rock surmised.

"Then I'll take Robin."

"And I'll take Samus. We got this in the bag," Sonic said encouragingly.

"Let's not relax just yet; this is just semi-quarterfinals. The teams are only going to get tougher."

"See, what did I tell you?" Sonic asked as they left the room again ten minutes later.

"We could have easily lost; they were a tough team," Mega Man said as he joined him.

"Are you kidding? Samus couldn't keep up with me - "

"No, she wasn't, aside from the three times she managed to Booster Kick you to your death at below 100%," Link interjected.

"Hey, it's not my fault that it's so broken!"

"Keep it down, do you want her to hear you being a bad sport?" the Blue Bomber snapped. "And besides, if it were so broken, why would we have won?"

"Because neither Marth nor Robin have any range at all?"

"What did he just tell you not to do?" Link asked with a sigh.

"Yell derogatory things about the other team?"

"I'm going to grab an E-tank from my room, see you guys in a bit. And try to keep your mouth shut before I get back, Sonic," Rock grumbled. His path took him near the team he'd just beaten, so he decided to take the opportunity to apologize for Sonic's behavior.

"Do you need something, Mega Man?" Marth inquired.

"I don't know how much of Sonic's talk you heard, but I'd like to take a moment to apologize for his behavior."

"It's nothing new, he has those moments every now and then," Samus commented. "Especially if he gets beaten," she added with a small note of satisfaction.

"Er...okay then. Good game, you three." Rock shook each of their hands in turn before leaving.

"Seems like I have some competition here," Robin remarked once he was gone. "He thinks analytically; it's pretty easy to see why."

"I think he was quite a formidable opponent," the Hero King responded. "It will be interesting to see how he fares against Lucina and Ike's team; from what I've heard, they are tearing up the loser's bracket."

"Indeed, and a good sport, too," Samus commented. "Speaking of Ike's team, we should prepare for our match against them now that we have been deposited in said bracket."

"Smashers, you have all fought well today, but it comes down to this match!" Master Hand's voice reverberated throughout the Norfair stage, chosen for its size and the fact that Ridley was currently engaged in other business. "The undefeated team of Sonic, Mega Man, and Link, up against the loser's bracket champions: Snake, Ike, and Lucina! Good luck to you in the Grand Finals! 3...2...1...GO!"

Sonic started the battle by tucking into a ball and rushing his opponents. Snake nimbly rolled aside as the hedgehog sped past him, barely dodging his fist. Sonic turned for another pass at him and the commando drew his tranquilizer pistol. The blue blur easily evaded the stun darts and was just about to grab his opponent, butSnake stuck his foot out and tripped him. "Ike, he's yours!"

The Radiant Hero turned and wound up a crushing blow that sent Sonic flying a surprising distance for his low damage, while Snake stalled Link's retaliatory rush by planting a land mine. The former sidestepped as Ike surged from behind him and Ragnell's blade clashed against the Hylian Shield in a shower of sparks. Link's Clawshot grabbed his arm and reeled him in, the latter pummeling Ike with the hilt of the Master Sword. He kept the struggling Radiant Hero between him and Snake to prevent retaliation.

Lucina rushed forwards to break her teammate free, but Sonic dove down from a platform above, aiming to tackle her. Mega Man also chose that moment to make a move, and Snake made to engage him in combat as the former's Metal Blade barely cleared his head.

With mere seconds before it reached them, Lucina rolled behind Sonic and jabbed him in the back with Parallel Falchion. To his credit, instead of attempting to right himself the latter used his momentum to dive to the ground as the blade sped over him. Lucina wasn't as fortunate and the Metal Blade struck her right shoulder before she could summon her shield.

Thanks to Master Hand's protections the blade did no physical damage but the sharp pain made her wince. Fortunately Sonic was now more focused on the situation on the other side of the stage. Link had taken advantage of his teammate's distraction and thrown Ike at Snake. Though it worked Ike had tackled Mega Man before he fell and Snake had tranquilized Link.

Lucina was about to run after the hedgehog when suddenly an Assist Trophy case landed in front of her with a flash of light. Praying for a useful trophy she threw it into the fray at the other end of the stage.

The case broke open with its usual burst of light (blue because of her team's temporary color) and suddenly a massive green text box exploded from where the trophy was summoned. The others yelled in pain as the expanding obstacle shoved them away, KOing Ike and Mega Man while the others were thrown across the main platform, skidding to a stop at Lucina's feet. The text box now took up two thirds of the stage.

"What in the name of Naga? I don't recall reading about anything like this assist trophy – " A very loud outburst of yelling broke Lucina's thought train, and the text box filled with black letters that mirrored the trophy's words as they left his mouth.

"HEY! NO RESETTIN'! YOU HEAR ME?!"

Lucina was about to protest that she hadn't reset anything when the mole beat her to it.

"Huh? You sayin' you never reset nothin'? Oh, well, uh…Guess we ain't got a problem, then. So, lemme introduce myself. Name's Resetti. Mr. Resetti."

Snake raised himself to a sitting position but was doing nothing save smoking a cigarette, clearly not interested in continuing the fight. Surprisingly, the other veterans were showing the same disinterest.

"Um…aren't we supposed to be fighting?" Mega Man asked, having just respawned.

"You tell me that you know all about the Assist Trophies, but don't remember anything about Resetti, Rock? You're kidding me," Sonic grumbled, playing with a couple rings that he had seemingly pulled out of nowhere. Snake was discussing something in a low whisper with the newly-respawned Ike.

"All he seems to be doing is making the area that we can fight on smaller – "

"Why don't you test that for yourself? And before you say that you weren't done, I know the only thing you were going to add is that he screams really loudly. Well, not everyone has the luxury of being able to filter out sounds at will. Be a little considerate of the rest of us."

"Well, what else can he do?" Lucina asked, getting down on all fours and shuffling into the space between the text box and the ground in an attempt to scrutinize Resetti.

"People usually don't have an explosive temper in this universe without Master Hand giving them abilities to match," Snake responded. "Still want to poke at the mole?"

Resetti had continued yelling during all of this, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his audience was actively attempting to ignore his tirade or that one of them was studying him from a close distance.

Rock glanced at the percentages. "Curiosity killed the cat, but since there's no permanent death, I think I'll take that chance, Snake." He charged up the Mega Buster, careful not to hit Lucina, and let the blast loose. To his surprise the shot traveled through the otherwise-solid text box and struck Resetti.

"QUIET DOWN, WILL YA?! I'M TALKING HERE!" A huge explosion enveloped the mole and the text box, throwing Rock over his fellow competitors and off the edge. Sonic gave him a "stuff happens" shrug once he recovered while Snake facepalmed. Ike's expression was unreadable, while Link appeared not to have noticed anything as he was playing his ocarina. Meanwhile Resetti had picked up exactly where he left off, oblivious as ever.

None of which could be said of Lucina, who descended on a platform with cold fury lining her features.

"Um…a little help here guys?" Rock backed up nervously.

"You're on your own, I didn't make Resetti explode," Sonic called back. Link was still playing and appeared oblivious to the Blue Bomber's predicament.

He finished his helpless glance around in time to meet Lucina's eyes as she grabbed him by the neck. Normally breaking a human's grip wouldn't be an issue for him because of his augmented strength, but here everyone was on even ground so all he could do was struggle.

"L-Lucina, I di-didn't know he would explode, I swear!"

"No, he did, I kinda spoiled it for him."

"Sonic, you - agh!" The princess threw him behind her, tripping him with her leg. "Thanks for throwing me into the scrapper, dammit!"

"KEEP CRYIN', PUNK!" Resetti screamed as if in response to the Blue Bomber's predicament.

"So you admit to taking advantage of us?" Lucina's voice was hard as she aimed the point of her weapon inches from his face.

Rock rolled over and scooted backwards against the giant text box. "Eheh…uh, maybe you're overreacting a little, Lucina…? I-I mean…you were sort of in the wa-aaay!" She jabbed him with the point of her sword and he suddenly stumbled through the wall of the box and fell on Resetti.

"SCRAM!" There was another explosion and it was Rock's turn to be KO'd. When the smoke cleared the mole was gone.

Unfortunately in her anger Lucina had forgotten the size of the explosion, and now that Resetti had vanished the veterans were getting back to the battle. Link kept Snake and Ike distracted while Sonic leaped off the side after her, his foot extended. Lucina parried his blow with her sword, but the hedgehog just gave the blade a hard push with his feet and waved over his shoulder as the princess fell helplessly towards the blast line.

When Rock respawned, the teams had stopped fighting again. Sonic was busy rolling on the ground with laughter while his partner looked on disapprovingly. Snake and Ike were fixing him with hard stares. As he dropped down, Snake gave him a non-committal "I told you so" look, while Ike remained fixated on the hedgehog in hysterics on the floor in front of him.

"Uh...Sonic? Maybe we can have a laugh about it later?" Rock asked, eyeing a Bob-omb walking toward them from the edge of the stage.

"Ahah...ha...sure." Sonic got back to his feet as an embarrassed Lucina dropped back down onto the stage and the battle resumed. Snake made the first move by immediately shooting all three of them with his tranquilizer pistol.

"Nngh...stay...conscious..." Though tranquilizers were supposed to have no effect on his body, Mega Man was long past thinking that different rules applied to him. Fortunately, as he was at no damage, the drowsiness lasted only long enough for his thought to form. Sonic wasn't so lucky. Mega Man's senses returned just in time to see Lucina slam his teammate with her weapon. Link was just coming to and managed to raise his Hylian shield to block Ike's own attack, causing it to emit a horrible screeching sound as Ragnell's edge sliced at its surface. Meanwhile Sonic had managed to survive, but looked as though he was too far down to recover. Thinking quickly, Rock grabbed the Bob-omb and threw it, the explosion carried his teammate back to the ledge.

"Nice one, but how about aiming the bomb below my feet next time?"

"Always something wrong..." Mega Man grumbled in response, turning around and raising a Leaf Shield to deflect Lucina's opening blow. While she was still following through he threw the ring of leaves and grabbed her before she could recover from the hit, throwing her behind him off the stage. "You deserved to be knocked out for that footstool kill, Sonic. That's just disrespectful, especially considering she was paying me back for my mistake."

"All's fair in love and war," the hedgehog replied, going back offstage to gimp Lucina again. This time, she was ready for him and performed a rising slash to stop his approach. Sonic was hit into the stage by it, and though he managed to tech the impact he was beat to the ledge by his opponent.

"Rock! Gimme a Flame Blast!" The Blue Bomber obliged, charging both busters and slamming them into the ground. Each blasted out a stream of napalm that quickly ignited into two pillars of flame as tall as his standing height. The unexpected hazard forced Lucina to let go and jump to a higher platform, but Sonic had underestimated how long the substance took to burn out. Mega Man turned to prevent her from rejoining her teammates as the hedgehog accidentally jumped into it, the surging flames packing enough recoil to knock him out.

A quick glance at the scoreboard surprised the robot, Link had somehow held on to his stock since the match resumed while taking one off of both Ike and Snake. Only the former had respawned, but Sonic's knock-out had changed that; now all three of them were back. The enemy team was still at a disadvantage despite this: any KOs would be permanent if they didn't get one in return.

"Link, get behind me!" Raising a Skull Barrier to protect himself as he approached, Mega Man leaped over his teammate just in time for the barrier to reflect a missile back at Snake. The spec-ops soldier had ample time to shield it, but it left him open. However, he was unable to take advantage of the opportunity as Lucina grabbed him from behind and shoved him forward into Ike, who had his blade raised and enveloped in a tempest of blue flames.

"Hyah!" The Eruption was strong enough to launch Mega Man up to the blast line, though he managed to live. As Lucina jumped upwards to finish him, he aimed his right hand down and fired it. She pivoted in midair to dodge the Hard Knuckle but, having predicted precisely that action, her opponent rewarded the dodge with a Flame Sword.

"Rush!" As his loyal dog answered the summon Mega Man pushed him downwards so that Lucina would land on him. Tucking into a ball to avoid a retaliatory swipe as the princess rose past him, he aimed his cannon upwards and released an Air Shooter. Confused, she tried to maneuver out of the vortex of wind; while she succeeded, she was almost touching the vertical blast line. A second tornado rushed upwards and carried her away before she could avoid it.

"Hey, good boy." The Blue Bomber gave his canine companion a pat before returning to combat. Link had again pulled off an incredible play by taking Ike with him, effectively handing Mega Man's team another stock now that Link was back to zero. Sonic was busy dodging between Snake's various explosive attacks while Link and Ike slashed and parried each other, the Hero of Hyrule having slung his shield over his back to improve his mobility.

"Risky, but even Ike can't kill him at this low of a percentage." Deciding Sonic was in more need of his help, Mega Man rushed at Snake, sliding under a grenade. Sonic took advantage of his distraction to run straight into the former, knocking Snake to the ground. In an instant he had recovered and was getting to his feet, but in that instant Sonic had grabbed him. He tucked into a ball and rolled slowly backwards, using the momentum to launch Snake into a team combo.

"Mega...Upper!" To his relief, Mega Man had timed it at exactly the right moment for optimal knockback, launching Snake past the blast line.

A grunt of pain from the other side of the stage caused both of them to turn around. Ike's stronger blows were progressively forcing Link towards the ledge, and the Radiant Hero, despite having the larger and heavier weapon, already slipped under his opponent's guard. Link threw a bomb, and then a Gooey Bomb he'd picked up, but Ike dodged both easily.

"Go! I'm right behind you!" Sonic obeyed instantly, rushing Ike before he could deliver a blow that would push Link off the edge. Ike parried the rush and his counterattack launched the hedgehog backwards before rolling to avoid a swipe from Link. Mega Man briefly considered picking up the hammer that had just spawned behind him before deciding that there wasn't enough time.

He released a charge shot that he'd been preparing in the last few seconds. Ike sidestepped it, though fortunately it did no harm as Link dropped below the ledge to avoid it. The motion also gave his opponent enough time to grab the Radiant Hero, and he threw him upwards just as Sonic rushed in again, driving Ike to the highest platform with his attack. The hedgehog jumped away as another Air Shooter lifted Ike into the air, then jumped up after him with a spring before scissor-kicking him several times. Ike slammed his blade down and forced Sonic away just as another Air Shooter hit them both. As he was at a higher percentage, the tornado carried Ike further than it did Sonic. Another scissor kick from the hedgehog at the blast line sealed the match.

"Game!" Master Hand's voice called. Link, Sonic, and Mega Man were instantly teleported to a large, open area. A quick glance around suggested to the latter that it was one of Battlefield's background platforms.

To a brief riff of rock music, Master Hand's voice boomed. "Please give a round of applause for the opening week tournament's winners: Link! Sonic! And...Mega Man!"

Author's Note: I thought Resetti in Brawl was hilarious, so I was mad that they took him out in SSB4.

Fun fact, the first scene comes from personal experience. I went to my first Smash tournament around when I started writing this chapter (don't expect to see my name on a winner's list, I got bodied).

I also know that you can't Pocket PK Flash courtesy of my friend who is a Ness main, but it's not a melee move, so I say that it can be pocketed.

One last thing, Corrin and Bayonetta hype, everyone, we get them Wednesday!