7: Pokémon Stadium

Master Hand placed Luigi on a simple looking platform with a Pokèball symbol on it. The design of the main platform was akin to a basketball court. "Recognize this place?" he asked.

"The Pokémon Stadium," breathed Luigi, "and let me guess—I'm going to fight a Pokémon?"

"Not one of them," clarified MH. "Twelve of them. Most of them will be Pikachus, but you'll also find some Jigglypuffs and a few Pichus."

"Pikachu and Pichu. Shocking," said Luigi.

"Luckily, there will be Pokèballs available for you to use," MH went on. "Just be sure to get your hands on them before your opponents do."

"12 opponents. Pokèballs. Got it," said Luigi as his foes came into view.

"Pika, pika!" greeted Pikachu with a wave, seven of his brethren behind him. Some of the Pikachus wore hats, while the others had different-colored skin.

"Good to see you, too, Pikachu," said Luigi. His feelings toward the electric mouse had been complex as of late. During the first go-round, they had been good friends despite Pikachu being top tier. Then again, Pikachu wasn't a snob about it. But in Melee, Luigi and Pikachu started getting into it over the similarities between their side specials. The latter attested that the Green Missile was naught but a remixed version of Skull Bash, which was created first, in 1998. Luigi defended his handy side special and insisted that no copyright infringement had been intended during the creation of the move. This sparked an on-and-off, sometimes bitter, feud which even got physical at times. Koopa and Ganondorf had used the feud as an excuse to further hate on Luigi, and even Marth—he didn't want to even think about the nasty prank he'd pulled on him prior to a match, culminating in an embarrassing forfeit. Eventually, Marth got his conscience back and apologized, but Luigi's closeness to the Altean prince would probably take years to repair.

This and more went through Luigi's mind as he looked over the eight Pikachus. Then, a high-pitched "Pichu!" caused him to jerk his head up. Joining the eight Pikachus were two Pichus, one of them wearing a headband. Pikachu's little buddy naturally sided with him during the side special feud and often spent his free time trying to get Melee fans to join his side. Yet the baby mouse tended to cuddle up with the man in green during cease-fires. Luigi cracked a small smile at Pichu and his little teammate. Pichu's moves were similar to Pikachu's, but some of them caused him to hurt himself. After all, he was still a baby. Once he learned how to control his electricity, he'd evolve into Pikachu and be ready for some serious battling!

"Jiggly!"

Rounding out the 12 Pokémon pitted against Luigi were two Jigglypuffs. The first Jiggs was her usual pink self, and the second wore a green headband. Luigi and Jiggs had been uber-friendly since the first tournament, as they made up two of the Formidable Four secret fighters. The sleepy Balloon-type had been moderately buffed in between tourneys, but she held fast to her old and new friendships. Jiggs was upset that Pikachu would argue with his best friend over some move in Smash and sought to deflate the tension between them. She also warned that this animosity was adversely impacting Pikachu's relationship with Kirby, the puffball having turned to the Balloon-type for comfort.

But enough talk of that.

Eight Pikachus. Two Pichus. Two Jigglypuffs. Pokèballs aplenty. One level of the stage. The twelve quickly scurried to other parts of the Stadium—on upper platforms and on both sides of the main platform, totally surrounding Luigi. He lanced them with a blazing, smoldering stare, recalling the fighting and yelling and backlashing and—

READY—GO!

Behind the stadium, a Jumbo Tron projected magnified images of the battle for the large audience to see, along with the fighter currently in the lead. This stadium was located in the Kanto region, where Jigglypuff was from. Since Kanto was in a different time zone, night had fallen, and fireworks occasionally exploded into the sky as Luigi battled the 12 pocket monsters.

The eight Pikachus led the assault, with the two Jigglypuffs bringing up the rear, being the lightest and thus the most vulnerable. Eight currents of electricity slammed into Luigi, flinging him high into the air. The Jiggs with the green headband met him there, chaining her f-airs into a Wall of Pain. Luigi broke out with a karate chop and a n-air, fastfell back to the ground and executed a Cyclone which scattered the Pikachus. He then kept them at bay with his fireballs while deciding which opponent to take on first. A Pikachu answered the question for him, hitting him with a fully charged Skull Bash. Sharply, Luigi poked his hand at the Pikachu and one-upped him with a misfire, KO-ing him. These must be lightweight fighters!

"Pika!" A thunderbolt crashed down upon Luigi, causing him to spasm briefly. He recovered in time to see the Pikachus regroup and dash at him again. They assailed him mercilessly with their white-hot electricity, but Luigi had grown used to these electric attacks. He fought back with equal vigor, leaving his strong attacks behind and going for the Smash attacks, sending Pikachu after Pikachu rocketing beyond the blast lines. When his smashes, aerials and specials weren't enough, Luigi remembered to utilize the Pokèballs laying around. Most of them carried Legendary Pokémon which unleashed attacks powerful enough to clear out a room. But more often than not, Luigi would wind up with a Goldeen. At least the Pokèball itself did damage when Luigi hurled it at an opponent.

At certain intervals, the stage itself would transform. Each alternate form of the stage represented the different Pokémon types: Fire, Earth, Ice and Water. There would be walls for Luigi to trap his lightweight foes against or for them to do unto him in that fashion. There would be collapsible portions which damaged fighters. And there would be areas where the fighters skidded around, notably the Ice-type stage. Each form brought their own unique flavor to the battle, the spectators eating it up, some of them cheering for the Pokémon and some of them cheering for Luigi.

By now, Luigi had defeated the two Pichus and most of the Pikachus. Only the Jigglypuffs and three Pikachus remained. The Pichus had been easy to defeat; all that Luigi had to do was bait them to use the moves which damaged them, rack up the damage points and then land the finishing blow. But the three remaining Pikachus had grown extremely aggressive, as had the Jiggs with the green headband.

Well, fine. So would he.

Flicking his tongue about his lips, Luigi engaged the Pikachus first with his long-ranged and strong attacks, pushing them away with Cyclones and trying to get misfired Missiles just to spite them. He had nothing personal against Pikachu, but his antics during their feud left him a bit raw. They were supposed to be friends! Why did they have to fight over something as trivial as this? Now and then, Luigi would yell out as harder blows met the flank of the electric mice. In addition to electricity, the Pikachus tripped Luigi with tail swipes and stunned him with hard head strikes. They grabbed him and threw him to their teammates to pound (literally in Jiggs's case). But Luigi would cleverly slide out of range of Jiggs's Rest attack and pop her high into the air with his low heel kick. He liked to launch himself like a rocket into an entire group of opponents, drinking in the way they scattered like smoldering dice. His misfires could knock the wind out of some of them, too. But in a situation when a Super Jump Punch was out of the picture, Luigi preferred to slam an unfortunate foe out of the ballpark with his Green Missile. As soon as his Trowel Stab, karate chops, breakdance sweeps or other advantageous moves gave sufficient damage, Luigi would crouch down, close his eyes, build up his energy and let himself fly. The wind would scream past his ears, and his head would encounter an opponent, his green hat softening the blow to his cranium. The slight headache was worth seeing his opponent flying into oblivion, especially when the opponent was Pikachu, Fox, Marth, Ganon—or Koopa!

He'd primed himself so he'd get plenty of misfires that day, knowing that they'd work wonders on that hulking frame. However, he stopped short of spamming the Green Missile, fearing that Koopa would catch on. In this battle, his misfires were useful in knocking the wind from the beast, availing him for use as a Smashing bag. One could argue that Luigi had been uncharacteristically brutal that day, but the animosity between him and Koopa ran deep. The overgrown turtle was a serial disrespecter, and Luigi was the oft-disrespected. Not to mention a certain Mushroom Princess hoping to see the day her enemy got what he deserved and a brother who had to deal with Koopa's crap for nearly two decades!

Over Koopa's roars, his exclamations and the sounds of claws, fists, feet and other stuff making their mark, Luigi heard the cheers. First, Mario's cheers, his signature chipper falsetto carrying above everyone else, yelling in Italian as well as English. Well, Luigi had to get his vocal cords from someone! Dancing with Mario's cheers were Peach's cheers, the voices of two of the people he cared about most on God's green earth at the forefront of Luigi's eardrums. DK made encouraging ape noises as Link and Zelda sent up some kind of Hylian war chant. Samus hollered tomboyishly, Marth and our boy Roy cheered in Japanese and Ness tried to get a clapping cheer started. There were Douglas's usual exhortations to show moves, Fox and Falco's whooping and Kirby's squeals of "POYO!" Mr. Game and Watch beeped excitedly, and Nana and Popo shouted Luigi's name and knocked their hammers together. Mewtwo and Ganon were the only ones not cheering.

But what really surprised Luigi was the familiar "Pika" and "Pichu" ringing through the skies. He'd been on the outs with those two because of that stupid dispute. But he was touched, knowing deep in his heart that Pichu and Pikachu decided to let bygones be bygones in order to support him in his showdown with a brutish bully!

And after Luigi lost and the words had been said, he and Pikachu agreed to cast that stupid clash aside once and for all. It wasn't important, anyway. Koopa's actions that day took precedence over what trivial issue they had with each other. Pikachu would happily spar with Luigi when Mario, Fox or another regular sparring partner was unavailable, and he'd apologize profusely over the way he'd been acting. In time, the rift between those two Smashers was close to being healed.

Luigi had smashed the last of the Pikachus and one Jiggs out of the arena. Now, one Jiggs stood facing him. The one with the green headband.

"Puff!" she cried.

Luigi waited as Hungrybox Jiggs floated toward him and then threw a quick overhand punch, short hopped into a n-air and topped off with three f-airs. He drilled Hbox Jiggs into the stage and began chain-grabbing and chain-throwing her. He swirled her into Cyclones. He Smash attacked, trying to launch her upward onstage and downward offstage. But this Jiggs was surprisingly aggressive, using her f-air, b-air and Rollout, singing him to sleep to try and sneak attack him and trying to launch him skyward with Rest. But Luigi had seen all of Hbox Jiggs's tricks before, and he wasn't about to fall for any of them! He baited, tricked and punished heavily, throwing Pokèballs along the way. He escaped from many Walls and Fences of Pain. And when Hbox Jiggs tried Rest, Luigi waited for her to wake up before—

PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

"Jigglypuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuff!" Hbox Jiggs screamed as she flew offstage.

GAME!

"You and Pikachu aren't going into it over you-know-what, are you?" questioned MH.

"Master Hand, trust me when I say that those days are behind us," Luigi said smartly.

MH nodded. "Good. Are you ready for some grand prix action?"

"Grand prix?" Luigi raised an eyebrow. "Why? What do you mean?"

"Because for this next stage," explained MH, "you'll be in a grand prix."

I wanna be the very best

like no one ever was!

To catch them is my real test

To train them is my cause!


I will travel across the land

searching far and wide

Each Pokémon to understand

the power that's inside!


Pokémon!

It's you and me

I know it's my destiny!

Pokémon!

Oh you're my best friend

in a world we must defend!

Pokémon!

A heart so true

Our courage will pull us through!

You teach me and I'll teach you…

Pokémon!

Gotta catch 'em all!


Every challenge along the way

with courage I will face!

I will battle every day

to claim my rightful place!


Come with me,

the time is right,

there's no better team!

Arm in arm we'll win the fight!

It's always been our dream!


Pokémon!

It's you and me

I know it's my destiny!

Pokémon!

Oh you're my best friend

in a world we must defend!

Pokémon!

A heart so true

Our courage will pull us through!

You teach me and I'll teach you…

Pokémon!

Gotta catch 'em all!


Gotta catch em' all, yeah!


Pokémon!

It's you and me

I know it's my destiny!

Pokémon!

Oh you're my best friend

In a world we must defend!

Pokémon!

A heart so true

Our courage will pull us through

You teach me and I'll teach you…

Pokémon!

Gotta catch 'em all!


Gotta catch 'em all!

POKÉMON!


We're over halfway there!