Hello all.

Apologies for the long delay. I was distracted by another fic idea which popped into my head recently, a murder-mystery involving some of the SSBB characters in a different timeline from this. And: to be honest, the quality of this chapter suffered as a direct result, in my opinion.

What do you think? Do you want me to publish this new fic now? Or wait until Checkmate, or the rest of the Days of Our Lives arcis done? Your choice, please leave your vote in the comments or PM me. If the verdict is to publish ASAP, the first chapter will be out by the end of this week.

Please vote!

To publish the new fic now;
or to wait until Checkmate / Days of Our Lives arc is complete?

In any case, many thanks to those who read and reviewed! Special thanks must go out to Souldin, Shadow Blues, NinjaSheik, negative panda and lupyne.

Yes, it feels good getting back to writing again. Thank you all.

Please do enjoy the rest of the fic, comments and constructive criticism are always welcome!

hawk

---

Checkmate – Chapter Two

Mario was shoved forward into the surprised Luigi's arms, both the Super Mario Brothers staggering backwards and flailing their arms to keep balanced. Peach stumbled a couple of steps back, while the other Smashers further ahead took a step back in shock.

In front of them, the wind intensified to a quick, loud rush, a flash of white speeding down the corridor at breakneck speed. With the appropriate appendages and disturbingly similar appearances, one could very easily be forgiven if one had thought Master Hand had made an early return and had taken to barreling through the Mansion corridors at high velocity.

Crazy Hand swept past, not caring who or what was in the way. The left-handed glove wailed past the Smashers like a deranged ghost, announcing his arrival with a high-pitched cackle. The very edge of the disembodied glove struck Lucario a glancing blow, flinging him spinning into a nearby wall.

A crack, a cloud of debris, and a hole in the wall later, Crazy Hand had disappeared from sight, and Lucario was shaking the stars out of his eyes and slowly staggering to his hindpaws, still stretching out paws to grab the other Smashers. Crazy Hand had accounted for the odd Aura, but there was still some unexplainable uneasiness he felt, an unfamiliar Aura not like any others he had seen – Get out of the way! he suddenly barked – Something's –

A dull explosion shook the Mansion, originating from the opposite half of the Mansion. Mere seconds later, several muffled yells and shouts emanated from behind the walls. The group of Smashers froze in place, not daring to move.

A slight scent wafted past the group, Pikachu sniffing the air intently. Suddenly Pikachu stumbled backwards, crying out something indecipherable, tugging on Luigi's overalls. Lucario took in the smell with his own muzzle, feeling the rush of slightly-burnt air fill his lungs.

"A fire," Luigi whispered. Mario involuntarily took a step backwards, hands fumbling with F.L.U.D.D., muttering under his breath. "Mama mi-"

The exclamation was suddenly cut off by a shrill scream from somewhere in the Mansion. There was a moment's pause, and then the group hurried hastily to the control rooms.

---

Clink. Clink. Clink. The avian stood upright, his spine cracking loudly. Falco rested his wingtips at the small of his back and arched backwards, elicting a couple more pops. Muttering something about needing a backrub, the blue-feathered falcon twirled a spanner in one wing while wiping beads of sweat off his forehead with the other.

The Smashers huddled around the pilot, who was left there staring at the metallic engine in front of him, a wingtip resting delicately on his beak. Finally he took a step back and squinted.

After a stray Bob-omb had somehow managed to wander into the Smart Shield control room, the resulting fire was only put out thanks to timely water sprinkles, F.L.U.D.D. and Pokémon. However, the main engine powering the Smart Shield system now looked like a cross between an overheated car engine and charcoal, and was just about as functional as both of them put together.

With the charcoal forcefully stabbed in and through the engine hood.

Twice.

All Brawls had been suspended as the Mansion residents tried to revive the machine. Falco Lombardi had tried his luck, seeing as he often tried to illegally – "…but successfully!", he hastily added – tinker with his Arwing's machinery, but even the avian pilot met with not much success.

R.O.B. whirred into the room, immediately dipping mechanical implements and probing the various electronic parts of the engine, but even the mechanical robot didn't manage to completely resuscitate the system. However, just when everyone was starting to give up hope, a bright spark emerged from the system, crackling loudly.

Everyone eyed the spluttering engine as R.O.B. whirred away from it. Coughing and spluttering, the slightly blackened engine started back to life, sparks dancing dangerously about its seams.

"Judgement: Machine not fully repaired," R.O.B. intoned. "Upon defeat, trophy state will still occur." A collective groan issued from the audience – but that was quickly silenced as R.O.B. continued: "However, Shields will be able to absorb the damage as per normal."

There was a slight pause.

Falco gave an exasperated sigh, then turned to the rest of the Smashers. "The Shields still work, but when ya lose, ya get trophy'd – so make sure someone's with ya, otherwise ya'll be in trouble. Get it?" The crowd gave a collective "ohh" of realization, drawing in a relieved breath.

"Well, we'll get Master Hand to fix it proper." The Smashers murmured their consent. Hopefully after a crazy couple of hours, maybe life as they knew it would return to normal; Master Hand would return, the Shield system be fixed, and for everything to carry on as if nothing had happened.

… it didn't.

---

The chessboard lay almost forgotten, even after the light surrounding it dwindled away and only the slightly warm, pulsating violet of Subspace dared touched its surface. The pieces on it started to lose their luster, but just then, there was movement nearby, stirring up a cloud of purple mist.

The large figure suddenly moved upwards, suspending itself in mid air. Turning around, the figure reapproached the chessboard, left relatively untouched in the sudden battle between Tabuu and Master Hand. The figure's shadow slowly fell across the board, eclipsing half of the pawns under a soft blanket of darkness.

Two large white-gloved fingers descended, delicately picking up a couple of trophies.

A sudden movement, a flicking of the wrist, and Master Hand's fingers sent the trophies of Game and Watch and R.O.B. clattering noisily across the chessboard, leaving them to roll on their sides and come to rest dangerously close to the edge of the board.

A hollow laugh petered through the emptiness of Subspace.

---

Surprisingly, months passed without much incident.

Master Hand never did reappear. Crazy Hand took over government of the Smash Mansion, but in all aspects a significantly inferior in-charge than Master Hand. Not that the giant glove cared anyway: the Hand's attention seemed to be perpetually distracted.

The Smashers soon performed publicly, executing Brawl after Brawl to endearing crowds. The defeated one always was forced into their cold, clammy trophy state by the defeat, but the victor had always revived them by tapping their base. At least, this was the unspoken arrangement held for all the Brawls they had now, and some Smashers still lived under the happy assumption that one day Master Hand would appear and fix everything in a glorious burst of sunshine. Well, one could always hope.

At first the Smashers were unused to the new system and the Brawls always ended in an awkward manner, but gradually they got used to it and being trophyised and being reviving soon became part of all of the Smashers' regular routine.

All except one.

Lucario participated in the grand total of one Brawl after the change. Assigned a high-risk battlefield of Port Town, the Pokémon Smasher only appeared because of his obligation for duty. With the adoption of the "Brawling in public" idea, Crazy Hand assigned them Brawls and partners instead of choosing their own, arbitrarily setting opponents, stages and timings based on the giant Hand's arguably-insane whims.

However, after his narrow victory over the Pokémon Trainer – only because of a lucky paw-to-the-muzzle that sent Charizard onto the track and out of the arena – the thought of defeat became yet stronger in Lucario's mind.

As the small crowd clapped politely and Charizard's apparently lifeless statuette clattered onto the platform, Lucario hesitantly bowed to the crowd, then moved slowly to the trophy. At first a little confused, but then reaching out to tap the golden base once, Lucario stepped backwards as the trophy began to glow with a warm hue and vibrate, and in an instant the dragon Pokémon was standing in front of Lucario again.

The Trainer was impressed, to say the least. Having never Brawled with Lucario before, he had been expecting an ordinary Brawl, but both combatants had managed to surprise each other to no end with their continual assaults and unpredictable attacks. As they were making their way back to the teleporter chamber, the Trainer caught sight of a familiar blue figure, and he and his Pokémon quickly caught up to him in a matter of seconds.

"Good match," he enthused, wearing a large grin, recalling Charizard into his Pokéball. Lucario blinked once, hesitated, and then nodded curtly.

The Pokémon Trainer halted, his speech turning into stammering as the atmosphere became significantly colder. "Anyway," he continued loudly, nervously cupping his hands at the back of his head. "Congratulations on your win. Thanks for reviving Charizard, I was afraid you'd leave him there, ha ha –"

The Trainer was only kidding, but the Pokémon didn't seem to be getting the joke. "So," the Trainer scratched the back of his head. "Same time next week?"

I think not. The Pokémon Trainer stopped abruptly, surprised, turning his head to face the shorter Aura Pokémon. "Hey, why not?"

I doubt you would extend the same courtesy to me.

Now, if you would excuse me – Lucario bowed a little, turned, entered a teleporter, and disappeared from sight, leaving behind a baffled Pokémon Trainer.

---

As Lucario walked with the small group of Smashers in the aftermath of the Bob-omb incident, Lucario couldn't help but overhear Luigi's questioning of Mario. "So, what's-a it like being a-trophy?"

Mario clicked his tongue in annoyance, shaking his head. "Horrible. Like you can never move. You-a know you're in there but you can't get-a out." Peach mumbled something under her breath, but Mario's demeanor changed instantly, suggesting they find solace in the Mansion's cafeteria spaghetti.

As they left, Lucario slipped upstairs to his room in the Mansion. Closing and locking the door behind him, Lucario took the long wooden staff from its place and stared long and hard at the jewel at its end.

Imprisonment without escape, murmured Lucario.

Suddenly, defeat became infinitely more horrible.