Chapter 3: Meeting the Smashers Part 2

Shulk had continued to traverse the mansion in order to find and introduce himself to the Smashers. He got to the stairs and began to go down, when suddenly he received a vision.

Something would run into him as he was going down the stairs, causing him to lose balance, and fall down the remaining stairs...

He returned to reality and quickly stepped to the side. Much like his vision told him, suddenly a blue blur rushed down the stairs. Suddenly it stopped, standing there was a blue hedgehog. "Sorry about that! I didn't see you there, I almost hit you didn't I?"

"It's no big deal." Shulk said, continuing to walk down the stairs.

The hedgehog just rushed up to Shulk. "I haven't seen you here before..." He said. "You're a newcomer right?"

"Yes, my name is Shulk."

"Sonic the Hedgehog." He said. "I'm fast, destroy robots, and annoy mad scientists. What do you do?"

"Well, I'm was helping with the reconstruction of my home town." Shulk said. "But before that, I was fighting robots."

Sonic just laughed. "Well then I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to talk later, but right now I've got places to be." And like that he was gone, with Shulk left in the dust.

"But, I'd like to talk to you more right now though..." Shulk just let of a quick sigh and he continued walking through the mansion, trying to find any Smashers that he hadn't introduced himself to.

As he was walking through a hallway, in front of him a blue jackel like creature suddenly appeared. From the file folder he knew it was called Lucario. It was just growling at Shulk. It ears were currently perked up, and it was quite clear that he would attack, yet Shulk had yet to receive a vision.

"Hello?" Shulk said, a bit afraid.

"Who are you?" Lucario growled.

"My name is Shulk, I'm a newcomer here. I've been trying to find and introduce myself to the Smashers."

Lucario just continued to glare at Shulk.

Shulk was getting the feeling that Lucario could attack at any second, but he believed that his visions would kick in if Lucario did decide to attack. "Well, I'll be on my way." Shulk said.

He began to walk away, however Lucario spoke up. "Your aura is strange. I've never seen anyone like you."

Shulk just froze and turned around to face the aura Pokemon once again. "What do you mean?"

"It's as though it's empty." Lucario replied. "That a large part of you was taken out, and that void has yet to be filled. Your body doesn't seem to produce very much aura either... it's almost like you're dead..."

If there was one thing that Shulk was learning very quickly, it was that the Smash Mansion was a den for monsters. Something deep inside him was telling him that it would be best to come clean about it, instead of trying to hide it from Lucario. "I've been killed twice." Shulk replied. "The first time, was when I was four. The second time, it was 6 months ago..."

"You're how old now?" Lucario asked.

"18." Shulk replied.

"When you were four, how did you die?" Lucario asked.

"My life force was sucked right out of me." Shulk replied. "And then, my body was used as a vessel for someone named Zanza. And he was in my body for 14 years, keeping me alive."

"He's no longer in your body, is he?" Lucario asked.

"No." Shulk said. "I was shot in the back by a gun, and then Zanza came out of my body. For those 14 years, he was keeping me alive, and I just instantly died without him there..."

"How did you return back to the living?" Lucario asked.

"I don't know the details, but a friend named Alvis helped me." Shulk replied.

Lucario just walked up to Shulk and placed his paw on his chest. Suddenly Shulk began to feel something warm inside of him. Lucario backed away, and just stared at where he had placed his paw. "I see, you're fine then..."

"I'm fine?"

"It's not that your body doesn't produce aura, and is unable to sustain it. It's just that your body produces a very small amount, and it has been unable to fill the gap since Zanza had left." Lucario explained. "It's nothing like I was thinking, the possiblity of you just being a void that consumes all aura you contact. It's just that since you had Zanza in you, your body has never produced aura. It's just got the ability to produce aura of a 4 year old in an 18 year old body."

With that Lucario walked away. With the discussion of Zanza in his head, he was now thinking about the Monado that Master Hand had given him. It was a replica, of Zanza's Monado. More specifically, the Monado 1, a weapon that they knew couldn't hurt Homs. In a fighting tournament such as this, that might kind of, sort of, be a small disadvantage.

But, he had several questions. He wondered, could anyone use this replica Monado? The Monado also had other abilities. Were they still there?

He walked back into his room and just grabbed the Monado off of the dresser. He decided it was probably best to try this outside.

A few of the Smashers that he passed just glanced at the giant red sword on his back. "The training field is that way." Captain Falcon had said, as he passed. "It'd probably be better if you go there. I'm also sure there are a few other swordsmen out there if you want to spar with them."

"Thanks." Shulk said.

He followed Captain Falcon's directions, however he ran into Sonic once again. "Oh, hey it's you, Sulk!"

"It's Shulk."

"Well, I've been looking for you. I just looked you up on the internet to see what some people were saying about your inclusion in the Smashers." Sonic said.

"Was that the thing that Robin was saying I should avoid at all costs?" Shulk wondered.

"Probably, there's not the best comments on there. But, I saw that you're a 3rd Party just like me!" Sonic said. "Just like Mega Man, and Pac-Man. The four of us have to stick together you know."

Shulk just looked confused at Sonic. "I don't know what you're talking about, but okay."

"Your a sword user too?" Sonic said, looking at the Monado. "There sure are a lot of you guys here."

"You've used a sword before?" Shulk asked.

"Once." Sonic replied. "It's name was Caliburn, and it talked..."

Shulk just laughed.

"You don't want to listen to swords talk, they're so picky, and annoying." Sonic said. "You should be happy your sword doesn't talk."

"The Monado talks." Shulk replied. "Well, there is this person named Alvis, and he's the personification of the Monado. Although, I haven't seen him in the past 6 months."

"Well, as a fellow third party rep, I'm going to show you around." Sonic said. "Come on." He grabbed Shulk's hand and began to drag him away.

"That won't be necessary, Sonic." A voice said. They turned to see Mario approaching him. "Especially since Shulk isn't a Third Party Character like you."

"What?" Sonic said surprised.

"I'm not?" Shulk said confused.

"Yep." Mario replied. "Sorry to burst your bubble Sonic, but Shulk is just like me. Pure Nintendo."

"What, but people on the internet..."

"Are grossly misinformed, and have a hard time remembering that we're not just all strictly, the Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, and Pokemon house." Mario replied. "That and Ness has all ready shown him around the mansion."

Sonic just laughed. "Well then, see ya later Mario, and Sulk."

"It's Shulk."

And with that, Sonic had run off again.

"I'm guessing you're going to the training field?" Mario asked.

"Yes." Shulk replied.

"Follow me." Mario just led Shulk over to the door that went out to the training field.

He stepped outside, it was a fenced off area, that, as the name suggested, had numerous different spots meant for training.

There were currently some others out there swinging wooden swords around.

"Link, Marth, you can stop! It's the new guy!" One said. He was rather buff, and had been effortlessly swinging around a metal sword that was about as tall as him. From the folder, Shulk recognized him as Ike. He kind of reminded Shulk of Ryen. "Hello!" he said walking over. "I'm Ike."

"Hello. I'm Shulk."

"I heard that we were getting a newcomer, but I didn't expect him to be another sword user." Ike laughed. He just began to walk around Shulk, checking him out. "Although, I have to say, you're looking rather small, for a weapon as big as that." Unlike Ganondorf, Bowser and Wario, he didn't say it in an antagonistic way. It was just more of a rather blunt observation.

Another person was dressed in green had finished a sparring session with someone who looked a bit more refined. Shulk recognized them as Link and Marth. Ike was just looking at the Monado. "Your sword is a bit strange..." He said. "Do you mind if I look at it?"

"Not at all." Shulk said, handing it over. He felt that he could trust them. That, and he wanted to find out if it was like the other Monado that it was based off of. Anyone could activate it, controlling it and using it's power was an entirely different matter, Dunban could use a bit of it's power, but the end result was that it destroyed his arm. Shulk was the only one who could fully master it. Ike just swung it around a few times.

"It's rather light, much lighter than I thought it would be from the size, but, I don't exactly understand. It's blunt, it doesn't look like it could cut anything. The edge is curved..." He ran his finger around it, not even cutting himself. "It almost looks like this is a guard or sheath to the blade..." Eventually he just handed it back over to Shulk. "I would like to see how you use it."

Shulk just nodded. He stepped away from them and faced a tree that currently had a tire hanging around one of the branches. He held the Monado, and suddenly the blade opened and a laser blade shot out. Shulk swung it a few times at nothing, and payed attention to the blade, like the normal Monado, the blade extended a bit when he swung it. He faced the tree and swung through it. The laser blade made contact, however much to the three onlooker's shock the Monado didn't cut through the tree. The Monado was a sword that responded to the will of the user. If he wanted to cut an object, he could cut it. If he didn't want to cut that object, he wouldn't cut it.

"Strange..." Link said. "I was thinking it would be like a beam sword that appears during matches, but it didn't cut through the tree."

"I'd rather not cut through this tree." Shulk said. "It looks rather healthy, and it's currently in use, but if there is a block of wood, and a stump or something else, I could show you the Monado's power..."

Ike's interest was piqued. "Okay, follow me." He said. He walked over to a gate. Shulk followed, they walked out of the training field, and they made their way to a wood pile. Ike just grabbed a rather thick log. They then made their way to a stump. "We had to cut down a tree when it got damaged in a storm." Ike explained. "But we haven't gotten rid of the stump yet... so hopefully this will be fine."

Shulk just nodded. "Yes." He said. "The Monado can cut through anything I desire."

"The Monado?"

"It's the name of my sword." Shulk said. "Anyways, the Monado can cut through anything I please. So, if I want to cut that log, but not the stump that's still in the ground, I can do that."

"I'd like to see this." Link said.

"Very well then." Shulk said. He brought down the sword, with a single vertical slice. The log had been cut in half, while the laser was now past the stump, but there had been no signs of damage to the stump, or the ground. The other sword users were rather impressed.

There was a few other things that Shulk wanted to know about this replica Monado. Despite the fact that it looked like the Monado 1, it was well known that the Monado 1 couldn't hurt other homs. But he wouldn't dare test that here or even know how to find that out, unless there was a crazed mugger who jumped out in front of him while he was on his way back from a store or something and he fought back in self defense. But then again, in that case he didn't know if that would have been his will power to stay alive and defend himself that would allow the Monado to cut him... odds were he wouldn't be able to find out.

The other thing that Shulk wanted to know was that if someone else could activate the Monado, or if this replica was just set to only activate with him. "Link, can I ask for a favor?" Shulk asked.

"Sure." Link said.

"Can you see if you can activate the Monado?" Shulk asked.

Link blined a few times in shock. "Okay."

Shulk just handed the blade to Link and he tried swinging it, but no matter what he did the Monado wouldn't activate. "How does this work?" A frustrated Link asked.

"Through the user's will power." Shulk replied. "Normally, I'd just want the sword to activate and it would... You just want to think about using it."

Link just stood there for several seconds. But as more time passed, it became more and more apparent that the Monado would only listen to Shulk. Despite that, Marth took it and also tried to activate it. Followed by Ike. All three of them failed, and Ike handed the Monado back to Shulk.

"Looks like I can't activate it." Link sighed.

"My guess is Master Hand just made this replica Monado so that only I can use it as a safety precaution." Shulk said.

Link glanced at the blade. "Yes, that's most likely the case." Link said.

"It's like the old Monado, but it isn't." He said.

"A very astute observation." Master Hand said, floating down. "I didn't get a chance to really explain it to you since it was so late at night."

"Liar." Link said. "It probably just completely slipped your mind."

Master Hand just ignored Link's comment. "Anyways, for this Replica Monado, unlike the original, it will hurt humans, so please don't go trying to test it out. I've also changed your Monado Arts from what you're used to. There are five enchantments for you to use and switch through. Each one giving you a different advantage and disadvantage."

Shulk just nodded. "Okay, what are they?"

"Jump, which allows you to jump much higher, but it lowers your defense. Speed, which allows for faster movement, but you will have weaker attacks. Shield, a higher defense, but slower movement. Buster, which will give you stronger attacks, but you won't be able to launch your opponents very far. And finally Smash, which allows you to send your opponents flying, but will give you weaker attacks, and lower your defense against launching." Master Hand explained. "Now then, any questions?"

"Yes." Shulk said. "I was able to use Monado Speed before without actually sacrificing my attack. Monado Shield use to put up a barrier around me and my team mates protecting them, it didn't actually affect my speed. And what do you mean by launching?"

Master Hand just floated there for several seconds. "No one has explained to you how our fights work yet, have they…" Master Hand said. "Ike, Link, Marth, that's your job. See you later!"

And with that the hand vanished. The three other Swordsmen just cringed. "Stupid Hand, you never asked us of our opinion." Link muttered.

"That's fine." Marth said. "I wanted to have a training match with the new guy anyways."

And so the three swordsmen took Shulk to an arena explaining the rules along the way.

To be truthful, I honestly had no idea what to do with Sonic and Shulk meeting each other. I thought they would just bump into each other, quickly introduce themselves, then Sonic would be gone. Then Miiverse happened. Or at least my willful limited exposure to Miiverse through the "Please Sakurai" Tumblr, and seeing at least one person that thought Shulk was 3rd Party. (Nintendo owns 96 or 97 percent of Monolith Soft's shares... They are first party Nintendo... They're more Nintendo than Pokemon!) Actually wanted to make the name Sonic was mistaking Shulk for "Hulk" but I did the whole Hulk reference last chapter... so we got "Sulk"

I'm not too happy with separating the previous chapter now... I thought I'd make this longer, but beyond adding in the bits with Sonic, and the bit with Lucario, I didn't add much at all.

Next chapter: HEROPON HYPE!