The Tournament had been proceeding nicely, with fighters brawling it out for domination. There were already some early run favorites. Link looked to be repeating the impressive performance he had put in last year, while Wolf had stuck out as a strong competitor. And of course, Shadow the Hedgehog the new competitor that had polarized the mansion when it came to peoples reactions to him. Some approved of his attitude towards everyone else there. This was a contest meant to be won after all. Others didn't appreciate it though, and thought that he was a rude jerk who only cared about winning.
Shadows morning started with meditation, as he gathered his latent abilities and prepared them for this day of combat. It was a four way free for all with Mario, Captain falcon, and that annoying bounty hunter Samus, so this might prove to be a bit interesting for once.
He made his way quietly down to the gym, where he had his morning workout, ignoring the presence of several of the other fighters there. He beat up a sandbag, and then jogged 5 miles. Afterwards, he went down to the cafeteria, and got himself breakfast, deliberately sitting apart from the other fighters. When he finished, he spent the time alone, practicing his fighting skills, cleaning his gun, and waiting for the next match.
Finally, the time arrived for the match. Shadow made his way to the preparation room with his rifle. There, he found Samus, Mario, and Falcon getting ready as well. Mario had stocked up on Fire Flowers, while Samus put on her Varia Suit and made sure she was loaded with energy tanks and missiles.
As Shadow put on his Dash Rings, Samus stared at him and gave him a chilling smile. "Hope you're ready Hedgehog. This time, you're mine."
Falcon cracked his knuckles and gave Shadow a determined look. "Yeah. We're going to have to beat some manners into you."
Shadow expected Mario to say something, but the plumber just walked through the teleporter into the ready area.
"Fine. Whatever. I'll just take both of you down,' replied shadow before heading through the teleporter as well.
Samus and Falcon followed him through, and the match was set to start.
Master Hand was pleased with himself. He had made the right choice with shadow. The warrior was very controversial, among the contestants and among the fans, driving his ratings through the roof. And if Shadow could win this, he would be a shoe-in for the Finals.
Floating in his announcers booth high above the stands, Master Hand made sure everything was in place. Items had been loaded into teleportation pods, and the fighters had entered the ready area. The stage had been set up as his personal favorite, Final Destination. The flat stage would provide lots of drop down slug out action.
"Fans, welcome to another match of the Super smash Brawls Tournament. Presenting, the Plumber from Mushroom Land, MARIO!
Presenting, the Bounty Hunter you know and love, SAMUS ARAN!
Presenting, the speed racer from Port Town, CAPTAIN FALCON!
Presenting, the ultimate life form from Mobus, SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG!"
As each of the fighters were announced, they were lowered into the arena. Each of them could see it was a small, flat stage, perfect for close in fights. The fighters looked around, anxious to start the battle.
"READY? GO!"
With Master hands words, the force fields dropped away, and the fighters rushed into the attack, shadow letting lose with his rifle while Samus fired a missile at him. Shadow quickly noticed that Falcon was serious, as it seemed they were all teaming up against him to knock him off first. He had to use all his speed and power to keep alive. He grabbed a beam rifle in addition to his regular gun, but for some reason it was out of ammo, and he had to toss it and keep running.
Shadow spotted a red and white circle lying on the ground and ran for it. A smart Bomb was what could end this now, for at least one person. Maybe Samus, who had proved remarkably durable under a barrage of explosive bullets. He grabbed it and tossed it at the armored warrior, only to watch in surprise as it bounced off her and fell off the stage without detonating.
"Damn it," muttered Shadow, who was forced to jump over a Charge Shot and a fireball.
Captain Falcon ran up and unleashed a devastating barrage of kicks, which Shadow had to move back form. Shadow then rammed into him with a Dash Attack, knocking him back. He couldn't rest though, as Mario ran forward into a spin, knocking shadow into the air. Before he could recover, he was hit by Samus's spin move, throwing him off the bounds of the stage. He had to use his Chaos Control Dash to grab the ledge before he fell.
As he hung on to the ledge, Samus walked up and stared down at him, her cannon arm aimed at his face. "Too bad. You seemed to have some potential."
Shadow grimaced, his muscles straining to lift him up, to stop himself from being beaten, but before he could do anything, he was shocked to see Samus tossed into the air from a barrel hit. Falcon ran forward to finish the job himself, but Shadow leapt up and kicked him away.
It was then he saw his victory. The barrel had shattered, unleashing a new item that Master Hand had called a smash Ball, an item that when broken, gave the user immense power. Shadow knew he had to get it. He whipped out his rifle, and fired at it, as Samus, who had recovered from the hit, fired a missile at it. It was a race to see who could damage it more, from which Sahdow barely emerged victorious.
The last bullet slammed into the multicolored orb, transferring its power to Shadow just before the missile struck. Shadow felt immense power enter his body, and as he looked around, he saw himself begin to glow yellow. It felt as if he had gained the power of all the Chaos Emeralds. He could probably beat them all with Super shadow, but he wanted to do something spectacular, something that showed he was the top dog here. With the speed of a thought, he had an idea.
"CHAOS CONTROL," he yelled, and used his power to teleport the stage.
The stage found itself engulfed in a wave of power, then thrown high into orbit above the planet Mobius. The planet was visible, as well as the half of the Moon that was left, and, more importantly, the spherical shape of the ARK Space Station directly above them.
As the three others reacted, the main gun of the ARK slowly opened, green energy building up along it. Samus glanced up and knew what was coming, but the other two were trying to get their bearings. She managed to dive out of the way as the gun fired, unleashing a devastating beam of energy that could destroy a city on the planet below. Mario and captain falcon were thrown off the stage and eliminated.
Shadow teleported the stage back to te arena, then turned around and walked up to Samus, who was hanging from a ledge.
"Who's got the potential now, bitch," he said, before firing his gun directly into her visor.
Samus, taking the blow, had to let go of the ledge, and was unable to grab it again as shadow shot her more. She fell off the stage, and vanished in a flash of light.
"AND THE WINNER IS... SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG," said Master Hand, to thunderous applause.
Shadow just looked around the arena and smirked, resting his gun on his shoulder, before being teleported back to the preparation room.
Samus slammed her fist against the wall of the preparation room in anger. "Damn it! Was this close to making that bastard pay," she yelled.
"I know. And what the hell was that thing," asked Falcon.
Shadow answered as he entered the room, despite a death glare from Samus. "The ARK Space Station, a research station in my world that was equipped with a doomsday laser that can destroy cities and planets with enough power."
"Next time Hegdehog, next time you're mine,' said Samus angrily before stomping out. Falcon followed close behind her.
Shadow ignored their angry reactions. As he took off his Dash Rings, he glanced over at Mario. "You stopped her. Why?"
Mario looked over at him. "It didn't seem fair. This is supposed to be a contest, where the strongest wins. Not a contest where the person who gets hated loses first."
Shadow turned his attention away, not entirely surprised. It seemed like something a hero would do. He'd probably catch hell from Samus later when she saw the replay, but that wasn't Shadow's problem. Without so much as a thank you, he walked out of the preparation room into the mansion, leaving Mario torn about the wiseness of his decision.