A/N: This took a while. I got distracted by other stories and school. But here it is.

I own no rights here, besides intellectual property of this idea. Not that that means much anymore.

The Brawl tournament continued apace. Shadow dominated the charts, rising in popularity because of his perception as a general badass by the public, and his continued string of victories. Of course, his rising popularity with the public went in direct disproportion to his popularity among the tournament members, which was plunging like a stone. He was generally by himself all the time, although he preferred it that way, and he had alienated pretty much everyone through his bluntness. So now he spent most of his time in the gym, out in the countryside doing laps, and meditating for upcoming fights. It was getting a bit monotonous. Nobody had proven themselves a real challenge yet, besides that bounty hunter.

As he was working in the gym taking out his aggression on a punching bag, he heard the door to the gym slide open. He didn't turn his attention to the newcomer, but he did note that it appeared to be mechanical in nature from the metallic clang of its moving feet. The newcomer stopped behind him and said, "Hello again, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Shadow whirled around, recognizing the voice. "Omega, what are you doing here/ Master Hand didn't make you a contestant did he?"

The black and red robot replied, "Negative. I have been brought here to act as help for the combatants."

Shadow went back to beating up the punching bag. "Well, its good to have at least one person here who understands what being the best is like. Even if you aren't an actual combatant."

Omega turned and blasted a different punching bag, the burst ripping it from its hook and sending it flying into a wall. "Affirmative."

Shadow stopped his barrage of attacks, a thought forming in his mind. He turned to face the hulking robot. "Omega, up for some sparring? Been a while since I faced someone at my level."

The robots eyes moved about as it sent the request through its internal processors. "I am, Shadow."

"Good." Shadow led the robot to the combat simulation room. Once inside, he went over to the control panel and loaded up a stage for them to fight on. He avoided the Ark, since there were too many bad memories involved for him. Instead, he went with a flat stage that appeared to be just a long bridge. Plenty of space for him to run around, and for Omega to aim with his weapons. He activated the hologram and watched as the stage materialized around them, a red sunset in the distance with the detritus of war around the bridge.

"Time to see who the best warrior really is," said Shadow before running towards Omega while shooting at him with his rifle. Omega countered by firing at Shadow with the miniguns in his arms, bullets bouncing off the stone around Shadow, yet none hitting. Shadow leapt into the air in a flip over Omega, his gun trained and pounding the robot with bullets as he flew over this head. Landing, he was caught off guard as jets of fire spewed from Omega's arms, catching Shadow in their deadly red embrace and burning his skin.

"Agh," gasped Shadow, the pain flowing through his burnt nerves to his brain. He quickly dashed to the side, out of the flames where he patted the flames out that persisted on his skin. He quickly realized the mistake he had made. This flat plane was perfectly suited to Omega's weapons, while Shadow could really maneuver around. Well, too late to do much about it now.

Shadow smirked before activating Chaos Control and teleporting behind Omega, then blasting his leg joints with his rifle. The joints were armored, but his rifle had explosive rounds and automatic fire. Shadow was able to partially damage it before Omega rounded around and grabbed him in its crushing embrace.

Shadow growled as he struggled to break out of Omega's embrace, but it was all for naught. The robot was just too strong. Omega began whirling around very fast before throwing Shadow towards the side of the stage. Shadow, dizzy from being spun around so much, slammed int the ground and slid almost off the stage. He pulled himself back up, shaking the spinning world back into focus. His vision resolving, he saw some mounted warrior charging at him, and he quickly jumped over it. Omega cleared it as well, and the two warriors ran to fight again, Shadow using his Spin Dash while Omega fired at him with his machine guns, neither of them noticing the bomb that the creature had dropped.

That is, until it exploded, blowing out the middle of the bridge. Which Omega happened to be standing on. Of course, the robot wasn't so easily defeated, and he used his thrusters to jet to solid ground as Shadow used the distraction for all it was worth, hitting Omega with rifle fire as he flew and further damaging the robot.

Omega slammed down then cut loose with his flamethrowers, making Shadow realize the trouble he was in since there wasn't much room to run with the middle of the bridge gone. He needed a new plan, and fast.

Suddenly one leapt into his mind. Using his Spin Dash, he jumped onto Omega's head and began battering away at the back, ripping away the panel that covered his internal components. He then began ripping and smashing everything he could get his hands on. Omega, feeling himself start to vanish as circuit conduits were severed, began talking erratically and walking around. So much that shadow didn't notice them approach the edge of the cliff.

Omegas foot hit a slanted piece of cobblestone and threw off his balance, causing the robot to tumble into the gap between the bridge sections. Shadow tried to hop away and Spin Dash to safety, but he was caught by Omega's flailing, and they both fell into the river below, ending the simulation.

The scenery vanished, and all the damage that had been dealt was healed, Shadow's skin being restored and Omega's internal components being repaired. "Good fight," commented Shadow. "I must be off my game a bit."

"Perhaps," replied Oemga. He then said. "Shadow. I have messages for you from Mobius."

Intrigued, shadow holstered his rifle before saying. "Alright, what are they?"

Omega ejected a small disc from one of the slots in his back, and he grabbed it and handed it to Shadow. "They are in media format. View them at your time."

Shadow took the disc and pocketed it. "Well thanks. At least Master Hand got two things right with this tournament. You, and me."

"Affirmative."

Shadow, with Omega a short distance behind him, exited the gym as they talked of old battles.

Later, alone in his room, Shadow pulled out the disc that Omega had given him. "well, might as well listen to it. Someone might have something useful to say," he commented to no one in particular, before inserting the disc into the holographic projector. Hitting the 'Execute' button, he sat in a chair and waited for the messages to start.

The first one to pop up was, to shadows complete non-surprise, that of Sonic. "Hey Shadow old buddy. Hope you're kicking butt in that tournament. Too bad I didn't get in it. Next year though, I'm just going to have to take that title from you myself." Shadow snorted as the hologram let out a short laugh. "Well, catch you later," said Sonic before the message ended and the hologram vanished.

The next one to appear was Knuckles, although he was apparently having issues with the whole thing. "Why do I have to make a message to the guy. He doesn't want our advice or anything. Maybe if he loses he'll get some sense knocked into him...What do you mean we're recording? Gah.

Okay, um, go get them Shadow, I guess. Do Mobius proud... Dang it, I'm done. Turn this thing off." The hologram of Knuckles vanished, a flustered expression on the red Echidna's face before he vanished. Shadow almost felt like laughing at the Echinda's discomfort.

Then, Eggman appeared. Lord knows how he had gotten somebody to film him and add it to this disc. "Ah, Shadow. I was so pleased to see how wonderfully you were doing in the tournament. You truly are a marvel. I'm very pleased. Keep up the good work." Shadow frowned. "Like I care what he thinks." although, somehow Eggman had made it through that short speech without doing an evil laugh. Very impressive.

Finally, the last message came on, and Shadows eyes widened in surprise. "Rouge." Indeed, a hologram of the white bat was standing there right in front of him. Shadow had to admit, she was the only one besides Omega that he was looking forward to hearing from. "Hey Shadow. I don't have much to say besides 'Good luck'." Then, she gave him a wave, a wink, and she was gone.

Shadow sighed. Well, that had...mostly been a waste of his time. Time to be moving on to something else. He supposed he should at least appreciate the effort they put into those messages, but honestly, Knuckles was right. He was already trying to be the best. He didn't need their moral support.

Getting up, he decided to go work out more. That fight with Omega had shown he was off his game. These weirdos here were making him slack off, and he needed to get back into the fight.

Sliding open the window, he looked out a second before jumping down to the ground and taking off running.

What Shadow was unaware of was that his brawl with Omega hadn't gone unnoticed. In fact, two of the fighters had been avidly watching. And after it had ended, the two of them walked the mansion as they talked.

"Man that was sweet. Shadow was like POW, and then Omega was like GACKGACKGACKGACKGACK, and then Shadow was like HAH, and Omega was like FWOOSH, and then there was that BOOM from the bomb. And man that was awesome."

"I know Pit, I was there too," commented Red.

Pit calmed down in a hurry. "Right. Sorry man. I just love a good fight."

"Aren't you a warrior angel or something? I'd have thought you'd have your fill of fighting," commented Red as he walked besides the hovering angel.

"Yeah, but that fight was just so cool, you know? Man, he must be famous back in his home world."

Red frowned. "Um, he is. Didn't you read his bio? He was the bad guy until a couple months or so ago, when he fought off an alien invasion. So..."

"Oh." That news brought Pit down in a hurry. "So, he's not awesome?"

"Well, he is. He's just not quite the good guy. I mean, he insulted me for having Pokemon. Apparently friends make you weak and you're better off working alone. Ignoring the fact that me and my Pokemon work best together and that he's a Hedgehog with super speed and weird powers while I'm just a guy. Not really a comparison there."

"Hm," said Pit as he thought about that. He and Red had become quick friends, both of them being new fighters and, relatively speaking, near the same age. "Maybe its just because we don't know him well."

"Maybe," replied red uncertainly. He thought actions spoke louder than words, but Pit was undeterred. "Have you talked to Mario, or Kirby? They don't seem to think well of him."

"Nope. Guess I should."

"Yeah.," agreed Red as they walked off towards the common room while talking. They would talk to Mario later.