Marth doesn't like robots.
"Ike! I could use some help here!" He cursed as R.O.B. spun, catching him with his clamps and hitting him repeatedly.
Ike stopped what he was doing- getting slapped around by some pixellated turtles- and looked at Marth incredulously. "You need help? YOU need help? I've got little charred bits of whatever that thing is made of on Ragnell, but you haven't even gotten a hit with Falchion!"
Ike braced his sword on his shoulder, kicking a turtle into R.O.B. and knocking him off the side of the stage. "There. You're welcome."
Since the whole Ghirahim thing, Nintendo had been being 'nice', and had made a new version of fighting, known as All Star, and Marth and Ike had been first to challenge it.
As they warped to the rest area, Marth pointing out that his sword didn't "freaking light on fire", Ike stepped toward the warp pad. Marth stopped him with an arm, inspecting his ribs. "Maybe they should pad that robot," he complained. "I'll have a bruise the size of your ego."
Ike simply laughed. "We whack people with huge swords, and you whine about a robot? You're even more of a pansy little elf than I thought!"
Marth scowled. "Don't let Link hear you say that," he muttered irritably. "At least now I understand his pain!" He stepped onto the warp, bringing them to their next fight.
They stepped out onto the Bridge of Eldin, facing Link and Sheik. Ike winced as Marth's elbow was thrown into his ribs.
"Hey."
"What?"
"I'll take your girlfriend." Marth cackled evilly.
"Hey," Ike broke in, surprising Marth. "I'll take your boyfriend."
Fortunately for Ike- Marth was about to forcibly remove his face- a neatly thrown bomb interrupted them.
"Sorry to break up the love fest," Link said rudely. "But there's the serious matter of kicking your sorry behinds first."
Marth jumped, barely dodging an arrow that then hit Ike. As he was in the air, Sheik lunged for him. "How's your hand?" She asked, throwing a punch at his face. He blocked the punch with his sword, causing her to hiss in pain, then swung in response.
"Just fine, thanks!" He yelled in response.
She was sent flying, colliding in midair with Link. He grabbed her arm, arresting her flight, then flung her down to the ground. She landed on her feet, but sadly right next to Ike, who had been charging flames on his sword. He planted it next to her, which exploded and sent her off the side into the net.
Marth, obviously waiting, grabbed Ganondorf when he fell, punched him twice, then chucked him into the demon pig-rider, who was charging at them. Ganondorf, surprised by the strength behind the grab, got knocked into the above net by the pig-rider's sword, and a hologram version of him fell into the distance.
"Now," Marth said hopefully," Can we have a break?" As if in answer, Toon Link appeared above him with his sword pointing down. "Crap!" Marth cursed, thrusting his sword upwards in a hasty smash attack.
The two swords got tangled and Marth, thinking quickly, used the leverage to throw Toon Link off to the side. He slid into the bomb that the pig-rider had left, and, when he bumped it, the bomb blew up. He flew past Ike fast enough that Ike barely had time to turn, and cannonballed bravely into the net.
"Now," Ike said, "I am sincerely sick of this."
As they warped back to the rest area, Marth slumped against the wall exhausted. Ike, never one to leave a friend in need, went to the heart containers. He drank the Maxim Juice out of one, then tossed the other to Marth.
"Here, drink this," he said. "It'll make your bruise feel better. That must be one heck of a bump!"
Marth looked up, sincerely surprised. "Thank you," he said, chugging the red liquid. "I needed that."
"Don't thank me too much, I'm about to point something out to you that you won't much like." Ike gestured at the screen that showed the next opponent, which happened to be Samus.
Marth groaned, getting up and stepping onto the warp. As they came out into Norfair, Samus released a blast on her gun. It caught Ike, spinning him and throwing him into the magma that was churning below.
"Ow!" Ike cursed. "Dangit Marth! I don't care if you won't fight her! C'mere you!" He directed a curse in her direction.
As he leapt for Samus, Marth reflected wryly that trust didn't mean much during brawls. He leapt forward, shouldering Samus in a harmless opening move. Or so he meant it. Ike, seeing Samus flying at him, swung his sword, hitting her down and diagonally.
Samus lashed out with her whip, catching the side of the stadium, and jumped up next to Marth. He swung his sword rather halfheartedly, having seen the effect of his last attack, but before he could land his blow, Samus flipped her hair, winked at him, and grinned.
Marth stopped, his mouth open, staring at her. He was about to say something, but Samus abruptly disappeared. She had been sent off the side by a quiet smash attack by Ike, who had slammed his sword down on her back, and she was smoking slightly.
Marth protested loudly about that for the next few brawls, then sulked for the rest. They steadily fought their way through the brawl ranks, drinking the Maxim Juice from the heart containers when they needed to heal, and they fought their way to Olimar, the final battle.
Marth, snapping out his sulk, started bringing his sword around to hit Olimar. The only problem was, Olimar had beat him to the opening hit. He stumbled backward, a white Pikman attached to his face.
"Aauugh!" Marth shrieked (he would later deny it) and ran backward. He was prying the creature off his face, but he tripped and fell off the edge of the Pikmen planet.
Ike, seeing his trouble, held his sword diagonally off to his side, making it shine, then lunged for Olimar. He didn't hit him very hard, but Olimar flew backwards into the monster on the side's mouth. The monster closed his mouth, swallowed, then went off to the side. Marth came back up the net ladder, laughing.
"Those kids in the control panel do a good job with that puppet, don't they?"
"I just won, on my own, and you're talking about puppets? Give me a moment to celebrate!" Ike crabbed at him.
"Fine, fine, do your DK belly drum if you must. Let me walk away first."
True to his word, Marth walked away, and chatted with Roy about some singer… Tabasco maybe. Ike, shaking his head, walked away to see if Link would congratulate him on his achievement. And maybe Sheik would be there.
As Marth sauntered off, Samus watched him go, half smiling. She always enjoyed it when he disliked her being hurt. It gave her the feeling that she could trust him…
Author's Notes: There you go! I just ruined everyone's opinion of me. Well, whatever. Please review. Constructive criticism is welcome, but flaming helps no one.
Hoping everyone picked up the references,
The Last Drakonnan