Here's the next chapter! I'll put up another tomorrow! Enjoy!

The next morning the Smash Bros. Stadium was abuzz with activity. The parings for the first round of the tournaments had been posted only a couple of hours ago, and everyone was busy training, preparing, or stalking their future opponent in hopes of discovering their weakness.

Like Luigi, for example, who had taken to following Donkey Kong. It didn't take him long to discovery that the ape went crazy for bananas.

Unfortunately, Luigi was terrified of bananas after having a traumatic slipping experience in a third grade school play.

But in the grand scheme of things, Luigi's not that important to the plot. He loses anyways.

Marth and Zelda arrived at the message board long after the crowd had cleared, both having woken around the same time, one because she loved to sleep, the other because he was out of coffee.

The two scanned the board a moment looking for their names. Zelda was the first to speak, tapping a spot on the posting, "There."

Marth glanced at the spot and his face immediately fell.

"I guess that's what you get for being the last to sign up." Zelda observed, trying not to smirk at the look on Marth's face, "The first few smashers got to put in requests."

"Did you put in a request?" Marth asked dully, not particularly interested in the response to his own question.

Zelda shook her head, "I didn't want to participate in the tournament. I was one of the last to sign up, only after Mewtwo made me."

Marth lifted an eyebrow, the only change in his expression, "Someone was actually able to make the grand princess of Hyrule do something?"

Zelda gave him a withering scowl, "He called me to Master Hand's office and showed me a newspaper article about Link being attacked. He said he knew it was me and would go to the police if I didn't sign up."

Marth was quiet a moment, then; "But you did do it."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Zelda replied smoothly, arms crossed and eyes once more on the board, "Oh, look at that, Roy's fighting Falco. That should be interesting; a battle of the narcissists."

Marth ignored her attempt to change the topic, "That's just not fair! You get away with something like that while I'm sent to jail and have to sign up for this ridiculous tournament!"

"Hey," Zelda warned, "I have to participate too."

"So?" Marth exclaimed, then throwing up his hands in frustration, "This is all your fault! If you could have only held your temper for once..."

Instead of snapping at him, Zelda snickered, "You're just pissed off because you have to fight Captain Falcon."

Marth snorted contemptuously, "I wouldn't be grinning like that right now if I where you. Look who you have to fight." he jabbed his finger at the board.

Following this action, Zelda read the name and promptly spun on her heels to walk away down the hall.

"Mewtwo's not going to change it!" Marth called after her.

"I know." she replied over her shoulder, "I'm not going to see Mewtwo, I'm going to have a nap."

Marth frowned, "You're not going to train at all?"

Zelda sent him a disbelieving look, "Would you?"

Marth was silent. She had a point.

Meanwhile, outside the stadium, Pichu was busy running her new betting stand, which she'd set up immediately after the match postings.

Young Link came up to the table, eyes wide and curious, "What's this for?"

Pichu gave him a 'you're an idiot' look.

"You're an idiot." Pichu proceeded to inform him, quickly going over her list. So far, twenty seven bets had been placed. She was aiming for thirty before lunch, fifty before the first match.

The little yellow pokemon glanced up at her friend, "Wanna make a bet?"

Young Link blanked, "You mean like who can run the fastest?"

Pichu rolled her eyes, "No. I mean for the tournament. Bet on who you think's the best and who will win."

"Oh!" Young Link exclaimed as the meaning dawned on him. His eyes lit up with excitement, "Marth! Marth! I'll bet on Marth!"

"Of course." Pichu muttered to herself, then so he could hear, "How much?"

"How much what?"

She gave him an irritated look, "Money."

"Oh. Ok." Young Link nodded, then; "What about money?"

Pichu faced palmed then straightened up, giving Young Link a fatigued look, "You know what, never mind... why don't you help me in running a new stall instead? Spread the business?" she stroked her chin now, thoughtfully, "I'm thinking merchandise this time..."

"I want to make a bet!" someone suddenly yelled, running up to Pichu's stand and shoving Young Link out of the way. It was his brother.

"On who?" Pichu asked, poising her pencil over the sheet.

"On me!" Link replied, pulling his best heroic pose, "Who else?"

Pichu held back a sigh, "How much?"

This time Link responded by dropping an incredibly large bag of money on the counter, a wide smirk on his face.

Pichu stared open mouthed at him, then the bag, then back, "Are you sure?"

Link nodded, extremely pleased by her reaction, "Positive."

"Ok." Pichu said, taking down the information and putting the money away, shaking her head all the while.

Young Link, who had been glaring at his brother, then gawking at the bag, directed his attention back to Link, "Who are you fighting?"

"Don't know." Link replied, giving his brother a superior look while shrugging, "Haven't checked yet. But it doesn't matter- I know I'll win. Especially if it's against that fiendish devil, Marth! I'll take my victory in Zelda's name! Then she'll have no choice but to acknowledge and accept my love! And she, in turn, will adore me after having witnessed my noble and brave act-"

Before Link could continue, Pichu spoke up, "You do know it's Zelda."

Link cut off mid sentence, blinking at Pichu, "What?"

"The person you're going to fight." Pichu explained, "It's Zelda."

For a long moment, the two green-hatted brothers just gawked at Pichu, (though admittedly, the younger had no idea what was going on, or why his brother was paying Pichu) then Link opened his mouth to speak.

"And no." Pichu replied before he could say anything, "You can't have your money back."

"Sooooooo," Mewtwo began, dragging out the word as long as possible, wearing the widest smirk either of the jigglypuff assistants had ever seen, "You've come to make a deal?"

A nod in reply.

Mewtwo sat back in the large leather chair he'd had brought to Master Hand's office (it had been bare of seats previously for obvious reasons). He inspected the stubs of his three fingers, purple flesh rounded to perfection, savouring this moment like a school boy with a lollipop, or Young Link with one of Marth's shirts.

"Before we settle anything," Mewtwo drawled, tipping back in the chair, "I have to get everything straight: you'll participate, without complaint, to your fullest capacity, in the tournament if I make sure you get to fight a certain competitor?"

Another nod.

Mewtwo tilted his head to the left, to the right, trying to look like he was weighing the pros and cons, when in fact his mind had already drifted on to what kind of non-fat caffeinated beverage he should order for lunch, and how he would manage to keep all these extra costs from Master Hand. He could always say it was for the tournament, or-

"So?"

Mewtwo nearly fell out of his chair. Recovering, he realized he'd spun himself around to face the wall and quickly rotated the chair back, "'SO'?" Mewtwo roared, "DON'T RUSH ME IMPUDENT BOY! I'm weighing the pros and cons! Carefully!"

"Oh." was his dull reply, "So that's why your chair was turned around."

"SILENCE!" Mewtwo shouted, half standing, half hovering out of his chair. The pokemon settled himself back down, quickly going over a few breathing exercises the green head-band jigglypuff assistant had shown him.

"Do you accept or not?"

Glaring from below his non-existent brows, Mewtwo leaned back and began tapping the arm of his chair. After a moment or so, he let out a sigh, closing his bright violet eyes and groaning, "I guess..."

Trying, and failing, to cover a fake yawn, Mewtwo sat forward, "So who is it you wanted to duel with?"

Across from him, the knight's dark blue eyes narrowed, "Roy."

Mewtwo frowned quizzically at the hatred in his voice, but quickly shrugged it off, taking a proffered clipboard from one of the secretaries and flipping through the sheets, "Let's see... if you win your next two matches, I should be able to fit you in for the third..."

"The third?" he sounded irritated.

"Why of course." Mewtwo replied with a knowing grin, "If I gave you what you wanted too early you'd just drop out, now wouldn't you?"

The knight sounded irked if nothing else, "I'll hold up my end if you hold up yours."

"I'm very good at holding things up, you know." Mewtwo pointed out, waving the clipboard at him, "See, I'm holding this up without even using my hands! It's floating. Now that's something special, isn't it?"

The knight snorted, "Does that mean you agree or should I just leave now?"

Mewtwo sighed again, "You're no fun! But yes, we do have a deal. You do your best in the tournament, and I can guarantee you'll have your battle with Roy- no matter what."