Disclaimer: Still don't own any characters mentioned from Nintendo, M.G.S, Sega, Namco, Shonnen Jump, Nippon Ichi, ATLUS, Square Enix/Soft, AKSYS Games, Sony, and any other animes/manga in the story except for my own. Also, in case you did not know, the plot is completely original, the mentioned characters so far are original, (Dark, Death, unknown woman, and the two street fighters) and expect more, but as far as I know, I'm going to introduce characters throughout; some you may recognize, others, not as likely; those characters for certain are made by the companies mentioned above.

The Dark Flame

A Super Smash Bros. Brawl Fan Fiction

Chapter 5: The Black Shooter Pt. 1

(Note, the title of this chapter is NOT meant in a racist manner.)

Before the sun rose over the horizon, I found my eyes slowly began to open up to the new day ahead of me. I blinked a few times as my blurred vision caused by my sleep began to wear off, and I was able to see more clearly. I found myself sitting upright when my vision had cleared up, and I looked around the room casually, though I had no need to learn of what time it was. I could tell already I overslept slightly, since the surge of power I had yesterday had worn off, and would only come back after a short, fifteen minute meditation session. I got out of the futon, prepared it again for tonight when I was to sleep on it again, and pulled Soul Eater out from underneath the mattress part, and stood up. I was trained to carry Soul Eater when I was both capable and incapable of fighting; though it was significantly harder without meditation first.

I carried the scythe into the dojo area, and upon walking in, I heard my footsteps echo through the small room, but regardless, I saw nothing wrong with it. I situated myself in the middle of the room, and sat down, crossing my legs in doing so, and positioned the weapon of Death on my lap horizontally. I closed my eyes, and I began to focus on two images, concentrating solely on these two objects and nothing else.

The first image that comes to my mind is a burning flame; to some, it would be seen as nothing more than a sight to see or a type of danger. To only just a few individuals, the fire signifies life; a flame has a point of birth, the duration of it burning and the size of it shows how full of life it is filled with. When it does end up reaching the end of its lifespan, the embers signify that the flame's size has drastically dropped and it wouldn't be long before the flame would disappear entirely. Even though I was the assistant of Death, I knew not of what life's true meaning was, nor would Death be willing to tell me. I tried to make an offer on it when he would grant me immortality as long as he was the Angel of Death, however, he did not budge the slightest from his initial proposal.

The second image of which I saw was a shadow; an entity that is lifeless, but is permanent everywhere. I see the shadow being able to bring fear and the end to those who were not careful, but at the same time, signifies secrecy and independence. Shadows keep whatever they cover hidden from sight better than in direct light, and no two shadows are exactly the same, just like a fingerprint. Heh, I sound like an oddball, now don't I; speaking of shadows being something one wouldn't expect, and fire being a symbol for life? Well, nothing I experience here will make me change my way of thinking; my dark flame will not easily be extinguished.

I focused my thoughts for what felt like hours, but really, it was only fifteen minutes, something I had grown used to. I held Soul Eater in my right hand, and held it in a manner like a staff, while also using it as a means to get me to my feet quickly. I could feel the surging heat running through my body, and I knew the meditation had done its job like always. I twirled the scythe out in front of me a few times, before placing it in the sheath on my back, which I had focused myself in clothes similar to yesterday, but cleaner as well.

I stretched a bit while I was here, and decided to do a few individual training techniques, which would be similar to "shadow boxing" I guess. I swung my right hand out in a fist, making a punch, and followed it up with an uppercut with my left hand. I then performed a front flip and brought my leg down in an arched kick, as if striking an adversary down to the ground. Knowing they would recover to counter attack, however, I performed a backwards somersault away, just out of the reach. I knew they would try to attack above me, so I crouched down quickly, and turned my body to have my right leg kick them in the gut roughly, which would stun them surely. I then whipped my body around and forced my elbow into the gut of my "adversary", which would knock them far enough away.

It was like that for another half-an-hour; I kept training against imaginary foes, from points where I was upright to times where I was also knocked to the ground, and even combat abilities in the air. When I decided to wrap it up, I gave a sigh as I relaxed my body, sweat dripping slightly from my training, but at least now I was a bit more focused when it came to combat at least. I figured that instead of fighting imaginary foes, I should go and train against some actual, living entities. I left the dojo contently, and ensuring I had my keycard to open my room's door when I return, I locked my room behind me, and walked down the hallway…

I was still early when I had arrived at the stadium; the first match hasn't even started yet. The audience was still filling up, if anything, but since my fight was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, I had to get in as much training as I can. So what I did was made my way to the gym, avoiding as many unnecessary encounters as I could. I expected other combatants would be using this time also to fight and train as well, some with friends, some alone, while others fighting their rivals.

I had stepped around the corner, but I was surprised to see it was silent; was I too early to use the gym? No, that couldn't be; there should be people here wanting to use the gym to get in some training, so why was there nobody here? Well, almost nobody anyways; looking out a nearby window was a small-figured woman, generally about an inch or two shorter than I, but still. She had black hair in two pigtails, the one on the left being longer than the one on the right. I couldn't see her face, but her skin was fairly bright, even in the slightly dark gym, or at least what all was exposed that I could see. She wore a jacket it seemed; black with a white star on the back, as well as knee-high laced boots and short shorts; both also black.

I could see on her right wrist was a limiter also, so it proved that she was a contender as well, however, why wasn't she making use of the gym's facilities. I remained silent, and I was about to leave, but then I saw her head turn to look over her shoulder to look in my direction. Her gaze appeared to be empty; soulless and without emotion, both her eyes and her expression; most definitely something I wasn't expecting. Was she the reason nobody wanted to train at this moment? She didn't appear to be too threatening, but at the same time, I don't know how to explain it, but it appeared that she was interested in gazing out that window.

I figured that it was too quiet, and it was better to learn of the people I encounter, and if she was going to be my adversary in this competition, I should at least learn of her. "You enjoy gazing out at the area, or… is there something in particular you're looking for?" I couldn't help but ask; her attention never gazed back even when I asked this question. She didn't even look up even as I approached her; just what was with this woman anyways?

"…" This woman hardly gave out a sound, and never made a motion aside from her breathing, which was calm and relaxed. I could see her blink every once in a while, but she was looking all around the ground lever of this area.

"I think that gazing out like this helps me think straight when I need to later… At least, that's how I feel…" I spoke to her, but still, I got no movement from her at all besides her breathing motions. I brought my arms up and brought my hands behind my head, and looked up at the ceiling and around. So strange; was she, perhaps, a warrior who could not speak, perhaps, a mute more specifically?

"If you don't wish to speak, I don't blame you; whether you were born like that or just refuse to speak to people like me, I understand…" I explained, still looking around, surprised that nobody had yet to walk in, not even that ninja who was stalking me last night. However, I then heard her speak something under her breath, something I couldn't exactly hear too well.

"Hmmm? Excuse me…?" I asked politely, a bit confused as to what she had said, but when I looked at her, I saw her left eye was surrounded in a blue flame. When exactly did that happen?

"…will you fight me?" I heard her ask, calmly, but again, without really much emotion in her voice. Wait, did she just challenge me to a fight? Just how was it that she fought? However, before I could respond, I saw her turn around, and began to walk to that room Ragna and I fought in last night. She took a headset to use, so I could assume that this was an invitation as well as a challenge. I walked to take a headset of my own, put it on casually, and walked into the room she had entered.

"Take your scythe in hand… Don't hold back on me…" I heard her order, but not in a loud, commanding voice; it was still soft, but still, to ask me to use Soul Eater in a fight was unusual. I didn't grab Soul Eater right away, and as such, we stood there, standing before one another.

"Take your scythe in hand…" I heard her repeat the command, and I could tell that she was serious, but even so, it wasn't my style to use the scythe when my adversary was unarmed. Reluctantly, I did take Soul Eater in hand, and held it like I would in combat. I saw her blink, the blue flame never dispersing over her left eye, and I watched as the surrounding area shifted to a strange, church-like area. The floor was set in a tile-like pattern, from white and black, repeated all across the floor. The room had no benches; it was wide and open, yet there was the occasional pillar one could jump onto. The atmosphere here felt quite a bit darker than I would've imagined, but the sound of a heavy, loud collision on the nearby ground from her direction had me look at her.

I was surprised to see on her left side appeared to be a sort of club-like shape, but it didn't exactly look like just a club. I saw her left hand go into the top of it was an arm attachment. I then saw her lift it up, and it was then I realized that by how she held it was like a gun, as it appeared to be a barrel. So she was armed after all, but why it wasn't shown until now, I wondered.

"Don't hold back on me…" I listened to her, and just moments after I nod, I was shocked to see her charge at me with sudden speed, and saw as her gun had shifted shape into a very large blade, held in the same manner as the rifle. She swung it violently, which I hardly had any time to side step out of the way to dodge it. But her recovery was nothing less than amazing; she swung it in an attempt to cause a second and third strike. I was able to knock off the second strike, but my guard was down at that point, which had me knocked up into the air a bit due to it being an uppercut. As I came down, I saw the blade had changed into the gun, and she was pointing it at me. She shot it, and a blue sphere came out at a surprisingly fast speed; hardly enough time to have Soul Eater swipe in a motion to defend against it.

But she was firing it a bit faster, as if it were a semi-automatic rifle, shot after shot I either deflected or made an attempt to dodge. I made a mistake by underestimating her; such speed and strength from a woman I did not expect would be a good fighter. In fact, I expected that her having this large weapon would slow her down drastically, but rather, it appeared to be speeding her up. I had to change my tactics for this fight if I was going to get in and deal any damage to her, but she most certainly appeared to be a battle veteran of sorts, if not here.

I did land on the ground, but her shooting at me did not cease in the slightest, each shot giving out a typical rifle sound when a round was fired. I jumped into the air, moving towards her if I can, and I threw my scythe down at her, as a means to distract her. I could control it to return to my hand thanks to the meditation this morning, but I watched as her aim was set on the scythe, and fired at it, knocking it back towards me. Smarter than I thought; left me incapable of throwing any fire or dark spells at her due to her shot at Soul Eater. No damage was done to it; no weapon could harm it anyways since it was Death's weapon.

I certainly thought she would at least try to dodge the strike, but to deflect the attack with one of her own surprised me. Time for a different approach, I guess, but her rifle showed no signs of quitting; rather, it made me wonder just how much ammunition did that gun of hers carry? Her assault didn't show any signs of shifting gears, so I had to use drastic measures; I was able to dodge and deflect as much of the shots as I could, but I was hit by a few on my way down, though only minor grazes.

I swung Soul Eater in a quick motion in a circle around my, forming a sort of firewall; the heat just enough to disintegrate her shots before they reached me. It was short, but it was high enough so she couldn't get a direct shot on me. With that, she had immediately swapped tactics upon realizing she could not shoot at me, and charged, her cannon pointing up still, but the barrel had a deep glow to it. Wait what; she can charge up her shots so they're more devastating? Okay, not looking good for me. I hesitated slightly, as soon enough she did release a shot, emitting a larger and faster-moving shot, which she followed up by changing it to her blade. I jumped up, just barely in time to avoid the shot, but had little time to react to her appearing before me and swinging her sword.

I swung my scythe, trying my best to block each strike she applied, but she would graze me a bit every so often. One point, I had us in a position of our weapons locked together, and this was my only opportunity. Giving no time, I swung my right leg to kick her in the side; it worked, but it didn't work too well; if anything, it was like a sting to her. That caused her to put more force upon my, and knocked me to the ground quickly. I hit the ground on my back, and I flipped over to my stomach, which was then I recovered to standing completely. She's very difficult to try and defeat head-on, that's for sure, and an indirect approach just wasn't too likely. Could it be that she's the perfect foe that I can't defeat, perhaps?

However, I saw her land on the ground nearby, her arm reverting back to its cannon form, yet she did nothing; she never made a move to attack. She didn't pity me, did she? However, I saw the battlefield we were fighting on began to dissolve; did she quit, or did I disappoint her? She didn't show this at all, and the flame in her eye did vanish now, her gaze returning to its usual, emotionless gaze.

"This… can wait… Something's happening…" I heard her speak, and I raised my eyebrow; she certainly was a puzzling woman. But she ran past me to the door, almost forgetting to take off the headgear as she rushed out of the gym.

"H-hey, wait! Don't just leave me like this! You wanted to fight, and now you're just leaving like that?" I spoke out to her, but she didn't appear to care as she ran down the hallway, which forced me to chase after her, putting away the headset as I left the gym, trying to keep up with her. She was fast, even with her cannon, and soon enough, when we walked outside, I was surprised to see that the sky had darkened once more, and I could look up to see that eye. This was the exact same event as last night, with dark particles falling from the sky.

"Fight with me…" I heard her speak, preparing for combat, and we weren't alone; from the corner of my eye, I saw as a few individuals decided to come and help out. One had blond hair, spiky in a manner as if it were defying gravity, and he wore mainly black clothing with a long sleeve down his left arm. His eyes were blue with a surprising glow behind them. Over his heart was what appeared to be a lion's emblem, and he soon held an over-sized, single-edged sword with both of his hands.

A second individual was a young man, in his high-school years according to the uniform, with a fair-size, one-hand sword, a katana more accurately. He had shoulder-length blue hair, his eyes similar in color. On his left arm was a red banner with the initials, "S.E.E.S" on it, and around his waist was a belt and an attached holster, a gun within it. At least, I think it was a gun, but regardless, he also appeared like he was going to help.

The third was actually someone I recognized; she was that woman I sat next to in the stands yesterday, only now, I saw that she had focused on fighting. Her hair changed to a bright red, and the same with her eyes. In her hand, a bit of flame appeared quickly, and when they dispersed, it exposed a very unique katana that I haven't seen before. It was certainly magnificent, but regardless, she was willing to help.

The last figure was that samurai I talked about before, the one with the "X" marking on his one cheek. He was still dressed in his hanyo, but he had unsheathed his sword, but as I looked at it, it was not truly a katana as I had thought. Rather, it was clear that it was a sakabatou, a type of katana with the sharp edge on the inside of the curve. But this man held the sword the wrong way; it was as if he was intending of using the blunt end only when he's going to fight. I wonder if he knew about this, but regardless, this man better fight well if he did know.

Five allies fighting alongside me for this fight, watching as the dark particles began to form into the figures like before. They were made of darkness, with simplistic designs and outfits; basically a snowman with purples, black, red, green, white, and a variation of different weapons too. Some had what appeared to be swords made of plasma, a few had odd guns that appeared they could charge up, and a few had large boomerangs as well, though a majority of them fought with their fists or fire-based attacks.

A few foes came from the sky, many shaped like odd clouds with what may have been battery setups on their "backs" I guess. Other than that, these were basically the foes that I saw were going to be our challenge here, and there was quite a larger number in comparison to last night, but then again, there was more of us here to fight them as well, so it did make sense, I suppose. I stood my ground as I watched the foes began to make their way towards us as if they were zombies; they were slow, at least when it came to walking towards us, and some didn't exactly attack us right off the bat. In the audience I could make out a few trophified characters, but couldn't make them out from here. Odd enemies, but I knew that this was perhaps going to be a very long fight for all of us, since we appeared to be the only ones who were really capable of fighting at this moment…