A/N: Told you I'd stick to the schedule.

Also, I'm changing a lot. For example, I'm minimizing the roles of the characters I've brought in other than Dante and Altair. Reason? It looked less and less like a Smash Bros fic every time I looked at it. So pretty much every author's note before 15 is null and void.

Welcome to the reboot.

Chapter 16: Amassing of power/Second Warrior

**
OW.
Altair blinked awake. Samus hovered over him.
"…are you alright?"
"I think so…" He muttered, getting on his elbows. A pair of hands wrapped around his throat and started strangling him.
"DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!" Samus screamed, throttling him. Doctor Mario edged away from her, frightened by the blue aura that had erupted around her. Ike sighed and pulled her off.
"Calm down already…"
A different pair of hands found their way around Altair's throat.
"YOU RUINED MY WEDDING!" A very, VERY angry Shiida yelled. Marth pulled her off.
"…sorry about that Altair…now…YOU RUINED MY WEDDING!"
Marth started throttling him. Doctor Mario applied his forehead to the nearest wall, repeatedly. Ike pulled Marth off.
"Calm down already man." Ike muttered. Marth let out a breath.
"…sorry. Got carried away."
"It's alright." Altair muttered, rubbing his throat. "…perfectly understandable. The wedding did finish, right?"
"Its kind of hard to have a honeymoon when A 'TRUE DEMON' IS TRYING TO KILL AS ALL!" Shiida yelled, punching him in the face. HARD.

Altair clutched his now-broken nose. "…point taken. I'll track it down."
"You'll do no such thing." Doctor Mario snapped. "Until you learn how to fully control those powers of yours, you are going NOWHERE."
"…fine." Altair muttered, climbing out of the bed. "…I'll be training."

He walked through the portal back to Smash Mansion, groaning. Just what the hell had he gotten into?

"A quest to save the universe itself?" Excelion supplied helpfully. Altair attempted to glare at something that wasn't there.
All things considered, he actually did quite a good job.
**PAAAAAGEBREAAAAK***
Ike sat down next to Mia.
"Who's winning?" He asked, rolling his shoulders. Mia sighed.
"Not sure. They're pretty evenly matched."
The epic match they were watching…Captain Falcon and Solid Snake's drinking contest. Ike grinned.
"I've got five bucks on them ending this in a bar brawl."
"I've got twenty on one of them dying of alcohol poisoning…" Link muttered from behind him. "Wait, where'd Mia go?"
Mia had dragged up a stool. Ike paled.
"Oh, please god no."
"Give me some too! Make way boys, this is how ya do it!"
Ike buried his face in his hands. This wasn't going to end well. AT ALL.
**Approximately five seconds later…**
Ike hated being right. Mia was a lightweight, and after her first beer…well…Snake was unconscious, most of the room had fled, and Falcon was now being forced to repeatedly falcon punch himself in the face.
Ike sighed. Then Mia had her second one, and started dancing on the table. Link nudged him.
"Bet you like this part!" He muttered, grinning. Ike threw him over his shoulder.
"…I deserved that." Link groaned, getting back up. Ike sighed.
Mia started crawling all over him.
"Ya know boss…*hic*…I really…likez…youz…"
Dante came walking in.
"Hey guys, has anyone seen-"
He saw the awkward situation and backed out slowly.
Ike did the one thing he could in this situation.
Engage facepalm.
**PAAAAAAAAGEBREAAAAAAK**
Beltazar glanced up as a cloud of dust whirled in and reformed into Wallik.
"'sup, Wallik?" He muttered. Wallik growled.
"…I hate him so much." He muttered. "The overpowered, cheap bastard…"
"Yesyesyes, we all know how much you hate him…" Beltazar muttered.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
"Leave now. I have to pretend to be that elderly moron's perfect little pet demon for a while longer…" Beltazar growled, twitching at Sanctus' audible descent down the stairs. Wallik nodded and vanished in the vortex of red lightning. He reappeared in a crumbling temple within distance of smash mansion. A man with black hair in black armor glanced at him.
"…Wallik."
"Zelgius." Wallik hissed in return, walking past him. Then the one member of their trio he actually liked walked up to him. Tall, silver haired, ludicrously long sword…
"Good evening, gentlemen." Sephiroth grinned, eyes flashing. "Who else feels that Wallik here failed?"
Zelgius raised his hand. Sephiroth shook his head.
"He did not…he was outnumbered and overpowered…" Sephiroth's eyes flashed. "And Zelgius…if you think you're going to fight next you are MISTAKEN, sir."
Zelgius grunted and lowered his hand. Dark Link smirked.
"No, no…for today, the second warrior is uncovered…and we are here to discover who that is, are we not, pet?"
That last part was directed to Zelgius' mount, a really large – okay, that's an understatement – a massive black dragon called Mortain. Mortain growled in agreement.
Zelgius sighed, putting his helmet on. "Very well. Let us see who it is…"
Their viewing pool engaged.
**PAGEBREEAK**
"…she'll wake up in a few hours." Dr Mario informed a nervous Ike.
"Are you sure? I didn't hit her too hard?"
"No, she's fine. And given the circumstances, I would have hit her more than once." Doctor Mario groaned, picking up his stuff. "I'm getting some sleep. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING."
He left, throwing his labcoat onto the nearby rack. Ike sat in the chair and closed his eyes.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.

"Gee, kinda empty in here isn't it?" A voice muttered in his skull. "Why do I always end up with the meatheads?"
Ike's eyes snapped open.
He wasn't in the room anymore. He couldn't see anything…other than the thing in front of him.
The creature tilted his head, groaning. "Absolutely bloody typical. Excelion gets the badass assassin, and I get…well, a hero with no brains and somehow brave enough to charge an army but not to-"
Ike aethered him. The creature was now slightly disjointed.
"…maybe you're not completely worthless…" He muttered, cracking his neck. "I'm Tullin. Nice to meetcha!"
For the first time, Ike got his first real look at what he was talking too…and it creeped him out. It appeared to be made entirely of blue light, shimmering and glowing, even flickering in places. Other than that, it was humanoid…for one second. It kept shifting.
Now it was Hylian.
Now it was a fox.
Now it was Dr Insano.
Now it was Ike himself.
"…yeah, this form should creep you out the most. Anyway, I'm Tullin, divine demon number three and demon of destruction!"
Ike found his voice again. "…you're not what I pictured a demon of destruction to be…"
Tullin sighed. Suddenly, he was a large, glowing blue dog.
By large I mean about the size of the empire state building.
"ZUUL, MOTHAFUCKA, ZUUL!" Tullin howled, before pouncing towards Ike…and turning into a grinning blue-image of Mia hugtackling him. Ike pulled Tullin off.
"Cut it out…" He growled. Tullin turned back into Ike.
"…fine…jerk…" He pouted. "Anyway, I'm here to teach you about your powers and then scarper. Deal?"
"Deal." Ike growled. "Just get out of my head."
"Sorry, no can do. I can shut up, though."
"Good enough for me…" Ike sighed, sheathing Ragnell. "…what can I do-"
Tullin-Ike threw a ball of blue energy at a suddenly materialized Primid. The Primid got caught in an explosion when the sphere shattered, and then the shards darted into even more Primids. Tullin grinned.
"Attack one – Force Orb. Now, Attack Two….hmmm…yes, this'll do it…"
Tullin-Ike cloned himself. Twice.
"…Clone forces. In addition…you can now increase or decrease your muscle mass and body density at will. In layman's terms, you get lighter, heavier, stronger, weaker as you decide. Go too far – for example, strong enough to punch through the earth – and your bones will shatter from the weight." Tullin warned. Then he grinned. "Now, I'll be off. Hogan's Heroes is on!"
Poof. Ike blinked.
"….that…was the strangest thing that has ever happened to me…period."
"Welcome to my world." Altair muttered. He'd appeared in the mindscape next to him. Ike jumped.
"HOW THE HELL DO YOU DO THAT?"
"What, stealth or the telepathy?" Altair asked out of curiousity. Ike growled.
"BOTH!"
"Stealth was lifetime of training. Telepathy is a familial bond between us Warriors." He said calmly. "Besides…look out for the cost. There's always a cost in these deals. Excelion told me."
He faded away. Ike blinked.
"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?"
He looked around…and Mia was nowhere to be found.

'There's always a cost…'

"Oh, shit." Ike muttered, paling. He ran out of the room at top speed, throwing Rangell around his shoulder. "MIA! MIA!"

Sephiroth blinked.
"…that was…surprising." He commented. Wallik sighed.

"So who reaps the cost?" He asked. Zelgius raised his hand.

"I already have a quarrel with Ike." He said through gritted teeth. "I should be the one to kill him!"
"And you shall." Sephiroth said, stepping onto the teleport pad. "But as for reaping the cost…I shall take that honor."

A/N: …ending. Enjoy.

Sephiroth was probably out of nowhere for you…unless you'd solved the hints about the silver-haired general, of course.