Gamer4 in. And, natch, I have nothing to say.

Disclaimer: I only own Taebus! And he's not even in this chapter!

Chapter 20

Sonic vs. Wario

"So, it sounds like Scourge is up to something," Firestar said as they left the dining room to go to the arena.

"It seems so," Luigi said, "though I still don't see what he got out of it. It wasn't fear or respect either, if it was the note would have said right out that it was him."

"It is weird," Mario said. "But, like Master Hand said, there's no point worrying about it now."

"Is Sonic a good fighter?" Graystripe asked as they left. "Like, do you think he has a chance?"

"Well, we're all good fighters here, in our own way," Mario said, "so yes, he does have a chance, and Wario does too."

"Where are they from?" Firestar asked.

"I'm not entirely sure where Sonic is from, but Wario, as much as I'd rather not say it, is my cousin," Mario answered. "But his symbol will be different, because he's not from the mushroom kingdom. He's from Diamond City, a different place altogether. His symbol is a giant W."

"He's self-centered?"

"In a word, yes. If he ever does anything, it's usually because it benefits him."

"Has he ever done something that didn't benefit him?"

"I'll try and think of a time. Come on, let's hurry up."

XXXX

The arena was just as noisy as the day before, when Bowser fought Ganondorf. It looked the same. A raised platform above the ground made of concrete and metal. As they watched, Master Hand once again floated to his commentator's spot. "Welcome to the next brawl of this tournament! Sonic will be competing against Wario for a spot in the final brawl, which will take place tomorrow! The only items will be the Smash Ball, Pokeballs, and Assist Trophies, and the stage will be Luigi's Mansion! Each smasher will have two lives!"

"You have your own mansion, Luigi?" Firestar asked as the scoreboard lit up.

"Not really. I used to, but it was a trick by an evil ghost named King Boo. After I beat him, the mansion disappeared. But when I told Master Hand about it, he based a stage on it."

They looked at the scoreboard. Wario's symbol was, as Mario had said, a big W. Sonic's symbol was an outline of his head. "What are Pokeballs and Assist Trophies?" Firestar asked.

"You remember Pikachu?" Luigi asked.

"Yeah," Firestar asked. "Why?"

"He's what we call a Pokemon, a kind of animal that have powers. These Pokeballs have random Pokemon in them that help us fight."

"And the Assist Trophies?"

"Almost the same thing, except they're not Pokemon. None of the things are real, though. But Master Hand found a way to make them as real as they can get without actually being so."

"He finds ways to do a lot of stuff, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, he's good with stuff like that."

"It's super special awesome!" shouted a voice behind them. They turned to see Toon Link and Lucario sitting behind them.

Can you keep him away from me, please? Lucario asked.

"What was that?" Graystripe asked.

"This is Lucario," Mario said. "He's another Pokemon. He can't talk, so he communicates through thoughts. He can also read your mind, so he knows what you're thinking."

Are you the two that Master Hand was talking about last night?

"Yeah," Firestar said, looking uncertain. "The two from the books about the cats?"

That's what I was talking about. Do you know this mass-murder guy?

"Unfortunately, yes," Graystripe answered. "He's very dangerous."

"Didn't he kill someone nine times with one hit?" said a new voice. They turned to see Samus coming in.

"Yes he did," Firestar asked. "Did you see in the papers?"

"About the man being killed? Yes. You think it's time to cross that bridge yet, Mario?"

"After the brawl. Who do you think will win?"

Sonic is my bet, Lucario said.

"I hope it's Sonic," Samus said. "I really don't want it to be Wario."

"Well, to be fair, Wario does have a chance, though I am on Sonic's side," Mario said.

"Quiet, the brawl is starting!" Luigi said. As they watched, the platform went black, and when it lit up again, they were looking at a mansion in the night, set on a floating bit of dirt. Wario rode in on his bike and jumped off as it collapsed, while Sonic appeared, curled up in a ball, landed on the ground, and uncurled.

"Three, two, one, GO!" Master Hand shouted, and it began.

Wario jumped onto a random motorcycle and attempted to run Sonic over, running into a couple of columns along the way. Sonic jumped over him and landed on the other side. He then retaliated by curling up again, jumping into the air, and coming down on Wario. As this was going on, a pokeball appeared on the roof. Wario jumped up, grabbed it, and dropped it on Sonic's head. It bounced off, landed on the ground, and released a fish that flopped around for a bit before disappearing. (I honestly don't know many of the pokemon's names outside of the ones you can play as in brawl, so for the ones I don't know, I'll just describe them. I'll use the actual name if I know it.) Wario jumped down, landed next to Sonic, and shot upwards like a corkscrew, throwing Sonic into the air. Sonic punished Wario for this by jumping on a mini-trampoline that appeared out of nowhere, which then fell on top of Wario. An assist trophy appeared as Sonic landed, and he didn't hesitate to pick it up. Out of it came that guy that shoots the big hands. (I don't know many of the assist trophies either.) He jumped down and pushed Wario towards the edge. Wario frantically tried to get back, but by the time the trophy stopped shoving, he was too far away, and he fell down. Up on the scoreboard, one of his faces vanished. Sonic jumped down and began punching the columns as Wario came down on a platform. Wario jumped down and responded by drawing back a punch and knocking Sonic into the column he'd just been pummeling. It collapsed -along with part of the mansion- on Sonic's head. Sonic broke his way out just in time for a smash ball to appear. Wario jumped and began hitting it with all his strength. It broke and Wario began to glow. He pulled out a piece of garlic and ate it instantly. As he turned into Wario-man, Sonic ducked down to the bottom floor. Wario jumped down and punched Sonic off the arena, but he managed to get back up with another trampoline. Just in time to be punched down again by Wario. Sonic tumbled down, down, down. As he came back on a platform, the final smash wore off and Wario turned back into himself. Sonic brought his shoe down on Wario's face, sending him into another column, which snapped, bringing another section of the house down on him. "Doesn't karma suck, Wario?" he asked as Wario broke free. Wario didn't answer. He was looking over Sonic's shoulder at the smash ball that had just appeared. He jumped out and brought down his fist on it. It broke and Wario started to glow again. However, just before transforming, he landed on the section of top floor that was still there, and Sonic wasted no time in breaking the column below Wario, causing the remains of the bottom floor to break, bring Wario -and the top floor- down to the ground. Having been in an imploding house, and not being Criss Angel, Wario lost the smash ball as he was crushed on both sides, which Sonic jumped towards. Sonic brought his fists down on it. When it didn't break, he used a trampoline to get a boost so he could bring his foot down on it instead. It shattered and Sonic began glowing. "Here, I'll show you!" he shouted. The chaos emeralds (Is that right?) Appeared around him and he turned gold and began to rush around the stage, including in the air.

"Graystripe?" Firestar said, looking on with his jaw dropped almost to the floor as Sonic went under the platform and came back up again.

"What, Firestar?" Graystripe asked. His jaw was dropped just as low.

"Hedgehogs are flying."

"I see it, Firestar."

"The cats back home will never believe this," Firestar said, his eyes wide.

"They'll probably think we're insane," Graystripe said.

Down on the arena, Wario was finally released from the wreckage of the mansion when the mansion suddenly repaired itself. He looked around in relief just in time to see Sonic shooting towards him like a bullet. He was hit in the face and went flying. Already severely injured by the collapsing mansion, he shot off the stage faster than Sonic was currently flying. His second face vanished from the scoreboard, Master Hand shouted, "GAME!" and everything went black. When it lit up again, Sonic and Wario were standing on the plain. The scoreboard lit up again: Sonic: 1st , Wario: 2nd. "And the winner is... Sonic!" Master Hand shouted. There was, as usual, a moan from the supporters of the loser. Sonic was taunting Wario. He was breakdancing, saying, "Come on, step it up!"

"Since Sonic won," Master Hand said, "he will go against Bowser in the tournament final tomorrow!"

Seeing Lucario and Toon Link leaving, Firestar and Graystripe got up too, but were held back by Luigi. "Hold up a sec," he said. "Master Hand might have something else to say."

"In other news," Master Hand said, "to anyone who's interested, Bowser will be holding a racing tournament a little later today. Just show up if you wish to participate. Finally, Taebus will be coming to the mansion tomorrow night to see the awarding of the trophy to whoever wins it, and will be staying for an indefinite period of time." There was some cheering from the racers, and a lot more cheering at the announcement about Taebus. It seemed he was popular at the Smash Bros.

"Hey, Firestar, Graystripe," Luigi said.

"Yes, Luigi?" Graystripe asked, looking at him.

"I don't mean to put a damper on things, but hedgehogs just flew. You know what that means?"

"What?" Graystripe asked.

"It means we're going to Bowser's tournament," Luigi said. "Come on, let's go."

That's all for now. A couple things I have to say before I finish this. First, thanks, as usual, to everyone who's supporting this story. Thanks, also, to the ones who put ideas in their reviews, or things like that. (Hawkwing360 more or less gave me the idea for the "hedgehogs just flew" thing.) You're all awesome. Second, I have a little challenge for you. Just a random thing, but can anyone guess how old I am? I wonder if anyone will get it right... Anyways, please R&R, unless you're going to flame. Constructive criticism is fine, but flaming is bad. Gamer4 out.