A/N: A complete rewrite of chapter three. Once again I realized that the chapter was a grand total of about four pages, not to mention a bit redundant seeing as how I was explaining everything in the third chapter again. I also added a bit of back-story to the whole arena.

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Chapter 3- The Next Morning

Waking up a person like Ranma is an art in and of itself. If you try to wake him up too gently, you're likely to not get a reaction at all. If you try to attack him, he'll likely just dodge all of your attacks and kick your butt, while still staying asleep. For the longest time, people have tried using water to wake him up but this would usually lead to a very brutal fight with a very temperamental Ranma, or in a girl's case, a very loud and heated argument.

However, none of these methods was quite as effective as the one Link tried on Ranma's first morning at Super Smash Bros. HQ.

"Hey Ranma you up? I have some breakfast for you."

ZHOOM!

Link barely had time to blink before a black and red blur passed by him slightly under the speed of sound. When he opened his eyes, Ranma was sitting on his bed already devouring the tray with superhuman levels of speed.

"Maks Mink," said Ranma through a mouthful of food.

"No problem."

Ten seconds later Ranma had finished the food and set the tray on the dresser between their beds, "So are you a fighter here too?"

"Yep, I and about twenty others make up the whole Smash team."

"Only twenty?"

"Well, Master Hand is pretty picky about who comes to the arena. He only chooses people who show great potential or have great potential. And," Link lowered his voice until it was just above a whisper, "I hear its been pretty hard for him to get fighters lately because he stepped on the toes of some higher ups if you know what I mean."

Truthfully Ranma had no idea what Link was talking about but he decided not to inquire.

"So what happens now?" asked Ranma after a brief moment of silence, "I mean the foods good but I'm kinda lost on what's going to happen now."

"Oh yeah," said Link suddenly, "I'm supposed to take you to meet Master Hand."

"The arena master? Why does he want to meet me?"

"Probably to draw up a contract with you," said Link shrugging his shoulders, "Can't say for sure though. All the contracts are different but everyone who's been to his office came out completely satisfied."

"What did you get out of your contract?"

"A safe haven."

"Huh?"

Link sighed, put his hands behind his head and lay down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, "About two years ago my homeland fell under a curse by a man known as Ganondorf. Previously I had trapped him the divine realms using the power of this artifact called the TriForce. Unfortunately, Ganondorf wasn't killed, merely contained. Over time he weakened the barriers surrounding his prison due to the part of the Triforce he still possessed."

"Woah, back up. What the heck is the TriForce?"

In response Link held up his right hand. On it was a glowing image of a gold triangle made up of three smaller triangles. Of the three triangles, one part was shining brighter than the other two.

"These three triangles represent each piece of the TriForce. Wisdom, power, and courage. When Ganondorf first tried to steal it, it split into three pieces. He inherited the power side, I got the courage piece, and my X got the wisdom piece."

"Your X?"

"A different, longer, and more boring story not related to this."

"Oh, sorry," said Ranma apologetically.

Link waved him off, "Eh, no biggie. Anyways, to make a long story short, Ganondorf broke through the divine realm and flooded Hyrule; making it so only the mountains were left, remaining as islands. I was away at another country at the time and was too late to stop him. Doing the only thing I could think of, I escaped through a portal in my world but somehow ended up here in a fight with Marth, kinda like what happened to you."

"Did you win?' asked Ranma curiously.

"Actually no. Marth really handed it to me, but I've gotten stronger since then," responded Link smirking to himself.

Another silence settled over the room but this one was less tense than the last one.

"Oh crap," said Link sitting up suddenly.

"What?"

"We still need to get to Master Hand's office, come on we gotta hurry," Link quickly grabbed Ranma's arm and pulled him out the door.

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Ranma watched impassively as Link flashed his ID card in front of another reader and opened up yet another door. There had been about three of these doors all on their trek to the elevator.

"What's with all the security anyways?" asked Ranma as they started walking again.

"Unfortunately, Master Hand has his fair share of enemies who would just love to get access to all the high tech equipment and data files stored around here. It's a valid precaution if you ask me. Here we are."

Link swiped his card in another reader slot and opened a set of elevator doors. Walking inside, Ranma saw a large control panel with the numbers one to twenty on it.

"Twenty floors?" asked Ranma curiously.

"Floors one through five hold the fighters quarters along with the lunch room and the rec room, floor six holds the item warehouse, floor seven is the pokemon rec room, floor eight is the vehicle storage room, floor nine is a record room. All the fighters' records, data, KO counts and stuff like that are put there. We're going to floor twenty, Master Hand's office."

"What about floors ten to nineteen?"

"No one really knows," said Link regrettably, "Some say those floors hold the secret to Master Hand's success, others say that its just some storage space for other fighters if any more decide to come."

"What do you think it is?"

"Personally, I could care less," Link admitted, "I just came here for the food and the fights."

DING!

"This is your stop," said Link as the elevators opened up onto another hallway, "See you around, maybe."

"You're not coming?"

"These meeting are private business; they don't leave the office unless you want them to. Besides, Master hand wants you to make your own decisions, not be influenced by someone else."

Ranma was about to ask Link something else but then the elevator door closed, leaving him alone in the short hallway leading to Master Hand's office.

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"Come in Ranma,"

Ranma paused in mid-knock and slowly lowered his hand. Cautiously, Ranma opened the door and stepped into Master Hand's office.

The first thing that came to mind when looking around Master Hand's office was that of a principal's office. The office was built very plainly, a few hard wood chairs placed in a semi-circle around an oak desk, behind which sat Master Hand, reading a file labeled Ranma Saotome, a picture of his girl form and his guy form attached to the front.

"Please have a seat," said Master Hand, putting down the file, letting Ranma get a full look at his face.

The best way to describe it was…odd. Master Hand didn't have a face or really any distinguishing features at all. Where his head should have been, there was merely a black sphere in the shape of a head, and a black suit covered the rest of his body from the neck down. The only thing that stood out about him was the two pure white gloves he was wearing.

Tentatively, Ranma took a seat in one of the chairs facing Master Hand.

"Ranma Saotome, age 19, recently enrolled in Furinkan High School and recently returned from a 10 year hiatus into the out-backs of China complete with a Jusenkyo curse and a phobia of cats, correct?"

Ranma nodded confirmation. He was surprised that the man knew his history but then again, he didn't really keep it a secret.

"Of course you already knew that. On the other hand, here's some stuff you probably didn't know. It says here in your folder," Master Hand pushed the vanilla folder forward for Ranma to look at, "That you have been engaged twenty three times by one Genma Saotome, also known as your father."

"What?"

"Sorry, my mistake. Twenty four times. Genma also engaged your girl side to that Kuno character."

Angrily Ranma snatched the folder and started thumbing through the pictures of the various girls he now had attachments to.

"Who are these people?" asked Ranma. He didn't remember any of them from his training trip.

"I believe these were all engagements prior to your birth,"

Ranma's right eye twitched, the hand that wasn't gripping the folder slowly balled into a fist. Master Hand continued on as if he didn't notice.

"Your father Genma really gets around you know that? If I didn't know any better I'd say he knows a few dimension hopping tricks himself."

"Dimension hopping?"

"Well, consider the following. Besides the three problems you have in Nerima, he's also managed to engage you to each of the six sailor scouts for various food and clothing items and you've never seen them since."

"No complaints there," said Ranma sarcastically, "Where else did my old man get to?"

"Well aside from those girls he also engaged you to a cat android robot girl named Nuku Nuku for an illegal passport, some girl named Videl for training under and defeating Hercule, Demon Etna of the netherworld arranged by the overlord himself, Angel Trainee Flonne arranged by the Seraphim himself, and, though it pains me to say it, he did manage to engage you to Kodachi Kuno for a large sum of money."

Ranma's mind was in a mild form of shock as he flipped through the folder as Master Hand read of the names like reciting a poem from a book. Along with the demons and angels he had also managed to engage him to Lucia, (a devil hunter) Gina Diggers (an arranged marriage for a single gold piece), Shion Uzuki (for a plane ticket), Rikku (arranged by Cid for letting Genma stowaway on his airship), Kairi (for a boat ticket), Kagome Higurashi (for several scrolls on demon banishing), Rosaline (arranged by a man named Lord Yago), and a set of twins named Dawn and Eve (for a guide out of a magical land called Xanth).

The martial artist tried to talk but no words would come out of his mouth. Slowly Master Hand reached over and took the folder out of Ranma's hands, still not getting any response from him.

SNAP!

Ranma jumped in his seat as if waking from a trance, he was about to start speaking again but Master Hand interrupted him.

"However that is all in the past now."

"It is?"

"Indeed. While your father may have had the unique ability to get around dimensions I doubt that any of your prospective brides will find you here."

"I don't want to run away from my problems," said Ranma reclining back in his chair and looking at the ceiling, "That's the easy way out."

"You still hold this view even knowing that these are mostly Genma's problems?" asked Master Hand folding his hands and placing them on the desk.

"Well yeah, but it's not like I come off clean either."

Inwardly, Master Hand smiled, "Well then, let me give you a little extra incentive." Reaching under his desk, Master Hand opened a drawer and handed Ranma a sheet of paper.

"Super Smash Bros. universal tournament," Ranma read aloud, "Think you're the best? Then come prove it against fighters from across the multiverse. The winner of this tournament is granted one request from Master Hand."

"A request?" asked Ranma, looking up from the paper.

"A wish basically," clarified the Arena Master, "But wishes take things too literally and out of context if you know what I mean. A request though, that's a bit more open ended and broad."

"So…you're telling me that if I win this tournament then you can get me out of all these engagements?"

"If being the key word though," said Master Hand, "There's a lot of powerful fighters here. If you don't want to compete and go back to Nerima I'll understand…" he let the sentence trail off.

"Please," said Ranma as if he was talking to a child, "Don't write me off that quickly. I can win that tournament no problem."

Master Hand smiled, though no one could really tell. He was pushing the right buttons, "Then are you willing to draw up a contract?" From under his desk he produced another piece of paper with Ranma's picture on it and a place to sign.

At this Ranma paused, Master Hand obviously wanted this contract pretty badly, which probably meant he was getting something out of it that he didn't know. Slowly, he withdrew the pen he was about to use to sign it.

"Something wrong?"

"I dunno," said Ranma, "This contract just seems…"

"Suspicious?" Put in Master Hand finishing Ranma's sentence for him, "Then let me tell you what that contract will give you. First off, this contract is legally binding for two years, in which you will be considered an employee of this arena. During the length of your stay here, you will receive free room and board and medical assistance. We also reserve the right to limit and ban any techniques you might have in the spirit of a good fight. In return, we are not reliable for any injuries you might sustain."

Ranma processed that for a second, "Why are you not reliable for our injuries if you include a medical department here?"

Master Hand shrugged, "That's just something my lawyer insisted that I put in to stop people from suing me. But that's basically the whole contract right there."

"So what do you get out of it then if I'm an…employee of the arena?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, not everyone in the multiverse shares our views on inter-dimensional traveling and fighting. Other times, people who come here bring some of their home world problems with them, and yet others only wish our destruction."

"I don't follow."

"Basically, this means that your part of the Smash Bros. Community. If one of your fellow fighters needs help with a problem then we help him…or her. If someone seeks to destroy our arena, then you fight for us."

It almost makes me sound like a Samurai defending my master…thought Ranma. Signing this contract would mean that he was in it for the long haul, and there was no backing out either.

"Think for a moment Ranma, what do you really want out of life?" asked Master Hand, interrupting the martial artist's train of thought.

"That's easy, to become a master in the art and to improve myself." That was any martial artists true goal, as it was impossible to completely master the art and one could always improve himself.

"Then you'll fit right in here," said Master Hand pushing the contract forward again, "First and foremost, we're a fighting arena and we always will be."

Ranma looked carefully at the contract, "Alright, but I have one final question. What do you really get out of this? I mean, anyone can protect your arena."

The martial artists could have sworn that Master Hand had smirked when he said that, "Alright you caught me, the real reason I want you here is not only because you're a great fighter, but also because you have a large following," he indicated his file, full of the girls pictures, "This arena always needs new blood, I think good things will happen if you're with us."

Ranma couldn't help but chuckle at that, "Oh you have no idea what you're in for," he said reaching for the contract. Using the pen he signed his name on the line at the bottom and handed it back to Master Hand who stuck it in his file.

"And that's that then." He said with an air of finality, "You can go ahead and take the elevator to the first floor. I'll have someone meet you there to show you around and such. You're free to go."

Ranma got up and was reaching for the doorway when Master Hand said one more thing, "Oh and Ranma?" The martial artist turned around to face the arena master once again, "That contract works two ways you know, if any of your problems show up here, then you'll get help this time."

Smiling despite himself, Ranma exited the office and began his walk down the long hallway.