A/N: WARNING! PLEASE READ! After this chapter, this story will officially not be a re-write anymore. The old story is also going to be taken down in a weeks time, so if you want to copy any of the old chapters for any reason, this is your last chance. Also, this story will be dropping the 're-write' portion from its title as well. Be warned, and don't get confused. And, of course, enjoy the new chapter.


"So tell me Marth," breathed Ranma as he parried another strike from the practice blade. "When are you going to stop holding back?"

Marth blocked Ranma's return strike with the pommel of his blade before returning with a quick slash that the martial artist was forced to block with his bracers. "When thou fights me with thy full strength as well," he replied easily.

Ranma smirked and picked his speed up a notch in response to the challenge, only for Marth to do the same almost immediately. The battle had been going like this for nearly five minutes now, having started slow and picking up speed at a uniform pace every one minute interval. To the normal human eye, Ranma's fists and Marth's sword were little more than blurs at this point.

It had been three days since his fight with Mewtwo, and training with Marth was quickly becoming a steady part of his morning routine. Marth, quite frankly, was everything Kuno wished he could be and more. An incredible swordsman, a noble air around him that commanded respect like the ancient day samurai, and a generally friendly and likeable attitude.

Progress on battle meditation was almost nil though. Clearing the mind had become easier with practice and Ranma had made it a point to attempt it at least once every morning, midday, and afternoon. Even so, the only true way to practice would be fighting Mewtwo, something both were too prideful to even consider.

Marth was more than happy to share his experiences though, and although most of it was information that Ranma had inferred from his own fight, there were some valuable tidbits in there as well. For instance, Marth had once fought a battle with Mewtwo while constantly switching his sword-hand from right to left. For a while the information had seemed to conflict in the pokemon's mind, and trying to register the same forms at slightly different angles and positions gave him a few opportunities. However, Mewtwo had adapted, eventually seeing through the style and countering it.

Switching to completely different styles rapidly seemed to be less effective overall than making subtle changes to a style he'd already adapted to. Thinking about several things at once was also effective, but incredibly hard to maintain while fighting. After three days, trying to think up possible counters was rather tiring. And Marth had been trying to achieve a decisive victory over Mewtwo for almost a year now.

Some people had called him obsessed. Ranma, on the other hand, thought his stance perfectly reasonable after seeing various examples of obsession from his daily sparring partners. Speaking of sparring...

CLANG!

Ranma winced at the sound of Marth's wooden sword rebounding off his bracer. The strike had easily twice the force of Kuno's blows, and Marth was only using a one-handed weapon. The impact hadn't even seemed to faze the swordsman as he immediately retracted and struck from a different angle, keeping up the same level of power as before.

"You fight as though I'd had live steel," said Marth conversationally.

Ranma ducked under another swing and retaliated with a leg sweep that Marth hopped over. "No point in pretending it ain't real. You use a real sword in the real fight."

"A fair assessment," he conceded as chopped at the martial artist. "But what wouldst thou do if it wasn't a live blade?"

The martial artist smirked evilly. "This."

Before Marth could register his statement, Ranma deflected one of his strikes at an angle, and grabbed the wooden sword under his arm on the slight rebound. Aiming a kick at the opponent's torso, Ranma was a bit surprised when Marth let go of the sword, completely dodging the kick.

Ranma paused as he eyed his opponent standing across from him, looking rather unconcerned about being disarmed. "At this point I'd probably break it or throw it away somewhere," he provided before tossing it back to him.

"A reasonable plan," he conceded, catching the sword by the hilt. "Very well then, my sword is broken." Setting the blade off to the side, he removed his cape and shook out his hands a little. "Let's see what happens then." To Ranma's surprise, he then assumed a basic fighting stance.

"A hand to hand fight?" Asked the martial artist questioningly.

"I shall not always be with my blade," he responded reasonably, unknowingly gaining another point towards the martial artist's favor.

Ranma smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Alright then. Your funeral."

It was apparent after the first couple of exchanges that Marth's hand to hand skills were nowhere near his sword skills. Not bad by any means, but Ranma could immediately tell that Marth had to take a second to think about his actions before he did them. Instinctively, Ranma began to fall into teacher mode, moving around the strikes and poking at holes in his defense rather than retaliating with full strikes.

Marth was a quick learner though, and quickly began tightening his stances to leave less openings. Ten minutes in, he called it quits.

"It is apparent that the way of the fist is just as deep as the way of the sword. I have much to learn it would seem." Bowing slightly, he went to retrieve his cape and practice sword.

"You've got the basics down pretty well," complimented Ranma as he fell into step beside him.

"But naught but the basics," he admitted. "Enough to perhaps help me retrieve my blade and continue the fight."

"I may not be very good at battle meditation just yet, but that's a problem I can fix pretty easily," said Ranma confidently.

Marth raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Art thou making me an offer perhaps?"

The martial artist rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well...yeah. I guess so."

The swordsman smiled. "Then I shall accept your generous gift. However, I believe some form of repayment is in order."

"Um...well, I don't really think you have to-"

"Nonsense my fellow Smash Brother. Now," he swiped his card at one of the doors, his smile turning mischievous. "How well can you use a blade?"

"Well enough," came the slow response. "I never really liked using weapons though. Didn't want to rely on them if I ever got disarmed."

Marth nodded as he led them towards the mess hall. "A fair but narrow minded conception. One not need to fear disarmament if thou is good enough to begin with."

"I don't think anyone could ever get to the point where they couldn't be disarmed," said Ranma confidently.

Marth's continued smiling. "Oh? Do I sense a challenge in thy words?" The two fighters entered the mess hall and moved towards the breakfast buffet, filling their trays. The hour was early so the breakfast room was pretty much empty, aside from the shelled turtles and mushroom heads cleaning tables.

"What kind of challenge are we talking about?" asked Ranma suspiciously, taking a seat at one of the empty tables.

"A friendly bout," he assured the martial artist. "You try to disarm me with naught but your fists, and I shall stop you. If I succeed, then you shall become my student like I shall become yours. If you succeed, then I will concede my position."

"Alright then, it's a deal." He put his hand forward and shook with the swordsman. "I don't intend to lose though."

"We shall see when the time comes."

The conversation descended into a comfortable silence as the two Smash fighters focused on eating their meals.

"Six o clock in the morning. And here I thought I was the only one stupid enough to be up this early." Ranma looked up from his meal to see Sara take a seat beside him. "What's with the tense atmosphere? Did someone just issue a challenge?"

"A friendly match, nothing more," assured Marth with a smile.

"Friendly huh? I'll believe that when I see it. You guys can't even go one morning training session without beating each other half to death." She motioned towards the bruises on Ranma's arm and Marth's hands.

"This is but a small amount of the pain I'm willing to endure to ensure the defeat my rival."

"I barely feel it anymore," added Ranma.

Sara stared at them listlessly. "I think you two have boarded the same train on the one track mind," she deadpaned.

"It's nice to have a goal," said Ranma, completely unoffended.

"It's also nice to act normally once in a while."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Says the space bounty hunter with the freaky gun-whip," he retorted teasingly. He didn't bother dodging the light smack to the back of his head.

"So why art thou awake so early this morning?" Asked Marth, breaking into the conversation.

In response, the bounty hunter slapped a folder onto the table. "Recruitment."

Marth reached for the folder and began curiously looking it over. "Another combatant? Well, I suppose it is the off season." The swordsman was silent for a second as he looked over the documents. "A hedgehog?" he asked finally. "An interesting opponent."

Sara sighed. "Tell me about it. Apparently this guy is supposed to be the 'fastest thing alive' according to Master Hand."

That perked Ranma's attention. "A hedgehog is supposed to be the fastest thing alive? Really? Did he get exposed to gamma radiation or something?"

"Hard to say," said Sara, stretching her arms out. "Apparently he's in an alternate dimension from his own already due to someone in his old universe having dimensional traversing powers. Either way, Master Hand wants to extend an invitation and send one of our fighters to give a demonstration."

"So you're looking for a companion," assessed Marth accurately. "Have you decided on who you wish to take?"

"Well, Fox, Falco, and Wolf are all back to their own world for the summer, Mario, Peach, Luigi, and Bowser are all beginning their summer of sports, Lucario and Mewtwo are away on their summer training trip, Meta-knight, Kirby, and King De-de-de went back to...wherever they go during the summer, and Link and Zelda are both off training in the Smash forest. So you two were the last on my list."

"Gee thanks," said Ranma sarcastically. "Think I'll leave this one to you Marth."

"I just remembered about a training journey I must embark upon on the morrow. I wish you luck upon your search."

"Can I tag along?" asked Ranma, getting up along with Marth.

Sara reached out and grabbed both their arms. "I'm just kidding. Actually, you guys were my first choice. I promise."

Ranma rolled his eyes but took his seat. "I haven't even been here a full week yet. You think Master Hand is going to let me go dimension hopping?"

"You'd be surprised at what he allows," she muttered under her breath. "Either way, he recommended that I take someone fast. Either of you interested?"

Marth took another look at the folder. "Modern day era technology? Carrying a sword around in such a setting might prove to be a hindrance. I believe I shall sit this one out. Enjoy thyself Saotome."

"H-hey! I haven't said yes yet," he protested.

"Aw come on Ranma," pouted Sara cutely. "I asked nicely."

Ranma grimaced at the look. "Seriously, you take me and it's going to turn into a disaster. Marth carrying a sword would be small fry to what I'd accidentally cause."

"I think you're exaggerating," said Sara resolutely.

"Yeah well I think that I'm having a good week if I can avoid getting a new mortal enemy or fiancée. Seriously, you don't want that kind of attention on a recruitment trip."

"Nonsense," Sara replied easily. "I think we'll be fine."

"Hey, I still haven't agreed to anything yet!"

"But helping out your fellow Smash Sisters is part of the contract you made with Master Hand."

Ranma paused, knowing he'd been trapped. "Alright fine. You win."

Sara smirked at her victory. "Glad to hear it. We'll be leaving tomorrow, so make sure to get some rest." Grabbing her toast, she waved goodbye to the Smash brothers and left the room.

"You ever been to an alternate dimension before?" asked Ranma after she had left.

"Naught but this one," responded Marth. "I tend to stand out in most scenarios, and I do not like to journey forth without my blade."

"Never stopped my mom," mumbled Ranma. "She just takes her sword everywhere regardless."

"In a modern setting? Brave woman indeed," he mused.

"You don't know the half of it."


"It's getting worse isn't it?"

Master Hand folded his gloves in front of his darkened head. "It's always going to get worse before it gets better," he reasoned easily.

"It's only a matter of time until Jodah finds a way through our security and gets the evidence he needs," spoke Mewtwo. "I, more than anyone else, know just how many rules you've violated in setting up this arena. Should Jodah find this evidence, he will have all the authority he needs to end this tournament, and you as well."

"Relax my old friend. Even if he does get the authority to take action against me, we have some of the best and most resourceful fighters in the universe on our side. I'd be more than confident in putting a god against any one of them. Some of them already have fought gods," reasoned the arena master.

"Do you intend to wage a full scale war against Asgard then?" The telepathic voice rose audibly in volume.

"Don't be silly, I intend to pitch Asgard into a battle with Hell and then sweep in and take over when both sides are decimated from a long drawn out war."

Mewtwo remained silent.

"I'm just kidding," he assured the pokemon quickly.

"I never can tell with you," responded Mewtwo, shaking his head.

"I know. Excellent poker face and all that. Honestly though, I do have a plan. I always knew that being found out would happen eventually.

"Would you like to inform me of this plan before things get out of hand this time?" The sarcasm was broadcast clearly with his message.

"Where's the fun in that?" he asked back, amusement in his voice.

Mewtwo merely stared at him, unblinkingly.

"Alright fine. Here's the plan." Taking hold of the monitor, Master Hand spun it around to face the pokemon. There was a moment of silence as he read, followed by a slight widening of the eyes.

"You intend to challenge them?"

"Exciting isn't it? A no holds barred Super Smash Battle against the gods themselves. Can you think of the possibilities? Much less the ratings."

Mewtwo shook his head. "Do you really think they'll go for this? They could delete our universe in an instant should they so desire."

"It's very unlikely that they'll be able to destroy us that easily," assured Master Hand. "The level of paperwork alone would turn most heads, god or not. And the big man hasn't allowed the outright destruction of a universe for millions of years. No, he won't destroy us, but he'll start chipping away at our resources, forcefully sending characters back to their home universes and such."

"Couldn't we just oppose him diplomatically then?"

"We could, but we're fighting against an opponent with much more resources and divinity backing than we do right now. What we need to do, is offer him a challenge. A quick dirty solution that he'll jump at, confident he can win."

"You intend to wager the entire future of the Smash Universe upon a single tournament?"

"Exciting isn't it?"

"Reckless was the word I was going to use."

"If we don't fix this problem now, it will only continue to grow. We must head this off soon, or it will be too late." The humor was gone from Master Hand's voice now. "This isn't reckless. It's a carefully calculated gamble. It's also our best chance for survival."

"There's still a chance that Jodah won't even take the challenge," protested Mewtwo one last time.

"If he has any pride left as a god, there's no way he'll refuse a challenge made to him by mortals." Master Hand left his desk and faced his window, folding his hands behind his back.

"I should know. After all, I used to be one."


"Hey Link, what do you usually take when you go do a different dimension?" asked Ranma later that night.

Link thought about it for a minute. "Let's see, I usually take my clawshots, iron boots, megaton hammer, bow and arrows, bombs, mirror shield, Master Sword, Zora tunic, Goron tunic-"

"Right, stupid question," interrupted Ranma. "You just take everything."

"Well, Zelda always did say that I'm somewhat of a packrat," he said sheepishly. "I still have a lot of stuff around that I never use, like the Rod of Seasons and Harp of Ages. I've always been better at the ocarina though."

"Have you ever gone on a recruitment mission before?" asked Ranma curiously.

"A few times. Pit was one of my charges for a while, and I was with Mewtwo when he went to recruit Ness and Lucas."

"How did it go?"

"Pretty simply actually. Mewtwo just showed up, gave them an invitation, and then gave them a demonstration. A few days later, a dimensional rift opened up and they popped through. I think you're worrying too much. Chances are you won't even be there a full day."

"If our ship doesn't crash upon landing and strand us in an alternate dimension for a few days while we fight some sort of super villain before we're actually able to recruit anyone, then I'll consider it a trip wasted," returned Ranma sarcastically. "Seriously, give it time."

"I think you're being paranoid," said Link jokingly. "Master Hand wouldn't send you to a dimension too vastly different from your own until you have more experience with this kind of thing. He knows what he's doing."


"So I heard you're planning on sending Sara and Ranma on a recruitment mission. Are you sure you that's wise?"

"Meh. I figured I'd just send him somewhere and see what happens. Even if he fails I'm almost certain it'll be entertaining."

"You're crazy you know that?"

"Not me, really. It's just my brother."


For some reason, Ranma couldn't suppress the cold shudder that traveled through his spine. "Yeah, I wonder about that sometimes."

"Look, Master Hand knows what he's doing. He wouldn't send you out on this mission unless he thought you were ready for it."

"I've been here almost one week and got into three fights," the martial artist deadpanned. "How could he possibly tell if I'm ready to go dimension hopping from just that?"

"Well, okay, maybe he's making an educated guess based on your profile and current performance?"

"..."

"Not buying that either huh? Just stop worrying about it already. How much trouble could one little hedgehog possibly be?"

Ranma suddenly seized up. "God dammit you said it."

Link blinked. "Said what?"

"You said the words. How bad could this possibly be? You know what? When things do go wrong, I'm blaming everything on you now. Just to let you know."

"Right, sure. Blame accepted. Now get some sleep. You need to be up early tomorrow."


"So this is your ship?" asked Ranma, looking over the space vessel. It was early morning and Ranma and Sara were on the roof of Smash Bros headquarters were a variety of alien looking spaceships were docked.

"Yep," said Sara proudly.

"Not exactly a stealth model is it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"It's bright orange and red. How exactly is this not going to get noticed by everyone who isn't colorblind?"

"It has a stealth feature," she pointed out, minorly annoyed. "I can camouflage it when I need to."

"Oh well in that case it looks pretty cool."

Ranma didn't know virtually anything about spaceships or space combat in general, but he could tell that Sara's ship was one built for combat. With two cannons on either side of the cockpit and a small, light frame, Ranma correctly assumed that Sara's ship was a hit and run work of art, boasting max speed and firepower along with the best armor they could put on it that wouldn't hamper its agility.

Walking to the underside of the ship, Ranma watched interestedly as a platform descended from the bottom of the ship.

"Technically, this ship only seats one person, but two can still fit comfortably," she assured the martial artist. She took a stand on the platform. "Well, come on."

Ranma glanced around nervously. "Uh, that's kind of a small platform."

Sara rolled her eyes. "Be a man will you? Unless you want me to wait for ten minutes while you go find cold water."

The martial artist sighed and stepped onto the small platform, brushing lightly against the bounty hunter's back.

"I'm sorry that standing next to a good looking woman is such a chore for you," said Sara, completely unsympathetically.

"Just raise the platform will you?"

Sara smirked at the victory, but raised the platform anyways.

The inside of the ship was small, but not cramped. A single laid back seat was at the front of the ship which Sara immediately occupied while Ranma took a smaller, upright seat in the back, watching interestedly as Sara placed her hand on one of the sensors. As if a key had just been turned, the ship suddenly started coming to life around them. Displays began popping up around Sara's seat, and a large galaxy map placed itself over the front window of the ship.

"So where are we going anyways?" asked Ranma, after getting bored of looking around the ship.

"Didn't you read the file?" asked Sara, somewhat annoyed.

"Yeah, I got about to the part where it said that we're chasing after a blue hedgehog who can run Mach II and suddenly felt like I was wasting my time."

The ship jerked suddenly as the landing gear retracted and began hovering on its own power. The whine of the engines started growing steadily louder.

"You haven't seen many of the fighters here have you? We have foxes, wolves, falcons, pokemon, and you think this is a joke?" The engines reached a steady pitch and the craft began moving out of the hanger bay into the open airspace.

"Okay, point taken, but why is a hedgehog the fastest thing alive then? I mean, a cheetah-human I could understand, but last I checked, the hedgehog had a max speed of about five miles per hour."

"And in my universe, dragons can fly through space," countered Sara. "Rules tend to change from dimension to dimension."

"Whatever, I'll believe it when I see it."

Sara began entering numbers on a keypad. "Oh, you'll see soon enough. You might want to fasten your seat-belt by the way."

It was only due to his superior reflexes that Ranma was able to buckle himself in in time for the takeoff. With a sound akin to an explosion, the ship shot off, quickly leaving the town below as nothing more than specks, clearing the cloudscape in seconds, and shooting off through the atmosphere.

Turning in her chair, Sara gave a small smile towards Ranma, whose hand was still holding the buckle of the seat-belt with a white knuckled grip. "You know, that wasn't funny," he said finally.

"Humor is in the eye of the beholder," she responded wisely. "Might want to brace yourself for this next one though. Entering warp speed in three, two, one-"

"Next wha-" FWOOM!

The sound seemed to be briefly sucked from the air as Ranma was pushed back forcefully in his seat. The blackened sky around the window was illuminated in white for a few brief seconds before turning black again.

"Jump successful. Now entering the Linkat galaxy. We should be planetside on this universe's Earth in about ten minutes with our current speed," informed Sara. "So, how does it feel to travel through dimensions?"

Ranma blinked. "That was it? I was expecting something a little more...dramatic than that. Almost seems simple."

Sara reclined in her seat. "Well, getting there is easy enough. Finding the proper dimensional coordinates, the correct dimensional path, the right galaxy in the dimension itself, and the location of the target is another matter entirely. We'd probably have more fighters around if it wasn't so hard to find them along with living up to Master Hand's standards."

Ranma reclined in his chair as best he could. It was easy to tell that the seat was installed after the ship had been built, being a bit off color from the normal colors. "What exactly are his expectations anyways?"

"Hard to say," she replied honestly. "People like Marth and you get in because of their love for battle and combat skill. Link and I were accepted for our resourcefulness, and Mewtwo simply because he's a powerhouse."

Ranma snorted. "You got recruited for your resourcefulness? Really? I mean, Link I can understand, but unless that gun-whip of yours is like a swiss army gun..."

"Oh I have my secrets," she assured him teasingly. "Who knows, maybe I'll actually have to use some when I fight you next."

"Feel free. You're going to need all the help you can-"

CRASH!

The ship ship shook violently. Alarm klaxons began sounding and red lights began flashing in the cockpit.

"Proximity alert?" Sara muttered to herself while furiously typing on the console. "With what? This dimension isn't supposed to have advanced space travel just..." Her words faded out as a gigantic battle-cruiser suddenly de-cloaked in front of them.

"Brace for evasive maneuvers!" She shouted back to Ranma.

"Brace on what? This chair doesn't even have arm rests!"

CRASH!

The ship seemed to ricochet off the wing of the bigger ship and deflect into its hull. Surprisingly, instead of exploding on impact like Ranma expected, the ship tore through the hull, skidding along the ground for a bit before-

CRASH!

Exiting from the other side. But not before-

CRASH! CRASH! KA-BOOM!

-bouncing around the docking station a bit.

"Kinetic barriers holding at forty-six percent," informed Sara. "I think we're okay but I'll have to run a diagnostics check to make sure-"

BOOM!

The small ship shook suddenly.

"Dammit! They're firing at us. Activating heat sinks and camouflage unit. I don't think we can take a ship that size. It's probably carrying smaller fighters for backup too."

Another warning sound began to rise above the others. Sara seemed surprised. "They got an engine? Oh you lucky bastards. Still got that seatbelt fastened?"

"Like I'd take it off with you driving!"

"Good, then brace yourself-"

"On what?"

"-cause this landing's going to be rough."

"Wait, we're landing? Where?"

"On their Earth. If I can time it right, we should be able to hit our target landing zone."

"You know, I really don't like it when you say hit. Can you try using 'land' instead?"

"No promises! Now hold on!"


"Dr. Eggman! We're under attack!"

The doctor glanced at the frantic robot curiously. "By what? There's nothing on this planet indicating they've built anything more than basic fuel propelled rockets."

"I don't know what it was but it blew a hole in our docking bay the size of a truck! The vacuum sucked out half of our fighters before we even knew what was happening!"

Eggman rubbed his mustache thoughtfully. "Someone was able to see through our cloaking technology and deliver a critical blow to our fighting force. This bears investigating. A new foe has arrived with technology far surpassing our own. We must tread carefully."


Ranma coughed a couple of times as the smoke cleared from the cockpit. Despite a few sparks coming from the terminals, the ship appeared to be relatively whole, with little superficial damage other than needing a new paint job.

"So tell me Sara," groaned Ranma as he unfastened his life saving seat-belt. "Why couldn't you avoid that ship the size of a small nation?"

"They had a cloaking device on," she explained, extracting herself from her pilot's seat. "I wasn't checking for heat signatures because the file said there wasn't any notable advancements in space technology in this universe."

"Oh, the file said that? Well, I'm glad I took the time to read it then," said Ranma sarcastically. "Any more useful nuggets of information for us?"

"Yes actually. It involved your face and my tazer." She brandished her gun-whip threateningly.

Ranma sighed. "Right, point taken. Sorry," he added quickly.

Sara matched his sigh. "We should probably assess the damage and see if we can still cloak."

"Hey Sara, is your on-board computer still working?"

Sara quickly tapped a few keys before nodding affirmative.

"Good. Can you send an e-mail from here?"

Sara looked at him questioningly. "What for? Can't exactly call a tow-truck down here."

"Nah, I just wanted to tell Link that I totally called it. That's all."


A/N: Our heroes, trapped (sort of) in the Sonic universe. What could possibly go wrong here? Better question: What can't go wrong when Ranma's involved? Find out in the next chapter.

Reviews are appreciated, criticism even more so. Flames will be happily accepted and dissected on one of my numerous forums, because that's how I roll. Don't expect every update to be this soon though. I've god Resonance of Fate, Red Dead Redemption, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 to play through.