Hey! After somewhere around 6 months, I've actually written something for this fic! Hooray!
So, I come bearing some good news and a little bit of bad news. The bad news is that I'm not going to be taking any more requests. I simply just don't get to them fast enough at all. However, I'm going to honor the 2 requests that I did receive. As such, the good news is that we've got a double upload today! This is the first one, from Smooth Criminal, which was a request for a chapter about the Phantom Thieves!
"Wow! This place is awesome!" said Ryuji. Ren, or Joker as he was better known, grinned. He'd been similarly impressed when he'd first seen the Mansion.
"No kidding!" said Ann. "It really is as impressive up close!"
"All right, we're here!" said Captain Falcon from the driver's seat as the car stopped in front of the front door. Joker opened the door and jumped out, as his fellow Phantom Thieves followed suit.
"I thought you said this place was a base, not a residence," said Yusuke. "Its architecture is remarkable. It suggests a mixture of utility and aesthetic design."
"It doubles as both," said Ren. "I stay here when on duty you know. It's a pretty nice, relaxing place!"
Makoto stared up at the mansion. "I'm nervous! It's an imposing building, full of a ton of the most famous people in the galaxy!"
"Oh, don't worry about them," said Haru. "I'm sure they're nice people."
"They are," said Ren. "The Smashers are among the nicest people I've met. You don't have to worry, regardless of who we bump into! Well, there might be a few exceptions, but I don't think any of them are here right now."
"Yeah, and either way, I'm the reason that we're all here!" said Futaba cheerily. "They asked for me specifically! You don't have to worry about being the center of attention or anything!"
"I sure hope so," said Makoto. "Its nerve wracking to get to meet the Smashers on such short notice!"
She gave Ren an indignant glare. He shrugged. The whole trip had been a very impromptu thing. Just yesterday, Ren had gotten a call from Snake and ROB, telling him that Indigo, one of the Pokemon trainers needed some backup on a computer related matter, and requested that he bring Futaba in to help. After talking it over, Ren had managed to convince them that it was a good opportunity to bring the rest of the Phantom Thieves with them. After all, as an affiliate group with the Smashers, it was only proper to use the opportunity to familiarize them with the faculties of Smash Mansion. Who knew when they may be called upon to assist the Smashers in some way? This was already the standard protocol for all affiliate groups, and Ren didn't see any harm in making a team road trip out of it.
Ren opened the door to the mansion and the Phantom Thieves filed their way in. They let out gasps of surprise and awe as they walked into the foyer. It was an impressive room, with the roof rising up to the third floor of the mansion. A large chandelier hung down from the ceiling, and a small fountain sat in the middle of the room. The walls were covered in intricate carvings. Apparently made by a legendary Hand craftsman, according to Master Hand.
A few people stood in a small circle in the foyer. They looked up as the Phantom Thieves walked in.
"You must be Futaba," said one of them. He was of average height and had a lean build. He sported a dark blue jacket and jeans and had a laid-back demeanor. He had a metallic device that covered the length of his arm, a shoulder pauldron and a metal glove attached by a heavy duty wire. He stood next to Mega Man, ROB, a brown-haired bespectacled man in a lab coat and a blond girl wearing a sweater and a skirt. He walked up to Futaba and extended his hand. Futaba reached out and shook it.
"And you are?" she asked.
"I'm Indigo. Pokemon Trainer and resident hacker. I'm sure you're familiar with Mega Man and ROB. This here is Otacon and Sunny. Joker says you know a thing or two about computers?"
Futaba chuckled. "Hehehe… you could say that I do. Joker told me that you had some computer stuff to do, but he didn't tell me exactly what we'd be doing."
"Trying to decrypt a hard drive. We recovered it from somebody suspected to be part of a hacking ring, but I've hit a bit of a snag. They've got this thing encrypted really, really good. If I tried to do it alone, it would take me a week. So, to speed things up, I decided to call in the cavalry. Thought I'd try to turn this into a Smash Bros Hacker Convention."
"Oooh!" said Futaba, instantly interested. "You certainly called the right person. Now, where's this encrypted hard drive?
"In the control room," said Indigo. "Oh, and I took the liberty of getting some brain food as well as cuing up some anime."
"Oh? What show?" asked Otacon.
"All 5 seasons of Sakurai's Bizarre Adventure."
"YES!" shouted Otacon, Sunny and Futaba together. Ren gulped.
"So…this is how hackers do teambuilding?" he asked.
"Absolutely!" said Futaba. "Only the highest quality anime!"
"Well people, it's time to save ZA WARUDO!" said Indigo, moving towards the door.
"To save Za Warudo!" chorused the others in unison.
As they filed out, two figures brushed them, and rushed up to Joker. He grinned.
"Min Min! Luminary! Glad we caught you!"
"Hey Joker! I see you brought the gang with you!" said Min Min.
"Yeah! Guys, these are two of the friends that I've made here!" said Joker.
"Hey! You didn't mention one of them was a cute chick!" said Ryuji.
Min Min blushed. Ann just elbowed him. "Hey! Don't say that!"
"Your timing was on point," said Luminary. "We actually get off active duty tomorrow and go home the day after. We would have missed you all had the call gone out just a day or two later!"
"Lucky, I guess," said Ann with a grin.
"Say, didn't you say that were eight of you?" asked Luminary. "And didn't you say that you were going to bring your cat with you?"
"Ah, Morgana hurt his foot, and Sumire came down with a fever last night, so they couldn't make it," said Ren. "We're going to have to bring them next time, though."
"Of course. Well, shall we start the tour of this place?" asked Luminary.
"Yeah!" said Ryuji enthusiastically. "Let's go!"
Joker put up his hands. "All right, all right! Let's not get too excited here…"
"Come on! You've been hyping this place up for months! I want to see the fabled Smash Mansion, dude!" said Ryuji.
Ann just shook her head as Haru giggled. "Boys."
A few hours later...
"Oh, come on! How are you this good at pool!?" shouted Ryuji.
Joker just leaned on his pool cue as Min Min and Haru celebrated a well placed shot. Ann, who had sat this round out, giggled.
"That was awesome Min Min!" said Haru. "You're amazing!"
"Thank you! I've been playing the boys a lot since I got here!" said Min Min.
Joker just grinned. She had been playing a lot, especially against him and Luminary. After touring the mansion, they circled their way back around to the rec room, while they waited for Futaba and the rest of the hacker gang to finish their computer magic. He'd quickly started a 2v2 game of pool, while Luminary had instead opted to take on Makoto in a high intensity game of chess as Yusuke looked on.
Min Min moved to line up another shot.
"So, Ren," said Haru. "What's the most interesting thing you've seen here?"
"Hmm," said Joker. "I think it would be Ness and Popo's sled duels in the winter."
"Sled duels?" asked Ryuji. "What's that?"
Ren nodded. "It's when Ness and Popo climb up the hill in the back, and sled down it. But as they do, they throw attacks at each other to try and knock the other off their sled."
"That sounds awesome!" said Ryuji.
"Is that even safe?" asked Ann.
"I agree! That sounds dangerous!" gasped Haru.
"It's not too dangerous," said Min Min. "They only use weak attacks."
"It's an interesting dynamic," said Ren. "Popo is much better at handling his sled, but Ness is the better marksman of the two."
"That sounds quite exciting to watch, though," said Ann. "What about you Min Min?"
Min Min thought for a moment. "I think the most interesting thing I've seen here is the Pokémon trainers battle! They did a two vs two battle and it was the most intense battle I think I've ever seen!"
"Really?" asked Haru.
"Oh yes," said Min Min. "Their teamwork and coordination is amazing! And the combo moves that they used were really inspiring! I've been working with Joker and Luminary to create similar attacks of our own!"
"How powerful are we talking?" asked Ryuji.
"Well, one of them was this electrified wave that swept over the entire battlefield!" said Min Min. "And there was this other one which was a whirlwind of fire! It took really strong moves from the other side to stop them! Or at least, that's what Princess Peach told me."
"Sounds pretty neat!" said Ann. "We Phantom Thieves have combos of our own, but it doesn't sound like ours quite match up. We need to work on them! Then we'll really be unstoppable!"
"So, what do you do?" asked Min Min. "Ren told me you take down criminals?"
"Yeah! That's us!" said Ryuji. "We do it all! We bring down the corrupt bigwigs and help keep the streets safe too!"
"So how did you get the moniker of Phantom Thieves?" asked Min Min.
"It was one of Ryuji's ideas," said Ann. "And somehow, it stuck."
"Hey! That was a good idea! That's why it stuck around!" said Ryuji.
"That's funny!" giggled Min Min.
"So, how did you end up joining the Smasher, Min Min?" asked Haru.
"I helped Mario, Terry, Ryu and Samus clean up some gangsters in my hometown. They were pretty impressed with my fighting style, and they invited me to join! I'm actually originally an ARMS fighter!" said Min Min. "They call me the Ramen Bomber! I bring martial arts, ramen, orange and girl power to the arena!"
"So, you have special springy arms that you fight with, right?" asked Haru. "I've seen a fight or two on TV. It's absolutely fascinating!"
"Yeah!" said Min Min. "I have the ARMS gene. My arms are well...like springs. So, I can extend them a lot farther than most people can. It's what got me into the ARMs tournaments in the first place!"
"That's pretty neat!" said Ryuji. "Ren's mentioned that your different boxing gloves have come in handy a lot! Like the ones that shoot lasers!"
"Oh, the Dragon Gloves?" asked Min Min. "Yeah, those are pretty fun to use!"
"Yeah, we use a variety of weaponry too," said Ryuji. "We all have our favorites. But a lot of our equipment is our various gadgets. We're the sneaky types. We can't be too over the top, you know?"
"Of course," said Min Min. "You guys are the stealthy type. I guess that's why Ren got on the Stealth Team."
"Naturally," said Joker with a grin.
"So, what are you classified as?" asked Haru.
"Just a regular combat Smasher for now," said Min Min.
"For now?" asked Haru.
Min Min nodded. "Oh, well, I may get slotted onto a team later. If they need me. Like if we had a cooking team, I'd probably be on it. I can count on one hand how many Smashers are really good cooks. Some of them are really bad you know! Like poor Fox – all he knows how to do is brew coffee! And Falco is just as bad! All they eat is preserved, pre-packaged food! Samus even said that they'd probably get sick from eating fresh food because it doesn't have any preservatives in it!"
That got a laugh from everybody.
"Though actually," said Min Min. "Joker might actually make that team too. His curry is very good."
"See!" said Joker. "I'm a man of many talents. Maybe I could get on all of the teams one day!"
Ann snorted. "You wish."
"So, what are the other Smasher specialty teams and how do you get on one?" asked Ryuji.
"Well," said Min Min. "It's a way to gather a brain trust of Smashers who are good at a specialty subject. The two most frequently called in teams are the Stealth Team and the Diplomacy Team. Obviously, stealthy Smashers like Joker are on the Stealth Team. The Diplomacy team is usually sent when there's negotiating to do. Like when there's a chance of preventing a fight. But there are other, smaller teams. There's the computers team, the strategy team, the transport team, and so on."
"So would Joker have to give up being on the stealth team to be on the cooking team?" asked Ann teasingly.
"Actually, no. You can be on more than one team. Like Rosalina is on the transport team because she has her observatory and can travel around the galaxy in it, but she's also on the history team, since she keeps really good records of stuff," said Min Min.
"So, it's similar to how we have different Phantom Thieves with different specialties," summarized Ryuji.
"Yeah, that's a good way to put it," said Ren as he lined up a shot.
"What roles do you have on your team?" asked Min Min.
"Well, Ren's the leader, obviously," said Ryuji. "Ann and I are the usual ones on fieldwork with him, even though everybody gets time in the field except for Futaba. She's on full time hacker duty! Makoto deals with our strategy as well as equipment and supplies, Haru is our liaison to several of our connections and Yusuke does a lot of our branding. Like our calling cards!"
Min Min tilted her head. "That's awfully bold of you to leave calling cards. Are you sure it's safe?
"Well, we haven't gotten caught yet!" said Ryuji. "Well, only by you guys. Your stealth team is really good."
Ren leaned back against the wall behind him. "Yeah, that was quite the shock, let me tell you."
Min Min just giggled. "The phantoms weren't so ghostly after all!"
Ren sighed. "Yeah. And then they have the gall to tell me that I'm not an adult so I have to undergo training. At least I'm already on the Stealth Team."
"Is it unusual to be put on a team that quickly?" asked Haru.
"Yeah. They usually don't put you on a team so quickly after graduating from Kid Smasher to Adult Smasher. I'm an exception because stealth is my main selling point," said Ren.
"That makes sense," said Haru. "You'd probably get beaten pretty bad by Min Min in a straight up fight!"
"Excuse me?" said Ren, feigning offense.
Min Min just laughed. "I dunno. Ren is really tricky. I don't think it would be quite as straight forward as that."
"Come on, Min Min! Use your girl power!" said Ann, pumping her fist. "You can beat four eyes!"
"Hey! You should be rooting for Ren! Isn't he our friend?" said Ryuji.
"Girl. Power." said Ann emphatically.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Indigo walked in with Otacon, Sunny, and Futaba. They all had bowls of ice cream in their hands.
"Oh! We have ice cream?" asked Min Min.
"Yeah," said Indigo. "Might want to get there quick before Kirby and Dedede get to it."
"Hey!" called Min Min to Luminary and Yusuke. "Want to get ice cream?"
"I'm in!" said Luminary, jumping out of his chair. Yusuke rose with a little more elegance.
"Well? What are we waiting for?"
"Follow me!" said Min Min with a laugh as she went straight for the door.
Joker shook his head and followed his fellow Phantom Thieves through the door. Things tended to get crazy with his team around. But he wouldn't trade it for the world.
Just as a quick reminder, this was part one of a double upload! Don't forget to check out next chapter!