Min Min walked up the long ramp to Smash Fortress. It had landed on the outskirts of her hometown for convenience. The architecture of the fortress alone was a jarring clash compared to the sleek modern buildings native to her world, and that was without getting into the fact that it was hovering up in the sky. Spring Man helped her carry up some of her luggage. "Wow, this place is a major upgrade over Smash Mansion. You're going to love it here Min Min," Spring Man said.
"Thanks Spring Man," Min Min said. She was still nervous, but she wasn't going to let it show. To her it was obvious that showing any hesitation would mark her as weak. That wasn't the kind of reputation she wanted. The ARMS League had brought a lot more attention to herself and to the Mintendo Ramen House, but somehow even winning popularity polls felt insufficient to her. When Min Min reached the top of the ramp she stopped to take in the sight.
They were already far up in the sky, and the fortress still towered over them. Min Min was surprised by how much grass she could see, she had been told the fortress was on a floating island but had assumed it had all been paved over. The fortress took up the center of the island and expanded outwards, surrounded by nature. The cobblestone path leading to the fortress interior proved to be an irritating obstacle for the wheeled suitcases. Min Min looked up at the various towers that dotted the outer ring of the island, their height made her feel small.
Min Min pushed the large doors open with her shoulder, wheeling in her suitcases behind her. She turned around to get a look at the interior. The roof was at a normal height, which made Min Min wonder how many floors there were with how large the building looked from the outside. There weren't many decorations in the room, but somebody had rolled out a red carpet. A woman with eerie white skin approached Min Min and Spring Man.
"Hey FT," Spring Man said. "Min Min this is FT, she's a fitness trainer for the Smashers who helps out with Spring Gym sometime. And a pretty good fighter too."
"Pleased to make your acquaintance," FT said. Her voice sounded peculiar to Min Min. "Allow me to show you the way to your room." She walked towards the back door, Min Min and Spring Man followed. The door led to a strange sort of cloister. The walkways formed a square, and inside that square was a fairly deep body of water. Min Min saw two small turtle like creatures swimming in it. There were two ladders, one on the left and one on the right, allowing for someone to get into and out of the water.
"I've never seen anything like this," Min Min said.
"The water here is for the comfort of water dwelling Smashers. If you are interested in swimming there is a swimming pool with a design more suited for recreation and exercise," FT explained.
"No thanks, water tends to mess with my ARMS if I stay in it for too long," Min Min said. They walked around the cloister until they reached the opposite end. That led them to the next room. It was a large chamber. There were ten elevators. Eight of them were located in pairs at the corners of the chamber. The other two were located in the center and noticeably larger than the others. "That's a lot of elevators."
"The central ones allow for access to the meeting room above us and the hangar below us. Each of the pairs in the corners leads to a different tower with housing. They are all connected and can be walked between, but the number of elevators and staircases is designed for efficiency and to prevent arguing over which rooms have easier access to the rest of the fortress." FT led the way to one of the elevators to the group's right. Min Min was surprised to see that some of the buttons were marked with a minus, then she remembered the buildings on the underside of the fortress. FT pressed the minus five button. The elevator went down, the floors passed by quickly and the doors opened again.
They stepped out into a curved hallway. The windows showed a look at the skyline of her hometown and the underside of Smash Fortress. Going down and getting a view of the sky made her feel a little strange. Her room was just a little to the left of the elevator, on the side of the hallway opposite to it. FT opened it for Min Min and Spring Man.
Despite what Min Min expected, her new room was around the same size as her room back home. She had a nice view of the city she had grown up in, and of the ramp she had climbed up to get to Smash Fortress. The unpacking took some time, the only words exchanged were about where things should be placed. The walls were decorated with posters of different anime and her clothes were sorted in the dresser. "Okay, looks like you're all set up so I'll get going now," Spring Man said.
"Hey, thanks for passing along the invite to me," Min Min said. Spring Man gave her a thumbs up. At first Min Min had been hesitant to accept the invitation to become a Smasher, but it was Spring Man who had convinced her that it would be worthwhile for increasing her fame.
"Would you like a tour of the facilities here?" FT asked.
"No. Right now I kind of want to just sit by myself," Min Min said. She had learned to appreciate quiet moments with no obligations, and she was unwilling to give them up easily. FT left the room. Min Min sprawled out on her bed. After all of the walking it felt good to rest her legs. She watched as the long ramp retracted and the skyline of her hometown became more and more distant, Smash Fortress had moved without her feeling a thing. Min Min closed her eyes and enjoyed the silence.
After an unclear amount of time, Min Min grabbed her phone and checked it. The Smasher related apps had all been downloaded beforehand, including the map. She looked out the window, a faint blue shield of light surrounded the fortress as it drifted through outer space. The kitchen was on the ground floor, so Min Min got up and went back into the hallway. It took a few seconds for the elevator to pull up. Min Min returned to the ground floor and made her way to the kitchen, which was on the side opposite of the entrance to the fortress.
The kitchen was spacious, with room for multiple people to cook at once and a large number of cabinets. A wide window that stretched against the back wall showed the surface of the island. There were lights on the towers that had turned on to illuminate the exterior of the fortress. A few picnic tables had been set up on the grass. Rosalina was already using the kitchen. "Oh hello, are you here to eat or just looking around?" Rosalina asked.
"Was thinking of making some ramen for everyone. I didn't sleep past lunch did I?" Min Min asked.
"No, you're just in time. I should warn you that cooking for the people here can be rather difficult." Rosalina said.
"I've worked at a ramen house, I can handle it." Fortunately for Min Min the cabinets were already stocked with what she needed, and Rosalina helpfully pointed out where the ingredients were. While they were working Edelgard walked into the kitchen.
"How was your time in Min Min's world, Edelgard?" Rosalina asked.
"I enjoyed it. Seeing another world has helped give me a new perspective. You come from a good world Min Min," Edelgard said.
"I'm sure yours is good too." Min Min was too focused on her cooking to look up. Edelgard shook her head.
"It could be better," Edelgard said. Something about her rubbed Min Min the wrong way. There was almost something Coyle like in Edelgard's voice. Though Min Min wrote it off as her being paranoid. "If I may ask, what is it like for those with the ARMS gene compared to those without it?"
"Pretty normal honestly, the masks make it obvious but there's so many people with ARMS now that it's not too big of a deal. I mean Mechanica doesn't have the ability, but she still got into the ARMS League with her mech. Now the attention from some fans, that's annoying. I've gotten a lot of creepy letters, and every fighter does. But the ones that aren't creepy are totally worth it," Min Min said.
"There do seem to be some rather odd people. I accidentally stepped on someone's face while I was walking around the city, and before I could apologize he thanked me. I didn't know what to do so I ran away," Edelgard said.
"Oh no, not one of those people," Min Min said. She thought back to some of the fan letters she had gotten, the ones that almost made her regret incorporating kicks into her fighting style. "Just ignore people like that. At all costs."
"It's reassuring to hear that I did the right thing. I'll wait for the food and stop interrupting you now," Edelgard said. She walked out of the kitchen.
The rest of the food prep went without incident. Rosalina called the Smashers for lunch as she and Min Min set up two of the picnic tables with food. There were less people than she expected, which was still enough to fill the two tables. The amount of unfamiliar people briefly made her worried, it could be hard to make an impression with a big crowd. "Isn't this supposed to be a massive group?" Min Min asked.
"A lot of people are still setting up to move in," Rosalina said.
"That explains it." Min Min took a seat. Now that she was looking closer she recognized one of the Smashers. "Hey, you're Doctor Mario, right?"
"Last I checked. I've only been put in charge of the financials and biological research at ARMS Lab, so don't bug me about weapons or anything like that. They're still finding someone for the weapons. Your ramen is great by the way."
"Thanks. Look I know Coyle is apparently as horrible at finance as she is as a person, but with the access to other worlds I'm sure some cross dimensional advertising will fix things."
"Oh trust me, the ARMs League is our way of getting some funding back. Don't need to beg me for a shot at superstardom."
"Hey it's not like that," Min Min protested. It was like that. Min Min didn't want to lose her shot at popularity to the controversy and low funding that Coyle had left in her wake. "Speaking of what Coyle left us with, what's going to happen with Springtron?"
"Doctor Light has custody of Springtron now. We needed to keep things quiet to get it done safely." Doctor Mario took a sip of water. Min Min let out a sigh of relief.
"That's good. I was worried he ended up going back to Coyle after all. I'm not exactly friends with Springtron, but I don't want him to end up getting thrashed in a temper tantrum the way Hedlok was after I beat them." Min Min looked around the tables, everyone who was having ramen seemed to be enjoying it. Then Red ran into the room. It was Min Min's first time seeing him in person, but she had seen him from coverage of the Pokémon League.
"Has anyone seen Lucario?!"
"No. Did something happen?" Doctor Mario asked. Min Min had heard of Lucario, but hadn't met him yet.
"He left us." Everyone turned to Rosalina in shock. She had said it casually, with little change in expression.
"What do you mean he left us!" Doctor Mario stomped his foot.
"After what he saw at Wuhu Island, he needs time to contemplate. So he left to find his new purpose. I saw him off myself while the rest of you were exploring Min Min's world."
"Rosalina, didn't you think that we needed to know this sooner."
"You hadn't asked about Lucario."
"Well excuse me for not thinking to ask 'hey Rosalina did Lucario run off to join the enemy earlier today.' He's my friend too you know. Always a help, good to talk to, a breath of fresh air from some of the other weirdos here." Doctor Mario fiddled with his stethoscope. It reminded Min Min of when a fight broke out in her family, except here she had none of the context. She had only just met Doctor Mario and Rosalina, she didn't know Lucario. She was only a spectator.
"He will come back to us when he's ready." Rosalina returned to eating ramen as though nothing had happened. Red had looked at the ground during the argument, obscuring his eyes. He brought his gaze back up.
"Sorry you had to see that," Red said. "I saw you on TV Min Min, I liked the way you fight. Oh, my name's Red."
"Oh thanks, I saw you on TV too. I like that dragon Pokémon of yours." Min Min felt self conscious of how she spoke. She hated dancing around the obvious thing on everyone's mind, but what could she even say as a newcomer. It wasn't like she had any relationship with Lucario herself.
"Dragon? Oh you mean Charizard. Thank you." Red hurried himself to a seat and helped himself to some ramen. "This tastes good."
"Glad you guys liked the ramen, I'm going to go take a walk around the fortress now." Min Min got up and made her retreat.
Min Min crossed her arms as she wandered through the various rooms of the fortress. It felt empty, which Min Min knew was because people were still moving in. When she imagined what it would be like with everyone present, the opposite problem presented itself. There'd be too many people, it'd be a challenge to stand out. She walked without much thought, the issue of the fortress and Smashers taking up her focus. That was the opposite of how it was supposed to go, but Min Min felt obligated to finish the walk.
Then she stumbled on the boxing room. It was well lit and featured a small boxing ring in the center. Lockers filled with equipment lined the walls, it even had the equipment for ARMS. Someone was already beating up a sandbag in the boxing ring, Min Min had heard of him, Little Mac. Spring Man had gotten along with him and brought him up a few times.
"Hey, want an opponent who fights back?" Min Min asked. Little Mac turned to look at her, right fist still extended into the sandbag.
"Oh you're Min Min, Spring Man hyped you up. Want to go for a round or two? You can treat it like an ARMS match," Little Mac said. Min Min changed her arms to their extendable state and picked two of her usual weapons from the lockers, the RamRam and Megawatt. She jumped into the boxing ring. The mention of Spring Man hyping her up made her nervous, but it was a chance to build up a reputation with the Smashers. And fighting would definitely help distract her.
"Let's go," Min Min said. She and Little Mac took opposite corners of the ring. Her plan was fairly simple, pelt Little Mac at a safe distance to build up rush, then use that to finish it off. The ARMS ability gave her a clear advantage.
The fight started with Min Min throwing out her RamRam in arc, swinging at Little Mac from his left. Little Mac weaved through it and the following Megawatt, but Min Min sent out the RamRam again and landed a hit. She threw out the Megawatt again to keep up the aggression, but Little Mac got into a stance and readied for it. He sidestepped the Megawatt and threw a punch straight into Min Min's gut.
At a distance that close most of the official ARMs equipment became far less effective. Against other fighters in the ARMS League that drawback barely mattered, even the (relatively) close range fighters needed a certain distance. Little Mac on the other hand bent the usual playbook in a far more disruptive way than giving a fighter six arms. Still, Min Min had at least one weapon that was blunt enough to work at unintended ranges. The Megawatt jumped out at Little Mac and knocked him back. With the short distance it didn't take long for the Megawatt to retract.
Min Min did a quick dash forward and charged her arms. Her right arm, which held the Megawatt, changed from ramen to the scales of a dragon. Underestimating Little Mac's ability to close the distance had been a mistake, she couldn't be confident in her range. She threw out the Megawatt again, this time cackling with electricity. Little Mac attempted another sidestep, but the increased size caught him. The Megawatt had been carefully designed to only stun other fighters with its electricity. Min Min took advantage of the opening with the RamRam, using it to knock Little Mac to the ground. She charged the RamRam again as Little Mac got back onto his feet.
Seeing little reason to change what worked, Min Min threw out another Megawatt. Little Mac ran towards it. Then he jumped over it. One of his fists was clearly prepared for a punch. Min Min tried to send the RamRam up to cut him off, it didn't reach. The Megawatt had only then started its retraction. Little Mac landed with a direct hit on Min Min. He slipped back to avoid a counter attack.
Driven by panic, Min Min threw the RamRam straight ahead. Little Mac ducked under it and advanced on Min Min's left. He connected another punch. It wasn't like his other punches, there was more to it. The punch carried the same kind of weight Min Min's rush attacks had, only focused into a single point. It sent her into the air in a short arc. The ropes caught her, but they couldn't stop her from falling to her knees. She was glad it was only a practice battle.
"Damn, that was powerful," Min Min said.
"Thanks, that was my KO Punch. You were great too, after my sparring with Spring Man I knew I couldn't let you get that rush attack thing going," Little Mac said. He offered his hand, Min Min took it.
"I'm going to win next time," Min Min said.
"You've got a lot of drive, I could feel your determination in your fighting style. So, what brought you here?" Little Mac asked.
"Well, it seemed like a way to get some more fights in now that the ARMS League is on break," Min Min said. She let go of Little Mac's hand. It was strange how a fight like that could make her feel like someone would understand her. "Actually, if I can be honest for a bit, I wanted people even in other worlds to know who I am. My family's ramen shop is great and all, its famous and I want it to be even more famous, but I don't want to just be part of its history. Does that make sense? Fans of the ARMS League know me as a fighter, not the future owner of the Mintendo Ramen House."
"My family has nothing special, but I can get wanting to leave your mark." Little Mac rubbed the back of his neck. "Though are you sure you're getting what you want out of this?"
"What do you mean?"
"My coach had me read a little bit of philosophy, mainly this bit about wanting recognition. You need validation from people you think are valid. Having fans feels great, but its not like that lasts. That's why I gave up pro boxing but ended up as a Smasher. I want people to know that I'm strong, but fans are just rooting for who they like in the moment, and you don't really know them enough to care what they think. But I care about what the guys here think because I know them."
"That's… a good point," Min Min conceded. She thought back to all of the fan mail and online comments she had received. People praising her felt good for a minute or two, while the other members of the ARMS League complimenting her brightened up the rest of the day. She looked at the floor. "Huh, should I even be here?"
"What about that rematch?" Little Mac asked. Min Min raised her face and smiled. It was strange how quickly her doubts had vanished, but she wasn't questioning it. "I know the amount of us Smashers is overwhelming at first, but after a while you'll get to know some people."
"Thanks," Min Min said. She and Little Mac got out of the boxing ring, put away the equipment, and left the room together.
Meanwhile, up in the command room, Master Hand was deep in contemplation with Crazy Hand as the only witness. "I don't think we'll ever stop paying for our arrogance," Master Hand said. He hovered back and forth through the room.
"As long as it keeps being fun I'm cool with that," Crazy Hand said.
"Crazy, please." Master Hand turned his attention to a photo on the wall, the original twelve Smashers. "We've spread ourselves out too much. Now worlds we didn't even invite are involved. We should have contented ourselves with the cluster of worlds we had and the occasional reach like Sonic. The unity amongst the Smashers is gone thanks to us."
"Eh it's all fine. Unity is boring." Crazy Hand said. Master Hand sighed.
"Even when Smashers go rogue? We still need to figure out who Dark Samus and her cronies have partnered with now."
"Maybe it's Tab-"
"No! It can't be him!" Master Hand formed himself into a fist. Then slowly he uncurled himself. "Sorry about that. Let's look into contacting Rex again next. And tracking down all of these other interworld factions."
"You know it'd be easier if we let that sky guy help out," Crazy Hand said.
"The keyblade is a dangerous weapon. We shouldn't get it involved. Now I'll go find Rex, you try to figure out where Lucario went." Master Hand vanished in a flash of light.
"How about I go find Sora anyway?" Crazy Hand cackled before vanishing.
A/N: Sorry to keep you waiting. This chapter had been drafted a long time ago, but I wanted to do all of Fighter Pass 2 together. Then life happened, a lot of life. I've changed as a writer and a person since the beginning of this project, with my creative pursuits ending up elsewhere. But I swore to come back and finish this one day, so here we are, with the chapter I wrote so long ago slightly edited and uploaded. And the fighter pass 2 chapters will be releasing weekly from here on out. You can thank the appearance of a new Nintendo system for that, I want to finish this before a new Smash happens. It's not my greatest work, but it's one that's important to me, and it deserves an ending.