Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kazuya had made a grave mistake.

The opportunity seemed too good to be true. But Kazuya didn’t care at the time. All he cared about was power. And the opportunity that Ganondorf had presented him, if he took it, would give him the biggest amount of power that he had seen in his life.

It had all started after Kazuya had finally succeeded in killing his father, Heihachi. It had been his lifelong dream to kill his father, to take revenge against him for throwing him off of that cliff when he was a child. It had taken him many years, and many things had happened since then- he’d taken over his father’s corporation, had a child of his own, fallen out with said child, died, come back to life, the whole works. 

But now that he had accomplished his goal, Kazuya was feeling empty inside. He had sent his entire life in pursuit of that one goal. Now that he had fulfilled his dreams, what was there for him?

He couldn’t settle down. Not after everything he had done. And it wasn’t like he wanted to anyways. Even if he had been the reincarnation of the Pope or something, settling down would be the last thing on his list. He couldn’t try to pick up something new either. He had spent his whole life fighting and getting stronger. He wanted to do more of that. But with his father dead, there would be no more King of Iron Fist tournaments. So how was he to get stronger?

He had arrived at the edge of a cliff- the same cliff that his father had thrown him off of as a child- to contemplate this. Staring into the endless drop below, Kazuya sat down, crossed his legs, and started thinking. Thinking about his past, his present, and his future.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him. Loud footsteps.

CLOMP, CLOMP, CLOMP.

Kazuya jumped to his feet and turned around, coming face-to-face with an extremely large man. This man must have been at least seven feet tall. His skin was an olive green color, which contrasted sharply with his shock of orangish-red hair. His nose was slightly pointed, like a witch’s, and he wore what looked like a suit of brown and black armor. A bright red cape was draped around his neck, and a large sword hung from the helm of his belt.

“Kazuya Mishima.” he intoned, his voice a deep baritone. “I expected that I would find you here.”

“Who are you?” Kazuya demanded, clenching his fists. “How do you know my name?”

The giant man smirked. “I am Ganondorf, the King of Evil,” he chuckled, “though you may just call me Ganondorf.”

“What do you want from me, Ganondorf, the King of Evil?” Kazuya demanded again. That name, Ganondorf … Kazuya thought to himself. Why does it sound so familiar?

“I told you, just call me Ganondorf.” Ganondorf said again. “And I… or rather, we , have a proposition for you, Kazuya.”

Kazuya took a step back and clenched his fists. “What do you mean, we ?” he snarled.

“You see, Kazuya, my higher-ups have taken notice of your powerful fighting style and your mastery of martial arts.” Ganondorf continued.

“Your… higher-ups?” Kazuya asked. He was still a bit suspicious of the giant man, but what he was saying was interesting. And he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he should know the name Ganondorf.

“Have you ever heard of the Super Smash Brothers tournament, Kazuya?’ Ganondorf asked.

Super Smash Brothers? Why does that also sound really familiar? Kazuya thought to himself, his eyebrows creasing.

“Do you need a little bit of a memory jog, Kazuya?” Ganondorf asked.

Kazuya didn’t nod or give any sort of affirmation to Ganondorf’s question, but that didn’t stop the giant man from continuing on.

“The Super Smash Brothers tournament” Ganondorf said “is the largest multiverse tournament in existence.” He reached inside the giant coat he was wearing and pulled out a plain white envelope. A red circular seal, split unevenly into four quarters, was placed within its center. A sly smirk began to cross Ganondorf’s lips. “And we want you to be the newest competitor, Kazuya.”

There was a stunned period of silence. Then, a wide grin broke across Kazuya’s face.

Of course he had heard of the Super Smash Brothers tournament. After all, who hasn’t heard of it? It was the dream of every person in the multiverse to join the tournament.

“Are you serious?” Kazuya asked, his eyebrows wide with disbelief.

“Of course I’m being serious.” A twinkle of mischief sparkled in Ganondorf’s eyes. “What did you think, that we were going to ask your father?”

Kazuya’s smile morphed into a massive frown.

“Another question for you, Kazuya. Have you ever heard of a joke?” Ganondorf asked.

Kazuya crossed his arms and huffed loudly.

“Let’s move on from that, Kazuya.” Ganondorf continued. “You never answered my question. Do you want to join the Super Smash Brothers tournament or not?”

Kazuya still couldn’t believe that he was being asked that question. He had been hearing about the Super Smash Brothers tournament ever since he was a little boy. Only the strongest of the strong got to join the tournament, according to his father. If he fought the competitors there, he was sure to become much, much stronger.

The opportunity was perfect. Maybe a little too perfect, but perfect nonetheless. Kazuya would be a madman to turn down this ripe opportunity for more power.

Kazuya extended his hand towards Ganondorf. “It would be my honor to join the tournament.”

Ganondorf grinned and grabbed Kazuya’s hand in his own. His handshake was incredibly strong. If Kazuya hadn’t been wearing his gloves, he had a feeling that Ganondorf’s grip would have broken his hand. “It’s an honor to have you on board, Kazuya Mishima.” Ganondorf said. He then released Kazuya’s hand, took a few steps back, and grinned. “”Now why don’t we stop wasting time and get on over there?”

Ganondorf handed the envelope to Kazuya and returned to shuffling through his coat. Kazuya stared at the thick white paper and the signature Smash Brothers seal in the middle, hardly able to believe that he was actually holding it.

Ganondorf finally stopped fiddling around with his coat and pulled out a large white remote ith a singular purple button in its center. Smirking, he pressed the button.

SWOOOOOSH!

The sky in front of the cliff suddenly tore asunder, creating a giant purple portal. It ebbed inwards and outwards, like gentle waves crashing onto the shore of a beach.

Ganondorf stepped forward and gestured to Kazuya. “Don’t be shy, now. Jump in.”

Kazuya stared at the portal. This is it. The beginning of my new journey. My journey to crush everyone in the Super Smash Brothers tournament.

With that, he followed Ganondorf and stepped into the portal.

The portal spat Kazuya and Ganondorf in front of a magnificent building made of marble, almost resembling a palace of sorts.. The massive front door was stamped with the smae Smash Brothers logo and laced with a rim of fine gold. So this is the Smash Mansion , Kazuya thought to himself. It was every bit as majestic as he had heard it was.

Ganondorf and Kazuya walked up to the front door. The former then grabbed the diamond-studded doorknob and swung the door open, beckoning Kazuya to step inside at the same time.

Kazuya took a deep breath and entered the Smash Mansion.

It was then that he came face-to-face with the reason for all of his future woes and agonies.

Standing smack-dab in the middle of the entrance hall, which was pure marble and covered in a deep red carpet, was a man. He had long gray hair that reached his waist, wore a pitch black cloak and pants, and had an extremely long sword attached to his hip. The length of this sword was at least half of Ganondorf’s height, and was incredibly thin and sharp. A sickeningly smug smile formed on the man’s face when he saw Kazuya enter.

“My, my, my. What do we have here?” the man said, his voice sickeningly coy, taking a few steps towards Kazuya in the process.

Something about this man completely froze Kazuya in this place. The charm he exuded dripped all over Kazuya like honey, sticking his mouth and limbs where they were. He tried to open his mouth, but no words came out.

Thankfully, Ganondorf was there with him. “Sephiroth, this is Kazuya.” he said, placing a muscly hand on Kazuya’s shoulder. “He’s the newest competitor in the tournament.”

Sephiroth began to circle Kazuya, eyeing every inch of his body up and down. His icy blue eyes never lost contact with Kazuya’s own, as if he was trying to break into his soul. After a few minutes, Sephiroth stopped and grabbed Kazuya’s chin in his hand.

At that moment, Kazuya’s lung capacity diminished by at least sixty percent.

Sephiroth pulled Kazuya’s face closer to his and leaned into his ear. “You look like the kind of guy that’s only here for power. Are you?”

Kazuya finally gets his ability to speak back. “Of course. And I’ll crush you in the process.”

Sephiroth let out a small chuckle before leaning back in to whisper. “No, Kazuya. You’re wrong. Because it is I who will be crushing you in this tournament.” He let go of Kazuya and brushed his thick silver locks behind his ear. “Be seeing you, then.”

Sephiroth threw his cloak over his shoulder, and before Kazuya could retort back, he was gone.

Ganondorf let out a small sigh and rolled his eyes. “I’m really sorry about Sephiroth, Kazuya.” he said. “He’s kind of a massive asshole. And I consider myself to be a Grade A asshole, so that’s saying something.” He then stepped forward. “Come on, now. We’re going to go to the main office so that you can answer some questions, and then I’ll take you to your room.”

Ganondorf began leading the way, and Kazuya followed him closely. But as Kazuya walked, a tidal wave of regret crashed over him. Agreeing to join the Super Smash Brothers tournament had been a massive mistake. Possibly the worst one of his entire life.

And it was all because of Sephiroth.

Chapter Text

Ganondorf and Kazuya walked down the long red carpet, their footsteps echoing throughout the incredibly quiet room. Kazuya’s mind was still a swirling mess of emotions from his encounter with Sephiroth. That man had the nerve to tell Kazuya, a member of the Mishima clan, that he would be getting crushed by him? Absolute nonsense! If anything, Kazuya was going to be the one to crush Sephiroth!

Images of Sephiroth kept flashing in Kazuya’s brain. Those luscious silver locks, those ice blue eyes, that coy smirk, that perfectly chiseled face…

Kazuya! What the fuck is wrong with you?, he scolded himself. He shouldn’t be spending so much time obsessing over Sephiroth’s appearance. The only thing he should be obsessing over was how to beat him, which he was. But those icy blue eyes kept flashing within his mind.

“Come over here, Kazuya.”

Ganondorf’s deep baritone voice jolted Kazuya out of his thoughts. The giant man was pointing towards an open door leading to a very plain room. Aside from three drab, worn-out blue-gray chairs- two on the left side of the room and one on the right side of the room- the room was almost completely empty. The paint, which had an ugly cream/tan mixture for its color, was peeling off of the walls.

“Come sit down over here.” Ganondorf said, gesturing to the singular chair on the right side of the room. “Before I can take you to your room, you have to answer some questions with the floor heads.”

Kazuya raised his left eyebrow. “Floor heads?” he asked.

“We have two older competitors who oversee all of the new competitors, plus those who returned after an extended absence from the tournament.” Ganondorf explained. “They’re just going to ask you for some general details on your history. Your background, any medical issues you may have, that sort of thing.” He chuckled. “Don’t worry about them. They won’t bite at all.”

Kazuya chuckled. “Me, worry about these other competitors? Absolute nonsense. The great Kazuya Mishima worries about nobody.”

Except Sephiroth, a tiny part of Kazuya’s brain that he didn’t even know was active whispered. Kazuya quickly grasped the right side of his head tightly, trying to prevent that part of his brain from speaking up any further. Ganondorf looked at him weirdly before continuing.

“I know.” Ganondorf let out a small chuckle. “I just wanted to make it clear, because those two think they can bite, but they really can’t.” Ganondorf took a few steps back. “I’m going to go get them now. Just wait for a few minutes.” And with that, he turned around and walked away. As he walked away, though, Kazuya could hear him mumble faintly under his breath, “Naryu almighty, I’ll never understand why, out of all people, Master Hand picked those two runts.”

Kazuya took a seat on the singular chair and leaned back, the scratchy fabric irritating the heavily-scarred skin on his back. He couldn’t help but be somewhat curious about the two older competitors that would be coming to question him. Ganondorf had said that Master Hand- the all-powerful creator of the Super Smash Brothers tournament- had hand picked these two competitors to oversee all of the other new competitors. Those two had to be incredibly powerful for Master Hand to have chosen them. Maybe they could be worthy allies in his quest for power.

Then again, Ganondorf had referred to them as “runts”. When it came to opinions on other people, Kazuya felt that he could trust what Ganondorf had to say on them. He was the King of Evil, after all. And he had also correctly pegged Sephiroth as a major asshole.

What if Sephiroth really isn’t all that much of an asshole? You just met the guy. You don’t have enough information to make a proper decision, the same part of his brain that he had tried to suppress earlier spoke. Once again, Kazuya grabbed the right side of his brain extremely hard, trying to silence that part of his brain.

Kazuya could now hear soft footsteps and quiet mumbling in the distance. They must be fast approaching now, Kazuya thought to himself.

Sure enough, the mumbling and the footsteps were growing louder and louder. They were still very quiet, though. It was becoming more and more likely by the second that Ganondorf was right- those two were runts. If there was one thing Kazuya couldn’t stand, it was quiet people. Weaklings and cowards who couldn’t stand up for themselves had no place in Kazuya’s life.

That was probably one of the reasons why Sephiroth seemed to fascinate him so much. He was quiet, and yet, he had the gall to stand up to Kazuya just minutes after their first meeting.

Wait, what?

Kazuya seized onto the right side of his head even harder. Did I just think that I was fascinated by Sephiroth?

It was a bad time to come to that realization as well. Because at that moment, the two older competitors barged into the room. Kazuya’s mouth dropped slightly when he saw them.

These two were literal children. Their ages probably averaged to sixteen at maximum. The first was a scrawny, short dark-haired boy. His eyes were bright red, and a pair of wings, the feathers as black as his hair, sprouted from his back. The second was a tall (she was at least half a foot taller than the boy) girl. Her hair and eyes were the same shade of navy blue. The boy wore a short black tunic with black and purple tights, while the girl wore a navy blue uniform with yellow accents and long-sleeved navy blue pants. The girl held a clipboard and paper in her arm, while

the boy grasped a large amount of pencils in his left hand. They simultaneously plopped down on the worn chairs across from Kazuya, letting out a loud simultaneous sigh in the process.

Kazuya stared at the duo with wide eyes. They glowered back at him, their eyes slightly narrowed.

After a few minutes of silence, the girl spoke. “You’re Kazuya Mishima, right?” she asked, her voice soft and somewhat emotionless.

Kazuya nodded. “That would be me, yes.” he responded.

The girl nodded. “My name is Lucina.” she said.

“You can call me Dark Pit.” the boy huffed, crossing his arms.

“Babe,” Lucina said with uncharacteristic warmth, placing a hand on Dark Pit’s thigh. Her eyes shone with joy, and her cheeks were slightly rosy.

Dark Pit looked back at Lucina. “...I guess.” he said after a short pause. He returned the gesture, intertwining his fingers with Lucina’s and returning her soft smile.

The whole exchange made Kazuya want to vomit until not even digestive juices remained within his stomach.

Displays of romantic affection, no matter how low-key, absolutely disgusted him. He couldn’t understand why anyone would willingly grow close to another person. Attachments weakened the heart, and therefore weakened the person as a whole. Love had no place in his quest for power.

But what if it did?, the traitorous, traitorous section of Kazuya’s brain asked.

“STOP IT!!” Kazuya yelled, grabbing on to the side of his head once again.

Dark Pit and Lucina broke out of their sappy moment and looked up at Kazuya. “...You good?” Dark Pit asked, his left eyebrow raised quizzically.

Kazuya’s hand immediately dropped back to his side. “I’m fine. Just a mild headache.” he responded, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible. I can’t let anyone know about this weakness. Especially children like these two.

Dark Pit and Lucina stared at him for a little while longer, but eventually their expressions returned to the bored, tired ones that they had been wearing when they first entered the room. “Alright then. We just need you to fill out this form and then we’ll show you to your room.” Lucina said, holding out the clipboard.
Kazuya snatched the clipboard out of Lucina’s hand and glowered at it. Dark Pit returned the glare before tossing one of the pencils towards Kazuya. The older man skillfully caught the pencil and began scribbling down his answers as fast as possible. The sooner he got out of this room and into his own room the better. He really needed some peace and quiet right now.

After what felt like an eternity, Kazuya finally finished filling out the form. He threw it back at Lucina and Dark Pit, huffing madly as he did so. Lucina was just able to catch the clipboard in her hand. Both kids looked shocked, but once again, their expressions settled quickly.

“Alrighty then. Just follow us.” Dark Pit said tersely. He and Lucina got up, their hands intertwining as they did so (absolutely disgusting, Kazuya thought) and walked out of the room. Kazuya got up, rubbing his itchy back as he did so, and followed them out of the room.

The couple led Kazuya down multiple flights of stairs and several long hallways lined with multiple numerically numbered doors, never looking directly at him the entire time. It was all very insulting to Kazuya. How dare these two children treat the great Kazuya Mishima as if he wasn’t even present at all?

Eventually, the group reached what appeared to be the final floor of the mansion. As they walked through the black and white painted walls, Kazuya couldn’t help but notice that some of the doors did not follow the numerical order. These out-of-order doors were also labeled with an epsilon next to the number.

He didn't ask what the meaning of those epsilon was, though. If these two whelps weren't going to make small talk with him, he wasn't going to make small talk with them either.

"Alright, here's your room."

Kazuya was jolted out of his thoughts by Dark Pit's words. The winged boy and his girlfriend were standing beside a door emblazoned with a golden 87. Lucina turned the similarly golden colored doorknob and swung the door open.

The room was remarkably plain. There was a bed with plain white sheets, a white pillow, and a white comforter on it, a desk to the side of the bed, a small entertainment system with a small TV on top of it, and another door on the side.

Best of all, though, was a large black punching bag hanging from the middle of the room. Seeing that punching bag caused a surge of excitement in Kazuya for the first time in what felt like hours. God, he really wanted to punch something right about now.

“Your bathroom is adjacent to the room. Just go through that door.” Dark Pit said, yawning slightly and jerking his thumb towards the side door. “Welcome to the Super Smash Bros tournament, I guess.”

And with that, Dark Pit and Lucina whipped around and had disappeared from the hallway in a matter of seconds.

Finally, those brats are gone. Kazuya thought to himself. He could really understand why Ganondorf called those two runts now.

Kazuya stormed into the room and immediately made a beeline for the punching bag. He began to lay blow after blow on it, taking out all of his frustrations on the helpless punching bag. As he punched it, he imagined that instead of a punching bag, he was laying blows on Sephiroth’s stupid twig of a body. Imagining blood leaking out of that perfectly chiseled nose and bruises forming on his rippling abs made Kazuya feel so much better about himself.

“Hey! You the new guy?”

Kazuya whirled around. “Who dares to disturb my training regime?” he bellowed.

Standing in his doorway was a large, red and black, bipedal tiger. Its chest was thick and muscly, and a belt of pure fire was blazing around its abdomen. The tiger put its large paws in the air when it heard Kazuya roar. “Whoa! Chill out, big guy.” he chuckled. “I just heard Pittoo and Martha lumbering around down here and figured the new guy finally showed up, so I came over here to introduce myself. Name’s Kukui Incineroar, but you can just call me Incineroar. What’s your name?”

Kazuya glowered at the fiery beast. “Kazuya Mishima.” he huffed.

Incineroar’s eyes expanded to the size of UFOs, and the fur on his body fluffed up. “No way! Did you just say Mishima?” he mewled.

Kazuya immediately relaxed. Seems like there’s at least one other competitor here who understands my greatness. Even if he is an overgrown kitty cat who smells like barbecue. “Yes, I am a member of the prestigious Mishima clan.” he said proudly.

Incineroar’s giant body was quivering heavily. “This is so cool! I’ve idolized your entire family since I was born, you know?”

“Really?” Kazuya tried to keep his tone as inquisitive as possible, but Incineroar’s words made him feel like he was floating above the sun.

“Yes! Yes! Oh, man, I gotta show you around the training centers. The stuff in there is state of the art! Maybe we could even spar together!” Incineroar had practically devolved into a kitten now.

Kazuya crossed his arms and laughed. “That would be nice. Would you care to show me the way?” he asked.
Incineroar squealed and whipped around. “Of course, Mishima-san! Just follow me!”

Kazuya chuckled. “Please, just call me Kazuya.” he responded, causing Incineroar to squeal again.

As Kazuya and his new admirer began to walk down the halls, the giant cat babbling excitedly about seemingly his entire life story to the scarred man, he couldn’t help but smile. Maybe things here wouldn’t be so bad after all.