SSB: Big Princess, Bigger Queen: Shulk Trailer

Bowser grumbled. He didn't really understand why he had to do this. He'd done a few bad things in the past, sure; he'd betrayed the others, teaming up with Ganondorf, a guy he usually despised, and Wario, a guy he despised possibly even more, to work with Master Hand, when they had thought he'd gone mad and wanted to destroy the world with Subspace bombs and an army of monsters. As it turned out, Master Hand himself had been controlled by an even crazier bastard named Tabuu, who turned everyone into trophies and left them to die. So basically, Bowser didn't think he should be punished, since he'd already suffered the humiliation of betrayal, and it wasn't like Master Hand himself was innocent. Just because he'd been controlled against his will, that meant he was free of guilt? Bowser didn't think that made much sense.

Yet here he was. In a place called the 'Guar Plains', ordered to try and find someone who would be worthy of becoming a Smasher, a contestant in the sentient glove's cross-dimensional fighting tournament. This was part of their punishment, although some of the others had openly volunteered to fetch new fighters in other worlds too. Ganondorf was apparently visiting a region called Kalos, and Wario had to be sucked into an arcade machine. Considering what he'd gotten on his end, Bowser should have been grateful, but he really would have rather just hung out at the castle with his son until the tournament officially started. He didn't feel comfortable leaving him under the care with Peach, considering she wasn't his real mom and everything.

Little did the koopa king realize, but he was being careful watched by several pairs of eyes. Doubting that Bowser was truly capable of fulfilling his mission, Master Hand had sent Link and Marth to the Gaur Plains to keep an eye on him. The two swordsmen hid silently inside a nearby patch of foliage. They didn't want to reveal themselves to Bowser unless it was absolutely necessary. They kept their swords drawn, in case. This was an unknown land for them. They didn't know what could attack them at any moment. The third pair of eyes was a young man, also in hiding, with a red blade drawn. He wanted to wait until Bowser's back was turned.

Bowser stopped running. He looked up. A butterfly fluttered past. He stared at it. For some reason, this particular butterfly managed to capture his interest quite strongly. He didn't know why, but he allowed his eyes to continue to follow the flying insect, even turning his back in the process. He looked around some more. He had suddenly lost his place.

"Back Slash!"

Before he could even look around, the giant lizard was already sent hurtling into the air from a strike to the shell. He took off flying. His attacker straightened himself up again.

Marth sighed. Master Hand was right, they definitely couldn't depend on Bowser. He looked to Link and nodded to him, and the silent man nodded back.

"I'm really feeling it!" Shulk announced, striking a confident pose with the Monado rested on his shoulder. He was already feeling pretty good, but after managing to take out that strange foe so quickly, he couldn't help but feel a bit satisfied with himself. He had seen the strange ship landing far out in the Gaur Plains, so he had come alone to investigate, figuring it was possibly a lone Mechon from how small it appeared. However, when he'd discovered that the lizard had come out of it, he couldn't help but get intrigued. When he saw how violently it tore through the fields, he felt that he had to step in and stop it. Now that it was defeated, there was nothing left to worry about. He'd gather Reyn, Sharla and Dunban and return to inspect the ship later.

Suddenly, Shulk's good mood was shattered as his Future Vision kicked in, revealing to him that that strange monster was not alone. In fact, it had two friends, a pair of fellow Homs it appeared at first glance. A man with blue hair and a man in green were about to leap out of the nearby foliage. Their drawn swords would collide against him at the exact same time, sending him tumbling over the edge of the cliff. As the Future Vision ended, Shulk braced himself and immediately planned a counter-attack.

Just as the Monado had warned him, the two men came bursting forth from the bush. Shulk threw himself back with a handstand and a backflip, avoiding the swords as they entered the area of space he had been standing in only a half-second ago. When he had regained his footing, Shulk saw the blue-haired man charge at him with his blade thrust out in front. Shulk avoided the attack by sliding to the right. Almost immediately, the man in green came after him. Shulk countered his second opponent's swing with his own sword, and then batted away the blue-haired man again when he took another swipe at him. The man in green was especially tenacious, his blade glowing with a wonderful blue light as his weapon bounced harmlessly off of the Monado. Dodging their attacks several more times, Shulk found himself skidding back, dust kicking up in droves under his shoes.

'Ah, these guys...they're tough...and are they Homs? They look just like me or Reyn, but my Monado shouldn't be able to hurt them then. Can I do this?'

Shulk shook his head. He couldn't give up here. If they are from some other world, he might be able to use his Monado on them. He regretted not asking his friends to come along after all, but he had to do what he could. The battle had already begun, so just like the Mechon, he had to fight for the sake of protecting this world and those he cared about. He knew not what these two men and that lizard had that meant they were allies, but he had no way to learn that right now. At the moment, he needed to prove he was the proper Monado Master.

"Now it's Shulk time!"

Shulk activated the Monado's innate abilities, switching through several symbols before ending on 'Smash', which should allow him to send these two foes flying like he did with the reptilian.

"This is the Monado's power!"

The blue-haired man and the man in green stared him down for a few seconds longer. A strong breeze whipped over their heads.

Shulk was ready to resume fighting, but to his surprise, the two men had already begun to put away their swords. Still holding the buzzing Monado, Shulk could only stare on, his befuddlement quite evident on his face.

"What...?"

The blue-haired man spoke something in a language that Shulk did not understand.

"What?" he asked again.

The blue-haired man coughed. "I'm sorry, I forget to use English. My name is Marth. This is Link, hero of Hyrule. You're...Shulk?"

"How do you know my name?"

"Because you just said it's 'Shulk time', and I assume that you're the one named Shulk, as there is no one else here but you."

Shulk blushed, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Oh...oh yeah..." he had thought it had sounded cooler in his head, like the way Reyn always said it in battle, but in hindsight he actually wished he'd kept his mouth shut then. He couldn't pull it off as well as his buddy.

"We were hoping we would be able to meet you without confrontation, but we thought, after what you did to our friend, that we would need to test your reflexes further. You did well to block and dodge our attacks."

"Oh...oh...you're welcome!" Shulk had no idea why he was thanking these two absolute strangers, but he felt like it was only polite after they'd just paid him a compliment. "But who are you two?"

"Like I said, I'm Marth and he's Link."

Groaning and grunting, Bowser began pulling himself back up over the cliff edge. It seemed that, somehow, he had made it back in one piece. He had appeared in just the right time too, Link noted.

"And he is Bowser." Marth pointed out.

"What about me?" Bowser snapped, and he thrust himself over onto the safety of ground. "Damn...blasted kid! What the heck were you thinking? I could have died you know! This place is so huge, I'm lucky I even made it back here this fast! I'm going to-"

"Bowser." Marth announced.

"What?" The reptilian had flames sputtering from his large mouth. Shulk raised the Monado in preparation for defending himself, if need be.

"Give him the letter. I think he might just be suitable for Smash."

"Say, when were you able to speak English anyway?" Bowser asked.

"I've been learning. So give him the letter. We'll be bringing him back with us to the castle."

"W-Wait a minute here! Why should we take him? He's just a crazy brat! He freaking attacked me while my back was turned! That's one of the most low-life things a fighter can do, can't it?"

Shulk winced. "I...I really thought you were some kind of monster...I was only doing it to protect this land..."

"Shut up! I'm going to kick your butt from here to the Mushroom Kingdom, pal!" Bowser started charging at the boy. Shulk, glad that he had prepared, raised his blade and prepared to switch the symbol to 'Speed' to dash out of the path of the first attack, whatever it might be.

Suddenly, Bowser stopped. Marth and Link, who were about to jump in between the two, found themselves stopping in mid-run as well. The big, grumpy lizard grunted and stretched his arms over his head.

"You know, fine, whatever, I'm not really in the mood anymore after that whole trek up here." Bowser reached somewhere behind him, probably inside his shell, and produced a letter marked with the Smash emblem. "Here, if you're going to be a Smasher like us, you have to read this first."

Shulk took the letter. He could only imagine what it said inside, or what it meant to be a 'Smasher'. He had too many questions, and he felt it would be better if he had Dunban and the others here with him. This might be something they would all need to know about. There could actually be another world outside of the two colossal giants that they lived upon. A world that Shulk couldn't even begin to fathom. It was both exciting and a little intimidating.

"So, if you two aren't from the Bionis or the Mechonis...where did you come from?"

Marth, Link and Bowser all looked at one another.

"What are you talking about, kid?" Bowser asked.

Suddenly, before Shulk could open the letter itself, he was eclipsed by a massive and very familiar shadow. Turning around, Shulk found himself face to face with an adversary he could not have picked a worse time to appear. Shoving the letter quickly into his pocket, the young man activated his Monado once more. The maniacal Face Mechon let out an insane cackle as it hovered above its tiny target.

"Fancy meeting you here, Monado Boy!"

"Who is that?" Marth asked.

"Looks like a real jerk, and from me, that's saying something." Bowser beared his claws.

Link withdrew his Master Sword from its scabbard.

Marth did the same with his own rapier-like blade. "I suppose we'll have to take care of this first, before we can do anything else."

Shulk did not know who these two men and this talking monster were, but it no longer seemed that they were enemies. In fact, they may just be the ones he needed on his side right now if he wanted to make it out of his battle alive. Summoning the 'Smash' symbol onto the Monado again, the incredible blade emitting a powerful crimson glow, Shulk charged into the fray with his three new allies in tow. He definitely didn't want to lose his chance to find out more about 'Smash'. He might just have to take them up on their offer, after they finished with this.