AN: I was going to wait until after we knew more information about 5mash before posting this, but I'll take the risk. Because of that though this will probably be the only chapter posted before E3.

This story is a continuation of From Rivalry to Romance, Forgotten Memories, Over and Crossed Dimensions. To give a quick rundown on events, Sonic Forces has taken place and will play a huge part in the plot of this story.

So with that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy this!

~Chapter One: Here We Go Again~

It had been six months since the war ended, and the planet still hadn't fully healed yet. Sonic growled as he held a plank of wood up for Knuckles to hammer, glancing around at what had been the beautiful Mystic Ruins, now reduced to a barren wasteland with patches of dead grass and craters that had yet to be filled in. The skytrain to Station Square still wasn't in running condition, and Tails' workshop had been completely obliterated during one of the many attacks. Sonic could still remember the look on his little brother's face when they had finally made it back here, the shock, sadness and determination to fix it as soon as possible. The former two emotions made Sonic's blood boil in rage, rage over Eggman causing the damage in the first place, and rage over the fact that... he... hadn't let him finish off Eggman like he'd been planning.

"Sonic!" Knuckles called, snapping Sonic out of his thoughts. "Would you mind hammering in these nails for me? I need to go get more wood."

Sonic couldn't help but snicker at the last part of what Knuckles had said and grabbed the hammer. "I don't see Rouge anywhere," he slyly replied which earned him a swift punch in the arm.

"You just turned twenty. Stop making jokes like you're still fifteen." Knuckles grumbled.

"Actually, if I hadn't been at the Smash Mansion I'd be twenty-three." Sonic pointed out, to which Knuckles dropped his head in his hands and groaned loudly.

"That's even worse!" he exclaimed. "Now come on Sonic, be serious. We still have a lot of work to finish."

"Aye aye, commander." Sonic dryly commented as Knuckles went to get more planks from the pile a few feet away. Knuckles had sure gotten a lot more serious in this past year; his role as the leader of the Resistance had changed him. Hell, they'd all changed.

Sonic sighed as he focused on the task in front of him; sure, he knew his jokes were bad but at least they made him smile and took his mind off of... everything else.

Whack.

Like how he couldn't unsee what he'd seen on the Death Egg.

Whack.

Like how he was keeping this brave front because he was Sonic the Hedgehog and needed to be that beacon of light for everyone.

Whack.

Like how he really missed...

He shook his head before he could finish that thought and hammered the rest of the nail into the plank of wood before moving to the next one. No, he was mad at him because if he hadn't of interfered, none of this would have happened. He wouldn't be standing here rebuilding his little brother's workshop because Eggman wouldn't have attacked because he'd be dead...

"Sonic?"

Speaking of little brothers... Sonic turned and grinned at Tails who had returned from his supply run, his arms full of shopping bags and a stack of envelopes in his hands. The Tornado sat parked a few meters away, the afternoon sun glistening off the shiny red paint. "Hey buddy. How's Station Square?"

"Getting there," Tails murmured, dropping the bags on the ground and flicking through the mail. "I'd say it'll be back to normal in another month or so. All that's left to cleanup is some debris, and construction is going well on the buildings that were destroyed."

"That's a relief," Sonic expressed, before noticing how Tails was staring at a particular envelope with a blank expression on his face. "Whatcha got there, buddy?"

Tails lifted his eyes to meet Sonic's and handed him the envelope without a word. Sonic accepted the envelope and examined it before his pulse quickened at the familiar insignia stamped on the bottom left corner, a circle with two slashes going through it. "Another Smash Brothers tournament," he breathed as he tore the letter open and sure enough found an invitation inside.

"Are you going?" Tails questioned, and Sonic bit the inside of his cheek as he contemplated the question. Being accepted into the Super Smash Brothers was incredibly prestigious. Only the best fighters were accepted, and being invited back for the third time in a row was a great honor. But if he went it meant he would have to see...

His grip on the invitation tightened and that familiar flare of hatred surged in his chest, the one he'd felt so often when they still had their rivalry all those years ago. And just like during the Brawl tournament, his competitive side flared to life and the desire to curbstomp him into the ground for what he'd done took over all this thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm goin' alright."

/~/

Mario's invitation for the next Smash tournament wasn't even an invitation, it was more of an, 'You'll be here at this time and date and you're not going to complain about it' reminder. Like Mario would ever complain about being invited back to the Smash Mansion though - he loved the tournaments as it allowed him to bond with so many new people from across several different dimensions. Sure the main focus of the event was to see who the strongest fighter was, but the bonding aspect was important to Mario. He'd made so many new friends, and had even...

He stopped himself from finishing that thought, but it still brought something to his attention. Had Sonic been invited back to the Smash Mansion? He assumed so, after all he was a capable fighter and proved that he belonged in the mansion alongside them. Still, he was a bit hesitant about seeing his ex-boyfriend considering there would obviously be tension between them.

"Bro?" Luigi called from the other room, and still clasping his invitation Mario shuffled from their shared bedroom to the living room where Luigi was holding his own invitation in his left hand and the golden ring from Sonic's world in his right. Ever since Mario had broken up with Sonic the ring had fallen into Luigi's possession.

"Si, Weeg?"

"Um, so I just spoke with Tails and Sonic's been invited to the next Smash Brothers tournament," Luigi babbled. "He's going, and Tails wanted to warn you to be careful when you and Sonic inevitably see each other."

"Did he mention why?" Mario questioned.

"He's mad at you," Luigi informed. "Something about if you'd let him kill Eggman then none of this would have happened?"

Mario clenched his fist, gritting his teeth. "Well, how was I supposed to know that Eggman would actually succeed in taking over the world? And well, I'm sorry for caring about the mental health of my pigheaded ex-boyfriend who wouldn't have been able to handle the repercussions!" He began to spew off colourful language in Italian, to which Luigi winced and placed a hand on his brothers shoulder in an attempt to calm him.

"I shouldn't have brought it up. Sorry." Luigi muttered. A bit of Mario's anger diffused and he looked up at his brother.

"No... it's fine. I would have found out eventually anyway," he sighed, placing the now slightly crumpled invitation on the table. "Come on. Let's go see if Peach got her invitation as well."

Luigi nodded and placed his own invite on top of Mario's. "Maybe this is finally the year that Daisy gets invited!" Luigi said hopefully. Mario couldn't help but chuckle as he followed Luigi outside.

"I hope so too, bro."

/~/

This... was a very familiar situation, to the point that it was borderline cliché. Sonic stared out the slightly dirty window of the bus as it ambled up the road to the Smash Mansion, with Kapp'n in the drivers seat whistling the same tune he had been for the past several years. Did he not know any other songs? Shaking his head Sonic glanced around at the other passengers, as this time he wasn't completely alone on the bus. Marth and Fox were seated at the back of the bus, talking about their lives from the little snippets Sonic could hear. Apparently Marth's wife Caeda was pregnant with their first child, and Fox had proposed to his girlfriend Krystal.

Loud laughter interrupted his eavesdropping, and he turned his eyes towards the newcomers this tournament - what seemed to be a hybrid of kids and squids with... hair?... in all colours of the rainbow. So far they hadn't done much except scroll through their squid-shaped phones and show the others something on their screens, which would result in constant laughing from them. Typical teenagers.

Finally, the last two passengers on the bus sat directly in front of Sonic. The woman politely conversed with the man before they gazed out the window at their surroundings. And even though they were unfamiliar to Sonic, their pointed ears gave it away that they were Hylian which meant they were Link and Zelda - from another dimension of course. It wasn't that surprising, this was what, the fifth Link in Smash and the third Zelda? And while he would miss the old Link and Zelda, he had to admit that he was a bit curious about these new ones. Maybe they could be friends?

The bus ran over a bump in the road and one of the squid kids nearly fell out of her seat. Sonic tensed as he could see the silhouette of the mansion in the distance. They were almost there, and if he had to guess a certain red-capped plumber would be waiting to greet the arriving Smashers. A red-capped plumber he didn't want to see at this moment but knew he couldn't avoid. He felt a dull ache across his chest from his new scar...

His hand clenched into a fist and his lips curled into a snarl. His fault - his fault!

The bus slowly came to a stop and the doors opened with a hiss, alerting the passengers that they'd arrived at their destination. The squid kids were the first ones off the bus, chatting excitedly amongst themselves in some sort of language Sonic didn't understand as they exited the bus and took in what would be their temporary home. Link and Zelda were the next off, and Zelda murmured about how impressive the architecture was.

Marth and Fox waved at Sonic as they exited, and Sonic sighed realizing he couldn't put it off forever - he needed to get off the bus too. Grabbing his lone bag of gloves and socks and mourning the loss of his guitar that he would have had with him had it not been destroyed he took a deep breath, thanked Kapp'n, and stepped off the bus.

Sure enough some Smashers were already at the mansion. Ness and Lucas were introducing themselves to the squid kids while he spied Princess Peach and Luigi greeting Link and Zelda.

And then... him. He stood in front of the elaborate fountain, his eyes locked with Sonic's looking like he was searching for the right words to say. For a moment Sonic did nothing, weighing his options. Wondering if he should ignore his ex-boyfriend or go straight for a confrontation.

In the end neither of those things happened as a surge of anger flared in Sonic's chest. He marched forward, punched him straight in the jaw and stalked off, ignoring the alarmed cries from Peach and Luigi and the shocked gasps from Fox and Marth.