The powerful knight collapsed to a knee. With a grunt of pain, he wiped his mouth as a tiny trickle of blood escaped the corner of his lips, and began to cascade down his dark-blue skin. His silver mask, split in half, lay feet from him, leaving his usually shrouded face exposed. The knight cursed himself under his breath. How could he let this happen? How could he allow him to gain the upper hand?
A sinister snicker snapped the knight out of his thoughts, "oh, how the mighty have fallen," a gruff, mocking voice leered, "I expected more from the legendary Meta Knight - the so-called 'greatest warrior in the galaxy'."
Meta Knight shot a glare at his opponent through the shadows, "it matters not if I fall, this plan of yours will not succeed; the others will never allow it."
"By the others, do you mean that rag-tag group of freaks the universe calls heroes!?" The voice angrily spat, "don't make me laugh."
The voice continued, "with you out of the way, the entire operation becomes a cake-walk, oh, but don't worry," the voice chuckled, "I will send your friends to join you soon enough."
"So, warrior," the sound of a sword being unsheathed echoed, "any final words?"
Meta Knight slowly began to rise, cringing in pain at his wounds. As he finally managed to stand, he gave his opponent a smug smile, "you may find glee now, but we both know, you'll never be anything more than a co-" Meta Knight was cut off as a massive wave of energy surged towards him, he closed his eyes as he was completely enveloped in a dark-crimson shroud. The wave dissipated almost as swiftly as it had formed, and Meta Knight was gone.
Dark Meta Knight returned his sword to its sheath, and glowered at where his counterpart had formerly stood, "no, I am greater."
== SUPER SMASH BROS. NOVA ==
It was a warm, tranquil evening on the paradise island of Isle Delfino. A beautiful Princess along with her loyal protectors and long-time steward were soaking up sunset rays on Sirena Beach, enjoying their vacation from Toad Town.
The Princess sighed with contentment. She turned to her steward, "isn't this wonderful, Toadsworth?" Sipping from a smoothie sitting next to her, she frowned slightly, "although I do hope this isn't too stressful for Toad and Toadette; I hated leaving them behind like that."
Toadsworth cracked a smile underneath his white mustache, "oh my dear princess, ever selfless," he leaned back in his chair, "not to worry, I'm positive the two of them are doing quite fine, they even seemed excited to have the authority."
The Princess adjusted her golden-blonde ponytail, "maybe you're right." This was the first time in years she was able to enjoy any off-time. Her frequent kidnapper Koopa King Bowser had been oddly quiet, and hadn't been heard from in weeks.
Turning to her left, the Princess spotted two mustachioed plumbers laughing at a lone cataquack sleeping on the beach. The plumber wearing green walked closer to the creature, but the plumber in red warned him to stay back. Ignoring his brother's advice, the green-clad plumber poked the duck-like animal. The Princess couldn't help but chuckle as the green plumber was hurled several feet in the air, before landing head-first in the sand, provoking the red plumber to sigh.
After she stopped laughing, the Princess called out to the two, "Mario, Luigi". After Mario helped pull Luigi out of the sand, they both went to the Princess.
The Princess smiled at the two as they approached, "why don't one of you go get FLUDD from the hotel room, I think she'd enjoy herself out here."
Mario nodded and began walking towards the hotel, while Luigi volunteered to remain behind and watch after the Princess.
As Mario entered his hotel room, he spotted a machine sitting in the corner. The robot had a nozzle for a head, which was connected to a tank of water. Flanking the tank, were two handles, while a belt hung from the device.
"Ah Mario," the machine spoke, "do you require my assistance?"
Mario explained that he wanted the machine to come watch the sunset with him and the others on the beach.
"Sunset?" FLUDD replied in confusion, "scanning database for term 'sunset'." FLUDD let out several electronic noises as she processed this strange, foreign word.
After completing her information search, FLUDD spoke again, "analysis complete: sunset - the apparent descent of the sun below the horizon… Oh yes, certainly, Mario."
As Mario strapped FLUDD on his back, he snapped to attention after hearing a loud scream coming from the beach.
"That sounded like the Princess," FLUDD said, "we'd best hurry, Mario!"
As Mario dashed out the front door of the hotel, his eyes widened in fear. Peach and Toadsworth were trembling at the sight of a massive, wooden ship hovering in the air above the beach, while Luigi cowered beneath a beach chair. From the deck of the airship, a large, turtle-like creature emerged. The creature had a green, spiked shell and flaming red hair. Behind the creature, stood seven other turtle beasts of various sizes. Mario recognized these menaces as his arch-nemesis Bowser, and seven of his children, the Koopalings.
Bowser motioned to the Koopalings, and the family leaped off the ship onto the beach below. Mario clenched his fists, and raced to the scene.
The Princess quaked as Bowser approached her; Bowser obviously realized her trepidation, "I'm not here for you Peach, I-" the Koopa King was interrupted as Mario leaped in front of him in a single bound, and decked him in the jaw with an uppercut, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Dad!" a Koopaling wearing sunshades shouted in concern. He gritted his teeth at Mario, "you'll pay fer dat, mushroom-muncha!" The Koopaling drew back his fist, and charged towards Mario, but was knocked backwards with a burst of high-powered water to the face.
"Let's et heem!" a large Koopaling with bushy, blue-hair bellowed in his thick accent, and the siblings flew at Mario. The sole sister was the first to reach the plumber, and sent him flying with a swing of one of her oversized rings.
Peach let out a cry of concern, "Mario!"
Mario hurtled through the air, before regaining his composure, and landing feet-first next to the prone Luigi. He called out to his brother for assistance, but the green-missile merely shook his head in protest. Mario had no time to persist, as a portly, brown Koopaling landed in front of him immediately afterwards, and primed his leg to kick him. In response, Mario leapt into the air, dodging the Koopaling's attack, and bringing himself down on his assailant's head in a ground-pound.
While the Koopaling was dazed, Mario prepared another attack. The plumber was unfortunately unable to execute his strike after being struck with a burst of magical power, momentarily stunning him.
A small Koopaling with a blue mohawk dashed towards Mario, and launched him into the air with a punch. Mario flung upwards towards the clouds, until a pair of twins appeared on either side of him. The duo proceeded to beat Mario between them like a ping-pong ball. After toying with their target for a while, the two raised their hands above their heads, and brought them down on Mario's body simultaneously, sending him plummeting.
Toadsworth watched in horror, as Mario crashed into the sand, battered and defeated. The toad then rushed to Luigi, "Master Luigi, you must do something, Master Mario has copped a serious thrashing!"
Luigi continued to protest, causing Toadsworth to turn red in the face, "Master Luigi, this is serious, your brother can't take much more of this!"
Eventually, Luigi glanced up from the ground to see the Koopalings surrounding Mario like a flock of buzzars. The younger brother bit his lip, before crawling out from under his hiding-place, and running to help.
The Koopaling with an accent pounded his fist into his hand, "I've been vaiting for zis moment for a very, very long time." He raised his fist in the air, but was was met with a staggering kick to the jaw, sending him stumbling back several feet. The Koopaling looked back up to see Luigi staring him down.
"Oh, leettle brother vants to play too?" the Koopaling smirked, "very vell."
Luigi rushed to Mario's side. Propping his jaw open, Luigi retrieved a green mushroom from within his overalls pocket, and placed it inside Mario's mouth. After choking the mushroom down, Mario leapt to his feet, and the brothers exchanged thumbs up.
The Koopaling scowled, "bah, you haveen't von yet," he turned to his siblings, "show no mercy!" The Mario Brothers and the Koopalings lunged at each other, but were suddenly stopped as a voice called out in protest, "no!"
Everyone halted in place. Mario turned to see Bowser, now sitting upright in the sand, "Mario, please, I'm not here to kidnap Peach, just hear me out."
Bowser rose and dusted himself off, "it's about Junior," he hesitated, "he's missing."
== SUPER SMASH BROS. NOVA ==