Leave it to Sakurai to come up with probably one of the most depressing game modes imaginable.

"Go on a journey after an eldritch horror kills off the entire happy-go-lucky world of Nintendo! Don't worry though, all of the non-fighters are souls, bodyless-except when they're trapped in copies of the main cast!"

And whilst the opening massacre is a popular topic, what will happen as Kirby rescues the fighters and they start putting together the pieces?

The lava pools of Norfair bubbled as Bowser finished off his opponent. The spirit flew out of the copy's body and gratefully circled the Koopa King. Yet, Bowser did not respond, but instead stared at the figurine left behind. The silence was interrupted by a voice in Bowser's head.

"(I believe that it is done.)"

Bowser growled and turned to face the 'speaker': The psychic Pokemon, Mewtwo. The two held gazes for a few tense moments.

"Yeah, well I'm not!" Bowser responded gruffly. "So why don't you get outta the way so that I can find something else to punch?!" Bowser began walked off, only for Mewtwo to stop him with a confusion.

"(You seem very on edge lately.)"

"I'm fine!"

"(Clearly the others don't think so. Which is why they sent me to talk to you.)"

Bowser glared at Mewtwo like he was crazy.

"(I know. I felt the same way myself. However, they said that I was one of the fighters you got along better with.)"

"Either way, who on Earth could possibly have a problem with me?!"

"Me!"

Bowser and Mewtwo grew tense, but relaxed when they saw it was just Dedede.

"Seriously Bowz, you've been acting serious this entire time." Dedede said.

"And how's that a problem?"

"Because you're never serious! Usually you're still going on about how you're the greatest thing since food delivery and how you'll turn the tables once you get going. But since you revived, from what I'm hearing, you've been down in the dumps."

Bowser growled dangerously at Dedede's words.

"For the last time, I'm o-ok! The same ol' Bowser everyone knows and loves!" Bowser ranted, his eyes slowly turning more and more deranged as he went on. "Now shut up and stay out of my way, or so help me I will tear your spirit out of your body and give it to someone who'll ACTUALLY be useful, just like I WILL do to Mandrag AS SOON AS WE FIND HIM!" Bowser then shoved Dedede out of the way and began walking off yet again, only to be stopped yet again by Mewtwo's confusion. The psychic Pokemon did not look amused.

"(I believe it is clear what it troubling you…)" Mewtwo deduced. "(Not even when you transformed into Giga-Bowser have I seen you so upset).

Dedede got up and adjusted his cap. He gingerly walked over to Bowser, taking care not to invoke the Koopa King's rage.

"Look Bowz, I know you're upset over the Koop Troop-"

A maelstrom of flames emerged from Bowser's mouth and into the sky. Together, they formed a giant monstrous dragon. For a brief terrifying second, the beast glared at Dedede and Mewtwo, only to dissipate as quickly as it appeared. Bowser fell to the ground and began shaking violently. It took a moment for Mewtwo and Dedede to realize that the King was...crying.

"They're gone. All of em… The Elite Trio... Kamek… The Koopalings… J-J-..." Bowser's sobs grew louder and unfortunately for him, there were no Thwomps around to hide his shame. The other two fighters exchanged concerned looks; Bowser never cried openly in front of anyone, much less his fellow teammates. Dedede cautiously approached Bowser again, albeit for different reasons this time.

"There, there Bowz. I know how you're feelin'. I lost my army too. Adeleine was like a lil'sis to me and Bandy- he looked up to me about as much as your kid did to you. But know, they're probably both…" Dedede sniffled, but managed to recompose himself in time. "But we'll find 'em and get their bodies back! Heck, your kid and those other guys were fighters in the tourney already, so they'll still have their bodies. We just need to find them."

"(And defeat them. Not to mention all of the copies.)" Mewtwo pointed out. Dedede had hoped to avoid mentioning that part.

Bowser, still glum, stared at the figurine that was left behind. It was only now that they had a chance to take a good look at it and realized that it was a young koopa who looked to be the splitting image of a younger Bowser. The Bowser Jr. trophy slowly faded as the otherwise unrelated spirit flew about. It would seem that that Junior and the Koopalings would have no easy way to distinguish themselves from the copies until the actual fights. A grim silence fell over the group as this information settled.

"(Bowser.)"

The depressed king glanced up.

"(We have known each other since the Melee cycle. And, whilst I am not a very… friendly person, you and Ness were the closest to what I would consider a… friend. I do not have a personal stake in this crisis, but I shall follow you regardless. Besides, I'll get a chance to fight those who could not compete in the tournament, and I must get another shot at the entity who did this. It must be the strongest opponent I could possibly face!)"

"Of course, you couldn't leave your battlelust outta this…" Dedede muttered. Mewtwo simply turned away and huffed.

Bowser remained motionless as his associates' comments were processed. Finally, the koopa king stood up and muttered something under his breath. Under normal circumstances, it would be rather hard to hear, but fortunately these weren't quite ordinary circumstances.

"...Thank you."

Dedede and Mewtwo were floored. Bowser? Saying "thank you"?! Dedede would have taken this as a sign of the end of the world had the world not already ended. But any chance of other such impossible statements from Bowser were squashed as Bowser went back into permanent anger mode.

"Now come on! We gotta find Junior, the Koopalings, and the rest of my troops. Then, I'm gonna payback Master Hand, that Gleem-punk and anyone else who was involved in what happened that day! Nobody destroys the Koopa Troop and gets away with it!"

Bowser began walking towards the Norfair's exit, Mewtwo following and Dedede a bit further behind.

"Say Bowz?"

"What now?"

"You… you're not actually going to do that stuff that you said you were gonna do to Ganon, right?"

"..."

"..."

"(...)"

"...I'll think about it."

This is speculation for World of Light. Granted, it's been hinted that there won't be much, if any story beyond the opening and one or two cutscenes, but I have no idea where Bowser, Dedede, Mewtwo, or anyone else is in relation to when and where you get them. I am tempted to do a "side-B" to this where it's Bowser Jr. who's rescued by this point, but his father is not. Regardless, if I do write more World of Light oneshots, they'll probably be uploaded to AO3 rather than here (I do have a WoL oneshot for BML that I'm working on, but I decided not to tie-in any other WoL-based stuff to it), though I might just upload to both.