The loud rumbling had been the first warning sign. Experience had taught Mario and Kirby, plus Peach and Zelda to a lesser extent, that such a noise tended to be the signal for something approaching. Something usually very powerful, often very huge, and almost always very hostile.

The second warning sign was the dark red clouds that covered the sky above the stadium. This tended to come with an sense of dark, ominous power, and this instance was no exception.

The third and biggest warning, though, was the huge airship that the clouds seemed to be surrounding. While Zelda was not exactly familiar with such machines, in Mario and Peach's past experiences, large airships tended to signal the arrival of big trouble. Kirby had somewhat similar experiences, but his reaction to the approaching ship was a little different to those of the others.

"Ha...Halberd?" Kirby said, drawing Mario's attention quickly.

"Wait," the plumber said, "you know that ship?"

"Ya!" Kirby replied. "That Meta Knight's ship! You know! New guy, look like Kirby but with mask and cape?"

Mario remembered a character like that. He had seemed okay, albeit a little secretive and solitary. For some reason, he had the feeling that this character was not currently in control of his ship.

Before Mario could think further into it, a door on the bottom of the ship opened, releasing a sea of small, dark puple-ish spheres onto the stage. More strangely, the spheres coalesced into several strange beings that soon surrounded Mario and Kirby.

Despite the experience between the two, both couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Not only were they facing unknown creatures, but something about them seemed...unnerving. Unnatural even. Kirby was the first to act.

"Uh...who you be?" he asked.

Despite having no visible mouth, one of the creatures replied...or tried to.

"We...Primids...of the Subspace Emissary...we come...for this world..." it said.

"Huh?" Mario said. "This-a world? Well, sorry to burst your-a bubble, but there are a bunch of guys around here who I'm pretty sure are more than capable of-a foiling any invasion plan."

"Yeah!" Kirby added. "You no stand chance! Just go away!"

"Fighters...Smashers..." the creature continued, unabated. "They will all be dealt with...you will be dealt with...and this world...WILL FALL!"

With that, the creature leaped at Mario with its arm prepped for a punch. Though Mario was startled, he was able to dodge this attack and land some hard blows to it. Apparently, the beings weren't exactly tough, because those few blows were enough to defeat it, sending it careening into its comrades before dissolving into the spheres from which it seemed to have spawned. Mario looked behind him and saw Kirby Vulcan Jabbing away a number of similar beings, some wielding Beam Swords, others with what resembled strange Ray Guns.

"Hey!" Peach exclaimed, still watching in the now-panicking crowd with Zelda. "What's going on here?!"

"No idea," Zelda replied, "but it looks like Mario and Kirby could use some help!"

Peach nodded in agreement, and the two princesses rushed into the fray, Zelda teleporting onto the stage using Faeroe's Wind while Peach simply floated down to join the heroes.

"Huh? Peach? Zelda?" Kirby said in surprise.

"What are-a you two doing?" Mario asked, also somewhat surprised by the two princesses suddenly arriving on the battlefield.

"What does it look like we're doing?" Zelda fired back. "We're here to help you with...whatever these things are!"

"Yes," Peach agreed, "we weren't about to let you take on all these...things, whatever they are, alone! And besides..."

As she said this, one of the beings attempted to sneak up behind her for an attack. However, Peach noticed it and smacked it with her parasol, knocking the creature out in one hit. Another tried as well, but Peach slammed into it with Peach Bomber, the force of the impact blowing the creature into another, taking both of them out in one hit. While that was happening, Zelda had blasted another group of creatures with Din's Fire, leaving only a pillar of flame, and then a smoking scorch mark where hey once stood.

"...we weren't going to let you two have all the fun of beating the snot out of them!" Peach finished with a wink, as the remaining creatures backed off slightly.

Despite this, Mario still looked a bit apprehensive. While he knew both princesses were more than capable of holding their own in a fight, he was still a little apprehensive about letting the princesses get into one. Partly because of the fact that one of them was the princess of his own homeworld, but also because the other was also a princess, and the...close friend of another seasoned warrior. He knew full well that if Zelda got hurt, that warrior would likely hold him and Kirby responsible for it. The fact that both of them had also become very good friends of his (one more so than the other) was also a rather large point of concern.

Still, both princesses did seem to be more than capable of handling the creature, and in any case, the creatures didn't seem to be that big of a threat, mostly relying on numbers to try and gain an advantage. And numbers was something they seemed to have lots of - even now more of the strange creatures were spawning around them, some of them armed, and they were being joined by what appeared to be machines made to resemble malevolent thunderclouds. While they seemed like the kind of mooks that were relatively easy to beat, in those kinds of numbers, getting rid of all of them would take a while for just him and Kirby. Having the help of more Smashers might help them take out the remaining creatures quicker.

Besides, the princesses did need practise for the tournament too. And fighting hostile creatures was always more fun with more people involved.

"Alright-a." Mario said with a sigh. "Go nuts. Just-a be careful."

"Oh don't worry about us, Mario!" said Peach. "You and Kirby just try and keep up!"

At this, Mario couldn't help but smirk. "I don't-a think we're gonna have a problem doing that." he said as the four Smashers, almost on instinct, started to draw closer together as the creatures slowly, almost tentatively, advanced on them. Despite the numbers being against them, all four were confident they would be able to handle this threat.

"Ready?" Mario asked the others. All nodded in reply, readying themselves.

"HERE WE GO!" Mario yelled his battle cry.

And with that, the four Smashers leapt out at the hordes of creatures and, unbeknownst to them, a fight they'd never forget.


And here's another chapter. Yeah, now the Emissary has arrived with hostile intentions. Can the Smashers beat them back?!

...Okay, you probably know, but just pretend you don't!

Kirby: Know what?

Nothing! Get out of here!

Anyway, constructive reviews wanted, please! I don't own anyone in this story!