Multi-Man Smash has always been one of my personal highlights of the series, especially in Melee, where DK could slap the ground all day and send those Wireframes flying. With that out of the way, the show is a go!

Bowser's incredulous voice broke out with, "Wait, 500-Man Smash?!"

Master Hand cheerfully replied, "Yep! And as an added bonus..." Snapping his fingers, Master Hand conjured up a display before continuing, "Whoever KOs the highest amount of the Fighting Smash Team gets extra points added to their profile in the tournament standings, in addition to first pick for chore duty! However... if you get below a certain threshold, you will get penalized a quarter of your current standings." That raised murmurs of interest among the assembled crowd of Smashers, and Master Hand raised his hand to signal that silence was needed before concluding with, "On that note, we have a team battle today! Greninja and Snake versus... Palutena and Corrin!"

Dismissing the crowd, Master Hand then looked behind the curtain, where he saw his brother munching on a tray of cookies, and Crazy Hand, in a muffled voice, exclaimed, "Peach's cooking is the best!"

Intrigued, Master Hand went over to Crazy Hand to try some.

Much to everyone's relief, the earpieces that Red had found in the World of Light had been mass-produced for every Smasher once the two hands had been freed from Galeem and Dharkon's control, so that the Smashers could actually understand what the Pokémon were saying.

That could not have been more convenient for Snake, who was sitting with Greninja at the Spinda Café, going over strategies that they could use in their team battle, given that this was the first Smash tournament that both had attended at the same time. Snake, after taking a sip from a glass of Razz Juice, remarked, "Damn, this actually tastes pretty good." Looking at the Spinda who had given him the drink, he asked, "What's the secret?"

The Spinda said nothing, and instead stumbled its way to the back of the counter. Greninja, his eyes closed, began, "Spinda are Pokémon of very few words, I don't think you're gonna get much out of them."

Opening his eyes, Greninja saw that he was standing on the ceiling. After righting himself and fixing his tongue scarf out of embarrassment, he began, "Okay, so what should we do to beat a half-dragon as well as a literal goddess?"

Snake scratched his beard in thought, before answering, "I have grenades, landmines, C4 bricks, a tranquilizer, a mortar, an RPG, and I do have plenty of firearms… thank goodness Master Hand eased up on the gun rule." Pointing at the bandanna he was wearing while holding his SOCOM in the other hand, he smirked and said, "Unlimited ammo, baby." Reholstering his gun, he asked, "What do you have, Strider?"

Looking at a nearby clock, Greninja mused, "How much time do we have before our match?"

"Six hours, why?"

"You're going to be here for a while. See, I have Water Pledge, Night Slash, Spikes, U-Turn, Hydro Pump, Gunk Shot, Grass Knot, Ice Beam, Fire-type Hidden Power, Rock Slide, Bounce, Dark Pulse, Low Kick, Double Team, Substitute, Mat Block, Water Shuriken, and Shadow Sneak, and that's not even getting into the strategic portion!"

Snake slammed his head on the table in response.

Erdrick's blade clashed with Marth's Falchion, but while Erdrick was no slouch with a blade, Marth simply had more years of experience with the Falchion, and he effortlessly parried away Erdrick's blade before lunging with an overhead slash which Erdrick blocked with Kaclang, turning his body into hard steel at the cost of mobility. His body reverting back to normal, Erdrick lunged in and grabbed Marth, and with a knowing grin, he snapped his fingers, casting Kamikazee.

A bright glow came from Erdrick's body, and Marth watched in shock as Erdrick blew himself up, sending Marth flying into a nearby tree. Groaning upon hearing something crunch, Marth did everything in his power to not black out.

Erdrick, while not knocked out, could barely stand, instead relying on his sword to balance himself. Kamikazee had always been his incredibly powerful last resort attack if he was in a jam, but at the same time, it was something that basically rendered him useless.

Marth, a hand on his ribcage, limped over to Erdrick and shook his hand, choking out, "Nice job today."

Erdrick, with a weak smile on his face, groaned out, "You weren't so bad yourself." Almost falling over, he asked, "Would you like to go to the hospital?"

"Boy, would I… Caeda's not going to be happy."

"Do you know what this means?"

Red, looking at Matthew, asked, "What does it mean?"

Matthew, dressed as Red's rival, Blue, yelled, "I am the most powerful Pokémon trainer in the world!"

"Cut!"

Ivysaur felled a nearby elm tree, and Leaf, in exasperation, said, "Not that Cut, Ivysaur…" Ivysaur apologized, and Leaf turned to Red and Matthew, flashing them a thumbs-up, exclaiming, "Great job, guys!" Looking at Matthew, she asked, "I am curious, though… which six Poké Balls did you take from the Poké Ball room?"

Matthew sent out a Solrock, a Heracross, an Infernape, a Staraptor, a Weavile, and a Hydreigon out. The Brutal Pokémon, in a complete contradiction of its category, affectionately nuzzled Matthew with one of its arm heads, while Red and Leaf looked on in shock. Hydreigon growled something out, and Red said, "I… think it wants to be your partner, Matthew."

Matthew held out the Beast Ball that the Hydreigon had been kept in and pointed to himself, and the Hydreigon eagerly nodded. Matthew stroked its neck, and much to his surprise, it purred. Recalling all six Pokémon, he passed five of the Poké Balls to Red, saying, "Show me the footage at dinner," while walking to Master Hand's office with the Beast Ball in hand.

"Sure. Make sure you feed it on the regular, though."

Matthew, in his head, thought, "Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be," before thanking Master Hand and walking out of the office.

"Snake and Greninja VS Corrin and Palutena starts in three minutes! The match will be seven minutes maximum, with three stocks per Smasher!"

Marth and Erdrick looked up at the television in the hospital wing, while at the same time, Irebun, Solo, Eight, and Caeda, taking care of their respective acquaintances (in Caeda's case, her husband), enthusiastically took some stools into the room.

Matthew, in the middle of showing Sveta his new Pokémon, heard the notice, and, grabbing her hand, he excitedly dragged her to the main spectator room, returning Hydreigon at the same time.

Snake and Greninja stood on the blue teleporters, while next to them, Palutena and Corrin stood on the red ones. Up above, the stage list began randomly flashing images of various locales before settling on Banjo's home of Spiral Mountain. Snake and Greninja exchanged looks, the Ninja Pokémon helplessly shrugging just as the four of them were teleported to the mountain.

Snake disengaged his Octocamo, emitting electric sparks while saying, "Kept you waiting, huh?" Greninja came out of a Moon Ball and struck a pose, while Corrin dropped out of the sky in her dragon form and let out a ferocious roar before turning back to her human form. Lastly, Palutena entered from a pair of golden doors which glowed with a heavenly light.

Master Hand, in the background, boomed, "3… 2… 1… GO!"

As Snake assumed the CQC stance he had fought Liquid Ocelot in, Palutena pointed her staff at Snake, using Autoreticle to catch him off guard, while Greninja used Shadow Sneak, melting into a pool of shadow. As Corrin tracked the shadow and readied her left hand for a Dragon Fang Thrust, the shadow vanished, and as Corrin looked around in confusion, Greninja kicked her in the back, sending her flying.

Up above, Gruntilda zoomed by on her broom, jeering, "You had a choice between Hoshido and Nohr, tell me, what encouraged you to be such a bore?"

Snake found the rhyme to be pretty funny, and he activated his Octocamo once more before firing a few shots at Palutena with his SOCOM. Palutena weaved through the bullets in a fashion similar to Bayonetta before jumping at Snake and spinning her staff around herself, repeating ad infinitum before she managed to successfully drag Snake off into the left blast zone, taking the mercenary's first stock.

Watching the fight with Joker and a somewhat terrified Pit, Bayonetta mused, "Damn, the goddess has style…"

Joker asked, "Didn't she just use the same move over and over again?"

"Whatever works, little one…"

Greninja had successfully poisoned Corrin with a hard-hitting Gunk Shot, and he froze her solid with Ice Beam before using Low Kick to push her into the lower blast zone, taking away Corrin's first stock. Whirling around, he ate a magic-boosted heel to the face, courtesy of Palutena. His eyes narrowing, Greninja then used Grass Knot, tripping her. A kunai made out of dark energy materialized in Greninja's hand, and he used Night Slash on Palutena, sending her flying.

Snake jumped at Corrin before unleashing a flurry of kicks, before taking a potshot with his M4 Custom. Corrin dodged, and pinned Snake to the ground with Dragon Lunge, but before she could capitalize, a stray Water Shuriken knocked her off balance, and Snake pulled out his RPG-7. Taking aim, he led the shot a little before firing, sending Corrin towards the rightmost blast zone and taking her second stock.

At the same time, Greninja was sent careening off into the distance by Palutena's Explosive Flame, but not before he had blasted Palutena with a high-pressure Hydro Pump, sending her flying off the side, resulting in a stock trade.

Snake hit Corrin with a knee thrust followed by a downward double axe handle, and he planted a landmine at his feet before jumping over it and throwing a brick of C4 onto a spot a few meters away. Looking at Greninja, Snake said, "You know what needs to be done." Greninja nodded, and used Spikes and Toxic Spikes, coating the mountain in both normal and venomous caltrops.

Gruntilda zoomed by once more, taunting, "So what if you are a cool ninja frog, that stupid tongue scarf makes you look uglier than even a hog!"

The moment of lost concentration had allowed Corrin to get up close and shoot him with a point blank Dragon Fang Shot, stunning Greninja, before the jaws clamped shut, sending Greninja to the other side of the mountain. Snake then tackled Corrin, knocking her into the bed of Spikes that had been set earlier, causing some of the caltrops to get stuck in her feet.

At that moment, a Smash Ball fell onto the grass with a loud clunk, drawing the attention of both Snake and Palutena, and the latter used Explosive Flame to try and break it. The Smash Ball instead rolled onto Snake's landmine as a result of the force of the flames, and the ensuing explosion blew it towards the C4 brick that had been placed earlier. Snake detonated it, and the air suddenly became charged as he absorbed the power of the Smash Ball, radiating with a multicolored aura. Snake considered his options, given that he had both the Grenade Launcher from the third tournament as well as a new airstrike that Master Hand had granted him.

Having made a decision, he grinned, exclaiming, "It's showtime!" Pulling out a smoke grenade, he flung it onto the ground, obscuring Palutena and Corrin's view of him and Greninja as he began selecting his targets. Once he had decided on three missiles on Palutena and two on Corrin, he gave the signal, and five missiles were let loose, unerringly homing in on the two. The first missile sent Corrin flying off into the distance, while adding insult to injury when the second missile hit her after a good minute of chasing, taking her last stock.

Meanwhile, Palutena had dodged the first missile, but not the second and third ones, so she was holding onto her staff for support while the poison from Greninja's Toxic Spikes was slowly chipping away at her strength.

Young Link, with Saria and the Zelda from his timeline accompanying him, was watching in the main spectator's lobby with Matthew and Sveta, and upon seeing Snake's Final Smash, he almost spit out the hearty swill of Lon Lon Milk he had just drank.

"SHARE STOCK!"

Snapping his fingers, Master Hand transferred one of Palutena's two remaining stocks to Corrin. As she respawned, she bared her fangs in anger and began glowing with a purple aura as she turned into her dragon form, shooting a rapid torrent of Savage Breath towards Greninja, who barely managed to pull up Mat Block to shield himself.

Snake shot a Nikita missile at her, but the missile was destroyed upon contact with Corrin's Dragon Lunge. Letting out a hellacious scream of agony, Corrin charged Snake, the Yato Blade spinning like it was a chainsaw.

Looking behind him, Snake tripped up Corrin and kicked her off the stage with a low thrust kick behind him. As she tried to recover with Draconic Ascent, however, Snake jumped off and hit her with a brutal axe kick, sending her down to Spiral Mountain's lower blast zone and taking Corrin out of the match at the cost of Snake's second stock.

Gruntilda zoomed by for one last rhyme, and said, "The legendary mercenary has finally awoken, didn't he use to be old and broken?"

As Palutena looked on in shock, she regained her composure just in time to dodge a Gunk Shot courtesy of Greninja, who followed up by getting in close and using his tongue scarf to send her up into the air, before hitting her with an upward corkscrew kick. As Snake respawned, he saw Palutena being sent upwards by Greninja, and he jumped off the platform and landed an upwards dropkick, sending Palutena flying (and screaming) off into the distance.

Master Hand, upon seeing Palutena vanish, bellowed, "GAME!"

As the screen in the spectator's room transitioned into the victory screen, Master Hand's voice said, "BLUE TEAM… WINS!"

Snake did a spin kick and a side kick before assuming a CQC stance, saying, "Not even close!" while Greninja did a flip and a sweep kick before standing up and crossing his arms.

However, everyone else was talking about the mysterious power that Corrin had taken on, due to it being so unexpected…

The four of them back on the teleporter pads, Greninja, Palutena, Snake, and Corrin all received some Smash Coins from Master Hand as a reward for the match, with Greninja and Snake receiving more due to being the victors. After a congratulatory handshake to Snake for winning his first Smash match in four years, Master Hand dismissed the lot of them.

Once Snake walked back into his room, Sunny tackled him in a hug, exclaiming, "Papa Snake, that was amazing!" As Snake kneeled down and affectionately patted her on the back, Hal, with two of their six huskies walking beside him, joined in, the two huskies affectionately nuzzling Snake, Otacon, and Sunny.

I've been working on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: World of Light for quite a bit, but a chapter shouldn't be expected until late June or early July. In the meantime, enjoy some slice-of-life filler, Grunty's rhymes were really fun for me to work on.