The invasion from the Floows stirred up the atmosphere at the Smash Mansion even more. Not only did the Smashers had to come up with a plan to rescue their friends from Subspace, now they had to watch their own backs. The disappearance of Master Hand and Crazy Hand also didn't make the situation better.

The Smashers discussed, argued and shouted, but in the end, no one had any idea what to do about Subspace. Some wanted to head straight into it and do like before. After all, if defeating Tabuu freed them last time, so they just needed to defeat him again and everyone would leave safe and unharmed. Others wanted to think better and search for another alternative. The more they could avoid confrontation with the lord of Subspace, the better. Because, in the end, it was charging at him mindlessly that didn't defeat him once and for all. They needed to study their enemy better and believed they would get some answers investigating the outskirts of the city, where Lucario had felt the dark aura.

In midst of all their arguing, Wario stayed quiet in the corner, formulating his own plan. Unlike the other Smashers, he already knew a way to enter and leave Subspace. He nervously tapped the badge on his pocket for the tenth time that evening, making sure it was still there. That badge was capable of transporting its holder to Subspace, but only whoever was holding it and no one else. He obviously had a huge advantage over the other Smashers.

An advantage he shouldn't have to begin with.

The plumber cursed himself for that. Not for having an advantage, but for being so stupid. He shouldn't have agreed on working for Tabuu. He should have learned that nothing good would come from that blue asshole. Yet, the false promises of money were just too much for him. He should have known he wasn't getting paid.

If the other Smashers ever found out that Wario betrayed them in exchange for money, he was done for it. But at least he apologized to Lucario, so that was something. Even if he was sure Lucario didn't understand it was an apology. Wario had to scram and hide until the storm was over. Even if he didn't know in what he had helped Tabuu with, he was sure it was something serious. That Smashball he had just handed over spelt trouble all over it. From its odd coloring and overwhelming sensation of power it had, even more than a regular Smashball, it was no wonder Tabuu needed help with that.

The fact that it was hidden in the depths of the Ruins near Smashville was also a huge red flag.

But addiction was a powerful thing, and Wario's addiction to money spoke louder. Now he was paying the price. The fat plumber looked at the tensed up Smashers in front of him. He needed to give that badge to someone. Preferably someone who would take it without asking too many questions. Or someone who wasn't fast enough to get him once he ran away.

He discarded Sonic and Captain Falcon immediately.

As his eyes fell upon a certain Smashers, he shrugged his shoulders and decided already. That would do.

While the Smashers argued in the living room, Popo and Toon Link waited for Ness to wake up in his bedroom. The pain of the last battle was still show on the psychic boy's face, making Popo wonder just how intense were the attacks from the Floows.

Ness grunted and slowly opened his eyes. "What…?" he asked in confusion. He was resting in his bedroom, instead of lying down on the dining room's floor. Seated on the other end of his bed was Popo, while Toon Link was seated on his chair with his arms rested on its top.

"You're okay!" Popo exclaimed in relief. "I mean, you are okay, right?"

"I feel like a truck ran over me ten times," Ness said. He gathered all his strength and sat up. "But I'm okay, I guess."

The memories of the Floows came to his mind and Ness shivered. As far as he remembered, Floows weren't the most aggressive of the Subspace enemies. They were very strong, most Smashers avoided them when they could, but they weren't the most aggressive. What was up with them?

"So, what happened after I got knocked out?" he asked.

"Toon Link and some other Smashers came to help and expelled them," said Popo pointing to Toon Link, who waved to him as if saying it was nothing. "Also, you should thank Rosalina for bringing you here."

"Will do."

Popo and Toon Link waited a few more minutes for Ness to recover enough so he could stand up. Once they were all set, the three Smashers left the room and headed towards the living room. To their surprise, most Smashers had already left, with only Rosalina and Luigi seated on the sofa. Luma just floated by his mother side, looking as worried as the two.

"Oh, you are awake," said Rosalina as she noticed the three boys entering. "Are you alright, Ness?"

"Sure am, ma'am," Ness said with a nod of his head. "Thanks for helping me."

"You are welcome," she smiled. "But you should be thanking your friends over there. They were the ones who took out the Floows."

Popo's expression became bitter, but no one noticed that. He wasn't strong enough on his own, so what Rosalina just said only made him feel worse. If Ness depended only on him he would be doomed. He felt weak and tired when fighting alone, which made him wonder if Nana was right after all.

It wasn't the first time he felt that feeling of exhaustion. He would feel it every time he found himself alone in the battlefield. Yet, he never fought alone for very long until he got knocked out of the stage and reunited with Nana again, so he never gave too much thought about that.

Maybe he had a problem…

"Anyway, you are probably wondering what that reunion had come to, am I correct?" the pale blonde woman asked.

"Nobody could agree on what to do," Luigi said in a tone of defeat, his head rested on his hands. "A group of Smashers is preparing to leave to go rescue the others, while others are going to stay here and do research on the Mansion's library and the outskirts of Smashville."

"Oh, really?" Popo's interest peaked. "They are going to enter Subspace just like that?"

"They are still getting ready to leave, but-a yeah," the plumber sighed. "I still think it's-a-"

"When are they leaving?" he asked enthusiastically, which made him receive shocked glares from the others.

"Wait, dude, are you serious? You wanna go with them?" Ness asked in disbelief.

"Of course I want! I need to go find Nana! You don't expect me to sit down and wait for her to return, do you?""

"Popo, please listen to us…" Rosalina tried reasoning, but was largely ignored by Popo, whose attention was focused on Ness.

"No, that's stupid! You're stupid! What do you expect to accomplish with this?!"

"I would find Nana, for once. I would know if she was alright."

Popo was taken aback by the frustrated scream that escaped from hid friend. "Would you just shut up about Nana?! I have news for you, she is a Smasher! A frigging, competent Smasher who is in the company of other frigging competent Smashers! She is not some fragile little girl just waiting for your overprotective ass to come over and sweep her away from that place!" Ness ranted, not once pausing to breathe.

"Ness, I…"

"Do you even care about the other Smashers at all?!" he asked pointing his index finger at the surprised Ice Climber. "Or are you thinking about going with this idiotic plan just because you wanna see Nana and no one else?"

"Of course I care about the other Smashers!"

"How much you wanna bet that if your sister wasn't trapped there, you would stay?"

Popo stayed silent and looked away. Those were rhetorical questions he wouldn't even bother answering.

"You know who else is stuck in there? Lucas! You know, my best friend here?" the psychic gritted his teeth. "But I'm not going to charge into Subspace like a lunatic because I know I'm going to cause more trouble for him than help him! Even if this is the thing I want to do the most!"

A tense silence fell between them. Ness was visibly shaking from nervousness and took deep breath in order to calm down. "You know what? Do what you want. I'm gonna stay and think better about what to do," he said and stormed off towards his room.

Popo stood there, completely dumbfounded at his friend's outburst. Luigi got up from the sofa and put a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of sympathy. "I'm also worried about-a Mario," he said. "But I'm not-a going with the others. I don't-a believe it's the best-a choice. I want to investigate the outskirts, because we might-a find something important there that-a might help us. But that's-a what I believe."

"So what are you saying? That I should stay too?" Popo asked bitterly.

"I'm-a saying that you should do what you believe it's-a right," Luigi said. He then pointed at the exit. "Just try to decide soon, because the rescue group is leaving in a few minutes."

Popo lowered his head and let out a frustrated grunt. "Nana, please hang in there…" he whispered before running off to where Ness went.

Luigi smiled as he saw the Ice Climber leaving the room. Looks like he decided to stay in the end. He turned around and found only Rosalina and Luma seated on the sofa. "Wait, where's Toon Link?"

Rosalina looked at the exit that leaded to the entrance hall. "I think he has already decided what the right thing to do was," she said.


If there was one enemy Nana absolutely loathed it would definitely be the Shaydas. With their double blades, deadly attacks and only one glowing weak point in the center of their body, which they made sure to protect, Shaydas were one tricky enemy to deal with. Luckily, they usually attacked their opponents alone. Even when attacking in groups, it usually grouped with other Subspace creatures. It was rare to find more than four of them together.

So when a group of seven spawned right in front of Nana's group, she knew they were in trouble. The Shaydas separated and headed straight for the attack. Three targeted Samus, two decided to take care of Palutena, and the last two split up to fight Nana and Lucas each.

Nana rolled to the side and avoided the Shaydas' blade that was about to hit her head. Taking the opportunity that its red sphere in its chest was exposed, she swung her hammer and hit it with all her strength. Despite it not flinching from the attack, Nana could notice from the weak glow that the sphere now emitted that it dealt a lot of damage. What a lucky hit!

From Samus' side, however, things weren't getting that lucky. Having to fight off three Shaydas at the same time put her in a difficult situation. She couldn't even cry over for help, because everyone was already having troubles.

Clenching her teeth, Samus shot the paralyzer beam at one of the Shaydas, hoping it would make it stay still just long enough for her to finish off the other two. She turned around and used her plasma whip on the Shaydas right behind her, however, the creature used it's blades to counter her attack. She crouched just in time to avoid a powerful slash from her enemy and rolled away from the circle they were trapping her in.

As the three approached her, Samus, still on the floor and trying her best to remain calm, activated her rocket boots and kicked the closest one to her. Combined with the kick's strength, a powerful jet flame escaped from the heels, dealing enough damage to destroy the Shaydas and making Samus slide away from the group of enemies.

"Guess they aren't as useless as I thought," Samus said with a feeling of triumph on her face.

But that was no time for celebrations. She quickly got to her feet and was joined by Palutena, who managed to evade the couple of Shaydas trying to make her keep distance from the other Smashers.

From Lucas and Nana's side, the two tried to get close to each other, but the Shaydas kept slashing and forcing them to step back every time they made some progress. Lucas tried what he could to destroy his opponent, but it seemed like that Shaydas in particular wasn't going to give any opening for him to hit its weak point. What a pain to deal with.

Nana was also having some difficulties. Not because her opponent was strong or skillful, but rather because she felt exhausted. She usually was more resistant than that. She had been fighting only one Shaydas, for crying out loud!

Breathing heavily, Nana saw an opening on the two headed creature's chest and used the Squall Hammer. The Shaydas was killed and she felt a tinge of relief.

She looked over at Lucas and saw him having difficulties. That Shaydas wouldn't leave its weak point exposed by nothing. "Lucas, you need help over there?" she asked with a weak voice.

"Uh, sure. But… are you alright?" Lucas asked in concern, but not taking his eyes away from his opponent. He used his PK Freeze, only for the Shaydas to cross its blades over its chest and block the attack. "Dang it…"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me!" she said trying to not sound like she had run a marathon.

"If you are so interested in helping, how about you give us a hand over here?" Palutena asked as she countered one Shaydas' blade.

"I-I can take care of myself! Go help them!" said Lucas.

Nana weakly nodded with her head and dashed to their side with heavy steps. What was her problem? She shouldn't be this tired at this point.

"Get away from them!" she shouted and used the Squall Hammer at the closest Shaydas.

The two headed creature turned to her and approached her with its blades in a fighting stance. Nana had to step away in order to keep her distance from them. Unfortunately, that also meant distancing from Palutena and Samus. At least she was making their job on defeating the other Shaydas easier.

She took one more look at the two older women fighting. Palutena was doing the best that she could to stay close to Samus. The two stood back to back, with the bounty huntress shooting her paralyzer, while giving the green haired deity the chance to hit the shocked Shaydas with her staff.

They formed a good team, Nana had to admit. A melancholic smile appeared on her face as the two continued fighting in a synchronized fashion. If only…

"Lamenting won't take me anywhere," she whispered and tightened her grip on her hammer. "I'll find you, Popo. We'll be a team again, I promise."

Gathering all of the remaining strength she still had, Nana charged at the Shaydas.


"(Lucario, can we stop? I'm feeling tired,)" Pikachu complained. They have been wandering around Subspace for a good amount of time and he desperately needed to rest for a little bit.

"I think resting wouldn't be a bad idea," Lucario said, also feeling pretty tired.

The two Pokémon sat on the floor and let out a heavy sigh. After having to fight off Subspace creatures and walk around without knowing where they were going, it was only obvious they would eventually get tired.

"(Who'd have thought Subspace was so tricky to walk around?)" Pikachu said.

"Indeed, it is a difficult place to find yourself in. I'm sure we will eventually find someone, though."

"(Hope so. Don't wanna stay here forever, you know? To think you guys had to go through this bef-)" the mouse stopped abruptly mid-sentence, making Lucario look at him with confused eyes.

"'You guys'? I hope you do realize you were here before, too."

"(Nah, I was distracted. You know what I meant,)" Pikachu shrugged his tiny shoulders. "(It just feels weird and awful to be here again.)"

Lucario only nodded, still not fully convinced. Pikachu have been acting strange, especially since they have been kidnapped. He seemed distracted, asking obvious questions about Subspace and then denying that he was ever in doubt and mostly observed his surroundings in a very curious manner, as if he had completely forgotten that he had ever been there.

"(Ahhh, I wanna meet someone soon! I'm tired of having to fight all these enemies with just the two of us! I'm SO not used to this,)" he threw his arms in the air and fell on his back on the floor.

Lucario rubbed his temples with his paws. Pikachu also has been acting considerably childish too. Not that he was an example of a mature Pokémon to begin with, but this time he seemed to be overdoing.

"Hmmm…"

Maybe scanning his aura wouldn't be so bad. He wasn't invading his thoughts or anything. He was only going to check up his emotional state. That was not invasive at all, he was only worried. Perhaps being in Subspace for the second time somehow messed up with his friend's brain. He needed to know what his problem was in order to help him.

A faint sound of static in the distance interrupted any plans of aura scanning he had. Lucario gave out a tired sigh and got up from the floor. He wished he could rest more, but if he stayed still, those Spaaks would electrocute him mercilessly.

"Pikachu, get up! We have company," Lucario ordered as he got into a fighting stance.

"(Oh, right, those… fluffy clouds,)" Pikachu said as he got on all fours. "(What horrible, horrible clouds. So scary…)"

"Just because electricity doesn't hurt you as much as it hurts me, you don't need to make less of this situation," Lucario replied annoyed.

"(Heh, you're right. Electricity doesn't hurt me as much,)" the mouse smirked and used agility to avoid a jolt of electricity from one of the Spaaks. "(But what can I do if they are so cute?)"

The aura Pokémon preferred to ignore that statement and charged up an Aura Sphere. He launched it at one of the Spaaks shooting Pikachu, which made it turn grey in anger. The Spaak advanced on Lucario and launched a strong ray of electricity at the Pokémon, not giving him time to avoid it. The steel type grunted in pain and fell to his knees.

"(I take it back! You guys are not cute at all!)" Pikachu shouted, getting in between Lucario and the angry Spaak.

Pikachu jumped in the air and spun his body. His cheeks were overflowing with electricity, enough to destroy that Spaak. Giving out a cry, he hit the grey cloud with all he got and killed the Spaak, but not without suffering some backlash.

"(Ouch!)" Pikachu winced as the cloud disappeared. The little Pokémon fell on the floor and was immediately helped by Lucario.

"What happened?" he asked in concern.

"(Nothing… that thing managed to hit me before being destroyed. Guess I need to be careful with those electric attacks in the end,)" Pikachu let out an awkward laugh and charged at the other Spaaks.

Lucario followed him suit. That was not the time to make questions. They still had a long battle ahead of them.


"Hey, Ness. Open the door already," Popo said knocking on the door.

He waited a few seconds before he heard the doorknob clicking sound. The door opened and he was greeted by a rather surprised Ness.

"Yo," Ness said half-heartedly. "What? Weren't you going with the others?"

"I was, but apparently some big-headed jerk can't live without me," he replied sarcastically.

Ness rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "And you guys say I'm full of myself. Go get a mirror before saying anything else about me," he said.

With a bat on one hand, his backpack on his back and his yo-yo and room keys on his pocket, Ness closed the door of his room.

"So… what now?" Popo asked.

"You, Toon Link and I will go to the outskirts with the others, of course!" he then stopped to realize in what he had just said and noticed someone was missing. "Wait, where is Toon Link anyway?"

"No idea. He kind of disappeared after we had that argument."

"How much you wanna bet that fairy midget abandoned us and went with the rescue group?!" the jet haired exclaimed in frustration. While the two argued, Toon Link had probably run away with the other Smashers.

Popo didn't mind Toon Link going with the other group that much. He felt it would be a huge hypocrisy of his part to condemn his actions, considering he, himself, was planning on doing the exact same thing before. They now needed to concentrate on the outskirts and see if they could find something useful about Subspace there.

Despite all of their disagreements and arguing, Popo was sure he and Ness at least had a mutual and silent agreement on something: they didn't want to go do research at the library and die of boredom, while being suffocated by thousands of books.

The two prepared to leave to the entrance hall to see if someone was there, when a voice called over from behind them. "Oh, boys, what a wonderful timing!" Zelda said waving at them.

Popo and Ness froze in their place, which was a big mistake. By staying still, they indicate that they acknowledged princess' presence. And so, they couldn't accidentally ignore her and what, they were already assuming, terrible request she would make.

"We need more people to do research about Subspace in the library. Would you two care to join us?"

Zelda's voice showed nothing but sweetness and politeness, but the two young Smashers could only process them as a death sentence. Was there any escape?

"Actually, we were going to the outskirts with the others… Sorry…" Ness said trying his best to shake the princess' request off, without offending her.

"There are already so many Smashers going to the outskirts. Only I, Villager, Greninja, Rosalina and Luma will stay.

"B-But isn't that enough?" Popo asked.

"I am afraid it isn't. The library in this mansion is quite vast, as you can already tell."

"I can't! I haven't stepped inside of it for years!" was what Ness wanted to say. Instead, he just nodded with his head.

Popo knew there was no way they could refuse Zelda, so the two begrudgingly followed the oblivious princess to the library.


If Tabuu had a face, it would be grinning at the yet another successful capture right in front of him. He gestured with his non-solid hand for the Primid carrying the Smasher trophy to place it right beside Kirby's trophy.

So far, he managed to capture three Smashers, which he found very impressive, considering the short amount of time he had put his plan into action. If things continued that way, he would have all of them in his clutches in no time.

It was a rather amusing situation indeed. Either his army had become exceedingly strong, or the Smashers had gotten worse. For the sake of his ego, Tabuu believed both cases were true.

Now, if only he found an easier way to capture the remaining Smashers outside of Subspace. He almost got the red-capped boy, but with so many fighters fighting off the Floows, it came to no surprise that he ended up escaping. Tabuu would deal with him later, when he was alone. For now, he would deal with the ones inside Subspace. He wondered who would be the next one to fall.

His bets were on the small Pokémon, or the blonde bounty huntress.


I was going to say who the other two captured Smashers were, but I preferred to let the suspense in the air. Even though you guys probably at least have an idea of what kind of Smashers the Subspace army is targeting.

Anyway, reviews are welcomed!