For the next two days, Mario, Ness, and Marth remained at the Smash Brothers' underground headquarters, preparing for their upcoming journey to Fourside. Mario wasn't given too many details about what was going to happen; all Impa told him was that they were going to gather the Original 25 together, and once they were ready, they would make their final assault on Master Hand's Room. She also mentioned a tournament that would likely delay their departure but might prove useful in rallying more to their cause.

The day after Mario and Ness shared their story with the rest of the resistance fighters, Marth had recovered sufficiently to be able to walk and converse with them, although Nurse Joy had forbidden him from accompanying the Smash Brothers to Fourside, insisting he needed more time before being fit for battle.

Still, he was able to spend the day watching some of the group's fundamental training routines, which took place in a large, empty chamber that contained nothing but a few wooden platforms and a dusty old Sandbag that resembled a firm, upright pillow with two black dots for eyes.

Though the sessions were small and rather informal, Marth was impressed with the diversity of fighting skills that were used against the same stationary opponent. Most of the fighters he witnessed that day, he was told, hailed from Hyrule and a distant place called the Great Sea. One was a skeletal, shirtless old man who, at first glance, appeared feeble with his simple spear, but this impression was quickly shattered when he executed a series of complex martial arts moves, kicked the Sandbag up to the ceiling where it bounced off, and casually skewered it on his spear on the way down.

"Never underestimate your opponent," Orca said as he instructed a group of novices, making them look foolish when he turned their aggressive sword jabs against them. "You must have speed, dexterity, and most importantly, patience; otherwise, strength means nothing." The man seemed a bit gruff and humorless for Marth's taste, but he could respect his talent.

Later that afternoon, what Marth could only describe as a birdman (he had a beak-like nose, dark skin, and winged arms) gave a demonstration on aerial combat. First he dove a few times from one of the higher platforms onto the Sandbag, swiping at it with each pass. Then he brought in Pit for a more hands-on experience; they clashed midflight, twirling head over heel as they dodged each other's blows, yet both managing to regain control before nearing the ground and floating to the surface.

"Use the space you're given," the Rito Postman advised. "If you're not conscious of your surroundings, then your enemy will use it against you. I've seen many a Moblin fall to much smaller warriors because it wasn't looking where it was going and ran into a wall."

In the evening, a burly, white-haired Goron—Darunia, the king of Goron Mountain—showed some of the beefier Smash Brothers how to control their strength. With the battering the Sandbag had taken all day, Marth was astounded that it hadn't burst into a snowfall of stuffing by now. What was more, he could have sworn a couple times that it hopped or stood back up on its own. Could it, somehow, be sentient?

"Power is only as useful as your ability to wield it," boomed the brown, boulder-like being. He brought back his fist and drove it into the Sandbag, causing it to rebound at least five or six times off the walls and ceiling before Darunia snatched it out of the air and threw it to the ground. "Master Hand's Wire Frames are many, but they are neither as smart nor as strong as us. Know that, and turn your fear into a courage to match the Hero of Time himself."

Marth wondered about Link and Zelda; though he knew they had made it safely to the city, what would it be like when he and Roy finally got to fight alongside them and many others who he had once considered competitors? He wasn't overly concerned about the Wire Frames, but what about the metal clones who had already proven more than a match for their counterparts? And what about Master Hand himself?

The following day was mostly spent packing the necessary supplies and making final preparations for their next adventure. It was hoped that they wouldn't run into too much trouble finding the Original 25 at the tournament, but they had to prepare for the worst. With the exception of Marth, Nurse Joy, and a few guards (hardly necessary, but just an extra precaution), most of the Smash Brothers were accompanying them.

"Isn't the Fourside Colosseum really far away from here?" Ness asked as they made their way down the tunnel that led southeast toward the city.

"Don't worry about that," Impa said, leading them with a Banana Fairy lantern. Her comment needed no further explanation because a few seconds later, the tunnel became significantly wider and revealed the secret to their efficient travel: mine carts.

Four separate sets of tracks ran parallel to each other and the rocky walls. On each track, several large mine carts were connected like trains, big enough to fit eight to ten people each. They were speckled with rust, and the splintery levers looked about as reliable as a quad made of dinosaur bones.

"I know they don't look like much," Impa was quick to acknowledge. "But we have been using them for years without any problems. Choose your cart and we'll be off in a few minutes." Not one for mincing words, she went off to address other clusters of Smash Brothers and instruct them to board in an orderly fashion.

Mario and Ness, curious to see the dimly lit tunnel as they rode along, climbed into the foremost cart and sat down on cold metal seats as the assemblage filed in behind them.

Ten minutes later, they were off. Darunia and other brawny individuals manned the levers at the back of each line. They heaved, and slowly, with much squeaking and grinding, the lines shifted into motion. At first, they had to continue pumping the levers to keep them going, but after a while, they had enough momentum to allow gravity and the wheels on the tracks to do all the work.

Inside their cart, Mario and Ness found themselves among rather strange company. Besides a few Beanish and Waddle Doos, three in particular caught their attention. One was a young woman with dark braided hair who dressed like a full-blown Native American with moccasins, a beige animal skin dress, and a headband with a red feather sticking out.

Next to her was what appeared for all intents and purposes like a light orange skull with eyes and a short body composed of magenta appendages and some kind of brown, furry tutu. He also had three feathers sticking out of the top of his head and carried a stick with another small skull on the end.

Finally, the last passenger was a bear with a long snout wearing…yellow shorts and a blue backpack. Bear though he was, his tranquil eyes and quiet demeanor gave the impression of cuddly innocence. The three of them appeared to know one another.

"It's a-good to meet you," Mario said, reaching out and shaking their hands. Since meeting Pac-man and Bomberman (and really since becoming involved in the Smash Tournaments), he was past the stage of being weirded out by diverse Nintendonian beings. "I'm a-Mario."

"I'm Banjo," the bear said heartily with a throaty Southern accent. Suddenly, a red bird with a long yellow beak popped out of his backpack. "And I'm your comic relief. Kazooie's the name. Even though this bumbling idiot I'm attached to is clumsy enough to have his own slapstick comedy show." The Breegull's sass was almost tangible.

Banjo sighed. "Same old Kazooie. But anyway, it's really great to be here. The Isle o' Hags has been kinda boring lately. We heard about these Smash Tournaments a coupla years ago and decided to relocate here for a while in hopes of joinin' in, but sadly, we've yet to get an invitation…."

"Bear and Bird have waited long time," the skull man added in broken phrases. "Mumbo thinks tournament system be rigged." Why Mumbo Jumbo spoke in third person was a mystery even to Banjo—just as perplexing as the similar speech pattern of the shaman's female counterpart.

"Humba knows magic much better than big heap bone brain," Humba Wumba began. Kazooie rolled her eyes; there was literally no topic the two rival shamans couldn't turn into a debate about which one was the better witch doctor. "Humba sees that Master Hand uses big heap dark power to control his armies. He no want fair play; he want control."

The screeching of the carts grew deafening for several seconds as they turned steeply to the right and dropped like a log flume to another flat stretch. They then passed a boarding station on the left, which Impa informed them led up to the north side of the city, near Professor Frankly's library.

"So…you guys came from a place called Isle o' Hags?" Ness felt confused. "I've never heard of it. Why are you helping the Smash Brothers instead of just staying safe at home?"

"You're not much of a history buff, are you, kid?" Kazooie scoffed, gesticulating with her wings. "Our island is deeply connected with your world. I guess you weren't around back then, when the Copyright Wars were in full motion—"

"—Let's keep the history lessons to a minimum, Kazooie," Banjo said, quickly changing the subject. "Right now, we've got bigger things to worry about. 'Cause if Master Hand seizes control, it'll be bad news for everyone, even for those outside the Nintendo Mainland." He turned to Ness. "That's why we're still here—to keep widespread conflicts like the Copyright Wars from happenin' again."

For some reason, the term rang a bell in the plumber's mind, but he couldn't quite recall what the memories were. Clearly it was a sensitive subject for Banjo, so he decided to set the issue aside for another time.

"Tiny psychic boy has big magic skills," Mumbo said to Ness, who decided to take it as a compliment. "You teach us mind powers?"

"Idiot Mumbo not ready for new spells," Humba objected. "He still fails with small magic. You teach real shaman first?"

Fortunately for Ness, he didn't have to answer this question because the mine cart train, after much winding around bends in the tunnel and rolling up and down slopes, began to decelerate. They had reached the end of the line with a similar crude boarding station and another narrow tunnel leading up and out.

"We're here," Impa called from a cart to their left. "The Grande Snifit Hotel. Welcome to Fourside."

"Your highness, I must insist that we leave at once."

Princess Nyna looked out from the tallest tower of the castle, her heart wrenched by the horrid scene before her. Her home was in ruins. Strange purple beings ran rampant through the streets, contending with the armored guards and pillaging every home they came across. She couldn't understand it; where had they come from? Surely they should have been spotted ten miles away across the desert. Yet here they were, as if they had spontaneously spawned out of the inner wall.

But that wasn't the worst part. Encircling the entire medieval capital were dozens of monstrous creatures ranging in size from ten to thirty feet tall and at least twice as long. Manaketes-turned-dragons were closing in on the outer wall, as if coming to finish off whatever the Wire Frames had started. She couldn't make out the beasts' details from here, but judging from the splotches of color she could see, there were red Fire Dragons, white Ice Dragons, green Wyverns (they were the only airborne ones), and sallow orange Earth Dragons, all converging on them.

Akaneia had a large army of soldiers and warlocks on reserve, but they would be no match for this kind of assault. The Academy's reinforcements were their only hope.

The young woman shook her head, her fair hair looped back into a long ribboned tail that hung down to the waist of her delicate blue-and-white dress, her bright cerulean eyes glistening with noble serenity.

Her bodyguards and advisors looked exasperated. "Princess Nyna, we cannot count on Gotoh's magicians arriving in time. We must evacuate into the catacombs in hopes that you shan't be discovered."

"I will not abandon my people this time."

She leaned out the window, oblivious to her own safety, desperately searching the horizon for some sign of the help they needed. Was all as lost as her chief advisor claimed?

There they were! A small cluster of figures coming from the southeast where she had been facing. She could just make out the solid red dot of Gotoh's robe at the front of some hundred-odd magicians, double-timing it to the gate. And beside him…could it be? Real Smashers? She knew from Impa that Marth and Roy were currently out of the picture, but perhaps Akaneia now stood a chance….

"No, Princess; you won't."

She spun around at the sound of her entire entourage of protectors' throats being slit systemically by a hunched figure in a dark green robe wielding a curved dagger. As the last man crumpled to the stone floor of the royal bedroom, the figure raised his head to display inhumanly gray skin; long, matted black hair; and lifeless white eyes.

Nyna reached for a sword attached to the family crest on the wall behind her, but the man (if he could be called that) waved a hand nonchalantly, pinning her arms to her sides with invisible magic. She trembled, but raised her chin in defiance.

"You're too late. Master Hand may have unlocked the Shield of Seals to gain the allegiance of you and the Dark Dragon, but our heroes will put a stop to your invasion before you have the chance to defeat us."

The corner of Gharnef's wrinkled, zombie-like mouth curled up in a faint smile. He stepped forward and traced Nyna's cheek with a filthy fingernail.

"We shall see, Princess. You're coming with me. Medeus is anxious to meet you."

"Remember what we discussed," Gotoh shouted as they advanced on the dragon-guarded gate. "My mages will fend off the Manaketes the best we can; your priority is to penetrate the palace and extract Princess Nyna before Gharnef and Medeus get to her."

The two Fire Dragons directly in front of the gate turned around at the sound of Gotoh's voice and snarled, uninhibited aggression flaring from their yellow reptilian eyes as smoke puffed out of their nostrils. They beat their leathery wings and began stomping toward the newcomers.

Kirby and Mr. Game & Watch dashed forward to meet the fiery guardians. The dragons took a deep breath and exhaled the inevitable: Two streams of restless flames surged toward them. They both slid forward underneath the fire's trajectory, Kirby weightless and able to collapse himself to the height of a trampled piece of chewing gum, Mr. Game & Watch taking advantage of his two-dimensional properties to flatten himself as he ran and then come back up.

In response, the Fire Dragons spat identical fireballs down at the approaching heroes, realizing they would have to be slightly less casual about these tiny foes than they typically were when devouring infantry. Once again, however, the Smashers were prepared for the attack. Kirby opened his mouth as wide as a dinner platter and sucked in one of the balls, swallowing with a satisfied gulp. He jumped and spun around a few times as he transformed into Fire Kirby, complete with rippling red Hades hair and an emerald pendant shining on his forehead. Meanwhile, G.W. simply collected the other fireball in his black bucket, filling it to the brim.

As one, Kirby and G.W. leapt at the two dragons. Kirby spewed several fireballs at the left one's face while his companion dumped his bucket of black sludge on the other. The beasts were briefly distracted, but being attacked by their own element wasn't going to do much lasting damage.

Realizing this, the Smashers opted for another strategy. While the dragons descended upon them with their claws, Kirby jumped in front of G.W. and transformed into a spike-studded ball of metal. As he dropped toward the ground, Game & Watch swung his Judgment Hammer for a perfect score of "9," propelling Kirby like a cannonball. The spiky sphere struck first one and then the other in the head, knocking the dragons over as easily as a combine going cow-tipping.

Gotoh led his mages between the fallen creatures up to the gate itself, which was made of thick iron that surely even dragons would have difficulty penetrating. But as they neared it, the ground rumbled beneath their feet and something enormous sprouted from the earth on the other side. It hammered against the gate with the force of an Onyx's Fissure, deepening an ominous bulge in the door with each hit.

The gate crashed open to reveal a feral Earth Dragon, freshly released from its magical prison and thirsty for human blood, the jagged spikes running along its spine made of solid rock. It roared the roar of a damned dragon.

A blast of white energy struck it full in the face, both blinding it and driving it back into the castle town. Sparks fizzled out from Gotoh's fingertips as he looked at the Smashers. "Go, now! The princess will be in the stronghold. It's the tallest building at the center of the city; you can't miss it. She will most likely be retreating into the catacombs. We shall handle the dragons out here. GO!"

As he spoke, several more Earth and Fire Dragons appeared around the corner of the outer wall, converging on the group of magicians. Luigi, Peasley, Young Link, Kirby, and Game & Watch hurried past the door, past the still-cringing Earth Dragon, into the heart of Akaneia. Luigi looked behind him to see Gotoh using magic to raise the iron door back into place, bolts of magic and jets of flames cross-firing in the background. The mages had chosen where they would make their stand.

He had little time to worry about his new friends, for his attention was soon seized by the multitude of Wire Frames awaiting them. Peasants screamed and fled into hovels and shops and basements, mothers dragging and carrying their children, husbands and fathers staying behind to fend off the Wire Frames from their homes. Plumes of smoke curled from several buildings, while others had caved in from being stricken by Wyverns diving from the sky.

He watched as Peasley and Young Link led the assault, slicing their way through the fray, taking occasional blows but forcing themselves to recover and cover each others' backs. Kirby swallowed a female Frame accosting a man with a pitchfork and spat it out as a shining yellow star to strike several Wire Frames behind it, repeating the technique as he cleared a path on the left side of the street. Game & Watch ran forward on the right side swinging his black turtle like a rubber chicken (except it packed a considerably bigger punch).

Luigi then remembered he was still standing in front of the gate and almost tripped as he lumbered after them. He thought of the princess trapped in the tower; normally it would be Mario who would come to the rescue, but now it was his turn. He spun down the street in spurts of Luigi Cyclones, punching and kicking and hoping he didn't accidentally hit someone's baby as he whirled down the stone road.

They proceeded in this way for some time, occasionally ducking behind narrow alleys to avoid a descending Wyvern. It felt similar in some ways to the siege of Beanbean Castle, except Akaneia was several times larger and was under threat not only by Wire Frames but by a horde of giant mythical lizards. Plus, none of them were at all familiar with this country, so they were flying by the seat of their pants.

At last, they approached the entrance to the central stronghold, the Wire Frames thinning out as the Akaneian soldiers became more and more frequent. Luigi had to hand it to these people; they were a lot braver than he was. He felt terrified enough as it was, and he had a clan of superpowered Smashers at his side. These men had no way of knowing whether they would survive such a battle against impossible and supernatural odds, yet their sole focus was to defend their wives, children, and kingdom.

The armored warriors seemed to have anticipated the Smashers' arrival, for they parted to let them through to the wooden double-doored entrance, cheering as the foreign heroes filed inside.

Although the exterior merely gave the impression of a well-fortified fortress, inside the stronghold it was an elaborate and beautiful place. It was like stepping directly into a Greek Mythology textbook: High, arched ceilings; classical columns stretching like huge stone churros all the way to the top some 80 feet above; red carpets and flags bearing dragon emblems; and massive human statues suggesting that Michelangelo had gone through a phase of epic warrior sculpting.

Once the doors shut behind them, the near silence was rather unsettling; they could barely hear the occasional screech of a dragon, and the yells of men were only slightly more audible than the microscopic residents of Whoville. They walked down the grand hall to where two staircases led above and below. The torch-lit chamber was generally well illuminated, but before they reached the staircase leading underground, a figure emerged from the shadows of one of the pillars and stationed itself solidly in their way. It was wielding a sword.

Until then, the five of them had been silent. But Young Link was the first to recognize the guardian and couldn't contain his mixed surprise and dismay.

"Metal Marth," he said.

"Right-o." Peasley advanced toward the clone with his rapier pointed at the enemy. "Press on, comrades; I shall dispose of this deplorable duplicate!"

Appearing to understand Peasley's challenge, Metal Marth advanced toward its quarry, leaving the stairway open for the rest of them to pass through.

Metal clashed against metal as the two princes began to duel. Young Link, Kirby, and Luigi edged their way around the swordsmen and began their descent into the darkness.

Mr. Game & Watch, however, lingered at the top of the stairs and looked back. From the Smash Tournaments, he knew how tough an opponent Marth was. This one was made of solid metal; even if Peasley managed to get in a blow, his rapier would penetrate the clone about as well as a herring through a redwood tree. As much as he loathed Peasley's prideful personality, he couldn't let that become the cause of his death.

"You go on," he called mechanically to the others as he turned to the sparring match. "I have a score to set-tle."

They continued down to the catacombs, the air growing frigid and the splendor of the entrance hall transitioning to grime and the grotesque pungency of death and decay.

"What if the princess is a-still above us?" Luigi felt uneasy about none of them going to search upstairs for Nyna, and he was even less sure about leaving Peasley and G.W. to face Metal Marth alone.

"Then she'll either meet up with Peasley and Game & Watch, or we'll come back and find her ourselves," Young Link said. "If she's down here, she'll be able to hear us coming. From what I've heard, these guys are really dangerous; we've got to stick together."

"HI!" Kirby shouted, his adorable voice echoing down the stairs into the dark passages beyond. His Fire Kirby hat continued to light their way much more effectively than the small torches on the walls.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and found themselves in a narrow subterranean labyrinth that split off unhelpfully in several directions. They stopped and listened, but no sounds came back in response.

"Halooo-oo?" Luigi shivered in the dim torch-lit tunnel. He was uncomfortably reminded of the basement of the haunted mansion he had "won" once upon a time.

"Princess Nyna, we're here to help!" Young Link yelled.

After thirty seconds that felt more like an hour, they heard a faint voice coming from the rightmost pathway.

"That way," Young Link said, bounding off down the narrow passage.

They passed by several short chambers that he guessed held entombed royalty. The trail wound further down until it seemed as if they had been swallowed by the earth and would never see the surface again. Then, strangely, something started to change.

"Why is it getting so hot?" Young Link wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, his feet aching inside his boots from the uneven ground. No one answered.

Some five minutes later, it opened out into a large cavern that presented to them a truly horrible sight.

A narrow bridge of black rock led to a wide platform, which was balanced on a narrow neck that rose up from a lake of boiling lava. Dark stalactites hung like vampire teeth from the high ceiling.

How far down are we?" the boy thought.

But what caught their attention were the occupants of the precarious platform. A young woman in a stately white-and-blue gown was on her hands and knees before the imposing bulk of a deep purple dragon—the Dark Dragon, Medeus. She didn't seem to have much of a choice as to her current position. At the girl's side was a hunched figure in a green cloak. Gharnef grinned through rotting teeth as his revenge was about to be exacted.

"Lord Medeus, accept this offering and be appeased for my past failures. Though Nyna was originally to be one of the four maidens sacrificed to enact thy resurrection, with the Master Hand's help, that is no longer necessary. Still, once thou hast devoured her, all of Akaneia shall weep and bow before their new masters!"

Unlike the others, this dragon seemed to be much less savage and instinctive. But the methodical way he approached Princess Nyna, without making any extra sound, made him that much more terrifying. And then, a deep voice that caused one's mind to squirm in fear:

"I accept your offering…."

Medeus reached his claw toward Nyna's frozen figure….

"Not so fast!"

Both Dark Dragon and sorcerer turned to face Young Link, Luigi, and Kirby, who stood stolidly on the other side of the short stone bridge. Young Link unsheathed his Kokiri sword and narrowed his eyes. He knew this must be what he was meant to come here for: to save Princess Nyna and Akaneia.

"Ah, heroes…." Gharnef looked more amused than afraid. "The Master Hand told us you might come to disrupt our plan."

Medeus beat his powerful, skeletal wings, the webbed flesh behind his head giving him the appearance of a Dilophosaurus.

"You want to save the girl? Come and try, then."

"Poyo!"

Without warning, Kirby bounced off the ledge toward the lava pool—only to come back up riding a brilliant yellow Warp Star. He belched a particularly large fireball at Medeus's head, which shrieked with rage. The Star Warrior then did a derogative circuit around the dragon and looped upward into what looked like a lava tube leading up toward the surface.

"The Pink One is mine…." Successfully ticked off, Medeus launched himself off the platform and disappeared into the black opening in the ceiling.

This left Luigi and Young Link to confront Gharnef. They cross the bridge each in their own manner—the former via Green Missile, the latter by using his grappling hook to latch onto one of the lower-hanging stalactites and swinging over the lava onto the platform.

Gharnef cackled. "I admire your nerve. Still, you shall suffer for your insolence; it will take more than a plumber and a fairy boy to defeat me!"

He drew a dagger with one hand and conjured a rippling sphere of orange energy with the other, then hurled it at Young Link.

Luigi cut off Gharnef's magic with a green fireball of his own, then formed a second and chucked it at the zombie-like man. Gharnef waved Luigi's fireball away with his free hand and used his dagger to block Young Link's sneak attack with the ease of a demigod. He lifted Luigi off the ground with his intangible magic and flung him into the unforgiving chamber wall. Luigi gasped and fell limply toward the lava….

Young Link's Hookshot caught his overalls inches above the bubbling magma and dragged him back onto the platform. But the Hylian had sacrificed his advantageous position to save his friend, and from behind, Gharnef slashed down his back with relish. Young Link fell on his face and fainted.

Panting, Luigi stood back up and glanced with panic at his fellow Smasher's body. He decided it was time to pull out all the stops—or in this case, his iron Super Hammer. He lunged from the side and sank his mallet into Gharnef's gut while the magician was in the middle of savoring his first victim. The hammer knocked the wind out of him and cast him head over heel across the platform.

"Link…get up!"

Navi appeared from out of Young Link's cap and poked at his body, then dug into his belt and uncorked a bottle with a pink Healing Fairy. It sprung joyously from its glass prison and spread its glittering magic over the boy's body, reviving him almost instantly before fluttering away.

While Young Link got back on his feet, Luigi pressed his advantage and jumped over to where Gharnef lay groaning. He brought his hammer down with the intent of smashing the warlock like a lump of dough, but he found himself frozen inches above his target, gripped in Gharnef's paralyzing magic.

Young Link, seeing Luigi's plight, rushed Gharnef with his sword pointed toward the man's chest. But he, too, found his weapon and his body frozen just before hitting home.

Gharnef grunted like a wounded bear as he got to his feet, using both of his hands to hold the heroes in place with his dark hex.

"You've fought well, heroes. Better than I'd anticipated. Now, I shall reward you with the pleasure of witnessing firsthand the death of the princess."

He turned to where Nyna was still immobilized on her hands and knees and raised his dagger. Luigi and Young Link strained with all their might, but they couldn't break free of his invisible grip.

From inside Young Link's tunic, Navi shot out and bonked Gharnef on the nose. Enraged, he swung his dagger wildly in an attempt to slice the blue fairy, but she was too quick for him. She knocked the dagger out of his hand and struck his right eye.

Gharnef howled in pain. He brought his hands together as if he were holding an invisible football, generated a mass of crackling orange energy, and swung it in front of him. Navi emitted a high-pitched shriek as she was caught in the energy. After it passed through her, there was nothing left. She was gone.

NAVI! Young Link wanted to scream. But he couldn't. Not only had he failed to save the princess, but his most loyal friend had been dissolved by this monster. He couldn't believe what he had seen. It couldn't be true.

With a hand pressed to his bleeding eye, Gharnef plucked his dagger from the ground and lunged toward Nyna's throat….

A blast of pure white enveloped him from the tunnel entrance. He was blown off the edge as if he had been hit by a semi-truck, smacked into the rocky wall, and tumbled into the lava. As Gharnef slowly sank into the pool, his eyes were filled with hate and disbelief until his face was enshrouded by the lethal liquid.

Young Link, Luigi, and Princess Nyna were released from their invisible bonds, gasping and shuddering. They turned to behold Gotoh in the tunnel entrance with a look of grim satisfaction on his face.

"I really ought to rethink my apprenticeship methods," he said. "Now let us pray that our friends on the outside can withstand the Dark Dragon…."

Sunset was approaching, and the battle was not going well. The Akaneian soldiers were faring decently well against the Wire Frames, but with the addition of dragons which had now penetrated the outer walls, they had little hope of prevailing against all of them. Especially since no matter how many Wire Frames they slew, Master Hand's pawns just kept on coming from who-knows-where.

Gotoh's mages were in even worse shape. They had taken on the brunt of the dragon attacks, and already most of them had been injured and several of them killed. It would be a matter of minutes before the city capitulated entirely to its enemies.

Their spirits lifted slightly when Kirby popped out of a magma hole outside the wall riding a shining Warp Star, but when a jet of flames and the Dark Dragon himself swiftly followed suit, the defenders felt even more hopeless. Surely not even the legendary Smashers could triumph over this ancient fiend: the Manakete that had almost proved their nation's undoing on several occasions and had only been stopped with the help of the Divine Dragons' Falchion blade.

Sure enough, even with Kirby's expert maneuvering, Medeus was smart and perceptive. He anticipated the puffball's flight pattern and opened his maw to swallow him whole like a flaming ball of cotton candy.

A green laser cut the dragon off, striking him in the underside and chasing him away from Kirby for the time being. From the clouds above descended the Great Fox, guns ablaze. Alongside the large spacecraft flew three smaller units.

"Woo-hoo!" Slippy Toad steered his Arwing, the Bullfrog, steadily down toward the siege below, trying to keep in mind that Popo was balanced precariously on his wing. The Ice Climber had harnessed himself to his belay line, which was secured to the underside of the vessel. He began lobbing Freezies off the edge in hopes of giving a few Wire Frames and dragons a bad day.

"This is it, Charizard!" Red clung tightly to his dragon Pokémon as they soared through the sky, the creature's tail alight with a flame as ardent as his energy. Before departing from Saffron, Red had been sure this time to stock up with his best Pokémon. This time he would be prepared for whatever came their way.

"Yoshi?" Yoshi asked from beside them. He had just swallowed a special Fire Flower he'd plucked from the Donut Plains on his way to the Icicle Mountains. Not only did this grant him fire breath, but he sported angelic wings that made him yet another flying dragon to be added to the count. His question was, "Where are Pichu and Jigglypuff?"

Red just grinned.

Inside the Great Fox, Peppy expertly directed the Great Fox in a spiraling descent to where they would be within better firing range of the grounded dragons. He had several of the ship's lasers on automatic, but some of them had to be operated manually.

"How're you doin' down there?" he called over his shoulder.

"Pichu!"

"Puff!"

The two minute Pokémon aimed and fired their laser canons with delight from pods attached to the underside of the Great Fox. Despite their lack of digits, they were sufficiently dexterous to control the pivoting guns. "I could get used to this!" one had said. "I guess this is what it's like to use Hyper Beam," agreed the other.

"Look out!"

Red's Pokémon swerved as a cluster of Wyverns came at them. Charizard spiraled out of the way of one's incoming claws and peppered a few with Flamethrower. One particularly angry Wyvern snuck up from behind, intent on clamping its razor-sharp teeth on Charizard's wing. With his arms firmly locked around the Pokémon's neck, Red kicked the beast in the mouth with his tennis shoe before it could do so.

They reached a low-enough height to be able to pick out individual dragons and Wire Frames. Charizard selected a group of Earth Dragons closing in on several mages and looped around, blowing a Fire Spin into the dragons' faces and distracting them long enough for the mages below to produce a powerful earthquake that shook the half-submerged beasts into unconsciousness.

"Yikes! I've got a bogey on my tail!"

Slippy tried to lose the Wyvern that was pursuing him, but the persistent dragon couldn't be shaken. It bumped the Bullfrog from beneath, nearly dislodging Popo from his perch on the wing, then came from above for an aerial strike.

Popo waited until the last possible moment, then swung his mallet up, hammering the Wyvern's jaw and causing it to retreat in pursuit of easier prey.

"Whew! Thanks, Popo," Slippy said. His voice was muffled by the cockpit window and the air whipping past them, but still just audible. "That was a close one….Hey, what's say we lend a hand down there, yeah?"

He'd spotted two Ice Dragons terrorizing a block of hovels, literally freezing the homes and residents while dislodging heavy stone blocks from the walls with their serpentine periwinkle bodies.

"Let's do it!" Popo shouted, figuring even if the pilot couldn't hear what he said, he could read his affirmative body language.

They veered down to the height they had agreed upon beforehand for the maneuver they were about to execute. As Slippy leveled out, Popo gave a tug on the rope around his waist and hopped off, swinging by the line and drawing out his weapon of choice.

The Ice Dragon bellowed with extreme discomfort as the Smasher stuck his ice pick straight into the creature's eye. His body swung out a bit further, then came back just in time for him to lobotomize the other Ice Dragon as well.

While the dragons writhed in pain, Slippy did a U-turn and fired several double-laser shots into each enemy, thus preventing any more neighborhoods from experiencing a sudden ice age.

They went off to fight other dragons, Popo proving particularly helpful as he blasted several Fire Dragons with their icy weakness.

Medeus retreated just far enough until the Great Fox left to focus elsewhere, then came back around to finish what he'd started. Where was that infernal pink blob? Ah! Now it would pay!

Kirby zoomed straight toward the Dark Dragon, trying not to enjoy himself too much. He made straight for Medeus's head. As expected, the beast's mouth spewed a stream of fire to cut off his approach. He angled his Warp Star so that it passed right under the dragon's belly and came back up the other side and turned around to watch his much friendlier dragon companion do his thing.

Yoshi spat a number of fireballs at Medeus from above, scoring a perfect five-for-five. However, his efforts didn't have quite the effect he intended; instead of injuring him, the fire seemed to absorb into the dark scaly hide. The entire dragon was suddenly aflame with a purple radiance that led Yoshi to conclude that throwing more fuel onto this fire would not be a great idea.

But Kirby had already begun diving toward the Dark Dragon before he realized what had become of Yoshi's attack. He slammed into what turned out to be incredibly hard skin, crying out as his Warp Star crashed and burned, his Fire Copy Ability deserted him, and his small, scorched body sort of fell and floated a couple hundred feet until he landed in the middle of a demolished marketplace, looking for all the world as if he were lost in a deep sleep.

"Yoshi!" The flying green Smasher was devastated by what happened to Kirby and had attempted to go after him to soften the fall, but he was robbed of that opportunity by a wall of flames that cut off his escape.

"Face me, you pitiful dragon," Medeus boomed. "I did not rise from the ashes to allow cowards to live in my presence."

Though he was not quick to be offended or angered, Yoshi felt a surge of righteous indignance jolt through his body, and he turned to face the Dark Dragon, who was easily twenty times his size—if not more.

He looked desperately at Medeus's fiery body; there was nothing he could do to harm him from the outside without being burnt before he could make contact. The Great Fox, meanwhile, was under assault by at least a dozen Wyverns; it couldn't help this time. There was only one thing to do….

Yoshi tilted his body and shot skyward, heading into the clouds.

"You cannot escape your fate, vermin!"

Medeus sped after him, fixed on Yoshi like a heat-seeking missile roughly the size of a barge. Up through the clouds they raced, creating a gaping hole in the wispy formations as they climbed higher and higher.

Medeus disgorged a particularly large fireball, which didn't seem all that remarkable until it split off into an X-shape of smaller but equally dangerous bursts. Yoshi yelped as one skimmed his tail. He struggled to dodge the rest, and while he did so, the Dark Dragon pressed forward with ever-increasing speed, his powerful, aerodynamic body stronger than Yoshi's in every way. His maw gaped open like a monstrous Venus flytrap, preparing his final blast that would be meant to roast Yoshi like a barbecued chicken.

When the end seemed inevitable, Yoshi suddenly jarred to a halt in midair and Ground-Pounded straight into Medeus's glowing mouth—the only part of the Manakete that wasn't protected by a coat of fire.

At first Medeus felt triumphant—what a fool! He had fled all this way just to plunge straight to his death in the end. But then he realized the large object in his mouth that was Yoshi was not going down his throat. His lizard-like pupils narrowed in surprised. He choked, shook his great horned head back and forth, tried to swallow and failed, gasped for breath, and then began to plummet himself.

Inside the Dark Dragon's mouth, Yoshi had his long tongue wrapped around his enemy's punching bag-sized uvula, refusing to let go and fall into the monster's stomach.

It is useless to try to describe what it was like for Yoshi to fall hundreds of feet inside a monster's mouth, suspended by his tongue. But perhaps the closest way to replicate it would be to board a broken elevator on the top floor of the Empire State Building, superglue your tongue to the roof, and let it freefall while spinning the elevator like a tilt-a-whirl.

Medeus crashed onto the crenellated ramparts of the Akaneian stronghold. He struggled for breath for several minutes more, wondered how he could have been bested by such a tiny dragon, and died.

Yoshi, dizzy beyond belief, stepped out of the dead dragon's mouth, covered in thick goopy saliva, and gazed out at Akaneia, plumes of smoke and all. The Wire Frames were no more, and whatever dragons had remained after witnessing Medeus's literal downfall fled into the wilderness, resolving to choose their battles more selectively in the future.

Yoshi allowed himself a small smile as a flower of hope bloomed in his heart. The battle was won.