Author's Note: Last battle scene here, and now we're moving on.

A thank you to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and/or followed this story. I really appreciate your support!


Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Flash Stopper had not proven to be the be-all-and-end-all of the Robot Masters. Rather than surrender, they simply refocused their efforts on killing Morgan.

Robin tackled Morgan as Drill Man shot up under where she had been standing. Morgan zapped the Flash Stopper with her Elthunder tome, but Drill Man was already burrowing back into the ground. The pulse did finally catch Flash Man off guard, giving Robin enough time to plunge his Levin Sword through the robot's head and channel a lethal shock through it. An unfortunate Ring Man was also blinded and taken down by Zelda and Peach.

"Father!" Robin whirled around to see Tengu Man shooting skywards with Morgan in his grasp, nimbly avoiding dozens of projectiles being thrown his way. He finally landed on the roof of the mansion, holding his blades to Morgan's throat.

Fortunately, Villager was on the problem. Motioning for Lucas to come with him, he grabbed the other Smasher and inflated two balloons. Tengu Man threw a wind blade that popped both balloons, but as he started to fall Villager threw Lucas forward as hard as he could, and Lucas shot a PK Freeze. The range was extreme but the ice managed to freeze Tengu Man's legs to the roof.

"No way!" Morgan scrambled out from under his grasp while he was distracted. Lucas ran towards him, brandishing his stick, but a blast of wind knocked him down as Tengu Man fired his engines again, breaking free of the ice.

"Tornado Hold!" Both of the children were caught in the attack and thrown violently from the roof. Marth leaped skywards and caught Morgan while Lucas managed to land on his feet.

"Are you alright? You shouldn't be here, Morgan!"

"I'm fine, Marth. Where's the Flash Stopper? I dropped it."

"It's over here, and now it ends for you!" Sheep Man zapped the bulb before anyone could stop him, and the Smashers staggered away from the blinding light, covering their eyes. Suddenly the light stopped as Sheep Man dropped the Flash Stopper, owing to Parallel Falchion slicing off both of his arms and impaling him in the chest.

"I say when it ends!" Lucina yanked her blade out and the Robot Master collapsed. She grabbed the Flash Stopper, intending to destroy it, when another Tornado Hold yanked her into the air.

"Hyah!" Tengu Man swooped out of nowhere and did a backflip, slamming his legs down on the dizzy Lucina as she was ejected from the tornado. The blow knocked her down into the tornado, which flung her out to one side violently. She hit the ground and slowly got on all fours, struggling to regain her senses. Tengu Man dove at her, blades poised for a decapitating strike.

A streak of violet that was Treble intercepted the diving Robot Master, diverting his course and causing him to crash. Drill Man suddenly popped up from under him, but as the Robot Master reversed his direction to retreat back into the ground the wolf grabbed one leg and dragged him from the earth. Two of the Koopalings, accompanied by their father, were soon tearing him apart, while Diddy Kong finished off Tengu Man with an overcharged Peanut Popgun.

"Mother, are you alright?" Morgan had run over to her, picking up the Flash Stopper again and dodging a Ballade Cracker in the process.

"Yes, I'm fine, just a little dizzy." She frowned at seeing Morgan pick up the oversized light bulb. "What are you doing with that?"

"Stunning opponents with it to make things easier for everyone! Watch!" Ballade was now sprinting at them, his arm at the ready to launch another one of his powerful explosives. Morgan zapped the Flash Stopper with another Elthunder and it lit up. Ballade cried out but instead of raising his arms to block the light, he started to fire off Ballade Crackers left and right. Marth wasted no time in coming to his descendants' rescue, Falchion piercing Ballade's armor with ease.

"N-no...I refuse to go without taking one of you with me!" With the last of his energy Ballade smashed an elbow into Marth's face before freeing himself of Falchion and blasting the Hero King with a point-blank Ballade Cracker. Nearby Peach, Charizard, and Sonic, who were having trouble dealing with Punk, also received a Ballade Cracker each before he finally shut down.

The smoke caused by the explosion cleared to reveal Marth battered and on one knee, but alive. Falchion was charred black from the explosion but the damage appeared to be mostly cosmetic thanks to his timely Counter. Sonic and Peach had both dodged the ones aimed at them, and while Charizard wasn't as lucky it would take a lot more than one explosive to bring the dragon down. Meanwhile one of the stray Ballade Crackers had blown Enker apart, much to the relief of Zelda, Link, and R.O.B, who had found their every move reflected back as an energy blast.

"Well, that could have gone...better," Morgan sighed. "Come on, mother, the battle's nearly over."


"Hyah!" Falco kicked Jewel Man hard in the chest, cracking the crystal embedded there.

"Augh, you jerk! Do you have any idea how rare such gems are?" Before he could continue his tirade Fox grabbed him from behind and smashed the crystal with the butt of his blaster. Falco was about to finish the Robot Master off with a shot to his insides when Jewel Man threw his hands out and four heavy gems appeared from his body. He threw the Jewel Satellite as soon as it formed, the heavy projectiles missing Falco by inches.

Jewel Man clenched his hand and all four crystals shattered, the fragments reversing direction and flying back at all three of them as a storm of razor-sharp shards. Luckily Kirby inhaled them all. The Robot Master was far from finished, though, and Hornet Man had arrived to aid him. Kirby was soon beset by the latter's swarm of robotic helpers. Jewel Man took advantage of the distraction to pin Fox to the ground by falling on top of him. Summoning another Jewel Satellite and shattering it, he raised his hand to shoot the shards through Fox when Falco smashed him with his wings. Though it saved his comrade the shards merely turned on Falco. But just before Jewel Man launched them, there was a flash of black and he was suddenly reeling from a powerful punch from behind. That state lasted no longer than a half-second before he was launched skywards with tremendous force.

"I hope we are not late to aid you," a muscular man in a karate gi with a red headband and gloves said as his feet returned to the ground after the Shoryuken. Behind him was a Pokemon that Falco recognized as Mewtwo, a red-haired swordsman he remembered as Roy, Master Hand, and Crazy Hand.

"Well you're a bit late," he replied. "There's some guys left, but that Morgan girl pretty much made it a guaranteed win for us. Why is she allowed to be here, anyway? She doesn't participate in Smash at all."

"Of all things to say, you talk of rules and jealousy that a noncombatant can do better, Falco? You haven't changed at all," Mewtwo grumbled.

"I want to kill something already!" Crazy Hand yelled before Falco could retort. Master Hand sighed.

"You insisted on following me rather than going straight to the fight."

"Because everyone has a pair of hands! What good does one hand do?"

"You know what, let's just get this over with. We can debate about this later."


Satisfied that his victim was dead, Bass stood up to see Master and Crazy Hand approaching him. The other Smashers were finishing off the few remaining Robot Masters.

"Well well, somebody's in trouble!" Crazy cackled.

"I promised I would wait until after I talked to Bass to force you back on medication, Crazy, but don't think I won't change my mind." Turning to Bass, he continued. "Now then - you have a minute to explain why you brought this army here before I kick you out."

"They came for me! I didn't do anything!"

"And how would they do that? I never opened another portal to your world! How could they possibly sneak in, and so many of them, too?"

"Um, brother, you did. When you went to talk to Wily, remember?"

Before Master Hand could say anything, Bass picked up the story. "All the old man would need is one Robot Master with a teleporter beacon. I've seen Rock communicating with Dr. Light, so apparently inter-universe communications work. A teleporter beacon operates the same way radio, TV, or any of that stuff does."

Master Hand eyed Bass suspiciously. "You have the benefit of the doubt. For now. If you come under suspicion again I will have you expelled immediately. Now if you'll excuse me, we have to clean up your mess." He drifted away without giving any instructions despite his words, twirling and pointing his index finger at the various fighters as he passed, re-casting the protective charms. Crazy Hand veered drunkenly behind him.

Mega Man came over. "Don't tell me you said something stupid to him..."

"Why? This entire battle was so that I could stay. I'm not stupid."

"Alright, alright," the latter grumbled. "We should go help with the cleanup."

"What is there to clean up that the servants can't pick up with a vacuum cleaner or that Master Hand can't fix instantly?"

"...Good point."

"Mega Man!"

"Oh no," the Blue Bomber groaned as Morgan came running over.

"Are you alright? Did my idea help you?"

"I-I'm fine, a-and, y-yes, it helped a-a lot - "

"Awesome! Oh, it's so awesome to understand something new! I bet I could learn robotics from you, huh? Can I if you'll teach me?"

"Um...sure...I-I mean, I don't know much myself - "

Bass chuckled as Mega Man grew more and more flustered with each passing moment at the conversation he'd been dragged into. "Dude, she won't bite you. Might as well roll with it since you've pretty much had one thrown at you. She got certainly took being dumped rather easily."

Mega Man groaned. "All of those are reasons why this is so awkward, Bass...and as if you're an expert on girls..."

"What are you implying? I am not being pushy!" Morgan protested, ignoring Mega Man's statement.

Bass just smirked in reply. "I'm not saying anything new, Rock, just parroting what you told me." He decided to refrain from mentioning the incident with Mjolnir and disappeared with a swish of his cloak.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" they both demanded, but he had already teleported into the lengthening shadows of the sunset, out of sight of the pair. Maybe he wouldn't be too out-of-place here after all.

"Gods, why does he bother with that mysteriousness thing? It's more cringeworthy to watch than hearing stories of Mother trying to fool people into thinking she was Marth just by wearing a mask."

"Well, Marth preceded her by over 2000 years. Not like someone couldn't have been born with the same name. That happens all the time in my world, people naming their kids after heroes. Supposedly it will make them as great as their namesakes."

"She didn't even alter her voice to sound like a guy, or cut her hair! The moment that mask was cut off Father and the rest of them figured it out!"

"...oh. Well, I don't know if Bass is that bad at being enigmatic."

Bass watched as the pair continued their conversation. "See, Rock? You gotta follow your own advice more. That wasn't hard and it won't be...at least, not for you." He caught sight of Robin and Lucina across the courtyard, in the midst of a throng of Smashers. Speaking of which, he had some explaining to do, to hell with whoever heard him. It would probably be his last chance.

"They said they followed him..."

"I heard he led them here..."

"What nerve, to stay around here and walk as though he were one of us after that..."

Hostile, barely-suppressed whispers followed Bass as he slowly made his way through the Smashers towards Lucina, who was in conversation with Peach and Zelda. Robin, meanwhile, was with a group of male Smashers, notably the other Fire Emblem heroes. Thankfully Chrom was nowhere to be seen otherwise he would've been decapitated.

"Doesn't he have a lot of nerve, walking around like nothing happened," Captain Falcon said in a loud whisper. "Though admittedly, it was fun to actually be able to break things for a change."

Bass forced back the urge to blast his smug face and kept walking. There wasn't a need to ask anyone to move; they parted before him like the Red Sea. Lucina and Robin had both noticed his approach and were eyeing him cautiously.

"Lucina, might I have a word?"

She exchanged a glance with her husband. "Very well, but I am sure what you have to say can be heard by Robin, too. Lead the way."

Once they were out of earshot, he began. "I suppose I owe you an explanation for the past few weeks, and in particular why I've been hounding you. The first time, it was partly because I was still mad about the whole incident earlier with Sonic and Pikachu. In the arena though...I singled you out. I wanted to fight you one-on-one because you interested me. The night before, you made me do something I've never done before in my life: regret harming someone. Nobody else has had that effect on me before." He sighed. "The same thing happened after the exhibition team battle, which is why I wanted to apologize to you."

Robin's eyes were as narrow as a snake's now and ablaze with rage. "So you're saying you were making my wife and daughter's lives miserable because you had a crush on Lucina?" He was going for his Levin Sword. Meanwhile Lucina stood confused as to how to react to this turn of events.

"That's one way to put it. You can put that sword away; I'm not about to chase after a married woman who hates me. I have better things to be doing, like putting a hole in my old man's head. I suppose I should thank you for saying it outright and saving me the trouble, Robin."

"And how can I trust you? You wouldn't bother talking to us if you didn't still harbor feelings for her, would you?"

"The only word I can offer besides my own is Mega Man's. Otherwise I'll just have to prove it to you. And yes, I won't deny that. I am not, however, a mere animal. Ironically, you two and Chrom are one of the few people I know on any level here, so I would like to earn your trust. I also feel that I am indebted to you for putting up with me. By confiding everything to you, I was hoping to get that off my circuits."

"Robin...I believe him."

Robin shot her an expression that said "tell me later" and sheathed his sword. "I trust Mega Man's judgement, so I will abide by your word if he can vouch for you. But do not think that I will not be watching you for a moment."

Bass rearranged his cloak. "I wouldn't expect anything less of a devoted husband such as yourself. I will not trouble you two any further, good day." And he disappeared with a swish.

"Are you mad, Lucina?" Robin demanded once Bass was gone. "He said so himself that he hasn't put his desires aside! Mega Man may be a good judge of character, but he isn't infallible!"

"Bass has never held back his opinions before. I see no reason why he should now."

"But he just revealed he's been hiding a crush on you since day one!"

She took his hands in hers. "Robin, can you say we were any different at the start? It's sweet that you care so much about my safety, but I can handle myself. If anything, we should be more worried about what our daughter's up to." She turned and headed back towards the crowd in the middle, gently tugging Robin's hand when he didn't follow.

"What about Chrom?" Robin asked, hoping his blush would dissipate. Now that he thought about it, most of his reaction had been out of primal jealousy rather than any real logical reason. "How's he doing?"

"Whatever Bass did, it saved his life. He should be fine now that he's in the medical ward, but I am indebted to him for preserving his life."

"So that's why you trusted him."

"He could have killed us both right there or sided with those invaders if he wanted to end us. I don't believe he has malicious intentions because he didn't. Robin, I understand you're a tactician, and that you have to expect the unexpected, but sometimes, the most straightforward possibility is the truth."

"My wife giving me her analysis? Who are you and what have you done with Lucina?"


Bass headed for Master Hand's office. The announcement had just been made that the damage from the battle had been repaired, but most of the Smashers had elected to remain outside and savor the last light of day. He, on the other hand, could not afford to do so. With his last obligation to them fulfilled, he had other matters to see to.

"Come in," Master Hand's voice called when he knocked. "Bass. What can I do for you?"

"I formally request to be removed from the Super Smash Brothers."


Author's Note: I promise I won't leave you guys hanging for so long with the next chapter.