Another few months, another chapter in the books, eh? Thank you all so much for 100,000 views!
Thanks to darkpit06 for sending me that really nice PM as well as that review, your words are appreciated. And thanks for being a frequent editor for World of Light's page on TV Tropes as well.
Considering that the Mysterious Dimension got a massive amount of screentime last chapter, I'm dialing that back so that the other two groups get the lion's share this time 'round.
I am no longer a part of Super Smash Prose, so you won't be seeing that advertisement from me anymore.
Yoshi burped out his wheel saw and revved it up, earning him a concerned look from Peach, who was trying her best to make sure Isaac's condition wouldn't get any worse. Lowering the saw, Yoshi defensively asked, "What?"
"I don't think that saw of yours is the best thing for precise incisions..."
"No, no, no, what I'm gonna do is cut off the hooked ends so that you can pull the swords out of him cleanly and then patch him up."
Peach thought it over for a second before nodding and saying, "Yeah, that's a good idea, Yoshi, carry on while I heal some of the other wounds." Yoshi nodded, and got to work, slowly but surely cutting his way through one of the two hookswords to cut off the hooked end of it.
Meanwhile, Robin readied her Thunder tomes and Levin Sword as the revenant that Isaac had faced earlier was edging towards her with a zombie-like gait, the machine that was strapped to his chest emitting a ghastly rattle on occasion. Rasping, the revenant said, "Listen, girlie, the only person I want is your blonde friend over there... step aside and I won't bother you."
"Not a chance." Robin then sheathed the Levin Sword and proceeded to cast Mjölnir right out of the gate, causing parts of the roof to shatter as lightning fell like rain, some bolts striking other revenants that had been summoned as well as Kabal. Once the lightning storm ceased, Robin looked at where Kabal was once standing and saw that he appeared to be immobilized, which prompted her to take action by pulling out the Levin Sword in order to call down a blast of lightning on top of his head. Before she could actually do it, however, every single window in the hallway shattered as a hellacious roar echoed throughout the castle.
Peach covered her ears while Yoshi stopped sawing so that he wouldn't make a wrong cut, and the two of them looked up at one shattered window and saw a massive shadow outside. The two Star Children looked outside and saw that the shadow looked an awful lot like Bowser, and they exchanged worried looks, wondering what could've happened that pushed Bowser to the point where he needed to grow giant. Quickly turning their attention back to Isaac, Yoshi finally managed to cut off the end of one hooksword and carefully slid it out of the Adept, and Peach quickly got to work in regards to healing that wound completely, while Yoshi began to work on the second sword.
When Robin uncovered her ears, the deafening roar having finally ceased, she saw that the revenant was not in the spot where she had electrocuted him. As she looked around for her target, she narrowly dodged an oncoming buzzsaw before attempting to zap him with Elthunder. Kabal jumped over the burst of electricity before landing and using Raging Flash, dashing past Robin and leaving her in a dazed stupor. As Robin regained her senses, she saw that Kabal was sprinting towards where Isaac, Peach, and Yoshi were. In a panic, she used Forseti, propelling herself in Kabal's direction with a strong blast of holy wind.
Kabal came to a stop in front of Peach and Yoshi, the latter two looking up nervously at him as he raised a buzzsaw, preparing to finish them and Isaac off. Before he could swing the buzzsaw, however, Robin slammed into him with the propulsion Forseti had granted her, causing him to drop the buzzsaw and the two of them to slide just a little bit away from where Peach and Yoshi were.
Yoshi watched as Kabal got up and began looking around for his sawblade. The moment the revenant locked eyes with him, Yoshi put his foot on top of the flat side of the blade and kicked it into a suit of armor, causing it to collapse on top of it. Kabal howled in fury and dashed over to Yoshi, throwing him to where he had left Robin so that he could kill the both of them at the same time.
Meanwhile, Peach looked at the remaining hooksword that was still embedded in Isaac's chest, and saw that it was completely straightened out. As she pondered why that was, she looked to the floor and saw a pair of pliers that had most likely come from Yoshi's stomach, explaining why the blade was straight. Before she could continue healing Isaac, however, she heard a voice say, "I'll be needing that," before someone yanked the hooksword out of Isaac's body and causing him to exclaim in shock before nearly doubling over. Twirling the sword in his hand, Kabal said, "Try not to choke on your own blood, kid," as he turned away.
Kabal forcibly wrenched his blade back into its hooked position before walking over to Robin and Yoshi, kicking the damaged hooksword that was on the floor aside and scraping his fixed one along the floor, tearing through the carpet. Robin took out her Levin Sword again, while Yoshi began perusing through the seemingly endless catalogue of fruits he kept on him to find one that would be useful. Eventually, he settled on a Fire Melon and gulped the whole thing down in one bite. Robin waited until Kabal dashed at her again, only that time, she prepared an Elthunder from her tome so that when he did charge, he had no way of stopping himself from making contact with the burst of electricity. Once he did, he came to a screeching halt and doubled over, clutching at his chest and wheezing through his respirator.
As he righted himself, Kabal noticed that the dinosaur was slowly turning red and covering his mouth. Deciding to pick him off, Kabal flung a buzzsaw at Robin's leg, and the weapon actually hit her, causing her to fall over as her leg began to bleed. Kabal then dashed towards Yoshi, intending to slice him in two, but once he got close, however, the dinosaur belched and shot a jet of flame from his mouth that hit Kabal head-on, causing him to scream in agony as his flesh began to burn like it did when he fought Kintaro all those years ago. Snarling through the pain, Kabal swung his hooksword at Yoshi, who retreated and shot another blast of fire from his mouth, which Kabal dodged by sidestepping. Once Yoshi had finally gotten three more blasts of fire out of his system, his skin turned back to its normal green... and he was promptly grabbed by an incensed Kabal, whose smoking body was emitting a rancid odor that the dinosaur did not like.
Wincing as he felt and heard his flesh peel off his skin, Kabal tightened his grip on Yoshi's throat and raised his hooksword, snarling, "Dinosaur meat sounds really nice tonight, don't you think?" Before he could do anything, however, Yoshi raised his foot and kicked Kabal in the chest, causing the revenant to clutch at his respirator as he wheezed again, while Yoshi, looking at the damage the fire had done to Kabal, reluctantly pulled out a chili pepper and swallowed it whole. As the revenant began walking towards Yoshi again, he gagged as the pepper began to make his stomach uncomfortable, and when Kabal got even closer, his hooksword raised, that was when Yoshi let it rip, belching out another burst of flame which completely engulfed the revenant, melting his hooksword as the fire raged on. Kabal turned towards Yoshi and began to shamble forward when he saw the dinosaur walk back towards Robin, but that was stopped by the tactician pulling out her Fire tome and using Valflame from her position on the floor, causing a massive explosion where Kabal was standing. When it died down, Robin saw that the revenant was lying face-down on the floor, but his body had not dissolved into a Spirit Orb like the other revenant she had fought.
Indeed, Kabal was still alive, through not for much longer, considering his respirator had been completely fried and parts of his body were melted down to the bone, exposing parts of a skeleton. Amazingly, though his clothes were in burned tatters and his hair mostly singed, his mask was one of the only things that remained perfectly intact. Much to Yoshi and Robin's shock, Kabal began clawing his way towards the two of them, causing the tactician to remark, "Damn, this guy really doesn't let up, does he?" Yoshi shook his head in response, and the duo waited with bated breath as Kabal raised his hand one more time... and promptly slumped over, the fire having finally done him in. The revenant's body glowed with a multicolored light as it disappeared, leaving behind a Spirit Orb and a pair of red-hot dog tags that Robin carefully picked up and inspected. At the same time, Yoshi cut himself a slice of Ice Melon that he had pulled from... somewhere, and blew a chilly gust of wind at the dog tags, cooling them off as the Spirit Orb flew onto his person.
Making a noise of annoyance, Yoshi plucked the Spirit Orb off his back and walked over to Rosalina to hand it to her.
Robin pocketed the dog tags she had recovered from the revenant and turned her attention to Isaac, who was being propped onto the wall by Peach. The princess looked at Robin and said, "I think he'll be fine... I also healed parts of his face, but it appears that scar is going to stay unless someone has stronger healing magic."
On the other end of the hallway, Wario plowed through a row of axe-throwing knights with a Shoulder Bash while Ike slashed through a Medusa head using Alondite, the blessed blade reducing it to powder. Slinging Alondite back onto the sheath on his back, Ike shoulder tackled a revenant that was shambling towards him before cutting its head off. Next to Ike, Mr. Game & Watch bounced off a trampoline to escape from a rotting hand that suddenly burst out from the floor, and as he began his descent, he cut himself from his parachute and thrust his oversized key underneath him as he descended, pulverizing the hand.
Luigi, in the meantime, zapped a skeleton with a bolt of electricity from his hand before turning a dial that E. Gadd had installed on the Poltergust G-00 before the tournament had begun, and the Poltergust began to shoot fire from its nozzle, lighting a nearby mummy ablaze as well as some of the curtains in the room.
Death, meanwhile, having taken on the form of an Archeops, let out a hollow screech that caused his ribcage to rattle before flying at Byleth.
Rolling underneath the skeletal bird, Byleth turned the Sword of the Creator into its whip-like form and swung it out like a grappling hook, managing to latch onto the tail of the skeleton. Pulling as hard as she could, Byleth was dragged along the ground, her shoes digging into the floor as Death tried to shake himself free from her grasp. Death's bones rattled out of frustration, and he transformed back into his normal form before teleporting out of Byleth's grasp and towards the Belmonts, who rolled out of the way of a ballistic scythe. Looking back, Death waved his hand, and his Deadly Tempest roared to life, creating a wall of black fire which isolated everyone else from Death and the Belmonts. As Byleth turned around, picking up the Sword of the Creator as she did so, she saw the small yellow rat from earlier mow through a line of zombies while surrounded by a shroud of electricity.
As his scythe boomeranged back into his hand, Death looked to see both Simon and Richter standing to his left and right respectively. Letting out a yell, Simon lashed his Vampire Killer forward and saw it wrap around Death's hand. Richter did the same for Death's right hand, and together, the two Belmonts yanked their whips as hard as they could, driving Death into the ground. As the reaper pulled himself up, his eyes glowing with a bluish flame, Death reached for his jaw and ripped it right off. In his hand, the lower jaw began to burn, and with a snap of his fingers, the top half of the skull constructed itself, giving Death a smaller, faster, but slightly less lethal way to keep the Belmonts away from him.
Richter dodged the skull as it rattled and flew towards him, before flinging his Cross at the skull to deter it. Opening its mouth, the skull retaliated by belching a blast of black fire towards Richter, who barely dodged it. Tightening his bandanna as he waited for the flames to die down, Richter pulled out his own Vampire Killer and struck the skull in the lower jaw, which elicited a displeased reaction from Death, who was occupied with Simon. Death detached his free hand and directed it towards Simon's neck, while also holding his scythe outwards and tightening his grip on it, causing it to split into numerous smaller scythes that dispersed and began to chip away at the two vampire hunters.
Simon began prying at the skeletal hand that was clutched around his throat, but to no avail, and the hand began pulling him back towards Death, who hissed, "Your bloodline ends with you... Simon Belmont. Without you, your descendant cannot exist, and Lord Dracula will have free reign over the world with the Belmont clan being extinct." Watching as Richter was blasted into the wall by his mini skull, Death smacked Simon with the flat end of his scythe when it reformed in his hands, causing the older Belmont to fly into the same wall that Richter was lying in. At the same time, Death's jaw reattached itself to his skull as he made his way towards the two Belmonts, with the intent of purging them from the world.
Readying his Cross as Death approached the two of them, Simon was prepared to go down swinging, but looked to his left in confusion as Richter, his clothes sporting burns and his body having cuts from the barrage of miniature scythes, began mumbling something underneath his breath while holding a bottle of Holy Water in his hand. Listening closely, Simon heard, "...to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour," and Richter crushed the vial of divine liquid by squeezing his fist. Richter slowly began to glow with a blue aura as he stood up, and facing Death, he said, "I am of the Belmont bloodline, sworn to fight Dracula and his forces of the night for as long as my life lasts." Raising a hand, Richter finished by bellowing, "WE WILL TRIUMPH, AS THE BELMONT CLAN HAS FOR CENTURIES AGAINST THE DARKNESS! DIVINE TYPHOON!"
Up above, a loud rumble rolled throughout the room, getting everyone's attention, and storm clouds began to form inside the hallway. After a brief pause, a torrential downpour ensued, the blessed water extinguishing the Deadly Tempest Death had put up earlier as well as dissolving his army of revenants. The water also began to melt away at Death's bones, causing him to howl in fury as he raised his scythe, ready to swing... only for Simon to pulverize his jaw completely with a glancing blow from the Vampire Killer. The two Belmonts watched as Death slowly collapsed to the floor, the Divine Typhoon melting him down until nothing remained of him but his cloak and scythe, to which Simon and Richter reacted to with disdain.
Two Spirit Orbs materialized shortly after, one of which was the Black Knight's, due to it having been stolen by Death when Zelgius was slain, and the other contained Death's enraged visage. Rosalina waved her wand to use her Gravitational Pull, but to her surprise, only one of the Spirit Orbs was pulled toward her. Looking to her left, she saw that Ike, much to her confusion, was speaking to the Spirit Orb she had not collected, and after a few brief nods from the leader of the Greil Mercenaries, Ike picked up the Black Knight's Spirit Orb and handed it to Rosalina, saying, "I just had a few more questions for him..."
Off to the side, Luigi wiped his brow out of relief and thought to himself, "Well, at least nothing else in this freaky castle is gonna top this, thankfully..." before walking forward with the rest of the group, with only Eight and Ike being behind him as they had stopped to get Ken and Isaac back up on their feet before walking them up to the others.
Wario punched the door at the end of the hallway to open it, which earned him an unimpressed look from Peach and Luigi that he shrugged off before continuing into the next area. Behind them, Simon scowled and said, "This is the way to the clock tower... my last obstacle before I reached Dracula's coffin."
The group pressed forward, jumping over the holes in the bridge and knocking down any bats that tried to attack them, though when Wario began to shake down the corpses of enemies for any potential valuables, that was when Rosalina put her foot down, trapping Wario inside a barrier she had made and then floating him towards the other side of the bridge. Yoshi, hauling an exhausted Isaac on his back, gave Rosalina a look of gratitude for doing that as he fluttered over a particularly large gap in the bridge.
As Peach floated her way towards the end of the bridge, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Daisy doing a series of acrobatic maneuvers on the arches of the bridge, and when she landed on a portion of the bridge that was in front of Peach, Peach giggled and asked, "Was that necessary?"
Daisy thought about it for all of three seconds before shrugging and answering, "Nah... it looks cool though, don't ya think?" As Peach nodded, Daisy laughed and said, "Last one to the other side pays the other twenty coins!"
Peach grinned before replying, "Oh, you're on," pulling out a parasol that she had styled after Perry (she hoped that wherever the umbrella was, he was doing fine) and opening it to help herself glide over to the end of the bridge.
Eventually, everyone finally crossed over the bridge, the two Belmonts being the last ones to make it. Simon hauled Richter up, and the younger Belmont gasped, "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Simon's right hand gravitated towards the Vampire Killer that rested on his belt as he began to open the door to the clock tower, but he stopped upon hearing something slam into it. Behind him, Luigi audibly gulped and pointed his Poltergust at the door as the pounding on the door increased in frequency until finally, a sword burst through the door, and Robin gasped upon seeing the design of the blade. The person behind the door shoulder tackled the door one last time, causing one side of the door to collapse, and picked up their sword once it clattered to the floor, revealing themselves to be...
"Chrom?!"
The exalt of Ylisse said nothing, his purple eyes betraying no emotion—as well as indicating that he was a slave to Dharkon's will—before opening up the hand he had kept balled in a fist the entire time, revealing a Spirit Orb that held the image of an alien that bore a suspicious resemblance to Mewtwo. Chrom then flicked his hand outwards, unleashing the Spirit Orb before saying, "You desire entry to Dracula's throne room?" Chrom surveyed the crowd of people before him—notably averting Robin's gaze—before pointing a finger towards Byleth, continuing, "Best me in single combat, and I shall let you through. Otherwise, should you fail..." Chrom snapped his fingers, and everyone else was boxed in by an invisible barrier while the Spirit Orb hovered above their heads, finishing, "I shall leave your companions to be consumed by this... erm, alien."
The Spirit Orb hovered lower, absently minding its own business until it saw Ness, and it began to gravitate towards him, whispering, "Ness..." much to his and everyone else's worry.
Byleth twirled the Creator Sword in her hand and it changed into Areadbhar, a determined look having come across her face as she and Chrom circled one another.
Smithy roared as he lifted his hammer and threw it at Geno, who barely managed to duck underneath it and fire some bullets at Smithy's head, but the mechanical despot laughed, the bullets having barely tickled him. As his hammer boomeranged back, he noticed that the large ape had picked up one of his scrapped heads that was lying around. His head began to morph from the iron maiden to a tank, and once it was finished transforming, he fired a Banzai Bill right at Donkey Kong, who flung the head at the Banzai Bill, causing an explosion that caused bits of metal to fly everywhere, which Link tried his best to deter by picking up a head with the Magnesis rune and using it to block most of the shrapnel.
Red sent out Squirtle and Ivysaur before activating his Key Stone, and Charizard Mega Evolved into his X form, letting out a ferocious snarl as he did so. Looking at his three starter Pokémon, Red asked, "You guys ready?" Squirtle and Ivysaur nodded as they hopped onto Charizard, and Red shouted, "Let 'em have it!"
Charizard roared triumphantly before achieving liftoff, Squirtle and Ivysaur hanging on for dear life as they did so. Down on the ground, Smithy narrowed his eyes upon seeing the black-and-blue dragon take off, and he aimed the cannon on his head at Charizard, intending to shoot it down. Focusing his aim, Smithy then fired a Magnum Bill at Charizard, who swerved out of the way of the poison-coated Bullet Bill before retaliating with Flamethrower, while on his back, Squirtle fired an Aura Sphere which hit its mark, causing Smithy to retaliate by banging his hammer on the floor.
Eleven responded by rapidly casting Bounce on everyone, as Smithy pounding his hammer on the floor had resulted in both shrapnel and the remains of his defeated minions to rain from the upper level that they had previously fought Smithy in. Satisfied with his work, Eleven, his hand that possessed the mark of the Luminary being licked at by flames, fired a Kafrizz at Smithy, but the mechanical menace smacked a large piece of falling sharpnel towards the incoming fireball, melting it down to a pile of metallic goop. As Eleven jumped over the pile of liquified metal, he took a closer look to make sure that it somehow wasn't a Liquid Metal Slime in disguise before casting Kaboom, firing a small projectile that zoomed over to Smithy before expanding into a massive explosion that caught him off guard.
As Smithy looked around for Eleven so that he could squash him, he was hit by a fast-moving fireball that came from Ryu, distracting him long enough for R.O.B. to drop Pichu onto his head, causing Smithy to claw at his head, bellowing, "Get off me!"
Seeing an opportunity, Banjo asked, "Hey Kazooie, do we still have Golden Feathers?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Banjo whispered his idea to her, and Kazooie's eyes narrowed as a cheeky grin came across her face, replying, "Not a bad idea, pizza-breath, let's do it!"
"Didn't you eat more pizza than me last month?" Kazooie ignored the question as Banjo leaped off a Shock Spring Pad, and she took control, gliding her way towards the distracted Smithy. Upon reaching the evil king, Kazooie and Banjo jammed themselves into the cannon of the tank, much to the shock of Smithy, who began to charge another Magnum Bill to flush them out. It was at that moment where Kazooie used one of her Golden Feathers and Pichu unleashed Discharge just as the Magnum Bill fired, shocking Smithy while the bullet exploded in the barrel, catapulting an unharmed Banjo and Kazooie out of it and into a nearby wall.
The duo brushed the soot off themselves after they pulled themselves out of the crevice they had made as R.O.B, holding Pichu, came down next to them, the four waiting to see just how much they had done to the tin tyrant. When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Smithy was badly charred, and that part of his head had been blown off as a result of the Magnum Bill backfiring. After a brief pause, Smithy's eyes narrowed in fury as he waved his hammer, the weapon glowing with an eerie gold light.
"So you think you can outdo me with magic, eh? Get a load of THIS!" Smithy's head began to morph once more, changing from a tank to a grotesque depiction of a mage, his face being on the bottom of the cloak. Waving his hammer, Smithy bellowed, "WEAPON RAIN!" and a stream of weaponry consisting of swords, spears, and arrows fell down from above, forcing everyone to come up with ways to dodge the onslaught. Link and Donkey Kong picked up heads that were lying on the floor with Magnesis and his bare hands respectively, and the Hylian champion yelled to everyone, "Get under!"
Everyone scrambled over to Link and Donkey Kong, while Charizard landed to wait out the onslaught with everyone else. However, Sonic was still outside, darting his way through the rain of weaponry before jumping up and beaning Smithy in the head with a Homing Attack, causing him to roar in pain as the assault continued. Smithy swung his hammer at the hedgehog—who was standing on his head—and missed, hitting himself square in the face and caving part of it in. Sonic zipped away, still dodging arrows as he taunted, "You missed me, metal face!"
Eventually, the weapons ceased to fall from above, and Link set the Smithy head he was holding down in a safe spot while Donkey Kong hurled his at Smithy's hammer with the intent of breaking it. However, Smithy, even though his face was badly damaged, screamed in a warped voice, "CARBON STAR!" Conjuring a small bit of coal, Smithy waved his wand, causing larger bits and chunks of coal to form around it until it resembled a massive Ztar, and he flung it at the head Donkey Kong had thrown at him, barreling right through it and towards the ape, who, after winding up his arm a little bit, leaped forward and punched through the Ztar, shattering it into bits of coal and landing in a three-point stance... only to quickly blow at his fist, which had slightly swelled up and was glowing red.
Smithy belted out another metallic screech, and his head transformed once again, changing into a silver treasure chest. Guffawing, Smithy pried open the lid on his head and swirled his hammer inside as if he were making candy floss, and when he finished, he took out his hammer, revealing that it was coated in a sickly green-and-orange combination of gas. Laughing, Smithy swung his hammer at the Mii Swordfighter, who tried to jump over the weapon, only to catch a full whiff of the gas and fall to the floor, retching in disgust. Meggy and Evan ran over to him and pulled the Mii away, and as they looked him over, he began to choke on something, and the two Inklings backed up... only for him to spit out a few strands of hay, much to the confusion of Meggy and Evan.
"Ooh, this shirt is getting mighty itchy... huh?!" The Mii Swordfighter noticed, much to his horror, that the more he scratched at his shirt, the more it began to look like it was stuffed with hay. Meggy and Evan exchanged worried looks, and dragged the Mii Swordfighter away from the battle as his body began to become more rigid and more hay began to fall behind him on the floor. Hiding behind one of Smithy's replica heads, the two of them tried to get a good look at the Swordfighter once again and screamed in terror once they had done so. The Mii Swordfighter's entire body, save for his face, had been turned into a scarecrow. Choking out another bunch of hay, he said, "Listen, don't worry about me... go help the others and sort this out first!"
"But-"
"No buts, just go! I just have to stay out of sight for a while!" As the two Inkling inked a path for themselves to swim back into the heat of the battle, the Mii Swordfighter muttered to himself, "Okay... now how do I move with a pedestal for legs?"
Smithy swung his hammer again, intending to hit Ridley, but before his weapon could make contact with the former Space Pirate, Zelda began to cast some kind of magic that redirected the gas in another direction while also summoning a Phantom to swat the hammer away, and Ridley swooped in, firing a powerful blast of Plasma Breath that pushed Smithy further back. Snarling, Ridley pressed his advantage even further by landing on Smithy's shoulders once again and prying his head open, that time with relative ease. As Ridley pondered why, the same gas that coated Smithy's hammer began to rise out of his head, and he frantically shut Smithy's head before whirring his teeth in frustration, while nearby, Charizard shot a Flame Burst at Smithy, causing a small explosion of blue fire which dispersed in a small area around the mechanical despot.
Down on the ground, Kaptain K. Rool shot a Kannonball up before briefly switching to his King Krusha K. Rool persona and punching the Kannonball towards Smithy's head, and the Kannonball hit its mark, partially caving in Smithy's face yet again. Switching back to his Kaptain K. Rool persona, K. Rool took aim and fired a spiked Kannonball at Smithy's chest, while at the same time, Geno bounced off his head, much to the annoyance of the reptilian monarch, and flung a Star Cutter at the mechanical despot's chest, the golden disc completely shattering the small crater that the spiky Kannonball had created, exposing an iron heart that, disturbingly, pulsated and pumped oil through Smithy's body like an organic being's heart would pump blood.
Diddy Kong deliberately overloaded one of his popguns by jamming it with a peanut and shaking it vigorously before chucking it at Smithy like it was a grenade, before pulling out one of the many spares he kept on him. R.O.B. fired a laser aimed right at Smithy's heart, but he deflected the laser with his hammer before swatting R.O.B. away with his hammer as if the robot were a pesky fly. Toon Link attempted to get in close and use his Hookshot to pry out Smithy's heart, but Smithy grabbed the grapping hook before flinging it behind him, catapulting the Hero of the Winds upwards.
"Charizard, get him!"
Looking back, Charizard saw that Toon Link was flying right towards him, and he nodded towards Ivysaur, who extended her vines and successfully managed to catch the young Hylian. As Ivysaur set Toon Link down on Charizard's back, Squirtle flashed him a thumbs up and Charizard turned around and growled, "You alright, kid?" Toon Link nodded, and Charizard continued, "That's good," before belting out another Flamethrower which washed over Smithy, causing him even more discomfort as the oil coursing through him began to light on fire.
As Geno saw Smithy's insides begin to boil, he quickly transformed himself into his cannon form and began to charge up a Star Flash as the finishing blow, building up a massive amount of energy within the barrel, and once he reached his limit, he let loose, engulfing Smithy in a massive conflagration that pushed everyone back a large distance. When the firestorm died down, Geno stamped out a small fire that had crept onto his cape, and looked forward to see Smithy howling in pain as his body began to glow dangerously red.
As his body continued to heat up, Smithy screamed, "My b...body and head are burning! It's not...possible...! I don't believe it...! I'm...finished...done for...! NOOOOO!" before exploding in a rather violent manner, splattering the floor with hot splotches of burning oil, shards of metal, a Spirit Orb, and a piece of the Apollo Sanctum's key which Donkey Kong carefully traversed the floor to pick up along with the Spirit Orb.
Link began to take a headcount, and once he finished, he asked no one in particular, "Aren't we missing someone?"
"I'm... right... here..."
Everyone jumped slightly after hearing the voice, and turned around to see where it had come from. From behind one of Smithy's heads, the Mii Swordfighter stumbled out from the shadows (somehow he had done so with his lower half being a mere pedestal), choking out straw with every step he took. Everyone except Meggy and Evan shared uneasy looks, but Geno, thoroughly unfazed by the occurrence due to how often he had seen it happen during his quest to repair the Star Road, pulled out a can of Able Juice while also taking out a bottle of lemon-flavored Kero Cola for himself, tossing the former beverage towards the Mii Swordfighter while saying, "Drink that, it'll fix you up real quick," taking a long sip out of his Kero Cola as he did so, sighing, "Ah, how I missed drinking this..."
After Falco opened the can of Able Juice for the Mii Swordfighter, he tipped its contents down his mouth, asking, "How did this even happen to you, anyway?"
"It's quite dull... and very humiliating as well..." Mii Swordfighter replied once he finished the drink. After a brief moment, he began to shed hay at a rapid rate, and shortly after, he was completely cured of his affliction, which he thanked Falco for before reconvening with the group, who was trying to find a way out of the basement.
Zelda asked R.O.B., "I don't suppose you could fly us out of here, could you?"
"I regret to inform you that my jet thrusters are completely spent from our little excursion through this factory. As it currently stands, I am a robot, not a miracle worker."
Zelda nodded in understanding before turning to Red, who shook his head in response as he recalled Charizard, explaining, "I haven't given Charizard an adequate amount of recovery time... and he definitely deserves a break after all this," gesturing to the mostly ruined factory for emphasis. Again, Zelda nodded in understanding, and was about to ask King K. Rool the same question before hearing the sound of metal crumpling.
Ridley stood near an exit door he had pried open, and he growled, "I don't have all day, y'know... let's move!" The group pressed forward and up the stairs that led to the back exit of the factory, but before he went up, Ridley snarled and said, "Good riddance," to the factory, due to it being the reason why he was forced to wear the burden of cybernetic implants once again.
Finally, the group exited the factory, and was about to press forward until they saw smoke coming from what looked like the wreckage of a ship. Link, the instincts of a hero having basically been burned into him, ran over to investigate, and everyone else followed.
At the wreckage of the Halberd, Min Min had just finished packing up her cooking supplies, utensils, and bowls once everyone was done with the food, having once again declined Mario's help, much to the curiosity of the plumber. As she slung the bag over her shoulder, Min Min heard a small ruckus come from behind a sheet of metal, and when she went to investigate, she saw a massive crowd of people (and anthropomorphic animals), causing her to take on a slight tone of annoyance as she rambled, "Wa lao eh, 这些家伙是谁？ 我需要为他们做饭吗？" much to the confusion of the crowd before her.
Mario, having heard her ramblings, ran up to investigate, and found Link and the others who he had left behind at the factory when he and Bowser had run off to Shroob Castle standing behind the sheet, to which he reacted with excitement, exclaiming, "It's-a great to see you all again!" His face turning serious, Mario asked, "By any chance, did-a you guys manage to-a find more pieces of that key Matthew told us about?"
Donkey Kong tossed both the Spirit Orb and the piece of the Apollo Sanctum key he had recovered from Smithy to Geno, who passed them to Mario and said, "I believe that this should answer that question, Mario. And if you want to know what happened to Smithy... I don't think he'll be coming back anytime soon."
Mario smiled at that before calling over everyone else, who walked over and introduced themselves if they were newcomers. While Terry was conversing with Ryu about the sheer difference in their fighting styles, Arvus was talking to Eleven, who was telling the younger hero stories about his quest to save Erdrea. As Arvus intently listened to Eleven's tale, he noticed a distinct mark on his left hand, causing him to quietly breathe, "So the stories really were true, that's unbelievable, holy..."
"I beg your pardon?"
"The stories about you! They're all true! You're really the fabled Luminary of legend, the original Erdrick! It's an honor to meet you!" Arvus vigorously shook Eleven's hand, and the latter could only give a bashful smile in return.
Once everyone was done introducing themselves, Mario pointed towards an incredibly distinct location that flickered between emitting a blinding light and being swallowed by a inky darkness, and he said, "That's-a the one place that-a we haven't explored on this path, let's-a go!"
Once they had entered the place via a glowing archway, Link decided to map out the area the only way he knew how; using Revali's Gale to fly up and survey the entire place. Once he had done so, he landed back down to meet the others before beginning, "So here's what we need to do..."
As Mega Man led the Smashers up a flight of stairs to the next floor of the building they had just entered, he saw that the stairs leading all the way to the top floor had been completely sealed off, much to his annoyance, and he opened the door that led to a room on the floor that they were currently on before whispering, "Come on, this way!"
The door that Mega Man had opened led to what looked like an abandoned hospital wing. As he and the others traversed through the eerily lit room whose lights were rapidly flickering on and off, Snake muttered, "You know, I can't help but feel that we're being watched..."
The seed of Dharkon that had implanted itself on Matthew retracted back into the Adept's body, who was too distracted to notice, as he was thinking about the moment he had mere minutes before he and everyone else had entered the building. Thinking to himself, Matthew mused, "Is it possible that all the darkness I've been exposed to is making me somewhat loopy? It happened up on the Apollo Lens when all that light I took in nearly killed me... but I also stayed within the Grave Eclipse for a worryingly long amount of time and nothing happened. What's going on?"
Matthew was snapped out of his thoughts by Mewtwo, who floated in front of everyone else and said, "Don't move," using Confusion to scan the room for anything that could pose a threat to them. Eventually, it saw that... something was inside the walls, and Mewtwo continued, "Whatever you do, do not go near the walls- KIRBY!"
The pink blob stopped and looked at Mewtwo, being mere inches from touching the wall, and he was pulled back to the others by Dedede. After that brief scare, the Smashers continued walking through the building.
Dharkon's seed snaked out from beneath Matthew's jacket, and, upon making sure that it couldn't be seen, its eye flashed red, causing the walls to slowly crack apart and unveil a small group of faceless nurses that were holding various sharp medical instruments. The seed retreated just as Matthew turned around to see the commotion, and upon seeing the nurses that were slowly lumbering towards him, Matthew unsheathed Artorias' greatsword, which began to radiate a suffocating darkness that almost completely smothered the room with dark smoke.
While Incineroar and Greninja reacted to the sudden shift in the air with mild annoyance, Mewtwo had doubled over and gone down to its knees, clutching its head in agony as the sheer amount of dark energy threatened to overload its senses... until the dark cloud suddenly vanished, upon which it stood up and looked around to see where it had come from. Upon failing to find where the massive influx of dark energy had come from due to the sheer concentration of dark energy weakening its senses, Mewtwo continued to lead the group to the end of the room, while at the very back, Matthew, staring at the shriveled and unmoving corpses of the four nurses, resheathed Artorias' greatsword and continued forward. Unbeknownst to the Adept, however, a small patch of skin that was hidden beneath his scarf had taken on a black-and-red color.
As the Smashers pressed forward, the seed of Dharkon quietly laughed to itself before calling upon an incredibly dark power, one that radiated all over the underbelly of the Mysterious Dimension...
I gotta keep it real; some of you need to actually read the damn chapters before asking me questions, and I shouldn't have to say this again.
And I suppose to clear up something that might've been a bit confusing early on, I'll explain the concept of time within this series: the way Master Hand measures time is very different from how it's measured within the separate universes. For example, it's mentioned frequently throughout this story that Geno waited 12 years before being able to see Mario and company again. That's only within Master Hand's sense of time. In the Mario universe itself, it was like four to five years or so, and I've updated bits with Geno in earlier parts to reflect that.
Plus, I'm not calling Geno's special moves "Geno [insert name here]," that's just silly.
Place your bets, what do you think is gonna happen to Matthew as the story progresses?
Translation note:
Wa lao eh, 这些家伙是谁？ 我需要为他们做饭吗？means "Oh my god, who are all these people? Do I have to cook for them too?" It's a personal touch of my own Singaporean/Malaysian-Chinese heritage.
Group 1 (Dracula's Castle): Luigi, Ness, Peach, Villager, Rosalina, Simon, Daisy, Isaac, Samus, Wario, Yoshi, Pikachu, Pac-Man, Mr. Game & Watch, Eight, Ike, Ken, Robin, Richter, Byleth
Group 2 (Sacred Realm): Link, Banjo, Ridley, Toon Link, Ryu, Zelda, Inklings (Meggy, Evan), Mii Swordfighter, Red (Squirtle, Ivysaur, Charizard), Falco, Sonic, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, R.O.B., Pichu, King K. Rool, Luminary, Geno, Mario, Bowser, Erdrick/Arvus, Marth, Jigglypuff, Lucas, Terry Bogard, Lucario, Meta Knight, Min Min
Group 3 (Mysterious Dimension): Matthew, Joker, Snake, Kirby, Dr. Mario, Cloud, Fox, Greninja, Mega Man, Little Mac, Pit, Piranha Plant, King Dedede, Captain Falcon, Ice Climbers, Wolf, Incineroar, Bayonetta, Solo, Corrin, Mewtwo
Group 4 (Puppet Fighters with known whereabouts): Young Link
Apollo Sanctum key pieces: 5/13