Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.
Everyone hopped out of the Time Hole as they stared directly at the doors to Shroob Castle. "Here we are… the belly of the beast." Bowser said as he cracked his knuckles. "Oh, I'm gonna enjoy wrecking things up."
"Agreed." Daisy smirked. "Oh, they're gonna regret messing with us."
Stuffwell hopped out of Mario's pocket. "The Shards are going crazy!" He said as he opened up and the Cobalt Star floated up. It circled around the group before heading to the door and then fired a bright light directly at the doors, opening the doors up for them, then it floated off.
"Wait, why is it going away?!" Luigi asked.
"It's probably gonna lead us to Peach. Let's-a go!" Mario said as they started running through the doors… where they were immediately greeted by an army of Shroobs.
"Shroobs!" Princess Shroob's voice had echoed from the top of the castle. "Those fleshies have made their way to our castle! Do not let them rescue Princess Peach! DESTROY THEM!"
"DESTROY!" All the Shroobs yelled.
"You're the ones who are gonna be destroyed!" Bowser declared. "We're gonna take Peach back from all of you if we have to!"
"Yeah! We're gonna take her back!" Ruby cheered.
"Goo goo!" Baby Mario cheered.
"Let's rock!" Yang exclaimed.
BGM: Under Siege (Hyrule Warriors)
The heroes charged at the Shroobs as the Shroobs did the same where they were immediately clobbering each other left and right as Bowser punched some Shroobs toward a wall as he rolled toward them and crushed them as he then breathed fire as his Tyranitar unleashed a Hyper Beam attack on them. Weiss and Winter quickly slashing at them and sending ice their way to freeze them solid as Yang and Daisy punched them out of their ice while the Minervas and White Wings quickly stabbed them.
The two Sonics quickly used a Sonic Tornado to suck up the Shroobs as Ruby jumped over and slashed them down to the ground as a few Shroobs shot at her, but she deflected them with her scythe as Jaune and Pyrrha slashed at some Shroids. The Shroids fired lasers at them but they blocked with their shields as Nora jumped over behind them and slammed her hammer into them to destroy them.
Several Snoozorbs rolled in and started firing lasers at the group, but then Dante and Min Min went running over as Min Min threw her Dragon ARMs and fired lasers at them while Dante slashed through them repeatedly, then were quickly destroyed by Veronica's Kaboomle attack. Guardian Shroobs came running in with Dr. Shroobs as they started blasting them where Luminary blocked them with his shield while running at them and then slashed at them with Erik while Jade used a Harvest Moon to knock a Guardian Shroob up in the air where it got toasted by Aerith's Thundaga.
Several Shroobs surrounded Sun and Ironwood. "Looks like we're surrounded." Sun said.
"I think it's time we send out our newest additions."
"Couldn't agree more!" Sun smirked as they both pulled out two Ultra Balls. "Let's go, Leo!"
"Cobalt, come out!" Ironwood yelled.
"Chimchaaaaar!"
"Duraaaaa!"
"Whoa, where did they get a Chimchar and a Duraludon?" Marnie asked, slashing at a Shroob while her Grimmsnarl smacked a few Guardian Shroobs away.
"They found those two in the courtyard. They were injured from the Shroob invasion so they had to seek shelter." Blake explained. "Aerith helped heal them up after she and Kamek brought Toadiko back."
"Oh neat."
"Leo, Flame Wheel!" Sun ordered.
"Cobalt, Dragon Claw!"
"Chaaaaaaar!" Chimchar rushed at the Shroobs with a Flame Wheel while Cobalt unleashed a Dragon Claw on the stragglers as several Tashroobas ran in and transformed into raging purple Wigglers, but Bowser used an uppercut on one of the Tashroobas while Erik used Ridgeraiser on another, where a spiky rock shot up and impaled the Tashrooba while the Metroid latched onto the other Tashrooba and started sucking its life force… and then latched off where Pikachu and Pichu finished it off with a Thunderbolt.
"Open wide!" Young Samus said, both of them charging up Plasma Shots at the castle doors to weaken them as they then charged at the doors and shoulder bashed them to swing the doors open.
"Let's go!" Samus said as they charged ahead where they saw a warp pipe encased in crystal as the Bounty Huntresses tried to break it but it was no good.
"I think we need to find something that will break this apart." Mario said.
"In that case, split up!" Samus ordered as they took off in different directions of the castle.
Weiss and Winter ran up ahead of their group and quickly destroyed the Shroobs in the area. Weiss lunged directly at one and quickly impaled it with her sword and then took a step back after it fell to the ground. She looked up and saw plenty of Shroobs opening fire as she stabbed the ground to form a reflective ice barrier. As she did this, images of Dark Weiss being eaten alive plagued her mind. "Nnngh!" Weiss grunted, holding on to her head.
"Weiss, you okay?" Winter asked.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" She quietly said, looking a bit down as she ran ahead and slashed though the Shroob forces, though she didn't look quite as elegant and graceful as before. It was something that Winter had noticed.
Could she be a bit bothered after witnessing herself get eaten alive? Winter wondered as she helped out her sister take out the Shroobs, where a UFO came flying in and aimed directly at Weiss. Ness quickly jumped in and use PSI Shield to block the attack before using PK Rockin' to destroy it.
"You okay, Weiss?" He asked.
"I said I'm fine!" Weiss said as she marched off.
"…Definitely not okay." Ness said.
"She was chipper earlier… something happen?" Paula wondered.
"Yes, and I've a feeling it's bothering her." Winter said as they charged ahead where they found a switch to activate as Weiss did so, but were quickly ambushed by Snoozorbs and Shroob Guardians. Winter and the Onett Quad ran in and quickly dispatched them after a Snoozorb clobbered Weiss to the ground. "Weiss, you sure you're okay? This isn't you."
"I said I'm fine!" Weiss insisted and walked off, but Winter grabbed a hold of her arm.
Pause BGM
"Oh no, you don't. You are not okay." Winter said.
"Winter, I'm-"
"Don't even try. I've seen you battle gracefully, even when you fought your doppelganger. However, ever since we got back, you haven't been yourself." Winter said before her face softened a bit. "Please… you can tell me."
Weiss closed her eyes. "It's just… it's just what happened to Dark Weiss kinda… got to me."
I knew it. Winter thought. "She was eaten alive by that beast… that's what got to you?"
BGM: Scent of Silence (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories)
"Winter, she was my dark self… so I was basically watching myself get eaten." Weiss said with a shudder. "There was nothing I could do to stop it… it just all happened in the blink of an eye…"
"I will admit, I was a bit shaken up when I saw her get eaten alive as well… but I never imagined what you must have felt."
"I felt… sick… horrified… I don't know how Yang and Blake managed to get through their doppelganger's deaths but… they weren't eaten alive!" She exclaimed. "I've been eaten alive by a god, Cackletta and some mutated dinosaur! I'm still wondering how I'm even alive…" She said. "But… something about that moment just has me shaken up…"
Winter pulled Weiss into a hug. "That moment bothered you… I completely understand…" She said. "I may not have a doppelganger, thank goodness, but I know I'll be there to cheer my sister up." She said with a smile.
"Thanks Winter…"
"Now come on, let's go rescue the princess." Winter said after parting the hug.
"Right."
"And I'll stick close by… just in case if you're still out of it."
"Thanks…" Weiss said and turned to Ness and the others. "Sorry I snapped at you earlier."
"Ah, it's okay." Ness shrugged it off. "No big deal."
"Now then… let's get to rescuing Peach. We've got a fight to finish!" Poo said as they nodded and took off, with Winter really close to Weiss.
End BGM
Resume Under Siege BGM
"Hiyah!" Scoop Swoop headbutted a Shroob as the other Shroobs tried to fire at him but their ray guns were jammed.
"Why aren't we shooting?!"
"I don't know!" Another said as a Shroid malfunctioned and shut down, which gave Ghira and Kali room to attack the Shroobs in the area.
"I'll go see what's up ahead!" Scoop Swoop said.
"Stay safe!" Ghira said as Scoop Swoop charged ahead… while a few electric bolts hit Ghira on the back. "Argh!"
"Honey!" Kali exclaimed and turned around to see Shroobs aiming at them as she let out a growl. "You hurt my husband…" She then picked up two ray guns. "NOW YOU ASKED FOR IT!" She yelled, shooting them with surprising accuracy.
"Honey… where did you…?"
"We have a shooting range in Menagerie, don't you remember?"
"Oh right… wait, you go there?"
"Every once in a while!" Kali said, shooting a Shroob that snuck up behind them.
Ghira chuckled. "You truly are a hell of a wife."
"Oh, I know." Kali smiled as they took off, while Sun and Blake had watched it all unfold.
"You have some badass parents… now I know where you get your badassery from!"
"Oh hush." Blake chuckled as they took after them where they were joined by Neptune who was shooting down some Shroobs that Leone didn't take down with her punching.
"Thanks!" Leone said after throwing a Shroid into a wall to destroy it as they hit a switch to activate a pillar.
"Great, let's go!" Ghira said as they went off.
The Mario Bros, Daisy, Parfait and their baby selves encountered a Shroobsworth where its Shroob Intern kept blasting them with ray guns but they kept avoiding the attacks as it then brought out a meteor as it swung its cane as it came flying at Daisy, but she pulled back her fist and punched the meteor hard enough for it to go flying back, but Shroobsworth deflected it to Mario who had Baby Mario hammer it away as it was then deflected to Luigi as Baby Luigi hammered it hard enough to knock it into Shroobsworth which was enough to daze him. "Hiyah!" Baby Daisy yelled, throwing her boomerang at the Shroobsworth to knock him on his back, as the Intern Shroob hopped off and kicked him away.
"Togipriiiii!" Young Parfait cried, using Metronome with Togekiss as they both unleashed a Draco Meteor attack to completely obliterate the Intern Shoob.
"Nice one!" Daisy praised as they hit the switch to activate a pillar and then took off.
Roman found herself back to back with Ruby while surrounded by Shroobs. "Ya know, I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be back to back with my arch nemesis."
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
"Heh, I suppose so." He then smirked. "Think you can keep up?"
Ruby cocked her scythe. "What do you think?"
"Heh, I thought so." He said as they proceeded to lunge at the Shroobs while Yang and Neo made quick work on the Shroids nearby. Neo quickly swung her umbrella to knock a Shroid up in the air as Yang jumped up and punched it straight into the Shroids down below. She then unleashed a Hadoken right after, which hit the Shroid and exploded. Yang landed on the ground and fist bumped Neo.
"You ever thought about adding a gun to your umbrella?" Yang asked.
"A gun?" Neo tilted her head. "What do you have in mind?" She asked with sign language.
"I dunno… a shotgun?"
"A shotgun umbrella…" Neo mused and then smirked. "Sounds like fun. I'll see if it's possible to craft that."
"Alright then!" Yang said as they leapt forward while Bowser and his younger self breathed fire at the Shroobs as Bowser picked up a Snoozorb and threw it to the ground where Kamek lit ablaze with his magic, then Baby Bowser jumped over and hammered it to knock it down… and then was destroyed by General Guy's Super Scope.
"All clear!" General Guy said.
"How many did you kill?" Ruby asked Roman.
"22. How about you?"
Ruby frowned a bit. "21…"
"Ha! Beat ya that time!" Roman smiled happily as they hit the switch, where all four statues lit up and fired at the crystal encasing the warp pipe. They all regrouped and hopped in the warp pipe, while just outside, a few UFOs went crashing to the ground from the Minervas and White Wings.
"We rock!" Young Est cheered.
"Heck yeah!" Est said, high fiving her as they met up with the others who just came outside after exiting the warp pipe.
"We cleared the skies! You're free to go into that warp pipe nearby!" Catria said.
"Thanks!" Ruby said as they hopped into the next warp pipe where the eight of them joined the rest as they soon found themselves inside the third floor of the castle where they found another switch as they quickly activated them to open up a door.
"I just realized that these Shroobs like their switches." Daisy said. "Wonder if they might like the Switch?"
"Focus!" Winter scolded.
"Sorry!" She blushed a bit as they went inside the door… and when they went inside, they found Peach pacing around worriedly on a screen.
End BGM
"Peach!" Mario exclaimed, but Peach didn't hear him.
"Oh, it must be a communications thing." Samus said as she knelt down. "This will only take a moment." She said and lay on her back to get the wiring figured out.
"Need some help?" Young Samus asked.
"Nah, I think I got it." Samus said, and they then heard a buzzing. "Got it!"
"Oh good!" Ruby said.
"Huh? That voice!" A voice said as Peach turned around. "Ruby? Is that you?"
"And all of us!" Yang grinned.
"Oh thank goodness! Look, I can't see you but I can hear you. Listen, I'm in the very top of the statue and-"
Suddenly she was cut off as it went to static. "Come on, work!" Samus said, punching the monitor but it didn't do anything. "Blast it… Princess Shroob must have cut off all communications."
"Well, now what are we gonna do?" Luigi asked.
"Get her back!" Mario said and turned his head to see a Warp Pipe. "And I think I know where to get her out of there."
"Seems a bit too easy…" Blake said.
"Ah, you worry too much!" Bowser told her as they hopped into the Warp Pipe… when suddenly as they were going through the pipe, something huge slammed into the pipe system, forcing it to move in place as they wound up underground as they hopped out of the pipe.
"…Did… did something force us to be down here?" Yang asked.
"Yeah… something huge." Aerith said and then turned to Bowser. "Now what was that about "Blake worrying too much"?"
"Oh, can it, flower girl!" Bowser shot back.
Samus looked to her younger self and nodded, activating their scanners and looked around. "There's something coming in hot!" Samus warned as Diggernaut launched out of the water and let out a mechanical roar.
BGM: Diggernaut Theme (Metroid: Samus Returns)
"What the devil is that thing?!" Marnie yelled in surprise.
"That's a thing that kicked our asses in Thwomp Volcano!" Bowser said and then cracked his knuckles. "Oh, I am SO gonna enjoy this!"
"We have more room." Sienna said. "We can do this!"
"You ready, Samus?" Samus asked her younger self.
"Oh yeah, I'm not going to lose to this thing twice." She said as they got ready to fight the monstrous robot.
Shroob Castle's Guard Robot - Diggernaut
Diggernaut raised its arms up in the air and slammed its arms into the ground, creating a shockwave that caused everyone to jump over as Ruby ran over and used her semblance to charge at the massive machine and slashed at it, but her scythe "dinked" and forced her to jump back, then she aimed directly at it through her scope and shot it in the eye. The Minervas and White Wings flew around and swung their weapons at it as Diggernaut fired lasers at them where they were able to weave around.
"We have much more room down here!" Young Catria said.
"We shouldn't get cocky though." Catria warned. "This thing took us down before."
"Yeah, but what's a little fun!" Dante said as he ran over and slid underneath its arms that Diggernaut had swung as he slashed upward on its chest, where Aerith fired a Blizzaga right at it. Diggernaut fired missiles at the group as Weiss threw down a reflective ice barrier with the help of Winter, reflecting it back and hitting Diggernaut in the face where Samus and her younger self fired Super Missiles while Min Min threw her Dragon ARM at it, even firing a laser from it.
Mario got behind Bowser and grabbed his tail. "Ack! Mario, what are you doing?!"
"Readying an attack! Get ready!" Mario said as Bowser understood this and smirked.
"Alright, let 'er rip!" Bowser said as Mario spun him around and then launched him directly to Diggernaut after letting go as Bowser went into his shell and slammed into its face, knocking Diggernaut a few feet as it let out a mechanical groan as Bowser landed near the group. Kamek flew up and quickly launched fireball attacks at it with his wand as it swung its arm to try and hit Kamek, but he teleported out of the way for safety as General Guy threw down a Bill Blaster and threw a Super Mushroom inside of it as it launched out a Banzai Bill as the Sonics hopped on top of the Banzai Bill.
Diggernaut took a swing at the Banzai Bill as the Sonics jumped up in the air to avoid the explosion as it then fired missiles at the two, where the Sonics both Homing Attacked the missiles and jumped over the missiles before Spin Dashing into Diggernaut's eye, then they landed near the group. "You have got to teach me that!" Ruby's eyes sparkled.
"Ruby, no." Yang said.
"Aww…"
Nora's eyes started glowing blue as she clapped her hands together to conjure up electrical whips with her Thunder Hand as she then threw them down right on top of Diggernaut. Diggernaut responded by firing a laser at Nora but Jaune got in the way and swung his axe into the ground, making a rainbow barrier to deflect the laser. Diggernaut raised its arms up and swung down on the two, but Pyrrha used her semblance to keep the arms at bay where Ren jumped over and landed on its arms, quickly firing arrows with his Ren Bow while Roman climbed up on the other and started running up the arm, shooting it with his cane.
"Thanks for the ride!" Leone said to Minerva as she hopped off of her Wyvern and punched Diggernaut in the head before jumping away where Blake used her Shadow Whip to wrap around its arms and then swung up, then summoning her Belladonna Claws and slashed at them.
"Nnngh…!" Pyrrha winced, trying hard to keep the arms at bay. "D-don't just stand there… get out of here!" She told her teammates as Jaune and Nora did… and then Dante came running in and slashed through one the right arm, cleanly cutting it off and then Dante dove to catch Pyrrha as the left arm slammed into the ground. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it!" Dante said as he got back up as Diggernaut looked at its severed right arm and then it proceeded to dump out the same smoke that knocked them all out at Thwomp Volcano.
"Ruby!" Sonic turned to her.
"Right!" Ruby nodded as the Sonics and Ruby quickly got into position and quickly did a Sonic Rose tornado as Aerith joined in with an Aeroga to strengthen the winds to clear out the smoke. While they were doing that, Diggernaut fired missiles at the tornado, which were quickly tossed around inside and then slammed back into Diggernaut. Pikachu and Pichu ran directly underneath Diggernaut where they saw the opening of where the smoke was coming out of.
"Pika Pika!"
"Chu!"
"PIKACHUUUUUUUUUU!"
"PIIIIICHUUUUUU!"
Both of them unleashed Thunderbolt inside of it, completely disrupting the wiring and made Diggernaut malfunction and stopped the smoke, prompting the Sonics and Ruby to get rid of the tornado while Luminary was done charging up an attack and threw down a Quadraslash, summoning a gigantic sword from midair as it slammed into Diggernaut's other arm and cleanly cut through where it exploded. "Looked at you, you were armed and ready and now you're not!" Yang taunted.
"Now's not the time for puns!" Blake said as Diggernaut charged up a huge laser where Samus stood in front and did the same, as Diggernaut fired a laser at the same time as Samus unleashed Zero Laser, both of their lasers connecting and resulted in a standoff. Young Samus stared at her older self before joining in and firing a Zero Laser of her own, adding on to its power.
"Poo! Paula! Together!" Ness said as both of them nodded and got into position. "PK… STARSTOOOOOOOORM!" They yelled, as shooting stars rained down and slammed into Diggernaut which broke its concentration enough for it to be engulfed by the two Zero Lasers. Once the Zero Lasers dissipated, Diggernaut fell to the ground in defeat… but it slowly rose to try to fight, only for Samus to fire a plasma shot at its face to shut it down.
End BGM
"Yeah! We rule!" Bowser cheered as he walked forward and pushed Diggernaut in the water. "Let's go." He said as they walked off… but not before Samus looked into the water, pulled out a Power Bomb and tossed it into the water. She walked away with a whistle while the Power Bomb exploded into the water, disintegrating what remained of Diggernaut, then they found the Warp Pipe nearby as they walked over and hopped in, where they found themselves in a different part of Shroob Castle, just near the statue.
"Let's go, Peach is waiting for us!" Mario said as they took off, ready to save Peach and to stop Princess Shroob once and for all.
*looks at Microsoft buying Bethesda* Well... that was a thing to wake up to this morning. Also, apparently, a Smash announcement is about to happen soon. Wonder who it'll be? I know it's a crap shoot but... Sora! Reimu! ...Someone! I'll be fine with anyone, honestly.
Also, I debated whether or not to include the Mothership fight in this. After the fight with Diggernaut, I went "Eh, this could be a good stopping point."