Here I am with chapter 2! I hope everyone is doing well! I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, followed and liked the story so far! Your support is very encouraging and I'm grateful for all the responses so far. I'm also really happy you guys are enjoying the story! =D
I'll now announce the results of last chapter and how everyone voted.
Female Byleth wins by a landslide! Congrats to F!Byleth for representing Fire Emblem Three Houses. =D
As for the Mii fighters, it looks like the vanilla Mii Fighters win. As there were 5 votes for the vanilla Mii-fighters and 4 for the possessed Mii costume fighters. It was a very close match so well done to both sides. =D
Very well I'll stick with the Mii Fighters as is. Thank you to everyone who has voted, it helps me to get a better idea of what people prefer the Mii fighters to be when put into a story like this. And it was a fun way to let you guys decide on it, since Mii Fighters are sorta like a self-insert for the player themselves in a sense.
Again, thank you to everyone!
Anyway with no further delay, I give you Chapter 2! Enjoy~
Chapter 2: Crossroads
Kirby, Mario, Sora and Joker walked further into the large circular ruins until they reached the middle where three different paths branched out before them.
"A crossroad?" Sora asked.
"Why do I get the feeling that the moment we pick a path the other two will get blocked off?" Joker voiced his concern.
"Well, what do we do now? We have to press on to save everyone but which road do we take?" Mario carefully looked around, seeing if any of their possessed friends was currently in the area.
"Poyo!" Kirby tugged on Maro's overalls and pointed him in the eastward direction.
They saw Marth waiting there seeming to block the way forward.
"I guess we have our answer." Joker noted.
"That's one of your friends right?" Sora asked Mario and Kirby.
Kirby nodded.
"That's Marth, he's a skilled swordsman. He's also a really good guy, it makes me so mad to see Galeem use him like this."
"Don't worry, if we take out that Hand thing like we did with you, Marth should go back to his normal self." Sora reassured.
"It seems those hands are what Galeem uses to control the bodies of your friends, so if we get rid of the puppeteer controlling the people in question, they'll probably revert back to that trophy form like you did." Joker added.
Mario nodded in agreement. "Who are we going to send to fight him though? Marth's tough even without being possessed." Mario asked.
"He's a sword-fighter right? So it makes sense to fight fire with fire. If you get my meaning..." Joker suggested.
"...Fire with fire?" Sora took a few moments to process before he clicked. "Oh I get it! Sure, I've got this!"
"Poyo." Kirby also volunteered.
"Okay Kirby, I'll keep Marth busy while you cut off the strings connecting him to that hand, okay?" Sora bend down to Kirby's level and explained.
Kirby nodded.
"Joker and I will stay here as back-up. Be careful okay?" Mario told Sora.
"Gotcha, just watch us. Let's go Kirby!"
"Poyo!" Kirby followed Sora as they both dashed towards Marth.
The possessed body of Marth prepared to fight back as the two came closer.
Sora summoned his keyblade and clashed his blade with Marth's as they made contact. The impact forced both of them to jump back before dashing back again collide metal with metal over and over.
"Man, Mario wasn't kidding. He doesn't mess around." Sora managed to say before countering another attack by Marth's falchion and retaliated with a firaga attack.
While Sora was busy distracting Marth, Kirby inhaled air in his body and started to float up towards the hand, once he was close enough he stood on top of the hand and started pulling and tearing the strings attached to each of the hand's fingers, working as fast as he could to pull them apart.
Just as Marth delivered a heavy blow that made Sora stagger and unable to dodge the incoming attack.
"Sora!" Both Mario and Joker were about to intervene to help but thankfully Kirby managed to tear the last string in time causing Marth's eyes that were glowing that sinister red dim and loosen his hold on the falchion until it fell out of his hands and collapsed.
"Yah!" Kirby proceeded to deliver a heavy blow of his own using his hammer in retaliation of the hand nearly hurting his new friend, it didn't take much damage before it exploded in the air.
"Those clones really are weaker than the real Master Hand. I wonder where the real one went." Mario wondered thoughtfully to himself out loud.
"Poyo!" Kirby landed safely back on the ground and went to check on Sora.
"I'm okay, don't worry. Thanks for the save Kirby. That was a close call." Sora thanked.
"Poyo!" Kirby happily chirped, pleased that Sora was unharmed.
"Right, time to wake your friend up. How does this work again? You just tap it like this?" Sora stood up and approached Marth's trophy who must have changed back into this form shortly after being freed from the strings that controlled him.
He gently tapped his keyblade on top of Marth's shoulder, which seemed to have done the trick as the trophy started to glow like how it did when they saved Mario.
When the light faded, Marth was awakened, he blinked as if he had just snapped out of a trance and shook his head to clear off the foggy in his head.
"What...? What did I...?"
"Hey, good to see you awake again! How do you feel?" Sora brightly greeted.
"I...I've felt better but it feels like I've just woken up from a nightmare. Oh, who are you might I ask? I don't think I've seen you before." Marth honestly replied before it dawned on him that he was seeing a face he hadn't seen before.
"I'm Sora! One of Kirby's friends. He's the one who saved you from the guy who was controlling your strings. I just kept you distracted while Kirby did the work." Sora introduced himself.
"Hiiii~" Kirby waved his hands happily at Marth.
"Controlled...? Ah! I remember now! Galeem defeated us and then used those clones of the real Master Hand to control us! I vaguely remember fighting someone not long ago, was that you? I'm so sorry, please forgive me." Marth sounded lost until his memory finally clicked into place and recalled what happened. He felt guilty for attacking Sora and apologized profusely.
"No worries. It's no big deal. No one got seriously hurt and the important thing is that you're free now." Sora shook his head and placed his hands carefreely behind his head.
"You're very kind, Sora. I'm sorry again to you and Kirby for attacking the both of you, possessed or no. Thank you for saving me from being a servant of that wretched thing. Are you are planning to save everyone else as well?"
"Yup, Mario and Joker over there are also with us! Hey guys, Marth's back to normal, you can come over now!" Sora called out to the other two.
"Whew, at least Sora didn't get badly injured in that fight." Mario sighed in relief.
"You weren't kidding when you said Marth was tough. I'm kinda glad Sora volunteered instead of me now." Joker placed his hands into his pockets.
"You've saved Mario too? Please let me fight alongside you. I want to help save everyone just like how you two had just saved mine." Marth offered his aid.
"Yeah of course! Once we save the others, we'll go send Galeem back to where he belongs." Sora punched the air.
"You're an energetic one aren't you? Just like a certain pink mutual friend of ours." Marth chuckled.
"Poyo?" Kirby tilted his head confused by Marth's words.
Just as Mario and Joker were about to join them, another clone of Master Hand but with no fighter under their control appeared from above them.
"Another one?!" Joker armed his knife ready while Mario got into his fighting stance.
The hand didn't seem interested in attacking anyone, instead it wagged it's finger and then snapped it's fingers before disappearing.
Barriers appeared without warning, cutting off Mario and Joker from the trio. Sora, Kirby and Marth rushed over until they were faced with the barrier.
"Mario! Joker! Are you guys okay?" Sora banged on the barrier in a feeble attempt to try and break it.
"We're alright, Sora. Are you three okay?" Mario answered.
"Yes, although I get the feeling we won't be able to break down this barrier or the one that appeared on the north road as well."
"Hold on, let me try something." Sora brought out his keyblade and tried to point it towards the barrier but nothing happened. "Aw man, I guess even the Keyblade can't do anything about this."
"Maybe if we try to go around, we might be able to bypass it." Marth suggested.
"You guys will have to go on ahead. Mario and I will try to find a way around to join back up with you."
"Will you two be okay?" Marth asked.
"Marth, you're talking to the plumber who took down Bowser by himself many times." Mario reassured.
"Mario and I will be fine. You guys worry about yourselves for now." Joker told them.
"Poyo..." Kirby gently banged on the barrier.
"It'll be okay Kirby, we'll be back together before you know it." Mario reassured Kirby.
"Alright then, stay safe you two." Marth nodded in understanding of what they must do. "Let's go. The sooner we find a way around this barrier the sooner we can reunite with our friends."
"...Okay. C'mon Kirby." Sora picked up the pink ball as the trio went back the way they came, passing through the west path that was previously blocked by Marth when he was still controlled.
The first thing they noticed passing the circular ruins was what looked like an big airfield but it was currently blocked off by a white gate.
"Looks like we can't go this way for now, besides, it seems to go in another direction entirely. Let's try heading south." Marth informed.
"Poyo!" Kirby jumped out of Sora's arms and ran ahead further down the south path.
"What's up Kirby?" Sora and Marth were puzzled by Kirby's actions but followed after their pink friend until they came to edge of a spiral-like cliff-side area where Kirby had also stopped, appearing to look-out at the view before him.
"Whoa..." Sora was in awe when he looked out to what Kirby was looking at the edge of the cliff. There was a gaping maw smack in the middle of the spiral cliff-side but there were giant mushrooms growing where the maw would be.
"Those...are quite some big mushrooms." Marth stated outright.
"No kidding, do you think we can walk across them?"
"I believe it should be okay. They look sturdy enough for the three of us to walk on. I'm more concerned about the wandering spirits down there. Let's just hope that they're not hostile and let us pass through without having to fight on top of those mushrooms.
"Poyo." Kirby pointed to the far side of the giant mushrooms and saw that there was another Master Hand Clone there with yet another Smash fighter under its control.
"I think that's Olimar down there." Marth recognized with Kirby nodding in agreement.
"Olimar?" Sora repeated.
"He's another friend of ours and a fellow fighter, we must help him. He's a gentle soul, he doesn't deserve a fate like this." Marth explained.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Sora grinned. "We've got a fighter to save."
"Poyo." Kirby chimed in too.
Marth nodded. "Indeed, let's hurry and save Olimar as soon as possible."
With that the trio descended down the spiral cliff-side to make their way across the giant mushrooms.
Sora, Kirby and Marth made gradual process crossing the giant mushrooms while fending off puppet fighters and freeing the spirits within them, the surface of said giant mushrooms were surprisingly bouncy.
Sora started to test the bounciness of the mushrooms by simply jumping up which indeed made him bounce like a trampoline.
"Hey this is kind of fun!"
"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby also joined in on the fun as they continued to bounce along the mushrooms.
"Just be careful you two, we're still in the middle of enemy territory, don't get yourselves hurt." Marth gently scolded like a parent.
"It'll be fine, Marth~" Sora care-freely answered as he continued to the bounce on the giant mushrooms, during one of his high jumps he located exactly where Olimar was standing. "I think I see Olimar, he's on that Mushroom on the lower right."
"Good eye. Leave Olimar to me, you two had already fought so much with the puppet fighters on top of saving Mario and myself. I'll leave you two to deal with the hand itself." Marth informed them.
"You sure Marth?" Sora finally stopped bouncing with Kirby also stopping as well.
"Don't worry about me. I might have just been freed from Galeem's control but that doesn't mean I haven't drained of all my strength."
"Well, if you need help, Kirby and I will take care of the strings."
"Please do. Now then, we should make our move first before the enemy has a chance to react."
They proceeded to the mushroom where Olimar was currently standing on with a Master Hand clone indeed pulling on his strings.
"Hold on Olimar, we'll free you from that tyrant." Marth called out to Olimar as he moved to charge in with the falchion in hand.
The possessed Olimar dodged out of the attack before starting to fire Pikmin at Marth.
While Marth had Olimar's attention, Sora and Kirby worked together to jump up and deal with the Master Hand clone. Sora taking care of the hand itself while Kirby took care of the strings.
Marth was struggling to fend off the Pikmin while making sure not to hurt them, the Pikmin probably had no idea that they're friend was being controlled. Thankfully for the blue-haired swordsman, Kirby take down the final string, causing Olimar to stop in his attacks and collapse before changing back to a trophy, his Pikmin included.
Sora delivered a heavy blow with his keyblade to the Master Hand clone, sending it flying across the sky. "And don't come back!" Sora told it before gliding back down to the ground the same time as Kirby did. The two shared a high five with Kirby jumping up to make contact with Sora's hand before returning to Marth and Olimar's trophy form.
"Great work, you two. Fighting Olimar was trickier than I thought, I didn't want to hurt his Pikmin friends so I did what I could to keep his attention on me."
"Pikmin?" Sora questioned.
"You'll see soon enough." Marth smiled before heading towards Olimar's trophy and tapping it to awaken the fighter.
Olimar fell on his rear upon awakening, shaking his head for a moment before standing up. "Marth? Kirby? What happened? Why I am I here?" Olimar asked, sounding so confused and lost.
"You were under Galeem's control after we lost the first time we fought him. We've just freed you from it's control."
"I did that?! Oh goodness, I didn't hurt anyone did I?" Olimar panicked.
"Poyo." Kirby shook his head.
"Oh, who is this? I haven't seen you before? Are you new?" Olimar noticed the newcomer among them.
"I'm Sora." Sora happily answered.
"Ah, nice to meet you Sora. I'm Olimar, Captain Olimar. I work for Hocotate Freight Company."
"The...what company?" Sora raised an eyebrow.
"Never mind. It's not that important right now." Olimar shook his head.
"Sora helped save you as well, he took care of the clone of Master Hand that was controlling you." Marth added.
"Oh I see, thank you very much." Olimar thanked.
"Don't mention it. Marth mentioned something called Pikmin, what are they exactly?" Sora shook his head and asked a question of his own.
"Oh, that's right! I hope the Pikmin didn't get hurt. They're my friends you see, they helped me out when I got ship-wrecked on their planet at one point. Here let me introduce you to them," Olimar answered easily and whistled to call out the Pikmin from the ground below.
Like magic, the Pikmin sprouted up and they were a colorful assortment.
"Wow, they're pretty cool. Nice to meet you little guys."
The Pikmin responded in glee at the greeting.
"So...how is everyone else? Are they still under Galeem's control?" Olimar turned to Marth.
"I fear so. We plan to go save everyone and re-challenge Galeem again. Mario's returned to normal thanks to Kirby and his new friends but he's the only one I know for sure so far is free from Galeem." Marth explained.
"I'll help too then. I'm not very strong but I'll do my best. I want to save everyone too, the thought of them being under Galeem's control like I was is too horrible to let continue."
Sora beamed. "Welcome aboard Olimar, we're happy to have you."
"You give yourself far little credit. You're a formidable fighter too, you know." Marth added.
"Marth's right. Besides we're stronger together than we are alone."
"Poyo!" Kirby punched the air in joy.
"Thank you. So...where are we going next?" Olimar thanked before questioning their next move.
"Well we're trying to reunite with Mario and another newcomer like Sora called Joker. We got separated when one of those clones of Master Hand cast a barrier cutting us off from them."
"Newcomer?" Sora repeated.
"That's what we call new fighters that have been summoned-like you and Joker-for example. I must admit though this summoning is very different from the norm. I wonder what brought you and your friend here?" Marth explained.
"Joker and I only remember a really bright light before that and the next thing we knew we were here."
"That does sound puzzling. But it sounds like that you both share the same last memory. I wonder if there's a connection to that 'bright light' you mentioned." Olimar suggested.
"Well...it doesn't change the fact that I'm here now so I'll do what I can to help. Besides maybe we'll find our way back home if we help restore your universe to back how it was before Galeem took over."
"Ah that's right, Kirby did explain to me that your Keyblade could be able to restore our worlds to how they used to be, if that's true then I hope it works, not only for our sake but for yours as well. I'm sure you have somewhere you want to return home to as well. It's a feeling that all of us share."
Sora smiled gratefully. "Thanks Marth."
"Poyo poyo." Kirby tugged on Sora's pant leg to get the brunette's attention once he did, Kirby pointed to a little further beyond the giant mushrooms.
"Oh, looks like Kirby found a way forward for us."
With that, the newly made team of four made their way across the rest of the mushrooms reaching solid ground once more on the other side.
They continued down their path until it came to end when they arrived to the edge of a large lake.
"This is one big lake. I don't think swimming is an option." Sora noted as took in the whole view of the lake.
"There must be some way we can cross. Mario and Joker could be waiting for us on the other side."
"Poyo." Kirby pointed to what looked like a tiny boat beached at the end of the lake.
"Well that's fortunate for us, just the thing we need to get across."
"W-Will it be able to carry all four of us? It's very small." Olimar hesitantly asked.
"Hmm...I don't think the four of us will be enough to sink it. I'm sure it'll be fine, Olimar." Marth reassured the small captain.
"How about this? I can carry Kirby while Marth can carry you?" Sora suggested.
"Yes, I think that should help." Olimar nodded. Being someone who is used to delivering goods through space, Olimar had a good idea on weight and capacity.
Once everyone helped pushed the boat back into the lake and settled on the boat-Sora holding Kirby in his arms while Marth did the same for Olimar-they then tried to figure out how to get the motor on the boat to work. Thankfully Olimar seemed to have some knowledge on it and managed to get the motor to roar to life as it moved along the lake smoothly.
While halfway across the lake, Kirby noticed an island in the middle of the lake and got both Sora and Marth's attention. "Poyo poyo."
"Is that...an airship on that island?"
"I think Mario calls that an Airplane and that large building is called an airport." Marth answered.
"Whoa, sounds cool! Can we go see it?" Sora asked excitedly.
"One of our friends might be over there too. I think we should check it out too. I'm curious about the airplane stationed there too." Olimar added.
"You make a good point. We should check to be sure." With that, they diverted the boat towards the island instead of reaching the other side of the lake as they originally intended. With luck, they might be able to find another of their friends and rescue them.
They docked at a nearby pier and made sure to secure it tight to make sure the boat didn't accidentally float away, once they were sure the boat was secured, they entered what seemed to be an abandoned airport.
"It's kinda creepy being here with no one around." Sora voiced his thoughts.
"It's very quiet indeed. Too quiet. No wandering spirits or any sign of our captured friends. Nevertheless, keep your guard up. We could be ambushed out of nowhere."
Sora nodded. "Gotcha. Huh? Hey where did Kirby go?" Sora agreed and turned to look at Kirby only to find him missing. Sora grew concerned for his small pink friend for a few seconds before hearing Kirby's voice nearby.
"Poyo~!" Kirby called out to everyone, making them look in his direction. They saw Kirby was inside what looked like an abandoned store, currently stuffing his face with snacks that were on the lower shelves.
"Kirby's got a big appetite huh?" Sora smiled lopsided and scratched his head sheepishly.
"He's so easily distracted by food," Marth shook his head and sighed. "Although, it might be a good idea to stock up on some food in the long run. I imagine this journey of ours will be long, so we'll need to prepare well for the long march ahead." Marth added, his experience being a leader of an army in his world coming into play in his head.
"Oh, that's a great idea, Marth! We better go save some of it before Kirby eats it all." Sora hurried over to find any kind of light snacks that could easy to carry around when travelling that Kirby hasn't devoured whole yet.
"Marth, is it okay if I check the airplane outside? If I can figure out how to fly it, we could use it to travel around this world easier."
"Huh, I didn't think of that. It certainly would be helpful to get a bird's eye view to help locate our friends. Are you sure you'll be able to fly it though?"
"Well, I imagine it's not that different from piloting the S.S Dolphin so I hope I can." Olimar honestly answered.
"Then I leave it in your capable hands then, Olimar. In the mean-time, I should help Sora. Kirby's stomach can be quite bottomless when it comes to food." Marth agreed to let Olimar check out the airplane. "Be careful though, while this airport seems empty, we need look out for any puppet fighters that might be nearby."
"I understand I'll be careful. I have my Pikmin friends with me in case anything happens." Olimar appreciated the warning.
Olimar then went off to check on the airplane to see if they could use it while Marth went over to aid Sora in trying to save as many travel snacks they could before Kirby could finish them all off.
If Olimar could indeed fly the airplane, it would make not only the goal of reuniting with Mario and Joker but their journey to find their remaining friends still under Galeem's command much easier. Or so they thought.
Alright! So Olimar and Marth have been rescued and joined the fight to save the others and defeat Galeem for good! This chapter was going to be much bigger but I thought it might be too much to read at once so I'm going to save that section for Chapter 4. Thank god I made notes on my play-though. =3
Next chapter, we'll be seeing what Mario and Joker have been doing during this time. =3 Who will they save on their side of the map while trying to reunite with Kirby Sora and Marth? Find out next chapter! =D
A huge thank you to everyone again who has reviewed, followed, favorited and liked this story so far. I hope that you all continue to enjoy the adventure as it continues!
I've been itching to try and continue my play-though but I got to finish Chapter 3 and 4 first. XD
Until next time, happy reading everyone! Moogle Empress out!
Moogle: Kupo!