Somewhere in all of the emptiness that was the ruined universe, there was some sort of dark storage room or warehouse where various individuals were on display, similar to trophies if one would. They all appeared to be bound in tight confinement by sets of wires filled with a glowing blue essence, their faces being set in what appeared to be a deep sleep. They would all be awake very soon though.

'Mama mia…' a distinctly Italian voice echoed out in the darkness. Just then a spotlight shone down on the bound figure of Marius Gonzales Mario. Though he spoke, he could not move so much as a twitch; even his face remained in stony slumber. 'Huh? 'ello? Anybody a-there?' Despite his eyes being closed, he somehow could see where he was, but it wasn't as though he could recognize this place either way. 'Hey! Is there-a somebody else-a out there?'

'M-Mario…?' came the scared response, which the man instantly recognized as his younger brother Luigi Gonzales Mario.

'Luigi…! Where are-a you?!'

'I—I don't know bro… What's-a going on…?' The young man always was faint of heart compared to his older brother and was close to losing his nerves. Being the protective older brother that he was, Mario sprang into action upon hearing his terrified little brother.

'Don'tcha worry little bro, I'mma comin' for y—Wha? Hey, I'mma stuck!'

'M-Me too…'

If there was anything Mario hated more than most other things, it was the feeling of complete and utter helplessness when someone else was in peril. Maybe this was how Princess Peach had always felt every time Bowser had kidnapped her. 'Yeesh, just-a perfecto. Don't-a worry Weegee, I'll-a get us outta here somehow…'

'M-Mario, Luigi? Is that you?' Speak of the devil, Princess Peach Toadstool had called out to her heroic plumbers after hearing their voices, being one of the few comforts she could afford in bleak times such as this.

'P-Peach?! Are you okay?!'

'I…I think so… But, you got hurt because of me…'

'Hey, no, that's-a not—'

'I—I couldn't defend myself…' Peach was now starting to sound choked up on tears, threatening to start bawling her eyes out at any moment. 'Y-You pushed me out of the way, and you…you…' Mario had almost forgotten about the last memory he had when he was alive; he had pushed Peach out of the way of an incoming light beam and tried using his super cape to redirect the attack, only to fall victim to its power and was promptly incinerated before Peach's very eyes. A part of him that it broke her heart to see the hero she loved sacrifice himself for you, but he likewise couldn't bear watching her being burned away as he watched. Peach herself hadn't dodged another attack, having completely broke down in agony from his death.

'P-Please, Peach, don't cry. It's-a not your fault…' Listening to the exchange between bother and friend sparked the reminder of how Luigi ended up suffering this fate. He similarly found Princess Daisy Sarasa Toadstool in the way of a death ray and quickly pulled her toward him with his new poltergust's plunger shot, only to quickly eject her away from him when another blast headed for him that he knew he couldn't dodge. He could faintly recall her anguished cry right before he was obliterated and everything else faded into black when the burning light consumed him. The thought of where Daisy could be sent a terrible chill up her spine with the thought that she too had perished despite his efforts.

'D-Daisy? A-Are you there…? P-Please…S-Say something…' Luigi was a sensitive guy and was on the verge of tears if his love hadn't turned up anywhere like his brother and friend. He could hear a choked sob in the distance and right away he knew who it was. 'D-Daisy, is that-a you?' The sobbing had become uncontrollable at the sound of his voice, putting his worst fears to rest but finding himself shedding tears all the same. 'It's…It's okay Daisy, I-I'm here…' "Poor Daisy" Peach had thought; she knew her cousin was a tough cookie where it counted—tougher than her in most situations—but unlike the Mushroom Kingdom's princess the Sarasaland princess had scarce been in truly harrowing encounters. Perhaps it was because of everything and everyone else after the Mushroom Kingdom and its princess over Sararaland which was only invaded back when Wario was such a huge jerk and sent his then-minion Tatanga after her as a mere distraction from his true goal anyways (he still is a huge jerk mind you but has simply channeled his jerkishness elsewhere). Being so suddenly thrust into such a hopeless slaughter without warning and having never been in serious situations of the caliber herself had not done Daisy's psyche any wonders, hence her nervous breakdown resulting in sobbing uncontrollably.

'Ugh, my aching shell…' came another voice, clearly belonging to the senior Bowser. 'The heck was that light made out of? Geez, way to make a guy feel worfed huh…'

'P-Papa?'

'…! Junior! Where are you kiddo?!'

'I don't know…I'm scared papa…'

'I—' Being a proud single parent of one—eight when he counted the Koopalings whenever their dad wasn't around (who he knew would kill him if he found out something happened to his kids), Bowser Sr. was understandably worried about the poor koopa kids. He couldn't lie to his son about how bad things were though, and it was not hard to swallow his pride to give the boy the down low on their situation. 'Junior, I won't lie to you—I'm scared too, not just for me but for you and the others too. Things are looking real bad for use right now, and I don't know what's going to happen next. Just…keep being brave over there Junior, wherever you are. Your papa's not planning on going anywhere anytime soon, and that goes for the rest of you Koopalings if you all can hear me.'

'We hear you King Second-Dad,' Ludwig von Koopa responded.

'Alright then, so just remember this, okay guys? If you koop and stay in the fray, you'll live to koop another day. A true Koopa Troopa never gives up, and neither should we, you hear me?'

'O-Okay papa.' Bowser couldn't help but smile that, despite how scared his son was, he made an effort to keep pushing on despite the badness.

'Aww, that was so sweet of you Bowser,' Peach remarked.

'Hey, a dad's gotta do what a dad's gotta do.'

'Okay, so…' Daisy finally spoke up, having calmed down considerably over the exchanges. 'Is it just us, or…What about everyone else?'

'We are all accounted for,' a gruff but calm voice said throughout the distant darkness.

'Who said that?'

'I am identified by what your kind refers to as "the Aura Pokémon Lucario".'

'Oh hey there, you're alright too! So, you said that everyone's…?'

'Yes, we are all accounted for; many of us are still gathering our thoughts over our current predicament.' Much like Lucario had said, the voices of all the others eventually made themselves known. Voices such as Pit frantically calling out for his goddess before she confirmed that she is still with him to his relief (also earning Dark Pit's ire in that Pit didn't ask for whether or not he was also okay), Solid Snake saying something about being in some sort of factory, and the panicked voices of the lumas before Rosalina made to comfort them with the sound of her voice. As it appeared, everyone was presently accounted for, though that begged the question: why they were all in the same room with each other. Did this mean that they truly were all dead or were they merely—painfully at that—transported from their world to this strange place? Could it be both in the end?

You have awakened

At the sound of that voice everyone had froze up in fear; they knew who it was: the very same being responsible for putting them in this situation. They could not see it but they could feel its presence surrounding them from all angles.

You ought have remained in slumber

'You!' Zelda called out at it. 'Why have you done this? What are you after?!'

You shall be my soldiers

'And what, humor us for a moment will you,' was Ridley's scratchy voice come taunting, 'exactly makes you think we'll do it? You've some nerve commanding anything from us, let alone me.'

Your compliance is a non-factor

'So you'll make us your slaves is what you're saying.' Bayonetta noted. 'Naughty little thing you are, forcing a lady to do as you say, not to mention countless others.'

You have only yourselves to blame for your fates

'I beg your pardon, but what in the almighty Lord's holy name have we ever done to you to deserve this madness?!' Simon bellowed out. 'You have not only destroyed our bodies and countless others in our world, but now you insult us in that we are the ones who have brought this upon ourselves!'

Your resistance against me only made your deaths more painful than it need be

'Of course we were going to resist!' Roy indignantly replied. 'For you to think that we would sit and do nothing as all we know and love would come to an end while we could do something to stop it, are you mad?!'

You also have the Hom by the name of Shulk and the star warrior known as Kirby for their part in your fates

'Shulk? Kirby?' Leif asked. 'But, how? You wiped us all out in your attack!'

Your Monado-chosen ally had foreseen my attack and cast the speed art upon the star warrior to allow for his escaping my grasp with the aid of his reality crossing Warp Star

'So he lives after all…' Meta Knight muttered to himself, a faint twinkle of hope shining in his eyes. 'Salvation may come for us yet.'

'Wait, Kirby survived?' Kenneth Masters said. 'Ha ha, yeah! That's our little guy!'

'Atta boy Shulk!' Captain Falcon hollered. 'That's putting that big ol' head of yours to good use!'

'Oh, n-no, it's just that I did the only think I could think of,' the bashful hom responded. 'But, really, I'm just glad it did something in the end.'

'Kirby! Kirby! Kirby!' Isabelle began chanting with her cheer having returned, celebrating that the light of hope was shining down upon them once more. Soon enough everyone began to follow Isabelle's example, even those not much for cheering in the first place if only to spite their captor.

'Kirby! Kirby! Kirby! Kirby! Kirb—'

*SSHHHIIIIIIINNNNNG*

All were silenced when a harsh explosion of light illuminated the room far beyond what one could see before the darkness quickly returned, denying anyone of the chance to figure out just where they were. Apparently they had incensed their enemy with their cheers, driving in the point of its failure to completely wipe them out.

You would be wise to not celebrate for you have long since lost. One mere survivor amongst you will make no difference in the end.

'Really now?' Robyn asked with Reflet following her soon after. 'This is a grave miscalculation on your end, and it will be just as you've said to Marth: your error will be your undoing.'

'Sorry to break it to you "Thanos"—not really—but you messed up,' Snake stated plain. 'Your mistake will come back to bite you in your ass, marks my words.'

'Kirby's going to chew you up and spit you back out!' Yoshi taunted

'Face it, you have lost,' Greninja said. 'Kirby possesses unlimited potential that none of us could ever hope to match in a true battle.'

Do not confuse "Unlimited Potential" with realized potential. Kirby will fail, as all of you have done before him.

'Oh come now, little ol' Kirby gon' get clobbered so easily by some big bad monster?' came King Dedede's jeering response. 'Heh heh heh, surely you jestin'!'

'Besides, what fool would send an army of warriors their enemy is used to fighting on a daily basis?' Ganondorf added. 'Kirby has been sparring with us since the very first tournament, so what army could you ever hope to dream of besting him with if all you plan to use is us against him?' For a long time their foe had been mysteriously silent, normally one to respond so quickly to taunts, but this time it was eerily quiet. This made many others wonder if they had finally gotten one over on their captor. After a straight minute of no noise, it finally spoke again.

I never said you were the only soldiers at my disposal

'Wait, what?' Chrom said, clearly confused and with a hint of creeping fear. 'But, that's impossible! We all saw how you absorbed you Master Hand lackeys for your ultimate attack, and you can't possibly tell us that you somehow have spares just lying around.'

I do

That was exactly the sort of thing no one wanted to hear, that this being somehow had yet more Master Hands still at its disposal.

'That…That can't be…' Palutena muttered. 'Then…Why are we…?'

You will replenish what I have lost

'Oh yeah?' Wario said, clearly not buying into this thing's scare tactics. 'Unless you can somehow clone craptons of us like that Tabuu freak did with those shadow bugs or something, it's not happening bub.'

Precisely

Now Wario was suddenly regretting opening his big mouth, and everyone knew what this meant, but still there was some form of doubt over how this could be achieved.

'So you're going to clone us huh?' Samus remarked. 'Tabuu required the shadow bugs to make copies and be able to control them, and I don't see how—even if you could clone us—you could control them without some other lifeform controlling them like puppets without anything similar to extract from us seeing as how you've killed us all.'

Now you are beginning to ken into my intentions

'Wha…?'

You forget that you are not the only ones who have perished from my attack…

Now everyone knew exactly what this being was talking about, and it horrified them.

'No…You—You wouldn't…! You monster!' Zelda's hateful cry fell on deaf ears as the party would soon bear witness to their enemy's twisted scheme.

Observe

A low humming sound was heard in the distance, and into view flew a glowing, disembodied being surrounded in a multi-colored flame. Its features were a green slug-like body with glowing purple eyes and only a pair of arms at its front. It was alien to all but one person, who recognized the panicking creature instantly.

'That's the smoky progg…' Captain Olimar Odysseus gasped. 'It can kill pikmin with just its poisonous trail alone…'

The spirits of your family, your friends, your enemies, and all others shall form the forefront of my new army, and your bodies shall be the templates through which they shall carry out my will—the arks that shall sustain them

'That's sick man!' Sonic shouted. 'Dolling up dead people with fakes of us is way past fucked up!'

'Please, do not do this to them!' Rosalina begged. 'They have done nothing to deserve this…! Just…use us in their stead and let their poor souls rest!'

There shall be no expense spared as I move to eliminate Kirby and dispel any delusion of hope you cling to

'How could you?' Miss Wii Fitt said. 'How can you desecrate the dead so callously? Is nothing sacred to you?!'

I will have total victory. I will burn away all of the chaos that is the darkness, and light and order will rule absolutely, Now and Forever.

No matter who else shouted at it, their captor paid them no further heed to them, and a buckot had been summoned from the dark beyond. Instead of carrying a bucket full of white-hot bricks, it was filled to the brim with molten gold, and it hovered intently over Mario before slowly pouring the substance over the hero. Instantly the man could feel how burning hot it was, shrieking from the sheer pain as the liquid slowly dripped over his entire body and covered him completely as the others watched on with pity and horror. Then, the molten gold began seeping through to the bottom of the stand Mario's body had been placed on, hanging from its bottom before it formed a perfect replica of Mario's body. Soon it fell from the bottom onto the floor with a thud just like a statue, remaining motionless for a spell.

With a vessel, the spirit shall be given new form

The smoky progg's spirit jerked about violently with the clear message of being forced into this situation, and multiple tendrils extending from its spiritual form reached out before taking root into the false Mario's body and disappearing inside of it. Within seconds, what was once entirely solid began to move, first completely collapsing onto the ground before being lifted into the air little by little by the smoky progg. When he finally stood to his feet, his new living, breathing features showed him with a black overall and hat combo over his white shirt, though his blood-ed eyes that shone bright in the darkness were the most immediate deviations from the real deal.

'Sweet baby Jesus, what the fuck?' Richter whispered.

'So your aim is to create heartless clones of us to use against Kirby,' Mewtwo spoke. 'And all to eradicate darkness from the universe with no one left to oppose you? You are more of a fool than I took you for.'

'You…You're not-a going to…get away with this…' The feeling of having so ungodly hot slowly coat his body left the plumber in an out of breath shape; he may not have had any control over his body but he could still feel everything that happened to it.

I will, and there is nothing you can do to stop me

And with that the mysterious being summoned hundreds upon hundreds of other spirits just waiting to be forced into a fighter's discarded shell. Now everyone knew exactly what kind of predicament they were in, proverbially twisting their faces in terror from the hell that would be unleashed upon them as their screams continued to fill the air in the dark room. Is there any hope left for the fighters' torment…?

When the dust had finally settled on the world, it no longer resembled anything that it looked like prior. Gone was the mostly orderly World of Trophies, in its place being a new realm that was simply sprawling with a mix-and-match patchwork of worlds pulled from many parts of the old universe. It even seemed to have the fighters casually enjoying their usual hobbies here and there, all with simple smiles on their faces and eyes shimmering brightly. Except no, these were not the true fighters, rather spirits stuffed inside duplicates of the originals and on the lookout for their target while appearing unassuming. Though their eyes burned a bright red even in midday, the light of life was gone from them, being merely puppets animated through unwilling spirits who played pretend as to take their minds off the cruel hand fate had dealt them. Some acted as themselves while others emulated whoever they inhabited to keep with the charade that they were tasked with upholding until the star warrior showed himself. The spirits would not need to wait for much longer though, as to their (mis)fortune there was a twinkle appearing in the sky. Some of their ranks locked eyes with the shooting star, watching it crash down onto the ground as a round and pink creature flew from its crash landing. Skidding a few feet forward, the small creature woozily stood to his feet and tried shaking what was left of his daze. And then he saw it: the world was so different from how he remembered it. He wondered how he ended up here but then he locked his gaze with a being of light far off into the distance. There it stood at the very edge of the new realm it created—its shining core surrounded by its many wings and protected by a great barrier. Without hesitation it dispatched its army to corner and kill the lone survivor of its universal attack. Now having spent enough of its energy, it bid its time to recover as much of it as possible; it was not invincible after all, and if it was to rule absolutely then it had to play its cards right. It watched Kirby lock eyes with it, knowing that it would all be over soon.

I finally made it back…[/]You have finally returned

I'm sorry I couldn't save you all before…[/]Now you stand alone with no one to help you

But I promise to set things right.[/]You cannot hope to prevail against me

The balance is all whacked out…![/]The new balance has finally come

Light is threatening to swallow everything![/]Soon light shall be absolute and restore order

I must be the shield against this glare![/]You are blinded by your self-righteous "light"

And I'll return it to the glow that warms…[/]This is what pure light has always meant to be

You…![/]Kirby…

Watch out 'cause I'm coming for you![/]Make peace as you face your ultimate enemy…

Into this world called "home"…The world of light!