14shiffna: Glad to know you enjoyed that last chapters. Hopefully, this one is better.

Zhenxuan2002: Oh no, Wario definitely pulled a Team Rocket there. I mean, not directly, but he was a part of it, so that counts!

Internally, Fox groaned, but he forced himself to stand straighter. It seemed the universe wasn't finished throwing things at them just yet.

Wario stood by the door, a smug grin spread across his face. "What, nothing to say? Have I left you speechless? I know I look good, but-"

"Why are you here?" Mario said, pointing a flaming palm in his direction.

Wario chuckled. "I thought you, of all people would know, Mario. Once I get my hands on something, I never let go." He paused. Then, his smile took on a malicious glint. "We're here to finish what we started."

Footsteps came from the doorway. The team, already worn by their encounter with... whatever that thing was, could barely stand together, but they turned to face it anyway.

The sniveling face of Waluigi was the first to peek through after his brother. As he stepped in line beside Wario, Krusha entered with a toothy smile. Wolf followed, accompanied by the three space pirates.

The two teams stood face to face under the flickering lights, one side utterly spent, the other eager for a taste of blood. Fox's finger itched to pull the trigger, but a single disturbance could descend everything into chaos.

His green eyes scanned over each of the members of the enemy team, counting them in his head.

"Alright," he whispered, "we're outnumbered. There are eight of them and seven of-"

He heard a zipper. Fox looked to his right just in time to see Link's backpack close by itself and Link readjust the strap on his shoulder.

"Okay, six of us, but we can still do this as long as we stick-"

Krusha opened his maw, flashing his pearly white teeth and shook the room with a roar. He charged, the shadows below swaying with his every step. Link only had time to raise his mirror shield before the Kremling grabbed the edge of it.

Krusha dragged Link across the ground. Samus stepped forward, her cannon charged. Before she could fire, Krusha slammed Link into her. She crashed into a pile of wood, and Link flew in a different direction.

Donkey Kong grunted angrily. Cracks spread across the floor with the force of his jump, and he lunged for the Kremling. A burst of electricity hit his bare chest mid-air. The force knocked him back, and the three space pirates ran forward.

One of the pirates dropped a small, round object. It clicked, and smoke poured out from it, filling the room in a matter of seconds.

The rolling, dark clouds obscured Fox's vision, a blanket hanging over his face. He cursed, waving his hand before his face as if to brush it away. The smoke in front of him parted but more just poured out in its place.

A footstep echoed to his left. He swung his blaster, causing the smoke to pull back like the tide. A thick grey screen was all he saw.

Then, a flash of yellow rushing into his vision. Fox immediately started firing. The smoke lit up with streaks of red. They all bounced harmlessly off thick skin as Wario came charging in.

The yellow-capped man lashed out. His shoulder dug into Fox's stomach. Fox gritted his teeth to hold back a gasp of pain. He raised his arms and caught Wario's foot as it flicked out.

The sole of his shoe crashed into Fox's gloves. His arms buckled an inch, but they held strong. Fox threw his arms apart, twisting Wario's foot to the side. His arm thrust forward. He felt a satisfying squish under his fingers, and Wario staggered back, clutching his nose.

With space between them, both of them took a moment to breathe.

"Fox McCloud," Wario hissed, his voice pitched from the hand pressed to his face. "I've heard many things about you. Your friend Wolf was very detailed."

"Sorry I can't say the same," Fox replied. "Mario's been very tight-lipped about his foes."

"Poor you." Wario's mustache lifted in an ugly sneer.

"So, you're the leader of this little strike force."

The pudgy man tsked, shaking his head. "As much as I hate to admit, I'm not in charge here. Wolf leads these attacks, not me."

His fingers opened up, revealing a bomb in his hands. His arms a blur, Wario hurled the bomb at Fox. He barely had time to bat it away with his reflector before Wario tackled him to the ground.

Fox's arm smashed into Wario's face, and his reflector stuttered. A jolt of electricity clawed into Wario. He jumped off with a yowl, and Fox flipped away, holding his blaster in front of him.

Wario tore away the sparks clouding his charred face, lighting up his hands with electricity. Fox fired his blaster, and the air became alive with red lasers. Wario ducked under his shots and lunged again. Fox brought his arms to block it. Wario's meaty fists sparked with the contact, and electricity arched over Fox's gloves.

Fox pushed Wario away. His arms stung, burning from the attack.

"What's this?" he said, brushing his arms to extinguish the sparks still clinging to his fur.

"Electric, isn't it?" Wario flexed, and electricity flared to life in his arms. "How do you like me now?"

Cackling, Wario charged at him, leaving a thrashing electric trail in his footsteps. Instead of blocking, Fox jumped over. He held his reflector close to him, and the sparks leaping off Wario were canceled out by it.

Wario whirled around, snarling in frustration. Fox spun to face him, pulling something out of his jacket. Sparks leaping off his body in every direction, Wario ran at him again.

Fox clenched his hands into fists. His fingers closed around a small capsule surrounded by orange rings. He took a deep breath. A click rang out, and the air around him burst into flames. Then he jumped, and the flames swept over him, thrusting him forward. Fire and electricity met head-on, going off in a huge explosion.

Crackle! Pop!

Ribbons of orange curled out through gloved fingers. Mario squeezed tighter. The barrel of the gun melted in his hands. The space pirate commando on the other end hissed and threw its weapon aside. Its gauntlets buzzed angrily, and an energy scythe popped out. The space pirate swung it wildly. Its strikes were clumsy, and Mario easily stayed beyond its reach.

He hurled a fireball at its chest as it slashed. The space pirate commando stumbled back when it hit. Mario was on it in an instant, and his foot slammed into its exposed stomach. The smoke engulfed the space pirate commando as it flew away, leaving Mario alone in the smog.

The moment his opponent disappeared, Mario sprinted in the opposite direction. The smokescreen parted for him as he ran. He was able to see just a few feet from his face, but it wasn't enough.

He needed to find Donkey Kong and Yoshi and get out as fast as they could. There was nothing for them here anymore; this whole idea had fallen through. They needed to leave before things could get worse.

A loud clang stopped him in his tracks. Mario spun to his left and ran towards the sound. The smoke obstructed his vision, so he had no idea where he was going. He could only hope the sound led him to one of his friends.

As he burst through the edge of the smokescreen, a green blur passed inches in front of his face. In the haze of grey and red, he could just make out Samus flailing around with a weight grappled on to her helmet.

Mario may have wanted to get out, but he couldn't leave someone to struggle on their own. The smoke pulled back as he leaped into the air. His foot swung forward, connecting with something solid. Wolf tumbled away, gracefully landing on his feet.

Mario fell into a fighting stance. Beside him, Samus straightened herself, aiming her cannon down at Wolf. Her armor was torn open in multiple places, revealing sparking wires underneath. She leaned more on one leg as she stood, her other leg slashed and dented all the way down.

Wolf frowned as he slid back. Then his eyes landed on Mario, and his lips pulled back in a vicious growl.

"Mario," he growled.

"You know who I am?"

"Hard not to."

Mario could guess why. He turned to Samus. "You alright?"

"Could be better," she replied, as brief as ever.

Mario nodded and set his gaze back to their opponent.

"It seems our little surprise did quite the number on you," Wolf said, a sneer on his face.

"Well," Mario said, narrowing his eyes, "you should know that the gemstone you came for; it's gone. It broke during the fight."

"Oh, we're not here for that. We're just here to clean up the mess."

With that, he lunged for them, blowing the smoke back. His claws extended, leaving glowing purple trails as they arched down. Samus and Mario jumped away, and Wolf etched deep scars into the floor.

Samus's canon clicked, and a missile sped out of the barrel. Wolf ducked. It sailed over his head. The missile streaked towards Mario, but he caught it mid-air. He spun on his heel and hurled it back at Wolf. Not expecting it to return, the missile caught him in the chest.

The resulting explosion tossed Wolf right into Samus's grapple beam. The bounty hunter swung her arm downward. The grapple beam whistled through the air, and Wolf crashed into the ground with a resounding crack. The impact kicked up clouds of dust. With a pained grunt, Wolf lifted his face off the ground, only to receive a leather shoe to the chin.

Wolf sailed through the air, coming back to the ground and hitting the concrete with an unceremonious thud. He rolled away to avoid a follow-up kick, and he scrambled to his feet.

"You're good," he said, flicking off a trail of blood under his nose, "but I'm better."

"Better? I've seen wet spaghetti noodles fight better than you."

"I haven't begun to get-" He stopped.

Mario and Samus tensed. Something was going to happen. Any second, he would attack. But he didn't attack.

Instead, Wolf stood up, drawing his claws to his side in a graceful motion. A predatory grin revealed his razor-sharp teeth as he slipped his blaster back into its holster. He stepped back into the writhing smoke slowly. As the coiling dark clouds swallowed him, the smile never left his face.

Mario's eyes swept the smokescreen, igniting a fireball in his hand. Now he was certain something was up. People didn't step away from a fight without a reason, and Wolf didn't seem scared of them. The smoke wasn't helping, however. It was all he could see as he scanned around him.

A quiet whistle was his only warning. It was only his instinct, honed by years of fighting against the Koopa King, that saved him from the crushing blow from behind. As he leaped away, he spun around and hurled a fireball at his attacker. From the missile he saw at the corner of his eye, Samus had the same idea.

Both attacks hit the imposing figure behind them dead-center. Like smoke, it parted around them, going up in a swirl of darkness. Instead of dissipating, however, the dark wisps flew towards Mario. Something in his head told him of an attack from behind, and his foot whirled around in a spinning kick. To his surprise, Mario's kick passed right through the fist inches from his face.

An illusion, he thought.

Then the fingers opened up and wrapped around his throat. The arm attached to it swung around, hurling Mario back into the smoke.

Definitely not an illusion, then.

In case anyone was wondering where I went last week, I took a week off writing to reconsider where I was going with this story. I said that in my profile, by you people probably don't read that, so I thought I might mention that here. (Speaking of which, I should update that as well)

Anyway, I'm back now, and I have an update schedule too! I'm going to try to post a new chapter every Wednesday, and I'm interested in seeing how that works out. Because of that, however, I had to split this next fight into two chapters, but at least I have something to spur me into working faster.

That being said, I'll see you all next Wednesday.