So, this is the beginning of the World of Light. I don't have much to say, other than the fact that this is set in the same AU as my previous Smash story, so... enjoy. (rewritten and updated as of 11/16/2022)

Fox, having been assigned as the leader for the group due to him being the veteran with the most consistent overall track record in the tournament's history, surveyed the massive crowd of people before him, and almost smiled at the sight before remembering the gravity of the current situation.

It was the morning after the Newcomer Ceremony, and Master Hand was nowhere to be found.

Every Smasher stood outside on the front lawn of the Mansion, raring to go. Even Red, who was shaken up the worst by the Subspace Incident, stood next to Leaf, ready to help.

Fox began, "Okay, I understand that those of you who only came around starting with the fourth and fifth tournaments aren't familiar with what happened at the third. It's... really something that we don't like to talk about, R.O.B especially."

Everyone who had attended the third tournament nodded in agreement. Fox then continued, "During the third tournament, Master Hand was kidnapped and enslaved by an ambitious Wireframe from the second tournament named Tabuu, who gained omnipotence in the time between the second and the third tournaments by assimilating the rest of the Wireframes we had. Tabuu had a plan to absorb every realm in the World of Trophies to create a world fit to his vision and his vision only. Through using Master Hand as a proxy, he roped Bowser, Ganondorf, Wolf, and Wario into his service."

While Bowser and Wario shared guilty looks, and Wolf appeared the slightest bit remorseful at the mention of his name, Ganondorf simply gave a dismissive huff before beckoning for the space mammal to continue. Fox obliged, saying, "He very nearly succeeded too, and we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the combined efforts of Luigi, Ness, Kirby, and King Dedede, along with a miraculous last-second assist from Sonic, who had gotten lost in Subspace."

Dedede ruffled Kirby on the head a little, while Mario gave a thumbs-up to his brother and Ness. Sonic, meanwhile, had given a toothy grin.

"The Subspace Incident can only be explained in full by R.O.B. himself, as he was in the epicenter of the massive kudzu of a plot Tabuu had planned."

R.O.B., after glaring at Ganondorf, said, "It's true. I was manipulated into serving Tabuu's army because of the promise that he would save my dying race. After the destruction of the Isle of the Ancients, I realized that I was a fool to trust his promises. Do you know why there are no others like me in the universe? It was because they were all forced to detonate a massive amount of Subspace Bombs, the amount of which was so great, it tore apart the Isle of the Ancients and doomed it to drift endlessly in Subspace forever."

Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Olimar, Captain Falcon, Samus, and Pikachu had all looked at Ganondorf, who shrugged in a nonchalant manner.

After a moment of silence, Fox said, "Do you know why I told you this?" Every single Smasher present shook their heads, and Fox continued, "Because we've found Master Hand. He's at the cliff that we were dumped on after the Great Maze closed up. Does everyone have transport?"

Meta Knight piped up, "I have the Halberd for anyone who doesn't have a reliable means of transport. Raise your hands if you don't have a way to get to the cliff."

All of the Pokémon except for Mewtwo boarded the ship, and Red and Leaf followed suit. Once they were done, a significant portion of the Smashers joined them in boarding the battleship.

With that settled, everyone else got their method of transport from the garage, and after a little fuss on the runway regarding aerial traffic, the Smashers were cleared for takeoff.

Fox and Falco's Arwings, Wolf's Wolfen, Mario's Odyssey ship (with Luigi and the two princesses onboard), Bowser's Doom Ship, Rosalina's Comet Observatory, the Halberd, Kirby's Warp Star, Captain Falcon's Falcon Flyer, Donkey and Diddy Kong's Barrel Plane, Samus' Gunship, and Olimar's ship took to the skies.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Yoshi ate a blue Koopa Shell, sprouted wings, and took flight, being joined by Ridley, Banjo, and the two angels. Palutena, Mewtwo, and Zelda warped to the destination, Dark Samus opened a wormhole and went through that, Bayonetta turned into a swarm of bats and joined the others up in the sky, Ganondorf opened a vortex of dark energy and stepped through, Ness and Lucas warmed up PK Teleport, Snake opened up a wormhole fulton using the device he had recovered from Venom Snake's hideout in Outer Heaven, and Isaac put his hand on his son's shoulder before casting Teleport Psynergy on the two of them.

Snake had got there first, and looked back to make sure that he wasn't alone. As if on cue, Palutena, Mewtwo, Zelda, Dark Samus, Ganondorf, Isaac, Matthew, Ness, and Lucas appeared shortly after. Before Snake could say anything, however, he heard a massive roar in the skies and looked up to see everyone else coming in for a landing. Yoshi, Banjo, Ridley, and the angels touched down on the ground. Samus' Gunship and the captain's Falcon Flyer were next, followed by Mario's Odyssey, the Doom Ship, Kirby on his Warp Star, the Halberd, the Barrel Plane, the Comet Observatory, and Olimar's ship. Bayonetta landed gracefully on the ground, and everyone onboard the Halberd had stepped out before the Arwings and the Wolfen arrived. Now that everyone had arrived, Fox pulled out the tracker, and found Master Hand's location to be right in front of them. Looking up, his jaw dropped at what he saw.

A massive core of light, shrouded in wings, commanded an army of Master Hands.

Regaining his composure, Fox pulled out his pistol, pointed it at the mass of hands in the sky, and commanded, "Don't let a single one get away!"

Wolf also stepped to the front, and huffed, "McCloud, do you really think that puny gun of yours is gonna stop all of them?"

As Fox gave Wolf an irritated look, Marth, standing behind them, mused, "We'll each need to take down about ten..."

Zelda showed up, saying, "Stow your fear, it's now or never!"

Pit, ever the optimist, said, "We'll win this, I know we will!"

Meanwhile, up in the sky, all of the hands' coverings began to peel off, revealing a blue light which was promptly absorbed by the core that was commanding them, which formed a singularity.

Shulk then received a vision. It was short, but what he had seen was enough: one by one, the fighters would be consumed by the light, and Kirby would be the only survivor.

Now back to reality, Shulk turned back to the massive crowd of fighters, cast Speed on Kirby, and bellowed, "WE NEED TO FLEE RIGHT NOW!"

For a single moment, there was no sound.

Then, they heard a loud bang from the massive singularity. An almost limitless stream of light beams poured out of it, flying in an erratic fashion, before targeting the group of Smashers at the cliff.

Shulk and Fox were the first to go, the two of them being obliterated by the same beam of light. Link, in a valiant effort to fight against the beams, managed to reflect some of the lasers back, but was caught off guard by a third and promptly vaporized by a fourth. Samus unloaded all of her ammunition into the beam of light coming for her, but that was fruitless, and she, too, was disintegrated. Up above, Zelda and Mewtwo were caught off guard by beams, Zelda attempted to cast Nayru's Love in an attempt to protect herself, and Mewtwo used both Barrier and Mirror Coat in an effort to reflect the laser. Both were unsuccessful.

Upon seeing some of the most powerful of their ranks being so easily defeated, the rest of the Smashers took that as a cue to run. Olimar was immediately caught by a beam, as were Isabelle and Leaf. Red, after a moment of shock, began to run. Peach faced the beams with dignity, while Daisy defiantly spouted insults at the light as it mowed over the both of them. Yoshi, meanwhile, hurriedly beckoned for a shell-shocked Mario to hop on his back, which the plumber did so in a stupor, and the dinosaur took off.

Kirby had hopped onto his Warp Star, and slowly began to build up speed. Dark Samus was tagged by a laser as she had attempted to warp herself away, while Ganondorf was caught when he attempted to do the same thing. Dr. Mario, similar to Princess Peach, simply stared at the beams, thinking, "This is what I did with my doctorate?" as he was disintegrated.

Sonic, meanwhile, had taken off in a full-on run. Looking back, he noticed Pikachu running slightly behind him, and with a beam of light hot on his tail. Sonic slowed down a bit, yelling at Pikachu, "Come on, buddy! Jump into my arms!"

Before Pikachu could do so, the beam of light tagged him, and he was gone. Sonic let out a noise of grief as another light consumed him.

Meanwhile, Bayonetta, Greninja, Lucario, and Sheik were desperately trying to dodge the beams. Bayonetta had managed to dodge a formation of light coming for her, and also vaulted over a fourth, but didn't notice the fifth one coming straight for her, and was promptly tagged, making the Umbra Witches an extinct race. Lucario dodged a beam coming straight for him, and Greninja jumped out of the way of another beam coming for the two of them. This time, however, Lucario was too slow, and was disintegrated in short order. Greninja saw Sheik teleport out of the way of another beam, and activated his Substitute, but unwittingly flew right into the path of a beam. Sheik, now helpless from using her Vanish, was promptly caught by the light.

Pac-Man had eaten his Power and Super Pellets, and was eating the beams and covering for other fighters. However, his timer had run out for his Super Pac-Man form, and he was caught by a beam.

Wario, meanwhile, was dodging the numerous beams coming for him on the ground, only to be caught flush by one. However, as the light faded, it revealed that Wario was completely unharmed. As he marveled at his durability, Wario saw a massive cavalcade of light beams heading towards him, and he rolled up his sleeves and charged at the light, which finally took him down.

At the same time, Red had sent out Charizard, Ivysaur, and Squirtle desperately commanding them to leave. The three refused, wanting to stick with their trainer till the bitter end. Tears in his eyes, Red commanded them to unleash everything they had, thinking, "I never should've trusted Master Hand..." as he and his team were vaporized.

Next to where Red had once stood, Bowser, Geno, and Luigi watched in horror as the teenager was caught by the beams of light. Upon seeing the lasers gunning for the three of them, Bowser gave Luigi and Geno a grim nod, and immediately unleashed his fire breath at the light. Geno followed suit, firing a Star Cutter. Luigi, even though fear was clearly present in his eyes, bravely pulled out his Poltergust and unleashed a tri-elemental swirl of fire, ice, and water in the hopes of doing at least something. None of them survived.

Captain Falcon, meanwhile, tried to hop into his Blue Falcon, but got caught before his butt even touched the seat.

Wolf and Ridley, in an act of defiance, flew straight at the beams of light, the two of them dodging any beams that came at them. Wolf had fired out a burst of lasers before he and his Wolfen were caught overextending on a dodge. Ridley, meanwhile, let loose with the plasma beam he had been charging up, but was ultimately vaporized along with Wolf. Falco had already taken flight in his Arwing, but got tagged by the beams converging in on his ship.

Meanwhile, Mario had come to his senses, and Yoshi began to run faster upon seeing a beam of light coming for the two of them. Upon the realization that the both of them weren't going to make it, Yoshi looked back at Mario, and urgently motioned for him to keep running no matter what happened. As Mario pondered that in confusion, Yoshi threw Mario to his right and out of the way of the path of the beam that was coming for the both of them. The dinosaur was obliterated soon after. Mario then collapsed to his knees, grieving for his fallen friend and, given how he had lost track of Luigi, presumably his brother as the next beam of light washed over him.

Simon and Richter were both staring at the lights coming for them, and they both nodded and unleashed their entire arsenals at the light defiantly, which turned out to be fruitless. Next to them, Ryu and Ken had faced the light with dignity, and both were gone shortly after.

Meggy and Evan desperately inked the ground around them and jumped in, the Piranha Plant hid in its Warp Pipe, and Isaac and Matthew both cast Clay Spire in an attempt to create a barrier. It didn't work, and all five of them were disintegrated as the light pulverized the earthen barrier.

Popo and Nana, seeing no way out of the predicament that had taken away so many of their friends, held each other in an embrace, Nana quietly crying into Popo's parka before the light devoured them.

Marth attempted to call for a Warp spell to whisk Roy away from danger but was disintegrated before the spell could complete. Roy, a look of horror present on his face, was sideswiped by a beam in short order.

Ike, a stoic expression present on his face, crossed his arms and muttered, "I am beyond tired of the gods," a beam washing over him as he finished his sentence. Chrom and Robin tearfully held onto Lucina, the royal couple and their daughter being pulverized by a light beam immediately after. Corrin, meanwhile, silently collapsed to the floor, thoroughly despondent as she was run over by the light.

Young Link attempted to play the Song of Time, but due to a combination of stress and panic, he kept playing the wrong notes on his ocarina before getting caught by a beam just as he was about to finish the song. Toon Link got caught by a beam as he tried to climb up a cliff using his hookshot.

Palutena, meanwhile, had sent Pit and Dark Pit away with the Power of Flight, with Banjo and Kazooie flying near the two of them. Palutena pulled up her Reflect Barrier as a beam of light barreled into her, but that was useless. With Palutena gone, both Pits lost the ability to fly and began to fall. Banjo swooped down and picked the two of them up, struggling to fly with the extra weight. Both Pits were then tagged by the light, and Kazooie activated Wonderwing mid-flight as a beam of light washed over them. Both turned out perfectly unscathed, but since Kazooie had used the last of the Golden Feathers, they couldn't protect themselves from the next beam.

Down on the ground, Ness and Lucas were trembling in fear at the prospect of getting killed by the lights. Scared, but determined, Ness activated his PK Magnet, shielding himself, Lucas, Jigglypuff, and Pichu. Lucas also activated his own shield, and when the light crashed into them, the shield actually held up… for about 10 seconds. All four of them were vaporized after the PK Magnet broke.

Snake, having seen many of his close friends vaporized, started to panic and hid in his cardboard box. Desperately activating his Codec, he sighed in relief as Otacon came on the line.

"Snake?! What's happening? The Mansion's being attacked by beams of light! They just flew into the Assist Trophy building, and I think they got Frank!"

Snake cursed as he realized that Otacon was talking about Gray Fox. Otacon paused, looking off to his side, and with his voice slightly increasing in pitch, he called, "Sunny? Where are you? Sunny?! SUNN-"

The Codec went dead, replaced by the dreaded crackle of static.

"Otacon? Otacon?! OTTAAACOOOONNN!"

Snake then began to reactivate the wormhole fulton, but looked up to see a beam of light passing over his box. Deciding that it was now or never, Snake activated the device and jumped into the wormhole, the beam of light turning around and obliterating the box just as Snake vanished.

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong had managed to slip by unseen throughout most of the purge, and both were hiding behind a large rock face. To their left, Incineroar defiantly stared down a beam of light, attempting to shield the Miis with his body as the four of them were mowed over. Donkey Kong saw K. Rool to his right, and with a quiet snarl, did not hesitate in throwing his nephew up into the air to buy him more time, causing the monkey to activate his Rocketbarrel Pack. Diddy looked down on the ground to see DK and K. Rool locked in combat before a large beam of light obliterated the rock face, along with the two of them.

Recoiling in horror, Diddy forced the thrusters to exude more power, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rosalina flying by with her Luma. The three of them were vaporized by a beam of light that came from below. Little Mac had been chased by the same beam of light for almost a minute, due to him having used the terrain as a distraction for the beam, until he was in a wide open space. Turning around, Little Mac screamed in terror as the beam washed over him. Mega Man fired a Black Hole Bomb, which sucked in a nearby formation of beams. Attempting to warp away from the Craggy Outlook, he was caught by a beam before he was fully gone.

R.O.B looked at the beam of light coming straight for him, and closed his eyes, accepting the inevitable.

Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings were all huddled behind a rock formation, with Larry quietly sobbing, "I don't want to die..." as the rest of the Koopalings attempted to comfort him. The eight of them were promptly destroyed by a laser which punched right through the boulders.

Cloud stood at the front of the cliff, exhausted from dodging beams, and cast Meteorain to provide a distraction for whoever was left before he was obliterated in short order.

Villager, exhausted from running away, had managed to find the Wii Fit Trainer, the Duck Hunt duo, and Mr. Game & Watch. All four of them looked up to see a large beam of light coming for them. Villager panicked and ran around aimlessly, terror present in his eyes, Ollie cowered and covered his eyes while Mallie tried to lift the two of them to fly to safety, Wii Fit Trainer did some yoga, resigned to her fate, and Mr. Game & Watch transformed into the Octopus. All four of them were devoured by the light, Game & Watch lasting a bit longer than the others.

Meanwhile, King Dedede and Meta Knight were providing cover for Kirby, who dodged every beam that came at him thanks to the sheer speed of his Warp Star combined with Shulk's Speed Monado. Dedede smacked away a beam that was homing in on Kirby, and Meta Knight parried another beam using Galaxia. The beams saw Meta Knight as the bigger threat in their mission to take out Kirby, so a stray beam gunned straight for the masked swordsman. Right before the beam had gotten to Meta Knight, however, Dedede shoved Meta Knight out of the way and took the full brunt of the laser, disappearing. After a small break in his stoic demeanor, Meta Knight flew up to Kirby and urgently commanded, "Kirby! No matter what happens to Dedede and I, just. Keep. GOING!"

Kirby gave a small, but frightened nod, and promptly pushed the Warp Star to its absolute limit.

Meta Knight noticed a large number of beams coming for Kirby, frantically parrying away the whole formation. The moment he heard the distinct sound of the Warp Star flashing out of existence, Meta Knight sighed in relief just as a final beam of light washed over him.

...