Hey guys! I apologize for keeping you waiting for so long, but I've got an entirely new chapter that continues with the group on the World of Light! We also get some new visitors to the world as paths finally cross with one another. How will this new chapter go? Read on to find out. As always, don't forget to fave, follow, and review! Without further ado, let's get into this brand new chapter!
Shining Volcano, World of Light
Samus, Pikachu, and Rosalina had safely landed on the molten region of the World of Light with relatively little issue. This was mainly because of the combined spaceship experience the bounty hunter and celestial princess had.
Once the three fighters stepped out onto the blistering terrain, Samus had to make some minor adjustments to her armor. "And… there. That should prevent any heat from entering my suit. How are you two feeling?"
"I feel fine." Responded Rosalina. "Although, I knew Pikachu wouldn't be able to withstand the heat, so I took the liberty of conjuring a protective barrier around him to keep the heat out."
The bounty hunter looked down at the electric type Pokemon to see if she was telling the truth. Sure enough, she was because Pikachu was far from being bogged down by the heat.
"Pika!" Responded Pikachu in assurance as he got on Samus's shoulder.
"Where should we start?" Asked the bounty hunter.
Rosalina then went into a panic as she conjured a barrier all around them and the ship.
"What are you d-?" Replied Samus in a panic before a sudden explosion drowned her out.
Fortunately, the barrier prevented the explosion from causing any further harm to the group.
"We should worry about that first." Said Rosalina as she pointed to the source of the explosion.
When Samus got a good look at the group's attacker, the bounty hunter was a little taken aback before recomposing herself into her fighting spirit. "You!"
The fighters all saw Dark Samus standing on a lower rocky ledge nearby. Her aim was dead set on the three heroes.
"I can't keep this barrier up forever!" Said Rosalina. "You're going to have to go down there and fight that thing yourself!"
Samus couldn't help but agree. "Understood. I defeated her before, and I can do it again."
The bounty hunter then descended the cliff the three fighters were on, approaching Dark Samus.
The Phazon menace proceeded to fire missiles and charge shots at the incoming fighter. However, Samus had transformed herself into a ball which was helpful in avoiding the barrage.
Before Dark Samus could realize what had happened, her human counterpart had transformed back into her normal form right above her.
Samus proceeded to tackle the alien to the ground, only to have tendrils of Phazon come from the terrain and push her away from her adversary.
The two warriors then unloaded whatever ammunition they could at each other with their arm cannons, but neither fighter landed a shot on the other.
Back on the upper cliff where the fighters landed, Rosalina and Pikachu were watching the two doppelgangers fight it out.
"Pika! Pikachu!" Begged the electric Pokemon.
"I know we should go down there and help her, but we need to keep the ship safe too." Responded Rosalina.
"Indeed you do." Said a new voice that came from another direction.
From what the fighters could see, there were about four to five dozen Light Primids all armed with super scopes.
The Neo Ancient Minister was right above the squadron with his red soulless eyes looking on at the two heroes. "Fire."
The Primids began to fire upon the duo.
This prompted Rosalina to strengthen her barrier to protect not only herself, but Pikachu and the ship.
The electric type knew that she couldn't hold the barrier for long, so he decided to throw out thunderbolts and electro balls to thin the herd as much as possible.
After enough enemies were taken down, Pikachu tried to take out the Neo Ancient Minister with a well aimed thunderbolt, only to have it shot down by the floating robot's optical blast.
"Who are you?" Asked Rosalina as she was struggling to maintain the barrier.
"I am Galeem's servant in his crusade to end chaos and impurity to this universe. You may call me the Neo Ancient Minister."
"Pika?" Uttered Pikachu as he remembered the name from the Subspace Conflict.
"You… Mouse… I remember." Uttered the Minister as he looked on at the electric type Pokemon. "I shall cleanse you first."
The floating drone proceeded to fire every bit of plasma that he could at the barrier. After a few more seconds, it broke. This left Rosalina stunned and Pikachu flushed with concern for the princess.
When the electric mouse looked at the Primids with their weapons aimed, he knew he wouldn't make it. However, he also knew that he wouldn't be going out without a fight.
Pikachu immediately started to charge up every ounce of electricity and store it in his red cheeks for an ultimate move that he trained to use. Volt Tackle.
"So you would rather die honorably than submit to Galeem's will." Scoffed the Minister. "Fire away."
Pikachu was about to run towards the enemy forces at full power, but something strange happened.
As soon as the front row of Primids started to fire their weapons, a fast blue streak whizzed by in front of them before the front group collapsed on the ground. This attack left nothing but dust in its wake.
"What now?" Exclaimed the Minister in his confusion.
Sonic the Hedgehog then came into his view, much to the robot's displeasure. "You're not taking any more prisoners today!"
In his confusion and attention on Sonic, the floating robot left himself wide open as he received blaster fire from both Falco and Wolf. This immediately took him off guard and left him without levitation capabilities, leaving him falling to the ground. The sheer shock of the blasts and the impact of the fall was enough to disable the Minister for the moment.
Finally, Mario and Lucario were taking out what remained of the Light Primids before rushing over to Pikachu and Rosalina's side.
"Is that-a you, Rosalina?" Asked Mario as he was fending off the enemy.
The cosmic princess took a closer look before realizing that it was the same plumber that saved the galaxy on more than one occasion. "Mario! It's good to see you again at a time like this!"
"Pika! Pika!" Exclaimed Pikachu as he recognized his old friends.
"You're here too Pikachu?" Said Lucario.
The electric type then realized something else that was lingering in his mind. He then went back to the cliff's edge and pointed downward with his paw. "Pika!"
Once Lucario looked over the cliff, he could see Samus getting pinned down by her Phazon counterpart.
"I'll help her out! You stay here with Mario and the cosmic princess!" Ordered Lucario as he went over to the rock slab where Samus and Dark Samus were fighting.
The blaster shots from Falco and Wolf, along with the impact from the fall, temporarily disabled the Neo Ancient Minister, but they needed to get somewhere safe before Light Primids closed in on where they were.
"We're too slow!" Screamed Wolf. "At this rate we're moving, we'll be caught!"
Falco couldn't help but agree.
Fortunately, help came from a familiar blue hedgehog. "I'm sorry, but did someone say 'slow'?"
With the Blue Blur's help, the trio, along with the disabled Neo Ancient Minister, made it back to Mario and the others in only a few seconds.
"You managed to get-a R.O.B.!" Said Mario. "Now all we need to do is keep-a him in one-a piece!"
"I know!" Shouted Falco before turning to Rosalina. "Hey! Space Lady! How much longer do you think you can hold that barrier you've got?"
"A few minutes. Maybe more if there's more enemies coming." Answered the cosmic princess. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm gonna try to reprogram R.O.B. and purge him of Galeem's influence!" Explained Falco. "The rest of you help the space lady buy as much time as possible!"
Wolf didn't really approve of Falco's last part. "Can't let you do that alone, Lombardi."
The Star Wolf Leader then approached Falco. "Let me help you."
Falco then took a deep breath before accepting Wolf's help. "Only on the condition that you don't make things worse."
"Understood." Said Wolf.
The two pilots then proceeded to work on R.O.B.'s programming while Rosalina, Mario, Sonic, and Pikachu were fending off the Lightspace forces that kept on coming.
Meanwhile, on the lower cliffs of the volcanic region, Samus and Dark Samus were continuing to fight each other.
Unfortunately, Things weren't looking good for Samus because she was standing in front of a lake of lava that was eating away at the ground behind her. On top of that, her Phazon counterpart was closing in.
The bounty hunter's armor wasn't accustomed to handle the sheer heat if she were to fall in the lava behind her, so she knew that she needed to think of a plan.
She had only one more option to try. This final move would defeat Dark Samus, but she would also fall into the lava behind her from the recoil.
Seeing no other option, Samus started to charge up her zero laser which was capable of disintegrating anything in its path.
Dark Samus had a look of fear on her face, but knew that she wouldn't be going down submitting defeat to her literal polar opposite. She charged her own version of the zero laser, and pointed it directly at her doppelganger.
Samus knew that the zero laser was her last ditch effort, and if she were to die, then she would've wanted to sacrifice her life to stop an enemy and save her friends.
Lucario was descending down the steep slopes when he saw the two warriors charging up their ultimate moves. A look of fear and concern washed over Lucario's face as he rushed to Samus's aid.
He knew he had to go down there and stop the fight. However, he was too late.
The two warriors fired their blasts. Their collision caused a bright light to shine across the region.
The resulting blast knocked back and almost blinded Lucario. It could be seen from the other heroes fending off the Lightspace Army forces higher up. The light got them confused, but didn't think much of it due to their current focus on defending R.O.B. and the Toad Brigade ship.
Samus and Dark Samus were struggling to overcome each other with their ultimate laser moves. However, after a few seconds, Dark Samus's Phazon laser gained the upper hand against Samus's.
On top of that, the combined force of the opposing laser and the recoil pushed her further into the pool of lava behind her.
Seeing no other way out, Samus used every last ounce of power in her suit to focus into her zero laser. This brought her back with some more ground, but it still wasn't enough. "Pikachu, Rosalina, Everyone. Avenge me."
As Samus was about to give in to her final moment, her laser somehow gained more ground as it overpowered Dark Samus's Phazon cannon.
It was impossible for her to see what was happening on the other side, but Lucario fired enough Aura Spheres at the Phazon menace to significantly weaken her.
This helped Samus bring her will to live back in action. She proceeded to unleash every ounce of energy she could at her adversary.
Lucario got out of the way while Dark Samus was blasted into the World of Light's stratosphere in thousands of charred Phazon pieces.
Once Samus saw her dark counterpart's defeat, her armor's system went into complete shutdown from the exhaustion of power. Additionally, she was about to pass out from the strain her Chozo-augmented body endured. Due to the recoil, she was about to fall and land on her back.
Unfortunately, her feet were mere centimeters away from the lava behind her.
Lucario was able to see this, but was too far away to save her.
Samus was about to brace for impact, but something else stopped her from falling.
When the bounty hunter fluttered her eyes open, she saw that two Lumas came to her aid and were lifting her up by the shoulders.
With her worry of death subsisting, Samus collapsed into a deep sleep.
The Lumas brought her back up to the surface with Lucario ascending his way up as well.
Once they got up to where the Toad ship initially landed, they found a disabled Neo Ancient Minister and the remaining Lightspace forces defeated.
Falco was working on R.O.B.'s files and programming, but he had no luck so far. However he stopped what he was doing as soon as he saw the unconscious bounty hunter being brought back to where the rest of the group was.
"Samus?" Asked Falco. "I was confident she lived through the light, but what's she doing here?"
The two Lumas carrying Samus set her down and floated by Rosalina's side.
Everyone then gathered around the unconscious bounty hunter with Pikachu expressing the most worry due to their close friendship.
Mario proceeded to take off her helmet while Lucario checked her internal organs with his aura power.
"Vitals are stable, but she's badly strained every muscle in her body. She'll be okay, but she needs rest." Explained Lucario.
Everyone was relieved by the news, but they weren't out of the clear quite yet.
"Let's go somewhere on this planet where Galeem can't look for us." Said Falco. "Besides, we've disabled the tracker on R.O.B."
Everyone was unanimous in Falco's decision, because as far as they knew, Galeem would send reinforcements down to where they were.
Mario, Sonic, Rosalina, Lucario, Samus, Pikachu, Falco, and Wolf all got on board the Toad ship with the Neo Ancient Minister's robotic body in tow. The space inside the ship was somewhat cramped, but the vehicle still managed to fly despite the added weight.
"Where do you suppose we should go?" Asked Sonic. "I'd prefer a place without water."
"Not-a to worry, Sonic." Responded Mario.
"Yeah. I was telling Mario earlier that I saw a whole bunch of different regions and biomes on this planet." Said Cappy. "I think one of them might be the perfect place to hide until we can figure out a plan to stop Galeem."
Wolf grew curious at Cappy's suggestion. "What region would be that beneficial, hat?"
"It's-a region shrouded in ice. Located in what-a Cappy believes is in the northwest. Trust-a me, it's-a the last place Galeem will look." Said Mario.
Falco was eager to get directions to this new region. "What direction do you suppose we head in?"
"Change-a your direction to northwest. We won't-a miss it." Answered the plumber as he talked to Rosalina.
With that change in direction, the Toad ship set course for the new region in which they were headed. Each fighter inside held enough spirit to stand against Galeem. However, it was how they used that spirit that would make the difference between life and death.
Back on the volcanic surface, the Light Primids sent for the fighters were defeated, and weren't likely to ever get up.
However, pieces of Phazon were recomposing themselves into one mass about several hundred meters from where the Toad Ship landed.
In a few more minutes, Dark Samus became whole again.
With a look of anger on her face, she let out an ear piercing screech, indicating that she swore vengeance for not only Samus, but for her allies as well.