It was well past nightfall when they arrived at the mysterious clearing. Despite the air of foreboding they all felt, they all walked into the dark fog willingly.

Upon emerging from the other side of the fog, they all looked around. The ground beneath them was indeed barren, as Meta Knight had said. But despite the dark clouds that were seen from the outside, from inside the clearing, they had an excellent view of the night sky.

"Where are we?" Asked Nana.

"I am not sure. But my feelings of disturbance have only intensified. I have most definitely been in a place like this before." Meta Knight responded.

"Wait, what is that creature?"

Everyone looked at where Simon was pointing. In the center of the clearing, there was a small creature, about the size of both Kirby and Meta Knight. It had large eyes, clown-like shoes, a red bow tie, and a red and blue jesters hat. It was also balancing itself on a colorful beach ball.

"It is actually somewhat cute," Lucina said as she approached it.

Meta Knight realized just then what this creature was and what was about to happen.

"Lucina, no! DON'T!" He yelled.

But it was already too late. Lucina got close, and the creature transformed in front of her. It doubled in size, grew large and colorful wings, and grew a much larger mouth, complete with fangs, with which it let out a high-pitched cackle. The creature then moved to attack Lucina, who only barely dodged.

"Not cute! Not cute!" She shrieked in fear as she ran away and regrouped with the others.

"It's disgusting!" Once again, the brash and forceful vampire hunter threw everything he had at the creature before Meta Knight and the others could move in to attack. Once that was over, he let them move in close.

Cloud asked Meta Knight, "What is that thing, anyway?"

"He is called Marx. He is one of the most cunning and dangerous creatures I have ever encountered."

"Eheheheh. You flatter me, Meta Knight. Maybe I'll make this quick for you." Marx taunted.

Lucina used the distraction to jump behind him and land a fully charged Shield Breaker.

Marx was lurched forward by the attack. Simon took the opportunity to crack his whip right between Marx's large eyes. Meta Knight and Cloud both ran forward and swung their respective swords at Marx's wings, causing him to screech. Once he recovered, the deranged jester set his sights on the one who appeared to be weakest, Nana.

Nana was not one to take this lightly, however. She used her mallet to hit up a small stalagmite of ice to defend herself from an oncoming attack.

The stalagmite hit Marx right in the mouth, causing him to choke and gag for a moment. Not to mention the nature of the Ice gave the monster a small amount of frostbite on his tongue.

While Marx was distracted, Meta Knight flew above his head and struck him with Galaxia. The Star Warrior quickly circled around to attack again, joined now by Cloud and Lucina. But before the three sword wielders could land a blow, Marx's eyes instantly grew and various lasers began firing out of them in different directions. Everyone had to duck for cover to avoid getting hit.

Once the lasers stopped, Marx's eyes returned to normal. The monster then let out an ear-piercing roar at the group. Everyone dropped their weapons to cover their ears. Everyone, that is, except for Simon. He covered his left ear with one hand, and held a vial of Holy Water with his right.

"Eat this, demon!" He yelled as loud as he could.

With that, Simon threw the vial into Marx's mouth. The glass shattered upon impact, setting the inside of the beast's mouth on fire.

Marx's screams of anger turned into screams of pain. Everyone uncovered their ears and reclaimed their weapons. While Marx was still screaming, Cloud jumped up over the monster and swung his sword at the top of his head as hard as he could. Marx was sent pummeling to the ground.

"So, you think you can just plant me like a tree, huh?" Marx said once he recovered. "Well let's see how you losers like what I have to plant!"

Marx then flew into the air and out of sight. In his place, various dark-colored seeds began raining down around the Smashers. Less than a second after they hit the ground, the seeds sprouted into tall, desolate-looking trees covered in spikes.

"Everyone take cover and start slicing!" shouted Lucina. The trio of her, Cloud, and Meta Knight pointed their swords outward while Simon threw an axe at one growing above them.

Eventually, the group was able to cut all the spiked trees down to size. Once they did, everyone looked around for their opponent.

"Where is Marx?" Cloud asked.

Suddenly, a dark portal appeared beneath Lucina's feet. But she did not notice this.

The only one who did notice was Meta Knight, who called out to her.

"Lucina! Look out!"

Marx rose up beneath her. Before she or Meta Knight could react, he instantaneously unfurled his wings to smack Simon and Cloud to opposite sides of the field. Lucina soon found herself high above the ground on top of Marx's head. Meta Knight flew up to rescue her with Nana grabbing onto his back.

Despite struggling to maintain her balance, Lucina managed to keep on top of Marx as he flew around. Knowing she might not get another chance to get this close to him again, Lucina took the opportunity to attack Marx. She swung Parallel Falchion at the very small area between his massive eyes. Marx screeched in pain. But before Lucina could land another blow, Marx violently jerked, throwing Lucina off her feet and falling toward the ground. Luckily, Meta Knight managed to catch her, grabbing her by her cape as they made their way toward the ground.

Just as Lucina started falling, Meta Knight and Nana were passing in front of Marx's face. Just when Meta Knight was turning to catch Lucina, Nana used a free hand to hit Marx in the eye with her mallet as hard as she could.

Marx once again screamed in agony as he closed his eyes and dropped to the ground.

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?"

Angrier than ever, Marx decided that he had just about enough. This world was his for the taking and he wasn't going to let a bunch of Medieval weirdos keep him from it!

The five of them braced themselves for whatever Marx was going to do next. This strange creature was not only very strong, but also wildly unpredictable.

Summoning his strength, Marx split himself in half vertically and separated. Meta Knight knew instantly what was going to happen. "Everyone! Find something to grab on to!" as he buried Galaxia into the ground, gripping it tightly with one hand while holding onto Nana with the other.

In the space between the two halves of Marx appeared a black hole that began sucking everything around it in, forming gale-strong winds towards it.

Cloud didn't need to be told twice. He planted his Fusion Sword into the ground with all the strength he could muster, already feeling the gust take his breath away. Simon used this to his advantage by using his Vampire Killer to wrap around the weapon. It quickly tensed up as the force pulling everyone into the void was getting stronger and stronger by the second.

Nana scrambled to find something she could latch onto. "Meta Knight. I don't think either one of us can hold on for much longer!" Lucina was also in danger of being sucked in. She opted for a similar strategy to Meta Knight, only she used gripped the Parallel Falchion's hilt with both hands, placing herself behind Meta Knight and Nana.

Unfortunately, Lucina's grip was not strong enough. Her hands slipped from the hilt of her sword and she was swiftly sucked toward the black hole.

However, before she could be sucked in, she passed by Simon, who used one of his hands to grab Lucina's outstretched arm and held onto her for dear life.

"Young Lucina! You must reach into my pouch and pull out another vial of Holy Water! It might be able to disrupt the force attempting to pull us into its horrid clutches!" The Belmont yelled at her.

Despite the force of the black hole trying to suck them all in, Lucina managed to get her free arm into the pouch attached to Simon's hip. After pulling out a small vial of water, she released it, allowing it to travel towards the black hole Marx had created.

Marx laughed. "Ha! You really think that's going to..." Marx coughed up a half-melted ball of ice that soon exploded into fragments and four Cutter Blades. "What is WRONG with you people?!"

"Perhaps it is the fact that we will do whatever we must to defeat our opponents. Especially when it also means protecting our allies and other innocents. Unlike you, who simply fights for your own demented sense of amusement." Meta Knight stated.

As he spoke, he and the others got on their feet, pulled their weapons free, and pointed them at the deranged monster.

Marx could still feel some of Holy Water in his mouth. He decided to expel it all at once spitting out a gigantic superlaser.

To that end, the monster took a deep inhale and puffed out his cheeks.

Meta Knight knew what he was about to do.

"Everyone, get down!"

A massive laser came out of Marx's mouth, heading right toward the fighters. Each one of them only barely managed to dodge the attack. Once the laser stopped firing, everyone looked at where the laster had gone. It had traveled past the clearing they were currently fighting in and into the forest proper. Everything that it had hit was completely destroyed.

"Terrible though that attack may be, the creature's marksmanship is horrible. Not one of us was hit. I truly expected more from a beast with such power." Simon remarked.

This comment did not sit well with Marx. His wings turned into pink capillaries and moved in to grab them from behind.

"HOW'S THIS FOR HORRIBLE MARXMANSHIP? YOU DIE FIRST, BARBARIAN!"

The capillaries wrapped around Simon's arms, preventing him from grabbing any of his weapons, and were too strong for him to break. They then wrapped around his legs and torso before finally going around his neck, choking the Belmont. Numerous other capillaries stretched out and did the same to all the others.

The only one who managed to escape from the attack was Cloud. As Marx was speaking, the former SOLDIER charged up his Limit Break. Once charged, Cloud used his power to split his Fusion sword into six and had them slice all the capillaries that dared approach him.

After reassembling his swords into one weapon, he jumped up to free the others. First, he cut the capillaries attacking Simon. Then he freed Lucina. Next was Meta Knight, and finally, Nana.

Marx retracted what was left of the capillaries as his eyes cried out six black balls that targeted them.

Simon cracked his whip as one of the balls approached him, but the ball, seemingly of its own accord, dodged under the whip. It then rammed the Belmont right in the stomach as hard as it could, causing Simon to double over in pain.

Meta Knight attempted to swing at a black ball in front of him, but was so occupied with this that he did not notice another black ball approaching him from behind. This second one hit Meta Knight in the back of the head, leaving the Star Warrior greatly disoriented.

The ball that had originally targeted Meta Knight then went towards Nana. She tried swinging at it, but unfortunately, a simple wooden mallet offered little defense. The ball hit her in the face, knocking her unconscious.

Cloud was too busy looking around at all his allies being taken down around him that he did not notice a different back ball approaching him. This particular ball proceeded to ram into Cloud's legs, knocking him down and causing him to hit his head on the ground.

Only Lucina was still standing. She saw all her allies fall before remembering something Meta Knight had told her earlier.

'There are other traits that are necessary when you are fighting, such as anticipating when an enemy might try to distract you mid-fight. You must be able to power through whatever tactics your opponent might use.'

With this advice in mind, Lucina forced herself not to focus on her fallen allies at the moment. She then saw the last of the balls approach her. With a swift strike of her blade, it was destroyed. All the others disappeared as well. Marx cackled as he approached her and the other downed Smashers.

"What's the matter girlie? Are you afraid of being all alone? Now you stand no chance against me! Here's the thing, you see: who needs friends when you have POWER? AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!" He summoned more Cutter Blades to attack her.

The Cutter Blades approached Lucina at an alarming speed. She managed to block most of them, but one of them managed to knock Parallel Falchion from her hand. She had to scramble to reclaim it before Marx could attack again.

"Ehehehehe! Looks like this is where your path ends, little girl!"

With that, Marx charged toward her, intending to finish Lucina as up close and personally as possible. Lucina, however, stood her ground as she held up Parallel Falchion in front of her vertically.

"This is not the end! There is always another path! And if there isn't..."

Lucina channeled what little magical talent she had, shaping a bow that appeared to be made of blue light around her sword. She quickly fired four arrows from her bow right at Marx. One hit him in the corner of his mouth. The next two hit his left wing, and the last hit him in the small area between his eyes and his hat. The attack forced him to stop in his tracks as he was mere feet in front of Lucina. The bow disappeared and Lucina jumped up, swinging her sword upward across Marx's face as she did.

"I will carve a way forward!"

Lucina then thrust her sword forward, right between Marx's eyes, forcing him down to the ground. Lucina landed on the ground herself as the others slowly got on their feet.

"Lucina, that was incredible," said Simon faintly. "I didn't even know you had it in you."

The Ylissean princess appeared a little disappointed that it seemed he was the only one who saw her triumph. "I wish Cloud and Meta Knight could've seen that."

"Seen what?" Meta Knight asked still spinning.

"Perhaps this is some sort of thing you discussed before our meeting?" Simon attempted to lift Cloud and Nana up, only to realize that he could barely support himself standing up.

Cloud managed to get on his own feet before helping Simon stand up on his own. Lucina went over to help Nana up as she regained consciousness. It took a moment for everyone to regain their senses, but eventually, they returned to a semi-functional state.

As everyone was talking, Marx slowly pulled himself out of the ground. He was weak. But despite that, he was determined to finish at least one of them off. Meta Knight was closest, so Marx decided to go for him.

Marx lunged forward as best he could, but the others saw this coming. Meta Knight swiftly turned around and swung his sword. Lucina and Cloud did the same. Simon cracked his whip and Nana swung her mallet. All five attacks hit Marx at the same time.

Marx let out a painful-sounding screech as the attack hit. The monster's wings fell off his body as Marx himself flew around quickly and erratically. After a few seconds, Marx landed on the ground, limp and at the same size he was when the Smashers first encountered him.

"Is he dead?" Cloud asked.

Meta Knight kicked the body. "Affirmative."

"Excellent. Well done, my companions. It is wonderful to know that I am surrounded by capable warriors such as yourselves." Simon stated.

"Thank you, Simon. You were very good as well." Lucina responded.

"Anyways, what should we do now?" Asked Nana.

"I say we find a way out of this forest and see if we can track down any of the others," Cloud suggested.

Everyone agreed that this was the best course of action and head out. They had to travel for several miles before reaching the edge of the forest. In front of them was a wide-open field going on as far as the eye could see. The moon was high in the sky by this point, so the group decided to make camp here for the night and continue on in the morning.

On a small hill, Simon held the heirloom of his clan as he knelt before the moonlight. "I freed Nana from her curse and assisted in the fall of Marx. Is that enough?"

He later caught himself trying to use the Vampire Killer on Richter and two of his closest comrades. The three of them gasped. "Simon!"

"Perhaps you can help us strike back against the one who has done this to you. The one who has also imprisoned many others and forced the rest of us to scatter across the planet."

"Do not worry; I will destroy Galeem, for you." The Belmont cast a stone into the sea. He returned to the camp and fell asleep.

Lucina awoke the next morning to a noise coming from not too far away. It was a noise that sounded familiar to her, but her still drowsy mind could not immediately identify it. As her drowsiness cleared, she heard the noise again, and this time, she was able to recognize it at once. It was the whinney of a horse. Several horses, in fact. The noise being made by the horses awoke everyone else as well. They all looked over and saw two stallions, a mare, and a pony grazing the field near their campsite.

Cloud examined them. "Horses? Where did those come from?"

"I'm not sure. But I do believe we've found a way to get to our next destination quicker than we would by walking." Lucina said as she approached the mare.

"Well one of us is still gonna have to walk unless we think of something real clever."

"I suppose Meta Knight could ride with one of us. As impressive a warrior you are, you are also the smallest of us physically. But I believe one of these mounts will fit one of us as well as yourself." Lucina said to the Star Warrior.

"Right," Meta Knight grunted. He and Cloud watched as Lucina, Nana, and Simon acquainted themselves with the mare, the pony, and one of the stallions respectively.

"Do be careful. Mother always said these were temperamental creatures. You must soothe them and let them know you are not a threat before you mount them." Lucina said as she lightly ran her hand across the mare's snout.

"Your mother. She was an experienced horse rider?" Simon asked.

"Not quite. She was actually a Pegasus Knight in my father's army."

"Wait, Pegasus? The horse with wings? Those are real?" Nana wondered.

"They are in my home. And there was perhaps no finer Pegasus Knight than my mother, Sumia. My younger sister, Cynthia, always wanted to be a Pegasus Knight like Mother, actually. And there was a time in my youth when I wanted the same. Mother always told us that we must first learn to handle a normal mount before moving on to one that can fly. So she showed us how to tame and ride a horse to the best of our abilities. And now I shall show you how to do the same."

Simon and Nana soothed the horses that they had chosen to ride. "Isn't this fun, Mr. Belmont?" Her yelling startled the pony.

"My experience with horses is limited to carriage travel."

Cloud ran his right hand across the other stallion's snout aping Lucina. "I don't think you're going to get an answer to a question like that from him."

Nana began calming her pony again, offering a quiet apology for startling her. The pony quickly calmed down at Nana's words and gestures of comfort. Lucina looked at her mare, then to all the other horses. They all looked like they were ready to be ridden.

"Alright. I believe now is a good time to mount your horses." Lucina stated.

With that, Lucina, Cloud, Simon, and Nana climbed onto their respective horses. Meta Knight joined Simon on his horse.

"Now then, gently tab your legs against the horse's sides to make them begin trotting. Do so again to make them break into a gallop. One more time should cause them to start running. Pull back on their manes if you wish for them to stop. But don't pull so hard that you hurt them. If it seems like your mount is becoming restless or irritable, simply pat the side of its head and speak comforting words." Lucina instructed.

"Got it," Cloud assured. The group gently tabbed their horses in the desired direction, slowly trotting through the forest.