"Ladies and gentlemen…you all have stuck by us for the past 8 days. But now…it has finally come. The final fight! We have two worthy warriors joining us in the ring. First…we have the pink puffball from Popstar who always comes when things get bad. The Pink Demon, Kirby!" Chi Ta said as Kirby descended. "And his opponent…we have the hero who was at the start of it all! The Golden God! Jexi!" she said as Jexi entered. "And the final stage is…Final Destination!" she called out as they appeared in an ethereal plane. "So…let the final battle…begin!"

Kirby came running in with his hammer.

"Fire Style: Flame Strike!" Jexi said, doing a forward punch as a flaming fist sent the pink puffball tumbling back.

Kirby bounced on the ground before skidding to a stop and drawing his Final Cutter, leaping into the air and coming down with a downward slash.

"Lightning Style: Electric Shield." Jexi said, creating an electrical barrier that blocked the attack.

Kirby then went and sucked in the lightning before changing into Plasma Kirby as he unleashed a discharge.

"Not bad." Jexi said as he jumped back. "Let me show you something new." he said before pulling out something and gripping his hand. "Plant Style: Cactus Knuckle!" he said as a cactus covered his fist as he landed a strike on Kirby.

"What the? How did…" Hope said.

"He learned that from me and other Plant Style users." Grace said as she approached them. "He really found a creative way to use it. Normally, you're supposed to spread the seeds and let the plants fight, but he grips them and lets the plant become part of him for a short time."

Jexi jumped back as Kirby recovered and sucked up some cactus needles, becoming Needle Kirby as he fired at Jexi.

"And my other new move. Ice Style: Slide Wall!" he said, creating a wall of curved ice as the needles rolled off it and hit Kirby.

Kirby kept on his feet, slicing off a chunk of ice with his Final cutter and gulping it down, becoming Ice Kirby as he skated up the wall and came down on Jexi, blowing his Ice Breath.

"Geez…that's cold." Jexi said as he jumped back.

As the two fought, in an unknown space was a sleeping figure. Its eyes shot open as at the same time, Jexi's fist was glowing bright.

"Huh? The heck is this?" Jexi said as Kirby was becoming Ultra Sword Kirby. "Uh oh…guess I gotta go with it." he said going into Golden God mode as the fist collided with the incoming sword. As it did, 17 different objects floated around the collision before they were sent flying in multiple directions, outside of the arena and away from Fighter's Arena entirely.

"What the heck?!" Shantae said in surprise.

"Was that some sort of limit break for Jexi?!" Emo asked in shock.

"I don't know. But something happened, did you see those 17 things floating around them for a second before they went flying?" Hope asked.

"Yes. The aether around them was…strange." Y'shtola said. "I did sense something strange just as Jexi's fist began glowing. I…have no idea how to describe it."

Jexi and Kirby were just as stunned before they continued on with their fight.

"No idea what that was. But I can figure it out later." Jexi said. "For now…I gotta win. Golden God's…Glorious Fist!" Jexi said landing a straight on Kirby before sending the puffball flying.

"Uh…and that…concludes the final match. The winner is…Jexi. Though…not sure what happened but…maybe we'll have answers?" Chi Ta said as Jexi returned to the stands.

"That fight was awesome pal, though we're all kinda confused at what happened when you and Kirby clashed back there." Hope said.

"Not sure. I just felt this sudden surge of power in my fist. Didn't know what to do so…I just went with it and punched." Jexi said.

"I can't describe it, but there was a strange presence just as you prepared to attack." Y'shtola said. "Then those objects suddenly appeared and flew out of the arena."

"Yeah, something tells me those objects are going to be important later." Mark said before he shrugged. "Eh, problem for future us. What's really important right now is that Jexi won."

"Yeah…. That was a great tournament. Unique matches, and the Smashers really gave it their all." Hope said.

"Now…it's about time we got out of here and off this world." Shuichi said. "Everything is all set."

"So, your escape route is ready?" Rhatla asked.

"Yeah…feel free to use it if those assassins are still hanging around after we flee." Kazuichi said.

"They probably might. We'll keep an eye out." Nesma said. "Well, see you guys soon, then."

"See ya." Hope said.

Outside of the arena, Dragonfly waited with his assassin allies.

"All right…the final fight just ended. They'll have to leave out the doors. Only way in and out." Dragonfly said. "Moment they come out. Open fire."

A number of them nodded in understanding with their eyes trained on the entrance. They waited there for a while before looking up at footage of Cheetah fighting Terry.

"Is…is that a cat fighting Terry Bogard?" one of them asked.

"Ugh…she's that wild cat girl that the leader of the Brave Adventurers thinks he's in a rivalry with. Wait a minute…something's off." Dragonfly said. "If he wanted to, he would have watched the fight but…I don't see anyone in the audience aside from the cat's followers."

"Ahem." a voice cleared their throat behind the assassins, making them turn around to see the majority of the Smash cast standing there.

"The hell?" Dragonfly said. "You are not part of this. Move along."

"Au contraire. This tournament was dedicated to us, after all." Richter said. "You think security wouldn't notice anyone suspicious snooping around?"

"Ugh…Look. Your tournament thingy is done and over now so you can go back to killing bats or whatever the hell you do. We are on a job." Dragonfly said.

"A job that has our opponents in this tournament as your targets." Ryu said.

"Final warning. Leave or we aim to kill." Dragonfly said.

"No problem. We have a certain someone willing to kill someone for quite a while. Isn't that right?" Wolf asked Ridley and Dark Samus.

"Ugh…this is so annoying. All troops…engage!" Dragonfly said as the assassins went and attacked the Smashers as an all out battle ensued.

"You still have no idea who you guys are dealing with, do you?" King Dedede asked. "I think it's time you all learned a lesson in respect."

"What is wrong with these…" Dragonfly said before seeing Sunset emerging from a hole and entering the Galaxy King. "What the?" he said. "Son of a…they tunneled their way out!"

"Uh oh." Sunset said. "They caught on. We need to hurry up and prepare to take off."

"Don't let them escape!" Dragonfly said, aiming his rifle. "Now where is that blue bastard?"

Dragonfly's search was cut short when a hand clenched around his neck and threw him into the air.

"If Hope the Victor was killed by someone like you, it would reflect badly on both of us." Kazuya said.

"Kazuya Mishima?! Forget it." Dragonfly said before the ship started to take off. "No!" he said, taking aim again and firing every shot he had until the rifle was empty, not a single shot hitting the mark. "Damn it!" he called out as he tossed his rifle to the ground. "You stupid fighters! You ruined the attempt! All cause you fought with these guys?"

"Well, what can we say? Combat has a way of establishing bonds between fighters." Ken said.

"Fine…I can accept we lost…today. But it doesn't matter. We're just one branch. There are hundreds…perhaps thousands of assassins in the underground! If we don't succeed, one of them will." Dragonfly said.

"Then what you're saying is…no one will miss you." Kazuya said, cracking his knuckles.

"Same for you." Dragonfly said holding a handgun as Kazuya held his arm in pain. "I'm not just skilled with a rifle. Now all of you!" he called out to the assassins. "We're leaving. We lost today. We gotta plan for the next attempt."

"Yes!" they all said as they started to flee.

"Keep this in mind, smashers. You interfered with an assassination attempt. After our top three objectives are complete…you all are next." Dragonfly said.

"Yeah, well we say bring it on. We'd be the only ones good enough for you anyway." Ken said.

Dragonfly just groaned as he and the assassins left.

Elsewhere…

"I can't believe we pulled that off." Theo said. "How did…"

"Well it was easy. If we couldn't leave through the front, we dig our own exit." Shuichi said.

"Ah, your Drill Wispon!" Kaito said.

"Exactly. I dug a tunnel so everyone could get to their respective ship and go their own ways." Shuichi said.

"And so the Smashers outside were just a distraction." Sectonia said. "Can't believe I'm saying this to Ridley of all people, but… I owe him one."

"I didn't actually plan for that. That was just an incredible stroke of luck." Shuichi said.

"If they hadn't though, we would've been in bigger trouble." David said.

"Definitely, and now that we escaped, we can help Amber rescue her teammates." Ace said.

"Yes. We still have that little hurdle to take care of." Sachiko said.

"Yeah…and it looks like we're stuck for the ride for a while." Ethox said.

"Sorry but we had to be quick." Shuichi said.

"It's okay, we'd probably come along anyway." Ethox said. "Besides… this mission to rescue your missing pals is also a mission assigned to guilds. So, consider the Fatebreakers on the case!"

"Same with Mythos Hearts." Theo said.

Amber made a few sounds in agreement as she gave a thumbs up with a smile.

"I'm excited to meet your teammates in the Doomsday Vanguard, as well." Ethox said. "I can't wait to see who they are and what they're like."

"Well, they're a combination of two separate teams." Hope said. "The Doomsday Legion, whose leader is AJ Drake. He's an Enhanced with Chopper's abilities who used to be in business with demons, that is until his partner backstabbed him and put him in prison."

"And the other team is the Heroic Vanguard, led by Kido Takuya." Ace said. "He's also an Enhanced with Kaguya Nanbu's sword and spirit skills and Natsu's Arahabaki curse."

"I don't have a curse like that." Natsu said.

"Not you, the other Natsu. Ugh… This is gonna be hell to differentiate…" David said.

"We'll figure that out later." Hope said. "For now, we've got friends to save. Set a course for Inkopolis Square."

"Copy that. I've locked in the coordinates." Vera said.

"A shame some of those Smashers couldn't join us, but… I'm sure one way or another, we will meet again." Sachiko said.

"They chose to do that to help us. Either way…we're off. To Inkopolis." Jexi said as the Galaxy King took off towards its next adventure.

To be continued…in 2022. Happy New Year!