Aurora found Captain Falcon's "initiation" for newcomers more brutal than she though was necessary. Captain Falcon had just defeated a blue haired swordsman with a white cape and light blue-white armor and was currently engaging against a woman sword fighter who Aurora had to mention, looked and attacked like Marth in a way.
Aurora cringed as she watched from the stands of the arena. Falcon was relentless in fighting from what it seems, even her battles with the bounty hunter was not as aggressive.
After parrying a Shield Break, Captain Falcon started his charge his signature move...
Before a green crescent blade of wind energy was fired. A second one hit the ground, causing the racer to retreat with backflips.
Aurora looked up and saw what seemed to be a purple robed individual with a tome in their hand. They were levitating before landed on the floor. Saying a few words of encouragement, the robed person took off their hood revealing short white hair. Aurora guessed it was a male, considering the tone of his voice. "Time to tip the scales!" The wizard said, revealing a lighting like sword that cackled with electricity.
The swordswoman eventually got to her feet and rushed at Captain Falcon, joining the wizard in combat. The white armored swordsman lied their on the floor clearly missing out the battle.
After the beat down, the two let up their attacks as Falcon reverted back to a trophy. "My, that was quite the battle," the female said, exhausted from the skirmish.
"Indeed," the wizard said, "But what nation is he from?"
"I am not sure. The way he uses pyromancy is quite dangerous and his... armor, per say, is nothing like we have seen before..."
"Perhaps because he is not from your world," Aurora said as she descended with a gentle breeze. The fighters readied their weapons, but Aurora made placating gestures, hoping they would lower their guard. "What are your names?"
"...I am Lucina, a descendant of the Hero King Marth," the female said.
"And I am Robin, a skilled sorcerer and tactician," the white haired wizard revealed.
Aurora eyed their expressions, unwavering and unflinching. She turned her gaze to the fallen swordsman before mentally groaning at Falcon's attempt of "testing." "Forgive my ally, he is rather boastful for when battling and wants to show off," Aurora apologized.
"Where are we?" Robin questioned, his tome slowly decreasing in sparking.
"The World of Trophies, a realm beyond yours and many others," the light user informed. "Also..."
Aurora shifted her position and created an updrift that caught someone else in the stands. The winds lifted them up and dropped them before the three fighters. And much to their shock...
it was Robin but as a female.
"... That's new..." Aurora commented as she had seen many things in this world. "A female version of myself?" Robin inquired, "How can that be?"
"Not sure, but we should get you... three introduced to the rest," Aurora said.
"What about my father?" Lucina asked, "I cannot leave him here."
"Well, we can take him back to HQ. We can work something out there," the elemental user suggested as she revived the racer's trophy.
Aurora watched Mario jump back as his opponent slammed into the ground. Leaping back, he found himself alongside Link, Olimar, Samus, Aurora, and Kirby with a Star Rod readied themselves at their foe: Charizard.
The Flame Pokémon rushed forwarded as his opponents flung a boomerang, Red Pikmin -who tumbled away-, missile, fireball, and a star projectile while Mario ran and jumped with a fiery fist to dunk on Charizard, who dodged all the attacks and began breathing fire from his maw. The two Fire-based fighters locked eyes, ready to hit one another...
before a water-themed projectile interfered with their fight. The plumber and Pokémon broke off from their attack and trailed the thrower of the projectile: a blue ninja-like frog with a long pink tongue. It pounded his fist onto the branch before disappearing in a stream.
The ninja frog reappeared in front of the two fire users and went to town. The tongue was shot out first at Mario, wrapping around him before being flung. Charizard, even at a disadvantage, charged the Water/Dark type to which the amphibian avoid with a green plush doll. Substitute allowed the ninja to strike from behind, sending Charizard sprawling along the ground. The other fighters appeared in the scene ready to fight. The ninja drew it's own weapons: two water kunais.
Link went first, swiping at the newcomer who responded by swiping his own weapons at the bearer of the Triforce of Courage. The newcomer got a lucky hit when Link failed to block with his shield, knocking him into a canyon wall.
Samus went next, firing Spazer Beams from all angles she could. The blue ninja snuck into a shadow, before kicking Samus from behind and fired a compressed water shuriken.
Kirby used Inhale to prevent the projectile from hitting the bounty hunter, being effective as Kirby gained the Water Copy Ability. The pink Popstar hero rushed in with Surf as the attacker vanished with another Substitute. Kirby ceased his water attack as the frog came from above. Kirby retaliated with Geyser to stop the incoming Bounce which proved somewhat effective. The newcomer backed off from the Star Warrior and readied his tongue to restrict Kirby.
He was interrupted when he felt something crawl along his skin. Looking down, he saw Yellow Pikmin, shocking him nonstop as they pecked him. Paying no attention to that, the amphibian placed his webbed hands together and created a brief pulse of water that knocked off the Pikmin. Turning his attention to the commander of the creatures, he rushed towards with a water kunai, intent on slashing Olimar down.
His attack was slowed down, when he found himself sinking in quicksand, courtesy of Aurora's Earth manipulation. Aurora tighten the sand around his waist before letting up. The blue newcomer ceased his struggling as the Smashers gathered around him. Mario's fist cackled with flames, Charizard readied Dragon Claw, Link pointed his Master Sword, Samus aimed her cannon, Kirby -still in his Water Ability- put up his stubs, and Olimar grabbed a Blue and White Pikmin to either prevent any water attacks or poison the newcomer.
"Alright," Mario started, "we-a got off on the wrong foot. Perhaps tell-a us who-a you are?"
"Gren. Greninja," the newcomer said.
"My guess is we have a new Pokémon fighter," Aurora surmised.
Charizard, being the veteran Pokémon fighter, approached cautiously. Sniffing around, Charizard backed away and nodded, signaling him to be free. Aurora released the Ninja Pokémon. Shaking off the dust, Greninja bowed his head in apology for attacking them before agreeing to listen to them.
They weren't the oddest Smashers Aurora had seen, since she had been around since the beginning. So when she was met with a brown dog with a purple and blue duck on his back along with a yellow spherical body with appendages, she wasn't surprised.
Aurora simply patted the dog and scratched underneath the waterfowl's wings, much to their delight as PAC-MAN was escorted by Mr. Game & Watch around the HQ and Mansion as the newcomer was getting used to the 3D aspects of his new body.
"Aurora, a word," Lucian asked. The light user walked up to her boyfriend's orb form who was scanning the World of Trophies landscape in the hub. With him was Link, Marth, and Bowser, who had his arms crossed and thinking he had something better to do.
"Why are we needed here, orb?" Bowser asked in his sour mood.
"I sensed a potential fighter wandering around there. In the plains," Lucian informed.
"So, I suppose you want us to bring out the welcome wagon for who ever they may be?" The Koopa King put together.
"I'm still a bit dizzy from turning 2D to 3D from recruiting the Duck Hunt Duo back there," Link admitted.
"All three of you are capable of putting up a fight with however this fighter is," Lucian stated.
"Well whoever it is, wait till they get a load of the King of Awesomeness!" Bowser growled before sprinting away.
Aurora, Link, and Marth all shook their heads before following the evil monarch to their destination.
"Back Slash!"
Aurora held back a snicker as Bowser got sent flying, courtesy from the newcomer: a blonde boy in a red futuristic-like jacket and outfit. The newcomer had used a red odd-looking sword with a blue glowing blade. Getting herself ready, she nodded from her position for Link and Marth to ambush the newcomer.
But before they attacked, Aurora could have sworn the blonde's eyes flashed blue for a minute. Link and Marth launched their attacks, intent on slashing at him, but the boy avoided with a backflip before swinging his blade to clash with the Falchion and Master Sword. Being knocked back, the newcomer smirked, "Now it's Shulk time!" he spoke with a British accent before his blade began to glow.
The blonde's blade shifted from four different symbols before stopping on the fifth one. He gained a red aura before shouting, "This is the Monado's power!"
Aurora watched Shulk, from what she deduced as his name, go to town on with his Monado blade, as he put it, on Link and Marth knocking them back. The newcomer provided quite impressive as he shifted between different stats that increase a certain trait. From what she could tell: Green was Jump, Yellow was defense or Shield as Shulk called it, Purple was Buster, Blue was Speed, and Red, of course, is Smash.
After the wielder of the Triforce of Courage and Altean Prince were defeated, Aurora made herself known.
"Woah!" Shulk said before readying himself with the Monado glowing. "Well, lass, if you wish to end up like your friends, I will gladly send you packing as well!"
"Easy, blonde," Aurora said in a placating manner, "We were just testing you."
The Monado bearer tilted his head in confusion, "Testing me for what?"
"For the tournament," the light user said before reviving her two companions she saw. She was going to find Bowser, but the Koopa King bounded back over, his nostrils flaring in pure anger.
No doubt he was very angry with the blonde.
"Alright listen red jacket!" Bowser roared.
"My name is Shulk," the newcomer said but the brute was too angry to care.
"If you think you can just send me flying without any punishment, you got other thing coming!"
"Bowser, cease," Aurora firmly stated as the Koopa King just huffed before tapping his foot in annoyance. "Now then, were you perhaps given a letter that sent you to this dimension?"
Shulk thought for a moment before fishing a letter out of his pocket. The light user took it and skimmed through it thoroughly before addressing the Monado bearer, "Welcome to the Super Smash Bros. Shulk."
The blonde couldn't help but smirk at the thought of what would come next in his life.
"You-a are... what again?" Mario questioned as he and various others met the three separate newcomers.
The three members were all human like but had different forms of weapons: combat gloves, a sword, and an arm cannon. They called themselves Miis, a race that was known in from the Super Mario universe. Although the inhabitants didn't know much about them. The trio introduced themselves but oddly, they seemed to come from three different eras.
The Mii Brawler introduced himself as Damian, speaking with wisdom as he seemed to come from a Japanese-centric timeline. He spoke of stories from training nonstop and fighting an invading warlord.
The Mii Swordfighter introduced himself as Arthur, speaking in a knight like tone as he came from a medieval-centric timeline. He spoke of his tales of vanquishing beasts and monsters, defending the land of Miitopia from a Dark Lord.
The Mii Gunner introduced herself as Harper speaking in a modern tone. Her cannon represents a highly advanced society timeline. She explained her stories as an intergalactic enforcer and defeating a gold theme space pirate.
"We are Miis," Damian said in a calm tone, "and I believe us three received the same messages."
"Indeed," Arthur chivalrously said, "I was given a message from a pigeon and when I read it, magic appeared and opened a vortex."
"I got an email," Harper said, "I was skeptically, but clicked on it. Read it, and got a portal that sent me here."
"Well, regardless," Mario said before holding out a hand, "Welcome-a to the Super Smash Bros.!" Damian shook hands with the plumber, a smile present on the Brawler's face.
On the Battlefield stage, Mario cloaked his fist in flames before going for an overhead punch in the air. The punch missed as Sonic dodged the attack and used a Homing Attack that struck the red plumber.
The hedgehog landed on the left platform, cockily grinning before a Metal Blade was flung in his direction. Sonic avoided before seeing Mega Man charging his Mega Buster. Rock fired a blast from his cannon, but missed as the hedgehog avoided the attack.
Mario came back to the stage and narrowly avoided a pixelated fruit. The plumber turned to see PAC-MAN generating another pixelated item to throw. Mario was one to let it go, so he charged head first to stop the yellow bane of ghost from attacking. PAC-MAN had just gotten a pixelated key and threw it towards Mario, who reflected it with a swish of his cape.
PAC-MAN dodged his projectile and let out a breath of relief before putting his guard up. Mario hurled a fireball but the yellow legend placed a hydrant that extinguished the flame. Sonic came around, using a Homing Attack that connected with Mega Man's Leaf Shield.
The four legendary characters were soon on their last legs before going in once more.
On the sidelines, the newcomers and veterans all watched the finals of the match.
Before any of them could continue, a laughter echoed out in on the stage.
"What is that?" Mega Man uttered before shifting his Mega Buster away from his opponents. PAC-MAN shared the robot's aggression towards the voice.
"Well, well... This is clearly a nice site to see. Four legendary heroes all fighting together..."
Mario and Sonic both froze at the voice. The plumber had hoped that he was imagining the voice and the hedgehog grew anxious. Their hunches were proven correct when they saw the appearance of the one who had caused some much trouble.
"Hello again... Smash Brothers..." With a snap, the infamous white glove of Master Hand appeared.
Aurora, in the stands, soon saw red before using her air manipulation to fly over and fight alongside the four legends. "I thought we saw the last of you in Subspace!"
"Oh please," the hand dimissed, "I am a god in this realm. I can never be truly gone!"
The three veterans narrowed their eyes at the claim but the light user had an odd thought enter her head.
Master Hand... sounded different?
"Perhaps I should show you want I can truly do!" The hand boomed before ripping a hole in reality. The tear caused the five to be swallowed from a vortex within. All the Smashers watched in fear or worry. Link, Samus, and Fox fired their range weapons at the hand but the appendage merely ignored the projectiles before following afterwards.
When Aurora came to, she recognized the platform she and the others had landed on.
Final Destination. The same stage they had battled Master Hand time and time again.
"Ugh," Mega Man groaned out as Mario got to his feet. Sonic clutched his head and PAC-MAN hopped up before observing the place around them.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Master Hand appeared, cackling with such joy. "This will be rich! The destruction of the four legends and the one who has caused so much trouble!"
"Think again, hand!" Sonic said before pounding his fist together.
Mega Man shifted his hands into the Mega Buster.
PAC-MAN glared as he summoned the four ghosts that hunt him alongside him.
"We-a have stopped you-a twice! We will do it again!" Mario declared as flames cackled in his palms.
Aurora glowed with her luminous aura before summoning her staff. "This time it will end here!"
All five charged forward ready to defeat the 'god.'
After a long fought battle, Aurora landed the final blow on the hand.
But unlike all those times fighting the hand, the glove began to bulge and spasm in various directions. It almost looked as there was something inside the glove.
"What's going on?" Mega Man asked the three veterans as PAC-MAN recoiled.
"We don't know! This has never happened before!" Sonic replied.
'Master Hand' continued to jerk until the glove bursted apart into a black swirl of particles. The legends and Aurora recoiled in horror as the particles began to form into a mass. The mass turned into a large giant entity. The giant let out a massive roar, causing the fighters to cover their ears. The giant slammed face first into the platform in an attempt to crash the fighters but they scattered.
Sonic ran the entity, scaling him entirely and landed a kick on the face, causing Master Giant reel in pain. Picking up on this, Mega Man, who had been firing several shots but not getting the same reaction, fired his Mega Buster and shot the monstrosity in the same place. Master Giant swiped his hand across the platform which PAC-MAN, Mario, and Aurora jumped to avoided. The yellow legend hurled a pixelated orange into the same spot while Jumpman brought out his hammer, slamming it down onto the threat. Aurora followed up by using her light powers to skewer the weak point of Master Giant.
Roaring in pain from the pure light attack due to being one with darkness, Master Giant dissolved and morphed into a different entity, taking the form of beast with sharp fangs, four legs, and a scorpion-like tail. With its new form, Master Beast hunched himself before spikes appeared out of the floor.
Mega Man fired several Charge Shots from his Mega Buster as PAC-MAN morphed into his wedge form and munched at the black particle creature. Master Beast ignored these attempts as he shrugged off the Blue Bomber and yellow ghost-eater attacks, even swiping his claws at the latter. Mario and Sonic appeared, the red legend using his hammer as a boost for the hedgehog for a sped up Homing Attack. Sonic's attack nailed the head of Master Beast and drilled effectively through the portion he targeted. Breaking away, Mario hurled two enormous fireballs that detonated and Aurora imbued the powers of light again with her pyromancy to deal massive damage.
Master Beast howled in pain and morphed into its particle form again before appearing as a sword. The legends and light user jumped back in shock when the sword split into five separate swords, becoming Master Edge.
With swift movements, the five swords hurled projectiles which Mega Man summoned his Leaf Shield to defend as the others brought up their shields and Aurora used her wind abilities. She was able to redirect the projectiles but they were sliced by Master Edge. They honed in on their own targets, two targeting Aurora. She managed to repel and reflect any attacks with her staff. She even resulted in using her elemental abilities to gain an upper hand. For her finishing blow, her light staff extended and plunged through the particle-manifested weapons just as the legends defeated their selected swords.
An ear-shattering crack was created at Master Edge's defeat before reforming into four distinct figures. Forms of the four legendary heroes manifested as Master Shadow to deal with the likes of the five fighters they captured. Mario combatted his duplicate by trading fireballs, Sonic curled up to match each Spin Dash of his doppelgänger -which wasn't new to him-, Mega Man swapped between various weapons in his memory banks to take on his clone, and PAC-MAN clashed with his replica through an assortment of fruits and punches.
Aurora helped them, effectively bashing Mario's copy, clobbering Sonic's clone, freezing Mega Man's look-alike, and punishing PAC-MAN's wannabe, which allowed the legends to defeat their knockoffs Master Shadow and resulted in the particle entity to become something... bigger.
Master Fortress, in the particles, boomed before the fighters.
"You wish to finish this? Then enter my domain."
The fighters looked at each other before nodding and entering the evil fortress.
The fighters are thrown out but only Aurora managed to land on her feet. They split up in the fortress, looking for weak points to strike like Master Core. They achieved their goals but the legends are down, nearly feeling beaten from whatever had been thrown by the sentient structure.
"Looks as if the legends failed to defeat me completely!" Master Fortress boasted as Aurora glared at it.
What she didn't see was that her hands that normally pulsed with light began to shift... to darkness.
Master Fortress generated swirls of darkness that trapped the four unconscious fighters and when it was Aurora's turn the swirl dispersed about contact, a forcefield of sorts preventing from contacting her.
"WHAT?! WHAT IS THIS? A USER OF LIGHT BUT ALSO AN AGENT OF DARKNESS?! A... DUALITY?!" Master Fortress recoiled with shock.
Aurora didn't say anything but her action did, conjuring a concentrated beam of darkness, the violet beam striking and coursing all through the structure. Master Fortress howled in pain before the particles did their swirling and reformed into a single sphere.
Aurora felt her rage subside, but looked at her hands in horror. She could manipulate darkness? How? She didn't have time to question it much longer and saw the four fighters get up, rubbing their heads to shake off any pain.
"What-a happened?" Mario asked her.
"I... defeat the fortress then this... sphere thing appeared," Aurora informed, leaving the part where she found out she could use darkness at her fingertips. That would be information to share later.
"Could-a that be his true form-a?" the plumber asked.
"I scanned it. Seems like it," Mega Man summarized.
"What now?" Sonic questioned as PAC-MAN walked over before kicking it.
The impact made the orb slightly move before returning to its original position. All fighters took notice to this.
"Maybe we-a need to hit-a it harder?" Mario suggested.
"No problem!" Sonic replied as he Spin Dashed into with as much force he could produce. The attack sent the orb back a greater distance than before but again it looped back to its original position. "Seriously?!" the hedgehog exclaimed.
"I think it we hit hard enough, the orb should be destroyed.
"I think a combo should send it away," Aurora thought aloud and the legends agreed. PAC-MAN started the chain with summoning Blinky that punched the orb into Mega Man's duel Mega Buster blast followed by Sonic landing an axe kick before Mario landed a fiery uppercut and Aurora combined all of the elements (including darkness but no one noticed) and fired a beam that blasted Master Core into oblivion.
The KO'd caused a rift to appear that led back to the stadium. "Let's get out of here," Aurora said as she and the four legends nodded to leave this place.
When they got back, they were met with relief from the other Smashers, at least the protagonists. Upon their arrival they learned the Master Core had manifested various clones of the Smashers, all akin to destroying them. It seemed the Smashers were at the heads of defeat when Mewtwo, Lucas, and Roy appeared thanks to Lucian being able to pull them back. The Announcer had also gained... additional help.
First was a man in a white gi and red headband. His name was Ryu and seemed to know Mega Man somehow. The martial artist impressed Mii Brawler with his skills during the fight, delivering strong attacks.
The second.. well, second and third were from two different timelines. Both were spiky blonde haired teenagers, one with a black jacket another with a soldier like uniform. Both wielded a giant sword. They introduced themselves as Cloud Strife which made both of them confused but had the same story nonetheless.
The fourth and fifth were also teenagers from the looks of it. One was a boy and one was a female. They both wore silver armor with a blue cape and had a chainsaw like sword. Their names were Corrin, but wasn't as confusing since Robin had the same dilemma.
The last two wore black all over with a hint of some moon-based jewelry while they wielded guns, even on their heels. Both were women and called Bayonetta. Pit was especially terrified of them since according to her: she hunts angels. Aurora could see why as she looked threatening in her own way.
But they became Smashers themselves so everyone went back to the Mansion for some R&R...
except one.
Aurora couldn't shake the feeling that with her darkness ability was from something else. She nearly feared what she could do now. If she confessed to Lucian and the others she wasn't sure how they would react.
This new power... She had heard time and time again about the clashes of good and evil. Balance, as Palutena called, it was necessary. But Aurora...
She was, what Master Core called her, a duality. Something about that... made her question who she really was. Was that what Tabuu meant... maybe he knew but he was gone now. And Master Core seemed to fear her.
Questions kept pilling up in her head but came to her senses. She realized she was the last person at the Battlefield stage and went to catch up with her friends...
But the questions still lingered.
From her pocket-dimension, she felt the powers of light being used. But there was a faint hint of something she despise: darkness. The merely thought infuriated her. And they power source has grown stronger every day. While she respected that power... she felt it was growing too strong for even her.
She had to stop this.
She needed to stop this.
Shifting her form, she stared her 'loyal' servant in his form.
"Welcome back. Master Hand."
"Urgh!" The glove tried to fight back but failed.
"Don't even bother trying to fight it. You were always my servant to begin with."
"I am no one's master!" the hand defiantly spat.
"You fail to see that. I created you. You are a minion of order. Do you not carve that yourself?"
"... Yes."
"Then by following me," she shifted closer, "It shall be so."
The goddess changed to her true form and shined bright. After it died down, millions of other Master Hands revealed themselves. All with one purpose.
To serve Galeem in her new era of light.
A/N: Sorry for the lack of updating this story. Been busy with other projects. But now, onward to Ultimate.
And, as this is my personal head-canon, the Miis come from separate eras: Brawlers from Ancient Japan and China, Swordfighters from Medieval and Middle Age, and Gunner from the future probably around 2099, 31st century. The Miis can also come from the modern age.