"Good morning everyone! It's been a while I know. But to make up for it, shall we do something super fun?" Master Hand asked the auditorium full of people. He received not a single response from any of the fighters. "Gosh, I love all of your willingness…" That was when Mario raised his hand. "Mario, this isn't school. Just ask."

"Uh, what is this super fun thing you have planned?"

"Ok well, we've all been in the mansion for so long. Same with Ultimatum in general. I'm sure there's some type of Cabin Fever right now. So we're all going camping."

"Where the hell are we camping? There's no forest here," Bayonetta asked.

"Simple. We made a new area in Ultimatum. And it's a large forest." Sora then suddenly stood up.

"Where is Ultimatum?" Sora asked, making Master Hand stutter a bit.

"What?"

"How is Ultimatum here? You've never told us this."

"That's none of your concern." Sora crossed his arms before sitting back down. "Alrighty, everyone! Get packed and ready to go out camping!" Everyone began leaving the Auditorium, but Master Hand noticed something odd with not only Sora but also Dr. Mario. They were the last one to leave, and before they left, they were just staring at him. Once they did leave, however, Crazy Hand flew over.

"Got everything packed!"

"Have you noticed anything off about Sora and Dr. Mario?"

"What?"

"You heard me." Crazy Hand looked around for a bit before looking back at him.

"I mean, sorta. They seem more aggressive in fights than they normally are."

"Hmm….yeah. Just go get the bus ready."

"On it!" Crazy Hand flew off, already forgetting what their conversation was. Crazy Hand was a simple creature. Master Hand suspected something was off, however. He couldn't really say what it was or even begin to form a theory, but something about them was definitely off, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Popo was throwing all of his parkas into his suitcase. He had way too many to even fit in a suitcase, so he needed a few cases just to put all of his parkas, and a small bag to put the rest of his stuff. When he finished packing, the door opened and Nana came in. "You done?"

"Yup." Nana analyzed the suitcases and sighed. Her brother was always one to overpack for situations. They were mountain climbers, looking for treasure and selling said treasure to buyers. The number of times Popo had too much stuff packed to keep the treasure safe was far too many and would make Nana the richest girl in the world if she were to get a dollar for it.

"How the hell do you have that many cases?" Nana walked over and grabbed one. After opening it, she saw that it was just filled with Parkas. "Seriously? We're going to the forest, not a damn snowy mountain."

"Hey, you never know when it might snow!"

"Exactly, so bring one. Not a thousand."

"Why you gotta be so bitchy?" Nana rolled her eyes before turning around and crossing her arms.

"I'm older, you've gotta listen to me."

"You're only older by like 2 seconds."

"So, still older. Now get rid of all these parkas, get some more forest-ready clothes, and hurry the hell up. Got it?"

"Fiiiine, so damn bossy."

"I have to be, sometimes." Popo, regrettably, put away most of his Parkas, only bringing two, and more forest-ready clothes. Some shorts, short sleeve shirts, tank tops, among other things like that. They, as Ice Climbers, had materials and clothes ready for any setting. After all the exploring they did up mountains, through deserts, forests, they were the most known explorers in their world, and surely the most reliable.

Nana, once Popo finished again, looked through his stuff and found it acceptable. Just then, Master Hand's voice came through on the loudspeaker that was located within each room that the bus that would take them to their location had arrived. Popo was actually very excited. He hadn't been to a proper forest in a while, and he can't wait to explore the entire place. He and Nana exited the mansion and saw the large bus that was there. It needed to be large to hold the larger fighters, like Ridley and Bowser. The bus driver was a poor man who has pleaded to join the mansion but has yet to be accepted, his name being Waluigi.

"Jump in!" Waluigi yelled. Popo couldn't help but laugh at the poor man.

"How does it feel to be demoted to a bus driver?"

"How bout you step in front of the bus and I'll show you, stupid fucking kid. Just get in the damn bus before I decide today's my day to get arrested." Popo chuckled a bit, causing Nana to smack him for being very rude. He put his bags in the small compartment that was under the bus and entered it, taking a seat somewhere near the middle. Nana sat next to him and they waited, watching as the bus got more and more filled up.

"Hey dude," Ness said from behind Popo. Popo sat up in the chair and looked behind at Ness and Lucas. "How's it feel to go back to the forest?" he chuckled, making Popo roll his eyes, hitting his head lightly, and sitting back down.

"For the record, we lived in a small town."

"A town that was in a forest."

"Yeah well….fuck you." Even if they weren't looking at each other, they were still able to toss words at each other like this. Soon enough, the bus was soon filled.

"Alright, fighters, enjoy the bus ride. It won't be long but still, enjoy the ride and try not to annoy Waluigi," Master Hand's voice came through the loudspeakers within the bus. The bus finally began moving toward their location. Popo laid back and sighed happily, closing his eyes. He was in an utter zen mode in tune with the bumps from the bus. So much so that the bus stopped pretty quickly for him.

He opened his eyes and looked out of the bus to see the tall trees that belonged to the forest. They looked very real as if this forest was here for centuries. Waluigi stood up and looked through the aisle with a fed-up and annoyed face. "Alright, fuckers. Off the bus." Popo crossed his arms and huffed softly.

"He's very rude."

"I understand, he got pushed off a plant." Popo just shrugged. The two of them stood up and left the bus after joining the large line to leave the bus. All of them went over to the small compartment underneath the bus to grab their bags. As they were doing that, Master and Crazy Hand flew in and greeted the fighters.

"Good morning, Fighters. Welcome to the Ultiforest," Master Hand happily said.

"You guys suck at names," Bowser strictly said.

"I never said I was good…" Master Hand waited until everyone was able to grab their bags and turn their attention to him. "Alright. So here's the plan. We're simply going to camp out here for a few days and that's about it. There are a few hidden areas in this forest that I will not tell you the location of. Part of the fun will be exploring this forest to find those hidden things."

"Yuppie! My favorite is the hidden waterfall," Crazy Hand spoke up, causing Master Hand to slap him into the ground.

"Idiot!" He cleared his throat and looked at the fighters. "But there is one rule. There is tape out there. The tape lines the edge of the forest. Do not cross that line. Do not leave this forest that way. Do not disobey me. Understand?" Master Hand's voice turned somewhat menacing just then. He truly meant it, and every fighter knew this. They all knew not to disobey him. They knew it….it was a matter of if they still would or not. "Good. Have fun everyone! And remember, the rules of not fighting others with your powers still apply out here as they do in the Mansion. Now go!" The fighters took a moment but soon enough, they started to disperse into the forest.

Nana, Popo, Ness, and Lucas were still together for some time, however. They were walking down the main path before Lucas heard something that seemed to have caught his attention. He whispered to Ness, causing some type of strange reaction. "Uh…guys…" The way Ness looked gave Popo all the info he needed. He simply waved them off.

"Just go, have your fun. We're gonna continue exploring."

"Alright." He extended his arm forward, making Popo grab it and both giving a powerful handshake.

"See you on the other side." Ness and Lucas left the main path and entered the wave of trees that surrounded the path.

"They're going to someplace to fuck, aren't they?"

"Yeah, probably." He turned back around and brought out some water. After drinking it he looked at his sister. "Shall we continue?" Nana nodded her head. They continued down the main path, waiting for something that either made them want to continue down the main path or see something that would make them want to explore the trees. Popo didn't want to admit it, but he was intrigued with the reason as to why he couldn't go past the tape. He was used to disobeying people. In his old world, he did plenty of things against the orders or wishes of those above him and have come out perfectly fine. He was just believing Master Hand was blowing something very out of proportion.

While they were traveling the main path, they wound up finding Sora sitting on the main path against a tree, seemingly sleeping. Popo looked at Nana, who simply shrugged. Popo walked over to Sora. "Hey, Sora, how'd you get ahead of us?" Sora opened up an eye and saw Popo before closing the eye once more.

"I'm just faster," he simply stated. It was such a simple statement that neither of them could dispute it. Popo just resumed his walk down the main path. "You're interested, aren't you?" Popo turned around with a raised eyebrow.

"Interested? Sorry, I'm straight."

"What? No, not in that way, idiot." Sora stood up and walked over. As he was walking over, Nana felt a bit suspicious. Sora wasn't acting normal. She was great at analyzing and taking in information. She was always the smartest of the two. She was the brains as Popo was the brawn. Sora stopped in front of Popo. "The edge of the forest. The place that was blocked off. You want to explore past it, don't you?"

"There's something past it?" Nana asked. Sora nodded his head.

"Ultimatum is….odd. It's not a glob. It's not a plain. It's an anomaly. But there is a lot out there, past Ultimatum."

"Wow, really!" Popo asked in amazement. Nana's suspicions of Sora did nothing but grow. Sora's speech pattern, attitude, and overall aura seemed off. Nana patted Popo's back.

"You have fun. I'm gonna go find someone…" Nana said to Popo.

"You sure? This will be our first time exploring in a while!"

"I know, I just…I need to go somewhere ok? Have fun." Nana started walking off, in search of someone specific. Someone she knew would be able to sense Sora and have the sense be correct. Lucario. Popo watched as his sister walked away, making him sigh a bit. Sora patted his back.

"It's ok. She's just a Debbie downer."

"She'd never turn down an opportunity to explore though." Sora simply shrugged, not really caring about the intricacies of his worry for his sister.

"Maybe she's just not feeling well…" Popo looked down, a bit worried but then shook his head, deciding that was probably the reason. He looked up at Sora.

"Alright, let's just go."

"That's what I like to hear." Sora gave a powerful smack to Popo's back. Sora then turned around and began walking down the path. Popo quickly turned around and followed him. They walked down the path for a while, but soon enough, the path turned. Sora stopped at the turn and looked at Popo. "This is a trick. If you follow the path, you'll be led back to the entrance of the forest. We must walk through the trees." Sora left the path and entered the wave of trees. Popo wasn't really nervous, so he jumped into it without much hesitation.

While he was following Sora, Popo couldn't shake his head from how weirdly Nana acted. Sora could tell Popo's head was on something else, and he didn't want that. He wanted Popo to be focused on the journey, not his sister. "When you find the treasure, you'll prove to everyone you're the best explorer ever." Popo looked up at him with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Treasure?" Sora nodded.

"I heard rumors that the area past Ultimatum is so full of treasure, you'd be rich for millennia."

"WOW!" Sora chuckled to himself. He did it. Popo's mind was not on one thing and one thing only, obtaining that treasure. He had him exactly where he wanted. They continued through the forest when Popo noticed something odd with one of the upcoming trees. He ran over to it and looked at it closer. It looked to be a normal tree in shape only. The structure was made of 0s and 1s. Popo touched one of the numbers and it actually moved, causing the tree to disappear and turn into a cruise ship, made of the same 0s and 1s, just in a different shape. "Wh-what the heck?"

"We're getting to the end of Ultimatum." Sora wrapped an arm around Popo's back and started walking further into the forest. More and more trees were appearing as 0s and 1s. Soon enough, the ground joined. And eventually, everything was just an amalgamation of 0s and 1s. Popo looked around, slightly frightened.

"Th-this is the end?" Sora pointed forward, causing Popo to look there. It was a line. It was the only thing not made of 0s and 1s. It looked to be some type of police tape.

-Caution-

Popo walked faintly toward the line. "This is it…"

"Yes. It is." Sora put a hand on Popo's back. But something was strange. Popo felt strange. A shiver was sent down his spine, Sora's voice changed. It wasn't normal. It was a gravely and ominous voice. Sora lowered his head closer to Popo's. "Ultimatum was built on someone else's land….my land….a land that's beautiful. A land that fills me with so much joy and pleasure."

"S-Sora?"

"Heh, enjoy Subspace." Sora then proceeded to push Popo past the line, causing him to disappear and enter Subspace.

Nana ran through the forest, seeing loads of different people but now the people she wanted. Lucky for her, though, they were able to sense she was trying to find them, so they appeared in front of her. It was Lucario and Mewtwo. Mewtwo had his arms crossed as he stared at Nana. "You required us?"

"Y-yes, h-how'd you know?"

"The way we know is the exact reason you need us for." Nana tilted her head before sighing. She forgot she was dealing with the most intelligent people within the mansion.

"We've had our suspicions of Sora for a good bit now. We just didn't want to act upon those suspicions until there was a valid reasoning for it," Lucario said.

"He took my brother on an 'adventure', I felt something weird…I don't think he's safe," Nana told them. Lucario looked at Mewtwo, who closed his eyes. They stayed closed for a while before opening back up.

"You have good reason for it. I am unable to locate Popo," he simply stated.

"What…i-is he ok?"

"I do not know."

"I need to get close enough to Sora to look at his aura," Lucario said. Mewtwo and Lucario looked at each other before dispersing, leaving Nana to herself. She just blinked a bit before turning around.

"What even was the damn point…" She returned to the path, walking in the direction that Sora and Popo had to have gone down. She continued further and further when she saw Sora sitting once more against the tree. The same tree as before. She stopped right next to him, making Sora open his eyes. "Where's Popo?"

"I don't know. He went out on his own a while ago." Nana crossed her arms. She felt that was utter bull shit. "Want me to help you find him?"

"No, I can do this myself." Sora closed his eyes and sighed.

"No need to give me attitude." Nana gritted her teeth before scoffing and walking off. Sora stared at her with a small smirk as she continued down the path. Once she got out of sight of Sora, Mewtwo and Lucario appeared in front of her, causing her to screech from the suddenness of it.

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

"He was lying," Lucario simply stated.

"No shit. Anyone with eyes could see he was lying his ass off." Mewtwo turned away from her and closed his eyes, able to see the tracks that belonged to both Sora and Popo when they were walking down the path.

"Follow me," he cryptically said. He started floating and following the tracks, with the other two following him. The further they walked, the more Nana grew worried. They soon made it to the turn, and they stopped. Mewtwo opened his eyes and pointed into the forest. "There. Sora took Popo into the forest."

"Then what are we waiting for!" Mewtwo turned around. He wanted to tell her, but the look on her face told him she wasn't going to listen to him. He landed on the ground and turned back around. He left the path and the other two silently followed. Soon enough, Nana saw the cruise ship-shaped coding. "What the hell?" Lucas touched a 0 and it turned back into a tree.

"There we go," Lucario said happily.

"What is this?"

"Look." Mewtwo stepped back and motioned for Nana to look forward. When she did, she saw the future path be littered with trees made of code, and eventually, the ground and everything around it turned into code.

"Is this natural?"

"No. We're at the edge of Ultimatum. There's a reason Ultimatum Outskirts are off-limits."

"What's….what's passed it?"

"Popo. But the world he's in? We do not know," Lucario mentioned.

"It could lead to nothing. To a different dimension entirely. The only thing we know about the other side is a name that it gets called." Nana stood between the two very intelligent specimens, quietly.

"Well?"

"Building suspense," Lucario whispered.

"JUST TELL ME!"

"Subspace," Mewtwo said.

"Subspace?"

"I do not know much, just yet. But my running theory is that it's a space that lost the necessities to hold itself together, causing it to fall in on itself. No one who entered Subspace has been able to leave, however." At the sound of this Nana's fear skyrocketed. She looked forward and gulped.

"P-Popo?" She ran toward the line. "POPO!" However, she stopped dead in her tracks against her will. Mewtwo was using his psychic powers to hold her in place.

"I am sorry, Nana. I just can not allow you to go into something we know so little about."

"B-but Popo?"

"There is nothing we can do right now."

"I-I need to save him!"

"You can't save him if you can't keep yourself safe. We will get him, we just can't go in there guns blazing," Lucario mentioned. Mewtwo released Nana and she fell to her knees, looking down.

"I'm supposed to keep him safe….I'm older, he's my responsibility." Mewtwo looked at Lucario, who simply nodded and walked over to sit next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and closed his eyes. "W-we're the Ice Climbers….I-I can't be a single climber…I need him." Lucario's head flaps slowly levitated upward, as he continued his calm breathing in and out. "M-Mom told me to protect him…I needed to keep him safe…" She started to let tears fall out. But it wasn't her doing. Lucario was putting her through this. He knew she was one to hold in her feelings, bottle them up until she'd one day explode. Lucario was there to get those feelings out. After some silent crying and mumbling on Nana's part, Lucario's head flaps fell limp once more as he stood up.

Nana stood up and whipped her eyes. "Thank you."

"Of course." Mewtwo made Nana's mallet appear on the ground in front of her.

"If Master Hand asks, we were fishing the entire time," Lucario said as he walked over to Mewtwo, who teleported the two of them away. Nana picked her mallet up and smirked as she walked off, in search of Sora. She walked down the path, and sure enough, she found Sora in the same place he was in before. Nana stopped right next to him, causing him to open his eyes and look up at her.

"You back for he-"

"Shut up. I don't know who you are. But you're not Sora, not the Sora I know at least. Which means I don't mind doing this." She slammed her mallet into Sora's head. Sora stood up and jumped away from her.

"HEY! W-we're not supposed to use our powers!"

"I'm not using my powers. Just my mallet. You took my brother, sent him to Subspace, and expect not to get the crap beaten out of you? You fucking bitch!" She screamed as she ran in to attack Sora, knowing he couldn't use his powers or else Master Hand would sense it instantly. She just ended up taking out all her anger on the imposter, and when she was finally satisfied, she left him in a bleeding mess.

Popo stood up and shook his head. He gripped his head as he looked around. The area was dark, there were dark blues and purples mixed in with the otherwise black color scheme. The ground was a more orange color. Popo turned around and saw that the forest he was once in, was no longer there. He turned back forward and gulped. He carefully began walking on the orange platform.

Soon enough, there were some weird noises coming from behind him. He shot around and saw some strange-looking creatures being formed from small purple fuzzy balls. Popo didn't have his weapon, so he only had one choice, to run. He ran and ran and ran, and more enemies were being formed from the balls. While running he was able to see a building in the distance, so he ran over to it and entered it, hoping for some safety. It did seem to work. He backed away from the door, keeping his eyes on the door. However, he bumped into someone. This caused a wave of worry to wash over him, too scared to turn around. He only grew more scared when two, blue, nearly holographic hands grabbed at his shoulders. "Welcome to my home,~"