Ash and hot fumes burned in Peach's lungs, even as she coughed and struggled to cover her mouth. This pitch-dark smoke clouding out the entire royal balcony made it nigh impossible to see anything else. A deep ringing filled her ears to the absolute brim too, amidst these muffled droves of screams and explosive rumbles coming from all around the rest of the gargantuan arena.
Stadium security guards as well as private regal escorts frantically made their way down the aisles of the balcony, shouting all the while, "Everyone get up to the exit! Everybody follow the stairs to the balcony's back exit, right now!"
A panicked Peach glanced around herself, only to realize her second cousin and Hylian friend weren't by her side anymore. She was suddenly alone here in the very front row, and the sole sights she could make out now were phantom-like silhouettes of other royal attendees, moving in the shroud a ways back behind her.
It truly was like a scene out of a horrific nightmare. Many who'd been seated near the railing were badly injured from the hails of shrapnel. They limped their way along, past lifeless bodies of others laying in the aisles while holding their arms or shoulders tight. Glass shards and tiny fragments of debris rained down in waves from somewhere above, landing on people's backs or getting caught in their hair.
Even those ripped banners and large tapestries hanging nearby appeared to writhe in the bright whirls of flames enveloping them. Putrid smells of burning fabric, leather, plastic, as well as something morbidly organic also spread throughout the air here.
"... D-Daisy! Zelda!?" Peach wailed, hacking out that burning sensation in her chest. No response whatsoever came from either of them, though.
Left without any other choice, she hastily felt her way along the seat tops and started trudging up the steps of the main aisle, through the dense smoke. People scrambled by and frequently bumped into her along the way, some with their clothes torn and ghastly wounds on different areas of their bodies.
A hand abruptly whipped against Peach's neck, leaving what looked like a dark red smear along the side. She gasped and wiped a bit off, immediately feeling nauseated at this apparent blood of someone else on her trembling finger tips.
Or, was it actually her own blood? She glanced down on herself, seeing that much of her dress had been torn and charred. Even her precious crown wasn't upon her head anymore.
Now the terrifying realization struck Peach with full force: This was really happening! The whole stadium was being attacked with impunity! Many people actually got hurt or killed in those explosions right around the balcony!
Everything just became a deafening, dissonant flurry inside the Princess' head nonetheless. She couldn't begin to make sense of it, nor did she want any of this to be real, but it was. People coughed and shrieked all around her, while many frantic voices from the security guards and other aides kept barking out orders at the same time. Only a few were even clear enough for her to make out:
"Everybody! Get up the aisles to the back exit!"
"Western Frontier officials! On me!"
"Judges of Kanto! Please hurry!"
"Dreamland delegation! Over here!"
"All representatives from Corneria! This way!"
"Aardas judges and VIP's, go! Follow our administrator!"
"Families and Shepherds of Ylisse! Meet up in the top hall!"
"Lords from the Kingdom Ferox! Come on!"
"Fódlan Nobles! Adrestian, Faerghus, and Leicester! Quickly now!"
"Stay close behind, families of Hoshido!"
"King Xander! We have to go, now!" A royal aide insisted to the Crown-Ruler of Nohr, who then hollered down to a shorter person standing at the balcony's side-railing. It appeared to be a young girl.
"Elise, what are you doing?! Get away from there! Get away from the railing!"
Peach glanced over and saw this girl's head turn back, her pair of thick hair braids swinging with it.
"B-But what about Leo," cried the young Princess Elise. "He's still below with the others!"
Another loud nearby explosion almost shattered the air apart. That large figure of King Xander swiftly went down over to her, pulling her back by the arm to safety.
"Come on, Elise! We'll have to try and rendezvous with him down at the training facility! It's our only hope!"
Both they and some other members of the Nohrian royal family ran out directly in front of Peach before hurrying their way up the step-laden aisle. Finally, though, not long after, a very familiar shouting reached her ears from farther up:
"... Ah, Peach! Hey cuz, up here! Quick!"
Through squinted eyes, she could make out an unmistakable pair of figures standing at the very top amid the thinning haze. Thankfully it was Daisy, waving her arms all about while Zelda held her hand over her mouth and coughed right next to her. Both Princesses stood a little ways in front of the balcony's back exit.
After scampering up several more flights of stairs, Peach made it to where they stood and almost collapsed. A firm grip tugged on her shoulder, though at the very least she could breathe better, since the smoke wasn't nearly as concentrated here.
"Oh gosh, there ya are!" Daisy helped her struggling relative up those last few steps. "We were so worried! We thought ya were right behind us!"
Tears now lined the rims of Peach's weary blue eyes; partly from all the burning fumes, but more so from a dreaded realization. In hearing Princess Elise, she'd suddenly remembered that Mario and the others were also still down there: Down on the smash platform. Yet, worst of all, there was no way for her to know if they were even alive or not. The sheer thought felt blistering and tore throughout her.
Daisy then yanked her by the arm which prompted her attention to snap back.
"C'mon, cuz, we gotta get outta here!" She kept ushering and pulling, but a hesitant Peach stood rooted to the floor until her trembling lips finally opened.
"M-Mario... Luigi... Link... All the others... Y-You know they're still down there..."
Droves of other people kept rushing their way past these three Princesses all the while, crowding to get through the back exit. It also hit Peach just now that parts of both Daisy's and Zelda's own elegant attire had been shredded as well.
Then her thoughts got scattered by a familiar anxious hollering of Toadsworth from past the doorway, inside one of the venue rooms. Both he and Birdo had already made it a ways back there, while next to them, a small escort of Hylian Royal Guards likewise beckoned to Zelda:
"... Princess Toadstool! Princess Daisy! Princess Zelda! This way! Oh please hurry, it's not safe out there!"
Knowing no other options, the three of them took a step forward. They were about to run through the exit merely ten or so meters ahead, when CRACK! A loud and deep noise suddenly pierced their ears.
"Whoa!" Someone behind them yelled, "Look out!"
A pair of huge concrete support pillars started toppling over from above. They'd been weakened by one of the initial missile impacts and came crashing down through the smoke and flames, before smashing right in front of the doorway.
"AAAAAHHH!" Peach and Daisy both screamed, shielding their faces as fractured chunks of concrete flew straight past their heads. Zelda lunged sideways, diving behind one of the seats just as more pieces shot directly where she'd been standing.
That whole barrage of pulverized cement soon settled, only for a grim new sight to reveal itself through the grey dust. The exit had been completely caved-in and blocked.
"Oh no... No, no, no, we're trapped!" The Sarasan Princess howled, being the first to run right up to that whole mess of jagged concrete debris and thick rebars. With all her might, she attempted to push a large section of one of the shattered pillars aside.
Of course this proved futile. It wouldn't come close to budging with Daisy's strength alone. Almost immediately too, dozens of other remaining attendees from the royal audience began rushing up next to her, trying to see if they could move any pieces of the rubble themselves.
Alas, no result.
"Hnngghh... GODS," shouted a certain swordsman. "Th-This can't be happening!"
He came staggering to a halt after leaping up those last few steps, but hunched over a bit and held the left side of his abdomen. He was letting out noticeably strained breaths, and to Peach's shock she could see a bloody wound there on his side, even through this dim haze. His bare right shoulder bore a large teardrop-like mark, while messy, thick-blue hair shrouded his head.
Some other warrior-looking attendees were following closely behind him though, including a girl with long and thick, dark-red twintails.
"All of you! Here, help me push it to the right on a count of three!" This young lady hollered back to others who were still hurrying their way up, not just those already here. She grabbed onto a part of the pillar beside Daisy as best she could and huffed a quick breath.
"R-Ready? One... Two... Three! Hurghhh!"
Still, despite close to twenty people now heaving and giving their all, this collapsed pillar didn't shift a single centimeter. It'd been jammed tightly against other parts of the structure.
"... Hey! Somebody help! HELP US!" People on the opposite side of all that debris frantically yelled back to their friends or family trapped out here.
It was Peach who remained a bit back from everyone, numbed beyond belief. She could've sworn she even heard the worried voice of her dear Toadsworth calling from behind the rubble as well, but it looked like there was nothing that could be done. Now the tears started leaking uncontrollably, and she strained to let out a frightened sob.
Zelda remained huddled behind that seating row nearby, yet even her eyes had clamped shut too. She held her hands against the sides of her head, struggling to comprehend what was actually going on.
How? Just how had this beautiful day suddenly collapsed to this horror? All those wondrous feelings of excitement and happiness which prevailed before? What'd happened to them?
They'd been brutally torn away from everyone, becoming lost in this sheer panic and confusion. Everything had descended into complete chaos; that dreadful nightmare which none of them could wake up from.
Who could've been causing this in the first place? Why would someone even think to cause this? Did anybody outside Midair Stadium know what was going on? Could they see any of this madness?
So many desperate questions, yet nothing began to explain it; not words nor a rational thought. Here they all were, stranded at the top of the royal balcony and unable to see anything or anyone else around the arena. Something had starkly shifted within the surroundings, however. There weren't anymore ear-shattering blasts from missiles being fired, even as those haunting shrills and fearful screams surged on.
Glancing back over her shoulder, Peach came to notice a small object in her periphery above. Her tear-lined eyes darted upward, prompting a cold shiver to shoot all the way down her spine. Descending through all this pungent ash and smoke was a strange fuzzy particle that glowed violet, looking to be about the size of one's palm.
The Princess remained dead-quiet in her bewilderment, seemingly unable to move any muscle. That particle on the other hand kept falling steadily, until it gently landed a few flights of stairs down from where everybody stood at the top. Then came another, and another, and another.
More of the remaining attendees silently caught sight of them now, including Daisy and Zelda. Before anyone knew it, dozens and then hundreds of these glowing violet particles were suddenly descending over much of the lower balcony and covering it like a thick veil.
Never could they've predicted what these particles actually were, yet way down below on the smash platform, the situation for the group was quickly becoming just as dire.
Bits of glass and pieces of other shrapnel fell from high above, sprinkling all across the bluish AstroTurf.
"Guys, h-how are we gonna get off of here?!" Red hollered back to the others. He stood at the fractured ledge where the walkway ramp had still been intact seconds ago. Now it was a good fifty meters across the chasms to the collapsed exit hall on the other side.
However, nobody else seemed to give Red's concern any attention at all due to the sheer terror of everything going on above. Just that initial shock from witnessing the missile impacts around the royal balcony had left a few of them unable to move, let alone think.
Both Mario and Luigi may very well have been frozen in place, struck with such despair at what might've happened to their dear Princesses Peach and Daisy. Those innumerable times the brothers had given so much to be there for their beloved over the years, only for this to suddenly and quite literally blast out of nowhere.
Was that it, then? Were their Princesses truly gone forever?
Filled with a similar gut-wrenching feeling over Zelda, Link clasped the top of his head and stared up at the destroyed balcony where he'd last seen her. His hand became limp enough that he'd dropped his Master Sword and couldn't help but drag his long hat off, pulling his fingers down through his hair.
Indeed, those turquoise eyes of his revealed something very uncommon: A stark sense of confusion and grief. It didn't even look like he could manage to breathe. For all his normal courage and stoicism, this sudden yet utter horror seemed to break the Hero of Time all the way through. His legs felt totally weak and hollow, quivering ever so slightly.
Now Lucina slowly fell to her knees too, holding both hands over the lower part of her face. Tears of a desperate and aching fear welled in her own trembling eyes as she kept them locked on that area high above, enveloped by smoke and fire. Internally she just screamed over what could've happened to her father Chrom, along with the rest of her family and friends who'd attended.
Even the faces of Marth, Roy, and Ike had flushed pale, becoming devoid of any sense or knowing. They knew that friends and relatives were up there from each of their homelands as well.
All this collateral damage and carnage went so fast; merely in a matter of seconds, but again, it seemed like it'd happened for no fathomable reason whatsoever. There was no way any of them could know if the people up there were alright, nor could they do a single thing about it either. Right now they were all helpless, completely helpless.
"... Uh, hey GUYS!?" Red's voice erupted much more anxiously, "How do we get off now?! It's way too far across!"
"Pika! Pika-pi!" A worried Pikachu agreed with his trainer, scurrying back and forth along the platform's edge to see if he could maybe figure out a plan since no one else appeared to offer the slightest idea. It really did seem like the whole group was alone out here, in the very center of this mayhem.
"Hey! A-Anybody over there?! HELP!" Red kept yelling across the chasm regardless, desperate for someone, anyone to heed his cries. No matter how loudly he tried, though, they immediately got drowned out in all these other deafening swells of panicked screams. Nothing whatsoever came back from the other side anyway; just that huge mess of collapsed rubble stood there, blocking the exit hall.
The trainer cautiously peered over the platform's ledge and saw how meager strands of the once-numerous safety nets hung delicately beneath his feet. They swung from side to side, often nudging against one another in the increasingly turbulent wind gusts. Then, out of nowhere, another large metal support beam from the retracted roof's framework came barreling down and tore straight through a few more of those strands.
"... There's no way offa this thing, is there?!" Little Mac worried from amongst the rest of the group. At the same time, a heavy yet shaky breath left Red's mouth as he kept watching that beam descend, plummeting further and further from sight. Past those remaining strands was nothing but the open-air; at least two whole kilometers of a free-fall down to the clouds, and eventually the solid ground somewhere much farther below.
The utter danger of this predicament terrified Red, shooting a cold and numbing sensation down through his legs. If he or any of the others fell off of here, that was it.
Soon enough, he couldn't help but gaze back up at everything high above his shoulders. Massive columns of flames, smoke, and ash ascended slowly. More and more of this vast space throughout the arena was being blotched out.
There was still something else, however. A thick bead of cold sweat crept down the side of Red's neck as he and the others promptly fixed their attention back on that dense purplish mist which continued its steady descent from the Halberd's opened cargo bay.
This strange substance seemed to spread itself out in the air, almost as if it were a living entity of some sort. It came down over the whole interior of the stadium like a menacing shroud, covering level after level after level of seating sections. Every row swarmed with flurries of tiny figures; those countless people who were still desperately clambering to get out of this arena. Before long, it had enveloped the royal balcony as well.
That shroud now got to a point where everybody here on the smash platform suddenly realized it wasn't a mist at all, but rather a torrent of thousands of those glowing fuzzy violet particles. The very first one landed softly, right in front of Meta Knight's steel-tipped boots which made him take several steps to the rear.
"Get back," he uttered. "All of you, get back... Get away from this substance...!"
More particles quickly started touching down across the platform's breadth, until an entire layer covered more than half the surface. Red and Pikachu both scampered back across while Link snatched his Master Sword up off the turf, breathing hard through gritted teeth and struggling to fight back tears.
He, his fellow smashers, the Toad referee, and the paramedics all started moving back with Meta Knight to the only clear area remaining on the fractured north end.
"... F-F-Father...?!" That single word barely managed to slip once more from Lucina's seemingly petrified lips. She was still in such shock and disbelief, only being able to let out half-breaths as she remained there on her knees. Then a hand firmly grabbed her on the shoulder.
"Lucina, come on!" Ike's frantic voice stormed through her mind, scattering what few thoughts there were. Forced up onto her wobbly feet, she got pulled back by him, over to where the others now stood huddled together.
Someone was still left, though. That blonde-haired boy lie over there on his side, next to the crater in the center. All everybody could do was look on, somewhat in helpless agony, as even he'd started to become covered by this thick violet shroud.
"... Hey!" The panicked referee shouted, "Wh-What about that boy!?"
He gestured at the same time, because no one else had even thought to mention anything about it. They may have been watching, but everybody here felt so shaken. Not one of them seemed willing to actually go over there to try and retrieve him at first.
Fortunately, Mario was the sole person to lower his eyebrows and grit his teeth with a firm determination. How could they've forgotten about the boy so stupidly like this?
"Agh, what-a-were we thinking?!" He took a broad step forward, about to run back over to where the boy lay. "Come on, we must-a-get the-"
"Don't!" Meta Knight suddenly dashed in front of Mario and shoved him back into the group rather roughly.
"B-But why?!" The mustached man returned a confounded glare. "We must-a-help him!"
Before he could say another word, the blue Star Warrior let out a deeply fearful breath and glanced back at that thickening veil of particles. By now, the boy had all but disappeared beneath them, and everybody could only look on through strained eyes as it occurred.
"... Gaghh! What in blue blazes is this stuff?!" Captain Falcon swatted away a particle that'd fallen right on his shoulder, before something truly peculiar started to happen.
He and the others now watched, speechless when those hundreds of fuzzy particles began shifting upon the AstroTurf. Strangely enough, the blonde boy became uncovered and appeared to be unscathed as the particles all coalesced themselves into larger clumps. A dark, violet mist effervesced up like a plume from each, and from out of the shroud closest to the group, a figure grew.
It certainly wasn't human, let alone organic. This thing looked like no life-form they'd ever seen before. Was it something robotic? If anything, it had to have been, because the bulk of its dark body revealed to be cased in a greenish metal, along with a notched black circular symbol upon its chest.
Slowly but surely it rose on two legs from the mist, until a pair of glowing red eyes shone out from its shadowy face. What looked like a small feathery rod stood on the top of its flat head, but then, its right hand folded aside mechanically. In place of it, a razor-sharp sword blade extended outward.
"What ARE these things," cried Roy, taking another wary step back when more and more similar figures emerged up from all the other clumps of particles. Despite that, Meta Knight swallowed hard, finally uttering what must've been the answer through a single breath:
"... Primids."
Not a few seconds had gone by before well over a hundred of these robot-like primids stood across the smash platform. The seemingly incapacitated boy disappeared from sight yet another time, deep behind a whole horde that now had the group cornered here at the north end; woefully outnumbered more than ten-to-one.
Just like the first primid, their right hands shifted aside mechanically, one after the other in an almost rhythmic sequence until melee weapons extended out from each and every one of them. Many bore sword blades, axes, or short spears, while others retained what appeared to be spiked fists.
Then the surrounding droves of screams swelled even louder, for this same thing was happening all over Midair Stadium. Whether on the tops of seats or smack in the middle of aisles, people were utterly terrified to witness many hundreds and then thousands of primids rising up with weapons out, across the countless seating levels from misty plumes of those glowing violet particles.
"Prepare yourselves...!" Tensely, Meta Knight raised his fists and got in a defensive stance. The giant mechanical horde had taken a foreboding first step forward, directly towards him and the rest of the group.
Now they knew what this meant. They were going to have to fight for their lives.
Peach, Daisy, Zelda, and those dozens of others stranded out on the royal balcony could only watch in horror as more and more primids rose up, multiplying down along the lower rows of seats which lay shrouded under that thick mist.
"Nngghh... A-All of you, get behind us! HURRY!" Wincing in pain, that blue-haired swordsman strained to grasp and draw his blade from its leather scabbard while his other hand kept clutching his wounded left side tightly.
Through a glaring face, however, his dark-blue eyes told everything. He was downright determined not to go without a fight, yet he struggled to hold the sword steady in front of himself. It was a broad blade; its hand-guard was hallowed with that same tear-drop shape as the mark upon his bare shoulder.
Nevertheless, those other warrior attendees who stood with him had followed his lead, quickly readying their blades as well. The rest of the survivors shrieked in rushing behind them for any possible protection, since most of them couldn't fathom the idea of fighting against these things, let alone trying to fight back with their bare hands.
Up the balcony's main aisle the weapon-wielding primids strode, step by step. Each flight of stairs became flooded in a mass of green, grey, red, and purple as they kept climbing.
These mounting moments were excruciatingly long and fearful for everyone, but somebody else now stood at the front alongside those warriors. She held no sword, or any other kind of weapon in her hand. This Princess was willing to try and fight with her bare fists, for all she held inside was a certain strength and determination.
Who else could it have been, other than Daisy.
"... D-Daisy...?! Wait, please don't-...!" Reaching out, Peach tugged on her second cousin's shoulder in a desperate bid to get her to come back where it might be safer. Daisy just shook her hand off, though, not even thinking to look back. She didn't say anything back either, although perhaps it was because nothing more needed to be said.
An aching sensation of dread jabbed Peach in her gut regardless. She just stared at the back of her tense relative's head, trembling in fright like practically everyone else.
Alternately, the Sarasan Princess' eyes had narrowed, for their plight couldn't have been more apparent. They all stood trapped here between rubble and this robotic horde slowly making their way up the stairs towards them. Daisy knew, just as those warriors beside her did, that there had to be somebody to try and defend all the others who stood helpless.
It appeared she wasn't the only person without a weapon who was willing, however.
"... We have no choice..." Someone spoke from right behind Peach's petrified attention. It'd been the desolated words of Zelda, and to Peach's worried surprise, the Hylian Princess also stepped up beside Daisy to stand at the ready.
Being a warrior and a mage herself, of course Zelda could see the sheer stakes of this predicament. On the same token, she understood there was that thread of hope, however slim; so as with Daisy, it was more about doing whatever she could to help give everybody else a surviving chance.
Time was quickly running out, though. A mere single flight of steps now remained between them and the whole menacing mass of primids.
Marth, Roy, and Ike unsheathed their swords nearly in unison. The sleek shafts each emitted a hollow ring while the swordsmen held them firm and at the ready, trying their utmost to prepare themselves for what all was about to come.
A visibly shaken Link grunted and fidgeted to get his Hylian shield from off his back, but that was when Lucina slowly tilted her head back up.
Every cry, every massive shrill of that frightening ambiance became muffled and indistinct in the Ylissean Princess' ears. Her gaze appeared frozen, fixated on somewhere in front, albeit at nothing in particular. Those dark sea-blue eyes of hers were trembling, glossed with tears. They leaked out in trails and streamed down the edges of her cheeks, leaving them wet and cold to the touch.
And yet, a vengeful rage was starting to burn; the rage from her pained belief that she'd just lost her father, as well as the rest of her family for absolutely no reason. Her mark of Naga even seemed to glint in her left eye after she'd sniffed and wiped the tears away.
Gone was her cheerful and optimistic spirit. Gone was any notion of reason, or for that matter, understanding altogether.
Wavy, pitch-black shadows from those gigantic smoke columns passed overhead at the same time, making that contrast between darkness and any light much more stark. It looked surreal; almost otherworldly, as the flickering shades drifted across everyone's faces.
Lucina's lips remained clamped shut, quivering with a boiling anger. All her fear and confusion from moments ago seemed to evaporate away, just like that wetness upon her pale cheeks. Something fundamental had fractured deep within her. She'd only felt this same burning sense, or at the very least something similar a handful of times before in her life.
Nonetheless, Lucina firmly clasped the crimson-and-gold hilt of her Falchion and slowly pulled it from her leather scabbard. The broad shaft emitted its own hallowed shrill whilst sliding out, just like the blades of her fellow warriors. As she silently walked up to stand beside them, the primids all took another unified step forward, closing the distance between them and the group to under thirteen meters.
"Waaghh! M-Mario!?" Luigi couldn't help but utter a fearful yelp in response. He cowered behind the rigid shoulders of his older brother, who looked on through an anxious determination of his own.
"... Listen," Meta Knight then ushered a command. "If we stay close together and fight as a group, we might have a chance."
"Wha-?" Captain Falcon balked, his gaze nervously darting between the whole range of robotic figures. "H-How d'ya figure that?"
Indeed, the blue Star Warrior was apparently somewhat attuned to a situation similar to this. "These primids... They're slow on the approach, but do not underestimate their strength. Wait for them to make the first move, and then parry. I managed to take out a lot of them that way before they... Before they overwhelmed me..."
Quick albeit dreaded glances were all Meta Knight could sense from the others around him.
"But... But what about us?!" The head paramedic exclaimed from behind, "We don't know how to-... W-We can't-...!"
"You can still try to defend yourselves," the blue Star Warrior uttered back. "Do something, anything, or just try to stay behind us then."
"Poyo, poyo!" A determined Kirby backed his mentor up, insisting that they should at least attempt to fight for their own sake if nothing else. Between everyone here, they were going to need all the defensive man-power possible, given how skewed the odds stood.
Regardless, Meta Knight managed to stay focused on this coming struggle which likewise kept approaching him step by step. The last of his initial tears were all but spent from before. His beady yellow eyes narrowed, for he too had quickly become filled with more and more of a churning anger.
"You primid scum..." He hissed under his breath, "You... You took EVERYTHING from me...!"
Each passing second brought the robotic horde another stride closer. Strangely enough, however, they'd all stepped around the blonde boy's body and appeared to be ignoring him altogether. It was as if they took into account the fact that he'd already been lying there.
Boots, mechanical legs, and the razor-sharp ends of weapons drifted right in front of the boy's blue eyes, yet still they didn't even so much as twitch. He hadn't given any sort of reaction to what'd been going on around him this entire time, for that matter.
Meanwhile, through a meditative breath, Link gently knelt down and closed his eyes. He let his fingertips run lightly across the AstroTurf. A certain sense of calm slowly found him as he managed to concentrate on something beyond this present moment; one that was filled with so much chaos and confusion.
An invigorating energy started to stream through every vein in his body. It was that special energy of his inner bravery, and in opening his eyes again, he saw the mysterious Triforce of Courage glowing with a gold radiance on the back of his left hand. All the while, he clenched the leathery hilt of his Master Sword tight. How he must've wished he had his bow and arrows with him right now.
"... Fear is rot..." Someone then muttered those few words darkly. Everybody quickly realized it was Lucina who'd spoken them, but she proceeded to take a sudden step forward and break from the front of the group.
"L-Lucina?" Ike for one glanced over, his eyes wide with complete shock. "What are you doing? LUCINA?!"
"... Hey! We must stay together!" Meta Knight hollered after her too, though she said nothing back to him or Ike.
Lucina held her sword firmly at her side and kept walking in what felt like a haunting wave of silence. Every step she took felt weighted in her high boots; the slow and muffled thump of her own heartbeat was all that sounded in her head. One stride had become two, two strides became three, and three strides became four.
She was approaching that menacing horde of primids all alone, until her boiling energy within couldn't be contained any longer. She reared her blade back behind her and finally parted her lips to let out a fierce, spine-chilling cry:
"HAAAGHHH!" Lunging forward, Lucina swung and unleashed a powerful slash. Almost half-a-dozen primids there at the front of the horde got sliced cleanly in two, right along the middle of their metallic torsos. The limp figures collapsed on the ground in an instant, spurting out bright yellow sparks from the severed ends of wires before bubbling back into puffs of that dark violet mist. They evaporated away into thin air without a trace, as though they were never even there to begin with.
"YAAAGHHH!" She lashed out again in all her vengeful might. Apparently that greenish armor encasing their bodies wasn't thick, because her Falchion cut through a second round like hot butter.
Another one of the primids promptly lumbered ahead and raised its blade to strike, but Lucina leaned aside and dodged the downward swing without a hitch. She furiously grabbed the primid by its head instead, yanking it back to the group of her companions standing a few meters behind.
"Gahh!" It happened so quick that Ike only had enough time to raise the end of his great sword. The primid ran straight onto his blade, skewering itself and limply dissolving back into mist.
Utterly bewildered, the mercenary looked back up with the others and watched Lucina fight on. Never could they have imagined seeing her like this in person, where such raw energy blasted through every fiber of her being.
Several more of these robot-like primids came forward, approaching Lucina on each flank. Thinking fast, she swiftly held her sword up, clashing against the incoming strike from one's axe.
CLANG! The metal rang out sharply, but she glanced over her shoulder just in time to see another primid rearing its spiked fist. With her blade tightly locked in front, she grunted and delivered a hard kick backward, sending that other one tumbling away.
Now a third primid readied to swing its appendage-like sword in a wide arc and slash Lucina from the side. She reared around in response, using the primid still locked with her blade as a shield right as the slice struck. It was so strong that it sent the axe-wielder's kettle-like head sailing straight off, back over the rest of the horde.
"HRAAAGHHH!" With that fury burning in her eyes, Lucina yelled and swung back in a counter, ruthlessly hacking the third primid's mechanical sword-arm clean off before thrusting all the way through its torso. Several filaments of wires and sparks rolled off the upper-half of her blade as she skewered the primid completely, almost down to the hand-guard.
Twisting her sword sideways, Lucina ripped it back out and let the lifeless robotic figure collapse with a dense thud until it quickly dissolved back into mist. Then the Ylissean Princess faced the menace yet again, her every breath small and quick. Her gaze darted between primids in the front ranks as they all took another heavy unified step forward. Their glowing red eyes just continued staring straight ahead of themselves like the mechanical wraiths they were, completely devoid of any life or feeling.
Lucina's fingers clutched even tighter around her Falchion's hilt, keeping it ready to strike at a moment's notice. However, her face started to strain with a dark realization, for deep down, she wrestled with rapid swells of conflicting thoughts. Despite her raging adrenaline, it was nigh impossible for her to take on all these primids by herself. There were just way too many.
Then someone yelled from behind her, "Lucina! On your left!"
She blinked, quickly snapping back to her senses. Completely out of her line of sight and attention, a lone primid had been approaching her from the side. Now dangerously close, it held its spear arm back and was about to stab the Ylissean Princess, when all of a sudden...
"YAAGHH!" A large flash of blue and tan swept right in front of Lucina, delivering an impaling thrust to the primid before it could react in the slightest.
She'd shut her eyes and feared the worst, but slowly opened them again, shocked to see the backside of Ike standing in front of her. All went blank in her mind and a frantic gasp slipped between her stiff lips.
"... Ike...!?" The only word she managed to stutter was the mercenary's name. Something else happened right afterward too, across the chasm at the collapsed exit hall.
A bright ball of fire and blue energy blasted straight through all that rubble from the inside. A huge smoking hole got left in its wake, and out from it flew Charizard, roaring with all his might. Clinging onto his tail and back were none other than Jigglypuff, Squirtle, and Greninja, each determined to come to the aid of their stranded trainer.
"Charizard!" Red cried, surprised beyond belief to see his loyal Pokémon. "Hey! Down here!"
Across the chasms they soared, until Charizard saw he was above the smash platform. He pivoted downward, huffing another growl before folding his membranous wings and extending his burly feet. Gravity took over as the four of them plummeted all the way to the platform.
WHAM! His heavy dragon-like body slammed down on top of the primids, right in the midst of the whole horde. A storm of violet mist and thick, fuzzy particles got kicked up as a result. All the primids surrounding these four Pokémon now turned and stared at them through those red eyes, totally unfazed from their ranks who'd just been utterly crushed back to thin air.
"Squirtle!" He was the first to hop off the large fire Pokémon's back, effortlessly taking down several more with quick blasts of water. Greninja quickly followed suit and leaped onto the head of another primid, casting out sharp water shurikens simultaneously.
One after another they cut through the robotic bodies with relative ease. A devastating swipe from Charizard's claws came next, tearing yet another half-dozen or so apart while Jigglypuff floated overhead, gracefully dodging attempted upward thrusts from swords and spears below.
"Jiggly-PUFF!" That was before she spun herself around in mid-air, descending and rapidly kicking primids right across their heads.
"... Hey, Pikachu!" Seeing how the tide might've been starting to turn, Red shouted, "Use Thunder! GO!"
With sparks fizzing out from his cheeks, the determined yellow mouse Pokémon narrowed his eyes and dashed ahead from his trainer's side. He jumped high above the new front row of primids and wasted no time in unleashing a powerful surge of his electricity.
"Pikaaaa-... CHUUUU!" A blinding bolt of lightning struck down from above, disintegrating them into mist. Standing only a few meters away, Ike felt the burst's pressure well against his face. He then looked back to the rest of the group without hesitation and hollered at the top of his lungs:
"COME ON!"
This was it. This was the breaking point everyone needed. First to dash forward were Marth and Roy, a spike of adrenaline kicking inside them both. They came to a brief stop right beside their two fellow warriors with just enough time to give determined glances to one another.
"... Hraaghh!" Not a moment followed before Ike faced back to the front, unleashing a swift yet broad second strike with his great sword. Roy, Marth, and Lucina eagerly went all-out with him. More metallic heads and torsos got hacked clean off the next row of primids, knocking against those right behind them.
A hole was being carved deeper into their ranks, between them and the Pokémon who kept wreaking havoc from within. Speaking of which, Pikachu cleared the whole breadth of the horde with his leap and landed right in the center beside his fellow Pokémon, offering a confident nod to each.
Their sense of teamwork was unshakable, and just to prove it, Charizard reared his head back and let out another bellowing roar, flames spewing from his nostrils at the same time.
Now came the rest of the smashers.
"HYAAH!" Releasing a war-like cry through his built-up energy, Link took point and held his Hylian shield up in front of him whilst charging forward. Meta Knight, Kirby, Mario, Red, Captain Falcon, and Little Mac started running right alongside; burning with adrenaline and willing to give their all in this desperate bid for survival.
"Pikachu!" The trainer slowed down just a bit, cupping his hands over his mouth. "Use Thunder again! Clear a path for us!"
From deep inside the crowd ahead, his Pokémon partner could sense the intention. Pikachu hopped forward and stood high on his hind legs, sparks fizzing once again from his cheeks.
"... CHUUUUU!" This time, a far more devastating lightning bolt blasted down which blew two whole ranks of primids away. Any others right around him got utterly vaporized. Even Charizard, Jigglypuff, Squirtle, and Greninja had to cover their faces from this force that ended up clearing a several meter radius.
With a path through the front of the horde now opened, it surely looked as though the tide was starting to turn in their favor.
"YEAH!" Red whooped in a fervor and picked his pace back up. "Way to go, Pikachu! Keep fighting!"
"Stay together now," hollered Meta Knight, to which his pink apprentice frantically agreed:
"Poyo!"
In wake of Pikachu's massive second strike, Marth stood there in the cleared path and thought he'd heard familiar voices behind him amidst the fighting. He glanced over his shoulder, quite relieved to see Link and those other smashers all charging in to help.
The Altean Prince grunted hard, managing to impale another primid on his blade before shouting, "Thank Gods, over here!"
Only a terrified Luigi remained back there now with the Toad referee and the paramedic team, looking on as his brother and the others collided against that wall of primids. All hell broke loose, and they'd become so fixated on the ensuing battle ahead, no one noticed the giant support beam that was hurtling straight down at them.
Luigi felt the air starting to get sucked from his ears, but by the time he shot his gaze upward, it was too late.
CRASH! Through another shattering force, that beam slammed directly onto the smash platform's already-fractured north ledge and tore off the next row of hydraulic mounts. Unfortunately, this was right behind where Luigi, the Toad referee, and the paramedics all stood.
They had no time to react whatsoever. The whole surface buckled and snapped beneath their feet, giving way to nothing. Down the edge they slid with rolling chunks of debris, until there was one last chance left to try and save themselves.
Desperately throwing his arms in front, Luigi barely managed to grab onto a bent rebar sticking out. He looked back over his shoulder in horror, seeing the referee and the paramedics all plummeting to their demise. They got smaller and smaller in the open-air below, until he just couldn't bear to watch any longer.
Still, Luigi dangled there with legs flailing, panicked at the utter thought of his grip slipping off which he knew it soon would.
"... S-Somebody!? Help-a-me!" He cried out in futile desperation. Not a word of his could begin to reach anyone's ears from where he was. Being well below the platform's ledge, he struggled to see through the dust and pieces of turf that kept falling. Some bits even hit him right on the nose, forcing his eyelids to clamp shut.
Luigi's heart was racing. He just had to get back up to the top, but wasn't sure how or if he could accomplish such a feat. Yet, after inhaling another deep breath, the faces of two specific people filled his mind: His dear brother Mario and sweet Princess Daisy.
A sudden surge of confident energy raced throughout his body. Those were the two most special people in his world, so Luigi knew there was no way he could let them down. Thus he reopened his eyes and gave it his all, reaching past this rod he'd been holding onto. He managed to grip the next edge and went right for the one after, until finally, he'd grasped the top ledge of the platform and felt some AstroTurf under his aching fingers.
Once the entirety of his body was back up, Luigi lay there on his back for a few moments, panting hard and holding his green cap down tight. His very life had just flashed before his eyes, yet he couldn't believe how he'd actually made it all the way back up. Then it struck him that the entire smash platform was more than a bit shorter, since almost one whole fifth of the structure had gotten sheared off.
However, those thoughts quickly vanished after Luigi turned over to see the frightful sight of primids now approaching him. They weren't in the main fray further behind, and had apparently wandered their way here.
Scrambling back to his feet, the plumber made a frantic dash past these primids, avoiding swipes from their weapons as he ran to go join the other survivors.
Another primid bearing spiked fists lumbered right up and took a wide swing at the green-shirted man, who skidded to a halt and stumbled back in fright. It narrowly missed his head, and by sheer luck, he threw both his shaky hands out and caught the primid's rebounding swing from the other direction, becoming tightly locked together.
Luigi was in dire straits now. It took him off-guard just how strong the primid's swing had actually been, so he really struggled with all his nervous might to hold those robotic arms back.
"Help!" He cried out again in desperation, only this time for his brother, "M-MARIO!"
"... LUIGI!?" Mario surely heard his younger sibling's faint voice somewhere amidst the chaotic melee, but couldn't see where he was. No matter which way he turned his head, the bodies of more primids obscured everything.
Luigi's grip weakened steadily meanwhile. He could barely manage to hold the mechanical spiked fists any longer, when a sudden haymaker clobbered the primid aside from behind.
"WAAGHH!" He shrieked, shielding his face. He had no idea who or what could've come to his rescue at first. Was it his brother? Or one of the others?
Upon slowly uncovering his eyes, his jaw dropped once he realized who'd saved him. It'd been neither his brother, nor any of the other smashers.
The blonde-haired boy stood there in front of him! With fists clenched, he silently stared down at that robotic figure as it dissolved away into mist, before glancing back up to meet Luigi's wide eyes.
"... Luigi!" A familiar and brotherly voice then shouted, "Oh my gosh! Luigi, are you alright?! What-a-happened to your-..."
Mario rushed over to his stunned sibling's side, having broken through a gap in the fighting, but fell similarly shocked to see this strange human now standing here on his feet.
Even though the boy still panted rather heavily, his blue eyes could indeed see everything unlike before. They burned with an anxiety and that certain primal instinct of fight rather than flight, yet despite that, it seemed as though he was able to tell a possible friend from foe.
All he did give the Mario brothers was the strangest look of helpless sorrow. They saw this, and maybe they'd understood somewhat in that very moment.
It had to end right there, though, because many more primids were approaching them.
"Luigi, come on! Over with-a-the others!" Mario pulled his brother back while also looking to the blonde-haired boy. Whether or not he could hear again wasn't certain, but the red-shirted man hollered nonetheless:
"Hey! This-a-way!"