The black-red cloud of the Subspace Army now covered the entire sky, turning the land of Arcadia into a realm of monsters. The metal dragons flew around, their fiery blasts spreading across mountains. The Winged Firestorm Pro was gliding its way back to the Ruins of the Ancients.

Deep in its thick steel skin, the Primids were helping the Mii Fighters bring in the items they stole from the Midair Stadium. They brought the items stuffed in a bag into the room where they kept Lucas and Charizard captive, who were both chained to a pole. Lucas had his hands cuffed in front of him, while Charizard was muzzled and restrained through iron clips.

As the items were spilling out the bag onto the floor, the Brawler Ultimate walked up to the prisoners and guards, saying, "Excellent work, Primids. We conquered the entire land of Arcadia and we now have the Smashers on the run." He pointed at the prisoners, Lucas with fear in his eyes.

"Don't worry," the Brawler Ultimate lamented. "We have plans for you. The days in which you have spent with your friends will be nothing more than a dream... Now then, we need an item count, see if everything is in order... We need them to create new Subspace Bombs and Dark Cannons by which we can power…"

One of the Primids passed the list to a Mii Gunner, which she passed to the Brawler Ultimate. Lucas was weeping silently, afraid of being kept as a hostage. "It's no use, Charizard," Lucas quietly wept. "We'll never see our friends again and they'll be in big trouble too…" The Pokémon growled, tears in his eyes as well.

"Let's see…" the Brawler Ultimate was surfing through the list when he noticed something off. Even if you couldn't make out his face, there was a sign that he was ticked off about something. "Where are they…?" he whispered. He turned straight at Lucas and Charizard and stormed right up to them.

"Where do you have them?" the Brawler Ultimate asked.

"Have what?" Lucas muttered.

"You clearly know what," the Brawler Ultimate responded in anger. "I'm talking about the ultimate power. The most powerful weapons in the multiverse, that which unlock who you truly are meant to be inside. Jewels so pure some believe they were formed out of the cores of stars, the only batteries for our bombs and cannons. The Smash Balls, where are they!?"

"I don't even know what's a Smash Ball!" Lucas cried.

"You will soon enough," The Brawler Ultimate said as he stormed out of the room. "I have no idea how, but we will drag them out..."

Just then, a Primid dropped a strange, rainbow-glowing capsule with a black figure inside, which rolled towards the Mii Fighter chieftain. When the Brawler Ultimate felt the tip of the capsule touch his leg, he jerked out of the way immediately.

An Assist Trophy, of course! Lucas thought. Charizard and I can use this advantage out of here!

The Primid who dropped the Assist Trophy was about to grab it, but the Brawler Ultimate said, "Be careful when you pick it up. An Assist Trophy is only activated when a fighter touches its base. Since the rules have been altered, who knows what could happen if you attempt on doing so… that thing might even destroy our ship if you're not careful."

Afterwards, the Brawler Ultimate walked out of the room. Because the Shadow Bugs were never fighters to begin with, they touched the base of the Assist Trophy and it had no effect. Even if some of the universe's logic has changed, few of the rules seem to be unaffected.

Driven by curiosity of who was trapped in there, two of the classic Primids asked the Mii Fighters through gurgling alien sounds if they would like to give it a try. However, the Mii Fighters looked puzzled and turned the Primids' offers down. Eventually, the Primids turned towards Lucas and Charizard and growled signs of pleasing.

"Sure, I guess…" Lucas spoke. "We are fighters, after all. I suppose I'll satisfy your curiousity... if you are willing to unchain us, of course."

The Primids then grabbed the keys hanging on the wall and unchained Lucas and Charizard. After Lucas was massaging his partially swollen hands and Charizard was shaking his wings, the Primids growled again in plea and pushed the Assist Trophy into Lucas's chest.

"Alrighy, since you want it so much…" Lucas spoke, grabbing the Assist Trophy and holding it high with his hand below its base. The Primids and the Mii Fighters stared in shock as particles swarmed around the base and the figure inside took shape, growing larger and adding more color through each passing second.

The figure was fully formed, in the appearance of a boxer with tanned skin, black hair, blue-green eyes, and wearing a black tank-top with green shorts, black sneakers, and light-green boxing gloves. He was only taller than Lucas by a few inches. The Mii Fighters were reaching their weapons, and the Primids stood in confusion as to what they asked for. Because Assist Trophies were only made to serve their summoners, the boxer suddenly lunged himself towards two of the Primids, knocking them out through one deadly blow.

The Mii Fighters charged towards the boxer, and the Assist Trophy charged up his punch and knocked out most of them. Those that survived the hit ran out of the room, scared of the boxer.

"Uh… Thanks, I guess," Lucas said.

"No problem," the boxer replied. "By the way, where am I?"

"High up in the air, in the Winged Firestorm Pro," Lucas answered. "You sure picked a bad time to come out and fight."

Attention, all unites, the Swordfighter Ultimate called on the ship's broadcast radio. Two of our prisoners have escaped thanks to a couple dumbass Primids, and they're accompanied by an Assist Trophy. Please approach with extreme caution and kill on sight. We have contacted more Winged Firestorms to come in and exterminate the targets should they escape, so hold them back as best as you can.

"By the way," the boxer responded, "I'm Little Mac. And you must be…?"

"Lucas," the blond PSI boy replied while Charizard growled in excitement. "Next to me is Charizard."

"Well, looks like we're going to have to get you out of here," Little Mac said. "I don't know what's going on, but this place looks dangerous. Come on."

"No," Lucas said when he used his psychic powers to drag Little Mac to him and Charizard. "The Ultimates are going to call more Winged Firestorms if we don't destroy it first."

Lucas let Little Mac go, and Charizard growled at the boxer with determination. The three fighters ran off to the doorway to the control room, but they were stopped by Primids - both classical and newly designed - and Mii Fighters. Roturrets were firing at the door frames, but Little Mac was a very fast target hard to hit as he was tiny enough to slip through the bullets and punch underneath one of the rotating turrets. The cannonball effect created from the uppercut blow caused the Roturret to bounce all over the place, hitting enemies to and fro.

Lucas used his PK Fire once again to trap some of the Mii Fighters in pillars of flame, and Charizard flew towards the Buckots, his wings sharply cutting through their bodies. Once the three fighters got on their feet again, more Mii Fighters and Subspace troops dashed toward them.

However, Little Mac, Lucas, and Charizard wouldn't even bother looking back as they stormed up all the way through the Winged Firestorm Pro's neck, knocking out enemies with their gifted abilities. Once the three fighters got up to the control room, the Ultimates were already there, their choices of weapons ready to attack.

"There's nothing you can do now," the Gunner Ultimate said. "We'll kill you all, take the Smash Balls out of wherever you're hiding them, and Tabuu will reign supreme once again."

"I thought trophies can't die," Lucas objected. "Why are you doing this? What's going on?"

A moment of silence passed, and the Brawler Ultimate answered, "Oh, kid. There's so much more you don't know about the outside world." Suddenly, a Scope Primid shuffled in, weak after the hits it received from Little Mac, Lucas, and Charizard.

"NO! DON'T YOU DARE FIRE THAT GUN, YOU IDIOT!" the Swordfighter Ultimate exclaimed as the Scope Primid was ready to fire. Both the fighters and the Ultimates ducked out of the way when the Primid with its dying breath missed and fired at the control panel, creating a massive explosion that majorly damaged the wires. The Winged Firestorm Pro cried weakly as its metallic body was burning up in the atmosphere.

Lucas, Charizard, and Little Mac groaned when they got up, and they saw the Ultimates were already running to several escape pods. The strong wind was gushing through the cracked windows as the Gunner Ultimate yelled to the fighters, "You may have destroyed our ship, but this is only the beginning! We've got big plans coming and we don't need you getting in our way!" Just like that, the Ultimates each took their escape pods with the Mii Fighters, all blasting out to the other Winged Firestorms. Explosions were bursting around as the spare emergency pods were destroyed, trapping the fighters inside.

The metal ceiling was about to cave in on Little Mac and Lucas, but Charizard flew in, lifting it up with all its strength.

"We gotta get out of here!" Lucas cried. "There's no way out and we're trapped!"

"You know I'm not much of an air fighter, right?" Little Mac responded. "If any of those little rascals of this... 'Subspace Army' come rushing towards us while we're hundreds of feet in the air, I'll eventually become helpless."

"Don't worry," Lucas replied. "Charizard and I will help you, right?"

Charizard growled in pain as the weight was crushing his strong wings, the leaking Shadow Bugs creeping in closer, and the Winged Firestorm Pro collapsing in the air. The three fighters were now helpless, falling onto the hard ground in the mountains while Primids were falling from the sky, disintegrating into Shadow Bugs just as soon they landed on the falling rubble. Charizard swooped in, with Lucas and Little Mac landing on his back. Once the three fighters got onto ground safely, they saw the other Winged Firestorms flying off, their dragon-like bodies cruising in the black-red cloud.

"Told you I don't do so well in the air," Little Mac panted.

"Which reminds me," Lucas said. "Why don't you disappear?"

"Come again?" Little Mac asked.

"I thought Assist Trophies were supposed to disappear after they were summoned to complete their task," Lucas answered. "Unless… it must be the alternated rules of this world."

"Who knows?" Little Mac replied. "Looks like I'm stuck with you until the end of time."

"But what did the Brawler Ultimate mean when he talked about the 'Smash Balls' and their ultimate power?" Lucas questioned.

"That I don't know," Little Mac lamented. "I was put in that capsule at the beginning of this world, long forgotten until now. How am I supposed to know what a Smash Ball is?"

Lucas and Charizard looked at the strange world set before them, watching as the metallic dragons soared away to cause more havoc on the world.

"We can worry about those Smash Balls later," Lucas spoke. "Right now, we need to find out where all those Shadow Bugs came from, and who's creating them. Mr. Game & Watch was freed from Tabuu's control, so there must be some bigger force playing at hand. I guess with your strength, we can make it through this."

And so, Lucas, Charizard, and their new companion Little Mac ran off, following the Winged Firestorms off to their new location, deep in the eternal black-red darkness.