The darkness seeped in as the black-red cloud rolled in the sky. Lucas with Charizard and Little Mac heard the roaring of the monsters far off from the distance, a slight look of terror in their eyes. They were just in the rocky plains of the desert mountains, on the lookout for any Subspace Army creatures.

"Wow," Lucas said. "I never knew how big the world is now…"

"It must've been the alternated rules after the defeat of this Tabuu…" Little Mac replied.

"As you know, our objective is to find out about the Smash Ball, right?" Lucas said. "The glare in our eyes signified that we might have something in common with each other, so if we hurry, we might find what we're looking for."

As the three fighters were climbing over the rocky face, Charizard suddenly picked up a strange scent. The Pokémon started growling and flew above the small mountainside. When Little Mac and Lucas saw Charizard flying, the two fighters climbed up, trying to see what Charizard found. There, the three fighters saw what appeared to an abandoned lab, the thunder from the black-red cloud flashing to show the symbol of the Subspace Army on a rather large sign.

"This place c-could be dangerous," Lucas stammered. "We have to be careful around here… Who knows what could spring up and attack us?" The blond-haired PSI boy, the Pokémon, and the small boxer walked closer to the building, they were keeping their guard up constantly, but it suddenly dropped when a strange figure warped right in front of them, startling the fighters.

The cat-like thing appeared to be black all over, three peculiar fingers on his hands, his tail fading into a bright neon orange. A strange gem was fused to his left shoulder, the same color as the tip of his tail, and his eyes were giving off a dim glow exactly the color of the Shadow Bugs.

"P-please, strange creature…" Lucas stammered, fear in his eyes. "We didn't mean any harm. We were just looking around for evidence of the Subspace Army. We'll get out of your way, if that's okay with you…"

"That's right," the stranger telepathized, "unless you want to suffer the wrath of Shadow Mewtwo…"

"Mewtwo?" Little Mac asked. "Isn't Mewtwo one of those… legendary Pokémon, whatever you call them?"

"You must be Mewtwo, right?" Lucas said. "If you have something in common with the Subspace Army, maybe you can help us."

"I'm sorry," Shadow Mewtwo telepathized in answer. "My abilities lie to serving no other master but Tabuu only, and his job is to make sure I eliminate all who dare cross his path." A Shadow Bug fell out of Shadow Mewtwo's gem on his left shoulder, and the psychic Pokémon caught it before placing it back on his shoulder, where it merged with him into his black body.

"Is he some sort of…?" Little Mac asked Lucas before the blond-haired PSI boy butted in.

"Vessel for Shadow Bugs?" Lucas answered the small boxer. "Of course he is. Didn't you see the Shadow Bug fall out of him a minute ago? These little critters are parasitic, infecting a certain host and replicating inside, brainwashing them into working for their true master. The only other person we know who went through a similar situation was Mr. Game & Watch, not even knowing he was being harvested for the Shadow Bugs within him and imprisoned by Tabuu."

"Looks like someone knows their history very well for being a coward," Shadow Mewtwo telepathized, floating a little higher into the air. "Besides, I sure loved the look on your faces when you have to flee for your miserable lives."

"Wait," Lucas said. "You don't mean that…?" Just then, Lucas suddenly remembered the situation at the Ruins of the Ancients, how he and Charizard were the only ones who escaped, and the strange figures they tried to identify in the fire.

"You're one of the people who attacked us, weren't you? Back at the Ruins of the Ancients?" Lucas exclaimed, suddenly knowing the three Ultimates were probably with him at that time too.

"How precise you are, kid," the Pokémon telepathized in answer. "There's so much more you don't know about us nowadays…" Shadow Mewtwo then got on the ground, his feet barely touching as he stood right in front of the three fighters, inbetween them and the abandoned building. His orange-tipped tail whipped back and forth as his peculiar hands started creating sparks of violet-colored lightning, slowly growing larger the more force the Pokémon put in. Little Mac, Charizard, and Lucas saw what he's going to do next and readied their battle stances.

As the Shadow Ball grew as large as Shadow Mewtwo could possibly make it, the Pokémon telepathized, "Hope you can enjoy these last few seconds here, because you'll never know anything about the Subspace Army." It seemed like all hope was lost for the three fighters as the huge ball came flying towards them from the Pokémon's fingers, but a giant blue slash reflected it back at Shadow Mewtwo, slamming right into his chest with enough brute force to send him flying towards a small set of stray gas cans, creating a small explosion on impact.

Far off into the desert, Sonic, Meta Knight, Palutena, Dark Pit, and Bayonetta were running off, trying to look for a nearby Subspace base for evidence of the Smash Ball, but just when they heard a loud bang go off on their left, the blue hedgehog stopped in his tracks, looking at the smoke.

"What are you doing, idling around here for?" Meta Knight asked Sonic, tugging at the hedgehog's white glove.

"I saw a blast occur over there," Sonic answered, pointing at the smoke.

"Maybe we can find a clue about the Subspace Army," Palutena remarked. "Come on! Someone might need our help over there!" The small group of fighters then started running off towards the rocky area of the desert, a cloud of sand trailing behind them.

As the fire calmed down next to the abandoned building, Lucas, Charizard, and Little Mac got up, rubbing their bodies off the dust that flew towards them. When Shadow Mewtwo climbed out of the rubble, brushing the soot to avoid getting burned, he saw someone new as he tried adjusting his vision.

"What?" the Pokémon telepathized in question. There, he saw a blond-haired man, wearing black clothing with a red jacket, his blue eyes the same glowing color as his crimson metallic sword. Sonic, Meta Knight, Bayonetta, Palutena, and Dark Pit ran up the rocky face, just in time to see what happened.

"So, you're this Shadow Mewtwo I've heard so much about," the stranger said, his voice in a cheery British accent. "Well, as long as I, Shulk, am involved with this, no one is getting hurt."

"You don't know who you're messing with, Bionis chosen by the Monado Arts," Shadow Mewtwo telepathized in humor. "Once Tabuu regains his full strength, he will rise again to recreate the Great Maze, and they will be nothing you can do to stop him."

"Try me," Shulk said, grabbing the Monado Arts by the hilt of the blade, the large circle at the base starting flashing different symbols. When Shulk picked a red symbol found in his blade, he then started glowing red, grabbing the sword with his left hand. Eventually, Sonic, Meta Knight, Palutena, Dark Pit, Bayonetta, Lucas, Little Mac, and Charizard all stood up with Shulk against Shadow Mewtwo.

"I can tell you're looking for a Smash Ball, according to an old legend," Shadow Mewtwo telepathized in lamentation. "Turns out, you already found one of them, in that little blue rat." As Shadow Mewtwo said that, he pointed at Sonic, knowing he was the only one unaffected by a trophy transformation.

"Correction: it's hedgehog," Sonic objected. "If you're gonna threaten me, do it properly."

"Enough games, creature," Shulk said. "This is the Monado's power."

Shadow Mewtwo was about to release another Shadow Ball but was quickly knocked out of his guard when Little Mac came in too fast and did an uppercut punch from behind. The Pokémon started warping out of the group, firing his psychic bolts at Charizard, Meta Knight, Palutena, and Dark Pit, who were now flying towards him. Once the four fighters bolted off the ground, they flew in so quick that not even Shadow Mewtwo was able to react in time. However, one of the bolts hit Charizard before he blasted fire at the Pokémon, knocking into Dark Pit. Palutena managed to charge up her particles from her staff, and Meta Knight rushed in with powerful slashes from his blade. Shadow Mewtwo managed to use his Disable ability to make the masked warrior dizzy, but Shulk rushed just in time, glowing green thanks to the Monado Arts and jumping high enough to grab Meta and attack with a mighty slash that knocked the Pokémon onto the ground. Once Shadow Mewtwo got back up, he saw Sonic and Little Mac charging right towards him. Once they were in close, Shadow Mewtwo was about to release a powerful melee attack before they could even land a blow, but Bayonetta got in the way, using her Witch Time. Because she didn't do it fast enough, she used her Bat Within to transform into a swarm of bats, obstructing the Pokémon's view. Once Shadow Mewtwo scared the swarm off, the bats clustered back into Bayonetta's original form, and Lucas used his PK Freeze to seal Shadow Mewtwo in ice. Once Shadow Mewtwo thawed himself, he saw the fighters in front of him, charging right towards him.

"So, you think this is all a game, huh?" Shadow Mewtwo telepathized. "You haven't seen my ultimate power yet…" When the Pokémon got up, the other fighters stopped and watched as Shadow Mewtwo used the Shadow Bugs in his body to transform himself into his ultimate form: his X Mega Evolution, which was now coated purple like the Shadow Bugs with gleaming white eyes. Shadow Mewtwo then started blasting powerful psychic beams at the other fighters while they dodged and ran towards him, and he charged up his Shadow Ball, but Shulk rushed up to him in time, using his Monado Arts to use his Speed ability, and he ran almost as fast as Sonic, using a backslash behind Shadow Mewtwo, and then Sonic spin-dashed deep into the Pokémon's front. Once all the fighters ran up to Shadow Mewtwo, the Pokémon got up, brushing the dust off his body with his telekinesis.

"You may have defeated me," Shadow Mewtwo telepathized, "but that taste of power was just the beginning. Good luck trying to learn about our ruler in time, because there won't be enough…" Just like that, Shadow Mewtwo warped out of the abandoned building's area, technically resulting in a small victory for the reunited group of fighters. Once the fighters brushed the dust collected on their skin, Sonic and Meta Knight turned towards Lucas and Charizard, relieved of their survival.

"Sonic!" Lucas cried, running towards the blue hedgehog and hugging him tight, avoiding pricking himself on the quills.

"I missed you so much, buddy," Sonic wept, his eyes filled with tears of joy. Meta Knight flew in just in time, joining in with the group hug.

"How'd you escape from the Subspace Army?" Meta Knight asked, filled with relief as Charizard joined the group hug too.

"Well, it wasn't easy, but you know about how air-headed Primids nowadays are," Lucas answered.

"And what about the rest of our buddies?" Sonic asked, breaking up the group hug. "Snake, Ice Climbers, Red, the gang you went with, where are they?" Lucas looked down in shame, shaking his head and showing that he doesn't know where the others were. When the other fighters saw that some of their friends' friends were either missing or dead, they stepped in closer to understand what's going on.

"… I see…" Sonic said, knowing that even Lucas and Charizard don't know where Snake and his gang are at. "Well, we'll rescue them somehow. These buddies you met with are Little Mac and Shulk, right?"

"Yes," Shulk said, looking at the blue hedgehog in awe. "How'd you know?"

"Well, after the defeat of Dr. Eggman, I managed to find a way to travel across the universe, visiting different worlds and learning about the heroes and villains… It's a long story, basically," Sonic answered. "However, when I finally came across Master Hand, he transported me to this world, but wasn't fast enough to transform me into a trophy and wipe out my memories, and I've been on the run since."

"In other words," Meta Knight butted in, "he's the only one who was unable to turn into a trophy, and that's why he was affected by a Smash Ball."

"Smash Ball!?" Lucas said. "Where!?"

"He's not sure, kid," Bayonetta answered. "According to the little blue rodent, he experienced it somehow during some sort of certain event followed by a splitting headache. Isn't that right, Sonic? Sonic?" The blue hedgehog then looked at the building, looking at the place in stern. The blue hedgehog then rushed inside, attempting to investigate the place.

"Sonic!" Little Mac called out, trying to run to him, but Meta Knight placed a hand on his back.

"Not now, my little comrade," the small warrior objected. "It's something he has to experience for himself."

Inside the abandoned laboratory, Sonic slowly walked around, investigating the place. As he looked around, he saw only one florescent light on the ceiling was still operational and glowing but still flickering, and it was bright enough for the blue hedgehog to get a good view of the place. The checkered tiles on the floor were dazed and dirty, the splotched walls covered in muck. Every footprint that Sonic left permanently stayed in place because of the thick dust and the dead air in the laboratory. As Sonic kept walking down the hall, he saw what appeared to be an empty kitchen complete with a television set now broken, a small bathroom, and a tiny fold-up bed attached to the wall, the pillows turned inside-out with feathers sticking out and a couple springs tearing through the fabric.

This must be someone's house, Sonic thought, his hands dragging alongside the door frames. Probably a place where you can lounge and work at the same time… Just then, Sonic saw a Shadow Bug on the floor. It was tiny and barely noticeable, but it was there, just at his feet. The Shadow Bug didn't seem to do anything, but Sonic noticed it was rather afraid as he took one small step and the creature backed off.

Strange how this Shadow Bug is alone, Sonic thought. I thought all of them were evil, and they only traveled in clumps. The Shadow Bug slowly floated and rested on Sonic's long, black nose, tickling him a little.

I guess this little guy isn't so bad, Sonic thought again. The blue hedgehog giggled as the Shadow Bug peered closer to his face, making him cry a little. Just then, the tiny purple ball of fluff flew off deep into the dark hall.

"Hey, wait up!" Sonic called. He ran fast enough to catch up to the ball in the darkness and came across a work table in another room. As he saw the Shadow Bug hover in the air, the blue hedgehog watched as it illuminated itself in a bright violet light and rest itself in a small jar. Sonic slowly placed a small-holed lid on the jar with the Shadow Bug, and the tiny fluff ball lit up brighter, giving off a faint purple glow on the walls. As Sonic looked around, he saw that the work area was filled with designs and blueprints in ways that even he can't figure out because of the strange language. They didn't even look like those machines of war were made by the Subspace Army themselves.

Almost as if they were made for a reason.

As Sonic took a small glance at the blueprints, he felt his head starting to hurt badly, almost just as bad as the incident at the burned forest. As the blue hedgehog groaned loudly, the glare in his eyes caused them to give off a white glow just like before. At that point, Sonic's eyes glowed so brightly that not even the Shadow Bug he befriended could illuminate itself to be that blinding. Giving off a loud yell of pain, Sonic collapsed again, everything going dark.


When the blue hedgehog woke up again, he saw he was giving off a rainbow-like fiery hue with golden irises and the Smash Ball fused to his chest just like before. As Sonic sharpened his vision, he looked around and saw that the only window in the room was letting in some sunlight. The Shadow Bug from before was still in its jar on the table, almost like nothing happened.

Strange how this is all a memory when stuff like this happens and you're still here with me, Sonic telepathized, just like before. Unless you have a way of appearing in visions like I do… When Sonic grabbed the jar, he looked around and saw that nothing was now cluttered in the lab. The blueprints were all gone, and the place looked so clean now. When Sonic walked out of the room, he saw that no one was there, looking rather empty. As soon as Sonic walked outside the door, the sun was blinding his eyes when he looked around and saw no rocky desert. Instead, he saw a luscious field with splotches of trees here and there. Flowers the blue hedgehog had never seen before bloomed right at his feet, almost identical to the one he saw growing in the burned forest. When Sonic looked to his right, he saw a huge arena, looking exactly like the Midair Stadium. As Sonic ran towards the arena, the Shadow Bug in the jar started chirping quietly. The faint glow in the jar created a small path leading right through the arena's wall.

Through there? The blue hedgehog telepathized in question. Sonic probably assumed this is what the Shadow Bug wanted him to do, so he ran straight headfirst through the wall. Once Sonic noticed he could pass through solid objects, he clipped right through, seeing that he was in a huge crowd watching what was going on.

The Arcadium, Hella's voice rang again. In that huge arena, there was the Master Core, the big-head boss of the place. Sonic suddenly remembered it was a memory, where this girl named Hella was talking to him through what she experienced. As Sonic heard the voice, the Shadow Bug in the jar he was holding chirped quietly again, and the blue hedgehog saw the Master Core himself. The strange entity, simply floating like a black cloud, was at the center of the arena. Just then, the quartz bridge rolled down, and the first person who walked out was Hella.

"Behold, one of the first of my many creations, Hella," the Master Core's voice boomed out through the Arcadium as the large audience applauded in ear-splitting cheers. As Sonic saw Hella from a good distance, he noticed she looked more beautiful than when he first heard of her existence. The raven-black girl with the now-violet eyes had an expression on her face that told her she was excited about here. As Sonic watched again, he saw hundreds of thousands of what appeared to be fighters, most of them more out of place than others.

I was excited the first day the Arcadium was open, millions of people participating to watch us fight, Hella's voice rang out again in Sonic's head. There were so many fighters here, those whose faces I can never remember, and the Master Core called them all trophies, even though I didn't know why…

"I officially declare the Arcadium, the arena for fighters across the multiverse, open!" the Master Core echoed. As the audience cheered, Sonic and the Shadow Bug in the jar saw the sorts of fighters all down below, looking rather excited about this.

"Let the battles begin!" the Master Core boomed.

As what felt like hours passed, Sonic noticed Hella was fighting like no other warrior at her time. The stances she took, the magic she used, the way she swung her huge sword, there was no telling she did not fight like an ordinary Subspace Army member.

Even though I didn't have my memories, Hella's voice echoed in Sonic's head, I was very skilled in my combat movement. Pummeling my enemies into oblivion and watching them get fished out of the unidentified matter below the stage, it was all rather entertaining to me, but still not enough to know what's going on, or how it could be illegal if I did my own thing...

Once the sun started to set, Sonic walked through the arena walls to outside, seeing that the laboratory Hella was walking to was actually one of the many homes just outside the Arcadium, and each house was identified with the fighters' certain symbols, Hella's being the Subspace symbol. As Sonic the Hedgehog walked in to see what Hella was doing inside, he saw the raven-black warrior inside, the long fabric on her legs trailing behind her seat.


Every day, Hella rang out again, I was building new inventions and wacky gadgets for my weapons, each one deadlier than the last, after receiving the materials I earned in my victories. It wasn't all just for me, but for other fighters and the Master Core himself too. The one thing I didn't know was about the situations the Master Core was going through. According to his law, no trophy is allowed to be outside their homes after sunset, for it was the hour of his own personal business.

Personal business? Sonic thought. The Smash Ball's colors projected the rainbow light like water, not even bothering Hella on her work table. The blue hedgehog looked with his golden eyes as he saw the Shadow Bug touching the side of the jar from inside, probably thinking about what happens next.

Little did he know that I had been waiting for this day in eons, Hella's voice rang out. That night, I was going out to see what the Master Core is doing, and nothing will ever stop me. As soon as the black-clothed warrior got up from her work desk, she grabbed her weapon and ran outside, faster than Sonic ever could run. As the blue hedgehog followed the girl, he noticed she was avoiding being spotted by the hovering robots in the air, all of them simple discs quartz-white with searching lights protruding from below them. When they passed below Sonic, they didn't see him somehow, so they didn't give off an alarm, which was lucky.

As Sonic followed Hella sneaking in, he followed her to one of the many rooms in the Arcadium, right outside the Master Core's office, which was the only room off-limits.

"I won't let a silly sign stop me," Hella whispered, slowly ripping off the warning sign off the door and sneaking in. Sonic followed her in, passing through the door. There, he saw the Master Core, gathering books and scrolls of whatever he found in the items vault. Putting them all in small steel boxes, the black cloud pushed them towards what appeared to be a Mii Fighter, probably of the female Brawler type and wearing sort-of cool gear. Sonic saw that Hella was watching from a distance, looking at the Master Core putting all her inventions and crafts in separate containers, giving them all to the Mii Fighter, which she put all of them in a special magic bag.

"Make sure that the Ancients receive this technology in time, for it is necessary to their survival," the Master Core told the Mii Brawler.

The Ancients? Sonic thought. I thought those robots made all that technology by themselves before the Subspace Army. The Shadow Bug in the jar Sonic was holding chirped quietly again, trying to make the blue hedgehog pay more attention to the conflict.

"Also," the Master Core boomed throughout the room, "hide all this precious knowledge in your Chamber of Secrets, deep in your city." The Mii Brawler nodded by command, putting all the books and scrolls in her magic bag before she carried it out of the office on her back. Just then, the Master Core noticed Hella was hiding this whole time behind the items.

"Hella…" the black entity boomed again. The raven-black warrior walked out of the shadows, her rainbow-tipped hair waving in front of her dark-circled purple eyes. Sonic watched in vain as he probably predicted that she might be punished without any dialogue, and the Shadow Bug creeped in closer to him in fear.

"I warned everyone to stay inside their homes after sunset," the Master Core said. "You somehow disobeyed me, and I already knew what you were doing…"

"But you just can't let us keep living like this!" Hella exclaimed in objection. "All we do is fight and fight alone, forced to battle unknown strangers we'll never meet, and all you're doing is stealing my hard work to provide for someone we don't even know is out there! Don't tell me there's nothing to stay away from! You promised me a land beyond my imagination, but this isn't the dream I was given, nor anyone's, for that matter! For once in your life, could you just open your eyes and see that this is not what WE wanted!? Why don't you let US create our OWN worlds, with whatever rules WE can dream of!?"

"HELLA!" Master Core yelled, his voice so great it shook the whole Arcadium. "Whatever I decide is not up to you. Head back to your home now. I'll be coming over first thing in the morning to transform you into a trophy, making you forget what you just experienced tonight."

Hella tried to grab the hilt of her weapon, but hesitated. Instead, she calmed herself down and slowly walked outside. The warrior passed through Sonic, making him turn towards her as she walked out the door.

I wanted to fight the Master Core that night, Hella's voice rang out again in Sonic's head, but I remembered there were some things you can't get involved with, and it was too late. When the blue hedgehog looked behind him to see the Master Core, he saw the black entity was focusing himself directly at him.

"You're probably wondering why this all happened," the Master Core spoke to Sonic.

So, wait, Sonic telepathized. You can see and hear me, even though this is just a memory of someone else, like that girl.

"I am capable of many things, Sonic the Hedgehog," the Master Core spoke again, "and Hella is no exception. I already knew you wouldn't be the only one affected by a trophy transformation, allowing you to keep your memories thanks to your fast speed."

But why remove memories of all the other fighter's past lives? Sonic telepathized in question.

"It's best to not even know about all the pain and suffering they went through to become ultimate," the Master Core answered.

But memories are what make a part of us, probably the most important ingredient, Sonic telepathized in objection. If you take that away from us, we probably won't even remember who or what we once were. Sure, it's harsh and painful, but they're memories worth remembering.

"But I always have good reasons for wiping memories from trophies," the Master Core said. "Hella, as you just saw, may be suffering by amnesia from the transformation, but that's because she should've never known about her true destiny, and you know that well too…"

But can you tell me why this is all happening? Sonic asked through telepathy. Why I'm the only one who can see the Smash Ball inside us?

"That's something YOU have to see for yourself," the Master Core answered. "After all, you are all just the children of a being greater than you. However, I will give you a hint: Tabuu is the one giving you these memories for a reason." Then, the Master Core disappeared from the room, leaving Sonic and the Shadow Bug in the jar alone. As soon as Sonic walked out of the empty room, he ran straight to Hella's house, where he passed through the lab's walls. When Sonic slowly peered to look inside the work room, he saw Hella, tapping on one of her unfinished projects. The warrior-slash-scientist had a look of anger and spite, jealous that she didn't have power equal to the Master Core. As she looked more at the project on her desk, her fists started clenching and her face turning red, her purple eyes gleaming bright with envy.

The blue hedgehog kept watching, the fire-like rainbow hue flowing like it was being caught in a wind, and the Shadow Bug in the jar Sonic was carrying in his hand backed up, mildly afraid. Filled with fire in her eyes, Hella yelled and knocked off her equipment in one swipe, and she grabbed the chair she was sitting on and smashing everything else like a baseball bat. After she made a huge mess of the place, she slammed her fists so hard that she broke the lab table in half, covering her hands in splinters and deep cuts. When she took a look at the desolation she caused with her melee methods alone, she placed her wounded hands in her face and started crying, her bitter weeps mixing in with her silent hiccups.

Sonic watched as she kept crying, her jealous heart growing stone-cold. As the blue hedgehog knelt beside her, he placed a hand on her back, trying to make it seem like he was actually touching her despite being able to pass through solid objects. After Hella wiped her face, she slowly got up, finally free of her fears and anxieties.

I wouldn't let the rules of the Master Core stop me, Hella's voices rang out through Sonic. I was going to find out about myself, one way or another. Grabbing a map stocked away in her drawers, she pulled it out, revealing the uncharted corners of Arcadia.

My objective was to find the Mii Fighters and find out who I really was, despite the risks, Hella's voice said. However, I couldn't go alone, and none of the other fighters were brave enough to stand up to the task. So, I had to create my own companion. As Hella put together whatever equipment she had left in her lab, she was grabbing all sorts of formulas that were in her fridge past the over-expired grub stocked deep within with small gadgets and batteries.

A companion that was small enough to fit in a tiny jar, Hella's voice rang out again through Sonic as he watched her mix different compounds together, even brushing off the dust she collected on her clothes from her first encounter of the Master Core, which had tiny particles form the black entity known as "Swarm".

A companion as black as the shadows which can dominate over heroes and villains alike, Hella's voice said, the blue hedgehog seeing the warrior piece together wires and switches, carefully connecting each gear.

A companion… that would call me its one true master… Hella's voice said again, and Sonic finally saw her extracting a little bit of her color from her purple irises with a special tiny dropper as she placed of drop if it in a jar with a small, while, woolen pom-pom and a black garden ant. Her plan was to fuse the three components into one, single form with all the other mixtures she carefully poured in the jar with measuring containers. Once Hella started the machine by pressing a few buttons on the control panel, she then flipped the largest switch she could find, which generated electricity. Since the mixtures were conductors as good as water, the electric currents passed through freely, sparking up the whole room so bright that all the florescent lights in Hella's house bursted, leaving the place a total blackout. Just then, a faint, purple light started glowing from inside the jar as Hella grabbed a flashlight by her desk and looked inside the jar. Sonic watched as her peered at what she had created.

A Shadow Bug, Hella's voice said. When Hella opened the jar, the tiny creature flew right into her face, making her giggle a bit. As the Shadow Bug hovered around her face, it started chirping quietly before landing back into her jar, which she slowly closed. When Sonic saw that the Shadow Bug was created, he looked down to the Shadow Bug he was holding in the jar and saw it was probably the same one, which probably explains why it was alone and didn't attack after all these years. When Hella grabbed her usual weapon, the huge sword with a series of guns attached to the base, she placed the jar her Shadow Bug was in in her side pocket, grabbing her map and walking outside her laboratory.

I was going to find out about myself, Hella's voice said to Sonic. However, when I did that, I was never the same again… Just as soon as Hella walked outside the Arcadium's area, Sonic felt his eyes glowing white again, noticing he is probably going to be heading back to where he was before.


After Sonic woke up in shock, he noticed he was normal again, and the Shadow Bug in the jar he was carrying was still on the broken table. The blue hedgehog then grabbed the jar and walked down the dark hallway, catching up speed as he ran out of the abandoned laboratory. When he got outside, he was in the rocky desert again, with the same red-black twilight, with Lucas, Charizard, Little Mac, Meta Knight, Bayonetta, Palutena, Dark Pit, and Shulk waiting outside. Once Sonic ran up towards the other fighters, he felt like he was ready to tell them what he just experienced in another vision.

"Guys, there's something I have to tell you, and it's probably life-changing," Sonic said, placing the jar with the Shadow Bug behind his back.

"What's that?" Palutena asked the blue hedgehog, noticing the jar.

"Oh, this?" Sonic pulled out the jar with the Shadow Bug, saying, "I just found him all alone. You know how Shadow Bugs usually travel in groups and attack on sight? Well, he was rather peaceful and insisted I take him with me, so I thought I would give him the nickname 'Faker'. Y'know, because it reminded me of Shadow the Hedgehog calling me that name back at my home planet."

"Okay, we did not need to know about your encounter, just glad to see if you're okay," Meta Knight said. "Now, what did you see in that vision?"

"Well," Sonic said, "I saw the Midair Stadium was once known as the Arcadium on land, and there were hundreds of thousands of fighters not like us, and Hella was one of them. One night, she snuck into the Master Core's office, even though she clearly was not supposed to, and she saw all the recollected knowledge of the worlds they came from being taken to a city filled with Mii Fighters, and her technology for the Ancients."

"But I thought the Ancients were masters of technology before they became extinct," Palutena objected.

"Unless R.O.B. was lying to us before his cloak was burned, and for good reason," Meta Knight answered. "Go on, rodent."

"Eventually," Sonic continued, "she became whiny that the rules here aren't fair, and she was jealous that the Master Core had all this power to do whatever HE wants and not his toys, even though he clearly said this was the 'Land of Opportunities'. So, she decided to seek the Mii Fighters herself, and she eventually created the first Shadow Bug, namely Faker, in this jar." When Sonic held out the jar again, the other fighters saw the Shadow Bug floating around, suspended in the tiny jar with a small-holed lid.

"But I still don't get what was the big fuss over the Smash Ball," Lucas said. "Isn't that the key weapon to Tabuu's destruction?"

"Only one way to find out," Sonic said. "But first, we have to find it, and maybe even find out if it is worth finding or not."

"Did you find anything in that lab that could help us?" Bayonetta asked the blue hedgehog.

"Outside of this Shadow Bug?" Sonic answered. "Definitely not… oh, except for these little things…" When Sonic pulled out the blueprints from before, the other fighters pulled them open, looking at all the different gadgets labeled on the paper. They were all trying to read what the writings on the blueprints said, but they couldn't make out the language.

"This is obviously spoken in Ancient tongue," Palutena said. "There's no way we can ever find out what it says, and we don't have your R.O.B. around to read it, and even then would we not have a single thought translator around…"

"Unless we find someone who at least knows the languages of the Ancients and whatever race they come across," Sonic answered. "Even I don't know this, but across that desert, miles away from here, there's a huge city that is filled with all sorts of races… or was from what I've learned. Nowadays, this place is filled with even the harshest of the harsh, and the only living civilian might be the species capable of translating. Well, I guess your talent can be a bit pricey, considering if you're a squid-like creature, and squids are mentioned to be rather smart. I luckily visited this place before I even heard about the Subspace Army…"

"Just might be all the information we need," Lucas said. "Now, if we can find one of those civilians, we might be able to figure out what those machines and blueprints were used for…"

"Then we have no time to waste," Meta Knight said. "We have to find the rest of our friends, rescue those still under the grasp of the Subspace Army, find out about this Tabuu, and use that knowledge of why he wants ultimate power to destroy the Subspace Army once and for all. Now, let's go!" With a slightly reunited party, the group of fighters decided to have a change of plans: head west towards that new city known as Civiltatula.