The t-rex with Mario's cap and moustache loomed over Kirby, Piranha Plant, and Faker, its red eyes gleaming bright. Saliva drooled from its sharp teeth, and the three warriors were trembling. The dinosaur then tilted its head towards the now-clear sky, letting out a mighty roar. Its moustache and cap then vanished, causing the dinosaur to fall unconscious. Jumping in front of the three adventurers was none other than Mario, with his standard colors and all. The gleaming red color shined through his irises, however, and Kirby suddenly knew that his friend is alive.
"You insignificant fools!" Mario spoke, though his voice was completely different. Both Faker and Piranha Plant were ready to fight this foe, but Kirby looked at Mario like something has changed about him.
"What are you looking at?" Mario asked, the red plumber noticing the pink puffball giving him a peculiar look.
"You're probably wondering who's inside your precious Mario's body," Mario's new voice continued. "Let's just say that I'm an old 'frenemy' of his, going by the name of… how should I say it…? Oh yeah! Exor! Exor's my name!" The Spirit inside Mario's body revealed himself to Faker, Piranha Plant, and Kirby, flashing a small image on the red plumber's chest. It was revealed to be a Legendary Master Spirit, with Exor shaped like a sword with a dragon-like face on the hilt and a monster skull on top. The image disappeared, leaving only Mario with glowing-red eyes in front of the three adventurers.
"This doesn't make any sense!" Faker objected. "How can you take Normal Spirits and put them in vessels?" Exor simply laughed, straightening his cap.
"I would like to tell you, but I don't wanna force-feed you exposition just to waste my time," Exor answered. "Right now, I've got personal business to deal with this little pink puffball…" Exor then grabbed ahold of Kirby, dragging him away from his two friends while the pink puffball squirmed. The Piranha Plant was about to bite him, but Exor snapped with Mario's fingers, and two golden bird cages formed around each fighter. Both Faker and Piranha Plant tried bending the bars, but to no avail. A strange vortex formed around Mario's body, Exor's voice laughing as he grabbed on tight to a struggling Kirby. Afterwards, both Kirby and Mario vanished, leaving both the Piranha Plant and Faker stuck in golden cages.
Kirby then slowly stirred up, noticing the ground was different, like hard black opal. Strange patterns leading to the center were pulsing red, and on the side was some sort of futuristic platform sticking out of the ground, a blue halo swirling behind it. Kirby felt the wind on his face as he looked at the sky, noticing the background was a series of dancing cosmic particles, each pattern they appear in uniquely different. In front of the pink puffball at a good distance was none other than Exor himself, taking control of Mario's body.
"Welcome to the Final Destination, kid!" Exor yelled. "This is a special location where only Master Hands can meet up, and where my true powers are still yet to take hold." As Kirby watched with fear, Mario's white gloves ripped open to reveal the sides of Exor's hilt, his teeth becoming as sharp as literal sword blades, and the handle with the skull on the tip impaling Mario's cap, his eyes now fully glowing red with not just the irises.
"You want to rescue your friend, you'll have to go through me!" Exor snarled, setting Mario's transformed hands ablaze. Once Kirby and Exor ran towards each other, their fists clashed, causing them to hop back after the brutal force. Kirby was the first to get up, dragging forth his flaming hammer that pulsed hotter. He was about to hit Exor, but the possessed fighter grabbed ahold of the mallet, shooting a lightning bolt out of his hand. After Kirby was zapped, he quickly floated off, kicking with his feet. The pink puffball was whacking Mario's face, basically hurting Exor. With a powerful grab, Exor used Mario's body to throw Kirby in front of him, sending Kirby flying downward with a hand dunk.
Kirby would not give up as he quickly pulled out his Cutter sword, slashing at the possessed Mario. Just then, poisonous saliva drooled out of Mario's mouth, stunning Kirby when Exor spat on the pink puffball. As Kirby was dazed, Exor then used his Flame Stone ability, creating a massive blast around himself. Once Kirby was tossed onto the black opal floor of the Final Destination stage, he knew it would be over for him as he looked up to see a transformed Mario walk towards him, his hands ablaze. Who would have figured that rescuing his friends was harder than it looked, especially when he was so light in weight?
As soon as the weakened Star Warrior tried opening his eyes, he saw another figure looming over him. Once Kirby adjusted his vision, Mario's Fighter Spirit was showing himself, floating right next to the pink puffball.
"Now's your chance to strike back," the real Mario in Spirit form spoke. "Inhale my body and gain my Copy Ability. I'll be taking control for you." Kirby did not understand what Mario said, but Exor was walking closer, wiping the poison off his lips. The pink puffball them jumped up, putting on an aggressive face before Mario's Spirit vanished. Kirby then opened his mouth, breathing in as hard as he could. As Kirby inhaled, he pulled in Mario's body, and Exor could do nothing to escape. Once Kirby had the puppet fighter in his mouth, he swallowed, automatically spitting out Mario's body and gaining the Copy Ability. However, things were different for the pink puffball as he suddenly felt himself change. He began sporting the red cap Mario had, but the Smash Ball gleam flashed in his eyes as Kirby began seeing the memories Mario had: the adventures through the Mushroom Kingdom with Luigi to rescue Peach, sliding down pipes and obtaining Mushrooms and Fire Flowers, telling stories with Luigi about their interests and the fact that they have to face Bowser time-and-time again is what makes them tick, as well as other god-like beings. So many adventures that Mario went through all forgotten after his first appearance in Arcadia. Then, for Kirby, everything went dark.
Mario's Fighter Spirit took full control over Kirby's body, and now the pink puffball became a warrior of two minds. Exor in Mario's body merely looked at the new and improved Kirby, confused by what just happened after the Inhale move. Mario's Fighter Spirit then set Kirby's stubby hands on fire, ready to continue.
"Long-a time no see, Exor!" Mario's voice spoke out from Kirby. "You want-a to finish this?"
"Oh it's on, asshole!" Exor growled, the glowing-red eyes shining out from Mario's body. Kirby's body then started moving like Mario did, avoiding powerful attacks from Exor like Diamond Saw and Water Blast. Pulling out his F.L.U.D.D. device, Mario inside Kirby's body then heated the machine's tank with his fiery ability, spewing out scalding water. Blisters started forming on Exor inside Mario's body, causing him to scream in pain. Kirby's body then grabbed ahold of the puppet fighter, tossing him up into the air before following with a Super Jump Punch.
After a long series of whaling on Mario's body, Kirby landed down on the ground, ready to finish the wounded puppet fighter for good and bring his buddy back. Setting his stubby fists on fire one last time, Mario inside Kirby's body unleashed a powerful punch on Exor, causing Mario's body to fly into the blast zone of the Final Destination. After the fight was over and Kirby with Mario's Fighter Spirit emerged victorious, the stage and the background suddenly disintegrated, transforming into ashes and revealing nothing but the blackness of space. Mario's body emerged from the darkness in front of Kirby, Exor still trapped inside.
"Think this is over yet!?" Exor sneered. "You may be strong but think again!" Mario's body then suddenly formed the barrier that all of the other puppet Spirits had before, his arms spread apart as the six wings surrounding Galeem were present. Kirby's body looked around, seeing Shadow Bugs emerge from huge vortexes and surround them, engulfing everything. The golden gun with rainbow flames suddenly appeared in Kirby's small arms, and Mario took control of the pink puffball's body as he pointed the weapon at his own body.
"Time to get myself back into the real world," Mario's voice spoke out from Kirby, the red plumber's Fighter Spirit funneling himself into the gun. With a press of the trigger, Kirby sniped the puppet fighter, using Mario's Spirit as ammunition. With a mighty blast, Mario's Spirit was reunited with his body, and Exor was knocked out. As soon as the barrier disappeared and white light emerged from where there was once the red plumber, the Legendary Master Spirit Exor felt himself become drawn into Kirby's pink body.
"Oh, no," Exor cried, noticing the six wings that surrounded the barrier were now glass-like shards swirling around him. "The Lock is broken on this fighter, and Galeem's gonna be so pissed when he find out!" The sword-like Spirit then went into Kirby's body, and with him were the shards. Kirby's eyes then started glowing white, blinding the area he was trapped in.
Kirby slowly woke up again, noticing something was different about him. As he looked at his body, he noticed he had glowing golden irises and a rainbow aura covering his body. On his forehead, Kirby felt a strange, spherical gemstone in the shape of the Smash Ball, swirling in multiple colors and shown to have a black cross off-center. The pink puffball suddenly remembered this was the exact same situation when Sonic was having these visions, but something was different about the place. For one, the world around him was different… like VERY different. The sky was gleaming crystal blue with clouds in all sorts of colors, and the grass had more of a vegetation-like texture. Hills and mountains were smoothed out, and there were all sorts of weirdly-shaped trees, each one in all sorts of the rainbow spectrum too. Strange flowers bloomed all around him, and the sounds of waterfalls and singing birds filled the fresh, clean air. Before the pink puffball could figure out anything else about the strange environment, deep roaring and a fast gush of wind emerged from up above behind him.
Scaring the living hell out of Kirby so much was some sort of enormous dragon, its silver wings twice as long as its torso. Kirby, now shaking, looked up to see the aluminum-coated dragon fly off into the sky towards the mountains. The pink puffball, not losing sight of it, followed the dragon to a nearby cave. Catching his breath, Kirby peeked out from the entrance to see the aluminum-coated dragon, his silver horns and glittering spikes, placing some sort of mushed-up meal of fishes and meat in a wooden bowl in front of what appeared to be his mate. The aluminum-coated dragon's wife's scales were patterned to be tropical in color, and she looked down next to her three unique eggs.
"It's almost time, Metallio," the female dragon spoke lovingly. "Almost time for our children to breath their first breath of Arcus' air…" The three eggs were each colored differently, and they were starting to shake. The first egg was coated in fiery red with black splotches, the second one was a pure white with orange-and-blue glitter like the cosmos, and the third was coated black, with the rainbow design imprinted on it like a folded angel's wing.
"Here comes one now, Toropikaru," Metallio answered, the two dragons watching as the fiery-red egg was the first one to hatch. Kirby carefully snuck into the cave, trying to catch a good glimpse on the three newborn dragons. Emerging from the first egg was a black-coated dragon, his flaming wings stretching out like a phoenix, and that gesture is what his parents decided to call him.
"Welcome to the planet of Arcus, little Phoenix," Metallio spoke, stretching his silver wing to cradle the baby dragon. The second egg coated in white cracked open as a tiny, white dragon crawled out of his shell. When he unfurled his two large wings, they were chaotically colored of deep-space blue and flaming-star orange.
"Hello there, Galeem," Toropikaru spoke, nuzzling her face into the newborn. When Kirby heard the dragon call one of her children Galeem, he became angry enough to run towards the infant. However, when the pink puffball was about to attack, he simply passed through the dragons like a ghost. Kirby was frightened that he can't interact with these beasts, so all he could do was sit and watch. The last egg started rumbling, and the egg shells started flying out in all directions that the parents had to shield themselves and the newborns from the scattered pieces. Crawling out of the black, rainbow-coated egg was a tiny black-coated dragon, her spikes and claws flashing gray and her wings unfolded to reveal the most beautiful rainbow spectrum anyone had ever seen. Both Metallio and Toropikaru leaned their heads in to greet the last one to arrive in their family.
"Boy, she's tough for a newborn," Metallio chuckled as he felt the baby dragon attempt to claw his face with her pillow-soft talons. Toropikaru then nuzzled the baby dragon gently, rubbing her muzzle against the black-scaled infant.
"This one is special," Toropikaru sighed as their baby daughter growled with a tiny snarl. "One might even say she's the center of her own universe. She may not act like it now, but she is destined for something greater, which is why we named her… Ultima." The tropical-coated dragon's husband then sat down next to her, admiring the three adorable children they brought together. Rubbing his cuddly face, Kirby did not understand what was going on, the Smash Ball on his forehead pulsing brighter. Just then, Kirby saw that the environment was glowing brighter in white, and the pink puffball was determined to know more before he simply vanished.
Kirby was slowly trying to open his eyes, unaware of what happened. When the pink puffball adjusted his vision, he saw Piranha Plant and Faker, both of them outside of their golden cages. Groaning while sitting up, Kirby rubbed his head to find out they were on the same pathway as before, in the grassy field and all. However, the sky was getting darker as the sun in the forest was setting. The Tyrannosaurus Rex was gone, theorizing that it presumably walked away after time passed by.
"After you defeated the puppet fighter we came across, you freed us from the cages we were stuck in," Faker said, the Piranha Plant helping Kirby up.
"If you're wondering what happened to Mario, well…" Faker continued, pointing down on the ground next to where Kirby was laying. There, fully unconscious, was Mario's body. Kirby, alarmed, ran towards the rescued fighter, hugging the red plumber tight. Just then, an incoming transmission rang on Faker's device. The brown-skinned warrior pressed the button once, and E. Gadd was speaking through this time.
"What happened?" E. Gadd asked. "Did you manage to rescue someone?"
"We sure did," Faker answered.
"Good!" E. Gadd spoke. "We'll be transporting you three and your special guest up here shortly. We'll be planting that beacon here for your next visit." Kirby then took off his device off his nonexistent shoulder, tying his and Mario's wrists together with the gadget. The three adventurers, including Mario, were just then fading into blue before being whisked away straight high back onto the Undying Light, leaving the beacon behind.
As dawn came straight from the mountains, the rays of sunlight hit Mario's face. The red plumber slowly got up, rubbing his face. His eyes were not glowing red anymore, and they were back to their usual blue color.
"Mamma mia… what happened…?" Mario moaned, sitting up. As he looked around, he noticed he was in one of the many beds in a strange room, and in front of him was the poster Kirby drew before, with the whole gang back together again. Just then, Mario heard a knock on the room's door.
"Hello?" a voice asked. "Is it fine if I come in?"
"Sure," Mario answered, unaware of the environment he was in. The door opened, and Faker walked in, the black-haired, brown-skinned warrior in her pajamas.
"I was learning how to make breakfast," Faker said, holding a tray with a plate in her hands. "My work's still a little sloppy, but I hope you enjoy." She placed the tray on Mario's lap, and in the plate was a half-burned mess of what was hard to figure out but was apparently eggs and bacon.
"Uh… thanks-a," Mario replied, taking a fork and knife in his hands. Placing a piece of the breakfast meal in his mouth, Mario began quietly chewing the meal with his lips closed. The texture really left something on Mario's taste buds alright, but it was not delicious. After Mario spat out the food in his mouth, he wiped his lips and tongue, trying to get the awful taste out of his mouth.
"Told you I wasn't a great cook," Faker nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck.
"No, it's alright," Mario answered, pushing the meal in front of him. "You at least get credit for trying." Walking into the room behind Faker was the Piranha Plant and Kirby, both relieved to see Mario back in his old self again.
"Mario!" Kirby cheered, hugging the red plumber.
"Nice-a to see you again, Kirby," Mario replied, returning the hug. "I knew you could-a do it…" Just then, Mario noticed the Piranha Plant next to Faker, curious on how a generic enemy like that snuck on board.
"A Piranha Plant?" Mario asked, breaking the hug between him and Kirby. "What's a Piranha Plant doing here?" Faker noticed the carnivorous flower next to her, and she turned her attention to Mario.
"Well, it's a long story," Faker answered. "We were still learning so much about this world, and we don't know everything we need to know. We're hoping you could help us, since you were under Galeem's control…" Mario looked down, straightening his red cap and blue overalls.
"Show me around the base we're all at," Mario said, getting up from the bed. "I want to-a learn about where you're hiding from Galeem, and in return I can give you all I know about the Seraph of Order, as well as what he is doing with the other fighters."
"When the rest of our friends and I were separated from our bodies," Mario explained, walking with Kirby and Piranha Plant around the ship and getting acquainted with the crew, "we managed to catch a glimpse of what Galeem managed to do. The Mii Fighters and the Subspace Army were enslaved after Tabuu's capture. It didn't really matter who or what kind of Spirit Galeem grabbed, he forced all of them to take full control of the petrified Mii Fighters."
"And were the Skylanders part of the Spirits?" Flynn asked, piloting the ship from above.
"Yes… some Skylanders were even part of the captured Spirits," Mario answered, knowing the question had nothing to do with the situation. The red plumber then turned towards Kirby and Piranha Plant.
"Anyway," Mario continued, "he took our own bodies, transformed into trophies and tied up, and he poured some sort of mysterious golden liquid onto us. It's not clear exactly what, even though we theorized it must've been melted Shadow Bugs, but he managed to clone at least eight puppet fighters from us. Galeem then forced the Spirits, both Normal and Master, to take control of these stone-cold warriors. They are known as the Supporters. As for the trophies they originated from, the Master Legendary Spirits went into them. To ensure no one would ever rescue them naturally without a fight to the death, he used the Smash Balls that were hidden inside our Fighter Spirits and created the Galeem Lock. Now that the Master Legendary Spirits are permanently fused to the warriors they chose, they would do anything for Galeem's bidding. They're known as the False Warriors, or Primaries. Whenever you defeat a Primary, the shards from the Galeem Lock fly into you and give you special warnings before fusing with its chosen Fighter Spirit again, waiting for its chance to wake up..."
"And what about the rest of us?" Saki asked, the glowing-green warrior cleaning his gun.
"You all may be hiding for now, but sooner or later Galeem's going to find us," Mario answered. "The Primaries and their Supporters are Galeem's eyes, so the seraph can see our every move. People left and right are transported to this planet without their physical forms, taken captive from Galeem's forces and bosses to power more petrified vessels of Mii Fighters. Now there are hardly anyone free from that monster…" Kirby placed his stubby hand on Mario's shoulder, looking at the red plumber with a determined face.
"I'm at least-a glad you're okay," Mario said, rubbing Kirby's head as he knelt down. "The stone given to you by your woman friend… it may be holding some extraordinary powers. Therefore, whenever you used that signature Inhale move on the opponent you're facing, the Copy Ability that you take from said enemy is actually one of the Fighter Spirits based off that enemy. After you inhale a Primary, the Fighter Spirits take over your mind and do the rest of the fighting. You may have seen flashes of our long-forgotten memories, right?" Kirby nodded, rubbing his cheek.
"That gemstone is-a linking our souls into one, allowing us to share all of our memories, so I see yours and you see mine, even if we forget what our own memories even looked like," Mario kept explaining. "You may have seen something else after you reunited my Spirit with my body, right? Somehow, those flashes from the Galeem Lock shards and that strange stone are linking their powers to tell you something." Aware of what Mario was talking about, Kirby nodded, the Piranha Plant trying to understand everything the red plumber said. Mario then got up, straightening his cap.
"Show me," Mario said. Running back and forth to the room with several beds, Kirby grabbed a sheet of paper and coloring crayons, scribbling what he pictured after saving Mario. A minute or two passed, and the pink puffball presented to the red plumber what he drew. When Mario took the picture, he noticed it was like a children's drawing, but it was mainly two dragons in a cave – one silver-coated dragon named Metallio, and another with a tropical-themed armor called Toropikaru. In the nest they were laying down on, there were three, multi-colored eggs present, and the three baby dragons from before labeled by the names Kirby could remember: Phoenix, Galeem, and Ultima. Before Mario was about to say anything else, Sticks the Jungle Badger slid down the ladder to the ship's cockpit.
"Trouble with the beacon," Sticks said. "It's not visible on our map! You three better get down there at once! Meet us up at the deck. At least be grateful we're above where you last left it." The glowing-green Spirit then climbed back to the cockpit. Kirby and Piranha Plant looked at Mario, ready to go. Shortly after, the three fighters ran up to the deck, leaving Faker behind. The brown-skinned woman, now in her dragon-armor uniform, looked at the hand-drawn picture Kirby dropped, studying it after picking it up. Since she had no idea what it was, Faker did not know how to reply as she looked up the ladder, seeing Mario, Piranha Plant, and Kirby run through the cockpit to outside the deck.
