"Over here!" Faker called out. "I see it!" The amnesiac warrior alerted Mario and the gang about the lake they were supposed to cross over, and the fighters all ran to that location. What they saw was a mesmerizing lake, crystal-clear as the water surface reflected the sunlight. There was no wind, so it was almost like looking at a mirror.
"…This where we going?" Joker asked, pointing to an airport located on an island in the middle of the lake. Mario nodded as an answer, heading to a wooden dock.
Once Faker, Joker, and Mario stood over the edge of the dock, Marth, Snake, Olimar, Mega Man, PAC-MAN, Pichu, Donkey Kong, Duck Hunt, Lucas, and Isabelle crowded over to see the airport. They knew there was a bigger world to get across.
"Here we are," Mario sighed. "All we have to do is get across to the island."
"Yeah… about that…" Snake objected. As the mercenary had noticed, not a single one of the fighters could swim. Even if they did, the water was still freezing-cold, and they were sure to drown before they even got to the airport.
"Any bright ideas?" Marth asked his friends. Each of the fighters looked away from the Hero-King, not knowing what to do. That is, until Joker suddenly remembered something. There was an empty speedboat near the dock, but it seemed like none of them could drive it. The Phantom Thief noticed that back at the abandoned village was Kapp'n from Villager's and Isabelle's world, who was driving the bus.
"Why don't we take a seat in that speedboat?" Joker asked, pointing towards the water vehicle next to the dock. As soon as Joker said that, the Kapp'n Spirit appeared, starting up the speedboat's engine.
"What're y'all scallywags doin' here?" Kapp'n asked. "Hop on for a one-way ticket around the world!" The fighters began crowding onto the boat, and Faker was the last one to find a seat on the boat. The Spirit, seeing that no one was left behind, pulled away from the dock and sailed to the airport.
At first, everything seemed to be going smoothly. The misty freshwater splashed on the speedboat's sides, some of the drops landing into the boat. The fighters were partially wet with only their hairs a bit messed from the water, but Isabelle and Duck Hunt were drenched.
"…This is going to stench my uniform!" Isabelle pouted, wringing her skirt. Faker chuckled by that situation and warmed her hands with the Fire Rainbolement. The dragon-clothed warrior dried up the two dogs while also removing their smelly aromas. All of a sudden, when things seemed peaceful, and the group of Smashers were almost at the airport, Mario started remembering something. Joker noticed this drastic change in realization.
"What's the matter?" the Phantom Thief asked.
"Didn't the Werewolf warn us about something before he was supposedly captured?" Mario asked. "When we get to the airport, shouldn't we keep an eye out for-"
LOOK OUT!" Snake exclaimed, pointing to up front of the speedboat. The mercenary instantly saw a large geyser of bubbles erupting in front of the airport island, and everyone had noticed in time. A large, slithering body had quickly emerged from the geyser, causing a rather large wave to splash right in front of the speedboat. The Kapp'n Spirit managed to kill the engines in time, stopping as the large wave crashed upon the fighters. The Smashers saw they were soaking wet, and Isabelle seemed disappointed that this was the second time that happened to her.
"It's the Pokémon we have to worry about!" Marth yelled, pulling out his Falchion. "The legendary Rayquaza!" The lake-dwelling Pokémon unleashed a deafening roar. Grabbing the speedboat, Rayquaza flung all of the passengers onto the shore of the airport island. The fighters quickly jumped out and stood their ground, with the monstrous beast sent out by Galeem to attack them.
"Whatever guns or powers you have, fire at that thing!" Faker yelled, creating electricity through her fingertips. When Rayquaza slithered in front of them, it glared with red eyes before charging up an electrical ball. Mario, Donkey Kong, Lucas, and Snake ran to its tail and began attacking, knowing the tail is it's entire body. Not noticing the four Smashers were hitting it, Rayquaza unleashed it's fully-charged electrical ball at the rest of the gang. Faker zipped out in time before attacking with fireballs, Olimar, Mega Man, and Duck Hunt got hit, and Joker quickly grabbed Isabelle and Pichu in his arms before hopping out of the way. The Phantom Thief quickly let go of the two adorable fighters as soon as they got behind, and they began lashing out at the Pokémon's back.
Rayquaza apparently knew what was happening and quickly flew towards Duck Hunt, Mega Man, and Olimar, whipping out its tail to attack. The Hocotate captain threw his Pikmin, which stuck to the Pokémon's iron-tough skin, while Duck Hunt and Mega Man began spamming projectiles. With another deafening roar, the legendary Rayquaza sparked electricity throughout its body, killing off Olimar's Pikmin. As soon as the fighters saw the Pokémon taking off into the sky, coated in lighting bolts and the multicolored ghosts of Pikmin, they knew they had to get ready for what happened next.
Each of the Smashers began dodging the currents of air sparked with lightning, trying to avoid getting hit as the Pokémon began spinning circles around them. It seemed as though Rayquaza would not stop getting tired flying around, but the Smashers definitely were. Being one of the fighters that was exhausted, Joker quickly turned to Faker. The Phantom Thief quickly grabbed ahold of Pichu and gave it to the amnesiac dragon warrior.
"You two quickly jump onto that creature's back!" Joker exclaimed, keeping his head low from the Pokémon's attacks. "Drive that thing back into the lake!"
"Are you crazy!?" Faker asked, with Pichu cuddled in her arms. Joker placed a hand on Faker's shoulder, pulling off his mask. Blue flames burned on his face as a figure formed behind him again.
"Arsene! Now!" Joker yelled.
"With pleasure," Arsene answered calmly, grabbing Faker and Pichu in his wide, arm-like appendages. The main Persona of the Phantom Thief aimed and tossed the two beings onto Rayquaza's back. Trying to handle the pain that the Pokémon was creating, both Faker and Pichu latched onto its skin as the legendary creature dived down upon the crowded group of fighters on the ground.
Once Faker and Pichu used their thunder-related powers, Rayquaza's own powers started going out of control as the two fighters dragged it higher into the air. Trying to both scratch Faker and Pichu off with its small arms and long tail, Rayquaza was unsuccessful as it had lost momentum in its body. Once the electricity reached a breaking point, the Pokémon dived back into the lake, unaware of Faker and Pichu still holding on. As soon as Rayquaza's made contact with the water, the two fighters quickly jumped off, landing in front of their team members scorched in black. The group then saw the lake sparking with bolts of lightning. After the sudden burst of electricity distributed throughout the water, a few fish floated onto the water's surface, immobilized. Rayquaza's body also floated to the surface, its eyes open and its mouth agape, instantly confirming the Pokémon was presumed dead.
Exhausted from the intense fight, the team members walked towards the Ace-Spirit Kapp'n, who was next to the wreckage of the speedboat they travelled in.
"If yer askin' if yer sorry, then I forgive ye," Kapp'n answered. "I can always fix this precious treasure when we get back. Until then, howsabout I show ye the plane we be takin'?"
"Dude, you insane?" Joker asked. "We can't simply take planes unless we work here."
"Don't ye landlubbers worry," Kapp'n spoke in his stereotypical sailor accent. "This place has been abandoned for as long as anyone can remember. I can pilot ye all around the world in just a few days."
"…Okay?" Snake asked. The Smashers followed the Spirit into the airport, heading out onto the landing dock to look for the first plane they see. After finding an airplane, Faker created a stairway out of the concrete on the walkway, providing a way into the plane for the fighters. After everyone took their seats in first class, Kapp'n went up to the plane's cockpit, with Faker serving as captain.
"I… don't know how this works," Faker asked the Spirit, nervous as she slipped on her headset.
"We're all nervous the first time, maiden with a mermaid's beauty," Kapp'n noted, flicking some of the switches on. "All ye have to do is keep an eye on the sky and help navigate to our destination." A monochrome map appeared on a small screen on the control panel. However, it seemed like the plane had a mind of its own and instantly alerted an unchanged destination.
"Attention, Smashers," Faker spoke over the plane's speakers. "It looks like our next destination's at… Beijing, China. Please keep your seatbelts nice and tight, avoid smoking on board, and… is that it? I'm confused, regardless. Anyway, we'll be taking off, so until then I'm asking all of you to have a nice trip. And hopefully not die from Galeem's forces." Each of the fighters buckled their seatbelts, preparing for liftoff.
Through careful examination, Kapp'n and Faker made sure that all systems are go before taking off. Once the plane had achieved departing from the airport island, the plane's systems were somehow rigged so that only to where they were traveling was another destination, almost as if another pilot was at the cockpit. Either way, the flight seemed relaxing as the fighters were high in the sky, waiting to see the world of Gallia, which was somehow similar to the current planet we know today as Earth.
Hours had passed, and the sun was setting over the sky. Donkey Kong, Lucas, Olimar, PAC-MAN, and Duck Hunt fell fast asleep in their seats while Mario, Marth, Mega Man, and Joker were still up. The Phantom Thief peered close to the window, letting Pichu and Isabelle doze off in his arms. They had been like this for a while now, and the rest of the fighters that were about to fall asleep were suddenly alerted by Kapp'n and Faker. The Smashers slowly stirred up, ready to hear an announcement from the Spirit.
"Attention, folks," Faker spoke. "We're arriving at Beijing, China. Don't know why, but we're here anyway. Please stay seated until we land… or something like that…" The Smashers looked out of their windows, looking above the Great Wall of China. As though it still had a mind of its own, the plane dived down for landing inside this strange land, even though there was no road to park. Try as he may, Kapp'n could do nothing to stop the peculiar landing. It seemed as though the trees could not scrape the hull pf the plane as it simply touched the ground as though it was a smooth landing.
The fighters quickly got out of the plane, walking through the strange forest of Beijing, China. As they looked around, they saw mountainous landscapes in the distance, along with maidens clothed in traditional rain outfits to harvest the rice from the fields. The maidens were all blue-colored Spirits, earning them a spot in Novice class.
"Are… we supposed to be here?" Joker asked.
"If we need to at least draw Galeem's forces back into the origin spot in the World of Light, then probably yes," Mario answered. "Everyone stay with-a me and don't lose focus."
"What about Faker and that Kapp'n Spirit?" Snake asked.
"I think they preferred to stay behind while we go and do our job," Isabelle answered. "Now enough talking! Let's get going!" The cute dog walked off, ready to find these opponents that would possibly meet them here due to the change of events unnoticed by Galeem's all-seeing eyes. However, before the fighters took another step, a large stone about Kirby's size landed right in front of them. After they were shocked, the Stone quickly reformed, revealing it to be a blue-colored Kirby Supporter. Isabelle was also terrified by this drastic change in events and quickly turned around to see this puppet fighter in the center of the gang. A dark-blue dressed Zero Suit Samus Supporter hopped alongside the Kirby Supporter, and each of the Smashers suddenly heard rustling from the trees.
Hopping down from the branches were troops of Light Puppets: clones of the fighters that Galeem had captured, made out of purely-concentrated light to form servants that mimic each fighter. Each one of those puppets was light-blue with white auras and red eyes. Hopping in front of the Kirby Supporter was a Zero Suit Samus Supporter, dressed in a dark blue and waving her legs in front of her body.
"Hope this plan works, otherwise we've traveled here for nothing," Joker noted, firing away at his pistol. Each Light Puppet, when seeing that few of their kind were shot down, began charging at the group of fighters. Olimar, Donkey Kong, PAC-MAN, Snake, Mega Man, Marth, Lucas, Isabelle, Duck Hunt, and Pichu began targeting the Light Puppets, while Mario and Joker went against the Supporters. With their special quirks, the Smashers hacked through each Light Puppet, each one noticing those clones were as weak as the Fighting Mii Team.
"…What's the plan again!? I've lost track due to all these fighters attacking!" Joker asked, grasping the Zero Suit Samus Supporter's legs and twisting them, making her cry in pain in a voice similar to the bounty Hunter.
"We have to defeat these puppets to draw them into the island we came from!" Mario answered, grabbing and throwing the blue Kirby Supporter. "After every location we appear in, we must defeat the main Supporters and chase the Light Puppets around the world until we get them back to the main area in Gallia."
"You really think so?" Joker questioned, kneeing the Zero Suit Samus Supporter in her crotch.
"Don't ask me what I think!" Mario resounded, setting his hands on fire and knocking out the Kirby Supporter. "The Werewolf didn't explain the plan very well so I just came up with my own conclusions!"
"Thanks a lot for not thinking thoroughly, asshole!" Joker growled, shooting the Zero Suit Samus Supporter in the head with his pistol. "We get to a strange location similar to Beijing, China, and only now you come up with this 'brilliant' plan!?"
"Mario! Joker!" Marth interrupted, running towards the two fighters. "Looks like Mr. Video Game himself might be right with his plan after all. See the outnumbered Light Puppets? They're fleeing…" The Hero King pointed towards the light clones, observing how they were starting to compress into nothing more than beams of light and leave the surrounding area. The Supporters that we're killed before turned into Shadow Bugs, with the Spirit inhabiting the Kirby one being a Novice Pianta from Delfino Island and the Zero Suit Samus one being an Ace Chun-Li. Both of the Spirits flew away from the location.
"Oh, of course," Joker sighed with a sarcastic tone. As soon as their fight was over, the airplane they were next to started flickering its headlights. Faker began waving her hand through the window, ready to take the plane off the ground. Once the Smashers got inside, Joker say next to Mario, taking the left window seat.
"…Mario?" Joker asked. "Sorry for calling you an asshole before. It's just we came here unprepared until now…"
"It's okay," Mario answered. "It's-a hard knowing what to do in a world that wants to kill you." Once the plane took off the forest ground, it began to fly to its next destination.
"Joker?" Mario continued with a question. "I'm worried about what might have happened to Kirby since that was a pure-bred Supporter we faced, Spirit and all. Do you think the Lord of Light may have captured the pink puffball?"
"Galeem hasn't caught me or the members of my little band of survivors yet," Joker responded. "It's hard to know since he is a master of tricks. He would do anything to keep his world perfect."
"Attention. This is Faker speaking," Faker spoke through the plane's speakers. "Our next stop's at… Rio de Jenario, Brazil… did I pronounce that right, Kapp'n? Anyway, that place is also where those Light Puppets fled to. We better be careful there since there could be more of Galeem's army troops gathered up at the same location…"
As the sun began to set, the plane flew over the famous Christ the Redeemer statue as the crew arrived at the capital of Brazil: Rio de Jenario. There was a landing pad at the local airport, but the plane itself seemed to have decided to park in the jungle next to the city to avoid being towed away for unlicensed parking. As the fighters looked into the distance, they each saw a fire in the middle of Rio de Jenario. Knowing this could only be the work of Galeem's army, the team had decided to investigate.
Once they had arrived into the heart of the city, the Smashers saw more of the Light Puppets, including those that they chased off before, accompanied by a black-colored Kirby Supporter and a green Donkey Kong, who was equipped with a Screw Attack. The troops were causing havoc and jamming up traffic, terrorizing the civilian Spirits that were simply minding their own business. The Smash Brothers approached their enemies, ready to attack.
While the fighters started attacking the rivals that clearly were weaker in quality than quantity, Joker helped Isabelle and Pichu back away the civilians. The Kirby Supporter swung his hammer around and the Donkey Kong Supporter jumped in the air and used the Screw Attack ability, but they were both overpowered by the small number of rescued fighters. The battle only took a few minutes, and there was nothing but the desolation of the street left behind by Galeem's troops. The Light Puppets retreated away from Brazil, and the Spirits of King Bob-omb and Blanka, who was from Ryu's and Ken's world, left the location.
"Okay, people," Joker warned. "There's nothing to see here. Head on home…" The fighters then went back to the airplane, flying to Moscow, Russia.
It was night when the Smashers arrived in that side of Europe, and there was a heavens snow shower to top the windy weather off too. This peaceful block of museums and theaters in the middle of winter, according to the current timeline, was being mutilated by more Light Puppets, some of them feeling more cowardly when the Smashers approached them. An Incineroar Supporter possessed by Zangief, who was coated white with tints of red, was leading the raid, ready to use his strong throws on the fighters ready to battle. The fight also didn't take long, since both the Zangief Spirit was freed from his Supporter prison and more Light Puppets had retreated from Moscow.
The Smashers' next location was at San Francisco, California. The morning sun rose over a shining river, gleaming on the Golden Gate Bridge. Just like before, there was a massacre on the bridge's road caused by a larger number of Light Puppets. They were all crowded at one location, and they were led by a Little Mac Supporter dressed in yellow. The Spirit possessing the puppet fighter was Balrog from Ryu's and Ken's world. Clogging the bridge with overturned cars with Novice-class Spirits of humans still trapped inside them, the army sent by Galeem was creating a mess of things… until the Smashers took matter into their own hands once more.
Another location in the world of Gallia was saved thanks to the fighters, and they proceeded to travel to Portugal, Spain. There was a seaside city made out of stone, and there were stores and flea markets sabotaged by a bigger army of Light Puppets, which was becoming more difficult to fight against as their numbers grew. Leading the attacks was a Meta Knight Supporter cloaked in black with a dark red cape, possessed by the Spirit of Vega. The Smashers arrived however and went through a longer battle than the previous ones, though they emerged victoriously once more.
Seoul, the capital of South Korea, was a sight to behold. There was buildings and skyscrapers decorated like a blanket of stars, shining as far as the eye can see. There was also a small number of flaming towers that disrupted the scenery, caused by a humongous number of Light Puppets. They were all led this time by Sagat, who was inside the body of a light blue-clothed Ryu Supporter. When the Smashers arrived to take care of this once more, the results were obvious to earn the rescued fighters a victory. The surviving Light Puppets fled, and the airplane the Smashers Brothers had traveled in promised them one more location before they would finally force all the Light Puppets in the world to retreat back to the island the fighters woke up in.
The sun was setting over Tokyo, Japan. Semi-futuristic vehicles and robots stopped dead in their tracks, and more Novice-class civilian Spirits fled by a marching army of Light Puppets, all gathered up in a massive number. This time, they were all led by a Primary, being none other than Ryu himself. Once the Smashers arrived to stop the army from spreading terror on these streets, the Ryu Primary, with hand signatures, commanded the Light Puppets to surround the fighters. The captured fighter then had the puppets lower their weapons as he already approached the Smashers.
"You will regret the day you came across M. Bison and his troops," M. Bison's voice spoke from Ryu's body. As a matter of fact, he was the Master Legendary Spirit possessing the white-clothed martial artist. The Ryu Primary then noticed Joker in the small group of fighters. The captured warrior approached the Phantom Thief and grabbed his face.
"You're not from around here, are you?" the Ryu Primary asked, watching Joker squirm in his clutch. "A peculiar specimen. Nothing more than a chickened-out kid…"
"I… am not a chickened-out kid!" Joker snapped, pulling out his dagger and slashing across the Ryu Primary's face. The captured fighter quickly clenched his face in pain while the Phantom Thief rubbed his own cheekbones from the aching feeling of his face grasped so tightly.
"You shouldn't have done that, Joker!" Marth explained. "According to some of our friends, M. Bison was one of the leaders of the Subspace Army, and he'll get really pissed if anyone thinks they can approach him…" The Ryu Primary rubbed the blood off his face, quickly grabbing ahold of Joker by the neck.
"Kill them all," the captured fighter snarled. The Light Puppets quickly raised their weapons and closed in on the other Smashers while both the Ryu Primary and Joker went through a vortex and traveled to a different location.
Joker started feeling the ground itself was almost wooden, with the sky glowing a hazy red. There was some sort of ancient castle dojo in the background. As the Phantom Thief was slowly getting up, he felt his face starting to be crushed by the barren foot from the Ryu Primary he was facing.
"So you're one of the few survivors of Galeem's blast," M. Bison's voice growled through Ryu's body. "You're a lucky kid. I couldn't even avoid that bitch of a seraph." The Ryu Primary then stepped off of Joker's face and took in the power of the Final Destination version of Suzaku Castle, spawning a red cape behind his back. Floating in midair, the transformed Ryu Primary looked down upon Joker with glowing-red eyes and flaming-black fists, diving down towards the Phantom Thief. The Primary unleashed a fiery Hadoken, which traveled along the ground. Joker quickly jumped off the ground and pulled off his mask, unleashing Arsene once more. The Phantom Thief quickly jumped onto the Ryu Primary's back, slashing his face with his dagger while avoiding getting clawed by the captured fighter's tough hands.
Back in the city of Tokyo, Mario and his crew began fighting the Light Puppets. Olimar, PAC-MAN, Marth, Lucas, Isabelle, Duck Hunt, Pichu, Donkey Kong, Mega Man, and Snake protected Mario while they threw out their special attacks and abilities. Though the Light Puppets themselves were easier to launch than the Mii Fighters or Supporters, they were stronger in strength since there were so many. The Light Puppets began surrounding the fighters, closing in slowly. Suddenly, when the Light Puppets least expected it, some of them were being snagged by vines protruding from the ground and being swung around. Giant flytraps started growing at the buds of the vines, engulfing and devouring the swarms of Galeem's minions. Faker jumped in front of her friends, with green lights flowing from her fingertips. It was pretty obvious she was the one controlling the plants.
"Faker?" Marth asked.
"Yeah, clearly I have plant powers too!" Faker noted. "Pretty cool, huh?" The amnesiac warrior began summoning more plants against the Light Puppets, knocking a good number of them out. The rest of the team joined by her side too, kicking butt again and reducing the drastic number of thousands of Light Puppets to only a few hundred.
When the remaining Light Puppets saw they did not have a match against the Smash Brothers, they all easily surrendered. Even though the Light Puppets themselves could not speak, the Smashers already knew their enemies had no choice but to retreat back to the mystical island they all came from, and where the rest of the Smashers' friends are supposedly trapped. Disintegrating into beams of light, the puppets took off into the sky and went back.
A vortex appeared behind the group of fighters, and Joker emerged with a knocked-out Ryu in his arms. The Master Legendary M. Bison Spirit that had possessed the martial artist before appeared behind the Phantom Thief, coated in the white-misty fragments of the Galeem Lock.
"I must say you bested me, kid," M. Bison's Spirit told Joker. "If I ever get my body back, it's going to be your head on my dining plate." Just like that, the Spirit departed in the same direction as the Light Puppets. Thus, the world was cleared from Galeem's spreading armies… or at least most of anyway. Now that the fighters were done traveling around the world of Gallia, it was time to head back to the main island that they all came from.
Night arrived on the main island, and the crew was sailing back on Kapp'n's boat to the other side of the lake. Once the Smashers got off, Ryu slowly started waking up on the dirt road underneath the moonlight.
"Where… where am I?" Ryu asked, sitting up.
"It's okay," Joker replied. "I rescued you, meaning you're safe. Basically, we had to travel the world in order to stop Galeem's armies from spreading and draw them all back here…" While the Phantom Thief was talking, Faker had just started setting up a tent made out of leaves big enough for the gang to sleep in. Once the fighters crawled in for a good night's rest, Mario felt rather curious about Joker's power.
"I've been meaning to ask you something, Joker," the red plumber said. "Lately, when you go off to rescue out friends, we never see the way you fight, outside of your knife, pistol, and Arsene Persona. Do you think you can show us sometime?"
"In time, buddy," Joker answered as he rubbed Mario's cap, crawling into the tent made out of leaves.
