After a good night's rest, Faker managed to use her powers to lower the tent of leaves. The daylight shined on the faces of Joker, Marth, Mega Man, Mario, Donkey Kong, PAC-MAN, Olimar, Snake, Ryu, Lucas, Isabelle, Pichu, and Duck Hunt.
"Rise and shine," Faker whispered in Joker's ear. The Phantom Thief pushed her aside and rubbed his face. Mario and the gang also woke up to see they weren't attacked by the forces of light. They had also noticed that the Northern Barrier far up north was still pulling yellow as though it had not been touched yet.
"Weren't we flying around the world for a few days…?" Isabelle asked, tired.
"I just learned time flies when you're somewhere else around the world, meaning days are actually hours here," Faker answered. Each of the Smashers started getting up from the ground, knowing time speeds up outside of this exact island.
"Oh, I just remembered," Faker continued. "I found this pipe we were supposed to take…" The team then followed the amnesiac warrior to a large hill, back where the other group managed to rescue Link from the Galeem Lock. At the cliffside was the blue pipe accessed before.
"Guess we need to travel through and head to the mountains in the west on the other side," Marth noted, already climbing into the pipe. The Hero-King slipped through, and his friends jumped after him shortly later. The gang already appeared between the purple-fog smoke and then heart-shaped lake through the blue pipe.
"Looks like somebody already took care of something before we even figured out our plan," Snake said, noticing fragments of a shattered pink crystal in the middle of the heart-shaped lake. Joker then looked west to see the mountains they were supposed to travel through and instantly knew what they had to do right now.
"I'm betting right now we simply climb the mountains, travel through space to clear a path to the Galeem Void, and wait for our friends to help unlock the gate to the Sky Temple… is that correct?" Joker asked his friends.
"Precisely," Mario answered. "Now then…" The red plumber immediately took a path to the mountains, flicking his wrist and signaling his friends to come with him. The fighters started treading through a thin layer of snow the closer they got to the mountain range, and each one of them felt the temperature start to drop.
Minutes passed by, and it began snowing hard. A thin layer of white coated the heads of each Smasher, and Faker tried providing warmth by using the Fire Rainbolement to heat up all their clothes. Mega Man was starting to feel a bit stiffer due to the weather, and Isabelle and Pichu hopped into Joker's arms since they were so cold. As the heavy snow shower fell upon the mountains, Mario held out his hand to see a tiny clump of soft ice form in his palm.
"Not even the harshest of winters are as cold as Galeem's heart," Mario sighed, letting the snow melt in his hand. "I just don't understand. Why is it the light turns against us when we were THIS close to victory?"
"What do you mean?" Mega Man asked. "Isn't the light supposed to signal all the hopeful and good things in the world?"
"Obviously," Mario sighed. "But somehow this seraph that claims to be the Lord of Light has his own definition of evil. A lawful kind of evil. I mean… why even risk all this?"
"Risk what…?" Faker asked. The fighters stopped in the middle of the snow to hear what the team leader had to say.
"Risking the supposed deaths of hundreds of billions, changing the world both figuratively and literally… why?" Mario asked. "Galeem's choice to create the perfect world was plenty enough, and he doesn't care what happens to the landscape. Why does he now worry about his armies of Primaries dwindling? There's something more sinister at play, and we are all going in on it. Right?" The rest of his teammates nodded in agreement, knowing Galeem might have more tricks up his sleeve than they originally known.
"Thought so," Mario replied. The team continued with their mission of traveling through the mountains, with more minutes passing through. However, they suddenly came across icy paths that looked like they could not climb as much as slip and fall. Lucas began to run up the icy paths, but was unsuccessful as he simply slid down to the soft snow at the bottom.
"How are we gonna get over to the spaceship the Werewolf described?" Lucas asked. Each one of the fighters began thinking of ideas on how to get to the top. As Faker had tested, she could not melt the ice itself since it would simply refreeze again.
"I don't get it," Joker said. "Anything hot won't melt these icy paths. Almost as if they are controlled by some magic that is preventing us from traveling any further… I wonder which enemy it could be…" As soon as Joker finished, Mii Brawlers and Gunners under Galeem's possession ambushed the Smashers and had them surrounded. Walking out of the group of corrupted Mii Fighters was the Ice Climbers Primary.
"Didn't think we would bump into you people here," female voices spoke from the duo's bodies in unison. Aside from the other fighters getting triggered by the glowing-red eyes and the white aura of a Primary, Joker noticed those voices were somehow familiar. An image flashed between the two Ice Climbers, revealing a set of twins clothed in blue and sporting eyepatches: covering different eyes for each twin.
"Caroline and Justine?" Joker asked. The Phantom Thief's new friends were confused by what he meant by that. Because of that, he had to explain the two sisters to them.
"They served as prison wardens that helped fuse Personas together in the Metaverse in my world, back when they had served Igor… long before Igor was sealed away and replaced by Jaldabaoth, the Holy Grail," Joker told his companions in a brief sentence.
"Surprised you had managed to survive the onslaught upon our universe while you left us all to die," Caroline's side of the Master Legendary Spirit spoke from Popo's body.
"Now we are forced to serve Galeem as our Lord and Master for all eternity instead of Igor," Justine's side of the Spirit said from Nana's body.
"Ladies, please," Joker chuckled. "This is all just a big misunderstanding. I mean, you both know me. Can't we at least get along with one another? We know we don't want to see our friends suffer and you don't want to be forced into a vessel you're uncomfortable with- NOW!" Joker quickly dashed towards the Ice Climbers Primary, grabbing the 2-in-1 duo with both of his hands. As the captured fighters tried to whack the Phantom Thief with their mallets. A vortex instantly spawned between the three fighters, and both Joker and the Ice Climbers Primary were transported to another Final Destination-like area. Once the Primary and the Phantom Thief were gone, the corrupted Brawlers and Gunners started attacking the rest of the Smashers.
A flat stage carved from an iceberg appeared, and it really wasn't slippery despite being made out of ice. It was the Summit variation of the Final Destination, and Joker woke up to see possessed Nana and Popo wearing blue fancy hats and eyepatches like the Spirits that are possessing each individual one. The Ice Climbers Primary then began whacking icy projectiles with their mallets.
"I see they want to do this the hard way then," Joker said to himself. The Phantom Thief quickly placed his hand on his mask, his gray eyes flashing with the blue flames of Arsene as he used Rebel's Guard. Though the icy projectiles and the smash attacks from the Ice Climbers Primary did damage him, the damage was significantly reduced and granted him a second of super armor. Joker afterwards began firing with his gun, scratching the Eskimo-like fur coats with his bullets and causing the captured fighters to flinch.
The Ice Climbers Primaries then began holding hands and spinning around, attempting to hit Joker. The Phantom Thief quickly jumped up and used his Eiha spell, inflicting a damaging magic flame. Though it didn't deal much damage, it had lasting damage on the captured fighter duo. Joker then jumped again and grabbed Popo with his Grappling Hook, leaving Nana to panic in place. He tossed the lead off the stage, and while Nana was grabbing Popo, Joker pulled off his mask and released Arsene since his Rebellion Gauge was full.
Joker's gun was enhanced from Gun to Gun Special, firing three bullets at a time. The Phantom Thief was assisted by his main Persona, and the two attacked the Ice Climbers Primary. The captured fighters managed to spam their icy projectiles again, but Joker used Makarakarn to reflect them back. This did not stop the captured duo, however, as they rushed in with smash attacks. Luckily, Joker used Arsene to inflict the move Tetrakarn and knocked them off the stage.
"Eigaon!" Joker yelled, commanding his Persona to unleash a bigger, enhanced version of Eiha. Though Nana was hit by the move, Popo resisted and quickly grabbed Joker. Arsene was invincible and could not help the Phantom Thief in this situation. Joker was knocked off the stage, and the Ice Climbers Primaries were about to use their forward airs and end the Phantom Thief. However, Joker was not that easy to defeat. Arsene quickly grabbed the Phantom Thief and used Wings of Rebellion. The move itself was invincible despite lacking hitboxes and saved Joker from getting meteor-smashed. The Phantom Thief quickly jumped off the ledge, watching the captured fighters trying to recover. With one downward slash, Joker and Arsene instantly won the battle. All that was left to do was rescue the Ice Climbers themselves from the Galeem Lock and free both the fighter and the Master Legendary Spirit that had possessed said fighter.
As soon as Joker returned to the mountains with Ice Climbers snuggled in his arms, he saw that Mario and the gang also won against the Mii troops, and all that remained were footprints upon footprints in the thick snow.
"…Do I even need to ask?" Joker said. Some of the fighters laughed in response to that question shortly before seeing the Spirit and the white mist of the Galeem Lock floating off to the east. As soon as that fight was over, the icy paths thawed into stone stairs, and the Ice Climbers woke up.
"Popo! Popo!" Nana exclaimed. She was the first one to wake up, and she managed to hop out of Joker's arms with Popo in her clutches. The blue Eskimo slowly stirred back to conscious, seeing the face of his female, pink-coated teammate. The Ice Climbers hugged each other, knowing they were free from a terrible fate. The duo then saw the fighters they were allied with a the moment: Mario, Marth, Olimar, PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Lucas, Isabelle, Duck Hunt, Pichu, Mega Man, Snake, Ryu, and Joker, all accompanied by Faker.
"Who's that guy?" Popo asked, pointing at Joker since the two had obviously never seen the Phantom Thief before.
"He's a friend," Marth answered, "and he's going to help us save the universe."
"Hey, can we go now?" Lucas asked. "I've got a feeling that Galeem's forces are going to be back any moment. After all, the Light Puppets were pretty angry after we had trapped them on this island…" The team then began walking up the stone stairs, ready to head to their next goal: a spaceship that had been described by the Werewolf.
Near the power-hungry castle, Kirby's team was looking down the waterfall, seeing if there was a way to control the currents to get to the blue crystal.
"Any bright ideas on how to get down there, Gilbert?" Fox asked the Mii Swordfighter.
"I suppose if we latch onto the rock in the middle of the river, we could find a way through safely… that is, if the waterfall doesn't kill us first…" Gilbert answered.
"…Agreed," Fox sighed, stepping onto the edge of the waterfall with the Mii Swordfighter. Kirby, Piranha Plant, Sheik, Villager, Captain Falcon, Link, Dr. Mario, Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Inkling, Jigglypuff, Yoshi, and Lucario were just about ready to jump in to and hope the current carries them to their objective destination.
Clementine was the only one who was rather afraid to go into the water. The other fighters noticed the Inkling could not jump in. Lucario, being the only one to use telekinesis outside of Mewtwo, sensed what was wrong with Clementine by placing his hand on her shoulder and reading her mind.
"She can't jump into the water because of a history with her species," Lucario explained to his friends. "According to Clementine, Inklings get killed in the water due to the fact that her home planet's oceans are filled with toxic chemicals as the result of nuclear wars 12,000 years ago that had pretty much wiped out the human race. The Inklings, sensing that the water was dangerous to live in, moved out of the oceans and evolved into land creatures and have been afraid of natural water sources ever since."
"I don't know," Link objected, placing his hand in the cold water. "It's clean and pure to swim in."
"Maybe for you, but her species is highly sensitive to dangerous substances," Lucario answered. Clementine swallowed a lump in her throat, knowing that she could melt in the water if she wasn't careful, and there were no checkpoints to respawn in. The Inkling quickly pushed aside her friends to test the water for herself, clearly not used to clean waters. She began chirping in her own squid language, looking into the rushing currents and ready to stick her hand in.
"Inkling saying if she dies, we stay away from her funeral," Lucario continued. Gulping, Clementine instantly shoved her hand into the water, her heart beating fast. Much to her expectations, the waterfall really was clean and pure as she didn't feel her hand dissolve. She took it out of the water, seeing droplets roll down her naked arm and still feeling fine. She turned around and laughed, letting her friends know it was safe for her to swim in.
"Alright," Gilbert told everyone. "Guess we can go now." Kirby jumped in first, letting the waterfall's currents carry him to the rock in the center of the river. He hopped onto the rock and waved towards his friends, unharmed.
"Guess it's safe," Captain Falcon said before jumping in after the pink puffball. One at a time, each fighter was carried through the streams and ending up at the rock, and the only ones at the top completely dry were the Mii Swordfighter and the Inkling.
"It's gonna be alright," the ex-Ultimate Reborn told Clementine as he slowly lowered her into the stream. "Just don't panic and let the waters carry you to your destination…" The Inkling started feeling herself tossed and turned in the streams, but she wasn't hit by a single rock. Afterwards, she safely climbed onto the rock with her friends, followed by the Mii Swordfighter. Each of the Smashers noticed there was a hop, skip, and jump over another stream connected to the waterfall, and there was the blue crystal at the end of it.
"Now all we have to do is jump across and we'll be fine," Link told his friends, ready to jump across.
"I think that can be arranged," a voice said from a distance.
"Who said that!?" Gilbert asked, unsheathing his sword and quickly looking around. A figure jumped out from the shadows, leaping from such a ridiculous location: the top of the waterfall. When the figure landed, the fighters instantly made it out to be Pikachu.
"Who has the right mind to cross Morgana, mascot of the Phantom Thieves!?" the same voice spoke from Pikachu's body. As you can tell, Morgana is the Spirit possessing Pikachu right now.
"Galeem's orders are MY orders!" the Pikachu Primary spoke out, electricity shooting out from his cheeks. "One of you come up and face me now!"
"Stand back, people," Lucario told the group. "I've got this." The two Pokémon rushed towards each other, ready to attack as soon as a vortex warped them away. As soon as Lucario went to fight off the Pikachu Primary, the other fighters decided to jump to the other side of the stream. All of them did it successfully, and all they have to do before breaking the blue crystal open is wait for one of their teammates again…
"Do you hear something…?" Fox asked. Since he was an anthropomorphic fox, he had enhanced senses apart from the other fighters and started hearing faint footsteps. The Star Fox mercenary then began jumping up to the path they were on before, only peaking out as though he was hiding from something this time. The other fighters noticed Fox looking at something and went up the hill to join him.
"You guys really need to see this," Fox whispered, pointing towards the castle. From the distance was King Bulbin riding on his steed Lord Bullbo. The gates were opening, and what appeared to be all of the Bukoblins that served Galeem were riding into the castle. Pulled by many of the war boars were wagons of what appeared to be supplies.
"What do you suppose they're dragging in?" Gilbert asked.
"Whatever it is, it's-a high chance of bad," Dr. Mario answered.
"We better be careful, then," Little Mac told his friends. While the other Smashers were watching, Kirby looked up into the sky and saw Ryu's Galeem Lock, which was in the form of a white mist, combine itself with that of the Ice Climbers. The pink puffball was easily distracted and ran down the hill to get a closer look of the small cloud of glowing-white mist. Once Kirby touched it with his stubby hand, another vision triggered inside him.
The pink demon rubbed his eyes, seeing the rainbow Aura and golden eyes caused by the Smash Ball on his forehead. As Kirby began looking around, he noticed the stadium had already left the planet of Mizuku, home of the Water Rainbolement. There was only a year and about four months remaining for the ten-year Dragosmos training, and each student trained to the best of their ability.
Kirby then saw Phoenix sitting next to Katzen, the both of them watching the stars flash by. The violet diamond-coated dragoness was given an adventure of awe and wonder, and she knew how big and vast the solar system really was. It was so mesmerizing it was almost amazing.
"Phoenix?" Katzen asked. "Do you often get lonely…?"
"How come?" Phoenix asked.
"For almost ten years, you have been jealous of your brother's attention from the other dragons, and you are often isolated and alone," Katzen explained. "Why aren't you consulting Galeem about this?"
"Katzen, we had been over this so many times," Phoenix sighed. "I had to calm down and control my emotions for the goodness and well-benefit of others, despite how hurting it may be."
"Well, you might have to speak up at some point if it isn't right for you to be rejected all the time, Phoenix," Katzen told her mate, nuzzling into his neck. "I hope it isn't anything bad…"
"I hope so too," Phoenix finished, "especially when I am with you." The two dragons then saw the stars had stopped moving in the sky, and the stadium's engines stopped.
"Attention, Dragosmos," General Sozo spoke over the arena's speakers. "This is our last stop: Majikku, home of the Magic Rainbolement. This is the last of all seven Rainbolements, so make it count. We have only several months before we head back to Arcus and preform in front of Civiltatula, the City of Dragons. Only those that have preformed the best will finally join Lord Ceresor's side as a true Dragosmos. We hope you will all be ready by then. Line up at the door and we will start training outside of the stadium."
"Let's go," Katzen told Phoenix, flying away from the stage. Phoenix followed after her as he took off too. All of the students lined up at the door one last time, waiting for orders to be given by the two generals. Ultima walked close to her brothers Galeem and Phoenix, confident in their current behavior towards one another. The generals lined up at the door, ready to show them Majikku, a world of wonder.
As soon as the doors opened, the dragons were greeted to something never seen before. The planet itself was coated in long nights, meaning that the plants that grew here started flashing with dancing colors. The plants were a special kind of bioluminescent, meaning it was a literal show they presented. There were fairies dancing throughout the night sky, and strange creatures that were either undiscovered in Arcus or thought to have been extinct swam through calm rivers that we're perfect in temperature. As the dragons continued through the strange forest, satyrs riding on the backs of centaurs passed around them, blowing trumpets carved from the scorpion-like stingers of manticores. They all traveled to what appeared to be a humongous tree, one that seemed to dominate the tallest trees in Yangkatzu.
The branches were decorated in unearthly glows, almost like the stars in the sky. Living in holes were mythical beings found in fairy tales. A white horse that seemed to have both a unicorn horn and humongous wings, and it's glittery mane flowed behind it as it went into the center of the tree.
"Welcome to Majikku," Sozo told the Dragosmo students. "In this world, all sorts of creatures work together to create their perfect world, and the winged unicorns stand as their leaders, though they are all led by a queen." The Dragosmos all took off to the center of the tree, where all of the magical creatures gathered to meet up with the winged unicorns. Each one of those mythical horses had different coats similar to regular horses, and they all bowed down to greet the current ruler of Majikku: the Queen of the Winged Unicorns. The citizens of the planet stepped aside to greet the dragons that had came to train here.
"Generals Sozo and Hakai," the Queen of the Winged Unicorns spoke telepathically, her horn glowing as she addressed. "I see you brought new students with you to this planet. Welcome, travelers."
"We ask of your permission to use the Magic Amethyst again, your Majesty," Sozo told the queen. "These brave souls are almost there to becoming full Dragosmos, and all we need is one more of these elemental powers."
"It would be our pleasure to share our abilities with the likes of you," the Queen of the Winged Unicorns telepathized. She walked towards her wooden throne and touched the top of it with her horn. The throne itself unfurled to reveal the Magic Amethyst. Violet beams began shooting out in all directions, and each one pierced each Dragosmos student.
"The Rainbolement of Magic now flows within you," the queen spoke telepathically. "Train well and these abilities will change in how you react in battle…" The Dragosmos bowed and left the giant tree, ready to train one last time outside of Arcus. Before Kirby could learn about the training, the Smash Ball glowed again, and he was back in Gallia.
"Kirby? Are you okay?" Gilbert asked, poking the pink demon's face. Kirby sat up and noticed he was still where he was last left: near the road to the castle. Pikachu, who was freed from Galeem's possession, hugged Kirby tightly.
"You didn't miss much, so don't worry," Fox told the pink alien. "All you know is that Lucario saved Pikachu."
"Look over there!" Wii Fit Trainer called out, pointing towards the blue crystal. All the fighters looked in her direction, and each one of them noticed the crystal shattering in so many pieces. Once the explosion settled, the fighters saw another Spirit of the Master Advanced class, sporting a deep purple rose in her violet hair and wearing a dress sewn out of dark indigo leaves. She was the Eldest Fab Fairy.
"Thanks a bunch!" the Eldest Fab Fairy spoke. "I was getting really cramped up in there!"
"You're welcome," Lucario answered. "We managed to rescue your middle sister, and we're taking a guess that the youngest of your bunch was saved as well…"
"Wonderful!" the Eldest Fab Fairy sighed with relief. "However, before I go off to reunite with my sisters, I was hoping if I can join your team for a while… at least until you all beat the boss inside that castle."
"We accept," Link said. "Let's get going then."
"We have to be careful," Dr. Mario told the group.
"We literally saw King Bulbin and his men go in there," Sheik filled in. The Sheikah then ran off to the gates as stealthy as possible before she was followed by her friends and their new Spirit companion, each one of them going through the open gates.
