Deep in the forest of the island, the Smashers traversed the foreign landscape to hear the roads of the Rathalos from a mile away.
"He's still here," Sherry told the group, staying on the path as she followed the noise. "Perfect." King Dedede and Bowser tagged along behind the Mii Gunner. The rest of the fighters already ran off, not giving Kirby a chance to catch up since he was busy helping his two clones carry the orange Kirby Supporter. Sheik stopped for a moment and picked up the wounded Kirby clone, carrying it on her shoulders.
"Strange how our greatest enemies can eventually become our friends in a time of need," Sheik said. "Depending on where your little buddies came from, this is surely a miracle…" Kirby rubbed his cuddly face in glee. After spending days in the new world that thrived for five years he was not used to during the decade he could remember. This was surely a thrill for him, and he was happy knowing his friends were alive and well, waiting for him to be their savior. He now realized he was no longer alone, and he was glad because of it.
"Kirby! Sheik! Look what we found!" The Smashers had just uncovered something, and Zero Suit Samus was already calling for the pink demon and the Sheikah.
A few minutes later, Kirby and his team were out on an open field. The grass itself was paper thin, and the wind was almost non-existent. Lying on the soft ground was a trophy of Kirby, bound by the blue ropes from before. From the looks of things, it seemed as though the statue was sleeping but standing upright at the same time.
"Geez," Dr. Mario said. "Thank the stars Kirby didn't end up like that…" The three Kirby Supporters inched closer to the trophy, becoming curious about the cloning machine they emerged from. When they looked back on the fighters, the red, white, and orange puppets were starting to think about their own existence. Was their true purpose just to serve Galeem? Regardless, this trophy was too dangerous. Not even the Seraph of Order can have this much control. The three Kirby clones looked back at the Smashers they were forced to team up with, their eyes finally opened.
"Are you sure you want to do this, guys?" the Luminary asked. "If you destroy the machine that gave birth to you, you're probably gonna die." The three Kirby Supporters looked at each other, knowing the risk they were about to take. Besides, it was more important for the fighters to finish the mission. They were just Supporters after all. Kirby himself ran towards his allied clones and cuddled each of them together into a group hug, showing he still cared for them.
"Goo- Good…bye," Kirby stuttered, stepping away and letting the three Kirby clones do their duty. Pulling out their hammers, the Supporters waited for their weapons to reach the points when they burn, and they took one mighty swing all at once. The trophy base was gleaming in a bright white, and the Kirby statue was starting to crack. Once the trophy shattered into a thousands pieces, all that remained was nothing but dust.
Unlike other Supporters that simply remain until they were hunted down to extinction, the Kirby clones felt themselves crumble into Shadow Bugs. With one more look at their friends, those glowing-red of theirs vanished to reveal the Spirits who were possessing the Supporters.
They were each, in fact, the glowing-red three parts of Kirby's air-riding machine: the Dragoon split into three parts. Part A, the body, was from the red Kirby. Part B, the head, appeared from the white one. Part C, the tail, emerged from the orange Supporter. The three parts merged themselves together into one, and the combined machine flew right into Kirby's body like all the other Spirits. Just when things started to calm down, thorny vines quickly emerged from the ground without any warning.
The fighters were shocked when they heard the maniacal screams of none other than Flowey himself, towering over the team and glaring at them with his soulless eyes. From what they could tell from his expressions, he was pissed off about the Kirby statue being destroyed.
"Why, when Galeem gets his hands on you, you will all pay!" Flowey screeched. "I will not fall like the Werewolf, King Bulbin, and Balder! I am the one true servant of the Seraph of Order!" Flowey then started shaking his head and releasing pollen into the air. The yellow cloud signaled the Rathalos and alerted him to fly down. The wyvern landed behind Flowey, his roar deaf enough to stun the fighters if they were too close to his fangs.
"As Galeem's prized Rathalos devours your flesh, I'll come in and finish you off!" Flowey finished, his laughter echoing throughout the plains as he burrowed underground. The Rathalos first attacked by swinging his clubbed tail, trying to knock the fighters onto their feet. King Dedede and Peach started grabbing onto the Rathalos' back. When the wyvern tried shaking them off while still swinging his tail, the two fighters teamed up with Pikachu and Lucario and began using their aerial attacks.
Captain Falcon, Diddy Kong, and Shulk paid attention to the fireballs sent after them, dodging all three of them in time. The Mii Swordfighter and Mii Gunner jumped over the Rathalos as he dashed right at the group, and they began hitting the tail. The two ex-Ultimates had noticed Pitfalls, Deku Nuts, and explosive barrels stored in the back end of the Rathalos.
"Quick!" Sherry told Gilbert as she dug up the items and passed them to him. "Pass these around to each of our friends!" The Mii Swordfighter obeyed and ran on the Rathalos' body, trying to pin the monster's head down while throwing the three types of items onto the ground.
"Got them from this creature's tail," Gilbert explained, ready to jump off as soon as the Rathalos was about to fly. "Grab whichever suits you best and throw them at this beast!" Ireburn, Clementine, and the rest of the team all grabbed their items, with Red sending out Charizard to pick up an explosive barrel.
Once the Smashers threw their items, the Rathalos was starting to become dazed by the Deku Nuts, stars spinning around his head as the fighters used constant smash attacks. The Rathalos then shook his head and took off into the air. He flew farther into the fields, keeping his eyes on the team of fighters. Fire started erupting from his fangs as he was ready to unleash powerful fireballs.
"Everybody-a spread out!" Dr. Mario alerted the team. Each of the fighters ran off in different, frantic corners, making it difficult for the Rathalos to target each one individually. Because it could not decide on which target to attack, all three fireballs blew up in his face. The stunned wyvern tumbled out of the sky, crashing right in front of the Smashers in the overturned soil that was also conveniently activated with a Pitfall. As the beast struggled with digging itself out, Bowser and Pokémon Trainer's Charizard started breathing fire while Samus and Zero Suit Samus fired their own projectiles.
The Rathalos managed to dig itself out of the ground and took off into the air, now trying to target the fighters and attack them with his poisonous claws. Fox and Pikachu were few of many, if not all of, the Smashers that paid attention to this attack and managed to dodge the ferocious swipes with their side specials. These specials also damaged the Rathalos, which was lucky enough for the fighters to throw their projectiles at the flying wyvern. Bowser jumped high into the air and quickly slammed his bottom against the Rathalos' back, dragging it onto the ground with him.
"Now's your chance, anime sword boys!" Bowser called out for Link and the Hero.
"Toon Link! Ex-Ultimates!" Link ordered, charging in. The Luminary's sword crackled with lightning as he rushed towards the Rathalos. Soon, the rest of the fighters ran in as Bowser was spamming his powerful down smash, throwing out one final strike to kill the Rathalos. Roaring in defeat, the Rathalos succumbed and fell on the soft grass, the sunlight dully reflected off his red-and-black armor. The Smashers all sat down, thinking they finally got the break they had deserved.
"That's it," Fox sighed, rubbing his pointed ears. "I think I'm getting insomnia from these battles…" Things started to calm down until he started hearing a faint beeping noise. None of the other fighters could hear it as it was coincidentally buried deep within the tail of the Rathalos, but the Star Fox mercenary caught it thanks to his animalistic senses once again. The choreographed beeping sounded like a familiar melody… almost like a ticking time bomb. Sudden realization hit Fox as memories of the Subspace Army suddenly hit him. Fox then stood up and forced Kirby off his butt, gaining the attention from his team.
"We need to leave. Now." Fox grabbed ahold of Peach and made her stand up.
"But we just sat down," Ness groaned, getting off his butt. However, it was too late as the Pokémon Trainer suddenly saw the bright twinkle of the Subspace Bomb exploding from the Rathalos and quickly climbed on top of Charizard's back, flying away as far as possible. Thankfully, the fighters were far enough to notice the blast in time before they become consumed.
"Oh shit…" Link said, already tired from these constant ambushes. Before the fast-growing explosion reached the fighters, a beam of light quickly emerged from Kirby and, at warp speed, managed to pick up all the Smashers despite its small size. As the fighters held on tight to Kirby and to each other, the pink puffball looked down to see his machine – the Dragoon – save them from being sucked into Subspace. They all caught up with the Pokémon Trainer in time, with Zero Suit Samus grabbing onto Red's hand and pulling him on. The Pokémon Trainer pulled out an empty Pokéball and called Charizard back as they all soared into the air.
Piranha Plant and Eleven were the only fighters able to look back on the island as it was destroyed by the Subspace explosion before it stopped at a certain height. The light stream coming from the Normal Legendary Dragoon Spirit traced across the sky and carried the team back up north and to the Undying Light.
On the flying ship, Pit was already awake after his freedom, and he noticed the stream of light heading straight towards them. He was also at the pilot headquarters on top of the ship, and he grabbed a telescope to look at the stream. At first, the figures in the telescope were far away and unfocused until the angel discovered he was holding the spyglass backwards. He quickly turned around and saw the rest of their buddies on the Dragoon.
"Oh… my… goodness… Mario! Joker! Snake! Everyone! Kirby and the others are back!" Pit called out through an electronic communicator. As though they heard the angel, Mario, Marth, Joker, Olimar, PAC-MAN, Donkey Kong, Lucas, Isabelle, Duck Hunt, Pichu, Snake, Ryu, the Ice Climbers, Falco, and Simon all went out to the deck and saw Kirby, Piranha Plant, Sheik, the Villager, Captain Falcon, the Mii Swordfighter, Link, Fox, Dr. Mario, the Inkling, the Wii Fit Trainer, Little Mac, Yoshi, Jigglypuff, Pikachu, Lucario, Peach, Bowser, Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Mr. Game & Watch, the Pokémon Trainer, Diddy Kong, Shulk, King Dedede, Ness, the Mii Gunner, Toon Link, and the Hero all riding in on the Dragoon.
"Spread out!" Mario called out. "Clear the deck!" The fighters on the ship backed away to let those that were soaring through the air to hover safely off the steel floor. As soon as the Dragoon Spirit vanished, never to return, Kirby and his group managed to land on their feet and see the Northern Barrier finally shatter. The reunited group of fighters looked back at the flashing-red UV sphere and watched as the strong vortex of the Subspace explosion pull on the last remaining hexagons of the barrier. Once the pieces flew out of sight, the Galeem Void was open to the Smashers at last.
Faker emerged from inside the Undying Light, surprised that Kirby was alive and well. She ran to Kirby and hugged him tenderly. Once she broke the hug, the other fighters were conversing with each other over their safety.
"I am so-a glad you people are-a okay," Mario spoke with Fox, Link, and Zero Suit Samus. Donkey Kong playfully head locked Bowser as a means of relief. Pikachu nuzzled Pichu's nose.
"Joker!" Ireburn called out, shaking the Phantom Thief's hand. "My man. How you doing?"
"Great," Ren replied. "Glad you managed to survive without Galeem capturing you."
"As is you," the Luminary spoke. "And look who we found…!" The Hero reintroduced Joker to the Piranha Plant, who licked the Phantom Thief's face until he laughed.
"Good to see you too," Joker chuckled. As soon as everything had calmed down, Mario raised his hands to the sides of his face and made sure everyone was quiet.
"For five-a long years, we had been waiting for a chance to return home without even having any memory of it," Mario addressed. "And we owe it all to you, fighters that had lived through the Movement of the Light." The red plumber congratulated Kirby, Piranha Plant, Joker, and Eleven.
"If it hadn't been for your survival, we would have never made it to this point," Mario continued. "A round of applause, everyone!" For this incredible milestone, all the fighters that had been reawakened clapped and cheered, thanking Kirby and the three survivors. Just then, the applause stopped when Fox objected.
"Wait," Fox said. "There are still many other fighters under Galeem's control, including… our loved ones and rivals…"
"Plus, there are three more of our friends still out there," Joker noted. The fighters in the team then became aroused by the absence of the rest of the Smashers and complained about how much they wanted them back.
"People, people," Falco told everyone. "Let's make for what we have do right now. All that matters is we bring down Galeem from his throne, and then we can worry about our friends still under captivity and those that survived the onslaught but are still out there. For now… let's just take the route we created in the space scenery." Mario and the Smashers nodded in agreement, and they all went into the Undying Light below the deck. Faker stayed outside for a while, marveling at the black hole that is the Galeem Void. She then noticed streaks of light entering the void, and she became curious as to what they were.
At the island where the Rathalos was defeated, Flowey reemerged from the ground. Looking around, he saw nothing but a barren wasteland from where the luscious field used to be. With a look of terror and guilt on his face, the demon flower was not ready to tell Galeem the bad news.
"The Lord of Light's gonna kill me," Flowey said to himself. As much as he would like to wish wasn't possible, Galeem knew what happened and is now ready to blame Flowey for them getting away. An aura of light surrounded the flower, transporting him back to the Galeem Void.
Flowey gulped when he saw the Seraph of Order himself mounted on top of his throne, the cloudy, golden sky gleaming at its brightest behind him. Galeem descended to the flower's level, a light of anger and fury in how the light around him radiated.
"I gave you one simple task," Galeem snarled, his dull roar gurgling in his breath. "You goal was to stop the Super Smash Brothers from reaching me, and you have still failed."
"Don't blame me, boss!" Flowey objected. "If you had trained that dragon mutt to follow your orders better, maybe this wouldn't be of your concern! I can't even believe you and the Rathalos are part of the same biological order though born on different planets!" Galeem's light aura flashed in a bright color, offended by this backtalk.
"I did what you asked me to!" Flowey snapped. "I used my skills to hold these fighters back, and my strategy was to finish them off when they were too tired to keep on fighting! I had no idea their combined strength would doom your reign!"
"Maybe you should have thought about attacking them first before becoming a coward and hiding underground like the hovel of a world you came from…" Galeem growled. "For your failure, you know about the penalty."
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Flowey yelled, the thorny vines from his small stem growing on his back. As the demonic flower lunged at Galeem with his fibrous roots, the Seraph of Order simply snapped his fingers and froze the flower in midair.
"I like your determination," Galeem chuckled lightly, his glowing humanoid hands gracing the monster flower's yellow petals. "However, my powers have been drained long enough to the point that I can no longer use the light trick to disintegrate your body." The original Master Hand then emerged from behind Galeem's wings, his shadow spawning the original Crazy Hand. The two Hands then ripped open the gateway to the Dark Dimension again but behind Flowey.
"With the way you stick your vines out like that, you remind me of my brother," Galeem said. "Hopefully you can meet him there." Galeem's six wings then pushed Flowey into the Dark Dimension, unfreezing him in the process. As the flower struggled from the portal's powerful force, he tried to grab Galeem's neck and drag the Seraph of Order along with him, but even his vines were too short. Some were even snipped off and wriggling on the stone ground once the portal closed. The Crazy Hand vanished, and the Master Hand this time floated in place.
"Team up with the other Master Hands," Galeem ordered the glowing-golden Hand of Creation. "Gather up all the remaining Primaries and Supporters on the planet that have yet to be freed from my control." The Master Hand willingly obeyed, flying out of the Galeem Void. Tabuu appeared near Galeem's side as the Lord of Light sat back down on his throne, slamming his glowing-white fist into the throne's arm. Galeem then noticed the remaining Fighter Spirits charge in towards them. Due to the Northern Barrier shattering, this provided the remnants of the captured fighters a chance to get back to their bodies. Galeem simply raised his hand, freezing the Fighter Spirits in place.
"Do you really think you people can stop me?" Galeem asked, floating off his throne again. "You lower lifeforms do not know who you're up against…" The Seraph of Order looked upon the Fighter Spirits in his grasp again, knowing that the bodies of Dark Samus, Luigi, Daisy, Zelda, Lucina, Young Link, Ganondorf, Mewtwo, Roy, Chrom, Meta Knight, Dark Pit, Wario, Ike, Sonic, R.O.B., Wolf, Rosalina & Luma, Greninja, Palutena, Robin, Bowser Jr., Ken, Cloud, Corrin, Bayonetta, Ridley, Richter, King K. Rool, Incineroar, and Mii Brawler were all still under his control.
"You can't keep holding us back like this!" Ganondorf's Fighter Spirit called out.
"My papa and his friends are gonna drag you down to a very bad place!" Bowser Jr.'s Fighter Spirit answered. The clamoring of the Fighter Spirits started to bug Galeem, but he clearly did not mind as they could not even interact with him.
"Our buddies are going to end your tyrannical reign!" Sonic's Fighter Spirit yelled. Galeem turned his attention to the blue hedgehog, startling the souls of the other captured fighters.
"Because… 'you won't get away with this' was too overused…?" Sonic's soul responded in the form of a question.
"So… you were the one who set this up," Galeem told the blue hedgehog. "You were the one who sent Kirby five years into the future and started all this."
"How was I supposed to know where this led up?" Sonic asked before being grabbed by the neck of the Seraph of Order. Unlike other solid objects, Galeem can interact with the Fighter Spirits willingly, even harm them. So far, he is the only one with this distinction.
"You are really starting to tick me off," Galeem snarled, his fiery-hot breath warming up the blue hedgehog's Spirit. "I'm tired of looking at your face." Using his right hand, he traced his thumb on Sonic's left eye, his clawed fingernail cutting deep into the blue speedster's skin. The Lord of Light started at the base of the left ear before working down the eye in one clean, vertical slice. Since it dug down deep and had some sort of energy focused purely within it, it was painful for Sonic's Fighter Spirit as he screamed in agony. Once Galeem let go, Sonic fell to the ground, covering his left eye and the wound that now bled with gold. Tears built up in the eye that can see, with the blue hedgehog crying in terrible pain. The other Fighter Spirits floated to the ground and began comforting Sonic as he held his eye.
"This is what happens to those that disobey me," Galeem commanded. "Hopefully the punishment fits the crimes you have committed…" The laughter of the Seraph of Order echoed throughout the Galeem Void, letting the Fighter Spirits know there is no hope for them once the Forgotten Resistance has fallen.
Flowey stirred out of his unconsciousness, his roots searching the area for ground. He then saw the light of Balder's Spirit from afar. The demonic flower pushed himself as hard as he could, "swimming" towards the Lumen Sage. From what Flowey could tell, Balder started appearing with dark circles under his eyes and the way he moved around as though he was in terrible pain. His clothes were torn up to show the torture he went through was traumatizing for him.
"Flowey?" Balder asked, his pale fingers clasping the flower's head. "What in heavens are you doing here…? You haven't been transformed into a Spirit like we have?"
"Hell no," Flowey responded. "You okay, man?"
"It's- It's fine," the last Lumen Sage answered. "You need to find a way out."
"The ruler of this land tortures visitors," King Bulbin responded. "He even scared my own men away from me."
"Whatever you do, do not underestimate this monster," the Werewolf warned.
"You guys just don't get it," Flowey chuckled, playfully acting like a princess. "You all fell under some sort of spell from the fighters to make you think there is such thing as hope, and magic, and rainbows, and unicorns because you idiots are all weak! I did not fall for their messages of hope and tried to give them despair! The only reason why Galeem himself was too weak to transform me into a Spirit was because he was too pathetic! Like the rest of you! If I were to grab ahold of the Lord of Light, I will wring his delicate neck until he dies!" Suddenly, Flowey heard the booming noise of the blue-and-yellow eye behind him. King Bulbin, Balder, and the Werewolf all backed away in fear, not wanting to experience those tortures again.
"I like your confidence, newcomer," the eye spoke. "It sure was a mistake that my brother spared you."
"Wait… you and Galeem are… related?" Flowey asked. The eye chuckled deeply, which was followed by thousands of maniacal laughers surrounding him.
"Just be patient," the eye responded, ready to reveal his true colors. "Once Galeem sees me… it will be one happy family reunion…"
