Once the fighters got to the entrance of the Lost Woods, they noticed the dark, crooked trees were visible in the cloudy light, with the dense fog only touching the ground. Zelda stood in front of the bending gateway, believing she can help these fighters in their mission.

"The reason why you were always commonly lost is because you haven't interacted with one of the Owl Statues here," Zelda explained. "Maybe if you looked around hard enough, you could have found one of them. Let me show you. Everyone go in a single-file line behind me…" The Princess of Hyrule entered the Lost Woods, with Sheik following behind her. Mario walked through the gateway with Fox and Sonic, with Link carrying Toon Link on his shoulders. Snake, PAC-MAN, Pit, Mega Man, Simon, and Ryu were accompanied by Joker, Ireburn, and Banjo with his Breegull friend Kazooie. Soon, basically all the fighters traveled past the gateway to the Lost Woods, ready to take on whatever challenges await them.

The team traversed through the foggy forest, not wanting to get lost again. What they saw were wilting leaves on the branches, coated in thick, sticky webs. The echoing laughter of children was carried across the wind, filling the Smashers with an uneasiness.

"The problem's the fact that you are always straying from the path," Zelda told them, holding her long skirt up. "If you feel hard stone wherever you're walking, then you are going the right way. Sooner or later, you'll finally come across an Owl Statue, and would you look at that?" Right in front of the fighters at the end of a three-way path was what they were looking for: an Owl Statue embedded in roots and rotting vines. Its eyes flashed white as it spoke its message.

Courage lies within the hopeful girl who waits for her friend. If you wish to find him yourself, travel east, south, and then continue south. The hidden path calls for you.

"Listen to the statues," Zelda told her friends. "They always speak the truth." Mario pulled out the compass portion on his watch-like device, watching the wiggling needle trying to point north and knowing where to go. The red plumber took the path closest to east, setting his trail down the one he chose. The fighters followed after him, with Zelda and Sheik trailing behind Mario. The red plumber then turned south, keeping his feet firm on the stone road as he simply went straight. Then, he came across a huge bush of thistles blocking the path.

"Zelda… are you sure this is the way?" Mario asked.

"I told you, the Owl Statues never lie," Zelda answered. "…Don't they?"

"So I guess we made it here for nothing?" Mega Man responded. "The branches look so thick you can't even burn them down…" Soon controversy arose on how the fighters would individually tear down the thistle bush, which grew into more of arguments on who was better. Not taking the risk, Sonic the Hedgehog ran into the bush, glitching as he took his rapid footsteps. The fighters suddenly stopped talking as they saw Sonic blip through the thistles.

"Sonic!" Fox called out, running through the bush.

"His powers must've made him survive, Fox! There's no way you can… make it… through?" the Mii Brawler answered, slowly turning into the form of a question when he and the Smashers noticed that the Star Fox leader simply ran through as though it was like the fog on the ground. Soon, Fox's hand poked out without a scratch.

"It's alright!" Fox told his friends while making gestures with his hand. "There's a secret entrance through here!" When they had heard that, Mario stepped through, suddenly realizing that the thistle bush wasn't hurting him.

"Come on, people!" Sonic told them from inside the secret entrance. "The sooner we rescue your pals, the faster we can get to this Dharkon person!" The fighters walked through the thistle bush after realizing that it was just an illusion, and now they were traveling inside the thorny vines. Normally, anyone would stray off the path and get lost due to the fog obstructing the view of the road, but the team took into advantage of walking on the stone as they followed Zelda, Sheik, and Mario.

"Y'know," the Mii Brawler told Fox, "I've been thinking. I notice it's getting hard for even me to split myself from the other Mii Brawlers, who I know are still out there in the darkness. I just feel like I would probably want a name that sets me apart from the others…"

"What do you mean?" Banjo asked, who was overhearing the conversation.

"I just… want a chance of pace," the Mii Brawler answered. "Hopefully the Mii Swordfighter and Mii Gunner ex-Ultimates are waiting for me outside of the Sacred Land, and the least I should have before I get myself killed is at least an identity..."

"How about Sieg?" Fox answered in the form of a question. "Five years before Dharkon arrived, there was a woman by our side named Faker who's still back at our hiding base. She carried a stone that's currently inside Kirby. Literally, when he swallowed it. Once he gave it back to Faker one time, she recovered some of her memories as well as sharing them with us so we know who we're up against. Your ancestors were involved at one point, so I guess they had names too…"

"I… suppose Sieg is a good choice," the Mii Brawler replied in glee. "You can call me that from now on."

"Welcome aboard, Sieg," Kazooie chirped. Just then, Banjo bumped into the Inkling from behind, and the other fighters stopped. Mario, Zelda, and Sheik had just came across another Owl Statue in front of the stone path. The red plumber touched its base again, and it had another message.

The boy raised by Kokiri is close at hand. If you wish to burn down the log that blocks the path, head north, west, north, and then continue north. Dive in with whatever bravery is in your hearts.

Mario then pulled out his device again, watching the spinning needle keep pointing itself north. The red plumber emerged out of the thistle bush secret passage, heading up north while keeping his guard steady. He then turned west, and north again until the fighters stumbled across a huge lake found in the middle of the Lost Woods.

"Great," Joker sighed, placing his hand on his face. "Another dead end." The Inkling stuck her hand in the water to make sure that it wasn't as toxic. Much to her surprise, she didn't melt once again. However, it still doesn't answer how the fighters can find the supposed Young Link Primary.

"Work with us, people," Zelda answered, standing as she looked around the edge of the lake. "There has to be a secret around here…" As the Princess of Hyrule traversed the strange area, Pit looked at the reflection of the shimmering, murky water until he noticed purple irises gleaming on the lake's surface, appearing right behind Zelda.

"Zelda, look out!" Pit shouted. Zelda turned around to see the legendary Parallel Falchion attempt to strike her before she jumped out of the way, summoning her Phantom by her side. The ghostly armor halfway completed slashed straight at the Primary, who jumped straight out of the trees. Pit fired a light arrow with his bow at the captured fighter, who jumped out of the way while a Mimicutie appeared out of nowhere and rapidly kicked the angel from behind. Mario used his forward aerial, unable to do so as the Mimicutie had super armor and kicked him in the face. The possessed fighter that seemed to ambush the fighters was Chrom, who was held under Dharkon's control.

Marth recognized the image of the Spirit that flashed on Chrom's chest, showing it to be Camus from the timeline when Chrom, Robin, and Lucina all existed thousands of years after the Hero-King's rule. The Mimicutie began kicking harshly, spinning around in circles and trying to send the fighters flying. Sonic got onto all fours and pounced on the Chrom Primary like a panther, creating ice shards on his glitching fingertips and slashing harshly at the captured fighter's face.

"So you're the glitch that escaped, huh?" the Chrom Primary asked, holding his Parallel Falchion against the blue hedgehog's hands. "This is going to be fun…"

"Not for you it isn't!" Sonic snarled, back-throwing the Chrom Primary straight for the Mimicutie, which was dancing around on its feminine legs and rapidly jabbing with them, the fighters keeping their distance due to its super armor. The glitching hedgehog zipped towards the chest monster and heated up his gloves until they were scalding hot. Melting the gold on the rim of the Mimicutie, Sonic pried the chest body open, kicking the Chrom Primary into a black vortex inside the creature from the Underworld Army. The glitching blue rodent dived into the Mimicutie, with Kirby following in after him. As soon as things have started to calm down once the Mimicutie dropped dead, the bushes rustled until an invading army of corrupted Mii Brawlers, Supporters, and Subspace Army troops emerged, trampling the very ground they stood on.


Sonic had his hands full on flashing his feet against the Chrom Primary on the Arena Ferox stage with Kirby by his side, his metal soles grinding across the smooth metal until sparks emerged. Wind was coating the Parallel Falchion, and the Chrom Primary slashed. The blue hedgehog jumped out of the way in time, ready to use his homing attack after Kirby kicked the captured fighter and used his Stone ability shortly after the Primary tried to use a counter-attack. Sonic managed to hit the Chrom Primary, but with unexpected results. For one, it was a massive blast of fire from the blue hedgehog, glitching like he did. The Chrom Primary landed as soon as large platforms emerged through gears and cogs. The captured fighter began spacing out with aerials, keeping an eye on the two Smashers approaching him.

"Stay back!" the Chrom Primary shouted, swinging his blade. "I'm warning you!" The glitching hedgehog tried to keep himself in midair through powerful air boosts, trying to avoid touching the ground as Kirby did his thing to the captured fighter. The pink puffball parried the Chrom Primary's forward smash and quickly used Inhale, only spitting the Chrom Primary out as a star this time. Once the captured fighter was off-stage, Sonic nosedived straight for the possessed Smasher, coated in a powerful magic aura. After the glitching blue hedgehog collided with the Chrom Primary, a powerful blast of plasma blasted out in all directions, knocking the captured fighter into the blast zone and winning the battle.

Beams of light this time rest the background of the Arena Ferox, swirling around in rainbow colors as they approached Kirby and Sonic. The blue hedgehog noticed he could not move and only saw the Camus Spirit emerge from the Chrom Primary's body and surround him with a barrier.

"Poyo poyo poyo!" Kirby told Sonic, hoping the speedy devil could hear his language. As shocking as that was, Sonic fully understood what Kirby was saying.

"Aim fo-fo-fo-for the tiny hole?" Sonic asked, glitching again between his sentence and almost pulling the trigger. "Like I would have that much luck!" As soon as Sonic glitched again, he pulled the trigger of the Spirit Sniper and hit the Chrom Primary, shattering the Dharkon Lock and freeing both the Spirit and the fighter. The place went completely dark, with the red mist swirling around Sonic's face.

Part of the hedgehog's amnesia was recovered, allowing him to recall what happened when he arrived. He had traveled to the edge of the multiverse with the Chaos Emeralds, still looking for his two pals… until he was snatched by the Master and Crazy Hands of Arcadia. His soul was separated from his body and placed in a different vessel, for the rules they had made sure he was not a mortal and can be revived by another at the cost of his past. Not wanting to take the chance, Sonic fled from the darkness, escaping into the light before the Hands could reach him and transform him. The next thing he knew… he woke up in a forest…

As soon as the red mist finished restoring some of Sonic's memories, it merged with the Camus Spirit and entered inside Kirby. The glitching blue hedgehog grabbed ahold of Kirby as the pink puffball was ready to experience yet another vision.


He was seen floating in midair, watching the fleet of dragons soar through the air. They were all led by Galeem, whose orange-and-blue wings created trails of light. His sister Ultima trailer along behind him, starting to feel worried if Galeem would really fall into sin. Why would he do that? He represents light – holy, pure, and incorruptible. There is no way he would appear in the same vein as their brother Phoenix… unless the light itself was in the wrong hands. The Queen of Arcus tilted her body and drew closer to Medley, who joined the fight to retake Arcus.

"Medley?" Ultima asked. "I… haven't seen Galeem in quite a while and was wondering how he behaved with you."

"He was the sweetest of all the other dragons I came across," Medley answered. "Since our species ages fast but lives up to thousands of years, it didn't take long for us to see and conceive a child under our territory. However, as I sleep, I can hear him walk outside of our home and look out into the night. On numerous occasions, I peak outside to see him look beyond the horizon as though it was his to command. As though it was his to govern. As though it was his to rule. And he stares out like he wants to be king. I guess being popular all these years really got to him… well, before he was kicked out by Lord Ceresor."

"…After the Lord of Arcus died, he saw potential in me to become a pure queen and retain the balance between darkness and light by choosing the best of his sons' students," Ultima responded with a deep exhale. "I just hope it wasn't the biggest mistake of our lives trying to make my brothers Lords of Light and Darkness."

As the remaining millions of dragons in all of Arcus flew closer to the Sky Temple, thousands of Crazy Hands flew out from the thundering sky of black and charged straight for the reveling dragons, curled up into fists. Galeem shot a flaming fireball that expanded in the air, trapping the first hundred Crazy Hands in a golden burning aura. The Hands of Destruction then collapsed into Swarms mixed with violet crystals, their silky fabric skins burning into ashes. Once the fireball vanished, the Lord of Light flew upright to give his command.

"For the light and the order!" Galeem roared, creating a web of lasers streaming from his mouth. As the laser show spliced through more Crazy Hands before most of them teleported right in front of the charging dragons, the resistance began tackling with their primary Rainbolements. More Crazy Hands emerged from the Sky Temple and starting attacking more of the dragons. While the resistance had their claws full mauling what once were their family, Galeem, Ultima, and Medley managed to get past the security of Dharkon's forces and land in front of the entrance.

Once Galeem barged the locked doors down, they saw what happened to the Sky Temple after they escaped. Nauseating, pulsing webs of flesh and pus ran across the large cracks, glowing with the red blood color as the lightning flashed in the sky. As the three Dragosmos made their way across the hall to make it to the throne room, they managed to find the bodies of all the dragons that were killed by resistance. Cocoons of skin wrapped around the corpses, being hung on the crumbling ceiling and even some attached to the disgusting piles of gore. It seemed as though the cocoons were digesting the flesh of the bodies because the three Dragosmos saw one spit out bones that were clean and rid of any muscle tissue, and they were see-through enough so they can watch the horror of acidic fluids melt the rotting corpses inside these cocoons. The faces of the dead dragons were filled with fear of death, some of them even having one or two gaping-wide eye sockets of where the most expressive parts of the face should be.

"This is terrible," Ultima gasped, stopping to feel sorry and pain for those souls that have been tortured even after death. "Phoenix would never do something so dark and horrible…" The Queen of Arcus noticed Galeem not bothering the mourning and dashed straight for the throne room. He rammed throw the royal door, sending pieces flying in all directions. The Lord of Light's nostrils flared with the golden flames as he stood in front of Dharkon, his colossal tentacle-wings wrapping around his levitating draconic body.

"Nice to see you again, brother," Dharkon growled, his violet scar glowing brighter. "I guess you came crawling back at my feet from the flame you emerged out of."

"This ends right here and now, Dharkon!" Galeem roared, spreading his wings open while Medley and Ultima walked by his side. "You can for in Tartarus for all I care!" Dharkon then floated towards the snarling dragons, chuckling. One of his tentacles slithered in front of him, holding some sort of small mobile device.

"I found this peculiar item in Ceresor's item vault," Dharkon calmly spoke. "I wonder how this works...?" The Seraph of Chaos let his tentacle toss it into the air as he shot a small energy beam at the mobile device. As the item levitated in midair and floated away, hard techno music started playing in all directions of the room as though there was surround sound. The song that played was Monstercat - Final Boss.

"I have been looking to brighten this place up, and I see this kind of ancient music really amps me up. Gets me into my mood," Dharkon spoke, landing softly on the ground as he clawed through the stone floor as the song kept playing. "Prepare to be consumed by the darkness, brother!" Galeem took off into the air, speeding up such as that he would ran into Dharkon with a brute force. The Lord of Light began clashing heads with the Seraph of Chaos, their horns tangling with each other as they pushed against their countering forces. Ultima and Medley began breathing fire at Dharkon, stunning him so that he would jump back. The Lord of Darkness split his six grotesque wings into tentacles, sending some of them flying straight for the Queen of Arcus and Galeem's wife. Ultima pushed Medley out of the way as the tentacles were flying, sliding on the floor.

Galeem began breathing flames made out of purely concentrated light, which was painful to the touch for Dharkon. The darkness infecting his body has become powerful enough to the point that only light can harm him, but he can harm the light as well. Dharkon coiled himself in his tendrils, spitting out blasts of thorns created from pure darkness. The Lord of Darkness then generated electricity through his tentacles and dashed towards Galeem, but the white-armored brother teleported out of the way in time.

The charging Seraph of Chaos hit Ultima, but the dragoness transformed herself into stone and bit into one of the electricity-coated tentacles. She quickly combusted herself into water, electrocuting Dharkon. Ultima then reformed herself back to normal and created a flaming sword in her mouth. Medley backed away and assisted by firing flaming rocks at Dharkon's face. As the Lord of Darkness grabbed the blade of Ultima's flaming sword and shattered it with his own teeth, he was tackled by his brother Galeem.

Are you ready?

The two brothers got back up on their feet, glaring at each other as the scars given to them shined bright. Ultima walked behind, protecting Medley from the intense fight.

Are you…?

As the song kept playing, Galeem and Dharkon dashed towards each other, clawing at their faces ferociously. Their mouths were smoldering hot to the point that their own teeth were burning to the touch. Galeem fired a golden blast of fire while Dharkon unleashed a violet orb of lightning. Once the two projectiles collided into a cataclysmic explosion, the ceiling crumbled with heavy stones and rubble. Ultima whipped some of the falling boulders with her tail as she knew there was no safety even with her Rainbolements. Another stone fell on top of the two dragonesses, but only Medley took advantage of that. She quickly held on tight to the rock as the floor crumbled underneath them, with the Queen of Arcus noticing. Trying to fly above the Sky Temple as it was collapsing was critical at this point, and Ultima destroyed the rock with an acid ball. She pushed Medley to a nearby exit when she discovered they were at the bottom floor with the statues, the Smash Balls, and the Core of the First Star.

Eight…

Seven…

Six…

Five…

(Are you ready?)

Dharkon took off into the sky, thunder rolling behind the Seraph of Chaos as he looked down upon Galeem.

"I suppose you have visited the same stranger that granted me the exact same scar you have," Dharkon said. "Perhaps you and I are not so different in wanting to shape the multiverse to our will."

"In your crushed, pathetic dreams!" Galeem roared, the golden scar on the left side of his face illuminating brighter. The Lord of Light flew into the black sky, but the Lord of Darkness simply vanished into the clouds, the thunder providing a silhouette of Dharkon's six colossal tentacle-wings.

Four...

Three…

Two…

One…

FIGHT!

Dharkon warped back and forth, firing three of his lightning-coated tentacles mixed with a wall of violet thorns per teleport. Galeem managed to warp through the obstacles and try to use his powers to his advantage. The Lord of Light generated golden fire covering his body, spotting Dharkon hiding in the shadows. Galeem quickly fired a blue lightning blast at the Lord of Darkness, who got hit. Dharkon shook his head as he watched his brother charge up a net of lasers, angling themselves all towards him.

The Seraph of Chaos zipped back and forth, flying across the sky as Galeem aimed his own lasers right at the Sky Temple, by which Ultima and Medley were trapped underneath. The Queen of Arcus managed to spot the resisting dragons hold the Crazy Hands back in time, both sides unaware that they were in Ceresor's treasure trove.

"We have to get out of here!" Ultima told Medley after she noticed the falling rubble blocked all exits. The dragoness went in front of the wife of Galeem, melting and freezing all sorts of debris in front of her as she charged for the barricaded exit. Medley kept close to the Queen of Arcus, paying attention for any boulders falling from the ceiling and trying to hit them. One of the pieces of the Sky Temple fell on top of a 21st century car, the alarm blaring as it was crushed under the rock's powerful weight. Dharkon from outside heard the sound, which distracted him from Galeem's charge attack. The Seraph of Chaos then transformed two of his wings into a sledgehammer that he carried around through telekinesis while using the rest of his lightning-coated tentacles and thorny bullets as projectiles.

Round 2… FIGHT!

Galeem and Dharkon teleported back and forth, with the Lord of Light sending out lightning orbs, golden fireballs, and crisscrossing webs of lasers and the Lord of Darkness sending out lightning tentacles and thorny vines while swinging his sledgehammer weapon once he was close to his brother. A battle between order and chaos enraged between the two, with only one fighting to whoever will be ruler of light or darkness. Galeem bit deep into the tendrils that made Dharkon's sledgehammer as soon as he was coated in a self-destruct aura. Once the aura combusted in the eyes of Phoenix, his tendrils turned back into his six wings, and he was slammed into the ground by Galeem.

The sheer impact of Dharkon's body grinding against the floor created a wall of rubble about to conveniently fall on top of Ultima and Medley. Knowing the risk she was about to take, Medley pushed Ultima aside and allowed herself to be crushed by the boulders.

"Medley!" Ultima cried, quickly getting up and ramming through the boulders that buried Medley. The Queen of Arcus dragged the golden-snowflake dragoness out of the debris, her heart beating fast from this traumatic effect.

"No, Medley," Ultima cried, nudging into Medley's chest. "You can't join your sister yet! You can't!" Medley simply looked at the Queen of Arcus weakly, feeling rather… happy and released.

"Ultima…" Medley whispered. "…Take care… of Glimmeress for me… okay?" In her dying breath, the golden-snowflake dragon with white-diamond wings rested her head against the crumbling floor. Just like that, she bit the dust. Ultima placed her front paws in front of her mouth, the scars on her face dripping with tears as she began to cry over Medley's loss. Once the music had stopped, Galeem and Dharkon then broke through the ceiling, with the Lord of Light having the upper hand against his brother.

"Pathetic…" Galeem panted, approaching the tired Seraph of Chaos. "Even with all the power of the shadows, you are still weak." The Lord of Darkness transformed his wings into a sledgehammer, trying to swing at Galeem and crush him like a bug. Since he was already exhausted as he was, Galeem spread his wings and cast some sort of spell. It was rather powerful since Dharkon found himself trapped in a cage of light. The Seraph of Chaos screamed bloody murder as the bright bars scalded his colossal tendrils and burned through his blackened scales. The Crazy Hands that were attacking before became chained up by cuffs made purely out of light, every single one of them from the far corners of the planet pulled towards the floating cage of light, even Hakai himself. The rebelling dragons entered the Sky Temple, with nothing but silence lingering over them. The sky brightened up a bit, with the spell of the darkness lifted with only a normal-looking thundercloud rolling in the night sky.

"It… it's over," Ultima sighed with relief. "We pushed back the darkness. Now we can rebuild this world until us dragonkin are free." However, Galeem had his own intentions, and he was ready to speak out once Dharkon finished wailing.

"…And why would I want to do that?" Galeem asked. That question changed everything for Ultima. Once he had said those exact words, she had no idea which side Galeem had turned to.

"What?" Ultima asked. Galeem turned around to face her, shaking his head.

"Oh, Ultima," Galeem chuckled, his eyes flashing golden with black markings and vertical irises of white. "You just don't understand."

"Understand? Of course I don't! I have no idea what compelled you to say that! Tell me, Galeem!"

"The truth was right in front of you, and yet you refused to believe it. I just wanted to get my brother and all the darkness in the multiverse to create a perfect system of balance for my own intentions. It wasn't about the peace, hope, and freedom. It was about the power and order you can distribute among all sentient species." Galeem then transformed into his true form with the six colossal wings separated from his body and everything, basically the exact same enhanced Lord of Light when Kirby and his friends went up against Galeem before.

"I see how it is. The mysterious stranger that worked for the Mother just handed those powers to you when he knew all you wanted was to create and empire of order and perfection? This is not the way to do it, Galeem. You're smarter than this!" Galeem then levitated in the air, using his telekinesis to transform all of the surviving dragons in their resistance into right-handed, disembodied hands. This time, they were just corrupted under Galeem's rule to begin with, so it was easy for the new Seraph of Order to turn them into Master Hands. Ultima looked in horror as she had found her own brother had betrayed her once Dharkon was locked up.

"But I'm the Queen of Arcus!" Ultima snapped. "You have NO right over me!"

"Pearls before swine, sister," Galeem spoke with a slightly humorous tone as the Master Hands echoed with their laughter. "I am simply the purest of the pure. No denying that." Two Master Hands each teleported to individual sides of Ultima, slamming boulders down upon her spectrum-colored wings and crushing them. She gasped in pain as her wings were pinned to the stone floor, the night thunder rolling in the sky as light raindrops landed on her face. The Master Hands then smashed through the walls so that the floor could fall from the sky. Ultima watched as her own brother, the Lord of Light, look down upon her in such a cruel-hearted manner. How could she have been so neglectful? The warning given to her by the Minister of the Wyverns and the Queen of the Winged Unicorns was all true. She had even let Lord Ceresor down… everyone she understood. Before she hit the earth down below, the Smash Ball flashed red again, and Kirby's vision was over for now.


"Kirby! Kirby!" Sonic shouted, shaking the pink puffball awake. "We can really use some help here!" While Kirby was unconscious, he and Sonic escaped from the Mimicutie with Chrom, who was already free. However, the entire team was surrounded by possessed Mii Brawlers, Supporters, and too many Subspace Army troops to count. Hundreds of them had surrounded the fighters by the lake, and they were just about to fall in. Link looked behind into the murky water, noticing a faint gleam of light deep within.

Dive in with whatever bravery is in your hearts, Link thought. That's it! The Champion of Hyrule jumped right into the lake, swimming deep into the water.

"Link, what are you doing!?" Mario called out, with Toon Link grabbing the red plumber and diving in. All the fighters were soon falling deep into the lake, including the Inkling once she noticed it wasn't toxic. The Pokémon Trainer noticed this and called back his Charizard, placing all three Pokéballs into his backpack and cannonballing. Only Incineroar and Sonic remained near the edge, still fighting back. Fox McCloud went back up for a breath of fresh air, coming out just in time as Incineroar went like "whatever" and belly-flopped into the lake even though water can kill Fire-type Pokémon.

"Sonic, we have to go!" Fox called out, swimming close to the glitching blue hedgehog as the enemies got closer.

"I can't swim, remember!?" Sonic snapped, about to lose his balance as he unleashed magical blasts at the hordes of enemies. The Star Fox mercenary simply did not care as he grabbed ahold of Sonic's quills and pulled him deep into the lake. In the murky water, Fox carried Sonic along with him through a secret passage in the lake. The fighters kicked as hard as they could, some of them allowing each other to be carried along with the strong current. But it seemed like it was too strong. For one, most of the fighters got to the other side, but Clementine was harshly stabbed in the chest with a sharp rock wedged in the passage, orange ink spilling out from her wounds. The current was also powerful enough to separate Sonic from Fox, carrying the Star Fox leader as well as the other Smashers up to the surface while the blue hedgehog was rammed into rocks mixed with algae.

The group swam onto shore, wringing their clothes and shaking their bodies to spray water all over the place. Incineroar was feeling rather weak from swimming in the water, so Red called Charizard to breathe fire onto the Pokémon's doused "belt". Once the belt warmed up and ignited into flames again, Incineroar got back up good as new.

"Sonic and the Inkling are still down there!" Fox coughed, panting badly. "I have to save them!" The fighters didn't bother stopping Fox as he dived into the water to get the glitching hedgehog and Clementine.

Sonic was struggling to breathe as he tried to swim up to the surface, unlucky to do so due to his inability to get out of the water. As soon as the carbon dioxide was building up in his lungs to the point where he needed fresh air, Sonic began glitching again, opening his eyes and using the Water Rainbolement to shoot himself through the depths. He shot straight for Clementine, who was near dying. Once the hedgehog grabbed ahold of the bleeding Inkling, Fox grabbed ahold of the two fighters and swam up to the surface with them.

Fox and Sonic gasped for air once they bursted through the water, with the Inkling wounded enough to the point where she cannot open her mouth and breathe. Fox paddled with the two fighters to shore, resting on his back exhausted. Sonic groaned as he clenched his stomach, his internal organs stuffed with water from how long he had been down there.

"Clementine!" Eleven gasped, running right next to the wounded Inkling. The Luminary quickly began casting healing spells, but they weren't strong enough to repair the large gash in Clementine's chest. Sonic, though weakened and heavy by the water, tried running to the Inkling before Fox stopped him.

"Who knows how much damage the lake did to you?" Fox warned. "Using your powers now might not be the best option…"

"She's dying!" Sonic snapped, growling under his breath and pushing Fox away to heal the Inkling. The glitching blue hedgehog got right next to dying squid girl, shoving the Hero aside.

"What the-? What the hell?" Ireburn asked. Sonic tried combining the healing spell of the Life Rainbolement with the Thunder one, attempting on creating some sort of massive shock wave to repair the Inkling altogether. As soon as the combined powers touched Clementine's chest, the wound was healed, and the Inkling gasped for breath. The weakening of his powers combined with the water filling Sonic's lungs and stomach created a painful churning inside him to the point that he had to let it out. The blue hedgehog opened his mouth, gagging at the water being pushed out through his oral and nasal cavities. Chunks of pre-digested food were mixed with the water, creating some sort of disgusting body waste. The glitching blue hedgehog began coughing and throwing up more, the texture and taste of the vomit grossing him out to the point that Fox went in and gently patted his blue back.

"Let it all out, buddy," Fox reassured the teenage fighter. Once Sonic finished puking, there was a vile smell that infected his poor taste buds and nostrils as the vomit was dripping out.

Shaking and frightened, Sonic leaned in close to Fox McCloud, tears dripping from his eyes and mixing with the droplets of vomit from his mouth and nose. The blue hedgehog began to cry, glitching as he hugged the Star Fox mercenary deeply. The other fighters went silent as they waited until Sonic the Hedgehog got over the traumatic event.