A spaceship made with an exterior of space-resistant wood and comet-resistant glass, complete with four boosters, a full-range satellite, and the shape of quite a comfortable home, flew through the depths of outer space at full speed via autopilot. A young girl was sleeping comfortably in her bed, with the power to the room turned off. There was a mountain of pillows next to her bed, as well as a desk and a drawer. The young girl had two light brown bangs on the sides of her head, with a ponytail as well. Alien numbers were displayed on her alarm clock, blaring the kid out of her bed once the numbers changed. The kid fell next to the desk with the alarm clock, where a big, purple top hat with a yellow stripe floated down onto her head.
"Good morning, and welcome to yet another day of space adventure!" the alarm clock's automated voice spoke as the kid with the hat yawned in a sleepy tone. "You are only 5... light-years away from your destination: home. The fuel tank is full and the ship is flying at full speed. Today's to-do list contains: waking up…" The girl had been sleeping in her clothes, which consisted of the following: a bright-yellow cape with a big zipper over a long-sleeved, purple shirt, as well as white pants and brown boots.
The kid with the hat jumped into a chair next to the desk, spinning around in circles before stopping herself at the edge of the desk. Her desk had a large computer monitor, a wireless keyboard, and a mouse, along with an electronic synth piano and drawing tablet hooked up to the monitor. She turned on her computer, logged in, and quickly spotted a notification appear in her monitor's mail.
"What's this?" she asked. She opened up her mail and checked the messages listed as spam. It had no known address she recognized, and it was only listed as "Smash World" with the Smash Ball emblem and everything. The message read as follows:
Dear Hat Kid,
If you have received this message, then you have just been notified about the whereabouts of the Super Smash Brothers. We are looking for brave warriors from across the multiverse, hiring new faces to establish peace across the stars. We know this statement sounds pretty corny, but you can do the following: hang out with people from other universes, engage in fun activities, and explore other worlds. You can come back to your own realm whenever, but you'll have to ask the veterans first.
Aside from that, we hope you'll join us shortly once you click the word RETURN. See you around, Hat Kid!
Sincerely, the Super Smash Brothers
Hat Kid thoroughly read through the message, utterly confused on how to respond to it. At first, she was about to delete the email, but then she heard a knock on the glass outside her room. It was faint and coming from the ship's living room, but she could still hear it. She quickly saved the email and closed her mail program before she turned off her computer and jumped off her chair.
She ran on over to a steel door, which slid open and allowed her to walk down a curved hallway with flowing streaks of neon lights. She made it to the other side of the hallway as she then entered the largest room in her ship, which was connected to the other rooms in the ship. The comet-resistant glass gave her a good view of the planet she was flying over, with a door attached to the glass locked from the inside. Several terminals decorated the area, including a pilot's chair with flight controls and a television with video game consoles hooked up to it. A large vault was located at the top of the living room, with a large monitor next to it that calculated the flight pattern to her home as well as how many of the hourglass-like artifacts she needed to get there.
Knocking on the glass door was a tall man with a mustache dressed in a blue outfit, wearing something that looked like an apron. Hat Kid approached the mysterious man, wondering how he even got to her ship in the first place. Without opening the door, the man spoke in a strange Italian accent.
"What is this? Flying boat? All boats need to pay toll in Mafia Town… even in space! Mafia come to collect." the man spoke, reluctant to get into the ship regardless. Hat Kid, not willing to give away any money she had left, pulled on the door and shut it from him. As she locked up the door and walked away to continue her business, the man from the mafia wasn't willing to take no for an answer. He slammed his fist into the glass with such a strong impact that a large hole opened up, creating a large vacuum into the outside of the ship. The man was blown away, and the Hat Kid was dragged off her feet by the strong force of gravity pulling her out of the living room and into the outer atmosphere of the planet she was flying over. To add insult to injury, the space vacuum created by the mafia man opened up the vault containing all the hourglass objects needed to power Hat Kid's spaceship, flying past her as she fell.
The Hat Kid watched as each and every one of those relics fell across the mysterious planet like a shower of twinkling stars, and her expression changed to give her a sense of awareness to do whatever it takes to gather up those hourglasses and repower her ship.
With the morning sun rising over the crystal-blue seas, Sonic the Hedgehog got a nice glimpse of the golden rays shining as he watched it from a cliffside near a mountain. His emerald eyes twinkled with wonder as he gazed away from the sun's brightness, having already seen this multiple times to know how it goes. He gently rubbed his eyes, feeling none of the scars he got than what happened before.
"If what Gaster said is true, then maybe I might not have the ability to learn these elemental powers at all…" Sonic sighed, clearly thinking about something not related to the sun whatsoever. "But how did I even learn how to set the spirit of the Earth Element free… or even understand what that nutcracker abomination said to me? I was singing at the thing about how no one can hold me down and… I still don't understand how the friends from my universe arrived here beforehand. I dunno why… but I have this underlying fear it had something to do with me out of... guilt." Sonic began to think again about the zombies he saw in his vision. He needed to retrace his steps. Everyone else got their memories recovered, and it didn't take much. So why couldn't Sonic remember much from his life outside of saving his universe time and time again from the likes of Dr. Eggman and some other crooks the mustached man worked with? Is this what it felt like after a trophy during the First Subspace War came back from dormancy?
Whatever those feelings were… they were somehow tied to his past life.
"Hm… Recently, I've heard about the discovery about an old castle a few of my pals found," Sonic continued. "Better run over there and see what's up." The blue hedgehog disappeared in a streak of blue lightning, running across the landscape without a care in the world. Upon crossing the bridge connecting the Smash Fortress to the land across the shallow lake, Sonic skidded until his feet were blazing with blue flames. He stopped at the entrance of the castle, opening the door as quietly as possible so he could drop in for a visit.
"Hello?" Sonic asked with the notion that someone was living in this humongous castle, his voice echoing through the huge wing. The blue devil went up the two-way staircase and ended up at the hallway of the multiple bedrooms at the first floor. Sonic slowed down as he spotted the Champion of Hyrule showing Pappy the room he'll be sleeping in.
"Oh! Sonic," Link called out, having just noticed the blue hedgehog peeking his head through the door. "I didn't know you were gonna be here."
"Neither did I," Sonic responded, squeezing through the door. "Let me guess… you moving here?"
"Figured, since I'll be staying here whenever I'm visiting this world in my free time," Link answered. "Oh wait… I'd like you to get acquainted with Pappy before anything else. She's hanging out with me until Cloud gets here. I'll be looking around the rest of the fortress. It's bigger than anything I've ever seen…" The Champion of Hyrule left the room, leaving Pappy alone with the blue rodent.
"So, uh… do you come here often?" Sonic asked, trying to keep his gaze away from Pappy to avoid embarrassment.
"Nope," Pappy answered. "I just woke up hours ago."
"Hours ago?" Sonic asked again. "Must be tough sleeping for thousands of years by your lonesome…"
"Yep," Pappy replied. "At that point, I didn't even know I was asleep for that long… Hope I can make up for the years I missed out on…" The blue hedgehog's keen hearing picked up, and he learned that there was someone just outside the castle knocking on the double door.
"Be right back one second," Sonic assured, zipping away from the conversation in a gust of wind and a blue streak. He pulled open the door at the entrance, peeking his head out the door.
"Figured you'd show up here," Fox McCloud spoke. "I guess that's what you can expect from the fastest thing alive…" Sonic hugged the Star Fox mercenary with a welcoming gesture, aware that he brought a few pals along with him: Falco, Wolf, Duck Hunt, Cloud, Mii Brawler, Mario, Rosalina and a few Lumas, and Banjo & Kazooie with a half-awake Steve. However, there was also another face from the universe of the Artificial Recoiling Mutation Symbiosis Gene.
"Hey, everyone!" a familiar voice laughed. She seemed to be the fighter from the Ramen Bowl, with the orange beanie, noodle arms, and Chinese heritage. "...Is this the right place? I've heard a lot about something called a 'Smash World' and I was wondering if I could come here."
"Woah," Sonic chuckled as he stared at the newcomer. "Hey, Mario. Do you know about this chick showing up?"
"No we didn't," Mario responded, just as surprised as the blue hedgehog was. "She just kinda… showed up in the Legacy, said she used the pellet Little Mac and the others gave everyone in the ARMS League. So… go ahead and introduce yourself."
"My name's Min Min, age 18 and height 5'5," the newcomer began with excitement in her voice. "I help run the Mintendo Noodle House with my family, I come from China, I utilize kicks and can transform both my ARMS into dragons-"
"Okay, I think that's enough," Cloud chuckled, placing his hand on Min Min's chest. "Regardless, we welcome everyone with open arms… uh, no pun intended. Anyways, hope you enjoy your stay." Min Min squeed excitedly, running past Sonic and heading inside the Smash Fortress.
"Wow!" the ramen bomber gasped in wonder and awe at the large place. "This place sure is huge! We didn't have anything like that at the ARMS League!"
"Dante and the Koopalings told us about the castle," Mario chuckled before explaining as the other fighters entered through the door. "After what happened with Isabelle, we can safely say we can stay around for a while. See what we can find since this place looks like it has a bunch of secrets. If anything goes wrong and we're sucked into another dimension… well, we already came prepared with a few additional spares." The red plumber pulled out a handful of the white pellets few of the Smashers carried around, just showcasing what they might do in case an accident occurred.
"Ah, so you're thinking ahead, huh?" Sonic asked, tapping his own head. "Clever…"
"We're gonna be looking around the place," Falco called out once he, Fox, and Wolf got inside. "We'll let you know once we find something interesting…"
"Mewtwo gave us an exception to not touching Steve for three days and let us move him here," Banjo told the blue hedgehog, holding Steve by the waist and carrying him inside. "From what it's worth, it's better for him to rest here."
"Yeah, it's far more spacious than we thought," Kazooie replied.
"Looks like a place where we can kick back and relax," Sieg chuckled as Rosalina and her Lumas flew through the open door. "Wait till we tell everyone else about this place. It's sure to knock their socks off."
"Way ahead of you and Izzy," Sonic replied. Mario entered through the door, and Sonic stepped outside to meet face-to-face with the 1st-class SOLDIER.
"She's quite the gal, huh?" Cloud asked, obviously mentioning the martial artist that arrived via teleportation. "I dunno what the Assist Trophies and a few others went up against when looking for the fighter located in that exact universe, but I'm kinda suspicious that she might be the one we're looking for…"
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
"Hardly any of us know her, and yet she looks like a solid contender," the ex-mercenary continued. "And… I don't if something happened, but I am a hundred percent certain she was a Spirit before. I mean, she doesn't even remember being here, along with everyone else. So what is she doing here?"
"Beats me," the blue hedgehog replied, closing his eyes and placing his hands behind his head. "I've been questioning myself recently, and I think it had to do with staying behind til… I dunno… I head over to a spaceship that can travel past the stars and maybe other universes."
"...What about that ring the Master Hand got from you to power up the transporter?" Cloud suggested. "You say it can take you to anywhere you think of, since your race is so advanced. Perhaps you can use that to find your way back home."
"Oh, I've tried once," Sonic replied. "Last time I used it, it was after we began fixing a few things before launching the Smash World project and were testing out the pellets we made for everyone to return back to the Legacy. I tested the machine again for myself, only this time I thought of my own world. I thought of tiled grass, sunflowers, loop-de-loops, springs, Eggman's robots… my friends from both in Mobius and my universe's version of Earth, where Baldy McNosehair came from."
"And what happened?" Cloud questioned, to which the blue hedgehog's expression changed from casual to worrying in the blink of an eye. "Did you get to the world you desire?" Sonic's eyes began to dilate a bit, sweat dripping off his face and furry belly. The blue hedgehog licked his dry lips, unknowing of what to say.
"I did, and I made sure to remember all those special details," Sonic answered.
"...So why are you nervous?" Cloud Strife added, noticing that the blue blur was twiddling his fingers.
"I have no idea…" Sonic responded, his voice becoming more hitched. "By the time I arrived, it looked like nothing I thought of in the back of my head. The sky was dyed with the redness of blood, its bleak color blocking out the sky. Cobblestone streets were laid into desolate and ruin, with signs bent and crushed. Mighty buildings were toppled over, their shattered glass scattering out onto the ground. There was this stench that plagued the air, and the planet itself was completely devoid of life. At first, I thought the machine was acting up again until I remembered no matter what… the rings I used were always taking anyone to the closest image of the world anyone can think of. That world in no way looked like Mobius. I went back before I lost my mind any further. It's as if the guy I'm encountering, this creepy dude named Gaster, is trying to make sure I go about with my normal life. I think he might be bipolar, at this point because there are a ton of things he removed my knowledge of… and I think the memory of what happened in my timeline was taken away from me…"
"...Who's Gaster?" Cloud asked, growing more suspicious of what Sonic was talking about.
"So… anything happened recently?" Sonic asked, changing the topic at hand before things got any worse for him. "Any word on the universe filled with the… determination thing?"
"You mean anything outside of that girl waking up from her sleep, as well as how my homeworld is doing well without me around 24/7?" Cloud replied with a question, trying his best to keep the conversation normal. "Nothing much… outside of Link and I confronting another dragon that's not Sozo or Hakai…" The blue hedgehog's face lit up in surprise, completely forgetting what he just said earlier for the time being. The idea that Cloud Strife himself spoke of another dragon that was in no way related to the Hands seemed to amaze him.
"Another dragon…?" Sonic asked with wonder in his voice. "Could they be one of the survivors established in Ultima's flashback?"
"Depends, or their ancestors could be established as the survivors," Cloud replied. "Makes logical sense, considering that said dragon had no recollection of this world. To answer your question on what exactly happened back at that ARMS universe, let's just say that Little Mac told us beforehand that the other guys will be dropping in soon. Hopefully by then, we can find out who the person we're looking for is… if it isn't obvious already with the folk that came from that universe. Oh - by the way, Sozo will be arriving soon. He wants to take you somewhere to train you (or whatever he wants to do with you), and after the dragon we call Cirrus told him about Pappy the ex-general's willing to help her too. I gave him the Earth Citrine, in case someone wants to steal it again."
"...I think I can manage the big guy," Sonic spoke with anticipation. "After all, I rekindled the spirit of the Earth Element within me and opened the chamber to Pappy… is that what you're calling her?"
"We've all heard," Cloud Strife noted with a soft nasal sigh as he walked into the Smash Fortress. "Just… try not to get into trouble. I'll let Pappy know. Wait outside for the Master Hand, okay?"
"You can count on me, pal!" the blue hedgehog chuckled, giving a thumbs up and a wink with his right eye. "Promise I won't get into trouble!" Once the blue devil entered inside the Smash Fortress once more, Cloud heard the sound of the Master Hand teleporting behind him and transforming back into his draconic form.
"Any word on Sonic and the toy hybrid?" Sozo asked.
"They'll be meeting with you shortly," the 1st-class SOLDIER answered with a short reply. "If you say that Sonic was tortured during his time with Dharkon, then it might be best to jog his memory of how the Rainbolements worked for him. I'll let Pappy know." Cloud then entered inside the huge castle, closing the front door in the process. However, he kept that thought of the unknown entity Sonic mentioned only by name in his head before the belief alone left his mind shortly after.
The two animals that made up Duck Hunt wandered through the small islands in the garden, with the dog sniffing the ground for any secrets. He bumped his black nose against one of the platforms stuck in the center of one of the islands, backing away once he felt the edge on the hard stone path. The duck of the team flapped his wings, ruffling his feathers in curiosity on the strange platform.
"You might wanna be-a careful there, boys," Mario called out from the entrance to the garden. The Duck Hunt duo turned their heads towards the voice of the red plumber, spotting him walk down the stairs.
"Last I heard, Isabelle accidentally set one off and got transported to another universe," Mario continued. "Seems like it can send other people off to worlds that we have no idea exist. We marked one of the islands to give you the idea its platform is a gateway to a world of demons crossing over to Earth-a." The dog and the duck glanced over to one of the islands next to them, seeing a holographic sign a few inches off the dormant platform labeled "DOOM".
"If you want to go over to this realm, that's-a fine by us," Mario went on, walking across the bridge to get to Duck Hunt. "But you're going to need a few teammates if you want to explore that world… as well as this." Mario handed the two animals one of the white pellets, to which the duck pecked it off the white glove. The seed itself was big enough to not even fit in the duck's throat, but the water avian didn't seem to mind as he held the object in his beak regardless.
"I guess we better wait until a couple more pals show up," Mario noted. "You two stay here like good boys and don't leave off to that world now…" As Mario jumped across the stairs and entered inside the castle, the dog looked behind himself and glanced down at the platform covered in moss. Did a platform like that lead to another world? Even the duck became curious about where they might go with their pals. Would they arrive in a realm of imagination and wonder or a universe filled with nightmares?
Meanwhile, Min Min got a good tour of the new citadel, a smile of wonder on her face as she made her way to the kitchen located within the lower wings of the castle. Stones in irregular patterns tiled the whole floor, and there was a large counter table in the middle of the room. Drawers filled with dusty silverware and utensils surrounded said table. The ramen bomber checked the cupboards and sinks to find they were organized and cleared out, with the pots and pans organized and stacked in both places. However, when she checked the food storage it was completely empty… much to her disappointment.
"Strange… Well, I guess we can always stock up on these things," Min Min noted, shutting the door to the storage. She made her way back to the main hall in the fortress, having only now noticed the large mosaic on the floor. Min Min looked down and admired the story it told, of the dragons emerging from the caves and the golden tree bearing the jewels that made the Diamond of Universes. It was something she had never really seen before. She wanted to learn more about this planet and what secrets it held. She was regarded by her family as an adventurous young lady, far more so than the likes of Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Helix, Twintelle, Mechanica, and even the likes of Max Brass and Dr. Coyle… but where should she go?
Min Min suddenly caught Mario chatting with Banjo & Kazooie as well as the Brawler Ultimate Reborn the second she walked out of the room, hiding behind one of the pillars to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"Looks like the dog and duck want to play in another world," Mario explained, offering a couple of the white pellets. "They're waiting for us out in the garden, and I'm kinda wondering if you three could accompany us as we head out to a random universe."
"Sure," Sieg replied, taking a pellet from the red plumber's hand. "I mean, if that's what you want. I'm down with it."
"But we've got a bit of a problem," Banjo pointed out. "I think it has something to do with the girl who came with us."
"Who? Min Min?" Kazooie asked, swiping the second pellet with her wing and placing it in one of the pockets the blue backpack she lived in came along with. "We have no idea why Min Min even wanted to visit us in the first place. She doesn't even remember being here. Last we checked, she was just another Spirit in dire need of our help."
"Kazooie, will you just relax?" Sieg assured. "Galeem and Dharkon have been defeated, everyone returned home with no memory of ever being here, end of story. All we're doing right now is fixing the messes left behind and see who else is worthy of becoming a fighter."
"Okay then," Mario responded, placing his pellet in his overalls. "I'll be in the garden. The other Smashers can look after each other, including Min Min." The ramen bomber pulled her noodle-shaped bangs out of her face, wondering what that Breegull meant by Min Min having once been a Spirit. The only other person she felt might have a close connection to the fighters was Spring Man, but even then… he never disappeared off the face of the earth, did he? She tiptoed behind the bear-and-bird duo and the Mii Brawler, her footsteps as light as possible as she followed the fighters to see where they would go. Before any of them spotted Min Min the second she stepped outside, the ramen bomber quickly jumped high into the air by placing her unequipped hands on the ground and landing on top of the nearest tower.
"Sup?" Sieg spoke from the stairway, popping his knuckles. "Wherever we're going, I'm hoping to kick some ass as soon as possible. It's been a while since I've used these meat hooks for punching anything that's not a sandbag."
"So this is where you want to go, wherever it may lead?" Mario asked Duck Hunt as he approached the garden island. "We might find a fighter within that realm, but who knows?" The dog barked happily while wagging his tail, unknowingly stepping onto the platform behind him and his duck companion. The Duck Hunt dog backed away once the platform ascended a few feet off the ground, generating a blue vortex on top.
"Looks like this is where the dog and duck are willing to travel to," Kazooie added, showing the emotion of surprise as she looked up at the blue vortex just sitting there. "I don't know if they made the right choice…"
"Only one way to find out," Sieg replied, stretching his arms. "I've been meaning to get out of the craphole of an apartment I was cooped up in for months and besides… Maybe this 'traveling to other universes' shtick doesn't sound like a bad idea. I mean, I was one of the only few people that agreed to starting Smash World. You can thank me later."
"Okey-dokey," Mario added, hopping onto the glowing platform. "You all go in one at a time, okay?" The red plumber vanished in a blue flash inside the vortex, disappearing from the fighters. The Duck Hunt dog was lifted up onto the platform by his duck companion, with the bear-and-bird duo following behind. The Mii Brawler disappeared as well once he jumped onto the platform, with no one left behind in the garden except for the challenger from the ARMS League.
The second the coast was clear, Min Min jumped off the tower and softly landed on the ground with a martial art pose. She glanced left and right to make sure no one was around the garden, and she found the portal to the other realm just in time before it was about to close. Min Min slipped on the ARMS she carried along with her, equipping the Dragon ARM in her left hand and a Megawatt ARM in her right while double-checking her supplies to see if she also had a Ramram ARM and a Dragon ARM. After she got prepared, Min Min dashed across the bridge towards the closing vortex, jumping in at the last second. Wherever it might take her, it was bound to have a lasting impact on the ramen bomber.
"Oh… mamma mia…" Mario was slowly opening up his eyes, feeling the warm sun of the other world he appeared in. He seemed to have landed in a plaza, which was one of the main four sections of an island split apart by a river with a geyser that spat continuously located in the center. The red plumber picked up his cap, dusting it off and popping it on his head.
"Banjo? Kazooie?" Mario called out, wandering around the plaza while not paying attention to the strange, identical men wandering around him. "Sieg? Duck Hunt? Where did you guys-a go?" The red plumber accidentally bumped into one of the blue-clothed men populating the town, falling down onto his bottom. That man Mario ran into seemed to be carrying a strange hourglass with him, and he glared down at the short plumber with a stare that could freeze anyone in place.
"What you doing here, strange man?" the figure asked.
"Ah~! Nothing! Nothing! I was just looking for my friends," Mario stammered, stepping back to avoid any conflict from the stranger. "That's a strange relic you've got there." The red plumber was grabbed by the collar on his red undershirt, pulled close to the face of the man he accidentally threatened.
"First strange artifacts rain from sky, now funny men wander around Mafia Town!" the mafia member snarled, his breath heating up Mario's face. "Anyone who set foot in Mafia Town without paying toll have to answer to Boss! Just like little girl looking for artifacts who also causing ruckus to mafia!" A strange figure wielding an umbrella whacked the mafia member behind the head, making said member vanish in a puff of white smoke.
"It's her!" one of the onlooking Mafia Gang members called out upon spotting the girl that attacked the crook holding Mario hostage. "Strange kid with purple hat!"
"She's not welcome in Mafia Town," another member proclaimed as the mafia members within the plaza surrounded Mario and Hat Kid. "Get child AND small man in red!"
"Let's go!" Hat Kid exclaimed, grabbing the hourglass object that the mafia racketeer was carrying around. She hooked Mario away from the mafia criminals that were about to tackle him with the curved handle of her umbrella, forcing the red plumber to run behind the alien girl. A chase across the plaza ensued, with multiple of the mafia gangsters chasing after them.
"On your right! Knock them down!" Hat Kid reminded Mario just as she turned right around a corner. Mario saw a stack of barrels that the girl pointed out, and he quickly pulled one of the barrels from the bottom and sent them tumbling down on top of the mafia goons. The Hat Kid began wall-jumping between the buildings within the alleyway, and Mario copied a similar movement to get to the top of the two edifices.
"Um… thanks for saving me back there," Mario told the kid with the hat as he climbed onto the roof. "Y'know, I could've dealt-a with the man myself, but you know what I'm getting. Hello…?" At the time of this conversation, Mario had noticed the Hat Kid was looking up at some sort of large structure built atop the flowing geyser. Her eyes glittered with a hint of mischievousness, with just the look that says "watch out, anyone standing in my way." It was only with Mario talking to her that she focused her attention on who she saved.
"Oh! Sorry. I… didn't see you there," Hat Kid replied with a tint of bashfulness in her voice. "It's kinda difficult for me making new friends, to be honest. And I… definitely shouldn't be talking much."
"How come?" Mario asked.
"Premise is this: I crashed into this town after one of these guys wanted to take my money and pay something called a 'toll,'" Hat Kid replied, averting her gaze from Mario. "Next thing I know, I landed here recollecting my Time Pieces from this Mafia of Cooks. I've got a few so far." Hat Kid opened up her cloak, revealing all the hourglass relics she collected. "Sorry. I just have this nasty habit of opening up to strangers…"
"It's alright," Mario replied. "Maybe I can help you get those Time Pieces?" Hat Kid nodded, still looking for a way to get up to the headquarters built on top of the geyser. Mario suddenly spotted a cannon on top of a house just across a part of the island, which was launching multiple mafia members to the headquarters.
"Maybe we can take one of those cannons?" Mario suggested. "We can take out some of those mafia members and head to where you need to go… wherever it is." The Hat Kid's face lit up in delight as she looked where the red plumber pointed, with a look ready to spread some chaos upon the mafia.
"Brilliant!" Hat Kid giggled, hugging Mario tightly. "Why didn't I think of that before? Come with me!" The girl grabbed hold of the red plumber's hand, dragging him with her as she hopped across the rooftops towards the cannon. Mario slipped out of her grip, just simply running behind her.
"By the way, my name's-a Mario," Mario spoke. "Do you think you can tell me yours?"
"I'm… not really comfortable sharing my personal information with anyone, including new friends like that resident who calls herself Mustache Girl," Hat Kid replied, whacking a mafia member off one of the roofs with her trusty umbrella. "She's willing to rid this island of this Mafia Gang once and for all by the most gruesome, gory means necessary. Thinking about what she might do just makes me sick."
"Uh… okay," Mario noted. "Can I at least call you by something you're most comfortable with?"
"Hat Kid," the girl added, having just made it with Mario onto the platform with the cannon. The mafia members controlling the cannon detected the two short fighters, and they charged straight for them. Mario jumped over Hat Kid's head, performing a flaming kick that knocked the gangsters off the platform.
"Ooh! Are you a pyromaniac too?" Hat Kid asked before looking away shyly. "Sorry. I'm just… so excited. Maybe with you around, this whole mission of getting my Time Pieces back should go off without a hitch."
"Yeah, I-a guess so," Mario replied, opening up the cannon and letting Hat Kid in before shutting it. The red plumber pulled on the lever and fired the cannon with Hat Kid inside, launching her straight to the headquarters atop the geyser. Mario then repositioned the lever and climbed into the cannon and kicked the lever, quickly shutting the cannon just as soon as he felt it rumbling. The red plumber soon flew straight at the Mafia's Headquarters, landing in front of the open entrance next to Hat Kid.
From what the two saw, the entrance was blocked by the hitmen of the Mafia of Cooks. It was clear from the very beginning that the Hat Kid's arrival spelled trouble for the mafia. The two fighters hid behind a nearby bush, trying to look for a way into the HQ until they heard a whispering voice.
"Pst! Up here!" a voice upon the rooftop called to them. Peeking over the rooftop seemed to be a blond-haired girl wearing a red hooded cape marked with a star medallion. She wore a rose-colored tunic and had loose pigtails, but what was strangest of all was the fact that she had a mustache on her face.
"Is that-a Mustache Girl, the obvious-looking... child-a you mentioned?" Hat Kid glanced back at Mario, nodding as a response to his question.
"Hurry, before the bad guys suspect anything," Mustache Girl whispered, lowering a rope ladder down for the red plumber and the alien child to climb up. After the two climbed up the ladder before one of the mafia members suspected anything.
"Who's that fat hobo you brought with you?" Mustache Girl asked a bit louder as she noticed Mario was dragged along for the wild ride. Mario looked down at his own plump body type, patting his stomach in the embarrassment that he was called "fat" because of the shape alone.
"No need to answer," Mustache Girl continued despite Hat Kid not bothering to say anything. "Listen: I've managed to snoop around the Mafia's HQ to get a map of the building's vent system. By the time we enter and follow the directions in this parchment, we'll end up in the Mafia Boss's throne room. That way, we'll strike him down and drive the mafia away from the island. They're going to regret the day they'll see their boss stuffed into a blender once we're through with them!" Hat Kid simply gagged at the thought, clasping her hands over her mouth.
"So… enter the vents, huh?" Mario asked. "And… stuff the leader into a blender?"
"Precisely," Mustache Girl replied, lifting off the lid on the roof so they could enter the vent system. "Time and time again, I've been trying to get the mafia out of this town through a rebellion among the townsfolk. But not of them won't go up against the criminals let alone get captured. Maybe with you around, it could be an entirely different story…" Mario ignited a small fireball in his hand as a means of lighting the way through the vent system.
"Hm… looks like you've got fire powers, which could prove useful in burning down the mafia goons," Mustache Girl chuckled as soon as she saw the red plumber test out the flame in his hand. "Oh, I can hear their screams of eternal torment ringing throughout the homes they claimed for themselves in this hometown, crying and begging for mercy like they're not the bad guys. You! Fat man! Get down to the vents. You'll be serving as our light…" The red plumber was clearly suspicious about the girl he just met, but he squeezed through the hole in the roof and landed in one of the vents. Mustache Girl and Hat Kid jumped in behind Mario, with the red-hooded child pulling out the map. The vent itself was big enough for the three teammates to stand up straight, which should provide a feeling of ease if they were going to get to the throne room of the Mafia Boss.
"Alright. We continue straight forward, take a left, two rights, another left, and slide down until we land on the Mafia Boss's face… or into a trap of sorts," Mustache Girl explained, straightening out her map as Mario's flame provided good illumination. "Either way, bigger risk usually equals better reward, right?" The two girls followed behind the red plumber as he listened to the directions Mustache Girl was giving her.
"So… keep in mind I'm not going to stay here in this universe forever," Mario pointed out to Hat Kid and Mustache Girl. "At least not until I unite with Sieg, Banjo & Kazooie, and Duck Hunt. There was also this newcomer we met back at the Smash Fortress who calls herself Min Min, and I'm glad she's back in the castle with her other friends. I don't-a know why, but something about Min Min visiting us so suddenly when we have only a little knowledge of the individual from the universe she came from reeks of high suspicions…" Hat Kid was confused but interested, while Mustache Girl simply stared at Mario with as much curiosity as the child behind her.
"Um… how random, I guess," Mustache Girl fibbed, keeping the thought of that person from another universe in the corners of her deepest attentiveness inside her head for another time. "But we can worry about rescuing your friends later. Right now, we're going to put an end to the mafia democracy plaguing this town once and for all." Mario stopped walking for a brief moment, with Mustache Girl and Hat Kid bumping into him.
"What's the hold-up?" Mustache Girl asked, a little irritated. "Go on. Walk straight ahead."
"I would if I could, but…" Mario answered, pointing downward in front of his feet. When the two girls peeked behind him, they gazed into what appeared to be a dark abyss with a sudden drop.
"That's exactly where we need to go!" Mustache Girl chuckled. "Now come on! Let's move!" Mustache Girl pushed the red plumber, knocking him straight into the chute. As the red plumber hollered while sliding down the dark vent, Mustache Girl rolled up the map and jumped down. Hat Kid gulped as she held on tight to the edge of the floor before she let go and followed her two friends.
Inside a room filled with golden coins and erect statues, a pair of gates opened up and two of the mafia gangsters walked straight ahead with a sack over the shoulder of one of them. The sack was struggling and kicking, with the person trapped inside screaming obscenities. The mafia members stopped in front of a throne, where the man the mafia considered their leader sat in as the ruler of Mafia Town.
The Mafia Boss was shorter than the average mafia crook, with larger eyes, nose, and a mustache all on a smaller face. His clothing consisted of striped blue trousers, a white shirt covered by a detailed red coat, and a tall hat upon his head. He was tossing one of the many Time Pieces his goons collected and catching again, looking at the mafia members once they stopped at his feet.
"Speak. What news does the Mafia bring?" the Mafia Boss asked, curious as to who his men brought into his throne room.
"Mafia bring intruder from outside headquarters," one of the ruffians answered.
"Intruder just appeared inside lobby like ghost, but Mafia gained upper hand," the other thug replied, unable to contain the person inside the sack any longer. Min Min emerged from the sack, punching the two mafia criminals in their faces.
"Come on!" Min Min snarled, pulling up her ARMS during the time that more of the mafia hoodlums marched into the throne room. "You want a piece of me!?"
"Stand down!" the Mafia Boss spoke in a stern voice, commanding the Mafia Gang to back off without any sudden movements. "All of you. I request to speak to the intruder without any of you getting involved."
"Getting involved? Your minions attacked me!" Min Min objected.
"Only because you ended up at the wrong place in the wrong time," the Mafia Boss responded, getting up from his throne and slowly walking towards the ramen bomber. "No one enters Mafia Town without leaving in one piece."
"Say that to my face," Min Min replied, moving her ARMS close to her chest. "These ARMS can crack your skulls open, and I'm not afraid to use them! Bring it on already!"
"We'll see about that, young lady" the Mafia Boss chuckled, pulling out a cleaver for each of his hands. "We don't even know you, but your attitude is one we utterly dislike! If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you shall receive. And I have these magical hourglasses to aid me in luck." Behind the Mafia Boss came the sound of dull thudding against the wall's vent lid, with the voices of Mario, Mustache Girl, and Hat Kid echoing throughout the throne room as they broke out of the air duct and landed behind the Mafia Boss. The three companions stood up once they found out they were in the middle of a pre-fight.
"Mafia Boss!" Mustache Girl shouted.
"The girl with the shag!" the Mafia Boss growled.
"The Mafia!" Hat Kid gasped.
"Little hat-wearing girl!" one of the mafia ruffians called out.
"Mario?" Min Min questioned.
"Min Min?" Mario asked.
"Get them!" the Mafia Boss commanded. The Mafia Gang closed in on the four individuals, ready to tackle them to the ground. Min Min dragged out her Dragon ARM, shooting out a powerful laser that knocked out the first few members of the mafia. Mario was jumping between multiple mafia men while kicking them and launching fireballs at a few more, making them explode into white dust. Hat Kid and Mustache Girl took care of the rest, with Hat Kid whacking the incoming mafia horde with her umbrella while Mustache Girl punched the downed minions in the faces.
"Whoever takes down the kid with the hat and her sniveling friends gets an additional raise," the Mafia Boss spoke, quickly grabbing hold of Min Min's extended Dragon ARM and pulling the ramen bomber straight up to his face while she whacked a few mafia members with her Megawatt. "But leave the masked woman to me." Min Min quickly switched between weapons with her right ARM, pulling out a second Dragon ARM and shooting a laser straight at his ears. However, the attack seemed to have no effect on the crook himself. The Mafia Boss swung his cleavers at Min Min, trying his best to hit her as she quickly jumped out of the way.
"Min Min! What are you doing here!?" Mario asked once he took out enough mafia gangsters to let Mustache Girl and Hat Kid take care of the rest. "I thought you were back at the Smash Fortress!"
"Sorry, Mario! Couldn't resist coming with you guys!" Min Min replied, ducking from the Mafia Boss's swings. "Besides, shouldn't a newcomer tag along on a dangerous adventure to get the jest of what they're going to have to deal with in the future?"
"If you're going to attack the Mafia Boss, he has to turn blue!" Mustache Girl told the Chinese ARMS fighter as she performed an uppercut on yet another incoming mafia member. "Only then can you attack him!"
"Thanks for the information!" the ramen bomber replied, trying her best to hit the short but quick mafia leader while avoiding his large chopping knives like a game of limbo. Just when the mafia leader was about to hit her with cleavers sparkling with electricity, Min Min felt something like her back. Once she saw one of the Mafia Boss's cleavers attempt to chop her head off, the ARMS fighter quickly thrusted herself into the air from the floor and caught on tight to one of the golden curtains located behind the Mafia Boss's throne.
The Mafia Boss began to flash with a blue outline at this time, unaware that he was about to take damage shortly after he hit something that was behind Min Min. That something just so happened to be a mechanical lighting box, and the Mafia Boss was electrocuted as a result. As Mario, Hat Kid, and Mustache Girl took down the last incoming mafia crook, the lights shut off and they began to hear the walls tumble down around them. An explosive burst concocted in front of the Mafia Boss's face, igniting the golden curtain Min Min was clutching onto.
The ramen bomber quickly jumped off the curtain, landing on the ground before the fire caught up to her. She landed right next to Mario, stamping out a small flame beside her feet. The surviving mafia knew the best way out was to flee, and they ran away through the crumbling walls of the throne room. Once everything fell apart, Mario, Min Min, Hat Kid, and Mustache Girl shielded their eyes when bright spotlights bathed them. To their left, a crowd of mafia members were whistling and cheering as they were on a stage filled with cardboard trees, clouds, and a wooden structure with more mafia goons standing on it in the background. Hat Kid looked around her current environment, trying to find some sort of a control booth to seize control of what appeared to be a play… or at the very least find some sandbags to drop upon the play and ruin the performance for the mafia.
"You…!" the Mafia Boss roared, crawling out of the rubble covered in ashes with the cleavers in his hands. "You degenerate pigs are ruining everything!"
"You're the one who ruined everything in the first place! Let's get him!" Mustache Girl shouted, with Mario and Min Min charging straight towards the Mafia Boss. Chaos began to take place on the stage, with the two fighters attacking the Mafia Boss as he unleashed yellow and red charges as well as spinning cleavers.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mustache Girl asked. Hat Kid made eye contact with her friend and nodded, aware that Mustache Girl was planning to use some of the sandbags the Mafia Gang was dropping over their heads and attempting to crush them.
"Hey! Noodle lady! We need a boost onto the top frames of the stage!" Mustache Girl called out. Min Min stopped fighting for a brief moment, backing away and letting Mario deal with the ground-pounding Mafia Boss himself.
"On it!" Min Min answered quickly without any second thoughts, activating the Ramram ARM on her right hand and launched it at one of the wooden boards above the stage. The flaming ARM wrapped around the board.
"Climb up, while you still can," Min Min added, firing her left Dragon ARM's laser at the Mafia Boss. "I don't know how long Mario and I can keep this thug distracted!" Mustache Girl grabbed onto the rope connecting the Ramram ARM to Min Min, and Hat Kid followed behind as the two girls scaled up the rope until they climbed onto the board. The mafia goons were tossing a barrage of sandbags by their boss's orders, unaware of the two girls with them until it was too late.
"The girls!" one Mafia Gang resident shouted. The mafia stopped what they were doing and surrounded Hat Kid and Mustache Girl.
"We've got company!" Mustache Girl exclaimed, kicking a nearby mafia member in the face. "You figure out what to do with all these sandbags. Just make sure the mafia pays for their crimes!" While the red-hooded child with the stache was attacking a few more mafia goons, Hat Kid grabbed hold of one of the sandbags, dragging it over until she got below the Mafia Boss. The ruler of Mafia Town whistled with his fingers, calling forth a large fraction of his men and had them clumping up into a ball to flatten Mario and Min Min.
The two fighters began to run away from the rolling clump of mafia gangsters, and Min Min launched her ARMS out at the Mafia Boss on top. The extendable appendages wrapped around the stout man, and the ramen bomber launched herself with a powerful kick to the goon's face. The Mafia Boss growled, flailing his cleavers at Min Min as he tried to attack her on top of the mafia ball. Min Min looked up at the top of the stage, where Hat Kid was giving the newcomer an OK symbol with her hand as a signal for the martial artist to knock the ruffian out cold with a special attack.
Since the Mafia Boss was surrounded by a blue outline during the duration of his mafia-ball attack, this gave Min Min a chance to disable her equipped ARMS and resort to using her Kung Fu skills. She started by jabbing at the outside of the forearms, then going for the legs, followed by certain points at the back, stomach, and where the shoulders meet the neck. At this point, the Mafia Boss was completely paralyzed, allowing Hat Kid to push the sandbag over the thug leader's head.
Min Min quickly jumped from the collapsing mafia-ball, grabbing Mario and shielding him from the rain of mafia gangsters screaming out their lungs as they fell over the stage into the audience watching the performance. The Mafia Gang within the audience was completely speechless from the attack upon their boss as the curtains closed, and even the remaining goons at the top of the stage stopped attacking Mustache Girl and looked down upon the horror of the aftermath. Because of what happened, the frightened Mafia Gang all ran away from the theater. Hat Kid opened her umbrella and held tight to Mustache Girl, jumping down and softly floating with her onto the stage.
"Wow," Min Min chuckled. "That was the best fight I've ever been in! It was like Hundun took control of this whole play and just… boom! Like that!"
"Who's Hundun?" Mario asked.
"Oh, the god of chaos and all that," Min Min replied. "I learned about the ancient gods while I was in school a while back in my native country. Sorry all this happened."
"Well, thank goodness for that!" Mario added, unaware that Hat Kid was running over to the Mafia Boss trapped underneath the heavy sandbag. "Because I was beginning to worry that you would just spawn into a lava pit or something, and at least be glad you're not-a dead yet."
"Look: I didn't exactly get the memo of traveling to different worlds when your friends told us about the scoop," Min Min continued. "When I thought it was going to be global peace, I didn't know it got literal planets from other universes involved. Is this what you guys set out to do?"
"Min Min… sorry I should have explained it to you when I got the chance," Mario sighed, tilting the cap on his head. "We've been told you're one of the newest cadets that applied to the ARMS League, and the way you fought shows."
"Well, yeah," Min Min replied. "...Do you want to know why I really came here? To leave my own world so I can end up in yours?" While the two fighters were having the conversation, Hat Kid gathered up a pile of all the Time Pieces the Mafia Boss had collected in his coat. She held one of the relics in her hands before Mustache Girl quickly swiped it from her hands. Before Min Min could say anything about why she arrived in this strange new world, she and Mario looked over to Mustache Girl.
"So what do they do anyway?" Mustache Girl asked as she tossed the Time Piece and caught it in her hand repeatedly. "Are they some sort of collector's item for nerds?" As Mustache Girl tossed the Time Piece again, she failed to catch it, prompting Hat Kid to catch the item before anything catastrophic happened. The hourglass piece shattered, spreading grains of glowing sand across the air. Everyone seemed to be frozen in time before the sand particles took effect and rewinded time to the moment before Mustache Girl accidentally dropped the Time Piece, only this time the Time Piece was lying on the exact spot on the floor it broke upon.
"Are they some sort of rare c… wait, huh?" Mustache Girl repeated, unaware that she wasn't holding anything until she felt nothing in her hands. She scanned down on the floor for the Time Piece, completely surprised that the relic appeared as though it never broke, having miraculously healed its broken glass.
"Woah,what!?" Mustache Girl exclaimed in complete shock and discovery of the newfound power these pieces possessed. "What… did, uhm… did you know about this?" As Mustache Girl picked up the relic, Hat Kid took the Time Piece from the hooded child's hands. The alien child nodded her head as a response, completely aware of how her Time Pieces work.
"This is crazy! Do you know what could be done with these?" Mustache Girl exclaimed, excited by the newfound power of time manipulation the Time Pieces contained. "We could make it so that you never got punched by the Mafia that one time! We could beat up the Mafia, travel back in time, and then beat them up again! No, wait… we could make it so that the Mafia never arrived on the island! Wait, wait, wait! We could be crime-fighting time travellers!"
"Hm… the girl with the mustache has got a point," Min Min thought. "With these Time Pieces, we could put an end to evil for good…" Mario had no clear say in this, due to him having a clear memory of time travel. As for Hat Kid, she was not one to share this kind of power with anyone, even her best friends. She backed away from Mustache Girl, tossing the Time Piece she held into the pile of the magical hourglasses she collected from the Mafia Boss.
"Mustache Girl… I appreciate what you're trying to do, and I support you for that," Hat Kid spoke up, glancing back at Mario and Min Min to make sure they were listening too. "However, I don't think I can just simply give one of these Time Pieces to you. My race had been collecting time-manipulating sand in these special hourglasses as a means to fuel their ships. They understand how dangerous it can be if it falls into the wrong hands, and we learn how it works even at a young age."
"Wait, what?!" Mustache Girl ejaculated in disbelief and anger. "This doesn't make any sense! You have all this power, and you're not gonna use it to fight evil?"
"Abusing this power just to take down a platoon of mafia gangsters might not be the best idea," Hat Kid continued, starting to feel more sorry about herself. "What if you become corrupt and use it to build a dictatorship that punishes bad people for the smallest of mistakes? Again, these Time Pieces were built to be used as fuel, not weapons of mass destruction. I'm sorry." Mustache Girl felt utterly defeated, a shadow of disappointment clouding her face. Her expression changed drastically, glaring straight at Hat Kid as though the alien child had betrayed her.
"I see how it is," Mustache Girl snapped calmly. "You have resorted to selfishness when you could be using this power for the greater good. These Time Pieces could shape the world… and you're just hogging them for yourself. If you're not going to use them to fight evil, then I will." Mustache Girl grabbed the collar of Hat Kid's cape out of spite, staring at her straight in the eye.
"I'm not gonna let this island remain as Mafia Town!" Mustache Girl continued, getting more enraged at the minute. "I'll collect all the Time Pieces for myself! You have my word on it!" The hooded child glanced up at Mario and Min Min, aware that they're going to be trouble for her later on.
"And as for you two simpletons: stay out of my way," Mustache Girl went on, pushing Hat Kid away fondling her own hooded cape. "You caused enough trouble as it is, and I already have a guess you'll be joining her side just so you can let her keep the relics for herself. We're done." Just like that, Mustache Girl ran out of the theater. Hat Kid sighed in complete guilt, aware that what she did wasn't right but was necessary in order to protect the one she used to be friends with. To add insult to injury, the alien child checked her pockets to find half of all the Pons she collected were missing. When Mustache Girl grabbed her, the hooded child somehow managed to pickpocket from her in spite.
"Best friends the first day, mortal enemies the next," Hat Kid sighed. Min Min was beginning to have second thoughts on using time travel to fight crime after the initial breakup, aware that some friendships just aren't meant to be.
"I'm glad you guys are still around," Hat Kid spoke, filled with a shred of hope as she knew the ramen bomber and the red plumber were with her this whole time. "Come on. Let's gather up these Time Pieces and we can hopefully reboot the power to my ship." Mario picked up a good chunk of Time Pieces while Min Min gathered up the rest thanks to her ARMS.
Sozo in his Master Hand form was flying across the land, with Pappy and Sonic the Hedgehog resting in his palm. The magenta-haired girl looked down upon the landscape in wonder, holding on tight to the Master Hand's thumb.
"So… where we going?" Sonic asked, lying down on the large fingers like a recliner.
"We will be heading to a special location where my father's legion once took young dragonlings to train to harness all seven elements," Sozo explained. "Padparadscha, do you have the Earth Citrine with you? It's obligatory for our first lesson in training."
"Do you mean this orange gemstone?" Pappy asked, holding on tight to the glowing jewel.
"Yeah, that's the one," Sonic answered. "There are more stones like this out there, and we just so happened to find one."
"We're almost at our destination," Sozo pointed out. "Hang in there…" The Master Hand floated down to a large, flat area between the mountains, where pieces and large, scalded chunks of metal and plastic were cramped up into a single pile scattered across the portion of the land. Plants were already overgrowing the place, with vines and moss taking root upon the rubble. The two young individuals jumped off the Master Hand, who transformed back into Sozo.
"Welcome to the Midair Stadium, or what remains of it…" Sozo introduced. "We've been gathering up all we could save from the arena that can travel anywhere across the solar system, and we're currently cleaning up whatever we couldn't fix." Pappy went ahead first, touching a couple of the large chunks of the stadium laid throughout the infant forest. She was amazed by the architecture way ahead of her time, feeling as though she missed an entire book or two in her life.
"What happened to it in the first place?" Pappy asked. "How did it get like this…?"
"It has been a long story," Sozo replied, "but I feel someone else could explain it better for you. Right, Sonic?"
"Oh, yeah. Sure. This is gonna go deep, so I hope you're prepared with frontloaded history. Yippee..." Sonic replied, clearing his throat and taking a deep breath and beginning his exposition as fast as possible. "Thousands of years ago, shortly after your race was wiped out, the dragons emerged from their caves and populated the planet. They've discovered the elements of fire, earth, thunder, life, air, water, and magic, but they could use only one, so… they've found a way to control all seven elements and everything was at peace until a millennium ago. There were three siblings: Ultima, Galeem, and Phoenix. A brother rivalry between Galeem and Phoenix got worse as the years went on, and their only sister Ultima tried to put an end to their shenanigans.
"This caused their current ruler at the time, Lord Ceresor, to kick the brothers out but left Ultima to remain so she can join them and help them take down Galleom and save the Mii Fighters. However, Ceresor was wounded in the process, and she was elected ruler with her brothers by her side in the hopes they would reconcile. Things got worse as everyone hated Phoenix while they praised Galeem just through looks, and Phoenix was corrupted and transformed into an evil entity of chaos and darkness: Dharkon. The remaining dragons rebelled, and Galeem betrayed Ultima after showing off his true colors, both figuratively and literally. This resulted in Ultima under this guy's help to send the dragons to another dimension. During the fight, Ultima was split into two: Ragnarokk and Tabuu. They took down the brothers, with Ragnarokk killed, and Tabuu banished them to another realm…" Several minutes later, Sonic was still going with his story. Despite having lost most of his memory, he was able to recall certain key points… and Pappy was interested in it all.
"And after the two brothers were defeated, everyone went back home and I stayed behind, ready to explore other worlds," Sonic finished shortly before he caught his breath after talking for so long. "So… yeah. That's all I managed to gather so far."
"Huh. Neat," Pappy noted, scratching her head in confusion over a certain point. "But I kind of noticed there were certain plot holes you forgot to mention. You said that when the transformations stopped after Tabuu's first defeat in fear of permanent death, everyone still had amnesia. You said you were telling stories about their past. Care to explain which ones?"
"Oh, there were those I could remember off the bat," Sonic boastfully bragged, before shortly trailing off as he tried to think about what those stories were. "For example, Mario and Luigi… they were stomping on mushrooms and turtles…? Samus was raised by alien birds… Fox saved the solar system…?"
"...You don't remember, do you?" Sozo asked. "Maybe you can also show her these elementals you unleashed during Dharkon's reign." The blue hedgehog curled up into a ball, charging a rapid spin in his place. Sonic released the move and started doing donuts on the ground, with blue lightning generating from his quills. Sonic stopped moving and uncurled himself, a faint blue glow still surrounding his fur after the move.
"Oh my…" Pappy whispered in wonder. "Last I checked, I've never seen a single toy do that."
"And you can be like him," the golden-eyed general responded. "I guess this is my first time teaching non-dragon species, so maybe this might significantly affect how elementals are passed down to others worthy of possessing these abilities. Sonic displayed how anyone can use them in perfect detail. From whatever has happened to him, I hope he can still properly learn those traits without any forced consent." Pappy held out the Earth Citrine in front of her, trying to breathe in and out and clear her mind of the world she was trapped in.
"Now then… it's time the both of you try to connect with the spirit of the Earth Rainbolement within you," Sozo continued. "Focus all your energy into the stone, and let it grant you its power. Let it see that you can become truly worthy." The jewel flashed a bright orange, filling the hybrid toy with a warmth never before felt in her. She could feel the roots of the mountains around her bury deep underground, feeling the great pressure and heat surround her completely. She sensed the minerals every rock was capable of, every grain of sand and dirt, every molecular structure of the crystals forming in each gem and metal buried within the planet.
"Now then… it's your turn, Sonic," Sozo spoke, taking the Earth Citrine from Pappy's hands with his mouth. The blue hedgehog held the stone in his hand, trying to reconnect with the spirit of the earth once more. He tried to feel something, attempting to reconnect with the ground underneath him just like the girl did. He tried to clear his head, but to no avail. Everytime he did so, he could only remember the world he visited before the Smash World program was launched. The things he saw there seemed to have been replaced with nothing but a barren wasteland void of life. However, every footprint he left behind in the ground seemed to dissolve into glitches, binary code, and black bars behind him.
"Sonic, are you alright?" the golden-eyed general asked. The blue hedgehog snapped out of his trance, looking down upon the glowing jewel in his hands. The marks on Sonic's eyes seemed to glow a bright orange again, with his irises the same color as the gemstone he was holding.
"Strange," Sozo noted, taking the Earth Citrine from Sonic's hands. "Usually, whenever someone uses one of the stones, it's only done once through a burst of energy. I think it's led me to believe you already have that element in your possession, but even then… I don't sense the Rainbolements from you."
"What do you mean?" Sonic asked in complete dumbfoundment. "You brought me here just so you could re-teach me how to use them. How can you not sense them?"
"I… don't know," Sozo responded, walking past Pappy. "Now then, we'll be going a bit out of order compared to how we did it back in my day. To start off with, we must first learn that the earth is full of wisdom. Just like every rock, boulder, mountain, and stone that shapes our world, they also preserve the memories of the footprints we leave behind. They leave future generations to recollect these events, the minerals inside them unchanged. First, we're going to be learning how to move pebbles and small stones. This will take practice to master, so I advise you would be careful of your surroundings. Like any element, earth is a dangerous weapon if left in irresponsible hands. We only use the earth as a tool to aid us, not one we can play with like moving mountains and changing the geographical structure of our world. Now that we've got that out of the way… let's begin. Move this rock like so." Sozo set his eyes on a small boulder, using a special kind of telekinesis to lift the stone into the air before gently setting it back down.
"Alright, this'll be a piece of cake," Sonic chuckled, stretching his gloves hands. "How hard can this be?" Sonic stretched his hands out at the boulder, his fingers slightly twitching as he tried to move that rock in front of him. No response. He stood in that position for over a minute, still attempting to move the rock. Still nothing.
"Are you doing the right technique?" Sozo asked.
"I'm trying, okay?" Sonic replied. "I've got the pose, so this should take a while…" Pappy got into the same pose the blue hedgehog was, doing everything and managing to succeed. Sonic put his arms down in humiliating defeat.
"Excellent job, Pappy," the golden-eyed general spoke. "I am most impressed by your early learning. Practice this a few more times and we can get started on the next lesson." The armored dragon looked at the blue hedgehog, noticing the drooping ears he sported.
"Sonic?" Sozo asked. "Is anything the matter?"
"Oh, nothing," Sonic answered in a sarcastic tone filled with depression. "Just that… I seemed to have forgotten everything about myself. Ten years ago, I was sharing the memories of the worlds I visited. Now whatever I didn't want to tell anyone is gone. Forever."
"...It must have been like that ever since the incident, right?" Sozo replied. "The whole final battle between Phoenix and Galeem? Wasn't there something to do with a large explosion of all seven elements that divided the world into light and dark crystals?"
"... You're starting to forget, aren't you?" Sonic asked. "I know you're probably not like this. You would tell me what is it that's missing from my life. You brought me back from the dead, remember? By sending me back so I could attack Sephiroth in my Super Form?"
"...I was true with the fact that my memories, as well as Hakai's, were tampered with," Sozo replied. "Maybe that could be the problem why I'm not remembering anything about you clearly. But that wouldn't make any sense. I remember the backstories or each and every fighter completely, including you. So why is it that whenever I bring up something to do with your backstory… the ending I got seemed to be… quickly forgotten?" Sonic put a hand below his chin, aware that something fishy was going on between them. It was like a wave of amnesia was flooding over them, and it was supposed to be the Master Hand who would know all this.
"...Do you think you can leave me alone for a while?" Sonic asked, trying his best to keep a smile on his face. "I need to spend some time alone before I… pack all my things back at my apartment and move into the Smash Fortress."
"We won't mind," Sozo responded. "Because of what happened to the dragons, I guess there really is no need for a solstice to determine if you're worthy of joining the royal guard." The blue hedgehog thanked the one-winged dragon for his generosity with a bow of gratitude, speeding off into the setting sun on the horizon with a blue streak trailing behind him.
"Should we go after him?" Pappy asked.
"Please resume your training," the golden-eyed general replied. "As for your question, it would be best if we left him alone. Whatever is going on in his head, we might as well leave him alone to discover what it is he desires from his self-conflict."
Back on the ship floating on top of the planet, Hat Kid tossed in all the Time Pieces she and her friends collected into the large vault located on top in the living room. As soon as she shut the vault door, she slid down the ladder and opened up a metal box to reactivate the power back to her ship. Mario and Min Min were waiting for the alien child, to which the red plumber was glancing up at the ramen bomber.
"Are you still a bit mad that I came here without supervision?" Min Min asked, a bit irritated by how the older man stared at her like that.
"Yes, I am," Mario replied in a stern voice. "Running off like that and ending up in the clutches of the Mafia. What were you even doing to begin with?"
"I was just about to tell you the truth before that girl with the mustache broke up with the kid in the hat," Min Min sighed, hiding her left hand underneath her bangs.
"Please do," Mario noted, not wanting to let a second of the confession go to waste.
"...It all started back at the ARMS League," Min Min explained, her hands crossed in front of her chest. "By the time your friends came, I decided the best course of action to not get into trouble was to hardly interact with any of them. However, once I failed against the only competitor to not have been genetically born with the ARMS Gene on the first round, I tried to retrace my footsteps. I spent the rest of the tourney boxing a sandbag and getting a good feel of being out on a stage again… up until the fight against Max Brass. People were evacuating, but Twintelle came in and reminded me everyone that signed up in the league was down to stop a clown: the winged jester that crashed the party. When the team disbanded, I was the only one to learn more about this strange new world. If there are really other universes and dimensions. I was… determined. Like a spark of fire ignited inside me. I wanted to learn more and… just shortly after I arrived here. Alone."
"...I-a see," the red plumber answered, his expression and voice changing to more of a concerned tone. "So you were the only one who arrived here. Out of anyone else from that universe, it was just you."
"Hey, at least I still have my fans outside of China," Min Min giggled, scratching the back of her neck. "Imagine how excited they would be if I found out I was one of these chosen ones you constantly talk about. Wouldn't that be something…?"
"Hey, Min Min? Can I let you in on a secret?" Mario confessed. "No matter who it is, we all still love you one and the same. And nothing can change that. No matter how many times you brag about it, everyone will still love you regardless. You will always have fans that'll support-a you no matter what, okay?"
"Sure, I guess," Min Min chuckled. "You know, I'm glad you took this conversation lightly. Just saying."
"Okay, I think I got it…" Hat Kid groaned, flicking a few switches and pressing buttons before shutting the metal lid. "There! Should be enough to get the engine running!" The engine began to purr like a sleeping cat, warming up the ship until the lights started to flicker back on. The power was brought back to the living room, and the large monitor next to the vault displayed the number of Time Pieces they had collected so far.
"Hm… at least we got enough to get the ship running," Hat Kid noted. "There's still more down on that planet, and they're all I need to fuel her up and I can drive back home. Now if only there was a way to find more of the Time Pieces we need… Pitch with me, guys. Where can we find the things we need…?" The television set went into a live broadcast coming from the planet, with static playing in on the screen before the jumbled voices were fixed.
"We interrupt your program to bring you this special announcement!" an anthropomorphic raven spoke as a news broadcaster. "Long-time directors and rivals DJ Grooves and the Conductor are at it again to win the Annual Bird Movie Award, and this time the Conductor's willing to start a rematch for losing Award 42. He's got a pair of brand new actors willing to help star in his movies! We now go live on the scene and ask the new actors what it's like living in the movie set." A live broadcast took place within a large express train that seemed to take inspiration from Western movies. Crows wearing hats and trench coats were helping the owls set up the props.
"Wait, is this recording?" a familiar voice asked. The camera from the TV moved to reveal the faces of Banjo and Kazooie, to which Mario was shocked to find they were there in the studio.
"So… we're kinda staring in a new movie, and they're willing to call it Train Rush," Kazooie pointed out. "We're basically the main characters of this film, and we need to reach the front of the train to deactivate a self-destruct system and it's basically, as you can tell by the genre, an action movie!"
"Guess that's right," Banjo pointed out. "We just happened to show up here, and the Conductor automatically recruited us just so he can win something to do with some magical hourglasses…?"
"Hourglasses… they're your Time Pieces, right?" Mario asked the Hat Kid. The alien girl nodded in response.
"Oi! Bird brains! Get back on the set and read your parts for the script!" a Scottish voice with hard R's called out from the camera's view. Banjo & Kazooie were pushed away from the camera, and the Conductor walked in front of the camera recording the live footage. The yellow-feathered avian with a sharp-toothed beak was dressed in an old-timed conductor outfit, which also appeared to be his name.
"This masterpiece is sure to win the Movie Award, for I've heard these hourglasses have the ability to manipulate time!" the Conductor spoke confidentially, holding onto the sides of the camera recording the whole footage. "If that's the case... DJ Grooves, beware! My movie is going to blow yours out of the water, and I'll be using that prize to get back Award 42 after you pried it from me wings with your last 'masterpiece.' Bah! I spit in the pile of trash that you call talent! If you and your other peck necks think you can do it better, well… you better swear it on your mother's death bed!" The feed was automatically cut off, and the news cut back to the raven spokesperson.
"Well now… looks like the Conductor really wants to stick it up to his rival after losing Award 42 to him," the raven spoke. "Let's see what DJ Grooves says about the situation." Another live camera was switched on, cutting to some sort of set featuring a city built on the moon. Penguins wearing black coats and hats were hoisting up the props, with some owls dressed in more modern and flashy clothing were busy rehearsing their parts. A rockhopper penguin with a black afro, sunglasses, and red disco heels on his feet, was standing in front of the camera, straightening his red, flashy coat.
"You think this movie of yours is going to win if you're the only one to cast a team-up between a mammal and a bird, Conductor?" DJ Grooves asked, his voice seemingly reminiscent of Elvis Presely. "Think again, bird-brain! Because I have the stars of my film right here! They may not talk like yours, but they're WAY better!" The penguin dragged in the Duck Hunt dog and duck to his side.
"Mamma mia… I was about to look for Duck Hunt too," Mario sighed, relieved the duo was alright for the time being.
"It'll be a cinematic movie magic!" DJ Grooves continued. "These two are going to lead the big parade in my movie hit: The Big Parade! With drama, romance, and bloodshed, it'll be the REAL blockbuster hit of the year! Come at me, old-timer. Because once I win that award, I'll take back every single prize I lost to you, which was all of them except for 42. As for your mother, well… she might be disappointed in the failure you turned out to be once I win all those hourglasses!"
"And there you have it, folks," the raven spokesperson finished. "Looks like the two directors are at each other's necks, so hope you've got your popcorn because it's about to get intense over at Dead Bird Studios. We'll find out who the winner will be once those movies of theirs hit the big screen. We now return you folk watching at home to your program." The news broadcast ended, with Mario, Min Min, and Hat Kid looking at each other.
"So the Time Pieces are at Dead Bird Studios," Hat Kid pointed out.
"And Banjo & Kazooie and Duck Hunt are located in two different sets," Mario added. "Looks like it's-a going to be intense. I'll be heading over to the studio and getting those Time Pieces for you, okay? You two stay behind. You might cause more ruckus than normal if you girls go with me and besides… I feel like this is a mission I can do myself."
"...I think we can perfectly handle anyone that intrudes the place since it is Hat Kid's ship," Min Min objected. "Don't worry." Mario opened the glass door, which was patched with wooden boards nailed to the broken hole, and was basically prepared to step out and land in Dead Bird Studios. The red plumber jumped out from the spaceship, falling closer to the planet until he was nothing more than a tiny dot.
"Well, I guess it's just you and me now," Hat Kid said. "Anything you want to do until Mario gets back?"
"I have no idea," Min Min replied. "I hardly know this man, but with his speed and experience it shouldn't take long…"
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Hat Kid spoke. "I'm just hoping he and his friends get enough Time Pieces to power the rest of my ship. Where exactly did you come from?"
"I come from a world where most of the human population possesses a strange type of quirk that we call the ARMS Gene," Min Min began, sitting on one of the beanbags. "They appear at a young age as the body develops, though 1 in every 100,000 children have carried it since birth. Some don't even have it at all. According to the name, it affects our arms greatly and makes them all stretchy. They make masks to help those that inherited the quirk, since it's usually hard to control and… they just end up like limp noodles that get very easily tangled up. Nowadays, anyone with the gene can just end up at the ARMS League. It's currently closed because of some alien jester that just showed up."
"Wow…" Hat Kid gasped in wonder. "You come from another world. I really shouldn't say much about my species considering I don't like sharing information about myself to anyone, but we've been exploring basically the whole galaxy. You've probably heard me tell Mustache Girl these Time Pieces are only used for fuel. Speaking of fuel, I'm starving!"
"I think I can serve something up," Min Min replied. "How would you like to try some of my delicious ramen?"
"Sounds interesting," Hat Kid answered. "I never really had this 'ramen' before. I'm excited to try it out and see what it tastes like." This led Min Min to come to the logical conclusion that Hat Kid's culinary habits are completely different from everyone else, considering she might not have the knowledge humans consider the ordinary norm.
"Excellent!" Min Min giggled, a smile gracing her face. "I'll be right back. Do you know where the kitchen is?"
"Up the ladder, behind the two blue doors," Hat Kid responded. "It's pretty hard to miss."
"Thank you," Min Min replied, jumping to the top of the ladder. "This will only take a few minutes, so sit tight. I'll be right back." The ramen bomber entered through the kitchen door, leaving Hat Kid alone in the living room. Min Min explored the spacious kitchen, which had a telescope in the center of a blue-and-white carpet looking out onto a glass roof. The architecture was simplistic enough, filled with the essentials necessary: a fridge, some cupboards filled with dishes, silverware, utensils, and cooking appliances, a stove, oven, sinks, and food supplies stored in wooden boxes. Min Min checked the fridge, looking through the dairy products, fruits, meat, and desserts stored in that big icebox.
"Hm… there we go…" Min Min told herself. The ramen bomber first took out a set of chicken pieces, onions, spring onions, and garlic out of the fridge, washing the food before she began preparing. She then wringed the chicken pieces of the leftover juices and blood, cutting them into smaller pieces as she prepared a pot of boiling water. She placed the diced meat in the pot and began chopping up a bunch of various vegetables and leaves, including: a small batch of onions, garlic cloves, leek, some ginger, spring onions, and mushrooms with some soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and some sriracha and chili spice. She left the water to boil for a few minutes as she prepared another pot of boiling water.
The pot itself was small, allowing Min Min to place in a couple of eggs and left them to boil until she knew the whites and yolks were hard. She took out the eggs and cooled them down before cracking open their shells and slicing them. Once she found out the broth for the ramen was finished, she turned off the stove and prepared the sliced chicken, frying them with a special sauce she prepared with some sesame sauce mixed with a few other sauces as a means to marinate them well. She took out one last pot of boiling water, preparing the noodles as she laid out flour, eggs, baking soda, and some water before kneading it into long strips of noodles to toss in and cook.
After straining the noodles, Min Min took out the broth and strained it. She placed the noodles into two separate bowls, filled them up with the broth, and decorated both bowls with some seaweed, the egg slices, and sesame chicken with some hints of chili spice and some spring onions. Once Min Min was finished, she took the bowls with some Chinese soup spoons and chopsticks before making her way out the kitchen.
"Okay, I'm done," Min Min called out. "Better be careful. This soup is… hot…" By the time the ramen bomber exited the kitchen, Hat Kid was completely gone. Min Min jumped off, quickly catching the falling ramen in their bowls the second she jumped down. The Chinese ARMS fighter thought it was completely strange that the alien girl would vanish without a trace without even telling her, so she set the bowls next to the TV after spotting a small vacuum cleaner moving throughout the living room. Attached to the small robot was a note written on it, and she quickly took it off to read it.
~Dear ramen girl,
Apologies if the handwriting is messy. I was in a hurry so if you find this on Rumbi, I'm leaving the ship for a while. Apparently, there was another strange letter attached to the glass door while you were busy preparing this 'ramen' thing. It came from the Alpine Skyline, saying there was an overgrowth of wildflowers infecting the mountainous islands and its civilians with dangerous spores. I went to investigate since these flowers also have more of the Time Pieces we're looking for. Look after the ship for me, okay? You look old enough to handle this. I'll be back soon!
~Sincerely, Hat Kid
Min Min looked at the tattered brown paper taped to the glass door, which was written in some sort of strange handwriting that was clearly native to the residents of the skyline. The Ramen Bomber was completely alone.
"Great," Min Min sighed in disappointment. "Mario's gone, Hat Kid's gone. Might as well waste my time here for the time being. It's not like I'm… needed for a special task or anything… Why did I even join in the first place? I wonder if anyone back at my homeworld misses me…" Min Min wandered around the spaceship, making her way into the Hat Kid's bedroom. She admired the equipment the alien child got set up, aware that she might have an artistic talent of sorts. Drawings were taped onto the walls just opposite of the large pile of pillows, which mainly consisted of scribbles of her travels.
Wonder if she got this new 'Smash World' thing going on around here… Min Min thought as her gaze focused on the powered-off computer sitting on the desk. The ramen bomber quickly knew she might not be able to snoop around for long, so she ran out of the bedroom as fast as her legs could carry her. But then, just as she was about to enter the main hub of the ship, her spirally eyes glanced down upon a familiar face.
"Hello there," Mustache Girl greeted. Min Min simply looked at the child with facial hair in absolute shock, completely aware of the intentions this child was going to go for if she was left alone.
"You!?" Min Min exclaimed, equipping her Megawatt and Dragon ARMS in an act of self-defense. "What are you doing here!? How did you get onto the ship!?"
"If you will kindly put your... weapons away, allow me to clarify," Mustache Girl objected, trying to keep as calm as possible at the adult woman she was going up against. "That whole thing between me and that kid with the hat: it was all an act! Honest!"
"Really?" Min Min asked, her tone quieting down but still keeping her suspicions intact. "For your information, we heard your words correctly: you were going to use Hat Kid's Time Pieces to fight 'evil' when you clearly know you'll become corrupt in doing so."
"I told you: it was all a big misunderstanding," Mustache Girl confessed, moving out of the way for Min Min to walk past her as she knew she was blocking the ramen bomber's path. "Even with the bit of info of telling you to stay out of my way. That was all a joke?" Min Min did not believe a single word of that sentence. She just simply stood in place, her eyes fixated on the hooded child with the stache. She was not buying any of that.
"After everything that happened between you and Hat Kid… yeah, no. Sorry," Min Min answered, deactivating her equitable ARMS. "I'm still going to have to throw you out." The ramen bomber grabbed Mustache Girl's hood, dragging her over to the glass door.
"Nonono, wait a second!" Mustache Girl tried to tell her as the ramen bomber opened the glass door and was just about ready to throw the kid out of the ship. "It's not what you think! I understand you're not getting as much respect as you thought you would. If you really want to be an important part of the team like you feel you are… you can start looking for another friend of yours in Subcon Forest!" Min Min stopped what she was doing and shut the door, her interest in hearing what the girl had to say.
"I'm listening," Min Min replied, completely aware that Mustache Girl might be tricking her.
"He's got long black hair, a stern expression, red shoulder pads," Mustache Girl continued. "The spirits living in the woods call him Sieg, or something?"
"The guy they call the Mii Brawler. Of course," Min Min told herself, still keeping her grip on Mustache Girl's hood. "I've heard he's an important member of the team, just like everyone else who's a member of the Super Smash Brothers. What else?"
"He's apparently working for a guy they call the Snatcher," Mustache Girl continued, her eyes trembling as she didn't want to be thrown off the ship. "As a means to replace the old contractor after his head was popped off. They've got Time Pieces too. You should definitely check over there." Min Min knew getting back the Brawler Ultimate Reborn was an offer she couldn't refuse, but she was completely aware that Mustache Girl could be manipulative enough to get what she wanted. Min Min knew there is a time and place to act loud-mouthed or smart, and right now was the time to act smart.
"...Are you sure the Mii Brawler is down there?" Min Min asked. Mustache Girl simply nodded in response.
"And what about the Time Pieces and the ship in general?" Min Min continued. "I think I've seen Hat Kid add additional security to the vault, so you might not be getting them anytime soon…"
"Oh, don't worry," Mustache Girl replied, fingers crossed behind her back. "The safety of this ship is entirely within my hands." As Min Min opened the glass door again and set down Mustache Girl, she hesitated stepping foot outside into space.
"...You didn't think I was going to let you stay here, was I?" Min Min went on. "That argument you had between Hat Kid and us… it was all too real to be classified as a 'joke.' I think the alien girl's right. She's not dumb enough just to give it to you, and neither am I. You're going to be staying here with me, and we'll be interrogating you for quite a while…"
"Oh… I see…" Mustache Girl replied, her expression changing drastically to more disgusted in the ramen bomber's final decision. "Well then… I guess you're not used to helping others in need of ridding the world of bad guys. You won't even accept my offer."
"Well, I kinda do," Min Min tried to comprehend. "After all, there is this problem of guarding the spaceship while having to rescue Sieg as well as get more Time Pieces at the same time…"
"So you can let that selfish brat hog more for herself!?" Mustache Girl snapped. "Open your eyes! The Mafia kidnapped you! They were the ones willing to interrogate you by any means necessary, and you're not treating them like the bad guys they are!?"
"They're still bad guys nonetheless, but from the way you're sounding, I don't think even they deserve this much cruelty…"
"Don't they? Don't they!? Take a good look at what I did to their leader!" Mustache Girl pulled out a jar with the hat, nose, and mustache of the Mafia Boss, but an indescribable mess of blood, flesh, and eyeballs were sealed within the jar. Min Min was rapidly switching between emotions, most of them centering around the fear of the child and the absolute horror of what she did.
"Did the mafia even do such… horrendous acts like this?" Min Min objected.
"You're just as braindead as that kid with the hat!" Mustache Girl growled, stepping closer to Min Min to the point where the ARMS fighter was about to fall out of the ship entirely. "You and your friends just don't get it! Real power comes from getting even over perceived slights, and I will use that power to personally advance myself to the greater good. No matter what it takes." Min Min equipped her ARMS again, thrashing her powerful weapons at the young girl. Mustache Girl quickly took advantage of Min Min's slow movement, and she kicked the ramen bomber in the face to the point where the ARMS fighter would have fallen down the planet by a space vacuum if she didn't quickly ram her ARMS into the sides of the door and held tight for dead life.
Min Min used the elastic bounce in her ARMS to spring herself back into the spaceship, kicking Mustache Girl as a result. The hooded child rushed at the ramen bomber, unaware that she's pretty much powerless against a Kung Fu professional. Paralyzing the girl with her chi-blocking techniques at the arms, neck, and back was nothing short of a challenge compared to all the other fights she had before she arrived here. The Mustache Girl was completely unable to move, allowing Min Min to take the girl and tie her up.
"This should leave you hanging for a while," Min Min spoke, aware she did another job well done. Mustache Girl had her hands tied behind her back, with a sock stuffed into her mouth. The rope binding her shoulders was attached to a crane hook, leaving the young girl suspended a few feet off the ground within the cold engine room located within the ship.
"Relax," Min Min replied, just about to set foot out of the engine room. "We'll be back soon to deal with you later. Until then just… hang in there. No pun intended, by the way." The Ramen Bomber exited the room to leave to Subcon Forest, which meant that Mustache Girl began to struggle in her bondages once she felt the nerves in her body kick-start again.
Sonic was inside his own apartment, trying to think about what exactly was going on. Most of the things he already packed were in moving crates, and he has just finished filling another suitcase with all the remaining stuff he could fit in it. Once all that was done, he grabbed the cellphone still sitting on his desk. He was aware of the friends he made over at the world where plants and zombies fought, his mind telling him they might not completely understand the situation.
"Alright, Will," Sonic spoke, knowing that the Eye of God was still with him. "I know you're still here. I want answers and I want them now." As though the monster heard him, W.D. Gaster concealed the apartment in vantablack darkness. The cracked face appeared before a distraught and angrily confused hedgehog.
You seem curious, Gaster spoke. Is there something you would like to ask of me?
"I've had it with your little stunts, Gaster!" Sonic interrogated, raising his voice a bit so as not to anger his familiar. "I need to know the truth: why is Sozo forgetting I even had powers in the first place? This isn't normal for him!"
He was trying to help you recover those powers of yours, Gaster replied, feeling little to no irritation in his tone. However, he does not really know that when you forgot them… so is everyone else. You do have improved electrical charges in your own blood and quills, can understand what the Forgotten Gatekeeper spoke clearly, and can connect with the spirits of the elements quite easily. Shouldn't that be enough development for you?
"Not when I know you're keeping something from me," Sonic answered, still dissatisfied with what he got. "Even if I don't even know how to use my own powers, my friends remember everything clearly. Out of everyone else, I'm the only one who has to put up with all they've been through. So tell me, 'all-knowing entity of the cosmos'... why is it that you haven't told me the Master Hand, the guy who helped bring me back from the dead, isn't even sensing the elementals from me?"
I think you must have misunderstood, Gaster continued. I only seemed to take away the memories you made on other planets, as well as how you escaped your own world too… alongside any remembrance of having the elementals beforehand.
"But you didn't tell me they were going to affect ALL my friends, both figuratively and literally!" Sonic went on. "Can't you just stick to one truth without resorting to the other and just tell me what's going on? Please…?" Gaster simply said nothing about it, unable to spill the beans towards the blue hedgehog.
"I don't think I made this clear enough," Sonic responded in a more strict voice, jumping onto Gaster's chest and tugging on his turtleneck. "As your master, it is my duty to command you to aid me in battle through your knowledge. I may not be at war right now, but it is crucial that you tell me what you're keeping from me. I need you to tell me the truth, no matter what your guidelines say. I'm one who cares deeply about things being fair, and you know very well I can't handle this level of patience any longer."
...You want to know the truth and nothing but the truth? Fine. Do not say I had not warned you, Gaster sighed. You are being rewritten. Sonic's expression changed, going from confused and angry to even more confused and just a hint of surprise.
According to the Zodiacs, you had been going through acts of jumping between dimensions, Gaster continued. It was not supposed to happen by your understanding of logic. Maybe that Chomper you encountered was right. You were responsible for raising the dead in his world. And responsible for kick-starting a chain of events that led you to here. Just too many to name. We had talked about this for a few months, and our best decision was to make you exactly like the Super Smash Brothers: the same role of the protagonist who uses his wits and cockiness to plow through obstacles. Sooner or later, your friends are going to forget you even had powers in the first place due to the rewriting and will eventually take what's left for granted… just like the people I lost when I fell into the Core. Within a month or two, no one will remember you even being a god. They will just remember you… as Sonic the Hedgehog, a close friend of theirs.
"So everything I've been told was… a complete waste of my time?" Sonic asked.
Something in Dharkon's code has prompted him to give you those powers and turn you into something you were not supposed to be: his own puppet, Gaster went on. It had led us to believe it was a checksum that did this, and we were planning to restart everything. However, it seems you and your friends have gone too far for that to happen, and you still made the promise to keep the Smash Balls alive… as well as finding the ones who work for her. The best we can do right now is to just get rid of the memories of the other worlds you visited before you got your newfound powers and… keep the story that had already been predetermined going. You still have an important part to play, but we might be afraid you could take away the fun aspect of the immersion and destroy it completely unless we were to write out the fact that you even had powers entirely. After all… everything is just a game, and not even cheaters are above consequences.
Sonic turned away from W.D. Gaster, unable to process whatever the man who speaks in hands into common sense. He had been told that the full potential of the Rainbolements were an unneeded part of the story that had to be rewritten out (with a few exceptions), trying to fathom the statistics that parts of his own code were discarded entirely. Maybe this process might be good for the blue hedgehog and his pals. After all… it's rude to talk about someone who's listening.
"Thanks, I guess… for not telling me you removed the trait about me that could have aided us against that psychotic goddess we know is alive out there," Sonic spoke softly. "It's not like it couldn't have helped us win the battle at the endgame… if there even is one."
I am sorry, Gaster responded. It is for the best and here I hoped you would not notice and continue the mission by playing the game set up before you.
"...And what about the world I visited?" Sonic asked, shifting his focus to a different question.
The world you visited during the transporter's early stages of development… it WAS Mobius, Gaster answered. It ended up that way because you failed to stop an epidemic of metallic zombies infecting your world to a global scale. Before others were given the chance to make up another backup plan regardless of doomed failure, that universe was destroyed entirely. However, the shard that created it is still alive, meaning it is not entirely gone. It had been relocated to the Pure Zone, where it has been rebuilding itself to this day. The progress you and the other Super Smash Brothers will still remain, but the evidence of your travels throughout other worlds and earning the full potential of these elements would be nothing more than a distant memory. You still have a chance to learn about the lore that was left behind. It will be more difficult, sure. But the payoff will be entirely worth it. A tear began to build up in Sonic's eye, dripping down his face before he wiped it off. The blue hedgehog just needed some time alone to figure this out. He knew only his friends could help him now, and the fact that he was significantly altered to not even come close to game-breaking… whatever that meant. He probably second-guessed himself and became aware that maybe being some sort of Mary Sue was not the best option. Besides, he knew it was even less satisfying than living and learning the hard way.
Why was he even crying about this? He's Sonic the Hedgehog, for crying out loud. He said it once and he said it again: he did not need that creature's help if he can do things on his own, and this time he was going to prove it. He was letting his own past weight him down instead of living in the moment.
He was always like this.
"Hey… W.D.?" Sonic asked. "Do you think you can leave me alone for a while? I don't know for how long, but… I feel like there are tons of challenges I can handle on my own, if at best with my other friends. Maybe one day I can figure out what exactly happened to Mobius and… how I ended up here to begin with."
I understand, Gaster finished. There will always be more to do, and I am glad you have realized the thoughts of your own past are weighing you down. As for the other Eyes of God, let us come to an agreement that they will be interacting with their own masters. In fact, one of them has already made a bond with a certain anthropomorphic dog you might be familiar with. If ever you need me, I will always be within you. May we meet again in another time. The darkness vanished, leaving Sonic alone in his apartment once again.
The blue hedgehog rubbed his hands through his quills, starting to become aware what the monster said could be true. It might have been worth it regardless if it was meant to not even be a part of the multiverse because it would just be broken beyond usefulness. He slowly came to a self-realization that he was already powerful enough as it is. He had survived corruption. He never gives up, and he always fights back for the right thing. Hell, he even has astounding reaction times as well as agility and some superhuman strength from his small size alone… and his full control of everything in his body down to the smallest molecules made him feel more powerful than he once was with those elements.
Sonic became fully aware that he didn't get every bit of information from Gaster, but he knew whatever happened to his planet will have to come back later. He cleared his mind of the confusion plaguing his head, knowing it was for the best if someone out there wanted to have a good experience one way or another. Even before Galeem and Dharkon came and screwed everyone over, Sonic still went through all that after everything they did to break his spirit.
He healed and recovered.
As the remaining memories of what his friends told him about having the elementals disappeared from his head, the blue hedgehog heard a knock on the door.
"Hey, Sonic? It's me, Fox," the voice spoke outside. "Can I come in?"
"Yeah, sure," Sonic replied. The Star Fox mercenary walked in through the sliding door, looking around the tidied place. Everything was organized into its own box and suitcase, showing that Sonic was pretty much finished.
"I came to have a little chat with you," Fox replied. "I noticed while you were running, you seem to have had a distraught face as though something went horribly wrong in your life."
"It was all in the past now," Sonic answered. "I've learned how to suck it up as quickly as possible."
"That's good to hear," Fox replied. "But you do kinda know whatever it is you're keeping in your head instead of venting it out might not be healthy. I guess you already crossed that part out of your list, since you look better than ever."
"Thanks, and the same goes to you too," the blue hedgehog complimented, dashing over to the bathroom and taking his stuff from there. "Though I'm kinda curious, do you remember me having any Rainbolements? Just asking."
"I don't really know," Fox McCloud answered with honesty in his tone. "Last I remember, the dragons seem to be the only ones that have it. I don't know if it had something to do with you, though." Sonic glanced back at the mercenary in his room, aware that whatever he did to get rid of his memories to save the multiverse was also affecting his friends too. There were still some things left unanswered, like the whole ordeal about the Zombots and how he left his world. He was even wondering if something like the elements had affected his character entirely.
"Hey Fox…?" Sonic asked. "Remember when you told me I'll still be your friend, no matter what insane powers I have? That I'll have to get used to change eventually?" Fox nodded, giving the blue devil a relieved sigh of hope that some people were still remembering the more important details.
"You came to a more broader understanding of yourself, didn't you?" Fox asked.
"I guess I did," Sonic noted, walking out of the bathroom and packing his remaining supplies into an empty suitcase. "And I just realized I'm still the way I am, even if I'm different from the lot of you. It's almost like I'm unique… but also the same."
"Now you're getting it," Fox chuckled, walking up to the blue hedgehog and rubbing the back of his head until his quills were fuzzy. "Don't really know where I got that idea to begin with, but I'm glad you know you've developed."
"Hey. Speaking of which, wanna help me move all this stuff to the Smash Fortress?" Sonic asked. "I've been planning to head on over there too. I'll handle the more heavier stuff, don't worry."
"Sure," Fox replied, taking one of the boxes and moving it out of the apartment. "I'll be glad too. Maybe we can learn a little bit more about each other, if you'd like."
Mario was sneaking through Dead Bird Studios, avoiding the line of sight from the Express Owls and Moon Penguins scanning the place. The red plumber was hiding behind the props as best as he could, and he quickly spotted Banjo and Kazooie rehearsing their lines for the Conductor's action movie.
"Uh… let's see how this is gonna go… ahem! 'Worry not, Clarabelle! I and my trusty sidekick will rescue you from the clutches of the evil Dan Nasty and save the train before it blows up!'" Banjo rehearsed as best as he could, trying his best to memorize the part.
"Ugh! No! You need more passion!" the Conductor criticized, rubbing the tip of his beak. "How are you two going to make it into stardom if you don't make your first acting role nail you on that board? And what are you C.A.W. Agents doing!? The dummies are supposed to go over there! Let me show you, you idiotic peck necks…" As soon as the Conductor left the conversation with the bear and the Breegull, Mario attracted their attention of the duo with a quiet sound from behind a stack of wooden crates.
"Pst! Over here! It's-a me, Mario," Mario whispered, peeking his head out from behind the barrel as a way to not attract the attention of the anthropomorphic birds on the set. "Can you two come over here, please?" Banjo & Kazooie spotted the familiar red cap, and the bear followed Mario behind the props.
"Mario?" Banjo asked. "What are you doing here? This is a movie set!" Mario clasped his hands down on Banjo's snout, silencing the anthropomorphic bear.
"I know, but can you keep quiet?" Mario asked. "I think I know a way to get the Time Pieces without having either director win them for themselves. But I need your help. Duck Hunt's too."
"Oh, that's what they're called? But how are we going to get those hourglasses if DJ Grooves and his team are gonna kill us the second we set foot in their set?" Mario handed the Breegull a pack of white napkins, some chloroform, and a bottle of ketchup with some fake knives. Kazooie looked down on the items, her gaze becoming suspicious at the red plumber.
"Where did you find these?" Kazooie asked.
"Stole it from one of the hospital offices located in the studio," Mario quietly answered. "Apparently, they have a lot of shifts covering injuries inflicted on the stunt doubles. And don't worry about Duck Hunt. They're going to be used as a distraction for the birds guarding the Time Pieces."
"That's fine and all, but… what plan do you have?" Banjo asked.
"Simple: we sneak through the studio until we get to the award ceremony room and take all the Time Pieces," Mario explained. "It's completely foolproof. We take the Time Pieces before the Movie Awards Ceremony begins, and we flee before anyone notices they're gone all while they're tearing at each other's throats over who deserves it better."
"Do you know where to go?" Banjo asked. Mario nodded, sneaking through the props.
"Just exit the sets and head to the largest stage in the studio," Mario explained. "We'll be gone before anyone else notices, and if anyone gets suspicious… we're going to be murdering people." Banjo's and Kazooie's faces were completely pale, unable to deal with the sickened butterflies in their stomachs.
"You don't mean… actual murder, do you?" Kazooie asked.
"What? No! Don't be-a silly, Kazooie," Mario responded. "Why do you think I got the chloroform and fake knives? We'll be knocking these guys out and make it look like someone's killing two birds with one stone throughout the sets. I gave a set to the Duck Hunt duo and let them know what to do, so this might be a cinch." An Express Owl just so happened to catch the Smashers behind the props, his wide eyes reflecting the dim lights from the set like they were flashlights.
"Who goes there? Hey! No interfering with the actors! Boss's orders!" the Express Owl called out. Mario quickly ran up to the owl with a chloroform-soaked napkin in his hand, pressing it tightly against his beak before the bird could make any noise. The Express Owl fell limp against the floor without anyone from the Conductor's crew noticing what just happened.
"Alright, now hand me the knife and ketchup," Mario whispered. "Just-a trust me." The worried bear handed the red plumber the supplies. Mario squeezed a puddle of ketchup on the floor, staining the unconscious Express Owl's chest with "blood" before sticking the fake knife into his chest.
"Let's go," Mario continued, moving behind the props. "The sooner we get the Time Pieces back for Hat Kid, the sooner we can use those pellets of ours to get back home once everything in that world is clear." The fighters moved through the Owl Express, trying their best not to get caught.
Min Min had been walking through a new location found on the planet, which was ruled by the paranormal activity abundant in a spooky forest concealed by a thick, purple fog permanently blocking the sun. The temperature was below average, and multiple fox-like ghosts were warming themselves near the several campfires scattered throughout the forest floor.
"Hello?" Min Min called out, wandering near a gnarled and broken village where serpentine spirits wearing various animal masks were soaring through the twisted branches of the dead trees populating the forest like a garden graveyard.
"I'm looking for someone named Sieg," Min Min called out. "Has anybody seen him? I need to get him back! Please…?" By the time she was walking near a campfire where a trip of blue-colored fox spirits were dancing around a fire, the same campfire exploded into a large burst of flames, scaring the Ramen Bomber to where she released a startled screech during the event. The blue fox spirits laughed as their bodies vanished into smoke, giving out their thanks to someone that had thrown a painting into the fire and helped them commit suicide. That someone just so happened to reveal themselves behind the dying campfire, their eyes glowing a bright yellow from within the shadows of the forest.
"What are you doing here?" a slightly raspy voice asked. The campfire's faint light revealed what appeared to be slightly pale skin and glassy eyes with dark circles underneath.
"Are you the… Mii Brawler Mario was looking for?" Min Min asked, recognizing the exact same face behind the sickly demeanor.
"Min Min?" Sieg asked, instantly recognizing the ARMS fighter as the woman who arrived at the Smash Mansion. "You shouldn't be here. Get out. Now!"
"What? Why?" Min Min asked. "Why do you look like that?"
"The boss is gonna have my head if he sees me slacking in the job!" Sieg continued, trying to push Min Min away. "You HAVE to get going unless you want to end up like me!"
"No," Min Min objected, standing her ground. "I am not leaving until I take you and all those Time Pieces with me. Mario and the others might be worried sick."
"I can't," the Mii Brawler denied. "Orders are orders, and no one can leave Subcon Forest alive! Everyone here is freaky, even the suicidal foxes! I can still hear their laughter as they're burned alive through the paintings… I'm giving you one last chance to scram unless you want your head popped off!"
"I am not leaving without you!" Min Min snapped. "You have to come back. You can't look like this."
"I know," the Brawler Ultimate Reborn answered, aware of his ghoulish appearance. "I only sold my soul off to the boss so I could get those strange hourglasses too. I don't know what he wants with them, but I have to stay behind. How about a deal? You save my soul, and in return we both escape from this place."
"With the Time Pieces," Min Min added, crossing her arms in front of her bosom.
"Deal," the Mii Brawler finished, quickly pulling a rope he found on the forest floor. A net sprung up below Min Min, trapping her inside.
"What's the big idea!?" Min Min yelled, struggling and kicking inside. "Let me go!"
"I'm sorry," Sieg confessed, guilty of what he had done as he held onto the rope while ghostly bells began to ring throughout the forest. "Again, they're the boss's orders." Darkness began to envelop the area, transforming it into a deep purple hue with streaks of yellow. The Mii Brawler let go of the rope, dropping the net with Min Min trapped inside. The ramen bomber squirmed out, glancing at the Brawler Ultimate Reborn with a feeling that she was betrayed. That was… until she heard the sound of purple mist swirl around her.
The mist spiraled into a tall and menacing shape, forming itself into a black form with a dark-purple hue. Claw-shaped hands twitched from long arms, with a tail that seemed to merge with the lower half of the hunched body. A hairy mane grew around the creature's neck, followed by a pair of yellow eyes and a mouth with fangs stretching across his face.
"AAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~! FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" the ghostly figure laughed, giving the ramen bomber a complete sense of insecurity. "You blew it! You totally screwed yourself! Oh, how I thought I would never get two flesh-covered morsels in my forest on the same day. Excellent work, my minion. I have a special task for you later once I'm done with this girl, so don't run off yet." The Brawler Ultimate Reborn swallowed the lump in his throat, giving off a fake smile.
"Who are you?" Min Min asked.
"Who am I? Who am I?!" the ghost asked. "Do you mean to tell me you've never heard about the all-powerful, cunning, ruthless entity that is me!? The Snatcher!? Then you're in luck, because you'll get to live long enough to see how I take care of business around here. That's right… Just like your little friend over here, he decided to choose life over death and gave up his soul just after he heard I was missing a couple braindead servants after the old contractor had his head popped off. He'll get his soul back once he clears every contract I have in store for him, so he's fine… for now. If you want yourself and your little friend to live, then you better live under my rules. Just sign this contract with your blood and we can get started. Don't worry about the pesky details, because after all… who needs em?" The Snatcher snapped his fingers, spawning in a contract from thin air. Min Min carefully read through the paper, becoming fully aware that the only thing this ghost was keeping was her soul.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" the Mii Brawler asked. "He isn't one to play fair, you know…"
"I know what I'm doing," Min Min replied, already up to date with what a stranger like the Snatcher might bring. The large, raven-black quill feather pricked her finger, coloring itself into the redness of her dripping blood. The ramen bomber signed her name on the dotted line at the bottom of the contract, and once she moved her quill away from the paper it vanished into a purple flame.
"Excellent!" the Snatcher laughed, still keeping that Cheshire grin on his face. "Now then… let me just take this from you." Min Min gasped for breath as she felt her own soul be sapped away from her body. She felt a good portion of the colors that made her outfit pop get sapped away until they were tinted in gray. Min Min felt rather exhausted and unhealthy in every way.
"Don't worry, you'll get it back," the Snatcher continued, letting Min Min's ghostly soul vanish into thin air. "As for you, strange human, you've got a Toilet of Doom to clean up, and my minions will be handing you the plunger to clear the gunk out."
"Good luck, Min Min," Sieg sighed, just ready to head out into the darkness. "If you ever need me, I'll be in the Dweller Village, exterminating a monster living in an outhouse. I don't even want to look in there without gagging…" When the sickly Mii Brawler disappeared, Min Min looked up at the Snatcher's face with whatever energy she had left.
"Unfortunately, my current devotee took care of most of the work, so you're down to one job," the Snatcher explained, his fingers trailing over Min Min's shoulder. "It's a simple task that Mii Brawler left behind for newbies such as yourself, and with the way you look you seem to have plenty of experience. There's a manor at the coldest part of the woods. Why don't you go pay the beldam living there a visit? She certainly wouldn't mind if you steal all those Time Pieces from her attic."
"Why don't you go get them?" Min Min asked. "For you being a ghost and all, this kind of job should be easy." However, the Snatcher laughed at that comment, coughing and clearing his throat once it got dry.
"Do you really think I would go up to the witch and just knock on her door?" the Snatcher asked. "Besides, I have better things to do and you're the only one for the job. Just walk up to the old lady, and we'll hope you won't have to resort to your fists. At least be glad I'm doing you a favor through this one simple task, and you can be on your merry way once you get your soul back. One of my minions will show you the way to the manor." The Snatcher snapped his fingers, instantly warping in a small humanoid figure with a white luminescence for a face within the hood. The creature walked up to Min Min, taking her hand and leading her out of the area.
"Oh, one more thing: I'll give you an additional reward if you help out an old friend of mine… though I don't know how long he's been in that forsaken place," the Snatcher finished. "Let's just say he knows the old hag better than I do…" Min Min took this strange advice, and she let the Snatcher's minion lead her through the spooky forest.
It only took a few minutes for the small creature to let Min Min follow her to her assigned destination, where the gnarled plants seemed to have wilted and died within the cold alongside the ruins of any household near the area. No winter in China ever felt this cold to her, not even the lowest recorded to date. Pillars of ice were sticking out from the ground, with the frozen bodies of all the poor, unfortunate souls who entered this domain. The icy winds swirled around in the sky, clouding even the foggy mist concealing the woods. The two traveled past the rusted gates, walking across a frozen lake for Min Min to see more terrified faces underneath.
Min Min let go of the creature's hand, approaching the front door of the tall, twisted manor. The ramen bomber spat in her hands, rubbing them together before she activated the Dragon ARM on her left arm and launched it straight through the door with a mighty punch.
"Who's there!?" an ominous voice called out from the end of the hallway, giving Min Min quite a scare. "Who dares enter my home!?" Glowing-red eyes pierced through the darkness, and the minion quickly pulled the ramen bomber away from the creature's line of sight. The Snatcher's minion hid Min Min behind the right corner of the house, just before the figure peeked out of the broken door. She was uncannily tall, with wispy hair blending into the darkened background. Her piercing-red eyes gleamed for a sense of an unquenchable bloodthirst for anyone who dared to enter. The hag pointed her gnarled, crooked talons at two large, headless guards standing near the gate, who shut both doors for the open gate.
"Look after the garden for me," the creature rasped. "I'll be preparing some cookies and tea for our new guest. They're to die for." The minion peeked out from behind the corner, relieved the beldam didn't set foot outside the mutilated front door to search for the intruder herself. They then glanced back at the young woman with their probable cyclopic vision.
"I completely forgot to mention you shouldn't be using those… fist-like weapons of yours inside the manor," the minion replied. "You probably should have read through the contract first, heh-heh…"
"Why?" Min Min asked. "I can just knock the woman out easily and I can get what the Snatcher wants."
"I don't know either, but orders are orders. No exceptions," the Snatcher's minion answered. "Sorry, newbie. I'll be taking those brawler privileges from you now." Min Min sighed as she quickly came to the conclusion that the Snatcher would have her head if she said no. The ramen bomber had no idea why the dealmaker even considered taking away those ARMS of hers, but she probably suspected he wanted to study her weakness. So, she took off the Dragon ARM on her left arm, and she tossed her second Dragon ARM, her Megawatt, and her Ramram towards the minion.
"And what about your mask?" the minion asked. "I've got a pretty good feeling that mask is also linked to your strange ability."
"That's correct," Min Min replied, touching the orange mask underneath her straight bangs. "This mask is actually pretty important, since it helps stabilize the ARMS Gene inside those who have it. The arms themselves return to normal once the mask is taken off, and if anyone were to use the ARMS ability with the mask off… let's just say for me my arms would become limp noodles."
"Huh. Neat," the minio replied. "However, it's still the boss's orders. You'll have to take it off and sneak through the manor by other means necessary. Don't worry; I'll give you back your stuff once you've got the stuff. Just look for the keys and try to survive." The ramen bomber slipped her mask off, quietly wincing as her ramen noodle-shaped arms transformed into human flesh and she gave it to the minion. The hooded creature disappeared in a poof of violet smoke, and Min Min snuck past the guards.
She entered the manor, her footsteps pacing the floor as she minded the thunderstorm outside. The faint candlelight on the chandeliers gave an eerie feeling to her as she wandered through the hallway. She quietly opened the door to her right, letting the thunderstorm give her a good view of the room she was in. Bookshelves were aligned near the walls, with a piano in the center. On the left of the room seemed to be the kitchen.
"Hm… if I were a key, where would I be?" Min Min quietly asked, instantly spotting a golden key wedged between the books in the shelf next to her. She quickly snatched the object, but not before hearing an insane laughter from the hag come from the kitchen. She quickly ran out the door as fast as she could the second a pair of piercing eyes of red hidden beneath a mop of tangled hair came into the room.
"You don't think I know where you are, dear child!?" the hag asked, her voice calling out of the room. Min Min quickly made it to a locked door at the end of the hallway, instantly unlocking it and making her way up the stairs to the next floor. The ramen bomber quickly placed her back against the clawed wall, her heart beating faster by the minute as she tried to calm herself.
That woman was nothing of the likes she had seen, and she was terrified of it. But why would she be scared of something she never met before? Min Min tried to calm herself, breathing in and out as she saw her next target: another locked door at the other side of the manor's floor. The ramen bomber slipped into what she presumed was the beldam's bedroom, which had a mirror for makeup and candlelight hung around the walls. She spotted another key just hanging over the edge of the top frames of the bed curtains, much to her luckiness.
The maskless Min Min felt her hand brush against the drawer next to the bed, which she didn't mean to open. It wasn't of her intentions to do so, and she knew it was wrong. But the habit to snoop around, even for a quick sneak peak, was already in her fingertips. Before she knew it, she pulled out a dusty diary from the drawer. Words colored in golden thread were imprinted on the cover, simply labeling it as "Queen Vanessa's Diary." As Min Min opened the book, she realized most of the pages were torn out.
"My Prince, my Prince," one of the few remaining pages in the diary read. "How could you do this to me? After everything I did for you to become your lawfully wedded? To leave me for some… girl? You don't even feel the pain I have in my heart right now, freezing deep inside me and turning my heart once filled with love for you into nothing more than a block of ice. And all because you chose to be with another maiden. If only I could lock you up in the manor until you accept your new fate as my husband… and no one other than me will ever be with you again."
"This all sounds melodramatic, no offense," Min Min quietly told herself, setting the diary on the drawer. She walked up to the bed, grabbing hold of one of the frames and shaking it violently until the nuts and bolts tying the parts of the bed frame together began to squeak. The door to the bedroom violently swung open at the exact same time the thunder rumbled outside. Min Min quickly got below the bed, hearing the heavy thuds of the witch's footsteps as she walked around the bedroom in pursuit of the defenseless ramen bomber.
"Come out, little one," the woman flowing like mist spoke. "Don't hide from me…" Min Min slowly peaked out from below the bed, seeing the witch place the diary back in the drawer. This led Min Min to come to the conclusion that this horrifying hag is, in fact, Queen Vanessa herself. As soon as the crone exited her bedroom, she shut the door quite forcefully. The vibration of the door knocked the key off the bed frame, and Min Min crawled out from below the bed to grab it from the floor.
She emerged from the bedroom, hearing the sound of a running shower from another room opposite of the one she had been too. Min Min heard the muffled humming of Queen Vanessa, who sang of nothing more than her sweet prince in a language she didn't fully understand. The ramen bomber tiptoed across the floor, inserting the key into the locked door and opening it. She scaled the stairway up to the attic, and she was glad she managed to slip from the termagant's icy-cold grip.
Min Min opened the double doors to the drafty room, where bats that were hanging on the frames of the roof during the time flew into the outer corners. There, within the light of the thunderbolt flashing outside, is an open chest filled with Time Pieces. Min Min approached the mysterious relics, just about ready to take them all and leave.
"Wait…" a voice that didn't belong to the witch downstairs called out to the ramen bomber. "You can't leave here, not without Vanessa roaming the manor…"
"What? Who's there?" Min Min asked, scanning the attic for the other voice. The thunder rumbled again, and there she looked up and saw chains strung across the ceiling. She followed the chains where they all met at: a strange, ghostly figure sitting on a pile of chains. His ectoplasmic skin was a pale periwinkle, wearing an orange jacket that resembled a prince's clothing. Chains were attached to his wrists, and a smile graced his crescent-shaped face underneath two mismatching eyes.
"No one in particular, but you can call me… the Moonjumper," the ghostly figure replied. "If you're willing to collect these hourglasses for yourself, please. Do so as you like. Vanessa just took all she could find in the land around her domain, and she just left them here to collect dust."
"Thanks…" Min Min replied, searching the attic for an empty sack. She found one and began placing one Time Piece at a time into the sack. "Any idea what this… witch wants with me?"
"Ah, that horrible woman. Like hell I could even call her that anymore," the Moonjumper sighed. "I should know. I was left to rot in her basement. She literally placed a curse over her manor, meaning any ghost, ghoul, wraith, or soul that enters her place can never escape as long as she's alive. Trust me. I've tried countless times to just simply… float out of here. Not like it would make much of a difference considering there's a wall of fire surrounding the forest that prevents any paranormality from leaving. You should be lucky the Snatcher takes souls from anyone he doesn't feel like eating."
"But I don't really understand: what did I even do to have her hunt me down like that?" Min Min asked. "She says no one other than herself will ever be with her 'Prince' again." Moonjumper laughed at that comment, relaxing as he leaned on the pile of chains like a chair.
"Ah, you mortals and your… silly little questions," the Moonjumper chuckled. "I remember that day like it was yesterday. Subcon Forest didn't always look like this. It was a story of fairytale romance, a time of settlement, two lines of royalty met here and arranged a marriage for their firstborn children to negotiate peace between their kingdoms. The matchmaking seemed to have worked, for as both Vanessa and her Prince were married they established a new kingdom that they called Subcon: a merging of their houses. Over time, Vanessa spent every waking moment of her sweet prince, even styling her hair after him. This kind of love would soon be torn apart by her own misunderstanding.
"On the anniversary of their wedding, the Prince went out to the market to buy flowers for Vanessa. At that time, I was once alive like him, and I was merely a butler of their household: the very one you are now in. He was paying the woman who worked as a florist there, and right around the corner I saw her. The beautiful Queen Vanessa, with hair black as ebony, eyes blue as the sea, and skin white as snow… believing her sweet Prince was having an adulterous affair. Before the Prince returned to the manor, I tried explaining the truth to her, but at this point I had seen what had become of her: a dependent, selfish hag who wants to be with no one else other than the one she called her 'Prince', and anyone who even did something simple as chat with him would be dead where they once stood. She didn't truly care for her husband at all. She was cold, manipulative, and at worst… abusive.
"Vanessa didn't listen to anyone since then, and she had her guards lock the Prince up here once he returned home with the flowers he bought for her. Her icy wrath brought forth chaos and dismay upon the townsfolk, ending the lives of all those who lived in Subcon and gripped them in permanent cold. When I tried to tell her to stop all this, she chained me up in the basement. She became delusional, dolling me up in the Prince's clothes while the real one would become one with the darkness. What remained of the ruler of Subcon vanished before the curse was even placed over the manor. Eventually, I embraced the sweet release of death through loneliness, but she's been keeping me from escaping the hole she dug deep into… and she has still been digging since."
"Wow… that's so sad," Min Min spoke, having just put the last Time Piece in the sack. "I didn't even know it got that depressing over a simple misunderstanding."
"It's too late to even bring a sign of sense into her head at this point," the Moonjumper continued. "Everything she did to turn this place into a forest of nightmares is irreversible. No way back to reverse her damage. I'm still surprised she even lived for a few hundred years…"
"What are you doing with my Time Pieces!?" Queen Vanessa's voice shrieked. Min Min jumped upon hearing the voice of the cold-hearted witch, with the Moonjumper hiding behind the ramen bomber. "You're even hanging out with the wretched vermin!" Vanessa cast a wave of icicles at Min Min, forcing the ramen bomber to grab the sack and take a leap of faith over the misty hag. Min Min quickly ran down the stairs, with Vanessa chasing her down at full speed, and shut the doors in front of the witch before locking it.
"Quick! Moonjumper! Get anything heavy from one of the rooms and barricade the door!" Min Min ordered the ghost, who followed behind her through the doors before Queen Vanessa caught him in her icy grip. The ghostly puppet pulled out a crib from the nursery near the master bedroom, pushing it in front of the doors. Vanessa began pounding on the door, signs of heavy frost growing on the handles.
"Let's go!" Min Min told the Moonjumper, grabbing the sack of Time Pieces and making haste towards the door to the lower floor. Vanessa's crooked fingers clawed their way through the chilling marks she made on the door, her glacial shrieks piercing throughout the manor. Min Min and the Moonjumper ran down the stairs, seeing freedom outside the manor just from the broken-down front doors.
"We're almost there…!" Min Min exclaimed, dashing towards the door with her new ghostly acquaintance. Before they even got close, the Moonjumper cried for help as blackened claws gripped tight to the lower half of his body. The ramen bomber quickly turned around to see the menacing figure of Queen Vanessa and her misty hair with eyes of bloodshot red gazing upon the ARMS fighter.
"Where do you think you're going, dear child!?" Queen Vanessa snarled at Min Min, holding on tight to the Moonjumper as her frigid touch was spreading across the bright orange clothes he was wearing. The witch cast an ice pillar in front of Min Min as she tried to run out, blocking her only chance of escaping.
"You and your new friend have been severely rude guests within my household. And no one will even remember you existed." Min Min looked up to see that Queen Vanessa was below the chandelier hanging above her crooked form, and the ramen bomber knew that if she activated the ARMS Gene within her now without the mask, her arms will end up in a tangled mess. She knew the Snatcher made this deal with her to test what she can do, and that thing just so happened to be facing off against an ex-wife that would be more yandere than anything else without her ARMS.
A glimmer in Min Min's spiral eyes flashed on her irises, going a full circle around the shape before gleaming in a cross off-center. She knew exactly what to do in this situation, as well as how to save the Moonjumper from turning into a poltergeist popsicle. She threw out her left arm, activating the ARMS Gene within it and transforming that limb into a pile of noodles. Those noodles wrapped around the loop of the chandelier, and Min Min managed to gather enough strength to tear the whole decorative light from the ceiling. The ramen bomber quickly spun her left shoulder around in circles, drawing in the chandelier close to her like a robot winding up a powerful throw like a bowling ball. She launched the chandelier at the witch at high force, knocking out a good portion of the walls in the hallway. The Moonjumper squirmed out of Vanessa's grip before she was knocked back, and Min Min quickly grabbed the bag of Time Pieces with her right hand.
"I know another way out! Follow me!" Min Min told the ghostly puppet. The two ran upstairs, with Min Min's limp noodle-ARMS dragging behind her. The surviving candles that were knocked off the walls began to light up the dried paint peeling off the walls, igniting a few good flames that seemed to quickly grow bigger through each passing second. Queen Vanessa pushed the chandelier off herself, pursuing the two characters at a slow speed while her form seemed to shift to more mutated and monstrous.
"Are you gonna be okay?" the Moonjumper asked, concerned about Min Min's left arm as she pushed the objects from the nursery aside as they were blocking the way up to the attic.
"Yeah," Min Min replied, kicking the cold door down as she grabbed the bag of Time Pieces again. "It's gonna go back to normal once I put my mask back on." The puppet yelped as he saw the bright red-orange flames burn through the floor of the manor's second level.
"Uh… I don't wanna rush you or anything, but…" the Moonjumper advised Min Min, pointing at the floor they were standing on. Min Min glanced down in shock as she saw a combustion of fire burn through the entire ground floor, and the tongues of flame dissolved their way up the manor. Min Min held on tight to the sack with the Time Pieces, pulling the noodles of her disabled left arm out of the blazing fire as the Moonjumper followed behind her.
The manor itself was easily flammable thanks to the degrading from years of isolation, which meant the roof was beginning to show signs of collapsing from the fire. Min Min launched herself to a surviving beam of wood poking out from the burning roof. The ramen bomber raced across the top of the manor, scaling up and down the angles of the roof until she and the Moonjumper were just about to jump to the front. Just before Min Min could escape the manor with the Time Pieces, she felt something cold and gnarled grip the ends of the noodles attached to her left shoulder.
She gasped in horror as the bright orange hue of the inferno that quickly spread across the manor revealed what looked like to be the true form of who was once a crooked hag concealed and left ambiguous in the darkened mist. Queen Vanessa's body was revealed to be emaciated and near-skeletal covered in mummified flesh, wearing a thin dress of silk that was worn down to the point where it almost looked no different from torn tissue. Huge, boney hands were disproportionate compared to her legs, which did no favors either in amplifying the creepiness of Vanessa if she wasn't already terrifying enough. What made her disturbing most of all was her nightmarish face that would make any brave hero fall into a fit of hysterics. Her rotting smile stretched across her face, her eyes of red piercing through moth-eaten hair and charcoal skin.
"You… are horrible visitors!" Vanessa snarled, her pose becoming more akin to a lion's as she held tighter to Min Min's disabled ARM and grew some frost on the noodles. "What makes you think you can come into my manor and try to take my Prince from me!? You're just like the rest of my victims. They are delusional!" Vanessa used her second hand to grip onto Min Min's disabled ARM, speeding up the process of frosting the ramen bomber's noodles and pulling her closer to the hag as the flames burned hotter.
"Worthless!" the hag went on, dragging Min Min closer to her by each word of spite and hatred.
"And moronic!" Queen Vanessa snarled, her mouth beginning to foam from a rabid lust to turn the ramen bomber into ice. "After all… there isn't even anyone who would care to love you… not even your own family." At this point, Min Min snapped. Hearing those words that described her… they were too painful to hear. The ramen bomber looked back at the Moonjumper, then back at the terrifying Vanessa, where she clenched her fist on her right arm.
"No… YOU'RE the one who's moronic," Min Min spoke up, feeling the arctic chill of the witch's touch drop in temperature near the shoulder of her noodle-shaped ARM the longer Vanessa held on. "Don't you see your Prince still loved you before you left him to rot in some dungeon around here? He was only buying flowers for you that day because he wanted to surprise you! Why can't you just think things through!?"
"Because he lied to me! He broke me!" Vanessa growled.
"The only person you broke was yourself," Min Min snapped, taking a stand upon what remained of the burning roof. "You've been keeping yourself away from people only to be with your husband for so long that you forgot what love even means. And I'm not afraid of you anymore. I'm not afraid of what you can do, or how much power you have over Subcon Forest!" Min Min walked up to the termagant, the cold touch spreading near the left side of her own body.
"You liar… admit it…" Vanessa growled. "YOU ARE AFRAID OF ME!" The crone was about to pull Min Min into the fire, but the Moonjumper flew straight into her face. He began attacking Vanessa with punches, forcing the witch to let go of Min Min's half-frozen ARM and fall behind herself. The beldam lost her balance on one of the planks of wood, and she was sent falling into the conflagration enveloping her manor, with only her damned screams rising out from the smoke.
Because Vanessa let go of Min Min thanks to the Moonjumper, the ramen bomber slipped and fell in front of the manor. The Moonjumper soared to Min Min's rescue with his flight abilities, catching the ARMS fighter before she hit the ice-cold lake. The two landed in a nearby pile of snow, landing in front of the two headless guards left patrolling the land around the manor. Before they could even point their spears at the ramen bomber and the ghostly puppet, the headless guards collapsed into dust, leaving them to widely suspect they were created from Vanessa's magic.
Min Min and the Moonjumper sat in the snow, watching the spectacle that was nothing short of a complete disaster burn down what remained of Queen Vanessa's Manor into nothing more than sticks of black against a fiery inferno show.
"Oh my God…" the Moonjumper said, unknowing of what to make of the events that just happened. "You did it. You killed Vanessa and freed everyone from her curse… well, at least saving the spirits of Subcon Forest. Everyone else in there is already dead after being frozen in ice for so long. But hey: at least you accomplished something, and you didn't even have to resort to using your fists."
"Yeah, I guess I did something," Min Min sighed, pulling out her limp ARM towards herself. "Snatcher's gonna kill me. I was only supposed to pay Vanessa a visit. What if I did something horrible? What if she was the only one who was keeping all these spirits trapped in the forest so they don't infect the world and later beyond?"
"Hey, relax," the Moonjumper hushed. "Again, what Vanessa did was permanent, even her most important spell. That wall of fire ain't going away anytime soon, and neither is this icy part of the land. Nothing's gonna change, really. Which is a total bummer, I guess."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Min Min noted. "Because I kinda wanted to see what you would look like as a human."
"Same here," the Moonjumper sighed. "It's been so long since I've had a body that I forgot what it even looks like. I guess we're all losers in the end. By the way, I never really caught your name."
"Min Min," the ramen bomber replied.
"Min Min… I like that…" the Moonjumper noted. "Whelp, I'll be seeing you around soon. It was fun while it lasted." The ghostly puppet vanished into thin air, and Min Min was left sitting in front of a burning household. The Snatcher's minion that came back to give the ramen bomber her things looked up at the blazing manor in complete horror.
"Snatcher's gonna kill me if he finds out I didn't tell him about this," the minion pointed out. "By the way, you got the Time Pieces?" Min Min grabbed hold of the sack, tossing it at the minion's feet. They checked through the sack, counting the hourglasses inside.
"Yep," the minion continued. "Everything checks out. Take your things and head on over to the Toilet of Doom's lair. The Snatcher has a surprise waiting for you once the Mii Brawler has finished unclogging it." The minion disappeared in purple smoke, and Min Min rekindled with her mask as well as the various ARMS she brought along. She slipped the orange mask onto her face, by which he left ARM was shaking off the chilling frost and recoiling itself back to normal. She picked up her ARMS and attached them to her waist, ready for whatever was coming next in her way.
Sieg was rather busy fighting off a ravenous, moving outhouse in an empty lair filled with chains with cages and skeletons hanging from the ceiling. The outhouse was belching explosive toxic bubbles from the toilet, by which the Mii Brawler was quickly dodging them before grabbing a second plunger from his back and sticking it between the outhouse's door. Sieg quickly squeezed into the outhouse, yelling ferociously as he slammed his primary plunger into the toilet, thrusting the suction cup in and out of the gunk-filled water closet. Min Min walked over the walls surrounding the circular area, surprised the Mii Brawler was quite busy attacking a mutant outhouse.
"Hey, Sieg!" the ramen bomber called out waving to him from the sidelines. "How's work coming along?"
"I'm kinda busy right now!" the Brawler Ultimate Reborn yelled, slamming the plunger in and out of the Toilet of Doom. "Almost there… got it!" The Mii Brawler pulled out a slimy, ectoplasm-vomiting urchin with a single eye and tentacles instead of spikes.
"There, see? The Subcon Forest has got a sewage problem all thanks to this guy," Sieg laughed triumphantly, walking out of the empty outhouse. He then tossed the creature into a black bag he carried around, with Min Min running over to him.
"Nice job!" Min Min spoke with excitement. "So… guess we should wait around till the Snatcher gives us our stuff back?"
"Hope so," watching a couple of the Snatcher's minions shove the outhouse away. "I've completed most of the chores, like helping the Fire Spirits commit suicide and delivering packages to his minions. Where's our damn reward already? We've got plenty of these hourglasses that I've heard controlled time."
"Would that be the reward?" Min Min asked, pointing behind Sieg. There, lying on the floor, were all the Time Pieces the two fighters collected.
"Huh," Sieg spoke. "Wonder where those came from." The Mii Brawler was just about to reach for the magical hourglasses but was stopped by the threatening voice of the Snatcher.
"Wait up, kids," the ghostly figure spoke. "Remember how the old contractor had his head popped off?" The two fighters looked up at their supernatural boss, who appeared in the center of the lair.
"That wasn't a coincidence," he continued. "It popped off the moment he stopped being useful to me. And guess who else just became obsolete? That's right. You two. Now that that possessed outhouse and that old ice witch aren't bothering me anymore, and all those chores are tidied away… I don't need you simpletons around."
"W-What!?" Min Min asked in complete disbelief. "We did what you asked! You took our souls and were gonna kill us if we didn't do what you said. I risked my life just to get these Time Pieces for y-"
"Silence," the Snatcher responded, pressing his finger against her lips. "That's just how it is. It's all part of the business. Besides, you didn't think I was gonna keep all those Time Pieces and not let you give them back to some alien kid, did you? They fell in my forest. They belong to ME.
"Hey! We gave up our souls so we can live, and this is how you repay us!?" Sieg snapped, approaching the Snatcher. "We know those hourglasses don't belong to you, you backstabbing, cheating, pompous, greedy shitlord!"
"DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK THAT KIND OF LANGUAGE IN MY FOREST!" Snatcher replied, smacking the Mii Brawler hard in the face with his hand. "I may be a cheater, but at least I have standards." The Snatcher began to cover the stage in complete darkness, scaring the two fighters completely once they were met with the thought of complete betrayal and silence.
"Time to see what I'm really capable of, kids," the Snatcher spoke. "Say goodbye to those little heads of yours!" The lights in the lair switched back on, but there was a waterfall of yellow and violet-blue lights surrounding the walls. Hundreds of the Snatcher's minions appeared near the walls, excited for the fight to take place.
"But first… how about a little musical number to warm up my vocals?" the Snatcher asked.
"Wait… like, an actual musical number?" Min Min asked.
"Oh boy, here we go," Sieg sighed in annoyance, aware that a battle like this was about to get intense. The Snatcher focused his line of sight at the two fighters, with a ray of light shining from his yellow eyes upon them. A red circle appeared below the two fighters, forcing Sieg to push Min Min aside. The Snatcher kept his eyes on the two fighters, using the ground as a laser-filled hazard as he began to sing his own boss theme.
Run along this forest trail
Now you'll find you'll fail
The Snatcher stopped using his laser attack, but he instead spread his hands and called forth his minions to gather up in groups of two, each one near his hands.
Never gonna reach that goal
Now give me your souls!
Sieg and Min Min jumped up and down above the groups of minions spinning around the Snatcher, the both of them trying to look for any signs of the boss's weakness in the fight from just a blue outline while having to deal with the Snatcher's singing.
Some advice
Don't think twice
Should have known I wasn't nice!
Once the minions jumped into the background, the Snatcher spawned a few blue vials of potions above his head. He started launching them at the Brawler Ultimate Reborn and the ramen bomber, by which the two fighters were rolling around on the ground and were trying to avoid magical explosions.
Off with your heads
The air's filled with dreads
Got no more use for you
And when you signed
That dotted line
You should have thought it through!
More potions began raining down upon the stage, forcing Min Min to shield the Mii Brawler while she extended her Megawatt ARM to smash the potions that were still in the air. A few droplets were landing near the Snatcher, who backed away in fear of getting tainted by the blue liquid within the potions. This gave the Brawler Ultimate Reborn an idea of how to beat the Snatcher, but first both he and Min Min have to survive against an onslaught of shadowy versions of the two characters that were taunting the originals.
Your subconscious hanging on
Clinging to your fear
Every haunt just moved along
But now the Snatcher's here!
The Snatcher reappeared in the center of the stage, spawning in more lasers from the ground in groups of three for a little while Since there was no real time to attack the ghoul, the best Min Min and the Mii Brawler could do was survive against both grounded lasers and the Snatcher's impressive singing voice.
And the weird and the wild
Should have left you both beguiled
Guess that's that,
Your own deeds defiled
Took my jobs and took time to bask
Now it's time to take you to task!
Sieg and Min Min both found cover from the grounded lasers, except they ended up on opposite sides of the lair. The Snatcher snapped his fingers, creating a bunch of mirrors scattered randomly throughout the stage.
And while the ink is slowly drying
It's time that you get dying!
Your Contract Has Expired
Sleep now in the fire!
You're gonna meet your match
Your soul belongs to Snatcher!
Now let's sing higher!
Shortly after all the mirrors spawned in, small lasers began flying all over the place. While the Mii Brawler was trying his hardest not to get burned, Min Min was quickly performing upward kicks to reflect the incoming lasers.
And the weird and the wild
Should have left you both beguiled
Guess that's that,
Your own deeds defiled
Took my jobs and took time to bask
Now it's time to take you to task!
Snatcher began mixing up his potion attack a bit, now sending a barrage of a thousand potions per person fighting him. Min Min switched her right arm over to Ramram ARM, taking down several potions at once. She looked over to the Snatcher, who seemed to have a peculiar phobia towards the color blue.
And while the ink is slowly drying
It's time that you get dying!
Your Contract Has Expired
Sleep now in the fire!
You're gonna meet your match
Your soul belongs to Snatcher!
Your service is no longer required!
"Hey, Min Min! I got a plan!" Sieg called out to the ramen bomber as he whacked a few clones of himself Snatcher created for the purpose of mocking him away.
"Really?" Min Min asked, not paying attention to her own clones taunting her. The Mii Brawler had the ramen bomber move down so he could give her an idea of what to do through her ear.
"You see the potions that the Snatcher's throwing?" the Mii Brawler quietly explained. "They're all blue, so if we manage to throw at least one of them at the Snatcher we can beat him!"
"I like where you're going with this, but we might have to wait till he probably gets tired or something…" Just after Sieg explained the plan, the Snatcher began popping up around the stage, releasing shockwaves on the ground as he kept up singing.
Some advice
Don't think twice
Should have known I wasn't nice
And when you signed
That dotted line
You should have thought it through!
The Snatcher reappeared at the center yet again, except this time he reached into the toxic water in the center and began pulling out a long bubble wand. He spun around in place, using the wind from his movement to generate a mine field of toxic bubbles all throughout the stage.
If you think
That I'm a stink
Then get a lawyer!
'Cause I'm the best employer!
The toxic bubbles began to explode after quite some time, forcing the two fighters to once again duck and avoid. The Snatcher was surprised they were even still alive, so he called forth his minions and had them spin around in circles again in groups near his hands. He continued his singing while mixing up his attacks, which were usually lasers emerging from the ground.
Got complaints? You got a form?
Let's review how you perform!
Your subconscious hanging on
Clinging to your fear
Every haunt just moved along
But now the Snatcher's here!
While the Snatcher was performing a rain of potions, Min Min quickly used both of her Dragon ARMS to collect a few potions from the air. She quickly began to jump up and down as the ghostly boss was using his ground-shaking abilities, holding on tight to the potions she collected.
And the weird and the wild
Should have left you both beguiled
Guess that's that,
Your own deeds defiled
Took my jobs and took time to bask
Now it's time to take you to task!
The Snatcher began to play out a new move, which involved him increasing in size and dive-bombing onto the lair's floor and releasing electric force fields. Little did he know that the Mii Brawler (his current target) was distracting him from Min Min, who was filling the toxic gunk in the center of the arena with the blue vials until the green gunk began to turn a bright blue. However, she held onto one in case the plan didn't work.
And while the ink is slowly drying
It's time that you get dying!
Your Contract Has Expired
Sleep now in the fire!
You're gonna meet your match
Your soul belongs to Snatcher!
Your service is no longer required!
It somehow seemed to work, as once the Snatcher finished his move he accidentally sunk his ghostly tail into the blue sludge. The second he noticed something was wrong with the color while he held his note during the last verse, Min Min threw the potion she kept around right at the Snatcher's back. The background music during the fight stopped almost instantly, and even the hooded minions backed farther away.
"...Did you just color me blue with my own attack?" the Snatcher asked. "This cannot count… right? Surely this doesn't count!" Min Min quickly jumped on the ghost's back, wrapping his ARMS around his lanky ones and pressing them tightly together against his chest.
"Now, Mii Brawler!" the Ramen Bomber called out. Sieg jumped high into the air and began rapidly jabbing at the defenseless Snatcher's face. After a few seconds of jabbing, the Mii Brawler finished the fight with a powerful punch at the Snatcher's face. And with that, the stage was consumed in darkness.
"Min Min, you alright?" the Brawler Ultimate Reborn asked, helping the ramen bomber get back up onto her feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Min Min replied. "Let's just get out souls and leave with the Time Pieces." The two fighters found the Snatcher lurking in the darkness, his yellow eyes piercing through the black area.
"You two… are blatantly disrespectful…" the Snatcher panted. "I feel… so weak… Please… have mercy..." The Mii Brawler and Min Min only ran closer to the Snatcher, still determined to get what they wanted.
"Please… HAVE A SEAT!" The Snatcher's face instantly grew to an enormous size, scaring the two fighters until they were forced to sit down on chairs that spawned behind them. The Snatcher shrunk down to his normal size, ready to talk to the two mortals he lost against.
"All these Time Pieces landed in MY forest. They are MY property. So, let's make a deal. You two get out of my forest, and we never see you again. How's that sound for a deal? Here: I'm going to make this a bit easier for the both of you." The Snatcher snapped his fingers, spawning a big contract by which he slapped a wax stamp of his face near the dotted line before he presented it to Min Min and the Mii Brawler.
"Get out. Just get out," Sieg read out loud. "You own the following: nothing. Get out."
"Hm… well we could leave right now, but maybe we would like a few things from you," Min Min asked of the Snatcher
"Please don't… I'm giving you two a chance to scram out of my woods," the Snatcher nervously laughed. "You're really starting to get on my nerves, you know. What if… I give you your souls back? Will that give you the confidence you need to sign this contract and leave?" The souls that belonged to the Brawler Ultimate Reborn and Min Min were returned to their respectful owners, filling them both with the vibrant colors and feeling of being energized they had once more.
"And all the Time Pieces," Min Min encouraged.
"What!?" the Snatcher asked. "Don't you understand the raw power they possess!? With all this energy, one can rewrite the laws of the world!" The masked ramen bomber gave the shadowy figure a funny look.
"What are you looking at me for?" the Snatcher asked again, confused by the smug expression Min Min was still giving him. "Are you even listening? Contracts are contracts! Look: just sign your names and get out. No excuses, no exceptions. Just get out."
"We're not leaving till we get all those Time Pieces from you," Sieg butted in.
"... You're not gonna leave until I'm supposed to fork it over to you simpletons, aren't you?" the Snatcher asked. "Okay, fine! Every Time Piece in Subcon Forest! Are you happy now? Just sign the darn contract already…" The ghostly figure snapped his fingers, plopping a pile of every Time Piece he and his minions got in the forest.
"If I ever see you two wandering around my forest, I'll be very disappointed!" the Snatcher called out as Min Min signed the contract before giving the quill to the Mii Brawler. The two fighters took all the Time Pieces without another word and left the dark location generated within Subcon Forest.
Inside the spaceship's engine room, Mustache Girl was still struggling against her bondages. However, she had recently caught notice of a small fire that was burning high up on the engine next to her. She swung herself up to the top of that engine at full force, quickly landing next to the engine and heating up the rope that tied her up.
The rope caught on fire, burning off Mustache Girl's bondages off completely. She quickly wriggled free, spitting out the sock gagging her mouth. Mustache Girl grabbed on tight to the hook crane she was latched onto, sliding all the way down to the cold floor. The door to the engine room slid open for her, leading her into the main hub.
"We interrupt this program to bring you some exciting news going down at Dead Bird Studios!" the raven spokesperson broadcasted on Hat Kid's TV, to which Mustache Girl quickly sat down for. "The Time Pieces chosen for the Annual Award have been reported to have been mysteriously stolen. Witnesses say they've found no evidence for the robbers, but one thing's for sure: the crews led by DJ Grooves and the Conductor are blaming each other. We now go live on the scene." The camera in the news footage cut to the stage where the Movie Awards was supposed to take place, with feathers from knocked-out owls and penguins flying all over the screen.
"Hey, bird-brain!" DJ Grooves snapped, attempting to grab the Conductor's throat with his flippers. "This is what you get for sending your men to kill my Moon Penguins!"
"Sending mai men!?" the Conductor objected. "You're the one who's been killing my Express Owls behind me back, ya peck neck!" As the two avian directors attacked each other, Mustache Girl looked very closely on the stage in the background and spotted none other than Mario, Duck Hunt, and Banjo & Kazooie sneaking past the fight with the Time Pieces in their possession. She turned the knob to change the channel, and there she found Hat Kid avoiding towering, pollen-infected goats as she attacked a large flower in the center of the island. Mustache Girl then turned off the TV and climbed up the ladder to the Time Piece vault.
"Alright," Mustache Girl chuckled. "Time to mess with time a little!" The hooded child opened up the vault, pulling it wide open. Mustache Girl laughed triumphantly as she took hold of a few Time Pieces, and she quickly gathered up as much as her arms could muster and smashed them all into the ground. A bright flash of glowing sand surrounded her completely, changing everything in general.
By the time the incident happened, Hat Kid and the fighters that arrived on the planet she was stuck on were already unconscious. Mario was the first of the crew to wake up, horrified by what happened to the state of the world in general.
"Ah! Ah! What's-a going on here!?" Mario asked, beginning to stir Kazooie up from her sleep.
"Is it getting hot out here, or is it just me?" Kazooie asked, also stirring up from sleep. Banjo was lightly tapping her on the head. Hat Kid woke up next, looking at the current state of the environment around her. Duck Hunt, Mii Brawler, and Min Min were also waking up, completely oblivious to what happened.
"Uh… guys?" Banjo asked. "Were we always in front of that castle?" The team members suddenly noticed they were on a stairway going across an ocean of lava that seemed to stretch across for miles on end. All the residents of the planet were lining up at a castle decorated with golden statues depicting you-know-who.
"Oh no… I warned her that using the Time Pieces is extremely dangerous," Hat Kid groaned. "And I was just about to finish saving all the Nomads and Goats from a flower plague."
"Says-a you," Mario replied. "We were just about to escape the studio with all those Time Pieces."
"And I was almost finished with the third flower," Hat Kid replied. Something fishy's going on right now, and I think it has something to do with Mustache Girl. Come on." The alien girl soared up the stairs, and the other fighters followed behind her. Everyone ranging from residents of Mafia Town to hooded enigmas that have settled in the Alpine Skyline. Creatures big and small, living and dead, were all lined up for something at the castle.
"Whatever's going on in that castle, we're gonna get to the bottom of this," Sieg told everybody. The group walked up the castle stairs, where the castle gates were barely open. Just waiting outside were the major characters of that world: the Mafia Boss (with his remains in a jar), the Conductor, DJ Grooves, the Snatcher, and Moonjumper.
"First you're just living the time of your life," the Snatcher sighed in complete annoyance. "Your abusive wife is dead, you're considering giving your minions an extra payment… Next thing you know you're standing in line and getting judged by some rando who thinks that just because they have all the power doesn't mean they're good for the job. Hey wait a minute… aren't you two the brats who… oh no…" The Snatcher crouched down and made eye level on the Smashers, starting to recognize a couple of them.
"Oi! Pecks necks! Check inside and show 'em who's boss!" the Conductor told the group.
"That's right!" the Mafia Boss spoke out. "You better hurry fast because my insides are starting to boil…"
"The little rivalry between me and Conductor is far from over, but we've learned there are far more priorities than just those. Knock em dead, folks."
"We'll be right behind you," the Moonjumper replied, nudging the humongous doors open a bit wider. "We know you're the guys who caused this, and you're the guys who are going to fix this."
Hat Kid pushed open the door at the end of the hallway just through the entrance. She and her friends walked into a room filled with large velvet curtains housing all the Time Pieces the Hat Kid had in her collection. There, on top of the largest pile of Time Pieces, sat Mustache Girl on a throne of gold and red velvet in front of a stained-glass window with one of the magical hourglasses imprinted on it. The hooded girl was interrogating a Mafia Town resident, judging whether he was good or bad.
"And Mafia did not hit make for, like, two days straight!" the mafia member confessed.
"Oh, what a touching story..." Mustache Girl spoke with sarcastic sorrow. "Just kidding. Bad guy. Next!" A large trapdoor opened underneath the mafia man, dropping him into almost certain death.
"I said next!" Mustache Girl called out. The fighters and Hat Kid slowly walked up to below Mustache Girl, ready to be judged for what they did.
"Hm… well you guys are incredibly selfish, and one of you even managed to tie me up after I told her to go into Subcon Forest… but you never really got in my way. You get to go on. You're good guys, I guess." The doors swung open behind the group, giving them a chance to go leave the castle.
"Well? Go on. You get to live," Mustache Girl replied. "Neeeeeeext!"
"Listen-a Mustache Girl," Mario objected as Hat Kid was the only one to walk up to Mustache Girl. "You have no idea what you're doing. This isn't doing justice for anyone."
"Despite being here for such a short time, we've determined that not everyone is a bad guy," the Mii Brawler responded. "I think…" Before Hat Kid could even talk to Mustache Girl straight to her face, the hooded girl slapped her hard in the face. Hat Kid was knocked back to the bottom of the pile, much to the dismay of her friends.
"EXCUSE ME!?" Mustache Girl asked, personally offended that someone like Hat Kid would go up to someone of the highest authority, including herself. "You and your friends are not allowed anywhere near me. I don't think any of you quite know who's in charge here, little lassie. I once thought we were going to be best friends forever. But no: all of you have become rotten and selfish." Mustache Girl jumped down from her throne, her eyes filled with a sense of wrongful justice.
"After everything I did without you," Mustache Girl replied. "I brought justice back from its roots. I AM the justice. No more bad guys ever. You are the bad guys… and I will show you how this justice system deals with bad guys!" The fighters readied their weapons, preparing themselves for a showdown to remember.
Mustache Girl began teleporting around, using her newfound powers from within those hourglasses of hers to generate powered punches from behind. Min Min threw out her Megawatt ARM at the girl as she grabbed one of the Time Pieces, allowing Hat Kid to run as fast as she could on those noodle arms. The alien girl slammed her umbrella into Mustache Girl's face, knocking her down to the floor with great impact.
"You think I'm just some poor defenseless girl who doesn't know the difference between good and evil?" Mustache Girl snapped, quickly grabbing one of the Time Pieces lying on the ground with her newfound teleportation powers and smashing it on the carpeted floor. Time began to rewind itself to the instant Hat Kid knocked her down to the floor, giving Mustache Girl the reaction time necessary to grab the umbrella before it hit her face.
"To you fiends, it was merely a couple minutes," Mustache Girl continued, slamming Hat Kid down with an impact powerful enough to dent the floor. "But to me, it was a lifetime of studying how these Time Pieces work. How with a simple shatter it can take you back to the past just mere seconds before your luck changed." The Mii Brawler quickly grabbed Mustache Girl by the next before suplexing her, but the girl from Mafia Town kicked herself off Sieg after the attack. She slammed her fist into the ground, creating fissures of violet light from the following cracks. Duck Hunt quickly pulled a fast-recovering Hat Kid away from the ongoing chaos.
"Have you ever witnessed the feeling of dying over and over again, only to be granted a second chance in life to fix what you did wrong?" Mustache Girl went on in her monologue, having gone completely mad with power. "I have… and I never felt better!" The girl with the shag unleashed a powerful laser from her fingertips, aiming it at Banjo & Kazooie. She blasted the bear-and-bird duo through the open door, knocking them completely out of the throne room.
"Oi! Wake up, bird brains!" the Conductor squawked, pulling Banjo back onto his feet. The bear and the Breegull looked around themselves, seeing all the various characters gathered outside the throne room to get revenge on the girl.
"Let's give the mustached girl something she can take so she can get lost!" the Conductor pointed out. "Alright, mafia! Assemble!" Several members of the Mafia Gang climbed up on top of each other, with the Conductor getting ready to roll on the top.
"All aboard!" the Conductor cawed.
"Alright, Banjo," Kazooie pointed out, watching all the lasers and shockwaves go on inside the throne room. "This is gonna take accurate precision, so be careful where you-" Banjo simply kicked the mafia ball forward, causing it to roll at top speed. While Mustache Girl was busy focusing on Min Min as her target, the Conductor rolled into the fight and rammed a ball made out of Mafia Gang criminals into the girl.
"And do you often get the feeling that it's destiny? Like you know what's going to happen, but you enjoy the easy victories anyway?" Mustache Girl went on, crawling over to another Time Piece and smashing it on the ground. Time reversed itself again, cutting back to the moment when the Mafia Ball was about to hit her. Mustache Girl quickly generated a shield around herself, bracing for impact against a crashing wave of Mafia Gang goons raining down upon her.
The child grabbed on tight to Min Min's Dragon ARMS, swinging the ramen bomber around like a ragdoll. She slammed Min Min's body into Mario and Hat Kid, the latter of which she was knocked out of the throne room like Banjo and Kazooie were.
"Hm… you must be quite the interesting specimen…" the Snatcher spoke, his hands underneath his invisible chin. "Are you the one who caused all this? If so, then tell this girl to get lost."
"Yeah… about that, do you think you've got any bombs that can destroy shields of any invincibility?" Hat Kid asked. The Snatcher looked down upon the alien girl in confusion.
"Do you think I'm stupid enough to give you bombs?" the shadowy figure asked. At first, he was going to decline the thought until the Moonjumper appeared beside him.
"You're the only one out of any of us who can create anything from just a thought," the Moonjumper reassured. "Okay, how about this? I pledge my eternal servitude to you so this kid won't have to give your hers, and in return you create bombs for the goats to throw."
"...How would that be a deal?" Snatcher asked.
"I've seen you help the Dwellers become your minions by signing their lives away," the Moonjumper responded. "I want the mustached girl gone as much as you do." In slight annoyance, the Snatcher created a contract, and the Moonjumper quickly signed the contract. The Snatcher got to work on creating the bombs, giving them to the goats for them to throw into the throne room.
While Mustache Girl was creating earthquakes from a single punch, Duck Hunt was kicking bombs right at her shield, breaking it almost instantly. Mario rushed in towards the hooded child, performing flaming punches and kicks as a means to hit Mustache Girl. The child quickly generated small shields on her arms, blocking the attacks from Mario.
"Past, present, future," Mustache Girl went on, kicking right in the red plumber's face. "I've seen all these timelines play throughout not just the outskirts of Mafia Town… but throughout the whole world and even the entire galaxy too. Just through all these Time Pieces alone, I created a solitary empire that knows what bad guys did in the past. If these relics make me on the same level as a god… then imagine what they might accomplish beyond the far corners of the universe." The split-second Mustache Girl was about to release another laser, Min Min wrapped her ARMS around the girl's waist and flung her around the room like a ragdoll. The ramen bomber tossed Mustache Girl into the air, where the Moonjumper floated in and created a gust of wind to make the power-corrupted child completely dizzy.
Once the Moonjumper slammed her down into the air, Hat Kid wall-jumped off one of the walls and whacked Mustache Girl like a tennis ball, sending her crashing into a pile of Time Pieces. As soon as Mustache Girl got back up, she spat out a loose tooth covered in bloody saliva. The hooded child pushed herself off the wall, ready to attack Hat Kid with as much fury as she got. Thankfully, Banjo and Kazooie rushed in to save the day by using the Wonderwing move and sent a violent-tempered Mustache Girl flying straight into her throne.
The girl was completely bruised with a broken arm and leg, and she tumbled down the pile of Time Pieces sitting below her throne. Hat Kid and the fighters stood their ground, not wanting to keep this bloodshed going any longer.
"She can get lost!" the Mafia Boss called out. Into the throne room walked the entire Mafia Gang, with one of the ruffians holding the jar of what remained of their boss.
"You and your mustache are not welcome here, little girl!" the Mafia Boss continued. "When I say get lost, the Mafia means get lost! Right?"
"Right!" the rest of the Mafia shouted triumphantly. "Mafia say: get lost!"
"That's right: get lost! No one wants yer ugly mug around their property any longer!" the Conductor called out, having already come in with his Express Owls and C.A.W. Agents. "Ain't that right, creepy fella?" The Snatcher and his minions, along with anyone else who lived in the forest aside from Vanessa and the Toilet of Doom appeared alongside the shadowy figure.
"This alternate reality stinks! We don't need another hero! Get lost!" the Snatcher called out. The Moonjumper appeared on the Snatcher's head, having also shown a sign of hatred for the Mustache Girl.
"Things were better when Vanessa was still alive!" the Moonjumper snapped at the mustached girl. "Make like the wind and get lost!" The heavy footsteps of multiple goats, along with the Nomads who rode on their backs, could be heard throughout the throne room as the anthropomorphic animals nodded in agreement to have the girl get lost.
"You're not the only ones who want that girl with the stache to get lost," DJ Grooves called out, with his Moon Penguins snapping their flippers like they were fingers. "Ain't that right, gentlemen?" The disco-like penguin director got a "Yep" and "For sure" from his avian men. Soon enough, everyone in the room began rioting and telling Mustache Girl to get lost.
"Wh… what? But I'm fixing everything!" Mustache Girl objected, trying to get up and stabilize her weakened body. "No more bad guys! Can't you see I'm doing this for all of us?"
"But trying to control people and forcing them to change overnight by penalty of death if they don't obey the law… who's the real bad guy here?" Min Min asked. "I mean, I've thought Dr. Coyle was the stereotypical bad guy, but through personal experience… I realize everyone is the protagonist of their own story.
"I think my friends might understand how villainy works better than you or I do, but what I do know is… everyone has their own lives," Hat Kid explained. "They each have their own problems to worry about, ranging from having to deal with the things they've lost to even reforming from their wicked ways. You can't change who people are, no matter how many of my Time Pieces you possess. The world is always going to be a shade of gray, no matter what. Neither black nor white cannot exist without the other… and there are some things you'll have to accept: things that you can never change." Mustache Girl stood in disbelief, feeling worse about the ones she once considered friends. Her expression changed into a boiling fit of rage, and she was beyond lunacy at this point.
"How can you stand with all these people?" Mustache Girl asked. "They're thieves, criminals, murderers… and you're helping them? This. Ends. NOW." The hooded child grabbed ahold of as many Time Pieces as she could carry, smashing them all onto the floor and enveloping everyone except for Hat Kid and the fighters within darkness. Soon enough, the group was on a circular stage, where spiralling colors were flashing all over the floor while multicolored cosmos were rapidly flying around behind a fence of bright pink synth waves.
"I know exactly how your tale is going to end," Mustache Girl snapped. "I know all about it, Hat Kid. You're going to get all you precious Time Pieces back… without using any one of them to bring an end to crime in this world. These hourglasses are helping me reset, helping me learn and adapt more of your weaknesses. And eventually… once I end you all…" Mustache Girl began teleporting rapidly around each of the fighters, hitting them hard all around their chests and making sure they stayed down just to prove her point.
"...then I'll finally rid this world of evil forever," Mustache Girl finished, manifesting all her power into some kind of orb of pure energy. Laughing triumphantly, Mustache Girl threw the humongous orb straight at the fighters, just about ready to end them right here and now.
However… something strange happened instead.
As the orb got closer and closer, Min Min felt a burning desire just waiting to be released. The rapid beating in her heart could not take it anymore. She felt something within her break free, filling her with the spirit they were looking for this whole time.
The determination powering a Smash Ball.
Hat Kid, Mario, Duck Hunt, Banjo & Kazooie, and Mii Brawler slowly opened up their eyes to see the ramen bomber herself glowing with a rainbow aura and golden irises, her left ARM transforming into draconic scales and powering up.
"What…?" Mustache Girl asked, ill-prepared to experience an event like this. "What is this?" Min Min kicked the orb back at the all-powerful girl, hurting her immensely.
"No, wait," Mustache Girl stammered, pulling out a Time Piece she stored in her red hood. "You're not supposed to be doing that! You're supposed to be defeated by the hero like a bad guy should!" Mustache Girl threw the Time Piece on the ground, but no matter how far it rewinded the magical grains of time-manipulating sand had no effect on Min Min's transformation.
"Why isn't this working? Maybe I need to throw more…" Mustache Girl stammered, slamming more Time Pieces onto the ground. Nothing seemed to be happening. "Why aren't you working, Time Pieces!? Could it be that my own powers are fading…? No… NO!" Mustache Girl's remaining powers exceeded at maximum, forcing her to dish out all she got at Min Min.
The ramen bomber began dodging everything Mustache Girl threw at her, with Hat Kid and the other Smashers backing up to the edge of the stage in awe of what they were currently witnessing. Lasers, shockwaves, shields, nothing mattered. Min Min's amplified Dragon ARM was going to plow through it anyway.
Min Min could feel as though the spirits of everyone she knew in the ARMS League were still beside her, assisting in the attack. Spring Man, Ribbon Girl, Ninjara, Mechanica, Master Mummy, Twintelle, Byte and Barq, Helix, Kid Cobra, Lola Pop, Misango, Max Brass, Springtron, and Dr. Coyle were right beside Min Min, helping her deal devastating blows to Mustache Girl. Once they built up enough damage, Min Min finished the attack with a supercharged version of her left ARM, releasing a powerful laser against the child.
Mustache Girl was knocked out completely, reverting everything in the throne room back to normal. As Min Min's Final Smash seemed to have disappeared, she felt like she was going to faint from the lasting impact it had on her. Mario quickly caught her before the ramen bomber hit the floor, with Hat Kid running over to all the Time Pieces collected underneath that hooded child's throne.
"Alright, guys," Hat Kid reminded the group. "I'm gonna revert time a little and fix everything, so it's like this castle never existed. You guys got that?" Everyone except for Min Min nodded, who was still unconscious. Hat Kid grabbed a big chunk of the Time Pieces and slammed them onto the ground, reversing through time as though whatever Mustache Girl did to establish "justice" never existed.
Hat Kid and the veteran fighters opened their eyes, each and every one of them back on the alien girl's ship. The ship was fully operational, with the lights powering up the main hub. Hat Kid quickly climbed up the ladder to the vault, opening it and sighing with relief that each and every one of her Time Pieces was tucked safely in the vault.
"Hey, guys! Look at this!" Banjo called out to the fighters. They looked outside the glass door, which lacked the hole punched through it. The plane was just as good as ever, and there was no longer an ocean of lava covering the surface.
"Whelp, I guess it's another universe that's been saved thanks to us," Mario told his pals, with Min Min slowly starting to wake up. The golden glow from her spirally irises was completely gone.
"Wh… What happened?" Min Min asked.
"Remember when Sozo told us that a fighter from the realm of the ARMS Gene would be one of our newest recruits?" Sieg asked. "Um… welcome aboard. You're a Smasher now." Min Min's eyes widened in excitement, her mind clearly telling her this has to be a dream. The ramen bomber quickly got back up on her feet, giggling as she spun around with joy.
"Yes! Yes yes yes!" Min Min laughed. "I'm just so excited that I get to finally hang out with you guys! I-" The fighters looked over to Hat Kid, having almost completely forgot she was even there.
"Oh, I am so sorry about the whole incident of getting you in trouble and stuff…" Mario apologized to Hat Kid.
"No no… it was all my fault," Hat Kid replied. "It was my fault. I should have taken a different route back home, and I wouldn't have meddled with the Mafia and had you help make more friends for me… I hope we can see each other again." Mario reached into his front pocket to pull out one of the spare pellets he was keeping along.
"In case you feel like you're determined enough to come join us on some grand adventure throughout various dimensions…" Mario replied.
"Maybe someday, especially since I've got an email asking me if I could join you guys," Hat Kid pointed out. "Just thought I'd let you know."
"Oh, wait!" Min Min mentioned, carrying the two bowls of ramen she made for herself and Hat Kid. "I was just about to give you some ramen, considering you've never tried it before. It's a little cold right now…"
"Gee, thanks!" Hat Kid answered with a smile on her face as she took the bowl. She brought a spoonful of the soup to her lips, her eyes lighting up in delight.
"Mmm! This is the best meal I ever tasted!" Hat Kid praised.
"Thanks," Min Min gave thanks, her cheeks blushing red. "I'm a pretty talented chef in my side of the family. We make soup for a living."
"And it shows! Thanks, Min Min!" Hat Kid complimented with her mouth full.
"You're welcome," Min Min responded, handing the alien kid a recipe to make ramen the exact same way. "In case you want to do it yourself. Anyways, I gotta get going. I hope we can again someday!" Min Min held on to the bowl she made herself, taking another spare pellet Mario carried along.
"Whelp… I guess I'll be seeing you again-" Mario spoke before Hat Kid interrupted the red plumber with a farewell hug. When she parted from there's plumber, he walked up to his other partners and pressed his pellet twice. Kazooie reached into Banjo's backpack, pulling out a phone and tossing it to the alien kid.
"In case you wanna call us again," Kazooie pointed out, ducking as Banjo squeezed his pellet twice and warped out.
One by one, each of the fighters (Min Min included) disappeared in beams of white. Hat Kid was all alone on her ship again… with no one except her robot vacuum companion Rumbi. She finished the ramen bowl of hers down to the last drop, savoring the taste as she approached the glass door and opened it. She looked down upon the planet, glad that everything was back to the way it was.
From the view her spaceship was giving, Hat Kid looked deep into the center of the world's biggest ocean. She spotted the island of Mafia Town from far up high, even the unconscious body of Mustache Girl herself. The alien child took one of the spare Time Pieces that was next to her.
She began to think whether or not she should lend Mustache Girl some time-traveling power to defeat the Mafia or not. If she didn't, Hat Kid would have plenty of fuel to make it all the way back to her home planet, but even then the Mafia will still be around the island causing trouble for any bypassing spaceship that just so happened to be floating above it. If the alien girl was generous enough to give Mustache Girl some of the power she needs to rid her town of the mafia. But then that would mean she might have never confronted the Mafia, or the directors from Dead Bird Studios, or maybe even get along with Snatcher for much longer.
She knew the last time Mustache Girl used this kind of power, she became abusive with it to the point where she grew insane in trying to tip the scales of balance for good. Then again, she still was Hat Kid's friend, and maybe an act of selflessness might prove Mustache Girl wrong of what she once thought of as her alien friend.
Hat Kid went for the generous act in the end, aware that surely just one Time Piece wouldn't hurt. She watched as she tossed the hourglass from the sky, watching it slowly descend like a snowflake onto Mafia Town. She then closed the glass door, jumping straight into her captain's seat. Hat Kid pulled out a control panel, pressing a few buttons as she mimicked the robotic voices coming from each press. She then pushed herself away and watched as the vault opened itself up, sucking in whatever remaining Time Pieces were laying around in the living room.
The Hat Kid grabbed onto the lever on the right side of her seat, charging up the engines on her ship. Before the thrusters could even take off from the orbit around the planet, it began to wobble around to the point where it almost knocked Hat Kid off her seat. An alarm was blaring throughout the spaceship, alerting her that some excessive weight attached itself to the hull. She got up from her seat, walking over to the glass door and opening it to find a bunch of characters hanging on for dear life. They were a Mafia Gang member, the Snatcher, and the two avian directors the Conductor and DJ Grooves.
"Don't leave us!" the mafia goon cried.
"Hey, kiddo," the Snatcher called out. "I'm looking for a couple of your friends, see if they want to make another contract! Unless you're up for the risk…"
"Don't you dare leave with your strange friends, lass!" the Conductor wept.
"We kinda agreed on a truce after we found out our own staff members were just knocked out, but… still! We've got a movie to show, and we were wondering if you could stay for a while longer…" Hat Kid knew that she might not have had proper introductions, but she had to go without them. She used a broom to brush the Mafia Gang member's grip off the ship, leaving the four individuals to fall back onto the planet. The alien shut the glass door and got back onto her captain's seat.
As Hat Kid sat down, tears of goodbyes began to fill her eyes. She knew they might have a special place in her heart, and she was hoping to visit them again someday and earn proper introductions to them. Until then, she had to get back home. She powered her engines again, blasting her thrusters and zooming off at light-speed.
Sonic had just finished straightening out the sheets on his bed, having just unpacked the last box in his room. He licked his hand before rubbing it over his head in one smooth motion.
"There," Sonic told himself, keeping himself cocky as usual. "Good as new. I feel better already." He heard the sound of Rosalina gently knocking on the frame of his room's open door, by which he glanced back at the divine maiden.
"Mario and his friends are back," Rosalina pointed out, with a few of her Lumas floating past her. "They recruited a new fighter, just like the Master Hand foretold."
"A new fighter? I gotta go see them!" Sonic exclaimed with excitement, zipping out of his room.
"Wait for me," Rosalina chuckled, following behind the blue hedgehog. Sonic was obviously the first one at the front entrance, giving each of the four veteran fighters a welcome-back hug. As for Min Min, he looked at her with interest in her just in general.
"So… I don't think we've properly met," Sonic greeted. "My name's Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."
"I know," Min Min laughed. "You already told me…"
"Uh… yeah. Guess I did. Welcome to the Smash Fortress… again, where Smashers can live together under the same roof. We've only got a few so far. Everyone else is off doing their own thing. Wanna stay here for a while? You can move all your stuff here, if that's fine."
"Of course!" Min Min replied. "I'd be glad to. I never really got a good tour of the place, to be honest."
"Oh, trust me," Sonic replied as the two fighters walked off into the mansion. "You're gonna love it here." Fox McCloud seemed to pass them, and he simply stood next to Mario for no particular reason.
"Kids these days," Fox chuckled. "They grow up so fast."
"Yeah, I guess so," Mario replied. "Wonder what other exciting adventures are out there? If there are any like the one we had recently been through. Wonder how that Hat Kid is living her life right now…
On the Hat Kid's ship, the engines had been purring as the control panel was currently set to autopilot. The Hat Kid herself was sleeping inside her room, surrounded by the toys of the strange individuals she met in her time in that world. Everything was quiet, everything was peaceful… that was until a siren blared all over the ship.
Hat Kid jumped out of her bed in fright, grumbling as she rubbed her tired face and walked over to the control panel while yawning. The alarm wouldn't stop blaring, and she pulled up the pilot controls so she could find the source of the siren. Nothing was damaged internally, the satellite dish remained untouched, and the wood was built specifically to protect Hat Kid from space stuff, like meteors and space junk. In fact, the ship's systems alerted her that a big piece of space junk hit the exterior. A tired Hat Kid activated the cameras built outside the ship, trying to find what the junk is and exterminate it.
However, the kind of space junk Hat Kid found was anything but small. The sleepiness left Hat Kid's face as she discovered what looked like anything but space junk. It seemed to have golden crystals that stuck out like rays of the sun, with the largest of them at the front. White and orange paint decorated the metallic plating, but what was most shocking of all was the strange alien creature trapped inside.
In desperation, Hat Kid quickly scanned the person inside for any readable life signs. By some miracle, the person that had a scythe-like weapon embedded into their head was still alive. Hat Kid began pressing buttons on her control panel, and claw-like arms extended outside the ship and dragged the mysterious engine into the ship. The ship alerted that neither the survivor nor the ship were harmed in any way, and that they were both inside the ship's machine room.
Hat Kid entered the room, watching the vehicle get ejected into the most spacious part. She ran over to the vehicle, prying the glass on the vehicle open. She pulled out the strange alien, holding him comfortably and measuring his steady heartbeat. The creature was blue and skinny all over, sporting a rather long tail that extended down to his taloned, kangaroo-like legs. Bandages were covering the creature's belly, and his arms were also long. He had no defining nose, floppy ears, a pair of glasses, peach-colored horns, and dark gray hair. The weapon lodged into his head looked like a miniature version of a scythe, with a very, very dark violet heel that seemed to look more like half of a jester's hat. Three golden objects were pierced through the blade, and the handle itself seemed to swirl between colors of neon green and dazzling indigo.
Unsure of what to do, Hat Kid quickly dragged the unconscious body to her room and rested the creature on her bed. She grabbed onto the phone left to her as a gift, which automatically called Banjo & Kazooie upon the situation.
Inside the Smash Fortress during the middle of the night, Banjo and Kazooie were sleeping in their respectful places: Banjo in a bed and Kazooie in the blue backpack hanging on a coat rack. The Breegull was already asleep, but she quickly jumped once she heard the sound of a phone ring inside the backpack. Kazooie quickly pulled it out and answered.
"Yello?" Kazooie asked.
"Kazooie?" Hat Kid requested from the phone. "Can I come visit you and Banjo for a second?"
"Why?" Kazooie groaned, rubbing her eyes with her free wing. "It's 3:27 am in the morning. What is so important you have to call us at this hour?"
"... It's an emergency," Hat Kid replied, holding the wounded creature beside her.
watch?v=fmz1p0U_sPk
These are where I took the lyrics for Snatcher's song from. I have no affiliation towards the original artist, so give all that credit to the original video.
As for production in my future chapters, please note procrastination is being a complete bitch towards me right now. I will still be making progress, and I will be posting my next chapter either on July 10 (or sooner). After all, this is the first mini-arc I'll be developing, which could span across two chapters or three, depending on the time or patience. But just to be clear… the mini-arc is gonna involve Skylanders (and a mysterious guest I'm sure you people would be most excited for).
Until then, I'll be leaving off with this hint until the first few days of July when the next chapter drops!
Chaos, chaos~!
