Prologue: Bloody Twilight and Ominous Dawn
Excited cheers filled the room as the teleporter came alive, the platform lighting up with a variety of colors. Even Ridley reveled a bit. Only Dark Samus remained unfazed by what was now the greatest achievement of the Space Pirates. "Initiate contact with Viridi, then Black Shadow, Zoda," Dark Samus ordered.
"Yeah sure, your bossyness," K. Rool said as he began the true test of the teleporter. A loud hum filled the room as a portal manifested at the teleporter. Viridi could be seen on the other side. She confidently stepped through it and into the world of the Space Pirates.
"Took you long enough, you better have made those spaceships environmentally friendly already," Viridi said. She stepped down from the platform of the teleporter and joined the crowd. Black Shadow was next, Blood Falcon arrived alongside him. Then Zoda was the last of the alliance to be brought over, he and Black Shadow shared unfriendly looks with each other.
"Well the gang is all together now. There's a Federation outpost we could have some fun tearing apart," Ridley said.
"No. Keep teleporter secret. Attack non-Smasher world," Dark Samus ordered.
"They're going to find out sooner or later," K. Rool said.
"Surprise is the most dangerous element. Now, where exactly should we attack? I'll be the one handling how exactly we go about this evil deed," Black Shadow said. Zoda let out a displeased grunt.
"Apparently Master Hand scouted some recruits who turned him down. Dark Samus had me swipe the coordinates to their worlds. The one that Spring Man is from seems like it'd make a good warm up," Ridley said.
"Don't just stand there then, go set it up you oversized crocodile," Viridi said.
"What do you think I'm already doing you stupid goddess," K. Rool responded. The teleporter jumped back into action and opened up a portal. Everybody quickly shielded their eyes as an overwhelming light filled the room. K. Rool shut it down fast. "Okay, that was weird, must be a bug. Let's try that Alrest place." Instead of blinding light nothing but darkness could be seen on the other side of the portal. Then a large eye appeared. K. Rool shut it down as the others yelled at him to do that.
"The teleporter must need some adjustments. No matter, our combined evil will overcome any obstacle," Black Shadow declared. Viridi was about to say something, but she shuddered as she sensed something.
"It wasn't a problem with the teleporter. Those worlds were turned into pure light and pure darkness. And the things that did that saw-" A beam of light vaporized Viridi midsentence. Blood Falcon was next. Black Shadow and Zoda tried to run, they got vaporized. Dark Samus, K. Rool, and Ridley quickly teleported away as the beams of light spread. In a matter of seconds the entire ship was gone. The rest of the world followed shortly afterwards.
Bayonetta walked through the halls of Smash Mansion looking for someone to tease. Her eyebrow raised when she saw Dark Samus, K. Rool, and Ridley charge out of the door. "My, if it isn't the Brute Trio. Who beat you down this time?" Bayonetta asked. She let out a sharp breath and jumped to the side. A thorn of darkness burst through the floor of the mansion and into where Bayonetta had just been standing. An eye manifested in the center of the hallway.
Ridley lunged at the eye and slashed it with his claws, then flew out of the way of a tentacle. More appeared to strike him. Ridley dodged all of them, each one closer than the last. Dark Samus and K. Rool fired a charged shot and cannonball respectively. The eye teleported away from the projectiles.
"Well, that new friend of yours is quite rude," Bayonetta said. She dodged out of the way of a hammer made of darkness. Using Witch Time she got to the eye, which had appeared behind her, and summoned Madama Butterfly to stomp on it. A burst of dark energy came from the eye. Bayonetta vanished.
"Did… Bayo die?" K. Rool asked while ducking under another attack. The answer came in the form of Bayonetta reappearing. An alarm began blaring. An irritating, piercing alarm that felt like an attack of its own.
"Of course not. Just took a little trip to Limbo," Bayonetta said. Despite all the attacks that the mysterious darkness using eye had taken, it didn't look fazed. It did seem interested in Bayonetta. All of the fighting had drawn the attention of the other Smashers. Crazy Hand teleported into the hallway. Ganondorf, Reflet, and Sonic also arrived to see what was happening.
"Woah, what is that thing?" Sonic asked. A swarm of bullets flew at the new arrivals. Refelt and Ganondorf pulled out their shields. Sonic rushed past them and jumped over a thorn, he curled up into a ball and spun into the eye. A beam of electricity and orb of darkness followed closely behind. Crazy Hand started dropping bombs on the eye as soon as Sonic jumped back. There was no sign of any damage to the intruder.
"What did you three do?!" Ganondorf shouted as he ducked under an orb of darkness near identical to the one he had just thrown out.
"Hey we're the victims here," K. Rool responded, narrowly dodging another thorn of darkness. He pressed a hand against the wall for support. Ridley was hunched over more than usual. Reflet narrowly dodged a smaller tentacle that had been sent out in pursuit. Then a cluster of dark orbs appeared, forming a solid row behind Dark Samus and her subordinates. The orbs started flashing red. They looked exactly like the x bombs from the official matches.
"Crap, come on," Sonic grabbed Ganondorf but he swatted the hedgehog's hand away.
"We need to disable them fast."
"Eh, sounds lame. I have a much cooler idea. Sacrifice scenes in action movies are pretty cool. Ever seen-" Crazy Hand's monologue was disrupted by the bombs detonating. But none of the combatants were harmed. Nobody was even in the hallway. The walls, floor, and ceiling had endured the explosion, nothing between them had. But there was one exception to the two prior statements, Crazy Hand.
Crazy Hand formed into a fist and charged at the intruding eye. A spiked tentacle went right through him, the white tainted by a thread of dark. The eye sunk into a pool of shadows that formed uncdf it. Crazy Hand struggled as he was pulled into a similar one, screaming as loud as he could. Sonic rushed back into the scene and Mewtwo teleported in. An outline of psychic energy appeared around Crazy Hand as Sonic spun into the thorn that had pierced the hand. Neither had any effect.
Mewtwo held his hand out and restrained Sonic when it became clear Crazy Hand was beyond saving. Crazy Hand went limp, fingers facing up like a flag of surrender as he sunk into the shadows and vanished. "We need to rally the others, now. I don't think that thing is done with us just yet," Mewtwo said.
On the roof of Smash Mansion another battle was taking place. Master Hand and Pit weaved around various orbs of light fired off by the other intruder. Said intruder was an orb of light, shielded by eight glowing wings. Palutena guided Pit's flight carefully and fired attacks at the strange orb, Zelda sent out a spark of flame while Sheik tossed as many needles as she could.
"How did Galeem find us? This is bad, he wasn't supposed to, not yet, not now. Only my emergency protocols accounted for this," Master Hand said. He formed a finger gun shape and fired bullets at Galeem, the wings blocked them.
"Palutena do you have any idea what this Galeem thing is?" Sheik asked. Her needles burst into flames before they could reach their target.
"No. Which is strange since usually I know everything. Maybe he's mad about the fact that I'm a goddess of light? He doesn't seem to take light lightly," Palutena joked. Despite that she wasn't smiling. One eye was focused on Pit, the other on Galeem. Simon and Ken emerged from the staircase.
"Damn, I'm not good with enemies who can fly," Ken said. Simon hurried to the edge of the roof and threw an axe up at Galeem. One of the wings moved to block it. The axe melted on contact with the wing.
"This may be a problem," Simon said. Two orbs like the one that sat at the center of Galeem's body appeared, one in front of Pit, the other above him. A stream of projectiles flew out of the orbs. Pit quickly shielded himself the orbitars. Cracks started to form in them. Simon grabbed Pit's foot with the Vampire Killer and pulled him to the ground. Palutena let out a sigh of relief, then sent out a mega laser. Two wings moved to shield the core of Galeem. The laser was redirected at Master Hand. It struck him in the palm. Master Hand started to descend, then forced himself back up.
Ken ran over to Zelda and grabbed her hand. He quickly whispered something in her ear. The two of them rushed at Galeem. The duplicates of its core had vanished. Instead the wings had formed into a large spear aimed right at Master Hand. Ken and Zelda jumped, hands tightly locked. With a flash of green light they were gone, then reappeared at a greater height. Zelda tossed Ken upwards at Galeem's core. Ken performed a shoryuken, striking the core directly. The spear disassembled as the wings quickly circled around Ken. Palutena raised her staff and teleported Ken back to the roof.
A bright flash of light blinded all present. An agonized scream pierced the air. Only Palutena could make out the source. Chains of light had gone directly through Master Hand. Then Master Hand was gone. The blinding flight faded too, and Galeem with it. The other Smashers looked around in confusion, then noticed who was missing. "Galeem took Master Hand. We have to save him now," Palutena said.
"We don't even know who we're up against. Let's regroup and find a way to beat him first. Crazy Hand might have some ideas, it sounded like Master Hand had at least some knowledge of Galeem," Zelda said. An alert went off from all of the Smasher's phones. Their screens all displayed live footage from the mansion security cameras. A wave of darkness had begun rising from the basement, consuming everything in its path. Bold red letters spelling out 'evacuate' flashed on the screen. Palutena looked up. A ring of solid light had formed above the mansion. It began to descend.
A mass call was started instantly. "Evacuation role call, now! Everyone in the mansion state your location and if you need help evacuating," Peach shouted through her phone. The line was immediately filled with shouts of different kinds. There was one thing all the Smashers on the roof could make out in the confusion, something happened to Crazy Hand.
"I'm going to set off the self-destruct once everyone is out. There are things here Galeem and Dharkon can't be allowed to have. But I'm trapped in the office and Dharkon is blocking the door," Isabelle said. Simon looked over the side of the building and tried to judge if jumping was a reasonable escape plan.
"Crazy already got most of us out. We just, oh, never mind Incineroar and Bowser just jumped out the window with the Koopalings. Those on the rooftop, we have rescue staffs ready to get you down. But something is blocking Isabelle from them," Mewtwo said.
"Use them on the others. I'll handle this," Sheik said. She vanished from the rooftop in a puff of smoke. The smoke cleared from her vision as the surroundings changed to Master Hand's office. Isabelle was cradling five sealed letters and her phone in her arms. "Are those…"
"He had these prepared in case of an emergency. Just like the self-destruct," Isabelle said. Her eyes were focused on the button hidden at the back of the safe. Sheik held Isabelle's shoulder and pressed the button.
"Self-destruct commencing. No matter what, this can't be undone. Beginning countdown…" With another puff of smoke Sheik and Isabelle were gone. This time they reappeared on the grass far from the mansion. All of the other Smashers were gathered there. Sonic had his arms crossed and tapped his foot, sometimes glaring at Mewtwo. Robin muttered to himself as he did yet another headcount to make sure everybody really had escaped. There were only two missing, and Robin had already been informed why. The Koopalings all clung to Bowser while Lucina stared at the mansion in shock.
Smash Mansion itself was being attacked on two fronts. From the ground darkness rose to consume it. Above it a circle of light descended. The first and third floors had already been consumed. Then Smash Mansion exploded. Both the unnatural darkness and light were obliterated by the explosion. Not a single trace of Smash Mansion was left. There was no rubble or any indication that the ground had anything built upon it.
"It's gone… Smash Mansion is…" Mario let the sentence trail off. He took off his hat and held it to his chest, Luigi did the same. Fox feigned interest in his blaster while Link looked through pictures of the mansion on the Sheikah slate.
"Whatever those things were, they're going to pay for this," Samus said. A chorus of agreement rose up from the Smashers. Isabelle began explaining everything Master Hand had told her to the other Smashers. While that was going on Palutena took Simon aside.
"Simon, we both saw how powerful Galeem was. I couldn't so much as scratch it and I'm a goddess. So, I have a request. If he kills me, take Pit and run. No matter how much he begs to fight don't let him. Just keep him safe, please," Palutena said. She looked Simon directly in the eyes. There wasn't any sign of weakness in her face.
"You have my word. But in return, I want you to do the same for Richter if I fall in battle," Simon said. Palutena extended her hand, Simon shook it.
Final: Light vs Dark vs Smash
Arusu took a deep breath as he surveyed the forces in front of him.A large army had been gathered in the wake of the Smasher's crusade. From countless worlds a varied army of those who would have never even known of each other had emerged. But they all shared one thing in common. They had all been victims of Galeem and Dharkon.
By Arusu's side were the others he had formed the army with, all of them united by strange letters they received that had allowed their spirits to break free. A flashy thief known as Joker, three fellow heroes named Solo, Eight, and Eleven, a honey bear named Banjo and his breegull friend Kazooie, a rough fist fighter named Terry, and two professors from a military academy named Byleth and Bel. Somehow out of all of them Arusu had been charged with giving a speech.
"Some of you may not know who I am, others may be well aware, but it matters not. Whether through darkness or light, all of our worlds have met their end. Yet here we stand, and it's all thanks to the Smashers. Even as we speak, they're confronting those foul monsters and continuing to liberate those still bound by the foul power we know all too well. This time it's our turn to help them. Our worlds were all divided when Galeem and Dharkon struck, but now, everyone is here. And we have had enough. For the Smashers!"
"For the Smashers!" The shout moved throughout the crowd like a wave. Arusu held up the letter that had kept him safe from Galeem's control, his comrades did the same. A massive portal opened in front of them to the final battleground. The order didn't need to be spoken. Everyone charged right towards the portal.
There was nothing on the other side of the portal but ground and sky, both of which were made of either light or darkness. There was a clear line divide between the light and darkness, though where the divide was shifted constantly. High up in the sky Galeem and Dharkon launched attacks at each other, below them the Smashers were surrounded by an army of their clones and a horde of monsters from various worlds. Almost all of the Smashers looked like they were on the brink of exhaustion. The true Master Hand and Crazy Hand saw the portal and the vast army, both of them gave a thumbs up.
Up in the sky a legion of flying Pokemon charged at the clones of Crazy and Master Hand. Palkia slashed through the various Hand clones while Yvetal sent out a laser beam to clear the air, Tapu Koko zapped any enemy that it could get close to. Some of the Hand clones tried to drop bombs on the ground part of the army. They were mobbed before they got the chance. A Hydreigon ripped one to shreds while a Talonflame covered itself in flames and crashed into another Hand.
A large group of identical giant monsters appeared, covered in the dark aura indicative of Dharkon's control. They had five tentacles covered in glowing red spots, giving them a shape almost like that of a starfish as they stood with two tentacles placed on the ground. Eyes formed a circle around the opening in their center, which had a long green tentacle poking through it like a tongue. Surrounding them were a mass of much smaller flying creatures. "All forces this is the Lady Liberty. Those monsters are from our world. The larger ones are called Devestators, the smaller ones are Swarmers. Transmitting all data on them now." Within the Lady Liberty Katherine furiously transcribed all of Randolph Carter's notes and sent them across the coalition army. "Why couldn't we get this fancy electronic stuff sooner." Katherine muttered to herself. Rayquaza flew past the window of the Lady Liberty and towards the Devestators.
"This is Elma, I'm engaging the Devestators." The Ares 90 fired its cannon at the Devestators. Elma brought the Ares 90 closer and struck with the Vajira Flail. She stopped a Crazy Hand clone from hitting Rayquaza by destroying it with a missile. Rayquaza gave a brief nod of acknowledgement to the Skell and its pilot before turning back to the Devestators.
"Team Starfox is on it too, well those of us up here at least," Peppy said. Slippy was already at work analyzing the Devestators while shooting the Swarmers. Down on the ground two gunners looked up at the newly arrived monsters, while continuing to shoot and slash at whatever was in front of them.
"Kachi, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Let's do it Isa." The two of them held hands. Then in a flash Isa transformed as Kachi seemingly vanished. Isa's transformation had long flowing white hair and a shadow like face, a two pronged cannon was attached to the right arm. "Let's clear out some of those Swarmers first," Kachi advised from inside Isa.
Isa took off to the sky, sending a few shots down at the ground for support. He used the cannon to crush a few Swarmers that flew at him. Fox made a note to save the questions about what he saw for later as he opened a comms link with the rest of Star Fox. "Hey Peppy, glad you could make it. Who's in all of those other Arwings?"
"Well, while you and Falco were running around freeing everybody I did some recruiting of my own. Hey new guys, introduce yourselves to the boss," Peppy said. He fired a smart bomb at the Swarmer and sent a charged blast at a copy of Crazy Hand.
"My name is Krystal. Somehow this all feels very familiar."
"I'm Fay, it's great to meet you. Peppy talked a lot about you."
"Name's Miyu, looking forward to kicking some ass."
"Dash Bowman, it's an honor to fight alongside you sir." Somehow Fox felt like he had already fought alongside all four of them. But not at the same time.
"Alright, you guys look great so far. We can talk more after you take down those starfish things. If you see some weird white haired monster guy he's friendly," Fox said. He dashed through a clone of himself and destroyed a clone of Wolf with a blaster shot to the head. "That felt even better than I thought it would."
A short distance away from Fox, Simon and Richter both jumped out of the way as pillars of flame sprouted from the ground. Dracula approached them, flanked by Death. A large ball of darkness and flame appeared in Dracula's hands, he prepared to toss it at Simon. The crack of many whips filled the air as Dracula stumbled and fell to his knees, the ball of shadow and fire fizzled out.
"Mathias, it's been a while," Leon Belmont said. Standing at his side was a group of his most powerful descendants and their allies, including Alucard and Soma. Simon and Richter's faces lit up when they realized just who had helped them. They ran to join the rest of their clan. Dracula rose back up with a bestial growl.
"Leon, if only you had joined me back then. Perhaps then we would have had all been comrades. Come Death, we have a bloodline to exterminate." The Belmont clan responded with what they did best, charging into battle against Dracula.
While that took place Marth cut through a group of Risen with Falchion. A Redead let out a shriek and stunned him. While Marth tried to regain control of himself it lurched towards him. "Marth fight back!" Two separate voices cried out in unison. Bullets tore holes into the Redead while a sword split the head from the body. Euden offered his hand to Marth as Henry Fleming ran to meet them.
"It's been a while Marth," Euden said.
"I guess I'm not the only friend from another world you made," Henry added. Henry and Euden quickly made their introductions to each other and shook hands. Marth let out a small laugh.
"After all of my time helping other worlds it's nice to be helped for once. For Altea!" Marth shouted as he charged back into the fray. Euden was right by his side as Henry supported them with gunfire.
"Rising Circlet!" Euden shouted, driving his sword into the ground. A blue field of energy formed on the ground. Henry took out a mechanical eagle and prepared to toss it.
"Red, white, and BOOM!" Henry shouted as he threw it. The eagle took flight and charged into a Lynel. Upon impact it exploded, when the dust cleared the Lynel was nowhere to be seen.
In another part of the battle Rathalos let out a roar as it landed and began attacking, the glow around it showing it belonged to Galeem. Alph was knocked back by the impact of Rathalos landing, he landed right next to Brittany and Charlie. Olimar, Louie, and the President of the Hocotate Freight Company joined them. Each of them had an army of Pikmin with them. "We can't afford to leave Rathalos alone. If someone distracts it, I can give us a good opening to at least hurt it," Olimar said. He held a spray bottle carefully in his hands.
"Mind if the Overlord helps?" The gathered captains looked behind them. There was a tall man completely covered in armor, holding a mace in his hands. Behind him were a group of small creatures, divided into four groups based on color.
"You scare me but please help us," Alph said. The Overlord nodded. He marched ahead and drew the attention of Rathalos. As it fought the Overlord and his minions, Olimar ran towards it from the side. With a quick dose of Ultra-Bitter spray Rathalos was turned to stone. The various captains immediately gave their Pikmin a taste of the Ultra-Spicy spray. Rathalos was swarmed by Pikmin ferociously striking at its petrified form. Once cracks began to form the Pikmin were recalled.
"This is going to be a long battle, isn't it," Brittany said. The Ares 90 flew over the Rathalos and to a different section of the battleground. Seeing an outnumbered group, Elma quickly used the skell's gatling gun to even out the numbers a bit.
"Alright, way to go Elma!" Rex cheered. He sliced through a Primid that dissolved into light. Nia used her twin rings to cut through a Rototurret while Lucario fired an Aura Sphere at another Rototurret. Lucario turned to look at Mythra, something was different about her aura. He could tell that something had happened since their last meeting. A Hinox marched towards the group.
"Let's do a chain attack," Rex said. Mythra jumped up and shot a beam of light at the Hinox.
"I'm here! Ready or Gormotti!" Nia shouted. Dromarch lunged at the Hinox and released a wave of ether, healing all the nearby allied fighters.
"Behold the power of Aura!" Lucario put his hands together and fired a beam of concentrated Aura right at the Hinox's eye. That sent the Hinox down for the count, it evaporated into a cloud of darkness.
Cloud took note of the Hinox's defeat and looked around for anyone in need of help. His Buster Sword cut through a small creature made out of darkness. There was a strangely familiar man fighting a mass of them that moved as one. Cloud slashed at it, somehow knowing it was called a Demon Tower. "Sora, watch yourself."
"Cloud!"
"I'm not the Cloud you know. Don't go dying on my other self," Cloud said. The mass of Heartless crashed into the ground nearby and reformed into one being: a large bipedal Heartless with a heart shaped hole in the chest. Smaller Heartless manifested by its legs.
"At least it's staying still now," Neku said as he dashed to join up with the two swordsmen. A strangely bug like car drove past, Solo and Eight jumped off of it with a few other fighters. One of them was a black haired man holding a club, the other had a katana and spiky red hair.
"All right, time for some smashing," Malroth said as he readied his club. Crono nodded and prepared a spell. While the battle with the Darkside began Sonic rushed through. He cut his way through the battlefield, quickly cutting down enemies that were causing too much trouble. And offering words of encouragement to anyone he recognized.
"Nice swordplay Vyse. Keep those eggs rolling Billy. Beat, nice graffiti there man. Don't slow down Nights. You look crazy as always B.D Joe. Sweet tunes Amigo. Killing it with those dance moves Ulala, literally."
"Does that hedgehog ever stop talking," Ganondorf complained as he cut down a Moblin. He couldn't believe he had actually considered relying on those things before. Ganondorf quickly jumped out of the way of a trident. A blue pig like monster was the one responsible. It gave a laugh that conjured unpleasant memories for Ganondorf.
"This is quite the reunion, 'me,'" Ganon said.
"But how? Wait what am I saying, the Hands jumping around the timeline caught up with them that's how. It was only a matter of time before some freak from the worst timeline showed itself," Ganondorf said as he parried another strike.
"What worthless prattle, a sign those Gerudo ruined you. Come and embrace the curse of the dark god that flows through us, let us become one. Or have you forgotten the sole purpose of your existence." Ganondorf's eyes narrowed.
"My purpose is mine to decide, that's what being born into the Gerudo taught me. I'll show you our power right now. Nabooru, Twinrova!" A blade dug into Ganon's back, Nabooru laughed at how easy the sneak attack had been. Twinrova sent balls of fire and icicles down at Ganon. Then Ganon sent a fireball of his own to blast Nabooru back and tossed his trident at Twinrova. Ganondorf readied his Warlock Punch and aimed it at Ganon's face.
On the opposite side of the field a host of angels from Bayonetta's world had been summoned by Galeem. Two very different fighters stood back to back surrounded by Affinities. "You use your strange weapon skillfully Mike Jones. It is an honor to fight by your side," Takamaru said. He readied his sword for the oncoming charge of angels.
"Your sword is pretty fucking rad too man," Mike Jones said as he did a trick with his Yoyo. The two of them dashed in opposite directions to battle the angels. Meanwhile a pink robot with a disjointed body cut through the angels in its own way.
"Beep boop, want to hear a joke?" Sukapon asked. "This is the joke: your existence!" Sukapon's circular hands snatched an angel and tossed it up into the air, where Deoxys flew by and vaporized it with a laser.
A copy of the angel Fortitudo descended towards the battle. Red leapt out of the way of a fireball and stumbled on the landing. Another trainer that looked just like Red helped him up. Pika gave an excited shout and leapt to the new trainer's shoulder. Greninja had assumed his Ash-Greninja and drew the angels away from the trainers. Ash himself hurried to the other trainers, dragging another trainer with him by the hand, their Pikachu close behind.
"Come on Tim, hurry up," Ash said. The two of them reached the other trainers. Red called out his own Pikachu, making for four in total. The four Pikachu all looked up at Fortitudo and the rain of fireballs he was sending out. The trainers all exchanged a look.
"Pikachu use thunderbolt!" They shouted as one. Four thunderbolts shot out from the quartet of Pikachu. Fortitudo and all the angels close to it were struck. The flow of thunder didn't cease until Fortitudo dissolved back into mere light.
Little Mac had no time to take in the light show. He was surrounded by monsters he had only heard stories of, Ruffians. The Lizard Seemer variety to be exact, who all had whip like appendages to attack with. Little Mac dodged one attack and charged through the next, taking out a Lizard Seemer with an uppercut. That also led to all the other ones landing direct hits on Little Mac, who could only grimace and try to withstand it.
"Need some help Mac?" A sword cut through one of the Ruffians, revealing the one who had told Little Mac about them in the first place, Saki. Isaac summoned pillars of rock to clear out the Lizard Seemers and give Little Mac some space.
"About time you guys showed up," Little Mac said. A Moth Seemer appeared and rained down lasers at the trio, a fist attached to a coil of springs punched it in the eye. Spring Man hurried over to join the group, Doc Louis bicycling right behind him. Doc Louis got off his bike, pulled out a chocolate bar, bit into it, and star punched a Lizard Seemer that had tried to attack him. The group of fighters formed a tight circle as the Ruffians began to close the distance.
Reflet tossed an arcfire towards the Ruffians while holding onto Walhart. Walhart batted away a Swarmer with his Wolf Berg while his mount raced through the battlefield. "Thanks for sharing your mount dear. Now get over to that Lynel and kill it," Reflet said.
"Those Smasher copies could use a spark of originality while you're barking orders," Walhart said. Reflet sent out a Thoron to destroy a group of Ridley clones, Samus gave a thumbs up.
"I can't believe you made a pun. Your domestication is coming along even faster than I thought it would. Though I'm still signing you up for 'how to be a good uncle' classes when this is over, Yarne and Morgan are scared stiff of you," Reflet said.
"So this is the thanks I get for trying to keep the Taguel from extinction." Walhart split a Moth Seemer in two with the Wolf Berg. Robin sighed and scratched his head as Walhart's horse ran past him. Panne assumed her Taguel form and tore into seemingly empty space, a monster covered in Galeem's glow revealed itself. It was a blue bipedal fish like monster with a rifle in its hands.
"A Stealth Prowler?! How did both Galeem and Dharkon get their hands on the aliens?"
"Robin focus," Panne said, tearing apart another Stealth Prowler. "These things smell terrible, like all the worst parts of the sea and man-spawn combined."
"That's basically what they are," Robin said. He scanned the surrounding area carefully, then used Nosferatu to expose and destroy another Stealth Prowler.
Mash bashed her shield into the head of a much more visible Prowler. "Master stay close, these appear to be anti-human entities. They look nothing alike, but feel far too similar to the Laḫmu for comfort," Mash said. Ritsuka Fujimura surveyed the rest of the battlefield carefully as he stayed close behind Mash. Gilgamesh was unleashing his entire treasury on the various enemies while Artoria fired blasts of energy from Excalibur. A strange metallic monster leapt at Ritsuka from behind, a sword sliced the attacker in two. The user of the sword appeared.
"Contractor, be more cautious. Without you us Servants can't fight," King Hassan lectured. Ritsuka nodded with a smile on his face. A few transmissions came through to him.
"Aparoid presence detected amongst Galeem forces, sending all related data to coalition army," R.O.B 64 said. The influx of data showed it was an Aparoid that King Hassan had just bisected.
"Looks like Dharkon has some demons under his control too, just small fry so far," Rodin said. Rituska looked up and saw a few demons getting destroyed by Jeanne D'Arc Alter's vengeful rampage.
"Both new enemy types spotted in my location, already engaged," Ritsuka said into his communicator. A group of armored scythe using demons came at Ritsuka and Mash. Before they could fight a shield and shovel destroyed the demons.
"Foul demons! Return to whence you came," Shovel Knight said.
"Another shield user? Great, let's trade tips when this is done," Shield Knight said when she saw Mash. Behind them Black Knight and Polar Knight were fighting a blue tank like demon.
"Hey kid, those Aparoid things are starting to become a real pain," Cu Chulainn said, firing bolts of fire magic from his staff as he stepped backwards towards Ritsuka. Shield Knight tossed her shield at an Aparoid that Cu Chulainn had missed.
"Let's show those things the power of humanity then. All Servants, release your Noble Phantasms at will," Ritsuka shouted. Cu Chulainn grinned, then briefly lost it when he saw the other versions of himself using the Gae Bolg. Thanks to the Caster class he was stuck using a staff instead.
"Here's something special for ya," Cu Chulainn said he readied his Noble Phantasm. "Timber giant, eaten away by fire. Become a cage of flames, WICKER MAN!" Flames spread out from Cu Chulainn as a wooden giant rose up from the ground. It stomped on the grounded Aparoids and crushed the flying ones in its fists.
Galleom was about to march towards the Wicker Man, but a laser beam struck it. It turned and saw R.O.B readying a gyro. Mega Man, Wonder-Red, and Tethu all prepared to take on the large robot. "Please, try not to destroy Galleom beyond repair. We may not be of the same series, but he too was constructed on the Isle of the Ancients," R.O.B said.
"Don't worry, we just need to make sure not to destroy the cognitive circuit. It's a lot easier than it sounds," Mega Man said. Tethu sent out a small tornado towards Galleom, Wonder-Red jumped into it and let it send him soaring upwards.
"Unite Hand!" A large red fist formed and collided with Galleom's fist. After a struggle Wonder-Red pushed Galleom back and landed on the ground with a dramatic pose. As Galleom stumbled backwards two small robots took their chance. Ray Mk III flew up to Galleom's shoulder and dropped Chibi-Robo onto it. Galleom turned his head to look at them when he felt the impact of a plug and several small lasers. Below by his feet Tethu and Wonder-Red dodged each stomp and left several dents in Galleom's right leg. They were quickly joined by Miura and Vorkken, whose spear and boomerang cut at the left leg. Mega Man fired shots at Galleom from a distance, staying one step ahead of each counterattack.
R.O.B began preparations to fire a laser at full power. Mr. Game & Watch and the Ice Climbers kept the Master Hand clones at bay during the charging sequence. Mr. Game & Watch looked up at Galleom. "If R.O.B thinks Galleom can become good, maybe this form can too." Mr. Game & Watch let shadow bugs leak from his body and form into copies of himself. Then the copies all ran back into the original. They took the shape of something completely different. It was a large robot with a single set of wheels that connected two distinct parts, a sword armed blue half and a pink half with cannons attached to it.
Duon charged towards Galleom, knocking aside all enemies in its path. Popo and Nana nearly got distracted watching the transformation. Then they froze a Master Hand copy that nearly punched the still vulnerable R.O.B.
"I really hate clones," the true Master Hand complained as he punched through one of his duplicates. The fighters from his emergency protocol had fought their way to him and helped clear things out. But there were two Master Hand didn't recognize, so it was easy to guess whose letter they had received. "Byleth and Bel, yes? Your letter was addressed to Sothis, where is she?"
"She wanted to come, but this is the closest she can get. Which is closer than it looks like," Byleth said. Master Hand briefly paused as he heard a familiar voice in his head.
"At last I have someone other than those two to speak with," Sothis said. "I don't have a physical form anymore, but I can still lend Byleth and Bel some of my power. Your letter helped save those two from their own recklessness, which may lead to them walking into the next obvious trap. And from what I hear your eagerness for new allies led to your early defeat."
"Blunt as usual I see," Master Hand said. He looked at Galeem and Dharkon. The two of them had gotten closer and closer to each other as the battle drew on. Master Hand used his powers to send out a message. "Everybody, while Galeem and Dharkon are fixated on each other we can destroy both of them. Clear a path for Smashers to their location."
"It's showtime," Joker said, slipping past the attack of a Crazy Hand clone and running towards the two towering monstrosities. Terry was right behind him, and across the battlefield all the other Smashers began cutting a path towards Galeem and Dharkon. The true final battle had only just started.
Epilogue: New Worlds, New Rules, New Faces
The Smashers all found themselves on a wide empty field in the aftermath of the battle. This time there was no strange abomination hovering in the sky. It took a few seconds for all of them to recover from the sudden teleportation. "We did it, it's finally over," Mario said. He looked around, all of the forces that had fought with the Smashers in the final battle had ended up at the field as well. Galleom was also present, but deactivated. R.O.B kept everyone else from getting too close to Galleom.
"There's a few loose ends we still need to cut off," Samus said, aiming her arm cannon at Ridley.
"Samus wait," Peach said. She put her hand on Samus's shoulder.
"No, those bastards only made it easier for Galeem to kill us all the first time around. And that teleporter they made is only going to be a pain in the ass. Do you want the Space Pirates invading the Mushroom Kingdom?"
"Go ahead and destroy it, we've got everything we need to build even more on hand. And thanks to you a great idea of where to take our forces next," Ridley taunted. Samus's glare could be felt even with the helmet covering it. Peach frowned.
"If you want the Space Pirates to go extinct and have all traces of their existence erased that is," Peach said. "Master Hand, where are we anyway?"
"You haven't noticed? This is where Smash Mansion once stood."
"Ah man, I forgot all about what happened to the mansion in all the excitement," Pit said. He looked down at the ground sadly. "But you can make a new one, right? This is the part where you make a cooler version that's way better than the old one, with free floor ice-cream for everyone."
"Nah, not possible," Crazy Hand said.
"Smash Mansion's self-destruct function was designed by Crazy Hand. It was a force of destruction on a conceptual level. If the intent is for something to be a place where the Smashers gather, I can no longer create it. It might have even infected Galeem and Dharkon with mortality. Or perhaps they never were as invincible as they seemed at first. Either way due to a little quirk in how we designed it I can bring back all of your belongings that were in the mansion, but I'll save it for when you have somewhere to put them."
"Could we create a new place for all of us to live together, so long as we don't use your power to build it?" Mewtwo asked. Master Hand gave a thumbs up.
"Actually while we're on the subject, I have an idea," Chrom said. "Not entirely mine, the idea was thrown around while traveling to free the spirits. With what has happened all of our worlds will bear the scars of this strange war, and we just had an argument over the spread of the teleporter technology. Why don't we build a city for people of all worlds? Smashville already has a few businesses from other worlds. We're all connected now, we can't change that." There various nods of agreement in the crowd.
"I can do that. And we'll call the city… Smashopolis." A chorus of groans and complaints rose in response to Master Hand's name. "My power, my city, my name."
"While we work on building a new home, we should all either return to our worlds or get housing in either Smashville or Smashopolis," Peach said. Tom Nook approached the Smashers. V laughed nervously.
"I believe I have a solution for your housing problems, once this new Smashopolis gets built somebody will have to help manage the real estate. Yes, yes! I'll give everyone here a very special discount for saving the world. This goes for Smashville as well," Tom Nook said.
"Make it free you coward!" Rex shouted from somewhere in the crowd of non-Smashers.
"No, no, that would put me out of business, a very bad outcome."
"He has a point. And now it's time to actually make things happen," Master Hand said. He snapped his fingers. A good distance away from the massive crowd buildings began to rise from the ground like sprouting flowers. A road between Smashopolis and Smashville formed as the new city took shape. Even from a distance it was obvious the city was a mixture of architecture from many different worlds, some skyscrapers looked similar to those in Corneria while the classic red roof of a Pokemon center could be made out.
"Let's-a go," Mario shouted, taking off towards the city. Link and Fox ran after him. Others began walking towards the city at a much more relaxed pace, some remained at the field talking with others. Peach looked up at Master Hand. There was something she wanted to ask now that most people had turned their attention away from Master Hand.
"Why exactly are Dark Samus and her cronies still Smashers?"
"I know it may work against us at times, but their strength did help save the world. I don't like this new status quo with all the worlds being connected, but it's too late to go back, so we might as well stay on top of it. Dark Samus, Ridley, and K. Rool are easier for me to track if they're Smashers, so we'll know if they do anything," Master Hand explained.
"That makes sense. I guess it's never really over, even if the stakes are lower. Forgive me, that was far too pessimistic. We should be celebrating for now," Peach said. She looked towards Smashopolis and started the walk to see it for herself. Daisy and Ace ran over to join her. The rules of the game were different now, and more players would join to complicate it further, but that was better than letting it all end.
Master Hand and Crazy Hand both teleported away from all of the others. There was a city to work on.
A/N: And so the longest chapter of this fic thus far comes to a close. Yes, the DLC characters will all get their own chapters despite the fighter pass 1 characters technically already being Smashers. Some of you may have noticed the absence of a certain DLC character, there's a reason for that. Since his chapter is up next you won't have to wait long to learn it.
While it's probably the least polished part of this entire fic I had a lot of fun writing the giant fight scene. Expect to see some characters who appeared here return in a later chapter or fic. I planned on destroying the mansion when the idea for the interlude first came to me, but it hurt a little to actually write it happening. There had to be lasting consequences for World of Light. Nothing can recapture the same dynamics or closeness between the Smashers that the mansion had.
Of the three Star Fox continuities this fic uses the Zero timeline, but takes a significant amount of elements from the other two. All the data R.O.B 64 transmitted on the Aparoids was gathered from the incident where a single Aparoid destroyed an entire Cornerian fleet, which happened well before Star Fox SNES/64/0. I was worried that line about the Aparoids might confuse some Star Fox fans so just wanted to clarify it here, Assault still has yet to happen for this incarnation of the Star Fox cast.
I'd like to thank the various wikis and walkthroughs for letting me do the research needed to include certain characters. And as usual a shout out to Super Smash Prose, a discord server for Smash fanfic authors. If you want to join it the join code is gDK48ua