A/N: IliterallyjustrealizedthatIforgottheLoZGuardianspiritbattlewithR. Just a quick note for the future, I'm going to give some of the character clones more personality by giving them their own horrifying traits that make them both a challenge for our awakened fighters to fight and make sure this isn't just a narrative of WoL and is actually something even just a little bit unique. Plus, I'm having way too much fun making this a bit dark so expect some more violent and scary things later on. Enough about me, here's the result of my long, stress-filled hiatus.

Light orange flames reached for the skies when Villager tossed a few stray, dead branches into it, stirring smoke and sending small flickers of the flame from around the pit. Surrounding the few dead sticks was a circle of small stones, keeping the flames caged within its barriers. Proud of its findings, Villager brushed it's hands against one another and took a seat across from Mario, staring blankly at the ground. Night had settled in with both fighters, bringing a wave of sleep over them from the darkness that overtook the previously colorful sky. Mario sighed and shifted his gaze to another patch of dirt on the ground, feeling the loose, sticky bandages move with him on his face and neck. This then turned into zoned out staring at the rocky hills and ragged mountains boxing them into the desolate, dead area that Mario rescued Villager in. Thin clouds loomed overhead, faintly blocking out any silver moonlight that would've touched the ground. A rumble broke the silence, startling both fighters temporarily before realizing fully what it was. "Sorry about that. It's a shame there's no food around here," Mario sighed, resting a hand on his stomach. "Oh, no worries. It happens," Villager responded, a calm smile on its face. "So after we rest up, what do we plan to do next?" "We'll head west and meet up with Kirby at an abandoned shrine there. Hopefully he'll have one of our friends, and if not, I hope he's alive." Villager nodded to the plumber. "But what if we don't find Kirby there? What if he's dead or doesn't know we're there?" It questioned. Mario shook his head; clearly he hadn't thought of it. "Not sure. We should either wait for him to meet up with us or we continue looking for our friends." Villager shuddered for a moment at the thoughts of other negative possibilities that began to flood its head. "What if a clone meets us there?" It whimpered, sinking into its sitting position and shuddering slightly. Mario brushed his hat and messy brown locks of hair casually before setting the hat down beside him. "Don't worry about it my friend. We'll take action in the morning. I think for now we should worry about resting up," He sighed, adjusting his position to lay on the floor and use his cap as a pillow. Villager's mouth opened a third time to suggest something else, but it held back what it would have said when it realized Mario was right. Concerning the urgency of the matters at hand, it would be wise to get sleep for whatever danger lie ahead. Sure, Villager wasn't a necessarily a 'fighter', but it was always willing to lend a hand - though with the bloodshed Mario had informed it about Villager easily hated the idea of hurting someone so much that their organs nearly spilled out of their body. Villager heaved a sigh before sliding down onto the dry dirt below to lay in a fetal position with its hands under its head. "So off to sleep then?" It asked. "Yeah. Goodnight."

"Goodnight!"

Just as morning touched the land, Villager could hear faint noises from outside in its sleep. It's consciousness very sluggishly returned to its brain, making it feel weak and a bit unsteady at first. When consciousness fully returned, Villager lifted its oval-shaped head up groggily, hoping the sounds could be stopped somehow. Villager's eyelids opened, and it lifted a hand to rub its eyes, half expecting to see Mario either sleeping or sitting at the dead fire. The sight that came to meet Villager's eyes sent it into a frenzy, causing it to jump right up from where it sat, its blood mixing with adrenaline as it did so. Standing right in front of him was Mario, who was neck-and-neck with a Wendy clone, his fists flying out angrily towards the clone's disgruntled face. The Wendy hissed at Mario when his fist knocked it off balance with a few punches to its bulbous lips, giving Mario some time to regain his own balance. He huffed audibly, turning around slowly to catch Villager looking up at him worriedly. "Oh, sorry if I woke ya up. It didn't get ya did it?" He asked, trying to tear off one of the bandages that was hanging on the end of his arm. Villager shuddered as he stared at the fallen clone, watching it rise and climb into the clown-car replica slowly. "Uh, n-no it didn't. Watch out!" Villager shouted, pointing a finger at Wendy. Mario ran up to it immediately, leaping just a few feet off the ground in order to use the filthy bandage that was once around his arm to wrap it around Wendy's eyes to blind it. Wendy cried out as soon as he did, but it's protests meant nothing when Mario's fireball shot straight through its body. The fire was absorbed by Wendy when he pressed his hand on its shell, boring a huge hole of what looked like melting plastic in its stomach. Within seconds, the creature began to melt, and with a final whisper of protest, it was now a puddle of melted yellow flesh. From behind the puddle stood the plumber, who knelt down somewhat and caught his breath. He looked up to see Villager, who appeared stunned and too afraid to move at what happened in front of it. "Hey, it's alright. Wendy's gone," Mario told his friend, brushing off his hands on his dirty gloves. "Y'know, if we're gonna save our friends and the world, we're probably gonna have to deal with 'lotta those. I know it'll be hard to recognize friend from foe, but this is what we gotta do." "How do we know that it's one of our friends? If we fight too hard, will we kill them?"

"No. When these things die, they either melt or explode. From my understanding, if they explode we've found one of our friends. And if it melts, it's just a goon."

Villager's face contorted in disgust at what Mario told it. "T-they explode?! You're joking, right?" It asked in disbelief. Mario simply chuckled at it when he peeled off a second bandage in his hands. "I wish I was to be honest. Now follow me. The path looks like it leads back this way." Villager did as it was told, and began to walk with Mario west towards a set of hills that barricaded either side of the dry plain they camped out in. A soft noise stopped both friends as something rose up above the melted puddle, revealing itself to be a glistening orb of white light. "Hey! You two! Who the hell are you?!" A feminine voice scolded, leaving both fighters a bit intimidated. "Better question, who are you?" Villager retorted. The light drifted closer to them at Villager's response. "For your information buster, I'm the one and only Tron Bonne! Famous pilot and renowned Air Pirate! Now answer my question, who are you?!" Tron Bonne spat, the steam surrounding the circular vessel she was encased in rising around her. "I-I'm Villager, and this is my good friend Mario. We're t-trying to find all our friends because a bad guy kidnapped them all. W-where did you come from?" Villager continued. "Well, I was fixing some machines in my workshop when this blinding light came out of nowhere and wiped everything out! And then I ended up here! Speaking of which, where am I?" She asked. Mario relaxed a bit and dipped his hat a little downward. "We don't even know where we are. All we know is that we should track down our enemy and find out what's happening around here," He said. Though it was hard to see, Tron Bonne was giving Mario a confused look. "What? How can you not know where you are when you guys have already been here? How did you even know your friends were here?" A fair question, The plumber thought. "Maybe because our friends saved us here. So if some of our friends were already here, than that means everyone else is here right?" He responded. Tron Bonne paused momentarily. "Eh, I guess that works. Say, you two are heroes, correct? Or adventurers? How about I come with you guys? I'm real talented with machines. Maybe I could lend you guys some help!" She asked. Mario turned to face Villager, his expression asking it for it's opinion on the matter. "I think maybe another friend could help. We should have strength in numbers!" It spoke, standing triumphantly. "I agree. Welcome to the team, Tron Bonne!"

Though it was near impossible to see through it, there was a feeling of glee that radiated off the spirit at the decision. Suddenly, Tron Bonne faded from view, and a feeling of strength washed over both fighters. "W-woah! What just happened? A-am I in your body or something?" Tron Bonne's voice cried out. "I think so. Whatever you just did, we got new powers. Are you okay?" Mario said. "Well if both of you feel alright then that's not any of my concern. And me? I'm fine." Regaining his focus, Mario stood upright and turned to face Villager again. "So we're good then? Alright, let's go find Kirby."

By the time they approached the abandoned shrine the sun was in the center of the sky, beating down on both of them along with thick clouds of dust that followed the wind that was beginning to pick up behind them. The dust had gotten thicker, obstructing their view just a bit that was only made worse by the intense sunlight. A hand came up to block out some of the rays from Villager's face, helping to keep its sight. Through the swirling dust and sand that began to follow them, they caught the faint outline of a stone formation about twenty to forty feet away; visible, though very blurry. "There it is," Mario whispered to Villager. "Hopefully Kirby is around here." They walked closer to the steps of the shrine, focusing on the shrine itself and not the giant white glove that materialized seemingly out of thin air above them. It shot downward at them, fingers curved in an attempt to grab them. A gust of wind preceded it, warning both fighters of its presence before it could strike. Mario grabbed Villager by the back of its shirt and jerked it away while dodging backward, causing the glove to scrape the dirt when it got close enough to them. The plumber missed his landing and ended up sliding across the ground, dirtying his and Villager's face. The hand shot up into the sky again, only stopping when it was directly in their path. Its fingers joined together in an ear piercing snap that was succeeded by the rumbling of the Earth beneath them. In front of them, the stone formations collapsed onto the stairs, and the hand summoned hundreds of boulders to top the mess of falling rock, creating an impassable wall atop the stairs. After this, the hand shot forward again, aiming for the fighters on the ground. Once again, Mario gripped Villager's shirt and pulled it aside, dodging the second attack and standing up on his feet. Similarly, the hand shot back into the air again, where it turned a very faint shade of orange momentarily before exploding in a ball of fire about twenty feet away from them. The blast sent them flying toward the wall of rocks, the impact of their skulls on the stone sending their vision swimming for a few minutes. New wounds grazed their flesh, including burns and scratches from the dirt and dust. Villager was the first to pick itself up, shaking its head in order to fully understand what happened. Mario's body lay very close to it, slumped over and breathing slowly. "Hey! Mario! Get up!" It cried, shaking Mario's arms lightly to coax him awake. The plumber's consciousness lacked haste, and Mario woke almost two minutes after the impact. "Wait, the shrine! It's-!" He stuttered. He pushed himself to his feet and turned to face the massive wall of rock towering over them, preventing them from moving on. Desperately, Mario's fist hit one of the rocks in hopes of breaking it, but the only thing it sounded like it broke was a couple of Mario's bones. He stumbled back before being caught by Villager. "I don't think we can get through it. It looks like it would take ages to climb, and we can't destroy it," commented Villager. "Yeah. It stretches pretty far too. But we gotta find some way to get around it!" Just before Mario could take any other actions, Villager tugged on his glove. "W-we can't! And that floating hand just exploded and hurt us real bad! We should find some other way around it, or go another way!" Mario's stubborn gaze held Villager's concerned ones for a good moment before he sighed quietly. "Okay then, let's just hope that Kirby found someone. If he's waiting on the other side, we should hope that he won't stay there forever."

Afternoon didn't seem to take much of an interest in leaving hours after their encounter with the hand, as Mario and Villager continued trekking through the desert area fighting off numerous clones and meeting new spirits along the way. When all hope seemed lost and exhaustion began to take over their bodies, something new caught their eyes just below the hill they arrived at. Below said hill was a race track with a set of twelve cars lined up in the very center, the light humming of their engines being the only noise that could be heard throughout the track. A row of tires were neatly lined up beside them, and beside that was a long, rectangular barrier painted with red and white stripes. Grass and plants were beginning to assume control of the track, having pierced through the asphalt and approaching the silent bleachers. Sitting idly at the start of the track was a yellow and green colored car that floated just a few feet off the ground, its engine humming the loudest out of all of them. Mario and Villager tumbled into the race track, looking about for anyone or anything that would be of interest. But there was nothing other than wind and engines to be heard and other unimportant items. "You can drive a go-kart, right Mario?" Villager questioned. "I have before. Why do you ask?" He said. Villager brought a finger to the floating car at the start of the race track. "Do you think you would be able to drive that?" The plumber gave said car a thoughtful look. "Let me take a look. I've never seen anything like this before…" They approached the machine quickly and began to inspect it carefully. It was very elaborately decorated, with thinner green swirls on the very underside of the machine. Green metal plates wrapped around the yellow in between them in a crescent shape, with a white number six painted on the end of each ends of green metal. The cockpit was very large and somewhat see-through, and inside it was a big, black leather chair and numerous buttons and controls in front of the chair. The amount of buttons and odd components of the machine perplexed both fighters. "I have no idea what this is, and I'm not very confident I can drive it very well, if at all," Mario concluded. "Do you think we can find a spirit around here who can drive it?"

"Not sure. We'd have to fight a lot of clones who'd want us dead in order to find a driver."

"Why don't we try going up the path? Or looking around the track? But … there doesn't seem to be anyone else around here."

"I say we go up the path, there might be something else we can find up there while we're at it."

At the mention of the path, both fighters turned to inspect the empty path from where they stood. Though it was a bit far, it was quite obvious that it was completely empty, with no clone fighters roaming about or even any plants covering the gray asphalt. Whatever else could be seen in the distance was only an outline thanks to a mysterious bright light that blurred out everything behind it. Mario's head came back around to face Villager, who was still contemplating the idea of going that direction. "What do you think? Should we head up north?" He asked. Villager immediately turned to him at the sound of his voice. "Sure! But afterward we should come back, in case we find the driver." "Sure we will, now let's go!"