I am SO sorry that this took so long! First there were the holidays, and then I had a lot of stuff going on in January and February, but still, I'm sorry I didn't write this sooner. But I worked hard on this chapter, so I think you'll really like it. I hope it makes up for me being gone for so long. Incidentally, while writing this chapter, I decided to change the story rating to T, just to be safe.

Emo Sprite: Your reviews gave me ideas for the last chapter (and for this one), so thank you!

DarkX: There will be multiple deaths in the future. But I promise that everyone who dies will come back. Eventually...

Ajax's Ghost: Sorry that you lost access to your account! And as for Roy...wait and see...

Anyway, here's Chapter 5!

No Smasher had ever gone into the space around Final Destination and survived. Master Hand had sent many Smashers falling off the edge during his time, but none of them had fallen for more than a few seconds before the strange energy killed them and they fell the long rest of the way down to earth as trophies. Most Smashers speculated that Final Destination itself was at the very center of the swirling vortex of clouds that formed the lethal energies and space around it. The only way Smashers could even get to Final Destination was by using a telporting device stored in the most secure vaults of Hyrule Castle when it wasn't in use. Final Destination remained unexplored, unknown. Until now.

Ike, Samus, Sonic, Mario, Link, Lucario, and Pit were flying through the space around Final Destination. The Chaos Emeralds they were using to protect themelves from the deadly energy around Final Destination bounced around in the pouches the Smashers were carrying with them.

Lucario closed his eyes as he flew. Blue Aura flames glowed around him.

We're close. Very, very close. Crazy Hand is nearby, I can sense it. He's angry, though. Something is happening. Something big...

Pit murmured a prayer to Lady Palutena. "What else could be happening? Does he know we're here?"

Right on cue, a high-pitched, shrieking laugh echoed through the Smashers' minds. The temperature around them seemed to drop ten degrees.

Hello, friends! I'm so glad you came! Now I can come up with even more amusing ways to kill you by putting you through the most horrible suffering possible! Oh joy, it's going to be so much fun!

"Ignore him,"groaned Sonic. "Just ignore him. We're almost there."

Ooooooooh, isn't that exciting? Well guess what? You might be getting closer than you think!

"No one's listening, Crazy Hand," snapped Ike. "Shut up and get out of our heads!"

Temper, temper. You're obviously listening, otherwise you wouldn't have-

Crazy Hand's voice cut off as Lucario screamed, drawing forth his Aura energy and blasting it off away from him. The air felt normal again. Crazy Hand's voice was gone. His presence had disappeared from their minds.

"Ummmm..." said Mario. "What...was that?"

I purged Crazy Hand from our subconcious, and I'm trying to keep him out of our heads. But he's too strong to hold back for much longer.

"Wow, Lucario, you're always full of new powers," said Link, impressed. "But can you still sense our way to Crazy Hand?"

Probably not, but that doesn't matter. Crazy Hand's just about broken through my psychic defenses. I was just hoping to give us a break, but...oh, too late, here he comes.

With a sound like shattering glass, the Smashers felt Crazy Hand's evil presence flood through them, stronger than ever.

You can't stop me! You can't even hold me out for more than a minute! How will you defeat me? How will you stop my plans? How? How?! "HOW?!"

Crazy Hand's telepathic communication transitioned into a loud, screaming voice. The Smashers were certain that this was no mental voice. They had heard Crazy Hand's real voice. In person.

"He's here," whispered Samus.

Crazy Hand came out of nowhere, tearing through the air and smashing full speed into Ike. Ike went tumbling through the air, his jetpack out of control. Crazy Hand laughed insanely.

"So you finally made it this far! Good! Now I can actually talk to you! I personally don't enjoy the mental communication. You know what they say: people's social skills are getting worse than ever these days!"

Crazy Hand spread his fingers apart, blasting blue laser beams at the Smashers. They separated left and right, dodging and weaving through the air to avoid the blasts.

"Split up!" yelled Ike.

"We're already split up!" yelled Pit, rolling over in midair to avoid a laser.

Link flew toward Crazy Hand. "Go for his index finger!"

Samus aimed her arm cannon at Crazy Hand, blasting missile after missile into him. They had very little effect on him. Crazy Hand swung himself left and right, swatting the Smashers away. Link and Ike slashed with their sword, rolling in between Crazy Hand's fingers while aiming for his knuckles. They were still unable to inflict more than trivial wounds. Crazy Hand laughed maniacally as he began spawning and throwing bombs at the Smashers. Lucario hurled Aura shields near all the other Smashers, which were able to deflect or absorb many of the bombs. Sonic chaged at Crazy Hand, distracting him enough to give the other Smashers an opening. Pit pulled out his bow and launched light arrows into Crazy Hand, while Mario landed on Crazy Hand's back and unleashed more fire onto him than he ever had in his life.

Crazy Hand screamed in pain, rolling in midair to put out the flames and throwing Mario off. This only served to fan the flames and make them stronger. Crazy Hand let out a moan as he hunched over in midair, on fire.

"Wow...Mario..." Link said. "That was impressive. But you should really start with that attack next time."

"I didn't know I could do that," whispered Mario, shocked. "But my fire is depleted. I can't summon even the tiniest flame now. I hope I won't need to use any fire for... a good while."

Crazy Hand screamed, more of rage than of pain, and spread his fingers apart. A glowing purple light surrounded him, glowing so bright that the Smashers had to turn away, so bright that the light of the flames couldn't even be seen. When the glowing purple light faded, the fire was gone. Crazy Hand's injuries were gone. He seemed to be surrounded by dark, destructive energy. The Smashers were too stunned to even react.

"I CANNOT BE DEFEATED!" roared Crazy Hand. "I have grown! I have power beyond anything anyone has ever known! I have powers that make Master Hand look like NOTHING compared to me! All will kneel before me! Not even Tabuu would be able to stand before me! You shall surrender, or I will ANNIHILATE you and everyone you know! You can't hurt me! NOTHING CAN HURT ME!"

Crazy Hand's last sentence, seemingly hurled at the Smashers, felt as though it were washing over them and tearing away their energy and will to fight.

Where are you getting your power, Crazy Hand? What has happened to you?

Lucario sounded more enraged than anyone had ever heard him. Crazy Hand turned towards him, the glowing light around him expanding.

"You will never know! You will die ignorant, fool! None of you can imagine the lengths I went to, what I was willing to do to gain this power! You will all die!"

NO!

Lucario's eyes glowed as he unleashed the full extent of his Aura abilities. A massive Aura Storm beam appeared around him and blasted towards Crazy Hand. Crazy Hand curled his fingers and blasted a massive purple beam that met the Aura Storm attack in midair. Lucario and Crazy Hand unleashed the full extent of their powers, the two beams meeting in midair. The point where the two blasts met became a swirling vortex of energy. The other six Smashers tried to help, but the energy pushed them away whenever they got too close to Lucario or Crazy Hand. Pit's Light Arrows were simply absorbed into the vortex, as were any other projectile attacks the Smashers tried. Lucario focused his power, the Aura Storm blast growing more focused and powerful, strong enough to topple a skyscraper with a single hit. Crazy Hand snarled as he clenched his hand, sending as much destruction energy as he could muster to meet Lucario's Aura Storm. The built-up energy was too great. Something had to give way. Something had to surrender.

Something did.

Crazy Hand's relentless destructive assault overwhelmed Lucario. The Aura Storm beam began to fade as Crazy Hand's dark energy absorbed it. Lucario maintained his Aura defense as long as he could. Finally, the dark blast reached Lucario. In a single, explosive burst of light, the Aura was shredded apart. Lucario was enveloped in a blast of dark purple energy as Crazy Hand completely lost control, giving off massive amounts of dark energy. Destructive power streamed in all directions. The most powerful fadeout the Smashers could possibly imagine began to envelop them. The space around them was tearing apart. The glowing, bright clouds around them changed to a dark, angry black. Purple lightning crackled within them.

Lucario was annihilated by the explosion of power. The other six Smashers helplessly watched as Lucario was killed by the destruction energy.

Crazy Hand screamed with laughter. "You will all die! You will all DIE!"

On the last word, the very space around them blew apart, sending the six Smashers spiraling off in all directions. Crazy Hand became a beacon in the center of a swirling cyclone of destruction. Space and time warped, shifted, and tore into nothingness. Every inch of matter within 50 feet of Crazy Hand was sucked away and destroyed. The jetpacks the Smashers were wearing crumpled and ripped apart, as did the Chaos Emeralds. And with the Chaos Emeralds destroyed, the Smashers could not survive. They fell helplessly through the air as Crazy Hand's wrath tore a 50-foot sphere of absolute nothingness into the space around Final Destination.

The doomed Chaos Emeralds had offered the Smashers enough protection to help them survive being obliterated along with everything else near Crazy Hand. But they had no way of protecting themselves from the lethal energies in the space around Final Destination, and no way of protecting themselves from Crazy Hand's unbelievable new abilities.

"And so it ends!" shouted Crazy Hand gleefully. "You have been added to the list of those who fell before me!"

Mario wasn't even listening. He didn't fear death; none of the Smashers did. What he did fear was failing everyone who had relied on him and the other Smashers who fell with him. These thoughts raced through his mind even as he fell, subconciously counting down the five remaining seconds he had to live.

One...two...

Mario knew that Smashers couldn't really die. The magic that had caused them to turn into trophies could not be undone, not even by Crazy Hand with his newfound powers. Crazy Hand was only able to block the way back into the world. Fox, King Dedede, Pikachu, and Marth had already experienced a Smasher's version of death. Now he was going to follow them.

Three...four...

Mario could see the other Smashers being killed and sucked out of existence around him.

Five...

"I'm sorry, Peach," Mario whispered.

Mario closed his eyes as the energies of Final Destination ended his life.

DON'T WORRY! This is NOT the end! The story WILL continue...as a matter of fact, I'm going to try to get the next chapter posted quickly if I can. And I'll try to limit the deaths more in the future, but I might not be able to...

Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you'll forgive me for not posting for so long.