"Sora! Aim left!" Luigi shouted as he steered the Starshroom out of the way of a Heartless in the road.
"I'm firing now!" Sora said. He pushed the button as three more Heartless were destroyed.
"What were you guys thinking giving him control over some canons," Bowser said.
"Just because it's not as smooth as the last journey doesn't mean Sora's doing a bad job," Tippi said.
"So where are we going anyways?" Sora asked. Luigi pointed to a giant arena out in the middle of space. "What's there?"
"The smash tournament," Luigi said. "It's an interworld tournament that few are invited too. It can span large quantities of time and space simply to get the competitors. There's normally at least one Link in attendance as well as a Ganondorf and typically a Zelda, but they weren't the ones we met."
"So why are we going then?" Sora asked.
"Where better to seek information on other missing princesses and a mysterious count than a popular fighting tournament that crosses worlds," Peach said. "I sometimes fight in the tournament too, but last year I got disqualified."
"How come?" Sora asked.
"I kind of brought in an extra move with my umbrella, which they disapprove of…" Peach looked away. "I forgot to register it so they sort of disqualified me…"
"Not that it mattered, some creatures from Subspace crashed the party anyways," Luigi said. "All of us worked together to defeat it."
"I was forced into it!" Bowser said.
"So we're gonna go there then?" Sora asked.
"Of course," Peach said and they landed the Starshroom onto the world. Peach stepped out first.
When Sora walked out, he was amazed by the stadium and the seats within. "Wow! This place is huge!"
"Newbie, right?" a boy in red asked as he looked at Sora. "He from your world?" he asked the Mario group.
"No way would he be from out world!" Bowser shouted.
"Bowser, calm," Peach said. She stuck her hand out to prevent him from charging at the boy. "Sora's a new competitor we offered a ride to."
"So what world's he from then?" the boy asked.
"I'm from Destiny Islands!" Sora said.
"Never heard of it," the boy said before walking off.
"Who was he?" Sora asked.
"That's Red. His first tournament was last year," Luigi answered. "He comes from the Kanto League, part of a cluster of worlds that are inhabited by many creatures called Pokemon. We don't know how many there are."
"Hey, quick question, if worlds are meant to be a secret, and I know they are, how does this world exist?" Tippi asked.
"It runs on an invitation based system. Only if you have an invite can you know about other worlds in this case," Peach said and pulled out a sheet of paper with a segmented circle on it. "Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and I all have one."
"I don't…" Sora said. His voice was filled with disappointment.
"We know. You and Tippi need to be out here and talking to the Smashers. If you can find Zelda, Link, or maybe even Samus or Lyn, you should ask them about missing princesses," Luigi said. "We'll use the tournament as a cover to allow us access, otherwise they'd ship us off."
"Oh, so I guess I'll see you guys after you win or lose," Sora said. He waved as they left.
"You really want to be in the battle, don't you?" Tippi asked after they left.
"Wouldn't you? This would be a great place to train if they're all champions!" Sora said. "Now to mention all of the people I'd get to meet."
"Assuming we're all here for a social call?" Sora turned around to see a blonde haired woman in a blue skin tight suit. "I figured they got smarter fighters than that…"
"I don't have an invite, Tippi and I are here for moral support," he said. "I'm Sora."
"Samus Aran, intergalactic bounty hunter," Samus said.
"You've traveled the worlds?" Sora asked.
"Between social calls among the few friends I've made here and missions, yes," she said.
"So do you know about the Heartless, or any mysterious counts?"
"Heartless, they've been around for ten years starting in Radiant Garden. The last person I heard of who was a count was Count Noir of the Tribe of Darkness five years ago who died along with the rest of his people," she said.
"What about their lord?" Tippi asked. A hint of surprise seemed to sound in her voice. "Did he survive?"
"All of the Tribe of Darkness died. Shouldn't that be obvious?" Samus asked and sighed. "I have to go sign up, okay?" With that she left.
"Did you know this Count Noir guy Tippi?" Sora asked.
Tippi hesitated before answering. "I…I don't know…" she said. "Sora, if I were to trust you with something that nobody else knew, would you keep it a secret?"
"Sure," he said.
"I can't remember anything before I became a Pixl. Merlon said it was because his magic in making Pixls was rusty and I'll never get it back… but I think it's because something tampered with my memories before I became one, and every once in a while names and things might trigger a memory or something like that question and then… I wish I knew who I was before this Sora…"
"Well, how about after we find Riku, Kairi, and Mario, I'll help you find your memories?" Sora asked.
"You'd-you'd do that?" Tippi asked in surprise.
"I care about my friends, and you're one of them now," Sora said and smiled. "So it's a promise."
"Yes…a promise…" Tippi said.
"Alright, now let's look-Heartless!" Sora summoned out his Keyblade in a bright flash of light and ran up to two small boys being attacked by the shadows. "You two get out of here!"
"Those are Shadow Heartless, the most basic variety. Even by now they should be no match for your Keyblade," Tippi said. "The slightly larger shadows are called Neo Shadows, and they're a bit more powerful."
"Got it," Sora said and ran at the Shadow Heartless first. His Keyblade slid through each one with very minimal effort, vaporizing a Heartless with each hit into a dark cloud. He stood in front of the first Neo Shadow and watched as it sank into a pool of darkness in the ground. It came up from and went to claw at him, scarcely giving him time to lift his Keyblade up in defense. The claws bounced off the Keyblade and caused the Heartless to bounce back. He rushed up to it again and stabbed it once, and then again before being clawed at and forced back.
"PK Thunder!" The small boys shouted and a small blue orb left them. The first orb hit the Heartless immediately while the second passed through it, causing it damage before turning around and causing the large shadow to dissipate.
"Thanks," Sora said.
"No problem, I'm Ness and this is Lucas. Are you entering the smash tournament this year?"
"I don't know, don't have an invite," Sora said.
"Oh, well, okay then," Ness said. "Come on Lucas."
"So you can fight…" Sora jumped as a glowing blue man who appeared to be made out of data appeared in front of him. "I might have use for you." The man threw a sheet of paper at him.
"Invite: Sora has been invited to the Brawl?" Sora looked at the invite to see it stamped with the same circle as Peach's and Bowser's, along with a heart split up into two segments. "Cool!"
"We shouldn't though, I mean…" Tippi sighed when Sora pouted at her. "Alright, fine, go join the tournament."
"Yeah" Sora ran inside. He walked up to the man running it. "I'd like to enter the Smash tournament."
"Invite?" Sora handed in the paper. "You're in. You're number thirteen. Good luck."
"Yeah!" he walked up to the back room with the invitation in hand and looked at the bulletin board. "It says I'm fighting number 14…"
"How'd you get in?" Peach asked and stared at Sora. "Did you learn anything?"
"Some glowing blue guy gave me an invite," Sora said. Peach froze.
"Sora, that's Tabuu, the person who lead the charge against this world. Be careful," Peach said.
"So what number are you?" he asked.
"Number 13B. It's a team tournament. Luigi's number 13C and Bowser's number 13D," Peach said.
"I'm number thirteen," he said. "So who's number fourteen anyways?"
"Some new guy named Cloud Strife. It said he's from Radiant Garden…" Peach said. "As for 14 B, C, and D, I don't know. It didn't say so they're probably no shows."
"Who wants to bet they were Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf?" Tippi asked. "After all, how could they show?"
"Will numbers thirteen and fourteen make their way up to the brawl arena at this time!"
"That's Master Hand, the ruler of this world. We're up," Peach said. "Come on!"
"Right!" Sora ran after Peach to meet with Luigi and Bowser.
"What's he doing here?" Bowser asked.
"He's number thirteen," Peach said. "So we'll be Team Sora rather than Team Peach."
"You got an invite, awesome!" Luigi gave Sora a thumbs up just as they arrived in the center of the field. Standing on the other side was a blond with spiky hair, no sign of any of his partners.
"Now introducing numbers thirteen and fourteen. As the rest of number fourteen has been declared no shows, number thirteen will be going it alone!"
"Good luck Sora," Peach said before pushing him out.
"I get to fight some kid…" the man stared at Sora.
"Competitors Sora from Destiny Islands and Cloud Strife from Radiant Garden, you have five minutes to knock your opponent off the edge. If they are not knocked off within twenty minutes, a coin will be flipped to determine the winner. You may begin."
"So they want me to fight a kid…" Cloud looked at Sora with disappointment. "Piece of cake."
"Hey!" Sora glared and summoned out his key.
"So you're the key…"Cloud said. "Still won't make this harder." He ran out Sora while pulling out a giant sword. The sword slashed at him, giving Sora no time to lift his defense and causing him to nearly fall off the edge almost instantly. Sora threw his Keyblade at Cloud only for the older warrior to run around it effortlessly. Sora took advantage of the distraction and ran forward, summoning his Keyblade back at the last second to deal a bit of damage. He took it like Leon did as though Sora had dealt know damage at all. This time Cloud picked up his sword and began slashing at him nonstop. Sora ducked and rolled to avoid it, but several attacks still hit. At this rate, he would collapse from wounds as opposed to falling off the edge. He lifted up his Keyblade to intercept another strike. The clang of metal on metal resounded throughout the entire stadium and Sora pushed back harder in an attempt to stop Cloud's onslaught. The large sword was pushed out of Cloud's hands.
Cloud attempted to run after his sword and pick it up, but Sora didn't let him. Now on the offensive, he charged at the blond warrior and struck at him with his Keyblade before making a stabbing motion, the blunt edge hit the side of Cloud's shoulder, causing him to grab it. Sora hit him again before Cloud pushed back with his hands and ran to pick up his sword, the slightly wounded shoulder made the sword strike slower than before, but not enough to help Sora defend. He lifted up to block strike after strike, still not protecting him well enough as attacks continued to hit. It wasn't long before his feet hit the edge of the platform once more. In a last ditch effort, he rolled to the side as Cloud struck. Cloud continued the motion and with a little push from Sora, he fell off the edge.
"Yeah! I did it! See, that's the power of the Keyblade!" Sora looked down for Cloud.
"Good fight," Cloud nodded to him and walked past.
"You think you can lose Cloud!" A voice shouted as the blue man, Tabuu appeared in the field.
"You said fight the key to find where he was. You said nothing about me actually winning," Cloud said.
"That will have to change," Tabbu said. He raised his hand as a large creature appeared in the center of the battlefield. It was purple and covered in armor, little black particles seemed to pour out from its back. "New rules! Team number 13 must now defeat my Subspace monster!" Tabuu teleported away.
"He entered me to kill me?" Sora asked.
"Cloud, get out of here!" Peach shouted. "We can take him out!"
"Right…" Cloud looked at her with doubt, but in his condition it wasn't really like he could do much fighting anyways.
"Let's go!" Sora ran up to the large creature, but stopped short as it twirled in the air, barely missing him by an inch.
"That's Golem. He's one of many soldiers in Tabuu's army, the Subspace Enemy. He's big and bulky, and most of his attacks can be devastating if they manage to land a hit, so be careful," Tippi said.
"Did you fight him last time Peach?" Luigi asked.
"It was Mario's turn inside the maze," Peach said and shook her head. "Oh well, more fun when you don't know what you're doing." She ran up to Golem and slashed at him with her parasol, ducking under it just as he stomped his foot to crush her. The ground around her shattered, but her and her parasol remained unscathed as she once more ran after him not moments later before hitting him again. Luigi ran up to Golem and headbutted him, which seemed to do a fair amount of damage as a small crack in Golem's armor appeared. Unfortunately he was unable to avoid the next spin attack in time and was knocked back several feet. Bowser grabbed him shortly before he hit the wall of the smash arena.
"Hey! Watch it!" Bowser shouted. "We have no time for injuries!" He opened his jaw and let loose a stream of fire at Golem, causing him to step back to avoid the flames. Sora, standing behind Golem, stabbed at the Subspace warrior with his Keyblade in the back just as Golem jumped. Golem landed on Bowser and Peach, effectively crushing them. Luigi looked back in surprise to see them stand up after removing themselves from the ground.
"We're okay! Take him out!" Peach shouted before reaching into a pocket and throwing an orb with the Smash Symbol out onto the field. Luigi ran for it, but it collided with Sora's Keyblade seconds before the younger Mario brother could grab it. A rainbow aura surrounded Sora and his eyes began to glow.
"What's going on?" Sora asked.
"Use it!" Peach shouted. "Just concentrate and it will activate!"
"Um…okay?" The rainbow aura suddenly discharged. Sora lifted his Keyblade high into the air and five successive beams of white light shot down, hitting Golem several times before the Subspace monster dissolved into many particles. "Did…did I do that?"
"The Final Smash unlocks the user's potential," Master Hand's voice said. "So long as you promise to seal the Keyhole on my world, you are welcome to use it off of this world. All four of you may use it in your search for your friends and quest to save the world."
"So can you tell us where the Keyhole is?" Sora asked.
"I trust you'll be able to find it Keyblade Master…"
"Wow? Did Master Hand just talk to you…personally?" Peach's voice couldn't hide her surprise. "Sora, he never does that! Always just taunts or laughs or orders, you had a conversation with him."
"I guess sealing this world's Keyhole is really that important," Sora said and smiled. "Should we find it."
"I don't think we have to look hard…" Luigi indicated the trophy for the winner. A black Keyhole formed on the top. A beam of light shot out of Sora's Keyblade, effectively sealing it.
"We must hurry to the next world then to continue our search," Tippi said.
"Right, I'm-" Sora stopped as he saw Cloud. "Hey, are you alright?"
"Yeah," Cloud said.
"So why did you go along with him anyways?" Sora asked. He had to know why Cloud had so willingly worked with Tabuu.
"I'm looking for someone," Cloud said. "Tabuu promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness and couldn't find the light." He stood up and went to walk away.
"You'll find it. I'm searching too," Sora said. That seemed to catch Cloud's attention.
"For your light?" he asked. "Don't lose sight of it."
"So how about a rematch sometime, no dark powers allowed?" Sora asked.
"I think I'll pass," Cloud said and continued his walk to the Smash World's exit.
"Well…that was a bit rude…" Peach said.
"Nah, it's okay!" Sora smiled. "We should leave anyways, I still have Riku and Kairi to find."
"And Mario," Luigi said. Sora nodded.
"Yeah, and Mario too!"