After the sun rose, the three set out immediately towards the Mushroom Kingdom. Within a few hours they had finally arrived. They stood up on a cliff that gave them a good view of the city, and Snake began to do reconnaissance. He looked through his binoculars and looked towards the outer part of the city. Snake looked surprised at what he saw.
"What do you see?" Ryu asked.
"Well there's Committee guards as expected, but there are also a bunch of Toads. Looks like they're doing some manual labor." Snake then saw one of the guards kick one of the Toads. "Well…being forced to, that is."
"What are they doing?"
"Looks like they're moving all the rubble and debris from the outer part of the city."
"Making Toads do some clean-up work? What for?" Luigi wondered.
"Hang on, let me check the rest of the place out." Snake said and zoomed in with his binoculars. Focusing on the inner cities, Snake discovered something big.
"Holy shit…"
"What? What is it?" Luigi asked.
"The inner city…it's in great condition. Looks like they've been forcing Toads to do some repairs on the buildings. This place looks like it would make for a great settlement, but the Committee is using it as some sort of military camp. The place is crawling with guards."
"Do you see Roy anywhere?" Ryu asked.
"I'm afraid not. We'll have to move in to find him. But before we do we need to establish some parameters on how we handle this." Snake said, getting the attention of his teammates. "Like I said, this place looks like it would be great for a settlement, and I intend for it to be one. Let's try to keep collateral damage to a minimum. We're going to take this place back, and it'll belong to the people. Understood?"
"You've got it. Now let's not waste any time." Ryu agreed and the three made their way towards the entry point. They moved in at the outer city entrance, where three guards were ordering Toads to clean up the mess. The group decided that they would each take a guard down in unison. Snake used his suppressed SOCOM pistol for the first guard, killing him with a clean headshot. Luigi grabbed a hammer and threw it at the second guard's head with lethal precision, as the hammer crushed his skull. Ryu shot a lethal Hadoken at the third guard, and it went right through the man's chest, leaving a large hole afterwards. The three men fell dead, and the Toads started to panic after seeing it, wondering if they were next. The group wisely decided to reveal themselves.
"Ssh! It's okay! We're here to help!" Luigi quickly said to calm them down. The Toads looked at Luigi, and they began to calm down, and they recognized his face.
"Mr. Luigi! It's you!" One of them cheered.
"You're alive!"
"You came for us!"
"It's good to see all of you too. But it's too dangerous for a reunion right now. You all have to get to safety until we settle this situation."
"Okay!" The Toads obeyed.
"Hang on! Can any of you tell us what's going on up ahead?" Snake asked.
"Yeah, they have a lot of our friends working on building repairs."
"But you gotta be careful! They have a lot of baddies walking around there!"
"Please! Can you rescue our friends?"
"Don't worry, we'll get them all out." Snake promised. "One last thing. Do any of you know where Roy might be? He's the man with red hair."
"Oh that guy! He's usually inside the castle." A Toad answered.
"Okay! Thanks you guys! Now hurry on out of here!" Luigi ordered and the Toads obeyed.
"Let's move in." Ryu said and the three entered the kingdom.
Now the trio was deep into enemy territory. They were in the "ruins" of downtown Mushroom Kingdom.
"You know the mission men. We'll split up, take out any soldiers in our way, and when you see Roy, eliminate him."
"Got it." Ryu affirmed and the group went in different directions. Ryu jumped into the window of an old building. He hid behind a table and peeked out to scan the area.
Three guards in the area. I'll have to take them out quietly.
Ryu snuck up behind a guard and landed a strong chop to the enemy's neck. The guard fell down, his neck shattered. He moved to the next one and hit him with a solar plexus punch, followed by a swift kick to the chin.
He's out for the count.
Ryu saw the last man in the distance. He put his hands together, and prepped his attack. He whispered…
"Shinku…" A ball of energy formed in his hands. "HADOKEN!"
The energy burst from his hands, forming into a sphere. It blew through the last soldier's chest. After the building was cleared out, he heard some commotion. It was coming from behind a door. Ryu went for the doorknob, but the knob wouldn't budge.
Locked. Well there's always the alternative.
He tightened his fist, drew it back and punched the door down. He got inside and found Toad workers imprisoned in a cell.
"Who are you? You're not one of them are you?" One of them asked.
"No I'm not. In fact, I'm here to get you out. Get away from the door!" Ryu ordered. The Toads obeyed Ryu's command. He shot a Hadoken at the cell door and blasted it open. "Now move! Get out of here! I'll cover your escape."
The Toads made haste, following the path that was made clear for them thanks to Ryu. Ryu continued forward going up the stairs of the building until he made it to the roof. On the roof were a few more guards on patrol.
"What the hell?!"
Ryu quickly turned to see an enemy had spotted him. As the guard went for his radio Ryu quickly dashed up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his uniform. He threw the guard off the roof to eliminate him. He went back into hiding, hoping he didn't draw attention from any other guards. He stepped out of the shadows and faced a soldier, clocking him with a fierce haymaker to the head. As the man hit the floor he ruled him out to be no longer a threat. Ryu had been fighting for so long, that he had essential knew everything about his fists, and he knew how much damage his attacks did. He calculated that after that punch, the man was either dead or comatose. The last guard was standing on the edge of the roof. Ryu punished this mistake with a Hadoken that pushed him off the roof and to his death.
"Ok, this building's clear. Time to move to the next." He thought and jumped on the roof of the adjacent building.
"Contact!" Ryu heard as soon as he landed.
"Shit!" He cursed and dodged out of the way of gunfire. There was no cover on the roof, so Ryu improvised and punched a hole through the roof so he could quickly jump down to the next floor. Conveniently he landed on top of a guard, and stomped on his face to finish him. The guard from the roof had come downstairs and readied himself to attack Ryu. Ryu hit him with Joudan Sokutogeri kick, otherwise known as the mule kick. As the name implies, the kick has the force of one from said animal, sending the man flying into two of his comrades, knocking all of them down.
"Shakunetsu!" Ryu shouted and shot a flaming Hadoken at the three of them, burning them alive.
I have to keep moving.
Luigi leaped off the roof of a building and landed on a guard below. In extreme pain but not dead, Luigi finished him off with a neck breaking attack. Now he was out in the streets, lurking in the shadows. He could see the Castle in the distance. Since going through the streets was too risky, Luigi continued moving from building to building. He breached the door of the next building and immediately came into contact with an enemy. Luigi tackled him and put his hand over the man's face, covering his mouth and nose. Luigi began charging his hand up with fire and shot a fireball into the man's mouth for a kill. He snuck up on another guard and threw him against a wall, finishing him with a bullet to the head. He continued, slowly but surely, to eliminate each guard he came across. Like Ryu, he also came across a group of prisoner Toads and freed them. Eventually, Ryu and Luigi crossed paths.
"Ryu! How'd you get here?"
"I was just clearing out building by building until I got here. You?"
"I was doing the same thing. So that must mean that we've cleared this area out. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."
"What about Snake? Isn't he heading toward the Castle?"
"Shit he is! We need to get over there and back him up fast!"
As smoke went up from the barrel of Snake's gun, he lowered the weapon, all six of the soldiers guarding the Castle door were eliminated. He entered the Castle and walked into the lobby. It was dark and quiet. But then the lights came on, and Snake found himself in the middle of the room surrounded by Committee troops armed with swords.
"Hold your weapons men!" A man called out. Snake looked up the stairs and saw Roy standing behind a railing. "So you're the one that-"
"No!" Snake cut him off.
"Excuse me?!" Roy scoffed.
"No monologues. No speeches. No taunting. No talking. Just come down here and fight me!" Snake challenged the red haired swordsman. Roy smiled.
"Well isn't somebody-"
Snake pulled out his gun and shot Roy in the thigh, not wanting to hear him speak.
"Son of a bitch! Kill him!" Roy ordered, grasping his wounded leg. He began to retreat upstairs, with Snake attempting to go after him, but he was stopped by the surrounding guards. He pulled out his machete for combat, and slashed two guards that charged him. He threw a grenade to lower the numbers. Then Snake heard wicked, obnoxious laughter coming from upstairs. He looked up to see Wario, who was now plummeting towards him. He rolled out of the way of Wario's ground pound just in time.
"So what are they paying you with? Garlic?"
"Oh and more!" Wario replied with an evil grin. Now Snake found himself in a bad position, facing Wario and numerous soldiers.
Dammit! They're cornering me!
Snake fought with his machete, but was put on the defensive. When Wario got near he would manage to kick him away, but couldn't do more than that due to the onslaught of guards. Snake finally began to kill a few guards, but Wario managed to land a hard hitting punch to his head, and he was wearing spiked knuckles. Snake fell on his back and shouted from the pain, and he began to bleed from the head. Things were looking bleak, but suddenly Snake noticed something move across the room with the force of wind. He looked to see it was Ike, and he had just beheaded the guards.
"How the FUCK-"
Wario wasn't able to get anything else out as he was impaled by Ike mid-sentence.
"Gluttonous scumbag!" Ike cursed and kicked Wario's body off his sword. "C'mon Snake get up."
Snake looked up to see Ike extending his hand to him. He grabbed his hand and got back to his feet.
"What are you doing here?"
"Just making us even. Hurry we have to get to Roy!"
The two climbed up the stairs and went through the door Roy retreated through. Snake saw a trail of blood and examined it.
It's Roy's blood. From the bullet wound.
"Follow the blood trail. That'll take us to Roy."
"Wonder where the other guards are. And what about your friends?"
An explosion went off elsewhere in the room, and the bodies of several guards were hurled away from the source. Snake and Ike went to see it was Luigi and Ryu, who had just busted through.
"Snake! Ike!" Luigi said in relief.
"Good to see you two made it." Snake said.
"Well it wasn't as hard as we thought it would be." Ryu admitted.
"Ever since you guys killed Robin and Shulk, the organization has been falling apart. I don't know the specifics, but I can tell they're losing strength." Ike explained.
"We'll find out soon enough. Now follow me!" Snake ordered.
Following the blood trail, it led them to a small laboratory. Inside they found a wounded Roy arguing with a female scientist, whom Snake's group recognized.
"It's Rosalina!" Luigi said. They remained quiet and listened in on their argument.
"No! I won't let you absorb the Power Stars for yourself! They are only to be used for the benefit of the people!" She shouted.
"Foolish woman! Snake is here and he needs to be stopped! I can't fight him in this condition, I need those Stars!"
"The answer is no! I will not let you!"
"Do I need to kill a few more Luma's to convince you?"
"NO!" Rosalina begged. Finally Snake stepped in.
"So you coerce scientist as well? Shocking."
"God dammit!" Roy cursed and drew out his sword. Snake turned his attention to Rosalina.
"Excuse me miss. What were you told those Power Stars would be used for?"
"They're supposed to be used as a power source for settlements." She answered.
"And here he is planning to take away the people's energy source to power himself up." Ike laughed.
"I wouldn't have to do this if Marth hadn't double crossed me! He so scared of you that he withdrew most of my elite soldiers to go and guard him. If they were here, you four would've been dead before you could make it to the castle."
"I gave you a chance to fight me one on one when we got here. Why didn't you take it?"
"I-"
Snake drew out his pistol and fired three shots at Roy. Two to the chest, one to the head. And then the red-headed swordsman fell dead.
"I guess I'll never know." Snake said to himself and holstered his gun.
"Luigi! Ike! Ryu!" Rosalina called out, happy to see her fellow fighters again. The four took a moment to have a sweet reunion. Rosalina then took out a key and handed it to Luigi.
"Luigi, this is for a cell in the dungeon downstairs. They were keeping someone who I think you want to see there." She explained. Luigi didn't ask questions. He took the key and headed for the dungeons. Rosalina then looked to Snake.
"So you're Snake, the one I've heard so much about."
"So were they able to convince you that I'm the boogeyman?"
"The boogeyman is far less scary then what the Committee has become. Thank you for stepping up to fight them."
"Can you show me what's been going on in this lab?" Snake requested.
"Of course. Follow me."
Luigi entered the castle dungeon and searched through the cells. Finally he found the cell Rosalina mentioned, and he was speechless.
Oh my God! Is that…
"Hello? Who's there?" A brunette woman woke up and called out. Luigi quickly unlocked the cell and held the woman in his arms.
"Daisy! Daisy it's me! Luigi!"
Daisy wiped her eyes, her vision cleared up. Once it did, her face lit up with joy.
"Oh Luigi! It's really you!" She threw her arms around him. "I thought you were gone!"
"I thought the same about you! Are you all right?"
"I am now Luigi."
After years of suffering and grief, he had found her. And this time, he wasn't going to let her disappear again.
"Rosalina? Now that we've driven the Committee out of here, do you think we'll be able to distribute these Power Stars among settlements?" Snake questioned.
"I believe so, yes."
"And what about the Mushroom Kingdom? We've been thinking about the possibility of returning it into a place for people to live. Do you think we can do that?"
"Absolutely! And I'd be more than happy to head the project."
"And you'll be able to continue with your research in this lab?"
"That's right! And with any luck, we might get more people to volunteer with research to help the wasteland, and we have everything we need in this lab!" Rosalina smiled.
"Damn Snake! I don't think this could've turned out any better!" Ike said.
"I'll say!" Ryu spoke out.
"Though there is one more thing I want to show you Snake. Please follow me." Rosalina began guiding Snake.
"What's this about?"
"There was a former member of the committee that realized the group was taking a turn for the worse. When she went out of line, they put her in cyrostasis to restrain her. Now that you've eliminated their presence here, I think it's time we free her. She can be a great help to us, but I think you need to catch her up to speed."
"Okay." Snake agreed, though was skeptical about all of this. Rosalina brought up the pod and Snake's heart began to race.
Those robes! That white hair!
"What the hell! Is she Robin's twin or something?"
"No Snake, she is Robin."
"The Robin I killed was a man."
"Let me explain…"
"Yeah! Please do!"
"You know how Smash Brothers was made up of people picked from several different universes. Well the same thing applies to alternate universes. This Robin comes from a Fire Emblem universe where the one known as Robin was a female."
"So I can think of this as Robin's female counterpart?" He asked.
"Well I guess, but they are not the same people. Their personalities are different from each other."
"I figured that much, since you told me that she didn't go crazy."
"Right, right. So are you ready to speak with her?"
Snake rubbed his chin and took another look at the woman in the pod. After giving it some thought he decided.
"Okay, open her up."