The puppets attacked with great force, nearly catching the Smashers by surprise. Yoshi swatted aside the Miis with his tail, Pikachu dashed around his doppelganger, Mario and Luigi stomped on the Bowser clone's head, and Pit bashed the fake Mario with his Upperdash Arm. Diddy fired peanuts on the Rosalina and Peach puppets and Kirby battled against his crimson copy.

Pit somersaulted away from a fireball while Bowser Junior and the Piranha Plant attacked. "Hey! Leaf! A little help here?!" The female Trainer looked to the angel and her eyes went wide in alarm. Thinking fast, she took a Poké Ball out of her bag and threw it hard. "Charizard!"

The dragon Pokémon erupted from the ball and wasted no time, barreling right into the Bowser puppet. Leaf ran up to the Smashers, releasing her Squirtle and Ivysaur. She commandingly pointed at the puppets and her other two Pokémon ran into action with spouts of water and lashing vines. The Piranha Plant bit down on the Yoshi clone's tail, allowing the real Yoshi to run into it headfirst and knock it to the ground. The dinosaur followed up with a Ground Pound, squashing the fake underneath him.

Pikachu blitzed in from the side, ramming the copy of himself into a tree. The fake reacted with frighteningly-fast reflexes, swatting aside Pikachu with its tail and blasting him with a fully-charged Thunderbolt. Diddy touched down and opened fire with his popguns, forcing the fake Pikachu to scamper away with a Volt Tackle. The Mii Brawler accompanying it ran for the monkey and swung a leg at Diddy's head. He ducked- adjusting his hat in the process- and rolled underneath the Mii's legs. He jumped onto the head and pounded wildly, somersaulting off when the Mii tried to throw him off.

Pikachu took off after his fake, zapping the Eevee duplicate that tried to headbutt him. Nearby, Kirby fought both his counterpart and the female Mii Gunner, punching the Mii in the face and kicking his red copy away. Pikachu used Quick Attack to catch up to his copy, swatted it into the air with his tail, and used a powerful Thunder attack to strike it in midair.

The fake fell to the ground, struggled to stand back up… and collapsed. Diddy Kong used both popguns to shoot the Mii Brawler in the face, then tripped it with his tail. Nearby, Pit jumped in to attack the Mii Gunner, sidestepping between shots. He maneuvered behind the fake and shot an arrow right in its back. He followed this up with a quick flurry of slashes the Gunner failed to keep up with, causing it to fall to the ground. Nearby, Luigi stomped down on the Eevee fake, taking it out of the fight.

Mario and Leaf's smaller Pokémon outnumbered the golden Mii Brawler three to one. Mario stuck out a leg and tripped the sprinting silhouette to slow it down. Her Squirtle bashed it with a spinning shell strike and her Ivysaur snared its arms with its vines, hoisting the puppet to a standing position. Mario dashed in and rapidly punched at the chest, delivering a flaming uppercut to launch it into the air. A combination of fireballs, razor leaves, and water blasts later, the golden Mii crashed to the ground and didn't get back up.

Bowser Jr. drove into the duo of Mario and Peach, lobbing Mechakoopas at the latter to keep it occupied. He fired a cannonball at the Peach puppet, blowing it away in the blast. He accelerated right for the Mario puppet- who kicked away the last of the Mechakoopas- and sharply turned his Clown Car to nail the puppet in a spin move. He waved goodbye to the sailing puppet with a mischievous laugh.

All that remained now were the copies of Bowser, Rosalina, Kirby, and Yoshi. The real Kirby kicked away the Luma and pounded his copycat. The Bowser puppet thrashed around with Leaf's Charizard and pinned it to the ground. Yoshi was kicked in the nose by his copy, and Pit fired arrows at the red-and-white Rosalina puppet, who retaliated with Star Bits.

The Piranha Plant chomped down on the Bowser puppet's arm, making it snarl in annoyance. It snatched the plant by the stem and threw it into the air. The Piranha Plant spun its leaves to stabilize itself, proceeding to shoot fireballs from its mouth. The Bowser puppet blocked, rushing for the plant when it touched down. The ferocious flower sprinted out of the way, masked itself in a poisonous cloud, and called out into the forest.

"Wait, what's it doing?" Cappy asked. Bowser Jr. took notice of the lone plant and his eyes lit up. Just as he started to speak, the ground rumbled with strong, approaching footsteps.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you guys. Whenever this Piranha Plant feels outmatched and in trouble, it can-"

He didn't even get the chance to finish before something big in size and big in mouth burst through the foliage. It closed its jaws around the surprised Bowser puppet, shook it viciously, and threw it into a tree. It stood to its full height in front of the remaining puppets…

...and Petey Piranha roared.

The Kirby puppet was blown away from the sudden wind and the rest had to throw up their arms. The Yoshi puppet chucked an egg at Petey… but the big plant monster chomped on it like a snack. The Rosalina puppet used her wand to pick up wandering Bob-ombs and threw them at Petey. He only inhaled, swallowing the explosives into his mouth. He spat them back out like a cannon, making them explode when they hit the ground. The Yoshi puppet was knocked off its feet and the Rosalina clone was sent flying.

"P-P-P-Petey Piranha?!" Cappy stammered. "The last time we saw him, he was working for the Subspace Army! He held Peach and Zelda hostage!" Kirby nodded to the stunned Mario. "You're saying this Piranha Plant can call him in at will?!"

"That's right!" Bowser Jr. answered, pounding at the Kirby puppet with the Clown Car's boxing gloves. An uppercut sent it to an airborne Pit and Diddy, who fired arrows and peanuts at it. The Kirby fell down to Leaf and her Pokémon, defeated.

Petey smacked the Yoshi puppet aside with a leaf and spat some mud at it, trapping it in place. The real Yoshi dashed in to finish the job. From behind Petey, a weakened groan caught his attention.

Petey turned to the woozy Bowser puppet and blasted a jet of flame at it. The Piranha Plant chased after the Rosalina puppet and bit at it multiple times. With a series of pot swings, bites, and headbutts, it finished off the fake. Petey chomped down on the Bowser puppet again and smashed it to the ground. With another fire blast, the last of the copies were finished off.

"Uh… did you guys just see what I just saw?"

"Yeah, but I wish I didn't."

Everyone looked to the bridge, where Jigglypuff, the Ice Climbers, Squirtle, and Ivysaur had returned. Red and his Charizard, Bowser, Fox, Samus, Mega Man, and Ryu all had their eyes on the scene.

Red blinked in disbelief. "I… I thought we got all of Galeem and Dharkon's soldiers," he whispered. "Are there more of them than we thought? Or did we miss some?"

"Probably the second one," Bowser answered. "But on the bright side, looks like my newest Piranha Plant minion was a success! Well done, Junior!"

"Aw, it was nothing, Papa. As for the rest of you, we're gonna have to catch you up."

"Sentient and mobile plant aside, this is an ill omen to us," Samus changed the subject. "It appears that several puppet fighters are still active. They're probably mobilizing against us right now."

"These ones that you encountered were probably a reconnaissance team," Ryu guessed. "But now that they're out of the question, we're sure to have the attention of the rest."

"This only raises more questions," said Mega Man. "Where are they coming from? Galeem and Dharkon aren't here to lead them, so who or what is? And where did they get the new spirits to inhabit them?"

"I'm calling everyone to the base, effective immediately," Fox reported. "We'll figure out a plan from there. We need to find out if they're in any of the nearby areas or elsewhere on the planet."

"Bring both of the plants with you, too!" Bowser spoke. His words caused a doubtful Fox to look at him. "Are you sure about that?"

"Well, Petey can stay outside. But this Piranha Plant is something special my minions cooked up. Sure, it's a little rowdy, but with a little obedience training, it'll be good to go!"

"Alright, then. Let's move, guys! Double time!" Fox turned and ran out of the area with everyone else following him.

…

"What's the status of the recon team?"

"We haven't heard from them since they went out into Galeem's World of Light. They're presumed eliminated."

"Then perhaps the Smash Brothers are there… send one of the Meta Knights for aerial surveillance. Tell it that it is not to be detected."

"At once!" the Captain Falcon puppet turned and ran out of the room. While it ran, it failed to notice someone lurking in the shadows. A pair of eyes behind a mask narrowed, taking off into the dark.

The figure moved silently, creeping through hallways and evading patrolling puppets. It slipped past a Ridley clone, who sniffed the air. It moved around an Inkling clone checking its weapon. And from another hiding spot, it found what it was after.

Two puppets, one of Pikachu and another of a big Incineroar. The shadowed figure tucked close to the corner as the puppets approached, waiting for the right moment to strike.

And in his grip was the silver glint of a knife and a pistol.