"Impossible..." the bruiser whispered to himself at seeing Mario right in front of him.
He was given no time to react as a blazing fist punched him square in the face. The punch knocked the Fighter straight into another hut. Mario brushed off his hands and gave a nod to Seth, who was too busy being starstruck.
"Yo- you... you're," Seth stuttered as he was standing in front of the one and only Jumpman.
"Mario-a Mario," the plumber introduced himself.
A groan followed by a snarl brought the two characters back to the task at hand.
"I thought we had seen the last of you when she sealed all of you away in those medals and made those better copies!" the Fighter sneered as he picked himself up.
Mario just sharpened his glare and only responded to Seth, "Look in the vase. I'll handle Fighter here."
Seth instantly reached into the intact vase and felt two medals -as that is what Fighter called them- before grabbing them and looking at them. He saw that one was a light blue with the Triforce icon on it and the other one with a pink hue with a Warp Star logo on this one.
"Throw them as well!" Mario said and Seth did so again. Two blinding lights occurred before revealing the bearer of the Triforce of Courage and Hero of Popstar.
"Hyah!"
"Poyo!"
Both heroes eyed Fighter, glaring at the bruiser. The red garbed individual just whistled and its two allies appeared, looking surprised at the sight of three Smashers.
"How?!" the Mage responded.
"After being cramped in that medal for so long, it feels good to move!" Link said before pulling out a Shock Arrow and let it loose at the Rogue. The thief archetype weaved at of the way and pulled out his dagger before going to stab the Hero of the Wilds. Link immediately brought out his Hylian Shield and deflected before spinning his sword and sent the Rogue flying away. Link rushed after him to make sure he stands down.
"Matters not," the Fighter said, pounding their fist together. When he did, a slight aura erupted before he flung an orb of chakra at Mario. Kirby Inhaled the orb and gained his Fighter Copy Ability. While the pink Star Warrior didn't say much, he too was peeved for being locked up in a medal too. The pink marshmallow charged his own Force Blast and hurled it but the Mage conjured a spell that rendered the attack futile.
"We are still taking you down," the magic archetype said before glaring at the four, "Along with him." The robed individual slammed his staff into the ground, sending a makeshift Stoneja that erupted at the two non-occupied heroes. Mario leapt into the air before coming down with his own stomp onto Fighter's head. Ticked off, the bruiser ran after Jumpman who took off on his own.
The Mage himself casted a variety of spells that Kirby dodged. The pink marshmallow dashed in and used Rising Break that scored a hit on the magic archetype. Propelling upward, Kirby landed a Sky Kick on the Mage.
Mario combatted the Fighter with fiery fists, scoring hit after hit, and landed a Super Jump Punch. Coin collecting was music to Jumpman's ears as the Fighter went 'plop' on the ground.
The Rogue came back, but clearly was losing the fight and got shocked with Urbosa's Fury and the Mage was hit with a Force Blast to the chest. The two archetypes joined their ally on the ground, each giving glares to their assailants.
"Might as well give it up," Mario said, meeting the glare of the Fighter. The bruiser then gained a grin before responding, "Nah. We got three more friends that would like to say hi."
Mario, Link, and Kirby felt their senses go rigid and jumped back from a Bomb Arrow. They landed before looking in the direction of the archer who fired...
And felt their blood run cold.
The archer was none other than a False Link, created from Shadow Bugs. Joining him were a False Mario and Kirby, all three of their yellow glowing eyes.
"How?!" Mario placed his hand over his chest, unable to comprehend how the Shadow Bugs were replicated.
"You can thank Her for that," the Rogue said as Mage casted a group party Cura. The healing energy rejuvenated the three archetypes while Fighter gloated to them, "Since you are deemed mighty warriors, she thought it was fitting to have copies of the best fighters."
Mage pointed his staff at the three Smashers, "Take 'em."
The three False fighters vanished and attacked their originals. Mario blocked the False version of him, Link clashed his Master Sword with the False, and Kirby matched a Vulcan Jab with his own False.
Now that the fighters are distracted, the archetypes turned their attention to the real threat: Seth.
The teenager had been watching the fight from afar after summoning the three heroes and was rooting for them. But then the False appeared and now that they were distracted he felt he was going to regret sticking around.
Seth gulped at the glares the archetypes were sending him and immediately backed up as the Fighter rushed him.
The Mage slammed his staff into the ground, causing various rock formations to appear and block the human's escape path. Seth did his best to avoid them and eventually one erupted right in front of him. Still rising, Seth planned to jump and scale the erupting spire. The African American jumped…
And found himself at an amazing height, successfully leaping over the spire. Hitting the ground, he continued his run, mentally questioning how he was able to jump that high. The Fighter punched through any spires that were in his way and did a triple backflip into a Diving Kick.
Seth reacted by leaning backwards, making the kick miss but the bruiser went for a roundhouse. The human blocked it with his elbow before landing a solid punch. The impact actually sent the Fighter into a damaged hut. Once again, Seth wondered how he was able to do that.
The Rogue appeared from a Vanish on the roof and narrowed his eyes. The human was beginning to discover what he could do. She would not be pleased with this development. With his knife in his hand, the thief archetype planned to cut the human down.
Seth felt his instincts go up and narrowly dodged a knife slash before getting some distance. This led to him jumping at extreme heights again before crashing down and landing on his feet, surprisingly not breaking them.
He also conveniently landed near the backpack and saw the Switch. With haste, Seth pulled the device in hope it would do something.
"Really wish I had a weapon right now!" He yelled at the device…
And that's when it glowed.
Taking a step back, Seth absentmindedly unhooked the two Joycons, dropping the Switch. The Joycons themselves began to change, the red into a longer object while the blue grew wider. The Switch itself continued to glow brightly before the light died down followed by the Joycons.
After opening his eyes, Seth soon saw that he was now wielding two items where the Joycons used to be.
The Master Sword in his right with the Hylian Shield in the left. Seth looked down to see the Switch and also changed into a Sheikah Slate.
Seth was lost for words before musing to himself, "I did ask for a weapon…"
"And I asked for a dead human," the Rogue appeared with Vanish before planning to slice again.
Seth, with no time at all, brought up the Hylian Shield, successfully blocking the knife strike. While he was glad the shield had saved him, Seth wasn't much of a swordsman. But then he remembered what the Sheikah Slate is capable of.
Swinging the Master Sword, Seth managed to repel the Rogue before grabbing the slate and saw the options. The thief archetype saw red and went to stab but soon flashed yellow as Seth activated the Stasis function. Slightly grinning, Seth exited as the Rogue was utterly peeved at being frozen.
Back with the Smashers, they were holding up well with their Falses. Mario managed to clobber his False with the help of his hammer, Kirby used Burning Dash which knocked the False away and Link disarmed his False's Master Sword with his own.
"Whew!" Mario panted after walloping the False into submission, "Those are tougher than I remember."
"Yeah," Link said, sweating as Kirby relaxed briefly.
"Now," Mario brought the two other fighters' attention, "We need-a to help-a him out." Both nodded but then saw Seth run out of the hut he was in with his newly-acquired weapons.
Link, for one, looked at his Master Sword and Hylian Shield before looking at Seth's. The hero of Hyrule secretly wondered how the human was able to replicate both his sword and shield.
"... We can question-a that later…" Mario said as the Fighter appeared and launched several chakra orbs at Seth.
The lightskin saw them coming and went for broke as he swung his Master Sword. His swordplay was clearly in need of work but he managed to cut through a few orbs.
The Mage reappeared and fired several bolts of Thundaga. Seth leaped away, but with his new upgraded jumping ability he accidentally collided with a rundown hut.
Seth groaned while the Rogue appeared and threw several daggers at the downed human. Scrambling and quickly, Seth managed to activate the Magnesis rune, catching the four daggers thrown and sending them back. With Vanish, the Rogue appeared beside the Mage and Fighter, who were glaring.
The Mage saw the Falses dissolving and the human was slowly discovering his abilities, not to mention how the Smashers have been free from their medals. Being the analytical one of the party, the magic archetype made the verdict, "We should leave."
Both of his allies looked back and hardened their gaze. "Are you suggesting we run?!" The Fighter yelled.
The Mage merely put his wand in front, "A tactical retreat. He has yet to discover and the fighters are all scattered. She has many loyal followers. This is just a small loss."
The Rogue and Fighter looked at their magical ally before spitefully agreeing. They hated to lose.
"Know this," the Mage directed towards Seth, "You may have won this. But this is far from over. Have fun finding all your little friends because you won't last. We are everywhere. And you cannot stop Her reign. That goes to you too, heroes."
The Mage used Retreat, warping him and his allies away from the fight. The heroes relaxed their guard and Seth quickly got up.
"Okay, so I'm alive, wielding the Master Sword, Hylian Shield, Sheikah Slate, standing beside Mario, Link, Kirby, and three people are trying to kill me for something," Seth repeated quickly as the three heroes approached him. "Did I miss anything?"
Mario and Link shook their heads as Kirby was looking at the damage. "Good. Now… Can someone explain to me what in the name of God is going on?!"
The Italian was about to reply but then began to flicker quickly. Mario instantly reverted to his medal. Link and Kirby looked in shock as Seth just face-palmed.
"And now, Super Mario is a medal again… Great!" he exasperated. He picked it up before a small holographic version of the Mushroom Kingdom's hero appeared. "Gah!"
"Apologizes-a. We didn't know about the function to turn back into our medals. It seems we are on a limited time."
"So, what about us?" Link pointed out as he and the pink Star Warrior were still breathing.
Seth put it together, "I guess since I sent you two out later, both of you will revert probably…" the two heroes turned into their medals, "... Now."
He picked them up and their holographic personas appeared, "Can either of you guys tell me what's going on?"
Mario and Link shared a glance while Kirby floated up onto Seth's shoulder and sat down idly.
"Well, it's kinda hard to explain," Link said, "But what surprises me is how you had my Master Sword."
"Still don't understand that myself," Seth asked before the weapons reverted back to Joycons. "All I asked was for a weapon to my Switch and then I got them. Maybe they have a connection?"
Link shrugged, "I guess so. It's a working theory."
Seth began to think so more, "Come to think of it, I felt myself jump higher and had more force into my punches… almost if I was mimicking that fighter guy."
"You did?" Mario asked with interest.
"Yeah…" Seth weirdly remembered. As if he got some sort of boost in his natural abilities.
Mario and Link went into thinking positions before the former spoke, "How about we-a discuss this around a campfire? The sun is setting and we should make camp."
Seth saw the change in scenery and decided to do so. He packed his stuff and made a makeshift camp. The holographic fighters were there, the two human ones looking at Seth with interested as Kirby had taken this time to nap.
"So…" Seth gestured for the three Smashers to hopefully explain how he got here, "You know what's going on here or?"
Mario began with a cryptic question, "Have you-a heard of the character… Smashus?"