Author's Note: Well, I managed to get another chapter out before May ended so that's good. A thing I should tell you guys is that I am going to be graduating from high school in a couple of weeks. Then it'll be summer before college in September. Does that mean the next chapter will come out sooner? I'm not sure. I 'll be interning over the summer so I'm not sure how it'll affect uploads. We'll just have to see.

Review Responses:

Elysium: Yes, this has returned. Also, I am really sorry that I forgot to respond to your review for Chapter 20. I guess I missed it while doing last chapter's responses. So, about Dharkon not being referred to as the Lord of Darkness in-game, I actually didn't realize it so I guess it will just be canon for this fic that this will be his title. I just feel like Embodiment of Chaos and Darkness is overkill.

Defender31415: Thanks! Glad to hear you liked the ending! I was watching the Game Awards where they teased Joker and I immediately knew that I wanted to do that for an Author's Theater!

Chapter 22: Flower Power

"I say we kill them."

"Markus, really? We can't just kill people because they inconvenience you." Master Hand walked next to Markus. His clothes had changed, making him look more medieval. I guess he was trying to blend since it looked like we were in a medieval marketplace.

"The toll to enter was 3 gold M.H. I saw the people who entered before us only give them one gold. Those guards clearly hiked the price on us because we're foreigners." Markus complained. He wore another cloak with his face obscured. However, this cloak was a forest green.

"Doesn't mean we can kill them."

"At least let me maim them."

"Do I need to send you to yoga again?" Master Hand questioned.

"I'll be honest, the yoga instructor was pretty attractive. You sending me there would more likely be a positive in my book." Markus admitted. "Anyway, why are we here again? You were vague on the details."

"Simple. There's an auction. We are here to scope it out before the auction begins tonight."

"Great," Markus sighed. "What? Are we after another artifact of great power that's gonna be another sham? I'm tired of all these so-called world ending magic artifacts that do less than a Magikarp. At least Magikarps can be raised for jumping contests."

"No, we're not after items this time." Master Hand stopped and waved Markus into an alleyway. Following quickly, I caught up as the two stopped at the end of the alleyway, staring at two guys from around the corner.

Both of them were ripped with muscle and stood about 6 feet tall each. They looked like twins, with bald heads, identical eyebrows and giant axes at their sides.

"I'm guessing those are guards," Markus whispered, gesturing to the cellar door that was between the two. "What next?"

"Knock them out. 10 minutes."

"You got it." Markus held out his right hand, staring at it. Dark energy began to seep out of his hand, turning a toxic shade of purple, almost black. The energy thickened, sticking to his hand but also seeming to want to drip off, as if he stuck his hand into liquid soap.

Hiding his hand behind his back, Markus approached the two casually, humming a pleasant tune. He gave a cheerful wave, "Hello! How are you two fine fellows on a day like this doing?"

Bald guard guy #1 pointed his axe at the approaching cloaked man. "Don't come any closer."

"Oh come on. Why-" Markus cut himself off, bursting into smoke and reforming in front of the guard. He gave a quick jab with his right to the guard's neck, moving to the next one and repeating the blow. After a moment, both guards dropped like bricks.

Shaking his hand, the energy dissipated from Markus's hand and he waved Master Hand over.

"You're sure they're only knocked out, right?" Master Hand gave a grudge a light nudge, eliciting a groan.

"I am just shocked by your lack of faith in me."

"Can you blame me? I've seen you kill a man twice your size with that move."

Markus answered with a shrug, before throwing the cellar door open and peered into the darkness within. "Got a light?"

Master Hand responded with a snap, creating a ball of light that floated just above his hand. "Ready?"

They jumped in. I followed as fast as I could in my ghost body.

"Ow." I woke up, with my head in pain. Instinctively, I tried to feel my head. "Huh?"

I couldn't move my heads. I cracked my eyes open to a campfire. As well as being tied to a tree. My arms were tied behind me. I wiggled to see if the ropes had any slack. Nope.

"I see you're up." It was Gun Nut. He sat on the opposite side of the fire, twirling his knife absentmindedly. "Mind telling me your name?"

"So you just attack a guy without knowing his name? At least buy the guy some dinner first." I replied. "Why does telling you my name matter?"

"We're trying to figure out what Galeem wants with you. It would be nice to know your name instead of calling you, "that guy"." Gun Nut threw some wood on the fire, before continuing. "My codename is Joker by the way."

"Codename? What, are you a secret agent?" I fidgeted, trying to scratch an itch.

"No, I'm a phantom thief. We already checked you for weapons so don't bother trying to escape."

"Who the fudgepops do you mean by we?" I tried to do a death glare, then winced as my head throbbed again.

"Stop making conversation with him! He's the bad guy!" Oblivion screamed, making my head hurt worse.

"Shut up Oblivion."

"You could leave anytime you want! Smoke dash, remember?"

"Oh yeah." I smoke dashed, passing through the ropes and in front of Joker. He flipped back, leveling his gun to my face.

"Last time we fought, I beat you and you still want to fight."

I shrugged, "To be honest, I kinda want to scratch an itch on my back. And you tied me to a tree."

I smoke dashed to get closer, giving Joker a kick to the gut. He hit the ground and rolled to his feet, firing several shots in the process.

I shielded against the bullets. Jumping out of shield, I aimed a kick at Joker's head as I fell. He threw his hand out, and a wire shot from his hand

It hooked onto me and Joker yanked on it, pulling me towards him. He slammed me to the ground and kicked me away.

My hand hit a familiar object as I fell. Gripping the shaft, I swung Death's Scythe at Joker. He jumped over, kicking me in the face as he landed. Rolling back, I swapped the scythe for the Steel Diver.

"Haven't used this in forever." I fired a torpedo at Joker. The thief put his hand to his mask and blue flames covered him. The torpedo blew up against the flames, dealing no damage.

He undid the move, staring at me, "Did you just pull that out of thin air?"

"It's called inventory my dear Joker." I took aim and fired again as Joker did the same move.

After the blue flames dispersed, Joker took off his mask and shouted, "Persona! Come, Arsene!"

The mask disappeared into blue flames and a figure appeared behind Joker. Demon-like, the figure had black wings, a red suit, a top hat, chains and loomed several inches off the ground.

I stepped back from the figure's sudden appearance, "Is that a demon?"

Joker gave a smirk, "Maybe."

He dashed forward, the demon following. I switched items to Death's Scythe. I swung and Joker gave a kick at the same time. Our attacks cancelled each out. But I forgot about Mr. Demon. He mimicked Joker's attack perfectly, with his kick landing and launching me away.

I slammed into a tree. Reorienting myself, I tried to block a knife swing. Like the kick, the demon followed Joker's movements, throwing out it's own swing.

The swing landed and my back slammed into the tree, prompting protests from the wood. Joker did another kick that Mr. Demon followed. Both of the kick landed a solid hit on my chest. The tree behind me groaned, and then broke as I was launched through the tree.

"I say we kill them."

"Markus, calm-"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Markus turned to Master Hand, fury written across his face. "Why shouldn't I burn this entire place to the ground!"

I heard whimpering as Markus shouted. Looking around the cellar we were in, I found the source. The cellar looked like a jail, with cells lining the walls. Inside, people were chained to the walls. But people wasn't completely accurate.

I saw Toads, Pokemon, little blobs that looked like Kirby but were orange and tan, people that had blue crystals in their chest and all varieties of shapes and sizes.

"The auction you mentioned deals in slaves," Markus shouted, "People from other worlds and held here against their will to do labor and other things. And you're telling me that we can't free them?"

"Because it's more complicated than that," Master Hand began, trying to placate Markus, who cut him off again.

"Then uncomplicate it M.H."

Master Hand sighed. There was a table in the middle of the room and he pulled out a chair to sit in. "Do you remember the Hydra?"

Markus scowled and sat across from Master Hand, "Yeah. Kept regenerating it's heads and almost took my arm. Why?"

"This entire slave operation is like a hyrda. If we stop the slavers here, the people who supply the slaves are just gonna pay someone else to sell them. Cutting a head off here is going to be pointless in the long run."

"So, you just want to leave these people to whatever fate they'll have as slaves. Because you don't want to mess the chance of finding the mastermind of the slave operation," Markus said through gritted teeth. He seemed to have calmed a little, staring at the table.

"Yes and no." Markus's head shot up at Master Hand's words. He elaborated further. "The purpose of this was to verify if these people were in fact from other worlds. We have verified that. Now, we wait for the auction. We break them out then. Or rather, you and Crazy will."

"Us? Why?"

"Because I will pose as someone who is looking to get into the business. I'll use this opportunity to get into the mastermind's hood graces by providing slaves who, are in actually spies. We kill the operation this way." Master Hand gave a small smile. "Besides, I'm sure you're itching to fight."

"As long as you don't mess up." Markus rose and moved to exit. "C'mon. The poison is going to wear off on the guards."

I woke up again. Again, I was tied to a tree. "Corn cobs, my head hurts."

"Joker did send you through a tree after all."

I turned to the source of the voice. A girl. Probably a teenager. A head shorter than me with brown hair, that ran down to her shoulder blades. She wore a gray bodysuit with an orange-yellow jacket over it. On her right arm, she had a gunmetal arm cannon, that glowed with a neon blue light. "Oh, so you're the we Joker mentioned."

She had a panel open in the arm cannon and was sticking a screwdriver inside. After a few twists, she shut panel and walked over to me. "Why does Galeem care so much about you?"

"Excuse me?"

Cannon Girl scowled, "I am asking why Galeem, a god in all rights, wants us, Joker and I, to capture you, some guy who got his ass handed to him, and quite easily I might add."

"Did Galeem mention anyone else?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Does it matter?"

I decided to switch the subject, "Y'know where is Joker? I don't see him anywhere."

"Answer my question."

"Why? Does the answer really matter that much?"

"That's for me to decide. So, what's the answer?" She crossed her arms. "I'm just asking if you have any allies. Galeem didn't ask us to grab them so we won't go after them."

"Well, why are you doing what Galeem says?"

"Answer my question first."

I sighed, "Yes. I have no idea where they are though."

Her mouth twitched, "We're doing what he says because he can send us home. That's all there is to it."

"That sorta sounded like what Clarence said."

"Lemme guess, you heard a voice calling itself Master Hand in a dream. Master Hand asked for help and you accepted."

Her eyes widened, "How did you know that?"

"I have my sources," I said, with some pride in my voice. "Untie me so we could negotiate this like civilized people."

She shook her head. "Nope. Galeem still wants you for some reason. Until I find out that reason, you're not going anyway."

"Look, one of my friends, she can explain what's going on." I fidgeted a bit as my leg began to cramp. "Master Hand is her brother and Galeem is someone you do not want to work for."

"How exactly is he not someone I want to work for?"

"Well, he already killed more than several dozen people and he wants to throw all of the worlds together into a pot and make a world stew."

"One: I have also killed several dozen people. Two: I have worked for people in the past who has done more than that. Three: If Galeem can do what you say, why would I not want to be on the winning side?" She gave a smirk. "That's just how the world works. The strong are at the top and thrive while the weak die. Working for the strong increases my odds of living."

Opening my mouth to respond, I instead shut it as I heard someone crashing through the trees. The girl turned to the source of the noise, leaving her back wide open. I smoke dashed again, giving her back a solid kick, "You would think that you would find some kind of counter to that, y'know?"

She responded by pointing the arm cannon at me and firing a green laser. I ducked out of the way and ran to the source of the noise. The girl didn't seem to be expecting the commotion so it could be someone I know.

Sadly, no.

I almost ran into Joker. "Shiitake mushrooms!" I shouted, trying to stop my momentum.

"You!" Joker helped to stop the collision by jumping over me.

"Yes, it's me. Good to see that you don't have your demon friend with you." My eyes flicked over to the girl before back to Joker. She was coming up next to him. So they're on a team? That makes it 2-on-1.

"I'm here! It should be 2-on-2!"

"Oblivion, you're a voice. You don't count," I muttered. My chances weren't too good. Worst yet, I forgot to grab my scythe before running so it was still at their camp.

"Joker, what was that noise all about?" The girl hissed in a whisper that I barely heard.

Joker muttered something back that I didn't catch. Thankfully, I didn't need to.

I heard that clatter of a pot run up beside me and a familiar teethed plant jumped in front of me. Piranha Plant stretched its neck out from the pot, reaching impossibly far and trying to take a bite out of the duo standing before us.

"Piranha Plant?" The plant turned to me, vigorously nodding its head. "Y'know what?" I said. "I'll just ask how you're here later."

Piranha Plant joined your party!

I pulled out the Steel Diver and fired a torpedo each at Joker and Cannon Girl. The torpedoes landed on their targets, blowing the two away.

Joker recovered by grabbing a tree while in midair, using that to swing back to the ground. Cannon Girl was thrown into some bushes, taking a moment to pull herself back up. She fired another laser at us.

I moved behind a tree while Piranha Plant ducked. Peeking out, I fired several more torpedoes while Piranha Plant charged at Joker. They began to exchange blows while Cannon Girl and I started taking potshots at each other.

I jumped to another tree, firing a torpedo at the same time she fired another laser. The projectiles collided in an explosion. I crouched, firing a torpedo at ankle height towards her.

My enemy ducked behind a tree. Taking aim, I let out a barrage of torpedoes into the tree, making the wood crack with each shot.

Just before the tree broke apart completely, Cannon Girl stepped out from behind and fired a giant green energy shot. I tried to cancel the shot with a torpedo but the blast did nothing. The energy ball collided with me and threw me to the ground.

I got to my feet, the area around me lit up in a rainbow light. My Final Smash was ready.

Several chomps of teeth got my attention. Piranha Plant was barely dodging Joker's knife. Once it saw me looking, it gestured to the air above.

"I don't speak plant!"

Piranha Plant knocked Joker away using the pot. Chewing a bit, Piranha Plant tilted its head up and spat out a spike ball, keeping it aloft by blowing on it.

"I think I got it." I fired a torpedo at the spike ball, with the resulting explosion shooting the ball into Joker. Joker was knocked into Cannon Girl from the blow. "Let's start! Super Shooting: Shark Subs!"

Firing into the ground again, the torpedoes raced towards the two. Timing the projectiles, I snapped, just in time for a shark to burst from the ground and chomp into Joker and Cannon Girl. The shark exploded, blasting the two away.

"Hi five!" I held a hand up which Piranha Plant smacked with a leaf. Then a light caught my eye. "Oh donuts."

Slowly, Cannon Girl rose from the ground, glowing a rainbow aura. Her Final Smash was ready.

Two drones flew out out from behind her and began to orbit around her cannon. The rainbow aura began to condense itself around her cannon, which she aimed at us.

"Full Blast." She muttered, firing a massive green beam of energy from her cannon. Each of the drones fired an orange beam, with all three aimed at Piranha Plant and I.

The plant jumped away while I ran to the side. The beams carved a path through the forest, cutting down trees and bushes while slowly drifting towards me. "Great. So I'm the one she goes for."

The beams were slowly catching up to me. The sounds of falling trees grew closer. I jumped into the air, then jumped again to outpace the beam. I began to fall and the beams began to move upward towards me. Taking a deep breath as I fell, I smoke dashed midair, changing my momentum towards Piranha Plant.

I crashed into the ground next to the plant. Picking my face up, I saw that Cannon Girl fell to her knees, exhausted from the Final Smash.

"We could finish them off now," Oblivion said.

I turned to Piranha Plant. I didn't notice it earlier, but the plant seemed wiped of energy and was covered in scratches. It might have been fighting Joker before it found me which explains why there were so many.

"No," I said. "I don't think we can fight any more than those two can. Let's head back to the Dojo."

I tapped the plant and pointed away from Cannon Girl and Joker. Piranha Plant nodded and we took off, leaving the decimated forest behind.

Save File 2: Saved

Party: Nathaniel, Oblivion(?), Piranha Plant

Items: Nathaniel- Steel Diver, Fire Flower, Special Flag

Piranha Plant- None

Smashers: Mario, Link, Kirby, Fox, Pikachu, Captain Falcon, Peach, Bowser, Pichu, Lucario, Villager

Author's Note:

Yeah, sorry. No Author's Theater today. Instead, I got a question to ask you guys. If you already noticed, I didn't give the new character's name. I just called her Cannon Girl which seems kinda mean in hindsight. So, the question is just what should I name her? I'm just asking for suggestions so I might just give her a name I thought of on my own. This kinda sums it up, see you guys next chapter!