~Chapter Four: Face My Fears~

"Master Hand is missing."

It was a simple sentence but the weight behind it was crushing. Mario, out of breath from running from the office to the living room, eyed the Smashers he'd just made the announcement to. Samus immediately stood, frowning.

"What about Crazy?"

"I couldn't find him either." Mario lowered his eyes to the ground. "I-I don't have a good feeling about this. The last time Master Hand went missing was when Tabuu attacked us. Crazy Hand stayed here but since he's missing too..."

"Yeah, it seems like bad news," Samus pressed a button on her bracelet and her Varia Suit materialized around her. She turned to Terry and Steve who sat on the couch looking at the two veteran Smashers blankly. "Get used to shit like this, happens all the time." she turned to Mario. "Make an announcement over the loudspeaker, we need everyone together right now. See if you can find any clues anywhere."

"Of course." Mario immediately turned and headed back to Master Hand's office, informing any Smashers he saw along to way to meet outside the mansion. No time to explain right now - he'd do that in due time.

Master Hand's office was always extravagant but Mario had no time to admire it right now. He made his way to the loudspeaker to make his rushed announcement, though kept the wording gentle in order not to potentially worry anyone. This could be nothing after all. Hopefully...

After the announcement Mario took the opportunity to search around Master Hands office for any clues like Samus had said. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary - everything was in its precise spot and nothing looked like it had been disturbed. It wasn't until he looked at the window that he spied something on the outside of the windowsill. He carefully unlatched the window and gently picked up the single black feather that made his stomach twist in unease.

/~/

Mario studied the feather closely and the group continued through the World of Light. Could it have been from a bird Pokémon, a Murkrow perhaps? Yes, that had to have been it, there was no other explanation for a random black feather on Master Hand's windowsill. Still, that uneasy feeling remained in the back of his mind as Pac-Man came back from his victorious fight having saved Mega Man from the clutches of Galeem.

"Mario!" Mega Man exclaimed happily, rushing towards his friend to hug him. Mario returned the embrace, happy that someone else had been saved from the hell they were trapped in. Mega Man looked around at the small group, frowning. "Sonic's... not here?"

And that familiar pang hit Mario's heart as he shook his head; he along with so many others were still unaccounted for and while he didn't know who Samus' group had found he highly doubted Sonic was among them. He just... had a feeling.

The feeling turned out to be correct as while Mario was thrilled to see Samus' group had been successful in finding some of their brethren Sonic was not among them. His connection with Luigi was still cut off so he knew his brother was still trapped somewhere, but he was relieved to see the familiar faces of Peach and Bowser come into view. That relief was short lived however as he could see the sadness in Peach's eyes not seeing Rosalina in his group and the anger in Bowser's over not being reunited with his son.

"We've scoured the entire area," Marth quietly remarked. Next to him, Pit hung his head. Palutena and Dark Pit were nowhere to be seen.

Shulk suddenly grasped at his head, letting out a small cry of discomfort. Samus placed a hand on his shoulder as he opened his eyes, glowing bright blue.

"A vision..." Samus mumbled, helping Shulk back to his feet. "What did you see?"

"Another dimension," Shulk winced, steadying himself before continuing. "Somewhere where darkness rules over light, that's where our missing friends are. We need to fight Galeem."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the Smashers, as the last time they'd tried to do that...

"We have no choice," Mario spoke up. "We can't leave our friends and family trapped in another dimension, they're waiting for us to save them. We can't let them down. Between us we've taken on so many dangerous threats. We can do this."

"Y-Yeah," Pit was the first one to speak. "For Lady Palutena and all of Skyworld, I won't fail!" Above him, Viridi's spirit bobbed up and down in agreement. They might be on opposing forces but they needed each other to save their respective goddess and angel.

After a moments pause the other Smashers began to rally, reaffirming the promises they'd made to their lost brethren and friends in their world. Mario took a moment to let his gaze fall on each of them, hope swelling in his chest.

"Let's a-go!"

/~/

There was a light trying to reach them, they could feel it growing brighter and brighter. Still though, it wasn't enough. The darkness that plagued them was too strong, constricting tighter and tighter and snuffing out the light.

"M.. .ou. . .e yo.. gu...ng ..y..."

Someone was trying to speak to them. They couldn't make out the whole thing though, it was muffled. The other presences they felt around them were reacting to the voice too it seemed as there was a small shift in the tone.

"Lig.. .ver..mes dar...ss"

And suddenly the light pierced through the thick veil briefly before being consumed again, but that one moment was enough for him to remember his name, his memories, his final moments reaching for Pikachu...

...Enough that when the light faded again along with the brief moment of clarity they grasped to the hope they'd felt during that moment.

Review Replies

SilverXephon:We'll see more of her eventually, I have plans for her character. Thank you for the review!

Derick Lindsey:Thank you for pointing out my error there, it's fixed! And yeah, looking at the Smash roster the Animal Crossing cast would probably be the most impacted by the world literally ending because there's no danger in AC. I wanted to put some focus on that. Thank you for the review!

TGN:Imma level here, I didn't even bother playing through World of Light again. I searched up a map of where the characters were and made it up from there. I agree with it being very tedious and not something I wanted to go through again. Thank you for the review!

AN: ...Hi.

A certain someone was added to Smash and kind of changed the trajectory of the story.

So... yeah. That's why this took forever.

But on a brighter note, happy 2022 everyone!

~Steel