Prologue
When the King Koopa Bowser came to, he wasn't expecting to be anywhere but his own castle. Instead he found himself in a black void alongside five other beings, none of whom were faces he recognized.
One was a robust but tall human with an egg shape to his body alongside remarkably long legs. He had a bald head and a multi pointed mustache alongside a long nose. He wore blue tinted glasses over his eyes, a pair of goggles atop his head, a red jacket with white lining, a popped collar and yellow cuffs. He also wore black pants and shoes with silver lining and dark gray soles on the shoes.
The next was a tall, muscular man with brownish-green skin and flaming red hair. He wore brown armor over a black bodysuit. Over this he wore black-and-silver pauldrons and a flowy red cape with golden highlight designs and tassels at the end. Placed upon his head and stretching across his forehead was a silver circlet with five orange gems.
Next was a rotund, blue penguin-person in a regal red coat with white fur trim over robes with a red-and-yellow sash with a triangle design along its length. It also wore a stocking hat with a golden trim like a crown as well as orange mittens. In its hands it wielded a large wooden hammer with metal ends and a yellow star against a pink background on its faces.
Finally was a short but muscular anthropomorphic wolf with gray fire and a white mane. One eye was scarred and covered with an eyepatch, while his free eye sported a blood red color. Some fur atop his head was slightly spiked up like a mohawk. He wore a black bodysuit under dark gray leggings, a magenta ascot and a purple collared vest. He also wore a metal belt with a golden buckle, purple fingerless gloves with metal gauntlets, metal shoulder pads with golden spikes, and metal boots with claws protruding over the tips. At his waist was a holstered pistol of some kind.
Bowser himself was a large turtle-like creature, with yellow scales on most of his body with green scales for his face. He had spiky red hair and thick eyebrows to match, piercing red eyes, and a large spooky green shell on his back. He had sharp claws and two horns protruding from atop his head, and his tail had a spike on the end as well. He wore spiked collars and bracelets around his neck, shoulders and wrists.
Bowser finally took the chance to examine the rest of his surroundings. The lot of them were all standing upon a single platform in an endless void. The platform itself was metal, with several large crystals and unidentifiable parts of technology protruding out of it chaotically like debris.
"What is this place…?" He asked aloud.
"I'm not sure," The egg-shaped man answered, inspecting some of the technology for himself. "This isn't technology that I recognize. Similar in design to Cyberspace technology, but clearly not the work of the ancients…"
"I feel a better question is how we got here," The green-skinned man said. "Or better yet, who took us here?"
"I can't remember much. The last thing I remember was going out on patrol with my team," The wolf added.
"Who dares kidnap me?" The penguin screeched, less in control than the others "Show yourself!"
"Quit your whining," The egg man snarled. "Clearly we are not the ones in control here."
"Correct. You are not," A voice echoed in the void around them. This instantly brought all of their guards up.
"Who are you?" Bowser questioned.
"I am ancient. I am power. And most importantly, I can give you all what you desire."
"And what do you think we desire?" The wolf asked.
The voice chuckled in response, his mere laugh shaking the platform beneath their feet. "Bowser Koopa. Ivo Robotnik. Ganondorf Dragmire. King Dedede of Dreamland. Wolf O'Donnel. Each of you with renown, skill, and strength. But most importantly, more often than not, the antagonists of your worlds' stories. Time and again, you aim for goals that would result in less-than-fortunate fates for others. Some for understandable reasons, others… not so much."
"Get to the point already!" The Penguin, Dedede, snapped.
"My point… is that individually, you fail time and again. Bowser: your most recent failure is another attempt at conquering the Mushroom Kingdom, stopped again by the Princess's hero in red and blue and your misguided affection rejected." Bowser growled at the voice's words, but their focus shifted before he said anything.
"Ganon: In many universes, you fail at conquering Hyrule. What was your last defeat?"
Ganon, the green man with red hair, seemed to take a moment to think. "I… was a shroud. Pure malice and raw power. Hyrule was mine. I killed their champions, took their divine beasts for my own, and imprisoned the princess in a cycle of magical might. And then… he returned."
"The Hero of Time. Felled by your machinations only to return a century later and bring upon yet another defeat. No matter what timeline you retreat to, he is always there. And when defeated you were, the calamity you had become became nothing more than a memory, and your greatest gift was taken from you: your power. And so man again you became."
"You mock me?" Ganon snarled.
"No. I point out a flaw you all have: arrogance. Overconfidence. Oversight. Time and time again, each of you are defeated by your adversaries no matter how close you are to absolute victory.
Ivo Robotnik, Doctor Eggman himself. You had the world of Mobius in the palm of your hand, with your archrival defeated by your underling using a reality-warping weapon of your design. You were inches from total victory. But as soon as a valiant enough effort was put up, your empire crumbled at your feet, your weapon was destroyed, and your most powerful enforcer was lost to the folds in the fabric of reality. What say you?"
The egg shaped man, promptly named Eggman, scowled and straightened his mustache. "I did not fail because of overconfidence. I failed because of unaccounted variables. The rodent was aided by another version of himself, and another particularly skilled freedom fighter. I can't beat what I have no knowledge of."
"Is that why you also ignored the warnings of your most recent creation until it was too late? Have you ever wondered if your hubris is what let your supposed 'daughter' die?" The voice said.
"Don't you dare speak of Sage to me!" Eggman snapped.
"And therein lies the issue. The five of you fail because you refuse to acknowledge your flaws. It is the definition of insanity: you do the same thing over and over again and expect the results of your battles to change, only to result in another defeat. It doesn't matter how strong, smart, cunning or skilled you are if you only use the same approach."
"What is your point?" Wolf questioned. "Why bring us here?"
"Because I can give you each what you desire: Victory, and so much more."
"Define so much more," Ganon said.
"While you all pine for victory, that is not all I can promise you. I can give a kingdom," Bowser and Dedede's eyes perked up, "A source of power," This caught Ganon's attention, "Or even return a loved one to you." Eggman's solid expression broke and he looked up into the void.
"You… you can return Sage to me?" Eggman asked.
"You can return my lost power to me?" Ganon questioned.
"I can do that and so much more. But first, you all must do as you never have, and work together to defeat your enemies, one by one. By yourselves, you clearly lack what it takes to rule your worlds, but as one unified, unstoppable force, your wishes will finally become reality."
"And what's in this for all of you?" Dedede questioned.
"Yeah, someone like you wouldn't be the charitable type," Bowser agreed. "We don't even know who you are."
"Fine. If you so wish…" Momentarily, a bright figure formed above them, it's very presence affecting the other five. "I… am Tabuu. And I will make your wishes come true."
Voices
(These are who I hear as each character would speak, just so you get an idea)
Charles Martinet as Mario Mario/Luigi Mario
Samantha Kelly as Princess Peach
Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog
Kengo Takanashi as Link
Rebecca Denise as Samus Aran
Joel Geist as Fox McCloud
Michael Donovan as X
Makiko Ohmoto as Kirby
Patricia Summersett as Zelda
Satomi Korogi as Pichu
Victor Fasano as Captain Falcon
Kenny James as Bowser
William T. Sopp as Ganondorf
Mike Pollock as Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik
Ted Lewis as King Dedede
Dolores Rogers as Bowser Jr.
Grant Goodeve as Wolf O'Donnel