Previously, on Smash: Emissary...

"If you wish to stay to oversee the discussion, I welcome you to, but I must help in finishing the preparations. We will call for you when it begins, if you stay." Peach then turned on her heel and went back the way she came, turning the corner and leaving from sight.

"That seemed to go well," Luigi said as he took his older brother's side. "All things considered."

"I think she's still a bit-a mad about last time we talked," Mario said nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You mean when you and Bowser fought to propose to her?" Luigi questioned.

"Yeah, that," Mario deadpanned.

"She's mine, and mine for good this time, plumber!" Bowser exclaimed.

"We'll see about that, King Bowser!" Mario replied, both he and Luigi readying themselves for a fight.

We'll handle the heroes," Bowser said as he cracked his knuckles.

"We?" Mario questioned just before a large hammer hit Luigi and sent him flying back down the hall, crashing into the wall at the end of the corner.

Before the heroic plumber could recover, Dedede's hammer came down on him again, and his vision went black.

"Such an insignificant creature overthrew Robotnik again and again? Perhaps he is another weakling to be culled like all the others," The Gerudo king remarked.

"As I recall, you were also defeated by those you called lesser, correct, Ganondorf?" Eggman sneered

"There it is… the look of defeat on your face, the realization you are beat. I've craved that for so long, especially since you left me alone on the Starfall Islands… right after you let Sage die," Eggman's grin turned into a hateful scowl as he spoke the last part of that sentence.

You will pay for Sage's death by living the rest of your days in between the folds of infinite realities, where you could die instantly or in a thousand years. Either way, I hope you suffer as much as possible before your existence comes to a frivolous end," Eggman scowled

"S-Seriously, Eggman, wait!" Sonic tried to get them to stop so he could speak to the scientist.

"No more talk! I never want to hear your annoying voice ever again! Ganon, dispose of him!"

"With pleasure," Ganon smirked before tossing Sonic up into the air and bringing his hand up to his opposite shoulder, purple energy building up in his fist. By the time Sonic fell back down to level, his fist was almost consumed by the energy, so Ganon struck his fist backwards against the hedgehog, releasing the energy all at once and blasting Sonic through the rift with a powerful backhand.

Link leapt off of his mount and prepared his shield and sword in case of danger. Zelda slid off her horse, and followed carefully behind him. Slowly moving past the treeline, they enter the forest and find, in a smoldering crater, a short, blue anthropomorphic animal in red shoes unconscious and banged up pretty bad.

The two traded glances again before turning back to the small creature.

Smash: Emissary

Chapter 2: Introductions

Samus's vision was blurry at first, and her ears were filled with a harsh ringing that almost made her dizzier than she already was. Her immediate memory was foggy, unclear. Was she hurt? What happened to her or her ship? More importantly, where was she now?

Her vision eventually cleared up and the ringing began to fade away. Her ship was sparking all over, panels torn from the places they were once bolted, a few heavy duty wires torn free and hanging from the new openings in the interior hull. What had happened to the ship to tear it up this badly?

So much for Galactic Federation quality, She thought to herself. Samus glanced up to take a look out of the viewport, but the glass was cracked and damaged heavily as well. She thought she could still see crowds of people outside, meaning she had at least crash landed on a civilized planet, hopefully civilized enough to help make repairs to the ship. She hauled herself out of her pilot's seat to check on damage inside before she made the journey outside.

Meanwhile, outside the ship, one young man cut his way through the crowd to the front to see the crashed ship for himself. "Out of the way! Maverick Hunter coming through!" X exclaimed. Once he made his way past the spectators, he gazed upon the ship with curiosity, but also suspicion. "Doctor Cain, are you seeing this?"

"Indeed I am. If I had to guess, it would seem to be an aircraft of some kind," An elderly voice rang in X's ear.

"Do you recognize the design at all? Could it be Mavericks?" X asked.

"I'm not sure about Mavericks. I don't recognize the design, but that doesn't mean much. Approach with caution. With Zero preoccupied out of town, you'll be going in alone," Doctor Cain warned.

"Yeah, what else is new?" X deadpanned before his right arm transformed into a firearm-style weapon, his mega buster. He aimed and fired blasts of energy from the arm-cannon to blow apart the hinges for the landing ramp, burning right through the metal and freeing the ramp from its attachment to the ship. The metal flat fell to the ground with a loud clang! X then leapt up through the new opening into the ship's hold, where he aimed his mega buster in front of him cautiously, beginning to scan the interior slowly.

He found the hold was clear of anyone and began to sweep the rest of the small ship. After a few minutes of searching, he found nothing and was left with only one room, the one he had to assume was the cockpit. He blasted the control panel and quickly aimed through the doorway as the door slid open. At first, he yet again saw no one. But he knew someone had to be here, to have crashed with the ship.

X slowly started walking the cabin, keeping his guard up with every step. He approached the pilot's seat, expecting to see an injured or even dead pilot, but found the seat empty. It had clearly only been recently occupied, though, which meant someone was still on the ship. But where…? X thought.

He heard the charging of a weapon and quickly spun on his heel to aim his weapon behind him, but a blue blast of energy connected with his shoulder, pushing him backwards into the chair, but he still fired three of his own shots back at his attacker. He didn't quite make them out, just their silhouette. The figure narrowly dodged each shot before crouching out of sight, in the darker parts of the room. X saw them slink down and began blasting apart that entire corner of the room. When the dust settled, no silhouette was found, no body. The pilot was still around, somehow keeping just out of sight, out of reach.

X could've sworn he heard something moving, but he couldn't spot anything, so instead of focusing on seeing, he tried to focus on listening.Then he heard it, rolling against the metal surface of the floor. No wait, under it…

Then he heard the beep and he moved as quickly as he could out of the cockpit, which was quickly consumed in flames. The blast pushed X into the hallway, forcing him to slam into the wall. He lost his footing briefly, but quickly recovered it to regain his combat stance. He glanced at the flaming cockpit briefly before focusing on his listening again.

He heard it again, the rolling beneath the floor. He quickly pinpointed the location of the sound and began shooting into the floor, only narrowly missing his target. He heard the rolling speed down the hall and out of the entire portion of the ship. He chased after it and kept blasting into the floor, but whoever, or whatever, was under the floor, it was faster than him, and he quickly lost them. He still kept running though, and ended up back in the cargo hold.

X raised his mega buster again and scanned around. "Listen to me, whoever you are, what ever you are, come out. You may have attacked me, but I can see it as self defense. If you come with me, we can settle things peacefully, and we can repair your ship, so long as you're not a Maverick. But if this is just a misunderstanding, then we can figure this out, and you can be on your merry way."

"Should've thought about that before breaking into my ship," Samus's voice replied. Then a missile connected with X's back, scorching the metallic material and catching him off guard. X fell to the ground but immediately rolled over and fired a burst of shots towards the section of the cargo hold the rocket came from. Two missed and hit the wall, but the third connected with Samus's shoulder plate. X smirked and tried to keep up the assault, but Samus managed to avoid more direct hits and sprint out of sight. X leapt up to his feet again and took aim just before a rolling ball of orange and red metal sped around the corner of the crates. X fired a few times, managing to hit two, but the ball's speed was consistent, and it raced under X's legs and sped back into cover.

"This is getting real old," X scowled.

"How about that then?" Samus retorted.

"Huh?" X looked at his feet to see another explosive charge. With a single beep, it detonated and blasted X upwards into the ceiling of the hold, and he dropped back down like a back of bricks. He groaned and forced himself back to his feet. As soon as he did, a metal whip wrapped around his torso, constricting him like a snake. He looked to the other end of the tool to see it came from Samus's own arm cannon. With a single flip of a switch, the whip quickly became electrified, and a storm of electric currents surged through his body. He let out a brief audible yell of pain before gritting his teeth hard, forcing himself through it.

X slowly reached up and gripped the whip, then yanked on it, pulling Samus off her feet and towards him. As soon as she was close enough, X clotheslined her, flattening her out onto the deck. He charged his mega buster, but set it to build up charge for a more powerful shot. Samus did the same with her weapon before flipping back onto her feet and aiming at X. The two met gazes as both of their weapons were charging, visible orbs of energy building up to their peaks in the barrels of their respective weapons. Neither made a move, realizing one movement could end the battle one way or the other.

Samus was sweating under her suit. Whoever this was kept a fairly even pace with her, and now they were in a deadlock. If she missed, he could finish her, and vice versa. The result of this fight hung on one, single, move.

"Pichu!" A high pitched voice squeaked. Both X and Samus slowly turned their heads to see a small furry black-and-yellow creature, less than a foot tall, with pointed ears, a rectangular tail and rosy red cheeks sitting on one of the few storage crates. It stared at the two of them with a smile, and they remained silent for a few moments.

"So… is that thing yours?" X asked, turning back to Samus.

Link glanced over at the blue creature laying in the bed, tied up and restrained in case it was hostile. He sat in a chair near the bed, keeping a hand on the sheathed Master Sword at his waist. Zelda was outside, cooking food for the two of them. They had settled in one of the many inns alongside the road to Zora's Domain. The sun was setting now, and the tiny settlement had grown quiet. Most of the residents were either asleep or outside around their own fires.

Link was so focused on keeping watch over the blue creature, he didn't notice Zelda enter the room with two plates of steaming food. "You might want to watch your back," Zelda said, getting Link's attention. Link gave a smile and thankful nod before taking one of the plates from her. "Careful, or you might be snuck up on one day," She chuckled.

"I've made it this far," Link simply replied.

"Just me being worried, is all," Zelda said before pulling up her own chair next to Link. "How is he doing?"

"He hasn't moved at all," Link answered. "Who knows when he'll wake up."

"I feel bad for him. It seemed like he was hurt. I hope he is alright," Zelda said.

"Let's make sure he's friendly before we take pity on him," Link cautioned. "If there's one thing waking back up in this world has taught me, it's caution."

"Caution didn't stop you from going into the castle for me," Zelda countered.

"That was the mission. I couldn't afford to wait any longer than I already had. And for the most part, I knew by then what I was going up against. We have no clue what this thing is or what its arrival means," Link replied. "For all we know this could mean another threat to the kingdom."

"I'd say you worry too much, but considering what we've both gone through the past hundred years… I can see your point. I'm not very eager to go through something similar again, especially so soon."

Link nodded, then quietly looked again at the blue quills of the short creature restrained in the bed. Zelda had a spoonful of food of her own before she glanced and saw Link's plate still steaming in his lap. "You know, if you don't hurry, your food will get cold. I spent time on that, you know," She playfully teased.

"Hm?" Link replied, his focus returning to him. He glanced down at his warm plate and a quick look of recollection came to him. "Right… sorry." Zelda chuckled a bit, looking over Link as he began to dig into his food. Link was unaware of her gaze. One hundred years had passed since their last meeting, before Link came to her rescue again.

A century before, the enemy they dreaded the arrival of their entire lives appeared: Calamity Ganon. Foretold of and feared across the entire kingdom, its arrival marked what could've been the end of the entire world. What should've been the end of the world. Many fell in the effort to defeat Ganon, including close friends of both hers and Link's, the Champions of Hyrule; Mipha, Urbosa, Daruk and Revali. Friends, yes, but in some ways even family. It didn't take long for Hyrule to fall, and when it did, it had left both her and Link with nothing to do but run. What else could they have done?

But it wasn't enough. The Guardians, the machines they had uncovered to be their greatest Protectors, became the most ruthless executioners under Calamity Ganon's command, and before long, her and Link had been boxed in by them. Link fought valiantly, but it again wasn't enough. He fell, and would have been killed for good had his sacrifice not unlocked an ancient power within her, one she sought to unlock all her life, one she still has yet to fully understand.

So she had Link taken to the healing waters of the Shrine of Resurrection, where he bathed for a century until he was in top shape again, though it at first cost his memories. Zelda meanwhile headed straight for Hyrule Castle, where, while using her newfound power, locked Calamity Ganon in a stalemate of magical power, keeping it up for just as long. That is, until Link returned, and together they defeated the Calamity and sealed it away.

Link, Zelda thought to herself. She had noticed ever since the defeat of Ganon and their reuniting, he had spoken more than he had before. She remembered him as the strong silent type, a young man who would rather quietly take on the burdens of the entire world than falter in his duty. He spoke scarcely, merely wishing to serve and protect. Even during the Calamity, he didn't speak any more than that. There wasn't much to say. But he was always there, always by her side.

Recently, though, something was different. He spoke more often, felt more expressive. Zelda felt she could chalk it up to his defenses falling down after going through so much to free the kingdom, but she wasn't sure she could limit it to that either. Talkative or no, he still didn't talk much about what he remembered from so long ago. Yes, he mourned their friends again with her, but after only re-learning about them so fairly recently, she didn't know how much it could've impacted him, or how the recovery of his memories felt. Do they feel as if he never forgot? Are they just as powerful as if he never lost them in the first place? Or do they come as if learning new information, impactful but not personal? That, to Zelda, was still a mystery.

A stirring sound caught both of their attention. The two Hylians glanced up from their plates to see the creature start to awaken. Link quickly set his plate aside and gripped the hilt of the Master Sword, sheathed at his right side, when Zelda quickly put a hand in front of him, signaling for him to hold off. Link nodded and backed away a few steps, but kept a solid grip on his weapon, just in case.

The creature's eyes flitted open, and he let out a painful groan. "Ugh, where am I…?"

"Rest easy. You are safe," Zelda assured him.

"If I'm safe, why am I tied up?" The blue quilled creature asked.

"I'm sorry for that, but we aren't sure of your intentions, and we wanted to make sure you weren't an enemy. We found you in the forest unconscious after a loud bang and a flash of light. What happened to you?"

"Well… the last thing I remember was this wolf guy in a ship following me, trying to take me down. Then Egghead and this green-skinned dude showed up and hit me through a portal. Next thing I know I'm waking up here," The creature replied.

Zelda and Link were confused to say the least. Almost nothing in that sentence made sense to them. The princess glanced back at her knight, who just gave a confused shrug. Zelda sighed and turned back to the creature. "Let's, er, try that again, but more slowly this time."

"You're asking Sonic the Hedgehog to slow things down? No can do, lady."

"Sonic?" Zelda repeated. "Is that your name?"

"Sure is," Sonic replied. "And look, I get being cautious, but can I please get out of these ropes? My back is starting to cramp."

"I'm sorry, but we still do not know your intentions. I want to believe you mean no harm, but we can't be sure, especially in times like these."

"What? You mean you don't recognize me? Y'know, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Blue Blur? World-saving handsome hero of Mobius?" Sonic questioned.

"I'm sorry, we don't," Zelda answered, punctuated by a shaking of the head from Link. "I'm not even sure I know what 'Mobius' is. The land you are in now is Hyrule."

"Hyrule?" Sonic repeated, thoughtfully looking away and speedily tapping his foot against the wood of the bed. "Mmm… never heard of it."

"You can't possibly be serious…" Zelda remarked.

"Hey, I'm telling the truth, lady. Can you please let me out of these ropes now?" Sonic replied with an annoyed tone.

"Are you a threat?" Link simply asked.

"To bad guys, sure! But I can tell you guys mean well, so no."

Link and Zelda traded glances. Link slowly shook his head, but Zelda frowned a bit at this, before turning back to Sonic. "Alright. Just be careful. If you really were attacked, we need to make sure you aren't injured," Zelda said.

"If you say so," Sonic replied. Zelda gives him a small smile before gesturing for Link to cut him free. Her knight reluctantly unsheathed the Master Sword and did so. Sonic smirked and hopped to his feet before stretching out. "Ah, freedom of movement at last!"

"We haven't introduced ourselves. I'm-" Zelda started to say.

"Sorry, gotta juice!" Sonic interrupted before winding up and blasting out of the inn in a blink of an eye, catching both Hylians off guard.

"What in the blazes-?!" Link exclaimed. He and Zelda traded glances before sprinting out of the inn and onto the main road again.

"Do you see him?" Zelda asked. Link scanned the open plains, hoping to catch sight of the speeding creature. As he narrowed his eyes, he saw a zooming blue blur cross back and forth across Hyrule Fields, much further off than he expected.

Link gives a small nod and points Zelda in that direction. She narrows her eyes and attempts to see Sonic far off as well. By the time she sees the zigzagging afterimages though, the blur sped back towards them, stopping right in front of them. "You guys weren't kidding. I know Mobius front to back, and this place ain't it," Sonic remarked before holding his chin and rapidly tapping his foot while thinking aloud. "I must be on… a different planet? Alternate dimension? Ugh, Tails would know better, but I haven't seen him since the Starfall Islands…"

"Erm, Sonic, how did you just do that?" Zelda asked.

"Hm? Do what?" Sonic asked.

"That… that incredible speed! That should be impossible!" Zelda remarked.

"Oh yeah… if I really am from another world, you guys wouldn't know me after all! Well, sister, that speed is my power! I can break the sound barrier as easily as eating a chili dog!"

"That's incredible!" Zelda exclaimed with a curious smile. Link cleared his throat,which got her attention, then reminded her of the more pressing matter. "Oh, right! Pardon me," She apologized to her friend before facing Sonic again. "So… you claim you're from, er… another world?"

"I have to be. I've never heard of a 'Hyrule' in my life, and I don't recognize anything here. This isn't my first time in this kind of rodeo, but it's disorienting every time," Sonic answered.

"And you truly mean us no harm?" Zelda asked.

Sonic shook his head. "No. You were concerned, and kinda helped me, so I know you guys don't mean me harm either."

"Then it sounds to me you need some friends to help you here in Hyrule until you find your way home," Zelda replied.

"Is that an offer?"

"Indeed it is," She nodded.

"Then I'll take you up on it," Sonic smirked.

"In that case, proper introductions are in order," Zelda said before crouching down to Sonic's level and putting a hand out.

"Sure are," Sonic chuckled. "Formally this time. I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

"My name is Zelda, and that is Link," Zelda introduced. Sonic looked over at Link behind her, and Link gave a small nod.

"Not much of a talker, is he?" Sonic pointed out.

"I am when I need to be," Link replied.

"Sometimes actions speak louder than words, something Link lives by, and perhaps something you do as well?" Zelda asked.

"Well, who doesn't like a good conversation when beating up bad guys?" Sonic shrugged with a cocky smile.

"You have an abundance of confidence, Sonic," Zelda remarked with a smile. "I admire that greatly."

"Yeah, well, it didn't help me when I got my butt kicked. I got ganged up on by Egghead and his two new cronies, a couple guys named Wolf and Ganondorf." The first name meant nothing to the Hylians, but the second sounded too familiar to be coincidence. "What? You guys know them?"

"It's.. it can't be… could he be related to Calamity Ganon…?" Zelda wondered aloud. Her worry and emotion came bursting at the surface, but also her fear. Link must've seen it, because he approached her side and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She looked over to him in surprise. A grateful smile formed on her face before she looked back at Sonic.

"Perhaps… we can't be sure it's the same entity, but I suppose any knowledge might help…"

Mario had grown impatient. A full day had gone by with no word of where Bowser had taken Princess Peach. Normally he would have been right on his reptilian tail, but both brothers had been blindsided, and now they were left in the dust.

That is, until Daisy called them into one of the castle's conference rooms. Laid out on a table before them was a map of the Mushroom Kingdom, and circled in red and labeled "Bowser's Fleet" was a large north-eastern section of said map.

"The Toads and my people from Sarasaland have tracked Bowser and his ships to the very edge of the kingdom, where they've stopped and settled," Daisy informed the brothers. "We don't know why they've stopped, but this is as good a chance as any to get aboard Bowser's ship and rescue Peach before they move again and we lose him."

"Thank you, Daisy," Mario replied gratefully. "Luigi and I will start heading there immediately."

"I'd come with, but someone needs to be here to keep things running until Peach is back, So I'm unfortunately stuck here," Daisy sighed exasperatedly. "If one kingdom wasn't hard enough…"

"Don't worry, Daisy! I'm sure you can handle it!" Luigi cheered her on, bringing a small genuine smile to the princess's face.

"See that's what I love about you, Luigi; You're so adorably optimistic," Daisy said before pinching the younger Mario brother's cheek, then gently kiss his other one. This made Mario scowl and look away slightly. Being on the outs with Peach before any of this happened still didn't leave him the happiest of plumbers, but that wouldn't stop him from going to save her. He was still a good person, a hero after all.

Still…

"Now hurry on, you two don't have time to waste!" Daisy exclaimed, breaking Mario from his stupor.

"Oh, right!" Luigi replied before going for the door. "Come on, Mario!"

"Right!" Mario said before following and catching up to his brother. The two sprinted through the halls of Peach's castle and out the front gate, quickly journeying on the path that would take them to where Bowser's fleet resided.

"See? Told you we'd catch him, Mario!" Luigi replied.

"You seem very brave. Normally you're more scared," Mario commented.

"Work in progress. Daisy and the Professor have been helping," Luigi replied with a confident smile. "Maybe one day I'll be as brave as you!"

"Yeah, well, bravery isn't everything apparently," Mario said, glancing off to the side.

"What? Still thinking about what happened between you and Princess Peach?"

"It's nothing, brother. Don't worry," Mario half-heartidly assured his younger sibling.

"Who's the scared one now?" Luigi remarked with a smirk..

"I'm not scared!" Mario replied. "I'm just… on thin ice, I guess? She's still not over what happened at that wedding fiasco, and I don't want to make her more mad! Maybe saving her from all this will make things a little better."

"You really aren't getting it, are you, big brother?" Luigi asked with a snarky smirk.

"You, being snarky, to me of all people? You really are getting braver, Luigi," Mario scowled.

Then a sound like crackling thunder echoed over the landscape, and the brothers skid to a stop before looking up in the sky to see nothing there.

Then all of a sudden a metal airship snapped into existence in the sky, billowing smoke as it sped for ground level. It crashed with an earth-shaking collision. The two brothers traded glances before rushing over to the crash site. It dug a long trenchline where it had kicked up the earth as it came down.

The cockpit of the ship blasted open, and out crawled an orange-furred humanoid in a marked uniform with metal legs and a pistol of some kind holstered at his side. He glanced around at his surroundings, not seeing the brothers immediately. As he scanned around, another person hopped out of the ship; a small round ball of pink flesh with two big blue eyes, two stubby arms sprouting from its sides, and small red feet connected right to its round body.

Finally, the fox person eyed the brothers further up the ridge and waved them down. "Hey! Mind giving us a hand with this?" He asked.

The brothers once again traded confused glances. Maybe what was going on was bigger than they had initially thought.