Mario: Previously, on Smash Emissary...
"They're here! They're here!" Peach perked up
"C'mon, Luigi, just a bit further…!" Mario strained.
"It's been… miles already…" Luigi sighed.
Peach shook her head with a small smile. "Toads, get that weight off the boys' shoulders," She commanded. A large group of Toads approached and took the massive, and clearly heavy, crate out of the brothers' hands. The two let out sighs of relief, and Luigi even plopped right down in the middle of the entryway.
"Mario," Peach greeted simply. "It's good to see you both."
"You as well, Princess," Mario replied with a warm smile. Peach returned it, albeit lacking in some of the warmth Mario had provided.
"Still in the doghouse, huh?" Luigi asked.
"Yeah… I thought she'd be over what happened by now," Mario admitted.
"Maybe trying to one-up Bowser in marriage proposal's right after she was kidnapped for that exact reason wasn't the best idea.
"This isn't just about saving the day. It's about ensuring that the day doesn't have to be saved in the first place.
"You've really thought about this, haven't you?" Daisy asked.
An explosion rocked the entire castle to its very foundation. Everyone stumbled for a few moments before regaining their balance. "What was that?!" Daisy exclaimed.
"As much as I'd like to tear you apart, plumber, you aren't my biggest concern," Bowser snarled.
"What's wrong? Scared?"
"Yes. But not of you," Bowser said.
He glanced up at his princess, still cradling his shoulder painfully. If Peach wasn't terrified before, she was now. Bowser let out a low, rumbly laugh, and then in a flash of purple light and energy, Peach was just as the others had become: a bronze-like statue. And before Mario knew it, the robot holding her blasted off into the sky. "Peach!"
a flash of purple light came from the remaining group of machines, and Link saw Zelda's form as now a bronze-like statue, still and unmoving. His eyes rounded and he sprinted as fast as he could. It wasn't fast enough, however. The machines all grabbed hold of Zelda's new metal form and blasted off into the sky with the Hylian Princess.
"Zelda!" Link exclaimed.
I apologize I couldn't help. I am the Ancient Minister, and your aid is required, Link of Hyrule."
"What… happened here?" Link questioned between heavy breaths.
"Come with me, and I shall tell you," The Minister replied.
"Well I'll be, didn't think I'd ever see you again, Mario!"
"Sonic the Hedgehog," Mario returned the smile, and the two shared a fist bump together. "Still rolling around, I see."
"At the speed of sound, as I do," Sonic replied.
Mario Mario, savior of the Mushroom Kingdom. Sonic the Hedgehog, speedster of Mobius. Kirby, protector of Dreamland. Link, Hero of Hyrule. Your four worlds, as well as many others, are in grave danger. Mario and Link have experienced this firsthand."
The mechanical forces you faced are designated as ROBs. They were once a peaceful, even revolutionary people. Until a day came where their world was conquered by a force of power far stronger than anything you four have ever faced. This force, this conqueror is known by one name… Tabuu."
"Sounds like we got a team, Minister," Mario smirked.
Smash: Emissary
Chapter 2: Isle of the Ancients
As the four heroes dropped down out of the portal and onto foreign soil that slightly gave beneath their feet, old trees swaying back and forth with the slight breeze coming by, a chime came from the new ear-bound comlink devices given to them by the Ancient Minister. Kirby was without one, having no ears to speak of, but Link, Sonic and Mario all got an earful of the Minister's voice as the comm signal snapped to life.
"Hello? I do hope you've landed alright. Multiversal travel can be a bit nauseating for someone's first time," The Minister said.
"We're all good," Mario reported back. "A little dizzy, but good. Where exactly are we?"
"My home. It was called The Isle of the Ancients. It is much, much older than your worlds, and I had hoped it would be here long after. It is also where the last war with Tabuu ended. If there's anywhere to look to uncover his plans, it is here. I have no doubt that this would be his ideal staging ground to begin his conquest anew."
"So what exactly is the plan here?" Sonic asked.
"Ahead you will find the abandoned battleground, and past that should be what remains of what used to be a social hub for my people, an abandoned monastery lost to time. Who knows what's come of the building now…?" The Minister then trailed off, and the four heroes traded glances as the tone of the conversation suddenly became uncomfortable. "Anyways, once you reach the perimeter of the estate, report what you see, and we can develop a plan from there." The transmission cut out, leaving the four to themselves.
"Well, sounds like a start at least," Mario said. "Let's go." The plumber waved forward and led on, the others following behind him through the trees. "So, how'd you guys get pulled into this?"
"I imagine similar to you: those machines invaded my home and took someone dear to me," Link answered.
"Sounds like you guys were caught in the thick of it," Sonic remarked. "I'm just here 'cause the Ancient Minister found me and said a bunch of worlds, including Mobius, were in danger."
"He sought you out in particular?" Link raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. I thought it was shifty at first, but once I saw Mario here, I knew it was legit," Sonic said.
"That's right. When we were gathered, you two recognized each other. You've met before?" Link asked.
"Yeah, a couple times actually," Mario answered. "So this ain't our first team-up."
"Hm… and what about… that?" Link asked, gesturing to Kirby hopping along behind them. The pink ball glanced up at the Hylian incredulously.
"Not sure. I don't understand him," Sonic said. "But the Minister said you and Mario's worlds were the ones attacked, so he must've gone to Kirby specifically like he did for me."
"Which begs the question, if your worlds weren't being invaded, why did he go to you?" Link posed.
"Well… it seems like he's super old, and that he's been watching a long time. He could know who we are and know we can help stop this whole thing," Mario suggested. "Once he knew this was happening, he came to us."
"Hm… I don't trust him," Link said. "It all just seems… convenient."
"Well, nothing to do about it right now. We have worlds to save," Mario said. "Right, Sonic?" Mario glanced to the saide to find the Mobian Hedgehog missing, then looked ahead to see leaves kicked up from the ground, still floating back down to the ancient grass beneath their very feet. "Always on the move," Marios sighed before running ahead, Link and Kirby tailing him.
They came out of the forest into an open field, and the beautiful nature of the forest morphed into a dark history immediately clear to the eye. There was clear sign of conflict here; scorched earth, overgrowth formed in unnatural ways, burying what lay beneath in the brownish-green vegetation. Most haunting, though, were the countless deactivated or destroyed bodies of ROB's, laying still as if they were corpses frozen in time, vines and overgrowth coiling around their rusted metal chassis'. There were dozens still visible, which meant there could be countless below ground by this point. It was like a graveyard.
Sonic was inspecting one of the visible machines as the others rejoined him. They then began to take in the feeling around them, the cold dread they felt as soon as the history of the place hit them. It sent a chill down their spines, as if the spirits of the fallen were still present on this hallowed ground.
"What is this place…?" Mario wondered aloud
"The Minister did say the last war ended here," Link said. "This must've been where they made their last stand."
"And that must be the monastery," Sonic said, pointing uphill to a large, ancient-looking building up the hill, far enough away to not see its exterior in detail, which spoke to the building's scale. "I'll scout it out, find us a way in." Before there was a chance for protest, Sonic had blasted off again, speeding faster than the eye could track right for the monastery.
"Does he do that often?" Link questioned.
"You get used to it," Mario shrugged before running after their ally.
The group reached the forest perimeter around the monastery, hiding among the green just out of sight. Mario peeked around the tree he was using as cover. They had found themselves just outside an entrance to the temple. A massive stairway led up into a set of twin gates guarded by an entire squad of ROBs patrolling the entrance. The boxy machines were all either standing still as a statue at attention or rolling back and forth in regimented, calculated patterns.
"That's a lotta robots," Mario remarked.
"We should find a stealthier way inside," Link suggested. "We wouldn't want to-"
Suddenly, a blue blur sped up the stairs, tearing through every ROB in its way. In mere moments, every machine was left as nothing but scrap metal on the entryway. After he reached the top of the stairs, Sonic the Hedgehog stopped and turned back at his allies. "All clear!" he smirked.
"... alert them…" Link finished in a deadpan tone.
"Eh, we'll be fine!" Sonic wave Link's worries off. "I smash robots to bits every other day! Besides, there aren't any other ways inside. I checked. We would've had to come through here anyway." Link let out a muted sigh, but then silently ascended the stairs. Mario, meanwhile, tapped the comm in his ear.
"Hey, Minister, we're at the monastery, and it's definitely occupied," he reported.
"I feared as much. If the ROB's are present, then that means the old systems will be in use once again. You must find the main data bank and learn all you can from it. If we can learn their next moves, we can cut off their attacks before any worlds are lost," The Minister said.
"Any idea where to start looking for this data bank?" Mario asked.
"Unfortunately, no. It has been much time since I have revisited the Isle, and even then with the current occupation, there would be no guarantee it would be in the same place. I'm afraid you'll have to search on your own. Good luck." The transmission cut out.
"Well, you heard the man. Let's go," Mario waved them on. He, Sonic and Kirby ran ahead and entered the monastery. Link joined them, but his mind wandered back to the Minister. He knew the mystery man was keeping something from the four of them. He couldn't imagine what, but that meant he didn't trust him. Regardless, Zelda needed him. He would do as asked for now for the sake of getting his princess back. He kept those thoughts to himself, though, as he and the others entered the winding halls of the ancient monastery.
Within the monastery, two ROB's stood outside a room with a laser gate barring the doorway. One stood at attention silently. The other, however, was fiddling with something in its pincer grips, inspecting it curiously. The attentive ROB slowly turned its head to its partner.
"What are you doing?" It asked.
"Inspecting the prisoner's trinket," The second ROB replied.
"You're playing with the prisoner's trinket?" The first ROB repeated.
"Correction: inspecting." Not once did the distracted machine look up at his cohort.
"That is not a simple trinket. It is a weapon," The first ROB pointed out. Indeed, the second robot was holding a pistol-like firearm in his hand. "I would be more careful if I were you. You could inflict self-damage."
"Unlikely," The second responded.
"'Unlikely'? It is a weapon. How is self-damage unlikely?" The first machine questioned.
"Because it is pointed in your general direction." The first ROB glanced down again at the pistol's barrel, seeing the business end of the firearm was indeed pointed away from the one inspecting it, and instead at the machine simply trying to do his job. The first ROB looked up.
"Still unwise, now for a different reason."
"Not how I see it. I am in no danger if it is pointed at you," The second ROB said dismissively. The first ROB narrowed its lens eyes at his cohort in an annoyed fashion. The other looked up for the first time, noticing the not-so-happy expression his partner wore, and then simply shrugged before continuing what he was doing. The first ROB looked to the floor and face palmed with its claw hand.
Then suddenly, the building shook, as if disturbed at it's very base. The first ROB glanced around. "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"Disturbance. You did not notice?"
The second ROB shook its head. "You are losing your circuits." Then the building shook again, the second machine finally taking notice.
"You were saying?" The first deadpanned. The two failed to notice that the lasers barring the room behind them had begun to spit out sparks before deactivating entirely.
"Simple tremor," The second replied.
"On a floating island in the sky? Unlikely," The first said. The two then heard sounds of movement behind them. "What was that?'
The two turned, and suddenly the first ROB was on the receiving end of a kick to the head, sending it toppling over to the ground. Before the second could even register what was happening, a female figure spun around him, swiftly prying the weapon from his grip, and shot him through the head. She then quickly took aim and finished off the robot on the ground. She let out a sigh and threw her blonde ponytail back behind her head. She had made quick work of the machines. Samus Aran was nothing if not skilled, as becomes an intergalactic bounty hunter such as herself. She took a few glances around, seeing no incoming machines, then took off down the hall.
Last she remembered, she was aboard her gunship on her way to her next bounty, when her ship had begun to malfunction, and before she knew it, she had suddenly crash landed outside this very facility. When she emerged from the crash site, she was quickly overwhelmed by a force of the robotic soldiers who then held her captive. She had been imprisoned in that cell until now, stripped of her weapons and armor, left only on her skin-tight blue bodysuit, however now armed with her pistol, dubbed the Paralyzer, ideal for use against machines like the ones she seemed to be facing now.
In the halls as she ran about, lost in the maze that comprised the monastery, she came across another pair of the robots guarding yet another room, this one with a large metal door barring the way instead of the laser gate from her cell. As she snuck up at the hall's corner, she peeked around and listened as the two robots discussed.
"There are intruders in the monastery," one of them said. "Our orders are to protect this room at all costs."
The second machine glanced at the door behind them. "What is inside of the room?"
"Classified," The first simply responded.
"We are protecting a room in which we are unaware of the contents?" The second asked.
"Correct. And you will continue to do so," The first answered.
Sounds important, Samus thought to herself. She quickly rolled out into the open and fired her weapon, destroying the first robot instantly.
"Intruder!" The second exclaimed, only to join its ally as scrap on the ground a few seconds later. Samus approached the door, and after glancing at its control panel, blasted the panel apart. The door slid open, and Samus stepped inside. It was largely empty, save for the massive containment machine against the back wall. It was a glass cylinder locked into a larger metal base connected to dozens of massive cables pulsing with yellow energy. Contained within the glass cylinder, visibly weakened, was a small creature. It had mainly yellow fur and a rounded head with bright red cheeks, topped by two large triangular pointed ears tipped with black fur, and a zig-zag tail covered entirely in black fur. At the base of its neck was a collar of black fur as well.
Samus paused as soon as she saw the tiny animal inside. This wouldn't be the first time she's seen some kind of alien species being held captive for ulterior motives, but something this small? What use could it possibly have?
The small little mouse-like creature weakly opened its eyes, staring up at its new arrival. "Pi…chu…?" Suddenly, the machine began to whir to life. Samus glanced back and forth as the cables began to light brightly, then suddenly the cylinder filled with electricity, and the creature's high-pitched screams of pain were barely muffled by its own prison. Samus noticed, however, that the electricity was being taken from the creature and being sent up the cables elsewhere, rather than the creature being electrocuted. Regardless, it was time to set it free. Samus shot each cable one by one, quickly deactivating the energy drain-effect the machine was having. The creature's screams stopped, and it was left lying inside its containment dazed, but seemingly otherwise unharmed. She then blasted the glass cylinder open wide, and quickly approached the now-destroyed machine.
The animal let out low moans of pain. Samus slowly reached down and gently stroked the top of its head with her fingertip. Its head was barely the size of her hand. "I'm getting you out of here…" She said to it. That was when deafening alarms filled the room, making Samus's ears pound, and more of the warrior robots quickly flooded the room. She snapped around and fired off a shot quickly, instantly downing one of them, but she wasn't able to fire off a second before she was swarmed. She was quickly brought down by a mass of metal pincers, striking her until she was on the floor, then her limbs were pinned down and her weapon struck from her hand. She looked up as one of the machines glared down at her, its camera lens eyes making the shape as if it was furrowing its brow.
"This one must have escaped during the intruders' attack," it said. "Her current imprisonment is ineffective. Bring her upstairs. General Duon will arrive shortly. He will know what to do with her."
"I don't think so, pal," another, non-robotic voice said. Suddenly, the ROBs one by one were being pulled away by some sort of air current. Before long, every robot, including the leader was sucked up into the gaping maw of a round pink being. Once every robot was consumed, its mouth shrunk down to what had to be its normal size. Before Samus stood the aforementioned pink ball of a being with bright blue eyes that had just eaten an entire room of robots, and next to it was a short, pudgy man with a mustache wearing overalls and a red cap.
"Hey, sorry about that," Mario said as he rushed in and quickly helped Samus to her feet. "You alright, miss?" Once on her feet, Samus walked over and retrieved her weapon from the ground.
"I'm fine," She simply replied, once again approaching the small yellow-furred creature, still resting in its shattered cylinder, and carefully scooped it up in her arms.
"What is that thing?" Mario asked.
"I'm not sure, but they were torturing the thing," Samus replied. "So, who do I have to thank for the help?" Samus turned, now seeing as two more figures joined: a young man with blond hair and pointed ears wielding a sword and shield, and a yae-tall blue humanoid creature in red shoes.
"I'm Mario. That's Kirby, Link and Sonic," Mario introduced.
"Samus," She nodded back at him.
"Pi…chu..?" The small creature squeaked as it began to move around in Samus's hold. Its small round had glanced back and forth between Samus and their saviors.
"Sounds as good a name as any. 'Pichu' it is," Mario smiled. "What are you doing here?"
"My ship crashed here, and I was taken hostage by these robots. Seems like they're no friends of yours," Samus said.
"Nope," Mario shook his head. "We're here to take this place down actually."
"But first, we need to find the main control room so we can find out where else they're trying to hit," Sonic added.
"If we're blowing this place, I need my armor and my ship," Samus said.
"'We'?" Mario repeated.
"Well I'm sure not staying here, pipsqueak."
"I'll help you retrieve your possessions," Link offered.
"Appreciated."
"Here, I'll take the little guy. I'm good with little animals," Sonic said. Samus nodded and carefully handed the "Pichu" off to Sonic.
"Once I have my ship, I'll pull around to pick you guys up," Samus said.
"Pichu!" The little creature hopped out of Sonic's arms and crawled up Samus quickly, perching itself on her shoulder.
"Guess the little guy already likes ya," Sonic said.
"I suppose so," Samus agreed, patting Pichu's head.
"We should be on our way before more machines arrive," Link said. Samus nodded, and the group split up, with Mario, Sonic and Kirby going one way, and Samus, Link and Pichu going the other.
The Central Control Room of the ancient monastery was abuzz. Words of intruders had spread quickly, and many of the ROB units had already spread around the complex, hunting down the enemy. This left only a relatively small group within the room itself. Which meant when the door to the room was sent flying out of it's frame, zooming across the room and flattening one of the few remaining ROBs against the wall, the rest of them quickly went on high alert, snapping around to find Kirby at the head of the trio with a massive wooden mallet in hand, clearly the instrument that had destroyed the entryway. Before the machines could make a move, however, a blue blur blasted through and tore through three of them in an instant, before the Mobian stopped at the back of the room with a hand on his hip.
"Man, and I thought fighting Egghead's badniks was easy. But you guys are just on another level," Sonic said confidently. Every ROB turned back quickly and primed their lasers, but Sonic was already on the move as they fired, quickly but albeit only narrowly dodging their blasts. But just as he does best, he was a distraction as Mario and Kirby attacked from behind. Mario leapt up and smashed the soles of his boots down onto the head of one of the robots, while Kirby did the same with his mallet, swinging it downward right on top of the next enemy, flattening it down into a circle of scrap. Mario leapt off the remains of his first defeated enemy, spinning forward through the air, and grabbed onto the boxy head of the next ROB, using his momentum and strength to yank it from the ground and throw its body forward, colliding with its next kin over, sending both to the ground. Sonic leapt up into the air and zoomed down onto them, smashing the downed robots into scrap.
The three heroes then turned to the final remaining ROB in the room, which seemed hesitant to continue the battle at first. Ultimately, it began to prepare to fire its laser, only for Kirby's hammer to fly through the air and smash its head into the wall, destroying it.
"We definitely made quick work of that," Mario said.
"Do we know any other way?" Sonic smirked. He and Mario fist-bumped. Kirby hopped up and stuck his stubby arm out, and Sonic obliged him with a fist bump as well. "Nice work, little buddy."
Mario put his finger to the comlink in his ear. "Minister, we're in the control room. What now?"
"Access the main terminal and find any information you can about their plans. We must be read-... fo-... -ack…" The transmission quickly began to cut out, until the Minister's voice became nothing but static on the line.
"I think we just lost connection to the minister," Mario said.
Sonic approached the main terminal. "Tech is normally Tails' thing, but let's see what I can do…" he tried to acclimate himself to the technology, seemingly more advanced for a civilization mean to be hundreds of years old, but the hedgehog had learned firsthand that ancient didn't mean barbaric. "Okay, I think I got this…" Mario and Kirby took his sides and looked up at the large monitor screen before them as Sonic managed to pull up data stored in the terminal. "I can't get into most of this, but it looks like they're moving fast. Seems like they're next two targets are another spot in Hyrule, and somewhere called Abel City."
"If they already stole Link's princess, what else could they want from his world?" Mario questioned. "Is there anything else?"
Sonic shook his head. "Nada. Either they haven't planned it yet, or I can't get into it. I'm no computer genius. I don't think we'll be getting any more battle plans outta this." His eyebrows then shot up as he was browsing and found something else. He tapped his own ear-bound comm. "Hey, Samus, I think I found where they're storing your stuff."
The metal door slid open, allowing Samus, Pichu and Link to enter a massive, open room half as wide across as a colosseum, and placed dead center in a tall glass cylindrical containment unit was a set of red and gold armor with a green visor in the helmet, with large spherical pauldrons and an arm cannon on the right arm.
"Your armor?" Link asked.
Samus nodded. "I used to have it bonded to me through my DNA, but after an… incident with a parasite, it had to be taken out. Having it bonded would be more convenient about now, though," She said.
"Hm," Link simply replied. Neither of them continued forward, though. Something felt off to both of them. Link tightly gripped the hilt of his sheathed Master Sword, ready to draw the blade at a moments notice, while Samus kept a firm grip on her firearm. Pichu curiously looked between the two, unsure of what was setting them off.
"See anything?" Samus asked. Link mutely shook his head. "Me neither. But this is too easy. Keep your guard up." The two then slowly stepped forward into the room, towards the contained suit.
The room was dead silent, the sounds of their footsteps echoing off the walls. Nothing came at them, but they never dropped their guard even for a second. They crossed most of the room, being only a few yards from the armor when suddenly a mass of shadowy black orbs suddenly began to wrap itself around the armor, enveloping it completely. Samus and Link stopped suddenly, the former aiming her firearm forward and the latter unsheathing his blade. The shadowy matter fully covered the suit and then began to peel away in two opposite directions, beginning to create two separate forms. Eventually, the matter fully split and the two split halves began to fully form into two identical figures: physical copies of Samus's armor, fleshing out into recreations of the armor itself, but instead of the orange and gold color scheme taking on an almost fleshy black with blue veins and visors, almost like dark mirrors of Samus.
"Not this again…" Samus remarked to herself. The two Dark Samus' began to step towards them, clearly ready for a fight. "I'll go right, you go left," Samus told her Hylian ally. Link nodded and quickly rushed his designated shadow clone. It quickly began putting its arm cannon to use, firing a burst of energy blasts his way. He held his shield in front of him, ducking behind it in his sprint, the energy bouncing right off its surface. Once within range, Link leapt upwards above the clone, twirling a full three-sixty before slashing his blade downwards. The clone dove out of the way, the Master Sword whooshing by its head through the air. As soon as it was on its feet again, it spin-kicked around at Link, who blocked the strike just in time.
Samus quickly shot a burst from her pistol to put her dark clone on the move, and kept doing the same as launched herself forward. She needed to close the distance before the Dark Samus could take advantage of it. Each pull of the trigger sent a small bolt of energy at her target, putting her off-track with each shot just enough to prevent counter-attack. Once up close, Samus kicked high, cracking the clone's blue visor with a single strike from her foot. In the same instant the sole of her foot made contact with the ground again, she shot her other leg outwards into the clone's left shin, sending its leg out from under it and bringing it down to one knee. She began to bring her gun upwards, planning to go straight for the head, but the clone swatted the weapon from her grip halfway through the movement and aimed her own weapon up. Samus moved her head to the side just before an energy blast shot from her opponent's arm cannon. She felt the heat radiating from the projectile as it narrowly missed her head.
Samus frowned and snapped forward to grab hold of the Dark Samus's arm cannon, pushing it to the side before it could fire again, then delivered an elbow to the clone's visor, cracking it further. She then yanked hard on the arm cannon, attempting to tear it off entirely. The first pull didn't do it, though, and Samus felt the harsh impact of the shadow's armored knee against her ribs, forcing a pained yell from her lungs. The Dark Samus then bashed its helmeted head against the left side of her head, filling her ear with a harsh ringing and sending her head spinning, her vision temporarily blurring. She lost her grip on her opponent's arm and was quickly flattened onto the ground. The Dark Samus stomped down onto Samus's chest, pinning her down, and aimed its weapon down at her head, energy charging up in its barrel. The shadow of Samus's own armor applied enough pressure to keep Samus from breathing. Samus attempted to push back, but her head was still ringing harshly, her strength not coming to her. She gasped for air as the energy in the enemy's weapon reached its peak.
Suddenly, a blast of electricity struck the Dark Samus in the back, sending it stumbling forward and missing its shot. It snapped its head around to see Pichu, yellow electrical currents sparking off and running up and down its small body, and an angered frown on its face. "Piii…chuuuu!" The tiny creature suddenly launched forward, surrounded by a field of electricity, and struck the Dark Samus dead center with its own body, pushing it off of Samus. Samus gratefully took in a few deep breaths, then lunged for her paralyzer on the ground.
The Dark Samus swatted Pichu off its torso, the hard strike making the creature's head spin. It let out a pained moan and glanced back up at the Dark Samus, which was already back on its feet and aiming its arm cannon downwards. Before it could fire, though, an energy blast shot through its head, fully shattering the already damaged visor and leaving a smoldering hole in its cranium. The Dark Samus fell to the side, before its body evaporated entirely. Samus held the smoking gun in front of her, before letting her arm fall to the side.
"Let's hope I never have to do that a third time," Samus panted while holding her side. She then walked toward and kneeled in front of Pichu, then gently pet his head, earning a happy squeak from it. "Seems you're a special little guy." She stood back up to her full height and eyed her armor in its containment unit.
Link was on the defensive, making good use of his shield to prevent his opponent's strikes from connecting. The Dark Samus was fast enough, however, to prevent Link from putting in attacks of his own. He had to create an opening. His opponent brought their leg up high and swung downwards. Instead of simply blocking the attack, Link swiped upwards with his shield, parrying the kick as well as putting the Dark Samus off balance, then thrust his blade forward, aiming to impale it swiftly. The Dark Samus flipped backwards, however, using the momentum Link gave it to avoid the attempted impalement. Midair, it charged up its arm cannon and aimed right at Link, whose shield was at his side because of his attack. Before it could fire, its torso was blasted open and it slammed onto the ground limply, dead before it even made impact, then faded away. Link took the chance to catch his breath, then snapped to the side to see Samus in her own suit of armor, her own arm cannon still wafting smoke.
Link sighed in relief and gave a grateful nod before sheathing his weapon. Before Samus could reply with even a simple nod, the entire monastery shook violently around them, rocking the ancient structure to the very foundation upon which it stood. It subsided after a few moments, but something told the two of them it was a bad sign.
"Time to go," Samus said as Pichu climbed up her suit and perched on her shoulder.
As the monastery rumbled around them, Mario grew more weary. "Something tells me that's a sign we should get outta here. And fast."
"Way ahead of ya, pal!' Sonic said. The mobian grabbed Mario by his arm and Kirby by his tiny little stub of a limb. "Hold on tight!" Sonic then blasted out of the room, gripping onto his companions firmly so they wouldn't fly back behind him. Within mere moments, the trio were back outside of the monastery. Sonic was unfazed, but as he let go of Mario and Kirby, he realized the two were left dazed and dizzy, with Kirby plopping down onto the ground as he regained his bearings.
"Next time… a little warning," Mario heaved.
"Ah, well, live and learn," Sonic shrugged. The ground below them rumbled, and the trio turned back around to see the monastery begin to break apart and crumble down into nothing but rubble, torn apart piece by piece until the ancient site became nothing but rock and memory. "Something tells me this wasn't a natural disaster."
"Threats discovered." A massive machine, far different from the ROBs, descended from above and dropped onto the ground before the heroes, shaking the ground again upon impact. The robot was two separate armored upper bodies attached to a single wheel with the yin-yang symbol on both sides, and the name DUON plastered along the rim. One upper body was painted pink with a cannon-barrel-like opening atop its head, with its arms having similar attachments instead of hands. The other upper body opposite the pink side was painted blue, and instead had two sharp ornate blades for hands and a similarly-designed blade atop it's head like a horn.
"That's a big robot…" Mario muttered.
"Intruders recognized. Variants logged. Beginning termination." The robot, Duon, then spun around so that its blue blade side faced them directly. Its wheel began to rev up, picking up speed while never actually moving forward. After building up enough, the robot then blasted forward and began swinging its blades quickly. Sonic simply ran out of the way, while Mario and Kirby leapt high over the attacks, barely getting over Duon itself. Before they could land, its pink side fired its cannons and hit both of them midair with energy blasts. The two tumbled to the ground wafting smoke. Sonic launched upward and primed a downward kick to strike at Duon, but the mechanized menace quickly began to spin in place at rapid speeds rivaling Sonic's own, creating gusts of wind. Sonic's eyes widened as he saw Duon's blades amongst the swirling storm of movement, realizing he was about to become mincemeat.
However, another vacuum of air began to pull Sonic away from the threat of being shred to death. Sonic looked back and saw Kirby inhaling, doing so with enough power to pull Sonic back towards him and Mario. Kirby released the pull once Sonic was out of harm's way. Mario was quickly back on his feet as well. "That didn't go very well," the plumber remarked while wiping himself off..
"Think this is that general the ROBs were talking about before?" Sonic questioned.
"Probably," Mario said. "Looks like the usual 'jump on his head' plan ain't gonna work here. Ideas?"
As they thought for a moment, Duon ceased his cyclone and turned its pink firing side towards them. Kirby noticed this, and an idea popped in his little head. He began hopping up and down. "Pahn! Pahn!"
"What are you saying, little buddy?" Mario asked.
"I think he's saying he's got a plan," Sonic attempted to translate. Kirby gave them both an affirmative nod. The three took notice of Duon charging its cannons for another firing barrage. "Here's your warning! Move!" Sonic once again grabbed his companions and sped out of the way just before energy blasts vaporized where they were standing in seconds. Sonic took them into the natural cover of the forest surrounding the monastery. The three crouched down even further out of sight, peeking out of the foliage as Duon began to use its blue side to cut down the forest, felling several trees at once with each swipe
"What's your plan, kid?" Mario asked. Kirby gestured to Duon out in the open, then used his two stub arms to gesture to the two opposite sides of Duon's being, ragefully laying waste to what remained of the ancient island. Kirby then turned and counted the three of them one by one. Mario tried to understand what Kirby was trying to convey, and upon another glance at Duon, it clicked. "Ah, I get it. If we keep both sides of him distracted at once, one of us can get him down the middle. He can't fight three of us if he's occupied in two directions already."
"Sounds like a good plan," Sonic said. "I'll take the ranged side."
Kirby reached into the seemingly endless storage of his body and pulled out a large sword from his gullet, and rose it high.
"Guess I'll be the one to take the middle then," Mario said.
Duon kept hacking away tree by tree, dead set on finding his quarry. Its guard wasn't lowered, though. It noticed as Kirby leapt up from the trees with his comically large sword and primed a downward swing. It swiftly attacked high to meet Kirby's weapon. Sonic then appeared in front of its back pink side wearing a confident smirk and crossing his arms. "Hey, buddy! Don't you want me too? You can't let him have all the fun!" The pink side narrowed its eyes and quickly began to fire more lasers the Mobian's way. Sonic quickly dodged every shot, though, keeping the robot's attention his way. "Come on, aren't machines supposed to be better than us living things in every way?" Sonic continued to mock.
As the blue blades swung at Kirby, the pink ball parried every attack and met with equal, if not greater, strength. The blue half of Duon had enough of the swinging back and forth and primed a thrusting drive with its right-hand blade. Kirby sidestepped the attempted impalement and sliced the blade-hand clean off the rest of the arm. Duon let out a howl as it then stared at its dismembered mechanical limb. It then swiped its remaining arm at Kirby, who cleaved that weapon off at the elbow, leaving the machine with no reach. At this point, the pink side stopped firing at Sonic.
"What's wrong? Get tired already?" Sonic mouthed off. That was when several missiles shot out of the barrel atop the pink half's head, the projectiles shooting up into the air before turning on a dime and blasting right for Sonic. "Wuh oh!" Sonic revved up and sprinted away in a second, the missiles chasing after him into the forest. Once the pink side was unoccupied, the blue side bent over and pointed its head-blade forward, then surged forward like a rhino, once again aiming to impale Kirby. The Dreamland hero slashed his weapon upward, connecting with Duon's ornament weapon, and then shattering it into a thousand metal shards.
Duon's wheel slowed as it passed Kirby. The pink side now faced Kirby and leaned forward to show its control, then aimed its cannon's forward again. Kirby wasn't worried, though. "Ma roh!" Kirby called out Mario's name as best he could, then tossed his sword high up into the air, even above Duon's heads. As he did, Mario leapt up from a nearby treetop, having been waiting for the right moment, and caught the sword midair, holding it above his head in both hands as he eyed his target: the gap between Duon's twin upper bodies. As Mario fell, he slashed the large blade downwards, bisecting Duon at the base and separating the two upper halves. The two halves split apart and rolled forward as far as they could with each half of their shared wheel before toppling forward.
"Now that's what I call two birds with one stone," Mario quipped, then tossed the sword back to Kirby, who simply swallowed the weapon, absorbing it back into wherever it came from. Explosions sounded from the direction Sonic fled in, and before long, Sonic broke through the treeline with only a single missile remaining tailing him. Kirby and Mario leapt away as Sonic ran straight for the pink half of Duon, left defenseless on the ground. Just before he would've collided with the collapsed robot, Sonic instead dropped and slid under it, sliding away as the final missile tagged the half of Doon instead, blowing it up into nothing but hot shrapnel. Sonic returned to his feet and admired his handiwork, and the other two heroes returned to his side.
"Great job all around, everybody," Sonic said, Mario giving him a fist bump.
"Impossible," the remaining blue half of Duon said. The trio turned to face the crippled machine. "Trillions died before you. Your methods were logged. Variation equations ran. Failure is not possible."
"Doesn't seem that way, pal. Guess you're not so smart after all," Mario said. "Where has Tabuu taken our friends?"
Duon ignored him, however. "Failure is impossible. Corruption is impossible. Failure… is not an option." Duon's chest opened to reveal a different, far more advanced-looking device filling a hollow space within the cavity. It was a silver orb with a red X painted on it, which then split in half to reveal an orb of chaotic, unstable purple energy within, and a timer appeared at the bottom of the device, starting at one minute and counting down. "Subspace absorption protocol activated."
"Why is it always a bomb?" Sonic questioned. From above, they heard the roar of engines, and an airship with red and orange paint job and a large green viewport descended from stopped just short of landing and a loading ramp lowered toward them, with Link waiting at the top of it, waving them on. The other three quickly leapt onto the ramp and entered the ship.
"We gotta get outta here fast! There's a bomb about to go off, and something tells me it's gonna be a really big boom!" Mario exclaimed as they entered and ran towards the large cockpit, where Samus was at the controls with Pichu perched on the edge of the main control terminal.
"On it," Samus replied before acting quickly on the controls, closing the control ramp and pulling the ship back up into the air, blasting off away from the Isle of the Ancients.
"Minister, can you hear us?" Mario asked into his ear-bound comm.
"Yes! I can! There seemed to be some interference with our communications for a moment there," The Minister said.
"No kidding. We're on our way out, can you open a rift to us?" Mario asked.
"Indeed, my friend. One moment." As the ship blasted off, Samus pulled up a holographic screen of the island behind them. As they blasted off, the Isle of the Ancients quickly became consumed by purple energy, a massive spherical blast quickly spreading and building up, until the isle in the sky was gone. The energy dissipated, and the ancient site was left as nothing more than history.
Upon return to Peach's Castle, Samus had landed the ship just outside. The group reunited with the Minister in the conference room, which had been cleaned up and repaired while the initial foursome had been gone. Now the group of six stood together with the Minister at the conference table, the latter of whom was clearly disturbed.
"A subspace bomb," The minister said. "I had thought them all destroyed in the last war. But it seems Tabuu spent those mellenia preparing for his return."
"What kind of weapons are these?" Samus asked.
"A subspace bomb is a device capable of absorbing entire cities in seconds in Subspace energy, creating a bubble of contained reality which then transports the location into Subspace."
"Why would Tabuu want to take locations to Subspace?" Mario questioned.
"Before, it was to take away our homes one by one. If there was no battlefield left, there would be no war to be fought," The Minister explained. "Although, as I mentioned before, his methods have changed somewhat, and I do not have an explanation as to why. What data were you able to recover before the Isle was taken?"
"We got his next two hits: somewhere back in Link's homeworld, and a place called Abel City," Sonic answered.
"Then it is those places we shall go," the Minister said. "I had hoped my old home would serve as a home base, but it seems the Mushroom Kingdom will have to do. Rest, heroes. For there is much work to be done."
New Challengers Approach!
Samus Aran
Pichu
Duon