A/N: Heya! New chapter's here!

Yeeeeaaah so these notes are gonna be really long so I'll cut to the chase here. It's the third part of the Arrival of the Fittest arc, the smashers are still setting up for the party while six newcomers have banded together and picked up their first newcomer, many shenanigans have ensued and many more will continue to do so and yadda yadda yadda here we go!

Replies:

Matador the Spanish Swordsman - Thanks a bunch. Technically speaking, they're still part of the Smash Brothers cast, just not part of the Smash 4 cast. But I'm thinking about it. Tanooki Lucina...I will consider it.

Plasmatroopa - via PM.

Twin Cats - Me too, TC. Me too. Who knows what's gonna go down when the newcomers finally settle in. XD

Majo Majo - via PM.

Thehobkinauthor - Thank you so much! Phew, glad to see that lots of people think Mega Man is good. Yes, I have heard of Sanic, lol. I'm kinda sad that they took out Sonic's "You're too slow!" taunt, though. That was the best.

UltimaRedFox - Thanks! Well Mega Man is cool. I read the comics 1-49 on YouTube and I've been reading the Worlds Unite crossover on the Sonic SCANF website. (Proto Man is my fave character btw) Though I have yet to play the games...but that's where the spiritual successor Mighty No. 9 comes in. So I'll probably play that. Ah, you made bullet points.

1a) Lucas is back, so we don't have to worry about him. I'm not sure about the other guys yet. The remaining cuts are Snake, Wolf, the Ice Climbers, Red/Squirtle/Ivysaur, Young Link, and Pichu. And we have until October 3rd to find out about more fighters since the Smash Ballot is open, so I gotta think some more on that.

2a/b) Well I wasn't really planning on it, as I'm trying to avoid having too much romance in here. (Plus, um, I'm still trying to figure out the situation with male and female Robin; as female Robin can be Lucina's mother and male Robin can be her friend/love interest.) I have a friend on this site who knows a lot about Fire Emblem (if you're reading this, hi Chompy XD), so if I don't get to sit down and watch a playthrough in time or pick up a copy of the game, then I'll ask her about everything I need to know.

2c) Yeah I can probably see that happening, haha.

3) Street Fighter X Tekken...the Pac-Man mecha-suit...oh boy. I'll keep the idea in mind.

4) I'm still thinking, man! A creative mind is very fragile, and any sort of overload could absolutely and definitely damage it! (Okay, real excuse is I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing with him yet)

Yeah, it probably is. A lot of the stuff on DeviantART is very questionable to say the least, and I'm sure there's no exception when it comes to written work on there. But anyway, nice talking to ya!

NinjaWolf4 - That's a relief! XD Thanks for reading! Well yeah, I mean she's essentially a living mannequin. I'd honestly be freaked out if I saw her in real life. But yes, no offense to any Wii Fit Trainer lovers. Thanks again for reading!

MagicalPuttemtator - Hey! Yeah dude, it has been a while. I don't want them to go either; I mained them in Brawl alongside Falco and Kirby and many other characters. Wonder no more, as you get to see more of that after this section! And you'll just have to wait and find out to see what's to come. Yeah, I definitely can't wait to bring in 8-Player Smash in this story. Love ya too. :D

Guest - Aw thanks. Glad it was "pretty damn funny" for you. XD

Guest#2 - Yeah, yeah, I know; I never played Twilight Princess or that much of Zelda. Cut me some slack. I did play Spirit Tracks and Wind Waker HD, though (And Four Swords Anniversary Edition). In general, isn't Link called the Hero of Time? And I made that chapter when I was 14...I've learned and grown a lot in 2 years. :P

PK Love Gamma - I'm getting around to it, don't worry. Hopefully the chapter right here is good for now as another chapter.

SuperSmasher - No, don't cry! I want to make you laugh! I look forward to writing more as well; thank you, and thank you for reading!

And you guys...this story now has over 20,000 hits. I am cry. (Yes, I am cry.) Thank you readers, followers, reviewers, and those who have favorited this thing. I never expected it to get so much views!

With that thank you out of the way, you guys deserve to read the next part of the arc. But before we start, I'd like to give a special message.

In between the time of writing this, the president of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, sadly passed away on July 11th, 2015 at age 55. I am wholly grateful for the impact he's made on the Nintendo community as a whole; not only working on programming a few games in his time like EarthBound and Pokémon, but also telling us about information in the Nintendo Directs as well. It's going to be hard to accept his passing for a while, but for now we can reflect on what he did to make Nintendo what it is today. He wanted to make video games fun for everyone.

R.I.P. Satoru Iwata, 1959-2015. You will be greatly missed by many around the world.

With that, please enjoy this chapter.

With Smashers Like These:

Arrival of the Fittest - Part 3

Back at the Super Smash Mansion, organizing the arrangements for the upcoming party continue without interruption. Much progress has been made as established by the fact that the smashers now only have just a few more tasks to finish before the preparations would be considered complete. While the time is right and the smashers are settled down from the earlier events, Master Hand holds a short meeting in the living room.

"Crazy Hand and I are going out for a while." the floating right hand announces to the smashers gathered before him.

A beat of silence lingers in the living room for about five seconds.

"...That's it?" Luigi asks in having anticipated for more to be said, just like some of the other smashers have.

"Mm-hmm." Master Hand commences a gesture that can be interpreted as a nod. At this, Wolf is heard to scoff at the response as he folds his arms across his chest.

"No special instructions?" he snarks, "No temporary rules or restrictions or a list of consequences based on what we destroy while you're out?"

"Nope. Just continue on with your tasks that involve preparing for the party."

"Hmph." Wolf averts his gaze from the hand to somewhere towards the far right of the room.

For a second time, despite the living room being the central hub for many meetings and discussions that take place there, it lacks conversation.

"...Okay, cool." Bowser does a half-hearted shrug and starts walking away from the gathering once deeming for himself that the meeting is over. The smashers take this as a sign to exit the living room as well, and they begin to do so. But one smasher isn't so content with the compliance of not just one, but two of the hand entities leaving the house, and leaving the Super Smash Brothers to manage the mansion just by themselves...

The potential dangers of doing that could result in five of many things: an explosion, an angry riot of local townsfolk forming outside the house and one of the townspeople throwing a Bob-omb, thus creating an explosion, a mass brawl breaking out and abruptly ending with a Smart Bomb explosion, straight up death, or death by explosion. (Or trophication if one wants to be technical, because in the world of Super Smash Brothers, no one ever really dies.)

"DON'T LEAVE US ALONE!" Pit's desperate voice rings throughout the room as he runs forward to where the hand brothers are floating; though he doesn't run past without smacking a few people with his spazzing wings along the way, much to the hit smashers' displeasure.

"Pit, calm down." Lucario, exasperated and now rubbing at an eye that was victim to the wrath of Pit's wings, says to the angel.

Falco flicks away one of the stray feathers that happened to land on his shoulder and watches it drift to the floor. "Yeah, no one wants to be blind." he says.

"I'm sure you will all be fine." the hand in charge of the mansion reassures in a sincere tone; mostly to ease Pit's apprehension, "Should trouble arise while we're out, if anything, just give us a call."

"Yeah, definitely!" Crazy Hand agrees.

Master Hand then floats towards the front door with Crazy Hand in tow. In a fleeting farewell, the right hand says, "We'll be going now. Continue to prepare the party for the newest members of the Super Smash Brothers!"

"Bye!" Crazy Hand uses his body to initiate a wave to the smashers.

With that, the front door to the Smash Mansion opens and the two hands float outside, and soon the door closes behind them not a second after.

The smashers take the time to let the departure of Master Hand and Crazy Hand sink in for a moment. They would all be on their own for approximately a set few hours—or possibly even more—without being under the supervision of Master Hand or Crazy Hand...

Ten seconds pass since the hands have floated out of the door. Nothing bad has happened to them within that time. So far, so good.

"...Alright, see you guys later." the composed Zero Suit Samus, not possessing the fear that seems to be instilled within a few of the smashers, announces before leaving with Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and R.O.B. to resume their part in helping out with party preparations.

"Red, don't slack off this time, alright?" Fox teases to the pokémon trainer. The corners of the good natured-smirk on Fox's face turn up even further at the sight of the now flustered trainer's reaction.

"Wha-I was never slacking off!" he quickly defends.

"Squirtle and Diddy Kong beg to differ." Fox gestures to the said two smashers, and they hold their heads high at the prospect of being hard workers. Meanwhile, Peach happily skips through the living room towards the direction of the kitchen and acknowledges Kirby in passing without even glancing his way.

"Come along, Kirby. I'm going to bake more sweets and I need a taste tester!" she beams. Kirby's eyes instantly light up at the idea, and he expresses his enthusiasm with a "Yay!" before running after her.

"W-Wait, Peach! I can be a taste tester too!" King Dedede volunteers with an outstretched hand while following after the princess, as not only a way to get out of doing work, but to snack on some delicious baked goods while he's at it. Though with wide eyes, the king suddenly steps back in bewilderment as he is startled by the force that zips past his frame; the force having so much speed that it probably could've barreled right through the king if he hadn't moved in time.

Sonic's out-of-body "Me tooooo...!" is nearly nonexistent above the speed of his feet as he whizzes past the others in leaving a light breeze, ruffled hair, fur, and feathers, and people clutching onto anything loose in his wake.

Sooner or later, the whole of the smashers disperse to various locations in the house, whether it be to get some more work done on setting up or to slack off entirely without a single care. As for Ike, Marth, Snake, and Toon Link, they return to their previous location to finish their task of setting up tables for the party.

A few minutes into their devoted work, Ike decides to make some conversation.

"Random question." the swordsman begins, looking down at the plastic blue tablecloth he's unfolding.

"Shoot." Marth says, arranging one of the tables accordingly. Alongside him, Snake is doing the same with another table.

"Is there gonna be Crazy Punch at this party?"

"Oh Naga, I hope not." the prince stops and stands upright to stare into space with evident concern in his eyes, feeling uneasy at just at the possibility.

"I doubt that we're getting something else to be the main drink, though." While standing up, Snake presses a palm onto one of the tables he just moved and leans on the same palm with a slight tilt of his head.

"The newcomers couldn't possibly handle whatever is put in that...unorthodox concoction."

"No kidding."

"That's why I found a place to keep a secret soda stash. I got you guys covered." Ike informs his fellow smashers, looking between the two. Marth acknowledges the information with a nod.

"I appreciate the gesture." he says, "Although Crazy Hand will be disheartened to see no one having his drink..."

"Well I'm not trying to wake up with bagels taped to my eyes the next morning or something."

Toon Link, who had been listening to the entirety of the conversation while on his knees and rummaging through a cardboard box on the floor, pokes his head up from the box with knitted eyebrows and directs his eyes to Ike.

"...That's happened to you before?" he asks with a half-wary, half-weirded out expression.

"Yeah." Ike answers (Toon Link recoils at the response a little), "The most random things seem to happen to people who cross paths with Crazy Punch...just ask anyone who's ever drank it. Heh, if they even remember drinking it."

Toon Link's eyes settle into a bewildered, vacant stare as he straightens his posture from leaning over the box and brings his hands to rest on his lap. "...I'm not sure if I want to..."

"It's probably for the best." Marth slowly nods at the young swordsman upon saying this, mostly in making sure he understands that drinking Crazy Punch would guarantee absolutely weird things to happen if he ever even touched the stuff.

Snake arranges himself to sit atop the table he was previously leaning on. "I still don't see why the Hands don't want the younger smashers anywhere near it." he inputs, "Whatever the hell goes on in this place is pretty up to par with the side effects of downing some drink."

"Wait, what exactly is in Crazy Punch that makes it okay for other smashers to drink except us kids?" the cartoon Link is genuinely curious about this.

"That's the thing; we don't know—" the soldier pauses to narrow his eyes, then awesomely puts a toothpick in the side of his mouth before he continues, "—and the Hands won't tell us...or at least, Crazy Hand won't. I'm convinced that most of the time when Crazy Hand makes Crazy Punch, Master Hand doesn't know a single thing about it. Master Hand just thinks it's regular juice."

"But it does taste like regular juice. Like really good fruit punch." Ike affirms, looking between the two grown up smashers.

"And carbon dioxide smells like regular air while it can still kill you." Snake looks Ike dead in the eyes as he says this.

Probably one of the most tense silences in the history of long silences occurs right after that. Maybe it was the intonation of Snake's tone and him being a soldier and all that made his point sound more serious than intended, but either way, it didn't sit well with the smashers.

"...That took a pretty dark turn there, Snake." Marth admits in a perturbed voice, very much speaking for the other two swordsmen.

Snake looks off to the side while folding one leg over the other and lets out a prattle of incoherent muttering, grumpily leaning his head into his hand and slipping his other hand under the elbow resting on his propped leg.

Not too long after that, a familiar racer approaches the four smashers with a mood as upbeat as can be; very much in contrast of the present mood that the four currently had to be enshrouded in.

"Hey guys!" the racer, who is none other than the well known Captain Falcon, greets the group with a lively wave.

"Hey Cap."

"Hi Captain."

"S'up?" three of the smashers return in greeting. Ike asks, "What do you need?"

Putting his hands on his hips and turning his head away, Captain Falcon pretends to look at something in the distance before answering, which contributes greatly to making himself appear all the more cinematic (as he usually is).

"I'm looking for Wario..." he says, shifting his eyes from left to the right. Then in a swift movement, he turns his head back to the group, "Have any of you guys seen him, by any chance?"

"No."

"Nah."

"Nope." some reply, while they either shrug or shake their heads.

"I figured." Captain Falcon looks down and moves a hand to place a fist under his chin. "Well, thanks anyway. See ya!" he says before walking off elsewhere.

"Bye."

"Later."

"See ya." the smashers respond to the retreating figure.

Once Captain Falcon disappears entirely from their view, Marth turns back to the other three smashers.

"Now why would he be looking for Wario?" he wonders, basically verbalizing the rest of the group's thoughts. Snake shrugs with folded arms, feeling indifferent about the whole thing.

"I dunno." he answers. "Probably stole something from him."

"Hmm."

Ending the conversation at that, the three swordsmen and the individual soldier return to setting up the tables for the soon to be coming party.

Meanwhile, Captain Falcon continues his search inside the Smash Mansion for the WarioWare Smash representative.

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In one of the many corridors of the grand Smash Mansion, a distinct and selfish voice is heard to be echoing throughout the halls in the midst of letting loose his current thoughts in a meaningless self monologue.

"...They think Wario cares about a bunch of silly newcomers? Ha! As long as Wario gets to stay, nothing else is of importance!"

Wario happens to be one of the smashers who went off to go do anything but good and honest work after Master Hand's meeting. This is why it's fairly no surprise when Captain Falcon easily finds Wario wandering the halls without a care in the world, and he wastes no time in calling out to him.

"Hey, Wario!" Captain Falcon says, running over to the shorter smasher and stopping in front of him. Wario stops in his tracks and looks up at Captain Falcon with an annoyed glare.

"What do you want?" he says impatiently. Leaning down to meet his height, Captain Falcon places a hand on Wario's shoulder and solemnly looks Wario in the eyes.

"...I need you to go on the intercom and announce a Code Gray." he says.

Now, to those living inside the Smash Mansion, a Code Gray would mean that at the time of the call, a universal disturbance is present within the realm of which they live in, and it must be dealt with absolutely and positively immediately. So for someone like Captain Falcon to casually ask Wario about performing something for a usually serious matter, Wario had figured that Captain Falcon is probably trying to do something stupid again.

And surely enough, when Wario catches a glance of the outside view through the nearby hallway window, the setting is perfectly normal.

"What are you on about? There's nothing even happening outside!" he exclaims with a wild hand gesture towards the window pane.

"Yes... " Captain Falcon flicks his eyes from Wario to the window and back before going on with his explanation, "...buuuuut I lost my Blue Falcon keys and no one's going to help me look if I just say it over the loudspeaker myself!"

"Well that's too bad for you, because Wario doesn't do favors for anyone!" Wario proudly declares, and shakes Captain Falcon's hand off of his shoulder.

Standing himself upright, Captain Falcon pauses and carefully eyes Wario from under his triangle-eye helmet visor. In return, Wario narrows his eyes at the racer in a silent gesture to get across the message that he isn't going to budge for anything.

Captain Falcon contemplates his next action. Like every smasher, he knows some information about the each of them; and for some smashers he has more knowledge about them than others. With Wario in particular, Captain Falcon knows a lot about him. Enough to know that the one thing Wario loves the most out of anything could be used to his advantage in reeling Wario in.

It is then that Captain Falcon decides to go for his Plan B.

"...I'll pay you a hundred bucks."

"Deal!"

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.

"Maybe a little to the left..."

"Marth, we've be going 'left' for the five times that you've alternated between saying to go left and then right."

"I know Snake, but I think this time it might go in the right spot!"

"You better be right..."

Marth, Ike, Snake and Toon Link carry on with putting their efforts towards setting up tables. As Ike and Snake arrange the tables in various ways to make them serviceable for any party goers, Marth stands a distance away with one hand behind his back and the other under his chin in observation, offering a scrutinizing eye to ensure that the table placement is perfect. Off to the side, Toon Link is shaking out a plastic red table cloth that he would spread over Ike and Snake's current table once they were done getting it into place. All seems to be going perfectly fine when Wario enters the living room in a walk and stops short before the group.

Naturally, everyone stops what they're doing to stare at the newly appearing smasher with anticipation. No one says or does anything for a moment; the group expects Wario to at least say something to them and Wario just stands there in silence.

That's when Wario suddenly grabs Toon Link by the wrist before anyone can comprehend it, stealing away with the tiny smasher under his arm like a sports ball and summoning his motorcycle from hammerspace before riding away.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Toon Link mindlessly shrieks. Because honestly, who wouldn't in the event of being snatched up by someone?

His toothpick falling out of his mouth, Snake bristles and whips out his RPG from his own hammerspace in record time to blast Wario into bits and save Toon Link from his plight. Ike's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates and the swordsman quickly pushes the barrel of the weapon down before the soldier can shoot, vehemently shaking his head in warning and saving the house from suffering through any further explosion damages. Grudgingly, Snake fully lowers the weapon and glances at it with a hint of longing before looking back up to the receding image of Wario on his bike, who is somehow miraculously still holding on to the captured Toon Link while he continues to struggle in his grasp.

"...He has like, goddesses, right?" Snake asks as he stares at the two retreating smashers, while Toon Link's yelling becomes fainter and fainter.

"Well yeah, he should..." Marth answers.

Snake pauses for a minute to contemplate this.

"...He'll be fine." he says, looking to the floor and nodding with self-reassurance; and then he turns to Marth, "They'll protect him, won't they?"

"These are the same goddesses that flooded his Hyrule." Marth says.

"Okay, so they'll drown Wario in some way in order to save their Courage attribute."

Marth and Ike exchange glances with each other upon hearing Snake's conclusion, wordlessly noting to themselves that Snake clearly doesn't understand anything about how divine protection works.

"Anyway, let's just keep working without him. Wario won't do anything to get kicked out of Smash, and I'm sure Master Hand is gonna find out about whatever he's doing and punish him for it later. Maybe ban him from tonight's party. That'd be nice."

Snake goes back to work soon after saying that. Marth and Ike's eyes meet in a glance with each other again, and Ike does a slow shrug in resignation with his palms turned up.

"If you say so..." Marth says, and he and Ike return to helping arrange the party tables with Snake; their group of four now shortened to three.

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Sometime after the kidnapping, Wario brings his Wario Bike to a stop in a hallway. It most likely has to do with him being far away enough so that nobody else would hear his conversation, but it can also be that he was getting really fed up with Toon Link's screaming. Either way, he sets the noisy smasher down on his feet after hopping off his bike and stares at him for a moment in wondering how to get him to calm down.

"Listen up, kid!" Wario says, deciding to just get on with it. For some reason, Toon Link ultimately shuts up and curiously darts his eyes to the biker with his mouth remaining open. Maybe he's been annoying enough that Wario is going to let him free?

"You need to go on the intercom and announce a Code Gray for Captain Falcon. I was supposed to do it since he's paying me a hundred bucks, but I decided that getting you to do it is easier! Wahaha!"

Toon Link closes his mouth and changes his facial expression to that of a contradictory one. "But there's nothing happening outside...?" he says, not even needing to look out a window to confirm it.

"He doesn't want to make a regular announcement because he knows no one will listen to him." Wario explains this with half lidded eyes and disinterestedly waves his hand. "Now go! Do it!" he shoos the young swordsman away in the general direction of Master Hand's office.

"Why do I have to do it? You're getting paid in full cash and money is one of your favorite things!" Toon Link reasons.

"Because I say so! And you'd better do it—or I'll sell everything single thing that you've ever owned." Wario emphasizes his point further by leaning towards the hero with his hands on his hips and narrows his eyes, moving closer upon voicing each word: "Every. Single. Thing!"

"You wouldn't..." Toon Link isn't the least bit fazed by the threat, and he displays this by shaking his head and narrowing his own eyes as well. "You can't do that without the time to gather everything at once."

"Oh? Let's take a trip to your room then, shall we?" Wario offers this without waiting for a response and begins to set off for the young smasher's room. Toon Link follows after him, still skeptical that Wario could accomplish such a feat, but wanting to know if he really did such a thing nonetheless.

Wario stands to the side of the doorway once they arrive at the room, and Toon Link gives a questionable glance in response to the smug grin he receives from Wario. The grin stretches even broader as the WarioWare smasher absolutely relishes the look on the young swordsman's face at the sight of his stark empty room upon opening the door.

"Wahahaha! Do you see now, puny child?" Wario mocks as Toon Link stares into the space with a gaping mouth, his eyes scanning over barren spots where his things used to belong. The dresser, the bookshelves, and even the bunk bed is nowhere to be seen despite the outlines of the items remaining present on the carpet.

"When and where did you find the time to rob me?!" Toon Link exclaims, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that the only things that he has now that are still in his possession, minus a few other things, are the clothes on his back.

"While you were distracted with screaming like a banshee." Wario states matter-of-factly. "Now, go do what I said or you'll never see your stuff again!"

Toon Link, deciding that he likes his things far too much for them to be sold and having no other choice because of that, eventually gives in. He folds his arms across his chest and looks off to the side with a glower in his eyes, gritting his teeth in defeat. "Fine..."

"Excellent!" Wario enunciates, summoning his Wario Bike at will. Then for added measure, he says, "Oh, and get those brats you hang out with to help you too!"

"What? No!" the hero immediately turns to Wario in protest upon realizing what he said, his eyebrows now flexed in fury. "Leave my friends out of this!"

"Do it with them or they will suffer the same fate! Wahahahaha!"

Drifting out several donuts a few times on his motorcycle before speeding off, Wario rides deeper into the halls with echoing laughter, pleased with the fact that when the other smashers would find out the real reason for the Code Gray, it would be them getting into trouble instead of himself.

Toon Link on the other hand is left to do nothing but feel the muscles of his right eye violently twitch, staring down the retreating smasher in silence for as long as he can endure before he releases a pent up sigh in defeat.

"I guess I'm gonna need some help anyway..." he says dejectedly.

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Eventually, Toon Link had gathered his friends together to perform the troublesome deed for Wario. When explaining to them about what Wario has at stake in the scenario of Toon Link defying him, they understood that dealing with any situation involving Wario is annoying enough as is, and with full support they agreed to help out their friend for the sake of his, and their own, personal belongings.

The five young smashers are currently occupying Master Hand's office. The each of them make up a part of the circle they're standing in on one side of the leather rolling chair behind the desk, and they have just finished coming up with a plan on how to enact the Code Gray.

"...Does Master Hand even need this chair?" Ness suddenly wonders out of the blue, debatably looking the hand's chair up and down with one eyebrow flexed and the other one raised.

"Does he need his own bathroom?" Nana returns, "'Cause I'm sure he doesn't need that and he has one anyway."

"There's a lot of things he doesn't need..." Popo says, now starting to seriously think about Master Hand's necessities as his eyebrows bunch themselves together.

"So, uh, are we ready?" Toon Link asks in regards to get the group back on track and initiate the discussed plan. An apologetic grin forms on Popo's face.

"Recap one more time?" he kindly asks.

"Nana and Toon Link will stay here and announce the Code Gray. I'll teleport to the alarm panel and push the necessary button while you and Lucas go around telling the others of the alarm. We'll give you 30 seconds to spread out inside the house." Ness explains to Popo before open-endedly asking, "Any more questions?"

"Yeah; why are we doing this again?" Lucas says.

"Because Wario is going to ruin our lives if we don't." Toon Link reminds.

"Oh, right..."

"This better be worth it..." Nana mutters, hoping that Wario would actually keep to his word. Her expression then lightens and she says to her fellow smashers with a nod, "Alright guys; now you can go."

"Yes ma'am." Ness salutes to the female ice climber. Ness then runs into the empty hallway and takes a couple steps back from where the doorway lies, making to teleport to his desired location by breaking into a run and staying in a completely straight line as he does so. He soon disappears without a trace, excluding the left behind brief sparks of psychic energy that fizzle in place of where he had vanished.

"See you guys outside!" Popo says with a held up hand as a wave before leaving through the doorway with Lucas following behind. Once the two smashers tread into the hallway and close the door behind themselves, Nana and Toon Link look to each other and give determined nods, the both of them climbing onto the rolling chair to stand over the table and soon beginning to count down in their heads from 30.

Ness arrives right in front of the mansion's alarm panel after a successful teleport (though not without having to shake the teleport soot off of himself) and quickly locates the Code Gray button. With the usage of his powers, he connects his mind with Toon Link's and Nana's upstairs to mentally count down with them at a consistent pace.

Lucas and Popo complete their travels to a central point in the mansion and idly wait for their given 30 seconds to pass, Lucas linking with Ness' mind to countdown with him as well.

In time, the final seconds are soon upon the five young smashers.

Lucas and Popo shift their bodies into running stances in preparation to run through the house.

Toon Link hovers a finger over the intercom button while Nana grasps a gloved hand over the handle of the microphone associated with it.

Ness readies himself to press the Code Gray button, his facial features tensing ever so slightly.

"Three..." Lucas announces steadily as he lowers his head.

"...Two..." Nana counts, her hand holding the neck of the microphone tighter.

"...One..." Toon Link says beside her, wrapping his free hand around the microphone handle and gripping close enough above Nana's hand so that it touches hers.

"...Now!" Ness voices to the others in his mind with telepathic speech. The psychic pushes the gray button on the alarm panel and a shrill alarm begins blaring throughout the house, sounding in two second intervals before pausing and sounding immediately again right after the pause.

"Code Gray! There is a Code Gray everyone!" Toon Link and Nana simultaneously alert into the microphone, projecting their voices into the house for everyone to hear and repeating the phrase several times. Lucas and Popo break into a sprint, the two of them going in opposite directions to warn any other housemates about the 'emergency' on their hands.

Meanwhile, in a hallway, a few smashers are picking up the trash left from unwrapping new decorations when they direct their gazes to the speaker above their heads.

"Code Gray?" Mario wonders with a perplexed gaze, listening to the alert being announced once again.

Kirby cautiously darts his blue eyes around. "Uh oh..."

"I figured. Having new fighters entering this realm makes for the perfect opportunity for a tampering with the world." Lucario states at a level volume, his eyes focused on the floor.

"Exactly right." Meta Knight agrees with a nod. He transforms his Dimensional Cape into a pair of wings and brandishes his faithful golden sword, Galaxia, before saying, "Let's move."

The four smashers set out, following the example of the other smashers in the mansion who are heading outside to handle the unknown inter-dimensional threat. As many fighters rush through the mansion corridors to get to the front door, Ness watches them pass by while he stands in place in front of the alarm panel.

"Alright, I think you guys should come down now." the boy messages to his friends, "Wanna meet me where I am?"

"Sure." the four mentally voice back, now heading on their way to meet the psychic.

The mass of fighters spill out of the Smash Mansion front door in a continuously moving line, spreading themselves out quickly in the space in front of the house as to not block the others trailing behind them and to get a view of the threat as well. Soon, everyone is in attendance outside, and the air falls quiet after the sounds that are produced by swords being unsheathed, guns and blasters being readied, and knuckles being cracked from tightly clenching fists.

The Super Smash Brothers stand proud and strong, primed to fight off the horrible, peace-disrupting monster...

...that is absolutely not there.

"...Where is it?" Wolf growls, itching to shoot something, anything, that isn't a sandbag, a practice target, or someone that annoys him. (Or maybe scratch that last one since he was getting pretty close to doing that now.)

"I guess it is not here." Captain Falcon responds in a noticeable monotone, a product of failing to express at least a believable emotion of contemplation. He starts off his next sentence with much more enthusiasm than the last as he takes a step forward from the smashers and turns to them with a complacent grin. "So...has anyone seen my keys?"

A few of the smashers blink at the helmeted man in silence while others just stare on wordlessly.

"...Huh?" they chorus, a number of head tilts being performed.

"My Blue Falcon keys. I'm looking for them. It's why I arranged for this whole Code Gray."

Another short silence gauges between the smashers and Captain Falcon, some of them now staring at him with disbelief.

"...What?" Ganondorf hisses with a glare, putting a sharp emphasis on the T, and now ready to Warlock Punch Captain Falcon into the next life. A round of complaints soon resonate after that, and the Gerudo King keeps his eyes locked on the racer as many voices begin to overlap one another.

"Are you serious?"

"You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Come on, man!"

"Pika, pikachu!"

"My nap was interrupted...for a Code Gray that wasn't even real..."

"I can't believe this."

"Not cool, dude."

"Let's just go back inside." King Dedede suggests after the majority of the backlash has died down.

The muttering smashers about-face and shuffle back to the mansion's front door, of course extremely irritated about the whole ordeal. Mario, being the person leading the group, puts a hand on the doorknob once he reaches it, but soon widens his eyes in surprise upon finding the doorknob stiff.

"The door's locked..." Mario informs in an unnerved voice, slowly turning to the smashers behind himself.

Yet, another silence holds the smashers captive within that moment.

"...Please. No. Please don't do this." Marth pleads with every ounce of his self-worth, "Please be joking. Please not today."

"It's locked, Marth!" Mario pushes on the door a few times while jiggling the knob to prove his point.

"What about the alternate exit that is the back door?" R.O.B. asks hopefully.

Sonic demonstratively volunteers to check by running to the back of the house. Not even a second after, he returns to the smashers to deliver some bad news.

"Back door's locked too." he reports, jerking a thumb in the direction of the said door.

Pit dramatically crumbles to his hands and knees on the ground, dropping his head and shouting "No!" while a few eye rolls commence at the actions of the drama queen. Red goes over to the angel to console him with a sympathetic look on his face, soon resting a hand on one of the angel's shoulders once he stops next to him.

"What made you think it was a good idea to lock the door!?" Pit lifts his head and shouts in mock-hysterical despair.

"It's out of habit! I'm sorry!" Mario explains. Being the courteous and considerate hero that he is, he was the one to make sure everyone else had made it out of the house first before he left himself. "And it's not like we could tell that the Code Gray wasn't serious from the start. Surely, if I knew, I would've left the door open."

"We have to be set up for a party in less than four hours..." Falco is heard to say in the distance, his voice faint from being towards the back and adding to his distance further by taking a few steps away from the crowd. Zelda casts a quick glance at the skyward-staring bird holding the top of his head before going on to address Mario.

"Speaking of that," she begins, subsequently looking to the plumber, "If Captain Falcon was the one who warranted the Code Gray, then why were Toon Link and Nana the ones making the announcement over the intercom?"

All of the smashers then turn their gazes to where the younger smashers stand, setting their eyes on the mentioned Toon Link and Nana in particular. The question did raise curiosity as to why those two were the ones to voice the announcement. And with all those eyes staring at them, the difficulty level in struggling to keep their cool certainly increased tenfold.

"...IT WAS A SET UP!" Toon Link suddenly blurts out from under pressure, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Wario threatened us to make the Code Gray announcement or otherwise he would sell all our stuff!" Nana adds in.

With the rest of the younger smashers voicing their testimonies in backing up the two smashers, this is when the elder smashers turn on Wario, some now expressing glares that hadn't been present for the younger smashers.

"Well...remember, it was Captain Falcon who abused the use of emergency systems to look for something as stupid as his keys!" Wario says, holding up a finger with a triumphant grin.

Begrudgingly, the smashers decide that Wario has a point and begin looking around for the F-Zero racer. However, for some unexplained reason, he is nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go?" Ike expresses, his thick eyebrows knitting together to match the edge in his voice.

"Oh well, I guess you guys won't find him. That's too bad." Wario initiates a closed eyed shrug; of course not too concerned about Captain Falcon's disappearance. "He definitely deserves a beating though, doesn't he? Wahaha!"

The biker's eternal grin sets onto his face after his laugh and he begins walking away from the smashers. Which is so, until he bumps into a smasher whose large build is enough to require Wario to fix his mustache after shortly stumbling backwards.

"Would you like to be his substitute?" Bowser questions in deadpan with his head lowered towards the smasher before him, cracking his knuckles in intimidation and focusing on Wario with a steady and unwavering glare.

"Ha! The Great Wario is not one who simply substitu—WAH!"

Had he not reacted in time, Wario's head would've been in the path of Bowser's fist where it is now embedded in the pavement, in between the space of Wario's legs from the result of him jumping back.

"I'll take that as a yes." the Koopa King says as he stands upright and lifts his fist from the cracked ground, shaking off the pebbles from his hand and not once taking his eyes off of the WarioWare smasher. Wario springs to his feet and jumps back in giving himself some distance and points a scolding finger at Bowser, following with the dialogue, "No, bad Bowser! Stay!"

Bowser stares at the smasher with half lidded eyes.

Then Bowser hacks and spits a fireball at the plumber with little to no effort (and little to no remorse as well), the fireball being followed by Wario's eyes before landing on the ankle of Wario's pant leg. Wario stands in place for a moment to stare at the flame, having a delayed reaction to the increasing heat, and soon watches the flame start to spread further up his body.

"WAAAAAAHHHH!" Wario yells as he throws his hands up and breaks into a frantic run.

As the smashers watch Wario with great interest while he dashes and zigzags every which way on the Smash Mansion property, and no one bothering to remind him of the stop, drop, and roll method, Sheik soon snaps them out of their reverie in observing the rare spectacle.

"Well, now is a good time to figure out how to get back inside." she inputs, calm as ever. The smashers engage in a curt session of exchanging glances with one another when Fox opens the topic for discussion with a question.

"Any windows open?" he asks.

The smashers crane their necks skyward to get a look at their large home to properly search for any open windows. Though with Wario's vocals present in the background, it sort of makes it hard for them to concentrate.

"There!" Olimar finally points out a location after a while, and the sea of heads turn to where he points.

"Hmm, that's my room." Samus casually comments.

"If that is so..." Lucario stares at the open window for a short moment before turning his head to the rest of the smashers, "...then how can we get up there?"

The smashers ponder this inconvenient issue for a moment.

...A mass of defeated groans soon sound from the locked-out housemates.

.x.x.X.x.x.

Within the town of Smashville, a group of seven individuals walk out of a restaurant with sombreros on their heads, complimentary of the restaurant for serving such a large group. One of the younger members of the group makes a note to return there sometime in the near future, very much pleased with having the opportunity to stop at such a fine eatery in the first place. This member in particular is none other than the cheerful Villager himself.

"That was so good..." he says, relishing the flavors of the cultural cuisine.

"But not for your arteries." Wii Fit Trainer comments, being the only one who had eaten from the healthiest food options. Villager, finding health concerns to be the least of his problems right now, does a half-lidded eye roll with the tiniest smirk on his face and lets out a "Pssh." through his teeth, removing the hat atop his head and pocketing it for safekeeping.

"I sure am glad I don't have to eat food to live." Mega Man announces as he looks on ahead at the path before him, walking alongside the group with a content smile on his face.

Palutena then turns up one of her palms to summon her invitation from her person and proceeds to read up on what to do next, her green eyes carefully scanning over the text on the paper.

"Okay, so now we need to find a..." she suddenly pauses and stops her walk, which prompts the others to stop as well, and brings the paper close to her face while squinting at the unusual name:

"...Shulk?"

"Can I see?" Little Mac says. At first, he seems wary of the floating paper that hovers above the goddess' palm as she brings her arm towards him, but he quickly adjusts himself and leans closer to the paper once it reaches his proximity. "...This looks like it says 'Shoolk'."

"I think it reads as 'Shulk'." Palutena brings her hand away from the boxer and clutches the paper close to her face again.

"Looks like Shoolk, though..."

"It's gotta be 'Shulk'. Shulk rhymes with hulk." Villager says, then spreads his arms out in a wide arc with his next sentence, "He's probably like, this guy who's HUGE or something, just based on his name."

"That's some interesting logic..." Mega Man begins to contemplate Villager's far-fetched theory until Wii Fit Trainer interrupts the robot's thought process.

"Instead of dwelling on the name, we should get our bodies moving; to exercise thoroughly after consuming all that food, and to seek out our new companion." she affirms, her hands resting on her hips as always. Off to the side, Greninja agrees with a silent nod (but not so much about the exercise part).

"Alright. Let's go then." Palutena stores away the letter in a short burst of light, then suddenly raises her staff to the sky with a slight tilt and a look of confident determination upon her features, anticipating to create an adventuresome moment that unfortunately becomes short lived:

"To the—wait, where are we supposed to be going again?"

Not one to judge one's forgetfulness by being used to it with the humans at home, Mega Man politely accommodates the goddess by taking out his own paper and reading what the page's startling contents say to her, "...The abandoned fan factory...?"

"...To the abandoned fan factory!" Palutena says without even skipping a beat. Villager, however, doesn't react to this news as lightly.

"Wait, what?" he immediately sobers up and looks between Palutena and Mega Man after hearing "abandoned fan factory" said to be the next point of interest for their trip. Abandoned places aren't usually the greatest spots to meet up with someone...

"That's what it says. It should be on everyone else's papers too." Mega Man informs. Surely enough, when the others retrieve their invitations and read over the directions for themselves, it states in plain text that the said factory is indeed the next place to go.

"A very peculiar choice..." Rosalina muses on the thought of it all, Luma floating side to side in a rhythmic bounce as he usually does beside the celestial woman.

"I wonder why it's abandoned? And more importantly, why is it an abandoned fan factory?" Villager wonders, still looking at his paper until he finally looks up. "Were fans really that big over here?"

"Perhaps that's a mystery for another day." Palutena says to the villager as she readjusts her grip on her staff. Then pointing her staff in a similar fashion towards a forward direction as she did earlier, she declares to the group with a friendly commandeering tone, "But for now, we move onwards!"

Soon, the remainder of the group is following behind the goddess playing leader in a light jog while she floats ahead, making to continue their travels to reach the awaiting Smash Mansion.

"...I still think it's Shoolk." Little Mac insists out of the blue as they run.

.

.

.

At the abandoned fan factory, the surrounding land is desolate and unsurprisingly quiet.

A blonde young man clothed in a black and red outfit leans his back against an aged and mossy wall, standing with one leg crossed over the other and appearing to be interested in a book with covers of a leathery brown. The man has come in from a place called Bionis; the landmass being made entirely from the remains of a fallen, organic god, and the place serving as the home for an indigenous species of life known as the Homs. The Homs are a race of people similar to that of modern human beings, and Homs such as the blonde young man and a set few of others had made their comfortable residence in a settlement on Bionis known as Colony 9.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the blonde man is the mystical red sword that leans beside him in able reach: the sacred and powerful Monado. Wielding it, the weapon can be a force to be reckoned with, as utilizing the sword's Monado Arts and possessing the ability to see visions of the future were all at the user's disposal.

The man is pulled from the roaming thoughts revolving around his book when a chipper young voice brings itself to his attention.

"Hello!" the voice greets.

He looks up from his page with a blink, and the first thing he sees is a group of six standing a couple feet away from where he is, the whole of them staring back at him attentively. Realizing the voice obviously hadn't belonged to any of them, the blonde looks down after lowering his book from view and is met with the sight of a red-shirted boy, who gazes up at the blonde with dark, lively eyes and a pure, warmhearted smile.

"Um, hello." the man looks between the villager and the group hanging back, assuming the people to be his companions.

"What's your name?" Villager asks.

"Shulk."

"Told you." the green haired woman from the group gloats to the boxer standing beside her, a playful smirk on her face as the boxer turns away from the goddess with a disgruntled frown.

A pale woman then steps forward to Shulk next and puts her hands on her hips once stopping a considerable distance before him, her features displaying so little emotion that Shulk wonders if she had always been like that her whole life.

"Hello Shulk." the Wii Fit Trainer greets the Homs in a composed manner, "You are to come with us."

"...I am?" Shulk tilts his head to the side in confusion and furrows his eyebrows in the process.

"Yeah! We're the new Smash Brothers that were invited to the tournament and we're on our way to the Smash Mansion." Stepping over to him as well, Mega Man hands Shulk his own invitation to further convince him that they aren't just some random people. "You were invited too, right? So you come with us."

Shulk inspects the invitation's contents with great care, skimming over parts of the writing and taking note of the glossy emblems and the fancy accents that adorn the special paper. In a matter of seconds, his expression soon changes from wary to accepting, once he finally puts the pieces together.

"Ahh." he gives a comprehensive nod and hands Mega Man's invitation back, understanding that these people were chosen to participate in the same tournament as he. Shulk then gently tugs the hilt of the sword strapped to himself to ensure it's properly secured, and flashes a genuine smile as he says, "Right, then let's get going."

The newly established band of eight then sets off at a moderate pace, the first seven newcomers entirely content with the quick exchange, and the recently recruited Shulk more than delighted to be a member of such a welcoming group. In between the alignment of friend or foe, these people were certainly regarded as quite the friends.

"So, since I'm going to be traveling with you guys," Shulk says, once they're a minute into their walk, "I may as well ask: what are your names?"

Several voices soon speak out all at once in a rather disorienting jumble. Stopping themselves abruptly, the newcomers give each other apologetic looks, then direct their eyes to Palutena to allow her to go first.

"Well...I'm Palutena." the divine being says, casting a few final glances between the others, "The Goddess of Light."

"I'm Villager."

"Mega Man."

"Little Mac."

"Greninja."

"Rosalina—" Rosalina pauses to search for her absent Luma when she finds him peeking out from behind her left shoulder, then gently grabs and holds him over her chest as she continues:

"—and Luma."

"And I am the Wii Fit Trainer." the fitness trainer introduces last.

Shulk enamors the group with yet another radiant smile; the warmth in his soul is practically beaming with his words as he says, "It's great to meet you all."

"It's great to meet you too!" the young Villager looks up at the Homs, revealing a warm smile of his own in reciprocating the Homs' emotions. Before long, the topic switches to the thing that has fascinated the mayor the most ever since he had caught the first glimpse of Shulk:

"And hey...that's a cool sword you got there."

"Thanks. It's called the Monado." Shulk removes the sword from his back with one hand and holds the weapon before him, cradling the blade edge in his other hand to balance the sword's weight. "It allows me to use the Monado Arts and to see visions of the future."

"Wait, you're telling me that just holding that sword lets you see into the future?" a skeptic Little Mac asks, though he's truly just as curious as everyone else is (and Greninja secretly wants it to be true so he can try out the sword for himself).

Shulk nods at the question with a casual "Yeah." being said, and then lets out a light chuckle as a fond memory begins to tread his thoughts. He starts to share the past experience with the group albeit having to stop prematurely, "Actually, I remember one time when—"

Shulk cuts himself off as the familiar sensation of receiving a vision begins to take over his body, his eyes glowing a luminescent blue while the reality around him is ultimately blocked out.

Though his blue colored foresight, Shulk first sees a murky shadow looming near Palutena, the shadow then executing a downward vertical swipe from behind and causing Palutena to fall over unconscious. Three spherical appearing forms then travel in the air towards Shulk, Little Mac, and Mega Man, the orbs positioning themselves in each respective location of the three before electrocuting them all at once and making them black out as well. A similar set of orbs are seen flying towards Villager, Wii Fit Trainer, and Rosalina, but instead of them being electrocuted by the orbs, they are encapsulated inside a large block of ice alternatively, and rendered helplessly immobile in turn. Greninja is suddenly ambushed by a multitude of even more orbs that form a tight ring around the frog pokémon, the orbs then spewing continuous fire to hold their target captive in a fiery ring. Enclosed in an ongoing struggle of using water shurikens to douse the nuisances, only for them to relight almost instantly, Greninja is trapped within a losing battle.

An army of assorted forms and figures soon begin to slowly advance toward the newcomers, the figures consistently marching closer and closer to the group as they appear to approach from any and all relative directions. The state of their well being is left undetermined when the alarming vision suddenly ends.

"Shulk?"

The Homs is jolted back to the real world with Palutena's voice entering the quiet air, the others all looking on at him with concern.

"Shulk, are you alright?" the goddess asks once again, having been intent on figuring out what was wrong with him the moment his eyes had flashed blue. Not even having the time to explain himself, Shulk reacts quickly upon spotting the foreseen shadow looming close...

"Get back!" Shulk demands before quickly holding the goddess close, bringing her out of harm's way by swinging her around to his opposite side just as a blade slams into the ground where she once stood.

The remaining newcomers are quickly on guard as they get into fighting stances, watching with steady gazes as the figure slowly rises from the ground and appears to float upright, for some reason having mere blades for arms and being comprised of a gelatinous, green substance. Facing the fighters with a one-eyed stare, more members of the figure's species slowly trail in from out of nowhere, each one sporting blade arms and having the ability to float as well. Then, the same orbs that Shulk had seen in his vision come into view, a good number of them floating in from both sides of the green figures and crackling with each of the three respective elements: fire, ice, and electricity.

The Goddess of Light feels her entire body tense once she is released from Shulk's hold, not wanting to believe the current sight before her. She knows exactly what these creatures are.

She had assisted Pit in dealing with the very beings that had caused trouble in the World of Trophies that fateful day, along with a plethora of many more monsters and minions to boot. And the creature that had tried to attack her originated from her very own homeworld itself, being recognized instantly as a Flage. Excluding that, Palutena determines without a doubt that the enemies they have encountered belong to the same exact entity, the one that the third generation smashers had defeated so long ago.

"...Subspace troops?"

CLIFFHANGEEEERRRR!

...No? Just only me? Oh, you in the back!

Wait, not you either? Oh. Okay.

So how'd I do guys? I tried writing Shulk as accurately as possible since I only have the wikis to go off of. Oh, and fun lil' tidbit: I got the idea for the abandoned factory because the Fan item wasn't carried over to the next Smash. I didn't notice until someone pointed it out to me, haha. There's another item that got the boot too but I can't really remember it right now.

And it looks like that this arc is going to need yet...another part...(ack...) I mean this document is 9,205 words without the author's notes, but the most parts I've ever written for an arc is three. So perhaps this arc can be spread across five parts with a potential epilogue. (?) I also know how this is going to end and everything too, so don't worry about me needing to make stuff up as I go. All I need is the time to write it.

Oh yeah, and school is also starting tomorrow. *cue walla of enraged (insert species here) flipping desks and throwing chairs while I dodge a stray piece of flying furniture* So maybe this can hold you over again until I update once more. Sm4sh's anniversary is coming up soon and I'm still here writing the arrival of the newcomers. (Gah) But c'est la vie.

Speaking of that, who'd you guys vote for in the Smash Ballot? If you wanna hear my votes, I...voted for no one! I just don't know who to vote for, sorry. XD I'll let fate decide on who gets in. Oh, and how was your summer? Good hopefully? I spent mine doing what I do best: playing video games, drawing, and sleeping. (And going to the Nintendo World Store for my birthday! c:)

Anyway, enough of my ramblings! I hope you guys liked reading the chapter, and please enjoy yourselves until we meet again! :D

See ya~

CrystalClearCourier