Chapter Text
It was pure chaos. Pikachu’s instincts were screaming at him the second that creature turned into a black hole, and by the time he comprehended them, the light burst forth. The front lines fell instantly. Mario, Link, Samus, Fox, Shulk; they were all gone. Just like that. All Pikachu could do was run with the others.
He ran as fast as he could, but he could practically feel the beams closing in on him. At that moment, he looked up and saw Sonic next to him. Odd; Pikachu could usually never keep up with him. Why was he running so slowly? The answer was given to him when Sonic held out his hand and gave Pikachu an urgent look. No words were needed.
Pikachu used Quick Attack at the very last second and leapt into Sonic’s arms. A split second later, Sonic picked up speed and two beams flew where they were previously running; they had narrowly avoided demise by an instant.
Sonic held Pikachu tightly to his chest as he ran faster than he ever ran before. Left and right, he could see his comrades, his friends, all vanishing into the light before they even had a chance to react. Sonic pushed down the sadness and anger that was welling up inside him. All he could do was at least protect one of his friends. Pikachu’s eyes were shut tightly, as if praying that Sonic would be fast enough and when he opened them this nightmare would be over. But even Sonic, as he narrowly dodged the beams, was beginning to wonder if he could make it.
Then, something caught his eye. Kirby was flying on his warp star, just as fast as he was running, narrowly dodging the deadly lights pursuing him. The pink puffball looked down and locked eyes with Sonic. Both of them kept dodging and running as they slowly grew closer to each other.
Once they were mere yards away, Sonic reached out, both him and Kirby pushing their speed as hard as they could. Kirby’s warp star was reaching its limit. They only had seconds. Sonic grabbed Kirby’s tiny hand. There was a small pop, and Kirby, Sonic, and Pikachu vanished, just as the light consumed everything.
Sonic and Pikachu weren’t sure where they were for however long they were gone. Only Kirby really knew the capabilities and details of his world and his items, and even he had trouble describing them. All they remembered, was that it was silent. Then they were back in the sky, Kirby barely hanging onto the star with one stubby hand and his two friends with the other.
The star crashed and vanished on impact, sending Kirby, Sonic, and Pikachu flying. Sonic curled around Pikachu, having not loosened his hold on him since grabbing him, taking the brunt of the fall. They tumbled until they slid to a stop.
They stayed on the ground for a few moments to catch their breath. Their minds and bodies still hadn’t fully caught up with what just happened. Pikachu peeked up at Sonic from his chest and Sonic slowly sat up. Pikachu managed to make himself let go of Sonic and go to Kirby to help him up. They looked around; no one was there. Everyone was gone.
The three fighters exchanged a look of sadness, worry, and fear. There was the slight relief that none of them were alone, but it was overcome by the fact that it was pure luck that they managed to get away together. One wrong move, and no one would have been left.
The three wandered to the edge of the cliff they were on and gazed down upon the new land that awaited them below. Were their friends down there? Was there any chance to bring them back?
One by one, their sadness turned to anger, which turned to determination. They had to be alive. Kirby frowned; sparks flew from Pikachu’s cheeks; Sonic tapped his shoes, readying them to run. It was just them now. But that was enough. They headed down the hill towards the new world of light.
“You know...this place doesn’t look half bad.” Kirby and Pikachu gave Sonic a strange look as they walked up a trail. “What? Yeah, that thing took everything from us and took over the world but I gotta admit, I was expecting worse.”
“Pika…” Pikachu shrugged in an ‘I guess…’ response. They walked down the path before them, blinking as the deep fog seemed to slowly be surrounding them.
“Poyo!” Kirby whined, batting at the smoke as if that would help.
“You’re telling me, bud,” Sonic muttered, trying to strain his vision to see. “There was no fog before, why now?”
Pikachu scouted ahead, having the more attuned senses and soon his ears twitched. “Pika!” He scampered ahead and Kirby and Sonic followed him up a hill. Once they reached the top, the fog cleared.
“Finally!” Sonic sighed.
“Pah!” Kirby chirped. They looked around but found they were surrounded by a sea of fog.
“Not really digging the view though,” Sonic commented. “Where’s a sunset when you need one?”
“Pika…” Pikachu’s ears drooped and he looked around the area, sniffling the air. Nothing could be seen thanks to the fog, making it impossible to plan ahead. They would just have play with the cards they had been dealt and roll with it.
“Poyo!” Kirby suddenly exclaimed.
“What?!” Sonic jumped. Kirby was turned around, pointing to the sky. Sonic and Pikachu followed his stub and in the distance, right in the middle of the sky was It. The monster that took their friends. Pikachu yelped and the three of them tensed, ready to run from another round of light beams. ...But nothing happened.
“Wha...does it not see us?” Sonic asked.
“Poyo,” Kirby growled, glaring at the monster. They waited a little longer, but the monster still did nothing. It sat in the sky, a shield glimmering around it, like some kind of proud king, watching his land without a care in the world. The three fighters slowly let their guard down as it seemed clear the monster had no intention of attacking them.
“What, is it too good to take us on?” Sonic taunted.
“Pika pika!” Pikachu agreed, glaring at the creature. The monster still did nothing.
“Huh...usually that works,” Sonic said.
“Poyo pah!” Kirby exclaimed, when something caught his eye behind him. Something...glowing. “Bee?” Kirby tilted his head and walked closer, finding a small path down from the hill that wasn’t covered in fog.
“What’s up, Pinky?” Sonic asked.
“Po!” Kirby pointed and headed down the path. He then stopped short as he saw...Mario? “Poyo!!” Kirby cried happily, breaking into a run.
“Whoa, wait!” Sonic called. Kirby ran up to Mario and he turned to face him making Kirby freeze in his tracks. That...wasn’t Mario. The being suddenly turned completely metal and socked Kirby right in the face, sending him flying onto the ground.
“Kirby!” Sonic zoomed ahead and rammed into the fake Mario with a hard kick to the chest just before it had a chance to follow up.
“Pikachu?!” Pikachu cried in confusion, helping Kirby up.
“I don’t know bud!” Sonic said. The fake Mario got up and glared at the three fighters, and only then did they see its eyes. They were glowing bright red and its body had a strange aura surrounding it. The last time they had seen a Smasher look like that was back when Tabuu was making Subspace clones, only the shadowy aura was more colorful. While that wasn’t a good sign, it helped make one thing clear.
“Okay,” Sonic punched his palm. “C’mon guys, let’s pound this faker!”
“Chu!” The mouse wasted no time, rushing forward and slamming into the clone with his head before he could turn metal again. Kirby followed up with a hard hammer swing, making him fly into a homing attack from Sonic; the clone didn’t stand a chance.
With the three of them piling onto him with constant attacks, it wasn’t long before the clone fell and didn’t get back up. The fake Mario then burst apart in specks of gold, fading into nothing before hitting the ground.
“Okay, yep, not the real Mario,” Sonic said, unsure if he was feeling relief or concern.
“Po…” Kirby pointed as an orb of light rose from the ashes.
“What the…?” The orb floated towards them and circled around them, moaning softly. An image could faintly be seen inside it; a Smoky Progg. It was a creature that Olimar had told them about on a few occasions.
“Was this thing...inside that fake Mario?” The spirit bobbed up and down like it was nodding and moved about, like it was trying to tell them something.
“Pika…”
“Poyo po…” Kirby agreed.
Sonic held up his hands, letting the spirit hover over his palms as if holding it, “Were you trapped in that clone, little guy?” The spirit nodded again before shimmering slightly, emanating a bit of warmth. Whatever it was, it seemed happy. “Well, at least you seem friendly,” Sonic said. Before they could even really think about it, they heard thumping.
“Pika…” Pikachu’s ears twitched and it began trotting down the path.
“Pikachu?” Sonic called, Kirby and Sonic following, along with the spirit. A few moments later, Pikachu came to a halt as three Yoshis appeared, one blue, one yellow, and one red and all three of them had tanuki tails.
“Kay, now I’m really confused,” Sonic rubbed his head. “Cause there’s no way that’s OUR Yoshi.” Pikachu frowned, backing away from the Yoshis; something felt off about them, in more ways than one. Something that felt...familiar in a way.
“Poyo!!” Pikachu was snapped out of his confusion as Kirby leapt between him and the Blue Yoshi, throwing up a shield as the dino’s tongue was inches from grabbing him. Pikachu chirped a thanks and sparks flew from his cheeks; this was no time to freeze. At that moment, the spirit flew up to the front of them, jumping a bit in front of them.
“Uh...do you wanna help?” Sonic tried. The spirit bobbed and flew into Kirby; a second later, a Unira appeared in his stub, startling the puffball.
“Po?!”
“Where did that come from?!” Sonic exclaimed. Kirby’s body glowed in response, with the same aura surrounding that spirit.
“Pika pika!” Pikachu pointed.
“I think you’re right bud, that spirit must’ve done it!” Sonic said. “And I think that thing will make this fight way easier!” Kirby nodded and threw the item; it landed between them and the enemies and grew its spikes, catching two of the Yoshis off guard and sending them back a foot or two. Sonic then took the opportunity to run around and kick the two Yoshis away, leaving Pikachu and Kirby to forward smash the Blue Yoshi.
The three dinos sprung to their feet, glaring at the three fighters. “Perfect, one for each of us,” Sonic said, cracking his knuckles. Pikachu growled, and Kirby got out his hammer and the six fighters collided.
Pikachu, Kirby, and Sonic ran around and jumped much more than usual to keep up with the Yoshis; the dino was always a high jumper which made them sitting ducks for down air attacks more than once.
Pikachu managed to use his tail a few times to stay safe, but Yoshis had fast feet, even in the air. Kirby adopted the strategy of getting above them and hitting them with his stone attack, but the Yoshis were agile, while Sonic simply decided to use his homing attack more often than not.
The three heroes tried to get them thrown into the Unira every now and then, which certainly helped, except on the Red Yoshi, who’s fire breath gave them more trouble than they expected.
Luckily, with each Yoshi being occupied by one fighter, they eventually got them on the ropes and Pikachu saw his chance the moment all the Yoshis were near him. “Pika!” Pikachu faced the heavens and a huge thunderbolt came crashing down on all three Yoshis.
Finally, all three of the dinos collapsed and exploded into gold. However, only one orb arose from the three bodies. The spirit floated towards them, looking almost similar to the Smoky Progg and behaving the same as it circled Pikachu happily.
Pikachu’s eyes widened as the image of an Eevee appeared in the orb. “Pika…!” The Eevee spirit chirped sadly, lightly nuzzling the mouse almost as an apology. Pikachu teared up slightly as the spirit communicated with him, telling the mouse what happened when the light attacked. Pikachu’s ears drooped as it gazed at the Smoky Progg in sorrow.
“Something tells me our friends weren’t the only ones wiped out by that thing…” Sonic said, glaring at the Monster in the distance.
“Poyo?” Kirby asked sadly. Sonic solemnly nodded and Kirby’s face fell. Even innocent lives weren’t spared from that monster’s wrath. If a spirit of an alien from Olimar’s universe, and the spirit of a Pokemon were here...there was chance that everyone they knew back home was…
“We should keep going…” Sonic said. Kirby and Pikachu nodded and walked onwards, the two spirits following behind.