It was the middle of the night, and Mario was looking up at the sky while Kirby napped next to him. The sky that was already darkened by the night was made worse by the dark clouds which filled the night. He would have liked to have seen some stars.

  "Poy-poy," Kirby said in his sleep. Mario smiled at his little friend, but then frowned again. They had been walking all day, and they were no closer to discovering the source of the energy that they had sensed, nor had they encountered any sign of any of their friends. Mario was getting increasingly worried about the others the longer they went without news. Kirby didn't seem concerned, but it was hard to read him.

  "I hope you're okay, bro," he muttered under his breath. "And everyone else, too."

  The silence of the night was broken by a shout, which was followed by an explosion. Mario bolted upright and saw that Kirby was waking up as well - something was going on. They exchanged a nod, and silently agreed to check it out.

  The grasslands around them were full of grass that was more than a metre high, so they had little trouble concealing themselves as they moved through the night on the way to the sound. A voice was shouting for help - it sounded young, pitchy in that way only a teenager's could be. Mario increased his speed, realising that there could be a child in danger.

  They burst through the edge of the field and into a large, open area. In front of them, the field was on fire, with a ring of flames surrounding a man who was on one knee on the ground. Mario was right - this man was young, looking like a teenager from his face, with a shock of bright red hair. He wore blue and gold armour, and was holding a golden longsword in a shaking hand.

  Mario looked around for the boy's assailant, but didn't spot it until he looked up. Floating above the body was a humanoid figure with the head of a cat, and a long tail that swung gently from side to side.

  "Ah," the creature said, seeing them. "Interruption, again. Why does this always have to be so difficult?" He turned his full attention to them. "I am Mewtwo. I know who you are, Mario and Kirby. The Crazy Hand has requested that I bring this boy to them, and so I will do so. I prefer that you don't involve yourselves."

  Kirby reacted before Mario even had a chance to say anything. He jumped into the air with surprising speed and kicked Mewtwo in the top of the head, hard enough to slam him into the ground and kick up a cloud of dirt. Mario started to move forwards too, but stopped when the boy dropped his sword. Mario turned to look at him fully, and saw the blood running down his hand and side, already staining the earth red beneath him.

  "Can you help?" the boy asked.

  Mario ran to catch him as he fell. He'd have liked to help Kirby against Mewtwo, as the pink blob was currently being thrown into the air with a blast of psychic power, but this was more important. Besides, he was sure that his friend could hold this guy off for long enough if needed.

  "Of course, I'm here to help," he said. He reached into a pocket in his overalls, where he knew that he had stashed some of his useful equipment. In one fluid motion he pulled his white coat from his pocket and pulled it on over his clothes. Then he reached into the pockets and pulled out a stethoscope, which he hung around his neck, and attached the small head mirror around his head. "I'm Dr. Mario," he said.

  The boy nodded. "Good to know. I'm Roy."

  This was a bad wound. Some attack from Mewtwo had broken through Roy's armour and torn a massive hole in his gut. It was lucky that Mario had arrived when he did, otherwise Roy might not have been here at all.

  "Do you know why that guy came after you?" he asked. It was important that he kept Roy talking, while he pulled several pills out of his coat. These would help accelerate the healing, but he had to keep Roy alive for long enough first.

  Roy shook his head. "I don't even know where I am," he said. "This doesn't look like anywhere in Elibe that I've seen before." At Dr. Mario's instruction, he swallowed the offered pills.

  Kirby slammed into the ground next to them, his body forming a small crater in the field. He got up, shook himself off, then pulled a hammer from nowhere and leapt back towards his opponent.

  "I've been wandering around all day," Roy continued. "But then when it was night, that cat showed up. He said something about a hand wanting me for a treasure, and to come with him. I didn't trust him so we started fighting, but he managed to overpower me." He looked at Mario. "Do you know what's going on?"

  Mario hesitated. "I know a little. But I'll explain later." He checked the wound. His pills were already knitting the skin back together, so Roy was out of the danger zone. "Can I leave you here?" he asked.

  Roy's eyes focused on Mewtwo. "Go," he said. "I'll join you soon."

  "You should rest," Dr. Mario insisted.

  Roy shook his head. "I'll join you when I can."

  Mario wanted to argue more, but from his brief glances at the fight it was clear that Kirby wasn't making much headway. He turned and threw a pill as hard as he could. As it flew through the air, it suddenly grew massively in size until it dwarfed Mewtwo, and landed on him with the force of a truck. He ran over to stand next to Kirby, who stopped long enough to look quizzically at his outfit.

  "What?" Mario asked. "I've been to medical school."

  The pill lifted off the ground, held in a psychic hold by Mewtwo, who was standing below it with one arm raised. With a furious grunt, he threw the pill back towards the two of them. Kirby reacted quickly, pulling out a sword and slashing downwards. The pill split in two, releasing a spray of gases into the air - gases that contained growth mushrooms from back home. Mario leapt into the mist and breathed in deeply, feeling the familiar sensation of his body doubling in size. He slammed into Mewtwo with first a punch, then a kick. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small device that was meant to give shocks to crashing patients, and swung it into Mewtwo as hard as he could. The cat creature stumbled back, which gave Kirby the opening to leap forwards and deliver a series of quick punches and kicks.

  "Enough!" Mewtwo screamed. He unleashed a blast of psychic energy that made both of the fighters fly back. Mario found himself losing grip on the mushroom gas's power, and he returned to his regular size in time to land roughly on the ground. Well, the pills were never as effective as the real thing anyway.

  "You okay?" he asked, but Kirby was already back on his feet and running at Mewtwo. Was it even possible to hurt Kirby?

  Mario got to his feet as well, and fished in his pocket for more pills. He had limited options, and he wouldn't have a chance to replenish them for a while, so he selected two and threw them as hard as he could. The burst struck Mewtwo in the chest and exploded, knocking him back. The second turned into that huge size again, this time flying next to Kirby and letting the little one grab it and swing it into Mewtwo like a giant bat.

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  Mewtwo responded by flying into the air and gathering darkness into his hands, then throwing dozens of them downwards towards Mario and Kirby like he was trying to pepper them. They dodged as much as they could, running in opposite directions so that they ended up on opposite sides of Mewtwo.

  Kirby moved first, and leapt into the air towards Mewtwo. This time however, Mewtwo dodged, and used his psychic powers to throw Kirby towards Mario. But Dr. Mario was already moving - he grabbed a white sheet from his pocket, and swung it through the air in such a way that it caught Kirby harmlessly. He kept going, swinging Kirby in a complete circle and then letting go, letting the entire sheet along with Kirby fly towards Mewtwo.

  "Foolish!"

  Mewtwo charged darkness again, and threw his sphere at the centre of the sheet, where all the mass was concentrated. The damaged sheet fell to the ground, and fell open to reveal a large pill in its centre.

  "What?" Mewtwo asked.

  Kirby yelled as he emerged from the long grass beneath Mewtwo, jumping into the air with sword in hand. He struck Mewtwo with a powerful uppercut, then while the cat creature was still recovering switched his sword for a hammer and swung it as hard as he could into Mewtwo.

  Mewtwo was sent spinning head over tail towards the ground.

  "Roy, now!" Mario yelled.

  Roy was back on his feet, sword in hand. His wound wasn't healed yet, but at the very least he had the strength to stand and hold his Binding Blade. As Mewtwo was sent careening towards him he swung it as hard as he could, so that it met his opponent as he hit the ground. Flames danced along the blade, and exploded across Mewtwo's body at the point of impact. When the smoke cleared, Mewtwo was lying motionless on the ground, and Roy was able to fall to his knees, leaning heavily on his sword.

  Mario and Kirby ran over to him. "Are you alright?" the doctor asked.

  "Yeah," Roy said, breathlessly. "That medicine works wonders. I just need to get my breath back."

  As he stood up again, Mario could see that he was right - the pills had closed up the wound almost completely, leaving just a red line that was already disappearing. The pills were good, but they didn't work quite that fast in his experience. This kid must have amazing constitution.

  "What should we do with that thing?" Dr. Mario asked, gesturing at the unconscious Mewtwo.

  Roy stroked his chin. "I'd like to ask it some questions, if we can," he said. "Like, what does it mean when it says that it wants me for my treasure."

  Before Mario could say anything, the air was split by a shriek and a flash of light. They all looked up and saw two lights streak through the night, which took the form of what looked like giant birds. They flew overhead, then turned around and came back towards the trio.

  "Are we fighting again?" Roy asked.

  Mario squinted at the approaching birds. "I think they're... slowing down."

  The birds slowed to a halt in the air, and came to a stop above the field before lowering themselves to the ground. Now that they had stopped, Mario could see that they were vehicles of some kind, bird shaped with glass windows. As one of the windows slid back, Kirby ran forwards, smiling happily.

  "Well, well, well," said a familiar voice. "I thought if we flew towards the explosion we'd find you. Nice outfit, Mario."

  Fox jumped out of the cockpit of his ship and rested his paw on top of Kirby's head.

  "It's good to see you," Dr. Mario said, walking over. "I was worried about everyone. What happened to you?"

  "Not much," Fox shrugged. "Got blasted half way across the world when that other hand showed up. Luckily a friend of mine showed up, and he had the keys to my Arwing."

  He gestured at the other ship, where a humanoid bird with blue feathers and outfit similar to Fox's was dropping to the ground.

  "Guys," Fox said. "This is my second in command, Falco."

  The bird rolled his eyes. "Yeah, second in command. Did you tell them I fly better than you."

  "Falco," Fox said, gritting his teeth. "This is Mario and Kirby. And this is..." he faltered when looking at Roy, "do either of you know this guy?"

  "Roy," Roy said. "And I'm getting more confused all the time."

  "And who's the cat?" Falco asked, pointing at Mewtwo.

  Dr. Mario looked at Fox. "We have a lot of catching up to do," he said.

  An hour or so later they all sat around a campfire. Mewtwo was tied up with some cables that had been in Fox's ship, and Fox was just finishing explaining how Falco had been anticipating something happening since he disappeared from their world, and so had tethered himself to both of the ships that they called Arwings in case he vanished too. By now they had explained everything from the last week to Roy and Falco, and Mario had changed back into his regular clothes, being fairly certain that everyone was now up to speed.

  "But it's odd though," Fox said. "No offense Roy, but what treasure could they hope to have gotten from you?"

  "I was hoping you might have some information we could use to work that out," Mario said. "Have you made contact with any of the others."

  "The Arwings were damaged in transit," Falco said. "We only just got them working. We didn't have time to go anywhere except for to come to you."

  "So you haven't seen anyone else," Mario asked, to a pair of shaking heads.

  Roy looked at Mewtwo. "Maybe we'll get answers, but I'm worried about what the treasure could be for, even more than why they think I have it. This Crazy Hand doesn't sound like the type to be concerned about jewellery."

  Mario stroked his moustache thoughtfully. "If what the Master Hand said is true, this Crazy Hand is some kind of force of destruction. Maybe the treasure is useful to that in some way?"

  "That does answer a question I've been thinking about," Fox said. "If Crazy Hand wants to destroy everything, why isn't it doing it? There must be something that it needs."

  Kirby had been napping, but suddenly he was on his feet, looking around with a panicked expression. A moment later, the others felt it too. A sickening presence, like the feeling of seeing death multiplied a hundred times over. Mewtwo awakened at that moment, the aura penetrating his unconsciousness. "Master."

  The air grew heavy, as the darkness around them pulled itself into a single form, of a black hand which twitched and shivered with a strange glee.

  "Mewtwo," it said. "Once again, you disappoint me."

  Mewtwo began to writhe on the ground, and a moment later all of their minds were filled with the agony of Mewtwo's psychic scream, all while the hand continued to twitch happily. Only once it stopped did Mewtwo fall, unmoving, to the ground.

  "I can see why the Master Hand created this world. The clashes that you create really are so entertaining, so visceral. Oh, I could just watch them forever. But I have my own role, after all." It turned towards Roy.

  Mario stood up and stood in front of the boy. "You aren't taking him."

  "Not today, no," Crazy Hand agreed. "You won against my worthless creation today, and thus you won freedom. But you shall not win again." Acting on a sudden rage, it began to inflict pain on Mewtwo again, and psychic screaming filled their minds.

  "Leave him alone!" Roy shouted.

  "Leave him alone?" Crazy Hand asked. "He's your enemy, Young Lion. Oh, you really are such a fascinating bunch. If only I could stay to watch you all pull each other apart. That would be delicious. But, I suppose I'll have to be content with two more days."

  "Two days?" Mario asked. "Until what?"

  "Until the end of the world of Smash, of course," Crazy Hand said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Oh, and everyone in it as well, but I thought that was obvious."

  Mewtwo lifted across the ground, arms and legs splayed as though it was held around the middle, and drifted into Crazy Hand's palm.

  "Goodbye," it said.

  Falco stood up and drew his pistol. "You can't just say that and leave, arsehole!" He raised the gun and pointed it at Crazy Hand.

  There was a sensation, as though the full attention of Crazy Hand had been spread about, and was currently all focused on this one campfire and the people around it.

  Then everything was flooded with darkness.

  Darkness within the darkness shouldn't have been visible, but Luigi and Ness had seen it anyway, and known immediately that something was very, very, wrong. They ran towards it as fast as they could, which wasn't so bad as they had already been moving in the direction of the explosion and lights that they had seen over there.

  Still, it was day by the time they arrived. The field that had stood there before was just a crater. At the bottom lay Mario, Kirby, and Fox, as well as two others, smoke rising off their bodies. All of them seemed to be breathing, but badly injured.

  Luigi quickly jumped down into the crater and ran to his brother. He managed to lift him off the ground, and it quickly became clear that Mario was in terrible shape. Broken bones, cuts, everything.

  "Mario!" he yelled, but got no response. "MARIO!!!!"