Nana felt reality bend around her. White fingers extended from the remains of the Master Hand's palm, cradling her in the open hand. She felt her injuries from being flung against the wall heal, and new energy flooded her system.

  Mewtwo looked at her in shock. "But that was impossible. How did you do it?"

  "She used her greatest strength," said Master Hand. "An indomitable will. Now, let us go and see to this darkness."

  Power surged beneath Nana's feet. The ceiling above them exploded, scattering dust and stone in all directions, and the hand lifted her into the open air. Things did not look good. The sky was darker than it had been before, with clouds that swirled overhead and occasionally spat out small bits of black lightning. She could see a machine that greatly resembled the hands, with the tips of its fingers clasping a woman in a fancy dress, and Ren Fair.

  "Master Hand!" she said, pointing. "There!"

  "Do your best to save them," Master Hand said. It carefully lowered Nana to the ground, allowing her to jump off into the floor of the basin. Then it rotated to face Crazy Hand.

  "So," Crazy Hand said. "You managed to regain your power."

  "I did," said Master Hand. "It was thanks to Nana. Her strength, her ideals, and her determination to keep fighting for the one she loves woke up the light that had died inside me. So now, I shall fulfil my role in the great war into which we were both made, and vanquish your darkness. Crazy Hand, I challenge you."

  A grating, humourless laugh split the darkness. "You know that you can't win," taunted Crazy Hand. "This is the way of things. The darkness is the true nature of the multiverse. Light is merely the thing that exists within it. One Master Hand cannot vanquish me."

  "Maybe," said Master Hand. "But I'll rely on the will that Nana gave me. Nothing has to be impossible."

  The hands each formed fists and charged one another. They collided head on, and everyone in Smash felt at once as the world began to shake from the force of their clash.

  Mewtwo floated upwards out of the hole and approached Nana. She looked up at him and pointed at the Melee machine. "We have to free them!" she said. She started running towards it, but Mewtwo extended his hand and she suddenly lifted off the ground.

  "What are you doing, Mewtwo?" she asked as she struggled vainly in the air.

  Mewtwo looked at her dispassionately. "It is different for you than for me, Nana. You have a world to return to. A memory, and loved ones. I do not know what my origin is, but either way I have no ties but to the Crazy Hand. That is where my loyalties will lie." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I am sorry, Nana."

  He raised his other hand, but before he could do anything they both heard the sound of something firing. A laser struck Mewtwo in the back, and Mewtwo dropped Nana as he fell to the ground.

  Behind him, two pointed ships floated, guns trained on him. "Nana, get out of the way!" said a very familiar voice from some kind of speaker. Nana didn't hesitate, and threw herself to the side. Both of the ships' guns lit up, showering Mewtwo in a storm of green lasers. Mewtwo roared and swung his hands, and a blade of psychic energy cut through the air, striking one of the ships on the wing.

  The cockpit burst open, and a selection of figures leapt out. There was a fox, who was muttering something about just fixing the thing, a man in red, a knight dressed a lot like Ren Fair, a pink blob, a green dinosaur, and...

  Nana's heart skipped a beat as Popo landed on the stone beside the ship. It spun out of control and crashed behind him, creating a huge ball of fire, but she didn't care about that right now. She ran towards him, and he saw her and ran towards him. They met in the middle, and he threw his arms around her.

  "You're okay," he said.

  She nodded. "So are you. High." She wasn't crying, she would insist later. There was a lot of humidity in the air.

  Mario patted her on the shoulder. "You must be Nana. Popo keeps talking about you."

  Popo flushed. "Just a little."

  Nana laughed. "I don't mind, Popo."

  "Hey!" They looked over at Fox, who had his gun trained on Mewtwo. he had fallen to his knees from the barrage, but now he was getting to his feet and glaring at them. "Girl in pink. That's definitely a bad guy, right? Because I'll feel real guilty if not."

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  Nana nodded slowly. "Is that a talking fox?" she asked.

  Falco landed the other Arwing, and his passengers climbed out. "Why did I get stuck with the gorilla?" he complained. "It was such a squeeze in there."

  Luigi looked up at the two hands, grappling with one another. "More importantly, which one of those is good?"

  "Umm..." Nana hesitated. It was quite hard to tell which hand was which from here. "Maybe focus on breaking that machine first?"

  Roy narrowed his eyes at the machine. "Is that the Hero King?"

  "You know him?" Mario asked.

  "Not fully," Roy admitted. "He's more of a legend."

  "Look out!" Ness jumped in front of the others, and created a PSI barrier that absorbed Mewtwo's shadow ball.

  Mewtwo looked impressed. "That child has impressive psychic powers."

  "Give up!" Fox warned. "We outnumber you twelve to one!"

  Mewtwo shook up his head. "I have nothing left but to continue on my path," he said. "But if willpower may perform miracles, then let it do the same for me." He held out one of his hands, and a six-foot spoon materialised out of the ether. He swung it, and a wave of psychic energy tore across the basin, striking all of the fighters at once.

  "Go!" Mario yelled. Everyone charged at once. Mario and Luigi set their hands aflame and dived for Mewtwo, but he blocked their attacks with the spoon. The psychic force that it emitted sent both of them flying back, but Fox and Falco used that opportunity to unload their guns into Mewtwo. However, this time he blocked both of their lasers. Nana and Popo rushed in with their hammers, while Yoshi and Jigglypuff charged together. Mewtwo moved the spoon in a circular motion, crying a vortex of psychic power that repelled all of them.

  "How is he suddenly so much stronger than on the cliff face?" Popo asked.

  Ness held his hand and launched a PK Pulse, which was easily deflected. "Can't you feel it? There's energy swirling all over this place, and some of it's going into him. The Crazy Hand is lending him power!"

  Kirby pulled out his sword, and swung it in an overhead strike at Mewtwo. Mewtwo blocked it with the spoon, but Kirby wasn't repelled as easily as the others had been. "You're different," Mewtwo noted. Kirby kicked him in the chest and jumped back.

  "I've got it!" Roy said. "If there's energy in the air, can Kirby suck it in?"

  Kirby's eyes widened slightly, as though he was thinking about it. Then his mouth opened loudly, and he began to suck.

  "I think that's a yes?" Falco said.

  Mario shrugged. "In that case, we'd better buy time. Everyone keep attacking!"

  They all ran at Mewtwo, who created a psychic barrier to hold them back. They all hit it as hard as they could, and cracks began to spread out across the shield. Even with power granted by the Crazy Hand, it wouldn't be enough.

  Kirby heard a footfall behind him, and was too slow to turn around. A hand that belonged to Ganondorf lifted him off the ground and examined him curiously. "What an interesting creature," Ganondorf said. "Unfortunately, the power here is not yours to consume." He slammed Kirby into the ground. "It's mine."

  "Mewtwo!" Mewtwo and the others looked up at Ganondorf. "The others will be here soon. Get them into the machine." The tri-force mark on his hand glowed brightly. Black lightning struck the ground close to him, and Ganondorf began to swell. He tripled in height, his body taking more of a bestial form and growing long tusks and a tail. Two long swords appeared his hand, and he swung them down at Kirby. Fox grabbed him at the last second and pulled him to safety, but he was now looking up at the towering form of Ganon. The swords came down for him, and he was only able to dodge out of the way at the last second.

  "Guys!" he yelled. "We have a new problem!"

  High above, Master Hand looked down on the fighters. It wanted to grant them power, but it had none to spare. Meanwhile, it seemed as though Crazy Hand had more than enough to spare while still fighting evenly.

  "How is that will, Master Hand?" it taunted. "And the best part is, I still have one more servant on its way."

  Donkey Kong slammed his fist into Ganon's chest as hard as he could. Such a punch would usually be enough to drop anyone, but Ganon didn't even stagger or give any indication that the attack had hit him at all. The swords swung in an arc, slamming him into the ground. Ganon then kicked him like he was a piece of disacrded litter, sending him flying.

  "Well if physical attacks won't do anything, try this! PK Fire!" Ness unleashed flames in the direction of Ganon, but once again they did nothing. Ganon grunted in a way that sounded like a derisive snort, and unleashed his own fire which was five times the size of Ness's. Ness screamed as he took the attack, and collapsed to the ground.

  "Ness!" Luigi yelled. He ran to help his friend, leaving the struggle against Mewtwo.

  Mario gritted his teeth. As they were now, all of them had barely been able to overcome Mewtwo, and now there was this new threat to deal with?

  "Bro." He heard Luigi's voice next to him. "We got this. Together."

  Mario nodded. He turned to the others. "Go. We'll fight Mewtwo."

  Fox started to protest. "But Mario -"

  "We've got this!"

  Fox hesitated for a few moments, before he grinned. "Well, who am I to stand up to that kind of bravado. Do your best, Mario Bros." He and the others ran to join the fight against Ganon.

  Mario summoned as much of his fire as possible, and Luigi did the same. Their red and green fire swirled together in a tornado of heat before slamming into Mewtwo's barrier.

  Mewtwo felt his barrier start to slip. No, this was impossible. He was the most powerful pokémon - there was no way these two could break through his barrier. He roared and pushed harder, increasing the strength of his shield. He would push them back. He would definitely push them back.

  But for the second time in as many minutes, he wasn't aware of what was behind him. A ball of charged energy from Samus's arm cannon smashed into the barrier, shattering it. This gave Mario and Luigi the opening they needed to strike Mewtwo with their flames. He was enveloped in fire.

  Mario looked over at where the shot had come from. Samus was there, along with Captain Falcon, Link, Pikachu, and some others who he didn't recognise. Samus gave him a nod.

  "Destroy the machine!" Mario yelled.

  Samus turned to the large, hand-shaped machine which held two people in its grasp. "Gladly," she said.