Subspace Emissary, Part 6
Gotta Catch 'Em All

"...Well, let's head in," said Lucas. He and Red entered the ruins, determined to find their companions regardless of the obstacles that would stand in their way. It would take a valiant effort to navigate through the fire and armies, but they survived without much effort, taking down enemies like the ghastly Floows and stubborn Mites. After negotiating a long set of tunnels, they found a trophy ahead of him.

"Ah, there he is!" Red pointed, finding his Ivysaur. Lucas started to run over to the trophy, but Red held him back. "I got this taken care of," he said, throwing out a Pokeball which brought the Grass Pokemon back to life.

"Very nice," Lucas said before he frowned. "But we didn't find Charizard yet."

"Don't worry about it yet. I don't think we're quite out of these ruins..." Red replied before eying a platform and a long gap. "Jump onto that platform. It might lead us somewhere," continued the trainer. Lucas nodded and they leaped on. As the platform moved, they encountered more flames and Subspace soldiers. Despite Ivysaur's weariness around fire, he became a valuable addition to the group, filling in the battle gaps Lucas and Squirtle left.

After the platform madness, they traversed another set of tunnels and found a Charizard waiting. However, it wasn't the Charizard Red had acquainted himself with.

"Is he sick?" Lucas questioned, noticing Shadow Charizard's odd discoloring. Ivysaur retreated a few steps before Red let him back into his Pokeball.

"No, but I think something may have possessed it. Go, Squirtle!" The water type flung back into battle, where he and Lucas double-teamed Shadow Charizard rather easily. The enemy Pokemon was not very adept at holding off the two smaller targets, and as Squirtle knocked down Shadow Charizard with a tail drill, Lucas unsheathed his baseball bat and sent the Charizard flying with a mighty swing.

As Shadow Charizard fell into the pit below them, Red caught a glimpse of his trophied Charizard at the end of a nearby hall. Recalling Squirtle, Red ran over with Lucas following right behind. Tossing his third Pokeball at the trophy, Charizard jumped back to consciousness and returned to the safety of the ball.

"Now, my team is complete again," Red said as he smiled, with Lucas jumping in celebration. They continued down the hall, awed at the architecture and keeping a slow pace to catch their breath. Seeing a light, they walked over to a wide open circular chamber.

"Wow, it's like an old battlefield," Red admired. "But how do we get out of here?"

"I'm not sure," Lucas replied. "And what's with that hole in the ceiling?"

~~~

Over in the desert wilds, the three swordsmen (Ike, Marth, and Meta Knight) continued their spats against Subspace soldiers, not limited to Aururouses, Bombeds and the tough Armank. Much like Lucas and Red's team, the Subspace Army was little match for the fighters. Approaching the end of the wave of soldiers, the three stopped to take a look off the side of a cliff to glimpse at what they might face next. They would see their next opposition in the form of Galleom, a hovering purple and silver tank.

"That machine is probably a Subspace fighter. I am sure that no ordinary vehicle would be crossing the desert like that at a time like this," Meta Knight affirmed.

"After it!" Ike commanded, leaping off the cliff. Meta Knight soon followed, but Marth...

"Come on, guys, we don't need to disturb it now. He hasn't found us yet!"

"Stop your whining and just jump!" Ike snapped back. Marth grumbled and leapt off to rejoin the other two in the party. They made a quick pose before running after Galleom. Taking a few minutes to approach the tank, it suddenly slowed down to about-face at the swordsmen.

"If he wants to fight, then let's give him a fight," Meta Knight muttered to the others. At that time, Galleom's limbs folded out from its tank form before standing up on two legs and glaring at the warrior trio. The three stared back at Galleom, adamantly pointing their swords at the mecha. "This shall be a good test of our power as a group," Meta added as they ran in to fight.

Galleom put up a hard-fought battle, but it was the juggling swordplay of Ike, Marth and Meta Knight that left Galleom at its most vulnerable. While it couldn't get tossed around very effectively, the mech was constantly threatened by various hits and stabs. Despite firing a few shots at the swordsmen, Galleom had no choice after a short period of time than to retreat. Galleom raised its fists into the air in disgust, and leaped down off a nearby cliff towards the ruins where Lucas and Red were. However, the brittle sandy ground where Galleom landed could not support its mass, crumbling apart and creating a giant hole into the ruins.

"We're working very well together...my friends," Ike affirmed as Galleom fell into the ruins.

"You have been fighting very well, and you have my respect. But, right now, you're an ally more than anything else," Meta responded.

~~~

When Lucas and Red noticed the hole in the ruins' ceiling, they had right to suspect that something was amiss in the area. But before they could try to figure it out, they found out firsthand, hearing the rumbles of Galleom crashing to the bottom of the chamber. As the mech crashed down, they got thrown to the ground, getting back up shortly afterward.

"Well, that's something I've never seen in Kanto..." Red said as he got back up, grabbing a Pokeball. Lucas stood up as well, holding a spark of PK Thunder in his hand as they prepared to fight off the behemoth.

With Galleom partially wounded from his fight against the swordsmen, Red and Lucas were able to hold their own in the confines of the chamber. Despite coming dangerously close to Galleom's seismic leaps and missiles, Lucas and Red's Pokemon helped push Galleom to his breaking point thanks to a well-timed PK Freeze, cracking open some of the mech's weak points. With electricity spurting out from Galleom's body, Red retreated his Pokemon, expecting the fight to end. However, as Galleom saw its demise coming, it pulled a trump card by snatching the two boys and flying out of the ruins. Red gasped and fell unconscious in Galleom's grasp.

As they were helplessly flown up into the sky, Lucas gasped and saw a bright red countdown timer on Galleom's body... "Is that mech a BOMB?!" Lucas worriedly pondered to himself. As the clock ticked down Galleom's final seconds, Lucas conjured up one more PK Thunder, concentrating it to move towards the arm that he and Red were clutched inside. The jolt found a weak point in the arm, severing it from the rest of the mech and exploding into shards. The timer continued to tick down...three...two...one...zero...and another Subspace Tear formed over the wilds as the bomb detonated.

Lucas and Red were falling fast enough to avoid being sucked into the Subspace Tear, but now they were both out cold and appearing to make a hard impact into the ground. Meta Knight saw the explosion from the cliff where their last fight was and glided over towards the two, catching them. He flew them back to the cliff.

The two young men opened their eyes as they were placed down on the ground. "You were able to finish the job that we started before we were stood up by his retreat," Meta Knight consoled. "That is one less henchman in the Subspace Army thanks to you."

"Well, we would have had nothing to show for our abilities had you not saved us," Lucas responded. "I'm Lucas and this is Red, a Pokemon Trainer," he continued as the two stood up again.

Red tipped his cap before adding, "It looks like we'll be banding together for now..." From the distance, the group could suddenly hear a "Huh?" followed by a loud "BAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" trailing off into the Subspace Tear.

"What was that?!" was Red's alarming concern.

Marth replied, "I think that was Wario being sucked into that Subspace Tear..."

"Wario? Who's he?"

"We'll talk about that later...so you're a Pokemon Trainer?"

Red nodded as he let out his three Pokemon again, each giving a friendly cry towards the swordsmen. "These are Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard. I realize none of them carry any swords, but if you want to be the best, you have to be able to work with whatever you can find! Come on, guys, you earned a break!" Red added as he allowed the Pokemon to rest inside their Pokeballs again.

The swordsmen gave a polite round of applause. Meta Knight once again took the forefront. "I am Dream Land's Meta Knight, and you two shall be honored to meet Marth and Ike." Meta's accomplices bowed and the five exchanged handshakes as the Subspace Tear faded out.

"Well, now that that's gone, where do we go next?" Ike asked. "I'm not sure, but we'll take care of whatever comes, right?" Marth replied.

"Hopefully," was Ike's answer.

~~~

The enigmatic Ancient Minister looked on over the gloomy tear that his flunky, Galleom, created as a part of its sacrifice. Sighing, he muttered, "So many innocent lives that must be lost...so many desperate sacrifices that need to be made. But to win the war, these things have to be done, and until this world is mine, tears will still have to be formed and loyal servants will have to be taken in order to further my success." The Minister tilted his eyes upward in time to float away from a blue arrow, fired by Pit.

"There he is, guys! After him!" Pit yelled despite the Minister dodging his arrow.

"Are you people really interested in chasing after me?" the Minister remarked as he started hovering away, firing lasers at Pit, Mario, Kirby, Link and Yoshi.

"Well, Bowser-a took-a the Princess and I-a will a-not have you or him-a keep-a her!" Mario demanded.

"And you also have Princess Zelda as well!" Link yelled, holding up the Master Sword.

"Do you understand that the closer you come to me, the harder it is to avoid one of these?" the Minister sneered as he focused the five' heroes eyes toward the Subspace Bomb beneath him. "You should let me escape if you really value your lives and souls as much as I think you do. Even better, I should let some of my sentries keep you away."

R.O.Bs motored into the scene, some of which grabbed members of the quintet as one more leaped up to bring down the Subspace Bomb. Setting it down, two more R.O.Bs walked over to the opposite ends as they opened the mechanism up. The heroes grunted at the sight of another countdown clock ticking. Mario and Pit freed themselves from their respective R.O.Bs' clutches but were seized again when they tried to prevent the two Subspace Bomb R.O.Bs from setting it off.

"Enjoy your perishing. Of course, if you leave now, you can actually spare yourselves...but you won't be able to hide for long," said the Ancient Minister as he floated away.

"We've got to move, guys!" Kirby exclaimed as he nodded to the group. Mario hopped onto Yoshi's back and the others ran with him, attempting to escape the radius of the Subspace Bomb before the timer made it to zero.

"Great Minister...in taking our lives, we shall help you take their world..." muttered the Subspace Bomb R.O.Bs, bowing their heads as the timer ticked away its final seconds.

Another black and purple explosion. Another Subspace Tear. Another land claimed by the Ancient Minister.