With the combined strength of Samus, Pikachu, Diddy, Donkey, Olimar, and Captain Falcon, and their newfound ally in R.O.B., the Subspace Army had no chance. The Primids were blown away as easily as were the Auroros, and even the massive Armanks were quickly defeated. Before long, all that remained were the seven fighters and the R.O.B. Army.
R.O.B. appeared distraught. “My people, why can't you listen?” His eyes flashed blue.
The red light of the other R.O.B.s' eyes collectively became blue. The heads of every R.O.B. turned to face their leader. The nearest R.O.B. spoke: “Minister, we are finished. We are sorry, but there is nothing we can do.”
R.O.B. shook his head. “There is nothing I can do. I have failed my race, and I have failed the world.”
Diddy wiped his eyes. “Aww... I feel bad for the poor guys now.”
“Piiiiiikaaaa....” Pikachu nodded in agreement.
Samus sighed. “He's right, though. We're trapped here, and if he's right, we're toast.”
Captain Falcon grinned. “Ha! Never doubt the power of Captain Falcon! C'mon, if we hurry, we can still make it!”
Donkey Kong turned to Captain Falcon. “What do you mean? That ship we were on got destroyed by those Subspace Goons.”
Captain Falcon laughed. “I knew this would happen, so I set up my Falcon Flier as remote control! It's sitting at the bottom of the factory as we speak. We'll be outta here and safe in no time!”
Olimar looked impressed. “How did you predict such an occurrence? I never would have guessed that this would happen.”
The F-Zero Pilot scratched his head. “Well, uh, y'know, it seemed kinda suspicious when we first got here...”
Samus chimed in, “And how did you program it remotely?”
“Uh...”
Captain Falcon whirled around and bolted from the room. Confused, Olimar, Diddy, and Pikachu followed. Samus and Donkey turned to go, but they both cast a gaze at the dejected R.O.B. leader.
Samus called to R.O.B., “Come on! We need to get out of here!”
R.O.B. shook his head again. “I must stay here and die with my people.”
Donkey Kong groaned. “We don't have time for this! Let's go!”
Donkey Kong reached over and easily slung R.O.B. across his shoulder. Ignoring the robot's pleas to be abandoned, Samus and Donkey Kong spirited him to the other four members of the party. Soon enough, the seven dropped down a large shaft to Captain Falcon's awaiting Falcon Flier. Captain Falcon dropped into the pilot's seat and fired the engines, sending the party to safety.
“Looks like we're home free,” commented Samus as she reclined in a plush sofa in the Flier.
A reptilian voice from outside the ship slowly bellowed, “I don't think so, Hunter!”
Samus and Pikachu gasped. They bolted to the window to see Ridley in hot pursuit of the Falcon Flier.
“What is it!” Captain Falcon barked, keeping his head facing the tunnel.
“Ridley. He's out for revenge after Pikachu and I knocked him out in the Research Facility,” explained Samus.
“No problem, I'll just turn on the Boost Power, and-”
A horrible thrashing noise was heard from outside as Ridley forcefully removed the extra rockets. The ship faltered and began slowing down. Falcon pounded the dashboard. “Dang! He's ripping off the engines! Someone needs to get out there and get him off!”
“I'll go. He's my enemy, anyway,” Samus decided.
R.O.B. moved towards Samus. “Allow me to aid you.”
Olimar also walked toward Samus. “I think it wouldn't hurt to have another person out there to fight. I'll help, too.”
The three piled onto the service lift and rode onto the vehicle's roof. Ridley removed himself from the ship's end and took back to the air. “Hunter! Where is the Rodent? I will have my revenge on both of you!”
Samus pointed her blaster at Ridley. “The only thing you're getting is off this ship! We fight, now!”
Ridley grinned. “Very well,” he replied, hurling himself at Samus, spewing balls of flame from his mouth.
As Ridley flew around the ship, Olimar and R.O.B. tried to keep Ridley at the rear end of the ship. Samus took a melee assault, but Olimar and R.O.B. fought using their projectiles, and they only jumped up to hit Ridley as he passed by. Finally, the combined strain of the continued attacks and his keeping up with the speeding cruiser caused Ridley to tire out. A final missile from Samus' arsenal made Ridley drop out of sight.
Samus wiped her brow as she sat on the Flyer's tail. “Well, at least that's over.”
R.O.B. nodded. “Let's go back inside. We're almost out, anyway.”
The trio descended back into the cruiser. As the Falcon Flier finally escaped the tunnels of the Island, Everyone in the cabin turned to the rear windows and witnessed the utter destruction of his island. The hundreds of Subspace Bombs exploding simultaneously resulted in the largest Subspace Tear in the world. Shards of island, machinery, statue, and R.O.B. remnants flew in all directions of the explosion before being sucked back into the void. Only a few chunks of the island safely escaped the Tear.
R.O.B. sighed. He shook his head quickly, then faced the team again. “Alright, you'll be needing my help, then, if you wish to take on our mutual enemy.”
Samus nodded. “That's true; you're probably the only one who knows what makes him tick.”
Lowering his head, R.O.B. added, “I hope you and your friends can forgive me for what I have done to your land.”
Donkey Kong walked over and patted R.O.B. on the back. “Hey, I think if you just help us through this, you won't need to worry about it.” He flashed a thumbs-up. “I know I'll be happy.”
“Yeah!”
Looking up, R.O.B. saw that the other five people had walked up to him and were variously patting him on the back or smiling at him. R.O.B. nodded and ended, “Thank you, everyone.”
As the Falcon Flier screamed across the coastline, Ridley pulled up to a cliff and rested himself. The pterosaur-like beast had managed to escape the fallen island, but he had completely worn himself down and used the last of his energy reserves. Glaring after the fleeing foes, Ridley thought aloud: “The Hunter and her allies have escaped. I must hunt them down... but first, I must return to Mother Brain and accept my punishment. Soon, Hunter, I will have my revenge on you and the Rodent...” After a few minutes, Ridley started flapping his wings again and flew into the horizon.
---
Plunging the Master Sword deep into a massive Primid, Link managed to slay their final foe. Rejoining the rest of his allies, Yoshi commented, “Wow! We took them all down!”
“Indeed...” Ike rested Ragnell in the ground and leaned on it. “I don't know about you, but I'm bushed.”
“I thought you were supposed to be the fearless general,” Marth commented.
Ike turned his head at the prince. “Even generals get tired. I thought you knew that, Marth.”
Spotting the explosion of the floating island, Lucas shouted, “Look! Another Subspace Tear!”
“What?!” Marth shouted. “There's even more of them? Oh, great...”
Ike grinned. “Who's the tired one now?”
Mario also pointed at the sky. “Hey, isn't that-a that ship?”
Kirby looked. “The Halberd?”
Red snapped his fingers. “Meta Knight must have gotten his ship back!”
Pit stared in another direction. “Wait, what's that over there, then?”
“Kinda looks like... Captain Falcon's cruiser,” Link answered.
The two airships touched down simultaneously at the clearing.
---
A half hour later, all twenty five fighters had gathered on the Halberd. Sitting on its deck, pandemonium ensued as almost everyone tried talking at the same time. R.O.B., Meta Knight, and Snake looked somewhat annoyed. Finally, Snake pulled out a pistol and fired it at the empty sky, grabbing everyone's attention immediately.
Pit looked dumbfounded. “Who the heck is this guy? And he actually has a gun?”
“Geez, watch that thing!” Captain Falcon exclaimed. “Don't fire it in the open!”
Pointing, Falco inquired, “Hey, why weren't you using that before? Coulda saved us a lotta trouble.”
Packing it back into the holster, Snake muttered, “I don't like to waste rounds on goons like we've been fighting... don't expect to see it again.”
“Anyway...” R.O.B. started, “It seems we all have the same objective and want to know the same thing: what's going on here?” R.O.B. turned towards the giant Subspace Tear where his island used to be. “That used to be my homeland, the Island of the Ancients. After Professor Hector finished my line, he used technology far advanced from any we've ever seen – or probably ever will see – to build it as a safe haven for us. Now, I am the last R.O.B. remaining.
“That Subspace Tear is big enough for what the evil forces need. With a tear that big, they can easily bring in the Subspace Gunship, a battleship the size of a metropolis. It's basically a giant Dark Cannon.”
“So, basically, one shot will destroy a city,” Zelda surmised.
“Exactly. It would only take them about a day to claim this entire world into Subspace. We must stop it at all costs. Anyone have an idea of what we should do?”
For several minutes, nobody spoke. Finally, Meta Knight replied, “I think I have a plan, but we'll need to move quickly.”
“We have no other choice,” Peach decided. “What's your plan?”
---
The tip of a giant gun emerged from the Subspace Tear that was the Island of the Ancients. As it advanced, the gun ended, but what it was connected to continued to emerge. Finally, a giant, futuristic battleship, the Subspace Gunship about which R.O.B. had been talking, emerged completely from the Subspace Tear. The ship was so large as to dwarf the skyscrapers dotting every corner of it. At the very end of the ship, on what appeared to be the roof of a conference chamber, stood two lilliputian figures: Bowser and Ganondorf.
Sniffing in the sea breeze, Bowser stated, “Today is a fine day for a brutal takeover!”
Ganondorf grinned. With a snap of his fingers, the impossibly-large battleship fired a laser, easily transforming the sea sky into a Subspace Tear. Ganondorf's grin soon changed into a frown, for he spied a speck flying swiftly from the Subspace Tear.
The Halberd.
“WHAT?! What are those dopes doing?!” Bowser exclaimed.
“I think the band of heroes recovered their ship. No matter... we'll just shoot it down,” replied Ganondorf. With a swing of his arm, several of the skyscrapers transformed into giant turrets, bearing cannons the size of houses. Firing true, the cannons shot at the Halberd. After a couple misses, a blast pierced through the ship's center, rendering it useless as it fell apart and descended into the ocean.
From the wreckage of the Halberd shot four shapes: Samus' Spaceship, the Falcon Flyer, an Arwing, and Olimar's rented Hocotate Ship.
Bowser's fists curled and as he started stomping, he shouted, “DANGIT! FIRE I SAY! WE KEEP NOT KILLING THEM!”
The four mobile ships easily weaved through the cannon's shots as they neared the Gunship. Ganondorf crossed his arms. “Even if they get on this ship, how do they expect to reach us?”
From far, far, far away, the sky twinkled. A shape screamed as it neared the atmosphere. From several hundred light years away neared a tiny, tiny speck, flying at break-neck speeds. Finally, the shape neared the Gunship. On a whim, Ganondorf turned right and spotted the oncoming figure.
“Eh...?” Ganondorf inquired. “What is that?”
As Bowser turned towards the object, the shape flew into the Gunship. Within a second, it pierced through and flew overhead, having slowed down considerably. The figure atop the speck smiled and waved.
“KIRBY?!” roared Bowser.
“Hi, Bowser! Hi, Ganondorf!” Kirby greeted as he flew past. He appeared to be riding a Warp Star, though it was unlike any the two villains had laid their eyes on. With a tail, two long wings, and a fierce head-like nose, it gave the appearance of a powerful beast. This could only be the Dragoon, one of the two legendary Warp Stars.
As Kirby flew away and rejoined his friends, the Subspace Gunship quickly began to crumble. Though tiny, the Dragoon had managed to destroy the structural support, and the Gunship was well on its way to destruction. Ganondorf and Bowser retreated back into the Subspace Tear.
Kirby rejoined his friends' ships. Gesturing, he lead the four spacecrafts – from Samus's sleek ship to Captain Falcon's trusty Falcon Flyer to Starfox's extra Arwing to Olimar's jalopy of a rocket ship – into the Subspace Tear and towards their final foe.
Turning from the crumbling ruins of the Subspace Gunship to the wreckage of the Halberd to the second Subspace Tear created, Sonic, standing on the distant shoreline, shook his head, concluding, “That's noooo good.”
Crossing his arms, Wolf inquired, “Well, what do you think we should do? Unless you can somehow cross that water-”
Sonic glared at him. “Hi. I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. Have we met?”
“Hey! What's that supposed to mean?” snapped Wolf.
Sonic grinned. “It means I'm the fastest thing alive. Watch.”
Taking a couple hundred paces backwards, Sonic started dashing and sped across the ocean, reaching the falling Subspace Gunship and scaling its crumbling ruins. Mewtwo, Roy, Mega Man, Geno, Toon Link, and Wolf stared.
Toon Link scratched his head. “Well, that's great for him,” he concluded, “But what about us?”
---
The brigade of heroes dashed through the final foes of the Subspace Army as they tailed Ganondorf and Bowser. After taking on a few oversized Primids and a couple Armanks, the heroes finally reached their foes. Stepping forward, Mario shouted, “Hey, get-a back here!”
Bowser and Ganondorf turned around to see the foes. While Ganondorf sighed, Bowser stepped forward. “Alright, Mario! We're gonna settle this! One-on-one! Right here, right no-”
Bowser's trophy fell to the ground as Ganondorf lowered his steaming Dark Cannon. “I don't have time for this. I must see Master Hand,” Ganondorf muttered. The Gerudo kicked the heavy Bowser trophy towards the party, distracting them and allowing him to advance.
Ganondorf approached a precipice at Subspace's very end, hanging over complete nothingness. Though the threat of an unknown fate loomed vastly beneath the warlock, he held no fear as he reached the end of the long overhand and kneeled, anticipating Master Hand. “My lord, I come bearing news.” Ganondorf grinned. This was it; he'd finally take control and properly lead the takeover. The Subspace Gunship incident proved that nobody but him was competent in this enterprise.
Indeed, the giant, animate right hand appeared from the vast nothingness of Subspace. As Ganondorf shifted his gaze upwards, he realized that Master Hand seemed somewhat... stiff. Then Ganondorf spotted the long, yellow wires seemingly melded into the floating glove. Following the wires, some strange, humanoid creature seemed at the end.
“A puppeteer?” Ganondorf gasped, dumbfounded. “Who the hell are you?”
The figure said nothing.
Ganondorf kicked off the ground and, summoning all his strength, launched himself several hundred feet into this being. Pulling his arm back, Ganondorf focused all his energy into a Warlock Punch.
The figure reflected Ganondorf. The warlock fell, slowly becoming a trophy.
Conveniently, Ganondorf's trajectory resulted in his colliding with Master Hand. From the heavy weight of the trophy and the wear and tear of the wires, Master Hand was painfully ripped from the strings binding him to the figure. Thus, Ganondorf and Master Hand smashed into the ground simultaneously.
Quickly regaining consciousness, Master Hand formed a fist and, launching itself at its captor, proclaimed, “YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR THIS INJUSTICE!”
The figure reflected Master Hand. The hand fell, limp, to the ground. As the troop of heroes neared, Master Hand twitched erratically before it locked in place.
In a perfectly emotionless voice, the being answered the unspoken question of the 25 fighters. “Dead. You have served your purpose, and I will never again have use of you.”
R.O.B. advanced a few paces. “You... you are the creature responsible for my civilization's ruin!” He shouted, pointing hatefully.
Kirby, fascinated, remarked, “You are a glowy butterfly man! Kinda like Marx, really.”
The truth dawned on everyone. This had to be the “glowy butterfly man” about whom King Dedede had been warning. His oddball claims – honest cries for help?
“Call me whatever you wish. Know me as Tabuu, and fear me as your end,” the being uttered.
"Tabuu (Papilio Sapiens) – A strange, humanoid creature. This unique being seems to have a malevolent disposition. It has been identified as-" began Olimar.
“We have more serious issues than filling out the Hitchhiker's Guide, Olimar!” Captain Falcon snapped.
“Know this – your world has seen its final sunrise; the moon shall never return to your skies,” Tabuu told his enemies.
“But why do you target Smashtopia?” Fox questioned.
“Smashtopia... I do not care for Smashtopia. It is a speck of dust to me. I will have Videoland,” explained Tabuu. “I will have... everything. It will be mine. Mine to own, mine to control.”
“Will you call it George?” Captain Falcon asked, tauntingly.
Tabuu appeared unshaken. “Joke all you want; this will be the last you'll ever laugh. For even you shall be mine. My toys...”
Link pointed the Master Sword at Tabuu. “What makes you think you can defeat all of us? You are just one being. Even giant, we've taken down larger.”
“And if you're talkin' about the whole trophy thing,” Falco joined in, “You're outta luck. The last Dark Cannon is right here, and you ain't getting it.”
Tabuu replied, “I do not need a Dark Cannon. Observe, my Off-Waves.” Collecting energy, Tabuu fanned his giant wings, easily quadrupling his size. With a flap of his wings, a giant red ring exploded around him, speeding towards the troop of fighters,
Ike gripped Ragnell, and, as everyone around him also prepared for battle, he called, “Come on! It's just another enemy-”
The clattering of 25 trophies was the final sound that could be heard in the bleak vastness of Subspace.
Gathering a legion of shadow bugs and pulling in the Smashtopia Tears, his world was born, and the new order had arisen. His people were made in the image of the fallen fighters, and his Great Maze was built from the ruins of the destroyed world.
Tabuu had won.