Giga Bowser was powerful indeed - the fury of a monster with the strength of a giant.

  But as he was now, Link was far more than a giant. He was a god.

  When Bowser tried to smash him with a giant hand, Link simply stepped to the side and made a single cut with his sword. Bowser's claws disintegrated, cut to pieces by the sword. Link gave hi no time to react and jumped, kicking Bowser in the chest. is shell cracked and bent inwards, and Bowser yelled in pain.

  "This is as far as you go," Link said. And with one more swipe of his sword he beheaded the beast.

  Giga Bowser melted into darkness. Far away, Bowser felt the rush of his stolen strength returning to him. It carried the stench of fear on it - something so powerful that it had terrified the purest form of his rage. He growled. Perhaps he wouldn't be able to conquer this new world - not on his own at least.

  He turned to the figure behind him. "So if they win, defeat this Crazy Hand guy... you have a plan for after that?"

  The figure smiled. "Of sorts. Just make sure you keep quiet about my involvement to the others I bring to our side."

  Bowser laughed. "Tricking people. Sounds fun."

  The figure extended their hand. A large device - a cannon of sorts - appeared on the ground in front of Bowser. "You'll begin to use this when I give the sign," they said. "But be patient. In the meantime, is there anything else you'd like?"

  Bowser considered for a moment. "Can you allow my minions to come to this world?"

  The figure spread his hands. "Likely. It's hard to say without knowing the results of this conflict, but I suspect that the dimensional barriers have been weakened enough by the Crazy Hand that I can allow a few more to come through."

  Bowser turned to face the figure properly. "Just who are you, really?" he asked.

  The figure smiled. "I am a servant of peace, my friend. Nothing more."

  Back on the mountain, Link fell to one knee. The Fierce Deity mask gave him the power of a god, but it was clearly something he wasn't supposed to wield. He pulled it from his face and felt his body shrink back to its original, child-like size. The mask looked blank in his hand, but that was his other self in there.

  "I'm sorry," he muttered.

  Then he heard the scream. He turned towards the machine, and smiled when he saw that it was broken, and that those who had been held inside it were free. But then he saw Samus kneeling on the ground and his heart dropped into his stomach.

  He ran, half stumbling and barely standing, to get to the others. Peach and Zelda were both kneeling next to Samus, hands out with magic dancing around their fingers. Pikachu's prone body wasn't reacting to either one of them. He was beyond healing, Link knew. That couldn't be.

  "No," he whispered.

  He pulled out his own ocarina. Maybe his own magic would help... but he paused just as he brought it to his mouth. The song of healing, despite its name, could only heal souls, not bodies. He was useless here. He let it drop to his sides.

  He wouldn't turn Pikachu into a mask for his own use. Nothing he could do would disgust him more.

  Above them, the battle between the hands still raged. But at the moment, no-one was focusing on that. All of the fighters, everyone from these other worlds gathered around Samus and her dead best friend. Some of them hadn't even known Pikachu, but they had all seen what he had done. So they stayed silent for him.

  Samus was eventually able to stop crying. This wasn't the first time she'd lost someone, after all. She'd learned that sometimes things had to be locked away for later. She would grieve Pikachu properly when there was time.

  She laid his body on the ground and got slowly to her feet. Her suit was nothing but scraps of metal now, so she discarded those pieces and let them scatter on the ground around her.

  "This isn't over," she said. "Who has a plan?"

  For a moment, no-one said anything. Then she heard a voice in her mind. "If I might be allowed to share," Mewtwo said. He spoke into everyone's heads at once. "Most of us are exhausted and beaten. We pose little threat to the might of Crazy Hand as we are now."

  "Whose fault is that again?" Falco asked.

  Nana shushed him. "You have an idea, Mewtwo?"

  "Of a sorts," Mewtwo said. "I believe that we should use the Melee Machine."

  Samus gave him a furious look. "The one we just gave everything we had to destroy?"

  "Its original purpose no longer functions," Mewtwo confirmed. "But perhaps it could be used to send energy to Master Hand. The energy that all of us have left, that is. I don't know if it will be enough, but maybe it can give it the edge. There's just one problem though..."

  "A conduit," Marth said. "I don't know exactly how that machine worked, but I was in there. All of the energy was moving through Pichu. So we'd need that again."

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Samus rounded on him. "No way. We already lost Pikachu, and now you want Pichu to go the same way? She's just a baby."

  Pichu jumped up onto Samus's shoulder. "Chu. Pichu Pi."

  "She says she wants to do it," Mewtwo said.

  Samus shook her head. "You can't Pichu. It could kill you."

  "Pi." Pichu nodded.

  She hesitated. "Fine. How do we do this?"

  Mewtwo gestured towards the machine. "Anyone with mechanical proficiency, work out how to change the machine's function."

  While the tech-heads were doing that, Zelda made her way over to Young Link, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground staring at the Fierce Deity mask. "Is that him?" she asked, touching him gently on the shoulder.

  Young Link nodded. "It was his choice, but it feels bad. I don't know if there's a way for him to come back from this."

  "I'm sure there is," Zelda reassured him. "I just wanted you to know, you both saved us. I'm very proud of you both."

  Link sat up a little straighter. "Thank you, Princess. I'm happy to help you whenever you need anything. I'm always ready to be your knight."

  "Thank you, my knight," Zelda said.

  A few feet away, Mario ran up to Peach and stopped just in front of her, hands on his knees. "Hello, Mario," she said.

  "Hello, Peach," he said.

  Luigi appeared behind him with Ness and Kirby in tow. "Luigi," she said. "You're looking well." He tipped his cap at her. "And these are some of the new friends you've met, right?"

  "Yes," Mario said. "I'd love to introduce you to everyone later."

  "Right," Peach said. "But we have a job to do first, don't we?"

  "Hey!" Fox yelled over to them. "Everyone get over here! We're ready to go."

  Samus lifted Pichu into the palm of the hand. "Are you sure about this?" she asked.

  Pichu nodded.

  "I'll get you out if anything goes wrong," she said.

  "So how does this work?" Popo asked, as everyone gathered around the Melee Machine.

  "Everyone make contact with the machine," Mewtwo said. "Once we begin, this may be painful, but do not fight against it. Give the machine all the power you can spare."

  They all did as he said, and placed their hands one by one against the machine. There was a hum under their fingers, which grew into a dull roar as Fox turned on the machine.

  Then the pain began - the sucking, draining pain of their energy being taken all in one go. But no-one screamed.

  Mario gritted his teeth. "I've been fighting ever since I was brought to this world," he thought. "If this is the last thing I have to do to get a break, then I will."

  "I'll do anything to protect my bro," Luigi thought. "And not just him. Since coming here I've made friends - met good people. I've grown stronger too. So, machine, take all the power you need!"

  "I won't lose," Donkey Kong thought. "I'm strong enough for this."

  The roar of the machine began to grow louder. The hands in the sky continued to fight.

  "Yoshi."

  "What's the point of having my powers if I'm going to lose someone else to something stronger than me," Ness thought, as he gave up more of his power. "I'm not going to let that happen again."

  "It's my sworn duty to protect everyone!" Captain Falcon shifted his stance as he felt his flames dance over his chest as a reaction to the machine.

  "I've come this far - no reason to stop now!" Fox felt all his hairs stand on end and his instincts cried at him to let go, but he ignored them.

  Kirby held on resolutely.

  The fingers of the machine began to glow. Crazy Hand noticed and looked down on them. "What are they doing?" it demanded.

  Master Hand backhanded it with the force of a continent. "Reshaping the future."

  "Jigglypuff."

  Nana reached out and grabbed Popo's free hand with hers. "For you, I'll keep fighting."

  Marth glanced over at Roy. "He was the second candidate for what I had to go through. I won't let him get hurt because I'm weak again."

  Game and Watch flickered back and forth. He didn't feel pain like the others did, but he felt their struggle and gave up what was safe to spare.

  Peach looked sideways at Zelda. "She's quite a princess. If I can't stand here next to her, then what right to I have to lead my own people?"

  Zelda looked back at her. Somehow, both women were unaware that they were thinking the same thing about the other.

  Roy felt his arm weakening, but pressed his hand more against the machine. "I haven't done enough yet! This isn't enough!"

  "There's no way I can let the captain outdo me here," Falco thought, looking over at Fox. "If I'm going to take over from him I need to be able to do what he does."

  Crazy Hand fumed. "If this is what they're doing, then I'll just destroy everything now!" It started to draw in energy, ready to release a destructive wave that would level this world in a matter of moments.

  Master Hand charged, but was repelled by a dark barrier. It could break through, but that would take time that it didn't have right now.

  Young Link held the mask in his hand. "I'll add both of our strength at once!" he decided. "And if you can hear me, I'm glad to share your legacy!"

  Mewtwo could have heard everyone's minds, but he ignored them. This was, he understood, a realisation he should come to on his own. "My actions risked the lives of millions," he thought. "Even if this is not enough atonement, I will continue to fight regardless until there is no possibility left. But for now, as Nana taught me, that still exists."

  Samus thought about Pikachu. The friend that she had made when she had thought she hadn't wanted a friend. The one who had made this world okay for her. It wasn't about saving the world now. "Crazy Hand," she thought. "You'll die for this."

  Pichu screamed as all the power streamed through her at once. But she gritted her teeth and did what she had to, focusing all the energy into a new form.

  High above, their power manifested in front of Master Hand. It was a sphere, rainbow coloured with patterns that changed and shifted in a pattern that would never repeat again. A cross, uncentered, broke up the rainbow. This was the sign of this world, Master Hand knew. Somehow, the fighters had manifested the purest form of the world of Smash.

  Master Hand grabbed the Smash Ball. Power flowed through it - the fingers crackled with light. For an instant, she remembered the girl she had once been - a gift, it decided.

  Master Hand slammed into the barrier. It broke beneath its touch, and then it slammed into Crazy Hand. They tumbled together through the sky, the light of Master Hand finally enough to overcome the darkness of Crazy Hand.

  "You can't!" Crazy Hand screamed. As it was now, it sounded like a plea. "My side will never stop coming! You won't survive!"

  "I know," Master Hand said. "But maybe they will."

  Crazy Hand screamed. Master Hand unleashed the energy everyone had given it, and the sky lit up. The clouds were blown away, leaving a blue sky overhead once more, and Crazy Hand was banished forever from Smash.

  Light rained down onto the mountaintop. Samus raised her hands and saw it nestle in her palm, wriggle around for a moment, then fade. Pichu jumped off the machine and onto her shoulder. Her mouth opened in a silent shock. It was...

  "It's over!" Marth raised his sword over his head. "We won!"

  "We won!" said everyone's voice together.

  It was true. They had won.