The living room was silent as everyone tried to process what they had just been told. Samus scanned the room, trying to read the expressions of the other fighters, but she didn't know any of them well enough to guess what they might have been thinking. And it didn't help that barely half of them had a humanoid face.

  "Do you believe it?" Link asked finally. "Those things you saw - they could have been faked to generate sympathy from you."

  "I can't be sure," Samus said. "But, it didn't feel like a lie. When I was there in that village, there was this overwhelming sense of despair and fear around me. I don't think anyone would be able to fake those."

  "Okay," Captain Falcon said. "Well, now we just have to decide if we're still going ahead with challenging the Master Hand."

  Fox jumped up. "What are you talking about? Of course we are, right?"

  "If everything Samus was told is true, then defeating the Master Hand would only put us in conflict with something even worse," Falcon reminded him. "Are you really sure that you have the strength to go against that? Or that you even want to?"

  Mario looked around the room. "I don't know everything you've been through in your universes," he said. "I can only speak for mine. The Master Hand may be more powerful than anything I've ever faced. Even if I believe that we could all beat it working together, that doesn't mean we win the next fight. And if we do, will something else come for us?"

  "Maybe we get to go home!" Fox snapped. "Isn't that what this is about? The whole reason we decided to fight Master Hand in the first place?" He looked around at everyone else's expressionless faces. "If we don't do this, then more people keep getting pulled into this world, and we'll have to fight against all of them as well. Mario, Link, I heard you this morning talking about the people you care about at home. Do you really want them to be brought here for that hand's amusement? I know that I wouldn't want to subject my friends to this."

  "The problem with us kids," Ness said. "Is that we get bored easily. You have enough of one toy, you get another until someone tells you to stop. There's no limit to this if we don't create one." He balled his fists. "I'm still going to fight. And I'll keep fighting until someone makes me stop."

  "Me too," Fox agreed.

  Mario sighed. "I haven't given up on a challenge like this before. I don't suppose that I can now. For Peach." Yoshi nodded happily, and went to stand with him.

  "Pika. Pikachu." They all turned to look at Pikachu. "Pi, pika."

  "He say he scared," Donkey Kong said. "He say that living and fighting better than dying."

  "I have to say, in some ways I agree," said Falcon. "I'm not saying that we give up, but I worry what the consequences might be if we win against this Light but lose to the Darkness. What if the ones we love aren't left alone after that? Perhaps it's better that we accept our lot."

  "You can't be serious!" Fox yelled. "What are you, some kind of coward?"

  "I'm being sensible," the Captain said. "It's easy to think that you'll always win these things, but the truth is that people lose. Whenever we lose, it'll be bad for all of us. I don't think you should be throwing your lives away. And I'm not the only one who thinks that way. Am I, Samus?"

  All eyes fell on her. "I saw it," she said. "The depth of the power that these things carry. I don't think we have a chance of winning against them." She looked at the floor. "I'm sorry, all of you. But I think we have to accept this outcome."

  Mario stepped forwards. "Perhaps we take a vote. All of those who don't want to fight the Master Hand, raise your hand... paw... whatever you have."

  Captain Falcon's hand went up. So did Samus's, and Pikachu lifted his paw into the air. Jigglypuff, who was paying attention for once, raised her hand as well. Then to his surprise, Donkey Kong raised his hand too.

  "That's five," he counted.

  Falcon shook his head. "It's six, Mario." He nodded his head at the person who was standing behind the plumber. But, only one person was standing there. He turned, already knowing what he would see, and saw Luigi with his hand in the air.

  "I'm sorry, bro," Luigi said. "But..." he lowered his hand, and held both of them in front of him. Mario saw how much they were shaking. "I'm scared. Something like this is more than we can fight. I saw the power of Smash yesterday. You think we can really go against something that has that much power? Twice?" He sighed. "I don't want to think about what happens if we don't fight. About what happens to our friends back home if they get brought here, that is. But if we fail? Mario, either the Master Hand or whatever comes after could go after them! Peach, Daisy, all the Toads! Pauline! All the rest of our friends! Maybe the best we can do for them is do nothing!"

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  A fist hit him in the jaw. Based on how small it was, it shouldn't have done anything to him, but it was enough to lift him off his feet and throw him against the wall above the fireplace.

  "What are you talking about?!" Kirby yelled. Well, he sort of did. Everyone was aware that he was speaking in the same nonsense sounds as he always did, but somehow they could all understand him. It was like the intent of his thoughts were becoming words within their minds.

  "Kirby can talk?" Fox asked.

  "Are you seriously saying the only way to protect the people you love is to do nothing?" Kirby asked. "That makes no sense! The only way to do anything is by doing it! If you're scared of what happens if you lose, then there's only one thing to do! And that's to never lose!"

  Falcon frowned. "Kirby, it's not that simple. You can't just decide not to lose."

  "Why not?" Kirby asked. "I've never decided to lose before, and I've never lost because of that. Mario, Luigi, we all saw your fight earlier. All that power was yours, and no-one else's."

  "And it still might not be enough!"

  "Then get more power!" Kirby said. "If we lose to Master Hand, then we try again when we're stronger. If we lose against the Darkness, then we'll fight him again with more power. The only way we ever lose is by giving up!"

  "Or if we get killed," Luigi reminded him. "Or if we get the people we love killed."

  "Don't you believe in the people you love?" Kirby asked.

  The question shocked Luigi. "Of course. But -"

  "So do you think they believe in you?"

  Samus gasped, as her memories of the Chozo who had raised her rushed into her mind. What would they think, if they saw her so ready to give up?

  "People believe in us to fight for them," she said. "They trust us to go forth so that they don't have to." She palmed her forehead. "People are always in danger if we fail. But they always believe in us to fight for them anyway."

  She drew herself up to her full height. "Kirby is right, Luigi." She said. "I don't know much about your world - about any of your worlds. But if I had to guess, I'd say that one thing we all have in common is that right now, people are relying on us. We can't let them down by giving into our fear."

  "Pika."

  She squatted down and allowed Pikachu to approach her. "Pikachu," she said. "I understand that you're scared. I am too, in fact. But please - would you agree to fight alongside us?" She extended her arm.

  The mouse pokémon hesitated for a second. He sniffed her hand, then smiled. "Pika!" he jumped onto her arm and ran up to her shoulder.

  Samus smiled. "Thank you, Pikachu." She drew herself up to her full height. "Everyone. I apologise for my shameful conduct just now. Rest assured, that will be the last time you see me acting like that."

  "It's time!" said the voice of Master Hand, "for the final battle of the day."

  The fighters were ready by now for the feeling of being pulled through space, and were ready for it. Pikachu was pulled away from Samus, and opened his eyes to the sight of a pleasant, sunny forest. A tree close to him blinked slowly and made a small whistling sound from the hole that looked like it was a mouth. Yoshi was next to him, and Kirby and Jigglypuff were his opponents.

  "What are we watching for, here?" Captain Falcon asked from the stands.

  "I don't know," Mario said. "But I think this is more than a fight. Look at Kirby." They stared at the small pink creature. There was a definite look of determination on his face.

  "Go!" yelled Master Hand.

  Kirby wasted no time beginning the fight. He ran towards Pikachu and Yoshi, pulling a hammer out of some space that the others couldn't fathom. He spun in place and hit both of them with the hammer - then, before either one could even recover he had pulled out a sword and delivered a powerful slash to them both. They fell motionless to the ground.

  "Yoshi!" Mario yelled, leaning forwards.

  "Pikachu!" Samus leant forwards as well.

  Jigglypuff appeared to be taking a nap under the tree. The tree didn't seem to like this very much, so it opened its mouth and blew on her hard enough that she drifted off the edge of the stage and fell into the void far below.

  Kirby was no on his own, but it didn't seem to be a problem for him with how quickly he had downed both of his opponents.

  "You know," Link said. "Kirby never really spoke to us. His heart was the one that did all of the talking."

  Ness nodded. "I have no idea what that means."

  "It means that he's inviting his opponents to do the same," Link said. "To speak with their heart."

  "But Yoshi and Pikachu are both on the side that wants to fight the Master Hand, right?" Captain Falcon asked. "What will this prove?"

  Mario and Samus both gasped. Mario called out to Yoshi. "Yoshi! Let's win, and then we'll go home and run through the Mushroom Kingdom together!"

  "And Pikachu!" Samus shouted. "You and I can find a way to see each other's worlds! We have so much to show one another."

  The two creatures struggled to their feet. Kirby took a step back and readied his hammer. The determination of each of their faces was palpable, so much that it seemed to hit the rest of the fighters like a wave was slamming into their faces.

  "Strength of heart..." Donkey Kong said slowly. "Heart is strong... but Donkey Kong is even stronger. I will fight Master Hand."

  Captain Falcon grinned. "Well, if you're going to fight, Big Guy, then I can't really back down can I?"

  Jigglypuff, who had reappeared in the stands, nodded what they assumed was an agreement.

  Mario looked at Luigi. "Can we fight together again?" he asked. "The Mario Brothers?"

  Luigi's fists clenched against his lap. Despite the pounding in his chest and the sound of blood rushing in his mind, he could only answer one thing. "Let's fight!"

  Pikachu and Yoshi screamed in effort at the same time. A bolt of lightning dropped from the sky onto Pikachu, seeming to charge him like a battery. Yoshi lowered his head and his body began to turn red, as though he had eaten a Dash Pepper. They both charged at Kirby at the same time, who tried to swing his hammer to hold them back. However, this time when they collided with the head of his hammer they pushed it back, forcing Kirby to retreat. They kept charging, eventually knocking Kirby's hammer out of his hands and landing a double strike on his small body. It was more than enough for them to throw him off the stage, in a way that won them the match.

  "Game!" announced the Master Hand. It floated down from its position upon high and took the place of the stage in front of all of the fighters. "Now... do you have something you want to say to me?"

  Mario looked around. Eleven determined faces met his, giving him the confidence he needed to stand up and face the Master Hand. "Master Hand!" he said. "We challenge you!"