As the Falcon Flier came to a skidding stop, Ken looked out at the surroundings.
"It feels like I'm back home. It feels... comforting," he said as everyone got off the ship.
"It reminds me of my battle with Ryu. We were evened, but he hit me with an attack that stunned me. Then he hit that Shoryuken. I never saw it coming," Falcon replied.
"A focus attack. Ryu can charge up all his energy and release a stunning attack. I can do it, too," Ken explained. As they prepared to walk around a corner, a young man was sent flying to the ground. He had a red hat and vest, a white tank top, and blue jeans.
"Are you alright?" Mario quickly asked. The young man ignored Mario and quickly ran toward the direction opposite of where he'd been launched.
"POWER DUNK!" The young man charged. As Mario and the rest of the group turned the corner. They were shocked at what they saw. The young man was attacking Ryu! Ryu has parried the attack, a technique that Ken and Ryu's master, Gouken, had taught them. Ryu quickly launched his opponent with a quick kick. He started towards him.
"Pathetic... did you really think you could defeat me?" Ryu smirked, the red aura of the Satsui No Hado flashing around him.
"Ryu! That's enough!" Ken spoke out, stepping from behind the corner to confront his friend.
"Look who finally came to visit. It's good to see you, Ken," Ryu said, in an almost sarcastic voice.
"That's enough, Ryu. This is over. You're coming back with us," Ken replied in a plain, but bold voice.
"You know what? On second thought, I'm not feeling it today. Later," Ryu laughed and began to walk away.
"No! I'm not letting you run again!" Ken yelled, chasing after his friend. As he ran, he began charging a focus attack. As he went to stop Ryu with the attack, Ryu and turned and used a focus attack of his own. The impact between the two was great, causing shockwaves. Ken jumped back, getting into his stance.
"Huh. Looks like I'm not getting off easy. Ok then. Time to embarrass you like I always have," Ryu said smugly.
"Keep telling yourself, that, Ryu. You'll find yourself on the ground," Ken growled. Ryu got into his fighting stance. As he did, he pulled a small capsule out of his gi, and threw it on the ground. A large force field surrounded the two. It wasn't too entirely big, but enough room for the two to fight. Ken looked around, surprised.
"Focus, Ken. This is what you wanted, right? Then come get it," Ryu threatened. As the two began to battle, Mario and the others watched.
"Best pay attention, pal!" Mario quickly jumped over Wario, who was attempting one of his infamous shoulder bashes. After landing, Mario realized that of course, wasn't alone. Wario was joined by Samus, though she looked different. Along were the last of the revenants, which were Falco and Mega Man.
"Samus?" Mario asked in surprise.
"No... I can sense it. It's an evil, Dark Samus," Shadow explained.
"Whatever, I'm taking Wario out," Mario said.
"Looks like it's time for me to bring Falco back," Fox replies, stepping up beside Mario.
"I might know a few of Mega Man's tricks," Sonic said in a sly tone.
"One bounty hunter, taking down another. Where have I heard that one before?" Falcon said, as he and Sonic stood next to Mario and Fox.
"Oh, don't worry, we won't leave the rest of you bored!" Wario laughed. Dark Samus launched a few projectiles into the air. Whatever had been shot seemed to sink into the ground. That was when small purple auras began to surround our heroes.
"Wait, are these..."
"Primids!" Shadow exclaimed. He wasn't too concerned about these things, but the question of how they returned came to his mind.
"There's a lot of them...," Other Zelda whispered to Cloud.
"No worries. We got this," Cloud replied, pulling out the Fusion Sword. As our heroes circled up to prepare for battle, Shadow took command.
"Alright, be ready for anything," Shadow warned. Almost instantly, one of the Primids jumped up at the group. That was when suddenly a young man cut through the Primid as soon as it jumped up. He landed in near Shadow. He had dark hair, and he wore a black robe with red gloves. He wore a white mask. The strangest part, however, was the cat creature that sat on his shoulder.
"Woo hoo! Very smooth, Joker!" The cat cheered.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Shadow demanded.
"That doesn't matter at the moment. These shadows need to be taken out!" The young man, or "Joker" as the cat had said, replied.
"What was that?" Shadow asked, suddenly filling with anger. Hearing they were taking out "shadows" filled him with suspicion.
"W-we're just trying to help!" The cat insisted.
"I'll help too!" The guy Ryu pummeled appeared, ready to fight the Primids.
"Hmph. Hope you can pull your own weight," Shadow said with a smirk. As predicted, the Primids were easy. There were a lot though. Joker and the other person had no problem taking care of them. Eventually, a group of them surrounded Joker.
"Looks like these guys are good at hanging up, Joker," the cat stated.
"It would seem that way. Maybe we should turn it up a notch," Joker replied. Shadow watched as Joker calmly removed his mask. What he saw next would shock him.
"PERSONA!" Joker shouted. Almost instantly, a form appeared behind Joker. It wore red and had a wicked smile on his face.
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten," the form said, his tone that of menacing evil and delight.
"Not in a million years. They're all yours, Arsene," Joker replied calmly. With a wave of his hands, Arsene mimicked Joker's actions, causing a gust of wind, knocking all of the Primids away. Seeing that Joker was indeed capable, Shadow looked to the other person. He was beating down Primids mercilessly. He threw one over his shoulder, then smashed its face with his fist. He continued to pound the Primids. A couple of Primids tried to jump him from behind. Then the guy turned quickly to face his foes.
"Power... GEYSER!" The man yelled, causing a large explosion, destroying the creatures. Shadow quickly refocused taking down his own share of Primids.
"Well, we may have found ourselves two more allies. That's useful," Shadow thought to himself.
Meanwhile, Ryu was taking full advantage of the battle. While Ken had kept even, the Satsui No Hado overwhelmed him. As Ken collapsed to his hands and knees, Ryu flashed red aura to show off.
"Face it, Ken. There was never any doubt. Let's end this," Ryu said smugly.
"No... not yet...," Ken muttered.
"What's that?"
"There's only one way to beat back the darkness...," Ken said weakly.
"Oh really? And what would that be?"
"With... WITH LIGHT!"
In a bright flash, which caused Ryu to get back, Ken appeared. His gi was white. And his body was surrounded white aura, similar to Ryu's red aura.
"Mu No Ken; the Power of Nothingness," Ryu said, in a matter-of-fact tone.
"You of all people should know," Ken replied. While Ryu had always struggled with the Satsui No Hado, he had achieved balance with Mu No Ken, which was actually stronger than the Satsui No Hado.
"How far we've come..."
"Yeah, training together with Master Gouken..."
"Kicking Dan Hibiki around..."
"Heh, I'll always treasure that one..."
"Too bad all these memories end today."
"Ryu, it doesn't have to end like that! You've overpowered the Satsui No Hado before! You can do it again!" Ken pleaded with his friend.
"I think it's far too late, Ken. But we can start over. We can now train under Waluigi, perfect the Satsui No Hado and rule the world! But that means that I'll have to kill you first," Ryu seethed. Ken shook his head.
"To think, this maniac... has gotten you off the path. Be lucky Master Gouken isn't here... because nothing, not even the Satsui No Hado, will protect you from what I'm about to do to you!" Ken roared. The long awaited battle of light and darkness occurred. The two exchanged blows, perfectly even. Unfortunately for Ryu, he chose to get cocky.
"I think after I've killed you, I'll pay Eliza and Mel a visit," Ryu mocked. Almost immediately, Ken hit him with a punch straight in the face.
"That was for Luigi!" Ken yelled. He continued to drill Ryu with punches and kicks.
"That was for running from me!" Ken continued, finding different reasons to beat down his friend.
"And this... this for bringing Eliza and Mel into this! Shippu Jinraikyaku!" Ken yelled. As if he'd become a helicopter, he did a spinning kick attack, knocking Ryu all the way into the wall of the force field. Ken then flew all the way up, and with emphasis, slammed into Ryu. The impact caused the force field to shatter. Ryu fell to the ground, the red aura fading from his body. Ken landed, the white aura fading, and his white gi had returned to its original red. Ken fell to his knees, trying to recover from the fight. Ryu had taken everything out of him. And if not for Mu No Ken, he might've been killed. He looked at his unconscious friend.
"It's okay, buddy. We're gonna help you now," Ken said.
Meanwhile, Waluigi's forces had been completely overwhelmed. The Primids were easily defeated, and Wario and Dark Samus were unsuccessful. Revenant Falco and Mega Man lay on the ground, defeated. Seeing that they'd lost, Wario attempted to grab their fallen revenant allies and retreat.
"Hold up!" The cat yelled, stopping Wario and Dark Samus in their tracks. Joker stood over the two, and pulled out his pistol.
"I suggest you leave, or there won't be a chance for a change of heart," Joker threatened. Wario looked at Joker, then the revenants.
"Waluigi won't be happy about this... alright, we'd better go," Wario told Dark Samus. A portal opened, and the two villains disappeared. Meanwhile, Ken limped back to the group, with an unconscious Ryu. He let his friend lay down next to Falco and Mega Man.
"Alright, let's bring them back," Shadow said. Pulling out the device, he pointed it at the three revenants and pulled the trigger. After about a minute, the three were now back to normal.
"So, now that that's out of the way, who are you two?" Mario asked Joker and the other man.
"My name is Terry Bogard," the man said. "I live here in South Town. I was minding my own business when that guy challenged me."
"I see... and you?" Shadow turned toward Joker.
"I'm Morgana, and this is Joker. He is the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Heart!" The cat said, jumping off Joker's shoulder, then striking a pose.
"Phantom Thieves?" Marth asked.
"We steal the lustful desires of corrupted adults," Joker explained.
"But you guys seem alright. So you're okay," Morgana said quickly.
"But, I've never seen you around here," Terry said.
"Well, there's a strange reason...," Joker shrugged.
"Allow me to explain," Morgana said.
"As the Phantom Thieves, we go into the hearts of the corrupted and steal their treasure, or in this case, there most prized possession. It can range from anything, from a medal, to even a plastic rocket model set."
"Before we go any further, just a question: how do you 'go into hearts?'" Sonic asked.
We use the Metaverse. It has access to the Palaces of the Heart. A Palace can be whatever this heart desire it to be. One could imagine a place such as this something like a desert, or worse," Morgana explained.
"That's a lot of info to take in," Snake reflected.
"Well, now that that's out of the way, continue about how you got here," Shadow ordered.
"Anyways... when we went to take the treasure, the treasure was nowhere to be seen. All that was left was a strange looking portal. So, Joker and I had the Phantom Thieves leave the Metaverse, and Joker and I went in to investigate. When we got out, we were here," Morgana finished.
"My only guess is that Wario and Dark Samus took what you were looking for. They arrived at the same time," Mario said. At this time, Ryu started to groan, and get to his feet.
"Ryu? Don't worry, buddy, I got ya!" Ken said quickly, helping the World Warrior to his feet.
"K-Ken?" Ryu said groggily.
"It's okay, buddy, you're back on our side now," Mario replied.
"What's been going on? What have I missed?" Ryu asked.
"Something isn't right here. The others have remembered the things that they did with Waluigi. Ryu seems clueless," Shadow thought.
"Waluigi made you his slave," Ken explained.
"Yes, I remember now...," Ryu nodded. Ken continued.
"Apparently, Waluigi helped you master the Satsui No Hado's powers."
"No..."
"Even worse, whatever you did with it is infecting Luigi. He had an uncontrollable fit of rage," Mario added.
"What have I done?" Ryu said in horror, looking at his right hand.
"Waluigi's to blame. Not just for what he's done to you. What he's done to each and every one of us," Snake replied.
"This Waluigi guy... who is he?" Morgana asked.
"Well... it's hard to explain. He was a guy that was once very weak, but then became very powerful. He used that power to take over the worlds in this dimension. He has plenty of people who obey his command, and he'll stop at nothing to make sure those who oppose him get crushed underneath his foot," Mario explained. He hadn't meant to sound so vague on details, but he'd explained it so many times, he wanted to save time. Besides, he could have Shadow to explain later if they really wanted all the details.
"Hmph... sounds like someone I knew...," Terry said quietly.
"And I don't a change of heart is possible, Joker. It's sounds like his desires have become his reality," Morgana told Joker. He nodded.
"I see... I want to help any way I can. If this Waluigi person wants to try and take over these different world, I'll stop him," Joker replied.
"We'll take him out. None of us are strong to take him out one on one. Well, we have one... but that's not important right now. We have to get back quick," Shadow said.
"I'll come too, I'm always up for a challenge," Terry added.
"Fine, let's get going. I have something to fix," Ryu said, getting to his feet on his own will.
"Alright. Let's get moving before it's too late for Luigi," Mario said. As the Resistance headed for the Falcon Flier and zipped through the portal, Mario's confidence was now back up again. Luigi was one of their best weapons in battle, and he was taken out. Now, they finally had the answer.