Scrap:

Loud cheers erupted across the land, balloons gracefully bobbed across the pastel skies. Thousands of creatures jumped for joy; parading across the bridge connecting to the magnificent Mushroom Kingdom, all it's towers draped with ribbons and the like. A large symphony was being played from a marching band of Toads, all garbed in bright red and blue in honor of their Kingdoms' hero. And on the top floor of the castle, a duo stood before them, on one side was Princess Peach, a blonde nineteen year old member of royalty, and apparently the ruler of the kingdom. Next to her stood the most celebrated hero of the time, notably wearing a red T-shirt and a casual pair of overalls, with a sturdy metal belt, was Mario, an epic warrior and hero complimented by his astounding courage and physical prowess, he was carrying a FLUDD on his back; a FLUDD is a machine set up as a nozzle upon his back, used to send intensely high-pressured streams of any substance poured into its tank.

The Princess grasped hold of the microphone from atop the castle floor, the parade below came to an abrupt halt, everyone scurrying as close as possible to hear the Princess's words.

"We gather here today is triumph to another defeat over the Dark Lord Bowser and his minion-," a large round of applause broke free, then silenced; "-s, and it is with great pleasure that we all celebrate our safety, and I feel the need to deliver credit where it is due, first to our Mushroom warriors, whom fought to ensure that none of the enemy offensive broke into our homelands," another round of applause; "And I would like to thank the Yoshi tribe, whom offered invaluable resources for food supply, and even sent some warriors themselves. Also, I owe a man who fought in the main lines a compliment, and that is Luigi;" A roar of applause broke free, Luigi tipped his hat slightly, he was in the mid-section of the crowd.

"And finally, to the man who went toe-to-toe with the devil-spawn Bowser himself, Mario!" the loudest and most deafening roar of applause rang free at the name, thousands of red balloons embedded with the Mushroom Kingdom icon rose around the Kingdom, the fireworks lit up the bright blue sky even more, Mario waved towards the crowd, laughing jovially, then he had to sojourn for a bit to catch his breath; he lied about his injuries before the festivity, in reality, the burn wounds he wore were multiple, and they still sent streams of pain on occasion, but seeing all the people congratulating him, he couldn't spend the time in a hospital bed.

The celebrations continued late into the night, until Mario had to whisper to Peach that he needed to rest a bit, and with a peck on the cheek goodnight, Mario jumped from the castle apex, latched onto a tree near the bottom (the remaining horde gave a look of awe and respect) in a feat of acrobatic skill, then jumped to the earth. he waved goodbye to the crowd, then strolled past the city area of the Mushroom Kingdom unto the forested outskirts of the vicinity, pulling the brushes away, Mario took sight of his humble home, a small pale-yellow painted home with a red roof, with a sign on the side reading ‘Mario’s plumbing and more corp.’ Multiple conduits were stored on the side, and there was a dark-red timber porch laid around the front entry. Mario grasped the door and opened it, Luigi was in the living room, leaned against a settee, reapplying bandages to his battle wounds from the skirmish a few days ago, and was enjoying a glass of warm cider, a novel was laid beside him on the table.

“Oh, hey Mario, some party huh?” Luigi smiled, trying to apply the bandages over his wound without grimacing.

“Was certainly something, I would’ve stayed a bit longer, but it was late and I kind of had to... Well you know.” Mario took off the overalls so he was just in his red T-shirt and a pair of red sweatpants he wore underneath, you could see scars coating a majority of his upper arms, Mario walked into the attached kitchen and grabbed some pain relieving ointment, then applied it to the scars,.

“Looks like Bowser roughed you up a bit, huh?” Luigi smirked a bit and his brothers misfortune.

“You aren’t one to talk.” Mario smirked, and smacked his brother on the back, where one of his burns were, he yelped in pain, then jumped out of the chair to tackle his brother to the ground. The two of them wrestled about a bit, then stopped to yelp over the pain, then started laughing over it. Then Mario realized that it was well into the night.

“Oh, Luigi, get to bed soon, we have to fix up the pipes at the sewer tomorrow, and the pay is top-notch!” Mario said, heading off to his bedroom to sleep, Luigi nodded and went back to reading.

--

“Again Kirby, with spirit!” Meta Knight commanded the younger star warrior, whom was still struggling to stay awake. The duo were both in a small field left of Dreamland, on the Pop Star planet.

Kirby was confused as to why Meta Knight was sparring with him so much recently, much more as to why he had to wield a sword instead of any other way to fight, much more as to why he was still awake when he was so exhausted, and hungry as well. But arguing his point did no good, not only because Kirby was too young to verbalize, but also because Meta Knight was as persistent as he was powerful.

Kirby obliged with a nod, then picked up the sword, donning a green cap, then slashed his blade towards Meta Knight, who smacked the blade away with Galaxia, his own sword, then whacked Kirby across the side with the stump of the blade. Kirby rubbed his head, Meta Knight gave a grimace underneath his steel mask.

“You are not even trying now... very well, I suppose you are still a child, I guess you should get your sleep, I am off to patrol the city, and find my own diversions, go home, we shall meet again for training again soon Kirby.” and it was with that declaration that Meta Knight whiffed his cape around his body, then whisked off without a trace.

Kirby was used to the training regime by now; if Meta Knight comes, fighting will follow, but it beat the old days where Meta Knight’s training involved hiring assassins to tear him apart, but it was exhausting and painful all the same. Kirby got up, and walked into the Pop Star forests, and walked up around Whispy Woods, into his favorite tree, a diminutive apple tree, with a fissure in the center just large enough for Kirby to comfortably lay in, his favorite napping spot.

Kirby inhaled his breath and let himself escalate into the corner, and wiping some excess grime away, let himself drift into a contented nap.

--

“MARIO-O-O!!” Luigi shrieked from the front yard, Mario jumped up, and banged his head against the ceiling, he fell off the bed, and was lain against the floor for a bit. Once his vision returned, and head still throbbing, Mario rushed to aid his younger brother in the front yard.

Upon opening the door, Mario saw Luigi laying down panting against the ground, Mario rushed to his side.

“What happened!?” Mario demanded, helping a petrified Luigi to his feet.

“D-darkness, a-all over, cons-s-suming f-ear... a-a-a” the rest was inaudible, while Luigi was never the brave one, normally he just shrieked when frightened, but seeing him unable to speak was a very unusual thing, Mario even felt himself a little frightened. Then he heard a high pitched noise, unexplainable, so high pitched if almost felt like the wind, but it had a unique feel to it, like a tea kettle blowing its top, the sky suddenly felt a bit darker, despite the Sun shining quite brightly today.

“T-there coming t-too finish it...” Luigi whispered, eyes stretched open, Mario threw him over his shoulder.

“Let’s get you inside, I’ll take c-care of this...” Mario decided in a voice of bravado, then rushed into the house. The first thing he did was dropped Luigi in the living room, then rushed to the closet to grab Luigi’s Poltergeist, and his own FLUDD. The Poltergeist was designed by GADD Corporations, used to expel multiple elements like fire or ice, and can be used to suck up any spectral beings, and the sucking power is strong enough to shave away at flesh; Mario tossed it to Luigi, whom was beginning to get his color back, only to fade paler when the whistling noise grew louder, crowding closer than ever.

Mario gulped, then instructed Luigi to watch the house, and said that he was heading outside to check things out, all Luigi could do was nod, and it was now that Mario was standing alone, a strong wind had picked up, sweeping bushes around, the noise was beginning to cause a piercing headache, the tea kettle noise was so intense it felt like it had a solid mass, and was beginning to weigh everything deeper into the earth...

“S-show yourself! Whatever you are!” Mario commanded, trying to stop the case of shivers he was getting, he rushed to the side of the house, and filled one portion of the FLUDD with water, and the other tank with gasoline, the only two substances available at the moment, then the whistling grew closer, and Mario knew whatever was surrounding them, it was right behind the bushes around his house.

Then a pitch black gas drifted from behind the bushes, and began to drift about the bushes. It danced across the hedges, releasing the eerie sound from earlier, and now it was tearing at Mario’s ear drum, he could hear Luigi yelling from indoors.

Mario began to get hopes that the smoke was harmless as it floated about the trees, only for a moment later, the trees leaves grew dark black, then the smoke succumbed the hedges, and as the smoke drifted closer to Mario, leaving the bush behind, Mario noticed the smoke had completely disintegrated the plant, and now it was closing in on him...

“No! STAY BACK!” Mario yelled fiercely, then set the FLUDD to its highest pressure, and shot a stream into the haze, the water pushed it back a bit, only for the water to disappear and just form more of the evil smoke. And it was then that the smoke closed around Mario. Mario felt multiple shivers flow through him, his sight was dark, but then, the smoke pulled away. Was he alive, his flesh was okay, the smoke flew about in what appeared to be a wild fit, was it unable to kill something fully alive? Was it something to do with his skin, will power?

Mario caught his breath as the smoke drew higher, then Mario saw that the haze had a new plan, it laid on the ground, and from it came, what was that, was it-BOWSER! No, it looked like Bowser, but he had the black smoke emanating from him, and Bowser’s body still had the fatal hole piercing the chest from the battle from Mario, it was obviously a corpse, and the haze was making a puppet out of it!

“Now this isa’ something I can handle!” Mario said, feeling braver now that he was on his normal fighting grounds, him versus Bowser. The Bowser opened its mouth to roar, but only the same high-pitched noise escaped, his eyes rolled lazily across his burnt face. Then a blast of red and black flame erupted from Bowser’s mouth, lighting the side of the house aflame, Mario jumped back just in time to avoid getting fried.

‘Bowser’s flames were never this brilliant or hot... This is different!’ Mario thought to himself, then Mario tried to use the FLUDD to put the flames out, only for the red realistic portion of the fire to dissipate. The black flames stayed put, and Mario remembered Luigi inside, but he couldn’t do anything at the moment.

Mario took the offensive and rushed to Bowser, soared into the air and attempted a smash his foot into his skull, the hit connected, but Bowser barely gave notice, he smashed the back of his hand into Mario’s chest, right into the burn, Mario screamed out as he flew and smashed into a tree a good twenty feet from his house. Mario slumped to the ground, and pulled himself up.

Mario rushed around Bowser to grab his tail, and with success, managed to lift him up, span him around, and let him fly off into the forest, his flying body made short work of a good three trees, but Bowser was back on his feet quicker than his living self ever could, his body was dented from the impact, but Bowser didn’t even notice! Pain was absent from his body, no, the mist felt no pain.

Mario realized this and tried to gain distance to think of a plan, and was grateful to be joined with Luigi, who rushed in from the back door, wielding his Poltergeist, with a flame resting inside the elemental slot of the machine.

And it was then that the duo both tried to rush Bowser with two elements, Fire from Luigi’s vacuum, and a strong stream of water from Mario’s FLUDD, the two in combination slowed the menace down a bit, but Bowser managed to smack the two elements away, and ran towards the brothers and tackled the two of them, they flew back from the impact, and were both knocked against the wall unconscious.

“D-damn...” Mario sighed as he drifted into unconsciousness. Bowser’s possessed corpse gave a silent laugh, and was walking over to finish the two, and then possess their bodies as well, but then a glint flashed across the skies! Four identical grey and neon blue ships dashed closer to Bowser.

“Here we go team! This is the dark matter that has been reported all across the galaxies! Let’s take it out!” Fox said to his teammates via intercom.

“All systems go Fox, G-diffuser is as sterling as ever!” Falco said back, switching into all-range mode.

“Here we go, good luck Fox.” Krystal said.

“So this is the black matter, looks creepier than they described, huh Fox?” Slippy pointed out.

“...Yeah. They said the mist itself can‘t be killed, but we have to fully destroy all it possesses. Aim at the dinosaur for now.” Fox commanded.

“Piece of cake.” Falco commented, then shot off three laser rounds at Bowser, the lasers singed the skin, and the corpse began to tear a bit, but Bowser was still alive.

Furious, Bowser ripped a tree from the ground, and launched it at Falco’s ship, it made impact, and a wing chipped. Falco was thrown forward.

“Damn Dino...” Falco grumbled, regaining control of the craft.

Bowser plucked another tree and launched it at Fox and Slippy, Peppy called over the intercom.

“FOX! DO A BARREL ROLL!” he instructed him, Fox did so and maneuvered away from the tree, it did however, nail Slippy’s Arwing, and his ship fell to the ground,. The team waited for a response.

“Don’t worry guys, I am okay, I am caught in some trees apparently, but still alive.” Slippy told them, a bit dazed.

The team nodded and resumed to open fire on Bowser, finally, Krystal locked a shot onto Bowser’s chest, and managed to blow a hole through him, and from then, Fox and his team shot Bowser away until the body was torn apart, so it could no longer be used as a puppet.

“Well that is that.” Fox said, smirking, and was about to take his ship back into open skies again, but Krystal interrupted him.

“I am sensing some survivors here, two of them, male I think, over by the trees.”

“Well I guess we should check it out.” Falco said, and the trio landed their ships beside the burnt house that was Mario’s home, Slippy arrived around the time they landed, a little bruised up from his earlier impact. He was walking to them wearing his antitoxic air suit.

“Slippy, the air is perfectly breathable, no need for that.” Fox said, annoyed.

“Oh.”

Krystal had already pulled the two bodies over to her arwing, and had pulled two cots to lay the bodies out on.

“They look pretty bad, but I’m no doctor, Slippy, come here, you know more about injuries than I do.” she said, and Slippy hobbled over.

As the two examined the body, Fox and Falco stood to the side, examining the smoke, which left the corpse, and seeing no way to possess or control anything else, had flew off to the sky at a startling speed.

“So it finds a corpse, then makes a puppet out of it, it can’t harm anything with a soul in its natural form, but it can destroy all inanimate objects... Dark Matter is what they called it, correct?” Fox asked his teammate.

“Yup, we had an incident over it reported a few hundred years ago in some planet called Pop Star, some marshmallow killed it off, but apparently, all corpses it consumed were found in a time rip, an alternate dimension, of course this is all speculation and rumor, I think it’s crazy, but they called it Subspace I believe.” Falco murmured, idly flipping his pistol in the air and catching it.

There was a short pause.

“Subspace huh? Sounds interesting...” Fox said, and leaned against the side of his Arwing.