• Published 25th Dec 2020
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Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers - Lucar



Several months after her adventures on Popstar, Sweetie Belle decides it's time to start new adventures in new universes

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Chapter 119: Tournament Part 12: The Semifinals

"And now, the semifinals!" Master Hand announced, making the many who gathered to watch the battles cheer. "First, Link versus Kirby! Arena time!"

After several intense seconds, the selected arena revealed to be the ruined remains of some building. Whatever it was, all that remained was the floor which was partially collapsed here and there. No platform and no obstacle were present.. It was the night, very cloudy, but the Moon was fully visible, and light from the beginning of the sunrise was visible in the horizon. But that light was still very weak and only allowed to distinguish some firs. All the rest was plunged in almost total darkness.

For some reason, many felt a chill upon seeing this arena. There was just something eerie about it.

Mario rubbed his chin in thought. "Mmh... I have déjà-vu, but I can't quite remember from where and when."


When Link and Kirby appeared on the arena, they were glad to see that, despite the darkness, there was still enough visibility that they could see each other and the arena itself, including where the floor ended and where it was partially collapsed, so no risk of tripping and falling if they payed attention.

"Go!"

The very instant that Master Hand started the battle, Link put on the Fierce Deity Mask. He knew that anything else and Kirby would end the fight in ten seconds flat.

Kirby immediately stood on guard.

He did well because, the next thing he knew, a large helix sword was coming from his right in a path that would result in the pink puff being cut in two, and he barely flattened himself on the ground in time. In a flash, he then countered with his own Sword only to suddenly find himself without his weapon which was sent away in a single powerful swing, leaving him open.

Not even Meta Knight managed to disarm him in just a swing like that.

Kirby teleported behind Link and electrified him with the Spark Ability, but Link didn't even spasm, flinch, or yell in pain. Remaining deadly stoic to the electricity coursing his body, Link spun with his sword and slashed Kirby, sending the puffball flying almost to the Ring Out Barrier beyond the limits of the floor. But Kirby was able to stop himself with Wing and returned on the arena where he used the Crash Ability right away when he saw Link charge at him.

When he saw the explosion starting, Link stopped himself and raised his sword, gathering energy on it, and brought it down on the blast.

Not only the explosion was cut so the blast went to Link's left and right but didn't hit him, a sharp spinning wave of energy came out of the sword and continued through the explosion to slice Kirby.


Several jaws dropped.

"Di... Did he just...?!" Magolor began.

"Yep. Link just cut the freaking Crash Ability," an awed Sweetie Void said. "It's the first time that I see someone else beside me cutting an explosion."

"Mmh... I wonder why..." Phantom began. "Maybe it's because NOBODY IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD THINK OF CUTTING FUCKING EXPLOSIONS!!!"

"Darn. Just like that, Link won at least one million badass points," Scootabot said. "Screw walking away from explosions, real badasses cut them."

"Uh? Wait. There's something rising in the background," Gold remarked.


At a speed that the eye could barely follow, Link continued to swing around to send sharp waves at Kirby who was now keeping his distance while sending any projectiles he could think of, which generally ended up cut into pieces, blocked, or avoided. Kirby had a lot of difficulty avoiding the waves because Link anticipated his movements and acted in consequence, forcing the puffball to always change trajectory at the last moment. And even then, Link anticipated this and trapped Kirby by sending waves in advance trying to predict Kirby's new path, and more often than not, Kirby's only solution to not be sliced was to teleport.

Meanwhile, in the darkness of the background, a huge figure rose, blocking the light of the sunrise and partially obscured.

Its appearance reminded of Bowser Jr. if he was giant.

But it was in reality none other than Bowser as his baby self.

Then he roared, his roar so powerful at it caused several boulders to rise into the sky before some of them rained all over the arena, passing through the floor and causing the appearance of pits. Excepted one which Link hit with his sword to send it right toward Kirby who easily flew out of the way.


Mario snapped his fingers in recognition. "That's right! I remember now!"

"What is it?" Luigi asked.

"I actually don't remember much, I was just a baby back then, not even brought yet to my parents by the stork, but this was the first time that I encountered Bowser. A Yoshi fought him to protect me and save Luigi who had been kidnapped."

Luigi began to shake. "I remember now."

Apple Death stared at the brothers. "Ya two and Bowser go THAT far back?! Wait a minute. Babies are actually brought from storks in yer world?!"

"Of course. Everyone knows that."

"Uhhh..."

"Why?"

"Uhh... Nope! Ah pass! Ask someone else!"


Baby Bowser began to breathe giant fireballs at both Kirby and Link. Thankfully for the two of them, they took a lot of time to reach them all the way from where Baby Bowser was standing, so they both had more than enough time to get out of the way without minding them while continuing their exchange of projectiles. Still, they were a potential minor nuisance that Link won't stand for. So, after a whole minute of this, he stopped attacking Kirby and turned in the direction of Baby Bowser before he rose his sword. Suddenly, a huge quantity gathered on it so it looked like the sword was now the size of a building before he brought it down, sending a huge sharp wave toward Baby Bowser.

After a couple of seconds, the wave reached Baby Bowser and vertically cut him in half, killing him.

The Fierce Deity didn't care that it just killed a baby (even if it was a fake), it just eliminated an obstacle to defeat his foe.

Of course, while Link was busy with Baby Bowser, Kirby didn't remain idle and attacked the Hero of Time from behind with a storm of fireballs, ice balls, electric balls, arrows, bombs, and everything else he could send during the precious few seconds during which he was opened. But Link sucked up the damage like a sponge without giving a hint that he was in pain. The only reason Kirby knew that his attacks worked was because they left visible injuries behind, but it was as if they didn't exist for Link. When he was done with Baby Bowser, Link resumed his assault on Kirby as if nothing happened, destroying all oncoming projectiles with a few swings of his sword in a fraction of a second.

However, Kirby then got his nonexistent hands on a Power Star that just appeared, turning himself invincible. Kirby thus turned bolder and went close and personal to relentlessly attack Link with all matters of weapons and elements. Even with his speed with his sword, Link wasn't able to block everything... at first. He eventually got his hands on a Beam Sword, allowing him to use two weapons to block Kirby's attacks, the Fierce Deity having no problem holding the huge helix sword with just one hand even if it was a two-handed weapon.

But the Power Star's invincibility wasn't eternal and disappeared after a few seconds, allowing Link to return some of the blows he took before Kirby teleported away. But then, Link turned around, guessing where Kirby teleported (in the sky, not on ground), and threw the Beam Sword at him like he did against Sonic in his previous fight. Kirby saw the sword coming at the last moment and just had time to open his mouth to eat it. But then, while Kirby gulped the sword, a Bob-Omb came just after but Kirby was able to send it back at Link with a Mirror.

Why did he use Mirror only now? Because Kirby had the feeling that Link's waves would be able to cut through them like through butter. They seemed to be able to cut through anything, or almost. Avoiding them was the best solution. But a Bob-Omb? No problem.

Link suddenly jumping at him, sword covered in energy and ready and passing just a few millimeters beside the Bob-Omb? Problem.

Slash!

Link's sword cut through the Mirror and sliced Kirby. The Fierce Deity then grabbed Kirby to stop his course and get on him before he teared off his Wings. With Link still on him, Kirby painfully dropped on the arena where he decided to try his luck with the Crash Ability again. This time, since the explosion was as point-blank as it could be, Link could do nothing but take it and be blown away right into one of the pits. However, Link planted his sword into the wall of the pit to stop his fall and climbed back on ground where he saw Kirby painting a Maxim Tomato.

He promptly sent a wave. Kirby saw it coming and flattened himself to the ground, but the wave cut the painting before it could be finished. Instead, Kirby attempted the Cook Ability, making a pot appear and sucking in all the objects present in the arena as well as Link to create food. However, the pot ended pu cut in two by Link as he was attracted to it, spilling the broth in it without any healing food coming out.

Kirby quickly teleported away before Link could attack him.

Giving up on trying to heal, Kirby resumed his attacks, this time with the UFO Ability.

Against the projectiles of energy that the UFO fired, Link used his sharp waves again, the waves destroying the projectiles and continuing toward Kirby, but the UFO moved fast in all directions without having to turn so he easily avoided them.

Then, Link suddenly stopped sending wave.

The problem with these waves was that they consumed Link's magic, and he finally ran out of juice.

A few seconds of silence followed as both Link and Kirby understood the new situation. Then, Kirby smirked and went wild with the UFO allied to some of his other Abilities. He chased Link with a vertical ice beam while constantly firing all kinds of other projectiles in all directions. Because of the ice beam, Link had no choice but to constantly move while blocking or dodging the storm of projectiles coming out of the UFO.

Then, Link got a Warp Star and disappeared into the sky.

One second later, Kirby moved out of the way of the falling star only for Link to jump from it and to cling to the UFO. Kirby immediately surrounded himself in electricity but, like always, Link didn't mind it and repeatedly slashed him while standing on him, perfectly keeping his balance despite the UFO not being that large and constantly changing direction.

Then, Kirby used the Crash Ability, and with Link right on top of him, it perfectly hit its mark, blowing him upward almost to the Ring Out Barrier before he dropped back and crashed on the arena. Kirby, however, was very weakened after being cut so much, so his UFO disappeared and he dropped on the arena not far of Link. Despite this, before the Hero of Time could get up, Kirby kicked the sword into one of the pits, disarming him. But then, Link suddenly grabbed Kirby by the foot while still face down on the floor and slammed him, making sure that his back was up, before he got on his knees and began to pummel the puffball on his back. Then, he finished it by getting up and strongly stomping him. However, before the foot hit, Kirby teleported away again, so Link just ended up stomping the floor, causing a cloud of dust to form.

Kirby appeared above Link, in the sky, with the Hammer Ability coated in Ice. He dropped toward Link with the hammer ready to bash his skull.

But Link caught the hammer and intended to headbutt Kirby. The puffball quickly used the Needle Ability when he saw the attack coming, forcing Link to stop and to move Kirby away from his body so the needles didn't turn him into cheese. Instead, Link punched Kirby with the hand not holding the hammer, not minding if it was pierced by the needles as a result. Kirby was sent away by the punch, but Link got to keep the hammer, which he threw at Kirby right away. Kirby used his Mirror to deflect the hammer back at Link, only for Link - who had gone after the hammer - to punch the weapon and to smash it on Kirby with his fist still on it. Link then grabbed the hammer and crushed Kirby against the floor with it. Finally, he let go of the hammer, leaving it on Kirby, and stomped it, making it crush Kirby even more, even creating a small shock wave. A second stomp, and the foot this time went through the hammer which exploded before it hit Kirby.

Link then readied a third stomp.

Only for Kirby to spin with the Tornado Ability boosted with Fire.

Only for Link to still stomp on him, stopping him right there.

Kirby turned himself into Steel.

And he still ended up being painfully stomped on, Link not caring about the metal.

Kirby stopped moving after that. Wanting to see if he was out, Link grabbed him and lifted him up to face him.

Only to get an arrow planted between his eyes.

...

Link glared at Kirby before he grabbed the arrow and repeatedly stabbed the puffball with it. Then, he held the arrow on the floor, tip upward, and slammed Kirby on it.

Now, it was Kirby who had an arrow sticking out between his now swirling eyes.

"The victor is: Link!"

At the announcement of his victory, Link took off the mask and fell on his knees, breathing heavily, but grinning that he managed to defeat someone as powerful as Kirby.


Everyone's jaws dropped. Especially Sweetie Void's. She really didn't expect Kirby to lose, even without using his Stella Knight form.

This confirmed it. This Fierce Deity was NO joke.

He may not have huge amount of powers, but his skill and sheer brutality made up for it. He didn't hesitate hurting himself if it allowed him to land a good hit on Kirby. Also, he had a better advantage of the arena than Apple Death had had. The planetoid arena had allowed Kirby enough breathing room to heal himself, that wasn't the case here. And the fact that the Fierce Deity didn't care at all about the pain made it so he was always ready to attack Kirby to ensure that he couldn't heal, even after a bad hit, and even when Kirby managed to get some peace, it never lasted long enough. Healing was just almost impossible for Kirby, and without healing, he didn't last long.

She will have to pull out her A game when she will face him in final (while still limiting herself to back when she fought Kirby before she ascended). At least, judging by Link's state after he took off the mask, this fight wasn't as one-sided as the Fierce Deity made it look. It was even pretty close! It was just that the Fierce Deity shrugged off pain like nobody else, so Sweetie will have to bring his body to the breaking point so he won't be able to move anymore. Or do a Ring Out.

But first, she will have to win her fight against Ness, and she had a feeling that the boy will also give her a hard battle.

Once Link and Kirby were back and healed, she gave the puffball a big hug before she congratulated Link.

"Not many can pride themselves of having defeated Kirby in a duel, even if he didn't use everything he had. You were amazing."

"Thanks. But... You know, I had to stop myself from stomping on the arrow at the end to fully push it into Kirby. Even if he was out, there was a moment where I told myself "He could still get up again," so..."

Both Sweetie Void and Kirby winced. "Good thing you didn't do it. I don't know the limits of the crazy no-killing physic of Master Hand's pocket dimension, but I think that you may have killed Kirby if you had." The filly then grinned at him. "But this means that you more or less control this mask and that you still know when to stop when you use it, so, no worry! By the way, does the Fierce Deity have a strange addiction of stomping on his enemies?"

Link laughed. "No, it's just very effective when they are already on ground and vulnerable to get his boot on their face."

Then came the time to start the battle between Sweetie Void and Ness, starting by the selection of the arena.

And the arena was... the top of the Megalo Tower, in Ultra Megalopolis.

It was a huge, futuristic... Well... megalopolis which was entirely plunged in darkness, and its buildings looked like prisms. The only source of light was the Megalo Tower which had lots of huge spotlights all over it, especially triangular ones at the top. What looked like a black hole was just above the tower, and purple clouds were swirling around it.

The arena itself was a circular one with a very small barrier surrounding it. Two platforms were floating above it at the same level, at opposite extremities.

Very simplistic.

But both Sweetie Void and Ness guessed that it won't be that simple. And Elio confirmed it when he said that it was where he fought Ultra Necrozma.

Well then...


Sweetie Void and Ness each appeared under one of the floating platforms.

No trace of Ultra Necrozma yet.

"Go!"

Sweetie Void teleported right beside Ness before he could even put up a Shield only to be welcome by a baseball bat in the face followed by a point-blank PK Fire Omega that engulfed the filly in a giant fireball. A strong gust of wing came and blew away the fire, revealing Sweetie Void with burns that were visibly healing.

Also, her ten swords were now levitating around her.

"You asked for it."

"PK Shield!" Ness quickly shouted before he was assaulted from all sides by the weapons. After getting in a few hits that resulted in Sweetie Void taking some damage because of this shield, she broke it with a punch and resumed her assault only to be blown away by a PK Rockin Omega which Ness followed with a PK Starstorm.

Avoiding the falling meteors, Sweetie Void gathered her ten swords into one staff and used it as a bat to knock one of the meteors toward Ness. She then jumped on the platform closest to the boy as he was recovering from the meteor and began to fire at him homing beams from her ten cannons.

Again, Ness put up a Shield and followed it with a Lifeup to heal himself, letting himself being hit by the beams while he healed, before he sent another PK Rockin that Sweetie avoided by teleporting through the oncoming wave of psychic energy.

At this moment, with a roar, Ultra Necrozma descended from the sky, remaining just at the other side of the Ring Out Barrier, before an aura flared to life around it. Then, it used Photon Geyser, targeting Sweetie Void since she was the closest. Sweetie Void saw it and sent it back at the Pokémon with a mirror, taking it off guard. Ness quickly used the diversion to Franklin Badge before sending another PK Starstorm.

The Franklin Badge annoyed Sweetie a lot because it meant that she won't be able to attack Ness like before with the meteors. Instead, she batted the meteors toward Ultra Necrozma who had been about to use Prismatic Laser.

The next thing she knew, Ness jumped at her with his baseball bat covered in spikes of ice, striking her on the side of her skull. She immediately blasted him away, not minding the recoil from the Shield that was still here.

"Did you use your PK Freeze to coat your bat in ice?"

Ness nodded. "Uhuh. I just got the idea from that ice hammer Kirby used earlier."

"Not bad."

Then, Ultra Necrozma finally used Prismatic Laser, sending multicolored beams all over the arena. Ness took cover under one of the platforms (which wasn't the one Sweetie was standing on) while Sweetie used her mirrors again to send them back at the Pokémon. From under his platform, Ness repeatedly used Offense Up while the filly sent huge ice boulders at Ultra Necrozma.

Already having enough, Ultra Necrozma's aura flared even more before it began to absorb and gather all the light in the arena into one huge ball.

It was none other than its Z-Move: Light That Burns The Sky.

You know, that name is epic. Sounds like something coming right out of one of these apocalyptic stuff. Which... I guess is the point.

Sweetie Void braced herself as she placed herself in the trajectory of the giant ball of light, readying herself to send it back to its sender only to be struck by a very powerful PK Thunder.

Because of this literal shock, she couldn't do what she intended, got hit by the ball, and ended up at the epicenter of a huge explosion of light that spread over most of the arena. When the resulting smoke cleared, Sweetie Void was on the ground groaning in pain, but all the damage she took was already being healed.

"Ugh... I definitively felt this one..." From her position, she glared at Ness who was now at the extremity of the arena, where the explosion didn't reach. "This. Is. On."

Suddenly, she got up and sent toward Ultra Necrozma several waves of energy that cut the Pokémon into pieces before it even knew what was going on, the pieces then disintegrating into particles of light. Then she began to float while surrounding herself in a shield with her ten cannons levitating around it, and two giant shield-fists also formed.

Ness gulped.


Many paled upon seeing Ultra Necrozma being so easily killed, especially among the trainers and their Pokémon.

Magolor snorted. "That Ultra Necrozma wouldn't have lasted five seconds against me when I was wearing the Master Crown. Sweetie one-shoting it, even while she is still holding back, is no big deal. Of course, if this one had been the real Ultra Necrozma, she would have held back even more to not accidentally kill it."

"It's terrifying when you know that Ultra Necrozma is one of the most powerful Legendaries," Blue muttered.


Ness found himself having to move. A LOT. Constantly leaping and rolling and ducking and jumping to try to avoid bullet hell that Sweetie Void was sending his way. Mostly balls of energy or of some element, but there was also the occasional beam, either fired from Sweetie's horn, hooves, tail, eyes, cannons, shield-fists, or just the air.

She avoided using electricity. While Ness didn't have the Franklin Badge that he took earlier anymore, he still had his regular Franklin Badge which reflected only electricity.

Not that it mattered in the end.

"PK Rockin!" Ness used a rare opportunity to attack only for the wave of psychic energy to be brushed off by Sweetie's shield. The shield got damaged, but it was quickly regenerated, and Sweetie attacked back by cutting open rifts to fire space beams. At the same time, two huge Ultra Swords made of energy materialized in the shield-fists, and the filly began to attack Ness with them too, either directly or by sending energy waves with huge swipes of the weapons.

Ness didn't even have the occasion to heal himself. He attempted to create a diversion when he got his hands on a Poké Ball, but the Charizard that came out of it was immediately punched out of existence by one of the shield-fists cloaked in water. At another occasion, he was able to use PK Starstorm, but the meteors were then easily destroyed by the shield-fists while Sweetie continued to attack him with her cannons.

Ness had his Shield up all the time, but each time that he was hit, any recoiled damage that was sent back at Sweetie Void was again absorbed by her shield.

It seemed like a hopeless situation for the boy, and he started to feel the effects of the many Offense Ups he cast on himself dissipating, and he doubted that he will have another occasion to recast them.

Having no choice if he wanted to have a chance to win, he stopped moving, letting himself being hit, and began to focus, his body visibly healing as he cast Lifeup, but he didn't stop with that. After a few seconds, he began to float, and an aura of psychic energy appeared around him.

And then, he unleashed everything at once.

Meteors from Starstorm began to rain everywhere, waves after waves of Psychic Energy from Rockin came out of him, and Fire, Freeze, Thunder, and even Flash were constantly fired at Sweetie Void in the form of a huge stream of fire, huge ice spikes, powerful thunderbolts, and exploding green lights.

All these attacks still boosted several times by Offense Up battered Sweetie's shield without stopping for several seconds. Mane and tail turning on fire, Sweetie Void put in more power to allow her shield to resist the onslaught. Even with that, a PK Flash eventually managed to blow open a hole, allowing some of the attacks to come through and to hit the filly.

This didn't last much longer however. After a few more seconds, everything stopped, and Ness dropped, absolutely exhausted. He really sent everything he had.

Some remaining meteors continued to fall for a couple more seconds before it really ended, and Ness looked at the smoke and cloud of dust left behind, waiting to see if Sweetie Void was out or not.

The next thing he knew, he was punched in the gut by the filly who didn't look hurt at all. However, she was breathing a bit heavily.

"That... was a good try... Phew!"

Ness finally lost consciousness and fell down.

"The victor is: Sweetie Void!"


"And now, we have our two fighters for the big final: Link and Sweetie Void!" Master Hand announced.

"First, what you did with the PK Thunder against Incineroar, and now coating your bat with the PK Freeze. You know, with some training, I'm sure that you could come up with more stuff," Sweetie Void said to Ness. "Maybe you should go talk to Red's Mewtwo. I'm sure that it will help you a lot."

"Okay."

"Before we start the Final of this tournament, let's have a five minutes break," Master Hand continued. "But before, I will reveal to you all the last arena. No selection. I already have a pre-selected arena for this one. BEHOLD!"

An image of the next arena was then shown.

A simple large platform floating in a multicolored void, with three smaller platforms floating above it in a now classic triangular formation. Nothing more. Nothing else.

"The Battlefield! And trust me, it will well deserve its name. Prepare yourselves!"

Author's Note:

Me: reads all the comments about the final being another Sweetie versus Kirby.

Also me:

For the ones wondering how Sweetie could be a bit winded at the end, remember that she is fighting as she was before she ascended, and this includes the inability to absorb energy to have infinite stamina.

As for Kirby versus Link, for the ones wondering how Kirby could lose, a bit is already explained in the chapter. Lacking space and all that. Because the ground was made of stone, he couldn't also dig with the Animal Ability to get a few seconds of breathing to heal like he did against Sweetie Void. Right from the start, after he was so easily disarmed, Kirby understood that it would be suicidal to fight close in any way. The Fierce Deity is just a warrior TOO PERFECT for this. So, already a good half of his Abilities were a nono, most notably most Abilities that included weapons or close combat. So this left distance but, there too, the Fierce Deity could easily block, avoid, or destroy most projectiles, turning the battle into a stalemate (even when Link ran out of juice for his sharp energy waves). Then, Kirby was able to disarm Link and made the error of thinking that he was now vulnerable. Link proved him the contrary.

This is it for the Original Stages. More may come up in the future. I still have many ideas in mind that I wasn't able to include for now. Imagining Original Stages, or re-imagining the ones already existing into ones that work for 3D battles, is really difficult, but it's fun.

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