Fanfic / Clash of the Elements

"Gods are powerful beings. They can have a multitude of strange and mystifying powers. They could use these powers as keepers of the peace, or become creatures of rampant destruction..."

— First line of Part 1

Clash of the Elements is an adventure/fantasy genre Super Mario Bros. fanfic by mewmaster93. It was started on November 9th, 2011 with Part 1: A Flame Reborn, which was finished on April 2nd, 2012 with the uploading of the Extra Chapter (Though the author has stated that he will update the page again later with a What If? story, which he did after Part 2 ended.). Movie 1 was started on April 6th of the same year and finished on the 24th of that very month. Part 2 was started on the 26th and has ended as of July 3rd. Part 3 has been going on since August 7th, 2012 and ended on November 25. As of January 21st, 2013 Part 4 has begun, and now the fic falls under the Sonic the Hedgehog, The Legend of Zelda and Metroid category for fics due to the changes in locations for Part 4.

The story of Part 1 follows Mario as he hears from Professor E. Gadd about the legacy of the Elemental Overlord, a being who quite obviously was able to control all the elements. The legends spoke of how the Overlord had to seal his powers away, and that a new heir needed to be found in order to inherit his powers, since the time was approaching of the day prophecy. Using the Professor's new device to head to the planet Earth, Mario comes across the boy of prophecy, an 11-Year Old named Alex Whiter, who joins him on a journey across the Mushroom Kingdom to find the seven Elemental Stones needed to awaken the Elemental Overlord's powers.

Part 1 can be found here (What-If), Movie 1 can be found here (What-If), Part 2 here (What-If for main Part and Gemini's Origin Story), Part 3 here and Part 4 starts here, with the first story seen here The Ocarina of Time and the second one here Desolate Corruption. A story based on one of the main character's pasts can be found here: (Recollections of a Former Goomba) It is highly suggested by the author that you start from Part 1 and don't jump in to the later parts, but the links are there just for the sake of this description.

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Clash of the Elements provides examples of:

• Action Girl: Rosalina turns out to be one, especially seeing as she is the first one to force Joe Dark to go all-out in his base form.
• Adaptational Badass: Cackletta wasn't really much of a threat as herself in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, being killed halfway through the game and needing Bowser's body and resources to become a major threat as Bowletta. She did have a good Evil Plan, but this was undermined by the fact that she got Out-Gambitted before the game even began. In this story, on the other hand, she is a Manipulative Bitch of the highest degree, a two-thousand year old remnant of the Dark King's forces who caused the legend of the Shadow Queen just to extend her own life and she has also become a Chessmaster who successfully managed to outwit Alpha, the Star Spirits, and an omniscient trio of beings known as the higher-ups simply by hiding in an area that they refused to observe. Said area happens to be the REALM OF DARKNESS, which considering her appearance implies that she was strong enough to control The Heartless.

• The Ageless: The Genesis Samurais, who haven't aged for over two thousand years.

• All There in the Manual: A few things are brought up in the Author Notes and afterthought posts that confirm details not explicitly mentioned in the story itself, such as the fact that Mr. Reality is the one who brought Mewmaster to Plit by complete accident and the truth about the connection between Luigi and Dimentio

• Alternate Universe: As a general rule of thumb, all of the What-If stories will take place in one of these, and they are usually brought about via an alternate decision made by someone from the main story. The exception thus far is Part 2's what-if, which was created via the higher-ups so there would be a single timeline where Alex Whiter would find a happy ending.
• And I Must Scream: Cackletta's final fate, in which her 'Second Life' spell in combination with Alpha's nanomachines will leave her in a perpetual state of life and death until the spell runs out.
  • Her fate in the What-If for Movie 1 is even worse (Or better, depending on what point of view you wish to take here) than the above mentioned one, where she is forced to be burned to death into the core of a supernova until her spell runs out.

• Arm Cannon: Alpha has the ability to create one of these from both of his robotic arms. The primary function of them seems to be to shoot ionic energy in the form of a concentrated laser beam, but only time will tell if they are capable of shooting more.

• Apocalyptic Log: There is one in Part 2 that details the final moments of the crew of the Deep Space world before the Heartless devoured their hearts. It is found by Alpha and Mario, and it is implied that this isn't the first time Alpha had viewed it either.
• Ascended Extra: The Master has a much bigger role in Part 3 compared to his one chapter cameo in Part 2.

• The Atoner: The Master is trying to atone for past mistakes through Mewmaster, which stems from events in Part 2 where he partially blames a brief lapse of judgment for Alex Whiter's death.

• The Bad Guy Wins: How the Ocarina of Time story ends, when Demise in Ganondorf's body successfully kills Link and causes Riku to go into a Heroic BSoD that makes him abandon Hyrule.

• Berserk Button:

• Never, NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, mess with Ezekial Gaia's beard. Considering his powers, the results are not pretty.

• Big Bad: This trope is Zig-Zagged a few times. At first Cackletta looks to be the main villain, but then Joe Dark takes over after Alex defeats her. Then this looks to be switched AGAIN in a case of Hijacked by Ganon and Demonic Possession via the Dark King only for Joe Dark to regain control, but then it is revealed in the epilogue that Cackletta is not only alive, but is working with Dimentio and Smithy, setting up possibly a Big Bad Ensemble, but then as it is revealed in Part 2, noth of them were Cackletta's pawns, meaning that she is the true Big Bad of Parts 1 and 2 all along.
  • This is also subverted in Movie 1. Tabuu was NOT the Big Bad, not even in the slightest.
  • Mr. Reality appears to be this for Part 3.
  • Ganondorf in the first story of Part 4, naturally.
• Big Brother Is Watching: Alpha via his Command Sphere, which he uses to monitor every square inch of Plit for the purpose of seeing the heroes' journey and keeping an eye on Cackletta until he joins the group himself.
• Big Damn Heroes: Gemini, Geno, and Alpha pull off one of these moments in the very chapters that they end up joining the group in, saving the heroes from the outer guardian of the Lightning Palace, Joe Dark and The Dark Crystal King respectively.
  • Rosalina does this as well in Chapter 46, saving Mario from dying at the hands of Joe Dark
  • In return, Mario does this for Alex in Chapter 54 by stopping and destroying Joe Dark's sword from killing him in one-blow
• Big Good: Alpha takes up this mantle in Part 2
• Bittersweet Ending: The end of Part 1. Though Alex has become the Elemental Overlord and stopped Joe Dark, the Genesis Samurais are dead and the Inner Guardians' spirits will never be given the freedom Alex wanted to let them have after taking their souls into their bodies. Because of the Star Spirit's interference during the battle Geno has to stay in Star Haven to mediate the world below.
  • That's not even getting into the fact that Cackletta is STILL ALIVE, AND SO ARE DIMENTIO AND SMITHY
• Bloodless Carnage: AVERTED beyond all belief. Joe Dark's slaughtering of the Genesis Samurai, especially his killing of Cecilia Frost, is bloody to such a point that it is almost nauseating to think about
• Book Ends: Alex Whiter's journey in Part 1 begins as it ends, traveling through the Stargadd portal to reach Plit.
• Boss Subtitles: In a use of this trope not related to video games, the author uses titles for both the Inner and Outer Guardian fights in the story. He also uses them again in Movie 1 whenever The stronger members of the Subspace Army appear.
  • Fittingly, considering the origin of this trope, Ganondorf's subtitle is used as the Chapter 2 title in Part 4, and the bosses afterwards also get the same treatment for their fight chapters.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Implied to be the case with The Sin Samurai
  • A more literal example is in Part 3, where so far King Boo and Driad were manipulated by Mr. Reality to act as the new outer and inner guardians of the Nature Castle.
  • Its extended beyond that. A lot of old Mario enemies have been brainwashed to become the new outer guardians, while the heroes from Part 1 (Or rather, their "Shadows" have become the inner guardians.
• Breaking Speech: Cackletta loves to toss these out. Both Alex and Alpha (Who gets hit with a particularly brutal one) are victims of this. But at the same time...
  • However, in a surprising twist of things, her creation, Chaos Alex proves to be much more successful in his last moments, delivering a speech so powerful to Alex Whiter that it may have been one of the factors involved in his decision to kill himself as he took his evil half down for good.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: After giving a eulogy to Smithy, Dimentio mentions to the audience about how he will "satisfy their desire for entertainment. When one takes into consideration his powers and that beyond the computer screen would probably qualify as another dimension for him...
  • Mewmaster does this in the first chapter of Part 3 to hang some Lampshades about his name.
• Breather Episode: The battle against the Lightning Djinn is noticeably less tense in comparison to the other guardian battles before and after it, though this is because the "battle" is actually a simple, friendly game of chess instead of a physical brawl. Though the threat of death still exists for the heroes.
• Breath Weapon: Bowser's Fire Breath
• Brought Down to Normal: Happens to Mewmaster and by extension Alex Whiter at the start of Part 3. Most of that part is actually spent trying to regain all of his Elemental Powers as he takes part in Mr. Reality's Game.
• Calling Your Attacks: Generally averted for the most part, but there are a few notable examples of this trope appearing in the fic:
  "BLAZING OVERLORD FIST"^note Spoken by Alex Whiter in the penultimate chapter of Part 1
  "FLAME CANNON" ^note From Alex Whiter's Big Damn Heroes moment in Part 3
• The Cameo: A TON of characters from the entire Mario universe make brief, one line cameos in Chapter 50, speaking of their desires so the Star Spirits will have enough energy in the Star Rod to heal Alex. Seriously, just try and identify everyone who speaks.
  • In Movie 1, Queen Bean and Lady Lima make brief appearances at the beginning, while R.O.B. appears in the ending.
• Canon Foreigner: Driad, Gemini, and Alpha
  • In Part 2, we also have Upgraded versions of all of Smithy's creations and Smithy's human form
• Can't Catch Up: Driad really, REALLY has a problem with this trope. Hence why that trait is specifically mentioned when his 'Shadow' appears in Part 3
• Censored for Comedy: At the end of chapter 40 of Part 1, as Cecilia Frost is beating up Ezekial Gaia, her swear words are censored out by his screams of pain. Though it is quite obvious from the first letter that she was going to use the word fuck.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Part 1 starts out with a little bit of humor and some light-heartedness you'd come to expect from a Mario game, but as time goes on and more details get revealed, everything starts becoming rather grim, culminating in the final battle where everything goes to hell and when things are resolved it is a rather Bittersweet conclusion...
• Character Filibuster: Cackletta, ESPECIALLY in Part 2.
• Chekhov's Gun: The broken text from the tablet last mentioned in Part 1, which is connected to another Chekhov's Gun that Alpha acquired in the "Remembrances of Alex Whiter" side story. Both of these guns are fired come Part 3.
  • The Device Alpha used to breech the Realm of Darkness in Part 2 is used again in Chapter 35 of Part 3.
• Chekhov's Gunman: From the dialogue said at the end of Part 1's Extra Chapter, the lady in the robe has set herself to be one of these, but only time will tell when she shows up again.
  • Remember the outer guardian of the Lightning Palace? You know, the giant Koopa with the muscles and an arrogance issue? Yeah, he's actually Commander Zeta's brother, inflicted by the outer guardian curse.
• The Chosen One: Alex Whiter is the one foretold in the prophecy to become the next Elemental Overlord. However, Alex points out to Mario how improbable it is that he fits the role so perfectly.
• Convenient Weakness Placement: The Inner Guardian of the Nature Castle, whose weakness is the Elemental Stone attached to its chest.
• Cool Old Guy: Darnia Stratos
• The Corruption: The Realm of Darkness
• Crazy-Prepared: Alpha is a deconstruction of this trope. He is so prepared for every possible scenario, including the possibility that everyone he knows on the planet could one day become corrupted or be forced to reveal information to the enemy that he has been consumed by a feeling of paranoia that has left him unable to trust let alone form a bond with the people that stick around him, save for Mario that is.
  • Commander Zeta explicitly notes that he created his hyperspace pockets just so he could be prepared for every possible scenario.
• Crossover: As of Chapter 22 of Part 2, with the Kingdom Hearts universe.
  • There is also one with Persona 4, which seems to be the center of the plot in Part 3.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Chief Chilly is defeated in the span of 2 paragraphs in Chapter 23 of Part 3, not even getting to use any attack beside a basic charge. Also counts as an Anticlimax Boss in comparison to the other new outer guardians. Both examples are lampshaded by Mewmaster.
  • Knuckles vs. Joe Dark
  • Ganondorf vs. Riku Mew, both in his base form and his darkness one.
• Damsel in Distress: Peach, as per usual for a Mario story.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Blazing Overlord Fist, which causes an excruciating amount of pain to the user that lasts seemingly forever unless they get protection from it which E. Gadd so kindly supplied for Alex, and after dealing with the pain it is mentioned that unless the energy is released every now and then an ensuing build-up can increase the power of the fist to the point that it can destroy worlds if unleashed...
• Darker and Edgier: Part 2. There is little to no humor, some rather grim scenarios are brought up during Smithy and Dimentio's (Fake) backstories, including Betrayal, paranoia and the strong pursuit of a dream leading to the death of Smithy's closest friend, Dimentio casually mocking the love of Blumiere and Lady Timpani, along with his fabricated story that mentioned a pregnant Daisy DYING during an alien invasion. And that's not even getting into Chapters 21-29...
• Dark and Troubled Past: Alex Whiter had one of these, which he purposely kept secret as revealed by the Chronicler (Who was actually Alex pretending to be the Chronicler)
  • Joe Dark had one of these as well.
• Darkest Hour: The end of Chapter 49 of Part 1. All the heroes are down for the count, Rosalina has fallen after proving unable to deal with Joe Dark after he went into his Griffon Form, the Genesis Samurais are all dead, the Dark King managed to set up a widespread spread of destruction across the planet during his brief moment of possession, Alex Whiter has had his subconsciousness destroyed, and Joe Dark is ready to destroy the Origin Temple, unaware that his attack will actually annihilate the rest of the planet too...
• Deadpan Snarker: Alex and Gemini both have their moments throughout Part 1.
• Deal with the Devil: Joe Dark forges a pact with the Dark King's spirit so he can have the capability to destroy Alex Whiter.
• Death by Cameo: Mephiles the Dark
• Death Equals Redemption: Smithy, who dies realizing that he managed to create a living weapon in the form of Gemini who has actually managed to overcome the desire to destroy lingering in his demonic heart and has become a force of good that he can be proud of before he finally falls into eternal slumber.
• Death Glare: All of the heroes give this to Joe Dark after he finished killing all of the Genesis Samurais
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: Both the Storm Emperor and Darnia Stratos utilize this trope in their battle styles.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Most the heroes manage to form a bond of friendship with their respective Genesis Samurai opponents, save for Geno, who was already acquainted with them long ago, and Luigi, who was knocked unconscious after his battle before he could form one with his.
• Demonic Possession: Mr. Reality by the invisible, subconscious burying parasites called the Parakali
• Demoted to Extra: Pretty all of the main cast from the first two parts get little to no screentime during Part 3. Justified though by the fact that the story is done with a first-person narrative focused on Mewmaster, so the scene can't really change to focus on them or what they are doing.
• Department of Redundancy Department: A rather present problem with the early chapters of the story, where words are repeated twice in the same sentence.
• Designated Hero: Brought up In-Universe by Joe Dark, who claims that Alex Whiter is getting undeserved treatment as a good guy after some sort of atrocities he committed in the past.
• Despair Event Horizon: According to Joe Dark's backstory, he went through this when everyone alive in his family tree was slaughtered by some unknown person/force
  • A combination of Daisy's death (along with the child she was pregnant with), an inability to conquer his inferiority complex, and the cold realization that he had slaughtered all of his friends along with his brother led to an alternate future version of Luigi becoming DIMENTIO
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Zeno Blaze does this to Joe Dark after he becomes a soul residing inside of Alex's body.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Mario punching the fully revived Dark King straight in the face in Part 1's what-if.
• Downer Ending: Part 2, which ends suddenly with the revelation that Alex Whiter sacrificed himself to destroy his evil counterpart.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: All of the Genesis Samurais qualify for this trope, but in particular is Pitori Sparks, who was given an offer by Gemini to join the M.S.I. before his life was cut short
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Even though Zeno Blaze is the last to die against Joe Dark, he goes out not only performing a Shut Up, Hannibal! to him, but summoning a large pillar of flame against him even though he knew it wouldn't harm him.
  • Alex Whiter's Heroic Sacrifice against Chaos Alex
• Eldritch Abomination: Pandora, the dragon trapped within Subspace, who is said to be able to drag a world into Subspace if it were to ever fully emerge from a Subspace Orb. It is also stated to have a rather netherworldly glow around it...
  • The Leviathan, Shattered Reality.
• Elemental Powers: The Elemental Overlord had control over a wide variety of these. Over the course of the story the heroes come across temples based on these such as Nature, Water, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Ice, and Fire. By the end of Part 1, Alex Whiter has gained the ability to use these powers as well.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Phoenix Form
• Ensemble Dark Horse: In-Universe, the author cites this trope as the reason why He made the decision before Part 2 to turn Fawful into The Mole
• Evil Counterpart: Chaos Alex to Alex Whiter. Though this is actually Inverted from Chaos Alex's point of view, for he thinks the real Alex is the evil half.
  • The Sin Samurais to the Genesis Samurais
• Expy: Appearance-wise, Save for the metallic arms, Alpha is one to Ultimateverse Nick Fury, which surprisingly doesn't look ridiculous despite the fact that he is a Goomba
• Foregone Conclusion: No matter how hopeful things look in Recollections of a Former Goomba... Commander Zeta is going to be killed by Cackletta, Alpha will lose an eye and the two of them more than likely won't collect all seven Elemental Stones, the last of which has already been mentioned in-story by the Drill Golem Onyx
• Foreshadowing: Hints of future plot events are thrown out quite often in Part 1 alone. A few examples include:
  • Rosalina's Big Damn Heroes moment, were it not easy enough to figure out before, had the clearest hint given at the end of Chapter 35 with the words: "shadow of an observatory"
  • Likewise, Mario destroying Joe Dark's sword with his star energy is hinted at during previous battles against him, where star energy was proven to be capable of dealing critical damage to beings consumed by darkness.
  • This hint is a bit of a stretch towards the end result, but The Genesis Samurais' souls going into Alex's body was more than likely foreshadowed by this line:
  "Though his body may be weak, his soul still lives. And as long as that's alive, then he shall live as well"
  • In retrospect, Koume and Kotake's Spared by the Adaptation status was a major hint that the Ocarina of Time story would end with the creation of the Downfall Timeline
• Gambit Roulette: As Cackletta revealed, everything her allies, the heroes and herself had done over the course of two-thousand years was all part of a two-sided plan to either get her the Elemental Overlords powers or give her the resources needed to create a new Dark King.
• Gem-Encrusted: The walls of the chamber that holds the Terra Cave's Elemental Stone.
• Giant Mook: The outer guardian of the Lightning Palace is already bigger than the average Koopa, but he is able to use the metal straps on his body to turn his body into a lightning rod and increase his size even further via the electricity that is drawn to him.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: However, it is because of that very ability that Gemini is able to ultimately kill him, by overloading him with electricity to the point that his heart suffers from too much strain and shuts down.
• Good All Along: Gemini discusses this trope with Mallow in Part 2, more specifically referring to Domino when he does so.
  • Tabuu (Sort of) and Fawful
• Godzilla Threshold: The threat of the Dark King's return is so great that the Star Spirits are implied to reluctantly be willing to lift a [[spoiler: ban just so Rosalina can combat him if the need arises.
• Great Offscreen War: The war between the Elemental Overlord and the Dark King's forces that caused the series to happen in the first place.
• The Heartless: The trope namers themselves have appeared as of Chapter 22 of Part 2
  • And again in Chapter 35 of Part 3
• Heel–Face Turn: In a notable moment for this series, Mr. Reality pulls one of these. See My God, What Have I Done? below for more details.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Driad REALLY doesn't like the implementation of this trope, and the one deciding factor that made him dislike it is when The Genesis Samurais sacrificed their mortal bodies against Joe Dark
  • And that is honestly going to be a bad thing considering Alex Whiter sacrificed himself to stop his evil counterpart
• The Hero Dies: Alex Whiter at the end of Part 2
  • A more permanent example would be Link and Zelda at the end of the Ocarina of Time story in Part 4
• Hijacked by Ganon: Thanks to the Dark Star as of Chapter 29 But it becomes Subverted a couple chapters later by Chaos Alex.
  • Come Chapter 29 of the Ocarina of Time story, this ironically happens to Ganondorf himself, as he is now possessed by Demise's consciousness.
• Hot-Blooded: Alex Whiter at times. Ezekial Gaia plays this straight though
• Immortality: Joe Dark in his Dark King form has a Type III, the Genesis Samurais have a Type II, and Cackletta utilizes the Type IV variation.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Like in the original game, this is how Link finishes Ganon off. This time around, this is not a good thing.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: Ezekial Gaia's weapon is a giant hammer crossed with a pick-axe.
• Irony: Bowser, the one who once had the Star Spirits imprisoned in cards, is actually the one to free them in Part 2 from Cackletta's spell.
• It's Personal: Gemini with Smithy, Luigi with Dimentio, and Alpha with Cackletta
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Alpha may go a bit too far sometimes, his heart is always in the right place, which is why his men still follow him.
• Karma Houdini: Master Hand was this for quite some time before the story began, having slain Tabuu's tribe and all. However, this was rectified in Part 3, when Mewmaster kills him and Crazy Hand
  • This is very much Averted in the What-If for Movie 1. Despite manipulating Tabuu for her goals, Cackletta is given a rightful punishment in the epilogue.
  • Koume and Kotake thanks to Spared by the Adaptation.
• Kid Hero: Alex Whiter, Mallow Acia Rose, Tina Aqua, and Pitori Sparks
• Killed Off for Real: In Part 1, All the Outer Guardians Minus Driad, the Genesis Samurais (Physically anyways, and Joe Dark...For a time, anyways.

• In Part 2, All of Smithy's creations minus Axem Red, Smithy himself, Dimentio, Cackletta, Chaos Alex, and Alex Whiter
• In the What-Ifs, Not counting the millions of people that are erased in the cataclysmic events that unfold we got Alex Whiter and Joe Dark/Dark King in Demise Under the Stars, Alex Whiter, Tabuu and Cackletta in Return to a Blank Slate, Chaos Alex in Confusion from Chaos and Koopis in The Unrelenting Beast
• The Master as of Chapter 22 of Part 3.
• The Dark King's spirit has been permanently expunged from the mortal plane by 'D.' as of the prologue of Part 4.
• Though Foregone Conclusion is in effect for this, it doesn't change the fact that Commander Zeta, Mario and Luigi's parents and Bowser's father Balroc are all confirmed dead via Recollections of a Former Goomba.

• Know When to Fold 'Em: Fawful does this plenty of times throughout his appearances when the heroes begin to overwhelm him. Upon learning where his true allegiance lies in Part 2, it makes a lot of sense as to why he did this.
• Let Them Die Happy: Gemini does this to Smithy, even after what he did to him in the past.
• MacGuffin: The Elemental Stones in Part 1.
• Made of Iron: Alex Whiter has a ridiculous record of getting hit with attacks that would kill any normal human, which is a bit crazy considering that in spite of his flight he only has an above-average level of strength. When one takes into considering his Determinator status...
• The Man Behind the Man: Part 2 reveals that Cackletta is responsible for all the villainous threats to Plit beforehand, up to an including Joe Dark and Tabuu

• Meaningful Name: All the Genesis Samurais have last names that relate to their respective element.
  • Invoked in Part 2, When Alpha points out to Cackletta just why he is named what he is.
  • Then there is Joe Dark. Who becomes, you know, the DARK King?
• The Mole: Fawful
• Mind Screw: Besides the Big Lipped Alligator Moment entry entry in the YMMV section, there is also the aftermath of Cackletta's defeat in Chapter 42, which was actually done on purpose by her to mess with Alex's head.
• Monster Roommate: Driad after Part 1.
• Mr. Exposition: Alpha, and Geno when it comes to matter related to the Star Spirits
• My God, What Have I Done?: Immediately after Mew frees Mr. Reality from the control of the Parakali parasite, Mr. Reality realizes just how badly his powers have screwed things up especially after witnessing the blank expanse that was brought on by the near erasure of reality.
• Mythology Gag: Luigi being a Queen in the chess game against the Lightning Djinn actually offers a two-fer on this one. Not only is it a reference to the time he had to wear Peach's dress in Mario And Luigi Super Star Saga, but it also references an obscure Mario chess game where Luigi is the Queen piece, which can be seen here [1]
• Not Quite Dead: Cackletta TWICE!, Fawful, Smithy and Dimentio. The return of the third guy is brought up and Lampshaded by Mallow to Mario in Chapter 3 of Part 2:
  "Do you go easy on them or something, or do you keep forgetting to check and make sure that you weren’t fighting copies of their true selves?"

• No-Sell: Joe Dark does this to everything the Genesis Samurais toss at him.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Cackletta claims this with Alpha. Alpha has another opinion in mind about that...
• Not So Stoic: Chaos Alex has his bout of Unstoppable Rage in Chapter 35 of Part 2

• Obviously Evil: Joe Dark. If the red eyes and skull and crossbones shirt didn't make this blatant enough, just look at his last name for crying out loud!
• Oh, Crap!: Mewmaster's immediate reactions after learning that Cackletta has been brought back to life and is currently controlling Alpha

• Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The "Higher-ups", three beings who watch over the multiverse Save for the Realm of Darkness, as revealed by Cackletta and govern it towards an unknown purpose.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Joe Dark states this firmly to Mario when he first appears, and he has no problem attacking anyone who defends Alex from him. As all the good guys find out in the final battle.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • Bowser becoming Giga Bowser. An interesting variation of this trope because in this case It was not an intentional transformation

• Averted in Smithy's case, for instead of going with the form he used in the original game he merely sheds his armor and reveals his human body. Though it still proves deadly enough once he starts fighting.

• Out of Focus: This happens a few times in Part 1 to some of the heroes once the group gets big enough, but the most obvious example of this trope is Mallow, who save for Mario really doesn't get a character arc devoted to him throughout the story. He is also the only one whose fight is not given any attention to in Movie 1.
  • However, this is subverted in Part 2, where not only does he share plenty of screentime with Gemini during the Smithy arc, but it is because of him that Gemini Doesn't eventually lose himself to his demonic heart
• Pet the Dog: According to Smithy's recollection of his childhood, the Dark King commended his craftmanship without any hints of malice in his voice, and it is even stated that the Dark King carried that very sword with him to his death.
• Physical God: In Part 3's what-if, Alex Whiter becomes one of these when he enters his Apex Phoenix Form. It says a lot when with just one punch, Alex managed to kill, not briefly stop, Shattered Reality.
• Pillar of Light: Shows up every time the heroes transform in their Star Spirit forms. Also happens in Chapter 50 when Alex's health is being restored by the Star Rod
  • This trope generally tends to be Geno's mode of transportation between Star Haven and Plit, though his pillar has a more starry design to it.

• Posthumous Character: The Elemental Overlord and the Dark King. Though this is a weird case of this trope, since though their physical bodies are dead their spirits still reside within their new successors. However, in the case of the Dark King, we learn more about him through his suboordinates, especially in Smithy and Cackletta's flashbacks.
  • Also, Former M.S.I. Commander Zeta, who was killed thirty years ago and the act of avenging him forms the basis of Alpha's motivations.
• Power Gives You Wings: Alpha and Gemini's Star Spirit forms grant them angelic wings, though they aren't actually used for flight and Alex Whiter's Phoenix Form, which gives him the creature's majestic wings

• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Cackletta gives one of these to Alex. It backfires. Big Time.

• Revenge: Why Alpha wants to kill Cackletta, because she had a hand in slaying his father and mentor Commander Zeta
• Samurai: The aptly named Genesis Samurai, though only Zeno Blaze has an actual samurai motif
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Or more like...Sealed Soul of the Dark King in a Deep Chasm
• Secret-Keeper: Alpha, to an infuriating degree.
• Sequel Hook: In the Epilogue of Part 1, where The two mysterious beings who were watching the battle between the heroes and Joe Dark are revealed to be Dimentio and Smithy, and Cackletta is revealed to be alive, showing that she acquired one of the feathers from Alex Whiter's Phoenix Form for some evil purpose...
  • This also happens in Movie 1, with Alex promising Tabuu that he will avenge his people by finding and killing The Master Hand
• Seven Deadly Sins: According to Cackletta, The Dark King's control over darkness stemmed from a balance between all seven of them, and that his death was caused because he succumbed to a few of them simultaneously.
  • Each Sin Samurai inside of Chaos Alex embodies a different one of these sins.
• Ship Tease: Tina Aqua with Alex Whiter in Chapter 35 of Part 2
• Shoot the Dog: Gemini does this accidentally to Domino in Part 2
• Shout-Out: To Super Mario Bros. Z in Chapter 45 More specifically, the act of having the Star Spirits appear and using their energy to power-up Mario and the other heroes, a concept which, while it didn't get to appear in the actual series, at least got shown in the intro. Thankfully, the author gives Alvin-Earthworm full credit for the idea instead of claiming it as his own.
  • Another example of this trope with the same series happens in Part 2, where The Axem Rangers X, with descriptions of their designs matching the sprites Alvin used appear in the early chapters.
  • The battles against Shadow Gemini and False Shadow Geno fittingly play out like battles from Persona 4, and save for damage outputs the details are pretty accurate towards the series itself.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: For every speech that Cackletta tries to give to break the heroes' resolve, each one of them has a counter to it. The best example of this comes from the response to Alpha's Breaking Speech, in which both himself AND Mario break each and every one of her points down and give her a Breaking Speech of their own towards her.

• Spanner in the Works: Fawful, Alpha and Mario to Cackletta's plans. And Bowser too, for freeing the Star Spirits from their imprisonment. The later case is lampshaded by the author in his final thoughts on Part 2
• Spared by the Adaptation: Koume and Kotake

• Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred!: Alex dares Joe Dark to do this in the climatic battle of Part 1. He almost does this, were it not for Mario's interference
• Take Our Word for It: Parodied during the Terra Cave portion of Part 1, where Gemini and Alex come out of their tunnel bragging about how awesome it was to traverse it and they tell the remaining heroes that they should've been there to see it.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted like wildfire throughout the story, where the heroes will attack the villains during their monologues or vice versa.
• Throwing the Fight: Tabuu does this in the final confrontation with Alex in Movie 1, since he saw no reason to break the boy's determination to win even though he easily could've
  • Averted in the What-If though, where Tabuu kills Alex instead of listening to him
• Time Skip: 1 month between Part 1 and Movie 1, and two months between that and Part 2.
  • Part 3 takes place one year after the conclusion of Part 2.
  • Time Skips are all over the place in Part 4 thus far. The first bit of the prologue takes place 3 months after the end of Part 3, the second bit takes place a few months after that, and Riku Mew is created 6 months after that according to the author, making for a grand total of a year having passed between the true start of Part 4 and Part 3.
• Time Travel: This happens involuntarily to Alex Whiter in Part 1's Extra Chapter, which sends him two-thousand years into the past. Though the cause is not stated at the moment The mysterious lady from the past mentions about something called the "Gaia Temporis"...
• Tomato in the Mirror:
  • Driad is not a Good Guardian, but actually the former Outer Guardian of the Nature Castle
  • Subverted with Luigi and Dimentio, then later Double Subverted via Wordof God
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • All of the heroes After getting their Star Spirit forms
  • Alex Whiter does this three times near the end of Part 1. First by getting the Elemental Overlord's powers, then after getting The Elemental Forms from the Genesis Samurais spirits, and finally acquiring the Phoenix Form
• Transformation Is a Free Action: The robed lady in Part 1's Extra Chapter makes a point to Alex after their fight that this will not always be allowed in battles, especially against wiser opponents.
• The Unfought: The inner guardians of the Terra Cave, Frozen Palace, and Ignitor Cave. Though their powers are given to the people who merge the Elemental Stones with themselves. This also counts as an example of The Unseen.
  • Though this is no longer the case with the Terra Cave and Frozen Palace guardians, who are both seen and fought by Alpha and Commander Zeta in the Recollections of a Former Goomba side-story.
• Unwitting Pawn:
  • As revealed in the Epilogue for Part 1, Joe Dark, and by extension the spirit of the Dark King was this to Cackletta
  • Actually, as of Part 2 EVERYONE in Part 1, and in all the Mario Games before that were this to Cackletta. The only exceptions are Fawful, who was The Mole and knew he was being played, Alpha, who was wise enough to see through her tricks, Rosalina, and the Star Spirits
• Vague Age: Averted for the most part, but there are two notable exceptions:
  • Gemini, whose age can't really be pinned thanks to the fact that it is impossible to determine how old he was when Smithy kidnapped him from Koopa Village
  • And then there is Alpha, where the only hint given for him is that he was alive thirty some years ago.
• Villain Episode: The first chapter of Part 4, save for the first few paragraphs introducing Knuckles and Angel Island focuses entirely on the recently revived Joe Dark as he arrives at Sonic's world in order to become stronger via the negative energy of the Chaos Emeralds
• Villainous Breakdown: Joe Dark goes even MORE insane over time in the final battle, but what really breaks him is when Mario breaks his sword.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Joe Dark THINKS he is one of these, but as Alex points out to him after learning of his backstory, his ends don't really justify the means.
  • Tabuu, on the other hand, actually fits the definition of this trope.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 22 of Part 2. To shortly sum things up... Alpha and Mario have gone to the Realm of Darkness, Alpha is implied to have gone there before in the past, Cackletta may be working with The Heartless (As in the literal trope namers), and the area the two heroes arrive at? The spaceship from Deep Space, where footage found there revealed that everyone aboard the ship were slaughtered by the Heartless a long time ago...
  • From the same Part, Chapter 25 where Cackletta reveals that the Kingdom Hearts universe was in fact consumed by the Realm of Darkness long ago, a process that occurred after Xemnas killed Sora and Riku and absorbed their hearts into his own body.
  • Then there is Chapter 26, where Cackletta talks about how everything up until this point in time was all part of her plan to acquire the Elemental Overlords powers for herself or create a new Dark King
  • The Final Chapter of Part 2, in which Alex Whiter kills himself to destroy Chaos Alex once and for all.
  • The Epilogue of Part 3, in which Joe Dark is brought back to life by the Dark King's spirit and the Dark King reveals that Joe Dark can become stronger by absorbing mass quantities of negative energy. His first target? The seven Chaos Emeralds.
  • The second chapter of "The Ocarina of Time" story ends with Ganondorf completely wiping the floor with Riku Mew and stealing his darkness to become stronger.
  • Later on is Chapter 29, which ends with a big deviation from Ocarina of Time's climax Demise is back, and he has possessed Ganondorf's body.
  • The final chapter and epilogue is an even bigger Wham Episode. Not only does Demise KILL LINK, but Riku is thrown into a Heroic BSoD so strong that he actually abandons Hyrule to its fate...Not only that, but because of Demise's return a series of events unfold that lead to the creation of the DOWNFALL TIMELINE
• Wham Line: Two of these in Chapter 24 of Part 2, though only one will hit you if you are familiar with the work. The first is said by Alpha, the second by Fawful:
  "I guess before the Heartless invaded, this castle used to exist in a world known only as Radiant Garden."
  "So, I guess now would be a good time for me to drop the act, huh Commander?"
• What Could Have Been: As the author notes after Part 2's Epilogue, Mallow may not have actually appeared at all during this story, or that Driad could've gone with either Gemini or Luigi.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Mario calls Alpha out when he declares that everyone on Plit is a threat waiting to happen, especially after he assumed that both his brother and Peach are viable for corruption.
  • In Chapter 30 of Part 3, Mew calls Alex Whiter out on trying to conquer his inner demons all on his own over the past year instead of asking for help in dealing with his problems.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Smithy
  • Chaos Alex qualifies for this as well. On top of being He starts off his "new" life by witnessing his mother/creator die before his eyes, and before he can do anything he is instantly taken over by the Dark Star, and act of which causes a lot of pain before he frees himself. After that he continues to be unaware of how callous his mother truly is as he goes out to fulfill her plans. And this isn't even getting into what happens as he fights his good counterpart...
• Worthy Opponent: Albeit with a begrudging attitude towards the admission, Cackletta calls Alpha this after her revival in Part 3

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