The Challenger Approaches is the primary single-player campaign in Doodle's Super Smash Bros., acting as a full successor to the story mode present in Brawl, the Subspace Emmisary with elements of Ultimate's World of Light mixed into it. The story follows all 150 playable fighters as they end up in a strange world created by a mysterious being known as Rebudo. Half of the cast is trapped inside of a labyrinth created by Rebudo, while the other half are stuck outside of the labyrinth in the world he created. The world is an amalgamation of various Nintendo universes, forcing each fighter to create unlikely teams in order to escape the labyrinth, make it to Rebudo's castle, and take down the being. Each part is separated into levels and follows a different group each time, eventually coming together in the end.
Prologue[]
Level α: Under Siege[]
The chapter opens on a desolate sky, gray clouds blocking most traces of sunlight as strange sounds are heard from below. Just then, a twinkle of light appears in the clouds, seeming to get closer and closer. As it does so, the details are clear: the falling object is an angel from Pit, an angel from the land of Skyworld, battered and bruised. As he plummets to the ground below, we see more beings emmerge from the sky; beings made from black particles with glowing yellow eyes, taking on large draconic shapes as they chase after the fallen angel. The world below is chaos; a town in ruins as more of these shadow creatures attack, ripping into the ground and throwing debris around.
Just as he's about to plummet, Pit is seemingly saved via a holy light shining upon him, causing his wings to open and him to start flying aimlessly. As his eyes open, Pit looks down to see the shadow creatures chasing him, but can't control his own flight path as he ducks and weaves through the gaping maws of the monsters.
- Pit: Lady Palutena! A-Are you okay?!
- Viridi: Palutena's out of commission for now! No use in trying to talk to her!
- Pit: What?! What do you mean "out of commission?!"
- Viridi: There's no time to explain! She's doing what she can against these things while I'm steering you out of trouble!
- Pit:You're steering me away from the town! I need to save whoever is left from those...monsters!
- Viridi: You're the important one right now! I'm not letting you help anyone, especially humans, until I find somewhere safe for you to-
- Pit: Whatever they are, they already came for Skyworld, they came for the Overworld...they're coming for everyone else next! Even a few lives are saved, it means they haven't wo-
- Viridi: I'm not letting you make a pit stop! If we lose you, it's one less person who can help defeat whatever they are!
- Pit: Viridi, just let me go! I can take whatever's down th-
- Viridi: Fine! If you wanna die, then go for it! Just know you aren't getting back home until-
Pit's flight is ended shortly before Viridi can do so as the Goddess of Nature goes silent. To Pit's dismay, she never replies to her name being called out by him. As he falls, he eventually lands on a grassy area in front of the ruined village. Equipped with Palutena's Bow, Pit heads onto into the village as the roars of the shadow creatures emanate throughout the town.
- Pit: Alright! Mystery creatures, beware; you're FINISHED!
The fight takes place in That Burning Town from Kid Icarus: Uprising, having Pit run through the town and fight off strange shadow creatures. These shadow creatures appear as small imp-like beings, large floating blades, and even the same shadowy serpentine figures described before as mini-bosses. Each mini-boss is guarding an innocent civilian and, once beaten, set them free and allow Pit to continue on his path. Each enemy is able to be taken out in any way, but can be defeated easier via the use of a specific attack. The imps are weak to neutral specials, blades to forward aerials, and the serpents to dash attacks. During the duration of the level, the shadow creatures are seen ripping apart and terrorizing the village, the number of them decreasing as Pit goes on. After Pit defeats the last serpent, another cutscene triggers.
- Pit: Alright! That's all of the shadow monsters toasted! Who's laughing now, Viridi?
- Dark Pit: No one is.
- Pit: Pittoo?!
- Dark Pit: Viridi's gone. Whatever those things were got to the Forces of Nature...I barely made it out unscathed.
- Pit: If she's gone...do you think that Lady Palutena is gone, too?
- Dark Pit: Probably. Haven't seen the Underworld, but I'm gonna guess it's undergoing the same situation.
- Pit: They aren't the Underworld Army, they aren't the Forces of Nature, they aren't the Aurum...what are these things?
- ???: They're of my creation, Pit.
Pit and Dark Pit stop and stare at the source of the strange voice, a voice that seemed to be covered in layers, creating a strange echoing effect. The figure's face was obscured by a large red robe, hiding a green cloak beneath it. He walked precisely and with the look of confidence in his glowing yellow eyes, stepping of the way of debris that not even the two angels saw coming. His gloved hands were balled up into fists, making him a somewhat intimidating character. Eventually, he stopped walking only a few feet from the two angels.
- Dark Pit: And just who are you?
- Rebudo: They call me The Eternal Black Plague...Rebudo, for short.
- Pit: Well, Rebudo, if these things ARE yours, then you have to know about what they've been doing. Correct?
- Rebudo: You're quite the knowledgeable fellow, Pit. Perhaps you've caught on to what's been occurring?
- Pit: Yeah! Your creations killed the gods and are aiming at helpless civilians next!
- Rebudo: Now, now...don't get too ahead of yourself. My creations aren't "killing" anyone...at least, not anyone important.
- Dark Pit: Then what are they doing, creep?!
- Rebudo: Now, that's NO way of talking to your elders. Here: let me give you a visual instead.
All of the sudden, out from Rebudo's arm sprouted a serpent made of the same dark energy as before, barreling into Dark Pit and wrapping itself around him. Pit immediately tries to fire an arrow from his bow, launching it at Rebudo in the hopes of incapacitating him. To his surprise, Rebudo grabs the arrow and shatters it, staring at Pit the whole time.
- Rebudo: *tsk tsk* You really should change your tactics, Pit.
The cutscene ends with Pit, bewildered, running towards Rebudo as Dark Pit is further encased in darkness.
The boss fight is a stamina battle against Rebudo takes place in the same location as before, although the background is covered in dark energy. Rebudo doesn't move from his spot, used a variety of ranged attacks to take care of Pit. The power of these attacks are boosted, making each him deadly. Pit is able to get a few hits in, but is ultimately defeated; Rebudo seems to know the exact move to make when he's about to be attacked. Eventually, Pit falls, defeated at the hands of the mysterious new challenger.
- Pit: *hnng*...H-How did you do that?
- Rebudo: That information is well beyond your seemingly infinite years, young one.
- Pit: I-Is this...what you did to Lady Palutena a-and Viridi?
- Rebudo: Not quite. Unlike you and your friend, your golden goddess puts up a fight. I admire her confidence.
- Rebudo: Now then...with you and Dark Pit down for the count, I think we can finish off the preparations.
- Pit: I'm not...I'm not gonna let you win!
- Rebudo: Not to sound cliche, but I'm betting I already did so. The proof is up in the sky over there.
As Pit looked up to the sky in horror, the large shape of...something was falling from the clouds. As he focused in on it more, it dawned on him that it was none other than Skyworld descending down from the heaven's and down to the Overworld. He could see various structures slide off the individual islands and shatter upon hitting the ground. Not a Centurion was in sight as the islands collided with one another, crushing anyone or anything underneath them as Palutena's statue slid off and hit the slide of a cliff.
Pit was speechless, staring in sheer horror at his home being destroyed. Dark Pit, by this time, was covered in the shadow energy, unable to move or see the chaos around him. Rebudo, next to him, reached into his coat and pulled out a glowing orb, the object shimmering blue, green, yellow, and pink as he gripped it in the palm of his gloved hand.
- Rebudo: The experiment...can now begin.
Villagers fleeing from the falling Skyworld in the distance could see a bright light absorb the land from a certain point, a brilliant pillar of it shooting up into the heavens. Light began to rain down from the heavens, digging itself into the ground as they connected to one another, creating a dome-like barrier around the land around them. The beams began to spin around clockwise, digging out ground as they began to move faster and faster, separating the trapped land from the outside world. The trapped chunk of land, contained within the light, began to lift itself off of the ground along with the remains of Skyworld.
Pit could only watch as him and his world were seemingly coming to an end, the earth below trembling. Skyworld finally completely crashed into the ground, sending a wave of dirt and dust that worsened the tremors. Rebudo stared in complete boredom as the light fully enveloped the land. By the time the dust had settled, the land where the light had been was completely gone; a smoking crater had been left in it's place. A bright light emitted from the clouds, although no divine location had fallen from the sky this time.
The challenger had approached, and had claimed his victory.