A Robot, Conspiracy Theorists, and Plumbers

by jakeroo123

A bunch of random heroes from different fandoms team up and... Actually, that's about it. Join Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Daisy, Enker, Link, Ash, Pikachu, Gary, Sonic, Tails, and Rouge on an adventure. Collab with my cousin and my sister. One-shot, but will have miscellaneous sequels.

Mario and Luigi dashed through Bowser's castle, ready to save the princess once more. Hopping over lava, dodging the lasers Bowser's statues of himself shot at them, and generally demolishing everything that went against them.

"Easy," Mario grinned, "Way too easy."

"Surprised?" Luigi asked, as the plumbers jumped over a pit of lava.

"Not in the least."

The two brothers reached the gigantic red door that signalled the entrance to Bowser's battle room. They slammed open the door to find Bowser inside.

Standing on a bridge over lava.

With a button with a skull on it behind him.

Jumping around shooting fire out of his mouth.

The exact same setup he's been using for- Oh, look, Mario and Luigi already won.

"WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN?" Bowser screamed.

"You're lame," was Mario's explanation.

Princess Peach's cage broke open, and she floated down amidst sparkles to land next to Mario and Luigi.

"Thank you, Mario." She smiled and leaned over to give said plumber a soft peck on the nose.

"You're welcome," Mario said.

"Let's get going before it turns out that Bowser has some insane Plan B."

Suddenly, a wormhole appeared and started sucking them in. Bowser jumped out of the lava and started laughing evily.

"Gwa ha ha! You faucet freaks fell for my trap! Enjoy... Actually, I'm not sure where this'll send you, but, meh, I'll figure it out later. Complicated plots hurt my head."

"TOTALLY CALLED IT!" Luigi screamed as they were sucked through.

They woke up around 2-3 hours later to find themselves in some sort of jungle, the air hot and heavy and the sun blazing down from a break in the trees.

"Does anyone know where this is?" Peach inquired, standing up and dusting off her dress.

"No," Mario said, using tree branches to quickly reach the canopy, "Can't tell anything from up here, either."

Luigi motioned for Peach to hang on to his arm, before springing upward and landing next to Mario, "Doesn't look like anywhere in the Mushroom World."

"And just who do you think you are?" The voice came from behind them, low and threatening.

The three turned on the spot to see a strange sort of human, wearing blue armor with gold highlights. His green eyes glinted strangely in the sunlight, and he leaned on a rather nasty-looking spear.

"Well, I'm Mario," Mario introduced himself, "Super Mario. This is my little bro, Luigi; and my childhood friend, Peach."

"Mario... I've heard that name before..."

"Well, I'm fairly famous," Mario said, "Saved the universe a fair few times."

"With my help," Luigi added.

The person remained silent for a minute, his gaze sort of unfocused. "Hmn. That can't be right... I've never heard an account of you saving the universe before."

"Well, you think I give specifics on all my adventures?" Mario asked.

Mario received a sharp glare, the person walking along the branch down to the trio. "You're not from around here, are you? I may have heard your name before, but it does not mean that you are known far and wide." He looked over the plumber, a strange expression on his face.

"I know that I am known far and wide," Mario grinned, "I'm Super Mario."

"That name carries no importance here," was all the person replied with.

"Eh, it probably will by the end of the week. What's your name, by the way?"

"My name is not currently important. What is important is that you get down from here and find some place to shelter. Come along; my camp isn't too far from here."

"Shelter? From what?" Mario asked, "I'm pretty sure I can take on whatever's out there."

"Don't press your luck." He hopped off the branch and landed smoothly on the ground, using his spear for support.

"Don't need luck," Mario said, jumping down and landing gracefully.

Luigi followed, "He's right, he doesn't. But I think we should take the princess there."

Peach floated down from above with her parasol, "I wouldn't want to intrude, though..."

"You won't be intruding. I have plenty of room back at the camp. My brothers insisted on me living comfortably."

Mario nodded, "Well, let's go. What's the quickest way back?"

"This way," the person muttered, using his spear to pole-vault into a nearby tree. There was a loud squawk of apprehension before a large mettalc bird flew out of the tree with the person riding it. He landed it and spoke calming words before turning to the trio. "Hop on."

"I'll be happy to," Peach said, smiling, and hopped up.

"Eh, we'll keep up," Mario said.

The person grinned, a strange gleam in his eyes. "Can you fly?"

Mario took out a glowing feather and gained wings on his hat, "Yup."

A chuckle came from the bird's pilot and he looked skyward. "Let's go, then." He shouted to the bird, which squawked in alarm and hurriedly took flight. Grabbing hold of its head feathers, the person wheeled it around so it flew east.

The Mario Brothers took to the air, Luigi using a glowing red star to gain black overalls and hat. They quickly followed, keeping up without trouble.

"Will you tell us your name now?" Luigi asked as they flew, "It really would be quite useful to know. Even a nickname would do, really."

"..." The person remained silent for a moment before closing his eyes and sighing. "My name is Enker."

"Nice to meet you, Enker," Luigi said, "Can you tell us a bit about yourself?"

"Yeah. Why's the jungle so 'dangerous,'" Mario made air quotes, "Anyway?"

"My past is something that I will not reveal. However, I can explain why the jungle is dangerous... But even then, that can wait."

"Alright," Mario said, "How long until we get there?"

Enker looked down and started to descend. "A couple of seconds."

Mario nodded, and he and Luigi flipped over in the air before plunging to the ground at high speed, easily overtaking the descent of the bird.

"Showoff..."

The brothers slammed down on the ground in a ground pound. They got up, and looked around. The camp was in a fairly large clearing with soft grass lining the floor/ground. There were a couple of tents near the tree line, and a small campfire in front of said tents.

"It's nice," Princess Peach said, "Quiet. I like it."

"I've never really liked living wild," Enker said, landing the bird and getting off. He helped Peach down like a gentleman.

"Eh, I don't really mind it," Mario said, "I mean, I prefer having an actual bed, but I can deal."

"You'll have to. We don't have beds out here." Enker made his way to a rather ragged-looking tent, ducking inside and coming out with marshmallows. "Well, while you're here, you might as well make yourself comfortable."

"Don't mind if I do," Mario said, grabbing a few marsmallows in his left hand and lighting a fire in his right palm to roast them.

Enker stared in silence before frowning slightly. "... You're pyrokinetic?"

"Yeah," Mario said, "Good at it, too."

"..." Enker walked over to a dark spot on the ground, starting a fire so everyone else could roast marshmallows as well. "Any questions you want answered can be answered now. We should be safe."

"Why's the jungle dangerous?" Luigi asked, "What do we need to watch out for?"

"The jungle is dangerous... because of a great many things, really," Enker muttered, skewering a marshmallow on his spear and holding it over the fire. "Mostly the boss that watches over it, however."

"Boss, huh?" Mario asked, looking at Luigi.

Luigi looked at Mario, "... We can take care of that, if you'd like."

"No." Enker's voice was surprisingly tense, but he soon sighed and seemed to relax. "Too many lives have been taken because of people trying to stop him. Ever since the Roboenza virus swept through the ranks, things have gotten too dangerous for even the greatest of heroes to take on. I'm one of the few who didn't get infected."

"Well, you just try again, right?" Mario asked, "We can do this."

Enker remained silent, the fire reflecting in his eyes. "..."

"... People here..." Luigi trailed off, "... Only have one life, don't they?"

"... Yes..." Enker was extremely quiet, the pain from his past beginning to show in his gaze. "Yes... They only have one 'life.'"

"All the more reason to let us deal with this," Luigi said, "We don't."

"Luigi... No. it's too dangerous. I'm not allowing any more lives to be lost, even if they are extra ones." Enker stood up, turning away from the plumbers. "Too many have died because I didn't stop them..."

"We aren't taking no for an answer," Mario said, "Sorry, that's not how I roll."

"Well, it's going to have to be!," Enker yelled, grabbing Mario by the shoudlers. His eyes were filled with anger and greif, his teeth clenched. "I don't even know you... But I don't need to lose you like I did my brothers! NOBODY IS GOING TO FIGHT HIM!"

"I told you," Mario said, pushing Enker off of him, "'No' is not an acceptable answer. Tell me the direction to go, and that's all I'll need."

Enker growled and tightened his grip on his spear before turning away and jamming it deep into a tree. "..."

"You have thirty seconds before I take off to the sky to start searching."

"... West... Head west. I'm coming with you, though... I've memorized the layout of the land. You might need me."

"Is there anyone here to protect the Princess?" Luigi asked.

"... There is one person... But she's a tad far from here. Roll would be more than happy to watch over the Princess, although it's quite the walk from here to Monstropolis."

"I'll get Roll," Luigi says, "What does she look like, which direction, and how far?"

"She's around four feet, blonde, and wears a red dress and a green ribbon in her hair. She would get along great with Peach, although the real reason I'm sending you there is because of Rock, more commonly known as Mega. He's a bit busy right now, what with the Roboenza crisis, but I'm sure he can offer liable protection. They're north."

"How far north?"

"Hmmn... I'd say about 6 kilometers. Near Abel City."

"6 km, huh?" Luigi asked, "Let's see, taking into account the amount of trees and how long it would take to search, I should be back in around... Ten minutes."

"Ten minutes? Dang. You and Quick would make great buddies."

"... Well, I'm not exactly your average ordinary everyday human," Luigi said, "Bye." He started running, faster and faster until he came close to the edge of the clearing to take a huge flying leap.

Enker stared after him before yanking his spear out of the tree with a grunt, stepping out of the way as it came down. "We should get going ourselves. Have a long way to go."

"Whoa, whoa, and leave Peach alone?" Mario asked, "I don't think so. I'll catch up to you once Luigi gets back, or you could wait with me."

He looked around to see Peach still there before facepalming. "I thought Luigi had taken her with him. Jeez... I need to get my optics repaired."

"You think you would've noticed the lack of a girl in a pink dress being carried by him," Peach said.

Enker grumbled.

Meanwhile, with Luigi...

Luigi finally managed to break out of the jungle, and could see the city sitting on the horizon. With nothing in his way, he was able to up the speed and move even faster.

Within a few minutes, he managed to come up on the city limits. He stopped in front of a jobs department, and looked around. There were a couple of adults around, some of them robotic, others not, but the two that stood out the most were... Well, the only children there. Roll, wearing said red dress and green ribbon, was leaning on the guardrail of a bridge and looking over the edge at the water. Her brother, Rock, had finally gotten some free time to go and walk with her; he was still in his armor, but he had his helmet off and his brown hair waved in the breeze. "Dont fall," he mumbled, as Roll's feet left the ground for a second.

"Hello," Luigi said, walking up, "Are you Roll?"

Roll turned to look at Luigi, smiling and giving him a courtsey. "Yes, I am! Who are you?" Rock looked over, looking nervously at the plumber.

"My name is Luigi," Luigi said, "I need you to come with me."

"Oh, no, you don't!" Rock stepped in front of his sister, throwing an arm out to his side and bringing up a fist. "You're probably one of those infected robots!"

"What? No! I'm not-"

"Don't lie to me!" Mega's helmet materialized on his head and his right hand reverted to the Buster. "You're not fooling anybody!"

"I'm not lying," Luigi said, "My friend needs help, and I was told that-"

"Shut up!" Mega pointed his Buster at Luigi, sending a ball of plasma streaking through the air to him.

Luigi saw it coming, and jumped over it without trouble, "Listen to me!"

Mega completely ignored him and switched weapons, his armor now a sort of dark purple with white highlights. Instead of plasma this time, three blades came out of the Buster, one of them rococheting off of an overhanging light and heading straight for Luigi.

Luigi crouched and rolled out of the way, bringing Mega to the ground with a sweeping kick as he came out of the roll.

Said robot simply grunted as he hit the ground before rolling onto his back and doing a sort of 'donkey kick' to get himself back onto his feet. Switching back to his normal Buster, he sent a charged shot at Luigi that had so much force it sent him sliding back a couple of feet.

Luigi picked himself up, and jumped up to deliver a light kick to Mega's chest, knocking him to the ground.

Mega grunted, falling flat on his back. He was winded and was struggling to get up, and Roll looked terrified. "R-Rock!"

"He's fine," Luigi said, "Just had the wind knocked out of him... Sorry, Rock, I don't blame you for protecting your sister, but you should have let me finish. I was going to ask you to come too."

Rock struggled upright, clutching at his chest and breathing heavily. "... You startled me, is all."

"It's alright," Luigi said, "Now, come on... I'll carry you two where we need to go."

"No, it's fine. I can get Rush to ferry us. I don't want to weigh you down." Mega gave him a smile and put his fingers in his mouth, whistling loud and clear. "Our house is nearby, so he should be here soon..."

"It really wouldn't be an issue for me to carry you," Luigi said, "I've dealt with heavier."

"No, really, I insist." Rock smiled brightly as a red dog came loping over, barking excitedly. Said canine leapt up and started licking Mega's face, causing him to laugh.

"... Okay then," Luigi said, "Try to keep up."

Luigi took off, though somewhat slowly to give them time to catch up.

Rock whistled again and Rush barked in response, the canaine transforming into reinforced armor with jets and a rocket punch built in. Picking up Roll, Rock took off and soared after Luigi, catching up with ease. "Now that I think about it... Did Enker send you here?"

Luigi nodded, "Yep. Told him I'd be back soon. Can Rush go faster?"

Rock chuckled once. "Rush is by far the fastest support unit in the whole country! So far nothing's been able to keep up with him. Well... At least support unit wise."

Luigi nodded, "Fine by me. Let's see how he fares against me." Luigi put on the speed, going faster and faster.

Rock did the same, causing Rush to whine slightly. "That's right... I forgot. The Super Adaptor wears you out, doesn't it...? Luigi, we might need to slow down soon. I don't want to stress Rush."

"I could carry him," Luigi offered.

"And leave us in the dust?" That was Roll.

"I can carry you guys too," Luigi said, holding his hands above his head, "Just land Rush on my hands, hang on, and I'll take care of the rest."

Rock but on a final boost of speed, landing solidly in Luigi's palms and crouching down. His armor switched back to its normal blue and cyan, and he caught his exhausted dog in one of his arms. "Dang. You're awfully strong. Who built you? Cossack?"

"I'm not a robot!" Luigi said, insulted, "My abilities are magic, not technology."

"O-Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

Luigi sighed, "It's okay... Hang on, I'm going to try something." Luigi starting trying to run even faster, the landscape becoming a blur as he reached the speed that allowed him and Mario to run on walls and ceilings.

"Wow! Even if your powers are magic, you're awfully fast..."

Within seconds, Luigi had reached the edge of the jungle, and crouched down to jump as high and as far as he could.

Meanwhile, with Mario...

"You've got any 3's?" Enker looked over his hand... Which was a flush. If this were Poker, he could probably win.

"Catch a Cheep," Mario said.

"Blast..." Enker reached out for a card as Luigi came into the clearing, carrying Rock, Roll and Rush. "Hey! Guess I don't have to fish."

"Hi," Luigi said, "Alright... We need to decide who's staying for sure and who's going for sure. Also, what's this virus you were talking about earlier?"

"Roboenza is a virus, that once it infects a robot, they start to go crazy and start to develop a bloodlust. However, it also slowly fries their power core, effectively killing them within a month. We have the two top scientists in the entire field of robotics looking to find a cure, however."

"Hmm..." Mario said, "What about non-robots?"

"There hasn't been a case of a human getting Roboenza since it started..."

"Good," Mario said, "That means that Luigi and I should be able to handle this even easier than I thought."

"... However... Now that I think about it, my creator, Wily, has contracted a fever recently. He ignores it and insists on working to find the cure, but..."

"Oh... Hmm..." Mario said, "... Well then... I'm still going for this. I'm not entirely sure Luigi and I are susceptible to sickness anyway..."

"If you insist," Enker muttered, using his spear as a sort of support as he got up. "Let's head out. Luigi, Rock, Roll, you guys stay here with the Princess. She needs all the protection she can get."

Luigi shook his head, "Mario and I... We're a team."

Mario nodded, "We do our best together."

"... Rock. Is it possible that you could contac-"

"Of course! Bass's sort of in touch, even if he doesn't leave his phone on for weeks on end... I'll try to call."

"Good. Mario, Luigi, come with me." He started off into the forest, jogging at a surprisingly quick pace.

Mario and Luigi jogged after him, quickly catching up.

"... You know... I'm suddenly getting a feeling of deja vu..."

"How so?" Mario asked.

"It's something about this place... The brownish water-" He thrust his spear upward, skewering a giant robotic rhino beetle that was rocketing past- "The annoying robots... Something about this place just seems familiar."

"... Huh," Luigi said.

Enker was about to polevault up to a higher ledge when... Frighteningly jovial laughter came out of the trees ahead of them. Mario and Luigi got into a stance as Enker poised his spear, staring straight ahead. "Who's there?"

"How nice of you all to come visit~!" The voice seemed to melt into the trees and carry on the wind, not giving it an exact location. Enker glanced around nervously before the voice continued. "It gets so lonely here, this Forgotten Area..."

Enker's eyes widened. "... oh... Mario! Luigi! Get out of here! You need to get back to the Princess!"

"What's going on?" Mario asked.

Enker didn't answer and was about to run back when a vine shot out of the ground, wrapping tightly around his leg and causing him to fall. His spear rolled out of reach and he grunted, pulling on his leg. "Oh, I wouldn't try that if I were you, Enker dearest! It could very well spell the death of both you and your friends~"

"Luigi, maneuver T2A-4!" Mario said, taking out his hammer. Luigi ran over, stopping right in front of Mario.

"M-Mario! Don't worry about me! The Prince- ARGH!" The vine wrapped around his leg tighter, causing him to wince.

Mario slammed the hammer down on Luigi's head, dunking him into the ground.

"You're all so funny! Trying to resist Nature itself..."

Luigi tunneled through the ground, following the vines to their source. He found it, and shot out of the ground, accompanied by a huge CRACK! and a lightning bolt shooting out of the ground with him.

There was a grunt from the vine's controller, and he took a couple of steps backwards as the electricity flowed back into the ground. Otherwise, he appeared unscathed. "Oh! You're quite the funny-looking one~"

"I get that sometimes," Luigi said, spinning on the spot rapidly to hit him.

The giant flower raised an arm and blocked his attack, causing a small dent to appear in his armor. "Oh, you're going to have to try harder than that~ Or rather, don't try at all."

"I think I'll go with trying harder." Luigi crouched down, and sprung upward in a huge leap. He came down fast on top of the flower.

The flower grunted and stumbled, running into a tree and using it for support.

"And now for the finale," Mario said, taking out a strange golden flower, "Thanks for keeping him occupied, Luigi." The flower dissapeared, and Mario became golden and glowing.

"Welcome."

"Are you sure you want to do that~?" There was a muffled yell from above them, and a certain blone in pink tresses was hanging above, wrapped tightly in vines. The robots were there too, even more bound. Rock struggled like mad; he almost looked like a fly caught in a spiderweb.

Mario glared, and flung a few balls of golden energy out of his hand.

The flower sidestepped it easily. "Now, now. Watch your temper. Remember, I hold the lives of all your friends in my hands...~" So saying, he tightened the vines. The people closest didn't complain much, but there was a loud yell from the still-bound Enker back near the ledge.

Mario smirked as the balls hit a tree, causing the flower to be knocked over by the shockwaves each explosion released.

"Ooph!" The flower spit dirt out of his mouth and pushed himself upright, hissing in anger.

Mario threw more balls of golden energy, and this time he didn't miss.

The flower collided heavily with a tree, winded. "gah... St.. Stop!" He clenched his fists, and a hint of grey spikes started showing through the vines.

Mario ran forward, and ripped the vines off of Enker. Then he jumped up, and severed the vines holding Peach, Rock, and Roll up with a spin attack.

Enker ran forward as the flower retaliated, raising his spear and absorbing the attack. "Mario, get everyone out of here! I'll handle this."

Mario nodded, grabbing Peach and Roll while Luigi got Rock and Rush. The brothers ran a few hundred yards before stopping to look back.

The sounds of both trees snapping like twigs and blasts of what sounded like plasma could be heard even from their distance. It went on like that for a few more moments before a scream could be heard from the flower, and a rather large explosion knocked back a couple more trees.

"Think he's done?" Luigi asked Rock.

Rock nodded once, looking strangely grim. "Yes, but... The Barrier Spear, the weapon Enker uses, can only take so much before... It starts absorbing his life energy."

Mario stared silently, before he and Luigi took off to help Enker.

The clearing was an absolute mess; burnt patches of grass and scraps of bark and vines were everywhere. In the middle of all this was Enker. He didn't even appear to have a single scratch, but he was on his knees and shivering, clutching at where his power core was. "Ghk..."

"Clock out!" Mario shouted, taking out a green star-shaped crystal. Time froze, except for Mario, Luigi, and Enker.

Enker looked slowly over at the brothers, one of his eyes closed and the other half-open. He looked pale. "Ma... Mario..."

"Sweet Feast," Mario said, taking out a blue star-shaped crystal.

Enker managed to keep himself upright as he stood up, leaning on a tree. "That... That was... Pretty stupid of me, huh...?

"You did well, but you're lucky we came when we did," Mario said, "Now, we have approximately thirty relative seconds before time resumes. Power up, Luigi."

Luigi nodded, taking out a golden flower like Mario did and using it. Instead of turning gold, however, he turned silver. He also took out a strange-looking compass.

Enker winced slightly, although it was barely noticeable by the naked eye. "Hurry it... Hurry it up a little..."

Time unfroze, and the Mario Bros got in a stance to fight the flower.

"hee... hee hee... You're... All utter fools!" The flower pushed himself out of a pile of rubble, wires showing and his right arm missing. "You'd dare to come back, eh?"

"Ah... Shut it, Plantman... You're not all that you're cracked up to be." Enker glared at him.

"Me, on the other hand..." Mario said, "I'm more."

"grrrrh... You're all so obnoxious! But first..." Plantman sent a vine down on Enker's spear, which was laying on the ground, causing it to start glowing. Enker tensed up, gritting his teeth. "Shame you're connected by your life, hmmn~?"

At least, that's what would have happened it Luigi hadn't dived and grabbed the spear before Plantman stopped talking.

"GAHHH! You annoying plumbers!" Plantman sent a barrage of the vines at them, silver spikes sticking out of them.

Luigi once more jumped before Plantman finished talking, this time getting Mario out of the way. The two brothers made a silent agreement, and started pelting Plantman with gold and silver balls of energy.

Plantman screamed, a stray vine brushing the spear. Instead of hurting Enker, however, it had a sort of pulling sensation on Luigi. Enker looked over in surprise. "... Luigi... Did you pick up my spear?"

"Yes," Luigi said, "I get what you're getting at. It won't work, Plantman. I've died before, I can do it again."

"Wh... WHAT!" Plantman was outraged, the very jungle falling silent. "You- I- Wh-"

"Five hundred sixty-three lives left," Luigi said, "Those last two adventures really were quite a help in getting them, weren't they, Mario?"

"Yup," Mario said, before the brothers began another barrage.

Plantman sent up more vines, this time weaving them into a powerful sheild. "This isn't the last you've seen of me, plumbers... I'll be back..." So saying, he disappeared into the darkening jungle with a sort of hissing sound, like that of a strong breeze through a tree. The vines fell limp, harmless.

"He's not going to be back anytime today," Luigi said, putting the compass away.

"Hopefully not," Enker muttered, taking his spear from Luigi. Upon doing so, he flinched and dropped it again as sparks lanced through his arm. "G-Gh... Dang..."

"You okay?" Luigi asked, kneeling down to check on him as his and Mario's power-ups wore off, reverting them to Fire form.

Enker already started lo look sick again. "J-Just... My connection with the spear. I'm... I'm more c-concerned about... You guys, though."

"We're fine," Mario said.

"I'm assuming this was the boss you spoke of?" Luigi asked, as they helped him walk back to Rock, Roll, and Peach.

"Y-Yes... He... Wa- Ghk..." He shuddered and clenched his teeth as more sparks flew. Roll ran over, concerned.

"Enker, you idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed... Rock doesn't need any of his friends dying."

"If we're... T-To be considered 'f-friends'... Then fate i-is truly an ironic th-thing. I t-told you, I'm-m... Only helping... Only helping Rock bec-c-cause my master-r is... Doing s-so."

"... Doubting that," Mario said, "Anyway, any idea how to get us back home? There's a good chance we've stumbled into an alternate dimension. This place definitely isn't like our planet."

Enker was about to reply, but he sparked again and tensed up. Rock spoke instead. "If you need to cross dimentions... Then the only way to do that is to find another rift in the fabric of space. Those are next to nonexistant, if you're lucky."

"Know anybody who could cause one?" Luigi asked.

"No, unfortunately... He left for his own planet a while ago."

"Hmm..." Mario said, "You're sure there's nobody who could help?"

"Look, unless Saturn comes back for some off reason, we'll have to find one that naturally occurrs."

"Well then," Mario said, "Could you help us look for one?"

"Sure, but in the morning," Roll interrupted, planting her fists on her hips. "Look at Enker! He needs rest, and I'm sure you guys are feeling a little tired as well."

"... Well, a rest couldn't hurt," Luigi said.

"Alright," Mario said, "Let's go."

In the morning...

Back at the camp, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Rock and Roll were eating breakfast, having just prepared for the search. Enker was still asleep.

"Quick question before we go," Mario said, "Do any of you know what a dimensional rift looks like?"

"A black hole, possibly." Roll looked up from the toast she was making.

"Nope," Mario shook his head, "Dimensional rifts look like little tears in space. They're only just barely visible, and they glow - Luigi, Peach, and I can see them better than most people, though. They make an odd noise when you're close to them."

"That's odd," Rock mumbled past his E-Tank. "Saturn could travel through dimetions by causing rifts, but he made black holes to do so."

"Hmm..." Mario said.

"That's not truly a dimensional rift," Luigi said, "It does include a dimensional rift, but the vortex is only when the rift is fully opened to be used for transport."

There was a loud yawn and the sound of somebody stumbling over. "Wha... What did I miss?"

"Morning, Enker," Rock said.

"Nommuch," Mario answered, "Other than my description of what a dimensional rift looks like."

"A black hole, right?" Enker sat down and helped himself to some toast.

Mario shook his head, and explained again.

"Ah..." Enker went back to his tent and retrieved his spear, which was no longer glowing. "This thing almost killed me last night... I hope we don't have to fight again anytime soon."

"If we do, you can leave it to me and Luigi," Mario said.

"Much appreciated."

"Let's-a-go!" Mario said.

"Okeydokie!" Luigi replied, grinning.

A few hours later...

"Any luck?" Enker hopped down from a nearby tree and turned to Luigi.

"Maybe," Luigi said.

"I feel... Something nearby," Mario said.

Enker frowned slightly. "... Hmn."

"I think it's... That way!" Mario pointed, and started running. Luigi and Peach were quick to follow.

Enker and the other 'bots followed, keeping an eye out for anything.

"Ha-ha!" Mario said, "I was right! There is a rift here!"

"... I don't..." Enker looked quite confused.

"Don't what?" Luigi asked.

"... Nothing. So, I guess this is where you get off, hm? Shame. We could have really used your help in more than one case... It was fun while it lasted, though."

"Likewise," Mario said, turning towards the faint hole, "Now... Let's see if I can do this..." Mario raised his arms, and concentrated on trying to flip over the patch of space containing the rift.

It worked, looking very strange, and created a vortex. Mario celebrated before he, Luigi, Peach, and Enker were sucked in.

The four landed in a city at night, lit by neon lights. The nearest building was a club, aptly named Club Rouge.

"... You don't think..." Peach said.

"... I don't know," Mario said.

"Ooog... My head..."

"Enker?" Luigi asked, turning on the spot, "How did... You got sucked in too, didn't you?"

Enker sat up, rubbing his head. His spear was sticking up from the ground next to him. "What're you...?"

"Doing here? Well, for one thing, 'here' would be another dimension. And, from the looks of it, not our home world, but considering the name of that building it may be one we've been to before."

"Hey, wait, wait, wait. You're saying... We're no longer in the Forgotten Area? My optics haven't come on yet, so I can't tell."

"No," Luigi said, "Come on, let's go see if there's anybody in that club who can tell us where we are. Give us a hint about the world."

"... I hope it's not her," Peach said, as she and Mario walked towards the building.

"Uh, hello? I CAN'T SEE."

Luigi sighed, and grabbed Enker's wrist to lead him into the building.

"I feel really darn helpless right now. It's quite embarrassing," he muttered, grabbing his spear.

Inside, they found a familiar princess in a yellow dress talking to a teenaged bat with an alarming amount of blue eyeshadow.

"Great, it's her," Peach said.

"... What in the-?" Enker blinked a couple of times and looked around in alarm. "Where in the name of Cossack are we!"

"Rouge the Bat's home," Peach said bitterly.

"You don't sound too happy about that."

"Well, if it isn't Little Bo Peach," Rouge said when she spotted Peach. Apparently to her makeup-addled brain, this was a good insult.

"Hello, floozy. I mean Rouge. Only I don't."

Enker frowned slightly. "... This is awkward."

"Aw, wasn't that clever?" Rouge asked. She was clearly about to say something even more 'clever,' but the princess in yellow stepped forward.

"Hey! Girls! Stop your catfight!" she said. For someone who was wearing a dress and a crown, she certainly didn't act like a princess; her volume seemed to be eternally stuck on 'really, really loud.'

"Fine," Peach said, crossing her arms, "I still don't like her."

Enker gave them both funny looks. "And I thought the giant flower was strange... Girls are something else."

"... Right," Mario said, "Well, we're off to find Sonic and Tails. They can probably help us get home."

"Relax, Peach!" the yellow-clad one yelled.

"..." Enker silently pushed his way through the door. "I'll be outside if you need me."

"We're coming out, too," Mario said, "Would you two like to join us?"

"Yes!" Daisy said at the same time that Rouge said "no." Daisy gave Rouge a look; she withstood it for a few seconds before sighing and following them.

Enker held the door open and waved them through. "Come along. The sooner I can get back, the better. I don't like it here much..."

"Alright... Who's most likely to know where Sonic and Tails are?" Luigi asked Rouge.

"Amy," Rouge said without hesitation.

Enker recognized the name of another female and sighed. "Oh boy..."

"Oh boy is right..." Luigi mumbled, "She's... You'll see."

At Amy's house a few minutes later...

Amy Rose opened the door to find Mario standing in front of her. "Mario?" she asked, "Hi! Why isn't Sonic with you?"

Enker tensed up. "I'm already terrified," he muttered under his breath.

"... We're looking for him," Mario said, "Do you know where he is?"

"Sleeping on the living room floor in Tails' third workshop, approximately two feet four inches in front of the television."

Enker paled.

"Tha-"

"I'm coming with you," Amy interrupted him, "Or else."

"I'd listen to her," Enker said quickly. He was so tense it was a surprise he didn't snap.

"Fine," Mario said, "... We need her to show us where Tails' third workshop is, anyway."

Enker nodded, trying to keep from being noticed by Amy.

Amy led the group away from her home. After a few hours of travel, they stopped in front of an orange building just as the sun rose.

Enker fell to the back of the group, silently tapping Luigi on the shoulder. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yes?" Luigi asked, "What is it?"

"... Have you been getting the feeling we're being followed, coupled by the feeling that something's amiss? It's making me a bit antsy... The fact that I'm not used to being introduced to so many people in such a short amount of time isn't helping. It freaks me out."

"... No, I can't say I'm getting that vibe," Luigi said.

"Hmn..."

Mario walked up to the door, knocking on it. After a few moments, Tails opened the door.

"Oh... Hi!" Tails said, "What're you doing here, Mario? And Luigi... And Peach... And Daisy... And Rouge... And... Oh crud, Amy... And who are you?"

Enker looked up. "You mean me?"

The small fox nodded.

"I'm Enker. You must be Tails, I expect?"

Tails smiled, "Yup! That's me."

"..." Enker's attention seemed to drift off.

"What's wrong?" Tails asked, concerned.

"O-Oh. N-Nothing, nothing at all..."

"Okay," Tails said, "Sonic's asleep right now-"

"He's going to wake up in four minutes and eighteen seconds," Amy said.

Enker still looked freaked out.

Tails noticed, "Don't worry, she freaks me out too. And Sonic."

"I don't blame you guys..."

Tails nodded, "Come on in, guys... Except Rouge, you stay out here."

Rouge looked up at the mention of her name. "Fine with me."

Enker seemed to grow intensely nervous. "Uh, e-er, no thanks... I... I'll stay out here."

"Are you sure?" Tails asked, "What's going on?"

"I said nothing!" Enker's voice had a sudden edge to it, his eyes flashing. "I'm perfectly fine."

Tails seemed concerned, "Are you okay? Can I help?"

Enker's grip tightened on his spear. "Did you not just hear me?"

"... You don't sound okay..."

The 'bot looked a hair's breadth from attacking the fox, his eyes clearly showing his agitation past his blank expression. He was shaking hard. "..."

"... Sonic's going to be waking up any second," Amy said, "Also, don't attack Tails. There are five or six reasons nearby why it's a bad idea. I'm one of them."

Enker looked about ready to explode, bringing up his spear so it pointed at Amy. "You aren't helping matters."

"Neither are you!" Amy said, "Why don't you just tell Tails what's wrong?"

Enker's eyes widened slightly and he hesitated before growling and whirling around, furious. "I have my reasons!"

"... I want to help," Tails said, "... I... have my reasons, too..." The fox shook his head, brightening up a bit, "... Please let me help."

Enker rammed his spear into the ground up to the grip, storming off. "... You wouldn't be able to."

"Why not?" Tails asked, following. Amy dashed into the workshop as soon as Tails moved out of the way.

Enker could feel his fingers twitch, cursing himself for not keeping his spear with him. "Will you buzz off?"

Tails seemed a bit down, "... I just want to help..." he brightened up again, "I'm sure I can, if you'd let me."

The 'bot sighed, sitting down on a rock and going a bit limp. This fox was unusually persistent... It almost reminded him of... No. Don't think about it. "As I said, no one can help me. I... I just need a few minutes alone."

"Okay," Tails said, turning around to head back to his workshop. Then he noticed that Amy wasn't outside anymore, and dashed to the door in a blur of yellow. Mario and Luigi seemed to notice this, and dashed in after him.

Enker looked back a bit wistfully before cursing rather loudly and punching himself in the leg. "Pull yourself together, Enker! They're gone. You need to stop giving others greif because of it..." He let out an exasperated sigh and buried his face in his hands.

"GET OFF OF SONIC, YOU CRAZY GIRL!" Mario yelled from inside the workshop.

"... Oh, boy..." Enker got up and slowly walked back over, tugging his spear out of the ground and dusting it off. "What in sam hill is going on in there?"

"Leave him alone, Amy!" Luigi yelled.

"LISTEN TO THEM!" a new voice yelled, "SERIOUSLY! Oh, hi, guys. Having a good time? Because I'm having a wonderful time being crushed to death by my stalker."

Enker chuckled to himself and walked in, gently placing a hand on Amy's shoulder and firmly pulling her away. "Let him breathe. I'm sure that you guys can... Interact later. The current situation is more important."

"Right," Tails said, "Uh... What's the current situation?"

Luigi explained that they had gotten there through a dimensional rift, and that they needed their help to get back home. After he finished, the young fox nodded.

"Alright! Hey, can Sonic and I come see more of your world?"

"Sure," Luigi said, "... Wait, Daisy... How exactly did you get here?"

"What's that supposed to mean, Luigi?" Daisy asked cheerfully.

"How did you get to this dimension?"

"I've been here the entire time!"

"I think he means before we met you," Enker said.

Daisy peered at the robot. "Err...you know, I'm not even sure!"

Enker groaned. God forbid this be easy.

"Anyway," Tails said, "I'll get to work. Why don't you watch TV and stuff while I'm working?"

"I'm not all for TV. I suppose I'll come and watch you work." Enker reached around and hung his spear on his back like a sword, leaving his hands free.

"Okay," Tails said, leading Enker into another (very cluttered) room, "This is where I build... Stuff."

"... Wow." That was all Enker could manage. Even Wily would be jealous of the various parts he saw scattered here and there. ... Despite the clutter.

Tails took a wrench out of nowhere, and began to work, "Anything you want to ask me?"

Enker seemed to grow tense again. "... Are... Are you a mechanic?"

Tails nodded, "Yup! Mostly with planes and stuff."

Enker's breath seemed to cut short and he paled. "... gh... H-How old a-are you...?"

"Eight," Tails said, continuing to work.

Oh, no. No. No. Not good. Not good at all. Enker held his head in his hands, groaning. Darn that blasted... Gah!

"What's up?" Tails asked.

"it's... It's just... The Stardroids, and the whole telling stories, and... I thought that since Mario... and then Plant going berserk... it's just- AUGH!" Enker slammed his hands down on a table, his head drooping.

"Calm down," Tails said, "Go slow... What's a Stardroid? What happened with Mario?"

"It's just like they said... But none of this is upposed to happen! It's... it's not..."

"Not what?"

"Grrrh! I must be going crazy!" Enker seemed to get extremely angry, gripping the edge of the table and sending cracks through it without noticing. "If this is all real..."

"What do you mean, 'If this is all real'?" Tails asked, "I'm pretty sure it's real."

"If it's all real..." Enker's anger faded to be replaced by raw fear. "No. I can't say..."

"... Whatever you're scared of, I'm pretty sure Mario and Luigi will help. Me and Sonic, too, if we're there."

Enker shook his head, turning around and placing a hand on Tails' shoulder. "If this is real, and I'm actually here, then that means one of you... Is in a lot of trouble. I don't know which one, and I don't know what will happen, but you need to stay on guard. I wouldn't doubt the Stardroids, seeing how accurate they've been... And if this is all their doing, I..." His voice trailed off.

"No, it was probably some crackpot scheme of Bowser's," Tails said, "He does stuff like this. Never actually sent the bros to another dimension before, but he has taken the fight into space several times."

"Tails, listen to me. Bowser was mentioned, but it's not him that did it. He plays a big part in it, but it's not him. I don't know who... Look, just stay on guard, okay? And..." Enker clenched his teeth. "Just make sure you don't get hurt. ... And, please... If I leave, don't allow anyone to come looking for me. Don't." On that positive note, he stumbled out of the room, looking for some form of comfort that wasn't practicing with the Barrier Spear.

"... I'll be okay," Tails said, "But why..."

Enker had left the room, so Tails continued working on his project. It took a few hours to complete, but Tails was able to build a small, portable machine that could cause dimensional rifts to lead wherever they wanted. He took it to the main room of his workshop to show everyone else what he had done.

As everyone else evidently took interest, Enker simply stood in a corner, his eyes closed and his arms crossed. He appeared to be concentrating.

"Hey, Enker!" Tails said, "What's going on? It's about time for us to leave now."

"..." He looked up, giving Tails a... Rather strange look. He silently walked over, lingering at the edge of the crowd.

"What's up, E?" Mario asked.

Enker still didn't reply.

"... Be that way," Mario said, "Fire it up, Tails!"

Tails nodded, and pressed the button on the small rectangular machine. A wormhole appeared like before, and sucked everybody except Amy in.

Mario could feel a cold, hard gaze on the back of his neck before they were sucked in, evidently coming from the robot. He really didn't seem like himself...

Meanwhile, in Hyrule, the king wondered what dinner would be. When suddenly, two plumbers, two princesses, assorted wildlife, and a robot fell out of the sky and through his roof.

One of the plumbers, the shorter one in red, greeted the king, "Hello! I'm Mario. Now... Would you kindly tell us where we are?"

"Hyrule," the king replied before going back to thinking of food.

"I see... And where's that?"

"Some place in southeastern America, I think," he said.

"... Alright then," Mario said, "Now, if we head north, we should eventually be able to reach Brooklyn. In the sewers, there's a warp pipe that leads back to the Mushroom World."

Enker would have normally asked a question, but he didn't even appear to be with the group anymore.

"... Great," Mario said, "Emobot is gone. Come on, guys, let's go find him."

The others nodded, and followed Mario out the door of the castle. Once outside, they found a strange young man wearing green slashing grass with a huge sword like a maniac.

"... Um, hello," Luigi said, "Who're you?"

"My name is Link," the young man replied to Luigi. He already approved of him for sharing the same color of clothes.

"Whatcha doin?" Tails asked, "Why were you slashing up the plants?"

"The plants..." Link's face took on a dramatic shadow. "The plants are evil." Clearly, he had an inherent hatred of plants.

"... I see," Mario said, "Do they eat your face off like a certain pink puffball I've met?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure that they're in cahoots with the pottery."

"The pottery," Peach deadpanned.

"The pottery," Link whispered dramatically for emphasis.

"Right..." Peach said.

"Well, we're looking for a... Friend, of ours," Mario said.

Link brightened considerably at the prospect of a quest. He seemed to forget his hatred of pottery and plants, as well as any conspiracy theories associated with them. "Aha! May I offer my assistance?"

"Sure, I suppose so," Mario said, "Not entirely sure of the magnitude of assistance you'll be able to provide, but sure."

Link beamed at Mario and held up his huge sword. "I shall help you in your quest to find your missing friend! What does this friend look like?"

"He's... Well, he wears gold and blue armor, carries around a big spear, and is shorter than I am."

Link stared down at Mario. "Shorter. Than you." He seemed to think for a moment. "AHA! I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE HE IS!"

"... Right. Well, where exactly do you think he is?"

"The tall grass is clearly hiding your vertically challenged friend! LET ME AT IT! LET ME AT IT!"

Rouge rolled her eyes when she heard Link's frenzied rambling. "Are we really bringing this nutjob along?"

"He does seem to be moderately skilled with a sword," Luigi said, "Which is a skill none of us can boast."

Sonic cleared his throat.

"Saving a dream world doesn't count," Tails said.

"Moderately? My green-clad friend, I am the most talented swordsman in all of Hyrule! I am the nightmare of pottery and plants everywhere!"

"We're bringing him along," Mario said.

"Because spreading his insane conspiracy theories is exactly what we need..." Sonic muttered.

"Do you have something to say, Sonic?"

"... Welcome to our ragtag bunch of misfits, Link."

"Thank you!" Link said, grinning enthusiastically and waving his sword, perhaps a bit haphazardly.

Rouge groaned and moved away from him before his sword could swipe her hair off. "Great, we've already accepted him into this freakish little family. Now we can't even boot him out."

"Shut up, Rouge," Mario said, "Now... Any ideas of where Enker could be, Link? Ideas that don't involve evil grass and pottery?"

"But the grass," Link whimpered. Where else could he be? "Hmm...where did you last leave the short one?"

"In the castle."

"You left your pet in a castle?" Link asked, sounding surprised.

"... He's not a pet," Tails said.

"And, just to be sure, neither am I, Tails, or the batty lady," Sonic added.

"A pet?" Rouge asked, sounding enraged.

"Clearly, I have misunderstood the situation," Link said quite seriously. "Am I to believe you are not a traveling circus?"

"No, we're a group of heroes from separate dimensions who have teamed up," Mario said.

"Yeah!" Daisy agreed cheerfully. She hadn't spoken in a while, which wasn't usual for the typically loud princess. Link looked at her curiously.

"All right, all right," Link said. "I am honored to join your band of heroes, then! It is no traveling circus, but it shall do. Now, we begin our long, epic, probably perilous, possibly fatal, quest to find your friend!" He punctuated this proclamation with a dramatic stab of his sword.

"... If it's all the same with you, I'd prefer to do this fairly quickly," Peach said.

"As in, without dangerous dungeons," Mario added.

"The dungeons," Link hissed. "The stronghold for my sworn enemy...the pottery. We will have to approach timidly, for these house some of the most evil beings known to Hyrule and beyond."

"... Right," Luigi said, "Let's just go, then."

The heroes left for the forest temple situated in the lost woods, braving dangers such as stalchildren, evil chickens, rock-spitting octopi, and giant evil crabs!

... Okay, actually, Link took out a blue ocarina of justice (and time) and played a short song. Green light teleported them into a forest.

"... And now we go inside, hoping that Enker is there," Mario said, "Nice plan."

Link turned to the group with a very somber expression on his face. "This is a dangerous place," he said quietly. "Not only must you beware the plants, but also some of their most dangerous allies...they call them...cuccos."

"... And those would be?" Mario asked, walking into the forest temple's door with the rest of the group, "Something else entirely nonthreatening, I presume?"

"WRONG," Link yelled, clearly not picking up on the implications that pottery and plants were not evil. "Cuccos are some of the most harmful beings known to Hyrule! They are vicious and can even summon something they call a revenge squad." He went silent at the thought, shuddering horribly.

"Right, and I assume that the pottery regenerates itself when you leave the room," Mario said as they walked down the hallway, "What exactly do these 'cuccos' look like?"

"Aww," Peach said, walking forward into the dimly lit room, "Look at the cute little chicken!"

"Do not make loud noises!" Link hissed. "It might provoke them!" Upon this proclomation, he promptly screamed loudly and ran at the cucco with his sword.

"That boy is not right in the head," Rouge said, shaking her head.

"Hey!" they heard a voice yell from somewhere to the right of them. Link paused before he could slash at the cucco with his sword. "Don't kill that! It's a rare Pokemon!" A boy with black hair emerged from the trees, holding a red, black and white orb in his hand.

"A Pokemon?" Link repeated incredulously. "This is not what you call a Pokemon! This is a cucco, the evil ally of the pottery and tall grass!"

"The tall grass is here too!" the boy yelped in fear. "It follows me everywhere!"

"I see you, too, are a victim of the tall grass's evil schemes and dreadful tyrrany."

"... Okay, seriously, what is with you and tall grass?" Luigi asked, "Seriously, it's not that threatening."

"I agree," Mario said. Sonic and Tails agreed as well.

"Leeeeeet's battle!" Ash said.

Pkmn. Trainer ASH has challenged you to a battle!

"Finally, some action!" Mario said.

ASH sent out PIKACHU! Go, MARIO!

What will MARIO do?

MARIO used Fireball! It's regularly effective!

PIKACHU fainted, actually. Its defenses suck.

MARIO gained 9001 exp. points and taunted ASH!

ASH sent out BULBASAUR!

"Your turn, bro!" Mario said.

Go LUIGI!

LUIGI used SUPER JUMP! IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE!

BULBASAUR fainted!

LUIGI gained 5 exp. points!

"Lame!" Luigi yelled.

ASH sent out RAYQUAZA, the most awesome Pokemon you will ever lay your eyes on because of how OP it can be! Shiny Raquaza looks awesome!

LUIGI used a RAINBOW STAR!

Attacks will not damage LUIGI for five turns! Direct attacks to LUIGI will cause massive damage to the attacker!

RAYQUAZA used HYPER BEAM!

... But nothing happened!

LUIGI used THUNDERHAND! It's super effective!

RAYQUAZA fainted! LUIGI gained 59,672.5 exp. points!

"Your go, Tails!" Luigi said, stepping to the side.

Go TAILS!

Pkmn. Trainer ASH sent out MAGIKARP!

TAILS stared in disbelief!

MAGIKARP fainted!

TAILS gained 3.141592653589 exp. points!

"I'm going to fight this next one too, if that's alright..."

ASH sent out BIDOOF!

TAILS used SPINDASH! It's super effective!

BIDOOF fainted!

TAILS gained the universe!

"... Yeah, right," Tails said, "Your turn, bro."

Go SONIC!

ASH sent out DRATINI!

DRATINI used Endure! It braced itself!

SONIC used EXTREMESPEED!

DRATINI hung on with Endure!

SONIC used TAUNT!

"You're too slow!"

"... Nice. Mind if I finish this off?" Mario asked.

"No problem."

Go MARIO!

DRATINI used DRAGONBREATH! 40 HP of damage was dealt to MARIO!

MARIO used SUPERNOVA! It's SUPER FRIGGIN' EFFECTIVE, YO.

DRATINI... fainted. Whoo.

Pkmn. Trainer ASH has run out of usable Pokemon!

Mario and co. received 40 Pokebucks for their trouble.

"... There is no way this is worth anywhere near as much as a single gold coin," Mario said, inspecting the money.

"Or a Ring," Sonic said, "You can have it back, kid."

Ash took his 40 Pokebucks back, though he had no idea what a 'gold coin' was. "Good battle!"

"I try," Mario said.

"So what are you doing in this forest if not looking for Pokemon?" Ash asked.

Link rushed forward, clearly eager to answer, since he wasn't allowed in the fight. "We are on a long, epic, perilous journey to find a fellow who probably drank too much caffeine as a young boy! We will encounter many dangers along the w-"

"Shut up!" Rouge yelled. Link fell silent.

"We're looking for our friend Enker," Daisy explained.

"Would you like to help?" Mario asked.

"Sure!" Ash said. "Maybe traveling to a new town will help me find more Pokemon. Gotta catch 'em all!"

"Why?" Tails asked.

Ash stared at Tails. "What do you mean, why? So I can be the best Pokemon trainer there ever was! I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was!"

"Is he singing?" Rouge asked.

"To catch them is my real test! To train them is my caaaaaaaaaause!"

"He's singing," Rouge deadpanned.

"I will travel across the land, searching far and wide! For Pokemon to understand the power that's inside!"

Even Link was staring at the strange singing boy.

"Pokemon! Gotta catch 'em aaaall! It's you and me, I know it's my destinyyyyy-" Ash's song was cut off by Link throwing a pot at his head.

Link would have been singing, but he has no theme song.

"So since you all know who's the star of the show," Mario started singing, "Let me hear you say it, GO MARIO GO!"

"Enough with the singing!" Rouge finally yelled. She didn't want to hear Sonic's annoying theme song, either, so she figured she had to stop it right here.

"Aren't we supposed to be looking for Enker?" Daisy said.

"NEVER FEAR THE FALL!" Sonic sang, "IN HIS WORLD!" Link threw a pot at him too.

"... Fine, we'll stop singing our theme songs."

"I would sing mine, but I don't have one," Link said in a disappointed tone.

"Well, then," Mario said, "Let's see if Enker is here."

Luigi, Sonic, and Tails nodded, following Mario.

Link, Daisy, and Rouge all followed, though Daisy had to pull on Ash's arm to get him to come with. He seemed intent on his Pokeball.

The four walked through the temple, coming across no major enemies. Most of the doors appeared to have been blasted down.

They finally came to a large room. Immediately, bars slid down over all exits out of the room, and a boy around Ash's age with brown hair that defied gravity and wearing a blue shirt and jeans, along with a necklace dropped in from above.

Ash scowled when he saw the boy. "Gary Oak," he said, a note of distaste in his voice.

"Boy of the oak!" Link proclaimed, waving his sword. "What is this!"

"Well, basically, I'm just here to annoy Ash, get in his way, and in general cause trouble for him," Gary said, "So, yeah. Battle me. I would insult you, but I'm fresh out."

"Not another battle!" Link groaned. As much as he loved battles, the people that Ash knew seemed to define battle as a turn-based travesty he wasn't even allowed in. It was absolutely no fun.

"Chicken," Gary said, "I'll even let you set the rules. I'm going to kick your butt anyway."

Ash sneered as Link screamed at the word 'chicken' for no reason. "No rules." He was probably planning to use the band of heroes as Pokemon.

"Fine by me," Gary said, sending out his Umbreon.

Link rushed forward, and slashed at the Umbreon with his sword repeatedly. "Ha! Hiya! Ya! SHEERYA!" He finished with a spin attack, knocking the Umbreon to the ground.

The Umbreon got up, and Gary issued an order, "Umbreon, Night Slash!" The Umbreon dashed at Link, its tail glowing, before using it multiple times as a sort of blade.

Link held up his Hylian Shield, blocking each attack with ease. While the Umbreon was disoriented, Mario dashed forward and punched it, knocking it into a wall and leaving a crater. The Umbreon fainted.

Gary growled, and returned his Umbreon to send out Pidgeot.

"... A bird?" Sonic asked, "Well, then..." Sonic jumped up, spinning around the bird in a tornado. The bird fainted.

"Hello, anticlimax!" Sonic grinned.

Gary grumbled, and sent out MissingNo..

Mario threw a fireball at the random mass of pixels.

It exploded. Mario gained 34hgdh558 exp. points and grew to level 100.

Three giant blocks appeared above Mario's head, one with a heart on it, one with a flower on it, and one with a badge with Mario's face on it. Mario hit the heart, and his max HP increased. His HP, FP, and SP also fully restored.

Gary yelled, and threw a pokeball that opened to reveal a Skarmory.

Luigi jumped up above the strange grey bird, and clapped his hands together to send a lightning bolt down on it from above.

The Skarmory fainted.

"How the heck are you guys so freaking strong?" Gary screamed, before sending out a Fearow.

"You're up, Tails!" Sonic cheered, "Show that bird thingy who's boss!"

Tails nodded, and flew upwards. He flew close to the bird at a very quick speed, and hit it to the ground with a blue and orange hammer that appeared out of nowhere.

Guess what the Fearow did?

Gary screamed again, before sending out his final pokemon, a Bowser Blastoise.

The giant blue-shelled turtle fired water from the cannons on its back at Peach and Daisy. Peach blocked them with her pink umbrella. She took out a frying pan, and hit the turtle on the head.

Surprisingly, it didn't faint.

The Blastoise tried to bite Daisy, but got a crystal-coated fist in its nose for its trouble.

That angered the turtle, and it summoned a giant wave to send at the princesses.

Daisy protected herself by punching the ground to raise a crystal shield in front of her, while Peach just jumped over it and took out her parasol to float down safely.

Peach made a wish. Soon half of her hit points were restored because Pokemon logic. Then she made a different wish, and pointed at the Blastoise. She shook her finger, and jerked her arm to the side. The Blastoise slammed into the wall.

"Why the heck don't you do that whenever Bowser tries to catch you?" Daisy asked as the Blastoise got back up.

Peach shrugged.

Daisy sighed, and snapper her fingers. Flowered vines shot out of the ground around the Blastoise and tied it up. Then two larger vines came out of the ground and started punching it. It's super effective!

Bowser Blastoise fainted.

"Regretting that battle now, aren't you?" Ash taunted Gary. "Everyone is kicking your butt!" He was gloating, yes, but he didn't care.

"Shut up, you idiotic stupid fool!" Gary said, "I'm still better than you! You didn't do anything, and these guys are obviously superheroes or something!"

"You never do anything when we fight with Pokemon, either," Ash pointed out. "You just tell them to do stuff."

"I mean you didn't do that this time! You didn't even send out pokemon! I'm still better than you!"

"Tell yourself whatever," Ash said, "but I still won the battle!" He grinned victoriously.

"You didn't do anything, you hooligan!" Link yelled angrily, slashing his sword through the air and grunting.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, my friend of questionable sanity," Mario said, "Remember? He's on our side."

"Oh, right," Link said, nodding. He turned to Gary and slashed his sword at him instead. "You didn't do anything, torpid fool!"

"I sent out my Pokemon and told them what do do with hand singnals! I'm the commander, not the soldier, to put it in a metaphor simple enough for your mind to understand."

"I need no metaphors to understand the cowardly vein of so-called fighters such as you!" Link yelled. "You call yourself a commander, but what you really are is a teenaged boy who hides behind shrinking, pocket-sized monsters and claims they make him stronger! Put down the silly ball and fight with a sword! Like a man!...To the death!"

"No, Link, we don't challenge people to duels to the death," Mario said.

Gary picked up a pot from the side of the room and threw it at Link, hitting him square int he head.

"No!" Link gasped. "I...I don't believe it! He's one of them!" To think that their less-than-formidable foe was also in cahoots with the pottery! No wonder he was Ash's mortal enemy!

"Wait, don't you throw pottery too?" Mario asked.

Link ignored Mario and rushed at Gary, clearly intent on impaling him with his sword.

Gary ducked and grabbed Link's shield, which he then used to bash Link on the head.

Oh no he di-in't! Oh, girl, it was ON. Link took his shield back and attacked Gary's heels with it so that he'd fall.

As he fell, Gary grabbed Link's ankles and pulled him to the ground, taking the Gilded Sword from Link and throwing it halfway across the room.

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Really, boys?" she asked. She clearly thought this was entirely ridiculous, and walked over. What she did, exactly, was shrouded from everyone's view, but somehow she managed to get both of the boys separated from each other. Link glared at Gary, but clearly didn't want to attack again with the threat of Daisy.

Gary stuck his tongue out at Link, "Ha! You can't get me now!"

"You can't get me, either," Link pointed out. Daisy shot them both a glare.

"... Okay, so, we've learned a few things here today," Luigi said, "One, don't mess with Daisy. Two, Gary's a jerk. Three, Link's logic makes zero sense. Maybe less than the logic of our world."

"... Pft, yeah right," Mario said.

"... Let's keep looking for Enker now," Tails said.

"That would never happen," Daisy informed Luigi.

Link wrinkled his brow, trying to figure out if this 'logic' was an insult or not. "Let's move on, fair adventurers!"

They left the room and continued on, Daisy dragging Gary by the ear.

After a few minutes of walking, they came to a large door that also had a hole blasted in it. The lock was unscathed.

"Odds of Enker being in here?" Peach asked.

"Quite high," Mario said, "It's always the place with something weird..."

As they entered the room, there was indeed a robot in there, sitting on a rock with their backs to them. He appeared to be tracing something in the ground with his spear.

"Hey, Enker!" Tails greeted the robot, "How's it going? Whatcha doin?"

"Aha! The vertically challenged one of which you spoke earlier!" Link said enthusiastically, but he looked closer and seemed to deflate. "I'm afraid you seemed to have exaggerated his height deficiency."

Enker merely glanced up before going back to drawing. He wasn't exactly the best artist, barely managing stick figures, but he seemed intent on it anyway. "Hey guys..."

"Why're you here?" Tails asked.

"... I..." He shook his head, not really sure.

He added some more details to the figures, making one a bit boxy compared to the others.

"What are you drawing?" Tails asked, walking up curiously with Mario, Luigi, and Sonic.

Rouge rolled her eyes. "Okay, so we found the little robot who got lost. Can we go now?"

"I see some of you have no respect," Enker growled, his voice taking on a dangerous edge. "Even machines need some downtime, and I don't need dimwits like YOU ruining said downtime."

"Yeah, be nicer, Rouge," Luigi said.

"Yeah, shut up, green man," Rouge snapped. "The twit ran off without telling us where he was going. He can have his downtime, whatever, but he at least has a responsibility to us to tell us where he's going."

Enker growled. "If I told you, it wouldn't be downtime," he muttered.

"... Yeah, I kind of doubt that some of us would leave him alone," Peach said, "Mario, Luigi, Sonic, Tails, and I probably would, but you and Daisy? I dunno."

"He can go where he wants," Rouge said. She wasn't going to follow him. "He doesn't even have to tell us I'M GOING TO A DUNGEON, he can just say, like, hey, I'm leaving, heads up so you don't think I was kidnapped or killed."

Enker kept drawing.

"Right, and how often do you leave without telling the people you're working with?" Sonic asked.

"... Can I go home?" Gary asked, still being dragged by his ear, "I'm bored of bothering Ash for today..."

Rouge smirked at Sonic. "Since when do I work with other people?"

"Shadow, Omega..."

"Shadow and Omega know me well enough to know where I'm going." Or at least to know that she'd be going somewhere.

"Will you all just shut up for five minutes?" Enker stood up and gave everyone withering glares. "I came here to relax, and you all come here to do what? Argue?"

"Find you so we could get you home, actually," Peach said, "Also, Daisy, leave. He wants quiet."

"No, what I want is a good reason why you all just can't seem to either get along or just hush about your differences every now and again."

"... Generally we tend to avoid her," Sonic said, pointing to Rouge, "We just met them," he gestured to Link, Ash, and Gary, "And she yells a lot," he pointed at Daisy.

"Avoiding, acquaintences, or just someone who yells, why can't you just act like they're TEAMMATES and not some sort of microphone!" Enker seemed well and truly ticked.

"... I'm confused," Tails said, "... You're not making any sense, Enker. What's really wrong?"

"If I told you, what would happen? Let me tell you. I'd be pitied, looked down upon like I'm some sort of broken toy. No one would give me any authority whatsoever and would help me with everything. It's happened before, and I do not want it happening again."

"Fine then," Sonic said, "We won't treat you like that if you tell us. At least, I won't, and Tails will probably understand why you don't want to talk about it if you tell us what it is."

"And me?" Mario asked, "If what you need is to not think about the bad things in your past, so be it. I'm not going to try and make you, and neither will Luigi."

"I don't mind help with the issue, but everyone I've met tends to go overboard." He sat back down and continued to draw. "I'm sick of it. 'Enker, do you need help crossing the road?' or 'Enker, do you need help getting that open?' every single day. I've proved that I can do those things by myself and despite that they persist."

"... There is no way I'd ever do any of that unless it seemed like you were seriously having trouble at that particular time," Sonic said, "Like if you had a broken wrist."

"..." Enker pointed to two of the stick figures; the boxy one and the rather tall one. "These two... They're my brothers, Punk and Ballade. I haven't seen them for... A while, and never really will again..."

"Why not?" Tails asked.

"... They're dead. My master, Wily, has refused to repair them due to them failing so many times, even though I've failed probably the most out of all three of us..."

"... I can try," Tails said, "My..." Tails shook his head, "I can try."

"... Tails... Thanks, but... I don't want you to do it if you don't want to."

"I want to," Tails said, "Because... I want to make sure people aren't sad."

Enker smiled faintly and went back to drawing, adding little details here and there.

"... Let's go," Tails said.

"... Right. Where to?" Enker stood up, hanging his spear on his back again.

"... Well, we're supposed to try and get to Mario's world," Tails said, "... Though I'm not sure how right now."

"Why? Is the thing you built out of batteries or something?"

"... Oh, right," Tails said, taking it out, "Link? Ash? Gary? You want to come with?"

"Sure, the Master Sword is out of batteries anyway," Link said.

"... Does it run on AA, perchance? I could give you the ones in the Barrier Spear. ... Actually," he said, smacking it against a wall and waiting, "I think these are dead too..."

"It does not!" Link said indignantly. "I would never use such ay-ay batteries! It runs only on the finest double A batteries around!"

"... They're the same thing, you imbecile," Gary said.

"I meant double A, but whatever. I was kidding anyway." He chuckled and hung his spear up again.

Link frowned and stared at Enker for a moment before shrugging.

"Alright. Do the humans want to come along?" Enker crossed his arms and gave them all questioning glances.

"... There are only three non-humans here," Mario said, "Seems like Link does, but Ash and Gary haven't given an answer yet."

"I want to go home, my ear hurts!"

"... Mario, I've been meaning to ask... Did I hear you guys singing eariler?"

"... Yes," Mario said.

"... Darn it. I could have been there."

"Which reminds me..." Mario said, "We're the Mario Brothers,"

"And plumbin's our game," Luigi joined in.

"We're not like the others who get all the fame."

"We're faster than the others,"

"You'll be hooked on the brothers!"

"Uhmm... I wasn't being serious," Enker muttered. "Either way, we should probably get going. Can't stay here forever." He smoothed the ground where he had been drawing.

"... Alright," Mario said, "Ash, Gary? You still haven't answered the question."

"TAKE ME HOME!"

"I want to go home too," Ash said. "There don't seem to be any Pokemon here." He sounded severely disappointed; clearly, anywhere without Pokemon to catch was a waste of his time.

"Alright," Tails said, "... Erm, do you two live here?"

"In this dungeon? No."

"My granddad was messing around with things he shouldn't have been and sent us to another dimension," Gary said, "... I've told him not to do this how many times?"

"Wait, we're in another dimension?" Ash asked. "Really?"

"Yes."

"No, I'm pretty sure you're at your house eating dinner," Enker said bluntly.

"Oh yay, food! What are we eating?" Ash asked enthusiastiacally.

Enker facepalmed.

"... Actually, I think smelly's stupider than conspiracy theorist," Gary said.

"Agreed."

"Alright," Tails said, "Everybody come in close! Okay? Got everybody? Good. Because here we go!" Tails took out his device and pushed the button. A flash of light obscured everybody's vision as they appeared in a coloful world full of floating blocks, strangely shaped hills with eyes, clouds with eyes, and colorful flowers that also had eyes. In addition, there were multiple moons of various colors in the sky.

"What in the name of Light...? This place... Did someone sneak mushrooms into my E-Tank!"

"No, our home really looks like this," Mario said.

"Oh, right," Luigi said, "Welcome to the Mushroom World!"

Ash wasn't listening, he was still trying to figure out the 'smelly' remark. "Hey, wait! Is that me! I'm not smelly!"

"No," Gary said dryly, "Obviously not, as I've never implied that you might be."

"Oh, good! Then who's smelly?"

"You, you moron!" Gary said, "I was being sarcastic! Are you aware of the meaning of the word?"

"Of smelly? I know the meaning of smelly!" Ash said indignantly.

"SARCASM!"

"Hmm...I don't think so." Ash scratched his head.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," Enker muttered.

"I'm not stupid!" Tails protested, "... Most of the time..."

"Well, considering they're the two closest to me, I didn't necessarily mean you." His logic circuit was obviously in need of repair.

"... Right," Luigi said, "Let's go visit E. Gadd."

"Egad? What...?"

"Not Egad," Mario said, "Professor Elvin Gadd, also known as E. Gadd."

"Oh. What kind of a name is E. Gadd?"

"What kind of a name is Rock? Roll? Enker?" Mario asked, "It's a name. A weird one, but a name."

"And not as bad as mine!" Tails piped up.

"At least your name makes a bit of sense." Enker frowned. "E. Gadd? Not so much."

"I meant my real name," Tails said, "... Which I'm not going to tell you."

"All the better. I can still support my argument in that respect."

"Anyway," Luigi said, "Let's go and see him. He should be at the Starbeans Cafe."

"Sounds delicious. I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry." Enker seemed quite eager to get a move on.

"Alright," Luigi said, "Starbeans Cafe is in the capital city of The BeanBean kingdom, which is to the west of the Mushroom Kingdom."

"We appear to be approximately 56 miles to the northeast of the border," Mario said, "So, it will be a while before we get there, especially with all you along for the ride."

"Hmmmn... Hey, Tails, I have an idea. Does that lil' dimention-hopping thing of yours still work?"

"Yes, but it won't work for this," Tails said.

"I know. As I said, I have an idea. Can you open a rift to my homeworld?"

"... I'll try," Tails said, walking over to Enker, scanning him with the handheld machine, and punching in a few numbers to open a rift.

"Be back in a nanosecond!" Enker hopped through.

"He's not back yet," Sonic said immediately.

And he wasn't back for another five minutes, after which he stumbled through the rift whilst trying to catch a small robotic bird that had stolen his spear. "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE TWERP!"

"You're 5,928,284,960.5 nanoseconds late," Sonic said, and then laughed.

"I didn't mean it seriously, dangit!" He lept up, getting a grip on his spear and wrenching it away from the bird, which flew off. "Pipis... I hate them... Anyway, lemme go get something..." He leaned through the rift before tripping and falling in completely again. It was another few minutes before he came back out, a couple of robotic velociraptors in tow. "They're completely harmless and can make the trip a lot faster."

Suddenly, something green, white, and very quick appeared out of nowhere, zipping around. It shot something long and red out at the metal bird while zipping around, and pulled it in.

"HOLY METTAUR!" Enker drew his spear, getting ready to defend himself if needed.

"Yoshi!" Mario said, "How's it going?"

The green thing stopped in front of Mario, revealing itself to be a strange green reptilian creature. "Mario?" It said in a high pitched voice, "Who're all these guys?"

"That thing can talk?" Enker tensed up.

"Yes, I can talk," Yoshi said, "I suppose you've never met a Yoshi who can speak English before?"

"English?" Link asked, confused.

"Not surprised. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one," Yoshi finished.

The robot fell over, out cold. Luigi walked over to him.

"... Um... This is weird..." Yoshi said, "... What just happened? Are those raptor-bots yummy? Can I eat them?"

Luigi sat down next to Enker.

"No," Mario said, "Come on, let's try and get him up..."

Luigi started poking Enker.

Enker didn't respond. He appered to have fainted.

Mario walked over, picked Enker up, and threw him.

"Mario!" Luigi protested, "That's not how you're supposed to wake someone up!"

The robot groaned. "Owwww..."

"Hey," Yoshi said, walking over to Enker, "You okay?"

"Yeah, just... I have a headache for some strange reason." He sat up, rubbing his forehead.

"Oh... Well, who're you?" Yoshi asked, "And you, weird little green kid... And the weird kid with the hat... And the kid with the hair."

"I'm Enker." The 'bot stood up.

"My name is Link!" Link introduced himself proudly.

Ash didn't say anything until Link nudged him. "Oh. My name is Ash Ketchum. Are you a Pokemon? Why can you talk?"

"Gary," Gary grumbled.

"Hi, Enker. Hi, Link. Hi, Ash. I have no idea why I can speak English, and what's a Pokemon? Hi, Gary. Oh, right, hi Sonic, hi Tails. How's it going?"

"Well," Sonic said.

"This place is weird," Tails added.

Enker made his way back over to the dino 'bots, stroking one's neck before turning to the group. "You guys ready to head out?"

Mario looked around, and everyone (except Gary) nodded. "Sure," Mario said, "Now, first... Show of hands, who here can run ridiculously fast?"

Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Sonic, Tails, Rouge, and Ash's Pikachu raised their hands.

"... Well, then, good thing I only brought four of the dinos." He pulled himself onto a blue one.

"I wasn't finished," Mario said, "Who here can jump ridiculously high?"

Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Sonic, Tails, and Ash raised their hands.

"And who can reliably carry someone else?"

Yoshi, Rouge, and Tails were the only one who raised their hands.

"... Okay, then, and Rouge can fly alongside. Yoshi, Tails, you'll each carry one of the people who can't keep up. Don't trust you, Rouge. Now, who wants to ride Yoshi, and who wants to be carried by Tails?"

"... May I ride Yoshi?" Peach asked, "I don't think I can run that far..."

Mario nodded, and Peach got on Yoshi.

"I'm good at jumping!" Ash said cheerfully, still behind on the conversation as usual.

"Right," Mario said, "What will you ride?"

Ash jumped onto one of the robot dinosaurs, a silver one.

"Let's see... That leaves Gary-"

Gary growled, and jumped on a red raptor.

"-And Link."

Link excitedly jumped onto a green raptor, and started whooping and laughing.

"Well, if everyone riding a robot is ready, I can explain some of the special qualities the different colors have. Is that alright with you?"

"Sure," Mario said, "Not really in a hurry, are we?"

"Alright. Blue ones, much like the one I'm riding, are excellent swimmers and can move very fast for a longer time than the others. red ones-"

"Go faster?" Mario guessed.

Enker ignored him, motioning towards Gary's, "breathe fire, and can sprint for a short amount of time. Green ones are excellent climbers and good for rough terrain, and silver ones can jump extremely high and freeze opponents." He then turned to Mario. "I thought you said we weren't in a hurry?"

"Oh, we aren't," Mario said, "But red ones always go faster."

"Not in my world." Enker shrugged. "Usually red enemies don't move or are rather slow. These raptors are an exception."

"Alright," Mario said, "Anyway, everybody ready?"

Luigi and Yoshi nodded, Sonic and Tails gave thumbs ups. Daisy crouched down, ready to take off. Ash's Pikachu jumped off his head and crouched down next to the six runners.

Enker gripped the reigns of his raptor and nodded once.

They took off, running through the countryside.

"Alright," Luigi said once everyone was moving at a steady speed, "At this rate, it'll take us around twenty minutes to cover the distance. Anything you guys want to talk about on the way?"

Enker leaned down from his raptor slightly so Mario could hear him. "Nothing too dangerous along the way, right? My raptor seems kind of jumpy today."

"Nothing Mario and I haven't dealt with," Luigi said.

"Good. These things are rather heavy, so I don't want to get trampled."

"Don't worry," Sonic said, "We'll trash anything before... Some metaphor or whatever."

"It's even better than Pegasus boots!" Link exclaimed happily.

"Pika!" Pikachu said.

"I love doing this," Yoshi said, "... Though I am used to going a bit faster,"

"Yeah!" Tails said, "I don't even have to fly..."

"Eh, still fun," Sonic said, running backwards.

"Let's try picking up the pace," Enker said, grinning. "It sounds like a good idea to me."

"I'm not sure," Mario said, "Pikachu looks like he might be having trouble keeping up."

"He could ride along with me," Enker offered.

Pikachu ignored Enker, and simply jumped back onto Ash's head.

"... Or Ash. Alright, now can we?"

"Sure," Mario said, "How fast can your thingy go?"

"Also," Luigi said, "We need to make sure we don't go so fast that the wind knocks those three off."

Enker frowned before slapping his forehead. "Dangit! Guys, I forgot to tell you. These things don't have seatbelts, so no crazy stunts, alright?"

"Doubt Ash'll listen to you anyway," Gary said.

"And I highly doubt you'd listen to me if these things couldn't go faster than around 500 mph," Enker grumbled.

"Five hundred?" Mario asked, and turned to Luigi, "How fast are we going right now?"

"About 170," Luigi said.

"Why?" Enker looked down at the plumbers.

"Just checking," Mario said, "Anyway... Ready? Here we go!" Mario, Luigi, Sonic, Tails, Daisy and Yoshi sped up, more than doubling their speed within seconds.

"Alright, crew, let's go!" Enker snapped his reigns, leaning forward to get himself streamlined so he could catch up.

"Alright," Luigi said once everybody had caught up, "Now, it should only be around seven or eight minutes before we reach the border. Any questions?"

Enker whooped.

Link laughed excitedly, clearly enjoyed it.

On the other hand, though, Ash looked like he was about to vomit. "Too fast," he mumbled pitifully.

"... Okay then," Luigi said, "Let's just hope that Bowser doesn't attack. Again."

"Bowser?" Enker turned his head slightly, peeking over his arm at Luigi.

"Our enemy," Mario explained, "He tries to take over the universe maybe twice a week. He-"

Suddenly, a fast black object soared over their heads.

"Speak of the idiot..." Mario said, looking behind himself to see Bowser riding in a strange bowl-shaped reverse helicopter with a clown face on it, "Hey, Bowser. What's shakin'?"

"Permission to get him off our tail?" Enker reached around for his spear.

"Grah ha ha!" Bowser laughed, "You really think that puny thing will do anything against me?"

"Watch and learn," Enker shouted, leaping off of his technodon and slamming the spear against the side of the vehicle. The spear absorbed the shock, and Enker send a large blast of plasma at Bowser, shouting.

Bowser punched the blast of plasma, causing it to dissipate, "I'm going to guess that you're one of those people who assume that because I always lose I'm not a serious threat."

Enker shrugged as he landed on his dino again. "Nobody really is where I come from. Force of habit."

"Right..." Bowser said. He jumped out of the Clown Car, and curled up into a spiky green ball, before slamming down where Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Tails were.

Key word: were. They moved to the side before Bowser landed. Bowser kept rolling alongside them, until Mario punched him to knock him back into the clown car.

Enker sent a smaller plasma wave at the bottom of the clown car, destroying the propeller in hopes that would cause it to crash. It did, but it did not stop Bowser from jumping out and running behind them.

Bowser took a deep breath, and spat fire at Enker, hitting his robot.

Enker yelped, flying through the air for a couple of yards before hitting the ground and tumbling. He was quickly left behind.

Mario doubled back, quickly using Bowser's head as a springboard to quickly reach Enker. He grabbed him, and turned around to quickly catch up with the group. As they came upon them, Luigi was jumping over a punch of Bowser's to kick him in the face.

"Grah! You guys always do this!" Bowser screamed, holding his nose before making a swipe at Tails. Tails returned it with a swipe of his tails. Bowser screeched in pain - the tails might have looked fluffy, but they were very sharp when Tails swung them.

Enker squirmed in Mario's grip, seething with rage. "Lemme at 'em, lemme at 'em!" He bared his teeth and gripped his spear hard.

"And how will you do that?" Mario asked, "You're kind of... Not used to fighting at this speed.

"I have an idea! Just hold me upright!" Mario complied, and Enker raised his spear, trying to center it. "A little to the left... No, right... Dangit, can you hold me a bit steadier!"

"Sorry that I can't hold you steadily while running at high speed over naturally formed ground," Mario said.

"Whatever!" Enker spun it rapidly, aiming for Bowser's sore nose. He started sending off rapidfire balls of plasma that seemed to make him a bit tired as they flew through the air. "I hope this works..."

Bowser noticed this, and ducked into his shell to spin around and deflect them all.

"GOSH DARN IT!" He said quite a few words that were anything less than devine and stood up on Mario's head, leaping off and landing on Ash's dinosaur's head.

"What are you doing?" Ash asked, looking startled.

Enker growled, narrowing his eyes in outrage. "So, do you really think curling up is the best thing in the world, or are you just afraid of a tin can with a toothpick?"

"Ha ha ha, no," Bowser said, "It was just the effective action. And afraid? Of you? I think not."

"GRRRRAHHHH!" Enker leapt towards him, poising his spear and ramming it into a crease in the shell near Bowser's tail before jumping back and landing on the dino again. He growled low in his throat. "That sould work any minute now..."

Bowser laughed, "Perfect! Ha ha! You don't even know what you just did, do you?"

"Set up a rather powerful bomb," Enker said. "I certainly do hope I drank enough caffeine..."

"Ha ha ha!" Bowser laughed, "... Bomb, yes. But location of said bomb? Oh ho... Ha ha ha!"

Enker snapped his fingers, causing the spear to explode quite violently, sending out a shockwave that would have knocked him sky high had he not hung on to the dino.

Bowser could be heard laughing again, and, suddenly, he grew to a huge size, well over a hundred feet tall, "I'm HUUUUUUUUUUUGE!"

Enker suddenly gasped, coughing and spluttering as the bomb took its toll on his energy. "Curse... You..."

"Let me take this one, Enker," Mario said, taking out a lot of strange red flowers with eyes, "Hey, Bowser! Remember what happens when I use a lot of Fire Flowers at the same time?"

"Yeah, I... Oh crud."

Mario used the Fire Flowers, becoming wreathed in flame. He shot a huge fireball at Bowser, knocking him back.

Enker cried out, hugging himself tightly. "M-Mario, you... You idiot! My spear is... Still stuck in the shell!"

"... Oh," Mario said.

"I'll get it," Luigi said. He stopped, crouching down for a huge jump. On the way up, he uppercutted Bowser in the chin, landing on his tail. He grabbed the spear and pulled it out. The spear seemed to spark slightly.

Luigi jumped off of Bowser's tail, running around the giant turtle to give the spear back to Enker.

Enker reached out and only barely touched it before it sparked violently, causing him to fly back a few feet and go into shutdown.

"Enker!" Tails yelled.

"Oh no..." Peach said.

"Not the time!" Mario said, "I've gotta stop Bowser now..." He turned around, running backwards. He pulled his hands back as fire gathered in the space around them.

"Hee-yah!" Mario thrust his hands forward together, releasing huge twin dragons of flame to attack Bowser. Bowser tried to defend himself against them, but failed. He was knocked out, flying backwards as he shrunk back to normal size.

The fire around Mario went out, and he ran over to Ash, "How's Enker?"

"He hasn't woken up yet..." Ash muttered.

"Not good..." Luigi said, "We're nearly to the border, though. E. Gadd should be able to help."

The dino Ash and Enker were on turned its head, nudging Enker before turning to the front again.

They entered a mountainous purple area, where Luigi motioned for everybody to stop.

"Alright," Luigi said, "This is Stardust Fields. Yes, I know it's a mountain."

The remaining three robo dinos sat down, exhausted after running for so long. The red one started to snore.

"... I'm not entirely sure how robots can get exhausted," Mario said, "Anyway, anybody who doesn't have a super jump height or the ability to fly, partner up with somebody who does."

Predictably, Daisy chose to go with Princess Peach. Peach flew upward... Somehow, taking Daisy with her. Rouge followed behind.

"I'll get Enker," Mario said, grabbing Enker before jumping from ledge to ledge to reach the top.

"Come on, Link," Luigi said.

"No!" Link protested forcefully, clearly not wanting to go.

"Why not?" Luigi asked, "We need to get to E. Gadd."

Link gestured to the green robot dinosaur. "Rainbow wants me to stay here with him."

Luigi sighed, grabbed Rainbow, and jumped up the mountain. He came back down to take Link up.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu chirped before Ash grabbed him and jumped up the mountain after Luigi and Link.

"And he leaves me behind..." Gary grumbled, before Sonic grabbed him and took him up.

Tails flew up after Sonic, and Yoshi brought up the rear.

"Now, Ash, would you kindly explain your improbable jumping ability?" Gary asked, brushing himself off.

"It's powered by my inexplicable desire to catch 'em all!" Ash said cheerfully.

"Really?" Mario asked, "Because mine is powered by the stars. Not exactly something that's going to go away."

"Nor will my desire to catch 'em all. It's kept me ten years old for the last however-many years," Ash said. "Even though we've addressed that years have actually passed."

"Three years, to be exact," Gary said, "I've stopped trying to figure it out."

Ash nodded proudly. "I assume I'll turn eleven after I catch 'em all."

"Of course it could have something to do with all his weird adventures I'm not supposed to know about..." Gary said, "By the way, do you know why you got Pikachu and not one of the normal starters?"

"Because Jigglypuff didn't make the cut?"

"No, Sammy set you up."

Ash frowned. "How do you even know that?"

"Because I've met him."

Ash just shrugged. "This conversation is kind of stupid. Let's move on."

Enker sparked and twitched.

"Hey, maybe he's waking up!" Tails said, poking Enker.

He sparked again, but didn't otherwise respond.

Pikachu shocked Enker.

His eyes snapped open and he shouted loudly, cringing and tensing up. The smell of overheating metal wafted from him.

"Pika, pi-ka, pikachupi!" Pikachu cheered.

The robot grit his teeth and breathed heavily, trying to get his staticy vision into focus. "Augh..."

"Alright, you're awake," Luigi said, "Now, we have to do the border jump!" He cheerfully walked towards a building suspended over a pit by two bridges connecting it to either side of the mountain.

"C-Core... Hurt..." Enker groaned again, sparks lancing around his chest. "Ghh..."

"Pika..." Pikachu apologized, before following Luigi.

Enker sighed and put his system into standby to get away from the pain in his chest.

Mario picked him up, and ran to the border jump. Everybody else was quick to follow.

"Mario! Luigi!" Two heavyset koopas said once they were inside, "And a lot of friends! How's it going? Here to jump the border?" Mario nodded, and proceeded to play a nonsensical jumprope minigame with Luigi. They quickly finished, and walked out the other side of the building.

Enker muttered something incomprehensible before cringing again in his sleep.

"... I'm not going to repeat what I just heard him say," Tails said, "... Don't ask what he said, please..."

"Alright, bro," Sonic said, as Mario and Luigi led them down the mountain. They soon reached an open green field, with a town visible in the center. They walked to the town, and saw that strange faces were painted on everything. Mario and Luigi led them to a large rectangular building in the center, which revealed itself to be...

A coffee shop.

Enker sparked violently, yelping and waking up again. "Grrr..."

Ash looked at the coffee shop curiously. "Coffee?" he said uncertainly. Would he be allowed to drink any?

Rouge looked pleased with this development, and casually jangled a purse that she'd seemed to have hidden before. You could clearly hear the clicking of coins in the bag.

"E. Gadd owns this place," Mario said, "We buy something, and he should appear out of nowhere inexplicably."

"That sounds about right!" Daisy said, also eyeing the coffee house like she'd like to order something, too.

Mario and Luigi led them into the shop, which appeared to be a Starbucks, except with a green person at the register and without a ton of people crowding around, barking for their coffee.

Rouge walked up first to the green person. "I'd like to order a tall raspberry mocha, please." Clearly, Rouge was a lot more polite to her coffee people than her regular friends.

"We don't carry that," the cashier said, twirling his hair.

"What?" she snapped. "What do you mean, you don't carry it?"

Link looked at the green person with a mix of curiosity and preemptive approval.

"I mean, it isn't a blend we serve here. Nor one I've ever remotely heard of apart from Mario mentioning the word 'mocha' at one point."

"Then what do you have?" Rouge asked impatiently.

"Woohoo Blend, Hoohoo Blend, Chuckle Blend, Teehee Blend, Hoolumbian, Chuckoccino, and Teeheespresso."

"D-Do you have motor oil...?" Enker coughed.

"Yes," the clerk said, getting some, "I have no idea why, though. That'll be 18." Mario handed the clerk eighteen coins.

"Hmm," Link said thoughtfully. "I'll take some of the Chucklesome brew, good sir!"

"35," Link handed him a red rupee, "...I don't know what this is, but it'll do."

DA NA NA NAA! You got the Chuckle Blend! Drink it to increase your Speed by 4!

"I'll take Chuckoccino," Rouge said, choosing the one she thought sounded the least stupid.

"That'll be 37."

Rouge hesitated and opened her purse, pulling out one medium-sized jewel. "Will this work?"

"Certainly," the clerk said, eyes shining, "Thank you. Here's your coffee."

Enker downed his motor oil in the blink of an eye, sighing in slight relief. "..."

Link drank his coffee, and started shooting around the room like crazy, screaming like a maniac as he destroyed the potted plants with his sword.

Rouge took a sip of her coffee before strangely feeling her body feel much more...solid. She paid no notice to it, though, because she didn't really care to defend anybody but herself.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a short old man in a lab coat walked in.

"E. Gadd!" Mario exclaimed, "How's it going?"

The man ignored him, and calmly walked up to Link to hand him a wallet.

DA NA NA NAA! You got the Greed Wallet! This amazing wallet will double the amount of money you get from defeating enemies! You must feel like a celebrity!

"Yay! I'll get paid more for defending Hyrule!"

Then E. Gadd walked over to Rouge, and handed her a small, useless looking ring, "Since there's no helpful narrator for you, I'll tell you that this ring doubles the experience you get from a battle if you manage to avoid taking damage!"

Rouge started at E. Gadd, then at Link. "Can we switch?"

"No," E. Gadd said.

Enker sparked again, coughing violently. "Gah..."

"Are you okay, Mr. random robot?" E. Gadd asked, "Why, you're sparking!"

"D-Do I look okay t-to you...?" Enker shot him a glare.

"Obviously not. Come, follow me to my lab, everybody. I'll fix him up in a jiffy."

E. Gadd carried Enker out of Starbeans, with everybody else quick to follow.

Later, at Gadd Science Inc...

"Ah, this should be quite simple to fix!" E. Gadd said, "Just a little here... And there... And good as new!"

Enker sat up, blinking a couple of times and testing how breathing felt. "Wow... Thanks."

"You're quite welcome, Mr. random robot," E. Gadd said, "Now, I'm to assume that you group of weirdos want something?"

Enker was about to speak up, but he quickly shut his mouth, frowning slightly.

Mario nodded, "Yeah. All our new friends need a way to get home and such. A reliable way."

"Also, a way to travel between our different worlds easily would be nice..." Tails said, "You know, one we can use on our own."

"Ah! I've got just the thing!" E. Gadd said, and grabbed a scanner to scan everybody, "Back in half an hour, I have phlebotinum watches to calibrate."

"... Phlebotinum?" Enker looked extremely confused.

"Yes, yes, that's what I said," E. Gadd said, walking into the other room, "Have fun! Also, don't touch the glowing golden box the size of Mario's head! It's a surprise!"

"Speaking of golden glowing things..." Enker got up, looking around. "Where's my spear?"

Mario produced it out of nowhere, "Hammerspace," he said helpfully.

"Ah, I've heard of that! That's usually where Gutsman keeps all of his boulders." Enker thankfully took his spear, hanging it on his back.

"What does this do?" Peach asked, poking the glowing golden box with an exclamation point on it that E. Gadd had told them not to touch. Suddenly, raccoon ears and a tail appeared on her. "Cool." She poked it again, returning to normal.

"That's... Pretty neat." Enker crossed his arms.

"Cool," Mario said, poking it. His overalls became red and his hat and shirt became white. He poked it again, returning to normal colors but gaining raccoon ears and a tail. Poking it again, he gained a helmet and a shell on his back, as well as grey overalls and a brown shirt. This continued for quite awhile.

"... I think I figured it out," Mario said, currently a floating spherical ghost wearing his hat, "... It allows us to take any form we've previously taken." He ran his hand under a light, and somehow returned to normal.

"Ballade would have been able to use that," Enker said quietly.

Ash poked the golden box curiously. Clearly, "don't touch it" meant nothing. Suddenly, yellow smoke surrounded him, and cleared away to reveal a brown-eyed Pikachu wearing Ash's hat.

Enker tried to keep from smiling, about to laugh his voice chip out. "Hmm- Ghh-"

"... Okay, did not see that coming," Gary said.

Rouge's eyes widened, and Daisy looked at it curiously.

"Hi!" Ash said.

Enker burst out in a fit of laughter, falling over and trying to breathe.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu asked, "... Pika pi chu." (Ash? ... You did that on purpose.)

Ash-as-Pikachu just smiled, clearly pleased with the newest development.

Enker sat up, wiping his eyes and sighing. "Phew... That was unexpected. Heh..."

"Not that unexpected," Luigi said, "This is our world. It's WEIRD."

Enker stood up again, looking at the box. "... Personally, I'm wondering what would happen if I poked it... Probably nothing..."

Mario grinned, and pushed Enker towards the box.

"H-Hey! What're you doing!" Enker backpedaled, trying to get away from it.

Mario pushed Enker into the box.

"HEY! I-" He was cut off by exploding into balls of light. Shrtly after, a completely different-lloking robot teleported in, in the same position as Enker. This one's color scheme was considerably darker, and he had large fins on his helmet. "I'm going to get you for this!"

Mario focused on a specific idea, and touched the box. Suddenly, he became transparent. He smirked and crossed his arms.

Enker ran at him, raising a... Buster? He stopped abruptly, staring at it before looking around for a mirror. "Uh, guys? Is there something reflective around here?"

Luigi focused, and touched the box to transform into Silver Luigi.

Enker stared at his reflection, poking at the purple strips running down from his eyes. He was silent for a moment before letting loose a scream that would have carried for miles had they not been inside. "I'VE TURNED INTO BASS! WHAT KIND OF SICK JOKE IS THIS!"

Ash tried to shock him, but failed epically and shocked everybody else in the room. "... Oops."

Enker started hitting his head on a wall. "GGRRRAAAAH! I CAN'T BELIEVE I USED TO BE THIS JERK! HE HAS ABSOLUTELY NO RESPECT FOR HIS ELDERS!"

"... Does that make any sense at all?" Mario asked, brushing himself off.

Enker kept yelling.

Ash tried to shock him again, but once more missed and hit Gary.

"... Ouch..." Gary said, "... There is no way I'd ever catch you."

"Pikapi, pika chu pi pikachu kachu." (Ash, you have no idea what you're doing.)

"No I do not," Ash said.

Finhead stormed after Mario, ticked out of his mind. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT, YOU INSUFFERABLE-" He tripped and faceplanted due to him being a bit more top-heavy than he was used to.

Mario pushed him into the box again.

He exploded again, this time turning back into Enker. He finished his sentince, and quite loudly at that.

"You're normal," Ash said, "... Can I try to do the shock thing again?"

"NO!" Everyone said. Except Pikachu, he said, "PI!"

Enker picked up his spear, muttering under his breath.

Suddenly, the door E. Gadd had left through opened, and he came in carrying twelve odd watches of various colors, "Alright, all done! ... And judging by your appearances, three of you couldn't leave the golden cube alone. Anyway, these watches will allow you to travel between your various worlds of origin! There's one for each of you, except for the little yellow mouse."

Ash raised his hand.

"... I meant the other one. What is it?"

"Can you make mine have the same function as the golden cube too?"

"... Alright, I suppose so," E. Gadd said, picking one watch up (half white, half red) off of the tray.

Enker seemed hesitant, but spoke up. "Same."

"Sure," E. Gadd said, picking up another watch (the same colors as Enker) up, "I'll be back in a few minutes." He left.

"... Mario, I can't help but notice that you thought about taking a form, and then you took it without having to cycle through them all." Enker seemed to be planning something.

"It'd be quite useless to me if I couldn't pick and choose," Mario said, "Unlike everyone else here, Luigi and I have forty forms, each with different properties. E. Gadd made it for us."

"Hmn... I know it makes you take forms that you used to be in," Enker muttered, "But if something else is close enough to you, can you take that form as well?" He didn't seem to hear Mario's explaination.

"... I have no clue," Mario said, "I was kinda just guessing that E. Gadd would have programmed that in because I know him."

"Hmm..." Enker closed his eyes and concentrated before poking it again. He once again exploded, but it took him a while to get back, at which point there was a loud knock on the door. "Hey. Can you let me in?"

Mario opened the door, "Hello."

A rather tall purple, bulky-looking robot was standing there, looking quite peeved. "That was my last continue. I had to hike the mountains and hop the border. It was quite obnoxious..."

"Ah," Mario said, "I see."

Ash tried to use Thundershock again, hitting Link's sword. Link raised it up, and stared at the electrified blade, "Pretty..."

The robot, presumably Enker, frowned. "... Did it work?"

"What do you mean?" Mario asked.

"Do I still look like me?" He peeked around the pumber. "I still don't see a mirror anywhere..."

"You're tall, purple, and wearing too much armor," Ash said, staring at Link's sword.

He grinned wildly, whooping loudly. "IT WORKED! It actually worked! Now I know how to get them back... Steal those test bodies Wily has, change their form... YESSSS!"

Link swung his sword, sending out a charged beam of energy and hitting the golden block. Suddenly, he was replaced by a small, wooden creature with blonde hair and a green hat.

Enker stared at the wooden thing blankly. "... This is an interesting establishment."

"..." The wooden creature spat a bubble in Enker's face, and started laughing.

Enker growled, raising his hand. "How dare-!" A bomb materialized in said hand and he lobbed it, sending Link flying into the far wall and denting it. Enker laughed.

Link spat a bubble at the golden block, and was suddenly replaced by a large, round, rocky creature wearing a green hat.

"Heh... So this is turning into a form-changing game, isn't it?" Enker threw a bomb at the block, turning into Finhead once more. He raised his buster, grinning.

Link curled into a ball, and slammed into Enker, knocking him into the wall.

"Is this really the time?" Luigi asked.

"Stop fighting," Tails added.

Enker landed with one hand and foot on the wall, buster raised. he took aim and fired extremely fast plasma shots, hitting Link square in the face and knocking him over.

Link raised his fist, which became surrounded by fire, and punched Enker into the block. Link transformed into a six-foot-tall fish creature with a green... Not really a hat.

Enker seemed to trip in midair as he hit the block before balancing with his spear, landing neatly behind the block. He laughed. "Wow. That was kind of..." He then noticed the fish creature. "... Oh, crud."

Link shot his arms out, a blade on each elbow coming out like boomerangs and hitting Enker. One also hit the golden block on the way back, causing Link to transform back to normal.

He grunted, cringing as pain shot up his spine. He could smell oil, but he pushed himself upright and let loose a rapidfire volley of the plasma shots. One hit the block, transforming Enker back to normal.

Link sliced each and every one in half with his sword. Suddenly, the door into E. Gadd's lab opened, and the man walked into the destroyed room.

"... What don't you understand about 'don't touch it'?" He asked, handing each person (except Pikachu) one of the watches.

"It was his fault," Enker muttered, pointing over his shoulder at Link.

"You did it too!" Link protested, "And the pottery manipulated me!"

"Yeah, yeah, you and your messed up theories on evil pottery. I'm sure the pots were simply standing in the sidelines, watching." He strapped on his watch, picking up his spear.

Ash strapped on his watch, and started showing it off for no real reason.

Everybody else strapped on their own watches.

"... Well, I guess this is good-bye," Mario said.

"..." Enker didn't speak and instead focused on cleaning his wound.

"Let me help," Tails said, "I've gotta come fix your brothers anyway, right?"

Enker gave a genuine smile, something none of them had seen him do. "Thanks, Tails."

"Welcome," Tails said, "See you later, Sonic." He fiddled with the controls in the watch a bit, and he and Enker disappeared.

Ash smiled at his newfound friends, though it was a bit sad at the same time. "I'll miss you guys!" he said; he'd only got to know them for a short time, but he'd still grown somewhat attached to them...even Rouge, who was grumpy and selfish. He then prepared to disappear with Pikachu. The other Pikachu, that is; not him!

Gary sighed, and pressed the button on his watch, disappearing.

"Fellow men, I thank you most enthusiastically for accompanying me on this perilous, epic quest! But alas...all good things must come to an end," Link said, looking crestfallen. "So this is the point where I must bid you all farewell. I hope we meet again someday in another dimensional mishap!"

"That's what the watches are for, isn't it?" Sonic asked.

"What watch?" Link asked, then looked down at his wrist and looked surprised. "Oh! Of course!" He pressed one of the buttons on the watch, and disappeared.

"Well, this is my goodbye," Sonic said, "Rouge, too. Let's go. See ya soon, Mario and Luigi."

"See you," Mario said.

"Have a great time," Luigi added.

"Heh, you know I will!" Sonic said, pressing the button on his watch. Rouge did the same, and they vanished.

"Well, that's the end of this adventure," Mario said, walking towards the door.

"Is our adventure ever truly over?" Luigi asked, as they, the princesses, and Yoshi walked along outside.

Suddenly, Bowser's Clown Car swooped out of nowhere and he grabbed the princess.

"... Nope," Mario said, grinning and running after Bowser, "Just the way I like it!"

"And the adventure continues," Luigi said, as he followed his brother.

Tails and Enker

Tails and Enker appeared in a very specific jungle, surprising the two robots that were still waiting there. Roll ran up, overjoyed. "Enker! You're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay. I'm not part of the MKN series for nothing."

"... Can you show me where your brothers are so I can fix them?" Tails asked.

"... Sure. Follow me." Enker whistled, and the bird from earlier flew down and landed in front of him. Hopping on, he grabbed a hold of the robot's head feathers and glanced back at Tails.

Tails started spinning his tails, lifting off the ground to give a thumbs-up.

Enker whooped to the bird, circling above once to get a sense of direction before heading off in the direction of Abel City.

Ash, Pikachu, and Gary

Ash and Pikachu appeared with their current group of travelers. Ash landed on Brock's head, and tried to balance himself in his hair. Pikachu, instead, landed on Misty's head, and quickly jumped off.

"Pikachu?" Brock asked, crouching down, "Where's Ash?"

"Pikapi Pikachu," Pikachu said, pointing to Brock's head.

"Where have you been!" Misty yelled.

"Um..." Ash said, still sitting on Brock's head, "... Traveling?"

"Ash?" Brock asked, looking around and accidentally throwing Ash off his head, "Where are you?"

"Ugh," Ash groaned, picking himself up, "I'm right here, Brock."

"Huh?" Brock looked around, and finally spotted a pikachu wearing a red and white hat standing a few feet away, "... Oh, great, it happened again. Ooh... If you're, then... Where's Lily? Pleasepleaseplease tell me!"

Misty tugged on Brock's ear. "You're hopeless..."

"Nah, it wasn't Lily," Ash said, "It was some scientisty guy. His name was E. Gadd, and he had a machine that let people switch between any forms they'd previously had by touching it and stuff. He made this watch too, and it can do it too!" Ash beamed.

"Was that even English?" Misty asked.

"Yes!" Ash said, "I can use it to switch between my human and Pikachu forms!"

"That's pretty cool," Brock said.

Ash nodded happily.

"You're supposed to be a human, not a Pokemon!" Misty said.

"I know..." Ash said, "But it's fun, and not permanent!"

"Whatever! That doesn't help you fix my bike, now does it?"

"... Are you ever going to let that go?" Brock asked, "I mean, just think of all the things that have happened since you started traveling with Ash!"

"Hmph!" She crossed her arms.

"Yeah!" Ash said, "Uhh... Like what?"

"Uhh..." Brock trailed off, "... I'm sure there's something, but all I can remember is pretty girls."

Misty facepalmed.

"Alright!" Ash said, "Now let's go to... Wherever we were going!"

They continued their journey. Or getting lost in the woods, whatever it was they were doing.

Link

"Ah! How glorious it feels to be back in the beautiful land of Hyrule!" Link said, beginning what was sure to be an epic monologue. "The smell of the fresh, sweet air...the beautiful flowers...the cheerful people walking around...Oh, I will miss my friends, but today there is nothing wrong with this lovely land!" It seemed that our hero had spoken too soon, however; out of the corner of his eye, he caught a movement of green.

He spun around, sword held aloft. "Who goes there?" he barked before spotting it...the one being that could bring him down on such a day as this! The one thing...tall grass. He snarled and ran at the grass, slashing at it with his sword angrily. The fiend seemed to be too surprised to fight back; crafty though it was, Link was surely just too fast for it today!

He decimated the patch of grass and wiped sweat from his brow, weary from his battle. He looked around, and saw more of the malicious creatures around Hyrule Field. With a mighty battle cry, he rushed forward to destroy them.

Sonic

Sonic appeared inside Tails' workshop, "Wow... What a day." He looked around at the little room, "Well, I guess I'll just have to wait for Tails to get home."

Sonic laid down on the couch, and slept.A few hours later, He was woken up by Tails shaking him.

"Sonic! Wake up!"

Sonic yawned, sitting up, "Hey, Tails. How'd fixing the robots go?"

Tails gave a thumbs up.

"Cool."

Suddenly, the two heard familiar laughter from outside.

"Ready to scramble some Eggman?" Sonic asked, running to the door.

Tails nodded, and the two left to beat Eggman once again.

Daisy

"Hello?" Daisy yelled, "Did everybody forget I was here again? Hello?"

"Wa ha ha!" A man with purple clothing and black overalls appeared.

"Aw, heck no," Daisy said, punching Waluigi in the face and knocking him out, "Ah, well. Time to go home, I guess." She started the journey towards Sarasaland, pausing along the way to watch Bowser's Castle blow up again.

To be continued...