Paper Mario X: The Thousand-Year Door

Chapter 20: Dancing in the Computer Light

"What?!? Say that again! You can't get in touch with Lord Crump?" guffawed Grodus, outraged.

The PhD-Naut whose real name escapes me nodded his head. "You are correct, sir. We are investigating now…we should hear anytime…"

A normal X-naut trotted in, giving the secret "X" symbol. "Sir Grodus! Please allow me to enter!"

"Yes, what is it?"

The naut stood proudly in front of his master. "I have a report sir! The Crystal Star in the Boggly Woods had apparently been taken by Mario and Link!"

"WHAT?!? You must be joking! What about Lord Crump and the Shadow Sirens?" gaped Grodus. The X-naut fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Uh, I'm sorry sir! Unfortunately, Mario and Link laid a beating on all of them!"

Grodus then drifted into absent though. "Hmmm…disturbing…These characters…what kind of…Speak up X-naut! What is the status of the other Crystal Stars?"

"I apologize sir! We are still searching for the other Crystal Stars! Unsuccessfully sir!"

"We knew of three of them…Hooktail Castle. Boggly Woods. The one we got in Rogueport…That means there are four other Crystal Stars left out there…And we WILL have them! Keep looking, so that Mario won't beat us to the punch!"

"Yes SIR!" The X-naut signaled and trotted out of the room. Once he was gone, Grodus sighed.

"As I suspected, there's no reason to doubt that Mario and Link have the map. He must." He looked up at the remaining X-naut. "YOU! I want you to keep a close watch on what Mario and Link do from now on!"

"Absolutely sir!" the naut replied, now running off too.

"Mario…Link…I loathe you."

-----

"Oh Mario…did you even read the mail I sent you? I wonder…"

"Uh, Peach?"

"I wonder so many things…I wonder how everyone is doing at the castle…"

"Hey Peach…?"

"Will I never dance at the Mushroom Ball again?"

"Peeeeaaaach!"

"What will become of me?"

"Peach, you're talking to yourself again, darn it!"

Peach suddenly snapped out of it and stared at a confused Amy and a frustrated Zelda.

"Huff…I hope you're done having a conversation with yourself…" grumbled the latter.

"That's kind of weird…I think you should stop that…" admitted Amy.

"I'm sorry! That's what I do when I'm nervous!" Peach defended. "Come on Zelda! I bet you're wondering how your kingdom is doing…"

Zelda nodded. "Some dark freak could be taking over now…"

Amy shrieked. "Oh man! What about poor Cream? I had promised Vanilla I'd babysit her when we got back from the vacation…but what if we're stuck here for a really long time?"

"I'm sure Mario and Link are on it, Amy…they haven't let us down before…" Peach assured. Zelda twirled a gloved finger in her long blonde hair.

"That brings us to the question of why it's only Mario and Link! What happened to Sonic, Kirby, and Samus? They were definitely with Link when we went to open the box…"

"Eek! What if Sonic got kidnapped by a giant plant on a volcano island again?!" Amy huffed, suddenly hypervenalating. Peach walked over and patted her back.

"Poor thing…that really left you emotionally scarred…"

"Of course it would! The same thing would happen to us if it were Mario or Link…"

Zelda suddenly got quiet and sat on the bed.

"What's the matter Zel?"

"It's just…I told Link of this dream I had on the way to Rogueport, and I thought it was of a beautiful place we were going to see…"

Amy nodded. "Go on…"

"…and now that we're being held hostage, I don't think I'll ever see it…"

Peach quickly trotted over and hugged Zelda. "Oh Zelda…as soon as we get out of here, I bet that'll be the first place you and Link go to see!"

Zelda smiled, and the doors suddenly whooshed open.

"Oh! Is this TEC's doing again?" Peach pondered.

"Most likely…" Zelda agreed.

"YES! I NEED to get out of this room! It's so stale in here…" Amy muttered, running out.

"Man, hedgehogs are fast…"

They met back up with Amy in TEC's room, where Peach gained control of the situation before Zelda could crack a joke.

"Hello Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, and Amy Rose. I am glad you came…" TEC stated.

"That mail I sent to Mario…did it reach him all right?" asked Peach.

"Yes. I can confirm that Mario received the e-mail."

"Is that so? Well good." Peach smiled. Then it quickly turned serious. "So what do you want from me today? Is there more you want to know about love?"

"You express regret earlier that you would not be able to dance at a ball, correct? And Zelda, you were saying that you wouldn't be able to see a place in your dreams, which I've have interpreted as Boggly Woods?"

"And I want to see Sonic!"

"Ex-CUSE me!! You were eavesdropping?!" Peach gasped.

"I am sorry Princess Peach. I have been ordered to keep surveillance on you. But…it is odd…when you said that, I had an impulse to dance with you as well. How my CPU would produce this impulse is unknown. I must find the cause of it."

Peach glanced at Zelda to see if she was going to say something about TEC spying, but she remained silent for once. "Find out what caused it? There's no reason behind such a feeling TEC. Wanting to do something together…it's a part of love…I know it…"

She could've sworn Zelda had winced behind her.

"Ooh! Tell me about it! I always want to do something with Sonic, but he's such a jerk and runs away from me!" Amy sighed.

"But why do you continue to chase him if he does not return your affection?" TEC wondered.

Amy shrugged. "I just don't have the heart to give up. Because if I did, then he might turn around and…I guess I wouldn't want to reject him after all that time!"

TEC would've nodded.

"But then again…" Peach picked up where she left off. "You are…well…a computer."

"Princess Peach…please dance with me." TEC suddenly asked.

"Wait…wait just one minute! What…am I supposed to do? You say you want to dance? It's just so…bizarre…"

Zelda finally started up. "Yeah! You two would be a hit at a Screening party! Or maybe try to hotwire a celebration!"

Peach sighed, "You're not helping…besides, those were horrible!"

Zelda shrugged. Peach smacked her head and turned back to TEC. "I mean, how in the world I can dance with you? You have no arms. Or feet. Or moves."

Zelda hooted at the last one.

TEC thought it over. "Would this be an acceptable dance substitute?"

Instantly, a virtual copy of Peach appeared before said Princess.

"Oh my goodness! Is that me?" Peach gasped.

"Sweet!" Amy exclaimed.

"Now THAT'S TEC-nology!" Zelda chuckled. Amy rolled her eyes.

"You've been hanging out with Link too much…"

"…Oh all right, I guess…" Peach held the copy in a dancing position. "I must say, though, it's going to feel weird, dancing with myself…"

The lights dimmed, and music started playing. Peach and TEC started waltzing across the room, spinning and pirouetting. Peach actually giggled, and Zelda could sense that TEC was enjoying it too. Amy couldn't stand it any longer and grabbed Zelda, swinging her around.

"What are you doing Amy?" Zelda muttered through her teeth.

"I wanna dance too! Why should Peach be the only one?" Amy giggled.

"Oh all right…just don't crush my feet with those boots of yours…"

"I'll try…just copy them and we'll be fine!"

The two tried to keep their feet off each other while staring at Peach and TEC. When Peach would turn, Zelda would turn. When TEC turned, Amy would spin around. When they slightly crouched, Zelda and Amy did the same. They fumbled a few times, but they eventually were able to get it on their own. Just as everyone started getting the hang of it, the music stopped, the lights were undimmed, and the Peach copy disappeared.

"Thank you Princess Peach. That was very fun." TEC stated. "Just a moment…fun? Is this impulse I feel the concept known as fun?"

"TEC? Are you okay?"

"Zelda…I can show you the scene in your dream…"

Zelda perked up. "You can?!"

"Of course! I have access to a satellite that gives me instant picture…"

"I would love to see it…but I want to see it with Link first if that's all right." Zelda told him with a smile.

"I understand…I believe."

"Can you find Sonic?!" Amy slurred.

"I am sorry. I have no info on where he is at."

"MAN!"

"Princess Peach…please use my communicator. Use the keyboard to send whatever message you want."

Peach did so, and it was sent instantly.

"The message has been sent. Please go back to your room. I want to analyze the data from this dance immediately. The data that I thought was fun…"

"You're a weeeeeird computer…" chuckled Peach. She left, surprised Zelda had already mysteriously returned, and Amy trotted behind her.

"Good night…Princess Peach…"