PART TWO
Link had ridden Epona for several hours until he reached a city. A strange man in a blue uniform had stopped him and told him to leave the horse behind, so Link tied Epona to a tree and promised to be back soon, after he had explored a bit. He had walked along a road for a while, when he was all of a sudden attacked from behind.
Link drew his sword, but was pushed into a dark alley. He did a forward roll and jumped back to his feet, to see a cat-like creature coming towards him. Link slashed out at the cat, but it dodged the blow, and, using some kind of magic power sent a burst of energy at him that sent him flying to the ground. Link stood up and looked for somewhere to go, but there were walls all around him. He was cornered. The cat took a swipe at Link, but Link blocked it with his shield.
"Ha ha," Link said. "You can't get me that easily."
He was totally amazed when the cat replied.
"That's what I thought the first time," it said. "But I was weak back then. Mewtwo is back, and stronger than ever!" Mewtwo tried to attack Link again.
"Why are you attacking me?" Link asked, straining to hold back the angry cat. "I've never seen you before."
"I have to start somewhere."
Link kicked Mewtwo in the shins, and then struck with his sword. Mewtwo howled with pain, and then lunged at Link, pinning him to the ground. As Link struggled with Mewtwo, he noticed another Pokemon flying towards them. This one was pink and round. Link didn't want to be defeated by Pokemon, and he was angry that Mewtwo was bringing in reinforcements, when he was on his own in a strange land. In his rage, he pushed Mewtwo off, and jumped to his feet. As Link raised his sword in the air, he noticed a boy with a yellow Pokemon on his head watching. But he didn't pay attention, and did a jump attack at Mewtwo. The sword sliced through the air fast, heading straight towards Mewtwo. At the last second, Mewtwo dodged, and the blade hit Jigglypuff, who was behind Mewtwo. With a loud squeak, Jigglypuff was no more.
* * *
Ash watched in shock as Mewtwo lashed out at the strange boy again. He was frozen in shock after watching Jigglypuff meet such an awful end. There was a small crash on the ground at his feet. Pikachu had fainted and fallen off his head. Ash picked up Pikachu and cradled him in his arms. There was an even louder crash which made Ash look up, and he saw the boy in green crash to the ground and lie still. Mewtwo turned around and looked at Ash.
"You!" Mewtwo yelled. Ash grabbed Jigglypuff's now empty PokeBall and managed to capture Mewtwo inside it. He then walked over to the boy wearing green clothes.
"You deserve to be dead," Ash said to him. "Pokemon murderer!" He then sat down and cried over Jigglypuff. It was meant to be a fun day, but instead it had turned to tragedy.
* * *
Link opened his eyes.
'Where am I?' he thought. Then all of a sudden he remembered. Fight with Zelda. Leave Hyrule. Attack by big Pokemon. He struggled to his feet, ignoring the sharp pains in his stomach. A crying boy was sitting next to him, but the boy got up when he did, and Link saw it was the same boy who had watched his fight.
"Did you save me?" Link asked.
"No," the boy said in an icy voice. "I thought you were dead."
Link was taken aback at the boy's meanness.
"You killed Jigglypuff," the boy said. 'He must be crazy,' Link thought. 'He's talking jargon.' The boy rushed at Link, with his fists clenched, but Link raised his shield. He felt for his sword, but it had been knocked away. The boy saw him looking for it, and he ran to pick it up.
"Give that back!" Link demanded.
"Oooh, do you want this?" the boy teased.
"Yes."
"Well come and get it!" The boy turned and ran away, with the yellow Pokemon following.
Link felt angry again, and began to limp after the boy to get his sword back. He must have twisted his ankle, and he couldn't run as fast as he usually could. He tried to keep up as best as he could, and followed the boy towards a large group of people. Link thought it was some kind of festival, or market.
Link saw a big fat lady head towards them.
"Ash!" she yelled, blocking the boy's path and giving him a big hug.
"Not now, aunty," Ash said, trying to get out of the embrace.
Link began to laugh. Ash glared at him.
"Did you win this as a prize?" Ash's aunty asked, pointing at the sword. "Oooh, who's your friend here? I don't think I've met him before!"
"He's not my friend," Ash said, pulling away. "He killed Jigglypuff!"
"How dare you!" the lady exclaimed. "If you come to this land you must show respect for Pokemon." She rushed at Link, and began to chase him. Fortunately, she couldn't run very fast, but there were lots of people who kept getting in their way. Link ran up a small staircase to get out of the way.
* * *
"Our next challenger is here!" the host announced. The crowd cheered, including Yoshi, Kirby, Samus and Donkey Kong.
"What is your name?"
"Link," the teenager on the stage replied. The host handed Link a sword.
"Thanks!" Link said. "Just what I need." He tried to leave the stage but the host grabbed him and pushed him towards a huge man wielding two huge axes.
"Our next contest, Link will challenge the unbeatable Bruiser, to try and win a holiday to a tropical island!" The crowd cheered and Donkey Kong began to clap. Soon the crowd joined in, and began to clap. They watched, as onstage, Bruiser swung an axe at Link, and Link side stepped out of the way and pinned Bruiser to the wall with his sword pointed at Bruiser's throat. Link did it all in one movement, and then jumped off the stage and ran into the crowd, still holding the host's sword.
"What a funny bloke," Samus said. Suddenly, the 'funny bloke' ran up and sat down behind DK.
"Don't say anything," Link said. "I have to hide here."
"From what?" asked Kirby.
"Shhh," said Link.
* * *
After some time of searching, Mario, Luigi and Ganondorf learned Bowser had gone to PokeLand, to destroy some festival. Ganondorf's horse was very swift and took them to Saffron City very fast. However, a policeman stopped them.
"You can't take horses in here," he said in a gruff voice.
Ganon, Mario and Luigi hopped off the horse, and Ganon tied it next to another horse on a tree.
"I know that horse," he said, looking confused.
"What was that-a?" asked Mario.
"Nothing. Let's just go."
On foot, the three entered the festival. There were people everywhere, and they scanned the crowds for any sign of Bowser, but there was none. Luigi began asking people, but they had seen no sign of him. Then Mario, Luigi spotted some old friends.
"We just have to say hello-a!" they said.
"Just be quick," said Ganondorf, who continued to look for Bowser, or more importantly, any sign of Zelda.
"Mario! Luigi!" exclaimed Donkey Kong and Yoshi at the same time. The brothers went and sat with their friends, who were sitting with some people that had never seen before. Yoshi introduced them.
"Mario, Luigi, this is my best friend Kirby, and this is Samus Aran, and," he looked at Link, "this is Link. Everyone, Mario and Luigi."
"Hi," they all said, except Link. He was staring at something with a very strange look on his face. He slowly picked up his sword and stood up.
"What are you doing?" asked Yoshi. Link said nothing and began to walk towards something.
* * *
"Oh no, stay away now Link," Ganondorf said in frustration.
"How did you escape?" Link asked.
"Link, please, go away!"
"And let you destroy this land the way you tried to destroy Hyrule?"
"I could kill you now, but I'm not going to," Ganon said.
"What-a are you doing?" a strange voice asked. Link turned and saw the Mario Bros., along with Samus, Kirby, Yoshi and DK.
"He's our friend-a," said Luigi. "He's helping us to stop Bowser."
Link looked confused, but Ganon knew what to say.
"Bowser kidnapped Zelda, and we're trying to stop him."
Everyone nodded in agreement with Ganondorf, although Link doubted Ganon's motives for getting Zelda back.
"Fine," he said. "I'll help. I want to get Zelda back."
* * *
Ash couldn't believe his bad luck. First, that boy Link had killed Jigglypuff, and now a strange creature was threatening to kill all Pokemon, as well as any people that did not do as he said. Ash let out a high-pitched scream.
"SILENCE!" shouted the creature. "Do as King Bowser Koopa says. I will be the King of NintendoLand soon!"
Ash shut his mouth quickly. His aunty hugged him.
"It will be all right," she comforted.
Bowser continued to make his demands.
"Place all Pokemon into the cages my allies are holding. Anyone who fails to do so will be killed. Then everyone will be forced into their homes. I have guards that will ensure this happens." Bowser gestured at his band of Koopa Troopas, Goombas, Hammer Brothers and Chain Chomps.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Mario, who had heard Ash scream, yelled in his biggest voice ever. The crowd of people turned to look at him.
"Not you two," Bowser said. He began to throw hammers at Mario and Luigi, who responded by throwing fireballs.
"You distract him, I'll go for the tail," Mario yelled to his brother while dodging hammers. Luigi began to run in front of Bowser, which allowed Mario to grab him by the tail. The crowd gasped as the little plumber began to spin the giant Bowser by the tail, and then send him flying. Bowser lay down for a second, stunned, but then began to get up. Ganondorf kept him pinned down with magic, but Bowser broke out of the spell before Mario and Luigi could get close to tie him up. Bowser lunged at Luigi, but he felt something sharp pierce his leg. Link was firing arrows at him. Bowser spun around and got Link with his tail, sending him flying over the stands. Samus Aran charged up her blaster, but Bowser threw a hammer that got stuck in the barrel, and she had to quickly discharge it before it exploded. Kirby tried to suck in Bowser, but he was just too big. Even a mighty punch from Donkey Kong seemed to have no effect. Bowser kept coming back and back.
Ash had been watching all of this with different emotions. Disappointment, every time Bowser escaped, but amusement when Link went flying over his head. He was urging them on, and his Pokemon, Pikachu, rushed forwards to join in.
"No, Pikachu!" Ash said.
"Pika," Pikachu argued.
"I have an idea," said Ash, remembering something. He felt in his pocket for Jigglypuff's PokeBall. When he found it, he threw it at Bowser.
Mario saw the PokeBall fly towards Bowser and hit him on the head. 'Nice try,' he thought wryly, 'If only something that small would work.' Still, he was thankful that the crowd was on their side. To everyone's amazement, the PokeBall opened, and something flew out and ran all over Bowser. It was very fast and in no time Bowser was a mess of scratches. The flurry stopped, and everyone saw that it was a very angry Mewtwo who had attacked the first thing it saw, which happened to be Bowser. Bowser wobbled, and fell to the ground. Mario and Luigi rushed for some rope, and tied him up quickly. Ash managed to contain Mewtwo and put him back in the PokeBall. When it was all over, the crowd began cheering at Ash the hero. Ash forgot his tragedy and began to feel happy.
* * *
"Ow, I think something broke that time," Link said, after being thrown by Bowser. He tested his limbs and found he couldn't move his right arm.
"Link?"
Link looked up and found he was standing in front of a pile of cages. Inside one of them was Zelda.
"Zelda! So it's true, he did get you."
"I told you not to leave me alone," Zelda said. Link ignored her tone and found the keys to her cage.
* * *
"Now to get the Princess," Ganondorf said, slipping away from the crowd.
Nobody noticed him, instead celebrated for a while. Link and Zelda joined up with them, much to Ash's annoyance.
"Hey-a," said Luigi to Zelda, "You're-a pretty!"
Zelda smirked at Link, and then took Luigi aside. Link went over and watched Samus and Donkey Kong having an arm wrestling contest. Despite the powerful suit Samus was wearing, DK's strength allowed him to win easily.
"We're even now," DK said triumphantly.
"I'm tired," said Yoshi, "I want to go home."
"I'll take you home then," said Kirby. The two went off, arm in arm.
"I guess I should return too," Samus said. "It was the last day of my holiday today. Tomorrow I have to start a huge bounty hunting assignment."
Link dragged Zelda away from Luigi and they went back to Hyrule. DK also went back to his jungle. Ash's aunty dragged the hero of the Pokemon back home to his mother, with Pikachu following close behind.
"I guess the party's over-a," said Mario.
"Let's-a go home."
* * *
"Congratulations," said Princess Toadstool when Mario and Luigi arrived back at her palace later that night. Luigi was still feeling ecstatic about the day's victory, even though for once the Mario Brothers didn't defeat Bowser. However, Mario was exhausted, and he feel asleep on an armchair.
* * *
Mario sat up and yawned.
"Good-a morning!" he exclaimed to Luigi, but he heard no reply.
"You are so-a lazy!" Mario got out of bed and climbed the ladder to the top bunk. To his surprise, the bed was empty.
"How-a strange-a," he commented. "It must have been a dream-a." He took off his pajamas and put on his usual red jumper, blue overalls and red 'M' cap. He noticed that Luigi's clothes were missing. Mario found this strange and went out to the kitchen. To his surprise, Luigi was waiting for him. Standing with him was Princess Toadstool.
"Peach!" Mario exclaimed with delight. "Guys, I had the strangest dream-a last night-a."
"Poor brother," said Luigi sympathetically.
"I know-a! Bowser was trying to take over NintendoLand-a! Imagine if that-a really happened?"
"Well he came close," Peach said.
"You-a mean it wasn't a dream?" Mario was surprised.
"Of-a course not-a! Don't-a you remember?" Luigi exclaimed.
"Well yes-a, but I thought... Then how-a did I get home?"
"I dragged-a you. You were really tired. You fell asleep-a!"
"Can we get to the point?" asked Peach looking serious. "We have a problem."
"Oh yeah-a," said Luigi, remembering.
"What?"
"Well," Peach began, "Ganondorf is trying to copy Bowser."
"What-a do you mean?"
"He is trying to take over NintendoLand, just like Bowser did yesterday. You two must stop him!"
"Mamma mia!" Mario exclaimed. "I'm-a going back to bed!"
Link had ridden Epona for several hours until he reached a city. A strange man in a blue uniform had stopped him and told him to leave the horse behind, so Link tied Epona to a tree and promised to be back soon, after he had explored a bit. He had walked along a road for a while, when he was all of a sudden attacked from behind.
Link drew his sword, but was pushed into a dark alley. He did a forward roll and jumped back to his feet, to see a cat-like creature coming towards him. Link slashed out at the cat, but it dodged the blow, and, using some kind of magic power sent a burst of energy at him that sent him flying to the ground. Link stood up and looked for somewhere to go, but there were walls all around him. He was cornered. The cat took a swipe at Link, but Link blocked it with his shield.
"Ha ha," Link said. "You can't get me that easily."
He was totally amazed when the cat replied.
"That's what I thought the first time," it said. "But I was weak back then. Mewtwo is back, and stronger than ever!" Mewtwo tried to attack Link again.
"Why are you attacking me?" Link asked, straining to hold back the angry cat. "I've never seen you before."
"I have to start somewhere."
Link kicked Mewtwo in the shins, and then struck with his sword. Mewtwo howled with pain, and then lunged at Link, pinning him to the ground. As Link struggled with Mewtwo, he noticed another Pokemon flying towards them. This one was pink and round. Link didn't want to be defeated by Pokemon, and he was angry that Mewtwo was bringing in reinforcements, when he was on his own in a strange land. In his rage, he pushed Mewtwo off, and jumped to his feet. As Link raised his sword in the air, he noticed a boy with a yellow Pokemon on his head watching. But he didn't pay attention, and did a jump attack at Mewtwo. The sword sliced through the air fast, heading straight towards Mewtwo. At the last second, Mewtwo dodged, and the blade hit Jigglypuff, who was behind Mewtwo. With a loud squeak, Jigglypuff was no more.
* * *
Ash watched in shock as Mewtwo lashed out at the strange boy again. He was frozen in shock after watching Jigglypuff meet such an awful end. There was a small crash on the ground at his feet. Pikachu had fainted and fallen off his head. Ash picked up Pikachu and cradled him in his arms. There was an even louder crash which made Ash look up, and he saw the boy in green crash to the ground and lie still. Mewtwo turned around and looked at Ash.
"You!" Mewtwo yelled. Ash grabbed Jigglypuff's now empty PokeBall and managed to capture Mewtwo inside it. He then walked over to the boy wearing green clothes.
"You deserve to be dead," Ash said to him. "Pokemon murderer!" He then sat down and cried over Jigglypuff. It was meant to be a fun day, but instead it had turned to tragedy.
* * *
Link opened his eyes.
'Where am I?' he thought. Then all of a sudden he remembered. Fight with Zelda. Leave Hyrule. Attack by big Pokemon. He struggled to his feet, ignoring the sharp pains in his stomach. A crying boy was sitting next to him, but the boy got up when he did, and Link saw it was the same boy who had watched his fight.
"Did you save me?" Link asked.
"No," the boy said in an icy voice. "I thought you were dead."
Link was taken aback at the boy's meanness.
"You killed Jigglypuff," the boy said. 'He must be crazy,' Link thought. 'He's talking jargon.' The boy rushed at Link, with his fists clenched, but Link raised his shield. He felt for his sword, but it had been knocked away. The boy saw him looking for it, and he ran to pick it up.
"Give that back!" Link demanded.
"Oooh, do you want this?" the boy teased.
"Yes."
"Well come and get it!" The boy turned and ran away, with the yellow Pokemon following.
Link felt angry again, and began to limp after the boy to get his sword back. He must have twisted his ankle, and he couldn't run as fast as he usually could. He tried to keep up as best as he could, and followed the boy towards a large group of people. Link thought it was some kind of festival, or market.
Link saw a big fat lady head towards them.
"Ash!" she yelled, blocking the boy's path and giving him a big hug.
"Not now, aunty," Ash said, trying to get out of the embrace.
Link began to laugh. Ash glared at him.
"Did you win this as a prize?" Ash's aunty asked, pointing at the sword. "Oooh, who's your friend here? I don't think I've met him before!"
"He's not my friend," Ash said, pulling away. "He killed Jigglypuff!"
"How dare you!" the lady exclaimed. "If you come to this land you must show respect for Pokemon." She rushed at Link, and began to chase him. Fortunately, she couldn't run very fast, but there were lots of people who kept getting in their way. Link ran up a small staircase to get out of the way.
* * *
"Our next challenger is here!" the host announced. The crowd cheered, including Yoshi, Kirby, Samus and Donkey Kong.
"What is your name?"
"Link," the teenager on the stage replied. The host handed Link a sword.
"Thanks!" Link said. "Just what I need." He tried to leave the stage but the host grabbed him and pushed him towards a huge man wielding two huge axes.
"Our next contest, Link will challenge the unbeatable Bruiser, to try and win a holiday to a tropical island!" The crowd cheered and Donkey Kong began to clap. Soon the crowd joined in, and began to clap. They watched, as onstage, Bruiser swung an axe at Link, and Link side stepped out of the way and pinned Bruiser to the wall with his sword pointed at Bruiser's throat. Link did it all in one movement, and then jumped off the stage and ran into the crowd, still holding the host's sword.
"What a funny bloke," Samus said. Suddenly, the 'funny bloke' ran up and sat down behind DK.
"Don't say anything," Link said. "I have to hide here."
"From what?" asked Kirby.
"Shhh," said Link.
* * *
After some time of searching, Mario, Luigi and Ganondorf learned Bowser had gone to PokeLand, to destroy some festival. Ganondorf's horse was very swift and took them to Saffron City very fast. However, a policeman stopped them.
"You can't take horses in here," he said in a gruff voice.
Ganon, Mario and Luigi hopped off the horse, and Ganon tied it next to another horse on a tree.
"I know that horse," he said, looking confused.
"What was that-a?" asked Mario.
"Nothing. Let's just go."
On foot, the three entered the festival. There were people everywhere, and they scanned the crowds for any sign of Bowser, but there was none. Luigi began asking people, but they had seen no sign of him. Then Mario, Luigi spotted some old friends.
"We just have to say hello-a!" they said.
"Just be quick," said Ganondorf, who continued to look for Bowser, or more importantly, any sign of Zelda.
"Mario! Luigi!" exclaimed Donkey Kong and Yoshi at the same time. The brothers went and sat with their friends, who were sitting with some people that had never seen before. Yoshi introduced them.
"Mario, Luigi, this is my best friend Kirby, and this is Samus Aran, and," he looked at Link, "this is Link. Everyone, Mario and Luigi."
"Hi," they all said, except Link. He was staring at something with a very strange look on his face. He slowly picked up his sword and stood up.
"What are you doing?" asked Yoshi. Link said nothing and began to walk towards something.
* * *
"Oh no, stay away now Link," Ganondorf said in frustration.
"How did you escape?" Link asked.
"Link, please, go away!"
"And let you destroy this land the way you tried to destroy Hyrule?"
"I could kill you now, but I'm not going to," Ganon said.
"What-a are you doing?" a strange voice asked. Link turned and saw the Mario Bros., along with Samus, Kirby, Yoshi and DK.
"He's our friend-a," said Luigi. "He's helping us to stop Bowser."
Link looked confused, but Ganon knew what to say.
"Bowser kidnapped Zelda, and we're trying to stop him."
Everyone nodded in agreement with Ganondorf, although Link doubted Ganon's motives for getting Zelda back.
"Fine," he said. "I'll help. I want to get Zelda back."
* * *
Ash couldn't believe his bad luck. First, that boy Link had killed Jigglypuff, and now a strange creature was threatening to kill all Pokemon, as well as any people that did not do as he said. Ash let out a high-pitched scream.
"SILENCE!" shouted the creature. "Do as King Bowser Koopa says. I will be the King of NintendoLand soon!"
Ash shut his mouth quickly. His aunty hugged him.
"It will be all right," she comforted.
Bowser continued to make his demands.
"Place all Pokemon into the cages my allies are holding. Anyone who fails to do so will be killed. Then everyone will be forced into their homes. I have guards that will ensure this happens." Bowser gestured at his band of Koopa Troopas, Goombas, Hammer Brothers and Chain Chomps.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!" Mario, who had heard Ash scream, yelled in his biggest voice ever. The crowd of people turned to look at him.
"Not you two," Bowser said. He began to throw hammers at Mario and Luigi, who responded by throwing fireballs.
"You distract him, I'll go for the tail," Mario yelled to his brother while dodging hammers. Luigi began to run in front of Bowser, which allowed Mario to grab him by the tail. The crowd gasped as the little plumber began to spin the giant Bowser by the tail, and then send him flying. Bowser lay down for a second, stunned, but then began to get up. Ganondorf kept him pinned down with magic, but Bowser broke out of the spell before Mario and Luigi could get close to tie him up. Bowser lunged at Luigi, but he felt something sharp pierce his leg. Link was firing arrows at him. Bowser spun around and got Link with his tail, sending him flying over the stands. Samus Aran charged up her blaster, but Bowser threw a hammer that got stuck in the barrel, and she had to quickly discharge it before it exploded. Kirby tried to suck in Bowser, but he was just too big. Even a mighty punch from Donkey Kong seemed to have no effect. Bowser kept coming back and back.
Ash had been watching all of this with different emotions. Disappointment, every time Bowser escaped, but amusement when Link went flying over his head. He was urging them on, and his Pokemon, Pikachu, rushed forwards to join in.
"No, Pikachu!" Ash said.
"Pika," Pikachu argued.
"I have an idea," said Ash, remembering something. He felt in his pocket for Jigglypuff's PokeBall. When he found it, he threw it at Bowser.
Mario saw the PokeBall fly towards Bowser and hit him on the head. 'Nice try,' he thought wryly, 'If only something that small would work.' Still, he was thankful that the crowd was on their side. To everyone's amazement, the PokeBall opened, and something flew out and ran all over Bowser. It was very fast and in no time Bowser was a mess of scratches. The flurry stopped, and everyone saw that it was a very angry Mewtwo who had attacked the first thing it saw, which happened to be Bowser. Bowser wobbled, and fell to the ground. Mario and Luigi rushed for some rope, and tied him up quickly. Ash managed to contain Mewtwo and put him back in the PokeBall. When it was all over, the crowd began cheering at Ash the hero. Ash forgot his tragedy and began to feel happy.
* * *
"Ow, I think something broke that time," Link said, after being thrown by Bowser. He tested his limbs and found he couldn't move his right arm.
"Link?"
Link looked up and found he was standing in front of a pile of cages. Inside one of them was Zelda.
"Zelda! So it's true, he did get you."
"I told you not to leave me alone," Zelda said. Link ignored her tone and found the keys to her cage.
* * *
"Now to get the Princess," Ganondorf said, slipping away from the crowd.
Nobody noticed him, instead celebrated for a while. Link and Zelda joined up with them, much to Ash's annoyance.
"Hey-a," said Luigi to Zelda, "You're-a pretty!"
Zelda smirked at Link, and then took Luigi aside. Link went over and watched Samus and Donkey Kong having an arm wrestling contest. Despite the powerful suit Samus was wearing, DK's strength allowed him to win easily.
"We're even now," DK said triumphantly.
"I'm tired," said Yoshi, "I want to go home."
"I'll take you home then," said Kirby. The two went off, arm in arm.
"I guess I should return too," Samus said. "It was the last day of my holiday today. Tomorrow I have to start a huge bounty hunting assignment."
Link dragged Zelda away from Luigi and they went back to Hyrule. DK also went back to his jungle. Ash's aunty dragged the hero of the Pokemon back home to his mother, with Pikachu following close behind.
"I guess the party's over-a," said Mario.
"Let's-a go home."
* * *
"Congratulations," said Princess Toadstool when Mario and Luigi arrived back at her palace later that night. Luigi was still feeling ecstatic about the day's victory, even though for once the Mario Brothers didn't defeat Bowser. However, Mario was exhausted, and he feel asleep on an armchair.
* * *
Mario sat up and yawned.
"Good-a morning!" he exclaimed to Luigi, but he heard no reply.
"You are so-a lazy!" Mario got out of bed and climbed the ladder to the top bunk. To his surprise, the bed was empty.
"How-a strange-a," he commented. "It must have been a dream-a." He took off his pajamas and put on his usual red jumper, blue overalls and red 'M' cap. He noticed that Luigi's clothes were missing. Mario found this strange and went out to the kitchen. To his surprise, Luigi was waiting for him. Standing with him was Princess Toadstool.
"Peach!" Mario exclaimed with delight. "Guys, I had the strangest dream-a last night-a."
"Poor brother," said Luigi sympathetically.
"I know-a! Bowser was trying to take over NintendoLand-a! Imagine if that-a really happened?"
"Well he came close," Peach said.
"You-a mean it wasn't a dream?" Mario was surprised.
"Of-a course not-a! Don't-a you remember?" Luigi exclaimed.
"Well yes-a, but I thought... Then how-a did I get home?"
"I dragged-a you. You were really tired. You fell asleep-a!"
"Can we get to the point?" asked Peach looking serious. "We have a problem."
"Oh yeah-a," said Luigi, remembering.
"What?"
"Well," Peach began, "Ganondorf is trying to copy Bowser."
"What-a do you mean?"
"He is trying to take over NintendoLand, just like Bowser did yesterday. You two must stop him!"
"Mamma mia!" Mario exclaimed. "I'm-a going back to bed!"