Chapter 5: The Fourth Villain
Mario finds himself this time in front of a huge building. A large, ornate sign in front of the building said, "Viridian City Gym. Leader: Giovanni."
"Giovanni?" Mario wondered aloud. "Soundsa Italian!"
The other five rolled their eyes. Fox smiled a bit.
"Hey, look over there!" Link pointed to a young boy wearing a red and white cap.
"So? It's some little kid." DK turned away, uninterested.
"No! Look behind him!" Link sighed impatiently.
A small yellow head appeared between the boy's legs. The small animal leapt in the air when it recognized the six, and ran over to them.
"Pikachu-" Ash started nervously. He turned to Mario. "Who are you?"
"Oh, we're good friends of Pikachu's." Fox replied.
"Yoshi!" added Yoshi.
"Pika pika!" Pikachu agreed.
"What?" Ash replied, confused.
"Wea may needa Pikachu's help." Mario began to explain the situation, when they heard a loud roar coming from the gym!
"Thata sounded likea Bowser!" Luigi stated.
The six of them stared at the gym.
"So, this Giovanni character…" Link began.
"Oh, Giovanni? He's the leader of Team Rocket. It's a criminal organization trying to exploit Pokemon. Usually my friends and I stop them, though."
"Right." DK smiled. He turned to Mario. "He could be Bowser's next recruit." Mario nodded.
"Recruit? What does this have to do with Pikachu?" Ash queried, annoyed at the way they ignored him.
Before anyone could answer, Ash heard another familiar Pokemon behind him.
"Jigglypuff!"
"Jigglypuff, what are you doing here?" Ash turned around impatiently.
"Puff! Jiggly!" Jigglypuff replied matter-of-factly.
"Never mind. Everyone, this is Jigglypuff." Ash sighed. "Now please don't-"
Jigglypuff took in a deep breath.
"Too late."
Jigglypuff started singing. The sweet lullaby carried through the air, through the walls of the gym, and throughout all of Viridian City. Soon, everyone was sound asleep. Of course, Jigglypuff grew angry, and she drew all over everyone's face.
An hour or so later, Bowser woke up inside the gym. He shook Ganon, Andross, and Giovanni awake. "That blasted monster." Bowser growled. Then he started laughing hysterically.
"What's so funny?" Giovanni asked impatiently. "Besides your story, I mean."
Bowser growled, then chuckled, "Your face! It's covered with marker!"
Giovanni sighed, disgusted. "Yes, yours are too. That damned Jigglypuff always does that. She puts everyone to sleep and then draws on everyone's face because she wants them to stay awake and hear her."
Andross groaned. "Do you have many personality cases like that around here?"
"Not really. Jigglypuff is certainly special."
Everyone outside slowly woke up as well, and wiped off their faces.
"Pikachu, are you OK with these guys?" Ash asked. "Because I really have to go to the bathroom."
"Pika." Pikachu nodded, and waved Ash away. Ash shrugged and left.
"I'lla say she's special!" Mario said after waking up to Giovanni's comment. "With thata strong power, she coulda really help us out!"
"Noa, she woulda put us to sleepa too!" Luigi retorted. "She couldn'ta help!"
"Could!"
"Couldn't!"
"Could!"
"Couldn't!"
"Could!"
"Couldn't!"
"Could!"
"Couldn't!"
"Could!"
"Couldn't!"
"Stop it!" Link shouted. "They're still talking."
Pikachu turned to talk to Jigglypuff after wiping off his face.
"Pika! Pi, chu!" "Puff? Jiggly! Jigglypuff!"
"Pi, pikachu! Kachu!"
"Puff!"
"Pikapi! Chu!"
"Um…what are they saying?" Link wondered.
"Good question." Fox replied.
"Hey Yoshi, looks like you have some new classmates in your English class." DK grinned.
"Y-yes." Yoshi replied. Mario, Luigi, and DK cheered.
"Greata start!" Mario congratulated.
"Jiggly! Jig, puff!"
"Pi, ka! Kachu!"
"Tooa bad we can'ta understand them." Luigi sighed.
"Ah, but I can." A mysterious voice came from behind the group.
"Whoa are you?" Mario asked suspiciously.
"I am a mysterious young boy who is nigh omniscient."
"What?" DK asked, baffled. His English class wasn't really up to vocabulary yet.
"He knows a lot." Fox replied dryly.
"So what did the Pokefreaks say?" Link asked.
"Pikachu informed Jigglypuff of the situation. Jigglypuff is willing to help."
"Wea don't want hera help!" Luigi protested.
"We do!"
"Don't!"
"Do!"
"Don't!"
"Do!"
"Don't!"
"Do!"
"Don't!"
"Do!"
"Don't!"
"STOP IT!" the mysterious newcomer shouted angrily. "Both of you immature plumbers stop it!"
Mario and Luigi stared at the young man sheepishly. He smiled, and nodded.
"I know how brothers can be. But we need to concentrate. If Bowser is successful in recruiting Giovanni, the eight of you won't be enough. You'll need help from-"
"Samus and Kirby?" Fox suggested.
"Well, yes. But that is still not enough. You will need two other fighters, from other games. Their names are Ness and Captain Falcon."
"OK, thanksa for youra help." Mario replied, and the six turned back to the window.
Luigi turned around. "Hey, how area wea supposed to find-"
But he was gone. There was no sign of his ever being there. Link shrugged.
"Well, we all heard him, so we might as well make a few side trips."
"Bowser, what kind of fool do you take me for?" Giovanni bellowed. "A talking glove? Revenge on a plumber? Unlike these other gullible morons, I don't have any reason to join you."
"Oh, really?" Bowser replied, staring at the device, which flashed some very interesting information. "It says here you're after a certain Pikachu…"
Giovanni's frown turned into an interested gaze. "Well, yes."
"It just so happens that the very Pikachu you are interested in is one of the eight fighters I am battling." Bowser explained, knowing that Giovanni would take the bait.
"How…interesting." Giovanni mused, lost in thought. "But a talking glove? Really, I don't know…"
"Come on, Giovanni." Ganon spoke for the first time in this meeting. "We, well, we need your help."
"I don't-" Andross started to say, but Bowser kicked him under the table. Giovanni didn't notice, or, at least, he pretended not to.
Giovanni sighed heavily. "Fine, Bowser. I'll join your little group. Where's our next stop?"
"What? Oh. Well, I don't have anyone else to recruit…so I'll just go back to my dimension and gather my forces. Wait…I think I can make this thing go to three different places…"
Ganon, Andross, and Giovanni waited impatiently for Bowser to figure out what he was doing.
"OK, here." Bowser finally said. "I'll go through, and then give Ganon the remote. He can press this button to go to his dimension, and when he gives the device to Andross, he can press this button to go to his dimension. Giovanni, you can wait here. The portals will stay open for a long time, so we'll all be able to get back. Also, Master Hand gave me the coordinates for an empty dimension that we can use for a battlefield. We can open a long-lasting portal to that dimension, and we'll meet you there."
Ganon, Andross, and Giovanni all nodded their heads in understanding.
The plan worked well, and in a few moments, Ganon, Bowser, and Andross were all gone.
"Well, we won't be needing this anymore…" Giovanni tossed the remote behind his back, and Mario caught it.
"Alla right!" he whispered. "Now wea can get the othera four fighters!"
"Nota really." Luigi disagreed. "You don'ta even know howa it works!"
"Oh, yeah." Mario sighed.
Suddenly, someone tapped Mario on the shoulder.
"Who-hey! It'sa the mysterious younga boy!"
The boy smiled. "I'll program this for you. Give it to me."
Mario gladly obliged, and soon, the four coordinates were programmed in. The boy gave it back.
"Press this button to activate it. The rest will work automatically. Have fun!"
The eight fighters turned to use the device, and the boy disappeared again.
"Well, press it!" DK prompted.
Mario did, and a portal appeared.
"Destination: Planet Zebes."
"Guess Samus isa first." Mario said. "OK, let'sa go!"
"Pika!"
"Puff!"
Jigglypuff jumped in first, followed by Fox, Mario, Link, and Luigi. Yoshi squeezed ahead of DK. Pikachu was about to jump in when he heard a familiar voice.
"Pikachu! Where are you going?" Ash ran up to see Pikachu in mid-jump.
"Pika! Pikapi!" Pikachu waved goodbye to Ash.
"Oh, Pikachu! Be careful! Come back soon!" Ash sighed.
Pikachu nodded, waved again, and jumped into the portal.