Chapter 7: The End of the Beginning
"I keep getting the feeling we're forgetting something." Falcon muttered, puzzled.
"Yeah, it does seem like that." Kirby agreed, looking around. "Oh well. Take us away, Clyne."
Clyne paused. "No, we really are forgetting something. I don't feel right leaving."
"I got it!" Yoshi shouted exuberantly.
"Oh good! What is it?" DK asked, encouraging his former English student to talk.
Yoshi paused, trying to translate in his head from "Yosh-ese" to English. "We need to find Master Hand."
The smashers laughed at their stupidity. "You're right, Yoshi." Peach giggled. "Good remembering!" Yoshi beamed.
"Well, Ness or Mewtwo, any ideas?" Fox prompted. "Lead the way."
Ness closed his eyes in concentration, and Mewtwo did the same. "This way." Ness suggested, just as Mewtwo replied "That way."
They stared at each other angrily. "How could you know where he is? You don't even know him!" Ness challenged.
Mewtwo scowled. "I could get to know him telepathically and find him before you were born, boy."
"Please, children." Clyne sighed. "This dimension isn't very big. We'll split up."
The group divided quickly in half and they set out in opposite directions, searching for an imprisoned glove.
"Are we there yet?" Ness whined after a few minutes. "My feet hurt."
"Pichu!" Pichu agreed.
DK sighed. "I'll carry you." He said, and he picked them both up.
Kirby sighed. "I wish there were a Warp Star around here somewhere."
"I wish there were a teleporting tube." Samus put in.
"Ora a Warpa Pipe." Added Luigi.
"Or-" Fox stopped in surprise, seeing both the other group and Master Hand at the same time.
"You were both right." Falcon noticed. "Master Hand was on the exact opposite side of the planet."
Mewtwo and Ness glowered at each other. "Lucky guess," they both muttered.
Clyne sighed and ran forward. With a mighty swing, he destroyed the security box that emitted the lasers making up Master Hand's cell. The lasers disappeared, and Master Hand groaned.
"Who's th-"
"It's me. You're safe now." Clyne answered soothingly.
"Not hardly." Master Hand replied, seeming to be much more awake now. "The shadows are still out there. We need to go to the toy dimension right away."
"Can'ta we get somea newa recruits firsta?" Mario suggested, remembering Clyne's ideas from before.
"Yes, you do that. I'll go to the toy dimension and introduce them to the problem and you can meet me there."
"Sounds good." Clyne answered, and Master Hand disappeared.
"Well," Mario sighed, "Ia guess there'sa nothing to looka forward to now buta war."
Meanwhile, in a dimension very close to the toy dimension…
"Sire, we have Giga Bowser, but Crazy Hand was defeated too quickly to get him."
"Thank you, that should be fine." Anomaly replied with an evil grin. "Everything is ready now."
"So we will attack now, sire?" an eager shadow asked.
"No."
"What? Why?"
"Do you dare to challenge my authority? Those fools are expecting an attack soon, so the longer we wait, the further down their guard will be."
Another foolish shadow decided to ask another question. "Why are we attacking the toy dimension first? Won't it be the hardest-"
"Fool! Of course not! Do you know how many dimensions there are?" Anomaly interrupted. "Anyway, better to lose many early than to lose many over a long time of dimension conquering and then lose many more."
"What?" the confused shadow asked.
"When we attack other places, we will lose a few people. If we do that a lot, we may not be strong enough to conquer the toy dimension," Anomaly explained impatiently, "you imbecile."
At a wave of Anomaly's hand, the shadows gathered together. The entire army, including Giga Bowser stood, waiting for their emporer's order.
"We attack," Anomaly announced with an ominous chuckle, "in one week."
The fanatic cheering of the army was drowned out by Anomaly's evil laughter.
The End