More chaptery goodness for you all. Enjoy. And Simdork: do not yell at me. Ever again. You scare me.


Chapter 36: Thus Our Heroes Set Out


Phil Harmonics is requesting that Luigi Mario be let inside Bowser's Keep to learn about the changes of the universe from Ben Collins -Phil

"He's alive, or was, six hours ago, at any rate." Sean commented, passing the note to Danielle, who was the only one of the original six who hadn't read the note.

"This is his handwriting, all right." Danielle said, noting the rough but clearly legible style Phil had, "Though it's slanted to the left. . . but it has to be his. There's no other explanation."

"So what happened?" Jenna pleaded with the bearded plumber, "Where is he going? Was he mean to you? Does he miss me?"

"I don't think he mentioned you, miss." Luigi sadly replied, "You miss him, that much?"

"I just don't want him getting himself killed!"

"He seemed quite capable when I confronted him. . . He did mention Ben, that was it. He also said that everyone was not quite human, and. . . I guess this explains it." Luigi had looked carefully over each of the five people there, who were quite quickly joined by Skye, Charlie, and Trent.

Trent looked over the note. "Yeah. . . this is quite recognizable."

"I've written everything down." Ben said to Luigi, "Here. . ." He handed him a notebook, which Luigi opened promptly and scanned through it.

"How long have you been working on this?"

"The last few days. Why?"

"There's about a hundred pages in this thing! Can you dumb it down for me?"

Ben sighed. "Alright, basically, our 'Home Universe' developed a warp zone that sent us all here. Here, exactly, is a conglomeration of six worlds, which I call by their games they had on Home Universe: Zelda, Pokémon, Mario, Kirby, Metroid, and Star Fox. All these worlds have been brought together in an attempt to, apparently, make a huge game of some sort, for the entertainment of the one who did it (The Game Master) or otherwise. If you need any information how, it's all in the notebook."

Luigi gave a low whistle. "Wow. . ."

"Oh, yeah, also, it seems that at the 'ten years ago' point, everyone's universe was flipped upside down by the disappearance of one key person that held it together somehow. Naturally, any one person out of place can drastically affect a universe, but they were specifically chosen to do the most immediate and longest lasting damage."

Luigi thumbed through the notebook, looking at Ben's notes on the mysterious appearance of Trent. "You seemed to have thought long and hard on this. . ."

"Actually it was an idea that floated into my head. . ." Ben grinned sheepishly.

"That's my bud for you." Robert slapped Ben on the back a little to hard, knocking him to the ground.

"Watch it!" Ben basically floated back up, as he was made out of whatever the inhabitants of Popstar are made out of.

"Oops. . . sorry. . ." Robert flinched a bit.

"It's alright." Ben really never said it out loud too much, but everyone knew that Robert was his best friend, and nobody really understood why.

Jenna really wasn't paying much attention, but she was just sitting on the nearest bench, looking at the note that was from Phil. "Skye. . ." She looked up, as Skye sat beside her and held her.

Trent watched them with a vague disappointment.


"Out of my room." Bowser declared, barely being able to sit up, tight bandages encircling his head.

"We need permission to leave the castle!" Ben yelled, "It's time already! If we wait, the monsters will only get more plentiful!"

"That's what we were here for in the first place." Jenna told him, "How can you not let us out?"

Bowser sighed, "Alright! Fine! Strip me of my last ounce of dignity and leave!" Bowser was all too eager to defy everyone, just to make it out to his men that he didn't take anything from anyone, but it was all stripped away when he. . . well, 'fought' Trent.

"Everyone. . ." Ben announced, "I'll be in the West Meeting Room. We'll map out the strategy." The overcrowded room was then cleared out rather quickly.


"Jenna. . . may I speak with you for a moment?" Danielle asked her friend.

"Yeah, what- ERK!" Jenna was quickly yanked into an empty room. A lot of the rooms in the castle seemed to be empty, as both the guard population was being thinned out and that most of the rooms were built to make a handy maze if the need arose. "What!?" Jenna righted herself.

"I just wanted to know. . . and tell me, girl to girl here, why you still miss Phil."

Jenna blinked, as tears started forming in her eyes again.

"Oh, no, not this again. Jenna, please control yourself. . ."

Jenna sat down on the nearby bench, and Danielle sat next to her. "Please, Jenna. . . I know you're not a skank. . . but just tell me directly. . ."

She didn't say anything yet, but just grabbed around Danielle's body and laid her head on her breast.

"Jenna, I'm sorry about bringing it up again. . ."

"No. . . no, it's alright. . . It's just every time I think about him. . . I wonder if he's gone and hurt himself or worse. . ."

"Oh. . . is that what it's all about?"

"Most of it. . . I still have feeling for him. . . I can't let those go. . . and if I ever see him again, I don't know if I want to punch him or hug him. . ."

"Jenna. . . It's alright. I understand now. . ."

"You do?"

"Yes. You know Phil still loves you, somewhere, deep down inside him, and once he realizes it again he might commit suicide over losing you."

"I still feel guilty sometimes. . . even if Skye is the sweetest person in the world, I don't know what made me choose him over Phil. . ."

". . . Jenna, was there one thing, anything, that annoyed you about Phil?"

"Well. . . he was kind of overprotective of me. . ."

"That's it."

"What's it?"

"You're still afraid of commitment. You really wanted to find someone to love based on mutual agreement, not someone to tell you your life from point A to point B."

"Really?" Jenna thought a while. It really hadn't occurred to her before.

"Yeah. . . I think Skye might be good for you, now. . ."

"But. . . what will I say to Phil?"

Danielle had no answer.


"First!" Ben said in his utmost teacher-like voice, while standing on a stool next to the whiteboard, "We must know if and how our theory can be proved. So!" He pulled up the rough map that he had compiled while being bored over the last few days, "This is our location and the immediate surrounding locations. I think that the most obvious place to test this should be the Pokémon sector. . ."

"Why's that?" Rock asked him.

"The Mario sector: We have no clue where to look. The Kirby sector: Big freaking castle and purple gas clouds. Zelda sector: Kind of far away to get there even if we could refill the gas on Mr. Pikanne's SUV. Metroid sector: Metroids. Nuff said. Star Fox sector: it's in outer space. I was going to try and wrap this phase up before the end of tomorrow. Any questions?"

"Who's going?" Fox asked him.

"Well. . . I was hoping Jenna, Skye, Charlie, Charmander and Porygon would go. . ."

"On it." Jenna said. "Need to get out of this stupid place. Come on, guys."

"Well, what about us?" Lisa asked as Jenna hurried out the door, followed by her newly declared teammates, "What do we do while waiting?"

"Get me the on board computers on the Great Fox and hunter Space Station. I need to get some info. . ."



And thus ends this chapter of the blessed book of Video Game. And yea, in the next chapter, it shall come to pass that Jenna and Skye and Charlie and Charmander and Porygon come upon the sufficient info to prove Ben's theory. And as we say in the rougher circles, 'Ciao!'