Flames filled Mario's eyes. He would not lose to a mere clone. He would not let his guard down to the likeness of Peach. He would not-- The clone threw him to the ground. Mario got up and headbutted her into the air. She came back down with a kick but Mario stepped to the side. No longer would he fall to a copy. Then, he saw a mushroom slide by.

"But I didn't hit a block..." he said to himself.

"Sorry I'm late!" yelled Link. He pulled out a bomb and casually tossed it at the Peach clone who flew off the edge of the stage. "I had to step out to take care of some buisness in my own dimension!"

'Who is this guy?' thought Mario, 'He's stealing my thunder!'

Link jumped over the Castle's tower almost effortlessly. He landed directly in front of Mario, who windmilled as to not fall over. Link held out his hand. "I'm Link from Hyrule."

Mario shook Link's hand nervously. "Er... Hi. It's-a me... Mario... I'm from the Mushroom Kingdom."

"Calm down. I won't hurt you," said Link, "but I must say that you have some of the strangest things in your world. Mushrooms that make you shrink or grow... Flowers that spit fire..."

"Actually, that was a programming error. They're supposed to make you throw fire."

"Well, whatever," continued Link, "The fact is, this is a neat idea, and I commend your people for thinking it up and contacting us." Link stood still for a moment. He and Mario started to disappear from the arena and into the long hallway. Link bid Mario farewell for now and proceeded into the second to last room on the right.

Mario walked into his room. He felt almost powerless. 'Who did this guy think he was? He couldn't just come in here and fight my battles for me!' Mario held back his anger. He decided that he should try to calm down. Peach was in her room. He decided to call her. He picked up the reciever and pushed the button with Peach's face on it.

The phone rang. "Hi, Mario!" said Peach. She seemed very exited to talk to him. "Did you meet Link yet?"

A dull look came over Mario's face. He really didn't like Link, and the fact that Peach was talking about him wasn't a good sign for him.

"Hello? Mario? Are you still there?"

"WAH-- Uh... yeah. I met him. Why?" Mario wasn't liking this conversation at all.

"Isn't he so cool, Mario? Don't you just want to be him?"

"I do right now..." muttered Mario. The princess was obviously falling for Link.

"What was that?" asked Peach, "I couldn't hear you."

"Nothing," said Mario. Then, he had an idea. "You remember all those times I saved you? Bowser had taken you, and I, a lowly plumber, had come to your rescue? And even though that beast was easily twice my size, I used all of my surroundings to thwart him just to rescue you, and return you to your castle."

"Of course I remember, Mario! Who wouldn't? You saved my life many times, and I could never pay you back enough for that! Oh-- Hold on, Mario. Link is on the other line!"

"Alright. I'll let you talk to him. I'll talk to you later." Mario said.

"Alright!" said Peach, "Kisses!"

Mario hung up the phone. Did it work? He didn't know. She still seemed pretty happy about talking to Link, but then again, it could just be the fact that he's from another world. Who wouldn't want to learn about all of the wonders of wherever it was he came from? 'What was it?' he thought, 'Hyre? Hyrille? Hearl? It doesn't matter...' Mario looked over at his clock. It was still early, but he decided to go to sleep anyway. Tomorrow was another day.