Mario woke up in a daze. Where was he? 'Oh... That's right...' he remembered, 'I'm in that world Toad built.' He looked at his telephone. It had several more people on it. There was a fox man... A pink ball... And... could it be? Donkey Kong, his long time enemy. "Hm... It seems he's become more trustworthy since Toad gave his dimension the machine..." he said, "But can I trust him?" There were others as well, but Mario didn't pay much attention to them.

There were about 10 rooms now filled. He decided to go meet some of his new neighbors. He walked across the hall to the fox man's room. Apparently, his name was Fox, judging by the title on his door. Mario knocked. Fox opened the door. He rubbed his eyes. He had just woken up. He quickly pulled out his gun and pointed it at Mario.

"State your name," said Fox.

"Uh... It's-a me, Mario," Mario backed away nervously.

"Oh. Heh. Sorry," said Fox, "I'm not used to a safe environment like this. I'm usually out in space surrounded by danger. You want to come in?" Fox gestured into his room and started to walk in. Mario followed. On the tables were some of Fox's possesions, such as his helmet and vest. He put down his gun next to them. "So... Where are you from?"

"I'm-a from the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Ah! The place where this network was started. Tell the creator he did a great job. Want to see the places that my dimension's people coded in?" asked Fox. Mario didn't want to offend him, so he agreed. They transported to Fox's ship. "Isn't she beautiful?" asked Fox, "Of course, this is just a smaller model, and there's air here so we can breathe outside of the ship, but it's still pretty amazing, I think."

Mario stared off into space. He had a lot to think about as of late. "Hey, Fox..." he started, "Has there ever been a woman in your life, but someone else was getting in the way?"

"What?" Fox was confused at Mario's question.

"Eh, never mind. I need to be alone now." Mario slowly transported away from Fox's ship and back into his room. He picked up a photograph of Peach. "You would never leave me," he said, "Right?"

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Mario looked up, surprised, and slowly got up to answer it. Two small round people in parkas. The one in the back, in a pink parka, jumped out with a cake and into the room. The blue-clad person reached out his gloved hand and introduced himself as Popo. The girl was Nana. Mario sat slumped over on his bed. The hyperactive duo jumped around his room asking why he was acting so depressed.

"I'd rather not talk about it," said Mario, "It's just my life in general. A lot of problems... I just wish I felt like I had some control over my life," Mario stood up, "I don't mean to be rude, but I'd really rather just be alone. But thanks for the cake. Maybe you can come over some other time."

"Okay! Bye!" Popo cheerily yelled as he ran off to his room with Nana in tow.

Mario decided to go back to sleep. He could deal with some more new neighbors later.