The Crossover Saga

By Stoney (stoney107@yahoo.com)

Author/Narrator: Hiya! Stoney here, to clear up a couple confusing conundrums! 'Dreamland' refers collectively to all the planets and galaxies that have been featured in the Kirby games. All of these planets/galaxies are in a constant orbit around Kirby's home planet, which is called Popstar. The planet that Kirby, Mario, and Pikachu are currently on isn't Popstar, but is the planet "Floria" from the SNES game Kirby Superstar. The dream phenomena applies to all of Dreamland's locations. This means that if a Real goes to sleep, he/she could wind up having their dream take place on another of Dreamland's planets/galaxies, and not just Floria.
From here on in, Pikachu's statements will be translated in parentheses next to the original sentence that he says. Just assume that Kirby is translating these sentences into English for Mario. Thanks lots!





And now, I give you your Feature Presentation! (Cue fanfare and flashy spotlights)





Chapter 5
Food Chain


?????????, 4:26 p.m.

"Captain Kapi!!"

The female Koopa snapped out of her thoughtful reverie at the mention of her name, jumping a little in surprise. Oh God, what now? She mentally groaned. Outwardly she only grunted in irritation while standing up and walking to the front of the small tent she was currently in.

The flap that hung loosely down in front of the opening was thrown aside as she emerged, blinking rapidly to adjust her eyes to the bright sunlight. She scanned her surroundings to address the person who had spoken. "What is it?!" She demanded.

"Come with me! Quick!" Yelled a nearby tan-shelled Koopa. "We've got trouble!"

Muttering a small curse, Kapi turned and re-entered the tent, glancing around the strewn objects inside for her armor. Ah, there it was--next to her bedside where she'd oh-so-carefully dumped it the night before. She arrived at the bed in two steps and started strapping the heavy metal plates on.

"Captain, hurry! Please!" Came the impatient yell from outside.

Kapi hooked the last buckle into place. "All right, already!" Grabbing her spear from its resting place against the support pole in the tent's middle and slapping a sturdy iron helmet on her head, she emerged from the tent with a glare. "I'm going as fast as I can!" She snapped at the guard, then blinked when she realized she didn't recognize him. "Wait a minute, who are you?"

The Koopa didn't seem to notice her angry tone. "Private Karl, ma'am!" He replied with a quick salute. "I'm one of the new members--the others sent me to find you." He pointed off to their right as he continued. "Invaders are trying to breach the camp!" He yelped excitedly, almost jumping up and down. "C'mon! Let's go cream 'em!"

Kapi sighed as the young guard dashed off in the general direction of the disturbance. "Fine, whatever." She grumbled before following him. "Youth these days....."

--------------------


Forest Village, 5:03 p.m.

"At last!" Mario exclaimed happily.


Before them stretched a modern city. A very large modern city, at that. As he got his first glimpse of the village that was their destination, Mario realized that calling this place a 'village' was a bit misleading; The town was an enormous, bustling metropolis that seemed to continue onward to the horizon.


Pikachu gazed in mute shock at the overwhelming sight. He'd never seen a settlement this large before-even Celadon City couldn't compare to this place. "…Pika…" (…Wow…)


Kirby noticed their dumbfounded expressions. "Hey, knock it off, you two. This isn't really that much to look at, you know. Did you forget how large Dreamland is? Compared to the size of the rest of the kingdom, this is about as big as a village at best."


As this information registered, Mario and Pikachu turned their shocked gazes upon the short Dreamlander beside them. Kirby noticed this and got irritated with their staring. "What?"


Mario shook his head, coming out of his awestruck state. "Never mind. Let's go."


Together the trio trooped into the city limits, never suspecting what would await them there…

--------------------

The bed creaked wearily as he flopped down onto it. Bored, he stared at the ceiling above him and its plain off-white color, tracing the cracks in its surface with his eyes. He wondered what he should do today. Reaching out to clasp the oblong remote control next to him, he idly flipped through the different channels on the hotel's TV.

Rerun, boring, seen it, soap opera, boring, stupid, boring. He paused for half a second on each one before continuing on, thumb hammering down on the remote's buttons. Boring, another rerun, cartoon, boring, really awful, seen it, boring, oh dear God no, yet another rerun. Disgusted at the lack of interesting content, he turned the TV off.

A sigh welled up from inside him and burst out of his mouth. Nothing to do. He closed his eyes for a moment. Perhaps he should take a nap…..nah, he didn't feel tired in the least. He yawned and sat up, stretching his limbs. One of his feet had fallen asleep, and he vigorously shook it to restore circulation. Gosh, he'd been sitting down for too long. Maybe he should go for a walk or something…


A sharp yowl and rapid barking from near the door to his room indicated that his pets had the same idea. Well, he should probably take them along, too. Rolling off the bed and to his feet, he walked over to the room's closet and pulled out two long, blue leashes. He turned to the animals, who seemed to be glaring at him impatiently. "Okay, boys. We're goin' already…sheesh."

The cat hissed in outright indignation as he strapped the leash around its neck, but it allowed him to do so since it was smart enough to understand that he wouldn't let it outside otherwise. His dog was wiggling in excitement too much for him to strap the leash on, though. "Hold still!" He commanded irritably after a minute of fruitless struggling. Finally the canine stilled for a couple seconds, and he quickly strapped the leash into place in one fluid movement.


He tromped down the stairs from his room to the front desk, pets in tow. The clerk looked up and recognized him. "Oh, hello!" He waved with a grin. "Going out?"


"Yeah. My pets are needing a walk." He replied casually, lifting up into view the two leashes he was holding. The clerk leaned over the counter to get a glimpse of the animals waiting impatiently below.

"Ah yes, I remember them. What did you say their names were?"


"Rush and Tango."


"Very nice." The clerk commented while reaching out to pet the cat on the head. The feline warded him off with a sudden low growl, and his hand quickly retreated, opting to pet the dog instead. "I just love animals." He smiled broadly, getting a wistful look in his eyes. "Nature is so wonderful...."


"Yeah. So, is there anything interesting happening lately?"


The clerk stopped petting the dog and reached behind himself to grab a hooded yellow coat from a rack on the wall. He shook his head while putting it on. "Man, they have GOT to fix the air conditioning in this place! I'm freezing!" He exclaimed. "Anyway, nope. Nothing much is up at the moment...although there is word going around that a couple Reals came to the city with Kirby a few minutes ago!"


"Wow, I guess news DOES travel fast." He snickered. The rest of the sentence suddenly registered. "Waitaminute! Did you say Kirby was here?!"


The clerk nodded enthusiastically. "Yup, that's right! Unbelievable, isn't it?"


"Oh, wow! That's awesome! Man, I wish I could meet him...."


The clerk shook his head. "I doubt you'd be able to. He could be anywhere in the village, after all."


A sigh. "Yeah, that's true...."


The cat interrupted them with a timely yowl. The clerk glanced down at the animal amusedly. "It seems that someone wants to get going. Well, don't let me hold you up. I'll see you later!"


"Okay, thanks for the info! Bye, Cid!" he called out while calmly walking out the hotel's double swinging doors into the large crowds of Dreamlanders on either side of the street. The animals, eager to begin their stroll, leaped in front of him and strained against their leashes, almost yanking their opposite ends right out of his hands. He dug his heels in and balked against them, knowing he'd never be able to find them again if they got lost in this huge town.


Suddenly his cat's ears pricked up and it stopped struggling for a moment. Its nose twitched. Among the familiar scents of Dreamlanders that surrounded him, one-no, two-of them were new, different. Its eyes darted around the area with the precision of an experienced hunter. That scent…it knew that scent!

The owner looked down and noticed that the cat had stopped tugging on the leash. "What is it, boy?" He asked curiously. "Do you smell something?" The cat gave no answer. It's head swerved from left to right, suddenly stopping as it spied something in the crowd of people walking on either side of the street. It's eyes narrowed.


The owner never knew what hit him. One moment the cat was standing still--the next, it lunged forward with such unexpected force that he was thrown clear off his feet behind it. The dog ran alongside the cat, not knowing where or why they were running but enjoying himself nonetheless, sensing that something exciting was about to take place. The hapless owner was dragged along behind them on the ground, unable to stop or slow down the renegade animals. "NO! Bad cat! Stop! Heel! AAAAAAHHHHHH......!"


--------------------
 
"Admit it, Kirby. We're lost." Mario slumped his shoulders dejectedly.


Kirby refused to do this. "We're not lost, Mario. I'm sure the hotel is around here somewhere…"


Mario and Pikachu looked at each other, then at the huge crowd of Dreamlanders and other large forest animals around them. They were definitely lost, and both of them knew it. Kirby had seemed to know which way he was going when they had first entered the city. Their objective was one of the town's many hotels that was located near the city's center; it was at this place that the other Real was currently staying, Kirby had explained.

Unfortunately, the three of them had somehow gotten completely turned around within the town's confusing mix of lights, noises, and people. For the past five minutes, Mario, Pikachu, and Kirby had been aimlessly wandering without a clue of where they were or where the hotel was. The latter had become rather irritable during this time, angry at the large crowds of Dreamlanders that barred their progress and made quick travelling all but impossible. He walked slightly ahead of the other two, stubbornly shoving his way through the mass of creatures. "If I can get to the street corner, I'll be able to tell where the hotel is in accordance to our location."


Pikachu was about to ask that Kirby repeat what he just said in terms they could understand, when his nose suddenly began to twitch spasmodically. He stood ramrod straight as he detected a new scent among the others that pervaded the city, looking around himself with fear in his eyes.

Kirby didn't notice this, but Mario did. "What is it, Pikachu?"


"Pipi kacha pichu!" (Something's watching me!)


Mario smiled slightly. "Ah, it's probably just your nerves acting up. I admit, I'm kinda nervous too with all these people around us…"


"Ka, chupaka!" (No, really!)


Mario waved the sentence off. "It's nothing to worry about. You'll be okay in a little bit."


Pikachu began to get more panicky, jerking his head back and forth in rapid, quick movements. The smell was getting stronger. "Pipiu chuka chipa pu!!" (Something's coming toward us!!)


Mario ignored this.

Two seconds later, he wished he hadn't.


A small blaze of green leaped out of the crowd and descended upon Pikachu with a hungry roar. Looking up with wide eyes at the open, sharp-toothed mouth bearing down on him, Pikachu's survival instinct overrode all of his thoughts; He gave a primal scream of terror before taking off blindly into the crowd. A loud snapping sound split the air, the Thing darted away in hot pursuit of the little yellow Pokèmon.


The entire area went quiet as a tomb. All the Dreamlanders around them paused what they were doing to gawk at the human who had been dragged there by the Thing chasing Pikachu. Each of his hands had a tight grip around a plain blue leash-one of them was connected to a reddish dog that was fighting frantically to pursue Pikachu's attacker. The human's focus wasn't on the canine, however--he was looking in dismay at the other leash, whose end had been completely snapped off.


Slowly, still surprised by the whole event, Mario walked over to help the boy up. "Are you okay?" He asked gently, still wondering what had just happened.

Suddenly the person jerked himself free of Mario's grip. "Quick! After them!" He yelled before taking off running through the crowd, his dog bounding ahead of him. Mario and Kirby blinked, glanced at each other, shrugged, and started to follow the running human.

--------------------

The morning sun peeked up over the horizon, its rays piercing the purplish smoke that had filled the air. The smoke was all that was left of several carnivorous birds that had tried to attack him last night--he hadn't had the time or the patience to deal with them in any other way except slash away and forget about them. They'd fallen at every swipe of his sword, cawing their distress as their bodies dissolved. He hadn't noticed or even cared. His focus had been completely on the building ahead of him.


He'd arrived at the building and entered it to find the two fast asleep. With some difficulty he managed to rouse them enough to support them back to the inn, where they promptly entered their appropriate rooms and collapsed in exhaustion upon their beds. He didn't bother them any further after that, but had simply left them alone the rest of the night.


Now, as he sat on the steps leading up to the inn's entrance and watched the sun rise up over the ranch walls, he grinned as he saw Epona in her usual place in the stables. Somehow, Epona always managed to get into Lon Lon Ranch and into her stable every night when it got dark. He never knew how she did it, but he honestly didn't care in the end as long as she was safe.


He walked over to her, and she neighed in greeting. He waved and greeted her back, stroking her mane affectionately. "How you doin', girl? Didja have fun last night? Huh?"


She nuzzled against him in reply, sniffing at the odd smell of bird on his clothing. He laughed at this. "Hey, kn-knock it off, you s-silly horse! Th- that tickles!" He reprimanded in between laughs.


Epona stopped her sniffing and nuzzled him again. He sighed in relief and hugged her back around her thick neck, still slowly stroking her mane. She put her chin on his shoulder, her way of asking him to let her out of the stables. He smiled and pulled away from his horse. Kneeling down, he quickly found the sliding latch that locked Epona's stall shut and unlatched it. Then he opened the short door at the front of the stall, letting his horse out. She trotted out casually and, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, began sniffing at him again. The combination of surprise at this action and weakness from laughing so hard served to make his legs unable to support him. He stumbled backwards and fell back onto his rear. Did this stop Epona, though? Nope. She simply leaned her head down and continued the merry torture on his prone form. He couldn't stop his laughing this time in order to scold her, and she took this to be encouraging and started sniffing all the more harder. He laughed and giggled hysterically, trying at the same time to somehow escape from her. But Epona would have no such thing. She kept up the steady stream of poking and sniffing so he could have no opportunity to get away.


Finally the horse stopped. She gazed at him amusedly as he lay on his back, exhausted from laughing so hard. He eyed her with only a slight touch of amusement on his own face. "You really are terrible sometimes, you know that?"


Her playful gaze gave him all the reply he needed as she suddenly reared up, and leaped over him to go running out into the pasture. He rolled over onto his stomach and slowly got to his feet to go after her. Out in the field, she neighed a challenge. "Oh, so ya wanna play rough, huh?" He replied with a grin. He raced out after her, and she took off running obligingly, beginning their game of 'Tag'.

--------------------


Ironically, another game of 'Tag' was taking place in Dreamland at that moment. However, the stakes of this game were much deadlier than the version Link was currently playing.


Pikachu ran like a scared yellow rabbit, taking no notice of what he went through or over as he frantically tried to lose his pursuer. He didn't know that the pursuer in question had locked onto his scent and could track him down even through the most complex of obstacle courses, and his mind was too filled with panic to think about it much anyway.

His body acting purely on instinct, Pikachu turned to race down a side alley and took a brief look behind himself. His attacker wasn't there. He skidded to a stop in front of a rusty brown dumpster, panting for breath. He must've lost the Thing in the city crowds.
Above him, the dumpster creaked. His senses suddenly screamed for him to move. Lightning-quick, Pikachu dodged without thinking to one side as his attacker pounced on the spot where he had been resting a moment before. The Pokèmon gave a startled yell and took off again as the pursuing animal began to follow.

With a yell, something came flying out of the shadows at that moment....


--------------------

"Holy....." Kapi gasped.

In a clearing ahead of her stood Jacob, the excitable young Koopa who'd warned her of the attack. He was crouched in an attacking stance, facing the scene before him with a determined expression and his spear tightly gripped between his hands. Around him lay the limp bodies of the other guards-whether they were unconscious or dead, She couldn't tell. At the clearing's opposite end stood the attackers. Slowly they turned, gazing silently at her and Jacob with their blazing red eyes.

Kapi slowly brought her spear up into an attack position. Things didn't look good.....

With a war cry, Karl charged forward. One attacker focused on him for a couple moments before meeting the Koopa head-on in a charge of its own, ramming Karl in the stomach. Karl dropped to the ground gasping for air, and the attacker prepared to drop onto him and crush him.

"NO!" Kapi yelled, lunging away from where she'd been standing and thrusting her spear into the attacker's side. It gave an animalistic squeal of pain and jerked away, taking Kapi's spear with it.

The other attackers surrounded her and Karl…..

--------------------


"Stop! Wait! Slow down, you stupid cat!"


He was running full-tilt through the large crowds of knee-high Dreamlanders, sometimes knocking them out of the way, other times merely jumping over them. He didn't take the time to yell apologies, and instead left that task up to the human and Dreamlander who were following him. His eyes were riveted on the small green speck in the distance that he knew to be his cat. He couldn't lose it now!


His dog was running ahead of him, barking madly with the thrill of the chase. It was having the time of its life right now. Well, at least one of us is happy with this turn of events, he thought grimly.


The yellow thing his cat had been chasing turned into a side alley. He raced after it, turning the corner just as his cat pulled off its ambush. With a cry he lunged at his pet before it could move from where it had landed.

--------------------


Pikachu was still running when he heard the yell. His curiosity made him look behind himself just as a human grabbed his pursuer around the middle in a perfect football tackle, throwing them both to the ground. The green thing that had been chasing him started snarling, scratching, and hissing in fury, angry after having been cheated of its prey. Luckily for Pikchu, the human held it firm despite this. Finally the cat stopped struggling with a low growl and moodily began swinging its tail back and forth.


The human was breathing heavily from the long chase. Making sure he had a good grip on the cat, he carefully got up. His dog wanted to go sniff at Pikachu, but the human made sure to keep a tight hold on its leash so the dog couldn't reach the Pokèmon.


Mario and Kirby ran over at that moment. They hadn't been running as fast as the human had been and were thus not nearly as exhausted as he was. The human held his cat close to him lest it try to make a break for it. The cat eyed Pikachu with a look close to ravenous hunger, but remained silent.


The human waved at the plumber and Dreamlander, still too breathless to speak. Both parties waited until the pet owner got his breath back. A few seconds later, and he could once again talk normally. The human finally noticed Kirby, and his eyes widened. "Hey, you're Kirby, aren't you?"


Kirby grinned. He was pretty well-known around these parts. "Yup, the one and only."


"Oh, wow," He breathed, "I've heard SO much about you!" The human almost dropped the cat to go over and shake the Dreamlander's cone-arm, but stopped himself just in time. "It's a real honor to finally meet you in person. My name's Rock." He suddenly noticed Pikachu come over and quickly hide behind Mario's legs. "Er, sorry about what happened back there, by the way."


Pikachu peeked slowly around Mario's feet at the human and his cargo. "Pikipi cha kachu PIKA pichu! Piki apu papi chaka?!" (Jeez, that thing almost KILLED me! What the heck is it?!)


Rock looked down at the cat in his arms. It had fixed Pikachu with a killing gaze and was slowly starting to drool. He tightened his grip slightly in case the animal attempted another escape. "This guy? He's my cat, Tango. He can be rather...impulsive...sometimes. I think he thought you were a mouse, sorry."


"Pikachu KA pi chapa!" (I AM a mouse!)


"Oh." Rock coughed, embarrassed. "Well, er, that would explain that, wouldn't it?"


Rock's dog made another attempt to sniff at Pikachu. Pikachu switched his gaze from the human to the canine, smiling uncertainly upon seeing the dog's curious intentions. "Piku cha capi…?" (And this is…?)


"Oh, that's my dog. His name's Rush."

Slowly, cautiously, the Pokèmon emerged from his hiding place to let the dog study his scent. Rush sniffed frantically at Pikachu for a moment before barking softly and wagging his tail with a big doggy smile. Rock grinned. "I think he likes you."


Mario was currently whispering something to Kirby. The Dreamlander nodded, and Mario straightened up with a hopeful look in his eye. "Say, are you that Real who's staying here in this city?"

"Village," Kirby corrected. Mario gave him a sideways glare.


Rock eyed the plumber carefully before replying. "I am. And you are?"


"Someone in the same boat as you. My name's Mario." Mario stuck out his hand, but Rock politely declined the handshake, as his arms were full of cat. Mario nodded. "I'm another Real who got stuck here by accident. I'm planning on helping Kirby here fix Dreamland so I can get back home, but before that I was wondering if you could help me out with something."


Rock nodded. "Go on," He prompted.


"I was wondering if it would be possible," Mario began, " to force Reals who are dreaming to start seeing the true Dreamland."


Kirby looked at Mario in surprise. "Mario, I thought you wanted--mmmpphh!" He was muffled as Mario suddenly placed a hand over his mouth, silencing him.


Rock hmm'd. "Well, I don't know. What with Dreamland the way it is now, it might be possible."


Mario looked even more hopeful. "Would you know how to do it?"


Rock gave Mario a suspicious glance. "You aren't seriously planning on trapping someone here, are you?"


Mario nodded vigorously. "I sure am! There's someone in Reality who's an enemy of mine. I need to make sure he doesn't do anything unpleasant in the waking world while I'm here."


"Unpleasant?" The human asked with raised eyebrows.


"Like stealing my girlfriend, taking over my home kingdom, causing mass destruction, et cetera. You know, villainous stuff." Mario blushed very slightly. He couldn't believe that he had just referred to Peach as his 'girlfriend'. He took his hand off Kirby's mouth finally, and the Dreamlander gave him a mock-glare of anger.


Rock blinked. "Oh. Um. Well." He thought for a moment. "It could be done, I suppose. Let's go back up to my hotel room-we'll talk more there."


"Pakia chupi…kacha packu pupu chu?" (Good idea…but where's your hotel room?)


The group looked around themselves, suddenly realizing that the chase had led them into a different part of the city. "Um, I don't know." Rock admitted.


Kirby looked up at the buildings around them. They were on a street corner at the intersection of two nearly identical roads. "We're on Bubblebiscuits Boulevard. That's quite a few blocks away from your hotel, Rock." He identified immediately.


Mario blinked at the Dreamlander. "Wha? How can you tell?"


"I live here." He replied simply. He started walking back in the direction from which they had come. "C'mon, you guys. The hotel's this way." The others quickly followed, with Rush in the lead.

--------------------

"No, no, no, a thousand times NO!!"


The lavish, immaculate room was in complete chaos. Any item that wasn't bolted to the floor or on fire was currently being picked up and thrown by the raging tornado of berserker fury that was Princess Peach. Pillows, lamps, chairs, mirrors, shoes, drawers, and various other pieces of furniture littered the area haphazardly in some state of ruin.


"But princess!" The tiny Koopa Troopa messenger pleaded while ducking various items. "His highness King Bowser insists that you wear it to dinner tonight! Please calm down!"


From somewhere within the tornado a furious voice screamed, "I WILL NOT WEAR THAT THING ANYWHERE!!!"


The Koopa Troopa looked critically at the sleek black jumpsuit he held in one hand. "But it's not as if it looks THAT bad, Princess..."


The tornado suddenly paused, and several items in the midst of being thrown fell to the floor. Standing there was a red-faced Peach, breathing heavily with apoplectic fury written all over her expression. "That horrible excuse for a piece of clothing is nothing like what a proper princess should wear! It's not dignified! I'm a lady, not some...some sort of......slut!" She finally burst out. "Besides, I HATE BLACK!!!" The tornado resumed with enhanced anger. "I am NOT going to wear that, EVER, no matter WHAT! And you can go tell 'his highness' King Buttface that, TOO!"


The messenger was finally forced to either retreat out of the room or risk being clobbered by flying debris. With a faint squeak of fear, he chose the former and slammed the door shut behind him. In the hall outside, the sounds of objects hitting the walls were still audible. He fled from the terrifying noises as fast as he could, praying that Bowser's punishment for his failure would be less deadly than facing the Princess' wrath.

--------------------

Luigi awoke staring at a ceiling. It was a rather familiar ceiling, he thought. He got the impression that he'd looked at it quite a few times before. He lay for a few moments staring at the familiar ceiling before he turned his head to scan his other surroundings.

He was back in his room. Sunlight slanted through his window to splatter over the area in a display of golden color. Everything seemed normal. No scary noises coming from downstairs, no monsters jumping out to greet him. All was quiet and peaceful. He sat up.

Stretching and yawning, he wondered how long he'd been out. He decided that it had been a long time, considering that he'd fallen asleep in the middle of the night and it now appeared to be mid-afternoon outside. He walked over to the window and poked his head out. Nothing out of the ordinary around there. He could see Link out in the horse pasture with Epona, and Malon watching them off to the side. With relief he noted that neither of them sported any serious injuries after last night's ordeal.

Deciding that he would go join them outside in a little bit, Luigi walked over to the shower. Last night had caused him to get absolutely filthy, and he felt the desperate need to get clean before doing anything else.

Thirty minutes later, Luigi exited the shower feeling much better than before. He unfolded a pair of backup work clothes that he always carried with him. It's good to be constantly prepared for dirty experiences if you're the brother of Mario, he reflected as he put them on.

Speaking of whom, where was Mario, anyway? He ought to be up by now…

Luigi exited his room in his spare clothes and walked over to where he knew Mario's room to be. He knocked politely on the door. "Mario? Hello? Mario, are you awake yet?"

No answer. Luigi began to get slightly nervous. He tried the doorknob. Locked, of course. Luigi knocked harder. "Mario! Mario, can you hear me? It's Luigi! Open the door!"

Still, no answer came. Luigi tried to force down panic, struggling to keep himself from thinking about the possibility that the monsters had done something to Mario last night. Perhaps they'd kidnapped him, or hurt him so badly that he couldn't get to the door, or…no! He mustn't think about it!

Luigi began banging his fists upon the door full-force. "Mario, open up! MARIO!!" He yelled.

Silence.

Somewhere in the back of Luigi's mind, it occurred to him that he should go ask Malon for a spare key to this room so he could get into it. But at the same time, Luigi knew that he couldn't leave his brother alone to a possibly horrible fate, not even long enough to go get Malon. The green plumber became filled with the urgency to get inside that room. Aw, to heck with the room key! He'd have to find another way inside…

Luigi began to concentrate. Mario had once told him that he'd somehow permanently acquired the powers that Fire Flowers usually gave him, through repeated exposure to the fiery plants. Luigi had been exposed to Fire Flowers around just as much as Mario. Could it be possible that he'd acquired them, too?

Fire Flowers were a mystery, even among the natives of the Mushroom Kingdom where they grew. With petals seemingly made out of literal red flames, the plants were supposed to somehow provide magical powers to whomever plucked them. In the case of Mario and Luigi, this was the ability to unleash fiery energy from their hands in the form of fireballs. Mario had now permanently gained this ability. Had Luigi gained it as well?

Luigi closed his eyes tight in concentration and made the usual flicking motion with his wrist that usually produced a fireball when he was under a Fire Flower's effects. It was to his immense surprise (and growing relief) that he heard the familiar sizzle of burning energy that accompanied a fireball's creation. He opened his eyes.

In his hand Luigi held a bright green ball of energy. It pulsed and glowed eerily with a rhythm that was almost hypnotic, and if you squinted your eyes while looking at it you could detect a faint field of greenish energy surrounding the hand that was holding the fireball. With newfound determination, Luigi hurled the flaming projectile at the door to Mario's room. The fireball hit with a solid smacking sound, instantly setting the wooden edifice aflame. Within moments, there was no sign at all that the door had ever existed save for a small pile of ashes lying in the doorway and a blackened, burnt doorknob fixture that rested on top of it. Luigi jumped over the remains and rushed into Mario's room, calling out his brother's name all the while.

Mario was lying on his bed, motionless. For a moment Luigi paused, wondering. Had Mario merely been sleeping this entire time?

Deciding to press his luck, Luigi walked up to his brother's bedside and tapped him on the shoulder. When this enticed no reaction from the plumber, Luigi began shaking his shoulder. "Mario?"

Still nothing. If not for the steady rising and falling of his chest, Mario might have been mistaken for dead. Luigi began to shake harder. "Mario! Get up! Wake up! Come on, stop fooling around!"

Mario did not stir, even when Luigi tried hitting him lightly on the head. Luigi's fears were confirmed. Those monsters last night must've done something to Mario that was preventing him from waking up. What if he was in a coma or something?

Luigi ran to the window in a panic. Sticking his head outside, he yelled, "LINK! MALON! HELLLLP!!"


--------------------


"Okay. We're here!"

They stood in the lobby of the hotel around half an hour later. Kirby hadn't been kidding about how far away the hotel was; they'd had to walk several blocks before arriving here.

Rock cast a sideways glance at the desk clerk, who was eyeing his companions suspiciously. "It's okay, Cid. They're with me."

The desk clerk nodded and went back to his business, still looking at the newcomers out of the corner of his eye. Rock led them out of the lobby and to a flight of stairs that they went up. At the top was a long hallway that was lined on either side with doors. Rock directed them over to one of these.

"Let's see," Rock muttered while digging around in his pockets. "I've got my room key here somewhere…aha!" He pulled out a flat white card with a barcode, and slid it into a slot in the door just above the handle. There was a beep, and they heard the door unlock.

Rock opened the door for them. "Come on in." The others followed him inside, and the door swung shut behind them.

Mario was surprised at how similar this room looked to the one he was currently sleeping in, in Reality. The bed even seemed the same, except it had a different spiral design on it. He mentioned this to Kirby, and the pink ball whispered an explanation that Dreamland's inhabitants often used building techniques, cooking recipes, and other parts of cultures from the dreams of Reals, if they seemed more effective or easier than the methods the Dreamlanders used otherwise. In this case, they had copied the (highly effective) Hylian design for hotel rooms and beds.

"Interesting…" Mario muttered.

Suddenly everyone in the room heard a deep rumble that vibrated the walls and floor. They looked around for the source, then finally at Kirby, who was smiling sheepishly.

"That was my stomach. Sorry."

Rock cocked his head at the Dreamlander. "Hungry, huh? That's okay…I've got some food around here somewhere…" He turned from them, walked over to a suitcase placed on top of a table next to the bed, and called out. "Over here. Hang on a sec and I'll get it for you, I've kinda got my arms full right now..."

Tango had begun struggling to escape and catch Pikachu again. Rock gritted his teeth and attempted to restrain the irate feline as Tango yowled his displeasure at being held against his will. Rush began barking in a reprimanding tone at the cat, and Tango hissed right back at the dog. The next thing anyone knew, the two animals were suddenly caught up in a verbal argument that nobody else could understand.

While Tango was distracted with Rush, Rock got out a lengthy piece of chain and hooked it to Tango's collar so the cat couldn't get away again. Then the human looped the other end around one leg of the bed and hooked it to the chain's middle, and finally dropped Tango. The famished feline immediately made a dash for Pikachu at the room's other end, but the bed it was tied to was sturdy and wouldn't be giving it any slack any time soon. Tango growled and gnashed his teeth, clawing at the restraint that was keeping it away from its rightful dinner. Eventually it gave up on trying to escape and sat back on its haunches, staring at Pikachu hungrily and silently daring him to come over to this side of the room.

Of course, Pikachu would be doing no such thing. He hid behind Mario's legs again and peeked out at the feline fearfully.

"CHAKAU CHU KAPI PICHU! KAPA!!" (IT'S GONNA EAT ME! HELP!!)

"It's all right." Rock reassured the terrified Pokèmon. "As long as he's tied up, he won't be able to get to you."

Pikachu peeked out from behind Mario's shoes a little more. "Pika chu?" (You sure?) Rock nodded, and the Pokèmon visibly relaxed. "Pakia…" (Good…)

Rock turned to the single suitcase on top of the bedside table and unzipped it. "Now, to food! Let's see here…what do you guys want?"

"What do you have?" Kirby replied while walking over to stand next to the human.

"Um…everything, just about. Name something."

"A three-foot radius pizza. With the works."

Amazingly, Rock actually pulled the requested food item out of the suitcase and handed it to Kirby. The Dreamlander inhaled it immediately. "Mmmm! Yummy!" he sighed after swallowing it. "Could I have another?"

Rock shrugged. "Sure." Another pizza just like the last one was brought out and handed to Kirby. Once again, the Dreamlander inhaled it and swallowed without bothering to chew. Kirby patted his stomach. "Ahh, delicious! That was an excellent appetizer!"

Mario was staring at Kirby again. The little Dreamlander never ceased to amaze him. Rock seemed used to this size of appetite, though, because he pulled Kirby's next order out without complaint.

Pikachu stared as well, his eyes huge with disbelief. For the first course, Kirby had ordered twelve prime ribs, eleven steaks (grilled medium well), fourteen Caesar salads with dressing, eight double bacon cheeseburgers with everything, ten catfish fillets, twelve chili dogs, another three-foot- radius pizza, and three cases of soft drink cans for a beverage. Mario tried to figure out how all of this food managed to fit inside the small suitcase that Rock was getting it out of, but doing so made his head hurt. He was too stunned to dwell on it for very long, anyway.

Kirby had moved on to the second course, which included everything from the first course multiplied twice. The Dreamlander was inhaling the food as fast as Rock was pulling it out, so in a few minutes they had finished.

"Now," Kirby began while licking his lips, "for dessert."

"Hold it!" Mario interrupted. "Kirby, how the heck could you eat all of that? Better yet, how the heck could you eat all of that and STILL BE HUNGRY?!?"

"Don't forget that Dreamlanders have big appetites, Mario!" Kirby reminded him.

"Well, yeah, but…!"

"And when I said 'big', I meant 'around as big as Dreamland'."

Mario gaped. "Gaaaaah…"

"Anyway, as I was saying," Kirby resumed, "to dessert! I'll have a banana split double fudge sundae with granola and a cherry on top, two whole cheesecakes, fourteen chocolate milkshakes, five apple pies, two cherry cobblers, a three-layer vanilla cake with chocolate frosting…" The list went on and on. Mario and Pikachu didn't utter another word of protest for the rest of the meal, having been stunned speechless by the display of the Dreamlander's colossal appetite and bottomless stomach.

At last Kirby stopped rattling off food items and leaned back against the wall happily. Rock turned to the room's other awestruck inhabitants.

"Anybody else want anything?"

"I…I…I think I'll just have…some lasagna." Mario mumbled out at last, naming the first Italian dish that popped into his head. Rock handed the requested pasta to Mario on top of a white plate, along with a fork and a knife. The plumber blinked and accepted the food, gazing at Rock curiously as he got out some Pokèmon Food for Pikachu.

"Rock," he asked between bites, "how could you fit all that food inside that suitcase? For that matter, how could you have known what we would want to eat so you could pack it in there?"

Rock shrugged. "I didn't."

Mario's gaze implored him to elaborate, so he continued.

"What's really inside this suitcase is a special mechanical device that allows the user to alter energy into various forms. In this case, it used air particles for its fuel source."

Mario, Pikachu and Kirby all gazed at him blankly.

"It allows you to create food out of thin air." Rock clarified.

"Ah." Mario and Kirby understood. Pikachu merely nodded.

"Pretty cool, Rock!" Kirby echoed the thought on all their minds. "Where'd you get it?"

"Um…a…friend of mine gave it to me. He's an inventor."

"Pika capi chupa?" (What's his name?)

"Dr. Light." Rock replied shortly while re-zipping the suitcase. He didn't seem to eager to explain any further on the subject, and the others didn't push him to do so.

Rock turned back to his guests. "Okay!" He exclaimed while clapping his hands together. "You wanted to talk about trapping an enemy in Dreamland, correct?"

Mario nodded. After gulping down his food, he replied. "Yeah. His name is Bowser. Would you know how to do something like that to him?"

Rock sat on the edge of his bed and thought for a long moment. Finally he answered. "Yes, and no. I've been studying Dreamland's behavior recently...and it might be theoretically possible to do something such as what you're asking. But nobody's ever tried it before, so I'm not sure if it'd work or not..."

He paused. Mario impatiently tried to prompt him further. "Go on! How does it work?"

"...well, in order to do so, you must be inside the dream of the Real that you'd want to trap. If you're inside the dream and somehow convince the Real that he or she is dreaming and are in Dreamland, then that Real might stop dreaming and see Dreamland's true form. Of course, this would only work if you could get the Real to actually believe what you're telling him or her."

Mario stood silently for a moment, chewing his pasta and mulling this thought over in his mind. "Well, that shouldn't be so hard to do." He spoke at last. "I've already encountered one of Bowser's dreams, anyway."

"Mario, wait a second!" Kirby jutted in. "You don't understand just how large of a place Dreamland is! Bowser's dreams could occur anywhere, and the idea of you somehow stumbling into another of them in a kingdom this large isn't just insane, it's stupid. If you can find another of Bowser's dreams during your whole stay here, I'll eat your hat!"

Mario suddenly clamped his hands down over his cap in a protective impulse. "Like heck you will!"

Kirby grinned. "Okay, okay, maybe I won't eat the hat. Although it looks awfully tasty now that you mention it…just kidding, just kidding!" He quickly amended when Mario shot a deadly glare at him.

Mario sighed and gave the Dreamlander a firm look. "Kirby, I refuse to believe that any kingdom could be as big as what you're describing. If this planet were as large as you make it sound, then the gravity would be astronomical..."

"But Dreamland isn't restricted to just this planet!" Kirby interrupted.

Mario stopped talking in mid-sentence. "Come again?"

"Dreamland is a kingdom that is spread out over dozens of galaxies and planets, not just this single one. The planet you're currently standing on is named Floria, and it's hardly a comparison in size to the entire kingdom! Bowser's dreams will probably occur on another one of Dreamland's planets or galaxies entirely, and you will have absolutely no hope of finding another of them again unless you just so happen to be at the exact right spot when the next dream takes place."

To the surprise of everyone in the room, Mario gave in to his mounting frustration and slammed a fist into the wall. The force of the blow shook the room almost as much as Kirby's growling stomach had. Cracks spiderwebbed away from the point of impact, making chips of paint fall to the floor. "Damn! Kirby, why didn't you TELL me this sooner?!?" He growled.

Kirby blinked at Mario's fit of anger, and slowly backed away from the seething plumber. "Um...I didn't really think it was that important." He admitted. "Although, in retrospect, I guess I should have told you anyway......sorry, Mario." He said this last in a mumble, unable to meet the plumber's gaze.

Somehow, Mario actually seemed to calm down a great deal. "Ah, it's all right, Kirby. I'm not really mad at you, anyway. I'm mad at Bowser. He's got free reign out there, doing who-knows-how-much chaos, while I'm stuck in here unable to do anything..." Mario paused. "...on second thought, I think I'm maddest at whatever's wrong with Dreamland." He clenched a fist. "Man, if someone's messed up this kingdom on purpose, I am SO going to beat the living crud outta him..."

Rock placed a sympathetic hand on Mario's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry about it. You'll be able to get back to Reality soon enough."

"I hope so." Mario sighed. "Well, so much for that!" He shrugged. "I came here hoping you could help me, but now I guess we'd better be moving on..."

Rock looked back and forth between the three travelers. "Let me come with you." He suddenly spoke up.

All three looked at him. "What?" Kirby asked.

"Let me come with you, please!" Rock repeated. "I've been stuck here for a really long time and I'd sure appreciate it if I could finally help myself get home. I was planning on setting out to help fix Dreamland myself in a couple days anyway. And now that Kirby's here, I'd love to help him out with another one of his adventures."

Mario blinked. "But, what about all your luggage? And your pets, what will you do with them? Heck, are you really even that good at fighting?"

Rock grinned. He turned to the suitcase and seemed to talk to it. "Okay, Eddie, you can cease camouflage now!"

To the amazement of Mario and Pikachu, the suitcase actually shimmered and faded away to reveal a short, robotic creature. It had two short legs and a crown-shaped top, and in its front two large round eyes blinked at them. The entire thing was painted a bright fire-truck red.

"Meet Eddie, robot #1070 of the FlipTop design. He's a special traveling companion that I can call on in and out of battle to bring me items and stuff. Think of him like a walking, sentient suitcase."

Eddie crouched his knees in a strange version of a bow, and the others waved back.

"As for Rush and Tango..." Rock walked over to Rush and reached down to the dog's collar. On the collar's underside there was a hidden button that nobody had noticed there before. Rock pushed it. Suddenly Rush's fur shimmered and disappeared, to be replaced by shiny red armor. Rock repeated this procedure with Tango, and the cat's fur was replaced by green armor plating.

"They're robots." Rock confirmed their thoughts. "Dr. Light built them for me some time ago to help me battle an evil mad scientist named Dr. Wily. I can call them via radio signal and they'll automatically teleport to my location to help me out, just like Eddie. I can use Rush to fly for short distances, whereas Tango can be used as a projectile weapon." As if on cue, the cat curled up into a nearly perfect green ball. Once it had done so, dozens of tiny sharp spikes protruded from its body, making it look like a round porcupine. "The spikes can be launched as their own projectiles, too." Rock added. Tango uncurled from his ball position, and the spikes disappeared as if they'd never been there. Then it went back to staring at Pikachu hungrily.

"Let me guess," Mario muttered under his breath. "You're a robot too, aren't you?"

Mario thought he'd spoken too softly to be overheard, but Rock surprised him by answering. "Yep." Rock pressed another hidden button underneath his left wrist, and a bright flash of white light engulfed his body. When it had faded and spots had stopped dancing in front of Mario's eyes, he could see that Rock had become clad in dark- and light-blue armor, as well as in a round blue helmet. Rock pounded a fist onto his chest, and the dull clang of metal colliding with metal filled the room.

"When I was originally built, Dr. Light had intended for me to be his lab assistant, and named me Rock. But then his partner Dr. Wily suffered a mind- altering lab accident that turned him evil. Soon afterward, Dr. Wily stole a group of prototype robots Dr. Light had been planning on manufacturing globally, and reprogrammed them to try to help Wily take over the world. At this point Dr. Light upgraded me to have armor and weapons systems, so as to try and combat the insane doctor. (This uniform that you see here is one of those upgrades, in fact.) It was at this point that Dr. Light decided to give me a new name to fit my new appearance, so I was thusly re-dubbed 'Mega Man'. I succeeded in destroying the robot prototypes and ruining Dr. Wily's plans, but the doctor himself somehow managed to escape. Ever since then I've been fighting him and his creations in order to bring him to justice.

"But just recently, while I was doing my usual re-charging routine during the night, I suddenly found myself stuck in Dreamland. Normally robots aren't supposed to dream, but since Dreamland's so screwed up lately, I guess I'm an exception. Shortly afterwards, when I tried calling Rush, Tango, and Eddie to my side, they were unable to teleport back home afterwards like they are normally supposed to. I eventually realized that the four of us were stuck here, so I started travelling until I came across this town. I've been staying here ever since."

"When I'm not in my armor like this, I prefer my old name to my new one. But when I'm in Battle Uniform, call me Mega Man instead, okay?"

"Cocky, aren't you?" Mario remarked. "I mean, we haven't even granted you permission to join our group yet, and you're nonetheless acting like you're already in it."

Kirby cut off an argument before one could begin. "It's okay, Mario. I'll be glad to let him accompany us. Heck, we could use all the help we can get, anyway."

"Okay, fine. But you never did answer my third question, Ro- I mean, Mega Man."

"You mean, the one about my fighting abilities? Heh, I think you need a demonstration of what I can do. Here, everybody grab hands! I'm gonna teleport us to someplace more...suitable."

When everyone was touching each other except for the animals, Mega Man reached over and pressed a button on his arm. In a flash of bluish light, the entire group disappeared.


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Peach finally stopped her tantrum once she was sure that the hapless messenger Koopa was too far away to hear her anymore. She sat down on her bed in a huff and crossed her arms angrily. The NERVE of that Bowser! How dare he attempt to give her advice on what she should wear!

For a couple minutes Peach continued to sulk, until something about the door the messenger Koopa had left through caught her eye. She got up off the bed and moved closer to inspect it further. What she saw almost made her laugh out loud.

The Koopa that had left earlier had forgotten to lock the door after leaving, leaving her completely free to escape.

Not wanting to waste such a perfect opportunity, Peach rolled up the sheets underneath her bedcovers to make it look as though she was asleep under them. Then, ever-so-quietly, she creaked the door open and crept out into the hall.

It was time for the Mushroom Kingdom to strike back for once. And at that moment she felt like the perfect candidate for the job.

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