The Crossover Saga
By Stoney (stoney107@yahoo.com)
Chapter 8
Reality
Mario and Kirby huddled together in the lee of an enormous boulder, sheltering themselves from the ferocious winds that whipped mercilessly about them. Long ago they had given up talking; no noise was audible over the roaring air. Nature must have something against them, Mario decided. Maybe he should plant more trees...
Mario motioned that he was going to try and take a look over the boulder. Kirby shook his head frantically 'no.' But Mario just gave him a determined expression and stood up.
Immediately the wind hit him in the face like a sledgehammer, forcing him back a couple feet. He grabbed the rough sides of the boulder to keep from being blown away, and strained to see through the powerful gusts.
Beyond the boulder that he and Kirby were using for shelter was a spectacular white marble fountain. It floated maybe 10 feet above the ground, ornately engraved and narrowing to a point at its base. Spilling out of it was a softly glowing liquid that seemed so alike yet unlike water. At first glance he thought it was polluted, since it was multi- colored. But then he realized that the liquid was naturally that way. He couldn't see the top of the fountain, it was so high up...
There was something moving beyond the fountain...dark gray shapes against a light gray background. Something was glowing green near the shapes, but he couldn't make out what it was. The wind was tearing away his breath, preventing him from breathing. His eyes watered. He couldn't look for much longer...
The wind's direction changed. Suddenly it was coming at Mario from behind, shoving him over the boulder toward what was happening up ahead. Mario was taken completely by surprise at this turn of events. The wind howled around him and lifted him up off the ground as though he weighed nothing. Only his grip on the boulder kept him anchored to the ground; but the wind increased its force, and his hands were torn loose.
Kirby yelled something that nobody could hear. He leaped up to go after Mario, and was promptly blown after him by the wind. He weighed even less than Mario did, and his balloonish body caught the gusts much easier. The world ran circles around him as he spun helplessly in midair, completely losing all sense of direction. His view of the landscape randomly darting to and fro. The sky was now below his feet...was that 'up'? Wait, now it had moved to his right. That meant his left was 'down'...no, now the ground was in front of him. Was East to his left or right? And now the sky was below him again.
Kirby soon felt a strong urge to regurgitate his lunch growing within his stomach and fought off the feeling as best he could. He was able to discern, by the fleeting glimpses he got of the landscape, that he had now entered the middle of the area where the glowing thing was. Then he noticed that he was flying directly toward it. He peddled his arms around and swung his legs frantically, making a futile effort to try and stop. Too late. Everything around him turned green, before soon fading to white...
Metal Sonic had been pointlessly flying through the trees for close to half an hour now, and was quickly becoming as close as a robot can get to being bored. He decided that a change of scenery was in order. With hardly a thought he gave an extra spurt of power to his rocket boosters. Activating his jet engine, he flew straight up into the air until he was above the forest canopy. Much better. His altitude now allowed him a panoramic view of the land into which he'd been dumped. What he saw confirmed his growing suspicions about what had happened to him.
The land was not Mobius, his home planet. He calculated a 98.7% chance that he had accidentally entered a trans-dimensional portal from Mobius to this present location. Such portals were fairly common on Mobius- the worlds that they led to were often called 'Zones'- but according to his mental List of known Zones, this Zone had never been discovered before.
Emotion circuits began to tingle with excitement. He was the first Mobian ever to set foot in this place. His master would very much indeed want to document and exploit this new location for all it was worth. He decided that he should go find the portal that led here and tell his master about all of this before exploring further.
He scanned his immediate surroundings for the unique energy signature that a Zone portal gave off. Ah, there it was. He suddenly stopped. Wait, the signal from the portal was coming from two different directions.
He was surprised. This Zone had its own Zone portals within itself?! Impossible!
Now his master would be VERY interested to learn of this place. Deciding that the other portal could wait for now, he descended toward the one he thought he had arrived through without a sound.
Once again, he was somehow expected. A hail of rocks and arrows greeted him as he grew level with the treetops. He took evasive maneuvers, swooping and ducking about far faster than any biological organism could. Finally he poured on the speed and made a beeline straight for the portal energy source, ignoring the primitive weapons that shot by him harmlessly. He entered the portal. Static overtook his vision. His auditory sensors began shutting down and turning on again. Numerous internal warning lights flashed. Something was scrambling his instruments! He gasped and flailed about frantically, trying to stop the destruction from happening...
He suddenly felt himself hit something and took the brunt of the impact with his lower head and neck; the latter bent alarmingly under the pressure and gave a sickening crack. An intense, sharp pain suddenly sliced into his shoulder blades. He gave a short, strangled cry. He skidded to a slow halt on his back and attempted to move; no response. More warnings appeared in his static-filled robotic vision. They explained to him the reason for his immobility. Apparently he had damaged a circuit conductor near the base of his head which routed power from his batteries to his arms and legs; Until the circuit could be repaired, his limbs would not have enough individual energy to function.
In organic terms, he'd broken his neck, and now he was paralyzed.
He pondered what feelings a biological organism being might be having right now. Humiliation crossed his mind. Helplessness, too. Fear, definitely. Lots and lots of fear. Emotion circuits began to supply the feelings accordingly. He strained to move something below his head; ANYTHING. But nothing worked. He was stuck here, lying in this position, until he was rescued.
Someone was standing over him. He immediately attempted a scan of the individual, but his radar had been damaged as well. The person was blocking out the sunlight, preventing him from seeing its features clearly. Another being came into his view. It appeared to be talking with the first one, and again was talking in an unknown and un-cataloged language; to Mecha it sounded similar to bird chirps. Of course, he admitted, it was entirely possible that his auditory sensors were malfunctioning. If that were the case, these beings could be speaking Basic Mobian and he wouldn't know it.
"Chiiirip, chiree-chirp." Said the first one.
"Chichi charip, chirrip chirree." The other replied. Both nodded at each other, and suddenly bent down to grab Mecha by his arms and legs. With a heave they lifted him off the ground and began carrying him.
Rage replaced his fear. His eyes flared several degrees brighter as his anger grew to such amounts that his emotion circuits threatened to overload. These beings were planning to throw him away like some piece of garbage. His computer mind produced several fitting adjectives at that point to describe his captors. He would have started loudly vocalizing them, too, if his external speaker was still working.
Suddenly doubt crept into his thoughts. What in his body WAS working?? He ran a self-diagnostic. His remaining anger was smothered with horror as he stared hard at the results. Less than 15% of his bodily functions were still operative. Whatever had happened to him in that portal had messed him up pretty good. He took this opportunity to look around himself...and felt the desperate urge to scream profanity rising within him.
He'd entered the wrong portal. This wasn't Mobius! It was outside what appeared to be a replica of a medieval castle...
His attention was averted when the two beings above him stopped walking and began to swing him by his arms and legs. Put me down, you fools! He mentally screamed at them. Of course they couldn't hear this. The beings gave him one last huge swing, and Mecha felt himself be thrown into the air. His body turned while he fell so he could see the ground coming up towards him. Apparently, he'd been thrown off a cliff. At the bottom were several sharp, pointy rocks, and the remains of other broken machines that had been thrown down there.
Mecha mentally winced. Oh, this was going to hurt...
WHAM. Nuts, bolts, cogs and gears flew as rocks impaled him everywhere. The pain flared up, so intense that his nerve conductor overloaded and shorted out. His last thought was to swear vengeance on those who had done this to him. His eyes flickered off, and his computer brain shut down from the strain of excess damage.
He'd been knocked out.
The two beings at the top waited to see if he would move again. When he didn't, they gave each other a high-five and walked away.
"Metal Sonic! Report!"
Static and fuzz answered this request.
"Mecha!" The voice said more forcefully. "Report NOW. That is a direct order!"
More static. More fuzz.
The speaker sat back and rubbed his several chins. "Hmmm, something's wrong." He muttered. "Even Mecha couldn't disobey a direct order. I programmed him that way." He moved his hands over a keyboard, fingers dancing over the keys, and the visual data from the spy cameras posted near Mecha's patrol zone came up onscreen. "Something must have happened to him..."
He rewound the tape to just after Mecha's last report. He watched as his robot entered the area of the screen. Suddenly Mecha stopped. He appeared to have noticed something going on to the left. Without warning he broke off from his patrol route and sped off in the direction of the disturbance.
He watched this without a sound. When Mecha was gone from the screen's vicinity he sat back with a sigh. What had Metal Sonic seen? He typed a certain string of commands onto the keyboard. One of the screens replaced its view with the image of one of his security robots, named SWATbots.
The SWATbot saluted him immediately. "What are your orders, sir?"
"Metal Sonic has disappeared. I want you to round up SWATbot squadrons 2 and 5 to go search for him. His last known location was at coordinates-" he checked the other screen-"12.35N, 346.867E. Find him and bring him back to base for repairs."
The SWATbot saluted again. "Yes, sir! We will begin at once. SWAT-Leader out."
He nodded. "Robotnik out." He leaned back and wearily began to rub his temples. He sighed again. Something told him that this was going to be a very long day...
"Mario?! Is that YOU??!"
"Wait a minute..." Link began. He'd just realized something.
The doctor standing in front of him gave the green plumber an odd look. "Yes, my name is Mario. Dr. Mario. You seem a bit familiar...have we met before?"
"Wait, hold on a second..." Link started. Luigi interrupted him by shoving him out of the way and running up to the doctor.
Luigi gripped Dr. Mario by his arms and pulled his face in close. "What do you mean?! I'm your brother! LUIGI!" He forcibly restrained himself from coughing while he said this.
At the mention of the name Dr. Mario's face went white. He began to shake. "No...no, you couldn't be..." He whispered.
Link suddenly forced himself in between the two. "HANG ON! TIME OUT!" He grabbed Luigi by the arm and pulled him off to the side to speak privately. "Luigi, listen to me! I think this is a Mario from another dimension. You know how you got here? Well, THIS Mario-" he pointed at the shaking doctor- "probably got here the same way. OUR Mario is still in Lon Lon Ranch, asleep."
Dr. Mario was now leaning unsteadily against the counter, trying to calm down his racing heart. At length he suddenly spoke, ashen-faced, to the shocked Luigi. "You...you couldn't be my brother. He died several years ago to a virulent disease...it's the reason I first started studying medicine..." His voice trickled away to a faint whisper at the end, and finally he could say no more. He took a deep breath and got control of himself. "You're not my brother." He said louder, with more conviction. "You are simply someone who looks like him. And that was a VERY cruel prank you pulled just now, by the way. Lord knows I've had enough hurt in my life already without you coming in here and..." He waved the sentence off, but Luigi got the idea.
Luigi blinked several times. "I'm...sorry..." he said at last with a sneeze and a cough.
"You should be. Now, what seems to be the problem?"
Amora pointed a bony finger at Luigi. "This poor soul seems rather sickly, Doctor. He has a nasty case of the coughs if I've ever seen one..."
Dr. Mario eyed Luigi intently with the expression of a trained expert. "Hmmm. You do look remarkably like him..." he muttered. "Fascinating..." He placed the knobs of his stethoscope in his ears and placed the dial on Luigi's chest. "Breathe deeply, please."
Luigi began to do so, and wound up going into another coughing fit. Dr. Mario's face suddenly twisted up in a smile. "I think I know what the problem is." He chuckled. He replaced his stethoscope and motioned for Luigi to follow him outside. "If you'll excuse us for a moment, my dear Madame?"
Amora nodded and waved the two off. "Go ahead and do whatever you can for that young man, Doctor."
Dr. Mario nodded and followed Luigi outside. Immediately Luigi took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air. "Ahhh, much better." He sighed.
Dr. Mario began to chuckle harder. "Here's my diagnosis: you appear to be allergic to the type of incense Madame Amora is so fond of using. I've told her time and time again that it is unnecessary, but she refuses to listen. She seems to think it adds 'atmosphere' to the place, when really it's quite the opposite, I'm afraid. My prescription to you is a healthy dose of fresh air and a recommendation to not enter that shop again. Link can get your medicine, if you really need it. Understand?"
Luigi nodded, happy to be away from the noxious fumes. "Oh, and one more thing." Dr. Mario said. He rummaged within his coat and pulled out a large pill capsule around the size of Luigi's pinky finger. One half of it was red, and the other half was blue. "Take this with you. It's one of my special Megavitamins, proven to cure any illness with one dose. It'll help you should you ever get in trouble with germs." He smiled. "They're extremely difficult to manufacture, and I've only produced a few, but I'll let you have one because you remind me of my brother so much. Keep it safe, and don't take it unless you're absolutely sure that you need it." He patted Luigi on the shoulder. "I'll go tell Link you're ready to go now. Good luck."
Luigi was speechless. He tried to voice some thanks, but Dr. Mario waved the sentiments off. "You don't need to thank me. Consider it a gift." The words sounded oddly familiar to Luigi, almost like déjà vu. He nodded. "In that case, thanks for the luck. I'll need it."
Dr. Mario cocked his head curiously at Luigi as he opened the door to the Potion Shop, and stopped. "One more question. Why did you come here in the first place, anyway?"
"Ummm..."Luigi stammered. "One of my, uh, family members is sick."
Dr. Mario nodded sadly. "I know how you feel." Then he re-entered the shop.
"'You do a nice thing, nice things happen to you'..." Luigi quoted. It was an old Mushroomian proverb he'd learned a long time ago...but he'd never really understood its meaning, until now. He tucked the Megavitamin safely away in a pocket of his overalls.
A few minutes later Link came out holding a bottle full of glowing blue liquid. "THIS ought to wake Mario up." He said with a sly grin. "It's a healing potion that contains one drop of Conic Pepper Acid, the spiciest substance known to Hyrule. GUARANTEED to get him moving once he drinks it."
Luigi grinned back. "Gosh, I could use some of that back home. You have no idea how hard it is to get him out of bed normally."
Link began laughing. "Well, maybe I'll let you take the remainder home with you once we use some of it on him."
Luigi began to laugh as well. "Okay, that'd be great!"
"Come on. Let's see what happens when he drinks it!" Link raced off, and Luigi quickly followed.
"You've gotta be KIDDING me!" She gaped.
"It's no joke! We swear!"
"How could a red light completely pulverize a 140-meter tree?!"
Mido scratched his head underneath his ever-present green cap. "I don't know. Maybe the monster used magic or something?"
Saria was staring, dumbfounded, at the spot where one of the Lost Woods' largest trees had once stood. Now all that remained of the mighty giant Redoak was a circular brown crater and a small pile of ash at its center. The monster, of course, was nowhere to be seen, but Saria could tell that Mido and Dore weren't pulling pranks this time when they showed her this evidence of its' existence.
She shook her head slowly, disbelief etched across her expression. "I just don't understand it. There isn't any sort of spell that could do something like this without setting the whole forest aflame! What's going on here??"
Mido and Dore shrugged in unison. They were helpless to answer, but were relieved nonetheless that Saria now believed them.
Saria went quiet for a moment, thinking about what to do. Finally she spoke to the other two Kokiri. "I'm gonna try to talk to Link, guys. He needs to know about this. I need you two to be very quiet while I do this, okay?"
Mido and Dore shrugged again. Sure, whatever.
Saria put her ocarina to her lips and slowly began to play her song, concentrating on the image of Link in her mind...
Link suddenly stopped, nearly dropping the potion-bottle in surprise. "Saria?!" He cried out loud.
Luigi stopped next to him. "What? Huh?" He asked perplexedly.
Link waved for him to be quiet. "One of my friends is trying to contact me telepathically. Hush..." He stopped talking and instead concentrated on listening to Saria's voice, talking to him from far away, telling him about an urgent danger to the forest...
Link looked up from his concentration with a gasp. "Oh, no. Luigi, I'm afraid that I'll have to leave you for now. There's some important business elsewhere that requires my presence, I'm afraid."
Luigi grabbed the Hylian by his sleeve. "It has to do with what your friend told you, doesn't it? Don't go yet! Wait for Mario to wake up, and we'll go with you."
Link shook his blonde head. "I'm sorry, but I have to go NOW. I'm needed at the Lost Woods, far to the south of here. It's a very long journey to get there, and I don't want to put you and Mario through it. I'll go alone."
"But Mario and I could be helpful to you in battle!" Luigi protested. "We could help you fight whatever is the problem down there!"
Link thought about this for a moment. "True," he replied slowly, "but..."
"And the distance is no problem for me and Mario!" Luigi cut him off. "We've traveled much, much longer distances than this before, believe me. It'll be no problem for us to keep up."
Link grinned suddenly and began laughing. "Geez, Luigi, you're as stubborn as I am! All right, then. We'll head back to Lon Lon Ranch to get Mario, and then you two can come with me." Mentally he also explained this to Saria. She replied that it was okay, as long as he hurried. He nodded and ended the mental conversation. "Okay! Let's go, then!"
Both of them raced for the village entrance, eager to give Mario the potion and start their journey.
Saria stopped playing and nodded. "Link's coming to help." She sighed. "But it'll take him awhile to get here, since he has to help someone else before he can help us."
"Why can't he help US first?" Dore asked with a touch of hurt in his voice. "Are we less important to him than some stranger??"
"Dore, calm down. If I know Link, he probably already promised to help this other guy and doesn't want to back down on his word." Mido glanced at Saria as he said this. "Right?"
She nodded. "That's it exactly, Mido. Apparently you know Link better than you let on." She motioned for the other two to follow her. "Anyway, come on. We need to tell the other Kokiri about this, too." She led them in the direction of the Kokiri Village, worrying all the way.
Mario couldn't see anything. He was tumbling helplessly through a white void of light and sound. It was white purer than the purest snow, almost like the robes of angels, or the sterilized sheets of hospital beds...
He felt himself hit a surface and gasped in surprise. He was lying on something...but he couldn't tell what, since he was partially blinded by the light. He blinked several times, but the lack of vision remained. He lay still and waited, hoping the blindness was only temporary.
After a few seconds he could make out individual shapes and colors again. Unsteadily he stumbled to his feet, feeling rather dizzy and lightheaded. Gosh, what just happened? Had he gone through that weird green light he'd seen?
He closed his eyes and shook his head, willing the spots dancing before his vision to leave. he blinked several times, and his vision cleared. Suddenly he noticed his surroundings. The setting came as such a shock to him, so completely unexpected on his part, that he threw caution to the wind and yelled out,
"Bowser's castle?! What the heck??!"
He heard a soft "Oof!" behind him and turned around. There, lying on the floor with his arms over his eyes, was Kirby. Mario helped him get to his feet, since the pink puffball had apparently also been blinded. "Don't worry, your vision will come back in a minute." He reassured the Dreamlander.
"Mario? Is that you?" Kirby asked, while taking his arms off his eyes and blinking rapidly. "Where are we?"
"The fortress of my arch-enemy." Was Mario's casual reply. "We must've entered another dream. Why do you ask?"
Kirby's next statement sounded very frightened. "I can't sense Dreamland anymore."
"Huh?"
"Being a Dreamlander has certain advantages, one of them being that you can tell if your surroundings are caused by a dream or if they're not. Right now, they're not."
Mario paused and though about this. "You mean this isn't a dream?"
Kirby shook his head, which made his whole body shake like Jell-O. His vision was quickly returning. Already he could see Mario staring at him with an amazed look upon his face.
"We're in Reality?"
Kirby nodded.
"MY Reality?"
Kirby shrugged, then nodded again. "I think so."
Mario blinked twice as he processed this news. He attempted to say something more, but no sound came out of his mouth. This new predicament, coupled with everything else he'd been through in the past few days, combined to form a jumbled haze in his mind. As he tried to come to grips with it, he found the stress was too much for him and promptly passed out.
Kirby blinked as Mario held up a hand, opened his mouth as if to speak, went cross-eyed, and fell over backwards. He was out like a light. Kirby shook his head slowly, and sighed. "Reals..." He muttered.
While it has often been said that robots had more endurance than humans, whoever said they had limitless stamina was lying. Rush's servomotors began to whine, and his speed dropped gradually. He had not been built to stay in this configuration for this long. Mega Man noticed the canine's weariness sympathetically. "Howzabout a break, boy?"
Rush barked weakly and slowed down to a hover. Mega Man hopped off his dog's back, and Rush gratefully transformed back into his normal self.
Mega Man sat on a nearby rock and sighed. They'd been chasing Dark Matter for over an hour now, and there was still no sign of it or Pikachu anywhere. The landscape had quickly become dull and boring to look at, with only dirt and rocks to see in all directions. Oddly enough, neither he nor Rush had yet encountered any Reals' dreams.
Mega Man pulled out another communicator just like the one he'd given the other two. "Let's check up with the rest of the gang, shall we?" He suggested to his dog. Rush sat on his hind legs and barked his approval. Mega Man nodded and activated the device.
"Guys? Guys, can you hear me? Are you there?" Mega Man's voice suddenly came crackling through Mario's walkie-talkie. Kirby picked it up from where Mario had hooked it to his overalls and depressed the 'talk' button. "Mega Man?! Can you still hear us??!"
"Loud and clear, Kirby! What's wrong? You sound surprised to hear from me."
"We went to the problem's source like you told us, only to find this really weird green portal of some sort. We got thrown into it by adverse wind currents, and wound up in Mario's Reality!"
Back in Dreamland, on Darkstar, Mega Man raised an eyebrow. "'Adverse wind currents'? What do you mean, Mario's Reality? Where in his Reality are you?"
"Mario said it was the fortress of his arch-enemy."
Mega Man gave a low whistle. "Gee, another hostile location! Wow. You two just have the best luck sometimes, don't you?"
"You're telling me." Kirby grumbled. "I'm just amazed that this thing can pick up your signal at all when we're not even in the same kingdom as each other anymore."
Mega Man laughed. "Hey, I told you it had long range! Seriously, though, I have no idea either. Maybe it has to do with Dreamland being messed up or something."
Kirby shrugged and began to reply, but suddenly heard footsteps approaching their location. "Uh-oh! We've got company, Mega! I'll talk with you later! Bye!" Kirby clicked off the walkie-talkie without waiting for a reply and replaced it on Mario's overalls, then attempted to wake up the plumber himself. "Mario! Get up! We have to get out of here! Mario!"
Mario began to slowly come to. "Huh...? Kirby?" He groaned loudly.
"Ssh! Keep it down!" Kirby whispered. "Mario, we've gotta move! Incoming baddies are headed our way!"
Mario rose to his feet and shook the cobwebs out of his brain. "Great, just great."
Kirby was looking around frantically for a hiding place. "Where can we go?"
Mario fixed Kirby with a steady gaze. "We don't. I can handle a few Koopa Troopas easily. And if some of 'em try and get away, you can make them into Ability Hats." He turned to face the direction that the footsteps were coming from, scowling at the approaching danger. "I'm sick of running away. This time we'll stand and fight."
Kirby grew determined. "You're right." An impish grin worked its way onto his face. "Y'know, I've been wondering what a Koopa Hat would give me. Now I'll find out!"
Mario and Kirby stood side by side and looked at each other. "Let's make like heroes!" Kirby cheered. Together he and Mario charged down the hallway, screaming war cries. "YAAAAHHH-!!"
They turned around the corner-
-and pulled up short at the sight that met them. As Mario had predicted, there were numerous Koopa Troopas waiting for them. What neither of them could have expected, however, was the purple glow emanating from their eyes.
"Wha-?!" Kirby yelled. "What's Dark Matter doing HERE??!"
"Who cares? LOOK OUT!" Mario yelled back as the possessed Koopas charged them. He leaped above the troops without a sound. Normally, the Koopa Troopas might have realized what he was doing and tried to guard themselves from his attack; but Dark Matter was unfamiliar with Mario's tactics, and the only thing it knew about him was his Fire Flower abilities. It never knew what hit it.
Mario slammed down on top of the Koopa at the front of the pack, causing the turtle to shoot out of its own shell and into the rest of the baddies. Mario then picked up the discarded shell and slid it on the floor at high speed into the legs of the enemies. The front row of Koopas fell on top of each other in a heap.
"STRIKE!" Mario cheered. He leaped upwards again to repeat the procedure.
Kirby was having a blast, sucking up Koopas and spitting them out as projectiles. Long ago he'd turned one into an Ability Hat-now he sported a beak on the front of his face and wore a large round turtle shell that protected him from most attacks. If he wanted another projectile he could simply take off the shell and throw it at the enemies, then steal one of the other shells to wear instead.
A thought occurred to him. Maybe he should even these odds a little bit. He began to concentrate. The shell and beak disappeared into a swirling light that resolved itself into a Koopa Troopa, standing next to him. It looked just like the others they were fighting, except it had a blue shell instead of a green or red one. "Hi!" It spoke to Kirby cheerfully. It was obviously a female, from the sound of its voice. "My name's Kapi." She looked around at the chaos, and her expression hardened with anger when she saw that Dark Matter had possessed the other Koopas. "Need some help?"
"Sure!" Kirby replied with a smile. Kapi nodded, took off her shell, and hurled it at the enemies. But instead of the shell just sliding to a stop, as Kirby's had done, it flew back toward Kapi until she caught it with one hand. "Boomerang Shell." She replied to Kirby's surprised stare. " This bracelet I'm wearing uses magnetic energy to bring it back to its owner."
For the first time Kirby noticed the gray metal band attached to Kapi's right wrist. His smile widened into a grin. "Cool!"
Meanwhile, Mario felt like he was jumping on a trampoline. The enemies below were so closely packed together that he could do one continuous string of jumps and get them all. By now he'd lost count of how many times he'd been bounced back into the air after jumping on a Koopa. He guessed it must've been somewhere in the forties.
He fell downwards to land on another victim, when something odd happened. The Koopa he was aiming for dodged his attack and grabbed him by the leg as he landed. Suddenly the purple glow left its eyes and began traveling up its arm towards Mario. Mario gasped as he felt an unfamiliar presence start to enter his mind. Dark Matter was trying to possess him!
He fought the invading presence wildly. He REFUSED to be used against his friends. The Dark Matter fought back, and Mario suddenly fell to the floor, eyes clenched shut as he waged an inner war inside himself. The Koopa still had a death grip on his leg.
Kirby saw this and grew alarmed. "Kapi!" He yelled. The female Koopa turned. Kirby pointed at the struggling Mario that was now lying on the ground, writhing around helplessly. The purple glow was slowly starting to crawl up his body toward his head. He was losing the battle.
Kapi understood immediately. With one well-aimed shot, she sent the Koopa holding Mario flying into the wall. With it's connection to Mario broken, Dark Matter had no choice but to retreat out of his body and resolve itself into the black orb with an eye that they had seen earlier in Dreamland. Mario gasped and panted where he lay, too exhausted from his struggle to stand.
Kirby growled in annoyance, more than a little angry at the enemy for having the nerve to try and possess his friend. He quickly darted over to Mario and snatched up his cap before the plumber could protest. Dark Matter never saw him lunge at it in a sideways version of a Super Jump, nor did it see him launch a wall of fireballs directly at it. Then the projectiles hit it, and it didn't see anything at all after that.
Kirby stood where the Dark Matter had, breathing heavily with a furious expression, but looking like he could take on the whole Koopa Army at once. "Thanks, Kirby." Mario weakly called over to he Pink Wonder.
"No problem!" Kirby replied.
Mario looked around himself. All the possessed Koopas that they'd been fighting had retreated during Mario's struggle. He walked back over to Kirby. "Who's your new friend?"
"My name's Kapi. Pleased to meet you!" Kapi introduced herself, performing a mock-curtsey.
Mario scratched his head underneath his cap. " A nice Koopa? Huh! Well, it's good to know that there's at least one friendly presence in this place."
Kapi suddenly frowned. "Actually, all of us Koopas are normally friendly. It's just that Kamek hypnotized all of us into searching for and destroying you. Normally we're too peace-loving to do anything like hurt someone without reason."
Kirby blinked. "And when I re-transformed you just now..."
"...the hypnotization was broken." Kapi finished. "I'm a little less peaceful than my siblings, and WILL fight if something is threatening their existence, such as those things that possessed us." She took off her shell and twirled it on one finger, and Mario noticed that underneath the shell Kapi was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. "I'm an expert markswoman with my shell too." She exclaimed.
"Wait. If Bowser makes you do stuff you don't like, why bother following him?" Mario asked.
"I didn't say BOWSER hypnotized us." She replied irritably. "We love Bowser. He's a very generous and kind leader, and we'd never dream of betraying him. No, I hate Kamek's guts instead. If you went and kicked his sorry shell clear to the moon, I wouldn't mind at all. Problem is, Bowser seems to like him for some unknown reason-I suspect Kamek brainwashed him- and I can't do anything to him without losing face in front of King Koopa."
"Hmmm..." Mario thought. An idea was beginning to form in his mind. "I'll tell you what, Kapi. You help us go rescue some companions of mine, and I'll go help you take out Kamek. Bowser would expect me to do something like that, and you won't get in trouble for it at all."
Hope gleamed in the tiny Koopa's eyes. "Really? You'd do that? For me??"
"Absolutely. I take it that once Kamek's out of the picture, your brothers and sisters will go back to normal, right?" Kapi nodded.
Kirby jumped up into the air with glee. "All RIGHT! Then maybe I can find out how Dark Matter got here, and use that to get back to Dreamland!"
"But first we have to defeat Dark Matter itself." Mario reminded him.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Kirby remembered, sobering up at once.
"Don't worry, I'll help you get rid of that evil black stuff! Let's go!" Kapi cheered. She began to run off, but stopped. "Umm, wait a minute. You didn't tell me who your companions are." She explained sheepishly. "Bowser puts guests in different parts of the castle depending on who they are."
Mario shrugged. "They're two princesses, and one of them is-"
"Mistress Peach?!" Kapi squeaked. "Oh, but you CAN'T rescue her, Mario! She's Bowser's true love! If she goes missing, he'll be crushed!"
"Look, do you want my help or not?"
Kapi sighed miserably. "Oh, alright. King Bowser, please forgive me for this..." She muttered. "I know where she is. Do you want to rescue that other princess, too?"
"Daisy? Yes. She's Peach's cousin."
"Ooh, so that's why they insisted on being put in neighboring rooms! I was wondering about that...okay, come on. I'll take you there." She began to lead the way, and Mario and Kirby followed.
She led them through hallway after hallway, intersection after intersection, past innumerable doors and up and down several staircases. Within the space of a few minutes Mario was completely turned around. He only hoped that Kapi knew where she was going, because otherwise they might be lost in here forever. The whole time they traveled he worried that they might encounter more Koopas, or worse, Dark Matter, but luck seemed to be with them, as they encountered nobody along the way. Neither he nor Kirby knew that Kapi was leading them through secret passageways and back tunnels that avoided the patrol routes of the castle guards; if they had, they might have been a little less nervous.
Finally Kapi stopped. "We're here." She whispered. "Look."
She stepped aside, and Mario was able to see that they were across the hall from two ornately-engraved doors standing side-by-side. One of the doors was standing wide open. The other door was missing from its hinges, and an ancient suit of armor was heaped on top of where it was lying on the floor. Guards were crawling all over the place, but none thought to look in their direction.
Kapi smirked. "Looks like the Mistress doesn't need you to rescue her after all."
Mario rolled his eyes. "It was probably Daisy who did this. She always did have a hot temper." They retreated back into the tunnel so the guards wouldn't accidentally find them.
"Well, what do we do now?" Kirby asked. "They could be literally anywhere in the castle by now."
"You're right." Mario sighed. "I suppose we might as well move on to part two of the plan, and go get rid of Kamek. We'll have to trust Peach and Daisy to take care of themselves, which I suspect they'll do rather well, if their break-out is any indication."
Kapi began to jump up and down excitedly. "Enough talking! Let's go get that MajiKoopa jerk, and make him pay for hurting my family!" The other two agreed, and she once again began to lead them back through the infinite tunnels.
By Stoney (stoney107@yahoo.com)
Chapter 8
Reality
Mario and Kirby huddled together in the lee of an enormous boulder, sheltering themselves from the ferocious winds that whipped mercilessly about them. Long ago they had given up talking; no noise was audible over the roaring air. Nature must have something against them, Mario decided. Maybe he should plant more trees...
Mario motioned that he was going to try and take a look over the boulder. Kirby shook his head frantically 'no.' But Mario just gave him a determined expression and stood up.
Immediately the wind hit him in the face like a sledgehammer, forcing him back a couple feet. He grabbed the rough sides of the boulder to keep from being blown away, and strained to see through the powerful gusts.
Beyond the boulder that he and Kirby were using for shelter was a spectacular white marble fountain. It floated maybe 10 feet above the ground, ornately engraved and narrowing to a point at its base. Spilling out of it was a softly glowing liquid that seemed so alike yet unlike water. At first glance he thought it was polluted, since it was multi- colored. But then he realized that the liquid was naturally that way. He couldn't see the top of the fountain, it was so high up...
There was something moving beyond the fountain...dark gray shapes against a light gray background. Something was glowing green near the shapes, but he couldn't make out what it was. The wind was tearing away his breath, preventing him from breathing. His eyes watered. He couldn't look for much longer...
The wind's direction changed. Suddenly it was coming at Mario from behind, shoving him over the boulder toward what was happening up ahead. Mario was taken completely by surprise at this turn of events. The wind howled around him and lifted him up off the ground as though he weighed nothing. Only his grip on the boulder kept him anchored to the ground; but the wind increased its force, and his hands were torn loose.
Kirby yelled something that nobody could hear. He leaped up to go after Mario, and was promptly blown after him by the wind. He weighed even less than Mario did, and his balloonish body caught the gusts much easier. The world ran circles around him as he spun helplessly in midair, completely losing all sense of direction. His view of the landscape randomly darting to and fro. The sky was now below his feet...was that 'up'? Wait, now it had moved to his right. That meant his left was 'down'...no, now the ground was in front of him. Was East to his left or right? And now the sky was below him again.
Kirby soon felt a strong urge to regurgitate his lunch growing within his stomach and fought off the feeling as best he could. He was able to discern, by the fleeting glimpses he got of the landscape, that he had now entered the middle of the area where the glowing thing was. Then he noticed that he was flying directly toward it. He peddled his arms around and swung his legs frantically, making a futile effort to try and stop. Too late. Everything around him turned green, before soon fading to white...
Metal Sonic had been pointlessly flying through the trees for close to half an hour now, and was quickly becoming as close as a robot can get to being bored. He decided that a change of scenery was in order. With hardly a thought he gave an extra spurt of power to his rocket boosters. Activating his jet engine, he flew straight up into the air until he was above the forest canopy. Much better. His altitude now allowed him a panoramic view of the land into which he'd been dumped. What he saw confirmed his growing suspicions about what had happened to him.
The land was not Mobius, his home planet. He calculated a 98.7% chance that he had accidentally entered a trans-dimensional portal from Mobius to this present location. Such portals were fairly common on Mobius- the worlds that they led to were often called 'Zones'- but according to his mental List of known Zones, this Zone had never been discovered before.
Emotion circuits began to tingle with excitement. He was the first Mobian ever to set foot in this place. His master would very much indeed want to document and exploit this new location for all it was worth. He decided that he should go find the portal that led here and tell his master about all of this before exploring further.
He scanned his immediate surroundings for the unique energy signature that a Zone portal gave off. Ah, there it was. He suddenly stopped. Wait, the signal from the portal was coming from two different directions.
He was surprised. This Zone had its own Zone portals within itself?! Impossible!
Now his master would be VERY interested to learn of this place. Deciding that the other portal could wait for now, he descended toward the one he thought he had arrived through without a sound.
Once again, he was somehow expected. A hail of rocks and arrows greeted him as he grew level with the treetops. He took evasive maneuvers, swooping and ducking about far faster than any biological organism could. Finally he poured on the speed and made a beeline straight for the portal energy source, ignoring the primitive weapons that shot by him harmlessly. He entered the portal. Static overtook his vision. His auditory sensors began shutting down and turning on again. Numerous internal warning lights flashed. Something was scrambling his instruments! He gasped and flailed about frantically, trying to stop the destruction from happening...
He suddenly felt himself hit something and took the brunt of the impact with his lower head and neck; the latter bent alarmingly under the pressure and gave a sickening crack. An intense, sharp pain suddenly sliced into his shoulder blades. He gave a short, strangled cry. He skidded to a slow halt on his back and attempted to move; no response. More warnings appeared in his static-filled robotic vision. They explained to him the reason for his immobility. Apparently he had damaged a circuit conductor near the base of his head which routed power from his batteries to his arms and legs; Until the circuit could be repaired, his limbs would not have enough individual energy to function.
In organic terms, he'd broken his neck, and now he was paralyzed.
He pondered what feelings a biological organism being might be having right now. Humiliation crossed his mind. Helplessness, too. Fear, definitely. Lots and lots of fear. Emotion circuits began to supply the feelings accordingly. He strained to move something below his head; ANYTHING. But nothing worked. He was stuck here, lying in this position, until he was rescued.
Someone was standing over him. He immediately attempted a scan of the individual, but his radar had been damaged as well. The person was blocking out the sunlight, preventing him from seeing its features clearly. Another being came into his view. It appeared to be talking with the first one, and again was talking in an unknown and un-cataloged language; to Mecha it sounded similar to bird chirps. Of course, he admitted, it was entirely possible that his auditory sensors were malfunctioning. If that were the case, these beings could be speaking Basic Mobian and he wouldn't know it.
"Chiiirip, chiree-chirp." Said the first one.
"Chichi charip, chirrip chirree." The other replied. Both nodded at each other, and suddenly bent down to grab Mecha by his arms and legs. With a heave they lifted him off the ground and began carrying him.
Rage replaced his fear. His eyes flared several degrees brighter as his anger grew to such amounts that his emotion circuits threatened to overload. These beings were planning to throw him away like some piece of garbage. His computer mind produced several fitting adjectives at that point to describe his captors. He would have started loudly vocalizing them, too, if his external speaker was still working.
Suddenly doubt crept into his thoughts. What in his body WAS working?? He ran a self-diagnostic. His remaining anger was smothered with horror as he stared hard at the results. Less than 15% of his bodily functions were still operative. Whatever had happened to him in that portal had messed him up pretty good. He took this opportunity to look around himself...and felt the desperate urge to scream profanity rising within him.
He'd entered the wrong portal. This wasn't Mobius! It was outside what appeared to be a replica of a medieval castle...
His attention was averted when the two beings above him stopped walking and began to swing him by his arms and legs. Put me down, you fools! He mentally screamed at them. Of course they couldn't hear this. The beings gave him one last huge swing, and Mecha felt himself be thrown into the air. His body turned while he fell so he could see the ground coming up towards him. Apparently, he'd been thrown off a cliff. At the bottom were several sharp, pointy rocks, and the remains of other broken machines that had been thrown down there.
Mecha mentally winced. Oh, this was going to hurt...
WHAM. Nuts, bolts, cogs and gears flew as rocks impaled him everywhere. The pain flared up, so intense that his nerve conductor overloaded and shorted out. His last thought was to swear vengeance on those who had done this to him. His eyes flickered off, and his computer brain shut down from the strain of excess damage.
He'd been knocked out.
The two beings at the top waited to see if he would move again. When he didn't, they gave each other a high-five and walked away.
"Metal Sonic! Report!"
Static and fuzz answered this request.
"Mecha!" The voice said more forcefully. "Report NOW. That is a direct order!"
More static. More fuzz.
The speaker sat back and rubbed his several chins. "Hmmm, something's wrong." He muttered. "Even Mecha couldn't disobey a direct order. I programmed him that way." He moved his hands over a keyboard, fingers dancing over the keys, and the visual data from the spy cameras posted near Mecha's patrol zone came up onscreen. "Something must have happened to him..."
He rewound the tape to just after Mecha's last report. He watched as his robot entered the area of the screen. Suddenly Mecha stopped. He appeared to have noticed something going on to the left. Without warning he broke off from his patrol route and sped off in the direction of the disturbance.
He watched this without a sound. When Mecha was gone from the screen's vicinity he sat back with a sigh. What had Metal Sonic seen? He typed a certain string of commands onto the keyboard. One of the screens replaced its view with the image of one of his security robots, named SWATbots.
The SWATbot saluted him immediately. "What are your orders, sir?"
"Metal Sonic has disappeared. I want you to round up SWATbot squadrons 2 and 5 to go search for him. His last known location was at coordinates-" he checked the other screen-"12.35N, 346.867E. Find him and bring him back to base for repairs."
The SWATbot saluted again. "Yes, sir! We will begin at once. SWAT-Leader out."
He nodded. "Robotnik out." He leaned back and wearily began to rub his temples. He sighed again. Something told him that this was going to be a very long day...
"Mario?! Is that YOU??!"
"Wait a minute..." Link began. He'd just realized something.
The doctor standing in front of him gave the green plumber an odd look. "Yes, my name is Mario. Dr. Mario. You seem a bit familiar...have we met before?"
"Wait, hold on a second..." Link started. Luigi interrupted him by shoving him out of the way and running up to the doctor.
Luigi gripped Dr. Mario by his arms and pulled his face in close. "What do you mean?! I'm your brother! LUIGI!" He forcibly restrained himself from coughing while he said this.
At the mention of the name Dr. Mario's face went white. He began to shake. "No...no, you couldn't be..." He whispered.
Link suddenly forced himself in between the two. "HANG ON! TIME OUT!" He grabbed Luigi by the arm and pulled him off to the side to speak privately. "Luigi, listen to me! I think this is a Mario from another dimension. You know how you got here? Well, THIS Mario-" he pointed at the shaking doctor- "probably got here the same way. OUR Mario is still in Lon Lon Ranch, asleep."
Dr. Mario was now leaning unsteadily against the counter, trying to calm down his racing heart. At length he suddenly spoke, ashen-faced, to the shocked Luigi. "You...you couldn't be my brother. He died several years ago to a virulent disease...it's the reason I first started studying medicine..." His voice trickled away to a faint whisper at the end, and finally he could say no more. He took a deep breath and got control of himself. "You're not my brother." He said louder, with more conviction. "You are simply someone who looks like him. And that was a VERY cruel prank you pulled just now, by the way. Lord knows I've had enough hurt in my life already without you coming in here and..." He waved the sentence off, but Luigi got the idea.
Luigi blinked several times. "I'm...sorry..." he said at last with a sneeze and a cough.
"You should be. Now, what seems to be the problem?"
Amora pointed a bony finger at Luigi. "This poor soul seems rather sickly, Doctor. He has a nasty case of the coughs if I've ever seen one..."
Dr. Mario eyed Luigi intently with the expression of a trained expert. "Hmmm. You do look remarkably like him..." he muttered. "Fascinating..." He placed the knobs of his stethoscope in his ears and placed the dial on Luigi's chest. "Breathe deeply, please."
Luigi began to do so, and wound up going into another coughing fit. Dr. Mario's face suddenly twisted up in a smile. "I think I know what the problem is." He chuckled. He replaced his stethoscope and motioned for Luigi to follow him outside. "If you'll excuse us for a moment, my dear Madame?"
Amora nodded and waved the two off. "Go ahead and do whatever you can for that young man, Doctor."
Dr. Mario nodded and followed Luigi outside. Immediately Luigi took a deep breath of the fresh, clean air. "Ahhh, much better." He sighed.
Dr. Mario began to chuckle harder. "Here's my diagnosis: you appear to be allergic to the type of incense Madame Amora is so fond of using. I've told her time and time again that it is unnecessary, but she refuses to listen. She seems to think it adds 'atmosphere' to the place, when really it's quite the opposite, I'm afraid. My prescription to you is a healthy dose of fresh air and a recommendation to not enter that shop again. Link can get your medicine, if you really need it. Understand?"
Luigi nodded, happy to be away from the noxious fumes. "Oh, and one more thing." Dr. Mario said. He rummaged within his coat and pulled out a large pill capsule around the size of Luigi's pinky finger. One half of it was red, and the other half was blue. "Take this with you. It's one of my special Megavitamins, proven to cure any illness with one dose. It'll help you should you ever get in trouble with germs." He smiled. "They're extremely difficult to manufacture, and I've only produced a few, but I'll let you have one because you remind me of my brother so much. Keep it safe, and don't take it unless you're absolutely sure that you need it." He patted Luigi on the shoulder. "I'll go tell Link you're ready to go now. Good luck."
Luigi was speechless. He tried to voice some thanks, but Dr. Mario waved the sentiments off. "You don't need to thank me. Consider it a gift." The words sounded oddly familiar to Luigi, almost like déjà vu. He nodded. "In that case, thanks for the luck. I'll need it."
Dr. Mario cocked his head curiously at Luigi as he opened the door to the Potion Shop, and stopped. "One more question. Why did you come here in the first place, anyway?"
"Ummm..."Luigi stammered. "One of my, uh, family members is sick."
Dr. Mario nodded sadly. "I know how you feel." Then he re-entered the shop.
"'You do a nice thing, nice things happen to you'..." Luigi quoted. It was an old Mushroomian proverb he'd learned a long time ago...but he'd never really understood its meaning, until now. He tucked the Megavitamin safely away in a pocket of his overalls.
A few minutes later Link came out holding a bottle full of glowing blue liquid. "THIS ought to wake Mario up." He said with a sly grin. "It's a healing potion that contains one drop of Conic Pepper Acid, the spiciest substance known to Hyrule. GUARANTEED to get him moving once he drinks it."
Luigi grinned back. "Gosh, I could use some of that back home. You have no idea how hard it is to get him out of bed normally."
Link began laughing. "Well, maybe I'll let you take the remainder home with you once we use some of it on him."
Luigi began to laugh as well. "Okay, that'd be great!"
"Come on. Let's see what happens when he drinks it!" Link raced off, and Luigi quickly followed.
"You've gotta be KIDDING me!" She gaped.
"It's no joke! We swear!"
"How could a red light completely pulverize a 140-meter tree?!"
Mido scratched his head underneath his ever-present green cap. "I don't know. Maybe the monster used magic or something?"
Saria was staring, dumbfounded, at the spot where one of the Lost Woods' largest trees had once stood. Now all that remained of the mighty giant Redoak was a circular brown crater and a small pile of ash at its center. The monster, of course, was nowhere to be seen, but Saria could tell that Mido and Dore weren't pulling pranks this time when they showed her this evidence of its' existence.
She shook her head slowly, disbelief etched across her expression. "I just don't understand it. There isn't any sort of spell that could do something like this without setting the whole forest aflame! What's going on here??"
Mido and Dore shrugged in unison. They were helpless to answer, but were relieved nonetheless that Saria now believed them.
Saria went quiet for a moment, thinking about what to do. Finally she spoke to the other two Kokiri. "I'm gonna try to talk to Link, guys. He needs to know about this. I need you two to be very quiet while I do this, okay?"
Mido and Dore shrugged again. Sure, whatever.
Saria put her ocarina to her lips and slowly began to play her song, concentrating on the image of Link in her mind...
Link suddenly stopped, nearly dropping the potion-bottle in surprise. "Saria?!" He cried out loud.
Luigi stopped next to him. "What? Huh?" He asked perplexedly.
Link waved for him to be quiet. "One of my friends is trying to contact me telepathically. Hush..." He stopped talking and instead concentrated on listening to Saria's voice, talking to him from far away, telling him about an urgent danger to the forest...
Link looked up from his concentration with a gasp. "Oh, no. Luigi, I'm afraid that I'll have to leave you for now. There's some important business elsewhere that requires my presence, I'm afraid."
Luigi grabbed the Hylian by his sleeve. "It has to do with what your friend told you, doesn't it? Don't go yet! Wait for Mario to wake up, and we'll go with you."
Link shook his blonde head. "I'm sorry, but I have to go NOW. I'm needed at the Lost Woods, far to the south of here. It's a very long journey to get there, and I don't want to put you and Mario through it. I'll go alone."
"But Mario and I could be helpful to you in battle!" Luigi protested. "We could help you fight whatever is the problem down there!"
Link thought about this for a moment. "True," he replied slowly, "but..."
"And the distance is no problem for me and Mario!" Luigi cut him off. "We've traveled much, much longer distances than this before, believe me. It'll be no problem for us to keep up."
Link grinned suddenly and began laughing. "Geez, Luigi, you're as stubborn as I am! All right, then. We'll head back to Lon Lon Ranch to get Mario, and then you two can come with me." Mentally he also explained this to Saria. She replied that it was okay, as long as he hurried. He nodded and ended the mental conversation. "Okay! Let's go, then!"
Both of them raced for the village entrance, eager to give Mario the potion and start their journey.
Saria stopped playing and nodded. "Link's coming to help." She sighed. "But it'll take him awhile to get here, since he has to help someone else before he can help us."
"Why can't he help US first?" Dore asked with a touch of hurt in his voice. "Are we less important to him than some stranger??"
"Dore, calm down. If I know Link, he probably already promised to help this other guy and doesn't want to back down on his word." Mido glanced at Saria as he said this. "Right?"
She nodded. "That's it exactly, Mido. Apparently you know Link better than you let on." She motioned for the other two to follow her. "Anyway, come on. We need to tell the other Kokiri about this, too." She led them in the direction of the Kokiri Village, worrying all the way.
Mario couldn't see anything. He was tumbling helplessly through a white void of light and sound. It was white purer than the purest snow, almost like the robes of angels, or the sterilized sheets of hospital beds...
He felt himself hit a surface and gasped in surprise. He was lying on something...but he couldn't tell what, since he was partially blinded by the light. He blinked several times, but the lack of vision remained. He lay still and waited, hoping the blindness was only temporary.
After a few seconds he could make out individual shapes and colors again. Unsteadily he stumbled to his feet, feeling rather dizzy and lightheaded. Gosh, what just happened? Had he gone through that weird green light he'd seen?
He closed his eyes and shook his head, willing the spots dancing before his vision to leave. he blinked several times, and his vision cleared. Suddenly he noticed his surroundings. The setting came as such a shock to him, so completely unexpected on his part, that he threw caution to the wind and yelled out,
"Bowser's castle?! What the heck??!"
He heard a soft "Oof!" behind him and turned around. There, lying on the floor with his arms over his eyes, was Kirby. Mario helped him get to his feet, since the pink puffball had apparently also been blinded. "Don't worry, your vision will come back in a minute." He reassured the Dreamlander.
"Mario? Is that you?" Kirby asked, while taking his arms off his eyes and blinking rapidly. "Where are we?"
"The fortress of my arch-enemy." Was Mario's casual reply. "We must've entered another dream. Why do you ask?"
Kirby's next statement sounded very frightened. "I can't sense Dreamland anymore."
"Huh?"
"Being a Dreamlander has certain advantages, one of them being that you can tell if your surroundings are caused by a dream or if they're not. Right now, they're not."
Mario paused and though about this. "You mean this isn't a dream?"
Kirby shook his head, which made his whole body shake like Jell-O. His vision was quickly returning. Already he could see Mario staring at him with an amazed look upon his face.
"We're in Reality?"
Kirby nodded.
"MY Reality?"
Kirby shrugged, then nodded again. "I think so."
Mario blinked twice as he processed this news. He attempted to say something more, but no sound came out of his mouth. This new predicament, coupled with everything else he'd been through in the past few days, combined to form a jumbled haze in his mind. As he tried to come to grips with it, he found the stress was too much for him and promptly passed out.
Kirby blinked as Mario held up a hand, opened his mouth as if to speak, went cross-eyed, and fell over backwards. He was out like a light. Kirby shook his head slowly, and sighed. "Reals..." He muttered.
While it has often been said that robots had more endurance than humans, whoever said they had limitless stamina was lying. Rush's servomotors began to whine, and his speed dropped gradually. He had not been built to stay in this configuration for this long. Mega Man noticed the canine's weariness sympathetically. "Howzabout a break, boy?"
Rush barked weakly and slowed down to a hover. Mega Man hopped off his dog's back, and Rush gratefully transformed back into his normal self.
Mega Man sat on a nearby rock and sighed. They'd been chasing Dark Matter for over an hour now, and there was still no sign of it or Pikachu anywhere. The landscape had quickly become dull and boring to look at, with only dirt and rocks to see in all directions. Oddly enough, neither he nor Rush had yet encountered any Reals' dreams.
Mega Man pulled out another communicator just like the one he'd given the other two. "Let's check up with the rest of the gang, shall we?" He suggested to his dog. Rush sat on his hind legs and barked his approval. Mega Man nodded and activated the device.
"Guys? Guys, can you hear me? Are you there?" Mega Man's voice suddenly came crackling through Mario's walkie-talkie. Kirby picked it up from where Mario had hooked it to his overalls and depressed the 'talk' button. "Mega Man?! Can you still hear us??!"
"Loud and clear, Kirby! What's wrong? You sound surprised to hear from me."
"We went to the problem's source like you told us, only to find this really weird green portal of some sort. We got thrown into it by adverse wind currents, and wound up in Mario's Reality!"
Back in Dreamland, on Darkstar, Mega Man raised an eyebrow. "'Adverse wind currents'? What do you mean, Mario's Reality? Where in his Reality are you?"
"Mario said it was the fortress of his arch-enemy."
Mega Man gave a low whistle. "Gee, another hostile location! Wow. You two just have the best luck sometimes, don't you?"
"You're telling me." Kirby grumbled. "I'm just amazed that this thing can pick up your signal at all when we're not even in the same kingdom as each other anymore."
Mega Man laughed. "Hey, I told you it had long range! Seriously, though, I have no idea either. Maybe it has to do with Dreamland being messed up or something."
Kirby shrugged and began to reply, but suddenly heard footsteps approaching their location. "Uh-oh! We've got company, Mega! I'll talk with you later! Bye!" Kirby clicked off the walkie-talkie without waiting for a reply and replaced it on Mario's overalls, then attempted to wake up the plumber himself. "Mario! Get up! We have to get out of here! Mario!"
Mario began to slowly come to. "Huh...? Kirby?" He groaned loudly.
"Ssh! Keep it down!" Kirby whispered. "Mario, we've gotta move! Incoming baddies are headed our way!"
Mario rose to his feet and shook the cobwebs out of his brain. "Great, just great."
Kirby was looking around frantically for a hiding place. "Where can we go?"
Mario fixed Kirby with a steady gaze. "We don't. I can handle a few Koopa Troopas easily. And if some of 'em try and get away, you can make them into Ability Hats." He turned to face the direction that the footsteps were coming from, scowling at the approaching danger. "I'm sick of running away. This time we'll stand and fight."
Kirby grew determined. "You're right." An impish grin worked its way onto his face. "Y'know, I've been wondering what a Koopa Hat would give me. Now I'll find out!"
Mario and Kirby stood side by side and looked at each other. "Let's make like heroes!" Kirby cheered. Together he and Mario charged down the hallway, screaming war cries. "YAAAAHHH-!!"
They turned around the corner-
-and pulled up short at the sight that met them. As Mario had predicted, there were numerous Koopa Troopas waiting for them. What neither of them could have expected, however, was the purple glow emanating from their eyes.
"Wha-?!" Kirby yelled. "What's Dark Matter doing HERE??!"
"Who cares? LOOK OUT!" Mario yelled back as the possessed Koopas charged them. He leaped above the troops without a sound. Normally, the Koopa Troopas might have realized what he was doing and tried to guard themselves from his attack; but Dark Matter was unfamiliar with Mario's tactics, and the only thing it knew about him was his Fire Flower abilities. It never knew what hit it.
Mario slammed down on top of the Koopa at the front of the pack, causing the turtle to shoot out of its own shell and into the rest of the baddies. Mario then picked up the discarded shell and slid it on the floor at high speed into the legs of the enemies. The front row of Koopas fell on top of each other in a heap.
"STRIKE!" Mario cheered. He leaped upwards again to repeat the procedure.
Kirby was having a blast, sucking up Koopas and spitting them out as projectiles. Long ago he'd turned one into an Ability Hat-now he sported a beak on the front of his face and wore a large round turtle shell that protected him from most attacks. If he wanted another projectile he could simply take off the shell and throw it at the enemies, then steal one of the other shells to wear instead.
A thought occurred to him. Maybe he should even these odds a little bit. He began to concentrate. The shell and beak disappeared into a swirling light that resolved itself into a Koopa Troopa, standing next to him. It looked just like the others they were fighting, except it had a blue shell instead of a green or red one. "Hi!" It spoke to Kirby cheerfully. It was obviously a female, from the sound of its voice. "My name's Kapi." She looked around at the chaos, and her expression hardened with anger when she saw that Dark Matter had possessed the other Koopas. "Need some help?"
"Sure!" Kirby replied with a smile. Kapi nodded, took off her shell, and hurled it at the enemies. But instead of the shell just sliding to a stop, as Kirby's had done, it flew back toward Kapi until she caught it with one hand. "Boomerang Shell." She replied to Kirby's surprised stare. " This bracelet I'm wearing uses magnetic energy to bring it back to its owner."
For the first time Kirby noticed the gray metal band attached to Kapi's right wrist. His smile widened into a grin. "Cool!"
Meanwhile, Mario felt like he was jumping on a trampoline. The enemies below were so closely packed together that he could do one continuous string of jumps and get them all. By now he'd lost count of how many times he'd been bounced back into the air after jumping on a Koopa. He guessed it must've been somewhere in the forties.
He fell downwards to land on another victim, when something odd happened. The Koopa he was aiming for dodged his attack and grabbed him by the leg as he landed. Suddenly the purple glow left its eyes and began traveling up its arm towards Mario. Mario gasped as he felt an unfamiliar presence start to enter his mind. Dark Matter was trying to possess him!
He fought the invading presence wildly. He REFUSED to be used against his friends. The Dark Matter fought back, and Mario suddenly fell to the floor, eyes clenched shut as he waged an inner war inside himself. The Koopa still had a death grip on his leg.
Kirby saw this and grew alarmed. "Kapi!" He yelled. The female Koopa turned. Kirby pointed at the struggling Mario that was now lying on the ground, writhing around helplessly. The purple glow was slowly starting to crawl up his body toward his head. He was losing the battle.
Kapi understood immediately. With one well-aimed shot, she sent the Koopa holding Mario flying into the wall. With it's connection to Mario broken, Dark Matter had no choice but to retreat out of his body and resolve itself into the black orb with an eye that they had seen earlier in Dreamland. Mario gasped and panted where he lay, too exhausted from his struggle to stand.
Kirby growled in annoyance, more than a little angry at the enemy for having the nerve to try and possess his friend. He quickly darted over to Mario and snatched up his cap before the plumber could protest. Dark Matter never saw him lunge at it in a sideways version of a Super Jump, nor did it see him launch a wall of fireballs directly at it. Then the projectiles hit it, and it didn't see anything at all after that.
Kirby stood where the Dark Matter had, breathing heavily with a furious expression, but looking like he could take on the whole Koopa Army at once. "Thanks, Kirby." Mario weakly called over to he Pink Wonder.
"No problem!" Kirby replied.
Mario looked around himself. All the possessed Koopas that they'd been fighting had retreated during Mario's struggle. He walked back over to Kirby. "Who's your new friend?"
"My name's Kapi. Pleased to meet you!" Kapi introduced herself, performing a mock-curtsey.
Mario scratched his head underneath his cap. " A nice Koopa? Huh! Well, it's good to know that there's at least one friendly presence in this place."
Kapi suddenly frowned. "Actually, all of us Koopas are normally friendly. It's just that Kamek hypnotized all of us into searching for and destroying you. Normally we're too peace-loving to do anything like hurt someone without reason."
Kirby blinked. "And when I re-transformed you just now..."
"...the hypnotization was broken." Kapi finished. "I'm a little less peaceful than my siblings, and WILL fight if something is threatening their existence, such as those things that possessed us." She took off her shell and twirled it on one finger, and Mario noticed that underneath the shell Kapi was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. "I'm an expert markswoman with my shell too." She exclaimed.
"Wait. If Bowser makes you do stuff you don't like, why bother following him?" Mario asked.
"I didn't say BOWSER hypnotized us." She replied irritably. "We love Bowser. He's a very generous and kind leader, and we'd never dream of betraying him. No, I hate Kamek's guts instead. If you went and kicked his sorry shell clear to the moon, I wouldn't mind at all. Problem is, Bowser seems to like him for some unknown reason-I suspect Kamek brainwashed him- and I can't do anything to him without losing face in front of King Koopa."
"Hmmm..." Mario thought. An idea was beginning to form in his mind. "I'll tell you what, Kapi. You help us go rescue some companions of mine, and I'll go help you take out Kamek. Bowser would expect me to do something like that, and you won't get in trouble for it at all."
Hope gleamed in the tiny Koopa's eyes. "Really? You'd do that? For me??"
"Absolutely. I take it that once Kamek's out of the picture, your brothers and sisters will go back to normal, right?" Kapi nodded.
Kirby jumped up into the air with glee. "All RIGHT! Then maybe I can find out how Dark Matter got here, and use that to get back to Dreamland!"
"But first we have to defeat Dark Matter itself." Mario reminded him.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Kirby remembered, sobering up at once.
"Don't worry, I'll help you get rid of that evil black stuff! Let's go!" Kapi cheered. She began to run off, but stopped. "Umm, wait a minute. You didn't tell me who your companions are." She explained sheepishly. "Bowser puts guests in different parts of the castle depending on who they are."
Mario shrugged. "They're two princesses, and one of them is-"
"Mistress Peach?!" Kapi squeaked. "Oh, but you CAN'T rescue her, Mario! She's Bowser's true love! If she goes missing, he'll be crushed!"
"Look, do you want my help or not?"
Kapi sighed miserably. "Oh, alright. King Bowser, please forgive me for this..." She muttered. "I know where she is. Do you want to rescue that other princess, too?"
"Daisy? Yes. She's Peach's cousin."
"Ooh, so that's why they insisted on being put in neighboring rooms! I was wondering about that...okay, come on. I'll take you there." She began to lead the way, and Mario and Kirby followed.
She led them through hallway after hallway, intersection after intersection, past innumerable doors and up and down several staircases. Within the space of a few minutes Mario was completely turned around. He only hoped that Kapi knew where she was going, because otherwise they might be lost in here forever. The whole time they traveled he worried that they might encounter more Koopas, or worse, Dark Matter, but luck seemed to be with them, as they encountered nobody along the way. Neither he nor Kirby knew that Kapi was leading them through secret passageways and back tunnels that avoided the patrol routes of the castle guards; if they had, they might have been a little less nervous.
Finally Kapi stopped. "We're here." She whispered. "Look."
She stepped aside, and Mario was able to see that they were across the hall from two ornately-engraved doors standing side-by-side. One of the doors was standing wide open. The other door was missing from its hinges, and an ancient suit of armor was heaped on top of where it was lying on the floor. Guards were crawling all over the place, but none thought to look in their direction.
Kapi smirked. "Looks like the Mistress doesn't need you to rescue her after all."
Mario rolled his eyes. "It was probably Daisy who did this. She always did have a hot temper." They retreated back into the tunnel so the guards wouldn't accidentally find them.
"Well, what do we do now?" Kirby asked. "They could be literally anywhere in the castle by now."
"You're right." Mario sighed. "I suppose we might as well move on to part two of the plan, and go get rid of Kamek. We'll have to trust Peach and Daisy to take care of themselves, which I suspect they'll do rather well, if their break-out is any indication."
Kapi began to jump up and down excitedly. "Enough talking! Let's go get that MajiKoopa jerk, and make him pay for hurting my family!" The other two agreed, and she once again began to lead them back through the infinite tunnels.