Gaseous fumes drifted from the ? block. Ness coughed into his arms and barked, "Attack!"
Thousands of vicious, blue-and-green crocodiles erupted from the watery depths and immediately assaulted the toad army. Luigi kicked a struggling Klap Trap back into the water and jumped the gap between docks. Looking up, he saw Ness retreating with the mushrooms. Is pursuit ended abruptly when an Arwing descended from the skies, weapons blazing. The plumber slowed, watching in frustration as Ness leaped onto the space fighter and rose into the starry night.
"Fox," he muttered. Looking back at his army mopping up the ragtag Klap Traps, he called, "We're going back home."
Whipping out a cell phone, he called Peach.
"Hello?" she said.
"It was Ness. He got away with Fox."
"Damn!" she swore. Quite uncharacteristic, The green-clad Smasher thought, this Mario thing must've hit her hard.
"I've contacted Zelda. She and Link are on our side," she reported.
"Interesting. I'll call Dr. Mario."
He pressed the 'end' button and dialed 232-VIRUS. It didn't even ring.
"Too late Luigi!" Mario's twin said in a sing-song voice, "Ness got to me first!" His maniacal laughter was cut off when Luigi snapped the phone closed angrily. Everybody knew Dr. Mario was missing a few marbles in his head, but it looked like Ness had removed the rest. The plumber gritted his teeth. This was going to get ugly.
