That was the last thing Mario wanted to hear from Fox. That was his last hope; Sonic was to be the spy and infiltrate X headquarters and had failed. His gut wrenched as he thought of what X would do to Sonic for betraying their trust. Would they just go ahead and make him a member, or would they kill him for fun? He had no idea what they would do to him, and it scared the hell out of him. With Bowser, it was usually the same thing: Princess is missing, Mario defeats Bowser, Princess is rescued.
But compared to this, that was just elementary work.
"Dont lose hope, Mario", Fox said, noticing the horrified look on Mario's face. "Maybe Sonic just dropped his communicator, or it shorted out. I should have checked my hardware before I gave it to him."
"No, Fox. We have to fear for the worse. These next few days are going to be very trying, like they already havent been."
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Joanna Dark and Dan, the Microsoft employee, stood in front of a groggy Sonic. For a brief second, Sonic tried to think of exactly what had happened, but he suddenly jerked to full attention. He stared at Joanna and Dan coldly..without emotion. He was a blank tape recorder, and it was up to the two X employees to record it.
Hello Sonic, ol' buddy. We just need for you to follow a few ground rules in order to be a part of our..well..very special club."
"Yes", said Joanna, walking around the couch where Sonic sat, emotionless. "You will follow all of our instructions carefully and wisely. Disobeying us will not happen, and if it does, there will be dire, DIRE consequences. Do i make myself clear?"
Sonic robotically nodded.
"So, what we need for you to do, Sonic", Dan said, "Is to destroy everyting the NintenVerse offers. Destroy Hyrule. Demolish the Mushroom Kingdom. Infiltrate Eagleland. Crush the Dreamland. I want each and every one of their territories to suffer. The casualties will be many, and surivors will be few.
Sonic suddenly started talking. "Should i destroy the remaining plumber?"
"No, that wont be nessecary", said Joanna. "I will destroy him later today, alongside his buddy Fox McCloud. You destory the rest of the NintenVerse, along with your associates.."
The door opened. In walked in 4 other NintenVerse members, converted into X employees: Falco, Luigi, Jeff, and Link.
'So, blue one", Link said, walking up to Sonic. "You will be a member of my squad to destroy the NintenVerse? Most excellent. Miss Dark, you made a fine choice in picking the final member of our team."
Joanna smiled. "I knew you would enjoy my pick, Link. But now that your roster has been completed, I think you should take them and form a plan to infiltrate the NintenVerse as soon as possible."
"Got you", said Link. "Come, men." the four other members followed suit, and exited the room. All that was left was Joanna and Dan.
"I should be making my leave as well', said Joanna. "I will take care of the plumber and then meet with Link to see what their plan is."
"And I shall be contacting X himself and inform him of our plans."
"Right. And now, I am off."
Joanna walked out of the room, smiling. The plumber was finally going to be done with.
-----------------------
Mario and Fox were outside of the Pipe House. Fox had gathered his things and was about to leave; although Mario would have prefered company, he decided it was for the best for Fox to head back to Corneria and figure out possible solutions to the problem.
"Well, Fox, we tried", Mario said, sighing. "I guess we will just wait for these next few days to pan out and see what happens. I really hope Sonic is okay."
"He probally is. They wouldn't have killed him..if they were making some sort of army or something, they certianly wouldnt just waste a member."
Mario nodded.
"Well, so long, Mario."
"Later, Fox."
Mario closed the door..he suddenly felt a rush of wind from behind his neck..he turned around, but saw nothing. He shrugged and went to the couch, and turned on the TV. There really wasnt anything on TV; mostly just soap operas such as "All my Mushrooms" and "1up to Live". He turned off the TV and laid down on the couch..for the first time in a few days, he felt comfortable. He hadn't really slept, and he hadn't really relaxed. As long as something was being done, there shouldnt be anything preventing him to sleep...he started to drift off when he heard a voice.
"Tired? Need me to assit?"
there stood Joanna Dark, leaning twoards the front door. She had a gun in her left hand. "Or have I got your attention now?"
"Where is Luigi."
"He's in..a better place."
"You killed him?"
"Nah. The Luigi you know, however, is dead inside."
Mario lunged twoard Joanna and unleased a fireball aiming for her face; but she ducked and fired a round of bullets at Mario. He dodged them all and hit another fireball. Again, she ducked. She attacked Mario from behind, blasting him with the butt of the pistol into the back of his head. He fell twoards the floor, barely concious.
"Wh...y...jo...why did you do.."
"I grew tired of the NintenVerse. Don't you think its time for something..new?"
Mario did not respond, he faded into unconciousness. Joanna aimed for the back of Mario's head, and was about to fire, but she stopped. She already noticed the fire stemming from the couch..Mario had set them ablaze accidently.
"Well, I guess that pretty much should kill him off." She walked over to Mario, and lifted his head to hers. "I guess it's game over for you, little buddy." She dropped the head and walked outside the house. She heard footsteps, so she put on her invisible sheild and contacted Dan.
"Everything went well. Mario attacked, I knocked him unconcius, and due to stupidity he's going to burn in his own house to death."'
"That's everything we wanted and more, Joanna..thank you.'
"Anything for X, Dan.."
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Fox was walking back twoards the Pipe House. Kirby had saw him and walked up to him, but immediately he noticed that he forgot an important part to the communicator. The two started to head back to the House.
"So yeah. Falco is gone too. I really hate the fact he would do such a thing..dont you think so, Kirby?"
Kirby nodded.
"Yeah. But any-WHAT THE?
Kirby and Fox were both shocked as they saw the Pipe House burn in flames..Kirby immediately went into action and flew over to a lake nearby the Pipe House. He immediately hosed down the flames. Fox went into the house and discovered Mario, who wasn't burned, but most likely inhaled a lot of smoke. He grabbed him and dragged him outside. Kirby continued to extinguish the fire, but immediately stopped when he heard a large crack.
The Pipe House, the house that Mario and Luigi considered a home for years, crumbled to the ground, in a mass of dirt, dust, and smoke. Kirby and Fox just stared as the dust settled.
"I..cant.."
Kirby just hung his head.
"Mario's home..it's..gone."