December 19, 2008 :: 5 days to go!
Link woke up the next day to the sound of ambulance me bringing Mario back from the hospital. Mario had returned the night before, but only for a while. They carried Mario into the living room and laid him on the sofa. He dozed off almost immediately. The minute the men drove away, the house seemed to come to life. Doc Williams opened his car door, but he didn't get in.
"When did you last have something to eat, Link?" he asked sternly.
"Something to eat?" Link asked. "Well, I..."
He hadn't eaten since supper the night Mario went missing. Doc Williams reached into his car and handed Link a huge, round thing wrapped in greaseproof paper.
"My wife asked me to give you this. I think you'll like it. She's a terrific cook."
He jumped into the car and quickly drove away. Link stood there, clasping his parcel tightly. After a while he turned and walked back into the house with his parcel, and placed it on the table. Very carefully, he began to unwrap the paper from the precious present. It was an enormous meat pie, covered in a rich golden pastry. Link took a knife and cut a small slice. The meat was pink and tender with no fat or gristle, and there were hard-boiled eggs buried like treasures.
Mario soon woke up just as Link was finishing his pie with Luigi and Fox's help.
"I feel great," Mario said. "It hardly hurts at all!"
Life at the Smash Mansion went on as normal, but there appeared to be a change in Mario. He would brood a great deal, and there would often be silences between him and his friends. Now and again Link would catch him gazing up the road in the direction of Jarvis Woods. It was a few hours later when Mario, Link, Pikachu and Young Link sat down outside. It was a warm, still night.
"You know what makes me so mad," Mario began. "I get up in the morning feeling great. Then at around nine I see Snake go down for something to eat. It's the way Snake looks at me that's so annoying. It makes me mad, and I stay mad for the rest of the day."
"Don't blame you," Pikachu shrugged. Pikachu and Snake did not like each other at all and it gave Pikachu great satisfaction to annoy him. "Kirby tried to persuade Fox to throw a surprise party for him, but it didn't happen. Unless they're secretly doing it now."
"Let's ask!" Young Link smiled.
"Tomorrow," Pikachu interrupted. "We'll ask tomorrow - Roy wants a food fight, and I'm hungry!"
"So am I, actually."
"Me too!"
"Me three!"