Ok, so none of you care about me enough to review (and after I went through all this hard work to write all these chapters for you, too.) That's ok, but I'd appreciate some feedback….maybe…? I would. And I'm not going to warn you again. I post this chapter 9/17/09; if there's not any reviews by 9/21, this story will be put on…dread word…hiatus. Duhn duhn duhhhn…Indefinitely. Gasp! No, Mr. DimentioFreak, we don't want a hiatus! We love your stories too much!! Well, then review. Please. Fine, I won't put the story on hiatus. Just please, review!!!! (Starts sobbing uncontrollably.) By…the way…sob…I don't own any of these…sob, hiccup…characters.

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Mario was still a little shocked, from not only Merlee's visit, but the doom of Simon and the fact that the green plumber was just a clump of shadows… He decided to go behind the nearest door, which wouldn't open. Suddenly, something bumped Mario in the head. A Pure Heart floated innocently. It was a color Mario had never seen before: a sort of brownish, bluish, whitish color. Mario tentatively reached for it; it flashed and Mario passed out. He thought he was dead.

About an hour (or forty-five minutes, or maybe eight seconds) later, he came to realize that there was a jester floating above his face, about five inches away. "Are you…Dimentio?"

"No, I am the sadly failed jester Oitnemid. It's pronounced oyt-nehmid. I am, however, his equal and opposite. While he is awesome, I am not so. Our power is matched in every way, yet he is weaker and stronger than I. And at least I don't speak in those annoying similes."

"Yeah, like your confusing explanations aren't just as annoying." Mario thought.

"I heard that. I told you, whatever Dimentio can do, I can do."

"Well, are you going to join me on this quest or not?"

"Yes, I will, in fact." And in his mind, Oitnemid was saying, "Ah ha ha. And so I strike like an unseen dodgeball in an echoing gymnasium-let it begin with you, as you wallow in helplessness like an upside-down turtle, for I am…Dimentio!"

Mario hadn't heard this (very loud) thought, as he had been deep in his own. The two of you will be one less/To find the people in distress/The one remaining will be waning/But wait! An evil that you cannot see/Is after me, and safe and sound we cannot be…

Mario had no idea what it meant, but he did know that he would face off against a foe eventually…and if Merlee the charmer wasn't going to be safe…He shuddered. He tried thinking positive thoughts. "Well, if she said 'the people in distress'…then that should mean that Luigi and the princess are still alive."

He and "Oitnemid" camped out in Gloam Valley that night, for that was where the strange Pure Heart took them. Mario, obviously trusting Oitnemid, fell asleep; the moment he did, Dimentio-er, sorry- Oitnemid took careful aim with a Star Blast…and made contact with Mario. A heart with the number two popped up above Mario before disappearing. Oitnemid cursed, flipped around, and disappeared in the opposite way his normal self would. As he reappeared, the white and black sides of his face exchanged colors. The green and blue on his poncho flashed back into their original purple and yellow. His (oddly) green frown cycled through a myriad of spectra before mixing in to form the bright red color, at the same time turning inversing to form a spine-chilling, eternal grin. "Hmmm? Oitnemid, what's going…oh my god." Mario had woken up, and was still a little groggy. "Ah ha ha. And so we meet again, like two burly dinosaurs with terrible-"

"Dimentio, that line has ceased to be funny. It is now two o' clock in the MORNING, and I would like to rest. I swear that if you make one sound, I will rip off your hat and ram it down your throat. After that, I will go to sleep. Wait…DIMENTIO?!"

Dimentio nodded, in case answering broke the 'no sound' rule.

"Whatever. Go away."

Dimentio quietly left.

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Exhausted after executing hundreds of Negative Zones to intensify the Chaos Heart, Luigi trudged to his quarters. He locks the door and collapses. Suddenly, he felt a rushing sensation as he was pulled with incalculable speed upwards, through the Shadow Pit, through the ground. He passed out, and a tender sensation all around him begins to heal him; restore his energies, both positive and negative. He woke up to see a dull green color pulsing around him, mixed with splotches of white, yellow, and blue, reminiscent of a dripping mural…of him? He heard a voice saying,"This Pure Heart is broken. Perhaps the hero will know what to do…"

"But where is the hero? Who is he?"

"I have no clue. I heard that he was a green person. Not green like, GREEN, but like his clothes are green…"