Toad opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, on top of a patch of burnt grass, facing a ceiling of crystals. As he sat up, he realized that he was behind a tree. He glanced around the tree, and saw broad daylight through a hole in the wall of crystals.
An enormous crowd of people stood waiting outside the hole. They were neither happy nor sad, but rather confused and apprehensive. The time bomb had disappeared after exploding. Toad looked around and saw Mario in the tree next to him, who was also sitting up.
"Did we…" Mario couldn't finish. The two helped each other up, and together, they stepped out of the hole and out of the forest.
A massive cheer thundered from the crowd as Toad and Mario emerged. They all rushed to the two heroes and embraced them, the saviors of the planet. Toad had been a racer for five years now, but never in his life did he ever imagine of saving the world. He glanced behind him, and saw the Barrier of Worlds, completely repaired despite the giant hole from the exploding time bomb.
"Well, I guess we won't be getting any more trouble from Star Wars characters," Toad chuckled to himself.
One week later…
"So we really did it, huh?" Mario said to Toad. Mario had invited Toad to his house for dinner, after Toad could finally escape the crowds of people constantly in front of his house.
"Yeah. Did you know we were inside the Barrier of Worlds the whole time?"
"Really? I never even noticed."
"Oh really? You never noticed the giant hole in the wall of the barrier outside?"
"Well, yeah, I saw that, but… uh, I was weak! I couldn't tell!"
"Sure you couldn't."
"Well anyway, how did we ever escape that whole time bomb thing?"
"Luck, I guess. We managed to shrink it down enough so that it didn't destroy the world. Only part of the Barrier of Worlds was blown up."
"But how? That thing was huge!"
"Yeah, I still don't understand it. I guess Count Bleck wasn't as smart as he seemed."
"Definitely! That thing shrunk faster than it grew! Why would he build it like that?"
"Don't ask me."
"Well, I suppose you better get going. I bet you have autographs to sign back home." Mario opened his curtain to find thousands of fans clawing at the window. "Or, maybe not. Looks like you'll be staying here for tonight."
"Oh, that's okay. I'm surprised those fans have already gotten over the whole situation. I thought they would still be in shock or something."
"Yeah... So, is that it? Are we done?"
"No, not just yet," Toad smiled and thought of his go-kart, still sitting on the side of the road, next to the finish line at Yoshi Falls.
