Chapter Six: Meanwhile...
Professor Elvin Gadd's laboratory was something of a mess, but that was par for the course for the brilliant but cooky scientist. Old television-like machinery hung around on the walls, books sat disoriented on some shelves here and there and some weird- rather unsettling- equipment and portraits also were around. But, right now, everybody was focused on the man himself. Elvin Gadd.
He was short, with crazy, swirly glasses and a football-shaped head that had nothing but a straight wisp of white hair upon it. Behind him was a strange set of pylons, although given what else was in the laboratory perhaps it wasn't that different. Gadd had been tinkering with it earlier as his guests arrived.
And what guests they were! The most famous of the Yoshis was there- the green one that was almost synonymous with his species. The most famous Toad was there as well, representing her highness Princess Peach Toadstool and Sarasaland's Princess Daisy- "Budget cuts," he had said.
Others had come from farther away: There was Lady Lima, old and green and there to represent the BeanBean Kingdom. And near her was Prince Pine, all the way from Jewelry Land. A Pianta looked around, not quite sure what to do, as he hadn't seen a lot of these type of people before, but especially not the fluffy marshmallow-like Prince Mallow, of Nimbus Land. Heck, he'd never even heard of Nimbus Land until today.
Toad, however, wasn't phased by any of this. He'd seen it all. He'd been serving Her Majesty for years, after all. That said, this worried him. It was his job to worry, after all, especially when Toadsworth was away on vacation. Somebody, after all, had to be ready to sound the alarm if the Koopas were attacking, or to help out Mario during his adventures, if need be. And the need... usually was. At last count, after all, the Princess had been kidnapped by the Koopa Troop approximately 17 times, give or take. At a moment's notice, he was ready to run out and start screaming for Mario's help. If whatever E. Gadd was doing was going to endanger the Princess, he was going to let Mario know immediately, dang nabbit! And so, as Gadd began to speak, with a whimsical gee-whiz to his voice, Toad was listening intently for any words that could suggest danger.
"Thank you for coming," said the diminutive scientist, "sadly it seems that the Kongs, Koopas and Kremlings didn't get my e-mail..."
He stopped for an awkward second.
"Anyway!" he said as he clapped his hands together, "A few weeks ago, I began work on my latest creation..."
He swept his hands over the strange pylons, and declared it's name:
"THE DIMENSIONAL ORGANIZED OBSERVATION MACHINE!"
The others were unimpressed and confused. What was so important about this thing? But Toad, ever worried and watchful, saw something wrong with the Dimensional Organized Observation Machine.
"Gadd, that spells DOOM!" he shouted, jumping into the air. Before giving a chance for Gadd to respond, the mushroom retainer's feed were running towards the door, and his voice sent out a panicked yell:
"MAAAAAARRRRIIIIOOOOOOOO!"
The Toad reached the door, opened it quickly, went through, and let it slam behind him.
"Yoshi?" said the green Yoshi, a mix between amused and confused. Although it was said in the language of the Yoshis, everyone somehow understood what he said: "What just happened?"
Muffled, the cries for the Mushroom Kingdom's hero continued as the dignitaries inside the laboratory gave each other worried glances. It was then, however, that the yelling stopped. A muffled shuffle could be heard, and a few seconds later, the door opened, and in walked Toad, a bit exhausted-looking, but still alert and worried.
"Uhhhh, what's the DOOM do, anyway?" he said, "So I can tell Mario."
Gadd gave off a brief chuckle, and then started speaking.
"Anyway, I have long been fascinated by all manners of science- ghosts, time travel..."
"Yeah, no kidding," muttered Toad, who still remembered the whole business with the Shroobs.
"...Hydraulics and communications amongst them. But now, I had decided to move on to inter-dimensional space? What lies beyond our universe?"
"GET TO THE POINT, GADD!" shouted out Toad, still frazzled from his little run.
Yoshi turned and began to speak. While everything he said was a variation of his name, everybody understood it as "C'mon, Toad, show Gadd some respect, if it's something bad, I'll go help Mario too."
"No, no," said Gadd, "I should, as they say... cut to the chase?"
He continued: "Anyway, the Dimensional Organized Observation Machine was created to see what lies beyond our dimension-" he moved his glasses up slightly as he continued, "-and so, for my first few weeks of tests, I saw what I believe were other universes..."
He made a strange sound and made invisible circles with his arms, as if he was trying to grab and lift a giant ball that only he could see.
"They were magnificent! Great orbs of existence!"
Mallow interjected: "But, but... didn't Smithy come from another dimension?"
E. Gadd replied: "Well, based on my research, it was technically a pocket dimension attached to this one, not a total other universe."
"What is the difference between a dimension and a universe, Professor Gadd?" asked Prince Pine.
Toad then yelled: "Who cares? Why is this important?!"
Gadd produced a button, big and red, and pressed it. Suddenly, the pylons crackled, and a image seemingly materialized between them: black. Endless black.
"As you can see..." said Gadd, "Now there is nothing."
The room was silent. Gadd wasn't sure whether this was a "horrified" silence, or a "I don't know what that means" silence. So he decided to elaborate:
"Now," he said as he twitched his glasses a little, "I am not entirely sure what this means, but it appears that our universe has been cut off from the rest of the universes, or perhaps the others have been destroyed..."
He paused, noticing how some of his audience seemed to be trembling. Clearly, he thought, they must have been wanting to hear more... so he spoke again.
"Now, I'm no master of tactics, but I presume that this can mean one of two things..."
"What two things!?" interjected Toad.
"Well," said Gadd, "either destruction or invasion, I'd guess..."
It didn't take long before it happened again: Toad reached the door, opened it quickly, went through, and let it slam behind him. And, this time, he didn't come back. In the distance, echoing, came his cry:
"MAAAAAARRRRRRRIIIIIIOOOOOOO!"
After that, things happened fast. E. Gadd didn't have much time to get much more information to his guests. Yoshi had left almost immediately, chasing after Toad, no doubt wanting to assist Mario on whatever adventure was coming. The others had left shortly after that. And now, Gadd sat alone, looking longingly at his D.O.O.M., at it's utter darkness. And worrying about one of the major details that he hadn't been able to tell his visitors:
Sometimes, he heard something through his little interdimensional window:
The sound of somebody- or some thing- laughing.
