Oh boy, oh boy, I'm really excited to see what you guys think of this chapter. It's actually one of the longest chapters I've ever written, but I'm alright with that, because I think it came out great! Lots of seeds being planted here, so please enjoy!
-Joost

Shattering the Stars
Chapter 10: A Ripple

Link slowly came to, an odd sense of weightlessness all encompassed around him. He opened his eyes and tried to see but was greeted with nothing. He could see his own body, his arms, torso, hands, and feet, but everything else beyond was submerged in a void of inky blackness. This feeling, he thought to himself, was the one when he was dreaming. Only rarely was Link ever aware of being within a dream, his sleep normally too deep to recognize.

"Hello?" Link called out, his voice echoing on for eternity. He shifted his arms, trying to swim around in the murky, sightless space he was confined to. It didn't act much like water, the hero getting nowhere.

This dream was unlike the rest Link usually had. He gave up trying to get somewhere and sighed, letting his body float in the endless abyss. But then, something appeared in the darkness, inching towards him like a snake. Deep from the vast abyss of nothingness came a set of vines, slithering towards Link threateningly. The boy panicked, trying to get away from the indigo-colored vines, thinking this to be some cruel nightmare, but once they reached him, his desire to escape them washed away.

"What…" Link whispered to himself, watching as the thin, tender liana coiled around his body, creeping up his torso and slinking onto his arms. "What is this?" The vines didn't exude a sense of danger, but a strange, welcoming warmth. Passionate and ardent, like a hug from his wife.

Link eased up as he witnessed the vines dance along his upper limps before setting themselves right onto his forearms and hands, wrapping around them protectively. He stretched out his arms, as if waiting for an embrace, and smiled. The feeling of comfort gave the worn hero an exotic relief from the stress he was suffering, so much so that he didn't even notice the vines growing, reaching out from his hands and into the darkness.

A dim light shimmered from the vines as they grew, lighting up the surroundings. Link slowly opened his eyes, his face dazzled and placid, finally seeing that he wasn't alone in this void. Across from him to the right, only a dozen or so feet away, floated Mario and Luigi, the vines wrapping around their hands as well. Looking to his left, Kirby was there too, more sentient plants trailing around his puffy, pink form.

Even then, Link, Kirby, Mario, and Luigi weren't the only ones present. In the distance floated figures, merely silhouettes in the murky gloom, unrecognizable. But they too had the vines creep close to them, slithering onto their hands and staying put. Link narrowed his eyes, inspecting the people he didn't know, but couldn't figure out who they were. All he could see was that they were all wildly different from one another, the only common thing being the vines connecting them all.

The vines themselves were bare, lacking thorns or a wooden texture. They were supple and full of life, but still firm and robust. They clung to his own arms with fervor, their strength commendable when Link tugged on one, testing to see if it'd snap or come loose.

Feelings of affection coming from the vines greatly disoriented Link, but he welcomed it. Even though he was in the presence of friends, he still felt distant from them. These vines, whatever they symbolized, brought great solace and reassurance to the battered hero, reminding him of the infinite passion of life his variant spoke of. He quickly grew to admire The Passion.

Link groggily opened his eyes, the window of the bedroom facing him. The sun hadn't even poked out from behind the hills yet, but the man sat up and rubbed his face, fully awake and alert. He brushed his golden hair away from his face, the silver portion getting in his eye, then stared at his hands. He was unable to shake the lingering image of those vines wired through them.

It was the most peculiar feeling Link had as he sat in the middle of the mushroom-decorated room. The place reminded him tragically of home, the Stock Pot Inn, and he longed to just go back for a night, just to get a good night's sleep for once. But as he looked around the room and eyed his gear sitting on the small table next to the bed, he thought about the vines. It was a dream, sure, but the feeling of warmth from those plants was just like that of home as well.

"My Goddesses… I'm so tired," Link groaned, running his fingers through his hair. He scooted around and sat on the edge of the bed; feet planted on the wooden floor. He didn't even react to the cold lingering around his toes. "I need a drink. Some milk? Yeah… milk, that'd be nice. And now I'm talking to myself, great…"

Link stood up from the bed and stretched, first taking his arms out and cracking his knuckles, then his arms, then back. He groaned at the effort, the joints around his body tightened due to stress. It occurred to him that he really needed to ease up on himself, the popping of his joints adding a bit more pain than it relieved. For a moment he really felt like he was growing old, even if he was anything but aged. His muscles, though tender, were still lively and powerful, as was his mind.

A strange aura of hospitality and untold wonder came from the inn room that Link walked around in. The mushroom décor was admirable, but it felt lonely, at least without Kirby or Tael with him. Both of them got their own rooms separate from Link, surprisingly, but they all guessed it was just to be as considerate as possible. An upside was that each room came with its own accommodations, soap, a bathroom, a bed, and even this strange contraption sitting atop the dresser opposite the bed. A thick booklet sat next to the device, and with nothing better to do, Link snatched it and proceeded to flip through it.

"A 'television'?" Link mumbled to himself as he read the big bold text on the cover of the manual. Sounds of pages turning every few minutes filled the room as Link held a small rectangular box with buttons arranged along its surface.

When Link pressed the big red button on the rectangle, the device on the dresser brightened and flared, startling the hero and illuminating the room with a rippling wave of white light. A horrible blast of noise came from it as Link recoiled, tumbling off the bed and onto the floor in a heap. He quickly pressed the red button again, causing the television to turn off. After taking a moment to recollect himself, he consulted the manual again, trying to figure out the reason for the dreadful assault on his ears.

For a few minutes, Link carefully read the manual, making sure not to miss a word. A lot of it didn't make much sense, but he finally got to something important. A picture of the device in his hand and the one on the dresser helped him decipher its purpose. "What's a 'remote'?" Link asked aloud.

Link readied himself for the horrid noise and pressed the red button again, the room being bathed in the white light once again. This time, he quickly hit another button, which the booklet told him would eliminate the sound. A small icon appeared in the top right corner of the screen and all sound ceased, much to Link's astonishment. This world was even more advanced than Kirby's! After a little more reading, Link finally figured out how to get the blazing white light to go away, and it was replaced with the moving images of people.

"Woooaahh…" Link gasped and inched towards the television like a curious puppy. No sound came from the machine, so he used to remote again, the little icon going away, the sound being restored. Moving pictures reflected in Link's eyes as he stared at the screen, completely mesmerized by the strange, new magic.

Tearing his gaze away from the television, Link read more of the manual with the remote in his hand. One of the buttons, oblong in shape, made the sound either intensify or weaken depending on where he pressed it, and another button similar to it made the whole picture change. Flipping through what the manual called 'channels' was a breeze, allowing Link to submerse himself in the wide array of culture from the Mushroom Kingdom.

For over an hour Link absorbed everything he could from the magic box known as the 'television'. He didn't even notice that the sun had risen, its warm light pooling from the window onto the floor. Only was he demystified by the TV when his door opened, Kirby holding onto the knob for dear life.

"Oh! Kirby, look at this!" Link rolled off the bed and helped Kirby let go of the doorknob, taking the pink puffball into his arms and showing him the TV. Kirby's entire reason for heading to Link's room flew out the window as he too became hypnotized by the TV for a second.

"Oooooo! Poyo!" Kirby gasped; his eyes being captivated by the same sense of fascination as Link had. For a while they stood motionless, staring at the television in awe and wonder.

"So that's what it does," Tael's voice broke the silence as he flew through the door and went next to the two. Link and Kirby forced themselves away from the charm of the moving pictures and looked at Tael. "Funny, there was one in my room, too, but I was too bothered to try and figure it out and stuff."

"Huh, cool," Link said, taking the remote and turning the television off. He let Kirby jump from his arms back onto the floor, and the three relaxed. "I'm lucky I managed to get it working, but it's not so bad. Anyway, why did you guys get up so early just to visit me?"

"Poy…" Kirby thought, but he couldn't remember exactly why he had come to see Link so early in the morning. Of course, when his mind was blank, it quickly went to another topic, one centered around his stomach. "Poyo poyo?"

"Breakfast?" Link retorted, looking at Tael. The fairy just nodded eagerly in response to his question, and the three set off down the hall to find wherever food was served.

Luckily, the inn wasn't as expansive as Castle Dedede, since the trio found a dining area without much problem. Sitting down at a table, Link reached for a menu that had been placed down, opening it up and asking the others what they might want. There was quite a large variety of items to choose from for such a small rest stop, but none of them wanted to complain.

One thing that confused the three was that there was no one around to take their order when they finally made up their minds. No people, no Toads, no one. Link stood from his chair and wandered around, trying to find someone or even just something. There was a small service alcove nearby, the primary counter of the kitchen on the other end. Link walked over and peered over the servery, looking to see if there were any cooks.

"Ahem, down here, sir!" A grouchy voice came from below Link, and he looked down. There stood a small Toad wearing an apron with a notepad in his hand. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a pen, clicking it and putting it next to his paper. "Sorry for not heading out to check on yall, but since you're here, what'll you be ordering?"

"Oh, hello," Link greeted the Toad. "Yes, we'll take a medium plate of bacon and eggs with a side of toast, a set of pancakes with whipped cream, and a small bowl of almond buckwheat granola with yogurt and berries, please," Link recited his and his friend's orders punctually, the Toad writing it all down on his notepad. "And three glasses of milk, too."

"You got it," said the Toad, heading off deeper into the kitchen. Link returned to his seat and waited with the others, unsure of what to talk about in the meantime.

"Have to admit, this place is pretty humble," Tael commented on the inn, smiling. "I mean, the princess didn't need to set us up in a place like this. We don't even have to pay!"

"Well, I think it's because their currency is different," Link pondered. While on the way to the inn last night, he caught glimpses of large, golden coins floating around. He guessed that his rupees, no matter how many he had, didn't have much worth here.

"Poyo!" Kirby said.

"Yeah, probably, it's just hard to think that someone we just met would be so kind to us," Link murmured, but he reminded himself that it was rude to blindly make assumptions about others. This Peach was a princess, after all, and a fair one at that, so it was very possible that she was doing this all for them out of the goodness of her heart.

"Order up!" The Toad hollered from the servery, a large platter with all the food Link and ordered set upon it. Link went and fetched the plate, bringing it over to the table and giving his friends their meals.

Kirby, as usual, had requested the fluffiest pancakes the menu offered, and what he received didn't disappoint. Tael had wanted the yogurt, granola, and berries, and the small bowl the perfect size for him. Lastly, Link only wanted something simple to start his day, so he had the basic eggs, bacon, and toast. The three silently thanked their benefactors for their food and began to eat, briskly enjoying their breakfast.

Glamor came from all angles of the dining room as the three friends ate, pictures on the walls of Toads shaking hands, working in the kitchen, and some with their families. Sunlight poured from the open windows, a gentle summer breeze picking up in the silk curtains.

Bacon crunched in Link's mouth, and he took a sip of his milk. Almost right away he didn't want to swallow, the milk tasting watered down and foul. It wasn't horrible, but he much preferred milk from his home, but that was likely personal bias talking. He'd need to get used to it, unfortunately.

Kirby strangely didn't literally inhale his food, instead using his fork and drizzling syrup along his buttered pancakes. He always cherished his pancakes, as Link cherished milk, the only difference being that the pancakes were actually good.

"So," Tael muffled through a mouthful of yogurt and raspberry, "What are we doing today?"

"Mario and Luigi," Link said, wiping away his milk moustache. "You saw how Mario looked at us yesterday, Tael. He's skeptical of us, and I don't blame him."

"What do you mean, you don't blame him? Can't we just show him the Ultra Sword and the portal and call it a day?" Tael didn't want to dally in the kingdom while the entire reason they were here was off in another realm doing who knows what.

"You know why we can't, Tael, he's not just going to join us on a mission across worlds on a whim," Link's reasoning was solid, since a reputed hero such as Mario wouldn't accompany complete strangers. "It won't be a bother, don't worry. It'll be just like when we're with Jim or the Bombers… I hope."

In reality, Link was somewhat nervous about making relations with the Mario Brothers. How Peach spoke of them stuck with the hero long after he had left the castle, they were respected, brave, and used to the status quo of their home. Link, Tael, and Kirby weren't supposed to be here, yet here they were, and they came with bad tidings of something no one could comprehend. Shatterhand was something even Link didn't fully understand, but he knew that the madman had to be stopped.

"Poyo!" Kirby cheered, hopeful for a good day of getting to know the plumber brothers. Something about them seemed so familiar to the pink puffball, so he was open to anything.

There was another reason Link wanted to try and make friends with the Mario Brothers, however. It was because he had started to notice the repeating theme of his and Tael's time in these new realms. First they'd arrive, come into some altercation with royalty, meet the heroes of the realm, be offered a place to sleep, get some very poor rest, have their first proper day, all with an eerily similar breakfast. Link wanted to break that cycle, do something different, and being able to perhaps start a new friendship with the Mario Brothers seemed like the way to do that.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked.

"Yeah, we'll just walk around town a bit until we meet up with them, that's all," Link explained the game plan for the day.

Once the trio finished their meal, they tidied up the table, washed up, and left the inn. They were unsure if they could even pay, so they didn't bother trying to figure out how to convert their money to the golden coins of the Mushroom Kingdom. It seemed rude, but it was all they could do.

Weird looks were given, and whispers were exchanged as Link, Kirby, and Tael awkwardly dawdled around Toad Town, trying to find something to do as they waited for the Mario Brothers to arrive. Each and every Toad that laid eyes on them had something to say, but they didn't talk loud enough for the travelers to hear, thankfully.

Luckily enough, it wouldn't take long for Link and his friends to find the Mario Brothers, though oddly it wasn't the way they had expected.

Mario and Luigi faced off in a tense game, running down the field in a hurry. They bashed against each other, fighting for ownership of the strange metallic-looking ball they were kicking around. Their teammates, trailing right behind them, waited for an opening where their captain would finally pass them the ball.

"Gotcha!" Mario managed to nudge Luigi out of the way far enough for him to stray off with the soccer ball. He kicked it to one of the moles next to him, letting it get further away from the opposing team.

A living skeleton, a mole, and even a ghost made up Mario's team, all working in conjunction with their teammates to get the ball to their goal, Mario cheering them as they worked. But then, the ball was stolen by a little fellow wearing a bone-white mask, one of the enemies! He kicked the ball back to Luigi who started gunning it for the other side of the court, the goalkeeper tensing up when he saw the green man.

Link, Kirby, and Tael were endlessly confused at what was going on and how, or even why it was important. The audience seemed to be having a good time, roaring with praise or screaming in protest depending on which team they were rooting for.

Suddenly, Luigi jumped up into the air, and a crackling green typhoon of plasma enveloped the ball, the plumber using his hands to guide it. Wave-like energy sizzled around, but before Luigi could punt the ball, Mario bashed into his torso and forced the electricity to dissipate prematurely. Luigi landed face first in the grass while Mario ran off with the ball between his feet, kicking back and forth before passing it to a teammate.

"Hey, guys, come on! We've got this!" Luigi quickly recovered from his fall and gave chase, Mario already halfway across the soccer field. The green dinosaur who Mario passed the ball to had lined up a shot at the goal and kicked as hard as he could, making Luigi go pale.

"Not today!" The crocodilian goalkeeper snarled, blocking the ball and sending it flying back from whence it came. He had saved the game, but for how long wasn't assured. Link and the others were still madly bewildered by things they were witnessing firsthand. Walking, talking crocodiles, skeletons, ghosts? Just what magic was this?

"Let's try that again, shall we?" Mario yelled in a cocky tone. He obtained the ball from a teammate and prepared for a devastating kick. He jumped, soaring high into the air, higher than what the others thought humanly possible.

A heated energy came from Mario's heart as his entire body was coated with metal, his appearance darkening as the blazing fire focused on his foot. His eyes burned with a fiery passion as he lined up his shot, the sunlight above gleaming against the metallic sheen of his body. The wave energy returned, growing as hot as magma while he reeled his leg back, and then he kicked the ball with all the force he built up, splitting the item into six duplicates and sending them towards the goalie.

The goalie, in a panic, only managed to destroy two of the balls, the other four flying past him and into the goal, marking the end of the game. Mario's team had won, and the red plumber celebrated with a double jump and a thumbs up to the camera that had been documenting the match for TV.

Mario went over to his defeated brother and extended his hand, waiting for Luigi to take it.

"You know, one of these days I'll beat you!" Luigi said in a huff, smiling as he took his brothers' hand and stood up straight.

"I know, you're already getting good, bro!" Mario complimented, patting Luigi on the back as the two headed off to the locker room to change and rest up. An early morning soccer game was just what they needed to get ready for whatever was ahead of them.

Later, emerging from the locker room, clad in their classic overalls, the first thing Mario noticed was a tall, blond, green fellow standing in the crowd. He groaned, wondering what Link was doing here. It wouldn't be a stretch to assume that that little pink boy and the fairy were with him. Mario and Luigi shared a quizzical look before wordlessly deciding to venture forth and greet the foreigner and his companions.

"Hey, fellas!" Luigi called out to Link, Kirby, and Tael, waving enthusiastically. Mario just rolled his eyes, thinking his brother was a little too eager to get to know the strangers, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested either.

"I don't know what exactly that all was, but it was impressive!" Link commented on the bizarre game as Mario and Luigi approached, half-chuckling. He held his hand out for the brothers to shake, and they did so politely.

"Poyo!" Kirby jumped up, mimicking how Mario kicked the ball earlier.

"Ever heard of soccer?" Luigi asked, but his question was answered by the perplexed look on Link and Kirby's faces. "Well, it's a little game we play from time to time. It's fun, you should join us sometime."

"Hey, Weege, we aren't looking for new players, you know that." Mario remembered the flyers he and the other captains had to put out a few weeks ago. Within a day they had so many applicants that they had to take down the flyers just so the queue of potential players wouldn't get backed up.

"Yeah, yeah, but look at him!" Luigi circled Link, inspecting the Terminian, picturing how'd he look in a uniform, how fast he'd be, and how strong his shots might be. "He'd be a great player just because of his height alone!" Luigi moved his feet as if kicking a ball, "He'd zip along the field like a cannon ball!"

Mario put his hand to his chin and smiled, "Hmm… Maybe he could, but I don't think he really has time for such a thing right now,"

Link didn't know whether to be honored or embarrassed, the mixed signals he was getting from the brothers just confusing him further. "Th-Thank you, but I'm not sure I'd be a good fit for your game," Link chuckled nervously, "I haven't really played a game of any kind since my youth; I don't even know the rules!"

"Nonsense! Maybe when this is all over, we can teach you!" Luigi offered, walking down the path into town casually.

"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby cheered, wanting to learn how soccer worked right away.

"Kirby, we don't know how long all this is even going to last," Link told Kirby. Mario and Luigi's eyebrows creased down inquisitively as they both stopped walking, looking back at Link with stunned gazes.

"You, uh… got something outta that?" Luigi asked, gesturing to Kirby with his hand.

"Poyo?"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, Kirby's way of talking, it takes… some time to really understand," Link stuttered through his sentence, hardly confident that it'd be easy to explain Kirby's unique nature to the brothers, at least in one fell swoop.

"Ah, gotcha…" Mario breathed, turning back around and leading the way for the group around Toad Town. Deep in his mind, his thoughts were swarmed by just how exactly to act around these people. Folks from other realms were nothing new to him, but Link, Kirby, and Tael were far beyond what he'd seen. He decided to just be blunt and rip the Band-Aid off right away. "So, what's your guys' deal?"

"E-Excuse me?" Link asked, a red glow coming from his cheeks.

Mario sighed, inwardly scolding himself, "Sorry, I just… You know, I wanna know who you guys are and such," He crossed his arms and looked away, letting the rim of his cap produce a shadow that hid his embarrassment. "I was never good at asking questions…"

"No, no, it's okay," Tael said softly, hoping not to upset the mustachioed hero in red. "Link here hasn't been the best asking questions either, don't worry."

"Hey!" Link said.

"Poyo!" Kirby's warm company forced all five to smile, the shadow along Mario's eyes leaving as he looked back at the travelers.

"Yeah, I just want to know what life's like for you guys. Where you come from, all that," Mario said, snapping his fingers, a tiny burst of sparks coming from his hand. Link's eyes grew wide at Mario's unintentional display of power.

"Well, the story of my life isn't… the best," Link began, some unwanted memories of his past resurfacing. Gloom almost overtook his voice before he realized what was happening, and he made sure not to go down the rocky road of pain he'd been on. "However, I'm happy with how I've lived and what I've seen. Yeah, it hasn't been the greatest, but honestly…" Link thought about how fortunate he was. He looked down at his hand, at his wedding ring, and smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Mario smiled, respecting Link's statement. "The same is kinda true for me and my bro," Mario slung his arm around Luigi's shoulder and smiled broadly. "You see, this guy and I are twins, but I'm just sllliiightly older!" Luigi sighed, his palm connecting with his face. The fact that Mario was just a couple minutes older than his brother was something he always loved to rub in whenever he got the chance. "But we've been through a lot too, me and him," Mario continued.

"Like the whole mansion thing I did with the Poltergust? Or the commotion with Bowser and the paintings?" Luigi recalled. He still had vivid memories of Mario coming to save him from King Boo, gaining invisibility, jumping through a mirror to save Wario, and more. The King Boo thing in particular was a weird reversal of the roles since it was his rescuing Mario in the mansion before that.

"Yeah! Or like when we went to the Beanbean Kingdom?" Mario wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, knowing he was bringing back memories of Prince Peasley for Luigi.

"Hey, stop, he and I are just friends, and you know that!" Luigi grew defensive at Mario's words, clenching his fists as if he wanted to throw down. Kirby found it quite amusing, the powerful brotherly bond between the plumbers easily readable from the way they talked and interacted.

"I'm just messin' with ya, Weege!" Mario laughed heartily when he saw Luigi's flushed reaction, his hysteria making even Tael and Link giggle despite not really knowing who or what Mario was referring to.

"Sounds like you guys have been through a lot," Tael said.

"Yeah, we've been at this for a few years, but what about you guys?" Mario's interest in Link, Kirby, Tael, and the stories they had to tell was sincere. "I mean, you've got all that gear on your back," Mario pointed out Link's sword, shield, and satchel along his belt, "So it's safe to say you've been through a lot, right?"

Link and Tael grew silent. The two friends looked at each other worriedly, wondering if they should delineate just some of the things they'd been through together. "It's a bit of a touchy subject," Tael explained. "There are things that Link and I just… don't really like to remember…"

"Oh, I-" Mario grew flustered, hating to have offended the two. "I'm sorry, I didn't know," he said maturely. Then, Mario had a bright idea, and turned to the others excitedly. "You guys ever had pizza?"

"Pizza?" Link and Tael said simultaneously.

"Oh man, Weege, we have to treat them to pizza, right?" Mario's prior coldness towards the foreigners seemed to just be a distant memory now, the plumber currently ecstatic to show off one of his favorite foods. If they liked pizza, how bad could they possibly be?

"Yeah! You guys would get a kick out of it!" Luigi was just as pumped as Mario, the two jumping into the air and striking a special pose. When they returned to the ground, they eagerly led the others to their favorite hangout spot in all of the Mushroom Kingdom.

"My friends, welcome to 'Teaboy's Cafe!" Mario opened up the wide, double doors to the pizza parlor extravagantly, allowing the scents of tomato sauce, melted cheese, and fresh dough to fill the air. The smells put Link, Kirby, and Tael in a trance as they walked in, fully engrossed in the sight.

"Well hey there, Mario! Glad you could stop by!" A Toad cashier greeted the group as they approached the register. He stood on a high stool just so he could oversee everything, his normally short stature being a problem. "I see you've brought some friends, so will that be a table for five this time?"

"Yep, five," Mario said, making a thumbs up. The meal would be expensive, of course, but he was too enraptured by the idea of treating the three travelers to the Mushroom Kingdom's best. "Come on, guys, we can sit anywhere, so follow me," Mario walked down the aisle, the other customers turning in their seats to see him walk by.

"Ahem, excuse me, sir," One of the Toad waiters tapped Link on the shoulder. "You'll need to leave your gear at the front. Don't worry, we'll take care of it, just we can't have you going around with… all that."

"I see, my apologies," Link undid the strap for his sheath and handed his things over to the Toad, two more waiters arriving to take the weapons away to the back for safekeeping. With that, Link joined back up with the others as they found a booth that would suffice.

"Here, let's see," Mario examined the seating arrangement. The booth was in the shape of a half circle, the seats curved around the equally round table, the other side exposed to the bustling restaurant. "Yep, this'll do."

Mario was first, sliding into the booth slowly. Luigi was right behind him, although he went in a lot faster, gliding along the slick leather seat and accidentally bumping into Mario's shoulder. The pair just laughed. Link easily followed, the booths being just like the ones at the Milk Bar in Termina. Kirby was next, however when he sat down, he was too short to look over the table. He tried jumping up repeatedly, but it was no use.

"Oh, I got this, no problem," Mario jumped out from the booth and ran off, coming back just a second later with a booster seat. "Here you go."

Kirby didn't mind having to use the booster seat, seeing it as hardly an issue. He sat in the chair snugly and Mario scooted it so that it met with the other end of the table. The pink puffball smiled happily as he got comfortable, uttering a few 'poyos' so Link could hand him a menu. Tael flew over and landed on a neatly folded napkin right next to Kirby, glad to finally give his wings a break.

"Ah, Kirby, you won't be needing that," Mario took the menu from Kirby's paws and set it on the table. "I'm ordering us all a pizza, don't worry. Waiter should be coming around any minute!" Right on cue, their server walked up to the table, exchanging greetings with the brothers.

"Good to see you, brothers! I assume you'll be getting the usual?"

"Yeah, just make it a large," Mario replied listlessly, reclining in the booth, hands folded behind his head. The waiter nodded and promptly left, and a second later he could be faintly heard in the background shouting the order to one of the chefs.

"Wow, this place is quite quaint," Link commented, looking at his surroundings. The walls of the pizzeria were painted a warm, striking red, with pictures hanging up similar to the ones at the inn. He was continuously shocked at how homey and cozy almost every location in the kingdom had felt so far.

"Hah! It wasn't always like this, you know. A few years back this place didn't even exist, but we brought along some pointers from our home to the kingdom, and one of the first places they built was this big pizzeria!" Luigi said, gesturing towards the whole of the restaurant.

"Your home?" Tael asked.

"Our home, yeah. We come from a place wayyy far away from the Mushroom Kingdom. Called Brooklyn. We stumbled across a pipe leading here like… ten years ago?" Luigi looked at Mario, hoping he'd validate his guess. Mario nodded, letting Luigi continue, "And we've lived here ever since."

"Speaking of home, where do you guys come from?" Mario asked innocently. He hoped that since they were all in a more comfortable place, Link, Kirby, and Tael would be more willing to talk about whatever place they hailed from.

"W-Well, I- uh…" Link thought it'd be right to talk about it, but he quickly grew nervous at the thought of explaining his peculiar homeland. "I come from a place named Hyrule, and Tael comes from a similar world named Termina. I consider myself to be from Termina now, actually, ever since I stumbled upon the land myself and helped it overcome a certain… problem."

"Woah, that sounds amazing!" Luigi exclaimed, then he snorted. "Hey, Mario, that reminds me of how you came across Lake Lapcat!" Luigi was almost overcome with laughter as he remembered the bizarre way Mario told him how he ended up there. "Get this! Mario was just walkin' along one day when he came across a pool of black ink. Then he-" Luigi snorted again. "Then he just fell in!"

"You just… fell in?" Tael asked, looking a little bemused.

"It's a lot less funny than my brother makes it out to be," Mario emphasized the word 'funny' as he slapped Luigi in the back of the head, making his brother's green hat fall off and plop onto the table.

"I found it, hilarious, thank you very much!" Luigi taunted Mario as he put his hat back on. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the waiter coming with the pizza. "Hey! There it is!"

"Your lunch is served, gentlemen," said the Toad as he placed the pizza platter on the table. "Enjoy."

"Thanks, pal!" Mario said. "Now, fellas, the one rule when eating a pizza is," Link, Tael, and Kirby leaned in as Mario spoke. The red plumber took of his white gloves, and his brother did the same, and they both said, "Just use your hands!"

The Terminians and the Star Warrior gazed with confusion as watched Mario and Luigi both take a slice off the pie, trying not to drip any of the piping hot cheese onto their laps as they ate. The trio glanced at each other for a moment before shrugging and following the brother's example, taking their own slices and digging in. Right away, their taste buds exploded with the fantastical flavor of the seasoned pizza.

As they ate, Link discussed his and Tael's past further, along with some of Kirby's.

"After we had fought the Thunderbird, I went to my room and came across this sort-of…" Link snapped his fingers, trying to remember the exact details of his first encounter with Dark Link. "Right, I met a shadow version of myself! I thought I was just seeing things, but when he jumped from the mirror and wrapped his hands around my neck, I knew something was up."

"We've faced shadow versions of ourselves before, right Mario?" Luigi asked, wiping away some of the pizza sauce that had scattered along his upper lip.

"Yeah, we did. Honeyhive, right? That was the first time?" Mario had a few foggy memories of his time in space, but he'd never forget the shrill voice of his cosmic clone.

"Anyways, after the whole mirror thing, later that night, I had a dream. It was the most realistic dream I had ever had at that point," Link, even though the dream he spoke of was more so a nightmare, he looked back on it fondly. Bellum had pulled out all the stops to instill fear, and he respected it. "This dream monster that the witches summoned had been messing with my head."

"Dreams, huh? You know what's funny?" Luigi asked rhetorically, "I usually don't remember most of my dreams, except for when we went to Pi'illo Island. Prince Dreambert was a big help with that. Although last night I do remember my dream, and it was the weirdest thing, now that I think about it…"

"What was it, Weege?" Mario asked after he drank a bit of his water, setting the glass down on the table beside his plate.

"Well, the weirdest part about it was," Luigi put down his third slice of pizza and pointed at Link and Kirby, "You two were there! I mean, I've never dreamed about people I had just met, but who knows, my mind has always been a little out there."

Link stopped eating right away, his eyes wide and mouth agape. He put down his second slice and cleared his throat, dwelling on what Luigi had described. A dream with both he and Kirby in it? Impossible, it couldn't have been like his dream this past night, could it? Mario and his brother noticed Link's change in attitude and stared at him with befuddlement.

"Luigi… About your dream, you said that Kirby and I were there?"

"Yeah, why?" Luigi responded with a question, thinking nothing of the dream.

"Who…" Link paused, thinking about how to word it. "Who else was there? In the dream, I mean."

"Who else was there? I don't think…" Luigi trailed off, a lightbulb flickering on in his head. "Now that you mention it, there were some others there. Mario was there next to me in the dream, along with some other people I didn't really know. But why do you ask, Link?"

"Hey, hey, hang on, Weege," Mario interrupted, putting his hand on the table. "I'm just like you, I don't really remember my dreams too often, but I think I had one just like yours last night! It's real fuzzy to me, but all I remember was you being there, and these vines coming along, and-"

"Mario, Luigi," It was Link's turn to interrupt. "I think we all had the same dream…"

"Poyo poyo!" Kirby interjected, wobbling around in his booster seat excitedly. "Poy poy poyo! Poyo!"

"What'd he say?" Mario tilted his head to Link.

Link's eyes grew ever more surprised. The whole reason why Kirby had visited his room earlier that morning, before they got distracted by the television, was to tell him about his own dream. A dream that included Link, Mario, Luigi, and other, unknown people. Shocked and aghast, Link furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what the dream must've really meant.

"Ay, Link!" Mario shouted for the third time, finally getting the hero's attention. Link knew he had a habit for drowning out other sounds when he was deep in thought, and he apologized.

"Kirby had the same dream as you, Luigi, and so did I," Link explained hastily, keeping his voice down. He didn't know why, but something told him he had to keep this between himself and his companions. "All of us, floating in a void, with these vines coming and wrapping around our arms. I remember it exactly. And the detail of those strangers that we couldn't recognize."

Mario could see just how serious Link was being, and that was all he needed for trust to finally blossom. That sincere glint in Link's eye as he discussed his dream, Kirby's dream, and how it was the same as Luigi's was the last ounce of truth he wanted to be convinced of Link and his cause.

"I think that someone is trying to tell us something," Link's tone went a little lower, his voice barely above a whisper. "I don't know if it has something to do with Shatterhand, but I hope it does. Whoever they are, they know that we, all of us," Link gestured to the whole group, "Are destined to meet."

"You even said that there were people you didn't recognize in the dream, right?" Mario cut in, taking every detail of the dream into consideration. "Weege and I know a lot of people, but even we didn't recognize them. Maybe… Maybe there's even more people that are meant to join us!"

"Us?" Link reeled back with surprise.

"Yeah, 'us', because all of this," Mario alluded to the lunch he and the others had shared, "All of this has convinced me, don't worry. I know it was a rocky start, but I'm willing to do this. You guys are good people, I'm just sorry it took me a while to see it."

"It's alright, Mario," Tael consoled the plumber.

"Besides, we've worked with a team before, so it'll be a piece of cake," Luigi said confidently. No matter how cowardly he was inside, the green plumber still had the same desire to protect the things he cared about that his brother had.

Suddenly, the table began to shake. Every table began to shake, the glasses and plates rattling against the plaid tablecloth, some even falling to the floor and shattering into pieces. The entire restaurant quaked, and outside, a massive explosion rocked the land violently. Mario and Kirby could see just in the window across from their table something crashing into a nearby building, destroying a billboard and landing in the street below. Then, a large looming shadow creeped along the ground, blocking out the midday sun.