The Mushroom Kingdom Point, Bowser Castle:

Link blearily blinked his eyes open to see a strange shorter man in red overalls chasing Kirby around a dungeon-like room.

"No! No eat me, poyo! Help!" Kirby squawked as he leapt over the strange guy's head.

Link stood up and stood between Kirby and the guy, who was probably about as tall as Rose. Arms crossed, he shook his head at the little man.

"But I'm-a not trying to eat him! I'm-a trying to a-catch-a da monster!" the guy argued. He wore a red cap with an 'M' on it that vaguely reminded Link of the insignia that Meta Knight bore on one of his shoulder pads. He also had brown hair, and blue eyes, with a rather large nose.

Link narrowed his eyes, and shook his head. "Not a monster. Star Warrior. Friend," he corrected the man quietly. "Link," he then declared, pointing to himself. "You are?"

"It's-a me, Mario!" the guy said with a huge grin. Turning to two people Link hadn't noticed yet, Mario exclaimed, "Dey are my bro, Luigi; and Peach, my-a princess."

"Pleasure to meet you, Mister Link. You have funny ears," the blond-haired girl dressed in a light pink, frilly dress giggled. Link observed that she was taller than Mario, and about Luigi's height. "Like Mario said, I'm Princess Peach. I'm used to spending a lot of time in this dungeon, but I still wish you poor others didn't have to be stuck in here."

Fi suddenly leapt out of his sword and told him, "I am concerned, Master Link. This dungeon is not in my memory banks. I am afraid I will be unable to assist you in finding whatever treasures lie within. There is a 99.99% chance that this will not end well, seeing as how there is no way to tell what monsters lie within, either."

"Sword, Fi," Link ordered with a sigh.

"Very well, Master Link. Good luck," Fi sighed, disappearing again.

"I can-a tell you exactly what-a monsters lie a-within," Mario chuckled, seemingly not bothered by the disembodied voice. "Just-a Bowser, and he's an idiot."

"Hey, bro, don't forget da glove guy," Luigi reminded him with a shudder. "Dat guy is scarier than month-old spaghetti, man!" Luigi was, as mentioned earlier, about as tall as Peach, so a bit shorter than Link. Probably around Rinda's height. He wore green overalls and a hat, matching Mario, actually. Except for the color, of course, and his hat had an "L" instead of an "M." He had the same mustache as his smaller brother, though.

"Dat's-a true, I guess," Mario shrugged in answer to Luigi's exclamation.

"Where's Meta Knight?" Link suddenly wondered, just the tiniest bit concerned that the Star Warrior wasn't there.

"Oh, you mean-a da blue meatball, right? Is his name a-Meta Knight? I kinda thought he said a-Meat-a Knight," Mario shrugged.

"Dat's just because all you ever think of is food," Luigi snickered.

"Just like Kirbs over there," Ash laughed. "Maybe you and him can be friends, or something."

"No, poyo. Mario guy scary," Kirby disagreed. He had floated up to Link's head and was now standing on top of his hat.

"Where's Meta Knight?" Link demanded again, allowing his voice to grow a bit louder. The others continued to ignore him, making him sigh in agitation.

"He's talking to Bowser and the glove," Rinda said quietly from behind him. He turned around and found her doing a drawing of a Pikachu looking quizzically at a fairy near a stream. "They took each of us and asked us some questions about the coming evil. We all told them basically the same thing: 'We have no clue what it is, and even if we did, we wouldn't tell you.'"

"Yeah," Peach agreed. "And me, Luigi, and Mario were already here. Bowser kidnapped us all with the glove's help yesterday morning."

"Yep!" Mario nodded.

"I wonder if Rosie's okay," Ash suddenly murmured. "I know MK left his sword with her... I just hope she didn't get electrocuted."

"She will not have been," Meta Knight said calmly as he suddenly appeared behind Ash.

"Yikes!" Ash yelped, then spun around and glared at him. "They trusted you to come back yourself?"

"No, I just did it to scare them," the masked Star Warrior shrugged in reply.

"But how do you know the sword won't hurt her?" Rinda demanded, shutting her sketchbook and tucking her charcoal pencil in the leather-string binding.

"I just do," Meta Knight assured her. "Trust me, she will be arriving here shortly."

"Okay, good, Meta Man did come back," a turtle suddenly said from the door. "All right, Ears. Your turn," he beckoned Link. "C'mon, I want to get home and catch up on watching my favorite TV show."

Sighing, Link followed the turtle out. "I'm a Koopa Troopa, by the by. And you're an Elf, from what your pals say. Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt ya. Bowser might, but hey, he's Bowser. Y'know how it is, he's one of those egotistical maniac types."

"I know those well," Link murmured, thinking of Ganondorf.

Once they arrived at the throne room, sure enough, Bowser and 'Master Hand,' as Link learned he was named; interrogated him thoroughly. Thankfully, there wasn't any torture involved or anything like that. However, they quickly grew annoyed with the fact that all Link would do was nod or shake his head, depending on the question asked.

"Can you talk?" Bowser finally demanded.

Link nodded.

"Then why don't you?" Master Hand growled.

Link shrugged.

"Argh, at least the little blue guy talked, even if all he did was talk in riddles," Bowser groaned.

"Riddles?" Link questioned, making both badguys jump.

"Yeah, some sort of hooey about a prophecy or something," Bowser explained. "So you can talk. Good. So, are you a hero guy?"

Link nodded.

"Here we go again," Master Hand sighed. "Just send him back. Obviously, the one who we have not yet found must be the one who knows what is going on. When are our other hopeful allies supposed to arrive?"

"Well, the mucho evil guy from the place you called Hyrule should be here anytime, and Dreamland's baddie should be right behind him, followed by the Pokémonland no-do-gooder. Or is it do-no-gooder? Good-no-doer? Good-do-noer? I don't know, but whatever. Anywahoosit, Trust me, my Magikoopas are very quick fliers," Bowser reassured him, just as a penguin-like witch critter crashed through a window on a broom.

Link instinctively grabbed a nearby barrel and pulled it over himself. "What's the weirdo doing?" the Magikoopa demanded. "Eh, whatever. Here's the Hyrule guy, Master Bowser."

"Look, wretches," the new arrival grumped as he stood up from where the Magikoopa had dumped him on the ground and dusted himself off. "I don't know who you are, but you obviously don't know who you're messing with. I will have my revenge for this."

Shuddering, Link stayed hidden. Sure, he had beaten Ganondorf several times before, but that didn't make him any less evil or scary.

"Put me down! I'm a penguin, too! You ain't got no rights to treat me this way! I am a king, feather-head!" the penguin king from Dreamland was suddenly heard roaring. With a smirk, the new Magikoopa unceremoniously dropped him on the floor. "Ow! That ain't what I meant, and you knows it!" DeDeDe cranked.

"And, of course, last but not least, here comes Pokémonland's main badguy," Bowser grinned as a third and final Magikoopa crashed through a third and final window.

"I am Giovanni, and you will all pay for this," a evil, slimy looking guy threatened as he, too, picked himself up off the floor. "Why have you brought me to this dump?"

"Greetings, evil ones," Master Hand said calmly, clapping himself against a stone wall to get the others' attention. "I have brought you all here for a specific reason. But, rather than explain things myself, why don't we let our Princess friend do so?"

Link held his breath, expecting Peach or possibly Zelda to come in, angrily. But all he heard was a light-footed step, and then the sound of something being picked up and set down on his barrel.

"Unhand me, foul beast. Is it not enough that I came in without fighting? Must you also pick me up and carry me around like a doll? I am your Princess," a voice he didn't recognize huffed, sounding tired.

"Maybe so, but you're getting older, aren't you, Princess? Ripe old age of over eight hundred, you're not as young as you used to be, my dear," Master Hand sneered. "Now, Princess Baika, explain to these good, bad men why you are here; why we are here."

"Master Hand has gathered you here because he wants you to stop the coming evil for him," Baika sighed.

"Not for me, with me, love," Master Hand disagreed. "Get the facts right."

"Wait, why would we want to get rid of the coming evil? If it blows up the goodies, so much the better for us," Bowser disagreed.

"Look, I have no idea what in Dreamland is goin' on here. Who da heck are all of you numbskulls, anyway?" DeDeDe grumped.

"We are all inhabitants of the same planet, my friends. And the reason why we want to stop it is so that we can be the supreme rulers of our planet, not it. Welcome, my friends, to the Mushroom Kingdom point of Nintendo World," Master Hand chortled darkly. "All I need is for you three to agree to assist me and Bowser in our schemes."

"You still haven't told us what your schemes are," Giovanni disagreed.

As the baddies argued, the Princess kicked her heels against the barrel. "Link, you are in there, correct?"

Link jumped, wondering how she knew his name. He nodded, then realized she couldn't see him, so resorted to quietly saying, "Yes, Princess Baika."

"Very good. Have you and the others found all the non-heroes?" she questioned anxiously. "The great evil has been unleashed, I can feel it."

As his eyes widened, Link gulped. "Three," he answered softly.

"You're still missing the Mushroom Kingdom's non-hero?"

"Yes. And Rose," Link told her.

"Rose is missing? Hmm. Well, hopefully she will return, soon," Baika worried. Changing the subject, she muttered, "Who is the penguin guy? I mean, I remember there being a very minor badguy character created for the Dreamland point who was a penguin named DeDeDe. But he was never supposed to be king."

Link smirked a bit. Meta Knight had mentioned that King DeDeDe had pretty much made himself king, and Dreamland's inhabitants had just sort of gone along with it.

"Anyway, Link. Just let me get off this barrel, and you need to return to the others. Tell them that I am here, and that I am safe. But my immortality drive is starting to run down. I still look young, and probably always will, but I will not be in this world for much longer. I know that one of the non-heroes is the Heir, and I know which one, as well, but I cannot tell you who yet. Just make sure that you heroes keep them safe for as long as you can, all right?" Baika ordered. "Now, let's hope Rose and the non-hero from this point get here soon."

Link hurried back to the dungeon after bowing to the Princess, who was very pretty even if she was supposedly old. When he got to his destination, he wasn't at all surprised to find Ash, Kirby, and Mario having a fight over who was the biggest hero. Meta Knight was just staying out of it, watching them in a sort of disbelieving amusement.

"For heroes, they are acting very petty," he commented as Link slipped through the bars. (This dungeon wasn't exactly all that secure.) Seeing that Link seemed surprised that he noticed his presence, he chuckled softly. "Yes, my friend, it works both ways. I am both good at surprising people with my sudden appearances, and at never being surprised myself. Very little ever catches me off guard."

"Princess Baika is in this castle," Link murmured down to his Star Warrior ally as he leaned against the wall near him.

Meta Knight's eyes widened a bit. "And that is very little," he muttered. "You have caught me off guard, I will admit that freely. But what is she doing here?"

"Master Hand brought her. Each point's villains, too," Link told him, not answering the posed question. "He wants to stop the coming evil, and rule in its place. Baika is growing old, she says we must protect the non-heroes and the Heir."

"That was quite a speech for you, my Elvin friend. But who is the Heir?" Meta Knight questioned, eyes glowing a confused deep green as he stared off into space, wrapped in his cloak.

"One of the non-heroes. Rose or Rinda, probably," Link murmured. "Probably not Thdwee."

After nodding once, the Masked Knight reminded him, "It could also possibly be the non-hero from this point, do not rule out that possibility."

Nodding, Link agreed. "Also, the great evil has been unleashed. I still don't know what it is."

"Hmm. That cannot be good. I wonder why Rose has not arrived yet," the smaller of the two worried. "I really did expect her to have come by now, even if only by being captured herself." His heart sank as he suddenly considered the possibility that the Dark Bibliochimera had reached her while she was alone, and that she could now be trapped in a story world. "Please let that not be so," he whispered to no one in particular, closing his eyes with a sigh.

"Oh, look, it's-a Link!" Mario shouted, interrupting the ongoing argument between the other three heroes. "Now-a dat da badguys have a-talked to all of us, is it-a time to go?" Without waiting for an answer, he whooped, "It's-a go-time!"

"Not just yet," Meta Knight shook his head firmly before Mario had a chance to actually run off. "We must wait for Rose, at least one more night. We cannot go on without the first of the non-heroes. Besides, I have a feeling that she will bring the non-hero from your point with her." He turned and stared off into space again, hoping that his earlier premonition was wrong. Hurry, young one. Do not keep us waiting much longer, he thought, choosing to assume for the time being that she was just being held up by something less sinister.