Magolor's POV:

"Hiya, everybody! The Lor Starcutter says she's ready, willing, and able to be the flagship!" I shout as I throw open the doors of the castle library, which Meta-Not has dubbed the 'war office,' and float in. "So we're good to go there, lady and gentlemen!"

No one answers. Meta Knight is pacing back and forth in typical Meta Knight fashion, everyone else is seated in various places around the room, looking worried. Uh-oh.

"What's happened?" I squeal, panicked.

Glancing over at me, Meta-Not commands, "Nothing that calls for panicking, so stop. It is just that Rose has disappeared, and no one can find her. She left a thread of Light as a way for us to tell if she was all right, but it seems to be doing the same thing as Sakura's. See?" He holds up the hand that Sakura's thread is wound around and uses it to point to a desk where Rose's red Light is lying, looking sad and lost.

"That's not good," I gulp. "Where did Princess 1 and Princess 2 go?"

Grinning weakly, Kirby tells me, "I'm sure they're both fine. That's not the only reason we're all sitting in here. There's something else."

Nervous, I question, "Something better, or something worse?" This is just great. Y'know, working twelve-hour shifts at Burger Dee wasn't so bad... At least I wasn't always either in trouble or busy being involved with some heroic endeavor. Eh, who am I kidding? I hated that place. Space is a heck of a lot awesomer. Like me!

"Something way better," Mr. Bandana Dee reassures me. "You'll see in just a-"

There's the sound of an overjoyed squeal, and in through the door comes a couple of guys I've never seen before, both using a Luma for transportation.

One whoops, "Hey-a everybody! Eet's-a me, Mario!" He's about Rose's height, (quite a bit wider, though, ha!) he has brown hair and blue eyes, and a rather large mustache. He wears a red hat with an 'M' on it, and matching red and blue overalls.

"And it's-a Luigi!" the other cheers. He's quite a bit taller (and skinnier! heh!) than the other guy, and also has brown hair and blue eyes. He wears green and blue overalls very similar to 'Mario's,' and a green hat with an 'L' on it.

"Mario!" Kirby cheers, running over and attaching himself to the new guy's leg like a koala. "Yay! How are you? Hi to you too, Luigi!"

"I'm-a good, a-Kirby!" the shorter guy grins at him. To tell the truth, he kinda gives me the creeps. What's with the weird voices? Although, I guess I can't talk, I sound sort of like a hybrid of a parakeet and a chipmunk, or so I've been told many times. People call it 'pipsqueak-y.' I call it 'AWESOME.'

Nodding happily, the taller guy agrees, "Yeah, I'm-a good too!"

"Hey, Meta-Not," I drift over near to him and then murmur out of the corner of my mouth, "Who are those guys, anyways?"

"They are Mario and Luigi. They are brothers, heroes from the Mushroom Kingdom point," Meta Knight explains calmly. "We should be having other people arrive soon, as well. Would you please go turn on that PC in the corner that keeps flashing 'PC.dll' under its surface, so that Ash does not get stuck in-between computers?"

Confused, I give a him a weird look, but do so anyway. Sure enough, a few seconds later, a guy, a girl, and a weird-looking critter that looks like a thing I've seen here in town all show up, just randomly appearing out of nowhere, right next to the desk that the strangely-flickering PC sits on.

"Hey," the guy sighs, stretching and accidentally knocking the critter off of his shoulder. "Wassup, everybody?"

"Pika-pika," the critter glares at him, then shouts, "Pikachuuuuu!" and shocks the poor kid, knocking him over. Yeesh. Remind me to stay on that thing's good side. I hope it has a good side, anyway. It's yellow with red circles on its cheeks, and a tail that's shaped like a bolt of lightning, with brown patches on it. Oh, and the tips of its ears are dark brown, too.

But back to the kid. He's got black hair that's mostly hidden by a red, white, and black baseball cap, and big brown eyes. He carries a bag, which looks to be full of red, white, and black spheres. Wonder what those are for? I know that a lot of Manga-Heads and even some Star Warriors and Elves in town carry them around everywhere. The kid's probably also about Rose's height, maybe just a bit taller.

The girl towers over him, she's probably a good five-and-a-half feet tall. That's pretty much equal to being a giant, as far as I'm concerned. She's got very light blonde hair, so blonde it's almost white, and intelligent-looking brownish-grayish eyes. She's pretty, or I think so, anyway. Oh, and she's got pointed ears, it looks like. I guess that makes her an Elf. She carries a brown leathery-looking sketch book with a charcoal pencil or two tucked safely into the binding, as well as a few spheres of her own.

"Ash!" Kirby cheers, going over and hugging him now, then jumping over to Elfie just a moment later. "And Rinda!"

As he looks over at them, Meta Knight seems confused. "Is it just me, or does Ash seem to have not gotten any older? Rinda looks like she has aged, but Ash does not..."

"I don't know, I've never met either of them before. Who are they?" I demand.

Looking at me calmly, he tells me, "Ash is a hero from Pokémonland. That creature he was carrying is named Pikachu, and it is a Pokémon. Rinda, the Elvin girl, is the non-hero from Hyrule who helped to save our worlds from Tedium a few years ago, but she lives in Pokémonland now. She draws Pokémon and such, or so I suppose. That was her non-hero's talent: Drawing. She is also very good with Pokémon. Although, she can also be very-"

Suddenly, Rinda trips and falls backwards over Thdwee, who just walked in a second ago, seeming concerned. Little guy probably misses Rose, poor thing. I know I do. She's cool.

"-clumsy," Meta-Not finishes, barely succeeding in holding back a chuckle. "Oh, and Thdwee is the non-hero from Dreamland. He might not look like it, but he is very, very brave when he needs to be. His non-hero talent is Music. Perhaps sometime, you can get him to play the piano with you and Sakura."

"All right then, but I doubt it," I shrug, then suddenly get picked up and hugged without warning by the girl, who had been apologizing profusely to Thdwee just a second ago.

"D'aaaaaawwww! You're so cute!" she giggles at me. "What are you? Some sort of Star Warrior? Oh, are you disabled or something? Is that why you don't have arms or legs?"

"Quit insulting me!" I squawk, wriggling out of her arms and giving her the evilest evil eye I can give her without actually being evil. "I've never been so insulted in my whole life. Do I look like an SW to you?!? Well, if I do, lemme spell it out for ya: I'm not an SW! I'm a Halcandran! And I'm not disabled, girly! Halcandrans don't have arms or legs! We float! How dare you insult me like that? 'A Star Warrior,' she says. Well, I never!"

"Sorry," she laughs, obviously thinking my angry outburst is funny. Well, how do ya like that. Grr.

Still glaring at her, I mutter bitterly, "I hate being cute." All this does is make her laugh at me again. Hmph.

"Trust me, Magolor. I feel your pain," Meta Knight assures me very quietly a moment later, when everyone else is busy talking to each other. "Hence the masks, correct?"

"Basically, yep," I nod in agreement. Huh. Maybe Meta-Not and I have more in common than I thought. "They help to get people to take us seriously, don't they?"

"Well, some, anyway. I still feel like people do not take me as seriously as they should at times," he shrugs, and I laugh a little bit.

Nodding while also shrugging, I add, "Although, technically, Halcandrans dress like this 'cause the cloak helps filter the air some. Living in a galactic dumping ground can make that necessary."

With a sigh, he mutters, "Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Nightmare?"

"Maybe, once or twice," I giggle at him. "But go ahead, do tell."

"All right, then. I dislike him very, very much," he replies, glaring at a wall.

"I dislike him, too. I dislike him even more than I dislike eggplant. And trust me, I really, really dislike eggplant," I inform him, making a disgusted face to myself. Worst vegetable ever. Squash isn't much better.

Eyes glowing light green for just a instant, he tells me, "I have never been fond of that vegetable, either." Then, he grows serious again. "Where are our other Hyrulean and Mushroom Kingdomer friends?"

A moment later, there's the sound of an ocarina, and out of nowhere, another Elf and a weird-looking short mushroom guy appear.

"Hey, guys! We aren't late, are we?" the mushroom guy demands as he runs over to us with a grin. On the way, he trips over the corner of a table leg and falls, losing his glasses on the ground. "Dang it. Where'd they go this time?" he sighs, beginning to feel around on the floor for them. That must stink, needing glasses when you don't even have a nose to hold them up. There's not much else to describe about his appearance, other than that he has small black eyes and green spots on his mushroom cap.

"Well, I see Geek Toad hasn't changed a bit," Rinda laughs at him, handing him his glasses and helping him up.

"That's Professor Geek Toad to you, Rinda," he grins at her, then gives an elaborate bow. "Head science teacher at the Hyrule Royal Academy, that's me!"

"That's awesome!" she exclaims, then shyly turns to the other new arrival. "Hey, Link. How have you been? I've missed you the past few years."

"Good," he shrugs, smiling at her. "I missed you too. Castle vases are a lot safer, though." Something tells me he doesn't like talking much. He's got long blonde-but-almost-yellow hair and blue eyes. He's an Elf, just like Rinda is, wears a dark green tunic and matching long hat, and carries a sword that I immediately realize is sentient. I don't know, it just sort of has the same air about it that the Lor does.

"Trust me, just as many inanimate objects die daily at the research center as what used to at Hyrule Castle," Rinda laughs in reply. She has an easy laugh, reminds me a little bit of Princess. Speaking of which, I hope Princess is doing okay. Something tells me she's having a tough time, wherever she is, but I bet she'll be fine.

"Who are these people?" I ask Meta Knight.

Nodding once, he answers, "The Elf is Link. He is a Hylian Hero from Hyrule. The Toad is named Geek Toad, originally Fail Toad. He is the non-hero from the Mushroom Kingdom, and his non-hero talent is Innovation. He is very good at inventing things and coming up with creative solutions to technical and mechanical problems."

"Cool," I nod, then wonder aloud, "What was Rose's non-hero talent?"

Sounding proud of her, (I guess she was his favorite, or something,) he informs me, "Her talent is Writing. She is also very good with a sword, a true Star Warrior at heart."

"Rose? Good with a sword? Somehow, I have a hard time imagining that," I murmur with a frown.

Ignoring me, Meta Knight murmurs to himself, "Well, that is everybody, except Rose and Byte. And something tells me they are not coming."

He clears his throat to get everyone's attention, then flies up to the top of a table and lands. After looking around the room to make sure everyone's listening and can see him, he begins, "I am sure you all have some idea of why the points have been brought together."

"We came as soon as we could," Geek Toad interrupts with a firm nod. "I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I have no idea what's going on. I just knew that if Rose- um, I mean Princess Bara- brought us all back together, it had to mean something bad."

"It does," Meta Knight takes back over. "It means that Nightmare has returned and is beginning to attack smaller planets. Soon he will come after our planet, whether you wish to call it Planet Popstar, or Nintendo World. Either way, he is our first concern, currently.

"But he is not the only thing we have to worry about. He is priority number one, but in a close second is... this." Drawing his sword, making most of us duck, while Pikachu glares at the resulting electricity in something resembling jealousy, Meta Knight then sets it on its point in the middle of the table he stands on. Dramatically, he presses the ruby, calling forth his 'all-powerful' star-map. All hail, gasp, awe, amazement, all that.

After they all look at it for a second, completely lost, the new people all gasp in horror as one by one they realize what's happening.

"What is that stuff? Why is it eating the Galaxy?" Rinda panics, reaching out and touching some of it. Instantly, the map zooms up on it, identifying it as 'The Great Void.'

"Why did I not think to do that?" Meta Knight murmurs ponderingly as he walks closer to it, then reads the description that has popped up. "'This Galaxy-ending anti-substance cannot be stopped, only slowed. From all time, this Void has been destined to end all worlds. It is not sentient, and it is hypothesized that it was somehow brought into existence by the Ancients.'"

"But the Ancients were the ones who made this place! They wouldn't make something that could wreck it!" Geek Toad freaks, beginning to run back and forth in a crazed manner.

"Oh, look! The Toad Panic Dance!" Kirby mutters to his friends, making them all laugh for a moment.

Seeming confused himself, Meta Knight points out, "It says 'it is hypothesized,' meaning that no one really knows who made it. I think that it has something to do with the evil spell that Solar and Sakura conjured."

"Does it say how it can be slowed down?" I interrupt, ignoring the new people's murmurs of 'who's Solar?' "'Cause it seems to me that maybe instead of talking about it, we should actually do something about it."

"Are you volunteering?" Meta-Not asks sarcastically.

Narrowing my eyes just a little bit, I answer, "Maybe I am. Maybe it's time for Trustworthy Hero to get in on the heroics."

"Who's 'Trustworthy Hero?'" Shadow wonders aloud. Well, I guess I haven't told anyone other than Meta Knight, so I'm not surprised that Shadow's lost.

"Magnificent Mister Magolor, aka ME!" I reply with an elaborate bow, earning myself a classic Meta Knight 'you are a complete and total idiot' glare.

Out of nowhere, a purr suggests, "May I make a suggestion, nya?"

Eyes suddenly glowing dark orange in irritation, Meta Knight growls as he angrily looks up at the new addition to the party, "How did you even get in here? These are top secret proceedings. Go away, foul creature."

Lithely, Dark Sakura leaps down from the bookcase she stands on and seats herself on the floor in her typical feline fashion. "I was here to begin with, Fake Meta Knight, nya. You were the one who started a 'top secret' meeting in the room I was napping in. Watching and listening to all of you make your adorable little plans, which are obviously doomed to fail, nya, is actually quite fun."

"Who's she?" Geek Toad asks. "She looks sort of like Mario and the others when they get Cat powers, but cuter."

"Thanks, nya," she laughs coldly at him.

Snickering, Bandana Dee suggests, "I think she inhaled an annoying cat. She's got the Kitty-Bozo Ability!"

"Trust me, Nerd Mush," I roll my eyes at Mushroom Guy, "she's anything but cute. She's the Dark side of Kirby and Bandana's sister, Sakura."

Rolling his eyes right back at me, Geek Toad snorts, "Nerd Mush? Ha ha, very funny. I get it, 'Nerd' instead of 'Geek' and 'Mush-'room instead of 'Toad-'stool, right?"

"Give him a prize! He got it right! Such genius!" I gasp in faux-amazement, sarcastically beginning to applaud him.

"Hey. Look, Mr. Halcandrain or whatever you are, lay off of Geek Toad," Rinda glares at me.

Growing irritated, Meta Knight orders in his quiet-and-angry voice, "Would everyone please stop arguing and pay attention? We sort of have Doomsday going on here!"

"I'm-a with a-Meat-a Knight," Mario puts in his two cents' worth.

Sarcastically, Meta-Not replies, "I find that highly reassuring, Mario."

"And a-what-a is dat-a supposed to a-mean?" Mario grumps back.

"I tink he means dat he doesn't tink too highly of you," Knuckle Joe snickers from where he's sprawled out on a sofa, Sirica sitting opposite to him, both of them busily giving us all disbelieving looks. Oh, yeah. Like he can talk. He's not even helping anything, just sitting there and watching.

"You stay out of it," Falspar shouts at him. "Meta Knight can take care of himself."

"Which is why you are defending me, I suppose?" Meta Knight narrows his eyes at him.

Growing angry, Falspar turns on him. "A simple thank-you would suffice, young one."

Stomping over to him, Meta Knight demands, "Are you calling me 'young one?' I, Sir Meta Knight?"

"Yes, you, Sir Mini Knight," Dragato agrees, apparently siding with Falspar, while Nonsurat silently steps behind Meta-Not. Great. Now we're taking sides. This is just brilliant.

I'm about to re-enter the conversation with a random insult directed at no one in particular, when I notice Dark Sakura's evil grin and the way that she holds her paw-gloves. She's casting some sort of a Dark spell, isn't she? To make us all fight each other!

"Ah, so you've noticed, nya," she sighs at me when she notices my shock and anger, only mildly annoyed by my finding her out. "Chaos, discord... Isn't it beautiful, nya?" she snickers, using her free paw-glove to gesture around the room. All of us are fighting, all of us are arguing. Nothing helpful is getting done. This is terrible.

"Why are you doing this?" I squawk at her. Now that I know what's causing it, it doesn't affect me, apparently.

Smirking darkly, she purrs, "So I can do... this!" She suddenly begins to cast another spell, but is suddenly interrupted.

With a tearing sound, a hole appears in the wall and begins sucking up everything around it. "What the heck did you do?!?" I squeal in terror as everyone is shaken out of the original Dark spell and grabs hold of something to try to keep from flying away.

"I didn't do that, nya!" she growls at me, ears flattening against her head in a mixture of anger and fear as she digs her claws into a curtain to keep from being eaten by the whatever-it-is. "I have no idea what it is!"

Suddenly, it manages to get one- actually, two- of us. With two simultaneous yelps of, "No! Let's-a not go!" Mario and his brother disappear.

"Where are they going?" Rinda panics as it also claims Link.

Growing determined, Kirby grabs Bandana Dee's paw and announces, "I dunno, but I'm going with them!" Without any further warning, he goes to leap in.

"Shotzo! Kirby, do not be foolish!" Meta Knight orders him, trying to stop him, but the hole has decided it wants the three of them, apparently, and they all are swallowed right up, like Kirby nomming a monster.

After another moment, it also eats Ash and Pikachu, and then just as suddenly as it appeared, it zips shut.

"No! How do we get them back?!?" I freak out as I run over and tear at the wallpaper, trying to get the hole to open back up. It doesn't work, just makes the place look shabby. Angry, I turn on Dark Sakura. "All right, Fluffy. I don't know how you did that, but you're going to reverse it, and right now!"

"Or what, nya? You'll shout at me and send your little flying boat after me? Ooh, I'm so scared, nya," she rolls her eyes at me.

"Or we'll all deal with you," Dragato narrows his eyes at her and draws his sword. "Now. How do we get them back?"

Now growing nervous, she hisses at him and repeats, "I didn't cause that, nya. I was just going to have you all fight each other until you had gotten rid of each other."

"Why?" Falspar glares at her, also drawing his sword.

Growing smug, she answers, "Because if you guys were out of the way, nya, I could take over this whole planet. After all, if I got rid of Fake Meta Knight, even Dark Meta Knight wouldn't be able stop me, anymore. And my copy is far away somewhere, where she can't be harmed by Dark Meta Knight, so I've basically been given the ticket to immortality, nya."

"So, you're just assuming that nothing else is ever going to try to hurt her?" I point out, just a bit snidely.

Looking like she feels rather stupid now that she's taken the time to think about it, she murmurs, "I guess you have a point there, nya."

"I'm keeping an eye on you," I warn her.

Rolling her eyes, she snorts, "As if there's anything you can do to stop me, nya. You can't even use a sword, or anything. Do you really think you can do anything to help, nya?"

Glaring at her, I realize that she's mostly right. I've never really learned that sort of stuff, and it does seem to kind of render me useless.

Crossing his arms, Nonsurat tells me, "Don't listen to her. We'll keep an eye on her, and the other Dark guy. Well, as soon as we've found him."

Inspecting her paw-glove, she sighs at him in fake mournfulness, "You won't find him unless he wants to be found, nya. Trust me."

"I don't think we can," Dragato points out as he gives her a suspicious look, then turns back to the rest of all of us. "Well, we've still got us three, Sir Arthur, Magolor, Shadow, Rinda, Geek Toad, and Thdwee... Our numbers seem to be quickly dwindling, and the war hasn't even started yet. This is simply wonderful," he sighs wearily, sitting down in an armchair.

"I just hope they're okay, wherever they are..." I murmur, crossing my arms and growing more and more nervous. Something bad is happening, something very bad, and I think the heroes disappearing is just another part of it all.

************************************************************************

Mario's POV:

My head... It-a hurts... What-a is-a going on, any-a-way? Dis-a is not-a fun at-a all...

Forcing my-a eyes open, I a-see that we are a-floating in a void full of-a light-a-green letters and a-numbers. A-where-a are we? Dis-a can't-a be good.

"Eh, Luigi? Where-a are you?" I call.

Groaning, he-a replies, "Right-a here, Bro! But my-a head a-hurts!"

"Mine-a too, Luigi," I-a agree with him. "But a-what-a is going on?"

Suddenly, a bunch-a of text-a appears in a-front-a of us. It a-says:

[mario.exe has quit working]

[luigi.exe has quit working]

[metaknight.exe has quit working]

[kirby.exe has quit working]

[bandanadee.exe has quit working]

[ash.exe has quit working]

[pikachu.exe has quit working]

[link.exe has quit working]

[mario.exe not found]

[luigi.exe not found]

[metaknight.exe not found]

[kirby.exe not found]

[bandanadee.exe not found]

[ash.exe not found]

[pikachu.exe not found]

[link.exe not found]

Dat-a does not-a sound good, in my-a opinion. Dat-a does not-a sound a-good at all.

Some-a more-a text reads:

nintendoworld.exe crash in progress

deleting file c\:agjna/oeihg/lasn3598/y8etn328thg (Or dat-a's what it-a looks like to a-me, any-a-way. It-a keeps-a changing too a-fast for me to a-read it.)

"This is so strange..." Meat-a Knight suddenly murmurs to-a himself from a-where he is-a shielding de-a two little a-meatballs with his a-wings. What he's a-shielding dem a-from, I a-don't-a know. "It is acting as if it was... a computer... Just like the objects that are flickering text, letters, and numbers under the surface... They are all acting like components of a... computer..." He-a then-a makes an a-moaning sound and closes his-a eyes. I a-don't-a blame him, my-a head-a hurts-a too, really a-bad.

I don't-a know much about-a computers, but I do know-a this: Once you've-a deleted something, there's a-not usually an-a easy way to-a get it a-back. Whatever's a-going on, it's-a probably really-a bad.

"We are so-a Goomba'd," I a-moan, den I-a close-a my eyes a-too, as a-several-a holes full of a-light open up and-a we all-a fall into a-them.

(For the a-record, writing in a-Mario's POV is extremely annoying-a. Just-a warning you-a, don't-a expect it to a-happen too-a often. -a-Elizabeth-a)