Meta Knight's POV:

With a groan, I blink my eyes open. The first thing I notice is that it is very hot and bright out, wherever I am. Slowly, I sit up, then also observe that I seem to have landed in one of Nightmare's galactic dumping grounds, as I am surrounded by tons of trash.

My wings are still out, which I find strange. Why did they not return to being a cloak? No matter, it makes more sense to leave them out for the time being, in case I need to fly away quickly from something.

My gloves are gone, and I do not see them anywhere around me. No matter, in a moment I can get a spare pair out of my cloak. I can live with just paws for now.

After looking around myself some more, I still do not recognize this place at all, and believe you me, I have been very many places in my time. "Where in the Shotzo am I?" I murmur, then jump as I remember that Kirby and Bandana Dee were with me, among several others. After a moment's frantic searching, I find them both safe, hiding from the heat under a cardboard box. "There you two are. Are you both all right?"

"Yeah, Meta Knight," Kirby reassures me, and Bandana nods in agreement. "But this place is pretty scary."

"How do you mean? I have not noticed anything particularly frightening," I frown at him.

Seeming frightened, Kirby explains, "Well, for one thing, I can't inhale. I don't know why. So I tried swallowing a pebble to copy the ability, but it didn't work, either. And I can't puff up and float! I have no idea what's going on!"

"Are you all right, Bandana Dee?" I ask him. He just nods again. "Why do you not speak?"

"He can't again," Kirby shrugs sadly. "And Meta Knight, you might want to look at yourself in a puddle or something."

"Why?" I frown, then turn and look at my reflection in a silver-colored metal garbage can. "What in the Shotzo?!?" I gasp, then groan. For some reason, you can see that my eyes are white, even though I have the mask on. It is letting light through, and it is not supposed to do that.

Then, I find a new reason to panic. "Where is Galaxia?!?" I demand from no one in particular, as I begin shoving things around, desperately trying to find my sword.

"It's right here," Kirby assures me, picking it up from beside him and handing it to me. "You had it out for the star-map, remember? The hole sucked it up along with us, and thankfully it came with us."

"But where are the others?" I ask as I accept the sword, then try to sheathe it, soon finding myself with a broken sheath when I put the sword in and the point goes right through the other side. "Why will the blade not disappear?"

With a nervous frown, Kirby tells me, "We haven't seen anybody else. Not Link, or Mario, or Luigi, or Ash, or Pikachu, or anybody. This place is so weird, Meta Knight poyo. I have no powers, Bandana has no speech... At least you still have your wings."

"That is true," I sigh, deciding that we are momentarily safe enough for me to return them to being a cloak. But when I will them to change, nothing happens. "This is so strange... It is as if anything that relies on magic no longer works..."

"That's probably not good. But my powers aren't magic!" Kirby points out with an annoyed huff. "Why can't I use my powers?"

Experimentally, I try to inhale, something I have not done in years. Nothing happens, I cannot get my vacuum to turn on. "That is very strange, indeed," I frown even deeper. "Something is very wrong with this place."

"Yeah," Kirby shivers.

Suddenly, there is a growl. I spin around to see a monster that looks like a child of Wolfwrath, only with floppy ears and golden-colored fur. "Stay back!" I shout at it, pointing Galaxia at it.

It looks at me and steps closer, evidently not finding the sword worrisome at all. It growls once again, then suddenly starts making happy yipping noises and jumps on me, knocking me over. Tail wagging, it begins licking my mask.

"Get off! Disgusting creature!" I shout at it, finally managing to push it off after a good minute's struggle. It whines and lies down, making sad eyes at me as it rests its face on its front paws. "Stay away!" I glare at it again.

"Aw, it wasn't being mean. It likes you, Meta Knight!" Kirby giggles, going over and patting the monster's nose, making it wag its tail again and start licking his paw. "It likes me, too!"

"Stay away from it. It must have been sent by Nightmare," I warn Kirby, then try to shoo it away again. It just grins at me and continues wagging its tail. "Stop wagging your tail at me, mutt."

Laughing, Kirby hops on its back, followed by Bandana. "What are you two doing? Do not be foolish!" I huff at them, but it is too late. The stupid monster leaps up and bounds off, making happy barking noises.

"Wheee! Kirby squeals as I take flight and try to remain just above them. "This is so fun!"

"Who knows where that foul creature is taking you?" I glare down at them. "Get off of it!"

"No!" Kirby disagrees with another giggle. "Don't be so paranoid, Mety!"

Growling in annoyance, I continue to follow them as the dog-monster bounds completely out of the pile of trash we found ourselves in, through several concrete halls, and up a set of stairs. At the top of the stairs is a map that lists 'Tokyo subway stations' in the language of the Ancients. Tokyo... I have never heard of such a place. And what is a 'subway?'

About the time we get up the stairs, we start passing a lot of Humans, all of which stare at us in something resembling horror. I understand, I cannot believe those two, riding the mutt and making a spectacle of themselves. But, nevertheless... "Where are we? There are no Humans anywhere in the Galaxy, at least not that I know of..." I mutter to myself.

Not far ahead, the dog has stopped, and Kirby is staring into a shop window with a frown. "That's really weird."

"What is it?" I question, landing next to them.

Looking at me with another frown, Kirby says, "We're in the store."

"Kirby, you are old enough to know your reflection in the window is not really you," I roll my eyes, but he shakes his head.

"Look," he points, and with a sigh, I climb up onto the dog so I can see what he points at. "What in the Shotzo?" I groan as I see what he points at. There are calendars, small stuffed toys, hats, all sorts of things. All of which are bearing our likenesses, and the likenesses of Mario, Luigi, Link, Ash, Pikachu, and several other people I know from Nintendo World.

"Well, I guess we know where we are, now. I think we are in the Home Dimension," I sigh, noticing a clock inside the store (shaped like Mario's face) that says that today is 'July 1st, 2013.' What is 'July?' And when is 2013, in comparison to our time? Obviously sometime in the past, since Nintendo was long gone before Byte came along.

"I don't know. But look! I'm famous!" Kirby giggles, pointing to a fancy-looking TV set inside that is playing a commercial for a game featuring him.

'Hoshi no Kaabi! Toripuru Derakkusu!' it says, then goes on to say that it is coming out next 'January.' When is 'January?'

"Well," I sigh, wishing I could draw my cloak around myself like I typically would, but cannot since I am stuck with my wings, "I suppose we should try to find the others."

"There's more of you?" someone panics behind us, in the language of the Ancients. The dog turns around so we can see them. "Three aliens is enough! I've had calls that you three are disturbing the peace, so I'm here to take you in!"

"My apologies for the young ones' lack of decorum, but I do not believe we have done anything that warrants being 'taken in,'" I disagree with the Human politely. "Now, if you will let us be on our way, we will just go try to find our friends and-"

"And now you're resisting arrest! You aliens are dangerous!" the guy shivers, looking at us in fear. That is just sad, he is more than three times our height, and none of us are doing anything to frighten him.

"We would appreciate it if you quit calling us 'aliens,'" I glare at him. And that, of course, is when he notices that I carry a sword.

"And you're going to attack an officer!" he panics, then throws a sack over the three of us, making the dog run away, barking frantically.

"This is hardly necessary!" I shout, finally starting to actually resist by trying to get out of the sack. "I was just holding the sword! I was not trying to harm you, you fool!"

The guy ignores us, instead just starting to murmur about how he 'does not get paid enough for this.' Our sack is unceremoniously dropped somewhere, and I feel the world moving, so I suppose we are in a car or something similar. The two young ones are so scared that they have not spoken a word, but I assure them that we will be fine in a calming tone.

The sack must be laced with some sort of chemical, because I blink and find myself sitting inside a prison cell of some sort, the young two curled up and asleep on a bunk that is far too big for them.

"Well, now what do we do?" I sigh, going over and joining them.

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

Meanwhile, in NYC:

Sakura's POV:

"Ow. Geo, that's my foot!" I grunt at him. "Watch where you're going!"

"I can't! It's dark in this cardboard box!" he whisper-growls at me from where he walks just a couple of steps in front of me, both of us under the same box. "You're the one who wanted to go to Times Square and listen to the news because we all felt an arrival, so you're not allowed to complain about the transportation!"

He's right, leaving the shelter so suddenly was my idea. And he's also right that hiding under a cardboard box and slowly moving down the street is pretty much the only safe way for us Star Warriors to get around down on the ground. So, here we are. We all felt a new arrival today, and I'm hoping there's something about them on the news, so I talked Geo into coming with me to Times Square.

I've been in the Home Dimension for almost twenty-one years, now. I miss home more than anything, but things have gotten better in a lot of ways. Everything was terrible, until after I had been here about five years. That's when Geo showed up. He and I became fast friends after a couple of escapades, and have been the best of friends ever since.

Geo's really cool. He's a neon-green Star Warrior with matching iridescent parrot-style wings and river-blue eyes, and he's kind of like a mix of Meta Knight and Magolor in personality. Smart and logical, but not afraid to joke around and have fun. He's also willing to do things like jumping off of buildings and falling until you're close to the ground, then starting to fly, which is one of the funnest things ever, in my opinion. We also go subway-roof-riding quite often.

Anyway, once I met him and he started getting me to come back out of the shell I had created for myself, everything else started to get better, too. I started listening to the radio and singing along, sneaking into movie theaters and watching movies, stuff like that. I cheered up a whole lot when I quit spending my whole life hiding. I mean, obviously I still hide, but it's easier when hiding doesn't just mean staying in one 'safe' place and avoiding anything and everything Human-related.

Before you start asking if he and I are romantically involved, I'll tell you that we're not. A few years after he showed up, a violet-purple Star Warrior with bright-green eyes named Terra showed up. She's my other best friend in the Home Dimension. The two of them fell in love, and got married about a year later, which was actually the first Other Dimensioner wedding in the Home Dimension. They have a little girl and boy now, twins. Their childhood names are Butterfly and Cricket, neither of them has earned their name yet. She's lavender with brown eyes, and he's strawberry-red with green eyes. They're both sweethearts, and they basically think of me as their aunt.

So, I'm sure you're wondering what happened to Solar. Well, I'm not going to tell you. Let's just say he's gone, and it's my fault, and we'll leave it at that. Things have gotten a lot better, for the most part, but that doesn't mean that my time here has been all sunshine and daisies. I've had quite a few trials, and things still aren't perfect...

Anyway. There's more than a hundred of us Other Dimensioners here, now. Ever since that first night that Solar and I felt a new arrival, (who turned out to be an Elf named Clerk,) having new Other Dimensioners show up has become fairly common. But it's been happening more and more often, lately. So, that's why we're going to listen to the news, because these days, that's all you have to do to hear about 'monster' sightings. It's one of the easiest ways to find out where someone is once we know they're here. The other easiest way is searching 'monster sightings' on the Internet.

Speaking of which, I have to admit, the invention of the Internet has made things a lot easier in a lot of ways. For one, I've thoroughly fallen in love with Netflix, and for two, instead of eating stolen food, you can order food supplies off of Amazon and have them delivered somewhere close by, and then send an Elf or two to go pick them up.

Yeah, we actually pay for things now, sometimes, anyway. As long as they wear hoodies to cover their ears, most of the Elves look Human-like enough to safely get jobs, same with some of the Manga-Heads, although they also have to wear sunglasses to cover their too-big eyes. And then us Star Warriors, and the Toads, and the rest of us that can't be seen by Humans can do Internet-related things like be live chat customer service people, or we can write and self-publish books, or stuff like that. We aren't rich or anything, but we get along all right.

We all live together in an old, pretty big fallout shelter on the NYC city outskirts that we all just call 'the shelter.' It's dark and drab on the outside, but inside we have it brightly decorated, just like all of the places that we all actually call home.

Every one of us has a story about how we got here. Geo's was that he was a sergeant in the First Star Warriors' War, when a hole appeared out of nowhere and sucked him up, zipping closed right after him. Terra has almost the exact same story, only she was taken during the Second Star Warriors' War, as a corporal.

As far as I can figure, what's happening is that the spell Solar and I cast is echoing around through space and time, showing up in random places, always quickly followed by my repairing spell. But the echoes seem to be happening more and more often on our end, meaning that you never know when some new Other Dimensioner is going to show up, needing to be rescued.

What's saddest is when the new arrival is just a kid, because they're usually terrified. I try to go on all of the rescue missions, but sometimes there's just too much going on at once. Leading over a hundred people doesn't exactly leave you with a bunch of free time, after all. But whenever the one who needs to be rescued is a kid, (somehow, I can always tell, even though no one else can,) I put everything else to the side and go and help them. Even among everything else, I'm still a big sister at heart.

"Are we there yet?" I whisper-groan in exaggerated annoyance.

Laughing, he whisper-scolds back, "Don't make me turn this box around, young lady!"

"All right, 'Dad,'" I laugh back, being careful to remain very quiet. The last thing we need is for someone to pick up the box and get a video of us on their iPhone. If one of us is discovered, they'll be able to find the others in no time flat, I just know it. I'm still very often accused of being paranoid, but my paranoia is what keeps us all safe.

That's one thing that's harder now than it used to be. These days, everyone has a camera with them all the time, so it's more important than ever to stay completely out of sight.

Finally, we start to hear the drone of some talking head reading the noon news. We sit there for almost half an hour, and there's nothing about any 'monster' or 'alien' sightings.

"C'mon, there's nothing. Let's go back, this box is stuffy," Geo complains as yet another commercial break starts. Seriously, sometimes I think there are more commercials than actual shows these days.

Shaking my head, I disagree, "Let's just stay a minute longer. I just know that there's gonna be something."

Rolling his eyes, he laughs, "You're crazy, Sakura."

I make an insane face at him, then frown as the commercial finally ends, and the news anchor starts talking again.

"And to wrap up this news hour, we have a story from 'wacky Japan,'" the male anchor laughs, and there's the sound of papers shuffling. "The Tokyo City Police claim to have taken into custody three 'aliens.' These 'aliens' reportedly resemble walking, talking, multi-colored marshmallows. One's pink, one's dark blue with a silver mask, and one's red-orange with a blue bandana and missing a mouth. Apparently, these descriptions nearly exactly match the appearances of a few Nintendo video game characters, and the company is accusing the police of using their copyrighted property for a publicity stunt. The police disagree, but refuse to allow anyone to actually see the 'aliens,' so this reporter thinks that Nintendo's probably got it right."

"'Wacky Japan' indeed, Carl," his female co-anchor agrees with an affected laugh, then goes on brightly, "Thanks for watching NYC News at Nine!"

I'm frozen. I don't know whether to be happy that they're here where I can finally see them again, or sad that they're stuck here. There's still not a way back that we know of, but there are a few scientific developments that we try to keep our eyes on.

"They finally came," I whisper.

"So, wait. You weren't just making them up all these years?" Geo asks.

Glaring at him, I grump, "You really thought I was just telling stories? Seriously, Geo?"

Shrugging, he sighs, "Well, sort of, yeah."

"I wasn't. I really had two little brothers and a sweetheart," I glare at him. "I can't believe you actually thought I was lying."

Shrugging, he disagrees, "I just didn't believe you, is all. Sorry. Anyway... It's gonna be kinda weird for you, isn't it? It having been so long for you, and who-knows-how long or short of a time for them. They might have forgotten you, or they might not like you anymore once they see the ways that you've changed."

Growing even sadder, I realize he's right. "But I haven't changed that much. I'm still me. And I don't think they would just forget me."

Smiling a bit, he reassures me, "Maybe not. I'm just saying, don't expect things to just magically go back to the way they were twenty-one years ago. With your 'sweetheart' especially. He's probably long since moved on from you."

"Just shut up, Geo," I mutter, kicking at the side of the box. The worst part of this is that that's a part of his personality that's like Meta Knight: Geo is almost always right about everything. Forcing myself to be composed, I huff at him,"Turn the box around. I need to get on the next flight to Tokyo."

"But I can't go with you right now 'cause I've got door-guard duty tonight, and it's against protocol to go on a rescue mission alone," he disagrees.

Rolling my eyes at him, I remind him, "I'm the one that wrote protocol, Geo. Trust me, I'll be fine."

"You're gonna get yourself killed," he sighs as he turns the box and we start moving back down the street as quickly as is safe.

Teasingly, I remind him, "I haven't yet, now have I?"

With a sigh, he orders me, "Just... be careful, Sakura. You don't have 1-ups."

"I know, Geo. I'll be fine," I reassure him. "I always am."

"There's always a first time. Just be careful. You're like my little sister, I don't want anything to happen to you," he frets.

"I'll be fine," I repeat, reaching forward and bopping him on the head affectionately. "You just be careful on the way back to the shelter after you've dropped me off."

"Will do, 'Fearless Leader,'" he salutes me, and then we both fall silent as we continue to maneuver the box through the insanely-busy streets.

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

About half a day later, in Tokyo:

Meta Knight's POV: (again)

Well, I have quickly discovered that being in prison is not at all enjoyable, but that should go without saying.

There is a Human sitting at a desk right outside of the cell, playing card games on a computer, but he has just completely ignored us the whole time.

The only time anyone has even acted like we are here was when someone brought in a tray of rice and cartons of milk for us. They left the tray in here, it is still sitting on the too-big-for-us table in the corner. I was, of course, able to fly up and get the food down for the young ones. I did not eat anything myself, I am not hungry.

Most of the time we have been here (almost a day now, probably,) Kirby and Bandana have either been napping or quietly talking, and I have mostly been pacing. They seem nervous but not too frightened, which is good. I, however, have a bad feeling about the whole thing. Why are they just holding us here? What are they planning to do with us? Do I even want to find out?

My sword is sitting over on the desk, where I cannot get to it. The Human keeps picking it up and swinging it around like a toy. Luckily for him, it cannot fry him here, not without magic.

Suddenly, a smoke bomb goes off, making us all start coughing, including the Human. Oh, just lovely. How did Yamikage get here? is my first thought, but then a voice much like Dark Sakura's, only without the 'nya' tic, purrs, "I am a youko, and you are my enemy."

The Human squawks and drops my sword, sounding scared. To be honest, I do not blame him. Youko are not to be fooled around with. Honestly, having a youko here is not much better than if it actually were Yamikage. Youko are spirits who once lived on a moon but became evil, and were therefore banished to whatever world lied below. They eat Star Warriors, and also, I assume, Humans.

"I have come to reclaim what is mine. These creatures are a delicacy on the moon, and I was going to eat them, but they ran away. You have captured them for me, and to show you my thanks, I will eat you first," the youko goes on, then there is the sound of a bloodcurdling shriek and something crashing onto the Human's desk. The Human runs off, screaming his head off.

"Humans are such wimps," the youko laughs from the vicinity of the desk, then starts to come closer to our cell. I cannot see it, because of the smoke, which has yet to clear. Following my instincts, I grab the tray off of the table and land right next to the cell door. The instant it swings open, I bring the tray heavily down onto the youko's head.

"Ow! I come to save you, and you hit me in the head with a food tray?!?" a very familiar, no longer dark voice huffs at me, sounding quite offended. The smoke clears just enough for me to see a pair of chestnut eyes flashing angrily at me, and a face covered by a Ninja-style scarf.

"Sakura?" I gasp.

She hesitates a second, then suddenly hugs me close and murmurs quietly, "You have no idea how much I've missed you."

Smiling to myself as I return her hug, I remind her, "It has only been a day or two, Flower."

She grows tense, then pulls away. "It's only been a day for you?"

Frowning now, I nod, "More or less. Why? Has it been longer for you?"

She gives a sad laugh, the sadness reaching her eyes as well. "I guess you could say that." Growing happier again, she runs over to the young ones and hugs both of them as well. "Kirby and Bandana! I've missed you both, too! Oh, neither of you has changed a bit. I think that makes me happy."

Her presence seems to greatly relieve the young ones, and I do not blame them. I feel much better now that she is here, as well. I only wonder just how long it has been for her. Hopefully not much longer than a month or two, poor thing.

"Really, though. A youko?" I give her a slightly-amused look.

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, she says, "When you've been doing this as long as I have, you start to run out of good monster ideas." Growing serious, she suddenly orders, "We'd better get out of here quick, before Human-Jerk comes back with backup." Dashing out of the cell and tossing me my sword, she commands, "C'mon. And be quiet. And follow what I do exactly." Normally, I would be bothered by her acting so bossy, but I did just hit her in the head, so I probably deserve it. I really do feel bad about that.

As we run, she suddenly stops us. "What is it?" I ask in an anxious whisper.

"Sh!" she hisses back, then suddenly runs straight up a wall like a Ninja and lands on top of something, (a security camera, I think,) and switches several wires around on it. "There. That's okay now," she sighs in relief, then throws out another smoke bomb and continues to lead us out.

When did she find the time to learn to fight and act like a Ninja? It cannot possibly have been long enough for her to learn an entirely new fighting style.

"Where did you learn to do the Ninja stuff?" Kirby asks her out of nowhere.

Laughing, she tells him, "I know a guy."

"What's his name?" Kirby demands, determined to have his curiosity satisfied.

"Jackie Chan," she replies, a smirk in her eyes, but the scarf prevents us from actually seeing it. I am quickly growing to dislike the scarf, I think. And who is 'Jackie Chan?' I have never heard of a Ninja by that name.

As soon as we are off of the prison grounds, she murmurs to herself, "Let's see, we need to get on the next flight back to NYC, which should be leaving in about half an hour. So we need to take the quick way to the airport. All right, follow me!" she suddenly declares, running off again. Airport? Flight? NYC? I understand so little of what she says...

We come to a ledge, where she pauses. "All right. First things first. Rule number one of the Home Dimension: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, under any circumstances, let a Human see you. There are cameras everywhere, so never let yourself be seen by them, either. Rule number two only applies if you've been an idiot and broken rule number one: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, under any circumstances, trust a Human. They're never on your side, no matter what they say." Growing quieter, she kicks at a rock and sighs, "Trust me, I learned that the hard way."

"So we are in the Home Dimension, then?" I question her, feeling a little bit concerned about her, and she nods.

Speaking in an announcer's voice, she goes on, "Weeeeeellllll folks, it's a lovely ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit here in Tokyo, the capital city of the Land of The Rising Sun, aka Japan, and the dew-point is at a muggy 98% humidity. The date is Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013! Don't forget to mark your calendars, the 7th is Tanabata, and the 4th is Independence Day over in the U.S. of A.!"

Interrupting, I ask, "What is 'July?'"

"It's the exact same thing as 'Midsummer' back home. All of the months work like that, only here the year starts in our equivalent of Midwinter, instead of Early Winter," she explains in her normal voice, then announces, "Well, our train's almost here. Do exactly what I do, and you'll be fine."

"What train?" I demand just as a rattling and shaking sound begins on the other side of the ledge we all stand on.

"Welcome to the Home Dimension, you three! Hold on tight!" Sakura laughs, jumping right over the ledge down onto the train that is rushing past down below. Although, I have never before heard of a train that travels that fast.

"Should we?" Kirby glances at Bandana, who shakes his head in terror, but they both jump down anyway.

Feeling like this is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have done in my life, I follow right behind them.