Super Mario Generations Vol. 2: Dream Vacation

[EggTroopa]

To those who are reading this without reading Vol. 1, you don't really have to read it to understand this story, unless you would like to know why Toad has Pokemon or where Pipsy came from. Here's the link to the first story:
http://www.pokemasters.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=32650
Another thing, if the dialogue starts to sound cheesy, odds are I wrote it on purpose for the sake of humor.
Enjoy the new story!

EggTroopa Presents
Super Mario Generations Vol. 2
Dream Vacation

Introduction/Cast

This is the second saga of my fanfiction series starring the famous Mario Bros., although this story once again focuses on Toad and his friends. Toad was twelve years old when this took place. Once he was easily scared, but now he has a bit more nerve, he's more coolheaded, and he's even a bit spoiled from living in a castle, but he'll never admit it! He didn't change as much in appearence as he did in personality. He has a white cap with large red spots and has green eyes. He still has his purple sleeveless baseball jersey with a red t-shirt underneath, he still wears those red and yellow gloves with the fingers cut off. (They seem to be all the rage with game characters these days.) And his Pikachu, nicknamed Bolt-Boy, is still Toad's plucky right hand Pokemon, but now he has others, although he probably won't use them all in this tale. He has a Blaziken, Gardevoir, Sharpedo, Salamence, and Aggron. Like I said, he is quite spoiled, you see.

Toad's friend, Yoshi, also doesn't look too different than the last time we saw him. He wears red shoes, has a red shell, red spikes, has that generic green complexion, and has purple eyes. He's usually level-headed, docile, and very loyal to Toad, who he knew almost since he hatched. He's quite smart too, although he sometimes tends to state the painfully obvious.

And then there's Pipsy. As cute as she looks, and as cheerful as her personality is, her heart is in the right place, but her head is not! Like Toad and Yoshi, she never found a reason to find a new look, either. She has yellow fur, blue eyes, and two whiskers on each side of her face. she wears a white tank top with a red star on it, red gloves with blue and white cuffs, blue skirt, and a pair of red, white, and blue sneakers. She may not seem very important right now, but she seems to be hiding some dark secret about her past.

And then you have the happy-go-lucky Mario, guardian of the Mushroom Kingdom, his nervous brother, Luigi, the lovely Princess Peach Toadstool, her majordomo and Toad's grandfather, Toadsworth, and Mario's evil twin, Wario. There will be some new characters introduced in this fic, too, but I won't say who they are just yet. Despite this being a Mario fanfic, this story may focus more on Toad and his friends, but the story doesn't start with them...

Prologue: The Monster's Meal

Based on a true story that I just made up...

...It began in a land far, far away from the Mushroom Kingdom. About thirty or so sheep were there, resting peacefully in a vast sheep ranch in the middle of the night. The dark blue night sky was riddled by stars--a random pattern interrupted only by the mountainous skyline surrounding the ranch. Suddenly, the sheep awoke abruptly to a loud, rumbling noise, and they had a dire feeling it wasn't thunder.

A large figure appeared and approached the flock. As it got closer and more visible, the sheep realized that it was a giant octopus monster! (As if a sheep would know an octopus if it saw one.) The sheep tried to run away, but the creature's tentacles were too quick for them. It scooped up the sheep, several at a time, and started eating them. The shepherd who owned the flock woke up to the sounds of frantic sheep sounds, so he went outside to see what the ruckus was. He was greeted by a large pile of sheep bones and the octopus standing menacingly behind it. The shepherd just stood there, frozen with fear, unable to run or even call for help. Instead of eating him, the creature decided instead to turn around and fly away. As it left, the shepherd was left wondering: What is this creature? What was it doing here? Where did it come from? Where is it going in such a hurry?

Chapter One
Peach's Surprize

The next day, back at the Mushroom Kingdom, Toad, Yoshi, and Pipsy were riding the bus home from school. Bolt-Boy was there, too, but school rules require every student to keep their Pokemon in their Pokeballs during school hours. The kids were quite excited about this day, because not only was this would be the last day of the school year, but for Toad and Yoshi, this was their last day in grade school.

"Alright! No more school!" cheered Yoshi.

"You said it! Good-bye, grade school; hello, junior high!" said Toad as he high-fived Yoshi.

"Good going!" said Pipsy "...but not for me. I still got one more year ta go."

"For my vacation," continued Pipsy, "I'll probably just go camping or something..."

"That's a dull way to spend a vacation," said Yoshi. "Then again, neither of us have the dough to do much else, unlike Toad. He's loaded!"

"As a matter of fact, Peach did have something planned for me this summer, but it's a surprize. She will tell us when we get to the castle," said Toad.

About fifteen minutes later, they got off the bus, and went straight for the castle, eager to hear the princess' big news. The first person they met when they entered, however, was Toadsworth.

"It's about time you have returned, Toad. Her majesty awaits you in her quarters," he said matter-of-factly.

"Thanks, Gramps. C'mon guys!" said Toad as they raced each other up the stairs.

They found the princess in the second floor's main room, which went around a large column like a circle. There were two doors leading to other rooms, a door leading to the first floor, and a flight of stairs going to the third floor.

"There you are, Toad. I see you brought your friends. Are you ready for that surprize?" said Peach. "I am planning another vacation this summer to Isle Delfino!"

"Right on!" said Toad.

"Isle Delfino? I've never been there," said Pipsy.

"I can't wait!" said Yoshi.

"...But it's not a sure thing," said Peach. "I still need to get on the internet to make some reservations. It will take awhile, so you kids should find something to do while you wait."

Toad knew just the thing to do to kill some time. Since he got his allowance just yesterday, he decided he could spend some time at the mall and get some supplies while he's at it. Within ten minutes he and his friends made it to the mall. They were passing by the electronics store when Toad noticed, on the many different-sized television screens on display, that a baseball game was on. It was his favorite team, the Mushroom City Rockers, decked in purple and red, against their biggest rival, the Vermillion City Electabuzz, who wore yellow and black. It was the bottom of the ninth inning, the score was 7 to 10, and the Rockers were winning, but the bases were loaded and the Electabuzz were batting! The pitcher looked pretty nervous as he looked across the infield at the batter, but so did the batter himself, because both knew that their teams would be in hot water if their plans don't go without a hitch. Finally, the pitcher wound up and launched a fast-ball...

"We interrupt your program to bring you an important news update."

Along with that voiceover, the TV screen abruptly changed to reveal an anchorman sitting behind a desk with a large monitor behind him and the KNN (Kingdom News Network) logo embossed to the lower-right corner of the screen.

"WHAAATT??!" screamed Toad.

"Good afternoon," the anchorman started. "Last night, a sheep ranch in Dreamland was attacked by a large, unidentified creature, devouring an entire flock of sheep in a matter of seconds. We'll have more on that on the News at 6:00."

"We now return to our regularly scheduled program."

But it was too late. As soon as the news flash was over, so was the game. Apparently that fast-ball became a grand slam, awarding the Electabuzz enough runs to trump the Rockers 11-10 and win the game.

"AARRGH!!! Who's brilliant idea was it to do some news flash about something that didn't even happen on our planet, WHEN THE @#$!%* BALLGAME'S ON THE LINE?!!?!" rambled Toad as he stomped up and down like a five-year-old. "I hate the news, and I hate the Electabuzz!"

"Never mind that," said Pipsy nervously. "The news guy said there's a monster in Dreamland! W-what if it comes here to Shroomstar?"

"Relax, Pip," assured Toad. "We may have Pocket Monsters, but we'll never see any real monsters."

Soon, they were headed out of the mall, but their exit was soon interrupted.
"Well, well, never thought we'd see the likes of you again," said a drawling voice.

The kids turned around to find none other than the Rogue Union glaring back at them. If you remember them from the first story, you would know that I'm talking about that Mushroom girl named Peggy-O and her Koopa Troopa friend, K.K.

"Rogue Union!" growled Yoshi.

"Long time, no see," said Toad, acting cool. "My friends and I are just getting ready for vacation to Isle Delfino."

"So what? We're going on vacation, too!" said Peggy-O.

"Really? Where ya goin'?" wondered Pipsy.

"You'd really like ta know, wouldn't ya?" sneered K.K.

"Not really," said Yoshi. "Anyway, can we help you with something? We're kinda busy..."

"Us too, so we have no beef with you guys, this time. Smell ya later," said Peggy as she and her cohort turned around and left.

Toad and his friends made it back to the castle soon afterward, only to receive more bad news.

"Hi, Peach, how's them rezervisions comin' along?" said Toad.

"The RESERVATIONS are going terribly," said Peach. "I'm afraid we're not going to Isle Delfino."

"You're joshin'!" said Toad.

"We're not going to Isle Delfino?" said Yoshi.

"Hey, what's all-a-dis ruckus?" said Mario as he appeared in the room.

"Hey, Mario, Peach said we're not going to Isle Delfino," said Pipsy with a gloomy face.

"Delfino? No one told us about Isle Delfino!" said Luigi.

"How ironic..." said Wario, who showed up just as spontaneously as Luigi and Mario.

"Now don't get your spores in an uproar, we're still going on vacation, just not to Isle Delfino." assured Peach.

"Then where to,...then?" said Pipsy.

"We're going on vacation to...... Dreamland on Planet Popstar!"

"Planet...Popstar?" said Toad as Bolt-Boy replied with a mere "Pika?"

"That's right. It's not too far from our world, despite it's in another system," said Peach.

"Wow!" cried Yoshi, who has never been to space before. "Are we gonna ride a ship there or something?"

No, they're gonna ride tricycles!

"Of course," said Peach. "But the ship leaves tomorrow at 7:30, so I suggest you get packing NOW."

Later that night, Toad was lying awake in his bed, hardly able to sleep because he was brimming with excitement about his upcoming trip. He glanced at his alarm clock on a small table beside his bed. 10:35 pm, it read.

"Sigh,... just nine more hours until I'm whisked away to a tropical paradise where nothing can go wrong!" he said to himself.

Will nothing go wrong during our heroes' well-deserved getaway? Or rather, will anything go right? Find out whenever.

[mr_pikachu]

Hmm, I see. So they're going to the very site of the monster attacks as a "vacation", huh? Well, we can be sure that there'll be quite a bit of trouble up there.

I liked your characters; they were done pretty vividly. It's not too difficult to see the differences between them. The plot isn't bad, either; while a vacation gone sour isn't the most original idea in the world, it can still be very effective when done well.

Watch your narration, though. You have a tendency to slip into the present tense on occasion. Make sure all of your narration is in the past tense, and remember to check for that when you edit. Don't assume that the beginning of the sentence dictates the tense, either; check the whole thing, because I've seen tense shifts even mid-sentence. A little more editing in general wouldn't hurt. Also, try to refrain from making unnecessary points in the narration. Sometimes throwing in a witty comment isn't a good thing, especially if it distracts readers from what's going on in the story.

This wasn't a bad start, though. I think this plot has some definite potential. Now it's up to you to unlock it. Keep working on this, and I'll keep reading. Well, see you next chapter!

[EggTroopa]

I'm back. I know what your thinking, but this will have nothing to do with Super Mario Sunshine. Actually, this will be more familiar to those who have seen the Kirby TV show. This is a Mario/Kirby X-over after all.

Chapter Two
Paradise Trashed

"Freeze! You are in direct violation of Space Code 133.26. .. uh... eleventy-ten. License and registration, step out of the car, please."

"Knock it off, Pipsy, and take that fishbowl off your head! Why did you put it in your carry-on in the first place?"

That was the opening conversation among Toad and his friends when their ship took off and left Shroomstar. They watched as their home planet got smaller and smaller. Suddenly, Yoshi had a brief flashback. He remembered when they were at the mall and were watching TV, when a news update suddenly aired. The anchorman mentioned a monster attack somewhere on...

"OH NO! I just remembered!" Yoshi yelped. "That news guy said there's a monster in Dreamland. That's where WE'RE going!"

"Ah, it's probably just a tabloid," Toad scoffed. "Nothing to worry about. Now, if you excuse me, I have a nap to take (yawn!)"

He got out a blanket, covered himself in it, and was dead to the world in a matter of seconds.

"Aw, man! How can he sleep in a time like this, Pipsy?" said Yoshi. " ......Pipsy?"

Sure enough, his mausine gal-pal also decided to take the time to catch some winks.

"...I guess a little snooze would calm my nerves..." said Yoshi.

With that, he too whipped out a blanket and went to sleep, unaware of the nightmare he was going to have about all the monsters he was going to meet at Dreamland.

Six hours later, they made it to Popstar. Instead of staying in a hotel, Peach rented a house in Cappy Town to stay in. While Mario, Toad, and the others were unpacking, someone was watching them through binoculars. He was watching them from a high floor in his castle. His name was King Dedede, the king of Dreamland who poorly resembled some type of bird. He had blue feathers, matching his eye color. He wore a red coat, yellow gloves, yellow shoes, a red cap, and a thick belt with a zigzag design. "Hmmph, tourists..." he mumbled.

Behind the king was Escargoon, the king's vizier. He was a purple snail with a greenish shell and a green goatee. Accompanying Escargoon were Sir Ebrum, Prime Minister of Dreamland, and his wife, Lady Like.

"I heard that they came from the Mushroom Kingdom," said Sir Ebrum.

"We should visit them and make them feel welcome," suggested Lady Like.

"Why should we make 'em feel welcome if they ain't even gonna stay that long?" said Dedede. "Me an' Escargoon's gonna stay right here!"

"There he goes again, dragging me into this..." grumbled Escargoon.

"Of course, sire," said Ebrum with a sweatdrop. "Me and my family will see them instead."

Meanwhile, our heroes were checking out the inside of the house when they heard the doorbell ring.

"Visitors already? Wonder who it could be?" wondered Luigi as he went for the door.

"Greetings, visitors! We saw you moving in, so we decided to drop by and say hello," greeted Ebrum.

"We have gift baskets!" said Like.

"Oh, hello, come on in,... um, we didn't get your names,..." said Peach.

"Ah, yes, silly me. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sir Ebrum, Prime Minister of Dreamland. This is my wife, Lady Like, and here's our children, Tiff and Tuff,... say, where'd they go?"

"They're likely in the other room, meeting the kids," replied Peach.

"Are these kids yours?" asked Lady Like.

"Oh, no," said Peach. "There's Toad, he lives with me, but he's not my legitimate son, then there's his friends Yoshi, Pipsy, and Bolt-Boy, his Pikachu..."

While the adults were conversing, Toad and his crew gave their hellos to their new friends. The one named Tiff seemed around Toad's age, if not younger. She had aqua eyes and short blonde fur that was much thicker at the top of her head, to resemble hair. She had a ponytail held with red and blue hair scrunches. She wore something resembling a pink and green jumpsuit with a zigzag design across the middle, and red shoes. Her younger brother, Tuff, was shorter, had green and yellow hair that covered his eyes, and had a slightly darker fur color. he wore purple pants with red suspenders and olive green shoes.

"What's up? We come in peace!" said Toad. "I'm Toad, this is my Pikachu, Bolt-Boy, and that's Yoshi and Pipsy, they're with me."

"Oh, boy! A Pikachu! I've heard of these things!" said Tuff as he ran up to Bolt-Boy to pet him.

Tiff just stared blankly at Toad for a moment, probably collecting her thoughts, then finally said "Ahem... s-sorry about that. M-my name is Tiff. Tiff Ebrum. How d'ya d-do?" she held out her hand so Toad could shake hands with her.

"We're good. So, what do you guys do for fun?" queried Toad.

"Well, there's this one place that just opened up," said Tiff. "It's called Cappy Land. It's this place with rides and attractions and all kinds of fun stuff."

"That's a theme park..." said Tuff.

"A theme park! Boy, your alien ways are strange," Yoshi joked. "You spacemen are gonna hafta show us how it's done!"

And so our heroes went to Cappy Land for some amusement and fun. They were walking down the main corridor, wondering what ride to go on.

"Well, Toad, ol' buddy, it's your call. What're we gonna go on first?" said Yoshi.

"How about this one, since it's nearest?" Toad pointed to a fairly large ride. It was a standard wooden roller coaster painted red and white. It was named the Waddle-Doo Whirlwind.

Meanwhile, not far from where Toad and his friends were standing, two familiar people were walking by, enjoying some funnel cakes.

"Funnel cakes rock! K.K. approves that message!" said K.K.

"I wonder how they make these things, anyway?" said Peggy-O.

Suddenly, Peggy spotted Toad's gang.

"Shoot! It's them!" yelped Peggy-O.

"Hide!" said K.K. as he and Peggy hopped into a nearby trash can.

"Why those LIARS!" ranted Peggy-O. "They said they were going to Isle Delfino!"

"Yeah! We should get back at them for that!" suggested K.K.

"Not now, not here. Too many witnesses, but we'll do something before the day is up, I promise!" said Peggy.

"Whoa! Close it! Someone's coming!" said K.K.

Wario came up to the trash can to throw away a bunch of food-related refuse, none the wiser about the RU's presence at the park.

"Ewwww!" groaned Peggy.

"Gross, man!" shouted K.K.

After the rides, our heroes and their new friends went to a picnic area for lunch. Mario was grilling burgers, Toad was telling jokes to his friends, while the grown-ups talked about their own topics. Suddenly, they all heard a low, rumbling noise in the distance.

"What was that?" said Toad.

"Dunno. Sounded like thunder," said Mario.

"That's impossible!" said Lady Like. "There's not a single cloud in the sk--"

KABOOM!!!

Two trees were sent flying across the air as an giant octopus-like creature appeared where the trees were standing.

"Yipe!" yelled Pipsy. "That must be the m-m-monster!!!"

"If I wore pants, they'd be soaked by now!" whimpered Yoshi.

Then the octopus whipped out one of its long tentacles and snatched Bolt-Boy.

"AAUGH! That thing's got Bolt-Boy!" screamed Toad.

"Leave it ta me!" said Mario as he and his brother took fighting poses.

"Right behind ya!" said Luigi.

The octopus tried to bat the Mario Bros. away with its tentacles, but the Bros. kept jumping over them. It tried to jab Luigi with a tentacle, but he jumped over and did a hip-drop on it. This hurt the monster, but didn't slow it down or make it drop Bolt-Boy. Mario decided to try Fire power on it. A bold move, indeed, but when he equipped that Fire Flower and shot a fireball at the beast, it howled from a pain obviously worse than Luigi's hip-drop. It seemed to actually be weak against fire! Mario shot two more fireballs at the octopus. They hit both sides of its face. Overwhelmed by Mario's fiery haymakers, he finally dropped Bolt-Boy, who seemed pretty glad to be out of that slimy situation.

"Alright, Bolty, give 'im a Thunderbolt!" Toad commanded.

"Pika-CHUUU!!!" went Bolt-Boy's war cry as he lept up into the air to smite the octopus monster with his signature move, shooting lightning bolts through his cheeks and tail. Finally, the monster seemed to have had enough. It started to float in the air.

"WHOA! That thing-a-can fly?!" yelped Mario.

Then the monster just turned around and flew away.

"Hey, where's it goin'?" wondered Pipsy.

"Maybe we scared it off?" said Mario.

"Ya mean it almost scared you off!" said Luigi.

"Hey, now, you were da one with da white knuckles, Luigi!" retorted Mario.

"Ummm, that's just 'cause of dese white gloves," said Luigi.

"I think you both did great," said Tiff. "It's not all the time someone would just get up and take on a giant monster like that!"

"Just call me your friendly neighborhood Mario!" he replied with a tip of his hat.

"Hmm,... It looks like that monster is headed towards that castle over there," observed Toad as he pointed towards a large palace on a cliff far away.

"That's odd... we better go check it out," suggested Sir Ebrum.

"As if we gotta choice..." said Wario.

To be continued... Sorry, I'm horrible at fight scenes.

[mr_pikachu]

It would seem that the group has already come face to face with the "monster" of Dream Land. I suppose we'll find out soon just what it's going to the castle for. Perhaps to kidnap the King? Or is that a different castle?

Interesting new allies. Tiff and Tuff will probably play some role in defeating whatever force is behind this, though I can't yet imagine what they could do to help. You seem to know exactly where you want this to go, judging by the hint given at the end of the last chapter. That's usually a good thing. Just don't forget to throw in surprises for the readers on occasion, even if they aren't surprises to you.

I think, though, that you could have a lot more depth in the writing flair here. Looking at this, except for the bits of somewhat random dialogue on the plane and during the characters' introduction, you really don't do much beyond listing facts. For example, Yoshi suggested that the group visit the amusement park, and then suddenly they were there. Give us a little more to work with, especially when introducing new characters. All we know about Tiff's and Tuff's personality is that the former is shy, and the latter is outgoing and likes Pikachus. We don't have any deep detail on them or the others. The trip to the amusement park would have been a prime opportunity to give us more information about them while keeping the plot moving. Besides, simply jumping from place to place with little explanation just feels wrong. Tell us about how they got there, what they talked about on the way, if there were any funny incidents, etc. Give us something to keep us interested.

This was alright, though. Just make sure to develop the characters and the plot effectively. Take your time in working the juicy stuff into the story. Keep going with this; I'd like to see where it leads. Anyway, I'll see you next chapter!

[EggTroopa]

EggTroopa right back at ya! I hope you like this next chapter; it should make up for what the last chapter lacked. I want this sequel to be better than the last story, and I’ll do what I can to make it so! By the way, as much as I enjoy mr. pikachu’s opinions about my work, I would like to hear what other people here at TPM think about the SMG series.

Chapter Three

The Pink Visitor

Last chapter, the Mario Bros. were fighting a giant octopus monster, but for some reason it suddenly flew up and escaped towards a castle. Since that was the only one for a long way, we can safely assume that it was Dedede’s castle. As our heroes were on their way towards the castle, their new friends, the Ebrum Family, offered a tour of the castle village, Cappy Town.

“But what about the monster?” said Luigi. “Who knows what it’s-a-doing at the castle?”

“That’s okay, whatever happens, you an’ Mario can handle it easy, right?” said Tuff.

“Sure…” replied Luigi.

Cappy Town was a simple village with a population of over a hundred. It consisted of a main street, a few side streets, a road leading out of town through the south, and a town square that looked more like a cul-de-sac with a large tree in the middle. It had a police department that consisted of only one officer. There was a restaurant whose food was not that great, but the chef tries, you know. A fortuneteller also lived there, but her many false predictions has made her infamous. At the north outskirts, on a high cliff, sat Castle Dedede. It had an outer wall with four bastions; from outside the walls, the inside area looked like several towers of different heights shooting up from different locations, and at the center was a huge dome-like structure. Mario and the gang still remembered that they had to find the king and warn him about the monster roaming about in his home, and if they found the monster first, they would have to take it out themselves. Instead they met a snail-like being named Escargoon. (You remember him from the last chapter, right?) He was standing in front of the door to the throne room with a spear in his hand.

“Hello there, sir, could you help us?” said Peach.

“What do you want?” said Escargoon with a grumpy tone. “We’re not doing tours here right now, so beat it! (Lousy tourists…)”

“You don’t understand!” yelped Yoshi. “There’s a monster on the loose, an’ we saw it goin’ straight for this castle--”

“A WHAT?! That’s goatwash!” Escargoon yelled as he hit Yoshi on the head with his spear. “There are no monsters in this castle, and that’s final!”

“Yes, there is, and it’s eating everything!” Tiff argued.

“No, that’s just his Majesty, King Dedede,” Escargoon motioned towards the throne room where the rotund royal himself was sitting at a table, gorging himself on a feast that could choke an elephant, but he would call it lunch. “Now let him pig out in peace!”

“Is this another one of your lies?” questioned Sir Ebrum.

“Somethin’ smells rotten in Dreamland!” Wario thought aloud.

“I’m-a-starting to think-a-da king’s-a-behind all dis!” declared Mario.

“WHAT?!! How dare you accuse the king, you mustachioed punk!!” bellowed Escargoon.

King Dedede, who overheard the quarrel took a break from his meal and waddled toward the small crowd. “So, you guys think there’s a spooky monster in here, eh?” he said with his Southern accent. “Did this monster o’ yours look anything like… that?” He pointed with his fork to a large aquarium where a small, cute, pinkish octopus was swimming about.
“Ah’m afraid y’all are barkin’ up da wrong hydrant,” the king continued. “This ain’t no monster, this here’s mah new pet octopus. He’s totally harmless! Deheheh!”

The group walked up to the aquarium to examine the cephalopod.

“…It’s pretty cute, too!” said Pipsy.

“Cute, maybe. Harmless? I don’t think so…” Tiff said, arms crossed.

“I guess we have no other choice but to see Kabu,” said Sir Ebrum.

“Kabu? Who’s that?” said Toad.

Our heroes left the castle and went to the other side of town. As they passed the outskirts of Cappy Town, the terrain became a bit rocky. Before they knew it, they were inside a large canyon, following the same trail that led them out of town. The trail went towards the top of the canyon, which had a thick wooded area. When they finally stopped, Mario and the others noticed a large rock structure that looked like an Easter Island head. There was a roaring fire in front of it and six sharpened logs behind it. Then, Sir Ebrum started speaking to the head.

“Hear us, great Kabu, we seek your wisdom,” he said with his arms out. “For three nights, an octopus monster has been attacking our village and eating our sheep.”

For a moment, there was silence. Then, the rock head started talking in a booming voice. Toad decided that this was Kabu, the land's ancient wise one.

"Dreamland is in grave danger," it said. "The monster was summoned by... your own King Dedede!"

"King Dedede?!...but how?" wondered Tiff.

"...and why?" added Toad.

"Kabu, is there any way to defeat this creature?" asked Peach.

"There is only one hope..." replied Kabu. "On his way is a star warrior who is destined to keep the peace in this galaxy. He goes by the name of... Kirby."

"Kirby? Hmm... quite an odd name for a 'star warrior'," said Lady Like.

"A star warrior, wow! Just like Luke Skywalker!" beamed Toad. "Here to beat the crud out of that monster with his Li--"

"Humbug!"

They all turned around to find the king and Escargoon riding in what looked like a large red and yellow jeep with a huge cannon on the passenger side. Escargoon was driving while Dedede had the cannon.

"Your great Kaboona's full of it!" the king yelled. "There ain't no such person as Kirb-eh! I think I'll give 'im a face lift!"

"Hey, don't!" pleaded Tuff.

"I predict that you will not shoot me," said Kabu calmly.

"Oh yeah? Well I predict your wrong!" replied King Dedede as he reached for the trigger. "Dead wrong!"

Suddenly, just as he was about to shoot, the king noticed a large, bright object in the sky.

"Whoa, what's that?" he wondered.

Everyone else saw it too. Whatever it was, it seemed to be coming their way.

"Look! It's a bird!" said Pipsy.

"It's a plane!" said Yoshi.

"It's coming RIGHT FOR US!!!" screamed Toad. "HIT THE DIRT!!"

CRAAASSHH!!!

When Toad thought it was safe enough to open his eyes again, he noticed that everyone, including himself, survived the crash unscathed, but there was also a huge trail of dirt and debris leading to the right of Kabu.

"Mama-mia! What-a-was that?" said Luigi.

"Maybe it was a meteorite," said Tiff.

"Or perhaps an alien!" said Yoshi.

"Hope they don't give anal probes!" replied Pipsy.

"Pi, Pika Pika," Bolt-Boy suggested.

"Or better yet, it could be that star warrior the tiki-thing was talking about!" said Toad.

They all quickly followed the trail leading out of the woods and into a grassy field near another part of the canyon. In the middle of the field stood what looked like a spaceship that was shaped like a star. Smoke was wafting off the vessel, no doubt from the heat it sustained on the way through Popstar's atmosphere. The group approached the ship carefully, ready for anything that can and might happen concerning the spaceship. Then, a door on the center of the ship opened up, and something immediately came rolling out. It had a round, pink body, a simple face consisting of two blue eyes, rosy cheeks and a mouth, and wore red shoes. It looked around, probably as confused and nervous as our heroes were.

"Who... what is that?" said Mario.

"It's a living gumball; how cute!" said Pipsy.

"Naw, it's an alien! I knew it!" said Yoshi.

"Quiet! I'll handle this," said Toad as he approached the pink one. "Hey, little dude, I'm Toad, we come in peace."

"...and my name is Tiff," she added.

"Toad.........Tiff..." said the pink one.

"Umm... your name wouldn't happen to be... Kirby, would it?" said Yoshi.

In response, the pink one jumped up and cried out happily. You can guess that's a "yes."

"No way!" shouted Yoshi.

"That's our star warrior, Kirby?" said Peach.

"This is-a-da one who's supposed ta save da galaxy?" said Luigi.

"We're screwed!" said Wario.

KRR-TOING!

While the others were bickering, King Dedede took out his mallet and knocked Kirby all the way into the nearby canyon

"Fore! Deheheh..." he chortled.

"Fore?! Whatcha do that for?" said Tiff.

"Good riddance, Ah say! Who needs 'im?" he replied.

"We better see that he's okay. He might actually be a real warrior," said Toad.

"Be careful, young'uns!" said Sir Ebrum.

"Yeah, be careful," said Pipsy as she stood beside Sir Ebrum waving.

Yoshi grabbed Pipsy's ear. "You're comin' too!"

And so, Toad and his friends were climbing down the canyon, looking for Kirby. The canyon looked very deep, not as deep as the Grand Canyon, mind you, but it would not be underestimated. Tiff started to climb down what looked like a cliff, but then realized there was nothing down there to step on. She tried to climb back up, but her hands started to slip.

"Whoa, help! My hands are slipping!" she called out. At the nick of time, Toad rushed in and grabbed Tiff's hand as she almost slipped all the way off the cliff.

"H-Hang on!" said Toad, although Tiff may not have heard him through her own screams out of fear of heights. Well, she wasn't that much afraid of heights, but you would scream too if you found yourself hanging on a cliff in a canyon and the ground is, like, a mile under you.

Suddenly, Toad fell over, too, and he was then hanging on to the cliff by his feet.

"Omigosh! P-please don't l-let me go!" Tiff whimpered.

"Don't worry, buddy, we gotcha!" said Yoshi as he and Pipsy rushed to Toad's aid.

They grabbed Toad and tried to pull him and Tiff back to safety, but, wouldn't you know it, the cliff they were all standing on wasn't strong enough to hold all four of them. The rock crumbled under their feet, and before they knew it they were all on a collision course with the ground.

"We're faaalliiiiiing!!!" howled Yoshi.

"At least we'll reach Kirby faster," said Pipsy, always the optimistic type.

"T-Toad! W-what'll we do?" asked Tiff.

"Not die, that's for sure!" said Toad as he pulled a Pokeball out from inside his jersey. "Go, Valhalla!"

When his Ball opened up, his Salamence emerged. It was mostly blue and had red wings.

"Hurry! Catch us!" Toad commanded.

Valhalla swooped down and caught all four of them on it back with ease.

"Whew,... Thanks, Valhalla," sighed Toad. "Now look for a little, round, pink guy."

And then, just when they all thought they were out of trouble, a rock the size of a football soared down and got Tiff on the top of the head. She fell unconsious, and fell off the Salamence while she was at it.

"...Tiff fell off!" said Pipsy.

"WHAT?!!" yelled Toad.

Meanwhile, near the bottom of the canyon, Kirby survived the fall, probably since he was so light, and was trying to get out of the canyon. He sucked in some air and started floating up. He didn't even reach five feet when suddenly Tiff fell down and landed on Kirby. They both drop to the ground and Tiff woke up on impact.

"Uugh, ... what happened?" She said groggily.

"Kirby broke your fall and prevented an untimely and gruesome demise!" said Yoshi happily.

"Yeah! He's a hero!" said Tuff. He and Bolt-Boy were already on the ground; they climbed down, not fell down.

"Hmph!" huffed Tiff, now flustered, as she brushed herself off. "Heroes are big and strong, not pink and puffy!"

To be continued...

[mr_pikachu]

Ah, so they've finally met the "star warrior", huh? But it would seem that the group isn't too impressed by him, for obvious reasons. Well, we'll see if he can live up to his reputation...

I liked the characterization in this chapter. Escargoon, King Dedede, and Kabu were all given fairly evident personality traits, which is certainly a good start. You also did a decent job of further developing the main group, especially Tiff and Pipsy. The description wasn't bad either; the majority of the events were pretty well described. They weren't too difficult to visualize, for the most part.

A few things could use a bit of work in my opinion, though. First of all, pay attention to your grammar. There were numerous occasions where your narration slipped into the present tense format. Make sure you stick with past tense. Also, make sure your narration keeps a somewhat formal tone. Being casual is fine when you're telling a story to friends, but when you're writing a story, you have to assume that many of your readers will be looking for a strong, well-written story, rather than an offhand account with slang and narrative quips. Giving strong narration will increase the drama and tension you bring to the storyline drastically.

Overall, though, this isn't bad. I think this storyline has some definite promise. Just be sure to go through your work to make it as powerful as possible. Anyway, I look forward to your next chapter! Until then!

[EggTroopa]

EggTroopa here. Sorry, I don't seem to have any commentary for you this time. I would tell you about this chapter, but I really don't want to say anything to spoil this one. I'll just cut to the chase...

Chapter Four

The Confession

That night, Mario and the group invited the Ebrums over for dinner. They also invited Kirby out of gratitude for his heroism earlier that day. Meanwhile, back at the house, the Rogue Union were there, finally ready to "cook" up their plan against Toad and his friends. In front of a window, there was a rustle in the bushes, then a head popped out. He looked to his left, then his right, then whispered, "Alright, looks like da coast is clear."

"It's BEEN clear, idiot!" yelled Peggy-O.

"Whatever. Now what's da plan, Peg?" said K.K.

"Hang on, let's observe the situation first,..." said Peggy-O as she took a brief look inside the kitchen. "Ha, perfect!"

"I dunno about this, Peg," said K.K. "They probably locked da windows or sumthin'. These guys are brighter than bulbs!"

"I guess some people are smart," said Peggy as she lifted the window pane. "This window is open!"

Then Peggy jumped in for a moment or two, then climed back out with a large, cooked chicken in her hands. She immediately threw it away. "There. Got the frozen chicken, K.K?" she asked.

"Right here," K.K. handed the frozen chicken to Peggy.

She unwrapped the chicken and put it on top of the wrapper. Then she got out a flamethrower and proceeded to dousing the chicken in flames.

"So, what're ya doin'?" said K.K.

"I'm searing the chicken," said Peggy-O. "This way, it may look warm, soft, and yummy on the outside, but frozen on the inside."

Soon she was done. The chicken looked just like the one she threw away.

"There. That should teach those losers!" she sneered.

"'Sear' genius!" said K.K.

Suddenly, they heard a car pull up nearby.

"Uh oh, it's them!" said Peggy frantically. "Here, put this in the kitchen!" she tossed the chicken to K.K.

"What?! I don't wanna get caught!" K.K. whispered loudly.

"Then don't! C'mon, I did everything else," said Peggy. "Hurry up, they're headed for the door!"

"Okay, okay!" said K.K. as he reluctantly scrambled into the window with the seared chicken wrapped in one arm. He didn't know where exactly Peggy got the original chicken, so K.K. just decided to put the new chicken on the counter between the stove and the refrigerator. Just as he put it on the counter, he heard the dreaded sound of the door opening followed by peoples' voices.

"Ah, good to be home!" said Mario.

"Can I get any of you something to drink? We have lots of drinks in the refrigerator," said Peach.

"Now that you mention it, a glass of lemonade sounds heavenly, if you would..." responded Sir Ebrum.

"Uh oh!" K.K. whispered to himself. "Time to jet!"

The window was above the sink. K.K. climbed up, and rolled out the window just in time for Peach to enter and hear a loud thud, from K.K. landing on the ground. She looked out the window and noticed nothing.

"Hmm, probably just the squirrels..." she said as she closed the window.

"Man, that was close!" sighed K.K.

"Shhh! Or well get caught! Hey let's find the dining room window so we can watch!" said Peggy-O.

Meanwhile at the dinner table...

"Let's all give a toast and dig in," said Sir Ebrum. "To Kirby!"

"Aw, come on, dad. He doesn't understand what you're saying," said Tiff.

"Now, now, sweetheart, this young, um... whatever-he-is saved your hide," replied Sir Ebrum. "Perhaps you should give him a chance."

"Boy-o-boy! I can't-a-wait ta sink-a-my choppas inta dat chicken!" drooled Wario.

"Yes, It's-a-looks so warm, soft, and yummy!" said Luigi.

"Ah, something we can all agree on," said Lady Like. "Let's eat!"

With that, everyone started reaching for this, asking to pass that, grabbing some of this, dipping their sleeves into that, etc. Yet the real hassles began when they started eating. Toad had a chicken wing he was trying to cut, but it made a loud, scraping sound.

"Huh?" said Toad, tapping it with his fork. "What kind of chicken is this? Feels like it's cold..."

"Cold, hell!" barked Wario, his tongue stuck to his chicken leg he was trying to eat. "Dis crap is FROZEN!!"

Meanwhile, just outside their window, the Rogue Union were laughing up a storm. It was a miracle they didn't give themselves away.

"Oh, my! Our dinner is ruined!" wailed Lady Like.

"Too bad all this food must go to waste..." said Peach as she held her glass of grape juice.

Suddenly a blast of wind swept across the table. Everyone looked on in awe as Kirby opened his mouth and sucked up everything on the table, even the silverware and the tablecloth, like some superpowered vacuum, and ate it.

"Po-yo," he muttered in satisfaction.

"Well, at least it didn't go to waste, ..." Toad said in a nervous sweat.

Afterward, Toad and his friends made their way to his room to discuss about the day's events. By the way, our heroes ordered a couple of pizzas since Kirby ate their dinner. I hate leaving loose ends!

"I like the part where we fell down to our impending doom, but we didn't!" said Yoshi.

"I like the part where the monster was all, like, PEOOMPEOOMPEOOM!!!" sputtered Pipsy.

"Ugh! I wanted the news, not the weather!" said Toad. "You guys sound like you just walked out of a theater!"

"W-what did you think, T-Toad?" stammered Tiff.

"Eh, it was alright. No parts I didn't like, at least," answered Toad. "Hey, I'll be right back. Nature's callin'!"

As Tiff watched Toad leave, Yoshi decided to bring up a new subject. "Say, Tiff, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Yoshi, what is it?" said Tiff, still focused in the direction Toad went.

"Why do you always stutter when you talk to Toad?"

"Uhhh... well,...." Tiff started to blush a little. "Ok-kay. I'll t-tell you, but please p-promise that you won't tell T-Toad."

"Ooookay... I promise," said Yoshi.

"(Aw, shucks!) I promise too!" said Pipsy.

"It's about Toad," Tiff started. "I really care about him..."

"That's okay, Tiff," said Yoshi. "Pipsy and I care about him too. We are his closest friends, dont'cha know?"

"Th-that's not what I mean..." she explained. "I kinda have this...... crush on him,"

"Ohhh, that's it?" Yoshi said with a chuckle.

"No wonder why," said Pipsy. "He does have that cute, 'chibi-style' look goin' for him."

"Yeah,..." Tiff swooned.

"So, why don't you just tell him that you love him?" said Yoshi.

"I guess I don't have the courage ta fess up, at least not yet..." replied Tiff.

"Hey, guys, I'm back," said Toad as he came back into the room. "So what're you guys talking about?"

"Oh, hey, Toad," Pipsy blurted out. "We were talking about how much Tiff l--"

Her sentence was interrupted by a sharp blow to the ribs by Yoshi's elbow.

"Huh?" interjected Toad.

"Umm, she meant to say that I was gonna show you guys... my cool Pokemon!" said Tiff, praying that Toad was none the wiser.

"Cool, let's see 'em!" he said eagerly.

"(Whew...) Actually, I only have this one," Tiff got out a green and pink Pokeball that matched her outfit. "I'm not that into Pokemon training, nor is anyone else since wild Pokemon are scarce in this world, so I just keep it as a pet. Go, Pokeball!"

She threw down the Pokeball, which opened on impact. A bright red light radiated from inside the Pokeball, and then the light took shape and revealed the Pokemon released from its ball. It looked like a small pink blob that had two eyes, a mouth, and a pair of protrusions that seemed like arms.

"This is a Ditto," said Tiff. "Its name is Morff. My granddad gave it to me for my seventh birthday an' I had it ever since. It can Transform into other things and even other Pokemon..."

Meanwhile, just outside the window, Escargoon the Snail was there, spying on them, most likely trying to get the dirt on Kirby. King Dedede wants to get rid of him more than anything, but it seemed that Escargoon has found something better.

"Oh, ho! All the powers of all the Pokemon in one!" he schemed. "That sounds very powerful! (This is my devious face. I make this face when I think of something evil to do. Makes me look sinister, no?) I must tell the king!"

"Well, if you ever change your mind about Pokemon training, let me know so I can show you the ropes sometime," Toad said to Tiff.

"Th-thanks," Tiff responded.

"Well, guys, it's gettin' late. I'm hittin' the sack. How about you?" said Yoshi.

"Sounds good, I'm bushed," said Toad.

And so the kids all gave a big yawn, slapped on their PJ's and went to bed, totally unknowing about what they will have to go through the very next day.

An hour later, in the kitchen, the window slid open again, and Peggy-O, followed by K.K., climbed back into the house for more mischief.

"Let's see what we have in the ol' fridge!" said K.K. as he commenced to invading the refrigerator. He noticed a bottle of apple juice with Toad's name written on it.

"Ah! Apple juice!" he grabbed the bottle, popped the cap open and drank the whole bottle in ten seconds.

"Drink Toad's apple juice? That's your brilliant plan?" scoffed Peggy-O.

"(BELCH!!) Nope. That's only half my plan," K.K. said with a snicker. He turned around, so Peggy couldn't see. As K.K. stood there, Peggy heard what sounded like a thin, steady stream of liquid pouring down. When the sound ceased, K.K. faced Peggy again, holding the bottle, which now looked almost full. Peggy immediately found out what K.K. was up to.

"Ahaha! I guess you're more clever than I give you credit for!" laughed Peggy-O.

"Deheheheh! He's gonna be 'pissed'!" sneered K.K.

To be continued...

[EggTroopa]

I'm back. Sorry it took so long to update. Hope you're enjoying this. Another thing: to those who don't know, Tiff and Tuff are NOT my characters, they were made for the Kirby anime.

Chapter Five

Cut to the Chase

That morning, Toad woke up to an abrupt noise, and it wasn't the alarm clock.

CRASH!!!
HEEELLLP!!!

Wait a minute, Toad thought, that came from Tiff's room!

He got up and rushed to her room, only to see, to his horror (and un-surprize,) that the window was broken, there were signs of a struggle, and of course, no Tiff in sight!

"GUUUYYYSSS!!!" Toad hollered as he ran around the house like a rabid marmouset.

"(Yawn) What is it, Toad?" said Peach. "Did you have that nightmare about the time you went to that pizza party?"

"(I had no idea they used real, live mushrooms...) ...unh..No, no, it's Tiff! She's missing! Probably kidnapped!"

"A kidnapping? Hmph! What's new?" grunted Wario.

"Oh, no, poor Tiff!" eeked Sir Ebrum. "The kidnapper probably wanted her for her Ditto. They're quite rare in these parts, you know. Very expensive."

"When the kidnapper finds out that she doesn't have it, he/she would probably want it for ransom," said Lady Like.

"Kidnapping? Ransom?" said Mario excitedly. "Thees-a-looks-a-like a job for da Mario Bros!"

"Then we're coming with you," declared Toad.

"No dice," refused Luigi. "It's-a-too dangerous!"

"Listen, Tiff our friend. This means more to us than it does you," argued Toad. "You guys gotta let us come!"

"Okay, okay! We were just-a-kidding!" said Mario. "Of course-a-you can come. Quick, to the Mariomobile!"

They rushed out to find, parked in the driveway, an old, worn-out-looking, teal convertible with many dents, a bent antenna, a cracked windshield, and a missing radio.

"So where's the 'Mariomobile'?" said Toad.

"You're looking at 'er!" said Mario happily. "What did you expect? It's a rental!"

Without any more ado, they got in the car and took off looking for Tiff. On their way, they spotted a familiar red and yellow tank.

"Hey, there's King Dedede!" declared Yoshi.

"Why is he going so fast?" wondered Toad.

"Dunno. Looks suspicious. Let's-a-follow 'im!" said Mario.

So they started to gain on Dedede's tank. It wasn't long, however, before the king and Escargoon noticed that they were being followed.

"Hey, majesty, don't look now, but we got company. Looks like those hero/plumber/tourist guys!" said Escargoon.

"Just mind da road. Ah'll take care o' these guys!" said his Majesty.

He got out a round device that had round, white eyes, yellowish feet and a fuse. These were called Bob-ombs, and they usually came in black, but Dedede's was blue for some reason.

"Let's see 'em plunge this!" he yelled as he chucked the Bob-omb at the heroes' car.

"A blue Bob-omb? Why is it blue?" said Luigi as he stared at the blue bomb puzzledly as it laid there on the hood of the car.

Then the Bob-omb emitted a purplish smoke.

Yoshi somehow knew what kind of Bob-omb that was. "Blue Bob-ombs shoot sleeping gas!"

"Hold your breath!" said Toad. He saw Yoshi and Pipsy hold their breaths, but couldn't see the Bros. through all the gas.

"Did you hear me, Mario? Luigi? ...guys?"

CRASH!!!

It was too late. Mario and Luigi dosed off and ran the car into a lamppost. Miraculously, and thanks to the recently-installed airbags on the "Mariomobile," everyone aboard was virtually uninjured.

Toad got up and examined the mess.

"Hmm, looks like Mario and Luigi are still alive, but out of commission," he diagnosed.

"Looks like we'll hafta go it alone from here," said Yoshi.

"We can do it. This'll be our chance to prove ourselves as true heroes!" encouraged Toad.

"Yeah! We're gonna be famous!" cheered Pipsy.

"We're gonna be dead," whimpered Yoshi.

"Oh, well, that too," said Pipsy.

"Hold it right there!" barked a gruff, Cockney-accented voice.

The kids slowly turned around to find three men, about Toad's height, decked out in shining armor.

"No one expects the Blade Knights!" said Sword, the one to the far left. "Our cheif weapon is surprize!"

"We're looking for something called Kirby," said MetaKnight, who was in the middle.

"You can't 'ide 'im from us!" said the one to the right whose name was Blade.

The visual differences between the Blade Knights were that Sword wore purple armor, and Blade wore green armor, while their leader, Sir MetaKnight, the shortest of the three, wore a dark cape and a silver mask, through which one could see his glowing, yellow eyes.

"What do you want with him?" demanded Toad.

"Please don't tell the kind that Kirby's with us!" pleaded Pipsy.

"The king's not the problem,... for now," said MetaKnight. "We need to find the monster."

"Now just you wait, pipsqueak!" snapped Toad. "Kirby's a good guy who wouldn't hurt a louse. He ain't no monster!"

"We know that!" explained Blade. "We need Kirby to help us defeat the monster. We're on your side, mates!"

"Well, okay," said Toad, finding no immediate problems with trusting these three strangers. "To find him, go northwest on this road, and turn left on Schezuan Boulevard."

"Look for a house with a broken window on the side!" said Pipsy.

"Good show!" said Sword while he pulled out a folded piece of paper. "By the way, 'ere's a note for you. It's from some guy and 'is snail."

Toad unfolded and read the note while his friends looked over his shoulders to read it, too. As you already guessed, it was written be King Dedede. The note said that he wanted Kirby and Tiff's Ditto, and he will give back Tiff herself in return. It said to meet him in a building on the corner of Riddle Road and Quetzal Street in five minutes or else...

"The king's gone mad, hasn't he?" yelped Yoshi.

"Better make that three minutes, after the little chat we had," said MetaKnight calmly.

"Yeah, thanks!" said Toad sarcastically. "C'mon, Yosh, Pip, Bolty, let's jet!"

They ran like crazy looking for Riddle and Quetzal. Who knows what would've happened if they didn't get there in three minutes? Soon they made it to the building. They spotted it across the street from them.

"We made it!" said Yoshi.

"Yeah, and with 30 seconds to spare!" said Pipsy.

"30 seconds? You seem pretty sure of yourself," said Toad as the group started toward the building. "Since when did you know how to keep time?"

"Oh, I can keep lotsa time, see?" assured Pipsy as she started counting. "30, 29, 28, ... 27, --"

KAA-BOOOM!!!

The building they were walking towards, the building they were certain Tiff was inside of, suddenly exploded into smithereens.

"What th-..." muttered Toad before he realized what happened. "Oh, no! Tiff!"

As soon as it was cool enough, Toad and his friends went in and examined the smoking, messy crater that was once the building at Riddle Rd. and Quetzal St.

There was no other explanation.

They were too late.

Tiff was dead.

...but were was the body?

To be continued.

[EggTroopa]

I'm back. Sorry if I sounded a bit grumpy in the Reviewer thread, if you are too busy for reviews, that's fine, take all the time you need. I know that most of you have a life outside this forum and so do I. Hey, at least this thing got over a hundred views, that's something! Here's Chapter 6.

Chapter Six

Tiff's Death?


For a moment, there was dead silence.

Toad knealt down as he scooped up a handful of ashes, looked at it forlornly, then dumped it back on the ground.

"I can't believe she's gone!" he moaned. "We should've been here sooner..." he got up, then reached into his jacket.
"What else can go wrong?" he pulled out a bottle labled "JUICE" with a picture of an apple. He popped the cap open and took a big swig out of the bottle. Suddenly, Toad's eyes were bulging and his face turned blue. He spat out his "drink", but choked on some of it in the process.

"PISS!" he cursed, while coughing, sputtering, and gagging at the same time. "Who put piss in my apple juice?!!"

Pipsy glanced at Yoshi with a grave look on her face. Yoshi, somehow knowing what Pipsy was going to say to him, nodded.

"Um, Toad?" said Yoshi. "There's something we were meaning to tell you about Tiff..."

Suddenly the group heard a sound of footsteps, then a high-pitched call.

"Poyo!"

It was Kirby, and he was carrying something with him: Tiff's Pokeball. Toad walked up to Kirby and took the Pokeball. He eyeballed it carefully, then a lightbulb went off in his head.

"Guys, I think I have an idea. Looks like Tiff's gonna be alright after all!" declared Toad with a brighter tone.

"What are you talking about?" said Yoshi. "Tiff's been blown to smithereens! We combed the entire area and didn't find so much as a single bone! (Not that I would want to see her guts strewn all over the place, thank you very much!)"

"I mean just what I said. We're gonna go back in time to save Tiff!" Toad pointed in a random direction for dramatic effect.

"Hello, McFly? How're we gonna do that?" asked Yoshi.

"Simple! Have you heard about the Pokemon, Celebi? It's a legendary Pokemon that has the power to travel through time. However we only have a Ditto on our hands, but if we can get Ditto to Transform into Celebi, he may even be able to take us back in time to before the explosion and have time enough to save Tiff!"

"That's brilliant!" said Pipsy. "... You sure it'll work?"

"Trust me, it's not as farfetched as it sounds," assured Toad.

"Okay, man, I'll take your word for it, although I don't think a Ditto can travel through time," said Yoshi.

"One way to find out," said Toad as he threw down the Pokeball. "I choose you, Morff!"

"Ditto!" squeaked Morff after it emerged from its Ball.

"Listen closely Morff, your trainer is in big trouble and we need you to help us save her," explained Toad, deciding against telling Morff that its own trainer was already dead. "Can you Transform into a Celebi?"

Ditto paced backward for a couple feet, stretched itself upward, then there was a large poof of pink smoke, and when the smoke cleared, there stood a perfect replica of the Timetravel Pokemon, Celebi. It had a green body, blue eyes with black around them, it had wings, and antennae, but when it tried to mimick the Celebi's cry, all it could make was "Cel-dit!"

"Awesome! Now, if you can, could you maybe Transport us to five minutes ago?" asked Toad.

"Cel-dit!" agreed Morff. It floated towards Toad and his friends, held out both its arms, and called out, "Ceeeeelll-dit!"

Suddenly, the whole area around the group started to glow blue. All of the debris started moving, flying back to their former positions prior to the explosion. Within a matter of seconds, the entire warehouse was good as new, or should I say good as usual?

"Wow, the warehouse is back!" said Pipsy.

"And look, there's Tiff!" said Toad upon seeing Tiff tied to a nearby pole. "It worked! She's alive! What a miracle!"

Tiff was as glad to see him, too.

Look at him, so happy to see me, she thought to herself. So glad that I'm well. This would be the perfect time to--

WUMP!!!

Tiff was interrupted by her falling off the pole when Pipsy untied her.

"So, kidnapped and held in an old, abandoned warehouse, huh?" said Toad to Tiff. "Brings back memories. Anyway, are you okay?"

"I've never felt better..." said Tiff happily.

"Pika, Pika, Pika!" shouted Bolt-Boy as he pointed to an oversized Bob-omb that had a clock-like monitor on it. 00:32, it read.

"Aw, snap!" shouted Toad. "We need to get outta here before that bomb goes off (again!) Let's make like Wario's pants and SPLIT!"

Without question, they all ran out of there just in time to see it get destroyed (again.)

"We shoulda brought marshmallows," said Pipsy.

"Tiff's okay, but we're not out of the woods yet," declared Toad. "We need to find and defeat that monster, and I think I know where it is..." he pointed toward the faraway sillouette of Dedede's castle, standing menacingly against the orange and purple sky of dusk. Can our young heroes stand up to this tentacled terror, and what will King Dedede say about that? Find out next chapter!

To be continued...

:banana: (waits patiently for reviews...)

[EggTroopa]

Finally, here's chapter seven. Sorry if it took so long or if it's short, and like I said earlier, fight scenes are not my forte. Some pointers would be appreciated, however.


Chapter Seven

Nightmare Enterprises


KERBLAAM!!!

Smoke started pouring out of one of the towers at Castle Dedede, followed by some yelling.

"Be careful, snailbrain!" shouted the king as he pounded Escargoon on the head. "We wanna FIX this thing so we can send Kirby back where he came from!"

"How can I fix it? I don't have the owner's manual!" Escargoon shot back.

They were talking about Kirby's starship that got torn up when it crashed. The king had it sent to his castle so it could be repaired and Kirby could leave.

"Hey what's this?" Escargoon reached into the cockpit and pulled out a small, blue box. When he opened it, he found a small star-shaped item that glowed very brightly.

"Hey!" said King Dedede as he snatched the star away. "Wouldja look at that! Say, Ah c'n tack dis up 'n me dressin' room!"

His face then returned to a scowl as he placed the star inside his robe, turned on his heel and said, "Keep workin' on dat ship, Escargoon. Ah got some business to attend to."

Dedede went downstairs into the throne room. It was quite dark with only the torches on the walls lighting the room. He walked down a red and yellow carpet leading to his golden throne with red velvet upholstery. He sat down on his throne then opened a secret compartment on his left armrest. In the compartment were several glowing buttons of different colors. The king looked around to make sure the coast was clear, then pushed a blue button.

Reacting to the button pressing, the floor and ceiling in the center of the room retracted to reveal a strange machine. From the floor rose a futuristic-looking platform, and from the ceiling came a machine with several electrodes pointing toward the platform. Then a large television monitor swooped in and stopped to the left of Dedede's throne. When the monitor automatically turned on, a creepy looking man in sunglasses appeared on it.

"Welcome to Nightmare Enterprises, Your Majesty. How may I be of service?" asked the man.

"Yeah, Ah paid a lotta clams for a monster an' you give me a shrimp! What gives?" barked the king.

Meanwhile, Toad and his friends, who apparently made their way successfully into the castle, were eavesdropping on the conversation. So, that's where that thing came from, Toad thought.

"Just give it time, King Dedede. I promise that before too long, that little shrimp will 'grow' on you!" the salesman said with a chuckle.

"Whatever you say..." mumbled his Majesty as he pushed another button that put the monitor and machine away. He got up and looked around once more to make sure no one was looking. All he saw was the large empty throne room, which was lit only by several torches hung onto the walls. After his survey, Dedede waddled toward the back of his room to check on his octopus. He was shocked to see that his pet looked remarkably different than it did when he showed it off to his guests from the Mushroom Kingdom yesterday. It was darker in color, a bit bigger, had menacing green eyes, and it was sitting on top of its tank chewing on a bone, who knows where it got it. When it noticed the king, it suddenly gave a hypnotic glare. As King Dedede stared into it, his own eyes turned green as well. At this time, Toad decided that then would be the opportune time to strike. He and his friends lept out of the shadows and landed right behind the king.

"I've got you now, Dr. Ev-- I mean, King Dedede!" Toad shouted.

The king responded by turning around to reveal that his eyes were then totally green and his pupils seemed to have disappeared. He was in total control of the octopus beast. He brandished his mallet.

"Dedede..." he moaned as he smashed his mallet down, barely missing Toad.

"Whoa! Careful, Highness, you could poke someone's eye out with that thing!" Toad joked as he pulled out a black Pokeball.
"Eddy here should be able to cool him off! I choose you!"

When the black Pokeball hit the ground, a Sharpedo emerged from it. He sounded his call and grimmaced.

"Ice Beam, Eddy!" commanded Toad.

Eddy let loose an elegant-looking stream of ice and freezing wind aimed at the crazed Dedede, although he wanted to Crunch him instead. Upon impact, the king was covered in ice and slid straight into a pole. The ice shattered, Dedede was knocked out, and a small, star-like thing fell out of his coat and landed in front of Tiff.

"Hey, look what King Dedede dropped!" exclaimed Tiff as she picked up the star.

"Ya mean besides his marbles?" said Yoshi, who was standing in front of Tiff. Suddenly, Yoshi saw a gigantic, shadowy figure with glowing green eyes sneak up behing Tiff. Yoshi made a terrified face as he stammered, "Um... T-Tiff?"

"Yoshi, this is no time for funny faces. This is serious," scolded Tiff.

"No Tiff... LOOK BEHIND YOUUU!!!" Yoshi howled as Tiff slowly turned around. Soon her face looked just like Yoshi's as they stared at the giant octopus monster, back for more mayhem.

"Oh, no..." yelped Pipsy.

"It's back..." said Toad with astonishment.

To be continued...

[EggTroopa]

Chapter Eight

The Monster Returns

Toad and his friends stood there, frozen in fear, face-to-face adjacent to the gargantuan creature that sat before them, not having the faintest clue what to do about the situation. After all, it wasn't every day that they got to fight a giant octopus. Suddenly, they heard some yelling coming from the entrance to the throne room. They turned around to see MetaKnight and his comrades busting in with a war cry, much more eager to battle with the monster.

"It's the Blade Knights. We're saved!" declared Pipsy.

The three of them were all skilled swordsmen, but their short height made for an equally small weight, and the creature used this to its advantage by literally sweeping them off their feet, and through the wall, as well.

"Uh... Never mind. We're screwed!" corrected Pipsy.

"Looks like we'll need to deal with this ourselves!" said Toad.

"How do we do that?" asked Yoshi.

Before Toad could answer, the octopus held out one of its tentacles so the suction cups were on top. Then, smaller octopi came sprouting out of the suction cups. In no time there were well over a hundred little octopi with feirce green eyes just like their parent. Five of them broke off from the crowd and swooped in for Kirby, who had Tiff safely behind him. Tiff was mature for her age, but she wasn't always as confident as she looked. In fact, as she ducked behind Kirby against the octopi, she was freaking out as if she never experienced anything as scary as a swarm of flying pink cephalopods. The octopi were getting closer; Tiff shut her eyes tight and braced herself while Kirby didn't move a muscle. Just as the beasts were within two feet of their prey, a bright, orange fireball shot out from the left hand side and instantly knocked out the octopi.

When Tiff and Kirby looked to see where the fireball came from, they saw none other than Toad holding a Fire Flower, which he kept inside his jacket, no doubt.

Toad's gutsy act somehow inspired his friends to fight back as well. Yoshi grabbed one of the creatures with his tongue, swallowed it, and turned it into an egg. He picked up the egg and threw it at another beast, which richocheted after several other octopi. When one was headed for Pipsy, she sent it right back with a well-timed slap in the face. Bolt-Boy wasted no time using his electric firepower to vanquish many monsters at a time. Kirby, not knowing how to fight them, simply evaded the beasts any way he could. During the racket, Toad noticed the small star Tiff was still holding.

"What is that, a Power Star?" he said.

"That's a Warp Star," said MetaKnight, having finally recovered from his humiliating defeat. "It's the source of Kirby's power."

As soon as Tiff heard this, she immediately knew that she had to bring this star to Kirby. No sooner than she thought this than Kirby started to run out of the throne room, a small group of small octopi trailing behind him.

"C'mon, guys, we gotta take this to Kirby," demanded Tiff. "...or we're all doomed!"

Toad, Yoshi, Pipsy, Bolt-Boy, and MetaKnight obediantly followed Tiff as they looked throughout the castle for Kirby. Eventually, after running down countless, seemingly endless hallways, the hall forked into two separate corridors.

"Which way did he go?" wondered Yoshi.

"Dunno," said Toad. "Hey, Pipsy, which way? Use your instincts!"

"Huh?... Oh, okay..." she said dumbly. She concentrated hard on both hallways, and then finally pointed with dramatic flair and shouted, "My instinx say... LET'S GO LEFT!"

"Left? You sure?" said Toad.

"Yuh-huh!" confirmed Pipsy.

"Then we're goin' right," said Toad as he and the others started down the right hallway as Pipsy stood there, frozen, still pointing.

"...YOU'RE NOT NICE!!!" bellowed Pipsy as she stamped her foot.

Suddenly her large ears were filled with a low growling noise.

"Wa-wa-wa-wait for MEEEE!!!" squealed Pipsy as she peeled out after Toad and the rest.

Their chosen corridor lead outside to a bridge leading to another tower. The night sky was clear and thick with stars and a full moon. They were on the middle of the bridge when suddenly, a huge tentacle appeared and smashed the path right in front of the kids. The impact caused MetaKnight to lose his balance and fall off the bridge.

"MetaKnight!" called Toad.

Another tentacle came out the same void and smashed the path on the other side of the group so they had no where to go. They could not do anything but gaze at the huge octopus and its numerous minions surrounding it. How will they escape from this pickle? Find out whenever.

To be continued...