Heroes of Dreamland, Book 3: The World of Nintendo (OLD)

The Fourth and Final(?) Non-Hero

Somewhere in the Mushroom Kingdom:

"I understood most of it, but some stuff makes no sense," Rose sighed as the Human finished her story.

"Like what?" Byte inquired, pushing her black hair out of her eyes for the umpteenth time. "I knew I should have worn my hair up today."

Crossing her arms, Rose asked, "Like, what's a fangirl?"

"Long story, but it's sort of like a fan. Only a fan who's a girl, and tends to go a bit crazy over stuff she likes. I'm a fangirl," Byte explained with a shrug.

"Okay, so what's the buttons about? Like '2' button and 'pause' button?" Rose demanded.

The Human shrugged again. "They're just buttons on the controller that you play the games with."

"Okay, and what about the Dreamland heroes? What happened to them? And who was the silhouette character?" Rose threw more questions at her.

"I don't know, I didn't check on them again. They're probably gone now, though. I hadn't collected all that many lives yet, I just started playing today," Byte sighed mournfully. "And I don't know who the silhouette character was. I wish Nintendo had actually developed her, she seemed cool."

Sadly, Rose rubbed her forehead with one hand. "So what's gonna happen to the other characters in all the other games?"

"I don't know, whatever normally happens to them when they're not being played, I guess. I wonder if they had, like, lives of their own when they were offscreen. That would just make it even worse," her Human companion murmured. "I really, really, wish I had never touched a game. I can't believe I'm the one to end the magic."

"Magic?"

"Well, not literally. But playing a game feels like magic. You get to explore new worlds, meet cool new characters, learn their backstories. Well, with some characters, anyway," Byte told her eagerly, then drooped again. "Now, no one will ever get to have that feeling again."

"No," Rose disagreed, hugging Thdwee to herself as she walked. Deedee and Sailor Dee looked up at her in confusion. "There's gotta be some way to fix things. Maybe when we get rid of the evil here, it'll fix things there."

"Maybe so," Byte muttered, not really believing it.

Suddenly, a small voice yelped, "Hey, Mario! Help me!"

"Who's that?" Rose wondered. "Who's Mario?"

"Hey! Mario! Give me a hand!" it squawked again.

"It sounds like it's coming from that ? block," Byte said. "It sounds like a Toad!"

"What's a Toad?"

"Well, hit the block and find out!" Byte grinned. She loved trying to get other people into things she liked.

Rose couldn't quite reach the block, which continued to yelp and call for help, no matter how far she reached or jumped. Finally, she took Galaxia out of where she had put it in her knapsack (it didn't really fit) and used it to bonk the block. Out popped a creature she recognized from the book. "Oh, yeah, that's a Toad," she remembered.

"Thanks! Have a reward! Oh, wait. You're not Mario! Agh! Mario! Help! A monster! Ack!" the Toad started yelping, running back and forth in crazed panic.

"Do I really look like a monster?" Rose asked with a sigh. All three Waddle Dee nodded at her eagerly. "Gee, thanks. I feel so loved."

Byte giggled. "At least they're honest, the adorable little marshmallows." She suddenly picked Sailor Dee up and hugged him. "I've wished to hug a Waddle Dee for so long, and now I actually can. This is so cool."