But it was too nice a day to worry about that. For today was a day of the happy thoughts. The townspeople were consumed with joy; it was as if it was the only emotion they felt that day. Families of Toads, Goombas, and other similar creatures planned recreational days to celebrate. Even the Mario Bros. enjoyed a peaceful day off, for Bowser no longer threatened the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom and local residential area, Toad Town. But the day was young and the Mario Bros. were very skeptical that a day could pass in that pathetic excuse for a kingdom without a threat from Bowser. Nevertheless, Mario and Luigi went for a camping trip at the base of Cool Cool Mountain, thinking they might as well take advantage of their good fortune. So they did, and all was well in the kingdom of Princess Peach.
�.
Now of course we all wish it would end like that, except then, there would be no story and more importantly, nothing to read here. Well you see, although there was absolute peace in the Mushroom Kingdom, trouble was brewing several leagues beneath the sea. The Great Sea, to be more specific, actually. Within a cavern formed by volcanic eruptions that occurred here, walked a figure cloaked in darkness. This man was the last living descendant of his tribe; the others were all dead for some reason. It was Ganondorf, King of the Gerudos and scourge of Hyrule. He paced about the undersea cavern, as if he was looking for something. But he wasn�t. He was waiting for something to happen, something powerful and great that could only be detected by him. Suddenly, Ganondorf felt a powerful glow emanating from his clenched fist.
�Ah, yes, the Triforce of Power,� he muttered quietly, as the gold shard began to powerful vibrate and glow in the palm of his hand. �It is corrupt. I sense a disturbance in the mystic alignment; something is not right,� said Ganondorf, shaking with excitement. �This is the day I�ve been waiting for, the day in which evil will finally triumph over good. Muahahahah!!!!!!!� he laughed loudly.
�.
�Ready. Aim. Fire!� shouted the voice of the universe�s greatest female bounty hunter from inside her starship. It was Samus Aran and her gunship�s lasers had just made contact with an incoming asteroid, destroying it.
�Yes, excellent,� she said to herself. �Huh? That�s weird.� Samus said as she peered out her window. �I�ve got to check it out.� Using her ship�s telescope, she took a more detailed look at the sky. �Wow!� she said incredulously. �I don�t remember Aether being over there.�
�.
Meanwhile, in the realm of the Great Sea, Ganondorf felt a strange force calling out to him. It was apparently coming from the sky as Ganondorf found out after leaping into the sea and surfacing. Once he had gotten to dry land, he peered up at the night sky to be greeted by a strange sight.
�Whoa,� he said. �This must be the mystic disturbance I sensed earlier. There�s a whole planet out of place. Excellent! Mass disasters tend to occur when weird stuff like this happens.�
�.
�Aether is out of orbit,� said Samus to herself. �It�s the only explanation.� But before she could contemplate that thought further, she heard the impact of bullets on the outside of her gunship. �And I�m under attack,� she concluded, after staring outside her windows to spot a horde of Space Pirates.
�I�m really not in the mood for this,� said a rather disgruntled Samus. The hunter began to fire lasers at her surrounding enemies. Samus also tried ramming them with her gunship and that tactic proved effective, knocking a great deal of them out of the sky. Unfortunately for her, the pirate leader called for reinforcements and Samus was again surrounded by hundreds of attacking Space Pirates. She rammed them again, but the space-traveling fiends seemed infinite. Annoyed at this, she began to flee, kicking up the speed of the ship a notch before taking off towards Earth, pirates still in pursuit.
Becoming impatient, the pirates turned to the deadliest of their weapons: a Doomsday Cannon powered by both light and dark energy in a similar fashion to the Annihilator Beam. The Space Pirates fired this beam at Samus, only to miss her ship entirely and connect with Aether. The shot took a rather large chunk out of the dark matter that composed Aether�s dark half and sent it flying towards Earth, looking like a giant dark comet. Their energy reserves almost depleted, the Space Pirates fled and Samus headed for the headquarters of the Galactic Federation to report what she had just witnessed.
�.
Back in the Great Sea, Ganondorf stared up at the sky to spot a shooting star plummeting towards the other side of planet. �Excellent!� he said. �It will only be a matter of time before something evil happens. Muahahahaha!!!!!! Today is Friday the 13th by the way. Surely that has some significance. Being superstitious pays off. Soon the world will be engulfed in darkness from that oversized comet. And evil shall reign supreme!�
�.
�Who ate-a the last-a pudding cup-a?� shouted Luigi in dismay, as he peered into his portable refrigerator to find himself out of pudding.
�Don�t-a look at me-a�..� said Mario, hiding his hands behind his back and whistling suspiciously. What he should have done, however, is wiped his face, as globs of chocolate pudding on around his mouth were surely a giveaway. Luigi frowned at him but then shrugged his shoulders in a carefree manner. After all, this was no real problem and the fat from the pudding will be going to Mario�s thighs and not his, so why did he have to worry?
�Hey Mario, look up there-a!� said Luigi, pointing at the sky. Mario looked up to see a really weird dark object falling rapidly towards the summit of Cool Cool Mountain.
�Mama mia!� shouted Mario.
�Avalanche-a!� chimed in Luigi as the section of dark matter collides with the mountaintop, knocking rocks and snow all over the area and burying the Mario Bros.
The avalanche was the least of their problems, however. Something dark and evil seemed to be radiating from the spot where the dark meteor had just struck. Several Toads, Goombas, Koopas, and Shy Guys had already been overcome by this force and were walking around, arms outstretched, like a bunch of mindless zombies.
�Ah, what great damage has been done here!� commented Ganondorf to no one in particular, spotting the site of the meteor collision, and more importantly, the strange dark presence emanating from the crater and the positively evil expressions of the locals. �I can begin to build an evil army,� he began, �and with it, I can conquer the world. But first, I think I�ll need a little help.� He pulled out a cell-phone and called Bowser. It had been awhile since Ganondorf had called his roommate from the college of looting, robbing, and plundering, but he remembered his phone number, nevertheless. Of course, how could anyone forget a phone number quite as ridiculous as Bowser�s: 1-800-BOW-DOWN. Ganondorf called the number. On the fifth ring, he was greeted by the gruff voice of Bowser.
�Who�s this?� roared Bowser grumpily.
�Hey Bowser, its G-man!� said Ganondorf excitedly. �And boy have I got news for you. Brace yourself Bowser, for I am about to offer you a position beside me as ruler of the world.�
�Well go on,� he replied stupidly. �Offer.�
�Uh, Bowser. I just did,� responded Ganondorf, laughing.
�Oh. My bad,� said Bowser in a small and quite embarrassed voice.
�So,� began Ganondorf. �Would you like to join me, my friend? Together, we will wipe out legions and establish a new, evil society.�
�The offer sounds rather enticing,� replied Bowser, twiddiling his thumbs, �but there�s one problem with you little plan: I�M KINDA IN JAIL RIGHT NOW!!!�
�Oh really?� asked Ganondorf. Bowser nodded angrily, but he forgot that Ganondorf could not see him, being that they were talking by phone. �You never struck me as the kind of guy who would get caught,� he added sarcastically. �You were always the smartest guy I knew in this business.�
�Then you must�ve known some pretty cruddy villains,� said Bowser, missing Ganondorf�s sarcastic tone, � �cause I�m in stinkin� jail right now!�
�What�re you in for?� inquired Ganondorf.
�Robbing a bank,� replied Bowser.
�No biggie, I�ll get you out, man,� said Ganondorf calmly. �Once I rule the world, I make the law.�
�So how exactly do you plan to take over the world?� asked Bowser. �Doesn�t that Link dude always kick your butt?�
�The same way Mario and Luigi hand you your head time and time again?� sneered Ganondorf.
�No one will ever mention our failures again! We�re putting our pasts behind us and kickin� butt.�
�Yeah! But anyway, first things first. I�m breaking you out of jail. I�ve got some evil forces already and I�ll attack the Mushroom Kingdom to create a diversion while you escape.�
�Excellent! And the Mario Bros.?�
�Taken care of,� said Ganondorf, cracking his knuckles.
�Peace out man. This plan�s sure to be a blast. I can�t wait.�
�You and me both, my reptilian comrade. You and me both.�
Ganondorf hung up the phone feeling great pleasure. For once, one of his evil plans was going to succeed. Nothing could stop him. Or so he thought. Without warning, an arrow came flying toward him, nailing him painfully in the butt. By the time he had pulled it out, his foe had reached him. It was none other than Link.
�I overheard your plan,� said Link, unsheathing his sword and drawing closer to Ganondorf. �You really should be quieter when discussing things that important.�
�Can it, elf boy,� retorted Ganondorf, backing away. �You may know my plan, but still, you cannot stop me. Minions of darkness attack!�
The chilly mountain air was filled with the screeches of Ganondorf�s new army, as it rounded on Link.
�Oh come on, Toads?� asked Link mockingly. �What are you going to do, annoy me to death?�
�You�ll surely be dead,� replied Ganondorf, as his army drew closer to Link. Although Toads made up the front row, the army wasn�t completely Toads. Several denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom could be seen, each well-represented in Ganondorf�s troops. Goombas, Koopas, Boos, Toads, Shy Guys, and even Yoshis could be spotted marching at Link.
Link drew his sword and slashed at a few Toads, knocking them backwards. Using his boomerang, he knocked a group of Goombas unconscious. He began picking off Koopa Troopas with his bow and arrows, until they began hiding in their shells for cover, at which point he began to smash them by means of his Skull Hammer. Within five minutes, all of Ganon�s dark minions were on the ground, wither unconscious, dead, or dying.
�What was that you were saying, Ganondorf, about your army being supreme?� taunted Link.
�Oh it is,� Ganon replied with a smirk. He snapped his fingers and twice as many enemies stood in the place where Ganon�s army had once stood.
�They�re infused with darkness,� protested Link, slashing away at Ganon�s minions without success. �I can�t destroy them.�
�Excellent observation, you fool,� said Ganon with a laugh. �That�s right, you can�t win. You see, the dark energy from the crater not only allows me to control those creatures, but it grants them with great power. They can attack with dark energy, they are virtually invincible, and they regenerate when you do manage to beat �em.�
�No way!� said a dumbfounded Link. He began attacking again, to see if Ganon was bluffing, but he was not. A Yoshi threw an egg at Link that exploded with sticky dark goo, immobilizing Link. After this, Ganondorf had no trouble tying him up and shoving him into an empty potato sack.
�Bowser will be impressed with this. I�ll take them as souvenirs,� he said, picking up the Mario Bros., who were knocked unconscious by the avalanche, and shoving them into the sack with Link. �And now, we break out the Koopa King himself.�
Ganon marched into Toad Town, his army behind him. They began to strike people and buildings with powerful dark magic that made the town panic. When Bowser saw the signal (Toad Town being terrorized), he crept out of the prison through the fire escape in all the confusion.
�Freedom,� he shouted to Ganondorf. �That�s more like it.�
�I brought you something,� said Ganon, urging Bowser to look inside the sack.
�Excellent,� replied Bowser. �You really cleaned up.�
�No one will be able to stop us now,� said Ganon, laughing evilly. �Let�s plot our next move: Dinner! Bowser what you want? I�m mad hungry.�
�I dunno. How about Pizza Hut?� suggested Bowser. �You work up a monster appetite being evil. And where should our evil lair be? My palace.�
�I was thinkin� that motel around the corner, actually.�
�Dude, why not my floating castle lair of doom?�
�That�ll do. It�s more evil anyway.�
�I know. I built it after all.�