Saturday, September 26, 1992, 3:00 PM

Kevin and Mega Man entered the Conference room, where the whole N Team was gathered, and sat down. The two had just paid a visit on Dr. Right.

"Hey, everybody." the Game Master greeted. "One bit of good news: we now have the location of the Dark Land Castle, thanks to Dr. Right."

"Kevin, we also have a bit of bad news." Lana said. "Koopa troops are being sent from the Mushroom World all over Videoland!"

"First thing's first." Kevin said decisively. "Dr. Right has determined that Wily now has a replicator to rebuild his robots. Some of us have to go to Dr. Wily's castle and destroy his replicator before he overwhelms Videoland with his own forces."

"You're right." Lana agreed.

Kevin quickly looked the team over. "Hmm. Mike, you wanna come along to help kick robotic posterior?"

"With pleasure!" Mike said with a grin.

"Mega Man?"

"Count me mega in!"

"Rick?"

"Sure thing, Kevin!"

"Hey, Lana, you think Zelda and Link would like to help deal with the Koopas?"

"Sure!" Lana agreed.

"All right, then. You call them while Mike, Mega Man, Rick, and I deal with Dr. Wily's un-birthday gift."

"Un-...what?" she asked, not comprehending.

"Oops, I haven't shown you 'Alice In Wonderland' yet. You'll get it once I've shown it to you, though. C'mon, guys!"

"Good luck!" Lana called as Kevin and his small group were leaving.

"Thanks!" Kevin called back.

In his lab in Skull Castle, Dr. Wily was having more fun than a mad scientist should be allowed to have, gleefully replicating a new army of robots. Then, suddenly, the door vaporized. Kevin, Mike, Rick, and Mega Man ran into the lab.

"You replicated all the wrong robots, Wily!" Kevin told the mad scientist while flashing a grin.

"No!" Wily yelled. "Why, why, why must you rotten do-gooders spoil my plans?!"

Kevin stepped over to the scientist, aiming his Zapper at him just to make sure he did nothing stupid. "All right, guys." he said. "Take it out."

"With pleasure!" Mike said.

He, Mega Man, and Rick aimed their weapons at the replicator.

"Nooo!!!" Wily wailed. "Don't destroy it, please!"

"Ludwig can always make you another." Kevin replied deviously. "Guys, trash it!"

Wily watched in horror as the three heroes blasted the replicator, causing it to explode.

"No! You'll pay for this, Captain N!"

"Sorry, Doc," Kevin said with a laugh, "I left my wallet in my other blue jeans!" He looked at his friends. "Let's go, guys."

The four of them left the castle.

When the group entered the living room, Mike laughed. "Ha, ha! We sure kicked his butt, Keene!"

"Yeah!" Kevin agreed. "Thanks, guys!"

Lana came in. "Well, how'd everything go?"

"Great. I think we've heard the last from Wily, at least for now."

"Good. Link and Zelda are waiting with the rest of the team and Toad in the Conference room."

"So, Kevin, do we get to smash some more monsters?"

"Sure, Link!"

"Some of them have started invading Hyrule, but our army is holding out for now." Princess Zelda, the Ruler of Hyrule, said.

"All right. Everyone, to stop the trouble, we'll have to go to Dark Land. However, some of us will have to go find Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo so we can protect them."

"Why should we protect them?" Simon asked.

"Because, Simon, Mother Brain may have told those two secrets. Such as secrets about us that we don't want the Koopas to discover."

"Ah! I see!"

"Now, Simon, would you like to go to Punch-Out and protect King Hippo?"

"Well, I guess if someone has to - "

"Great!" Kevin said, cutting off Simon quickly before he made a speech. "Kid Icarus, would you go to Mount Icarus to protect Eggplant Wizard?"

"Sure, Kevinicus." Kid Icarus replied.

"Thank you. Now, we'll also need someone to stay behind to watch the house. Gameboy, would you do that, please?"

"Affirmative." the game computer replied.

"All right." Kevin looked down at his dog, Duke. "It's most likely dangerous in Dark Land, boy. How about you stay here and help Gameboy watch the place?"

Understanding what his human master was telling him, the canine barked, nodding.

"Okay. Simon and Kid Icarus, it would probably be better if you two took Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo to a safe place where you both could guard them effectively. Do either of you know of such a place?"

"Sure." Simon said. "I know a highly respectable, well-patrolled pub on Castlevania, the Pub de León."

"All right. Find them and guard them there until we call you, okay?"

"Certainly."

"We'll get right on it." Kid Icarus added.

"Good luck." Kevin said as Kid Icarus and Simon left for the Warp Zone Shifter. "Gameboy, Duke, please start your watch in the Communications room. And call Dr. Right to tell him that we'll be going to Dark Land in a few minutes."

"Affirmative, Captain." Gameboy said. He and Duke left the room.

"Hey, Toad, you have more knowledge of the Koopas than we have. Would you come with us?"

"Yes, Captain N. I'll do just about anything I can to help save the Princess, the rest of the Mushroom Court, and the Mario Brothers."

"All right, then. Mega Man?"

"We can use the Warp Zone Shifter to send us through the Koopas' dimensional shielding, and a warp zone opener can get us out of there mega fast if we need to."

"All right! Let's do it to it, team!"

"This place sure mega lives up to its name." Mega Man remarked wryly.

"Yeah." Kevin agreed.

Also, they were commonly revolted by the fact that the castle itself was made in the image of the evil Bowser Koopa. He was even more egotistical than Simon Belmont, apparently.

"The entrance is there." Toad said, then looked up. "Yaah!!! Look out!!!"

The group looked up and saw a squadron of Koopa Paratroopas, which were winged Koopa Troopas, fly out of the hideous castle and swoop down toward them.

"Zappers!" Kevin commanded.

He, Mike, and Lana drew their Zappers, Rick drew his Super Scope, and the four blasted all the Paratroopas before they got to them.

"C'mon." Kevin said.

The group entered the castle.

Soon, the group approached a red door.

"This looks like it might be a prison room." Toad said.

"All right." Kevin said. He looked the group over. "Mike and Mega Man, you come with me. Lana, if you don't hear from us in about five minutes, go find another way to the Koopas."

"Yes, Kevin." Lana agreed.

Kevin, Mega Man, and Mike entered the room. Sure enough, it had several prison cells in it.

"Hey! Is anyone awake?!" Kevin called.

"Over here!" a male voice called.

The trio went over to the cell nearest to them and found Mario and Luigi.

"Who are you?" Mario asked.

"I'm Captain N." Kevin said. "These are Mike Vincent and Mega Man, two of my friends. We've come to rescue you."

"Watch out for Boom-Boom Koopa!" Luigi warned.

"Where's he?"

"Right here!" a deep voice called.

The trio turned around and saw an unshelled, spiky Koopa - Boom-Boom.

"Ludwig von Koopa has ordered me to escort you to his presence. If you do not cooperate, I have orders to destroy you."

"Nice try. Release the Super Mario Brothers!" Kevin ordered with carefully measured brashness - just enough to pull Boom-Boom into a fight.

"I cannot do that, Captain N. However, defeat me, and I shall give you the key!"

Boom-Boom charged the trio, and they scattered.

Kevin used the Up button on his Power Pad to leap into the air above Boom-Boom, and he used the Down button to come down hard on an unspiked part of Boom-Boom's back.

"Yaah!" the Koopa cried before exploding in a flash of light. He left behind a small orb.

Kevin picked up the orb; it disintegrated, and the cell doors all opened.

"Nice going, Keene!" Mike said. He gave Kevin a high-five. He was gaining more and more respect for the kid he used to bully all the time.

"Hey, thanks, dude!" Kevin said.

The Mario Brothers and the Mushroom Court got out of their cells.

"Captain N!" Princess Toadstool called, running up to him. "Thank you for freeing us!"

"My pleasure, Your Highness. One moment, please." He stepped over to the door he had just come through and opened it. "Come on in."

The rest of the N Team entered the room. Lana and Zelda went over to Toadstool.

"Peach!" Lana cried happily. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, thanks to Captain N." Peach replied.

"My title is Captain N. My name, Kevin Keene." Kevin told everyone. "You may know Mega Man, Princess Lana, Princess Zelda, and Link. These are friends of mine - Rick Walker, Stacey Anderson, Mike Vincent, Romeo Roberts, and Julius Jones. We're here to stop Ludwig before he conquers all of Videoland."

"I thought the Ultimate Warp Zone was supposed to bring only one person to Videoland, Lana." Princess Toadstool remarked.

"Well, it's a long story, but suffice it to say that Kevin is Captain N."

"All right." She turned to her court. "Toad, please remain here with the rest of the Mushroom Court. We'll return for you after we've defeated Ludwig. Mario and Luigi, you and I shall accompany the N Team to Ludwig's lair."

Mario and Luigi nodded.

"Sure, Princess." Mario agreed.

"Just one question, Lana." Peach said. "What in Videoland happened to your hair?"

"Ha, ha!" Lana laughed. "That's part of the long story. Let's go."

The group left the room and continued up the castle.

At the Tooty-Fruity Juice Bar, Eggplant Wizard was sipping his favorite drink, pineapple juice, which was exotic to Mount Icarus.

"Ah, this is the life." he said. "No Mother Brain bossing me around all the time. A good family to come home to." His portable veggie-phone rang, and he answered it. "Eggplant Wizard speaking."

"Hey, Eggy! It's Hippo." The two had become good friends since Mother Brain's destruction.

"Hey, Hippo! What's up?"

"We haven't seen the N Team in some time. How about we - hey! Who're - lemme go! Haalp!"

"King Hippo!" Eggplant Wizard cried with concern.

"Eggy! Get the N Team! I'm being carried away by Hammer Brothers! Get help!!!"

Suddenly, the line went dead.

"Hippo! Oh, dear!" He noticed several plants entering - several Nipper Plants! "Yaah! Koopa's Nipper Plants!"

The Nippers successfully kept everyone at bay with their snapping jaws.

Kid Icarus flew in. "Uh-ohicus!" He took an arrow whose net was not susceptible to the Nippers' jaws and shot the Nippers with the net. Kid Icarus held the rope to keep the net from slackening; if he released it, the Nippers would be free, and they were already pulling it too strongly for him to keep them in one place. "Eggplant Wizard, hurry! Turn 'em into tomatoes or something!"

"Yes!" Eggplant Wizard extracted his Veggie Wand and blasted the Nippers with a spell that turned them all into harmless cucumbers. "Whew! Kid Icarus, King Hippo's been abducted by Hammer Brothers!"

Kid Icarus took out his communicator. "Simonius, it's Kid Icarus! Some Hammer Brothers have King Hippo, according to Eggplanticus!"

"I'm on it!" Simon replied. "In pursuit of the Hammer Brothers. Go to the pub and wait there."

"Will do-icus." Kid Icarus put his communicator away. "Let's go, Eggplant Wizard."

"What's up? Why are the Koopas after us?"

"We believe they want you to tell some of Mother Brain's secrets."

"I'm not telling them anything! Let's go, Kid Icarus."

Two ornery Hammer Brothers were carrying King Hippo to the warp zone to Dark Land. He was too large for just one of them to carry him. He had given up trying to punch their heads; their helmets provided too much protection.

"Haalp!" he cried instead.

"Hold it right there!" a sonorous baritone voice called from behind the Hammer Brothers.

They turned to the source: Simon Belmont.

"Release the hippo immediately!"

"Yeah?" one Hammer Brother laughed. "And who are you?"

"I'm Simon Belmont, Vampire Hunter." Simon said with much vanity. "I said let him go!"

"Try and catch us, egotistical buffoon!" the other Hammer Brother said.

The two resumed running towards the warp.

Simon swung his whip at the two Hammer Brothers and hit both of them.

They both exploded in flashes of light, and King Hippo fell on his rear end.

"Oof! Hey, thanks, Simon!" Hippo said.

Simon recoiled his whip and put it back where it belonged. "No problem for the handsomest of heroes, King Hippo." Simon replied, full of himself.

"But where's Eggplant Wizard? Is he okay?"

"Kid Icarus is keeping him safe. We're taking you two to a pub that I know on Castlevania to protect you."

King Hippo grinned. "The Pub de León?"

"Why, yes! It's my favorite, as well as being secure and trustworthy."

"That's my fave, too! Let's go!"

All the Koopalings were keeping an eye on the situation in the castle's War room; their ranks were determined by their age order: Ludwig, Larry, Roy, Wendy, Morton, Lemmy, and Iggy. Lemmy and Iggy were technically twins, but Lemmy was just a second or two older.

Roy Koopa always wore shades to show that he was cool. However, what he read on his display screen surprised him just enough to relax enough muscles to cause the shades to fall off his face and land with a loud clack on the floor. The noise attracted the attention of all the other six Koopalings.

"The Hammer Brothers and Nippers that we sent after Mother Brain's buffoons have been defeated, and the N Team is nearly here!" Roy exclaimed, shocked.

"What?!" Ludwig demanded. He stormed up to his brother's post and read the display. "Damn those N Team idiots to the Hell of Eternal Uncontrollable Muscle Twitches!!!"

One of the doors burst open. "Yo, Ludwig!" the voice of an eighteen-year-old guy who was planning on saving Videoland once more called.

Ludwig and all the other Koopalings turned to the door to see the N Team.

"Damn you all!" Ludwig shouted.

"Such language is unseemly for a prince!" Zelda remarked.

"You just watch it, pretty! Annoy me, and I'll awaken Ganon and allow him full domination of Hyrule!"

"Damn you!" Zelda shouted.

Lana chuckled. She didn't know what "damn" meant, exactly, but she had an idea it had a similar meaning to a sex-related term she had heard on Earth.

"Are you angry?" Kevin asked sweetly.

"Angry? Angry?!" Ludwig went down to his central chair, where Larry was still standing. By the time he got there, he had regained some of his composure. "I shall show you exactly how angry I am, Kevin Keene." He drew his scepter with his left hand. "When I count to number five, if you fools are not out of Dark Land, Larry and I shall destroy you all - except you, Mega Man. Wily wants you."

"Just try it!" Kevin said. He gently tapped Lana and unobtrusively indicated the Pause button on his Power Pad.

She winked, signalling that she knew what he intended to do.

"All right, Captain N." Ludwig said. "Larry, your scepter, please."

Larry drew his scepter; he and Ludwig aimed their scepters at the N Team.

"The demolish spell." Ludwig said.

"Got it." Larry replied.

"One, two,..." Ludwig began.

He and Larry both continued the count in perfect tempo rhythm: "three, four, fi-"

Kevin and Lana hit their Pause buttons. "Pause!" the Game Master and the Princess of Videoland called.

Everyone except the hero and the heroine were frozen just before the Koopaling brothers finished the syllable. Kevin and Lana zipped over to Ludwig and Larry, snatched their scepters, and returned to their teammates. The pause wore off seconds later.

"-ive!" the brothers finished. But their scepters were no longer in their hands.

"No!!!" Ludwig cried.

"Yes!" Kevin said, grinning wickedly. "Scepter, transport all the N Team, their friends, and all the Mushroom Court back to Princess Toadstool's castle, and then temporarily disable all warping from within Dark Land to the outside."

When they disappeared, Ludwig was more infuriated than he had ever been in his entire life, more angry than his father had ever been in his entire life. "No!!! Damn you, Captain N and Princess Lana!!! I'll get you for this,...and your little dog, too!!!"

Everyone emerged in Princess Toadstool's castle.

"Thanks, Kevin and Lana." Princess Toadstool said.

"It's still not over, though." Kevin said. "I suspect we'll hear from the Koopas again."

He and Lana handed the scepters over to Toadstool.

"These awful things will go into our security vault, where no one can get to them." Toadstool said.

"Thanks, N Team, for saving us." Mario said sincerely.

"No thanks necessary, Mario." Kevin replied. "It's our job. Right, team?"

"Right!" the rest of the team replied.

"Hey!" Lana said. "Stacey, Mike, Kevin, and I have a band called Captain N & The Video Game Masters!"

"Oh, yeah, and I know the coolest song to play!" Kevin said, excited. "Princess Toadstool, it might be a bit tight, but do you mind if we perform a concert tonight?"

"Why not?" laughed Peach. "The courtyard is large enough to set up as an amphitheater."

"Great! We'll get everything ready!"

Later that evening, many Mushroom World citizens and other Videolandians gathered in the courtyard of Princess Toadstool's castle. Even at such short notice, it was an overwhelming crowd in the large courtyard. The entire N Team was there, as were the entire Mushroom Court and the Mario Brothers - and even Eggplant Wizard and King Hippo!

Princess Toadstool stepped up onstage. "Ladies and gentlemen," she announced, "it is my pleasure to introduce Captain N & The Video Game Masters! They are Captain N, Princess Lana, Stacey Anderson, and Mike Vincent!" She returned to her seat.

By now, the quartet had gotten the hang of performing. They stepped onstage in their normal band attire - black pants, black sneakers, black short sleeve shirts, and black leather jackets. They received massive applause from their audience. They set up their instruments, now able to tune quickly. They were in the same configuration they had used during their first concert. After all four of them were ready, they turned on their microphones.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" Kevin announced.

The crowd became silent.

"We would like to dedicate this concert tonight to our new friends, the Super Mario Brothers and Princess Peach Toadstool. Thanks to their bravery, the Mushroom World has continually been relieved of evil King Koopa's dominion. Just for them, our main song this evening, on my world, is synonymous with the Mario Brothers' video games, and it is simply titled 'Super Mario Brothers'." He looked back at his friends to make sure they were ready, then back at the audience. "Let's do it! One, two, three, four!"

The band played a spectacular stage arrangement of the theme from the Super Mario Bros. video game, and their delivery was superior. When they had finished, they received massive applause and a standing ovation from the audience. Mario and Luigi, the dedicatees, especially liked it; this was their own theme, and they loved it!

GAME OVER