GOC: Cobalt Comet Crisis

"Professor E. Gadd, please tell us why we have been assembled here on the observation deck," demanded Princess Peach, indicating the Mario Brothers that stood beside her, all facing the small old eccentric scientist.

"Gladly, Princess," E. Gadd spoke, "You see, this might be of vital importance in keeping our enemies away from the Mushroom Kingdom."

"You-a already told us that when you-a called for us, Professor," Mario replied, slightly impatiant, "What-a is it already?"

E. Gadd chuckled in his signature way. "Late last night, I was in my labratory using my telescope to study a nearby planet when I saw a large blue comet flying overhead."

"Yes," Peach added, "I remember being awakened by the strange light that comet radiated. It streamed in my windows as it flew past. It was a very brilliant blue."

"Anyways, I did some quick calcuations and found out that the comet is actually falling out of the sky and will crash on Pilt! And it's a very large comet too! It'll decimate anything a round thirty miles from its collision point!"

"Mama mia!" Luigi cried in panic. "It's-a the end of the world!" He then proceeded to start bawling like a baby.

"Oh no!" Mario cried. "This can't-a be happening! There's so much pasta I have yet to enjoy!"

"Oh my!" Peach cried. "Whatever will we do?! Isn't there some way to stop it, Professor?"

"Hee hee," E. Gadd giggled. "Nope! In fact, there's no need to panic! According to my calculations, the comet won't land anywhere near any Mushroom Kingdom settlements. Far from them!"

Almost comedicly, everyone stopped panicking. Peach and Mario resumed neutral poses; Luigi fainted from the shock.

"What do you mean, Professor?" Peach asked. "It's not the end of the world?"

"Of course not!" E. Gadd replied happily. "Not for us at least."

Peach and Mario were just turning up question marks.

"Let me show you." From somewhere on his person, E. Gadd pulled out a map of the Mushroom Kingdom and unfolded it, lying it on the ground. "My calculations tell me that with about a two mile margin of error (which is actually very good when it comes to astronomy)," he continued as he pulled out a red marker, "the comet will crash into this area." He circled a mountain at the border of the kingdom's territory with the marker. "Now tell me, do you know what that area is?"

Mario studied the circled mountain for a moment. "...Wait a moment! That's-a Mt. Majesty!"

"Exactly!" E. Gadd replied. "My calculations are infallable! The comet will crash headlong right into the face of Mt. Majesty and destroy it! Even though the Game Over hasn't appeared in Mushroom territory for a year or two, they're just as much a threat as the Koopas. This is what I meant when I said it'll help in keeping enemies away. The central headquarters of the Game Over will be totally vaporized by the comet's impact, so we won't have to worry about them anymore!"

"Wait a moment, Professor," Peach said. "Are you sure we shouldn't try to warn them? Sure it'd be nice not having to worry about Yosie some of the time, but all those poor people that live in that mountain... Surely death can be avoided."

"If you will disregard my seeming inconsideration for them, Your Highness," E. Gadd replied, "I'm sure. Almost all of the Game Over forces were created artifically. By all logic, they should merely be hollow shells with no soul in them. Quite literally, their deaths will mean virtually nothing. Besides, if Yosie is as much of a genius as he claims to be, he would've already detected the comet flying toward him. Any attempts to try and contact him about it will be a waste of time for both of us. And on the offchance he tries to evacuate the mountain, the odds of survival grow less as time passes due to the projected blast radius."

Mario was silent as he turned to look out over in the general direction of Mt. Majesty, a faint purple speck far into the distance. He looked up and saw the comet overhead, very faintly as it blended in brilliantly with the daytime sky, as it blased a trail of destruction towards the horizon. "How long until the comet hits the mountain?"

"My best estimate is approximately two hours and fourty-five minutes, young'un," E. Gadd replied. "Plenty of time to grab some popcorn if you want it. In laymen's terms, it'll be a sight to behold! If you'll excuse me, I'll go fetch some lawn chairs!"

***

Bowser was sitting on his throne, trying his best to solve a Rubix Cube (he only suceeded in pulling it to pieces when he got frustrated), when Kamek entered the chamber.

"King Bowser, sir, the spies have reported back," the Magikoopa announced.

"Hm?" Bowser started as tossed the cube (or the remains of it) aside. "The ones in Peach's Castle? What'd they say?"

"Very interesting news indeed, Your Grubbiness," Kamek replied. "We've learned that a large comet is on a crash course for Mt. Majesty. The entire mountain and everything for thirty miles around it will be completely destroyed."

"..." Bowser had trouble seeing what was "very interesting" about this news.

"...oh yes, I forgot you were not informed on that matter," Kamek corrected. "Mt. Majesty is the Game Over's central headquarters, Your Koopaness."

That's when the gears in Bowser's head clicked. "Game Over? You mean, that Yosie kid that keeps attacking my turf?"

"The very same, sire."

"...Kamek."

"Yes, sir?"

"This is WONDERFUL news!" Bowser cried loudly, standing up on his throne. "Finally, that kid is out of my hair! Forever! Bwa ha ha ha! Oh I feel so good I feel like I could trouce Mario ten times over! Round up the kids and go confiscate all the ice cream you can from the citizins, Kamek! It's time to celebrate!"

"Right away, sir!" Kamek replied, and he turned and left the thone room.

To his surprise, he found Karma A. Koopa right outside the throne room door, holding her ear to it.

"Miss Karma," Kamek addressed the surprised Yoshi-Koopa crossing. "What are you doing?"

Karma's voice was a little quieter than normal. "...Is it true?"

"Hm?" Kamek tilted his head as he closed the door behind him.

"What you told Bowser... Did they really report that...?"

"Yes, they did."

Karma half-looked away, eyes half-closed in thought. Or was that... worry? Kamek was confused.

"Why do you ask?"

"...How long...? How much time do they have...?"

"You mean before the comet hits? Well, it was about two hours and fourty-five minutes about an hour and a half ago, so that brings it down to an hour and fifteen minutes. Why?"

"...Nothing," Karma replied. "Just... curious..."

Kamek was greatly confused by Karma's behavior as she walked away in a slightly slumped over posture.

***

"Wait wait wait," supercomputer276, better known previously as Yosie and currently as SC, said as he waved his hand and stood before the X-Naut PhD in the central computer lab near the top of the mountain. "You're saying that a giant dirty snowball is flying towards us and is going to blow my mountain into chucks of purple marble!?"

"That's the gist of it, sir," the PhD replied nervously.

"Aw man! Just when I manage to reconstruct the Cobalt Star from the particle residue I picked up from the past, a giant comet threatens to destroy everything I've created! What's our crunch time?"

"Um... just a little more than an hour, sir."

"Drat! Not nearly enough time to get everyone to safety through the Interdimensional Warp Pipe! And the Starstruck hasn't completed reassembly, so we don't have enough doomships! Can't we do anything to stop that comet from turning us into molecules?"

"...I'm sorry, sir." The PhD looked down at the ground. "There's nothing we can do."

SC panted, eyes wide with fear. "No... no way... This can't be possible! It can't end this way!" He turned and dashed out of the labratory. "There has to be a loophole! There has to be! There always is!!"

SC had changed much since the Mushroom Kingdom had last seen him. The biggest change was species. During his last plot on Pilt, he was a Lakitu riding on a cloud. Now he was a fox with pink fur. A small pair of sunglasses balanced on his small snout, behind which were his deep green eyes. Brown human-like hair with a somewhat slick appearance covered the top of his head between his ears. His white gloves had purple cuffs, his shoes white with grey soles. He wore tan pants that covered legs, with a blue belt and grey square buckle, along with a small hole in the back for two large fluffy pink fox tails. The only thing that seemed to remain constant was his black shirt, which bore a Poison Mushroom emblem.

SC had been through much since he decided to leave Pilt behind and focus on conquering other worlds. But now... was it all for naught?

He headed down to a smaller labratory. Inside the central containment tube, suspended in a clearish-blue liquid, was his new Cobalt Star. A few of the edges were rough, but the recrystalization procress was very nearly complete. A day or two ago, another PhD had informed him that its energy signature would remain the same as before the Shroobs powderfied it, but it would only be about half as powerful. SC didn't care about that so much; he just happened to like having this particular object around him because he thought it was cool.

Heaving a small sigh, he left the lab. He had much to do, and there was only an hour left to live.

***

"I got-a the popcorn machine!" Luigi called as he wheeled the large red device with its matching vendor cart onto the observation deck. He placed it next to the large stopwatch E. Gadd had brought in some time ago. It was counting down the seconds left until the profeesor's predicted comet collision time. Currently it read about fifty-five minutes.

Four lawn chairs, their fabrics colored red, green, pink, and white, were set up near the stopwatch, looking out at the comet and the speck on the horizon that was Mt. Majesty. Peach sat in the pink one, Mario in the red one, and E. Gadd in the white one. Luigi prepared four bags of popcorn and gave one to each of his friends before sitting in the green lawn chair.

"Isn't it a little early to celebrate?" Peach asked no one in particular after a few minutes.

"I've seen people camp out in front of movie theaters and video game stores for weeks in anticipation of some big event," E. Gadd replied. "I believe there is little difference in what result we wait for."

Peach found it a bit difficult to accept that logic, and something still seemed off. "Doesn't anyone think that comparing the destruction of the Game Over to a movie is a bit... mean-spirited? Sure they've tormented us, and I don't think I'll shed any tears, but... this just seems so... unhero-like."

"Hm..." Mario mused. "I-a admit, I-a do feel a few pains of regret. But for-a just once, a break from-a the hero guise is a bit of a relief."

"I think this is-a one of those things that it's-a best you don't-a think about," Luigi added. "Like-a time paradoxes."

"Hm..." Peach sounded, but said nothing else. She sat back and looked out at the stage for the show.

***

"Now a little to the left... Good... Good... Too far too far! A touch to the right... Now a little up... Perfect! Leave it right there!"

Kamek heaved a sigh as his Magikoopas ceased adjusting a large magical circle in the sky. In the circle was an image of Mt. Majesty. In the upper edge of the circle, a countdown timer was displayed, reading fifty minutes.

Kamek reflected on how, since Mt. Majesty was on the edge of the Mushroom Kingdom that was farthest from the Koopa Kingdom, it was impossible to see the mountain from the keep under normal circumstances. Bowser had requested that the celebration have live footage of the mountain being destroyed as the entertainment, so Kamek came up with the solution of a magical projection of Mt. Majesty hanging up like a movie screen.

He turned to the rest of the rooftop. Koopa Troopas and Goombas were scattering about, preparing seating and cuisine for the royal family as well as for Kammy and himself. Some Chargin' Chucks were carrying in King Bowser's throne from the throne room, the first time the large chair had left the room in years. Seats for Clawdia and the Koopalings were also being set up. He was surprised to find that a chair was set up for Karma next to Ludwig's; even more surprisingly, there seemed to be no difference between it and the other Koopaling's chairs in terms of quality.

His Highness must be in a really really good mood to so much as acknowledge Karma long enough to set up a seat... he thought. It then crossed his mind that it might have been possible that Ludwig requested the party planners put a seat out for her. Karma was the one that suffered the most from Yosie's hairbrained schemes.

Constantly recieving requests to join them, losing her Metbond... She really has suffered... I do hope Miss Karma will be alright with watching the source of her most serious discomfort disappear... forever...

***

"I can't die yet, Panchico!" SC said to the orange Birdo as he moved about his private chambers, stuffing various items into a large suitcase with a Poison Mushroom patch on both sides. "I've so much I need to do! Get a date, conquer the multiverse, make people respect me! I haven't even achieved immortality yet!"

"Master, I believe that this is a great chance for you to learn to accept reality," Panchico replied as she helped SC pack. "Death is inevitable."

"I learned that lesson back when Kat died, thank you very much. I've no need for a repeat course. With us unable to divert that comet and us having only fourty-five minutes until the mountain goes up in rubble, there's only one option left that'll keep me alive."

"What is that, Master? You just told me to pack your suitcase with the essencials. You said nothing of where you plan to go."

"The emergency bunker. I built a shelter deep below the mountain in case of disasters like this. It has enough resources to support us two for a few weeks."

"Us two, Master? You and me? What about the rest?"

"Sorry, Panchico, but you can't save everybody and neither can I. When it comes to the Game Over, I'm the only vital circuit. The Game Over will continue as long as I am alive."

"Master, if I may, that's not very nice..."

"I don't like saying it either, but it's the truth, and sometimes the truth hurts! Look it's like this: the Game Over is like a sea star. When parts of a sea star are chopped off, the pieces, in adaquete conditions, will eventually regrow into new sea stars."

"...wait, I'm confused, Master. The Game Over is a sea star?"

"Panchico, we've been over this before. It's called a 'metaphor.'"

"Oh yeah those! Sorry for forgetting, Master."

"It's alright. Anyways, the point is as long as a part of the Game Over survives, it will eventually regrow, and we're that piece that'll survive. There, I think we're done packing." SC closed the suitcase and latched it shut. "Take my baggade down to the entry tunnel. I'm going to make a pit stop at the mainframe computer room and build a backup module so we don't lose our data."

"Yes, Master," Panchico said as he picked up the large suitcase with some effort and they left the room together.

***

"Thirty minutes and Mt. Majesty will be no more!" E. Gadd said happily as he glanced over at the large stopwatch.

"Mama mia, I'm-a feeling full," Mario commented as he patted his large belly. "All that popcorn..."

"Well you didn't have to-a empty out the popcorn machine," Luigi stated.

Peach said nothing. She tried to occupy herself with a dime-store novel, but she kept feeling distracted, and not by the antics of those around her at the moment. What was this feeling that was nagging away at her...?

...Guilt...? Was that what it was? No matter how she looked at it, no matter what the Game Over had done to her, Mario, or the Mushroom Kingdom, she felt they didn't deserve a fate as cruel as this. But what could see do? With only thirty, no, twenty-nine minutes left until the comet hit, there wasn't enough time to do anything to try and stop the comet or protect the mountain.

She sighed and tried to continue reading. Que sara sara...

***

Most of the Royal Family had assembled on the roof of the keep by the fifteen minute mark. Most of the Koopalings were eating ice cream while Bowser was ripping apart a barbeque-sauce drowned steak with his claws and teeth; his wife, Clawdia, settled for using a knife and fork, the stark contrast between the two of them almost comedic in appearance.

Also of contrast, Karma, who sat next to an ice cream-guzzling Ludwig, wasn't eating or doing anything to celebrate the occasion. From his seat next to Kammy, Kamek thought she look rather downcast. Excusing himself from his seat he went over to her side.

"Is something wrong, Miss Karma?" he asked gently.

"Hm? Oh, Kamek," Karma said in slight surprise as he looked up. "No, nothing's wrong..."

Kamek thought her tone said otherwise. "Now now, Miss Karma, you can tell me."

"Well..." Karma started. "I dunno... It's... hard to describe..."

"Try your best," he said comfortingly.

"I... I don't know where to start... It's just..." She glanced to make sure Ludwig wasn't paying attention; she found him busy looking at the screen as it counted down to fourteen minutes. "Something doesn't feel well... with that's happening..."

Curious, Kamek asked her to continue. "What doesn't feel right?"

"I feel... sad."

"Sad?"

"I hate the Game Over, no doubt about that, but... the thought of them all being gone... just because of a bad turn of luck. Even they don't deserve a fate this horrible... I... I sorta... miss them..."

Kamek was now even more confused. Karma was the victim of most of Yosie's schemes in the past. Why would she feel sorrow and concern for him?

"Don't ask me why," Karma said, guessing his expression. "I know I should be glad that they'll be gone forever, but... Yosie was usually a friendly face, even if there was a twisted mind behind it."

Kamek was beginning to understand. Yosie often tried to recruit Karma as a Game Over operative, as high as the third-in-command Game Over Commandos, and he suspected that Yosie at one point held an attraction for the Yoshi-Koopa hybrid. In fact, he had sent letters to her monthly for a year and even sent her a custom-made music box as a present for one Christmas, even though he hadn't shown his face to the outside world in a very long time. However, letters had been scarce as of late. Kamek had assumed he had moved on more or less.

"I think I see why, Miss Karma. I don't know what I can say to help you feel better," he admitted. "All I can do is hope you do."

"Thanks for caring, Kamek," Karma replied, sounding a little happier and giving Kamek a quick hug. He returned the hug and then returned to the seat, glad to see Karma was starting to smile a little. The countdown clicked down to twelve minutes.

***

Panchico was starting to worry. She had been waiting for a long time and she was concerned that SC wouldn't come down in time. The pulsing red lights that filtered red into her vision every other second didn't help at all to calm her. Her feet were moving rapidly up and down in place, leaving quite a mark in the dirt-rock floor as she held her hands along the bottom of her snout; it was her standard "worried" pose.

She was standing in a large circular cavern at the base of the mountain that linked to a tunnel outside. A stone stairway spiraled from the floor in the center up till it reached the top where there was an entrance to the main mountain. She stood near the red circle at the bottom of the staircase that acted as a means a verifying an entrant's identity, SC's large suitcase beside her.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, SC came down carrying what looked like a large thick curcuit board under his arm. There were clips wired on it as well as wires sticking to different places.

"Master, I've been so worried!" she squeeled when he reach the bottom. "Sir 666 announced over the PA that there were only seven minutes left!"

"It took a little longer to make this CET-XX backup module than I thought it would," SC explained, indicating the circuit board. "C'mon, follow me!"

He led Panchico around the stairway until he reached the point where the stairway met the cavern wall. It was a dark and often overlooked area of the cavern.

SC started to feel along the purple cave wall with his free hand. "Now where did I put that panel...? Ah ha!" He got a grip on some sort of camoflauged handle and pulled it down, sliding a panel back to reveal a red button. He pressed it and a camoflauged hydrolic door hissed open on the wall next to it.

"Let's go, Panchico," SC said. Panchico nodded her complience and, carrying their large luggage, passed through the door and started down a long flight of stairs just beyond. After a few seconds of inactivity, the door and panel both closed by themselves, leaving no trace of their presence.

***

When the Mushroom and Koopa Kingdoms last heard from the Game Over, there were seven Game Over Commandos, or third-in-commands: Lord Crump (a formar X-Naut officer), Doopliss (a Duplighost in a party hat), Susan B. Koopa (the daughter of Wart and the Kooapling's cousin), Bombette (a pink Bob-omb taken for granted by the Mario Bros.), Lakilester (a punk-wannabe Lakitu that joined when SC was the same species), General Guy (a military leader specializing in Shy Guy forces), and Dicer (a Boomerang Brother that was created by the CET-XX program). Now there were only five; Doopliss had quit to join forces with a hero named E-Man, and Susan had been fired when she was caught relaying confidental Game Over information to Sub-Con. SC felt that Susan wasn't really much of a loss; he had only hired her because she was Bombette's best friend at the time.

The remaining five Commandos (Lord Crump, Bombette, Lakilester, General Guy, and Dicer) entered the main security room for the mountain. The room was walled with 15" security monitors and was semi-circular in appearance. On the lower level accessed by stairs on either side, computer terminals and monitors lined the bottom of the wall. Koopas occupied the seats around them, manipulating the controls. In the center raised platform, sitting at his own smaller console, was a Fire Brother. This was 666, the Head of the Game Over's Mushroomian Division. Across the room from 666, in the center of the room's curve, was a huge monitor that was seven regular monitors across and five high. This screen currently displayed the front part of the comet that was falling towards the mountain; in bold purple font on top of the screen was a countdown timer that currently read five minutes. The entire room, like the entrance cavern, was pulsing with red light.

"So." Dicer was the first to speak. "This is the end, isn't it?"

"Isn't there any way to give that big iceball the ol' CRUMP-A-BOMB?" Lord Crump asked, placing his favorite emphasis on the last phrase.

"If there was, we would've already done it," 666 replied. His voice wasn't solumn, as the others expected it would be, but rather the same authoritative tone he always had.

"You're awfully calm for someone who's about to die," Lakilester commented.

"What happens to me, in the long term, does not matter," 666 replied, remaining focused on the big screen. "The boss and Panchico have already fled into the secret underground bunker. They should be able to survive the effects of the collision in there, and they have a backup module containing all the CET-XX data. They are safe."

"W-wait! Those two have taken cover in a hole and didn't bring along any of us?!" Bombette exclaimed, tones of being upset in her voice. "He's abandoning us?! After all we've done for him, he's leaving us to be crushed by a giant snowball just to save himself?!"

666, being her commanding officer, decided to step in, or rather step down from his seat and face Bomette. "Bombette, attention!" he barked.

"Y-yes, sir?" Bombette asked nervously.

"Do you know what being a Game Over operative is?" 666 asked. It was rhetorical, as he continued talking a moment later even though Bombette started to reply. "I'll tell you what it is. It is willing to sacrifice anything for the good of the order of the Poison Mushroom. Laying your skills, your bravery, your life on the line to serve the boss as best you can. By taking this blow for him, you spare his life and the Game Over will go on, even if we do not. But the syndicate will survive, and that is all that matters. That is what being a Game Over operative is."

Bombette had to admit that what 666 said sounded downright cultish, but he figured that's because he was the first minion created by the CET-XX program. And strangely enough, she felt herself starting to believe it. Compared to the importance of saving the boss and the most important part of the Game Over, saving herself seemed... insignificant and selfish. The thought running through her head freaked her out a little, but she still hesidently but submissivly replied, "I... I understand, sir." She looked down at the floor in front of her as she said this.

"Very good, Bombette," 666 replied. He hopped back onto the control platform and looked at the monitor on the wall. Four minutes until the end of the world.

***

The bunker wasn't built to look pretty; it was built to work well. All six surfaces were solidly packed dirt supported with solid oak braces, although the floor was covered in a plane of oak planks. In the center of one wall was a hydrolic door, much like the other ones in the mountain. In the top-left corner from the door, two good-sized cots were set up. A fridge was directly opposite from the door, followed by a small set of drawers next to it. In the bottom-right corner was a small but efficent generator with wires leading to the door and fridge, along with one to an equally efficient air purifier with built-in lighting mounted in the middle of the ceiling.

The door hissed open and SC and Panchico hurried in. SC heaved a sigh of relief once the door shut behind them. "We're safe! And with three minutes to spare!" He set the suitcase on the ground next to him, the module on top of the drawers, and flopped onto the cot farther from the door.

"I will unpack your suitcase for you, Master, if you command it," Panchico said from where she stood.

"Very well, Panchico," SC replied. "Just make sure the backup module stays away from the generator at all times. That thing's brimming with static that'll render the module useless."

"Yes, Master," Panchico replied and she opened the suitcase up.

Even though the suitcase was stuffed to capaticy, Panchico was very quick. By the time everything was in their proper place in either the drawers or fridge, there was only one minute remaining.

"All done, Master!" Panchico announced happily.

"Good work, Panchico," SC said. "All that's left to do is wait an hour or so, and then rise from the ashes, or rather the rubble, to start the Game Over anew. It'll be a pain finding new Commandos, since they've all grown on me, but it's too late now."

That's when Panchico remembered something. "Master, if you don't mind me asking, how big is the blast radius supposed to be?"

"How big?" SC replied. "Hm... I think the PhD said something about a little less than thirty miles. Why do you ask?"

"Because we're only twenty miles down. Wouldn't we get caught in the blast?"

"Panchico Panchico Panchico," SC said with nary a change in mood. "There's a reason all shelters are underground. Explosions do not pierce solid earth, and I doubt they ever would get down those stairs fast enough."

"But what about the crater, Master?"

SC was surprised. "Crater?"

"Yes, Master, if it hasn't melted by entering the atmosphere, surely it must be made of some sort of metal. At the size it was, wouldn't the crater go deep enough to hit us?"

It was about that time when Panchico thought she heard a popping sound. It was also when SC panicked.

"This bunker wasn't built to survive the creation of a crater!" he shouted as he leaped out of the cot. "We're doomed! Doomed!!"

"We must flee, Master!"

"Are you NUTS, Panchico?! We only got thirty seconds! If we go outside, we have even less of a chance!"

"What do we do, Master?!"

"We pray, that's what we do!" He bounded forward and embraced Panchico in a giantic hug. He then started crying. "Panchico, if we don't get through this, I want you to know that I've always loved what you've done for me all these years!"

Panchico returned the hug. "And I love you too, Master!" she said, crying as well.

And they stood there, embracing each other, until the end.

***

"T-minus fifteen seconds to collision!" one of the security Koopas yelled.

"This is really it..." Bombette said, fear in her voice.

"For us it is," Lord Crump corrected. "If you explode at the right moment, you might still be regenerating while the mountain's getting blown apart."

"I... don't think that will work," Bombette replied.

"T-minus ten!" the Koopa shouted. "Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!" The commandos held their heads and curled up in the fetal position, while 666 stood up, removed his helmet, and held it over his heart as he stared at the screen. "Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"

No one was in the room, that one room, so no one saw, but it happened all the same. So when the comet was one second away, inches away from slamming into the mountain's rock face, deep in the heart of Mt. Majesty, the Cobalt Star, suspended in its clear blue fluid, began to brilliantly shine.

***

E. Gadd was right. It really was a sight to behold. Once the comet it the mountain it exploded into a large shining white-blue ball with expanded rapidly from its point of contact, engulfing all stupid enough to get in its way. After several seconds of the spectators oohing and aahing as a faint blue glow spread over the balcony, the explosion stopped expanding, and surprisingly remained there for a rather long period.

E. Gadd suddenly heard a ringing coming from his pocket and something in that same pocket was vibrating. As the Mario Brothers and Peach, who had heard the ringing, turned to look at him, the old scientist extracted his DS Horror from his pocket and flipped it open. "Oh me... Oh my..." he muttered after a few moments of looking at the screen.

"What-a is it?" Mario asked.

"It's completely baffling!" E. Gadd exclaimed. "That explosion is radiating energy traces with a signature identical to those of the Cobalt Star!"

"The Cobalt Star?!" Luigi replied in shock. "But that-a star was destroyed by the Shroobs!"

"I know!" E. Gadd replied. "It's possible that comet contained some cobalt dust just like the kind of cobalt the star was made out of, but it would've been a very large part of the comet in order for me to get signals this far away from Mt. Majesty. At least 45% of the comet would be cobalt from what I can tell."

"Well that would explain why the comet didn't melt while it fell into the mountain," Peach concluded.

"But it doesn't explain the energy," E. Gadd countered, indicating the energy ball on the horizion that was still there after nearly a minute. "A simple colision wouldn't cause such an unusual explosion, much less release enough energy to reach the castle. The cobalt in the comet must have reacted with something with a similar, if not identical, energy signature."

"But that-a would mean that Yosie had-a access to more of-a the special cobalt," Mario responded. "Where would he get it?"

"I don't know!" E. Gadd replied. "That's the maddening part. We should see the mountain falling apart right now, and instead there's a giant cobalt energy ball with a thirty mile radius sitting with its center on Mt. Majesty!"

That was when they noticed that the blue glow of the energy ball had faded. They turned to see the explosion was shrinking of all things, almost like it was in rewind through its expansion. Eventually and fairly quickly it shrunk so much it was no longer visible.

Not only was the energy ball not visible, neither was Mt. Majesty, nor virtually all of the fruited plains around it.

All was quiet for a few moments, until Mario decided to break the silence. "WAHOO! Mt. Majesty is gone! Destroyed! At-a last!"

Luigi joined his brother in pulling confetti out of nowhere in throwing it in the air, but Peach remained skeptical. "I'm not sure our Game Over troubles are over just yet. Mario, Luigi, I want you two to head over to the crash site and investigate a little. See if you can find out the mountain's real fate."

Although Mario saw little point in trying to look at a destroyed mountain, he accepted the mission. Luigi wasn't all the keener, but also obeyed.

"Take along my DS Horror as well," E. Gadd said as he passed the device to Mario on his way out. "I suspect there will still be cobalt energy traces around the crash site."

***

The royal Koopa family gave off a chorus of "oohs" and "aahs" as the energy ball engulfed the mountain. Everyone was mesmerized by the large white-blue light. Everyone except Karma, who couldn't find it in herself to look and instead looked at the ground behind her.

Eventually, the light receeded. After a few quiet moments, the Koopalings broke out in celebration. They were so busy partying amongst themselves that they didn't notice Karma had sat down in a corner of the battlements to think, nor Kamek and Kammy talking with Bowser.

After a minute or so, Bowser roared for attention. When they didn't stop their festivities, Bowser, fed up of having to take care of the same thing over and over, said "ice cream" and quickly got them in order.

"Now listen up," he told the assembled Koopalings. "Kamek and Kammy have advised me that we should double-check the crash site to make sure the Game Over's really out of our scales. And I agree; that pest Yosie just won't stay down until the final card is played. Ludwig, Lemmy, you're fly there with a small crew to do that. The rest of you... eh just do whatever."

"Right away, King Dad," Ludwig and Lemmy replied, and they headed downstairs while the others got back to partying. Down in the corridors, Karma, who had followed them, caught up.

"Ludwig, wait!" she called, stopping her Met, "I wanna come along too!"

"You want to go?" Ludwig paraphrased. "To Mt. Majesty? Or what's left of it?"

"I... I need to see it for myself," she replied. "With my own eyes."

After a moment of consideration, he responded. "Very well."

"Thanks," she returned with a quick peck to the cheek, and they followed Lemmy to the doomship docks together.

***

Due to Mt. Majesty's previous location, Mario and Luigi were naturally the first to arrive. As they approached what was left of the fruited plain, the DS Horror started beeping like crazy in Mario's pocket.

"There must be-a loads of cobalt energy readings around here!" Luigi said.

"Thank-a you, Mr. Obvious," Mario sighed.

A wall of shurbbery stood where the energy ball had ended and blocked the Mario Bros. view of what was beyond. They grabbed a portion and pulled it aside to take a peak.

"Mama mia..." Mario said in a hushed voice. Mt. Majesty and the rest of the fruited plain had disappeared, vanished with nary a trace except for a strangely almost perfectly spherical crater with the center right where the mountain was. From a few points or so, smoke was gently rising. The pure silent terror of the moment was broken only by the DS Horror's incessent buzzing as the energy ratings in the area flew off the charts.

"It's-a... gone..." Luigi said, tones of horror to match the sight. "Completely gone..."

Cautiously, Mario reached below the ground where the crater began and touched the wall of it gently, feeling around a little. "It's-a no illusion either."

"You think that cobalt energy had-a something to do with it?" Luigi asked.

"I don't-a know," Mario replied. "All that I know is for certain is that-a the mountain is not here anymore."

"Is it true?" a different, female voice asked.

With yelps indicating how startled they were, the Mario Bros. jumped and turn to see Ludwig, Lemmy, and Karma standing about two yards away. Ludwig's bright blue doomship hovered high above the ground behind them.

"What-a are you doing here?!" Mario demanded.

"King Dad sent us to make sure the Game Over actually bit it," Lemmy explained, bored. "Everyone else is busy partying their heads off."

While Lemmy talked, Karma hurried to the patch of hedge next to where the Mario Bros. were and pulled it apart to view the ghastly scene. "No... No way..."

Ludwig jogged over as well and looked over her shoulder. "Astounding... simply astounding..."

"And it's real as-a far as we can tell," Mario told them. "They've just disappered."

"E. Gadd did say that the comet would-a vaporize them, I believe," Luigi added.

"I doubt even he could have predicted a giant hole in the earth where the mountain was," Ludwig said. "It looks like it goes down for several dozen miles at the deepest point. What's weird, though, is how the crater is perfectly spherical, while having virtually no impact on the terrain immediately around it. Normally whenever a celestial object hits a planet, the crater rises the earth around it, not digs below it."

"It was a comet, not a meteor," Lemmy pointed out skeptically.

"And not just-a any comet either," Mario added, pulling out the crazy-vibrating and beeping DS Horror. "A comet radiating Cobalt Star energy. This device sensed it all the way from Peach's castle."

"That little thing?" Ludwig replied. "That comet was only about half the size of the mountain. If it was just the comet that reacted, there's no way the energy would get even close. There had to be another power source at work."

"I think E. Gadd said-a something about that as well," Luigi confirmed.

"You think maybe the Game Over used-a similar energy to try and deflect the comet somehow?" Mario asked.

"Hmm... possibly," Ludwig replied. However, before he could continue, a fed-up Lemmy spoke up first.

"Hey! News flash, people! I don't care what they did or not. Comet hit. They gone. Much joy. Who cares how it happened?! Let's get back home so we can party already before Roy eats all the cake!!"

Ludwig groaned as his younger brother rolled off towards the doomship. "I suppose he does have a point. We may never know." With that, he started to follow, but then noticed that Karma was still staring blankly into the crater, having barely moved if at all since she saw the crater. "Karma? Kar-ma!" No reaction. He put his fingers to his mouth and blew a shrill whistle, which snapped Karma out of her funk.

"Huh what? Oh, sorry Ludwig. My mind was wandering..." She quickly hurried up to her Met and they left together.

Mario and Luigi waited for the doomship to start flying back to Dark Land before they started walking home.

"Hey Mario."

"Yeah Luigi?"

"Do you really think the entire Game Over was-a destroyed?"

Mario shruged. "Certainly looks that way. But as-a Ludwig said, we may never know."

***

The end of the world sure did seem like it took a long time to come. SC wasn't really paying attention, being busy crying and clinging to Panchico, and it didn't really help that both of their eyes were firmly closed. The view started black then went the reddish color that appears when light is shining through your eyelids and then after a long time went back to black again.

It was a minute or two before SC stopped crying and opened his eyes. He didn't really feel any different, and it seemed nothing around him had changed.

"Panchico."

Panchico was still crying pretty heavily, as well as gripping him too tightly for him to break away. He decided to try again and started shaking her a little more than gently. "Panchico! Snap out of it!"

At this Panchico stopped crying and released him, backing up a few steps to give him space. "Oh sorry, Master," she apologized as she wiped away a few stray tears. "Are we dead yet?"

"Panchico, if we were dead, where would we be?"

"Um... standing in line in front of a large gate waiting for an old guy to send us to Hell?"

"And where are we now?" He pointed his arms to the bunker around them.

She looked around. "...Are we in Hell already, Master? I'd thought it'd be hotter."

He was almost amazed at how dumb Panchico could be sometimes. "Panchico, this is the shelter! We're still alive!"

"We are?! But, but Master, how?"

"I don't know yet, Panchico. For some reason the crater doesn't seem to have gotten down this far. We'll wait a few minutes for the dust to settle and then head up and see what happened."

***

When SC and Panchico emerged back into the main part of Mt. Majesty, their reactions to find the entire syndicate partying could be summed up as complete and total surprise. Keaton and his chefs were belting out several gormet fruit dishes that the operatives quickly gobbled down, music was blasting from the Mushroom Bowl's amplifiers that people were dancing to, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. The Commandos could be spotted scattered about the crowd; Lord Crump was helping himself to more punch, Dicer was dancing something that resembled the Charleston, and Lakilester was flying above the crowd with several other Lakitus, holding up one of many disco balls with his fishing rod. General Guy and Bombette, along with 666, were nowhere in sight.

"Master, I'm confused," Panchico announced. "Why is the mountain still here when it's supposed to be destroyed? And why are they partying when they're supposed to be dead?"

"That's what I want to know, Panchico," SC replied.

As SC disliked crowds and loud noises, they made their way around the party to the ramp up the mountain and hurried up to the security room, where SC guessed 666 would be. He guessed correctly. General Guy was also present here, always one to keep to duty.

"Boss!" 666 declared happily upon seeing the fox. "You came back up!" General Guy didn't do much except salute, just in case he called SC "Admiral" again.

SC was too focused on the matter at hand to give a proper response. "666, as glad as I am that my mountain isn't a pile of purple rubble, why the hell isn't my mountain a pile of purple rubble?!"

"A miracle, boss! A miracle!" 666 cried. "The moment the comet hit there was a giant light ball and... well, see for yourself!" He pressed a few buttons and the large monitor activated. "This is footage from a temporary satellite we just launched. We lost contact with our old one, and with a very good reason."

SC wasn't as shocked by the monitor output as he was a few minutes prior, but it was pretty close. The satellite was showing a small planet with Mt. Majesty right on top of it. Most of it was covered in the fruited plains that spread in front of Mt. Majesty, although he could also see his icy retreat Crystal Peak, a large desert, and the forest with a romantic moonlit stream in it that he knew oh so well.

"The comet turned the mountain into its own planet! Its own world!" 666 finally managed to declare.

SC was at a lost for words for a few moments before restarting. "What the- duh- berber- How the hell did this happen?! Where's the rest of Pilt?!"

"We recieved a report from Tamany using data from the Interdimensional Warp Pipe's computer systems," 666 explained. "According to our readings, we're not in the same universe as we were prior. I believe it's similar to how Earth and Pilt were seperated in prehistory."

"But how did that happen?" SC wondered. "What properies did that comet have that resulted in this, well, result...?"

At that moment, an X-Naut PhD burst into the room. "Sir! Big news! It's amazing!"

"What is it? Stop babbling!" SC demanded.

"You have to see it! The Cobalt Star chamber! Hurry!"

After sending Panchico down to the party and ordering General Guy to follow along, SC followed the PhD up to the upper half of the mountain and into the labratory that held the Cobalt Star. Several other PhDs were around the computer consoles, but what drew SC's attention was that the Cobalt Star, sitting in its fluid in the central tube, was... glowing?

"We checked on the Cobalt Star after the collision," the PhD explained, "and we found it like this."

"Glowing, you mean?"

"Yes, the data suggests it's radiating some kind of energy. Also, sorry to forget to inform you, there was similar energy coming from the comet before it hit us."

"'Similar,' hm? Could there have been samples of the same type of cobalt in the comet?"

"We believe so, sir."

"Hm. In such a case it's likely the energy coming from the comet and the Cobalt Star would react to each other. The Star has been known to have time-warping properties; not too far-fetched to assume space-warping properties could also be present."

"Another thing, sir. The current size of the new world is barely a twelth the size of Pilt. It seems like its mass is actually almost too small to hold a stable atmosphere."

"And yet we're breathing. If that statement's true, then how come our eyes aren't popping out of our skulls right now?"

"That would be caused by the Cobalt Star as well, sir. We believe the energy radiating from the Cobalt Star to artifically adjusting the gravity to match that of Pilt using energy we feed into it. However, this means we can't remove it from the tube, or it'll stop generating the gravity. No gravity, no atmosphere, no life."

SC thought for a moment. "Get a few generators installed in here. If power to the mountain goes out, I want this room to always be on. Then you can get back to the party."

"Will do, sir."

As the PhDs left, SC stayed and stared at the Cobalt Star. It seemed to be giving off a faint blue glow, almost as if it was... happy.

"A world with a cobalt heart..." SC mused for a moment before a small smile appeared on his face. "Heh. Sounds like my kind of place."