July 29.

            The Metroid Mind-Mirror replied,

            MotherBrain gasped.  "See if I ask you anything anymore, smart-mouth!"  The image in the mirror stuck out her tongue.  Ludwig then destroyed the mirror with his sceptre.  "I only got it at a flea market, Ludwig.  It was the least expensive of its kind; I now know that cheap magic mirrors stink like a carpet on which a dog tinkled and which no one ever treated promptly."

            Ludwig said, "Speaking of a putrid smell, peyewwwwwww!  What's that which I smell, extremely over-cooked hamburger?"

            Eggplant Wizard was bringing out the very 'delicacy.'  Attempting to use rhyme to please Ludwig, the vegetable said,

            Ludwig said, "A burnt hamburger smothered with tartar sauce and presented with an awful rhyme?  IT STINKS, YOU DOLT!!! Get rid of it!  You cooked it; why do you not eat it?"

            "I am trying to be a strict vegetarian.  Besides, red meat gives me gas."

            "Then,. . .  No, I would hate to feed that junk to the Metroids.  One bite would really kill one of those guys!"

            MotherBrain said, "Feed it to my assistant Ridley.  He loves burnt food."

            "RIDLEY?!?  No way!  He isn't going to burn me up!  I hate dragons.  How about I feed it to Kraid?  He's really draggin' for burnt food."

            "Anyone.  JUST GET RID OF IT, YOU FOOL!!!" commanded Ludwig.

            MotherBrain said, "I would rather just get a dog and have Eggplant Wizard bitten!"

            King Bowser Koopa entered, "Hi, guys!  Oh, yuck!  What is that awful stench?"

            Eggplant Wizard asked, "Want a burger with tartar sauce, King Koop?"

            "A burger with tartar sauce?  How disgusting!  Get rid of it before I squish you. . . now!"  He drew his sceptre, and Eggplant Wizard ran.

            Ludwig said, "I require a plan to tear those good guys to smithereens!  I shall get a plan to make their brains explode with too much thought!  Ha, ha!"

            "Hmmm!  There must be something we can do.  I really hate those goody-goods, also," said MotherBrain.

            "Oh, all of this thinking is driving me crazy!!!  If it weren't for all of our incompetent slobs, my brain would not be so hazy!"  As he was thinking very hardly, King Hippo was rising high above where the wires connected far above the floor!  Ludwig stopped his thinking to look up.  "Oh, my word!  What the devil is happening?"  With that, King Hippo fell on his fat head.

            MotherBrain asked, "Did some invisible bats get into this place?"

            Ludwig went to his computer and activated the enormous encyclopaedia; he looked up mind powers and the various subtitles.  "Let's see. . . telepathy, no.  Aha!  Telekinesis!"  He looked it up.  "Telekinesis, according to my encyc, is a condition in which mind powers of people are able to manipulate external objects!  We must be partly telekinetic!  I knew we were telepathic."

            "Hee, hee, hee!" laughed MotherBrain.  "Looks like the N-Team is out of luck!  With our powers, we can stop 'em good!  Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee. . .!"

            * * *

            Dining Room, Palace of Power.

            In the Palace of Power, Kevin's friends were eating breakfast.  Kevin entered.  "Good morning, everyone.  How are you?"

            Lana smiled at him affectionately.  "Fine, Kevin.  How are you?"  Kevin returned the look so subtly that only she knew he was doing it.

            "Fine.  Has anyone seen Duke?  He's usually around."

            Kid Icarus said, "In the Palace Courtyard-icus, I saw him lying comfortably in the garden-us."

            "Thanks, Kid Icarus.  I shall be back."

            Simon said, "Better hurry, Captain N.  Dally too long, and the rest of these delicious pancakes will be in my stomach!"

            "Oh, all right."  He went to the door to the courtyard.  "Duke!"  Duke arose from where Kid Icarus said he was and entered.  Kevin patted his head.  "Hey, Duke!  When did you go out there?"

            MegaMan said, "According to my internal chronometer, he went out there exactly two hours ago.  Down to the second."  Suddenly, MotherBrain's evil hologram appeared on the scene.

            MotherBrain said, "Hello, Princess Lana!  Ha, ha, ha, ha!"  The laugh was most unpleasant.

            "Have you called to give us a threat?" VideoLand's ruler asked.

            "Not me, my dear.  Instead, I called to give you a sample of the newly discovered powers of the Koopas' and my minds.  This much, I believe, should be enough to properly warn you. . . to warn you to stay away from Metroid!  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"  Her wicked hologram disappeared.  Suddenly, everyone began to float toward the ceiling!

            Simon said, "Oh, and just when we were beginning the day!"

            "Whoa!" said Kevin.  "This is crazy!"  With that, everyone fell to the floor.

            Mario said, "That does it!  I am not putting up with that mad brain anymore!  I'll fix her!"

            "How, brother?" Luigi asked.  "Metroid's a hard nut to crack!"

            "We'll find a way to stop this madness!  I'll fight all of the mini-bosses if I have to."

            Peach said, "But with Kraid and Ridley, that is more trouble than you can handle alone!"

            Captain N said, "Then, I say that we go to pull the plug on their wicked plans."

            * * *

            Control Room, Metroid.

            In MotherBrain's lair within Metroid, the whole Brain-Team was watching on MotherBrain's monitor.  MotherBrain complained, "Oh, those good guys always get in my brain cells!"

            Eggplant Wizard said, "Do not worry.  I shall make them cry with a bunch of onions."

            "Shut up!  I'll have the welcome mat put out!"  They watched as the N-Team entered the Palace's warp to Metroid.

            Ludwig said, "Those fools have the brain of the Noid from the Domino's Pizza commercials."

            "Those dumb good-doers have ignored the sampling of our powers, so it's time to give them a big headache!  Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Bowser.

            * * *

            In the area just below the surface of Metroid, or Brinstar, the Rocky and Floral Zone, the N-Team arrived.  "Whew!  I have not been here to Metroid in a very long time," said Lana.  "Look out for traps."

            MegaMan said, "Do not worry about me.  I can spot a booby-trap two kilometres away."  A phone on the wall rang.  MegaMan went over and answered it.  "Yes?"

            Eggplant Wizard's voice responded, "Hello, booby.  Welcome to Metroid.  This is a trap!"  A boxing glove whacked MegaMan in the chin.

            MegaMan screamed, "Yaaah!"  He then landed on his rear.

            Captain N said, "It's been a few days since I've played the game Metroid.  This way.  MotherBrain's lair is in Tourian."

            * * *

            Control Room, Metroid.

            MotherBrain was watching their actions with her monitor in the control room.  "Right now, on Planet Metroid, it's the middle of the hatching season."

            Ludwig said, "Yes.  Those stupid good guys are definitely in for a big surprise!  The hatching season is when the Metroid Creatures flourish and are born, so I can use the N-Team as the baby bottles that will nourish my new baby Metroid!!!  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"  During his evil laugh, he got out the egg that contained this new Metroid.

            * * *

            Later, passing through the corridors of the deadly world of Metroid, the N-Team had almost completed the dangerous journey to MotherBrain's lethal control room deep in Tourian.  "Now, be on your guard, everyone," Kevin said.  "This door could open up a whole chamber of doom."  He carefully opened the door.  Inside were MotherBrain, King Bowser Koopa, Ludwig, Larry, Roy, Wendy, Morton, Lemmy, Iggy, and Eggplant Wizard.  "Uh, oh!  I think we made a big, big mistake!"

            MotherBrain said, "You bet!  Iggy, show them what we can do with our new-found powers!"

            "You bet, Your Braininess!  I'll damage them so much that they will hurt badly."

            MegaMan said, "I think that we had better make a retreat!"

            "Oh, no you won't!  I already have you beaten!  I shall turn you into canned mega-meat!"  MegaMan was thrust to the ceiling, into which his head was bashed.

            MegaMan screamed, "Yow!  Get me out of here!  I feel like I'm being mashed!"

            "That is because I am increasing the air pressure around your puny tin-can body!  Now that I've given you the squeeze, I'll decrease the heat around you to -273� Celsius - equal to 9/5 times -273�C plus 32, which is equal to, in customary units, -459.4�F - to make you mega-freeze!  For those of you who are not science whizzes, - heh, heh! - that is the super-cold temperature at which all molecular motion STOPS COLD!  HA, HA, HA, HA!!!"

            "Brrr!  I'm being mega-chilled!  I got your little joke, Iggy Koopa!"

            Ludwig said, "Enough nonsense.  My new breed of super-Metroid is ready for action!"

            Captain N said, "Super-Metroid?  I do not like the sound of that!"

            Larry said, "Good!  I know that his Metroid is too powerful for you, so now you guys' name is mud, and mud spelled backwards is dumb without the ending B!"

            MotherBrain commanded, "All right, N-Twerps!  Come forward to the control panel."

            Simon took his whip.  "Not so fast, MotherBozo!  I'll fix you!"  With his whip, he grabbed the container with the Metroid.  "Ha!  I got your new little pet!"

            "Why, you vaunting vampire-hunter!"

            Eggplant Wizard said, "Uh, oh!  Before the action gets too rough, I'm going to get out of here!"

            Bowser Koopa grabbed Eggplant Wizard by the arm.  "Oh, get back here.  That Metroid is about to hatch, and Simon will be its first snack!  Ha, ha, ha!"

            When the Metroid broke out of its glass jar, Simon said, "-Gasp!-  Mama!"  When the Metroid broke out, it mutated into a huge, hideous, new monster never seen before.

            Captain N said, "-Gulp!-  Samus, I hope you have enough missiles!"

            Samus Aran said, "I think that I have some more."  Samus fired her missiles at the new Metroid, but they did no good.

            Lana said, "Uh, oh!  Let's beat it!"

            Dr. Wily said, "Not so fast!  I'm bringing on WoodMan, my favourite petrified plank of wood-like metal!"  Dr. Wily pressed a button on the control panel.  WoodMan came in.  "All right, WoodMan!  Help to destroy the N-Team and Captain N!"  Iggy had released MegaMan.

            MegaMan said, "I'll waste WoodMan.  Leave this darn cedar-brain to me, and he'll be toothpicks in no time flat!"

            "Get on with it!" said Simon.  "Fix their welcome mat."  MegaMan fired CrashBombs at WoodMan; soon, nothing was left of the pulp-brain but toothpicks.

            Dr. Wily picked up and examined a toothpick.  He then snapped it in anger, "WHY ARE YOU SO ACCURSÈDLY LITERAL?!?"

            Eggplant Wizard said, "Do not worry.  I'm calling the fiendish Micks."

            Kid Icarus said, "Oh, no you will not, you rotten eggplant-icus!  I shall personally see to that!"

            "How will you do that, Kid Icky?"

            "I'll show you, veggie!"  Kid Icarus fired his helicopter arrow at Eggplant Wizard.  Its end was a suction cup that stuck to Eggplant Wizard's head.  By the arrow, Eggplant Wizard got carried away. . . all too literally!

            "I'll get you for this, Kid Wimpicu-u-u-u. . .!"

            MotherBrain exclaimed, "They've beaten one of our fools!"

            Ludwig said, "Yes, but the Brain-Team still rules!"

            "Yes, and he means that we rule VideoLand. . . all of it!  Ha, ha, ha!" Larry said.  "Metroid, sic 'em."

            Roy said, "We'll give the N-Team the boot. . . especially the princesses!  I cannot stand nice rulers."

            "Oh, yeah?" said Kevin.  "Well, my Zapper has something to say about that!  Spin!!"  Captain N pressed the B-button on his Power Pad.  He spun and fired his Zapper in all directions.  He blasted all the evil characters and destroyed the new Metroid, but he missed all the N-Team.

            Ludwig said, "Oh, darn!  You ripped my new prince-suit at the seam!  YOU'VE ALSO DESTROYED MY METROID, YOU BLASTED DO-GOODER!!!  I'll fix you. . .!"  He tried to think the guys into oblivion, but his brain powers were not functioning now!  "Ow!  Hey!  You drained my telekinesis energy!  I hate you N-Twerps!  I'll get you for this!"

            Captain N said, "Well, I hate to win and run, but I think that we'd better get back to the Palace of Power before these rat-finks regain their telekinetic powers."  The N-Team quickly took its leave.

            Lemmy said, "Looks like we got stopped instead of the stupid N-Team."

            "What was your first clue?" Iggy asked sarcastically.

            * * *

            Throne Room, Palace of Power.

            Back at the Palace of Power, Lana said, "Well, we showed them what the trouble with super-brains is, did we not, Kevin?"

            Captain N said, "We sure did!"

            "That ought to give them brain-strains for a while!" said Kid Icarus.

            "Right, Kid!" MegaMan agreed.

            Simon said, "Oh, what a day.  I got a hair out of place."

            Mario asked, "How about pasta?"

            Luigi said, "Yes.  I'm rather hungry right now."

            * * *

            Control Room, Metroid.

            Back on the Planet of SR388, MotherBrain and the rest of the Koopas were watching on their monitor in extreme anger.

            MotherBrain said, "You good guys!  When I take over the galaxy, I'm banishing you to planet Earth!"

            "Yes," said Ludwig.  "You are worth nothing in our books.  I shall get you N-Twerps someday!  If it's the last thing I do, I'll get you!"

            Mouser said, "N-Team, when we attack, my little cow in the Mushroom World will make you go, 'Moo!' "

            MotherBrain shouted, "Mouser, you fool!  Out of our sight!  You did absolutely nothing!"  She shocked him.

            "Yaaah!"

            Ludwig said, "Next time, N-Team, you will regret the day that you crossed swords with Ludwig von Koopa and the Brain-Team!"