Within the Conference room in the great Palace of Power, Kevin was frowning. He didn't believe for a moment that Mother Brain would truthfully agreee to peace, but did not say this to Lana, a small part of him hoping that this was for real.
"Mother Brain will be here any minute," Lana said to Kevin. "Is everything ready?"
Kevin turned to face her, eliciting a frown from the ever-vain Simon Belmont. "I think - " Kevin began, but then Simon shoved him out of the way, causing him to fall to the floor.
"It's all here, Your Adorableness." Simon said with a curt bow. He removed a scroll, tossed it in the air, and caught it. Then, he unfurled it in front of the table. "The official document, awaiting your beautiful signature..." he caused a pen to fly up from one of the ink wells on the table, and he caught it smoothly in his right hand and showed it to her. "The official pen, awaiting the delicate grasp of your lovely fingers..." he laid down the pen and grasped all six of the ink wells.. "And the official ink wells!"
He juggled the wells expertly. Unfortunately, a certain robodog named Rush barked at him and broke his concentration, and one of the ink wells crashed onto the vain vampire hunter's head, Reinhardt laughing at his cousin's clumsiness.

Meanwhile, a short distance from the Palace...

Dr. Wily, Eggplant Wizard, and King Hippo were manually carrying their "magnificent" ruler like some sort of sultan. Four handles were protruding from her tank; two were pointed backwards, and two were pointed forwards. Wily had the front right handle, Eggy had the front left handle, and Hippo had both of the back handles. The three minions grunted as they bore the heavy Mother Brain's jar towards the Palace. She had a white curtain completely encircling her jar.
"Princess Lana is a fool to think I'll accept peace on her terms." the evil brain said. She took out a handheld mirror and gazed into it. However, as soon as she did this, the mirror began cracking. "The only 'peace' I'll accept is a piece of VideoLand..." Suddenly, the mirror broke, surprising her. "A very big piece!!" She laughed heinously as they neared the Palace gates.

In one of the holo-decks, which was currently set up as an archery range, Kid Icarus was firing off arrows. Like Kevin, he didn't believe for a minute that Mother Brain was serious about peace, however Lana felt about the matter.
"Why are you taking target practice, Kid Icarus?" Megaman asked curiously. "We are at peace."
After preparing one arrow, Kid Icarus looked behind himself at the blue android. "I don't trust it, I need to be ready in case Brainiac is planning another trick," he told his friend.
Simon Belmont entered the scene. However, he was unaware that he had stopped just in Kid Icarus' line of fire, because he was too busy gazing into his handheld mirror and combing his hair. After he had admired himself and primped sufficiently, he put his mirror and comb away, but suddenly, a laser arrow flew straight into his hair! This surprised him, and then he got angry.
"Hey!" he shouted at Kid Icarus, and walked over to the winged warrior prince. "Watch where you're shooting those things!"
"Well, sorry, Simon." Kid Icarus said sarcastically. "Maybe if you'd watch where you were going..."
Simon held up his right hand. "Here, let me show you how a real archer does it," he said as he grabbed the Enchanted Crossbow from Kid's hands. A red arrow with a heart-shaped point appeared, and he strung it and prepared to shoot at a target.
"Simon, don't!" Kid Icarus cried. "That's a love-at-first-sight arrow! When you shoot someone with it, the first person they see, they fall in love with!"
As Simon regarded the arrow, he suddenly realized that this was his opportunity, and he was too ignorant of the danger to pass up this opportunity. "This is just what I need to make Princess Lana fall in love with me." he said. Kevin would trouble him no longer. He turned to Kid Icarus. "Would you mind if I borrowed this for a minute?" He didn't even wait for the archer's answer, but returned quickly to the Palace's entry hall.
For his part, Kid Icarus was shocked. If Simon missed and shot the wrong thing, the results could be disastrous. He then realized something else; Simon still had his crossbow! "Belmont, you moron!" he called urgently. "Wait!"

In the entry hall of the Palace of Power, trumpeters were playing a lively fanfare. As they played, the doors opened to admit Mother Brain and her servants, and Kid Icarus, Megaman, Lana, Captain N, and Rush walked toward the doors to greet the guests. However, Simon was trying to stay hidden. He hid behind one of the large lavender plants. He split it at its middle and looked through at Lana and the rest of the team. Lana was quite surprised to see the kind of style in which Mother Brain was making her entrance.
As Dr. Wily, Eggplant Wizard, and King Hippo brought Mother Brain into the Palace of Power, Simon prepared the crossbow and the precious little love arrow. "You shall soon be mine, my little Princess," he said.
Mother Brain's minions set down her jar, to the trio's great relief.
Eggplant Wizard took in his right hand a cord hanging from the top of Mother Brain's curtain. "All those present shall bow to Her Royal Magnificence, Mother Brain!" the vegetable sorcerer proclaimed.
He pulled the cord, and the curtain opened, revealing the evil Mother Brain, who stared down at the astonished N-Team.
Simon chose this moment to strike. He aimed, pulled the trigger, and fired. However, the energy love arrow flew right past Lana and struck Mother Brain's jar, above and to the left of her face. It deflected off and went up to the ceiling, where it deflected off a chandelier. Then it deflected off the wall behind Simon and found its new target: his rear end!
"Yow!" he cried, sealing his eyes and jumping out while holding both hands on his injured bottom. When he opened his eyes again, the first person they focused on was none other than Mother Brain herself. And, as Kid had said, the arrow went to work immediately. "Mother Brain?" he asked quietly and with infatuation. He smiled eagerly, and his heart seemed to pop out of his chest with excitement. As he continued to gaze at her, each of his eyes seemed to take on a heart shape. "My little Princess!"
"Attack!" Mother Brain commanded suddenly, to the surprise and dismay of the N-Team.
Dr. Wily pulled a lever on the base of her tank and went swiftly behind her. The tread of an army tank appeared underneath her, and two large guns popped out the front of her tank to her right and to her left. Then, two similar guns came up out of the tank on either side of her, and she fired a shot at the N-Team.
"It's a double cross!" Megaman cried.
"No surprise!!" Kevin yelled as they all dodged the blast.
Lana was quite concerned about Simon, who was walking towards Mother Brain as if in a daze. "Simon, what are you doing?!" she yelled.
Mother Brain fired two blasts simultaneously from two of the guns.
"Get down!" Kevin commanded, and all the N-Teamsters except Simon did this, the blasts flying right by Simon.
"Get him!" Mother Brain commanded her servants, meaning Simon. She was quite bewildered by his continued advance. "Get him!"
Simon crouched as King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard ran towards him; then, as they lunged, he leapt over them and landed in front of Mother Brain, his eyes closed and his mouth in a great big grin. He walked right up to Mother Brain's tank.
"Get away from me!" she snapped, drawing her face back, and extending her left tentacle.
"But I love you, my dearest Mother Brain." Simon said, taking her tentacle and kissing it.
"Oh, crap!!" Kid Icarus said. He knew that letting Simon find out about that stupid love arrow would lead to big trouble!
"What's gotten into Simon?" Lana asked.
"You can't fool my super brain." Mother Brain said. "Nobody loves me. This is just some kind of trick to catch me off guard!"
Simon looked genuinely hurt. "Moi? Trick the most beautiful brain in the world? Unthinkable!"
"Would you get him, you idiots?" Mother Brain snapped irately.
King Hippo and Eggplant Wizard came up behind Simon as he knelt before her.
"No!" Simon cried. "Mother Brain! I can't bear being separated from you!"
The two minions took him and carried him off.
"In that case, you can stay close by me - in a prison cell!" she replied. "Quick! Get us back to Metroid!"
With his free hand, Eggy, snapped his fingers and conjured a small head of lettuce, which flew away from him and exploded into some sort of green smoke, leaving behind a warp to Metroid.
"You freakin' prune!!" Lana screamed.
The reply was Mother Brain's wicked laugh as she backed herself through the warp. Dr. Wily followed the brain through the warp, then King Hippo, who brought Simon with him. Last and least was Eggplant Wizard.
"Rush, sic 'em!!" Kevin shouted.
Rush growled, and just as Eggy went through the warp tear, Rush grabbed his red cape and anchored him momentarily.
"Hold on to him, Rush!" Kevin ordered as the dog struggled with the vegetable.
Rock ran over and pulled Rush backwards, but the strain proved too great for Eggy's cape, which tore and allowed the sorcerer to escape while Megaman and Rush fell backwards.
"Crap!" Kevin aimed his Glove and shot the warp, sealing it.
Lana, Kid Icarus, and Kevin ran over to Rock and Rush as the two got up.
"I don't understand it." Lana said. "I've never seen Simon react that way before!"
"It's kind'a my fault," Kid Icarus admitted without reservation. "Simon, well, 'borrowed' my crossbow, and tried to use a love-at-first-sight arrow to shoot you."
Lana's expression indicated clearly that she did not like that. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Only he shot himself, then looked at Fermeldahyde Brain." Megaman said.
"And if I don't shoot him with an counter arrow soon," Kid Icarus finished, "his love will become permanent!"
"I don't believe this!" Lana cried. "And just where was Reinhardt during all this?! He's Simon's cousin!"
Kevin also was not too pleased with this situation. "Sounds like you'd better go find Simon and shoot him pronto." he said, gently poking Kid in the chest.
"That's the problem!" Kid Icarus said angrily. "I don't have a counter arrow."
"You've got the Scared Arrow and love arrows," Kevin replied. "But not a counter arrow?"
"I never needed one before," Kid replied. "The love arrow is one of those 'have it so you don't need to use it' things. The only place to get a counter arrow is from the old arrow-maker who lives at the top of Mount Olympus."
"The top of Olympus?!" Kevin cried. "I've read enough Greek mythology to know that's almost impossible to do!"
"You must try, Kid Icarus," Lana said. "For Simon's sake."
"Not much of a reason," Kid Icarus replied, then saw the nasty look on Lana's face. "Okay, okay! I'll get the arrow!"
"Go with him, Rock." Kevin said.
Megaman nodded as he followed the prince. "You got it."
As Megaman and Kid Icarus turned towards the warp to Angel Land, Kevin, Lana, and Rush turned away to go towards the Conference room.
"I've got to go to Metroid and find Simon." Lana gently put her hand on Kevin's back. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, Kevin." she told him, knowing Kevin probably didn't want to risk his neck for someone who had been so rude and inconsiderate to him ever since he arrived in VideoLand.
"Hey," Kevin said, "it's either that or wait for him to be stuck this way forever."

Within Mother Brain's lair on Metroid, Simon was chained up in a doorway. Each of the four chains was at a right angle to the circular curve of the doorway and was tied either to one of his wrists or to one of his ankles so that he was suspended upright in front of Mother Brain. Currently, hearts were swimming round his head, and his eyes even seemed to be like hearts.
"How do I love thee?" he asked. "Let me count the ways. One is for your little button-nose. Two is for your cute little twinkle-toes."
Mother Brain had been listening to this kind of obnoxious nonsense and had grown weary of it - so weary that she yawned when he commented about her "toes". But now, she had endured it for too long.
"Three is - "
"Enough!" she interrupted sharply. "I want the truth this time!" She extended her tentacles, wrapped them around his body at the belly, and pulled him forwards so that he was right in front of her face. "What is your real plan?"
He grinned. "All right, I'll tell you." When he paused, one of his upper left teeth glinted in the light. "My plan is to hug and kiss those cute little wrinkles on your brain!" he said with clear infatuation. He kissed her jar. His eyes appeared to turn to hearts with each kiss.
After he had kissed her three times, she let him go, and he snapped back to his original position.
"Aw, this is a trick, Mother Brain." King Hippo said incredulously. "No one could possibly love you! You're too ugly!" Two seconds too late, he realized his grievous error and, as his eyes went wide, he covered his mouth with his gloved hands.
"I'm WHAT?!!" Mother Brain demanded angrily. She extended her left tentacle and grasped King Hippo about the belly.
"Yow! Ooh! Oh!" he cried as she squeezed him and lifted him into the air. "You're beautiful! Uh, no! You're gorgeous! Uh, you knock me out!" he finished with a nervous smile.
"I certainly will." she said and released him.
The fat boxer cried out. He did hover for a second, but when he flapped his arms, they didn't help him fly. He crashed on the floor between Simon and Mother Brain.
Dr. Wily stepped up to a platform next to the circle where Mother Brain stays most often and tapped on her jar. "Hello?"
Mother Brain turned to him. "What is it?" she asked in annoyance.
This had not been her day so far. However, Wily whispered to her a wonderful plan.
She grinned. "Yes! That's a wonderful idea, Albert." She turned back to Simon. "How would you like to prove your love for me,...you fine thing?" she asked him.
"Oh! I cherish the thought." Simon said with delight.
"Good! All you have to do is help me capture CastleVania." She extended her tentacles and snapped both of the chains holding Simon's arms, and the enamored vampire hunter fell to the floor.
He brought his hands together and looked at her with growing infatuation. "Your wish is my command, you radiant, pickled brain, you."

Meanwhile, back at the Palace of Power...

Kevin, Lana, and Rush were in the com room. A map of VideoLand's warp systems was on the screen, identical to the one Simon had deployed earlier when the vampire hunter intended to find the warp to Metroid but instead found the warp to Kongoland.
Kevin pointed to the correct warp for Metroid. "The most reliable Warp to Metroid is right here."
Suddenly, the map disappeared from the screen, replaced by the face of a man with small, goggly glasses, a green alpine hat, a huge chin, a white mustache, and white, bushy eyebrows.
The man was frantic. "Your Highness," he said to Lana, "CastleVania is under attack by Mother Brain! The townspeople are being imprisoned! Come quickly!"
He disappeared, and the screen turned off.
"We've got to go to CastleVania immediately." Lana said to Kevin.
"But what about Simon?" Kevin asked.
"He'll have to take care of himself for a while." Her Highness replied. "This way!"
She pointed to her right and led the way to the proper warp. Kevin and Rush followed. They stopped in front of a circular red door in the wall.
Automatically, the door slid open noisily, and Lana leapt right on in. Afterwards, Kevin jumped in. However, Rush was somewhat reluctant to follow. Kevin's right hand emerged from the warp, grabbed the robodog by his helmet, and pulled him through the warp with a yelp.

CastleVania was a dark, mountainous land overshadowed by the castle of Dracula, for which it earned its name. It was a world haunted by supernatural evil monsters that fed off all good life. The warp that Lana had chosen led into a dreary circular room within the castle keep. The gloomy place all seemed designed merely to haunt the hearts of all but the stoutest of trespassers and make them easy prey for the villainous monsters haunting the place.
Kevin took this all in when he arrived with his two friends. "Dude, CV 64 is nothing compared to this," he commented.
He didn't even notice the large spider that descended onto his left shoulder, for it disintegrated into video dust the instant he turned to face Lana.
Suddenly, they heard cries of suffering.
Lana turned to her left. "Kevin, look!" she said, pointing at the prison doors.
There were people in the cells, and their hands were at the doors. They were begging for escape.
"Stand back!" Kevin said, coming up behind Lana. He went to stand behind her but slightly to her right so that his right arm could go past her and he could shot the doors. "I'll get them free."
Suddenly, they heard a voice to their right speak to them: "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
The two looked and saw the voice's owner: pale-skinned, and black-haired, with a black suit and pants, a black cape, - and, of course, blood-red lips with fangs sticking slightly out.
"Dracula!" Lana cried.
"Your powers don't scare us." Kevin said, aiming his Glove at the owner of the castle. Lana stood behind him now, and Rush's sensors flared at the vampire.
"I'm so happy to hear that," Dracula said. "You know, fear makes the blood taste terrible!" He spread out his cape, and when he swung the right part of it around himself, he turned into a huge, hideous bat.
"Kevin!" Lana cried.
As Dracula swooped by, Kevin smacked him with his Glove, and sent Dracula flying off in a spin, curses and incoherent words spouting as he went off.
"Where'd he go?" Lana asked, looking around.
Suddenly, the bat flew down to her, and Lana crossed her arms in front of her face and neck so he couldn't nip her neck. "Aah! Get away from me, you bat-breath!"
Suddenly, Simon swung down from the ceiling with a cry. He landed in front of Lana, whipped Dracula out of commission with his whip, and he laughed as he put his whip back where he kept it when not using it.
"Simon! I knew you'd come to your senses." Lana said.
He looked dreamily upwards. "Yes." he said. "I came to my senses as soon as I realized how much more beautiful Mother Brain is than you, Your Ordinariness." Suddenly, he picked Lana up and carried her over to the pool-warp. "I think it's time you took a little trip."
"Simon, no!" Kevin shouted, running with Rush to the pool-warp. "That's the Warp to the Forest of Forgetfulness!"
However, they didn't get there before Simon had dropped Lana into the warp.
"You traitor!"
Simon went to a door, unlocked it, and swung it open, revealing an animate skeleton within. It had striped pants that ended just below the knees, a yellow scarf, and a red baseball cap.
"Captain N, meet Mr. Bones." Simon said. "Mr. Bones, Captain N."
Mr. Bones turned around to face Kevin. The skeleton leaned back and then spat blue fire while laughing at Kevin, but the Game Master used his Glove to power slide to the right, out of the line of fire, just in time.
Kevin knelt down to Megaman's robodog. "Rush!" he commanded. "Fetch the bone!"
Growling, Rush leapt forth and grabbed Mr. Bones's lower left leg and yanked it off. Screaming, the skeleton fell to pieces and vanished, and all that remained was his red hat, which fell to the floor.
"Way to go, Mean Machine!" Kevin said when Rush returned to him with the bone.
Simon took the hat and examined it. "That was a friend of mine." he said. His voice sounded quite calm, but his facial expression indicated that he was quite put out. He dropped the hat and grabbed his whip, with which he wrapped up Kevin and pulled him towards the Warp.
"Simon, don't!" Kevin begged.
Rush grabbed the whip with his teeth, but he was nowhere near as strong as a CastleVanian human was.
"You're making a really big...mistaaaaaaake!!!" Kevin cried as Simon pulled him and Rush into the pool-warp.
Simon looked back at a door, which slid open. Mother Brain, with her tank treads, and her minions were waiting there. She led her trio of do-badders into the room.
"Well, you luscious lump of gray matter," Simon said dreamily when she stopped in front of him, "what do you think of your Simon now?"
"I - I can't believe it!" she said, on the verge of tears of joy. "You really do love me!" For the first time, she was really happy.
"I not only love you." he said as she retracted her tank treads. "I want to marry you!"
"Ooh!" she cried happily. She turned to her three minions with her normal evil look. "King Hippo! Eggplant Wizard! Albert! Prepare the castle for a hundred ghostly guests."
Her bemused servants looked at each other with incredulous expressions before they went off to do her bidding.
"There's going to be a wedding! Heh, heh, heh, heh!" She smiled at Simon and then looked up dreamily with heart-shaped eyes and puckered lips.
Yes, the love arrow had definitely caused a big mess.

And so, Mother Brain and Simon prepared for their "white wedding" in CastleVania.
With Simon seated on the front of her tank, Mother Brain rolled by the castle fence.
King Hippo watched as the castle cook prepared a huge, four-part wedding cake. King Hippo "inspected" by snatching a piece of the cake and devouring it, but he looked up at the top of the cake and saw the figure of Mother Brain that had been placed there. This spooked him, and he ran away.
Simon and Mother Brain stopped by the jewelry shop and looked at wedding rings in various sizes, including huge. Happily, Simon decided, and he and Mother Brain smiled at each other.
Soon afterwards, they strolled down a hall in the castle. This hall had caskets containing zombies on each side. Simon happily indicated one with orange hair and a light blue suit and snapped his fingers, and the zombie came alive. It got up and stepped out of its casket.

On the other side of CastleVania, Kevin and the Princess search desperately for the way out of the Forest of Forgetfulness.

Kevin, Lana, and Rush made their way through the dark Forest of Forgetfulness and came at last to a wide canyon. The walls of this canyon on either side were perfectly straight and at perfect right angles to the ground. There were, however, windows, lights, and doorways on the walls, as though this canyon were a split between two towers of a castle. However, the canyon appeared to have no bottom; all that one could see when looking down from the edge was an infinite dark blue sky and some clouds. As Rush looked down the chasm, he grew dizzy; but Kevin gasped.
"Whoa!" the Game Master exclaimed. "Been through every single CV game, but this canyon ain't in any of them."
"Where are we?" Lana replied. The forest had caused her to lose some of her memory. "Say, have you seen Kevin anywhere?"
"What are you talking about?," Kevin replied. He was the only one uneffected by the Forest of Forgetfulness. "I'm Kevin." He looked at where the ground ended.
"Okay, it's the CV 2 area. There's an invisible bridge around here, but I can't remember where." Kevin cautiously extended his left foot and felt for a solid bridge, and he found it right away. Very carefully, he started to cross. Lana cautiously followed him onto the bridge, and then so did Rush.

Meanwhile, across the vastness of VideoLand, Kid Icarus and Megaman struggle to reach the summit of Angel Land, and the home of Copernicus, the arrow-maker.

As he and Megaman ascended the tall central mountain of the land, Kid Icarus had to shoot their way through many monsters. On this world, his arrows were far more effective than Megaman's plasma weapon.
He and Megaman then went up through a temple-like area, where they were attacked by a slug-like creature whose eye was on some sort of extension from the rest of its body. Kid Icarus quickly shot this creature, and then another of the same sort.
After the two had jumped up to a high cliff and then back to slightly lower ground, a large Hewdraw appeared and barred their way. To distract the beast, Megaman leapt onto its face and in its eyes and stayed there. The beast was unhappy about this.
Kid Icarus prepared an arrow for the Hewdraw, but suddenly he noticed a Snowman appear on the cliff behind him. The archer reacted just in time to dodge the ice chunk that the Snowman tossed at him, and before the Snowman could toss another, Kid Icarus had shot him with an arrow. The Snowman disintegrated and left behind a heart. Kid Icarus flew up and took the heart, which was absorbed into his body with red energy waves and gave him some additional strength. He landed in front of the Hewdraw, still struggling uselessly with Megaman, and shot it with an arrow. The archer flew over to Megaman, picked him up by the arms, and carried him upwards.
Finally, they arrived at the home of Copernicus. Within the house, Copernicus was busy with his arrow-making. On his bald head, he wore an "arrow" that appeared to go through his head, but there was a yellow curved portion that actually went around his head and touched it on both sides. He had a blue outfit and white eyebrows, a white mustache, and a long white beard, as well as a long nose.
He picked up a yellow arrow and shot it upwards into the sky. The arrow returned to him and went in a red circle above his head as Kid Icarus and Megaman entered the house. The arrow created a red magical field, and pizza dough was formed above his head. However, when the arrow finished, it was just sloppy, uncooked pizza dough, and it landed on Copernicus.
"Darnicus!" he exclaimed to himself, wiping off the dough. "I've been trying to invent the pepperoni pizza arrow all day."
"Hello?" Kid Icarus asked.
"Go away!" Copernicus snapped inhospitably. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
"I need your help, O wise one." Kid Icarus replied, somewhat rudely. "My 'friend' was shot by a love-at-first-sight arrow, but I don't have a counter arrow."
Copernicus thought. Love arrows were definitely not something to fool around with, and so he had to help. He turned to his bin of arrows and looked through it. "I must have something around here that can help you." he said.
He withdrew one arrow. Carelessly, he shot this towards Kid Icarus and Megaman, and they ducked with a gasp, and the arrow hit the metal wall behind them.
"No, uh, that's my super grass-grow arrow." Copernicus said.
Kid Icarus and Megaman were surprised when grass suddenly grew up around them.
Copernicus took another arrow and shot it upwards. The arrow stopped at the beginning of the new lawn and transformed - into a cow! The cow began munching contentedly.
"And that's my cow arrow." the arrow-maker said.
Then, he took a red arrow and aimed this upwards. Unlike the other two arrows, though, this one flew in all sorts of crazy curves around the room! Kid Icarus and Megaman had to dodge to avoid being hit.
"Hey!" Kid Icarus cried. "Watch out! What are you doing?"
The arrow then found its target: the rear end of the cow! She turned and saw the arrow-maker, and she got as angry as an enraged bull. She rubbed the ground with her right front hoof and snorted, and then she charged at Copernicus, who ran.
"That's it!" he exclaimed. "My anger arrow! Just shoot your friend with one of these, but make sure he looks at the same person."
As Copernicus ran outside to lead the angry cow out, Kid Icarus and Megaman looked at each other and shrugged with disbelief. Then, he ran back inside and shut the door, sealing out the cow.
"Whew!" He walked over to his arrow bin. "He won't love her any more." He withdrew the three red arrows that were in the bin and turned to Kid Icarus. "Better shoot straight, though. I've only got three of them!" He handed the arrows to Kid Icarus, who received them gratefully.
"Thanks," Kid replied. "But I only need one." He took an arrow, loaded it into his crossbow, and instently, it turned into energy, absorbing into the crossbow's storage crystal.
"We've got to hurry!" Megaman said urgently. "There isn't much time left."

A short while later, back in CastleVania...

"I'm getting married in Castlevania; all the ghosts are going to scream; life won't be the same for Mrs. Mother Brain, so get me to the wedding on time." Mother Brain sang softly to herself.
While she was doing this, King Hippo was busily buffing her jar clean with a cloth.
She looked to her right and assumed her normal, imperious tone of voice. "And how are you coming with my gown?"
"Fine, Mother Brain, eh, just fine." Eggplant Wizard said.
Currently, Mother Brain's wedding gown was attached to the end of a rope, and Eggy was using this rope fed through a system of pulleys to lower the dress onto its wearer. As Eggy spoke, Dr. Wily entered Mother Brain's dreary dressing room and went over to a stepladder. The evil scientist picked up the ladder and, when he turned to go towards Mother Brain, he accidentally smacked Eggy in the back of the head. The veggie sorcerer let go of the rope, and as King Hippo stepped back from Mother Brain to observe, the gown fell on top of him, and the pulley that the gown had been roped to fell on the boxer's head!
"Hey!" the boxer cried.
"Oh, no!" Eggplant Wizard exclaimed.
Dr. Wily walked over to Mother Brain's jar and placed the ladder up against it, but he didn't see that his right foot was in a loop of Eggy's rope. So, when, Eggplant Wizard picked up the rope and pulled it, the gown did indeed rise up above King Hippo, who was currently on his hands and knees, but the rope caused Dr. Wily to fly across the room, pass between King Hippo and the gown, and crash into Eggy! Wily and Eggy crashed onto the floor together, and the gown again crashed on the irritated King Hippo.
Mother Brain was annoyed. "You have exactly one minute to get that dress on me, Eggplant Wizard." she warned.
Eggy was facedown on the floor, and Dr. Wily was on top of him.
"Y-y-yes, Mother Brain." Eggplant Wizard stammered.
"Yes, Mother Brain." Wily said.
They both got up and moved their legs to start running, but then they turned so that they faced each other and ran into each other once more.
Mother Brain sighed and took out her handheld mirror. "I wonder how my darling Simon is doing."

Simon was doing much better. He finished putting on his blue-gray tuxedo, and when he held out his arms, Dracula came up behind him and put a cape on him.
"I think the sleeves are a bit too long." Simon commented. "Don't you, Vlad?"
Dracula took Simon's arm and examined the sleeve. Then, he chewed off a small piece of fabric, and voilą, the suit fit perfectly.
"There," Dracula said. "It's perfect."
Simon adjusted his bow tie. "I'm going to have a wonderful family, Vlad. Can't you just picture it?"
He imagined a quaint cottage in the hilly countryside. Within, he imagined himself and Mother Brain, who was wearing a pink, motherly dress about the bottom of her bottle. Simon was rocking a series of at least four baby rockers that were all linked together, and within each was a baby version of Mother Brain, and each one had a pacifier and its own jar. Each brain-baby was hooked up to a central life support system.
"Mother Brain and I, living in a cottage in the country, raising a family of cute little baby brains." He returned to the present. "When they grow up, they'll all be doctors - better yet, brain surgeons!" he finished happily.

Meanwhile, as Kevin and the Princess continue across the deadly invisible bridge...

When the three passed the middle of the bridge, Rush barked nervously.
"Stay close." Kevin said. "Geeze, been too long since I played this CV. Uh, I think the bridge goes this way."
"What if you're wrong?" Lana asked.
"Then we'll be getting some free skydiving lessons, minus the 'chutes." He continued carefully, but not carefully enough. "I think we're going to make it. Just one more..." Suddenly, his foot hit air, and he couldn't regain his balance, so he fell off. "Aaah!"
Lana gasped. "Kevin!" she cried, but as she came up to where he had begun to fall, she also lost her balance. "Whoa! No!"
She fell backwards past Rush. The loyal machine bent his head down and tried to stop her by grasping the lower part of her dress with his teeth. He tried his hardest, but he was pulled off with a yip.
As all three fell screaming down the chasm, Kevin pressed the Pause button on his Glove. "Hang time!"
Fortunately, this stopped their fall...for the moment.
"Kevin, you saved us." Lana said with relief.
But Kevin was still quite worried. "Not yet I haven't." he said. "The Pause is going to wear off any second."
To his left was a doorway in the castle-like canyon wall, and there was a Warp in this doorway. "But if I can nail a power slide at the right moment...."
Rush whimpered worriedly, with good reason.
Judging the duration of the pause, Kevin hit the L button at just the right second.
"Kevin!" Lana cried the second they began to fall again.
However, they power slided right into the warp....

...and came up through the other end of the warp in the middle of the graveyard a short distance from Castlevania.
"He shoots, he scores!!" Kevin exclaimed.
"I remember now." Lana said. "We've got to find Simon. We've got to get to Castlevania, fast!!"

Within Castlevania's great hall, the ghoulish organ began to play the traditional wedding entry march, the Bridal Chorus from Wagner's opera "Lohengrin". Simon and Dracula, as well as the ghostly guests, were awaiting the entry of Mother Brain.
Three skeletons, done up as bridesmaids, came forward. "Here comes the Brain, dressed in medrain!"
Dressed in a suit that was a few sizes too small for him, King Hippo rolled the bride down the walkway to the altar. She had a dreamy look in her eyes as she carried yellow flowers in her tentacles, and a happiness that she had never had before. Simon laughed quietly in delight. He blew her a kiss, and when it hit her jar, she grinned and blushed happily.
"Dearly departed," Dracula said, serving as minister, "we are gathered here today to join this man and this brain in marriage."
Kevin, Lana, and Rush were in the doorway to the hall.
"I don't believe it," Kevin said quietly with dismay. "He's marrying her?!"
"We've got to stop him!" Lana said.
"But we can't," Kevin replied. "Not without a counter arrow."
Lana looked down the hall at Mother Brain and Simon. This situation was an utter disaster. While he was evil, Dracula definitely was licensed to conduct weddings.
"Then we'll have to slow him down," Lana said, "and give Kid Icarus time to get here!"
Meanwhile, Simon was holding up the large wedding ring.
"Simon," Dracula said, "would you place the rings on her,...uh,...we'll skip this part."
Suddenly, everyone heard Lana's voice from the back of the room. "Stop the wedding!"
Startled, everyone looked there and saw her and Kevin.
"Simon doesn't really love you, Mother Brain." Lana said.
"Yeah," Kevin added. "He's been fooled by a love arrow."
Mother Brain looked at her bridegroom inquisitively.
Simon gasped with shock. "That's not true!" he exclaimed. He put his arms around her jar as if trying to hug her. "I do love her!"
Mother Brain grinned. She liked his response, but she was understandably upset at the N-Team's presence. "King Hippo!" she instructed. "Get rid of those party-crashers!"
"Ha, ha!" King Hippo laughed as he advanced on the N-Team. "All right, big mouth! Put up your dukes!"
"You heard him, Rush." Kevin said to the growling robodog. "Up!"
Rush leapt up and grabbed King Hippo's poorly fit shirt. "Hey!" the boxer exclaimed. "That's my new suit!"
The dog succeeded in ripping the bottom of the shirt. "Hey!"
"Don't just stand there!" Mother Brain said to Dracula. "Continue the ceremony."
Dracula lifted up his book. "Do you, Mother Brain, take Simon Belmont to be your lawful wedded husband?" he asked.
"I do!" she replied with delight.
Suddenly, a hole was made in the back wall from the other side, and Megaman came in with Kid Icarus and landed in the balcony.
"I hope we're not too late!" Kid Icarus called.
Lana turned around and looked up. "Kid!" she said. "He made it!"
"Hurry!" Megaman said as Kid Icarus prepared to shoot one of the anger arrows. "There's only thirty seconds left!"
Kid Icarus fired, but the arrow struck the back of Mother Brain's jar and was deflected away.
The arrow bounced off the figure of Mother Brain that was on top of the wedding cake, knocking it off and changing course. The arrow landed right in Wily's rear end.
"Yow!" the mad scientist cried as he leapt into the air in agony. The first one his eyes focused on was Eggplant Wizard. "You plant brain!"
"Buuuut...I didn't do it," Eggy said nervously as several veggies popped out of him.
Wily reached behind him. "We'll see how you like living in the frozen food section for a while!!" He drew a freeze gun and froze Eggplant Wizard in a chunk of ice.
Meanwhile, Rush had grasped onto King Hippo's right fist, and the boxer was trying to shake the robot off. Kevin aimed up, shot the rope of a chandelier, and the chandelier fell right onto King Hippo, pinning his arms to his sides, just as Rush had gotten away. King Hippo teetered and then fell down. On the floor, he struggled to break the chandelier.
"Kid, hurry!" Kevin said. "I can't hold him off much longer!"
Kid Icarus aimed perfectly for Simon's rear end and shot.
"And do you, Simon..."
Then, suddenly, Simon cried out in pain as the arrow hit his rear end.
"I got him!" Kid Icarus cried victoriously.
But Simon turned around, and the first person he focused on was Eggy! "Hit me, will you?" the vampire hunter demanded indignantly.
"Buuuuut...I didn't do it." Eggplant Wizard replied as more veggies popped out of him.
Simon snapped out his whip and smacked Eggy, inadvertently freeing him from his icy prison.
"It didn't work!" Lana cried.
"This is getting repetitive," Kid Icarus said, loading another anger arrow as Megaman checked his clock.
"And only five seconds!" Megaman said, for his chronometer read "00:00.05".
Kid cocked his bow and aimed swiftly as Simon returned to Mother Brain's side.
"Do you, Simon Belmont, take this lovely lady to be your lawful wedded, uh...brain?" Dracula asked.
Mother Brain picked up the vampire hunter by the tentacles in preparation to kiss him just as soon as he said "I do."
But he never got to say it. Just in time, Kid Icarus shot the anger arrow, and it soared with perfect precision into Simon's rear end. As Mother Brain drew Simon closer to her, the vampire hunter's face twisted in disgust.
"Are you out of your mind?" he demanded. "Yuck! She's positively disgusting!"
Mother Brain scowled in rage and presented Simon to Dracula. "Dracula, be my guest!" she commanded.
Dracula drew his cape before his face and then whipped the cape away while bearing his teeth threateningly to Simon.
"AAAHHH!!!" the vampire hunter yelled.
Suddenly, one of the "ghouls" ran forward, throwing off its "skin", and revealing Reinhardt! He drew his whip in his right hand, snapped his whip at Dracula, and sent pain through the vampire's body. "Guess who, demon!"
"Belmount!!" Dracula yelled as his pain faded, made threatening gestures, but Reinhardt wasted no time. He simply swung his whip and tied the surprised vampire about the waist.
"What do you say we go for a spin?" Reinhardt asked deviously, and yanked back his whip.
"Whoa!" Dracula cried as he spun like a top and went backwards into a casket.
When he was in, the lid closed, and the casket fell forward so he couldn't get out very easily.
Kevin was ready with his Glove. "Party's over, dead-heads!!" he told the ghostly guests. He blasted a line in the floor from the right-hand column of pews to the left-hand column. Suddenly, the floor broke apart, and the spirits all floated away into the air, and they faded away.
Meanwhile, Mother Brain and her minions were making their getaway. Wily was seated on the front of her tank, King Hippo was rolling her to the nearest warp, and Eggy hopped behind.
Mother Brain was very displeased at this state of affairs. "How dare you play games with the heart of a brain!" she cried.
Hippo stopped rolling her just in front of a wall and a warp opened in front of them. She and her minions all looked back at the N-Team.
"You'll pay for this - all of you!" Most of all, she was angry with Simon, of course. She thought he had been responsible for this, and she was right, but not in the way she thought.
King Hippo rolled her swiftly through the warp. Eggy didn't notice this until the warp had begun to close, and he followed quickly, leaving behind a trail of veggies. He entered the warp just before it closed completely.
Megaman and Kid Icarus came down next to Lana, Kevin, and Rush.
Then, Simon strode confidently over to the group while rubbing his hands together. "Looks like I saved CastleVania, eh, Princess?" he said, quickly returning to his immodest self.
Reinhardt grabbed his cousin by the collar, and snarled. "Be glad my aunt was your mother," he snapped. "Otherwise, I might be tempted to break your face."
"Tell me, Simon," Lana asked. "Did you really love Mother Brain?"
He indicated himself with both hands. "Moi? Love Mother Brain?" He gave a gesture of dismissal. "Don't be ridiculous. There's only one person I could ever really love."
Lana groaned and turned away with a disturbed look on her face.
"Me!"
Lana was surprised and shocked. "Wha?"
Kevin wasn't that surprised. "Who else?"
"Ah!" Simon said, gazing at his reflection in his handheld mirror. He noisily kissed his reflection, and then grinned stupidly with his eyes closed.
Lana put her hand on her forehead in annoyance. Kevin, Reinhardt, Kid, and Megaman all shrugged hopelessly, and Rush's expression indicated that he would have, too, if he had arms.
Simon was definitely back to his old self..


GAME OVER

Copyright © 1999 by Chris Blair 1