Y/N smacked his head against the wall repeatedly as he groaned. "Still...no...Keyblade," he said every time his head hit the wall. SMG4 watched his friend do that to himself. It was a little hard to watch. Y/N had been trying for so long to get his power back and now, his patience had run out. "Why...can't...I...do...it?"

He finally stopped injuring himself and rested his head on the wall and sighed. "This is stupid," he mumbled.

SMG4 got up and made to walk over to him, but as he passed the window, he saw something outside. He stopped and looked out the window, Toad was outside, but his arms were pointing straight out by his sides and his legs looking like they were glued together. What was even stranger was that he looked like he was skidding slowly across the ground without even moving a muscle.

"Hey, SMG4. What's the problem?" Luigi asked.

"That pose that Toad is in. Do you know what that is?" SMG4 asked.

"Maybe it's some kind of yoga pose?" Luigi said unsurely.

"Toad doing yoga? No way," SMG4 said. "I'm going to check on him". He ran down the hall and walked out the front door. Luigi watched from the window as SMG4 walked up to Toad.

"Luigi, what's going on?" Mario said from next to him. Luigi quickly told him what was going on. Mario looked out the window and smiled. "Oh look. SMG4 is doing the same pose!"

Luigi spun around and looked out the window. Much to his fright, SMG4 was now doing the exact same thing. Both stiff figures suddenly spun around and stared at Luigi through the window with a dead look in their eyes. Toad and SMG4 began to inch towards the castle doors without even moving their legs.

"Hey, you guys seeing this?" Y/N called out. He too was seeing what was going on out the other window and was equally frightened. The front doors began to rattle and shake, it looked they were trying to barge it down. Y/N, Luigi and Mario crowded around the mouth of hall and stared at the door at the other end.

Suddenly, the doors burst off their hinges and SMG4 and Toad slid inside, still in the poses. The three friends had no idea what was going on, all they knew was that they were creeped out. They screamed and ran up the stairs to the balcony, opening the large door at the top and running up the spiral staircase into the next room.

About a minute earlier, Meggy, Bob and Boopkins were sitting on the floor with cards in their hands. Meggy looked at each of her cards in confusion. Each card had so many different stats and rules that it was impossible for her to keep track of anything.

"Ha, you've activated my trap card, Meggy," Boopkins said as he smacked a card down on the ground.

"Uh, go fish?" Meggy asked with a very confused smile.

"What? Oh, I thought we were playing Poker, sorry," Bob said.

"I think we're playing a Pokémon card game," Meggy said.

"No guys!" Boopkins cried. "We're playing Yugioh!"

The door on the wall to their left broke open and Luigi, Mario and Y/N dashed into the room and scrambled towards them. "We're all going to die!" Mario cried as he ran right past them and ran right up the stairs. Luigi glanced back and forth and then ran up with him.

"Come on, guys. We need to run!" Y/N cried urgently as he pulled Meggy and Bob to their feet.

"Oh hey, SMG4!" Boopkins said. Y/N spun around with wide eyes. Boopkins approached the dead eyed SMG4 as he slowly inched toward the green fish. "Hey, do you and Toad want to play with us?" Boopkins screamed as the two T-posing people tackled Boopkins to the ground at incredible speed and smothered him from their view.

"Boopkins!" Y/N screamed in shock. The T-posers cleared away, revealing Boopkins to be just like the others. He was T-posing too. It was like some really crazy zombie apocalypse.

"Y/N! Bob! Help me take these guys out!" Meggy yelled.

Right!" Y/N said as he stood next to her and raised his fists.

"Haha, nope. I'm with the boys," Bob said as he ran up the stairs toward the throne room. "See you, Meggy and Y/N".

"Ugh, fine. We'll do this with just the two of us," Meggy said, preparing herself for a fight.

"You sure we can actually beat these guys? We don't want to hurt them," Y/N said as the T-posers approached them.

"Maybe we can break them out if we hit them enough times?" Meggy said. "Here, you take SMG4. I'll take Boopkins and Toad".

"As good a plan as any," Y/N said as he took a deep breath. "Alright, let's do it!" The two of them dashed forward. "Let's hope the Splatfest training paid off!" SMG4 dove for him, but he jumped over him and went into a forward roll as he hit the ground. He spun around on his hand and kicked SMG4's legs out from under him. As SMG4 face planted into the ground, Y/N went to kick him out of the fight so he could help Meggy with her opponents.

SMG4 shot back to his feet and spun around, repeatedly slapping Y/N in the face, causing him to step back to gain some distance. Y/N held out his open palm not expecting anything to happen, to which nothing did. "Yep, just as I thought. Alright, it's time I stopped relying on a Keyblade to help me out. Sorry, SMG4, when you're out of this trance, I hope you'll forgive me".

Y/N ducked under his swing and grabbed SMG4's arm. Summoning all his strength, he pulled SMG4's body over his shoulder and flung him across the room. Y/N turned just in time to see Meggy grab Boopkins by the foot and throw him back across the room, knocking Toad over in the process.

"Yahoo!" Y/N celebrated as the Inkling and the human high-fived. "Alright, let's figure out how to get these guys back to normal". Suddenly, more T-posers emerged from the door and slid towards them. "Oh now. More?" At the same time, SMG4 and Toad rose to their feet and joined with their group. Wait, where was Boopkins?

Y/N turned and saw the green fish zooming towards them. "Lookout!" Y/N ducked just in time, feeling the Boopkins' feet brush over his hair. Boopkins hit Meggy in the back of the head, tackling her to the ground. All at once, the massive group of T-posers swarmed her. "Meggy! No!" Y/N cried. Y/N jumped to his feet and ran towards the pile of bodies, intent on saving his friend. The T-posing shape of SMG4 appeared in front of him. He skidded to a halt in front of the zombie. One by one, more zombies turned to him. He looked at the pile one more time. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Y/N spun on his heels and ran up the stairs, leaving Meggy behind.

He made it to the door that led to the throne room and pounded on it. "Let me in. Let me in!" He shouted. The door swung open and he fell inside. Mario and Luigi shut the door again and pressed their bodies against it. "Y/N, you made it! Wait, where's Meggy?"

"She didn't make it, understand!?" Y/N shouted, gripping his head in anger. "I could have saved them, her and SMG4. If I wasn't such an idiot by being so self-obsessed!"

"Huh, what do you mean?" Luigi asked.

"These entire two months I've been here, all I've been talking about is that dumb Keyblade," Y/N said. Thiese thohghts had been slowly growing and making more angry with himself, and today was enough to break the barrier and he let out the emotions he was holding back. "I've been so caught up with what I lost that day, that I never realised what I had gained until it was gone. I had all of you as my friends, but all I ever cared about was the Keyblade. I'm so sorry. If I could turn back time and fix all of this, I would".

Everyone was silent, even Bob, who was standing off to the side awkwardly. Y/N struggled to calm himself down as the weight of what was happening began to dawn on him. What if this was happening everywhere?

"So, you want to turn back time, do you?" A voice echoed around the room. Y/N jumped up and looked around for the voice. A corridor of Darkness opened at the back of the room and a figure stepped out. "You should be careful with what you wish for," he said patronisingly. "Time is not something you should mess with".

"Who are you?" Y/N demanded.

"If you want me to be, I could be the answer to this problem you're in," the figure said. "Honestly, I should expect a little more respect from you, but after all, you have hit rock bottom".

"Shut up!" Y/N ordered. "If you know how to fix this, then tell me!"

"But that doesn't benefit me at all, much less you. The moment you're friends hearts have been freed, you'll go back to how you were," the figure said, his hands moving were his only source of expression. "Personally, I think the only way you'll learn is if you lose a thing or two".

"You don't know what I've lost!" Y/N shouted at the figure. "You don't know anything about me!"

The figure laughed and pointed at him. "You're name is Y/N. Your world, Twilight Town, was taken by Darkness. Sora chose you to wield his power after he died. And you can't summon your Keyblade because of the weakness in your own heart. Am I right?"

Y/N was shocked at the words. How did this guy know everything that happened to him? Only one person was there when he was flung from his world. Y/N gasped as he came to a conclusion. "You! Are you Xehanort?"

The figure laughed again. "Is that really the question you want to be asking? You're friends don't look like they can hold out much longer". Y/N gasped and looked behind him at the door. Mario and Luigi were struggling to keep the door closed as T-pose zombies pushed against the door to get it open. Bob looked between the two events playing out and ran up the last flight of stairs toward the roof.

Y/N turned back to the figure. "Did you do this?"

"Ugh, so many questions," the figure groaned as it slouched slightly. "I don't really have time for this". A corridor of darkness opened behind him and the cloaked person began to step backwards through it.

"Wait! How do we stop this? That's what you want me to ask you, right?" Y/N asked.

The figure stopped mid-step and reached out his hand. "Your friends hearts have only been locked away by a very thin cover of Darkness, if you break through that Darkness, their hearts will be freed once more".

"How do I do that?"

"Sorry, I don't have time for any more questions," the figure chuckled as it stepped through the corridor of darkness and vanished into thin air.

The door burst open and the T-posers slid inside. They gasped when they saw a certain orange Inkling in the lead. Y/N didn't have time to figure out what that figure meant at the moment. Right now, he needed to run. He joined Mario and Luigi as they ran up the final staircase and found the door that led to the roof. They tried the doorknob, but it was locked.

"Bob! Open the door!"

"Oh, you guys don't want to come up here, too many T-pose zombies," Bob said through the door. From his tone, he was quite clearly lying about the zombies.

"Ah! They're coming!" Luigi cried, looking back down the stairs and seeing the entire horde coming up the stairs. "We're goners, guys!"

"Jeez, can you guys die quieter? I'm trying to read," Bob called.

"We're not dead yet!" Y/N shouted. "Mario, Luigi, get over here". After Y/N gave them the plan, they put it into action. Y/N and Luigi stood in front of each other while Mario fell into their arms and they charged forward into the door, using Mario like a battering ram. "Trinity move!" Mario's dense skull was enough to smash the door off its hinges and three of them fell onto the roof, knocking Bob over in the process.

"Ha! I can't believe that worked!" Y/N said.

"Yeah, we did it!" Luigi celebrated. Then Meggy's arm came out and pulled him back inside the castle. Luigi kicked and screamed, but the more he fought, the more zombies grabbed him and pulled him back in.

"Luigi! No!" Mario screamed, his hand hopelessly reaching for his brother. Luigi vanished into castle and his scream was soon silenced.

"Great, now the T-pose zombies are up here. How is the world supposed to live on if I'm dead?" Bob said angrily.

"You killed my brother!" Mario roared. He jumped forward and tackled Bob to the edge of the roof. Bob stood up and wobbled on the edge of the roof. He looked down and gasped, seeing that the entire castle grounds were now full of zombies. Mario kicked his leg, causing him to fall and grab onto the edge with his hands.

"Oh my god, dude! Calm down! I didn't mean to get Luigi killed!" Bob cried as he hung onto the roof, his grip slowly slipping.

"You're done, Bob!" Mario growled. With one quick swing of his foot, Bob was sent careening towards the ground. He landed on top of the zombies and was quickly covered by them half a second later.

"Mario, you...Bob might be properly dead because of you," Y/N said as he looked down over the crowd of T-posers.

"I don't care, he killed Luigi," Mario said flatly.

"You know, you've never really showed your love for Luigi much, at least until now," Y/N said. "What? Do you hate showing that your brother is important to you, or something?" Mario didn't answer, he just kept staring at the ground with a sad face. "You shouldn't feel bad. Luigi, SMG4, Meggy. They all cared about us and we cared about them. But if we ever want to get them back, we have to break out of this trance!"

They turned and were met with an even bigger horde approaching them. "Mario, I...don't know how we're getting out of this," Y/N said as he stepped back. His foot slipped off the edge of the roof and he fell backwards. Mario jumped for him and grabbed his hand. Y/N struggled to hang on as his grip on Mario's hand began to slip. "Mario...I...can't hold...on!"

That was when a massive helicopter rose over the castle. Pointed out one side of the heicopter was a massive minigun, and operating that minigun, was Princess Peach. "Watch out!" She yelled. She pulled the trigger and a massive volley of projectiles hit the zombies directly behind Mario. Y/N realised that they weren't firing bullets, they were firing glowing green mushrooms.

Luigi's arms went limp as he held his head and groaned. He sat up and looked around at the scene. He noticed Mario and Y/N hanging off the edge of the castle and ran to help them. Luigi grabbed Y/N's other hand and together, the two brothers pulled their friend up to safety. "Thank...thank you, guys," he said as he rolled onto his back in exhaustion.

Mario and Luigi watched as the volley of mushrooms continued until every zombie was un-T-posed. Meggy stood and wobbled on her feet for a second. "That was...weird," she groaned, shaking her head slightly.

The helicopter gently sat itself down on the roof and Peach jumped out, walking towards Mario. "I take a vacation for one day and the entire kingdom was infected with T-pose zombies!?" She shouted.

"Peach, how'd you know what to do?" Mario asked.

Peach held up a strange looking purple mushroom. "These rare T-pose mushrooms are dangerous if someone eats them. Being the princess, I have to know these thing". Then she turned to the massive crowd. "Who was the idiot who ate them, anyway!?" All at once, everyone turned to Toad.

"Hehe," Toad said. "Well, I think it was like this...".

0O0

Toad walked down the path in a secluded area of the city. This was his go to hangout spot when he had nothing else to do. There was a ladder at he end of the alley that took him to the roof, amd the view there was great.

Toad stopped in his tracks as somebody walked out of the shadows. It was Waluigi, and he was holding a strange looking staff. "Oh, hey loser," Toad said. "Nice wand you got there".

"It's not a wand, it's a sceptre," Waluigi corrected.

"I really don't care," Toad said as he rolled his eyes.

Waluigi waved his sceptre around and a purple mushroom materialised in front of Toad. The small, spotted man picked up the mushroom and inspected it closely. "Eat it," Waluigi ordered. He put out his hand and waved it for a second, purple trails of smoke coming off his hands. Toad's eyes went black as he limply raised the mushroom to his mouth and lazily took a bite, as if someone else was controlling him. Waluigi released his control of Toad and disappeared into a corridor of Darkness.

0O0

"Yeah, sorry about all that," Toad said with a shrug.

"Waluigi, why would he do this?" Luigi cried.

"We're going to have kick his butt next time we see him," Mario said angrily.

"I am one hundred percent down for butt kicking," Meggy commented happily.

"Count me in," Y/N agreed. "But really though, I'm just glad that everyone is back to normal".

"Now that that's all over, who wants to check out my Yugioh collection?" Boopkins asked.

"Hey, who wants to do anything but that?" Mario asked. Everyone yelled their agreement in unison as they climbed into the helicopter. The blades on the vehicle turned up in speed and they slowly hovered off the ground. The helicopter flew off to patrol the city one mite time, ti deal with any more zombies they may have missed.

Boopkins watched them leave, now alone on the rooftop. "Oh, okay," he said.