Post by bobsnicket on May 13, 2008 19:28:19 GMT -5
Chapter 12: The Shamans and the Sneaks
{5} The Invisible Block
www.imeem.com/boredom-itself/music/-046VJ1V/koji_kondo_super_mario_bros_mushroomy_kingdom_11
Everything was 2-D and pixilated in ‘Super Mario Bros’, including the new arrivals. Mario, Luigi, and the Hammer Bros. had been transformed into their old 8-bit versions, while Mr. Game & Watch looked almost the same except without rounded edges; the Ice Climbers were in their Ice Climber NES version, Dr. Mario looked just like Mario except with a black line in place of the red hat and as close to a white coat as could be made with a very limited amount of pixels, and the Babies were not much more than red and green specks. Also, in this world everyone seemed incapable of speaking. There would have been an awkward silence without the memorable music in the background.
They were on a plain brick ground with a plain blue sky and a cluster of brick blocks above them. Mario began to walk to the right, and the screen began scrolling. The large group of Hammer Bros and the others followed. But when Mario stopped and began to walk the other way, the screen didn’t stop scrolling, and now a gap had appeared in the brick ground from the right side.
In a panic, everyone began running forward to keep up with the strange automated scrolling. They all jumped over the gap, but one Hammer Bro slipped and fell in the gap. As they continued to run, a Super Mario death sound was heard, and the Hammer Bro disappeared.
Now in even more of a panic, the group continued to move through the stage, jumping over gaps and maneuvering around brick platforms. Goombas and Koopas were beginning to appear, and the level seemed to go on and on. Three more Hammer Bros fell either in gaps or to enemies, although most enemies Mario and Luigi disposed of in the front by jumping on them or with fireballs. Any ones they didn’t dispose of, the Hammer Bros attacked by throwing spinning black hammers and jumping up and down, creating a virtual wall of hammers that a player would find impossible to maneuver through, let alone simple static enemies.
It became more and more difficult to survive, as now they found themselves jumping from mushroom to mushroom, swimming, and avoiding Bullet Bills, Spinies, Lakitus, and flying Koopas. Five more Hammer Bros succumbed to the increasing difficulty; only 39 Hammer Bros remained when they finally reached the flag near the castle at the end. Mario and Luigi leaped at the same time from the stair-like platform to grab onto the top of the flag, but only Mario actually held on to it, while Luigi soared clearly over the top of flag post and landed on his head on the other side like a broken firework.
Finally, when everyone had reached the castle, the screen stopped scrolling. Everyone’s thoughts were very confused and panicky except Dr. Mario, wondering what would happen next. Dr. Mario continued past the castle a few steps, turned to the group, jumped twice in an indication for them to follow him, and disappeared into a horizontal green pipe a little further on. The rest hurriedly followed suit for fear of losing their guide.
A few seconds after they had all disappeared down the warp pipe, three more Hammer Bros. passed the flag and proceeded down the pipe as well, a sense of silent urgency and pursuit about them.
www.imeem.com/vinnylt/music/5qYohkmy/underground_super_mario_bros/
The party, upon entering the dark blue underground cavern, began to resume the chase from the left side of the scrolling screen. Here, they experienced moving platforms, Buzzy Beetles, Swoopulas, and Piranha Plants as they traversed the long dangerous tunnel. Their surroundings seemed so very primitive, yet were just as deadly as the real world. It seemed as if the tunnel would never end; the only good thing was that Dr. Mario seemed to know where he was going, and the remaining Hammer Bros. were becoming more accustomed to the pattern of running and jumping: only one more was lost for the duration of the level.
Finally, they reached the warp pipe at the end which led to the flag on the surface. This time, Mario and Luigi leaped in unison off the brick staircase, but Luigi, using Mario’s head as leverage, pushed off of it and grabbed the top of the flag, sliding down triumphantly. Mario tumbled to the ground, and stood up only to be knocked back down with Luigi landing on him.
But this time, before Dr. Mario could lead them to the next area, three hammers flew from the left side of the screen and KO’d three more Hammer Bros, reducing the count to 35. The imposters responsible entered the screen, looking exactly the same as the other Hammer Bros, but separated by a short distance and facing each other. Mario and the others prepared to fight, but before they could do so, one of the imposters brought out a POW block, placed it in the air, and hit it, knocking everyone else down. The three guilty Hammer Bros. then jumped over the group and continued down the path, bouncing on several of them in the process.
After a few seconds, Dr. Mario leaped back up, the rest soon following. The doctor jumped up and down frantically as if to say, “Hurry! We can’t let them escape; they’ll reach the Superstar and Life Shroom before we do!”
They hurriedly began running forward, and soon came to face a large castle barring there way; there was no other choice but to enter.
Inside, they found yet another level to progress through, but one which was now even more dangerous than the other two. There were fireballs, lava pits, Dry Bones, Thwomps, huge moving stone blocks, and hazardous spikes. At one point Dr. Mario thought he saw part of a Hammer Bro on the far right of the screen, but it seemed to speed up and disappeared. Finally, when they reached the large pit of lava with a bridge over it, now numbering 31 Hammer Bros, they found the three imposters on the right side of the bridge waiting for them. The axe-like object which would destroy the bridge was right next to them. Dr. Mario halted before walking onto the bridge, for the imposters had the power to destroy the link which would allow them to follow, and then all would be lost.
Dr. Mario tentatively began to move forward, but one of the Hammer Bros went close to the axe threateningly. Dr. Mario jumped up and down in protest, but then the Hammer Bro moved forward and touched the axe.
The bridge was destroyed piece by piece from the right to the left, so Dr. Mario barely had time to jump back onto his side, while the imposters disappeared down the right side of the screen.
Dr. Mario and the rest began jumping up and down frantically, not knowing how they would get across, or even escape the other way. After a few moments, Popo and Nana stepped forward, and hit Freezies into the lava pit. The Freezies melted into the lava with a loud hiss, but now the lava seemed slightly less hot and fierce. The Ice Climbers continued to dish out Freezies, making the lave cooler and cooler, until finally it was just brown rock which they could safely walk across. The group dashed across the rock, jumped back onto the stone of the castle, and proceeded into the next room, where they found Toad waiting for them.
www.imeem.com/vinnylt/music/-88jm3lm/underwater_super_mario_bros/
A message box appeared at the top of the screen, and words appeared while the Toad made talking motions. The words read,
“Thank you for saving me! But the princess is in--”
Dr. Mario, realizing this strange way to communicate, interrupted Toad with words of his own: “We’re not looking for the princess. We’re looking for the Life Shroom and the Superstar. Do you happen to know where they could be?”
The Toad panicked and looked frightened as he replied in the box, “Yes! I had the Superstar, but those three Hammer Bros came by and stole it from me! They went that way!” The Toad pointed to the right (as if there were any other way they could have gone).
“Alright, thanks!” Dr. Mario replied in text, and then did his two jumps indicating for the group to follow him. After they exited the castle, they found themselves at another staircase and flag, but there was a discrete black spot on the other side of the flag, which rippled and caused the area around it to distort.
“Okay,” Dr. Mario said in text, “the imposters exited the world through this hole. They have the Superstar, so we’d better go after them. We can come back later for…”
But Dr. Mario halted in his speech as he watched Mario and Luigi’s final contest for possession of the flag. Luigi got a head start, but as he jumped off the edge of the stairs, his head hit an invisible block which now appeared, and he tumbled to the ground while Mario triumphantly grabbed the flag and slid down; but instead of just bouncing off Luigi’s head at the bottom, he purposely kicked him over while still holding the flag, and used the force of the push to execute a high jump while spinning and flipping extremely fast; Mario landed with a fancy victory pose while fireworks sparkled in the background and the message box read, “Let’s a-go!”
Meanwhile, what got Dr. Mario’s attention was that from the previously invisible block appeared nothing less than the Life Shroom, which the doctor caught as it fell off of the block.
Luigi got up grumbling and made a move to rush at Mario, but Nana, who was behind him, froze him with a Freezie before he could do anything.
“Alright!” Dr. Mario said in the text. “Now let us make haste, else the imposters escape…”
Everyone then followed Dr. Mario into the black rift, Nana hitting the frozen Luigi into the hole with her hammer before entering last.
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www.imeem.com/groups/xL-8C3KT/music/Qe8h2VRQ/pokemon_stadium_theme/
In front of Pichu and Jigglypuff loomed a steeply sloping mountain. It did not seem to have a peak; the top either was flat or curved down like a crater. After looking at the mountain, Jigglypuff reignited the Poltergust 3000 with a Poke’ball decal on the sides, and they continued up the mountain where the trail had ended. They had to avoid trees, small bushes, and ditches on their way, but did not meet any wildlife.
Pichu and Jigglypuff were in the northern region of the Unknown Land, which was named simply because it did not seem to fit in with any of the other regions, and no particular type of people or creatures seemed to live there.
The Poltergust 3000 proceeded up the mountain until they finally reached the top, where they found that it indeed curved downward, and in the middle was a glass-like lake. The afternoon sun reflected upon the still water, dazzling their eyes.
At this point Jigglypuff and Pichu dismounted the vehicle and turned off the engine; they walked tentatively towards the silent lake.
“Pichu?” Pichu called out in an unsure manner, which meant “Mewtwo? Can you hear us?”
“Jigglypuff!” Jigglypuff said, which meant, “We need to speak with you! It’s very important!”
They waited for several minutes, but nothing happened.
But as they began to turn back towards the Poltergust 3000, they noticed a slight shimmering in the lake. The shimmering gradually turned into ripples, and then into small waves, moving in great rings towards the shore on all sides. The waves grew bigger and bigger, but somehow did not spread over the boundaries of the lake; in the middle a very deep hole in the water began to form. It grew to about the diameter of an inner tube, then stopping growing. The rings of rippling waves subsided.
From the depths of the hole in the lake shot up a blurred figure, creating a splash which caused the watching Pokemon to get wet. The man-sized figure halted about twenty feet above the lake and faced the visitors, and Pichu and Jigglypuff had to wipe the water out of their splashed eyes to see the Pokemon in front of them.
“Pi-Pichu!” Pichu cried as he recognized the legendary cat, which meant “Mewtwo!” You’re here! We have a lot to tell you!”
Mewtwo’s penetrating stare intimidated the young Pokemon, but the fact that they had met before improved their courage. The purplish cat Pokemon, in the rough shape of a human, and with a tube extending out of the back of his head and connecting with the back, hovered with his arms folded and considered the Pokemon. Rather than speak out loud, he used telepathy to convey his messages, while Pichu and Jigglypuff continued to talk.
“There is no need to explain, young ones. I make my residence within this mountain, but that does not mean that I do not get out and about…whether I am noticed, now that is another matter…I know of everything which has been going on in the world up until last week. What is it you want?”
Jigglypuff said, “Puff Jigglypuff puff!” which meant something along the lines of “A lot has happened in the last week, Mewtwo. And we need your help.” Jigglypuff then explained everything that had happened in the last week: the tournament, the near total destruction of Fourside City, and the gathering forces of the growing Great Nintendo Army.
Mewtwo paused for a moment afterward, taking it all in. “Bottles is dead? I can’t believe it…he was a great leader…and Crazy Hand left taking only one captive? Very strange…so now I assume you want me to join this army of yours?”
Pichu and Jigglypuff nodded simultaneously.
“Well, then, that is very well.” Mewtwo closed his eyes. “But this is all sounding much simpler than it must be. I have always been against Master Hand…but why has he been so merciful when he could have destroyed us all long ago? Is he toying with us? Seeking for personal amusement? It is all very unclear…” Mewtwo opened his eyes again. “I will join your Resistance movement…on one condition…”
Pichu and Jigglypuff jumped for joy. “Pichu Pi-Pichu?” Pichu asked, which meant, “What is your condition, Mewtwo?”
Mewtwo unfolded his arms, and spun around once, as if he were waking his energy. “You tell me a group has gone to a dimension beyond this one…to seek a hidden power source…I require only a piece of that power…it should be in the form of a sphere glowing with many colors with the SSB symbol emblazoned upon it…do you accept these terms?”
Jigglypuff paused for a moment, thinking. Well, what harm could a sphere possibly be in the hands of such a wise and powerful friend as Mewtwo? she thought.
“Puff!” Jigglypuff agreed.
“Chu!” Pichu acknowledged.
“Excellent,” Mewtwo said impassively, his eyes sparkling. “Now let us proceed back to your headquarters.”
Pichu and Jigglypuff jumped excitedly and pointed towards the Poltergust 3000.
Mewtwo laughed. “Let us not waste time traveling by a silly machine such as that! I will teleport us there along with the machine with my mind…”
Mewtwo closed his eyes again, this time in concentration, and with a twinkling flash the three Pokemon and the vehicle vanished from the lake, which closed in on the hole and resumed its normal glass-like appearance.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Character Locations
Dimension Conflux (Super Mario Bros NES): Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Mr. Game & Watch, Ice Climbers, Dr. Mario, 3 Imposters
Fourside City: Bowser, Yoshi, Young Link, Lanky Kong, Kirby, Ganondorf, Bomberman, Goombario, Pit, Tiny Kong, Dixie Kong, Professor E. Gadd, Banjo and Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, Humba Wumba, Marth, Ness, Pacman, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo
Messengers: Prince Peasley, Parakeet, Toad, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Meta Knight, Roy, Toadsworth, Star Wolf, Fox, Falco, Slippy, Peppy, Rito Postman?
: The Shadow Sirens, Shadow
[glow=yellow,2,300]Trophy:[/glow] Pikachu, Princess Peach, Samus, Chunky Kong, Sonic, Wario, Waluigi, Captain Falcon[glow=purple,2,300]Captive:[/glow] Goombella, Toadette, Princess Zelda
[glow=gray,2,300]DECEASED:[/glow] The Shadow Hand, Bottles, Orca
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Yeah...this was the weird 2-D part I have been referring to as being hard to write like a story...was it a dud or did it work?
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{6} What Happens When Luigi Forgets His Hat
By now Mario and the rest were becoming exceedingly tired of appearing in worlds of varying dimensions and graphical quality; nevertheless, they found themselves in yet another strangely-dimensioned world, this time with a 2.5-D perspective.
gh.ffshrine.org/song/2643/24
For, comical as it was, they were now in the world of ‘Paper Mario’, and therefore, each of them were 2-D cartoons with roughly cut paper outlines. Mario, Luigi, and the Hammer Bros were accustomed to this appearance, but it was strange for them to have reverted to this state after such a long time. Mr. Game & Watch looked exactly the same except his white outline was thicker and looked like a cut-out. Dr. Mario was of the same appearance as Mario except with his doctor clothes, the babies could no longer be carried on Mario and Luigi’s back due to the fact that they were all paper-thin, and the Ice Climbers were amazed at their own simple coloring and the sudden lightness of their hammers.
To make things even more bizarre, the location they found themselves in looked positively childish: they were in a large room shaped like a quarter-circle with them facing the corner. The ground and walls were covered with poorly-matching brightly colored red tiles. There were giant red playing blocks with letters on them stacked in clusters around the room. Finally, stretching across the quarter circle room in an arc parallel to the wall behind them was what appeared to be a train track, which disappeared into tunnels on each of the straight edges of the room. To go with it was a red boarding station in front of the railroad tracks and a red Shy Guy waiting on it with an authoritative-looking hat, apparently being the boarding captain (all of this obviously matching the colorful papery 2.5-D feel).
Mario, evidently familiar with the area of Shy Guy’s Toy Box, walked up to the red Shy Guy and began speaking with it.
The Shy Guy exclaimed, “Yeah, there were three strange Hammer Bros here just a couple minutes ago! They took the train, actually…I’m sorry, but if you want to find them, you’ll have to go the long way…” It pointed to another opening near the curved wall on the right side. Mario nodded appreciatively and walked back to the group.
“It a-looks like we’re a-going the long a-way,” he said obviously.
“We’d better a-hurry before they a-get the a-Pencil as well…” Dr. Mario replied.
“Pen-cil?” Game & Watch asked curiously.
“Right!” General Hammo said firmly. He pointed at the opening they were to go through. “Hammer Brigade A, forward, MARCH!”
The party scurried through the opening, three by three at widest. They entered another room which looked very similar to the first one except the tiles on the floor and walls, the boarding station, the giant playing blocks, and the Shy Guy waiting on the station were all blue.
But this time there was a small whirring and steaming train engine parked behind the boarding station, and three Hammer Bros were disappearing into an opening in the curved back wall.
“That wasn’t much of a long way,” Nana murmured.
“After them!” Hammo bellowed; the long line of Hammer Bros followed Mario, Dr. Mario, the Ice Climbers, and Mr. Game & Watch into the curved opening.
Inside they found a rectangular room with a tall pyramid of giant multi-colored blocks taking up most of the space. The three Hammer Bros. were seen to be hastily climbing over the blocks in an obvious attempt to reach the top.
“Hammer throw!” the General bellowed, resulting in all of the Hammer Bros. tossing hammers at the three scaling figures. Two of the imposters were hit and fell down, but one avoided all the projectiles, and was about to reach the top…
…when Popo and Nana, using their famous cooperative jumping trick, soared over the Hammer Bro and landed on the summit. The sneak began to turn around to flee, but was not able to escape before he was hit by two Freezies, tumbling down the block pyramid encased in ice.
The Ice Climbers did their fighter stance and, looking behind them on the top of the structure, found inside a sizeable treasure chest a simple but large pencil, short, thick, and unimpressive.
Once the imposters had finally been incapacitated by other Hammer Bros, Dr. Mario took time to congratulate the Ice Climbers on their achievement, and told them that they could keep the Pencil for now.
“This a-Pencil will be a great aid to us in the war,” Dr. Mario assured.
The three false Hammer Bros began to shimmer, and to flicker from their former appearances. The group watched with bated breath; finally, the impostors who had troubled them during this whole quest would finally be revealed. But the result was not quite what they expected, such as paper ghosts or other such imitators.
Even though they were paper, it was easy enough to tell that the outlines of the three figures were of Ganondorf, Mr. Game and Watch, and Mario. And each one had a distinct metallic sheen instead of actual color and features; they were metal.
gh.ffshrine.org/song/3501/38
But before they could say or do anything, the ground, no, the whole world began to shake, and things began to distort horribly.
“Alright!” Dr. Mario called out furiously as colors mixed into other colors, shapes blurred, and most everything became unclear. ”Did anyone leave anything behind somewhere?”
Mario looked over at Luigi and gasped. “Luigi! Where’s your a-hat?”
Luigi felt above his head for his hat, but only felt his brown hair. “Oh, no!” he said, panicking.
“That a-would explain it,” Dr. Mario sighed, shaking his head.
From the opening to the blue train station, a white-clad Shy-Guy, despite the chaos of the situation, remained remarkably calm, his distinguished hat and medal-clad uniform giving him an impressive appearance for his size. He had simply been watching what happened, and then disappeared back into the opening. A war, did they say? he thought.
At last, the world was distorted so horribly and shaking so violently that nothing was recognizable or distinct; the colors swirled together until they created a thick black blankness…
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www.imeem.com/evilcucumber/music/tMti00Dd/nintendo_route_1_viridian_city_pok_mon_red_blue_gree/
The first foreign fighters to arrive in Fourside City were, obviously, the Pokemon; this was simply because the Kanto Region was the closest to the sector of the city where Nintendo forces were gathering. This also explained why Jigglypuff, the appointed scout to the Kanto Region, had returned in time to embark with Pichu on their venture to find Mewtwo.
The battalion of Pokemon was like no other. Rather than trained soldiers marching in lines with similar weapons, they came in scores of different species, large and small, fast and bulky, airborne and grounded, intermingled and unorganized only by appearance. It was a mix of every kind of strength and talent, a true sign of the spirit of unity against the Enemy. The interesting part of it was that Jigglypuff had not needed to travel deep into her homeland, nor call abroad in very wide a distance to create a chain reaction summoning this conflux of creatures; the instincts of all Pokemon had already been aware since the Battle of Fourside City that war was coming, and they all agreed in supporting the cause of freedom and acting against the evils of corrupt creation which was Master Hand’s great and abominable crime.
However, at the current time, the Pokemon were the only ones as of yet (aside from those already in Fourside City since the dreadful conflict of the previous week) who had reached the city, and information was sparse while time seemed to be steadily running out for the growing Resistance force which was rapidly becoming an Alliance of the different regions of the Nintendo World, gathering together to fight the tyranny of the one who, up until six years ago, had seemed but another strange resident of the Nintendo World. But now this previously reclusive being was rising up against the world around him, seeking to submit everything to his sinister will, destroy everything and everyone opposed to his desires or against his unethical ideals, and ultimately gain conquest over that which he had, once upon a time, sought to protect from foreign lands. All the while Master Hand had sought to amuse himself with acts of irrational mercy in order to fool the world’s residents into believing that they still stood a chance at victory; he also forsook the rights of a living being to act according to one’s own will and enjoy life by making living creatures and people into a vain collection of trophies for the purpose of his own cruel satisfaction.
Now an army would be gathered to oppose this seemingly omnipotent threat; progress seemed to be happening, but at what rate, no one within Fourside City knew. All that Professor E. Gadd knew was that the messengers had been sent, and so far only the Pokemon had returned. He was not unduly worried about this, for it did not seem unreasonable to allow the regions further away than the Kanto Region more time to muster fighters and bring them here. He was even more excited when Pichu, Jigglypuff, and Mewtwo suddenly appeared right outside his lab. He had just been returning to the lab after talking for a while with Pacman, Marth, and Ness when they teleported in front of him as he approached the building.
“Pichu!” Pichu exclaimed to the professor, which meant something along the lines of “Professor! We’ve brought Mewtwo!”
“Puff…” Jigglypuff said matter-of-factly, rolling her eyes. Her speech translated to ”Thank you for stating the obvious, Pichu.”
Mewtwo stared penetratingly at E. Gadd, his arms folded. “So…you are the leader of this…Resistance?” he communicated telepathically.
The professor, however, did not seem even slightly intimidated by Mewtwo, but rather cheerful. “Yes, that’s me! You must be Mewtwo. Pleased to meet you!” E. Gadd extended his hand as if to shake hands with Mewtwo, but getting the notion that Mewtwo was not the type of being to exchange such greetings with, he retracted his hand. “Have these two discussed the purpose and goal of the Resistance, and extended an invitation for you to join?” He indicated to Pichu and Jigglypuff, who both nodded.
“Yes, they have,” Mewtwo responded. “And I have agreed to assist your cause so long as certain…conditions…are met.”
Professor E. Gadd frowned quizzically. “Conditions? What might these be?”
Pichu and Jigglypuff proceeded to explain that Mewtwo desired a glowing sphere that was part of the power in the other dimension.
The professor thought for a moment. “Well, I personally don’t have a problem with that. But what if the circumstance arises in which the party returns and is unable to obtain this item?”
“Then,” Mewtwo said simply, “your cause will be doomed to failure.” Without waiting for a reply, Mewtwo vanished with a flash.
“Gadzooks! Well, that was unruly!” E. Gadd said almost angrily.
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Character Locations
Dimension Conflux (Paper Mario: Shy Guys' Toy Box): Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Mr. Game & Watch, Ice Climbers, Dr. Mario, 3 Imposters
Fourside City: Bowser, Yoshi, Young Link, Lanky Kong, Kirby, Ganondorf, Bomberman, Goombario, Pit, Tiny Kong, Dixie Kong, Professor E. Gadd, Banjo and Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, Humba Wumba, Marth, Ness, Pacman, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo
Messengers: Prince Peasley, Parakeet, Toad, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Meta Knight, Roy, Toadsworth, Star Wolf, Fox, Falco, Slippy, Peppy, Rito Postman?
: The Shadow Sirens, Shadow[glow=yellow,2,300]Trophy:[/glow] Pikachu, Princess Peach, Samus, Chunky Kong, Sonic, Wario, Waluigi, Captain Falcon[glow=purple,2,300]Captive:[/glow] Goombella, Toadette, Princess Zelda
[glow=gray,2,300]DECEASED:[/glow] The Shadow Hand, Bottles, Orca
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One part left of Ch. 12; you will, I think, be surprised by what happens...
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{7} The General's Passion
www.smashbros.com/en_us/music/music01.html
The blackness cleared. Everyone awoke to find themselves 3-D once more, which was a relief. However, if it was possible, they seemed to themselves a bit too 3-D. Each character was now even more well-defined, detailed, and realistic than they were normally: Mario and Luigi could see the texture on their overalls, the Ice Climbers’ parkas were softer and fuzzier, the Hammer Bros.’ helmets now shone with intricacy, Metal Mario, Mr. Game & Watch, and Ganondorf had extremely well-defined shiny metallic features, and Mr. Game & Watch--was still exactly the same. Also, for some reason, Dr. Mario’s appearance had not changed at all.
They rested on a single large flat floating hulk with three small platforms spaced above it. On the Battlefield were small bushes and very detailed dirt ground. Surrounding the floating landmass was a beautiful grassy landscape complete with mountains, streams, and a very colorful setting sun, causing the sky to be ablaze with shades of yellow, orange, and pink.
Mario, like the others, was agape in wonder. “Where are we?”
Dr. Mario got up, looking at their surroundings. “If I am a-correct, the malfunction a-caused by Luigi caused the dimensions to a-tremble and blend; the a-force of the contacts shot us up through the dimensional a-boundary, since we were at the a-center of the disturbance. We are now not in an old dimension, but a new one; we are in the a-future.”
Oblivious to the shock of the others, Mr. Game & Watch did not look well. “The fut-ure?” he said faintly. “I can’t take this ve-ry long…I was just get-ting used to the nor-mal world…”
“Look!” The Ice Climbers simultaneously pointed upwards with their hammers. As the rest followed their gaze, they laid their eyes upon a miraculous ball, glowing and shining with wondrous colors, and the Super Smash Bros. insignia blazing upon it.
“That,” Dr. Mario said, “must be the final Power of the Dimensions.”
www.imeem.com/perfect-blue/music/EFGuEkAk/battlefield_super_smash_bros_melee/
Suddenly they heard a cry and turned around to see three Hammer Bros. get smashed off the stage by the metal entities.
“Alright, then, a fight to the finish!” General Hammo hollered as he leapt forward with his hammer towards the metal figures.
The landmass, which now seemed rather small for the 28 Hammer Bros, 3 metal clones, and 8 others, was now rumbling with action as the metal clones leaped over the cluster of Hammer Bros and landed on the top platform.
“Watch out!” Dr. Mario cried as most of the Hammer Bros tried to jump onto the same platform. “They have a--” But Metal Ganondorf had already thrown the Poke’ball which had been lying on the ground, and out of it came a huge, monstrous Pokemon with red plates, a spiked tail, and deadly-looking claws.
“Groudon!” General Hammo cried, but too late. Every single Hammer Bro, besides the general, had fallen into the clones’ trap; the legendary Pokemon let out a large roar, and its body burned with a massive flame, engulfing the remainder of General Hammo’s Hammer Brigade A in deadly flames. Afterwards, Groudon vanished, leaving only black scorch marks and blackened helmets, hammers, and shells.
“YOU! WILL! PAY!!!” Hammo screamed, as the valiant grieving general leapt onto the top platform and smashed Metal Ganondorf in the head with his hammer. The wooden mallet had nothing against solid iron, however, and it splintered in Hammo’s hands off of the metal head. Metal Ganondorf responded with a quick but very brutal punch to the gut, knocking Hammo off of the high platform onto the Battlefield unconscious.
“Let’s a-go!” Mario, Luigi, and the Babies cried out simultaneously, and they, along with the Ice Climbers, Game & Watch, and Dr. Mario, leapt onto the top platform. As they passed from beneath, however, Metal Mario did a sweeping kick, knocking away the Ice Climbers, Dr. Mario, Mario, and Luigi. The Babies jumped out of their older selves’ backs as they fell, and slammed Metal Mario with their stone hammers, which did some damage, knocking it off the platform.
Meanwhile, Mr. Game & Watch shook a small black platform below Metal Mr. Game & Watch, knocking him off also.
As soon as they did this, Metal Ganondorf shoved the Babies and Game & Watch with his shoulder, sending them off flashing with a purple effect.
“NO!” Dr. Mario cried, but before anyone else could return to the top platform, Metal Ganondorf jumped into the air, and did his third jump, grabbing the glowing sphere at the height of the feat.
And as if by some otherworldly force, the three metal imposters flickered in and out of appearance, more and more frequently until they were gone.
“Babies!” Mario and Luigi cried, for both the Babies were unconscious. They gently picked up the tiny bodies and placed them on their backs.
Dr. Mario, Game & Watch, Popo, and Nana looked at the devastated Battlefield: scorch marks, burning shells and hammers, General Hammo’s failing body. The sun had now set behind them, and the overly-detailed night was dark, cold, still, and lonely.
“We’ve got to a-go to your world,” Dr. Mario said decisively, looking grimly at Hammo. “They have a-two of the Powers of the Dimensions; we have a-three. There can be no a-more delay; we must join you’re a-war and fight to see what a-comes out of all this.”
With that, Dr. Mario threw a red and yellow megavitamin, creating a rip in the dimensional fabric, going through into the building with the two locked doors.
First Dr. Mario, then Mr. Game & Watch, next Mario and Luigi carrying the injured babies, lastly Popo and Nana, carrying Hammo’s body, the heroes filed through the rip, their mission partially accomplished, but every face grim and discouraged.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Character Locations
Dimension Conflux (Paper Mario: Future Battlefield): Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi, Mr. Game & Watch, Ice Climbers, Dr. Mario
Fourside City: Bowser, Yoshi, Young Link, Lanky Kong, Kirby, Ganondorf, Bomberman, Goombario, Pit, Tiny Kong, Dixie Kong, Professor E. Gadd, Banjo and Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, Humba Wumba, Marth, Ness, Pacman, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo
Messengers: Prince Peasley, Parakeet, Toad, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Meta Knight, Roy, Toadsworth, Star Wolf, Fox, Falco, Slippy, Peppy, Rito Postman?
: The Shadow Sirens, Shadow[glow=yellow,2,300]Trophy:[/glow] Pikachu, Princess Peach, Samus, Chunky Kong, Sonic, Wario, Waluigi, Captain Falcon[glow=purple,2,300]Captive:[/glow] Goombella, Toadette, Princess Zelda
[glow=gray,2,300]DECEASED:[/glow] The Shadow Hand, Bottles, Orca, 49 Hammer Bro Soldiers
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The longest chapter is finally over; it will wind a bit down from here, then slowly speed up towards the final climax.
