Chapter 1: Medical Wasted
I've got to stop him! Mario persistently kept thinking. It looked like Bowser was going to win, he was finally going to have his way. The speedy stomping sounds ahead of Mario seemed to draw farther away. Mario was losing energy fast and he had no magical items to help him.
Once again, Bowser had a plan to take over the Earth. Ludwig von Koopa invented a portable timestopper to freeze time so Bowser could sneak into North Korea's City Hall, where the president would be. Then, Bowser would kill him and take his place as president of North Korea. After doing this, he planned to use all of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction to... no, it's just too horrible to continue. Mario knew he had to stop Bowser, before his ruling of the world commenced! I've got to stop him! I've got to stop him! I've GOT TO STOP HIM!!!
"Mario! Mario!" Peach yelled. "Bowser has gone into the sewers, you must hurry!"
Our unprepared plumber kept running. Mario saw blurs as Bowser ran faster and faster, killing every person he saw in his way. A path of blood lead the way to the mischievous monster. Mario was horribly disgusted, but ignored the feeling and kept running. He eventually reached the sewers as well.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn's Medical Research Center, two workers were carrying a steel barrel full of medical waste. They were hastily and carefully jogging to a manhole cover. Obviously, the medical waste they were carrying was nothing but failure. A professor was trying to find a cure for throat cancer, which had been on the rise since a new tobacco shop had opened. The professor had attempted many cures, but once again, he had failed in his efforts.
"Well, I guess this is another failure," said one of the workers carrying the barrel. "I thought that the professor had finally got the cure for throat cancer, but I guess science can only go so far..."
"Will you shut up?" the other worker exclaimed. "You sound like that crazy professor! Cure for cancer..." the worker simply mumbled as he rolls his eyes.
The two workers finally reached a manhole cover and poured the waste carefully, hoping that none of the waste would touch them. The waste slowly went down the pipes and through a cornucopia of a maze. The mucky waste kept sliding through the pipes, like it wanted to reach its destination.
Meanwhile, Mario finally had to take a rest. He simply looked at his surroundings. The sewers looked grimier than he imagined. The stone walls were a strangely beautiful dark gray. The pipes were leaking greenish sewer water and nasty objects that will be left unmentioned. The sewer water was slowly flowing and reeked worse than the sweaty gloves Mario wears. He looked down in disgust. "Huh... huh..." Mario gasped for air and simply said, "I guess he finally won. I couldn't stop him."
The waste kept sliding thorough the pipes until it reached the unsealed end. Mario was startled by the sound of the waste and then... BAM! The waste splattered all over Mario. Mario groaned in disgust as he tried to wipe the horrible waste off his clothing. Suddenly, Mario was groaning louder and louder, and he had started to glow a bright neon green. Mario kept moaning. Suddenly, the moaning converted into a blood-curling scream as the radioactivity of the waste kept flowing through Mario's body. Mario suddenly had a seizure, and the radioactivity was growing stronger and stronger and STRONGER!
BOOM! The waste gave out a gigantic glow of neon green, coursing through the sewers. Bowser saw the glow and froze in fear. There, Mario suddenly appeared, right in front of him. Mario glowed violently and his tone was a dark green color. Bowser was choked by his surprise as Mario suddenly raised his hand and made a fist with it. Bowser suddenly rose into the air and was flying away from Mario until he hit a wall, hard. Then, Mario clenched his fist again as veins popped from his forehead and a pipe slowly slid out of the wall. Bowser shook his head and then saw the pipe aiming at him. He tried to dodge it, but too late! The pipe hit his jaw and he was flung into the sewer water. Mario stepped forward onto the discarded teeth that had until recently belonged in Bowser's jaw.
Then, Mario focused hard and said, "You will throw away the timestopper and blame Ludwig for its failure." Then he threw an invisible sonicboom from his forehead at Bowser. Bowser mimicked Mario's words. He dropped the mechanical gun and stepped on it. Bowser slowly walked to a pipe that led to Dark Land, one meter from where he was standing, as if nothing had happened. Then the glowing stopped and Mario fainted onto the floor.
* * *
Later, Mario woke up in the princess' room. He shook his head and saw the surroundings around him. As usual, the room was covered in pink and white. Her dresser was left opened and he saw dresses of the same formality as Peach's. The vanity was a nice structure of pink wood and he saw pictures of himself, taped on the mirror with tons of kisses of pink and red on them. The floor was nicely tiled with, once again, white and pink. The bed was comfy and nicely tucked in. The balcony outside showed a group of birds flying away from a peach tree, chirping happily. The fireplace was not lit up yet, but assorted, unburned logs showed a fire would burn there later.
Peach entered the room with a tray of chicken noodle soup, saltine crackers, and water that contained Alka-Selzter, which must have been swiped from Mario's home. "Mario!" Peach exclaimed. "I'm surprised to see you're awake!"
"Huh?" Mario questioned. "Wh-where am I?"
"In my room, silly. We found you laying in the sewers when we were worried since you hadn't returned for three days."
"THREE DAYS?!"
"Yes, you lust lay there in the water. We took you to my room, hoping you would feel much better. I'm glad to see you've awoken."
"Wow... who would've known? It's weird, because I can't seem to remember a thing and... and..."
Mario went back to sleep in the princess' bed. Peach simply chuckled and said, "Good night, Mario."
During his sleep, Mario had a violent dream. He kept seeing visions of blood, destruction, and screaming crowds from his own eyes. Everything went so quickly and he suddenly perspired and twitched. The visions kept going and going and the dream kept becoming more and more violent. Everything was spiraling as Mario twitched more and his nose started to bleed. Everything went faster and faster and FASTER until, he finally woke up.
Mario woke up with a sudden gasp and quickly looked around him. It was nighttime and the night seemed so evil for some reason. He touched the nostrils of his nose and felt blood. He went to the restroom and took cotton balls and inserted them up his nose. He washed his face as he kept remembering the violent dream. What did it all mean? It felt like it WAS going to happen. He took the thoughts out of his head as he went to bed, telling himself, "It didn't happen. It was just a dream. Just a dream."
Mario went back to sleep in the comfortable,
pink bed and dreamed normally once again. However, he had no idea about
the rude awakening he would receive in the morning. Sweet dreams, Mario,
as you will have a sour morning.
Chapter 2: Vision Im-scared
Morning arrived and Mario was awoken by Peach. Peach shook him violently and said in a startling voice, "MARIO! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS! IT'S HORRIBLE!" Mario immediately got up, dressed quickly, grabbed a pancake, and ate it fast without chewing. Mario got a little woozy after eating that, but resumed running. He ran and ran on the nicely aligned tile along the path as he kept hoping that nobody was hurt. Don't get your hopes up, Mario. It's too late for that.
Mario finally arrived five minutes later and saw a group of residents weeping. The Toad Town Police was wrapping the bodies as Mario made in to the scene.
"Ah, Master Mario," an officer replied. "Something terrible had happened here; a poor family was mauled to death in a very gory battle. We have found no clues, but maybe you can be of assistance."
Mario agreed to help.
"Good!" the officer replied. "This might seem a little shocking, but I think there is something wrong with the father's corpse. Would you like..." he gulped in terror, "...a peek?"
Mario was kind of frightened, but agreed. The officer showed Mario to the corpse and slowly raised the covers. The corpse showed that medium-sized cuts were all over his chest and a gigantic bruise was on his cheek. When Mario saw this, something suddenly popped into his head. He saw a poor man, laying there on the floor, dieing and begging for mercy. Mario noticed it was the father! He also noticed that the vision had come from his violent dream the previous night. Mario immediately shook his head and resumed checking the body. Mario found something on top of the corpse's chest. He told the officer about it and one of the doctors pulled out a pair of tweezers and got it. It was a piece of tiny, ripped paper. The paper only showed a backwards c and the upper half of a t. Weird, what does that have to do with anything?
Mario immediately shook his head and resumed checking the body. Mario found something on top of the corpse's chest. He told the officer about it and one of the doctors pulled out a pair of tweezers and got it. It was a piece of tiny, ripped paper. The paper only showed a backwards c and the upper half of a t. Weird, what does that have to do with anything?
Suddenly, a screaming girl came out of the shed and ran around in horror. A doctor immediately grabbed her and gave her a shot to calm her down. The girl still screamed and struggled to get out of the doctor's grasp, but then she started to calm down and felt very dazed.
"It looks like something really scared her," said the doctor. "In fact, it must've been so scary that her brain has shut down, she's just one step away to being scared to death."
When Mario saw her, he had another vision from the violent dream. This one showed the daughter in a corner screaming in fear. Mario shook his head again.
"Mario," said the doctor, "are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I-think-I-need-to-go-back-a-to-my-house! Bye!" Mario said hastily as he ran to his home in panic.
When Mario finally arrived, he immediately went into his bedroom. Fortunately, Luigi wasn't around, because he really felt like being alone. He sat on the bed trying to clear his mind, but the thoughts of those poor people and the violent dream just wouldn't get out of his head.
Mario kept sitting on his bed, thinking. Why did I think those things in the first place? Oh, god. Something is happening to me. Maybe a nap will clear things up. Yeah... a... nap...
Mario immediately fell sideways into the pillow and dozed. However, the nap didn't clear his head as he had the violent dream again, except it showed the visions more clearly. This time, something was whispering in his head, but it was unintelligible.
One hour later, Mario woke up and found sweat all over his body. I had the dream again! thought our panicky plumber. What does it even mean? Why is this even happening to me?! Then, Mario heard the whispering voice again. K... m... l...
"What is in my head?!" Mario screamed. "Get out of my head!" While he tried to get those horrible thoughts out of his head, a nearby vase suddenly broke to pieces. Mario gasped. He looked around to see what had happened. Nobody had broken the vase. Mario then started to remember something; the fight in the sewers.
The waste, the telekinesis, the mind domination. It all came back to him. He finally realized something. "I have psychic powers," he said.
* * *
One day later, Mario was doing his usual chores... with his telekinesis, of course. Mario had kept the powers a secret to everyone around him, but whenever hard or boring work was involved, Mario used his powers (after first making sure no one was looking, of course). As Mario kept focusing on raising the bunkbed so he coud vacuum under it, he heard a lock click open.
It was Luigi. Mario immediately stopped everything. The vacuum turned off and the bunkbed fell onto the floor, making Mario fly since he was on the top bunk. He hit the ceiling and landed on the floorboards. Mario groaned in pain. Luigi entered the bedroom and said, "Mario, are you okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm okay," Mario replied.
"What are you doing on the floor anyway?"
"Uh... I was picking up dust on the floor with tweezers?"
"Wow! I can't believe you are doing your chores perfectly! Doesn't being a neat person make you feel good?"
"Yeah." Geez Louise, Luigi. You are such a nerd!
"Well, it's getting late, so let's hit the hay."
Mario looked out the window. The sky was pitch black and the stars shined very brightly. He felt very grumpy about this. He had just finished his chores and now he couldn't go out and start the day. Darn you, spring cleaning, he thought.
After a battle over who needed to spit first into the sink so they could rinse, our plumbing heroes got ready for bed. Mario went fast asleep again, hoping that the violent dream would not occur again.
During that night, somebody lurking in the shadows was walking around Toad Town in a trance. The unknown person went around town unnoticed and then saw a house. It was your average house with a nice burgundy roof and beautiful, redefined red bricks. The mystery person went inside. The people living there were happily asleep until they woke up and spotted the mystery man in front of them. They screamed at the top of their lungs. There was a big battle in the house: broken objects, bloodprints, and a leftover knife. Ten minutes passed and the mystery person walked out of the house. Oddly, no other residents heard the battle; it was as if it never happened. The mystery person left the town, nowhere to seen.
It looks like this is the murderer Mario
is looking for, but who is he and why is he doing this? Perhaps morning
will tell...
Chapter 3: Toad Trap
"I can't believe this," said Mario. "The mystery man strikes again!"
"Hey!" shouted Peach.
"Okay, okay. Mystery person," said Mario.
Mario and Peach were at the scene of the crime. It was a regular residential house that had been vandalized. The house had broken windows, ripped-up furniture, and traces of blood. So far, they had found no bodies.
The local residents were really scared. Mario had no clue who the murderer was, but he seemed to be very crafty because lots of residents should've heard that battle. Plus, where were the bodies? It was possible the inhabitants had escaped; there were many potential escape routes. But they all seemed to be closed and unused.
"HEY!" an officer yelled. "We got two bodies over here!"
The police, Mario, Luigi, and the princess rushed to the backyard. The policeman was waiting there and pointing at the shed. Mario and a couple of policemen walked in and saw the victims, although they were in shadows since the shed was dark. They were hanging by a garden hose. The lolookers couldn't believe what they saw. Footprints showed that the victims had gone into the shack without hesitation. Why did they go into a deadend? This mystery person clearly had some very weird methods, although they seemed to work very well.
"Who is this guy?" said a policewoman. "He just keeps getting weirder and weirder!"
Mario walked closer to take a better glimpse at the bodies, and then... he had another vision. It showed the victims, clawing their way out while screaming and begging for mercy. Once again, Mario shook his head.
"That's it," said the warden, "we are going to set a trap for this guy. Mario, I need your help to set it up."
Mario accepted and they were on their way. After lots of logical thinking, they were finished. The plan was this: a policeman would be used as a distraction and would be placed in a home overnight. The killer would go into the house because the policeman would shoot at him. The policeman would run from the backyard and jump over the old tiger trap that was placed on the road, and the killer would fall in. The trap was to be covered with a quarter-of-an-inch long slab of concrete that would break when someone took a step on it. Then an officer would pull the rope and the net in the bottom of the pit would rise and trap the killer, with nine other officers for backup. It's a little clichè, but everyone was sure the plan would work. Everything was set up perfectly, with one exception. Unfortanely, Mario remembered that he had to do more spring cleaning with Luigi, so he couldn't stake out with the police.
* * *
Later at night, the officer was in position to see if the mystery ma... person had arrived, and he had. The mystery man was covered in layers of black fabric. The officer shot the mystery person. However, the bullet seemed to have stopped immediately. The officer was surprised and blinked in awe. After that blink, the mystery person was in front of him!
Meanwhile, the officers were in place until they heard a scream. "HELP!!!" It was the decoy. It looked like he hadn't made it. The team ran and found the mystery person, holding the lone officer's weapon. Adjacent to him was the officer, laying there in death. The warden gave a signal to run to lure the suspect into the trap. The team ran. The mystery person ran after them, literally at light-speed. He grabbed the warden and threw him into the trap as if he knew there was a trap laid the whole time. The team tried to fight the mystery person, but they were no match for his unusual strength and threw them into the pit as well. The officers tried to climb out, but it was no use, they were too badly injured to move. The mystery man pulled the rope and encased the team in the net they laid. The officers were screaming for help, but strangely, nobody replied. The mystery person went closer to the trapped team and raised his hood. They couldn't believe their eyes when they saw who this person was! However, it was too late to be sure, because the mystery person gave a horrid stare and the team screamed the night away.
* * *
The next morning, Mario found the officers, dead. He found the decoy laying with a couple of bullet shots through the chest. The team in the net had been scared beyond reason. They had died of fright. Mario was worried that the police force would be short-staffed. Now he had to find the killer, fast! If he failed, then the killer might get Mario as well.
The doctor ordered the bodies be taken away to the morticians. Then he walked up to Mario and asked him what happened.
"I wouldn't know," replied Mario. "I didn't stake-out with them. This is horrible..."
Suddenly, a strong boom was heard from the hills of Toad Town. It was Bowser, going to Toad Town in a new and improved doomship. It had a metal hull and big turbine engines. Bowser was with his gigantic army, going to attack and kidnap the princess once again in a humongous attempt. Mario jumped onto a roof, with a Fire Flower in his pocket. He jumped off the roof and onto the anchor hanging off Bowser's ship. Mario climbed the rope higher and higher, not noticing that Bowser was already at the castle and had already captured Princess Peach again.
"Mario!" the princess yelled. Mario knew that Bowser had already captured her. He grabbed the edge of the doomship and flopped himself onto the top. He found an army of Paratroopas waiting for him. Mario jumped on every one of them, knocking off their wings in progress. He grabbed a shell from one of the Koopas and threw it at every single one of them, making them fall overboard. Mario ran right to Bowser. He took out his Fire Flower and used it. Bowser only laughed.
"I knew you were bringing a power-up," chuckled the tyrant. Bowser pulled out a ray gun. He shot at Mario, who yelled in pain. "Ahh! Power... draining. Feeling... weak," Mario stammered. The ray gun that Bowser had obviously was meant to drain Mario's superpowers.
Mario was now a sitting duck. He couldn't
fight him now unless... no, he couldn't use his new powers or everyone
would think he was a gigantic freak. Mario was in an impasse; should he
use his powers and let the princess know? The princess screamed in horror.
Mario ran to her immediately. Will Mario reveal his secret to the whole
town?
Chapter 4: Run Away Plumber
Mario was in a bind, a very hard bind. He was not sure if he could use his powers or not. If he did, they would fear him and he could never help the Toads again since he was a freak. However, if he didn't, Bowser would win and takeover the place. Mario was cracking under the pressure as the princess continued to scream and the tyrant Koopa kept cackling.
Mario had an idea when he saw a rope holding a crate in the sky. He used his powers and the rope snapped under Mario's pressure. The crate fell from the sky. Mario ran toward the princess and snatched her while leaping off the ship. Bowser tried to follow him, but the crate fell on him and he fell unconscious. Bowser's henchmen ran to him and gave him medical care as Mario continued to fall. The princess screamed for her life as she thought she would die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die, thought the princess.
The people cheered as Mario suddenly grabbed a branch from a tree to halt his fall. He jumped down and the residents picked him up and cheered as Mario bathed in the limelight. It was sure a good thing that nobody saw me doing that trick up there, said Mario. Otherwise, the secret would be out and mamamia, I would be in a whole lot of trouble. Mario was still being given cheers and "hip-hip-hoorays" as the residents marched down with Mario in their hands.
* * *
Mario was walking in the park a week later. He had decided to walk home to relax in his bed. He passed by several houses as he walked through the town. Then, he saw something that was near the house where the father had been murdered: a piece of paper in the trash can, sticking out as if it wanted to be picked up by Mario. He walked to the trash can, picked up the paper, and walked home, with a feeling that wasn't very good.
When he arrived, he noticed that Luigi was asleep in his bedroom. He picked up the little piece of paper with the upper half of a 't' and a backwards 'c' from his underwear drawer. He obtained some tape from a cabinet, put the pieces of paper together, and saw the most shocking thing ever. A message that was unbelievable and put Mario in denial, but he couldn't get it out of his head. The message was there and he couldn't deny it.
It read "Mario did it."
"It can't be," said Mario. "I didn't kill them, I didn't!" Mario was rapidly sweating as he kept seeing that note that read Mario did it. "Why?" questioned the confused plumber. "Why me? I didn't do this! Mamamia, I just can't believe this!"
"But it is true."
Mario looked around as he heard a voice that came from nowhere. "Who said that?" said Mario.
"I did." The voice was heard again.
Mario walked outside to get some fresh air, thinking he was becoming delusional.
"I'm still here." Mario heard it again. He couldn't believe it, there was nobody there, yet the voice was becoming louder.
"Show yourself!" Mario yelled. Mario waited and waited, but nobody came out.
"I can't show myself, because I'm not actually there," said the voice. "I'm everywhere."
"What? But, I don't see you anywhere at all!"
"Maybe I'm everywhere because you think I’m everywhere."
"Who are you?!"
"I think that you can figure it out for yourself, but first, let's have a chat about good and evil."
"What? Oh, my head. Hey, stop it. Stop it! Stop it!"
Mario let out a loud scream as the birds
flocked away from the loud noise. Luigi woke up all of a sudden from that
scream. He knew it sounded like Mario. He put on his slippers and a coat
as he ran out of the house. He couldn't find Mario around anywhere. He
searched around the house as he got more and more worried about his older,
pudgier brother. Then he saw footprints; footprints that lay the shape
of Mario's shoes. Luigi looked in horror as he saw the footprints continued
on into the deepness of the forest, leading to Toad Town. Luigi only had
one thought that was repeated over and over again: What happened to
Mario?
Chapter 5: Manipulation
Mario, what happened to you? That thought persistently raced through Luigi's mind as he kept running through the forest, following the footprints. He kept running along, ignoring the forest fauna and flora. Then, he saw something unbelievable: the footprints stopped at a cliff, but when he focused, he noticed that the other side had footprints going the same direction, as though there was no cliff. Luigi ran the long way around and found a bridge. He crossed the bridge and kept running and found himself in Toad Town.
It suddenly became macabre. Fire was at every inch of home and lawn. People ran in circles, screaming at the top of their lungs. The sky was an apocalyptic red. Luigi searched for Mario, hoping he was all right. Then, he found someone. Is that Mario? he thought. It sure looks like him. He decided to walk up to the shadowy figure. It was in the shape of Mario, but his skin tone had vanished. It was a pale gray Mario. His hair was a very light shade of white. His eyes were colored the most gruesome red Luigi hds ever saw.
However, it was Mario; Luigi could tell.
"Heh-heh-heh," said the Gray Mario. The voice sounded like Mario's, but it was combined with another voice; a runic, robotic, and eerie voice.
"M-M-Mario?" asked Luigi in a whisper. "Is that you?"
"Mario is no more," replied the Gray Mario. "I am... Viral." He turned in a quick flash, facing Luigi.
"You can't be somebody else, you look like Mario, only paler."
"But, I am. You can't deny it. That is what your brother did."
"My brother? But how?"
"It all started long ago. A scientist was trying to create a cure for throat cancer. He had done tons of research and experimenting. But alas, medical technology can omly go so far. He created me, a virus, capable of psychic powers and control of the human body. The scientist ordered that I be placed in a barrel full of medical waste and poured me into the sewers. Eventually, I landed on your brother. I gave him the psychic powers, while I tried to control him. It took some time. I had those sudden bursts of taking over his body."
"So, you killed those people, didn't you?"
"Yes, I needed a good killing spree. I was just bored."
"You're not evil, you're just psychotic."
"Ahh... let me finish. Your brother didn't want to reveal the truth, so he kept me in hiding; that helped me grow more powerful. Just this night, I finally got into the deep innards of your brother's mind and finally took control. I decided to take over this town and let it become in my rule. And that's just the beginning, my friend. I will soon take over this planet and make it mine. Earth was already a dump, so why take it over? This place is beautiful, prosperous, and large; just right for world domination."
Luigi clenched his fist. He ran and was going to punch Viral, until he let out his hand, making a stop signal, and Luigi stopped. Viral replied, "Go ahead, hit me. Only your brother will feel pain."
Luigi let down his guard and said, "Mario! Take control! You can fight it! Do it! DO IT!"
"Shut up," said Viral, "He can't listen to... to..." Then Viral got twitchy and muttered nonsense. He put his hands to his cheeks and shook his head. His eyes turned into Mario's eye color. Mario replied in short bursts, "Luigi... The medic...al factory.. .w-where HE was... G-go th-th..." Mario screamed and Viral took over again, resuming with his red eyes. "Shut up!" said Viral to himself. "I'm taking over YOUR body. Your resistance is futile. Now, I'll finish what's important to you." He looked at where Luigi was. He was gone.
Luigi ran to the pipe system down under, hoping he could find the tunnel to Brooklyn and hoping that Viral wasn't following him. He ran for his life into the darkness of the pipe system. We can only hope he knows what he is doing.