Chapter 7: The Search #2
"Sensei!" Jinx said. "I wish to challenge you again for the right to command the dojo again!"
"Stop it with that I'm not worthy to look at you act!" said Mario. "And I told you, I'm not interested in owning a dojo, so you can just have it back."
"I won't let you leave without a fight!" Jinx restated.
"Don't worry, Mario, I'll do it," said Luigi. "How hard can it be to stop an ant?"
"I wouldn't judge anyone by size, Luigi, especially not Jinx!" Mario explained.
"I'll be fine!" Luigi said as he nodded to Jinx.
"Begin!" Jinx shouted.
Luigi immediately tried to kick the little ninja, with no success. Jinx was extremely fast, and surprisingly strong, very strong. Jinx quickly punched Luigi's stomach while shouting, "Quick Silver!" And wiith that, Luigi fell down.
Luigi immediately surrendered, and Jinx then helped him back up.
"Your efforts are noble," said Jinx, "but you lack the strength to defeat me."
"That's it!" Mario shouted. "Time to repay my debt from that time King Boo trapped me in that painting. Come on, Jinx!"
"Begin!" Jinx said as he got into position.
Mario jumped behind Jinx, and tried to punch. Then Jinx quickly kicked at Mario. Both of them failed to avoid the other's attack. Jinx tried to jump up and punch Mario in the face, but Mario quickly ducked, and then sprung up and punched Jinx's feet while he was still descending. Jinx hit the ground hard, but quickly got back up and shook it off.
"I can see you've improved your technique,
Sensei!" Jinx complimented. "However, you will find that I, too, have improved
since we last fought!"
Sonic and his friends were running through the Forest of Illusion when they saw something glaring likie the sun near the horizion, which caught their attention seeing as it was only three in the afternoon.
"What was that?" asked Knuckles. "You ever seen anything that bright?"
"Not often," said Sonic. "But yeah, why? You're not suggesting that we waste time to check it out, are you?"
"Yes, it could be important," said Knuckles. "We should check it out."
"Yeah, and so could checking out this Monstrotown place," Sonic said. "What if Robotnik put a bomb there as a trap for us? That means innocent people could get hurt."
"For some reason, I don't think that Robotnik is the one behind this," Knuckles reasoned. "I've just got this strange feeling that someone we don't even know has been manipulating us this whole time."
"You've said that every time we've gone on an adventure since Gramps turned into Metal Overlord, and you've been wrong every time!" complained Sonic.
"Let's just check it out, it's not like we can't take a small detour," Tails added.
"Fine! Forget that we've got something
important to do! Let's just get this over with!" Sonic said in an annoyed
manner.
"Last time I saw you, I hadn't mastered this move," Jinx explained to Mario. "But now, I've perfected it!"
Jinx quickly ran under Mario's legs, jumped up, and used his elbow to punch Mario in the back while yelling, "Quicksilver!"
Mario fell to his knees and was breathing heavily.
"V-very good Jinx," Mario congratulated his opponent. "But if I were you, I'd call this match off right now. So I'll ask you one last time; are you sure that you want to fight me?"
"Correct me if I am mistaken, Sensei, but I do not believe that I'm the one becoming acquainted with the dirt, now am I?" Jinx mocked.
"Allow me to change that," Mario said as he got back up.
Mario then jumped back a bit, pointed to Jinx with his right hand, and then made the "bring it on" hand signal with the same hand that he had used to point at Jinx with.
Jinx decided to keep on the offensive, and tried for a Silver Bullet like the one he had used to take down Luigi.
Mario knew that there was no turning
back now, as he had no chance of blocking the Silver Bullet after taking
something as strong as the Quicksilver. His only chance was to counter
it, which he was in no position to do... but since when has that stopped
him from being heroic before? He quickly, yet carefully, attempted to grab
Jinx by the arm... he missed. Once again, Mario kissed the floor.
Sonic and his friends reached the place where they had seen the glare coming from.
"Keep your gaurd up, everyone," Knuckles said. "I've got a bad feeling about this!"
"It's not like anyone has ever been able to take on the three of us together," said Sonic as he shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Well I'll say, the source of that mysterious light doesn't seem to be here at all," said a woman with a southern accent.
"Who's there?" asked Tails.
"What? Oh, I'm quite sorry, I didn't notice you three there," she apologized, still out of sight. "But if I show you, you have to be promised not to be, er, startled by my appearance."
"Lady, when you've seen as much as we have, there's not much that can scare you at just a glance," said Knuckles. "And trust me, we've seen a lot."
"Well, okay, Bootler, let's show them," said Bow as she and her buttler revealed themselves.
Sonic and Tails were calm, but Knuckles was afraid of only one thing that anybody who knew him could figure out: ghosts!
"I think I'd like to take back what I just said," Knuckles said in an anxious manner. "Why did it have to be ghosts?"
"You'll have to forgive Knuckles, we all have our irrational fears," said Tails. "Mine is finding myself fighting Robotnik wiith all seven Super Emeralds, the Master Emerald, and a giant robot that killed Sonic and then I have to face. Completely irrational, right?"
"For my sake, I sure hope so," Sonic said. "But, I don't have any fears like that, so don't worry about me."
"Yes you do!" corrected Tails. "Your hydrophobia is far worse then Knuckles's polterphobia!"
"Hydro-whatica?" Sonic asked.
"It means you're afraid of water, which you can't deny," Knuckles said, trying to ignore Bow and Bootler.
"Did you boys hear something?" asked Bow. "I could've sworn I just heard someone in those bushes."
"I'll check it out... and I'm not afraid of water!" Sonic argued.
"You're right; you're not afraid of it, you're terrified!" Knuckles mocked.
When Sonic reached the bushes, he couldn't believe what he saw.
"No way!" he said. "It can't be!"
"What is it, Sonic?" asked Tails.
"Do you consent me as the victor?" Jinx asked as he paused.
Mario got up, and while doing so, he said, "Shin no tatakai wa... korekare da!"
Luigi just looked at the battle with a blank expression, and Jinx knew what Luigi was thinking: What in the world did he just say?
"Very well put, Sensei," Jinx said. "Although I do not believe your brother speaks Japanese."
"Do you remember the second Super Smash Bros. tournament?" Mario asked. Luigi nodded, and Mario continued. "Well, whenever Roy seemed to have lost to someone, he would say that. In my match against him, in Onett, I asked him what it meant. He said he would tell me if I could prove him wrong. After a long heated battle with him, and no clue what he meant, I defeated him, and he said, 'The true battle... begins here!'"
"I was in the audience at all of your matches, Sensei," Jinx said, "and I must agree, that if you can win now, then what you said has never been more appropriate!"
"As Roy also said in the match before I defeated him, 'Mamoru dekimono no tame ni... makerarenai!'"
Luigi wasn't sure if he should, but he asked anyway, "What was the story behind that one?"
"Well, it was the last preliminary match. That round we went by Stamina rules, and Roy was hanging from the edge of Peach's castle with his sword below him, and Bowser standing right above him. He couldn't go down to get his sword, as touching the ground would make him the loser. You're weak! Bowser snarled, getting ready to deliver the final blow. You would probably be better off... original recipee!
"With that, Bowser inhaled, preparing to use his flame breath to finish Roy off, and then Roy quickly jumped back on, and grabbed a fan. Don't make me laugh! Bowser growled at the swordsman. Don't tell me that you expect to stop me with that! This is too rich!
"Bowser resumed his attack as Roy threw the fan at Bowser, and Bowser went flying in the air. On his descent, Roy grabbed Bowser, and said, Perhaps you are stronger then me. However, there is a reason that you will not win! Mamoru dekimono no tame ni... makerarenai! With that, he threw Bowser off the castle, and onto the ground."
"So what does it mean?" Luigi asked.
Mario smiled and said, "For those I protect... I cannot lose!"
"Then prove to me that you can protect us from this threat!" Jinx said. "If you wish to defeat this one that comes from another reality, you need all the training you can get! No one has ever been able to dodge this attack, not even you, Sensei!"
Jinx ran towards Mario while shouting, "Quicksilver!"
Mario ran towards Jinx, then allowed Jinx to begin his attack. Mario then, instead of trying to brace for or dodge the attack, allowed his muscles to go limp, and didn't even try to block the attack. Jinx hit, but Mario just stood there.
"It's not an attack," Mario said. "It's a counter, isn't it?"
Jinx just smiled.
"A counter that turns an opponent's block against them," Mario said. "So the trick isn't to block the attack, but to just allow it to hit. A counter can't work without something for it to counter." [Do NOT try doing this in Super Mario RPG, if you do, Jinx will masacure you!]
"Correct," said Jinx. "I surrender, Sensei."
"Stop calling me that!" said Mario. "I do have a name, you know!"
"Hey!" shouted Luigi. "That's my line!"
"Mario no go yet!" shouted Yoshi from a distance. "Yoshi have letter for Mario Brothers!"
Yoshi ran over to the three of them and handed the letter over to Mario.
"What's it say?" asked Luigi.
"Well, let's take a look," Mario said, as he proceeded to read the letter:
To you so Called "Heroes",
I have finally formulated the ultimate plan to bring the world to its knees! I've also discovered that you've met my new ally, Sonic. However, the hedgehog should be the least of your worries as my progeny Ludwig is now working on something with a newfound mechanical mastermind who will help me create a machine to erradicate you once and for all!
Sincerely,
Bowser, King of the Koopas
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" asked Mario.
"Yoshi's stone glowing and pulling!" Yoshi said as his Chaos Emerald came out and floated in between him and Jinx. "Yoshi no think it supposed to do that!"
At the same time, Jinx's belt came flying off and went towards the Chaos Emerald, revealing that his belt had two Chaos Emeralds on it.
"What just happened?" Luigi asked.
"Jinx! Do you know what those are?" asked Mario.
"No, Sensei," Jinx said. "Although I do owe you the belt since you did defeat me again."
"You can keep the belt, but we need those emeralds!" Mario explained. "They're very important!"
"Fine then. I'm not sure what they are,
but if they matter that much, then I will entrust them into your care!"
Jinx said.
"What is it, Sonic?" asked Tails.
All of a sudden, Robo-Sonic jumped out of the bushes and attacked Sonic. [Robo-Sonic has made an appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and a cameo in Sonic Adventure, but he is NOT the same as Metal Sonic.]
"Who's this, a Metal Sonic wannabe?" Knuckles asked.
"Not even close," said Sonic. "This will be over with shortly!"
Robo-Sonic held out his arms like he was about to be arrested, and machine guns appeared on his wrists. He quickly fired at Sonic.
"Woah! I don't remember him being able to do that!" shouted Sonic. "Everyone, be on your gaurd! There's no telling what other surprises he might have up his sleeves!"
"That coming from you," Knuckles said. "You sure you're feeling alright?"
"Put a sock in it and help me out here!" Sonic shouted.
"Target acquired; primary target, Sonic the Hedgehog; locked on, firing missile launchers," said Robo-Sonic. "Tell me where Master Robotnik is, then die!"
Knuckles quickly punched Robo-Sonic from behind, but it didn't even phase him.
"New secondary target designated, identification unknown, threat level: zero," Robo-Sonic said, and then proceeded with his missile barrage on Sonic. The missile launcher replaced the machine gun on his right arm and seemed to be teleported into the forest at his will.
"Sonic, here!" Tails shouted as he picked up Sonic from the ground just before the missiles hit the spot he was standing on.
"Secondary target acquired, Miles Prower, threat level: zero," Robo-Sonic said.
"How come you're minimal, but we're only a threat level zero?" Knuckles asked. "Is there no end to the injustice?"
Then, Robo-Sonic's eyes started glowing, and lasers came out of his eyes. He stared directly at Tail's tails. The laser, however, didn't seem to do anything.
"Target lock acquired, firing missiles," said Robo-Sonic.
"Tails! Left!" Sonic quickly shouted.
Tails did as Sonic said, but the missiles homed in on Tails and knocked the two of them to the ground.
"It's a targetting laser!" said Knuckles as he tried to get in close. Once he was right in front of Robo-Sonic, he punched at the eyes, once again having no effect.
"You don't say!" Sonic said sarcastically. "And here I thought it was for directing air traffic."
"That's it!" said Tails. "I'll use the homing beacon on the Cyclone!"
"The Cyclone is still in our dimension!" Knuckles reminded him. "We'll have to do this the old fashioned way!"
"In case you haven't noticed, the 'old fashion way' isn't even scratching him!" Sonic argued.
"Where'd he go?" asked Tails, who noticed that Robo-Sonic seemed to be gone.
"Don't tell me he has a cloaking device too!" said Sonic.
"What, you afraid?" asked Knuckles.
"Porcupo! Above you!" shouted Bow.
"Who's Porcupo?" asked Sonic, as Robo-Sonic landed on top of him, knocking him to the ground.
"That's it, I'm helping them!" said Bow.
"Lady Bow, please reconsider!" said Bootler. "It's far too dangerous!"
"What's the worst that can happen? It's not like I can die," argued Bow.
"Very well, but please, do be careful!" said Bootler.
"Of what? That machine can't even hit me!" she said as she flew over to Sonic and then said, "Hold still for a second!"
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Not that I'm refusing your help, I'd just like to know what's going on here."
"I think she made you invisible," said Knuckles. "Either that or she made you into a ghost!"
"OKAY GUYS! I'M OVER HERE!" shouted Sonic.
"Targetting lasers shut down, initiating full arsenal spray," said Robo-Sonic. Out of his mouth came flamethrowers, and at the same time, he fired his machine gun and the missile launcher over at the area where he heard Sonic.
"We can't see you, Sonic," Knuckles said, "but we can all hear you perfectly fine, including him!"
"Well he's a pretty lousy shot when he can't see me," said Sonic. "He didn't even hit me once!"
"Correction, the attacks went right through you. I can do that to anyone as long as I don't let go of them," explained Bow. "Now, let's go inside of him!"
"Inside? You can let me do that?" Sonic asked.
"To be quite honest, there's only one way to find out," she admitted.
"Welll then, let's do it!" he agreed. Bow flew Sonic into Robo-Sonic, and solidified his hand. Sonic then removed the power source: two Power Stars!
"Sonic! You did it!" Tails said.
"Thanks to this Boo," Sonic said. "Bow, I think it is?"
"Yes, Lady Bow of the Boos, to be percise," she said.
"The name is Sonic, and thanks for helping us out," he said.
"Well Sonic, I must say, you are the tallest Porcupo I've ever seen!" she said. "Actually, you're probably thrice as tall as any other porcupo I've ever seen!"
"I'm a hedgehog... and why does everyone in this universe call me a Porcupo?" Sonic asked.
"Well, I'm not quite sure what the difference is, but you certainly do look like a Porcupo, wouldn't you say, Bootler?" Bow asked.
"Indeed, Lady Bow," Bootler agreed. "Now, have you had enough of your escapades for today? You made my heart race!"
"Fine, we'll just have to find the source of that mysterious light some other time," she agreed. "Have fun, you three. I wish you luck in the future, and I hope you don't run into too much trouble!"
"Somehow, I don't think that's an option for as, but good luck to you too!" said Sonic.
"Are they gone yet?" asked Knuckles, who was hiding behind a tree.
"Boo!" shouted Tails from behind Knuckles, making the Echidna run out from behind the tree screaming. Knuckles didn't realize what had happened until he heard Tails laughing.
"That's not funny! This is a serious matter, Tails!" Knuckles said.
"Seemed pretty funny to me," said Sonic. "Don't tell me you're afraid of an eight-year-old making random noises!"
"No! He didn't scare me, he just caught me offguard, that's all!" Knuckles said.
"Yeah... right," said Sonic.
"Grr... Let's just go to this Monstrotown place and get this fight over with!" Knuckles said.
"We'd better keep these Power Stars with the others," Tails said.
"Others? I thought the rest were all at the castle," Sonic said.
"Well, Bowser said to take some equipment if we needed it, so I took a few Power Stars," Tails said. "We now have fifteen of them with us."
"That's one tenth of them!" shouted Knuckles. "What if we were to lose them in battle, you know how large of an advantage that would give our opponents?"
"No time to think about that, it's almost sunset!" said Sonic, as he rushed off towards Monstrotown.
"Hey Sonic! Wait for us!" shouted Tails as he flew towards Sonic.
"Don't be so reckless!" Knuckles complained,
as he ran off to catch up with the other two.
Chapter 8: Rematch
It was sunset when Sonic and his friends arrived at Monstrotown. Mario and Sonic immediately caught sight of each other.
"Is that them?" asked Tails.
"Yeah, that's them all right," Sonic said. "If we start a full scale battle, then someone might get hurt. Maybe we can reason with them."
"Ha! That's a good one!" said Knuckles. "Even if we could reason with them, there's no way that they could ever reason with you!"
"Very funny," Sonic said sarcastically. "In case you forgot, you're the one who wouldn't listen when we were trying to tell you about Robotnik trying to steal the Master Emerald from you. Hey, I think they've noticed us."
"I know that you always ignore me when I say this," Knuckles said, "but please don't do anything rash!"
Mario saw Sonic conversing with Knuckles,
and decided to interrupt them.
"You shouldn't have come looking for a fight," Mario said. "You can't stop us, we will win!"
"Look who's talking, plumber!" Sonic said. "I put forth a one-on-one challenge, just you and I! That is, of course, if you can keep up with me!"
"I'm not sure," said Luigi. "Do you think we can trust him?"
"I'll be fine," said Mario. "Even if he goes back on his word, you guys can always come and back me up."
"I sure hope you know what you're doing, Bro," Luigi said with a sigh.
"It's-a me, Mario!" he said as he stepped forward and shouted, "I accept! You'll pay for what you've done!" "Chaos Control!" Mario shouted as he held the red Chaos Emerald.
Mario took the initiative this time, going into a tornado of punches. Sonic dashed under Mario and got behind the plumber. Sonic turned around and tried a sweeping kick to trip Mario, but Mario jumped back too quickly for the blue blur to succeed. Sonic then realized why he hadn't been able to win... the Chaos Emerald! He opted to focus all his energy on removing it from Mario's possession. He tried to dash past Mario and grab the emerald like so, but Mario quickly dodged and kicked Sonic. Sonic took no time to get back up, and charged up his spin dash, making sure that Mario was right in the way. Mario saw that Sonic was trying to build up speed, and tried to use a punch to stop him. Sonic sped right towards the plumber, so Mario started to try to counter it, but then decided to try a new approach. Mario stood still, contemplating the entire battle before making even the slightest action. Sonic came out of the ball and used his hands to propel himself into the air and aimed his feet right at Mario. Mario waited until Sonic's feet were close enough that he could smell the stench emitted from the sweat-filled shoes. (Come on; don't even try to tell me they wouldn't stink with all the running he does!) Mario grabbed Sonic by the feet, but Sonic didn't need to have his feet free for what he wanted to do. Mario spun Sonic around, while Sonic tried to fight the centrifugal force in order to take the Chaos Emerald from Mario. Sonic stretched his arm out... almost... got it! But at the same time, Mario let go, sending Sonic flying into the wall that surrounded the town, causing Sonic to drop the Chaos Emerald. It was right in the middle of them, just a simple twenty meters away; no contest in speed whatsoever. Sonic got up and grabbed the Emerald; however, the Emerald seemed to be burning, as though it were being melted in his hands as he held it. He had no choice but to let it go. Seizing the opportunity, Mario grabbed the Chaos Emerald off the ground, not thinking as to why Sonic would have dropped it. He didn't notice anything unusual, so he reactivated it by shouting, "Chaos Control!"
What happened? Sonic asked himself. The Chaos Emeralds have fallen into lava and then five seconds later they wouldn't even be warm, and now it feels hotter then noon in Sandopolis!
Sonic jumped up and onto the walls, hanging onto the vertical surface momentarily, as he quickly jumped higher and higher. Mario wall kicked back and forth between two walls in a corner until he was up to Sonic's height, but he was too late.
"Let's see you stop the Sonic Tornado!" shouted Sonic as he spiraled towards Mario. Mario fell to the ground and fainted. Sonic tried to grab the Chaos Emerald again, but was disappointed to find that the same burning sensation was still there. Sonic ran towards his friends and frowned.
"Let's go, we'll come back for the Chaos Emeralds later," Sonic explained.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Knuckles asked.
"I wish we could do something else, but whenever I tried to pick them up, it felt like they were burning!" Sonic explained.
"That means the Master Emerald is near!" Knuckles said. "And who ever has it doesn't want the Chaos Emeralds in our possession!"
"We'll split up and look for the Master Emerald, right?" Tails asked.
"Yeah, if you don't have any luck, we meet back at the construction site in one hour!" Sonic said.
"Got it!" Knuckles and Tails shouted
in unison as the three of them went towards the Forest of Illusion in separate
directions.
"Are you okay?" asked a voice, fuzzy and distorted, "Mario? Can you hear me?"
Mario opened his eyes to see his brother, Jinx, and Yoshi all standing around him. Mario looked around him and realized he was in Jinx's dojo.
"What happened?" Mario asked as he got up.
"We lose," Yoshi answered.
"No, we didn't lose," Mario said. "I did."
"So what do we do now?" Luigi asked. "According to FLUDD, all the Power Stars are at Bowser's castle."
"Then what is there to ask?" Mario said. "We take the fight to Bowser like we always end up doing, and let deja vu take its course!"
"I have to stay here," said Jinx.
"I understand," Mario agreed. "The city needs someone to protect them from attack in case Bowser comes back here looking for us anyway."
"It will take a little while," Luigi said, "but I think that we should head out now, so that we reach the castle before sunrise, use the darkness to try a bit more of a stealthy approach then usual."
"Agreed," Mario said. "Let's go. Besides, Bowser has a rodent problem at his castle, and I intend to get rid of any rats he might have."
"Mario, you do realize that a hedgehog, although a rodent, is not a rat of any sort," FLUDD corrected.
"So do we know where Bowser's castle is?" Mario asked.
"Leave that to me," said FLUDD. "It resides in the Forest of Illusion, and I'm detecting multiple energy sources coming from the forest. One in the castle, the Power Stars; another is the Shine Sprites; and a third that I've yet to identify."
"Here we go!" shouted Mario as he, Luigi, Yoshi, and FLUDD departed for what they hoped would be the final battle.