Chapter 3: The Winter Olympics
Mario was in E. Gadd's lab as E. Gadd was examining the sun piece.
"Interesting," said E.Gadd.
"Yes," said Mario.
"It appears this sun piece is on the summit of Sunny Mountain," said E. Gadd.
"What's so interesting about that?" asked Mario.
"Because of this snow," started E. Gadd "Plit has decided to have Winter Olympics on that mountain, and they started just yesterday. The Olympics will be under way for the next four days."
"What does that have to do with the sun piece?" asked Mario.
"I have a feeling the sun piece is probably an Olympic trophy," said E. Gadd. "If so, then you must enter the events."
"Well, I'll find out when I get there," said Mario, as he waved bye to E. Gadd and left the lab.
"Wait," called E. Gadd.
Mario stopped in his tracks. "Oh yeah, you need to tell me how to get to Sunny Mountain," said Mario.
"Indeed," said E. Gadd. "The only way I know of to get there is to go by plane from the Mushroom Airport."
"Well I’d better head down there," said Mario as he again waved bye to E. Gadd, and left the lab.
Mario was then walking through town toward the airport. "I had no idea they even still had flights going," said Mario.
Mario then reached the airport, entered, and approached the Ticketmaster.
"Welcome," said the Ticketmaster.
"Hello," said Mario. "I would like a ticket on the flight to Sunny Mountain."
"Wow," said the Ticketmaster. "You got the last one. Here you go. Flight leaves in ten minutes."
"Thanks!" said Mario.
Mario then walked through the airport and boarded the plane.
"This plane is pretty big," said Mario while he was walking on.
"Please stay seated in your seats until we have reached out target altitude," said the flight attendant.
Mario buckled himself in his seat.
"We are now taking off," said the flight attendant. You will be notified when we reach our targeted altitude and it is safe to get up."
While ascending into the skies, a loud crash was heard from the cargo department.
"What was that?" screamed someone.
Three figures came out of the cargo compartment.
"We are-" started the first figure.
"The-" continued the second figure.
"Sky Terrors," finished the third and final one.
"Introducing to you, Ying-" started the first one.
"Yang-" continued the third one.
"And Yo!" finished the last one.
"W-who are you people?" asked the flight attendant.
"Do we have to give our intro again?" asked Ying.
"I know that," said the Flight Attendant. "I mean, why did you guys come here?"
"To rob this plane," said Yang.
"Duh," added Yo.
"We have heavily armed security!" exclaimed the Flight Attendant.
"Oh, them?" asked Ying, pointing to four unconscious bodies in the cargo department.
"Oh no!" shouted the Flight Attendant.
Just then, Mario jumped out of his seat. "Have no fear!" shouted Mario. "I'll take care of these wrongdoers!"
"You cannot take-" started Ying.
"The-" continued Yang.
"Sky-" added Yo.
"Terrors!" exclaimed Ying, leading them into battle.
Mario HP: 30/30
Vs.
Ying HP: 8/8
Yang HP: 8/8
Yo HP: 8/8
"Well, since there is no snow here, that eliminates some of my best attacks," said Mario. "But standing one behind another allows me to do one of my strongest attacks!"
Mario rammed into Ying with the snowboard, sending him into Ying, and Yang into Yo.
"Triple-" started Ying.
"Air-" continued Yang.
"Strike!" finished Yo.
All three of them pulled out jetpacks, shot up into the sky, and dropped Bob-ombs onto Mario, who managed to avoid the first one but got hit by the last one.
Mario HP: 24/30
Vs.
Ying HP: 5/8
Yang HP: 6/8
Yo HP: 7/8
"That last move worked well," said Mario. "I think I'll do it again!"
Mario rammed into Ying again, setting off the same reaction.
"Charge-" started Ying.
"Of-" continued Yang.
"Doom!" finished Yo.
Ying pulled out a remote and pressed a button, and soon a shooting hovercraft came shooting down the plane aisle. The three of them jumped in, and the hovercraft horrifically crashed into Mario. "Oww!" screamed Mario, as he got crushed between the wall and the hovercraft.
"Ha-" started Ying.
"Ha-" continued Yang.
"Ha!" finished Yo, as they all burst into laughter.
Mario HP: 16/30
Vs.
Ying HP: 2/8
Yang HP: 4/8
Yo HP: 6/8
"I think I can finish you off with this," said Mario.
Mario then ran up to Ying and slammed his snowboard on the floor, and Ying shot up into the air. His jetpack fell off as he flew up. "No!" shouted Ying.
"Ha!" laughed Mario.
"Avenge me, my brothers!" shouted Ying, as he blasted off into the distance.
"You-" started Yang.
"Jerk," finished Yo.
The two grabbed hands and spun toward Mario at rapid speed, but Mario managed to jump out of their path. "Who's laughing now?" asked Mario cockily.
Mario HP: 16/30
Vs.
Ying HP: 0/8
Yang HP: 4/8
Yo HP: 6/8
"You guys are looking pretty weak now," said Mario.
Mario then hammered Yang, who got hit so hard he fell through the floor of the plane, and even lost his jetpack. "No!" shouted Yang.
Mario stared at Yo.
"Uh…" stalled Yo.
Yo then jumped through the new hole in the floor. "You win this round," shouted Yo, as he was off to find his two brothers.
Mario HP: 16/30
Vs.
Ying HP: 0/8
Yang HP: 0/8
Yo HP: 0/8
"Thank you so much!" shouted the Flight Attendant. "You saved us all!"
"It was really nothing," said Mario.
"We have reached our destination, and are currently descending to the summit of Sunny Mountain," said the pilot.
Everyone on the plane let out a cheer of relief.
***
"Are you guys all right?" asked Yo, who had found Ying and Yang, lying injured at the bottom of a canyon.
"Fine," said Ying.
"I can't believe we let him get away," said Yang.
"Yeah," agreed Ying. "That sun-shaped gem sure looked like it was going to be worth a lot.
"Sun-shaped gem?" asked a voice.
"Who goes there?" demanded Yo.
"You tell us first, who had the sun piece?" asked the voice.
"What do you mean?" asked Yang.
"Hey," said another voice, "they're too inferior to understand your language."
"Oh yeah," agreed the first voice.
"Hey, we aren't inferior!" exclaimed Ying.
"To us you are," said the first voice.
"Get lost before we make you!" screamed Yo.
"Calm down," said the first voice. "We do not wish to engage in a brawl. Now, where did you see the sun piece?"
"You guys are treasure bandits as well," said Ying.
"That sun piece is ours," said Yang.
"Now get lost!" yelled Yo.
"Foolish mortals," said the first voice.
That character then charged up a great beam of light and shot it at the three Sky Terrors, sending them off too far for me to describe.
"Idiot!" snapped the second voice. "You just killed the people who knew the whereabouts of the sun pieces."
"Crud," said the first voice.
***
"Is the Koopa Cruiser loaded up?" asked Bowser.
"Yes," said Kamek. "We are ready."
"About time," said Bowser. "So, where do we go?"
"I'm not sure," said Kamek.
"Not sure?" Bowser asked, somewhat irritated. "What do you mean 'not sure'? You're the brains of the Koopa Troop."
"Well… Let's just head back to Beanbean Castle and ask them where Mario went," said Kamek.
"Fine," grunted Bowser.
***
Mario walked off the plane. "Well, I'm here," thought Mario to himself. "Now I got to look for the sun piece."
Mario began walking around the summit. "My, they sure made this place look nice," said Mario.
Just then, a puffin walked up to Mario. "Hello," said the puffin. "I am Huppin Puffin, and I am the organizer and MC or these Olympics. If there is anything you need, I will be happy to listen."
"Hi," said Mario. "I'm Mario. There is one thing I must ask. Have any of these games started?
"Nope," said Huppin Puffin. "The first game starts in two hours. Are you thinking of entering? Because if you are, we are still accepting participants."
"No," said Mario. "May I look at the trophies for the winners?"
"Certainly," said Huppin Puffin.
Huppin Puffin led Mario to the table, with all the trophies lined up on the table according to event. Mario began perusing them until he saw one trophy with a sun piece on the top of it.
"This is the sun piece!" said Mario out of excitement.
Mario then read the inscribed words on the trophy. "Let's see," said Mario. "This trophy is for first place in the snowboarding tricks competition. Oh, I have a snowboard! I can enter this event, and win the sun piece!"
Mario walked over to the registration booth.
"I would like to sign up for the Snowboarding Tricks competition," said Mario.
"Yes!" exclaimed the guy at the ticker booth. "Now we finally have our second contestant!"
"The event starts in six hours," said the other guy at the ticket booth. "You'll be up against that dude over there."
The ticket guy pointed to a figure who looked familiar.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" asked Mario.
"No," said the figure.
"I could have sworn I fought you at Glitzville," said Mario.
"Oh," said the figure. "You must be talking about my cousin Rawk Hawk. Well I'm way better than that loser. I am Snawk Hawk, and I will be winning the competition, whether you like it or not! You cannot beat the Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk!"
"You sound just like your cousin Rawk," said Mario.
"Yeah, but he can't walk the walk," said Snawk Hawk. "Not only do I talk the talk, but unlike him, I actually walk the walk."
"Sure you do," said Mario.
"Little bit testy, huh," said Snawk Hawk. "I like it. You got guts, kid. But guts isn't enough to beat the Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk!"
Snawk Hawk walked away.
"He is absolutely like his cousin," said Mario. "Well, I guess I should go practice."
Mario turned to Huppin Puffin. "Is there a slope I can practice my tricks on?" asked Mario.
"Yes," said Huppin Puffin. Huppin Puffing pointed to a slope to the left of the medic's hut.
"Thanks," said Mario.
Mario walked over to the slope. "Now let's see," started Mario. "What kind of tricks will work well?"
"I know what you can do to beat Snawk," said a voice.
"Who are you?" asked Mario.
"Rawk Hawk," said the figure.
"Rawk?" Mario said surprised. "Why are you here?"
"To watch Snawk fail," said Rawk Hawk. "He thinks he is so much better then the Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk! He can talk the talk, but unlike me, he can't walk the walk."
"I can now tell why you guys are related," said Mario.
"Yeah yeah," said Rawk Hawk. "That's what they all say. So do you want to learn some tricks that will give you a good shot at beating him, or not?"
"Sure," said Mario.
"All right," said Rawk Hawk. "Now, lend me your snowboard."
Mario handed Rawk the snowboard.
"Watch carefully," said Rawk Hawk, "because I'm not good at these tricks, so I can only perform each one once. Now, watch."
Rawk Hawk went off a jump and tumbled in a full 360-degree circle, then flipped his snowboard around his body, and placed it on the snow just before he landed.
"Amazing!" exclaimed Mario.
"Now here's the other trick I have to show you," said Rawk Hawk.
Rawk Hawk then started going down the slope again, and this time, once he went off the jump, he jumped off his snowboard, made some cool poses while in the air, and then, when he caught up to his snowboard, landed with his hands on the snowboard, and continued in his handstand form.
"Wow," said Mario.
"Well that's all I can offer you," said Rawk Hawk. "I suggest practicing them, Snawk is good."
"I thought you said a few minutes ago he wasn't," said Mario.
"Eh, whatever," said Rawk Hawk. "Just don't lose to him or else I'll have to whoop you like I did last time."
"Um, I beat you last time," said Mario.
"Whatever," said Rawk Hawk. "I know you don't want to get hurt by the Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk! So don't lose to him!"
Rawk Hawk walked away.
"Well, best practice then," said Mario. "I'll practice the first one he showed me first."
Mario begans going down the slope, goes off the jump, makes a 360 degree circle while tumbling in mid air, starts flipping his snowboard around his body, but he does not place it under him in time, and does not make the proper landing.
"That went pretty good except for the landing," said Mario. "I think I'm going to try that one just once more."
Mario proceeded to do the same trick again, performing everything right, including the landing this time.
"I think I got this one down," said Mario with a hint of confidence. "Now it's time for me to try the second trick he showed me. Man that one looks like it's going to take more then two attempts to nail."
Mario began going down the slope, and jumped off his snowboard. He however he wasn't coordinated enough and couldn't make any cool poses while in air, and he completely missed the snowboard when trying to go for the handstand landing. "I messed that one up for sure," said Mario. "Well, I knew it was going to be tough, so I’ve got to try again."
Mario then tried the same trick again, and the exact same thing happened as last time. Nothing changed at all. "Oh man," said Mario. "I didn't make any improvement on that one at all."
"Attention Olympic participants," said a voice over the loudspeaker. "The snowboarding tricks competition starts in five minutes. Will all participants please make their way over to the slope to the left of the gift shop, where the event will be taking place?"
"Well, I hope I can pull off that last trick," said Mario. Mario then walked over to the slope, and saw Snawk Hawk there.
"Pfft, last to arrive," said Snawk Hawk. "That isn't very champion-like."
"Shut it, Snawk," said Mario.
"You cannot silence the-" started Snawk Hawk.
"Well I can," said Huppin Puffin. "Do your cry one more time and you automatically lose."
"Wow, way to ruin my trademark," said Snawk Hawk.
"Now, the rules," said Huppin Puffin. "While going down this slope, you guys can perform two, and only two, tricks. The three Goomba judges will each give you an overall grade on a scale of one to ten. The three scores will be added together, and that will be your score. Person with the highest score wins. Seem simple enough?"
They both nod their head in agreement.
"Good," said Huppin Puffin. "You may start when you hear my megaphone go. Now, competitors, take your starting positions."
They both got to the edge of the slope.
"You're going down," said Snawk Hawk.
"As if!" replied Mario.
"All right, competitors ready…" started Huppin Puffin "… Go," he exclaimed through the megaphone.
With that, Mario and Snawk Hawk both began. Snawk Hawk started off by going off the first jump and rapidly twisting in midair, and right before landing, picked up his snowboard in the air, waved quickly to the camera, and then landed perfectly.
"Showoff," thought Mario to himself.
Mario went off a jump and tumbled in a full 360-degree circle, then flipped his snowboard around his body, and then placed it on the snow just before he landed.
"Nice!" thought Mario again to himself.
For his second and final trick, when going off the jump, Snawk Hawk threw his board up in the air with him, caught it, spun in circles while grasping it, and when about to land, landed with the snowboard on its side, and managed it perfectly.
"Wow," thought Mario. "I’ve got to get this trick right, or else I lose."
Mario went off the jump, jumped off his snowboard, managed to make a few good smiles, and did a cool guy pose for the camera. Then, when he caught up to his snowboard, he successfully landed with his hands on the snowboard, and continued in his handstand form.
"I did it!" cheered Mario, as he and Snawk Hawk reached the bottom of the hill and were in front of the judges. "Take that!"
"Let's hear it!" exclaimed Snawk Hawk. "I am anxious to see how badly I won!"
The judges thought for a minute, then they each wrote a number down on their board. Judge 1 was the first to speak.
"I give you a 9," said Judge 1.
"Only a 9?" questioned Snawk Hawk.
"I give you a 9 as well," said Judge 2.
"What's wrong with you people?" asked Snawk Hawk.
"Well I think that gets a 10," said Judge 3.
"Now that's more like it," said Snawk Hawk.
"Well," started Huppin Puffin, "that gives you a score of 28."
"Little bit lower then what I was expecting," said Snawk Hawk, "but it's still enough to ensure my victory."
"Well judges, let's see Mario's score," said Huppin Puffin.
"I give him a 10," said Judge 1.
"What?" gasped Snawk Hawk.
"I also give him a 10," said Judge 2.
"Ha!" exclaimed Mario. "Take that!"
"Hm… I'm going to have to give you only an 8," said Judge 3.
"Well that gives Mario a total score of 28," said Huppin Puffin. "Wait… That makes it a tie."
"Impossible!" exclaimed Snawk Hawk.
"So how should we decide the winner?" asked Huppin Puffin to the judges.
"Fight?" suggested a judge.
"Yeah," said Snawk Hawk. "I'll beat the living daylights out of this guy, then take my trophy!"
Mario HP: 35/35
Vs.
Snawk Hawk HP:
30/30
"Let' do this!" said Snawk Hawk. "I ain't letting you take my trophy!"
"We'll see," said Mario. "You’ve got to get through me if you want it."
Mario jumped on Snawk Hawk with the snowboard.
"You think that's enough to beat me?" asked Snawk Hawk. "You're a fool!"
Snawk Hawk chucked his snowboard at Mario, and hit him squarely. "Ah!" screamed Mario. While Mario was unsuspecting, the snowboard returned just like a boomerang and drilled Mario from behind. "Hey, that was cheap," said Mario.
"Since when are there rules in fighting?" asked Snawk Hawk.
Mario HP: 29/35
Vs.
Snawk Hawk HP:
26/30
"Well there is going to be more where that came from," said Mario.
Mario then hit the ground with his snowboard, sending Snawk Hawk up into the air. However, Snawk Hawk's snowboarding skill allowed him to land on his snowboard, and he was not harmed. "Ha!" exclaimed Snawk Hawk.
Snawk Hawk then left the scene. "What?" questioned Mario.
Just then, Snawk Hawk came down a hill near the scene, going full speed on his snowboard, directly at Mario, and rammed into him, sending him flying through the air. He crashed on the ground off in the distance.
"Ouch!" screamed Mario.
"You cannot defeat the Snaaaaaaaaaaaaaawk!" exclaimed Snawk Hawk.
Mario HP: 24/35
Vs.
Snawk Hawk HP:
26/30
"That didn't work out so well," said Mario. "I'm going to try this!"
Mario picked up snow with his snowboard, and threw it at Snawk Hawk. However, Snawk Hawk picked up his snowboard and deflected the snow back at Mario. "Cold!" screamed Mario.
"Haha!" laughed Snawk Hawk. "You're dumb and weak!"
Snawk Hawk then left the scene, and started rushing down a hill toward Mario. When he was about to hit Mario, Mario jumped. However, Snawk Hawk stopped and turned his board, spraying Mario with snow.
Mario HP: 15/30
Vs.
Snawk Hawk HP:
26/30
"Man he's good," said Mario. "I'm running low on HP, I need a Mushroom."
Mario reached into his pocket, but there was no Mushroom.
"Crud," said Mario. "It looks like now the only way to beat him is to do basic jump and hammer attacks, and hope I can dodge his attacks."
Mario did just that, and jumped on Snawk Hawk. "Still didn't hurt much," said Snawk Hawk.
Snawk Hawk then pointed at the sky. "Going u-u-up!" cried Snawk Hawk. In a flash, Snawk Hawk left the scene and started rushing down the slope off-scene.
"I can avoid it this time," said Mario.
However, Snawk Hawk bore to the right and went off a jump, and got launched high in the air. After a few minutes of being airborne, Snawk Hawk landed flat on top of Mario.
Mario HP: 10/30
Vs.
Snawk Hawk HP:
22/30
"I need to start dodging some attacks if I want to win," said Mario. Mario then hammered Snawk Hawk.
"Time to finish you," said Snawk Hawk. "Time for my MEGA TRICK OF PURE DOOM!"
"That doesn't sound too pleasant," said Mario.
Snawk Hawk started out going down the mountain slope on his snowboard. When he reached the base and Mario was preparing to jump, he picked up a bunch of snow and attached a rocket to his snowboard, and started heading toward Mario at light speed. Mario did not have time to react, as in a mere second Snawk was a foot from him and tossed the snow on him, then ran him over. Snawk Hawk kept going and pulled out a remote. He pressed a button, then a huge spiral snow-jump formed in front of him. He then went on it and turned himself around, then got shot off the jump and landed, smack dab on Mario, crushing him.
Mario HP: 0/30
Vs.
Snawk Hawk HP:
18/30
Mario lay there unconscious.
"I told you," said Snawk Hawk. "You cannot defeat the Snaaaaaaaaaawk!"
"Well done," said Huppin Puffin. "Here is your trophy for winning the snowboarding tricks event!"
The audience cheered. "Thanks you!" said Snawk Hawk. "I knew I could beat this wimp. I had better tricks than him, and I pounded him in a fight to seal the deal!"
Snawk Hawk ran off with his trophy, but ripped off the sun piece and dropped it on the ground. "You lost part of the trophy!" cried Huppin Puffin to Snawk Hawk.
"I don't care," said Snawk Hawk. "That part is ugly, and ruins the beauty of this trophy!"
Snawk Hawk ran away, leaving Mario on the ground. Huppin Puffin walked over and shook Mario. "What happened?" asked Mario, still only half-conscious.
"You lost," said Huppin Puffin.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," said Mario. "I can beat up Koopas, Goombas, ghosts, evil witches, and robots, but I couldn't beat up a cocky snowboarding punk?"
"Well," said Huppin Puffin, "he didn't want this part of the trophy, so you can have it as a consolation prize!"
Huppin Puffin placed the sun piece in front of Mario, and walked away.
"Hey, this is the sun piece!" said Mario. Mario picked it up. "Yeah!" exclaimed Mario. "I may have lost, but I got what I needed! That's three pieces! Only five more to go!"
With that, Mario walked away.
***
The Koopa Cruiser was flying through the Beanbean skies.
"King Koopa!" exclaimed Kamek. "Did you hear the news?"
"What news?" asked Bowser. "Did you guys finally find one of those sun pieces?"
"No," said Kamek. "Did you hear Mario lost in a fight?"
"To who?" asked Bowser.
"Some snowboarding punk named Snawk Hawk," said Kamek. “Apparently he beat up Mario really good. Mario got destroyed!”
"What?!" snapped Bowser. "You mean to tell me I can't beat Mario, yet a snowboarding punk could?"
"Yes sir," said Kamek.
"All right, we need to find this kid," said Bowser.
"Why?" asked Kamek.
"Two reasons," stated Bowser. "First, I need to make sure this kid knows he isn't all that, and I'm still the toughest. Secondly, I might want him to come with me, as he could be a good diversion against Mario, and wear him down so I don't have to try as hard to pound Mario. Do you know where this kid lives?"
"No," said Kamek. "But he is currently on Sunny Mountain for the Winter Olympics."
"Well let's go there," said Bowser.
Bowser then ordered the Koopa Cruiser to change directions, and they began heading to Sunny Mountain.
***
"You're foolish," said a voice.
"I know," said another voice.
"I can't believe you killed the only people who knew about the sun pieces," said the first voice.
"I'm sorry," said the second voice. "What should we do know?"
"I think we should wait," said the first voice. "If morons like those people are after the sun pieces, halfway intelligent people must be also. When those halfway intelligent people get all eight, they will have to come right here to activate their powers. That's why we’ll wait here."
"All right," agreed the second voice.