So for my first story outside the Elsword community, I decided to make a Mario fanfiction. This particular story is, if you read the title, obviously inspired by the Super Gaming Bros: particularly their Mario series LPs. Without spoiling much, this is a story of how a young boy's antics transform him into a genuine hero. As a disclaimer: I don't own anything Mario related, not even the main character, with the exception of making this story. With that out of the way, let the story begin!
Chapter 1: The Trolling Begins
"Troll Toad's search for his parents continue. He was abandoned by his parents as a child, left to grow up on the streets of the Mushroom Kingdom all alone. Relying solely on himself he hates other people. This is why he trolls people." -M.M.
"Oh it's you again. Won't you just give up already?" The bouncer, a middle aged black toad wearing a black suit with sunglasses and a goatee, rasped his disgruntled voice out to the poverty-aged young blue toad whose tattered shirt he's currently gripping on. Behind the teen-looking boy the more prosperous toads, with their fancy looks and all, played spectator to this scene once again in the middle of the night. For these fungi, the impoverished young fungus isn't even worth the dirt whose only function is for their polished dress shoes and high heels to trample all over.
"Give up?" The beaten blue fungus whispered absentmindedly, forming a smile as his blue spotted hat covered his black eyes. "I've only just begun." His comment caused the bouncer to violently release his hold and crash land onto the appropriately brown soil.
"We have no use for you trash here. Only the fat cats and royalty can gamble at this casino. You got that?" The casino guard reminded the blue toad, wiping the "grime" on his suit. As he did, the rest of the aforementioned rich fungi in line glared at the poverty-stricken fungus with scorned looks and disgusted faces.
"Tch. Fine fine I get it, I'll go." The blue toad spat on the ground and stepped on it, an image of these wealthy fungi popping up in his head. With these words lingering in the air he tufted his hands inside his equally shabby pants and walked away. Glancing behind him, the bouncer's attitude turned a complete 180 as he gleefully shook the hand of an extremely rich (not to mention narcissistic) green toad adorned in a style nearly rivaling the Princess.
Hmph. These guys only look down on us so-called "trash" because they themselves are beneath us. He irritably thought to himself. The ones born rich and wealthy like those by the casino, the ones chosen by God to live prosperous lives while ironically gaining the vices of gluttony and pride, while leaving the rest cast aside by His holy hand, the blue toad included, with the vice of envy as a result. The blue impoverished toad kept walking forward stooping his head to the floor in angst at this unfair treatment. That is...until he bumped into a once in a lifetime opportunity.
BUMP!
"Ow...hey watch the hell you're going!" The disgruntled blue toad's already foul mood just got sour at this sucker who just happened to bump into him.
Great just what I needed, another fat cat to ruin my day. The newcomer is, as the blue toad thought irritably, just another fungus (coincidentally also bluish) who believed having more money means you can mock those with less. This particular person the poverty-stricken toad crossed paths into was adorned in such a way that outclasses anyone back outside the casino. Based on his "extremely grand white and blue suit" as he puts it and the shiny metallic suitcase he's carrying, the blue toad can only assume that this one is also going to that same luck-driven nightclub.
It was then that a light-bulb deviously lit up and gave the poor blue toad an idea.
"Well? Aren't you going to apologize for dirtying my clothes you little pest?" The sneering wealthy toad brought his also blue yet poorer counterpart back to reality.
"I'm sorry mister, where are you headed?" He put his plan into action, acting how a stereotypical poverty-aged person would behave.
"Where else, The Mushroom Casino of course! I am after all a guest of honor!"
"Oh I just passed it when I accidentally bumped into you. I took a shortcut to get there faster a while ago."
"A shortcut?" As the blue toad expected, the wealthier counterpart felt intrigued and compelled to follow his advice. "Lead me to this so-called shortcut and I won't press any charges against you. I'm nearly running late as it is."
"Okay then, right this way." What an idiot! Doesn't he know not to take a shortcut when a stranger beckons you to follow? He thought to himself amusingly, leading the "important" wealthy toad into a dark alley. An alley only illuminated by the moon's light above.
"A-Are you s-sure this is a s-shortcut?" The immediately frightened fat cat paced himself closer to his poverty-stricken counterpart.
"Oh don't worry. My appearance doesn't look like it, but I pretty much rule the nick nacks around here. I'll be able to go through here even with my eyes closed." He reassured his appropriately scaredy-cat companion. He's just like the rest of these pampered kitties, scared of the unknown they were never forced to deal with in their lives. "I just remembered I never caught your name. Maybe I'll add that list of "People to Avoid" to inform the rest of my buddies around here." The blue toad lied.
"M-Mickey Toad. W-What about yours?"
He abruptly stopped and turned to face the wealthy toad named Mickey, holding his briefcase in front of him for protection. "I don't remember ever having a name." The blue impoverished toad proceeded to smirk and walk towards Mickey. "But I'll be taking yours tonight." The wealthy fungus didn't try to move, only stood fazed before opening his case in fear.
"I-It's money you w-want right? T-Take it! J-Just leave me be!"
"Stubborn and naïve fools like you don't even think of how lowly you think of us, even in comparison to trash, dirt, soil. Well your money's not the only thing I'll be taking." He cocked in his fist and aimed for the richly dressed toad's face, who swung his briefcase over his head to retaliate.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" SMACK!
"ACHOO!" A middle-aged black fungus sneezed after letting the next batch of suckers- I mean participants at the Mushroom Casino. "Being a bouncer isn't easy. Allowing people to come in and rejecting those trash like that blue guy out all night." He fixed his sunglasses as the rest of the people in line side-stepped aside and bowed. Wondering what the commotion was all about he followed the empty lane until a grand toad walked the red carpet.
His white and blue patterned suit glistened as if it would sparkle that brightly even when he walked in daylight. He carried along a fairly sizable suitcase with him, obviously gamble money for the building and curtly made his way to the front with pride.
"Good evening sir." The blue toad with the suitcase politely addressed the bouncer.
"Ah M-Mickey!" He cleared his throat and proceeded to shake Mickey's free hand up and down. "We've been expecting you. The usual table in blackjack?"
"Yes please." He nodded to the bouncer, whose face distorted into curiosity as he inspected the blue toad's face.
"Pardon me sir, but what's with these light bruises?"
"Oh that." The blue toad felt hesitant to answer but cleared his throat and responded. "I ran into some of those...less fortunate beings in an alley. Thankfully my suitcase protected me from them, I already called the authorities for them." He answered, reassuring the bouncer and the rest of the wealthy toads in line.
"I understand, right this way sir." The bouncer lead Mickey inside the casino to the blackjack table. Mickey glanced nervously around the grand palace of a nightclub of the brilliantly golden casino. No matter how often he drops in a visit to the place, he's always amazed by how...packed the area is by people and machines.
Except this particular time he's especially shocked.
Mickey sat down by the blackjack table fidgeting the lock of his briefcase while eying the other toads in the same game as him, a variety of colors all with the same egotistical expression with all their poker chips. He scrolled for the right number for a few moments and finally opened it, ready to play.
The rich blue toad's eyes, however, glinted in satisfaction.
Perfect! Guess all those self-taught acting lessons paid off. Hope the real Mickey's doing fine out there. He revealed himself as the poor blue toad, disguised as his richer counterpart, in his mind. As the dealer once again explained the rules of the game the impoverished nameless toad remembered the scuffle between the two back at the alley.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" SMACK!
The blue toad struck Mickey unconscious on the ground with a thud, suffering light injuries from the rich toad's briefcase. He shrugged off the bruises and smirked at his first victory against those narcissistic bastards.
"Now to make myself known back in the Casino. Rumors spread about me should connect me to my missing parents...wherever they are." He sighed wistfully about the time when his parents abandoned him, he was too young to remember any clear memories about them nor can he recall his own name. Cracking his knuckles, the blue toad loomed over the fat cat and got to work.
Once he finished disguising himself the blue toad patted the clothes clean from dirt and carried the briefcase (with initial difficulty). Something itched him from inside the suit, prompting him to swiftly yank it out in irritation.
Mickey Toad, Rainbow Rd 123 Apartment #7.
A home address from the looks of it. "Can't believe he actually brings this around with him just to remember where his home is." The blue toad snickered. "...At least he has a place to live." He thought with regret. Glancing towards the unconscious Mickey (who now sported the poverty-stricken fungus' tattered clothes) he made up his decision.
Lifting him up by the shoulder the blue toad carried the sound asleep wealthy individual all the way back to his house, bearing both his body weight and the surprisingly sturdy weight of the suitcase.
"Right, now to get back to the Mushroom Casino convincingly."
"...ickey...Hey Mickey!" The blue disguised toad's thoughts rushed back to reality as the dealer, with the voice of a concerned friend, asked if he was alright.
"Y-Yeah I'm fine." He brought himself back in the casino and recollected snippets of the game, Blackjack. While he thought about the rules the dealer dealt two sets of cards to the five players of the table. So the goal's to reach 21 as close as possible in the fewest amount of cards you have without going over that limit. Seems simple enough. The fungus thought to himself. He flip the cards in his direction on the dealer's mark.
A nine and a two.
"Alright blackjack!" He nearly jolted at the shout of the yellow toad beside him, slamming down an ace and a king.
"Grah Hit!" Like him, the rest of the players called for a hit. Almost all of them instantly regretted it, being busted out.
The blue toad turned his card over, revealing a 10. "Twenty one!" He called out as the rest of the bustees quit the game. Multiple stacks of poker chips stood like pillars obstructing the blue and yellow toads from the dealer.
Great I need a better strategy to overcome this. He loosened his tie and felt the same tingling feeling the address card annoyed him with. He peeked inside the suit and spotted multiple playing cards from within. Suddenly he realized why this "Mickey" fat cat was so famous in this casino, and just the plan he needed to enact.
Thanks to his pickpocketing abilities due to necessity to survive in his extreme state of poverty, the blue toad switched his two-card deck in and out thanks to Mickey's "famous yawn of victory". "Blackjack! Blackjack! Blackjack!" He yelled in succession. A large crowd gathered as the disguised blue toad and the (always losing) yellow toad continued their one on one struggle, with the latter's poker chips slowly seeping away.
"Is it another flush out for him tonight?"
"I don't know but his opponent doesn't stand a chance!"
"I can't believe I'm actually witnessing his famous win streaks!"
Yeah that's right! Adore me! Praise me! The blue toad egged the audience on mentally, slamming down his last blackjack and taking all the chips.
So he really does have the "luck of the cards" as the rumors say... The yellow toad thought in response as the two shook hands for a good game. "You really are God's Hand Mickey! Any tips you can pass down to us normal people?"
Normal he says... He felt irritated at this pampered toad's question, never going through the struggles of life. "Well if you must know, I-"
Suddenly the disguised fungus sneezed, moving his arm a little too much to have a card fall through it. A card revealing a joker.
"What is..." The yellow toad curiously picked up the card with a suspicious look, eying the nervous blue toad. Within seconds the latter climbed the top of the table while the former (with the help of the equally unnerving audience) discovered the many hidden cards from within the inner pockets of the suit. He flared up in a fury and shouted at the imposter.
"CHEATER HUH? IS THIS HOW THE GREAT MICKEY TREATS HIS FANS?"
The blue toad grinned, anything he does can't be used against him as they still believed that he was still the real deal... only to grimace when Mickey barged through the door, dressed in yet another suit (albeit without changing his tattered pants) and glared at the poverty-aged fungus.
"He's a mockery! A sham! An imposter!" The blue wealthier toad led a rallying cry of outbursts against the revealed faker standing on the table.
TUP! TUP! TUP! As if the situation couldn't get worse enough (or more over the top), several Toad Guards straight from the Princess's Castle to surround the poorer blue toad.
"Halt! What is your name so we can report it to Your Majesty!" One of the guards, supposedly the leader, demanded.
Finally getting the attention to attract his parents, the blue toad accepted a new identity to call himself. A name that further spreads both famously and infamously across the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond (no matter how petty this scenario seems in hindsight). And an identity to give him a unique personality until he finally reunites with his loved ones.
He grinned and answered the guard with his new name. "The name's Toad. Troll Toad!"