A Virtual Reality: Game Over
Kevin Blackthorn reclined lazily on the well-used yet comfortable old sofa that stood in the far right corner of his family's sitting room. He yawned, bored already with his summer vacation. School had let out just two weeks ago, and yet there was nothing fun to do. His mother, who worked as a nurse at the local hospital, worked long laborious hours during the day and often came home extremely late. Moreover, his father was on a business trip in Beijing, China, for his company, which manufactured engines for cars. As a result, Kevin was alone most of the day, his only companion his 18-year-old brother, Brandon. Brandon was entering his senior year at Jacksonville High, one of the best high schools in Mississippi, and, being the upperclassman that he was, rarely hung out with his soon-to-be freshman brother.
Kevin sighed, continuing his deadpan stare at the opposite wall, his eyes glazed over. After what seemed like hours (although it was only minutes in reality), he decided that the day would only drag on worse if he continued to act lethargic. He pushed himself up off the couch, stretched, and shook his black hair out of his eyes. He gazed wearily around the room as he thought of activities that would pass the time. Should he get a jump on his summer reading? "Nah," he thought, "too early, and reading would only bore me more." Should he go outside and shoot some hoops? "I'm not any good at basketball," he thought dejectedly, "and that would only remind me of last year's disastrous basketball season, when our team's record was 0-15." At long last, he decided to drop his friend Isaac a line. Kevin grabbed his cell phone and punched in Isaac's number.
"Hey Isaac," he began when his friend had picked up. "if you're not doing anything, how 'bout coming over to play some video games?"
"Sure, why not?" Isaac replied. "My mom and dad just left to drive Brittany to her summer camp, and they won't be back until eight."
"I'll see you in a couple of minutes, then," Kevin said, and with that, he snapped his phone shut.
About ten minutes later, Kevin heard the chime of the doorbell. He raced over and wrenched the door open, and there stood Isaac, his bike discarded in the yard behind him. Isaac was about three inches shorter than Kevin, and he had wavy blond hair. He was wearing a Mortal Kombat T-Shirt and a Jaguar hat.
"Hey, what's up?" Isaac said as he walked into the house.
"Nothing of interest," Kevin answered, shutting the door behind Isaac and locking it again. "I just wanted a fellow gamer to give me some tips on traveling through the Mushroom Kingdom."
"Sweet," Isaac said. "I haven't had a good game of Super Mario in who knows how long. During the last week of school, my Wii broke and it hasn't been fixed yet."
"Well, maybe you can get back in the groove by helping me out, I've been stuck on the final boss forever!"
"Just be glad you have me," Isaac grinned as he grabbed a controller, "or you'd die two seconds into the first level!"
"Oh, shut up," Kevin shot back as he pressed the power button on the Wii. As the tiny light changed from red to glowing green, Kevin got himself a controller and plopped down on the sofa on Isaac's left. The familiar catchy tune that was the Mario theme song soon started, and the menu screen popped up.
"Ready to kick some Bowser butt?" asked Isaac.
"Yeah, sure," Kevin said distractedly, for he had just noticed something odd about the menu. Underneath the usual "1 player," "2 player," and "Settings," Kevin spotted a new option that he had never seen before. It read "Virtual Reality."
"Hey, what's wrong?" Isaac said. "Worried I'm a more epic gamer than you?"
"No," said Kevin slowly. "Hey Isaac, has your menu ever had an option like that?" He pointed to the screen.
Isaac squinted. "That's never been on my game," he replied. "Maybe you got lucky and they gave you an updated version or something! We should try it."
"I don't think-" Kevin began.
"You think too much," Isaac retorted. "Come on, what's the harm?"
"I'm going to see what Brandon thinks." Kevin bellowed in the general direction of his brother's room, "HEY BRANDON, COME HERE A SEC!"
Brandon trudged into the room a few seconds later, looking extremely irritated, his cell phone in hand.
"What's this about?" he started. "I'm in the middle of an important call…"
But Isaac, being the risk-taker that he was, had seized Kevin's controller while he was distracted and immediately selected "Virtual Reality." On the precise moment that he had hit the A button, beams of brightest red, blue, and green erupted out of the Wii console and enveloped Kevin, Isaac, and Brandon respectively. What followed seemed to be a freakish kind of tornado; he felt himself whirling around and around at impossible speed, he could see nothing but a pixilated blur of blinding primary colors. Just when he thought he might puke, he felt himself falling, falling; the only scenery a darkness as black as midnight and the only sound the rushing wind.
After a very long time, or it may have been no time at all, Kevin came to. He was aware that he was lying on the ground someplace outdoors; he could feel the gentle tickle of the grass on his bare arms. He opened his eyes a minute amount to take in a tiny sliver of the new, strange place he was currently in. He summoned his strength and, groaning, lifted himself off the hard ground. He ached all over and would have liked to have drifted off to sleep if he had been in a different situation; currently adrenaline was pulsing furiously through his body at finding himself in such an odd predicament and having no idea how he got here and if he would ever get back home. Kevin looked this way and that, and in seconds he spotted Isaac and Brandon, who were lying several feet to his right. He rushed over and roughly shook each one until they awoke.
"Dude, what happened?" Isaac said groggily after Kevin had unceremoniously woken him. "How'd we get outside? Last thing I remember is the Wii going bonkers, and then…"
"Kevin, you'd better start explaining," Brandon said harshly, cutting across Isaac. "Where are we? How do we get back? This all started because of your stupid game, so you must know something!"
"Hey!" yelled Kevin in defense. "I'm not the one who pressed the darn button, yell at him, not me!" Kevin pointed an accusing finger at Isaac.
"I thought it was just some new feature," Isaac said sheepishly. "I didn't think anything bad would happen."
Brandon took a deep breath, and then sighed heavily. "So, let me get this straight: you and your dumb friend-"
"Who're you calling dumb?" Isaac said angrily.
Brandon held up a hand to silence him. "You and your dumb friend try out this suspicious new feature on your game, and the game teleported us somewhere?"
"Looks like it," replied Kevin grimly. "We may not even be in our own world. You know, the human world. We may be INSIDE the actual game."
Brandon looked annoyed and disbelieving. "Oh, come on, do you really think I'm that gullible? We're probably just at some park or something-"
Isaac interrupted, "This is no park."
Brandon rounded on him. "Oh yeah, I'm sure it's not" he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. "We're probably on Mars or something."
"No, seriously, look over there," said Isaac, pointing shakily at a point in the distance, his face paper white.
Seeing the look on Isaac's face, Brandon and Kevin whirled around and squinted in the direction Isaac was pointing. They spotted a large brown blob on the horizon, growing ever closer.
"What the heck is that thing?" Brandon asked, a hint of panic in his voice now.
"Not thing. Things. It's an army of Goombas." Kevin answered faintly. "We really have been sucked inside the game."
"Well, how do we get out, then?" Brandon shouted hysterically, looking slightly mad.
"Well, there's only one way out of a Mario level," Isaac piped up. "We have to find the flagpole at the end of the level, and-and not die along the way."
All three of the boys gulped simultaneously. Back in their world, video game "deaths" seemed comical, even unreal, as the character would always pop back as good as new, just with one less life. However, the truth dawned horribly upon the trio at the exact same moment: this fantasy world was now real to them, and, unlike the characters they had used all too often, they only had one life-and if they lost that life, they would forever be lost, deleted from the very existence of the universe, never to return to their world, or any world for that matter.
The boys, lost in their frightened thoughts, had forgotten about the mass of little brown creatures that was steadily surging toward them, like a sea of fanged frowns and angry stares. The sound of their stubby feet thundering towards them brought them back to reality with a horrible jolt.
"How do we defeat them?" Brandon bellowed at Kevin and Isaac. He had a sudden surge of thankfulness that the two freshmen had spent most of their previous summers playing Mario every waking moment.
"Just jump on their heads!" Isaac called back. "Just don't let them bite you, that's how they kill!"
With that Isaac hopped into the crowd of angry Goombas, bouncing from head to head like some bizarre game of hopscotch, each Goomba disintegrating and disappearing as he used them as stepping stones. Kevin and Brandon followed suit.
After several seconds of this frantic jumping from one little creature to the next, the trio reached the other side of the vast army. They had killed at least half of them, maybe more. The Goombas, not wanting to sacrifice any more of their numbers, waddled away, until the reverberating sound of their footfalls at last died out. Each boy was sweating profusely; Kevin and Isaac lifted their shirts to their faces and dried them off. Despite the dire circumstances, Isaac broke out into a grin and said, "You have to admit, that was pretty fun."
Kevin halfheartedly nodded, the ghost of a grin flitted across his face before being replaced by a look of breathlessness and concern. Brandon merely looked stony and didn't respond.
"That's not the worst of it," Kevin breathed. "Goombas are just the start. There are still Koopa Troopas, Bullet Bills, and who knows what else…"
"Well, let's get on with it, then," Isaac said. "We aren't going to accomplish anything by just standing here. You guys want to get back home, right?"
Neither of the other two could come up with an argument, so each gave a stiff nod and they continued their journey.
After traveling for nearly ten minutes, they came upon a very large, very strange object. It seemed to be three blocks floating in midair, all in a row. The one in the middle was yellow with a gigantic brown "?" printed on it; the blocks on each side of it were made of regular reddish-brown brick. Brandon began circling it like a vulture circles above its prey.
"So, Mario freaks, what's this thing?"
"It's an item block," said Isaac and Kevin in unison. "You jump up and hit the yellow block, then an item pops out. Since there are three of us, I'm pretty sure two regular mushrooms and one fire flower are in this one. You know, so we each get our own power-up," Isaac explained.
Kevin spoke up. "I guess we have to decide who will get the fire flower. Whoever gets it has to use it wisely and with caution, because it could very well be our ticket out of here. Fire defeats enemies on the spot, you see."
Brandon looked slightly sick; an unpleasant greenish tinge had appeared in his face.
"Well, obviously I shouldn't get it," he said. "I don't know the first thing about Mario."
"I think Isaac should get it. He's a better gamer than I am," Kevin said, clapping Isaac on the back.
Brandon nodded assent. "Well, guess it's up to me, then," Isaac mused. "Come on, let's all jump and hit the box; just one of us won't be enough."
The three approached the gigantic yellow block, which loomed above them, casting dark shadows on the ground that perfectly reflected the grim mood of the boys.
"On three," Kevin said. "One…two…THREE!"
Each of them jumped as high as he could; their fists smashed against the yellow block. Their hands stinging furiously, the boys stepped back and saw, perched on top of the yellow block, two small red mushrooms with tiny black eyes and a flower in brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow; it seemed to dance and sway merrily, despite the lack of breeze.
"Here, I'll boost Isaac and you up," Brandon said to the pair of friends. "Just throw my mushroom down to me. Got it?"
"Sure, whatever you say, Captain Blackthorn," Isaac replied sarcastically.
Brandon hoisted Kevin up to the box, followed by Isaac. The two rushed over, carefully so as not to fall and break every bone in their bodies, and scooped up the three items. The mushrooms hopped up and down in a joyful sort of way, and the flower was warm to the touch.
"Here!" called Kevin, and threw one of the mushrooms toward Brandon, who caught it and stuffed it in his mouth. He chewed quickly and swallowed the rubbery thing, which tasted bitter. Kevin did likewise. They did not, as Kevin had expected, increase in size as Mario did when he ate a mushroom; rather he felt a curious sensation pass through his body that seemed to double his strength. He leaped down from the platform without any injury whatsoever; his physical ability seemed to have increased as well.
"Pretty neat, isn't it?" Brandon smiled, the first time he had done so since being transported to the Mushroom Kingdom.
"You said it," Kevin grinned back.
"Ugh, this is disgusting," floated Isaac's voice from on top of the block structure. "It's like my mom's Brussels Sprout Delight."
Isaac jumped nimbly down from the blocks and landed cat-like on the grass.
"Well?" said Kevin, raising a questioning eyebrow.
"Check it out," Isaac positively beamed as he turned over his hand; there, dancing in his palm, was a sphere of hot, reddish flame that illuminated his face, making him look impressive, albeit a bit creepy. He wound up like a pitcher and sent the ball of fire soaring into the distance, where it exploded in a shower of brilliant sparks. The boys, all grinning broadly, continued onward, the mood lighter than it had been since entering this peculiar land with its many dangers, not knowing nor caring what dangers were still to come.
Their luck seemed to be taking a definite upturn; after about three hours of traveling, the only snags they encountered were two more armies of Goombas, which Isaac torched and reduced to ash with his newfound power, and several Koopas, which presented no challenge at all as Kevin and Brandon, who by now was getting the hang of this game, hopped on their heads before Isaac finished them off with fireballs. They decided to stop and take a break under a large green tree laden with a pink fruit of some sort. Brandon, being the tallest, picked several of these fruits and then slumped down against the trunk of the tree.
"Here, we have to eat something if we're going to go on," said Brandon, forcing the fruits into Kevin and Isaac's hands.
"Hmm, I've never seen these in the Mario games," Kevin said, frowning as he inspected the large piece of fruit in his hand.
Isaac had already finished his first and was reaching for another. "These are the berries that Yoshi eats," he said through a full mouth. "You obviously haven't played much Super Mario Galaxy 2."
"They're actually pretty good," said Brandon. "Good enough for now. If we're stuck in here for much longer, we'll have to find a proper meal, though."
"We should fry up a Goomba," said Isaac, starting on his third helping. "I bet it would be fantastic. Just add a little seasoning…"
Kevin looked revolted, but Brandon said, "I hope it doesn't come to that. Anyway, we'd better get going. If mom gets home and finds us missing…"
He didn't even need to finish the sentence. The three boys got to their feet, yawned, stretched, and went on. Getting back to their own world was imperative, and they realized that their time was running out.
About an hour later, they came to yet another block structure; this particular one was like a staircase, leading to a large green pipe that was sticking out of the ground.
"Finally, I was wondering when one of these was going to show up," Isaac said.
"Where does it go?" Brandon inquired.
"Underground," Kevin answered. "We must be nearing the end of the level. I'd say we're about three fifths done."
Brandon's face was determined. "We are going to be able to get out of here. I know we are."
"Then hurry up, slowpokes! Time's-a-wasting!" Isaac shouted from the top of the blocks, several steps ahead of the brothers, as always. With that he lowered himself into a sitting position and slid down the pipe and out of sight. Kevin, followed by Brandon, dashed up and hopped into the pipe as well. Their stomachs lurched as they accelerated impossibly fast; they rushed down the slimy, damp chute, the darkness impenetrable, pressing on their eyeballs. After several minutes of sliding, they finally shot out of the end of the pipe and landed, hard, on a cold stone floor. Isaac was already brushing the grime off his clothes and surveying the dungeon-like room. Light from an unseen source dimly lit the place, and water dripped from the ceiling, making a constant plop, plopping noise, like a metronome. From what the three could make out, several rope bridges spanned large chasms, like great, dark, greedy mouths waiting to swallow them up. The overall gloom and foreboding of the underground chamber snuffed out the positive feelings from the sunny, green world above.
"Let's get going, then," Brandon commanded, his face still set with that look of intense determination. They set off; their footfalls made loud slapping sounds on the stone slabs, and they proceeded with a great measure of caution when crossing the bridges, which swayed ominously. They proceeded in this manner for yet another hour, but stopped abruptly when they reached a sort of vast subterranean courtyard. It was lined on either side by objects that looked alarmingly like-
"Cannons," Kevin gulped. "This is the Bob-omb chamber. We'll have to move quickly, or we'll be blown to bits!"
Isaac and Kevin made to dash off, but Brandon seized both of their arms and spoke in a rushed voice.
"Hold on, don't make rash decisions. We need a strategy-"
"THERE'S NO TIME!" Isaac screamed. "LOOK!"
He pointed wildly around the courtyard, where Bob-ombs were emerging from their cannon homes, marching like robots, unthinking, unfeeling, with nothing on their mind but to kill. They turned slowly to face their victims, and began a steady march towards them.
"Hurry up, before they detonate!" Isaac cried in a desperate voice. "Come on!"
Isaac took off like an Olympic sprinter in the 100 meter dash, his arms and legs pumping furiously. Kevin sped along, a little ways behind Isaac. Brandon, who had been paralyzed with fear, was a ways behind, but running for all he was worth.
"Oh, crap, no, no, no!" said Isaac, for he had realized the gate at the opposite doorway was slowly but surely closing shut. Kevin, his eyes wide, also realized. If they did not make it in time…but he could not permit that thought to form in his mind. They had to make it. Had to.
The Bob-ombs now filled the room, and the vast area resembled a McDonald's ball pit crossed with a Civil War battlefield. Brandon noticed, with a surge of terror, that the little black metal Bob-ombs had begun flashing red. Definitely not a good sign.
Isaac reached the iron gate first, and slid under, much like a baseball player slides into second base when he steals. Kevin had to slide on his belly, for the gate had closed even more.
"BRANDON, HURRY, HURRY!"
Brandon was right at the gate when the Bob-ombs at the side of the room from which they had come went off with an ear-shattering explosion. The room trembled, and Brandon tripped and fell. Isaac and Kevin grabbed his arms and pulled with all their might as the chain reaction of explosions made its way towards their side of the room. With yells and grunts from both boys, they heaved Brandon under the gate just in the nick of time; it shut with a loud clang.
"Come on, we've got to get out range, and fast!" Isaac shouted, the hysteria in his voice as clear as day. Brandon pushed himself to his feet and the trio ran for their lives as the final Bob-ombs detonated behind them with the greatest explosion yet, creating a fiery inferno that just missed the boys as they scampered along the corridor. Dust and rubble rained from the stone ceiling as they hurriedly turned a corner and collapsed against the wall, panting, sweat pouring down their faces.
Isaac and Kevin laid flat on their backs, the coolness of the floor soothing to them. They were breathing hard. Brandon stood up and let out a laugh of pure relief. Kevin noticed that Brandon's arms were covered in burns. A grin that seemed to light up the dark passage appeared on Brandon's scorched and sweating face.
"We did it! We made it out alive! I never would have thought-"
But he never got to finish his sentence. A loud boom, like a cannon going off, sounded from the far end of the corridor, echoing deafeningly in the tunnel.
"DUCK!" screamed Kevin, but too late. A large black bullet shot towards them at the speed of a train and collided with Brandon, smashing him into the wall with a gut wrenching crunching noise of breaking bones. The Bullet Bill exploded into millions of tiny pieces of steel and ceased to be. Brandon slid down the wall, knocked unconscious by the impact, blood trickling from his head. Even then, Kevin and Isaac somehow knew that Brandon was not, could not be alive. Kevin's head was spinning, he felt that he was going to be sick. No, he thought, this can't happen, it's all my fault, all my fault! The two rushed over and knelt by his body, which was slumped against the wall, limp and lifeless.
"Brandon-no-" Kevin began, reaching out, but before he could touch him, his body faded and vanished, leaving not a trace behind. Kevin's eyes filled with tears, and he would have broken down, but Isaac placed a firm hand upon his shoulder. Kevin looked up at Isaac. His face registered shock, and when he spoke, it was with alarm, but mixed in was a hint of the bold determination that Brandon had had during the journey in this harsh fantasy world.
"Listen," Isaac said shakily. "We can't break down like this. That's-that's not what Brandon would have wanted. We have to go on."
"Y-yeah, I guess you're right," replied Kevin thickly, brushing away the tears that threatened to fall. "I-"
"No time for chit-chat now, get down. More Bullets Bills are on their way."
The two boys army crawled across the ground, and just as Isaac had said, every so often a Bullet Bill rocketed over their heads, ruffling their hair. Each time this happened, Kevin felt a surge of anger and grief. All my fault, he kept thinking, all my fault that he died. My stupid game. My fault…
After what seemed like hours of crawling across the hard stone, they finally reached another corner. Careful to avoid meeting the same fate as Brandon, they inched under the Bullet Bill launcher and out the other side. Here there was a hole in the ceiling with a rusted iron ladder leading up through it.
"You go on ahead, I'll catch up," Kevin told Isaac. Isaac, realizing how Kevin must feel, nodded. But before he left, Isaac said in a hollow voice, "Don't blame yourself, dude. If this is anyone's fault, it's mine. I pressed the button. I was responsible for this."
Kevin didn't answer. Isaac turned and began the long ascent to the surface.
Kevin sat against the wall, his face buried in his hands. He, surprisingly, did not blame Isaac in the slightest. He had had no idea what the option would do. He had no knowledge that it was anything dangerous or life-threatening. No, he blamed himself, and himself alone, despite anything Isaac said. He had too many emotions floating through his brain; he couldn't understand them all. He knew he felt grief, of course, for the loss of Brandon, and anger that this whole absurd situation had been thrust upon them. But what puzzled him was that there was a tiny, shimmering light in the back of his mind, a glimmer of hope for the impossible: that Brandon, somehow, some way, was still alive. He tried to push this childish thought out of his mind as he rose and began to climb the old ladder, gripping the rusty rungs. However, it is not in a human's nature to give up hope, and the glimmer was not dampened by Kevin's morose thoughts. He was surprised to find himself blinking in bright sunlight a short while later. He must have been climbing unconsciously, lost in the swirling thoughts jumbled in his head.
Isaac was sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring blankly at the grass. His head snapped up when he heard Kevin emerge from the pipe. Kevin slowly descended the staircase-like arrangement of blocks and stood beside Isaac, who rose to his feet.
"Just so you know, I don't blame you for…for what happened." Kevin said in a low voice. "It was just curiosity, you couldn't have known-"
"Well, it wasn't your fault either, so don't say it," said Isaac fiercely.
Kevin opened his mouth to say something, but seemed at a loss for words. He closed it again.
"We'd better get going," said Isaac, gesturing at the sun, which hung low in the sky, sending long shadows across the ground. "We don't have much time left."
The two set off, the mood tense and more like a death march than anything. Neither spoke to each other for a while. However, Kevin was having a raging debate within himself.
Should I tell him? About that feeling?
No. There's no point. He's dead, and you know it.
But what if…
No buts. No what ifs. He isn't coming back.
Kevin could stand it no longer. He turned to Isaac and said, "Isaac?"
"Yeah?"
"I've been having this-this feeling. Like Brandon might still be…you know…alive. I don't know if this feeling is real, or if I'm just tricking myself."
Isaac's expression, which was hidden in the shadow of the bill on his hat, was unreadable.
"Well…I don't know. It doesn't seem like there's any way in the world he could still be alive…but we're not in our world, are we?" Isaac said mysteriously, his eyes suddenly bright.
It wasn't a satisfactory answer in Kevin's opinion, but it did make him think. Not in our world…
Soon they came to a sort of outdoor hallway, a grassy path that was sandwiched between two high walls of rock, most likely obsidian, judging by the dark black color and glossy texture. Here and there rare gems, gigantic rubies and sapphires, nuggets of pure gold, and the like were inlaid in the stone. The two boys felt a mounting sense of foreboding, much like they were walking to the gallows. The sun fell even further in the sky; dusk was upon them. The jewels in the walls glinted like eyes, following the boys' progress through the ominous passage. After about an hour or so, darkness had fallen completely.
"How much creepier can this place get?" Isaac breathed.
"I don't want to find out."
Another half-hour of walking. By this time both Kevin's and Isaac's feet were aching, and they were tired, thirsty, and starving. Just when Kevin concluded that this long hallway would never end, Isaac whispered, "Look, up ahead!"
Kevin's jaw dropped; Isaac was staring, dumbfounded, at the sight that met their eyes.
The passageway they had been following opened suddenly into an enormous circular area, nearly a half mile in diameter, at the center of which stood a black castle, towers jutting into the night sky, the open front gate like a fanged beast waiting to devour them. Inside the open doors of the castle stood the very thing they had been searching for…the flagpole that signaled the end of a level! But that wasn't what the boys were terrified by. There, right in front of them, stood the largest creature either of them had ever seen. It was tan, green, and reddish-orange in color, and looked as if it was a cross between a turtle and a dragon. It wore an evil leer, claws drawn, ready for a fight-a fight to the death.
"Bowser," both boys said automatically.
"Yes, me." Bowser laughed a low, cruel laugh, which sounded somewhere between a rasp and a bark. "You humans, always so slow on the uptake."
"What do you want from us?" shouted Kevin, as fear quickly drained out of him, only to be replaced by rage.
"Haven't you guessed? My, my, you really are slow, friends of Mario."
"Friends of Mario? Wha-" Isaac began. Then, something clicked. "I know what this is about. Your world is real, isn't it?"
Bowser growled impatiently, "But of course. You're in it right now."
"So you've been watching us playing the Mario game-which is all it is in our world, a game-and you concluded that we must be in league with Mario or whatever, so you beamed us here to finish us off, isn't that right?!" Isaac's voice cracked slightly as he finished speaking.
"Yes, yes, that was the general idea," said Bowser in a bored voice, picking at his teeth with a long, sharp claw.
"You've got it all wrong, though, all wrong!" Kevin retorted. "This isn't real to us, any of it…"
"Ah, I don't have time for useless speeches," Bowser rumbled, advancing forward. Kevin distinctly heard the gate slam shut behind him; there was no going back now. "It's about time, I think, to die, for aiding my mortal enemy-a crime that will never go unpunished!
"RUN!" Isaac bellowed, and run they did, just in time. Bowser had curled into a ball, a sphere of two-foot-long, deadly spikes, and rolled toward them, making the earth quake. One hit from those spikes, Kevin knew, would be enough to make him into a Kevin-kebob. Bowser was gigantic, powerful, a walking, talking arsenal of deadly weapons, but they had an advantage: Bowser could not take on two of them at once.
"ISAAC!" Kevin called across the wide circular yard. "I'LL DISTRACT HIM-YOU FIND SOME WAY TO BEAT HIM! AND HURRY!"
Isaac nodded frantically to show that he had heard and raced off to search for some means of victory.
Kevin shouted in a loud, taunting voice, sounding much braver than he felt, "HEY DRAGONBREATH! YOU'RE JUST A DUMB, SLOW TURTLE-YOU COULDN'T CATCH ME IF YOU TRIED!" He even stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry for good measure. Bowser roared, enraged by the insults, and came barreling towards Kevin. Thankfully, Kevin was extremely fast, and he could outrun Bowser, even when he was in ball form. Meanwhile, Isaac was combing the courtyard, searching for something, anything, that might help them. He was just about to give up on a dark niche in the castle's outside wall when he felt a tap on his shoulder that made him jump a mile in the air. He whirled around, expecting the worst, but saw…
"BRANDON?!" Isaac couldn't believe his eyes. Brandon was there before him, not a bone in his body broken, looking as determined as ever.
"How did you…what the…"
"I don't know," Brandon said in a rush. "All I remember is being hit hard in the head, and then I blacked out. Then I woke up outside again. I tried to find you guys, but you had gone on to who knows where. I just now reached here; I climbed the gate while you were talking to Bowser, and this is the first chance I've gotten to talk to you while you weren't being chased."
"Of course," Isaac said slowly. "The mushroom! You couldn't have died, you just reverted to how you were before you ate it! How could I have forgotten?"
Brandon looked as though he hadn't understood any of this. However, the puzzled look was soon replaced by his normal perseverant expression.
"I found these along the way here," he said, holding out three fire flowers, swaying in their merry way. "I daresay you must have missed them."
"Fire! That's the way we can beat him! Brandon, you're a genius!"
Isaac chewed up his flower in a matter of seconds, and the power of fire that he had lost in the Bob-omb explosion was now back under his control. He summoned a brightly dancing fireball in his palm. Brandon ate a flower as well, and he too held the fire in his hand.
"Now, let's go. I daresay Kevin could use some help right now."
And indeed he did. Although he was fast, he was tiring quickly; his stamina was drained by the events of the day. Kevin tried to run around to the back side of the castle, but found his way blocked by a twenty-foot-high wrought iron fence. Realizing he was cornered, Kevin turned slowly to face the enemy. Bowser loomed over him, his ugly leer back in place. Kevin could not see any way out of this.
"Kill me, then," Kevin panted, furious toward Bowser, what he had brought upon his family.
Bowser bore his teeth in an evil grin.
"So I shall. So long, friend of Mario," he growled, and raised his scaly arm to slash, to rip, to murder, but froze, his arm still hanging in midair.
Kevin didn't know what was up. "What, are you a coward? Afraid to murder me like you did my brother?"
"Who says I'm dead?" came an all too familiar voice from behind Bowser's broad back.
"BRANDON?" Kevin shouted joyfully.
Bowser had whirled around at the sound of Brandon's voice.
"Yeah, it's me," Brandon called. "But let's chat later, right now it's time to finish this great, ugly turtle!"
Kevin saw something small and bright fly over Bowser's head, as if Brandon had thrown it to him while Bowser was preoccupied. Kevin caught the small object; he realized it was a fire flower. Without hesitation, he stuffed it into his mouth and ate it, and he felt a warmth spread throughout his body. He turned over his hand, and sure enough, there in his palm flickered the blinding sphere of flame.
"Friends of Mario, always with the false illusion that they can outmuscle and outsmart me, the king Koopa! You all shall pay; you shall not live-"
At that moment, Brandon's voice rang out, clear as a bell, seeming to shut out every other sound. He spoke one word: "NOW!"
Kevin understood without being told or taught. At his brother's word, he summoned every last atom of his strength to create the largest, most intense fireball he possibly could. Bowser understood what was happening much too late.
"NOOOOO!" was his strangled cry as three of the largest fireballs Kevin had ever seen collided with Bowser; he was lost in a blazing inferno, sparks were flying everywhere, the heat was unbearable, and then, he was gone. Bowser had disappeared, been defeated by teamwork of the two best friends and the brother who was thought to be dead, but was somehow, by some miracle, very much alive. All that remained was a circular patch of scorched stone, which was giving off a thick, black smoke. The three stared at the spot, hardly believing that they had done it, achieved the impossible. Kevin rushed over to Brandon and embraced him; Brandon looked embarrassed but happy as he patted Kevin clumsily on the back. Isaac stood, beaming, to the side, watching amusedly.
"Here's an idea. How about we get out of here?" Brandon proposed.
"Exactly my thoughts," Kevin agreed.
"Never thought I'd live to see the day that I was happy to quit a Mario game," Isaac said.
The three roared with relieved laughter as they made their way towards the flagpole that would transport them back to their own world, their home.
Again, the whirl of bright colors enveloped Kevin, Isaac, and Brandon as they spun sickeningly fast, but they did not mind at all anymore, for they were going home. A few seconds later they appeared back in their own house, their own living room; all was normal, just as it should be. Kevin and Isaac were back on the couch, the gaming controllers still in their hands. Brandon was standing behind them, with his cell phone in hand. He stowed it in his jeans pocket.
A sudden click and the sound of the door being open made them all jump. They had completely forgotten about mom with all the deadly adventures of the day.
A few seconds later, Mrs. Blackthorn, dressed in her white nurse uniform, popped her head in the living room.
"Hi boys, I'm back! Oh, and hi Isaac, I didn't see you at first."
"Hi mom," Kevin and Brandon said; Isaac replied, "Hi Mrs. Blackthorn."
"Now, what have you three been up to all day?" she said, sitting down in the armchair near the living room doorway and crossing her legs.
"Oh, not much," Isaac answered, casting sideways glances at Kevin and Brandon and winking. "We just played some video games."
~THE END~