SUPER MARIO BROS.
Brooklyn, 1995
Lightning forked through the sky and rain pelted the asphalt hard as a woman clutching a bundle tightly to her chest ran through the streets. At a corner she looked furtively over her shoulder, her bright green eyes scanning the space but seeing nothing except cars which lumbered through the precipitation, headlights blinding anyone who looked at them. Not seeing what she was looking for, the woman cinched her cloak tighter around her frame, adjusted the bundle in her arms, and resumed running. Finally she stopped in front of a church run orphanage where she placed the bundle she was carrying on the top step. She removed something from around her neck, placed it on top of the bundle and knocked rapidly on the door before turning and disappearing into Brooklyn's rain soaked streets.
Cars honked their horns and the drivers shouted obscenities at the woman as she ran into the street to an open manhole cover which she climbed down into the city's sewers. In the dark and dank sewer system she continued running deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels, still looking over her shoulder every few seconds. Finally she stopped at an intersection of the sewer pipes to catch her breath. She didn't see the tall figure in military garb emerge from the shadows behind until it was too late. The person lashed out and grabbed her arm in a grip as strong as iron. The woman whirled around and gasped when she saw her assailant.
"Koopa!"
"Where's the stone?" asked Koopa, his eyes glinting dangerously in the low light.
"It's safe from you!" the woman spat and slapped Koopa in the face as hard as she could.
Surprised, the military man released his grip on the woman who stumbled a few steps before regaining her footing and running again. But Koopa was faster than she was and threw her against a wall when he reached her.
"My patience wains, my queen. Tell me where the rock is."
The queen got back on her feet and saw that they were in a very old part of the sewer. The timbers supporting the tunnel looked rotted and ready to cave in. Maybe if she was lucky Koopa would be caught in it. The queen put her hastily conceived plan into action faster than one would have thought possible and threw all her weight against the support beams which broke with one blow, initiating a collapse right above her. Koopa let out an angered hiss as he watched the cave-in bury the queen, taking the information he needed with it.
"General Koopa," came a voice over his radio.
"What is it?" he snapped.
"General, the portal is starting to destabilize. It is advisable that you return immediately."
Koopa looked one last time at the rocks that had taken his prize before replying. "I'm on my way."
The fact that he had failed to obtain the needed information was but a minor setback in his grand plans. He could afford to wait for now. Eventually Koopa would find the stone and with it he would attain his destiny. It was inevitable.
At the orphanage where the queen had left her bundle one of the sisters who worked there opened the door and looked out into the cold dreary night. Seeing nothing up or down the street the sister looked down and saw what had been left on the doorstep. It was a baby, barely a year old. She picked up the baby and carried it into its new home. Inside the other sisters came to fawn over their new charge. When brought to the Mother Superior, she took the strange rock that had been left with the baby and held it up to the light. It was a curious object and looking at it the Mother Superior got the feeling that this child had a grand destiny ahead of it.
She had no idea how right she was.
A/N: This fanfiction is a (hopefully better) re-imagining of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, and Dennis Hopper. I personally think that the basic premise (as silly as it was) had a lot of potential that was ruined by poor writing and bad directing. This is my attempt to rectify that. This chapter is just a teaser for what's to come in the new year. I hope you like this version of the introduction. Please leave a review telling me why you liked of disliked this and why. I'm going to need a lot of input from you to make this as good as it can be.
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