AUTHOR'S NOTE: This fanfic is based on a computer game called "Elementals: The Magic Key," by canon used is from "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show," which means I'm using Princess Toadstool instead of Princess Peach. Anyway, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad belong to Nintendo. Most of the elemental characters belong to Playrix. All other characters belong to me.
Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad walked through the gates of Elementia. Everything seemed peaceful, until a gust of wind nearly blew the quartet right back through the gates.
"Whooaaa!" Mario shouted, grabbing onto the gates before he could blow away entirely. Luigi grabbed his legs, Toad grabbed Luigi's legs, and Princess Toadstool grabbed Toad's feet. Finally, the wind died down, and the group crashed to the ground.
"What was that all about?" Toad asked.
"Beats me," Mario said.
Before anything else could be said, the ground began shaking. They grabbed onto the gate to steady themselves.
"First a hurricane, and now an earthquake?!" Luigi shouted. "What's going on here?!"
The earthquake stopped after awhile. Our heroes hesitated to move, afraid of what might be next. As they stood there, trying to figure out what to do, an old man walked up to them.
"The elements have all become unbalanced," he said. "That's what's going on here!"
"Unbalanced?" the Princess repeated. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I don't know for sure," the old man said, "but I think the Great Key of Elementia's been tampered with. That artifact binds and balances the elements of this world. If it's been tampered with, or destroyed, all heck breaks loose!"
"Is there any way we can fix this Great Key?" Mario asked.
"The only one who knows anything about the key is the great wizard, Eli Mentelle," the old man said. "Master of the Elements. He's the keeper of the Great Key, and ruler of Elementia. He lives in the Magic Tower, down the road apiece. If anybody would know what's going on, he would."
"Thanks, mister," Mario said. "Come on, everybody! Let's get to the Magic Tower!"
With that, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad started down the road that would lead them to the Magic Tower. Once they arrived, they noticed that the place seemed eerily quiet. The front door was unlocked, so the foursome crept inside.
"Kinda creepy, isn't it?" Luigi asked, nervously. "Looks like nobody's home. Too bad. Let's go back."
"Hold it, Luigi," Mario said, grabbing his brother's arm. "We don't know for sure that nobody's home!"
"Mario's right," the Princess said. "Let's split up, and see if we can find this Eli Mentelle, or anyone else who might be living in this Magic Tower."
The others agreed, and the group each decided to go in a different direction to look for any signs of life. Mario went upstairs, and began checking various rooms. After walking down the entire hall without much luck, he finally saw some kind of light flashing from underneath the very last door at the end of the hall. He opened the door slowly, and looked inside the room. There he saw a brown-haired young man, wearing a blue robe, standing in the middle of the room, waving his arms about. He held up his hand, and a fireball shot out of it, heading straight for Mario.
"Mama mia!" Mario shouted, and ducked.
"Oops!" the young man shouted. He whipped a magic wand out of his pocket and waved it. The fireball dissolved in a puff of smoke.
"Wow, that was a hot one!" Mario shouted.
"Yeah, sorry about that," the young man said.
"No problem. Incidentally, my name's Mario."
"I'm Eli. Eli Mentelle."
"Eli Mentelle? Yahoo! This is great!"
Before Eli could say anything, Mario grabbed his hand, and practically yanked him out of the room. Eli was too dumbfounded to try and stop him.
"Hey, everybody!" Mario shouted, as he ran down the hall. "I found him! I found Eli Mentelle!"
"Wait, I . . . ." Eli started, but Princess Toadstool interrupted him.
"Wonderful, Mario!" she shouted. "Mr. Mentelle, we've been looking all over for you!"
"You have?" Eli asked. "Oh, wait a minute. I get it now, you see, I'm . . . ."
"You know you look a lot younger than I expected," Luigi said.
"Yeah, that's because . . . ." Eli started again.
"I guess that's the way it is with some wizards," Toad said. "They look like they're twenty something, when they're really six hundred years old. Anyway, you've got to help us! Everything's gone crazy with the elements!"
"Yeah, I know," Eli said. "But . . . ."
"We were told only the great Eli Mentelle, Master of the Elements, was the only person who could help," Mario said. "And you're him!"
"Would you please let me get a word in edgewise here?" Eli asked, sounding a bit frustrated. "You've got the wrong guy! I'm not the great Eli Mentelle, Master of the Elements!"
"But Mario just said . . . ." Luigi began.
"Yes, my name is Eli Mentelle," Eli said. "Eli Mentelle, Junior. You guys are looking for Eli Mentelle, Senior. My father is the one who's Master of the Elements, not me! I'm just a wizard in training."
"Oh," Mario said, sheepishly. "Uhh, sorry about that, Eli. Can you tell us where we can find your father?"
"Sure," Eli said. "Follow me."
Eli led the quartet down the hall and into another room. Inside, there were two stone statues, one of a man and the other of a woman.
"This is him," Eli said. "My father, and my mother, both elemental masters, but I'm afraid they're not in any condition to help you guys out."
"Wow," Toad said. "What happened to them?"
"My Aunt Adara happened to them," Eli explained. "Father's sister. She's the Mistress of Fire, but she wants to be Mistress of the Elements in order to take over the world. She attacked a couple of days ago, and destroyed the Great Key, causing the crystal shards separate from it. But Mother and Father interrupted her spell, and hid the shards. Aunt Adara was so mad, she cast a spell on my parents and turned them into stone. That's about all I know of the subject. Since the attack, I've been practicing my magic so I could find them."
"What do we do now?" Luigi asked.
"I don't think we have much of a choice," the Princess said. "We've got to put the Great Key back together to restore the balance of the elements. Will you help us, Eli?"
"Well . . . . I don't know," Eli said. "I haven't completed my magic training yet."
"I'm sure you'll be fine," Mario said. "Besides, we can't let your evil aunt find the shards first! The entire world will be doomed if she does!"
"And we don't know the layout of the land," Toad said. "We don't know where to start looking, or even how to find the shards!"
"Okay, then," Eli said. "Follow me, and we'll get started."
Eli led our heroes down the hall. Standing in front of a doorway was a huge figure, wielding a sword, and growling.
"What in the world is that?" Luigi asked.
"A golem," Eli said. "And he doesn't look to happy . . . ."
The golem growled fiercely, and charged. Everyone screamed, and ducked out of the way as fast as they could. The golem got up, looked around, and spotted Toad.
"Uh oh!" Toad shouted. "Time to make tracks!"
Before Toad could run off, the golem grabbed him by the back of his vest, and lifted him off the ground.
"Toad!" the Princess shouted.
"Hey you big bully!" Mario shouted. "Pick on someone your own size!"
The golem growled, and hurled his sword at Mario, missing him by a fraction of an inch, but it was close enough to take off a few mustache hairs.
"Wow, talk about a close shave!" Luigi shouted.
"Eli!" Toad shouted. "You're the one with the magic! Do something!"
"Well, I'll give it a shot," Eli said. "But I already told you, I'm not done with my training."
Eli rolled up his sleeves, put his hands together, and concentrated. A blue ball of magic generated in his hands, and he threw it at the golem. The ball turned into water, and hit the golem directly in the chest. It was knocked off it's feet, and Toad went flying through the air, but the Princess caught him before he could hit the ground.
"Nice catch, your highness," he said.
"Hey, check out tall, dark, and ugly over there," Luigi said.
The others looked and saw that the golem was engulfed in water. Eli waved his hand, and the golem exploded into nothingness.
"Wow!" Luigi shouted.
"Wow is right," Eli said. "I can't believe I actually did it!"
"Nice going, Eli!" Mario shouted. "Now we'd better get moving!"