ChapterIAn Unexpected Visit

August 10, 2002. This first story of mine goes all the way back to the beginning of my adventures of the strange, supernatural, and electronic. It began during my fifth grade year and would live on in my memory even at the end of my final adventure. It began innocently enough in front of the Nintendo 64 that I had gotten the Christmas before. I had acquired a mass of games that I enjoyed for the most part. Three in particular would play a key role in my tale. Well, enough about how the story begins; I'll just tell you how it goes.

It all started while I was playing a file of Super Mario 64 during the middle of the night (again). I barely had any other time to play it, since homework and chores took up a vast amount of my time. Anyway, This night in particular was very cloudy and looked as if it might rain any second. I was working on a particularly difficult star (Snowman's Head on Freezy Freeze Peak) when a flash of lightning surged across the sky and struck our electricity transformer in a clump of bushes on the corner of our property. The extra power surged through our electrical wires and eventually reached my Nintendo. The circuit breaker immediately shorted out. And I had just nabbed the star, too!

I felt like cursing my head off, but something spectacular happened. The game cartridge that was in the Nintendo 64 surged with extraterrestrial energy, a type that I had never encountered before. It lifted out of the Nintendo and flashed bone white. I covered my eyes with my arm to block out the light.

When the light subsided, Mario himself stood there! I stood there stunned with awe and fascination. I had so many questions for him at the moment, but he didn't seem to have time for them. He looked around for something, which apparently were two more of my game cartridges. These two titles were: Star Wars: Episode 1: Racer and Pokemon Stadium. When he touched them, they also floated up and flashed blank. These two brought forth Ash Ketchum and Anakin Skywalker themselves!

At that moment, my jaw dropped to the floor. These were my favorite characters from my all-time favorite Nintendo 64 games! So many questions raced through my mind like a fleet of out-of-control Podracers, but the first one that found its way to my lips was: "What are you guys doing here?"

Mario stepped forward and replied in his trademark accent, "To tell you the truth, we need your help."

"Why would you all need my help? You guys are the superstars of Nintendo! I'm only a fifth grader-"

"With amazing talent and potential," Anakin cut in. "I've never seen anyone drive my Podracer with as much prowess as you."

"And not even I've been able to defeat the Gym Leader Castle as many times as you have," Ash added.

"So you see, we didn't have anyone else to turn to that we could have met under all of these circumstances and expected to help," Mario continued. "Your unbridled and untainted youth and exceptional and multifaceted talent made you a natural to undergo this task for us. Everyone else would have been either too mature to help a few 'childish characters' like us, or they would have been too young to know what to do."

"What exactly do you guys want me to do?" I asked. "You never asked me what your problems are."

"Oh! In my excitement, I almost forgot to tell you the mission." Mario chuckled at his mistake. "It seems that some of our old rivals are back with a few new tricks up their sleeves. Bowser has been reborn as a zombie, and he has also acquired some new powers along with his old ones."

Anakin explained his problem next. "Sebulba has been blowing racers off of the tracks after betting against some highly advanced machines. If those machines get added to his arsenal (or anyone's for that matter), then the whole galaxy could be in jeopardy."

"Finally," Ash added, "the Pokemon Mewtwo has been spotted at Pokemon Stadium. This Pokemon's power is enough to completely demolish any Pokemon that stands against it! There's no telling what it wants to do!"

I scratched my chin and contemplated all that was told to me. However, one thing didn't make sense. How was I supposed to help these guys if I was barred to my house? I soon reminded myself that my guests got here and had to get back, so why shouldn't I go with them? I extended my hand out to Mario and said, "You got yourself an evil eliminator."

Mario shook it eagerly and led me towards the television. He took a device from his overall pocket that looked like a miniature generator and plugged it into the back of the television. "We have about every gadget known to man in our realm," Mario explained. He pressed a button on the strange device, and it instantly started running. Power started running through the television again.

However, something else happened. On the screen, a vortex appeared. I thought it was just a part of the show, but Ash demonstrated that it wasn't. He leapt headfirst into the vortex and disappeared inside it. Anakin soon followed. I was skeptical about the strange portal, but I leapt in anyway. Mario took the device from the television and leapt in before the portal collapsed.