Mama said he had the ancient Romans in his blood. She always said that they had the most rogue gladiator ancestors somewhere in his family tree. Mario as a young boy was fascinated by that fact, but as he got older he never really believed it. Until now.
The score was 10-20 and time was running out. So far Bowser was beating the heck out of his team and was on a winning streak. He had managed to position his teammates to keep the Koopa menace at bay, but his crewmates were badly bruised and scratched. It wasn't easy to get past the big hulk of Bowser and his unmerciful team. Sweat trickled down his creased brow as he got a quick drink before returning onto the field. Or the most likely term, the battlefield. Mario sighed. If they lost, it would be an extremely crushing blow to the Mushroom Kingdom. This season, Bowser traveled all the way from the Darklands with his motley team of Goombas, Troopas, and Boos to challenge Mario to a fight. But not just any fight. A game of Strikers Football. It sounded easy enough, but you have to know that Mushroom Kingdom football is very different than in the real world. It was more violent, trickier, and brutal than the meager friendly game that we know. A couple game players had even gotten serious injuries in the past, whereas they had to quit the game since their afflictions were so deadly. Anyways, it wouldn't be such a big deal if they lost, right? Sadly, no. Bowser had betted Mario that if he won he would have the whole kingdom to himself fair in square and Mario couldn't do anything about it. Mario glumly sipped his cup of water as he watched his teammates whisper beside him. He and his team were taking a break since the referee called a time-out because one of his teammates, who was a Toad named Bill to be exact, got seriously knocked out by Bowser bumping him into the electric wall too hard."Did you see the way Bowser sneaked up on Bill like that? Before I knew it, my buddy was floored!" a Toad with blue spots on his cap whispered as he rubbed his burns on his arm, whose name was Philip. "Yeah, that was pretty brutal, man," a Monty Mole answered to Philip's right, whose name was ironically, Monty, "And did you see the look on Mario's face when that Dry Bones smuggled a goal right past him? Poor dude. He wasn't expecting that." Monty snuck a quick glance at Mario, who pretended he didn't notice. Monty whispered into his great Shy Guy buddy's ear. "Let's hope the stress of losing Peach won't get to him." Rick nodded, the Shy Guy, silently as he too glanced in Mario's direction. Mario gently put his head into his hands. Peach. He wouldn't want to lose her to the savage claws of Bowser. He never thought about it…but he actually loved her. After saving her from the grasp of misery so many times, he grew to adore the sweet pink-clad princess, who returned the feeling. He would rather get Game-Overed than to see her slowly disappear into the darkness of Bowser's Castle, her sapphire eyes filled with sadness and remorseful tears. He shook his head vehemently, shaking away the thought. No. He wouldn't cry. Not in front of his team. He needed to give them hope, not discourage them. And he defiantly did not want Bowser to see him cry either. He wouldn't give him the humiliated reaction he wanted. "Break time is up. Please return to your sides of the field and get ready," the announcer's voice blared over the speakers. He looked to his left to see Bowser exiting the Men's Room. Grinning evilly, Bowser pointed at him and imitated the action of slitting his own throat. Laughing, he then walked off onto the field of Pipeline Central. Throwing away his cup and quickly wiping a desultory tear from his eye so his team wouldn't notice, Mario squared his shoulders and replaced his glum expression into a determined scowl. He couldn't lose. He wouldn't lose. He wouldn't let Bowser take Peach away or her kingdom. Before walking onto the field, he faintly remembered about what his mother, (or Mama as he and his brother, Luigi, fondly called her,) said long ago…
He had just came into the house one evening, scratched and battered from a recent fight with a bully who called Luigi a name. He couldn't stand to see his brother cry so he started a full-out brawl with the punk. Sure, his younger brother had some different, albeit girly, interests and wasn't as physically rounded at that time, but it gave no one an excuse just to pick on him. As she comforted his hysterically weeping brother, she had solemnly stated to him, "Now Mario dear, I know it wasn't nice for the boy to call Luigi a name but it's still not an excuse to physically lash out at him." Letting go of Luigi and wiping Mario's cuts with a wet cloth gently, she continued, "Remember, we have the iron blood of the ruthless Roman gladiators in our veins and we need to learn to control it. When you feel the heavy maniacal pulse of it running through you in the future, take a deep breath, close your eyes, and remember what I told you about being a gentleman, alright sweetie?" "Yes Mama, but-a-what about if I need-a to protect myself and my-a family?" the young Mario protested in his heavy Italian accent, "Is that-a when it's-a okay to not control it?" "I guess so sweetie, but to a certain point," she answered as she returned to Luigi, who was slightly irritated that his older brother was getting more attention, to check if he got hurt too. "Now Luigi, don't squirm so! Mario, I love you and your brother very much. The last thing I want you to do is to get lethally hurt in a petty fight okay? I want you to be safe now and when you get older. Sometime, as a grown man, you'll find some nice young lady who you deeply care about and want to care for. You'll have to protect her and your growing family from ruffians, so lash out your legendary Roman anger carefully!" Mario grimaced and stuck out his tongue in disgust at the mere mention of a girl. "Ewwww! Yeah right, Mama! When I grow up-a, I'm-a gonna be a superhero who-a saves everyone and gets-a to make huge explosions!" Mario struck a more-or-less likely heroic pose, "They'll go BOOM! Like-a that-a!" "Yes, you'll be a superhero and make huge explosions with your lovely wife by your side," Mama simply said, as she finally was sure that Luigi was alright. Luigi snickered at his brother and whispered the age old song under his breath, "Mario and-a Martha sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" "Shut up!" Mario answered angrily, blushing. Martha was a pretty girl at school in his class who Mario formerly had a slight crush on. "Now Mario, what did I say about controlling our anger?" Mama reminded, putting her hands on her hips as she gave Mario a serious look. "Yes Mama…" he had said as he reluctantly muttered his apology to Luigi, "Sorry Luigi…" "Luigi accept your brother's apology and say you're sorry too. It wasn't very nice of you to make fun of him," she scolded Luigi. Luigi's cheeky smirk then faded, realizing he was caught. "Yes Mama…Sorry I made-a fun of you bro and I-a accept your apology," Luigi mumbled. "It's-a okay, bro. Wanna play superheroes now?" Mario asked, smiling. Luigi grinned and said, "Yeah! I'll set the action figures up-a!" He then rushed upstairs eagerly, leaving Mario behind. As he was about to follow his brother, Mama then stopped him. "What is it-a now, Mama?" Mario asked, slightly exasperated. She then kissed him on the head. "Love you, sweetie." Mario then couldn't help but smile. "Love-a you too, Mama," he answered as he rushed upstairs to play with Luigi…
Mario smiled slightly, tenderly remembering his childhood past. He was so different then than he was now. Nodding toward the group of his team to his right he then exclaimed as he then jumped onto the field, "Let's-a-go!" As his team finally got situated, Mario took his place in the front where the ball would be kicked. Bowser wickedly bore his toothy grin on his face, showing his long sharp fangs. "What took you so long, Mario?" he said, snickering, "Slacking off? Or maybe you were delaying your demolishing humiliation? It's pretty obvious that I'm gonna win. Even Peach knows it." He then gestured toward Princess Peach who was worriedly watching Mario from her high seat in the stadium reserved specially for her. She then turned to her loyal advisor, Toadsworth, who was desperately trying to comfort her. Mario just remained silent, ignoring his enemy's comments. He swore he saw Bowser try to look for a hint of intimidation in Mario's face, but found none. He then harrumphed, disgruntled. "Don't get too cocky, Mario," he warned, his grin turning into a slightly angry frown, "You better get ready to hear the news of me winning. Actually, I don't care if you do. Seeing you on your knees begging for mercy would be a sweet treat for me. Make my day." "I promise I will, Bowser. I'll make your day and even more…" Mario whispered as the announcer yelled "GO!" on top of his lungs. Bowser then bluffed his move and instead forcefully kicked the ball to a Dry Bones on his right. Mario then ran up to him to try and steal the ball, but the little turtle skeleton just dodged his move and was on his way to the goal. It seemed like all the players were too far away on the field to catch up to him in time, when a red-spotted Toad surprised him from behind and brutally bumped the ball out of his grasp. After he passed the ball to Monty, he then turned towards Mario and gave him the thumbs-up sign with a smirk on his face. Mario grinned back. It was Bill, the Toad who got hurt earlier. "Heh, nothing seems to stop Bill and his skillful game play for long," Mario thought, happy to know that the backbone of his team was alright. He then noticed that Monty had used his effective move called the Dirt Drill to confuse the enemy players and threw the ball into Bowser's net with a powerful kick. "GOOOAALL! It's now 11-20!" the announcer enthusiastically yelled into the microphone while the crowd cheered wildly. Mario preformed his signature jump and waved to the audience. He then gave Monty a hearty high-five. Mario then turned his attention to Bowser, who still seemed as over-confident as ever. He didn't think one goal would sway his chances of winning. But he was so wrong. Later his nonchalant aura seemed to shrink. His chances of winning seemed to shrink too since the score was now 25-26. Ever since he had jeered Mario before the restart of the game, it had seemed that the mustached hero literally begun to finally have Lady Fortune smiling upon him! What had happened to the meek intimidated Mario earlier? Meanwhile, Mario and his team were ecstatic as well as nervous. They were doing well but it still had been hard to get those winning goals past Bowser. Bowser was yet beating the heck out of his team and Mario didn't even have a single chance to use a Mega Strike move. Nearly missing a Hammer Bros. heated attack to steal the ball; Rick then used his risky Bullet Bill Blast move towards the goal. Mario winced as he watched Rick's Bullet Bill explode from a far distance. Knocking everyone out that was near his onslaught, including Rick himself, it was a dangerous move. Hopefully Rick would recover faster than the goalie to claim a successful win. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, Mario watched as Rick shook his head to regain consciousness and, although it was slightly weak, kicked the ball in the net past the still dazed goalie. "GOOOAAALLL! That was another point for Mario's team, Heated Heroes! The score's now tied to 26-26!" the speaker loudly announced over the wild cheers and unhesitant boos from the stands. Mario laughed and exuberantly clapped his hands together, exclaiming, "Mario time!" All glanced at Bowser to see his reaction, which was blasting a thick streak of fire to the poor behinds of his team players. It was Mario's turn to kick the ball. He passed it to Monty, but the mole was then pushed into the electric fence by Bowser, who stole the ball. With the wild flames of pure hatred and infuriation in his eyes, he kicked the ball as hard as he could. The ball flew up in the air for a minute before dropping down to earth towards a Boo. Phil, the blue-spotted Toad, then quickly ran up to the spirit to catch the ball before him. Both fought to catch the ball, violently pushing, nudging, tackling, but both were trampled under a large, extremely annoyed, Koopa king who passed the ball to a Hammer Bro. to his left. Or at least tried to. Not wanting to be simply dominated by Bowser, Phil left a confused angry Boo in his wake and bumped the Hammer Bro. so hard that he collided with an unknowing Dry Bones behind him, crumbling the undead Koopa to a pile of dusty bones. Phil then passed the ball to Mario, who gave a congratulating wink towards his way. Running towards the goal, Mario looked behind him to see a stampede of Bowser's team ferociously dashing towards him, with a provoked Bowser in the lead, desperate to win and willing to kill his top enemy, Mario, in the process. Mario then paused, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He reopened his eyes, showing them burning with passion and flames of determination, he gathered all his energy in him and beyond. Mario jumped two stories high, leaving a trail of smoke and dust in his path for his enemies to severely cough up. He felt the sweet rampant feeling of his body transforming into flaming metal and he tasted the course hot flavor of scorching fury in his mouth. He felt a feeling he hadn't felt since as a young boy; heavy, maniacal, barbaric…It felt as if iron was pounding right through his veins to his flaming passionate heart. Rearing back his foot as far as he could to kick the metal orb, a small gritted grin appeared on his face. Did he feel like a gladiator honing for the kill? Yes. Did he feel unexplainable power focus its energy onto the ball? Yup. Did he feel that Roman warrior blood pulsate throughout him? Oh, yes he did. And it felt great. Concentrating and controlling his energy for the ball to absorb, he then let his foot collide with the hard metallic surface of the ball. It then furiously began its direct heated descent towards the goal, the power was so intense the awed crowd could literally see it on fire and the air around it sang. Mario's team watched in amazement, eyes wide. Bowser's team did the same. Bowser just gaped, trying to grasp what was happening at the moment. It was like everything was in slow motion. The ball then whizzed past the surprised, astonished-stiff goalie, who didn't even try to catch it. Even if he did, the result would've been the same. The flaming ball clashed with the dry rigid earth of the field, producing a massive explosion. "They'll go BOOM. Like that," Mario fondly repeated his boyhood phrase in his thoughts as he made his skilled descent towards the ground. As he gently landed on the ground, everyone was silent, processing the moment. Even the loud perky announcer was quiet. The spell was broken by the announcer. "Well what a turn of events! Mario's team wins by one point, 27-26! I'll have to say that mega Strike was the most heated and fiercest one in Mushroom History so far! What do you say, folks? Isn't Mario unbeatable?" His question was answered by a loud resounding "YES!" from the people cheering for Mario and the even the ones who didn't. The announcer continued, "And does Bowser take over the Mushroom Kingdom today?" "NO WAY!" the crowd screamed zealously, grinning. Mario grinned back and looked up toward Princess Peach's stand. She had jumped out of her seat and was cheering with the crowd in an un-princess like way. Normally Toadsworth would stop her and scold her for her "bad respect for decorum" but this time he let it slide. Suddenly, pumping her first into the air, she chanted, "WHO'S THE BEST HERO AROUND? SUP-AH MARIO! WHO'S GONNA KICK BOWSER OUTTA TOWN? SUP-AH MARIO!" Once they heard it, everyone started chanting with their monarch. Even Toadsworth joined the fun. Mario, taken aback by the sudden overwhelming praise, blushed and shot a gracious look towards the princess who winked at him flirtatiously. He then glanced at Bowser, collapsed onto the ground, wallowing in his fallen pride and finally realized unexpected defeat. Mario was then lifted up by his teammates and thrown into the air. Peach then left her seat in the stadium and appeared on the field, running towards Mario exuberantly with a genuinely happy smile on her face. Noticing the Princess, Monty smiled slyly and nudged Phil, who shared the same expression. They both then lifted the surprised Princess Peach up the same way as they did with their team leader and carried her close to Mario. Mario, not noticing that Peach was behind him, was extremely shocked when Peach, who noticed what Phil and Monty were doing, pounced out of their arms and hung her arms around his neck, giving him a well deserved kiss on the cheek. Mario's sky-blue eyes widened when he felt her soft pink lips brush against him and stood rigid when his team finally set him on the ground. Realizing what Peach had done, he smiled blissfully and jumped up in the air, wildly exclaiming, "YA-HOO!" His Mama had been right as always. He was a superhero who made explosions with his sweetheart by his side. "Love-a you, Mama…" he whispered as he smiled, looking up at the blue sky, knowing that somewhere, she was saying, "I told you so."
THE END