Tama-kun: Psst! Kuro! How do I do this again?

Kuro: You're doing the disclaimer, which means KuroTama owns nothing relating to Mario. This includes references to other animes, games, cartoons, or internet memes. In fact, this loser owns nothing in this story except half the characters and some minor plot lines.

Tama-kun: You didn't have to be so harsh… TT_TT

Kuro: What ever. Let's just get on with this story already…

A Single Jump

Game Over read that oh so familiar T.V. screen, for what was perhaps the millionth time this morning. It seemed to be the only constant sound playing through out the plain looking living room. A brown-skinned boy glared at the message in spiteful disbelief, clenching a Wii remote in his right hand.

"Congratulations, Anthony." chuckled another boy from across the room. He wore a light blue hoodie over a grayish black T-Shirt. A black beanie covered all but the longest parts of his hair that drooped down to the back of his neck. "You are officially the worst gamer to ever play this stupid game."

A petite girl with hazel eyes and hair sitting nearby threw a pillow at him, "Don't make fun of him, Jacob! That's my job! Isn't that right, dear? It's not your fault that you're horrible at video games."

"You aren't helping, Gabby…"

As this conversation took place, a girl that was the same shade as Anthony tried her best to hide her giggles. She buried her face in Jacob's chest to conceal her apparent laughter.

"Great. Yadira is laughing at me too?"

She turned to him, "It's not my fault! You make it too easy for us to make fun of you!"

"I'd like to see you guys do better."

"Nah," Jacob answered. "I wouldn't go within twenty feet of that thing."

Gabby argued, "But you are right in front of it!"

"Don't yell at him! That's my job!"

Jake rolled his eyes, "I'd still rather get hammered in the face than play the Wii."

Anthony sighed in surrender, "What ever. I'm just going to relax, if you all are just gonna criticize everything I do."

"It's up to you. Well, I'm hungry and I know 'Dira is too. I'm going to make us some lunch. If you're not awake by the time I'm done cooking, either Gaby will wake you up or you'll just sleep through breakfast."

Gaby let out a sharp breath, "As if I would ever!"

"Relax, I was only joking."

Anthony settled down on an empty couch and turned over to cover his ears. In a couple of moments, he found himself slowly slipping away from the commotion. The arguments seemed to get quieter and quieter as time passed. Eventually, all was quiet. Nothing showed itself through the darkness of his closed eyes. All was peaceful in the room. Who could ask for more?

"Anthony?" he heard an angelic voice tug at his side.

Normally he wouldn't hesitate to answer the voice. This was an exception where he purposely didn't answer the voice in curiosity of how it would respond.

Not a very good idea. He could now hear the sound of sloshing liquid inside of some large container, which was poured all over him at an instant. The water chilled him to his very bones. He jumped up to face his three friends.

"W-what the bloody hell was that?"

Gaby's familiar angelic voice apologized, "Sorry… but we had to wake you up…."

"Why? I was having a wonderful nap!"

"Maybe it's because you're the only one weird enough to have the slightest clue on where we are?" Jacob answered.

There was something strange about how the group was dressed. They all had matching suits: Anthony wearing red, Yadira wearing green, Gabby wearing navy, and Jake wearing yellow. The only difference seemed to be the corresponding caps each individual was wearing; with the red and yellow looking like normal run of the mill billed caps, and the yellow and blue being domed shaped with spots on them.

Knowing that Jake would never willingly be seen in the color yellow, Anthony decided to take a good look around at his surroundings.

He could have sworn that he was still dreaming…

In the bright sky swarmed hundreds, perhaps thousands of smiling clouds. Large green and orange pipes shot up from the ground, erect. Children with abnormally large dome-shaped heads were playing in front of a massive castle courtyard. It seemed to be a tad peaceful here, but everything was not in their rightful spot.

"Well…" Anthony said, quietly. "We're definitely not in Kansas…"

Tama-kun: Yay! The intro is done!

Kuro: You think people are actually going to be satisfied with this?

Tama-kun: It's only a launch chapter, or rather a beginning since it's too short to be an actually chapter. The good parts will start officially in chapter one.

Kuro: I hope so. You better have left a good impression.

Tama-kun: Must you always rain on my parade?

Kuro: Yes, yes I must.

Tama-kun: ….

Kuro: And that means that we'll see you people next chapter, where things actually start up. Until then review and respond!

Tama-kun: Later!