Universal Darkness

Chapter 1: Opening Disaster

January 1st 9:30 A.M.

(Thee Mushroom Kingdom is where Mario and all of his friends combat evil and other forces that confront the kingdom. For many years Mario has protected the Kingdom and prevailed over all the hardships that came his way. Once again another story emerges from the Mushroom Kingdom that will test Mario's strength in battle. It is the first of January and the beginning of a new year)

The sun rises in the sky and basks Mario's house in it's golden rays. Mario awakes from his slumber and looks out his window at the beautiful scene in front of him. The sprawling plains that lie in front of his house, bathed in the sun's light, looked breathtaking.

"Another morning in the Mushroom Kingdom," Mario said, stretching, "I wonder what new things are going on in the kingdom on the first of the year. Oh yeah, Peach wanted me to go to the castle today! I wonder what she wants…better go wake up Luigi and bring him with me." Mario walked over to Luigi's bed and pushed Luigi off the bed. "Wake up little brother!"

"Huh…What?" Luigi asked groggily raising his head and pulling the covers off of it. "How did I get on the floor? It must have been from the blast that destroyed Bowser! It was bigger than I thought."

"I don't know what dream you were having," Mario began, "But welcome back to reality. Now get up and follow me. We have to go to the castle."

"What for this time?" Luigi groaned, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Weren't we just there last week? It's a long walk from here to the castle."

"If we use the warp pipe at the other end of the plains then it'll take no time at all to get to the castle. Think of the walk as exercise, it'll be good for you. Now let's go, the day isn't getting any younger." Mario exited the room and went to the kitchen to search for leftover pasta.

"Why did he have to wake me up? I never have fun on these trips," Luigi complained. He followed Mario into the kitchen and saw Mario eating a bowl of pasta. "I'm surprised that you have any pasta left, considering your pasta eating party you were having last night. Way to start out the new year bro."

"You can never have too much pasta!" Mario said between bites. After Mario finished off two bowls of pasta, he was ready to continue. "Okay, I'm full now. Let's go."

The two brothers exited their house and started to walk down the dusty trail that went through the plains and to the base of a tall mountain. There, they would find the warp pipe that would take them to Peach's Castle, waiting for them. Luigi was walking around with his hands in his pockets, furtively glancing at the peaceful scene around him. Meanwhile Mario was walking with a smile on his face, thinking of what awaited him at the castle. It was usually something good, but would Bowser show up to spoil everything?

"Better snap out of your trance Luigi," Mario said, looking ahead on the trail, "We have some company."

Luigi stopped and slowly looked up, expecting to see Bowser but was relieved when he only saw a few Goombas. "Oh that's it? We run into these guys every time we walk down here. And you always jump on them to defeat them, leaving me with nothing to do!"

"Well I feel generous today. Care to take a few out?" Mario inquired.

"Why not. It might make this trip a little less boring." Luigi walked up to the three Goombas blocking the path. They noticed him and started to waddle towards him, ready to attack. "You won't get past me!" Luigi squatted and waited for the first Goomba to get close then jumped up and landed on it's head, flattening it. He then bounced off of the first Goomba and landed on the second one, executing a back flip and successfully landing on the third Goomba, defeating all of them in a matter of seconds. "Haha! Luigi's number 1!"

Mario continued to walk past Luigi, never breaking his stride. "Don't be so full of yourself, those were just Goombas. And why did you have to do a back flip? Are you trying to show off?"

"Well sorry I don't get to fight very often brother. I thought I would try to pull off some moves to make it exciting! And it was for me! Now wait up!" Luigi ran after his brother.

"Whatever you say Luigi." Mario sighed. They continued to walk towards the pipe and didn't say anything the rest of the way. Once they reached the pipe, they jumped in and teleported towards Peach's Castle.

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January 1st 10:17 A.M.

Mario and Luigi hopped out of the warp pipe and trudged up to the castle doors. They entered the castle and searched for Peach, but they couldn't find her anywhere inside. They met back up in the third floor of the castle.

"Where could she be?" Mario pondered. "She said to come here, so she has to be around somewhere…" Mario scratched his head and tried to figure it out.

"Maybe she's on the roof." Luigi suggested, not knowing of anywhere else to look.

"What a stupid suggestion!" Mario blurted. "Why would she be there?"

"Do you have any other ideas? We've looked everywhere but the roof, so why don't we at least check?" Luigi shrugged. "It beats standing here doing nothing."

Mario relented. "Fine, let's go check it out then."

The two progressed to the roof and stood on top of the castle, no one in sight.

"Well she's not here…big surprise."

"Be quiet Mario, it was a possibility." Luigi looked across the horizon at the Mushroom Kingdom. He sighed and was lost in thought for a while.

"Snap out of it Luigi. Let's go back in, we'll check the castle again." Mario turned away from Luigi.

"Where are you going Mario?" A mysterious voice said.

"Huh?" Mario turned around and tried to find where the voice came from. After some quick looking around, the sky became dark. "Where's the sun?" Mario questioned, but looked up and noticed someone was blocking the sun. The huge character was falling from the sky and landed with a large 'thud' on the castle, between Mario and Luigi. "Wario?"

"What's the matter Mario?" Wario grinned. "You didn't expect to see me this early into the new year? But I have some gifts for you! You'll take them won't you?"

"Let me guess," Mario said, "You have some bombs for me don't you? That seems to be your weapon of choice."

"Very good Mario!" Wario said pulling out two Bob-ombs, one in each hand, "You catch on quickly to my devious attempts to kill you. This time my bombs will aid me in my attempt to beat you!"

"Now Wario," Mario said, staring Wario down, "Let's not get this year started off on the wrong foot okay? You can just leave the castle and I'll act like you never showed up. Is that okay with you?"

"And let you live another day?" Wario laughed deeply. "Never!" Wario lit a Bob-omb and threw it at Mario. Mario quickly ducked and the black orb exploded in the air behind him. "Not bad, but I have a healthy supply of them! There is no escape for you now!" Wario laughed again.

"We'll see about that!" Mario stood back up and concentrated on Wario. Wario leaned back and charged up a powerful throw with his right arm, the arm with a Bob-omb in it. Wario lurched forward, throwing the Bob-omb with tremendous force at Mario. Mario jumped up and kicked forward, knocking the bomb back at Wario. Wario's grin quickly turned to a look of fear as the bomb exploded close to him.

"Nice one Mario." Luigi interjected. "But if he dodged that, it would have hit me! Would you try not to involve me in this fight? You're fighting style is too reckless."

The smoke cleared and Wario remained standing, clearly hurt, but not defeated. Wario began coughing the smoke out of his lungs.

"How does it feel to have your own bombs turned against you?" Mario sneered.

"Not bad Mario." Wario gritted, but his expression quickly changed. "I sure feel like I've lost pounds from your attack, but wait! Why don't you test out my theorem? Here I come!" Wario runs towards Mario. Mario prepares for the weight of Wario's gut to attack him but is caught off guard when Wario tosses a Bob-omb at him. Mario barely spins to the left and dodges the bomb, but in the moment of Mario spinning and refocusing on his target, Wario was already in his face, thrusting his gut into Mario and continually running until both fell off the edge of the castle and plummeted far below.

But they never hit the ground. While falling down, a Banzai Bill shot by, collecting them on top of it, and flew off into space, leaving the castle, the Mushroom Kingdom, and even the planet far behind as it flew in space at blinding speeds, leaving a shocked Luigi standing on top of the castle.

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January 1st 10:45 A.M.

Mario regained his balance on the huge Bullet Bill and looked behind him as he saw his planet fade from view. He turned back and looked at Wario who was ready to attack again.

"Wario you fat creep!" Mario shouted. "Look at what you've done! You knocked me off of the castle and now we are flying off at blinding speeds to who knows where!"

"Kind of suspenseful isn't it?" Wario was still grinning. "Who knows where we'll end up now! We could be hurled into the sun or an assortment of other bad things could happen, especially if this Banzai Bill blows up. Which could happen at any minute."

"You idiot!" Mario was furious. "You launched me from my only planet and I'll be lost in space forever! And you are enjoying yourself! You'll pay for this!"

"So we are going to fight on this Banzai Bill?" Wario was getting even more excited. "What happens if we get knocked off of this bullet? We will float in space forever and no one will ever find us! So this time our fight has a lot more at stake than normal! I love it! Let's make this short and sweet!"

"Fine!" Mario charges Wario, but Wario sidesteps Mario's moves, causing Mario to lose his footing on the Banzai Bill. As he steadies himself, Wario pounds into his back and Mario begins to fall face first off the front end of the Banzai Bill. In a last ditch effort to stay on the bullet, Mario grabs Wario's clothes causing him to fall off with him. The two rivals plummet into the unknown below, just as the Banzai Bill blows itself up. The force from the explosion pushes both of them to a brownish planet below.