AN: Hello! Decided I'd have another go at a Mario story, it does start a little bit dark, but it should get lighter as the story progressive, so if you don't like it, please persevere, and if you do, enjoy it! NC (National Craft :D)
Chapter 1: Dreams & Harsh Realities
"Luigi!" A man clad in red shouted out to a similar clothed man in green who was blasted off into the nether space of their surroundings. Everything was covered in purple and black twisted void, with dark creatures covering the sky converging together like millions of flies in a closed box. A truly disgusting sight. It was then that the man turned to face a massive creature, at least the size of an entire house, however before he could react, it shot a dark red beam of forced energy that came so fast in seemed to have its own eagerness to kill.
Then, as it reached him, the man went to close his eyes and prepare for what came for him, but a large green dragon-turtle appeared in front of him. The dragon faced the massive creature with a scornful growl, then as the beam pierced a hole through him, a cough of red liquid came out of his mouth in the form of blood. "Bowser!" The red clothed man said to the evil-looking beast, that was facing death, he smirked as he dropped to his knees and clutching his stomach,
"Looks like... I'll never find the opportunity... to finally put an end to you... Ma... M..." But before he could finish his sentence, the beast fell completely to the ground, and closed his eyes.
"Bowser..." Was the whisper that came out of the man's lips at seeing his companion laying on the ground. It was then that he saw a younger version of the beast fend off masses of ground underlings, all towering above his head height. Another in a similar situation was a blue cloaked doll and a white ball of puff-person fighting with their weapons, an arm cannon and his fists respectively. However, it wasn't long before they all swung their final blow, and as they drew their last breath of air, almost all at the same time, the long-clawed creatures dug their nails into their bodies.
"Junior! Geno! Mallow! …" The man in red was powerless to do anything. He was completely exhausted, his arms drooped over, and he was breathing heavily for air with his fists clenched in frustration. It was then, that the heroic looking man whistled loudly. And a green dinosaur with a red saddle came galloping up behind him. With a timing perfected by years of training, he caught the saddle of the speeding dinosaur and rode the animal valiantly towards the massive creature in front of him.
And then, in a last ditched effort to defeat the overwhelmingly-sized being, the green dinosaur leapt in the air, and the red clad man jumped into the sky, and concentrated all his power into one massive spike-punch to the head. He then back flipped multiple times in the air until he landed his acrobatic trick. However...
The creature didn't even flinched. Then with its foot, it crushed the non-expecting dinosaur and roared loudly and the man cried out,
"YOSHI!" He fell to his knees, eyes filled with water, letting the tears drop constantly as he gripped the dirt floor below him. "Everyone... Everyone is gone... I can't save any of them, I couldn't even protect my friends, I can't even protect myself. Its... Its... Its... Game over..." And then the omnipotent creature sent out a beam that was the triple the size of the red clad man himself, disintegrating him and the legacy he would have left behind.
"What in the world... was that?" I said as I sat up in my bed. That was the third time I have had that dream. Or a nightmare, would probably be more accurate.
"Hey, Mario! Breakfast is ready!" I rubbed my eyes as I sat up. Why does Luigi have to wake up so flipping early? I couldn't help but think to myself. What 16 year old wakes up at 6am on a WEEKEND?Admitably that really isn't that early for some people, but to a city boy like me, you sleep at 2-3am and wake up just before mid-day. And that's on a good day.
"Alright, alright! I'm coming down!" I then stood up out of my bed and yawned loudly and stretched my worn out limbs. Looking round my small room I found all my favourite clothes waiting for me on the floor. Except for all my underwear, which I drew from my drawers, I drew all my clothes from the floor. First I put on a bright red t-shirt, then baggy blue tracksuit bottoms, after that a plain red hoodie with the pockets at the front. A paused for a moment,
"Wait a minute? Where's my bandana and hat? Oh, Right..." I had forgotten Luigi started to jack them out of my room and puts it on the breakfast bar to make sure I go down stairs to eat breakfast, "That joker..." I then practically hopped over to the staircase while putting on my white socks.
After that I slide down the banister next to the staircase, because it only took one at those shoddy steps to see how much of a death trap it was. The wood looked like it would cave in and break if you stepped on it in the wrong place. To be fair, the whole house was a bit like that. The reason for that? I'll tell you later.
"There you are, bro! I think taking your hat in the morning makes you faster at this whole 'getting out of bed' thing that's so alien to you!" Luigi, wearing a similar hoodie to me in green and tattered blue jeans, was spinning the red cap with a gold-coloured 'M' around his finger, and while I put on my dark red bandana, he threw it towards my head. I then slowly bowed my head and it landed perfectly at an angle, just the way I like it.
I smirked, one thing I'll say about my brother Luigi, is that we have perfect synchronisation. A true twin brother. I lifted my head and sat down, and started cutting into my pancakes he created for me. A weak maple syrup and all on paper plates and cutlery.
"Thanks, man. By the way, where are your pancakes?" Luigi laughed and said,
"Ha, you know how it is, Mario. We don't have any money, so we have to make cutbacks." I instantly stopped eating. I then slowly looked up at him and the frustration was easily visible on my face.
"Luigi, I already said that we have the same, we already only have 1 and a half a meal a day at best. Are can't just sit here and watch yourself starve!" I noticed I had raised my voice towards the end of the sentence. Me and him have had this conversation over and over, but at that point... I guess I had just had enough.
"We don't have enough for both of us to eat anymore! Sometimes we can't always eat! I'm the flipping skinny one, so you should eat more!" I growled as I snapped back,
"You're stuck in the past, brother! Look at us! We weigh the same, nothing! All our weight disappeared when we fought street fights to survive and we have no money for food! If you don't eat, you could di-!" He didn't let me finish, as he instantly replied back,
"Look, Mario! I'm just facing reality! I'm not the one stuck in the past! Our lives aren't all happy and laughing times anymore! Every since Mum and Dad passed away, we have Nothing! As empty as our Stomachs! Don't you get it? If we can't both eat, I at least need you to eat prop-"
"You are my YOUNGER brother, Luigi! It should be me looking after you, not the other way around! I'm sick of watching you killing yourself in front of me for my sake!"
"Sick of it are you!? If you hate it so much, then why don't you just go? Then you don't have to watch! Then I can just-"
"Fine!" I didn't want to hear what he was about to say, and I could feel the tears threatening to fall, all I could do was feel sorry for my brother, but it was like he wanted me to just forget about him. I couldn't take it, I needed to go, right now. "I'll... I'll go!" And then for first time, I not only just stormed out the room, I stormed out of the house.
I grabbed my skateboard and put on my white and black trainers, and as I was about to leave Luigi shouted, "Forget to leave with THIS!?" He threw a yellow chain to me, I barely caught it. I look at it. I grinded my teeth. I almost forgot to leave with the golden chain that my parents got for me a day before they died.
"T-Thanks..." I said pathetically, and I pushed open the door which didn't lock angrily and went out with my skateboard under my feet, zooming through the slums of Brooklyn, New York.
"Idiot! As if I would want to live without him here. If he died too... What would I do then? What would I be living for? Life would be pointless. To live without purpose, is the same as being dead..." I whispered to myself, and my angry attitude started to dissipate as I watched to broken houses disappear behind me and then as I turned into a dark alleyway, I crashed into something.
I slowly got up to see a woman in a sparkling blue dress, her beautiful face looked so out of place with the slums around him. "A-Are you okay?" When she got up, I noticed she a fair bit older than me, probably about 32, double my age.
She then used her hand to signal me to follow her, I was confused at first, and then she walked away from me. "Hey, where are you going?" I picked up my skateboard, but by the time I looked back she had turned at the end of the street.
"Your dream..." I heard a voice say in my head. My dream?, but something made me want to follow her, and so I gave chase with my skateboard. After she disappeared around another corner, I then heard,
"A vision..." Vision... Wait a minute. I then picked up the pace as I continued to hear the voice,
"To save..." It was then that I hit a dead end, no left or right turn, you couldn't scale that kind of wall that quickly, yet she was gone,
"Your destiny... Awaits..."
"AHHHH!" Was all I could say as I fell through what looked like a pitch black pipe that appeared under my feet, taking me to a place that I would never have thought existed.