Hello readers! This is a new, edited version of my first chapter. Before this, our first chapter was a mess, but then Magikoopa981, a friend of ours, as well as a great writer came to help us out. Please leave a review if you think that this was a good first chapter! Thank you, and enjoy!
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A Ghastly Epidemic
By Team ArcanetheGreat
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Chapter One: Pilot Part 1
Prologue:
The setting for this story takes place in the year 2017. It was a Golden Age for the Mushroom Kingdom. Under the rule of Princess Peach Toadstool, daughter of the deceased King Toadstool, the kingdom reached a record-breaking population of five and a fifth billion citizens. Several new technologies were created by Prof. E. Gadd, including the average automobile, drugs, and around a hundred types of guns. The Mushroom Kingdom prospered...
In spite of this, the tyrannical ruler of the Koopa Kingdom, an over-sized koopa named Bowser kidnapped Princess Peach time and time again. He developed feelings for a her a long time ago you see, and in spite of his wickedness, she was the one person he used to care about. But then along came the Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi. You see, Mario became Peach's boyfriend, which dragged the situation out to the point where Bowser and Mario despised each other. Bowser kidnapped Peach over and over again to genuinely piss him off, and attempt to marry the princess. This ultimately led to her siding with Mario.
Years later, the Mario Bros. grew tired of Bowser's crap, and therefore, a three month long war took place between the Koopa and Mushroom Kingdoms! Fortunately for the heroes, the Koopa Kingdom used much of their resources on kidnapping Princess Peach, rather than developing the technology their enemies had. So on one fateful day, the Koopa Kingdom surrendered and Bowser was captured. The Mario Brothers forced King Bowser to agree to sign a peace treaty between their kingdoms, and two other countries who aided the Mushroom Kingdom in the war, Sarasaland and Subcon.
However, on the day the peace treaty was supposed to be signed, something unexpected drove the world to chaos in a few mere days. Zombies roamed the land, and they would not rest until every single living being was dead...
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It was a beautiful, sunny morning in Toad Town, the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom. Every citizen, whether they were toads or koopas, shy guys or goombas, was excited because today was the big day. What were they excited about? An event that would happen at noon today! The peace treaty signing between the four great kingdoms was going to happen in a few hours. No one could wait for such an exciting event...
...no one except Henry McCallister.
Henry was a twenty-two year old koopa who used to be a reporter for the Mushroom Times. It was a week since he got fired for spreading a rumor about the Koopa Kingdom's secret manufacturing of AK-47 rifles. He was given an anonymous tip that Bowser Jr., the biological son of Bowser was intending to make the guns, and then have them delivered into Mushroom City, the commerce capital of the world. So Henry wrote a report about it, and after being proved wrong, he got fired. Up to this day, Henry regretted what he did. But now, he was going to do something drastic.
Henry was wide awake since 5 AM, searching for the perfect place to get story material from. It was 8 AM, and finally, he found the best place to look for some interesting news. The nuclear power plant outside of town was a very sketchy building, and the only person who could get him in was his best friend, Lucas. Lucas was a goomba who worked at the power plant. If he could get a pass for Henry, then he'd have his shot at getting his job back.
Henry snatched his cell phone from his desk and speed dialed his friend's number. Henry was skittishly waiting for Lucas to pick up his phone, because Henry's job depended on whether or not Lucas picked up his phone...
"Hello?" asked the voice who answered. It was Lucas!
"Lucas it's me!" Henry replied in jubilation. I know how I can get my job back, but I'll need your help."
_
Gentle sunlight bounced off a window and hit the plumber's eyes. He slowly arose from his slumber, trying to remember what happened in his dream.
"*yawns*..."
Luigi rubbed his eyes and climbed out of bed. Today was a brand new day, but it wasn't just any contemporary day. This was the day the treaty signing was going to take place. He was very excited to see Princess Daisy, his long distance girlfriend and ruler of Sarasaland. Luigi longed to see his fiance, his one true love. But all of a sudden-
LUIGI! WAKE UP! NOW!
Luigi shuddered, and he hurried out of his room to see what was the matter. And that's when he saw the clock. 9:49 AM. Luigi's brother, Mario was downstairs, desperately searching for his keys. They were late! They were supposed to be at the castle four minutes ago!
"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" Luigi mumbled, panicked.
"Haha! Found them!" Mario said as he grabbed his keys, opened his front door and dashed outside.
Luigi was almost ready by the time Mario found the keys, he just needed to find his hat. But just then, he remembered he left his hat in Mario's car.
"MARIO WAIT FOR ME!" screamed Luigi, who was in a much bigger panic.
He darted down the stairs, almost tripping once at the bottom. He headed straight for the front door, which his elder brother left wide open...
Mario's car was on for a minute now. What's taking Luigi so long?, Mario thought anxiously.
He saw Luigi at that moment, locking the front door. Mario honked his car horn, trying to make his brother hurry up and get in the car. So after Luigi locked the door, he sped over to the front passenger seat, opened the car door, and hopped in. Mario however, didn't wait for Luigi to put his seat belt on. The moment Luigi slammed his passenger door closed, Mario cruised out of the driveway at the speed of a bullet.
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It was now 9:57 AM. Corey and her boyfriend, Tom sat in their car, kissing. They loved each other so much. In fact, they had the same job. Corey and Tom are both police toads, and they are supposed to be watching the streets for speeders. Fortunately for them, one came. It was a Crimson, 2016 Shroom & Country.
VROOOOOM!
"Oh shoot!" screamed Corey as she immediately ceased kissing Tom and drove after the speeding vehicle, which turned left. It was heading straight for Peach's Castle! Tom turned on the siren, whilst Corey pushed her steering wheel to the left, making a sharp, left turn to go after the speeder. But the moment the red car reached the Princess' parking lot, it's engine stopped. Corey slowed down, and then parked the car.
"I'll handle this delinquent." she said sweetly to her lover.
"You just be careful, okay?" Tom replied. "Just in case..."
Tom tossed a pistol over to Corey, which she caught and firmly grasped.
"I will." she responded.
The toad slowly climbed out of her car, and proceeded towards the red car...
"Sir, this is the police! Vacate your car now!"
The car door opened, and a red plumber came out of the car. A green plumber, who sported a strange bump on his head, slowly climbed out of the other side. It was the Mario Bros.!
"Mario!? Oh my god, I'm so sorry about that. It's just you were speeding so my partner and I chased you to here."
"Yeah Mario. I did tell you not to speed." Luigi berated his brother, still jumpy from Mario's rush. "Doesn't anyone other than Daisy ever listen to what I have to say?"
Luigi ran away from Mario and Corey, and towards the caste to see his sweetheart.
"Anyway..." Corey continued. "I'm going to give you a warning. Drive safe okay?"
"Okay then." replied Mario, who couldn't really care at the moment because he needed to see Princess Peach right now!
So Corey, wanting to get back to her moment with her partner, headed back towards their car, where he waited patiently for her to return.
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Mario watched the police car drive off in the distance while running towards Peach's Castle.
"Mario? There you are!" asked a female's voice a few yards away.
The red-clad plumber turned to his right to see her. His true love. Princess Peach ran over to him and embraced him. He hugged her back out of love, and the fact that she was actually squeezing him rather tight.
"I was so worried you weren't coming, so I waited here in this courtyard for you."
"Oh Peach, I'm sorry Luigi and I were late." he apologized. "You see-"
"Don't worry about it." Peach stopped him. She needed no explanation for why he was late. She didn't care what it was. Peach loved him so much she was glad he even came.
"C'mon. We need to be ready in less than two hours!"
"Alright Princess!" Mario answered her.
So the two hurried in the castle to get everyone finished before the ceremony at noon. They couldn't possibly want to wait for the moment to arrive.
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Henry and Lucas stood at the main entrance to the Power Plant. Lucas was requesting permission for him and Henry to have a tour of the building. While his friend was working this out, Henry was thinking about the best place to look for a story. He kept pondering where to look...
"Henry, we can go inside! Let's go!" called Lucas.
Henry snapped out of his pondering. Following Lucas, he timidly walked into the power plant, for he had Radiophobia. His best friend was walking far ahead of him, unafraid of and pretty used to this building. Lucas knew he'd be far behind him; he knew about the Radiophobia, so he waited in a nearby hallway. As soon as Henry caught up with him, they walked together. And that's when Lucas asked,
"If you wanted to go here, why are you so scared of this place? It's not toxic on the route we're going on by the way."
"This was the only place I could find that didn't have an entry cost." Henry replied. "I'm almost out of money."
"Aren't there other places in Toad Town you'd rather go to to find a story?" Lucas questioned him, using his impression of a Luigi Death Stare.
Henry responded, "Yes, but I'm positive that my former colleges are always writing about the dirt on everyone in this town."
"Well dude, I..."
Lucas' voice trailed off when a loudspeaker sounded. It was a female toad's voice.
"Hello everyone! Work ends at 11:30 today! Be sure to get to the Toad Town Treaty Signing at 12:00, sharp! That is all!"
After a while, Lucas and Henry reached a room of interest. It was a lab. They quietly walked in and took seats on stools near the entrance. A friend of Lucas', Remy saw them, but smiled and waved. Lucas did likewise. Remy was also a goomba, but he worked in this area, so he was bound to see him. As Remy and co. continued their work on reverse engineering toxic waste, Henry took notes to write a story about. Oh boy! he thought. He was going to be able to get his job back...
...except this happened.
KABOOM!
That sound came from a room close by. It was a mega lab that was right next to their room! Trepidation began to fill the entire facility. Henry quickly pulled the fire alarm.
"Let's go people! We need to get out!" he yelled to everyone nearby.
Henry, Lucas, and several of Lucas' coworkers began to escape the way they came. The entire building was going to collapse, they needed to hurry the hell up! The ceiling was crumbling, fire erupted here and there, and the floor began to break.
They almost reached the exit, they were going to make it! But just then, they reached a catwalk. The second Henry ran over to the other side, it snapped in half! Several of Lucas' friends slipped off the platform, and onto the ground below them. Lucas jumped to try to reach the other side, but was barely holding onto the edge. Henry looked back in surprise. He needed to do something fast. Save Lucas and risk dying trying to escape, or let him fall to his death and escape safely...
"HENRY, HELP ME PLEASE!" Lucas shrieked in horror.
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End of Chapter One.
Hello readers! Thank for reading chapter one of our story! Please leave a review and follow this story if you like to continue your experience in reading A Ghastly Epidemic.
This was the remake of an old version of this chapter. I like to thank Magikoopa981 for pointing out the problems with the original chapter, and for helping us to fix it!
Team ArcanetheGreat