P-A-P-E-R S-L-A-S-H
-By ZB3000
Author's note & Disclaimer: This is my first fic, but I've had experience in writing, so this should be a good one. Take note that I don't own Paper Mario: TTYD, Nintendo does. And anything else I may have stolen belongs to their respective owners. So in short: PLEASE DON'T SUE! Oh, and one other thing: NO, THIS DOES NOT HAVE ANY SLASH IN IT! The only reason I called it Paper Slash is because Paper Cut is already taken by the great Joao Franco (who inspired me to write this with his ownfic). And yes, I know this plot has been done a few times before, but I'll make it good and interesting!
Warning: Contains language, some violence, and usage of alcohol. This story is intended for readers 13 or older.
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Chapter 1: Operation Lightning Rod
It was a peaceful afternoon. A boy, about 15 years old, with short, thick, wavy brown hair and dark brown eyes, an average to solid build, who wore a black long sleeve shirt, tucked under a pair on blue jeans, with black Velcro shoes and brown gloves, sat on the porch outside his house located out on the country. He remembered that he and his friends were working on a project last week. They were trying to make their own source of electrical power in the woods behind his friend's house that they could use to play video games without having to pay electrical bills since it wasn't going to run on anything connected to the power poles. The boy wondered if they would ever finish the project sometime soon. His thoughts were interrupted when an elderly woman with a pair of glasses and curly reddish hair came out onto the porch with a phone in her hand.
"Zach!" The elderly woman called. "Someone's on the phone for you!"
"Oh, ok. Thanks, Grandma." The boy answered then took the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi." Was all the voice said. The boy, Zach, instantly recognized it.
"Hey, Gar! What's up?" Zach asked.
"We're planning to finish operation Lighting Rod today. Plus, we're having a campout and Keith is here to help." Gar stated.
"Cool! When do we start?"
"Oh, as soon as you get here, I suppose. When can I pick you up?"
"Right now is good." Zach answered.
"Ok, I'll be there in a few minuets." They said their good-byes and hung up. Zach went into his room and got all the stuff he needed: A Gamecube, a copy of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, and a knife Gar made for Zach to cut down the branches in the woods with a 5 inch long blade that was well sharpened.
"Grandma, I'll be going to Gar and Hunter's for the night!" Zach said as he was walking out the door.
"Will their parents be there?" His Grandma asked.
"Of course!" Zach answered cheerfully. He walked out the door to wait out on the driveway, and a few minuets later, Gar came in his Dodge Neon. He got Zach and they drove for his house.
"So did you bring the necessities?" Gar asked his friend.
"Yep!" Zach showed the tall, strapping fellow a Gamecube and the copy of Paper Mario: TTYD.
"Oh, one of those weird games, huh?" Gar laughed.
"Hey, it's a change from all those Star Wars and Halo games you got on the computer!" They both laughed a little at what Zach said.
As they drove they went past the Royal Ridges Mountain Retreat, the school where they learned martial arts, and some railroad tracks before they made it to Gar's house. They exited the car and walked into the blue two-story house. Gar's mom said hello to Zach, his Dad went and bowed to Zach saying "Honorable sir!" In a joking way, since he liked doing it because Zach studied martial arts with Gar and his brother Hunter. Plus, Gar's dad liked to joke around in his own way too. Zach & Gar quickly climbed the smooth wooden stairs and went into the room to the right where there sat two other teenagers. One looked like Gar, but a foot shorter and had a stout figure compared to Gar's tall and skinny build. The other has almost as tall as Gar, but had a solid build, a small pair of glasses, orange hair, a goatee, and wore black clothing. He didn't look like a Goth though, and wasn't a Goth at all period.
"Well," The orange haired teen began. "You certainly took your sweet-assed time."
"Hey Keith," Zach said slightly mono-toned. "Still as big an ass as ever I presume?"
"What was that!" Keith got up from the mattress he was sitting on was getting ready to charge at Zach.
"Ok, you two." Gar said to both of them to stop them. "So how about we head outside and finish the project?"
"Speaking of which, Zach, what game did you get for that Gamecube?" Hunter, the stout one, asked.
"Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door."
"Sounds like one of those weird Japanese games." Hunter said.
"Gar already said that, you know..." Zach rolled his eyes.
So the group of teens got their equipment, and went into the woods. All the while Keith was going on and on about how the French people sell weapons to terrorists and other political subjects. He was always one to preach about most things. After a few minuets of walking, they made it to the campout area where the device they were working on was. It was a 20 inch screen TV on a stool, connected to what seemed to be a slightly altered VCR with the back part of it taken out with some wires from it connected to two little boxes with a fork sticking out of each one. The forks were fixed so that the wires and the forks would connect together. The boxes were made just to hold the forks up.
"So, the forks are basically lightning rods, right?" Zach asked to confirm what he thought.
"Well, Yeah." Gar replied in a mono-tone voice.
"And the lightning that strikes it is so that it powers up our device for it to work, right?" Zach started to sound like an idiot asking these questions.
"DUH!" Hunter said, almost sounding like Napoleon Dynamite, yet didn't intend to.
"So how come we don't go and put the forks up higher so the lightning won't strike here?"
"That's what we plan to do, genius!" Keith spat, throwing his arms in the air in aggravation.
"Oh." Zach replied. "So what's the plan?"
"We're gonna put all these long pipes together, connect the forks to the top, then stuff them into the boxes." Hunter explained, showing Zach a bunch of 20-30 ft. long, hollow pipes in the corner, no bigger around than a human thumb.
"Then we should make the boxes bigger to support the giant lightning rods!" Keith added.
"Ok, I got it." Zach said. "Now let's do this!" He then takes a monkey wrench (or pipe wrench) from his pocket and holds it up dramatically.
"That's the wrong tool to use, Zach…" Hunter spoke in a low voice.
"Aww, you guys never let me have any fun!" Zach groaned. Hunter laughed, and they began to work.
Zach and Keith grabbed the pipes and laid all of them in a straight line, which was hard since the woods didn't have too much flat terrain, Then Gar and Hunter would use a flame to weld the pipes together piece by piece. Of course, they wore masks to prevent any eye damage. The pipes soon become one insanely long pole that was about 520 ft. long. They then repeated it with the next batch of pipes to create an equally long pole. After that, they got the forks, disconnected them from the wires, tweaked the end of the poles so the forks would fit tightly and so the energy from the lightning could travel from the forks, to the poles, to the wires, and to the VCR. The hardest part, however, was getting the poles connected into the boxes. Zach had to cut the small branches in the way with his knife while the rest lifted the tall poles and inserted them into a box. They then welded some spare pipes onto the poles to serve as stands so the poles wouldn't fall. After this they decided to put their work to the test.
"Are the preparations complete?" Gar asked.
"The device is perfectly connected." Keith answered.
"Gamecube is installed." Zach said.
"Weird game inserted." Hunter said, chuckling under his breath.
"Alright, begin operation Lightning Rod!" Gar ordered.
They started the game. As if on cue, lightning bolts can be heard from above, zapping the forks, which transferred the shock to the poles, then to the wires, and finally, into the VCR where the Gamecube was hooked up. The lightning's power wasn't too strong; the travel reduced its original power and that way, it wouldn't fry the device. After a few lightning bolts of power, the TV turned on and the game was playable. After a few hours of playing, it was 11:00 PM. They concluded that their project was a success.
"We did it!" Zach cheered.
"Hey this game's not all that bad." Hunter said. "At least it had a brown mushroom thingy insulting a French guy."
"This calls for some Fermented Iced Tea!" Keith declared. "Gar, where's that stuff you made?"
"Oh, it's right there." Gar said, pointing to a couple gallons of home-made alcohol in front of Keith. Everyone except Keith laughed.
"Now WHY didn't I see THAT there!" Keith exclaimed. Everyone laughed again, as well as Keith.
So everyone got their paper cups and poured the (not-so) fine brownish liquid and gulped down every drop of it, no matter how horrible it tasted. After each of them had about 8-10 cups, they started getting tipsy. They then decided to do what they always did when they were together. Beat each other up for no apparent reason. Since they were all somewhat drunk however, it looked like a bunch of weirdoes with no balance trying to outbox one another, but always fell over every time they tried to throw a punch at someone. Eventually, they all fell asleep on the ground after about an hour of drinking and boxing. Lightning struck the forks on the poles high in the air and finally singed the forks. The lightning persisted and struck the poles on different sides and managed to cut through them and the poles fell 500 ft. below and crashed onto the ground. The teens never noticed, because they were already fast asleep from the bad-tasting alcohol.
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Well, that's it! Chapter 1 is complete! Please R&R and give me some constructive criticism, no flames. All flames will be directed to my swimming pool to warm it up faster for the summer! And don't worry; the next chapter is when the Mario elements begin, so be patient for Chapter 2: How the Hell did we Get Here?