Chapter 2: A Birthday Surprise
Saria: The author owns nothing of Super Smash Bros, any Nintendo references, or any quotes from cartoons or movies that anyone would recognize. He also doesn't own the Slash songs used from various artists. So you can't sue him. :P
I was walking around school avoiding all my friends because of the nightmare I had. I didn't talk to anyone or even face them. School was over and I was getting stuff from my locker. Natalie approached me. "Nicholas," she said. "WHAT?!" I said. I saw it was her. "Oh my god," I said, "I'm sorry." "We need to talk," said Natalie, "We've been trying to speak to you and you ignored us all day." "Well I…." I said. "Did we do something to make you upset?" asked Natalie. "No," I said. "Well, what's wrong?" she asked, "We're friends and we tell each other things all the time." "Ok," I said, "But you have to keep this between us and the other Star Kids." "I promise, now talk," she said. "I had a nightmare about New York," I said, "I was with my friends then a plane went crashing down destroying everything and I was running from a black hole, and Toadstool threw me down into it!" "Nicholas…." Said Natalie. "It was awful!" I said. "Calm down," said Natalie, "It was just a dream. Besides if I know your friends they're probably looking for you." "This is all my uncle's fault!" I said as I slammed my locker, "If he hadn't pulled me out of New York in the first place, I wouldn't be having these nightmares." "Nicholas you can't blame your family," said Natalie.
"I'm just blaming my uncle," I said, "And I'm happy he's burning in hell now." "Don't say that!" said Natalie, "That's so mean." "Need I remind you that he was the first villain I fought?" I asked. "Oh yeah," said Natalie, "Never mind. Who was he again?" "Let's save that for a different book," I said. "Careful with the 4th wall," said Natalie, "Why are you so depressed about your friends from New York?" "Nobody understands," I said, "They were my whole world."
"Nicholas….." said Natalie. "Now you see," I said, "Without my friends by my side, I felt like I had no future." "Don't say that," said Natalie, "You managed to make a future with us. Besides, Toadstool's always been there for you since you first met." "True," I said, "But I really miss my old friends." Yumi overheard me talking. "Again with the old friends shit?" she said, "That was 5 years ago! Get over it!" "Butt out!" I said. "Yumi please," said Natalie, "He needs some comforting." "Please," she said, "What he needs is a punch in the face." I pushed her. "Shut up," I said, "I'm not in the mood." "Like I care," said Yumi, "You need to suck it up and quit worrying about your worthless friends!" "They're not worthless!" I said, "They're my family." Saria and Toadstool overheard us fighting. "What's going on here?" asked Toadstool. "This R-Tard won't shut the hell up about his friends," said Yumi.
"So that's what's been bothering you," said Toadstool, "You poor thing." "Are you defending him?" asked Yumi. "9/11 was a haunting day for him," said Natalie. "Who gives a damn?" asked Yumi, "Its not always about him!" "Yumi, just leave," said Natalie. I put the rest of my things in my bag. "Look Nicholas," said Toadstool, "I know how hard it is to lose close friends…." "Of course you know," I said, "But Yumi….. She doesn't know anything." "Come on Moron," said Yumi, "Its not easy for me either." "Oh shut up Yumi!" I said, "It IS easy for you! I've been away from the city I love for 9 years, 9 freaking years alright?! 9 years of pain, loss of close friends and your pranks!" I laid my head on a wall. "I can't take it anymore," I said. "Well I think you're just…." Said Yumi. "I don't care what you think!" I said, "And don't EVER….. don't ever tell me how hard life is for you." I walked out. "Crybaby," she said as she walked off. "Poor dude," said Natalie, "If only there was a way to help him." "He just needs some time alone," said Toadstool as she got out her guitar. She played a little tune.
The next day I was feeling a lot better after a good sleep. Chelsea was walking around taking photos. "Hey Nicholas," she said as she saw me. "Hey Chels," I said. "I am sure glad I found you," she said, "Today is a special day for you." "It is?" I asked. "You forgot didn't you?" she asked, "Its your birthday!" Something shocked me. "Oh yeah," I said, "I guess I was so caught up with music I almost forgot my own birthday." "Daisy went with me to find you a good gift," said Chelsea, "Close your eyes." I closed them. She put something in my hand. "Open them," she said. I opened them and saw some guitar picks. "I know you like to play hard rock, so I thought I should get you some good picks." "Thanks Chelsea," I said. I looked at them. "These will come in handy," I said. Toadbert came over to the school to pick me up. "There's my ride," I said as I got in. He took me somewhere and had me keep my eyes closed. "I got a little surprise for my little cousin," said Toadbert. "What kind of surprise?" I asked. "A little surprise," said Toadbert. I opened my eyes and saw a Porsche car shop. "No," I said, "No, no, no, NO! Toadbert!" I was really happy. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me," I said. "Yeah I am," he said, "You're not getting a Porsche." "Really?" I said.
He took me to a car shop with cheap cars. "I guess this'll do," I said. I saw a car that was somehow calling to me. It had red flames and a star in the center. "This seems like the car for me," I said, "We gotta get this one. Please Toadbert?" "Alright squirt," said Toadbert as he got out some money, "Let's get you your new wheels." "Awesome," I said, "Thank you." I got the car and started driving off to school for rehearsal for an upcoming tournament. "Nice car," said Toadstool. "Thanks," I said. I saw Carl. "Oh great, its him," I said. He just walked away. "What do you have against Carl?" asked Toadstool. "He's an asshole," I said. "He's not that bad," said Toadstool. "Just wait til he keeps begging you to play on a crappy song," I said.
"Can I speak to you for a minute?" asked Maddy. I followed her. "So do you have any plans for your party?" she asked. "Not really," I said, "I was thinking about just heading to my job." "Cancel that," said Maddy, "What if I told you I found a nice place to have your birthday party?" "Yeah?" I asked. "Rainbow Road," said Maddy, "The club where parties always happen." "No," I said as I walked to another corner, "Seriously Maddy." "Madeline," she said, "Maddy seems a little young." "Seriously Maddy, no clubs," I said, "Its not my thing." "Then do it for Daisy," said Maddy, "She always wanted to go there." "So?" I asked. "If you don't go, you're gonna break her heart," said Maddy, "And what if we could get a certain musician to come play you a song….." I thought for a moment. "I guess having my birthday party at Rainbow Road wouldn't be a bad idea," I said, "But no exotic dancers." "Deal," said Maddy. Meanwhile back at Gadd Science Incorporated more secret projects were being made. "With these soldiers we should be able to make more process," said Raditz, "Activate the puppits." Someone pressed a switch and the puppits came to life. "There will be no one to stop us now," said Raditz. Someone with a magic brush was watching them.
I was driving to Rainbow Road and saw a lot of people. "Well look who it is," said Saria. "Hey shredder dude," said Vai. "Hey guys," I said. Toadstool gave me a hug. "Happy Birthday Nicholas," she said, "Looks like you're back to being only a year younger than me." "Yeah," I said. "Close your eyes," said Toadstool. I closed them. "Open them," she said. I opened them and saw two guitars: a Gibson Les Paul with a Floyd Rose, and a Gibson Hollow Body guitar. "Sweet!" I said. "The Gibson ES-335 can be used for many genres including jazz," said Toadstool, "I heard you were studying Jazz, and I thought you'd like a guitar that plays that kind of music." She gave it to me. "Would you play me something?" she asked. "Sure," I said as I plugged it into an amp. I played some jazz chords from a song that my jazz band teacher taught me. "Pretty good," said Toadstool, "As for the Les Paul Axcess, this baby can handle dive bombs that other guitars can't." She played a crazy guitar solo while playing with the whammy bar. She played so hard she broke a string. "Damn," she said, "A string broke." She got a new string and fixed it.
Natalie came to me. "Nicholas, you should meet some friends," she said. She brought me to some friends of hers. "This is Jacob, Jen, and that's Bert," said Natalie. They shook my hand. Suddenly something shocked me. "Wait…. You're Bert?" I asked. "Yeah," he said. "Didn't you go to school in Brooklyn?" I asked. He suddenly realized who he was looking at. "Nicholas?!" he said. "Oh my god!" I said. We jumped at each other and hugged. "Man its been so long!" I said. "I know!" said Bert, "We've been waiting for years and wondering if you were ever going to return!" "How did you find him?" I asked Natalie. "I've known him for quite some while dude," she said, "Along with some other friends. Midori, Maddy, look who it is." They saw me and hugged me. "We missed you so much!" said Midori. My other friends Justin and William clashed at me with hugs. "How's it been man?!" asked Justin. "Really good," I said. All my other friends came to me. "You guys did this?" I asked. "Yeah," said Natalie, "We thought we should cheer you up."
I was really happy. "I don't see how this birthday can get any better," I said. "Just watch," said Toadstool. She showed me someone who I've been dying to see. It was my old friend Colleen Kelly. "Nicholas?" she asked. "Colleen?" I asked, "Oh my god!" We came at each other with a big hug. "Its been so long!" she said, "How have you been?" "Pretty good, but it was lonely without you guys," I said, "Toadstool, thanks I…." I noticed she was gone. "She may have had to go use the ladies room or something." "She's actually Aqua Silver's Roadie," said Maddy. "Oh," I said, "Well I hope she has fun. I seriously need to thank her for all this." "Thank her later," said Saria, "The show's about to start." We all made our way to the stage. The lights started to go down, and musicians came on the stage. A song started to play. "Oh yeah," said a voice. Part of the stage opened up and a person came up from it. It was her. It was Aqua Silver. "Hello Rainbow Road!" she said. She grabbed her guitar and started playing with the band.
Beautiful dangerousAfter the show I was amazed. I had to find out more information about her. I saw Toadbert. "Dude!" I said. "What?" he asked. "She's totally real!" I said. "Who?" asked Toadbert. "Aqua Silver!" I said. "What?!" asked Toadbert. I went to go find Luke. "Luke!" I said, "What do you know about Aqua Silver?" "All I know is that she's Japanese," said Luke. "Wow," I said, "Aqua Silver." "I think she likes you," said Toadstool. "Yeah," I said, "So I hear you're her roadie." "Yeah," she said, "Its really fun doing her sound. And get this. I create all her sound for her, and she just plays the thing." "Damn," I said, "No wonder why you got an A++++++ in Music Technology." "Yeah," said Toadstool. "I wish I was like her," I said, "Aqua Silver an amazing musician." "Yeah," said Toadstool, "Come on, I'll introduce you to her." She took me backstage. "Wait here," she said as she went in the door. Aqua came out. "You were amazing out there," I said. "Thanks," said Aqua. "I wish I could perform like you can," I said. "Well, you got some pretty nice friends who can help you," said Aqua, "And I'm one of them now." "Really?" I asked. "Oh," said Aqua, "I gotta give you something for your birthday." She went back into the room and brought a PRS guitar with a tremolo bridge colored in red. "I want you to have this," said Aqua as she gave me the guitar. It had a piece of paper with her address. "If you want me to teach you any techniques of any genre, stop by anytime," she said, "Like Saturday night maybe." Suddenly I had an idea. "Are you asking me out on a date?" I asked. "Yeah," said Aqua. "Then yes," I said. "See you later cutie," she said as she walked away. Toadstool came back out. "Sooooooo?" she asked. "She is amazing," I said.
The next day Toadstool and I were playing a game we made up. It was called Dive Bomb Warfare where we see who can make the deepest dive bomb with our guitars. I was doing a larger dive bomb. "Awesome dude!" said Toadstool, "That's a new record!" "And the crowd goes wild!" I said. I imitated a crowd cheering. "Toadstool, Nicholas!" said Saria, "Stop fooling around. We're having an emergency meeting!" "Oh what?" said Toadstool. "Boo," I said. "Outside NOW!" she shouted. We were all meeting outside. "Ok everyone settle down, I have some bad news," said Saria, "The career center program is being audited. One of the guys found out that Ami paid for all of our tickets with flowers." Everyone looked at a student with pink hair. That's Ami, our drummer that didn't appear in the last book. "But I don't know what happened with the money," said Ami, "And I gave them more than enough to cover for the lost cash." "We already went over this Ami," said Saria, "You pay for tickets with money. Not flowers." She frowned. "Well its not like an audit is a bad thing," said Yumi. "It IS a bad thing you idiot!" said Saria. "Yeah," I said, "We almost faced a similar problem while working with Mordecai and Rigby as volunteers at the park," I said. "If we don't come up with the money for those tickets they'll shut down the career center program," said Saria, "That means all the student's dreams of having their career will be destroyed forever!" All the students were worrying.
"But there is a light in the darkness," Saria, "We have a whole month and a half to come up with the money." "Ok," said Daisy. "One of the things that will help is the upcoming battle of the bands, but we don't have much singers," said Saria, "Does anyone know somebody who can help? Anyone?" "I know somebody," said Daisy. "Sorry, but I don't think Toadbert knows much about Rock like we all do." I thought for a second. "Hey," I said, "Yumi and I know someone." "We do?" she asked. I looked at her. "NO!" said Yumi, "Hell no!" "What?" asked Saria, "If you know somebody I need you to tell me." "Yumi has a cousin," I said. She punched me. "And she's a singer," I said. She punched me again and said, "Shut up!" "Who's won 4 grammy awards in a row since she was 12," I said. Yumi started rapidly punching me. "SHUT THE HELL UP!" she said. "Dude," I said, "What do you have against Cassie?" She told everyone a story about her cousin who "Ruined" her 10th birthday party. "Yeah," I said, "She really made that party." "Call your cousin," said Saria. "No," said Yumi. "I said call your cousin!" said Saria. "And I said NO!" said Yumi, "I HATE HER!" "Fine," said Saria, "Nicholas, you call her." "Sure thing Saria," I said. "You better not!" said Yumi, "If you call her, I am going to make your life a living hell!" "Dude, she could help save the career center," I said. "Dude, she could ruin my life," said Yumi, "If she comes, I'm gonna tell her to leave." "No you're not!" said Saria, "You be nice to your cousin or you're gonna wish you never joined this program! Call her." She walked away. "Just be cool til she saves the career center," I said.
