Chapter 2, It's a me---
New York City. Financial capital of the world. The grandest city of them all, some have even called it "The World's Capital." Slowly, the grand city began to shrink, falling into the horizon. It faded away, making room for grass and tree of the open road. The grass swayed and danced and dust danced now as a set of wheels rolled along the each, both part of the amazing article of transportation known as a bike, and atop this bike? Atop this bike was a young man, dressed in cargo pants with seven pockets and new age black sneakers. The bike rolled along quickly as this young man pedaled down the road, moving at a fast pace, or at least as fast as he could manage.
"Bro, are you sure you wanna do this? I mean, leaving the city… To go to a farm… Of all places, a farm?" A females voice rang out, airy and scratchy, and with the wind it was also slightly broken.
"Yeah, course I am sis. This is the opportunity of a life time!" The voice came from the biking male in response. He was talking into the little black cell phone stuck to his bike with a case, welded to the bike. It was a genius move by Mike, though the entire bike appeared to be custom made.
"I'm just sayin, bro… All those fine girls…"
"Hey, look… I know what I need. I'll start here… I'm only twenty one, ya know? Once I get through a weeks or like two months, I'll move on. I'll learn from life, maybe learn from love. Everything school couldn't teach me."
"You've been watching that anime haven't you?"
"Maybe… Anyway, sis, thanks again for meeting me there. Uncle Charlie is so excited to have us both there at the farm… This means just as much to him as it does me you know."
Michael Batista, age twenty one, graduate of Pace University of New York NY, and a self proclaimed student of life. Mike smiled as he repeated these words in his head, and as air headed as it may seem, it held purpose. All of it was true. At a fresh twenty one years old Michael graduated from Pace University. Soon after getting a degree in psychology, he accepted the offer to go to study for his Masters Degree but left school after only a few months in grad school. Mike, an avid fan of the anime, "Golden Boy" found that his life needed spice and thus set out to learn and love using his high level of informational intake and his adaptability to most situations.
"Don't worry about it Mikey. Just remember, this is temporary. I need to get ready for my theatre debut in a few months."
"Oh, that's right! You were going to take a role in that play about the Italian struggle, right? Wow, Belle, you're going to be a star!"
"Ha-ha, don't get my ego up just yet. I only got the part cause the other girl decided to quit. I'm not a star. Not yet."
Belinda Batista, Mike's twin sister. Much like Mike, Belle was a prodigy. She learned quicker than most professors could teach and her adaptability lead her to become an aspiring actress. After landing a part as a waitress in a play, luck played a part giving her the lead role, and further, the play was given an extra two months due to the theatre it was supposed to take place in. Hearing about her brother's decision, she decided to see him off, and spend some time with him while she still could.
"Hey, how are you getting here anyway?"
"By my bike, of course!"
"By your… Are you crazy!? It'll take you hours to get here, if not a good day!"
"Never worry sis. It's all in my plan. This will help keep me in tip top shape!"
"Mike… You're an idiot…"
To Belle's prediction, Mike took exactly twenty two hours on bike to get to the farm from New York. Had it been none stop, it would have taken less time, but there was no humanly way he could have accomplished that. Mike arrived hungry and tired, but full of pride and of self respect. He biked to the front gate of the farm and smiled as he slowly climbed off his bike. The wooden fence, though called the gate, was low enough to hop over but the tired biker simply let himself in, and walked down the long path that kissed the front door of his Uncles home.
Mike knocked a few times and smiled tiredly as he heard foot steps. The door opened to reveal his youngest cousin. A short lad, standing a mere four feet despite being thirteen. He gave the boy a tight hug and smiled, seeing his two other cousins sitting on the living room sofa. After that long trip, he was finally home, or at least, this was home for now. Belle was no where to be seen however, so it came as a shock when Mike walked in, that she would hug him and nearly knock him off his feet.
There was a long talk at the dinner table that evening. At the dinner table. Mike had arrived twenty two hours after leaving New York at eight in the morning. He arrived at a little after six, and was given the chance to rest before they started with him about his trip, and the biking, and of course the work he would be doing on the farm.
"This ain't gon' be like that city work cuz. Y'know the farm life is tough." Each of his cousin's spoke with a southern accent. The youngest just had the thickest.
"Yeah, so I heard. But you know, I'm here to learn and to help, not to become a master farmer."
"Mike's right. This is just the first stop. He's still gotta live every episode of Golden Boy first."
"Shut up Belle!" Mike narrowed his eyes at his sister who only giggled.
"Hey… Where's Uncle Charlie at anyway?" Mike said as took a forkful of fried ham into his mouth.
"He done said he was wit some kin we ain't never met before." His middle cousin, and the only female of the three, said as she stared at Mike for a moment. "Hey, how come you don't never visit no more? I miss playing dolly with you."
"Cause of school and stuff. But aren't you a little old for dolls, Vee? I mean, you are seventeen."
"Shucks, nah! I still got my Barbie dolls upstairs."
The was silence however, when the door slammed closed. Every set of eyes wandered to the five foot three man who entered, his long white hair down to his hips, a stubby black beard covered up his chin. The fifty year old man was as confusing to make out as the northern lights of the artic. Was he really a young guy? Was he an old man? And why did he always wear over alls and that plaid button up anyway?
"Well! 'Bout time you showed up there Mikey! I thought ya'll would get lost, city boy!"
"Yeah, well, I biked over here Mr. Busted-Pick-Up-Truck. Of course it took me forever to get here."
"Fair enough. Anyway, we can start tomorrow. Lil Belly there says you got guts. I'mma see that for myself you lil smart mouth."
That night came slowly with talks and jokes. Mike and Belle talked about their parents, and how their father and Charlie always had sibling rivalry. The night came to a close as Mike fell asleep on the sofa. Not wanting to wake him, they let him sleep. Uncle Charlie knew that the following day would push Michael to the limit, and unbeknownst to Belle, it would push her as well to a new limit as well. The night sky filled with stars that night, and the wind blew calmly over the green blades of grass. The oddest thing of the night was, some of those green blades seemed dark, not because they were dying, but because they were becoming blue blades instead.
The first week was harsh, to say the least, on Mike. He learned to rise at four and sleep at ten, and trained his body to go only on the meals he was given. Day by day, he pushed himself farther than any of his family expected. Belle, not wanting her bother to feel completely out of synch, helped him with his chores, starting from eight until seven at night. Day by day, however, Mike noticed that the grass became bluer and bluer. He decided it was just him getting used to the scenery and ignored it however…
"Hey Belle… You're up early." Mike whispered as he stood at the front door of the barn.
"Yeah… I dunno why but… I just had to get up… I figured I may as well hang with you. This is my last day here after all.. I wanna spend it with my twin brother."
"Thanks sis. That means a lot, you know?" Mike smiled at his twin and chuckled a bit. "Hey… Why not come with me to the sheep? You never had the chance to see or pet any of them, have you."
"Ooh… I do love sheep…. But is it okay…? I mean will uncle Charlie mind?"
"You let me handle out uncle. Just trust me." Mike chuckled light heartedly.
The doors of the barn slowly opened up, and Mike pulled off the lock hanging on only the left side of the barn door, having unlocked it before Belle arrived. The sheep were scattered about, some laying half asleep in the five AM brisk breeze. The gave bah cries and started to shyly move around as the barn door closed behind Belle. She smiled and held in a cute squeal as she saw the sheep start to walk around her, especially a baby lamb off in the corner with it's mother. Mike had walked over to the stacks of hay and sheets that was in the barn, and started pulling the sheets up, they were stained from the birth of the baby lamb a week or so before Mike arrived to work on the farm. Belle sat herself on a box meanwhile, to pet and play with the sheep brave enough to approach her.
A little while passed before both Mike and belle saw something strange. In the back was an odd little sheep. It looked back of wool, which was very odd as far as they knew. The twins looked to each other, then the sheep. They took small steps forward before getting on their knees and calling the lonely sheep over. Slowly it approached them, and their eyes grew wide… It was not black, not completely. Her wool was purple like, and decorating her wool were designs like red swirls, or sparkles… It was like looking into another galaxy completely. The twins were shocked for sure, but both put out their hands to try and pet the shy creature.
The sheep slowly licked their hands in response. The twins smiled and laughed a bit as she sheep came closer and without warning it jumped onto Mike, and kissed him again. Belle fell over onto her rear and laughed at her poor brother, but their laughing started to fade away as a bright light engulfed their vision. The twins looked up, not seeing their strange sheep, but instead a woman. Long red hair with elegant curls, a dress with the same design as the sheep's wool, and eyes that change color with every blink. Mike rolled backwards on the floor and scurried to his sister's side as she too crawled away. Both rose from the ground and stared at the woman, their hearts racing.
"I-I'm sorry… I l-let my joy get the best of me…" She was stuttering terribly as she spoke.
"… Who are you…? And what the hell just happened there!?" Belle asked, trying to piece everything she just saw together.
"F-Forgive me…" The woman's voice was as smooth as silk, soft and quiet. "My Name is Starlette… I come from the Starlight Kingdom… M-My kingdom is in danger… And Sir Mario can't be called upon… I came here in s-search of the twins of The Count's prophecy."
Mike looked at his sister and scoffed. "Count huh… Well listen Princess, I'm sorry, but your twins are in another castle." Mike said, only then noticing he was dressed in a red shirt and over alls. He sighed and turned so his side was to the woman.
"Look, lady… How do you expect us to believe that…? And even if it was true, how can you be sure we're the right twins? I mean, Mike has no life, he's played every game to ever come out with the words 'Super Mario' plastered on it but…" Belle poked her fingers together lightly.
"I…I… I don't…" The woman struggled to answer Belle. Both women were blushing however.
There was a moment of silence before Mike sighed. He rose his hand, ready to speak again, but as he opened his mouth, the ground began to shake. There was loud noise to boot, like ground breaking and glass shattering. Mike and Belle jumped, both running to the woman to help keep her on her feet. The twins gave each other a look, surprised at their actions, then to the woman. The barn door fell over with a slam, pulling all three of them away, all of them shocked to see what or rather, who, knocked down the door. A rather large, muscular being stood there, stepping in followed by smaller beings. Mike glared coldly at them, until he could see their finer details. They were turtles, all of them. Shelled beings, some with hammers, other with wings. The big one stared at them, two sledge hammers, one in either hand, explained his they broke the door down so easily.
"Attention! Presentin' her royal highness! Princess Wendy O. Koopa!" The large hammer brother spoke loudly and stepped back. From the doorway, a slender figure approached. Once out of the blaring light of the sun, Mike recognized the figure as Wendy O. Koopa, though she was certainly older than the games made her appear.
"Very good Tibarn. Now then, Princess Starlette! Daddy has been looking ALL over for you. He says you and he go back, and he'd like to finish what he started with you." Wendy smirked as she finished.
"Hey, lizard breath!" Mike said moving away from the girls suddenly. "I don't know who you think you are, Wendy, but you and Gigantor the big, big Moron there have no right breaking down my Uncle's barn." Mike frowned.
"Mike… Mike, what are you doing….?" Belle asked quietly.
"Oh, a tough guy?" Wendy said with a sick smile. She reached into her shell and grabbed her scepter from within the darkness of it.
"Michael! Here!" Princess Starlette opened her hand, and formed a red flower, a tulip, out of thin air. She tossed it to Mike quickly.
Mike caught the flower and stared at it for a moment. The flower slowly turned and started to stare back. Mike's eyes grew wide as he realized what he was holding. The flower blinked and seemed to almost grow happy as it faded away and his clothes changes to red over alls and a white shirt. Mike could feel a power swell inside of him, a burning fire, raging within his heart. He slowly brought his hand up, he was dominantly left handed, so his right hand hung by his side calmly. It started as a flicker at first, a blue light radiating from his hands and slowly it built up into a fire ball about the size of a base ball, glowing blue, as the cobalt flames danced in his hand. Mike's eyes were flaring along with the fire as he smiled.
"Tough guy? Nah. More like… Hot stuff, baby!" Mike pulled back and launched the fire ball, aiming at Tibarn, the muscle bound sledge bro.
Contact! The fire ball hit Tibarn, and set him on fire right on contact, but instead of phasing out, the fire ball broke into two and bounced onto Wendy as well, setting her bow on fire! The two turtles fell to the floor, rolling and screaming to put the fire out. Now was their chance! Mike turned to the girls, only to see Belle slapping a koopa onto the floor, her body covered with a deep black shell, a hammer in her right hand. It appeared Starlette had brought a power up for each of them, and it was a good thing too.
"C'mon! Let's get out of here!" Mike shouted over the screaming koopas.
"Gee, no Mike, let's stay and play some more." Belle spoke with sarcasm clear in her tone as she walked over the fallen koopa.
The trio raced to the door and skid outside, well except the princess due to her heels. They could see the koopas and goombas fall to the ground just a bit away. Mike and Belle followed the trail or beaten monsters until they saw their uncle stomping on the enemies, with their cousins using furniture to hit the monsters either into submission or until they didn't move anymore. The twins and their princess stopped just a few feet away. They were going to explain what was going on, but their uncle seemed to take the lead.
"Starry! You found them! Good!" Charlie seemed to be okay, though a little worn.
"Yes, Sir Charles!" She stuttered terribly to him… It appeared as though the male figure caused her a great deal of fear or worry.
"Alright then, hurry! Get to the kingdom! Don't worry about these shell heads. They're already callin a retreat without that girly koopa's permission. These cowards'll be gone faster than a jack rabbit with a date."
"But Uncle Charlie… Can you really handle them…?" Mike asked, clearly worried.
"Don't worry about me, boy! Get this young lady and your sister out of here!" It appeared his southern accent was gone.
"Yeah, don't worry, we got this!" As was his Vee's.
"Alright… Be careful! We'll see you al again someday, so just survive… promise me." Belle understood the situation must easier than Mike. She took the princess by her hand and looked around.
"We will, don't worry. Now head into the house. There's a warp pipe there that will take you back to the princess's kingdom." Charlie spoke with a small grin. "And kids… I'm so proud of you. Both of you.."
Mike and Belle looked to each other and nodded. They were filled with pride on hearing their uncles words, and right now the adrenaline and the pride was masking any uncertainty they had, and their confusion and fear were shadowed at least for now. They ran to the door and turned, just in time at that, back to their uncle. Wendy and Tibarn were on their feet and they were stomping mad. Mike and Belle watched as Tibarn grabbed Uncle Charlie and planted him, back first, into the ground with so much force, he actually made a small crater and managed to get a loud scream and painful crack from the man as a result. The twins grew furious at the site. They took a step forward but were stopped be Starlette. She put her hands into a prayer position which both confused and warmed their hearts. As they assumed she prayed for them, they hadn't noticed the small glow from her hands. They quickly looked over their shoulders, Mike and belle, to see what else was going on. To their dismay, the koopas were surrounding their cousins now. They took a step, but stopped when they heard a light moan. Starlette was leaning against the house now, red with blush; she held her hand up weakly and smiled as a pair of small, smiling stars bounced away from her and onto the twins. Her hand slowly fell, and rested against the building now; her hand had traced a pattern, the exact pattern the two stars took. They landed on Mike and Belle and suddenly everything went black. Mike and Belle shook for a second, and their eyes went from shut tight to wide open. Their bodies were glowing, shining, flashing, with sparks of raw energy following their every movement. Star Power…
Mike took off in a full dash. His eyes were burning with fury once again. "Argh! I'll rip your shells open!" He shouted as he leapt up, higher than any human could have ever hoped to leap.
"I'll rip your heads off!" Belle was standing there, rage filling her eyes. She took off after her brother, running for all she was worth.
The twins skidded just a few feet from their targets and gave a loud shout. Their cousin's watched, their eyes sparkling as their kin came to their rescue. Mike ran to Tibarn, and jumped up; in mid air he gave a spin, then another, and came down onto Tibarn. Like a ton of ton of steel pipes, his feet crashed onto the sledge brother's helmet, cracking it open, and leaving his head exposed to the remaining force of mike's attack. The koopa fell to the floor, instantly unconscious. Belle, meanwhile had Wendy by an arm and was punching the back of her head with a half open fist. She hit her over and again, even though Wendy had given up on the third strike, there were a dozen more after. They felt a sudden jolt however, and watched as the energy left their body, in a visible rainbow wind. Mike ran to their cousin's as Belle hurried to grab Starlette. The remaining enemies all stood in a panic for a few seconds. As the twins rushed to their targets, the remaining soldiers ran to grab Tibarn and Wendy. They dragged them off as quickly as possible.
Mike and Belle slowly walked to their cousin's with Star in belle's arms and their uncle in Mike's. Belle was smiling, as was Mike. Both of their passengers were alive, knocked out, but alive. They set Uncle Charlie in their cousin, Lam, arms. There was a silence for a while as they stared down for a moment. It was then Lam spoke.
"Guys… I know this is confusing now… But… Hurry to the Princess's castle… Once you get there, you'll meet a man… That man is your family… A distant relative of Aunt Clara… Your mother."
"None of this makes sense… I-" Mike looked to belle as she cut him off.
"What about the rest of the creatures here?" Her voice was shaky.
"They ran away… No doubt back to their world… They were after the princess… I doubt they'll be back here any time soon." Lam sighed. "Mike.. Belle… Our family isn't like other families… We're special."
"Gee, thanks for explaining that. I guess the living video game characters and the fact we just used a set of Starman wasn't enough." Mike said, half joking half serious.
"Mike… Belle… Go, hurry up…" Vee said, looking to her cousins.
The twins nodded and walked to the house. They waved to their cousins as they began to hurry and clean the place, while Lam hurried inside to tend to his father. Mike and Belle walked into the living room where a large green tube was poking out of the ground. Slowly they approached the shining metal mystery, their eyes full of wonder and amazement. They bother slowly pushed the princess onto its wide edge and climbed onto it as well. Both holding onto the princess they slid in. They had no idea what would happen nor what any of these events meant… But they knew they were doing the right thing by following along as they were told.