Super Paper Mario X
Chapter 2: Divided and Confused
"…..ario…..Mario…"
Mario finally regained his senses and woke up. He was still in Bowser Castle, where everyone was gone…except a rainbow butterfly.
"Are you awake?" the butterfly asked. Well, he was standing, wasn't he?
Mario: Who are you?
"My name is Tippi…I am known as a Pixl…a sort of fairy…Mario…I came to find you…"
Mario took it as a challenge and struck a battle pose. Tippi didn't move.
"I am no enemy…you met Count Bleck…and he kidnapped a princess and an evil monster king…forced another princess and king to get married…and wed 'two true loves'…Is this not so?"
Mario wasn't sure about the latter part of the description, but it was certainly possible at that point. So he said yeah.
"Then that means Count Bleck is even now beginning to form The Void…We haven't much time…You must come with me…Yes, if all your friends are to be saved, you must come…"
Mario was then surrounded by a black box, just like how the others were forced to leave their worlds.
"Let us go…"
And just like that, Mario teleported.
. . . . .
"Knuckles! ? Knuckles, are you seeing this! ?"
"This is the third time you've told me to look at something or ask if I've seen something…"
"I'm serious!"
"So am I."
Tails pointed to the screen constantly, trying to get Knuckles' full attention onto it. Knuckles was staring at the screen, but he just wasn't understanding the severity of the situation.
"…okay. What am I seeing?"
Tails smacked his head. He flew up to be level with the top of the large screen and sighed. "All right, listen Knuckles, there are 13 small screens on the large one, right?"
"Yes. I can at least count."
"…good. The top row represents Team Mario, the second Team Z.A.P., and the last Team Luigi. If you go down the columns, it shows which world they each come from. Mario, Peach, and Luigi are Mushroom Kingdom, Link, Zelda, and Malon are Hyrule, Sonic, Amy, and me are from Mobius-you are too, but you didn't fit in the column and I paired you with Samus- and Kirby and Meta Knight are from Popstar. Understand, THAT! ?"
Knuckles nodded. Tails then pointed to the third screen from the left on the bottom row, and the last screen from the left in the bottom row. They were the only two that were working.
"You see those two screens? The first is me, the second is you. We're obviously fine and in our own world. Now, if you were somewhere else, that world's screen would fill yours instead. Get that?"
"Will you quit asking that?"
"I'm trying to give it to you slowly. Now, notice how there's NO pictures of ANY worlds on the rest of the screens- they have nothing but a straight white line. That-"
"Yes I get that."
"…I wasn't going to ask! You told me to stop!"
"Continue, sorry…"
Tails just shook his head. "Anyway, by the "straight line" screen, we can tell that ten people are in-between dimensions right now. Which is a bad thing. One, we're all not supposed to be gone, two, Sonic and Amy are also in-between dimensions, three, everyone might be stuck there, and four, no one's communicators will work in-between dimension unless they're at close range, which defeats the purpose…"
"Can you fix them?"
"Of course! But, the thing is, we have to find them…"
Knuckles nodded seriously then looked back up at the screens. He pointed to the top rightmost one and asked, "Hey, wait…why's that one fuzzy?"
Tails placed a hand to his chin. "Huh, I don't- wait, who's screen is that! ?"
"If I understood what you told me correctly, then shouldn't that be Samus' screen?"
Tails gasped and randomly started hitting buttons, zooming in on Samus' screen. Seconds later, he was repeatedly yelping, "Oh no, oh no, oh no-"
"What happened to Samus! ?" Knuckles exclaimedm rushing over and hovering over his shoulder. Tails gulped and scratched his head.
"I'm not really sure how to go about it…remember how since no one would be able to go to Samus' world to give her a watch I instead synchronized them all to her Power Suit?"
"Yes, actually."
"…something happened to her Power Suit. To like, destroy it, you know…"
Knuckles' eyes widened. "Wh-What do we do now?"
Tails rapidly typed away. "I'm trying to get the coordinates of where our team ended up-so we can at least teleport there and help them. There's no way we can locate Samus now, but maybe we'll be able to work up to her if we've got more people, okay?"
Knuckles was silent for a long time before nodding and saying, "All right. Where're we going?"
Tails hit one last button before smirking and saying, "I got it! The coordinates for the center of dimensions! You ready Knuckles- if we go, we might not come back…"
Knuckles shrugged. "Well, everyone else is there, so why not?"
"All right then. Here we go…"
"In the words of Sonic…"
Knuckles pulled out the Master Emerald and chanted for it to teleport him while Tails sat in a sitting position in the air while using his tails to spin him around. At the same time, Tails and Knuckles had teleported.
And at the same time, their screens had vanished.
. . . .
"It's so odd for a black hole to just…appear…" Samus remarked to herself, cruising Outer Space in her starship. Right in front of her was the Void, but to her it was just thought of as a black hole. She was assigned to go investigate it. She didn't get all that far when a small area in front of her was briefly distorted. From the distortion appeared Dimentio.
"I wouldn't go near that, if I were you…" he sang. Samus narrowed her eyes and growled, "Why not?"
"Because its already going to swallow your world whole- don't rush the process for you!"
"Black Holes don't swallow worlds whole…" she protested.
"It's not a black hole, silly woman. It's a Void. Of pure destruction. And it will consume everything."
Samus jumped out and on the top of her starship and aimed her cannon at Dimentio. "You've got three seconds to leave before I blow you up."
"The feeling is mutual."
Dimentio snapped his fingers, and Samus' Starship started sparking like crazy, like it was on fire or something. Samus gasped and jumped off, now floating aimlessly in space. Dimentio gave a cheeky smile and said, "That could've been you."
"Yeah, and THIS is going to be YOU!"
Dimentio shrugged before Samus attacked. "I'm just here to stop you from messing with The Void. Simple as that. I plan to succeed in that."
Samus let out a battle cry and unleashed her most deadly weapon- her Zero Laser. It had been long enough, and she finally managed to control it at will. Dimentio just yawned and caused a shield to form in front of him. The laser completely avoided him. Samus told herself and everyone else several times that if she used her Zero Laser too long, her Suit wouldn't be able to handle it. Metroid anger was getting the best of her, and she was obviously frustrated that she couldn't hit Dimentio.
"Your shield…won't hold out forever!"
"Neither will your Suit, if I'm correct."
"Grrr…you're going down before I do!"
"I beg to differ."
Within a matter of moments, Samus's Power Suit was starting to glow blue where the pieces connected. She tried to stop the laser now, but it was apparently stuck. Samus felt her heart stop and her eyes widen as she banged on her cannon with her other hand.
"Stop! STOP!"
Too late. Her suit stopped functioning, and now she was rising. The Zero Laser died down on its own, now that it had no more power to draw from, and Dimentio took down his shield to watch the spectacle. Samus was now engulfed with a blue light, and seconds later, her suit blew up and scattered into all directions.
"ARGH!"
Dimentio watched with interest, avoiding a leg piece and one of the massive shoulder pads. Samus' helmet even flew off, snagging her hair tie and snapping it. Her long blond hair now drifted down to her shoulders, and Zero Suit Samus was gasping for air.
"Well! Since you gave me such a spectacular show, I'll spare you by sending you somewhere with air! You'll live…until Outer Space IS consumed."
Dimentio waved his hand, and Samus was suddenly spiraling down to a planet she'd never seen before. She pulled out her only back-up weapon, a meager stunning-pistol, and shot it at Dimentio before he got too far out of range. It missed him completely.
"You should know better than to mess with the Master of Dimensions!"
Samus continued to watch him as he teleported, her kept fallling at a dangerous rate, barely hearing him whisper, "I'm the reason you can even teleport…"
. . .
Mario reappeared on a white tower of some sort, amazed by the minor fact that he teleported! Sure, it wasn't him doing it, but it was still cool! He looked around curiously until an old man with a huge mustache walked up. Mario could already tell this would be a "Merlon" and he would definitely rant a lot. He met so many Merlons in his life, he had a feeling they were just all the same.
"Oh ho ho ho…Back so soon, Tippi?" he chuckled. "And who might this be? Red shirt. Blue overalls…and a magnificent 'stache! Tippi, you have truly outdone yourself."
"He matches the lead hero in the Light Prognosticus perfectly…and his name is Mario…"
Mario:…me?
"I welcome you Mario! This is the town of Flipside! You have come far from the Mushroom Kingdom of your dimension…of course, our fair Flipside is in no dimension at all! No! It is BETWEEN dimensions!"
Mario: What's your name?
"MERLON!"
Mario: *smirks* knew it.
"I am a descendent of the ancient who created this town. I busy myself studying musty ancient texts to forestall the end of all worlds!"
Mario: End of all worlds! ?
"So Tippi has not yet told you, I gather…Well then, Mario…the answer hangs above you."
In the supposed sky, there was similar purple portal to what knocked out Mario, what took Sonic and Amy away, what took Bowser, Peach, and Luigi away, and what was sucking up Kirby and Samus'-and probably all- worlds.
"Do you see the gathering darkness in the sky? It is a hole in the very dimensional fabric of space! Such a strange phenomenon…is it near or far? None know. It may appear small now, but it will only grow. And in the end, it'll swallow all existence…all worlds, all dimensions…This Void was created by our enemy, Count Bleck, who wields the Dark Prognosticus."
"Two fair and noble princesses…two furious monster kings…and a girl and her true love… the union of these six will call forth the Chaos Heart, the consumer of worlds…and then the Chaos Heart with ravage the sky, and so bring forth the Void… " recited Tippi.
"Yes…the passage Tippi just quoted was from the Light Prognosticus of my ancestors. The book also says this: The Void will swallow all…naught can stop it, unless the one protected by the dark power is destroyed. The heroes with the power of the eight Pure Hearts will rise to this task."…so it is written."
Merlon suddenly lifted his mustache, as if they were arms or something, and a really bright red heart magically appeared out of thin air. Mario just watched in awe.
"This is one of the eight Pure Hearts. You are surely the hero spoken of in the pages of the Light Prognosticus. You are the only one who can defeat Count Bleck and save all worlds! Mario! Take this and save all worlds from destruction!"
Mario: I will!
"Excellent! You truly are the hero of the book of legend! My eyes never deceive! So! …ahem…Mario, our brave hero! Take…THIS!"
Mario gave him points for at least trying to be dramatic. The Pure Heart floated over to Mario, and he held it up proudly…well, it was more along the lines of "thrust into his possession", but oh well.
"Now, great hero Mario…your first task awaits. You must take this Pure Heart…You must place it in the Heart Pillar of this town. Tippi will lead you there. Return to me when you are through with this task!"
Tippi tried to lead him to the left where an elevator was, but Mario ended up jumping off the edge instead and landing on the first floor of Flipside- conveniently right in front of the Heart Pillar.
"I meant to take the elevator, but this works too…" Tippi trailed.
Mario: You could've told me earlier!
"Sigh, oh well…just place the Pure Heart into the Heart Pillar, if you will…"
Mario nodded and stepped closer to the tall, rectangle pillar with the heart imprint on the font. All Mario had to do was merely touch it, and it suddenly emitted invisible waves of magic force. The Pure Heart then floated out of Mario's pocket and placed itself into the Heart Slot. Like a key in a lock, he Pure Heart opened a way to the world where the next Pure Heart was: a red door at the top of Flipside.
"Well done…now, let's return to Merlon…"
Mario nodded and did as he was told. Unfortunately, he could just jump back up to where he came from, so he took the elevator route to get back to the top. Once he and Tippi returned, Merlon rushed up to them, as Mario expected.
"Ah, the two of you return!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Look! A door has appeared! This "dimensional door" was made to lead the hero to another Pure Heart. Yes, somewhere beyond this door lies one of the seven other Pure Hearts. …Tippi. You must use your power to help Mario find this Pure Heart and return here."
"Of course…"
"And Mario…I have something to give you that will aid you on your journey." A candy cane colored pipe was given to Mario. "With this, you'll be able to return to Flipside from anywhere in the universe! Use it whenever you feel you must return in a hurry. The Light Prognosticus foretells that the hero will meet a "dimensional governor". And from him, the hero will learn the dimensional technique…"
Mario's eyes lit up. Was that like teleporting! ?
"I am almost certain that this refers to my friend, the Flip Wizard, Bestovius. So go now through this door, and seek out Bestovius!"
Mario: Oh Yeah!
"Well, let's get going…"
Mario trotted into front of the door, and entered after it magically opened for him.
. . .
In Count Bleck's central HQ, which was really just a few stable boxes floating in darkness, Count Bleck, Nastasia, Dimentio, and a fourth currently unknown character were discussing the progress of their plans.
"BLEH HEH HEH HEH! BLECK! The Void has been ripped in dimensional fabric! Yes, Count Bleck is pleased. All has gone as foretold in the Dark Prognosticus. Now it's just a matter of time until all worlds meet their demise! Bleck!"
"Wow! That's just super, Count! Yeah, first you'll erase all these naughty worlds…and then you're gonna build a perfect world without war and all that other icky stuff!" exclaimed the fourth person, who sounded a lot like a girl.
"Yes, yes, no one likes the icky stuff…Yess…A perfect world…sounds magical…" mused Dimentio. "Ah ha ha. I can hardly stand the wait."
"SORRY I'M LATE!" boomed a Scottish voice. The owner of the voice came crashing down, only to reveal he looked the exact same as the fourth member of the conversation. "What in blazin' bog rats…how'd I beat myself 'ere? What's goin' on?"
"Mimimimimimimimimimimi! Oh, O'Chunks you big silly! Didja oversleep or something?" the one who looked like O'Chunks suddenly turned into the Count. "I guess it's kinda hard to be on time though, when you've got muscles instead of brains!"
O'Chunks angrily had a fit. "'EY! Yeh can't fool me with that shape-shiftin' hooliganry! It's Mimi, innit? Show a little respect for the count! Yeh can't go a'borrowin' 'is face, lass!"
Count Bleck just chuckled. "Bleh heh heh heh heh…How delightful, Mimi. Almost as dapper…as Count Bleck."
Mimi giggled before turning into Peach. "Aw, golly, thanks Count! With you around, it's nothing but big smiles all the time! Hanging out with the count! That's MY idea of a perfect world!"
Dimentio smirked. "And here I thought Mimi's ideal world was a gem-filled pool with hunky lifeguards…"
Mimi transformed into Bowser out of anger and growled at Dimentio, "Hey! Dimentio! Have you been reading my diary! I mean…umm…never mind…"
"Bleh heh heh heh…well, different strokes for different minions…After these rotten worlds are ended, Count Bleck will make all your dreams come true! But for that to happen…we must follow the instructions of the Dark Prognosticus."
Nastasia gulped and adjusted her glasses. "Yeah, about that, just an FYI. I've got an urgent memo for your inbox…apparently there's been some unapproved one-dimensional activity lately. Yeah…I'm thinking it's the heroes of the prophecy. We're going to need an action plan for these guys…"
"Dimensional interlopers! And possibly the heroes! Are you sure of it, Nastasia?" Nastasia gave a light nod. Part of the traveling had been her fault-and Dimentio's- but there were two certain cases that were highly meant to be looked into. "Interesting, mused Count Bleck. We must put an end to this nuisance…"
"COUNT BLECK!" shouted O'Chunks. "Lemme get this right in me brain…The 'eroes Nastasia's goin' on about…they yer enemy? Then yeh gotta cut me loose on 'em! Yeh gotta! I'll give 'em a nice taste o' O'Chunks!"
"Very well O'Chunks. I'll leave the hero-chunking to you. Do not fail Count Bleck."
"Yeh can count on me, Count! I'll rain down like a fat thunderstorm! I swear it! Mimi! Dimentio! Yeh should tag along! Yeh could witness a proper chunking!"
O'Chunks jumped off his square, which was one of his ways to teleport- he had two, as a matter of fact. Dimentio gave a thoughtful look and turned away.
"Hmm…I do enjoy a good chunking…Well, then…I believe I'll head out as well."
Without another word, Dimentio magically teleported off. Count Bleck just chortled once more.
"Bleh heh heh heh! So, heroes…You would defy Count Bleck? Then hurry, for your worlds' end draws near…BLEH HEH HEH HEH! BLECK!"
. . .
Mario was called upon once again to save the world…no small task. Could he prevent Count Bleck from pulling off his sinister plot? Would Mario be reunited with Princess Peach, or even his other friends, perhaps? A truly inter-dimensional adventure was about to begin…
Alright, let's sum up this chapter- Mario's in the center of dimensions and has teamed up with a rainbow butterfly, Tails and Knuckles are pretty much the only ones who know what's going on (at least more than any one else) , Samus has learned to control the Zero Laser at will (and ultimately exploded with an interesting encounter with Dimentio), and the Count Bleck crew are as crazy and lively as ever. Next time, Mario must venture out in a whole new dimension, facing its dangers -and simplicity- all by himself...
And on a side note, I am still in total shock at how well-received this story has been. A long, long while ago, I wasn't even going to do this story since I was afraid it wouldn't really fit in with the previous stories. But now I'm glad I did. ^^ However, we're still early in the beginning, so we'll see what happens.
