Thanks for the reviews. I don't update with at least one review per chapter, but I'm still surprised at the amount considering it's an Adventure fanfiction.
On the subject of reviews, casual compliments and useful suggestions are nice, but unhelpful criticism isn't as welcome. For the person who wrote "Finally, you admit that this is a blatant rip off of naruto!" or something to that value: I don't intend to try to change your opinion, and tell you it isn't a rip off, but I have to object to the word "Finally." I told everyone in the beginning of chapter 1, before the fanfiction started, that it was inspired by Naruto, and I couldn't possibly have told everyone before then. Sorry if the beginning of chapter 1 was too late for you.
Also, comments like "Still needs work" without telling me what part needs work aren't very useful either.
I also want to say that the writing program I use updates things falsely. When I uploaded chapter 3, the lines that were meant to separate the three missions were erased and the indenting for the paragraph was gone as well.
Finally, these next few chapters probably are the most inspired by Naruto, so you have my permission to call them rips-offs. Not that you need my permission.
Chapter 4: Mushroom or Light
The group of ninja from the building was leaving, as well as other ninja that seemed to have taken the first test in a different classroom. They had been told by the first proctor to go to the forest at the edge of the village, which was where the second task was supposed to be located. Dr. Mario knew that that forest didn't lead to anywhere in particular, and that most people avoided going in it.
When they got there, they saw a blue Game-and-Watch waiting for them, looking somewhat impatient.
"You're all here," he said. "No need for lengthy introductions, I'll get started on the instructions right away."
Dr. Mario noticed Yoshi and Donkey Kong looking down beside the proctor's feet. He imitated them and saw that there was a bag of what looked like scrolls.
"Each squad will be handed one scroll, which can not be opened. Your objective is to get the opposite scroll in addition to your own, and bring them both to the tower in the middle of the forest. You will be handed either the Mushroom Scroll or the Light Scroll, and you will find yourself facing off against other squads. There is a three day time limit. I will now begin calling out squads."
Dr. Mario was astonished at how hastily the proctor had explained it, but his surprise was quickly replaced with a sinking feeling. He had not expected to be fighting other teams so early. He looked over and saw Donkey Kong shaking with unmistakable excitement, as the proctor began to call up squads.
"Squad one from the Village hidden in the Sound," he said. Three of the pink puffball looking creatures walked up to the proctor, who handed one of them a scroll. They looked at it briefly, and then jumped over the fence and into the morbid looking forest. "The squad from the Village hidden in the Pokeball." The two mice scurried up to the bag as the cat-like figure floated along the ground lazily. They picked up their scroll and headed toward the forest after the three puffballs. "Squad one from the Village hidden in the Mushrooms."
Dr. Mario tried to set his face so that he did not appear too nervous, and he followed Yoshi and Donkey Kong up to the fence. Dr. Mario, being the only member with pockets, was handed a scroll. He took it and had to admit that its thick and leathery feeling was comforting. He turned it around and saw the symbol of a mushroom with eyes on it, and then stowed it in his coat pocket before jumping over the fence after his teammates. When they landed on the other side, Dr. Mario walked reluctantly into the dark trees.
The appearance of the forest once they had entered the darkness seemed to increase the sinister look of it, but Dr. Mario did his best to ignore it.
"What do we do?" asked Dr. Mario and Donkey Kong simultaneously.
"I think we should jump, like when we go out of the village. It means the others are less inclined to follow or trap us, and we have more time to devise a plan."
"Alright, let's go then! We only have three days," said Donkey Kong.
However, after two hours of leaping from tree to tree, occasionally jumping through a spiderweb, Donkey Kong began to complain. "Why is this taking so long? Where have the other teams gone to?"
"We have to be patient," said Dr. Mario. "We don't even know who has the Light Scroll."
As they jumped, it became progressively darker. Donkey Kong's stomach began to rumble, and Dr. Mario had become hungry himself. He wished he would have eaten more cereal. They all stopped to take a break on a solid tree branch.
"We'll need to do something about food," said Dr. Mario.
"Not right now," said Yoshi, looking around. "We'll worry about that when it's night."
"How can you tell if it's night?" Donkey Kong demanded. "It could be now!"
Yoshi shook his head. "It isn't," he said. Donkey Kong opened his mouth to retort, but then Yoshi spoke again. "What was that?"
They all looked around. "I didn't hear anything," said Dr. Mario. After a few seconds, however, he distinctly heard an unnatural russling of tree branches. Suddenly, the two mice and the eerily bluish white cat stepped out of some bushes and jumped to the branch opposite of where they were standing. The cat's malicious eyes fell upon them.
"Kill them," said the cat in a deep voice, sounding almost as if it were an afterthought. The two mice leapt after them, and the three jumped in different directions to avoid the attack. The mice landed on the tree and turned around smoothly, so that it looked almost like a single motion. Meanwhile, a dark purple ball of chakra had begun to swarm in the cat's palm, energy flowing everywhere inside it. Dr. Mario noticed that it expanded as it grew, and eventually, the cat slid backwards and the dark chakra danced around his arm.
"Look out!" Dr. Mario yelled. The cat swung his arm forward and the ball of chakra soared at them. He jumped to a lower branch, not knowing what happened to the others, and as he turned around he saw the chakra make contact with the branch. An enormous explosion swallowed the entire area, shielding what was going on from site.
Dr. Mario began to jump forward, not knowing where he was going or what was going on above. He did know that that particular ninja was much stronger than he was. He had seen it in the cat's eyes. Dr. Mario jumped a few trees ahead and turned around, seeing Yoshi and Donkey Kong catch up. "Are they gone?" asked Dr. Mario as the two caught up, his worry overpowering his relief. Yoshi shook his head and the three jumped ahead faster than ever. Dr. Mario ignored the hunger tearing at his stomach and the pain in his legs from all the jumping, but continued to leap as fast as he could. He heard another explosion and knew that another of the cat's incredible chakra had missed.
"What's the plan?" shouted Donkey Kong.
"I think I have an idea, but you'll have to follow me exactly!" Yoshi yelled back.
Donkey Kong nodded his approval and slowed down to let Yoshi jump ahead, and the two followed. Dr. Mario heard another explosion and Yoshi instantly jumped to the right as the smoke began to swarm the area. Dr. Mario and Donkey Kong followed, but in a few seconds Yoshi changed direction and went to the left. Dr. Mario, bewildered, followed with Donkey Kong into the set of trees on the left. It was darker, but he found the place strangely comforting.
Yoshi stopped on another tree, panting for breath. Donkey Kong and Dr. Mario landed beside him shortly after. Dr. Mario was sweating immensely, and he felt as if he would collapse.
"I let them see us go to the right before the smoke clouded their vision, so they should be heading that way now," said Yoshi.
"Good thinking," said Dr. Mario. "I really think we should look for food now, though."
Yoshi nodded. "There are many creatures in this forest, and all of them are suitable for eating. Not one is poisonous."
"That's convienient," said Dr. Mario.
"It's the type of woods, it repels poisonous creatures, but none of them stay on the trees."
Dr. Mario had been wondering why they didn't encounter any. They all jumped downward through the trees and branches, and eventually landed on the solid, forest ground. They heard the sounds of chirping and occasionally a more sinister sound, but it was a while before one of the beasts came out.
It appeared to be giant snake with spikes on its natural armor. Dr. Mario braced himself as it slithered out of the forest and into the opening.
Dr. Mario jumped up into the air and tossed four pills out. They struck the snake, but then bounced off. He landed, and then Yoshi tossed an egg toward it, which cracked when it made contact with the heavy armor.
"I don't think I can do anything here," said Donkey Kong.
Dr. Mario leapt upward again and threw numerous pills at the snake, but they bounced off again. The snake raised its head and spikes were launched at Dr. Mario while he was still in the air, with pieces of armor attached to them, revealing the skin on the snake. Dr. Mario pulled out his sheet and sent chakra tunneling into it, and then turned it as the spikes approached. They were all sent flying back, piercing the skin of the snake, which let out a piercing scream as blood streamed out of the holes struck.
"That did it," said Donkey Kong, as Dr. Mario touched ground again. Next, the spikes began to push out of his skin. More armor was being produced, and spikes began to protrude from the new armor.
"We have to keep our distance," said Dr. Mario. He jumped into the air yet again, as all of the spikes and armor were sent flying at him, and the snake's flesh was visible. Dr. Mario pulled out his sheet again, focused his chakra to every thread of it, and swung it with force as the spikes drew closer. They were sent flying back at the monster, entering his skin again as it screamed yet again. Yoshi jumped up and drew himself up to full height and then began to curl up. The next second, a spinning egg had appeared in his place as the defensive chakra surrounded it. He went soaring toward the beast right before Dr. Mario, striking it in its bleeding flesh.
Dr. Mario focused the chakra into his fist causing it to expand. He swung it at the snake and released the chakra at the same time, sending the snake smashing into a tree. Yoshi and Dr. Mario landed as Donkey Kong approached the body.
"Dead," said Donkey Kong. "Now we have to worry about cooking it."
Cooking the snake turned out to be a much longer process than killing it. Even after they were done cutting it until only the essential parts were there, the squad had to get firewood from trees in the vicinity. Once they were finished setting up the logs for the fire, Yoshi assured them that it was passed midnight.
"But we haven't even got the fire yet," croaked Donkey Kong.
Suddenly, a green fireball darted by and struck the wood, and a fire burst into life, illuminating the area. Dr. Mario realized how hungry he was then, but he was sure he knew who was there. He turned his head and saw Luigi and Peach standing on a tree. He assumed Toad was located wherever Peach normally placed him.
"What's up, Dr. Mario?" said Luigi.
Yoshi raised his fists slightly, but Luigi laughed. "No, I won't take your scroll," he said. "I want to see Dr. Mario humiliate himself in front of everyone."
Dr. Mario felt a rush of anger toward Luigi, something that wasn't altogether uncommon. Luigi had frequently taunted him in their friendship.
"What makes you think you could steal our scroll if you tried?" growled Donkey Kong.
"You're the weakest team, aren't you?" said Luigi. Peach stared blankly ahead.
Donkey Kong took a few steps forward, but Dr. Mario held him back. "We haven't eaten yet, remember?"
"Well, I thought I'd help you guys out, so that Dr. Mario can lose in front of a crowd. If you eat, you might be able to get the other scroll."
The scroll they had was standing next to Dr. Mario. Luigi and Peach jumped away through the forest, leaving Dr. Mario furious. He began to eat, and had to admit that that helped a lot. By the time they were all full, most of the snake was already gone. Yoshi insisted they sleep on trees, to avoid danger, and the other two agreed with no reluctance.
Dr. Mario opened his eyes to see things had lightened slightly. He heard a sizzling noize, and did not know what was going on. He also noticed his back hurt slightly.
He pushed himself upward, and saw Donkey Kong asleep on a branch and Yoshi cooking the remainder of the snake on the ground below. He kicked the branch Donkey Kong was sleeping on, jerking him awake. "Get up, we have to go soon."
"Why?"
"Tomorrow's the third and last day," said Dr. Mario. "We have to get to the tower tomorrow with both scrolls."
The two jumped down and ate quickly, and then found themselves jumping from tree to tree again. "There's another open space over there," said Yoshi.
"I see it," said Dr. Mario, looking ahead. He heard slight scurrying. "Do you hear that?"
"It isn't those mice again, is it?"
"It could be, but we should check before we leave." Yoshi nodded and they jumped until they reached the last branch.
They saw three of the puffballs darting around a fire and bringing pieces of skin to it. Their scroll was lying on the ground beside them, but they couldn't see the symbol from their perspective.
Donkey Kong made to jump forward, but Yoshi grabbed his shoulder.
"I know about them," said Yoshi darkly. "They used to be from the Village hidden in the Pokeball, but they moved to the Village hidden in the Sound. They use genjutsu."
Dr. Mario jerked his head toward Yoshi. He understood genjutsu to be incredibly rare.
"There are only six genin in the Village hidden in the Sound, like they're are here. One of the squads is a lot weaker than the other, though."
"Well, maybe these are the weak ones, but we can't just stand here," said Donkey Kong impatiently. He leapt down to the pink puffballs before they could stop him. Dr. Mario and Yoshi jumped after him.
Donkey Kong landed, and the puffballs looked momentarily surprised. Dr. Mario and Yoshi landed afterward.
Dr. Mario was about to forward, but he suddenly heard singing. His brain become foggy, his vision started to blur and he found it impossible to stand up. He fell to the ground and felt his arms and legs stop moving, while he was overcome by spontaneous fatigue. He looked and saw Donkey Kong lying down and moving in and out of vision. Everything was becoming darkness, and suddenly there was a large crack and his vision slid back into focus. The singing had stopped.
Dr. Mario got up, surprised, and saw one of the creatures had egg shell pieces on its head. That much be their genjutsu, thought Dr. Mario.
Donkey Kong darted on all fours at them, and then jumped forward with his fist raised, smashing one into a tree. An egg was flying in the air toward the creatures, and Dr. Mario threw multiple pills. There was no longer any time for strategy.
The creatures were struck repeatedly.
"This must be the weaker squad," said Donkey Kong, slamming another into a tree.
Dr. Mario darted at one of them, which was trying to run away, and then slid toward it, his legs pointed toward it. They collided with the creature's back, launching him forward onto the ground. Dr. Mario turned and saw another get struck by the soaring egg and sent flying onto the ground, blood leaking onto it.. Yoshi broke out of his egg.
"Let's hope we don't have to face the strong squad," said Yoshi.
"That doesn't matter now, let's get the scroll."
Dr. Mario had almost forgotten. He edged toward the scroll, and picked it up, feeling the leathery surface in his hand. If this was the right one, then they could go to the tower and get to the third task. Dr. Mario, with shaking hands, slowly began to turn the scroll around, anxious to see what the symbol was, wondering whether it would be the one that would lead them to completing the second task.
Well, that's chapter four. I hope you enjoyed it.