It was 1:00 in the morning, and Mario & Sonic were dragging themselves through the World 2 Deserts. Even at such a late time, the angry suns continued to scorch the sands, and Sonic couldn't take it anymore.
"Mario *pant*, it's too *pant* hot out here. It's your turn to *pant* hold the pack."
"I don't see what the problem is! I've gone through this desert over 5 times, and I never got dehydrated or anything like that!"
Sonic threw the bag at Mario, and he slung it over his shoulder. They continued to walk for a while, but soon Sonic just had to stop.
"Mario, we *pant* need to find a place to sleep that's *pant* out of the sun!"
"Hmmm, that rock formation over there looks decent…"
Mario pointed towards a small cave made of boulders that had shade from the sun. Sonic jumped and dashed at full speed towards it. Mario ran after him, barely catching up with him. Sonic collapsed as soon as he entered the cave, and Mario dropped the bag against the wall.
"The bag! Gimme the bag!"
"Okay okay, sheesh!"
Mario tossed the bag at Sonic, and at light-speed, he set up his sleeping bag, put on some Chao pajamas and fell fast asleep. Mario stood dumbfounded, and then his stomach rumbled.
"Oh no, not this again! How is it that I eat 4 plates of linguine and I'm still hungry???"
Mario eyed the bag tossed aside by Sonic, and the remaining servings of linguine were laying out as if they just came out of the oven at a five-star Italian restaurant. Mario's eyes went wide, and he began to tip-toe over Sonic. He grabbed the linguine and dashed out of the cave, with Sonic still sleeping like a baby.
The next morning, Sonic slowly woke up with a big yawn. He rolled up his sleeping bag, and went to put it in the backpack, but he noticed it wasn't there. Sonic was confused, but then he heard a low groan come from outside. Thinking it could be a Goomba, he picked up a rock and slowly went outside. He turned the corner to find Mario, flat on his face, with spaghetti sauce all over him. Sonic flipped him over, and he had circles under his eyes. Sonic slapped him awake, and he didn't look too enthusiastic.
"Ooooooh….my stomach….it hurts…."
"Mario! What're you doing out here in the open! You should be asleep in the cave!"
"Ugh…I guess I walked out here in my sleep. Probably had a nightmare about giant meatballs or something…"
"Italians and their food…anyway, Mario where's the backpack? I had it in the cave but it's not there anymore."
"Ooh…it's right…under me?"
Mario rolled over, and the backpack was right there. Sonic picked it up and found that all of the linguine was gone. Immediately, he turned to Mario.
"MARIO!!! All of the linguine is gone! Did you eat it?! You ate it didn't you?!?! I never even got anything! I'm going to starve!"
"Well Sonic, you know how Italians are with their food…"
Sonic groaned and fell to his knees. He crawled into the sand and began to claw at the ground.
"It's only been one day, and I'm going INSANE!!!"
Just then, out of the corner of his eye, Sonic made out a building in the horizon. It was small, almost like a concession stand.
"Ca--Can it be???"
It was. The sun came out, and it revealed a chili dog stand in the distance. It was beautiful, and Sonic nearly cried. He rose to his feet and grabbed Mario.
"Listen buster, just because you ate all of the linguine, you're paying for the 10 chili dogs I'm about to buy."
"Pfft, it doesn't matter. I have 500 coins on me, I could buy 30 chili dogs if I wanted!"
"Great!"
Sonic dragged Mario up to the chili dog stand and rang the bell.
"I'd like 30 double deluxe chili dogs with onions to go! Make it snappy!"
"Ooh, you're a hungry one aren't you? I'll try to whip it up as fast as I can. You got enough coins to pay for this?"
"Of course I do. My buddy over here is covering it completely!"
"Well that's just---"
The chili dog salesman turned around to see Mario & Sonic standing at his counter. His eyes almost bulged out of his face, but he immediately contained himself.
"Mister Mario! You're rather popular around these parts aren't you?"
"I guess you could say so. Could you get those chili dogs fast? We have a princess and a plumber to save."
"Of course…of course."
The salesman walked into the back of his stand, and pulled out a walkie-talkie. He flipped it on, and feedback crackled through the speaker.
"King Koopa, Soldier 5 reporting."
"Make it quick soldier. We have some cargo to unload over here."
"It's rather important sir. I have located Mario and the blue man!"
"Perfect! Try to take them out while you can! When you're done, bring their dead bodies to me to display in my trophy cabinet! GWA-HAHAHAHA!!!"
"Will do sir. I'll keep them in mint condition."
The man smirked, and clicked off the walkie-talkie. He heated up a few quick chili dogs, and brought them out on a platter. Sonic's jaw dropped, and he immediately pulled the coins out of Mario's Adult Wallet.
"Okay buddy! I got the money! Now gimme the yummy!"
Mario chuckled, and whispered:
"Sonic, that's so weak!"
Sonic couldn't hear him though, because he was stuffing his face with the double deluxe chili dogs with onions. It was just insane, Sonic was wolfing them down faster than a cheetah with a jetpack hyped on steroids, it was almost terrifying. Mario gazed in amazement, while the chili dog salesman began to laugh maniacally. Sonic continued to eat, while Mario stared at the man. The salesman jumped on the counter and yelled:
"Enjoy those blue boy, because they're the last chili dogs you'll ever eat!!!"
The man grabbed his face, and pulled off a rubber mask to reveal a Hammer Bro in disguise! He threw the disguise aside and whipped out his dual hammers.
"You're through Mario! When I'm done you'll be mincemeat!!!"
He hopped down and slapped Sonic's chili dogs aside. Sonic stopped in his tracks, with chili still dripping from his mouth.
"What's the big idea buddy? I wasn't done yet!"
"Here's the big idea!!!"
The Hammer Bro swung around and bashed Sonic with his hammer. He was caught off guard and went flying into the wall of the stand. The brick wall cracked, and Sonic slid to the ground. Mario ran at the Hammer Bro and jumped on its head, but it was barely harmed.
"You're losing your touch big guy! Not even a gift from the heavens could save you now!"
The Hammer Bro began to lunge at Mario, but then a Starman came rocketing from the sky and hit the Hammer Bro in the head. Mario jumped back, as the Starman jumped right into his hand. He turned into Rainbow Mario, and laughed with a smirk.
"Ahhh, sweet irony!"
Mario launched a huge punch at the Hammer Bro, and it disintegrated into dust at his feet. He ran to Sonic and dropped down.
"Sonic! Are you okay?!"
"You kiddin' me? I feel like a million bucks after eating those chili dogs! Even if that guy was evil, he cooks some good food!"
"Well, I'll head into the stand and load the backpack with some of that stuff. We'll need it after my little incident with the linguine."
Mario went into the chili dog stand and loaded the backpack with frozen chili dogs. He took the backpack and put it over his back. On his way out of the stand, he eyed the Hammer Bro's walkie-talkie laying on a box of potatoes. He picked it up and flicked it on. The feedback crackled through, and then a voice was heard.
"Soldier! Did you get rid of Mario?! I finished dusting the trophy cabinet!"
"I'M COMING FOR YOU KOOPA!!!"
Mario took one of the Hammer Bro's hammers and bashed the walkie-talkie to pieces. Bowser was dumbfounded on the other line, and he pounded on the wall in fury.
"MARIO!!!!!"
Mario walked out of the stand and gave the pack to Sonic, and they continued to drag themselves through the sand to Bowser Castle. Sonic needs to walk a while to burn off all of those calories…
With the burning World 2 Deserts almost completely navigated, Mario & Sonic are almost to Bowser Castle. Will they be able to hold out until then? Or will Bowser have some sort of plot to get rid of them once and for all? Find out in the next installment of: Mario & Sonic: When Worlds Collide REMADE!
