Yeah, finally I've got this story down. But I'm not really wanting to continue, but yet, I must. Oh well... The story will be shorter than before... Read the author notes for that.
Disclaimer: How many times do I need to write this? … Fine. Mario and everything from his series are not owned by me, but by Nintendo. I own Rich.
(Music: SMG: sad story)
"How the heck did I get into this mess…?" Rich muttered, searching a spot on the planet ship without anyone near. He needed time alone. Nobody interrupting him. Nobody trying to cheer him up. Nobody saying that he will see his family again. Nobody persuading him into doing something stupid. Simply, nobody to do anything.
The problem was though that there was a luma everywhere. And they were too happy. And too helpful. Most lumas that saw Rich's sad and angry face attempted to cheer him up. No success, of course. Only his mother was able to do that, and he wouldn't see her again for a long time. So he simply grumbled that they should ignore him, which they did. At least they were more understandable then those children on primary school, who would not leave until being forced to it.
Finally finding a spot, a large crater on the planet without any grass and luma nearby, Rich sat down in the middle of it. Tears, of which Rich was not afraid to say that they weren't caused by dust in his eyes, appeared on his face. Oh why… The thought flew through Rich's head, before deciding to answer the question.
It all started with that World Culture Lottery. This… organization came out of nowhere. On one day, it wasn't even there, the next, it announced a big lottery for the whole country. You didn't even have to pay anything at all to enter. But the prizes… The first prize was a trip 'to a new world.' Everyone (except for the pupils that refused to do their history homework) on Rich's school thought that they meant America. With New York in mind, most people wanted to win. Except for a few, like Rich. Rich didn't have an interest in the new things and preferred staying in his home country.
However, those few people entered anyway. The reason? The second prizes. Those contained ninety-nine coins for one million people. One million people! Why the lottery did only ninety-nine and not hundred and why it called the money coins and not euro's were two questions nobody could answer. But who cared? You could do a lot with them anyway, one option being able to buy two video games. And this was the exact reason why Rich entered. Even with his bad luck, he would have a good chance to get the money. And what could he lose anyway?
Much, was Rich's conclusion now. He was surprised when he learned out that he won the first prize, not the second. Rich, not wanting to go away for a week to a foreign country, refused to accept the prize. His parents' agreed with him. He was too young to stay alone without anyone to look after him that long. So instead, his family friendly asked if they couldn't swap the first prize for the second one at the people of the Lottery. Their response was that he should consider it again and tell them his answer after a week.
Rich firmly refused to do it however. Nobody could persuade him to do it. Rich found it quite odd though that more and more people attempted to do it. First his classmates. Some already did before, but suddenly, the whole class wanted him to go. Then his teachers. While some said that he would probably enjoy it, they all respected his choice to not go. After all, Rich was the best of the class and also the most obedient pupil, so why would they want to get rid of him? However, from one day to another, they all wanted… no, more like desired, him to go.
Rich dealt with this oddness, simply doing what he was supposed to do, while ignoring all the people that wanted him to America. However, he couldn't ignore his own parents. Yes, his own parents started as well. When Rich questioned what happened to the argument that Rich couldn't look after himself, they simply answered: "Oh, don't worry. You can easily look after yourself. We just had to confirm it…" Yeah, confirm it. Rich had already trouble with doing simply the washing-up! So how was he supposed to look after himself for such many days!
Rich still managed to refuse, but the arguments to go… In the very end, Rich finally accepted. Two days later, he was in Brooklyn, not in New York as he had thought. It all became stranger with that pipe…
"Hey, is everything all right?" A voice interrupted Rich's thoughts. A hand was placed on his left shoulder, covered by a white glove.
"I have no interest in becoming a Gary Stu." Rich grumbled, moving the hand off his shoulder. "Can you just leave me alone?"
Mario was taken aback by this response, but he could have suspected it by the way Rich took off. But that didn't mean he couldn't try, did it? The baby luma was playing with the other lumas, in order to prevent it's happiness to be hurt.
"Not really." Mario answered, but only received a rash correction.
"Wrong! You can by standing on the other side of this planet. Am I right or not?"
"Not." Mario responded calmly, but this only worked on Rich's nerves.
"Not?" Rich snapped. "What do you mean, not? You can. So do me a pleasure, and do it."
"Sorry, I won't."
"Fine. Then I move." Rich stood up as he wanted to walk away, but Mario motioned for him to remain seated. Rich didn't really want to hear Mario try to cheer him up, but did it anyway.
"While it's true I can walk away, I can't really stand to have anyone sad." Mario said, but the words missed their effect. This was proven when Rich replied.
"Well, then you have to learn to deal with it, because I will remain sad." Rich replied as he stood again up, but sat down again as Mario again motioned.
"Can you tell me at least then what's wrong?" Mario asked.
"What's wrong? Maybe the fact that somebody is shortening my life line with a rubber, not stopping before it reaches until a few days?" Rich answered, some tears starting to form in his eyes again.
"And why are you thinking you will die soon?" Mario questioned.
"Is that not obvious? Hint: It has to do with what you are planning to do." Rich nearly shouted back, while he was losing his control over himself.
"And you know that I've saved the world a lot of times?"
"As if that will matter…"
"Why?"
"Because this time, just when I'm here, that so called 'Great Evil Koopa King' will win." Rich concluded, regaining slowly control again.
"And the reason…?"
"None. It's just me being unlucky." Rich stated, looking down. Mario tried to search for the good words. Even Luigi and Toadsworth were more easy to get them out of their worry-mood than this boy.
"Listen. It's very unlikely something will happen to you." Mario said.
"And that was told by the general to the soldiers before they died…" Rich muttered.
"What general?" Mario asked.
"Don't know. I just thought of that sentence so that you would get my point." Rich responded.
"But even IF, and I say IF, something happens to you, then I will attempt to stop it before it becomes worse, okay?"
"No thanks. You have better things to do than saving a random boy. And if you excuse me, I'm going away now." Rich grumbled, now standing up and walking away. "And please ignore me now!" Was the last thing Rich said as he moved out of Mario's sights.
(End the music)
"Sigh… That didn't really work out…" Mario muttered. "Maybe the best thing is to collect the power stars as quickly as possible…" As Mario said that, he decided to search for the baby luma… After finding him, Mario went to Luna, who was busying with… making some kind of building plans? She jumped (well, floated) up when Mario neared, quickly taking all papers containing the plans behind her back.
"Ah! You should not sneak up at me like that! I have pepper spray, you know!" Luna shouted, before calming down. "I guess you are going to get the third star?"
"Yes…" Mario said, still having Rich in his thoughts. Luna mentioned that. "Don't tell me… You tried talking to Rich?" Luna asked, while giving the plans away to a random luma that brought them somewhere else.
"Who?" Mario asked confused. Despite former conversation, Mario actually never got Rich's name…
"I guess that's a no… But Rich is that human boy." Luna explained.
"In that case, I did." Mario simply stated. Luna shook her head upon this.
"I told you that you shouldn't. He simply has that air of 'Ignore me, please.' So we probably should. But to pass on, you have to get the last power star of this galaxy. From what I've heard, the big monster's minions have managed to put it randomly in the air…"
"But how does it float?" Mario wondered aloud.
"Simple: Every power star has the ability to ignore any kind of gravity pulling at them. We lumas can do that as well." Luna explained, before changing the subject a bit. "But the actual question should be: How do you get it? And I've got the perfect answer for this… Just wait a sec, OK?" Luna asked, but didn't wait for an answer as she floated already away.
While waiting, Mario mentioned Rich, who was now playing a video game on a DS. He seemed to rather enjoy it, not having his thoughts about this whole situation he was put in. Mario pondered for a moment if he should attempt to talk to Rich again, but decided against it, as Rich would probably move away when he would see him.
After a short while, Luna finally returned with what was a pink luma. It was smaller than Luna, but still had the fat form of her.
"I don't have to tell you what kind of luma this is, do I?" Luna asked, a small smile appearing on her face as she was about to tell of her plan. The pink luma seemed to be impatient or something.
"It's a hungry luma." Mario stated, recognizing it from his previous adventures. These lumas were quite odd. They always asked Mario for a certain amount of star bits, and then would transform into various things, from prize dices to whole galaxies. On his last adventure though, some would request coins instead of star bits. Apparently, coins contained lots of healthy things for lumas… But other species should probably buy actual food with the coins instead of eating them.
"Perfect. Then I don't have to give you the whole bio and all that stuff." Luna said amused, before continuing. " We found this guy here in one storage room of the harbor, wanting to eat all the star bits there… Unfortunately, the big monster used them already. It then decided to wait until the stock would be refilled, but that hasn't happened… until now. We found him when the lumas finally did it."
"Am I gonna get my coins, or should I move on?" The hungry luma shouted impatient, getting a little bit on Luna's nerves. She ignored him though.
"Oddly enough, when he finally got star bits, he decided he wanted coins instead. Ten, exactly."
"I can guess where this is going…" Mario muttered.
"At first, I decided ignore him. But when I heard of the flying power star, I immediately thought of him. So…"
"You want me to collect the coins." Mario finished the sentence. "Well, then I guess I should…" Just before he could say the last word, Luna suddenly moved her hands to Mario's shoulders, pushing him towards the landing stage.
"Yep, yep! Now off you go and collect those coins! And you don't need to return here for the Hungry Luma! He will be waiting somewhere else!" Luna said a bit too cheerful for Mario's liking, while he got thrown off the planet ship. It was like she didn't want him to be here…
When Mario recovered from the hit on the ground, he immediately ran off to collect those coins. This to Luna's liking…
"So, he's finally away?" A yellow luma asked Luna while hovering towards her.
"Yep! We can finally do the finishing touches! … That is, when Rich gets off as well. That reminds me: he still hasn't got some new clothes…" Luna replied.
"Should I ask him to get off and bring him new clothes as well?"
"Ye… No. I want to see what my crew is like. Give him those clothes, and then tell him that we saw an indentified flying object on the other side of this planet that can bring him back. Let's see if he can accept a joke from moi." Luna giggled, before the luma did as it was told. Probably needless to say, Rich shut off his DS, putted it back in his bag, then ran off the planet, after that, failed miserably to jump off the planet ship ("I blame the gravity!") and finally sprinted towards the other side of the harbor… Not knowing what other side the luma exactly meant…
"That… was… the… last… one." Mario muttered as he finally got the last coin. They were placed in the most unlikely places on this harbor, varying from being on roofs, near the ends of the harbor and even in a hearth in one of the buildings. The lumas should really consider to get a piggy bank instead of those hiding spots…
"But now… Where's that hungry luma?" Mario muttered, looking from the roof (the place where the last coin was) to everywhere, searching for it.
"You got all coins! Now givegive me them!" The hungry luma shouted fast from behind Mario, surprising him and causing Mario to jump… off the roof.
Mario: 2/3
Mario quickly got up, looking angry to the hungry luma. The last one didn't care at all, and simply flew before Mario again.
"Givegivegive!" The hungry luma shouted fast again, leaving Mario with no chance to answer no. All he could do was to give the coins, which he of course did. As the luma ate the coins, it became fatter and fatter and fatter and… until he ate the last one.
"I'm so full! I think I will finally…" The luma said, while glowing white. Mario took a few steps backwards, just in case that something would happen like an explosion. But that didn't happen, and the luma became purple again. When Mario saw that, he walked back to the luma.
"Transfooooooorm!" The luma screamed aloud, while suddenly bursting out a lot of energy. Mario flew backwards due that while the luma launched into the air, glowing white.
Mario: 1/3
"You always get it from your allies…" A yellow luma that passed Mario, muttered.
The white luma, now very high into the sky, transformed into… a small planet, one that looked like a… ship? A pink warp star appeared out of nowhere before Mario, which he used to get to the newly formed planet/ship. A few moments later, the last power star of Stardock was obtained!
"What?" Luna asked in surprise at what a yellow luma told her. "Mario already has the third power star? Luckily that we just finished work…" Just when Luna said that sentence, Mario walked on the planet ship.
"So you collected the last one? Excellent! Then we can move on! When Rich is back, that is…" Mario looked questioning at Luna, knowing very well that Rich would not leave the ship that easily. "Err… That's for later. But what do you think?"
"That I'm kind of hungry… Why?" Mario asked confused.
"Not that kind of thinking! What do you think of the ship?" Luna responded, and upon seeing Mario's still confused face, got a little bit angry. "Do you mean to say that you didn't mention the hard work we did?"
Mario looked down at the ship, now realizing what Luna meant. The whole planet had changed! Instead of looking like a planet where the extinction of the dinosaurs happened like… ten times, it now looked like Mario's head! The nose, the face, the hat… Err, except the hat. That one was green (thanks to the grass on it), instead of red. This caused to let it look more like Luigi instead of Mario.
"So? Much better spaceship than your previous one, not?" Luna asked, wanting to get a few nice comments. What she got though, was something else.
"Actually, it looks the same…" Mario replied honestly, and as few people might know, honestly brings you far… but sometimes, you fall directly in a hole before getting somewhere.
"What do you mean, the same! It looks much more better!" Luna shouted angry. "It looks precisely like you!"
"Except for the cap." Mario simply replied. Luna looked, mentioned, and decided.
"The color? That's easily fixed. But for now, I think we should make preparations to leave… Huh?" Luna said in surprise, looking at something behind Mario. Mario turned around, seeing… an UFO?
Though, this UFO was not a normal one, that is, as far as UFO's are normal. While it still had the typical dome, it was colored red with white spots. It looked a bit like… the cap of a mushroom. In fact, the whole UFO looked like one, this due the 'stem' beneath the dome. The stem had several windows in it, with behind one of them… Toadsworth?
Yes, but not only Toadsworth. There was a small, old looking, human in it. He had glasses and some white upright hair, punk style. This was in huge conflict with his white researcher-like vest.
The UFO, that was actually indentified as the Starshroom by now, flew around the harbor, searching for someone. That someone was Mario. When they spotted him, they send out a message to Luna (apparently, Luna had some kind of computer deep in the ship for these kind of things) with the question if they could land on the ship. Luna said of course yes, and so, the Starshroom landed on the ship.
"Master Mario!" Toadsworth shouted as he came out the Starshroom. "Have you rescued the princess by now?" Typical for Toadsworth to say…
"Err… Not by far…" Mario answered. Now the researcher punk came out of the Starshroom as well.
"And how are things going?" The researcher asked. That was a better question than what Toadsworth asked…
"Fine, Dr. E. Gadd. And how are you?" Was Mario's response.
"Ah well, I might have missed the festival, but if I look back at it… Maybe it was for the better." E. Gadd simply answered. While E. Gadd answered, Toadsworth looked around, examining the area.
"Maybe." Mario shrugged. E. Gadd chuckled.
"Well, at least I wasn't kidnapped. Though, I would have loved to examine a star bit… But the researching of the Starshroom was more important. I've managed to improve it a bit, and now I used this beauty to carry old me and Toadsworth to you. Quick healer is Toadsworth, for somebody so old…" E. Gadd said, referring to the fact that when Mario left, Toadsworth was nearly unconscious.
"Except when he faints from worries about Peach, that is." Mario added. E. Gadd chuckled again, while Toadsworth didn't hear it at all. He was more busy with discussing something with Luna… Mario could catch the words 'Rescue her fast' and 'As soon as possible', but nothing more.
"I feel really reminded." A mysterious voice said, some hold back rage in it. "As if, everyone knows that I'm also here." With that, all turned around to face… Rich. He was very tired from the sprinting, and a few sweat drops fell from his face. He was still wearing his burnt clothes, because, apparently, nobody ever reminded to tell him to get some new ones. You could tell from his face that he was far from being happy.
"And what do you mean?" Luna questioned friendly, but also a bit nervous.
"To hold it short: A luma tells me that they have seen a ship that can bring me back, sends me to the other side of the harbor, not telling me WHICH SIDE…" Rich laid a special accent on the last two words. ", so I ran to everywhere to find out, when the ship turns out to be a lie, but back at the main ship an actual spaceship arrives, that can bring me back. If I'm correct, I have a good reason to be angry." Rich's shyness had clearly melted due the burning rage that flew through his blood. Toadsworth and Gadd looked at each other in confusion, while Mario looked straight at Luna, who only got more nervous as time flew.
"That reminds me; What was the reason again that Rich was not here?" Mario said, having some sympathy for Rich. Luna giggled nervously.
"Err… For the reason Rich told you…" Luna said. "And before I forget, I have some coloring to do with some grass. So if you excuse me…" Luna said, hovering away as fast as possible, leaving all behind silent.
"Err… I'm pretty sure we haven't acquired with each other, young man." Toadsworth said, breaking the stillness. Rich calmed down a bit, which also meant that the shyness of him started coagulating.
"Rich Bosman, sir." Rich said, looking a bit down… In order to look at Toadsworth.
"So, if I heard you correctly, then you wanted to get somewhere with the Starshroom?" E. Gadd asked, leaving Rich confused with what the Starshroom was. E. Gadd mentioned that. "The space ship that looks like a mushroom."
"Yes." Rich said, not saying more words than needed.
"And that somewhere is…?"
"Mushroom Kingdom."
"Okay! Then follow me, young lad. I will bring you back to the kingdom in no time with this bea…" Gadd stopped in the midst of his sentence. The Starshroom… It was gone! Just. Completely. Gone. As if some kind of thief had stolen it like a car while they were speaking… Which was probably the most likely reason.
"This. Is. Not. My. Day." Rich said dumbfounded while looking at the location where the ship was supposed to be.
"That's not good… I wanted to finish that research project tomorrow…" E. Gadd said dumbfounded as well.
"Well, at least I can keep an eye on master Mario while he's rescuing the princess." Toadsworth had apparently less trouble than Rich and E. Gadd that the Starshroom was stolen. He then noticed Rich, and a light bulb went on in his head. He went towards Rich, circling around him as if examining him.
"If I may ask… What are you doing?" Rich asked, feeling a bit awkward being so checked out.
"Nothing too special. Question for you young boy: Have you some kind of phobia? Or something else like some kind of disease?" Toadsworth asked, while still examining Rich.
"Not really… Why?" Rich questioned, but Toadsworth didn't answer. After a few more circles, he went over to Mario, a very big smile on his face.
"Congratulations! A new party member joined your team!" Toadsworth said full of cheerfulness while Mario, Gadd and Rich looked surprised at Toadsworth. What was he doing?
"Rich is his name!" Now Rich's eyes became really big, because of the surprise or due the shock… Probably both. "Rich has more health than Mario does! However, he's a slow runner and bad jumper, and his stamina is no good. Rich can further not use the star spin, but instead as his own ability!" Rich was now both shocked and surprised, while others were just surprised. How did Toadsworth manage to get all that information by simply examining Rich? Was this some parody of some sorts?
"His ability is the Reflect Punch! With it, he can reflect back all projectiles back to their owner. Be warned though, that he cannot use it in close combat or against non solid things. In order to switch between Rich and Mario…" Toadsworth was interrupted in the middle of his sentence.
"WAIT ONE FREAKING SECOND!" Rich shouted in angry but yet in sadness. "What do you mean by 'Rich joined your party!' I did not! And you can't force me to do it!"
"Wait, what?" Toadsworth asked truly surprised. "You don't want to join? But what about the princess? The more people go, the more chance that master Mario will succeed. No offense meant to you, master Mario."
"None taken." Was all what Mario managed to say. He and E. Gadd looked at the conversation unfolding, not knowing what to do about it.
"And what about me? If I go, the more chance I will not survive. Have you thought about that?" Rich's emotions became more and more unstable as the conversation went on. He could explode or collapse any moment now under their influence…
"But…" Toadsworth searched for the right words to say, those that would convince Rich to go along with Mario. "But… the princess is important for the Mushroom Kingdom…" Toadsworth muttered. One could interpret this sentence on different ways: One way was that the princess was important, but Rich could be possibly as well. Another way was that the princess was more important than Rich. Toadsworth meant the first way.
But Rich interpreted it as the second way. That very moment, Rich felt like as if a big dagger was stabbed right through his heart, then removed, then stabbed again. He became silent, but even Toadsworth knew that this wasn't the silence of agreeing he had hoped for. This was the silence of being hurt.
"Maybe I shouldn't have said that…" Toadsworth muttered, feeling a bit awkward. "Can you accept my apologies?"
"… … You're right." Was what Rich said, with a face with no emotions on it. This face was merely a shell for what went on in Rich's head. "She's more important…" His shell creaked as a few tears started appearing in his eyes. "Than me…" More tears. "Can… you… leave… me… alone… for… a… moment?" Rich didn't wait for a response as he ran away after asking it, leaving a dazzled Mario, E. Gadd and Toadsworth.
"If my psychology knowledge is right, then I think you hit a major hurt point on Rich." E. Gadd stated when Rich had moved out of their sights.
"Probably." Toadsworth said. "Ah well… Does somebody know when this ship starts moving? Mario has to save princess Peach as fast as possible." This earned him stares from both E. Gadd and Mario. "What?"
"Do we really need to say it?" Mario said, his anger under control. Sure, what Mario had seen from Rich could not be defined as friendly, which actually made Mario dislike Rich a bit, but that didn't mean that Toadsworth shouldn't ignore him, even if it was what Rich wanted. After all, Rich went through a hard time. It was only logic that he acted this way.
"Yes?" Toadsworth said nonchalant, upon which both Mario and E. Gadd face slapped.
"You just mentally hurt a young teenager boy." E. Gadd started. "Don't you think you should attempt to cheer him up again?"
"What? I apologized and he said he wanted to be alone. I'm only doing what he asks." Toadsworth simply replied.
"And if Peach said she wanted to be alone, would you do it?" Was Mario's reaction to Toadsworth's answer.
"No, of course not! I care a lot about her, like a father for his child! You just cannot…" As Toadsworth spoke, he realized something, which made him stop with talking for a moment. "I see where you're going, master Mario. Fine, I will try." With that, Toadsworth said two goodbyes to Mario and E. Gadd, and then walked over the now red grass. The logic of how it suddenly can be red and how it can be red in the first place, was far and far away…
"So... E. Gadd. What are you planning to do while remaining here?" Mario friendly asked.
"Well, luckily enough, I brought another project along with me. It's still in early stage before I can make it, but I think it will help you on your adventure." And so ended the conversation. Both walked away, E. Gadd to a place where he could experiment a bit, while Mario walked off to Luna. Not everything in this fanfiction could remain unexplained…
And so, the seventh chapter ends. But, there's still the author notes… which have a lot to tell you.
First off, know what I said previous chapter about the hundred reviews? The secret part? Well, I've decided to cut it down to only fifty reviews. The major reason of this is because I will focus from now on only on power stars that I know what to write about. Those are mostly boss power stars and grand stars. Wait, let me rephrase that: ONLY boss power stars and grand stars. And every galaxy has at least one boss, but that doesn't mean… that I won't skip galaxies. As far as I know, the first galaxy of world two might get removed… Now that I think about it, it WILL be removed. It's too boring.
Another thing: I've planned to write another story. When I post it (Don't know when: I have the first chapter done, but it feels a bit empty…), it will automatically mean that this story will get even less updates. Though, I promise this story gets the main attention. Why? I can't do a certain world when I'm not finished this story yet.
About Rich… You finally learn a bit about his past, but there are some parts missing… And he's kind of overreacting. He's actually not one to do that…
Anyway, what we can expect next chapter… IS NEARLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THIS WHOLE STORY FOR THE SEQUEL. But beside that important thing, we will finally have the second big boss and the return of somebody… and somebody else.
What's the important thing? What's the second boss? Who will return? Who else will return? Will Toadsworth cheer Rich up? Will Mario find the next power star? Who's the thief of the Starshroom? How is it possible for the grass to be red? All these questions (with the exception of the grass) will be answered next chapter! And so I ended the chapter like an narrator that attempts to keep the public interested in a TV series that goes on for a way too long time.