Chapter 11: Meeting The Gadd!
Mario Bros. House...
It was peaceful morning near the Mario Bros' house. The house was located near the edge of a small, forested area in the Mushroom Plains, not too far from Toad Town.
The house was pretty big. It had a large, red roof. There was a patio at the back door area. The house was made up of wooden walls, painted a white-color. A small wind turbine, shaped like a star, was on top of the house. What made the house stand out was the initials 'M' and 'L' engraved in front of the house, right above the front door Right now, two plumbers and a dinosaur were getting ready to head to the princess' castle.
"Come on! Let's go!" exclaimed Yoshi. He rushed out of the door and did a flutter jump above the front door steps.
Luigi followed him outside. "Yoshi! Calm down! We still have to wait for Mario."
The red plumber walked outside, locking the door behind him. "Sorry guys! I had to find my hat!" he had his trademark hat in his hand and put it on, positioning it the way he always did.
Yoshi started to hop up and down. "So, where are we headed?"
"We're going to Toad Town first, to pick up Sonic and his friends." Luigi started to explain. "Then we'll head to the professor's lab to see if he has a machine to teleport them back to their world."
"Teleport them back to their world?" Yoshi said. He was saddened at the thought of his friends going back to their world.
But we just met...
"Come on, you two." led Mario. He started walking to Toad Town. "I'm-a bet Sonic and his friends are waiting right now!"
Luigi and Yoshi followed the plumber. They walked on the small path leading to the Toad Town Entrance Gate. They passed a few floating Question Blocks, Warp Pipes and a group of passing Goombas. It took them a good ten minutes to get there.
When they got there, two Toad guards were in front of the town's entrance. "Hey there, Mario Bros!" exclaimed one of the Toad guards. He was wearing the traditional guard uniform and had a small spear for defending himself. "What can I do for ya?"
"Can we enter the town?" Mario asked. "We're here to pick up Sonic an his friends at the castle."
"Oh! You mean that blue hedgehog?" the other Toad guard asked. "The ones from the 'other' world?"
Luigi nodded. "Yep! We're going to see Professor E. Gadd to see if he has some sort of wacky invention to bring them back to their world!"
"Sounds a bit complicated to me." said the Toad guard. "But hey, anything to help a few heroes!" The Toad guards opened the gates to Toad Town. The Mario Bros and Yoshi thanked them. They entered the town. They walked down the path near the lake. They passed through the town square, seeing many Toad civilians walking about. They took a right turn and took another path, leading to the castle gates entrance. There, waiting for them, was a blue hedgehog doing a few quick leg stretches. A pink hedgehog and yellow fox were watching him.
Yoshi was the first to wave at them. "Hi guys!"
The fox noticed them. "Hey Yoshi!"
The blue hedgehog stopped stretching, and walked up to them "You guys were taking forever! I was just about to go get you myself."
Luigi crossed his arms. "Well excuse us for being fashionably late, but Yoshi wouldn't wake up back at our house, so we had to splash some water on him."
"In my defense, I was having a really good dream!" Yoshi backed up. "And it had fruit in it..."
The pink hedgehog and yellow fox walked up to them.
"So, where is this professors lab?" Amy asked.
"Yeah! I wanna see what inventions he made." Tails commented.
"Don't worry! His lab is not too far out of town." Luigi explained. "It's in this place called..." He suddenly froze, not moving a muscle. The group was confused.
"Uhh, Luigi!" Mario said. "Tell them where the lab is!"
The green plumber didn't move an inch. He had this terrified look on his face. He knew where the lab was. But that was the problem, for him.
"Th-the lab is in..." he paused for a moment. "B-Boo W-W-Woods!" He shuddered when he said it.
"Boo Woods?" repeated Sonic. He scratched his head. "What's that?"
"I-It's a small land of woods." Luigi explained. He remembered the memories. "B-but it's full of..." He shuddered. The gang was waiting for him to answer.
"Full of what?" Tails asked.
"G-GHOSTS!" He shouted. He crouched down in fetal position, remembering the events of what happened. Mario and Yoshi sweat dropped at the sight.
That mansion...those ghosts...
Sonic and his friends were perplexed. They all watched as he was rocking back and forth.
"Ghosts? So what!" said Sonic. He crossed his arms. "No way something can be as scary as Eggman's bald head!"
"Well, these ghosts are smart." Mario started. "They're actually called Boos. They sneak behind unsuspecting people and attack by surprise. Whenever someone turns around to see them, they turn invisible."
"Well, it's daylight anyway." Amy pointed out. "I bet none of those Boos would come out during a time like this."
"Yeah, I know..." said Luigi in a nervous voice. "But, y-you don't know what I've been through..."
He started to explain his adventure. The time when he was told he won a mansion, but it was actually full of ghosts and Boos. He told them they had kidnapped Mario and he had to rescue him with the help of E. Gadd's inventions. Sonic and his friends were amazed.
"Ever since that day, I've been scared of Boos..." Luigi ended off
"Wow. That does seem a little scary..." Tails commented. "Going through a haunted mansion by yourself."
"Yeah! But you got to suck up ghosts with a vacuum!" Sonic exclaimed. "I bet that was fun."
"Come on, Luigi." comforted Mario. "That was a long time ago. I bet those Boos are scared of you as much as you're scared of them."
"I doubt!" said Luigi. "Those terrifying Boos still give me the creeps!"
Mario sighed. "But still, we have to help Sonic and his friends get back to their world. We can't do it without you."
Yoshi turned his back towards Luigi. "Come on! You can ride on me and I'll defend you from any of those Boos!"
Luigi thought for a moment. "Fine..." He crawled on the ground and onto Yoshi's saddle.
"Alright, Luigi! That's the spirit." exclaimed Sonic. "Now come on! Let's head to Boo Woods!" He rushed to the town's exit. The group followed right behind him. Luigi was still reluctant.
Those Boos better not be there!
Bowser's Castle, Throne Room...
"Alright! Is everyone ready?" shouted the Koopa king. He was standing in front of his throne. The throne room was packed full of Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros and other members of the Koop Troop. They were all causing a ruckus, chatting away and not paying any attention to their leader. Eggman was standing beside Bowser, observing the large amounts of minions in the room.
"My! Your minions are pretty loud!" yelled Eggman. He had to cover his ears, as the talking was getting louder.
Bowser cleared his throat and instantly gave a loud, ferocious roar. The Koop Troop instantly shut up. "Listen everyone. We have a big mission to carry on. Not only are the Mario Bros the ones we have to destroy, but we have this annoying hedgehog named Sonic to deal with too!"
"Don't underestimate him." Eggman explained. "He is able to run at really high speeds!"
One of the Goombas started to talk. "Ha! I bet that guy runs so fast because he's just a scared hedgehog!"
Laughter erupted from the room. Bowser stomped loudly. "Okay everyone! Focus! We start attacking right after noon. Does everyone remember the plan?" Various murmurs of agreement sprung up. "Now! Everybody rest until our attack on the Mushroom Kingdom! Let us succeed in our mission!"
The Koop Troop members shouted in enthusiasm. They soon left the throne room. The room was quiet.
"What an army to handle!" Eggman said. "Even my robots aren't that hard to command!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Bowser walked down the throne steps. Eggman followed. "So, it the Egg Cannon ready for attack?"
The doctor nodded. "Preparations are done and over. It's good to go! We'll be ready once you are." They walked out of the throne room. "That reminds me, what will you be doing during the attack, Bowser?"
"I'm going to be backup" Bowser explained. "You and my army will be the main attack. You call me only if you get into real trouble."
"Fine by me. It should be easy, since I've created a powerful machine! It should be more than enough to defeat them all!"
"Make sure to leave Mario to me!" said Bowser. "I want to be the one to finish him!"
"No problem! I'll have my eye on Sonic!" Eggman said. The two villains walked to the laboratory room. There, they saw the Egg Cannon, waiting to be used.
"You should stock up on some ammo!" advised Bowser. "It'd be stupid if you ran out during battle."
Eggman patted on the machine. "No worries! I've put enough ammo for two battles!"
Bowser nodded slowly. "Sure...whatever you say."
This doctor better not screw up again!
Edge of Boo Woods...
The gang was now at the entrance of Boos Woods. It didn't look like any normal woods. The trees were creepy looking. They had no signs of leaves on them, and they looked dead. There was a small river the flowed through the woods, but there was a small amount of water in it. A large swamp was located near the middle. There was also a large hill in the woods, not too far from the gang. That was where E. Gadd's lab was.
"A-Are there any Boos around?" asked Luigi. He was covering his eyes with both hands. Yoshi saw what the green plumber was doing.
"Relax, Luigi. It's really bright right now and I don't see any Boos around!" the dinosaur comforted. Luigi removed his hands from his eyes and looked at the woods It was just as creepy from last time he was here, but with the daylight, it wasn't that bad to him.
"So, the professor's lab is somewhere in these woods." said Sonic. He saw the trail that entered the woods. "Let's start there."
Tails hovered into the woods first, using his tails. Yoshi followed right behind him, with Luigi holding onto his saddle. Sonic walked to the trail, Amy close behind him. Mario entered the woods last.
The woods was very quiet. You could only hear the flow of the river. It was pretty peaceful for a woods that was filled with ghosts. The gang walked through the woods for a few minutes.
"So, Luigi. Are you still scared of these woods?" Yoshi asked.
"Not really." answered Luigi. "I haven't seen a Boo yet, so I'm doing good."
Tails was getting tired from his hovering and landed on the ground. Not looking where he was landing, he accidently stepped on a twig. It made a loud, crack sound. It caught Luigi off-guard.
"YAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" the plumber shouted. He was so surprised from the sound, he fell off Yoshi's saddle and instantly went into fetal position. He shouted so loudly, it even caught Sonic and Amy off guard.
"Woah! Luigi! You've gotta warn us when you do something like that!" Sonic told.
The plumber started to rock back and forth. Yoshi was annoyed by this. "That's enough, Luigi!" He walked up to him and bonked him with his nose. Luigi fell forward, rubbing the back of his head.
'Oww! Yoshi!" He complained. He got up, still rubbing his head.
"Well, you got scared from a twig!" complained Yoshi. He started to walk back on the trail. "I'm not carrying you anymore!"
"Oh, come on, Yoshi!" Luigi ran after him. "I need your protection!"
"Uhh, guys! Wait for me!" Tails shouted. He decided to chase after them.
"Mamammia!" Mario said. "What am I going to with my brother?"
"Just a question I have." Amy started. "Are you two twins or something? You two look like it."
"Well, yeah, you could say we're twins." Mario explained. "I was lucky to be the older brother!"
"Yeah, but he turned out to be taller than you!" Sonic pointed out. He thought it was funny how the older brother was smaller than the younger one. Mario gave him an annoyed look.
They heard a shout ahead. It sounded like Tails. "Hey, guys! We've found the professor's lab!"
"Come on! We should catch up to them!" Sonic said. The three ran to where Luigi, Yoshi and Tails were. They were in front of a small, metal garage. It looked normal.
"Wow! I don't remember the professor changing from a shack to something like this!" Luigi commented. He forgot all about his fear and stared at the garage.
"So, how do we get in?" Yoshi asked.
The fox walked up to the garage door. He knocked on it.
No answer.
He knocked on it again, this time, more louder.
No answer.
Impatient, he knocked on it using both hands. Unexpectedly, the garage door opened up while he was knocking. The door opened up like a flap and carried the fox with it. Tails quickly flew off it and landed beside Sonic. The garage door finished opening. The group looked in. The garage was empty. No invention in it. Nothing.
"Um, are you sure this is the place?" asked Sonic.
"This was where the professor's lab was." Luigi answered.
Without warning, the garage's metal floor started to shake. The middle part of the floor suddenly opened up into a square hole. An elevetor poppoed out of it. It opened, revealing a small, old man wearing a white lab coat and black pants. He had a pair of orange shoe on and spiral glasses.
Luigi recognized the man. "Professor Gadd!" He ran up to him.
"Why, yes! That is me!" replied the professor. He gave group an nod. Sonic and his friends were astonished by what the professor looked like.
"That's him?" said Sonic.
"Pretty much." Mario replied. He walked into the garage and greeted the professor.
"I was hopng he'd be more on the tall side." Sonic whispered Tails.
The fox shrugged. "Great genius's all come in different sizes!"
Amy elbowed. Sonic. "Come on. Be polite! Let's go and say hello to him."
Sonic and his friends walked up to the professor. Luigi introduced them. "Oh, professor! This is Sonic, Tails and Amy!"
Tails greeted him first. "Hi there, professor!"
"Hello there, young Tails." E. Gadd greeted back. "So, you must be the ones who are from another dimension."
"Uh, yeah." answered Sonic. "How did you know?"
"Luigi just told me!"
Sonic nodded. "So, do you have any invention to teleport us back to our world?"
E. Gadd shook his head. "Sorry, but I don't."
"Oh, we'll we were hoping you'd have something." Amy sighed.
The professor looked at Amy. "My, my! What a beautiful lass!" He looked back to Sonic. "Are you two in some sort of, relationship?"
The group was shocked from what E. Gadd said. Yoshi and Luigi held in their laughter. Sonic went wide-eyed. Tails could feel his insecurity. Amy was also kind of surprised.
"Hahaha! No need to answer that!" E. Gadd answered. "Back to your question, I might have something that you could use." He walked into the elevator and motioned them to come in. The group entered, still in shock from what th professor said. The elevator door closed. The group felt the elevator move down. They waited a few moments. Suddenly, the doors of the elevator opened.
Everyone walked out. The first thing they saw were tons and tons of gadgets and inventions! They were in a room with a metal floor and brick wall. The inventions were lying around the room. Most of them were deactivated. The gang was amazed.
"Whoa! Look at all these machines!" exclaimed Tails. He walked over to one. It was an enlarged vacuum that anyone could drive in. "Things things look so amazing!"
"Don't mind him." said Sonic. "He's into tinkering, like you!"
E. Gadd nodded. "Now, come and follow."
He led the group past through the inventions. Tails was so amazed from them, all. He led them to a certain, big looking machine near the Mario Bros. recognized the machine.
"Hey! I remember this!" exclaimed Luigi.
The professor nodded again. "Yes! This is the Time Machine!"
The Time Machine was really big. It was painted yellow. It had a sort of complicated design. There was a large, clock-like thing in the front of the machine. It had two points coming from the top, with a light in between them.
"Pretty cool machine." Sonic complimented. "But, how is it going to help us get back home?"
"Well, this machine is used to travel through time." E. Gadd explained. "If I can make another machine like this, only this time, tweaking it up a bit, I could make a machine that could help people travel through worlds!"
The group was amazed. "Wow! You can do that?" Amy asked.
E. Gadd nodded. "Yes! But a machine like that would need some very powerful energy!"
"That's true, you know." said Luigi. "I remember that the Time Machine needed that Cobalt Star just to power it up!"
"Well, where are we going to get power like that?" Yoshi asked.
The professor started walking again. The gang were confused, but decided to follow. He led them to a door to the right side of the room. They entered it. They were in E. Gadd's workshop, where he makes the blueprints for his inventions. In the middle of the room was a table where he drew the machines designs. It had a small desk lamp, papers and pencils on it. To the left of it was a bookshelf, and to the right was a coffee maker on a table. It had coffee in it, since it was still morning. Right at the opposite of the door, was a big computer that took the whole side of the wall. E. Gadd booted it up. He searched through his hardrive and pulled out a moving image. It was a picture of a rotating star.
"What is that?" asked Tails, amazed at the image.
"This, is a Power Star!" explained E. Gadd. "It is a mystical artifact that has great power! It can grant a person with ultimate strength, energy and power."
"Kind of sounds like the Chaos Emeralds." Sonic pointed out.
Mario noticed the image. "Hey! I've collected a few of those on my adventures!"
"Is that how you're going to power up the machine you'll build?" Luigi asked.
The professor nodded. "Indeed. A machine like this will need the greatest power to work! Unfortunately, these Power Stars are not easy to find."
"Well, how do we find them then?" asked Amy.
E. Gadd explained. "Have you've seen a shooting star before in the night sky?" Everybody nodded. "Well, in this world, those are Power Stars. Rumor has it, one Power Star lands in the Mushroom World every night."
"I'm guessing, if we watch where the next shooting star falls to, we should go to where it lands and retrieve it?" Tails guessed.
E. Gadd nodded again. "Right you are! If you all are commited enough to do this, get me Power Stars and I will start building that machine!"
Sonic nodded. "So, are you guys up for it?"
Tails agreed. "I'm ready!"
"Don't worry, Sonic!" exclaimed Amy. "I'll be right with you!"
Yosh hopped up and down. "Yay! We're going to hunt for Power Stars!"
Mario walked to his brother. "So, bro. Are you in?"
Luigi thought for a moment. "Go on another adventure to retrieve more Power Stars?" He shrugged. "Why not?"
So it was settled. The group was going on an adventure. An adventure to search for Power Stars!
"Jolly! I like the enthusiasm!" exclaimed E. Gadd. "I'll start the machine right away!"
But before anyone could move. The lights suddenly flickered on and off. Suddenly, the lights shut off. The gang was surrounded in pitch darkness!
"WAAAAAAAHHH! WHAT"S GOING ON?" Luigi screamed in horror. He went back into a fetal position.
Yoshi was surprised from the what happened, he ran around, not knowing where he was going and hit a wall. Amy grabbed tightly onto Sonic. Mario looked around him, trying to see where he was going. E. Gadd didn't move an inch. Tails hugged onto his tails. Everybody started to shout.
They heard something. Everyone became quiet. They listened to the sound.
It sounded like a small laugh.
A lot of small laughs...
..
..
To be continued...
What's happening in Professor E. Gadd's laboratory? Could Luigi face the danger of his fears? And what is Bowser and Eggman plans? Stay tuned!
Author Notes: Boy, am I tired! This is the longest chapter yet, and took a lot of thinking! I had to think of what the power source could be for the professor's "Dimension Machine" (not official name). Hope you guys enjoy the chapter, and thanks for the support! Next chapter will be up this week!
I do not own any Mario or Sonic related characters. They both belong to Nintendo and Sega.