Chapter 25: Let the Dream Games Begin!
When the group had finally left the underground area, they had decided to take a little breather in the medical room. As they relaxed, Nebule had began to explain to Mars the events that were going on, and the reason for being here. Chalk, meanwhile, was playing around with his paintbrush, and Zanex sat down on one of the beds while inspecting his weapon with a bored expression.
"OK, so let me get this straight..." Mars began. "Some evil demons have taken over many lands in this world, and you're trying to collect these Land Tablets in order to not only restore them back to normal, but open a door to find some legendary being called Battilio that will hopefully help you?"
"Yeah, that's it," Nebule nodded. "So far, we've only got four Land Tablets so far, so the fifth one is located here. It's supposed to be a prize, but to enter the competition, you need four people."
"Really? Interesting... Well, count me in."
"Already?"
"Sure," Mars nodded. "I mean, you guys are out to destroy those dark monsters, and you're trying to restore the world back to normal. Since we both have common goals, why not work together?"
"You sure about that?" Nebule wondered.
"Yeah. Besides, you need four people for these Dream Games, right? I might as well give you a hand! I am an expert at blasting things, after all!"
"Well... All right! Welcome to the team, then!"
Smirking, Mars had raised her Arm Cannon in satisfaction.
Character: Mars Ranes
Info: Mars is a bounty hunter who lives on the planet Tallon IV, and thanks to the specialized training she received, she is very flexible and athletic, whether she is in her suit or not.
Equipment: Power Suit – This suit helps protect Mars from dangerous enemies, and it also keeps her safe from atmospheric conditions on other planets. Arm Cannon – This weapon attached to her arm has a limitless supply of shots, and it even has the power to fire missiles. However, those are limited, and it requires her to recharge them, which can leave her easily open for an attack.
"Well, let's go see Beanbag and sign up for the Dream Games!" Nebule smiled, rushing out of the medical room. The others followed behind until they had reached the desk Beanbag was at. He had noticed them slow down and take a pant (save for Zanex).
"You guys again? Look, I told you, you can't sign up until there are fo-" Beanbag stopped, taking notice of the new person with them. "Oh... So you DO have a new member! Excellent! You people are eligible to join. Now, I just need your names..."
"Nebule."
"Chalk!"
"Zanex."
"Mars."
"OK, gotcha! Nebule... Chalk... Zanex... And finally Mars..." Beanbag scribbled their names on the paper. "According to the 'Rules of the Dream Games', you are entitled to a room in the Slumber Castle, so I'm giving you four guys a room."
"Errr... I think there's something wrong with that." Mars intervened. "I'm not exactly a guy..."
"...Oh! My apologies! Make that three guys and a gal! Now, you better be ready for tomorrow, for that's when the Dream Games begin! There are many different types of competitions in this game, and some of them are fights. When it comes to fighting, we do not encourage death. That's a big no no around here."
"Yeah yeah... I gotcha. We're not going to kill people."
"So what's your team name?"
"Ermmm..." Nebule sweat dropped. "I don't know..."
"How about The Chosen Ones?" Chalk suggested, making the group look over at him. "What? That gramps guy keeps telling us that!"
"All right! I shall list you four down as 'The Chosen Ones'..." Beanbag scribbled in. "And...presto! It's done!"
"Well that's a relief," Nebule said.
"Anyway... Here are your keys!" Beanbag handed the keys to Nebule. "You'll find your room up on the third floor. You have the rest of the day to relax, so be ready for tomorrow! If you don't feel like relaxing, you can always go to the sparring room up on the second floor if you wish."
"All right, thanks for that!" Nebule smiled, he and the others turning away. However, they had come across four other figures approaching them. They were dressed in yellow, red, blue, and green. Each of them had a symbol of a certain object on both their helmets and chests.
"Wow, what a bunch of freaks!" Chalk said out loud.
"Hey! Carrex takes offense to that!" the small, yellow one yelled.
"Easy there, mate. Don't let 'em get to ya so easily." the green one suggested, facing the heroes. "So... You're the guys me mate, the Shadow King, was mentioning, yeah?"
"Heh heh! They look like they're askin' for me to scorch 'em!" the red, tall one snickered.
"But you must admit that they do look cute, oui?" the blue one asked.
"Who're you guys supposed to be?" Mars asked.
"Carrex here is Carrex!" Carrex introduced, moving his arms to his left while standing on his tippy toes.
"Heh heh! I'm Trifles!" Trifles announced, spinning and making a pose at the back of the group.
The blue one had formed her hands in the shape of a triangle while raising her left leg sideways. "My name is Seurs!"
Finally, the green one kneeled down and spread his arms out. "The name's Pikay! And together, we are..."
"The Soot Squad!"
"Soot Squad? That's the best name you could come up with?" Zanex scoffed. "Whatever. I'm not dealing with a bunch of flamboyant freaks."
"Flamboyant?!" Pikay gawked. "I believe the correct term is 'stylish'! In fact, we are the most stylish of the Shadow King's minions!"
"Oui! It's very fun!" Seurs agreed, flicking her blonde ponytail back.
"And evil!" Trifles grinned.
Pikay had decided to approach Beanbag with his companions, who began to introduce themselves to him. Meanwhile, the heroes had decided to walk away and went up to the third floor.
"OK... It says here our room is Room 323." Nebule said, facing the door in front of them. "All right, let's check it out!"
Opening the door, they were surprised to know that the room was very nice. It had four queen-sized beds, a clean, red carpet, a picture frame on the wall, and even a balcony. There was even a table to sit at as well. Immediately, Chalk had jumped on one of the beds.
"I call this one!" Chalk declared.
"Yeah, yeah, you take that one. Not like it matters anyway." Nebule shrugged, sitting on one of the beds. "Geez... I never thought we'd be competing to get a Land Tablet this time. I mean, that Soot Squad or whatever they are must be going after it too. Probably so they can take over this land..."
"Most likely," Mars agreed. "If we get to fight those freaks, then I'll be more than happy to blast them. They didn't look so tough!"
"They sure didn't, that's for sure. Maybe they'll be easy for us to fight!"
"Anyway, we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. And, since it's pretty dark out, why don't we rest for now." Mars suggested, pressing a button on her wrist pad to let her Power Suit materialize away. This had revealed her red, full-body jumpsuit underneath, along with her brown hair that was in a bun. Nebule and Chalk had looked at her in surprise, while Zanex didn't seem to care. "What? You've never seen a human before?"
"A human? I don't think so..." Nebule trailed.
"Weird name, but who cares?" Chalk shrugged, getting to sleep and snoring loudly.
Nebule had looked at one of the drawers, and lucky for him, a Star Piece was in there. There was also some Magic Powder revealed in another drawer, so this was even better for him.
Seeing nothing else to do, everyone else had decided to go to sleep. Zanex, however, was the only exception. He had decided to step outside and look out at the distance of this place. He drew his katana and looked at the blade.
For some reason, he couldn't get the mentioning of unlocking Yami's true potential out of his head...
"If that old man was right... Then there's much more to this thing than I thought." Zanex thought. "But the only question is... How can I successfully do it?"
Annoyed, the brown hedgehog decided to get some rest for tomorrow. After all, worrying about it now was probably going to waste his time.
Thankfully, the four had gotten a decent amount of sleep, but the sounds of arguing had caused them to wake up. Zanex, especially, was annoyed by the noise. Regardless of that, they got up, with Mars pressing a button on a wrist pad on what is called her X Suit, and her Power Suit had materialized back on her. Needless to say, Nebule was surprised.
"Whoa... How can you do that?" Nebule gaped.
"Because my area has awesome technology," Mars answered, opening the door. When the others had stepped out, they noticed to their right, the arguing had been coming from four familiar people.
"Toadburt, you're not going to be telling us what to do in this competition," Bonnie informed. "Goombi suggested that we work better, and for one, I agree."
"But I'm the leader!" Toadburt whined. "Ya gotta listen to me!"
"Why should we?"
"Because… I'm too handsome!"
"More like you're too egotistical…" Koopo muttered.
"Hey, I heard that!"
"Great... We have a room next to them..." Nebule sighed.
"Will you people cut it out?" Seurs yelled from a room to the heroes' left. "I prefer my sleep to be peaceful!"
"And those freaks have a room next to us as well!" Chalk added.
"Well... This is nice." Nebule sighed. "On one side, we have Toadburt, and we have that Soot Squad on the other... Fate just doesn't seem to be on our side at the moment."
"Attention competitors!" Beanbag's voice echoed through the speakers. "We will be beginning the Dream Games in a half an hour! In the meantime, come on down to the first floor and see who you'll be going up against in the first round!"
Immediately, people from other rooms had burst out of their doors and raced down to the first floor. Nebule and the others decided to follow down to the big room on the first floor to find a big match up list on the wall.
"For those of you who had just showed up, take a look at your team number on the wall, and you will find out which team you'll be going up against," Beanbag explained. "As for what you'll be doing... You'll find out as soon as you go up against each other!"
The heroes waited until the way was clear for them to approach the big match up, and they saw that their team name was on the very first bracket of round one. They saw the name "The Flare Bros." beside them.
"The Flare Bros.?" Nebule gawked.
"Who are 'The Chosen Ones'?" a Fire Bro. with a flaming cap and shell asked, standing by three other similar ones. Chalk was about to reply, but Nebule covered his mouth before so. "Well, whoever they are, they must really think they're destined to win this!"
Ignoring them, the group had taken a look at more of the match up. They had noticed the Four Heroes were not too far from their bracket, but the Soot Squad was all the way at the end. Needless to say, they probably weren't going to have to run into those clowns. Hopefully...
"I hope everyone knows when they will be up!" Beanbag announced. "As of now, those who will be coming up first better be ready!"
"So we're going to go up there first?" Mars asked, smirking under her helmet while inspecting her Arm Cannon. "Nice. It'll be a good opportunity to show off my moves!"
"Whatever," Zanex said, not appearing to care. "We'll just get this stupid round over with already."
Eventually the waiting period had finally come to an end after many of the contestants got a look at the match up. The four, knowing that they were about to go up, got onto the "battle ring", which had a symbol of a large, red pillow. The Flare Bros. had gotten up onto the ring as well, appearing dumbfounded by their opponents. The rest of the contestants, meanwhile, had decided to watch, along with many others not competing.
"Wait… This is the team we're going up against?" the Fire Bro. leader gawked. "You gotta be kidding me! These guys don't look like they've got anything to win this!"
"Well… You guys all look the same!" Chalk shouted back, only making it silent with the exception of crickets chirping. "Errr… You guys stink!"
Beanbag had come up to the stage with a wireless microphone in his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen… I hereby welcome you all to the very first round of the Dream Games!"
The audience began to let out a round of applause, while the four heroes looked over at the Flare Bros., who looked like they were ready to crush this competition.
"These contestants here are the very first ones to find out what type of competition they'll be playing to win! Now… If I could get my lucky bag…" Beanbag took out his lucky bag and began to search through it until he got a folded up piece of paper out. "Hmmmm? Well, it looks like these two will be showing off their moves for today! We like to call this type of game the 'Fluffy Show'!"
"So we get to beat them up?" Chalk asked.
"No… You just have to show off what moves you're capable of. Anyway, there are three judges over by the table, and they'll give you guys a score. Whoever has the highest score in the end will win the first round of this game. You need to win at least twice in order to be victorious. As for the judges… They're over there."
The group looked over by a wooden table, where there was a Lakitu, a Hooski, and to the heroes' surprise, Yakken.
"Yakken?" Nebule gawked. "What's he doing here?"
Seeing that they noticed him, Yakken put a finger over his mouth to indicate to stay quiet. Nebule had given a nod in response.
"So he's the guy you mentioned when explaining that whole story, right?" Mars asked.
"Yeah, that's him," Nebule nodded. "Though, I don't get what he's doing here…"
"Hey, if he's on our side, then maybe he'll make it easy on us!" Chalk smiled. "Well… I hope."
"So… You guys ready?" Beanbag asked, noticing the Flare Bros. getting in a ready stance. "Oh, and for the other competitors out there, you won't have the same exact one as these folks, considering I pull out the name of the game at random. …That is, unless I pick a similar one to them."
Obviously a couple of groans could be heard from the audience.
"So, are the Flare Bros. and The Chosen Ones ready to show off their moves?" Beanbag asked.
Both sides had given nods.
"And are the judges ready to…well, judge?"
The judges all nodded.
"Good! Then… Let the Fluffy Show begin!"
Once the gong was struck, the Flare Bros. started to show off by creating fireballs and throwing them up in the air. They exploded, causing fire to rain down from the sky. While it wasn't near the audience, the four were near it, forcing them to dodge the fire.
"Hey, that was neat," the Lakitu judge remarked, holding up a sign that had the number eight on it.
"That was quite the hoo!" the Hooski agreed, holding up a number seven.
"Not bad, if I say so myself," Yakken nodded, holding up a number eight.
"Heh heh! We've got this in the bag!" the Flare Bro. leader grinned. "Try to beat that, Chosen Ones!"
"Yeah!" Chalk declared, turning to the group. "So… What do we do?"
"Well, we gotta do something that looks a lot cooler…" Nebule replied. "Though, I don't have a clue what we can do…"
"I've got it!" Chalk declared, whipping his paintbrush out and drawing a red X on the ground. When he stepped back, the paint turned to fire, which only disappeared in seconds. "Ha! How'd you like that?!"
"…Needs a bit of work," the Lakitu said, holding a sign with a four.
"It wasn't as hooing as the other," the Hooski nodded, holding a three.
"It has potential, but you should improve it," Yakken added, holding a five.
"What? Come on!" Chalk frowned. "So… We already lost?"
"Believe it or not, you didn't," Beanbag stepped in. "That was just the first part of this little competition. The Flare Bros. have won this round of the Fluffy Show. You still have a chance to redeem yourself! But be warned… Lose again, and the Flare Bros. will ultimately win!"
"OK… Then we really gotta show what we can do." Nebule sighed.
"All right… Begin round two!" Beanbag declared, watching one of the Flare Bros. whip out another fireball. To the shock of many, he managed to eat the fireball. Followed after was him breathing out fire.
"Hmmmm… Not as impressive as the raining fire, but still not too bad." The Lakitu decided, holding up a six.
"Yeah, he's got a point," the Hooski agreed, holding a six.
"I've seen better," Yakken remarked, holding up a four.
"What? Way to go…" the Flare Bro. leader scowled, giving the one performing the move a glare.
"So… Let's see what The Chosen Ones can do!" Beanbag smiled. "Perhaps they can redeem themselves?"
"Fine, but I'm only doing this to get this out of the way," Zanex decided, stepping up with his weapon ready. He got in a good position and swiftly drew Yami, creating many blue beams that appeared tangled up in some sort of web in the middle of the ring. Everyone gazed at it in awe until it shattered with an explosion once Chalk shot a paint ball at it.
"That looked pretty cool," the Lakitu remarked, holding a nine.
"Hoo boy! That was a hoo!" the Hooski smiled, giving an eight.
"Yeah, it was definitely something, especially when it exploded," Yakken said, giving them a nine.
"Well, it looks like The Chosen Ones win the second round," Beanbag declared, while the Flare Bros. frowned. "This means that we have one more round! Whoever wins this one gets to go to the second round of the Dream Games!"
"All right, boys! We gotta take it to high gear!" the Flare Bro. leader declared. "Time to show these folks our inferno!"
The four agreed, and they all formed a tower. They closed their eyes and clenched their fists until there was a bright flash. Everyone had noticed that the Flare Bros. were all set on fire. But they weren't done there. They raised their arms and let out a scream that suddenly made fireballs shoot all over the place. The fire's radius around them had also gotten bigger, making the other team stand back.
When the fire had eventually gotten big enough, it had created a figure of one of the Flare Bros., but with yellow eyes instead. The judges looked at it in awe, and many of them had held up tens, except for Yakken, who gave a nine.
"Ooh… Now that's a tough score to beat." Beanbag remarked. "If The Chosen Ones want to win this, then they gotta get all tens from the judges…"
"No problem," Mars said confidently. "We can do this."
"Really?" Nebule gawked. "Well… Maybe I can help pull off something with my boots or gauntlets."
"Show it off. Maybe I can help make it interesting."
"All right," the blonde boy stepped in the center, striking the ground with his fists to create a large gust of wind. He added some electricity in his boots to make the whirlwind electrifying as well.
"How shocking," Beanbag remarked.
Mars aimed her Arm Cannon at the whirlwind and fired at least two missiles. This had created some explosions within the whirlwind. But they weren't done just yet. Chalk got his paintbrush ready and added many different sorts of paint, while Zanex summoned an orb with his katana that sliced through the air. This had made the whirlwind become stronger in the process, and it was even a mix of fire, ice, electricity, poison, etc. The icing to the cake, however, was when Mars fired one last missile that caught in the tornado and created a large explosion in the ring that managed to knock the Flare Bros. out.
The audience stared at awe, surprised by this whole thing. Even the judges were left surprised. In fact, they were so surprised, they were impressed by it, awarding the four with three tens.
"I don't believe it, folks! The Chosen Ones were awarded perfect tens from all three judges!" Beanbag cheered. "The Chosen Ones have won! This mean they will be moving up to Round Two of the Dream Games! Come on, people, let's have it for them!"
The audience let out cheers, while the four were left surprised by this much praise given to them. Meanwhile, the Flare Bros. got back on the ring, looking annoyed by their defeat.
"Those dang Chosen Ones…" the Flare Bro. leader grumbled. "We were so close…"
"For now, we'll have a little intermission so the next two groups can prepare themselves! For The Chosen Ones, they have the rest of today to relax, and then they'll be ready to challenge those in Round Two!"
Once all the cheering had settled down, the two groups had left the ring, while Beanbag decided to escort the four into his own office nearby. It was quite dreamy, having a lavender, fluffy couch to sit on, and purple walls with stars plastered on it. Beanbag's desk was in the shape of a pillow, and his seat was also red and comfy, have a pillow for a seat.
"I must say, I am very impressed with your skills out there," Beanbag remarked. "You're quite a team."
"You're dang right we are!" Chalk smirked, trying to be all cool.
"I'm guessing that you really want the prizes that I hold, considering how you managed to throw in that one ability in the end."
"Definitely," Nebule nodded. "They're very important for the world. You see, they're-"
"Hey hey, I didn't ask for you to explain to me what's going on! It's not going to convince me to give them up so soon! …Anyway, I want to give you guys these."
Beanbag took out purple bracelets and handed them to the four.
"What're these supposed to be?" Mars asked, putting hers on.
"Those are Dreamy Wristbands," Beanbag explained. "It's proof that you have won Round One and will proceed to Round Two tomorrow. It also will let you back in the Slumber Castle if you ever wish to leave."
"Fair enough," Nebule nodded. "Well, we better get going then…"
"Yes… And good luck tomorrow!"
With that, the four had left the office, relieved to be finished with that match.
"Man… I can't believe we managed to pull that off…" Nebule sighed.
"I'm not too surprised," Zanex shrugged. "Those Flare Bros. were a little too full of themselves anyway."
"Since we won, why don't we check outside?" Mars suggested. "I hadn't gotten the chance to see what else there is out here."
Agreeing, the group decided to make their way to the castle's exit. Along the way, they had come across a yellow, female block being with a large, block head and a smaller, block body. She had black arms with white gloves and also sported brown shoes and short, brown hair. She also had a camera, too, and was taking pictures of the castle. However, seeing the four, she took the opportunity to take pictures of them, much to Zanex's dismay.
"Will you stop that?!" Zanex growled, revealing one of his fangs as he grit his teeth.
"Sorry, I just couldn't resist getting a picture of the first winners of Round One," the Brock said, taking one last picture. "My name's Brittney. I've been a photographer for Slumber Castle for five years!"
"Nebig, this girl looks weird," Chalk whispered.
"Well, we all look pretty different…" Nebule trailed.
"So, where are you four headed off to?" Brittney asked.
"We're checking outside," Mars answered.
"Oh… Well, all right. I guess you don't feel like talking then, right?"
"Correct," Zanex answered, walking ahead to the door.
"OK… I guess… Wait, hold on a moment. Maybe I should warn you about something important…"
Zanex came to a halt and turned to Brittney, despite looking annoyed.
"I don't mean to ruin your time here in Slumber Castle, but I feel like there's something up with this place…" Brittney trailed. "When the Dreamy Games first opened up, I had noticed many contestants competing. Some, however… I never got to see again. In fact, I don't know if I had ever seen those who had lost the competition ever again."
"What? Really?" Nebule gawked.
"Yeah. I don't know if they had left before I got to see them again, or something really bad happened to them. I tried telling contestants from the past about this, but none of them believed me. Not even Beanbag is convinced by my words!"
"It doesn't sound like it's anything big," Chalk shrugged off. "Let's go check out those rides!"
"Wait, hold on, Chalk…" Nebule paused, grabbed a hold of him. "Maybe she's right… I mean, we had run into a big problem when we first came here."
"So you do believe me then?" Brittney gaped. "Whew! Good! Maybe you guys might be able to give me a hand, then! I'll let you know if I come across anything crazy later."
They nodded, and soon Brittney was back to work, while the heroes had stepped outside into the carnival.
"I guess we better be prepared if anything bad happens around here…" Nebule trailed, his yellow eyes shifting around the area.
"I wanna know why that Yakken guy was a judge there, too!" Chalk added.
"At this point, I think what's going on in Slumber Castle in more important. But if we find him, we'll ask him."
Though they were out in Slumber Park, Mars, on the other hand, was not too pleased. There were barely any rides here, and the only ride that was around didn't seem to interest her either. Regardless, she decided to explore the place, with the others following behind her.
"What kind of place is this? There's hardly much aroun-" Mars found herself coming to a halt when she noticed something behind the cloud ride. There was swirling portal in the shape of a cloud, and it had all sorts of colors in it. "What the heck is this?"
"Hey… We didn't see that before." Nebule realized, getting a closer look at it. "I wonder what it is?"
"Let's check it out!" Chalk suggested, leaping into the portal.
"Wait, Chalk!" Nebule tried grabbing his foot, but he was already too late. Groaning, he leaped into the portal to follow the gray puffball. Following behind was both Zanex and Mars.
When Chalk had landed on the floor, he hadn't gotten a chance to see what was around him when Nebule had fallen on him. Thankfully, Zanex and Mars were able to land on their feet and prevent themselves from falling over like the other two. Once both Nebule and Chalk got up, though, they were astonished by what they saw before them.
It was the Slumber Park, but it actually looked more like a park. There were even some people on the rides, enjoying themselves. Though, most of them appeared rather pale. On top of that, the sky was pretty distorted, as if the art style had changed drastically.
"OK, this is MUCH better," Mars commented.
Looking behind them, they had noticed Slumber Castle was still there. However, the gate leading in there appeared to be locked. But regardless of that, the four had decided to check around the park, since there wasn't anything else they could do. To their delight, there was a Star Piece hidden in one of the bushes, and there was even a target for Nebule to shoot with an arrow, which revealed some Magic Powder.
After searching enough, they all met back in the same position they stood. It was that that moment where they spotted Yakken over by the park's exit with two Shadoos.
"Yakken? He's here too?" Nebule gawked.
They noticed Yakken pointing his scepter at the ground and making a chest appear.
"This should work nicely," Yakken said with a grin. One of the Shadoos, however, had spotted the four and was now tugging on Yakken's cloak. He had looked up at the heroes in surprise. Regardless of that, he ordered the Shadoos to attack, while he had flown away.
"Hey, where'd he go?" Chalk gawked.
Immediately the two Shadoos lunged at the group, but they barely had time to make a move when two yellow shots had fired from Mars's Arm Cannon and destroyed them with a single hit.
"Well… I guess that takes care of them." Nebule shrugged, approaching the chest. "But what was Yakken doing here with this chest? Hmmmm…"
Opening the chest, Nebule had found a Mushroom inside, to his surprise.
"Wait… A Mushroom? This isn't dangerous. Was Yakken just helping us or something?"
"Well, it'll help us, so just take it," Mars shrugged. "Finders keepers, y'know?"
Shrugging, Nebule put the item away, but he couldn't help but look back at the castle. Why it was locked, he had no clue. It didn't look like it was easy to break through, though, so blowing through probably wouldn't do much.
"So what do we do here?" Chalk asked. "Should we explore outside?"
"We can't," Zanex said, pointing to the exit ahead. There didn't appear to be anything through that gate. "There's nothing ahead. This is just entirely one big area."
"Oh… Well, I guess we should leave this place then." Nebule decided, approaching the portal. "I mean, there's nothing too interesting around here, and it doesn't look like those people around here are paying attention to us. Plus, getting into that castle is impossible. But I wonder why…"
"Beats me. Let's just leave." Mars decided, running over to the portal. "I have to admit, this world does seem to be a bit dreamy, don't you think?"
"Like a dream world?" Chalk wondered.
"Yeah, probably," the bounty hunter answered, leaving the dream world. Everyone else quickly jumped into the portal to follow her.
The group had jumped out from the portal, but unlike before, Nebule had a much better landing, while Chalk landed face-first. When they finally pulled themselves together, the portal behind them had closed.
"Well, looks like we're not going back in there…" Nebule trailed. "But I've got to wonder… Who were all those people in those rides? And they didn't seem like they were paying attention to us."
"Maybe because we were insignificant to them," Zanex said.
"Really? I don't think so…"
"It doesn't matter. We wanted to check around this land, so that's what we're going to do."
"I guess so. Maybe we'll find something that can help us." Nebule decided, making his way out of the park with the others. Now they were back in the open, and that meant that they were not in safe ground, especially when a couple of Viruses popped out of the ground and charged at them.
But, thankfully, they hadn't gotten a single chance to make their move when Mars blasted them all. She grinned under her helmet while steam had emitted from her weapon before lowering it.
"All right… Now we need to figure our where to-"
"I'm picking up some readings on some of those dark monsters over there," Mars noted, pointing over by two mountains in the distance. "Yup… These are definitely those evil monsters."
"Wait, how do you know?" Nebule asked.
"I've installed something in my visor that lets me find the location of those dark monsters. It definitely makes getting the job done A LOT easier!"
"Oh… That's neat! Good thing you're with us, then!" the blonde boy smiled. "We should probably go there anyway. I mean, with monsters there, something serious must be going on."
Everyone had their weapons ready as they continued on in the direction Mars was going. A Beanie had tried to stop them, but Mars easily shot it without having to stop moving. In fact, she pretty much decimated any enemy in their way without having to stop.
"Hey! I wanna hit something!" Chalk pouted.
"Sorry, but I'm up in front," Mars replied. "Plus, I'm a professional. I know how to handle these things better."
"Well I'm… Uhhhh…" the puffball tapped his chin (if he even had one), thinking for a moment. "Well I've got a magic paintbrush! That's so much cooler than a…gun on your…arm… Oh, come on! That sounds a lot cooler!"
After three minutes had passed, they had finally gotten closer to the pathway in between the two mountains. However, it didn't mean that the place could be accessed easily, oh no. A Shadoo Brute and two Shadoo Blades were guarding the entryway, but when they spotted the four, they quickly got in their fighting stances.
"Hey, what're these guys doing here?!" the first Shadoo Blade asked.
"And they've got a new one on their side, too!" the second noticed, looking at Mars. "Well… Perhaps this should be interesting."
"Yeah," the Shadoo Brute nodded, extending its arms. "However, we can't let these fools breach through here!"
Mars quickly dodged the Shadoo Brute's arm and prepared to fire. One of the Shadoo Blades acted swiftly and curled up in a ball and charged into Mars, knocking her back. She quickly got up, not appearing too hurt by the attack, and she fired at the enemy that hit her. It was a lot faster than her shot, leading Mars's attack to miss.
"Man, these guys are quick!" Mars grumbled.
The other had come her way, but Nebule had his sword ready and swung it, letting sparks emit from both blades. The blonde boy seemed to push the Shadoo Blade back, but it was Chalk's purple paint that stopped it in its tracks and let it fall into slumber. Then he finished it with green paint.
"Good work, Chalk!" Nebule smiled, taking his bow out when the remaining Shadoo Blade had gotten out of its ball form. He fired the light arrow, causing some immense damage to the shadow being. Mars quickly blasted it, finishing it off.
"Ah, now THAT was satisfying!" Mars grinned.
Now all that was left was the Shadoo Brute, and it had managed to grab a hold of Mars and fling her at Nebule and Chalk, knocking them back. Zanex, on the other hand, acted swiftly and smacked the Shadoo Brute with his scabbard, and then he dealt some serious damage when he actually drew his blade.
However, he didn't get a chance to use his Spin Dash, as the Shadoo Brute managed to grab a hold of him. He remained calm and summoned one of his Materialized Swords to attack, but that didn't make the Shadoo Brute release him.
Eventually Mars had gotten up and fired a missile at the Shadoo Brute. This not only managed to release Zanex, but it also destroyed the enemy as well.
Of course, Zanex wasn't too pleased with Mars's actions.
"You fool! I had that monster where I wanted it!" Zanex yelled, giving Mars a glare.
"Hey, I was trying to save you, settle down!" Mars replied, moving her hand in a motion to try to calm him down. Obviously, that wasn't working.
"Well, you were wrong there. And I don't require you saving me. Same goes for you two as well." the hedgehog mentioned, his eyes darting to Nebule and Chalk. "You focus on helping yourselves or each other."
"Look, Zanex, we're all in this together," Nebule said, approaching the hedgehog. "If there's something troubling you, then maybe you should tell us. We're on the same team, after all."
Zanex turned away from Nebule and started to approach the pathway ahead, leaving the other three to watch.
"What's up with him?" Mars asked.
"He got up on the wrong side of the bed," Chalk answered. "Then again, he's always been a bit of a crabby pillow!"
"Yeah, Chalk's right," Nebule nodded, until he stopped at what Chalk said. "Wait… What did you say?"
"He got up in the wrong side of the bed?"
"No, the other one."
"He's always been a crabby pillow?"
"What the heck is a crabby pillow?"
"Uhhhh… I don't know…" Chalk shrugged. "Can we go?"
Nebule decided to shrug and head toward the path Zanex took, with Chalk following behind. Mars had followed last, but she had started to ponder over the brown hedgehog. For some reason, he looked a bit familiar to him.
"Perhaps that was the one I had first noticed when I landed in this world?" Mars thought, noticing her surroundings change upon going in between the two mountains.
What she and the others found past it, however, was quite a surprise.
I actually thought of putting an entire dream overworld here, but I thought it would probably make it pointless to have a real overworld here instead.
To be honest, I'm actually happy to have Mars here, because I haven't really written anything related to Metroid. So, this should be something pretty different for me. With this whole area, though, I thought about doing one chapter for each day, but I don't want to cram in too much stuff for this chapter. However, there will be at least one match each chapter, so look forward to that!