Thunder was echoing throughout the Dark Lands, lightning flashing in the sky hitting King Koopa's castle's dark gray bricks and green roofs. In a tower, a room filled with pink furniture and carpets was hosting Princess Peach Toadstool, ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. Sitting on the bed, she was waiting for her hero, knowing he was near.

Mario, a 5'1'' human with blue eyes, a black mustache under his round nose, wearing a red shirt under a blue overall, a red cap covering his brown hair, and brown shoes covering his feet, was a hero of the Mushroom Kingdom along with his brother Luigi, a 5'9'' human with the same attire as his older brother except the green replacing the red clothes and the cap.

They were both inside on their way to free the Princess from her kidnapper, Bowser Koopa an 8'7'' tall burly green-shelled Koopa with bushy eyebrows and mane that are bright fiery red-orange and he has bright ember red eyes. He has two small horns on the sides of his head, and many spikes on his shell with brown-orange spike rings He wears several spiked collars around his neck and arms.

The two brothers already defeated 5 of the Koopalings, a group of siblings composed of 6 males, respectively Lemmy, Larry, Iggy, Morton, Roy, and Ludwig, and a sole female Wendy. The two that were still capable of fighting the plumber duo were Ludwig and Iggy alongside King Bowser's only son and heir, Bowser Koopa Junior. The three of them were guarding the room where Bowser was waiting for the two plumbers.

"Remember, stick to the plan," said Jr. to the two Koopalings behind him who nods in confirmation.

As minutes passed, the sound of two pairs of shoes hitting the floor coming their way was getting closer and closer. The Koopalings, hearing the sound, brandish their respective magic wands while Jr. was charging a fireball from his mouth.

Upon seeing the Mario brothers, the battle begins. The Koopalings were casting spells, and Jr. was firing fireballs. Luigi being under the Ice Flower's power was quenching the fireballs coming in his way. Mario was dodging the spells directed at him. Suddenly, out of the blue, Jr. stops his offense on Luigi and whistle three times much to his adversary's confusion.

Hearing the signal, Ludwig smirked waiting for Iggy to distract Mario enough to cast a spell at Luigi's back. He begins charging the spell, the blue crystal on his wand generating purple lightning. And once charged, he waves his silver wand towards the green plumber a ball tainted purple with lighting around it making its way at its victim.

"LUIGI LOOK OUT" shouts Mario at his brother who looked behind him.

Taken aback by the attack coming his way, Luigi recovers from his shock and dodges to the right while the spell kept its trajectory and made its way toward Bowser Jr. who is too stunned to move out of the way in time. The purple energy ball engulfed the young Prince as he screams in fear much to the onlookers in the room. The castle was shaking due to the sheer power of the spell, the occupants of the room fell to the floor and covered their eyes as the purple light became brighter each second, until it suddenly collapsed on itself like a dying star.

Once the shaking died down, the two Koopalings and the Mario brothers got up opening their eyes. Nothing seemed to have changed in the room, except for a little detail, Bowser Koopa Junior was missing.

"Oh, King Dad is going to kill us…" said Iggy worried.

[? POV]

In the open field of the countryside, I was riding my motorbike on the bumpy dirt road after a tiring day at work, dealing with various customers that drained most of my energy all day long. I was enjoying the fresh air swelling the visor of my black helmet.

I always liked living on the outskirts of the city, not in the suburbs, the far outskirts where there are open fields and dense forests, you know the ideal places to take a walk and clear the mind from the little troubles here and there.

I smiled in anticipation at the idea of laying in bed watching a series or a movie, I never know how to choose between the two but I'm always satisfied with what I end up watching. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon as the sky slowly turns into a magnificent pink and dark blue mix the first stars starting to appear in the heavens.

While keeping my eyes on the road, I hear, to my surprise, what seems to be thunder. I don't get it, the sky was clear except for the occasional little clouds, but they were not big enough to produce any thunder. So I stopped the bike and looked up to the sky to see if I could spot an incoming storm.

But to add to my confusion, the sky was still clear, and no sign of big clouds floating around as the thunder sound was still going and got even louder. And suddenly, out of nowhere, a purple light shines like the sun on a clear day forcing me to cover my eyes with my right hand.

"What the hell?!" I yelled in shock as I spread my fingers slightly to see what was going on.

Is… Is something falling out of that light?! I can't see it due to the brightness of that strange light, but, it looks like it's green, yellow, and a bit white. I can distinguish what seems like four limbs and a head with a tip of red on top of it.

As the light suddenly dies, I can better see where that thing was falling and I quickly throttled to its position. As I was quickly gaining on it, I see it retract its limbs inside a… is that a shell with spikes on it?

Once near its position, it crashed into a field causing dirt, dust, and wheat to fly as I stopped my bike to the side of the road. I quickly take off my helmet and put it on the right end of the handlebar. Rushing to where I thought it landed, a crater due to the impact was formed as the dust was starting to dissipate I could see a green shell, lined with a white encasing with multiple short spikes circled with orange rings, while the belly is plated with four ribs in the center of it. A white bandana with a mouth with nine sharp teeth circled by magenta lips drawn in the middle was attached to it.

'That's one hell custom turtle shell' I thought before it started shaking.

Popping out of it were two arms with small hands with opposable thumbs and two legs with little feet and a tail, and a head, all yellow tanned except its head that was light-green on the top with fiery-orange brows and top ponytail, small horns on each side of its head circled with orange rings, a puffy beige snout, with a large mouth with a fang on its top-left side. Its eyes are closed, probably because the fall knocked it out.

Seeing a stick near me I pick it up to poke the turtle-looking creature. I slowly crept towards it and shakily afraid it might attack me, and gathering enough courage, I poked it. No response, I poked it again, but on its head this time.

"*groan* Pa… Papa…" it says quietly in a tired voice.

Damn, it could speak, it sounded like the voice of a young boy, no older than ten. It is not a normal turtle, not even an animal. Maybe it could just imitate human voices like certain bird species.

Thinking of what to do next, I came up with three options:

The first option, I leave it here in the unknown, miles away from the nearest city. But that is too cruel so it's not going to happen.

For the second one, I bring it to a veterinary. But the city is too far away and I don't know if I can reach it before it closes with that creature with me and bystanders would probably make a scene upon seeing it. So out of question.

And the final option, I bring it to my home and tend it there. Being closer to my house as it is only 15 minutes away, I go with that option.

I gently scoop it up in my arms, and as I do so it groans a little. I also remark that its head is a little bit hot. 'Maybe it has a fever' I thought worriedly 'Poor little guy.'

Once at my bike, I put my helmet back on and sit on my bike placing the turtle-like creature between my arms the best I could so it won't fall off while I ride. The drive to my house was quite peaceful, except for the occasionally cute coos from the little turtle creature. My house is surrounded by a forest, so it takes normally five minutes to reach it by bike, but since the road to my house is bumpier due to tree roots and big branches and I have to carry a big turtle between my arms, it took me roughly eight minutes to park in my garage.

As I entered my house, I lay the turtle on my couch its head resting on an armrest. I then stroll to the freezer, opened it to take an ice bag, closed it, and take a large paper towel from the dispenser next to the toaster to wrap the ice bag. Once done, I placed it on top of the turtle's head so it can cool down the fever. I hope.

Just in case I took an extra blanket from the closet to cover the rest of its little body. I took the opportunity to measure it, just to be sure I don't screw up my research on its species. The little guy is 4'4''. Once done with it, I cooked some food, ate, went for a quick shower, cleaned my teeth, and went to bed, the extra effort to tend the turtle-like creature had the best of my tiredness and I fell asleep thinking about what surprises will await me tomorrow.

Who knows…