Mushroom City, Mushroom Kingdom, July 6th, 2018, 2:35 PM...
"Mario, what the hell?! What's the matter with you?! Why are you doing this?! What did I do to you?!"
Those were the exact words Sonic screamed at the red Italian plumber as Mario began attacking him out of jealous spite. Sonic was able to dodge most of Mario's jabs and kicks thanks to his superior speed and agility.
In the background, Luigi stood scared and shaking like a spinning top coming to a stop. He was chewing his nails through his gloves, surprisingly.
The green plumber couldn't stop his brother's attacks against the blue hedgehog. Mario's mind was set on teaching Sonic a lesson he didn't even deserve.
Since the fight took place in the middle of the street, Toads and other creatures looked at Sonic and Mario in fear and awe.
Sonic was panicking at Mario's intense and angry movement as he dodged them with unease. Each punch that Mario threw was either deflected or dodged by Sonic.
Eventually, Sonic wasn't careful and Mario managed to land a good punch in Sonic's left cheek. That punch made Sonic stumble backwards but not to the point of falling. Every bystander collectively gasped and so did Luigi.
Sonic grunted and managed to gain his balance from stumbling. He clutched his left cheek with his right hand.
Sonic's face tightened as the pain from the punch made the blue hedgehog wince.
When the pain eased up, Sonic let go of his cheek and looked at the palm of his hand. It was the same white gloved hand he's seen in all of his life. But the spot where the palm touched Sonic's cheek had been reddened by a small drip of blood.
Sonic raised an eyebrow before he touched his cheek again. He felt a wet spot that reddened his gloved hand some more. That wet spot came from the leftmost edge of his lip. It was cut open with tiny drops of blood seeping out.
As he observed his glove reddened by his own blood, Sonic's eyes widened and realized that Mario's punch had cut open his lip and made it bleed.
Suddenly, Sonic's hand tightened and slowly clenched into a solid fist. The blue blur also clenched his teeth in his rapidly developing fury. Sonic's eyes darted from his hand right to Mario.
Mario was intimidated by Sonic's glare. It felt strange because he was always used to seeing Sonic smiling or smirking like an idiot. The plumber had sweat beginning to drip from his forehead.
Sonic's clenched right hand had begun to glow a faint blue before it began to be furiously enveloped what seemed to be dozens of gusts of wind. Eventually, Sonic's entire body, including his eyeballs, were surrounding and had flowing on them a powerful gust of blue colored air.
He was infuriated by the audacity of Mario being so vain and selfish that when a superior hero comes in and unintentionally steals the spotlight, he resorts to revenge.
Sonic got into a running pose and placed his hand on the ground to balance himself. Mario cracked his knuckles and got into a fighting pose. Luigi closed his eyes and covered them with his eyes out of fear.
Sonic focused his energy into his legs and in the blink of an eye, Sonic propelled himself at half the speed of sound.
He aimed his fist as he was running and when he was just an inch or two away from Mario, he unfolded his arm and punched Mario in the left cheek just like he did to Sonic.
Unlike Mario's punch, Sonic's punch sent the red plumber flying back many feet away. Only thing that stopped Mario's momentum was an SUV, which Mario crashed into and flattened the back part of it from the momentum and his own body weight.
Mario groaned loudly from the intense pain as he fell off the SUV and onto the asphalt.
The Italian plumber grabbed the left side of his face, which was completely covered in blood from Sonic's much more powerful punch. Mario clenched his teeth and slowly got up, as the impact of him with the SUV left his back sore.
Mario let go of his bloody face and tightened both fists and the red plumber and blue hedgehog glared at each other intensely.
Eventually, the two individuals began charging at each other at high speed. They both aimed their right fists at each other until they stopped running and used their shoes to slide on the asphalt.
Then when the two approached each other, they unfolded their arms and prepared their fists.
Mario's fist was slightly on fire and Sonic's fist was enveloped in what seemed to be a dense and rapidly rotating sphere of compressed wind.
People were scared and some were even running away. Luigi was stress-chewing on his cap, leaving it torn and moist with saliva. People were calling the police or running away for safety.
Suddenly, Sonic and Mario jumped in the air and their momentum still moved them closer to each other. Every bystander and Luigi looked up into the sky to see the two heroes.
The red plumber began yelling and so did the blue hedgehog as they were still unfolding their fists.
At last, the two heroes clashed fists and once they came into contact, everything would change for both Sonic and Mario.
Sonic The Hedgehog: Beyond Worlds
Hero Story
Chapter 7: Schtick Measuring Contest! Part 2
Mushroom City, Mushroom Kingdom, July 1st, 2018, 8:32 AM...
It was early morning in the Mushroom Kingdom. The sun has just risen from the horizon and it's been rising ever since. Most of the citizens in the Mushroom Kingdom were still asleep since it was a Sunday so people could still sleep in. Of course, there were the early birds who woke up early even on the weekends, either just for waking up early or they were the kind of people who worked on the weekends. The early morning in the Mushroom Kingdom was always pretty peaceful and quiet.
In the streets and intersections, there were hundreds of cars either crossing or stuck in very slow traffic. Honks were heard from impatient drivers who were either late to church or to work. Police officers lounged around their squad cars since they either started work 32 minutes ago or 1 hour and 32 minutes ago.
Restaurants began opening and served the breakfast menu until 11 AM. Pharmacies were always open to serve medicinal Mushrooms and Herbs. People were already walking on the sidewalks and crosswalks in front of traffic stopped by a red light.
Everything was quiet and normal.
"Oh man. This traffic is a pain. My boss is gonna kill me. Darn, I knew I shouldn't have applied to work overtime on the weekends." Sighed an exasperated Koopa in his car as he constantly looked at the traffic ahead of him and the watch on his left wrist.
He was sweating buckets from his forehead alone. Every so often, the office worker would wipe his face with his right hand as he had the other on the steering wheel. Not even his favorite song, Toto by pop band Africa, could calm him down from arriving late to work and having his paycheck docked.
Suddenly, the Koopa heard distant screams coming from behind him. He looked back in his own seat to see what was going on. Unfortunately, the rear windshield didn't exactly provide much vision.
As the screams got closer, the Koopa looked at his left rear view mirror. What he saw made his eyes widen and his eyebrows rise.
Just before he could recognize what it was, he began screaming and panicking as he scrambled to get out of the car via the right side door. Rapidly unlocking and opening the door, the Koopa hid in his shell and began rolling away just as his car was obliterated by a huge black military APC.
As the APC rampaged through the multiple lanes of traffic, Toads and Koopas scrambled out of their cars and got out of the way of the gigantic military vehicle.
Some weren't so lucky. Most of the people in traffic were crushed like Goombas when they weren't able to get out of their cars fast enough. But the large rampaging didn't stop. It kept rolling over the lanes of traffic and even police cars who showed up to the scene.
A Hammer Bro cop who managed to jump out of the way of the rampaging truck turned on the police radio on his uniform and began yelling into it "All units, we have a 10-31, a black military APC is running rampant at the intersection at Reagan Avenue! I request backup and medical attention. Multiple citizens and officers are injured. Over and out."
As he ran through the wreckage trying to help his fellow officers and any injured citizens, ambulances began showing up to the scene as well as police cars and trucks running after the rampaging APC.
Medical workers, both Toads and Koopas, scrambled out of their trucks and began carefully dragging and helping injured people to stretchers to then set them inside the ambulances for a safe trip to the hospital.
Once enough ambulances arrived and took care of business, the Hammer Bro cop hopped inside an injured officer's surprisingly unscathed car and spoke into the radio.
"This is Officer Martillo, I request the location of the suspect vehicle."
A second or two of silence followed. Then it was broken when another officer responded through the radio "Copy that, Martillo. Suspect vehicle is currently going at, uh, 75 miles per hour through Gorbachev Street and the Savimbi Intersection. Are you able to join the pursuit?"
Martillo paused for a second and responded "Affirmative, I'm currently in a vehicle borrowed from an injured officer. I'll catch up with you guys. Over."
As soon as Martillo turned the car and set the gearbox to Drive, the radio suddenly piped up with a familiar voice.
"Hey paisanos, don't forget about us. It isn't an exciting chase without the Super Mario Bros!"
In another section of the city near the Savimbi Intersection, the Mario Bros. were riding at full speed in a brick-red van with the regular Mario Bros. Plumbing sign.
Since their personal work van was still being repaired, one of their workers decided to let the brothers borrow his van since he was on paternity leave when his wife got pregnant 8 months ago. His paternity leave happened a week ago.
The Mario Bros weren't very far from the violent APC as it was still rampaging through Gorbachev Street and hadn't made its way to the intersection.
The top speed of the van the brothers were in was approximately 99 miles per hour and the APC was going at 75 miles per hour.
The van was currently going at 70 miles per hour. If Mario stepped on the gas, he would be able to catch up to whatever criminals are driving the APC with the van's horsepower alone. No mushrooms needed.
Mario had no other choice so he slammed his shoe on the gas pedal and the van began speeding up as the engine roared louder than before.
The van quickly caught up to the APC. As Mario drove the van right next to the military vehicle, he saw how heavy duty it was. It was 8 or 9 feet tall and was probably made of a very strong metal. Even the tires can withstand ice and fire.
Mario had never seen any vehicle like it.
Mario tried to ram the APC with his van but it bounced off the giant military truck. Clearly the truck must've weighed a lot more than the van to not be affected.
"Darn, that truck sure is heavy duty. This van is nothing compared to that thing. We can't even ram it." Luigi said to Mario as he was shaken by the bounce of the van from the APC.
Mario darted his eyes away from the military truck and began looking straight ahead. He gasped as he saw a packed intersection, with people unaware of what was about to come.
"Crap, there's another intersection. If the APC gets there, it's gonna cause more mayhem! We have to stop it!" Mario said in a panicked manner.
Luigi also began panicking.
"Oh no, we can't ram the van so we can't even stop! This is not good. Really not good!" Luigi added to the overall feeling of hopelessness the brothers shared.
Even the police officers following right behind the APC and the van felt hopeless. Albeit a bit more.
People in the intersection also began to notice the incoming black APC. Panic ensued as people struggled to exit their vehicles and make a run for it. Massive concentrations of people amassed that made any escape plans almost worthless.
Suddenly, faster than the blink of an eye, the APC was launched into the air. Everyone around to see it watched the APC rising into the sky slowly, as if it was moving in slow motion. Mario and Luigi's mouths were agape as they saw the APC stop rising and begin falling back to the ground.
The military vehicle slammed onto the asphalt and began sliding as it still had active momentum. But since it was still moving, anything that was in front of it would still be crushed.
But before anyone or anything could be crushed, people were suddenly pushed and moved out of the way of the destroyed APC.
The cause seemed to be from an unknown object moving incredibly quickly grabbing or pushing people away from the line of fire. Or rather, the line of crushing.
The giant truck eventually came to a stop as it began picking up huge chunks of asphalt from the road and doing that provided enough friction to come to a halt. People were relatively unharmed but some cars were dented and some windows were broken.
Mario blew out a sigh of relief as he saw everyone was safe but realized that his van was still moving and he was in front of a huge line of cars and people.
The red plumber slammed on the brakes as the wheels squealed and began releasing dust from behind.
Toads and Koopas in front of the van noticed that it was moving rapidly towards them. They managed to run out of the way before the van, with the brothers in it, crashed into a line of cars.
The impact was enough for the front of the vehicle to crumple into itself and release the airbags from the steering wheel and the dashboard as the brothers' faces slammed into them from the crash.
The damaged engine began blowing out steam and smoke. Mario slowly opened the driver side door as he stumbled onto the ground. He held his head as he groaned in pain. So did Luigi. None of them could stand up properly.
But they regained their focus as they ran towards the crash site of the military APC.
They ran past groups of pedestrians helping one another stand up and some were going towards phone booths to call the police and paramedic services.
When the Mario Bros arrived at the site of the crash, the police cars arrived and the officers began trickling out with their fire and ice pistols.
Just as Mario and Luigi were, the officers stopped in front of the APC and began observing it.
It definitely wasn't like any vehicle in the Mushroom Kingdom or anywhere else. It almost looked like something the military of the Metro Kingdom would use for transportation. But that was also wrong.
Mario could see that the side of the truck had a big dent. He wondered what made it launch into the air then slam down to the surface.
But the truck also had an insignia. The insignia of one of his many arch-enemies. It was the red silhouette of what seemed to be a dragon or a turtle with a black background.
Nervous, Mario slowly walked towards the crashed vehicle. Suddenly, a door was busted open by some unknown entity. Then a Paratroopa, a Goomba, and a Shy Guy fell out one by one out of the destroyed APC. Mario raised an eyebrow in confusion as to the identity of the three individuals.
It was the Elite Trio, a group of three minions considered some of King Bowser's strongest minions.
The Koopa wore a black bucket on his head that had the red insignia of a dragon or turtle. The Goomba wore blue pajamas but the pajama beanie was black with the same red dragon or turtle creature. The Shy Guy had green attire with a heavy backpack filled with various tools sticking out. One of them was a black flag with yet another red insignia of the same red dragon-turtle hybrid.
Once the three got their bearings and stood up, Mario exclaimed in slight surprise "Private Goomp, Corporal Paraplonk, and Sergeant Guy! Why are you three idiots here?"
Corporal Paraplonk was alarmed by Mario and Luigi's presence and responded loudly "Well, if it isn't Mario and his green brother! Goomp, what's the green guy's name again?"
Goomb managed to stand up even without having arms and struggled to find an answer to Paraplonk's question. In the end, Goomp admitted "Sorry, man. I don't remember."
Paraplonk quietly growled in disappointment but then said "Well whatever! That doesn't matter! This time, you're going down, Mario! Elite Trio, attack!"
With that simple order, the three Elite minions began charging at the brothers, with the two doing the same. Mario's hands were clenched and seemed to be generating fire.
Once they were about to throw fistacuffs, the Elite Trio were suddenly attacked by a mysterious blue blur. It looked like a glowing blue ball each slammed into their chests and sent them flying. The Elite Trio all crashed into the sideways APC and had enough force to flip the heavy military truck upside down.
Paraplonk, Goomp, and Guy all landed on the asphalt with a thud. Mario and Luigi were both confused as to what happened to the three Elite minions. They were all groaning and writhing on the ground.
All of the sudden, a blue creature had landed in front of the Mario Bros and the injured Elite Trio. It was a blue hedgehog wearing white gloves and red shoes.
Mario wondered why Sonic The Hedgehog of all people was at the scene. The blue blur seemed to be in a good mood, as usual.
Paraplonk sat up and groaned breathlessly "Wha-What was that? Who are you?"
"Name's Sonic, my man. As from what I can see, you've caused quite the ruckus with that APC. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to go on a rampage with an APC? Second, where did you even get an APC?" Sonic quipped in a mocking tone.
Sonic's mocking tone angered Corporal Paraplonk, as he managed to stand up straight and exclaimed furiously "Who do you think you are, foreigner?! You dare defy the authority of the Elite Trio, Lord Bowser's almighty squad of minions?!"
Sonic scoffed back at Paraplonk "Pffft, don't make me laugh! "Authority"? You got as much authority as a Twitter user who obsesses over a ship of two celebrities who are definitely not gay at all!"
"Grrrr, you'll pay for that, foreigner! Take this!" Yelled the red Paratroopa. His shoes began pittering and pattering on the ground as he began to run towards Sonic. Then, Paraplonk used his wing to start gaining some air then suddenly dive in the blue hedgehog's direction.
Just as Paraplonk was about to slam into Sonic, he saw that the blue blur had gotten into a fighting pose and then used his legs to jump in the air and start spinning. Before he could figure out what he was doing, Sonic delivered a devastating spinning kick which made Paraplonk slam into a car instead.
Goomp and Guy were shocked. This foreigner was stronger than they expected. If he could take on Paraplonk, he could definitely take on the other two.
The green Shy Guy and the pajama-wearing Goomba were enraged and rushed towards Sonic, with the blue hedgehog's eyes widening in surprise.
Before things got outta control, Sonic quickly pushed and pulled bystanders and police officers into safe areas behind cars. At the last second, Sonic pushed the Mario Bros onto the ground and then ran back to his spot.
Goomp used his mouth to attach himself to Sonic's arm, biting down hard and puncturing skin; letting many drops of blood begin to bubble out.
Sonic began to panic as he started waving his arm around, trying to get Goomp to let go. Suddenly, he was whacked in the head with a staff by Sergeant Guy.
In a move of agitation, Sonic did a field goal kick with Guy, sending him flying back. Then he jumped in the air and landed on his arm, which also hurt Goomp and made him let go of Sonic's arm.
The blue blur then did a similar field goal kick with Goomp and made his crash into a car.
Paraplonk hid himself in his shell and ordered Sergeant Guy to kick him. He did so now, Paraplonk was a fast moving projectile, moving towards Sonic at alarming speed.
Sonic grew a mischievous smile. When Paraplonk was close to sweeping Sonic off his feet, the blue blur caught the red shell with the heel of his shoe. Sonic then grabbed the red shell Paraplonk was hiding in with the red Paratroopa nervously exclaiming "Hey! What do you think you're doing, you blue maggot?!"
To Paraplonk's surprise, his red shell was thrown many feet in the air by Sonic. With an excited tone of voice, Sonic yelled "Let's kick this up a notch, shall we?"
Sonic bounced off a nearby car and spiked Paraplonk like a volleyball, sending the shell straight to Guy. The green Shy Guy's face was squished by the shell, causing his white mask to crack in two.
As Guy was knocked back, Sonic sped up and kicked the Shy Guy into the air.
Once Goomp regained consciousness, he began running towards Sonic in retaliation.
Sonic began executing a plan he thought of in a split second.
He did a field goal kick with Goomp, sending him flying. Then he did the same thing with Sergeant Guy, who was trying to hold on to his broken mask. Then Sonic threw Paraplonk's shell in the air and did a bicycle kick with the shell, also sending it soaring many feet in the air.
The blue blur then began glowing whilst being surrounded by flurries and drafts of blue wind flowing through his limbs. Suddenly, he jumped in the air and did a homing attack to slam himself against the Elite Trio in many different directions.
The three elite minions then slammed into each other with enough force to knock each other unconscious.
All three creatures landed on the street with a painful thud. They were all cut, bruised, beaten and battered. Their eyes were spinning from dizziness. And Guy's broken mask revealed his true face.
"That was fun. Let's do that again sometime!" Sonic laughed.
The crowds of people that Sonic pushed into safe areas away from the line of way began walking out and saw what Sonic had done.
Sonic was just standing there with a smug grin on his face while standing in front of the unconscious and injured Elite Trio, so-called King Bowser's elite fighters. All because of the new blue hedgehog in town.
The Toads, Koopas and the other citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom in the crowd began clapping and cheering at Sonic while the blue hedgehog turned his head back to the crowd, grew a bigger smile, and used his left hand to give a thumbs up to the crowd.
After getting up and regaining their bearings, they saw a crowd of bystanders saying their praises to the only one in the middle, Sonic The Hedgehog. Mario saw that in front of the hedgehog were the three Elite Trio, now reduced to unconscious minions while beaten and battered. Mario couldn't even convince himself he was seeing the same trio who had caused him many problems in the past.
Sonic walked past the cheerful crowd and encountered the Mario Bros just recently getting up after Sonic pushed them down for safety.
"Oh hey, guys. Are you okay? Those guys sure were a pain in the ass. But seriously, are you guys okay?" Sonic asked in a joking but then concerned tone.
Mario brushed away dust on his shoulder and said "Yeah, yeah, we're fine. Luckily we weren't hit by anything."
Sonic blew a sigh of relief and responded "Phew, that's good to know. Oof, can't say the same for your van."
"My van?" is all Mario said before turning around and his mouth being left agape at the piss poor condition of his worker-on-parental-leave's van.
The front of the van was caved in, mostly from the crash prior, and the hood was busted open with everything inside being crushed by the caved-in metal exterior.
Smoke was hissing out of the engine and blue coolant was slowly leaking out from the top and the bottom of the van.
"Sheesh, that doesn't look too good. Well, I'd better go now. Good luck, bro!" is all Sonic said before he zoomed away from the scene faster than the blink of an eye.
Mario stretched his arm out to reach for Sonic while yelling "Wait!" but it was all in vain because Sonic was already too far away.
The red plumber's head drooped in disappointment. All that was on his mind was the possible argument he would have to have with his worker on parental leave over the van being destroyed.
Mario swallowed his fear and took out his brick phone to call him. He pressed the specific numbers and began dialing his home phone.
After the dial tone played for around 7 seconds, his worker, Brian, picked up. In the background, the faint sound of a TV and the loud crunching of some sort of junk food was heard.
"Yello? Who is this?"
After a nervous sigh, the red plumber began talking. "Hey Brian, it's Mario, your boss."
"Hey boss, what's going on?" Brian asked in a tone of interest, wondering why his boss would call during his parental leave.
"Look, this may sound very alarming but I can assure you, I'll deal with the consequences instead of you, alright?" Mario said while slightly stammering out of fear.
Brian raised an eyebrow and asked "What do you mean? What happened?"
"What happened is that...um...Your van was destroyed. Yeah, I...uh...used your van to chase after these criminals and your van, um, doesn't work as well anymore."
Brian was quiet for a few seconds but when he finally spoke, he loudly cursed "Are you fucking kidding me?! You broke my van?!"
Mario jumped at the speaker on the phone peaking when Brian began yelling like an angry banshee.
"Brian, Brian, it's okay, alright? It's okay. I'll pay for the repairs of the van and leave you to wait out your parental lea-" was all Mario could say before he was angrily interrupted by Brian.
"No, fuck you, Mario! I'm not letting you dock my paycheck for YOUR mistake! I quit!"
Mario, in a tone of desperation, managed to say "You're always free to come back to my company when your parental leave is over!" before Brian hung up the phone.
The red plumber let out a huge sigh of guilt, knowing that he inadvertently made one of his best workers quit.
Luigi's eyes were widened and for context, the green plumber asked "What the heck was that, bro? Was that Brian?"
"Yeeeaaahhh? Man, Brian quit on us."
Luigi cupped his mouth with his hands before responding "But why? You did say that YOU were the one who was gonna pay for the repairs, right?"
Mario took his cap off to brush away sweat on his forehead and explained "I did say that but he was pissed. And you know how Brian is, he's not the most rational thinker when he's pissed. Besides, he is always welcome to be rehired by us. Remember that, okay?"
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind." Said the younger green plumber.
Mario began walking to begin dragging the demolished van to a repair shop. Luigi was immediately about to follow but he looked back at the APC and expected to find the Elite Trio still unconscious on the ground.
But the younger brother let out a confused "Huh?" when he saw that the three minions had mysteriously vanished.
But Luigi paid no mind and walked over to help Mario push the van.
Over the course of a few days, from July 2th to July 5th, the acquaintanceship of Sonic and Mario began to deteriorate as Sonic always interrupted Mario handling crimes, even ones out of his control. And as a result, Mario was more than just furious. He was jealous, jealous of Sonic.
July 2nd, 2018
During a violent shootout between the police and a criminal cartel responsible for shipments of Poison Mushrooms worth millions of coins, Mario and Luigi arrived just in time to help. But once the shootout got out of hand, many police officers were injured and the brothers were pushed back. But then Sonic arrived and disarmed every member of the cartel and then single handedly took them out. But not before one last cartel member shot a Fire Flower rocket towards Mario and Luigi's van and destroyed it. Sonic left before Mario and Luigi realized what happened to their van.
July 3rd, 2018
To pay for the repairs of the van, Mario and Luigi went to the Fungus Stock Bank to withdraw a few thousand coins. But when they were done with the withdrawal, the bank was attacked by a pack of Wigglers, who used Ice Flowers to literally freeze everyone, even the security guards, in their tracks. Mario and Luigi took out fire flowers to counteract the Ice Flowers. But suddenly, Sonic arrived, turned up the heat in the bank, and used extension cables that were many yards long to reroute electricity to power the heater up. Before the Wiggler squad could get any money, Sonic managed to tie them up with his Enerbeams and shoved them in a trash can.
July 4th, 2018
A riot initiated by very tall towers of Goombas began swarming many squares of Mushroom City. As the swarms of Goombas trampled people and disoriented the cops. The Mario Bros were also caught up in the Goomba invasion and they were almost suffocating because the Goombas took up so much space in the streets. Fortunately, Sonic showed up at the nick of time while holding a giant net and catching every Goomba in sight. Eventually, all of the Goombas were in the net when Sonic threw the net miles away, never to be seen again and disappearing over the horizon. He was celebrated with the cheers of all of the bystanders and officers in the area. Mario was simply watching in the background with a sour expression on his face.
July 5th, 2018
A pack of Mecha-Wigglers began infiltrating the sewage system of the Mushroom Kingdom and started to disassemble and overflow toilets in every home and building in sight. Mario's plumbing company was overwhelmed by the amount of calls about toilets and sinks starting to overflow and flood hundreds of homes. Mario and Luigi decide to inspect the sewers when they're ambushed by the numerous Mecha Wigglers. Before they could make the brothers into floating flesh logs, the Mecha Wiggler was turned into scrap metal by Sonic, who seemed to be inside a big bubble surrounding him. The blue blur then reassembled the pipes of the sewage system and the flooding stopped. Mario and Luigi were left all soggy and cold.
All those days soured Mario's mood towards the blue blur. And one day, the red plumber would snap...
Mushroom City, Mushroom Kingdom, July 6th, 2018, 2:16 PM...
A Koopa hot dog vendor was standing on the sidewalk next to his cart, which had around 5 sausages cooking in the grill of the cart. The bread buns were in a plastic bag next to the grill. Today had been a slow day, nobody was really buying many hot dogs.
The vendor was about to begin dragging his cart somewhere else to see if he could make any sales when he was abruptly startled by the appearance of Sonic. He had instantly appeared in front of the cart and looked to be in a good mood.
The hot dog seller said "Man, you almost put me in a state of shellshock! Well, good to see a customer these days. It's been a slow time as of recently. Now, would you like a hot dog?"
All Sonic had to say was "Wasn't shellshock the old name for PTSD back in the first World War?"
"What?" Asked the hot dog vendor, perplexed about what Sonic said.
"Nevermind. Look, you seem to be having a slow day. And I'm hungry. So, why don't we involve ourselves in a trade? I'd like a hot dog, please." The blue blur asked after seeing the sausages grilling on the cart.
The vendor grew a smile and responded "Why of course! One hot dog coming up!"
After grabbing a pair of tongs, the Koopa vendor grabbed a sausage. Then he grabbed one pair of hot dog buns from the plastic bag. He put the sausage in the crevice of the buns and then asked Sonic "Would you like ketchup or mustard?"
"Ketchup, please. I've never liked the taste of mustard." Sonic said as he expressed his negative opinion on the popular yellow sauce.
"Oh, just you wait until you grow up. You'll be chugging down mustard like nothing else." Said the vendor in a melancholy tone, much to Sonic's lack of interest.
After giving the ketchup bottle a quick shake, the hot dog salesman squeezed the bottle and began laying a strip of ketchup on the sausage.
Sonic grabbed the hot dog from the vendor and took a bite. After a few chews and a swallow, Sonic smiled and said "Oh man, it's so good. If I had some chili and cheese, I would be in heaven right now. How much for two?"
"Oh, you're buying two? Well, that'll be twenty coins." Said the surprised merchant after hearing Sonic's enthusiasm for his food.
"Sold." The blue blur said in an instant.
The vendor received the twenty coins and went to work on making another hot dog.
He gave the second hot dog to Sonic and before the blue hedgehog walked away, he exclaimed "Have a good day, sir!"
Sonic was busy chewing so he nodded and began walking away with both hot dogs in hand.
In the intersection where Sonic was walking away from, a Mario Bros Plumbing van zoomed by at around 30 miles per hour.
Inside were the Mario Bros, currently listening to the song Easy by The Commodores. They were driving towards a fancy apartment complex where the caller reported that their hot tub began spewing out dirty water.
They weren't very far from the apartment complex and they knew that the caller would pay a significant amount for the job.
Once they were in a straight line and at an intersection turn from the apartment, they noticed somebody was in the middle of the road.
"What the? The heck is that nut job doing in the middle of the road?" Mario asked himself after squinting and seeing an unknown person in the middle of traffic.
Before Mario could react, a decently sized fireball flew across the road and blew up at the front of the van, sending the hood flying, the fire spreading to the engine and the insides, and sending fire into the windshield and both melting and shattering it.
Mario and Luigi lowered their heads to avoid the fire as the red plumber pulled the emergency brake level, which stopped the rear tires, causing the car to begin skidding across the road and letting friction start to slow it down. The stationary tires squeaked as smoke was kicked up from behind.
Once the van stopped, Mario took off his hat to swipe any shards of glass off. While he opened the driver side door to get out, Mario shook his shoulders to get any shards of glass off his body.
Luigi did the same but to a lesser degree since he ducked a little before Mario when the windshield was destroyed. Luigi stumbled out of the passenger side door and landed on the asphalt with a thud while Mario stepped off lightly from the driver side window.
"Mario, what the heck just happened?" Luigi said while looking like he's having a stroke to get any shards of glass off himself.
Mario began looking around the street and saw the guy in front. "I don't know, Luigi. But I'm guessing it might have to do with that butthead in the middle of the street."
The red plumber stood up and began walking forward. His younger brother noticed him walking away and followed behind with a nervous jog.
As Mario walked closer to the traffic jam in front of him, he began to realize who was the one responsible for the fire show that destroyed the van.
It was a Fire Bro, along with an entire squad of Fire Bros. Luckily, the traffic jam surrounding the group was luckily deserted, leaving behind the cars which some were releasing smoke from the hood while others were on fire.
As Mario walked up to the group, he began yelling "Hey, are you the group of punks who wrecked all of these cars? You ruffians are gonna pay for destroying my van! I'm not about to have this group of punks cost me thousands of coins and get off scot free!"
The posse of Fire Bros lunged at Mario as they held balls of fire in their yellow hands. Luigi panicked but before they could be attacked, Mario grabbed his younger brother and jumped away.
The Fire Bros couldn't react in time and threw the fireballs they were holding into thin air. But with the bounce of the spheres of flames, the fireballs detonated on Mario's van, causing the large vehicle to explode and burst into even more flames.
Mario's mouth was agape with shock. It had been the umpteenth time his van had been destroyed over the course of a few days.
As the van burned and became blackened by the flames, Mario became furious. Furious at the culprits. And the culprits being the gang of Fire Bros.
"You bastards! You'll pay for this!" Said the angry red plumber as he began sprinting furiously with a panicked Luigi following behind.
The Fire Bro group also began rushing towards Mario with bigger fireballs in hand.
All of the sudden, before the two groups could clash fire balls, Mario and his brother were pushed away by an unknown force. The two plumbers landed with a painful thump as they were knocked unconscious from the severe collision.
The Fire Bros stopped in their tracks at witnessing the mysterious attack on the two plumber heroes. Before any of them could react, they were attacked by what seemed to be a rapid blue blur.
They were all knocked away and all of them landed on the ground with a thud. Some slammed into cars and were left disoriented. The leader of the group managed to sit up and began looking around for the cause of the attack.
"Afternoon, fellow firestarters! I see that the whole gang's here. So, how are you doing, Paul Keller, John Orr, Marc Thompson, Raymond Lee Oyler, and my man Benjamin Christensen?" Said a mysterious but jolly sounding voice that the leader of the Fire Bros heard.
After turning his head back, he saw where the voice was coming from.
It was Sonic, only holding one hot dog since he had already finished eating another one. To the posse of Fire Bros' surprise, Sonic calmly took a big bite of hot dog and began speaking.
"You know, normally I would wait until I'm done with these babies to deal with you dickheads. But since these aren't chili dogs, I guess I could get them over with from the get-go." Was what Sonic tried saying but talking while chewing made it very difficult to understand. He sounded like a person who just got their wisdom teeth removed.
The Fire Bros all collectively raised an eyebrow as they failed to understand what the blue blur was saying through all of the chewing and masticating.
Sonic realized that nobody could understand him so he quickly finished chewing and as soon as he swallowed, he added "Oh, I apologize for my insolence. Talking while chewing isn't polite, I know. So let me try to summarize what I said. TLDR: Me finish non-chili hot dog, you go to jail. Comprende?"
The squad of fire users became furious at Sonic's cockyness so they instantly stood up and got into fighting stances as they glared at the hedgehog, who was quickly finishing the last hot dog.
Once he was done eating, Sonic wiped his mouth with his hand and then spoke in a mocking tone "Oh, I see that you're all ready for some fun! Guess what, so am I!"
The blue hedgehog got into a starting position as he began generating energy, which started radiating from his fur and quills as blue wind, and distributing it equally through his entire body. The blue hedgehog closed his eyes to enhance his concentration.
With a collective battle cry, the fire-wielding Bros began tearing through the street towards Sonic. As they ran, the fire balls they were holding got larger and larger.
When the fire balls were big enough, the squad threw them all at Sonic. As the spheres of flames were approaching, Sonic finally opened his eyes and disappeared in a flash, kicking up plenty of dust from his last location.
The fireballs crashed onto the ground and left a trail of flames in their wake. The Fire Bros were confused when they realized Sonic was missing.
Suddenly, Sonic reappeared while moving at supersonic speeds and tackled the leader of the Fire Bros. The rest of the group began throwing fireballs all haphazardly but Sonic managed to knock them down, one by one, with a few simple supersonic slams.
Before the group could even hit the ground, Sonic tackled them once more at a time. The Fire Bros kept bouncing around by the blue hedgehog's pattern of constant tackles.
After enough tackles and bounces, Sonic sped himself to be faster than time once all of the Fire Bros were in the air. With a small hop, Sonic was still able to deliver a devastating jab at the leader of the Fire squad. With the rest, Sonic threw one away with a spin kick. Then for the rest, he charged up a Spin Dash and slammed then ricocheted off of the others like a pinball.
The split-second Sonic slowed down, the Fire Bros were sent flying in different directions. The followers slammed into light posts and nearby fire hydrants. After they landed, none got up and let themselves fall unconscious.
The leader, however, slammed into a car and opened the hood. The impact made the leader bounce a few feet in the air. Then he landed inside the car, with the hood being bashed closed with a thud.
The cocky blue hedgehog observed what had happened to the fire-wielding culprits and laughed. Another crime over in this new place.
Once the police arrived, pedestrians noticed what had occurred. A police truck showed up and shoved all of the Fire Bros in the back, with the truck driving away to the slammer. The crowd of civilians and a few leftover cops began cheering for Sonic. Officers patted the hedgehog on the back while some civilians reached their hands out for a handshake. Some even handed Sonic a notebook and a pen for an autograph.
Sonic intended to run off somewhere else but all of the attention he was getting was nice, even if the crowd was different. Very different.
The loud cheering and speaking slowly woke Mario up from his slam-induced snoozefest. The red plumber got up a little wobbly but once he saw what was in front of him, he was wide awake.
He saw pedestrians and a few police officers crowding around Sonic as they cheered and celebrated the blue hedgehog. Mario was confused as to what they were celebrating until he turned around and noticed the sudden disappearance of the group of Fire Bros.
Then, the puzzle pieces connected in Mario's head.
If Sonic was there, he must have done something. And if the Fire Bros are gone, then it's more obvious that Sonic did something.
Instead of smiling and walking up to Sonic to congratulate him, the red plumber's mood was severely soured. But it went beyond fury. He clenched his teeth and his fists. His eyebrows sank as the top of his eyes and his forehead formed visible wrinkles.
A deep growl of rage escaped from Mario's mouth as Luigi slowly woke up a foot or so behind his older brother. As the younger brother slowly got his barings, he was startled by Mario's intimidating scowl.
Suddenly, Mario's right hand lit on fire as he got into a kneeling position. Luigi was scared at his brother's fury but had no idea what had started it.
With a simple jump, Mario managed to fly up 30 feet into the air. The sheer force of the jump cracked the asphalt formerly below the red plumber. It also caused a loud enough crackle that caught the attention of the crowd.
Sonic was confused as to what had happened until he saw that the crowd had begun to look up into the sky. As soon as he looked up as well, he let out a quiet yelp as he saw something begin to fall towards him.
Mario, with all of his force, punched a massive hole in the road causing a huge cloud of dust causing every pedestrian and officer nearby to be blown away.
As soon as the cloud of powder dissipated, Mario noticed that his fist landed straight onto the ground. He raised an eyebrow as he looked around the street. His vision was caught by a startled Sonic staring at Mario with wide, scared eyes.
The red Italian was confused as to how Sonic managed to dodge the attack. When he looked down, he saw a trail of indented footsteps in the pavement. And those footsteps led right to Sonic.
His fury was magnified as he began running at Sonic at full speed. He cocked his fist and sent it flying towards Sonic's face. Fire radiated from his hand. His battle cry filled the entire street.
Once it made contact, a shockwave consumed the street. People were knocked down, cars were flipped over, and fire hydrants popped out of the ground.
Mario closed his eyes to focus his strength. But once he opened them, he let out an almost breathless gasp.
He found his right fist being in the clutch of another gloved hand. Sonic looked at Mario with a look of fury, albeit less uncontrollable than the red plumber's.
Mario's arm twitched with how much strength the red plumber was pumping into it. Sonic's skinny, almost noodle-like arm was still as stable and concentrated as ever. As if Sonic didn't have to exert much force to keep Mario's right hand in a hold.
This angered the overall-wearing Italian, who began growling furiously. He cocked his left fist and launched it toward Sonic. But the blue blur grabbed it and pulled him into the air, lifting Mario into the air. He pulled once more and let go, throwing the plumber towards a wall.
The wall cracked from the impact of the overweight plumber, who bounced off the broken wall and onto the floor with a thud.
The pain in his back was unbearable, feeling like his spinal cord had been bent in an inhuman manner. But his adrenaline was at full force, allowing Mario to get up. He saw that the throw had knocked his cap off his head.
The cap laid upside down in the middle of the space between the two individuals. Sonic walked over and picked it up. He reached his hand out to give it to Mario. But the red plumber began sprinting at the hedgehog and once he slid on one foot, he delivered a push kick to Sonic's chest.
Sonic was knocked a few feet away and landed on his back. He groaned from the at least bearable pain in his chest. The attack made Sonic drop the cap, which floated back down to the ground.
Mario bent down to grab it. Once he did, he secured it on his head. He looked at Sonic, who was getting up like the kick did barely anything to him.
The red plumber spun his body 90 degrees. He bent his knees and slid one leg back. His left arm stayed to the left side of his body while he stretched his right arm out and kept an open palm for both arms.
Sonic hopped only an inch off the ground a few times then began stretching his legs forward and backward. He began stretching his arms and cracked his knuckles.
Then he got into a starting position.
Both individuals were glaring at each other intensely, both ready to throw down at each other. Once one began running, the other did the same.
Mario took around 3 seconds to run towards Sonic but Sonic managed to begin approaching Mario in what looked faster than the blink of an eye.
Both cocked their right fists behind their body as they used one leg to begin braking to a stop. Mario kicked up dust while Sonic began tearing the asphalt apart.
They clashed blows, their fists connecting and sending shocks to their nervous systems of pain.
A stronger shockwave suddenly appeared, knocking the pedestrians off their feet. Light posts were yanked out of sidewalks and cars were thrown into the sky. Balconies of buildings were ripped off and windows shattered.
But the two heroes still maintained eye contact.
Once they disconnected, Sonic went in for the first blow. He jumped backwards in the air and then rolled into a ball. He homed in on Mario and as soon as he unrolled, he prepared an axe kick.
But Mario managed to jump away and when Sonic landed, he ran up to him and did a roundhouse kick. The hedgehog was knocked onto the floor but then rolled backwards and got on his feet.
In a split-second, Sonic was in front of Mario. After startling the plumber, Mario began trading fistacuffs with the hedgehog.
Each punch that was thrown was either dodged by ducking or using their arms. When Mario was about to throw a punch with his right hand, Sonic drove his knee into Mario's abdomen. The red plumber flinched from the pain. He lost all the strength he had stored in his right arm.
But he quickly recovered and launched his left arm towards Sonic. But he lifted his leg up and blocked the punch with his knee. Then the blue hedgehog began spinning around in the air. Mario had no time to reach before his face caved in after Sonic's shoe kicked the red plumber.
Mario was sent flying onto another wall, which collapsed and let Mario land inside a building. But he managed to get up and jumped out of the hole he fell into. Once he stepped on the sidewalk, Mario began radiating fire from his hands. Sonic kept his eyes glued to Mario's hands.
With a throwing motion, a fireball headed straight for Sonic. The blue hedgehog started running towards Mario. When the fireball was about to land in his face, Sonic moved his head to the left. Once the fireball passed him, he threw his head back and continued running.
The red plumber clenched his teeth and began throwing more fireballs. Using both hands, he created and threw fireballs like they were snowballs.
As the spheres of flames came, Sonic zig-zagged left and right to dodge. One fireball going low had him jump over it. Like a cat, Sonic landed on his feet and kept on sprinting.
Mario cupped his hands together and began focusing all of the fire into one point. The fireball grew to an immense size, exerting plenty of heat and light.
"What the…" Sonic said as he was both amazed and concerned at how big the fireball was.
With all of his force, Mario threw the gigantic fireball towards Sonic. With an audible yelp, the blue blur slid on his knees under the fireball.
In Sonic's perspective, the fireball looked bigger than it really was. And when he slid under, he had never been so close to a humongous fire. Sonic made sure to sink his head further down to prevent his long nose from being singed by the sphere of flames.
After passing under it, Sonic got back and grabbed Mario by the straps of his overalls. He was pulled into Sonic before the blue hedgehog fell backwards and purposely pushed Mario over him using his legs.
Mario landed on his head and then fell down on his back. Sonic stood up and observed the red plumber as he had difficulty trying to get on his feet.
"That's enough, Mario! What the hell were you thinking? Why did you attack me? I thought we were friends!" Asked the blue hedgehog as he had questions that needed to be answered.
He had only been in the Mushroom Kingdom for a week or so but now he had one of their greatest heroes trying to take them out.
Mario looked up at his opponent and saw that he had lost his glare. Now he just had a frown and wide, confused eyes. He looked like an innocent child, eager to find out why he's being chased after like a criminal.
"I'm serious! Why are you pissed at me? Did I do something to you? If I did, then I'm sorry. We don't need to keep fighting!" Sonic said as panic began to fill his vocal cords.
Even with Sonic's words of peace, Mario refused to listen. When he limped his way to a standing position, he said nothing. All he did was dig into his pockets.
The blue blur raised an eyebrow at what Mario was doing.
Suddenly, Mario's right hand emerged with a huge hammer. It was a meter-long stick with a black metallic cylinder for the head.
Sonic's eyes widened in fear as he saw the gigantic hammer that Mario had in his hand. Before he could think, the red plumber jumped into the air and aimed the hammer towards Sonic using both hands.
The hammer smashed into the ground, breaking the sidewalk and producing unstable cracks that began to grow in size. Pieces of cement and dirt were thrown into the sky and broke once they hit the ground.
But Mario once again noticed that his hammer only hit the floor and not Sonic. One simple 120 degree turn and he saw Sonic a few yards away, trying to catch his breath from the formerly incoming hammer attack.
Mario dug his hammer out of the sidewalk and began charging at Sonic with the hammer in his hands. He swung the hammer but Sonic sidestepped out of the way. Another swing but the blue blur jumped over Mario.
One final swing had Sonic stop its momentum with his hand and then do a roundhouse kick to get it out of Mario's grip.
The burgundy plumber flinched when Sonic kicked his hand, causing his grip on the hammer to fail. As Mario groaned at the pain his hand was going through, he saw his hammer bounce away and land on its side.
When he was about to go get it, he heard Sonic in a very angry tone say "Hey! Over here!"
The moment Mario shared eye contact with Sonic, the blue hedgehog delivered two punches to the plumber's face. While Mario stumbled forward and backward, Sonic threw a spin kick that knocked Mario to the ground and hit his head on a sidewalk.
Mario was pretty much out for the count. Sonic began walking towards Mario as he still controlled his emotions.
But before he could take another step, Luigi showed up behind Sonic and whacked the back of his head with his own hammer.
Sonic lost his balance and tried to keep his feet locked on the ground. He held the back of his head as he writhed in pain.
As soon as he recovered, the exhausted blue hedgehog looked up and realized who was the one who had attacked him.
"What the hell, Luigi?! Why'd you do that?!" yelled the blue blur as he still applied pressure to his head. He expected Luigi to begin stuttering and having difficulty explaining why he felt the need to attack him.
But confidently, Luigi explained "You wanna know I hit you? I'll tell you why! You attacked my brother! Nobody attacks my brother and gets away with it! You hear me?!" cradling and spinning the hammer in his hands.
"Sheesh, you really don't get it, don't you?" Sonic scoffed as his mood began to sour even more than it already was. Mario's younger brother raised an eyebrow as he was confused as to what Sonic was saying.
"Get what?!" Luigi asked out loud.
Sonic began to chuckle cynically, which confused Luigi even more. When he finished laughing, all that he said was "You act as if I started the fight."
"But you did!"
"No, I didn't! It was your damn brother that did! All I did was show up and beat the hell out of those punks and got a standing ovation! All of the sudden, I'm trying my hardest to dodge all of his attacks. He won't even tell me why he's doing all of this shit!"
Before Sonic could say anything else, he heard someone behind begin to say something.
"You wanna know why I'm doing this? Because I'm sick of you."
With a raise of an eyebrow, Sonic turned around and noticed a very injured Mario slowly getting himself up with the help of his hand holding on tight to a light post.
"I've had to put up with your bullcrap for a week. Taking all the attention and bringing criminals to jail. Running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I just know you don't care about justice. You just want all the attention and you're getting it. A bunch of it, in fact. I'll show you who the real hero is in this kingdom."
Those words were appalling to Sonic. They were even appalling to Luigi.
Sonic knew he wasn't busting criminals for fame and fortune. He was never that kind of person. Anyone who said that Sonic was only a crime-fighter for attention most likely is an idiot.
But the blue hedgehog realized something.
"I'll show you who the real hero is in this kingdom."
Was that...jealousy? Was Mario jealous of Sonic? There was no other explanation to it. Only reason why Sonic was attacked by Mario was because the plumber was jealous. Having his thunder stolen by an objectively stronger hero.
Those realizations angered Sonic. His gloved hands were clenched closed. His frown grew bigger. His eyes began glaring at Mario again.
"I see…"
Mario looked up and raised an eyebrow at what Sonic was about to say.
"So let me get this straight...You're jealous of me because I steal your thunder every crime that happens or every disaster that occurs. Alright, I understand...but that doesn't excuse the fact that you attacked me. Out of nowhere. While a crowd was surrounding me. You're doing all of this all because you're jealous."
Even while furious, Mario could still notice that Sonic was now even angrier than him.
"You have the audacity to call me a selfish attention whore...Just a crime fighter who does it for the money and fame. I am no such hero. Someone like that is no hero at all. I think the one who's like that is you. You're the one who attacked me out of nowhere and lied about how I'm the one stealing your thunder. You make me sound like I'm stealing your thunder on purpose. Someone like that is truly a selfish asshole. If any man here isn't a hero...it's you." Sonic ranted as he squeezed his right fist.
Before the incredibly furious blue blur could even react, Mario ran up to him and punched him in the face. This time, it hit.
After stumbling backwards, he regained his composure and held his face carefully. A groan came out of his mouth as he rubbed his cheek. Once he let go, he noticed something on the palm of his glove.
The middle was stained a bright but slowly darkening shade of red. As he kept touching his cheek, he began getting the same red substance on his fingers.
His hand noticed what felt like a cut in his lip. The cut was small but every time it was touched, a sharp pain began spreading through his jaw.
Mario's attack had done enough damage to break Sonic's lip.
With that thought in mind, Sonic's fury was intensified. All that was going through his head was his immense feeling of wanting to beat up Mario. Teach him a lesson.
He went into a starting position as he clenched his right fist. Mario didn't know what Sonic was gonna do. But when he finally acted, all Mario could do was blink.
When his eyes opened, Sonic was in front of him. No reaction could've been made by the red plumber when his face began to cave in. A gloved hand dug itself into his cheek. The force applied was immense.
Mario was sent flying backwards at blinding speeds. Only thing that stopped him was an old SUV that was part of the burned cars in the street.
The side of the car and the doors were caved in with the total 230 pounds of weight that Mario had in his body. The impact had enough force to tilt the SUV off its right wheels but once Mario fell onto the asphalt, the left wheels connected with the ground once more.
The overweight Italian laid there, looking almost unconscious on the ground. He squirmed as the pain in his cheek was too much to handle. A seemingly red and viscous pool of liquid appeared under Mario's face.
Luigi was traumatized by what he was seeing. His eyes wide open, almost looking like they were about to pop out. He thought Sonic had killed his brother, just from the immense force it required to send his brother flying.
Once he noticed the small pool of blood, the green plumber turned his head back to glare at Sonic.
Any anger he felt was reflected towards Sonic. He began running towards the Mobian. Sonic caught a glimpse of Luigi sprinting at full speed at him.
He threw a punch but Sonic caught it with his hand and then did a light push kick to launch Luigi a few feet away. A thud was heard when the younger Italian landed on his back and had the wind knocked out of him.
The groan that Luigi led out was heard by a still somewhat alive Mario. A sudden feeling of adrenaline helped him start to get up. Sonic's eyes were caught by Mario's unexpected movement.
The plumber stood up and with no limp or shaking. His sapphire blue eyes were glaring at Sonic's emerald green eyes. They were silent but knew what they wanted.
Sonic prepared himself into a starting position. Mario did the same.
The crowd of people surrounding them all had faces of worry. Police officers turned their radios on to call for any backup available if necessary.
Luigi managed to sit up after he rubbed his head a few times. He witnessed the standoff between his brother and Sonic.
Once the two were ready, Sonic dashed towards Mario at flabbergastingly high speeds. Mario did the same, albeit much slower.
The two opponents aimed their right hands, now folded up into the shape of a fist.
They approached each other, still sprinting, and suddenly, the two of them jumped very high in the air, maintaining their momentum.
The crowd gasped when they saw Sonic and Mario jump in the air. Both clenched their fists and aimed right at each other.
Mario's arm irradiated burning orange and red flames while Sonic's arm had been surrounded by a dense and almost opaque sphere of blue wind, leaving behind gusts of more wind that would appear and fade away slowly.
In what seemed like stop motion, the two yelled out battle cries as they observed one another. Mario's clothes had been half-drenched in blood while Sonic was still clean, although he had some dirt on his arms and legs. His lip and gloves were smeared with blood.
Their fists were only a few inches apart from colliding with one another. The crowd watched eagerly as the fight intensified. Some were scared while others were simply interested in witnessing how it all eventually played out.
Right as their clenched fists were about to clash, Sonic felt a strange sensation from his head. No, it was coming from above his head. His ears began ringing as his senses were turned off. But his vision was magnified to a level beyond his regular ability.
Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. People staring at Sonic looked like statues. Mario barely moved. The fire coming from his hand was almost stationary. Sonic looked up and saw what seemed like flying squirrels gliding above them. But they moved so slowly as to look like they were floating motionless.
But what interested Sonic was the weird sensation above him. He looked completely up and saw a strange object appearing to be falling down towards them. It gave off bad vibes to Sonic. When he looked back at Mario, he exerted more momentum towards him and lunged at the plumber. Once he grabbed Mario, his momentum carried Mario backwards as everything began to move at regular speed.
Mario and Sonic hit the ground with the audible sound of a thud and crack. Their combined weight, along with their momentum, actually broke the asphalt underneath.
The mysterious object crash landed onto the street at high speed, kicking up a giant cloud of dust. A shockwave emerged, pushing the crowd and Luigi down to the ground.
Cars were flipped over and more light posts were yanked off the sidewalks.
Sonic began to get up but almost tripped since he was on top of Mario, who was laying on his back unconscious, attempting to shield him from any debris that may have hit them. Luckily, no pieces of cement had flown towards them. Sonic stumbled down and landed on his back.
He laid there until he remembered the strange object. When he sat up, he saw the huge dust cloud covering what looked to be a large hole in the street. Sonic's mouth was agape at what he was observing.
People and officers around the hole began to help each other up and clean themselves of the dust on their clothes. Luigi was lying on his face while his ass was sticking up in the air. The dust still managed to get inside people's lungs as Sonic heard distant coughing from the other side of the street.
The dust cloud rose to a very tall height, being able to be seen even from 1 mile away.
Once the hedgehog stood up, he walked up slowly towards the hole and began swiping his hand in the air to clear away the dust around him.
Mario slowly woke up and sat up as he tried to regain his composure. So did Luigi as he managed to stand up straight before his older brother.
Sonic stopped before the hole and said to himself confusedly "Isn't that strange..."
All of the sudden, a loud noise began to be emitted from the hole. Everyone, even Sonic, could hear it. It almost resembled the sound of metallic whirring.
Before Sonic could investigate further, a mysterious figure rose up into the air. The instant movement was enough to clear away all the smoke in the area.
Sonic shielded his eyes from the dust but once his arm was out of his sight, he saw a familiar figure floating above him.
The pedestrians and officers were perplexed at the floating figure staring down at them. The Mario Bros stood motionless as they tried to process who they were looking at.
But it took almost no time for Sonic to recognize who this mysterious figure was.
From the blinding sense of confusion, Sonic could only let out a few words.
"No way…"
Stay tuned for the next chapter of Sonic The Hedgehog: Beyond Worlds...