Before this chapter starts, I'll say a few things:
First off, I'd like to thank my last reviewer for the tips on grammer and borderlines within the chapters. I was kinda rushed, so I forgot a few key elements. I'll try to improve this in future.
Next, for those expecting the other cameo apperances coming up in later chapters that I mentioned on the prolouge chapter, I'll try to work them in once I find good places for them. I've got a good place mapped for a few Loony Toons characters, but I need time to think of where to put the Sonic and Pokemon characters. If anyone has suggestions on where to introduce them, please PM me.
Now, lets begin the new chapter!
Chapter 2: Meeting Frankly
After asking for directions to Frankly's home, we finally met with the aged Goomba professor. When we entered his home, Goombella greeted him with excitement. Frankly turned and said, "Oh, visitors. Hmmmm you look familiar, young lady. Now let me guess who you are. Your not Goombriel... Your not Elizagoom... AHA! Your Goombella, right?" Goombella then said, "That's right! I'm Goombella, a Junior at U Goom!" Prof. Frankly smiled, then said, "Well, not to toot my own horn, but I'm good at remembering names. However, I don't think I've ever seen these three young men before. Could you introduce yourselves please?" Mario then said, "My name's Mario, and this is my little brother Luigi. We're the Super Mario brothers." Frankly then said, "Who?" Goombella then said, "Professor, they're the Mario brothers, you know the famous plumber heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom?"
Frankly then said, "I'm sorry, I'm such a bookworm that I have no idea what's hip at the moment. As for the third youngster?" I then said, "I'm Ray. I'm visiting from a faraway land." I said with a smidgen of nervousness. I knew I couldn't tell them that this world was really a video game, otherwise I'd be thrown in the nuthouse! After the introductions were over, Frankly and Goombella spoke about the legendary treasure said to lay beneath Rougeport. Goombella was adamant about finding it so she could prove the many legends surrounding it. Frankly then mentioned something about a portal called the Thousand Year Door, and they say the treasure was behind the door. He continued saying that the only way to open it was to find the Crystal Stars. But to find them requires the magical Treasure Map which is said to be able to locate the seven stars. He seemed a bit down at this fact though, as he said that no one knows the location of the map.
Goombella then said, "But we have a map. Perhaps it might be the one we're looking for?" Frankly got excited about this news, and said, "WHAT? mumbles unintelligently R-r-really? Please, you must let me see it!" Mario hands Frankly the map, and he said, "I say, this is INDEED the legendary map! With this in hand, we have nothing in our way of the search for the treasure! Mario, Luigi, you two truly are heroes! Now, let us all go underground and find the Thousand Year Door!" We followed Frankly outside and down a pipe.
Underground:
As we were looking around the aincient ruins beneath the town, we heard a voice say, "Hey guys, look over there!" We then saw three Goombas. One was a regular Goomba, but the other two were a Spiny Goomba and a Paragoomba. The Paragoomba said, "Hey baby, how about you ditch that plumber and come with us!" The normal Goomba said, "Man, what's a fine looking girl like that doing hanging around with losers like them!" Goombella then said" It's so sweet for you guys to say I'm cute. Yeah, guys like you make me feel like TOTALLY BARFING! Now get outta our way!" Luigi then became nervous as these goombas appeared to be like the street thugs he knew all to well back in Brooklyn, so he hid behind Mario to stay safe. The Paragoomba said, "Ouch, that stung..." The Spiny Goomba then said, "What, are you too good for us? Come on boys, let's show them we mean business!" They then charged at us.
I smiled slyly. I've always wanted to do this. I jumped, and stomped on the Paragoomba, causing it to lose it's wings. The Goomba landed in front of Mario who Drop Kicked the fallen Paragoomba into the other two knocking both out. The trio of goombas ran away like little children. Mario then said, "Say, that was a pretty good jump you did there." I then said, "This is something I've been wanting to do for a while. I happen to be huge fans of you and Luigi." Luigi then sighed as he said, "Great, now I've got a second Mario to worry about..." We continued on for what seemed like hours until we found a large chamber with a gigantic beautifully decorated door. There was a small altar right in front it, and it had a mystical air surrounding it.
We all were amazed at the sight, especially me since I've never seen such a huge door in my life before. Prof. Frankly then said, "Ah, the legendary door! I can't believe that after all these years I've been able to find it! Let's get a closer look kids!" We got up to it, then Goombella noticed the odd altar. She then said, "Hey guys, what's with the odd pedistal?" Mario got up to the altar and began to step up onto it. Something told him to do so. Luigi then said, "Mario, I don't think it's a good idea to stand on that thing. What if it was a sacrificial altar?" Mario then said, "Come on Luigi, don't be such a baby!" Suddenly, the podium lit up and a buch of wierd designes began popping up. We were suprised and slightly frightened. Luigi however was hysterical when he said, "Mario, get down from there!" Suddenly the map lifted from Mario's hands and hovered in the air. Prof. Frankly then said, "Hmmmm, I wonder if..." Before he could finish his thoughts, a beam of light struck the map and then struck Mario, but with no ill effect.
When the light faded, I said, "Would someone please tell me what the heck just happened here?" Luigi looked at Mario and saw he was fine. He drew a sigh of relief as he went to see Mario, who was looking at the map strangely. Luigi then said, "What's wrong Mario?" Mario pointed at the map and Luigi saw something was different about it. There was a picture of a castle with a star spinning on it. Prof. Frankly then said, "Come with me back to my house kids, I can explian."
Back in Rougeport:
After getting back, Prof. Frankly looked at the map, and said, "WOW, ASTOUNDING!" Goombella then said, "What is it?" Prof. Frankly then said, "This map must have radar-like functions. It's pointing towards the first Crystal Star!" We looked at him, waiting for an explanation, then he said, "The legends state that the map points from one star to the next. To do this, the map must be shown before the Thousand Year Door, then it will point to the first star. The other six can only be fond once you take the first star to the door, and unfurl the map again. It will pinpoint one star at a time from what I've learned, so we can't go all scattershot looking for them until we find out where they are. The place the first star is located seems to be in Petal Medows. I always thought something about that place was suspicious."
Goombella then said, "What do you mean?" Frankly continued with, "Well, during my research, I stumbled upon the name Petal Medows a lot during my research. This undoubtedly convinced me of a possible Crystal Star in the vacinity, but without the map I was unable to prove it. Of course, this was thought to be only legend until you boys found the map, so I didn't want to go without making sure. How did you boys find it anyway?"
Mario then said, "Luigi and I were at our house in Toad Town when Princess Peach sent us a letter while she was on a small vacation. She came here to Rougeport and found this map and she invited me and Luigi to help find it as she said it would be a bit much for her to do it on her own. When we got here, we couldn't find her, and her advisor Toadsworth found us and told us he was looking for her too. We then figured someone kidnapped her again. Chances are finding the treasure may lead us to her." Frankly thought about this for a moment, then said, "This Peach, she wouldn't happen to be wearing a pink dress, a gold crown, and have long blonde hair with blue eyes, would she?" Luigi then said, "Yeah, have you seen her?"
Frankly then said with a bit of fervor, "I thought it was her! She came to me and asked about the legendary treasure she had heard from some merchant in town. I told her about my research and theory about Petal Medows. I know it sounds unlikely, but she may have gone off in search for the treasure herself." I then said, "Yo, I just remembered something. Some costumed goofballs were asking about the treasure too. They tried to kidnap Goombella to force info out of her about the Crystal Stars! I can easily tell you right now that those goons were nothing but trouble. I usually have a sixth sense about these things, and those guys were obviously up to no good." Frankly frowned, then said, "I highly doubt the princess would be seen with them in that case. Hurry, there is a pipe below town that will take you to Petal Medows. Once there, search for any info regarding the Crystal Star."
I then asked, "Before I forget, what was with that odd light that apeared when the map revealed the first Crystal Star?" Prof. Frankly then said, "The legends mentioned that the holder of the map would gain special magc abilities. As for how one performs them, I do not know. The purpose of these powers are said to aid one's pursuit of the Crystal Stars. They also say the map itself has another power that is said to heal the holder if they need to recover from any harm during the search for the stars." I then said, "I see. That's good to know. I think I may have an idea on how to activate the powers. I read a lot of comic books, and perhaps if I hold the map or the Crystal Stars like this..." I took the map, and held it over my head. I then felt a curious energy flow through me. I suddenly felt stronger, as if I was refreshed from my fatigue from walking underground for so long. Mario and the others felt it too. Luigi then said, "Heh, whoever said you can't learn from comic books needs their head examined!" I handed the map back to Mario, and we left to stock up on items for the long journey ahead.
Underground:
As we went underground, Goombella took an occasional glance at me. I felt a bit uncomfortable, as I learned her intelligence was equal, if not higher to that of Goombario from the first Paper Mario. I had a feeling that the truth of where I come from might be revealed, so I tried to avoid suspicion. However, I had a feeling that it might be best I tell them the truth to avoid trouble in the future. Goombella then finally said, "Ok, I can tell your hiding something Ray. No use trying to say otherwise." Mario and Luigi stopped and looked at me. I then said, "Ok, I figured this may happen eventually..."
I told them the truth about everything. The fact this world was in a game, that Mario and Luigi were and still are my idols from childhood, my life back home, everything. Obviously, it was a bit hard for them to swallow, but Mario and Luigi understood perfectly. They once lived in a different version of the real world after all, and they used to live in Brooklyn, New York. They had trouble adjusting to life in the Mushroom Kingdom at first, but got used to it as they felt more comfortable here than in Brooklyn. The truth was, they were originally born in the Mushroom Kingdom, which I found out when I first played Yoshi's Island on the SNES so they felt more at home in the Mushroom Kingdom than in Brooklyn.
Goombella was shocked, but she understood. I told them that we should only tell others on a need-to-know basis. I didn't want trouble from the people in white coats and butterfly nets. As we continued on, we found a sea cave, where apparently the sea carved into the ruins of the aincient city. We looked for a way across the water, but couldn't find any. I then noticed a large, white rock in the center of the room, which was close enough to jump over to, then jump again to the pipe which lead to Petal Medows. Mario ran and jumped, but as soon as he landed on the rock, it jiggled. Mario slipped, and he found the rock was squishy. He then said, "What kind of rock is squishy?" He pounded it a couple of times with his fist. We then saw a large tentacle come out of the water, and Luigi said, "M-ma-ma-ma-ma!" Mario then said, "What is it Luigi?" He saw we had looks of fear on our fases as we looked behind him. Mario slowy turned and saw the tentacle, he screamed, then ran along the surface of the water as he yelled, "GIANT BLOOPER!"
Battle: Mario brothers, Ray, and Goombella VS. Giant Blooper
Boss theme from Super Mario Sunshine plays
Suddenly, a huge Blooper shot out of the water. A Blooper, in case anyone doesn't know for some reason, is a squid. Like all squids, it has eight arms, along with two long, very powerful tentacles used to grab prey to eat. They also used the tentacles to attack with a nasty slap. Then of course they squirt ink, which is really hard to get out of your clothes. The Blooper was obviously angry, as it was shouting at us in it's native language. Obviously it didn't like getting jumped on, then punched in the head, which apparently we thought was the rock we saw before. Luigi tried to apologize to the monster squid, but it attacked with a blast of ink. It then lashed out with it's tentacles as it crawled out of the water. Mario then said, "It's Gooper Blooper all over again!" I then said, "Yeah, and this time you don't have the F.L.U.D.D. to help us. What a pain..." Luigi then said, "Hey, I just remembered! Mario, let's use our elemental powers we learned in the Beanbean Kingdom. We can beat this thing no problem!" Mario then said, "Great idea Luigi. Lets-a go!" I then said to Goombella, "Let's let the brothers handle this." Goombella nodded and we stepped back out of range of the giant Blooper as Mario and Luigi got into position.
Mario threw a few fireballs to Luigi, who knocked them into the air, then Mario jumped and somehow got the fireball to stick in the middle of the air. Mario and Luigi continued this process as the fireball gree bigger and bigger. Mario then jumped into the air, and punched the massive fireball at the Blooper, who went wide-eyed as the ball of flaming death came near. Then an explosion occured, sending the Blooper into the water, and then Luigi mustered every ounce of power he could gain as his hand began to crackle with electricity. He them put his hand in the water to zap the Blooper to end the fight. But his plan backfired a bit as he got electrocuted as well as the Blooper. Hey, what did you expect? Water conducts electricity after all, and Luigi just found out that his resistance to his own electricity is null and void once water is added to the mix. But we still won, and the Blooper fled.We then saw a series of platforms appear that lead to the platform where the pipe was. We got to the pipe, and then took our first step into adventure.
Real World:
My mom drew a sigh of relief after seeing how Mario and Luigi delt with the oversized squid. She nearly had a heart attack when it lashed at us with those tentacles. She said, "Thank goodness they ended that quickly..." My dad then said, "I feel sorry for the guy in green though. But I know see why they're called the Super Mario Brothers. That was amazing!" my friend Josh said, "I'm glad Ray and that Goomba had the common sense to stay out of the fight. Ray still owes me ten bucks, and I want him to still be alive to pay for it!" My girlfriend Shelby stomped on his foot, causing Josh to hop out of the room in pain holding his foot. She then said, "Luckelly for them, things will be pretty easy until they meet the first big boss where the first Crystal Star is located." My mom was worried at the sound of that, and hesitantly asked, "And what is the first big boss?" Shelby then said, "A fire-breathing dragon who wont hesitate to eat anyone and anything in sight." That's when my mom fainted.
To be continued...
There, I hope this fixes some of the problems people may have experianced in past chapters. I'll try to improve the past chapters soon.