1-1: Toad Town Ruckus
A shorter chapter for the big meeting. I've definitely developed a good writing rhythm with this, so you can all expect at least one chapter a week.
Also, just to note, Three ~ of these (~~~) indicate a P.O.V. change. I'll have to go back to the previous chapter to add them in, so expect that change. A thank you to my Beta Reader for pointing that out and suggesting it.
Crash Bandicoot is currently owned by Activision. Super Mario is owned by Nintendo. Nothing is owned by me. Except Lite Brite.
Toad Town was in chaos!
…
Okay, so it's not that big of a surprise. Literally anytime something happened to the Mushroom Kingdom (invasion, kidnapping, Peach going on vacation,) Toad Town would be the first to start panicking. And given that Bowser usually invaded the kingdom practically every week, this happened often enough to no longer be a surprise to anyone.
What was odd about this moment of panic, however, was that it wasn't Bowser's usual goons that were the instigators.
"EVERYBODY RUUUUUUNNNN!" The ear splitting screeches of the toad residents rang through town as they all panicked, running away from danger.
The danger? A group of wiry looking scientists armed with high tech capture nets running into town, doing their best to capture the residents for some mysterious, but clearly malevolent purpose. The toads' small satures made that quite the difficult task though, as they often managed to run through the taller scientists thin legs, tripping them and knocking them over. It was honestly a kinda comedic display, even with the implications.
Luckily for the Toads, their hero(es) would soon arrive to save their day.
At the very center of Toad Town, a green pipe suddenly popped up from the earth. Two scientists, one male, one female, stopped to stare at the strange sight. The toad the male one happened to have in his net gasped in delight at the sight of the pipe. He knew what was coming.
A triumphant "YAHOO!" came from the pipe, followed by a small, portly looking plumber in red jumping out high into the air. That series of features on a person wouldn't really inspire any level of fear. At most, it'd remind you of the guy who came to fix your backed up toilet, or checked your dishwasher pipes while giving you an unfortunate view you didn't want to see at all that day.
But those features belonged to someone of a more heroic appearance. Mario, saviour of the Mushroom Kingdom, and occasionally the entire universe. Now you don't need this man explained to you, now do you?
The scientists stared at the man as he flew high up into the air. Then he started to descend, prompting the female one to back away immediately. The male one was too distracted by the odd sight, however, too notice what was coming to him.
He earned himself a boot to the face as his head was stomped into his torso by Mario for his lack of focus.
With a perfect aerial backflip, Mario landed on the ground, sticking his landing perfectly.
He turned around to see the male scientist reach for where his head was supposed to be, sparks flying out of the hole in his torso. They were robots, apparently. That was good to know. Once the scientist finally accepted that his head was now inside his torso, he slumped over and collapsed, letting his captive free.
"It's Mario!" The toads all shouted in delight, cheering for their hero. Their day was saved! Again.
Behind Mario, the female scientist looked around nervously for a way out, only to be startled by another shout coming out of the pipe.
"WAHOO!" Now a green plumber, this one taller and thinner than Mario, jumped out of the pipe, feet flailing in the air in panic.
The female scientist quickly dodged the falling green man, causing him to gracelessly faceplant on to the ground. The panicky scientist got the heck outta dodge after that, not wanting to suffer the same fate as her coworker.
Without missing a beat, Luigi, the nervous, but just as brave and capable brother of Mario, pulled his face out of the ground and jumped next to his brother, posing alongside him.
"... It's Mario! He's here to save us!" The toads cheered, seemingly ignoring the second brother.
Mario gave his brother a comforting pat on the shoulder. "There, there, bro. You'll get your chance one day."
The two began working in getting rid of the rampaging scientists. Stomping on their heads, kicking them in the faces and punching them in their guts, the Mario Bros made short work of the would be toadnappers, making them poof away into small bits of metal and electronic parts. Those that survived cut their losses and just ran away to wherever they came from, enjoying being alive too much to risk it for their paychecks.
"Where's Peach?" Mario asked the toads as they all watched the scientists retreat. One particularly brave one remained where she was, wielding her high tech net threateningly as she made a brave final stand.
A frying pan to the head put a stop to anything she could have done, sending it flying into the distance. The headless body felt for the missing head, and then slouched and walked away in disappointment.
Holding the frying pan was the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom itself, Princess Peach, having taken up arms in defending her own kingdom for once. Usually, she just let herself get kidnapped for reasons completely beyond comprehension of the average person whenever Bowser was involved.
We're not going to look into that this time. Or any other time. Instead we're focusing on Peach dusting off her dress as she approached the Mario Brothers.
"Mario, Luigi! You made it!" The princess rushed over and hugged the red hero, leaving good ol' green on the wayside. He was used to it. "I'm sorry that we had to call you out of your vacation, but we didn't have any other option."
"It's no problem, princess." Mario began explaining. "We would have gotten here the moment we got your letter, but the pipeway from Bubblaine to here had a blockage. It took hours to clean out the Piranha Plant gunk out of it."
"But a few hours late is better than not being here at all." Luigi reassured. "So, what is Bowser doing this time? Cause I don't think robot scientists are something he'd use."
"Well, that's the strangest part. Bowser doesn't have anything to do with this." The princess revealed, to the confusion of the two heroes. "If it was, the strange man that ousted me out of my own castle would have taken me as well."
"But wouldn't Bowser have noticed by now?" Mario mused as he looked at the leftover robotic parts of the scientists they had defeated. "I know he hates it when other people try to get in his territory. Especially when they kidnap you."
"He would have if he was here. I haven't heard anything from him in the entire month. He even missed our scheduled tea party last week. He never misses those."
The Mario Bros were surprised. It was strange for Bowser not to show up to an incident just like that. Usually he was polite enough to send the brothers a letter telling them he was leaving for a diplomatic trip, or was going on vacation, so that they wouldn't worry when he didn't show up to invade. Then a while after, he would show up to invade the Mushroom Kingdom again, this time with the element of surprise by his side.
"Wait, then who's the guy who kicked you out?" Luigi asked out loud for everyone to hear.
The question was answered when everyone noticed a strange looking drone come from nowhere, flying into town. When it settled right in the middle of the town square, a hologram suddenly flashed into existence in front of them, startling everyone, especially poor Luigi. He jumped into his brother's arms, who simply caught without looking away from the hologram.
The projection was of an elderly looking man, bolts sticking out of the sides of his bald, oval shaped head. The man looked around the area for a bit, before letting out a long sigh.
"Ugh, again with you uncooperative inha-habitants. Why does it have to be so hard to get a decent amount of t-t-test subjects for my experiments?" The man complained.
Peach marched forward towards the hologram, giving of a strong, regal air. "Well I'm not sure what you want with my people, but I won't stand by and let you kidnap them for some sick experiment, or whatever it is that you're doing. I demand you leave my castle and my kingdom this instant!"
The man looked at the princess with a disinterested look. "Mmm, no, I don't think I want to do that. I believe you do not understand the importance of my experiments, then." He cleared his throat a bit, then began to introduce himself. "I am Dr. Nitrus Brio, and I come from ANOTHER UNIVERSE!" He shouted as if it was some sort of mind blowing revelation.
Mario, Luigi and Peach simply stared at him, not at all impressed. They had seen weirder.
"Huh, I thought you would have been impressed. Tough crowd. Anyway, what you people don't understand is that this experiment I need to run on you is one that the very faith of your world hangs on! I'm in the need of an army. And with my potions, I can turn even your little town of weak, defenseless little fungus people into unstoppable monsters! Muha, muhahaha!" N. Brio laughed maniacally.
"Well unfortunately for you, we are here to stop you." Mario stepped forward to declare. "And we have a very good track record of defeating villains like you."
"Ye- yeah! We can take you down!" Luigi did the same, though much more nervous than his braver brother.
N. Brio simply groaned in response. "Ugh, this is just like Tranquility Falls all over again. At least my good friends were much nicer about helping me t-t-test my potions, unlike you people. Ah, how I miss those two. If only they were here to make my day better." He said wistfully.
As if on cue, a tear in the space time continuum appeared in the sky above Toad Town, catching everyone's attention.
"What the? Didn't he turn that thing off!" N. Brio himself seemed familiar with the nature of the tear, if his exclamation was anything to go by.
Soon, the tear widened, and a furry, orange creature wearing jorts fell out of it. The creature screamed all the way until he crashed onto the ground, cracking the ground. Everybody present winced in pain at the sight.
Crash slowly lifted his face off the ground, disoriented, but not too terribly hurt by the fall. He was used to that.. He looked up when he heard another scream coming from the rift, and saw his sister's body rapidly approaching him. He simply resigned himself to the inevitable pain that would follow.
With a loud thud, Coco landed on Crash's back. The younger bandicoot rubbed her back in pain as she tried to get up, apologizing to Crash, only to have her tablet knock her in the head, hard, causing her to fall over.
And finally, Aku Aku floated downwards towards them, the rift closing behind him. He shook his head as he went to help the two recover from their dynamic entrance. They did take notice of the crowd of small fungus people and the four humans staring at them in confusion, though. Well, all but one was confused.
"Ah! My Bandicoot friends, and their mask father figure. What a welcome surprise, gehahaha!" N. Brio was delighted at the sight of the bandicoot's sudden appearance. "I was hoping you would show up, now that these people have shown their true colors."
"Seriously, N. Brio?" Coco was the first to start asking the mad scientist questions, once she got up from the pile. "Invading another dimension again?"
"Of course I am! Someone had to do it, of course. When Dr. Cortex decided to conquer this universe, I chose to follow him as well. And now I'm amassing an army as a surprise gift for him for discovering these new experiment opportunities for me."
He glared at the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom. "And it would be a lot easier if these potential t-t-test subjects would be willing to cooperate. But noooooo."
Crash put his hands on his hips, tutting in disappointment at the mad chemists typical shenanigans.
"Oh, don't give me that look! Bah, forget this, the subjects left at the castle will have to do. If you're all willing to change your mind and help me out, then come to the castle, and we can test my new mutant creations together. Muahaha, MUHAHAHAHA!" With one last mad scientist brand fit of laughter, the hologram disappeared, and the projector flew off back to wherever it came from, leaving behind everyone to ask the big questions.
Mario, Luigi and Peach turned their attention to their new visitors, who seemed to be talking to each other about their situation, while sending curious glances at them. Well, two of them were talking. The one with the mohawk mostly stared at everything around him, not paying much attention to the conversation he was supposed to be a part of. When he saw them, he casually waved at them with a dopey smile on his face.
Mario cheerfully waved back before turning to Princess Peach. "We should talk to them, they seem to know a thing or two about this guy. They could help us with that."
"I don't know. Something about that guy in jorts rubs me the wrong way." Luigi stared at the aforementioned creature nervously. "It feels like we've met before somehow."
"Yeah, I feel the same way. That's why I think we should go talk to them. Get it all cleared up." Mario started to walk towards the newcomers, Peach quickly joining him in the greeting. Luigi simply sighed at his overly trusting friends, following behind them reluctantly.
"Why would N. Brio work for Cortex again? I thought he hated that guy. We at least have that in common." Coco complained to Aku Aku. Crash, meanwhile, looked around at the town, admiring the sights of the strange, mushroom shaped buildings, and the tiny people with mushroom hats. The bandicoot casually waved at one of the residents, who cheerfully responded by screaming in terror and running away.
What nice people.
"I hope we're not interrupting anything important." A sweet voice interrupted the dimension hoppers musings, and they turned to see where it came from.
The owner of the voice, a blonde woman in a gorgeous pink dress, clearly royalty, was approaching them. She was being followed by two plumbers, one a cheerful looking man in red, the other taller, but clearly more nervous. Also, they had the most magnificent moustaches they had ever seen in their entire lives.
"Oh, no need to worry, we're just here to clean up a mess someone has made. Allow us to introduce ourselves." The mask floated towards them. "I am Aku Aku, guardian of the Wumpa Islands. And these are my children, Crash."
The bandicoot waved half heartedly. He was too busy staring at Mario to pay attention to what was going on. Something was… familiar about the mustached man.
"And Coco Bandicoot."
"Are you a princess!? Is that a real royal princess dress!? Where did you get it, I would love one of those!" The teenage Bandicoot immediately started fawning over the princess.
Peach simply giggled at the girl's enthusiasm. "Why yes, I'm Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. And I have a team of seamstresses who make these for me whenever I need a new one." Peach moved to the side to introduce the Mario Bros. "And these two are the guardians of our world, Mario and Luigi."
"Hey." Luigi greeted awkwardly. Meeting new people was always so nerve wracking. That's why Mario was usually the one who took the lead in these situations.
Speaking of Mario, he was oddly quiet. Usually, he was the first one to welcome new visitors, but instead of doing that, he was staring at the Bandicoot, who was also staring back. Where had he seen him before?
"... Did you at some point ever scream at me outside my house with a megaphone?" He asked the bandicoot. "Something about dethroning me in the gaming business?"
Crash scratched his chin, deep in thought. Had he done something like that?
…
…
Crash shook his head no. Nothing rang a bell.
"Yeah, must be a coincidence. Welcome to our world, I guess." Mario returned to his usual cheery self, offering his hand to the marsupial to shake.
Crash gladly grasped the hand, giving the red clad hero a strong handshake. It was always nice meeting new people.
"I like your overalls." Luigi jumped a bit when Coco suddenly walked up to him, examining his clothes. "Where did you get them?"
"O-oh, we've had these for years. Our closet is packed with these, so we never run out." Luigi said. "Yours are great too, by the way."
"Yeah, they're hand me downs. That guy who's trying to experiment on these residents? These used to be his overalls, true story." The bandicoot girl said.
"As fun as it is to meet new people, we need to focus, children." Aku Aku lightly chided the bandicoots. He began to explain things to the locals about their reasons for being there. "An enemy of ours, Dr. Neo Cortex escaped into your dimension a month ago. We believe he's come here to invade your world."
"Yeah, he's short, yellow, has a big N on his forehead. His head is also just really big in general, also weirdly flat for some reason. Have you seen him?" Coco described Cortex, while Crash did his best to imitate their arch enemies mannerisms, maniacal laughter and posture included.
"No, we haven't seen him, unfortunately." Peach shook her head. "The only person who has been invading our world is the man you just saw menacing my town."
"Yeah, that's N. Brio. He's a… friend? Is he a friend of ours?" Coco turned to Crash inquisitively. He just shrugged, just as confused about their relationship status with the scientist. "This is kind of his thing, experimenting on people and turning them into mutant monsters, and stuff. He's kinda the reason why we're what we are, in fact." Crash pointed at himself and his sister when she said that.
"So does he work for this Cortex guy? He did say he was making an army for him as a gift." Mario helpfully pointed out.
"Well, that's the thing, he used to work for Cortex. He hates him now. Always hated him, actually." Coco became pensive and pulled out her tablet, scrolling through it. "But the only way for him to have gotten here was if he came with Cortex through the Psychenator. So I guess they buried the hatchet, or something?"
"At the very least he might have an idea as to where Cortex is. We should find him and put a stop to this madness. We can ask him about Cortex after.." Aku Aku declared. "I'm assuming the castle he mentioned is yours, Princess?" He asked Peach.
"Yes, and I'd be happy if you helped us get him out of there and save my subjects inside." The princess said.
Crash and Coco looked at each other and nodded. It was time to save the day from mad scientists once again.
Mario and Luigi looked at each other and nodded. It was time to save the Mushroom Kingdom once again.
The two groups looked at each other expectantly. They were going to be working together in this little adventure. Collaborations like these were always exciting.
"Then we can't waste time. Lead the way!"
With Mario, Luigi and Peach at the front, the unlikely group began running towards Peach Castle, ready to kick some N. Brio butt, no matter how disturbing that sentence ended up sounding. The Toad Town residents cheered on as their heroes rushed away to save the day.
The bridge leading towards Peach's Castle had definitely seen better days. Parts of the bridge's structure had been damaged in the invasion, now haphazardly repaired with metal plates and wood beams by the Lab Assistants that were helping N. Brio. The bridge itself was covered with miscellaneous equipment to be used for mad science purposes.
Dotted across the bridge were Lab Assistants wielding laser blasters, guarding their employers new digs from any pesky inhabitants that dared tried to intrude on their masters' evil plans.
Sadly for them, the intruders they were going to face off were of the professional variety.
The heroes soon arrived at the bridge, Crash and Mario standing at the front and posing dramatically.
The Lab Assistants failed to see what a plumber could do against them, so they weren't intimidated. The bandicoot, on the other hand.
One Lab Assistant screamed in terror as she threw her laser blaster in the air and ran back inside the castle at the sight of Crash. Clearly she remembered the encounters they've had with the marsupial, and the fates that had befallen her brethren who stood against him. She did not want to take any chances.
The foolish ones simply stood their guard and began to fire at the heroes, fully believing they actually had a chance at succeeding.
Mario jumped out of the way, landing behind a bridge column. He peaked out to see Crash still standing there, almost dancing around as he desperately dodged the laser fire, all in a complete state of panic. It was a sight straight out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. It was almost funny. Actually, it was incredibly funny.
Rapidly bobbing and weaving through the laser fire, the panicking marsupial managed to reach one of the Lab Assistants, and with his trademark spin, sent him flying into one of his coworkers, taking them both out. Crash took the time to congratulate himself, not remembering about the other guy. The lab assistant aimed his weapon at the marsupial that temporarily murdered his only friend, Crash responding by raising his arms in fear.
The Lab Assistant was distracted by the sound of someone running towards him. He was unable to find out what that noise was himself, but Crash did. He saw as Mario ran towards the Lab Assistant, performing a long jump to close the gap between his target and drop kicking the Assistant straight off the bridge.
Mario landed on his feet and checked on his new bandicoot friend. "You good?"
Crash clutched his chest for a moment, trying to calm his breathing, and gave Mario a thumbs up. Situations like that never stopped being stressful for him. Once he regained his breath, he got over the situation pretty quickly, judging by the fact that he simply rushed into the fray once more like nothing happened. Mario could only shrug as he joined him in clearing the Assistants.
Assistants flew off the bridge as the two carved a path through. One Assistant in particular, who shall be named Wilhelm, for references sake, screamed as he fell into the water.
When the two reached the door to the castle, N. Brio projected his mug from his projector that flew out of the top of the castle. "Ah, so you did decide to come help me? Excellent."
The rest of the group caught up with the two heroes, standing alongside them and glaring at the hologram.
"I demand that you let my subjects go!" Peach said.
"No. I like them too much. Especially that Toadsworth fellow. He makes a great Earl Grey tea. I might even make him my very first t-t-test subject for my brand new Super Serum! And don't say that I stole that from a Superhero Comic! I invented it, not Marvel!" The scientist yelled, but immediately calmed himself down. "Sorry about that. Now! If you want to challenge my creations, you will first have to go through this."
The doors opened by themselves, and the heroes looked at what was beyond it. A corridor full of electrified floors, toxic waste pits, flamethrowers, spike walls, spike floors, spike ceilings, spike floor smashers, a sandwich made out of spikes was sitting all evil-like on a table, and a random Lab Assistant holding a plunger in a threatening manner was what came into view. It was by all definitions a death trap.
"Run along, my Bandicoot friends, and other. Prove yourselves a worthy challenge for my newest creations, muhahaha. GUHAHAHAHA!"
Crash and Coco looked at each other and sighed. More platforming hell, as per usual. This already reminded them of Cortex's Castle. And that meant a whole lot of deaths were to come.
"Ooooor, we can take the entrance in the moat." Luigi suggested shyly.
The inter dimensional visitors turned to look at the residents, the heroic ones with very hopeful looks.
One moat drained of all its water later, our heroes and a hologram projector stared at a metal door that once sat submerged in the moat.
"I guess making the moat drainable from the outside was a good idea." Peach commented.
"That's why I suggested it." Mario said. "And now it's benefiting us now."
"Pfft, who would choose the safe path some stranger suggested compared to the death route of death your good friend is offering." N. Brio said to the Bandicoots.
Crash smiled awkwardly as he walked towards the Mario side. Not that he didn't mind a good obstacle course, no, he actually loved a good challenge. But he also liked not dying. That was also a whole bunch of fun, being alive.
"Yeah, no offense, N. Brio, but we'll take the safe route." Coco said as she also joined the Mario side. "Nothing against you, it's just, we like being alive, and junk."
Everyone turned to look at Aku Aku, who was simply floating next to Crash. He reacted with confusion at all the stares. "What? You two should know I always stand with you. Besides, it's annoying for me to always revive you every single time you die. The safe route seems refreshing."
Crash and Coco nodded in agreement at that.
N. Brio was offended. "Oh, fine, take the safe way inside! See if I ever do anything nice for you again after this! Do you see this? I tr-tr-try to make them a nice obstacle course of doom, and they just chicken out!" He talked to someone that was with him, but not visible on the hologram.
A squeak could be heard as a response to his statement.
The projector turned off and flew away back inside the castle, leaving behind the heroes to look at the metal door.
"Well, ladies first." Mario pushed open the door, presenting it for Peach. The princess giggled as she entered inside, quickly followed by Coco, who really wanted to chat with the royal. She had to find out how she got her hair so pretty.
Crash quickly rushed after the two, really wanting to see what was behind the door.
"We can get to know each other inside. Share some stories, talk about our adventures." Mario suggested to the mask. Luigi himself agreed to the sentiment, given his happy "Yeah."
"Hmm, that does seem like a good idea. If you all don't mind, I can start?" Aku Aku said, and began to talk about his backstory when he saw Mario and Luigi nod in agreement. "You see, I have an evil twin brother."
There was supposed to be a boss fight this chapter. A giant Piranha Plant/Koopa hybrid that acted as an angry guard dog of N. Brio's. I couldn't come up with anything interesting for it though, so that was dropped. But not to worry folks, the boss of the next chapter, ohoho, you'll all be surprised by it.
Next time, the Bandicoots and the Mario Bros get to know each other, go through a little platforming challenge, and face off against the most horrible creation N. Brio has ever made!
Also, Constructive Criticism is heavily appreciated. I want to improve as much as possible. I should have pointed this out before, but here it is now, I guess.