Newcomers

Hello and welcome back again sorry for the wait school got in the way of me writing but hopefully you are still excited for this new chapter and in this chapter I'll be introducing the last two members of the Mario fireballs, Mario and friends learning the new additions to strikers and planting the seeds of the first game of the strikers season also this chapter is going to be much longer then the last two, the first two chapters combined would still have less words so without a further of a do lets get into the story

Again I don't own Mario or Mario Strikers Charged all rights go to Nintendo and Next Level Games

Mario was walking back in forth in his living room get more impatient by the second. "Where could they be?" Mario thought in his head as he looks back at the clock reading the time for what felt like the sixteenth time 12:44 pm. He shook his side to side in annoyance just as there was a knock on his door he has wanted to hear. Mario quickly walked to the door and opened it to reveal his two teammates. Mario reached out his hand and Kenny grabbed it then Mario wrapped his left arm around the red koopa into a hug and patted his shell as Kenny did the same and patted Mario's back. Mario then did the same with Kingston the kritter to greet him as well the three were happy to see each other.

"It's so much better to see you guys in-a person then on the speaking on the-a phone" Mario said to begin the conversation. "Yeah it is me and Kingston actually meet up the road before we got here" Kenny said calmly. "Why didn't you tell me Kingston was coming back?" he asked to his captain. Mario then explained to the koopa troopa he called Kingston after calling him and never thought of calling him back about bringing back the green kritter. "It doesn't matter we're all here that's the important part" the kritter responded as he placed one hand on Mario and Kenny's head and started rubbing them violently. Mario adjusted his now crocked hat straight after Kingston's horseplay then notice two people behind Kenny and Kingston. "How are you two?" asked the plumber to the strangers.

"These are my friends Mario" Kenny answered to his captain first he pointed to the Hammer Bro to show he was talking about him "This is Henry" the red koopa introduced first "Hello Mario I have heard good things about you" said the Hammer Bro as he held his hand out towards the famous Italian plumber. Mario smiled and took his own hand out to shake Henry's hand after the handshake Kenny point to the next person he wanted to introduce to Mario.

"Next this is Dean" as Kenny pointed too him as Dean walked up towards Mario also held out his hand to the Mushroom Kingdom hero "It's very nice to meet you Mario" greeted the Dry Bones. Mario like before shook the hand of Dean and said hello back to the dry bones. "It's-a very nice to meet you both but what are you two doing here" Mario ask the two in confused voice.

Henry and Dean both looked at each other before turning their heads back to Mario with big smiles across both their faces. "WE WANT TO JOIN YOUR TEAM" both yelled in triumphant voices while raising their fisted hands up in the air. Mario took a step back by the yell and was more shocked by the shear energy the two showed then the actual proposal. "Yeah the two rookies want to join the team" said Kingston breaking the silence in a not too positive voice. "Come on Kingston you know we need two new teammates and you know I wouldn't let these guys tag along if I didn't think they were good enough" Kenny said in annoyed voice towards the negative kritter. Kingston crossed his arms while shaking his head and releasing a disrespectful sounding scoff and turned his head in the other direction.

"So, what do you say Mario?" asked the nervous hammer bro now fidgeting with his hands. Mario pondered the idea he did need two new sidekicks and these two seemed like the perfect pair to join and finish his team out. He then looked over to Kingston how's head was still turned away from the other four Kingston didn't seem to be totally onboard with the idea and he didn't want to anger his goalkeeper but not being able to play Strikers again would anger him even more just cause he couldn't find two new sidekicks. He then looked over to Kenny who just gave him a simple nod indicating to Mario he wanted them on the team. Kenny is friends with them and wouldn't be telling me to let them join if he didn't believe in them Mario thought.

Mario closed his eyes and inhaled some air in his big nose then exhaled letting out the air go out of his month before opening his big blue eyes already staring at Henry and Dean. "Henry" Mario said in an emotionless voice "Dean" Mario said in the same emotionless manner. The two stared at the plumber with nervous face expecting the worst and Kingston turned his head to see what was about to happen. Mario then held his hand out Infront of the two. Henry and Dean looked at the Italian's white gloved hand then looking back up to the red hero's face now seeing a smirk plastered over his face. "Welcome to the-a team" he stated too the two. Henry raised both his hands that were in fists and lowered them down releasing a small yes while Dean was moving his fist up and down repeatedly with smile on both faces.

"You won't regret this Mario" said Henry placing is hand on tops Mario's in the process "Right Dean?" he quickly added turning his head towards the dry bones direction. "No he won't" he answered backed placing his gloved hand on the hand stack on top of Henry's specifically. Kenny smiled as he too walk up placing is own hand on the hand stack looking at them with a confident smile. All while this was happening Kingston just stared at the scene not believing what he just saw with an emotionless face all over his face. The four of them then looked over to the tall kritter seeing his arms were still folded up seemingly like he wasn't going to join in the hand stack.

"Come on Kingston" softly said Mario "We're are not a team without-a you" he added. Kingston stood still for a few more seconds before giving up letting his arms fall to his side let a sigh escape his lips then putting his hand on the top of the now compete hand stack. Mario smiled looking at his now assembled team then saying "On-a three say team". One Mario looked over to Kenny first seeing he still had the large smile. Two Mario then turned his head quickly to Kingston the kritter seeing his eyes were on the hand stack and had a straight face making it difficult to guess how he was feeling. Then Mario moved his eyes over to look straight at Henry and Dean seeing the sheer excitement on their eyes before getting ready to yell. THREE he shouted hearing this they all lowered their hands slightly before all lifting their hands high in the air and yelling together TEAM.

"Ok it's official we're a team" Mario said to his team "Come on in I got to-a call the to the toad representative of the-a strikers league" as he opened the door telling his team come in. They accepted the offer and walk in Kingston had to duck his head just to pass through "Could you get a taller door installed in your house?" the goalie asked "Maybe if my captain was of average height he wouldn't have his doorway the size of a mouse hole" he said making fun of the plumber's short stature. Mario laugh at the jab responding with one of his own "I would but seeing you bump your head because-a of your abnormally large head is-a too funny". "Hey!" yelled Kingston at the insult the others just laughed at the banter the two shot back to one another.

"You four just-a take a seat I got to call in saying we're ready for the season" Mario ordered of his sidekicks while dialing a number and putting the phone to his ear. The four did what was asked and sat down Kenny, Henry, and Dean sat on the red couch while Kingston took the recliner pulling the lever and popping it up so his legs were in the air. Mario waited for the yellow toad to pick up and answer then he heard this voice "Hello Striker headquarters what can I help you with?". "Hi, I was calling in letting you know I got my team ready and am ready to play" answered back Mario. "Wow that fast? Well if you are ready come by the strikers headquarters so we can register you and your team and getting your equipment ready". "Okie dokie" the famous plumber replied and hanged up.

"Lets a go we have to go to strikers headquarters" the fireballs captain said. "Really?" complained the fireballs goalkeeper "And just when I was getting comfortable" he explained but he still got up from the chair. They all exit Mario's home walking to the strikers headquarters. One walk and twenty six minutes later they arrived at the big building above the doors there was the same trophy logo Mario saw on the yellow toad's jacket the building itself was very wide and tall Mario guessed about three stories tall. The five walk through the glass doors and made there way up to the desk. At the said desk was the yellow toad typing way on his computer with is attention and eyes locked on the computer not even noticing Mario was in front of him. Mario saw a bell on the desk and decided to ring it. The sudden noise broke the toad's attention and moved his eyes over now seeing the plumber and four others behind him.

"Oh my, my fault I didn't notice you there" he said in an apologetic voice to the plumber and held out his hand for a handshake. Mario nodded and took the toad's hand and accepted the handshake "Oh its-a fine I'm-a here to register my team" he explained and pointing him showing his team to the toad. "Well that's great here just sign your names on the lines here" as the strikers employee handed Kenny a clipboard with a piece of paper. Kenny did what he was told and signed his name on one of the four lines and handed it off to Henry who did the same. While that was happening the yellow headed toad spoke to Mario "So for you're team your armor will be red with white and blue accents and your team logo will be the M on your hat with flames surrounding it like a fireball" "Woah woah woah woah woah what do you mean armor?" asked the confused plumber.

"Oh yeah I never went into depth about how different this strikers season will be compared to the last" realized the toad as he face palmed the then look back at his computer checking the time on the little clock 2:30 pm it read. "Well I guess this is the best time to show you" He turned his chair facing back at Mario's team asking them if they were done with the sign up. Kingston nodded and handed back the clipboard to the toad. The toad look over the piece of paper and once satisfied he jump out of his chair placing the clipboard under his right arm and got out of behind his desk and started walking down a hallway. Mario and company looked then the strikers employee stopped and turned around to say "Follow me please" he asked nicely and team fireballs did just that following just behind him enter the hallway.

A bit of walking later they arrived at a metal door and toad enter a four number pin on the keypad on the left side to open the door. After opening the door the toad step aside to reveal to the five an indoor metal soccer field while still in awe Mario heard the sound of metal hitting each other he turned his head to the culprit of the noise only to see her! "OK PRINCESS TIME'S UP PRACTICE IS OVER" yelled the yellow toad trying to grab the princess's attention. "Already?" said back Peach the princess and ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. She was in old strikers attire and hair in a simply yet still stylish ponytail only difference was she had a light pink soccer bib over her top. While staring at the toad she saw in the corner of her eye Mario himself with what look to be his team behind him.

"Mario what are you doing here?" she asked as she ran up to him only stopping when she was about a foot away from him. Before even being able to talk Mario was cut off by the yellow toad explaining Mario is one of the four team participating in the striker season. Hearing this the blonde got a smirk on her face as she bend down now on Mario's level all up in his face then talking. "Is that so well it really doesn't matter to me you are no threat to me and you and your team of misfits wouldn't even provide me a good warm up nevertheless a actually match good luck Mario cause you're really going to need" then she flicked Mario's nose sending a slight pain to the fireballs leader as he lifted his right hand up to cover his nose. "Team lets head out of here" he shouted as her team that consisted of a Toad, Shy guy, Birdo, and kritter walk over to her and exited the practice field behind Peach as she said goodbye to Mario then giggling evilly as she disappear in the hallway.

"Never seen the princess act like that" said the yellow head toad with one eyebrow raised and scratching the side of his head displaying his confusion. "Great job captain she insulted you right in your face and you said nothing back" Henry the hammer bro said sarcastically clapping his hand slowing adding insult to injury. "Can it bird beak" Kingston said to green shelled hammer bro in a threating sounding voice "What?" Henry said in a defensive voice. "He let that stuck up princess walk all over him and not only insult him she insulted us as well calling us misfits" explained Henry to Kingston. Kingston thought it over and decide Henry was correct and apologize to the hammer bro for the insult and Henry accept it.

"Quiet you-a two" yelled Mario to Henry and Kingston scaring them and both stood up straight and still as could be after the yell while Kenny and Dean who were quiet through the whole thing laughed at the two. Turning his head and being sure the two were quiet Mario look back at the toad who was standing there waiting patiently. Knowing now he had Mario's attention he began his speech. "As I told you before this year's strikers will be a little different but let's start off with the similarities" he start off know holding Mario's and his sidekicks attention. "First same setup 5 v 5, electric fence is around the perimeter of the field during all play and you are allowed to slide tackle and check your opponents but if you hit them when they don't have the ball they are awarded an item" the toad stop to let them digest the information. "Those will be the only things that will stay the same beside those this will be completely different game" continued the toad as he picked up a metal ball.

"This is the new ball we call it the charged ball" he showed off the steel ball to Mario and friends handing it of to Mario as he turned the ball observing the ball and being surprised how light the piece of metal was. "We call it the charged ball because the more you pass it the more energy it stores making it more powerful of a shot and it travels fast when you pass it" explained the yellow toad the told Mario to try it himself to see it in action. Mario did so and placed the ball down and pass it to Kenny how caught the ball under his foot now with the ball glowing a red hue instead of its previous purple glow. The koopa pass it back to the plumber now shining an orange hue. Another pass changed the ball yellow finally one more pass the ball was glowing pure white with a white streak followed it when it moved.

"Woah" Mario and company said in awe at the metal ball. "This will make the game faster paced and encourage more tactical play" said the toad. "Anything we need to know?" asked Dean to the strikers representative. He thought about it wonder if he missed something then it hit him, he had one more detail to tell the five. "Yes actually you know how in previous striker games only the captain had a special move?" he ask they nodded yes to the question. "In this year's season you sidekicks get your own skill shots t to call your own" the striker employee said to the three short sidekick look at each other wondering what he meant by special shot. The toad ask the kritter to stand by goal to play goalie so he could show off what he meant by skill shots giving him a pair regular goalie gloves and the goalkeeper did what was asked and stood in front of goal in his defensive stance of bending his knees and holding his arm to his side with a white colored goalie glove on each hand.

The toad ask Kenny to come to midfield and to preform a full charge shot to see what will happen. Kenny held his foot back charging up his shot up before swinging his foot hitting the ball launching the ball transforming the metal ball into a massive steel koopa shell sending it right at goal. Kingston was caught off guard by the massive shell hurling towards him but stood his ground and attempt to defend the goal. That didn't go to well as the gigantic shell smashed right into knocking him back and leaving him in a daze as he hit the ground hard. The shell returned back to the metal ball as it rebounded back to midfield. Mario, Kenny, and the rest let out a small woah after witnessing Kenny's skill shot. "We call that the shell smash" said the yellow toad with a proud voice. "Is he ok?" asked Dean ignoring the toad pointing at Kingston who was still on the ground then a groan came from Kingston as he lifted his head with his hand on the side of it. "You ok?" Mario asked with a shout with his hands cup around his mouth. Kingston whose hand was still on his head got on one knee then got up on both feet then took a big deep breath then yelled back "Never better its going take a lot more to take me down" as he got back in his goalkeeping stance ready for more.

"Good goalkeeper you got there Mario every headstrong I see" the toad said in an impressed voice at the kritter's grit and determination. Mario smiled at the complement to his goalkeeper then saying back to the toad "He-a just doesn't know when to quit". The toad nodded before asking dean to come up to midfield and try his skill shot Dean got the steel ball in front of him and just like Kenny, he held his foot back charging his shot then kicking the ball. The second the ball was kicked electricity formed around the ball flying straight at Kingston. Like before Kingston was shocked (haha get it?) when he saw the giant ball of electricity but he again stood his ground and blocked the skill shot but that resulted in him being electrocuted in place for what felt like years but was really only seconds. The ball came right back to Dean like a boomerang and he stopped the ball with his chest and letting the ball fall to the metal ground and putting his right foot on top of the ball holding it there. "We call that shot shocker" introduced the toad

"I don't know if I like this" said dean unsurely "This seems like torture to the kritters" he added explaining his feelings about the skill shots. Kingston who was now on his hands and knees catching his breath heard this and did not like what he was hearing from the dry bones. "QUIET DEAN" he shouted so loud Dean and the others jumped. "I appreciated the concern but remember your not shooting the ball at me you are shooting at the opponents kritter so you better be using these shots like crazy on them" he ripped into the dry bones. After hearing the kritter Dean realized he was right strikers a contact sport and he shouldn't be worried about hurting someone he looked in Kingston's eyes he nodded and the kritter nodded back the both now being on the same page.

"Ok Henry your turn to show off" the toad said to the hammer bro. "Ok" Henry simply said as he got the ball but instead of staying at midfield he jogged up closer to the goal while dribbling the ball. He stopped halfway in between goal and the line that showed where midfield was. Kingston saw this and laughed was Henry not strong enough to shoot a shot from half field he thought as he got ready to stop the skill shot. Rather then using his foot like Kenny and Dean, Henry pulled out a hammer and held it high in the air behind his head charging his shot. To a surprise to everyone instead of shooting the ball straight at Kingston, Henry brought his hammer down and launch the ball straight in the air did he whiff the others questioned. But then Henry jumped in the air throwing hammers each going further then the last. Eventually the hammers each Kingston burying the lower half of him in the ground firmly as he struggled to free himself from the predicament. Now knowing the kritter was buried Henry hit the ball with his last hammer into the net scoring a goal. Kingston didn't even notice the ball fly past him as he still was trying to escape the ground that held him like glue. He then notice Henry standing over him holding his hand out to Kingston. The kritter accepted the offer and grab the hand and Henry pulled him out of ditch like jail. "Sorry about that but my skill shot is no good if I'm too far away so I needed to walk up to show off my skill shot" Henry explained to the green kritter who was dusting himself off and told the hammer bro there was no need to apologized and that he fully understood. Henry happy with understanding kritter started walking up back to the others at the same time picking up the hammers he threw and securely put them back in who knows where. Mario asked Henry where he carried all those hammers at Henry opened his mouth to answer but then his eyes opened realizing he didn't know either he just shrug his shoulders not knowing either.

"That hammer throw was amazing Henry" praised the yellow toad. Henry said a simple thank you and walk back over to Kenny and Dean who stood side to side behind Mario. "Alright Mario we saved best for last" said the strikers employee as Mario had the ball in between his legs and continue to listen to the toad. "If you charge up your shot all the way instead of super strike you will perform a new move that you could split the ball up potentially three to six goal" he exclaimed before calming himself down to explain how the move worked "It's called a Megastrike it is the most powerful move in the game it can score multiple goals only the captains have the ability to do it and the amount of shots and speed of the shots is depended on how well you execute the Megastrike you might not get it at first but with practice you'll master the Megastrike" he informed Mario. "Oh yeah" the yellow headed toad said remembering he left out an important detail he then turned to the kritter and said, "Just like a super strike only the goalkeeper can stop it, every ball that gets into the net is worth one goal". Kingston nodded and got ready for this so called Megestrike. "Ok go for it Mario" the toad said as he back up giving the plumber space and stood next his sidekicks. Mario held his foot back charging up then he kicked the ball high in the air still on the ground he was in a crouched position his head down and eyes closed focusing. Now ready Mario launched in the air catching up with the metal ball with a fiery trail following right behind him. Now at the same height with the ball Mario slowly turned into metal Mario with the sun now behind him his metal skin rusted while he swing his left foot back behind his head holding the pose for second Mario swing his foot back the ball kicking it with full force making a very loud CLANG sound sending it right at Kingston.

Kingston clapped his hands together get himself ready and focus where the shots wear coming from, he counted three balls and they were going at a decently fast speed and got ready. The first shot got past him as he dove to late to the left to save it, the second one went to the right side and the kritter learned from his mistake and was able to stop it and make the ball explode on impact, the last one came straight at him so Kingston jump in front of it and caught it with ease. He was still mad he didn't stop the first one but two out of three wasn't bad for his first try and let it go. Mario came back down back to his to normal self and landing perfectly on his feet. "Wow that was amazing!" Henry yelled in disbelief at what he just saw Mario do. "So was Kingston he stop two of the three shots no problem" Dean said praising Kingston's goalkeeping skills. "They were both amazing" Kenny added at the end impressive with the both of them.

"Nicely done Mario for your first try at a Megeastrike that was very good" the yellow toad applauded the plumber. "And you too Kingston not bad for your first time defending a Megastrike" the strikers representative congratulated the kritter. "Those are the main new addition to strikers we added so now with that out of the way you five can train here for the next month honing your craft before the striker season" the yellow toad said. Mario and company were happy to hear and started training every day at the classroom for the next month straight two hours every day.

In the next month Mario learned each of his sidekicks strengths and weaknesses. First Kenny was just like Mario he was a well-balanced player having average speed, shooting, passing, and defensive abilities. Henry was at his best when he has the ball his shooting and passing abilities were some of the best Mario has ever seen but he was slow he tried his best but the fastest he went was a light jog and his defense was awful his side tackle didn't cover much ground and instead of checking he would pull out one of his two hammer off his back and try to hit them like that the hammer hit hard yes but it had very short range. Dean was the compete opposite of Henry in each way he was blazing fast being able to run circles around anyone and his defense was second to none his slide tackle covered much ground and his checking was nothing to mess with he launches himself far and if hit it was going to leave a bruise but his shooting was pretty weak and his passing skill could you some work.

A month flew by and it was the night before the first game Mario and team were at a hotel getting ready for the game and finalizing the position everyone would play. "Ok here's the formation I-a play striker, Kenny you-a are left midfielder, Henry you are right midfielder, Dean you are in the-a back playing defender and-a Kingston you already know your job" the leader of the team told his team. They all nodded to their captain before Henry spoke up "I can't for tomorrow so we can play and beat that bratty princess and wipe that smirk off her face" he said in a pumped up voice. "Please Henry don't be like that" said the plumber in a tired voice all Henry would talk about was Princess Peach after finding out that their first game would be against her. To be honest though Mario felt the same way he hated the princess when they played strikers, she was the epitome of every mean girl diva bully from high school movies rolled up into one. She was pleasant person any other time but strikers brought the worst out of her. "It's-a getting late let's head off to bed" said the exhausted sounding plumber to his team as he stood up from the table. "Our game isn't until eight at night tomorrow but sure goodnight captain" said Henry as he stood up from the table alongside Kenny who he was sharing a room with while Dean and Kingston who were sharing a room together. They all said their goodbyes and Kenny, Henry, Dean and Kingston walked off together in the same direction as Mario got them rooms with two beds so they were next to each other.

Mario exited the hotel lobby pushing his chair back in and head to his room. Once back at the door of his room Mario got his key out of his pocket and used it to open the door and entered his room. Now inside he headed to his bathroom to brush his teeth once done he grabbed his suitcase mainly just clothes inside and grabbed his red stripe pajamas and put them on. Now on his bed he couldn't sleep with the thought of tomorrow's game thinking of the cheering fans, hard hitting action and the adrenaline rushing through his veins. "Can't-a wait for-a tomorrow" the plumber whispered to himself as he closed his eyes drifting to sleep.

Authors Notes

Thanks again for reading and Hammer bro and Dry bones were my final two sidekicks I had in my road to the striker cup playthrough

In the next chapter the striker season begins with a game against Peach and the climb begins first by winning the fire cup

Stay safe and see you next time