Sonic & Mario
Chapter 4
On the Edge of Mario's Temper
Sonic stopped running and looked behind him. The human had disappeared from sight. Sonic relaxed; he was rid of that human for now.
Sonic bent down to get his breathe as he thought about his encounter with the strange human.
"Who was he?" Sonic asked himself, "And why did he start attacking me?"
Sonic suddenly remembered that the human could fly with a hat.
"How could that human fly with a hat and how could he send fireballs like that?" Sonic asked, adding these questions to the many unanswered ones he wanted answered.
After recovering his breathe, Sonic stood up straight and looked around at his surroundings. From what he could tell, he had run out of the meadow and was now in some type of plain.
Sonic just shook his head. Now he was in a stranger place then he was before.
"Guess I have that weird human to thank for sending me here in the middle of nowhere," Sonic said.
Sonic looked for a clue to his whereabouts and was delighted to find a sign standing in the ground just ahead of him. Sonic dashed up to the sign and read it carefully.
"Welcome to Donut Plains!" said the sign.
"Donut Plains? What type of name is that?" asked Sonic as he read on.
"This place is excellent for nature viewing but beware of dangerous plants that live on the tasty soil in this grassland."
"Hmm, tasty soil?" Sonic asked as he felt his stomach growl. He hadn't eaten anything for a while, and his stomach was getting upset at its abuse. Maybe…
"Perhaps it's called Donut Plains because the dirt tasted like donuts," Sonic guessed.
Sonic bent toward the ground and took a handful of dirt. The dirt was light brown and weighed very little in his hand. Perhaps in this world, dirt was edible to both plants and creatures.
Sonic shrugged his shoulders as he put the handful of dirt into his mouth.
And immediately spat it back out!
"Yuck!" said Sonic as he wiped his tongue clean from the not so tasty dirt that he had put into his mouth. That was the last time he was going to eat dirt for breakfast!
Sonic saw a little brook of water near him. Sonic went to the brook and scooped up some water in his hands.
"Guess I'll have to live with water for now," Sonic said as he brought the water to his mouth.
A sudden loud beeping caused Sonic to spit the water out of his mouth.
Sonic stood up and looked for the source of the beeping. As he stood up, however, a small object fell out of Sonic's back spikes.
Sonic turned around and saw what caused the loud beeping: Tail's emerald tracker.
The tracker didn't stop beeping but kept it up at an even pace. Sonic grabbed the tracker and turned on the screen. A digital map appeared with a small dot on the edge of the screen.
Tail's emerald tracker was working!
Sonic immediately forgot about the water and paid close attention to the screen. According to the tracker, the second chaos emerald was somewhere south of the plain.
Sonic's attitude lightened up at the clear results and gave a smile.
"Looks like I'm back in the game," Sonic said as he dashed across the plain, looking for the chaos emerald.
Unknown to Sonic, however, a predator had caught hold of Sonic's scent and started the hunt for the unsuspecting hedgehog.
Mario landed on the ground with a loud thud. The rock that Sonic had kicked at Mario beforehand was on Mario's stomach, pinning the small human to the ground. Mario was feeling sleepy from the whole incident and his eyes were ready to close shut.
Till something lifted Mario off the ground.
Mario immediately opened his eyes and saw a large vine wrapped around his stomach. The rock had fallen to the ground, and Mario could now see what was holding him up in the air: a gigantic piranha plant.
The piranha plant drew Mario closer to its jaws, waiting for the tasty snack to fall into its gaping mouth. Mario quickly threw a large fireball at the plant. The piranha plant felt the fireball against its leaves and howled in pain. Mario took the distraction for granted and broke the vine that was holding him in the air. Mario landed softly on the ground as the piranha plant quickly recovered and roared at Mario. It wasn't happy at the pain its prey had caused it.
Mario wasn't happy either.
"I am not in the mood today to fight a bunch of overgrown flowers" Mario snapped.
The piranha plant roared even louder at the insult and threw its vines at Mario. Mario quickly outmaneuvered the vines and threw a multitude of fireballs at the angry plant. The plant roared in pain as the fireballs attacked its body and let its vines go down easily. Mario backed away from the giant plant as it slowly calmed down, trying to recover from its wounds.
Mario took the free time he had and ran as fast as he could away from the piranha plant. The plant saw Mario run away and ignoring its wounds; it sent a couple of vines after Mario. The vines quickly wrapped around Mario's legs, causing him to fall to the ground.
Mario recovered quickly from the fall as the vines dragged Mario closer to the plant's mouth. A spark suddenly lit Mario's temper on fire. Mario had enough of this plant.
Mario did a quick somersault in the air, snapping the vines that were around his legs. The piranha plant roared in anger as its vines grew back to their normal size. Mario, however, didn't hear the anger in the plants roar; his anger was starting to explode inside of his head. Mario landed on the piranha plants head and did a butt stomp on its head. The plant roared in pain as Mario repeated the attack over and over again on its head. Slowly the piranha plant started to shrink in size, and its roar was getting weaker, but Mario kept on butt stomping. The plant grew smaller until it was as big as a normal flower. Mario jumped off the plant and threw a giant fireball at the plant's mouth. The small piranha plant shrieked in terror, but it was too late. Mario turned his head around as his fireball gave the final blow. The plant stopped shrieking and withered away into the ground. The plant would no longer harm any living creature.
Mario dusted the dirt off of his shoulder and looked at his surroundings.
"Donut Plains," Mario said, recognizing the landscape around him.
Mario took his red hat off his head and brushed off the dust. If there was one thing in the world he hated more than piranha plants, it was getting his clothes all dirty.
Mario placed his hat back on his head and thought about the creature he had met before. It was certainly fast: fast enough to outrun the fastest civilian in the Mushroom Kingdom. If Mario was to catch up with it, he would need to take the quickest shortcuts possible to stop it from reaching Peach's castle. Once he caught up with it, Mario would put a stop to its plans to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom.
If only he knew where it was.
Mario had lost track of the creature after he was knocked unconscious by the rock that the creature itself had kicked at him. From what Mario knew, the creature could be anyway.
"I guess I'll starting searching in the south," Mario said and walked towards the southern part of Donut Plains.
Mario's temper still hadn't calmed down as he left the spot he stood and looked for the fast hedgehog.
"I defiantly need to learn how to read this thing," Sonic said.
Sonic was staring down at the screen of Tail's emerald tracker, trying to figure out where the emerald was. He had already run south of his previous location, but the beeping beeped at the same rate.
"Too bad Tails isn't here," grumbled Sonic.
Suddenly, something large hit Sonic from behind. Sonic fell down to the ground and dropped the tracker several feet in front of him. Sonic recovered from the impact he had just had and went to grab the tracker, but suddenly a large vine grabbed Sonic's body and hurled him high into the air.
"Heh!" Sonic yelled as he flew high into the air, only to be caught again by the big vine.
"What's going on here?" Sonic yelled in confusion when suddenly he heard a roar from behind him. Sonic turned around in the vine and saw a large plant with large teeth roaring at him. The vine that was holding Sonic dragged him towards the gaping mouth of the plant.
Sonic quickly did a fast front kick, breaking the vine that was holding him. The plant roared in anger as Sonic landed on the ground behind it.
"Hey, pal!" Sonic said smartly, "I'm not plant food. If you're hungry, why not try ordering a pizza! It tastes way better than a dirty old hedgehog!"
The plant roared angrily at Sonic and launched a whole bunch of vines at him. Sonic easily sidestepped the vines, grabbed one of them, and ran around the other vines, tying them together with the one vine Sonic had grabbed. The plant roared as it struggled to get its vines free.
"Seeing that you are in a big entanglement, I'll just leave and look for the chaos emerald," Sonic said and went to get his tracker.
Only to discover it was missing.
Sonic grew excited as he looked everywhere for the tracker. Where was it?
During his desperate search for the tracker, Sonic failed to notice that the plant had finally untangled its vines. Free at last, the plant silently stalked the unsuspecting hedgehog.
"Where did I drop it?" asked Sonic.
Sonic suddenly saw a huge shadow loom over his body. Sonic slowly turned around and saw the plant free from its entanglement and now towering over him. Sonic also saw another thing too: one of the plant's vines was holding the emerald tracker.
The plant launched a bunch of its vines at Sonic, but Sonic easily dodged them and surfed up one of the plants big vines. The plant saw Sonic on its vine and opened its mouth, ready for the hedgehog to fell to get into striking distance. Sonic saw the plant's plan and leaped off the vine as the plant struck at its own vine. The plant roared in pain as Sonic landed on the vine that had his tracker and grabbed the tracker out of the plants grip.
"Sorry, pal, but it's not nice to steal from others," Sonic said and leaped off the plant.
The plant saw Sonic jump off and tried to grab him with one of its vines. Sonic saw the vine, kicked it away, and landed on the moist earth.
"It was nice knowing you, but I am not planning to stay for dinner," Sonic said and dashed away from the angry plant.
The plant tried to follow Sonic, but Sonic was too fast and soon last sight of him. Losing its prey, the plant gave an angry roar and shrank back into the earth to have a dinner of soil instead of live meat.
Sonic kept running and looked at the tracker. It was still the same.
"Guess I better head farther south," Sonic said and dashed off towards the south of Donut Plains.
Mario walked across the vast field, still looking for the creature. Mario was nearing the edge of Donut Plains and could see the blue ocean in the beautiful sunset. Any other time Mario would have enjoyed watching the sun setting across the ocean, but right now he had more important things to do.
Like finding that fast creature.
Mario soon came to a valley in the center of the plain and looked down into it. If the creature wasn't in the valley, then Mario had chosen the wrong place to look, and the creature would have a big lead ahead of him.
And that was one thing Mario wanted to avoid at all costs.
Mario sat down by the ledge and waited. He was still furious that he had let the creature escape, but there was nothing he could have done about. How was he to know that the creature could run that fast? Still, he could have ended this whole goose chase then and there.
Mario shifted uneasily on the ledge. His patience was getting smaller in size. He would have seen the creature by now if it was here, but so far, all that Mario could see was grass at the bottom of the valley. Mario stood up and was ready to leave but then stopped as he saw a cloud of dust coming quickly towards the valley. Mario waited as the cloud of dust finally settled down and revealed a small figure in the valley.
That figure was the creature he was waiting for!
Mario jumped off the ledge and into the valley. He finally caught up with the creature, and he wasn't going to let it go away without a fight.
"BEEEEEEPPPPP!" "BEEEEEEPPPPP!"
Sonic stopped and looked down at the tracker. It was beeping louder and faster than before. Sonic was finally close to the second chaos emerald!
"I think I finally know how to read this thing," Sonic said proudly as he looked around at his surroundings.
He was in some sort of valley that was walled in by the plain above it. Sonic looked out in front of him and saw a path that leaded to a large body of water. Sonic shuddered at the thought of being wet.
"That's the one place I'll never look for a chaos emerald," Sonic said in disgust.
Sonic looked around in the valley but saw nothing. The emerald then had to be on the plain above him!
"Chaos emerald! Here I come!" Sonic said and ran towards the exit of the valley.
And stopped immediately as a small figure land on the ground and blocked his way.
Sonic backed off from the creature and studied it carefully. It had a red hat and some blue trousers and…
"Ah! Not you again!"
It was the same human that attacked him before in the meadow.
Mario stood his ground and glared at Sonic.
"Finally, I have been searching for you everywhere!" Mario said in an angry tone of voice.
Sonic just gave a little nervous smile on his face.
"This time I am not going to let you escape so easily. I will stop you from accomplishing your goal."
Sonic just shrugged his shoulders.
"Sorry, pal, but I have no time to play around. I got work to do."
"Really, well try explaining this!" Mario said as he charged at Sonic.
Sonic just watched Mario coming at him at full speed. When Mario finally reached him, he tried to punch Sonic but only got air instead. Confused, Mario looked up and saw Sonic dashing across the two walls of the valley, finally reaching the plain. Mario immediately ran up to one of the walls and jumped quickly back and forth between the two walls till he made it to the edge. Mario gained his balance and looked for the hedgehog.
Who happened to be on the other side of the plain!
Mario grumbled angrily and made a long jump over to the other side of the plain.
"That was too easy," Sonic said and looked around for the emerald. He was rewarded when a saw the setting sun shining on a small purple stone near the edge of the plain. The second chaos emerald was found!
Some footsteps caught hold of Sonic's ears.
Sonic turned around and came into contact with Mario's fist. Sonic fell to the ground but quickly got up again as Mario tried to punch him again. Sonic dodged the second punch and gave Mario a small kick. Mario backed off a bit from the kick, and Sonic then ran over to the purple emerald.
"Hold it, Hedgehog!" Mario shouted angrily, "I won't be defeated by the evil likes of you!"
Mario gave out a loud battle cry and immediately threw a bunch of fireballs at Sonic. Sonic barely dodged the fireballs, and Mario quickly ran up to Sonic and started to punch him. Sonic fell back each time he was punched till he came to the edge of the plain. Sonic looked down and saw his worst fear: water.
Mario went to give Sonic another punch, but Sonic quickly tripped Mario, knocking him to the ground. Seeing his opponent on the ground, Sonic went and picked up the chaos emerald. This was his biggest mistake.
Mario's temper grew more and more during the fight with Sonic, but now it was on the urge to blow. Mario quickly got up shot a giant fireball at Sonic.
Unsuspecting the attack, Sonic fell back close to the edge, dropping the chaos emerald in his hand. Mario came over to Sonic and shot more fireballs at him. Sonic tried to dodge them, but he was running out of room to move. Soon he was on the edge of the cliff that divided him from the ocean below him. Mario, seeing Sonic on the edge, threw a gigantic fireball at Sonic. Sonic tried to duck, but he lost his balance and fell off the edge.
"Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Sonic screamed until he hit the water.
Mario watched Sonic hit the water and waited for him to come back up to the surface. Sonic, however, did not appear on the surface.
Mario waited impatiently for the creature to come up for air, but after seeing it didn't come up to the surface, Mario presumed it had drowned.
"Must be a poor swimmer," Mario thought and turned to walk away.
Until he saw a purple gem lying on the ground next to him.
Mario picked the gem up and looked at it. The gem suddenly glowed brightly into Mario's eyes, causing Mario to stare at it even more. Mario could sense a sense of power coming from the beautiful gem but what?
As Mario stared at the emerald, his anger suddenly melted away and happy thoughts took his anger's place. The emerald Mario had in his hand reminded him of Princess Peach: so bright and beautiful but also very powerful.
"Peach," Mario whispered to himself.
The memory of Peach brought back the memory of the painting of the creature as well. Mario woke up from his daydream and remembered that the creature had fallen into the ocean. It could still be alive.
Mario took one last look at the emerald and then placed it in his trouser pocket. Perhaps when this whole goose chase was over, he could give Peach this gem as a gift to honor her for the duty she is doing to protect her kingdom.
Mario put away the thought and went down the path toward the beach to find the remains of the creature.