Author's Note: Hey everybody! I got some bad news. No Pikmin this chapter. Why? Because this is a super special chapter! This chapter is the first of what will be a recurring feature. This chapter is what I call a Dolphin Gaiden. What's a Dolphin Gaiden? Well, you remember way back in Chapter 2 how Link's team is called Team Revolution, and Mario's team is called Team Dolphin. A Dolphin Gaiden is just a chapter that instead of telling the story of one of Link's missions, it tells the story of one of Mario's missions!
Besides Dolphin Gaiden, I also plan to make another kind of Gaiden called Smash Gaiden which is basically a side story that takes place in the Smash Mansion while the two teams are gone. These Gaidens, even though they are side stories, are still canon and may occasionally reveal an important plot point that effects the main story.
Don't worry Pikmin fans, next chapter will be about Link and Team Revolution's adventures in Pikmin world. For now, just sit back and relax as I tell the tale of Mario's group.
Oh, and since this is really the first chapter where I'll be having characters think, I feel I should point out that text 'That looks like this' is thought, which includes telepathic speech.
Disclaimer: Actually, I just sued Nintendo and I totally own all of this now!
Ok, not really...but I can dream! I also don't own any third party characters.
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Brawl Saga: Dolphin Gaiden.
Chapter 5: Buy All Our Playsets and Toys!
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Mario looked around him. He was home. His team had just teleported to the Mushroom Kingdom.
"So, what're we doin' here? I thought Mewtwo said our next recruit was third party?" Captain Falcon said, standing behind the red-clad plumber.
'Our next recruit is third party. It's complicated. However, I believe we should let Mario explain. After all, he knows exactly who we are here for,' Mewtwo "said" as his cold voice was telepathically projected into everybody's minds.
"Well then Mario, spill the beans. Who are we here for? What's a third party character doing in the Mushroom Kingdom?" Marth asked Mario.
Mario looked at his team. Mewtwo, his second-in-command, floated beside him. Captain Falcon and Marth stood in front of the mustached hero, waiting for his answer. Behind them stood Pit, one of the new recruits. Master Hand had assigned him to Mario's team in hopes of the rookie learning what it meant to be a Smasher from the man who was unanimously considered Nintendo's mascot.
"Well, any of you guys ever here of Super Mario RPG for the SNES?" Mario asked.
"Isn't that the one where Nintendo teamed up with Square, before it became Square-Enix?" Marth said.
Mario nodded his head and continued, "Well, a couple of characters were created for that game by Square. I don't really understand why, but it seems Square owns all the copyrights to those characters. So, while they're only appearance ever has been in a Mario game, these characters are technically third party. However, we still allow them to live here in the Mushroom Kingdom. We're here to recruit one of these characters, an old friend of mine."
"Who is it, sir?" Pit asked curiously. The young angel had a very eager look on his eyes. He secretly was a big fan of Mario, and was very excited to be with his hero.
"You'll see," was the only answer Mario gave as he began to make his way to his house.
A few minutes later, Team Dolphin crowded its way into Mario's rather small living room.
"Nice place. Kind of small," Captain Falcon said as he looked around.
"Well, it's only Luigi and me, and we never have very many guests over so it's never had to be big," Mario said from another room. "Aha! I found it!" the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom suddenly cried out. Moments later he walked into the living room carrying a box covered in dust. He opened the box and pulled out something that looked like a SNES. He quickly hooked it to his TV. Next he pulled out a communications headset much like what Fox McCloud wore. It had a wire with a plug coming out of it, which Mario used to attach it to the SNES-like device. He then took out something that looked like a SNES cartridge, only it was all silver and plugged it into the device.
"Um, what is that?" Marth asked as he raised an eyebrow at the strange contraption.
"This my friends is a Star Road communication device. It allows me to communicate with...a higher authority," Mario said with a small chuckle. He turned on his TV and pressed a button on the device. Immediately, the TV screen flashed a couple of colors. Suddenly, the whole screen turned white.
"Greetings, Hero Mario! It is good to hear from you! May I inquire as to why you are calling?" a voice suddenly spoke, its voice coming out of the TV. The voice was soft and female.
"I'm looking for...um...well, I'm looking for the being that we know as Geno," Mario said as he momentarily tried to pronounce a very difficult word before giving up and resorting to a different name.
"Ah you mean (heart music note ?). He is currently on a mission. I am sad to report that recently, a group of beings calling themselves X-Nauts came and abducted a member of our kind. Immediately, (heart music note ?) descended to your world to rescue the captured individual. Last I heard from him, he had infiltrated the X-Naut base located under the seas of your world, but has been unable to communicate with us since then," the voice explained. As she spoke, she twice said a word that none of the Smashers present could ever hope to pronounce.
"The X-Nauts? Well, thanks for the information. I'm off to find him. Goodbye!" Mario said with a look of worry on his face. He pressed a button, and the TV screen faded back to its default black screen. Mario unhooked the communication device from his TV and placed it back into the box.
"Um, Mario, sir? Who is, um...Geno? And who are the X-Nauts?" Pit asked, struggling with the strange word he had heard the voice say before giving up and resorting to them name Mario had used.
"Geno is the person we're here to recruit. He was one of my teammates during Super Mario RPG. He's an agent of Star Road...I guess you could call him sort of a celestial being. When he travels to our planet, he possesses a doll named Geno, which is where he gets his name from. As for the X-Nauts, they're an evil organization I faced during Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. I thought I had defeated them, but...they must be up to something if they captured someone from Star Road. We're going to help Geno. Team Dolphin, let's move out!" Mario explained to the young angel. A glint of determination shone from his eyes, and Mewtwo could feel the courage radiating from the plumber. The five Smashers made their way out of the house and made their way towards the sea.
-- -- --
The sound of wood hitting metal was heard as a small being ran and ducked behind a corner. Peering around the corner, he decided that the hall was empty and quickly made his way down it. The being known as (heart music note ?), but currently going by the name Geno, looked around. This place was just one metal hallway after another. Geno approached another corner, but was shocked to hear voices. Looking around, he spotted a small supply closet and dived into it. The door failed to close all the way, and a small crack was left that Geno could use to peer out into the hall.
"So, what're we doing here again? I thought we had disbanded after Mario defeated Sir Grodus?" one X-Naut said as he rounded the corner.
"Yeah, but we're under new management now. Some weird guy just one day rounded up all of us X-Nauts and paid us a lot of money to be his army. I hear he's got a Star Being captured and being held in the Interrogation Block. Part of his master plan," another X-Naut said. Geno frowned. He did not like the sound of this Interrogation Block. He waited until he couldn't hear anymore foot steps and stepped out of the closet. He then turned the corner and started making his way through the hall when suddenly a X-Yux popped out of a hidden hiding place. Geno frowned as the creature was soon surrounded by four Mini-X-Yux. He transformed his hand into a small energy canon and took aim. X-Yux were designed to protect important places. If one was blocking his way, he must be getting close to the Interrogation Block. Determination crossed the possessed doll's face as he charged in and fired a laser.
-- -- --
Mario swam through the ocean, heading towards the large metal base the loomed before him. For some reason, the water in the Mushroom Kingdom was so full of oxygen, it was possible to stay underwater indefinitely. He looked around at his teammates. After getting over their initial shock over the ability to breath underwater, they had adapted quickly. Each person swam easily through the water, Mewtwo speeding ahead of the rest of them by telekinetically pushing himself forward.
'Wait guys...I sense danger ahead of us. I think they may have already seen us. What should we do?' Mewtwo's voice said inside of their heads.
'Not much we can do,' Mario thought, knowing that even now Mewtwo was reading his mind to find the answer.
'I say we spring the trap. Mewtwo, can you teleport us inside?' Marth's voice said, Mewtwo broadcasting his thoughts to the rest of the group.
'It will take some effort, but I can do it. Hold on,' Mewtwo replied. Mario could feel the Legendary Pokemon's powers grab a hold of him. Next thing he knew it, he was in a large room in the base, as were the rest of his team. Surrounding them were dozens of X-Nauts. A door opened, and a familiar face walked in.
"Lord Crump! What do you think you're doing? I thought the X-Nauts were disbanded?" Mario said as he stared at the person who had walked into the room.
"We did disband, but then some guy came and hired us to help him out with his evil plans. Kind of a weird fellow. But anyways, he sent us to stop you from going any farther. It's bad enough we already have that one intruder," Lord Crump replied.
"Just curious, but how did you know we were coming? I could have sworn we were as careful as possible," Marth said.
"Errr...cameras and motion sensors and stuff like that?" was Lord Crump's answer. He then turned and seemingly faced no one. "Actually, don't tell these guys, but I cheated. I gave the author a box of Pocky, and he told me what was going to happen," he said to the air.
"...who's he talking to?" Captain Falcon said.
"Don't ask me...he did that a couple of times in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. I think he's a tad bit crazy," Mario said.
"What!? I'm not crazy! And I'll show you! Prepare to face my newest secret weapon! The Magnus Von Grapple 3.0!" Lord Crump shouted. He ran out of the room, and seconds later a large robot with a number 3 on its chest rose out of the ground. It did a couple of dramatic poses, and then faced Mario's team.
"Not another one of those...I beat the first two. What makes you think that a third one will work and better?" Mario said with a sigh.
"Because, this one is air conditioned! Not to mention it's brand new Super Mega Ultimate Secret Weapon: the Crump Canon! Now, time to take you out!" Crump shouted over an intercom.
Mewtwo just shook his head. 'We don't have time for this,' he mentally projected to everyone present. Mewtwo casually pointed his hand at the Magnus Von Grapple 3.0 and a bolt of lightning suddenly crashed down into it. 'Thunder,'Mewtwo said as the Magnus Von Grapple 3.0 began to slightly spark.
"No fair! Cheaters! Look's like I'll have to use the Super Mega Ultimate Secret Weapon: the Crump Canon! You won't be able to stop this!" Crump's voice shouted out from the intercom. His body suddenly sank down out of the Magnus Von Grapple 3.0's cabin. A large canon popped out of the chest, and was pointed right at Mario. The canon began to glow with a bright blue energy as it charged. Then, without any warning, the canon fired Lord Crump out of it directly at Mario.
"You call that a secret weapon!" Mario shouted, completely surprised by Lord Crump's maneuver. Still, Mario wasn't so surprised. He managed to jump over Lord Crump just as the X-Naut commander was about to hit him. Missing his target, Lord Crump proceeded to crash into the wall.
"...I think we should probably go now," Marth said. Everyone agreed and ran out of the room before the baffled X-Nauts could do anything.
"Why do we follow this guy again?" one of the X-Nauts asked.
"Good pay?" one of his fellow grunts replied.
"Oh yeah, forgot about that," the first X-Naut said.
-- -- --
Geno looked around him. How could they have discovered his location? He had been so careful not to be seen. Two X-Nauts and four X-Yuxes surrounded him. Geno transformed his hand again, this time into a machine gun-like device.
"Give up intruder! You're surrounded!" one of the X-Nauts said.
"I can not give up. I have an important mission to carry out. Those who I serve would be very disappointed if I failed," Geno said.
"This guy talks weird. Who do you work for, the Mushroom Kingdom or something?" the other X-Naut said.
"I serve...a higher authority," Geno said. He began to spin in place, firing small metal balls at all the enemies around him. Then he jumped out from the middle of the enemies. While his opponents were still stunned, Geno transformed both his arms into blasters that shot out beams of energy. The blasts destroyed all the X-Yuxes and knocked the X-Nauts into the wall, causing them to fall unconscious. Geno merely transformed his hands back to normal and continued on his way. The Interrogation Block was getting so close, he could sense the presence of another one of his kind. His mission would soon be over.
-- -- --
Mario and his party looked at a map they had found in the possession of an X-Naut they had encountered and promptly defeated in the hall. This base was huge, and looked like it was designed by a madman.
'According to the information I pried from that X-Naut's mind, the captured Star Being is in the Interrogation Block. What's more, I believe that the leader that rounded them up is currently in there, or so it would seem from his thoughts. It looks like we'll have to take out this mysterious leader person ourselves. The thing I find odd is that I couldn't pry any thoughts on the leader's identity from the X-Naut, as if he didn't even know,' Mewtwo told the other Smashers.
"Alright, then we're going to have to head for the Interrogation Block! Follow me everyone. Take out any X-Nauts that get in our way," Mario said. He then folded the map up and bolted down the hall. Surprisingly, Team Dolphin didn't encounter any X-Nauts until they reached an unusual sight. A section of the hall had two X-Nauts slumped against a wall. They looked like they had been blast by some kind of energy canon, judging by the burns on their uniforms. Everyone stopped and looked at the scene.
"Woah! Who did this?" Captain Falcon asked.
"Geno was here," Mario said as he rounded the corner and continued down the hall, followed by the rest of his team. They were getting close.
Moments later, they came across a door label "Interrogation Block" and walked up to it. The door automatically slid open. They stepped inside and saw they were in a square room. In the middle of the room was a large metal block. On top of the block stood two figures. One of the figures seemed to be some kind of wooden doll in a cape. The other was a strange man with a green head and a red cloak, who was wearing a very odd helmet. Mewtwo levitated Team Dolphin onto the block, where they also noticed that a glass dome that seemed to contain a ball of light was strapped to a chair behind the man with the odd helmet. This man of course, was the leader of the X-Nauts.
"Fawful? You're the leader of the X-Nauts?" Mario said, slightly confused.
"Ehehehehehehehehe! Of course I am, you finkrat! After your horrible defeatingness of the one called Cackletta, I was so rudely tossed into the most minor of guest appearances in the sequel to the game of Red and Green's Saga of Superstars! There, it was in my despair that I formulated a plan of the upmost evilosity! Once I had done the serving of the mustard of your doom to you. Now are you prepared for the tasting of the ketchup of my utter vengeance? For once I am done with the defeating of you, I shall resume my glorious plan in which I shall use this being who is from the Star Road to bring back the great Cackletta!" Fawful cackled madly.
"You shall not use one of my kind to fulfill your dark desires. By order of the Star Road, I command that you release the captive citizen you now hold, and surrender," the other figure said as he pointed his arm, now transformed into a ray gun, at Fawful.
"Geno! Boy, am I glad to see you! I have something to tell you after the fight," Mario said. At the mention of the word fight, the members of Team Dolphin began to get into a combat ready pose.
"What is this? You are doing the ganging of six against the one who is me? That is an unfairness of which I cannot do the tolerating of! Prepare as I bring a bit of evening to the odds! FINKRATS!" Fawful said. He pressed a button on his helmet, and suddenly the room was filled by 30 Fawfuls who were jetting around the room with their helmet, including the original one who had flown up and joined their ranks.
"Could he always do this?" Captain Falcon asked.
"No, this is a new trick. Mewtwo, what's he up to?" Mario said.
'Hmmm...I sense brain patterns from only one of the Fawfuls around us, but I can't pinpoint his location. His insanity makes it painful for me to try to read his mind and difficult for me to tell where he is. We'll have to just keep attacking until we find the real Fawful,' Mewtwo projected into everybody, even Geno's mind.
"Or you could allow me to handle this. Everyone, go to the doorway and stand behind me," Geno said. Mario nodded his head, and Team Dolphin jumped off of the block and made their way to the doorway. In one smooth motion, Geno jumped off of the block and landed in front of the five Smashers. Charging his energy for a second, Geno then transformed into a cannon.
"GENO...CANNON!" Geno's voice came from the cannon as it shot out a blast of energy that proceeded to turn into a sun like shape that filled the whole room. 29 of the Fawfuls faded, while the 30th Fawful's helmet began to smoke as he crashed to the ground.
"Ack! You finkrats have discovered the plan that was belonging to me! But you will not be able to win with such stupid moves. I will be having my victory!" Fawful shouted.
"Guess again, Fawful," Geno said, now transformed back into a doll. He was pointing at the block. Everyone looked up at the block. A globe of light was now rising towards the sky. I quickly disappeared through the ceiling.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your attack of the large blasting shattered the dome within which I was keeping my prisoner! This is the ruining of my plan which I could not have the foreseeing of! You have taken the ketchup of my vengeance and spilled it upon the floor of utter failure!" Fawful said as he began to stomp and through a fit.
'I suggest we get out of here. I just used my telekinesis to activate this bases self-destruct mechanism,' Mewtwo said.
"Mama mia! To the sub bay!" Mario shouted as he pulled out the map and quickly glanced at it to find an escape route. Team Dolphin and Geno ran out of the Interrogation Block. After navigating a few corners, they found the sub bay. Unfortunately for them, the sub bay was actually a just a place where the X-Nauts could eat submarine sandwiches.
"We're doomed," Marth said with a sigh.
"Not if I can help it," Geno said. He walked over to a large window that had been installed so the X-Nauts could enjoy a nice underwater view as they enjoyed their subs. Transforming his hand into a canon again, he pointed it at the window and began firing. A few moments later, it began to crack.
"Heh, I'll finish it off for you," Captain Falcon said. Geno stopped his blast. Captain Falcon charged at the window and leaped into the air. Mewtwo, almost as if on cue, telekinetically grabbed Captain Falcon and levitated him up to the window. Falcon pulled back his fist, which began to be surrounded by fire. "FALCONNNN...PUNCH!" he shouted, unleashing a single powerful punch surrounded by a flaming falcon. The window before them all shattered.
'Hang on!' Mewtwo said as he surrounded everyone with a psychic bubble and quickly lifted them out of the sea. About halfway to the surface, the Smashers looked back to see the base explode and send X-Nauts flying into the sea. Fawful shot out of the top of the base and emerged from the water the same moment the Smashers did. As Mewtwo telekinetically levitated them in the air, they heard Fawful shout something.
"Finkrats! One day will I do the returning, where I will avenge myself upon you and your heads which are stupid! Fawful is doing a blasting off again!" the strange green man shouted. Everyone just sort of shrugged their shoulders as Mewtwo flew them to shore.
-- -- --
"So, all I have to do to contact this Master Hand is activate this device and speak into it?" Geno said as he held a familiar Gameboy like device in his hand. Mario had already extended the invitation to him to join the Super Smash Bros. Tournament, which Geno quickly accepted.
"Yup. I really hope you make it in. I'll look forward to fighting both with you, and against you," Mario said as he waved goodbye to his friend. He pressed a few buttons on his watch, and soon Team Dolphin moved on to their next world.
"Farewell, Mario. I too hope we can meet again in this tournament," Geno said as he turned around. He decided that if he was going to try entering a tournament, he would train. After all, he would need new tricks if he wanted to beat the great hero Mario in a fight.
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Well, there you guys have it! My first Dolphin Gaiden! Hope you all liked it! Don't worry Pikmin fans! Next chapter will feature your favorite plant herding space captain as he encounters Link and crew. I just thought that I might spice the story up by including some side stories featuring the other Smashers.
However, I should warn you that updates will come less frequently because right now I really need to focus on my school work and I can't do much typing on my stories during the week anymore. So expect updates just about every weekend for a while until summer.
Also, I know what's going to happen for the next seven chapters, but after that I've got nothing. If anybody has a suggestion on a character they would like to see one of the teams try to recruit, feel free to tell me. Just remember that the only third party characters allowed in Brawl are characters who have appeared on a Nintendo system, and are not a TV/anime/movie/etc. character. Video game characters only.
With all that said, the only thing I have left to say is: please review! If you don't I'll be forced to go out on the streets and wear a cardboard sign that says "Will work for reviews of my fanfic." And you don't want that on your conscious, now do you?
