4- Eggman
Mario was using a giant stick to row the giant leaf down the river. Sonic sat by his side, laying on his back with legs crossed and his arms folded behind his head. Mario placed the stick on the leaf to let the flow of the river carry them down stream – this was going to take a while. Mario sat with his legs crossed with his elbow resting on one of his legs and a hand underneath his chin.
"Man, this is taking forever." Mario sighed.
"It shouldn't take too long." Sonic's eyes were closed. He was taking a small nap, only to wake up to hearing Mario's voice. And he was having such a good nap too…
Mario sighed again, he was really hoping to get out of here as soon as possible. Suddenly, the flow of the river began to pick up. Mario perked up and began to row the leaf with the stick.
"Get ready." Mario spoke to Sonic. "It's gonna get a little rough from here on out. Hold on to your-!" He was interrupted when they suddenly dropped through a curve. "…hat."
"I don't have a hat." Sonic countered.
"Look out!" the huge leaf jumped over a drop. Sonic gasped before clinging onto Mario, who was now on his knees also and placed both hands on the leaf.
The river's speed was picking up rapidly, making it pretty difficult for Mario to steer. The leaf sharply went through a curve, before jumping over another drop. Mario grabbed the front of the leaf and pulled it with all of his might, trying to see if it would slow it down. Though the speed of the leaf didn't change.
They were coming to another drop, with rocks awaiting to shred the "boat" into a million pieces and the riders to be washed downstream. That wasn't good. The leaf could rip and it could sink once it touches the water and…drown…Sonic shut his
eyes tightly as he tightened his grip on Mario, who glanced at him before facing forward.
"Don't worry!" Mario assured. "I won't let you fall in!" Sonic opened his eyes and looked at Mario.
"But what about you?"
Mario looked at him before saying, "No one's going anywhere." Then he faced forward. "Not when I'm here." They jumped over the rocks, thanks to the speed of the river. So there was a pretty good advantage for this speed that was constantly picking up. But, there was a new problem ahead.
There was a rock up ahead. Mario's grasp tightened on the leaf and he tried pulling again, the leaf still didn't slow down. The rock were getting closer and the river's speed was increasing greatly. Mario then released the front part of the leaf, that was not helping.
"This isn't working!" Mario exclaimed. He then turned to the back of the leaf where the stem was located. He then got up and slowly but carefully walked towards the stem, he had his arms out for support.
Sonic looked back at him. "What are you doing?!" he exclaimed.
"Since I can't stop the boat, I'm going to have to make it jump over that rock!" Mario shouted, the crashing sound of the water ahead was getting pretty loud. "But since it's slanted, we could use it to jump!"
"It better work! By the sound of that crashing noise, I assume there's an army of rocks up ahead!"
Mario grabbed the stem. This better work…He then swung the stem towards the right before the leaf jumped by the help of the slanted rock. Now, the leaf was spinning while flying through the air. Sonic screamed as he held on to the leaf. Flying a long distance in the air, above water, was kind of shaky. It seemed like they were going down a huge hill. Now soon going to land back on the water, Mario let out a yell, before the leaf harshly landed on the water. The drop was so fast and deep, it would have felt your stomach dropped also.
Sonic panted, while Mario was now at the front, still holding the stem. Mario's knees shook, before he slowly sank down to them, he was going to sit down for a while.
Luigi was shocked. He was alive, that black and red whatever was alive. So he hadn't killed him, which was a good thing. He was glad to see he hadn't gone too far. Though, Luigi's small smile faded. Sure the thing's saving him, but, what if he's only doing so just to try to capture him? He wasn't too sure, but what if?
In a bizarre place this was, there was no way he was going to take any chances.
Finally, Luigi grabbed the hedgehog's hand. He was going to yank it with all of his might so the hedgehog could fall in and he could make his escape, but the hedgehog yanked him out of the water before he could even do anything afterwards.
The green plumber stumbled, before looking into the eyes of the hedgehog. Those pair of eyes were a deep red, eyes like those could just pierce through your soul, just by its color and maybe their meaning. Darkness…menace…just filled with danger. And Luigi knows danger when he sees it.
"Y-You're that thing from before…" Luigi said.
"I'm a hedgehog, not a thing." the hedgehog said. "Do you want me to regret saving you?"
"I'm sorry." Luigi backed up a bit. "How was I supposed to know what you're supposed to be?" he then held out his hand. "By the way, I'm Luigi."
The black hedgehog crossed his arms. "Shadow, the Hedgehog." He then began to circle the green plumber.
"You know, the way you fought me back there…" Shadow began. "was very impressing."
Luigi blinked. "So…you're not mad?"
"Of course, though you're fighting skills were very impressing. And you have very fast reflexes. I haven't met anyone else with such…skill."
Luigi slightly blushed. "Nah, I'm not that skilled…" he said humbly. "You were pretty good yourself…I guess…" he said the last part slowly.
"But you haven't given me much of a chance to fight back. You really had showed me up."
"Oh please! Nothing that special!" Suddenly, a white hedgehog flew in. The two both jerked once he flew in. Luigi starred into his golden yellow eyes, those pair of eyes might also pierce through your soul, but not as strongly as Shadow's.
Soon, Shadow spoke up. "Hey…you're that…that hedgehog!"
The white hedgehog jerked. "You again?!" he exclaimed. His eyes then darted over to the green plumber standing next to the black hedgehog. "Who are you supposed to be?"
"I'm supposed to be a plumber, named Luigi." Luigi said bravely. "Who are you supposed to be?" Before the white hedgehog could answer, a green dinosaur suddenly jumped on the hedgehog.
"I've found you!" he hissed.
"Now's not the time!" the white hedgehog exclaimed.
Luigi peered his eyes at the green dinosaur. "Yoshi? Yoshi… is that you?"
Yoshi looked up to the owner of that voice, before smiling. "Luigi! You're alive after all!"
"Me? You're the one who fell off the plane first! I'm just glad that you're okay."
"Well you better believe it!" he then got off the hedgehog and ran over towards the plumber.
"Hey hedgehog!" Shadow called out. "Don't you try to run off! Who are you? Answer me right now!"
The white hedgehog got up and brushed himself off. "I'm Silver, the Hedgehog."
"And I'm Yoshi." Yoshi said.
"Well now that you're here, I'm not letting you chase after the doctor!" Shadow exclaimed as he got into a fighting stance.
"So, you want to fight?" Silver then got into a fighting stance. Yoshi and Luigi looked at each other and shrugged before getting into a fighting stance also.
"I think I see something ahead!" Mario shouted. They were coming towards another current. "Down another hill. Hang on, another ride lays ahead!" Sonic then hang on to the leaf.
"Come on, let's do this! The faster the get through this, the sooner we can reach Eggman!"
"Then let's-a-go!" Mario pushed the stem forward, pushing the leaf towards the current. The river then carried the leaf down the hill at a quicker pace. Mario place one hand on his hat and kept the other on the stem.
They were going down the hill at a fast speed. There were more rocks up ahead. Mario pulled the stem left to right to dodge the rocks. Then, they came a cave, the flow of the river slowed down. When the leaf floated to land, Mario and Sonic jumped off and entered the cave. It was slightly dark, though not too dark due to a huge hole on top.
Sonic looked around, looking for the egg-shaped troublemaker. Mario began scanning the place as he walked around. This cavern was very roomy. Suddenly, he bumped into something big and soft, then fell to the ground on his back. He looked upward to see an egg-shaped man standing over him. Mario screamed before crawling backwards quickly to get away from the strange man.
Sonic whirled around when he heard Mario's voice. "Mario! What's up?" Then a shadow rose over him. Sonic looked upward, to see the one and only man he was looking for. "Eggman!"
"Well, well, well, Sonic the Hedgehog! You've finally caught up to me!"
"I have. Now hand over the cards!"
"YOU'RE Eggman?" Mario exclaimed, crawling towards a rock.
Eggman laughed wickedly. "That's me! You know, I haven't seen anyone like you, ever. Why don't you tell me who you are?"
He grabbed the rock and used it to help him stand up. "I'm Super Mario. I actually came here accidently, and met Sonic a while back. I was sent here by a magical staff thanks to-"
"Wha- Eggman! Who's that you're talking to?!" a voice boomed.
Mario jerked, before looking around. That voice…that means…Suddenly, a huge turtle walked from the shadows of the cave. Mario jumped back as his eyes widened, before they narrowed as he got into a fighting stance.
"Bowser!" he exclaimed. "I knew you would be here!"
Bowser jerked, before he mirrored Mario's pose. "MARIO!" he roared. "I knew you had to be here!"
"Ah… You know him, Bowser?" Eggman asked.
"Yeah! Mario is my arch nemesis! He would ALWAYS foil my evil schemes and… rescues the princess!"
"Talking about me, Bowser?" a sudden voice came. Everyone looked around for the owner of that voice. The turned to the entrance of the cave to see a princess and a red echidna.
"Peach!" Mario exclaimed as he ran over to her.
"Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed.
"PEACH?!" Bowser exclaimed. He couldn't believe it. He had expected her dead, just like that guy he also threw off the plane…and hopefully those two nuisances he took care of.
"Hello, Bowser." Peach said as she was released from Mario's embrace. She then began to walk forward. "Is there anything you have to say to me?"
For a moment, it was hard for Bowser to speak. "H-How did you survive?!" he demanded, or tried to. He really did not expect this. Mario he didn't know about, but Peach should not be alive right now, not after the fall.
"Never mind that Bowser!" Eggman said as he took out a remote. "So Sonic, if you and or Knuckles can win my little contest; I could give you a card of your choosing."
"Wait a minute! What?!" Knuckles exclaimed. "That's not what you said before!"
"Do you want the card or not?" Bowser exclaimed. "Just shut up and do what you're told!"
"You shut up! I wasn't talking to you!" Knuckles barked.
"Why don't you make me?!" Bowser challenged. "What's a punk like you gonna do anyway?"
"What are you gonna do Bowser?" Mario spoke up.
"I'm gonna shut all of you up! That's for sure!"
Knuckles got into a stance. "Then do something!"
"I said; shut up!" Bowser snapped.
"Now now, let's not get violent just yet." Eggman then pressed a huge red button on the remote. Suddenly a huge robotic turtle slowly raised from underground. Bowser and Eggman were on top of the robotic turtle's head where the seat was. The window slowly closed over them.
The turtle had a green shell, which had some yellow parts on certain parts that had grey tubes inserted in each of the yellow holes. There was a yellow foot that had a silver line on each foot on side of the shell, which the grey tubes were attached to. On the back was the tail, which was bigger and longer than the feet. And the turtle's head was in the front. There was a huge grey tube that was attached to the head, obviously that was the neck. There was a huge pair of red eyes, and a silver line going down the middle.
Eggman smirked. "Let's see how you can handle this!"