Chapter 22: Opening Ceremony
3:00 P.M.
Due to damage from the marketplace, the Smashers had to postpone the opening ceremony for Mario and Sonic for two hours. People began to fill up the stadium staring at the large stage in front of them. Those who couldn't see from such a distance turned their heads to the projectors on each side of the stadium.
From backstage a few volunteers helped set up Miku and Makato's microphones to perform. As well as make-up, and outfits.
"Here we gooooo~! Auto tuneee on~~!" Miku cheered.
A few women surrounded both girls, dabbing their faces with last-minute powder. Makato stared at the mirror in her copycat outfit to Miku's but with pink highlights instead of teal. The cheers continued from the stadium and Makato clenched her fist.
"I'm getting quite nervous. . ." Makato said.
"Just follow my lead!" Miku said, staring at the mirror alongside her. "When I get nervous I imagine people in their undies!"
". . .Hmm. . ." She glanced at Miku and smiled. "That's weird."
"60 seconds!" One of the staff members said.
"Let's do this!" Miku raised her hand for a high-five.
Makato clapped back at her hand and nodded.
"AND NOW LET US START OFF THE OPENING CEREMONY WITH OUR VERY J-POP IDOL AND POP SENSATION, MIKU! WITH MAKATO, PRINCESS OF POTIONS!" Master Hand announced.
Roy raised his glow sticks, along with many other J-pop fans, and waved them frantically. "Makatoo! Mikuuu! I love yoooooou!"
Miru blinked in shock. "The Princess' singing with Miku?"
"I wish I bought a glow stick if I knew she would be singing." Marth smiled.
"Roy give me your glow stick," Ike ordered.
"Hell no!" Roy spat. "I gotta support both! Turquoise for Miku, pink for Makato."
The audience screamed louder once the music began to play and the idols stepped on stage. The projector showed both idols making the audience roar. Both of them began to dance, moving their arms and legs to the beat of the song, World Ends Dancehall.
"Hopin' steppin' may I have this dance
This is the world's end, shall we do the "one, two"?
Dring in all if this apocalyptism.
How about a little taste of daze and
Tick and tack, the moment's moving on.
Shoot now, "say cheese!", our time is running out.
Round and round and going round and round.
Intoxicate, the world is getting (high)."
(oOoOoOo)
The girls sang a few songs and it finally ended with fireworks shooting from the stage. The turquoise and pink glow sticks shined and waved in the daytime.
"Thank yooouuu~~!" Miku waved, leaving the stage. "Miku's merch 30% off for the whole day!"
"MIKUUUU MERCH!" The crowd repeated. Makato smiled and made her way out of the stage first then the Vocaloid.
"That was amazing!" Peach cheered.
"I agree," Zelda said.
"It was cool," Samus said, clapping.
Roy fanned himself with his glowstick, as he sat back down on his seat. "Oh. . . my God, I need water. . and Miku merch!"
"And a bath," Marth said, side-eyeing the redhead. "You stink of sweat!"
Once the girls left the stage, Master and Crazy Hand floated back on the stage.
"LET US START INTRODUCING THE TEAMS THAT WILL BE COMPETING FOR THE MARIO AND SONIC WAR!" Master Hand said.
The stadium's roars were enough to make Master Hand's ears bleed. At least they weren't visible. From opposite sides of the stage, a red and blue platform rose from the ground up, showing the teams for both sides.
"ON MY RIGHT WE GOT TEAM MARIO! AND ON MY LEFT WE GOT TEAM SONIC! WHO WILL BE THE VICTOR OF THIS SPRING FESTIVAL?!"
"LET THE GAMEZ BEGIN!" Crazy Hand said.
The platforms began to level back down, and both leaders from each team gave a firm handshake. The crowd screamed, and the fireworks blasted.
(oOoOoOo)
Changing Room
There was passing time for the stage to get set up for the first event and people used their free time to get snacks, merch for the War, and Miku merch.
Makato sat in the room, slipping in her high white socks. "How much are the posters?"
"It's on the house!" Miku grinned, hopping on her pogo stick. "The next time we perform together, we need to give you a stage name!"
"Sounds good to me. Thank you for the experience." Makato looked at the pogo stick and back at her turquoise eyes.
Miku noticed her confused look and continued hopping. "I gotta bounce away from the fans and head to the stadium! Even with the security guards, my pogo stick is way faster!"
"I. . . I see." Makato sweatdropped. "I would like to grab some funnel cake before going to the stadium."
"Buy me one too!"
"Sure." Makato put on her dark brown boots and got up. Leaving the changing room, there were a few hardcore that knew where the changing rooms were and asked Makato for pictures and autographs.
Makato stood in a daze, not expecting the same treatment. It was mostly men who surrounded the potion princess with their cameras strapped to the necks.
"You were really good! You sang like an angel!"
"For real! You killed it!"
"Are you like the next-coming Vocaloid?!"
"Nah, she's the potion princess, idiot! Didn't you read the flyer?"
After giving them what they wanted, Makato tried to leave to crowd but only more came. The security guards did their best to shoo away the fans, but it only attracted more attention.
'At this rate, I won't be able to try a funnel cake!' Makato thought.
"Follow me, Miss." A soft voice spoke from behind. She turned her back immediately, recognizing the voice. Dressed in security dark wear with a hat to conceal most of his identity. The bangs that covered his eyes, she couldn't deduce who he was yet.
"I know a way out." He said pointing to the back of the changing room. "There's another exit. We can escape from there."
". . ." Makato nodded and followed without anyone noticing.
Entering and exiting the changing room from the back, Makato followed the security guard from behind, staring at his strands of gray hair. The way he walked was almost like a prince. A confident walk that craved only power.
Her heart raced and she opened her lips. "Mikoru. . . is that you?"
"Mikoru?" The security guard stopped and adjusted his hat. "Why, I'm just a security guard that works here. . . However, I do need to talk to you since we're on the topic. . ."
". . ."
"Perhaps we can talk elsewhere, Princess? I was hoping to get a private conversation with you."
She could feel his smirk without looking at his face.
"Lead the way. . ." Makato said. It may not be a good idea. . . but she had to know what were his attentions when he wrote the letter.
(oOoOoOo)
VIP Area
Six seats were available for the guest. Naruto, Miku, Rosalina, Makato, Crazy and Master Hand. Two were absent. Master Hand doing the announcing and Makato supposedly buying funnel cake. The VIP area was away from the main crowd, in their own small space, but with a great view.
Miku watched Naruto slurping his fifth bowl of instant ramen and sighed.
"What's wrong Miku?" Rosalina asked.
"Have you seen Mar-Mar? I was hoping we could share some funnel cake. Makato's not back yet, though. . ."
Rosalina looked at the thousands of people in the crowd. "He's in the Smasher's section which you can't go by the way."
"What if I become a Smasher?!" Miku's eyes lit up.
"Uh. . . what?"
"Ah. . . nevermind, I'll probably get my tubes crushed and pulverized! Ouch!"
(oOoOoOo)
"FIRST EVENT, A 2-V-2 MAN BRAWL!" Master Hand announced. "BOTH TEAMS WILL BE CHOSEN AT RANDOM AS THE GAMES GO ON. POINTS WILL BE REWARD FOR EVERY EVENT. THE MORE YOU WIN, THE MORE YOU EARN UNTIL THERE IS ONE VICTOR! LETS GET STARTED!"
"WOOO!" The audience responded.
The stage appeared from the blue sky, presenting the Final Destination Stage. The teams were picked ahead of time and showed themselves on the stage and the projector.
"YOSHI AND PEACH FROM TEAM MARIO VERSUS SILVER AND TAILS FROM TEAM SONIC!"
As the audience screamed their names out, both teams took the time to study their opponents.
"Let's do this!" Tails said, pumping his fist.
"This will be easy like eating a slice of cake!" Silver laughed.
"Aww, Sonic's friends are so cute~!" Peach giggled.
Yoshi sweatdropped. "I'm worried about Silver since I played 06 in my free time. . ."
"FIVE MINUTES TO BLAST YOUR OPPONENTS OFF! DON'T WORRY, WE GOT OUR TRUSTY CUSHIONS BELOW SO WE WON'T GET ANY LIABILITY! 3, 2, 1, GO!"
The bell rang and the audience was even more hyped when the music began to play in the background.
Silver turned to Tails. "I got the dinosaur, you get Peach."
"I was thinking about getting Yoshi since we both kinda fly, but your call!" Tails nodded. His tails began to propel like a helicopter as he charged toward the mushroom princess.
Peach smiled at the fox which caught Tails by surprise.
"Aww, you're so cute and fluffy!" Peach pulled out a frying pan and held it like a batter.
"Huh?! Since when-!" Tails attempted a dodge, but the cold iron smacked his cheek, sending him flying towards the edge of the stage.
"Ow. . ." Tails, crawled his way back up, staring at the pink dress. "I can't lose!"
"Easy peasy, I wish you could beat me!" Silver didn't have to touch Yoshi to lift him, stretching forth his hand. Yoshi's body glowed and he was spun in circles from Silver's psychic powers.
"YEET!" Silver swayed his hand which commanded his power to toss him off stage.
"Yoshi!" The psychic powers were off and Yoshi landed straight for the cushions from below.
Cheers echoed from Team Sonic while Team Mario watched in distress.
"Oh my. . ." Peach sweatdropped, stuck in the middle between Tails and Silver.
Silver swiped his hands, smirking. "Wow, you're not done? Embarrassing~!"
"I got caught off guard with her frying pan." Tails said, rubbing his cheek.
Silver shook his head and stretched forth his hand. "Just leave the rest to me-"
"No, lemme do it! I got this!" Tails said. "Just back me up!"
"Hell no! I make the rules! You back me up!" Silver said.
"I wanna win one for the team!"
"Then stay there and let me, the one with the powers, finish her off!"
They began to argue from afar. Peach glanced at them both and took a step to see if they would react. Nope. Only blind rage was aimed only at them. Her eyes caught the Smash ball that stood by her heels.
"That's it! I'll just get rid of you and then-!" Silver's eyes caught flower pedals and then a loud yawn escaped his lips. "I'll. . . Uh. . . damn, I'm sleepy. . ."
"This. . . isn't the time. . . to fight. . ." Tails fell over, letting the snores take over. Silver was eventually knocked out by the melody and flowers without realizing they'd both been attacked by Peach's Final Smash.
Peach took her time, grabbing Silver's leg and then Tails, pushing them off the stage.
"THE WINNER IS TEAM MARIO!" Master Hand announced.
"ARE YOU FOR REAL?!" Team Sonic exclaimed.
"YAHOOO!" Team Mario celebrated their unexpected victory.
