Wassup, peoples, welcome back to Firstborn! We might get to the first stage in this chapter. We'll also introduce someone rather important.
Chapter 2: The Hunted Siblings
Abandoned auto shop
In an abandoned auto-repair shop, the Sandman who was known as Wesley Dodds spoke with a group of five old men. They were the Order of the White Lotus. "So… you all had the dream?" he asked them.
"Hehe, yep! For once, I'm not the only one who had a crazy dream!" King Bumi said with a crazy smile.
"The fact that we all had the same dream is no coincidence." Pakku said.
"Yup. I even drank that 'special, soothing coffee' for once." Bumi replied. "I told you that stuff was junk."
"But if what we saw is true, then we have so little time." Iroh said. "The Dark Master is returning."
"I fear that our young monk friend will be endangered, should he arise." Jeong-Jeong replied.
"Yes. As the Dark Master's opposite, he will be in the greatest danger." Iroh followed.
"But as two parallel beings, the Avatar should have as great an advantage over his shadow." Piandao figured.
"So, what do we do?" Sandman asked.
"Hmmm…" Iroh put his hand on his chin in thought. "If the legends are true, the Negatar will be after the Eight Firstborn. The chosen ones must get to them first."
"The legends also say more." Pakku said. "There are others besides the Firstborn Guardians that are important. Ones that must master the full force of their elements."
"I have heard this also." Piandao replied. "And we must help them. But how?..."
"Heh heh heh heh!" At this, they all looked at Bumi. "Fight them, of course!"
"Fight them?" Dodds asked.
"Of course! If they are the chosen ones, they must be tested! And as we all know, the best way to test someone is to battle!"
"I think Bumi's right." Iroh agreed.
"YOU DO? ?"
"Yes. In order to see if they wisely know their elements, we must see up close for ourselves. We will each have to battle the one who has our respective element."
"Do we even know who they are?" Jeong-Jeong asked.
"I have an idea." Iroh said. "We must split up and ambush them when we can."
"What about me?" Sandman asked.
"Well, Sandman, since the closest thing you have to bending is that little gas weapon of yours, perhaps you should test the leader of the poisonbenders." Piandao suggested.
"Sounds fun." He said, standing up. "Let's get started and-" Before he could finish, the phone on the nearby desk started ringing. Dodds walked over and answered it. "What?"
"Hello? It's Mr. Oldman. I still need my car fixed."
"Ugh. Can't you call a repair shop or something?"
"Mmm, but I CAN'T, I'm trapped in the depths of space, and the repair shop I'm calling has been the only one I ever used, I think 20 years ago. Hello? Dodds? Fix my car!"
"Ugh… I'll be up there soon." With that, he hung up.
"Who was that?" Iroh asked.
"He's… an old friend of mine. Sigh, I'll need to make a quick trip to Nightmare Land before I do my part. You guys start without me."
"Oh yes! It'll be like old-fashioned fossicking!" Bumi exclaimed.
"What? What does that have to do with anything?" Iroh asked.
"Oh, I don't know. This world has some weird languages. And look at this!" He held up a Nintendo DS that had Sonic Rush Adventure on it. "Some sort of device with a magical viewing mirror. And the people won't even listen!" He held it to his face and yelled, "HEY! People in the mirror! SAY SOMETHING TO ME! !" He shook it around.
Just then, the doors shot open, and a nerdy-looking boy walked in in anger, snatching his DS back. "You people are loony cuckoo." With that, he stomped out.
"O…kay then." Iroh said, baffled. "So, do we all understand?"
"There is just one thing…" Jeong-Jeong spoke. "Another legend speaks of someone who is supposed to change the heart of the Dark Master. Lighten his Darkness. Should we not locate this person? And see what power he or she has?"
"HA HA HA HA!" Bumi laughed. "If you actually believe in THAT legend… you're almost as mad as ME!"
"I'm afraid Bumi's right." Pakku said. "How can one lighten the heart swallowed with such darkness? There is no other solution than to defeat him."
"Yes… perhaps you're right." Jeong-Jeong agreed.
"Hold on, you two." Iroh spoke. "Now I'm not sure if this person exists or not…" He conjured a small flame in his hands, staring into it, "but if such a one exists… their destiny will call them forth."
Downtown Chicago
Somewhere in Chicago, Indiana, a brown-haired girl with green eyes received a call on her cell phone, answering it. Her name was Morgan Catherine. "Hey, Mom. Yeah, we're just hanging out downtown, we'll be home soon. But can we go now? We're being chased again." And like she said, Morgan and her quadruplet siblings were running down a city road, chased by the bounty hunter, Boba Fett.
"You Quads ain't getting away this time! Ol' Boba's gonna ring yo' little heads!" he exclaimed, shooting lasers.
"You'd think this guy would find something better to do." Buddy said.
"To him, Buddy, this is the PERFECT thing to do." Athena said.
The Quads kept running as they turned down an alleyway. They turned down another corner, hoping to eventually get away, but- "Oh crud! A dead end!" Sophie exclaimed.
"What now?" Morgan asked.
"We could try teleporting again." Buddy suggested.
"We can't do that!" Athena said. "Last time we warped, we-"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Boba exclaimed, jumping around the corner and drawing out his sabers.
"And I agree with him. Let's try it." Morgan decided quickly.
"Thought you Quads could get away, eh? Well, old Boba's got you cornered now. Boba's gonna teach what happens to psycho freaks who roam freely. Hey. If you guys are so tired o' me, why don't you use yo' little mind tricks to get me to stop? I'll tell you why: 'cause old Boba's wearin' an anti-psychic helmet! They all expect me to take it off, but that's just it: I WON'T. Never have, never will. That's why I'm gonna finish you!"
"Wow, those last sentences weren't in third-person." Sophie said, sarcastically amazed.
"Sweet dreams, kiddies!" The bounty hunter charged his jetpack, and was about to shoot into them when…
"TELEPORT!" Morgan yelled, and with that, they shut their eyes, focused their power, and immediately teleported.
"What the-" Boba began, before ramming his head into the wall. He stood up and shook his head in dizziness. "Oh… aw, dang it! Boba let them Quads slip away again! Oh, but that's okay. No one runs outta Boba's reach. Ohhoho… they can't run forever…"
Above their house
The Quads soon opened their eyes and noticed they reappeared at their house… several feet in the air. They blinked and said, "Uh-oh.", before they were sent falling and screaming.
"OOF!" they grunted, falling through the ceiling and landing in the kitchen.
"Oh, good, you're here." Their mother, Natsume said. "Dinner's ready."
In mere moments, the family sat at their dinner table, eating what their mom had cooked. "So, you guys get arrested again?" Natsume asked.
"Hey, that was Morgan's fault." Buddy mentioned.
"Oh, shut it, Ruburd! Sigh, it was Boba again. Annoying bounty hunter…" Morgan sighed in exhaust.
"Well, while it may be getting annoying… I'm growing used to you guys randomly falling through our roof via teleportation after being chased by the police or that hunter. I still wish you kids would get better control of your psychic powers." Natsume said.
"Not that that would do much." Morgan said. "Because of our powers, no one likes us. We hardly have any friends."
"Except for Noah." Buddy replied.
"And those girls you usually hang out with, right?" Sophie asked.
"Well, yeah… but still… I wish I could've had more friends growing up." Morgan said. "Why couldn't people just like us for who we are?"
"I guess that's just how the universe works." Athena replied, eating her soup.
"Well the universe stinks. We should do something about it."
"You can't always get what you want, Morgie." Buddy said.
"Don't call me Morgie! Sigh… I just want to have a normal, peaceful life. I don't wanna be a runaway for the rest of my life."
"Neither do we." Athena replied. "But it can't really be helped at the moment, can it?"
Morgan only frowned. She then felt a hand touch her shoulder and looked at Buddy's smiling face. "Don't worry, Morgan. Someday things'll all change."
"You think so?"
"Yeah! And besides… at least you have us!"
Morgan turned and saw her siblings smiling happily at her. She smiled as well. "You guys… you're the best."
"Duh! Now let's eat!" Buddy decided, and they continued to eat their dinner.
Sector W Treehouse
It was a regular night at Sector W's treehouse. Harvey and Sonya were playing Mario Kart on their Wii, while Lee, Paddy, and Angie watched. "Get ready to eat my dust, Sonya!"
At this time, Lee looked worried that Sonya might lose, so he yelled, "Harvey! There's a spider on your shoulder!"
"AHH! ! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF! !" he brushed his shoulder frantically.
"YES! I WON!" Sonya exclaimed.
"Alright, Sonya!" Angie cheered.
"Grrrr…" Harvey grumbled. "This thing is a load of crud!" he threw his controller to the floor in anger. "GUH! Ohhhh…" He suddenly gripped his chest in pain as he fell off the couch.
"Harvey!" Sonya exclaimed. They all ran over to his aid. "What happened?"
"Looks like a heart attack." Paddy thought.
"Are you okay, Harvey?" Angie asked worriedly, leaning down to him and touching his hand.
Harvey eventually stopped groaning and took breaths. "I'm feeling fine now."
"Boy. Again?" Paddy asked.
"You've been feeling weird ever since Lehcar hit you with that laser." Lee said. "You think that might've had some sort of side-effect?"
"I'm not sure." Harvey replied. "But ever since that blast hit me… I've been feeling… really weird. I keep getting headaches and I just feel… so angry."
"Ummm, maybe we should stop playing videogames for a little bit." Sonya figured, worried.
"What should we do now?" Lee asked.
"I know! Let's go to the new Goofy Goober shop that just opened downtown!" Angie suggested.
"Yeah! It's gonna be open all night!" Sonya said.
"Sounds good to me." Harvey agreed, standing back up. "Let's go." With that, they were headed off excitedly.
Mt. Gnaa
The cold, dark, forbidden mountain of Negatar Gnaa seemed more noisy than ever. Ever since the grand announcement, the legions were more rowdy than ever. Drifting in his dark well, like usual, was the Dark Master himself. Standing with him in his chamber was Lord Bowser, Dr. Eggman, Ganondorf, The Brain, Rumpel Stiltskin, and Phantom Gnaa.
"UWAAH!" the Dark Master yelled, panting for air.
"Is something wrong, My Lord?" Brain asked. "Harvey should be manipulated by your greatness and arrive any moment now, should he not?"
"He should… but something is interfering with my Darkness, preventing the temptation from taking charge."
"Mm-hm." Rumpel remarked, sitting at a table and sipping some tea. "Knowing the typical fairytale junk, it's safe to assume this something is love."
"Oh, but love is a marvelous thing, Master!" Phantom Gnaa smirked. "Love is the greatest cause of Darkness! If not for love of that daydreaming girl, you never would've risen to where you are now!"
"Trapped inside a well of darkness, having to rely on a pack of apes for my food? It's the life…"
"Eh. Better than being sucked into a black hole." Bowser said.
"Or being trapped in Limbo." Eggman followed.
"Being frozen into an ice sculpture is no picnic either." Brain replied.
"Eh. How pathetic you all are…" Ganon retorted smugly.
"Even so, I cannot be free of this dungeon without a proper vessel."
"If I may make a suggestion, perhaps our two devil girls would be of some use." Ganon spoke.
"Hmm… perhaps you're right. Send them in."
"As you command. LEHCAR! SCAR! Get in here!"
At his call, the two devious girls, Lehcar EiznekCm, the Negative of Numbuh 362, and Scarlet Vargas, the hateful werecat cousin of Violet McCleary, dashed in and bowed to Ganon. "You called, Father?" Lehcar spoke.
"His Darkness has a task for you." Ganon spoke. "If you will, Master?…"
"Cross over to the Positive Universe and bring Harvey McKenzie to me." Gnaa ordered. "If he is here, then my darkness will yet be able to reach him."
"Consider this your chance to make up for your past failure against your own counterpart. Understand, girls?" Ganon asked grimly.
"Y-Yes… Father." Lehcar stuttered.
"W-Will do, Ganon." Scarlet nodded in fear.
"Good… now get to it!"
Lehcar and Scarlet smirked at each other, nodded, and ran off.
"How nice THOSE two get to have some fun." Rumpel said. "But I doubt the other minions will like having to wait any longer."
"He's got that right." Bowser agreed. "It's felt like AGES since you made the announcement! My son's gettin' bored."
"I don't see why those Kremling guys got to leave so early." Eggman said.
"I have already sent some of our forces out." Gnaa said. "After all, why make the minions wait around for some bratty child when I'm the one who's trapped. But it'll be time soon enough. Once those girls are back with my vessel."
"No doubt the Kids Next Door will take notice immediately." Brain figured.
"Grah ha ha!" Bowser laughed. "Those brats'll NEVER best my Koopalings!"
"And my robots!" Eggman followed. "Those children will NEVER be able to handle them on their own! OHH HO HO HO!… Er, right?" The minions thought for a moment.
"Ahh. What's the worst that could happen?" Rumpel asked, unworryingly.
Mushroom Greens
At this time, there were many Koopas and robots patrolling a sunny grassland of hills and many mushrooms. Standing atop a hill were the interdimensional teams led by Mario and Sonic.
"So, the freaks are here after all." Knuckles said cockily.
"Oh my. Who knew there were so many?" Princess Peach asked.
"Doesn't matter." Tails replied. "We have to fight them and SAVE our world!"
"Just because Silver isn't here, don't need to talk like him." Blaze said.
"Hehehe! Sorry!" Tails grinned and blushed.
"Say, where are Shadow and Rouge, anyway?" Amy asked.
"They said they already located a base of Eggman's somewhere on a mountain." Tails said. "I guess until they report back with information, we should clear out these soldiers."
Mario and Sonic stepped forward and exchanged a smirk. "Well, Mario: ready for action?"
"Oh!" Mario nodded.
"Hehehehe." Sonic chuckled. "Let's GO!" With that, the two heroes charged toward the minions. (Play the Peach's Castle Theme from Smash Bros. Melee!)
Stage 1: Mushroom Greens
Mission: Clear out the minions of Bowser and Eggman.
Act 1
The Italian plumber ran forward and began to bounce on the first set of Goombas. A band of Koopas charged his way, but Mario jumped on the first one, grabbed its shell, and sent it ricocheting off all of the other ones. A Hammer Bro. charged from behind to bonk the plumber, but it was suddenly knocked out himself when Luigi smashed it with a Ground Pound. He exchanged victory smiles with his brother before they faced the Boomerang Bros. ahead. They ran forward, dodging the projectiles and blasting fireballs at each of them.
They reached a ledge that was too high to jump, but a tall mushroom was stationed beside it, bouncy enough to shoot the two above. The Mario Bros. were on a set of square, grassy footholds above the ground, and strange, brick blocks were floating in place, too. Luigi went to bonk one of the blocks, but felt pain surge through his body when his head came in contact with the steel block. "Ooof… have to watch out for that in the future."
Mario jumped to the next platform, dodging before a Chargin' Chuck ran to tackle him. Mario bounced on the Chuck's head, but it recovered and charged at him, successfully tackling the plumber down. Luigi jumped over and unleashed a barrage of green fireballs, pelting and forcing the Chuck to release. Mario dealt him a Ground Pound to knock him out. With that, Mario proceeded to bonk a "?" Block, and a green-spotted egg came out. The egg hatched, and Yoshi was free. "Hey, thanks, Mario! I came out here ahead of time and got captured! I still don't understand how they trapped me inside an egg, but I'll help you get through part of the level."
Mario nodded and hopped on his dinosaur companion. They jumped to the next foothold as Yoshi began to eat all the Spiked or Winged Goombas that came at them. They became eggs, and as they overlooked a long jump with some Paratroopas in the way, Yoshi hurled the eggs and sent them falling below. However, the jump was still a little too far for Mario to make himself, but thankfully, Yoshi jumped them across with his flutter jump. Luigi, on the other hand, got across himself with his Super Jump. Some Fire Bros. coughed mini fireballs at them, but Yoshi caught one of the flames and spat it back at one, while Luigi jumped to another and gave it a series of rapid punches. Yoshi jumped above the third and smashed it with Ground Pound, before the three faced a narrow path littered with spiked plants.
Yoshi simply ate each of the plants, allowing the three to cross. They got to a stairway going downward, and Koopa was patrolling on each step. Yoshi caught the first one and sent its shell down to knock over the other ones before the Mario team went. They reached a long, wide, deep blue river, in which several Cheep-Cheeps were jumping out. Luigi looked above, seeing a "?" Block high above their heads. With a squat, Luigi leaped high with a Super Jump, bonking the block and releasing the Cape Feather. Luigi grabbed it himself and dropped down to hop on Yoshi. The green dinosaur ran back to build momentum, then charged forth with a leap as Luigi flew them high across the river, with several Cheep-Cheeps leaping high to catch them.
They landed perfectly on the other side, in a small, enclosed field as several Charging Chucks popped out from bushes. They all charged, but Luigi got off Yoshi and begun to spin rapidly, effectively knocking him down with his cape. However, one of the Chucks grabbed him from behind and ripped his cape off. "Ohhh noooo." Luigi moaned. Mario got off and ran to punch a few of the Chucks, flipping behind one and throwing a fireball at it. Yoshi took aim with his eggs and chucked them at the Chucks, knocking them dizzy so that Mario and Luigi could knock them down.
When all the Chucks were defeated, the rest of their friends had joined, gathering at a huge cliffside with a big, wooden barrier blocking a cave.
"You're not getting through here." Knuckles mentioned.
"Heh! Leave this to me!"
"Sonic?" Tails asked.
As the blue hedgehog held the Power Ring in his hand, the energy surged through him, and he felt his need for speed once again. "Here we… GOOO!" (Play the Modern Green Hill Theme from Sonic Generations!)
Act 2
Sonic shot through the wooden barrier as fast as lightning, going up the walls and ceiling of the round tunnel before he shot out the exit and landed on the ground, still running. A bunch of Egg Pawns fired weapons, but the hyper-fast hedgehog dodged every one, leaping over and wasting all the robots with Home Attacks. A squadron of tankbots and Cop Speeders were heading over, but Sonic Boosted right through them.
A fleet of Buzzbombers were flying down from a cliff, but Sonic Home Attacked right off of them, made his way to the top of the cliff, then continued to Boost ahead. He saw some rails leading down a cliff with a waterfall and decided to hop on and grind down, Boosting through any robots that got in the way. The rails led into the river, but he simply ran across the water using his speed. Several piranha robots and Cheep-Cheeps tried jumping at him, but he either dodged or Boosted through.
Sonic then shot up a Jump Panel and performed several midair tricks as he flew behind a waterfall to a cave behind, then grinded on more rails over another river. "Whoa!" he screamed when a giant Cheep-Cheep popped out from below and started chasing him, eating away the rails. Sonic continued to Boost though and eventually shot out of the cave.
He looked back to see the Cheep Cheep burst through the cliffside and come down on him, but Mario jumped in and launched a tornado of fire at the Cheep-Cheep, burning it to a crisp. The plumber and the hedgehog high-fived and gave their victory pose. (End song.)
"Nice going, you two!" Peach congratulated.
"Heh heh! Those two still got it!" Knuckles said with a thumbs-up.
"Hey. You don't think we're the mascots of our worlds for nothin', do ya?" Sonic replied.
"Uh-uh." Mario followed.
"That's my Sonic!" Amy said happily.
"And it's good to have Yoshi back with us, too!" Tails said.
"Yeah-ha! You really helped back there!" Luigi said to the dino.
"Glad to be help, Mama Luigi!"
The Sonic gang snickered at this. "Mama Luigi?!" Sonic shouted.
"Awww." Luigi groaned. "Why haven't-a people forgotten that cartoon?" The group just laughed.
And there's the introduction to The Quads. And the first stage! Not much, but I hope to make the stages better later. Next time, Lehcar and Scar will have a stage, and we may see what's up with some other characters. Later.