Glitch in Reality

[MarioRPG]

(The characters Mecha M., MarioRPG, Evil MarioRPG, Domino, & Jayson are (c) me. Steal 'em and die. )

Prolouge: Gateway to a New World

Alone in the middle of a large, dark chamber filled with all sorts of technology at work sat a robot. Because of the lack of light, despite all the running machinery, it is hard to tell what this robot looks like. One thing is for certain, however, he is very powerful and intelligent. Something beeped on his console next to his chair. He tapped a few buttons and a figure apeared on the screen. The figure was a male who was robed and had a hood on. A strange symbol was on his left side of his robe.

"So you finally decided to call back. How is progress coming along on your end?" questioned the robot.

"The Gateway is nearly completed. Once it is completed, we will begin testing it," replied the figure.

"Good," said the robot. "Once the tests are completed and have been successful, I need you to do me a small favor."

"And what might that be?" asked the figure, puzzled.

"I need you to send over two of your best warriors and two, 'Templars,' as you call them."

"Why do you need them?"

"You say you need an excuse to completely erradicate these beasts you keep talking about. I have a perfect idea, which I will explain after I get what I need acomplished! And I can only do that with what I have requested!" shot back the robot.

"As you wish. . ." replied the figure, reluctantly. Soon thereafter, the transmission ended. The robot got up from his chair to leave the main chaimber to set the next step in his master into motion.

"Soon, my nemisis, I will have my revenge on you for defeating me all those times and for destroying my original mecha body. Soon, you will know defeat as I have. Soon, MarioRPG, you and your friends will be at my mercy! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!"

End Prolouge.

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 1: Into The Void
Part 1

It was a perfect day. Especially for lounging around on the beach. I had my Vally Fair hat over my face while I was resting under an umbrella on the beach. I had some tunes cranked, too. What caught my attention more than my music was what my friends were up to. Since I didn't bother to look over, I was only listening to what was going on, with a big grin on my face.

"Hold 'im still a bit longer! I'm almost done!" said one voice, holding back a laugh. That was Domino, a girl who was new around here. She's more of a tomboy, but she can be quite a girl when she wants to be!

"I dunno how I got into helping you out like this, but this is actually getting hillarious!" That was Jayson, one of my best friends from home. He's a really cool guy and he's pretty smart, too. Him and some of my other friends liked lookin' for accesories for their cars, but that was before we ended up here.

"YOU WRECKED MY MULLET ALREADY, SO LEAVE MY FREAKIN' FACE ALONE!!!!! I'M MELTIIIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!!" And last but not least, my mirror reality counterpart, Evil MarioRPG. He's not evil anymore, but he still likes bein' "da bad boy." Thing is, I never knew he was growing a mullet until just recently. I had to laugh at the idea. Being that we're practically the same person, and the fact that I never wanted my hair any longer than up to the second knuckle on my finger, I never would've thought that he would've wanted to grow a mullet.

"There! Finished!" said Domino, with a giggle.

"Holy crap! This is hillarious! MarioRPG, you've gotta see this!" cried out Jayson, laughing a bit. I took my hat off my face and looked over at the trio.

"Not, a word," grumbled Evil MarioRPG. I tried the best I could to hold back a major laugh. It was hard not to laugh!

"You laugh, and you die." I couldn't hold it back anymore. It was just too much!

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! You look like a girl!!!"

"Hey! I WILL smack you up-side the head if you don't stop that!"

*SNAP FLASH* I had quickly taken out a camera and took a snapshot of this. It was too great of an opportunity to pass up.

"OK, now you're dead!" yelled Evil MarioRPG. He dove at me and we wrestled a bit in the sand. I ended up pinning him.

"Hey! Lighten up! It's all just for fun, ya know!" I said to Evil MarioRPG, holding back what little laughter I had left. It was still funny to look at him. His hair was done up all fancy, just because it was long enough. He also had plenty of different kinds of makeup on his face.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who's been all made-up," scowled Evil MarioRPG. He looked as if he despritaly wanted to wash off his face and stick his hair back under his hat.

"Oh alright. . . I'll get off," I sighed as I let him go. "It was fun while it lasted, though! ;D "

He got up and went to get himself back to normal. I decided to creep over to Jayson and Domino.

"So what possesed you two to do that, anyway? Don't get me wrong, it was pretty hillarious, but why'd you do it?" I asked.

"I was really bored, and he was still sleeping when I decided to play a prank on him. I had Jayson hold 'im down when he woke up and realized what was goin' on," replied Domino, with a smirk. Jayson was just about to say something when we heard a loud rumbling noise coming our way. Over the treetops behind our spot on the beach apeared someone, or something to be more correct, that I thought I would never see again.

"No way!" I heard Evil MarioRPG exclaim.

"This is impossible!" I exclaimed in reply.

"Oh, but it is!" replied the robot, as it touched down.

"I thought I destroyed you a while ago, Mecha!" I yelled out in anger. Then from out of the thick forest came two tough-looking warriors. Their armor and other parts of their appearance were like a mix between midevil and futuristic styles. They also had a strange logo/symbol on their armor.

"Although you may have destroyed my original robotic body, there was enough of me left to be rebuilt in a stronger mecha body. Unfortunately for you, you are all going to have to learn that the hard way!" said Mecha, with an evil grin, while opening up his arm canon.

To be continued. . .

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 1: Into The Void
Part 2

Just before he fired his arm canon, I was able to bring up my trusty Energy Shield. PHOOM! The beam connected with my Energy Shield and I was thrown back into Evil MarioRPG. The beam hit so hard that I nearly lost concentration to keep my Energy Shield up.

He's gotten too powerful! That's never happened before when he's fired shots at me like that! I thought. Fighting him now with just the four of us seemed like madness.

"Domino! Jayson! Get outta there!"

"No arguments here!" replied Jayson. Just before they can get away, though, Mecha fires a wide beam from his other arm canon and knocks them out.

"We're screwed!" cried out Evil MarioRPG, from behind me. Mecha picked up Jayson and Domino and began to fly in the air.

"Alright you two! You got these last two! Don't fail me!" ordered Mecha to the two warriors. They snickered as they pulled out their swords as Mecha flew away with Jayson and Domino.

"This should be good," snickered Evil MarioRPG, cracking his knuckles.

"You got the dude on the left. I got the guy on the right," I said, aproaching the right guy, with his broad sword in hand.

"Alright, kid, give up before you hurt yourself," laughed the warrior.

"First off, I'm not a kid. I'm seventeen freakin' years old," I replied. "Secondly. . . *pulls out rapier sword from thin air* I think that you should give up before you get hurt!"

"HA! What a skimpy sword!"

"It's all in the user, not the sword. For all I know, you could most likely be the worst swordsman in the whole universe," I replied, with a grin.

"Do not insult me!" yelled the warrior. He charged and slashed downward with his sword, holding it with two hands. I blocked it with my sword, holding it with one hand. Sure, it was extreemely hard, but I'm used to it. I just smiled.

"This is impossible!" cried the warrior in disbelief.

"Get used to dissapointments, tubby!" I replied, knocking his sword out of his hands. Then he just got pissed and tried barreling into me. When somebody's as angry as he is, it's pretty easy to dodge 'em, since they have hardly any sense of direction. I dodged him a bit longer then I clocked him in the head with the hand guard of my sword, knocking him out. I tied him up with some heavy-duty chains and looked over at Evil MarioRPG. He had taken out his guy already and tied him up. Heck, Evil MarioRPG even got back into his usual outfit. Amazingly, he got his mullet to fit under his hat he wore backwards.

"What took ya so long, slow poke?" joked Evil MarioRPG, pulling at his shirt. It was a black short-sleeved button down shirt with flames at the bottom. It was unbuttoned to show a Metallica t-shirt. His hat was black with flames on it, too. And, his shorts.

After linking the two warriors' chains together (and after I got back into normal clothes, which were like Evil MarioRPG's except that my hat was blue, my t-shirt had Def Leppard on it, the shirt I had over it unbuttoned was a deep blue with silver/metallic flames, and my shorts were a tannish color), Evil MarioRPG and I ran outta there to catch up with Mecha and rescue Jayson and Domino.

Hopefully Mario or somebody are running time trials with their karts on the new track not far from here. . .

To be continued. . .

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 1: Into The Void
Part 3

As luck would have it, Mario happened to be testing out a new, larger feul for his kart, as some of the newer tracks being built were much larger than the older ones. He let us borrow his kart, as long as he got it back, and we sped off. Evil MarioRPG and I eventually found Mecha's base, but it was pretty well hidden. It was amazing to see the inside of his base, especially when we got lost and found the cargo bay.

"He must've been using his new toy quite a bit!" exclaimed Evil MarioRPG. "A lot of this stuff is from other realities!"

"I know! Check out the Magitek Armor!"

We ran over to the other side of the cargo bay. There was enough Magitek Armor for a small army. Magitek Armor reminds me of Eggman's Eggwalker and a few other sci-fi things like that, except it was a bit larger, was painted camo, and was infused with magical properties. I knew a lot about this armor because I played Final Fantasy 3 a lot back home. Anyway, I climbed into the cockpit in one of 'em and checked it out.

"The key is still in here," I noted.

"Let's take two of 'em and let's level the place!" yelled Evil MarioRPG, with an evil grin. I got a grin on my face on that though, too.

******

BAM! There went a wall. Mecha turned around, holding the unconcious Jayson and Domino in either arm. He was standing next to a fairly large metal circle. In it was a swirling, glowing vortex.

"Well, well, it seems as if you two found my personal stash of Magitek Armor which was so kindly donated by Kefka. No matter, you're too late anyway! Templars! Take care of them! You know the coordinates, so I trust that you will return with these two back at your main hq. Later, loosers! HAHAHAHA!!!" With that, Mecha jumped through the vortex/void and dissapeared. The two hooded Templars stepped forward with smirks on their faces.

"These guys are crazy if they think that they're gonna beat Magitek Armor!" laughed Evil MarioRPG.

Don't get too cocky, I thought. I started messing around with the controlls and activated the armor's beam weapons. I charged up a Fire Beam and let loose, but the Templar managed to dodge it. I shot out an Ice Beam, but he nimbly dodged that one too! Then his eyes began to glow. He did a horizontal slashing motion with his arm, and that's where things got interesting. My Magitek Armor, with me still in the cockpit, got lifted up off the ground about half a foot and flew towards the far wall. Luckily, I managed to jump out before in crashed into the wall.

What the?! Telekinetic abilities?! Gotta take 'im out, fast! I charged full speed at the Templar, charging my Duel Beam in either fist. Just before I unleashed my attack, however, he used his telekinetic powers and flung me into the wall. THUD! I slid down to the floor and collapsed. I struggled to get up on my feet, but then. . . . Unbearable pain!! I've never felt such pain like this ever!! I was hurting all over!! I managed to open up an eye and saw the Templar standing there, hand oustreached, eyes glowing, large grin, almost laughing. In the nick of time, Evil MarioRPG tackled the Templar and skidded across the floor. Although I still felt some throbbing, almost all of the pain I was feeling just, stopped. I looked over at the two combatants. Just before the Templar was knocked out, he stared at me. His eyes glowed briefly and a wave of dizzyness swept over me. Then Evil MarioRPG punched him hard and knocked him out.

"You okay, man?" asked Evil MarioRPG. He actually sounded concerned.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I replied, still feeling a bit woozy and still recovering from my painful experience.

"Well, we better catch up with--" He paused mid sentence. He was staring blankly at something, and I was tempted to ask him what he was looking at, but the next thing he said answered my question. "What the heck?! You got a tail!"

"Wha?!" I looked down behind me. Sure enough. There it was. My tail had thick, coarse fur on it and was about the same color as my hair, but just a hint lighter, a brownish color.

"That Teplar was probably trying to change you into something, but I must've broken his concentration when I tackled him," noted Evil MarioRPG. "In any case, we'll find somebody to change you back to normal. I'll see if I can find these coordinates Mecha was talkin' about. I think we should make use of the Magitek Armor we've got, so get 'em close to that gateway while I work the main controll pannel. Tie the two Templars together while you're at it."

"I'm on it," I replied. I managed to find some heavy duty rope and tied the Templars together. As I walked over to Evil MarioRPG's intact Magitek Armor, I did my best to hide my new tail. I didn't feel like freakin' people out wherever we're going. After manipulating the armor over to the gateway, I ran over to the armor I was piloting.

"I'm gonna go back to the cargo bay and get another one. The cockpit on mine is hopelessly smashed to bits," I called out. Just then, alarms went off, and a booming voice was heard over the intercom.

"INCORRECT PASS CODE. SELF-DISTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED. BASE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN SIX MINUTES. YOU ARE ON THE WAY TO DESTRUCTION. YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE YOUR TIME."

"Mecha has a lame sense of humor! Zero Wing refferences are old! In any case, you better hurry! It's quite a ways to the cargo bay on foot!" yelled out Evil MarioRPG. You bet I hurried. I was still a bit sore, but I ran so fast I felt like my legs were gonna fall off. I was just in time, too. Different things from the cargo bay were vanishing in a transporter beam in small groups. I managed to get into a Magitek Armor and get the heck outta there before the whole lot of Magitek Armor vanished in a blue-ish white light. That's when things got worse.

"INTRUDER ALERT IN SECTOR 2-B. SECURITY SYSTEMS ACTIVATED."

Lasers lit up the dark hallway. Even though the Magitek Armor is amazingly fast for its bulky size and confusing controll layout, it's still hard to dodge a bunch of lasers. Luckily, I managed to make it back to Evil MarioRPG without being turned into swiss cheese.

"Let's get outta here, now!" shouted Evil MarioRPG. "I managed to get the reality, planet, and continent, but that's about it. I sent the Templars to one region, and I'm sending us to another."

"Let's go already!!" I yelled, as newly activated lasers shot from behind me, just bearly missing. Evil MarioRPG hopped into his Magitek Armor, and we jumped into the void to the unknown. . .

End Chapter 1.

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 2: Some Kind Of Monster
Part 1

When we appeared on the other side of the void, it was night. The stars glimmered through the open area where we were in the middle of a forest. At first, Evil MarioRPG and I thought that it might've been a good idea to travel at night, but we finally decided not to, since we're traveling in a new world to us. With that, we decided to find some shelter for the night. Not just for us, but to hide our Magitek Armor. After some lookin' around, we found a fairly large cave. We went in a bit deeper into the cave and set up camp. Evil MarioRPG ran out to collect some fire wood, and we got a nice warm fire going.

"I wonder what Mecha's plan is this time?" I asked, not exactly lookin' for an answer.

"Dunno, but whatever he's doin', it's gotta be big if he was trying to capture all four of us," replied Evil MarioRPG.

"In any case, we gotta get Jayson and Domino back before somethin' happens to them," I said. Then there was silence. I just sat there looking at the fire and absorbed the warmth. Since we were a ways into the cave, out of sight, I didn't have to worry about hidding my tail, so I let it hang loose. I also tried moving it around a bit, just to get used to my tail's range of movement.

"It's at this point where a sleeping bag and pillow would come in handy," said Evil MarioRPG. "This fire won't last forever, and I don't plan on freezing!"

"Lemme check the storage compartment on the armor," I said. I crept over to the Magitek Armor and opened up the storage compartment on the backside. As luck would have it, there was some blankets and a pillow. I threw 'em at Evil MarioRPG and got the other blankets and pillow for myself from the other Magitek Armor.

"You're always full of dumb luck. Why doesn't any of that rub off on me?" asked Evil MarioRPG, sarcastically.

"I dunno, maybe it's all me," I replied with a grin. With that, I settled in and fell asleep. . .

**********

I opened my eyes back up to the sound of metallic laughter. It was Mecha! I tried to escape, but I was chained to a wall.

"You can't get away, my nemesis!" exclaimed Mecha, with an evil grin. He punched me hard in the stomach. "You're not so tough when you're held prisoner, aren't you?"

What's goin' on here?! I thought to myself. Mecha continued punching me in the gut. I felt like a human punching bag! His metallic fists hurt like hell! All of a sudden, he stopped.

"You like that?! HAHAHAHA!!! Now it's time for a 'shocking' experience!!" laughed Mecha. His hands began to become electrified. He grabbed onto me and I could feel the high voltage surge through me! There was no escape! I was going to fry! Then, the scene changed. . .

**********

I practically jumped out of my make-shift bed, sweating and panting heavily. I looked over and saw Evil MarioRPG still sleeping. I sprawled out on the blankets and wiped the sweat off my face. The last thing that popped into my mind before I went back to sleep was the fact that I swear that my tail had grown longer, but maybe I was just being paranoid. . .

To be continued. . .

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 2: Some Kind Of Monster
Part 2

I awoke to find that Evil MarioRPG was gone. He must not've gone too far, though, since both of the Magitek Armor we took are still there. I hid my tail and walked out to the entrance of the cave. Out of dumb luck, Evil MarioRPG just happened to pop out from behind a tree.

"Where'd you go?" I asked.

"Just went for a walk. I found a town nearby, but. . . ." He paused.

"What?"

"First off, it's heavily guarded by some regular soldiers, and while I was looking through the main gates from the bushes, I saw some Magitek Armor, manned by Imperial Troops. Mecha must've struck a deal with Emperor Ghestal and Kefka."

"This is just great. . . Not only do we have to worry about Mecha and the Templars' goons, but now we've got the Empire on our butts," I replied.

"The only way to find out what's up, we better find a way into the town," said Evil MarioRPG.

"I've got an idea."

"Really? This I gotta hear!"

**********

I found some nice large bushes to hide behind on the side of the road. There was a lot of people coming to and from the town. Well, it was kinda big for a town, but I don't think it was big enough to be called a city, either. In any case, there I was. Waiting for the perfect moment. I had to wait until one lone person walked by, with nobody watching. A lot of the people walking by were dragging along some human/animal hybrids like slaves. From what I saw, there were only cat-like and dog-like hybrids.

Are these the product of those psychos? I'll have to look into this. . .

After about a few more minutes, a lone figure walked by. Nobody's lookin'. Perfect! I jumped the guy and pulled him into the bushes, holding his mouth. The only sounds made were me rustling the bushes when I jumped, the guy trying to yell through my hand, and the two of us going back through the bushes. Perfect. I knocked him out with a nerve pinch, took his clothes, tied him & gagged him, and hid him. The clothes were a bit baggy, but they were fine. I ripped off a few things here and there, since some of the fabric was driving me nuts. I took my hat and shoes off, put on a bandanna and the shoes the guy was wearing, and started down the road. I was still out of view from anyone else when I decided to pull out my two rapiers from my favorite spot, nothingness, and tied the scabards to my cloth belt.

The guards at the entrance let me pass through no problem, which was a relief. Evil MarioRPG was right, the place was crawling with not only the regular guards, but Imperial Troops and Magitek Armor-riding Troops. I took it upon myself to avoid them as much as possible. Besides the heavy amount of troops and guards, there was a lot of people. There were also quite a few of those hybrids, too. Apparently, they were slaves, as I saw an auction block with some hybrids being auctioned off. In any case, I got to doing what I came to do: I went around asking people what was going on with all the troops. What I could piece together from all the tidbits of info I got, they came to occupy the town because of a disaster that took place last night in a nearby town. A group of Keidrans (which I learned were an actual species, not hybrids as I had originaly though) completely leveled it and killed just about everybody in the town. There were only four survivors out of a population only slightly smaller than this town. After the disaster, it was apparent that this town needed to have high security, as there's a lot of traffic and slave trade that goes through here. The Templar Guards were the first ones to secure this town, which was no surprise to them. What took the town by surprise was the Imperial Troops. They've never seen them before. Heck, they've never even heard of 'em before. All they knew is that they are tougher and more strict.

I ended getting most of my info from this one guy. We had an interesting conversation. Interesting as in bizarre. He had a lot of weird things to say and a lot of weird theories. One theory he had was pretty sound, especially with my recent experience. His theory centered around an unknown ally to the Templars, which I figured to be Mecha. Suposidly, he asked for some templars with some sort of power that he's heard so much about since he's arived. He had an elite group of Templars specialy trained and "engineered" for his own purposes. Strangely sometime after, some of the worlds greatest warriors began to vanish. After the disaster in the nearby town, one of the survivors swore that the weapons, technique, and even the way some of the attacking Keidrans looked was very similar to the missing warriors. To add to their power were two unknowns, who had strange powers. He cut the conversation short and gave me a note, telling me not to open it until I was either alone or with somebody I trust with my life.

Well, I guess now's the time to look for Evil MarioRPG. My guess is that he's hanging around the local bar.

With that, I started wandering around again, looking for Evil MarioRPG. . .

To Be Continued. . .

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 2: Some Kind Of Monster
Part 3

After a while of walking, I knew that I was getting deeper and deeper into the slums. Drunks were everywhere, and there were even more Imperial Troops here. There were also Templar Guards, but they were drunk, too. A few of the Troops sneered at some of the drunken Guards as they walked past each other.

Man, when Imperial Troops are on duty, they're on duty!

I managed to avoid as many drunks as I could, as I really didn't want anything to happen that might spark a fight. After a lot of senseless meandering around, I found the bar. It was pretty busy inside. Just about every table was filled, and there were a lot of people at the actual bar. I looked around the room until I found a sole person sitting at a table at the other end of the room. I think it was a guy, but I wasn't sure, since the person was wearing a lot of super baggy clothes. The person noticed me and motioned for me.

"I hope you had better luck than I did. I nearly got busted by a trooper!" exclaimed the person. It was Evil MarioRPG, obviously. I explained everything to him, quietly, since there were some Templar Guards at the bar.

"Everything is starting to make some sense, all except the involvement of Imperial Troops," said Evil MarioRPG, after my explanation.

"I guess the only way we're gonna be able to find out is if we can figure out Mecha's game," I pondered. There was a long pause, and then Evil MarioRPG spoke up.

"Y'know, I was thinkin'. . . I thought that It'd be cool to be able to get an airship to travel around this world. It'd also make it easier to store our Magitek Armor we took from Mecha's base." That's when we saw an interesting conversation taking place. A drunken Templar Guard was poking fun at a group of men at a near-by table. They looked like pilots of some kind. One of them looked like an eager young recruit. Another looked older, and had a lot of tools on him, suggesting the fact that he was an engineer. There were also two others at their table who were part of the group, but their backs were turned to us.

"What the hell was your captain thinking, buying an airship? What does he do all day, sit on the main deck bird watching?" prodded the drunken guard, laughing. The other guards from his table also began laughing. The eager recruit rose from his chair swiftly, but the engineer extended his arm, signaling him to stop and sit back down.

"Settle down, ensign. Everybody's entitled to an opinion," said the engineer. The ensign slowly sat down.

"That's right. And if I said that your captain was no better than a Keidran slave, well that's my opinion, too!" laughed the guard. The ensign bolted from his chair again, and again the engineer extended his arm.

"Don't do it mister, that's an order!"

"But you heard what he said about the captain!" scoffed the ensign.

"Forget it! It's not worth fighting for," replied the engineer, trying to show the Templar Guards that they were more mature than them. The ensign reluctantly sat back down. Evil MarioRPG and I just looked at each other blankly.

"Doesn't this remind you of anything?" asked Evil MarioRPG.

"Yes it does, but I can't put my finger on it. . ." I replied. It then finally kicked in when the guard spoke up again. My mind replaced everything that I was seeing and hearing. The old bar was replaced by the K-7 Space Station bar. The Templar Guards were replaced by Klingons. The airship officers were replaced by Enterprise officers; the engineer, by Scotty; the ensign, by Checkov; the others, "Average Joe" officers. And, as I said, what came from their mouthes was also replaced by what I was remembering in my mind.

"We really like the Enterprise. We really do!" exclaimed the Klingon officer (the druken Templar Guard that was bugging them to begin with). "That saggy, old, rust-bucket was designed like a garbage scowl! Half the quadrant knows that! That's why they're learning to speak Klingon! Hahaha!"

Scotty set down his drink and stared at him with an angry look.

"Laddie, don't you think you should, rephrase that?" asked Scotty, sarcastically.

"You're right, I should," said the Klingon, setting down his own drink. "I didn't mean to say the Enterprise should be hauling garbage. I meant to say that it should be hauled away as garbage!"

The Klingon started to laugh uncontrollably. He wasn't even looking at Scotty anymore. Scotty slowly rose from his chair and faced the Klingon, just as the Klingon was beginning to settle down and look at him. WHACK! Snap back to reality. The Templar Guard was sent flying across the table he and the other guards were sitting at, knocking all the drinks off of it and spilling on the guards.

"Holy crap! That guy's got quite a punch!" marveled Evil MarioRPG.

"Yeah, that's all fine and dandy, but I think that we've got a bar fight goin' on in front of our eyes. Let's get outta here before it gets ugly!"

Too late for that! The whole bar erupted into a fighting frenzy, and we were caught up in the middle of it!

To Be Continued. . .

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 2: Some Kind Of Monster
Part 4

The two of us literally had to fight our way out of the bar. We then had to sneak by some Impirial Troops running by, most likely heading toward the bar. Another person was following them. Judging from his outfit, he was probably the captain of those airship officers. In any case, Evil MarioRPG and I ran into an empty ally. I dug into my large pocket and pulled out the note that I was given earlier and opened it up.

"What's that?" asked Evil MarioRPG, with an eyebrow raised.

"It looks like an address. . ." I replied.

"Let's go check it out."

"Before we do, promise me you'll not do anything stupid, just in case."

"Yeh, yeh, yeh. . . ." sighed Evil MarioRPG. We made our way up and down the dark, dirty streets until we came upon a run-down house at the address on the note.

"It could be a trap, ya know," said Evil MarioRPG.

"Only one way to find out. . ." We crept up to the door and opened it, seeing that it was unlocked. It was a dark room, and it looked like it was pretty dusty with webs everywhere. It also had a musty smell to it, too. No furniture, no windows, but it had one door in the back of the room and there were small holes in the roof that shone light through. Overall, it was a pretty spooky room. I glanced around the room a bit more, and we walked in further. SLAM! The door went shut and the two of us spun around. Standing there in front of the door pointing a large spear at us was a humanoid panther. A Keidran! I thought. I wonder what's goin' on? I decided to not make myself look hostile, so I stood at ease. I elbowed Evil MarioRPG in the ribs, as I could tell he was getting a bit edgy. He then also eased up.

"We don't want any trouble. We're only here because of a note," I said to the Keidran, holding up the note. The Keidran lowered his spear and walked past us. He paused at the back door and turned to face us again.

"Follow me," ordered the Keidran. Evil MarioRPG and I looked at each other blankly and shrugged. What've we got to loose? We followed the Keidran through the door and down a long set of stairs. The farther down we got, the more we saw torches on the walls. After a while, I noticed that the walls were made of dirt. We must be pretty far underground, I thought. When we reached the bottom, the Keidran then led us down a series of corrodors until we got to a large room.

"Ah! There you are! And I see you've brought a friend!" It was the man who gave me the note in the first place. He greeted us and then he took us on a tour of the place. It was a small base for a resistance group made up of both Keidrans and humans. We were finally brought into what looked like a meeting room. Around a long table was a mix of Keidrans and humans. The man ran a quick run-down of what was currently going on, as well as things that have previously happened, mainly for me and Evil MarioRPG.

". . . Even our Templar agent hasn't seen this new ally's face. Since you two are new around here, I was wondering if you know anything about the Templars' new ally?" asked the man, staring right at the two of us. Again, we looked at each other blankly, shrugged, and then we started a pretty long explanation. We told him about who we really are and where we're from, what we knew about what Mecha's doing, and some other info that we thought might have been vital, including our abilities.

"Another reality. . . Interesting. . ." pondered a lion-type Keidran.

"You said that you've faced this, 'Mecha,' before?" asked another man.

"Yeah. Quite a few times, actually," I replied. "When he was first created, he looke a bit more like me. Anyway, the first time we faced him, we just hit him with a bunch of heavy weaponry and blew him to kingdom come. With his regenerative abilities, though, he was able to regenerate and grow stronger. The second time we met, I faced him alone. He almost killed me, but I managed to take him out. The third time, though, he managed to grab a kid by the name of Yugi from. . . . ."

"What?" asked Evil MarioRPG, as I was staring at him.

"Do you know what I just realized?" I questioned back.

"No, what?"

"That time we had to worry about Yugi, he must've been playing with a prototype of his dimentional divice, which was probably inbeded into his arm cannon."

The group stared at us for a while.

"Sorry, I'll get back to Mecha. . . He was MUCH tougher than I had expected, and it took Yugi's help to defeat him," I explained. I didn't bother to mention the Polymerization/Blue-Eyes White Dragon combo. They probably wouldn't have gotten it. I gotta admit, though, it was the weirdest feeling to have the Blue-Eyes White Dragon a part of me. . . "Part of his plan must involve me somehow, since he capture two of our friends and had them transformed, most likely."

One of the council members was just going to say something when a young boy cam running in. He was out of breath.

"Those Keidrans are. . *huff puff* here and they're *wheeze* destroying the city!" shouted the boy, with whatever breath he had left. Evil MarioRPG and I ended up volunteering, along with two resistance members named Vicks & Wedge, to go topside back to the dusty room to stall any enemies from discovering and reaching the underground base while everybody else evacuated onto the underground train. Evil MarioRPG drew out a very long sword.

"Lemme guess, the Sephiroth Blade," I commented with a grin.

"You better believe it!" he replied. I pulled out my two rapiers and readied myself. Vicks & Wedge just had standard long swords. Just then, some Imperial Troops busted in.

"Aha! Resistance scum!" yelled out one of the Troops. We took 'em all out pretty easily. A couple of other waves of troops came through, but we managed to survive. Wedge, however, got pretty injured and had to head down to the train. That's when an unexpected guest came through. It was a female leopard-type Keidran with blaze-orange fur and bright red hair that stood up like it was on fire

"Oh no! I think that's one of those renegade Keidrans!" cried out Vicks. The Keidran leaped through the air, throwing balls of fire from her hand, setting the place on fire.

"Domino?!" gasped Evil MarioRPG and I at the same time. She then turned her attention toward us and came sailing through the air at us, throwing fire. We dodged her attacks and tackled her.

"Domino! It's us! Get a grip!" I cried out as she strugled. She obviously couldn't use her fire attacks while we were this close.

"It's no use. We don't have the time to try and reach into her mind right now," said Evil MarioRPG. He was right. I tried to calm Domino down a bit more, but it was no use, so I knocked her out using a nerve pinch.

**********

We managed to get to the sub levels before the rickety old house collapsed. Once on the train, Evil MarioRPG and I took the unconcious Domino to the caboose and took the neccessary precautions to keep her from using her fire abilities and escaping by placing her in a cage and using hand cuffs that also covered her hands. Luckily, they're super heat resistant so they won't melt.

I took a shift at watching her. Since I was alone, I let my tail hang out. As I sat there, I fell asleep. It was another nightmare with Mecha torchuring me. It hurt all over! It felt so real! Mecha dropped me on the ground and then picked me up by the shoulders and shook me, yelling my name, or was that him shaking me and yelling my name? I awoke to see both Evil MarioRPG and Aaron (the man who gave me the note) staring at me with wide eyes.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Er. . . It's probably best to show ya," said Evil MarioRPG, weakly. He held up a mirror to me.

"What the. . .?!" My ears had crept up the side of my head a bit. They also started to get a bit larger, grew some fur (same color as my tail), and had started to come to a point on top.

"That's not all," said Aaron. "You're tail grew a bit, and I believe it's at full length now. I believe you're also growing fur on other parts of your body, but at least it's all under your clothes."

"Yeah, that's real good to know. . ." I sighed and looked away. The two of them left the caboose and I was left alone with the unconcious Domino. Am I still in the process of what the've made her, I thought, some kind of monster?

End Chapter 2.

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 3: Desert Song
Part 1

It was a long train ride. I got bored easily. My mind wandered off a few times. Although I did think of a few practicle question, though. How did they make underground travel like this possible? Do they have air vents to the world above? Their society doesn't look advanced enough to build a steam train, so how did they do it?!

Aside from all that, I managed to find the time to change clothes. As unlikely as it was that any of the Templar Guard or Imperial Troops would be able to remember me from seeing me once, I figured I wasn't going to take that chance. While changing into a different outfit, I got a good look the growth of fur on my body. Besides having my tail completely grown and my ears starting to transform, I was starting to grow fur on my upper body, but it's all easily covered by clothes anyway. I made sure that the clothes I put on were baggy enough to easily hide my tail. I also put on a bandanna to cover my ears, for the most part.

Domino was still out cold the whole trip. I wanted to do a mind meld to reverse the brain washing, but I didn't think it'd do much of anything while she was unconcious. I felt really bad for her. The only reason she was dragged into this whole mess was because of me. Mecha's really after me, but he has to taunt me by attacking my friends.

Mecha, when I get my hands on you, I'll be sure to fry your hard drive! I thought. You'll regret ever messin' with my friends just to get to me, you coward!

Aaron poked his head in and looked around a bit.

"We're almost there," he said, after spotting me.

"Where exactly are we going, anyway?" I asked.

"A neutral state, called Gifroa. To be more exact, its capital," Aaron replied. "The Templar have often tried to sway them to shift from a neutral stance and join them. However, Gifroa's economy wouldn't be able to support such a shift for various reasons. The ruler of this state, Lord Gritt, also has his own personal reasons, but he doesn't tell the Templar that. We're one of those personal reasons. I could keep going about all of this, but I won't. I'll talk more about this once we get completely settled in. See you later!"

Aaron ducked back out the door and into the other car ahead. Once we arrived, we were given room assignments. Strangely, this 'Lord Gritt' didn't show up to greet us or anything. He probably had other business, but who knows. I walked around the castle a bit to find my room. I swear, it was a freakin' maze. I could get lost in this place for hours if I were here by myself! I also discovered, from my wandering around, that we were in a desert. I hate deserts. I never liked 'em, and I doubt I ever will.

I finally found my room. It looked nice and cozy, for a castle-setting room. I walked over to the window and looked out.

"Settled in?" I swung around. Evil MarioRPG was leaning up against the door frame, giving me his usual grin.

"Yeh, kinda. I'm not too enthused about being in a desert, though," I replied.

"I know the feeling, if you catch my drift," said Evil MarioRPG, smiling.

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, I'm gonna go explore this place. Catch ya later!" He walked out, shutting the door behind him. I flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. The door creaked open.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I thought nobody was in this room," said a soft, nervous voice. I looked forward to catch a glimps of a beautiful young woman's face.

"Wait!" I called out. She paused a moment, with her back at me. She then started out the door again.

"Wait! Please don't go!" I called again. Again, she paused. She still wouldn't face me. "Is there something wrong? Maybe I can help."

"No, it's nothing like that. . ." she said, nervously.

"What is it, then?" I asked, out of concern.

"Nothing. You wouldn't understand. . ." she replied. I slowly got up off the bed.

"Try me," I said with a grin. She slowly turned around and faced me. She had beautiful green emerald eyes. Her skin looked light and soft. Her long golden hair seemed to avoid covering her face even slightly, to show the world her beauty. I could just feel my jaw dropping to the floor. Wow! She did something with her hair towards the top of her head and out popped two cat-like white ears.

"You see," she said, "I'm not a normal human being."

"Hey, neither am I," I said. I crept over to the door and shut it, making sure nobody else was going to be coming in any time soon. I took off my bandanna and pulled out my tail. She seemed a bit surprised, but not much.

"My friends call me MarioRPG. What's your name?"

"My name is Sandrah. Pleased to meet you," she said, smiling.

"Yeah, I know what yer thinkin'. You're thinking that this is a pretty strange introduction, eh?" I said, a bit embarassed.

"Well. . . . . In any case, my appologies for my evasiveness," she said. "I'm just not used to being around new people, especially because of my. . . differences."

"That's OK, " I replied. "I guess all that's left is an exchange in stories."

I think I hit hard on something, because just then Sandrah looked down at the ground. She looked sad about something. She slowly paced over to the window.

"I guess I'll go first," she said, softly.

To Be Continued. . .

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 3: Desert Song
Part 2

Sandrah paused to collect her thoughts while looking out the window. From the looks of it, she's probably around my age, I thought. Somewhere around 16 or 17.

"My Father was the head of the local militia, and my Mother was part of the town council," explained Sandrah. "It was six years ago, around my eleventh birthday. The Templar were coming through for a push in their propaganda and recruit more people for the Templar Guard. Griff, a friend of both my Mother and Father, joined up, although my parents were against the idea. The Templar were trying to get both of my parents to join them, although I never knew why. They refused, despite all the rewards they were offered, and this made the Templar very angry. They left the area, supposedly. A few days later, when my parents were called to the town hall, something dreadful happened and they dissapeared. Some strangers soon after came to my home and told me that they went missing, and said that I was to stay with Griff until they were found. I was very worried about my parents. I still am, and I hope to find them again someday. I fell asleep during the trip, and when I woke up, I found myself in a jail cell. I was so scared. I didn't know what was going on and why I was there. A strange man then showed up in front of the cell. Half of his face was covered with his hood, so I couldn't tell what he looked like, although I did see his evil smile. He let out an evil laugh that scared me and sent me to the corner of the jail cell. He then said something about me making a good slave. He stretched out his had toward me and all of a sudden I hurt all over! I had no idea why he was doing this, but it hurt so much! Just then, he was tackled and knocked out by a stranger in the standard Templar Guard armor. The pain was gone. The guard got up, unlocked the cell door, and walked in so I could see who it was. It was Griff! He found out what was going on and came to rescue me! I was so relieved! He told me how to escape, and that he'd be right behind me. I got out of the fort that I was aparently in, and I made it to the spot where he said he'd meet me. He never came. That was the last time I ever saw him. I eventually made it home, and I saw the ears for the first time. That was all I had. There was no fur anywhere else, and no tail. That all came as time passed. After a few months, I came across one of Lord Gritt's servants. Wondering where my parents were, he started asking questions. I told him what had happened and he brought me here. Lord Gritt was warm and welcoming for me and said I could stay here as long as I want and do whatever I wanted. Over time, I noticed fur growing in different spots all over my body, but luckily it was all easily covered by clothes. Then the tail came. Between the past few months and the past few weeks, it seems that all these changes have accelerated somehow, and I don't know why. I just hope there's a way to reverse it."

Sandrah continued to stare out the window and sighed.

"Even though I'm welcome to live here and do whatever I want, I still miss home. I miss my family," she said, starting to cry. I slowly walked over to her and gently held on to her shoulders. She turned around and looked up, smiling through the tears.

"You know, for just meeting you for the first time, you're really nice and friendly," she said, blushing. I blushed, too.

"Heh, yeah. I'm just a nice guy," I said, smiling.

"So what is your story?"

"Hmm," I thought hard. I didn't want to confuse her with certain facts, such as Mecha, with him bein' a robot n' all. "It was a normal day. I was just hanging out with three of my friends and having fun. The next few moments happened so fast. Two Templar Guards came out of nowhere and captured two of my friends. My other friend and I fought two other Templar Guards and knocked 'em out. We chased them to an underground base, where there were two hooded guys waiting for us. They must've had some magical powers, because they were throwing us around with just a flick of their wrists. My friend managed to take down the hooded guy bothering him with ease. For me, the hooded guy did the same thing as that hooded stranger did for you. It was really painful! Luckily, my friend tackled him and punched his lights out, but not before the hooded guy could cast a final spell. At that point, all I had was a start of a tail. That was less than two days ago. Now my tail is fully grown, my ears are starting to transform, and I'm getting patches of fur all over my body."

"In that short period of time?" questioned Sandrah.

"Surprising, ain't it?" I replied. She stayed for a while and we just talked. I finished my story, then we went on talking about random things. It soon got darker and darker outside. Sandrah decided that it was time for her to go.

"I better get going at let you get some rest. It was nice meeting you! Oh, how long are you and the others planning on staying?" she asked.

"I dunno, depends on what's going on," I replied. We both said our good-nights and she was gone. I was alone in the room again. I decided that it was probably best for me to hit the sack.

To Be Continued. . .

[MarioRPG]

Chapter 3: Desert Song
Part 3

I woke up twice in the middle of the night because of the nightmares. The third time I went back to sleep, I actually didn't have any of the nightmares. After I woke up in the morning, I checked to see if I had changed more overnight. What I found was more fur all over my body, still coverable by clothes, and the fact that my ears had completely changed. From what I could tell, I was becoming a wolf-like Keidran. I got dressed, making sure my bandana covered my ears and that my tail was tucked in, and I began to wander around the castle.

It was a bigger castle than I originally though from trying to find my room yesterday! I could be lost for days if I were all alone! Being that it was large enough, there were a lot of people, both human and Keidran alike. There were also plenty of shops set up all over the place. The castle was practically a self-contained city! Interestingly enough, too, was the mix of midevil stuff and some really advanced technology. When I say really advanced, I mean it! It boggles me how they can make it. Where the heck is it done?!

What I thought was very interesting, though, was one guy at a shop who was selling accoustic guitars. I don't mean those weird lookin' guitars that you'd usually see in paintings from midevil times, I mean real accoustic guitars. One of 'em looked like my black Epiphone from back home. The only difference was that it wasn't black. I went over to the guy and asked if I could check out one of his guitars.

"Sure thing!" he said with a smile. I played a few riffs as I thought of a full song that I could play. What was funny was that the guitar guy looked really shocked when I was just playing those few simple riffs. So I decided to shock him even further with songs like the accoustic versons of "Hysteria" by Def Leppard, "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters, and a few other songs I liked a lot. Then, just to be funny (when there were no kids around), I played parts of "Asshole" by Dennis Leary, just to get people's reactions. No matter what I played, even the DL tune, everyone was captivated and amazed by how well I could play, even though I'm not very good at playing full cords. I'm an electric guitar person. Finally, before I left the guitar stand, I decided to play a couple of tunes to see if I could get some people dancing. I thought hard of a couple of good songs that I haven't already played. That's when I thought of "Eagles Fly" by good ol' Sammy Hagar. The croud ate it up, despite the fact that I hadn't had much practice on that song. That's when I notice Evil MarioRPG out of the corner of my eye, leaning on the guitar stand. I motioned for him to pick up a guitar. He grabbed a beautiful-looking accoustic guitar that I hadn't noticed before. I quick leaned over and wispered an idea in his ear. He then promptly started playing on the guitar he picked up.

"This last song that I'm going to play, with help from one of my friends, is a song that will probably mean something to at least some of you. I know it means quite a bit to me! It reminds me to make some good decisions in life, as well as have fun and make the most of it!" I said, smiling. "Y'know, the whole time I was playing, I would've thought there were going to be some people dancing out there. So this time, don't be shy! This is a good couple's song."

I then joined in with Evil MarioRPG in guitar playing. I ran the lyrics through my head, making sure I knew them before I began to sing. . .

"Another turning point
A fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist
Directs you where to go
So make the best of this test
And don't ask why
It's not a question
But a lesson learned in time
It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life

So take the photographs
And still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf of
Good health and good time
Tattoos of memories
And dead skin on trial
For what it's worth
It was worth all the while
It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life

It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life

It's something unpredictable
But in the end is right
I hope you had the time of your life "