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Paper Mario: TotACB Prologue

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Paper Mario: Tales of the Aurora Crystal Ball

--Prologue--



".....Mario..." called a familiar voice, reverberating like in a cave like an echo and sounding really faint. Trying to hear it was like trying to see through a thick fog.
Utter darkness. All Mario could see with his blue eyes was total emptiness in his surroundings...he was floating in a void of some sort. Mario, a fair-skinned plumber, usually wore a long-sleeved red shirt, blue overalls with gold buttons that held the shoulder straps in place, white gloves, brown leather shoes, and a red cap with a white semi-circle with rounded corners on the front that had a red 'M' inside the dove-colored shape. His round face sported a black bushy mustache that stretched onto his cheeks, with a row of bushy bumps along the bottom side of the mustache. He had a round nose. His hair was brown, and was visible mostly from the back and from his sideburns, thanks to the hat hiding most of the hair on the top of his head.
"Mario!" the voice repeated, louder this time, sounding much clearer. "Wake up!"
Mario opened his eyes as his dream began to melt away like trying to hold water in his hands, to see his brother Luigi staring at him.
Luigi looked the same as Mario, except he was taller, his mustache was more like two rounded curls (but just as bushy), his head was shaped different, his round nose being wider, and he wore green instead of red. Not to mention the letter on his cap was an 'L' instead of an 'M'.
Mario was dressed in white pajamas with a white nightcap. He sat up, and hopped out of his red bed. The awakened plumber walked past Luigi's green bed and down the stairs, turning to the right and heading past the kitchen before taking a right again and opening a door, heading into the bathroom to change.
A few minutes later, he came out, fully dressed in his usual red-and-blue outfit, like the one he wore in his dream. "So what's up, Luigi?" Mario asked.
"A letter came in the mail for you, bro," Luigi answered, handing him a pink envelope with a heart-shaped sticker on it being used as a seal. "Lucky stiff, he always get mail. I hate being a nobody...I'm tired of being under Mario's shadow," Luigi thought to himself. Then he mentioned aloud, "I'll make some breakfast, bro, while you read the letter." Luigi walked off to the kitchen.
Mario smiled and nodded to his brother as his way of thanks. He gently opened the envelope, and began to read it.



Dear Mario and Luigi,

Please meet me at the castle at noon.
I have a surprise for you.

~Peach

Mario smiled after reading the letter. He walked towards Luigi (who was sitting in a wooden chair at the table and eating pancakes) and handed his green-garbed brother the letter. Mario retreated to his chair at the table and sat down to eat his pancakes.
Luigi, having finished his pancakes while reading the letter, nodded. "Let's go, Mario. We shouldn't keep the princess waiting."
Mario took his last bite of his hastily eaten meal, and they headed out of the house. On either side of the sidewalk was a long patch of grass, interspersed with flowers. Beyond the grass (away from the sidewalk's sides) was a fence that divided the grass from two groves of trees. At the end of the sidewalk was a green warp pipe sticking upwards. Luigi jumped on top of the pipe and entered it, and Mario followed in the same fashion.

Later... At Princess Peach's Castle's highest floor...

Luigi ushered his brother to hurry, as Mario closed the door behind him. They only had a few minutes left before they had to meet with Princess Peach. They headed past several large glass windows and stopped halfway through, taking off their hats out of respect.
"Hello Mario and Luigi. It was so nice of you to come," Princess Peach greeted. Beside her was Toadsworth.
"Thank you, your Highness, for inviting us." Luigi bowed to the blonde-haired Princess, who was wearing her usual pink dress.
Peach giggled, before kissing Luigi on the nose, who blushed. Mario was next to be kissed on the nose, only for a few seconds longer than Luigi, as Peach soaked up the sheer joy of being near her beloved red-and-blue-garbed plumber. Mario's face turned redder than Luigi's. Peach let go of him.
"Masters Mario and Luigi, I say," spoke Toadsworth. "We need your help to...um...repair something."
Peach then turned around gently. "Follow me, Toadsworth will explain."
Luigi and Mario followed Peach through the hallway, as Toadsworth began to tell a tale of ancient lore.
"Legends say that, eons ago, there existed a magnificent dragon, with abilities beyond compare. They also say that the dragon guarded a trove of treasure. But…The Aurora Crystal Ball—the dragon's most important treasure—was stolen and shattered, and the dragon and its vast amounts of treasure were sealed away. Wherever they were sealed, or even how they were sealed, remains unknown. However! They say that the pieces of the Aurora Crystal Ball point to the next, guiding the heroes of light to the dragon's lair, where the treasure rests.
"The books about the legend all disagree on key details. Some speculate that the legend was just a myth, a mere fairy tale designed to scare children. Several books claim that the dragon actually exists, still guarding its treasure to this very day. One book even goes so far as to say that it wasn't a trove of treasure at all, but rather a powerful monster of sorts. But no one knows for sure what exactly the treasure is, or what exactly happened to the dragon, beyond what the legends say."
Presently the Mario brothers, the Princess, and Toadsworth came to a door on the right. Beyond the door was a dimly-lit room, with a bare white table in the center of the room. Peach pointed to a strange shard of iridescent rainbow crystal that was on the table.
"See that? That is an Aurora Crystal, a shard of the legendary Aurora Crystal Ball." She picked up the shard of crystal and handed it to Mario. "Please find the rest of the crystals, and gather them together. Perhaps this treasure hunt will prove to be fun. I'll go with you to find them."
Toadsworth gaped. "Y-your Highness! W-what did you just say?! This is madness that you speak of! This will be terribly dangerous!"
Peach said defiantly, "Toadsworth. I can handle this, working with the Mario bros. I'll need the Mario bros. to protect me, since Bowser tends to try to kidnap me while the Mario bros. are gone."
Toadsworth sighed in defeat. The Princess was right for once, he had to admit.

That afternoon, Mario and Luigi made a stop at Merlon's house along the way home. Merlon's house was a tan color, with a blue spinning roof. Luigi knocked on the door thrice, and being permitted in, Mario and his brother went inside.
Merlon was behind the table, on which sat a green crystal ball with the emblem of a Starman on it. "Good evening, Mario and Luigi. I foresaw your arrival. What brings you here?"
Mario looked to Luigi, and back to Merlon. Luigi answered, "Do you know the legend of the Aurora Crystal Ball?"
Merlon nodded. "Ah. So is what you wanted to know is where to bring the Aurora Crystal to find the next one?"
Mario nodded, as Luigi put ten Coins on the table.
Merlon continued, "Very well. I shall look into your future and see where you must go next."
Merlon waved his hands in a weird fashion, and began to chant. Once his chant was completed, he stretched his arms outward, as the crystal ball began to glow, and a light show of stars moved all over the room. The crystal ball flashed three times, before it dimmed, and the room returned to normal.
"I see…your future. You will go to Shooting Star Summit. Once there, take the left path, and head to the left again. You will see stars that have fallen to the ground. Take a left again and push aside the large boulder on the left wall. You will find that a secret entrance to the altar, in a cave. Once there, take the crystal shard and hold it aloft.
"Will that be all?" Merlon asked.

That evening, Mario and Luigi set off to find the hidden altar. After crossing the bridge, they took the left, upper path, and took at left again. Pushing aside the boulder, they found a cave entrance. Once inside, they observed that the unlit torches in the corners of the room hissed, flaring ablaze. Mario sat the shard on the top of the altar, which began to glow. Suddenly, there was a rumbling in the wall behind the altar, as bricks shifted to-and-fro as if by magic, forming a gaping entrance to another room.
Mario gave a look to Luigi, who nodded.  As Luigi guarded the crystal, Mario went inside…to find an even smaller room, which contained an ornate gold-and-platinum stand with which one would use to sit a crystal ball on. "This must be the piece critical to solving the puzzle," Mario thought to himself. Grabbing the stand and pocketing it, he left the tiny room. They then took the Aurora Crystal off of the altar.

Luigi glanced back in the direction of the altar after they had left, and made a mental note to email the Princess the location of the next shard. Thus was the beginning of an adventure...and they would need to sail the seas to the town of Rogueport, where an unwelcome shock awaited their arrival...
EDIT: Please click the paragraph symbol ( ¶ ) at the top of the screen. Thank you.

Finally...it's done! The prologue to this story is done.

This multi-chapter story is part of an Art Trade with =foxgamer01 He asked for a short story, but when I went to write it, it ended up being multi-chapter. So he's getting more than he bargained for.

Not going to say exactly what kind of story he asked for, because that's spoilers.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy this!

Special thanks to BlueKing ( ~aBluePhoenixWillRise ) for helping me with some details of the story.

Mario and characters belong to Nintendo. Mario series belongs to Nintendo.
© 2012 - 2024 Midday-Mew
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