5Chapter 4: Flipped Upside Down
Chapter 4: Part 1: The Pixl
It's all dark, Mario thought. There's no light. Is this it?
Then, a soft voice whispered into his consciousness. Is that Peach, he wondered. No, it can't be. Her voice is commanding, not gentle.
The voice rang again, this time more insistent, and clearer. "Mario", it said. "Wake up."
Mario jolted awake on the stone floor of Bowser's castle. At first, he wondered what he was doing there, but then the memory of the dark figure rushed at him. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "I've got to save not only Peach and Luigi, my bro, but also that jerk, Bowser!"
Then he remembered the soft voice he heard. "Who is there?" The soft voice answered, right above him. He looked up and saw a butterfly with delicate green and purple wings. The voice answered again. "I'm Tippi, and we've not got much time. Come with me if you want to save your love, your brother, your enemy, and the worlds."
Mario wondered if he was crazy. He was certain that the butterfly had said…worlds.
As if the voice read his mind, it retorted, "No, I'm not a butterfly, I'm a Pixl, and you really do have to save those people, or the worlds will be wiped colorless and lifeless. You can bet on the 2D world you exist in that that's not possible, but the world is actually 3D. I need to take you to Flipside to talk to Merlon, who can explain all of that, but you need to choose. Your supposed sanity or existence itself."
Mario answered in a split second, "Fine", he said, "I'll go with you. I've got nothing to lo-"
The butterfly, er, Pixl, interjected, "No, you've got everything to lose. Now, hurry."
The Pixl, whatever that is, flapped its wings, then everything spun in a multicolored blur, then he arrived in a strange place, greeted by a strange person. "My name is Merlon. Come along, now. I'll explain everything on the way."
Chapter 4: Part 2: Luigi
When Luigi regained consciousness, he was in a small, dark room. Where am I, he wondered. Right then, two Goombas ran up to him, saying, "Okay, let's get out of here." Luigi was confused, but he definitely knew that he wanted to get out. "Let's go", he said. Then the strange threesome set off.
Through a dark, white out-lined door they went through, and through hundreds of dark corridors they went, white-flamed torches along the walls lighting their way.
Finally, one of the Goombas said, "That is the way out."
They went through, Luigi expecting for there to be an exit behind the door. Instead, there was a long ledge over a wide, open sky. He went to the edge, and there was no ground in sight.
Right behind him, one of the Goombas said, "Oh no, it's a dead end." Right then, a commanding voice sounded behind them. "You all are now going to stop right there, 'kay."
A beautiful yet cold pink-haired, blue-skinned woman was the source of that voice. One of the Goombas tried to jump on her, but the woman cocked her opaque glasses, meeting his eyes. The Goomba was immediately transformed into a black collared Goomba, and he shouted, "Hail, Count Bleck!"
The woman smiled, and said, "That's better, now it's your turn."
The other Goomba shouted, "Oh no, not Gary!" He ran up, Luigi expecting him to attack her. Instead, he shouted, "Hail Count Bleck!"
Luigi was shocked. The Goomba announced, "Since you guys seem tough, I'll be one of the Count's minions. You can have the idiot." The Goomba expected to be spared the transformation, but he was wrong.
There were two hypnotized Goombas at her side, and the woman commanded, "hold him down, 'kay?" Luigi tried to jump off the ledge, but was held down by the Goomba guards. The woman approached him.
"Now, you have a choice, swear your allegiance to the Count, or become like these…creatures. So choose, or I choose, 'kay?"
Luigi felt a freezing fear, then a chilling determination. "Never", he retorted. "You can shove that allegiance up your-"
The woman suddenly seized his chin with a crushing grip. "I warned you, 'kay? So hold still." Luigi struggled in vain as she started to pull down her glasses.
Luigi tried to close his eyes, but the Goombas held his eyelids open. Luigi was forced to gaze into the woman's eyes, and was trance-fixed.
A rainbow-colored kaleidoscope was reflected in his eyes, then his mind went dark.
Chapter 4: Part 3: Flipside
The strange man who addressed Mario was old, and wore a star-covered blue cloak. His mouth was small, and his lips star-shaped. Looking him over, the man said to Tippi, "You are certain that this is the hero?" The butterfly replied, "Yes, I can sense it." The man beckoned him to come with him.
Tippi had taken Mario to a white corridor, which had two walls, the other two sides leading to open air. One wall had seven heart-shaped lights, but they were off. Mario wondered what they were for, but wasn't given time to think.
He hurried to catch up to the man, who had stopped at a white door with a button upon its door. The man pushed it, and it opened, revealing a small, box-like room. "Come in" the man said impatiently. "We haven't got all day."
Mario went with the others into the box, and the doors closed. It moved, and when the doors opened, he was startled to see that the scene had changed.
The man watched Mario's surprise with amusement, and said, "Did you enjoy your first time on an elevator?" Mario, too startled to answer, just stood there with his eyes as round as dishes.
They went to a blue house with green stars, and went inside.
It was only one small room, and sparsely furnished at that. An entire wall was filled with a bookcase, and the titles of the books were like none that Mario had ever read. That is saying something, for while Mario didn't look like it, he was an avid reader.
One of the books in the room, however, wasn't in the bookcase; it was on a bookstand on a large, stool-like table. The book was old, yet the cover was white, and it shimmered as though it had spent millennia absorbing the rays of the sun.
The writing on the cover was unrecognizable to him, and it looped and zigzagged as if the writer were a blind kindergartener. It had its own beauty though, in a way.
The strange man cleared his throat, and Mario tore his gaze from the book to look at him. The man, who had noticed his interest in the book, told Mario, "That is the Light Prognosticus, the reason why we brought you here."
Mario had so many questions, but the man continued. "To understand the reason why we brought you here, I will start from the beginning.
"There is a balance in the universe, of light and dark. This has always been the case, until recently. Millenia ago, there was a book created, and it contained the Dark Prognosticus. This is a prophecy that will tip the balance, and cast everything in darkness. When it was revealed, a group of people called the Ancients came together and created the Light Prognosticus to combat the Dark Prognosticus. However, a person called Count Bleck found the Dark Prognosticus with a fierce determination to end the worlds. The Light Prognosticus predicted that a man of your description will appear, and lead three others to save the multiverse. If you don't help us, there will be no 'us' to save."
Mario's brain felt as though it would explode, but he managed to say, "I'll do it. I'll help save the multiverse. How hard can it be, right?"
Both the Pixl and the man stared at him. After a moment, Merlon spoke to him with an obvious struggle to contain his rage. "Can't you get it through your thick skull, human?! You have everything to lose, we have everything to lose! Either you are in all the way, or we wait millennia for another, in which case they will be too late."