Paper Mario : End This

What is true horror? You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'

Is this true though? Is this true? I doubt myself.

I won't bother you with the details about myself. I simply picked up Paper Mario 64 from a common gameshop. Nothing sketchy about it. I knew it was in the wii virtual console, but I wanted the real thing. God, I wish I just got the virtual version. The cartridge looked fine, other than a few marker marks on it. I popped it into the N64, deciding my gameplan: Grind until the enemies stop dropping EXP, and kick ass. If it only was that simple. The title screen seemed a bit glitchy- The sides of the screen flickering, but eh, I've seen worse. Only one of the files was filled- All star spirits, sixty eight hours. I decided to check it out. Im so stupid, aren't I? This always seems to end horribly.

Mario was at Toad Town. I checked the inventory- Full HP, FP, and BP. Partners were all fine, fully upgraded. There was only one partner missing. Strangely enough- Goombario. He was the very first partner you got in a game- The guy who invented the tattle ability. Maybe it was a glitch? I never used him in-battle anyways, so I ignored it. The guy had a peekaboo badge, so I could already see the enemies health. Not bad. The guy either managed to get around a rather interesting glitch, or he just didn't ever use goombario. I switched my partner to Bow, who oddly, made a comment.

"Hmn... Where's Goombario? I swear he was just with us..."

Other partners came out, as they stood around mario. Sushie seemed to be the voice of worry.

"The poor child! We gotta find him!"

Mario nodded his head in agreement, as the partners simply disappeared, going back to their usual 'menu spots'. Bow seemed to have a slightly altered face- Her usual smirk turning into a small frown. Strange. Was this a part of the story I forgot about? I decided to head over to Goomba town to see if I could find any answers. Not a single, easily defeated hostile goomba was in sight. Goomba town was... Deserted. It was as if it was a ghost town for quite a while. Bow's expression became more worried, her eyes somewhat wider. What the hell?

I went inside the toad house- There was no bed, just a yellow pipe. I made Mario jump down it. The pipe lead to a pitch dark area- I took out Watt to light the place up. I noticed some weird graphics on the stone walls- Getting close to them had carved-in notes. Here they are in order:

'I wonder when they'll find out.'

'About the end.'

'The end of more than life.'

'They're coming.'

'End this.'

That sent a chill down my spine. I knew rom hacking a cartridge was rather hard- but possible. I went downstairs to get a drink- This was somewhat intense from a Mario game where everything was made of paper. I continued walking down with Watt, until a textbox suddenly appeared, words shaking.

'AAaaaaAAAAH-! DEAR SPIRITS, HE-"

I couldn't control Mario at this point. He spun forward, Watt glowing in the darkness. The scene in front of me... Couldn't been allowed by a sane man at Nintendo. A large, shadowy creature with purple eyes stared at Mario and his partner, a maw opening to reveal a ripped up blue hat, a pink ribbon, and a few more ripped goomba parts, such as small feet and teeth. Purple liquid dripped on the floor from its mouth. Mario watched in pure horror, as Watt spoke up.

"G-Goombario... Mario... Run!"

I got my control back- A brutal roar came from the beast as I spun dash into pure darkness- Holding Watt would simply slow me down. I suddenly bumped into something. I bit my tongue as I took Watt out- A large stone had blocked away. A small '!' appeared on Mario, as I was allowed to press A to read:

"END THIS."

All of Marios partners came out again, as the creature began to slowly close in. Several textboxes came from them:

"Is this the end?"

"Are we going to die here?"

"Why? Why did this occur?"

"I-I'm glad we can go out together..."

The creature lurched forward- Causing a battle to begin. The creature opened its maw- A blue hat slipping out of its sharp teeth. What the fuck? How could someone program this? God, I just wanted to get this over with so I could tell a tale. And honestly, I wanted to kick this things ass. The peekaboo badge activated to show its health- My heart sank. 200 HP. That was more than twice the final boss had. I checked my items- None. I decided to use a star spirit ability- Chill Out, but a message popped up-

"They can't hear you down here!"

Mario's face contorted from his usual calm one to a terrified one- Never before had I thought I could see such horror in such a simple face. I decided to jump on it- And I regret not trying hammer out first. As soon as Mario's boots made contact with the creature, a loud 'uwah!' came from the game as Mario sunk into the creature, as if being absorbed. All of Marios partners saw this, some crying, most unable to take their eyes away. They were all going to die. Just like Mario. Marios screams and heartbreaking noises of desperation made themselves clear as he made an animation I've never seen before. His gloves clawed at the shadowy creatures 'skin', as he sunk like quicksand, skin turning pale. It was all for nothing. He was finally gone, a hand sticking out and twitching out of the creatures head. The others shared the same fate. They had to fight- They had to touch the thing to attack- And if they didn't have to, the creature did its own attack- Scuttling forward and chomping down on the partner out. They immediately disappeared. I was down to Bow- I spammed her 'Outta Sight' that prevented damage, but I knew after 25 turns, I would run out of FP. I kept trying, desperately trying to keep poor Bow Alive- But after five attempts at this- A text box came from Bow.

"...End this."

She wouldn't use that move anymore- The only choice that I was allowed to select was 'End it'. I reluctantly pressed 'A'. Bow threw herself at the creature, giving no screams of pain. Only small tears came from her lashes as she was absorbed by the creature. The screen faded to black, as I was greeted to a screen, of that ungodly being, towering over Marios hat, Bows... Well, bows, Watts pacifier, and other accessories from the partners. The words that was under this image would be forever be planted in my mind:

"YOU ENDED THEM."

Comments • 0

Loading comments...