RPG OtakuBoards Survivor: Game On! <PG>

[Ezekiel]

[COLOR=DarkOrchid]Kuja jogged slowly over to where he saw Yuna towering over a quivering Goomba. She looked a little disappointed that she had to squish the little thing, but Kodago was growling incessantly and she thought it would be for the best. She stepped on it. Kuja squealed in girlish delight and ran over.

[B]"Oh, hello, Kuja." [/B] Yuna smiled, she was only a little taller than Kuja and he figured she'd found another mushroom. He smiled back and waved up to his team mate happily, before spotting a line of Goomba's advancing towards the pair.

[B]"Oh, fun!" [/B] he giggled, running over with a Blizzaga spell already in his dainty hands. Overkill? Maybe. But Kuja was having such fun.

Unfortunately he obliterated half of the path. He frowned at seeing another Green Team member emerging from the ice dust. It was Riku, and he really didn't look too pleased at the fact that Squishy had emptied his bladder on his leg at the sight of multiple exploding Goombas.
[B]
"Oh, my apologies, Riku. Got a little carried away."[/B]

Riku stalked past Yuna and Kuja and carried on his way to find another mushroom. Kuja huffed and spun on his heel, taking a leap down onto a lower level, going through two orange boxes, and landing on some 8-Bit green, green grass with a silly smile on his face.

[B]"I do adore these challenges..."[/B]

He left Yuna with Kodago and went on a search for another mushroom. He didn't really like being tall-it made him less pretty, he found. But still, it was all in the spirit of the game!

He posed with a fist in the air, a triumphant expression on his face...and a mashed mushroom under his foot. He winced and heard the familiar cracking as his bones grew and appeared, much taller, in a little cloud. He giggled again and skipped away to find more squishy things to step on.[/COLOR]

[Blayze]

[size=1]Shadow looked around at all his giant team-mates, and smiled. They had all found one mushroom, so now was the time to find more. He jumped up onto a higher platform, one that was slightly easier to reach with his increased height, and began rummaging around in bushes. There were no mushrooms left.

[b]"This is stupid!" [/b]he exclaimed, kicking at the bush. Something plopped out, and he picked it up. It wasn't a mushroom, but it was a small, scaly creature resembling a tiny dinosaur. He looked at it.

[b]"I guess you're kinda cute," [/b]he said to it. It smiled and made an odd sort of squeaking noise, before opening its jaws and clamping them down onto Shadow's arm. He cried out and dropped the little terror, who then started snapping after his legs.

[b]"Guys, help!" [/b]he shouted to his team-mates, [b]"There's a little...thing attacking me!"

[/b]Crash jumped up to the platform, and tried to jump on the little dinosaur. It looked up, and jumped, smashing its tail into Crash's head. He fell backwards to the floor.

[b]"Crafty little bugger, that one," [/b]said Crash, rubbing his nose. Shadow got to his feet, and drew his gun.

[b]"There's only one way to deal with these things," [/b]he said menacingly, taking aim at the little thing. His finger came to a rest on the trigger, as the little thing looked up at him with huge wide eyes.

[b]"Do it, Shadow," [/b]urged Crash, [b]"Kill the bastard!"

"But he's so cute!"

"That didn't stop you hating the lemmings!"

"True." [/b]Shadow took aim again and fired, the bullet blasting the little thing apart. Green goo splattered all over them.

[b]"Ew," [/b]said Shadow, trying to wipe to goo off himself, but failing. He dropped to the floor, the goo beginning to congeal.

[b]"This is so gross," [/b]he said, but then he saw it. Something that almost made this whole ordeal bearable. A red mushroom. He grabbed it, and it [i]poofed [/i]out of existence, and Shadow felt himself growing again. He was now the tallest of his team-mates, standing at nearly twice their size.

[b]"Excellent," [/b]he said, noticing that now a much smaller portion of his body was covered in goo.

[b]"Let's go!" [/b]he said to Crash.
[/size]

[JJ]

[Color=DarkBlue]Ada, not finding anything above the pipe, decided to follow Ling Xiayou downwards. She was not surprised at what she saw, and just sighed. ?Great, now it?s dark.?

It reminded her too much of Raccoon City, and she shivered once before going on. She watched Ling Xiayou hit the block, causing the mushroom to pop up. A light bulb went off in Ada?s mind, and she smiled. ?Ling Xiayou! You might want to run on ahead! I?ve got an idea for getting myself a mushroom and finishing off most of these annoying ?things?.?

Ling Xiayou looked at her, seemed to pout and kept walking. Ada then pulled a grenade off her belt, pulled the pin, and jumped behind a pillar of metal blocks. She then tossed the grenade over her head.

The resounding explosion rocked the cavern, and when Ada stood up, guts splattered all over her. She let out a string of curses, and tried to scrape it off. It quickly hardened, and she used the butt of her gun to scrape it away.

The reward from all of this slowly seemed to move towards Ada. She squealed with glee and walked over to it. ?Now, how do I use this thing??

?Just pop it in your mouth!? Ling Xiayou yelled.

?OK.? Ada yelled back.

Ada swallowed, and then tossed the mushroom into her mouth. Immediately, she felt the effects as she shot upwards. It was only a foot, but Ada worried about hitting her head on the ceiling. Luckily, she hadn?t gotten tall enough, but she wanted to get out of here ASAP. It still gave her the creeps.

?Ling Xiayou! Wait! I want to walk with you!? Ada called out, running in her direction.

?We can?t help each other, but at least having company will be nice.? Ada thought.[/color]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1]Lara fired another shot as a flying brown critter dove down towards her. It seemed that the more dangerous inhabitants of this world were unused to facing foes with guns and Lara found it quite easy going dispatching anything that crossed her path. Finding mushrooms, on the other hand, proved not to be so easy.

Having discovered in her previous encounter with one of the many yellow blocks that resided here that some contained the very mushrooms she wished to find, Lara had taken to hitting these blocks wherever possible. Most had only yeilded bright golden coins. Being the treasure hunter she was, however, Lara still stuffed these coins into the back-pack she had brought along.

[I]I wonder what the auction value is for a 2D coin from a world of mushrooms...[/I] Lara thought absently.

This being a linear world it wasn't long before they reached what seemed to be the end of the 'level'. A large stairway of bricks loomed up infront of them, obscuring the view beyond.

[B]"Come on guys, looks like we have to move on to the next level!" [/B] Lara urged her fellow team mates on, pointing out what seemed to be a flag pole appearing over the top of the stairway. Taking two steps at a time, Lara bounded up towards the flag. As she neared the top a bright red and white mushroom rocked up, seemingly from a pocket in space. Startled, Lara lunged forward to grab the mushroom. As her fingers clasped the fungus she lost her precarious footing on the last step. Free falling into mid air Lara grasped the flag pole that stoofd fast before her in an attempt to control her decent. Spinning round the pole, she deposited herself ungracefully on the floor, an impromtu roll saving her dignity.

Looking up, Lara realised that she had once again grown due to the mushroom. The flag, she also realised had been raised during her descent, sending a shower of fireworks bursting overhead.

[B]"Hey nice light-show! Do it again!" [/B] Shadow called from his position ontop of the brick stairs. Lara growled at him and flipped him the finger before standing and dusting herself off. [/SIZE]

[Outlaw]

CJ made his way through the 2D underground tunnel, following Ada's path of destruction. But while Ada stoped to talk with Ling, CJ continued on to a tunnel at the far end of the caves. He wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, prefering the wide open outdoors, even without his third dimension. He emerged from a small brick castle onto a brown stone walkway. "Dis place is wurd fo surious." He commented to himself.

Making his way to the edge of the walkway, CJ noticed that the world 2D world continued on via a series of grass topped ledges. The only problem was after the first ledge, the second shot up nearly 8 feet in the air. "How da hell does dat fat ass plumba do dis shit!?" He cried, realising the ledges were to high for him to reach as is.

So instead, he decided to cheat again. Again, moving back and forth and shooting random directions, again the cheat activated sign apeared above his head, but this time, a jet pack appeared on his back. "Now dis is ridin in style," he stated as he lifted into the air above the platforms. But once he reached the top of the second platform, he was met with a suprise.

"Holy shit! Dats one big fuckin turtle!" he called out, coming face to face with a red koopa. Shocked by the giant turtle, CJ pulled out his duel Uzis, tearing into the suprised creature. The critter inside disappeared in a puff of smoke while its bullet ridin shell flew into a block floating in the air. The block flashed a few times as a mushroom rose from inside it. "Aw yeah, I gots one. Thanks you dead ass turtle." CJ dropped down to the mushroom, catching it inches from the ledge. He popped it into his mouth, causeing him to shoot up to around 12 feet. However, now his jet pack was far too small, and his fingers couldn't even fit in his guns. "Aite, lets go fin somo shrooms!"

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]Crash grinned at the now giant Shadow.

"Hey mate, reckon you could flip me up to that platform there?"

Without hesitation, Shadow leant down and grabbed Crash, before flinging him up, up, up.... and onto a remote platform. There was a green spiky turtle up there, which promptly charged at Crash. But, really, this guy was tame. Crash was used to having cyborg turtles with buzz-saws on their backs. He slide-tackled the green beasty, which yelped as it shot over the edge of the 100ft high platform. This platform was composed entirely of the golden blocks with the question-marks engraved in their sides. Crash grinned. Surely there would be a mushroom in an area that was such an obvious Bonus level like this! So he walked along the platform stomping on every block. Showers of gold coins erupted, which Crash ignored with contempt. Where was a fricking mushroom? It was only at the very last block that it popped up. And before the exasperated Crash had time to react, it shuffled off to the right and fall off the platform.

Crash uttered a string of oaths.

And then leapt after the free-falling fungi.

Due to the shape of the mushroom, it had enough air-resistance in comparison to it's weight that it fell somewhat slower than Crash. So, he was gaining on it, but the question that was being burned into his mind was whether or not he would catch it before impaling himself on the flagpole that was rushing up to meet him.

With a last stretch born of desperation, Crash's fingertips brushed the cap of the mushroom, and he felt his bones begin to warp.

Thankfully his extra weight caused him to fall just short of the pole, and just in front of Shadow's leap at the flag-pole. That wouldn't have been a nice collision.

After the nice little birdies around his head disappeared, Crash stood, and dusted himself down.

"Alrighty, let's go! No laggers now!"[/size]

[Solo Tremaine]

[color=#503f86]Krystal bounded down the block staircase and after the others, who one by one were filing into the tiny castle door in front of them. She wondered if, once they'd reached a certain height, they'd actually be able to fit inside anything they were meant to walk through.

Ignoring it for the time being, she followed them through and emerged from the other side to be greeted by a large green warp pipe, with no other lanscape in sight.

"I guess we have to crawl through there, then." Lara sounded less-than-overjoyed at the prospect. Shadow carefully began smoothing his spines down as they made their way inside, tenuously making sure he touched as little of the inside of the pipes as possible.

"And they need this plumbing system, why?" he groaned.

"They don't seem to provide any useful service aside from letting things crawl through," Krystal commented, playfully batting Fox's tail out of her way. "It seems like a gigantic ant farm."

Lara halted in her tracks- her foot hovered over thin air.

"Guys, I think we might have taken a wrong turning. There's nothing up ahead but a very long drop."

"Can we make it?" Fox craned his neck to try and see ahead, to no avail.

Shadow folded his arms. "Why don't we send Pac-Man down first? He can act as a cushion."

"Ha-ha," Pac-Man's sarcastic laugh reverberated through the pipe walls.

Lara sighed again, feeling frought. "Let's just go. I don't think real physics played much of a part in early adventures like this anyway. If I'm wrong, you can take it up with me at the bottom."

With that, she disappeared. Giving each other nervous looks, the rest of the Adventurers followed suit and plunged into the darkness.

Krystal gripped her staff tightly as she fell, closing her eyes and trying to forget everything she knew about gravity. Considering she was now a space pilot, that was a very hard thing to do in what little time she had. At least she could die in dignity now her clothes had changed back to normal.

Before she knew it, though, she felt something solid underneath her feet, with no ill effects whatsoever. She opened her eyes and smiled with relief.

"We're safe! Thank goodness."

"Yeah..." she could hear Fox's voice, although it was distinctly muffled. "Get off me, please."

"Oh, sorry Fox!"

Ahead of them lay a long, dark and dank tunnel with angry-looking creatures walking back and forth along their path, opening and closing their mouths in a repetitive motion. Like fish, with shells and legs and beaks...

They brandished their various weapons and marched forwards. As they did so, Krystal's staff bashed into a piece of stone floating overhead; it flashed briefly, then changed to a dull brown colour. Thinking nothing of it, they continued at a steady pace.

At the forefront, Lara quickly managed to dispatch the two viscious-looking walking potatoes that were trudging towards them and they began clambering over the rocks on their path.

Krystal looked to the ceiling. Oddly for a cave, it didn't seem to have any features to it- it all looked pre-constructed, to the point that the roof looked like brickwork.

Suddenly, she was aware of a shadowy object floating down to the ground just behind her head. She whirled round just in time to catch a glimpse of a mushroom, which butted into her leg. She grabbed it and felt that same sickening feeling of increasing in size and mass.

"I've found another one," she grimaced.[/color]

[Ellerby]

[color=#333333]
Mario grew bored of squashing Goombas fairly quickly. Instead, when he encountered a Goomba while searching for Mushrooms, he would just ignore it and go a different way.

Mario walked along the brick road when he discovered a few more blocks to break. These ones were made of bricks, which Mario knew meant they could contain either lots of coins, or a large headache. He passed under them and found a yellow box. It was floating in mid-air like most of the other ones but it was higher up than usual.

The chubby plumber stopped and looked at it for a few seconds, than a thought crossed his mind. Well, a picture, really.

He ran forward and jumped into the air... he slowly fell back down to the ground but before hitting it, a white and rubbery block with a black music note on it appeared below his feet and he bounced right off it and into the yellow block that he had tried to jump too.

A mushroom grew out of the block and slid off, falling to the path below it. Mario had landed safely before the Mushroom did and because of this, he caught it.

Instantly, Mario grew by what seemed like at least 1 foot.[/color]

[KKC]

[size=1][color=darkorange]"Crap." Fox murmered as Krystal grew at least 2 feet taller than him, this mushroom hunting just wasn't his thing. He had tried sniffing them out, but the strange vegitation didn't seem to have any sent to it. As he walked in a line with the others he wondered how he could find more.

"Another one..." Lara groned. The group came to a hault once again infront of a large green pipe that was juting out of the side of the cave, "C'mon, let's hurry." Lara said a bit more cheery and clambered into the tunnel followed by the rest of the adventurers.

Like the other one, the tunnel seemed to twist and turn and go up and down. Luckily, the law of gravity was altered and they always seemed to land softly, unless someone landed on you, which seemed to be Fox's case.

They finally emerged after climbing upward and stopped for a brief moment to catch their breath and to check out their new surroundings. They were now in a large canyon looking place that was filled with a river rushing water. Chunks of floating land made a step stone path across to the other side and large red fish floated in the water... they looked hungry.

Fox smiled as he noticed a two question blocks hovering above one of the floating chunks of land. "I call them!" Fox called and jumped onto the first hunk of land. A fish snapped at him and almost grabed his tail as he cleared the second one. Only one more jump and he would hopefully have a mushroom, maybe both of them were mushrooms.

Fox's smile widened as he jumped under the two blocks and punched them on the bottom. Out of one emerged a red mushroom that landed on Fox's head. His body tingled and he once again went through a strange growth.

"What the heck is that?" Shadow asked Fox from the other chunk of land, pointing to the green spotted ball that lay on the top of the block.

"I think it's an egg..." Fox answered, turning it over in his hand. It suddenly began to shake and the egg bursted into tons of small pieces. Standing where the egg once stood was a green dinosaur that Fox recognized from Super Smash Brothers.

"Yoshi!" It screamed in a high pitched voice. [/size][/color]

[Desbreko]

Lingering in the tunnel, Samus motioned for the others to continue on. She'd catch up with them later, but for now she had an idea. There were blocks all around her, some extending nearly to the floor. Surely there was more to this area than met the eye.

Morphology: Koopa Troopa
Ill tempered turtles with sharp beaks, their hard shells protect them from harm. Only fire is capable of destroying them.

Curling up into the morph ball, she rolled under a particularly low section of blocks, coming out into a crouch on the other side. Looking ahead she saw an odd, turtle-like creature plodding towards her, and behind it two goombas. Scanning the new creature, she smiled and switched to the plasma beam. [i]Fire, huh. I can do fire.[/i] Raising her arm cannon, a blast of fiery plasma shot out and incinerated not only the koopa, but the goombas behind it too. Her arm cannon flashing back to the power beam, she stood up; now to see if her idea would pay off.

Samus activated her x-ray visor, her surroundings suddenly appearing in shades of white and gray. Peering around through the masses of blocks, she saw the outline of some coins sitting on the blocks above her. But she wasn't interested in coins. Stepping forward slowly, sweeping her gaze about the tunnel, she finally saw it: A mushroom hidden in one of the blocks.

[i]And that's not all,[/i] she thought with a smirk. Stepping out from under the block with the mushroom in it, she aimed up and fired just as a goomba stepped off an overhanging ledge. Crouching as the baddie above her was vaporized, she aimed ahead and popped off two more shots, catching a couple more goombas in mid-air as they dropped off a ledge on their way towards her. [i]I get an ambush as well.[/i]

Turning around, Samus blasted the block that conceiled her prey. Catching the mushroom as it trundled off the edge of the block below it, she again removed her helmet and tossed the odd fungus into her mouth. [i]Getting a bit cramped in here,[/i] she thought as she replaced the helmet on her head. She was now three times her normal height and her head was nearly scraping the blocks above her.

Moving on, Samus continued sweeping the area with her x-ray visor. Slow and thorough had always payed off before -- she glanced at the missile counter on the edge of her HUD, which read 255 -- and it looked to be doing so now. She wondered how many more mushrooms were hidden away in the blocks of this tunnel.

[Onix]

[COLOR=SlateGray][SIZE=1]When Riku had mentioned turtles earlier, he had been joking. But an eternity of tunnels, a castle, and numerous monsters later in his quest for another mushroom, he found how not joking he'd really been. As for the fire-breathing part...well, he kicked himself mentally for even mentioning it. But, as it was, a spike-shelled turtle-monster with fire breath was glaring at him, and the unpleasent smell of burning hair filled his nose. Ugly brute had singed his hair. He'd have to pay for that.

Lunging forward, the giant Riku slashed out with his Keyblade - only to have it bounce off of the turtles shell. He hammered at the bony plating, but it only made more a tired arm. The beast had sealed himself up tight, completely impenitrable to the more ancient style of combat. Fed up, Riku decided to jump up and down on it. Even if it didn't cause this monster to poof out of existence, it still made him feel better.

Well, except the spikes. Those hurt.

[B]"Ugly...stupid...nasty...idiotic...annoying..."[/B] Riku muttered, stamping down on the armor. Maybe he could break it. Or something.

A loud wailing in the background was making it hard to think...hard to plan...But he was getting fed up already. Very fed up. Fed? Ah ha!

[B]"Squishy, eat this thing!"[/B] he commanded.

The small Heartless chirped and it's head shot out of his collar, mouth expanding hugely around the beast he was recently standing on. He had, wisely, gotten off first. The jaws of his pet/minion kept stretching...stretching...and stretching more, until...

They snapped back, the turtle still free. Squishy snarled.

[B]"Too big, huh?"[/B]

[B]Nod nod.[/B]

[B]"Don't worry, Squishy. We shall conquer him, then this entire Kingdom!"[/B] Riku rounded off the pronouncement with a bit of maniacal laughter, then looked around to make sure no one he knew was watching. Looking like the villain was often a bad idea.

Meanwhile, however, the turtle had risen again behind him.

[B]"Enough playing with children,"[/B] it grumbled in a deep baritone. [B]"I shall finish you quickly!"[/B]

Then it started spitting fire again. Riku tried dodging, but couldn't find a single opening to strike back. He couldn't get in close. Why? Because the bloody thing had raised the bridge! There was lava! He couldn't walk on lava. Yet. Maybe one day. He made a note to add it to his to-do list. Meanwhile, he needed a chance to strike back! To make a dent in the hideous monstrosity! He needed...a projectile!

And then he saw it. The perfect thing. A glowing flower!

He lifted it up...and proceeded to pull back to throw it at the beast. Before he could, however, it poofed out of existence, and he found that his wardrobe went with it. It was replaced, much to his dismay, with a white body suit with a little flame emblem. Still...he felt...energized! Like he had some kind of power!

Fire power.

Without knowing exactly how, he raised his hand and fired a sphere of fire at the turtle. It rocketed past his own with almost comic accuracy, flying directly into his chest. Not to give it another advantage, Riku rained flames down upon the beast until, at last, it collapsed into the moat. Triumphant, he stepped forward...only to realize that the bridge was still up.

Shat.

Riku sighed. He hadn't wanted to rely on his powers too much, but this was proving too much of a headache. With a flash of dark energy, he teleported over to the other side, scanning around for a mushroom.

[B]"Turtle...turtle...skeleton...turtle...mushroom [I]monster[/I]...princess...turtle...turtle...No mushroom! Damn!"[/B]

[B]"Ex...excuse me, brave knight," called a dainty blonde woman in a crown and pink dress. "I believe I may have what you are looking for! If you would only release me..."[/B]

[B]"You have one of those magic grow-y mushroom things?"[/B] Riku asked, suspicious.

[B]"Indeed I do, brave knight!"[/B] the princess assured him. [B]"Please, release me, and I shall give it to you."[/B]

[B]"No, no,"[/B] he chuckled. [B]"You don't understand your position. Give me the mushroom, [I]then[/I] I'll consider freeing you."[/B]

[B]"W-what? But are you not a chivalrous knight, sent to rescue me?"[/B] she cried, aghast.

[B]"No. I'm a game show contestant, and I need that mushroom. Fork it over, or I'll kill you and loot you."[/B]

The princess gulped. "It's...it's in my pocket, and I cannot reach it. Please...please untie me so I can?"

Riku grinned like a shark.

"Which pocket?"[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[CENTER]*****[/CENTER]

[COLOR=SlateGray][SIZE=1]Five minutes and the dignity of a princess later...

[B]"Pleasure doing business with you,"[/B] Riku said smoothly, holding the mushroom up. He popped it in his mouth and sprouted up again. With one quick, precise motion, he sliced down, cutting her ropes. [B]"And now you're free."[/B]

[B]"Oh, thank the heavens!"[/B] she cried. [B]"Free from this monster. Now...I must, um...go. Very quickly. In the opposite direction you do."[/B]

And so, the two departed, leaving some very confused turtles in their wake.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Engel]

[color=darkred][size=1] Dante was...annoyed, to say the least. Those mushroom thingies were crowding around him, and he had just been teleported in! Quickly, he equipped his Beowulf gauntlets, double jumping over the crowd of...'goombas' was it? Yeah. From there, he slammed into each one of them with a diving kick, managing to pick off the whole group. However, one was still left, and the only reason he knew that is because it jumped up and bit him-squarely on the head, at that.

[b]"AHHHHH! When did freaking mushrooms get TEEH?!"[/b] This was the second time he had something disgusting messing up his beautiful mop of silver-white hair. Dante quickly pulled Ebony out, Ivory still in the holder on his back. He pressed it to the goomba on the back of his head, and Samus saw him as he pulled the trigger, it looking like he was going to paint the walls with the back of his throat.

The goomba flew off with a loud sort of scream and a dead thud. Dante blinked a few times, waving to Samus to show that he was alright. He pulled out his other gun, Ivory, and soon set off to find the end of the 'level', but more importantly, the mushroom.

Several turtle like things that he remembered from his old-school days of Super Mario Bros. blocked his path. They walked back and forth slowly, either bored or programmed to be stupid-Dante figured the later. That sparked something in his mind that had been there for a long time; everyone thought he was stupid and a flamboyant fighter. Who figured out all the mechanisms of the Temen-Ni-Gru? Who managed to stay alive and well on 3 different occasions that required more than how good and quick your trigger finger was? He'd have to show them, show them he would.

Carefully, Dante pulled out a strange mechanism that fitted on his arm, a handle and a trigger at the end of it. He wrapped his fingers deftly around the handle, and let Artemis charge up, the four Koopas unsuspecting of what was just about to happen.

However, he deliberatly fired at the wall, the lances of the pink energy springing off the walls and repeatedly hitting each turtle, also knocking a mechanism on the wall that sprung open something not too far away. The perfectly square blocks on the wall sliding open to reveal nothing but...a mushroom! Dante grinned. See? He was smart. He saw that lever all along, and decided it better to hit the Koopas and spring the wall all at once.

He walked in, grabbed the mushroom and consumed it quickly, feeling his bones smash and reform larger than ever.[/color][/size]

[TheShinje]

[size=1][color=darkblue] After Pac had promplty grown in size, he went to go and show off to his new teammates, to fidn that they had all found more musrhrooms.

"Oh, Crap!" Pac sighed as he saw Fox and Shadow looking down on him yet again.

Not wanting to hear any other jibes about being a "small bal" from Lara, Pac quickly bounced off to find soem more mushrooms. They had unfortunately, become sparse in these areas, and Pac feared that he might have to travel to world 2, when seemingly out of nowhere, a mushroom appeared.

"oh, it is my lucky day!" Pac said with glee, rubbing his non-existant hand together.
Just as he was about to grab the mushroom, a Koopa out of nowhere ran into him, inflicting damage. "son of a bi---" Pac groaned as he felt the life draining away from him. Pac lost a second life, and respawned in a much different location.

"damn! I had that stupid thing!" Pac grimaced as he noticed Shadow and Lara out in the distance, searching for more shrooms. He coudl not be too sure, but he was quite certain that Crash had also found another Mushroom, at least it looked so.

Pac decided that to get results, he'd have to get a taller teammates help, so quick as he could, he found Shadow, lookng for his own shroom. "Shadow," Pac called out. "I don't know about you, but I could do with a little help. whaddya say?"

Shadow glanced at the Pac, suignificantly smalled than he, and sighed, "now why would I help you?"

"because, If I don't get any 'shrooms soon, we're tribal council fodder!"
"mph whatever," Shadow remarked. "here's a little help."

Shadow then flung Pac to the farthest reaches of the world. Which left Pac a little shaken, but surprisingly damageless. And Just as he though Shadow had tried to get rid of him, he spotted it, it was the most beautiful mushroom ever. Pac decided that was because he hadn't seen a good 'shroom for ages, and promptly ate the shroom. A ragiing fire went through Pac's sphereness, and he quickly ballooned up a level.

"Ah, now we're talking, Pac said, feeling a little proud again...[/size][/color]

[Baron Samedi]

[size=1]Before anybody could react, the small lizard-like creature grabbed Fox with it's tongue, and flipped him onto it's back. And then it was off, squawking like a lunatic and jumping off enemies, walls, obstacles....heck, it even bounced off the ceiling.

Some people had all the luck Crash groused, as he fondly recalled the baby T Rex he used to ride. If only she was here now. Oh well.

He followed after Pacman, as the yellow orb... whatever he did, down the corridor. It wasn't rolling, as you'd expect. And he was touching the ground, so it was like sliding.

Crash shook his head. Too hard to think about for now. Maybe he'd ask him later.

Double-jumping up onto a brick platform, Crash began to systematically smash his way through every block, whilst below, Pac kept an eye [and mouth] open for any of those nasty mushroomy things.

Crash had just stomped the second-last block, when it crumbled and revealed a star. It squeaked at him, and waved it's pointy little... hand at him. Crash instinctively grabbed at it.

It disappeared, and Crash began to glow with a bright yellow glow.

He felt like he could do anything.

He leapt straight through the next wall, and as he sped off, he told Pacman that he would 'be back soon'.

He had to make the most of this while it lasted! It was almost as good as having a Golden Aku-Aku! As he crashed through wall after wall, booting enemies out of his path with a good-natured laugh, he almost forgot what he was actually there to do. He leapt off the top of a small stairway made of blocks, between two floating platforms, and slammed a red turtle off the far edge of the isolated platform he found himself on.

And then the yellow glow flickered and died. How disappointing.

Crash began to work his way through several bricks floating above the platform. As he reached the last one, a mushroom popped out, and promptly fell off the edge, and went down on one of the floating elevator platforms. Crash screamed as one mortally wounded, and leapt down to grab it. He sped along the length of the elevator platform, scooping up the mushroom, before double jumping off the other end, and back-flipping off the wall of the chasm. He landed on the elevator platform above, and as the mushroom disappeared and his bones began, for the third time, to distend, he double jumped off the edge, and clawed his way back onto solid ground.

Up ahead loomed a green pipe - presumably the end of the level. He settled himself, waiting for the others to arrive.[/size]

[Sakura]

[COLOR=Navy]Yuna continued to tower over her pet dog, she saw a large green pipe that would be large enough for her to fit through. She crouched down beside it and looked over the edge, she couldn't see anything, though when she put her hand over the hole, it felt like there was a barrier stopping her hand entering. Yuna looked down at Kodago, he was sniffing curiously at the strange green pipe, she picked him up in her arms and timidly placed one foot on the hole, surprised when it didn't drop through. Yuna carefully lifted her other foot and placed it beside the one on the pipe. She wondered what would happen when there was a sudden pulsing noise as she was spun around, being slowly pulled down the pipe, she panicked and she was suddenly emerging from a different pipe in a different area.

Yuna let go of Kodago and he started sniffing around again, hoping for mushrooms. They strolled along the new area, it looked similar to the other area, but with different formations. She saw a pyramid like structure made of those floating brick lines. There were large gaps between each line, taller than her even with her extra height, as they got narrower toward the top, but at the top she saw a golden star with happy face, and a mushroom sitting beside it. The climb was worth it to get the mushroom.

Yuna jumped up, grasping the edge of the lowest brick line. She groaned as she pulled herself up with her arm strength. She panted and hung over the side, holding her arms out to Kodago.

[B]"Jump, boy."[/B] she called to him encouragingly.

Kodago backed up a little and ran, jumping up to be caught in Yuna's grip. She put him down on the bricks and jumped for the next line, she was short a few inches. Kodago stood beside her and turned his head to his back, indicating to stand on him. She hesitantly did so, not wanting to hurt her dog. He stood firm and got as high as he could, Yuna jumped, catching the edge and hauling herself up.

[B]"Come on, Kodago."[/B] Yuna leaned over.

He looked up at her and shook his head with a wuff, he knew he couldn't make the jump. Yuna nodded and continued on, since Kodago wasn't currently with her, she guessed she could make a swift change for a while. She leaned over again and talked to Kodago.

[B]"You'll be back soon, ok?"[/B] she told him, straightening and pulling out a sphere grid, she activated the path to [URL=http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2389/berserker2020yuna6ry.jpg]Berserker[/URL], reappearing in another new costume, constantly moving, shuffling back and forth.

With the new found energy Yuna crouched and released, springing herself all the way to the top, she bumped into the star, it glittered brightly, spun around and floated into the air, disappearing. She shrugged, though no one would be able to tell since it looked like the rest of her shuffle. She picked up the all important mushroom and grew another length. She bounded off the top of the pyramid in one leap, rolling and landing safely on the ground. Yuna reverted to Trainer, with Kodago standing beside her.

[B]"Let's keep going."[/B] Yuna nodded, feeling uncomfortable as she continued to grow taller, gradually making her faithful red pooch look like a toy poodle.[/COLOR]

[Doukeshi]

[SIZE=1]Lara stood, looking a little bewildered as chaos erupted around her starting with the discovery of that little yellow dinosaur.

[I]At least its not a t-rex[/I] Lara mused, grimacing as she remembered having to battle those creatures. As the others sped off towards the end of the level Lara took a more liesurely pace, taking all the blocks that crash in his enthusiasm had missed.

Hopping from one platform to the next Lara shot at the many blocks that hung overhead causing them to pop open. As with many of the others most of the blocks contained coins and Lara was fast losing her patience. The beasts who dared to cross her path payed for this impatience with their 8-bit lives, vanishing in clouds of smoke and numbers.

Raising her pistols Lara sent a barrage of bullets across the expanse of the terrain, knocking out coin-blocks and enemies a-like. One stray bullet hit a bright yellow box that before hand had been casually blinking at the 2D sun. The bullet caused the box to flip round and a great green vine sprouted alarmingly from it.

Lara paused and stared at the vine, gazing up into the sky as the vine continued to grow.

[B]"Great,"[/B] Lara sighed, [B]"There better not be a giant up there."[/B] Holstering her guns Lara grasped the thick vine and started to climb. Hours seemed to go by as she continued her ascent, though barely a few minutes had passed. Finally Lara reached her destination, a solid platform of clouds stretched out across the the sky, apparently hovering. Hazarding a glance back down to earth Lara gulped as she stepped out onto the platform. She breathed a sigh of relief, finding the clouds to be sturdy and began to walk towards its end.

[I]What possible use could there be for such a platform?[/I] Lara wondered, seeing nothing but clouds and blue sky.

Her question was soon answered as, out of the blue, a green figure with a red cape came hurtling towards her. Lara barely heard Fox's warning yells as he, Yoshi and Lara went tumbling across the cloud platform. In a tangle of limbs they skidded and rolled and the edged was coming towards them quickly. To add to the mix another mushroom shot out from behind the clouds, landing on Lara's chest as they shot by. Energised by the mushroom Lara grabbed onto the edge of the platform in time to prevent all three of them from crashing to the ground.

Hanging precariously Lara glared down at Fox. [B]"Can't you control that thing?!"[/B] Fox looked up at her and shrugged.

[B]"Hey you got a mushroom didn't you, plus it doesn't hurt when we fall remember."[/b] Fox laughed and with that he detached the cape Lara was hanging onto and proceeded to prove his point by free falling to the ground below. Lara pressed her head against a cloud and groaned.

[B]"I want my third dimension back." [/B][/SIZE]

[Ezekiel]

[COLOR=#841a35]Kuja, deciding that speed was now of the essence, had slipped into his Trance mode. It was easier to float around this way and to frighten possible delays out of his way. He meandered around the 8-Bit world, lazily casting disgusted glances at any poor, defenceless turtles that happened to try and look threatening.

Eventually he spotted his teammate Mario and, thinking that friendship was a good thing, floated down just behind the little Italian.

[B]"Excuse me, friend."[/B]

Mario seemed to spasm as Kuja's now much darker voice drifted to his ears. He turned and twitched, moustache quivering gently in Kuja's immense dark aura.

[B]"Ah, er...Hallo there-a, Mr. Kuja"[/B] his mouth twitched at the corners in an attempt to smile, unfortunately his muscles weren't easily deceived and his expression instead settled to one of either hidden fear or feigned interest. Kuja ignored this and instead stepped closer. Mario stepped back.

[B]"Oh, listen here,"[/B] Kuja snapped, [B]"Have I tried to kill anyone on my team yet?" [/B] Mario stared and shook his head gently. [B]"Well-a..." [/B] he begun, but Kuja cut him off.

[B]"Exactly. Now I know I haven't been the best of people in my short little life, and I still strike fear in the hearts of those in my world, but I'm trying to be [I]nice[/I]. I really am, so please, I don't want more enemies than I need in this game. Least of all those who are supposed to be on my own team."[/B]

Mario seemed a little surprised as Kuja's shoulders sagged from the effort of what was supposed to be an emotional speech. He eventually scratched his head just below the band of his hat and sighed, walking forward with his hand extended towards Kuja. [B]"We are on the same-a team, we should-a be friends!"[/B]

Kuja smiled, took Mario's hand, and nodded. Finally some headway for him. He was positively beaming inside, but wouldn't outwardly show it just in case Mario because suspicious.

[B]"Right then, if we could maybe stick together? I have a feeling this challenge will end soon and I'd like some company."[/B]

Mario merely nodded and the two headed off. Along the way, after much gleeful stamping, Kuja spotted a mushroom. Mario was kind enough to let his new-found-friend take it as he'd spotted it first and Kuja shot up once again. He smiled down at Mario and swept an arm to his side, gesturing for the plumber to carry on his way.[/COLOR]

[JJ]

[Color=DarkBlue]?Where the hell is Dante?? Ada asked Ling Xiayou.

?I think he ended up staying behind.? Ling Xiayou said, stomping on a goomba.

If he doesn?t hurry up and get here, we?re going on without him, and he?ll be SOL.? Ada said glancing back.

?We need to keep going, or at least, I?m going to keep going.? Long Xiayou said.

?Wait a second; I think if we time our jumps on these platforms, we can find a way to skip over a couple of levels.? Ada said, pointing to the ones looming in front of the pair.

Ling Xiayou nodded and jumped onto the first one and quickly jumped to the platform in the middle. She flashed Ada the thumbs up, and Ada made an attempt at it. She got a running start, and leaped onto the platform, causing it to rock. She gasped and made the leap for the next platform quickly. She landed safely, and Ling Xiayou gave her a smile.

?Not too hard, I hope.? She said laughing.

?Nope, I?m in top form.? Ada said, heading for the second row of moving platforms.

She leaped, and began to ride it. As she went off into the air, she made a leap of faith outwards. She sighed in relief as her feet hit the bricks above the warp pipe. She looked and saw Ling Xiayou with a shocked look on her face.

?I learned it in the original video game.? Ada said winking, ?Hurry up and get up here.?

Ling Xiayou repeated the same motion as Ada, and landed next to her quickly. Unluckily, she broke a brick, which sent a mushroom flying. Ada leaned over to grab it and missed it. She snapped her fingers, and the pair carefully made their way over the bricks, and into a side room.

?WELCOME TO THE WARP ZONE!?

Ada laughed, as Ling Xiayou looked surprised at the numbers coming out of the pipes.

?Which one should we go in?? Ada asked, chuckling.

?Let?s go to 4!? Ling Xiayou said, starting bounce.

?Sounds good.? Ada said.

Ada jumped onto the warp pipe and felt herself sink into it. She quickly reappeared in a green world, with a castle behind her.

?We?re back in the open!? Ada cheered as Ling Xiayou appeared.

Ada?s cheering and arm pumping caused her to bust a brick, which spouted a mushroom. Ada squealed again, and quickly ate it. Her body shot up again, she was now towering over Ling Xiayou. She waved, and gestured for them to keep going.[/color]

[Ellerby]

[color=#333333]Mario watched as his friend, Kuja, grew after touching the mushroom they had found. They walked on, looking for more mushrooms. Eventually they started increasing the pace they were going at to find more mushrooms in a less amount of time.

"So-uh.. you like-a my homeland?" asked Mario. Trying desperately to spark a conversation with the once evil man.

Kuja shrugged. "It's alright. But it could use some-uh..." Kuja chose his words carefully, "[i]redecorating[/i]."

Mario nodded in agreement. "I don't-a really live here anymore. This was my old home. I live somewhere else now, in a 3 Dimensional world-a."

Kuja grinned. "Neat." he said. Then he abrubtly stopped and put his arm out infront of the italian. "Hold it..."

Mario looked at Kuja curiously. "Hm?" Kuja just nodded his head at something just ahead of them. It was a band of Para-Goombas. They were tossing around a Bob-Omb and a mushroom as if playing hot potatoe with each.

Kuja looked down a Mario. "Since I got the last mushroom, you should have this one. We have to organize a plan, though. I don't want to run away holding a bomb instead of a mushroom." he explained.

Mario chuckled quietly and started telling Kuja his plan. Kuja was to run towards the ParaGoombas and interupt their game. While he did this, Mario would sneak up from behind and nab the mushroom. Then they were to flee the scene and leave nothing behind.

It started out going well. Kuja had managed to grab the ParaGoombas' attention. But where the plan went wrong was when Mario went to snatch the mushroom. Just before he had touched it, the bob-omb nearby exploded. It sent a bunch of the ParaGoombas flying into the air (losing their wings in the process) and Mario skidded backwards and into a wall.

He quickly spun in a circle and dived at the only remaining ParaGoomba, the one who was holding the mushroom. He managed to touch the mushroom with his finger tips and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

[i][b]*Thud*[/b][/i]

Kuja helped the chubby plumber up and they both looked at the dirt beneath where Mario had landed. Under where his belly was, layed an imprint of a Goombas' shocked face. Mario rubbed his tummy and blushed.

"Maybe I should-a cut down on the food." he said.[/color]

[Raiyuu]

[b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS]"Wow,"[/font][/color][/b][color=Purple][font=Trebuchet MS] commented Ada, looking up at the words WORLD 4-1 suspended above their heads. [b]"I thought the 'four' pipe would take us to 1-4. We're well ahead of the others, I doubt they'll find us now."

"They won't have snaffled all the mushrooms, then!" [/b]replied Xiaoyu, running ahead. Turning back to look where she was going, she yelped and skidded to a halt, right on the edge of a very bottomless pit. She was suddenly very conscious of the one life she had remaining.

After their platform-hopping in the last world, she and Ada had no problem leaping the many pits in this level; Ada especially, being nearly twice as tall as Xiaoyu, could almost clear them in a step. That is, until they came across one with a layer of bricks hovering at head height, forming a ceiling over the abyss.

[b]"We really need to break these," [/b]Xiaoyu whined. [b]"I need more mushrooms ... but I don't wanna fall in the hole!"

"The somersault you broke the last one with could be useful," [/b]Ada mused from on high. [b]"You'll break the brick while flipping backwards. That way, you shouldn't fall."

[/b]Xiaoyu nodded and advanced tentatively towards the pit, stopping with her toes over the edge, trying not to look down. She crouched - difficult to do while not looking down - and sprang, flying backwards and lashing out a powerful kick at the nearest block.

A mushroom [i]boing-[/i]ed out of the top as the brick smashed. For a moment, she thought it was just going to fall straight down and be lost in the pit, but it flew out to the right (straight ahead as she was looking, but this was 2-D after all) and started shuffling across the brick ceiling.

[b]"Stop!" [/b]she squeaked at the errant fungus as it waddled stupidly towards the edge and certain oblivion. Suddenly Xiaoyu felt herself rising through the air, and twisted her head to see Ada, lifting her up by her dress. The giant plonked her down on the platform, squishing the little mushroom just before it plummeted off into the pit.

When Xiaoyu recovered her bearings, she was staring Ada right in the eye.

[b]"Yay, I'm taller!"[/b]
[/font][/color]

[Blayze]

[size=1]Shadow jumped across a gap, but missed the other side and fell to the floor. He seemed to fall in slow motion, but his feet landed on something hard as he hit the ground. There was a shell of some sort beneath his feet, and the creature within disappeared as he made contact with the shell.

[b]"What the hell?" [/b]he exclaimed, kicking the shell away. It hit a wall and bounced back at him, and this was the first time he realised that it was covered in sharp spikes. His eyes widened, and he only just managed to jump over it before it impaled him.

[b]"That was close." [/b]He searched around for another mushroom, knowing that all of his team-mates were much taller than him by now. He felt insignificant as he fumbled around in the bushes for the glimpse of a red mushroom.

Fox bounded past, now almost twice the size of Shadow, who muttered a curse under his breath, but Fox's final leap slammed down on a box that was hidden in the bushes. He tripped and fell flat on his face, something that would previously have caused Shadow to laugh for hours, but this time he was too preoccupied with the challenge. As Fox hit the box, it cracked, and out popped a mushroom. Shadow jumped over it to try and catch it, but it shuffled off in the opposite direction.

[b]"Stupid bloody mushrooms," [/b]he scowled, and ran towards it, grabbing it as it disappeared with a *poof*. Shadow smiled as he felt himself growing.

[b]"Oh yeah!" [/b]he shouted, [b]"Shadow's back in the game!"[/b]
[/size]

[Desbreko]

Samus looked at the single block she had encountered in World 1-3 -- it was empty. Maybe slow and thorough wasn't the best idea here. Jumping from the green platform she was standing on, she activated her space jump boots and jumped again from mid-air, landing on a higher platform. Idly raising her arm cannon, she blew away a paratroopa that had gotten the bright idea of leaping down at her.

[i]I don't have time for this,[/i] Samus thought as she leapt up to yet another platform. Not a single block was in sight. Dashing across the platform, not even bothering to stop as she dispatched the goomba in her path, she pushed off at the edge and flipped through the air in a spinning somersault. Jumping through the air again and again with her space jump boots, she bypassed the lower platforms.

Two red blips appeared dead ahead on her radar; two more koopas on the next platform. No matter, though -- she had enough momentum built up by now. Landing on the platform in full stride, Samus stopped abruptly and crouched. White light was shining up and down across her power suit as she stood up and grinned at the two koopas approaching her. Jumping forward, she hung in mid-air for a split second, then flew straight ahead, her shoulder block ripping the koopas apart.

Looking ahead as she flew, Samus watched as she cleared a wall of stone blocks by a matter of inches. Then -- a flagpole was in her path, and beyond it, a large castle. Snapping the pole clean off, just below the koopa-emblemed flag, Samus crashed through one of the castle's windows before deactivating her speed booster and stopping her flight. Dropping to the ground inside, she quickly took in her new surroundings.

The words World 1-4 greeted Samus from the gray brick ceiling. [i]This looks more like a dungeon than a castle,[/i] she thought to herself as she deftly jumped a lava pit. Floor, ceiling, walls, it was all constructed of the same gray brickwork. The only highlights were the spinning chains of fireballs that seemed to be attached to various places along the ceiling and floor.

[i]Ah ha,[/i] Samus thought as a question mark block came into view. It floated above a small platform surrounded by lava pits, and below it twirled one of the fiery chains. Taking aim with her ice beam, Samus froze the flames before jumping across to the platform and blasting the block. Out popped a mushroom, which she wasted no time in consuming. Those fireballs wouldn't stay frozen forever.

Squeezing through the narrow passage ahead, careful of her new height, Samus froze more of the fiery chains and wondered if this was supposed to be challenging. But then, it was still only the first world. As the passage opened up and she passed what seemed to be the last of the chains, a fireball came flying towards her out of nowhere. Crouching before it could slam into her helmet, Samus reconsidered her earlier thoughts.

Morphology: Bowser Imposter
A fake Bowser, it posseses all the abilities of the real koopa king. Only fire is capable of penetrating its spiked shell and tough scales.

Dashing ahead, Samus leapt over more fireballs while freezing others in her path. Coming to a bridge suspended over yet another pit of lava, she found the source of the fireballs: A giant, spike-shelled koopa that walked on its hind legs. She could already guess the quickest way to get rid of this pest, even without the information from her scan, but she had her own way of dealing with monsters like this. Activating her missile launcher, she took aim, then jammed a super missile straight down the koopa's gullet before it could spit its next fireball. It promptly exploded, covering the bridge in quickly fading green goo.

[i]Always with the monster goo,[/i] Samus thought as she stepped off the bridge. At least in this world it had the decency to disappear after a moment.

"Thank you!" a strange mushroom-like being greeted Samus as she stepped into the next room. "But our princess is in another castle!"

Morphology: Toad
Natives of the Mushroom Kingdom, toads are sentient creatures that resemble toadstools. They are usually peaceable and friendly.

Samus scanned the strange creature, finally realizing why this place was called the Mushroom Kingdom. "Excuse me?" she asked, not quite sure what the toad was talking about.

"Thank you!" it repeated. "But our princess is in another castle!"

Samus sighed, having to remind herself that this was an 8-bit world. "I see. Then I'll be on my way."

[KKC]

[size=1][color=darkorange]"Damn Yoshi..." Fox grumbled as he brushed dirt off of his face. He watched Shadow chase after the mushroom he had uncovered and grow a few feet taller, "Look what you did!" Fox scowled at the green dinosaur who was grabing apples with its long red tongue, not listening or caring about what Fox had to say.

"Fine, I'm better off without you." Fox growled and started to walk away from the apple loving creature, but was cut off when it jumped in front of Fox's path, "I don't need you" Fox said again, getting annoyed with the dinosaurs behavior.

"Yoshi..." It whimpered and looked up at Fox with big sad eyes like a puppy. Fox rolled his eyes and started walking away, but the green creature was persistant and continued to block his path.

"Okay!" Fox yelled, finally giving in, "I'll ride you, but you have to find mushrooms for me. If you don't, i'll leave." Fox warned. When he said mushrooms yoshi seemed to perk up, without warning (again) the long tongue picked up Fox and threw him on the dinosaurs back and they were off, heading in the direction on the next level.

Fox had to admit that riding on the little green dinosaur was alot quicker than going by foot, but it was also frightening at how fast he would jump over things. As Fox neared the two poles that stood where the level ended he could see Lara, Crash, and Pac-man close by, heading for the poles as well.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Fox asked Yoshi, noticing that it had bent its legs as if he were going to jump some great obstical. Fox grabbed onto the red saddle tightly, he had a feeling that he was in for some kind of ride. As the bar between the poles reached near the top, yoshi jumped high into the air and then bucked Fox off its back and sent him flying through the air.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Fox yelled as he flew towards the bar. To his surprise (like most of the stuff in this world) the bar vanished when he touched it and a mushroom poped out. Fox snatched it out of the air just before he landed back on the green dinosaur. He once again felt tingly and grew once again. But before Fox could cheer he heard a loud pop and looked down to see that Yoshi had been crushed under his new found weight. [/size][/color]

[TheShinje]

[size=1][color=darkblue] As Crash jumped to higher places in this world, Pac decided that it was best if he kept his non-existant feet to the ground for a while and scouted the horizons...

It was then when he foudn the 'shroom, all shiny and red, and promplty ate it. [i]now, that was just a little too easy[/i] Pac thought as the 'shroom made it's way down into his gut.

All of a sudden, Pac heard a ticking noise coming from his gut, the 'Shroom had been rigged with a bomb! Quickly, Pac raced through the world, with the ticking noise growing louder and clearer, and upon finding a green pipe, hurled the 'shroom into wherever it went.

"phew that was close" Pac sighed, waiting for the explosion, but the explosion never came. Then Pac burped and realised the ticking noise had been gas. "oh, crap, I wasted a shroom." Pac moaned.

He quickly bounced away from the pipe, hoping to distance himself fromt he wasted shroom and any responsibility of it, and headed back to the bricks that Crash had jumped over previously. Pac then decided that it would be a good idea to take the path in the sky not taken by Crash, and find a shroom somewhere in the clouds.

Pac then saw what he though was a castle, and he descended from the heavens to take a look. A funny toadstool like character kept telling him that the princess was in another castle, but he didn't care about no princess, maybe Mario would, he made note to tell Mario sometime that there was indeed a captured princess.

There, underneath a tree, was a shroom guarded by more koopa. Pac bounced over a couple of them and grabbed the shroom, hurryign to escape from their clutches before they put the brake on his life.

"phew, this time no more wasting 'shrooms." Pac grinned as he downed the 'shroom, making sure to ignore the gas this time. Pac grew and moved on from the castle, leaving the little toad a little bewildered that no one was actually panicking over the captured princess... [/size][/color]

[Solo Tremaine]

[color=#503f86]Krystal [i]was[/i] following closely behind Lara. Until she was swept away by a errant and rather panicked Fox, that is.

"He never does that to me," she grumbled to herself, giving some yellow blocks a hefty whack with her staff. Some disintegrated into nothing- others oozed pixellated coins. She had no idea where Crash, Pac-Man and Shadow had got to, and the suspicion that she was being left behind started to creep into her veins again.

While Lara had ascended the vine with great skill and precision, then subsequently disappeared with significantly less grace, Krystal was scounting around the ground, raking the bushes and using her Staff's Ground Quake ability to shake enemies off their feet and eject the tortoises from their shells. She found some amusement in watching them run for their lives in their little vests and running shoes.

Before she had time to question where the tortoises would have been able to buy running shoes, a bulky figure stood on a rocky platform above her.

"What the hell are [URL=http://www.themushroomkingdom.net/mariopedia/c.shtml#Chargin'_Chuck]you[/URL]?"

The figure said nothing, but tipped its football helmet and cracked its shoulders into place, guarded by big metal pads. Although Krystal was about twice its size now, it still looked as if it could break her kneecaps. She liked her kneecaps.

It charged forwards, Krystal barely managing to avoid it by leaping onto and over its back as it ground to a halt. She bounced nimbly from it and turned to face it again as she landed. That shell was [i]hard[/i].

The pseudo-rugby player charged again, this time missing her leg by inches and she leapt over it again. She gave it a swift crack over the head with her staff as she flew, causing its head to fly three inches into the air, swivel and then right itself again. The rugby player shook his head.

"Great," Krystal growled, with as much malice as she could muster. The end of her staff began to glow bright blue.

The rugby-players' beady eyes fixed her with an 8-Bit glare. She tightened her grip on her staff, staring back and baring her teeth.

It charged again. This time, she didn't move but instead rammed the end of her staff directly through the gap in its visor. An Ice Blast burst from the business end of the stave and the rugby-player turned into solide ice. With a vicious swing from the staff's wider end, it shattered and disappeared.

A familiar, grating voice called out smugly from ahead of her.

"Not bad for a short-ass."

Shadow's sarcastic grin was almost too much for her to stand, especially as he was now taller than her. She was so very close to forcefully inserting her staff somewhere of Shadow's that even 8-Bit detail couldn't hide.

Instead, she bit her tongue and walked quietly past, looking directly ahead. After a few seconds, she felt herself beginning to calm down.

"Are the others about?" she asked quietly.

"Somewhere. They'll be fine, though. We're rocking!"

Krystal continued forwards, with Shadow in tow. She kept looking around for more mushrooms, the sinking feeling that the current supply of fungi had been all but exhausted for this stage.

As she approached the edge of a green pipe, she batted her staff on its metal rim in frustration. A small red and white object floated effortlessly up its edge and dripped down the other side. Krystal threw herself onto it- she heard a hollow 'poof' as it disappeared somewhere underneath her stomach and she began growing in size.

She gave a quick sigh of reluef, picked herself up and beckoned for Shadow to keep going. She wasn't going to be left behind.[/color]