Book Five Star Challenge, Chapter 1: Mario Party

The cheerful screams of the audience reverberated around the small stadium and made the walls echo the sound. Five players were walking out from one of the small tunnels at the bottom, lining up in the very center. Over them hovered a machine of sorts. An observation box stood silently until the audience had calmed down, after which an announcer’s voice boomed forth from within.

“Good evening folks! It’s your host, Mario here, keeping you right in the middle of the action. Tonight we bring you, 5 brand new contestants. Give them a round of applause!” The crowd went wild at this and Mario waited until it had subsided. Below, the 5 players stood proudly. This was the famous show, Mario Party, and anyone who was anyone had played. Mario continued.

“I’d like to introduce our competitors now if you will. From left to right we have Peas, Ryguy, Feather, Charlotte, and Purest!” More applause and the 5 waved happily. This time, Mario rode off their enthusiasm.

“We all know how this works. Five games in a row, everyone is each other’s foe. Try to stay alive for all five and get that star for which you have to strive. If you can’t beat the game, then you can’t stake your claim, so whatever you do, go for the fame! What’s the name of this game?”

“Mario Party!” The crowd shouted back. At those words, the machine in the middle of the field whirred to life and covered the contestants in a green light. Mario had his hand poised over a red button and shouted “Then let’s party!” before pushing the button and making the group disappear in a flash of light.

~~~​

They reappeared in a small arena decorated like Yoshii Island. Hovering in the sky, a countdown timer ticked down from 10 seconds. Each competitor split off from each other in separate directions and charlotte paced on top of a tower, deciding whether or not to stand her ground. The timer hit 0 and her armor turned a shade of green. Above her, she could hear Mario shout,
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“And it looks like Charlotte’s got the infection!” She sighed and jumped down from the yellow tower she stood on. She knew Purest would be hiding and Peas would probably be up higher, so she headed off towards purple territory. There was a hidden cutout in the stairwell there that not many knew about, but that she and Purest had hidden in plenty of times. As she ran, she let her mind begin to form a plan, but it was short lived because soon she heard a rush of air and felt something hard connect with her shoulder shortly. Pain exploded in her right side and she crashed into the side of a pillar.

“Ow. A good hit by Ryguy on that one!” Mario announced. The crowd cheered.

“Nice one Ryguy!” Feather said, walking into view and giving him a high five. Ryguy smiled back and they ran off together. Charlotte sat there weighing the options. She could choose to chase after them since she knew exactly where they were, or she could continue on towards the location Purest might be. Charlotte sighed once more and gathered herself together before running off again. She couldn’t waste time chasing two people. She’d need backup. It wasn’t long before she was in purple territory and making her way towards the hideout. Above, Mario was giving the crowd her backstory.

“New to the game, but not to competing, Charlotte has been on game shows before. She excels in quick thinking and even quicker reaction time, so I’m excited to see what she does in this game of extreme tag. Will she rise to the occasion and spread the infection or crash and burn from the resistance?”

“Of course I'm going to tag people…” charlotte said under her breath, slightly frustrated. Mario was a good announcer, but everything he did he did for the cameras and not for the truth. Although, she couldn’t blame him for creating some suspense. Coming up next to the stairs, she crouched down in order to not be seen and slunk around to the other side until she was right next to the opening to the hideout. Drawing in her breath and hoping her instincts were correct, she jumped forwards and tagged the surprised Purest, causing him to backpedal and slam into the back wall. The crowd exploded into mad praise and Mario’s voice came out loud over the speakers.

“And another one bites the dust. Purest is down!” Purest scowled at Charlotte, then started to laugh.

“Am I that predictable?” He chuckled. Charlotte simply winked and stepped aside to let him out. Looking up at the clock, Charlotte saw 2 minutes shown and worry began to cloud her mind.

“We better get moving.” She suggested urgently. Purest nodded in agreement but frowned.

“But we have no idea where any of them could be. I mean, where’s Peas?” both looked at each other after that and said in unison,

“On a tower.” It was, after all, his favorite strategy. They set out to yellow together and it wasn’t long before Purest spotted Peas perched on the tallest column in the yellow territory. They split up; Purest taking to higher ground since he was better at parkour, and Charlotte sneaking around until she and Purest had trapped him between them. It would be Purest’s job to knock Peas off towards the ready Charlotte. As she was waiting for any signs of movement, she suddenly heard a crack, followed by a shout.

“It’s a hit!” Mario shouted and Charlotte got ready. Peas’s shadow appeared above her. She definitely didn’t expect Peas to fall almost right on top of her! Apparently, he didn’t either because he gave a shout and tried to turn in the air. With a little squeak, she dodged out of the way. Peas landed awkwardly and tripped backward, landing on his backside in the process. Charlotte was up in a moment, darting back in and smiling as she extended a hand to him. Peas hung for a moment, contemplating attempting to make an escape, but realized it would be futile against Charlotte. He took her hand and turned green in the process, becoming infected. There were some awwwww’s from the crowd, as well as some shouts of approval.

“Peas has gone pea green!” Mario joked. Charlotte laughed lightly at the pun and glanced up at the timer. Her laugh was cut off abruptly as she inhaled sharply. One minute left!

“We need to go.” She said quickly, “Where’s Purest?”

“Up here….” Came the softer voice of Purest. He jumped down and winced as his leg touched the ground.

“You just had to aim for the leg, didn’t you?” He muttered. Peas grimaced.

“Sorry about that, Purest.” Peas said sheepishly. Purest shrugged and rubbed his leg. Charlotte scanned the arena.

“They were in pink, last I checked. They’re teaming.” She pushed. They needed to get moving. Everyone gathered together, Purest’s leg having improved enough to put weight on, and ran off towards pink territory. As they ran, Charlotte gave out instructions.

“Purest, are you ok to take the higher ground? I want to scare them towards us. Same plan we used with Peas.” He nodded and branched off to begin climbing the nearest column. “Peas, you and I will wait for Purest to send them our direction. Then we get two at once.” Peas gave a thumbs up and together they got into position behind a pillar. Charlotte could hear Purest running before another crack split the air. She heard Mario speak, but she was too zoned in to listen. Footsteps got closer to them.

“Careful Feather. If there’s one, there’s probably more than one close by.” Ryguy’s quiet voice could barely be made out through the sound of Charlotte own heartbeat. She looked over to see Peas bracing himself. The footsteps continued, getting closer, until finally Peas tensed up and stepped out right in front of both of them, catching them off-guard. They tried to turn back, but Peas was ready. He reached out and tagged Ryguy before Feather could swing her knockback stick. Nothing happened. With an exasperated look, Charlotte turned to the timer. Where the time had been, there was now an announcement. Congratulations! Ryguy, Feather! Mario came back on the speaker.

“And that marks the end of our first minigame, folks! Didn’t I tell you it’d be an exciting one today? It seems there was a tie for first place between Ryguy and Feather, with Peas coming in third. The star goes to both the victors, but Peas gets props too. And let’s not forget Purest and Charlotte. Let’s show them all some love!” The cheers were thundering and Charlotte looked at her opponents. Everyone looked a little worn out. That was to be expected. This was, after all, a competition. Everyone was giving it their best. She smiled and everyone else began to smile back. They all high-fived before being teleported back to the stadium. The shouts were almost deafening and Mario was wrapping up the announcement. Charlotte wasn't listening. Instead, she was focused on one thing only.

“When we get back to our rooms, I’m passing out,” Charlotte said. Everyone laughed and agreed. Mario dismissed the group and the 5 players made their way out of the stadium towards their sleeping quarters. Tomorrow would bring another challenge. And this time, charlotte thought, she would win.

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