Saturday, March 28, 2020

Revisiting a Classic

Back in 2007, after I saw the first live-action Transformers movie, I decided to get invested in writing fan fiction, starting by writing a trilogy of "movies" based on Mario video games.  The first of these was Super Mario RPG, a favorite of both my brother and I.  I've written many different fan fictions since then, but I recently decided to go back and revisit the part I loved writing the most from my Super Mario RPG "movie," the Axem Rangers battle.  Here's the revisit/rewrite for your reading pleasure.


               The red star flew up from behind Zombone’s body, Mario reaching up to claim it…but it did not descend into his hands!  He looked around, confused.  “Hey, who’s the ugly dude with the ‘stache?!” asked an angry teenage voice.  Mario, Mallow, Geno, Bowser and Peach looked to see five similar looking robots wielding axes, and they had the star!



               “He’s hideous!” said the black one.



               “He looks weak!” growled the green one.



               “He’s soooo not my type!” said the pink one.



               “That guy’s even worse-looking than that clod, Mario!” said the yellow one.



               “I AM Mario!” replied Mario angrily.



               “Tough look, ‘stache, this is our star now!” declared the red one.  The five bolted away.



               “C’mon, let’s get them!” shouted Mario, him and his group following the five.  The five robots got to the top of Barrel Volcano.



               “Ugh, man, where’s Blade?” asked the red one.



               “Ah, you know him, he’s always late.” Replied the black one.  Mario jumped up onto the rim of the crater, followed by the four others.



               “Dang, Mario’s here!” shouted the red one.  Mario and his group approached as a huge flying axe appeared from behind the volcano, the robots jumping aboard!  Mario and the four others also jumped aboard.  “We fight for evil!” shouted the red robot.



               “We live for disorder!” declared the yellow one.



               “We like what we do!” shouted the green one.



               “We struggle for chaos!” declared the pink one.



               “We are…” began the black one.



               “The AXEM RANGERS, HYAH!” they shouted as a group.  Mario, Mallow, Geno, Bowser and Peach all charged as the Axem Rangers also charged.  “We Need A Hero” from the original Power Rangers Soundtrack began playing in the background.  Mario lashed out with a sweep kick, Axem Red jumping over it and punching Mario with an uppercut.  Axem Black chopped at Geno, who leapt over the attack and fired his Geno Beam.  Axem Black responded with a bomb, knocking Geno back.



               “You think you’re some kind of ninja?” asked Axem Black.



               “I don’t even HAVE shurikens!” replied Geno, firing bullets at Axem Black.  He blocked them all with his axe, then chopped across Geno.  Axem Yellow hit Mallow with a pair of cross-body chops as the camera spun around Matrix-style to try to spoof Bruce Kalish’s style of making the series.  Mallow then used his lightning bolt, which caused an explosion behind Axem Yellow, then a needless slow-mo zoom-in on that explosion, also to spoof Bruce Kalish’s style of making the series.  Axem Yellow then delivered another cross-body chop in slow-mo for no reason, sending Mallow tumbling back.



               “You can’t compete with the Axe of Darkness!” Axem Green growled.  He slashed Bowser with the blade across his body, then Axem Pink shot Bowser with an energy arrow before Axem Green hit Bowser in the face with a one-two punch.  Bowser then grabbed Axem Green’s wrists.



               “Are all those hyahs really necessary?” he asked sarcastically before slamming his mace into Axem Green’s face.  He threw his mace at Axem Green, damaging him some more, but then Axem Green spun his axe quickly.  A green beam with a dragon’s head at the front struck Bowser, knocking him over.  Peach smacked Axem Pink with her war fan, Axem Pink responding with a cross-body chop.  Peach hit Axem Pink with her War Fan again, only for Axem Pink to hit her with an energy arrow, stunning her for a second, which gave Axem Pink the opening she needed to hit Peach with another cross-body chop, knocking her over.  Axem Red hit Mario with a similar cross-body chop, knocking him onto his back, from which he bounced onto his stomach.



               “It’s over.” Snorted Axem Red as his team gathered behind him, Axem Green and Axem Pink kissing.  Mario clenched a fist as the music picked up tempo.



               “Not yet, it’s not over yet!” he declared, his team getting back up!  Peach punched Axem Pink in the face, then smacked her with the war fan before following it up with a cluster of bombs, the psychbomb attack!



               “Yo Red!” shouted Axem Pink.



               “What?” asked Axem Red as he dodged a punch from Mario.



               “My makeup’s running!” she shouted.



               “Switch brands!” he yelled, irate.  Bowser slammed his mace into Axem Green, then punched Axem Green.  Axem Green got up and hit Bowser with a cross-body chop, Bowser responding by uppercutting him with his mace, knocking him over.



               “Yo Red!” he called out.



               “What?!” asked Red.



               “I have a headache!” He admitted.



               “Take some aspirin!” replied Red.  Mallow hit Axem Yellow with the Ribbit Stick, then hit him with his lightning bolt.  Axem Yellow hit him with another cross-body slash, but Mallow responded by hitting him with sticky punches, knocking Axem Yellow over.



               “Yo, Red!” he yelled.



               “What?!” asked Red.



               “I’m…hungry.” He confessed.



               “Chew on your tongue!” replied Red, more irate than ever.  Geno used his Geno Beam on Axem Black, who again responded with a bomb.  Geno responded again with his bullets, followed by another Geno Beam, knocking Axem Black over.



               “Yo, Red!” yelled Axem Black.



               “WHAT?!” asked Axem Red.



               “I broke my shades!” replied Axem Black.



               “Serves you right!” replied Axem Red, getting punched in the head by Mario right after.  Mario tossed fireballs at Axem Red, Axem Red charging and slashing Mario.  Mario punched Axem Red again, then hit him with some more fireballs.  Mario’s team then walked to Axem Red and all five of them punched him simultaneously!  “Enough!  Now I’m angry.  It’s time to finish this!  Formation…HO!” he shouted, a hatch opening below him and him dropping down.  The song would end at this point to be replaced with Zord Battle Music-type music.  Hatches opened below the other four Axem Rangers and they also dropped down.  Blade began shaking and Mario’s group had to jump to the rim of the volcano’s crater.  “Rangers, log on!” shouted Red as each dropped into their own cockpit.



               “Black here, time to kick it!” said Axem Black.



               “Green here, back to action!” said Axem Green.



               “Yellow here, ready to roll!” declared Axem Yellow.



               “Hey, nice stereo!” noted Axem Pink.



               “Power it up!” instructed Red as he, Axem Black and Axem Pink generated a colored crystal they inserted into the console in front of them.  Axem Green picked up a dagger-flute that he played a tune on while Axem Yellow put a small disc in a slot, then spun another disc below it to drop the disc down the slot.



               “Locked and dropped!” he declared.  The five cockpits joined together as the axe part of Blade split in half, a head coming out the top as arms came out the new halves, the part behind swinging down and splitting to become legs.



               “Axem Robo Megazord Online, Hyah!” proclaimed Axem Red as the Axem Rangers settled in one cockpit.  The giant robot approached the volcano, shaking the surrounding area.



               “Mama Mia!  That thing’s huge!” declared Mario.



               “Guess I better use this!” said Bowser, holding out a silver bomb with a grenade-like pin in it.



               “What is it?” asked Mario.



               “Just watch!” smiled Bowser, pulling out the pin and tossing the bomb to the ground.  He and Mario grew vastly in height, soon being tall enough to fight the robot!  Mario tossed some fireballs, rocking the robot, which responded by firing bombs from its shoulders, knocking the two over.



               “Yeah, now fire the Breaker!” shouted Red.  Rainbow-colored beams shot from the robot’s face, sending Mario and Bowser rolling across the ground.  Bowser tossed his mace, which ensnared the robot’s neck, hitting it in the face.  Bowser then hit the robot with a dropkick, sending it crashing down.



               “You’re finished, Axem Rangers!” shouted Bowser.



               “Watch this, old man, we summon the Axem Robo Axe!” shouted Axem Red.  The robot got back up, flames appearing in its right hand to reveal a giant axe!  It swung it at Mario, who blocked with his hammer, but then swung it and hit Bowser and Mario, sending them rolling.  “Use the finisher!” yelled Axem Red.  The Axem Robo Axe was covered in flames, swung around to the right shoulder while a Japanese Castle appeared in the background, raised up as a red and blue stormy background appeared, then brought down three times with beams of light seeming to come straight out of it as the background changed again to a rocky area.  Bowser and Mario rolled on the ground, injured again.  Bowser got up and slammed his mace into the robot’s chest, then grabbed Mario and tossed him at the robot, Mario flying in fists first, knocking it over.  The two nodded to each other, then got ready again.  “You can’t beat us, we’re Smithy’s Gang’s Elite!” declared Axem Red.



               “You’re just five teenagers with attitude, WE’RE the real superheroes!” snorted Bowser.  He threw his mace as Mario tossed fireballs after the robot got up, causing it to fall over and explode.  The two high-fived, shrinking back to normal size with Mario claiming the sixth star of his journey.

No comments:

Post a Comment