Other Fan Fiction ❯ Mario: It's all in the Hat ❯ Goomba! ( Chapter 7 )

Chapter 7 - Goomba!

 

Waddling along the corridor behind the cells, Goombite, a newly appointed member of King Koopa's castle guard, was lost amidst his daydreams. Yeah, I'll be the one to catch him! All I gotta do is find him and then Fwap! Pow! Bite! And he's down! Hehehe... He thought, envisioning the scene. Nah, who am I kidding. Goombash already told me about how he watched Mario take down a whole squad of Goomba without even pausing... And that's why I'm back here anyway. Everyone knows that Mario's not one to skulk around in the shadows, so there's really no chance of running into him back here, but at least I look like I'm trying. Still... it would be really cool if I could take Mario... he thought again, losing himself once more in his daydreams.

 

Now the Goomba are a very interesting race. Squat mushroom shaped creatures with two stub like legs, and no arms or other appendages, they generally rely on their mouths, their feet, or the over-flexibility of their bodies to allow them to interact with the environment. Once at peace with their distant cousins, the Toad, they decided long ago to forgo the boring lives of the peace loving Toad, and instead joined Bowser's army, where their naturally aggressive natures were appreciated and they were given the freedom to express their more base instincts. While vicious, fighters in one on one ground combat, they've received the erroneous reputation for being pushovers due to the ease with which the Mario brothers dispatch them, using an aerial advantage that they cannot match.

 

Lost in his own world, Goombite didn't hear the sound of footsteps coming from around the corner, no more than the source of the footsteps seemed to hear him. Both parties, lost in their own thoughts were quickly alerted to each others presence soon enough when, while coming around the bend, they both stumbled into each other. Reacting to months of training, Goombite quickly jumped up and back, thrusting with the top of his cap, and knocking the larger figure that had almost fallen completely over him back a few steps before getting his first look at him. For a few moments he was sure his heart had just stopped and that he was having a post life hallucination. There, not more than a few feet from him was Mario, “The” Mario, scourge of the Goomba Clan, and champion to those horrid Toad. Completely paralyzed in fear, he could do no more than stare as Mario, rushed at him and inevitably knocked him senseless.

 

Bracing for the crushing blow he was to receive, Goombite was startled when instead of crashing down on his cap and compressing him to the point that he lost consciousness, he was instead tackled from the front and rolled by his attacker. Tumbling back as he had been instructed to do in this situation, he pulled himself into a curl and kicked off of his opponent sending his assailant into the nearby wall. Righting himself and turning to face the obviously unknown attacker, Goombite thought to himself... That isn't Mario! Mario is at least several feet taller and capable of jumps that are the bane of Goombas everywhere. Heh, I was obviously mistaken, and since this ugly impostor gave me such a fright, I'll teach him a lesson that he won't soon forget. No one messes with a Goomba, and gets away with it... Unless they're Mario of course... hehehe... Laughing at his initial confusion, and fueled by the knowledge that he wasn't facing Mario, and thus could realistically win this fight, Goombite threw himself at his attacker, scarcely giving him time to pull himself back up. Goomba...

 

*****

 

 

Leaving the immediate surroundings of his cell was enough to boost Mario's flagging confidence. He may have been captured by Bowser, but he was still Mario, and that meant that there was nothing in this castle that could stop him, short of King Koopa himself, and he'd take care of that problem as soon as he escaped and regathered his strength. Wincing, Mario cringed at the thought of leaving Bowser's castle without Princess Peach. He had never, in all his career as the Mushroom Kingdom's savior, never left without the Princess... but things were not going as they should and more than anything else Mario needed a chance to regroup so that the next time he faced Bowser, everything would turn out the way it was supposed to. That still didn't help the taste of failure that he couldn't get out of his mouth.

After having walked for a bit, Mario began to think about other things, like how Bowser had ended up getting the best of him. It just didn't make sense. They were fighting like always, Bowser helplessly trying to beat Mario, and he waiting for a good chance at stomping the brute. Granted he may have been toying with King Koopa just a little bit, but that was half the fun. The massive Koopa was never(Up until this point) going to beat him, so why not put on a bit of a show. It kept things from getting too stale, and if things started to look ugly he'd just end it and get out of there... at least that was how it was supposed to work. But somehow, this time, things went sour. One minute fighting, and the next, Bowser comes at Mario like a tweester and bowls him over. Scratching his head(Which had finally stopped ringing) Mario once again noticed the lack of his cap and chuckled in a mirthless way. That was right, not only had Bowser beaten him, but he'd lost his cap as well. It would only figure. He'd had that particular hat since the first time he fought King Koopa, so of course the first time Koopa beats him he'd lose his cap... It was almost like...

 

But he'd have no chance to figure what it was almost like as at that moment he tripped over a goomba and was suddenly knocked back a few steps, snapping him back into the now. Looking over at the goomba Mario's inert cockiness reasserted itself. It was just a little goomba, he'd fought these things time and time again, and yet they still seemed to think that they stood some kind of a chance. It was almost humorous. At least this one could tell that it was in trouble, Mario could see the fear in it's eyes, and he wasn't about to let it waste that rightly come fear. Charging the goomba, Mario prepared to stomp... at the last second it came back to him... he was so used to fighting with his jumps that he forgot for a moment... but no matter it was just a goomba, and so Mario took his forward momentum(that it was too late to stop) and tackled the thing.

Now Mario expected one of two things. One, the goomba, as weak as everyone knew they were, would be knocked unconscious by Mario's tackle. Or two, if he wasn't knocked out, then scared by the change in tactics the goomba would flee, leaving Mario one less fight to deal with. He was after all still Mario, and it wasn't that infrequent that Bowser's underlings would choose flight over fight in a confrontation with him. What he didn't expect however was to be rolled by the thing and thrown into the wall at the intersection. With his head still not completely right, that was enough to set it ringing once more. He had to clear his vision before he could see what was going on, and he didn't like what he saw. The goomba, obviously not afraid anymore(what if they already knew), was charging him. Rolling out of the way, Mario barely missed being tackled by the goomba's rush, and it wasn't stopping there.

 

Of course he'd be fighting in a smallish corridor that gave him little room to avoid the things attacks and even less to maneuver, but he'd have to make due. Turning to face his attacker, Mario had to throw his hands up to fend the goomba away(By the lands but this one was fast) and was rewarded with it's teeth sinking into his arm. Stifling a shout of pain(He really didn't need any more to show up) Mario kicked the Goomba at it's base, causing it to free his arm, and quickly stumbled back a few steps to put some room between them. Obviously it had other plans though, because as soon as Mario began to stumble back the Goomba charged again. This wasn't going to work, Mario knew that when you fought on the defensive your opponent had control, and he wasn't about to give control of this fight to a Goomba. Falling on his back, Mario kicked out at the creature, and once again felt it's teeth sinking into his body, this time his leg. Barely holding back another shout of pain, Mario curled up and punched the thing right between it's eyes. That seemed to stun it a little, and it stumbled back a few steps itself. Not giving the Goomba a chance to recover, Mario scrambled up(His leg!) and stumbled towards the little monster.

As he reached the Goomba it seemed to have cleared it's head and it flattened itself on Mario's approach. Not sure what to expect, our weary warrior prepared to pounce, but it wasn't to work. As soon as Mario was almost close enough to try something, the Goomba leapt at him with incredible speed and knocked the breath out of him. Not letting up for a moment, it ducked down close to him and leapt once more, thrusting with it's cap, and at this range it's blow sent Mario flying back into the wall once more. His head pounding now, and both his left arm, and his right leg throbbing in pain, Mario couldn't believe he was having so much trouble, against a Goomba!

 

With the Goomba advancing on him, all kinds of horrible things dancing in it's eyes, Mario didn't have too much time to think. Okay, so what did he know about goombas, one, they were weak(That didn't help), two, they were easily knocked unconscious by compressing them(As things were now, that was even less helpful), and three... well there was no three. Generally when dealing with Goomba there wasn't much to think about. It was jump, squish, continue, and that was it. How did the Toad deal with Goomba... He'd have to ask them later, if he made it out of this hallway that was, and that's what really started to worry Mario like nothing so far had affected him. Here he was, being thrown about by a Goomba. How in the lands did he expect to fight Bowser in this condition? Something was very, very wrong, and it went deeper than King Koopa's beating him. Now was not the time to worry about what was wrong though, now was the time to fight, and win... he hoped.