FicWad

I find it funny where I can end up sometimes. In second grade, I ended up face to face with the biggest bully, Hugo. He was a fifth grader who practically had a mustache. There was even a rumor that he had two kids already with some girl up at my city’s high school. That day, Hugo beat the crap out of me and why? It was all because I decided to play The Hero and stand up for my friend.
Then there was one time, at the zoo. I tried to save a kid’s balloon and ended up in the monkey pit because I broke through the net. I got tons of poo thrown at my face and a broken wrist from the fall. Oh and how can I forget that one time I found a deer that actually let me pet it? I ended up getting shot in the leg by an arrow from my father’s crossbow.
I have always ended up in the most bizarre, painful situations. I have always been an unlucky, but ambitious lady. Of course, I didn’t mind it. All of those scenarios above made great stories. Between that and my mental illness, I wasn’t the average twelve year old.
However, this story I am about to tell you, reader, puts me in a situation that I never thought I would be in.
And it all starts out with a man who had a big nose, a moustache, overalls, and a funny red hat…

I was on this marble floor. Don’t ask me how I got there, but all I could remember was my name. It was Ashley, but I liked to be called Ash. Why? It was shorter, easier to write, and since every friggin’ girl in elementary school was named Ashley, I had to find an alternative to my name.
I stood up slowly. I wasn’t hurt or anything, but I was entirely confused. I looked around for a second and then saw this man with a clipboard. He was a short, chubby man. He had a big, bushy moustache and these huge blue eyes. This hat he had on his head was red and had a big M in the middle. I recognized him, but I was so disoriented that I couldn’t recall who he was.
“Excuse me, sir,” I said.
I got his attention, but he just looked at me and said, “Ah, yes, you’re Ashley. Ashley Brandt, right?” He had this thick accent. I knew I had heard it before, but where?
“Um, yeah, actually I am,” I said. “My head hurts so much, though.”
“That’s expected,” the man said. “Switching dimensions and all is quite a doozy.”
“Switching dimensions?” I said, trailing off into thought.
“Why yes. You’re from an entirely different place, ya know.”
I began to think and tried to figure out who I was. Then it hit me. I suddenly remembered my home in Ohio, my family and, well, everything. However my reader, I didn’t understand quite yet as to what was happening. But what I didn’t know was that that stuff would no longer matter.
“Where am I now?” I asked after a long pause.
“Well, you’re technically in the Mushroom Kingdom, but you won’t be here for long.”
I nodded and looked at the ground. Then it hit me, again. “Wait! Where am I?” I shouted.
“The Mushroom Kingdom,” this guy repeated. “I thought you would’ve at least recognized me enough to guess where you are.”
“Who are you,” I asked, backing up slowly. I eventually found myself against a stone wall with nowhere to go.
“I’m Mario, from the Super Mario Brothers video game you might’ve played,” he said. “I’m quite popular in your dimension for some reason.”
“Mario,” I said softly, but added assertively, “why am I here?”
“Well, we’re short of heroes here in what is called the Ninten Dimension. You’re dimension, called the Second Dimension, had some great candidates and, due to your name being drawn out of my hat, you are the chosen hero. Congrats!”
“Most heroes are the “Chosen ones” because they were born that way, but I’m chosen one just because my stupid name was in a hat with a bunch of other stupid people?” I said. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Hey, don’t blame me, Ash,” Mario said, pointing at me with a pencil. “All the candidates from your dimension were chosen by a special board of individuals.”
“But I’m only twelve, and I definitely didn’t sign up for something like this!” I thundered. I was pissed beyond belief. How was I expected to become some hero without some sort of memo?
“Trust me; there were others much younger than you whose names were in my hat. Some of those names were one year old babies. You should be thankful.”
“I should be thankful that I’ll get myself killed?”
“Momma mia, child! You don’t even know what you were chosen to do. Maybe you were chosen to be the hero of pansies!”
“I have a feeling I wasn’t chosen for that, you son of a-”
“Please, I’ll have none of that nonsense fighting in my castle,” a gentle, but stern voice called out. It came from the balcony, so I looked up.
At the top of the staircase was a beautiful woman in a huge pink dress. Her blonde hair went a little below her shoulders and her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight that seeped through an opening on the ceiling.
“Now, will you give me the pleasure to tell you my name, Ms. Ashley, or would you like to keep arguing with Mario here?”
I crossed my arms stubbornly and said, “Go ahead, say what you want.”
“My name is Princess Toadstool, but you can call me Peach,” she said. “I was on the committee that chose whose names would be placed in the hat from your dimension. I, personally, am the one who nominated you.”
“But why would you nominate me?” I asked. “I’m young.”
“Ashley, we need a young, ambitious person to save this dimension,” Princess Peach said. “Though you have no special training, you are young and tend to learn quickly because of your drive. You were the perfect choice, in my opinion.”
“What am I supposed to do, though? What about my family and my education and my friends?”
“In your world, unfortunately, you are considered dead,” Mario said calmly. “I would advise you to forget about all of that.”
I was extremely upset and wanted to cry, but at the same time, I was happy to be gone. I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in my past. I had trouble fitting in at school and talking to even my family. It was hard to keep up socially. I began to feel like this would be a new beginning.
“Are you okay, Ashley?” Princess Peach asked.
“Yes,” I said, and snapped out of it. As Mario said, I didn’t need to dwell on my past any longer. “What needs to be done?”
“Your first destination is not too far off,” Princess Peach said. “It’s in a neighboring kingdom, the kingdom of Hyrule. You will be working with a boy of the same age as you. His name is Link.”
“Interesting,” I said. “How will I get there?”
“Even though it is neighboring, Hyrule is across an ocean,” Mario said. “Our very own James McCloud of the Star Fox team is volunteering to give you a ride there in his spacecraft. They do a bunch of space fighting and what not, which is something you shouldn’t have to worry about.”
“Okay, well, where is this Link kid?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, all we know is that he is living in Kokiri Forest,” Princess Peach said. “He is being mistaken for a child of the Kokiri race. The Kokiri children never grow up and are not allowed to ever leave the forest due to a fear that they will die. This is not true, but is for their safety. Don’t tell them that the myth is false.”
“Understood,” I said. “What will I be doing in Kokiri Forest?”
“From what I have been told, you will get help from a couple of people,” Princess Peach said. “I wasn’t given all the details, but the forest guardian, The Great Deku Tree, will get you and Link started.”
Peach must have been aware of my worried expression and added, “And please don’t worry. Link has absolutely no clue what he is doing either. It will be a learning experience for the both of you.”
Then, out of the blue, a small, but boisterous voice announced, “Princess Peach, Mr. James McCloud is here upon your special request.”
“Oh yes, Toad, please let him in,” Princess Peach said.
I turned around to see two tiny men with mushroom caps on their heads. They were rather cute and made me giggle a little. Oddly enough, I noticed that the doors in Peach’s castle had two doorknobs: one for regular sized people and another one down to the little mushroom men’s height. They immediately waddled to the door to let the James McCloud guy in. One jumped on the round cap of the other and opened the bigger door.
Thus, the doors opened to reveal James McCloud. To my surprise, he was a fox. I personally expected him to be human. Oddly enough however, he stood up like a human and his body was shaped like a human, too, besides his hair and his muzzle. He took off his helmet and his ears flopped straight up. Even though he took off his helmet as a sign of respect, he didn’t remove his sunglasses.
“Good evening Princess,” James said and gave her a short bow, “long time, no see, eh?”
“Hello James,” Princess Peach said with a warm smile. “Thank you so much for helping us transport Ms. Ashley Brandt to Hyrule.”
“No problem,” James said, bringing his sunglasses down a bit so he could look at me. “She seems…very young to be this dimension’s hero.”
“That was intended, James,” Peach said. “She may seem young and innocent now, but I think she will do just fine once she gets the hang of things.”
“Yes, well, I hope you’re right,” James said and he turned around and started walking. “C’mon, Ms. Brandt, we have a long flight under our tails.”
I nodded and walked behind James. It was very peculiar walking behind a talking fox, and I wasn’t sure how to react. Seeing as I was ‘dead’ in my dimension, I decided to make the best of it and pretend that it wasn’t unusual.
“Oh, Ashley,” Princess Peach called out right before we left. “Have you ever had any experience with a sword before?”
“Uh, no,” I said.
“Good. Neither has Link. You two will grow together, I do suppose.”
Great, I thought and I followed James outside. I wasn’t expecting to make any friends on this whole ‘mission.’ I just wanted to finish the job and move on to the next one. I just wasn’t too keen on making friendships and having to maintain them.
The bright, yellow sun of the Mushroom Kingdom practically blinded me when we walked out. I shielded my eyes with my hand to keep the sun from stinging them. What I could see was a beautiful blue sky above us. It seemed calming in the kingdom, with tons of greenery and butterflies. Maybe this dimension wasn’t so bad after all?
“My Arwing is in the back,” James said. “It’s a bit weird to get into at first, but I’ll help you. Do you get motion sickness?”
“Not that I know of,” I said.
“That works then, kiddo,” James said.
We walked all the way to the back of the castle and I was amazed at his Arwing. It was a fighter pilot and reminded me of something from the movie Star Wars, a huge hit back at home. The sun glistened on the exterior of the fighter pilot and helped display the sleek, slim body of The Arwing. I even noticed that it had a symbol on it that looked like a fox with a wing which was on the side of the cock pit.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?” he asked me.
“Yeah,” I said.
“When I retire from the Star Fox team, I plan on giving it to my son, Fox,” James said. “You’d like him. He’s an ambitious, confident young pup, but I hope he chooses a different career path than mine. My life is terribly dangerous.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Hopefully, you and I can make things better here.”
James laughed a bit and then pulled out a small remote. He pressed a button and the Arwing’s wings spread and the cock pit was revealed underneath a moving windshield.
James suddenly picked me up and put me on the outstretched wing. “Let’s hope so,” he said to me as he climbed up and helped me in the cabin. Behind the pilot’s seat was a smaller seat. It was a tight fit, but it seemed nice and cozy. The seats were even made of soft leather, so the ride there would be nice and relaxing.
I got comfortable as James started up the Arwing with a key. I heard several noises as different parts outside began to move. The windshield came down as James pressed multiple buttons.
“I’ll make this an easy ride for you, Ashley,” James said. He put on the helmet he had been holding and then handed me one.
“You can call me Ash, if you want to,” I said rather quickly, feeling the texture of the helmet just before I put it on.
He turned to me with a smile and said, “Alright Ash. I like that.”
We started to hover in the air a bit. I looked out the window to try and see below, but the ship had already taken off. I don’t know how fast we were going, but I was thrown right back in my seat.
“So Ash, are you nervous?” James asked.
“Well, yes, a little,” I said.
“It’s okay to be nervous. I know I was the first time I stepped into this thing. I thought I was going to die on my first day. I remember screaming my head of and just firing the lasers. There wasn’t much fighting back then, though. Everything was different. I was part of the Saturn Wings back then. It was me and my buddy Wolf O’Donnell. We were crazy pups.”
“What happened to the Saturn Wings?” I asked.
“Well, Wolf became the leader and I was his ace pilot,” James said. “But, Wolf became power hungry and killed the whole team, besides me, of course. I got into a huge fight with him in space, but it eventually became a hand to hand combat on a nearby planet. It was a scary time, I’ll tell you.”
“Wow,” I said. “What happened next?”
“Well, I barely made it back home to the planet Corneria. My wife, Vixy, wanted me to retire after that, but I was asked by the Cornerian army to take up my own group and thus I formed the Star Fox group. The people on the team are Peppy Hare, Pigma Dengar, and this new kid named Falco Lombardi. Falco’s quite the pilot for a new guy.”
“Where’s Wolf?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Last I heard of him, I killed him off. Either that or I scared the crap out of him. But, I highly doubt it. Even when we were young, Wolf was a rather solid guy. He was never afraid and always found trouble.”
“So, do you know anything about this Hyrule place?” I asked. “I just wanted to get some information before I get there and all.”
“Sorry Ash, but I’ve never been there,” James said. “I usually stay up in space, but Mario called me and asked if I would take you to Hyrule because if you went by boat, it would take you at least a couple days to get there. I heard it’s a real nice place, though. It’s ruled by this guy named Daphnes. I would never name my kid that. The king sounds like a chick, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah,” I said and smiled a bit. I really liked this guy.
I suddenly heard a beeping noise and James pressed a button.
“James McCloud of the Star Fox team here,” James said.
“James, this is General Pepper,” said a voice from the speakers up front. “There’s been some trouble here in the Lylat System. Are you done there in the Mushroom kingdom?”
“Not yet, sir, I’m almost to Hyrule to transport Ms. Ashley Brandt, but I will be done right after that. Do you need something?”
“Well, we’ve been told of some strange activity at the planet Venom,” General Pepper said. “We’re convinced that Andross is up to no good.”
“Ah, Andross,” James said and paused for a moment. “Well, I’ll fly straight to headquarters and gather my team.”
“By any chance, James, are you bringing that Falco guy with you?” General Pepper asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“He just seems rather shady to me is all,” Pepper said. “Promise me you’ll keep your eyes open and head up with this guy.”
“Whatever you say, sir,” James said.
“Alright, Pepper out,” General Pepper said and then the speakers beeped.
“I feel awfully bad for Falco, but I don’t blame General Pepper,” James said to me. “He has a rather bad past, which might just be because of certain conditions, but I don’t know.”
“I’d still give him a shot,” I said. “I mean, I haven’t met the guy, but he seems talented to me.”
“I like you, kiddo,” James said. “I’ll tell you what, you save this whole Hyrule junk and then I’ll let you fly with my team a bit. You’d be a great part to the team, ya know?”
I smiled as we began to land. “We’re there already?” I said.
“Why yes we are,” James said and he started to press more buttons. I heard a lot of air being let of some places, which probably helped us land safer.
We landed on a hill that over looked the forest. Luckily, no one noticed. I jumped out of the cockpit when I was given the chance and turned to James.
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem,” James said, shifting his glasses down. “Don’t forget to call once all this mess is done.”
“I will,” I shouted as James prepared to leave. The Arwing’s windshield went down and James fired up the jets. I watched as he soared in the sky and took off.
I turned around to face the little village that this forest held. It smelled of trees, grass, and I could hear a small waterfall to my left. I decided to walk down the hill and get a better look at things. My attention was quickly drawn to all of these kids dressed in ugly, green tunics.
This was going to be a nasty adventure; I could already tell.