Super Mario Christmas

10. Unexpected Friends

Little Mario pulled himself into a seated position. Around him were high piles of fallen candy corn with elements of a long forgotten dirt path underneath. He raised his hand to his head to stop the world from spinning. His fingers came away wet.

Mario was surprised to still be alive, after the beating those goombas had given him. Caught between them, he had expected to be dragged closer and closer to his friends but somehow he had been jostled many, many feet in the opposite direction before he'd slipped from their grasp, bouncing off the rocks.

Mario looked up. The path covered with goombas must have been a good 50 feet above him. He could hear faint sounds coming from higher up, however he would have expected to hear more noise if his friends were still fighting.

Mario's stomach grumbled. He broke off a chunk of stale candy corn from the closest projectile and shoved it into his mouth. The sweetness instantly brought him into the moment. He needed to find his friends.

Shakily, he stood up. They were in danger and it was all because he had wasted their super star. He thought about calling out, but that would alert any nearby goombas to his presence.

Mario was beginning to get the sense that maybe, many of his actions were rather rash. He would need to be more careful. Most of all though, he needed to get back onto the path above.

He inspected his items kit. No feathers. No super stars. No fire-flowers. No ice-flowers. No acorns. All he had was one measly mushroom. Using that to return to normal size, Mario set off in the direction he had last seen his friends.

Weaving amongst the candy corn, he searched for an area of cliff that he could scale.

As the windy path was obscured by debris, Mario paid close attention to where he was placing his feet in front of him, as well as closely observing the rock-face to his side. It wasn't long until he had to started trampling over the bodies of dead goombas. His friends had clearly put up a magnificent fight.

His heart beat faster still. What if, next, he needed to clamber over the body of one of his lifeless companions? That would be more than Mario could bare. He had accidentally caused injury to his friends before, but if they were to be killed on Candy Corn Pass, it would be game over for them. He had nothing left to revive them with.

Mario stared at the nearest goomba. How could the funny little armless mushroom men have been the ones to cause them so much trouble?

The goomba stared back.

Mario jumped. The overly small goomba struggled, attempting to get out from under its companions, and out from beneath Mario's weight, which bore down upon its legs.

Lifting one of his fists, Mario prepared to punch the odd little creature between the eyes.

"Please, don't hurt me!" it mumbled in a cartoonish voice as it thrashed and squirmed wildly.

"Why would I have mercy on you?" Mario spat. "You didn't do the same for me or my friends."

As it closed its eyes and lay shaking, Mario did feel sorry for it, though. On its side, with no arms, the creature was as defenceless as a turtle on its back.

"I never..." it whispered.

"Never what?"

The goomba squeezed its little eyes closed tighter.

Mario inspected it, waiting for it to finish its sentence. He had rarely found goombas worth speaking to before and he was intrigued by what it might say.

Paying attention to it, in comparison with the bodies around it, this goomba was quite a bit smaller than the others, but just as ugly. Its tiny face puffed as it scrunched its features in concentration.