Paper Mario Party (User Interactive)

Chapter Four: So I Heard You Like Educational Games (Tacolb's Challenge)

"GOOD AFTERNOON, EVERYONE!" Solde's voice echoed all about the coliseum as she screeched into the announcer's microphone. "ARE YOU ALL READY?! OUR FOUR CONTESTANTS WILL SHOW UP SHORTLY!" 

Just then, the floor opened up and the wooden platform reached the top. "HERE THEY ARE! TO THE NORTH CORNER OF OUR WOODEN SQUARE, WE HAVE BOMBETTE FROM THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM, READY TO PUT UP A FIGHT! TO THE EAST WE HAVE GOOMBOSS, ESTEEMED KING OF THE GOOMBAS, ALSO FROM THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM AND LOOKING JUST AS READY TO THROW... NONEXISTENT HANDS. TO THE SOUTH, WE HAVE MR L, SOMETHING SOMETHING FLORO SPROUT JUICE LUIGI'S BRAIN I DON'T CARE! AND IN THE WEST, THERE STANDS FLAVIO OF ROGUEPORT, AND I SKIPPED HIS INFORMATION."

Huey lowered his handles after he caught the Yellow Star's attention. "Uh, Sol... you do realize you have a microphone, right? You don't need to scream." 

"Wait." The Paint Star turned to see that there was, indeed, a mic. "Oh. Whoops." She cleared her nonexistent throat. "Anyway! Is everyone ready to battle?"

"No?" Bombette tried.

"Great, because you have no say in this." A bell rang in the background. "BEGIN!"

"Sol, isn't this a little... over-the-top?" Huey asked as a fight broke out below. His conversation was interrupted when Bombette crashed into the commentator's stand and fainted. 

Mr L smirked from a good distance away, readying his stance, but as Flavio dashed past him he was knocked to the ground. Goomboss followed, swinging his broom around like a hammer and knocking the Green Thunder out of the arena. "FOR THE GOOMBA RACE!"

"What do you mean this is over-the-top? I've seen far worse," she shrugged in return. Picking up the unconscious Bombette with a point, she grabbed a Mushroom and haphazardly placed it on the living bomb. 

Meanwhile, Flavio was putting up a surprisingly fair fight against Goomboss, mostly because he was just a lot faster and running worked very well against slow enemies. The Goomba King was getting frustrated, though, and so was the crowd - a loud cheer went up when the monarch finally Headbonked his opponent, knocking him across the battlefield.

"All right! That's a wrap - our winner is Goomboss of the Goombas!" Solde exclaimed into her mic. "There will be three more battles today, so stay tuned for those if you want to continue watching! If you don't, well, see you next time. Or not. Bye!"

As the Yellow Star left the commentator booth with Huey behind her, Tacolb blocked the way. "I promise this will be brief - I just have one thing I need to tell you."

"Yes?"

"Please never commentate again."

• • •

"Ugh... what happened?" The Green Thunder was the first to wake, not counting Bombette and Goomboss who were already up. Flavio lay on the floor, still conked out. That was until Huey tossed a 1-Up his way as well.

"Not bad, surprisingly." Solde's voice rang. "A pretty good crowd is sticking around for whatever other matches are allowed to run. Unfortunately, though, Goomboss, you may or may not have injured a few members of the crowd flinging Green Guy into there."

One look at their surroundings showed roughly ten to twelve more people, including but not limited to Toads, Goombas and a Spike. Huey shook his head as he looked around. "You sure we have enough 1-Ups for this?"

"Eh, worst comes to worst, Emelda can probably rush over here with another bunch. They're pretty fast - not quite as quick as I was, but still pretty good for their age. Either way, are you done with your calculations?"