This chapter will introduces Sector RT and the GKND ops! Also, Rudy and Snap are from ChalkZone!
St-Art
Mushroom World
Shooting Star Valley was blanketed under eternal night. The sky was almost totally painted with stars, and hundreds of those stars fell to the valley every day. The sky was slowly, steadily moving as if it were a tremendous museum display. This was a sacred, favored place to many Mushroomians. When one stares at the sky too long, they are slowly drawn into sleep. The countless stars were like nightlights and their steady scrolling was hypnotic.
"Yaaaawwwwn…" Gabriel Goldenweek had trouble staying awake as he painted the moving sky on his canvas. The young artist had always loved the night sky, as reflected by his black T-shirt glittered with stars. Gabriel almost had the appearance of a doll, his cheeks always flushed on his dark-skinned face, his hair half-black and half-white, and his nose tiny and dot-like. His eyes were always wide and dull and his mouth was usually a frown, as though he were simply made that way. He also wore maroon shorts and red boots.
Goldenweek was his middle name while Winkiebottom was his last name. However, he usually introduced himself as 'Gabriel Goldenweek,' since he leaned more toward his mother's side of the family and their artistic talents. At 10 years old, Gabriel was rather short and skinny, complimenting his doll-like appearance.
"GABEY!" A pair of hands slapped his hip, accompanied by a cheerful shout that almost made his heart jump out. Mikaela Gilligan was a tall girl of dark-brown skin with mocha eyes and black hair. She wore a blue T-shirt with a black skirt and long blue socks with black dress shoes. "Don't fall asleep, you won't be able to finish your St-Art!"
"You're going to mess me up if you scare me like that! And what do you mean by 'Start'?"
"Star Art! St-Art! Or would 'star-t' be a better way to pronounce it? I really wasn't sure."
"There's a place like this in Chalk Zone." Rudy said as he depicted the setting on his chalkboard. "But you can make anything real there. It's nowhere as cool as the real thing."
Rudy Tabootie was a brown-haired boy with beady green eyes, a green shirt that was yellow down the middle (with a green oval in the center), yellow-brown shorts, and white and black shoes. Contrary to his cousin, Rudy always appeared more upbeat and imaginative, a big tooth hanging from his smile and the top-back of his hair bent up and back.
Rudy was rather "special" as an artist as he still favored the medium of chalk. Almost every school had stopped using chalk, due to it being too messy, and the common student would rather draw in a notebook than a chalkboard if they hoped to save their own art. That being said, the chalk Rudy possessed was no ordinary chalk.
"I tell ya, Rudy, this is the worst joint ya could've brought us!" snapped a blue and white humanoid boy made of chalk. He ranted on in his Mid-Atlantic accent. "Stars fallin' over there, stars fallin' over here, I'd take stars over rain any day, but the least you coulda done is draw me up a decent umbrella."
Snap appeared to have white skin under a blue mask, neckerchief, and shorts, with round shoes and gloves. Snap was Rudy's Imaginary Friend, given life thanks to the White Lightning Chalk.
At some point during her adventures, Gabriel's mother, April discovered a box of the supernatural chalk. Supposedly, it was created by a powerful psychicbender, who further imagined the world of Chalk Zone. Chalk Zone was like a dream world where chalk drawings could continue to exist if they were erased, but as chalk began to become unpopular, Chalk Zone's creations began to fade and disappear altogether. Even April herself hadn't much interest in the magical chalk, so she gave it to her cousin, Ib, who would gift it to her son, Rudy.
If not for Rudy, Chalk Zone may have lost its existence entirely. He could bring his Creations to the real world and have them fight, but as expected, chalk creations were fragile and couldn't endure for long. Still, Rudy would always rely on Snap in a snap.
"Come on, Snap, you need to be more like Aunt Mary." Rudy said. "The whole reason we go on these trips is to make Chalk Zone more pretty!"
"We don't gotta go on trips to do that, just look up a few cool areas on the Internet and boom, ya have inspiration."
"That isn't the same, Snap." Mika replied, aiming her camera up at the sky. "And besides that, traveling is healthy for people like us. The more things we see, the more we build our imagination. Haha, guys, take a look at this slow shot! I got it from the stars on the ground." She showed them a picture of a series of white and yellow streaks.
"Haha! Shooting stars on the ground, huh?" Rudy asked. "Let's give that a shot~" He recaptured the image on his chalkboard.
"Hmmm…" Forming an idea, Gabriel painted an image of Star Kids zooming around the ground on Star Cars. "Mika, this would be an impressive technique."
"Let's try it out right now!" Mika beamed.
Gabriel shared a soft smile of agreement. Both held hands and focused their chi on the open field. Gabriel released mini stars from his Space Chi, and Mika applied her psychic to them to make illusory Star Kids. They made the kids zoom around on their little cars, directing them at Snap as they tripped him off his feet.
"Hey, find someone else to trip with your combos, I'm a sidekick, not a guinea pig!"
"Haha, sorry, sorry!" Mika blushed, releasing Gabriel's hand. "Still, there's another trick for our Collab-Art! Way to work your magic, Gabey!" She passed him a cute wink.
"You took a great picture." Gabriel smiled up at the photographer.
At 12 years old, Mikaela was rather tall and spunky. Her mother had gotten her into photography at a young age, and Mika felt a kinship with the art. It became a strong source of imagination by using different filters and shutter speeds on different subjects and settings.
From what Gabriel understood, Mika's mother, Sunni wanted her to train herself in psychicbending and find inspiration on her own, with photography meant to serve as an impetus. Sunni was proud of her daughter's skill with the art; growing up, she hadn't really had many hobbies herself besides wanting to get stronger, so Sunni was glad that Mika had such a thing to keep her going. Gabriel could imagine Mika easily scoring a job when she got older, either for a magazine, newspaper, or otherwise, and looking super cute and perky while doing it. Even though she liked to tease him, often picking him up and calling him a dolly, Gabriel loved her as a teammate.
Of course, there was another reason Sunni got her into photography, and was another reason for their little quests.
As Sector RT, the kids were known for their art, both in battle and out of battle. Whenever an idea crossed any of their minds (or in Mika's camera), they would try to depict it, drawing inspiration from one-another as they planned their next move.
The four took a break from their art to relax their selves on the picnic blanket, their shoes put aside. The taste of crackers and cookies livened their tastebuds with diverse, colorful flavors, much like drawings on a canvas. "Hey guys, have you ever heard of Joey Drew Studios?" Mika asked.
"Not really. What's that?" Rudy asked.
"It's like a really old animation studio who came out around the time of Walt Disney, like over a hundred years ago. I think they were inspired from him or something, but they kinda got shut down for being too similar to Disney's creations. That, and I think some legal issues or something."
"Well, it's no wonder we never heard-a them." Snap said. "Who remembers things from that long ago?"
"Aunt Mary?" Rudy answered.
"She don't know an orange crayon from cheddar cheese!"
"Well, like, the studio where they used to work kinda got abandoned, but lately, there've been some weird rumors about it." Mika continued. "Like, some people go and explore the studio just for kicks, and a couple of them say they actually saw Bendy, the studio's mascot. I found the story online and I kinda just started researching the place."
"They're probably just trying to make a ghost story or something." Gabriel figured.
"How can you just say that?! We got a freakin' chalking walk boy with us! I mean, freaking walking chalk! We know Imaginary Friends can come to life!"
"Yeah, but wouldn't the guys who made that place be dead by now?" Rudy asked.
"That's why we should go see it! It's totally our speed!" Mika balled her fists and grit her teeth in anticipation and excitement. "I just dig haunted houses!"
"What speed are we talkin' about again?" Snap asked.
"I guess it would be a fun field trip." Gabriel said.
"I knew you'd agree, Gabey!" Mika lifted and squeezed her little friend in a hug.
"Maybe they're like the Chalk Zone." Rudy inferred. "Maybe they're Creations who were just forgotten, but someone started remembering them again and now they're alive. You might make some friends, Snap."
"Meh meh meh, so long as they don't have falling stars, they're fine by me. Ow!" A star hit his head.
"Heh heh heh!" Mika laughed. "Hmm… I think I got just about the whole sky by now." She studied the camera. "I bet you Jirachi will appear in a constellation or something once I process these in the darkroom."
"I still think ya got ripped off with this whole shebang." Snap said. "I mean, havin' a camera that does digital and printed photos is cool and all, but no one does this processing junk anymore. Ya shouldn't have ta go through that much trouble for silly hidden imagery."
"Hidden imagery or not, the magic of photography can't be captured by digital photos alone."
"And plus, you're not the one who should be saying that, Snap~" Rudy remarked.
"Hey, chalk is magical and it works in an instant, but you shouldn't have to wait in a dark, smelly room all day just to get a good picture."
"You may not have a nose, Snap, but you're not an artist if you can't adapt to the smell of your own craft~" Mika inferred. "Hey, speaking of stars, I bet Star's been here before. Too bad we didn't bring him!"
"I heard that he's meeting his Negative today." Gabriel replied.
"Oh, that's interesting! Who's his Negative?"
Star Haven
Star Winkiebottom was repulsed by the boy in front of him: his Negative wore white clothes with a blue bowtie, patterned socks with sandals, and had crossed eyes over his beady nose and buckteeth. On his way in the house, his opposite had tripped and knocked over a lamp, breaking it.
So, with a disgruntled scowl, Star hissed, "OH, RATS!"
This one will introduce the GKND! I remember when I came up with Galaxia Elementary during my sporadic postings of Nextgen ideas… and then we only see it once. XD To set the mood, play "Moon Kingdom" from Mario Odyssey!
After School Activity
"Many lithographs of this type have been unearthed across various planets. No one knows who buried them or what purpose they serve… only that they each depict a different design. The best we can determine is they're at least 1,000 years old."
Professor Büe liked to liven up his history classes by bringing in artifacts almost every session. Today's display was that of a stone tablet, depicting a figure with short hair, small horns, half-closed eyes, and a crescent symbol on its chest. Most of the elementary schoolers only looked on in passive interest, but a certain Goomba's eyes were wide in fascination. She had eyelashes and puffy brown hair. "Professor, what kind of rock are the lithographs made of? Would knowing the material help trace them back to their origins?"
"Geologists have analyzed the rock, but even they can't make heads or tails. Some even say the stone is unnatural…"
"An unnatural, Thousand-Year Stone… fascinating!" Goombria took a pencil in her mouth and sketched the stone.
"Ugh, getting worked up over a dumb rock, No Arms?" A pink-skinned Harnitan with brown hair chortled.
"Hmph…" Goombria wouldn't waste breath with a remark. "…Tiffi?"
A Lunarian girl with pink hair in a bun stood to approach the rock. She had star-shaped glasses, a white button-up shirt, a dark-blue skirt, and matching Mary-Janes. "Hmm…" Curious by the crescent design, Tiffi traced along it with her index, laced with Moon Chi. Nothing seemed to happen.
"It was worth a try, Miss Whitby, but it wasn't enough." Büe said.
"Oh well!" Tiffi skipped back to her seat.
Don't go… please… get me out of here…
"Eh? Goombria, did you hear something?"
"Hear what?"
"Like a…ah, never mind."
"Now then!" Büe set the stone on a chair, "Today we'll be learning about…"
…
Galaxia Elementary was established about 35 years ago by Principal Dimentia, and was now headed by her daughter. It was a high-tech, but inviting building set on a massive asteroid and protected by a dome, and even came with its own sports field. It was specially designed to help students grow accustomed to the many different races of the universe and learn about their worlds; not that this school could possibly fit every race. Exotic location or not, kids were eager to board the buses and return home as soon as they were allowed. The only exceptions were Goombria, Tiffi, and their band of friends.
"I'm guessing Star is sticking around for extra language classes?" the Goomba asked.
"You know him." replied Marty Gilligan, a yellow-skinned boy with a mushroom antenna, purple shirt, and black shorts. Marty never possessed the warrior drive of his Glomourian roots and leaned more toward the intelligence akin to his Kateenian and Gilligan roots. "Heh, he's my mom's favorite student. I mean, my head would crack if I tried to follow all those languages. That's what translators are for, man!"
"It would feel pretty overwhelming." followed Jennu, a preteen Zathurian girl. The upper half of her face was black and the lower white, her purple eyes along the border. The torso of her shirt was white with black sleeves. She had light-pastel pants, light-purple socks, and black and white Oxford shoes. She had dirty-blonde hair with purple streaks, and her top and bottom eyelashes were of a similar hue. She also wore a purple flower pendant. "But if it were up to me, I'd just listen to foreign music. It'd be easy to pick up on a language when you're singing along!" Her voice was mature and reserved with a hint of upbeat.
"Yeah, but I guess we're gonna stick around and wait for him, aren't we?" asked Aniki, a 13-year Octoling with black, pink, and lilac hair. Flexing his left, toned arm, he bounced a kickball-sized rock on it. He wore a black tank-top, light-brown khakis, and large yellow, Timberland work boots.
"We promised we'd go to Mo's together, Aniki." reasoned his younger sister, Nyoro. She was a tan-skinned Inkling with long, mouse-brown hair, a sleeveless black turtleneck over a tan mini-skirt, and black knee-high, high-heeled, peep toe boots.
"Then he should've picked a day he wasn't taking extra classes. Come on, I'm getting hungry." The teen said in a gruff, punkish tone.
"Well, you're gonna stay put, or I'll bring out the Weenifier."
"Just call it a dumb shrink ray!"
"It makes you weeny, so it's the Weenifier."
The friends shared a laugh. Nyoro dressed like a model on account of their parents' fame, but she was gifted in inventing thanks to her blood-mother, Marina. She and fellow inventor, Marty would often be tinkering together, and it was with his guidance that she was able to craft such a device.
"Well, what're we gonna do until he gets outta there?" asked Tiffi.
"Hmmm." Jennu eyed the rock bouncing on Aniki's arm. "I'm up for a game of Grav-Ball, are you?"
Using her gravitybending, Jennu raised her friends into the air and willed them to fall to one area of the dome. With the school hanging above them and open space beneath their feet, they proceeded to kick the rock-ball around. Marty, Aniki, and Jennu were one team while Nyoro, Goombria, and Tiffi were another. It was like soccer, where a team would lose points if the ball passed them and fell outside the Gravity Zone. Jennu kicked it to Goombria, who kicked forth and Headbonked it away from Aniki, but with a swing of his leg, Aniki earthbent the rock back toward the opposing team. Nyoro tried to throw an Ink Bomb to stop it from going too far, but it wound up going underneath the rock and giving it a good bounce. It wound up flying outside the zone and plummeting to the school grounds.
"That's one for our side!" Aniki boasted.
"Cheatbender!" Goombria retorted.
"We make do with what we have. Like how Nyoro used her bomb, and you used your head. Speaking of, shouldn't you wear your helmet, Goombria? Aren't Goomba heads fragile on their own?"
"Don't octopi usually live in the water?" Goombria stuck out her tongue. "This is sort of how I train back home. If Goombas are used for stepping stones, we gotta be hard as stone~"
"Hm hm, I don't see a problem with that." Jennu smiled. "Anyway, time to change locations."
"WHOOOOAAAA!" They all fell in the direction of the ball, a long, diagonal, and heart-racing drop! Jennu willed them to slow so it wasn't a painful landing, but once they had the ball, they all went flying to a different segment of the dome. "Gravity shifting makes me woozy…" Marty cringed. Nyoro kicked the ball at him, and Marty extracted a mecha leg from his backpack to kick high above Tiffi, who leapt high and softly flipped while dealing a firm kick. Jennu dove to intercept and afterwards kick with a breakdance technique.
"So, you guys saw that lithograph in Professor Büe's class, too, right?" Goombria asked, leaping in the rock's trajectory and managing a spin kick. It didn't fly far, so Tiffi came to kick it across. "What do you think about it?"
"It seems pretty interesting." Nyoro answered. "I wonder how many there are. And why they were scattered…"
"Well, have fun with that journey." Aniki said, kicking the ball directly with great force. With Tiffi as the only closest, she hastily leapt and kicked the side, causing the rock to fall directly toward the school. The kids cringed as it smashed a window.
"DAW!" Marty grunted. "You really done it now, Tee-Tee."
A yellow-skinned, black-hair woman with an antenna stomped to the window, searching around for the perpetrators. Seeing no one on the ground, Makava instead glared up at the dome. "MARTY! WHICH ONE OF YOU KICKED THIS BALL INTO MY CLASSROOM?!"
The kids, being the loyal friends they were, shared the, "SHE DID IT."
…
"I won't kick rocks through windows, I won't kick rocks through…" Tiffi was forced to write this sentence on the starboard in 30 different languages, hastily flipping through textbooks to get the gist of the words. (A starboard is a black chalkboard where the writing or drawings line up like constellations.)
"Welcome to class, Tee." Star Winkiebottom sighed. His hair was half black and white, eyes mismatched black and yellow, and a tuxedo covered his dark skin.
"Alright, Star, one more from the top." Makava resumed. "'Sir, where do you keep the Rockshrooms?'"
Once more, Star pulled his mouth to make it wide as a Whomp's, his furrowed eyes pressed together. "UHR, ER-UH-UH, OUH-OUH, UHR…"
"No, Star, it still sounds like you're saying 'I'll see.' Put some emphasis on the second 'OUH' so it sounds like 'Aisle C.'"
…
The friends outside decided to chill while those two took their time. Thankfully, both managed to get out of class at the same time. "I can't believe you all sold me out!!"
"We were stuck here, anyway, I didn't wanna do any unnecessary work." Goombria reasoned.
"Anyway, thanks for waiting up, guys." Star smiled. "Ready to hit the Kessel?"
"The bike's all ready, just need to fill the seats!" Marty said.
"And legs to reach the pedals." Aniki reminded.
"He could've installed a segment for me!" Goombria huffed. "But I like riding the basket."
The kids mounted a long, six-person bike with Goombria in the front backet. They threw on space helmets and pedaled out of the dome's opening. Upon exiting the Ozone, weightlessness took them. Rockets ignited on the bike as they zoomed through space at a great, but safe velocity. Their school became invisible in the distance, and naught but an endless expanse surrounded them. Quiet, empty, lonely… at least, it would be without friends at their front and back. Watching the Star Bits soar by and the celestial bodies in the distance was a nice way to cool down after school, especially with friends to do it with.
Until some faint rock music cut through the silence, and another bike was seen zooming toward them. "WHOOOOAAA!" It was driven by a yellow-haired boy with big orange glasses, antennae headphones, a white shirt with yellow sleeves, and black shorts with an orange utility belt. Both bikes quickly braked, the riders bending forward briefly. The rock music was coming from the headphones around his neck, and sounded like, "Wa-pow poo pow poo, pa-pa-pa-pa pow!"
"Kid!" Jennu exclaimed. "What's wrong? You look stressed."
"Thank goodness I caught you guys! The restaurant's under attack! Everyone else is off somewhere else!"
"What?! We should've gone sooner!"
"My bad!" Star admitted. "Let's take a shortcut!" He opened a portal for the bikers to fly through.
They warped to an island in a fairly remote part of Galaxia. It looked like it was ripped out of a planet, as it had a street road cutting through a sandy surface. There was a restaurant called Mo's Oasis Café, a junkyard, trailer, and motel. Their young acquaintance, Kid Cosmic, and the residents of this "Intergalactic Truckstop" had quite a history before showing up here in Galaxia, but had adapted to the environment well.
But what shouldn't belong here were the small fleet of ships surrounding the island, and alien soldiers occupying it. A tall, thin, African-American girl with fluffy purple hair was punching the aliens through portals, but a speedy blue alien with a black helmet rammed her down. "Those Earthlings can't hide forever!" declared a lobster-headed alien with fish fins. His voice sounded like a cartoon channel announcer and didn't match his appearance at all. "I'll use you to lure them out and present you before the Great Leader! 'Ah, you've served me well, Chuck, congratulations,' oh no, Great Leader, I'm undeserving. 'Undeserving to be Admiral of the Vil Galaxy Fleet?' Oh, Great Leader, really?!"
"Your Great Leader stinks and you stink!" The aliens spun to face the operatives. Kid continued, "The local heroes don't got time for chumps like you, but these Galactic Heroes will-"
Chuck shot a gun to blow Kid's head into a puddle of green ooze. "AH! YOU KILLED KID!" Goombria screamed. "YOU BASTARD!"
"Team Jennu, GIVE THEM HECK!" Star screamed. (Play "The Kid" from Kid Cosmic!)
An alien in black armor and a helmet shot crystal bullets at Aniki, but the Octoling stomped a stone wall up to block them. He kicked the wall toward the soldier, who punched through, only to suffer a sharp rock jab into the stomach. An orange-furred, eyeless beast alien with fangs crept up on Nyoro, thinking the squid smelled tasty. However, Nyoro set F-Bombs down; mechanical bombs that traipsed to her targets. The beast swiped some away, but others would burst under him, covering him with brownish ink. This would ruin the "gills" he needed to see.
A huge, green insect alien with large wings buzzed above Jennu and tried to shoot her with slime, but her gravitybending easily brought her to its level. She willed herself to "fall" in circles to build up speed and land forceful stomps against the bug's face. Goombria faced an impish, black-and-white alien that split itself into clones. She dashed at the first one and leapt into a torpedo spin, bonking it forcefully. She bounced around the others until one grabbed her, and the rest worked together to restrain her. However, by biting into one's hand, they all winced, weakening the grip as Goombria kicked out. She bashed one's shin next, then dove out to start another Headbonk combo, each clone sharing the pain.
Marty extracted and crafted a small kart from his backpack, racing the speedy alien out in space. The two rammed each other repeatedly, but at one point, Marty pulled an extendable punching glove to punch his face and knock the speedster dizzy. Tiffi avoided the freezing breath of a muscular blue alien with bat wings. She coated herself in Lunar Fire to keep from freezing, flicking Crescent Blades to cut its wings. Without a moon around to give her strength, she fought the best she could. Its wings took enough damage to ground the alien, but Tiffi was unfortunately frozen into submission.
"Well, we can't win 'em all." Star said, trapping the alien's head in a Space Block and bursting it, followed by a round of Starbursts to knock the icebender out. "But you did well, Tiff!"
"But NOT well enough!" Chuck was suddenly behind Star, a gun trained on him. "Now, call your kids off or I'll-" Star opened a portal beneath Chuck, his gun arm flipping to the air as he fell, but Star quickly closed the portal at Chuck's waist. He kicked the gun away and left Chuck stuck. "Grah! You'll regret this boy!"
The other operatives KO'ed their opponents after a few minutes more of combat. Aniki, however, was taken down by the crystal-shooting alien. In spite of his win, it became clear to the alien this was a losing battle. "We'll meet again, Kids Next Door." With that, the black-suited soldier ripped Chuck out of the ground and retreated to his ship.
"Wait! We have to find my legs! I can't appear before Great Leader like this! I won't fit into the group photoooooo…" Chuck's despair echoed upon their departure. (End song.)
"Are you alright, Aniki?" Nyoro asked, kneeling down.
"I'm fine." He declined her help and stretched himself up. "Damn coward…"
Marty melted Tiffi free of the ice. Her immediate concern was, "KIIIID!" She ran to the boy's headless body and cried. "OH, KID! You were so young! This universe was too cruel for you!"
A green blob slithered up, Kid's face forming. "I'm fine, Tee-Tee. Just needed to reform." He slid into his body as his head grew back. "Ahhhhh! …Hey, since when do you have a nose, Goombria?"
"Huh?" The Goomba crossed her eyes at the peach-colored nose. "HEY! THIS IS YOURS!"
"AAAH!" Kid snatched it back and reattached. "Phew! Smells like mushroom!"
"Oh, har har!"
"Amazing work, Kids Next Door!" The tall girl, Jo, gave thumbs up through a portal. "I bet you're hungry after that! This next one's on the house!"
"YEAAAH!" The friends eagerly raced in for a meal, albeit Aniki trailed behind slowly.
…
"The Vil Galaxy's really been aggressive lately." Jennu recollected. The friends occupied a table of the rustic restaurant, relishing in a simple and colorful meal. "They've been targeting other planets, too, haven't they?"
"And I doubt it's because they're after Kid and his friends." Star figured. "I heard they're still loyal to the former Irken Empire. That's why they limit traffic going to and from Galaxia, and we've had a hard time establishing KNDs there. Now it feels like they're ready to bring back old grudges…"
"Well, we were preparing for something like this." Nyoro sighed. "I wonder what their next move will be…"
…
The lithograph sat lonely in the classroom long after lights out. …A froggy flipper swept the stone right off and discretely returned to its rocket.