SMP Writer's Cut Chapter 7

        In the middle of a vast desert...

        Bowser and his army stood in front of a temple which stood in the middle of a recently dug out hole in the sand. It was a large temple, with stone columns that looked as if they had come from ancient greece and bricks made of ancient sandstone. At the top of the temple stood a statue of a koopa troopa holding a staff with one hand, while the other hand was raised to point at the sky.

        "Finally!" Bowser said. "All my hard work is going to pay off!"

        "YOUR Hard Work!?" one of the Koopa Troopas said.

        'Uh oh...' was the thought that went through the minds of all of the other troops.

        Bowser responded to the first troop's outburst by taking the troop's shovel and knocking him out with it.

        "Anyone else wanna make a wisecrack!?" Bowser yelled.

        The troops just stayed as silent as a graveyard.

        "That's what I thought. Sledge! get out here!"

        Out of one of the ships in Bowser's fleet came Sledge, who looked ready for a fight. "Yes, your majesty?" Sledge said.

        Bowser handed Sledge a mysterious whistle.

        "Once you find the talisman, play this warp whistle to get back to my fleet." Bowser said.

        "Rest assured sir, I will find that talisman." Sledge said.

        "Good. Well, I must leave now, I can't risk anyone finding out where we are." Bowser said as he was boarding his flagship getting ready to leave. "Don't forget, it'll look like a black teardrop with a white spot on it."

        "I won't sir." Sledge said, walking into the temple.

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        Elsewhere in Desert Hill....

        Mario, Luigi, Danny, and Sam were walking through the desert, riding in a vehicle designed for desert travel. It looked like a jeep, except it had a logo on the side that resembled Professor Elvin Gadd's face.

        "So what did the old man say his friend would look like?" Sam asked.

        "He's a blue mouse wearing sunglasses." Mario said. "He shouldn't be hard to spot.

        Suddenly Mario saw a mouse fitting the description sitting under a palm tree, attampting to cool off from the hot desert sun. Mario stoped the vehicle to see if this was the muse Gadd spoke of.

        "Are you Nomadimouse?" Mario asked.

        "That depends, are you from the neighborhood?" The mouse said.

        "No, I'm Mario. Gadd said you saw Bowser's airship fleet go by." Mario said.

        "Oh, well if you're with Gadd, then I'll be glad to talk to you. My name's Nomadimouse." The mouse said, holding out his hand, which Mario shook.

        "So what did you see?" Luigi asked.

        "What else? A giant fleet of ships in the sky. They blocked out the sun for nearly ten minutes." Nomadimouse said. "I saw Bowser's symbol on the side of the big ship, so that must be him."

        "Which way did he go?" Danny asked.

        "North, over the oasis." Nomadimouse said. "Also, I overheard Bowser saying something about a temple."

        "How could you hear it if it was so high up?" Luigi asked.

        "Having big ears does have its advantages you know." Nomadimouse answered.

        "Thanks, we'll take it from here." Mario said as he was getting back in the car.

        "That guy was creepy, and I know creepy." Sam said, not liking the feeling she was getting from Nomadimouse.

        "Maybe that's why the old man's friends with him." Danny said jokingly.

        The group then got back into the car, going north towards Bowser...

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        In the Yin temple....

        Sledge's journey through the temple was not without some minor conflicts. He was attacked by living stone stautes, mummified mice, swooping bats, and much more. Any normal person would have turned tail and run away, but Sledge continued to fight on.

        After defeating all who stood in his way, he had finally made it to the room where his primary objective lay.

        "There it is, the Yin talisman." Sledge said as he was looking at a Black stone carving that looked like the yin of a yin-yang sitting on a pedestal. "Now to grab it and my mission will be complete."

        Before he could grab it though, his hand was hit by a blast of green energy.

        "What the shroom!?" Sledge said, rubbing his hand to ease the pain. He turned around to see that it was Danny who had blasted him. "You again!?"

        "Hey Sledge, I still owe you a butt-whooping from last time." Danny said.

        "Don't make me laugh. If you couldn't beat me last time, what makes you think this time will be any different?" Sledge said, mocking Danny.

        "This time, he has help." Mario said, as he walked in with Luigi and Sam behind.

        "Well, if it isn't the Mario brothers. Oh, and they have some girl of the shadows helping them." Sledge said.

        "'Girl of the shadows?' That's the stupidest name anyone's ever called me!" Sam said.

        "And it will be the last!" Sledge said, throwing a hammer at Sam.

        Sam stopped it, however, by blasting it with a rather large bazooka. It was white and silver, with some green wires coming out of it.

        "Where'd you get that?" Danny asked to Sam.

        "I borrowed it from your parents' lab just before we left for the mall." Sam said.

        "Where were you keeping it?" Mario said.

        "I found this magic bag back at the castle that holds a lot of items in a small space." Sam said.

        "Oh, so it's kind of like Jimmy's Hyper-Cube." Danny said.

        "ENOUGH OF THIS!" Sledge yelled. He then threw many hammers at the group, but missed every one due to them being unusually nimble.

        Danny then rushed at Sledge and blasted him with ecto-energy. The blast, however, barely even slowed him down. "What!? Why isn't this working!?" Danny said.

        Sledge then spit a fireball at Danny, knocking him down. "This shell is made from buzzy beetle, the strongest substance in the world. To break this shell would be like trying to stop a cannonball with your bare hands." Sledge said. "And speaking of cannonballs...."

        Sledge went inside his shell and was spinning it like a top. "I don't like the look of this...." Mario said.

        "POWER SHELL!" Sledge yelled as he launched himself at the group. Sam and Luigi got knocked out from the attack, and Mario & Danny just barely avoided it.

        Danny and Mario went over to Sam and Luigi to check on them. They were still alive, just unconscious. Danny and Mario slowly turned their faces to Sledge, their eyes full of burning hatred.

        "Ha! You don't scare me! I am an elite in Bowser's army! I am second only to the great King Bowser! I am unbeatable!" Sledge bragged.

        "Mario, is there any way to break his armor?" Danny asked.

        "Hmm, I think so." Mario said. He then began whispering something to Danny.

        "Hey! We're still in the middle of battle here!" Sledge said.

        Mario then cotinued whispering to Danny.

        "DAMN YOU! I WILL NOT BE IGNORED!" Sledge said, getting angrer by the second. He then began to spit many balls of fire at Danny and Mario, who were carrying their loved ones on their backs.

        Mario saw that from Sledge's anger, his shell was getting hotter and hotter. It was now glowing bright red.

        "Alright, now Danny!" Mario said.

        Danny charged some cold, blue energy in his hands, and threw it at Sledge's shell. This caused it and Sledge to be frozen in place. Mario then flicked Sledge's shell, and it fell apart in a matter of seconds.

        "WHAT THE- H-h-h-how did y-y-you break m-m-my armor!?" Sledge said, still shivering from Danny's ice attack.

        "I watched Professor Gadd do an experiment on Buzzy Bettle shell." Mario said. "And one thing we found out was that if it is quickly-frozen while at a high temperature, it becomes as brittle as a potato chip."

        Sledge then warmed himself up with his own fire and said "Oh well. Armor or no armor, you're still no match for me!" SLedge then began to spit more fireballs at Danny and Mario, who were still too nimble to get hit by any of them.

        Danny rushed over to Sledge and gave him a punch to his jaw. Sledge responded by kicking Danny in the stomach. Danny then stepped back to clutch his stomach, while Sledge was rubbing his now throbbing jaw.

        "Not bad kid." Sledge said. "But still not good enough."

        Sledge then threw a boomerang he kept in his helmet at Danny, who went intangible just before it hit him. Danny then went into Sledge's body while still intangible.

        "What are you-" Sledge said before his eyes turned from black to green. Danny had overshadowed Sledge's body, and was now in control of it.

        Danny looked into Sledge's helmet, and found a large hammer.

        "Hmm, I wonder what this does?" Danny said right before hitting himself repeatedly with the hammer. Since Danny was inside of another body, he felt no pain, but Sledge did.

        After many whacks on the head, Danny flew out of Sledge's body, while Sledge fell over, beaten.

        "Wow, I didn't know you could take over another person's body too!" Mario said.

        "Yeah, it really comes in handy when I have a parent-teacher conference." Danny said. "So what do you think he was after?"

        "My guess is this." Mario said, picking up the stone from earlier. He then saw a whistle laying in the remains of Sledge's armor.

        "Alright, a warp whistle! We'll use it to get home. And we need to do it soon, my brother and your girlfriend need medical attention." Mario said.

        "I've got them." Danny said as he was holding Sam, Luigi, and a now KO'd Sledge.

        "Why are you taking him?" Mario asked.

        "I want to find out what he knows about Bowser's plan." Danny said.

        "Good idea! I'll warp us back to Gadd's laboratory." Mario said as he played the whistle's tune. A tornado then appeared out of nowhere, picked them up, and took them to Gadd's.....