Flip/Ripple: Prolouge

When I was little, my dad brought home a Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 for me. I remember not knowing anything about it and him slowly guiding me through the first level, Bob-omb Battlefield. I was so excited when I finally got the first Star from King Bob-omb on my own…. Time passed, and became better and better at video games. My favourites were those made by Nintendo, with their exciting stories and creative designs, but it’s not like I didn’t pick up an Xbox controller for some Halo or Fable every now and then, or a PS2 one for some .hack or Gungrave. I like most games so long as I can find something to like in them.
However, as I grew older I noticed my friends didn’t take interest in games like I did. I got quiet about my interest until it became my secret, hidden behind all my other interests. My friends are your typical boy crazy girly girls, the kind most gamers look down on, but they are nice people and we’ve been friends for years. I want to find other gamers, but I’m afraid my friends might judge me.
Sometimes, I wish I could have been born a video game character, on a quest to save the world from evil… I wouldn’t have these problems then….
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It was 5 o’clock when Michelle “Chelly” Maoser ran through the door of her home, threw off her coat and practically flew upstairs to her room, not even bothering to remove her tall, brown high-heeled boots. She dashed through her doorway and immediately plopped down on the floor, beginning to sort through a pile of Wii games.
“c’mon, c’mon…” she muttered excitedly, before her eyes lit up at the sight of a familiar case. “YES!” she shouted with glee “Super Paper Mario time!”
It was a known fact to anyone who Chelly knew online that Super Paper Mario was in her top 3 favourite games, with Okami and Earthbound (although the order was always changing, sometimes adding Portal 2.) no one else was home and no one would be for an hour or two, so it was time to play some games before she was pestered to do homework!
Chelly eagerly slipped the disk into the Wii and sat down on her bed, and waiting for it to start, but was surprised to see nothing but black screen on the TV.
“Huh?” she said, puzzled. The Wii was working fine yesterday… she got up and knocked on the Wii, and then the TV, only to find her hand went through the screen.
“Eh!? M-m-midnight channel...” She said quietly to herself, trying to hide her fear from no one in particular. Reaching further in, she felt someone grab her hand and suddenly, there was a flash and Chelly had disappeared from the room.
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Rubbing her pink haired head, Chelly looked around to see a room filled with books, bottles, and various other knick knacks around her. In this room stood two people looking at her, one an old man in a blue hood with an impossibly long and flowing white mustache, the other a woman with blue skin and pink hair tied in a bun, pointed ears and neat, well-kept clothing, including a pair of red, cat’s eye glasses that somewhat obscured her eyes.
The old man held out his hand to her “hello, Michelle. My name is Merlon, and this is Nastasia.” He gestured to the woman next to him, who nodded in response.
Chelly was taken aback. These people… surely they weren’t…? She stared and then got up quickly and without Merlon’s help, rushing out the door to see a white street and strangely coloured people. Chelly stared, mouth gaping at the place in front of her. “Is this…?” she said.
Merlon followed her out the door and chuckled “Yes, Michelle. Welcome to Flipside.”
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Chelly sat nervously in Merlon’s house, sipping a cup of tea that had been prepared for her. “So…” Merlon started “I imagine you have quite a few questions for me.”
Chelly nodded “Yeah… first off, how did I get here? And how do you know my name? And why is she here?” she gestured to Nastasia on the last one.
Merlon sipped his tea “One at a time, Michelle. You got here through dimensional magic. We flipped you in through your television, which was already tied here through your game. I know your name through research to determine who should carry out this mission, and as to Nastasia…” he glanced at his companion “… She is my assistant.”
Chelly tilted her head “Dimensional Magic….? Like, what Dimentio uses? And what mission?”
Nastasia glared “I’d advise you to not mention him around anyone who knows who you’re talking about, k?”
Chelly slunk into her chair a bit “erm… sorry.”
“Your mission…” said Merlon “is to fix the distortions caused by the Void’s summoning 5 years ago.”
Seeing Chelly’s confusion, Merlon began again. “You know our story, correct? 5 years ago, the Legendary Heroes saved all worlds from destruction at the hands of the magician Dimentio, who helped the man formerly known as Count Bleck open the Void and essentially erase all existence. They collected the eight Pure Hearts and used the simple yet near omnipotent power of love generated from reuniting the lovers Blumiere and Timpani to save us all. But… the Chaos Heart and Dimentio’s power still linger, and are causing distortions or “Tears” in the fabric of reality, causing things to happen that shouldn’t. Things like monsters appearing in calm places, powers being lost, and areas rearranging themselves. Since the Chaos Heart can be summoned only by “things that were never meant to happen happening” this is a big hazard in the long run. The only way to heal these Tears is to have someone who truly cares about the world it is in go and seal it off.  The only person who could possibly care about every world on that level is a gamer who has seen them all. This is why we called you.”
“Alright then…” Chelly said “Isn’t all worlds a bit big for just one person?” this was a lot to take in, but she knew she could trust Merlon to help her.
“Not quite…” said Merlon “The tears are primarily in the worlds that previously housed Pure Hearts, so you can access all of them through Flipside Tower.”
“Alright…” Chelly said “one more question… do I get to Flip?”
Nastasia shook her head “Flipping is a skill for Legendary heroes, Ancients, and those with magical talent. I don’t think you fit into any of those categories…”
“Aaw…” Chelly pouted. It figured that the coolest mechanic in the game wasn’t for her.
“Nastasia will escort you upstairs when you’re ready.” Said Merlon “You should head out after some rest.”
Chelly shook her head “Naw, I wanna go now!” she said. She was getting pumped to see another new world.
Nastasia sighed “Then follow me.”
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The two arrived at Flipside Tower after Chelly finished exploring to hearts content. They stood in front of the Red Door leading to Lineland, Chelly full of excitement.
Nastasia handed her an object resembling an old cell phone “you can contact me and ask me things with this. Think of me as, say… mission control.”
Chelly nodded happily and rushed through the door shouting “Let’s go save the world!”
Nastasia sighed “I hope Merlon’s right about this…”

END OF PROLOUGE
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