Story Sneak Peeks! :D (One-Shot Previews)

A Heart in Time

AN: This is a Hat in Time/Super Paper Mario mashup! Basically, SPM characters take AHIT character roles with a spin on their personalities! :3

Before you ask, yes I'm using the Hat in Time character Moonjumper for one of the character mashes-

---------------------

Mario's eyes snapped open in realization. His fears were proven correct as he let his surroundings sink in.

He definitely wasn't at Castle Bleck anymore.

Looking around, Mario realized that he was in a sort of alley, and a filthy one at that. As he looked ahead, he thought that he recognized the place to be Flipside, but that couldn't be right?

Mario grunted as he stood up, quickly brushing himself off as he realized that he was on top of a rubbish heap. He lifted his gaze and noticed something in another trash pile against the wall. It looked like the Count's hat, but it was practically brand new! Mario walked over and picked up the hat, looking it over.

"So the Hearts exploded and took me to Flipside?" Mario wondered out loud.

He quickly smacked a hand to his mouth, covering it up. Since when was his voice this squeaky?! He sounded like a kid again!

Mario paused and looked down at himself, proving his fears correct. He was a kid again! Is that why the hat was fixed? The rift must've done this to him!

"Oh, come on! This is just great!" Mario whined in a child-like fashion.

He felt his head and sighed heavily, realizing that his hat was gone.

"And my hat's gone!" Mario muttered.

Glancing down at the Count's hat in his hand, Mario plopped it on his head.

"At least it's something for now..." Mario said with a sigh. "Now to get back to Castle Bleck where the others are."

Mario started forward, a little wobbly though because of his altered size. He walked down the alley until he caught sight of two people where the alley let out. They looked to be Flipside residents.

"Hey! Over here!" Mario called out.

He jogged up to the people only to see them both break into a fistfight. Mario froze dead in his tracks, shocked at the brawlers trying to beat each other silly. Since when were people from Flipside this hostile?

Mario began to back up slowly, deciding that it might not be exactly safe to make a run for it if he was a kid again. Out of the blue, a kid jumped down from the building ledge above and kicked the two people to the ground. Mario gawked at the strange boy, who was now smirking triumphantly over the unconscious brawlers.

"That'll keep 'em down, ha!" The boy exclaimed. "Down with the mafia!"

He looked around and froze, seeing Mario. The boy in red gawked up at the boy. If he didn't know any better, the boy looked like Luigi! He even had a mustache like him, too!

The mustaches boy quickly turned and ran out of the alley, snapping Mario out of his daze.

"Hey! Wait up!" Mario called out.

The boy in red rushed out of the alley, looking around as he did. It looked like Flipside, but more unkempt... and on an island surrounded by water.

"The Void did a serious number on this place..." Mario murmured.

Mario looked ahead and saw the mustache boy jumping over a few townsfolk, earning angry shouts as he sped off. The boy in red ran around the people, trying to dodge them as they yelled at him this time. He almost got past the crowd until one who was leaning against the wall stuck their foot out, effectively tripping Mario and making him fall flat on his face.

He groaned as the person snickered before walking away, not even apologizing to him as he got to his feet. Mario shook his head before continuing his chase after the other boy.

"What is going on with this place?!" Mario wondered.

The boy in red followed, jumping on top of a few small buildings as he went. Mario watched the mustache boy eventually leap over the street, catching the edge of a building across and pulling himself up. He gulped and took a few steps back, preparing to run at it.

"Alright... Here we go!" Mario told himself.

Mario held his breath and ran at the edge, leaping off and snatching the next building's roof. He lept onto the roof with a huff and continued his chase, watching the mustache boy run across the rooftops towards what looked like a bell tower.

The boy in red practically copied the others' moves exactly, except avoiding the townspeople instead of running straight through like the other did. The mustached boy reached the bell tower first and rode a cable up, leaving Mario below to stare up at him.

Mario glanced around, looking for another way up, but found none. After a few moments, the boy with the mustache poked his head out, looking down at Mario with a frown.

"Hey, you down there! The kid in the weird hat!" He called down. (He even SOUNDED like Luigi!) "Don't think that I can't see you STALKING ME!"

Mario went wide-eyed in realization.

"Stalking-?! Oh, shoot! I-I didn't mean to!" Mario yelled up to him. "Y-you just looked like someone familiar to me..."

The boy simply shrugged in response.

"Eh, it's fine. Us kids should be helping each other out, not stalking each other, after all," he replied with a wink. "It's not easy for us boys on Mafia 'Side island, huh?"

Mario blinked in confusion, trying to figure out what he meant.

"Mafia 'Side?! I thought that I was at Flipside!" Mario exclaimed, looking around.

"Uh, what other Flipside Mafia do you think I'm talking about, here?" The boy questioned. "Did you throw out your brain in that alleyway I saw you in, Hat Kid?"

The other boy laughed to himself while Mario remained perplexed beyond all measure.

"Look, you obviously seem confused and lost, so I'll give you an offer you can't refuse," the mustached boy stated. "You join my little rebellion against the Mafia, and I'll explain everything I can to you about this island, alright?"

Mario hummed in thought, trying to figure out if there could be some terrible repercussions to this.

"Oh, also, did you have anything to do with that freak heart shower 💖 a few minutes ago?" The boy questioned.

Mario perked up at this.

"The what? What did they look like?" Mario asked.

"Uhhh... There was a HUGE comet shower-like thing of heart-shaped objects 💖, and they crashed ALLLLL over the place!" The mustache boy exclaimed. "Don't worry though, I can probably help point you to your junk 💖 so you can get it cleaned up."

"Deal!" Mario called back.

"Great!" The boy replied with a smile. "Push that button over there to make the wood platform move over here! Then I can tell you where some of the junk 💖 went."

Mario nodded in response and looked to his right, seeing a fairly large button on the side of the building's roof. He ran over and smacked it. Glancing to his left, a crane-like system made a wooden plank move in front of the bell tower, allowing Mario to jump up.

The mustache boy greeted Mario with a pat on the back and a smirk.

"Alright! Well, first things first. My name is L. What's yours, Hat Kid?" The mustached boy asked.

"Mario!" I replied. "Um... Your REAL name wouldn't happen to be Luigi, would it?"

He shrugged in response.

"Odd question. Dunno, we were here our whole lives without anyone else to tell us otherwise," L explained.

"We as in..?" Mario trailed off.

L shook his head.

"Forget about it, for now, let's get going! I saw one of your heart things 💖 just over here!" L stated.

L grabbed Mario's hand and the two of them lept off the bell tower, starting towards the town square.