Spiders and Magic: Worlds Unite

The Emerald Hunters continued to chase the thieves that stole the emerald from under their noses, bringing them to another location. They were in a grassy region with checkerboard hills nearby a body of water, but it appeared to have suffered the effects of the dimensional merge moreso than Toad Town, having random city buildings and question mark blocks flying above them.

"How far did these guys go?" Peter asked.

Sonic shook his head, "No clue. I remember Extreme Gear not lasting this long. The Babylon Rogues are no doubt sendin' us on a goosechase, what does the radar say?"

"They're still ahead, but I'm noticing another emerald within the region. Any clue where we're at?" X responded, taking a glance at the emerald radar in Spider-Man's hand.

The blue hedgehog looked around and saw the familiar landscape, "Huh. Looks like we're in Green Hill. The very first place where I met Eggman and proceeded to stop his plan to turn animals into robots to power his Scrap Brain Factory all those years ago. Feels like I come back here every five years or something, like a milestone or something."

"Fluttershy's not going to be happy to hear that." Spike muttered, "But there's another emerald here?"

"I'm not letting one emerald slip for another." Shadow grunted, skating ahead of the others. "I'll handle the Rogues on my own!" He sped ahead of the group, intending to chase the Rogues on his own. He didn't say a word as he left the others behind in his dust.

"Oh come on!" Spider-Man yelled.

"Shadow wait!" Sonic called out, the black hedgehog not responding to him. The blue blur skidded to a halt, "So much for a team effort." he mumbled.

Trixie panted, worn out from running so long, "Isn't he a friendly one?" she muttered sarcastically.

Logan faced the direction Shadow went, "None of us are able to catch up at this point. Let 'em be a douche anyway."

"Shadow's really not known for working in a team, minus Team Dark." Sonic explained, "He'd rather handle things on his own usually. Hey, Zero, Yoshi. Think you two can follow his trail?" he asked. "We'll find the emerald hidden here. Use your communicator to tell us where you wound up." he suggested.

The Maverick Hunter and dinosaur agreed, "Yoshi Yoshi (Good luck, you guys)!"

"Alright. He shouldn't have gotten far anyhow." Zero added, using his dash boots to move at the same pace as Yoshi while they followed the skid marks left by Shadow's hover boots.

Peter nodded, "Yeah, who knows what's gonna happen here anyway." he sighed. The wall-crawler looked at the radar, "I can see the emerald, and it looks like it's... closing in on us?"

"What are ya talkin about, kid?" Logan growled.

X observed the radar as well, "Yeah, the energy readings are slowly closing on us. Can the Chaos Emeralds do that?"

"Nope." Sonic answered.

Mario and Luigi revealed their hammers and raised them over their shoulders, "Then that-a means something is-a coming." Mario realized at last, "Be-a ready for anything."

Spider-Woman grunted, "What else could possibly be after us?"

Spider-Man's Spider-Sense tingled. The wall-crawler silently moved his body and shot a web-line at whatever planned to attack him, throwing them down on the grassy floor. "Okay, I think that may have answered our question."

The older Wolverine saw what it was. It looked like a red turtle wearing a red bandana over its eyes. "What the hell is that thing?" he asked in confusion.

"It... Looks like an off-brand Ninja Turtle." Peter noticed, putting a finger on his chin. "Doesn't look like it has the emerald though. That means he's not alone."

Mario's eyes widened, "I-a know who that is! It's a Koopa Brother." he added.

"Koopa Brother?" Spike repeated, "Maybe he knows where the emerald is."

The Koopa Brother turned his body around and looked at the group in shock, "Woah, dudes. Didn't see that coming." he held his sore head. "Koopa Bros, come here!"

Suddenly, three more colored shells appeared around the red koopa. Each colored green, black and yellow. "Woah. More bootleg Ninja Turtles. I didn't see that coming." Peter quipped, seeing them step out of their shells, noticing their bandanas were the same color as their shells while helping the red one.

Mario gritted his teeth, "What are you-a doing here?"

Red Koopa smirked, "Hey, it's our old foe, Mario. Been a while hasn't it? Do your friends like our gnarly looks?"

"...Is it me or do these guys look like they're made of paper?" Peter wondered. "Paper ninjas. Sounds like a phone app."

Gwen shrugged casually, "Seen it on a Saturday morning cartoon. You're not original."

Green growled, pointing a fist at the Spider-Woman, "What?!"

"Found Raphael." Peter pointed out casually.

Mega Man said, "These guys have the emerald?"

Yellow held out a red gem in front of him, "Are you talking about the Awesome Gem of Power?"

"Yellow! You weren't supposed to say anything about it!" Black muttered in annoyance. "Now they know!"

Logan revealed his claws ans warned the Koopa Bros, "Listen ya freaks. Give us that emerald if ya like havin' a shell over yer body. Otherwise, I may just cut it outta ya. Piece by piece." Luigi's eyes widened by how violent the threat was.

Green Koopa took a step back in surprise, "Woah, chill out dudes. We only have beef with Mario."

Peter rolled his arms, "Well, if you wanna get to Mario, you'll have to get through us first." he declared.

'This wasn't what I expected.' Dream commented.

'Same.' agreed Peter.

Red Koopa laughed, "Alright, dudes. I think it's time these freaks get a proper introduction before we kick their butts." he faced his brothers, "Play the theme tune, Yellow!"

"What?" asked Sonic and Gwen in confusion.

Yellow pressed a button on the radio, with music playing in the background as they did a pose. The four of them lined up and gave a thumbs up.

"Red!"

"Black!"

"Green!"

"Yellow!"

The four Koopas pointed at the heroes as they declared their names aloud to the heroes. "And together we are..." Red began, prompting his brothers to give a thumbs up at the same time as him, as though they practiced.

"The Koopa Bros!"

Gwen whispered to Trixie, "And I thought you had an ego." the unicorn fumed at her words, narrowing her eyes at the White Widow, who chuckled.

Logan hunched down, claws ready, "I've had it with these sideshow freaks!" he dashed off to attack the Koopa Bros, his arms reared behind his head.

"Logan! Wait!" Sonic called out.

As Wolverine charged forward, Red ordered his brothers to attack the hostile mutants, "Okay, bros! Just like we practiced!" at that order, the four brothers jumped at once and reached out to attack Logan together, curling into their shells.

Logan used his claws to block Green, scratching his shell slightly while he was in midair. Wolverine then ducked underneath Black, but he wasn't paying attention and so he stumbled on Yellow, who was gliding on the ground in his shell. Wolverine stumbled and even leaped a foot into the air. While he was distracted, Red kicked Wolverine with both of his feet, launching him across the field.

The rest of the heroes ducked underneath the tossed mutant, with Peter muttering, "At least they know how to work as a team." he crouched down in his trademark fashion, glaring at the Koopa Brothers.

"They're-a more prepared than-a last time." Mario realized.

A yell got the heroes attention, a familiar growl Spider-Man's heard before. The wall-crawler took a step back, seeing Wolverine dash forward, his eyes cartoony red. "Logan! Wait!" he yelled, seeing the bloodlust in his eyes. Spider-Man shot a line to Logan's back and held him back. "We're not turning anyone into swiss cheese!" he shouted, grunting as he helled the strand in his arms.

Old Man Logan screamed, the bruises on his face getting better, "Let go, kid! They think they're so damn funny! I'll show 'em funny!"

Even the Koopa Bros were taken aback by Logan's violent outburst, gulping. Spider-Gwen also shot some webbing onto Wolverine, holding him back. "No cutting apart the dumb Ninja Turtle rip-offs, Logan!" she growled, pulling back, causing him to slide backwards. "Get a hold of yourself! They're just being idiots!"

The older Wolverine panted slowly, calming down. He gritted his teeth, turning his head to face his old friend, "Fine."

Sonic raised a brow in concern, "You alright, Logan?"

Mega Man rubbed his helmet, "Yeah, I've never seen you this upset before."

Logan exhaled, "I'll be fine. But I'm still givin' 'em a taste of my claws." he assured.

Trixie nodded, "Oh, I very much agree. They have something of ours." she decided.

The blue hedgehog cracked his knuckles, "Alright, Koopas. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either give us the emerald, or we'll take it from ya. From what's been brought up, it sounds like you and Mario have some unfriendly history, and I think this would be the perfect time for a reunion."

Red shook his head, "No way! We got this Awesome Gem of Power on our own fair and square, and there's nothing you can do about it!" he snapped.

X readied his X-Buster, seeing Green go into his shell. "Stand down." he commanded. In response, Green jumped forward, intneding to hit X, but Mega Man leaped ahead in front of his taller successor, who had his arm cannon primed and ready, using his Super Arm ability to lift the green shell it threw it like a frisbee. The future robot gave his predecessor a thumbs up, "I had it covered, you know?"

"Might as well protect my little brother." quipped Mega Man with a small shrug. X smiled.

Mario and Luigi growled, the former speaking, "You will-a not hurt anyone-a here."

Spike looked to the plumber, "I don't think they're here for negotiations, Mario." he stated, curling his hands into fists.

The red plumber nodded to the dragon, "I-a think you're-a right. So-a much for the easy way." he stood in front of the team, ready for whenever the Koopa Bros attacked. Luigi remained next to his older brother, choosing to fight with him. The two nodded to one another, their fists glowing red and green, showing sparks of fire and electricity which they contained.

"Woah." Peter gasped, unaware of their powers. Even Sonic looked at the brothers in surprise.

Red pointed forward, "Attack, bros! Time for revenge!"

Trixie blinked, "Wait, what?"

"Alright, Mario! Your baddies, your rules!" Peter stated firmly. "This is beyond my usual dose of insanity."

Mario nodded, "Let's-a go!"

Black, Green and Yellow hopped in front of their leader. X and Spike took on Black, the dark turtle using his shell form to land a blow upon them. Mega Man X used his dash and then jumped, using his X-Buster to blast him in midair. While he was still in his shell form, Spike used his fire breath to burn the koopa. Once he inhaled, the turtle's shell was covered in ash, but was not harmed.

X gritted his teeth, "I don't want to hurt you!"

"Doesn't look that way!" Black responded, trying to kick Mega Man X. But Spike hovered and tackled the koopa. "Yikes! Giant dragon attacking me!" he panicked.

"Well, you kinda deserved it." the dragon announced, seeing X dash towards him, using his X-Buster to blast Black.

Gwen kicked Yellow, who was coming for him. Trixie gritted her teeth, using her magic to hold the yellow masked Koopa down, "Huh? What kinda trick is this?"

"Magic." Trixie stated bluntly, slamming his body on the ground. "Now, hand us the emerald. Or I may have to repeat this." she demanded.

"Nah."

Trixie smirked, the blue unicorn tilting her wizard hat and lowering her metal mask. "Very well. Face the wrath of Trixie!" she declared, using her magic to throw Yellow aside. The koopa yelled as he flew hiding in his shell for cover.

Suddenly, a thin white line reached him and he started to spin. "Sorry, you're on the wrong flight! Let me fix you up!" yelled Spider-Man, holding a web-line in both of his hands. The wallcrawler threw his arms up and dropped Yellow back down on the ground. The koopa grunted, rolling on his back. He backflipped back onto his feet, narrowly dodging a divekick delivered by Spider-Gwen.

"Alright, Michaelangelo." Gwen commented, reaching a web-ball and aimed it at Yellow's face, knocking him back slightly, "How did you get that Chaos Emerald?"

Yellow snarled, using his shell to spin the webbing apart easily. "Sigma, dudette. Payed us to keep the Awesome Gem of Power!" he hopped forward and drove both of his fists out, but Spider-Woman leaned back and kneed the turtle in the stomach, knocking the wind right out of him and he wheezed.

Green lunged himself towards Luigi, the green-clad plumber spun his body while he jumped giving himself a slight boost in midair. He drove his foot directly into the green koopa's shell, causing him to fall directly back down. Green moaned, holding his back, "Come on, man! Us green guys gotta stick together!"

Sonic wagged a finger, running around the koopa, "Can't speak for him, ninja dude. But you're kinda in our way." he declared, ending up behind the confused turtle. He tapped Green's shoulder, prompting him to turn around. When he did, he was greeted with Sonic's fist to his face, and he held his aching nose. "Gotta be fast on the uptake dude." he joked, rubbing his knuckles. "Yeesh. No wonder I leave the punching to Knuckles."

Luigi threw down his hammer on the turtle's stomach, "Wa-ha!" he yelled, deciding to truly join the fight. The turtle was planted firmly into the ground, but he popped out.

Green rubbed his head and flipped, kicking Luigi. The plumber was thrown back slightly, but he focused and flipped back on the ground, crouching down slightly. Within a moment, he directed his head tp Green's stomach and performed his Green Missile ability, launching the Koopa hard across Green Hill. Sonic whistled, "Heh. Haven't seen you use that since the Smash tournament. Maybe you should use that next time we're at the Olympics."

Luigi rubbed his hat bashfully, grateful for the small praise and he chuckled awkwardly. He was always one to help after all. Turning his head, he pointed, "Let's-a go!"

Spider-Man was still fighting Yellow, who tried to punch Peter, but he dodged in time, 'Got any ideas, Peter?' asked Dream in his head, observing the turtle's moves.

'Not yet, Dream.' Peter replied. Raising his gaze, he saw a bunch of floating platforms with the same appearance as the rest of Green Hill. He pursed his lips, 'Was that always there or is this world already suffering the effects of merging even more?' he asked himself. Deciding to do something, he jumped atop the platform, seeing a whole series of them go higher up. 'Huh. Looks like I'm in a video game level or something.' he mused.

Green managed to follow Peter up, prompting Spider-Man to jump to the next platform. And the next. But while Green was still in midair, Peter shot some web fluid from his wrists again, creating a ball that would blindside the koopa, prompting him to fall. "Strike!" quipped Peter, crouching down hoping his aim was correct.

And Peter was correct, for holding Green up was Mega Man, once again using his Super Arm. When he threw the stunned Green aside, however, he was knocked back by Red in his shell, who was being chased by Mario and Logan. The old man charged ahead of the plumber as Mega Man stumbled on the ground. He was assisted by Spike, who reached an arm to help the Blue Bomber. "Thanks, Spike." he muttered, wiping the dirt off his blue armor.

"No problem, Rock." said Spike. The dragon and Super Fighting Robot watched as X dashed away from Black, who was readying to toss himself directly at the Maverick Hunter. Mega Man X stood still and readied one of his weapons. His suit flashed a set of different colors fot a second before turning back to its usual blue, signaling the weapon change on his X-Buster.

"Homing Torpedo!" he called out, shooting a missile from his arm cannon, directly to the black-clad ninja koopa. Once the Homing Torpedo caught Black, he was launched forwards, directly into Spike's fists with an uppercut.

Mega Man did the same to Black, his fist lighting on fire too. The black koopa was launched in the air. He was stunned, allowing Spike to fly up slightly to catch him and throw him down, creating a small crater where Black landed and he descended next to it. "One down." he muttered to himself.

X looked at Mega Man curiously, giving Spike a gratifying nod, "How did you learn the Shoryuken? I thought Dr. Light kept them in secret capsules? Did he already program you with it?"

"No. A friend of mine taught me it and I was able to copy the tactic with my system." Mega Man elaborated, "You don't know Ryu and Ken?" he wondered.

"Zero does. I was busy with something else at the time." Mega Man X stated.

Spike smirked, "Maybe you should teach me that."

Rock shrugged, "I'll ask Ryu if we ever meet up again."

Back with the rest of the heroee, Mario spun, his hands glowing as he did, matching Red's movements beat by beat. The plumber turned his body and kneed the koopa directly in the shin. While he was still floating, Trixie caught him with a spell and held him down, using a smoke bomb to vanish from Red's sight before he could counter. When she reappeared behind the dazed koopa, she kicked him with her hindlegs, making him stagger onto his stomach. "Trixie should advise you on where to look, but then it wouldn't be fair." she stated with a confident smirk.

"That wasn't fair at all." Red coughed, "Some ninja you are."

"Grah!" Logan yelled, punching Red hard in the face. "Smart-ass turtle. Same could be said of ya!" he drove his fist downwards and slammed the turtle headfirst onto the grass.

Mario was hopping on some of the platforms floating above them. Once he reached his desired spot, he jumped as high as he could, "Wahoo!" he cheered, positioning himself so that his rear would would land first. He slammed Red Koopa so hard that he fell right through the dirt. Trixie was taken aback by how sudden Mario's attack was. "Mario? What the hay did you do?" she wondered, seeing the hole in the floor.

"I-a do that all-a time. They-a get better." Mario assured.

On cue, Red's head popped out of the hole, his eyes spinning in circles. With a shake of his head he jumped out and hopped. "Bros! Group formations!" at the sound of those words, the other Koopa Brothers got up, ceased their fights and group together on the other side of Green Hill, where they grunted in frustration.

"Aw man... We're gettin' our shells handed to us." Yellow moaned.

Sonic smirked, watching the others group as well, "Heh. So you guys already callin' it quits?"

"I mean come on, we barely got the fight started. You guys really aren't true ninjas like Splinter said." Peter quipped, folding his arms.

Red Koopa smiled, "Not yet, dudes! We still have some tricks in our sleeves!" he faced his brothers, "C'mon, Bros! Let's show these freaky losers our super special technique."

In that moment, the four jumped and all formed a tower. Yellow on bottom, Green, Black, with Red on top. Gwen facepalmed, "What are those sideshow idiots doing now?" she wondered.

"Their-a special attack." Mario stated. "I-a managed to dodge-a it no problem."

"Special attack, huh?" Logan repeated, "Bring it on ya punks! Just try yer damn luck!"

The four Koopas began spinning in their shells, charging their special attack. But something happened. The Chaos Emerald they had began to glow with power, causing all their shells to glow a yellow aura with sparks of electricity flying out of them. "Woah! What's happening to us!?" yelled Red.

Suddenly, they charged forward, aimed directly at the heroes. A trail of fire was behind them as they moved faster than Sonic and Peter's Spider-Sense. They were all launched in the air, grunting in pain as they hit the side of a checkerboard land formation. Peter was the first to get his bearings first, "That... was more brutal than what I expected." he admitted, leaning down slightly with a pant.

'Peter... That wasn't normal. I sensed magic within them.' Dream revealed. 'It was an unintentional surge.'

The team saw the Koopa Brothers coming back for round two. "Guys... I think they're using the Chaos Emerald to boost their power!"

"How can you tell?" asked Gwen.

Sonic nodded, "Makes sense, seen it before. Eggman does it with his machines sometimes. Those sideshow ripoffs possibly did by accident."

Logan gritted his teeth, "Looks like we'll have'ta rip it right outta them then."

Luigi raised a finger, "O-Or we c-could-a do something less-a violent?" he suggested. Wolverine sneered.

Mega Man tried shooting a charged shot at the Koopa Bros, but the projectole deflected from them. "Woah. I forgot how powerful Chaos Energy actually was."

"Anyone got any ideas?" Peter asked. "Cause they're coming and I got nothing."

Mario and Luigi looked around. Suddenly, they saw something familiar in this merged land. A question mark block. "Luigi!" the red-clad plumber pointed to the floating object.

Luigi smirked, "Oh yeah!"

"What is it?" Trixie asked.

"Now's not the time for riddles." Peter stated, clenching his fists.

"A lootcrate?" Spider-Woman wondered.

Sonic raised a brow, "Hold on, Spiders. I see where Mario's comin' from with this. We gotta make sure they get to it. Whatever's in there may help us."

"Oh no you don't dudes!" Red could be heard yelling, coming right near them.

Trixie used another smoke bomb and a teleportation spell to warp them to safety. By the time they reappeared, the blue unicorn nearly fell to her stomach, having warped too many people at once, "Ow... Trixie should've thought ahead on that." she held her head.

"Easy, Trixie." warned X, helpling his comrade up. "But thanks."

Mario jumped with his fist held high, punching the question mark block. Hopping out of it was a star. "Alright!" he and Sonic cheered at the same time.

"A star with a face?" Spider-Man asked aloud.

"It's a Power Star." Mario revealed. "Here. Hold it!"

"You should." Rock suggested, "Used it in the Smash tournament when items were allowed to be summoned."

Peter shrugged, "Alright." he placed his hand on the cartoony star. Suddenly, he felt a surge of power overtake his body. "Holy crap! This is awesome!"

Mario nodded, "Let's-a go, Spidey!"

"What happened?" Trixie wondered.

"A Power Star grants-a the user invincibility." Luigi revealed. "They-a should be-a able to stop the Koopa Bros now."

"Sweet!" cheered Spike.

Mario and Spider-Man ran to the charged Koopa Bros. red laughed, "Ha! Look at those glowing dweebs trying to run at us! We've become so much more powerful-- wah!"

His sentence couldn't be finished as once the two heroes charged at them, their formation broke and they collapsed on the ground. Mario used a spin attack to stun Red while Spider-Man created. Web-line, throwing Yellow into Green then Black. Mario then threw the leader aside like a ball.

The four Koopa collided headfirst, getting knocked unconscious as they fell, the emerald landing next to Mario's feet. At that moment, the power of the star faded. "Wow. Guess we gotta find more of those blocks, I guess?" Peter wondered. Mario nodded, holding the Chaos Emerald.

The two returned to the team, where Mario handed Sonic the Chaos Emerald. "Nice use of of the star. These blocks may just come in handy in this merged world."

"Seems rather contrived." Trixie said.

Spike shrugged, "Whatever works, works."

Mega Man held the radar, "Well, it looks like we have to find where Shadow and the rest followed the Babylon Rogues."

Logan put his hands on his sides, "About damn time. Those turtles were a pain in the ass."

"You're telling me." Gwen sighed.

X nodded, "At least we got an emerald out of it. That puts us at two now. Hopefully Shadow, Zero and Yoshi found the other one just fine." he wondered.

"Then let's go!" Sonic yelled, readying to speed ahead of the group.

"Not again." Spider-Man groaned. The rest of the team followed, to whatever came next for them.