Which side are you on?
"I’ll trust you. They’ve tried to take my brother away before...but I won’t let them do it again!"
— Luigi
Bad Things Will Happen is a Mario manga by poker10403, formerly available on DeviantArt.
One day, Mario disappears suddenly. A few days later, Luigi gets a call from Professor E. Gadd saying that strange ghost-like creatures have appeared and have taken Mario.
This sounds kind of like a Luigi's Mansion plot, doesn't it?
But it's not. Because there's a twist: these new ghosts are Pokémon.
Now Luigi, joined by a Haunter named Soul, sets on a mission to stop the combined forces of King Boo and an evil Gengar, as well as save Mario, who has been brainwashed by said Gengar.
There are currently six chapters completed, comprising over 100 pages, but the comic has been dead for a few years, and the author’s account has since been deactivated. However, the comic can still be read here
, with an (edited for grammatical fixes) transcript available here.
This Fan Webcomic provides examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: In the transcript, a few unnamed Pokémon are given names for clarity reasons and One-Steve Limit, e.g. Smog the Gastly.
- Amplifier Artifact: The ruby in King Boo's crown works like this, greatly decreasing the effort needed for Gengar to manipulate Mario's memory.
- Badass Adorable: The baby Ghost Types (Flame the Gastly, Lyly the Shuppet, and Skull the Duskull). They're only babies, are very sweet and polite... and they managed to stand up to the Boolossus. Even though they were only around level 5 at the time, and had had no prior training.
- Bag of Holding: The backpack that Luigi finds in the supply room works like this. It gets lampshaded.Soul: Good, you’re up. I’ve put everything in the bag. Ready to go?Luigi: Oh, yeah, of cor-Luigi: Wait. Are you telling me that you put all of the contents of the box, as well as everything else that was sitting around, inside this bag?Soul: Yep.Luigi: …
- Berserk Button: Miray the Banette is NOT a boy. She is a girl, and does not like being confused for a boy. Luigi and Soul found this out the hard way.Miray: He?! I AM A GIRL!
- Big Bad: Gengar. He's plotting behind King Boo's back, plans to take over both the Mushroom Kingdom and the Pokemon world, and wants to exterminate all humans.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Mario has his memories erased by Gengar, and ends up working for him. His personality doesn't change too much, though as time goes by, he has gotten continually more aggressive.
- Cliffhanger: Because it's unfinished, the entire comic ends on a major one. The Mushroom Kingdom has been overthrown by Gengar's forces, Peach and Toad are heading off with Yoshi to get help, Bowser's forces have been curb-stomped, and then there's the wham shot revealing what appears to be La Résistance...
- Cool Airship: Bowser has a fleet of cool airships—literal flying ships— as per canon. Too bad the fleet was destroyed by a bunch of Drifblims...
- Costume Evolution: Downplayed, but when we see Luigi at the start of Chapter 5 (which is in-universe a month since we last saw him) he's now wearing short sleeves, similar to Mario's outfit in Sunshine.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Downplayed and lampshaded. How does the team finally defeat the Boolossus? Luigi uses a Pokéball. Which actually works, in spite of the fact that Boos are not Pokémon.Soul: Wow, that actually worked. Didn’t expect that…
- Crossover: Between Mario and Pokémon.
- Darker and Edgier: Mario and Pokémon are mostly light-hearted franchises. This story is much darker—death is mentioned quite a bit, wounds are both visible and severe, the Mushroom Kingdom is invaded and suffers a devastating defeat...
- Description Cut: Played with. There's one at the beginning of Chapter 5, but through the narration:Narration: Now, let's go see what our brave heroes are doing!Luigi and Soul: [Skid around the corner, then start running away] AAAAAAHHH!!!!!!Narration: Ah, forget it...
- Don't Call Me "Sir": Gengar is pretty easygoing, telling his troops that there's "no need to be so formal".
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Commander Shizen, the Chandelure. While training Mario, he doesn't hesitate to attack without warning to teach him a lesson—even drawing blood—and is overall an extremely harsh teacher.
- Freudian Excuse: In an early flashback, it's revealed that Gengar's trainer abandoned him and was a total jerk.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: This still doesn't excuse the fact that Gengar is planning to kill all humans.
- Heroic BSoD: When Luigi first learns that Mario is brainwashed, he temporarily falls into this. Luckily, Soul snaps him out of it pretty quickly.
- Mood Whiplash: Scene changes tend to have this sort of effect. One minute, Gengar has just made Mario forget a nightmare related to his past, and the next minute, Soul is having a staring contest with Reep the Mareep.
- Meaningful Name:
- Soul the Haunter. This is lampshaded by Luigi upon learning his name, who says that he couldn't think of a better name for a ghost.
- The baby ghosts:
- Flame got his name because he looks like a purple fireball.
- Skull's face is a, well, skull.
- Subverted with Lyly, though.Lyly: It has no special reason. I just wanted that name.
- Playing with Fire: Mario, with his Firebrand ability from Superstar Saga. He can even breathe fire!
- Pokémon Speak: Subverted. All Pokémon in the comic speak normally, except for during one scene—and that was a flashback. Even then, it's only for a small part of the flashback.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning:
- Gengar, as per his species' norm, has both these and a Slasher Smile.
- Mario's eyes also turn red once he gets brainwashed.
- Shock and Awe: Luigi retains his Thunderhand ability, letting him generate electricity for attacks.Soul: I just don't want you to get hu-Luigi: [Creates a ball of electricity]Soul: W-WHA!!?? HOW??? HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!Luigi: I learned some things on the adventures I had with my brother.
- Taking You with Me: Soul can use Destiny Bond to threaten this. He uses it to stop the battle with Miray, who, not wanting to die again, has to let them escape while she waits for it to wear off.
- Tempting Fate:
- Happens quite a lot to Team Luigi, but it isn't always a bad thing—because of the fact that they tempted fate, the group met the baby ghosts, as well as discovered Reep in time to nurse him back to health.
- Played Straight in a different example: at the end of Chapter 5, a Toad named Dave remarks that at least Bowser hasn't attacked yet while the Bros are missing, and everyone calls him out on it. Almost immediately after this, they learn about how Gengar's forces have begun their invasion of the kingdom.
- Training from Hell: Shizen the Chandelure and his Litwick students put Mario through this in Chapter 4. Out in the freezing cold? Check. Blood was drawn to prove a point? Check. Attacking without warning? Check. A Bullet Hell of fireballs? Check. Needless to say, Mario nearly dies at least twice. The fact that those in charge of the training are ghosts also makes this literally training from...well, yeah.
- Wham Shot: The last two pages of Chapter 6, big time. Bowser is helplessly looking on as his troops are falling to Gengar's forces when an unknown voice calls out to him. The next page reveals a Gastly (named Ameer in the transcript), who tells Bowser to come with him if he doesn't want to die (Which itself is a Wham Line). In the background, various Pokémon, Toads, and members of Bowser's forces are heading into a warp pipe, with unclear motives (though some interpret them as being La Résistance). Doubles as a Cliffhanger because the story is left unfinished after this.
