Chapter 36
The Clattagin Woods were a little more lively today. This was due to the fact that, marching through it, were Rudy and the Seven Goofalings. A dear friend of theirs may have passed on recently, but this didn't keep them from trudging along and keeping their eyes peeled for a certain something. Looking left and right, they left no stone unturned, yet they still couldn't find it.

The others were looking a little further ahead, but Katunk had a different area in mind. What caught his interest was something in the middle of all of these weird trees made out of paint: it was a cave sticking out of the ground. However, it was unlike any cave the spiky creature had ever witnessed before, for the insides were all covered in these odd-looking blue stones that, for some reason, kept emitting wisps of steam. Katunk was standing but a few feet from it, and already he was beginning to freeze. Not feeling any need to stare into this cave's darkness any more, the evil clown turned around and started trying to catch up with the rest of the group. They were still searching in desperation...

"Not here," said Groove Guy as he checked a hole in a tree.

"Not there. AAUUGHH!" said Groovum as he checked a hole in the ground, shortly before being pulled in by something covered in fur and claws.

"Ohh," Night Guy fretted as he looked about with a hand over his eyes. "How are we going to find it? It's hopeless!"

"It's brown and it has a question mark on it," Taffy Guy said. "Figure it out, dingus."

"We won't find it as long as you people keep acting like such idiots," Har-Harlequin snarled.

"Yeah, think of the mistress," Jester chimed. His female teammate rolled her eyes. Katunk just kept sniffing at the ground. Groovum had succeeded in pulling himself out of the ground, albeit with a bunch of bloody scratches all over him. This was when the search had been interrupted by some high-pitched yelling.

"EVERYONE!" Rudy crowed. "I did it! I found the box!" Acting as though dishes had just been crashed over their heads, the evil clowns all woke up, faced the direction of Rudy's voice, and started running towards it excitedly. Once they caught up with him, they found he was holding dramatically up in the air what was indeed a Music Box. "At last! We can revive her!"

"Um, Rudy," Jester interjected.

The smile on Rudy's face vanished. He looked at the masked clown inquisitively. "What is it?"

"It's the wrong Music Box."

"Huh?" The Music Box, in actuality, was not brown, and was not something with a question mark on it; in fact, it was more of a white thing with a musical note on it. This definitely wasn't it. "Hm," Rudy said. "So it isn't." The humungous clown tossed the thing behind himself. "Well everyone..." KONK! The small, useless device nailed Groovum right on the head. "Our search continues..." Having gotten that little incident out of the way, the evil clowns spread out once again and resumed their hunt...

"Well, kiddies," a deranged, Raven-like creature said, "here we are..."

The Three Boombateers had made it to the Forest of Dheos. They had parked their Boomba's Shoe somewhere and were standing around, taking in this new environment. It was all covered in extremely tall trees with trunks of darkly-colored bark. All of them were twisted and bent in some way or another. It made its trio of visitors feel like they were looking at abstract art. What's more is the equally darkly-colored leaves of these trees looked like they were shaped like bat wings. This combined with the steadily reddening of the sky made this entire part of the Clover Kingdom almost seem like it was actually some kind of breeding ground for ghosts.

"Man," Goomba Prince breathed, "this is one creepy place."

"But not as creepy as that," Ren pointed out. He was referring to some strange, high-pitched cackling reverberating throughout the forest. This sent even more chills down Goomba Prince's spine.

"What is that?!" the Goomba rasped. He was looking around frantically. The laughter continued, but there didn't seem to be anything in this forest besides a bunch of unsettling trees. While Razule was still looking as disturbingly eager as ever, and while Ren still had that stern look on his face, Goomba Prince was in a panic. Where was it coming from? Then he caught sight of what looked like a big ball of black fur jumping around in the woods. "YIKES!" the Goomba yelled.

"What's your problem?" Ren grumbled.

"It's... It's..."

WHAM! "Been a while?" Something big landed right in front of Razule. It scared the daylights out of Goomba Prince, but the other two were hardly phased, Razule especially.

"YYAAAUUGHH!"

"No need to get your horses all sweaty, Princy," Razule said. "It's just my dad."

Ren looked a bit quizzical. Goomba Prince's jaw dropped. "Y... Your dad?!”

"Thaaaat's right!" The thing that was in front of Razule walked a bit closer in order to make itself more visible to the other two. It was that black, fuzzy thing Goomba Prince saw earlier, but, now that it was closer, he could tell it had the same feet, the same beak, and the same eyes as who was supposedly its offspring. Regardless, it still looked like a big puffball. "I'm Razule's old man, Razeil," said the puffball. "What's on your plate?"

"I'm Ren. This is Goomba Prince," the humorless Raven began. "We're waiting for two people to arrive at a place called Clubba Fortress. In the meantime, we're here looking for some weapons."

"Looking to whack the weasels with a few weenies?" said Razeil. Goomba Prince was staring at him in disbelief.

Is his whole family like this? he wondered.

"You bet, Dad! It's gonna be great!" Razule exclaimed. "We're gonna smash'em, and crash'em, and thrash'em! By the way, what keys have you been stroking?"

"Oh, red and blue. You know how it goes. So, you say you're hankering for some army arms?"

"Yup! Know where we can find some?"

"As a matter of fact, I know where you can find NINE of them. I could show you where they're sleeping, but I was hoping I could show you this six-pack I found first. I've been bugging 'em all day! They're like wasps in a tin can!"

"Wow! Really? I haven't bugged anyone in days!"

"Son, it's a bug-fest!"

"WOW!"

Neither Ren nor Goomba Prince could take their eyes off of this father-son bonding. The one with the crown was more confused than the other one. "Ren, would you mind telling me what's going on?" he asked.

"Razule's father wants to show us a group of six people he's been bothering lately just for fun," Ren explained.

"Well then, why doesn't he just say so?!"

"I don't know."

Goomba Prince frowned. He's so mysterious...

"Well, guys, why the slug feet?" Razule called. "Come on! Let's go bug some people!"

"But what about the weapons?" the Goomba of the group objected.

"Weapons later, bugs now!" In the next second, both Razule and the equally eccentric Razeil started bounding off into the forest. Ren was the first to start following. Soon enough, Goomba Prince was doing so as well. Both he and Ren were anxious as to what kind of a group of six this was going to lead to. While bounding off to it, the weirdest two members of the group started talking to each other once more.

"So, Razule, how are the extra eyeballs doing?"

"Great, Dad! They smell even better than my feet do now!"

Again, an utterly confused look befell Goomba Prince. He is REALLY mysterious...

Out on the sea, Foreman Spike, Guido, and Oglian were still drifting their ways towards the Clattagin Woods. Again, the sun was setting and the silence had to be broken. Guido asked the foreman a question. "So, uh, what do you think this backup fortress of the Koopas is gonna be like?"

"Eh," Spike started, "you know. Big place. Full of big, ugly turtles, and stuff. That sort of thing."

"You don't think it'll be that hard to rescue them from them, do you?"

"Of course not," the foreman said, waving a hand dismissively. He pointed a thumb to himself. "I'M here. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Well, um, nothing, I guess, but-"

Foreman Spike started glaring at him. "But what?!"

Guido gulped. "Nothing," he added quickly. Foreman Spike tore his gaze away from him and resumed looking forward with his arms folded. This wasn't necessarily the end of the conversation, though.

"Excuse me," said Oglian. Foreman Spike and Guido tilted their heads towards her. "But I've gotten a bit curious; who was it you said you were going to save, and from whom?"

This seemed to relax the foreman somewhat. "The two new princes of Mario Land, Mario Mario and Luigi Mario," he answered. "We're on a mission to rescue them from some punk named Kamek. He kidnapped 'em, sayin' they'd eventually be the downfall of his clan, or something."

"It's not a very friendly world, is it?" Oglian commented.

"No, ma'am."

"You know, I have a great-granddaughter," Oglian began. "Her name is Oglieth. I loved her. Why, just seeing her was enough to brighten my day." The elderly Magikoopa sighed in reminiscence. "However, she eventually got taken away. The two of us were just passing through the city one day, running some errands. We needed some Fire Berries for a potion that prevents nightmares, you know." The woman's face was gradually growing more and more grim. "Then... a strange, giant flying contraption landed in the distance. The next thing we knew, the entire city was under attack by these unworldly people. They kept breaking windows, beating people, and lighting buildings on fire. It was horrible."

The two of Guido and Foreman Spike had been successfully pulled into the story at this point. Guido's face looked a tad worrisome, but, as the less expressive one, Foreman Spike merely continued to sit atop this witch's doll with his arms folded.

Oglian continued. "It wasn't clear what they wanted, but what they were doing was inexcusable. Oglieth was one of the few people that stood up and started fighting these wretched beings. To this day, I've wondered if I should have joined her. For you see, once she defeated a few of them, one of them, a rather rotund, frog-like one, stepped forward and challenged her. Oh, she fought her best, but it was no use. The frog knocked her unconscious, captured her, and ran off with her. I tried to chase after him, but, dash it all, I lost him. Before long, all of these horrible people were gone and their flying machine had taken off. My precious little Oglieth was gone..."

Guido was shocked by the story. It showed in his wide, unblinking eyes. Foreman Spike just started to scratch his chin. "So, there are people out there who'll attack a place and run off with someone for no reason," he commented. "You know, maybe this Kamek guy we're after isn't the worst one out there..."

"Of course he isn't..."

The somber mood had been broken. All three of Foreman Spike, Guido, and Oglian looked behind them. Floating in the air was a pair of Heavy Troopas, a red one and a green one. The red one looked a bit angry, but the green one looked even more so. He started talking again.

"Hi there, Foreman Spike," the Tub-O-Troopa said with an edge to his voice. "Remember us?"

"How could I forget something as fat and stupid as you?"

Torb got angered by the foreman's words. He was starting to seethe. Horf, on the other hand, was giggling. "Hee hee... He got you good, Torb," said the idiotic Heavy Troopa.

"He was insulting both of us, you simpleton," Torb corrected.

Horf's eyes became huge. "W-What?!" he blurted. "Why you... That's not nice! I hate not nice people!"

"Look," Foreman Spike began, "whatever it is you guys came here for, can you just do it already? We don't exactly have time for your idiocy right now."

"We came here to kill you," Torb stated. "We found out that you knowing of the exact location of Kamek is not a good thing.

"Is that so?" Foreman Spike started standing on top of the hump of Oglian's doll. He withdrew his sledgehammer. "So you guys just want another beating. Is that it?"

"YOU'RE the ones who are going to get a beating!"

SPLOOSH! Guido and Oglian both gasped. Instantaneously, the green Heavy Troopa had tackled the foreman, taking them both down into the water. The other giant Paratroopa watched where they disappeared just as the two people on that camel-like doll were. Horf was excited.

"Yeah! Get 'em, Torb! Kick his butt!"

SPLASH! Torb and Foreman Spike had resurfaced. Their hands were gripping each other's faces and shoulders. One of them turned towards Horf and the other turned towards Guido.

"Guido, don't just stand there!"

"Horf, don't just stand there!"

Torb and Foreman Spike yelled the next thing in perfect unison. "GET THE OTHER GUY!"

Horf and Guido saluted their superiors. The short, mustachioed one was about to get out his hammer when WHAM! He was knocked into the hump behind him. The simple-minded Heavy Troopa had pinned him to it. "Oh, dear," Oglian gasped. For a second time, these two hooligans had come, and she wasn't sure what to do. At least no one was coming to kill her...

Beneath the water, Foreman Spike and Torb were floating around, glaring at each other. Then they started shooting towards one another. BANG! WHAM! They spun away from each other, clutching at their faces. A blow from a hammer and a punch from a fist didn't please either.

I won't let this guy get in our way, Foreman Spike thought.

I won't let this guy hurt Kamek, Torb thought. Then the two started hurtling themselves towards one another again...

BBOOOMM!!! An entire tree in the Forest of Dheos had just received a devastating attack. It was strong enough to instantly reduce it to a pile of wood shavings and leaf guts. It took a few seconds for all of it to reach the ground like rain. It was making some very dense steam rise up into the air, but it didn't make much of a difference to the person who did this.

Actually, it was more of a monster. It was human-like, but it was over eight feet tall. It had pale skin, darkly-colored, pointy fingernails, fangs, dark lips, huge, bat-like wings sticking out of its back, and big, pointy ears. Within the area, there were four others just like it, but they were nowhere near as monstrous, for this guy's body was laced with ridiculously huge muscles, especially his right arm, which was noticeably larger than his left. He was so mutated-looking and enormous, he constantly slouched everywhere as though his spine was just as misshapen. His dark hair was tousled, and his face was nightmarishly twisted. To top it all off, he wore a bunch of black, torn-up rags as though he had just escaped from a cage.

"Ggrruuhhh," the creature groaned as it looked at the pile of dust it had created. It scanned the mass of destruction from top to bottom, but couldn't find what it was looking for. This angered the beast tremendously. "GGRRUUHHH!!!" It slammed its oversized fist directly into the dust. This practically caused a storm of beige dust to go ripping its way through the forest. A good percentage of it splattered on the other strange, humanoid creatures.

"Swampic, my boy," said the short, frail-looking one. "No need to get so angry. We'll find him soon enough." He was a crotchety old man dressed in an expensive robe, gloves, and a top hat, all of which were mostly black. There was a cane in his right hand, for his left arm was missing completely. "After all, being angry will get you nowhere..." Suddenly, a few small, monkey-like, yet demonic little creatures with black fur and long, clawed fingers ran out of nowhere and jumped onto the old man's shoulder, almost forming an arm shape. Then the creatures morphed together and actually became the man's other arm, sleeve and all. "You should be more relaxed like me."

"Relaxed? Hah." This time, the person talking was the beautiful young woman of the group. She wore a tight, black, revealing dress. Her most unusual feature was the fact that her long, black hair hung off of her right shoulder and coiled around the air just to the side of it like a screw. Like the old man in a way, there was no arm there. "Relaxed doesn't even come close. You, Sward, are a lazy bum." A bunch of demonic creatures similar to the old man's sloths flew out of nowhere on feathery wings and turned into the woman's right arm. Her screw-like ponytail was wrapped around it.

"Don't talk like you're so superior, Swan," said the tall one. He leapt down from one of the forest's weird-looking trees like a leopard and landed on the ground in a squatting position. Gradually, he started to stand tall, revealing he was even taller than the monster. "It's not like you've been contributing to the group that much yourself." The woman glared at him. He donned some black dress shoes, black socks, black shorts, and a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up (it even came with a black tie). With his arms and legs exposed so freely in such a manner, he almost looked like a stretched out schoolboy. His entire head, though, was completely covered in its long mane of black hair. Not a single trace of his face could be seen. Sticking out of this mound of hair on his shoulders were two large, pointy ears, but that was it. "Let's face it," he said, "if there's anyone who's gonna help us find him, it's me. I'm the best."

"You?" the woman retorted. "As if those wind powers of yours are actually of any use. You're just dreaming, Swoosh."

"What was that, you impudent woman? You have something against me?!"

The obese member of the group watched the argument unfold before him in amusement. He chuckled as he continued to chomp away at his dead rabbit. Each messy bite made his jowl lines flop around as he chewed. The chunky man was completely bald and he dressed in a black mumu like a judge. The fight going on between his female teammate and the tall one made him laugh, but it wasn't necessarily entertaining for everyone.

"I most certainly hope you two aren't fighting again..." All five of the vampire-like creatures stopped and turned their heads towards the source of this voice. It was a number of wisps floating around in the air, each of them being made of some dark purple mist. It all swirled together into one large mass. A six-foot-tall man with very broad shoulders emerged from it and floated to the ground.

"Duke Swuke!" the female one uttered.

"Swan, we've been searching for days..." The man's voice was very strong and extremely deep-pitched. It was a nice, rolling voice that seemed to personify steel. "It has indeed been taking a while. We have come across numerous obstacles during our search, none of which have been quite as hindering as your constant bickering."

Swan lowered her head a bit. "I'm sorry..."

Swoosh started chuckling at her. "The same goes to you, Swoosh," the deep-voiced man snapped. This immediately shut him up. He who apparently was the leader of the group didn't even need such a strong voice to keep these people in line. Everything about him practically reeked of authority. He wore black, high-heeled boots and a robe with such elegance that rivaled that of the old man's, but he didn't wear gloves like him, so his creepy-looking hands were exposed. He even had a cape.

Another distinguishing feature about him was that his outfit was rimmed here and there with exaggerated edges that looked kind of like they were torn up pieces of clothing, but, mostly, they just looked like extra bat wings. As for his face, it was very gaunt and bony. Both his eyes and his eyebrows were shaped in such a way so that he constantly looked as though he was about to kill someone. His hair was short and it came out in one long lock hanging over his right eye. However, since, oddly enough, his hair was rimmed with hook-shaped bangs, it wasn't as though his right eye had nothing to see out of. There were three similar shapes at the base of his neck in the back. His black goatee wasn't much different.

"Hear me, Swampic, Sward, Swan, Swoosh, Swine..." The monstrous one, the old one, the female one, the tall one, and the fat one all suddenly became more attentive as their names were called out respectively. "If there was ever a time for the six of us to put our quarrels aside and act seriously, it is now. More setbacks are not an option. If we can't find Swoompster, then we won't be able to bring back Count Dheos..."

The other five people all nodded to their strict leader. Afterwards, the group of six continued their search. This was all being spied on by another group of four.

"They're the Swoompires," Razeil squealed. "They just keep walking around this place, looking for their little friend. They're a pony flying a kite!"

"Oh, they do look fuzzy," Razule commented.

Goomba Prince was looking a little worried, but Ren was just looking stern as usual. "Ren?" the Goomba asked. "What are they gonna do?"

"We'll just have to wait and see."

"Well, Razule, my boy," Razeil said, "are you ready?"

"I'm feeling the frostbite, Dad!"

"Alrighty then. LET'S GOOO!" In a flash, the two weird birds were off. Ren and Goomba Prince watched in bewilderment and a little amusement as these two freaks started to wreak havoc.

"What the-" Swoosh started.

"Gruh?"

Razeil had run right into the back of Swoosh's left foot, causing the stretchy man to topple over backwards. His son, Razule, had leapt on top of Swampic's head and started to dance on top of it. This angered the behemoth, so it started to swing its meaty fists at the small creature, roaring in annoyance all the while. All it was able to succeed in doing by this was punching itself in the face and knocking itself out. The four remaining Swoompires started looking around in utter confusion as these two pests continued to mess with them.

"Him again," Duke Swuke growled. "He's brought a friend this time..."

Swine was the next victim. He was about to take another bite of his rabbit when Razeil suddenly snatched it from his hands and threw at the old man's cane. This knocked it from his grasp, knocking the elderly Swoompire to the ground. Razule added insult to injury by starting to do a little jig on the portly one's stomach, making the whole thing slosh around disgustingly. "Wowwee! This is the best waterbed I've ever been on! Oh wait; it's just a fat guy! HA HA HA!" Swine snarled. He tried ensnaring the little creature in his claws, but he had escaped just in time.

"You little punks," Swan seethed. She was in the middle of raising her hands as though about to cast some type of spell.

"BOOOOMBS AAWWAAAYYY!!!" Razeil went somersaulting through the air. His constant spinning stopped once his head slammed into her chest. Razule thought the horrified look on her face was priceless. Ren and Goomba Prince seemed to think so, too.

"COME ON, RENNY BOY, PRINCY!" the little raven-like man called. "JOIN THE F-"

Foom. Before he could finish, the four of him, his father, and his two companions had been caught in a pair of long, ghostly tentacles. Both were made of purple mist. In this trapped state, the mischievous quartet started floating right in front of the duke's face. His arms had transformed into this stuff in order to make this possible. This time, his face looked as though he was about to kill TEN people. The four small people he captured gulped at the sight.

"You have meddled in our affairs for the last time," the duke growled. "Be gone from my sight!"

Duke Swuke extended the length of his tentacle arms. He reared them back like a giant slingshot and fired in a gigantic snap. The five conscious Swoompires watched as these four nuisances flew away, screaming and fading into the red sky.

The area was quiet once again. Duke Swuke's arms returned to normal. He faced the group once more. "No more setbacks," he said. "We continue our search..." The six Swoompires did just that...

Foreman Spike glared fiercely at his green-shelled opponent. With much difficulty, he held up his sledgehammer, ready to strike. In the next second, Torb started rocketing towards him like a torpedo with its fist out. Once the two came close enough, the foreman panicked, not sure whether to dodge or attack. He did neither. POOMF! The shades-wearing man got the wind knocked out of him. A bunch of bubbles burst forth from his mouth as he loosened the grip on his hammer. Fighting underwater was a lot tougher than he thought.

He needed air, and quickly. He started swimming towards the surface frantically. SPLOOSH! The foreman broke through the water and flung his head back as he inhaled deeply. He started panting for a bit when he suddenly realized his hammer was gone. Being stricken with panic once again, he was about to go after it when WHAM! The green Paratroopa suddenly tackled him from below. Soon, the two were flying through the air, sopping wet, with one of them having his neck caught in the other's arms...

Guido, on the other hand, was still struggling to get Horf off of him. Over the humungous turtle's shoulder, he could see the two green-clad participants of this battle duking it out with each other in the air. Silently, the lesser Mario Land resident prayed for his superior's victory.

"And just what... do you hope to do?" Foreman Spike choked as he tried to wrestle Torb's arms away from him.

"I'm gonna take a dive," Torb explained, "but you're goin' first. The impact will be so hard, your neck will snap."

"Not... likely..." Foreman Spike grinned. "You're... gonna help me get my hammer!"

"What?!"

Torb didn't see this next one coming. Foreman Spike had just thrust his head forward and clamped his teeth down hard upon Torb's arm. The sudden attack startled the Tub-O-Troopa so badly, he instantly lightened his grip on his adversary, causing him to fall from his grasp. The foreman would have taken this fall had he not have grabbed a hold of the tortoise's tail just in time. The unexpected yanking of such a body part was another assault that got Torb to start burning in pain. Using his immense strength, the foreman utilized this beast's tail as though it were a rope so he could swing himself onto the back of his shell. Now Torb was angered and confused.

"What are you doing?!" he yelled.

"Time to get my hammer." Spike snickered. CRACK! He grabbed a hold of both of the Paratroopa's wings and bent them the wrong way really fast. Torb started screaming in pure pain. The two of him and his assailant started plummeting back towards the ocean...

Meanwhile, Guido had just succeeded in slamming his challenger in the shoulder with his hammer, thus causing him to get knocked onto the back hump of Oglian's doll. Horf grabbed the sore spot and winced. Then he heard the screaming of his partner behind him. He turned around and gasped. That Foreman Spike guy had him by the wings, and they were dropping fast. "TOOORRBB!" the simple-minded Heavy Troopa yelled. It cost him. ZZAAAAPP! Guido had just jumped onto his back and drilled one of his orbs of electricity into the turtle's head. The voltage shook it so violently that, when the attack was over, his eyes had rolled up into his head and smoke started coming out of his mouth.

SPLOOSH! Horf had been defeated. He was lying on his stomach like a crocodile on the water. Torb was severely displeased by the sight, but Foreman Spike smirked at it. Good job, Guido, he thought. Now on to this punk...

FWWOOOSHH! Foreman Spike and Torb had taken the plunge. It didn't break anyone's neck, but it still consisted of one person being forced deep into the water with his wings confined. He wondered how long he was gonna last.

Don't worry, Spike thought with puffed-out cheeks. Maybe if I find my hammer early, I won't let you drown...

But he DID find it early. It wasn't because of shallow waters, though; it was because the very weapon itself was hanging out of some gigantic creature's mouth. It had a round head and a long, segmented body like a dragon. Beneath all this water, its actual form was too shadowy to make out, but the foreman didn't care. He kicked himself off of his opponent's back, floated towards the creature's head, and kicked it right in its eye. The thing roared violently. It didn't take long to decide on what its next meal was going to be. It started gliding towards Foreman Spike, and then WHAMM! The gigantic creature got it right in the chin with something extremely heavy and blunt. As it was spinning around beneath these waves, it caught a glimpse of the foreman with the hammer back in his hands. As quickly as it did before, it made its next decision: it was way out of its league. The giant creature, whatever it was, swam away.

Foreman Spike smirked to himself. With this having been taken care of, it was finally time for him to surface once more.

FWOOSH! Once he splashed his way out and started breathing again, he noticed two giant Heavy Troopa bodies floating past him. One of them was red and on his stomach. The other was green and on his back. The foreman watched them drift into the distance. A smile of satisfaction befell his face.

Spike swam his way back to the oga doll. Guido helped him back onto it. "That was great, Foreman Spike!" said the lesser soldier.

"Yeah, I know," Spike gloated. "Now let's get out of here before something else comes our way." Guido started to nod. He was interrupted by a loud rumbling sound. The trio at sea looked around in wonder.

"What's going on?!" Guido said. The water around them was starting to ripple like crazy. Looking over the edge, Foreman Spike and Guido could see how there seemed to be some fish rising towards them. Actually, there was a LOT of fish.

"What in-" Foreman Spike started. Then there was a FWOOSSHH! The trio and their giant doll were suddenly floating in the air. A huge pile of fish was right beneath them, all of them flopping around and gasping in desperation. They were in a large net and being raised into the air.

"Oglian?!" Foreman Spike spat. "What is this?!"

"I'm sorry," the woman replied. "In the confusion of the battle, I must have gotten us into this."

"Oh, this is just PERFECT!" Once the net was a considerable amount of feet away from the water, it stopped its upward movement and began to swing to one side. The next thing these people knew, the net had snapped open, spilling out all of its contents onto a ship's deck, surprising them greatly. Once they clambered back onto their feet while struggling to stand on top of a bunch of slimy fish, they got to find out exactly what kind of ship this was. SHING! They were instantly surrounded by a bunch of sharp spears, all of them pointed towards their necks. "Lovely," Spike grumbled.

The spears were all being held by a bunch of tiny, Goomba-like creatures. Backing them up were other such creatures, like some Goomba-like creatures with pointy ears and some humanoid ducks wielding some boomerangs. Behind them all and near the quarters of the ship was a group of eight people. They consisted of a spiky Koopa Troopa; a minotaur; a penguin with boxing gloves; a floating head; a giant, vulture-like bird; a ghost; and two girls, both of which were donned in green outfits, long, black hair, and red bandannas. The huge difference between the two was that one of them was a young woman whereas the other one looked barely older than three.

"What are those people doing here, Sugar?" the little one said, picking her nose.

"Who knows," said the older one, "but they should know that whatever lands on this ship, stays on this ship." The young woman took a few steps forward, grabbing the three captives' attention as she did so. "Listen up, scumbags," she announced. "The name's Sugar- CAPTAIN Sugar-and this is my sister, Syrup." The little girl waved to the newly captured trio with a look of mischief on her face. "We are the White Sugar Pirates. Perhaps you've heard of us and our mother, Capt. Spatula?"

No one said anything, save for Foreman Spike, but all he did was snort. The woman named Capt. Sugar ignored him.

"She may no longer be with us, but that doesn't mean we've lost our image as some of the nastiest pirates the world has ever known!" The woman unsheathed a sword and pointed it to one of the doors behind her. "Throw them in the brig with the other one," she ordered. "We'll have fun with them later. Heh heh heh..."

The other pirates started chortling along with her as various feathery, yet strong arms began to grab Foreman Spike, Guido, and Oglian from behind. Why me, oh lord? the foreman thought darkly as he and his two companions started being dragged into the dungeon of these foul people...

Hanging in the most awkward of positions from a few branches were none other than the Three Boombateers and their latest companion, Razeil. The four of them gradually shook themselves into consciousness, still a bit disoriented from their previous encounter with the six Swoompires.

"Well," Ren muttered, "that certainly was... interesting."

"Ugh, never again," Goomba Prince groaned.

"Everyone peachy keen?!" Razule called. Ren and Goomba Prince grumbled a bit in response. In the next few seconds, the quartet had triumphed in getting themselves to start standing upright again. Razeil was looking a bit sheepish.

"Um, yeah," he said, "about that Duke Swuke guy... He's pretty dang strong. Guess I should've mentioned that sooner, huh?"

"DUH!" Ren and Goomba Prince yelled simultaneously.

"Well, the cats are stripy, and the balls are round," Razeil said, although Goomba Prince had no clue what he meant by that. "So, you guys say you want some weapons, correct?" The Three Boombateers all said yes in their own way. "Well, come along." The strange Raven turned around and began to hop his way through the numerous tree branches of the forest. "I know EXACTLY where to go. You'll love these things, I promise you that..."

Ren, Razule, and Goomba Prince were following him shortly afterwards. During this, again, the Goomba of the group was left to his dark thoughts. Let's just hope this won't require more "bugging" people...

CLANG! The Dangerous Ducks had done their work quickly. In no time at all, they had gotten the three of Foreman Spike, Guido, and Oglian behind bars. They were chuckling sadistically and wiping the dirt from their hands as they walked away into the darkness. "You'd best say your prayers," they heard one of the ducks say, "'cause once the games begin, your luck'll have run out..."

Foreman Spike glared hatefully at the feathered pirates walking away with his hands gripped tightly around the bars. Guido and Oglian were right behind them, looking worried. "Bunch of cretins," Spike growled. "What'd we do to them, anyway?!"

"So, what do we do now, sir?" Guido inquired.

"What CAN we do?!" the foreman griped. He slid his fingers away from the rusty bars and began to pace about the cell. "We might as well just rot down here until their sick, twisted games begin... whatever they are..."

"Hah! Join the club!" The three new prisoners turned around and looked in the corner. Sitting there was a small, dwarfish, vampire-like creature in a tuxedo. He had neatly combed hair, a black cape, and a cheerful look on his face. "If you want to take on the world, you gotta accept the fact that it's got fangs. It's life."

"Who are you?" Foreman Spike drawled.

"Me?" The creature gave off a mysterious smirk. "I'm Swoompster, the Swoompire of Greed..."

Back in Monet's Mansion, Kamek was strolling down a hallway, taking his time and enjoying himself. This was due to the fact the walls of this place were all covered in countless paintings, each one extremely different from the last. One of them was a picture of a man's face melting, revealing his skull, his brains, and other such inner body parts in the process. One of them showed a flower made of metal, complete with a surface reflecting the image of an entire field of real flowers, each of them twisted in the most odd of ways by the shape of the metal one. One of them showed a ridiculously huge, ghostly hand sweeping its way across what looked like a solar system. All four of its fingers were touching different planets. Its thumb was touching the sun at the center of this collection of celestial bodies. All five of the huge, round things were blue and covered in ice. The extra details of this painting even showed wisps of freezing cold steam swirling around them. It all was found extremely fascinating by the blue Magikoopa.

"Like 'em?" The stately sorcerer jolted. He looked to his left to notice it was only Doppel. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes, they're very nice," the reptilian wizard stated. "I suspect they were each made out of a great deal of inspiration."

"Well, not really," the ghost answered. "Whenever I paint these things, I hardly ever have a real picture in mind. I just pick up a brush and let my hands do all the work. I find one can get more interesting results that way."

"I see," Kamek replied, "but surely your hands weren't ENTIRELY responsible."

"No, they weren't," Doppel admitted. "In fact, I sometimes wonder about these things myself." The ghostly man pointed to the painting of the man's melting face. "I think this one represents my feeling that only when tortured properly do people truly begin to show what's inside of them." He pointed to the one of the strange flower. "And I think this one represents how there are numerous things out there that can be reflected in something else, but their images are distorted differently depending on who or what's reflecting them and how."

Kamek nodded. He pointed one clawed finger to the painting next to the last one Doppel explained. "And this one?"

"That one?" It was the picture of the frozen planets. "I think that one's more of a sneaking suspicion of mine than an observation..."

"Yes?"

"I think," the artist began, "it means I get the feeling that the universe is so vast, there's no telling exactly what's out there. In fact, somewhere out there, there could even be someone or something that's just downright unthinkable. Someday, it could come sweeping its way into our friendly little neck of the cosmos and BAM." Doppel made a flicking movement with his fingers in front of the picture as though he just sprinkled some powder on it. "Something like this happens."

"Interesting..." Things became silent for a moment as the two continued to gaze at this painting, or so it seemed. The next thing Kamek knew, he was in the jungle again. Those two banana-eating apes were back in front of him.

"After all," he heard one of them say, "we're the guardians of Donkey Kong Island..."

In a flash it was gone. Doppel was right next to the Magikoopa again. He was waving one of his pale green hands in front of his eyes. "Kamek? Yoo-hoooo! Kamek?"

"I'm fine, Doppel," Kamek said, putting his hand on the ghost's wrist and putting it down. "It's just..." The Magikoopa tilted his head upward in deep speculation. "I may have just uncovered something very important..."

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