Chapter 3: The Heroes Take Flight, A Villain Sets Sail (Along with a Hero)
Bobbery's killer stands on the deck of his ship, glancing over Toad Town, his recently conquered territory. It'd been three days now; he suspects a major strike by Ludwig's men any day, especially as Ludwig had just sent a small attack two days prior. With it being a weekend, Saturday to be exact, he is especially cautious. He turns around to check the other side and spots a figure hanging from his flag by one hand. A small sword rests in the other.
"Gutless coward! Get down here and face me like a man!"
The figure responds to the killer's shouting by jumping down. The man lands on his feet, revealing himself to be a bean with long blonde hair and a slight beard, fitting the description that had been earlier given to Goombella by Vivian. He wears a long, flowing cape, green pants, and an armor-like chest plate.
"Heh, are you who I think you are?" asks the murderer of his soon-to-be opponent.
"Depends. Are you who it is I believe you are? 'Cause if so then it is my duty as the prince of the Beanbean Kingdom to bring you down."
"Maybe. Either way, Prince, prepare for your untimely demise!" The pirate captain jumps at Prince Peasley, tackling him to the ground. As the murderer lands, Peasley changes the location of the handle of his sword in order to nail his enemy with the handle, which he does.
The captain lifts his hands to his head over the location of the hit, enabling Peasley to kick him off. After this, Peasley flips his sword around and shouts, "Withdraw your sword! It won't be as sweet a victory unless I beat you using your own methods!"
The pirate captain complies and jumps at Peasley, striking fast and hard numerous times. The prince barely blocks all of the shots and then retaliates with a few swings of his own. The killer falls to one knee from being knocked off-balance and knocks Peasley's sword from his hands on the way down.
"Well, what a predicament we have here," says the murderer to his adversary. "Well, how've things been going back in the Beanbean Kingdom?"
"What, now we're old friends or something?! Anyway, things have not too bad compared to everywhere else. If you'd shown a bit of patience with your attack then you could've likely been a lot easier off. I was busy convincing my mother to help Sarasaland's new ruler in overthrowing Ludwig when you invaded it and caused her top advisor to strongly go against it. What about you?"
"I've been sailin' the several seas with my group of rookie Ninji that I'd met at an auction four years back. A couple of years ago I saw this ship get sunk by someone beneath the water. Its captain snuck aboard the ship and blamed me for killing all of his crew and attacked. I fought him off for a while and tried to explain, but he then caused me to lose my eye by exploding while launching into my face from my mast. In a rage, I had him executed by my men and decided to do the same to all of his living allies that I'd discovered in a photo within a library in Rogueport about a month beforehand. As he prepared to die, he said the oddest thing: Despite all you've done to me, I have to thank you. I may finally rejoin my Scarlette. I had delight in doing that pitiful Bob-omb in after what became of my eye."
"Underwater ship, huh? I find that quite doubtful."
"It's true. I saw it plain as day. The cannons were fired by two blue sharks with a large blue shark between them wearing a cape. I could've swore I heard the leader say something about us being next if we were to return to that area."
"I think you may have run into Captain Jonathon Jones. Nonetheless, you're still a murderer and-"
Peasley put his foot back to kick his sword into his hands, but the killer put his sword to the throat of the Bean first.
"Don't even try it, Princie. Now then, tell me all about this Jonathon Jones and where he lives."
"All I know is that he occupies a sunken ship near Seaside Town, a small seafaring town hundreds of miles outside the Mushroom Kingdom."
"This is good news for me. I will skin-"
"Actually, it'd be more like 'scale'."
"All right, fine! I will SCALE that shark and use his teeth to impale the allies of that worthless Bob-omb! And I expect you to help me do it, Peasley!"
"Well, as prince of the Beanbean Kingdom I don't think that would be a good way for me to establish good feelings between our country and the colony living underneath the seas near Seaside Town..."
"Would you rather have your throat split in half?"
"So, when can we get goin'?"
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Goombella sits up, hearing her alarm clock go off. She yawns and then headbutts it, then stands up to put on her tie- which, despite her lack of hands, she does rather quickly.
"I wish that just once I could go back to my adventuring ways. What I wouldn't give to be able to do it all again."
"Maybe you can help with something."
Goombella turns to the window and sees Professor Frankly looking into it. He obviously just got there.
"Frankly! What're you doing here?!"
"Well, I came because me and my partner have reason to believe that the world is in grave danger. We think that those mysterious storms, the theft, and Ludwig's rise to power may all be interwound."
"How so?"
"I have no time to explain. Pack your bags and hurry out here. I've already got some old friends of yours together out here in E. Gadd's private plane, and I know you'll want to help with this."
"I'd love to, but... what about my job?"
"It's June, right? Just explain to your boss that you've got important matters to attend to out of the country over the phone. There's only a week or two left of school anyway, right?"
"Yeah, but- how'd you know I teach school?"
"Your friend Vivian told me everything about what's going on with all of you."
Goombella sighs. "It's almost as though Vivian spends all of her spare time spying on everyone. Anyway, I'll do it! I'll be out there in a few minutes!"
"All right then. You'd better hurry, though: Rogueport is part of the Mushroom Kingdom, and we don't want Ludwig knowing anything about this."
"I understand."
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Doopliss sits on a huge golden throne that is much larger than he is. In front of him stands Lady Lima of the Beanbean Kingdom.
"So, a representative from the Beanbean Kingdom, eh? What is it you want with me?"
"Well, I was sent to discuss the matter of Ludwig," says Lima to the King of Sarasaland. "It is my belief that you are crazy for wanting to attack while the country is being attacked by not just Ludwig but by that band of pirates as well. After all, we both know that neither country is sufficently able to stop Dark Land's army. I doubt that the two combined would be much more powerful."
"See, that's the thing," says Doopliss in response to Lima's argument. "If those stupid Mario Bros. could do it then why can't our armies? It's simple. Our armies are both used to relying on those Brothers for everything and thus never want to fight. We need to face facts: Mario is dead, Luigi is missing, and Bowser's been replaced by a yopunger, more intelligent ruler. We need to get to training. Our problem is not our army's size, nor our budget, or even the lack of the Mario Bros. We just need for our men to stop relying on others and fight!"
"And what do you know about it?" asks the Beanbean ambassador in response. "I've spent years earning my way up to the ambassador and advisor position, studing law book after law book. You just came into power through the fear of another in less than a month. Don't tell me that you know what you're doing."
"You have a good point," replies the Duplighost to the Bean, "but I know very well what I am doing. I have fought Mario- have you? Or Daisy? Or Queen Bean or Eclair or anyone else with my kind of power?! No. I can fight- all you can do is be politically correct. Well, sometimes it's time to say forget politics and go with your own instincts, and right now my instincts are telling me to fight! So, will you help?"
Lima turns around and walks away without answering. She leaves the room as Doopliss sighs.
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Peasley and the murderer stand on the ship. Ninjal stands next to the two, with the captain explaining everything to Ninjal.
"And so," the pirate finishes, "you're in charge while myself and Peasley go out and bring in this foolish fish. And on that day, we feast upon him and his crew!"
"Aye, Captain!" Ninjal yells in response, saluting. Ninjal then walks off the boat as it sets sail for the other side of Plit in order to kill the shark who caused the pirate to lose his eye.
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Goombella sits aboard a plane next to Vivian. The plane is piloted by a young Koopa around 20 or so, and Koops and Eggo sit next to the two girls. Frankly and E. Gadd are both sitting in the same circle (actually, it's more like an oval) of seats as the others with five or six empty seats between E. Gadd, who is on one end, and Goombella, who is on the other.
"So, allow me to explain everything to you all. You see, you know the theft that occured recently in Rogueport?" asks Professor E. Gadd of the four guests.
All four nod.
"Good. Anyway, I recently met with Ludwig and- since he respects my devotion to science and I likewise feel the same way toward him- he told me that the stolen thing was a limb- a hand to be exact."
"A hand? What's so important about that?" asks Eggo.
"Allow me to explain. This hand belonged to a highly powerful villain who years ago was killed in battle. This villain is believed to be working from the grave, manipulating others into completing certain tasks to fulfill a resurrection. If resurrected, this villain could literally become unstoppable due to the ability which it will have if brought from the dead to feed off of suffering, something that is in mass amounts in this day and age. All malevolent forces who are brought from the dead and have some knowledge of black arts can do this."
"Which villain is this?" asks Goombella curiously.
"Not sure. Ludwig wasn't entirely in on the experiment and only told what he knew. Anyway, point is, with this hand a key part of the resurrection has been found. The other part is a collection of seven jewels. These jewels-"
"Why is everything on Plit in groups of seven, anyway?" Goombella suddenly blurts out. "I mean, come on: SEVEN Star Pieces, SEVEN Star Spirits, SEVEN Crystal Stars. What, are the gods just big fans of the slots or what?!" Goombella suddenly realizes that she's been ranting and shuts up.
"Anyway, these jewels each control a part of the cycle of life: baby blue for birth; green for memories; blue for sorrow; yellow for happiness; pink for love; red for anger; and black for death. Each of these jewels can be found in a different location; a legendary map is said to be held in a hidden tomb far beyond the Dry, Dry Ruins but still within the desert."
"Sounds just like what I've been waitin' for. So, where are we headed now, Professor Gadd?"
"Right now we're heading back to my lab. There's still more explaining to be done. A lot more."
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Peasley sits in the crow's nest, tapping his sword's side on the wooden flag pole. I should have brought my pillow thing. Then I could get out of here easily and wouldn't have to go through with this, he thinks. The murderer suddenly shouts up from below.
"Hey Peasley! How close are we getting to this Seaside Town place?"
"It's going to take days. Maybe even a week," Peasley yells back before getting back to his tapping. The Bean sighs and looks over the edge, seeing a gigantic shadow underneath the water. He notices two tentacles pull up out of the water and onto the boat and gasps as he sees a gigantic Blooper, much bigger than the Gooper Blooper and other larger versions of the species, pull out of the water and begin shaking the boat.
Realizing that he's going to die if
the ship goes under, Peasley withdraws his sword and dives downward, ready
to do battle with the squid. The murderer withdraws his sword and moves
in on the squid as well.
Chapter 4: It's Time to Rawk and Roll
Peasley and his "partner" stand, swords drawn, facing the Blooper in front of them. The two leap forward together, slashing at its tentacles furiously before being slapped backward, flying into the rail of the ship. Peasley stands up and holds his head angrily while the murderer growls.
"This is it, see?! I ain't puttin' up with my boat bein' destroyed!"
"I was beginning to wonder why you weren't talking like normal."
"It's part of the pirate thing, you idiot! I wanted to be taken seriously, see?! When I get mad, though, I can't really help it!"
The two Beans again leap at the Blooper, hacking away at the squid while it flails frantically. The Blooper finally begins rocking the boat, throwing the two back and forth.
The captain yells out, "ARGH! I HATE it when my ship gets attacked! Now you've done it, you oversized piece of sushi!" before leaping at the squid and being promptly batted away again.
"ERGH! How am I supposed to beat this stupid fish?! I hate kalimari just because of this!"
"Well, I've got an idea, ya crazy thief. Give me your glass eye."
The thief who is, as you can hopefully tell by this point, Popple turns around and removes the eye, then turns back to Peasley and hands it to him.
"Be careful with it, ya rookie swordsman! Those be expensive!"
"You got it!"
Peasley holds the glass eye up into the air with one hand and with the other does his shine thing, causing the light to magnify inside the eye and begin to burn the Blooper very badly. The squid lets go of the ship as a result, leading to Popple firing one of his cannons into the Blooper, blowing it down into the water below. One last shot is sent into the water, and both can tell that the enemy is dead as the water turns black from released ink. Peasley gives the thief his eye back, and the glass is promptly reinserted.
"Now, let's get goin' to finish up that stupid fish!"
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The four heroes (and Gadd and Frankly) stand inside a museum within E. Gadd's laboratory, which is located underneath a small shack deep within the Forever Forest. Goombella is looking at numerous paintings of ghosts.
"Hey, Professor Gadd," she asks suddenly, "are these the ghost paintings that Mario told us about?"
"Nope. Those ghosts all escaped a month or two after being captured, and most settled down, though King Boo, Van Gore, and Boolossus are said to be going strong to this day. Anyway, these are all paintings and nothing more."
"I see. So, what else was it that you needed to say?"
"Well, thing is that you have to have one of the jewels in order to get the map. The chamber it is held within has a magical seal on it that will only open for one of the jewels. Once you open the chamber, you will have a fight on your hands anyway, as the guard of the map awaits inside. What it is, is that after her defeat, the guard, the Golden Diva, used a spell to get there in order to survive. She did not know, however, that the seal hadn't yet been broken: once you break the seal, you must defeat the Golden Diva for the map," replies Frankly to Goombella.
"Exactly," follows E. Gadd. "I know the location of one of those jewels, but I highly doubt that any of you but Gonzalez Jr. is used enough to fighting after all this time off to handle the creature holding it."
"Where is it? I don't think we have much of a choice right now," Koops replies to the professor.
"Inside the ghostly mansion that only appears outside of here on full moons, just up ahead in that empty area. Inside said mansion there is a mysterious and deadly demon known as the Deathnify that possesses one of the crystals. I don't know if you all could beat it."
"Well, that's all we know of," says Vivian while admiring a statue nearby.
"Actually, I know of one."
Everyone turns to Eggo, who is facing away from them, looking at a painting. "I know where one is. One of these jewels, the baby blue one, is located in the center of Rawk Hawk's new belt."
"So then all we have to do is go to Glitzville and wait for you to beat Rawk Hawk!" exclaims Goombella excitedly.
"Exactly."
"Good to know that," says Gadd. "It is doubtful that you all could take out Deathnify yet anyway."
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The apprentice bows and then lays the hand onto a podium.
"You continue to please me," says her master in a sinister tone. "If everything continues to progress as planned, you may find yourself with more power than was originally planned."
"I am not worthy."
"You now must go to the town that hangs in the skies of the Mushroom Kingdom, Glitzville. There you shall find the first of the seven jewels that you require in order to resurrect me."
"I shall leave this instant."
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Two days later, E. Gadd's jet lands in Glitzville, which has changed quite a bit. There are now two casinos and a walkway to the area behind the Glitz Pit, where there is a huge mall. The heroes walk out of the vehicle and immediately afterwards the jet raises and takes off.
"Okay, from here we're taking the balloon back and meeting Gadd and Frankly in Rogueport, right?" asks Vivian of the other three.
Goombella replies, "Yep, that's it. Okay, Eggo, ya ready?"
"Yep. No one else has been able to beat or even hit Rawk Hawk since his transformation, but I plan to do it."
"I forgot to ask," says Koops, "but how'd you find out that it was the same jewel anyway?"
"I found a picture of the jewels in E. Gadd's lab. The way they look: the color, and the markings are all exactly the same in every way to the smallest detail."
"Peh, that jewel should be fairly easy to get if that stupid bird's got it."
All four heroes turn around toward what was just said, finding no one.
"Okay... That... was odd," says the Koopa Troopa of the group.
The group goes on into the building. As soon as they get inside, a huge crowd envelopes them.
"It's Gonzalez Jr! He's back to fight Rawk Hawk!"
"He's here to end his reign as champ!"
"The X-Division's champ is here!"
"Gonzalez Jr, we love you!"
The heroes walk through the crowd of screaming fans into the locker room and straight to the promoter's office. Inside there, they see a clean-shaven, long black-haired man in a suit and tie, working on something.
"Oh, it's you, eh? Whatcha want that could make ya come back at such a time?"
He seems familiar, Goombella thinks. Who is he?
"I've decided that I want to use my guaranteed title match right now."
"Right now? Wouldn't it make sense to put it off for a few weeks and get a huge draw out the whole deal, thus getting you a ton more money than it would normallly?"
"No. It's important that I beat him as soon as possible."
"All right then, but we're definitely doing a rematch in a few weeks after some publicity, especially if you win, okay?"
"Got it."
The promoter stands up and walks out of the room. The four heroes follow. As Eggo heads with the promoter into the ring, the other three go into the audience and fight their way to the front row.
"Ladies and gentleman," the promoter starts, "we have a special treat for you, as right now, the champion Rawk Hawk will put his title on the line against the returning X-Division champion, Gonzalez Jr!"
As he says this, the crowd erupts into a thunderous ovation the likes of which could cause irrepairable damage to the hearing of some.
"And now... fight!"
The promoter hops out of the ring as Rawk Hawk flies into the air and dives toward Gonzalez Jr, who jumps out of the way and throws an egg, which is caught by Rawk Hawk and thrown back. Gonzalez Jr. is hit and blown to the mat as Rawk Hawk walks in to deliver more punishment. As the hawk thrusts his hand for the Yoshi's neck, the Yoshi rolls out of the way and jumps, stomping on the bird's head for minor damage. The crowd gasps in shock at seeing someone hit Rawk Hawk at all, especially so quickly into a match. The crowd stands up, including the Yoshi's friends, and begins chanting extremely loudly.
"GON-ZAL-EZ! GON-ZAL-EZ! GONZALEZ!"
"Hey Hawk," Eggo yells, "let's Rawk!"
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Popple and Peasley are at sea, approaching a nearby port.
"So, Prince, how far are we away from this stupid ship now?!"
"Oh, I'd say we're within about four days' time. Maybe three if we don't spend too much time at this town up here."
"Is that so? Well, I don't like having to wait, see!? We'll have to be as quick as we can with this stop up here."
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Eggo follows up his kick with a barrage of eggs on the bird, pelting the current champion with egg after egg after egg. Eggo finally stops this and launches his tongue at Rawk, wrapping it around the bird's legs and attempting to pull him to the ground. At the last second, however, Rawk gets a foot loose and stomps on the tongue, releasing the other, and picks up the Yoshi, holding him high over his head.
The bird slams Eggo's back down over his knee, then tosses the dino, who is screaming in pain, to the mat. Rawk Hawk follows by swooping into the air, where he awaits for Gonzalez Jr. to stand up. The Yoshi spots him and gets a plan, standing up and selling it like he doesn't have a clue what to expect. He turns and see Hawk start to swoop in, then jumps and kicks the Hawk square in the mask, knocking him to the ground because of the speed he was going at the time of the impact.
Eggo walks over and sets his feet on the neck of the bird, choking him.
The Yoshi then stands up and turns around, facing away from the bird as the audience continues its insanely loud chants. While Eggo catches his breath, Rawk rolls out of the ring and grabs something, then slides back in and lays down on his side quietly, making sure to keep what he is holding out of Gonzalez Jr.'s sight. The Yoshi turns around and grabs Hawk by the hair. As he starts to pull him to his feet, Hawk spins around and nails him with the jewel-incrested belt so hard that an impression of it is left in Eggo's face. The Yoshi falls to the ground and Hawk tosses the belt back out of the ring as the audience boos loudly.
The Yoshi tries to stand up, but before he can the Hawk swoops in for a tackle, sending both crashing into the barricade outside of the ring. Eggo screams in agony from the feeling of his back clashing with solid steel, while Hawk merely gets right back up. Hawk then grabs Gonzalez Jr, turns him around so that he's facing the audience, and slides his hand across the Yoshi's throat before slamming Eggo's head onto the barricade.
Rawk stands and turns around, walking away. As he walks on, Eggo gets up and runs along the side of the ring, then jumps from it and kicks Rawk Hawk in the back of the head, much to the delight of everyone within the audience.
Eggo then grabs Hawk's belt and wait's for him to get up and turn around. Once the bird does, Gonzalez Jr. does to Rawk Hawk exactly what was done to him earlier. Gonzalez Jr. then turns around and begins trying to pry the jewel from the belt, but before he can get it out, Rawk Hawk grabs him by the neck and back. The Hawk then turns around with the Yoshi and throws him shoulder-first directly into the barricade.
"This isn't looking too good," says
Goombella to her other two friends as the three watch the battle that is
unfolding.
Chapter 5: Prophecies
Eggo lays on the floor, screaming in pain while holding his shoulder with his hand. The beastly bird known as Rawk Hawk stands over him, coming in to finish the job. The Yoshi's eyes begin to close until he hears a yell.
"Eggo!" yells Goombella as the bird nears. "You have to fight! Not just for us or the world or yourself, but for Mario too!"
Upon hearing this, the Yoshi most know as Gonzalez Jr. begins to rise up while still holding his shoulder. As Eggo stands up, he is again punched down by Rawk Hawk, who then grabs him and rolls him back to the ring, then follows. There, the Yoshi again rises and is again punched down. And again. And again. After five or six times, the Hawk growls as if to say, "Stay down!" then swoops in for a tackle.
The Yoshi jumps and kicks Rawk a few times. While falling downward, he suddenly creates a shell around himself and fires directly into the front of his opponent's mask, blowing both combatants to the mat. The egg then disappears as Eggo jumps onto the shoulders of the Hawk, who has sat up, and wraps his arms around his neck, beginning to strangle the bird.
Now the chants get even louder than ever. "GON-ZAL-EZ! GON-ZAL-EZ! GON-ZAL-EZ!" screams the crowd as Rawk begins fading out of consciousness. Just as Gonzalez Jr. begins to tighten his grip, the bird pulls himself to his feet and wraps his arms around the Yoshi in a bear hug. What looks like from far away to be an emotional embrace is instead a two-sided attempt to make the other man pass out first.
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Popple and Peasley walk through the streets of the city of Marrymore, looking for a place to restock.
"So, what kinda stores do they got up through here?" asks the thief of his royal ally.
"Well," replies Peasley, "there's a shop that sells weapons and Mushrooms and stuff, but I doubt that we'll find anything we actually need to stock up on there besides drinks."
"Is that so? Well, what else, Princie?"
"That's about it for stores. There's a chef nearby, but he mostly caters to cakes and such. Plus, he's such a big fan of cooking that I highly doubt that he'd sell any ingredients to us for anything."
"I guess we'll go stock up on the drinks, then. Any area nearby where I might be able to find stuff to buy for stock purposes?"
"Well, about half a day to the east is a small coal-mining town called Moleville. They sell barrels of nonperishable food along with your basic digging tools and some powerful weapons there in case there is ever a rockslide or something."
"Then I guess we're going there, see? And we'd better be quick about it. We don't want to keep that stupid shark waiting."
Actually, Peasley did. He still wasn't comfortable about the idea and was only staying along with Popple on land because he knew that the thief could outrun him any day.
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Nothing's happening, thinks Vivian while watching the two fighters choke each other for what seemed like an eternity. I'd rather just see Rawk Hawk win than deal with the stress that comes with awaiting the decision. Similar thoughts run through the heads of her two comrades.
The two competitors in the ring continue their choking, neither one daring to remove even the slightest amount of pressure from the other. As the two's physical warfare appears to be a stalemate, Gonzalez Jr.'s busy fighting Rawk Hawk in his own mind.
I've come this far, darn it! I cannot lose right here!
The Yoshi begins to tighten his grip on Rawk Hawk as the same is done by the bird on Eggo. Little do the two know that all they're doing is playing right into the plans of a certain apprentice who is watching from afar in the upper rows of seats.
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Doopliss sits in his throne, this time reading a small green book.
"Ah that Luigi. What a great story."
Upon saying this, the Duplighost sets down the book and picks up a similar book of a different color.
"I wonder if he ever rescued her, or if someone else wound up doing it."
Suddenly the ghost receives a knock on his door. He sighs, marks his place, and yells, "Come in!" In walks a tall, beautiful brunette woman. She wears a green shirt and green pants. Doopliss thinks she looks a touch familiar, but doesn't say anything.
"And who might you be?" asks the Duplighost of his unexpected visitor. DAD, I love these perks of being king, Doopliss thinks while looking at the woman.
"I'm just a goodwill ambassador from a nearby island and was wondering if I could have permission for myself and my group to set up a local government at that beach you bought from Isle Delfino recently," replies the woman. "I have a few ideas on how to improve the area and I also have reason to believe that a very valuable artifact is buried underneath the hotel there. I can obviously only have the place torn down in order to obtain it if I have power there, which I don't. Believe me, though, this is an extremely valuable artifact that would not only allow the entire building to be rebuilt but also boost the economy so greatly that it could compete with that of the Beanbean Kingdom."
"You mean the Sierra Beach?"
"Yes, I do."
"Oh, all right then. But this artifact had better prove to be as valuable as you claim it to be."
"Oh, it will. You can trust me on that."
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Rawk Hawk and Eggo's struggle continues as both continue to apply pressure on the other. Everyone can tell that Gonzalez Jr.'s lapsing in and out of conciousness just by looking at his face, but Rawk Hawk, though he is too, isn't as obvious about it because of the mask that he is wearing.
"I can't stand it! I wish that this would just end so that it wouldn't be so suspenseful!" yells Goombella over the louder-than-ever chants of "Gonzalez".
As if on cue, the pressure releases from both of the combatants just seconds later until absolutely no damage is being done by either one and they both fall over to the ground and let go, with Eggo laying on top of the out-cold Rawk. The promoter walks up, grabs Eggo's right arm and Rawk Hawk's left, and holds them up. He then drops them, and both fall back down limply. He grabs his microphone after this and says, "Ladies and gentleman, both the champion and challenger have been rendered unconscious by each other. Because Rawk Hawk was locked into the move for longer and therefore further withstood the pressure, I hereby declare that Rawk Hawk is the winner and still the Glitz Pit Champion!"
The promoter then picks up the belt from outside the ring and lays it next to the bird, much to the anger of the entire crowd.
The audience boos extremely loudly, tossing garbage into the ring. Goombella, Koops, and Vivian go over the barricade and into the ring, with Koops picking up Gonzalez Jr. and slinging one arm of the Yoshi's over his shoulder and Vivian doing the same on the other side. Goombella, meanwhile, bends over to pick up the belt when, to her surprise and shock, a bat swoops in, grabs it with its legs, and flies off out of the building!
"Goombella, where's the belt?" asks Koops as he and Vivian turn around to face Goombella while holding up the Yoshi.
"It was stolen by a bat!"
"A bat? That's odd... I wonder if this has anything to do with what we heard when we got here," replies Vivian. "I think that we should get back to Professor Gadd and tell him about this."
"Good idea."
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The next morning at around 3AM, the apprentice comes through the ground inside the compound in which she communicates with her master. There, she bows and holds the belt above her head.
"Ah... You not only brought the jewel, but the whole belt. Good, we can sell it for some extra funding. Now, the next jewel that you must seek out can only be aquired during a full moon- luckily tonight happens to be one."
"I shall not let you down. However, as it turns out, there is competition to us after all."
"Hmm? Is that so? Who is it then?"
"Just a group of three has-beens along with that fighter in the Glitz Pit known as Gonzalez Jr."
"Heh, that's it? I expect them to get one, maybe two, before us, but the rest... all ours. Now, get going to the site of that pitiful King Boo's old mansion. There is where you shall find the Midnight Mansion, where a demon known as Deathnify holds the Jewel of Memories."
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Goombella lies in bed asleep within a large hotel room with two beds. Vivian is in the other bed and Koops and Eggo are asleep in a similar room next door. Goombella is tossing and turning, groaning as sweat rolls down her face. She suddenly shoots up, gasping for breath.
"Vivian... Vivian!" she whispers to her friend. The Shadow Siren begins to stir and yawns, then sits up.
"What is it?" Vivian whispers back before yawning again.
"I just had an odd and extremely realistic nightmare. I think it has something to do with our quest. I figured I should tell you since you know about that kind of stuff."
"All right, how'd it go?"
"It started off like this: all four of us found ourselves walking on floating blue land with all kinds of machines and stuff there. We walked along a bit and found an old assembly line cluttered with things like spears, axes, and spray paint. None of it worked. After this, we kept going and found a giant alarm clock. It was down just like everything else. We then continued even further and reached a factory. This factory was down just like everything outside it. There, we saw an odd bean-bow thing who told us that he'd get his revenge upon on us and left, which was certainly odd as I've never seen this guy before, yet he looked extremely familiar.
"Then there was a large silver vat thing filled with yellow liquid, but it looked like it hadn't been used in years, just like everything else. As we walked past it, a huge door appeared before us and swept us all into it. Then I lapsed into an old recurring nightmare that I'd had from the time I got lost in an empty mall that my mom was downstairs taking inventory in when I was two to the time I was around seven.
"The dream was that I was a toddler and was lost again, and no one was in the building at all this time. There were doors and windows and such that I could see people through, but even though they looked right at me they didn't see me and the doors and windows were all locked. I even tried jumping at the windows but just... just bounced off.
"As I ran through, screaming and crying, it got to the weirdest part of all: flashes began to appear of Koops fighting Hooktail but being unable to damage her, you fighting Beldam and Marilyn with the same results, and Eggo reliving his fight with Rawk Hawk. Then all of us saw a bat except you. The one in your part came behind you and I woke up before I saw what it did."
"I don't like the way this dream sounds. It does sound a bit prophetic, especially considering that the night before last I had a dream just like this, only focusing on me fighting my sisters instead of on you. I even saw the bat behind me, but didn't see what happened because I woke up."
"See what I mean? It's creepy."
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Peasley carries a barrel of fish onto the ship while Popple carries a large box containing such items as grease, Reeses Cups, and bread. After these items are put onboard, the two go back down and carry up four 24-packs of Kero-Cola each (needless to say, that cost quite a bit). The two then go back and bring up a barrel filled with salt and a large amount of firewood.
"Well, I doubt that you actually needed for us to stock up this heavily for such a trip," Peaslye says to the pirate while whiping sweat from his face.
"Well, I figured that I might as well stock up. Saves time for later, see? Plus it's a two-way trip and all... so really I've gotten a great amount. Plus, anything left over can be used by my crew."
"Good point. Anyway, what are you going to do to Jonathon Jones anyway?"
"I'm going to take that fish apart, that's what! I'm gonna rip out his teeth and kill his men with them! Shove that stupid thing of his straight through him! Destroy the whole ship!"
"Is that really such a good idea? It seems to me as though simply taking an eye for an eye would be enough..."
"Eye for an eye? Not good enough for me."
The two Beans get to putting everything away.
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The two girls sit in the hotel room, talking about the dreams and what they could mean when suddenly the door to the room opens. The two turn toward it as Eggo and Koops both walk into the room, looking the same way as Goombella had when she woke up. After both explain the dreams they've just had, they all come to the general consensus that someone is trying to do one of two things.
"I think that this villain's playing some psychological warfare on us," Goombella concludes, "or that someone is trying to warn us about this door."