Chapter 20: At Death's Door
"I attacked some fool who had the jewel," the Apprentice tells Cackletta as she holds the yellow jewel before her before laying it with the others. "Poor girl never stood a chance."
"Excellent job. Now then, right now I think you should go after the Death Jewel."
"Good. Then to Brookebell shall I go," the Apprentice replies, imitating her minion Bowyer before exploding into a cloud of smoke, reforming as a bat that flies off into the distance toward Exor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goombella's eyes open, and she sits up to realize that she is not in the theater but rather in an underground cave next to a warp pipe. She looks to see that her friends are also just awakening. Before them stands... a green dinosaur.
"Yoshi?" Goombella asks while standing up.
"Uh huh. I came for that play, but I got the time wrong and came a few hours early. I recognized you and saw that map of yours, so I brought you to a warp pipe that will lead to one of them."
"Thank you, Yoshi. Do you want to come along to help out?" Koops asks as he and the others also pull themselves to their feet.
"Sorry, no can do. I have to get back to where I've been staying. Important business that needs to be taken care of, plus I have to hurry up and stop Syrup."
"Syrup?" Ms. Mowz wonders aloud. "What does she have to do with Cackletta?"
"Nothing really. I just have to stop her plan or Cackletta will make Syrup's matters her business."
After a bit more discussion, the heroes part ways with Yoshi and go into the warp pipe.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doopliss walks quickly up the steps inside of the old forsaken bell tower, hearing the steps rattling as he walks. Cobwebs cover the halls of the enormous building, and little light escapes through the boarded-up windows. As he reaches the top, he sees what could, and probably should, be of interest: a glowing red circle (looking a bit like a rock of some sort) drawn on a wall in chalk with seven different animals surrounding it also drawn in chalk, though the drawings are so crudely drawn that Doopliss is unable to tell any. He lays his hand on the glowing red spot and suddenly feels lighter, then feels the air being sucked out of his lungs as he flies through a bizarre wave of some sort, seemingly reduced to nothing but light. Doopliss finally lands and returns to a normal feeling as he sees that no longer is he in the bell tower but rather in a vortex of what appears to be nothingness, with nothing in sight besides some floating platforms and a ton of machinery. He turns around and sees a certain demon looking back at him with a bizarre alarm clock shaped like a door hanging around his neck.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The heroes manage to see Doopliss being sucked in as they round the corner, having run all the way to the bell tower and up its stairs (unlike Doopliss, they hadn't stopped to do an actual inspection). They touch the circle for themselves and find themselves in the same location, seeing no sign of Doopliss or Deathnify. They begin to walk through the odd space of Smithy's domain, all but Ms. Mowz recognizing it as the same locale from their dream. Behind the five is a bat, watching from the distance and knowing of what is to ensue. The five eventually, after walking through what feels like an eternity of deserted machinery, reach a laboratory outside of which lies Doopliss, who looks to be unconscious.
"Ms. Mowz, go try to find a way out and get him some help," Goombella tells the mouse.
"Got it," she answers before half-carrying the king of Sarasaland back the way they came. As she drags him away, Goombella, Vivian, Koops, and Eggo all head into the factory with a certain bat following.
Inside, they all see Bowyer doing repairs on himself at a small machine, one of the few that is in working condition. He spots them, but chooses to offer a taunt rather than attack. "Nyah! Repairing am I in need of, but vengeance carried out will I see to."
They for the most part ignore him and continue, eventually reaching the back room of the lab, which has a large hole in the middle of the floor and no other leads. They jump down the hole and there immediately see Deathnify standing, looking at the clock in mesmerization. He then thrusts his head back and laughs evilly before beginning to glare at them, swaying his neck left and right to cause the clock to move like a pendulum.
"Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock," the demon taunts as the four all stop dead in their tracks. The Apprentice, wise to this trick, has her eyes closed tightly. Suddenly the swaying stops, and, as the heroes continue to be stupefied, he points at each one at a time, saying only one word.
"Mall," he says to Goombella first, causing the Goomba to fall over in a coma-like sleep.
"Dragon." Same happens to Koops.
"Rawk." Same for Eggo.
"Sisters." And Vivian joins the others.
Immediately after Deathnify is done and the four all lie in a deep trance,
the Apprentice resumes her standard, non-bat form. Deathnify, not surprised,
moves in for a quick strike which the Apprentice handily dodges.
Chapter 21: The Sword and the (Philosopher's) Stone
Goombella, or rather a two-year-old version of her, walks through the empty mall of her recurring dream from younger days. She can see people outside, people in the shops, but none seem to notice her.
"Wh... Where..." she mumbles as tears start to well up in her eyes. She continues to search, not finishing her sentence.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Apprentice knocks Deathnify to the ground with an uppercut before sliding in for another, which is thwarted by the demon as he bends backwards with his arms supporting him. As the girl charges a ball of ice, the demon kicks up, kicking her in the chin and taking to standing on his hands. Deathnify does a flip and lands directly on his feet, then charges in for a huge tackle, only for the Apprentice to barely get out of his way.
"You're the best opponent I've had in 70 years or so," Deathnify says mockingly before scoring with a hard kick using his right leg, "Most are dead by now. I must say, none of the things I've heard about you ever mentioned you were so capable a fighter."
"Trust me, I've fought lots of people a lot better than you."
"Like who? Your tasks for Cackletta have been ridiculously simple, besides your encounter with my illusion. And who else has really been worth mentioning? You've never done battle with anyone worthy of mentioning in the same breath as m-" But he is cut off by a furious tackle from the Apprentice, which sends both into the red soil.
"All that matters now is that Cackletta gives me what I want."
"And how does that matter?" he asks before thrusting the girl off of him. "Your idiotic quest is nothing compared to my dream of immortality. In fact, I tried to convince that little green guy who works for your boss to help me out, but he turned me down. Something about not desiring gold. Can't say I blame him."
"You seek immortality? Impossible! The only way that can truly be achieved is-" But the Apprentice is cut off by an uppercut by the demon.
"Oh, I plan on doing exactly what you're thinking. I've even made arrangements for when, where, and who will be on the list. You could qualify, but I'm afraid they have to be done in order and yours would come last. So, I'll just take your soul just like I'm doing to these four."
"If you're truly going to attempt that, I hope you realize there's another trying to get the same thing. Well, doing that and killing a bunch of pirates for some reason or another." And with that, the Apprentice throws a ball of ice at Deathnify, who rolls out of the way.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Popple looks through a thick book while the ship is anchored, studying the details within the book in great detail.
"I don't know why," he speaks aloud as he skims over it, "but I have the feeling there is some extremely important detail that I forgot..." He suddenly feels something cold pressed against his neck lightly and turns slightly to see what it is. In the corner of his (actual) eye, he sees Peasley with his rapier pointed at him, the tip touching his neck.
"Hold it, Popple. I know the truth about what you've been up to, and who you are. Now turn the ship around and set sail for the Beanbean Kingdom and I'll do what I can to keep you out of the gallows. Deal?"
Popple answers this in a most bizarre way by beginning to laugh uncontrollably before saying in a mocking tone, "Boy, when you've been in as many Mexican standoffs as I have you know how to get out of this kind of thing." With a burst of agility, Popple spins around and uses his glass eye to knock Peasley's rapier out of his hand. As Peasley reaches to grab it, he comes face-to-face with the blade of Popple's sword. Thinking quickly, he ducks as it is propelled toward him before kicking the Pirate Hunter in the gut. Peasley grabs his sword and gets back up.
"So, you found out, huh? Do you know what I did to the last person who found out about my plans, Peasley?"
"I have an idea, you sick, twisted freak."
"No, I didn't kill him, you simple-minded fool. I've got him held up underneath my home base of sorts up on Mount Nevermore in the Delfino Isles. I plan to sacrifice him as soon as I've got all the makings I need to create the Philosopher's Stone."
"The what?"
"Brilliant thing, actually. It can cure any disease, correct any injury, bring immortality, and most importantly of all, turn any substance into solid gold!"
"I knew you were insane, but I didn't know you were stupid too. Just tell me this, why go after all the pirates? What did you have to gain?"
"Men of the seas are types who generally travel a lot, right? Well, once I started my research on the stone, I decided that I had to eliminate anyone who would be likely to spread the news around the globe. After all, if it were to be known that I had an endless supply of solid gold, the value would drop dramatically! Gold would mean absolutely nothing, probably even less than these cheap imitation coins everyone uses! Why, it'd be defeating the point! But with them all dead, there's no way the news would spread except by newspaper and PNN, and there's no way either source would bother with such a highly improbable story! But by sailor, my name and wealth could be spread. Learning of the ability to create endless gold would cause the selling price of it to become extremely low, if people were to even be willing to pay for it. That's why when I printed my research, I only gave it out to my fellow Brothers of the Stone and I used a pseudonym."
Popple then swings at Peasley, who manages to block with his rapier before grabbing Popple's arm by his free hand and throwing the Bean into the sea below. Peasley looks down, only to see Popple climbing the chain of the anchor, trying to reboard the vessel. Thinking quickly, Peasley drops the book off the ship, hitting the Bean in the face and causing him to fall into the salty depths below. Peasley then begins to as quickly as possible pull the anchor up with a crank next to it. He manages to get it back up, and Popple emerges from the ocean to see his ship leaving without him.
"This isn't over, Peasley. Not yet..."
Chapter 22: Dreams
Vivian stands on a bridge that covers a gigantic fountain, fighting for her life. All of her friends lie unconscious on the ground, as does Doopliss. It is left with just her against both Beldam and Marilyn.
"Come on, Vivian! You're just delaying the inevitable!" Beldam yells as she uses her magic to shrink Vivian. Both of the older sisters begin thrusting ice and lightning respectively at their younger sibling, who does everything she can to dodge.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Gonzalez! Gonzalez!"
Despite the chanting, Eggo continues to be beaten senseless by Rawk Hawk. He knows it's all up to him to beat the bird and get the first jewel, but it's all hopeless. Rawk Hawk isn't showing any signs of pain after even Eggo's strongest attacks, and at this point the dinosaur can barely move due to the amount of punishment he has taken. Looking at the cheering faces of his three companions who are in the audience, Eggo decides that he must keep fighting and charges in for another strike, only to be hit by Rawk Hawk's signature flying tackle.
"Not... yet..." the Yoshi groans, still struggling to survive, still struggling to not let his friends down.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Koops runs, struggling to prevent himself from befalling the same fate that his father had. But it is no use, it seems, as Hooktail continues to attempt to bring about the destruction of the intruder in her castle. Still, his father is only part of the reason Koops is risking life and limb in an impossible fight- he wants to not just gain revenge, but to protect his fellow residents of Petalburg. To protect Koopie Koo. For he cannot imagine losing her but knows it would happen eventually if Hooktail continues to devour the residents of the small village.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'll give you some credit," the Apprentice tells Deathnify as she continues to battle him, though neither can seem to keep their opponent still long enough to get in more than one or two hits, "I never knew there was someone out there more cruel than myself."
"I bet if you had the chance to get what you want, you wouldn't. Which is exactly why I am more cruel than you. I won't hesitate to kill anyone."
"Don't be ridiculous. I'm working for Cackletta right now for that very reason! And what about that rumor that's spread through the grape vine for so many years of what happened to be your most embarrassing moment, Dante?"
"How DARE you refer to me by that wretched
name?! I curse that name and my
parents too! I am simply Deathnify,
with no family name."
"Then why didn't you kill them when you had the chance?"
"Because I for one at least have some sort of honor. What about you? What about all of those years of what you've done? I would never harm my family, even if I do despise them."
"At least I stick to realistic goals and follow ancient scrolls to find what I need. You, you probably got your info from that stupid book that C. P. Cornello put out about the stone, didn't you? Let me guess, you stole it off some member of the group when you realized that it offered what you wanted."
"And so what if I did? The author quite apparently knows his stuff, and I later checked some scrolls and found that they matched, besides the detail about transmuting that the book mentions. I always knew that alchemy stuff was just a stupid predecessor to modern chemistry." Deathnify suddenly surprises the Apprentice by transforming so as to have blades instead of hands, then hits her with one's side, knocking her to the ground. As he stands over her ready to launch the final strike, she punches the clock around his neck, temporarily freezing the demon in place. As the clock starts to glow, she yells out, "Goombella!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goombella continues to run through the empty mall, crying her eyes out and trying to find her mother at all costs. As she continues to do this, she suddenly stops dead in her tracks upon seeing a bat appear before her. The bat's mouth opens and a gentle, somewhat motherly voice emerges, saying simply in tone, "Grow up, Goombella!"
Hearing these words, the crying suddenly stops. Goombella then feels her memories of later years returning. She returns to her normal size and age in the dream, then wakes up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goombella's eyes open just long enough to make out the silhouettes of the Apprentice and Deathnify and nothing more before the Goomba goes back to sleep, though this time in an actual state rather than in a coma-like form of having her soul ripped out.
Deathnify, who suddenly regains mobility, is distracted by this just long enough for the Apprentice to throw him off of her. She pulls herself to her feet and then uses a trick she very rarely whips out: entering the Shadows. She does so, and reemerges next to the sleeping Goomba, picking her up just long enough to set her down in a safer area.
"So, you saved one, huh? I'm shocked. What would Cackletta say to that?" he asks mockingly, having known she would attempt it if given the chance anyway.
"I saved her just because Cackletta has bigger plans for all of them. And I'll save the others too."
Deathnify, bored with all the talk, transforms once more back into his original form. He then charges at the Apprentice, who shoots a blast of ice at the ground directly in his path. Not to be outdone, Deathnify enters the Shadows himself, emerging behind her. He grabs her by the neck and just as the demon is about to finish Cackletta's apprentice off, she headbutts the clock.
"Koops!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Koops dodges a blast of fire from Hooktail, having given up hope of defeating the dragon and now just trying to delay his inevitable death. As he tries for another useless Shell Shot, a bat appears before him. Instead of speaking in the gentle voice she'd used with Goombella, the Apprentice this time used a more forceful tone, "You did this before and won."
Hearing this suddenly fills the Koopa with all of his memories from before.
"I did this before... I've beaten Hooktail before!" The Koopa then launches yet again with his Shell Shot, this time doing damage like never before and KO'ing the dragon before him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just like Goombella, Koops awakens for a second before going into a more peaceful rest. The Apprentice takes advantage of Deathnify letting go to grasp the clock while kneeling over in pain, grabbing Koops and laying him next to Goombella.
"Okay, I suppose a direct approach isn't getting the job done. Fine, try this on for size!" Deathnify shapeshifts once more, transforming from his standard human-like build and becoming a tall, wooden, puppet-like doll wearing a blue cloak and cape. The clock still dangles from his neck.
"Life is a WHIRLwind, huh?" the demon asks tauntingly as a magical yellow chain shoots from the airspace before him and straight at the Apprentice, who just barely ducks out of the way of the attack. She then fires a ball of a strange, green goo out of her hands and toward the clock which, like the other two strikes on the clock, stuns the demon temporarily.
"Eggo!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eggo lies on the floor of the Glitz Pit while Rawk Hawk stands in the ring taking a breather, though it isn't as though he really needs it. As Eggo pulls himself up once more, the bat once again appears, this time speaking in a concerned tone, "You knocked him out once. You can do it again."
As Eggo pulls himself to his feet, he realizes that he can, in fact, beat the Champion. He jumps into the ring and hops onto Rawk Hawk's shoulders, performing the choke he had used in their actual battle. Unlike before, Eggo this time leans back a bit not only to add more pressure but to keep the Hawk from reaching him. Eggo squeezes for a few seconds before the Hawk finally collapses.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eggo's eyes open and he sees only shadows before falling asleep. Deathnify this time drops to one knee, struggling to breathe. Taking use of the injury inflicted, the Apprentice rushes forth and punches Gateway once more, this time shouting out, "Vivian!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vivian had managed to knock out Marilyn, but she still is having troubles with her oldest sister Beldam. As both continually try to defeat the other, the Apprentice lands on Vivian's shoulder, whispering in the same tone she had used on Koops, "You did this before and won, Vivian. Do it again."
Vivian suddenly feels her memories returning and runs forward, nailing Beldam with a few flaming uppercuts before finally wrapping everything up with a fireball right in the stomach, knocking the oldest Shadow Siren out cold.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vivian awakes just the same as the others, and falls asleep just the same. As Deathnify begin sto scream while grasping his heart, the Apprentice reaches into his pocket and pulls out the black jewel, then shoots a ball of ice at him that sends the demon flying into a dark pit below. She knows he will live, but at least the KO will leave him incapacitated for numerous hours, if not days considering the pain inflicted by Gateway backfiring. She considers killing the heroes at the moment and solving the problem, but instead grabs Goombella's backpack and pulls out a few things: the map, the sole jewel they have obtained, a pen, and a travel log. She flips to a blank page in the log and rips it out, then scribbles on it, "I saved you. Feel honored. -Cackletta's Apprentice" before laying it on top of the Goomba's body along with the pen and log. She considers taking the jewel and map as well.
"I might as well give them some leeway," she sighs before laying both on the ground as well. She transforms into a bat and takes flight.