Prologue
Rain fell and thunder and lightning clashed like the fists raging in the battle within Bowser's castle fueled by anger over the abduction of Peach. Bowser threw a left at Mario. Mario was hit but took little damage before retaliating with a mighty right hand with impact comparable to the sounds of the thunder outside.
"I have you this time, you pitiful plumber!" Bowser bellowed at his long-time rival before kicking him to the ground. The plumber lept back onto his feet and flipped, landing on the Koopa King's head hard before bouncing off. Bowser growled and began shooting fire toward his determined rival, who easily dodged by running along the walls. Mario found himself in a corner with no place to go as Bowser closed in.
"Hope you've had a nice life, 'cause I'm about to end it!" yelled the Koopa King before charging. Mario wall-jumped toward the Koopa, who stopped and laughed maniacally as his opponent fell toward him. The Koopa leapt into the air and grabbed Mario, slamming the plumber onto the ground head-first in a sickening fashion, resulting in a loss of consciousness. Bowser stopped to catch his breath before grabbing Mario by the collar and hanging him over a windowsill.
"Good night," said the Koopa smugly, dropping him to the ground many feet below, watching in glee as Mario fell down into a bed of spikes nearby. Bowser turned around and saw a short figure in the corner of the room, clapping in a sarcastic manner.
"Good night," said the intruder before
thrusting a ball of ice at Bowser, freezing the Koopa King. The figure
then shot a ball of fire. Bowser thawed and began to shake uncontrollably
due to the effect it had created. His attacker launched one final ball
of ice before becoming a bat and swooping through him, shattering the ice
and in the process Bowser. Both the attacker and her leader smiled with
glee.
Chapter 1: Visitors
"It's been five years, my faithful servant. Five long years since my defeat. However, Mario and Bowser both are dead as of a month ago, thanks to your efforts, and Luigi's location is unknown. It is time now for you to fulfill your destiny, the soul purpose of your living, young Apprentice. You must resurrect myself and he who formerly held your role, and then the three of us shall rule over all."
"Yes, my honorable leader. I am not worthy of your presence."
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Goombella stands in a class room, wrapping up with her job as the teacher of a third grade class of Goombas. Her life had gone downhill since her adventure with Mario ended; she is now near bankruptcy and desperately hates the job that she has. She thinks about the adventure she misses so and sighs, then resumes teaching.
"All right, your homework for tonight is to read pages 180 to 196 in your reading books. Have a nice night."
The students get up and leave as Goombella sits down and sighs. She suddenly sees a purple circle form on the floor, which rises into the form of a pink-haired shadow monster.
"Vivian, is that you?!"
"Yeah, it's me all right," the Shadow Siren says, with happiness in her voice. "I've been looking for you for ages. So, how's your life been?"
"Not too great recently. My money's nearly completely gone and I just don't like teaching school."
"Mine was okay at first, but then things started to go downhill. Marilyn started a fast food chain which quickly fell through, leaving us with very little money, and to make matters worse, Beldam left and joined some sort of cult in another country."
"Whatever happened with Flurrie's career? Last I heard she had a few low grosses in box offices and I haven't heard anything of her since."
"Flurrie's gone deep into the Forever Forest in seclusion, trying to horde all of the money she has left. Last I talked to her she wasn't doing too well herself."
"What about Bobbery?"
"Bobbery was at sea one night and was attacked by a battleship piloted by a mysterious Beanbean man leading a group of Ninji. The ship was sunk, and when Bobbery managed to sneak aboard as the only one who didn't drown, the Beanbean found and killed him."
"And Eggo(Gonzalez Jr)?"
"He's doing well. He currently holds the title for the new X division of the Glitz Pit and is apparently very popular. He's supposed to have a main title shot soon. He is also one of the richest people in the country."
"Nice to hear some good news for a change. What about ol' Koops?"
"He lives in Koopa Village right now with Koopie Koo. The two got married recently. Koops is the mayor there, though the village has received numerous threats from King Ludwig in the past few days."
"What about ol' Frankly? I assume that he's not doing too well."
"Quite the opposite, really. Frankly is doing just fine and is rather healthy for his age. He apparently is now business partners with the guy who owns Gadd Inc. and the Starbeans Cafe."
"And how about Ms. Mowz?"
"She was arrested recently, and not for burglary, either."
"I figured she'd end up getting arrested, but not for burglary? What'd she do?"
"She apparently failed to pay taxes on her store for the past ten years or so. She was caught three weeks ago and was unable to pay. Even all of her property didn't account for half of it, so she had to give up the store to the government and is now incarcerated for 15 years."
"So just four of the eight are left around, huh? Times have certainly changed."
"Indeed they have. I'd have never guessed five years ago or even a year ago that Ludwig would one day rule the Mushroom Kingdom, especially at this time. Oh, right, I was wondering something."
Goombella shrugs her, um, body in curiousity.
"Would you be interested in attending a brief reunion-ish thing tonight? I invited Eggo and Koops already. Here's the address," Vivian says to the Goomba, laying a card on her desk.
"I was going to grade papers tonight, but I wouldn't miss this. I'll be there."
"Glad to hear it!"
A few hours later, Goombella goes to the large mansion in Twilight Town occupied by Vivian and her older sister. She goes inside and sees Koops, who is now much more confident looking; Koopie Koo, who has a large Koopa egg in a basket nearby; Eggo, who now has long green hair to compliment his green skin; Marilyn, who looks rather stressed but happy; and Doopliss, who now wears a crown instead of a party hat. Goombella approaches Eggo.
"So, how have things been?"
"Pretty good. I was at Mario's funeral two weeks ago. It was a rather sorrowful occasion..."
Goombella was a bit surprised by how mature the Yoshi had become, but she responded, "I would have been there but I couldn't afford plane tickets to make it. How was Luigi doing?"
"He wasn't there. He's been missing ever since Mario and Bowser died and now... well, no one's quite sure where he could be."
After a few minutes of talk with the Yoshi, the two go their separate ways and she approaches Doopliss in curiousity. "What're you doing here?" she asks the Duplighost.
"Well, I recently managed to sneak my way into becoming King of Sarasaland by weasling things out of Daisy. She was fearful as Ludwig's army was preparing to march upon it, and she needed to hide to avoid being captured. Well, once I took power I convinced Ludwig to change his mind about the attack. This is one of my summer homes and, in exchange for Vivian and Marilyn keeping it cleaned up, they get to stay here for free."
"So you've managed to become one of the most powerful people in the world through pure trickery?"
"No, no, not quite. Though I did trick my way into becoming ruler of Sarasaland, I did also use politics to play into Ludwig; basically I used people skills.
After talking to Doopliss for a bit she goes to Koopie Koo and Koops.
"So, what's with the egg?"
"Is that any way to get reaquainted?" Koops jokes. "Koopie Koo lay an egg a week or two ago. We're thinking of naming it after Mario if it's a boy."
"Nice idea," Goombella says to her Koopa friend. "How's that mayor thing going?"
"Not so good. I'm sure that Ludwig's going to have the village attacked and destroyed any day, and neither Queen Bean nor Dais- err, Doopliss has bothered to help fight back Ludwig."
"I see. As for me, my money's nearly gone and I'm stuck with a job I can't stand."
"Tell me about it," Koops replies. "I chose a bad time to run for mayor, that's for sure. I've got the weight of a kingdom on my shoulders with the power of a village."
"I thought my job was bad," Goombella says to the Koopa. "It must be horrible having to put up with that much responsibility in such desperate times."
After more of a discussion between Goombella and the two Koopas, Marilyn brings in the food and everyone gets to eating. After a hearty meal and a bit of talking about the possibilities of Doopliss helping restore power to Peach (though Doopliss insisted that his army would need at least a year to get large enough to stand any sort of chance), the group gets ready to leave the mansion. As they prepare to leave, a knock is heard on the door.
"I wonder who that is," Vivian says, opening the door. Outside she sees a short figure wearing a hat a lot like that of Stranger in Oddworld. The figure also wears an old, grimey robe with holes in it at locations along the arms and stomach. The robe appears to be red but it also contains spots of yellow, green, black, orange, and numerous other colors, and it is impossible to tell which color the robe originally was. The figure has long gray hair and a long gray beard to match it, and is most likely a Bean.
"Can I help you?"
The man replies by handing her a card with an address written on it.
"Ah, you looking for this place, huh? Well, it's deep in the forest but it should be about a mile behind the Creepy Steeple. I've never seen someone return from there after going, though."
The man takes the card back, nods gratefully, and leaves. Vivian closes the door and turns back to her guests (well, they're technically Doopliss', but... meh). Goombella walks up to her.
"Say, I forgot to ask earlier, but how did Princess Peach escape from Ludwig?"
"Peach's escape is confusing. Apparently, some Bean actually snuck in during Bowser's funeral and let her out. He actually brought her here and told us to get Doopliss to hide her. I remember that he was fairly handsome and had long yellow hair and a goatee, though I don't remember much else about him," Vivian replies to her friend.
"Where is Peach?" asks Goombella of the Duplighost curiously.
"Not safe to say. I will tell you, however, that she is perfectly safe and that all is all right with her," answers Doopliss.
"That's good, but what about your chances of helping to fight Ludwig?" asks Vivian of the owner of her house.
"As I have already explained to you quite thoroughly, my militia is simply not enough. I am currently attempting to achieve the help of Queen Bean and Princess Eclair. So far, neither has shown interest."
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Elsewhere, a particular pirate captain stands among his crew of Ninji. He wears a long, blue uniform with numerous patterns in black and gold along it in ornate designs resembling numerous legendary sources of magic among Plit, such as the Beanstar, Star Pieces, and Star Spirits. He has long, green hair dangling over his shoulders and wears a pinkish-eye mask which his bright-yellow eyes show through, the right causing the light of the moon to reflect off, meaning that it is no more than glass. The figure laughs and turns to the crew.
"Lower the masts and load the cannons! We shall descend upon the Mushroom Kingdom within the hour and finally get what we deserve!"
"Aye!" reply his Ninji henchmen, all
filled with intense loyalty to their captain.
Chapter 2: Catching Up
"Do you know what you must do, Apprentice?"
"Yes, my leader."
"All right. In order to resurrect me, you must be able to create a copy of my old body in order that it may be used as a vessel."
"How do I accomplish this?"
"First of all, you must find some remains of my old body. There is a small section of my left hand in a laboratory in Rogueport, which is analyzing it for the origin of my magical abilities. You must infiltrate the lab and steal said limb, and once you have you shall bring it back here and I will tell you what is in need of doing next. However, you'll need to do something else first: get warp pipe, plane, boat, and balloon travel down so that no one can get here quickly enough. If anyone where to ever learn this location, we could have serious problems."
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Goombella leans against the warp pipe in Twilight Town. All of the others stand nearby. The group is talking when suddenly Doopliss' cell phone rings. He pulls it out from underneath his crown and turns it on.
"Hello? Is that so? Too bad, I suppose. Okay, I'll see you in a few days then, hopefully." Doopliss hangs up and turns toward the others. "Apparently someone's jammed the central run for almost all warp pipe systems, and all planes and boats are being frozen by some mysterious storm that only hits a controlled area, mainly around the skies in Rogueport, meaning that planes are falling from the sky and boats are sinking. No warp pipes will be open until the day after tomorrow, and no planes, boats, or balloons will be running until the storms stop."
"That stinks. Can I use your phone real quick so that I can call in for a sub at work?"
Doopliss hands it to her. Goombella calls the principal, Mr. O'Goomb, and he's of course heard the news and understands. After this, Goombella sighs. "I suppose the inn will be very busy tonight."
"Hey! Why don't you all stay with me and Marilyn? We have plenty of rooms."
"I was gonna do that anyway," Doopliss says to the Shadow Siren, "since it is, you know, my house."
"Well, that sounds like a great idea," Goombella says to Vivian. "In fact, we could even spend more time catching up. After all, it's been years."
"Yeah. Still, you gotta wonder who could summon such a strange blizzard and why," says Gonzalez Jr. "I bet that it's that Culex guy I heard Mario talk about once."
"Nah," Koops replies to the Yoshi, "Culex can't survive in Plit's atmosphere and he wouldn't do this anyway, from what I've heard myself."
"Some evil Nimbian maybe?" Vivian asks.
"Perhaps, but I don't think it is possible for a Nimbian to do that," replies Goombella.
"Well, either way, we can't leave tonight or tomorrow. We might as well make the best of it," says Koopie Koo to the others, still holding her egg.
"You're right," Gonzalez Jr. says as the others nod in agreement. "Still, I wonder what this means."
The group heads back to the house. There, they all sit down at the table and begin to talk about what's been going on with their lives (since they'd spent dinner talking about Doopliss helping fight Ludwig). Goombella starts out.
"Well, at the University of Goom, I meant to change my major from archaeology to sociology, but there was a mistake in the system and I instead ended up with teaching. Unfortunately, they never corrected it when I brought it to their attention so... I'm a teacher. At first I did pretty well substituting. When I got a full-time job teaching, though, I began becoming stressed out. I already hated the job, that's for sure, but now it was just plain unbearable. I began to gamble as a way to relieve stress but ended up losing big-time. When the school found out about it, they lowered my pay hoping that it'd make me see the light of day. It did, but now I am struggling just to survive."
"How sad," Vivian says. "As for me and Marilyn, we were at first living in the Palace of Shadow but decided to move out, what with having to put up with archaeologists 24/7. We sold it to them, and used the money to start that fast-food chain of Marilyn's I mentioned. It flopped, and we were soon in massive debt. That's when we found Doopliss in need of full-time housekeepers. We volunteered, saying that all he'd need for us to do it is to pay off our debts and he'd allow us to live there. He agreed upon adding the term that we'd have to work with him until the debt was paid off, which he equated to be roughly four years. It's been two, but we don't intend on quitting anyway."
"In my case," says the Yoshi, "things haven't been that bad. A new promoter came in about two years ago because of what happened to Jolene. He changed the layout of the Glitz Pit to be more wrestling-like, and the crowd's really eating it up. At first I didn't like the change, but look where I am now! Anyway, competing in the new 'light-weight' X division in the Glitz Pit has been a blast, and I've made quite a bit of money doing it. In fact, I'm entitled to a title shot when I return to action a week from now. I plan on dedicating it to Mario."
Goombella frowned slightly. Though she was glad that the Yo'ster was doing well, it sort of disappointed her that he was referring to the one he formally knew as Gonzalez by his real name. She quickly covered it over with a smile. "So, who is the current Champion?"
"Well, I guess you could say Rawk Hawk, but..."
"But what?"
"About two years ago, Rawk Hawk fought in a non-title match against some newcomer from a southern island in the Beanbean Kingdom. He was a Tribal Guy-like guy, and Rawk easily beat him. After the fight, he gave Rawk Hawk a mask resembling that of a Phanto as a commeration. Rawk put it on, and his eyes instantly began to glow green as he followed every whim of the Tribal Guy. In one match, where he defended against the Tribal Guy, he was told to lose by his master. The mere thought of losing caused him to kill his master before the match even began, and the unfortunate Toad between them."
"Jolene's dead? I thought she just retired..." says Vivian sadly, a hint of depression in her voice.
"That was what was told to the media to keep the word from breaking out about Rawk Hawk's transformation. We know that there is no hope of returning him to normal, as once the mask is removed, it will initiate a self-destruct which will electricute Rawk Hawk from the brain outward. In short, he is dead one way or the other."
"Sorry to hear that. What about you, Koops?" asks Goombella.
The Koopa sighs and leans back. "Well, things have been okay up until recently. I moved to Koopa Village a couple of years ago. There, I was elected mayor unopposed, as the only other person that a lot of people wanted as mayor, a fellow named Kooper, refused to run because he travels too much to run the village. And you know what happened from there..."
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Bobbery's murderer walks down into his ship, passing numerous Ninja on his way. He reaches his quarters and locks the door behind him before reaching under his desk, pulling out a chest. The Bean sighs and opens it, looking inside for what it is he wants. Upon finding it, he reaches down and pulls out... a sack. He lays the sack onto the ground and from it draws a photo. He looks at it and sighs.
"It was not enough to kill that Bob-omb after what has become of me. I must kill his closest allies as well, and so I shall upon my overthrow of that pitiful Koopa's son. It has been far too long since I've been out, roaming and stealing as I once did. Not saying that I don't enjoy this lifestyle more, however."
The Bean puts the picture back into the sack and puts the sack away. He follows up by rehiding the chest. Upon doing so, he unlocks his door and calls, "Ninjal!"
A green Ninji hops into the room. Once there, he crosses his arms over his chest, forming an X.
"Ninjal, I am sending you to attack Twlight Town. It is believed that one of the allies of that Bob-omb that caused me to lose my eye resides there. Find and kill her."
"Yes, master," the Ninji responds in a smooth yet malevolent voice before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
"I'll have to make a point to ask how he disappears like that in the middle of the ocean..."
A few minutes later, the ship shores and its captain tells the crew to rest until morning.
The next morning, Goombella comes down the stairs of her friend's house and sits at the kitchen table with everyone but Marilyn, who is busy cooking. No food is on the table yet.
"I forgot to ask last night, Vivian," says Goombella to her friend, "but have you seen your sister at all since she left?"
"Only once, about a year ago. I saw her in the store, I believe. She was wearing a black hat instead of her blue one and was mumbling something. She didn't even notice me."
"Odd."
Just as Marilyn arrives with the food and sets it down, a shuriken flies through the window, just barely missing Vivian. A cloud of smoke appears in the kitchen and then clears away, revealing the green Ninji known as Ninjal.
"Hmm, more than one target, huh? Prepare for your untimely deaths!"
The Ninji throws a few more shuriken, this time at Koops. Koops ducks into his shell, causing the stars to bounce off and land at Ninjal's feet. The assassan laughs evilly and begins jumping around incredibly quickly, forming numerous hologram-like clones. The clones and the real Ninjal all jump upon Vivian, swarming her with numerous strikes until flames shoot out from all around her, getting rid of the clones and causing the real Ninjal to jump off angrily. The flames then subside as Marilyn claps her hands together, causing a lightning bolt to fire from the ceiling at the Ninji, dealing significant damage.
"I obviously underestimated you. Very well."
Ninjal draws out two shuriken, which he heaves into the ground on each side of those he is fighting. Upon impact, the Shrikens send flames up all around them, surrounding those who Ninjal is out to kill. Ninjal watches as a bat flies up over and out of the flames and then turns back into Doopliss, and Marilyn and Vivian rise from the ground outside of the fire.
"Let's see how ya like this, Slick!"
Doopliss suddenly transforms into Gonzalez Jr. and begins pummelling the Ninji until the ninja manages to get in a hard kick, knocking Doopliss into the fire long enough to reveal his original form. Vivian and Marilyn then begin throwing balls of fire and electricity at their formidable challenger. After this beatdown, the Ninji turns around to see Doopliss, who has transformed into Beldam. "Might as well go for all three!" yells the ghost before firing a ball of ice at the same time Marilyn and Vivian each throw a ball of their element.
After this very painful combo, the Ninji crosses his arms into an X and mutters, "You haven't seen the last of me," before disappearing along with the flames he had summoned. Doopliss returns to normal.
Goombella sighs. "I just can't ever seem to get relaxation anywhere. Oh well, at least we've got a good meal ready for us."
The group eats while watching TV. Just as they're about to finish eating, the news begins.
The reporter, a Lakitu, starts out by saying, "Welcome to PWN, Plit World News. Today, three major breaking stories have all developed. First of all, the mysterious storms have officially ended and all is all right, though the time the storms ended is very peculiar. Just an hour before the storms stopped, an unknown intruder to a Rogueport lab stole a very valuable piece of research, though the government refuses to admit what. It is believed that the two events are connected. In other news, a mysterious group of pirates has docked in the Mushroom Kingdom and has now conquered a large city known as Toad Town. Their leader, who would not give us his name, said this, I am here to overthrow Ludwig, but don't start calling me a freedom fighter yet; as soon as I am done with him, his family, and his army, I'll conquer the Mushroom Kingdom myself. You can quote me on that. Stay tuned for more."