Chapter 32: To the Finals!
The qualifying rounds for the tournament continued night and day for the next four days, taking place in ten different makeshift "fighting rings" for the contenders. It was over this time that the fighting men and women showed their marks or were left in the dust; only the strongest would survive to participate as one of the top sixteen fighters in the true brawl.
Although the party often separated to attend their awkwardly scheduled fights, Luigi, Jinx, Vivian and Mallow spent more time together these days and nights and formed quite a friendly clique amidst the myriad of fighters who preferred the style of "loner". And the more time the four spent together, even more time was spent whilst Luigi and Jinx found themselves left behind whilst a budding romance took place under their noses. Although the traded affection was obvious, it hadn’t prevented both Mallow and Vivian from making the rookie mistakes of uncertainty and general buffoonery of one before the other. This display only made the former duo chuckle.
It was the beginning of the fifth day, the final day of qualifications, when Luigi was finishing his penultimate fight.
“You haven’t won yet, bucko! I’ll cream ya with my special technique!” that annoying Craw squawked. The bird-like person spun around and raised his fists high, illuminating himself in a blue light for a brief moment. “Come on at me, I can take anything you can dish out!”
The green plumber grinned. “Okie-dokie!”
Luigi produced the tiniest green fire orb on the tip of his pinky. Her curled his hand into a fist, tightening a grip around the flame. He smiled and dashed forward, fist pulled back to his side, ready to spring at just the right moment. The Craw smirked as Luigi came up to him, performing a ramming head-butt just before the plumber arrived. However, at the last second Luigi rolled on the ground and dodged the counterattack, picking himself at full stand behind the Craw. The bird stood dumbfounded and turned around with his defense lowered. He then met with a green-flaming uppercut to the chin. Ouch.
“Yo-ho!” Luigi exclaimed.
After coming to, the Craw nursed his jaw and spat something foul at the plumber before running away with his tail between his legs. The referee, this time a Lakitu, raised Luigi’s hand, declared him the winner, and left to process this information. The mustachioed man hopped out of the ring to rejoin his friend Jinx, the martial arts sensei of Monstro Town.
“Well done, my friend,” Jinx congratulated.
“Thanks,” Luigi replied. “Just one more to go… I’m getting excited. It’ll be great to actually get in the real tournament.”
“Mm.” Jinx nodded. The two began to walk away from the ring towards the exit of the Juat Amphitheater. “I’ve enjoyed this much more than I had anticipated; practicing the arts in my dojo is one thing, but getting out into the world and truly utilizing these skills against a variety of opponents… it’s remarkable.”
“I feel the same way,” Luigi explained. “I also feel hungry, you want some lunch?”
“Can’t, got my last fight in twenty minutes,” Jinx responded.
Luigi stopped walking and looked to the ground. “Ah.”
“Why don’t you go find Mallow and Vivian to go with you?” Jinx proffered.
Luigi rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and be a third wheel? I’ll be fine by myself.”
Jinx laughed. “If those lovebirds end up fighting against each other, we might see some real entertainment.”
~*~*~*~
“So what if we end up together?”
Vivian reeled back and looked up from a flower to Mallow’s face.
“What?” Vivian blushed and looked off from Mallow.
“What if we end up having to fight each other?” Mallow asked.
Vivian put a hand to her heart. “Oh… well, I guess I hadn’t thought about that too much…”
The two sat on a sun-soaked hill away from the bustle of the fuel-efficient metropolis. Vivian’s purple body curved on the soft grass next to a flowerbed. Mallow was sitting behind her, unwittingly putting one of his hands on her side. Vivian turned back and looked at her body, noticing the hand placed upon her.
"Um…” Vivian chimed.
“I wouldn’t want to fight you,” Mallow described. “I couldn’t…”
“Mallow?” Vivian asked.
“It’s not like I’d be worried about you… It’s just…” Mallow struggled to explain himself.
“Mallow!” Vivian half-yelled, half-chuckled. The Nimbian finally came to attention. The Siren smiled as she spoke. “You do realize where your hand is?”
“Huh?” Mallow looked and discovered his risqué act. He immediately pulled his arm back so fast it shot into his puffy body. “Woah! Oh, I didn’t mean, I mean… I just…”
Vivian giggled some more. “It’s okay.” Vivian turned over and placed her hand on Mallow’s, guiding it again to her side. “I kinda liked it.”
Mallow’s cheeks couldn’t help but be visible from the rest of his fluffy white face. Vivian held her own, blushing quite well through perseverance. The cloud prince eventually stammered back into reality.
“Erm, uh… so when’s your last match?”
Vivian tilted her head in thought. “Mine’s at midnight.”
“Aw, shoot.” Mallow sat up. “That’s practically the same time my last match is, I won’t be able to see you finish.”
Vivian smiled. “That’s okay, I’ll do fine without you.”
“I think I fight better with you watching on my side.” Mallow grinned.
“At least I won’t be fighting against you.” Vivian smirked, jumping to a stand and meandering down the hill.
Mallow sat there for a moment. “Hey, wait!”
He chased after her down the hill.
~*~*~*~
The day had come and gone, and life went as fast as ever aboard the ne’er asleep Juat Island. Luigi had taken a walk, gone for some coffee (although he was disappointed there wasn’t a Starbeans Café), and wound up back at the stadium watching his future opponents, doing homework, as he liked to call it. He was currently watching the heavyweight favorite, Bubba, a giant, bald Clubba of aqua color and pink, spike-less shell. It seemed that Bubba’s best offense was, in fact, a good defense.
Luigi looked on as a team of four Koopas fought against the immense tortoise. They rocketed each other off like pinballs inside their shell in hopes of damaging Bubba’s hide, but only found painful recoils with every impact, even at a combined strength of four shells. Bubba stood there and took every punch, never flinched, and barely moved the entire fight. When the team of teenage turtles had run out of steam and their fingers stopped glowing with the youthful vigor they’d had from the start of the match, Bubba simply lifted his enormous, elephant-sized arms and smashed the floor of the ring, sending a wicked shockwave out to knock all four Koopas from the ring and incapacitate them upon landing.
The referee held onto Bubba’s hand as the monster raised it, declaring he the victor against the team of four brothers. It was at this moment Luigi began to ponder just how a foursome managed to be taken as a single entrant in such an esteemed competition, but he didn’t stay on that thought for long since a half-foot sensei strolled by and pulled away the plumber’s attention.
“How are you, Luigi?” Jinx asked.
The green man looked down to respond. “Oh, fine. Just been studying the other fighters for future reference,” Luigi explained. “This Bubba guy’s a rock. He just stands there and takes it until you’re tired.”
“Hmm, an efficient use of… physique, one would suppose,” Jinx stated. “I have to wonder if he doesn’t have any more secrets to his art, though.”
“I don’t know…” Luigi suddenly remembered something. “Oh! How’d the match go?”
Jinx folded his arms. “Thought you’d never ask.”
The two began walking around the perimeter of the interior stadium, fights happening in nearby rings. Fewer and fewer people were inside the large, domed structure this evening as the eliminations were making a massive cut in ranks.
“It was a terribly long fight, I was stronger and more balanced but my opponent’s strengths came from his cunning ability to emphasize my weaknesses,” Jinx explained.
“And those would be?” Luigi asked.
Jinx laughed. “Nice try.”
“It was worth a shot.” Luigi chuckled.
“But it’s important to know, that physical prowess cannot compensate for victory alone. Even if you are the weaker of the two fighters, you can still exploit your opponent by simply knowing them, taking advantage of their vulnerability,” Jinx described. “So I am pleased you’re taking such a keen interest in this tournament as to do some research.”
Luigi stopped walking. Jinx stepped in front of him, looking him in the eye. The plumber spoke. “Will you be able to watch my final match?”
Jinx shook his head. “Unfortunately I’ve already promised Vivian my company.”
“Ah.” Luigi lowered his head, nodding.
“You’ll do fine,” Jinx encouraged. “Just keep your wits about you.”
And like that, the sensei was gone. Luigi half grinned, putting his hands in his pockets and beginning to stroll to his ring. It was nearly game time.
~*~*~*~
A few strokes past midnight and the stadium lights lit the final qualifying matches for the tournament. Luigi double-jumped into his ring and stretched out his arms. He had arrived just before his opponent, it seemed.
~*~*~*~
Mallow climbed into the ring. He stood a moment before recognizing the figure across the ring. His mouth opened nervously and his fists turned to mush.
~*~*~*~
Vivian nodded to Jinx, who stood outside her ring, watching intently. The purple female turned and acknowledged her opponent, a small, eggshell-clad Koopa with yellow scales. He wasn’t as formidable-appearing as she’d imagine this round to be, but the pink-haired vixen was prepared nonetheless. The referee came between the two of them and began speaking.
“Now I want you two to shake hands before you fight.”
Luigi and Mallow precariously united their hands, silent. They stepped back from each other, still with stupefied looks on their faces.
“This is for the tournament. FIGHT!”
The bell rang but the opponents did not move. The human dressed in green and blue stood unmoving, staring blankly across the ring at the fluffy cloud of white. The black and white-striped Lakitu looked back from each fighter.
“I said, FIGHT!”
Luigi put up his fists. “This should be interesting.”
Vivian swirled forward, both of her index fingers pointed out from her fists, bearing purple fireballs on the end of each. Her snake-like body twisted around itself with her springy launch. Her opponent, Jr. Troopa, leapt into the air and jumped down on top of her head, countering her attack. The yellow lizard then launched himself from atop her Seuss-themed hat into a frontflip, where he produced a sparkling ring of energy around himself. The Shadow Siren picked herself up to discover her opponent airborne with a pair of bat-like wings.
“I didn’t know you could fly,” Vivian said.
A large spike protruded from the eggshell on top of Jr. Troopa’s head. “That’s not the only trick I’ve got up my shell!” The tiny creature dove from flight with his spike aimed at Vivian. The purple Siren just managed to stretch her body out of the way of his brunt force, but she was still swiped by a spiny portion of his left wing.
“Ouch!” She rubbed the scrape on her side. “Time to get tough then!”
Vivian produced another purple fireball on her fingertips and pulled her hand behind her. The airborne Jr. Troopa launched himself like a missile toward the siren. The two came together and their fists began to meet with each other.
~*~*~*~
Luigi’s white-gloved hands punched into Mallow’s puffed up arms placed in front of his face as a shield.
“How much beating can your arms take, Mallow?” Luigi asked.
“More than enough, Luigi,” Mallow answered.
The green plumber struck the arms again with a particularly forceful punch. He proceeded to gather a green fireball in his open hand and sent a fire orb at the Nimbian Prince. Mallow’s arms took receptive damage to the magic attack and he flung them away, removing his defense. Luigi dashed forward and sent his legs into the air toward Mallow’s exposed face.
~*~*~*~
WHAM! Jr. Troopa somersaulted backwards on the mat toward the ring’s edge. He stopped himself and awkwardly righted to his feet.
“You aren’t all that tough!” the yellow creature spat.
“So far you’ve got more bark than bite,” Vivian replied. “Show me what you really can do.”
“You got it!” The yellow Koopa hopped up onto the ropes of the ring and produced a wooden scepter in his grasp. “I’ve trained myself in the art of magic attacks, too.”
Vivian extended both arms out at her sides. Jr. Troopa hopped back into the air and spun the staff around, gathering sparkles of magical energy. He sharply stopped the rotation of his talisman and fired a magical bullet of three geometric shapes at the Siren.
~*~*~*~
The thunderbolt smashed into Luigi and sent him flying into the air. The plumber righted himself acrobatically and drew his fists at Mallow, who with Froggy Stick in hand, charged forward at the human being. Luigi stood calmly awaiting the prince’s attack. Mallow swung his staff at the plumber but Luigi’s quick handedness grasped the staff and the man clad in green used his special technique, the Luigi Cyclone, to spin around at extreme speeds and toss the Nimbian Prince into the air. Luigi jumped into the air after him, gathering a fireball around his fist.
~*~*~*~
Vivian’s flaming punch smashed into the tiny Koopa and sent him further into the air. Jr. Troopa dropped his staff and started spiraling down to the ground out of control.
“Mayday! Mayday! Troopa going down!” the creature shouted.
Jr. Troopa fell toward the outside of the battle mat
~*~*~*~
Mallow’s hand stretched during his descent and grasped the ropes surrounding the ring and pulled himself back into the fray just before touching the exterior ground. The Nimbian Prince fired like a walnut from a slingshot and slammed both enlarged fists into Luigi’s chest, firing the plumber back into the wires. Mallow picked himself up and stopped Luigi’s snapping back with a repeated firing of his extendable arms at the plumber’s bouncing body. Back and forth Luigi was sent from Mallow’s punch to the wires springing him back into the ring. Luigi pulled back into the ring’s wires once again. The man ignited himself on fire with green light, and rocketed forth from the back and. like a green missile. smashed into the unprepared Mallow. The two split apart in an explosive collision.
~*~*~*~
Two hands joined together as Vivian was declared the winner of the match.
“Congratulations, you will be going into the finals,” the referee applauded.
“Thank you,” Vivian exclaimed. The Siren slithered out of the ring and met with Jinx, who clapped for her. “Let’s go see if we can catch the end of Mallow’s fight.”
Jinx put his hands to his side. “Luigi actually proposed an interest in me watching his fight, so I think I’ll head there.”
Jinx and Vivian separated down different paths.
~*~*~*~
Luigi and Mallow charged each other, one’s fist ablaze with green pyres, the other’s enveloped in static electricity. Their punches connected with the other and an explosion of magical energy knocked both of them back to opposite corners of the arena. Mallow picked himself up and looked across the way. There stood Jinx, with a concerned look on his face. Vivian suddenly realized what was going on and the two joined together, looking into the ring.
Luigi hurled three green fireballs from his fist at Mallow, who had been conjuring up a small snowstorm. The green plumber was buried underneath a pile of snow from which he quickly began escaping. Mallow pulled back his hands for another gathering of ice and snow when through the corner of his eye he caught sight of Vivian. He turned to look at her, and smiled. Luigi discovered this and he, too, grinned. The plumber used all the spring in his step to make an astounding vertical leap. He disappeared from Mallow’s sight by actually using the flurry of frost the Nimbian created as a cover. Mallow’s realization caused him to disperse the gathering spell, but only quick enough to see Luigi’s shoe come and smash him in the face.
“Oh my!” Vivian gasped.
Luigi wasted no time and grabbed Mallow by his shoulders, smashed the pair’s skulls together in a glorious head-butt, and then finished the job with second Luigi Cyclone. The prince flew out of the ring and sent his stretchy arms back to grasp onto the ropes and once again save himself. However, the green-clad plumber was prepared this time and sent dozens of green fireballs to block his oncoming arms. Mallow’s final defense recoiled and the Nimbian was left with nothing but an impact of defeat against the ground beyond the battle arena.
Vivian rushed to Mallow’s side. Jinx clapped at the display of fighting prowess, and Luigi raised his hand in victory.
“Congratulations, you’re going to the finals!”
Chapter 33: The Leader
Kamek had lost all perception of reality. He was never certain if he was awake or dreaming. He often wondered if he was even alive. At first all he could feel was the intense pain of his body being consumed from within, but over time, he lost the senses in his physicality. His mind was fading fast as well, not only of logic, but memory. Kamek started to question himself, his own memories. Was he really captured? Perhaps this is what had been all along, and the reality he perceived was nothing more than a dream? This philosophical paranoia shaped his mind into something easily sculpted- he had experienced the necessary transformation of mind and body.
Of the few times Kamek had mustered his will and magical prowess he found that whenever he attempted to escape the confining and invasive tube he was locked within, the Magikoopa experienced a blackout after a violent reaction in his body. The sorcerer wasn’t sure if he still had his magical skills.
When he was finally released from the tube, Kamek was in a state of shock. There was even a sense of discomfort: losing the safety of routine, even an imprisoning reality as it was, left him wary of what could possibly come. First the fleshy tubes retracted from his body, which didn’t feel painful as much as bizarre and unnatural. The liquid in the tube drained after that, and finally the transparent cylinder split in two and opened the pulsating room to him. Kamek collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. He couldn’t remember how to breathe properly, machines having performed the simple task for so long. With each intake, he felt nothing. His lungs didn’t change, his energy stayed the same; Kamek clawed at the squishy metal floor in his frustration. The old Koopa dropped on the floor, defeated. The warm, bubbly surface of the metallic ground felt oddly comforting on his face.
It took a few minutes for Kamek to realize he was fine. His lungs hadn’t felt anything because breathing was now unnecessary for the Magikoopa. He stood up, looking at his transformed body. He was the same, but different. He wasn’t particularly more muscular, but there was some strange element to his physique that registered as appearing much more formidable.
Kamek found his clothes, glasses, and wand waiting for him in a corner of the room. He dressed himself in his blue cloak, noticing the difference in texture. Like him, the garment was the same but indistinguishably different. Placing the spectacles over his face, he noticed no change in vision strength. Lastly, he studied his wand. It too had changed, but in a way he could not decipher. He turned his gaze toward one of the toothy, zipper-like sections of the fleshy wall and thrust his wand in its direction. The typical spell of geometric shapes, triangle, circle, and square fired at the teeth, resulting in a quaking of the room’s walls and a sinking noise resonating beyond the room itself. However, the item of note was that Kamek’s wand had no participation in the casting of the spell. The Magikoopa tried the same thing with his free hand and discovered he was able to fire a much stronger version of the spell directly through his open palm. Upon the second impact, the jaws of the wall opened up and created an exit for Kamek. The Magikoopa paused and placed his wand in the folds of his robe before leaving the premises.
He walked down a long hallway that seemed endless. Kamek had the paranoid thought in his mind that he wasn’t actually walking down the hall, but that the environment around him was changing to make it seem like he was moving. It was a surreal experience that the Magikoopa wasn’t ready to think critically about at such a time, so he ignored his ponderings and kept his task-list simple. Keep walking.
The corridor he passed through slowly morphed from a round, fleshy metal that continued to curve and twist as he continued down the hall to a typical, sleek, metallic hallway with a rectangular shape and a wall on each side of him. Bizarrely, Kamek felt a twinge of discomfort as the more unfamiliar environment disappeared.
He came to a stop before a large, octagonal door with an emblem on the front: a large, violet “E” before a yellow shape, two circles side by side connecting into one entity in the center, thus shaping what would appear to be a peanut. The door opened for Kamek and he entered into a chamber of darkness.
A single red light shone down on Kamek and he discovered he was in the center of a dome-shaped room. A dim blue light from the farthest rim of the room lit seven silhouettes that sat behind a singular arching desk on a higher level than him. The figure in the center leaned forward.
“Welcome, Kamek,” the figure spoke.
“Who are you?” Kamek asked, or rather, thought in his head. By the time his mouth was able to translate the first syllable of the statement, he was cut off.
“We are the messengers of the highest power in the universe,” spoke a figure with glossy spectacles and a mustache big enough to compete with Mario’s.
“We are E-PEANUT,” spoke a third figure, this one a massive, floating head. “The Evil Plethora Excluding All Null-Uber Turtles”.
The lights came on and revealed the identities of the silhouettes, which Kamek recognized instantly. The figures resembled none other than Ganondorf, Gruntilda, Eggman, King Dedede, Wart, Andross, and Smithy.
“And unfortunately for you, my dear turtle-breath,” spoke Gruntilda the witch, “turtles in our path will meet their death.”
Kamek chuckled to himself. “You don’t frighten me, none of you are real.” The Magikoopa scanned the room. “Half of you don’t even exist in reality, but are taken from fictional stories.”
“Such aggravating words! NEVER HAVE I BEEN SO WRONGED!” Smithy smashed his hammer against the desk.
“JAVA!” Wart exclaimed.
“Quack! Quack! Quack!” quacked King Dedede.
Ganon stood up and pointed at the Magikoopa. “Destroy him!”
Kamek yawned and flicked his wrist; each of the seven E-PEANUT members stopped in mid-motion and writhed with electricity over their bodies. After a brief moment, their forms dissipated into seven metallic globes. The door behind the desk opened up and a short Snifit garbed in black robes came out, picking up one of the spheres and muttering to himself. Kamek tilted his head at the creature.
“Honestly, now I have to repair all of these myself… Unbelievable…” the Snifit muttered.
“Excuse me,” Kamek interrupted.
The Snifit looked at the Magikoopa. “Yes?”
Kamek found it an odd time to be questioned on his own confusion. “Um, what… what is all this?”
The Snifit replied in the most rehearsed, I’m-getting-paid-for-this voice, “Welllllllp, these things are a little invention called Dupliglobes, I programmed them with the personalities of various super villains: living, dead, and-or otherwise fictional characters from stories told to children based on my own childhood fantasies and inferiority complex, the Dupliglobes themselves take on the shape and perceived personality of the character they’re programmed with and essentially live and believe they are that person.” The Snifit finished gathering all the defective Dupliglobes. “Basically, if Hollyw00t ever got a hold of these puppies they’d replace every single actor in the biz.”
Kamek was still perplexed. “And why would you do this?”
The Snifit looked at him as if he was asking why the sky is blue. “Because nobody’s going to take me seriously.” The Snifit dumped all the spheres into a red wagon. “I can see you’re still confused. Go into the next room, they’re waiting for you in there.”
Kamek watched as the Snifit dragged the wagon full of Dupliglobes into a side door that shut behind him. The Magikoopa jumped up onto the next level and entered the doorway. It shut tight behind him, and he was once again left in darkness. However, the absence of light was a comforting thing for the Koopa, it seemed to excite him in all manner of his being. He was practically blind but his senses led him fine down into the next chamber, which, revealed by a dark red bulb of energy particles, was of a more alien and fleshy design than the room he’d been in previously.
He stepped up to the red bulb and watched the tiny spheres of red light fluctuate amongst themselves, illuminating the area just as a fire would. The Magikoopa tested the oddity with his hand, feeling no heat amidst the swirling matter but instead a cool passing of air through his fingers.
Something wriggled in Kamek’s peripheral vision. He turned instinctively to watch a mass of vein-ridden flesh protrude from the ceiling. Four spidery legs from the underside of the growth fell limp toward the floor. A massive red eye open and pierced Kamek with its otherworldly stare. Below that, a face much like a warped skull with two light-less eyes and tube-like, teeth-ridden mouth stuck out of the atrocious animal. The massive monster lowered from the ceiling with two massive arms clinging onto the meaty rocks above. The four spider legs connected with the ground to Kamek’s right and the creature wriggled its back arms free, the tips of which crafted into jagged hooks. The monster squealed and Kamek felt something inside him jump against his ribcage and suckle at his bone.
The Magikoopa stilled his heart with his hand. The mortifying creature crawled closer to the Koopa with mechanical hissing. The veins in its hide were alight with an eerie red glow, and the liquid traveling through them was visible. Despite a sense of familiarity about the sight, it left Kamek feeling uneasy.
He came to his wits and jumped back, forming white-blue balls in both hands. He tossed them at the approaching creature, but the spells did nothing to the creature’s impervious, rock-like hide. Kamek fell back into a pile of bones. His hands surfed across the smooth surface of the skeletal remains, searching for an appropriate bone. The monster stood just before Kamek now, its mouth drooling acid and its enormous, cycloptic eye directly in front of his face. His fingers firmly grasped around a femur and Kamek stabbed the creature’s eye. A hideous shriek followed the violent impact as pus and other vitals spewed forth from the wounded eye. Like a neon sign losing energy, the eye and the vein’s red glow spurted in and out in sync with each other. The beast recoiled toward the red particles.
On his feet, Kamek traveled in a much less direct way to study the creature. Small, three-fingered forearms reached out from behind the monster’s head and pulled bone from its eyeball. With a pained squeal, the creature’s hands folded back behind its head and the giant eye closed, turning off the red neon glow of the veins. The second pair of eyes below then opened, revealing much the same optical organs, but lacking the glowing light of the first eye. The creature snarled menacingly and retreated into the shadows, where it virtually became invisible.
The Magikoopa had to think quickly. The mechanical hissing was everywhere now, accompanied by the disgusting sounds of tearing flesh. Kamek sent trails of fire from his fingertips into the shadowy distances, only to catch glimpses of the creature moving around along the walls and ceiling. One of the creature’s enormous back legs swung and smacked Kamek in the back, the hook slicing painfully against his shell. The old turtle met with the floor and crawled toward the red light in the center of the chamber. He stopped moving when his arm went straight through the bottom of the gathered particles.
There he lay unmoving, trying to concentrate
when he felt a sudden surge of power. His eyes fired open and he watched
as his hand began to glow a deep shade of red and the energy sparkles before
him were absorbed into his arm. The Magikoopa felt his body quake with
presence, and he found it of greatest ease to stand up. Kamek’s entire
body absorbed the energy, and now shone with a blazing red aura. The Magikoopa
clenched his fist. Concentrating, he listened to something he couldn’t
hear before.
Kamek spun 180 degrees and fired a
beam of red energy through his clenched fist into the shadows. The light
from the blast revealed the monster hanging just over the Magikoopa, preparing
to strike. The creature cried in pain and fell from its upper vantage point.
Kamek’s fist cannon did not stop or even decrease intensity. The Magikoopa
stepped forward, his fist aimed at the grounded, upturned mutant arachnid.
Its multitude of limbs writhed about in pain, stone-like flakes of armor
chipping away with the magnificent beam of Kamek’s hand. A dark colored
meat and bone began to appear and melt away under the brunt force of the
energy blast. In an unsual display of hidden strength, Kamek’s fist released
and the energy beam disappeared instantaneously.
Using a powerful telekinetic technique, Kamek raised the animal’s body into the air. His hand moved with the creature. Kamek opened his palm wide as possible, extending his fingers. The beast’s eight limbs stretched simultaneous with Kamek’s handy extremities. The Magikoopa twitched his neck and closed his open palm into a fist in a flash, the limbs then flying around to pierce the creature’s underbelly. The monster bellowed a terrible scream and collapsed to the floor. Kamek snapped his fingers and a fire burst out from the beast’s insides, melting the horrible mutation in a pool of its own juicy organs.
The smell was not something the Magikoopa cared for. He didn’t deal with it for long though, because the red spheres of energy then left his body and began to orbit around him. The fleshy room grew dark once more and Kamek’s eyes touched only red light. In a bright flash the sparkles disappeared but lit the room around him, this one different- much more familiar. Kamek was placed inside a rather wide transparent cylinder, seemingly a larger version of the tube that imprisoned him for so long. There was no liquid or wires to be seen, however.
He peered outside the glass, looking through a translucent, goopy orange liquid that coated the outside of the confining capsule. There stood strange, alien figures. Their bodies were dark and insect-like. The body and head connected into a single crustacean-like structure with vein-y growths around their skulls. They had four extremely tall legs that each bent inward towards the center of the body, then stretched out into four "cushy" pads, the bottoms of each slicked with similar skin to the veins on their cranium. Their forearms, half the length of the legs, featured the same distinctive inward bend and then molded out into a palm with three sensitive, prehensile tendrils that drooped down and slithered hypnotically below their "faces", almost like a flowing beard.
Kamek snarled, his body shining with a red energy. Before he could attack a slender, black cord dove from the shadowy heights of the capsule and bit into the back of his neck, draining him of his bodily control. The Magikoopa foamed at the mouth and fell to his knees. His mind was electrified with intense power. He was changing.
A sudden dawning of reality and information came with this transformation. He realized now what the creatures were and what had happened to him. He remembered his past but it was of little importance to him now- for his true purpose had been revealed.
Kamek was the leader of the invasion.
Chapter 34: Unite the Clans
Below the murky skies of just before dawn, a vast labyrinth of trees and foliage hid the strengthening light bending round the horizon. Within this forest maze, a blue, bipedal dinosaur sniffed his way through different alleyways of plant life, searching out anything remotely edible. Splooshi bit into one of the forest Mushrooms and nearly gagged. These were nothing like the delicious fruit back home, but he had little alternative at the time. Grimacing, he filled up his saddle-pack with a few more and sniffed the air, finding the scent of his still-slumbering partner and traveled back to the campsite.
Splooshi did his best to start up a fire but failed in his attempts to be resourceful. After nearly twenty minutes of repeated disaster, he sat back and hoped for the pain in his stomach to grow so strong it’d cause him to pass out. The sun hadn’t yet touched this side of the planet and the dinosaur gathered he’d slept less than three hours total, and when he did sleep it wasn’t relaxing. Nightmares plagued his mind, images of Yoshi walking into that city of darkness, the bloodstained river, the smoldering fires and the repugnant stench of death all fresh in his memory. Even if he was able to find something remotely edible, he was certain it’d be a battle finding the strength to actually consume it.
Everything was happening so fast and without pliable causes. During the last trial Splooshi had faced, he was with Yoshi nearly every step of the way. His safety net was now gone, and Splooshi had to be the responsible one to escort Orchil and take care of her in the absence of others. He didn’t even know where they were going. Splooshi had never been this accountable for anything in his life, and was always known to be immature amongst his friends and family. Splooshi’s eyes glazed over with thick tears that did not shed when his mind danced around his homeland and of his youthful days. Had so much time passed that the easy times he remembered so fondly would no longer grace him again?
Orchil awoke perhaps an hour later, Splooshi not gaining any rest himself. She gratefully ate the Mushrooms he’d fetched for her. Splooshi lied and explained he’d already eaten. No need for more pointless worries. He asked her if she was ready to move on. The blue girl saddled up. Her bare arms and legs on Splooshi’s hide were cold to the touch; the dino grimaced, if only he’d been successful at making the fire.
“How much further?” Orchil drearily asked.
The Yo’ster looked at the canopy of the forest, being able to see through it to the gray, pre-dawn skies above. “Not long.”
~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, a handful of miles away and a great depth beneath the ocean surface, a drunken alligator by the name of Croco stumbled out of the alley exit of a seedy tavern and emptied his stomach. After recoiling from his retching, the gangster gator placed a cigar in his mouth and tried to light it but found none of his matches worked, or rather, he was too surly to do so. A spark came from his right.
“Need a hand?”
Croco turned his head with a snarl on his face. A Zippo lighter held by a green hand poked through bars of a cage hidden in the dark shadows of the alley.
“Yeah, sure.” Croco’s inflection of the words were on par with a vulgar statement. He lit his cigar. “Thanks, chump.”
The lighter pulled back and revealed the face of a Yoshi with large, black-rimmed spectacles on his face. “Now, what can I do to get you to lend me a hand?”
~*~*~*~
The next few days were relatively silent on the pirate ship. The sight of the terrible sea monster and the loss of a mate kept black stones in place of hearts for the crew. The only moved ones were, of course, Russ T, Ashley and the amnesia-ridden Apprentice. Dimplestick was scarcely seen during this time; Johnny kept him securely in his cabin.
Apprentice cooked for comfort, hoping that each meal would please the crew. He was always met with disappointment, however. No meal could rise the spirits of the shapeless sharks. The turtle was met with silent approval from the Mushroomer Russ T, who had explained that the silence and stone-faced disposition was most likely a coping mechanism of the pirates. The Apprentice pondered that notion for a while, cleverly questioning if his amnesia wasn’t caused by the very same reason. Despite convincing himself of this, he found no remnants of his past waiting to be relinquished.
Russ T. explained that something would most likely "trigger" his memory, much as the items he’d been found with had done so. Unfortunately, the rush of memories was so great the Apprentice of course blacked out and seemingly rejected remembering anything from those trinkets. Ashley told him that when the time was right, he would remember. This sentiment comforted him, as he recognized it as a sappy cliché one’s mother would say to a son, and although the Apprentice couldn’t remember his mother, he did remember a fondness for sappy clichés.
There was also something about the Podoboo lass that struck him as familiar, and that made him feel better. Maybe she was a piece to the puzzle of his past. Though he’d brought it up, Ashley made quite apparent that the two hadn’t met previous to this engagement.
The ship sailed silently through the shadowy seas.
~*~*~*~
Changling was adjusting to life in the Countess’ tower. It had been a few days since his initial arrival and everything had been so slow since. He had become friendly with the trio that had initially "kidnapped" him, possibly due to their lunacy that reminded him of his old "family", but the news that Chef Torte being there was a lie to get him to come depressed the Magikoopa. He spent most of the time looking out the window of the Countess’ bedroom, which was in fact where he was placed to sleep. This made Changling a bit uncomfortable, but the Countess informed him that she never slept in a bed anyway. It was later that Mervo joked she slept upside-down like a bat. The Countess, of course, heard this comment and punished the Pidgit severely.
The shape shifter looked out the window again to the dark waters of Dinosaur Land’s inland sea. Mervo had gone out with his two cronies in search of the aircraft they had apparently left behind in the Donut Plains. Changling wanted to join them, but the Countess insisted he couldn’t leave for fear of his escape and telling the world the location of her secret lair. Maggy was in the same boat, but wound up locked in a different room, and Changling hadn’t seen her since the incident.
He did take notice of Clever Guy, though, who had joined Mervo’s troupe to recover the damaged "Storm Cruiser". His resemblance to his former ally, Genius Guy, was uncanny, but unlike the former, Clever Guy seemed to be able to actually be competent in the field of science and technology. He wondered what relation the Shyster might have to his former partner, but didn’t get the chance to ask him before he left.
A door swung open. Changling turned and fount the Countess floating inside the room riding her cloud.
“Oh, Changling! Forgot you were in here!” The Countess giggled. “Have you been fed today?”
Changling stared blankly. “No.”
“Oh my! I’m sorry, baby. You can have uh…” The Countess scrounged around for food. “Here! A half-eaten bag of marshmallows!”
She threw the bag and it hit him in the face. “Thanks.”
“So do you like it here?” the Countess asked, searching through her drawers.
“For being a prisoner it’s not so bad, I guess,” Changling said uncaringly, chewing six marshmallows.
The Countess sniffed the air. “What’s that smell?”
“Marshmallows?”
The Lakitu zipped through the room to sniff the red-robed turtle. “PHEW! It’s you, stinky! When’s the last time you took a bath?”
Changling swallowed. “I… honestly don’t remember.”
“Too long, indeed.” The Countess shook her head. “Time to get you into a hot vat of cleanliness. Take off your clothes.”
“WHAT?” Changling baked.
The Countess hopped out of her cloud and flew across the room to her personal bathtub with her butterfly wings. “I’ll fill up the tub for you, just strip to get in.”
“But you’re right there!” Changling exclaimed.
The Countess giggled an evil snuggle of cuteness and repulsiveness wrapped into one devious display of amusment. “Of course I am! I’ll be joining you.” The Countess started to unzip her body suit.
“STOP!” Changling threw up his arms and turned away.
The Countess (still dressed) zoomed to the other side of Changling and smiled, rubbing a tiny claw on his cheek. “Aw, you’re so cute!” For a moment the Magikoopa felt relieved. “Now let’s see how cute you are under all those clothes!”
“AGGAH!” Changling ran forward blindly and smashed into the Countess’ parked cloud. He fell to the floor after hitting a very blunt item and saw stars swirl around his head. The Countess floated over and pulled out the item in question, a large, square, flat rock with a pink-colored symbol on it.
“This thing has done nothing but bring me bad luck! How am I supposed to see him take a bath when he’s unconscious?” The Countess realized something and then smiled deviously. Changling stirred a bit but was hastily silenced with another, this time purposely, hit to the face with the stone. “That’s a good boy.”
~*~*~*~
“Colonel, I have good news.”
Colonel Stubba turned on his swivel stool to view the Goomba before him. The Clubba Koopa of military rank narrowed his eyes. “Speak, soldier.”
“Your brother Bubba has just passed his final qualification round and will be admitted to the tournament,” the Goomba explained.
Colonel Stubba sat in a low-lit room. His swivel chair was next to a large computer console that housed three monitors, one of security cameras around a military base, one of a computer screen, and a third that was turned off. A single harsh light litt the room from directly above Stubba, encasing the tortoise in a yellow color. His puffy lips formed a smile and the Clubba dismissed the lesser creature.
“I apologize for the sudden interruption, Mr. Mayor,” Stubba said aloud, “but as you know this is a secret meeting so I’m liable to run into a few snags here and there.”
The mustachioed Pianta of red, Mayor Delga, stepped out into the light. “I understand.” Stubba swiveled in his desk and fetched a folder labeled “Classified”. He handed the collection of documents to Delga. The mayor opened it and flipped through it; many texts and a few black and white photos were seen. “This is all the information you’ve gathered?”
Stubba put his arms behind his head. “Mr. Mayor… you realize what a risky situation I’m put in the middle of right now.”
“Do you in fact realize the situation I am in, Stubba?” Delga snapped. “The permissions I’ve granted you based on this miniscule of facts is a deplorable act of insubordination! Why, if the Council found out…”
Stubba placed his bumpy feet on the console. “Yeah, it’s a gamble all right,” he interrupted. “Shame you’re in so deep by this point you can’t escape without rubbing the right person’s back, if you know what I mean.”
Delga’s face was damp with perspiration and contempt for the scaly creature before him. “Very well, Colonel.” The Pianta gathered himself and made way for the exit.
“Aren’t you forgetting a little something, Mr. Mayor?”
Mayor Delga turned and glared at Stubba, who did not look at him. “Of course, Colonel.” The Mayor removed a large, flat tablet of stone from his pouch and placed it near Stubba’s feet on the console. “Good day.”
Stubba grinned with rounded teeth. He sat up and grabbed the tablet in his hand. He looked at the green symbol carved into the white stone. It intrigued him. He pushed a button on the console and the third blank screen sparked to life, displaying the word “CONNECTING".
~*~*~*~
Splooshi and Orchil had escaped the Forest Maze and made their way to a quiet corner of civilization known as Rose Town. The two felt accomplished, and extremely tired. Though they desired to go into the inn and sleep for a week or two, there were more important matters at hand. They had come into the Elder’s home only to find that he was already in the middle of a meeting. His wife came by and offered them cookies, which they gobbled up in a heartbeat. The homely Mushroomer returned to the kitchen in search of more snacks. In the meantime, the girl and dinosaur listened to the Elder and his council made up of a female shopowner, an old man gardener, and a Mole from the next town over.
“This is what had fallen just beyond our town’s borders just last night,” the Elder spoke with a wise voice. He gestured to the table behind him, where a large, flat stone of white rested on a maroon towel. It was marked with a blue-colored rune on one side. “There are reports of seeing a shooting star just before this hit.”
“Could this be related to the events that happened during the Smithy Wars?” the woman asked. “A shooting star fell into the forest then.”
“That’s right,” the Mole replied. “A shootin’ star fell into Moleville Mountain then too, maybe this is a similar reaction.”
The Elder paused, stroking his white beard. “But what could have caused it?”
Orchil looked at Splooshi, who in return looked at her but said nothing. The blue-skinned girl rolled her eyes and stepped forward. “Sir, if I could say something.”
For the first time the four took notice of the two blue creatures in the room. The Elder spoke with uncertainty. “Oh my, who might you be?”
“My name is Orchil, and this is my friend Splooshi,” she explained. “Please, we’ve come a long way to deliver a message.”
The Elder blinked. “What is it, my dear?”
“Toad Town… it’s…” Orchil stopped. She couldn’t bear to say it.
Splooshi’s hand provided comfort on her shoulder. “Toad Town has been conquered.” The resulting series of gasps and questions only weakened the already tired dinosaur. Everything was beginning to get fuzzy. “I’m sorry it’s… no, I don’t know if Bowser is behind it. I don’t think so… No, I didn’t see anyone… I’m not sure if anyone else knows… The capital? I don’t know…” Splooshi was so confused.
“We must inform the kingdom of this travesty!” the Elder spoke.
“Where’s that mustache guy who does all the jumpin’?” the Mole spoke up.
“He died,” Splooshi said.
“WHAT?” the others shouted.
“No! I mean, he died a while back… He had a … new guy…” Splooshi felt his headache increasing.
Orchil and Splooshi embraced each other while the elders in the room babbled their heads off arguing and gasping over the possibilities of what was to be.
~*~*~*~
“Well this is certainly interesting!” Ryanoshi laughed to himself.
“What? What does it say?” Croco demanded.
Ryanoshi grinned and turned to the reptilian. “I don’t know.”
Croco’s face drooped, the lit cigar in his mouth fell to the floor. He watched the amused dinosaur look back at the black chest. Croco’s goons had snatched this chest up from some sailors just before the alligator was commissioned to steal the Soul Stone. The purple reptile growled. “What do you mean you don’t know? And why’s that so funny?”
“The writing on this chest… the symbols are definitely of an ancient tribe that predate history. I studied this culture years ago, they’re called the Suttinans,” Ryanoshi explained.
Croco tried to process the information, which was hard because he wasn’t quite sober. “So yer sayin’ that dis chest is a relic?”
“Probably worth a fortune for just the box,” Ryanoshi described.
“Hot Kalimari! I knews there was a reason to trust you.” Croco grinned.
The dinosaur wiggled his fingers hypnotically. “This may be just a galactic coincidence, but if I know good literature,” he half-removed his glasses and looked at Croco. “and believe me, I do,” the dinosaur stepped forward, “there’s a connection between your chest here and a recent plot I’ve found myself in.”
Croco blinked. “Guh?”
Ryanoshi smiled again. “You see, I came to the Mushroom Kingdom because I, too, needed to find someone to translate an ancient relic of, interestingly enough, the same language." Ryanoshi removed his stone tablet and showed it to Croco. “This stone fell from the sky, and I’ve been trying to decipher the meaning of the symbol on it ever since.”
Croco blinked and pointed his clawed finger at the chest. “Look.”
Ryanoshi turned to discover that the same symbol on his stone was carved into the chest, along with the other runes of the Suttinan culture.
“That’s interesting…” Ryanoshi placed the stone tablet next to the chest so the symbols were side be side.
There was a sudden flash of light from the chest. Croco and Ryanoshi turned precariously to look. The red carving in Ryanoshi’s stone lit up with a bright red light that lit the entire area red and consumed all other colors. The same symbol on the chest lit up red. The other symbols on the chest proceeded to glow with their own colors, mixing the display of mystery in a rainbow of light: pink, green, silver, gold, blue, orange, and red, all seven colors for seven significant markings on the black chest. The stone in Ryanoshi’s hand became increasingly hot, causing him to drop it. The Yoshi jumped back and stood next to Croco, who looked on with a mystified stupor. The stone’s rune changed from a blaring red light to a purifying white light. This subsequently changed on the chest as well, along with the other six symbols.
Croco looked at Ryanoshi. “How much money did you say dis was worth?”
Ryanoshi, half-fearful, half-excited; smiled at his company. “My friend, a find like this could be priceless.”
The two were pulled into the light.
~*~*~*~
The arguing and shouting in the Elder’s household came to a stop when the stone on the table ignited with a bright blue light. The light absorbed all other colors, and sent columns of blue out the windows of the house and dyed the luscious Rose Town a deep navy blue. The stone’s symbol soon changed from a brilliant blue to a bright white light that encompassed all. The seven people in the room began to fade away into the light. Orchil’s grip on Splooshi was the last thing to break free before they were separated in the whiteness.
~*~*~*~
Jonathon Jones’s pirate ship set the sea ablaze with an orange glow bursting through the interior windows and gaps between the wooden floorboards. The shark pirates were running amok with uncertainty.
“Barney! Did you set off the flarrel?” Chud screamed.
“No!” Barney exclaimed in a frantic manner.
Jonathon Jones set foot out of his cabin with an angry glare on his toothy face. “What’s the meaning of this?”
Dimplestick pulled at his uncle’s cape. “Is the ship on fire, Captain?”
The Apprentice managed to trip over Ashley on his way across the hall, due to everything in sight being orange. The turtle and the Podoboo climbed into Russ T’s cabin, who stood before the source of the amazing occurrence. His stone tablet surged from a radical orange to an infinite white light.
“Isn’t it remarkable?” Russ T. shouted just before being consumed by the light.
The Apprentice, Ashley, and the pirates disappeared into the whiteness.
~*~*~*~
Changling felt something soft wipe his back lovingly. He let out a pleasurable moan before a stinging pink light zapped his eyes and caused him to pull out of his dream-like state. The red-robed Magikoopa, now disrobed, stood up in a half-filled bathtub to stare at the pink light shining from the flat stone tablet. The Countess poked out from behind Changling, grasping a sponge.
Before Changling realized what was going on, he and the Countess were absorbed by a white shining light.
~*~*~*~
“Colonel Stubba, what is going on?” a gruff voice commanded.
The Clubba was trying to knock the stone tablet off the computer console, as it was melting the controls with its heat. He was dyed in a completely green glow and couldn’t see any images on the computer screens.
“Stubba, we’re losing signal, can you still…” The voice disappeared.
The green light melted into a pure fog of white that Stubba drowned within.
~*~*~*~
Far into the open sea, a tiny Podoboo, a natural orange, found himself positively golden. Embert hopped around the backside of his friend, Whomp, who served as a raft for the two (amazing buoyancy he must have for a solid brick!) while stranded on the endless ocean.
“Whomp, what’s going on?!” Embert panicked.
Whomp tried to explain, “My spine tickles!” But he was underwater and a fish swam into his throat.
Embert watched as the double bandage “X” on Whomp’s back disintegrated in the golden light and revealed a tiny, square stone lodged into Whomp’s back. The stone was marked with a golden symbol, the source of the light.
“Golly gee, that’s some major bling-bling you got back here, Whomp!” Embert proclaimed.
The golden light exploded into a white fury, surrounding the two drifters and swallowing them up.
~*~*~*~
Seven pillars of dark stone dissipated the white light once everyone was assembled. Everyone touched by the white glow found themselves in a new reality, on the summit of a holy plateau where the heavens and earth came to be as one, where the cosmos were one with terrestrial life. Ryanoshi, Croco, Splooshi, Orchil, the Elder, the Mole, the shopkeep, the gardener, Russ T, the Apprentice, Ashley, Johnny, Dimplestick, a whole crew of pirates, Changling, the Countess, Colonel Stubba, Embert, Whomp, and the fish in his mouth came to be standing next to one of six pillars, divided based on the color of their stone’s marking, red, blue, orange, pink, green and gold. The final pillar bore the rune of silver, and a lone figure wrapped in a dark cloak stood beneath it.
A dragon swooped out of the sky and slammed into the center of the giant pillars. He spread his wings wide and displayed the markings and symbols tattooed on his body. Soshi opened his eyes of pure white and united the different-colored rune stones under a holistic white light.
To Be Continued...
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