Chapter 9: Luigi Lands
The day began at noon, despite the sun being up for several hours. A grand parade marched proudly and loudly through Toad Town’s streets, waking up all the slumbering citizens. Today was a holiday, a day to spend with friends and family. Truthfully, the day was used more for an economic purpose to sell various goods and spend the kingdom’s budget on frivolous events, but it was based on an actual holiday. Or holi-week, perhaps. Coming around the next month the natives of the Tropacine Archipelago would begin their week-and-a-half long Festival of Rebirth, which celebrated the planet’s new stage of life. The holiday is only traditionally held every century, but in the Mushroom Kingdom the Festival of Rebirth, or Newborn Day as it is called, is celebrated annually.
The gathering crowds clapped and chatted amongst themselves as Mushroom dancers twirled in the roads, trailing ribbons and tossing batons to wow the audience. There were those dressed as clowns and magicians and majestic floats that were somehow supposed to convey the message of rebirth, but really didn’t interpret the theme so hot. Not that anyone cared, all except the historically accurate Russ T. of course. He generally loathed the holidays of the Mushroom Kingdom, as most of them were meaningless much like “Newborn Day”. He usually closed himself off for the events and shut off his phone and tried to read the best he could. However this year the intellect decided to avoid the nasty celebration completely and took a vacation out-of-town. No one really knew where he went, except possibly Merlink, if only to create a comical irony.
The parade and rides set up in the town’s square were mere distractions for the real event of Newborn Day, which was the evening ball held at the castle. This was the first year the ball would be held at Peach’s Castle, rather than in the Royal Mushroom Castle in the Mushroom Village. Even more hasty and nervous than the day prior, the workers at the castle were flying around every which way, getting the final decorations and last-minute changes ready. Princess Toadstool’s face wasn’t seen until the sun was slightly beyond its half-day position, which was a rare occurrence for the daughter of the throne.
“My, my, Princess,” the Toad Minister chided. “I was afraid we weren’t going to see you for this fine day!”
The princess strode past the Minister and mumbled a garbled response. The Minister furrowed his white, comb-shaped mustache and wondered what his maiden was so down about. He considered the fact that she might just be embarrassed for her late awakening, and that was his last thought on the matter because the doors to the kitchen opened. Tayce T’s warm cinnamon buns had finished baking, and the scent snaked into the elder’s nostrils.
Princess Peach walked fast to the dining hall, where she hoped to have breakfast alone, and then she planned to lock herself in her room until it was absolutely the last second before she’d look bad to the kingdom if she didn’t show up for the ball. However, her idea didn’t go as planned; Toad was chewing on some granola at the table. Peach made a quick turn and tried to exit, but was spotted by the retainer.
“Hey, Princess!” he exclaimed. “Um, where are you going? You just got here, didn’t you?”
Peach sighed and turned back, trying to seem pleasant and cheery. “Yes, but I just realized that I wasn’t hungry.”
Toad chewed the granola in his mouth for a number of moments. Peach felt like smacking him with a parasol; he was getting on her nerves. Finally, he swallowed and said, “Okay.”
Peach left angrily and climbed the stairs to her room, where she shut the door and fell heavily on her bed. It would be a long time until she could sleep again, but she was just so tired and so sick that she knew she couldn’t deal with people right now.
There was a knock on the door.
Peach growled into the bed sheet. “Uh, don’t come in! I’m getting dressed!”
There was a sporty chuckle outside the door. “Fibbing, are we? I know you’re already dressed; I just saw you walk in, Princess.”
Peach half-sighed, half-shrieked. The last person she needed to see right now was Toadsworth.
“Excuse me, Princess, but I think you better come down now; Stario’s here and wishing you to accompany him to the square!”
Okay, second to last person.
~*~*~*~
The visually impaired dinosaur of green color stepped confidently into the soils that were Tadpole Pond. A little too confidently, if you ask me. The guy’s not even a real character; he’s a cameo. You’d think he’d have a bit more respect for the actual, REAL locations. Geez, he’s just so pompous, I ought to torture him by rhyme.
“I’ll Bhudda you!” Ryanoshi shouted towards the sky.
All right, I can’t top that. On with the exposition: the semi-machine system of dull movement was apparent. Tadpoles appeared above water and swam systematically, like a pre-rendered graphic. The Yoshi skipped forward, planting his shoes lightly into the ground before taking the next step. His red shoes came to a stop on a flat rock embedded into the green grass around it. He waited for a moment patiently, then began tapping his foot. He ground his teeth and tossed his arms upward, trying to call attention to himself. He did that several more times before he finally fluttered into the air and yelled out an extremely offensive utterance. A dead silence blanketed the natural environment. The tadpoles stared at him, making the lake appear placid. The lone Lakitu ceased his tossing of a Spiny at an insolent tadpole in mid-heave and stared blankly at the dinosaur. His grip wavered and the red shell plopped onto his soft cranium, knocking the small Koopa out instantly and tossing the fool from his cloud and into the lake. Once the splash subsided, the systematic pattern returned. Ryanoshi was likely to explode. Fortunately the gruff clearing of Frogfucious’s throat finally sent the subordinate tadpoles into their bridge form, allowing the green dino to hop across to the sage’s sanctum.
Frogfucious lifted a pipe from his fuzzy lips. “I would appreciate it if you not mention my mother’s obesity again, dinosaur.”
Ryanoshi laughed. “Sorry about that, Froggy.”
Frogfucious looked at the dinosaur with one of his eyes. “You may call me Frogfucious.”
“All right, Frogfucious,” Ryanoshi replied.
The wise amphibian exhaled a long, coiling trail of smoke. “What brings you to this soil, Yoshi?”
“Oh, my name is Ryanoshi. And I was hoping you could tell me something about this, being so wise and all…”
The saurian reached into his saddle-pack and pulled out a stone tablet with strange carvings on it. The tablet was excruciatingly old, but admirably solid for its age. There were a few cracks and indents here and there, but really it hadn’t been damaged. The stone was square and only a decimeter thick. The engravings were reddened, standing out from the pale, off-white tone of the tablet. Frogfucious’s skinny fingers grasped the stone when the glasses-clad Yo’ster offered it. The toad waddled over to his desk and grabbed a pair of spectacles that stood on the tip of his furry mustache. The frog scanned the object right to left and thought deeply.
“Do you have any idea what it is or what the symbol means?” Ryanoshi asked.
Frogfucious made a concentrated purring in his throat. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you much about it. My wisdom is vast but I can only learn what information the waters bring to me…”
Frogfucious returned his glasses and gave the stone to Ryanoshi. “Only what the waters bring you… There may be a reason you can’t help me with this.”
“What’s that?” the safe questioned.
“You see, this stone fell from the sky,” Ryanoshi described.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I was minding my own business one day, sneaking into a neighbor’s fruit horde, when PHWOOM! It came crashing down out of the sky!” Ryanoshi’s hands rose as he spoke. Frogfucious listened closely. “Landed right next to me, squashed all the watermelons, too. Good thing I was in an apple mood or I’d be flat as a pancake about now.”
Frogfucious looked to the glimmering water to his right, the water passing by flowed directly from the Kero Sewers of Midas Mountain. “I can’t say that your story isn’t without its questions, but I can believe you that a treasure can come from the sky.”
“The symbol… I’m not sure what it means but I have a pretty good guess that it’s from an old, obscure language from a culture I once studied with my friend Russ T.” Ryanoshi placed the tablet into his saddle-pack. “You see, I came to the Mushroom Kingdom in hopes of seeing him. He has records of all our old studies, so I’m sure he’d be able to help me with this. Thing is, I showed up and he was gone.”
“I see.” Frogfucious pondered for a moment. “There was another reason you came to see me, was there not?”
The dinosaur grinned. “Yes, actually. I didn’t know if you would be able to help me with any translation, but I thought you’d be the best chance at giving me a clue where Russ T. went.”
Frogfucious nodded and turned away from Ryanoshi. He stepped to the edge of his island and listened to the wind and the water. The Yoshi blinked behind his large spectacles. The amphibian’s long mustache swayed with the breeze.
“Nature is the best source of communication and information. Word travels fast, you just have to listen.”
Ryanoshi thought about the words spoken, trying to figure out if it was more than some fortune cookie message.
“Your friend is traveling to the east, towards your native homeland,” Frogfucious stated.
Ryanoshi nearly fell to the ground. “You’re joking.”
“Ironic as it may be, he’s heading to where you just left. That direction, at least. He’s traveling on a ship with an ally that comes from the South Seas.” Frogfucious turned to face the Yoshi. “There is a ship one could hire on Yo’ster Island if needed. However, the Pipe Vault that serves as bridge from the mainland is sealed off. You’d need to find another mode of transportation to get there.”
Ryanoshi shrugged. “Yeah, I’d need to hire a boat to get to the boat on Yo’ster…”
Frogfucious chuckled. “I’m just telling you what I know.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Ryanoshi turned and headed towards the edge of the islet, where the tadpoles formed a bridge once again. “Thanks though, I’ll see if I can find a way down there, I guess. It’d be a pain to travel all the way back to Toad Town.”
“Good luck, Ryanoshi,” Frogfucious said as the dinosaur hopped away.
As the four-eyed dinosaur left the sanctum of Tadpole Pond, he was unaware that he was being pursued.
~*~*~*~
Luigi smiled and looked out his window. He could see the bright lights of Isle Juat. The island was one large metropolis, the third largest city in the world. He squinted through the tiny window to see if he could see the stadium he’d be fighting at, but he couldn’t find it. He grew more excited as the plane landed on the runway and his strange adventure began.
Chapter 10: Koopa Spells Catastrophe
“What's going on?!” Larry cried.
A second rumbling from the outer areas of the Devastator caused the lights to flicker out. The six Koopa children looked around worriedly towards each other, wondering if it’d be best to run around and scream like the helpless rats they were. And so they did.
“We’re all gonna die!” Wendy screamed.
“I can’t go, I’m far too young and inexperienced in certain areas!” Iggy whined.
“I never even got to develop my character!” Junior moaned.
Roy bellowed. “The last meal I had was broccoli, I can’t go out on THAT!”
Morton was strangely silent during the panic, in fact, he continued to sit down and stare into space. A third explosion knocked the room on its side, and water began flooding in. Finally scrambled from their panic, the children tried to form a plan to get out; they gathered their things and left out the doorway where the water was coming from. Little did they know that one sixth of their party had remained in the room. A crooked grin appeared on Morton’s face as a fish swam by his foot.
~*~*~*~
A large mountaintop split open and an armada of hyper-advanced aircrafts with an E symbol on their side filled the sky. Down below at the mountain’s base, Jade and her team watched on helplessly. Everything was happening so quickly and chaotically. It was getting to be too much for the untrained admiral. Jade heard the worried cries of her ranks; she gave them the best order she could give.
“Everyone back to the fleet! NOW!”
~*~*~*~
The two sorcerers of the Koopa clan arrived at the scene. Kamek leapt off his broomstick and dove onto the flaming wreck. He flipped out his red-tip wand and ran forward into the hull. The purple-robed Kammy rose her hands high and muttered an incantation. Transparent, aqua-colored sparkles appeared around her and during the crescendo of the utterance and then were absorbed into her broom’s end. She raced with full speed, circling the dying vessel, the blue-green sparks descending from her broom and into the ocean. Once she had made two complete circles, a large, spherical barrier solidified around the ship, deflecting the enemies’ weapons. But Kammy’s job wasn’t done yet. As soon as the submerged foes recognized the futility in further attacking the Devastator, they changed course and went for the dominating battleship. Kammy rocketed towards the water like a missile, only holding her broom with one hand. With the free claw she swirled her scepter and formed incredibly dense yellow bricks over the water. On her mark the blocks ceased hovering and slammed down into the ocean with little splashing, due to their immense weight. The bricks crashed down on half of the attacking submarines, instantly bringing them to a crushing halt on the sea floor. Kammy smirked at her feat, only to be disappointed when the roaring of jets sounded overhead.
~*~*~*~
Bowser tasted his liver when the robot’s fist plunged into his lower stomach and was brought up to his jaw. The resulting uppercut sent the King of Koopas spinning backward, flattening a large portion of his followers. He felt like getting up but after thinking it over remained beaten on the ground. The metallic warrior stood in place after its first attack and scanned the other opponents with its fleshy eyes.
“Who’s next?”
The remaining Troopas dropped any weapons they had and bolted in the opposite direction with a river of yellow trailing them. The robot’s height gained as compartments on its boots opened and wheels appeared. Two jet boosters from its back stuck out and roared to life with a blue flame that pushed the mechanoid after the deserters at a break-neck pace. Embert T. Podoboo, who the enemy seemed to ignore, stopped shaking and hopped over to the downed Bowser. He poked him in the side, singing the scales off him, but the turtle didn’t awaken. Embert shrugged and rushed back into the foliage when he remembered that Whomp was still stuck. He paused and concentrated on the problem before him. Bowser looked really strong, and right now it was the little pyrosphere’s only idea. Embert mumbled and leapt onto the king’s chest and pounded down maliciously. Bowser jolted awake with an embarrassing shriek that was brimming with estrogen. He jumped to his feet and snatched the fireball in one motion. Bowser growled with infernal eyes into Embert’s beady ones. The Podoboo thought fast.
“Oh… um… Permission to join your ranks, O Great King Koopa!”
Bowser lowered his claw. “… What?”
Embert nodded. “Please, King Koopa, I wish to serve you until my grimly distinguishing.”
Bowser scoffed. “Why should I let you?”
“I’m the only minion you’ve left to order around.”
The orange-haired monster looked behind him, scanning all the abandoned blades and spears. His eyes burst into flames and he turned back to the kinetic lifeform. “All right, fine, you’re in. First order: What’s melting my flesh?”
Embert chuckled. “Um, that would be me, Sire.”
Bowser studied his hand. “Oh, of course.” The enormous reptilian spiked the fireball from his grasp and placed the crisped claw in his maw. With a muffled voice he asked, “Mow mut moo me moo?”
Through Embert’s days with Chef Torte, he understood perfectly what Bowser had said. “Follow me, Master!”
Embert hopped hastily towards the beach where Whomp was stuck with the bulging Koopa King charging after.
~*~*~*~
Three Koopatrols ran screaming past Clever Guy as the Shyster rushed further down into the belly of the Gargantuan. He knew it was in there. He had to find Bowser’s escape pod. Clever Guy swiftly turned corners and flew down a case of stairs, one arm carrying a small orange pot. In his grasp was King Koopa’s Piranha Plant, Ludwig. At the last moment before fleeing the Piket had squealed, catching the Shy Guy’s attention. For a reason unknown to him, Clever Guy felt possessed to take the helpless creature with him. He shrugged the questions asking why he did it away, figuring that it might come in handy down the road.
He came down another set of stairs and entered a vast open area in the Gargantuan’s sub-decks. Ahead of him he saw the ballista-like design of the escape pod. As he ran he was stopped when a torpedo slammed into the side of the ship. As the explosion subsided Clever Guy staggered forward, keeping his balance as several more weapons fired into the ship’s exterior, causing a great shaking. The Shy Guy made it to the pod and quickly flipped open the keypad and entered in the passcode he had programmed. The hatch door opened with a mechanical hiss. Clever Guy placed Ludwig into the pod when a noise caught his attention. He stepped outward from the pod and looked upward, honing in on the roaring sound of jets flying into the fray. Clever Guy was baffled; just who were these guys? Before the question found a sufficient dismissal a second torpedo exploded and sent Clever Guy backward. His head collided with the pod’s open door and he collapsed into unconsciousness.
~*~*~*~
“Kids!” Kamek called.
The blue robes of Kamek appeared as a maroon-violet in the blazing fire that he was facing. He stepped through a wall of flames to reach a lower level in the gigantic battleship. Brushing off the ash and walking off the pain, he pushed himself forward in his desperate search to locate Bowser’s children. His boots splashed as he stepped into the rising water. It wasn’t above his toes yet, but he knew that the kids were most likely on the bottom level when this chaos began. That wasn’t good. The mage closed his eyes and concentrated. Within seconds he gained focus of his mind’s eye, and viewed the ship like a video game dungeon map. With precise movement and dexterity, he scanned each room for life, and efficiently found a long trail of red dots representing the children he was looking for. They were a level below and approaching the stairs at the far end of the floors Kamek was at. The Koopa slipped from his subconscious and dashed forward, his feet barely touching the ground. He saw the first of their cartoon-y heads bob up from the spiral staircase when a large, piping structure collapsed in front of him. He saw the spawn of the king beyond the flaming wreckage before him and snarled, pulling out his wand and sending a column of cobalt light into the blockage. Dissipating it with a high-leveled spell, the path was clear for the adult children to approach him.
“Good thing you’re safe, now we’ve got to get you…” Kamek noticed a problem in the head count. He looked over everyone again and cursed. “Where is Morton?”
The Koopas looked amongst themselves. Iggy shrugged and said in his raspy voice, “I think he’s back in the basement.”
“Worthless fool! He’ll get killed, doesn’t he care?” Kamek growled. “Hurry, get to the surface and look for Kammy, she’ll help you from there. I’m off to find your moron brother.”
Kamek flipped over the crowd of five quite acrobatically for his age and kept his stride as he toed down the stairs. The Koopa family exchanged looks and hobbled forward, the boat bursting all around them.
~*~*~*~
General Jagger had been in shock for the first half of the fight but regained composure with an undying vigor. He seemed almost insane barking orders to the spineless Terrapin pilots on the Koopa aircraft carrier that had been farther out in the bay and was currently unscathed. Koopa cadets flipped into the cockpits of various shell-shaped fighter jets that weren’t quite top-of-the-line; air assault was never the Koopa Army’s strong point, lest it be a Doomship. They shot off with great speed to meet their combatants in the air, only to be devastated. The opposition had far greater mechanics and technology in their aerial maneuvers and aerial weaponry. Jagger pounded his fist into his palm and tried to think of a way out of this one.
“Darn it! How are we supposed to win?”
The elite Koopa plummeted to the deck when the aircraft carrier was blindsided by a second faction of submarine attackers. There was no victory in this fight. He looked across the deck and saw that the only plane left had been in repairs and was not fly-ready. Then Jagger had an epiphany. The military leader rushed from the deck and down into the carrier’s hull.
~*~*~*~
Kammy fired massive beams of pink and purple from her wand at the opposing fighter jets, but it was useless. They were armored with an unknown metal and were protected with generated shield barriers. She squinted through her glasses and began conjuring up another storm of blocks when she was hit. In a tense daze, she was launched from her broom, which shattered after the laser fire had taken full effect. Kammy fell towards the ocean but felt an abrupt stop. She looked up and gazed into Vermik’s sinister eyes. The wizard in black had caught her expertly and now carried her away from the battle.
“Madam,” Vermik greeted swarthily.
“Swine!” Kammy snapped.
“Oh come now, I just saved your life,” Vermik rebutted.
Kammy maneuvered from Vermik’s arms to ride behind him on the broom. “You just decided you’d show up now, then?”
“For your information, Kam,” Vermik paused, letting the full effect of the name take place, “I was busy assembling the surviving troops on the beach and preparing them for an escape.”
Kammy blinked. “You’ve got an escape plan?”
Vermik sighed, “Well, not so much as an escape plan as an assembly for one. Now if we could just find a vessel to use.”
Kammy raked her claws into his flesh. “Imbecile! You’ve done nothing but gather them as a large target for the enemies.”
“Don’t be so quick of tongue, I’m not foolish enough to leave them without any defensive spells,” Vermik justified.
Kammy sneered. “Fine, but swing back around, we need to get the children and Kamek.”
Vermik spat with distaste at Kamek’s name but obeyed. “As you wish, Kam.”
~*~*~*~
Kamek swallowed as much air as he could before diving in. The water was so cold it was emasculating. The Magikoopa placed his wand in his mouth and muttered a spell for it to shine like a searchlight. He swam with great waves of his arms and quickly cruised into the room, where he found Bowser’s young. Morton looked panic-stricken and was gasping for air underneath the water. Kamek fluttered over with his feet, leaving a trail of bubbles behind him. The elder Koopa breathed air from his own lungs into the youthful Koopa’s, surging him into coherence. Morton flailed for a moment, then proceeded to grapple onto the warlock like a vice. Kamek strained with the added weight but managed to swim back out the way he came when a great shake occurred. He looked around and knew what had happened; Kammy’s barrier was dispelled. He swam slightly further when the walls around him began to break away and attacker vessels with glowing red lights that resembled a spider’s head with its multiple eyes shoved toward him. Kamek nearly screamed, expelling the last of his air, but he remained competent. With much gusto, he fired two spheres of blue into the oncoming ship like a pair of torpedoes. Kamek used the distraction to swim out of the ship’s containment and into the sea outside. He squinted and saw the surface was too far for him to swim with Morton’s additional girth. Kamek conjured up another spell and tossed the Koopa on his back in front of him. White particles flew from the mage’s wand and surrounded the gray-faced Morton in a buoyant bubble. Morton looked perplexed as he began rising to the surface. Kamek watched the dancing white lights on his wand’s tip as he built a second for himself, but gasped as the lights faded when he felt a sharp pain in his spine. Morton cried out with saucer-eyes as Kamek disappeared into the jaws of the submerged enemy.
~*~*~*~
Jagger flipped a row of switches and began rotating levers and other devices. An electric hum sounded as red lights flashed on the computer console. The general’s eyes scurried across the blueprint instructions again and he barked orders to the few minions that he had gathered on his way.
“General, this won’t work! It’s not finished, we don’t even have any weapons!” the Lakitu foreman argued.
“I’m not looking for a way to fight, I just want to know if this thing is fly-ready.” Jagger’s hand reached towards a large, gray button that he proceeded to press. The whirring engines rumbled to life. The frail and incomplete craft began to shake. Jagger looked at the Lakitu when the Koopa Jet II mustered the energy to get up off the ground. “This is now a rescue mission! Find the survivors and let’s get out of here!”
~*~*~*~
Jade’s troops appeared back on the beach as the Gargantuan started to sink. The admiral stepped forward into the large crowd of minions that Vermik had assembled and gasped at the battlefield. The enemy aircrafts had slaughtered any defensive attacks and were now divided in attacking the aircraft carrier and the shielded Devastator. Jade looked to her side and saw Major Mallet.
She rushed over to him and asked, “What’s everyone doing? Is there any plan?” Jade asked.
Mallet looked at her worriedly. “That shapeshifter sent us here and left us with a simple magic barrier. I figure we’re goners for sure.”
“Where’s Kamek and Kammy in this whole mess? And King Bowser?” Jade asked.
“Kamek and Kammy went to rescue Bowser’s kids.” Mallet looked to the jungle. “No sign of Bowser or his troops yet…”
Jade was about to ask another question when the surrounding soldiers started a commotion. She looked outward to the sea and witnessed the Koopa Jet II rising to its test flight.
~*~*~*~
Bowser tugged with all his might, straining his muscles. “Boy, he’s stuck in there tight.”
The fiery Podoboo had brought his new master back to the landing site, where his concrete-based friend still remained buried in the sand. The Koopa King was now doing his best to unearth Whomp. Bowser strained again.
“You can’t do it?” Embert worried.
Bowser laughed ignorantly. “Bwa ha ha! I’m not so easy to beat.”
“Really? You went down fast after that one guy back there…”
Bowser glared at the fireball. “Since it’s your first day on the job, I’ll let you live, but make a comment like that again and I’ll stomp you good!”
“Sorry…” Embert apologized. With a final tug Bowser wrenched the subdued Whomp from the sand. “Hurray!”
Whomp landed with a thud. “URR URRR!
Bowser shook his head. “That was nice exercise.”
“I hope you enjoyed it.”
Bowser, Embert and the newly freed Whomp turned to find the source of the voice. The robotic warrior had followed them to the beach. The Koopa King squinted and could make out the blood of his troops splattered on the helmet’s visor, blocking the eyes that he swore he had looked into before.
“Who are you?” Bowser snarled.
“No one of consequence,” the robot chided.
Mechanical in motion but astonishingly hasty, the robot morphed into his egg-like state and sprouted electrically charged spikes from his hide. With jet boosters in tow, the robot launched forward and smashed Embert and Whomp off their feet and into the sky like bowling pins. The warrior’s attack concluded with a massive impact to Bowser’s chest. The obese turtle flipped backward and smashed into a pine tree, knocking three coconuts from the treetop that smashed his skull. Blood trickled from both the Koopa’s nostrils and the corners of his jaws. Bowser wiped the blood away as the robot returned to its bipedal form.
“I must know!” Bowser insisted.
The robot titled its head. “Get used to disappointment.”
His right arm extended at Bowser, the hand forming into a cannon. White and purple energy was gathered at the gun’s port, glowing off the metallic surface of the robot. Just before releasing the final blow, a tiny Podoboo landed on the robot’s head. Confused, the robot studied Embert as he hit the ground in a daze. The machine had forgotten about the other two, getting wrapped up in the killing of King Koopa. When that thought finally went through his head, he noticed that both Bowser and Embert were running away at top speed. Huh?
WWWWWHOMP!
~*~*~*~
Kammy and Vermik had begun gathering the children when Morton breached the water. The one garbed in black fished him out and popped the transparent bubble. It splattered onto Morton’s scales and coated him in a disturbingly sticky substance.
“Where’s Kamek?” Wendy asked.
Morton vacuumed the air. “He was captured by the submarine!”
“WHAT?” Kammy shrieked.
“I feel so stupid, why oh why didn’t I go with you guys? Kamek would still be with us if it wasn’t for me and getting frozen stiff back there… it’s all my fault!” Morton whined.
Kammy’s fist met with Morton’s flapping jaws.
“Hey, a rescue ship!” Larry exclaimed.
The Koopa Jet II was flying in all its unfinished glory towards the sinking Devastator. Unlike the last Koopa Jet it didn’t resemble the Doomship model quite as accurately: this one was covered in metal and somewhat painted a dark green color, with red spikes poking out from the bottom, making it look like Bowser’s shell. The craft was suitably egg-shaped; the upper dome protecting the interior chambers could retract in the middle to allow entry or an on-deck battle. The wings were short and skinny for the stout aircraft and probably the least finished parts. The right had a large hole in the center where a gun turret would be set up, and the left wing had a rotating platform secured tight with several wires dangling off. The whopping four rocket boosters in the back provided for maximum speed, perfect and essential for getting out of sticky situations like the one provided. With only two of the boosters working, the Koopa Jet sustained a hover of the Devastator and dropped a rope ladder down. The Koopa Kids immediately started climbing, with Junior in the lead until Roy pushed him off. Remarkably the rope ladder held its own against Roy’s girth combined with the weight of the five other Koopalings. Vermik hopped on his broom and made to fly alongside the aircraft when he noticed Kammy hadn’t moved since she'd punched Morton.
“Come on, we haven’t time to waste!” Vermik shouted.
“I can’t leave him here, I’ve got to save him!” Kammy said.
Vermik hopped from his broom and put his thin claw on her bony shoulder. “We can’t do anything for him now. We’ll need to regain our numbers to save him.”
Kammy turned around, obviously in an emotional state. “But what if they kill him?”
“They won’t, Kamek’s too clever to go off and get killed. Besides, I’m still alive, and you know that our vitals have been fused. It was your doing,” Vermik rationalized. Kammy hesitated, but the black wizard wouldn’t allow it. “There’s nothing we can do, come with me on my broom and let’s get out of here while we can.”
Kammy thought for a moment. “No.”
“No?”
“I’ll ride on Kamek’s broom,” Kammy explained, grabbing the broom that her cousin had left on the ship. “Make sure he gets it back when we rescue him.”
Vermik smirked. “Very well, let’s go.”
~*~*~*~
“Is it dead?” Bowser asked.
The three of them leaned in. Bowser, Whomp, and Embert looked down at the poor, crushed and ultimately “whomped” robot that had been such a threat earlier. Gravity, it’s truly a wonderful thing.
One of its legs was twisted in the incorrect direction, and both arms seemed to have taken great beatings. The robot warrior’s metallic hide was damaged, and it was obvious there was something more to the enemy than one assumed. Scaly flesh was visible beyond the wires that showed through the pierced outer shell. Bowser leaned in closer, smelling the air. The familiar scent danced in his sinuses like a word or name on the tip of his tongue. What couldn’t he remember?
“Look!” Embert cried.
The robot’s left hand wiggled, brushing rubble from the crater impact and its metal casing away. A three-fingered claw reached out. Bowser looked through the cracked visor, recognizing the eyes.
“It’s… you!” the Koopa King said, awe-stricken.
“Lord Bowser!” Vermik called.
Bowser, Whomp, and Embert all turned to see the black-robed Magikoopa flying at maximum pace towards them. The darkly dressed sorcerer removed his scepter and extended it to the sky, sending out a distress beacon.
“URR URR! URR URRRRR!” Whomp warned.
“What’s he urring about?” Bowser asked.
“The robot!” Embert screamed.
Looking back into the Whomp-shaped crater, the threesome saw large, black, machine-like vines break from the surface of the ground and wrap up the defeated droid. After a firm grasp, the black tentacles dragged the cyborg into the island’s flesh. The scaly claw escaping the metal confines reached forward at Bowser. The Koopa King lurched forward into the crater and extended his own claw, trying to grasp it. In miracle time, the claws clasped together. Bowser held on with all his might.
“I won’t let go!” Bowser roared, using all his strength to pull up the descending foe.
The eyes inside the helmet closed shut. Just before the pain hit, an electrical whine sounded. The black tentacles produced a pulse charge that went through the cyborg’s body and into Bowser’s. The Koopa King flew back in pain, grasping his head, which was radiating with a dark pink light. Embert poked into the crater again, seeing the robot awake once more. Just before disappearing into the sands, the creature gave a final wink.
~*~*~*~
Clever Guy jolted awake. Instantaneously his hand shot to the side of his head, which was throbbing with intense pain.
“Curses, what a fool I am.”
The Shy Guy then felt the cold water. He looked down and noticed it was already waist-deep. He turned and looked at the escape pod, which was filling up with water as well.
“Blast! This might jeopardize my escape!”
Clever Guy leapt to his feet, his lab coat weighing him down with dampness. The Shyster dashed across the computer console and started punching the keyboard, accessing the launch sequence and flight path. My weight plus the plant’s, not to mention the water… Clever Guy entered his mathematics, hoping for his to genius show now more than ever. He pressed confirm and made his way into the pod. As he shut the door, the walls of the Gargantuan were blasted away. The enemy submarines had infiltrated the ship, and now a mad rush of water splashed against the pod just prior to closing. Clever Guy coughed out the liquid that had sprayed into his throat. After recovering, he peered out the pod’s circular window and viewed the submarines swimming closer to him. They knew he was there. He clenched his teeth and wrenched a railing sticking out from the door with his hand. He turned around and viewed the pod’s timer. He had nine seconds left. He had to make it. They wouldn’t be able to stop him in time.
CLANG!
He looked back out the window and met with a large mechanoid vice. The claw grip had seized the escape pod around the middle and was beginning to crush it with great strength. Bolts shot off and air pressure flooded into the room. The hot air smacked Clever Guy violently. He fell on his rear as the middle of the pod continued to crush in on itself. Suddenly there was a leak, and then another. The water rushed in through the tiny cracks, slowly rising at the bottom of the pod. The Piket Ludwig looked at the rising water and met with Clever Guy’s face.
“We’re not going to make it…” Clever Guy stated.
Another leak sprung as a machine-produced beeping ensued. The Shy Guy looked at the clock; time was up! He laughed strangely in relief as the rockets fired and he felt a lift. The grip was released and he was launched out of the water. With rip-roaring agility the pod escaped the onslaught and boosted into the sky. Clever Guy started to laugh and looked at Ludwig.
“That was a close call. I must remember to further investigate the inhabitants of the island.”
~*~*~*~
“Is he all right?” Junior asked.
“He’ll be fine, he seems to have suffered a shock though,” Vermik explained.
Kammy and Vermik set the massive tyrant down with their magical abilities and proceeded to fly into the Koopa Jet’s hull. The large opening closed and the aircraft rose into the sky.
“Dad, what’s wrong?” Iggy asked.
Bowser shook himself and grabbed onto his son. The King Koopa looked past Iggy’s glasses and mumbled something. “It was him… you…”
Bowser fell to the floor. The Koopas surrounding shrieked, rushing to their king’s aid.
“What hit him?” Kammy demanded.
“I don’t know, I didn’t arrive in time. Something in a hole…” Vermik described.
Kammy snarled and turned around, seeing the fiery Podoboo and his brick-shaped friend. “You!”
“… Me?” Embert whimpered.
“You were with King Bowser, were you not?” Kammy asked.
“Yes, I, I was…” Embert mumbled.
“What happened?”
Embert searched through words and exchanged a glance with Whomp. “Um… It was that monster… and then the weird tentacles…”
Roy and Wendy ganged up on either side of the fireball. Roy snorted, “Make sense, pyro-spit!”
Whomp stood up in anger. “URR URR! NO MEAN TO EMBERT OR WHOMP GO WHOMP!”
“Quiet!” Jagger yelled. “We don’t have time to argue, we still need to get out of here! Kammy, Vermik; we’ve got a few stragglers on our tail!”
The Magikoopas looked to each other and then to their general. With a swift, in sync nod they fled out the opened hull door and into the sky on broomstick.
There were five ships. These were top-of-the-line. Sleek and deadly, they sliced through the air effortlessly, oftentimes flying at high speeds with trails of their image behind it. Kammy and Vermik circled each other and broke apart stylistically, preparing their specific attacks. The black-robed wizard hopped to his feet and stood on his zooming broomstick, summoning his magical powers. In a puff of smoke the Magikoopa was gone and in his place was an avian creature of Nimbus Land known as a Birdy. Black-feathered and grasping a large spear, the transformed Vermik waved his new instrument mightily above him as the aircrafts raced towards him. He thrust his weapon at the closest ship and a lightning bolt forked forth from the spearhead. It struck the enemy with great force, but a strong, transparent shield deflected the beam. The attack only caused the aircraft to barrel roll out of the way. Vermik cursed and spiraled out of the way as two more ships tumbled after him.
Kammy was having her own problems. The two other ships had locked their sights on the elderly witch and were firing their green pulse cannons rapidly. Dodging left and right, and up and down, the old Magikoopa was desperate for a way out. She looked below her and saw the surface of the water, an idea forming quickly. On a dime, the old hag turned directly down, spiraling out of control. The ships hadn’t anticipated this move, but quickly followed after the purple-clad mistress. Kammy opened her hand, growing ever closer to the water’s surface. She gathered her strength and a white coating of frost surrounding her claw. One of the ships had caught up and was right behind her. Razor spikes extended from the craft’s nose and extended wings as it approached Kammy. Then SPLASH! Into the water! Kammy’s spell took effect instantly. The frost on her hand spread on the surface of the water and solidified just in time. She looked back up at the surface only to her dismay. The ship simply smashed right through her blockade. She looked back in front of her and screamed. The enemy submarines had been following too! There were about seven of them surrounding her, extending their large claws. She pulled up and flew back towards the surface, and towards the chasing jet. She evaded the jet by dashing to the side, unknowingly sending the ship to its demise. The aircraft continued forward and crashed into the submarines before it could stop. The resulting explosion took out most of the subs as well as the flyer. Kammy resurfaced outside the ice sheet’s barriers and flew back into the sky, where the other aircraft was waiting.
~*~*~*~
“What do you mean I don’t have anything to fly in?! Where are my Koopacopters?” In the passing time, Bowser had come to his senses and was eager to help in the fight. “I already lost most of my army and all of my battleships! I demand to take what revenge I can!”
“I’m sorry, Bowser, but there’s nothing we can do,” Mallet argued. “Kammy and Vermik are our only flyers left!”
Bowser grabbed him by the throat and held him up high. “And what if we lose them? Then we’re really in trouble!”
Mallet tried to speak. “Please, sir… you’re… killing… me…”
“Ah, shut up!” Bowser roared, tossing the Hammer Brother out of the opened hull door and to the ocean below.
“King Bowser!” Jade cried. “Now is not the time to lose any more of our men! Please calm down!”
Bowser grabbed his admiral by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. “They took my beanbag chair, Jade, they took my beanbag chair!”
With a grunt the Koopa released his female officer and stared back out at the battlefield.
~*~*~*~
Kammy raced up to Vermik, who was still in Birdy form.
“Vermik… they’re too tough. I’m running out of strength.”
Vermik’s bird eyes looked into Kammy’s reptilian ones. “We could run, Kam.”
“What?”
Vermik shifted to his normal form and grabbed Kammy’s hand. “We could fly away and let the ships take the others. We could save ourselves…”
Kammy growled. “Traitor!”
“I committed no act of treason!” Vermik pulled his hand from Kammy’s and shot forth a blockade of thick, dark smog at the oncoming fighters. “Come, let’s get back to the Koopa Jet.”
His hand rejoined with the violet-dressed sorceress. The two flew back towards the Koopa Jet II. Looking back, they saw the flyers emerge from the smog but immediately turn back. They glanced at each other but decided not to question it at the moment. Together they flew back into the hull.
Chapter 11: Apprentice’s Amnesia
Twisting his squishy large hat with his gloved claws to wring out the absorbed moisture produced a strangely recognizable sound that the Apprentice remembered from somewhere in the past: the foggy image of a loud monster attacking several meek individuals. After placing the dampened pastry hat back on his bald cranium, the young Koopa rubbed his thin neck comfortingly.
“Ye took quite a spill, didn’t ya?”
Apprentice looked up into the flapping jaws of his rescuer, a shark whose name he did not know. He stood erect on his tail and smiled with gruesome teeth that were coated over with a yellow-green plaque that made the nervous Terrapin shrink inside his shell. The dark blue bottom feeder scratched his face with his flipper, edging underneath the red bandana that fit tightly around his head. Apprentice moved with his eyes scanning the creature, its yellow eyes the eyes of a monster and the flapping reddening gills that looked out of shape and in desperate need of its necessary habitat. His savior reached his other flipper out in front of him for the Apprentice to grab, which he reluctantly did, and stood up on his feet.
“Name’s Chud. Nice to meet ya,” the shark snorted.
The Apprentice mumbled something behind his teeth, showing a concerned smile and nodding appropriately. This creature was kindly enough to rescue him from the unforgiving ocean he had condemned himself to, and he still frightened Apprentice in all territories. He became increasingly less comfortable as a group of four or more sharks, varying in bandana color, scurried over to him by the call of Chud.
“This feller looks like he’s far away from home,” mentioned one of the fish wearing a blue bandana. “Wonder what Johnny’ll say ‘en he gets back.”
“Yeah, so mate, what’s got you all the way out here anyhow? Fixing to meet with Davy Jones?” another asked.
The Apprentice scratched his arm nervously. “Err, um…”
“What’s wrong with this baffoon? He ain’t talking, think a Cheep Cheep done snap his tongue off?”
“People, people, please,” said a more sophisticated voice. “Give the boy some air, stop crowding him!”
The Apprentice looked for the source of the voice, sensing it was something other than an erected sea creature. A warm sense of security draped over the Koopa as a spectacled Mushroomer with sleeves too long for his arms shuffled across the deck and waved the crowd away.
“Get back to business, I’ll deal with him right now.” The sharks groaned and left to their posts. “There now, are you all right?”
The Apprentice regained his speech. “Uh, yes. Thank you, sir.”
The Mushroomer chuckled. “Sir? How am I your superior?”
The Apprentice thought about this, producing a vein in his head. “Uh…”
“Easy now, don’t go and give yourself an aneurysm. That won’t do any of us any good. Now,” the dignified Mushroomer stood tall and brushed himself off, holding a short cane in front of him. “I am Russ T: denizen of the Mushroom Kingdom and humble bookworm. May I ask who you are?”
The Apprentice looked into the Mushroomer’s face. “Me?”
“Yes, of course you, I’m not speaking to the ocean,” Russ T. said irritably, as most intellectual snobs tend to do. The Apprentice looked down at himself and scanned his memory. Russ T. fumbled with his round-brimmed glasses. “Oh dear, don’t tell me you’ve gone and caught a case of amnesia now.”
“Amnesia?” the Koopa asked.
“Stars in the sky, the lad’s a complete ignoramus.”
“I’m a what?”
Russ T. shook his head and was slowly grasping why the turtle had instinctively seen himself as an inferior.
“Sorry, sir, um, I mean Russ, but...
“Yes, what is it?”
The Apprentice sniffed and rubbed his stomach. “I… I think I’m hungry. Do we have anything to eat?”
~*~*~*~
The Apprentice’s dull, comic eyes widened at the unsettling sight. A large plate of uncooked, slimy Blooper meat was set before him. He felt his stomach shrivel up like a frightened turtle, which he then did himself and enclosed himself in his shell.
“It’s all we got,” the gruff shark said.
“But it’s not even cooked!” the Apprentice moaned.
“Look, the ship’s cook was killed a few months ago by a sea monster. Name was Crill, good fish, good sailor. Not such a good cook, though.” The gray shark looked the Koopa up and down. “Hey, yer wearin’ the chef costume here anyway, don’t you know how to do this stuff?”
The Apprentice perused himself. “Wow, I am wearing an apron and one of those funny hats. Not to mention the oven mitts.”
“Well, that’s all we got; you up to cookin’ it, be my guest. We’ve got a fireball onboard here somewhere goes by the name a Ashley. Real nice gal, she’ll provide any heat ya need.”
The Apprentice studied his oven mitts and nodded to the shark, who then left through the door. Sniffing his meal, he nearly retched and pushed it away when the door opened again and in walked Russ T. dragging a sack behind him.
“Not hungry?” Russ T. asked sarcastically.
“No… um,” Apprentice then realized his tone. “Heh, yeah.” Russ T. beamed and produced a slice of bread from his pocket, which the amnesia-ridden reptile gobbled in seconds. “Thank you SO much.”
“Think nothing of it,” the Mushroomer said. “Now, this sack contains some items our boy Chud found you with. He grabbed anything that looked useful along with you and carried you to the ship. Let’s show you some items you had and see if anything rings a bell, shall we?”
“Okay.”
“First item is this.” Russ T held up a cookbook. Someone named "Yev Kasem" wrote it. Apprentice shook his head at the item, not making any connections that hadn’t already been implied by the chef clothing. “Then how about this?” Russ T next showed a pair of earmuffs to the Koopa. The earmuffs had the trademark face of a female Mushroomer with yellow spots and gray hair. The Apprentice felt an immediate reaction towards the face.
“Who… Who is that?”
Russ T snorted and looked at the earmuffs. “I believe that’s to be Tayce T, one of the most famous chefs in the Mushroom Kingdom. She’s quite good at what she does; does the name or her face seem familiar?”
“Tayce T…” The Apprentice licked the roof of his mouth with narrowed, almost sinister eyes as the words danced on his palette. “I don’t know, but I think I’ve heard that name before…”
Russ T shrugged. “Perhaps you knew her or maybe were even her apprentice at one time, since you look like a chef.”
“Apprentice?!” the Koopa shouted absurdly loud, standing up from his chair.
“What, did that word trigger a memory?”
The Apprentice nodded excitedly. “Yes, that sounds really familiar… I think I am an apprentice! An apprentice to Tayce T!”
Russ T cheered in good spirits. “That’s great, we’re finally getting somewhere.”
The Apprentice smiled. “It feels so good to know where you belong!”
“Last thing,” Russ T said, “is this.”
The Apprentice’s eyes fixated upon the PAN OF PAIN. At one single moment, all of his memories and all the details of his life flooded back into his brain. The flashing images appeared before his eyes at a seizure-inducing pace. Blood trickled from his nose as he began to sway and lose balance. Green eyes glared into his soul just before the Apprentice passed out.