Chapter 9: Spy High
The mighty airship belonging to Lord Bowser, the Mirthshedder, cut through the blackened air like an arrow. Dozens of the battleship's enormous propellers hummed and swished as they rotated nonstop, allowing the Mirthshedder to continue its unfaltering course toward the Wind Region of Plateaus. The doomship was quite inactive inside and out as far as live beings were concerned, however; Lord Bowser and his offspring snored away peacefully in their separate quarters far below deck, and most of the Royal Families' personal guards and entourage rested in beds of their own. It seemed only the crew - who kept a weary watch over the airship's course and condition - and the two Magikoopas Kamek and Kammy were still awake during these wee hours of the morning.
The elderly, blue-garbed sorcerer in question had currently placed himself on a stiff, wooden chair at the corner of his rather cramped quarters. His eyes were closed and his mind was tight with concentration as he slowly raised arms upward on either side of him when the door across from him slammed open. Jerked forcefully from his focused mindset, Kamek straightened his spectacles, which were a half inch away from slipping off his face, and glared irritably up at the source of sudden intrusion. As a set of billowing purple robes, a wrinkled face, and locks of straight, white-colored hair caught the Magikoopa's eye, he knew immediately that it was Kammy who had interrupted.
"You have excellent timing," Kamek snapped sarcastically. "What are you here for?"
"I"m here to make sure you get some rest," Kammy explained, leaning against the door frame. "I know you don't perform at your best when you're tired, and we'll be arriving at Plateaus tomorrow morning."
"Suddenly my mother now, are you?" Kamek questioned.
"No, I'm simply attempting to look after my colleague."
"So sorry to inform you, dearest," Kamek growled, "but I'm not a child, and I haven't been one for a long while. I certainly don't need you to 'look after me'."
Kammy sniffed. "Have it your way. I would suggest strongly, however, that you go to bed soon."
"I'll sleep when I see fit."
Frowning and giving a bit of a hostile shrug, Kammy turned and whipped out the door, slamming it behind her rather loudly. As soon as the elderly sorceress had left fully, Kamek took a deep breath and closed his eyes once more.
~*-*~
Inhaling sharply, a Mushroomer donning sunglasses and a smart, black suit grit his teeth as a set of heavy footsteps clomped by only a few feet away. Crouched and concealed behind a small stack of crates, the spy mouthed a curse word as the Koopa traveling down the hallway he occupied ceased his stride for a moment. A long, tension-filled moment passed before the Mushroomer chanced a glance behind the crate to confirm the location of his would-be foe. Rotating himself silently so that he could face the the center of the hallway, the spy slowly rose his head above the crates to a get a look.
A foot or so from his face was the scaly, helmet-clad cranium of a beefy Hammer Brother, who grinned malevolently at the Mushroomer.
"I thought I heard something," the Hammer-wielding Koopa said. "Some heavy breathing, maybe? You're not much of a spy, are you?"
The Mushroomer didn't reply, and simply stared wide-eyed at the burly Hammer Brother in front of him.
"Frozen in fear?" the Koopa taunted. "Figures. Now, the question is, what should I do about you? I could start yelling to the rest of my mates and capture you that way, or I could easily take you out myself. Decisions, decisions..."
Before the Koopa could decide on one of the decisions, however, the spy finally sprung into action. Grabbing up the smallest crate that stood in front of him, he heaved it fiercely at the Hammer Brother, who had no time to react and was clobbered painfully in the gut by the square-shaped projectile. The Mushroomer quickly took the opportunity to leap over the remaining crates and pelt frantically down the hallway, but the assaulted Koopa had quickly recovered, and chased after the suit-wearing Shroom brandishing a large, yellow mallet.
As the chase continued, other nearby
Koopas onboard
had been alerted by the ruckus. Periodically,
a Koopa soldier would burst out of a side door in front of the escaping
Mushroomer, and the spy would be required to either shoulder through the
bewildered turtle or dodge by them. Regardless of the method used by the
Shroom, the bulky Hammer Brother would easily bowl by the obstacles and
continue a relentless pursuit. What the spy lacked in secrecy he seemingly
made up for in speed, however, allowing the Mushroom Kingdom espionage
member to keep a fair distance between him and his peruser as he keenly
followed sets of metal signs that indicated the direction of the Main Engine
Room.
After several minutes of chase, the Mushroomer swiftly leapt down the final steps of a moldy, wooden stairway and reached the end of the hallway he occupied, where an old, rusted metal door stood. Breathing rapidly, the spy could hear the thundering steps of his persuer echoing down the stairway, and hurriedly lunged for the door and groped for the handle. He located it easily, turned it, and attempted to yank the metal barrier open. It was to no avail, however; there was a keyhole visible bellow the handle, and the door was locked firmly.
"Looks like I've cornered you, puny fungus," the Hammer Brother huffed as he reached the bottom of the stairway and rose his mallet slightly. "Any last words?"
The spy simply shook his head, reached into his suit, and pulled out a Star-pistol, which he pointed directly at his Koopa foe. He pulled the trigger immediately, and a shiny star projectile blasted from the gun's barrel, slicing through the air as it approached its target. The Hammer Brother, though slightly baffled by the sudden attack, swatted the assail away with the end of his hammer and charged the Mushroomer spy, raising his mallet threateningly above his head. As the Koopa got within a few feet of his opponent and swung his mighty weapon downward, the Mushroomer was forced to dive quickly out of the way to avoid being brutally flattened.
The end of the hammer smashed a large, gaping hole through the the wooden floor of the hallway, but the Hammer Brother was not at all put off as he ducked another star shot at him by the spy and lunged for his foe once more. This time, however, instead of taking the time to raise his mallet fully, the Beefy Bro. simply shot the end of his weapon straight outward and scored a direct hit into the Mushroomer's stomach. As the Shroom doubled over, the Hammer Brother landed a pierce onto the spy's forehead, which disoriented the Mushroomer. Indeed, as he staggered to keep himself on his feet, the Shroom seemed completely oblivious to the fact that his foe was cocking his hammer high above his head, eager to make the final strike.
It seemed, however, that the spy was more aware than the Koopa bargained for; just as the Hammer Bro. was about to slam his weapon downward, the Mushroomer, using the butt of his firearm, bludgeoned his opponent harshly in the face. The large, yellow mallet slipped from the Hammer Brother's hands immediately and fell uselessly behind the turtle as he staggered back, receiving the blunt of several more strikes via the end of the Mushroomer spy's Star-pistol. Finally a fierce, horizontal blow brought the Hammer Brother to the floor, and the Shroom quickly flipped his gun around and aimed the barrel of his firearm directly at the Hammer Brother's head.
"Who's cornered now?" the spy questioned smugly, delivering a death-bringing shot to the Koopa's skull.
Wasting no time, the Mushroomer stowed his Star-pistol back into his suit and began searching the fallen Koopa for an item of merit. To his delight he found a hefty ring of keys which, if he was lucky, might grant him access to the Main Engine Room. Tearing the keys away from the dead Hammer Brother, the spy strode eagerly toward the locked metal door and inserted the first key. After going through about two-thirds of the available keys, the lock finally clicked open, and the Mushroomer happily pulled open the door. Wearing a broad grin, the spy dressed in black pocketed the ring of keys and entered the Main Engine Room.
The spy gasped in spite of himself as he glanced about the room, nearly entranced by its massive complexity. Thousands of different mechanic pieces hung from the tall ceiling, rose from the floor, and coiled out from the walls. Enormous steel gears over fifty feet in length shuddered as they rotated, and hundreds of lengthy levels and pulleys squeaked audibly as they twitched, rose, and fell. Upon examining more and more of the room, the Mushroomer's swell of joy rapidly diminished as he realized the difficulty of the task at hand.
Where to begin?
The spy located what appeared to be a main outlet of power and sauntered over to it. It didn't take him long to figure out that the controls were way over his head, and was on the verge of simply blasting it apart with his Star-pistol when, with a massive lurch, all light sources apart from a solitary bulb hanging at the middle of the enormous room flickered out. Quickly turning about face, the spy slowly drew his firearm and threw it forward as his eyes twitched back and forth in the darkness. After a long moment, a shift in the shadows caught his eye, and the Mushroomer whipped his gun in the direction of the movement and fired two quick shots. The star-shaped projectiles sailed through the darkness, and impacted something metallic a second or so later.
"Nice try," a voice taunted from the depths of the shadows.
Using the voice as his guide, the spy aimed his Star-pistol in another direction and fired another blast. Again, it missed its shrouded target, and the Mushroomer cursed as he heard a set of soft footsteps approach him from the right. He turned and fired once more, this time having seen his potential foe, who was naught but a murky figure clad in dark blue. His opponent easily leapt over the projectile, however, and slipped from sight behind a coiling piece of machinery that hung from the ceiling. The spy let loose an additional three blasts, but the stars simply bounced off the machine the shrouded figure had concealed itself behind.
"I can't say that I'm not a bit surprised that our vessel has managed to be infiltrated by the likes of you," the voice continued, "but no matter."
Bang.
There was a piercing flash of light, and the spy felt his firearm fly from his hand as it was wrenched from his grasp by an invisible force. A half second later, the dark figure was on him, pinning him to the ground with its knees and pointing a wand at his chest. It didn't take long for the Mushroomer spy to realize that it was none other Kamek Koopa, ex-Magioopa-in-chief, who had him pinned to the floor.
"What are your motives?" Kamek hissed, prodding the spy with the tip of his wand.
"Motive this!" the Mushroom snapped, kicking a surprised Kamek off him and darting blindly away.
He didn't get far. The clumsy spy almost immediately caught his foot on a piece of machinery and fell to the floor just as Kamek righted himself and swept after the Mushroomer. The elderly Magikoopa reached the floored spy and turned him onto his back with the edge of his foot before sticking his heel into the Mushroomer's gut and aiming his wand down at his captive's forehead.
"Motive?" Kamek repeated sharply. "And no funny business this time, either."
The spy made another attempt to free himself, but Kamek quickly stilled him with a blow to the stomach.
"Won't say," the Mushromer said stubbornly.
"Always the hard way for you idiots, isn't it?" Kamek said dully, digging into his robe pockets and withdrawing a small glass vial filled with a glittering, teal-colored substance.
Kamek flicked his wand lazily toward the Mushroomer's head, and the spy's mouth was wrenched forcefully open. The Magikoopa then carefully leaned over him and poured two small drops of the teal liquid into the Mushroomer's mouth. He then corked the vial, stowed it in his robes, and waited for a reaction. It came seconds later; the spy made an odd gurgling sound, and pulsing blue veins began to spiderweb across the whites of the Mushroomer's eyes.
"What are you doing here?" Kamek asked calmly.
"I was sent by the Mushroom Kingdom's new espionage system, and deployed here after we learned of your interest in a great power granted by the Crimson Pillar," the spy informed truthfully with flat voice. "My job was to spy further and perhaps sabotage your vessel. I came down here to do just that, but was interrupted."
"What does the Mushroom Kingdom know about the Crimson Pillar?" Kamek questioned further.
"Very little," the Mushroomer replied. "We only know that it supposedly grants great power."
"Are you the only resistance against our ploy that they are counting on, or are they planning something else?"
"I am unsure."
"Very well," Kamek muttered, stepping back from the spy. "We'll have more questions for you later, I'm sure."
Kamek turned and swept toward the room's exit, drawing a small, handheld communication device from his robes while doing so.
"Guards to the Main Engine Room," he spoke evenly into the device. "Post haste."
Chapter 10: Escape!
"All right, Fire Spells," Aterix stated with loud distaste. "Watch closely, now."
A very disgruntled-looking Magikoopa third-in-comand stood in a large, stone room, flanked by more then a dozen young Koopa sorcerors garbed in a uniform robe that was a dark green. Ten yards or so in front of Aterix was a line of straw dummies held up by wooden poles that were made up to look like Mushroomers taking battle positions. Aterix drew his wand and flicked it at the nearest Mushroomer dummy, which immediately burst into flame. The class of young Magikoopa applauded politely as Aterix lowered his wand.
"The trick to Fire Spells is to keep your mind focused on something intense and passionate," Aterix explained. "Then, once you think you've focused hard enough, transfer your thoughts into your wands like we've been doing with the rest of spells I've thought you, then release. Most of you will probably just end up with a puff of smoke shooting from your wand, which occurs from a lack of passionate thought. Some of you might simply feel the tip of your wand radiate with heat, but get no actual magic. That occurs often when the transfer of thought wasn't tight enough."
The class simply stared at Aterix as he finished, and the green clad Magikoopa motioned toward the dummies behind him. "Carry on."
The class obliged, and Aterix stepped out of the way and toward a corner of the room, where he slumped moodily against the stone wall and halfheartedly watched his students. The Magikoopa teacher was, of course, irritated that he hadn't been able to leave with most of the other high ranking officers aboard the Mirthshedder. After all, he had been the actual trip supervisor for a large portion of the time, and he wanted dearly to observe the fruits of his labor. But alas, Kamek had told him they needed someone to look after the castle while they were gone, and there had been no point in arguing.
Aterix's thoughts were interrupted suddenly when a tiny fireball rocketed over his head and plowed into the wall behind him, missing the Magikoopa by less then a foot.
"Sorry, Master Aterix!" one of the students called, and the rest of the class laughed gleefully.
Aterix scowled. "Focus harder!"
~*-*~
Whyrl woke with a start. He sat up and glanced around the room, which he easily identified as the Castle Koopa infirmary, which was a small room decorated with flower pots and paintings. A numerous amount of beds, which were all empty apart from the one Whyrl himself occupied, lined the walls, each having their own small table situated next to him. On Whyrl's own table, there were nearly a half-dozen different containers of pills and medicines, each having to do with some sort of mental defect. Just as Whyrl began to examine the medicine closer, a female Koopa dressed in white stepped into the room, which caused the Boomerang Brother to retreat back into his bed.
"Awake, I see," the Koopa in white said.
Whyrl said nothing, but found that his body was rising. Quite unsure why he was acting the way he was, the Boomerang Brother found himself on his feet and reaching for the nearest pot of flowers. The Koopa in white, who was straightening a bed across from Whyrl, was completely oblivious to Whyrl's actions as he stepped toward her from behind and plowed the flower pot onto the back of her head. She gave a yelp as she was hit, then collapsed to the floor as Whyrl gazed forward stupidly, wondering what in the name of DAD he was doing.
It didn't matter. His body was dragging him along once more, this time toward the exit of the room. As he burst through the door and into a wide hallway, Whyrl felt for his boomerang, which was, to his relief, still tucked away in its holder on his belt. As he traveled the hallway most of the guards eyed him strangely, and only a few of them gave him a gruff greeting as he passed. While his body navigated the castle, Whyrl wondered where it was taking him. The path seemed to be heading steadily downward and two the eastern half of the castle, so Whyrl hazard a guess that he would end up in the dungeons.
He was right. Quicker then he would've liked, Whyrl found himself stepping from the end of the tight spiral stairs that led down to the dungeon toward a cell monitored by a pair of Koopa guards armed with tall, steel spears. Whyrl then felt his body halt, and he reached quickly for his boomerang, which rested in a leather holder that was strapped to his waste. At that moment, the cell guards had noticed Whyrl and were pacing briskly toward him. The Boomerang Brother drew his arm back then lurched it forward, letting fly his projectile, which sailed speedily toward the nearest guard and collided fiercely with his cranium.
As the boomerang began to circle back, the second guard lunged at Whyrl and made a vertical swing towards him with his spear. Whyrl easily sidestepped the attack and, using the guard's forward momentum, threw the spear-wielding Koopa to the ground by gripping his right arm and lurching him off balance. Whyrl then caught his return boomerang and hurled it in the second guard's direction just as he turned and rose to his feet. The whirling projectile slammed into the guard's chest, knocking him backwards and causing him to drop his weapon. Having hit the guard at an angle that wouldn't allow it to return to its owner, the boomerang clattered to the floor just as Whyrl snatched up the fallen spear. Stepping quickly forward, Whyrl then dug the flat end of the spear into the guard's face, knocking him cold.
Straightening himself, Whyrl threw the spear aside and retrieved his boomerang. As he slid his weapon into its holder, Whyrl reached down and plucked a ring of keys from the guard's belt. He then strode toward the cell and glanced inside.
"You our new guard?" the voice of Lemmy Koopa asked from behind the bars.
"The two misbehaving princes?" Whyrl stated, raising an eyebrow. "That's who I've come to let out?"
"You're going to let us out?" a voice from deeper inside the cell asked, and Iggy Koopa appeared next to his brother.
"Apparently," Whyrl replied, fingering through the ring of keys until he found the right one, which he inserted into the lock.
Whyrl swung open the cell, and both Koopalings hurriedly stumbled out from the prison. The Boomerang Brother then closed the cell and locked it again, before turning toward the two Koopa princes, who were scampering toward the dungeon exit.
"Wait!" Whyrl called after them. "Don't leave! You have to come with me!"
Both Koopalings halted, and Lemmy turned and asked, "Why should we?"
"Because I freed you," Whyrl answered.
"So?" Iggy said.
"So... you want to head off to Plateaus with your siblings, right? I could take you there."
"How?" Lemmy questioned.
"And why?" Iggy inquired further. "Why did you set us free in the first place, anyway?"
Whyrl shook his head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. But there would be a way, to pursue them, and I'm sure you know of it."
Lemmy frowned. "Koopa Copters?"
"They've moved them since the last time we hijacked one," Iggy informed.
"That's not a problem," Whyrl said, waving a dismissive hand. "I was guarding the new holding place just yesterday. I know exactly where they are."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Lemmy asked. "Let's go!"
~*-*~
As another wildly conjured fireball flew in Aterix's direction, the Magikoopa in green lazily flicked it away with his wand. He was only seconds away from unleashing a fierce verbal onslaught toward his class of inexperienced magic-users when a startling noise caught his attention.
Crack.
A Magikoopa garbed in gray had appeared at Aterix's side.
"Bad news, Master Aterix," the Magikoopa said.
"Charming," Aterix spat. "What's happened?"
"There's a been a breakout in the dungeon," the Magikoopa informed. "Princes Lemmy and Iggy have escaped."
"Wonderful. Anyone know where they are?"
"Um, no, sir, no one does."
"Hm. Well, I have a hunch I know where they're heading. Keep an eye on the class, would you?"
"Of course, Master Aterix."
Crack.
Aterix had vanished.
~*-*~
"How much farther?" Iggy whined as he, his brother, and Whyrl strode quickly up a long flight of stone stairs.
"Not much," Whyrl said. "We're almost... uh oh."
As the stairway leveled off, the trio of Koopas had reached a large, steel door protected by a pair of Fire Brothers. The door guards recognized Lemmy and Iggy at once, and they both blasted high-speed pyrospheres toward either Koopaling. Both rainbow-haired Koopas ducked to avoid a fiery fate while Whyrl leapt into action, tossing his boomerang at one of the Fire Brothers while launching himself toward the other. The first guard dodged to the side to avoid being hit by the boomerang, while the second wasn't so lucky; having thrown a punch that Whyrl easily scooted to the side of, the Fire Brother found himself careening down the stairway after Whyrl gave the back of his shell a violent shove.
As Whyrl caught his returning boomerang, the first Fire Brother was beginning to aim a fiery assail in his direction. The attack was never launched, however; Lemmy had come up from behind the door guard and shouldered him in the back of neck. This caused the Fire Brother to stumble forward, then turn, just in time to have his legs knocked out from under him by Whyrl's thrown boomerang. As the door guard tried to return to his feet, Iggy lunged from out of nowhere and kneed him in the stomach, causing the Fire Brother to slip into unconsciousness.
"Good work, guys," Whyrl praised as he swung open the steal door. "We'll be out of here in no time."
Just as the three Koopas passed through the threshold, a voice from inside the room proclaimed, "I beg to differ."
The Koopa Copter holding area was a large, rectangular room crafted of a dull, gray stone. The vehicles themselves rested upon dozens of platforms that were built attached to the walls. Next to each platform were a pair of lit torches, and to the left there was a large, circular opening, though which a large portion of hazy Dark Land sky could be seen. At the center of the room was a wide expanse of open space. It was there that Aterix stood with his arms folded, carefully eyeing the group.
"Master Aterix," Whyrl said. "What a pleasant surprise."
Aterix snorted. "Yeah, and who-? Wait. You're that Boomerang Brother that was hit by that magic pillar."
"Could be," Whyrl said.
"We should get out of here," Iggy hissed at Whyrl from behind his back. "This is Aterix, the Magikoopa third-in-command. There's no way we can beat him!"
"We don't need to beat him," Whyrl whispered. "We just need to get by him."
"Enough of your little whisper party!" Aterix snapped, jabbing his wand in the direction of the three Koopas. "It's time I take you two miscreants back to the dungeon where you belong!"
There was a flash of light, and a long string of rope erupted from the tip of Aterix's wand and propelled forward.
"Make for the closest chopper!" Whyrl yelled, drawing his boomerang.
The two Koopalings obliged and began scurrying toward a Koopa Copter to their right, which rested some twenty yards away. Whyrl, meanwhile, grabbed a torch that rested near the door and hurled it at the incoming rope. Upon impacting Aterix's binding projectile, the torch caught itself in the coiling rope and dropped it to the floor, where it immediately burst into flame. Aterix snarled and raised his wand once more just as Whyrl slung his boomerang in the Magikoopa's direction. With a quick slash of his magical weapon, Aterix threw the boomerang off course and sent it sailing in a direction behind him, where it hit the wall and clattered to the floor.
"So you like fire, hm?" Aterix said, smirking as he eyed the Koopalings, who had nearly reached the Koopa Copter. "I can deal."
Flailing his arms like the conductor of an orchestra, the small patch of flame created by the smoldering rope at the center of the room tripled in size. It then split into two different pieces of flame, the first of which ripped through the air and blocked the path of the Koopalings as it took the form of a flaming wall, while the second shifted into a shape similar to an arrow and launched in Whyrl's direction. As Lemmy and Iggy attempted to find some way around the searing wall obstructing their escape, Whyrl nimbly leapt over Aterix's flaming assail and sprinted toward his fallen boomerang. Aterix noticed this and made a downward sweeping motion with his wand, which caused the Boomerang Brother to trip on his own feet and stumble to the ground.
Aterix turned back to the Koopalings and darted toward them with his wand raised. Iggy spotted the Magikoopa's advance and the two of them turned to face their foe.
"Surrender yourself nice and easy," Aterix snarled, "that way I won't have to hurt you."
"No!" Lemmy shouted bravely. "We aren't going back to the dungeon!"
"Um... yeah!" Iggy agreed.
"Fine," Aterix said. "Time for a little disciplinary-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the green-garbed Magikoopa was knocked forward by a whirling, wooden projectile that flew at him from the back. Aterix's wand fell to the floor and immediately the wall of flame blocking the path to the Koopa Copter disappeared. Both Koopalings took the opportunity to make a break for it, but Aterix was not about to give up. The sorceror darted after the two Koopalings and, as he closed in, made a lunge for Iggy just as reached the flying vehicle. The lunge was intercepted, however, by a belched fireball shot by Lemmy, and Aterix was blasted backwards and fell to the floor. Seething, Aterix snuffed the licks of flame decorating his robe and scrambled backward toward his wand.
Standing in front of it with his boomerang raised threateningly was Whyrl.
"Give me your best shot," Aterix spat. "I don't need my wand to beat you!"
Whyrl responded by drawing his arm back and forcefully hurling his boomerang, aiming for Aterix's face. Showing an amazing reflex, the Magikoopa dodged under the attack limbo-style, then rushed forward and attempted to shoulder Whyrl in the chest. Much like Aterix had done, Whyrl dipped his upper body backward and, as Aterix drew near, he gripped the Magikoopa's forearms and hurled him behind him and over his head. Aterix collided with the ground painfully and Whyrl ran for the Koopa Copter, retrieving his boomerang while doing so.
As he reached the chopper, Whyrl leapt gracefully inside just as Lemmy started the engine. The propeller below the Koopa Copter gunned into operation, and Lemmy hurriedly steered the chopper toward the opening. Just as Lemmy swept the chopper into the balmy Dark Land air, Iggy turned to see Aterix collect his wand and dash toward a chopper of his own.
"Wow," Whyrl commented as he followed Iggy's gaze. "He's pretty persistent."