Prologue: Legends and Prophecies
Long... long ago, there was an ancient volcano. It was said that a great power nested within this same volcano, a large, mystical phoenix named the Shreok. Every one-million years the bird comes out of the volcano, the Barrel Volcano. It is said that the bird lays magical eggs, which it then watches over and protects. And anyone fortunate enough to get past the legendary bird and claim the treasured eggs for themselves would achieve great magical abilities. It was also prophesized that a lone Koopa would defeat the bird and be defeated, although the Koopa was not aware of his-
Alkeron sneered. "Darned prophecy." The rest was cut off for some mysterious reason. "Hmph... Written by fools, who don't even know the true story." The wizard snapped his finger and a large, red orb appeared. Then it turned into the silhouette of a Boo.
"Hello, Master."
"Tell me the latest."
"Yes... Setsuka was killed."
"By Mario?"
"No. By... Takoi. The Puppet Master."
Alkeron just laughed. "I had a feeling he'd interfere. Even if I tried to stop him, he's just be too clever. Well, he's gone now too, as I'm sure Mario took care of him."
"Should I... set up an attack?" the Boo asked.
"No. In fact, make a plan to reveal our coordinates to Mario," Alkeron replied.
"WHAT? WHY?" The Boo asked.
"There is no doubt that Mario will kill me. I will be no match for someone of his power..." Alkeron smiled grimly.
"Then why, sir?" The Boo looked skeptical.
"I will not be the one killing Mario. HE will." Alkeron looked at the floor.
"Who?" The Boo asked.
"If I told you, then it wouldn't be a secret," Alkeron said, and laughed. He lit a set of purple candles and sat down in front of an organ. As he played he laughed. And as the Boo turned away, Alkeron looked out of the broken window pane into the dark night sky. The small house overlooked a cliff, with roaring waters below it and jagged rocks protruding from it. The house was beat down and corroded, and many of the windows were shattered. The moon could not be seen that night, as it was covered by clouds.
"Such a beautiful night... Let it not be wasted by fools." The dark, dreary house glowed with a supernatural light, and Alkeron could be seen in full light. He wore a long, dark robe from neck to toe, and his long, purple hair hung down over his face. His right arm was encased in a golden gauntlet which he pumped in the air wildly. And behind one part of his hair lay his right eye. It was large and red, and bloodshot. The other was a simple socket, and his skin was a pale white. Armored legs came from beneath his robe, and he was overall very skinny. Outside the sky was not calm. The clouds were welling up in a cyclone pattern. It was the coming of a storm...
Chapter One: Separation and Loss
It was a gloomy day on the horizon for the Mushroom Kingdom, the sky especially dark for the morning, and lightning crackled. It was raining hard, and it plinked against the stained glass window panes of Peach's castle. Peach sat in her room, listening to the rain hit the roof. Peach's hair was tied up in a bun for once, and she was wearing a purple dress with green highlights. She was barefoot, and was sprawled out on her own bed. In her left hand she held a red rose. She looked at it from a distance and crushed it, sending the rose thorns into her own hand, causing her to bleed. Tears ran down her eyes, but not because of the physical pain.
~~~~~
Mario, as well, was in his room. He was face down in his room, and was not wearing his usual red cap with his symbol. His head, for once, was capless. He wore a black T-shirt, and didn't bother wearing pants over his red boxers. He was on his bed and he looked awful. It seemed like he hadn't bathed or changed his clothes in a week, and his skin had turned a pale color.
"Peach..." he muttered and began to cry again, before he finally fell asleep.
~~~~~
Peach got up from her bed and walked out the door, head held high. She held a powerful stride, as her Mushroomer advisors walked with her. Toad looked at Peach's hand.
"Princess... What happened to your hand?" Toad asked.
"Disregard it. It's nothing..." Peach said, avoiding his gaze.
"Princess... I'm just here to help," Toad said.
"I'm fine," Peach said a bit icily and walked ahead. Toad frowned. Something is wrong with her....but what? he thought to himself. Peach turned a corner in the carpeted hallway and went down a flight of ornate stairs. She went out into the main hall of the castle, where everyone was sitting down at tables and eating foods, enjoying the festivities. Peach had invited several for a party, but she had not told them why. When Peach appeared at the balcony overlooking the hall, everyone cheered and got really quiet. Peach smiled at her people, looking over every one of their bright, shiny faces.
"Hello... You all came here for me... didn't you?" Peach asked. They cheered again.
"All right, all right, I get the picture, everyone." There was laughter from the audience. "I love you all very much... and I want you to know that you're like family to me. And... I know, that these next years will be the best of my life. And I'll be glad to spend them with all of you." Peach looked down and tears came down from her eyes. Toad was watching from afar and noticed this. What's wrong, Princess? Why can't you tell me? he thought. Peach looked out at her audience. They all stared at her with grisly anticipation, and time seemed to stand still as she spoke those words.
"I'm... getting a divorce," Peach stated. The audience gasped and there were murmured whisperings all around the tables.
"Mario... will no longer be with me. Something happened that I do not wish to talk about." The audience stared again. But this time it was from horror and fear at the shocking news they had just heard. But... weren't they all so innocent and cheery seconds before? Before the blonde-haired damsel told them what was so inevitable, Toad ran over to her.
"Princess! Why didn't you tell me? What happened?" Toad asked. Peach glared at him.
"Just leave me alone!" she snapped and ran off, crying. This left the audiunce in another stupor. As she ran up the stairs, Toad followed her, as the others had stayed after to manage the party-goers.
"PRINCESS!!!" Toad shouted, running up after her. She tripped and fell on the stairs. Toad came to her side. "Are you okay?"
"I said... I'm... fine." Peach began crying again, and slumped to the ground. Toad held her hand, and stroked her hair, sort of like what a mother would do. Except... her mother was dead.
~~~~~
Mario sighed and picked up a small picture of Peach and himself. It brought tears to his eyes and he smashed it, bloodying his hand. He pressed his hands against the window, staining it. He looked out of the literally stained glass into the sky. Then he went back to his bed and slammed the pillow over his head, hiding his tears.
"No."
"That's not right."
"YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG, YOU MORON!!!"
Everyone in the game arcade stared at Slimer, who was twenty-seven years old as of late.
"Er... sorry," the Koopa said and turned back to his alien companion, who was playing a game of Dead Rain 4. It was but a simple zombie shooting game, yet Mewtwo-Ninety could not get it right. Mewtwo Ninety was an alien from the planet Zenan. Mew was the meaning of "hope", and Two was the god of their religion. Ninety was a just a number. Every child there is given a number at birth. But enough on that weird subject. It was a particularly stormy day, and Slimer and both of his friends were hanging out in the local video game store.
Slimer glanced around and saw a kid who mouthed the words "retard" at him. Slimer growled. Meanwhile, Mewt was holding the guns... backwards. His customs were a bit different then Plit's, and he was still getting used to it.
"Here," Bow said. She took the guns from him and gave them back, in the right position. "Now, if you pull the trigger, you can shoot the zombies inside the game." Mewt took the guns and shot every zombie in the area before they even got close to him, which caused Slimer to gape at the screen.
"How the... How did you do that?" Slimer asked.
"Where'd you come from?" Bow responded.
"It's actually quite interesting," Mewt said. "The plastic weaponry interacts with the computer-animated creatures on the screen. Simply amazing." His scores on the screen went way up.
"My DAD..." Slimer stated. "He beat the freaking high-score!" The game started flashing and ringing. Since Mewt had never played video games before, this was very new to him.
"ACK! IT'S A BOMB!!! I MUST GET RID OF IT!!!" Mewt picked up the game with his tail and chucked it.
"MEWT, NO!!!" Slimer and Bow said simultaneously. The game went flying through the air and landed on a cat's tail. The cat got enraged and scratched up a teenage Mushroomer. He spilled his soda on an arcade game, which caused it to burst into flames. This set off a chain reaction. The large, charred game fell into another, which fell into another. This continued, domino style, until the final game fell over, hitting a test your might game, right on that part that you hit with the hammer. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, the manager was sitting on the end that went up to the bell. The manager was catapulted into the air in cartoon fashion, making a twinkle in the sky.
Bow and Slimer looked at each other and laughed nervously.
"We are SO dead," Bow said.
"Uh-huh," Slimer replied. Mewtwo, still totally oblivious of the chaos and destruction he had just caused, put his hands on his hips, laughed, and grinned heroically.
"NO NEED TO THANK ME, GOOD CITIZENS! YOU ARE SAFE NOW!" he said in a Superman-like voice. Every eye in the arcade turned toward them.
"Now we're definitely DEAD," Slimer said in horror. Needless to say, the group was kicked out. Mewt looked both ways.
"What? Was it something I said?" The alien was knocked unconscious by one of Slimer's giant mallets. Either it was from Hammerspace, or it was just another one of his large arsenal of weapons.
"MORON!!!" Slimer bellowed, stepping on his friend's unconscious body repeatedly. Somehow the alien managed to get up and groaned.
Bow sighed. "Come on, you two. Let's just go to Slime's brother's house," she said, and sighed.
~~~~~
The doorbell on Brian Hashenwhack's front door rung. He opened the door and saw Slimer and Bow.
"Oh! Hello, what a pleasant surprise. Come in!" Brian said. He then saw Mewtwo.
"ACK! NO! DON'T LET THAT THING IN MY HOUSE!" Mewt had already run in. Brian sighed.
"Just don't touch anything... okay?" he asked. Mewt was poking a large ornate sculpture.
"Oooh... What's this?" Mewt asked.
"HEY!!! I SAID NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING!!! WEREN'T YOU LISTENING?!" Brian raged.
The sculpture toppled over and made a large hole in Brian's house.
"MY HOUSE!!! GAHHHHHH!!!" Brian sighed and looked down. "Never mind..."
~~~~~
After Brian had applied a plank of wood over the spot where Mewt had so clumsily messed things up, they were sitting in the kitchen. He was in a blue bathrobe and sipping a cup of coffee. Brian looked a bit like Miles, except he was taller, he had orangish hair, he had brown eyes, and his hair was a bit longer. He had broader shoulders, yet he was not as muscular. Brian had fought in the Yoshi-Koopa war when he was a young child, but now he was just like Slimer, basically, except older. He was a wanderer. Mainly he had his own house, and a decent job. Okay, a horrible job, but he was satisfied. Brian was older then Slimer, because he was at least thirty-one years old.
"So... what are you cretins here for THIS time?" Brian asked.
"I need... money," Slimer said.
"What? But I just gave you a fifty yesterday!
What did you spend it on? Oh
DAD... Did you spend it on gaming,
fast food, and girls again?" he asked. Slimer
grinned.
"Maybe... But seriously. Me and my friends are thinking of going on a trip. So just... like, gimme!"
Brian sighed. "FINE." He handed Slimer a gold coin that had the number thirty on it.
Slimer grinned. "YEAH!" He shouted before rushing out the door.
"Not even a thank you?" Brian asked irritably and sat back in his chair.
"Um... We'll leave now," Bow replied and dragged Mewt out the front door.
~~~~~
As the group went out the door, they heard a small voice in the background.
"HEY WAIT!!!" A Koopa ran smack into
Slimer and the two fell over. He pushed the
strange Koopa off him.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?" Slimer steamed, getting a better look at said Koopa. He was shorter then Slimer, and he had dirty brown hair and brown eyes. He was also wearing circle-rimmed glasses. He wore a green shirt that read "1-Up" and brown cargo pants. He wore white sneakers.
"Hey... You're that guy! Nick! From that... peanut store," Slimer said, confused. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to thank you for freeing me from that Shadow thing," Nick said. Previously, Slimer and his friends had saved all of Toad Town from the four intergalactic/demonic behemoths.
"You got possessed? By the Shadow Queen?" Bow asked. Nick nodded.
Slimer frowned. "So... what else do you want?"
"I want to join your group!"
"WHAT?" Slimer and Bow said simultaneously.
Bow smiled nervously. "Look, kid, this isn't fun and games you know... It's hard work. And it's dangerous."
"So... why don't you run off before you get hurt?" Slimer asked, disgusted.
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"NO."
"Please?"
"DAD DARN IT, FINE, YOU CAN JOIN! JUST SHUDDAP!!!" Slimer finally raged.
Bow sighed. "But-" She decided to shut up. Like it or not, the team of misfits had just gotten a new member.
Chapter Three: Koopa Castle: Good Morning, Stupidity
It was nighttime at Castle Koopa. Ludwig and Karma lay in sleeping bags atop the highest tower. It was a very wide area, where the two could both stretch out and see the stars. The bricks were very sturdy, and they were painted gray, as they always were. Karma and Ludwig had been going out for a couple of years now, unknown to their father. Fortunately for them, he decided to grudgingly let them go with it. A lot of times, Ludwig and Karma would simply stay up all night, watch the stars, and just talk. Most couples would have chosen to do something else at night, but Ludwig and Karma weren't most couples.
Karma wore a long, dark night gown with pink highlights, and Ludwig was only in his shell. Karma's hair was not in any form of bun, pigtail, or ponytail, it was let down, and it looked beautiful.
"Do you think... that there's any other life out there, besides Earth of course? And all those other alien creatures that tried to kill us all?" Ludwig asked. He realized this was a stupid question.
"That's a stupid question," Karma said, reading his mind somehow. Well, they were Mets. And, as Mets, they knew what the other was feeling, and if they other let him/her, what they were thinking. Unfortunately, Mets cannot get far without each other, for if one died, they both died. When the two first Met each other, they absolutely despised one another. But not now. The two were as in love as two people could be.
"Ludwig...d o you remember when we first met?" Karma asked. He chuckled.
"Of course I do. Back then, I thought you were a scheming whore..." Karma yawned and put her hands behind her head.
"But of course, you don't think that now, do you?" she asked slyly.
"NO! No! Of course not... So... you never met our mother, have you?" he asked.
"No. But she seems like a nice person."
"That she is. Hey... Karma? Karma?" He looked over and saw she was asleep. He smiled and covered her with her blanket.
"Goodnight," He whispered, then fell asleep himself.
~~~~~
Bowser stirred in his large, king-sized bed. Which was fitting, for a king. The mattress was a large, white one, and there was a red quilt with black spots on it, and a green sheet underneath. The frame of the bed was magnificent and ornate, and made of gold. There were two large, green curtains that covered all around him, for privacy. He got up and rubbed his eyes with his hands. He moved the curtains out of the way and then slid his legs out onto the floor. The room he currently occupied was rather large. The ceiling was rounded, and had to be at least twenty feet up. The wall was made of the same gray brick as the rest of the castle. There was a wooden floor, and a long red carpet that was strewn across it. Behind the bed was a shield with two swords on either side.
He stomped across the floor, eyes half closed. He opened the large steel door in front of him, which had two armored Koopatrols standing guard on either side. They moved away when they heard the woken king approaching. He slammed open the door, nearly beheading one of the Koopatrols in the nearby vicinity. The Koopatrol seemed to be very happy.
"Good morning, Your Majesty," the one on the right said.
"Yeah, whatever. Have my breakfast ready when I get down. Or I'll be ticked." Bowser muttered and walked slowly down the long hall with wooden walls. This part of the castle had no rug, just a wooden floor, which sort of sloped downwards, leading lower into the castle. He opened a door at the end and came to a junction. It was a plain room with one door in front, one to the right, and one on the left. He entered the one on the right, and there was a large room with a rocky floor and a large hot springs in the middle. Bowser took off his shell, and sunk into the water, sighing.
~~~~~
Larry Koopa woke up that morning. He cuddled with a Piranha Plant plushie in his arms. His blue hair was slicked back, and his head was pressed against a soft pillow. He had a large, queen-sized bed with a Piranha Plant-shaped frame. His quilt and sheet were a dark green. The mattress was also green. He had a fascination for plants, this Koopaling. The room behind him had no special decoration, and the door to his room was wooden. He went downstairs to the dining table.
~~~~~
The Koopa family sat down around the large, rectangular dining table. Bowser sat at the end, Clawdia on his left, then was Karma, Ludwig, and Lemmy. At the other end was Iggy, then next to him was Roy, Wendy, and Morton Junior. On the right of Bowser was Larry. The table was wooden, and had a large tablecloth that was green with the same criss-cross sword design on it. The room was lit by a large candle in the middle of the table. Several Koopatrols crowded around the table and delivered the Koopas' breakfasts to them. Bowser was given scrambled eggs with toast. Clawdia had a bowl of oatmeal. The other Koopalings all had cereal, except for Karma, who had French toast.
"Ah... Isn't this nice? Just the ten of us, sitting down and having breakfast together?" Clawdia said, smiling. Ludwig was having a conversation with Karma, and wasn't paying attention. Bowser grumbled.
"I suppose so, dear... if it makes you happy..." he said, taking his fork for the first time in decades and poking his eggs. He wanted to make a good impression, since his previously divorced wife had just come back to him. Ludwig turned to his father. "So... Father, what's your next grand scheme to take over the Mushroom Kingdom?"
"Whatever it is, leave me out of it." Clawdia frowned.
"Well, I definitely can't kidnap Peach anymore. I have a wife," Bowser said, looking down. Clawdia smiled back at him.
Roy was grinning. "Man... I hope I get a piece of ol' hero boy... It's been a while."
"Yeah, since you got your butt kicked." Wendy said, sticking out her tongue.
"Aww, shaddap!"
"Make me!"
Chaos was unleashed as Roy chased Wendy around the table, Clawdia yelled for them to stop, and Bowser had yet another ulcer.
~~~~~
Out on the balcony of Peach's castle, Holly smiled and waved out at the birds. They circled in the air, so calm and free. The large star that was behind her on the top of the archway glowed in the day. The sun was slowly setting when Dyllan came out to greet his sister.
"Hey, Holly, what are you doing out here?" He asked.
"I'm watching the sunset..." She stared out longingly at the birds. Oh... how she wished she could be one of them. Dyllan seemed to sense her sadness.
"Man... Our family is pretty messed up, huh?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"It's not working..." Holly said sadly.
"Man, you are a mindreader," he said and walked over to her. He let her put her head on his chest. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.
"... Why?" she asked.
"Why what?"
"Why... are you being so nice to me?" Holly asked.
"Because you're my sister. I know I'm a jerk to you sometimes, but that's what big brothers are for. They're also for comforting you. That's what I'm here for. I'm still the same person inside, but I feel for you. We're going through a rough time here," Dyllan said.
"Thank you..." Holly responded.
"Hey... What was that thing you wanted to do a while back? Spy on Bowser and his family? Let's do it."
"But... you said that was a bad idea!" Holly replied.
"I know."
She ran and hugged her older brother as the sun slowly slunk behind the land, encasing everything in an almost eerie darkness. The two siblings still embraced, until Dyllan finally left, and Holly was alone again. She heard the song of the birds, and sung it with them, becoming soul in soul... Oh how she wished she could just fly away...
~~~~~
It was nighttime again. Karma and Ludwig shared a short but passionate kiss before lying down to sleep on the roof again.
"Ludwig....?" Karma asked.
"Yes...?"
"Why do we have to do these things?"
"What...?"
"You were raised by Bowser... so, you grew up in a bad environment. But somehow, you managed to overcome that darkness inside you. How?" Karma asked.
"Because of you," Ludwig said, and fell asleep. Karma smiled sweetly and fell asleep.