Chapter Five: Revealing the Mysteries of the Unknown
Kolorado Koopa strode cautiously between the pew aisles in the Great Star Cathedral. There was no sound except the echo of his own footsteps. The hall seemed almost etheral; the light filtered through the stain glass windows of Saint Goombella the martyr seemed to shimmer between hues.
The silence was unnatural. Kolorado saw a single snow white dove roosting among the rafters. Even it seemed to brim with fearful anticipation.
As he saw the bird flinch to take flight, Kolorado dived out of the way of a spray of a shotgun blast. He fell headlong, and pulled himself back to witness Toadofsky closing in on him.
"You were a fool to come here that way, old man." The Mushroomer composer cocked his double barreled shotgun. "A deaf Goomba could have seen you coming a mile away. You should have known better than to show yourself."
Kolorado glowered, his hands in the air. "I cannot allow The Order to gets its hands on the Apocolypse Cloak. None of you understand how dangerous that relic is. It has to kept out of this war! It will shake this world to its foundation if its power is released!"
"Better in our hands, then. I'd hate to see anyone but me dealing the death stroke to this dung heap of a world."
"I won't let you get away with this," Kolorado hissed venomously, causing Toadosky to burst into a sadistic laugh.
"I will enjoy," Toadofsky said, relishing the moment, "writing a ballet about your death."
There was a deafening bang as a gun was fired, and Toadofsky fell lifelessly to the floor. Kolorado shot a glance all around in the direction of the sound and spotted Popple nestled among the rafters of the cathedral with his sniper rifle pointed at him. Fingering the flashbang bomb in his pocket, Kolorado hurled it at Popple. Before the rogue could pull the trigger and off Kolorado, the flashbang exploded and blinded Popple temporarily.
The Koopa Archaeologist had no time to react though. As soon as Popple was distracted, the stain glass window exploded as Donkey Kong burst through it in his Mushroom Mafia-issued suit. He tumbled through the air and grabbed onto the chandlier with acrobatic ease and dangled from it with his dexterous feet. Dual wielding uzis, with his blaring red tie dangling upside down across his face, he swung and open fired on the cathedral in general.
Wasting no time, the aged explorer upturned a pew to take cover. The bullets richocheted off of and splintered the aged wood. Popple's shriek was heard as he fell from the rafters. Kolorado fingered his revolver anxiously, but did not act until at last he heard the click of depleted ammo. Bursting out from under the pew, Kolorado made one carefully aimed shot aimed dead center at the jungle king's heart.
Silence returned to the cathedral, but somehow this was much more horrific than the tenseness before the battle. Kolorado stood alone amongst the debris of centuries old architecture and nodded respectfully to his defeated allies.
Confetti fell from the ceiling and a loud, happy fanfare blared.
"KOLORADO... WINS!" announced the perky narrator. The aged explorer acquired ten coins and this made him happy, because now he was in the lead after having won the Senagouge Shootout mini-game.
They returned to the cowboy-themed party board. Donkey Kong, Popple, and Toadofsky each took their turns. They rolled an eight, a two, and a five and landed on blue spaces. Kolorado's turn finally came. He anxiously looked forward on the board. He would need to roll at least a six in order to be the first to get the next Star.
He stared fearfully at the block above his head that displayed random numbers far too rapidly for him to predict. What would happen if he rolled a five? Or maybe a three? What about a four? He might get a two instead of six, or maybe even a one! Someone ELSE might get the Star first.
Kolorado thought of how horrible it would be for the Apocolyspe Cloak to fall into the wrong hands. Closing his eyes, he prayed to the Stars and jumped.
Rolling a four, he landed on a red space. Three versus one mini game.
The announcer enthusiastically named the next mini-game. "Clown Cake Relay!"
"Would you like to play a practice round?"
Kolorado grit his teeth and glared viciously at his opponents, "No."
*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*-*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*
"You need to hack into the mainframe."
"Right after I'm done disabling the system!"
Mouser frantically tapped the keys on his high-tech super fast computer. The screen flashed a lot as Mouser began typing line after line of computer code. There were a lot of computer code numbers on the screen. There were more than a hundred.
"I just need to input the data and rewire the detonator sequence! Whacka, can you hear me-"
The line went dead because it stopped working because somebody shot the wire with their gun. Mouser turned around and found himself face to face with a nemesis from the past.
"Tayce T."
"So glad you remembered me," the elderly Toad cook cackled as she pulled out another gatling gun. "You thought you had me finished at Pipe Land after I fell in the deadly acid pit, but now I'm back and stronger than ever!"
"Because of you… because of you, Ms. Mowz DIED!"
"That was because she was in the way of Organization Seventeen," Tayce T. snarled as she shot seven computers in a row. "No one will stop us from fulfilling the Prophecy and finding the Stairway of Infinity!"
"Don't you realize where that'll lead you?!" Mouser cried as he booted the router server and transferred the code numbers to the mainframe. "That'll lead you to INFINITY!"
"I know."
"This world can't handle infinity! You mustn't lead it to infinity!"
"How about I lead you to where the place you're going to die is? Which is RIGHT HERE!"
Tayce T. whipped out four more gatling guns and fired them really fast. Mouser ducked and also dodged the explosion that occurred afterwards. He did a double roll down the stairway and ran toward his jet motorcycle. Tayce T. leapt five feet in the air and shot a rain of eighty-two bullets down where Mouser was running. Eighty one missed, but one hit his hand.
"OWWWW!!!"
Mouser fell on the ground and held his hand in pain with his other hand. There was a bullet in it, and it was bleeding. He winced in pain as Tayce T. approached.
"You and everyone from your kingdom," Tayce T. began. "are all the same. Fools like Diddy Kong kept trying to steal the Dark Artifacts, but he got what he deserved. He deserved death, so that's what he got."
"Koopa Koot… Hookbill the Koopa… You killed them both!"
"Yes, and I would've got Iggy as well, if it weren't for YOU and your MEDDLING!"
"MEDDLE THIS!"
Mouser pulled out a revolver and shot Tayce T. in the leg. She stumbled on the ground and Mouser began kicking her in the butt. Just as he was about to kick her in the butt some more, an explosion rang from above. Mouser dashed away as lots of rubble fell on top of Tayce T, crushing her body. Mouser looked up to see a small Goomba girl with an orange bow on her head and also a black cloak.
"Come with me," Goombaria whispered mysteriously. "Join Organization Enigma."
"Okay."
The two walked away and jumped into the ocean. Then they swam away for a hundred miles. After they got to shore, Mouser tripped and chopped his hand off accidentally on a nearby harpoon.
"Ow!"
"Here, have this golden hook instead," Goombaria said.
"Thanks."
Back at the Omega Base, a low rumbling could be heard. Tayce T. sprang out of the rubble, covered in green flames, roaring loudly and waving a demonic sword.
"I AM REBORN!!!"
As she began summoning the other eighteen members of Organization Seventeen, she cackled madly.
"Alpha Omega Phase 4…will BEGIN!"
*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*-*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*
Deep in a dark fortress on Koopa Beach, amidst the darkened, twisted hallways surely designed by a madman, stood a series of fishbowls. Inside the bowls were trained Cheep Cheep, ready to strike at the slightest disruption. They were pretty upset off, partially because they REALLY hated intruders and they weren't paid very much for the job.
A particularly rugged Cheep Cheep glanced down both ends of his hallway. All he could see was his fellow guard and few torches doing a poor job of giving light to the grim place. "I got a bad feelin', mate…" he growled to his fellow guard. "Somethin's in the air…"
Suddenly, a shadow seemed to dart across the hall. The water-bound sentinel blinked three times and quickly looked all around him for signs of a stranger.
Before he could react, both guards were taken down by a series of seven ninja starts, which was immediately followed by a fiery explosion.
A Shy Guy in ninja uniform dropped from the roof and smirked. "Pitiful," he chuckled to himself. He took out a katana and sliced the wooden door before him into three segments, then kicked off the middle segment and jumped through.
He was in an office. A crimson carpet extended through the length of the large room leading up to an oak desk. The walls were lined with the heads of hunted Dino-Rhinos, Bloopers, and Pokeys.
"Welcome, Gourmet Guy," greeted a figure sitting behind the the desk. "What business brings you to this, my humble abode?"
"Spare me," Gourmet Guy growled. "You know what I'm here for!" He pointed his katana forward. "Hand over the Dark Amulet of Nocturne Shadows and nobody gets hurt."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you've already harmed countless innocent guards," the figure corrected. "You've already made the first move. Now let's see if you can face your worst enemies."
Gourmet Guy gasped as the ghostly figures of his arch-nemesises materialized before him. "The Toy Soldiers!"
The trio of soldiers laughed at him and pointed their guns directly at his head. Just before they fired, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. They fired seventeen bullets that found no target.
"You've been trained well in your ninjitsu, my friend," the figure laughed. "But the Toy Soldiers have been trained to kill ninjas!"
The Toy Soldiers immediately turned around to find Gourmet Guy ready with his blade. The red one threw a ball of darkness, which temporarily blinded the obese Shy Guy. Before he could regain his composure, a bullet nipped his right shoulder. His scream echoed through the halls of the fortress as he fell to his knees in submission.
"I'll give you one more chance to leave quietly, Gourmet Guy" the voice proposed. "You cannot defeat the Toy Soldiers. There are three of them, and only one of you!"
"Ha… ha ha…" Gourmet Guy started laughing. "Hahaha! You fail to realize what powers I possess!"
"What do you mean?!" the figure demanded.
Quickly, Gourmet Guy used the ninja power of exorcism to dispose of the Toy Soldiers. They screamed loudly and the room was filled with an explosion of light. Gourmet Guy began marching towards the desk with the Soldiers melting away behind him.
"You're clever, Gourmet Guy. But not clever enough!"
The ninja turned the chair around to find a tape recorder and a note.
Dear Idiot,
It seems you were too slow this time! Good luck following the Conspiracy of Darkened Souls to our secret lair in… Marrymore!
Sincerely,
Chuck Quizmo
Gourmet Guy crumpled the note in his hand. "Those fools… They cannot run… from the Prophecy!" He pulled out a walkie talkie and spoke into it. "Frogfucius, ready the escape boat. We're going to Marrymore!"
With that, he leapt through the stain glass window into the night.
"I'm hungry for cake."
*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*-*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*
Smithoshi was anxious. Not only because the horrible events described in the Prophecy were coming to fruition, but because the assignment he'd been asked to perform was very dangerous, maybe even deadly, but probably just really dangerous.
He stood foot-deep in the waters of the Kero Sewers, trying to formulate how he'd go about performing the task ahead. As the horrible smell of waste and raw sewage made itself more prominent, the Goomba questioned his judgment in places to ponder.
Then he heard footsteps. They were distant and muffed. The noise from gushing water was prominent, and it had been a while since he had his ears cleaned, and he was listening to light jazz on his walkman at the moment, but there were definitely footsteps. They were getting louder. Agent Smithoshi reckoned this was because the source of the footsteps was getting closer.
Before he could react a figure leapt from a pipe and landed about three feet and seven inches to Agent Smithoshi's left. He could hardly believe his eyes.
Before him stood Waluigi, his clothes torn and a golden Viking helmet placed on his head. In his arms he carried the shell of a Koopaling, the owner of which he could not be sure.
"I thought I'd find you here," Waluigi scoffed, not looking directly at the intrudee.
"What are you doing here?!" Smithoshi demanded, slightly upset at the sudden disturbance, yet surprised to see Waluigi alive and well.
"None of your business," said Waluigi. "What just happened to me… well, it changes everything."
"What DID happen?" the Goomba demanded, taking off his headphones so he could hear better. "It's been weeks! You've been determined legally dead!"
"Well tell them I'm not," Waluigi requested. "I'm not dead, so that's not right." He groaned slightly and set down the shell so he could rest because the shell was heavy. He gripped his elbow.
"You're hurt," Smithoshi determined. "Get some rest, you look like you've been in a fight with a bear. And didn't win."
"There's no time, you idiot!" barked Waluigi. "The Prophecy will not wait for us! Time flows as we speak, and my wounds will heal themselves when time becomes plentiful!"
Agent Smithoshi let loose a single tear. Waluigi was right, whatever he just said. "Let me help you at least," he asked. "I can carry that shell for you!"
"But you're busy, aren't you?"
"Oh, I am actually." Smithoshi forgot that he was on that mission that was very dangerous and not safe.
Waluigi stared into a tunnel. "Things have changed since our days at the orphanage, Smithoshi. We've both got agendas to stick to, and it's likely our paths will never cross again."
"I'll let everyone know you're safe. At least let me do that."
"No!" Waluigi punched the Goomba, who fell backwards into the water. "Nobody can know! Not yet!"
"But you told me to!" Agent Smithoshi reminded him, spitting out a Cheep Cheep.
Waluigi remembered when he asked him to tell them he was alive. "Oh yeah, well don't tell them. They'll find out in due time." Waluigi paused.
Smithoshi looked at his distorted, murky reflection in the sewer water. "Flavio should know, at least-"
"Flavio is dead."
There was a long silence. Neither of the two looked directly at each other. Smithoshi bit his lip, not wanting to think about what Waluigi had just told him. First Orbulon, and now Flavio…
"I can't waste anymore time," Waluigi said, trying not to remember the horrible yet action-packed events that had transpired shortly before and the gruesome task that had been placed before him. "Smithoshi, it's… it's good to see you." He removed his hand from his elbow, revealing a huge scar that made itself prominent there, a permanent reminder of the mistakes Waluigi had made. Smithoshi couldn't find the words, but instead stared at it because it was weird.
Waluigi darted into the tunnel, disappearing in the darkness. The Goomba did not look because it would be sad to him. He let out a long sigh, opening his mission briefing for the fourth time that day.
"It's as good a time as any, I suppose…" he decided. "It's time to ambush Shy Guy's Toybox!" With that, he disappeared into a void of green lines.
The shell of Larry
Koopa remained floating in the sewage, alone, forgotten, and abandoned.
Chapter Six: The Everlasting Despair of the Advent
Many years ago, before the second appearance of the Shadow King, Parakarry was happily delivering letters.
"I had better make sure I deliver all of these letters without misplacing any of them!" Parakarry said because he was delivering letters since he was a postman and not a fireman.
Parakarry fluttered up to the mailboxes of Toad Town. Carefully he checked the addresses on every single letter. He delivered to mailboxes 201, 203, 205, 207, and 209. Then he went to the other side of the street and delivered to 202, 204, 206, 208, and 210. He handed a package to Rowf the shopkeeper as he was standing outside his shop.
"Rain, sleet, or snow, the mail always gets through!" Parakarry said merrily with a wink and a wave! "We always deliver!"
"Okay."
Then, Parakarry realized something. He had dropped some letters! He was very worried, because he was supposed to deliver those and not lose them instead. He looked around worriedly, and saw that people were upset because they had not got all of their letters.
"This wouldn't happen if we had Seargeant FLUTTER delivering our mail," said Fice T, complaining.
"Shut up!" Parakarry screamed, clutching his flight cap tightly. "SHUT UP!"
Frantically, Parakarry looked all over the town trying to find the letters. He looked everywhere and all over the place, wanting to find all the letters, but he couldn't find any. He was really worried because he didn't want to lose his job as a postman.
Suddenly, Parakarry saw Big Lantern Ghost walking down the street. Then he went to the wharf to look for letters there, but there weren't any.
"Oh, this is no use! I can't find letters anywhere! I guess I'm just not as super cool as I thought I was." He was sad because he didn't want the postmaster to shout at him for losing letters again.
"Hey you!" shouted a strange purple and peach-colored worm wearing a top hat and bowtie. "Don't be so down, my lad!"
Parakarry gasped, it was Chuck Quizmo!
"If ya take my extra fun, super exciting mega cool quiz game, maybe I can help you find your letters!"
Parakarry wasn't so sure about this. He didn't know much about quiz games. "Is it like delivering postcards?"
"Ha ha! All you have to do is anwer the riddle I tells ya! Then you win a prize!"
"Golly!" said Parakarry, because he wasn't so sure about this. But he had nothing to lose. "What does it cost?"
"Nothing! I just love to give quizzes!"
"I suppose that's why they call you Chuck QUIZmo," said Parakarry, slyly.
"HAHAHAHAHA!" Chuck Quizmo laughed uncontrollably. It was funny because he have people quizzes, and he had the word quiz in his name. "HA HA HAH HA!"
"But you should know," Chuck said suddenly, "that this quiz is very important. Not even I know the answer to this one. It is said to relate to The Prophecy."
"The Prophecy?" gasped Parakarry, "What's that?"
"It is our only salvation! Now here is the quiz."
An old scroll appeared in front of Parakarry in a flash of light. On it was the following riddle:
The door of disorder is sealed with eight keyholes of destiny. It is not opened. By the power of the Fire Flower, eight keys are scattered throughout the world. No one knows how to open the chaos door. How is it opened? The door is blue.
"I don't understand any of this!" Parakarry said, getting a headache. "It doesn't make any sense!"
"Try!" Chuck said anxiously. "I really like people to answer quizzes!"
"It's REALLY confusing and also hard to understand!"
Parakarry held his aching head, but then suddenly everything was clear to him in a flash of light.
"The eight keys... of The Prophecy... can open, the chaos door?"
Chuck Quizmo gaped in surprise. "Of... Of course! The eight keys in the riddle refer to the Eight Keys of The Prophecy! And the Door of Disorder refers to the Chaos Door! It all makes sense now! We must gather the keys at once and open the door!"
"No..." Parkarry groaned, "We must never open the Chaos Door! It is a bad idea, probably!"
"NO!" hissed Quizmo venomously. "I MUST FIND OUT WHAT IS BEHIND IT. I MUST KNOW THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE! THE RIDDLE OF WHAT IS BEHIND THAT DOOR! ONLY I MAY BE THE RIDDLE MASTER!!! I AM THE ONE DESTINED TO BRING ORGANIZATION TO THE ENIGMA!
"I AM ORGANIZATION ENIGMA!!" Chuck Quizmo howled in his madness, and his bowtie was consumed by The Darkness.
"Noooo!" Parakarry said. He tried to stop him and didn't succeed in stopping him.
Quizmo whipped Parakarry with his tail, and disappeared into his tophat. Parakarry sat there, his concussion sending him into unconciousness. In his delerium, he saw a vision of a trail of postage stamps that pointed the way to the Donut Plains...
*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*-*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*
"I am a cook and I love to coooook."
Tayce T. bustled about in her kitchen, cooking delightful foods because she was a cook. Tayce T. liked to take recipes from people and cook food for them because cooking was her specialty as a cook. She cooked good.
"If only I had a Dried Pasta and a Koopa Leaf," Tayce T. said cheerfully to herself. "Then I could cook Koopasta!"
Just then, the door swung open with so much force. The Master walked in honorably. He was the fighting martial arts master sensei at the Toad Town Dojo. The Master sat down dramatically.
"Hello, Tayce T."
"Hello! I'm cooking!"
"What are you cooking?"
"I'm cooking a Shroom Steak, which is made from a Life Shroom and Mushroom!"
"Okay."
Just then, the door swung open with so much evil force. Tayce T. stopped cooking and turned around.
It was Kammy Koopa. She was a Magikoopa dressed in purple clothes with glasses. She's a bad guy.
"Nya ha ha ha!" Kammy Koopa snickered. "Look outside, you two! Bombette is being consumed by the darkness!"
"NO!"
Tayce T. and The Master ran outside. Bombette was becoming evil, because she was being consumed by the darkness.
"BOMBETTE!" Tayce T. cried.
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm being consumed by the darkness."
"Oh."
"THIS IS HORRIBLE!" The Master whispered. "BOMBETTE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A GOOD GUY, BUT NOW SHE IS A BAD GUY!"
"Nothing makes sense anymore," Tayce T. sobbed.
"On the contrary," Kammy Koopa interrupted between mouthfuls of steak. "Everything makes sense anymore."
"This must be the Dark Influence," The Master shouted. "I learned about this in the ancient scrolls in my dojo that I run as a martial arts master. It's related to the Prophecy."
"What does the Dark Influence do?" Tayce T. asked.
The Dark Influence makes good guys become bad guys."
"NO!"
"Yes, it does."
"Oh."
"It's too late!" Kammy cackled as she washed down the steak with a glass of milk. "After the Dark Influence changes a good guy to a bad guy, it is too late. They are evil now like bad guys. Like ME."
"YOU FIEND!"
The Master ran toward Kammy and began to attack because he knew martial arts. Kammy dodged because she was on a broomstick. Then she pulled out her wand. Then she used evil dark magic to kill The Master. He died.
"How could you?!" Tayce T. sobbed. "HOW COULD YOU?!"
"Well, first I pulled out my wand, then I used evil dark magic and he died."
"Oh."
"By the way," Kammy said, "that was a really good Shroom Steak. That was a REALLY good Shroom Steak."
"You… you… ate… my… Shroom Steak?"
"Yeah."
"THAT'S IT! I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU GOOD!"
Belome threw Tayce T. a black cloak and she put it on. The Dark Influence was making her mind different and darker. Tayce T. was no longer a cook. Now she was an EVIL cook. Except she wasn't gonna cook anymore, so she was just evil. Belome also threw Tayce T. four gatling guns.
"Thanks, Belome."
"No problem-o."
Belome then teleported away because the Dark Influence allowed him to. Tayce T. took the four gatling guns and shot Kammy Koopa twice. She stopped living roughly five seconds afterwards.
"Now that I have a black cloak and gatling guns," Tayce T. said evilly because the Dark Influence made her evil, "what should I do next?"
Tayce T. went over to her mailbox and looked inside. She pulled out a postcard with the words "Come to beautiful Organization Seventeen" superimposed over a picture of a tropical sunset with evil tiki drinks.
"Okay."
Tayce T. went into the house to get ready. She started to cook, but then she realized that she could not, because she was evil now. Sobbing heavily, she took her gatling guns and left her happy cook past behind, turning now to her bleak and evil future with Organization Seventeen. She used to be a good guy, but because of the Dark Influence, she was now a bad guy.
Meanwhile, Bombette was still evil and killed eighty-nine people.
*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*-*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*
Kooper and Goombario were walking along one day in Pleasant Path, reminiscing about their adventures and how good their friendship was.
"I was thinking about archaeology the other day…" Kooper explained, "and it occurred to me that some things get buried in the dirt after a long time!"
"I wonder what Mario would do if he knew that!" Goombario wondered. "I'll bet I would react in a similar fashion!"
"This day is wonderful!" Kooper said with a smile. "I hope nothing goes wrong."
"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I HAVE FURY!!!" a voice said, floating down from the skies on a jetpack helmet.
"OH NO! IT'S FAWFUL!!!" Kooper and Goombario said simultaneously in fear.
"I'm doing the committing of crimes!" Fawful laughed. "Because I'm EVIL and I have lots of FURY built up!"
"Fawful…" Kooper said, tears escaping from his eyes. "Why do you have to be so furious?"
"Kooper, don't!" Goombario warned.
"I know you're not like this!" Kooper yelled, ignoring his Goomba buddy.
"What are you mustard fink-rats talking about?!" Fawful inquired, because he didn't understand what Kooper meant.
"I mean that you have goodness in your heart! Somewhere!" Kooper explained.
"Okay."
Fawful pulled out two gattling guns and pointed them in the general direction of the two, although it was slightly off and if he were firing, not every bullet would hit.
"I HAVE FURY!!!" Fawful said furiously, firing his weapons in a lot of directions.
Kooper and Goombario jumped, dove, barrel-rolled, and backflipped until every bullet Fawful had fired was avoided.
"You fink-rats!" Fawful growled. "I WILL DISPOSE OF YOU FINK-RATS WITH MUSTARD FURY!"
"Stop it, Fawful!" Kooper cried, diving into the Beanbean. "Please, STOP!"
Kooper bumped into Fawful.
"What's this?" Fawful said, shivering. "I feel warm and fuzzy! Is this FURY?!"
"It's FRIENDSHIP!" Kooper announced proudly.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Fawful screamed, wincing in pain. "It CAN'T be!"
Goombario thought about what Mario would do in this situation, but opted to go through with his own plans. "Fawful, come with us. We're about to play Freeze Tag with our friends at Koopa Village!"
"I… I can't…" Fawful said, crying. "It's not in me!"
"It is!" Kooper said.
"No! No it's not! It's NOT in me!" Fawful corrected.
"I KNOW it is!"
"No, it isn't!"
"Surely it is!"
"No, really it's not!"
"Oh."
Fawful struggled with his affection and wandered towards a field next to them. "I have too much fury, Kooper!" he roared. "I can't be friends with you!"
"Forget about your fury!" Kooper cried.
Suddenly, a part of the field caught on fire because it was very sunny that day as it was in the middle of the summer and it wasn't very cloudy. Immediately the entire field burst into flame.
"OH NOOOOOOOOO!!" Fawful screamed while on fire.
"FAWFUL!!!" Kooper cried, reaching for his friend.
"I AM DYING! IN A FIRE!" Fawful cried, being burnt by the fire that was surrounding him.
"FAWFUL, NO!"
But it was too late. The fire went away and all that remained was ashes. Fawful had been killed, and the murderer was nature.
"Oh wow," Russ T. said, having witnessed the whole thing. "Fawful died! It is surely a sign that the Prophecy is unfolding!"
"I know he could've been my friend…" Kooper cried, falling to his knees. "I just want to see him again! I wish I could be reunited with him!"
Goombario consoled his friend. "It's too late now, Kooper. He's not coming back.
Kooper sobbed right there on the path. He missed his lost friend.
*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*-*\\~//*//~\\*\\~//*
"You don't understand," Ludwig sneered as he pulled out his wand, which all Koopalings have. He was ready to shoot magic from his wand. Magic that would kill a person.
"No, you don't understand!" Birdo cried as she straightened her red bow.
"Actually, I do," Ludwig responded. "I'm not sure why you even said that, because I do understand. After all, I understand everything about the Prophecy."
"No, you don't!" Birdo screamed as she shot eggs out of her mouth.
"What the- YES, I DO!" Ludwig shouted. "The Koopalings learned this because we are bad guys!"
"NO, YOU DON'T!" Birdo shrieked as she straightened her red bow again, shot eggs out of her mouth, and was pink.
"I've had enough of your insolence!" Ludwig bellowed. "Prepare to taste my magic! And I assure you it won't taste good! It'll taste like you getting KILLED!"
With that said, Ludwig shot magic blasts from his magic wand. Birdo jumped over them.
"Come now, Birdo," Ludwig sneered with a grimace. "We're not so different, you and I."
"Yes, we are! You have blue hair!"
"No, BESIDES that," Ludwig snapped. "You used to be a bad guy too, remember? Back in your Sub-con days."
"I don't want to remember those days!" Birdo cried. "I'm a good guy now! Not a bad guy!"
"And yet you seemed so devestated when you learned that Fryguy was dead."
"That's because… Fryguy was my friend. Even though he was a bad guy. But I was a bad guy too. But now I'm a good guy, like in Mario Kart. But anyways, Fryguy was my FRIEND!"
"Well, now he's a friend… who is DECEASED."
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"
The two foes prepared to attack each other. Birdo prepared to shoot an egg from her mouth while Ludwig prepared to shoot magic from his wand. But then a voice rang out through the chaos.
"Hey, I'm Rip Cheato."
Birdo looked over. It was Rip Cheato. He waved.
"Want to buy a Star Piece for 64 coins?" Rip Cheato offered.
"You'd better watch out," Ludwig warned. "That guy is a cheat. He might give you a Dried Shroom instead of a Star Piece. Then your 64 coins would be wasted because Dried Shrooms are not expensive."
"No, thank you," Birdo said to Rip Cheato.
"Okay."
And so he left.
"Now then," Ludwig snarled. "IT'S TIME TO FINISH THIS!"
Just then, a cab crashed down from the sky. With its engine roaring, it slammed into Ludwig. Ludwig was flung through the air and landed in a spike pit. The spikes killed him. A bulldog and a small cat climbed out of the cab and waved cheerfully.
"Who… who are you people?" Birdo asked because she was curious.
"We drive a cab!" Dribble announced triumphantly.
"Yeah!" Spitz said.
Birdo climbed into the cab. "Are you guys good guys too?" she asked tentatively. It would be awkward if they were bad guys.
"GET READY FOR A MICROGAME!" Dribble screamed, his eyes bulging and spit frothing from his mouth.
"Yeah!" Spitz said.
Birdo concentrated heavily. She only had four lives. If she lost this microgame, she would lose one of them! Grabbing her stylus, she rolled that toilet paper roll as fast as she could.
"NEXT MICROGAME COMING UP!"
Birdo's eyes narrowed.
"Bring it."