Book I

The Star Road Chronicles, Book I: Boo Saga

Chapter I: The Awakening of Majin Boo


It was a rainy day on the dreary Bowser Continent. The rain danced in tiny swivels across the cold, hard window pane. Outside, the rain fell hard, mercilessly attacking everything in it's wake. The wind howled frightfully, as if coming from the throat of a wolf. And up high in the sky, thunder bellowed with unrestrained fury, tossing the heavens this way and that with it's might. Inside Bowsers castle in a room on the top floor, Magikoopa (aka Kamek) drummed the fingers of his right hand onto the table, his head resting in his other hand. He was bored, no doubt, bored out of his mind. Bowser had gone on a vacation and wouldn't be back for a while yet, most of the monsters had gone into the Billiard Room to play cards, but MagiKoopa didn't enjoy those stupid games like the rest of them. He decided that it would do him no good to just sit around and wait for something to happen, so he tried to think of something to do, leaning against a wall, he fell deep into contemplation.
It didn't take him long, however, to notice that the wall was creaking, but before he could do anything to stop himself, the wall caved in under his weight, and he was propelled to the floor, dust and sawdust filled the atmosphere around him, nearly choking him to death, and obscuring his vision in the process. MagiKoopa was contorted into a writhing fit of hacking and coughing on the dusty floor, which only made his situation worse. After most of the dust had cleared and MagiKoopa regained his composure and stood up. For the first time he noticed that he had fallen into a tunnel.
The tunnel was a fairly large one, made of stone bricks with torches on the sides every few meters. What surprised MagiKoopa even more was the fact that the torches seemed to flicker on as he passed them, lighting the way for him to the end of the tunnel. He walked on, taking the time to notice every little thing about the mysterious tunnel. What was this place? Did Bowser build it?
No, he concluded. If Bowser or anyone else relative to this time period had built it, Kamek would know about it. Kamek had never seen this place before in his life. Then how in blazes did this tunnel get here? What's it for anyway? Kamek could only hope the answer to his questions was a good one.
After a while he began to see light ahead of him. 'I wonder why I never noticed this before,' He casually thought to himself. As he stepped into the serene, pale light of the circular room, he could see that the room didn't hold much, in fact, it was completely empty. Completely empty except for the single treasure chest in the center. Kamek could make out a large, oddly drawn 'M' branded just above the opening.
Kamek couldn't help but wonder curiously what was held inside the treasure chest, and he wanted very much to know what was inside. Boldly, he began to lift the top of the treasure chest, and it was opened. At first, nothing happened, but then a bright flash illuminated the room, momentarily blinding Kamek. When his vision was returned to him, what he saw was surprising.
There, hovering over the treasure chest, was a Boo. However, this wasn't any normal Boo. Kamek was puzzled, why? First off, this Boo was purple. Yes, purple. Second, the 'M' seemingly branded on it's forehead, what was that? Third, why was it locked inside a treasure chest? Suddenly the Boo chuckled, and said:
"Are you the one who has released me?"
Cautiously, Kamek spoke,"Uh, yeah." The realization that Boo's could not talk had not yet reached his brain.
The Boo laughed again, and then just hovered. Kamek meanwhile was getting extremely angry. He decided to kill the Boo, he fired a simple blue beam from his wand directly at the Purple Boo and it exploded upon impact. The room was rocked and dust and rocks were hurled everywhere. Kamek smirked, but that smirk quickly turned into a frown when the dust completely dissipated from the circular room and he discovered that the Boo was unharmed.
"eh....?" He mused.
The Boo only laughed some more. Angry, Kamek fired another, but to the same result. He began to increase the power he was putting into the blast, but that too was effectively futile. Finally, after a number of blasts, Kamek ran out of patience. He used the "Koopa Buster" on the Boo. It too was futile.
Now Kamek was worried, his magic attacks hadn't worked, and he began to sweat nervously. The Boo gave a light chuckle and then spoke again.
"My turn."
In an instant Kamek was grabbed by the Boo and flung to the other side of the room. The Boo raised his hands and bolts of blue lightning spewed forth from them. Kamek cried out in agonizing pain as the thunderbolts seared his skin and tore at his flesh, his eyes bulged from his sockets, his screams ceased when the lightning stopped. Kamek fell to the floor in a puff of smoke, exhausted and energetically drained.
"Now," Started the Boo as he floated forward and picked Kamek up by his shirt collar, staring him directly in the face,"I am no ordinary Boo, I am Majin Boo (I'll bet you can guess where I got the name, hmm? ^-^). I think as you can plainly see I have demonstrated that you don't have the power to beat me. I can give you two options: one, I kill you now. Two, I will let you live and you become my servant. Which do you choose?"
Kamek didn't have much of a choice, so he gave a quick reply in a scratchy voice.
"The latter."
Majin Boo smirked. "Very well." Majin Boo placed his hand on Kameks forehead, when the hand left his forehead, there was a red 'M' symbol.
"You are now Majin Kamek. You serve me and only me. The first thing I want you to do is to kill whomever owns this castle, understand?"
Majin Kamek nodded and Majin Boo disappeared. Majin Kamek smirked, Bowser would be coming home anytime now, and he would be in for a surprise.




Chapter II: Toads encounter




Toad was simply walking along the road, hoping to be at Mario house before noon. The rain had slowed him down considerably, but to his relief it stopped a while ago. Now, it was as if the clouds had been all sucked through a giant vortex in the sky, for the sky was a flawless blue, devoid of anything that would hinder it's magnificent beauty, or stint the might of the golden sun. Toad had to admit the day was turning out beautifully, even if it did start out gloomy. He soon became immersed in the beauty of nature, so much in fact that he almost didn't see it.
Toad blinked as if he had seen a mirage, but to his astonishment, he hadn't. There, reading the sign that pointed to Mushroom castle, was a Boo. Now in any case, toad would be peeved that a Boo had found it's way out of Bowsers castle (it proved they had brains) and was wandering this close to the castle. What was even more stupefying had nothing to do with what the Boo was doing, but the fact that it was purple was another mystery in itself. Purple for crying out loud! Toad decided he better shoo it away before it got the chance to do something.
"Hey, you, Boo, go away! Shoo!"
The Boo slowly turned to face Toad. Staring at him with a semi-perplexed expression. Toad, meanwhile, was getting impatient.
"Are you stupid or something!?! I said go back to your filthy castle before I get mad!"
Toad thought he saw the Boo give a slight smirk, but couldn't be sure.
"Sorry, but I've never seen a fungus talk before."
A fungus!? Oh that's it, you're gonna.....wait a minute...he talked?
"Boos can't talk!" Toad exclaimed suddenly.
"Well, I can, now if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to in this 'Mushroom Kingdom'." The Boo turned to leave.
Toad stepped in front of him, blocking his path. "I think not."
Majin Boo backhanded Toad, Toad was sent flying into a nearby tree. He stopped abruptly as his back impacted with the tree, causing sharp pain to jolt through his entire body like electricity, and he slowly slid down until he fell face first onto the damp grass below. It took a few seconds for the pain to register on Toads face, but it did. Toad shakily brought himself up by his elbows onto his knees. He coughed a few times, but no blood was expelled. That was a good sign. He drew in a few shaky breaths before looking up.
Majin Boo was staring down at him, wearing his evil smirk. " Care to say that again?"
Toad winced as a wave of white hot pain rain down his backside, tears were welling up in his tiny eyes, and his fists, as well as teeth, were clenched. Somehow, however, he managed to speak.
"W-what do you want with the Mushroom Kingdom?" Toad asked as fiercely as he could manage, but alas, it only game out as a tiny squabble, cracked and devoid of intimidation.
"I don't want anything with the Mushroom Kingdom, I'm simply going to burn it to the ground."
Toad's eyes went wide despite the pain. "Burn...the Mushroom Kingdom?"
Majin Boo chuckled,"Yes, how else would I be able to locate what I'm looking for?"
"Wha-what are you looking for? Tell me!"
"Sorry, I can't do that. You're going to be dead soon anyway, so you don't need to worry about it."
Without reasoning his actions, Toad launched himself at Majin Boo. Majin Boo sidestepped to easily evade Toads attack, and then his eyes flickered for an instant, before beams of white hot neutron light propelled from his pupils, cutting a small hole in Toads stomach. Toad gasped as he fell, feeling all of his air jet out of his body in a swift motion. The pain was unbearable. Toad slumped to the floor, clutching his stomach. This Boo wasn't any ordinary Boo, nothing he had seen could do that.
"W...what....are....you...?"
Majin Boo smirked again, and just before taking off, "I am Majin Boo." Then flew away.
Toad winced again from the jarring pain and started to crawl in the direction of Mario house. The princess Peach and everything in the Mushroom Kingdom was in grave danger, he had to warn Mario.....no matter what.



Chapter III: Race to the Mushroom Kingdom



Bowser sat in his chair on the bridge of his airship: Koopus Maximus. He anxiously awaited arriving at his castle. He sat quietly in a semi bored position whilst little Goombas milled around the ship busilly making sure that they didn't crash. At first, Bowser had been quite skeptical about using Goombas to pilot his prized airship, but he soon realized that they were as capable as anything when it came to machinery, they seemed to have a natural talent for the tasks.
This undoubtedly pleased Bowser to no end, the Goombas were extremely thorough when it came time, though their battle tactics were highly inferior to anything else in his army. He had, at last, found a use for them other than the occasional footstool, pillow, or any other oddity that he might see fit.
Bowser hoped nothing big had happened while he was away, he certainly didn't want to miss any action. The estimated arrival time was just in 27 minutes, so he wouldn't have very long to wait before finding out exactly what he'd missed. That was a good thing. He hoped Kamek didn't do anything stupid like kidnap the princess, that was his job, not Kameks. Bowser grinned.
Yup, even after ol' Smithy nearly took over the world, Bowser still hadn't given up on trying to kidnap Peach. It basically just became routine now, because there wasn't anything else for him to do. In fact, life was pretty boring in the world they now lived in. Nothing exciting ever happening at all.
However, Bowser had had this hunch for some time now that all that was about to change.
He had no idea.
* * *
Princess Toadstool, aka Peach was sitting on her throne reading a book. She was very engrossed in the book, as it was a good read. The book was a fairly thick one with medium sized print, but the bright red cover made it most appealing. She was about halfway through the book right now, she had been reading since after lunch.
The Chancellor suddenly scurried in, his face flushed with frustration and nervousness. Of course, this was nothing out of the ordinary.
"P-princess!!! There is something that needs to be brought to your attention!"
The princess sighed,"What is it now?"
"Well your highness, it seems that Toad has not returned from his visit with Mario yet. He left almost five hours ago, and even for Toad it shouldn't take this long."
Peach sat straight up in her chair, a look of mild concern crossed her face. "Have you tried contacting Mario?"
The Chancellor shuffled his feet, "Ah, well...no..."
"Well, why don't you?" Peach asked, this time a little annoyed.
"Because the phone connection with Mario house has been down for a week, we tried to tell you..."
"....oh. Well then, I guess we'll just have to wait."
"Yes your highness."

* * *
Toad inched forward to the front door of Mario house. Sweat pored down his face as he brought one of his small fists up to the door, and knocked. The knock was barely audible even to Toads ears, but he dared to hope that Mario heard it. When no response came after several minutes, Toad tried again. Still nothing. Toad was beginning to lose hope. He summoned up all of the strength he had left in him and yelled with all of the force his lungs could muster.
"Mario!!!!"
After a few seconds it was apparent that Mario was indeed in the house, and that was evidenced by the fact that Toad heard footsteps coming closer to the door. Toad managed to sigh with relief, and then the door opened in front of him. Mario looked around for a moment, before looking down and finally seeing Toad. Mario's eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped. He was horrified at the sight before him.
"Toad!? What-what happened!? Are you alright!?" Mario asked.
Toad strained a smile, "I've been better." He croaked.
Mario knelt beside Toad and grabbed his arm. With some effort, he was able to carry Toad over to a nearby couch and set him down, at that moment Luigi came into the room.
"Hey Mario, who was at the d-what the heck happened to Toad!?!"
"I don't know Luigi, what happened, Toad?"
Toad coughed, and then begin to speak," I messed with the wrong Boo."
"A Boo did this to you!? What!?"
Toad sighed, and then proceeded to tell them all about his encounter with Majin Boo. As Toad was explaining, Mario and Luigi listened intently from their seats, their interest only growing. Several times Toad noticed one of them go wide eyed, and he guessed that they were taking this seriously, he noted with satisfaction. When he finished, Mario was the first one to speak.
"Toad, did you see where this Majin Boo character went? I mean, did he seem to be heading in a particular direction?"
Toad jumped from the couch in the blink of an eye, pain forgotten. His eyes were wide with fear.
"Omigosh, I forgot! Majin Boo was heading straight for the Mushroom Kingdom, he said something about burning it to the ground! Oh, I'm such an idiot!"
Mario looked horrified," What!? That means we've got no time to lose, come on!"
The trio raced to the door, but Mario stopped abruptly midway through the door.
"Toad, you stay here, there's no way I'm going to risk losing you. You're already injured enough as it is."
"No, I wanna help!"
"Sorry Toad." Mario and Luigi ran off towards the mushroom Kingdom.
"Hmmph." Toad walked back to the couch and plopped down onto it. Nothing to do now but wait."
Mario and Luigi ran as fast as their legs would carry them toward the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario's face was strained as he ran through the forest. He tripped suddenly over a fallen log, his face was thrown against the dirt. He quickly got up, brushed off the dirt that had gotten on his overalls, and ran double time up to catch up with Luigi, who had not stopped to wait. They were almost there.
Mario could make out the top tower of the Mushroom Castle above the dense thicket of trees and the occasional mountain. Mushroom way was just ahead. Mario was getting winded, but he couldn't stop now, Mushroom Kingdom was in danger! He would never forgive himself if he couldn't make it in time.
Luigi seemed to be getting tired as well, but, like Mario, he was still plodding on strong as ever. Mario's feet pounded heavily on the ground floor, aching more with each passing step, but still he could not stop. Nothing could make him stop.
Except maybe a Hammer Bro.
Mario and Luigi skidded to a halt right in front of the Hammer Bro. The Hammer Bro grinned, and spoke, in an irritating voice.
"Well well well, look who we have here. It's the twin pasta heads." It said in an amused voice.
Mario spoke first. "Hey, we don't have time do deal with you right now, there's an emergency in Mushroom Kingdom."
The Hammer Bro grinned. "Then I guess you'll have to make time."
Without warning, the Hammer Bro lunged at Mario, catching him off guard. Mario was hit with a punch to the jaw, and a blow from one of the hammers right on top of his head. Staggering backward, Mario had just enough time to dodge the next attack, a jab to the midsection. Luigi took the Hammer Bros distraction with Mario as time to prepare an attack. Using his ultimate weapon, the Pasta Hammer, he swung right on the back of the Hammer Bro's neck, an unprotected area.
The Hammer Bro staggered forward, giving Mario time to land a few swift kicks to the monsters soft belly. The Hammer Bro fell to its knees clutching its stomach, crying out in obvious pain. And then, in a surge of anger, wildly thrashed out at Mario with its hammer. The Hammer Bro was growling intensely now, very angry and frustrated. The anger was only growing by the minute, and he was getting nowhere. Mario was barely able to dodge the array of attacks, and for all he knew, the monster wasn't about to quit anytime soon. He hoped Luigi was about ready to strike.
He was. Luigi had deduced that they had spent more than enough time with this jerk, and Mushroom Kingdom was in grave danger. He had had enough. Luigi balled his hands into fists, and soon green energy began to swirl around them, until both of his hands were pulsing with metallic green energy. Taking a glance at Luigi, Mario noticed this, and jumped out of the way just in time.
"Super Flame!", yelled Luigi. Almost instantaneously, a huge barrage of green fireballs shot straight from Luigi's palms and launched themselves at the Hammer Bro. The Hammer Bro turned to see what was going on. It's eyes went wide, but that was all it could do before it was engulfed in a trio of enormous explosions. Mario quickly ran past Luigi and continued on the path.
"Come on Luigi, we've gotta save the Mushroom Kingdom!"
"Right behind you, bro!"

* * *

When they finally reached the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi were horrified. The town was fine, but the castle was on fire! People in the town were running around on the edge of hysteria trying to find something to put the fire out. Mario ran up to the nearest villager and asked, in a hurried voice: "What happened here?"
The scared Mushroom woman shakily turned, and an expression of surprise crossed her face.
"Mario! S-something awful has happened, the princess is trapped inside, you've got to save her!"
Mario and Luigi wasted no time in rushing inside the blazing inferno. Time passed, and in a few minutes they returned, scrambling down the front stairs. Seconds later, Peach sprinted out in tow.
On closer inspection, Mario realized that only a single tower was burning out of the entire castle, much to his relief. It looks like the villagers won't have too much trouble putting out the fire. Coincidentally, however, that is the area that Peach happened to be in. (Is it me, or does Peach always seem to have the worst luck?)
Peach bent over on her knees and coughed for about 30 seconds, some of the smoke in the castle had gotten into her lungs. When she was finished, she stood up and brushed the soot off of her dress.
"Thank you Mario, you saved me again."
"Don't mention it, Princess."
"Hey Mario," Luigi interjected," What about Toad?"
"Oh! That's right, I almost forgot. Let's go get Toad. We left him at our house. Come on Peach!"

* * *

High in the sky, Majin Boo flew towards an unknown destination.
"Darn it, it wasn't there!" He exclaimed, furious. Then, his evil smirk played on his features once again, "No matter, I'll find it, and then I'll find the next one, and the next, and then the world will be mine...."
Majin Boo's cackling could be heard for miles.

* * *

Kamek looked out the window, Bowsers ship loomed overhead like a dark cloud over the bright sun. He smiled. Bowser won't know what hit him...


Next Chapter: Majin Kamek Vs. Bowser
Authors note: Yeah, Final Fantasy fanfiction was getting a little boring for me (not that it's still not great, don't get me wrong! ^-^) but I wanted to do something new for a change. And, well, this is what happened. I'll try to get the next chapters up as soon as possible, hope you enjoyed it!