After much procrastination this fic is finally underway. While it uses several Legend of The 9 orbs characters, it's assumed the story never happened. However in Chicken Miasma's epic fic 'Better off Alone' the events specified in the past of that fic have happened should it become relevant.
Goombella stood in Professor Frankly's office at U Goom, she was about 5 minutes early for her meeting with Professor Frankly, but she always planned to arrive early for meetings. His office was unusually tidy, it was the beginning of the year and one of the cleaning staff sorted out the Professor's bookcases. Frankly had his books placed in an exact order which were usually in an 'orderly mess' by the end of the second week. Unlike most other species however, Goombas have the excuse that they have no arms and tidying up with their feet is very time consuming not to mention difficult.
The new semester was about a week off, Goombella was due to be Frankly's research assistant this year so she wasn't so surprised to be called in to U Goom, she expected him to talk business about what they'll be doing and what they hope to achieve.
"Good morning Goombella" the Professor entered the newly cleaned office "They did a good job didn't they?"
"Yes Professor… ever considered keeping it this way?"
"Kolorado once asked me that, and it's something I've tried to do every year since. Anyway Goombella, what I called you in for today was something of great concern"
Something of great concern? After the thousand year door, Goombella wasn't quite sure what to think when Frankly said that.
"Now now, no need to look so grave Goombella. We are concerned about attendance numbers at U Goom this year. They have dropped considerably, in fact we are keeping applications open for longer then ever in the history of U Goom simply to get bums in seats. Even some of our teachers are giving this job up because they are getting better offers in other fields"
Goombella gave a sigh of relief in her head "Why do you think there is an attendance shortage this year professor?"
"There could be several reasons, it seems more people are getting into sports this year and stuff like that, the Glitz Pit also expanding and its advertising is even on these very walls here at U Goom. What the higher ups want us to do is to come up with a new way of making others come back to this place, make them use their minds instead of the fists or whatever"
"I heard Koops was considering signing up, do you know if we got his application"
"Not sure on that, I'll check, but if Koops is coming maybe Vivian will attend too, you know how those two are"
"I don't see Vivian coming to U Goom Professor"
"Maybe not but you never know. What I want you to do Goombella is gather anybody who might be interested in joining up with U Goom, start with those you travelled with, then you had some friends in Glitzville did you not? I've sent a message to Kolorado asking he do the same as he'll be teaching this year too. So will you do this for me? For U Goom?"
Goombella smiled "Sure Professor, no problem" As she left Goombella's face and words were the opposite of what she was thinking. Advertising U Goom in Glitzville would be a bit too optimistic but Frankly was a bit of an intellectual and she understood the way he saw things.
She walked out the door to his office and then walked down the hall way out of the archaeology complex of U Goom and into the fresh air. She wasn't sure how she would go about her objective but guessed she'd start in Glitzville first. Lost in her thoughts she suddenly tripped on something landing flat on her face in the grass. She heard the click of a camera, got herself up and saw who it was. It was a female Goomba and a Paratroopa both around her age.
"That's a good look for you, maybe you should stay like that" The female Goomba laughed as her Paratroopa partner held up the photo of the fallen Goombella proudly hoping to get a reaction out of her
"Aliciagoom, we don't start for another week, can't you leave me alone until then? Or did you miss me so much you had to come see me now"
"Yuck! No way, for your information I am here to see Professor Frankly. I don't care that you helped the Great Gonzales defeat the shadow queen and did all that other stuff, including beating my precious Rawk Hawk. As my rival, I am so beating you this year" Aliciagoom looked at her determined
Goombella seemed less then impressed "Still a shameless Rawk Hawk fangirl I see. Well whatever, I guess I'll see you later, unfortunately"
The Paratroopa decided to say something important "You'd better believe it, Aliciagoom's gunna own your goodie two shoes ass"
"Who's your new lackey Alicia and how much did you bribe him?"
"Prrft… I do not need to resort to such measures. My family has been rich for decades because we know exactly how to make the right friends"
"Yeah she gave me 200 coins to take the photo, praise her while shouting out random insults at you, but really she's pretty cool to hang out with"
"PARAKENNY you idiot!" Aliciagoom screamed out as she went to multibonk the Paratroopa
Goombella sighed walking off while Aliciagoom was giving a beat down to her 'partner'
As Aliciagoom continued to bonk Parakenny she was also watching Goombella leave the area. Once she left Aliciagoom stopped and let Parakenny flutter back up.
"Okay, now we follow her"
Parakenny rubbed his head "Don't you have to see Professor Frankly?"
For this Parakenny received another headbonk "Of course not you moron, that was only a cover story like I told you before. Goombella is apparently Professor Frankly's research assistant this year, I want to find out what trick she pulled"
"Maybe saving the world had something to do with it"
"Trust her to get the chance to save the world and I bet Gonzales did everything while she just cried in fear all the time. Gonzales probably cheated his way through everything too"
"Uh right… anyway shouldn't we be following her?"
"Yes, your right… for once, let us go"
Twilight Trail
Koops and Vivian had been sitting on a log, staring into the moon silently enjoying each others company for the past thirty minutes. Vivian closed her eyes and smiled as she leaned against Koops, his shoulders like a typical Koopa were hard, but to Vivian they were like the warmest, softest and safest place she knew.
However he suddenly jerked forward a little surprising her "Vivian" he said softly
"Yes Koops" she replied still in a dream state
"My application for U goom got accepted today"
"That's great! …Isn't it?" Vivian sensed a lowering tone in his voice sensing something was not right
"Well yeah… but… aside from Goombella, I'm going to be all alone and I'm sure Goombella has other friends"
Vivian didn't know what to say "Oh, I'm sure Goombella will look out for you though"
"Maybe, but I also got a message from Goombella saying that U goom are extended applications because of low attendance numbers"
"Yes I'll go"
"Go where?"
"To U Goom, that's where you were leading with all this weren't you?"
Koops blushed and it took him a good 10 seconds to recover "But… what will you do?"
"Oh? I'll do law and politics, that's what you are doing isn't it?"
"Yeah, but those are really harsh subjects Vivian. Not saying you can't handle it but don't just do this for me"
"I had thought about it a while back, but I thought applications had closed, so it works out great"
"Oh… that's good" Koops gave a shy smile as the two stared into the moonlight once more
Glitzville
Goombella had arrived in Glitzville via the blimp but little did she know that once Aliciagoom caught on her plans she too got on the blimp at the last second and remained hidden in the large crowd while she demanded Parakenny remain hidden in his shell until they got off the blimp.
Glitzville had changed a little bit since her last visit, mostly everything had got bigger, she spotted a familiar looking yellow shelled Koopa eating a hot dog with another red shelled one.
"Hey King K, how's it been?"
K waved in the middle of chewing and tried to speak but the combination didn't work well and he dropped the hot dog making a mess on the floor. "Uh… hey" K replied slightly embarrassed
Goombella smiled seeming to think nothing of it "So how's life been treating you?"
"Not bad, but your friend Waffles has been chewin' through the ranks! Or more commonly known as The Great Gonzales Jr. I just can't get myself to call him that you know what I'm sayin'?"
"He'll always be Waffles to us"
The other Koopa was seemingly lost in this entire conversation "Care to introduce K?"
"Oh yeah sorry man, AJ, Goombella, Goombella, AJ" King K was rarely formal or proper in anything he did, but AJ was used to it "You in Glitzville for a reason or for fun?"
As Goombella explained her story about U Goom and the Professor asking her to find anybody willing, Aliciagoom and Parakenny meanwhile had completely forgotten that she was following Goombella getting lost in the glory of Glitzville.
"Oh Glitzvillle, I love it here. OH and look the hot dog shop has got a new item since I was here last! And the juice bar has been redone! And the pit is even larger then before" Aliciagoom ran and stared at each building as she spoke of it
"I have got to have a hot dog! Like yesterday!"
As Aliciagoom wondered about she looked at the newly placed neon light sign placed high on the front side of the roof it read 'Next Fight: The Great Gonzales Junior versus Rawk Hawk'
"Oh wow! I get to see Rawk Hawk in action, LIVE! This is turning into a great trip!"
Aliciagoom went inside and took her seat in the crowd, Parakenny soon followed her hotdog in hand and fluttered down next to her. Neither fighter was up on the stage yet.
"So this is Glitzville. So awesome" Parakenny looked around and nodded approvingly
"Yeah, you can cut the tension with a knife, it's unbelievable"
"Goodie two shoes at 9'oclock"
"What are you going on about? Oh?" Aliciagoom looked around and saw what Parakenny referred to as Goombella. Two Koopas were with her "Leave her, whatever old Frankly said to her could not have possibly led her to Glitzville, it was probably nothing"
More accurately Aliciagoom did not care to find out, between watching Rawk Hawk live and spying on Goombella it was a no contest in her mind. However when Jolene came out on the stage it was obvious she did not have good news, it was apparent she was rather upset.
"This match has been cancelled"
The crowd let their dissatisfaction be known with Booing and shouting random nonsense
"Due to a lack of… funding, the Glitz pit… will be closing for an unknown length of time" it seemed something had really upset Jolene as she then went off the stage
Goombella looked cynically to K "I smell a rat. It's not like Jolene to let her feelings be known is it? "
"Naw, it's not, but I'm willin' to bet Andy knows somethin', even if part of the story he tells is made up"
Goombella had a quick glance around "I think I got it worked out, have you seen any guards at all?"
"She's right K, I thought that too. This is my first time so I thought they could be blending in with the crowd or something, but apparently not"
However just at that moment a brawl had broken out within the crowd, it seemed they weren't the only ones to work out there wasn't any security.
"No fight! What is THIS! Lack of funding, YEAH RIGHT! Fight! Fight! Fight!"
Goombella knew that voice… it was Aliciagoom's, she sighed again on hearing it "Let's get out of…" Goombella stopped her sentence as she dodged a spiny thrown by someone and the three tried to head to the west side door.
"Not so fast" Parakenny tried to fly into Goombella but he collecting King K instead sending him backwards a few steps sending him hard into the wall but his shell took a lot of the impact.
"Hey, nobody cheap attacks me and gets to brag about it" K gained a bit of height and stood on a chair before doing a shell toss from the height he was at to stun Parakenny hitting him in the jaw crashing him to the ground, K then dropped his elbow on the Paratroopa's face for good measure.
"Ow… not fair" Parakenny muttered
As they got into the hallway they heard somebody approaching the ring as well and instinctively drew defensive stances however it was only Bandy Andy.
"What's happening in there? Did Rawk Hawk lose and his fans went nuts?"
Goombella shook her head "No, the pit is apparently no more. We have a hunch it's to do with security"
"It is. I spied on their meeting from a secret hole in the ceiling of Jolene's office I bet nobody knows about"
Once Andy noticed nobody seemed impressed he continued "Apparently the company that trained all of the security guards aren't happy with the way Jolene is doing things, her plans for expanded the pit, and while it's a tiny bit to do with finance, that security company simply doesn't want to train anymore guards, so they all left in protest, and Jolene didn't want a riot happening but she knew it would happen anyway, that's why she was so distressed, her reputation is a mess and all of that, but she'll bounce back, I'm sure"
After Andy got all his facts out K had a quick idea "Hey Goombella, you said that U Goom does some sports right? You think they'd support some of the fighters"
"Uh, to fight? Probably not, I'd have to put that through Professor Frankly, at this stage he'd do almost anything, but he doesn't want a bunch of idiots at U Goom"
"Naw I know, there's only a few actually I think who'd want to show up, and we'll ask em, you won't get Glitzville on your front lawn. AJ you want in don't you?"
"Do I? Of course I want in"
"You'll still have to work hard you know. K and Andy how about you?"
K laughed "Me at U Goom? Well I'll think about it, but I wonder what I could possibly do"
Andy nodded "Yup, I want to go into business, so this is a great chance to get access to some qualifications"
Goombella seemed very pleased with herself, there was one other who she believed she could persuade into joining U goom despite his age. She went off to the now unguarded major league locker room and found a discontented Waffles, nobody else was in here.
"NO!" was Waffles' immediate answer when Goombella got her question out
"Aw come on, what are you going to do now anyway! Wonder around the streets of Rogueport picking a random fight and money of the street?"
"Sounds like a plan, you're onto something" Waffles tried to walk away from Goombella but she blocked him
"I can't make a decision for you, but whether you like to admit it or not you won't be able to fight forever"
"Going to U Goom means I won't be able to fight at all, what use is that!"
"I'll speak to the Professor, I'll see if I can get some kind of program going. Besides there is a new course this year, it's based on the history of fighting styles, it's taught by a Toad known only as The Master, I thought of you when I heard about that course"
Waffles seemed to be wavering "Can you actually make a life out of that? I mean, I know I can't fight forever… but maybe after that"
"Not entirely sure but I imagine it would sort of follow my field in archaeology where there is argument, debate, searching of evidence and determining the history of things. So I think you might have to do that too if you were going to do that as a career"
"Fine, I'll do it, but what if…" Waffles seemed a little embarrassed
"What if what?"
"What if it's too hard for me?"
She gave an encouraging smile "I think you are smarter then you allow yourself to be or what you show to anybody else. I'll look out for you, and if it's too hard we'll just see what else we can do"
By now the brawl had simmered down and fortunately did not get too far out of hand, only a few were hurt with minor injuries. Goombella emailed her positive news to the Professor with all the names she had and her question about the fighters, but felt somewhat guilty taking advantage of Jolene's misfortune. About 5 minutes later the Professor had replied.
Goombella,
You are not the only one who brings good news, Kolorado too has brought together a lot of heads together, mainly thanks to Kooper bringing together a few of his former partners. In addition there was a delay in applications from Isle Delfino and we got better then expected numbers from them.
Our teacher ad has gone down well and I'm told we have already filled a lot of positions, it seems the high name of U Goom still means something. Some of the teachers you may even be familiar with including Madame Flurrie, who will be teaching drama and Admiral Bobbery who will be teaching a special course in navigation which I'm sure will be a lot of fun for those into that kind of thing. It seems also that Glitz Pit promoter Jolene is having a career change, she has applied here to teach Administration, I'm guessing in office but it could be retail, on this list I've got in front of me it's not very specific. I guess we'll find out in time.
As for your request for the fighters, you are not the first to have such a request, in fact the Master from Toad Town said he would not teach unless there was a place where one could 'prove their skills', in short that's a yes.
Thank you once more for your help
Professor Frankly
Goombella shut off the mailbox SP. She no longer felt any guilt about Jolene, she probably had the whole thing planned from when she knew her application had been accepted knowing she could not save Glitzville. Of course only Jolene knew all the facts but in the long run the details were not really important.
It was then she put everything together, applicants from Isle Delfino? This would be the first year they've taken them from that far, in addition to those she and Kooper had put together today and on top of that there was the new 'sports' now offered, it would probably turn out to be the most unpredictable, chaotic yet exciting year on U Goom's record.
A/N 1: A little in joke in Paper Mario that a lot people I've spoken to have actually missed. In one of the mails from the Rogueport restoration committee it mentions about the shop and how nobody knows it exists. If you get Goombella to tattle Glitzville, she notices the hot dogs, the pit and the juice bar and completely neglects the shop :D. I figured it be only fair that even Rawk Hawk enthusiast Aliciagoom would not care for it either.
A/N 2: I always thought Waffles/Yoshi was a little smarter then he lets on and wasn't just muscle. Also he's too cool to resist not using in this story.