Chapter 2: 1 - ?
The hustle and bustle of the city wasn't the different from what you would hear from Toad Town. What was different however, was the fact that there was no Toads in sight. Instead of the small mushroom creatures, crowds of people, humans, wandered around the streets. They were wearing simple clothes with lots of accessories, different from the 'function over fashion' mentality of the Mushroom Kingdom. It wasn't just humans either, strange bipedal animals walked about as if there was no difference at all between them and the normal looking people in the area. There were dragon-like creatures pulling carriages down a large road at an alarming speed. Buildings stood tall and with little room in between one another, with small, farmers marker-like stands scattered on the side of them. The whole area was screaming fantasy world, and standing amongst the chaos, stood Mario, alone and confused.
Mario, quite literally, blinked from the castle into a completely different world without a clue as to where he was. There were no familiar faces, and everyone walking around gave him strange looks, almost all of them stood at least a foot taller than him. The only thing he could think of was 'where am I?' as he scanned the endless sea of people. Eventually, he turned towards a woman wearing plain brown clothing walking past him as if she was looking for something.
"Excuse-a me miss, but could you tell me where we are?" Although he was polite when asking the simple question, the first thing she did was look at him strangely, until she replied with hesitation in her voice.
"The capitol of Lugunica, you're not from around here aren't you."
"No, no I'm-a not, and I've-a never heard of Lugunica before. Would it happen to-a be near Saraland." Whether it was what he said, or how he said it, he didn't know, but the girl was put off by the small mustached man.
"Listen, I quite busy, so I don't have time to talk with strangers." She quickly turned away with a rushed attitude and left a very confused and frustrated Mario behind. After that, he turned towards one of the cat creatures that was walking by.
"Excuse a me, could you tell me," But the demi-human simply brushed Mario aside, as if he were a fly on it arm. "Hmph, well I guess-a I will find out on-a my own." He then started off in the opposite direction. He walked past endless amounts of stalls and people as he traveled along the crowed sidewalk. Everyone who looked at him couldn't help but stare at his foreign look until Mario looked at them, causing them to turn away. It wasn't until he looked at a street sign when he stopped traveling.
The words, or lack thereof, was uncomforting. The only things that were written on them were strange symbols, similar to that of characters in Earth's Asian languages. "This-a place doesn't use English, I really am-a lost, aren't I?" He muttered to himself, as he continued walking along the busy streets, walking along bridges, down alley ways, until it felt like he was going in circles.
"Mama Mia, I have-a traveled for ages and I've-a gone nowhere." He was sitting along the side of a building, bent into a slump without an idea in the world as to what to do. "I don't-a know where I am, and I don't-a know where anyone else is either." Everywhere Mario went looked the same as where he just was, with the only difference from where he was currently and where he started was the lack of carriages, and even more stalls than where he first arrived. His face fell into the palms of his hands and he began the panful process of giving up.
"Mario! Help me!" From the back-alley way next to where he was sitting, a call for help echoed into his ears. Mario snapped out of his slouch to face the direction where he heard the scream of terror.
Although his voice was sent out through the streets, the only person who payed attention to it was Mario. "That-a voice," he had heard it so many times that there could be no mistaking who made it. "Luigi, Luigi must-a be in trouble!" With tremendous might, Mario leapt off of the ground and ran form the sounds origin, and to his brother's aid.
"Would you look at this chump. Dude's a total scaredy cat."
"Your right, he's shaking more and a puppy out in the snow."
"Heh, so what is it going to be chump. Are ya going to give us your money, or are we going to have to take it.
Three men stood towering over the now petrified Luigi, who was sticking his hands up halfheartedly in a karate pose and inching backwards away from the terrible trio. One of the men was a tall giant with muscles that could crush boulders, another was the size of a toad and was wrapped from head to toe in cloth. The third and final member was a slender man with silver hair and snake-like eyes. Their intention was as clear as day, and in his current state, Luigi was defenseless.
He was stumbling over boxes and other small objects as he was being backed into a corner of the dark alley way, lit up only by streams of light that slipped through small gap in-between the towering buildings. "m-m-m-ma-ma" sounds came out of his mouth, but nothing that could be termed coherent.
"What's wrong scaredy cat? Does ya buddy have your tongue" the large man chuckled. There was no hope, who knew what the bandits were capable of, and his life was on the line. Luigi did the only thing he could think of and called out at the top of his lungs to the only person that could save him.
"Mario! Help Me!" the three bandits froze out of fear, but in almost an instance, the snake like bandit grabbed Luigi by the neck and silenced his plea for help.
"What do you think you're doing bub?" his voice was snarly and slurred immensely. "Are deal's with you, so quit your yapping' and ya might just make it out of here alive" Luigi's eyes started to water.
"Man, we thought you were gonna rat us out, but you didn't even call for any guards." the little man squeaked with a nasty smirk on his face.
"Yeah, who even is that Mario guy that you called anyway?" the Mountain spoke with a dimwittedness to him. "Is he your little cat buddy?"
"Only when I use-a super bell!" behind the three men, a short, chubby, red clad, mustached, and strange looking man with a funny accent stood tall and confident, as if he was a super hero ready to save the day.
The bandits looked at him with confusion, as they had no clue what a super bell was. The first to act was the snake man, who dropped Luigi to the ground. "So, you must be Mario." His tone was similar to that of Bowsers when his plans weren't derailing themselves.
"The one and-a only!" He responded with a smirk, puffing out his chest in the process.
"I didn't think you'd show up this fast, heck, I didn't think ya even existed."
"Well here I am-a now, so if you would-a be so kind as to leave my brother alone, that-a would be appreciated." His demand caused the three to burst into laughter, but his expression didn't falter.
"You" he gestured at the mountain of a man. "Show this little prick who his is messing with."
"You got it boss." The giant started towards him, barely made it two steps before Mario leapt up into the air with a springy jump, several times his own height. Mario then came crashing down on top of the mountains head, leapt off, and did a perfect triple backflip to his previous position where he straightened his cap. When he looked at the other to bandits, the only reaction they got was stunned silence, as the great beast fell to the ground with a thud.
"Who's-a next?" The red Italian said with a smile, only for both of the two to take a step backwards.
"Ya won't get away with this" the Snake man said as he and the smaller bandit dashed towards the larger man, and carried him farther into the eerie alley way, and eventually out of sight.
It didn't take long before Luigi ran over to his brother and began thanking. "Mario! I don't-a know what I would have-a done without you!" His voice was muffled from tears of joy, and from sticking his face into his brothers' arms.
"Don't worry bro, I've-a got you, there is nothing to be scared of anymore." Mario's voice reassured his frightened brother, who was still leaning into his brothers' shoulder, and for a while, they just sat in silence in the shadows of an unknown world.
Back in the main streets of the town, the reunited twins exchanged information on what had happened when they were separated. When Luigi woke up, he had found himself sitting on the edge of a fountain, surrounded in a strange environment and even stranger people. He never bothered to ask for help from anyone, as they all game him strange looks. He wandered aimlessly until he would up in the back-alley way where the bandits tried to mug him.
"I was a so scared, I didn't know what was going on, and those people just tried to attack me!" Luigi was going on in great detail of every aspect of his traumatic experience, even if most of what he said was redundant, Mario listened to him anyway. "The thing was, I didn't even have-a any coins on me to begin with, so when he tried asking me for…"
Luigi stood in place for a moment, until a deep grumble came from his belly. "Sorry, I guess I'm-a little hungry." Mario sighed, and dove into his pockets for anything that might be useful. Aside from a few knick knack's, the only thing that would help in the situation was a single dragon coin.
"I don't-a think that we can buy anything with this." Mario said glumly, holding the golden coin with full knowledge that it's value in the Mushroom kingdom was close to nothing.
"Well, we might as-a well look around, something could-a be on sale." Despite his effort to maintain positive and hopeful, Luigi's voice held a similar tone to his brothers, but they looked anyway. They scanned the nearby stalls until they spotted one that offered food. They walked up to the stand that offered a wide variety of fruit, where a large crate of apples took center stage.
After a giving the pair a strange look, the man behind the counter spoke to them in a rough but kind tone. "Hey there, either of you going to buy something?" The store clerk was strange looking like the rest of the people in the town, although his clothing wasn't that different from the general populous, his hair and goatee were a lime green that shone brightly even as he was standing in the shadows of his shop.
"I don't know," Mario said reaching into his back pocket, before holding out the coin. "Can this-a buy us anything?" The merchant grabbed the coin and inspected it closely, as it certainly was a strange sight to behold. The coin was the size of the brother's fists, which were unusually large. There was also a strange image carved into the coin of a smiling dinosaur looking creature with a large nose. Despite this, there was no doubt that the coin was made of pure gold.
"What kind of coin is this? I've never seen anything like it before." He held it out into the sunlight and began rotating it, watching it glisten in the sun.
"Well, the thing is," Luigi started, "We don't-a know how much this is worth because we aren't-a from around here." The man then looked at the coin intently for moment, before flashing a smile at the brothers.
"Well this coin is pretty rare, so it's value is a bit more than the stuff we use. I'd say that it's at least, twenty-five silver pieces. I could trade it in for you two, just so you have some local currency on hand." The two brothers looked at each other for a moment before non-verbally agreeing on the deal.
"Alright," Mario said holding out his hand, "You got-a deal."
Luigi quickly butted in front of his brother, knocking his hand down in the process. "And while you're at it, could you a give us a bag of-a fruit."
"Sure thing greenie!" The shop owner gave a thumbs up before turning towards the back of his shop to rummage through a large sack. All the while, Luigi began to fill a small paper bag with a variety of fruits, but mostly apples. The green haired man then turned around to hand Mario a sack of twenty silver coins, with five of them being used for the food. "Pleasure doing business with you." The man said with a smile as the two mustached men began walking away.
Luigi took no time at all to start digging into an apple from his fruit basket, and although he was hungry, Mario thought to himself as to what to do next. Neither of them knew where they were, how to read, and most importantly, where anybody else is. Memories of Peach's Castle flashed through his mind, watching everybody disappear one by one. Peach's eyes were filled with fear, looking straight into Mario's, right before she disappeared into nothingness. Was she alone in this city, or was she even in this place at all? He tried to focus on one thing at a time, but everything seemed to race by, creating more questions then he could answer.
Luigi however, had his mind on simpler things. As he ate his fruit, he was looking at all the different people there were, he counted normal people of different ages and sizes, but was more focused on the demi-humans. He saw dogs and cats standing on two feet and wearing clothes, and reptilian people doing the same. Although, the person that caught his eyes the most was a long, silver haired girl wearing a white dress that flew in the wind, walking about twenty feet in front of them. Her ears, although covered in the front and in the sides, were visible in the back, letting Luigi look directly at them. They were pointed, similar to that of an elf, which was a feature nobody else in the expansive crowd had. The thing he didn't understand was why they were being covered up, as they looked very pretty to him.
"Hey bro," Luigi said, quickly swallowing the food in his mouth, "Why do you think-a that-a girl is hiding her ears?" His voice was low as to not alert her presence, but enough for Mario to hear.
"Huh?" Mario stuttered a bit, snapping out of his mind. "What did-a you say, I didn't quite catch it."
"Why do you think-a that girl is…" He didn't get to finish his sentence, as both of them were shoved out of the way by a speeding yellow blur heading straight for the mysterious girl. As Luigi hit the ground screaming, his bag of fruit spilled everywhere onto the streets. Mario however only stumbled, and his eyes shot to the girl Luigi was talking about.
"Look out! Behind you!" He yelled, causing the girl to turn around, looking behind her with curious purple eyes. She was too slow to notice the yellow blur, who turned out to be a young, blond haired girl wearing only a brown jacket, black tights, and a bow in her hair. In the blink of an eye, she reached into the silver haired girl's pocket, pulled something out, and sped of down the street. Both Mario and the mysterious girl reached into their pockets, finding out that they had been robbed.
"My insignia!"
"The Coin's!"
The girl started running after the thief, while Mario moved to his brother to help him up.
"Luigi get up!" He said as he grabbed his younger brother from under his arms and hoisted him up to his feet. "Somebody just-a stole our money, common!" It didn't take much more to get his brother on board, as his usual goofy face went serious.
"Oh, she is-a going down" Luigi stumbled into a run in the direction of the two women with great speed, and Mario quickly did the same.
The silver haired girl was chasing after the yellow haired thief with super human speed without bumping into a single person along the way. Every turn the pick pocketer made, she did the same. It wasn't until she had followed the robber into an alley way did she stop.
"You there!" The mysterious girl addressed the bandit with authority and grace. "I demand that you return my insignia this very moment." While the kittenish girl looked towards a dead end in the form of a massive wall, she turned to face her target with a smirk reveling a large canine tooth.
"Sorry miss, I'm afraid I can't give this back, but I'm felling nice today, so here's something for the trouble." She reached into a brown sack hooked to her waist, and pulled out a silver coin, and tossed it to the mysterious girl who caught it instinctively.
"What? That insignia was priceless!" she said with a mixture frustration and desperation.
"Not where I am going it isn't." her smirk grew into a mischievous smile. "Ciao!" The bandit then leapt up from one wall to another, wall-jumping her way up to the roof tops leaving the silver haired girl in the alley way.
She looked up with defeat, as there was no way for her to scale up the thirty-foot wall. She began to turn around when she saw two men in strange clothing running at the wall, one in red, one in green.
"Um, who are you?" her question was never answered, as the two dashed right past her. It was only when they were a few feet in front of the wall when they broke out of their sprint. The green man jumped up onto the red man's shoulders, and the two jumped up, attempting to summit the great wall in front of them. To their credit, they made it up fairly high, before they ran into the wall face first, inches from the top. The girl cringed, as the red man feel from the wall, while the green one slid down it before hitting the ground and falling onto his back.
"Oh man, that-a didn't work at all." The red man spoke with a funny accent as his eyes danced in a daze. Now that he was on the ground, she could get a good look at him. He was a short man with a slight chub all over his body, dancing a fine line between safe and unhealthy. He had deep blue eyes with a large nose and a perfect black mustache underneath it is hiding most of his mouth when he wasn't talking. His outfit was something out of this world. He wore red shirt with strange blue pants that looped over his shoulders. He wore white gloves, shiny brown shoes, a belt with metallic objects attached to it, and a red hat with a strange symbol on it that looked like two tents pitched right next to each other.
He had a close resemblance to the green man, with the only physical differences being that he was taller, thinner, and had a different style of mustache. The only other difference the green man had was the symbol on his hat, which looked like two lines meeting each other near the bottom left corner.
"Who are you?" she asked, curiously looking down on him.
"It's-a me! A Mario!" he spoke with a dizziness in his voice, she helped him up slowly rise to his feet, as he clearly wasn't in his best state. He shook his head, before responding, "Thank you, I thought-a we could've made-a that jump." When his eyes focused in on her as he regained his senses, and he immediately changed his demeanor. "Wait a minute, you're that-a girl that was just robbed!"
His answer startled her, not because of what he said, but because she also remembered who he was. "You're the person that tried to warn me."
"Yes, I saw that yellow haired girl running towards you, I didn't know what she would-a do, but I figured that it wouldn't be good because-a she pushed me and-a my bro out of-a the way." He then turned to face the green man, who was lying on the ground moaning, as a bump was forming on his head.
"Hey Luigi, you ok?" His brother didn't respond, all he did was shake slightly. "Luigi?" he tried again, this time tugging at his mustache, but with similar results.
"You're not pulling hard enough tubby" A new voice startled Mario, and when he turned around to see who made the nose, he was more shocked than he had been in a long time. In front of him was a cat, not a humanoid one, just a regular looking cat. Except for the fact that it was floating in the air and was caring a purse with a matching shade of purple as the girl's eyes. Mario yelped, swirling his arms as he fell to the ground.
"W-Who are-a you?" The hits just kept on coming. Every moment he felt like he had a solid grip on the situation, and understood everything about the world he was in, some curve ball would come out of nowhere and cause hysteria.
"Why I'm Puck! Pleased to make your acquaintance mister mustachio!" His response didn't help, and it put Mario more on edge if anything. "Man, you look like you have never seen a spirit before."
"Spirit?" Mario tried to keep his cool, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult to so. "I didn't think spirits existed."
"Well they sure do, otherwise I wouldn't be here." The floating cat appeared to be enjoying himself, when he began to float in the direction of Luigi. He grabbed his mustache and pulled hard, stretching it out as if it were elastic. "Hey greenie! Wake up!" When Puck let go, the hair snapped back into place, bringing Luigi back into reality.
"Yowch!" Luigi flew into a blind rage, "How many times do I-a have to tell you not to a pull on-a my mustache Mario! It's-a sensitive!"
"It-a wasn't me bro," He threw up his hands pleading innocence, "It-a was the flying cat!"
"What? Cat's don't-a fl-y." Luigi's voice halted once he saw Puck, and he sat staring at the floating feline with a slight twitch to him.
"Man, your friend sure is strange." The break of the silence subsequently broke Luigi, and he went into hysteria once again.
"Mama Mia!" he yelled, leaping up to his feet as if he was jumping out of his skin. "There's a flying cat attacking me!"
"What do you mean? I barely even touched you." Puck enjoyed toying with Mario's brother more than himself, as the reactions from the green man was much more energetic. I wasn't until the girl spoke when he stopped his mischief.
"Puck, I think we should get moving, I need to retrieve my insignia." Mario was helping his brother cool off, as the spirit turned his attention to the girl.
"Well you're the one who decided to stick around and talk with these guys." He put his hands up like he was shrugging, all the while the silver haired girl grew impatient.
"Well it's not every day that two strange men jump face first into a brick wall!" The change in her attitude was abrupt and caught the brothers off guard, as she looked responsible, yet acted childish, and the two quickly stated bickering.
"Didn't she say something of hers was stolen?" Luigi asked with curiosity, as if puzzle pieces began to fall into place in his mind. Mario nodded, and he stood up to confront the two who were currently arguing.
"Hey, you said that-a someone stole something from you," Puck and the mysterious girl turned to face Mario, "Because-a blond-haired girl stole something from us too."
"Yeah," Luigi added, rising up to his feet. "She stole-a brown bag of silver coins."
The girl looked into her hand with held the silver coin she got from the thief, and it didn't take long for her to put two and two together. "Oh, does that mean this coin belongs to you?" She handed it over, letting the brothers get a good look at it.
"Yes!" Luigi said with excitement, "It looked-a just like that! Where did you get it?"
"The bandit that stole it gave it to me, as 'compensation' for my insignia!" She looked frustrated, clearly, what was stolen from her was very important to her.
"But there were twenty in the bag, what-a happened to the rest of them?" Mario inquired putting his hand on his chin.
"Well she kept them, otherwise we would have more than the one." Puck threw in, but quickly turned to face the girl "I think it's about time we got looking." The girl nodded, and they two turned to exit the alley way.
"Hey, where are you going?" Luigi asked with curiosity and worry.
"We're going to retrieve what was stolen from us, don't worry, I'm sure that we can also get your money back." Puck waved and continued floating towards the street opening. Mario and Luigi looked at each other and nodded.
"Well help-a too!" Mario exclaimed in a heroic voice.
"Pardon?" The girl asked, confused as to what Mario meant.
"We can-a help you find-a the thief," Luigi said, with a slightly goofier tone in his voice than his brothers, "If that-a insignia was so important to you, then we can-a help get it-a back."
"Don't forget, we also want to find her." Mario stated, adding logic to their reasoning, "So we might as-a well help you look."
"And two heads are-a better than one."
The two brothers went off of each other's words like they could read the others mind, as if their minds were in perfect unison. Puck and the girl looked at each other, until she turned towards the two and simply said, "Alright, I guess you can help."
"Alrighty!" Mario said, extending out his right hand openly at the mysterious girl, "Super Mario, at-a your service." Luigi quickly did the same.
"Luigi, pleasure to meet you, uh," his mind searched for a name to connect with her face but failed to come up with one. It took a second before she answered his question, but she said it as if she was coming up with a name on the spot.
"Satella" she said, and although Luigi were none the wiser, Mario overheard Puck say, "Of all the things you could have said." Luigi then butted in with a stupid grin on his face before he could say anything,.
"Nice to-a meet you Satella." Luigi's hand extended, which she shook half-heartedly. He was pleased, but Mario was left confused and concerned.
As they roamed around the streets, the small group searched high and low for anyone fitting the description of a young, kittenish, blond haired girl with large canine teeth. They traveled along long open streets, looking and asking around, but everyone was either uninterested in helping, or didn't recognize her. It wasn't until Mario dragged his brother out of a river, because of some large dude with a bad attitude knocked him in there, did they realize that they were going nowhere.
"Mama Mia," Luigi said glumly, ringing out his soaking wet hat, "At-a this rate the moon will be in the sky and-a we still won't have found so much as a clue as to where that-a theif is." He let out a heavy sigh, before he continued moping. "Why does this city have to be-a so big."
Mario was shaking out his gloves when he responded. "I don't know Luigi, but it's not-a like we have anything better to do." He then turned to his left, where a large stone bridge connected one half of the city with the other separated by a river. Underneath it, Satella was holding her by her chest, as if she was praying, as small blue and green lights danced around her. The whole scene was ethereal, and Mario couldn't help being curious. "What's-a she doing?" he said, looking at the girl.
"She is communicating with lesser spirits." Puck was floating above Luigi's head, and he startled him of them when he announced his presence. "They're beings that are prior to becoming true spirit's, have begun to show intelligence." Both of the brothers looked at Satella, assuming that magic is an important element to this world.
"Say, what exactly is-a spirit?" Mario asked, as he slid his damp gloves on.
"Well," Puck's voice began to sound like that of a college professor with years of experience on his hands, "Spirits are powerful beings with magical powers, most of whom live in a physical form similar to things like people or animals."
"Wow!" Luigi said, sounding quite impressed. "Does that-a mean that only spirits have magical powers?"
"No, almost anyone can use magic, it's just that spirit magic is more powerful than that of most humans. Which is why some people team up with them in order to pull off higher level spells." Luigi eyes light up, and Mario could tell exactly what was going through his brothers' mind.
"You're-a wondering what spells you could perform, aren't you?" Luigi simply nodded, as his mind was preoccupied with imagining himself as a powerful wizard with a long purple cape, controlling the elements.
"Everyone has an element that they can control, I could tell you what yours is, by checking your Mana if you want."
Luigi's body moved faster than his mouth did, and he jumped up to his feet before responding, "That-a would be great!" Puck floated over towards Luigi and closed his eyes and placed his paw on his forehead. A bright light began to shine from their connection point, with similar color's as the lesser spirits. Once Puck lifted his hand, all the light disappeared, and his eyes popped open.
"Man, you sure are a strange one." His response didn't please the green plumber, who quickly took offence to his comment.
"What's that-a supposed to mean?" He said, angry and confused.
"Well, most people have Mana types of one of six elements, air, earth, fire, water, yin, and yang, but you control something different." Both Luigi and Mario looked confused, as they didn't understand where Puck was going with this. "But you have the control over thunder and electricity, which is normally something only wind class spirits can manipulate. You wouldn't happen to have been blessed by a great spirit, have you?"
"Not-a exactly." Both Luigi and his brother knew exactly why he had that ability. Luigi was gifted the powers of the Lord of Thunder on an old adventure in the Bean Bean Kingdom, but neither of them knew if it was a good idea to share that given the current situation. Thankfully Satella, who had just finished talking to the lesser spirits, effectively ended the conversation when she approached them.
"I have found out the location of the thief." Her words were direct, decisive, and determined, "She has just entered a place called the 'loot cellar', and I suspect that she is going to try and sell my amulet."
"Phew," Luigi wiped the sweat off of his head, thinking about the size of the bullet bill he just dodged. "We should-a get moving then." Mario, who had been sitting on the ground at that point, rose up to his feet.
"Alrighty, which-a way is this loot cellar Satella?" Instad of answering his question, she turned and started walking towards a pathway leading back up to the city streets.
"It's this way, follow me." The brothers began to chase after the girl, as if she was following an imaginary map.
They silently traversed through the same stall-filled streets that they had already check several times over, only everything was quieter due to the day slowly coming to an end. It didn't take long before they found themselves in a, less safe part of town, the slums to be more specific. The brothers quickly became nervous, as it was the type of place that their heroic reputation usually caused conflict. The whole scene was depressing, but Satella was undeterred, as if she felt no difference being here than anywhere else. Mario tried his best focus on the road ahead, and not on the less fortunate people that hugged the run-down buildings, but he couldn't help but feel guilty on the inside. Luigi's eyes were nervously darting towards every person with a less then approachable appearance.
They walked up to a small bridge, that was over a small stream of water that looked as if it flowed into the large river in the main streets. There was a great view of the entire city from that one position, as everything looked as if it was built on a great hill. The farther up the hill you looked, the larger and grander the buildings got. When you got to the top, a large castle stood tall, looking down upon the rest of the world as the golden sun set behind it. Meanwhile, they were standing in a place that looked deprived of wealth of any kind, and could easily be mistaken as a ghost town if it weren't for all the people there.
Puck, who had been popping in and out of nowhere ever since they meet him, let out a big yawn as he sat on Satella's shoulders.
"Is it time?" her voice was calm, and different from her usual self.
"No, but I overworked myself today, so I need to rest a bit early." Mario and Luigi were confused as to what he meant.
She lifted Puck off of her shoulders, and held him in her hands, "It's alright, I should be fine until tomorrow."
"Alright, just remember to call me if anything bad happens." Satella only smiled, as she pressed his head onto a green crystal hanging from her neck. Puck and the gem glowed green, until he disappeared into the crystal. It was Luigi who asked what both of them were thinking.
"What-a just happened?" He said startled, as he still didn't know everything there is about spirits aside from a simple dictionary definition of them.
"Puck can only be in physical form for a limited time, as he is a spirit and needs his rest." They nodded in response. "Let's get moving, the loot cellar is not far from here." Her tone quickly reverted back to the stern one they were used to, but it was nice to know that she had a soft side. Before they continued walking, Luigi said something that caught the others off guard.
"Hey Satella, why do-a you cover up your ears?" Mario looked at his brother, wondering where the question came from. While Satella was shocked, and her hand moved instinctively towards her hears, noticing that her hair wasn't covering her elf-like ears.
Noticing that his question might have touched a delicate subject, Luigi tried his best to fix the situation. "I only ask because-a they're really pretty, and you keep on covering them up."
Satella face went from shocked to suppressed, and her face went red like a cherry. "You think my ears are, pretty?" her voice skipped a bit, as if it were tripping over itself.
"Well, yes" Luigi said worriedly, "did I-a say something wrong?"
She turned away from them, "No, you didn't say anything wrong at all." And she started walking again, leaving the brothers behind.
"I don't-a know what I did, all I did was ask a question." Luigi spoke with guilt when talking to his brother.
"I don't think it's-a what you asked, but why you asked." Mario started walking after her and Luigi, after becoming lost in thought, scuttered after the two.
They continued on in silence, but it didn't take long before they came across the building they were looking for. It was a large stone tavern, built like something you would see in an old western film. The door was large and looked stiff, and the windows were dusty and dim. The image was screaming 'go away! You don't belong here!' especially now that they day had turned to dusk. Mario started walking up to the door when he was verbally stopped by Satella.
"Wait, we don't know who or what is in there, for all we know, this could be a trap."
"Well, then what should-a we do?" He replied, having full confidence that he could handle any danger that could be thrown his way.
"You should wait out here, if anything comes up, I will inform you promptly." Mario looked at Luigi who appeared a little nervous. He didn't want to enter the creepy building, and if he didn't have to, he wouldn't.
"Ok, just-a be sure to let us-a know if anything happens. We don't-a want anyone to get hurt." She nodded and began to enter the bar. It was only for a second, but Mario caught a smile coming from the silver haired girl, before she disappeared into the loot cellar.
The surrounding area grew increasingly dark, as the sun finally set over the horizon. Luigi reached into his tool belt and pulled out a pocket flashlight. "Do you-a think Satella will be ok?" showing concern for the girl who just entered the building.
"Don't-a worry, I'm-a sure she will be able to-a defend herself. She can probably use magic of-a some kind too." Mario said, lying his head back on a rock with closed eyes.
Luigi didn't seem convinced, and he looked at the bar curiously. "I still-a think we should go in and check on her." But despite his wish, they still didn't enter, that is until a loud thud came from the inside of the bar, similar to that of a person hitting the floor.
"Did-a you hear that?" Mario rose to his feet as his brother pointed his flashlight at the wooden door.
"That-a didn't sound good." As his brother approached the door, Luigi inched behind Mario, who pulled out a flashlight of his own.
The door creaked open with a slow and creaky moan, until the hinges reached their limit and stopped the door in its place. A dark room illuminated only by their flashlights stood in front of them.
"Stay close." Mario's eyes were focused, and his voice was stern. Luigi trembled behind him but managed to squeak out an 'ok' before they continued. As they moved across the floor, their lights looked over the walls, bringing a variety of clubs, swords, and other stolen goods into view. The creaking of the floorboards echoed throughout the room and into their ears. The air was stiff, as the stench of something fowl filled their large noses.
Splash. As Mario's shoe stepped in some sort of liquid, both of them aimed their flashlights towards the sound's origin. His foot was standing in a dark sticky liquid, flowing from somewhere off in the dark. The lights followed the trail, until it reached horrifying image. Mario froze up, like a deer caught in headlights, while Luigi started to run backwards, screaming, until he ran into and hugged the wall.
A large, horribly distributed man, with arm the size of mountains and legs strangely small, sat in a pool of his own blood. A large cut along his neck that looked to be the fatal blow, was dripped out blood onto his body, and seeped through his teeth as well. One of his hands was cut clean off, sitting just a few feet from his body. The stench radiating from his body was enough to cause Luigi to throw up all of the food he had eaten earlier that afternoon, staining his overalls.
"Oh my god." Mario look away, speaking as if he was just punched in the gut, making his words barely audible. "Luigi, we need-a to get out of here."
Luigi was petrified and couldn't move a muscle, as if he was a statue. It wasn't until a woman's voice whispered behind Mario, that he took his eyes off of the corpse.
"Well, you found it, didn't you." Mario's eyes went white as he listened to a soft, yet terrifying voice. He turned around just in time to see a metal blade moving through the darkness, come straight for his head. With a backwards leap, he jumped out of the way of danger, and landed on his side next to the only standing table in the room. In a moment of desperation, he quickly aimed his flashlight where he was previously standing.
She was tall, and quite beautiful, with the face and body like that of a Greek goddess. She wore black, skin tight clothes, except for the middle of her body which was left uncomfortably bare. A black and red cape hung around her neck as she eyed down the red Italian, with the look of death in her eyes.
"Nice move," every word she spoke was beautiful, but the curved knife in her hand caused Mario to shiver heavily. "But you can't keep it up for long, and the longer we play, the better it will feel when I finally see your guts spill on the floor." Faster than a bolt of lightning, the voluptuous woman dashed towards Mario, only for her to miss her swing, as he leapt up into the air to avoid her knife. He then came crashing down onto her head, grinding his heels into the woman's face, before hoping off to the side.
His attack only phased her, as she quickly regained her senses, and readied her next move. Unknown to both of them, a speeding hammer that came from the shadows crashed into her side, knocking her into several rows of alcohol lined up on the wall behind the counter. As she fell, the bottles slid down the broken shelves until they fell off and broke onto the floor and the murderous girl's head.
Mario moved his light to see his brother wielding a sturdy hammer larger than his head with a vengeful look on his face. "Don't-a mess with-a my bro!" The line may have been cheesy, but it brought a smile to Mario's face in the stressful situation.
"Luigi!" He ran over to his brother, causing his flashlight to wave around as he moved. "Nice Shot!" A smile grew on Luigi's face, and he started to blush as he scratched the back of his head. "We should-a get out of here, and inform-a the authorities!" His brother nodded, as he pocketed his massive mallet behind him, and ran for the door.
They were only a few steps away from the entrance, when a shadowy figure dropped from above in front of the door. She was cut in several places and was bleeding from her scalp. Her smile was gone, and her eyes could have pierced steel. Mario skidded to a stop, but Luigi kept sliding towards her. Her movements here too fast to follow, but she caused the green Italian to fly backwards, breaking through the bar stand and land in a pile of broken glass where the woman was sitting moments ago.
"Luigi!" Mario yelled for his brother with desperation. His call wasn't answered however, as a large cut through his brother's gut started to open up, spilling out a deep red liquid. His left hand reached for it, and his glove changed to a bright pink. As Luigi struggled to lift his head, all he managed to do was point with his bloody hand behind his brother, where the woman was, before going limp and lifeless.
His eyes watered, and his fists clenched as he stared down the witch who had just killed his only living relative, his brother. A fire started burning inside of him, and his eyelids began to twitch.
"Don't be so angry, all I did was repay a favor that he gave to me in the form of a hammer to the chest." She was bent over slightly, due to a broken rib, but smiled on. "Your friend should have thought twice before attacking me. Clearly not the sharpest tool in the shed."
Every muscle in his body tightened as he looked at the woman with vengeance. "You, you killed-a my bro. You killed-a my brother you son of-a Bitch!" he dashed towards her at super human speeds. He let go of his flashlight which fell onto the floor, and landed a direct punch to her face, knocking her back a small bit. Her right hand still held a knife, and it swung directly at his gut. He dodged it, stepping back a bit before regaining his stance. She dove in for another swing, this time aiming for his head. Mario leaned back instinctively, avoiding another fatal blow. When her arms at her sides, he took the opportunity to kick her in the stomach, causing her to fly back into the sturdy door. As she stood up, he moved into a fighting stance reading himself.
"I've got to say, you were the best opponent I have had the pleasure of killing in a long time." Her smile seamed victorious, but Mario wasn't in the mood for it.
"What-a do you mean, I'm-a still standing."
"Well everyone has a special trick, you just missed mine." Her words made him loosen up, and it only then did he notice the strange feeling from his gut. It felt hot, like it was on fire, but when he reached down to feel where the pain was, he felt a cold liquid dampen his overalls. He looked down at his belly, and with the aid of the light on the floor, he could see a cut in his overalls, with the area below it turning slowly from blue to purple, as his blood mixed in with the fabrics that made up his iconic outfit.
She had a second knife, and he tried to verbalize her deadly weapon, but was stopped due to a throat filled with blood. His body felt cold, and his legs went limp. He fell onto the floor with a hefty thud, sending searing pain through the rest of his body. His neck was stiff, locking his gaze to the celling, until she waltzed into his vision.
"There is one thing I would like to ask of you. If you could be so kind as to remember my name into your pitiful afterlife, then I would be gratefully honored" His teeth grinded together, and if it weren't for his flooded throat, he would have spoken words he had never dreamt of saying to somebody. She leaned in next to his ear, when she said "Elsa." Before moving away and out of sight.
Mario felt scared, as he slowly lost control of his senses one by one. He couldn't hear anything going on around him, and the stench of death that filled the room dissipated. The taste in his mouth went form a salty, sticky, unpleasant mess, to nothing at all, and the stinging pain by his belly, and his hands went numb. The last thing he saw was the mangled corpse of his brother, bent over in a pile of glass and broken wood, with his blood and internals spilling out onto his legs and staining the floor.
The words 'I will save you, I promise.' Echoed throughout his mind, as he gave himself up to the never-ending darkness.