Kuro: Congratulations. You have successfully not updated in almost a month. You should feel proud.
Tama: Shut up and do the disclaimer…
Kuro: KuroTama owns nothing in this fic but the plotline. Not even the names! _
Tama: Shut up… _
"Um… dear?"
"Yes, love?"
"Should we really be sneaking into the castle?"
"Of course we should! This is how plots start off all the time! The main characters wake up, have no idea where they are, and automatically sneak into the nearest place that holds the most power in the area. It's perfect!"
"So you automatically assume that the leaders of this place brought us here? You honestly believe that, Anthony?"
"Gaby, please don't kill my fun and hold on to this cable."
Gaby and Anthony were on their own; Yadira and Jacob decided to split up and find information on their own. In Anthony's mind, however, this idea was just a petty ploy "to get some alone time to themselves." Their search for answers to where the group was led them to a large pink castle surrounded by a beautiful sparkling moat. The drawbridge in the front was heavily guarded by petite men (or women?) wearing mushroom caps. While they didn't seem to be much of a defense, Gaby figured that it would be best to avoid any and all conflicts.
The two were on the roof of the castle next to an opening in the ceiling. Anthony handed his love a steel cable that was tied around his waist and pointed down the opening. Inside the opening, there stood a great passageway with a radiant throne standing triumphantly at the end of it. It seemed strange that there was nobody, not even any guards, dwelling within the hall.
"Don't you think it's strange that there is nobody in the hall?"
"Not really. What you call strange, I call good luck! Nobody will see us sneaking in! Don't you think that's lucky?"
She shook her head, "That's not what I meant…"
"Whatever. You remember the plan?" Anthony perched himself at the edge of the stained glass opening.
"Uh huh; we jump down into the hall below us, sneak into the throne room, and ask how we can get home."
He turned to her to make it certain that she could see his disappointed frown.
Gaby rolled her eyes in response, "I'm not going to say such a stupid and cliché line in front of royalty, and as long as I'm here neither will you."
Anthony's frown deepened.
"That's not going to work, you know."
"Please?" He begged. "Pretty please?"
With a deep sigh, she positioned herself next to him and glanced over the stained glass. Right when the two were about to spring down into the passages of the castle, they spied a familiar looking duo being led through the castle by a crowd of mushroom-looking people. The guides must have been at the very most half an average adult's size.
"Dear," Gaby murmured, "isn't that Yadira and Jacob?"
"Who is where?" Anthony leaned forward to get a better view of the group.
She pointed and leaned with him, "There! Right there! They're near that door to the left."
He leaned in some more, bringing her with him, "Oh yea! It is them! Hey guys! It's us!"
As Anthony tries to wave to them in greeting, the couple looses the little balance they had perched on the ceiling opening. Clung to each other, they dropped into the crowd head first and groaned in pain. There was a moment of awkward silence until Yadira decided to speak up.
"Gaby? Anthony? Are you two ok?"
"Fantastic!" Anthony groaned, "How do you think you would feel after falling into a crowd of mushroom people?"
The mushrooms gathered behind Yadira. They seemed a tad frightened by Anthony and his size.
He grinned. "Take us to your leader!" Anthony said in a fake E.T. voice, to which earned him a thump in the back of the head.
Gaby glared at her boyfriend sternly. The look in her eyes was too familiar too him, silently and rhetorically asking, Why am I with you again?
Jacob called back to the creatures behind him, "Its ok guys, and it's only an idiot."
"They're not with Bowser?" One of them spoke, trembling in fear.
"No they are not. One of them is too clumsy while the other one is too stupid to be considered a threat." He felt a sharp jab at his side.
It was Yadira, "Don't make fun of my friends like that."
The mushrooms embraced the reunited groups, granting them a feast and warm beds in their honor. After a semi-festive day of pigging out and holding in mushrooms, the group entered what would be their bedrooms.
"W-wha? We're sharing bedrooms? All four of us?!" Gaby gasped, a deep shade of pink covering her cheeks.
"Don't worry," Anthony reassured her. "This story is rated 'T'. If I put anything 'inappropriate' in here, I'll get smacked by you AND get sued for ignoring ESRB rating procedures."
"I guess…"
"Is it me, or was this chapter just useless?" Jacob questioned, as he and Yadira got settled.
"It's not supposed to be useful. Intros are always either long and draggy or short and useless. Guess which kind this one is." Anthony and Gaby cuddled on the opposite side of the room.
Too tired and bored to argue further, Jacob just turned away from him and dozed off with Yadira in his arms.
"I didn't think this was useless, dear."Gaby murmured under the bed sheets.
His eyes rolled, "Of course you don't."
"It's true."
Anthony knew he wouldn't win an argument this late at night. Instead of arguing, he followed Jacob's example. He kissed her goodnight and stayed silent, hoping that the darkness would eventually take him too. Unfortunately, his invitation was disturbed by a cracked voice coming from the roof above.
"So they're here, right?"
"Yes! The wii-mote holders are within the castle walls! All we have to do is kidnap them the same way we kidnap the Princess in every title, and daddy's plans will go without a problem! It's perfect!! BWAHAHAHA-"
Anthony reached for the lamp nearby and threw it at the ceiling. The lamp pierced the rooftops and hit a turtle wearing strange white glasses. The impact knocked the turtle out of the sky and down to the ground. "Shut up! Can't you see we're trying to sleep?"
