With a nightmare capping off his long, uncomfortable sleep, the young Goomba wakes up the exact moment that the monster lets out an echoing roar, his ensuing gasp feeling rather hollow in nature despite how frightening that final moment was for him. But his mind is taken off those horrid images quickly, for he notices that his body has managed to lift itself up off whatever cold ground he was laying down upon without any of his nerves pinching together. In fact, he can't feel anything at all on both sides of his body despite the open skin that was left there before he fell unconscious. "Huh? The pain is…completely gone?" As he was left to his questions, the young Goomba noticed that his voice sounded gruffer in tone, as if something had happened to his vocal cords in the interim between both events.
As he thought to himself about his vocal cords, he was completely oblivious to how his mind was making a golden, mechanical limb with an array of complex machinery move towards the front of his chest, where it began to tap on the spot where the young Goomba's vocal cords were underneath the skin. With the chill of the metallic touch spreading across a small radius of the skin, the Goomba froze in place for a few moments and blinked while he stared blankly into the distance, and with a suspicious creak of his eyes downward he notices the heavy limb that has suddenly become attached to his body and freaks out at the mere sight of it.
"AAAAHHH!" His scream was loud enough to break weakened glass, but it lasted only a mere couple of seconds before he quickly began to scamper backwards across the cold floor using only his feet. However, based entirely on the instincts resounding inside of his mind the arms helped speed his efforts along by taking the fingers and clawing them at the ground. A few moments is all it takes for the young Goomba to reach the edge of whatever surface he was sitting on top of, and with a portion of his body getting ready to fall off he turns his head behind him and quickly stops his feet. But without a clue as to how these arms operated, the Goomba let out a panicked cry of "STOP!", knowing not that his mind stopped the mechanical limbs instead of his words.
"H-Holy…" Flabbergasted in response to these metal monstrosities, the young Goomba took breaths in and out at a rapid pace, trying to calm himself down as he finally chooses to take a look around the room he is in. He appears to be in a medical ward of some sort, with a translucent rectangular light glowing down from the ceiling perfectly around the table he was sitting down on and a large, foggy one-way window placed on the eastern wall in the room. For the moment though, the Goomba felt as though no one was watching him, which was not an easy feeling to digest considering the fact that just a while ago he was picked up by that strange Koopa. Away from the table, the young Goomba could see a doorway with no handles, signifying that it was one of those new fangled motion detecting doors that for some reason he remembered hearing about long ago.
"After getting a grasp of my surroundings, I was left with many questions about my current predicament. Where was I? What happened to that Koopa? And why did I suddenly have these bulky arms attached to my body? I was thankful for the fact that I was alive and no longer in pain, but the uncertainty I was experiencing was threatening to dissolve that feeling of peace that I had just came to reacquire. I needed to see or hear someone, ANYONE trustworthy enough to ease my rising tension…Though as I waited for a voice to ring in my eardrums, I scooted back across the table to the center point and looked over my new arms in order to see what they could do or how they worked."
"Ok…Calm down here and think…" The young Goomba steadily reassured himself that he was ok in this situation, even after the spiral of confusion and self-doubt had plagued his mind. "Of course, how calm can I truly be when I don't even know who I am?" That was what the mushroom creature thought of next, and with his mind meshing with the circuitry of his arms the right hand promptly moves towards the Goomba's forehead and begins to scratch it to help him further express his confusion. With the feel of metal against his skin, the youngling stops thinking for a moment and watches as his arm grows limp and falls flat against the table beside him. "…I guess my mind is used to operate these arms…" He murmured to himself.
"Hey, how you doing down there?" A voice inquiries through a fuzzy intercom in the distance. Knowing not where it came from, the young Goomba was glad if just a bit surprised to hear another person after what felt like a very long period of time. However, this mysterious person didn't have the same voice as the Koopa that rescued him from the flames, indicating clear as day that it was someone else speaking to him. "Umm…I-I don't know." It was an honest response derived from the youngling's current state of confusion, and after a faded humming noise from the person behind the microphone the Goomba continued on by saying "If anything, can you tell me who you are, can you tell me where I am? I-I think that would really help me feel better…"
"Oh, sure thing kid. I can see why it would be hard to express your condition when you feel so uneasy in here…" After tapping against the microphone a couple of times to fix the static effect in his voice, the mysterious person leans his head forward and speaks into the device. "First off kid, do you know what you are?" He asks. "Umm…Yeah, I do actually. I'm a Goomba, and I came from the planet Plit…But I just don't remember what my name is or what I was doing before that Koopa rescued me from that monster…" Giving yet another honest response, the youngling scratches the top of his scalp with his right hand and waits for the voice to respond. "I-I see…Well kid, I can't really give you any answers about your identity, if that's what you wanted too…"
"Either way, back to the previous subject." Skipping along from a tone of sadness to firmness, the voice says to the young Goomba in a crystal clear tone of voice. "I'm Dr. Shy Guy, currently the only medical expert here at the M.S.I." "M.S.I.?" The young Goomba said, for the name of the organization was very unfamiliar to him. "It stands for the Mushroom Secret/Spy Industry. The two "S" words are interchangeable in the abbreviated form, just to let you know. Don't worry about us kid, we have no intention of harming you. We're the good guys, otherwise our Commander would have left you to die." Speaking in a chipper, reassuring tone so the youngling would feel more comfortable in this metallic environment, the voice stops for a moment as the Goomba raises his right hand into the air with a question at the tip of his tongue
"Ok…I-I believe you about your allegiance…But why did you guys put these arms on my body?" "You'd have to ask our Commander about that one. I wasn't the one who put those on you, I just applied the anesthetic so you wouldn't feel any pain as we operated. Not gonna lie kid, you looked pretty roughed up when our Commander brought you in. I'm actually surprised that you made it back here alive, let alone survived the operation. But I have to digress a bit here, if you have any questions about what happened out there, which you likely will have because of your memory problems, its best for you to find our Commander and talk to him. If I'm correct, he should be up on the roof of the base."
After tapping a few buttons on the keyboard in front of him, the Shy Guy causes the doors to swing open in front of the young Goomba, giving him a way out of the room without so much as a struggle. "Anyways, I imagine you have figured out that the arms respond to your thoughts, right? Well, if you ask it to pop up a map of this area, you should be able to find your way around…Assuming our Commander installed such a device inside those limbs. Also, hopefully we will be able to speak face to face next time, cause right now I have to go tend to some casualties at the main medical ward. Good luck with your endeavors, kid." Shutting the intercom off so he can assume his regular affairs, the Shy Guy leaves the room, and after leaping off the table and going by the guy's suggestion the young Goomba activates a holographic map from his right arm and stares at it in awe-inspired wonder for a span of five seconds until he accidentally loses sight of what's in front of him and ends up running into a steel wall.
"After pulling myself away from the wall in embarrassment, I alternated my line of sight between the map and the hallways. Even thirty years ago, everything looked the same as it did now if albeit a little unpolished. But at the time, I knew nothing about the technology around me, and was simply fascinated by all the time and effort that must have gone into creating this grandiose base. There were a couple junctures where I had almost willingly deviated from the correct path just to take a closer look at everything, but was brought back on course by my inner desire to learn what was going on in the world. After a few more minutes of guided walking, I made my way to a staircase that led to the roof of the base…"
Climbing out of the dark passage only to be greeted by the bright rays of the orange, setting sun, the young Goomba uses his mind to shut off the map and raises the right limb above his eyebrows to give himself a bit of shade until his eyes can adjust to the light. The sleek, metal plate covered rooftop had a length comparable to that of a football field, though the young Goomba wouldn't know such information as of now. At the northern edge of the rooftop, a familiar Koopa stood completely still his the warm, end of day breeze blowing the bottom edge of his wardrobe backwards as he keeps his hands inside of his pockets to keep the rest of the trench coat from blowing away. Though the young Goomba couldn't see it from his point of view, the Koopa's eyelids were shut and his mind had gone into a state of utter tranquility.
"Ummm...Hello there…" The Goomba says in a meek, timid tone of voice to try and get the Koopa's attention. With his eyelids perking open, the turtle looks around him and says to himself in a rather joking tone of voice "Huh? Is someone calling to me? It sounded rather quiet if that's the case…" He gazes over his shoulder while keeping the illusion of inattentiveness with his head held up, and only speaks up after the youngling behind him nervously murmurs to himself "Oh…" and slowly moves his eyes towards the ground in shame. At that point the Koopa turns around and chuckles while gesturing beside his body with his right hand.
"Hey, don't feel bad about that, I was just trying to keep the mood light with a little humor. I heard you perfectly fine, though I shall admit that if you wish to you should try and work on the volume you take with other people just in case they are hard of hearing." With a rather chipper, warm tone of voice the Koopa manages to lift away the shroud of doubt covering the Goomba's mind and gets him to lift his eyes back up so he actually looks the turtle straight in the face. "So, how you holding up?" He then goes on to ask as he stuffs his right hand back into his trench coat, especially upon noticing the subdued, curious glare in the Goomba's pupils.
"H-Huh?" Embarrassed to face his savior in this particularly troubling moment of his, the young Goomba mutters out a puzzled response due to him hearing only half of what was spoken. Sensing the reason as to why the youngling was behaving that way around him, the Koopa nervously pulled his right hand out and rubbed it against the back of his scalp while closing his eyelids and scrunching his forehead between the eyes slightly. "Sigh…Kid, I don't want you to feel embarrassed standing around me. I'm not really that important of a person, so its not like you should feel honored or anything like that…" Being humble for the Goomba's own benefit, the Koopa puts his hand back in the trench coat once more and smiles at the Koopa.
"B-But I am honored…For you to have saved my life from that mysterious monstrosity, that is…" Speaking with a little more confidence in his voice, the young Goomba gave the Koopa an appreciative gesture alongside a humbled chuckle, but the second part of his comment drew a suspicious glance from the turtle. "Mysterious monstrosity? …I can't believe for even a moment that you wouldn't know who that rotten tyrant is, so I'm guessing you are amnesiac or something close to that?" Making a rather accurate guess, the Goomba flinches in surprise and declares with a joyous nod "Y-Y-Yeah…That's actually part of the reason I wanted to seek you out!" With his enthusiastic stuttering, the Koopa stood still and waited for the youngling to continue talking before he gave some of his input on the subject matter. "You see…The last thing I remember is…Well, the burning landscape that you found me in. I don't remember my name, where I came from, or anything personal like that…I do know what planet I'm on, I know that I am a Goomba and you are a Koopa, simple things such as that come straight to my tongue without trouble, but…"
"No no no, I see what you are getting at…Still…" The Koopa stood still for a moment, pulling his hands out of his trench coat so he can cross them in front of his chest. His mood became a bit somber, since with everything that the young Goomba had said he knew that there was some harsh news that he would have to deliver to him in relation to all of it. "…Kid…I don't know how to really break this to you…But that burning landscape used to be a sanctuary for all Goombas that defected from the Koopa Kingdom. If anything, you used to live there, probably with friends and family members…And considering that I was a one-man rescue team, I have no idea if there are any other survivors…Knowing that tyrant though, he probably made certain to kill everyone else who weren't incinerated by the fires…It makes me cringe just thinking about the blood that was spilled across that beast's scaly palms…"
As the Koopa expressed grief and rage over the loss of lives at the once proud village of Goombas, he clenches his right fist to the point of his bones cracking in front of his chest. But then he looked up, and saw the young Goomba standing perfectly still with a blank expression on his face. Upon noticing the turtle looking at him though, he seems surprised by his look of utter shock and doesn't say anything until the Koopa himself speaks up and asks him "W-Why aren't you sad? You lost your home, possibly your family, and you don't even know who you are…How can you handle all that news?" The young Goomba responds by getting his arms to shrug. "I-I don't remember anything about my past…I don't know what my life was like, what my parents were like, none of that…Perhaps my life really, really sucked before I woke up in that fire…Maybe these amnesia is a good thing, it gives me a chance at a new life, a new identity…A whole new me."
"Knowing what I know now, I still can't believe what happened next. After a few seconds of eerie silence, Commander Zeta went deep in thought and continued to say nothing towards me. I waited patiently for a response, my head tilting in patient awaiting until he finally placed his caring hands into his trench coat and smiled my way. The words he would speak to me after that single point in time would reverberate inside of my mind for main years to come, shaping my way of thinking and keeping me from straying off the wrong path not just because of the context behind it all but because of the majestic way he spoke them."
"That's alright with me." The Koopa said with blunt yet cheerful honesty, which took the young Goomba completely off-guard and made him reel back in surprise. "W-what? But what about all that talk of me experiencing grief?" That jumbled mess of words was the youngling's way of questioning just why the turtle suddenly changed his view on the whole emotion ordeal. "What you said after that made me think back to a rather common saying my father once shared with me, 'Everything happens for a reason'." Rubbing his chin with a warming smile on his face, the Koopa looked at the young Goomba with pleasant thoughts in his mind as he tilted his head and continued on by saying "Ergo, there must be a reason as to why you were given amnesia…And perhaps there is a reason as to why I was led towards you out of everyone else that may have been lying in the burning remains of Goomba Village…"
As the Koopa expressed his optimistic beliefs, he slowly drew his hand away from the bottom of his face and made a quick gesture towards the young Goomba so he would know that he had permission to approach him. After thinking about the words the Koopa said to him, the youngling walked forward, watching as the turtle turned around and held his left arm out to pat him on the back while brandishing one finger out towards the setting sun. By this point a red glow around the edge paved the barren wasteland in a new shade, giving it a more beautiful appearance than its rather flat ground and degraded rocks would suggest it was capable of showing. "See that out there? When you look at that landscape that has been painted by the sun, don't you feel all of your troubles melting away? Right now, as we try to survive the tyrant's bloodthirsty rule, its important for us to take away the good instead of focusing entirely on the bad."
Pulling his right arm away from the air and back into his trench coat, the Koopa also lets go of the young Goomba and takes a few steps forward as his companion looks at him in confusion once more and says "I-I still haven't gotten an answer on that actually…Just who is this tyrant/monster that keeps getting mentioned?" "…" Sinking into silence for a moment as his demeanor slowly changes from cheerful to melancholy, the Koopa raises his right hand out beside himself and says to the anticipating Goomba "He is the current ruler of Dark Land, and if not stopped the reigning ruler of the entire planet…His name is Balroc Koopa, a ruthless beast with no regard to any lives save for his own…He thirsts for power in whatever form he can obtain it in, and he'll crush anyone that prevents him from getting stronger. He has no empathy, no remorse…He is merely a vessel of flesh for malice and sadism, and one of the worst beings to have ever existed on our planet."
Sinking in a very serious tone of voice at the end of his explanation, the Koopa turns his head to the left and lets his lips move a single inch upwards for a grand total of twelve seconds while the young Goomba lets everything sink in for a moment. A single gulp of saliva down the throat of the mushroom shaped creature showed just how much fear was afflicted on his mind upon hearing about how vicious the tyrant truly was. But at the same time, it also made him urgently desire to say something about the whole situation. "Why hasn't anyone tried to stop him?! Surely if enough people got together they could kill the monster!"
With that bold declaration, the Koopa turned his head front and center and gave himself a light smile, glad to hear the young Goomba's optimistic response to the info he gave him. But at the same time he was disappointed in the fact that he didn't say "we" when referring to a group of people striking back against the monster. "Well, you have the right idea in mind kid…That's part of the reason I formed the M.S.I., actually." After the first sentence, the Koopa turned around and looked straight into the determined eyes of the youngling and continued on his way while calmly gesturing with his right hand.
"You see, with the world the way it is right now, there needs to be people willing to throw themselves into the midst of chaos and help out those that can't be helped in any other way. Of course, as you can imagine my merry organization isn't very big right now, simply because a lot of people are understandably scared of standing up for themselves against a monster that rules under the false grasp of power and fear. Still, we are trying to do what we can to keep as many people alive as physically possible, and then we have them sent off to a hidden sanctuary underneath Toad Town for their own safety…Though we have had a few people offering to stay with us simply so they can fight the good fight. Its a slow process, but I know that one day we will prevail against the tyrant…"
The Koopa then laughs at himself, and he quickly thinks about something from his past. "You know…Speaking of people standing up to monster…I'm reminded of an old legend my father read to me when I was young. It was about a Koopa, a Goomba, a Toad and a Boo standing together against the Shadow Queen and with their brave hearts they managed to turn her Crystal Stars against her and sealed her away under Rogueport for good. Too bad the things you hear about in fiction can't really work in real life…The Boos are completely under Balroc's control, and the Toads are way too frightened of the tyrant these days to ever consider stepping against him. Not to mention the beast is made of flesh, so it wouldn't be easy to seal him away like it was for the Four Heroes to take care of the Shadow Queen. Still, its tales like those that allow people to believe that hope still exists for them, so I can appreciate them even if they are nothing but fiction…"
"Boy, if Commander Zeta lived til today and heard of what Mario did in Rogueport, I could only imagine the look of utter shock on his face that would accompany his disbelieving stuttering and blank glare…Still, it was impressive to see him standing around, knowing full well how badly everything was going in the world, and yet he still retained an optimistic belief that everything would work out for the best. And perhaps if I had not said anything past that point, he would still be alive today…But I can't go thinking like that now, especially since many things would be different in this world if he lived to this day…"
"Come on! There has to be someway to stop this tyrant from rampaging across the planet right now!" Even after listening to everything that was spoken towards him, the young Goomba held onto the highly idealistic belief that there was a way to stop the monster sooner instead of later. This greatly surprised the Koopa, who after a moment of delighted pause turned around and said to the youngling "I'm legitimately curious about something now kid…You knew nothing about this monster because of your amnesia, and yet just a few mentions of what he has done and you are showing more determination towards ending his reign of terror than anyone else I have met thus far. So I have to ask…What is your reason for wanting to stop him so badly?"
"I-I may not have any memories of my past life…But that doesn't stop me from looking deep inside of myself and feeling sadness weighing down on my heart…I just feel a lot of sympathy towards those who are suffering out there, and I can't imagine them having the patience to wait for a permanent change to the stagnation of the world as it is right now. All those people being killed while that beast tries to get even stronger…And if we keep waiting, it may eventually end up being too late for us to do anything to stop him…I just don't get why people with power are usually like this…" After expressing his plight to the Koopa, the turtle stands in place and lifts his head up high for a moment before smiling wide and letting out a jolly laugh through his teeth.
"Hahaha…You bring up a good point there kid, and yet there is a rather simple answer to that. Power itself doesn't inherently corrupt people…It all depends on the personality of the person in control of that power. Actually, truth be told, we all have power deep down inside of us, and it can be defined in more ways than just raw strength like how that tyrant chooses to use his. I have the power of leadership over everyone that chooses to join the M.S.I….And yet, that very power can be taken away from me at any given moment." Planting one hand against his chest, the Koopa looks firmly into the eyes of his companion and says to be him in a rather light tone of voice "In fact, you could be the Commander of the M.S.I. right now if you wanted to. You and only you have the power to decide what you want to be. So do you want my position of power, or not?" "Ummm…No thank you…" The young Goomba didn't even have to think about a response, but what the Koopa was looking for here was just how the kid responded, not for what words he chose to use.
Seeing how timid the youngling was in his voice during that period of time, the Koopa raises his right eyebrow and said not a word as he placed his hands back into his pockets. "It was just a joke anyways kid…However, what I'm about to say is not. But first, I have to ask you…Are you truly willing to commit to your ideals?" The question caught the young Goomba off-guard once again, as he tilts his head and says in a murmured tone "Huh, what do you mean by that?" "What I mean is…Do you really, really want to fight against the tyrant? Are you truly willing to throw your life into the midst of chaos to protect everyone even though you don't know who most of them are? You can potentially die from what I am suggesting we go and do…Also, while I'm not going to try and stop you from doing anything, I do have a particular problem with kids of your age bracket going into battle, so for each step you take with me on this journey I will always feel guilty for everything that befalls you. Its up to you though…"
"Commander Zeta gave me the decision of a lifetime then and there. He spoke as though he wouldn't have minded if I said no to his offer, but at the time I did not think about such options. I only felt as though I was obligated to say yes in order to be show appreciation for him saving my life…Of course, with everything that we had been discussing up until this point, I had actually forgotten about my questions regarding the arms on my body. As I stood there thinking to myself about whether or not I should take the Commander up on his offer, I remembered that very fact and said to him…"
"W-Why did you give me these arms?" The Koopa was surprised by the young Goomba's desire to change the subject, but took it as a sign that he was considering his offer and was merely asking a question in order to get some reassurance inside of him. "Well, there are two answers to that question. The first is that because of the damage to your skin, I had to get something on there in order to prevent germ from flying inside of your flesh and making you deathly ill, and we didn't have anything else besides those mechanical arms at the time to use. The second one is because…When I saw you manage to survive making it back to my base, I saw within you a survivor's spirit, one that wouldn't break no matter what came his way. Maybe you don't realize that you have it yet, but if or when you do you'll find those arms will help you do things that many other people can only dream of doing."
Speaking calmly with the intent to help bolster the youngster's self-esteem, the Koopa goes silent and folds his arms into his trench coat while he waits patiently for the Goomba's response. The youngling stood still, quivering slightly at the fact that this brave, heroic soul fool heartedly believed that he was worth anything in the world. But though the thicket of self-doubt, a light shone through the young Goomba's heart, warming his tender spirit and making him stop and think for a moment about what he is saying. "…You know what." With a murmur that was loud enough to be heard by the Koopa, the kid raises his head up high and proud and arches his eyebrows to stare over at his hero and say in bold "I'm willing to risk my life if you are, sir!"
Proud to hear those words coming from the young Goomba's mouth, the Koopa pulls his hands out with a smile on his face and begins slowly clapping in front of his chest. The words coming between his lips then afterwards are not that of praise though, but rather ones of proper introduction. "Commander Zeta." "Huh?" The young Goomba says, wondering as to the context behind the Koopa saying that. "We haven't really introduced ourselves up until this point, so I'm telling you my name now, kid…" Upon mentioning that noun one more time, the Koopa takes a moment of pause and snaps his fingers in front of him before tapping his foot once against the ground and saying "Actually, you know what? I'm getting a bit tired of calling you a kid…It's rather demeaning, and implies a lack of respect between two people…Hmmm…"
Thinking to himself for a moment about a name to give the young Goomba, Zeta finally comes up with a brilliant name whose meaning he knew only he would get for the time being. "Alright my young companion, from this point onward you shall now be known as Alpha!" "…Alpha?" The young Goomba said, his mind trying to work out a meaning behind that choice of name, only to come up with nothing as he focuses on the appreciation he feels towards the Koopa for giving him this name. "You know…I think I really like that name. Thank you very much, Commander Zeta." Finishing his words of thanks with a nod of the head, Alpha looks at the Commander as he pulls his hands out of the trench coat and notices that the sun has fully set, leaving the sky dark and blue with nothing but the stars to keep the area illuminated.
"Time really has flown by up here…So I'll make this quick. Since we have both committed to this journey, I will tell you what my plan of action is…You see, a while ago during the creation of the M.S.I. base, I stumbled upon a stone tablet that spoke of a legend…Of a glorious man that wielded seven elements and sealed those very powers away in seven temples across the planet. If we can acquire all seven stones, perhaps we will be able to use this person's power in order to stop the tyrant from doing anymore damage to the planet I cherish so…I would say we should start right away, but under the shroud of night that beast has a good chance of finding us wandering about…So we shall rest for now, and in the morning we will go after the seven temples…Of the Elemental Overlord…"
To be continued