Three
The walk from the town's massive elevator to Merlon's little home was, in reality, a very short distance. But, as Blumiere and Timpani approached it, the book page with the 'D' clutched tightly in Blumiere's fist, it seemed that the length of the little road tripled with every synchronized step the couple took.
They were not the first to have arrived back at Flipside. From a small window on the side of Merlon's, they could see Mimi's green pigtails bouncing as she paced back and forth across the room, a panicked look on her face. Blumiere and Timpani exchanged fearful glances before opening the door to the hut and greeting those inside with sad eyes.
Merlon, upon seeing the distressed couple, instantly lowered his eyes. "The brothers as well?"
"As well…?" Timpani questioned, looking to Mimi. It was in that moment that Timpani had seen Mimi more frightened than she ever had. She'd been at the heroes' sides throughout their first journey, and had seen Mimi close to death after taking several beatings from the heroes, but never had her face dripped with such a look of loss.
"Well, you didn't bring back either of them," Mimi sighed. "They weren't there, were they?"
"No," Blumiere said. "But this was." He handed the paper to Merlon, whose eyes widened. He shook his head, handing the page to Mimi, who cringed at its sight.
"What happened at Peach's castle, Mimi?" Timpani asked quietly. The girls' eyes met again in fear.
"They were all gone," Mimi said. "Like, all of them. All those...mushroom head things. The Toads, whatever. Not a single one. I looked, like, everywhere. Arent' there supposed to be little servants all over the place? That's what a castle's for, right? Rich people with some poor people to do their bidding? I looked everywhere. It looked like there had been people there, you know, like, there was a pot of cream of mushroom soup cooking on the kitchen stove, I had to turn the heat off to keep the whole damn castle from burning down...but it was in Peach's bedroom…" She hesitated.
"What was?" Blumiere asked with clenched teeth.
"You mean besides all the precious gems?" Mimi laughed. "Golly, she's got it all. If I had known she had that much, gosh, I'd have ditched the count in a heartbeat and just taken over that kingdom...but that's beside the point. That...'D'...on the paper." She played with the corner of the page with her shaky fingers, then traced the letter with another. "There was one in her room, too. Not on paper like this, it was on her bed. On the blanket, it was made all nice and neat, but she had, like...just gotten up...it was weird...like, the shower water was running, and her dress was hanging in her bathroom, but not any kind of pajamas or slippers or robes or whatever...she was just getting ready to get up, but the bed. It was like, too perfect. And the blanket had the 'D' on it. In black paint, huge, covering up the whole thing. And it was fresh, too. I touched it, and look." She shoved her fingers in the couple's faces, and they were covered in a thin layer of black paint. "It was still wet. Like, he had just been there. Gosh, it's like, if I had showed up just a minute earlier…"
"The ink on the paper was still wet, too," Blumiere said. Mimi ran a finger across the ink, but it did not smear. Blumiere threw his arms up in the air in frustration, turning to the corner. He removed his white hat and ran his hand through his dark blue hair. The ink had dried that fast. Dimentio had left with the brothers literally seconds before his and Timpani's arrival.
O'Chunks arrived then, his entrance loud and grand. He punched the door open, making it fall from its hinges. Merlon shouted at him, but O'Chunks towered over him with intimidation to shut him up.
"'E got 'em," O'Chunks yelled in his thick Scottish accent. "They're all gone, all of 'em! Ye shoulda seen it!"
"Who's 'all of them'?" Blumiere asked.
"All of 'em! Really! All 'is little turtle friends...the Krappers or somethin', all just gone! No security, not a darn thing there! Hell, the gates were 'angin' open when I got there! Maria an' 'is friends or Dimentier coulda just walked right in if they wanted teh! An' it was empty. Went straight to 'is throne, I was screamin' for 'im, for anyone, not a soul there!
"But here's the twist!" He jumped dramatically, pointing at Timpani, his eyes wide with animation. Timpani stifled a laugh that was caught in her throat, even amidst all of the horror around her. O'Chunks' storytelling was something she couldn't deny she missed.
"There was a somethin' on 'is throne! I was confused, ya know, 'cause I'm a little bit fuzzy when it comes to clues an' all that. Somethin' with the throne. The back, ya know, where 'e puts 'is back when 'e sits? Made o' some nice soft kinda material, gotta feel nice when 'e gets 'imself outta that creepy ol' spike shell 'e's got. Well, somethin' was wrong with it. First, I thunk, maybe 'e sat down on it with 'is shell on, an' the spikes tore open the cushionin' on the back. But then I scratched at ma beard a tad, an' I thought, gee, naw, the Krapper King wouldn't 'ave forgotten to take off 'is shell! 'E loves 'is royalty! 'E wouldn't 'ave damaged 'is throne like that! So, I looked a little closer. An' it took me a second, 'cause I ain't the best at the alphabet, ya see. But I sung it a bit, an' I realized there was a letter cut into the chair!"
"Let me guess," Blumiere snarled. "A big 'D', cut fresh into the cushion."
O'Chunks gasped stupidly. "'Ow did ya know that?!"
"We all found that, you stupid thug," Mimi snapped. She shoved the paper from Mario and Luigi's book into O'Chunks' beefy hands. O'Chunks raised it close to his eyes, examining it for a moment before gasping. "That's the one! That's the letter! It was right there, right on 'is chair! Thought it was a 'O' for a second, got a little bit scared. Thought 'e was tryin' to contact me or somethin'. Ya know, 'cause my name is an 'O' before my 'Chunks'? But then I remembered how the-"
"Can you shut it?" Mimi snapped. "No one really cares that you're all brawn and no brains. What matters is that, like, literally everyone we need is missing, and Dimentio is clearly behind all of it. We have to go find him before he hurts everyone."
"Where's Nastasia?" Blumiere asked curiously. Merlon opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a rough shake of the ground. The quake knocked knick-knacks off of shelves and the beings in the room off of their balance. Blumiere instinctively leapt for Timpani, catching her before she could fall to the floor. O'Chunks fell forward in a single second, taking Merlon down with him like a domino. Mimi grabbed hold of a column in the room, able to stand on her feet through the long few seconds of the tremor.
Immediately after the ground below their feet calmed, all five sets of eyes met. They all rushed outside, all with the same thought in mind. All gazes rose to the void in the sky, which had grown at an unbelievable rate.
"Oh dear," Merlon gasped. "It's even faster than the first…"
"We have to go. Now." Blumiere announced. "We have to get to him before that thing grows again. I refuse to let him get away with this."
The group watched as the inhabitants of Flipside began to run out from their homes, looking into the sky and erupting into a sea of screams. Families knotted themselves in hugs, shouts of sheer horror filled the air. Crowds began rushing to Merlon, questions flooding.
"Enough!" Merlon boomed, silencing the horrified crowd. "I am aware of the void's presence, and have been since its arrival in the sky. Yes, yes, quiet, it has been there for a day or so. But it is nothing to worry about. We have, here, with us, our newest group of saviors. They are going to fix this. For good."
There was some chatter in the crowd, and one single voice piped over the rest: "Aren't they the bad guys? Wasn't it that guy who did it to start with?"
The crowd then shouted in riot, but Merlon yelled again at them, ceasing the chaos. "No. This is a different man. He may look quite close to the villain that you once knew, but, as you also know, people change. Everything changes. And if you need proof, just look behind me at the way he holds the hand of his lover, who, if you do not recognize, is our biggest hero...our Pixl who brought us peace once...and will once again…"
The crowd, now curious, all peered at Timpani and the man who tightly grasped her hand. The people slowly began to recognize their hero, happily greeting their Tippi back home. She smiled at them all, bowing her head, then smiling up at all of them. "You all need not worry...my Blumiere, he is a man none of you know. This is not the man who summoned the first void, not the man who tried to destroy all you love. This is the man who readied to sacrificed himself to take back the evil he had done, the man who is more than eager to save all of you now...the man I married…"
The crowd cheered now, chanting for their dear old friend Tippi and cheering on her love and friends.
"Um, while they're...celebrating...let's get going," a voice from behind the five suggested.
"Nastasia, where…?" Blumiere asked, but Nastasia shook her head. "I'll explain later. We need to get going. Uh, the Pure Hearts...if I'm correct, should all have dispersed back to their original protectors once the Chaos Heart was...destroyed…"
Merlon nodded in agreement. "Yes, yes, go, all of you. The doors, they all still will bring you to your destinations. Make your way to Lineland, collect the orange Heart...the first, the red, is surely around here somewhere, as I have been its original protector…"
"You don't know where it is?" Mimi gaped.
"Well...no…" Merlon sighed. "But as I said, I am its protector. It is surely near me. My need for its power will lead me to its location. Go...go to collect the rest, help us all before the void grows again…"
"We will," Blumiere promised, resting a hand on Merlon's shoulder and nodding once with reassurance. The five pushed past the crowd of spectators, who cheered them on, and then all squished themselves into the small elevator that led them to the long, wall-less hall of doors. The five stood around the first set of arched double doors hesitantly, gazing at its ruby red detail.
"Let's go," Timpani sighed. She pushed the door open and was the first to step through, losing herself to the inter-dimensional teleportation world. The last four followed reluctantly, unprepared for this adventure, but knowing that the lives and fates of everyone in all worlds, all dimensions, rested in their hands.
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