Chapter 3
Cranky led the group down a long corridor that was completely dark, save a few lit candles hanging from the walls. He grunted with every step he took and each step he took sounded as if there was a pain growing in him. Princess Peach guided Toadsworth and Toad down the hall and tried her best to keep the two from bickering, but they always found a way to irritate each other. The two of them had grown extremely hostile in the past two years and no one seemed to know why. Rosalina walked next to Jericho and answered all of his questions about her observatory in space, the Lumas, and just any space-related question he could think of.
Finn and Piper stayed relatively close to each other, but Finn kept his distance due to the growing pain of his brother's death. Piper twiddled her thumbs and played with her hair a bit the whole way through the corridor. Finn knew she had something to say, but she never once tried to speak what was on her mind. In the very back of the group, Donkey Kong slowly walked along, constantly checking behind them for any sign of trouble. Cranky eventually stopped at a wall and knocked with his staff a few times, then, twisting the candle holder that was on the wall, Cranky took a step back.
The wall moved backwards, then shifted to the left slowly. On the other side stood large stone columns with suits of armor standing facing the doorway. A large round table sat at the far end of the room. The walls near the table had security terminals that looked far too advanced for the Mushroom Kingdom, but it was obvious that the tech had been donated by Rosalina from her observatory.
Peach, Daisy and Rosalina made their way for the back end of the table and the each sat in chairs colored the same as their dresses. Donkey Kong sat in the seat across from Peach, Cranky sat at the chair across from Daisy, and Jericho sat across from Rosalina. Toadsworth and Toad sat at opposite ends of the table and made angry facial expressions at each other occasionally. Finn and Piper sat next to each other at the same end as Toadsworth and they looked at each other quietly. Piper smiled lightly at him and he met her smile with a small grin, but he quickly returned to his oblivious state.
Cranky groaned and frowned at Peach. "Have you been in contact with Yoshi since the Island was destroyed?"
Peach nodded. "I spoke to him a couple of days ago on one of the Starcoms provided by Rosalina. He seemed a bit frantic when speaking to me, but it didn't seem like anything was wrong at the time."
Finn quickly looked up and frowned. "Someone was telling him what to say."
Rosalina cocked her head. "How do you know this?"
Finn shrugged. "It should've been obvious. Was there anyone else around when he spoke to you?"
Peach shook her head. "No, no one was around. But I don't see what—."
Cranky nodded. "I agree with the boy, something doesn't seem right. Yoshi was normally slow-speaking with you, Princess Peach, especially after what happened at the battle."
Toad shook his head. "Nah, I don't think anything is wrong. Yoshi was probably busy with Birdo or one of their kids."
Finn frowned. "I still think something may have been wrong. The stories I heard a few years ago dictated Yoshi as a slow guy, that he didn't try to rush things."
Cranky smacked his staff against the table. "This endless wondering is pointless, I say we send someone to the Yoshisaurs' village on Lavalava Island."
Peach sighed and nodded. "Agreed, better to be safe than sorry. Who will embark on the journey there and back?"
General Kong snorted and beat his chest once with his right hand. "I will lead a small group there, Princess. We shall confirm the status of the village and report back immediately."
Toad raised his hands up. "I'll go with him, Yoshi doesn't know General Kong very well. He may not trust him."
Jericho stood and smiled. "As will I."
Finn looked at him and shook his head slowly. Jericho smiled. "I got your brother killed. The least I could do for you and the rest of the Kingdom is make sure one of our closest allies is still alive. It's time for me to be brave."
Peach looked at the three volunteers and nodded. "Very well. Please head out as soon as you can. There is a boat waiting down the corridor behind me to take you to Lavalava Island. Just tell the captain your destination and you will head out immediately."
Donkey Kong, Toad, and Jericho went down the corridor and left the room. From inside the room, the sounds of the boat's crew bickering could be heard, and Toad could also be heard shouting at them to calm down.
Cranky looked at Finn and nodded. "You are a smart young lad, I like you. Of course, I also like bananas, but that's beside the point!"
Finn looked at the table and back at Peach and sighed. "There were stories about what happened. About Mario…Bowser…Luigi…the battle. Are they true?"
Peach closed her eyes and you could hear a small whimper come from her. She sighed and fought back tears. "It's true. All of it. Bowser's defeat, Mario's death, Luigi's disappearance. It's all real."
Rosalina nodded. "My precious Lumas lit the skies on that fateful night…they would only back Peach's answer. I watched from my observatory before returning to Peach's castle shortly after Bowser fell into the crevice the first time. I was not there to see what happened to Mario. But Luigi, Toad, Yoshi—they saw it all."
Piper looked around the room. "Speaking of which, where is Luigi?"
Cranky groaned. "Seriously, did no one read the Prologue? Or were you not listening to Peach? Luigi has been missing for years. No one has seen him in so long, I doubt anyone would recognize him if they saw him. He did live in Mario's shadow, after all. He wasn't as well-known as Mario was."
Daisy frowned. "Now hold on, Cranky, Luigi was well-known. He did take down King Boo when Mario was kidnapped by him."
Cranky nodded. "That is true. Speaking of kings, King K. Rool was in the Kongo Jungle last month. I saw him snooping around in the trees. He seemed to be watching Dixie Kong very closely. He dropped some sort of purple liquid onto the ground below him, but I'm not entirely sure what it was. It wasn't bodily waste, I know that."
Daisy suddenly remembered something. "That reminds me, King Bob-Omb contacted me, and he is willing to agree to the terms of our treaty. He has also agreed to provide us with soldiers, should the need ever arise, and I am afraid that need will rise very soon."
Peach sighed. "That is wonderful news. We already have the Goombas as our allies, and now that King Bob-Omb is willing to provide assistance in hopes of peace, we should be able to get this done quickly."
A console began to beep violently and Rosalina stood and darted over to the noise. She pressed a button and a message from Professor Elvin Gadd appeared above the table.
The professor began to babble in unintelligible gibberish, which left Finn and Piper utterly puzzled at what was said. He held up a container with a small dead bug in it, poured in a purple liquid, and suddenly the bug came back to life. It shed all organic material and was left with nothing but an exoskeleton. The professor babbled a little more before ending his transmission, and Rosalina smiled and sat down at the table again.
"Elvin said that he has recovered a sample of Kamek's elixir from a sample that was left on the ground near the site of the battle where Mario was killed. He said it resurrects a deceased creature, erases all organic material, and leaves nothing but dry bones behind, making the enemies virtually unstoppable. He, rather uncreatively, calls it the 'Dry Bones' elixir." Rosalina said quickly.
Finn cocked his head. "Could the elixir affect a living creature?"
"Elvin says it won't harm any living creature, but if they are infected by the elixir while alive, and they die later on, they will be resurrected shortly after."
Cranky chuckled. "So it's like The Walking Dead? Ahhh, that makes sense."
Finn looked at Cranky and laughed a bit to himself. "So, what do we do now?"
Peach looked around the table and sighed. "We wait for word from General Kong and his group. It will be a few days, so everyone make yourselves at home. We'll be hiding out back here for a while. There are bedrooms down the same corridor the dock is, so just pick a room and head to bed when you feel the need."
Everyone at the table nodded and stood up, dispersing from the table and heading off to do whatever they wanted to do for the next few days.
