Hello my friends and fellow writers, 087-B here with the beginning of Chapter 1! In the last chapter, the gang found out where the first Crystal Star was and fought a giant Blooper. Finding a pipe after defeating it, the group jumped in… and that was where we left off! Now, let's find out where they went!
Now, on with the show!
Chapter 1: Castle And Dragon - Part 1 - Arrival in Petalburg
The four heroes burst out of the stone pipe and landed flat on the ground in a large, beautiful flowery field. Getting up and wiping the dirt off of them, they felt very calm and relaxed while they were in such a lush, nature filled area, the direct opposite of Rogueport.
"Well, this is it!" Goombella began. "The Petal Meadows, where folks say a Crystal Star hides!" Mario pulled out the magical map.
"The map says there is a town located near here." Mario said.
"Then that's just where we'll go!" Pacifica said. "Maybe they have information on the location of the Crystal Star!"
"How many Crystal Stars are there anyway?" Dipper asked.
"The legend says that seven Crystal Stars exist." Goombella answered. "The only known one is the Diamond Star, which is the one that appeared on the map. The names or locations of the other six Crystal Stars are unknown."
The group proceeded down a small grassy slope and walked to the center of the field where small stone structures were set up, like a Mushroom Kingdom version of Stonehenge. They were about to press on before hearing a loud roaring overhead. Looking up, the group saw a large red dragon with a hook like tail. It flew over the group before returning to a castle on a far off hill, flying into the top tower.
"Guys! Did you see that?!" Goombella exclaimed.
"Was that a dragon?!" Dipper exclaimed.
"We've only been here for five minutes and already there's mystery and intrigue!" Goombella said. "Come on, let's get moving!"
The group continued forward a little before spotting a golden block with a '?' on it hovering in the air. While Dipper and Pacifica where mystified by it at first, Mario walked under it and jump, smacking the box. The '?' disappeared and a red mushroom with eyes flew out of the top. Mario walked over and picked it up.
"Oh, sweet! A red Mushroom!" Goombella said. "That'll be useful later on!"
"Uh…" Dipper and Pacifica were confused.
"Oh, right. You don't hail from this world." Mario remembered. "Here in the Mushroom Kingdom, blocks like these appear almost everywhere, and hitting them from the underside sometimes causes something to fly out from the top of it!" Mario held up the mushroom. "In this case, a Mushroom! A good recovery item that should replenish your strength during a battle!" The two Oregon children seemed to understand the concept of Mushrooms and ? Blocks.
Continuing forward, the group came across a red ? Block. Mario was about to jump at it, but instead Dipper jumped and hit its underside and a badge popped out from the top. It looked like a red-orange octagon with a big yellow swirl in the middle. Dipper went and picked it up. A note was attached, and he read it aloud.
"Close Call Badge. Requires 1 BP to wear. When the bearer of the badge has taken a sufficient amount of damage in battle to enter the 'Danger' status, enemies will miss ½ of the time they attack." Dipper thought about how useful this badge could be. He tossed it to Mario, who pinned it to his overalls.
"Those red blocks are called Badge Blocks." Goombella said. "Badge Blocks are much more rare than the normal ? Blocks, so keep an eye out for them."
"Badges seem to help out in battle." Dipper pointed out. "I used Power Smash to deal massive damage to the Blooper, and Mario might be more evasive with the Close Call badge."
"I guess if we keep badges organized, we can get a lot of benefit from them." Mario said. "I'm the one who usually jumps, so jumping related badges should work just right for me."
"I wonder what badges would work for me." Pacifica wondered. "Let's get a move on. I feel like some sort of creature might pop out soon."
"Yeah, let's." Dipper walked on ahead, followed by the rest of the group. They battled through a few Goombas, Paragoombas, and Spiky Goombas, but it was a relatively easy battle for our heroes. They came to a small clearing with a river flowing between the land, preventing further movement.
"How do we get past here?" Pacifica asked. "I mean, this can't be that hard, right?"
"Look, in the distance!" Mario pointed to a hill far out in the distance that had a blue box with a '!' on it resting on the ground. "That might be the switch for the bridge!"
"How do we get over there, though?" Dipper looked around, not seeming to turn up any answers, but after pushing a few dark green bushes aside, he found a pipe that connected to a pipe on the far hill. "Never mind, I think I found our solution!" The rest of the group gathered around the pipe.
"It will be easy to get to the switch." Mario said. "I'll go." He jumped in the pipe and emerged through the pipe on the far hill. He walked over to the switch and jumped on it, causing a bridge to appear over the river in the style of a flipbook. Mario gave the thumbs up to the others, who did so in return. Then he jumped back through the pipe, and the group continued on.
Upon crossing the bridge, the group found a wooden arch fence with a sign in the top-center area. The four of them walked up to it.
"Welcome to the small town of Petalburg. Population: 71." Dipper read the sign aloud. Looking through the gate, the gang saw a wondrously beautiful little town, filled with anthropomorphic turtles with green shells and boats and no sunglasses or spiked collars, called Koopas, as well as the mushroom clothed people, who the gang know as Toads. The buildings were small and yellow with orange bricked roofs, and little rivers ran throughout the town with small bridges connecting to other pieces of land that were divided by the flowing water. Walking into the town, a Koopa immediately greeted the group.
"Hello there!" The Koopa greeted. "Welcome to the town of Petalburg! We don't really have many tourists around here since the Hooktail incident, so we're kind of remote, to tell you the truth."
"Yeah yeah, we get it, Green Boots." Goombella said. Pacifica chuckled. "So what's this about a Hooktail incident?" The Koopa seemed shocked.
"You don't know about Hooktail?" The gang shook their heads. "Hooktail is a big red dragon with a hook shaped tail. It constantly goes around feasting on innocent people for its own enjoyment." The Koopa shuddered. "You four are lucky that you made it here without being eaten."
"We saw Hooktail earlier." Pacifica said. "At least, I think we did. We saw a giant red dragon fly into a castle in the distance back near the pipe that lead to Petal Meadows."
"Wow, you four are some of the only people who have lived after seeing Hooktail." The Koopa seemed impressed.
"Anyway, do you know anything about these gems called the Crystal Stars?" Goombella asked.
"Crystal Stars?" The Koopa thought for a moment. "Nope, can't say I have." The others seemed disappointed. "But you can ask the mayor. He's old… really old. Old enough to know more than us Koopas normally know."
"Where can we find him?" Mario asked.
"He lives in a small pink house up ahead." The Koopa answered. "You can't miss it."
"A pink house? Sounds totally hideous…" Goombella shuddered at the thought. "But thanks, you've been a big help!"
After the conversation, the gang saw the inn was right next to the entrance and decided to rent a room. They rested up in the inn for a bit, and when they felt they had regained enough strength, they set out once more.
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Robbie burst through the dead trees panting heavily, his clothes torn up and his face bruised. He was so lost and confused, completely unknowing of where to go. Just hours earlier, he woke up at the top of an old abandoned steeple. Freaked out, he saw a town in the distance that was overlooked by the steeple. He escaped and ran toward it, although he didn't know if he would get far.
He jumped over a fallen log, but tripped over an unearthed tree root and fell to the ground. He felt like something was chasing him, even though nothing was behind him. Robbie quickly got up and bolted forward once more. Monsters like spike-headed rocks and ball shaped ghosts were attacking him when they could, but he saw the town coming up on the horizon. He sighed in relief but continued to run forward. He was nearing the town when something tripped him, even though no obstacles were in the way. With his face full of sand, gravel, and dirt, Robby heard a strange voice talk to him.
"Where do ya think you're going, Slick?"
:::::
Mario opened the door to the pink house and the group entered it, closing the door behind them. Inside was an elder Koopa with big, bushy light-gray eyebrows that covered his eyes, a long white beard, and he held a cane to support himself. Although it didn't seem like he could see well, he could obviously tell that people had just entered his home.
"Wait a second, are you robbers?!" The elder Koopa spoke. "Please, I don't have anything! Well, maybe I have little money, but please don't take the pictures of me and the misses!" He was trembling with fright.
"Um, Mr. Mayor, we aren't robbers." Dipper said. "We just have a few questions for you." The mayor calmed down a bit.
"Oh, so you aren't robbers?" The group shook their heads. "That's good. My name's Mayor Kroop, and I'm obviously the mayor of Petalburg." His smile returned. "So, you have a few questions for me?"
"Yes sir, Mayor Kroop." Goombella said. "We wanted to know if you know anything about gems called the Crystal Stars?"
"Crystal Stars, eh?" Kroop thought for a moment. "Yeah, that sounds a bit like the treasure Hooktail gobbled up."
"So you know about the Crystal Stars?" Pacifica asked.
"Yes indeed." Kroop answered. "The only way to get it is to beat Hooktail, and the only way to get into Hooktail's Castle is to find two Stone Keys."
"Stone Keys?" Dipper was confused. "Where do we find those?"
"The two Stone Keys that you'll need are hidden away in the deep caverns of the Shhwonk Fortress." Kroop answered. "The Shhwonk Fortress can be found East of Petalburg. It's heavily guarded, however. Trials exist along the way. Brutal battles, fearsome fights, daunting duals!"
"Thanks for the information, Mayor Kroop." Dipper said. As much as he kept his cool, he felt very awkward talking to an anthropomorphic elderly turtle, considering the circumstances.
"So I'm guessing that you want these Stone Keys because you're off to slay Hooktail?" Kroop asked eagerly.
"Um, I guess you could say that." Goombella said.
"Oh joyous day! Tell me, heroes, what are your names?" Kroop looked at Mario.
"The name is Mario!" Mario said happily, followed by a "Wa-Hoo!"
"Eh? Murphy is the name?" Kroop was very wise, but he had terrible hearing.
"Um, no. It's "Mario", not Murphy." Mario tried to correct Mayor Kroop.
"I agree, Murphy! You do have nice eyebrows!" Kroop turned to Dipper. "Now what's your name, sonny?"
"Um… My name's Dipper." Dipper said, even though he knew Mayor Kroop would probably mess it up.
"That's a nice name, Dixon!" Kroop said. Dipper sighed, but chuckled.
"Yeah, it's Dixon." Dipper said.
"Now, valiant heroes, tell the gatekeeper you have my permission to leave town!" Kroop said. "He'll open the gate and let you be on your way to Shhwonk Fortress!"
"Thank you, Mayor Kroop!" Pacifica said. The four of them left the house, seeing the gatekeeper not too far away from where they stood. They had made some significant progress on their adventure, even though many questions still remained unanswered. As they approached the gatekeeper, they felt like they were ready to take on the Shhwonk Fortress, even though they didn't know how difficult the actual dungeon would be. Mario explained to the gatekeeper about what they needed to do, and as the gatekeeper opened the gate, the group heard a voice behind them.
"Um, h-hello?" The group tuned to see a Koopa with a blue hoodie, some navy blue shorts, a single droopy eyelid, a bandage on his nose, and some worn-out white boots. "Um, y-yeah… My n-name's Koops, and… I heard you were g-going to Hooktail Castle, so… I was h-hoping to ask…" Koops was silent for a bit, very shy and hesitant about speaking to the group. "Oh, just forget it, okay?! Forget about me! I'm not important!" Koops ran off toward a home and slammed the door shut once he was inside.
"OOOOOO-K… talk about some serious issues." Goombella said. Pacifica watched as Koops slammed the door shut.
"I think I'll stay behind on this one." Pacifica said. "You guys go get those keys or whatever."
"Why aren't you coming?" Dipper asked.
"I just… need to speak with someone, okay?" Pacifica answered. The others seemed fine with it, and Mario, Dipper, and Goombella walked off into the fields toward the mysterious fortress. Meanwhile, Pacifica walked over to Koops' house and knocked on the door. There was no response. She grabbed the handle slowly opened the door.
"Hello?" She greeted. Koops was sitting in a fetal position on a stool.
"W-What do you want?" He asked nervously. Pacifica approached him.
"I can see you're under quite a bit of stress." Pacifica said. "What's wrong?"
"…W-Why are you helping me?" Koops asked, now looking at Pacifica.
"I can relate to what you might be going through." Pacifica said. "I'm also under a lot of stress."
"Why?" Koops asked.
"…I'm really far away from my hometown." Pacifica answered, looking at the ground solemnly. "I've changed a lot since I left."
"Where did you live before?" Koops asked.
"In a town called Gravity Falls." Pacifica answered. "It's really far away… Really far…"
"You must really miss your family." Koops said. "I miss mine too. My dad went off to fight Hooktail, but he never returned." Koops looked down solemnly. "I've been called a weakling for a long time, and I've never been able to stand up for myself because of the stress of losing my father."
"I'm sorry." Pacifica said, trying to console him. "I guess we both have something in common, I guess. Our families are gone, and all I have left are my friends to support me…" Pacifica thought for a moment on how she had changed in the new world… how she had made a friend in Goombella, and Mario, and Dipper…
"I wanted to ask you guys if I could join your journey to Hooktail Castle." Koops said. "But I was too nervous. I could never really pull my weight even if you decided to take me along."
"Don't say stuff like that!" Pacifica said. "Let's just wait for my friends to come back, then you can ask them." She stared out the window. "Hopefully they come back…"
"Hopefully…"
-(End Of Chapter)-
Took a while to write, and I got really bored during the time it took to write Kroop's dialogue, but the next chapter will focus on Mario, Dipper, and Goombella in Shhwonk Fortress, so that will be enjoyable to write. I was playing some Paper Mario TTYD as I wrote this chapter, so I did have some fun during Kroop's seemingly endless dialogue.
Stay Tuned!
~087-B
