My god. Another long chapter. -_- But here it is at last!! ^-^
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While investigating Koopa Village, Mario ran into more than he could chew. He was almost devoured by frog-like eating machines when Mario's former party, Goombario, Kooper and Bombette came to his rescue. Together, they braved the dangers of Koopa Bros. Fortress where they discovered the missing hostages from both Toad Town and Koopa Village. Mr. L also had a run in with the enemy but quickly disposed of them from the capitol and learned of Mario's whereabouts. After battling their way up to the top of the fortress, they met face-to-face with the enemy boss, the Mecha named Groggu. Can our heroes defeat this monster in time to bring everyone back to normal?
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Chapter 4: Mario vs. the Toad Mecha, Groggu
He didn't bother to take the discreet approach. Mr. L barged into the front courtyard, knocking out any machine monsters in his rampage. He knew his adversary was here; he could sense it. "But where?" he constantly asked himself. Before entering the stronghold, an explosion went off, and pieces of rubble fell from the higher parts of the wall. He looked up and saw the bridge that interconnected the towers of the fortress. He could see shadows moving about on the bridge, but he couldn't make out who or what it was. Mr. L ran inside the fortress to personally get a better look.
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The battle had just started and already the Mecha named Groggu was wearing Mario's team down. His body proved to be tough as Bombette's bomb attacks barely did any damage. The helmet on his head would only give Goombario a headache as his tried to land his Headbonk moves. Groggu may have been large, but he was quick enough to keep Mario and party dodging more instead of attacking. As Mario landed, he charged the frog monster, jumped and swung his leg for a kick. Gruggu saw him coming and grabbed his leg at the last second. He twirled the plumber over his head and threw him down hard into the stone. Mario was really dazed and the large machine tried to crush him under his weight, but he felt something rush under his stubby legs. Kooper swiftly spun around Groggu's feet to make him trip, giving Mario a chance to pull himself out of the crater.
"Argh! This guy is like a rock. Nothing we seem to do will hurt him!" Bombette complained. She turned her pink body to the Goomba. "Goombario, why don't you do your Tattle thing and find his weak points?"
The little boy Goomba shrugged a little. "What do you think I am an encyclopedia? I don't know anything about this guy."
Confusion hit the side of the Bob-omb's head. "W, wait. You mean…you actually have to know about an enemy to actually Tattle on it?" She asked as she hunched her black eyes.
"Well, yeah," Goombario answered. "I can't talk about an enemy if I know nothing about it. I had to have studied about it somewhere. It doesn't just magically pop into my brain.
Bombette cocked her body yet again. "Really?! Huh…I just assumed that all you had to do was say 'Tattle' and then that screen pops up from nowhere and you…"
The blue-capped Goomba interrupted as he shook his head. "Nope. It's more complicated than that. You see, what happens is…"
"Will you two shut up?!" a voice boomed in their ears. Groggu had gotten himself up and stomped with his webbed foot. The aftershock forced Goombario and Bombette to fall from their feet roll over backwards.
"Hey, watch it pal! No one does that to my friends!" a bright blue shell shouted as it rammed at Groggu's head.
He barely flinched but only got angrier. "Why you little punk!" The toad machine threw its spiked arm and slapped Kooper across the bridge, right over Mario's head, and landed behind him.
The red plumber turned back and scowled at the Mecha with a displeased look.
"Gruk, guk guk guk!" Groggu laughed at his four opponents. "Don't tell me that this is the best you can do? I can't see why my lord had anything to be afraid of!"
Mario stood back up after he recovered for the machine just stirred his curiosity. "This so called 'lord' of yours," he began, "is he the same man named Smithy? Has he somehow been revived?" Mario asked, hoping to get the monster to talk.
"Smithy?" Groggu looked down at the little plumber, furrowing his lips. "Ah, yes. I heard of him as I was being built. Our last lord was destroyed years ago by your hands and by a few of your allies. But…we serve a new lord and now he commands us machines and our alternate reality."
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Mario quickly argued. "We made sure your dimensional factory was destroyed. Where did you all come from?"
Groggu chuckled at the plumber. "I suppose I can tell you; it won't matter in the end after all. Smithy was indeed destroyed along with his factory beyond the Gate of the sword monster, Exor." He shifted his head to guide everyone's eyes up to where the once beautiful sky had recently been fracture, leaving an infinite dark hole in its place. "But that did not mean the dimension we dwell from was obliterated as well. A small division of his remaining machines was left behind when he first invaded this blue planet. Though Smithy may be gone, he had left someone who would continue his sovereignty in that dimension and rebuild his metallic empire. He was Smithy's one and only apprentice and his true successor of the Smithy Gang."
Everyone's heart's skipped a beat as they bared witness to the Mecha's words. "So…there were others hiding away just in case your last invasion failed." the short plumber realized. What he had feared all this time was true: The Smithy Gang lives, but someone completely different is now leading that organization. Mario swallowed as he sweated behind his neck and looked up at the monster with unchanged eyes. "And what is the name of his successor?" the plumber asked silently, waiting for the answer.
Groggu smiled, showing his sharp fangs and his red eyes glowed inside his helmet. "If want to find out, you'll have to beat me first. That is if you can?"
With that said, Mario's team got back on their feet, nodding their heads to the plumber. He turned back to the huge toad monster, balled his fist at him and shouted, "LET'S A GO!!"
Groggu started with a huge leap and tried to pound Goombario and Bombette under his feet. They managed to hop away. Without warning, Groggu bloated his cheeks and launched his long, pierced tongue. Mario dodged it, but the machine monster wasn't aiming for him and ensnared Bombette! He nearly pulled her in, but Mario grabbed the slimy tongue and tried to hold on to her. Kooper wrapped his arms around Mario's stomach as Goombario pushed against Mario's legs to keep him balance. It was now a tug-o-war with three against one, but weight-wise, Mario's team was losing. He could feel their grips loosening and they skid on the floor toward Groggu. Suddenly, the Mecha jerked to the side to upset the balance. Mario practically stumbled and let go of the frightened pink Bob-omb who was quickly eaten by the machine as her screams could still be heard down his throat!
The machine monster licked his lips and patted his gut with satisfaction. Mario and his remaining friends didn't know what to think or say as they were one less partner and they had to watch her game end. Mario cursed himself for letting this monster have its way and laughing in victory. "Well that's one down, only three to go," he smirked.
Mario couldn't stand the monster's gloating, so much that his arms went ablaze again and he rushed him mindlessly. Groggu lashed out his tongue again, but the fiery plumber curved to the side, missing the attack and crotched and aimed right for its head. "Fire Punch!" He did an uppercut right at his chin. The fire energy put more power in his punch, making Groggu flinch back a little, but Mario wasn't done yet. He took his other arm and jabbed another shot in the frog's stomach, twisting his fist to increase the impact. Groggu bent over as he clutched his gut, completely surprised that the short man could deal some damage on him all of the sudden. He tried to swipe at Mario with his heavy spiked arms, but a strange sensation softly churned in his belly, making him slow down. He didn't see that Kooper had withdrawn in his shell and slammed into his side. The Koopa rebounded to hit his back forcing him to topple over on his hands and knees.
"What's going on? Why are their attacks suddenly hurting me?!" Groggu pondered while grabbing hold is aching stomach.
Goombario started to notice the change as well. "Hey guys. Does that dude look like he's getting sick to you?"
Mario and Kooper kept their distance and stared at the weakening Mecha as he struggled to stand. "You're right," Kooper agreed. "I hope if he up chucks, he looks the other way…"
"And you know what? Our attacks are working on his body now. Why do you think that is?" Mario added.
Groggu stood back on his feet with gritting teeth snarling at the three heroes. "What are you jabbering about?! I'm not done yet. I will devour all of you!" He manically charged toward his prey, his heavy foot stomps shaking the entire bridge. Mario and party braced themselves for the rush when all of a sudden, Groggu stopped in his tracks again and grabbed his rumbling belly as smoke came bellowing from the corners of his black mouth.
Goombario looked at the nauseous machine when an idea smacked him in the head. "I guess this overgrown toad ate one too many apparently…a Bob-omb to be exact," he smiled.
"Do you mean…" Mario gasped as he understood.
Gruggu struggled through the pain and reached for the plumber, but Goombario scuttled between Mario's legs underneath the Mecha and shot straight up with a Headbonk as hard as he could into the machine's vulnerable stomach. Groggu stumbled backwards with more pain in his gut than ever. He hunched over, trying to cover his mouth, but he let out a huge gag and spewed a pink figure from his body.
"Bombette!!" all three shouted. They ran to her with Mario holding her sticky body and messy ponytail fuse. "Bombette, are you alright?" he worried.
"Wake up, please!" Goombario cried.
"Say something, girl!" said Kooper.
Slowly, two black pupils opened and gazed at her friends. She took a breath and whispered. "I…s-seriously need…a…a bath." Sure that she was ok, all four heroes smiled.
But they couldn't forget the enemy before them. Groggu violently coughed as he tried to breathe. When he was done, he glared crossly at his four opponents, as the red glow of his eyes grew larger and it seemed like they split into a smaller pair right above the first pair, and the spikes on his arms and back stuck out higher and sharper in his fury. "HOW DARE YOU?!!" he roared as the force of his breath struck Mario and gang. "I WILL NOT BE MADE A FOOL! THIS IS THE END OF YOU ALL! FEEL THE POWER OF THE SMITHY GANG!!"
Suddenly, a green diamond-shaped jewel emerged from the metal of the helmet and glowed in a bright radiance. "Move!" Mario shouted as his instincts told him so. They jumped in different directions as a beam of light shot from the jewel, barely missing them and scorched the stone floor. "I recognize that beam. It's the same kind of weapon that green haired woman used!" Mario recalled.
"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE! I WILL SEND YOU ALL TO THE UNDERWHERE!!" Groggu declared. He charged up for another attack.
"Guys! Don't let that beam hit you no matter what!" Mario warned.
Again, Groggu fired three more shots, with which Mario and friends managed to avoid, but the battle had worn them down that they knew they couldn't dodge forever. They regrouped as the Mecha drew closer toward them.
"The beams are coming from that jewel on his helmet. We have to smash that thing!" Goombario insisted.
"But he won't let us get close. We need to distract him long enough to hit it," said Kooper.
"Ma-rio," the weary Bob-omb called. She was still in the plumber's arms as she looked up at him. "While…I was inside his stomach, I noticed how he was very soft…despite his metallic form. He may be tough on the outside, but he can be hurt from the inside. I've been using my Bomb attacks…to make him spit me out."
"Which weakened his body for us to attack him," Mario figured.
"If we can somehow get close to attack him, it will give someone a chance to destroy that jewel. And then it will be the matter of delivering the final blow," Goombario suggested.
"Do you think you can move, Bombette?" Mario asked.
"Y-Yeah. I want payback more than anything now," she nodded with fiery eyes.
"Alright then," he set her down. "It's now or never. Let's do this!"
The toad Mecha nearly launched another beam of light when Goombario and Bombette teamed up and ran towards him. Groggu cancelled the attack and stomped his foot to crush the Goomba and Bob-omb. Goombario leaped in the air to draw Groggu's attention while Bombette slid behind him to perform a Bomb attack. The machine monster swatted the little Goomba before he could hit the jewel, but the Bomb attack was set off and severely injured his back. Kooper took the opportunity to charge his Shell Shot, rapidly spinning in one spot while Mario bounced all over the place and threw fireballs to confuse Groggu. Kooper finished his charge and unleashed his Super Shell Shot move, zooming at a speed unlike before right at the green jewel. Getting aggravated, the Mecha jumped up and pounded the ground to fling Goombario and Bombette back by the vibration, causing the bridge to crack further. He grabbed the hopping plumber by the arm and tossed him out of the way. Kooper's shell nearly reached Groggu's helmet, but he put up his spiked arms to block the attack and sent the shell flying back.
With all four fighters down, he was ready to shoot them with his jewel. The bright light was almost at its peak as it shone in the eyes of the frightened party. However, unknowing to the Mecha, Mario wasn't knocked out from the toss. All in a second, he jumped on his recovery, got in front of the spinning shell and kicked it hard to increase its speed back at Groggu's head. However, he shot another beam from his jewel and it hit the shell with Groggu laughing uncontrollably. His expression quickly changed for the beam had no affect on Kooper since his shell was spinning so fast it was dispersing the beam. Before he could do anything, the blue shell hit its mark and shattered it into tiny shards.
Groggu was utterly stunned and couldn't move. Mario knew he had to finish the job. One last time, he ignited his Firebrand and created a fireball in his hand that, with each second, grew bigger in his palm then dashed straight for the Mecha. Groggu made an attempt to crush the speeding plumber by putting his hands together and slammed down with the balled fist. In one brief moment, Mario missed the hit by squeezing underneath the space between Groggu's arms. The red clad hero jumped to the monster's mouth and stepped on the bottom lip and pushed the other up. He jabbed his hand inside his mouth and let loose a blast of fire energy down his throat into his body. The machine monster screamed in agonizing pain and desperately tried to close his mouth but Mario used all his strength to force it open and he couldn't move his arms because of the pain. His body glowed red from the conducting heat and parts of his spikes and metal started melting. After a few moments, Mario had no energy left and collapsed to stone floor in exhaustion.
He and his friends stared at the Mecha to see his form completely dark brown and smoking from the mouth. The helmet on his head cracked and split open, revealing a round head with a spiky spread fin, now obviously charred with four yellow frog-like eyes glazed and dilated. Groggu fell over backwards, still not showing any kind motion.
Mario's party cheered in victory, jumping for joy and patting each other on the back for a job well done. While it was a time to be rejoicing, Mario still had a serious manner on his face as he got up. The others caught on to the plumber's behavior and realized that they still weren't quite done. Mario cautiously walked over to the burnt body. He stood right over it and noticed the eyes were regaining some color and blinking out into space. Mario opened his mouth. "You still owe me some answers," he spoke to the metallic body.
Groggu tried to laugh, but it was difficult in his condition. "I guess I do. After all you earned it."
"You just tried to shoot us with that beam that takes away one of those lights that comes from a body. I think you guys call it an 'essence'. Just what is it? Why are you taking them and where are those that you've stolen right now?" a number of questions came from the plumber's mouth.
"I can't possibly tell you all that," Groggu admitted, much to the plumber's disappointment, "but what I can say is that those lights are the essence of people's souls converted into a visible crystal by our technology. They are the key to our conquest of this world. No one will escape from extraction so long as they have this mass of energy that reflects their purity and darkness." Groggu then smiled maliciously. "Without it, the victim will be doomed to perish."
Mario, including his friends gasped and panicked as all the prisoners in the fortress has either lost their Essence at least in half a day more! Was it already too late for them?!
"Tell us where the ones that you have stolen are right now!" Kooper demanded.
Groggu smiled again. "If you look in the room behind you in the next tower, you might find something interesting. With me shutting down, all of my minions will also be terminated, so there shouldn't be any trouble. How you save those people will depend on you." Suddenly, Groggu's body started to rust and crumble like all of the other machine monsters so far. "Looks like…it's about time…f…for me to g…get scrapped," he said calmly.
"Wait! You still haven't answered me one thing," Mario added. The Mecha roamed his eyes at the plumber, but he could feel his systems failing and he was losing his vision as more rust was corroding his body. "What is the name of your leader?"
Groggu strained to let his voice out, but he was nearly succumbed to his fate as only his lips were still free. "H…hi…his n…ame…is…M……me……ta…"
It was over. Groggu was gone and defeated.
But still, Mario wasn't satisfied. He let out a long sigh as he watched the former body the toad Mecha decay into dust and blowing in the wind. "I feel like I still don't know anything. Just what in the world is going on here?" After the wind blew, all that was left of Groggu was the metal piercing on his tongue. Looking closely, it was about the size of his hand, round, and had a strange shape sticking at the end. It was weird how it was the only thing that didn't disintegrate with the body so he picked it up, examined it a little more, and then put it in his other pocket.
"Hey, Mario?" Kooper called from behind him. He kept his distance as if he didn't want to upset the plumber any further. "Come on buddy. Maybe we didn't get a lot out of that creep, but at least we know that we have a chance to save everyone here. It's better than nothing, right?"
Mario forced a smile and nodded his head. With some reassurance, Mario took out his pouch and gave a Mushroom to everyone and once they were all healed, they made their way to the next door, hoping what Groggu said was true.
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It seemed like the spiraling staircase went on forever. The tower shared a similar dank and clammy darkness, but something about the air tickled the plumber's unkempt moustache. Each step they took echoed off the walls, causing Mario's friends to hug close to him. In a few moments, the group noticed a faint, light-blue glow coming from around the corner. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, a large corridor stretched far in a distance to another door. The light was coming from behind the door from the bottom opening. Mario paused as he looked at it. He grabbed the doorknob, which was quite large, slowly turning it and cracked the door to peer inside.
Much to their surprise, the room was filled with many complicated machinery and equipment. Surrounding all the walls were more jail cells filled with more of the pale and lifeless looking captives. Goombario and the others worried over the prisoners while Mario still explored the area. In the back, he found the source of the illuminating light. At least four large containers were spaced evenly across the wall. Mario took a closer look, squinted his eyes through the fog inside. It was like staring into nothingness and he didn't want to ruin his eyes, so he was about to look away when he saw something that resembled a star. In the pale, blue fog, several other lights appeared until they were filling the entire tank. Mario stepped back to realize that he had found them, the so called Essences of the prisoner's souls.
"Hey guys!" he called to his party, "I found them! This is it!" The others ran toward him, eager to see what Mario had discovered. "These are those Essences that I mentioned about earlier.
"Wow. They really do look like stars," Bombette commented in awe. "Now it's just the problem of how we're going to put them back to whom they belong too."
"Well, don't you think that we should bust them out now?" Kooper wondered.
"But we don't know what will happen. It might just cause more trouble," Goombario disagreed.
All four of them scratched their heads, pondering of a way to solve this problem and fast.
"Hmph. You wish to save your world and yet you don't even know how to…"
Everyone was startled by the mysterious voice. They frantically scanned the room, cautiously wondering away from the tanks and around the area for where it was coming from but had no luck.
"Who's there?" Mario shouted in the air, but there was no response.
Suddenly, they heard a sound behind them. They spun around and saw a figure from out of nowhere standing in front of the four containers. It was not much taller than Mario, wearing a black cloak with a hood with interesting gold patterns and designs of stars and spirals that ran down to the bottom. If one looked closely, the figure was actually floating, just slightly, and it had concealed itself so well that you couldn't tell if it had any limbs or even a face. Nonchalantly, the stranger walked over to the tanks and stared intensely with no sudden movements.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Kooper jumped up. "If you're after those little orbs of light, then you're asking for trouble!" The figure simply ignored his threat and scrolled over to the next container.
"Are you even listening to us?!" said Bombette getting really annoyed. Again, the cloaked person acted as if no one was there and observed the last two glowing tanks.
"Who the heck is this guy? Is he with the bad guys?" Goombario asked.
"I don't know about you, but this guy is suspicious! I say we take him out!" Kooper insisted as he clutched his hands.
They all carefully took a step forward to the stranger until they heard him mutter, "It's not here."
Mario put up his arms to stop the group and watched the figure as he hung his head as if he were defeated or something. "I can't believe it," the person whispered in frustration. "After waiting all that time for those machines to steal these Essences, not one of them has an Artifact!
Slowly letting his arms down, Mario eased toward the cloaked shadow. "Tell us. Who are you? What do you want here?"
The figure quickly turned and faced the plumber which surprised Mario for a moment. Underneath his hood, everyone could feel the stranger observing them thoroughly even if they couldn't see his face. "Your form…" he started, "I've heard countless tales about you. The hero of the Mushroom World and even the universe. The man who they dub Super Mario."
The modest red plumber grinned as he put his rubbed the back of his head. "And what do they call you?"
"My name is Aero," he answered simply.
"Ok, what are you doing here, Aero?
"To answer your questions from before: Yes, I was listening to you. No, I'm not part of that filthy organization. And yes, I am after the Essences which you called 'lights'".
"Hah! I knew it!" Kooper pointed at the shadow. "How can you say that you're not with the enemy when you just admitted that you are after those lights?! He's bad news, Mario!"
"You should consider the situation first before accusing someone. I have my reasons," he tried to defended himself.
"Well, if you're not in any hurry, how about you explain it to us?" Goombario insisted.
Aero looked back at the containers with a sort of sadness under his veil. "Can't you hear them? The spirit of the victims' souls crying their every wish and dream?" Everyone looked up and focused their eyes on the tanks as well. They couldn't hear anything, but Aero must be listening to something. "Whether it is selfless, ambitious, or greedy, anyone who is able to dream and wish possesses this glimmer of star energy that ultimately binds the Stars and mortals together."
"What do the Stars have to do with this?" Bombette wondered.
"It doesn't matter," he dismissed, "but what does matter is the power those machines are attempting to capture from within some particular Essences."
"There's a power within these things?" Mario asked becoming more intrigued. "Are you saying that's why they suddenly showed up again and started their conquest, to search for these orbs of star energy, looking for some kind power?"
"More or less. Its origins are unknown, but when a grave war ensued in ancient years, a power was summoned to end it, and when its task was completed, it disappeared to one day be reborn if it was ever needed again. When three souls that protect the ancient treasures called the Artifacts unite, a miracle will occur, and the evil will be banished forever. The bottom line is that somewhere in this world, there are three people who are now hosting one of these Artifacts in their Essence and when placed together, they create this ancient power that can ensnare and seal even the most foul entities and domains."
"And you want this power before the Smithy Gang finds it and destroy them and their dimension permanently to save the world," Goombario concluded. Aero just nodded to reply.
"But you do know that if you take a person's Essence away for too long, they'll die, right?!" Kooper reminded him.
There was a brief pause but he answered. "I do."
"And you're going to accept that?!" Bombette yelled, astonished at his decision as well as her friends. "What is wrong with you?! You just said you wanted to save the planet, but you're telling us you're going to let those individuals die?!" She turned her body toward the prison cells surrounding the room. "If we had never shown up, were you just going to leave these people to rot in their cage if they didn't have what you wanted?!"
"Of course not!" Aero shouted furiously as if he was insulted. "I am not a senseless killer, unlike the Smithy Gang! I know this sounds cruel, but these treasures are absolutely necessary." He lowered his head to the ground in shame. "I said I wanted to save this world, but I never said how……even if it was at the expense of another life."
"This is insane." Mario finally spoke out. This person's logic was baffling for him. For a while, Mario thought of this stranger to be someone who wanted to help out even if his method looked extreme, but now, the plumber could barely stand it! "Have you even thought about everything you could do? I might not understand how important this power is to you or the Smithy Gang, but I would never put an innocent person's life on the line so easily."
With his head still down, Aero turned to the side. "This is none of your concern."
"Everything about this is my concern!" Mario raised his voiced. "A maniacal group of machines and monsters are trying to conquer the planet again. Princess Peach, Daisy, even and Bowser have disappeared, leaving their kingdoms wide open to get attacked, and innocent people are getting involved in this mess as well, and you're telling me to stay out of it?! What could the Smithy Gang do that is so frightening that you would make this choice?!" Mario was panting softly the entire time, his tender and carefree blue eyes showed anger and frustration. He watched Aero, who still had a dull and emotionless composure, waiting for him to say something.
"Tell me," he directed his question to Mario. "How far are you willing to fight for the safety of this world?"
The stout plumber wasn't expecting the cloaked shadow to begin like that, but anyhow. "What do you mean? I would do everything I can, even if it were impossible."
"Yes, but to what extent?" Mario paused as he tried to understand Aero's point. "I don't doubt when that which is important to you are in peril, you will fight with the best of your ability to protect it. But, that also acts as your flaw. Your optimism to be able to save everyone is nothing more than a hero's fantasy and it will not be possible in this war."
"That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!" Kooper defended the plumber. "Are you getting off that because Mario fights for the sake of other people's safety that he's already lost?!"
"His deeds are to be admired, but in reality, to forfeit the lives of a few people is tolerable, but to surrender the whole planet for those few people is not only unreasonable, but also selfish. With what you have told me, you would most likely to do just that. This is the truth."
"No…" Mario whispered to himself. "This can't be the only way. We've stopped these guys before with our own hands. We can do it again!"
Aero shook his head in disappoint. "You're so oblivious. You can't hope to comprehend what dark force these machines have unfortunately stumbled across and they will destroy everything if they get their hands on that treasure. There is no other way." He lifted his head, making the hood of his cloak move slightly, revealing only the nose and lips of his pale skin, but it looked as though he had dark splotches in some places. His lips moved as his said, "You're supposed to be the hero. Are you willing to commit this sin for the future of your world?"
That was a question the red clad plumber was not prepared to answer. He couldn't. The thought of him purposely take another person's life was unthinkable and it rattled his mind so much he was lost at what to do, what to say.
The mysterious figure let out a sigh. "It seems I have proven my point." Aero jumped and vanished with everyone in the room desperately looking for him. He reappeared again, but this time, up on the windowsill of a cut opening on the stone wall. "You can have the Essences here; I have no need for them. Just break the containers and they will all find their way back to their owners, but I will continue my search." He glanced at Mario again and then roamed his eyes on his friends. "I don't wish to become enemies, but if you or anyone gets in my way again, I won't hesitate to fight back. Because I'm willing to do anything to fulfill my mission…and I'll finally be able to destroy their leader." He turned his back, ready to leave the four fighters to do as they wished.
"So does that mean you know their leader's name?" Mario called out to him. Aero looked over his shoulder and saw the plumber's eyes had their blue glow, with his confidence and determination steadily returning. "I want to hear his name. I'm going to fight them the way I know how. And in the end of all this, the Smithy Gang will be gone for good and I will prove that no one has to sacrifice themselves to do it," he declared.
Aero gave a small smile in respect. "As I listen to you say that, I almost believe you. Even if I know there is no avoiding this fate, your words still have a faint sign of hope. If there is another way, I encourage you to see it through." He looked away and the wind blew his hood off. Though you couldn't see his face, he had long pointed ears with blood colored hair curling down to his pale neck.
"His name…is Metalai" With that, he disappeared, off to continue with whatever mission that the party had disapproved.
"Metalai…" Mario repeated. He finally had a name, the one who was responsible for everything that had so far and will later on this adventure.
He felt a hand pat him on the shoulder. Kooper, along with Goombario and Bombette tried to cheer him up. He smiled back then walked up to one of the tanks, signaling the others to position themselves in front of one as well. The party of four all landed an attack of their own and smashed each container. The thick fog escaped and enveloped the room. It was difficult to see anything until a bright glow broke through. Dozens of the shining orbs forced the smoke outward and the whole room looked like floating in space. Just as quickly as they released them, the Essences rapidly flew out of the room through the walls, hopefully going to their owners. Some slowly eased toward the hostages in their cells in the room. In a few minutes, all the small lights were gone.
Mario's ears perked up as he heard grunting and murmur noises coming from all around them. "Hey, what's going on?" said a voice. A mushroom head leaned close to the bars in one cell and then a few other Koopas and Bob-ombs joined in.
"What gives? What is this dump?" another ranted. More people were waking up and the color was coming backed to their faces and bodies. It wasn't long until every cell was alive and bustling with the captured citizens trying to talk to one another and break the bars.
"Is the Mr. Mario?" one cried. Several eyes diverted toward the small group of heroes and instantly grew wide with relief. "It is Mr. Mario and his friends! Please help us!" That was all they needed to hear and they quickly ran up to one of the barred cells.
"Hey. I almost forgot," Bombette began, "My bomb attacks and your fire energy are useless on this material. How are we going to break them out?" The pink Bob-omb was right. They had to think of another way. Mario scanned the room and remembered the strange machinery in the corner. He walked over and inspected it. Now, the plumber was no genius, so he had no idea what he was looking at. Luckily, the team had its own little genius. Goombario hopped up on the equipment and tinkered with a few of the knobs and buttons.
"This looks like the control panel," he figured out. "It does everything that those creeps had installed: the video cameras, the doors, and even the jail cells."
"That's great!" Kooper cheered. "Do you think you can unlock them all?"
"Their technology isn't that complicated, so it shouldn't be hard, but…there is one problem." Goombario took his brown foot and pointed at a panel with an odd shape hole in it. "In order to unlock the controls, we need a special kind of key."
"That's just perfect!" Bombette pouted. "Where are we going to get something like that?"
Mario examined the keyhole and an idea came into mind. He dug in his pocket and pulled out the weird metal piercing from Gruggu. Goombario noticed and he gawked stupidly at it. "Mario! I…I think that's it! Where did you get that?" he wondered.
"Let's just say Groggu like keeping his things in the strangest places," Mario smirked.
Without hesitating, he jammed the object in, surprised that it fit, and turned it. The screen started to change and countless codes swarmed the picture. "We're in!" the Goomba announced.
Punching some more buttons and twisting the knobs, the screen read, 'diactivated' and like that, the bars receded into the floor one by one in the room. Every Toad, Koopa, and Bob-omb ran out of their prison and swarmed Mario and party, eternally grateful for the rescue.
"Thank you so much!" said a young orange Toadette.
"You guys are awesome!" a green Bob-omb winked.
"But," a Koopa muttered, glancing around in confusion, "how did we get here?"
"We'll explain later, but right now, we need to get to the others in the fortress and get everyone back home," Mario instructed.
And so, with their red clad hero and friends leading the group of citizens to safety, it seemed fight for the world might not seem so hopeless for them.
___
Unknowing to Mario and gang, a dark shadow had watched the entire event and his excitement and plotting could barely be contained. In his black jumpsuit and mask, Mr. L crept away from a window and jumped up to the tower's roof to rest as he chortled.
"My, my. Things are definitely getting more interesting. So those metal freaks are after some sort of power that could help them take over the world, hmm?" He cracked a devious grin. "And it looks like Mr. Jumps-all-the-Time is actually losing his backbone for once." Mr. L folded his arms. "Normally, I would have gone for that plumber's head right when I got the chance, but how can I possibly pass up this opportunity for great power? I might as well throw my hat in the ring; it could be fun. And the thought of crushing him with a power that he can't stomach to get just gives me that fuzzy feeling inside. This plan is perfect." The sinister alter-ego stared up into the clouds, his grey eyes shining ominously. "Mario, we will meet each other and when you do, you'll have no idea how to face me and you'll fall to your knees. Enjoy your victory for now. It won't last long. L-ater, my mustached foe."
Mr. L took a running start and leapt from the roof, swiftly headed for the trees below for his landing. Where he will go next, only he would know, but the race for the ancient treasure was on.
___
With the first Mecha, Groggu, defeated, Koopa Bros. Fortress and everyone trapped inside have been freed and they're all ready to go back and rebuild their lives. The Smithy Gang's plan and their leader, Metalai (sounds like Nicolai) have been revealed by the mysterious man named Aero, but will Mario force himself to follow Aero's mission to find the three Artifacts at the cost at the holders' lives? And with Mr. L also searching for the ancient power, what else will our hero have to deal with?
Next time…
???: We didn't stand a chance to save your kingdom and I'm sure my land isn't faring well either.
*???*: Don't worry. I know we'll get through this and stomp the lot of them!
???: I've faced these invaders before. If I had known sooner who they were, we might have been better prepared.
*???*: If we could only think of some way to let the boys know that we're fine and where they can find us.
???: Oh, Mario. Please give me the strength to make it back home to you…
Episode 5: A Change in Plans
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(A/N) I tried to make fun of Goombario and his Tattle ability from Paper Mario near the beginning and all of Mario's partners' attacks come straight from the game. The Underwhere is the hell version of the seventh level from Super Paper Mario. I hope the fighting scene was alright. Sorry to the Mario fans as my OC bashed on him for what makes him a hero, but its all part of the plot. Some long awaited characters will appear in the next two chapters.
