This is going to be a slow chapter. There will be an answer to what happen to the Earth, two new characters are introduced, and Ness becomes even more inhuman than before. Wow, it's not a slow chapter. I'm also sorry if this took too long to write. I had an emergency tooth removal surgery. It was not as bad as I thought it would be.
January 29, 2027 13:54 (1:54 P.M.) Starship Mario is Ready to Launch...
A group of townspeople were standing on the cliff side near the Starship Mario, talking to Lucas. They were waving and wishing Lucas luck on his journey. Fuel was already napping on the deck next to Even T., who was also napping, and Pokey was talking with the Luigi near the helm of the ship.
"So, by combining the hydromagnetic link of any species' deoxyribonucleic acid, you can create a safer energy source" explained Luigi; nodding his head.
Pokey disagreed. "But the success rate of your proposal is risky at best. The subject would have a high chance of genetic mutation and many physical situations like a myocardial infarction or worse, disseminated lupus erythematosus. You can't really use the welfare of life for fuel, no matter how important it is."
Luigi thought about what Pokey said and nodded slowly in agreement. "True, very true. Perhaps if we create biofuel made from the amanita pantherina mushroom."
Pokey laughed at that; Luigi was not amused. Pokey tried to contained his laughter and looked back Luigi. "Unless you want to cause people to have psychedelic hallucinations, I would stick your current energy source."
Luigi opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, as he knew Pokey was right.
Fuel shifted in his sleep and mumbled. "Nerds."
Mario jumped up the orange pipe and landed next to Luigi. He was covered in soot and was coughing. Luigi quickly ran up to Mario to see if he was alright.
"Bro! What happen in the Engine Room? You're covered in soot. Are you okay?"
Mario grabbed a handkerchief from his overall's pocket and wiped his face. He looked at Luigi and Pokey, and smiled at them as a sigh of saying he okay.
"I went over the engine room to find out why the gravity reactor was not working."
Luigi and Pokey looked at each other. They both asked Mario "And?"
Mario wiped his forehead with his hankie and the luma under his hat swiped it to wipe itself off. Soon, it started to scrub the soot off Mario's clothes.
"It seems we used most of the energy to come to this planet. If we have a chance of going to the island, it might take us a day to reach there. This ship can only go about 67 Mph because of the low energy."
The luma finished wiping the soot off Mario and hid back into his hat. He scratched the underside of his nose as he smirked, making Luigi and Pokey laugh.
"Well, that's not nearly as bad as taking a sailboat that would bring us there in three days."
They turned around to Lucas's voice. He was holding his suitcase filled with clothes. On his side, a green toad was helping him by carrying another case. Sadly, the toad fell over, but Lucas was able to help him up.
"Thank you, Mr. Lucas!" The toad said.
Lucas blushed and scratched the back of his neck. "No problem, Bank T. After all, you were kind enough to help me carry my stuff."
The toad nodded, he grabbed Lucas's other suitcase and went into the green pipe. Pokey was curious about the things in the ship, but he knew he could ask Mario later. Luigi went to the steering wheel.
"Is everyone ready to leave?" asked Luigi.
Mario checked to see all his passengers were there. He counted a penguin, a bee, a wooden man, a rabbit, two gear head robots (one gold, another silver), and all six toads... Wait? Six toads?
"Good Afternoon, Master Mario." said the sixth toad.
Mario finally recognized the toad. He was an old toad and had a shiny white mustache. He wore expensive purple business vest., It was the Mushroom Kingdom's ambassador and the Princess' caregiver. Mario groaned.
"Toadsworth! What are you doing here? How did you get here?"" Mario asked.
Toadsworth walked up to him calmly, and banged Mario on the head with his cane repeatedly.
"How dare you, Master Mario? The Princess is in the clutches of that demonic Koopa King, and you are asking me questions? I am the one who asks the questions here, old bean."
Mario fell unconscious due to the repeated hits. Luigi ran up to Mario and lifted his head. Pokey went over to see if Mario would be okay. He removed Mario's hat and the luma under it ran away; it hid in Luigi's hat. Pokey looked over Mario's head to see there was no bleeding or any bruising.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Who you think you are?" yelled Pokey.
The old toad scolded at Pokey's questioning. "Such vulgar and ignorance. I am Herald William Toadsworth, Esquire, and I am a high ranked official of the Mushroom Kingdom for over 67 years. Who might you be, dear boy?" he said with a cocky attitude.
Pokey grinned his teeth at Toadsworth behavior. He spoke out. "I'm Pokey Grünbaum Schlomo Freud Minch. I was once a powerful corrupt authoritarian of a short lived nation known as Empire Porky. That young man with the blond hair is the one who convince me to disband the nation."
Toadsworth brushed his mustache with his digits. He smiled and bowed before Pokey. When he stood straight up again, he was blushing.
"I'm quite sorry Master Minch, I'm just so very worried about the Princess that I-"
Pokey interrupted him when he raised his hand and looked away. "Please... Don't call me "Master". I don't deserve that title. Mister? Fine. Sir? Okay. But, never call me Master, Sire, Highness, Lord, and never bow before me. I don't deserve such kind gestures."
Toadsworth cleared his throat. "I am sorry Sir Pokey, you must tell me what you did that was so terrible sometime."
Pokey was about to say something, but Mario awoken with a horrible groan. He tried to stand up, but fell back towards Luigi. Luigi stared madly at Toadsworth.
"Toadsworth! You really hit him hard this time! Help me bring him to the Captain's Room."
Toadsworth mumbled something about his back, but helped Luigi lift Mario up. He looked at Lubba and asked him to start the ship. Lubba nodded in agreement.
Pokey went over to Lucas and patted him on the head. They followed Pokey to the captain's room. Meanwhile, the toads grabbed and carried the still sleeping Fuel to the green pipe that led to the passengers quarters, and tossed him into the pipe.
"Everyone in the cliff area! Please evacuate the area, we are about to blastoff southward!" Lubba shouted at the townsfolk on the cliff.
They ran away from the area and Lubba hovered at the helm of the ship. He started steering the ship starboard towards the south. He gave one quick glance at the cliff to see if anyone was there.
Once he got the sight of clearance, he gently thrust the throttle forward. The ship shook violantly and flew forward at a breaking speed at first.
It started to slowly go at a gentle speed of 65 mph. The island of Nowhere was gone from sight and Lubba, he felt like an adventurer.
January 29, 2027 14:21 (2:21 P.M.) Starship Mario (1006 Miles 'till Phosphor Island!) Captain's Room...
Lucas opened the doors of the captain's room and was amazed at the decorations and design of it.
The walls were a tannish, with red and green frames. There's a red carpet with shinning white stars and a small porthole on the left side of the room. Two beds were in front of him, one was red, the other was green. The drawer in between the beds had a small lamp. There were many knickknacks around the room and pictures of Mario's friends on the drawer.
Lucas stepped out of the way and let Luigi come in, with Mario on his arms. He placed Mario the red bed and pulled the covers over him. Mario, still weak from his beating with Toadsworth, thanked Luigi for helping him.
Toadsworth walked up to the bed and looked sympathetic. "Oh dear.. I'm sorry Master Mario, I didn't know my own strength. But don't worry, I'll take over your captaincy until you feel well. After all, I was in the Merchant Marines for 5 years before I worked for King Toadstool. Why, I remember like it was yesterday, when I.."
Mario looked at Luigi with his eyes widen and shook his head panicky while Toadsworth was taking about the good old days. He was practically begging Luigi not to let Toadsworth run the ship while he was resting. Luckily, Luigi nodded in agreement.
"... So, the captain gave me such a hardy laugh when I successfully docked the ship while fight those blasted smugglers."
Luigi rolled his eyes at Toadsworth story, but placed a fake smile. "Toadsworth, why don't you and I cook the crew a stuffing meal while telling me the story about when you were a five star chef on TV?"
Toadsworth smiled "That's a capital idea, Master Luigi. Let's go to the ship's kitchen and show these whippersnappers how a meal is cooked!"
He followed Luigi outside the room, at the same time, Pokey entered the room. He said "Bye." quietly to the both of them.
He walked up to Mario and looked down at him. "How are you feeling?" asked Pokey
Mario looked at Pokey and smiled "Fine. But, can I speak with you in private?"
Pokey looked at Lucas and back at Mario. "Okay. Lucas, go up and see if they need any help."
Lucas nodded and ran out the room, leaving Mario and Pokey alone.
"Pokey? Is this planet called Earth?" asked Mario
Pokey looked confused at Mario's question, but answered anyway. "Yes, Mario. This is the planet Earth. Why?"
Mario looked away from Pokey. His face became darker and more emotionless.
He was hurt.
"My family ran away from the Mushroom World to this planet because of the Koopa King and his son, Bowser, threatened me and Luigi. After a few years in Brooklyn, that evil tyrant found out we lived in Earth and send his minions to destroy us."
Mario turn back to Pokey. Tears were leaving his eyes.
"They killed our parents and I had to practically raise Luigi at the age of 11. Poor Luigi, he was only 9 years old when it happened. He cried for hours, for days. He didn't eat, sleep, or even talked for weeks. He was so scared, he slept by my side."
Pokey grabbed a nearby chair and sat on it.
Mario continued his tale. "We lived in the streets most of our lives, but there was a friend of mine who helped us. His name was Spike, he gave me a job as a demolition worker when I was 17. Once I passed high school, I got my carpentry certificate from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, and a job at Brooklyn Constructions. The money I got helped us get a small apartment, food, clothes, and even help me payed for Luigi's college."
Pokey giggled. "It seems you really love your brother. You sacrifice a lot just to help him get into college."
Mario started to chuckle as well. "Ya. There's nothing I won't do for him."
The laughter stopped and Mario continued. "One night, I was taking my girlfriend to Coney Island on a date. Before we left my apartment, we heard about an escaped ape was on the loose on the radio. We walked outside and, out of nowhere, the ape snatched her and ran away into a construction site."
Pokey interrupted him. "Who was that ape and why would he kidnap her?"
"His name was Donkey Kong. I didn't know till later, but he was from a rare species of intelligent apes from a small island in the Mushroom World. As it turns out, the Koopa King threatened his family if he didn't get rid of me. The kidnap he pulled, was just bait to lure me into a dangerous zone."
Pokey was satisfied with the answer and nodded.
"Anyways, I was able to save my girlfriend, but she dumped me on the spot. Not to mention, the New York Construction Commission took my certificate because of the destruction of the site. Because of that, I couldn't afford to pay Luigi's college. Luckily, Luigi and I was able to join the Plumbers Academy. We became plumbers and got our job the very next day. The Mayor of New York City gave us a job to investigate the sewers' clogging and leaking."
"It seemed like it was the work of the Koopa King again, little did I know, the Koopa King was dead and his son Bowser took over. Those creatures in the sewers were not connected to him, they were just animals that mutated from the sewage. When we went deeper into the sewers, we found a strange large multi-colored pipe. We turned back to leave, but the pipe sucked us into it."
"When we woke up, we were in the middle of a forest and the pipe was nowhere to be seen. We looked around the area and found a way out. The first thing we noticed was the back of a large castle. When we reached the castle, we met Toadsworth and he already knew who we were. He told us that we are the only people who could save the princess."
Pokey interrupted again. "Who is this princess?"
Mario smiled. "Her name is Princess Peach Toadstool. She is a beautiful women with a loving and kind spirit. I have rescued her many times, and because of that, we have fallen in love with each other."
Pokey smiled. He never felt true love, only deep hate and greed. Perhaps he'll find someone one day.
"Pokey? Tell me what happen to this planet." said Mario.
Pokey's smile turned into a sign of grief. He didn't want to talk about it, but Mario had a right to know.
"In 2002, a mysterious virus spread across the globe. At first, it seem like a normal virus. But after a few months, the virus became more quiet and more deadly. It was revealed later, the virus was man-made."
"They tried to find the people who made it, but those people had another plan. They turned country's against each other. By making it look like a spy from another country killed other world leaders, they made the United Nations shut down on July 1, 2003. It as the beginning of World War III."
Pokey looked down at the floor. "Then on October 23, 2005, the United States, Russia, and China unleashed their nuclear attack on the world. The force and radiation was the equivalent to the sun crashing our planet. 97% of life on Earth was killed, the other 3% are either mutants or survivors. Nowhere Islands and few other islands are the only oasis left in the world. The rest, the rest is a radioactive wasteland..."
January 30, 2027 0:54 (12:54 A.M.) Prison Cells, Svinalvania, Wastelands...
The cold metal door buzzed, two guards and Issac entered the cold dungeon. The prisoners panicked, fearing it was Master Ness's dinner time. They screamed for mercy, others were committing suicide with whatever they had lying around.
The guards that entered were restraining Claus from escaping, but found it hard with him struggling.
"Let me go, you goddamn asses! I swear if I ever escape, I'll kill all of you in the most painful ways possible!" screamed Claus.
Issac had enough of his constant yelling. He turned around and faced Claus. He grabbed his pistol from it holster and pistol-whipped Claus twice.
"Shut up!" he yelled. "You already broke the only thing that could help Master Ness control the minds of everyone!"
He grabbed Claus and plowed him in to the wall. He stared at him insanely, as if he was going to murder him.
"That helmet! It was the only thing he wanted. Now that it's gone, the brainwash chamber project is ruined!" he shouted.
He punched Claus in his gut three times. On the third hit, Claus coughed out blood.
But that didn't stop Issac. He asked the two guard to pin Claus to the wall and they did. He grabbed a nearby metal bat and struck Claus on his left mechanical knee. He struck it again and again, until Claus's collapsed on the ground.
While his leg may be mechanical, it still can register pain and it was hurting a lot. He grasped his leg in pain, but was picked up and tossed into a cell.
Issac locked it and taunted Claus. "You are no longer useful to Master Ness. I hope you like this cage, because the next time you leave it, the Master is going to have a buffet with you as the main course."
Issac left laughing. Claus knew what Issac said was true. Ness was a cannibal, but the worst kind of cannibal. He would eat the flesh raw, fresh from the person he was eating it from. What worse, the person he's eating would be awake when he does it.
He looked out the cell and saw a man hung himself to prevent himself from being a meal. Claus did something he hadn't done for a long time, he cried in fear.
"Claus? Claus, is that you?"
Claus looked around the dark cell to find the source of the voice. In the darkness of the cell, a young girl came out. She was about 16 years old, had dirty red hair, and green eyes.
Claus finally recognized her. She was a general in Ness's Supreme Army. She was considered the youngest general in the army and the only one Ness truly respected... Until he found out her secret involvement with the United Settlements.
She helped slaves and other people in Svinalvania escape by using a secret Underground Railroad route. Once Ness found out her secret, he executed her parents and threw her in the dungeon.
"Christie? You're alive?" asked Claus. He heard rumors of Ness doing gruesome things to her, but it look like it was just rumors. She ran up to Claus and hugged him. She knew about Claus's enslavement by mind control, she was happy that he had overcome it.
But the hug was short-lived, the beating Claus took caused him to moan in pain. She removed Claus's shirt and examined the wounded site..
She rubbed the bruise. "Looks like Issac really did some damage." She pressed the bruise, and Claus groaned in pain. "Minor internal bleeding in the stomach region, you're lucky to only have that. It seems your metal ribcage was able to take most of the shock from the bat. You'll be find in a few minutes."
Claus let out a chuckle, he was always considered lucky. "Luckily." he said sarcastically. "I was hit in the knees with a metal bat. He just punched me in the gut three time."
He looked out the cell and sighed. "I guess we have two options. We kill ourselves or we wait for dinner."
Christie giggled at his options. He became confused and stared at her. "What?" asked Claus.
She smirked. "You forgot the third option. Escape."
She ran to the corner of the cell and moved a small boulder to reveal a secret tunnel on the wall. Claus was amused.
"This leads to an abandon metro tunnel that leads to the ruins of Fourside. There, we can use an invention that my grandfather create. A DeLorean that can travel through time. Sadly, it can only be used as a teleporting device because of the flux capacitor that make it travel in time is destroyed."
He got up and limped to her. He smirked. "Well, lets go. I don't want to be that man's roast."
He went on his knees and crawl right in. Christie entered, crawling in backwards, and covered the hole with the rock.
They disappeared without the guards knowing it...
Great Scott! And so ends this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it as I'll be busy the next couple of days on E3! See you in 2-3 weeks.
