BLUE CHAPTERS: DEEP DESIRE
Chapter Blue 1: Azure Cove
Someone knocked on the door. Maggie woke up wondering who it could be today. Everyone else was still sleeping. She left the couch and went to the door. She opened it and saw it was the mailman again holding another letter.
"Good morning, madam! I have a letter for a certain Maggie who resides in this room." The mailman said as he waved the letter.
"That's me. I'll take it." The swan replied.
The mailman gave the letter to Maggie and left into the corridor. The origami closed the door and went back in the living room. Before opening the letter, she looked at the clock. The mailman came earlier than the other day probably to make sure he would not miss her. She looked back at the letter and opened it. The following was written on it:
"Dear Maggie,
I am impressed you have made much progress in the few days you have been in the Rainbow Continent. With that, I am willing to tell you my name that you will find near the end of this letter. Remember. Once you have three Origami Stars in your possession, meet me with your friends in room 810 as soon as you can. I am very anxious to meet you.
Rio
PS: The Yellow Guardian asked me to tell you that her name is Topaz."
How did this Rio know that she forgot to ask the pyramid's name? Nonetheless, she at least knew who she was dealing with. The others wake up and gathered together at the restaurant on ground level to have breakfast. The hotel was serving all sort of food like waffles, pancakes and French toasts.
"Maggie, I think I sensed a pattern." Birdo brought up.
"What kind of pattern?" Maggie asked.
"We go to a dangerous place, fight a guardian, the guardian reverts to normal then mistakes you as Princess Ori. Are you sure you're not hiding anything from us?"
"Wait! That's not the first one we get? And, on top of that, another guardian thought she was Princess Ori?" Daisy asked.
"It's purely coincidental. It must be because I look like that Princess Ori." Maggie said.
"That's the second time. Wait till more of them think you are her." Birdo predicted.
"It happens to people to mistake someone as someone else. Look at koopa troopas. Many of them are identical and I'm sure any of you would mistake one to be another one."
"Yeah, you're right. Sorry about that, Maggie. I just wanted to make sure you were honest with us."
The breakfast went as normal afterwards. The group left the hotel and went to their van. Misses Roseworth chose to stay at the hotel. She trusted that Mario and friends would take good care of Daisy. The group headed out to the Blue Region. At the border, a cheep cheep stood guard and halted the van.
"Good morning, people! You are heading to Azure Cove, am I correct?" The guard asked.
"Yes. Is there something wrong?" Maggie asked.
"Access to the city is currently limited. You can still go in but there are places you will be forbidden to go since they are closed."
"What's happening?"
"Many places in town are crawling with some sort of grey substance. Even when we recirculate water to purify it, the substance comes back. I suggest you listen to the authorities there. They'll be able to tell you more of the problem."
"Thanks for the heads up. See ya."
The van continued into the Blue Region. It first rolled on a highway at higher speed. The highway was nearly deserted today. Very few vehicles headed in and out the region. Though the van could drive faster, Luigi obeyed the law and drove as fast as the signs allowed. An hour passed and the group noticed a bizarre landmark.
"What's that?" Daisy asked.
"That must be Azure Cove." Maggie brought up.
"This!? This looks like a waterpark, not a city!" Birdo pointed out.
The landmark had many slides and pools surrounded by buildings. As the group approached it, they could finally tell it was indeed Azure Cove. Cheep cheeps lived here so they had to built a city fit for their needs. Because it was forbidden to drive in the city, the group parked the van at the entrance. They then entered Azure Cove.
"Where might the Blue Origami Star be?" Birdo asked.
"There's a guide tour for an ancient civilization deep in the sea a few kilometers near the Blue Region. I bet it'll be there." Maggie said.
"How can you tell?" Daisy asked.
"That's the only notable landmark in the Blue Region. Considering how small it is, there's not much space for a guardian to keep an eye on the star on land." The swan replied.
"And how do you know that?" Birdo said, almost accusing her of something.
"There were pamphlets back at the hotel about a tour guide for a sunken city in the Blue Region." The origami answered.
Birdo looked away, a little embarrassed to jump into conclusions. The group met with a figure of authority in the city.
"Hello. If you're looking for something entertaining, you can go to the east part of town where all the aquarium are still open to public. Avoid the north and south part of the city as a strange substance invaded those and turn anyone who gets in contact with it hostile toward others." The cheep cheep said.
"Thank you but do you know if the tour guide to the sunken city is still open?" Maggie asked.
"It must be. Last time I checked was yesterday but they said they made some changes to their tour guide."
"What kind of change?"
"Some of the employees reported to have seen what seems to be a gigantic blue creature. They tried to take photos of if but it always swim too close of the submarine to allow a full picture. On top of that, the creature seems to be able to fire projectiles at anyone so the tour guide requires sturdier submarines with some firepower which makes the tour more expensive."
"Thanks for the info. We'll be going."
"Before that, maybe you'll like to see the other creature at the giant aquarium in Eastern Azure Cove."
"I guess it won't hurt to."
Maggie did not want to see the other creature. Her only point of interest in the Blue Region was the sunken city and that creature swimming near it but chose to go to the aquarium with the others to make Birdo remain quiet regarding any suspicions and correlations between her and Princess Ori. The group arrived at a stadium where many people waited in line. Many booths opened up to pass people faster. Everyone in the group managed to reach a booth in no time and each bought a ticket to see the spectacle. They took seat on the nearest places to the aquarium.
"GOOD MORNING AZURE COVE! TOURISTS AND RESIDENTS, TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY YOU WILL WITNESS THE BEAUTY OF THE OCEAN! WE PROUDLY PRESENT YOU THE GREAT BLUE ESCAPADE!" A voice announced through a speaker.
Many cheep cheeps emerged out the water and began swimming in patterns. The crowd was amazed but became more and more as the cheep cheeps began to perform acrobatics in both the air and the water. Bloopers emerged from the water too and spat ink like fountains to add to the wow factor. An orchestral was playing as the spectacle went. It played the Flower Waltz, a symphony everyone in Azure knew and loved. Then, the bloopers formed two lines to build an unusually large corridor. The cheep cheeps swam through the corridors and returned inside the water. A few spotlights went on and lighted around in the water.
"HERE COMES THE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE, DORRIE!" The speaker announced.
A giant blue dinosaur slowly emerged from the water on one side of the corridor. Its belly and front of the neck was white. It was wearing a pair of goggles on its eyes and a top hat on its head. It slowly swam through the corridor while the bloopers spat their ink in the air to form arcs. Once the monster reached the other side of the corridor, the bloopers dispersed and circled around the dinosaur as it swam around in the aquarium. The dinosaur then splashed the first lane of people sat in the stadium. The spectacle lasted for a while and everyone applauded the performance. While all the other people left, the group stayed behind. They were about to leave too but Dorrie went to see them. It growled cheerfully.
"Look, it's like it's trying to speak to us." Daisy pointed out.
"What is it?" Maggie asked to the dinosaur.
The dinosaur seemed worried and sad. It lowered its head and closed its eyes.
"You don't feel at home here?" Maggie asked.
The dinosaur declined. Being here did not seem to be the problem but what was the problem?
"Something invaded your home?" Birdo asked.
The dinosaur nodded.
"Where do you live?" Maggie asked.
It seemed to be hard for the dinosaur to communicate the answer to the group. It first looked around the stadium then in the water. The group first thought its home was the stadium but it could not be since there was no sign of invasion. Then, Birdo got an idea.
"It's that city deep under the sea, isn't it?" She brought up.
The dinosaur nodded once again. Maybe the gigantic blue creature the figure of authority mentioned earlier was what forced it to leave.
"We'll help you." Daisy proposed.
The dinosaur could not be any happier. It approached its head to the group and caressed everyone. The dinosaur then left the group and went to the other side of the stadium. The group walked around the gigantic aquarium to reach it. The dinosaur wanted to show the group a door at the bottom of the aquarium. It did not have a lock on it, probably to let Dorris swim to the ocean when she was not needed for a spectacle. She opened the door and swam to the docks. The group left the stadium and followed her from the streets. They arrived at the docks a few minutes later. They saw the signs leading to the tour guide. This could be the group's best opportunity to get to the sunken city. So, they headed to the place but no one was in line waiting to get a tour despite all the installation. There was a lonesome cheep cheep standing in front of the entrance.
"Excuse me? Are we too early for the tour?" Maggie asked to the cheep cheep.
"No, the tour guide is currently closed. We got some strange creatures that decided to inhabit the garage where we maintain our submarines and we can't get them out." The owner answered.
"We can help you with your problem." Birdo brought up.
"I suppose you would like something in exchange." The owner asked back.
"Yeah, we'd like a submarine to get to the sunken city." Daisy said.
"That works with me. Go in but be careful. Those creatures are nasty." The owner concluded.
The group entered the garage and saw a dozen of small blue octopus origamis squirming around in there. When the group closed the door behind, all the octopuses looked at them and surrounded them. A battle began. Mario wanted to use a Quake Hammer card but he did not have one in his hands. A Multibounce card could have also helped but he did not have one either.
"If there are cards that do not interest you right now, you can always discard them. The discarded cards will go to the bottom on your deck. However, you'll have to wait the next turn to get new cards." Maggie explained.
Mario chose to skip his turn. Birdo looked into her cards and pulled out a Cannonball card, a gift from Wart. She aimed her funnel mouth at the octopuses and fired a cannonball. Five of them got carried away by the massively heavy projectile. Daisy then equipped an umbrella and attacked an octopus that got beaten. It was now the turn of the foe. The remaining octopuses fired ink at the group but Daisy placed herself in front of her friends and opened her umbrella. The ink flew away in many directions but none reached the group.
"That's interesting. Some Equip Cards can be used defensively. I'll remember that for next time." Maggie remarked.
It was the next turn. Mario finally had what he wanted to use. He took the Multibounce card in his deck and stomped on every remaining octopus. They were all beaten. As usual, Maggie collected the Star Points left behind by the foes. The group opened the door and let the owner enter.
"Geat job! Since you've been able to get rid of those creatures, I'll lend you a special submarine just for you!" The owner congratulated.
They all went in another garage that was pitch-black. The owner flipped a switch and all the lights went on. The group found itself in front of a remarkably sturdy-looking submarine. If fact, it looked much sturdier than any other submarine.
"That's not an ordinary one." Birdo pointed out.
"Absolutely not! This one used to be a prototype commissioned by Bowser when he used to live in the Purple Region. It's equipped with many weapons that can demolish even the strongest material in the world." The owner boasted.
"We just wanted a submarine, no need to give us a war machine." Maggie objected.
"You never know when you're gonna need all that firepower. Plus, I'd like to keep the others for tourists. I've heard of you and how you investigate on that grey stuff."
The owner then left the garage. When he opened the door, many tourists were waiting outside for a tour. The group entered the submarine. Luigi sat at the driver's seat.
"Is there anything you can't drive?" Maggie asked.
"Don't bother. I've never seen anything he can't." Daisy said.
The group all sat down in the submarine and started the engine. The door in front of them opened. Luigi pushed a lever forward and the submarine moved forward to exit the garage.