A/N: Finally, here's another update! All of my finals are done, so I hope that I am able to actually publish these faster as we go on. Of course, the end of the school year means a return to work, so that may cause some delay. Sorry :(. But anyways, here it is! I never intended for the chapters to get this long, but I guess it's just something that happens when you get into the meat of a story or something.
Thank you DameFlemmard and silu785 for favoriting and SagaOfJenny for following!
REVIEWS:
hackeline83: Yes. Busted indeed haha. Thanks for reading!
Derick Lindsey: Your theory was mostly correct, but you'll have to read on to see what he really thinks of her. I agree with you about Daisy, but like I said, there is a reason for her staying behind, as you will see in the coming chapters. Thanks for reviewing!
SmashBrosFan96 Jr (and Guest because the reviews are practically identical): I have to say I agree with you. It's for plot convenience, as I like to call it, and I know it's not the most realistic thing but I'm just trying to fill out the outline I have haha. Thanks for reviewing!
With that, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 7 – The Ghost
Bowser decided that this was the most irritated he had ever been.
It seemed like hours passed after he woke up chained to the stone wall. The chains themselves were nothing to him, as he was easily able to break them and free himself.
But he would have been much happier if he could actually find the door out of this place.
He scanned the walls over and over, trying to find which section would magically pop out back into the castle. The room's dim light did little to help the search, and he knew that trying to light something on fire would quickly use up the oxygen he had available.
"Well, this frickin' sucks," he mumbled. "At least that shadow chick didn't come after me first." He resumed pacing around the room's perimeter, pushing each and every stone block he could find. There had to be a secret door out. There had to.
After another half hour of mindless searching, he returned to the middle of the room and sat down. Sighing, he rested his head in his palm, pondering.
"How the hell are these rooms supposed to work, anyways? How did I get in here if there's no way out?" He continued asking himself questions, but, again, he found himself with no answers.
"Green 'Stache better have a plan to get us out of this," he growled. "I sure as hell didn't sign up for torture with a side of suffocation." Angrily, he picked up the small stool next to a table and threw it at the wall in front of him. The wooden furniture crashed into pieces, sending splinters across the room.
Given energy from this brief moment of satisfaction, the koopa king resumed studying his surroundings. Peering over at the table itself, he noticed a small knife. He reached over and picked it up, examining it in his hand.
"Heh. This puny thing wouldn't do a thing against me. That is an interesting shape, though…" he said to himself. The end of the blade had several knobs sticking out of it. "Kinda looks like a key… Wait, a key!" He rose to his feet and began scanning the walls again, looking for anything that could be interpreted as a keyhole. After a few minutes, he did indeed find what he was looking for. Upon turning the knife in the hole, the wall itself opened up into the darkened castle hallways.
"Ha ha ha! Easy peasy! Now, I just gotta find that shadow girl and beat the shit out of her!"
He took off running down the hall.
"So, princess, are you entertaining this peasant with your life story?" the duplighost asked, grinning cruelly through its sheet.
"Hey, don't talk to her like tha- woah!" Luigi started, but was pulled back by Vivian.
"This one is none of your concern, Doopliss. You were given no orders to check upon these prisoners," Vivian said, trying to reassume her disguise.
Doopliss laughed. "Do you really think I believe any of your shit anymore? Ever since she put you here, you've been trying to squirm your way out of it, weren't you? Well, I, for one, am sick of it!"
"I said, you have no business with the prisoners. Return to your post… Or wherever you go when I don't have to put up with you."
"I said drop it!" the duplighost yelled back. "You have all of those soulless idiots out there who actually believe your lies! But I know the truth! Heck, your sister was right about you. You're nothing but a lying, deceiving sack of- "
He was cut off as his party hat went up in flames.
"Oh, shit! FIRE!" He ran away from the door, yelling for help.
Luigi, in utter shock at what had transpired, turned to Vivian. "Uh… Did you…?"
Vivian snapped out of the trance-like state her anger had put her in. "Oh! Um, yes, I did. Now come on, before he returns with more help."
Luigi followed her out of the room, still startled and mildly confused at what had transpired.
Humming to himself, Yoshi was bored out of his mind.
The position he had been hung in was definitely not the most comfortable one, and he could feel the chains beginning to chafe and cut into his wrists and ankles.
It wasn't long, though, before something caught his interest.
He could hear two people outside the room, talking in some sort of undecipherable language, presumably the elder ones' native tongue.
A third voice suddenly joined in, but this one he could understand. "Surprise, freaks!"
There were two loud crashing sounds, followed by some groaning. The sound of a door handle rattling, then a bright light.
"Yoshi?" he said, scared at what might be coming for him.
"Hey, kid," came the definitive voice of Bowser. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here."
Bowser himself then came in and broke the chains attaching Yoshi to the wall.
"Yo Yo Yoshi!" Yoshi chirped, happy to be free.
"Uh, you're welcome?" Bowser replied. "I'll make this quick. I've got Toad, Wario, and Koops going around to see if they can break the rest of us out. I made a bet with that greedy prick that I could get you before he could get his sorta-brother, so hurry up and let's get out of here!"
Sighing, Yoshi followed the koopa out of the room. The two looked around, but found no opposition. Bowser waved him to follow, and they began their trek to find the others.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit!" Wario and Waluigi yelled as they ran down the hall.
Upon releasing the purple-clad plumber, Wario had accidentally tipped off a horde of Phantom Embers, which was now chasing them through the castle. The two thieves had attempted to throw bob-ombs at their pursuers, but to no avail.
"Quick, in here!" Waluigi shouted. The two ducked into a side room and hid behind some furniture. Hearts racing, they could feel the air around them heat up as the Embers entered the room.
The Embers, not ones for patient searching, quickly left the room behind, assuming that the duo had found another hiding spot.
"That was way too close, man," Waluigi whispered.
"Oh, shut up! At least I got your ass free!" Wario snapped back. Quietly, the two exited the room. Wario began heading back towards where Bowser had assigned them a meeting point, with Waluigi following him.
"What happened to the rest of the guys?" Waluigi asked.
Wario shrugged. "Dunno. The giant turtle got a few of us out then passed the job on to the rest of us. Pretty selfish if you ask me."
"You're one to talk," Waluigi grumbled.
Wario elbowed him. From there on, the two walked in silence.
"Quick, princess, you need to bust out of those!" Toad yelled, passing Rosalina her wand.
"Must I remind you, again, that I am not a princess?" she replied, complying to his request.
"Yeah yeah, whatever," Toad said. Pulling out the small communication device, he tried to contact the bunker. "Daisy? Daisy, you there?"
"I hear you, Toad," she replied. "What's going on in there? I've been trying to contact you for hours!"
"Shit hit the fan," Toad grumbled. "I've got Rosalina with me, and Bowser, Wario, and Koops are looking for the rest of us."
He could hear Daisy gasp. "Y-You mean Luigi's held captive somewhere!?"
"Relax, princess, we'll find him," Toad replied. "Toad out." Putting the device away, he turned back to Rosalina. "Come on, we gotta get back to the rest of the team!"
"You needn't be in such a fuss about it."
Toad put his face in his hand. "No need to fuss about it? For Grambi's sake, they're trying to kill us! Why wouldn't I be in a fuss about it!"
"Because," Rosalina replied, grinning, "I can do this."
Waving her wand, the two appeared to have vanished.
Toad looked down at his arms, finding that he couldn't see them. "Woah! You made us invisible?"
Rosalina nodded. "That is correct."
"This is awesome! But why couldn't you do it before with all of us?"
"Magic has… Limitations, young one. Someday, I shall tell you."
Toad rolled his eyes, thankful that the space woman couldn't see it. "Okay, then. Let's go!"
Koops sprinted down the halls, panicking more and more as time went on.
"Dang it! Where the heck did she put Luigi?" he asked himself, wishing he could figure out the answer.
As if on cue, he reached a corner where he could hear someone talking around it.
"…But I know the truth! Heck, your sister was right about you. You're nothing but a lying, deceiving, sack of – oh, shit! FIRE!"
He could hear footsteps rushing towards him. Hanging close to the wall, he prepared to ambush whoever was running towards him. As the figure rounded the corner, Koops leaped and landed on it.
"Ow! What the heck, man! Get off of me!"
Looking down at what Koops landed on, he found a distraught and mildly charred duplighost. "Doopliss?"
Doopliss looked up at his attacker's face. "Oh. You again. Heh, long time no see?"
Disgusted, Koops punched the ghost's face. "Don't act all friendly with me! After everything you've done to my friends and I, do you really expect me to just forgive you?"
"Uh, no, actually," the duplighost replied. "Now, if you would kindly get off of me, I'll let you continue on your way unharmed. Deal?"
"Heck no!" Koops spat. "There's no way I'm letting you just leave! Tell me, who were you talking to back there?"
Doopliss' face went from a mildly annoyed expression to an evil grin. "Oh, you want to know who did this?" he said, motioning upwards with his head to draw attention to the burn marks on the top of his sheet. "It was your old pal, Vivian! Yeah, the one who betrayed you and joined the winning team!"
Koops' face turned stony. "No. You're lying."
Doopliss chuckled. "And you wanna know who's hanging around with her now? That green plumber guy! You know him, right?"
As if on cue, Vivian and Luigi themselves dashed around the corner and nearly ran into them.
Looking up, Koops stared daggers at Vivian. "You!" Leaping up from Doopliss, he tackled the Shadow Siren, seemingly trying to choke her out. "You damn traitor! You're not turning Luigi!"
"Koops, calm down!" Luigi shouted, pulling him off of Vivian.
"Calm down!?" Koops squirmed in Luigi's grip, trying to break free. "Let go of me! She's a traitor, Luigi! Don't trust her!"
"Koops, please relax," Vivian interjected. He stopped writhing and Luigi set him down.
"…Relax? You expect me to relax when I learn that one of my best friends abandoned everything we did on that journey? You expect me to relax when someone I looked up to betrays me?"
"She's not a traitor, buddy," Luigi said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Just someone in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Vivian filled Koops in on what happened after the loss to the Shadow Queen. Throughout the story, the koopa's expression turned darker and darker.
"Your… Your own sister… treated you like that?" he asked.
Vivian nodded slowly. "Not unlike how you were probably treated before you escaped."
"You… Know how I got out?"
"The Queen made sure of it."
Koops' face hardened. "That's it. I'm going to personally make sure that all of our friends get free. No matter what."
"Um, I know you two are having a moment, but where did the sheet guy go?" Luigi interrupted. Looking around, the trio couldn't see Doopliss anywhere.
"Damn it! I shouldn't have let him go!" Koops yelled.
"Don't feel bad about it," Luigi said, "but we need to find him!"
The three began running down the hall, back to where Koops had come from. Before long, they reached a large, open room with four other exits.
"This isn't ominous at all," Luigi muttered.
The three heard footsteps coming from each of the other doors. Bracing themselves for combat, they formed a triangle-like formation in the center of the room.
From one door came Bowser and Yoshi. From the next, Wario and Waluigi. From the last, Toad and Rosalina.
Luigi's jaw nearly dropped. "G-Guys!?"
"Luigi, get down!" Toad shouted. "That's the shadow chick that trapped us!" Yelling out a battle cry, he began running towards Vivian, fists ready.
"Wait!" Koops shouted, blocking him from reaching the Shadow Siren. "She's not really with them! It was a ruse the whole time!"
"Wah?" Wario growled. "You can't be serious! She was gonna torture us, then kill us until we were dead!"
"No, he's right," Luigi said. "She was just putting on a front. We're trying to break her out of here!"
"Heck no!" Waluigi yelled. "I don't trust that thing! You remember the last one!"
"Excuse me?" Vivian interjected, obviously not happy with being called a "thing."
"We don't have time to talk about this right now!" Luigi yelled.
"Urgh," Bowser growled, scratching his head. "I can't keep up with plot points this complicated!"
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard coming from the last unoccupied doorway.
From it emerged a dizzy and confused Bowser.
The rest of the team looked back at the Bowser that had previously spoken, then at the newcomer again.
"What… What happened? All I remember was getting that Yoshi out and then… Nothing…" the new Bowser said groggily.
"Hey! Who the hell are you? I'm the only Bowser around here!" the Bowser with Yoshi shouted, marching towards the newcomer.
The new Bowser shook his head, trying to break out of his dizziness. "What… Hey, I didn't know there was somebody else who looked as good as me!"
"As good as you? I'm the original!"
"Are you kidding? Everyone here knows that I'm the real Bowser!"
"Oh no," Vivian whispered.
Luigi turned to her, raising an eyebrow.
"That's one of Doopliss' skills. He can take on the appearance of another person, and even gain all of their abilities," she replied. "Right now, there's no telling which one is the real Bowser."
Luigi, tired of listening to the two Bowsers arguing, decided to interfere. "Alright, back off of each other!" he yelled. Regaining his composure, he began to speak again. "Okay, I'm going to do this the only way I know how – from the movies. I'm gonna ask you each some questions, and the one that gets the answers correct gets to not fight us. Deal?"
The two koopas nodded, still glaring at each other.
"Where is your castle based at?" Luigi asked.
"The Darklands!" both koopas responded simultaneously.
"Who do you kidnap all the time?"
"Princess Peach!"
"Who's your greatest enemy?"
"Mario!"
"This is getting nowhere, greenie," Wario grumbled. "Let's just knock out both of 'em and see what that gets us."
Luigi held up a finger. "Hold on. I have one more question to ask." He turned back to the Bowsers. "What was your master plan behind your first attack on the Mushroom Kingdom?"
"Ha! That's easy! I wanted to marry the princess, simple as that!" the Bowser on the left said.
"You've got it completely wrong, dude," the one on the right said. "I made all the annoying Toads into bricks, then kidnapped Peach since she was the only one who could break the curse!"
Toad grinned. "Looks like we have a winner, Luigi."
Luigi nodded. "Get that one!" he yelled, pointing to the fake Bowser.
"Aw, shit," the fake Bowser mumbled. "At least I get these sweet powers to crush you all with!" Tucking into his shell, he began rolling and bouncing around the room, trying to run over the heroes.
"I'm not letting this faker beat me at my own game!" Bowser yelled. He began chasing the runaway shell around the room, trying to grab it to slow it down.
It turned out to be Rosalina who was able to stop the rampaging duplighost. "Halt!" she yelled, shooting a blast of silvery magic at the fake Bowser. With a bright flash, he was laying on the floor, dizzy and confused.
"Get him!" Wario shouted, ramming into the fake Bowser's face. Luigi and Yoshi followed up with a dual ground pound.
"Hold on," the real Bowser said, waving for the rest of the heroes to stay back. "This freak's gonna impersonate me, I'm gonna be the one to take him out."
"I'd like to see you try," the fake Bowser replied, wisps of fire leaking out of his mouth.
Simultaneously, the two koopa kings shot a stream of fire at each other. The two fire beams met in the middle of the room, causing the others to have to shield their eyes from the light.
The real Bowser redoubled his efforts, pushing the collision point further towards the impostor. He could see the faker's eyes light up in panic before the explosion hit him. As the fake Bowser fell backwards, his appearance returned to his regular duplighost form.
Bowser walked up to the beaten Doopliss. "Had enough yet, you son of a bitch?"
Doopliss laughed weakly. "Fine. You got me. I yield."
"What're you laughing for then, freak?"
Doopliss' evil grin returned. "I'm sure all of you are still wondering what happened to him. You all know who I'm talking about. The red plumber." He pointed towards Vivian. "She knows. She knows where he is. I guess she'd just rather not tell you."
With that, the duplighost fell unconscious.
The figure watched the battle from the skylight.
He knew that Doopliss would fail. He was far too egotistical and often went in over his head. No matter. Sarasaland had fallen to the heroes.
Great. That left him a lot of explaining to do.
He turned to leave, but stopped. What the duplighost said at the end… Disturbed him. He knew that the heroes should never find out what happened to the older Mario brother, but that selfish maniac had planted the seed.
It would only be so long before the Queen's secret was out.
Whatever. He left the castle behind, heading back towards Rogueport, hoping that he could escape too harsh of an interrogation.
