**Yeah, I know it seems like all Luigi's been doing is training, but I didn't want it to be rushed; he's about to be trusted with Chai's troops (some of them) and that doesn't come easy. And naturally, the General has a very thorough process of ensuring he's a capable leader. But rest assured, that arc is about to be over anyway, so thanks for bearing with me :) **

Enjoy!


Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Mario or its franchise; it belongs to

Nintendo and their affiliates. I just am really grateful to its creators for giving

me such a wonderful game and media series to write about!

I also don't own anything related to Harry Potter, all that belongs to J.K. Rowling,

but thanks go to her as well because, using her wonderful work, I can expand this

story to make it more interesting.

I also don't own anything related to Naruto.


Chapter Nine


"This is the last part of your training-"

"Thank God."

By the slightly wounded look on his face, I'd say I must have hurt the General's feelings. Wow. That's a little unexpected, and plenty unfair, seeing as how my feelings weren't taken into account when I was put through utter hell-

no one put you through it but you, that voice in my head reminded me.

Which was true, but still. It was funny how, after literally jumping through hoops, I'm the bad guy here. What, was I supposed to sound heartbroken when Zair told me that brilliant piece of news just now? I couldn't contain that reaction if I tried. I was so ready for this 'training' to be over already, so now that he'd said this was the last thing, I started to perk up. Physically, I was still kind of sore from the previous week's session, yeah, that time with the cigarette-

still can't believe that...what was that some kind of joke to him?

I frowned but rubbed my side. It was healed, but I was still wary of being out here with Zair. He'd met me for training this morning at the palace doors, seemingly surprised I was still doing this.

that would make two of us...

From the palace he led me out to these woods that were, by my aching feet's estimate, a thousand miles from the palace. We were just standing here for a minute, then the General turned to me and told me that great news. Now he was seeming to be in thought. I shivered a bit because my shirt was my own, not the training garb I'd been wearing. I ruined those clothes a few days ago and now was wearing my old shirt and some sweats and my trainers. While the General held his staring match with the trees in the distance, I ran my hand through my hair and wished I'd slept in today. Just today.

But he did say this was the last thing I'd have to do, I reminded myself.

"All you must do," General Zair suddenly spoke with a tad less enthusiasm, "Is get through these woods."

Sounds easy, so it must really be hard, I automatically thought, then asked him what the catch was. He smiled faintly before answering me, his eyes still on the trees.

"There is no 'catch'." He told me.

Lies

"Just stay alive," He advised, then added, "I'll see you on the other side."

"Wait, you're going through these woods, too?" I frowned.

If that's the case, I could just follow him, my mind supplied.

General Zair quirked a brow and spoke bemusedly, "Of course not. I'll be going around them."

Of course, I thought, because even I knew how ridiculously easy that would have been. But then again, maybe not. Who knew if traveling with Zair was more dangerous than whatever travailing course he had set before me? Yeah, I was glad to see him go.

"Well," I murmured to myself, "better get this over with."

And that's when I set one foot in front of the other and made my way into the woods.

It was a clear day today, with blue skies and bright sunlight. There was even a cool breeze; not too chilly, just enough wind to keep the sweat off as I hiked through the dense forest. There were giant trees with trunks like towers and leaf-ridden branches that poked at the clouds and made me feel small. The ground underneath my feet was packed and dry, as if trodden over many times. And it wouldn't be a forest without the myriad of chirping, crawling, flying wildlife. It seemed like a normal forest.

...that can't be good, I thought suspiciously.

Sure enough, as I was approaching a particularly dense area of greenery, I saw something small and white stuck under a medium-sized piece of wood. I glanced over my shoulder for reasons beyond me before bending down to pull the paper from under the rock. I couldn't do that without ripping the paper a little at the corner.

It was a note.

Folded in half it was, with black cursive inked on the inside. I held the paper up in the light and read over it twice.

Sometimes a leader must forge a path of their own for others to follow

If my mind could take a corporal form right then, it'd be something in the shape of a question mark. Neither its meaning or purpose I knew of the note, and no answer was forthcoming from my own head so I just pocketed the paper and kept walking. The ground under my feet was still worn-down to the left of where the note was, so I started walking to the left. I figured it had to be worn down because lots of people walked this way and guessed it'd lead me out of the woods quicker.

I walked slightly to the left and kept going forward again. Over felled trees and random rocks I stepped, avoiding thick brambles and low-hanging branches. Once or twice a squirrel-looking creature ran across my feet, startling me a little. But other than that, there were no obstacles here. In fact, these woods could almost be called calm, serene, placid.

doesn't mean I'm letting my guard down, I frowned lightly.

Several minutes passed and I kept walking. Nothing but trees and foliage were around, so it wasn't hard to imagine how this became boring and tedious. I just kept stepping over logs, ducking branches, and dodging animals. All I kept seeing were the same old trees, bushes, and rocks.

Just tall trees.

Healthy shrubbery.

A freakishly-long brown snake.

And wait a minute, that rock looked familiar...

I stopped after what felt like a half an hour and stared at the rock near my right foot. It seemed like...sure enough it was! There was the little piece of white paper still under it from when I'd ripped away the note earlier. That could only mean-

"I've been going in circles." I spoke baldly.

No wonder it felt like I wasn't getting anywhere, I realized. There was no other excuse for having run into this rock again. Even if I'd made just one big circle, I'd gotten no further from where I started. Great. I then wondered if maybe this was the General's idea of a test or a private joke or something; it wasn't hard to imagine the stone-faced general getting in a good laugh at the expense of some poor soul walking the same path over and over for hours.

Path.

At that trigger word, I fumbled around in my pocket and pulled out the note, then re-read it.

Thrice this time.

It seemed like the General was giving me some sort of clue or hint.

which means he was banking on me walking in circles, I thought, and there was no doubt in my mind that he might have engineered this section of the forest in some kind of endless loop. How he could have done that was beyond me. Sorcery maybe?

Whatever, I can be mad about this later, I reasoned. If I wanted to make it through this forest sometime today, I'd have to keep moving. I already lost enough time with the General's little trip-me-up.

"Forge a new path..." I muttered, thinking through narrowed eyes.

I stared first at the rock and then lifted it to see if there was anything else under it. When I found nothing but dirt and worms, I dropped it and glanced around. Behind me was the worn dirt path, and ahead there were two directions I could go in. I already knew that to the left I'd be walking in circles, but to the right there was a veritable wall of trees and bushes. I took my chances and headed towards the woody, grassy barrier.

Almost immediately I felt my arms smart from where a couple branches scraped the exposed skin there. I didn't stop, just lifted my foot over some bushes. The prickly leaves and brambles snagged on my sweats and I tripped and threw my hands out to catch myself; bad idea if the blood on my palms were any indication: I'd gotten some tiny thorns from the bushes jammed into them.

Just keep moving, I coaxed myself.

I dusted my hands on my pants and stood and was a little more careful in tearing through the wood and foliage. Just as soon as I broke through into a brighter-lit clearing, I saw something flutter down from my shoulder. Something light and feathery and white. The blood from my hands smeared the paper's edges. This time, I kept walking as I read it. I couldn't afford to waste any more time.

A leader must be wary of their every step

No sooner had the thought occurred to me to look down did I feel something close around one of my ankles and jerk me upwards by the leg, high in the air, until I was suspended upside down from one of those gargantuan tree's branches.

The blood was rushing to my head faster than I was able to comprehend what had just happened. I mentally backtracked and noted with an inward groan and an outward scowl that I'd stepped directly into some primitive-looking trap like some kind of dumb animal.

Images of the General, peering at me through binoculars or something and yucking it up filled my head and I felt myself get mad. But I calmed down, because I was currently dizzy as hell and swinging from a tree; I could get mad later. I needed to get down as soon as possible.

But how? I'm stuck up here, I thought with just a little panic. And that panic was responsible for the somewhat undignified positions and contortions I flailed my body into over the course of the next ten to twelve seconds. Physically spent, I stopped moving and just let myself swing languidly back and forth. Unbidden, something caught my eye.

Another note.

This one was stuck on the rope as if it'd been partially tucked in between the knots of the gold thread. The note was near the cuff of my pants leg, though, so I'd have to double over and get it.

Oh boy, I thought, but the training with Zair actually did pay off to some extent. I didn't nearly have as much trouble as I thought I would with tucking my upper half over my ankle, and that was no easy feat. I guess I had gotten stronger these last few weeks after all.

Doesn't mean I agree with how that came to be, though

Once I was gripping the rope at my ankle, I plucked the note free and scanned over it a few times.

When put in a bind, a leader must explore every angle of an issue to find a solution

Man, I think it was luck or some sort of cosmic happenstance that, after I looked up, I saw where the tree and the branch I was tied to formed a near-perfect right angle. It was kind of creepy but it gave me an instant idea; one that was kind of risky and, if I wasn't careful, could involve me bashing my brains out, but luck seemed to be on my side today so I decided to try it.

I dropped the note and then concentrated on swinging my body back and forth, harder and harder, until I'd build up some momentum. Now here was the dangerous part. Before my face went crashing into the rough bark, I stopped myself with one hand and did my best to grip the trunk with the other. I failed.

Horribly.

I winced because it felt like I'd accidentally scraped the side of my face raw, it was burning and stinging badly. Not to mention my palms were still sore from landing on the prickly brambles earlier and now they, too, were stinging because the cuts had been made worse. My hands were bleeding anew but, shakily, I tried again. I mean it was either that, or stay up here like a butcher's slab of meat until the sun set or longer. I was trying again.

This time I made it.

I gripped the tree trunk for all I was worth, even though my hands were itching to let go and find a nice cool pool of water to dip themselves in. I held onto the trunk and enacted the second part of my idea; this part was less dangerous and more strenuous, as it involved moving the lower half of my body over to where I was. I just had to drag my bound right leg down the branch towards the body of the tree and, once I did that, I gripped the rope around my ankle and pulled myself up until I was sitting on the branch with my back to the rest of the tree.

I did it!

Yeah, the victory was a relief but it only muted the pain in my hands and face for a few seconds. Then I grimaced at my smarting wounds and hurriedly untied my leg and hopped down from the tree branch. The fact that I didn't stumble was another testiment of how much progress I'd made physically.

Now that I was back on the ground I rolled my neck and didn't take a single step until I'd surveyed the ground in the area for more ropes and traps. And even then, I walked slowly so as not to make the same mistake twice. Some of the traps were obvious, like the one I'd walked into, but others were trickily hidden beneath dirt and leaves or near bushes. Somehow I made it from the expansive clearing across to where the trees took up every square inch of ground again.

I would have to say an hour passed before I saw that the traps had gotten few and far between, so I paid less attention to where my feet were going and more about the rumbling ache in my stomach.

But that's what I get for listening to the General, I recalled.

He'd told me not to eat this morning and, like a fool, I listened to him. Now I saw why. He clearly intended to starve me and drive me mad out here in the wilderness. Or that could just be the hunger talking.

Something caught my eye and this time it wasn't a note.

It was food. Or at least I think it was. Brightly-colored little things growing on bushes counted as food, right? My stomach and I hoped so, anything would be welcome at this point.

Just as I reached for some of the berries, I saw another note wedged into the bushes. I debated whether I should just read it later, but something told me to just go ahead and see what the General had to say. Maybe it was the fact that this note had words written on both sides. It may have been important, so I reached for it.

Being human, a leader will face various urges, but must not let the outcry of the flesh dull the senses

I snorted to myself and flipped the note over.

Seriously. Don't eat these. They will kill you.

Several paces I stepped back, away from the bush, in alarm. I wondered vehemently why there would be killer berries here and why they had to look so good, and I didn't want to give the General the benefit of the doubt by assuming this bush was just here and he integrated it into his training plan. He had to have plotted this. Somehow.

Food.

The smell of it wafted through the air, making my mouth water and my belly ache in want. I glanced aroung and couldn't see anything, so I let my nose do the guiding and walked blindly towards the warm scent of something spicy and delicious. I came upon an odd scene; of all the places to set up camp, some young woman had chosen to do it in the middle of this crazy forest.

She was petite and had black hair that was in a ponytail. A plain white shirt and shorts she wore with brown boots and a brown knapsack by her feet. She was sitting on one of many logs that surrounded a fire. Atop that fire was a makeshift grill and a medium-sized metal pot rested on top of that. That was where the good smell was coming from, so that was where I stared. But something reminded me that this was rude and I tore my eyes away to speak to the woman.

"Hullo," She spoke to me first.

I said, "Hey."

She stood then and came over to me and stuck out her hand. She may have told me her name but I wasn't paying attention, as much I was embarrassed to admit. I just smiled and told her my name in turn.

"What are you doing out here?" She asked me with a friendly smile.

I told her honestly, "I don't even know anymore," and she laughed.

"Well would you like something to eat?" She then inquired.

I nodded and said, "If you don't mind."

"Not at all!" This woman I didn't know insisted.

She went over to the pot and I followed her and watched her pick up a bowl that was hanging off the side of the pot's handle. She filled the bowl with what looked like chili and dug a spoon from her pocket. She stirred the chili in the bowl, then took a bite and grinned.

"Yup, it's done." She announced, then handed the bowl to me.

I was too hungry to do more than wipe the spoon off with the hem of my shirt before digging in.

It's not poisoned, I told myself as I ate, She took a bite herself.

That proved nothing, but I was too hungry and tired to worry right now. While I was eating, the young woman came up near me and tilted her head.

"You've got some pretty nasty cuts there," She remarked, then glanced at my hands and said, "Ouch. How did that happen?"

"You don't want to know." I murmured into the emptying bowl of chili.

It was spicy, alright, which was a surprise coming from bland old rule-abiding Chai, but it was good. I looked at the young woman as she moved over to where her brown knapsack was lying near her log seat. She crouched and bent over the sack, rummaging around. I finished my chili and walked over to her.

"Hey where do you want me to put th-whoa!"

As soon as I got to her, the girl leapt up and swiveled around and started waving two knives at me. I tripped over one of the logs in my haste to get away from her. She had a blade in each hand and a fierce look in her eyes.

What the hell?!

I dodged her weapons and then made a grab for the woman that was much smaller than me; I did manage to disarm her, but before I could even ask her why she just decided to come at me with all piss and vinegar, she bolted, leaving her blades behind.

"What the hell?" I had to ask aloud now.

It only made sense that there was a little white slip near the log she'd been sitting near. I almost didn't want to pick it up but I did, and when I read it I rolled my eyes.

A leader must always remain vigilant; not all is as it seems

"You don't say," I drawled sarcastically to myself.

That was definitely the last thing I expected to happen, so I had to give the General props for his creativity...however twisted it was, it served its purpose.

I tucked the note into my pocket and, remembering my encounter with the traps, I picked up the two blades. They might come in handy.


It was cold. It was getting late. Thus, it was too fortunate that a certain thirteen-year-old reached his destination. Removing the hood of his fine white cloak, he walked up to what he presumed was the front door of the place with his little brother in tow. The house was looked more like a bullet with its metal exterior and perfectly rounded, oblong shape. It was as if a bullet had lodged itself in the groung and someone had just knocked out a chunk of the front of it as an entry; the outline of the door consisted of jagged lines. The whole place was sketchy, as it was plopped smack-dab in the middle of nowhere with no civilized town or village for many miles in all directions. Nothing but dead, blackened grass and cloudy grey skies could the two youth see.

I didn't expect the coordinates to lead me here, The older of the two thought to himself, running slender alabaster fingers through his lime locks to straighten it from where the hood of his cloak had mussed it.

Nonetheless, I'm here, so I may as well see what's so important about this location, he reasoned.

And with that he laid one hand over his little brother's shoulder, drawing him nearer because of the cold and for safety reasons, and with his other hand he made a fist and knocked. The metal of the 'door' felt ice-cold against his knuckles, and he withdrew them quickly. Even more quickly, a slat in the center of the top of the door was harshly slid to the side.

The younger child jumped.

Those eyes were mismatched, one blue and the other bright pink. They were also set beneath one decidedly angry-looking black unibrow.

"What do you want?" A nasally voice asked them.

The older child spoke coolly, "Information."

"Do I know you?" The angry eyes asked.

"I was sent here by Ludwig." the adolescent stated in answer.

Something akin to recognition passed over those angry eyes and made them turn contemplative. But then they grew suspicious.

"Why did he send you?"

"I'm looking for information about my origins." The pale boy replied.

A pause, then.

"What is your name?"

"Ignatius Koopa."

"I figured as much," The eyes rolled and a sigh was heard before the metal door swung open.

Again, the smaller child jumped and stepped a bit behind his brother at the sight of the taller man.

A lab coat, from neck to ankles, covered the older male. Besides his mismatched eyes and unibrow, he had a mane of coiled white hair and long, spindly fingers added to his unnerving appearance. There were black boots peeking underneath his coat but nothing more could be seen, not that either boy had a desire to see much more of the odd man.

"So you must be Lemmy," The man predicted, gazing at the smaller boy.

Lemmy was seven, he could talk. He was just too freaked out to at the moment, and could only stare back at the man with his eyes slightly wider than usual. The man stuck out his hand towards the older boy.

"Dr Moxin Sanus," He introduced himself.

Iggy took his time in wrapping his hand around the tip of Dr. Sanus' fingers and giving them a ginger shake. Even that amount of contact made the fledgeling teenager want to wipe his hand on his pants, but he didn't want to be rude. He was taught that everyone and everything deserved respect.

Even weird people, he thought, then mused, even if the person who taught me that seems to have forgotten it himself.

Also, he didn't want to offend the person who could potentially help him find out about where he came from. In that vein, he gave the doctor a polite smile.

"So can you tell me about my origins?" He asked, trying not to sound impatient, even though he'd traveled for weeks on end to know.

"I believe so," Dr. Sanus spoke slowly, "though I make no promises."

Iggy nodded, understanding this but hoping he'd get some kind of payoff for all the time he'd spent back and forth, drawing dead end after dead end. Dr. Sanus gazed over both boys and shook his head as if in awe of something.

"You've really changed so much," He spoke in a soft voice, then added blithely, "I mean I thought the lot of you had croaked after the Great War, but then Ludwig-"

"What's the Great War?" Iggy blurted.

So much for not being rude, he thought, though in his defense he couldn't help it. He'd encountered that term, the 'Great War' a few times before in his research but he still didn't know what it was or what happened during the enigmatic period. There were hardly any books on it, and so far he'd just gotten snippets here and there by word of mouth.

Dr. Sanus opened his own, probably to give an answer, but at that moment a deep, intrusive foghorn blared throughout the inside of his house and rang across the empty outside air. Iggy winced and Lemmy now fully hid behind his older brother, covering his ears and shivering a bit in the cold.

"Ah!" Dr. Sanus exclaimed, "That'll be the cookies!"

Iggy quirked a brow but another noise was heard; this time it was the rumbling of thunderclouds from the grey skies above. Dr. Sanus stepped aside and opened his door more fully.

"Come in, come in," He ushered the boys inside. "It's about to get nasty out there."

Iggy glanced down at his brother and rubbed his arm gently, then took the child's hand and led him inside. His thirst for knowledge compelled him to ignore that tiny, worrisome voice whispering fears in the back of his mind.


A/N: Well. I'm back at it, I guess. It's a good thing I can write at work, or else I wouldn't have time to update at all. Like I said, things are going to pick up for me but I appreciate your concern! I don't like broadcasting stuff like that over the internet but I just didn't care at the time. I'm glad I've got a bunch of understanding readers!

I'll see about updating again as soon as I can. I loved reading all your reviews and PM's, it put idiotic smiles on my face throughout the last few days. I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story!

I think I said it before, but I don't like adding a bunch of OC's for no reason, so either they don't last or there's a reason for them being around. I prefer sticking to the regular cast if I can help it.

Until next time!

~DymondGold~