Part Two
His field of vision was clouded with a myriad of shrubbery, ranging from expansive trees to unwelcoming thickets of thorns, all of which made traveling an extensively difficult task. The cabin that he had departed from several days ago was Slam's new haven of protection from the misinformed outside world, protected by powers that were above his essence. Over the course of traveling, he passed through his old village and overheard several conversations about him, the most informative of which was between his parents and their neighbors.

"He was always such a talented fighter, and we tried to give him everything he could have ever wanted! It absolutely breaks our hearts that he decided to use his innate talent for such evil-I mean destroying his best friends house? What has this world come to if it can corrupt our little boy into doing such mischievous things! W can only pray that they never find him, we could not imagine what kind of punishment that they would put him through..."

His mother's monologue was followed up by the sound of gushing sobs. A twinge of sadness was felt inside of Slam, but he quickly remedied that feeling by focusing on how his parents believed that he was capable of such discussion among what other rumors were being spread about him. It sickened him that he used to be held to such a high esteem in his village full of Koopas that he had bonded with for several years, only to have his name tarnished by unfortunate circumstances set up by a mysterious group of people that no one knew. Opinions could change so quickly; he wondered if he would have been caught in the same trap if a friend of his, such as Beo, had been outcasted by the entire village. Slam liked to think that he would stand up for his friend, but his mind wasn't sure of anything at this point.

Like the revisit to his old place of residence, everything he had been through was now in the past. Currently, his main objective was to find the path to the shrine of the deities. After confirming his will to aid the Sacred Shroom that brought him to the shoddy cabin in the first place, he learned the location of the shrine: the pipe mazes. Upon hearing this news, Slam almost felt a rush of giddiness due to his long-lasting obsession of the pipe maze. When he was younger, he always imagined that beneath the pipes was a pleasant place full of enough gold to make someone rich for a thousand lifetimes. With his new mission, he would be able to really find out where the green pipes led to.

Ascertaining where one could find a place to enter the pipes would be no easy task, especially after being ostracized by everyone loyal to Bowser and being genuinely hated by everyone loyal to the Royal Family in the Mushroom Kingdom. Taking this situation into consideration, he could not simply go asking around out in public if anyone had seen suspicious activity in the local area-anything he did was suspicious activity. Finally, he landed on the decision of paying a visit to the warp pipe manufacturer located on the east side of the Mushroom Kingdom. The plant was located at a far enough distance from the main city to possibly avoid the annoyingly conclusive rumors surrounding Slam.

After traversing through the inconvenient shrubbery, Slam found the high-rising warp pipe manufacturing plant. To say that it was an intimidating structure would be a litotic understatement. The physics of warp pipes had been highly sought after by several business tycoons, but had been kept secret so well that the building that lay before him was the only company that was able to produce and install warp pipes. The height of the building was not the only intimidating aspect of approaching; although Slam was in a forest setting now, barren desert-like land encompassed the area for at least 100 meters. The stark change from lively green to unenchanting brown made him more than a little skeptical about his idea of going inside, as there would be nowhere to escape to.

After a few deep, calming breaths, he steadied himself and began walking out into the open area. While walking, he maintained a high level of alertness and constantly observed his surroundings to spot any disturbances nearby. He expected any potential attacks to originate from the ominous facility before him, so Slam was utterly dumbstruck when a high-pitch shrill leaped from the forest he had left only a few seconds ago. Although surprised, he instinctually slid forward on his shell-making a 180 degree turn in the process-to provide space and identify the source of the menacing sound.

At first, he saw nothing. Several tense moments of silence later, Slam began to turn around when he saw a few dark figures just beyond the forest line charge toward him.