Tom Tûnis: An Adventurer through Time
Chapter 10 – A Ransom of History
January 18 – 2010, and will always be on Earth for a very long time. But it is the morning of October 30, in the 12th of 240 cycles of 2010 in the known world.
Disclaimer: I don't known Nintendo and its stuff yada-yada.
A/N: This is the last chapter, and the last part of the 2010 era for my franchise. The sequel occurs 5 years later just after the 'Speed Dials' period. Any answers to PMs and questions will be put on the bottom of the Chapter 10 of Enrique's story, along with events occurring in between this period and Speed Dials. So check that out if you're interested.
Shadows emerged out of the open door that lay in front of the two's vision. Two large Koopas stomped outside of their control room and turned their heads towards Tom and Enrique.
"So, it's you two who are here to save the princesses who are left." Boom Boom, the Koopa on the right called across the other side of the room.
"King Koopa might have a chance to dominate the mushroom kingdom with all of the princesses gone!" Pom Pom, the other large Koopa taunted. Tom and Enrique stood their guard, beginning to hear rumbling sounds from the ceiling.
"You're not part of Bowser's army anymore! The northerners don't care for him!" Tom shouted. "These people just want to be free."
"And killing the princesses is no just way to reform the system, if you two are puppets of Bowser, go and bog off back to him then, you are not welcome here." Enrique backed up Tom, angering Boom and Pom.
"What?" Boom's fists clenched, he began to sniff significantly louder. "We don't serve him; we are rich because we were hired by the human bandit. Pom!" He yelled. Pom put her left arm down her shell to reach out for a large boomerang. Fiercely, she tossed it towards Tom and Enrique as Boom slowly approached the two, both humans evaded the razor-sharp boomerang, avoiding its path on the way back to Pom as well. Enrique, who dodged to the right, had the exit accessible and behind him. He dashed up the stairs out of the broken tunnel. Tom on the other hand, stood next to the door to the room that the four remaining princesses were captured in. Boom turned his head and noticed Tom caught at a dead end. Boom gave an evil smile. Pom also bent her head to stare at Tom, also smiling in an evil way.
"Hey princesses, want to watch your friend here be killed? Your kingdoms will perish after your fates consumed by rebels." Boom laughed. Tom was shaking, looking at no possible escape. He turned his head to see the princesses inside screaming or looking away. Pom turned her head back at the entrance of the underground area, but Boom approached Tom and swung his right fist towards Tom's left, punching him brutally in the face and launching him to the wall. He banged his head and fell to the floor, unconscious.
"You think we care about him?" Boom roared after he smashed the door forward, falling onto Daisy's legs. "Who wants to die first?" The princesses panicked and ran around the room, Peach and Madison hid at the end of the room staring at Boom whereas Daisy and Éclair stood up on the sides, crying.
Suddenly, a loud thud echoed across the area sending shockwaves. Boom turned his back to see Pom on the floor. An army of shadows stormed down the stairs and the sound of marching men led by Enrique arrived at the scene.
"Argh!" Boom, unable to fit his large body through the small chamber with the remaining princesses, reached his hand attempting to grab one of the princesses. "Curse these doorways!" The princesses saw the group of people emerge from the stairs, and there they could see several Red Martyr council members, including the notorious Muji and Archbarn. To the side of the group, Tom had woken up from his unconsciousness.
"Get them!" Enrique called seizing the two large Koopas. Several council members rounded up the large beasts and restrained them with ropes. The princesses emerged from the cramped chamber, having their safety secured by the dozens of fighters. Tom walked over towards Daisy, who smiled as she looked at him back. He placed his hand on her shoulder and stared into her eyes.
"You're safe now. We have you in our protection, though I wish good fortune for ruling the lands." Daisy kissed Tom on the cheek, but she seemed neutral with her emotions, unsure whether to be glad she is saved or in tears for mourning the several deceased princesses. She stared towards some of the remains of princesses.
"We have a lot to deal with." She stated.
"Thank you so much for saving the rest of us! How can we ever repay you?" Peach thanked Enrique and appreciated the aid of the council coming to help as well.
"Ahem." Enrique nudged Archbarn who was mourning the dead princesses.
"Right." He was startled, diverting his attention to the smiling princess Peach. "The only way you can live and rule peacefully is if you... make the northern lands an independent state, where there will be no princess rule, but a democracy. This means a ruler is chosen and has less power on the citizens, that way they will live as they wanted: freely." Peach stood idle for a few seconds in thought.
"We will discuss this back at the castle. It is a sad day in the Kingdoms."
After a few minutes, the council had escorted the remaining princesses out of the site, sealing up the entrance to the underground cave to be left abandoned or sorted out later. The attitude to it from the council seemed apathetic for any changes in the underground station anyway, as they did not have any relation to the town of Castelia directly apart from minimising the deaths of the citizens. From what Tom had seemed the council were making their way back south to Aypyidaw in their vehicles, there were at least twenty parked outside the underground station. The four princesses were escorted into the largest truck along with Archbarn, Muji and Ledro. He could not seem to find Lumpy or Attilo out of the crowds of council members.
"How did you bring the council here?" Tom asked Enrique as they both stood looking back at the sealed underground station entrance.
"I heard the sounds of them marching, and I noticed them all approach the station, they also saw me while I was here the first time round and I spotted two trains passing by both with some people inside, they must've seen me." He replied. "We may have squashed a couple of hostiles."
"It's not easy to consider who of us is hostile and who isn't anymore." A Koopa voice coming from behind the two approached. "The silly princesses should rule for what they have down south, their kingdoms will be ruled by less, but that means they will each rule more land." Tom and Enrique both turned around to see what seemed like a Koopa hostile.
"Good to see you again, Illias." Enrique greeted.
"Did the job work?" He asked, Tom seemed confused and began to question Enrique.
"The two big Koopas had slaughtered most of the princesses before we even had a chance to save them. So we did our best."
"Hold on a minute." Tom interrupted. "You knew most of the princesses were going to die?" Illias gave a glare at Enrique, who seemed rather awkward. He rubbed his neck and turned back at Tom.
"No." He said in a high pitched tone. "Well not really, we came to save those that were left, and trust me. It will be better with less princesses, it seems like the north were sick and tired of them they wanted them all dead anyway."
"But we could've saved the other princesses! We were supposed to save the north not separate it from the southern kingdoms!" Illias grew more concerned at the strife between Tom and Enrique.
"Listen Tom, we have freedom now, these people have freedom now. There were no such thing as Résethal riots; it was all an excuse to give the princesses full control over those who don't want a filthy rich princess to rule them as a 'princess-dom'. We were lied to, but we have gone through it. We can live our lives on Earth again or walk freely through here, and live over a hundred times longer than on Earth." Tom looked down worried about the lies he was told.
"Let's just be neutral." He sighed.
"Like the people here now." Enrique cheered. Illias began to smile again as well. Another familiar figure rushed towards the three standing outside the station.
"It's time to go back to Aypyidaw now, Princess Peach is going to escort you two back and commend you two and the council for your efforts." Ledro ordered. Tom looked back at Enrique who stood silently; he looked back at Tom and remembered an agreement.
"Oh sorry, I have to stay here for a while. I have business with some Koopas here to deal with, good business. I'm afraid Peach will have to wait a bit for the peace here to be fully stable."
"Something concerning the twins." Illias added. "Need our power back."
"The twins?" Tom butted in interrogatingly. "By the Spire?"
"Yes. We will be gone for hours." Enrique looked back at Tom.
"I guess this is goodbye for now, I will see you when and wherever I see you again here. Because I am surely staying here." Tom shook Enrique's hand. They both smiled. Ledro waited patiently before finally escorting Tom towards the last remaining vehicles before taking off back to Aypyidaw...
As the vehicle stopped, the members inside hurried out and returned to their posts, Ledro and Tom rushed into the main building and into the council room, where he saw Muji, Archbarn and many other high-ranked council members. Peach and Daisy were also in the room talking to Muji and Archbarn, Ledro and Tom walked over to a circle of discussion with other council members.
"Tom, you have helped us save the north, from what we do not really know." Koover thanked.
"From two giant Koopa beasts." Eoréc laughed.
"The two bosses over there are negotiating with the princesses about giving up the north and making it free." Ledro pointed out. Lumpy had returned from his mission recently, just entering the council room. "Our missions were not easy, but we had dealt with the rebels and hostiles." He carried on. "Karbût and Umbrock are definitely peaceful cities. I think Takhar was a difficult mission." Lumpy had arrived to the group of members discussing.
"Mission failed." He informed the others in a deep, sad tone. "Very few of us managed to get out of that mess alive, there were really skilled Koopas there and even a blonde human, we don't know about him and it was definitely not Enrique or any we know about."
"What happened to Attilo?" Eoréc asked. Lumpy wept.
"He... didn't make it. He was among the many that died on that plain outside the town; they had Koopa shooters, dangerous people. Are the princesses ok?" He asked.
"Only six remained, but Pauline said she resigned her power, and Mona has left the forces, so there's only four: Peach, Daisy, Éclair, and the Sprixie Madison." Lumpy burst into tears, Koover and Eoréc went down to comfort him.
"He died as a Red Martyr, for the cause." Eoréc praised. Ledro took Tom back to Archbarn and the others.
"My hero!" Daisy praised as she approached Tom.
"Uh, Luigi?" Peach reminded in a happy mood. "Where is Enrique?" She asked.
"He's gone to the Spire, powerhouse thingy to help the Koopas up north get their power back." Enrique replied, making Peach growl. "Those boys will never give it to them, not without my permission!"
"Ahem." Muji coughed for attention, making Peach less angry and changing her mind. She took a deep breath and sighed in depression. "Don't worry, the people of the south would love you as their leader still, you're the strongest princess of them all, maybe the most powerful person in the world right now."
"You will have to decide how the rulings will work now. But more people will serve you." Archbarn informed. "We were told Madison has resigned her rule on any place and will go back to her land."
"I thank you all for your services. It will take us a while to settle with our new adjustments, and long may the dead rest peacefully. We must make an announcement back at Mushroom City." She thanked the high-ranked council members, gathered up with Daisy, Tom, and Éclair and headed down towards the functioning train station, heading straight back home...
A FEW HOURS LATER... AT PEACH'S CASTLE...
Thousands of Toads, Koopas and other species from all parts of the lands gathered inside the great hall. Where they sat formally in an assembly format, facing towards the throne atop a platform, where Peach, Daisy, Éclair, Tom and many others stood awaiting a grand speech. Tom stood at the back next to Mario and Luigi, who greeted him and thanked him for his efforts while they were dealing with other Bowser-related errands. Peach approached the microphone and called for a silence, everyone had their eyes focused on her, listening well.
"People from across the land, after the wretched events that have occurred recently, it has come to our decision for a more peaceful government so that we can guarantee that everyone in this land lives happily. Due to these events we have given the Wuhu Kingdoms in charge of princess Éclair, you know her for her extreme kindness." Peach backed down and gave the microphone to Éclair.
"Citizens of the Wuhu Kingdom, it is now my honour to protect you and make sure your lives will be safe during those moments where you older princesses could not help. I am looking forward to seeing most of you and doing my best when I can." The Wuhu citizens from the great hall cheered from all parts of the room. Peach walked back over to the microphone.
"Sarasaland will become part of the Delfino Kingdom, where you know her, princess Daisy will be in charge." The crowds cheered more loudly as Daisy waved happily to the people in the hall. Peach laughed. "I guess she doesn't need a speech herself ha-ha." The volume of the room began to lower down again as Peach carried on. "And as for the Mushroom Kingdom, I will be in charge and still situated here. This means that the Résethal Kingdom will be announced as the free lands in the north, the only power that we will have there is through Aypyidaw, which will now act as an embassy for the southern kingdoms." The crowd cheered once more. "Penultimately, we must mourn our losses, we lost ten princesses as well as many freedom fighters of the Red Martyr council who helped save us and give freedom to the northern lands, and we must now spend ten minutes mourning them all in silence. The crowds' heads turned to the floor in silence and for ten minutes did everyone think of the princesses who were killed, little did most people know of them anyway.
10 minutes had passed.
The heads of all the citizens inside the hall looked back up again as Peach approached the microphone one last time.
"Finally, I would like to tell you all about two great heroes – humans who came here recently and without them, I may not be alive to tell you about them. Unfortunately, one is unable to make it today for he is still helping the northern lands be free. The other one however was a great young man, who worked his way through our trust and requirements, and helped save us. Tom Tûnis is his name." Tom stepped towards princess Peach and stared at the thousands that made up the crowds inside the great hall. He saw them all several metres down on the big open-now-cramped space. "I grant this human free access to all of the lands if he so wishes to go anywhere, and he is welcome to stay in these lands. Once again, thank you for your efforts here." Peach awarded Tom a medal of free passage, making the crowds cheer and clap again once more. Tom stared back at them and smiled, and then he bowed after in honour. He felt like a hero this day, maybe it is how the Mario brothers feel every time they rescue the princess, but for once it was someone who wasn't them who did the job. Time for him to do whatever the fuck he wants now!
EOF/EOS: This prequel is finished and I am uploading it before Enrique's as they now part their ways. At the end of Enrique's Chapter 10 will be all the facts and answers to any queries about these fanfics. Remember that these events happened 5 years before the sequels. I will further give elaboration of the period in between during Enrique's Chapter 10 as well. Fighting in the Streets has a preview up now of the first Chapter, I will start to release the other chapters next year, the sequel will have lots of content.
R&R!