Paper Mario X: The Thousand Year Door
Chapter 9: Hook-ed-Tail: She Plays Hooky
Link hit the Life-Up Block to regain his strength, and asked Koops if he was ready to go.
"Yeah! Hooktail, you're going to pay for everything!" Koops cried while shaking a fist.
"Now THAT'S what I wanna hear!" Goombella giggled. Mario smiled, and he and Link heaved open the two large doors that separated them, and their first boss.
"Wow…this is a big room…" stated Link.
"And that a bigger dragon!" Koops wailed.
"Who dares approach me?" a low deep, growling voice boomed. The little rag-tag team looked up into the eyes of a fierce red dragon. "hmm…so…you are friends of the strange-garbed one who came earlier?"
"Dad…" grunted Koops.
"I didn't expect more to come to steal the treasure I protect…Such rashness…That was foolish, I fear. Do you really think you can beat me?"
"You'd better believe it!" Link hissed.
"But you're so small. And you don't appear tasty. I suppose you might make a good snack, and the bottoms of your feet smell like they might make a good sauce with some spices. What I'll do it sauté you to a crispy goodness and gobble you down…HEADFIRST!"
"Hey! I might be good-looking, but I am NOT tasty, so you can just forget about it!" Link shouted. "Eat the mushroom instead!"
"Link!!"
Link ignored her, and brandished his sword. Mario took a fierce fighting stance. Hooktail chuckled deeply.
"Snack time, you little appetizers! But which one of you should I eat first?"
"YOU CAN EAT OUR DUST! Right after we serve you a helping of defeat! I heard that if you taste defeat, we'll also dish out some pain! Then maybe get things cooking with-"
"Will you quit ranting?" Goombella boomed.
"Yeah, how are we supposed to dish out pain after Hooktail tasted defeat?" Koops added.
"…kill-joys…"
Mario sweat dropped and started to fight with a Power Smash. His Sound FX badge began to creak, making Hooktail become suddenly woozy.
"Bleck! That awful sound! It…sounds like a cricket! How did you know…" the dragon grumbled. "Stop that this instant! Urp…I got really bad…ugh.. food poisoning when I ate a cricket. I HATE them! Oh…fight it Hooky…just hearing a cricket chip makes me feel woozy!"
Goombella Headbonked next, doing it stylishly by doing a flip. Hooktail then followed up with a blast of fiery hot breath.
"Tee hee… you guys got burned…literally!" Link pointed out. Goombella had a little flame on her foot, causing her to freak out. While Link cackled at her, he performed hack and Koops used his Shell Slam.
"ooooogg….Must…not gag…My poor tummy…uuuuurrrrpppp…so very woozy…"
Hooktail took a few stomps over to Link and brought down a massive foot on top of his head. Link went "derr…" after that, but Mario knew he could slay the dragon. Hooktail's HP was already down to five! What a cakewalk! Mario took this chance and Power Bounced the boss, eventually killing it single-handedly.
"W-wait! Hold up a moment!" Hooktail cried. "I give up! Please! I won't be so bad anymore. I promise! In fact, I'm sorry! For everything! Er…Yeah…"
"Yeah right…" thought Mario to himself.
"To prove it, I'll give you 1,000 coins! Can you forgive me?"
Kolorado's father's letter rang throughout Link's head. He motioned to Mario to say no. Mario gave him a thumbs up and a wink.
Mario: Nope.
"What! You must be joking! You don't need any coins? The how about the lovely, rare, extra-special badge I have? I'll give you that. It's one of a kind! It's yours for a limited time only! Will you take it?"
Mario: Nah…
"Err…really? Well, I suppose I could apologize by letting you sniff the bottoms of my feet. People pay good money to do this. I'm being completely honest right now. Really. So? Care to take a whiff of the rich, yet delicate scent of my world-renowned feet?"
Link made a horribly disgusted face. "That's disgusting!"
"No kidding!"
Hooktail let out a huffy breath. "Hrrrrrrrrm! You aren't a very trusting fellow, are you? It's important to be able to trust someone, you know…"
"Don't trust anyone anymore…" muttered Link under his breath.
"Er…I guess I'd better…"
Hooktail slowly backed away.
"HEY! Where do you think YOU'RE going?!?"
Hooktail romped into the audience, chowing down on several Toads and Goombas. Everyone was horrified.
"That's just not right!" guffawed Koops.
"They may be mushrooms, but I'd never eat them!" Link squalled.
"Ohhhh ho ho ho ho ho! Ahhh! Now my strength has returned to me!"
"I've had enough of this! Let's finish this guy off Link!" Koops growled.
"Hm…I think 'he's' actually a girl, but that's a different story…" Link pondered, following everyone else. It was Link's turn again, and he used Hack once again. Koops slammed his shell into the dragon for some damage too. Some audience member tumbled out of the mouth, perfectly unharmed.
"Burp! Why do I always have to feel so faint every time I hear an...urp…cricket?"
Hooktail advanced to the swordsman, biting down on his body. Link was horribly scarred after that. Mario Power Bounce one more time, defeating the dragon once and for all.
"Yeah! Woot woot!" cheered Link.
"Hurrah!" added Koops.
Hooktail literally keeled over, causing an earthquake when "he" landed on "his" back.
"Wow! We actually pulled it off Mario!" Koops celebrated. "Now all we have to do is find that Crystal Star thing you're looking for."
Mario nodded.
"Yeah! It doesn't appear that Hooktail's literally guarding it anywhere…" Link pointed out. Suddenly, Hooktail began gurgling, and sputtering, eventually coughing up a small blue object. It ended up being a blue Koopa Shell, and an old elderly koopa popped out of it.
"YAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I'm out! I'm finally out!" he cheered.
"Kooper!" Link squealed.
"That can't be this Kooper you keep talking about…because that's Koops' dad!" Goombella scoffed.
"WHOA! It…it can't be!" Koops gasped.
"Eh?" the older turtle said.
"Da…Dad?!?" Koops cried again.
"Hey! You're…you're Koops! Hey Son! you've gotten so big since I saw you last!" His dad exclaimed.
"Well, yeah…I guess I have… but who cares, Dad? I mean, golly! What happened to you? Where have you been all this time?"
"I came here a while back to deal with Hooktail, and all was well and good…But just before my finishing blow, he played a trick on me and gobbled me whole! I've been hiding in my shell for ten years since then…inside Hooktail's belly! And boy, was it nasty! Yuck! I'm so glad to finally get out! Ahh ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
Koops shook his head. "Honestly Dad…Don't you know how worried about you we all were? For ten long years we thought you'd...you know! We thought your game was over!"
"Oh…sorry son but…I'm ok! That's good right? We're together now right? Hey, speaking of which, What are you doing here anyway?"
Koops attempted to look important. "Oh, come on Dad…I came here to defeat Hooktail, who's been wreaking havoc in town! And Mr. Mario and Link here are looking for a gem called the Crystal Star!"
"! Crystal Star? This wouldn't be what you're talking about, would it?" Koops' dad asked, pulling out a sparkly star shaped stone. Link flipped.
"That's the exact same object those goons stole from me! Well, not the same, but that's what the shape and texture was…just the color is different! I'm sure of it now!" he explained.
"I found it down there in Hooktail's belly. Nice, huh? I kept it as a souvenir. So…this is the thing you're looking for? Perfect! Just perfect! You can have it!"
"Really?" asked Link.
"C'mon now! I won't take no for an answer. You're Koops' friend. Please take it!"
"okay!"
Mario trotted five steps to the Crystal Star. It suddenly came alive and swirled around Mario, hovering above his head. It landed in his hands, at the same time propping it up.
"Yeah!" "Woo!" "All right!"
Now with the Diamond Star literally in hands, along with the new Earth Tremor move, they were one-seventh closer to stopping whatever evil force was out to get the world…and also to saving the girls…
As the thought entered Link's mind, he wondered whatever did happen to Peach, Zelda, and Amy…
And now, I present the first chapter of a little thing called "Boss Weekend". Whenever there's a boss chapter, I post that on Friday, Peach on Saturday, and Bowser on Sunday! Whoo! Of course, things'll be changed around a bit for the final one, but let'a not think about that now, m'kay? ;)