Chapter 10: What Lies Ahead…
"There it is!"
Bowser Jr. nearly collapsed at the top of the hill. When his mirror counterpart had told him a few hills, he had expected two or three small slopes. Nope. These hills were nearly fifty feet high. It had taken them two hours to finally reach the top of the last one, which overlooked a small jungle which connected to a beach and then an ocean.
"'bout time…" Junior coughed. He looked down the hill and his face contorted. What he saw was confusing. There were about twenty posters with strange and abstract pictures on them hanging… on nothing. They seemed to be floating in midair.
"What…" Junior said as he stood up.
"Come on!" said Mirror Junior, running down the hill. Junior rolled his eyes and tiredly dragged his feet all the way down. He was too tired to care that there were pictures in fixed places in the air. Mirror Junior waited for him at the bottom.
"Hurry up!" Mirror Junior urged. Junior was about ready to snap. As nice as his mirror was… actually, no. He hated that too. He hated the optimistic aura about his mirror. He hated how 'good' he was. He couldn't stand the guy. And yet for some reason, he stuck around. He didn't know why. And he didn't care. He held himself in as he reached the bottom of the hill. Mirror Junior walked right up to the strange pictures and put his hand out. Junior watched curiously. Then Mirror Junior's hand was stopped in midair.
Junior watched, a little surprised now, as Mirror Junior pushed on the air. His hand didn't budge. He then proceeded to drag his hand along what seemed to be an invisible wall. He finally stopped in one spot and knocked on the invisible wall. A few seconds passed. Then suddenly, an invisible door cracked open.
"Who's there?" someone asked from inside. Junior took a step back.
"It's just me Sitka," said Mirror Junior. The door opened wider to reveal a wizened old Koopa with messy and poofy white hair and a scraggly long beard. He was blue and his shell was red.
"Ah, the prince," said the Koopa named Sitka, taking a small bow, "And who is this…" He stopped mid-sentence as his gaze settled on Bowser Jr.
"Oh," he said, "I see. Come in. We have things to talk about I'm sure." He opened the door all the way to let the two Koopalings in. As they walked in, he walked out and observed some of the pictures. Junior observed as he looked among them and then selected one, pulling it off of the invisible wall and heading back to the door.
"Come along," he said, ushering Junior in. He shut the door behind them.
The inside of the invisible place was very roomy. A fireplace danced on one side of the room. Shelves of books and china lined the other. In the center of the room was a small table, low to the ground. A bed and nightstand stood in one corner and a chair and a lamp in the opposite. The three Koopas took seats on the floor on different sides of the table. Bowser Jr. put his paintbrush down on the floor, not out of his reach. As soon as Sitka was situated, they began.
"This is what you are looking for," Sitka said, draping the poster over the table. The poster abstractly depicted six yellow dots against a dark blue background. They were divided in half by a silver line down the middle of the paper. On either side were different colored lines beneath the yellow dots.
"What is this?" Junior asked.
"It is something that I have foreseen," Sitka said, looking at him with mystical blue eyes, "All of those posters are."
"What's the point of makin' this place invisible if you're gonna to have all of those posters up out there?" Junior asked, "Some person's gonna get curious and find your place anyway."
"That's not the point," said Sitka, "Now…"
"Hey I'm tryin' to give you advice here," said Junior, "Why can't you just hang up the posters in here? They won't get wet when it rains and no one'll know your house is here."
"You're not here so we can talk about how horribly I organize my house," said Sitka, "Now please be quiet while I explain things child." Junior leaned back with a punctuated 'hmph'.
"As I was saying," said Sitka, "I have indeed foreseen something very, very, very… uh, very… very… oh forget it. I have seen that two worlds that should never have come into contact have now come into contact… and… my goodness what is wrong with my mind today? I feel so frazzled… Oh yes! One world has met the other. They are complete opposites of each other."
"We knew that already," Mirror Junior interrupted, "And we know that there is a great evil that has done this and that people are coming to stop it."
"Yes, that much I know," said Sitka, "But there is more than just that. Look at these symbols." He gestured to the drawing. He pointed specifically to the six yellow dots.
"Do you see these?" he asked. He moved his finger down to the lines beneath them. "And these?"
Mirror Junior nodded excitedly. Junior, having ignored the first part of the actual conversation, tuned in briefly to hear what Sitka had to say.
"I have no clue what they mean."
Mirror Junior fell over on his shell while Junior simply facefaulted. Mirror Junior quickly jumped up.
"Sitka, you must know more!" he cried.
"Perhaps I once did," said Sitka solemnly, "But it seems to have slipped my mind." Mirror Junior sat down again and thought for a few moments. There was silence. Junior, greatly annoyed with this, tapped his claws on the table.
"Well, let's try to figure them out," said Mirror Junior finally, "Everything represents something in your drawings Sitka."
"That is true," said Sitka. Mirror Junior pointed at the silver line down the middle.
"This is the mirror," said Mirror Junior. Sitka nodded. Mirror Junior pointed to the lines.
"So these must be the people meant to stop the evil," said Mirror Junior.
"I should assume so," said Sitka. Mirror Junior's claw circled the six yellow dots.
"But what are these?" he pondered, "Bananas?"
"No, mangoes!" Sitka exclaimed.
"No… perhaps they are suns?" Mirror Junior questioned. Junior looked over the drawing and the yellow dots. Something clicked in his head.
"They kind of remind me of stars," said Junior. Sitka looked at Junior suddenly.
"Stars…" he said softly, "Stars…" Suddenly he clutched his chest and shut his eyes tightly. A fell wind blew through the room. The fire blew out and they were left in darkness as there were no windows. Sitka's eyes opened and he stumbled backwards. His eyes glowed entirely blue.
"Six hold the golden stars… the key to the realm of doom… two hold the power to destroy all worlds… while evil brings all to gloom…" Sitka fell over onto his shell and went unconscious. The fire reignited. Mirror Junior stared at Junior.
"How did you know?" Mirror Junior asked. Junior said nothing. His senses suddenly weren't working correctly. He couldn't hear Mirror Junior's words. He picked up his paintbrush and pointed it at Mirror Junior. He tried to muster the words he needed to say but he couldn't. And all of this because one line in the prophecy made sense; one line had spoken to him. The key to the realm of doom. Even in his young mind, he could put two and two together. The realm of doom… was the place his father was at.
"Y-you said he would be fine!" Junior yelled suddenly, "You said that! And you lied!" The paint on the tip of his brush turned blue and he flung it at Mirror Junior. Mirror Junior jumped out of the way as ice crystals burst from the paint's impact point. More blue paint flew at him. He side-flipped over the paint and more ice crystals emerged.
"What are you talking about Junior!?" Mirror Junior asked frantically as he landed on his feet.
"You're a liar!" Junior yelled, throwing more paint. Mirror Junior rolled underneath it and ran at Junior. He threw a lightning fast punch. Junior blocked it with his paintbrush. Mirror Junior tried to grab hold of Junior's paintbrush but Junior pushed him off. He then proceeded to kick the door open and run. Mirror Junior just watched as Junior ran off.
As Mirror Junior stood there, Sitka stirred and sat up.
"What happened here?" he asked, taking note of the ice crystals.
"He… he's gone…" said Mirror Junior, "And I don't even know what was wrong."
"What did I say?" Sitka asked, "Perhaps we can shed some light on this." Mirror Junior repeated what Sitka had said previously, used to doing this from seeing Sitka recite prophecy before. Sitka grabbed some pastel chalk and began scraping new images onto the poster on the table as Mirror Junior spoke.
"This is what I saw," he said when Mirror Junior finished. He had now drawn a black circle around the middle of the silver line that represented the mirror and shaded it in. On either side of it, he had drawn two raindrops, one pink and the other black.
"The two raindrops represent the two mentioned in the prophecy who are capable of destroying all worlds," said Sitka, "From what I saw I can piece together that they are opposites of each other and if their powers were to meet, the confliction would be so great that if the power created were wielded as a weapon, it could easily blow apart half of the planet."
Mirror Junior gasped.
"The black circle you see in the middle…" Sitka said, "I saw those shadowy things… Shades is what I heard them called as… taking people to it. I believe that this black circle represents the realm of doom. I have feeling that that is what disturbed him. Did he say anything to you about the Shades?"
"His… his family was kidnapped…" said Mirror Junior, still a bit shaken.
"That's why," said Sitka, "He is afraid of what might be happening to them. 'Doom' is not a very pleasant word. Why he ran away… you must have said something soothing to him. Am I mistaken?"
Mirror Junior shook his head.
"He must not trust you fully," said Sitka, "And that is why he snapped."
"I… I think I understand," said Mirror Junior.
"Good," said Sitka, "How's your father doing?"
"Huh?" Mirror Junior said in confusion.
"Just fine I should suppose," said Sitka jovially, "He is our wonderful king after all!" Mirror Junior cracked a smile.
"There you go my boy!" Sitka exclaimed, "Questing is better spent in enjoyment than sorrow."
"Thank you, Sitka," said Mirror Junior.
"Now, here is what you must do," said Sitka, putting a hand on Mirror Junior's shoulder, "Find that friend of yours and earn his trust. You must continue this quest together. Your fates are intertwined."
Mirror Junior nodded.
"I will," he said.
"That's my boy!" Sitka exclaimed, pushing Mirror Junior to the door, "Good luck! Oh wait!"
"What is it?" Mirror Junior asked, turning around.
"That prophecy reminded me of something… hold on…" Sitka went to his shelf and knocked off a few books until he found something. He brought it to Mirror Junior. It was a small pouch in the shape of a star.
"This is…" Mirror Junior gasped.
"A gift," said Sitka with a smile, "You know what you must do." With that, Mirror Junior walked out and Sitka shut the door behind him. He turned around briefly to gaze at nothing.
"Thanks Sitka," he said again before dashing off.
Toadsworth cracked open the door to Princess Peach's bedroom.
"Princess! What are you doing up at this ungodly hour!" Toadsworth yelled. Peach looked up from her desk.
"Toadsworth..." she whispered, "You'll wake everyone!"
"Keep it down out there!" someone yelled down the hallway, right on cue. That was followed by more yelling which only quieted down after about five minutes. Toadsworth walked inside the room and shut the door, rolling his eyes.
"Toadsworth…" Peach whispered.
"I'll have none of it!" Toadsworth whispered back, "I don't care if the Mario Brothers' reputation is at stake. You need sleep!"
"I'm fine Toadsworth," Peach whispered, "And I'm almost done. I could make the speech tomorrow at the earliest… which I think I will do. Tell the papers that…"
"You must go to bed!" Toadsworth whispered.
"I need just another half hour," Peach whispered, "Aren't you worried for the Mario Brothers as well?"
"Of course I am!" Toadsworth whispered, "But that's no reason to be staying up late!"
"I'm worried Toadsworth," Peach said softly, "I really am. I need this speech to be given. They work so hard for us. I don't want them to come back and be rejected just because they accidentally torched a forest."
"And the speech can't wait another day?" asked Toadsworth.
"It's something called pride," said Peach, "I want this land to feel the same way I do about the Mario Brothers. Proud of our heroes. Proud under any circumstance… except for extremes that I know they would never go to." Toadsworth said nothing.
"Please Toadsworth," said Peach, "Tell the reporting service I will be speaking tomorrow. Three in the afternoon." Toadsworth looked at his feet.
"I'll get the word out," he said grudgingly, "Please get to sleep as soon as possible. Worrying about you is addling my brain…"
"Then stop worrying," said Peach with a smile, "I'm alright." She went back to her work. Toadsworth turned and left, nothing on his mind but everything that could possibly go wrong. He could only hope that all was well on the Mario Brothers' end. For whatever reason, he doubted it.
Mario remained unbroken and yet dreadful as the Toads led them towards a large town that was about ten miles from where they were captured. Dark clouds hung over the area. A large black castle that looked eerily similar to Peach's castle from their world stood at the far end of the town. As they walked through the town, they were given all sorts of looks from the Toads that seemed to live there. Some were shocked (Mario guessed that those were the stupid ones) and others were glaring.
They reached the castle after about ten minutes of being paraded through the streets of the town. They were led across the bridge and in through the castle gates. After being walked through the castle halls for a few minutes, the group suddenly split. One group went down one hallway towards a large set of doors. They took Jonathan with them. The other, Mario and Luigi's group, was taken down the other way. After three flights of downwards stairs, they found themselves in catacombs. Prison cells were everywhere. Here, Mario got the scare of his life. And from what he could tell, Luigi was utterly terrified at what they were seeing as well. Within the small and cramped cells were a total of hundreds and hundreds… of Shroobs.
Moaning came from every wall in gibberish that Mario and Luigi couldn't understand.
"Shut up!" one Toad yelled as they stopped on the bottom floor. Most of the moaning and crying and such stopped. The Toad that had yelled pointed at a specific cell.
"In there," he said. The Toads opened up the cell, cut the ropes tying Mario and Luigi, and threw them inside. The cell was shut and then locked and then the Toads left. The moaning resumed, but it was background noise to Mario as he tried to comfort the crying Luigi. For the time being, they were ignoring the Shroobs moaning and groaning around them.
"We're gonna die here Mario!" he wailed clinging to his brother, "We're gonna die!"
"Mamma Mia Luigi…" Mario said shaking his head, "We're not going to die. We'll find a way out of here." Luigi sat back on his bottom.
"How do you suggest we get out of here?" Luigi asked, "We're in a prison cell. They disarmed us. And there's simply no way out."
"We took down eight of the elite guard Luigi," said Mario, "The next time they come down to let us out for fresh air, we'll jump them."
"With no power-ups?" said Luigi.
"We don't need power-ups," said Mario, "We're heroes! And I think we've gotten through enough tight squeezes without power-ups to get out of this one."
"I don't know Mario… remember when…" he stopped mid-sentence. Mario saw why. A hand was on his shoulder. Luigi screamed, swiveled around and punched the person the hand belonged to. Mario took a step back as the one who had been punched held his head. Luigi shuffled back to Mario. Before them on the ground was a man with blond, very dirty hair and sunken blue eyes. He wore dirty black overalls and a dirty blue shirt underneath those. Behind him, trying as hard as possible to hide, was a small Shroob.
"AUUUGHH!" Luigi screamed, jumping into Mario's arms. The Shroob started to cry. The man turned around suddenly and cradled it in his arms. Mario watched in confusion.
"Si wels'van," he said, "Si wels'van." He looked up at the Mario Brothers.
"Li coum'ras!" he yelled at them, "Qi talise etsara!?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Mario, dropping the terrified-beyond-caring Luigi on the ground, "What did you just say?" The man looked confused.
"Li aick sitan est'soros…" he said, "Calsaje aick salt'soan Sharoa…"
"What are you saying?" Mario asked, almost pleadingly. The man stared at him and then shut his eyes. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes again.
"I… I… kn… know..." he paused and looked at the top of the cell. He then looked back at Mario and pinched his fingers together in a gesture.
"L… li… little," he pushed out, "Eng… Engr… n… no… Eng… lish. English. I… kn… know… li… ttle… English."
"You know little English?" Mario asked. The man nodded. Luigi got up holding his head.
"Could someone please explain to me what is going on!" he cried, "Why are there Shroobs everywhere? Why are you here? And why aren't you speaking English!?" The man stared at him.
"Luigi be quiet," said Mario, "He doesn't understand much of what you're saying either." He turned his attention back to the man.
"Um… could… you tell us… your name?" he asked as slowly as possible. The man stared at him.
"A… a… ag… again?" he asked.
"Could you tell us your name?" Mario asked again, this time using gestures. The man's eyes seemed to light up.
"M… me… no… my… n… name… i… is… Alfred," he said, "My… name… is… Alfred." The Shroob buried itself into Alfred's chest.
"Aick gi vatz'roy salt'soat Galsina," the Shroob said, a little muffled.
"Est'sorod aick ger'shan bolma tunvai," Alfred said. He returned his attention to the Mario Brothers. Mario spoke first.
"You speak Shroobian," Mario said, relatively shocked.
"Y… ye… yes," said Alfred, "I know… li… little English." Mario was able to put a few things together from there. Alfred clearly was thrown into this dungeon at about the same time as the Shroobs (an event that he figured was the result of the mirroring of the Shroobian attack on the Mushroom Kingdom). He must have been raised by them and learned their language. But where had he come from?
"How did you get in here?" Luigi asked as though reading his mind. Alfred looked confused for a few seconds as he looked down at the top of the Shroob's head but before either of them could repeat it, he began to shed tears.
"Aick… n… not," he started, "Aick… not… resd'san… ab… le… salt'soad… s… say… Galsina…"
"English," Mario said.
"Aick resd'san salt'soad Galsina," Alfred said.
"Not able say English?" Luigi asked.
"I think he means he can't say it in English," said Mario, "Must be too many words. And look at the poor guy." Alfred was drying tears.
"I don't think he really wants to say it anyway," said Mario.
"Where did he learn English anyway?" Luigi asked. Alfred spoke up.
"H… he… here," he said, pointing to his head. Mario and Luigi both put on confused looks.
"D… dr… dre… dre…"
"Dreams," said Mario. Alfred nodded.
"B… but… no… sp… speak… c… cause…"
"Because," Mario corrected.
"Because…" Alfred continued, "Reuben…" He gestured to the Shroob. "S… sc… scared."
"Oh," Mario and Luigi said at once. It made sense. With all of those Toads yelling in English, who would want to associate with anyone associated with the language?
Reuben was now sleeping in Alfred's arms. Alfred looked up at the Mario Bros.
"Y… you… t… te… teach… I... no… me… English?" he asked.
"You want us to teach you?" Mario asked.
"J… just… li… ttle," said Alfred.
"I don't know Mario," said Luigi, "You know how badly I did on my tests in school."
"Come on Luigi," said Mario, "You won the spelling bee two years straight. Give yourself some credit." He returned his attention to Alfred.
"Alright," said Mario, "We'll start now." Alfred took a moment to process the words.
"Th… thank… you," he said.
Kiara was lying on a hill outside of Toad Town. It was so peaceful out there as she stared at the moon. She closed her eyes and imagined what life what be like if she could live here. She would love it. She wouldn't have to worry about her siblings or her father getting in her business. She wouldn't have to live in that gloomy world.
A shock suddenly hit her as she scolded herself for saying such things. She began to tear apart what she had just said. She rolled over and hit the ground as she screamed hateful things about the world she was in. Then, suddenly, she rolled over again and saw the moon. She was breathing heavily. She started to cry as she sat up. The confliction within her, the strongest of all of her siblings, was growing larger. It was tearing her mind apart. When she opened her eyes again, she saw smoke down the hill through blurry tears.
She headed down the hill for fear that another fire had started. When she got down there however, she saw that it was a handmade fire, made to burn something. She saw a cloaked figure standing before it. She walked up next to him and glimpsed his face.
"Peter…" she said, "What are you doing here?" The cloaked figure removed his hood with his gloved hands revealing his blond hair and blue eyes.
"Fulfilling orders," he said, pointing to the flames. A book was burning there.
"The book of prophecy," said Peter. They stood in silence.
"You should probably get ready to get your job done as well," said Peter, "Father has issued your orders to go forth with your mission tomorrow."
"I… I thought he said two days," said Kiara.
"He's been watching her," said Peter solemnly, "He figured she would change plans. He had Shadias position a Shade army in the woods surrounding the lake nearby. They will accompany you and make sure you don't try anything." Kiara said nothing and did nothing. Peter took her hand in his own and made her face him.
"Kiara," he said, "I don't like what's going on any more than you do. But what father says goes. You must complete your mission. We must press on to the end… no matter how it shall be." There was a moment of silence.
"You know how this is going to turn out," Kiara said, "You read the prophecy book." Peter nodded.
"It is best that you do not know," he said, "Some things are better left unsaid." Kiara said nothing. Then, as Peter got up to go pick up a nearby bucket of water, she spoke.
"Do we win Peter?" she asked, almost desperately, "Do we win?" Peter said nothing and doused the fire. Kiara started to cry.
"Peter, please tell me," Kiara said, "Do we win? I have to know!" Peter turned to her and looked her in the eye. His look was sorrowful.
"Good luck," he said, "I'll see you back home." He covered his face with his cloak and walked into the shadows of the night, leaving Kiara in the darkness to storm away to the lake, sobbing.
A/N: We learn more about the story… Six stars, held by six people, are the key to a world of doom, where everyone is being taken. Sitka held one. The Juniors are on their own, separate from each other, and Mirror Junior is going after Junior. Mario and Luigi are giving English lessons. Peach's speech has been moved up a day. And Kiara's mission has been initiated. What will happen to Junior? What will happen to Mario and Luigi? And what does Peter know?