Woo! 1,000+ views! I'm so happy guys! Keep those reviews coming, I love seeing your reactions!
Enjoy this next installment of the Bean-Bean arc! Which also has dark themes…just FYI.
Review Responses:
RedRibbonPonyArmy: Hahaha, I can see that you're very excited to see Popple, see? And yes, it may have been a bit too obvious that Luigi was going to get injured, and the obscure preview doesn't tell you how badly he's injured, but you'll just have to read the chapter to find out, see?
Pika-Puppetmon: I'm glad you're excited for this arc, I am too. And yes, poor Peasley indeed.
And thank you Serphosion for favouriting and following!
Sieva glared at the two Koopalings. "Y-You! How dare you harm Luigi and King Peasley like this!" he cried angrily.
Wendy glanced at him and rolled her eyes. "Morton. I don't like servants that don't work for me. Dispose of him properly." She said, almost bearing him no mind.
"B-But…Why?" Morton asked. "He hasn't done anything-!" Wendy turned and slapped Morton Junior, surprising the grey koopaling.
"Idiot! I don't know why I send a boy to do a woman's job!" Wendy growled. She pointed her wand at Sieva and it began to glow.
Sieva panicked. 'I-Is this it for me…?' he thought, his life flashing before his eyes.
"Wait." Morton said, putting a hand out in front of Wendy to prevent her from casting the spell. "We need to find the Beanstar. Let's ask him."
Wendy looked at the downed plumber, barely recognisable without his trademark hat, then at Peasley who was on his knees, frozen in place as he stared blankly at his mother's ruined tombstone. Wendy then groaned in annoyance, putting her wand away to who knows where. "Fine!" she snapped. "But the Beanstar is mine!"
"I-If you think I'm going to betray my kingdom so easily then you can forget it!" Sieva responded, staring angrily at Wendy and Morton. Though at the same time, Sieva was glad Morton decided to step in, which meant he could keep his life, for now at least.
"See? This is why I wanted him gone. He's one of those loyal followers…" Wendy grumbled. "Although…there are ways to make him squeak…" Wendy grinned, realising the King and Luigi were at her mercy.
Sieva realised what the female koopaling was talking about and gasped in shock. "N-No! Leave them alone!"
"Then tell me where the Beanstar is." Wendy said, smiling.
"I don't know where it is…" Sieva lied.
"Liar!" Wendy seethed. She then pulled her wand out and fired a magic beam at Peasley, who was still out of it. The beam hit him square in the chest and sent the king flying into the wall near Luigi, landing on top of the unconscious plumber.
Peasley was snapped back to reality and he groaned in pain. His mind was spinning and injured arm was throbbing in agony. Peasley slowly moved off of his friend to glare at the intruders. "Are you two the ones that hurt Luigi?" Peasley asked in a cold, menacing voice.
"We are." Wendy replied with a smug look. "It's nice to see you're back with us, 'Your Majesty'" she said, mocking the king.
Peasley glanced at Sieva, who was glad that Peasley was back (and as fine as he could be at that moment). "You'll pay for that." Peasley growled. He stood up with shaky legs, pulling out his rapier with his uninjured arm.
Wendy laughed and Morton chuckled. "You can hardly stand, much less fight." Wendy snickered. "Perhaps we can settle this peacefully and you can tell us where the Beanstar is."
"Even if I told you, you wouldn't be able to activate it properly anyways. You need the voice of Princess Peach to use it correctly." Peasley replied, smirking at the shocked expressions of the duo.
Then Wendy laughed, and it was Peasley's turn to be shocked. "Doesn't matter, we learnt from a certain someone that a transformation spell works just as well."
"And since we were the two that perfected the spell first, we were sent on this mission to reactivate the Beanstar." Morton explained, crossing his arms and giving the king a smug look.
"So tell us where your precious star is!" Wendy sneered.
"Over. My. Dead. Body." Peasley growled angrily.
Wendy shrugged. "Suit yourself." She began to charge a spell, aiming it at Sieva. "If you won't tell me, then I'll kill your servant!"
Peasley looked at Sieva, who was panicking. The king and his servant exchanged looks before Sieva nodded, running away. A beam fired from Wendy's wand, easily missing Sieva as he vanished from sight.
Wendy stomped her foot on the ground in frustration. "No fair! Running away is being cowardly!" Wendy complained.
"Now that my servant is gone and Luigi is out of reach, I guess you lose." Peasley snickered.
"No we don't" Morton said. "We can still reach Luigi."
Wendy smirked, raising her wand in the air and spinning it in circles. Before Peasley could figure out what she was doing, Wendy smiled triumphantly as Luigi's unconscious body floated above her.
"L-Luigi!" Peasley cried. "Give him back!"
Luigi groaned as he woke up, trying to get his bearings. Noticing he was in the air, the green plumbed panicked and tried to move, only to have his movement restrained. "Wh-What's going on?"
"Perfect. He's awake. This will make things even more fun." Wendy sneered.
"Wha…?" Luigi blinked, remembering what happened. "W-Wendy! Put me down!" Luigi demanded. "Let me fight you!"
"Hmm…Nope." Wendy said, looking up to give Luigi a grin.
"Luigi! I'll get you down safe and sound!" Peasley cried, running towards Wendy while brandishing his rapier.
As the king got close, Wendy put up a force field, making Peasley bounce off it and fall hard on the ground. "I don't think so." She said sweetly. "You wanted this to be peaceful. It can remain that way if you just tell us where the Beanstar is."
"And if I don't?" Peasley asked.
"Morton, show an example." Wendy commanded.
"No." Morton said.
"You do as I tell you or you're going to regret it!" Wendy shrieked.
Morton nodded quickly, not wanting to be punished. He raised his hammer-wand and there was a glow surrounding Luigi's left foot. There was a cracking sound and Luigi had to bite his tongue to hold back a scream as Morton used his magic to break Luigi's foot.
"L-Leave him alone!" Peasley cried. "It's not him you want, it's me!"
"Oh? Are you willing to switch places then?" Wendy asked smugly
"Yes! Just put Luigi down and leave him be!"
"P-Peasley!" Luigi shouted, trying to keep the pain at bay. "D-Don't do it!"
Wendy tossed Luigi into the ruined tombstone, who yelled in pain as his broken foot was crushed by bits of rubble. His head spun as a piece of the ruined tombstone struck the side of Luigi's head, knocking him out once again. Peasley's eyes widened in horror and he ran to aid his friend. Before he got there though, he was lifted up in the air and Wendy laughed.
"This is great. I can't believe that you care for the plumber so much. He's always the forgotten sidekick. But you and I are going to go for a walk to look for the Beanstar while Morton stays here to make sure we have you obeying us." Wendy grinned, she was finally getting her way.
"Alright." Peasley said. "Just don't harm him anymore…We need to go to the basement underground…"
Wendy chuckled as she walked out of the ruined courtyard, taking Peasley with her. Morton walks over to the unconscious hero and stands over him.
"Finally, I've been wanting to do this for a while now…" Morton said.
Mario, Toad, Toadette and Serena exited the shortcut pipe and it took them a few moments to realise that the Castletown was under attack. Bowser's forces were charging through the streets, terrorising the Beanish and destroying their homes. Mario clenched a fist in anger while the other three stared in shock at the scene before them.
"Wh-What…? In just a short time, Bowser's forces have charged in and destroyed almost everything?" Serena asked, horrified.
"Seems like it…" Toadette replied slowly, thinking of a strategy.
"A-And there's smoke…coming from the castle…" Toad said in a small voice.
"Let's go." Mario ordered, walking towards the castle.
"Wait!" Serena called. This was starting to feel like déjà vu.
Mario stopped and turned around to face Serena, ignoring screams of help from the Beanish. One civilian was cornered by a shy guy with an electric spear. They were struck by it and they screamed in pain, electricity running through their body. They fell to the ground and didn't move. The shy guy moved on to its next victim. Serena, Toad and Toadette stared in shock.
"See that? This is what happens when Bowser gets ideas. And that is what is going to happen to Luigi if we don't get to him now!" Mario shouted, waving a hand in the direction of the castle.
"But the civilians are defenceless! Luigi can take care of himself!" Serena retorted.
Toad and Toadette ran towards the fallen Beanish. Toadette checked their pulse before looking at Toad with a horrified look. "H-He's…dead…" she said slowly, her eyes wide with terror.
"Oh god…" Toad's eyes were wide with horror.
"And what if Luigi is seriously injured, or worse, killed?! Could you live with that guilt, knowing you killed Luigi?" Mario bellowed, viciously pointing at Serena.
"M-Mario, please calm down! We need to think this through!" Serena begged. "The Beanish are dying, and we're standing here arguing!"
Mario froze, properly registering the chaos and carnage around him for the first time. His shoulders sagged as he realised how selfish he was being. "Y-You're right…we need to save the town first…" he mumbled dejectedly in defeat.
Serena softened. "Don't be like that…I'm sorry for shouting…I'm just really scared right now. We all are…" she said quietly and quickly.
"We need to split up." Toadette said suddenly.
"…WHAT?!" Mario, Serena and Toad shouted together. The genius blocked her ears due to Toad being right next to her. She then unblocked them to hear their complaints.
"Th-That's insane! We split up and look what happened!" Mario cried.
"Splitting up is too dangerous!" Toad protested
"We need to stick together!" Serena exclaimed.
The three started to complain and panic, causing distress amongst the group. Toadette sighed, inhaled and then stared fiercely at the panicking members. "SHUT IT!" she roared, making Serena, Toad and Mario freeze. They all looked at her with equally bewildered expressions. "I know it sounds crazy, but splitting up is the best way to go!" She said, standing up to walk away from the dead beanish civilian. The three were about to start protesting again when Toadette gave them all a fierce glare, making them stop. "Listen to me! We need to split up so we can help Luigi and the town at the same time. We can't all rush off to help the town, which would be bad for Luigi. And if we all raced off to help Luigi, the Castletown will perish."
The other three members calmed down, seeing Toadette's logic. "Okay…" Mario said slowly. "Who's going to help Luigi?"
Toadette didn't hesitate. "Me" she said.
"Are you crazy?! That's dangerous!" Toad exclaimed.
"Think about it, whoever is attacking the castle is smart, if Serena or Mario were to charge in, they would act first and think later. I on the other hand, will think of a strategy to win." Replied the genius, giving them a smug, confident grin.
"Ouch…" Serena mumbled. "Being called reckless by the genius…"
"I can't let you do that." Mario said
Toadette grew annoyed. "And why not?"
"You could get captured again." Mario replied.
Toadette froze as she registered Mario's words. Captured. Troopa…
"Hey! My sister is perfectly capable!" Toad exclaimed, startling Toadette. "I'm worried too, but civilians are dying and we're doing nothing but standing here and arguing!"
"Toad's right." Serena said. "Toadette can do this, Mario."
Toadette smiled, grateful for Toad and Serena's back-up. "How about I scout the situation out, on my own. And then only when you guys have helped the town, we'll help Luigi together." Suggested the genius.
Mario sighed. "…Alright. Only get involved if the situation calls for it."
Toadette gave a salute to Mario, watching a few soldiers take on a koopa troopa and a goomba. "Farewell, and be safe!" she said.
"You too." Toad replied.
Toadette smiled before turning away. She then ran off towards the castle.
"So…" Serena started, "How about we compare our kills?"
"This isn't a sport!" Mario scolded.
"I know it isn't. It will calm my nerves this way…I'm very, very scared…" Serena whispered.
Toad watched Serena for a moment before bursting into a grin. "Let's do it! I'm so going to defeat the most!"
Mario paused before smiling himself. "Plus five for every citizen you saved."
"And minus one if an ally saves you?" Serena asked, giving the two a bright smile.
"No lying." Mario said sternly.
"We won't!" Serena and Toad chorused.
"Alright. That's enough time wasted. We break on three." Mario said, grinning. He stood near the two and put a gloved hand out. "One."
Serena smiled, putting one of her hands out beside Mario's. "Two..." She said.
Toad put his hand out too, so that they were standing in a circle. "Three..." Toad said.
"BREAK!" They said together. Mario sprinted off in one direction, Serena in another and Toad remained where he was. Toad watched the soldiers finish off the koopa troopa and goomba and walked off in a different direction from both Mario and Serena. He was hoping to beat the most.
When Toadette reached the castle, it seemed…empty. Any soldiers who were standing at the entrance were gone, probably defending the Castletown. As the genius wandered through the entrance room, she fought off a sense of dread by humming a peculiar theme to herself, sneaking around by comically hiding behind a wall, peering into a room full of bookshelves. Seeing that no-one was in the room, Toadette backtracked in the same fashion, still humming the tune.
Toadette eventually found herself in the courtyard…well near the courtyard, since she was peering into the outdoor area from the entrance. She stopping humming her tune in surprise as she registered the scene before her. Luigi was lying in a pile of rubble, unconscious and in a poor condition. His clothes were torn in places, there was blood trailing down his head and his left foot was trapped under stone. But what surprised her more was Morton Junior, holding his hammer-wand over Luigi, both glowing with a blue light.
"Now that Wendy's gone, I can finally start healing him…" Morton said to himself, unaware that Toadette was watching.
"W-Wait…Wendy's here too?! And why are you healing him?!" Toadette demanded, storming towards the grey koopa.
Morton jumped with a start, staring at the genius with shock. "Y-You! How long have you been there?" He asked, startled, moving away from Luigi.
"I just got here, now answer my question!" Toadette yelled.
"Sh-Shush! Don't alert Wendy to your presence." He warned.
"Why not?!" Toadette snapped. She was about to say more but Morton covered her mouth, preventing her from speaking.
"Just let me talk without yelling at me, okay?" Morton said. Toadette calmed down and nodded slowly, to which Morton moved his hand away.
"Okay. Now talk." She said calmly
"Alright, Wendy is the one destroying everything here. All the explosions, the ruined courtyard you see before you, this was all Wendy." Morton explained. "She threatened me and I had no choice but to break your friend's foot here." Morton could see Toadette's anger rising and he took a step back. "So I'm just trying to help him."
"You don't have an ulterior motive, do you?" Toadette asked dangerously quiet.
"No. I just feel that with the arrival of that new guy and your toadette friend have really screwed things up. Everyone is getting more evil and sinister and I don't like it." Morton huffed, crossing his arms. "If those two weren't here, you wouldn't have been hurt. Bowser never would have thought of those plans if it weren't for the 'General's' influence."
"General…you mean Zeke, right?" Toadette asked.
"Bingo." Morton said.
"Wait…why are we having this conversation? Aren't we enemies?"
"We are, but I'm willing to call a truce if you help me fix his foot." Morton jabbed a thumb at Luigi.
Toadette looked at Luigi, noticing that his cap was nowhere to be seen. "Where's his hat? And shouldn't Luigi have a bag of supplies for this occasion?"
"You ask too many questions." Morton stated.
"Just answer the questions." Toadette grumbled.
"Fine. My guess is that both items were caught in the blast. Don't know where they could be." Morton replied.
Toadette dug through her bag and pulled out a 1-up. "I'll have to use one of mine then. This will fix the bone or bones you broke but we'll still have to splint Luigi's foot just to be safe…"
"And anything else Wendy injured while toying with him?" Morton asked.
"This will fix his injuries, but he's going to feel them like they're still there when he wakes up." Toadette replied.
"…Then he's going to be in a lot of pain…" Morton surmised.
"…Shut it before I punch you."
Morton laughed. "You're not half bad for a toadette, and you're not as annoying as Mario."
Toadette blinked. "U-Umm…thanks…?"
"Just give him the mushroom already before I call off the truce."
"Right, right. I'm on it…yeesh." Toadette moved closer to Luigi, getting on her knees to gently press the 1-up against his heart. The mushroom was absorbed into Luigi as all the cuts on Luigi's body disappeared and once Morton used his magic to remove the rocks on the green hero's foot, Toadette found that after gently removing his shoe, Luigi's foot was fine. Although, it was still going to seriously hurt. Morton then used his magic to place a cast on Luigi's injured foot so it could heal properly.
"Wow…those mushrooms work really quickly…" Morton commented, showing the slightest hint of awe in his voice.
"Well, they can pretty much bring us back from the brink of death…which is probably cheating if you think about it…" Toadette said, standing up.
"I'm guessing Queen Jaydes isn't going to be happy when she finds out how many times you guys have cheated death…" Morton joked, smiling.
Toadette chuckled. "Probably not. I really hope Luigi's okay…" A silence followed Toadette's words and she looked behind her to see nobody in the area. The genius blinked as she tried to get a grasp on the situation.
"Did I just imagine that?" she asked herself.
Serena, Mario and Toad reunited at the entrance to Bean-Bean Castle. While wandering through, trying to find Luigi, Toadette and the enemy (individually or together), Toad and Serena were trying to compare their scores.
"I saved three civilians and defeated five enemies." Toad said. "That gives me a score of twenty."
"I saved three and defeated six." Serena bragged. "That means I win with a score of twenty one!"
"Quiet!" Mario whispered angrily. "We could attract the wrong attention."
Toad and Serena's faces fell, "Sorry…" they whispered in return.
The three continued to walk in silence, getting closer to the courtyard until Mario spoke up. "In case you two wanted to know, my score was thirty five." Mario gave Toad and Serena a grin.
Serena and Toad started to protest, calling Mario a "cheater" and complaining that he had more experience at the "hero thing" all the way to the courtyard. The three stopped abruptly when they saw Toadette watching over Luigi while he rested.
"L-Luigi!" Mario cried, running over to the duo.
"S-Sis! You're okay!" Toad exclaimed, feeling relieved.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but the same can't be said about Luigi or the Bean-Bean Castle" Toadette replied grimly, watching Serena and Toad approach them.
"What happened?" Serena asked, examining the rubble.
"I-I'm…not sure…" Toadette lied, remembering that it was Morton who told her what happened. "Luigi was alone when I got here."
"Is he fine now?" Mario asked, clearly worried for his brother.
"With time, he will be. His left foot was already broken when I got here." Toadette explained.
"What's with the rubble in the middle? Is it from the wall?" Toad asked, looking at the remains and the blown up wall.
"No. The material is different." Serena said. "Look at this." Serena pointed at more of the rubble. Some of it had been moved in an attempt to put it back together. Engraved in the stones were the letters '…RE L…S …EAN'
Mario and Toad examined the lettering. "Erm…what does it say…?" Toad inquired.
"'Here lies Queen Bean'" Toadette responded. "It's what I deduced from what I could find."
Mario was shocked. "Q-Queen…Bean?!" Mario exclaimed. "Sh-She's…dead…?"
"Holy crap…" Serena whispered, eyes wide and her hand over her mouth in shock.
"What happened here…?" Toad asked.
"I wish I could tell you…but we'll have to see if Luigi knows…" Toadette said.
"Have you seen Peasley?!" Mario asked, desperately looking for the character in question.
"I'm sure he's fine…Luigi's been mumbling his name in his sleep." Toadette assured weakly. "But…Luigi sounds worried…so he might be in trouble."
"We need to find the Beanstar, now." Serena said, giving the group a serious look.
"Are you kidding me? Luigi is injured, right here in front of us!" Mario snapped.
Serena inwardly cursed Mario's stubbornness. "Toadette said he'll be fine. What's more important right now, is that we stop whoever is invading so that they don't get their hands on the Beanstar. What would Luigi think, knowing that you sacrificed the safety and future of this kingdom, just to watch him wake up?"
"That's low…" Toad muttered, watching as Mario flinched at Serena's words.
"She has a point. Luigi's okay, so we should get going." Toadette said.
Mario weighed their arguments in his mind, thinking of possible consequences and possibilities. What Serena was saying made sense. "Alright." He said eventually.
"We'll leave him a message so he knows where we are." Serena said, moving to search through the tombstone remains.
"I'll help." Toad offered, joining Serena in her search.
Toadette stood up, walking to one corner of the area while the others searched. In the smouldered grass lay a burnt, green cap and crispy remains of what might have been a bag. Toadette picked up the cap and walked back to the others, laying it next to the group's finished message. Toad and Serena had managed to find more letters, and just barely arranged them into a single word. 'STAR'. Then when the group was ready, they left Luigi to rest in peace and they exited the courtyard to find the Beanstar.
Toadette was nervous. Morton had told her Wendy and Peasley were seeking the Beanstar, one obviously more reluctant than the other. As they followed Mario who "knew where he (I) was going", Toadette recalled the words of the grey koopa. Was he really concerned about his 'siblings'? And was it Zeke or Bowser pulling the strings behind the operation? And if she really did meet Morton, the same koopaling that helped her with Luigi, what would she say? For one, a koopaling has never, ever called for a truce, and they have never helped the enemy. Secondly, since when do they care for each other? The whole situation baffled the genius, and she figured this wouldn't be the only time that something would confuse her so.
"Sis, are you okay?" Toad asked, cutting into Toadette's thoughts.
"Hmm? Yeah, I'm just speculating, that's all." The genius replied casually.
"About what?" Toad inquired.
"Just wondering who we're going to face this time…" Toadette lied, knowing full well just who was going to be there. "I like to be prepared."
"Oooh, I hope Ludwig's here again, I can't wait to smash his face in!" Serena exclaimed, punching her right hand with her left with determination.
"Oh no, if Ludwig's there, we're holding you back." Mario said, glancing back to the group for a brief moment. He was trying to find the basement so he could pummel whoever hurt his brother…and protect the Beanstar.
(A short while later…)
After a few wrong turns, backtracking twice, and Serena complaining about the castle interior feeling like a dungeon after each setback, the four of them finally made it to the entrance of the castle's basement, to which its colour scheme was a darker green than the rest of the place.
"Finally…" Toad sighed. "I was getting sick of all the backtracking."
"Sorry." Mario grinned sheepishly. "Luigi knew his way around the castle more than I ever did."
"Never mind that, are we at the mid-boss or final boss part one in this place?" Serena asked.
Mario, Toad and Toadette each gave Serena equally confused looks, to which Serena backed away and awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. 'Hehe…right…another real world, fourth wall breaking moment…' she thought. "Sorry guys, wrong universe…" Serena laughed awkwardly.
"Ignoring Serena?" Toad asked, finding it hard to keep the smile off of his face.
"Yup." Toadette replied immediately, easily keeping a straight face while Serena protested in the background.
"Come on guys, stop blocking me out!" the other-worldly toadette was complaining.
"Quiet!" Mario said urgently. "I hear voices coming from deeper in."
Everyone was silent, meaning they could make out the end of the conversation that was going on:
"Luigi better be in the same condition we left him in!" warned the first person.
"What, so you hope his foot is still broken?" mocked the second, more feminine voice.
"You know what I mean!" The first voice retorted "Mr. Red would have helped Luigi by now."
"Keep moving or your friend will be in a worse condition than we left him in!" snapped a third voice. There was a scuffle of footsteps and a small thud as someone fell to the ground.
"Now that your mini rebellion is out of the way, continue on. I want that Beanstar!" Complained the second voice. The trio resumed their walk, moving out of ear sight from the group.
Mario was the first to react. "Peasley was definitely one of them, no one else calls me Mr. Red!" he growled, clenching a fist in anger.
"Morton…" Toadette muttered under her breath.
"Morton?" Serena questioned, being next to Toadette to hear her. "Are you saying that one of them was Morton Junior?"
Toadette inwardly cursed Serena and sighed. "I don't know. I hate not knowing." She complained.
"And the other one?" Toad asked "There were three."
"Not sure." Mario said. "I'll guess we'll find out soon. Let's go." He continued onwards, leaving Toad, Toadette and Serena no choice but to follow the red hero.
Luigi groaned in pain as his eyes slowly opened. Everything hurt. Luigi looked around, noticing he was alone in the courtyard, and mustered all his strength just to sit up. The green hero found out too late that it was a bad idea as the side of his head throbbed in agony. 'My head hurts so much…what happened…?' he thought, trying to remember what caused him to be in this state. He slowly examined his body, noticing that his outfit was torn in places. That was when he saw the cast on his foot, and it all came back to him in a rush that made him dizzy. Peasley. Explosions. Wendy. Morton. Luigi snapped to attention. 'Oh Grambi…Peasley, where'd you go?' he was becoming frantic now. Who put the cast on his foot? Had Peasley already given the Beanstar over to Wendy and Morton? All this pondering made his head hurt more, and sitting around clearly wasn't going to give him any answers. Luigi carefully examined the courtyard once more, looking for any sign of the enemy or his friends, hoping for some kind of sign.
That was when he found his cap.
The green hero felt a twinge of sadness and guilt, noticing his trademark cap was covered in burn marks and that he wasn't more careful about preserving it. Luigi pulled himself closer to his cap, being wary of his cast, and picked it up. 'At least it's still in one piece…' he thought, relieved. He dusted his cap before returning it to its rightful place upon his head. Luigi examined the ground where his cap was found, and saw a message. At least, he thought it was a message.
"Star…?" Luigi asked himself. He cleared his throat, finding it dry and his voice hoarse. He blinked. 'Ah! Mario and the others must have found me here, patched me up and continued on!' Luigi thought, suddenly becoming excited. He had a lead. 'But…how in the Mushroom Kingdom was Mario convinced to continue on? He must've been really worried…' Now determined to catch up with the others, Luigi slowly got himself onto his feet, practised moving with his limited mobility, and then hobbled out of the courtyard to get to the basement quickly. 'Hang on Peasley, I'm coming!'
Mario, Toad, Toadette and Serena finally reached the basement. And Peasley, Mario and Peach were already there, standing in front of the deactivated Beanstar…
"Wait…Mario and Peach?!" Serena exclaimed. "But Mario's right here and Peach isn't even in this kingdom!"
Peasley looked relieved at the arrival of the group, he then stared at 'Mario' and 'Peach' with a bored expression. "I can't believe you two thought that would fool them for half a second." He scoffed.
"Peasley, Luigi's okay, we can beat these guys now!" Toad said, determined to pummel the imposters.
"Mr. Red, while I appreciate Toad's input, I'd prefer it if we beat them now and catch up later." Peasley growled, drawing his rapier.
"But you're injured!" Serena exclaimed, cutting off Mario's angry protest of "It's not Mr. Red!"
Peasley stared. "Who are you?"
"Umm…we'll talk later…" Serena stated.
'Peach' giggled, glaring at the party of four (which is pretty weird to see…). "Look who decided to finally show up. Always trying to get in the way of Lord Bowser's plans." She said in a scornful tone.
"Okay…whoever you are…glaring and a scornful attitude do not go with Peach." Mario said. "You must be Wendy then."
"I guess we still need to work on our spell then." 'Mario' said, looking at Toadette with interest.
Toadette stared, realising who it was. "Y-You…"
"Me?" 'Mario' asked. He put a hand to his chest to indicate that he felt hurt. "I'm sad. You don't know who I am?"
"I-I…" Toadette began, unsure on what to say.
"Hey! Leave my sister alone you big impostor!" Toad shouted, moving in front of the genius to put a protective arm in front of her.
"Hey, can I punch your nose too?" Serena asked Wendy casually.
"Zeke's old friend huh? You don't look like much to me, I can't believe Ludwig talked about you so much" Wendy said in disdain.
"Can we just fight already? I'm growing rather impatient here." Peasley snapped, moving to the side of Mario and the others.
"Not…without…me!" Called a familiar voice.
"No way…" Toadette and 'Mario' said together.
"How…?" 'Peach' began, trailing off.
"Luigi!" Peasley cried.
"Luigi?" Mario, Toad and Serena asked in unison, equally bewildered.
True to what everyone was thinking, Luigi slowly hobbled into the basement, breathing heavily with exhaustion. "D-Don't…start…the battle…yet." He heaved.
Peasley reached into Mario's bag, pulling out a regular mushroom. He angrily stormed over to Luigi and shoved it into his hands. "How dare you come down here?! Look at you, you're sweating like you're in the desert! And look at the state you're in!" He scolded furiously.
"N-Nice to see you're okay too…" Luigi replied, embarrassed. He swallowed the mushroom whole and slowly felt the energy come back to him. "Now can we start?" he asked, sounding less exhausted and more determined. "I have some payback to deal to Morton and Wendy." Luigi glared at the impostors.
Morton and Peasley were about to say something, but Toadette beat them to the punch. "Alright, fine! Mario, keep an eye on him!" the genius suddenly snapped, startling Morton and the members of her group.
"I like this one." Wendy said, pointing at Toadette with a sneer. "It'll be fun toying with you when we win!"
Toadette's eyes widened in terror and she backed away. "N-No! Keep away from me!"
"Hey!" Luigi yelled, "You want me, remember? I'm so going to get you for hurting Peasley!"
"Alright." Wendy said, pulling out her wand to remove the disguise. Morton did the same for his disguise. "Whatever you want." She grinned maliciously.
Toadette recovered and everyone got into a fighting stance. The battle started when Wendy fired a vertical hoop at Mario, Luigi and Peasley and a horizontal hoop at Toad and Serena.
-Insert joke about this not being a proper boss fight here-
Mario hoisted Luigi over his shoulder despite the complaints he received and jumped through the hoop. Peasley followed Mario's example and jumped through effortlessly.
Toadette decided to take advantage of the situation to face Morton Junior while Toad and Serena barely jumped the horizontal hoop, having to jump twice to avoid the other side of the ring. Toadette wanted to jump on Morton Junior, but found herself unable to do so.
"What's the matter Smarty-Pants? Can't find the will to fight?" Morton asked her, smirking.
"N-No…I just don't think this is right…" Toadette said, making sure everybody else was preoccupied with Wendy. "The Morton I met before was different, which one is the real you?"
Morton thought for a moment before giving her a grin. "You'll have to find that out for yourself." He lunged forward with his hammer-wand, swinging it downwards in an attempt to hit the genius. Toadette jumped out of the way in time and managed to jump on his head, dealing a small amount of damage.
Wendy growled in annoyance as everyone had avoided her rings. Mario and Luigi performed a drill shell attack out of nowhere, forcing Wendy to conjure up a pink magic shield. The bros attempted to drill through the shield, but Luigi's injury made it difficult to drill for long and they had to stop. The shield only had a few cracks in it. "Hehe! You'll have to try better than that." Sneered the spoilt koopaling. "Oh wait, but you can't because of Greenie's injury." She mocked.
"It's Luigi." Retorted the green hero. "And you are so going to pay."
"No I'm not, because this is the end of the line for you all!" Wendy replied, cackling with laughter. "Morton, fun time is over, we're taking the Beanstar!"
"Keep your hands off of the Beanstar!" Peasley yelled, running toward them.
"Didn't you learn from the last time you did this?" Wendy sneered, casting her shield around her once more. Peasley bounced off it again, landing roughly on the basement floor.
"If these two were smart, they would just run off with the Beanstar and activate it later…" Serena mumbled. Unfortunately everyone heard that, Wendy and Morton grinned and Serena's allies glared at her. "Ehehe….oops…"
"Whose side are you on?" Mario groaned.
"This one I swear!" Serena said.
"Well, thanks to the General's buddy here, we have a new plan!" Wendy howled with laughter.
"It's time we move on." Morton said. Wendy nodded in agreement.
"You don't think you could, like, activate it before you leave though?" Serena asked.
"Stop giving them ideas!" Toad yelled.
"Alright. We'll activate it now, that way you can watch us win." Wendy replied.
"And…I don't know…teleport us all outside?" Serena asked innocently.
Wendy obliged, waving her wand. Suddenly everybody was outside Bean-Bean Castletown. Mario, Luigi, Toad, Toadette and Peasley looked around, wondering what Serena was up to. Wendy turned herself into 'Peach' once more and faced the Beanstar.
"O Beanstar! Hear my voice and grant my wish!" Wendy-as-Peach said in Peach's voice.
The Beanstar suddenly lit up in a fierce yellow light, the face on it looked rather happy to be awake. Wendy tried to make her wish there and then, reaching out for the relic with greed. Serena grinned as the Beanstar's expression went angry, flashing red instead. Wendy stepped back, shock written all over her face.
"What's going on?!" She demanded. "Why's it reacting like this?!"
"That, my spoilt koopaling, is the Beanstar rejecting you." Serena said, giving Wendy an evil grin.
Wendy replied with some furious stomping of her feet into the ground. "No fair! I was tricked!" She cried, turning back into her normal self.
"Well…here we go again…" Mario, Luigi and Peasley grumbled unenthusiastically.
"Please don't tell me it's about to split…" Toad complained.
"It's about to split…" Toadette said.
True to what everyone was complaining about, the Beanstar grew furious and exploded into four pieces, each of them flying off to different locations throughout the kingdom. Everybody sans Serena collectively groaned and begun to complain.
Luigi dragged a hand down his face with an irritated sigh. "Now look at what you've done, Serena. We have to race around and find the pieces again."
"I know." Serena said. "But would you prefer this outcome, or Morton and Wendy getting away with the Beanstar?"
"Honestly, I don't know which one is worse…" Peasley frowned.
"Is collecting the pieces that bad? We just have to beat Morton and Wendy to the punch." Serena said, still grinning.
"Who are you, by the way?" Peasley asked Serena.
"We'll share stories on the go, we don't have time to waste." Luigi said.
"Luigi's right, because while you lot were talking, Morton and Wendy took off." Toadette said, pointing at where the two koopalings had been standing.
"We're doomed." Toad said
"Not if we know where to look." Mario said. "When the Beanstar split into pieces last time, we met two very odd characters who were in possession of one."
"Oh." Luigi said. "I wonder how those two are."
"You're not coming." Mario told Luigi.
"Why not?!" Luigi and Peasley exclaimed.
"You're injured, and so is Peasley. Neither of you should come with us." Mario replied, indicating to Peasley's sling and Luigi's foot cast.
"You cannot tell me what to do. I'm a King now." Peasley said.
Mario blinked. "K-King?"
"The tombstone." Toadette said.
"Right…"
"Anyways!" Luigi cut in. "I'm going whether you like it or not."
"How? You can hardly walk!" Mario protested.
"He can fly though. Using my winged bean." Peasley said.
"Don't you mean hover board?" Toad asked.
"It's a hover board, yes, but I call it a winged bean, because that's what it is." Peasley explained.
"Guys, come on. Hurry up and get yourselves sorted, we're losing patience here!" Serena interrupted the arguing trio, glancing at the toad siblings who both looked incredibly bored.
"Fine. Luigi can ride on the board, but no combat until I say so." Mario relented.
Peasley darted into the Castletown while the group awaited his return. It was almost half an hour before Peasley returned, hover board/winged bean in hand. "I come with news. Sieva, Len, Snap and Cann are fine, and the surviving civilians are mostly uninjured. I can join you for a short adventure while they recover."
"That's good. I'm glad those four are safe." Luigi said, relieved. Peasley helped him onto the board so that Luigi was sitting on it.
"So, where first?" Toad asked.
"Teehee Valley." Mario and Luigi said immediately.
"Ah, we're seeing the thief first." Peasley commented.
"To the shortcut pipe!" Serena said excitedly, running off to the nearest one.
"Wait for us!" Toad and Toadette cried together, running after Serena.
Peasley hopped onto the board, helping Luigi to his feet and keeping him stable. "We'll fly there." The king told Mario.
"Be safe." Mario said.
"We will." Luigi and Peasley chorused, flying off to Teehee Valley.
Mario sighed, running after the others. "Time to see what the Shadow Thief has been up to all this time."
References:
"SHUT IT!"- Toadette's exclamation here is a small reference to Disney's Brave.
Serena's complaint about the castle being like a dungeon- Legend of Zelda: How many goddamn castles need to be a dungeon?
Serena's comment on mid-boss/final boss- Just…felt like breaking the fourth wall, what else is there to say?
Annnd done! This took way longer than I thought it would to get up to here, so I apologise to RRPA for a missing Popple. Don't worry, he is definitely in the next chapter.
To compensate, here's the name of the next chapter to get you all excited.
In Pieces: Stealing is wrong, see?
Look forward to it!
Magyk-Foal1, out!