As I usually stand in some point of level thinking, this is the second time you have appeared.
Alex: Oddly enough, I like it here.
I am not offering lodging in my author realm and you are a fictional character, you don't exactly jump out of words and pages to live in reality.
Alex: Maybe, but how many of these anime, manga, or some books do the whole' we live' cliché?
... Paper Mario doesn't belong to me and the characters and plot are mine, please give a honest review while I LET the Koopa ravage my cracker supply...
Alex: And thus falls the Kingdom of Ritz...
As it turned out, Christian found the key near the badge shop and headed over to pick it up when he noticed Alex and the Koopa Amethyst, sleeping on the roof of the building in front and glanced down to the Toad who owned the house and she shook her head, continuing to look for something on ground level. '... are we really just going to leave it be that you have two Koopas on your roof?'
Deciding it was best to just leave it as such, Christian headed back to the east side, Gus charging him again before the yellow Craw delivered the key and obtained twenty coins from the request, pleased to have gotten some extra change as he returned back to the Center and started to work with the various requests in Rogueport as he was bidding time before he told Alex what their next destination is.
'This is just... not how I had envisioned our adventure to be, I should tell the boss that we need to head for Boggly Woods, but with that talk about Hook-Amethyst, I guess I am still going through some denial.' Christian sighed aloud as he continued on...
"So what should we do?"
"Well..." Anya contemplated on their options as Christian said that he needed some time and he was currently working with the Trouble Center while Alex had Amethyst with him and explained to the trio that they are free to join in Amethyst's training, but none of them had any plans to go with so they were debating at the inn. "As it stands now, we were just left to our own devices, but I don't know of anything in town that I would like to do."
Um... What if we eavesdrop...?" Both girls looked at Koops as he waved his hands in apology. "Hear me out!"
Goombella sighed as she nodded. "Go ahead..."
"I was actually wondering about the cigarettes that Alex was smoking..." This caught both of their attention as he went on. "When I joined, he was smoking the same and he looked to be pulling them from under his windbreaker, but I never heard or seen a cigarette that is so..."
"Restoring...?"
"Yeah, that's the word!" Goombella started to lean back as she thought about it too.
"It is true that the smoke plumed out is red and even a brief whiff of it yielded to such... healing factors, but what is he even smoking to do such things?"
"I don't have a clue, he never tells me what he is even doing nor does he tell Christian about it..." The three hummed in curiosity before Anya agreed. "You're right, Koops, let's eavesdrop on Alex to see if we can uncover his cigarette scheme."
"Yeah!"
"Al-Alright!"
"Easy, Amethyst, I understand this is not something to do right off the bat, do you want to practice in Petal Meadows?"
"Don't be absurd, Alex..." Amethyst said as she stretched, wearing training clothing with her shell by Alex as he clamped a unlit cigarette in his beak. "I understand the basics that fire consumes life and being in Petal Meadows would be a bad idea as we just left that place and I do not wish to invite trouble right now."
"Very well then, let's start once more." As her trainer, Alex could tell what was right and wrong about her stance and force, walking over as he straightened her out. "Your back is sticking out, perfect for prolonged use, but we need fireballs, not breath, stand up!" She reacted quickly as he continued his measures. "Too tease in arms, stomach, and legs, loosen yourself and breathe..." Her limbs disengaged and she found herself feeling more open than before. "Focus in your mind, the fireball you wish to fire, feel its essence in your jaw and shoot it out as if it is something truly revolting!" Her mouth boiled in heat as the fire formed in her lungs and extended up her throat, generating the orb that she thought and, without pause, shot her head forward and shoot a fireball out her mouth, the large orb slamming into a fallen pillar and charred it to black as she panted lightly, the soreness easing away as she performed these tasks. "Now, describe your feelings, the moments of fire brimming and being shot out of your being."
She gripped a hand as she pondered the feeling, how it felt now than before. "It has changed... I am so used to being a dragon that this is quite the affected state I have. My flame, though meager now, it feels like it is surrounding my lungs, encasing them in flame and the fireball..." She rubbed her throat in thought, understanding the position that was common with many thinkers. "...It felt like it was weak to start off compared to my breath, but it is helping me adjust more than my breath, a shot over a continuous stream..."
"Good, good..." Alex nodded as he held the cigarette in hand, unaware of the three intruders watching the duo. "Remember that feeling when it comes to combat, not forgetting the energy you have created, built, and used is a key to a number of abilities."
Amethyst paused with a questioning look as she took into account the cigarette. "Pardon my question, but what is that?"
Alex studied his object, rolling it about as he breathed out red smoke. "...This is..." He sighed as he returned to sitting down, pondering the place he was in and his reason for the cigarette. "This is a release, a way to forget my past and press on, to heal from the pain of a phantom limb and grew into my metal, but it now serves as a reminder that I MUST walk away from the dark and stride into the light..." The object was lowered as he continued to Amethyst's awe. "Yet, it is the darkness that keeps me contained, never to allow anyone in, lest I end up hurting them gravely." Placing the thing back in his mouth, he only sighed with a sorrowful look. "My past is not worth mention nowadays, don't mind my rambling."
To the surprise of the eavesdroppers and Alex himself, Amethyst strode over, snatching the cigarette out of Alex's mouth and smack her lips on his, sharing a long moment before she parted, panting with a smile as she held the object. "You talk too much, 'mentor', you need to let some stress out and trust others, you can never walk alone in this world, I know I can't comment the same way as your friends and allies, but you are a good person, don't let the past break you like this." She grinned, showing off some draconic fangs, before giving the cigarette back and resuming training while Alex was still, eye open wide as he just sat there, unfazed by the ongoing training.
'...WHAT EVEN JUST HAPPENED!'
"...Did...Did she just..."
"That... just occurred..."
"...Should we tell them that we..." Before Koops continued, Anya clamped his mouth shut as Goombella shouted in a low voice.
"NO!"
"If we reveal that we saw the WHOLE thing, we run the risk of getting destroyed, Alex has this whole thing that he gets 'quite' difficult to deal with when he is really angry and WHO knows how much Amethyst could display when she is furious, embarrassed, or scared." Anya said as they stayed in hiding among some fallen rubble.
"Got it, let's stay quiet..." The three remained as Amethyst finished up and headed off to see if she could help out topside as Alex sat still for some time before sighing and standing up, slowly following Amethyst's path, yet paused when he was a few feet from the hiding trio, removing his cigarette and puffing out his red plume before he threw a punch into a nearby pillar, the stone crackling all over to the top before it crumbled to dust with his Power Punch badge attack, releasing a yell like he was completely taken by something.
"WHAT EVEN JUST HAPPENED?!," Alex huffed as he headed away with a mumble. "... Stars, her lips were divine, I have officially earned a 'girlfriend'..."
The Koopa walked away, shaking his head at the thoughts as he continued to smoke the Mushroom Cigarette, his departure left three observers to stand up, each shaking at the destruction that just occurred right beside them.
"R-Right, why am I-I not surprised..."
"He just... d-destroyed the pillar..."
"I-I-I had never seen such p-p-power before..." In the end, they were lucky as the pillar was the only thing destroyed, but the fact that he had displayed that much power, they were to be careful not to anger him too badly...
"Alex, what is the plan?" Due to Christian's finishing up much faster than he had expected, the group rallied back to the inn and explained the next location, a place called Boggly Woods and that they would need to find grey mouse-like creatures named Punies to find the Crystal Star. As such, the method to find the pipe to the Woods resides in the same place, the Rogueport Sewers.
"Well, this makes things a lot more difficult on our agenda." The Koopa said, rubbing his jaw in ponder. "If the criminals who kidnapped Peach are after the Stars as well, then it is possible that they could have made operations there to get it before us."
"...And?"
"We can not let them stop us from getting the Crystal Star, so let's go before they obtain it long before our arrival." Alex stood up and rallied everyone to follow him down into the Sewers and start searching for the Boggly Pipe when they spotted something scurry into a mouse-like hole, something gray.
"Hey! Alex! You see that? That was one of the things Professor Frankly mentioned!"
"I can only guess, though it is fairly striped and has a green fuzz ball atop its head." Alex said as he observed the area that it fled to, through the steel bars and spoke once more. "Goombella, is there anything beyond the bars?"
"No, I think it is actually a dead-end, but I haven't gotten a look into it."
Alex smiled as he pulled out the stone and replied. "Well then, let's see what the gray creature has to say." Slipping through the bars, the creature spotted them and ran away, only to end up in the dead-end as the group approached, yelling aloud for mercy.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeek! D-Don't eat me!"
"I never knew that strange gray things were food?"
"They're not, Amethyst, it's one of the fear tactics like 'don't eat me, I taste bad.' type of things." Alex said as he turned back to the creature. "Let me keep it straight, we are not here to consume you or anything like that."
"Huh? Uh... You didn't come to eat me?"
"No, we didn't."
"And you're not bullies?"
Before Christian could crush the poor creature's hopes for the laugh of it, Alex slammed a hand over his mouth and replied. "Not one bit, we just need some answers."
"For real? Phew! Boy, that's good. I thought for a second I might have an accident."
Koops then took the chance to ask his own. "Um... Aren't you one of the creatures from Boggly Woods? Why are you down here?"
"Wh-What?! Why do you know about me?" Before anyone could say, the small critter jumped to the worst. "NOOO! Y-You must be... you guys are working for those X-Nauts, aren't you?! You cahsed me here! Noooooo! It's the end!"
"Okay, let's start with Q&A here." Alex said as he crouched down. "X-Nauts are bad, correct?" The Punie nodded as Alex continued. "They have invaded your home, the Great Tree, right?" Another nod. "They are tearing up the place and you sought out help, correct?"
"Y-Yeah..."
"So, you think they might be the guys after the Crystal Stars and have kidnapped Peach?" Anya asked with Alex nodding at the facts.
"It looks like we have a problem on our hands, these 'X-Nauts' are one step ahead for now, but we WILL beat them to the prize, if it is in the Tree." The Koopa crouched back down as he requested. "Lead the way, we need to get something that the bad guys are looking for and will help drive your oppressors out if it comes to that."
"Oh, thank you so much, follow me to the Woods." After a short moment, the Punie opened a larger path for the party to follow through and headed down into the next part of the adventure...
The Koopa left an hour after this came up, now I am missing his company.
Ah... No matter, the story rolls on so enjoy this while I ready Chapter Two for operation...
Wait... bad feeling... smell in the air... meaning... Amethyst must have found the entrance to the realm.
Amethyst: Where is Alex!?
He... went back an hour ago, if you hurry, you can catch him!
Amethyst: Thank you!
...Forgive me, my friend, but she IS your girlfriend...