Hola! So yea, I haven't updated this story for over a year. I had forgotten about it , to tell the truth. But you know, now that I have vacations for two months I have a lot of spare time, so expect a lot of updates for the time being ;). I own only Yosh and Klein xD, but everything else is not mine :).

Chapter 12: The Blackout

"How do I look?" asked Kooper to Yosh, dressed in elegant clothes. They were both in their hotel room. Kooper had just come out of the bathroom, and Yosh was sitting comfortably on the sofa, with the remote controller in his hand.

"Really handsome," said Yosh, faking a girly voice.

"Haha…" laughed Kooper, "No, man, seriously."

"Fine, looking good," said Yosh boringly.

"I see you are not dressed," Kooper pointed out.

"I'm not coming," said Yosh, "I had enough humiliation for the night. I rather stay and watch TV."

"Okay, then," said Kooper opening the door of the hotel room, "I guess I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Good luck with the gal!" exclaimed Yosh before Kooper closed the door behind him.


"Just look at them…" said Bow eyeing Goombella and Klein dancing energetically on the dance floor in the middle of the casino. She looked quite happy, moving her hips to the rhythm of "Wicked Ice" by Crazy Penguin, the newest hit. Peach was also looking at them, with an expression hard to define. On the other hand, Toadette continued eating her salad as if she hadn't eaten in days.

The three girls were all alone, sitting around a table with the chessboard-colored pattern found in all the casino's walls and furniture, located directly next to the dance floor where their Goomba friend was enjoying the night.

"You know, I thought Kooper and Goombella were dating," uttered Toadette after swallowing some food, quickly attacking a piece of chicken with her fork after.

Neither Bow nor Peach dared to answer her, as neither really knew what to answer at all. The tense moment was thankfully interrupted by Mario and Luigi, who were approaching their table, Vivian following behind them.

"Girls, have you seen Parakarry?" asked Mario in a worried tone to the whole table.

"I haven't seen him since we entered the casino," remembered Peach.

"Last time I saw him was in the buffet about an hour ago, rather enjoying himself with burritos," said Toadette immediately.

"Maybe he returned back to his room?" suggested Bow.

"Vivian here says she saw him enter the restroom with a stomachache," explained Luigi, moving away so that Vivian could step forward into view.

"We kind of entered at the same time," commented Vivian, "Well, of course, he entered the gentlemen's restroom and I entered the ladies' restroom.

That happened five minutes ago," added Vivian.

"We checked the restroom, and there was blood splattered everywhere on a sink, and no trace of Parakarry," continued Mario. Peach, Toadette and Bow all looked panicked with this last piece of information. Toadette finally let go of the fork and gave Mario her fullest attention.

"We also saw the vigilance tape that's supposed to record the door of the restroom," added Luigi, "And we saw Parakarry entering the restroom but he never came out."

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Peach before covering her mouth with her right hand. "Do you think the same captor has now captured Parakarry also?"

Bow immediately stood up from her chair (Err, or she rather hovered out of the chair).

"Then what are we doing here?" she hurried, "Let's go and find him!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Peach as she stood up also, quickly followed by Toadette. In that precise moment, something extremely awkward happened. The lights went out, and the music as well stopped. Voices of concern immediately erupted in the whole casino.

"What the…" exclaimed Luigi after jumping in effect of a reflex.

"Ouch! You stepped on my foot!" cried Toadette from the darkness.

"Sorry!" Luigi quickly apologized.

Suddenly a bright, green light sparkled from the buffet table. A Shy Guy in a blue suit was holding a lamp in the shape of a stick, standing on top of the buffet table so everyone could see him.

"Your attention, please!" he said. Immediately everyone in the casino went quiet. Luigi had never seen a Shy Guy talking so confidently in his life, as he though all of them were quiet and shy. "We had a technical problem with illumination, and what's worse, it looks like we're all trapped in here; the door somehow is tightly shut, and keys don't seem to open it."

Worried voices erupted once again in the casino as Shy Guys carrying blue lamps with the same design appeared everywhere.

"Silence, please!" shouted the blue-suited Shy Guy. Silence fell again in the casino. "There's nothing to do but wait for other hotel workers outside the casino to fix the lights.

For now, I suggest for all of you to stay calm and have a seat. Hotel staff will give one lamp to each table. I'll keep you updated as soon as I get news of what's happening. Thank you."

"Guys, I have been looking for you all over!" Mario heard Goombella said to his right-hand side.

A Shy Guy approached their table and deposited the blue lamp in the middle of their table. Without saying a thing or looking at any of them, he immediately left hurriedly.

Peach was glad that now she could see all of her friend's faces. She sat down back at the table, following the Shy Guy's instructions. The others quickly mimicked her.

"Where's your friend, Goombella?" asked Mario in a grumpy tone.

"I managed to escape from him when the blackout occurred," confessed Goombella.

"Why would you escape from him? I thought you liked him," asked Bow looking amazed.

"Well, he dances really well and all but he's so full of himself for my taste, I'd say," admitted Goombella. Mario was looking rather pleased.

"Now, weren't we looking for someone…?" said Bow, reminding them of poor Parakarry.

"You were?" asked Goombella confused as ever.

The gang told Goombella what happened before the blackout in less than two minutes. After Mario finished telling the whole story, Goombella was processing the information in her head before asking questions.

"So, Luigi, you said that in the vigilance tape Parakarry enters the gentlemen's restroom but never leaves it?" asked Goombella thinking hard. Luigi nodded.

"Bow, have you checked if the magical barrier is activated?" Goombella questioned Bow looking at her from across the table. She looked quite scary under the blue light coming from the lamp.

"Mmm… let me try," said Bow, closing her eyes for a second, but nothing happened.

"What is a magical barrier?" asked Luigi looking confused.

"Enchantments done in most public buildings done to prevent a person or creature from leaving a room or the building itself by the means of magic" recited Goombella at top speed, "All other kinds of magic are permitted, though."

"You mean like Vivian's Veil or Bow's Disappearing?" asked Peach.

"Correct" nodded Goombella.

"It's activated," confirmed Bow after trying to Disappear for the third time.

"So, we can confirm that Parakarry didn't leave the restroom thanks to the vigilance tape," reminded Goombella the facts, "And if Parakarry was really kidnapped by someone in the bathroom he or she or IT couldn't be able to exit the restroom by the means of magic. Everything so clear now."

To the rest of the gang those facts looked everything but clear to them. After realizing that her partners still looked confused under the lamp's light, Goombella decided to explain.

"My guesses are that there's another exit door in the restroom. If Parakarry was kidnapped then his captor must have used this door to leave. If he was not kidnapped, the facts remain the same. Maybe Parakarry for some reason wasn't able to open the main door and left through this door."

"But we checked the restroom, Goombella," reminded Mario, "And there was no sign of another door."

"Well, maybe it's hidden, you know," said Goombella, "I'm sure this won't be titled 'Secret Entrance' like the secret entrance in The Great Boggly Tree.

Now we should consider other facts," Goombella continued, "We must consider the possibility that our captor, or even Parakarry himself, left the restroom while the blackout occurred, we don't know. If this actually happened then Parakarry is still here, as the casino doors are closed and he couldn't have left through them".

"So true!" exclaimed Toadette.

"Your brainpower really stuns me, Goombella" Mario said, making Goombella blush.

"I think we should team up," suggested Peach, "I suggest half of us look for Parakarry around the casino, and the other half to look for this hypothetical door in the restroom."

"That sounds like a good idea," admitted Mario. "I want to look for that secret entrance".

"Yea, me too!" said Luigi excitedly.

"My magic can be of great aid in this" said Bow.

"Then Vivian, Toadette and me will remain here and look for Parakarry," said Peach. She turned to look at Goombella "You are good at this, Goombella, so you will be more helpful aiding the guys in the search of that door."

"Agreed!" uttered Goombella. "If you don't mind, we'll take the lamp with us, you girls can see with the help of the other lamps."

"Yea, no prob," nodded Peach.

"So, let's do this!" said Luigi with enthusiasm.

All at once all of the present party members stood up from the table. Peach, Toadette and Vivian went in different directions while Luigi, Mario, Bow and Goombella all went in the direction of the restroom.

"I suggest you turn off that lamp for now, Goombella," suggested Mario, "Too much attention."

"OK, agree," said Goombella while quickly turning off the lamp, guiding themselves to the restroom wit the help of random lamps here and there.

A 'KEEP OUT' sign was outside the gentlemen's restroom when they arrived. Water was coming out from behind the door and the floor looked slippery.

"EW, I forgot the fact that I'm about to enter a guys' restroom," reasoned Bow.

"Ohmigosh! So true!" exclaimed Goombella.

"Shh! Keep your voice down," murmured Mario while kicking the sign softly out of his way, "You don't want to attract any Shy Guy guards in here".

Bow and Goombella remained silent as the four of them entered the restroom. Blood was still over the sink, as the staff had told Mario and Luigi to leave it there as possible crime evidence. Goombella looked at the blood with disgust. Bow quickly approached the sink and, to everyone's surprise, she stuck out her tongue and touched the blood with the very tip of it.

"What was that for!?" shrieked Goombella stepping back.

"Just checking the freshness of the blood," she indicated, "And I must say its pretty fresh and yummy, err, just fresh sorry, and my calculations is that this blood has been here for no less than half an hour."

"So it's indeed Parakarry's…" reasoned Mario.

"Let's hurry and look for that door," suggested Luigi. The others nodded and started inspecting different areas of the restroom.


Kooper was walking alone along a dark hallway somewhere in the third floor of the hotel, careful not to trip with anything in the surrounding darkness.

"Just two stories down and I'll be able to reach the casino…" he murmured to himself.

Kooper's walking came to halt, as he heard some footsteps in the distance. They were growing louder and louder. Kooper looked around randomly, as he wasn't quite sure from where the source of sound came. He felt someone or something moving behind him, and he managed to see a shadow darting past him at a quick pace. Suddenly a blue light coming from the opposite end of the hallway caught Kooper's eyes. Kooper's heart skipped a beat in fear, but he was ready to face whatever was coming. The blue, bright orb was coming closer and closer to him.

"Sir?" asked a voice shyly. When he was close enough to him, Kooper was able to see the Shy Guy holding a blue lamp which was the source of light he saw earlier.

"Oh, thanks god it's you," said Kooper with relief.

"We had a blackout, as you can see," explained the Shy Guy, "I have orders to return everyone back to their rooms. I'm sorry sir but it's not time to wander around the hotel."

"I wanted to go to the casino, actually" uttered Kooper.

"I'm sorry, sir, but it seems that the people inside are trapped," said the Shy Guy shyly (ironically), "The doors don't seem to open, but we promise we'll get to the bottom of this."

"No! What..!?" exclaimed Kooper, "Goombella!"

"Please, sir, let me guide you back to your room," insisted the Shy Guy.

"OK, then…" admitted Kooper, knowing in his mind that he will return after the Shy Guy would leave him in his hotel room.

The pair went two stories up, where Kooper's room was located. The trip seemed way faster than Kooper's descend, maybe due to the fact that being able to see clearly thanks to the lamp made him walk faster.

In no time Kooper and the Shy Guy where in the hallway where Kooper's and Yosh's room was. To Kooper's surprise, he saw from the distance that his hotel room's door was flung open, and a mysterious figure came out holding something sparkly in their hands. Kooper quickly ran in direction of the unknown character, with the Shy Guy trailing behind him. When Kooper was close enough, he was relieved to see that the mysterious character was indeed Parakarry.

"Oh, it's you, for a moment I thought…" but Kooper wasn't able to finish the sentence when Parakarry performed a Shell Shot attack on him, making him land on his back, helplessly. Parakarry then flied away at top speed.

"Sir, are you okay?" asked the Shy Guy as he helped Kooper stand back on his feet.

"Yea…" answered Kooper holding his head. That was the strangest thing ever, why would Parakarry ever attack him? And what was he carrying anyway?

"Well um, now that you are safely back into your room," said the Shy Guy handing him a lamp, "I need to get back downstairs." And with that the Shy Guy left, his lamp's light fading as he turned in the corner.

"Yosh, are you still here?" asked Kooper as he closed the door behind him. He held the lamp high to be able to see the whole room. The sofa where Yosh last sat was empty. "You won't believe what just happened!"

But there was no response. "Maybe he left the room after the blackout, as he wasn't able to see TV" suggested Kooper to himself. He continued to walk through the room looking for him, when he stumbled over something on the floor. He directed the lamp's light to whatever was on the floor.

"What the…" Kooper freaked out when he saw Yosh lying on the floor, unconscious.


"See? I told you that there was something behind the mirror!" said Goombella triumphantly. There was indeed, a secret passage in the restroom, located behind a mirror on the wall. The brothers had carried the heavy mirror away from its place, revealing a hole on the wall.

"HOW the hell you knew it was there?!" said Luigi stunned.

"Well, thanks god it's there," said Mario relieved, "If not we would just have broken an expensive mirror for nothing." He added looking at a damaged edge of the mirror.

"I don't know, I guess it was pure luck" said Goombella modestly. "Or I actually started thinking were would I put the secret passage myself."

"Let's roll, then!" said Bow excitedly.

The four of them hurried to enter the unknown chamber. The room was huge, and it had lit torches on every wall and some on the floor. Goombella quickly identified the room as a storage room, based on the surrounding objects.

"So this hole actually connected the restroom with the storage room all this time," said Goombella walking confidently forward. The others followed.

"Look, the staircase!" said Luigi excitedly, pointing the stairs leading to an upper floor. The four of hurried their way through the staircase and opened the door at the end of it. As Mario stepped outside he quickly identified the area as a hallway of the second floor.

"Let's better return to the casino and tell the others!" suggested Mario, relieved of finally finding an exit.


"That bastard knocked me out!" Yosh was saying with anguish. He was sitting on the sofa, pressing a bag of ice on his head. Kooper was sitting next to him on the edge of his bed. "I heard someone knocking the door and when I went to open it, he just punched me in the face. It's the last thing I remember."

"Strange…" said Kooper, more to himself than to Parakarry, "Did he take anything from here? I saw him carrying something under his arm" he asked, returning his attention back to Yosh.

"I don't know, let's check"

Kooper grabbed the blue lamp from the night table and started inspecting the room, with Yosh following behind. Yosh suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"Wait… sparkling thing, you said…" he murmured. He rushed to his bed, where a bag of his possessions was. He was looking desperately for something among the things in his bag, but was unsuccessful in finding it. His face emerged from his bag to look at Kooper with a worrying look.

"I know what he took," he said, gulping, "The Golden Hourglass is gone."


The seven party members were back at the same table they where a while ago, sharing the information they had collected. Shy Guys had started serving soda to all the people in the casino.

"Are you sure he's not in here?" asked Bow to Peach, Toadette and Vivian.

"So sure," said Toadette, drinking some soda, "No sign of him at all."

"Shouldn't we tell the other people that there's a way out of this place?" said Peach heartedly.

"No," said Mario instantly, "We don't know what we're dealing with. The people are safer in here."

"Agree," said Goombella instantly.

"OK, so let's get audi as quiet as possible…" said Peach standing up like the rest of them. Turning off the lamp like they did before, the seven party members went quietly to the restroom, attempting to draw the less attention possible from neighboring tables.

"Eeek! Girls in the restroom!" cried an old Goomba out loud when he saw the gang entering the restroom.

"Shh!!" said Goombella instantly, "Please keep your voice low!"

"Get out of here!" cried the old Goomba, "Young people these days, no respect at all!"

"We really have no time for this shit," said Bow making her way to the front of the group and performing a Fright attack on the poor old Goomba. The fact that they were in semidarkness didn't help to make Bow less frightening at all, and the old Goomba fainted on the floor.

"Bow!" cried Goombella indignantly while kneeling next to the old Goomba lying on the floor. "You might just have caused him a heart attack!"

"He'll be fine, I promise" said Bow calmly.

"Okay…" said Mario, still freaked out by Bow's savage decisions, "If Bow says so, then let's continue."

Goombella leaned the old Goomba against the nearest wall, looking devastated. The rest passed through the hole in the wall next to the moved mirror.

"Parakarry! For goddess sake, we were so worried!" exclaimed Peach as she saw Parakarry floating in the middle of the storage room, barely illuminated by the blue lamp Luigi was holding. However, when Luigi approached Parakarry along with the rest of the gang Parakarry's face was fully illuminated. It was not the Parakarry they knew. His pupils were bright red and he was looking at them angrily, holding the Golden Hourglass under his shoulder. Without further advice, he performed a Whirlwind attack and hurried to exit through the door located at the end of the staircase.

"Ahh!!" shrieked Peach as she was sent flying back to a wall because of the powerful gust.

"What the…!?" exclaimed Goombella lifting herself from the floor, "Why would Parakarry attack US!?"

"Hurry, he's escaping!" urged Mario running to the same door Parakarry used. The others quickly followed behind him.

Once they were in the hallway, everyone was able to see Parakarry floating away from them, trying to reach the staircase at the end of the hallway. Bow quickly stepped forward and Summoned the Golden Hourglass. Within a second, the Golden Hourglass materialized in Bow's hands.

"Why would he want to steal that thing?!" asked Peach incredulously.

"Didn't you see his eyes?" said Goombella, looking at the gang, "I think he was being Controlled."

"Controlled how?" asked Luigi, clueless.

"In magic is a term used to indicate a state of being under any spell used to control someone or something" recited Goombella smartly.

"Oh, how awful!" exclaimed Toadette.

"Do you really think he was being Controlled?" questioned Mario.

"I have never seen someone Controlled before," admitted Goombella blushing, "But it just fits the description of the book. Red eyes, unable to speak, strange behavior…"

"I'll go and advice the hotel managers to close all the exit doors, he must not leave the hotel!" panicked Vivian while hurrying along the corridor and disappearing from view when she turned in a corner.

"The rest of us should be protecting Bow" suggested Mario.

"Who whoever was Controlling Parakarry, they were searching for this" he continued, "He might return for it."


"Look there he is!" exclaimed Yosh when he saw Parakarry floating in a corridor on the third floor, illuminating him with the lamp.

"Quick, let's get him!" said Kooper while running beside Yosh in Parakarry's direction.

The Controlled Parakarry quickly turned and started floating away from them at a fast pace. Kooper and Yosh accelerated their running.

"You are not getting away this time!" said Yosh before whistling in a peculiar manner.

The Yoshi Herd appeared out of nowhere, ran past them easily and managed to hit Parakarry before he would attempt to go upstairs. The devastating force of the running Yoshi made Parakarry hit the wall at the end of the hallway, falling on his shell when he hit the floor.

"Damn, I told you to knock him out, not kill him!" exclaimed Kooper running in Parakarry's direction. Yosh didn't respond at all. As they approached him, Kooper was glad to see that he was not dead, as he was swinging his arms a bit.

"Where… Where am I?" Parakarry muttered, seeing Kooper and Yosh standing before him.

"YOU MAN ARE… what? You don't remember?" asked Yosh scratching his head. Kooper hurried to help him stand before Yosh could stop him.

"The last thing I remember was being hit by the sink in the restroom," said Parakarry truthfully, holding his wound in pain.

"Wow, you must have hit yourself hard to behave like that," uttered Yosh.

"What did I do?" asked Parakarry.

"For one thing you knocked me out, hit Kooper, and stole the Golden Hourglass," recited Yosh.

"That's three things," Kooper pointed out.

"Irrelevant," Yosh murmured under his breath.

"Anyway, where did you keep the Golden Hourglass? I see that you don't have it anymore," noticed Kooper.

"Haven't I just told you that I don't remember a thing?" said Parakarry looking so confused.

"Hey, guys!" shouted Goombella as the missing party members were rushing toward them through the darkness. "Stay away from him, he's dangerous!"

"He's fine" assured Kooper once all of them arrived, "He's back to being himself."

"Oh, I see…" said Goombella, noticing how Parakarry's eyes were not red anymore.

"I'm really glad you are okay, Goombella," Kooper couldn't help saying it to her, "You had me worried."

Goombella didn't say anything, but Kooper was able to see under the blue light that she was smiling, and blushing as well.

"Oh, so you had the Golden Hourglass all the time?" asked Yosh incredulous, seeing that Bow was carrying the Golden Hourglass under her arm.

"Not all the time," admitted Bow, "I managed to Summon it from Parakarry's arms".

"I wanted to steal that thing?" asked Parakarry confused.

In that precise moment, the lights returned to the hotel. Voices of relief could be heard all over, from all stories.

"Thanks god!" exclaimed Peach happily.

"Wow, this sure was a freaky night!" said Yosh with enthusiasm.

"What's wrong, Vivian?" asked Luigi looking at her kind of saddened face, "You don't look happy."

"Nothing, is just…" said Vivian hesitating, "I liked the gloom environment better."

Everyone burst to laugh.

So yea... end of this chapter. If someone really cares about continuing reading this story, well thanks a lot. Fell free to review and tell your comments, positive or negative, about the story. ¡Hasta la próxima! ;)