Author's Note:
Hello!
Sorry for the endless waiting for this chapter! At least it is the longest chapter I ever wrote!
Disclaimer: I just own the plot and the OCs.
Alright, Let's-a-go!
Solution
Chapter 12: Fire Temple
Lemmy yawned and woke just as the fire keeping them warm almost went out. He blinked to adjust his eyes and looked around.
Iggy seemed to be getting better, which was also a good thing. He smiled at him then checked on Larry.
Other than a few scratches from their first battle, Larry seemed to be okay, too. But he was supposed to be watching Iggy, right?
As he stood and got on top of his ball, he made a faint noise that woke Larry up fast. The young koopaling quickly grabbed his knife, prepared for battle.
"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Larry shouted. Lemmy rolled a little closer, and once Larry saw it was just him, he calmed down and let out a large scale yawn.
"S-sorry, bro... I hadn't noticed I fell asleep..." Larry apologized. Lemmy was upset, especially since Larry had practically forced him to sleep first, but he remembered he was still just a kid. His expression softened and he patted him on the head.
"Its okay. The important thing is that we're all okay. Right?"
"Right!" Larry said, returning the smile. It was then Iggy finally began to come around, but he felt dizzy and weak. Lemmy and Larry knelt next to him to help support him.
"Hey, you okay?" Larry asked. Iggy nodded.
"I feel so dizzy" Iggy said, when Larry came near him, and tried to keep his back straight.
"Iggy, do you feel alright now?" Lemmy asked.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine... j-just dizzy, is all. Give me a minute..." Iggy said tiredly as he struggled to collect himself. Lemmy and Larry said nothing, but stayed close by in case he needed help getting up.
"A-alright... I can stand. Thanks, you two." Iggy said after he had finally managed to stand on his own. Lemmy hopped back on his ball.
"No problem, Iggy. Just be careful, okay?" Iggy nodded.
Larry and Iggy looked around as Iggy streched and cracked his neck to get the kinks out. "Well I think we'd better get moving. There was a beam of light at the top of this castle, right?"
"Yeah. We may as well see what else is in this creepy place..." Larry said, none too pleased with what they saw so far.
"Okay, so let's go then!" Lemmy led the gang deeper in the temple, using Iggy's light as their guide.
"Hang on. Iggy, bring your wand over here a moment." Lemmy suddenly said as he halted. Larry almost crashed into him, but regained himself and scuttled over to Lemmy's left side. Iggy flanked his right and pointed his wand straight ahead.
What lay before them was a set of stairs. "Think it goes somewhere?" Larry asked.
Lemmy shrugged, although he was scared to find out the answers himself. "Dunno. I guess we gotta go down there to find out."
Larry gulped; he was really beginning to hate the place. Lemmy was no different, and neither was Iggy, although it was clear Iggy was scared senseless. Lemmy took the wand from him and led them way, moving carefully so he wouldn't break his ball. Larry grabbed Iggy's hand and pulled him along.
'Come on I can do this!' Iggy thought, but his fear and restlessness was at the peak once he reached the bottom of the basement.
It was just a square room, cramped as heck. In front of them were two statues of what appeared to be a girl with long white hair and a red dress. In between the two statues was a large red door.
"Man, this place is weird... and I don't see how we're getting in there without a key or something." Lemmy noticed. Iggy walked off to the door, while Larry wandered around the small room.
"I won't stop to say that… this place gives me the creeps…" Larry muttered. He then followed Iggy to the door, and soon, Lemmy followed suit, giving the wand to Iggy so he could examine the door.
"Look here." Larry said, pointing to the handles. "It seems to have something written on it."
"Oh? Let me see…" Iggy squinted at the language that was etched into the door. It was an unknown language to both of his brothers.
"What does it say?"
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here." Iggy read slowly. "That's all it says."
"I hope nothing bad is in there..." Larry said jokingly. "Come on, we already experienced the worst thing already! Can it get any worse?"
Before either brother could respond, Larry quickly pushed open the door. Once again, it led to a dark room. As soon as he stepped in, the candles that seemed to be the main source of light illuminated the room, revealing a long platform, with lava pits every few feet. At the very end was yet another red door.
"Talk about home sweet home..." Lemmy grumbled under his breath. Larry just stared in shock.
"Well, let's get this mess done." He began to roll when Iggy suddenly yelled at him to stand back. Lemmy barely managed to dodge Iggy's green fireball that he shot out. It went straight across the platform, hitting the opposite door. No sooner than he did that, traps along the walls activated, shooting out rather hot fireballs of their own.
Lemmy blinked; he hadn't noticed those traps when the room lit up, but Iggy sure did. He would've been one dead koopa had he kept rolling.
"Thank you Iggy. You saved me." Lemmy said with a smile.
"No problem, Lemmy." Iggy replied. "But keep your eyes open. I doubt that was all this place had."
"Well, that's just great. How the heck are we getting past that mess?" Larry asked. Lemmy looked around and spotted what he thought was some sort of lever way across the end of the room, near the locked door.
"I see something over there... looks like a lever of some kind." Iggy noted. Lemmy and Larry squinted and they soon saw it too.
"As stupid as this room is, one of us has to get over there and pull that thing down so we can cross." Iggy said. Lemmy and Iggy both looked at Larry, who was quick to back out of that plan.
"No, no, no! Don't look at me! I ain't getting roasted!"
"But you are the only one that can get through that mess! Please Larry!" Lemmy pleaded with him. Larry grinned and told his brothers to stand back.
"I kid! I'm going in!" Larry said jokingly. He made it past the easy booby trap with ease and quickly reached the lever. "Can I do it again?" he yelled.
"Just push the lever!" Lemmy shouted, rolling his eyes and laughing.
"Done!"
The traps that were throwing fire balls deactivated, and the door opened. Larry froze for a moment before turning around, and his face fell flat.
"More spooky rooms... great... just great..." he grumbled as he walked through the red door. His older brothers soon caught up to him.
The room was enlightened with blue lights that came from out of nowhere, and two things were strongly noticeable about the room: the floor and a dome on the ceiling.
"Woah, what is this? The sky?" Larry asked, looking at the ceiling. Lots of white points could been seen. Larry assumed they were stars.
"And look at the ground! What are these signs?" Lemmy pointed at the floor. There were some circles around another little circle at the center of the room.
Iggy looked around, and noticed that at the sides of the room there were some small statues, one with a spherical object on it. He chuckled.
"Guys, I may be wrong, but I think… we're going to reproduce the Solar System."
"What are you talking about?" Both of his brothers asked, confused. Iggy walked over and collected the spherical object. "Just help me place the statues where I tell you, okay?"
"I don't think I can drag these." Lemmy realized; the statues were almost ten times his size and weight. Iggy reassured him with a pat on his back. "Don't worry. You can help me soon. Me and Larry will move these."
Lemmy nodded. "Alright."
"Okay, Larry, place the Sun over there." Iggy directed, pointing at the center of the room. Larry nodded and went to move the thing.
"This is… massive." Larry was surprised he could do it. Iggy went over to help him. With some effort, they managed to put it in the center of the room. Once it was placed, the top of the statue shot a beam to the ceiling, creating the Sun.
"So I guess those other circles must be planets?" Iggy nodded.
"Yeah. Seems like we gotta put them in order. That's easy."
"Really?" Lemmy asked, not knowing a thing about planets or astrology. Iggy smiled.
"Yeah, Lemmy. First its Mercury, then Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune."
"Woah. How did you all that and remember it?" Larry asked. Iggy chuckled at Larry's curiosity and handed him another spherical statue.
"Its the Universe, Larry. That's where we live. Its called Astrology. I like the universe, I like to study the stars, the planets, and the mysteries around it. Do you know where Mario comes from?" Iggy asked to his brothers.
"Uh, the Mushroom Kingdom?" Larry guessed. Iggy shook his head no.
"A different planet from ours called Earth. But I don't know how he came here in the first place; we're millions of billions of light years from there." Iggy replied.
"Light years?" Both of his brothers were confused, but Iggy knew they didn't know anything about the matter. "Its a lot to teach you two in a few minutes. Let's get these set up or we aren't leaving no time soon."
Lemmy and Larry agreed to that plan, and the next five or so minutes was spent placing the planets in the order Iggy told them to place them in. As the last planet was placed, a door opened, leading underground.
"Next room I guess?" Larry shrugged.
"Can't be any different so let's do this!" With that, he jumped down the hole. Lemmy and Iggy looked at each other.
"He has a point."
"Yeah, let's go."
"Woo-hoo!" Lemmy started to shout. It seemed like fun sliding, until they noticed they were sliding for quite some time.
"Where are we goinggggg?" Larry yelled.
"I dunoooooo!" Lemmy replied. getting a bit nervous.
The slide eventually stopped with the boys landing in water. They got out fast, for the water was freezing cold, and pushed open another door that was ahead of them.
The room was an octagonal room. At the center of the room were some stairs that lead to a pedestal. On the pedestal, there was a red gem.
"Is that it? That Fire Gem thing?" Lemmy asked, wondering why it was emitting such a bright white light. Larry of course, got greedy and ran past them.
"This is mine!" Larry ran to the pedestal, but before he could take the gem, he got shot by a fireball from one of the pillars around the pedestal.
"Ouch, that smarts..." Larry groaned. Lemmy and Iggy ran towards him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, but where-"
Iggy suddenly gasped. "What? Iggy, what is it?"
Iggy pointed at the pillar, which seemed to look oddly familiar to the boys. "I know her from someplace..."
Red dress and eyes, white hair, grey body. It clicked into place for them really fast.
"You're one of those creepy statues we saw at the entrance!" Iggy shouted at the floating entity.
"I'm Focalora, the Fire Guardian. Now prepare to die, trespassers!"
She put her hands together, forming a ball. As the ball grew, it got redder and larger in size. As soon as she had it the way she wanted it, she shot it out towards the boys, who were able to dodge out of the way.
"What the heck?! Wait a second! Let us explain!" Larry tried to reason with the girl.
"And why should I do that? Hmm? This is my job- to keep the precious Fire Gem away from intruders like you! So come and fight me if you want it so bad!" Focalora said. Her second attack complete, it would have been the end for the koopalings, until...
"Stop it! They are good people! Hand them the gem!" Aryal shouted. Everyone paused.
Larry and Lemmy didn't know who had said that. "Bro, did we invite someone else along for the ride?" Larry whispered. Lemmy shook his head no.
Focalora knew who it was, and ceased her attack. It was through Iggy that Aryal was speaking, and the brothers finally put two and two together. They stood back and watched the two talk.
"Yes, its me. Look, just give them the gem, okay? They're going to need it! They are trying to save the world!" Aryal pleaded with Focalora. The latter didn't seem convoked, but for some reason, went against her judgement and collected the gem.
"Are you sure about this? How can you be certain they are trustworthy?"
"Trust me, I know. You'll see. Please, Focalora. Just give them the gem." Aryal said once more.
After a pause, she nodded. It was at that point Iggy regained control over himself. Larry went to get the gem, while Lemmy stood there, confused.
"Aryal what is going on?" Iggy demanded, not caring that he looking somewhat crazy.
"Iggy, what just happened? What's going on?"
Lemmy was scared for his brother, but he was also hurt. His brother knew of this being- Aryal or whatever she was called- and he must've known at this Focolara person too... but why hide something that important?
"Iggy, why did you lie to me?"
"Lemmy, I'm not-"
"Stop saying that! You are! We just saw you talking like a girl!" Lemmy yelled back. While they were bickering, Larry approached Focalora once more.
"She better be right about you three. If this gem falls in the wrong hands, I will come back and destroy you." she warned. Larry grinned.
"Don't worry, Focalora. It won't. And thank you very much." Then a thought struck him. There were no doors in there other than the ones used to enter.
"Uh, how do we get out of here?" Larry asked her. Focolara smirked.
"There is a teleport device under the pedestal. Just wait a second…" A quick hand motion, and the teleportation device appeared.
"You can use this to return to where you need to be."
"Thank you so much, Focalora." Larry said. She nodded, and soon she was gone too.
"Don't forget, you guys are the keepers of this gem. Protect it. Understand?" Focalora's voice echoed. Larry nodded. "I got it, I got it."
Larry looked over his shoulder. "Oh boy... those two are really going at it. Not the best time to celebrate, I suppose..." He approached his brothers, holding the first needed item for their journey.
"Iggy, you knew the girl who was talking, so you must know something else! How do you not know anything?!" Lemmy snapped. Larry quietly took Iggy's bag and placed them gem inside, then sat down. 'This is gonna take a minute, I can see...'
"I don't know! I wasn't speaking! Heck, I barely know her other than her name!"
"That makes NO sense! How is it that YOU and only YOU somehow figured we were here to save the world?! And from what?! Things like that don't just pop out of thin air!"
Iggy threw his hands up in defeat.. "I don't know! I don't know... ugh. I need some time to think." Iggy walked off.
"Well, I'm gonna go... I'll meet you guys in a bit." Larry took Iggy's bag and stepped on the device. In a flash, he was outside the castle, awaiting his brothers.
"Jeez, what a mess."
Lemmy and Iggy were the only two left in the room. Neither felt like speaking, so Lemmy rolled over to the device and was soon paired with Larry. Lemmy looked upset, but Larry had a feeling there was more to it than that. He chose to keep his mouth shut for now.
'What is going on? Who is Focalora? Who are you? How do you speak to people using my body?!' Iggy demanded to know.
'I wish I could explain, but just know I'm here to help you, Iggy.'
'Of course. You know that thanks to you now Lemmy hates me?'
'Iggy, he doesn't hate you. He's just upset.'
'Yeah, thanks to you.'
'Sorry, Iggy.'
'If you want to keep this little secret up, fine. I don't get the big deal about wanting to know, and now I really want to know what are we saving the world from. And why you failed to mention that the first time.'
After getting no reply, Iggy let out a breath and stepped on the teleportation device. 'What is so important she couldn't tell me? Lemmy isn't getting it at all... I can't tell him something I really don't know much about!'
"Finally! I thought Focalora ate you inside the temple!" Larry shouted at Iggy once he appeared. Iggy smiled sheepishly. He hadn't noticed he was gone that long.
"I'm sorry about that. But I noticed the beam above the castle is gone..."
"Seems like you didn't notice that most of the castle was pretty much gone!" Larry said jokingly, trying to lighten the tense mood. Iggy shook his head no.
"No... I hadn't noticed..."
"Where are we going now?" Lemmy asked, looking at Iggy and Larry. Iggy shrugged.
"I don't know. The Earth piece should be someplace in the Forest of Mist, though. We could start there. There's also an Ice Mountains or something but I don't know where it is."
"So? Which one is first?" Larry asked impatiently.
"Both of them could be wrong, but we're closest to the forest, so we may as well go there."
"Good Idea, Let's go then! I'll get there first!" Larry shouted as he started to run. Lemmy followed suit after him.
'He will never change!' Lemmy laughed. Iggy pulled up the rear, but was far too lost in his own world to pay much attention.
'What saving are we doing? I just wanted to help Lemmy... how did we get caught up in this mess?'
So they finally have the Fire Gem! Will Iggy reveal what is going on in his head? Read to Know!
About my other story, Cracking: Second Chapter should be out soon!
As usual, I would like to thank 'LuigiWife1551' for the beta read! Thank you so much :3
Please leave a review or PM me if you have any question, advice or something like that =D
And of course, I would like to thank everyone that Favorited/Followed/Reviewed the story! Thank you so much!
See ya~ Ah Ah!
