Chapter 2.2: Alarm Jinx

About mid-morning the next day, Waluigi, Red, and Ashley were sitting at the kitchen table. Alboort was attending to his projector.

"Okay, I'm not going to lie to you guys. This whole job is going to be a little tougher than I originally planned." Alboort clicked a button, and a picture of a pink crystal showed up on the wall. "For instance, there's no way we can make any kind of move while these security alarms are active."

Waluigi raised his hand. "Wait! If Princess Peach has this great security system, then how was Bowser able to kidnap her so often?"

Alboort adjusted his glasses. "Well, Bowser usually just picks up the princess on her balcony. And let's not forget that Bowser isn't one to take caution in his actions." He turned to Ashley. "Fortunately, we now have someone on our team who can destroy these alarms without much difficulty."

Red hopped up. "You hear that, Ashley? We get to go out on a mission!"

Ashley nodded. "I suppose it will be of interest."
"Well, if it doesn't interest you now, then remember that you are doing this so we can all benefit from a fat vault of gold."

Ashley tilted her head to one side. "Continue."

Alboort clicked his button, and a picture of a Toad appeared on the wall. "Now, I realize that I've said that we need to avoid killing any Toads, but let's not forget that these guys are swarming the castle. We'll need someone on the inside. It might be a bit tricky, but it's doable."

Alboort clicked the button again, changing the picture to the inside of Peach's bedroom door with four Toads standing in front of it. "Also, we need to clear this door of a majority of its guards. There should be a computer system or something that schedules which guards go where." He turned off the projector and turned on the lights. "I'm going to need to find that system and try to rig the schedule, so the door is clear."

Waluigi looked at Alboort, holding his chin. "Waluigi doesn't know. It's not like there are a lot of electrical cords that you can just slide through."

Alboort swallowed and tugged on his bowtie. "I know." He cleared his throat. "But we don't have much time. If we're going to kidnap Princess Peach for the Koopa Ball, we're going to have to kidnap her tonight." He started floating away. "You guys have one hour before we start."

---

Ashley walked out of the mushroom house and into the daylight. She shielded her eyes as she pulled a red Thieftech out of her pocket. "Do I really have to do this now?"

Alboort nodded as he appeared on the screen. "I realize that you aren't the biggest fan of sunlight, but you're up first." He tapped a couple times on his keyboard. "So, let's hurry and get down to business. Waluigi insisted that you were the best choice as a member for our team, so what do you bring to the table?"

Ashley raised an eyebrow. "Explain."

Alboort clicked a couple times on his mouse. "You know, like how you said that you would have taken the castle by storm. What sort of powers do you have?"

Ashley turned to Red and held out her hand. The small demon hopped up and turned into her scepter. She caught the scepter and held it up. "Well, I can press the B button to release a large blast of magic that should blow away most opponents."

Alboort nodded. "Well, that sounds powerful, but I'm afraid that's unnecessary for now."

Ashley looked at her scepter. "Well, by pressing the Z button, I can turn a victim into a toad, and I can hold down either button before casting to lock on."

Both of Alboort's eyebrows rose. "Um, I'm know you may not have visited Mushroom Kingdom before, but almost everyone already is a Toad."

Ashley quirked an eyebrow. "Strange. All I've seen are mushrooms."

Alboort scratched his head. "Well, the citizens are Toads all ready." He paused. "Oh, you mean a toad like a frog. Well, I'm afraid it might be a bit conspicuous if we just let you turn Toads into toads." He tapped a couple times on his keyboard. "But that lock-on ability should be handy in a battle. Do you have anything else though."

Ashley fished in her backpack and pulled out something that looked like a brown paper package. "Well, I do have these ready-to-go potion packs. By pressing the 2 button, I can throw one of these at an enemy. It will magically draw in an enemy to be an ingredient to complete the potion. I can then pick up the potion to restore my health."

Alboort nodded. "Those are all great, but we're not looking to fight yet." He clicked a couple times on his mouse. "Do you know any spells that can levitate things?"

Ashley thought for a moment. "Well, any enemies that haven't noticed me, or anything that isn't rooted or bolted down, for that matter, I can pick up by pressing and holding the C button."

"Really?" Alboort pressed a large button, and a Trainer-bot walked out of the mushroom house. "Let's see you pick up this Trainer-bot. It's not too heavy, but it's not something you can typically see a fifteen-year-old girl picking up."

Ashley spun her scepter in her hand. "Very well." She pointed her scepter at the Trainer-bot, and it glowed blue. Soon, the Trainer-bot was floating about six feet in the air.

Alboort watched his monitor. "Well, that is pretty impressive."

Ashley shrugged. "It is simple enough. By pressing the B button with an enemy in my magical grasp, I can throw them to wherever I want." That said, she waved her scepter, and the Trainer-bot went flying."

Alboort rubbed his chin. "Well, I'm afraid you're going to have to only pick up items for now." He tapped a couple of keys on his keyboard. "Well, that's a fair entourage of attack abilities. Let's see how you do with moving around, though."

Ashley nodded. "I would like to get this over with and get out of the sun."

Alboort adjusted his glasses. "Very well. I presume that you walk with the control stick and can run by shaking the Wii remote."

Ashley shrugged. "Isn't that how everyone moves?"

Alboort flinched. "Well, yes. But it's always good to check."

Ashley sighed. "Very well. I suppose I should get going to the castle, then."

Alboort adjusted his glasses. "Yes. That's probably a good idea."

Ashley closed her Thieftech and placed it into her pocket. She turned to the castle and started running.

Red's head appeared in the scepter's crystal. "Hey, Ashley, was it really such a good idea to team up with these guys."

Ashley shrugged as she ran. "Well, they don't seem to be the most exciting people, but at least they're paying us."

Red frowned. "I was talking about as far as your schoolwork is concerned. Not only do you have to do it over e-mail, but you also have to balance it with these crazy jobs."

Ashley stared at Red. "Red, who's the girl who can rule the world and still finish all her homework?"

Red sighed. "You are, Ashley."

Ashley nodded and looked forward. "Besides, if my teacher even thinks of flunking me before I get my homework in, I've always wanted a fork to go with that spoon."

As Ashley approached the nearest tower, her Thieftech started to vibrate.

"I'll talk to you later." Red's face disappeared.

Ashley pulled out her Thieftech and flipped it open. "What is it?"
Alboort adjusted his glasses. "Well, it's just that your job is to get rid of all the alarm beacons, but I just remembered that they're pretty high up."

Ashley stared at the Boo. "Well, I suppose I'll just have to make up for your mistake." She looked around. "These mushrooms should do nicely."

Alboort raised an eyebrow. "Well, I admit that there are a lot of mushrooms in Mushroom Kingdom, but I don;t see how they can help you. That is, unless you're thinking of brewing up a flying potion."

"Don't be an idiot. Flying potions are far too biologically confounded to be a reasonable source for flight." Ashley shook her head. "But I can interact with these plants by pressing the C button."

"Interesting. Well, let's see this interaction."

Ashley pointed her scepter at the mushroom. "Floris Giganticus!"

The mushroom grew up to be about five feet tall and fifteen feet across.

"Gadzooks!" Alboort couldn't tear his eyes away from his computer screen. "To think you could do that to any plant you wanted to. That mushroom should supply plenty of bounce now."

Ashley cradled her scepter. "You'll find that I'm just full of surprises. I can interact with a variety of things using the C button."

Alboort adjusted his glasses. "Well, you can surprise me some more later. Right now, you need to get up on that tower."

Ashley nodded. "I watched you training Waluigi, but I can only double jump, however."

"Hey, I can only jump once. As long as you can get up on that mushroom it'll do." Alboort tapped a couple of keys. "I'll tell you what to do once you're up there."

Ashley nodded and jumped up. The mushroom squished beneath her feet, followed by thrusting her skyward. As she landed on the tower's roof, she looked back at her Thieftech. "Now, what am I doing up here?"

"Like I said before, your job is to destroy the security beacons." Alboort tapped a couple of keys. "They should look like a few giant pink crystals sticking out of the walls, six in total."

Ashley looked up. "I can see one from here." She held up her scepter. "Should I just blast it from here?"

"No! Even if your magic is powerful, we can't guarantee that it will take out that beacon in one shot." Alboort clicked his mouse a couple times and looked at his computer screen. "Not to mention that a beacon randomly exploding just isn't natural."

Ashley twisted her scepter in her hand as she stared at the beacon. "Then how do you suggest I break them?"

Alboort tapped a couple keys and adjusted his glasses. "Well, there should be a Toad statue on top of that tower."

Ashley looked around.

Alboort palmed his face. "It should be a stone figure of something that looks like a humanoid mushroom."

"Oh, I see that."

Alboort nodded. "Now, I just want-"

"You want me to pick that statue up with the C button. Then you want to use the B button to throw it at that beacon," Ashley interrupted. "Why couldn't you just tell me all of this before I left the house this morning?"

Alboort pushed his glasses back up on his face. He cleared out his throat. "Well, I guess that just leaves one more thing." He tapped a couple of keys. "You'll need to be able to jump between the towers. Now, Waluigi can triple jump and swim in the air, and I, being a Boo, can float from place to place."

Ashley sighed. "After double jumping, I just have to press the A button one more time and hold it, and Red will turn into my broomstick, letting me glide from place to place."

Both of Alboort's eyebrows rose. "It seems you just have an answer for everything."
Ashley shrugged. "Hey, I wasn't number one at WarioWare without reason."

"Yes, well... um." Alboort fiddled with his hands. "I guess I'll just let you get to it, then."

"You do that." Ashley flipped her Thieftech off and stuck it in her pocket. She turned to the statue and pointed her scepter at it.

The Toad statue lifted off the roof. It floated slowly towards the edge of the roof.

Ashley took a minute to aim. She thrust her scepter forward, and the statue flew towards the pink crystal.

Both the statue and the beacon blew up on impact. The little shards littered the ground.

Ashley looked down at the mess. "Well, it's a little crude in my opinion, but it certainly is effective."

Red appeared in the scepter's crystal. "Um, Ashley, maybe we should get moving. We do have five more alarms to take care of."

Ashley glanced at the red crystal. "You're just worried about the guards that are going to gather around that mess, aren't you?"

Red laughed nervously. "Well, Alboort did say that we shouldn't get caught."

Ashley looked down at the glittering mess on the ground. "I suppose you're right." She jumped up and sat on her Red-turned-broom, gliding towards the next tower.

Several towers later, another pink crystal was sticking out of the wall.

Red turned around in the red crystal. "I think we should look for another one of those Toad statues. Alboort probably wouldn't tell us to use those unless he had a reason."

"Well, you certainly seem trusting of someone that you were just questioning the authority of only a little while ago."

Red rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it's not like we've really left Diamond City before."

Ashley tilted her head to one side in thought. "I suppose that's a good point. For now, we'll play by there rules." She pointed her scepter at a nearby Toad statue and flung it at the alarm. A similar reaction occurred as with the first event. "This really is too easy."

Red shrugged. "I suppose. But it's going to put gold in our pockets soon enough."

"True." Ashley ran over to the edge of the roof and jumped to the next tower. She jumped over nine more towers, throwing a Toad statue at a crystal every third tower.

Ashley landed gently on her twelfth tower. She looked up. "So, I guess this is the last alarm we have to deal with, huh?"

Red appeared in the scepter's crystal. "It seems that way." He looked around. "But I don't see any Toad statues around here."
Ashley looked around. "Not that I see."

Red began to fret. "What should we do?"

Ashley held up her scepter, a smile playing at the tip of her mouth. "We do this the way we were supposed to do this."

Red grimaced. "Well, uh, um..." He turned around in the crystal. "Oh, wait! What about that statue?"

Ashley looked up to see the statue of a plump man with a large mustache. She inhaled heavily and sighed in disbelief. "Well, I guess it's a statue." She pointed her scepter at the statue. "It's a real killjoy, though." She lifted the statue and threw it at the crystal, destroying both.

Ashley pulled out her Thieftech. "All right, Alboort. I destroyed the alarm beacons."

"Thanks, Ashley," said Alboort. "This will allow us to continue with our missions."

Ashley shrugged. "You're welcome, I guess." She looked around. "Can I come back, now? I'm not used to this much sunlight, and I'm feeling a little faint."

Alboort adjusted his glasses. "Sure. We won't need your talents for a while, anyways."

"Thank you." Ashley hopped of the tower roof and started running back to the hideout.

Mission Complete,

signed,

-Ashley and Red

---

So, I guess that's our new team member. Her missions are pretty much going to revolve around beating people up and destroying defensive objects. However, she will also be a plot centerpoint, so keep an eye out for her.

Speaking of allies, there's going to be a new ally joining at the end of this chapter. Anybody have a guess as to who it is?

Anyways, I'll see you guys later.

Please, review.