"Well… we certainly are back where we started…"
The two castles in the kingdoms were mirrors of each other. Funnily enough, they had landed in the Flower Kingdom's parallel of the room they had Peach's party in.
"C'mon," Daisy said, "I know where we need to go. Time's a-wastin!" She dashed out of the room, shortly followed by the others.
The Flower Princess lead them all through a maze of corridors, somehow not getting lost and being able to turn on dimes, even in her kitten heels.
"You've… gotta have some… respect for that," Timpani huffed as she and Blumiere tried to keep up. He just wiggled his eyebrows in reply.
Daisy stopped in front of a large set of double doors. Luigi stepped forward and helped her push one open enough for everyone to get through.
The four guards nodded their heads, greeting their princess and her compatriots and allowing them to pass.
"Why are they inside?" Paul asked.
"It's not expected," Daisy replied. "Everyone expects the treasury to have guards outside of the doors, never inside them. So we can catch thieves by surprise. I can't count how many times someone has tried to rob me."
"Aren't they usually sent by politicians?" Blumiere mused.
Daisy gazed at him questioningly. He shrugged. "Meditating for my magic usually ends up with me in an emotion flow. You've got some very upset people in your court and in your jailhouse."
Daisy shrugged, apathetic. "Then they should learn to do their deals honestly. But enough of politics."
Daisy went and chatted with a guard for a few moments. He handed her a small object and pointed somewhere in the large, expansive hall.
The whole group followed Daisy, who moved with a purpose. When she reached the indicated area- a blank space of wall with nothing peculiar about it- she raised the chisel and hammer and began etching something into the wall in the written language of the Flower Kingdom.
"Ah hah hah hah hah!" Dimentio appeared behind Daisy, but the princess was in no mood for games. She took something out of her pocket that was somewhere on her dress and tossed it at the jester.
Seeing a flash of blue, all the ones who had been in the karting races tackled those who hadn't.
A large boom echoed through the hall. When Dimentio recovered from the attack via Spiney, he found himself surrounded by Flower Kingdom Royal guards, some slightly ticked people from the Mushroom Kingdom, and three very pissed people.
Luigi tossed a bomb Link had handed to him at the jester, while Timpani shot at him and Blumiere threw water he had withdrawn from the air at his former minion.
"Ciao!" The jester teleported away, all the attacks missing.
"Good riddance," Luigi muttered.
Daisy kept at her task this whole time, finishing whatever it is she needed to carve. If we could read the language, it would say this: Don't peek.
Some sort of magic activated on the wall. It slid somewhere, but the lack of seams made it impossible to track.
Daisy withdrew a box and opened it to reveal two Power Stars with a note.
We didn't know when, and we don't know how, but we know you'll need these soon.
Have Luigi read the back of this. Don't peek; it's from us to him only.
Love you,
Mom and Dad.
Daisy kissed the paper, small tears gathering in her eyes. "Thank you," she mouthed before doing as the note instructed. Luigi tucked it into his pocket, planning to read it later.
She handed one Star to Peach and kept the other to herself. Paul questioned her actions.
Bowser rolled his eyes, but not at the question. "Do you know how many times these guys have been separated or captured in their adventures? If only one person had all the Stars, they'd be screwed!"
Paul had to tip his head at that logic. As they were walking out of the castle, Link spoke up.
"Well, that was anti-climatic."
A void appeared underneath them, sucking them in and causing startled exclamations from them all.
"Aw, you didn't think that I'd be swept away like ants in molasses, did you?" the demented jester appeared where the group once stood. "Ah hah hah hah hah! This will be a good fight!" And with that, he disappeared once more.
A/N: Well, they needed to get to the final boss somehow! And Dimentio's batshit enough to take them straight there.
By the way, in the last chapter, it's not a typo. I know what I typed. Just keep in mind that the group is hearing it phonetically, and are processing it as the word "two". You're actually one step ahead of them because of that.
So… it appears this is coming to a close… wow. I thought it'd be longer! But it doesn't really make much of a difference to you guys, as you're getting this all at once. This fic has actually taken a few months to write (my bad, I get… distracted easily), and it's gonna be kind of sad to see it go.
And then I'll find a really long complete fic that my friends take one glance at and ask me why the hell I'm reading novels.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
(Current Length: About 73 pages and 26,963 words in MS Word.)