Fighting in the Streets
Chapter 14 – Hostiles
A/N: If there is anything you're confused about or unsure of, feel free to check my bio for lore and guidance to some factors of the fanfic. If that doesn't help, feel free to PM me.
Also if you have an account on here, please go and answer my poll on my profile, would be much appreciated.
Disclaimer: OCs are mine, Canons are Nintendo's, you can figure out which is which.
January 17, 2015 (1) – 3:20PM
Urscan, Résethal
The skyline up north was far clearer than the busy cities like Mushroom City. The composition of Urscan in 2015 was mainly composed of shops and work centres, for most residents of the north have moved out into the smaller settlements or set up new ones for their own. Many Koopa families who weren't part of the hostile force tended to set up their own for their family name. It had been several months since Enrique had last properly arrived here without going directly elsewhere. The same pub that Enrique had been in just days ago was directly to his right, but he instead was looking for something else: a certain old friend from years ago.
He thought he saw the familiar face back when he was last at the Powerhouse Peninsula, one of those who held a gun pointing at him really reminded Enrique of him.
"Hey, you there." Enrique called out to a Koopa walking along the sidewalk of the street just outside the train station. "I need to ask you a question."
"Get out of here, human!" The unhelpful Koopa grunted back and walked away from Enrique. He tried to find someone else who might know the whereabouts of the person he's looking for. Fortunately, at this time in the day, the pub should surely be full of people, Enrique thought. He rushed forth and opened up the main doors to see the pub filled with an average amount of people. Some of them turned their heads straight back at Enrique.
"Hey look, it's Enrique, the racer!" One of them called out, making most others turn.
"More like, the loser!" A Koopa in the back added, making some laugh.
"Very funny." He replied back to the Koopa at the back.
"Shouldn't you be down south man? You know, like fucking the princess?" The Koopa at the back didn't seem very sober.
"No, I'm here for something else, I'm looking for someone: an old friend." He announced to the patrons of the pub. "By the name Illias Fonavan."
"You don't have any friends Enrique, only that cunt Tom-boy." The drunken Koopa disrespected the blonde human, who began to walk further into the pub towards the drunkard.
"Sorry I didn't get that last bit, would you like to repeat what you just said?" Enrique looked down at the drunkard, who had his face almost buried in the table he was sitting next to.
"I said, you... have no friends... but that cunt called Tom." Enrique quickly grabbed the Koopa by the neck and restrained him to the table. "You're quite the feisty one, boyo." The drunkard half-reacted to Enrique's quick and forceful movements, not feeling any pain after being rang by the neck.
"Someone give me answers, or I'll knock this guy out." Enrique threatened the patrons, though they did not seem impacted at all.
"I don't even know that guy." Another Koopa in the pub stated. "Feel free to strangle."
"I... do know where... Illias is." The drunk tried to lift his head from the table whist being restrained by Enrique.
"Where is he?" He asked once again, holding his neck slightly looser.
"He's..." The drunk chirped. "Up yours, ha-ha!" Enrique looked back at the crowd of patrons, watching the restrained drunk on the verge of having his neck broken.
"Don't be a southern coward Enrique, do it!" A few patrons demanded. Enrique quickly snapped the neck of the drunk, and pushed his body on to the floor. Even the bartender was watching and soon basking at the corpse.
"Get the body outta here!" The bartender cheered, and after a few minutes some of the local regulars of the pub disposed of the corpse tediously. "Can I get you something Mister Enrique?" The bartender asked him.
"Just water, don't intend on being here for long." He replied.
"No water, only ale." The bartender groaned back at him. Enrique frowned and searched for the restrooms of the pub.
"Useless." Enrique complained as he walked to his right, hoping to find the restrooms down stairs in the basement of the pub.
"Not our fault, we can't get clean water here!" The bartender yelled from the bar.
As Enrique searched the lower rooms of the pub he came across a lot of crates and boxes. Most of the area beneath the pub was storage rooms. Thankfully he spotted a sign indicating the toilets, though there was only one door leading to them. There were only cubicles in the restroom as well. No sort of urinals for the males. But that made Enrique wonder how they did it anyway.
The room was empty, but with multiple vacant cubicles. They seemed to resemble the ones back on Earth with locks and everything. Koopas did too care about privacy. After Enrique had flushed the toilet after using it, he went to wash his hands, where he saw another Koopa doing the same thing.
"Enrique, still don't know where your f-friend is?" The Dark shelled, pale Koopa assumed, drying his hands after washing them. The Koopa had not come into the room to use the toilet but only to merely wash his hands.
"You're correct on that one, I suppose you're not one to help me on that either." Enrique replied in a rather dull tone. The Koopa looked back to the entrance of the toilets and closed the door firmly.
"Your friend Illias is a hostile. Many of those people up there are hostile and many people up there don't know they are either. That's how it is in the north anyway; they don't care if people get murdered." The Koopa responded. "The name's Dirrug by the way." The Koopa offered a handshake.
Enrique shook back cheerfully. "And that drunk, was he hostile? Is there a way of knowing who is and who isn't hostile?"
"That Koopa wasn't clearly; just a loaner barfly." Dirrug replied. "People don't just become hostile... which actually means I take what I previously said back because I guess with that logic some people could be hostile without others knowing it. I guess it becomes noticeable with their actions."
"And are you hostile?" Dirrug stood silently for a short moment.
"Well, I'm against the crown which is something." He then became looking anxious and nervous at Enrique, staring right at him. "But I know where Illias could be."
"Well I didn't come up here to kill hostiles. That's not my job." He said back to Dirrug, who started to look scared of him, now realising what he looked like. "Take me to where Illias is, and let's hope we don't have another fiasco like with that drunk."
"Right..." The scared Koopa turned around to head slowly towards the door out of the toilets.
"I'll take that knife of yours too." Enrique spotted, peeking out of Dirrug's shell. "Just for safety purposes. I hope you hostiles will be safe with me." Dirrug's hands began to shiver, his body suffering from fright of the human behind him.
"Yes... I suppose you should." Dirrug shuffled to drop the knife from his shell; it fell quickly onto the floor. The dull blade was quickly taken into the grasp of Enrique's hands, and then straight into his right trouser pocket. The Koopa opened the door leading out back to the stairs. The pub still seemed rather crowded upstairs. But the sky had turned dark with clouds. It was raining outside. Dirrug still looked nervous as he was escorting Enrique up the stairs and out of the pub, being cheered on by many Koopas inside for finally being someone to help Enrique find his long lost friend. The two followed round a corner along the main road to an area of parked cars where Dirrug's one was dormant. He told Enrique to get into the front passenger seat of the car and Dirrug attempted to get out of his parking space. The car switched on normally but Enrique began to notice the shivering was still going on in the Koopa's body, meaning his legs were constantly shaking as well. The car began to shake a bit as the clutch was not being released properly. Everything else seemed fine.
"Are you alright?" Enrique asked Dirrug. "You don't seem fit to drive with those nerves."
"I assure you mister I am ok with d-driving." He stuttered as he tried to calm himself down. "Just, never really seen a human before." The pale Koopa turned the vehicle back on again after stalling in the parking space... only to stall again.
"Alright listen you're not fit to drive." Enrique took his seatbelt off and quickly got out of the car, he rushed around to the other side next to Dirrug where he was still in the driver's seat.
"Yes my lord, I mean Enrique, I'm sorry, fucking bitch, I mean sorry. Excuse my language. You drive." Dirrug quickly got out of the car, still shivering and heading over to the passenger seat of the car. "Are you sure you can drive?" Enrique sat in the driver's seat looking completely mystified as Dirrug arrived. He couldn't stop shivering at the human next to him.
"Of course I can drive. I've been racing." He was still baffled at how Dirrug couldn't control himself. "You don't seem good."
"No it's ok, I just have these ep-piss-odes sometimes, something to do with me since I was a k-kid." It took a while for Enrique to realise what's wrong with the Koopa. "Fucking hell, ignore what I say." Enrique took a deep breath, feeling completely humiliated being in the presence of such a low Koopa.
"Where is Illias then, at least answer me that."
"He's... he's near Vurduresa. Small town near there, go to Vurduresa first."
"Are you sure?" Enrique questioned boldly. "I am not supposed to ignore this, yes?" His long blonde hair began to soak the seat of the car, disturbing Dirrug creating a distressed look on his face.
"Aww I just cleaned the interior yesterday."
"I said are you sure?" Enrique raised his voice, frightening Dirrug once more.
"Yes, Yes! Vurduresa! Drive now!" Dirrug pointed the directions as Enrique eventually sped off. "Get out of this town first and onto the roads, they are usually empty here." The two quickly hit the streets, reaching to vast speeds along the flat roads heading north-westwards. Dirrug began to shiver less, calming down now that he got Enrique to drive and kill some time. He was expecting small-talk from the guy any time soon.
"So, why'd you have the knife then?" Enrique asked eventually whilst driving, still having the weapon in one of his pockets.
"I use it for self-defence, that's not a lie." Dirrug replied, constantly looking out of the window seeing the views he had already seen.
"A knife, for self-defence... and how often do you witness crime?" Enrique laughed. "From what I can gather it looks like you wouldn't hurt a fly."
"N-no, you shut up bitch. I mean no I would, I mean, if necessary, excuse me." Dirrug panicked again.
"You're one to shiver a lot, you were nervous when we were back in Urscan. You stuttered too, don't lie to me, you haven't witnessed violence."
"I have witnessed loads, just nothing that has affected me, from where I come from everyone is usually safe and our town has a low rate of crime."
"So you're telling me you're one of the bad ones from your town?"
"That's not what the people think, if you know what I mean." Enrique looked back at Dirrug, knowing the Koopa did have a pretty cunning mindset, despite his conditions. The two eventually arrived to a signpost, indicating Vurduresa to the right and Castelia to the left, along with smaller signs of many smaller towns.
"So which town is it we're going to?" The two looked at the signs.
Dirrug pointed slowly. "Zurlon." He said, pointing at the bottom sign on the right side. "It's beyond Vurduresa, so you may have to drive through it."
"Zurlon eh? I wonder how all these names came around to be, they don't sound like the names I would've thought the north to be, and certainly not like most of the places down south. You get places called Sunshine Airport and Moo Moo Meadows... sounds so jolly and irregular yet all these other places sound so dull." Dirrug looked back at Enrique confused.
"There're a lot of towns in the south with 'dull' names as well, only important places have shit I mean fancy names." Enrique drove the car off again, accelerating quickly onto the flat tarmac paved road. All the two could see to their left and right were tall trees and grass, nothing else except the odd occasion of a small diversion leading to potentially a small town. It seemed like this part of Résethal was literally just a forest engulfing the several small towns. The road became a straight, with no turns, just a flat out road now heading straight to Vurduresa, no elevation on the road either.
"I can barely remember what Vurduresa looked like; when I was there a week ago I only patrolled the centre where all the violence was. Would it be safe for me?" Enrique asked Dirrug, hoping he would know of the situation of humans in the north.
"They shouldn't care about you; I think many of the hostiles here know that you're not fully loyal to the crown." He replied, noticing the road signs to Vurduresa and distant buildings. The place was properly shattered as the two drove by. All of the buildings looked worn and uninhabitable, it seemed like nothing had improved in the entire course of five Earth years here.
"This place still looks like a disaster, why do people live here?" He asked Dirrug again.
"We don't, Vurduresa is just a meet point, and nobody really lives here anymore. It still has facilities like fresh water supplies and power stations, and a train station." The Koopa replied, looking at the broken windows. The road became elevated and worn, filled with junctions and turns. Enrique slowed the two of them down and adjusted to the new scenery. Koopas filled the pavements and quiet roads, Enrique gathered that it was only Koopas that inhabited the northern lands. He couldn't see any other species, not even Goombas.
"How do we get out of here to go to Zurlon?"
Dirrug pointed the bird's-eye direction to the town. "Take a right at the end of this road, and follow around to the northern exit." He directed. Enrique could count only five other cars in his vicinity, but he noticed a large amount of recreational bikes. He even spotted a vintage Nitrocycle parked outside what looked like a house, but being told that nobody really lives here anymore. He thought it could be something else.
After a few more minutes of travelling slowly and being noticed by many Koopas, unknown to be hostile or not, the two set off and sped through the flat roads northward.
"So tell me Dirrug, how did you come to know Illias?" Enrique asked, seeking more information. "How do you and him connect to the whole hostile system?"
"Well, I've known of him for ages, but I wouldn't say we are friends. You just need to know that he is considered hostile." Dirrug replied. "But don't let this deter you, he should be fine if you actually know him and he knows you back. Fuck off he'll kill you. Sorry." Enrique sighed, slowing the vehicle slightly.
"I feel so bad for you." Enrique said bluntly.
"Why?"
"Nevermind."
Zurlon, North Résethal
7:30PM
"Just stop the car there." Dirrug ordered as the two arrived at the small, empty-looking town. The place looked no bigger than that of Isle Port, which only spanned of two roads in a T shape. Enrique counted about seven houses and several tents. He hoped Illias would be lurking around somewhere here this evening. Enrique gave Dirrug the keys to the car and got out quickly, letting the Koopa sort the rest of the car out. After a few moments the two met up in front of the parked car to see another empty-looking town.
"I think he's inside the great hall through there." Dirrug pointed out, warning Enrique to stay by the car. As Dirrug slowly approached the main entrance he spotted light emerging from the inside and the doors opening. Both Dirrug and Enrique could see a small band of armed Koopas walk outside, muttering amongst themselves. They both tried to distinguish Illias from the band, hoping he was one of them, though Enrique had forgotten what he had looked like.
He jumped after hearing Dirrug yell and wave to the bulkiest Koopa in the middle of the group. "Hey, hey, Illias! I got a friend here for you." The group of Koopas spotted Enrique, resting against the car.
"He's a southerner!" One of the Koopas yelled, pointing a gun to him.
"No, put your gun down, he's not one of theirs." Illias put the gun down and slowly approached Enrique. "Are you purposely losing?" He joked, taunting Enrique about the races.
"I don't think we'd make any difference, we're just bandwagon-ing." Enrique walked over to greet.
"It's been years, hasn't it, it's like you disappeared all those years ago."
"I came back occasionally, but I wasn't as explorative as Tom was, you remember that guy?"
"The other human boy right?"
"Yeah, he's the one who is more southerny. But still, don't harm him. He won't do any harm." Illias moved back and introduced Enrique to the rest of the Koopas. Dirrug anxiously stood outside the circle of Koopas, unsure of what to do next.
"I think we need to delay this... mission until later in the evening." Illias alerted to his fellow Koopas, and let the group inside. Dirrug slowly followed in just before the doors closed.
"So what have you done all this time my friend?" Illias sat down next to a fire, with Enrique sitting opposite.
"Well." Enrique began to lecture. "It's hard to explain really, I've spent some of it down south. I got to know these two kids from the north more; those ones who sort out the Powerhouse. Now everyone says they're missing."
"Well they are missing if you ask me." Illias replied. "Never seen them since 2010 really."
"As a matter of fact I spotted both of them only just days ago." Enrique stated. "Just before the first race we spotted them in a spectating stand, it was the one filled with the least people as well. We both saw them, and they saw us, only then to quickly disappear after the race so we couldn't catch them." The other Koopas listened in, wondering more about those two odd kids.
"I remember that day when we went to the Powerhouse, you were with us too, and we just saw them vanish in front of our own eyes." A Koopa with a rather deep voice and to the left of Illias added. "Oh, my name's Johan, Johan Rundol."
"Well, I've seen them over the years; they have come here often, just in hiding. I watched them grow from children into teenagers." Enrique carried on. "Tom used to see them nearly every day. As for me, I've just had Earth errands to do, perhaps one day I will say my goodbyes here and live here forever."
"Well I've heard about how time works there, those people don't live long enough to understand the true things in life." Illias mentioned.
"And what have you done in all this time here. I would've expected lots to happen in the five or so earth years here."
"We've watched Bowser weaken, we've watched Koopas join our forces, and a one government system emerge in the south. We educated ourselves, and it seems like in these past weeks you've come at the right time."
"So then." Enrique began again. "About this whole, hostile business. What's the goal at the end of the day here?" Some of the Koopas in the room began to reach out for their weapons. "I don't care about what's going to happen with you guys and the south, I clearly have many more things to deal with such as being locked in these races." The Koopas put their weapons down.
"This is our life for now, whatever it is we do will benefit us more than anyone else." Johan added. "Anyone who disagrees can put up with the consequences."
"Nobody abides to the laws in the south; they make us slaves to the crown. Haven't you seen how boring it is to be a Toad? And it's only just the same to be loyal to that Bowser." Illias stated. "You humans have it lucky; no rules apply to you wherever you go."
"Well I wouldn't say that's a good thing, you can have it all without asking for it and everyone who hasn't tried to put you down for it." Illias tapped his seat twice, ordering all of the other Koopas to leave the room, now the two friends were the only ones around the campfire.
"You know that as soon as you stand beyond those mountains your life becomes at risk, I don't trust everybody in this building, and I can't guarantee your safety, how are you going to get through the night here?" Illias whispered, hoping nobody outside would hear in. He had expected there to be at least two of his men standing outside peeking through the keyhole or putting their ears to the wall.
"Don't worry about me, I have a way out of this and you wouldn't suspect a thing. Trust me on this one." Enrique laughed.
"You keep yourself safe, I don't want to seem soft around these guys either, and they crave for violence."
"As a matter of fact I took one out myself back in Urscan earlier this afternoon."
"You murdered someone?" Illias gasped.
"He deserved it, drunk out of his head and only a major disturbance to me when looking for you; it was after that I eventually found out about Dirrug, who then helped me here."
"Dirrug?"
"Yeah, you know him right? Pale one."
"Never heard of the guy, why do you expect me to know him?"
"He said he knew of you, and said he talked to you before." Illias still looked lost. "He's the one with the weird speaking problems." He widened his eyes.
"Oh that guy, the annoying one."
"Yeah him, the annoying one." Enrique went on with him to help. "He's a really nervous kid, but he helped me drive up to this town where you happened to be."
"I guess that's good on him. Listen mate there's too many people around these lands and I can't remember all the names, we all look so similar. I don't even know the name of one of the men I was walking outside with, there's Johan, Verida, Nikola and Koopreme, but can't remember the other guy."
"I get it Illias it's difficult." Enrique calmed. "What I would like to know is... what 'mission' were you going to do?"
"I'll be completely honest with you, we we're going to raid Vurduresa, get some resources and water. Ever since those attacks caused by the Dargovi the place has been a site for all eyes. The destroyed buildings still have plenty of surprises in them."
"Dargovi, people of Dargo, are those guys on the same side as you?" Enrique asked, perhaps he could find out some potentially useful information that he could happen to slide into the friends in the south to help them instead.
"Well actually, according to the south we are all one, but there are actually many different groups of hostiles who are either allies or enemies with eachother. We in the local towns here are the Takharim." Illias began going in to further detail, making Enrique unsure on what to do with such possibly useful information. "There are many groups, like tribes, but I don't want to go in depth to that. That's classified." Bummer, Enrique thought in his mind.
Illias slapped the arm rest of his seat again alerting the other Koopas to come back inside.
"Brothers and sisters, it's time to go." Illias announced, slowly getting up and offering a handshake to Enrique. "Honestly if I had more time I would talk to you about what you need to know, but we seriously have to go."
"One more thing." Enrique got up and asked. "Have you seen Bethel Koopa around?"
"The big old guy?" Illias thought. "Not heard about him for ages, I heard he was at the Wuhu incident though, I fear for his life if you ask me." The Koopa got up and led the others outside, Enrique followed shortly afterwards. He watched all of the Koopas heavily arm themselves; these Koopas didn't seem like the typical ones he had seen down south. All the hostile Résethal Koopas look ethnically different; paler and broader. "I'm gonna let you sort out your own way of sleeping, we won't return till well after the moon's in the sky. They say it's good luck if you spot a galaxy eclipse on the moon." He concluded as he headed off with his band of hostiles.
"They say you get even more luck if you destroy a galaxy. Heh-heh." Enrique turned back and headed into the building. Enrique became rather interested in the day system in this world, he had noticed the sky was pitch black in what felt like a summer month, and it was only 8:00PM, Though he did remember that sunrise would usually be around 5:30AM. As he went inside he checked his phone, to see the exact time being 8:27. Now in order to return safely in the morning he thought to warp back to Earth again to skip time, letting 10 hours pass in Muhu Delfethal. "Ten hours is... two and a half minutes." He said in his mind, quickly warping back to Earth again...
Peach's Castle, Mushroom City
8:30PM
After a long-winded and strenuous journey back home, Peach separated the rest of her escorted friends from herself as she locked herself inside her castle. Unfortunately for her, she was unable to get rid of Daisy, all Peach wanted to do was go to sleep and seek out another dream. By the time Peach rushed up the stairs of her castle to her bedroom she could hear similar sounds of rushing feet, that being Daisy. The two were still in their biker outfits; Peach was hoping to get changed as soon as possible into her bedroom gown.
"Peach, don't worry about today, don't worry about anything!" Daisy called from across the hallway.
"I'm not worried, I just want peace." Peach closed her bedroom door in front of Daisy as she stopped running. "Leave me be, you should be glad I didn't do a Mario on you." Slightly annoying her.
"You set these races; you have to deal with them if that's what's bothering you."
"Go and get changed, then come inside." Daisy heard Peach's footsteps becoming quieter as she walked further into her room to get changed. The other princess then decided to change as quickly as possible, she couldn't stop being so protective for her best friend, even in times where she felt like she wasn't her friend.
TWO MINUTES LATER...
Daisy knocked onto Peach's bedroom door and then realised that the door was never locked. She opened the door slightly and crept slowly inside, spotting Peach lying on her bed, staring up to the ceiling and looking lifeless.
"Do you... regret making Bowser choose this tournament? Does it feel too long for you?" Daisy asked, walking towards the bedside table closest to her best friend.
"No, no regrets." Peach replied. "It had to happen. It's what's got to be."
"This Peach seems different even to the Peach from a few days ago. You keep changing every day, you're become more... woke? Is that the word used on Earth?"
"Daisy." Peach gestured to make Daisy peer in closer. "Something's happening, these dreams I'm having have to have a meaning. I need to find Zane again, but there's no time."
"You have to bring Zane to us somehow."
"I will ask him if I see him again." Peach looked back up to the ceiling. "I feel as if there's so much in my mind that I need to know but it's stored in a way I cannot comprehend. I'm sorry for today, we can't win every race, and there are also so many more races to make a difference. We really don't need to worry about that for now."
"As I said before, no matter what I will always be here for you."
"I'm glad I've had you for all these years Daisy." She blushed and smiled back at her queen. "You need to accept my changes. It's my adaptation into becoming who I was always meant to be. I was never supposed to be a silly damsel in distress to always be kidnapped by Bowser. He always delayed the inevitable; it's as if he was actually doing the right thing. Now that he's no longer in the way, I must accept what is new and move with it." Daisy found it difficult to comprehend what Peach was saying now. "What I'm saying is, now that I'm a queen as opposed to a princess, now that I'm rightfully acting upon my birthright, everything has changed, and I have far more serious things to deal with. I've even had to give up on Mario."
"You do what you have to do. You will rule this land like it was meant to in the years before."
"But that's not enough, Daisy, not everyone is living in harmony, and the years before saw a united north and south under one rule, from what I've learned it seems impossible to bring righteousness to the Koopas of the north."
"What is it you have to do then, to bring the two sides together again."
"I don't know." Peach said bluntly. "There's the problem... and aside that, there's plenty more problems to deal with."
"Problems being Zane, Marrec, and those dreams of yours?"
"There's going to be more of that in the future, they're coming. The voices in my dreams, they are coming, I don't know when, but they are coming."
"You shouldn't fear the change, embrace it, and let it fill your heart with will to make change yourself. The people surely seem protected for now. Let the races deal with that, everyone's engrossed in those it's like you've already controlled the people."
"Just like what they want to do on Earth." She said quietly.
"When you ever think that there'd be no other rivals once you rule these lands, they will be your new rivals. It's like you're ruling the Mushroom Kingdom alone and dealing with other rulers of the other Kingdoms. Whether it be new life beyond the seas, up in space or even in different realms and dimensions, there will always be someone or something else out there for you to beat." Daisy's wise words shook Peach out of her lifeless, lazy position on the bed.
"This is thrilling me Daisy, I'm sorry I ever doubted you." Daisy smiled and gave Peach a big hug on her bed. "In the morning I will come straight to you and tell you everything about what I can remember." She really hoped she would have another 'nightmare' as she knew it would be one and now it would only help her.
"You do that indeed, I will be on all ears for you." Daisy replied. "You get to sleep now; I will see you in the morning." She waved to Peach before going through the door of the bedroom. Peach shuffled over to the other side of her bed where she pressed a button to make an announcement.
"Lights out, tonight's an early night for me." She then slid back into her bed and tried to sleep as quickly as possible, though having the desire to fall into deep sleep quickly would only make it take longer. It caused her to move about a lot and sweat unnecessarily as well, making her more exhausted and unable to sleep.
...
After eventually being able to fall into deep sleep, Peach woke up in her bed, still normal but looking like she never had such a dream that she desired. She looked around and noticed her bedroom still looked intact and realistic, though after a few minutes she felt a wet patch further down the bed. She widened her eyes in fear and quickly unravelled her bed covers, revealing a bloody patch on the mattress. It caused her to scream with sadness and rage at the same time. She had all of a sudden felt several different emotions at once. The few seconds of screaming eventually led to a transformation of her surroundings, the bedroom began to darken and eventually disappear. The bloody mark on the bed filled Peach's thoughts with fear and upset, preparing her badly for the shadows that appeared around her. Eventually, it became all purple and foggy again. Peach jumped up from her bed but was quickly brought back. She only felt it now that her leg was cuffed to the trees behind her bed. The fall made her bury her face into her bed, the grim environment put mind into a tired state, as she raised her head back up she spotted Zane, still cuffed to a tree as well, and mouthless.
"Zane!" Peach called out. "Look at me!" There was no response from the man; he looked completely vegetative and inattentive. "Zane?" She called out again. She grew furious from not being able to move around this time. The area separating the two eventually began to widen and she began to hallucinate whilst staring at him. When she looked at his face more clearly she noticed Zane's ears were blocked and his eyes were paler, indicating blindness. She had remembered from the night before that Zane's mouth was missing and perhaps he was either blind or deaf, most likely deaf as he still looked at her whilst chained to the trees.
"Show yourself!" Peach called out to the shadows, hoping the same voices she heard from past dreams would appear once again, but nothing happened. What Peach had now seen from the lifeless Zane was absence of hearing, speaking, and seeing. Another thing that confused her was she didn't recall seeing Zane two nights ago, or in any of the previous nightmares she had.
Eventually Zane disappeared from her sights, making her fall back onto her bed. Peach moaned and cried at the same time, sulking on the bed. "What do you want from me..."She whined.
"I want your soul..." She finally heard a voice after enduring all the suffering. Soon enough the landscape blurred away and morphed back into her bedroom, this time it looked like morning. Peach was still unsure if she was in some sort of dream or not, but nothing seemed to spook her out anymore, except for the still present stain of blood on her bed. She couldn't afford anyone to see it, but at some point during the day the Toad cleaners would come into the room and make the bed for her... or even worse, Daisy could enter the room at any minute and notice it. She guessed she would have to accept somebody eventually finding it out unless she burns the mattress, since it leaked through the blanket. The worry she endured the most was whether or not the blood was actually real or an illusion. Peach felt distorted, feeling unwell inside. She went over to her bedside table clock to check the time, 7:00AM. The window view showed another bright morning, with an absence of clouds in the sky. She could already feel the humidity of the weather from the opened windows. This one was going to be a staunching day.
Suddenly she heard a knock on her doors, Daisy was outside.
"Don't come in yet!" Peach gasped, rushing back to her bed, thinking of a way to dispose of the mattress. For now she simply pulled the covers over and made the bed herself. She quickly ran over to the door and opened it up for Daisy.
"How did it go last night?" She asked, still in her gown as well.
"Terrible if you ask me, I didn't really learn much either." Peach was wondering whether it was safe or not for her to share the secret of the duvet to her best friend, hoping she wouldn't tell anyone else. "I saw Zane again, but he was completely unresponsive, deaf, blind and mute. But that's not the worst part."
"What happened?" Daisy grabbed Peach's wrist firmly, looking straight into her eyes.
"The voices, it said... I want your soul, and then I woke up... w-with this." Peach turned her head back to the bed, rushing over and unravelling the covers, revealing the bloodied mattress. Daisy gasped and gulped, walking slowly over to the bed.
"Peach... How did this happen?" Daisy smelled the blood, it smelled just like the smell she expected it to be. "You haven't had it with any of the humans, right?"
"No, I've never ever decided to go that far with even Enrique. I don't know how it happened."
"It would be so unlike you for this to happen, if you wanted one then you would've told me as well in advance."
Peach walked over to the other side of the bed, with the bedside table containing the notebook inside one of the drawers. She took it out and grabbed her pen and filled in some lines with new words. "There is one thing though." She said whilst writing. "I woke up in the dream with the same bloodspot. So I don't know if this is real or not, but you definitely see it too right?" She wanted to be sure.
"Of course, but that's not a good thing regardless."
The two stood by the bed wondering what to do with it. Daisy walked back to the doors and sealed them shut.
"Nobody is to see this." Peach warned Daisy. "And you tell nobody about this, not even Luigi, or Tom, or anybody."
Daisy looked back at the blood in disgust. "I've seen magic before, but this, this is some corrupt shit right here. Flip the mattress over."
"My mattress is huge!" Peach reminded, attracting attention with her hands showing the size of her bed. The largest any had seen in this land suited for the princess-now-queen.
"We'll have to put a sign on the doors saying nobody to enter, including the workers and cleaners. If you want any services delivered then have them leave it outside the room."
"Let's go to my quarters." Peach ordered. The quarters, with all the maps and battle plans, was located on the other end of the floor. The Toad workers had fully refurbished the place during the first two races and made it properly usable again. Peach took a blank piece of paper and with her pen she wrote down a message to put onto her bedroom door, so that the Toad cleaners wouldn't go into her room for the day.
January 18, 2015 (1) – 6:27AM
Zurlon, North Résethal
Johan lay asleep in a hammock inside one of the smaller rooms of the main building. Only a few metres from where he was, a small bright flash appeared instantly, the bright sparks created a white inlaid human shadow which eventually formed Enrique. The sound of the portal quietened and Enrique spotted the sleeping Koopa. He was lying facing the wall next to the hammock, but Enrique noticed Johan's small gestures indicating he was about to wake up. Enrique quickly and quietly headed out of the room. Johan's body rolled over to face the door on the other side of the room where Enrique had quickly exited from. While Enrique was in the main room trying to figure out something to do at the time, Johan's shadow emerged from the room he was in, eventually revealing himself to Enrique.
"What are you doing up this early?" Johan asked, yawning straight after. The two were the only ones in the kitchen at this time; everyone else in the building was still asleep, including Illias.
"I've been up for a while, just waiting for others." He replied, looking at the partially functioning oven.
"What are those things?" Johan pointed to a food packet in Enrique's hand. "Patatina." Johan was able to understand the text on the packet. Enrique had taken some branded potato chips from a shop on Earth during the night. "Ku i keni marrë ato?"
"Nga shtëpia ime e vërtetë." Enrique replied, he opened up the packet and took out a chip for Johan. "Try some?" He offered. Johan took the chip from his hand and quickly devoured it, swallowing it almost whole and seeming amazed at the taste.
"It is very good." His response led to a short period of silence by the kitchen worktop. "How did you learn the old language?" He asked.
"I... just happen to know it... I learnt it over time." Enrique decided to walk outside of the building to look at the view of the town on a bright morning like today. Johan followed onward. The two looked up and saw small bunches of clouds; the rain had ended sometime during the night meaning the floor was still damp. Enrique peered to his right where he had parked the car from yesterday and noticed it had disappeared. Dirrug must have taken it elsewhere last night Enrique assumed as he felt left out from the rest of the Koopas. With Illias not knowing the Koopa Enrique wasn't sure how friendships and relationships worked around here.
"So what are you going to do today then? It's quite a trek back down south if you want to attend the next race. I assume it's there, I've forgotten which one is next." Johan wondered.
"I've forgotten as well." Enrique said, still looking up to the sky. "What I need to do is find someone down south who's also racing. They will know what and where the next race is."
"I suppose you're going to do better in these next races?" Johan asked again, trying to build a friendship bond with the new human he's met with.
"Well I do hope so; it would nice to be out of last place." Whilst the two were looking at the sky outside another Koopa had come out of the main building.
"Johan, boss wants you." A female voice of a Koopa called out from behind them. The two turned around to see Verida Ichoga, a slim red-shelled Koopa with outstanding eyelashes. Enrique gathered that she was a bad sort of girl, based from her deep-sounding voice.
"What does he want?" Johan asked Verida back, who didn't give an answer and instead looked towards Enrique, who was also staring at her.
"Just come inside, you human stay outside." Verida ordered Johan to move forward, rushing back through the doors.
"I'll see you later then Johan." Enrique cheered, hoping for a response back. All he saw was the last look of Verida, glaring at him before she closed the doors in front of him.
Johan headed up the stairs of the building towards the third and highest floor, where the bedrooms of Illias and Nikola were located. The group met all together in Illias' dormitory. As he arrived he noticed every other Koopa band member inside the room except for Verida who was just behind him.
"Nice to see you Johan." Illias greeted. "How is our friend Enrique doing?" He asked. Most of the other Koopas were situated in a circle around Johan, waiting for what he was going to say.
"Friend." Verida smirked by the doorway, growling in response.
"He seems like quite the err... benign one. Nice company and small talk." Johan smiled, giving a good impression of the human to the others.
"That's good to hear." Illias replied. "But we still have a problem, I feel as if I have exposed too much information to him last night and I cannot risk him telling southerners. We have to remember everyone in the south thinks we are too dangerous to tame and handle. This has come to my conclusion that we should watch Enrique throughout today and bring him back south for his race in Mushroom Bridge, where he will have a more reluctant mindset and more likely not to say anything about us when he gets back. We shall have him stay the day at our town."
"He had this really delicious food earlier this morning, just so you know." Johan brought up, though not really necessary for the Koopas.
"That doesn't mean your friend is safe to us, idiot." Verida threatened Johan, who looked back with a frown.
"Calm down Verida, I've heard about this guy, he craves for the thrill of being evil. He's a bit like old Marrec." Nikola mentioned, trying to show a good impression of the man.
"We won't need much for today, so just see what he's up to, just don't let him leave." Illias ordered. "And Koopreme, and... Malkar." Illias struggled to remember the last Koopa's name.
"Malcolm." The Koopa corrected.
"I want you two to go back to Urscan and hunt that Dirrug guy; he's a pale Koopa with a black shell, rather short as well and has a speaking problem. You need to bring him back here for me."
"Yes Illias." Koopreme nodded.
"Now go, take the car round the back." Illias sent the first two Koopas out of the room. He still sat on his bed with Johan, Nikola and Verida still in the room, all awaiting orders. "Verida, trust me here, he is a good man. I just want to be safe."
"If you want to be safe then you should torture the man, he has to stay alive for the races so that's the best way to make him silenced." Verida suggested. Nikola looked back at Illias in agreement, insisting on using Verida's idea.
"I can't do that to him of all people, not him." Illias finalised. "Now leave me, I need some more sleep." The head Koopa got up and led the other three out of his bedroom, quickly closing the door and slouching his way back towards his bed to sleep some more...
EOC: I'm getting to a point where I will soon be running out of spare chapters to upload. I will try to increase the amount done over time so I can keep a steady rate of chapters released. Any messages will indeed encourage me to write more and faster. Be sure to check out the profile with the Lore book and any more questions please send a message or write a review.
See you soon!