Chapter 21: Identity of the Foxnappers!
Hot Hot Desert, Oasis Outpost...
"Mario! Sonic! Anyone!" Yoshi shouted out. The lone dinosaur searched around the ghost town of the desert, desperately searching for his friends. Two mysterious men had kidnapped Tails while they were looking through town, trying to find any civilians in the Oasis Outpost. "Ugh! This is really bad! What am I going to do? What's going to happen to Tails?" Yoshi was starting to panic. He turned around a corner of a building and luckily found Sonic and Amy, looking into another open window of a house. The dinosaur ran up to them.
"Hmph, I don't see anyone in here either." Sonic said, with a disappointed tone. He scratched the s ide of his head. "Maybe everyone went out for vacation or something..." Amy just shrugged back to him. She still covered herself with the parasol Princess Peach gave to her. The hedgehogs were about to check back with the other heroes, when Yoshi accidentally bumped into Sonic. They both stumbled back.
"Ow! Hey!" The blue hedgehog got back to his feet and swept off some of the sand on him. "Yoshi! Make sure you watch where you're going!" He looked up to the dinosaur's face and saw the worried look he had. "Hey, is something the matter?"
"Tails got kidnapped!" Yoshi blurted out to them.
Amy gave a shocked look. "Tails got kidnapped? Do you know who did it?"
Yoshi shook his head. "I couldn't get a good look at the two guys who kidnapped Tails, mostly because they wore these weird-looking robes that hid their faces, but I do know where they headed off to!
"Then we've got to chase after them!" Sonic demanded. He punched his fist into the palm of his hand. "They won't get away with Tails."
"We should find Mario and Luigi first." Amy recommended. "They can help us deal with those two men that kidnapped Tails."
The trio rushed to the north end of the Oasis Outpost, which was where the Mario Bros headed to search for any more civilians in the town. They carefully searched around the area, but to their confusion, there was no sight of the both of them.
"Uhmm, are you sure Mario said he and Luigi were heading this way?" Sonic asked. He peeked into another building window, but didn't find anyone there. Suddenly, the trio heard a loud yell. It sounded like a scream from Luigi. The three headed for the direction of the shout. They found the Mario Bros fighting against a tall-looking cactus creature in the middle of the town. It was a Pokey. It had four body segments, including it's head, which was at the top of the it's body. A large, pink flower grew on top of it's head.
"Mario! Luigi!" Yoshi shouted to them. Mario looked back to them, then gave them a signal with his hand that told them to stay back. Luigi was beside his brother, already holding his hammer ready to attack.
The Pokey looked at them ferociously, then prepared to attack. It teetered it's body back, then swiftly swung it forward towards the Mario Bros, attempting to hammer them. Both Mario and Luigi jumped out of the way in time. The Pokey slammed it's head into the ground with a loud thud. Luigi took the opportunity to attack the Pokey's head with a swing from his wooden hammer. His attack connected, and Luigi slammed his hammer into the back of the Pokey's head. The Pokey's body broke into four pieces, scattering off in different directions. The head disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Luigi sighed in relief, then wiped a sweat off his forehead. "Phew! That was scary!" The plumber put his wooden hammer back into his pocket. He looked back to the others. "What are you guys doing here? Did you find any people in this town yet?"
The trio shook their heads. "No." answered Sonic. "But, we've got some terrible news for you."
"Tails has been kidnapped!" Yoshi shouted out. "And it was all my fault!" The dinosaur sat down on the desert sand and looked down, ashamed of himself. "I ran away from them instead of trying to stop and help Tails." Amy went to comfort him.
"Yoshi." Amy comforted. "It's not your fault. There were two of them and only one of you, so you had no choice but to flee."
Mario walked up to them. "Do you know where these two men took Tails,i?"
Everyone looked to Yoshi,, hoping for an answer. "Yeah," replied the dinosaur. He quickly stood up on his feet. "They took this warp pipe in this dead end alley! C'mon! I''l show you!" The dinosaur took the lead of the group and showed them the area where the two mysterious goons took Tails.
"Hmm, it seems weird for a pipe to be placed here." Luigi commented as he looked down the pipe. He popped his head out. "Although, everything on our adventures have seemed weird, right bro?"
Mario went up to the pipe and looked down into it. "This pipe should lead us to where the two men took Tails. I'm-a have a feeling it'll take us through the underground tunnels of the desert."
Sonic groaned. "Ugh! We're going into the underground again?" He shook his head. "I'm kind of getting tired of aimlessly walking through dark caves, but since one of our friends is in a crisis, I'm willing to suffer through another day of spelunking." He hopped onto the edge of the pipe. "Let's go!" He hopped down into the pipe, followed by the others. The heroes left the Oasis Outpost, leaving the town in dead silence, with only the sound of the desert breeze accompanying it.
Hot Hot Desert, Ancient Tunnels...
Under the scorching hot sands of the Hot Hot Desert, was a complex maze of tunnels, used by the people who lived there long ago to safely transfer to bodies of the dead to their respective chambers. On the walls of the tunnels, was ancient desert writing that had been carved into the walls and pictures that were painted beside the writings. No one could ever understand what it meant. Torches were placed through the tunnels so explorers could see where they were going. Unlike the Hot Hot Desert itself, the tunnels were much cooler in temperature.
In one of the dead ends of the ancient tunnels, were two robed men that were standing in front of a table. The table was in the left corner of the dead end tunnel. They were counting up stacks of blue coins. All of it came from the coin bag they had stolen. Beside the table, was a familiar fox. He sat down on the ground, with his back against the wall. The fox was helpless since he was tied up. Roped wrapped around his body, arms and feet. The fox just sat their, struggling to free himself from the ropes. The two men tied him up there so he wouldn't escape.
The tall, robed man looked back to the fox, then continued back to his coin counting. "Uh, what are we supposed to do with that thing?" He talked to the plump, robed man, who was just stacking up the ten blue coins he just counted.
"We'll just leave him here." answered the mysterious plump man. "We have no use for him, and besides, the Spinys down here get awfully hungry at night." He chuckled at the joke he made.
The fox used all the strength he could to try and break away from the ropes, but it had little effect. Boy! These ropes are tight! Tails thought to himself. He looked at the ropes, then looked down into the tunnel. I hope the others realize that I'm missing. Who knows what these two men might do to me!
The two robed man counted the last of their blue coins they had stolen. They hopped up and down and started to cheer. "Wahoo! We're rich! We're rich!" the tall robed man exclaimed.
The plump man picked all the blue coins on the table and shoved them into the coin bag. He then held the bag above his head. "Bwahaha! I can't believe we've hit the jackpot! 5,000 coins in the form of blue coins!" The looked to the tall robed man. "Just think about what we can buy with this kind of money!"
"I can finally buy that casino I've always wanted!" the tall robed man said. He fantasized about his own casino, themed after himself.
The plump man swung the coin bag over his shoulder. "Come on! Let's-a get out of these tunnels!" The two robed man started out of the tunnel, but Tails quickly shouted to them.
"Hey! Wait!" Tails yelled to them. He got the robed men's attention. "What about me? You can't just leave me here, alone!"
The tall robed man laughed. "Wahaha! Don't worry, fox boy! These tunnels are nice and cozy for you!" He walked up to Tails, with his hands against his hips. "And besides, you can keep the Spinys down here a little company." The tall man laughed again.
Tails gave a shocked look. The tall, robed man walked back to the plump man. They were going to leave him there. Alone. Oh no! What am I going to do now? If only the others were here!
The two, robed men were about to leave, when suddenly, they heard footsteps coming down the tunnel they were in. "Gah! Somebody followed us down here!" whispered the plump man to the tall man. "We need to find some place to hide!"
The tall man looked around in the dead end they were in. "There is no where to hide!"
Before they knew it, the heroes appeared right in front of them, blocking the only exit from the tunnels dead end. They saw the two, robed men arguing to each other. The robed men looked at the heroes. "Oh no! It's them!" yelled out the tall robed man. He cowered behind the plump man.
"Are these the men, Yoshi?" Mario asked him. The dinosaur nodded back. He looked back to the robed men and saw their pink noses stick out from their robes. Hmm, they seem familiar...
Sonic looked behind the robed men and saw his fox friend sitting back on the wall of the dead end tunnel. "Tails!" With his quick speed, the hedgehog swiftly ran around the robed men and to the aid of the fox. He helped Tails from the ropes that bounded him.
Tails sat up and stretched his arms. "Thanks Sonic. I knew you'd guys come for me."
The hedgehog patted the fox's back. "We can't leave our friends behind, remember?"
The robed men looked around them, realizing they were surrounded by the heroes. The plump man gave them a evil grin. "Ha! You think you've got us cornered, but you're wrong!" The plump man nodded to his tall partner. Suddenly, they both took off their robes, revealing their true identities. The plump man wore purple overalls, green elf-like shoes, white gloves, a yellow shirt and a yellow cap with a 'W' on it. The seemed obese, but his arms appeared to be muscular. The tall man wore black overalls, orange elf-like shoes, white gloves with a yellow upside-down 'L' printed on them, a purple long-sleeved shirt and a purple cap with another yellow upside-down 'L' on it. Both men had crooked-styled moustaches and elf ears.
The two men stood behind each other, back to back. "We are, the Wario Bros!" they both shouted out.
Both Mario and Luigi were surprised. "Wario! Waluigi!" yelled Mario. "What are you guys doing here?"
Wario showed the coin bag in his hand. "Just making a big deposit from this dusty old town! With all these coins that we stole, we're going to be rich!" Both Wario and Waluigi hopped up and down in their successes.
"They kind of look like Mario and Luigi." Amy whispered to Yoshi. "Only, uglier!"
"Well, they ain't good people either!" Yoshi answered. He turned towards both Wario and Waluigi and pointed at them. "You kidnapped Tails! You guys are going to be sorry!"
Waluigi laughed at the dinosaur's remark. "Haha! What are ya going to do, dino breath?"
Without warning, Yoshi stuck his tongue out and aimed it towards Waluigi, wrapping it around his leg. The ugly plumber tried to escape from Yoshi's grasp, but he failed to do so. He was dragged across the tunnel floor and into the dinosaur's mouth. Yoshi swallowed him whole. He rubbed his stomach. He suddenly gave a pained look and laid a large Yoshi Egg behind him. The egg teetered, since Waluigi was inside it.
"Gwah! Get me out of here!" shouted Waluigi.
Sonic and his friends gave a shocked look. "Did Yoshi just-" Sonic couldn't complete his sentence. The Mario Bros. weren't too surprised by his reactions.
Wario quickly scratched his butt. "Meh! So what? You can lay eggs!" Wario poked thourgh his back pocket, still carrying the coin bag over his shoulder, and took out a Bob-omb. "I'm not letting any of you stupid idiots get my coins that I rightfully stole!" Wario threw the Bob-omb towards Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Amy. The all jumped out of the way. Unfortunately, the Yoshi Egg that Waluigi was still in was in the Bob-omb's path and it was hit by the explosion. The egg cracked open and Waluigi was sent flying a few feet away from the tunnels dead end. The explosion was huge, causing a big cloud of smoke to emit in the ancient tunnel. The heroes couldn't see through the smoke.
Waluigi, who was clear out of the smoke, sat up from the explosion. He rubbed his butt. "Yeow! That-a hurt!" He looked at the cloud of smoke, and saw a shadow of Wario come out of it. He pointed in the direction of the tunnel's exit pipe.
"C'mon, Waluigi! Let's bolt this hunk of junk tunnel!"
Both Wario and Waluigi headed for the tunnel's exit pipe. The heroes couldn't see where they were going, due to the cloud of smoke blocking their vision. It seemed that the Wario Bros. would escape, but unknown to them, someone was there, waiting to stop them.
"HEY! YOU GUYS!" someone shouted in the tunnel. Both Wario and Waluigi stopped and looked around the tunnel, trying to find the unknown voice. Suddenly, a Fire Bro. jumped out of the shadows of the tunnel. He had an angry look on his face. "YOU TWO! You're the ones who robbed all the coins in the Oasis Outpost!"
The Wario Bros. shook their heads. "Uhm, we don't know about any robbery that happened!" Wario tried to convince the Fire Bro.
The Fire Bro. didn't believe him. He pointed to the coin bag that he carried. "Them what's in that bag you're holding?"
Wario looked at the bag, then hid it behind him. "Umm, nothing! It's just, you know...uh, my underwear!" He nodded his head. Waluigi gave a confused look to him, but Wario elbowed him. Waluigi nodded his head with him.
The Fire Bro. still didn't believe them. "You know, I shouldn't be wasting time with you two!" Suddenly, the Fire Bro shot two fireballs towards Wario and Waluigi. The both got hit, and squealed in pain. Wario dropped the coin bag. The two of them started running through the tunnel, screaming from the intense heat on their butts. They headed for the tunnel's exit pipe. Before they left, Wario yelled back to them.
"WE'LL BE BACK! YOU COUNT ON IT!"
The Fire Bro. walked up to the coin bag and picked it up. He checked inside it, relieved that all the coins were still there. He looked up to where the cloud of smoke was. It already faded away. The heroes were coughing from the smoke and were waving whatever was left of it away from them. The heroes saw the Fire Bro. holding the coin bag and went up to it.
"Uhm, who are you?" asked Luigi. He looked around. "And where are those two trouble makers?"
"I took care of them." the Fire Bro. answered. "And my name is Frank. I live here in the Oasis Outpost."
Sonic scratched his head. "The Oasis Outpost? You mean that ghost town up there? No one seems to be living there."
Frank nodded. "I know." He looked at the coin bag. "All of the civilians evacuated the town after those two robbed every house in the Oasis Outpost. They forced everyone to give up all of their life savings. I witnessed them put all of our coins in this bag. This is pretty much all the money we have in our small town. Without it, we can't trade with the other villages and towns in the Hot Hot Desert."
"So that explains why there was no one in the town." Tails said. "They ran away because of Wario and Waluigi."
"Hmph! Leave it to those scumbags to cause all the havoc." Luigi added in.
"That must have been a terrible thing for the civilians to go through." assured Amy. "Where are they now, Frank?"
"Probably heading for the other towns to find a new place to live and start all over." Frank suggested. "But don't worry about it. Once I tell them that all of the money has been recovered, they'll all soon come back to this village." Frank looked up to the heroes. "I should thank you for the help. Without you, those two goons may have escaped by now."
"Well, we're heroes!" Sonic exclaimed. He gave a thumbs-up. "That's what we're here for!"
The heroes, and Frank, exited the the Ancient Tunnels using the warp pipe. They were back outside in the Oasis Outpost. Frank swung the coin bag over his head, then waved at them. "Well, it's been nice seeing a few travelers around here, but I must go now." Before he left, Tails asked him something.
"Frank, wait, before you go, can we ask you something?" Frank nodded, then waited for his question. "Well, we're here in the Hot Hot Desert because we're looking for a Power Star. Is there any chance that you've seen some sort of comet last night?"
Frank thought for a moment. "Well, now that you've mentioned it, last night while I was walking around town, I saw this shooting star fall down near the Tomb of the King Mummithwomp. If you are planning to go there, I must warn you. There are loads of booby traps placed inside there."
"Booby traps?" repeated Sonic. "But why?"
"Well, it's been rumored that inside the Tomb of the King Mummithwomp, lies a chamber where there is a great amount of treasure that has immense value. Many thieves have attempted to break into the pyramid and steal the loot, but they have failed due to the dangerous traps."
"Boy, that sounds a little scary." commented Luigi. He gave a small gulp.
"Anyway, if you are looking for the Power Star, you should head for the King Mummithwomp's Tomb. It is north from here. Good luck!" Frank soon headed out of the town. The heroes knew what they were going to do next.
"Well, what do you think, guys?" asked Sonic. "Are we up to the challenge?"
"I know we can do it!" exclaimed Tails. "As long as long as we stick together, nothing will stop us!"
"Okie-dokie!" Mario started. "Next stop, is the King Mummithwomp's tomb!"
Everyone else cheered. Tails got out his DS Horror and checked out the map for the Hot Hot Desert. Sure enough, the Tomb of the King Mummithwomp was just north of the Oasis Outpost. To the disappointment of the heroes, it was far away from the town.
"Oh no." complained Amy. "This is going to be a long walk. I'll be dead before we get there!" She opened up here parasol and covered herself in the shade.
"You know, if you do get tired, maybe Sonic can carry you?" Luigi suggested. He gave a small chuckle. Yoshi joined along with him.
"Oh, come on you guys!" Sonic complained. He didn't have anything else to say. He crossed his arms in an annoyed matter and looked away from them. Suddenly, something shaded him from the sunlight. He looked up and saw a parasol above him. He looked beside him and saw Amy, who smiled at him.
"Don't worry, Sonic. You don't have to carry me." she said in cheerful voice. "On the other hand, I though you might need a little shade from the sun."
Sonic was surprised, but soon felt grateful. "Thanks, Ames." The two hedgehogs started walking.
"Well, we better start walking if we want to get to the tomb before sunset." Mario insisted. He started walking. Tails soon followed him. Luigi and Yoshi looked at each other, shrugged, then followed the others. It was going to be a long walk before they get to the next Power Star...
Unknown to the heroes, they were being followed...
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To be continued
Our heroes are now taking their search from the Oasis Outpost to the treacherous tomb of the King Mummithwomp! Will they succeed in retrieving the next Power Star? Tune in next time for the upcoming chapter of Mario and Sonic: Heroes Unite!
Author Notes: Finally finished this chapter! Sorry for the 1-day delay. I couldn't get on the internet at the time, so I couldn't upload the chapter. I also kind of had some "writers block". But only for this chapter. There will be lots of action in the next chapter! I can guarantee it! I finally got the idea of adding in Wario and Waluigi into the story. They seem to be the comicol duo in the games, so I tried to add humor for them in the chapter.
I also might have to delay the release of the next chapter, since it'll be the holidays near the supposed release of the chapter.
Also, check my profile for updates on my fan fictions. You can look forward to an upcoming "holiday" fanfiction this week. When? You've got to keep on eye on it! I can assure you though, it will be either a Mario or Sonic fan fiction. You'll just have to wait!
Hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter, and thanks for the support!
I do not own any Mario or Sonic related characters. They are property of Nintendo and Sega.