Enjoy the longest chapter yet people! Plus I'll be out for another week after this, woo!
Chapter 20: Recuperation and a Problem
Within Dimension D…
Dimentio was busy setting up a crystal ball, one which he had stolen personally from Merlee. "Foolish witch," he chuckled. "Like a mouse sneaking through the cupboards, I stole it right under her nose. But now, just how…do I…set it up?!" he said as he forcefully shook it, coming up with nothing but static. "No problem. I'm sure that this can easily be solved with a little bit of magic!" he said, snapping his fingers to cause an explosion right next to the crystal ball. Immediately, the static disappeared, and the strange being of shadows appeared, his form altering only slightly as he stood. The only unaffected part again was his head, still retaining the strange white mask.
"Silence Dimentio," he said coldly, his body distorting. "I have received news from that pathetic excuse of a Magikoopa that the third Mega Star has been retrieved. So, now your part of the mission has been put into place. Best be ready, if you wish to truly please me after that failure so long ago."
Dimentio winced upon hearing this. "Er, yes of course. Forgive me for that. You do remember though, I had nearly succeeded, only that my plan didn't work, even when it was supposed to work."
The shadow shook his head. "It was supposed to, yet it failed. And look where that led!" he yelled, but quickly regained his composure. "However, thankfully there was me. And now the plan can continue to proceed, but only if you succeed. If not, I shall haunt you, even after your own death. Failure…that is unforgivable this time." Dimentio swallowed hard, but kept his face gleeful, although it was visibly nervous. "R-right. Well, I best be off then. No worries my friend, your victory is ensured, I have no doubts. Ciao!" he shouted before turning off the crystal ball. The shadow entity sighed from where he was. "That…is what you ensured last time, Dimentio," he mumbled to himself. "Make no mistake though; if you do fail…you can expect it to end."
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Morning had come in Bullet Estates, and it seemed most of the citizens had slept through the excitement of the previous night, missing the light show the volcano created. Mario and Duplissa had managed to bring in themselves, Shelly, and William to the hospital of the town. Which William owned, of course. They were treated immediately, but were all ordered to be kept in, especially Shelly, who remained unconscious.
Mario was in his hospital room, sitting on the bed with his legs dangling over the side. He sighed, rubbing his temples in irritation. This was beginning to get dangerous. He wasn't sure what would be thrown their way next, but if it was worse than SingeFrost, they could be sure to say goodbye. They still had four more Stars to get, and he had no idea where they were. If only-
"Hey Mario?"
Mario looked up, his thoughts interrupted. Duplissa was standing their halfway through the door. She seemed to have recovered fairly quickly and easily, like Mario did himself. A few bruises and whatnot, but nothing threatening. Truthfully, none of them really sustained life-threatening injuries, but they were dealt heavy damage.
"Yeah, Mario I wondering…have you put the Star in the Navigator yet? We still have no idea where the next one will be. Don't you think it'd be good to know where it is now so that we can plan where to go to get there? Especially since we may be here for another day or so with Shelly and William." Mario nodded. He had completely forgotten due to the excitement that had come over the past few hours.
Pulling the Star out, Mario let it hover in front of him, its shining color illuminating the room more than the lights could. Taking the Star Navigator from his pocket, Mario clipped off the small dome top to it and put the Star in. Fastening the dome back on, the map came to life, its holographic projection clearly showing their current location in Bullet Estates, right down to the very building they were in. In the blink of an eye, the map zoomed out, once more showing the full scale of the Old Mushroom Kingdom, its vastness intimidating both Mario and Duplissa as they stared at it. Suddenly, the fourth Star appeared on the map, slowly making its way to where it was being held. When it finally stopped, they could only stare at where it was…
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Boone was sleeping fitfully in his cell. He had been there for as long as he could tell, which didn't help much. The whole place had no natural lights, no clocks, no nothing. He was completely out of tune with nature in his cold, concrete cell. Generic metal bars at one end, and nothing in the room besides him. He woke with a start, looking wildly around. "Oh, right," he said glumly, further slumping to the ground. "Still stuck in this crazy place with no hope of rescue. Goody goody, just how I wished to go for the rest of my life. Although, I wonder how Mario is doing? Hopefully just fine and that he isn't still looking for me. It'd be a wild goose chase for them, no doubt. Even I don't know where I am. Guess I'll just wait here for whatever comes my way, if anything ever does." He sighed again, and started rapping his knuckles on the hard stone floor. A Koopa guard walked by his cell holding a club. He stopped and turned to Boone, glaring. Boone immediately stopped, and tried once more to sleep. It was all he really could do…
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Elsewhere in the compound that Boone was being held in…
Captain Graves was not happy. He had been coming up empty handed for days now in his search to find Boone. His entire crew had come up with nothing, and most gave up and spent the time in on the boat tidying or doing other things. But things had taken a turn for the better, at first.. He had gotten a tip from a, ahem, willing citizen about a secret jail under the city. And that's where he was now. At least, he presumed it. Right now, he was crammed tightly between the earth above him, and the roof of the place. How and why they did that, he had no idea, and really didn't care about it either. "It's a good thing I'm not claustrophobic." he grumbled. "Argh, I need to get out of here!" Struggling, he managed to pull out a cutlass. He stabbed down upon the ceiling with it, cutting in to form a large gash in the ceiling, very fine and not quite noticeable. Graves peeked through with one eye, looking all around the area. There were several Koopatrols walking through, as well as two strange shadows. They had a full three-dimensional form, yet they seemed to constantly be changing. However, they always kept in a general humanoid shape, standing perhaps four feet. "Well I'll be," Graves marveled. "Seems this place 'as more to it than meets the eye. And I would bet that landlubber Boone and perhaps even Luigi may just be down here. But just how do I get through this? If only this pirate were a ninja…No, NO! Ye father would be shamin' ye just fer that! Our types are far better than the pathetic ninjas. And I think I'll just prove it now, haha!"
Graves took the cutlass once more, and sliced a perpendicular cut to his previous one. This was done far more hastily and noisily than his original cut, garnering unwanted attention from below.
"Hey Joe, how long have we had those cuts in the ceiling?" one Koopa asked his companion. The other just shrugged as they began to walk under it.
"Eh, it's been there. You know how this place is, nothing special. Just same old, same old."
The Koopa named "Joe" had no idea how wrong he was. As soon as the two walked past Graves' cuts, the ceiling burst open as the pirate Goonie dropped down. Metal shards rained down around him as he immediately went into action. Taking his cutlass, he slashed at the shells of the two Koopas, breaking them apart. Scared, they ran off screaming, also turning heads as they left. Several other Koopas remained, but none stayed for Graves to attack them. This left the two shadows. Graves looked at them suspiciously, the two merely standing in the same spot. Slowly, two glowing orbs that could only be described as opened on each of their heads. Graves readied himself, his sword about to strike, when they appeared next to him instantaneously.
"What? What are the both of ye? Some freak rogues of Shadow Sirens?" The shadows merely cocked their heads sideways, one on either side of him. "Listen ye scallywags! I don't have the time to deal with fools like the both of ye! Now just go and-AUGH!" cried Graves as the two beings seemed to melt into the ground. However, instead of merely disappearing, they slowly spread themselves into shadow particles that slowly moved over to Graves' foot (and peg leg), quickly consuming them and rooting him in his place.
Graves sighed. "I truly hoped it never had to come down to this. But, it seems I may have just met my match. Well you scallywags, get a load of Graves' favorite thing in the world!" he yelled, dropping his sword and pulling out two small bombs, the fuses magically igniting as he did so. "Eat this, darn it!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, thrusting the two bombs at the shadows. The next second, the whole hallway exploded.
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Mario and Duplissa gazed at the map. The Star shone brightly in the location where it was being held captive. The massive city of Koopolis, with its towering skyscrapers and huge port, was covered by the Mega Star on the map. Mario slammed his fists on the nearest wall in frustration. The whole time…this whole time there was a Star located in Koopolis. Of all places, it had to be there. But no wonder! Dimentio was there, why was that not a surprise. Put two and two together, and it all falls in place.
"Mario?" Mario looked up, his anger slowly draining away. Duplissa looked nervous. "Does that mean…that that guy Dimentio has the Star?" Mario nodded. "So…then once Shelly and William are better, we have to go back…there?" Mario reluctantly nodded again. He didn't want to go back. He knew the two girls probably didn't either. They lost both Luigi and Boone there, so who knows what could happen next time. But, there was that chance that maybe they could be found! If they beat Dimentio, maybe they would find those two after that! It was possible…and they would have to try it. Even if it killed them, because Mario knew how dangerous Dimentio was, that psychotic jester. This time, they would make sure Dimentio would be gone for good.
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Graves moaned as he pushed some debris off of him. 'I am never going to do that again unless I'm sure that it'll kill me. Ugh.' He flexed his arms and legs making sure nothing was broken. To his surprise, nothing was broken. In fact, he was just badly burned and bruised, but nothing that would threaten his life. Although, his arm feathers were scorched now. It looked as if they would be a charred gray for however long his game lasted. 'Great, just great. No lady is going to look at me ever again if I'm like this.' Grunting, he slowly stood himself up. His peg leg had been splintered at its end, causing him to walk unevenly.
Looking around, Graves saw that the blast had caused the ceiling where he had been to collapse, which was several hundred feet away from where he now stood. "Blast must've launched me a ways. And taken out those two." He shook his head to get bits of dust and gravel off and out of his few strands of hair. He looked down and saw his cutlass shattered like glass, causing him to chuckle a bit. "Ol' pappy's going to be made that his sword was busted up like that. Oh well, Georgie can fix me up a new one when I get back."
Graves saw that he was now at the end of the hallway, which took a turn into another one from where he was. Grinning, he stealthily (at least as stealthily as a pirate could) moved down the hallway. The hallway was almost totally consumed in darkness after the two bombs blew the power out, causing the jail to resort to auxiliary power, submerging the hallways in a deep red.
Continuing on his way through the labyrinth that was the jail, Graves was met with very little resistance. A few Koopatrols and even some Bob-Ombs got in his way, but they were no match for Graves. He may have been injured and without a sword, but he still had his own hand-to-hand combat, which wasn't much, but still proved effective.
"It'll be only a matter of time. Soon, I'll find those two. I can feel it in my bones. Soon."
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Boone woke with a start. From what he could see and hear, the whole place was bathed red, which was odd, but a nice change of scenery. More interesting to him, however, was that he was seeing Koopas and Goombas all running in the same direction, shouting at each other about an intruder. "Odd," he mused. "Finally, at least something to change the dull doom and gloom." He spied several more creatures that he had never seen before also running, or more like drifting, with the crowds. They were only shadows from what he could tell, their forms distorting perpetually. Boone eyed them suspiciously, but ended up not paying them any mind. "Probably nothing I need to worry about."
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Graves was starting to slow down more now. The guards had been at a near constant stream now, so fatigue was about to get him. He was tempted to use one final bomb that he had leftover, but decided against it. "Only when the going gets really bad. Like if there are more of those shadows." Ignoring his body's pain, he kept going, even resorting to using his splintered peg leg as a defense, which he removed and instead held like a sword. No problem really for him though, since he still had his real leg underneath it.
After what seemed like hours, and a wave of hundreds of enemies, they finally just stopped. Unconscious enemies or the occasional dead body littered the hall as Graves stood alone, panting. The Goonie looked around out of his single eye, making sure nothing was still around to take him down. Satisfied with what he saw, he moved on, running now. He still had a ways to go.
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Mario and Duplissa were both waiting patiently for news on their two comrades. They had already been discharged, seen as good to go after a while, although still suffering from some burns and scrapes. A Toadette walked out with William following behind, grinning like he just won the lottery. The Toadette smiled at Mario before looking down at a clipboard for a moment. "Your friend here has made a complete recovery!" she chirped in her high-pitched voice. "He should be good to go for now, in spite of his age. Amazing, really. On the other hand though…the Shy Gal is still unconscious. We can't be sure how long it'll last, but we'll keep you informed. Now, if you want you all can stay here and wait. But I would suggest getting some more rest."
They knew she was right. A day after their battle in the volcano, and they were all suffering miserably from it. Reluctantly, Mario stood up, motioning for the other two to follow. Downtrodden, they walked out of the hospital, and found the nearest Toad House hotel to stay in for the night, or for however long it would take for Shelly to wake up.
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"Crud." Was the first thing Graves said when he saw what was in front of him. Five more shadows were blocking the hallway, and from what he could see, the jail cells. Gritting his teeth, he looked around him, trying to find a way around it. Pipes dotted the ceiling, and there seemed to be some space between them and the ceiling. 'Perhaps…' he thought. 'It could just work. If I do it just right, I'll be home free. If not…well, I know the result of that.'
The shadows had already opened their 'eyes' and looked ready to attack. Sure enough, they began to pool into the floor and slowly move over to trap Graves. Acting quickly, Graves flapped up, soaring to the pipes and grabbing hold, he climbed over to an opening big enough for him, and pulled out his last bomb. "Do me well!" he shouted, throwing it straight down at the shadows on the floor. Just as it hit the ground, Graves pulled himself into the protection of the rafters. The explosion rattled them, causing him to hold on to whatever he could.
After the smoke cleared, he peered over the ledge to take in his surroundings. Nothing was moving, and the shadows looked to be annihilated, just like the last ones. "Now, I am home free!" he laughed, gliding down before continuing on.
He came across a room that was still lit up. Entering, he found it to be empty, but a control console was still on. Upon further inspection, Graves found that it controlled the entire prison. And had a catalog as to where everyone was held, with a life video feed of their cell. "Now just where are our friends?" he mumbled, beginning to scroll through the list of pictures of the cellmates. They were categorized by species, so he began with human. To his shock and displeasure, Luigi was nowhere to be found. "That's not a good sign," he grimaced. Turning back to look, he began to search for Boone. Eventually, he came upon the Boomerang Bro's picture and cell. "Bingo." He grinned, and promptly flew out, continuing on to look for the cell.
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Boone was back to being bored. The swarm of guards had finished a while ago, and nothing else was really happened right now. A few prisoners he could hear were moaning in pain or just flat out complaining, but he just put them out of his mind. All he could think of all of a sudden was escape. The power was out, and the guards were gone, so why not? He could possibly do it; he would just need to figure out how.
To his shock, a Goonie suddenly appeared in front of his cell, looking up at the number. "Found it." he muttered. Looking into the cell, he saw Boone as he slowly inched closer to the cell door. "Who are you?" Boone asked, curious as to why this guy was here. Graves laughed. "Not surprised you don't recognize me. But then again, you landlubber, I never took you as being able remembering a face much. That and, I am pretty beat up aren't I?" Boone nodded. "I'll say."
Graves laughed lightly. "Well, here's a quick refresher! I sailed you and your friends all the way to this totalitarian dump! Now look where this all ended up!"
Realization came to Boone. "Captain Graves?" The Goonie bowed. "At your service and here to get you out of this place. Your friends are worried, you know. But enough chit-chat, I'll be freein' ye in a moment's notice. Just give me your helmet."
A few minutes passed, and Graves made a bomb out of the helmet, causing Boone to stare in awe, and fear. "You sure that won't kill the both of us?" Graves nodded. "Of course! I stood a blast from two earlier, why do you think I look so terrible! Now stand back so I can blow this out." Boone did so without complaint. Graves knocked the bomb's reaction to occur, and ran off like a madman.
The bomb exploded, although it wasn't nearly as bad as the last few had been. Fortunately, it blew a hole into Boone's iron doorway, allowing him to reclaim his freedom. "Now," Graves said. "Let's find a way out of this metal maze!"
I really liked writing this chapter. I like the character of Graves, he is definitely the favorite of my OCs here. See you all later!