Author's Note: Alright, I'm finally writing this ahead of time instead of procrastinating! Enjoy, everyone!

Chapter 25: X Quest

Enter Pax:

"I'm thinking about blowing this popsicle stand," King K said as I was packing up my stuff. This caused me to stop and turn to him.

"Wait, what?" I asked. "Why?"

"I just… I don't feel like I can keep doing this anymore," King K said, rubbing the back of his head as Koops and Leon walked closer to be part of the conversation. "All this fighting… the pay is horrible, I wake up every morning feeling sore, and I miss my family."

"Well… alright," I sighed. "Just… watch your back, okay?"

"Hey," King K said, knuckle-touching me, "I always have."

"I'm gonna miss him," sighed Koops as we walked with Flurrie and Goombella to the Major League locker room.

"Me too," I replied.

"Miss who?" questioned Flurrie.

"King K, the gold-shelled Koopas," I explained. "He left today."

"Excuse me," Jolene said, stopping and turning to face us, "who did what now?"

"King K," I said. "He… left the Glitz Pit. Why, what's wrong?"

"…nothing you should concern yourselves about," Jolene said, turning back around and walking forward.

"Right, of course not…" Goombella muttered under her breath, rolling her eyes.

"Wow… swanky," Leon said as we entered the guy's locker room. Indeed, the place seemed to shine and glisten, the lockers were actually usable, the sheets on the beds were clean, and the water appeared non-toxic.

"Now if you two would just follow me…" Jolene said, leading Goombella and Flurrie away to their locker room.

"Well… this place seems nice," said Koops.

"But the people aren't," Leon said. "I mean, the least they can do is give us a hello! They're just totally ignoring us!"

"Go to the Underwhere, you lucky piles of Chain-Chomp droppings," a Major Leaguer said as he passed us, glaring as he said it.

"…okay, hostility, I get it man," Leon said.

"Wait a second…" I said, turning to the Yoshi. "I've been meaning to ask… you were JUST born, right? So… how are you able to form complete sentences? It's not like walking, which is more of instinct, you have to actually LEARN it."

"Oh, there's actually a very simple answer to that," Leon said. "So simple it's kind of silly to think of any kind of complicated fan-based theories about it. You see-"

"Move it before you get Rawked!" a voice said outside the Locker Room.

"…is that who I think it is?" Koops asked. His question was answered a moment later when Rawk Hawk barged into the room, wearing the Champion's Belt with the Crystal Star on it.

"Hey… you're that stupid Dreamer kid, ain't ya?" asked Rawk as he glared at me. "And his loser friend and new pet."

"Hey, don't talk about Koops that way!" Leon glared, marching up to him. "And I'm no one's pet! If you wanna pick with someone, pick with me!"

Rawk chuckled before flicking Leon all the way to the other side of the room.

"Leon!" cried Koops, running to his side.

"What kind of jerk are you, hurting an innocent young Yoshi like that?" I glared at Rawk Hawk. He, in turn, laughed at me.

"I'll give you ALL a double-dosage of that if you don't get out of my way!" he said.

"…you know what?" I asked, summoning the Crystal Sword. "I think you're right. I WILL end it here."

Rawk's eyes widened as I swung the sword down-

Oh don't give me those looks! Just let me finish!

-and hit the Crystal Star on his belt with the tip of the sword.

You see? I was never gonna hurt the guy, just absorb the Crystal Star! Giving him a scare was just, ya know, icing on the cake.

However, we were both surprised (for different reasons, admittedly) when all the Star did was make a little ding, like something made of plastic being hit by something made of Crystal.

"Huh," I said, stepping back. "That's weird."

"WHAT THE FREAK WAS THAT?" Rawk cried, stepping back with his eyes wide.

"What's weird, Mario?" Koops asked, walking forward to me while holding Leon.

"Ya see… wait, is Leon okay?" I asked.

"WHERE DID THAT SWORD COME FROM?"

"I'm fine Pax," Leon said, shuffling down to his feet. "See? It'll take a lot more than that 'Rawk' head to seriously hurt me."

"Heh, good one," I said, bending down to knuckle touch him.

"WHAT KIND OF MAGIC… THING ARE YOU?"

"So anyway, what were you saying?" Koops asked as I stood up.

"Oh," I said, nodding to Rawk Hawk's champion belt. "Turns out the Crystal Star on that belt is fake."

"What?" Koops asked, taken aback. "No way!"

"GET AWAY FROM ME, SPAWN OF THE UNDERWHERE!"

"I know, so… hold on, there's one thing I gotta do," I said, turning away and walking up to Rawk Hawk. He slowly backed away to a wall, shivering and sweating. I grinned, leaned in so our faces were only an inch apart, and said:

"Boo."

Letting out a high-pitched scream, Rawk Hawk ran out of the room, nearly breaking the door down to get away.

"That should put him in his place for awhile…" I said, patting my hands together as I turned back to my friends, letting the Crystal Sword vanish in a flash of light as I did so. A few Major Leaguers were looking at me with wide eyes, most of them grinning at the scare I gave Rawk Hawk.

"Okay, so… looks like we'll have to wait 'till tomorrow to get back into the fight, huh?" Koops asked.

"Yup," I said, stretching my arm. "So we might as well get some rest while we can."

As I walked over to my comfy bed, Koops and Leon stood awkwardly.

"So… now would be a good time for a scene transition, eh?" asked Leon. "Maybe switch the perspective to the girls or something?"

"Yup," agreed Koops. They continued to stand in awkward silence for a few more moments.

"…Hey, Author!" Leon shouted to the sky.

Enter The Author:

"Huh, what?" I asked, looking back from my webcomics.

"How about a scene transition?" I typed Leon to say. "And while you're at it, STOP PROCRASTINATING!"

"…you aren't even three chapters old and you're already yelling at me to get back on track?" I asked.

"Well it just gets on my nerves!" I typed Leon to say. "You're on Summer Vacation now! You don't have any reason to put off writing your chapters now, so why not just sit down and WRITE for a change?"

"…I can't believe it," I sighed, leaning my face in my hands. "My own written creation is winning an argument against me. Maybe this means I need to see someone? Maybe Mom's right… I have been spending too much time on the computer. Maybe-"

"HEY!" I typed Leon to yell.

"Huh?" I asked. "Oh, right. I'll get you that scene transition and stop procrastinating right after I finish with this website."

"Oh… fine, but make it snappy!" I typed Leon to say.

"Fine, fine…" I muttered, switching over to my Internet Explorer tab to finish with the website I was already on. After the last comic was read, I went back to writing.

Enter Flurrie:

"…Goombella?" I asked, looking down at Goombella's bunk. She moaned and turned around, her blonde hair covering most of her tired face. I couldn't really blame her, it was already quite late.

"What?" she asked groggily.

"Well, uh… what do you think Mario's doing right now?" I asked.

"…sleeping," Goombella said, turning back around. "You should do the same."

"No, I'm serious," I said, floating down to her side. "I think… he's doing something important. I can feel it in my bones."

"Some people would call that stalker-like behavior," Goombella replied curtly.

"Well I just… I thought we ought to check," I said, twirling a lock of hair around my finger.

"Flurrie, I was already in REM when you woke me up," Goombella said, turning to face me. If I could see her face behind that wall of blonde, I probably would have seen a glare. "My brain's still in deep Alpha. I would be no help to you in locating Mario even if he really was doing anything, and even if I did tug along, I wouldn't be able to help if he was doing anything major. So, please, let me sleep."

"…you know," I thought out loud, "you're a contradiction."

"How's that?" Goombella asked, she already turned to sleep.

"You're intelligent and blonde," I stated.

"…okay, look, hair color does NOT have any impact on intelligence!" Goombella snapped, sitting up to face me. "I can't tell you how sick and tired I am with idiots who automatically think, just because I'm a blonde, I DON'T have an IQ of 180 or a GPA of 4.5 or a High-School Diploma at the age of fourteen! And another thing-"

"If you're awake enough to argue, you're awake enough to help me search!" I said cheerfully, pulling Goombella out of bed and brushing her hair back to put her helmet on.

"…oh, you're good," Goombella admitted, blinking the sleep out of her eyes.

"Thanks!" I smiled. "By the way… are you REALLY that smart?"

"I was more of a 'spend hours at the library' girl than a 'play with dolls' girl," Goombella retorted.

"…and you're-"

"Say blonde one more time and I will not hesitate to smack you down right here and now," Goombella said.

"My… you're awful grumpy when you haven't gotten your beauty sleep," I said as we quietly left the Locker Room.

Enter Pax:

"Well I wouldn't be so grumpy if someone hadn't forced me awake with an unintelligent bash on all blondes-" I heard Goombella start before we-me, Koops and Leon-bumped into her, along with Flurrie.

"Huh?" I asked. "What are you guys doing awake?"

"You know, we could ask you that very same question," Goombella replied.

"We got an email from this dude named X," Leon yawned.

"He said if we did a few things, we could get information about the Crystal Stars," Koops added.

"…is it really wise to be following instructions from an anonymous person that could very well ask us to burn down the Glitz Pit?" Goombella asked.

"Ya know, I thought the very same thing," I told her. "But it's our only lead, and the instructions seem innocent enough."

"Well, what do we do first?" Flurrie asked.

"Like I tried to tell Koops and Leon," I sighed, "I wanna do this alone. Less people cause less attention, you know."

"And do you honestly think we'd miss out on something like this?" Goombella asked me. "Honestly, I thought you knew me by now."

"Yeah, which is why I didn't want you to find out in the first place," I said.

"Well too bad, you're stuck with me," Goombella said.

"Me too!" Leon said, leaning on my leg in a position that he probably thought made him look cool. "Finally, a piece of action! I only got a taste inside the Pit, and now I want more!"

"I just wanted to make sure Leon stayed alright…" Koops said. "And I… REALLY don't want to go back to that room alone…"

"Okay…" I said. "Goombella and Leon, seeing as I couldn't lose you two to save my life, I guess you can come with me. Koops, could you just… try to make it for about an hour?"

"Oh… fine," sighed Koops.

"And Flurrie-" I began.

"No need to tell me, I'm already gone," Flurrie said. "Hey, make sure not to do anything you may regret later, eh cutie pie?"

With a wink, she turned the corner and left us. As she did this, Koops walked back to the Locker Room.

"Okay…" I said quietly, "now we all need to be REALLY quiet to-"

"What did Flurrie mean by that?" asked Leon.

"…um," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "Er… well… I'm sure Goombella could answer that better than-"

"No way are you pushing this on me," Goombella said.

"Well… let's get going, okay?" I asked, marching ahead. "The email says there's a package behind the café…"

"…why are you two not answering me?" Leon asked as he scurried to catch up to us. "C'mon guys, this isn't fair!"

"How did we get into the air duct again?" asked Goombella as we crawled through.

"Don't you remember?" I asked. "It was right after we got the key from the package and learned we needed to sneak past the army of ninja kittens!"

"The Author is just getting lazier and lazier with these…" muttered Goombella.

"What?" I asked, turning to face her.

"Nothing…" Goombella shrugged off.

"…you know," I said, "this is happening more and more often. I'm starting to wonder if I'm not just in some sort of book written by myself in an alternate dimension where I'm already turning sixteen and-"

"Hey!" Leon interrupted, pointing down a grate. "Check this out! It looks like the big room that's locked outside!"

"Hey, you're right…" I said, peering down. "What's the point of this room again?"

"Storeroom, by the looks of it," Goombella said.

"Wonder what we can find in here…" I muttered. "Hey… look, there's a locked door there. Maybe that's what this key goes to?"

"Worth a shot," Goombella said. "But the hard part is figuring out how to get down.

"Already taken care of," I said, bending the iron grate apart easily with my index and middle Nightmare fingers.

"Hey Pax… how are you able to do that?" Leon asked.

"Oh right, you don't know yet," I said. "Here, just promise not to scream…"

"Pax," Leon rolled his eyes, "I was JUST BORN, you gotta remember. Everything's new to me, and I doubt that anything you show me will make me-HOLY CRAP!"

Leon jumped back with wide eyes when I pulled off my left glove.

"Sorry…" I muttered. "I know it's a bit much to swallow…"

"That… is… so… COOL!" Leon said. "It has, like, super-human strength and junk?"

"Yup," I nodded. "I learned it can also cast magic, and-"

"Wait… Mario, pull down your sleeve," Goombella said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Just do it," Goombella snapped. I sighed, then pulled down my left sleeve to humor her. When I did, I noticed something really freaky:

My entire forearm was pitch black.

"Holy crap, there's something you don't see every day…" I muttered, staring at it.

"You know… maybe you should lay off the Nightmare Powers," Goombella said, sounding honestly concerned.

"Oh… alright, but we only have a few more battles left to fight," I said, rolling my sleeve back up and re-donning the glove. "Maybe it'll go down in my sleep. And if all else fails, I'll just use the Crystal Sword more often in our next adventure."

"Is that what you call that sword you used to freak Rawk Hawk out?" Leon asked.

"Yeah," I grinned. "Cool, huh-"

"Wait… you freaked that oversized bird out?" Goombella asked, grinning. "Stars, you have SO much to tell me."

"All in due time," I said, looking down. "Now, back to the matter at hand… doesn't look like that far of a jump. I'll go down first and catch you guys."

Three falls, two catches, and a Partridge in a pear-er, a locked door un-locked later, we were in a new room, which…

"Stinks!" Leon groaned. "This place REALLY stinks!"

"Yeah, no kiddin'," I said, climbing over a box. "What's making that smell, any…"

I stopped in front of a large crate, where the smell originated.

"Huh?" I asked, walking forward. "Hold on, I'll bust this-"

"Ahem," Goombella said, glaring at me.

"…oh fine," I sighed, summoning the Crystal Sword and using that to pry the crate open. When it finally opened, we were greeted to a horrid sight:

Bandy Andy and King K both like limp noodles on the ground. I bit back a scream, Leon whimpered, and Goombella made a gagging sound.

"Oh Stars, this is…" she said. "I think I'm gonna…"

"King K…" I said, leaning down. "What happened?"

"Oh… Pax," groaned King K, looking up at me. "Look out… Crystal Star…"

"I… knew it…" Bandy Andy said, laughing weakly. "You so… totally owe me… twenty coins, K."

"Yeah… we'll make the exchange… in the next life…" King K said, giving a weak laugh before grunting in pain.

"Oh hold on guys!" I said. "We'll get you to a hospital, and-"

"No… time for that…" King K said. "Pax… just do me a favor… don't go near… the Arena… when… no… one's… around…"

King K let out a final sigh before closing his eyes. His body glowed, and a moment later, light was all that was left, and that faded away into droplets that floated upward and vanished in the air. The same happened to Bandy Andy not even a minute later.

"No…" I whispered, looking at the spot they were at. "What… what kind of monster could do this?"

"This was… man…" Leon said, walking up to me. "Pax, you okay?"

"I… no, not really…" I said, wiping a tear from my eye. "He was my friend… and I just watched him fade…"

"Mario."

I turned, and was caught off guard as Goombella gave me an armless hug. Blinking, I wrapped my arm around her.

"We're gonna catch that son of a witch who did this," she promised. I closed my eyes, leaning into the hug, which is exactly what I needed at the moment. Leon joined in, and together, the three of us sat in a group hug for a bit, absorbing what we just-

"Hi guys!" Goompa said, riding in on a unicycle. "Have you seen my pet cheese? I'm sure-"

"NOT NOW," Goombella and I both snapped at him with a glare. Leon just blinked at him in curiosity.

"Oh… well fine, I know when I'm not wanted…" sulked Goompa, peddling away.

"That would be ALL THE TIME!" I shouted at him, but he was gone by the time I started.

"…who was-" started Leon.

"Forget it," Goombella said. "Let's just… head back to the Locker rooms, okay?"

"Can we… just hug for a minute longer?" I asked. She looked me in the eyes and smiled.

"Okay… I think we can do that…" she said softly, leaning in. And so, the three of us resumed our hug, feeling protected from whatever horrible force was out there, if only for a moment and in each other's arms.

Author's Note: Ah Goompa, the comic-relief master… well, that's my chapter! And now that I'm on Summer vacation and don't have to be up at any time, update time will change from 5:30 AM (EST) to whenever the bloody heck I feel like waking up (EST)! Well, 'till Wednesday, this is Pax the Dreamer, signing out!