A/N: I was going to finish this story outright, uploading whatever was left of it in one go so I did not feel pressured to write it quickly. However because we are getting a new computer, I have to upload what I have done, which in all honesty is not a lot. Although at least you guys know I am not giving up on this fic grin. Thank you to anybody who still wants to read it.
Peach and Goombario looked around the markets of the Chai district. Extremely overcrowded was probably an understatement as they could barely see anywhere let alone get the attention of any of the locals, most of them were not even speaking the same language.
"Man, this blows… we aren't getting anywhere, it's like a needle in a hay stack" Goombario continually had to squeeze through, his height meant he could barely be seen so had to be careful not to be trampled
"I'm sure Daisy and Edde are having just as many problems… there is a lot of desert out there"
Daisy triumphantly held a yellow orb in her hand "Wow that was easy, how did you find this though, the sand is almost exactly like this colour"
"I'm actually strangely colour blind… they say slightly different tones look way different to me so it stood out in my eyes"
"Let's go back at see whether Peach has had any luck"
Peach had finally got somewhere with a middle aged Goomba who had various treasures at his stall, Peach suspected at least 90 of them were fake.
A male Goomba gave a greedy smile "Ah yes… the orbs…"
"Um yes… do you have any?"
"Of course I have them… but do come in so we can negotiate a deal"
The Goomba led them down an alley
"Peach I do not like this… we are being followed in the air" Goombario muttered as he noticed a paratroopa in the sky seemingly following them
"I know there's a bom-omb following us too, on the count of three you attack him, I'll deal with these two"
They waited three seconds and then Goombario head bonked the Goomba while Peach stepped aside causing a bom-omb to miss its tackle attempt and she kicked it up in the air unexpectedly, causing it to light its fuse and then explode in the sky taking out the paratroopa ready to attack from above.
They ran down the alley and into a quiet room and were surrounded by 6 of them.
"Hand over wha…" Goombario didn't wait for the Yoshi to finish his sentence and went in with a charged headbonk, while Peach danced away from an ill timed attack and kicked the spear wielded Craw behind her and grabbed him and threw him behind her crashing into the Squeek who attempted to attack. She took his spear, while Goombario guarded against another Squeek trying to crash into him. Peach heard the some footsteps behind her and whirled around hitting whoever it was in the face with her spear.
Most of their 'opponents' had started fleeing, a Noki tried getting up slowly. It seemed this was the one who was creeping from behind
"You are stronger then I had thought, considering your reputation for being kidnapped" the Noki who Peach had hit spoke, it was a female "I guess there is no harm in letting you have that orb. I haven't worked out its mysteries and I've had it for years" the Noki went and opened a chest and gave Peach the orb, it was dark blue "I think this thing will do something terrible and I can't work it out, so maybe you're doing me a favour by taking this"
Goombario was angered he hated anybody who would try use him to do something for their own gains "What's that supposed to mean? You want something terrible to happen?"
The Noki did not answer and left.
Peach and Goombario stared at each other for a bit longer, they didn't want to wait for anything else to happen so left the area and found Daisy and Edde at the end of the alley
"We heard you were in a bit of a fight, you alright?" Daisy came over to Peach and tried to see if she had any injuries
"We're okay, but I think we should return to my castle… I have got this strangest feeling something bad is going on there"
Cortez Mansion
Goombella and Delandra took into the battle first, she had already tattled Cortez, this time he had 30HP, but what other forms he had were unknown, she had also tattled Vivian from Boogly woods, and had her usual 30HP, she had not however tattled Bobbery in battle having not ever faced him. Bobbery was first in the line, then Vivian, the Cortez.
"That's admiral Bobbery? Or it seems to be? He looks so angry and even when I first met him I've never seen him like this. Max HP is 40, attack is 6, defence is 0. It seems his attack power or defence haven't changed during the rage. Cortez has control over him and Vivian, so if we take him out first we'll release everyone from his control"
Keeping a defensive strategy in mind Delandra used her shield on Goombella. Bobbery came charging into the Goomba girl with his bomb attack, it did only 2 damage after she guarded dealing 1 back to the bom-omb. Vivian came after Delandra with her shade fist and dealt 5 damage as well as burning her. Delandra took 1 more damage from the burn. Cortez went to bite Goombella but took 1 damage while Goombella guarded taking 1 damage herself.
Delandra looked at Cortez "Cortez is already dead and is just a spirit yes? Then this means if we use my power, we can destroy him forever"
Goombella didn't like the idea of destroying Cortez, until now he wasn't all bad "But, he's just gone mad by the powers of the orb"
"Cortez murdered thousands of people in the past, keeping him alive will make the battle much more difficult as he will return many more times before he surrenders. Even he has a half wish to be able to die, he is getting bored, he told us that when we entered"
Goombella decided Delandra was right and targeted her attack on Cortez dealing 3 damage twice for a total of 6. Delandra charged her energy, Bobbery went after Goombella again blowing up near her and she took another 2 damage while Bobbery took another 1 damage from the shield, Vivian lit up her finger and let out a fiery jinx, Delandra guarded, Goombella did not and the shield did not work on this attack so she took the full 5 damage as well as getting burned, Cortez tried to bite Goombella again but the same thing happened leaving him with 22HP. The burns took Delandra down to 18HP and Goombella had 20HP.
Delandra charged one more time, Goombella headbonked Cortez twice again and he had 16HP. Bobbery this time did a bigger explosion and Goombella's shield reduced this damage to 4 but Delandra went down to 10HP. Vivian shade fisted Delandra yet again taking her to 5HP, Cortez went after the Toad woman yet again and then she had only 2HP left which was reduced by 1 due to the burn, but she still had enough as Goombella headbonked yet again taking him down to 10HP as Delandra let out the sphere of light on Cortez dealing him 16 damage and causing him to be absorbed into the light and faded into nothingness.
Instantly everybody stopped fighting and the orb dropped out from where Cortez was floating. Vivian and Bobbery were regaining their scenes.
"What has happened now?" Bobbery looked around confused
"Cortez was controlling you both, using this orb to make you angry and continually want to fight" Frankly explained
"That cannot be! You mean I was fighting you all?"
Delandra nodded "The powers of the orb reawakened the evil within him" she could see Bobbery was a bit shaken "You weren't the only one, Vivian too was fighting us. There was no way you could have resisted, I am still not sure Cortez knew this would happen"
"So? What have you all come here for? I doubt our meeting is a coincidence"
"I don't think now is the time to explain it, let's just get to Malsanaro and then return to Rogueport"
Mushroom Kingdom
Peach, Daisy, Edde and Goombario had returned to the Mushroom Kingdom.
"Something is not right here" Peach walked slowly gazing around the town
"Well I haven't noticed anything different" Goombario replied puzzled
She looked around and walked around before stomping on the toe of a Toad standing by the water
"OW! What did you do that for! Bowser never told me that I could get hurt doing this!" The Toad cried out in protest
"Just as I had thought, unmask yourself" Peach demanded
"Not a chance, you'll have to make… AhhhH! Ahhh!" the Toad cried out in pain for seemingly no reason even though Peach wasn't touching him
"Feel like talking now!?" Peach looked over the Toad threateningly
"Okay okay! Bowser replaced everybody in this town with one of our troops, he is already in your castle ruling over your kingdom since we all argued we'd rather a ruler who was actually present and had all the guards, the politicians, the old Toad man and all the actual Toads who lived here were thrown into locked rooms somewhere"
"Goombario, Edde clear this town out of these impostors NOW! When you are done meet me at the castle!" Peach was livid, it was very unlike her to give commands like that as well "Daisy come with me!"
Daisy could not understand it, she had never seen Peach act so dark before... after a moment longer she followed her as she stormed off towards the castle.
Goombario had his mouth wide open "What's wrong with Peach?"
"I don't know" The Doogan shrugged "I say we do as she asks for now, we quiz her on this when its over if we can"
Peach and Daisy headed for the castle, the gates were wide open and the garden did not look at all unusual. They came to the front door and Peach pressed slightly against it and it swung open, it was unlocked. The foyer was completely deserted; Daisy wondered whether any guards were about but couldn't see or hear anything distinctive.
"Ill check the room on the left, you take the room on the right"
Peach headed to the left and found several Toads as well as the postman Paratroopa and a knocked out Parakarry.
"Wow Princess you've come for us!" a Toad cried out
"Parakarry tried to resist, didn't do him much good against such overwhelming numbers, but I heard more fighting, maybe some of the others were able to lead a rebellion" the postman explained
"Then let's continue the spirit shall we?" Peach and the others left the room
Daisy too had found a bunch of Toads while Goombario had returned with Edde "I think we got them all I know Toad Town pretty well"
"Good, now let's give Bowser a taste of our revenge"
However when they headed upstairs and into the next room the Koopa King had already been defeated. He was knocked out cold on the floor
Peach gasped "Who could have done this? Mario are you here?"
Edde, Goombario, Peach and Daisy came closer to look over Bowser
"Mario?" Peach called out again, she knew that Mario was the most likely person to give Bowser such a thrashing if he had somehow caught wind of Bowser's plan. She then looked in shock as everybody including her seemed to be unable to move.
Beldam and Marilyn then appeared from the shadows "Ah, Princess Peach, you do such good work for us by pure accident. I cannot imagine how good you would be if you willingly served us" she then took the three orbs from Edde, Peach and Daisy. "Did it not ever occur to you about that map? Why would you suddenly find it just after our last encounter, all I needed to do as I did before was find a way for the map to fall into your naïve hands and let events unfold and step in when I see fit"
A bunch of X-nauts entered the room with Lord Crump "Ah excellent Beldam, Grodus will be thrilled with…"
Beldam then used the yellow orb to freeze the X-nauts too "That's quite enough. I will not have a head in a glass ball tell me what to do. Your attack on the Koopa King was just as cowardly as I had predicted, sheer numbers… but those won't do you much good now"
However the freeze seemed to wear off Peach and the others. Goombario, and Edde all moved into to attack however Beldam let out a huge purple blast with the purple orb knocking her attackers high into the back wall but she had unwittingly hit Marilyn who was slammed into the right side of the room.
"Ow…" Marilyn rubbed her head but then covered her mouth as she realised words had come out "I… I can talk? The curse… its…"
"What! How could my great curse be broken! Ah no matter, I got what I came for, you were always expendable anyway"
"So! It was you who cursed me!" Marilyn dropped a bolt of lightning onto Beldam's head
"Too slow!" Beldam taunted as she used the dark blue orb to allow a shield to surround her which rebounded the lightning back to Marilyn and knocked her back to the floor
"Unlike the inferior original orbs, these ones are far more powerful and to the point of their effects as they were created using much stronger magic, mine of course. Something I did while waiting for the Shadow Queen's inevitable revival"
Marilyn fumed as she stared at her sister "You'll get what's coming to you one day… "
Beldam grinned in a sinister fashion "You were a much better shadow kept quiet, all that's come out of your mouth so far is nothing but rude and ungrateful remarks"
"UNGRATEFUL! Why you..." Marilyn cried out in rage she wanted to strike Beldam down but the pain was too much.
Beldam ignored Marilyn as she continued to pace the room as if in thought "The last host was too pure for the Queen to control, she needs somebody a bit more... spunky... ah Princess Daisy, your it!"
"Ha! That's rich" Daisy scoffed "Just how do you plan on controlling me"
"Very simple just you wait my lovely, it won't be long now" Beldam then vanished underneath the ground, she was gone.
Edde took a few steps forward and looked around the room, Lord Crump and his army still frozen, Bowser still knocked out "Just what is going on here?"
However Beldam then reappeared near Daisy and grabbed her
"HEY! Let me go you hag" Daisy squirmed but it seemed Beldam's magic had stopped her resisting
"I'll believe I'll take this, thank you very much, it's served its purpose" Beldam then drew energy and aimed it at Peach, she felt as if something was being sucked out of her but then it stopped and she felt no different "Enjoy your freedom while you can, mwhehehehehe" Beldam then vanished with Daisy in hand
"Daisy!" Peach cried out but she was long gone "Oh no this is horrible, it was yet another set up by that witch, I can't believe I could be so stupid"
Bowser woke up but didn't stand up "Well it wouldn't be the first time you were stupid… remember I'm your mama? Sure I should have convinced Junior with that story, but you? No way!"
"Shut up! You didn't help any in this situation" Goombario headbonked Bowser to knock him out
"Everyone retreat!" Crump called out and the X-nauts all tried running away from the door that lead to the courtyard.
When the room got quiet Edde got the courage to speak "Princess, there was no way we could have known" she didn't seem to be responding "Even Frankly and Goombella believed it was all alright, we had a few people looking out for us, but speaking of her I think we have to let Professor Frankly know of what is going on"
"I agree, but is Toadsworth here" Peach looked around the crowd
"Yes Princess" Toadsworth came forward "I assume you want to pursue this, if that is the case then I will not stop you. I now understand what you felt compelled to do"
Rogueport – Frankly's office
Professor Frankly, Goombella, Vivian, Delandra, Lakilester and Bobbery had returned and headed straight for the office
Frankly paced the room as he spoke "If the Fighters return with their orb we will then have 8 of them won't we" Frankly counted the 4 orbs and made imaginary spaces on the desk for the other 4 "The Princess is already in pursuit of the three that are part of the other collection which is supposed to counteract whatever the shadows made so that would make 11. Therefore there should be only one left"
"That's right Professor but this clock thing, it only works if the right orb is put in because like the crystal stars one would lead to the other, so would it loop to an orb already in our or the other groups possession?"
"I shouldn't think so, well it doesn't matter in any case, as I know where the last orb is. I have a confession to make, I actually had one of the orbs in my possession all along. I didn't even know its true value until those Koopas came, I thought it was just a replica of what seemed to be legend and then I always thought it would be better in my possession"
Before anybody could ask Frankly any questions on this Princess Peach and the others entered the room
"Ah Princess you have the three orbs" Frankly asked with a look of optimism but then looked at expression on the others faces.
"Beldam has them, she is trying to revive the Queen again, but even if she is able to revive the Queen, it will take her a bit of time to nurse her back to health and make her accept the body she has been given properly" Marilyn explained but it only caused confusion, firstly that Marilyn was speaking and secondly she was skipping details
Vivian gasped as she heard Marilyn speak "Slow up sis, how come you can talk again? I haven't heard you speak since… I can't remember"
"It's been a very long time since I spoke last because of curse Beldam placed on me, but I didn't know it was her. When Beldam unleashed the powers of the orb it counteracted her own magic which allowed me to speak again. She used me and got me to do all those awful things on the promise of a cure if I worked with her"
Frankly's mind was calculating quickly what was happening "Go back over what you said about Beldam reviving the Queen"
"Beldam has taken Princess Daisy as the Queen's new host, last time she was forced to speed up the process because Grodus had to allow the Queen to awaken but Princess Peach was too pure for the Queen to be able to completely control"
She allowed herself to draw a breath, her mind was racing a thousand miles an hour, she hadn't communicated in ages, when Frankly appeared to have digested that part of info she continued "What Beldam doesn't know is that if she tries this process of awakening the Queen is that it will take a long time before the Queen is able to use her powers at will. Still the Queen's knowledge is a threat, and the group that Beldam talked about created these 12 orbs in total…"
Peach glanced at Marilyn "12 Orbs? Isn't there only 9 now? Or do we somehow steal the ones that Beldam has"
Marilyn shook her head "No, there are 12, the group that created the first 9 somehow got word of what Beldam was trying to do and therefore made an additional 3 to counteract whatever she was trying"
There was a long silence until Professor Frankly spoke again "Vivian, we may need you to go back in time again… If the book is right it shall set itself for the right period which is after the 3 counters were created"
"Something doesn't make sense in all of this. That Shadow leader guy told us that the three orbs Peach was hunting were genuine and he died in the last battle of the Leincart monarchy which was before the counters were even being considered wasn't it?" Goombella like everybody else getting extremely confused
"Shalenza could have been paranoid, but it seems his followers created the counters anyway. I certainly hope they are actually counters and not just part of paranoia because even if it's a gradual recovery, we just can't allow the a ticking time bomb like the Shadow Queen to go about" Frankly too was now racing, trying to work this all out, Beldum had thrown a big curve ball, and where were the fighters? They shouldn't have taken this long.
Vivian put her hands on the orb and progressively all became blurry yet again. She didn't feel up to doing this right now, she wanted to speak with Marilyn and see if she was doing okay, but she would have to wait.