Hi this is Frederic Marile! Here is the magical interlude of puppiness for Chapter Two of my original story, The Legend of the Clouds!
Totally kidding on the puppy part.
But seriously, guys, it is time for the chapter two interlude. So hold on to your underwear again and let's-a go!
That was horrible.
By the way, I mentioned this before, but you might have noticed Peach had no special help last interlude. That's cause I forgot to add it in. But this time, you'll get to have a Peach-Mario communicator person.
And I don't own Mario or anything, just my own characters.
Now that that's over, let's get on with it!
Troy paced about his room, frustrated and at a loss for what to do. How could he ensure that Mario would not retrieve the next Fragment? He had kept it in Octobust's hands-er, tentacles-while he and his soldiers searched for the others, but every second he became less and less sure that Octobust would win if Mario were to challenge him. A devil, that plumber was…a devil.
He tripped on his bedstead and fell flat on his face. Now even more agitated than before, he stabbed the floor with his scepter. It went through the carpet like a knife through butter.
Just then, the door opened and Troy turned his head quickly towards the doorway. It was Twink.
Getting up as hastily as he could, he brushed off his suit and cape. "Twink," he said quietly.
"Troy," Twink retorted in the same tone. "I have news."
"Good news or bad news?" Troy asked, though he was quite sure of the answer.
"Depends, are you talking about me or yourself?"
"Myself," Troy decided.
"Bad news."
"Don't tell me…"
"Mario defeated Octobust and found the second Fragment."
Troy sighed. "This is horrible. Those were the only two Fragments we knew the locations of. Now we have nothing and Mario's probably already on his way."
"I don't understand, Troy," Twink told him. "Yesterday I told you Mario had found a Fragment, and you-pardon my use of the word-freaked. Now you don't seem half as mad. What is it?"
"I have a plan," Troy replied.
"What kind of plan?"
"YOU CAN NEVER KNOW THE PLAN!" Troy shouted at the top of his lungs. Twink winced.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I was thinking I could be of use to you plan."
"Sure you did," Troy said sarcastically. "I know you'll just rush to Princess Peach's side and tell her everything I tell you. No, I need someone much more reliable…send Maddie in."
"Maddie? But she-"
"HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU. DO NOT QUESTION THE PLAN!"
This was downright evil. Peach hadn't heard or seen anything, or been allowed to move for at least two days. And Mario was gone…for all she knew he could be in another dimension, being roasted over a fire. And that Troy person was probably having a great time over it.
When this sudden realization came over her-Troy was most likely upstairs, enjoying the fact that he was slowly killing another human being-she just broke down. She cried for the first time since she had been sent here. There was no more trying to cheer herself up. She couldn't be cheered up for anything.
She probably would have cried herself to death if she had not heard it right then.
Knock knock.
She looked up in a mixture of unbridled terror and confusion. Had she actually heard a knock or was it her mind playing tricks on her?
Knock knock.
She must have been hearing things.
Tap tap tap.
It couldn't be true. Nobody could actually be on the other side of the door.
"Hello? Princess Peach?" The voice was deep and full of expression.
In that moment, she was suddenly sure. There was someone on the other side.
"H-hello?" she called.
"May I come in?"
"Who is it?"
"Please, princess, let me come in."
After a pause, Peach sighed, "Come in."
The door that she had never known the location of suddenly burst open, letting a beam of golden light fly in. Peach, whose eyes had grown accustomed to darkness for the past two days, cried out.
When her eyes were adjusted to the light, she looked at her guest. It was a young woman. She had a long head of hair that was a mixture of auburn and blonde. She wore a white blouse, pink gloves, pink leotard, and white dancing shoes and smelled of French Vanilla. Her appearance could not have contrasted her voice more differently.
"Good morning, princess," she greeted her.
Peach let those words hang in her ears. She was not sure if they were meant in genuine greetings or in disdain, but she didn't care-seeing somebody; hearing somebody speak; and just knowing that somebody was there and knew that she herself existed was like a Christmas present.
After a moment, she managed out a reply. "So it is morning?"
"Yes," the girl answered. "Seven o'clock, actually."
Peach breathed a breath of fresh air that was beginning to waft into the room before terror and paranoia began to set in once more. "Who are you?"
The girl smiled, a beautiful pearly smile, before answering, "My name is Madeline St. Valentine."
"Madeline St.-hey, that rhymes!" Peach giggled.
"Yeah, it rhymes, thank you for being the billionth person to point that out."
Peach's shoulders sagged.
"But that's not why I'm here," Madeline told her. "King Troy told me-"
"Troy?" Peach interrupted. "You mean that mindless, egotistic, gothic freak?"
Madeline blinked. "King Troy is not a mindless, egotistic, gothic freak," she said. "He is a great ruler, full of passion, poise, and pride."
"You got the pride part right," Peach laughed, "but not the passion or poise parts."
"King Troy is a good leader, I promise," Madeline insisted.
"If you say so," Peach snorted. "Now why were you here a again?"
"I'm here because King Troy informed me that he had a plan, and as much as I love King Troy, I'm worried for the safety of citizens everywhere if should he carry his plan out."
"What was the plan?"
"He said we was going to use you as bait to lure Mario to his castle, then keep him captive. This will make it much easier to threaten the world into doing what he wants. If someone defies him, he kills Mario."
Peach wanted to say three different things at the same time: "Mario's alive?!", "He's trying to threaten the world into doing what he wants?!", and "Oh, the humanity!"
Madeline seemed to know what she was thinking, however. "Yes, Mario is alive. He has found two of the Cloud Fragments already."
"The what thing-ments?"
"Oh, no," Madeline sighed. "Let me tell you everything."
And she proceeded to explain to Peach the whole situation of the guardians and the Cloud Fragments and everything Mario was doing to stop Troy.
"Wow," was all Peach could say afterwards. "Just wow. I…I didn't know any of this. That Troy really is a mindless, egotistic, gothic freak!"
"Please don't say that," Madeline said. At this point, after hearing everything Troy had done, she didn't know whether to believe her based on her apparent sincerity or not to take her seriously based on her odd get-up.
"Anyway," Madeline continued, "I don't like to disobey King Troy, but I want to help you get out of here. I don't think King Troy knows what he's doing. He thinks big sometimes, but I have a feeling he's serious this time, and I don't want this to happen."
"You just admitted you don't think he knows what he's doing."
"That isn't the point," Madeline argued. "I just want to help you leave this place. I might not be able to help now, but I will try to keep King Troy from carrying out his plan."
"And that will help me how?" Peach asked confusedly.
"Well, I'm kind of ordered to keep you under lock and key, but-"
"I should have known!" Peach shouted. "You say you want to help me out of here, but all you want to do is make me stay!"
"That's not true, princess!" Madeline insisted. "I want to try and talk King Troy out of this. He seems to have his mind set, but hopefully I get him to change his mind."
"What do you mean by 'hopefully'?" Peach narrowed her eyes.
"I'm almost entirely sure I can make him decide not to go through with it."
"You know what I've learned?" Peach asked. "Is that 'almost entirely' usually means 'not in the slightest'."
"I promise, princess, that I'll do my very best."
"Well, Madeline, if you're sure, then I guess I'm sure."
"Please, call me Maddie."
Bowser suddenly heard chugging sounds coming from his Clown Car as he was flying high above a dense forest. "Uh, that doesn't sound good…" he commented.
"Indeed, Lord Bowser Sir," Kammy agreed. "Do you think we should fly lower, so that if your stunning Koopa Clown Car should break down, you should not be harmed?"
"Kammy, I think that's a good-…"
Bowser didn't get to finish the sentence, because his Clown Car suddenly dropped at that very moment. Kammy sloped her course to try and catch up with him, but she heard a thud and an "oof!" after a few seconds.
When she had made it to the ground, she hopped off her broomstick and waddled over to Bowser's side. "Are you okay, Your Clumsiness?"
Bowser blinked. And hopped to his feet. "Yeah, sure. Just fine, Kammy. Now let's get to hunting for that Cloudy thingy!"
Kammy reminded him of the actual name as they started off and got a "whatever!" in response.
The pair walked slowly among the trees of the forest, getting increasingly annoyed as they did so. After what seemed like an hour, Bowser shouted, "I wish we'd just find some town or something alre-hey!"
For as he was about to finish the sentence, the pair stepped into a clearing with a pair of gates at the end. They walked up to the gates and saw that they read "Gillisville" in faded red paint.
"Oh, Lord Bowser!" Kammy squealed excitedly. "Gillisville is straight on the path to Dofter Palace!"
"Great!" Bowser replied, opening the gates and looking around. "Um, Kammy?"
"Yes, Lord Bowser?"
"Did you know that this place is really boring?"
Kammy looked confused. Stepping around Bowser, she saw what he was talking about. "Whoa. Lord Bowser, I was here only a month ago, and it was beautiful!"
"Strange," Bowser muttered as they walked in and called a random Koopa over.
"Yello?" the Koopa greeted them. "Welcome to Gillis-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Bowser interrupted him. "We're looking for something."
"Yeah?" The Koopa blinked a few times. "What is it?"
"It's called a Cloud Fragment. Now where is it?"
The Koopa looked at him in shock. "Seriously! First that overalls guy, now you two, you people can't stop saying that, can you?"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Bowser waved his hands in front of him. "…Wait. What overalls guy?"
"Well, I don't see how it matters-"
"Tell me!" Bowser shouted.
"Okay!" the Koopa replied, jumping in the air. "His overalls were blue, and he had a read hat with an M in the middle-"
"Wait!" Bowser interrupted him again. "Do you know anyone who knows about this Mario guy?"
"Sure, the mayor, Gillis," the Koopa told him, pointing to the mayor's house.
"Move it, buddy!" Bowser shoved the Koopa to the ground and stomped off towards the house.
"WHAT?" Bowser shrieked after Gillis broke the truth to him. "How can Mario beat me to it?!"
"Well, I don't know," Gillis answered, irritated. "But he did, so don't think you can go taking it."
"Listen, bud," Bowser said threateningly, "you better tell me where the next one is. Or your pretty face ain't gonna look so pretty anymore."
"…Sure," Gillis replied, forming a plan in his mind. "It's on Lucifer's Isle. So you should definitely look there. No where else. Just look there."
And done! Finally we are finished with Chapter Two!
Thank you all so very much for reading this far! I'm so glad that you like it (at least most of you).
By the way, what is your first impression on Maddie? Just want to know.
So next time on Paper Mario: The Legend of the Clouds, we will be getting into Chapter Three.
See ya!