Haven Trials
Act 1: The Fox Jumped Over the Moon
Chapter 26: Erumalu
Falcon leaped over, Vivi and Lucas following suit just moments later. Fox remained on the ship, speaking to Luigi and Bobbery, with Mario standing beside him. The older brother's face held concern on it, with Fox trying to reassure him Luigi's safety.
"We need somebody else to stay here anyways," Fox said, rubbing his head. Luigi pouted, crossing his arms, a frown drawn on his face. "If anything happens, both parties have one of those snail transponders, uhm," Fox said, pausing. He pulled out the device in question, eyeing it once again, remembering back to Vivi's lesson on them. "Den den mushi is what she called them I believe."
"I-a just don't want-a my brother to be gettin' hurt is all-a," Mario replied. "I trust-a he'll be fine, but there's-a always that chance."
"We're all taking a chance already by agreeing to help Vivi out," Fox said.
"And if-a Bowser decides to stomp-a around and break-a everything, including Luigi, what-a then?" Mario asked inquisitively, his brows furrowed.
Fox shook his head, again holding up the den den mushi. "Then they send us a call, and we'll take care of it from there. We all have our roles to accommodate to, Mario. Besides, we don't know how many enemies are out there after us, so the smaller our group the better."
"And, ye got me here with tha' young sealeg, Mario," Bobbery added in. "I might've not showed it jus' yet, but this old timer has a few kicks 'n 'im still if that scallywag tries anything fishy."
"I'll-a be fine, Mario," Luigi said, moving his hand towards his brother and resting it on his shoulder. "I've gotta do-a this, just as-a you gotta do your part-a of this plan," he added in, with Mario closing his eyes.
The night before...
"Brother!" Luigi called out, Mario pausing as he stood nearly over the edge of the ship, the lifeboat deployed and bobbing in the waters. "Where-a do you-a think you-a are going?"
"Luigi, stay-a here!" Mario replied, tossing down a rope for him to climb down on. He began his descent, with Luigi rushing over after him, snagging his arm before Mario descended too low. "Hey!"
"You-a can't-a leave like this-a!" Luigi replied, his grip tight. "We-a need you still!"
"The princess needs-a me, Luigi! She was-a kidnapped weeks ago, and-a I haven't-a even made any attempts to go-a and rescue her," Mario retorted, his face stern. "Now let-a go of me!"
Luigi shook his head, even now attempting to pull his brother back up. "It's-a too dangerous! That man-a will kill you, he-a almost did-a last time. Do you-a think the princess wants-a that on her?!"
Mario paused now, agitated, but thinking, thinking back on the events at the Mushroom Kingdom not too long ago. The fire, the dragon, him. He shook his head, before Luigi released him, Mario looking up to his younger brother.
"I-a won't-a stop you I-a guess," Luigi said, his voice hurt. "But I want-a you to know that-a I don't-a think you should go at-a him alone. We're-a brothers after all, right?"
Now..
Mario sighed, nodding towards his brother, before following Fox as the two of them joined the rest of their group. They lifted their supply sacks over their shoulders and began their journey, their hooded garments allowing for their heads to be shaded underneath the intensity of the sun. Lucas glanced back behind him as they kept on walking, the sight of the ship slowly fading away into the distance.
"The desert kingdom Alabasta... Even with a history spanning thousands of years since its conception upon these sands, the desert still reeks of death. It has been shadowed by death since its creation," the man said, his voice deep and relaxed. His eyes rested outside the window he stood behind, light glimmering past the water. The room he was in was submerged in water, with various fish and marine life swimming just outside. Footsteps came from behind him, pausing as they reached a chair, the woman placing herself down on it.
"What of our new guests then?" Miss All-Sunday asked, her voice sly and mischievous. She still wore the black robe, brushing aside her white hair. Her face has yet to change expression, from that sly amused grin she had since previously. Her counterpart, however, was quite the opposite, his face stern, a long scar across it.
The man snorted, his gaze still fixated outside. "So what if a single drop of water has fallen on the desert? As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't disrupt the plan in the least. If they seek to truly oppose me though..." He said, pausing. "Crush them."
She giggled, the man still unmoved. She pulled out papers from underneath her coat before he spoke up again.
"The attack begins at 7:00 AM two days from now?" He asked. He took his right hand and placed the cigar into his mouth, following it with plucking the lighter from out of his pocket as well. He closed his eyes, puffing smoke out from his mouth as he turned to face his female counterpart.
"Yes. Numerous reports from our men in the rebel's army have told us that they plan to strike as soon as the sun rises," Miss All-Sunday replied, placing the papers on the table, her chin resting on her hand.
"As for the rest of the officers?" The man replied, adjusting his blue scarf folded into his orange vest. His long, thick, dark forest green coat swayed with him as he moved towards the table between them, gazing over the various papers and documents laid out on top of it.
"All officers will report to the Spider's Cafe tonight at 8 o'clock sharp," she said slyly, a small grin pruning over her lips.
He slicked his hair back with his hand, puffing out another cloud from his lips. He snorted, seeming to be somewhat displeased somehow. "I called Mr. 2 back. It seems he wasn't able to find Mr. 3."
"And I am sure we will figure that out as well tonight. It's already past five," she replied, smiling.
Each of them had different robes covering over their bodies. Falcon's brown robe was now accompanied by an orange scarf wrapping around his neck. Lucas had on a small purple and white-striped robe, with his hood almost covering his entire face. Mario had covered himself with a green robe. Vivi had on a dark blue robe with gold colored edging on it, and Fox had on just a small red robe, with a makeshift hood made from a blue rag. Each of them carried forward through the sand dunes and heat, their path seeming to be an unimaginable distance away from them.
Lucas groaned, adjusting the straps of his knapsack as they had begun to feel heavier and heavier beneath the cloudless sky. "Where are we going again?" He asked aloud, exhaustion sounding behind his words.
"We need to reach Yuba before the rebels move out on another attack," Vivi replied, her gaze unmoved from staring ahead. "That's where their base of operations is located at."
"If they're still there," Falcon said, his comment almost coming off rudely onto the rest of them. "I mean, hasn't it been several years since you've last been in Alabasta?"
Vivi paused, frowning. Fox began to pip up, before being interrupted by the princess. "Yes, that is true. I really am not completely sure if they're still in Yuba.."
"But it's still worth a shot to head there, regardless," Fox replied. "It's currently our best lead."
"Besides, well, I dunno, anywhere else," Falcon retorted. "We're going off of guesses right now, and I'll be honest, I've been meaning to ask exactly why it is we are going off of chance instead of using our damn intuition."
Fox stopped, turning to Falcon. "Intuition? This isn't our home, Falcon. You're the one saying we should base our calls off of trying to look good by 'smartly guessing', or whatever the hell it is you're getting at," he said, tension flaring from his words as they resonated off of Falcon.
"It isn't guessing if we have facts. Facts that, mind you, include knowing that they had attacked Nanohana just last week. Let's think about it now; if they were there, why would they come all the way back here afterwards?" Falcon asked, turning to face Fox's own assessment.
"Guys-a," Mario said, his hands waving to try and calm both of them down, however, neither of them actually taking notice.
"You just said it yourself!" Fox said, inching closer towards Falcon, his hand pointing at him now. "Just last week! By now, they will have returned to their camp and begin planning their next attacks."
"Well there isn't going to be much more of those I mean, come on, most of the damn country has already fallen. We're just looking like a buncha jackasses right now playing hero, when you and I both know this isn't the real reason why-"
"Look, a town!" Lucas shouted out quickly, interrupting both of them as well as Vivi, who was just about to interject. Lucas ran ahead, shading his eyes with his hands to try and gain a better look at the town ahead. Fox sighed and ran up ahead to meet with Lucas, Falcon staying behind the rest of them as they all moved on. Vivi moved next to Fox, her face relieved.
"There's nothing here.." Lucas said, pouting. They all entered into the deserted ruins of the town, appearing to have been abandoned several decades ago. The town showed no signs of any kind of life in it, including the possibility of anything green growing. All of the homes have been cracked and abused to the point of disrepair, their once srong marble stone now but dust. Along with this, everything had been nearly buried completely in sand, with only the upper halves of the homes visible.
Falcon moved up next to him, surveying the landscape. "Well then, we've got no time to waste. Where's this rebel leader guy at?"
Vivi shook her head, removing her knapsack to pull out a map. "We're not in Yuba just yet. We have at the very least another half a day of walking before we arrive." At that comment, most of them bar Fox had exclaimed, shocked at this statement. "Here, look at the map."
On the map was, obviously, Alabasta. Most of the towns and cities were on the southern part of the country, her finger pointing to the town nearest to the coast. "This is where we are now, Erumalu, the 'Green Town,'" she said. Her finger ran along the edge of the coast to the right, crossing past a river that shot inwards into the land, eventually pointing to another coastal town. "This is Nanohana, and far north of here is Alubarna, the capital." Between the two were smaller towns that she didn't bother pointing out, but Fox did take note of them. She folded the map back into her knapsack and stood back up.
"A whole half a day of walking.." Lucas moaned, Falcon chuckling at his comment, smacking him on his back.
"This is the stuff that turns you into a man, kid," he grinned, Vivi rolling her eyes and Fox smiling. Mario piped up now, his thoughts on something else having been said earlier.
"Vivi, you-a said this town is-a the 'Green Town-a?'" Mario asked, with Vivi nodding in response. He cocked his head, curious. "But-a there isn't-a anything green about-a the town.."
"Not anymore there is. Up until recently, this town was a lively place, full of green plants and stocked with water to last for months," she replied. "It wasn't until three years ago when the rain in this country stopped completely."
"What about the other towns then? I'm assuming these towns along the river must had sustained off of it, how did everyone else get their water then?" Fox asked.
She shook her head, pointing to the river a little ways away from them. "The Sandora river had once been a benefactor in sustaining our country, but lately, it has lost the force it had once had, now being pushed back by the sea downstream."
"So then it's all salt water," Falcon said. "Is that why this village dried up?"
Again, Vivi shook her head. "They had actually collected water from the few times it had ever rained, as did everyone else. It was enough to survive. The idea of a complete lack of rainfall is but a catastrophe that hasn't afflicted Alabasta in years. The only place that seems to remain safe from drought however..."
"Is the capital?" Fox asked, surprising Vivi. "I had remembered reading it in that article.
Vivi gulped, nodding her head. "It was the one place in this country that had gotten more rain than anywhere else. People began calling it the 'King's Miracle' because of how surreal it was to see. They did, at least, until two years ago, when the king was first blamed for using rain powder." Vivi appeared bothered by this, Fox could see it. She shook it off, continuing with her story. "A cargo ship in Nanohana was caught supplying rain powder directly to Alubarna, and there were reports of the suppliers blaming my father for it."
"Rain powder.. does that-" Lucas began to ask, before Falcon cut him off.
"It 'calls upon the rain,' a powder that emits a mist-like smoke that rises high into the air. It speeds the creation of ice particles in sub-freezing temperature in clouds and causes rainfall," Falcon said. "It was supposedly created by an country allied to the World Government to create rain in rain-less locations."
"So why would it be bad that the king- your dad, was just trying to make it rain in the country?" Lucas asked. Vivi frowned, and Falcon shook his head.
"Because what they didn't realize at the time was that it was stealing rain from other places and creating massive droughts," Falcon replied. "In order to produce this 'artificial rain,' it had to drain it from clouds that were ready to produce rain, essentially zapping them dry."
"Wars across various countries broke out, and eventually the World Government intervened, banning the use and production of rain powder," Fox said.
"Because of that large shipment caught in Nanohana, people began suspecting my father as they realized there was only rain surrounding Alubarna and no where else in the country," Vivi said, dusting away the sand covering a sign in the ground.
"It's normal for the king's people to distrust him. This only aided in that idea, and then bam, rebellions begin forming in response. Then you've got a civil war on your hands," Falcon said, his arms crossed.
"You can see just how much Baroque Works has damaged this country," Vivi said. "And you can see just how much Alabasta's people are suffering."
A strong wind came out of no where it seemed, taking everybody by surprise. As it soared by, sounds of faint voices were heard, alarming most everybody in the party. "Are-a we being ambushed-a?" Mario asked, placing his guard up along with the rest. Vivi's hood was blown off, and Fox shook his head, his eyes still darting around.
"It's just wind. It's passing through the ruins of this town, causing reverberations among the buildings," Fox said. Vivi continued to look on ahead, her mind worried.
"The city... It's as if the city of Erumalu is crying..." Vivi said, her body now stiff as the eerie noises and cries had finished. Fox frowned, looking ahead as his expression changed instantly, seeing a body laying in the ground ahead of them.
"Look!" He shouted, running ahead as Vivi and the rest quickly followed. As they neared it, his expression along with everyone else's all changed just as fast as they realized it was but a skeleton wrapped in robes. The skull had remained above ground, cracked, covered in sand and dust. Vivi's eyes remained on it, coming down to her knees, lifting the deceased's skull.
"What have my father and the people of the kingdom ever done?" She asked rhetorically. She dusted the skull off, her eyes still stern. "Destroying the lives of the people who have struggled against nature to live in this desert..." Her voice began to crack as her body began to shake. "Why? What right does that man have to do this?!"
Fox stared in silence, his arms crossed. Falcon moved away from the rest of them. Lucas pouted and Mario rested his hand on his shoulder, his own self hurt from this display. Vivi continued, her lips now pouting. "He acts as though he is the hero of the people as one of the Shicibukai...! And the worst part about it is that nobody realizes that he's deceiving this kingdom!"
Tears fell on the skull, her grip tightening around it. "I... I will never forgive that man!"
A loud crash was heard as they all turned their heads to see Falcon having punched one of the marble pillars, breaking it instantly. He shrugged his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, his back still turned to them all.
"Vivi!" Falcon called out, Fox now curious by his actions. "Let's get moving. I'm getting pretty anxious now."
Fox chuckled, with Lucas moving next to Vivi, his hand extended. He along with Mario helped her back up, both of them smiling. "Yuba is our next destination, right?" Lucas asked. Vivi nodded, rubbing her face, her attitude changed now.
"That's where the rebels are. I'll persuade the leader to stop the uprising, explaining to him everything that's been going on," Vivi said. "Putting an end to all this useless bloodshed!"
"Aaaahhhh..."
Small lizards darted across the landscape, shading themselves underneath the various rocks that attributed the barren desert strips. Fox's movements slowed incredibly, his body burning with exhaustion from the heat. His eyes struggled to remain open as he continued on step by step, the sun still scorching below on them. Mario readjusted Lucas, who had now been riding on his back. Falcon carried forward with both his and Mario's knapsacks. Vivi turned to face Fox, who was dragging behind them a couple of steps now.
"Fox? Are you okay?" She asked, Fox snapping back to attention. He nodded, slowly, adjusting his hood over his head. As he spoke up, Falcon interrupted him.
"It's his fur. Maybe you should try taking that thing off, McCloud," Falcon teased. Fox sneered back at him, jogging ahead a few extra steps to catch back up with them.
"Aaaaaahhh..." Lucas moaned, his tongue wagging out of his mouth. "I'm burning... I'm not even sweating anymore..."
"Why don't you just make some ice for us to chill out under kid?" Falcon asked, with Lucas replying with another 'aaaaahhh.'
"Don't you think I've already tried... It's way too hot for me to use my powers.." Lucas replied. "How come you seem fine with this Vivi?"
She giggled, smiling. "I've lived here all my life, so I'm more or less fine with the heat."
Lucas continued on complaining, almost ignoring what he had asked Vivi and in return, ignoring her response. "Aaaahhh..." He moaned. "Why are these dunes sooo tall... I thought deserts were flat..." He held on tight as they began to scale one of the said sand dunes, Mario even groaning a bit now.
"This is an ancient desert. The largest sand dunes can come to be around three-hundred meters," Vivi replied. As they began to climb to the top of it, another small set of ruins laid before them, but not as big as Erumalu. It appeared to be just a few homes, again, buried underneath the sand. Another noise was heard, again a voice, but this one sounded much more real than the ones in Erumalu. All of them became suspicious, Falcon circling around and entering one of the abandoned homes.
He shouted, and instantly came bursting out with another oddly dressed man, both of them rolling along the edge of the dune. Falcon got up, appearing disgusted, as the other man leaped up as well, both of them on guard. "Freakin' cross dresser! Why were you trying to surprise us?"
The man appeared confused, shaking his head, his arms making a big X. "I wasn't, honest! I was abandoned by my own nakama, you see." On his head was a white headband with two puffballs on the backside, both of them bouncing as he shook his head. He had on a blue vest with two lighter blue swans etched into the design, as well as a large pink overcoat with white ruffles along the edge. On his back were two white wings, and above them jutted out two neatly designed swan head ornaments. For his pants, he had on a large blue ballerina ball, with ballet shoes to finish his attire.
He grinned and puckered his lips, covered in a deep red lipstick. The rest of his face was also covered heavily with makeup, including green eyeliner and blush. "I will say though, thank you for finding me! I thought nobody would ever come in contact with me ever again!"
Fox moved up now between them, curious about him. "How long ago were you separated by your friends?"
The man rubbed his chin, his screechy voice bubbling out a response as if he were humming it. "Ooohhh~! About five minutes ago," he said, frowning. Fox was taken aback, shocked almost at the man's response. Falcon started up again now, still irritated.
"If it's only been five minutes then why didn't you chase after them!?" He asked, pointing a finger towards him. The man shook his head, pouting.
"Well, uhhm, I was asleep here. We all were actually. When I woke up, they weren't here anymore!" He cried out, blubbering almost.
"If you were asleep, then how do you know it was only five minutes ago.." Falcon asked inquisitively. The man shrugged his shoulders, whistling it off almost, to which Falcon replied by grouching at him. "Man, are you seven!?"
Fox shook his head, pushing away Falcon. "Regardless, it's fine. Mistakes happen," Fox said, smiling towards the stranger, who replied with his own large smile.
"Oh, what a gentleman~!" He cried out. He turned to face Vivi, grinning. "You must be lucky to have such a cutie along with you," he said, winking while puckering his lips. All of them shuddered, unanimously agreeing together that he was... a bit of a weirdo. "Well, until they come back for me- which they will- let me entertain you all!"
He turned to face Falcon and reared his right arm back, shoving his palm forward and smacking it into Falcon's face. He went flying backwards into one of the homes, crashing into it as all of them instantly jumped into guard. Fox frowned, but stopped as he saw yet again another strange occurrence; it was the same outfit that the man was wearing, but now, Falcon's face was where the stranger's should have been.
"Wait, wait, I told you, just watch my show~!" The man called out, grinning. Falcon now pulled himself up, groaning, looking ahead to see himself. He blinked again and again, confused, staring ahead in bewilderment. "Stop joooking around!" The man said again, chuckling, all in Falcon's look and voice.
"How are you-" Lucas said, before the man touched his face with his left hand, his face returning to normal.
"You see, if I take my left hand and touch my face, it returns to my own, beautiful self! If I take my right hand and touch somebody else's face, it copies them, all thanks to my wonderful mane-mane no mi fruit!" He cried out, laughing.
"A copycat ability..." Fox muttered, still amazed. The man walked up towards him and, gently, touched his face with his right hand, along with Vivi's, Lucas's, and Mario's. He then proceeded to transform into each of them; not just their faces, but their bodies and sizes as well. They all watched in amazement, all except Falcon, who was still seething with rage.
"I have an excellent memory, so I can transform to any face that I remember~!" He said, swapping now to various other unknown faces, one of them however catching Vivi's own attention. Fox chuckled and Lucas clapped along in performance as the man continued, sounds of hoofs beating in the distance. They all turned and saw several men- all of them in ridiculous garbs such as the man- running back towards the dune. "Ahh, as if on cue!"
"We're so sorry!" One of the men called out, all of them coming to a stop now as they returned to the man. He ran towards them, spinning around as he did, before turning back to face the rest of the party. He called for one of his men, and said something to him, as the man ran back and fetched three horses.
"To my newly made friends, a gift for spending time with me~!" He cried out, the follower handing over the horses to the party. "Although I may leave now, let us not forget these few moments we have spent for, nay; length of time matters not to true friendship," he said, tears dripping from his eyes. They all awkwardly stared but thanked him, as he lifted himself on his steed. "Well then, my lovelies, let us move forward!"
"Yes sir Mr. 2 Bon Clay!" They all cried out, to which all of them instantly froze as they realized who he was. He and the rest of his men now vanished into the sands, as they all sat around in the ruined home, discussing their encounter.
"Did you not recognize him Vivi?!" Falcon asked, still rubbing his face from where Mr. 2 had smacked him earlier. Vivi frowned, her hands tightening, her head lowered as her eyes remained fixated on the ground.
"I never met the Mr. 1 or Mr. 2 pair. I didn't even know he had powers!" She said, one of her hands moving up towards her forehead, holding it. "One of those faces though, that he was going through, it belonged to my father!"
Fox rubbed his head, nodding in response. "Which means he has the ability to look, sound, and act like the king..."
"And we just let the guy get away, dammit! I knew something wasn't right about him," Falcon said, kicking the ground.
"Well-a now, we're-a in trouble since he-a has the ability to-a look-a like any of-a us," Mario said. "How will-a we be able-a to-a trust one another if the-a time comes?"
Fox pulled his knapsack down and fished through it, pulling out a few supplies from it, including cloth wrapping and a marker. "You have a point, but maybe meeting him was actually a good thing. We know the enemy's power, now we can take the appropriate counter measures." He marked his arm, followed by tying the cloth around it. "Tie it on tightly."
Each of them followed suit, and they all extended their left arms forward, standing around in a circle. Fox looked among each of them, smiling. "Remember now! Whatever happens from here on, this left arm is proof of our friendship." Mario chuckled, with Lucas grinning. Vivi smiled, while Falcon groaned, unamused still. Fox pulled back and exited the house, looking ahead as the sun began to set, the horses motionless and silent as they awaited their new riders.
"Now then, let's get moving! To Yuba!"