Chapter Thirty-Four: The Helping Hand
YEAR STAR STAR: MONTH TWINK: DAY 11
Mario was having a little trouble sleeping through the night. His mind was preoccupied with the fact that someone revived Smorg. 'Who could've done it? Why would they want to revive that beast? Something doesn't feel right… I should do some research in Poshley Heights… I could find something there.' He thinks to himself while attempting to fall asleep.
Link was also worried for Mario. He could hear Mario panting heavily throughout the night. Link didn't mind it, but he wasn't sure if Mario was okay. Patricia was also awake to hear it. "Hun… I hear him too. Let's just hope he feels better in the morning." She tells Link. "I think that monster we fought yesterday is what's concerning him. He did say it was revived…" Link whispers back, thinking about Smorg. He goes back to sleep and allows Patricia to wrap her arms around him.
Later that day, Adelenn was the first to wake up. Immediately, she hits her head on Geno's bunk and destroys the entire bed. Geno falls right on top of Adelenn, and is somehow not fazed by falling several feet to the ground. He still sleeps as though nothing happened.
"Yummy food is now gonna be eaten by the Demon Queen… since all of the Queen's helpers are asleep, the Queen shall fetch the milk!" Adelenn whispers to herself. The first thing on her mind was something to drink, and immediately opens the refrigerator door to find all sorts of drinks, healthy and sugary alike.
Unfortunately, Adelenn forgets which of these drinks milk was. She then decides to take a large cup and pour a small amount of every drink in the refrigerator. She takes a sip of this new concoction and immediately loves the flavor of the drink.
Her squeals of joy wake up the other heroes. "Adelenn… keep it down, would ya?" Geno groans, finally awakening from his sleep. He notices the entire bedframe was destroyed. "…What happened here? It's like a tornado came through this room." He wonders. "…And why am I on the floor?"
"No, Geno. I had an owie on the bed and the whole bed exploded." Adelenn states while drinking her mixed beverage. "…I thought something like that would happen." He whispers to himself while getting up from the floor.
The other heroes also awaken from their slumber shortly after Geno. "Wooooo. That was a really nice sleep." A very messy-haired Link says, yawning loudly. "Yeah, sure was!" An even messier-haired Patricia smiles, but then yawns as well. They both get up and get dressed very swiftly, along with fixing themselves up to prepare for another day.
However, while Link was inside of the bathroom, Jaraberutzu shoots a cloud of sedative perfume at him, which causes him to fall asleep again. She then drags him into her own dorm for her own recreational purposes (those of which I cannot discuss or else she will hunt me down).
Lupo and Vivian get up fairly early to dress each other up. How Lupo was able to do this was unknown to everyone else. The Pokémon didn't need clothes, so they didn't need to get dressed, but Link feeds Soulola and RAWR.
Mario only wakes up because of the ringing of his wristwatch. "MAMA MIA!" He shouts as it beeps terribly. When he takes a look at it, he can see Rosalina's name on it. He taps the screen and Rosalina's image appears.
"Oh, young Mario! I seem to have awakened you. My apologies!" Rosalina bows, her face full of guilt. Seeing this sad, woeful Rosalina made Mario feel even guiltier than she was. "No, no! It's okay, Lady Rosalina. I was about to get up anyway." He replies, trying to soothe the guilt. "I see… I have called you on the note that you will be arriving to your destination shortly. In approximately two seconds."
"…Two seconds? Wh-"
In the two seconds that pass, The Excess Express abruptly stops. The stopping power unbalanced many of the heroes, causing them to crash into the walls. "Oof!" Geno says, landing into the window with his wooden face.
Shortly after, the speakers in the Excess Express are activated. "Oh, uh… sorry, passengers. The train seems to keep stopping on a dime. We can't fix this at the moment. Bob is too freakin' lazy." The voice of Toadry sounds through the speakers. "BOB! GET YOUR LAZY BUTT IN THE ENGINE!" He shouts at Bob, the mechanic. "A-anyway, we're at Poshley Heights. Uh… pack your bags or something within the next half-hour or you'll starve to death. Toodles!"
A clicking sound signifies that the speakers have been deactivated. "Wow, you were right, Rosalina… we're here." Mario says. The ten heroes all look at each other, and then run for the windows. Outside, they see a beautiful land ahead of them; the Poshley Heights.
Poshley Heights is a neighborhood for the wealthy. Since it is a wealthy neighborhood, many things, including the rent of buildings, are much, much higher. It was impossible for a middle-class family to live in this area due to this expensiveness. However, if the money problems didn't break them, it would be the profiling wealthy that live in the neighborhood.
Otherwise, it is a very luscious, green land. It was nice and warm this day, and the birds were chirping gleefully. The sun was smiling and so were the people. The houses were very colorful and bright, and gave off a nice odor that was sensational and calming.
Nearby was Poshley Sanctum, a museum which had the sole purpose was to hide the Garnet Crystal Star. In the past, Mario collected it to save the Grand Rose from corruption of the Shadow Queen. It was still in mint condition, and still stood as a reminder of Mario's achievements.
"Whoooooooa. This place is really nice." Jaraberutzu smiles happily while uncuffing and unmuffling a slumbering Link. "Yeah, it sure does… I can't believe that we were taken to a place like this to find our next Crystal Sun." Lupo replies. "I'm surprised it looks the same after this whole time." Vivian whispers. Mario nods. "Yup." He smiles.
When Link wakes up for a second time, he sees everything the heroes have already seen. "Oh hey, buildings. And grass. Am I dead or is this Poshley Heights?" He asks. Patricia whacks him in the head with a powerful hit from her nightstick. "This is Poshley Heights, silly. You weren't paying attention?" She smiles happily at Link. "…Why'd you have to hit me?" He says to himself with a frown.
"Raaawr!" RAWR barks, filled with energy. He liked the cool spring breeze, and the smell was nice to his nose. Soulola looks at RAWR and copies him, and receives the same feelings. "Sol! Absol!" Her tiny voice barks happily.
"This place is pretty big… how are we going to find that Crystal Sun? It's only pointing at Poshley Heights!" Geno asks. He was currently holding the Magical Map, and it refuses to give them any more information than the fact that the Crystal Sun is in Poshley Heights.
"This Crystal Sun is yellow. Yellow's easy to spot." Link exclaims. "That's not gonna really help us now, Link. The Crystal Sun is probably inside somewhere. Where that is, we don't know." Patricia concludes. The heroes were at a loss. They didn't know where to start.
"You guys look like you're stuck. Is something wrong?" Says the voice of a young woman.
The heroes turn around to see the woman that Link saw last night. She was still in her red, skintight bunny outfit, but had some makeup on as well. "Well hey there! You guys look like some fine pieces of work!" She says. 'I could say the same to you, sister. Growl~!' Jaraberutzu bites her lip while looking at the woman. She was surprisingly attracted by the sight of the woman.
However, she was not the only one who was affected by this. All of the other heroes seemed to be attracted to the woman. "Wow… you're pretty." Vivian says aloud. "Like, really pretty. Is that how you always look?" Lupo says, almost swooning for the woman.
"Hehehey, calm down, folks. I'm just a normal woman who runs a hotel." She holds her hands up. "Oh, sorry! I didn't introduce myself. My name's Dee Vil. I run the new hotel here in Poshley Heights." The woman named Dee states.
Mario was confused. He didn't recall a new hotel being created in Poshley Heights. "A new hotel?" He asks. Dee nods. "Yup. It was built last month. If you're looking for something, I can help you guys by giving you a room." She smiles. Her face was very attractive while she smiles, and the heroes couldn't help but feel moved by this.
"W-well… I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay for a night." Geno stammers. He was at a loss of words when looking at Dee. "Well then, let's-a go! We can spend a night here." Mario exclaims. The other heroes don't even bother to continue, and start following Dee immediately.
…Except for RAWR and Soulola. "Rawr Ra Rawr?" RAWR asks Soulola. He thought that the heroes were acting strange. "Sol Sol… Absol Absol Sol So." She replies, agreeing with RAWR. As they walk, they continue to talk to each other about it.
"Sol. Absol Sol So Sol Ab. Absol?" Soulola notices how without even a second thought, Mario, who was skeptical about a new hotel, immediately accepts entering said hotel. "Rawr Ra. Rawrrrrrr." RAWR also notices that someone like Geno was starting to act awkward in front of the smiling woman. "Come on, baby girl! We're gonna find another place to stay while we look for the Crystal Sun!" Link calls for Soulola, and she immediately speeds up to catch up with Link.
The heroes see that a new hotel has appeared in the back of Poshley Heights, right before the town enters Soda Jungle; a dangerous jungle filled with poisonous soda and many spiky wildlife foes. The hotel was a bright red color. The bricks making it were not ordinary bricks, as they were reinforced several times in a row. The hotel was five stories high, as well. On the front, there was a cartoonishly drawn bunny holding a sign labeled "The Helping Hand." The heroes assumed that it was the name of the hotel.
"Wow, what a nice place." Mario says. When they take a step inside, they could see the true beauty of the hotel. Everything was plated with dark oak wood. It was very sturdy, and didn't creak as the heroes stepped inside. The lights were dim, but plentiful, giving the hotel an old-fashioned atmosphere. Inside, there were many people eating, drinking and having fun. There were also many species there, too. Goombas, Shy Guys, and even Koopas were enjoying themselves in this finely crafted hotel.
"As a construction worker, I am ashamed that I have never thought of building something like this." Lupo says in awe. She was amazed that the hotel was so finely crafted. To her, it looks as if it took a long time to create this building.
Dee turns around to look at the heroes. She claps her hands and slightly bends to negotiate with the heroes. "So… The Helping Hand has vacant rooms in the first, second floor, and third floors. All of them are accustomed to fit about ten or twelve people. Your cute little Pokémon can stay there, too! Just don't let them use the bathroom on the carpets." Dee explains. "Which one would you like?"
"The first floor sounds nice. We can get in and out with no problems like stairs." Patricia suggests. "Yeah! No stairs! Stairs are icky and take long to get up!" Adelenn replies. "I'd rather have the third floor. They're usually quiet and vacant. Then, I could do anything I wanted to." Jaraberutzu blushes, looking at Link seductively. "Y-you know what? First actually would sound nice." Link states, backing slowly away from Jaraberutzu and towards Patricia.
"I think we have a verdict." Vivian smiles, adjusting her scarf. "We'll take the room in the first floor."
"Perfect! I'll input your names here and you'll be set. Alright, what're your names again?"
"Mario, Lupo, Geno, Vivian, Adelenn, Link Patricia and Jaraberutzu. We also have two Pokémon named RAWR and Soulola." Mario states. Dee writes all of the names down neatly inside of a reservation book. "Aaaaand done. You eight are reserved for the room. Just take a left and you'll see a big red door with a star on it. That's your room!" Dee smiles, and waves them goodbye. "Oh, take this key with you." She throws Mario a star-shaped key. "I'll be back to check on you."
"Oh, PLEASE do. I think we'll have lots of fun!" Jaraberutzu says, and winks at Dee.
Dee winks back.
"Oh my lord." Geno sinks to the floor, clinging to Adelenn's leg. "Please spare me from the horrible images."
"Oh, stop being such a big baby, Geno. Now let's enter the room, and we can have some fun later." Jaraberutzu smiles, stroking Geno's chin once as they continue to enter the room. "Teeheehee, Jara's embarrassing Geno!" Adelenn giggles. "I'D RATHER NOT CATCH ANYTHING BAD." Geno grunts loudly.
The heroes take a left and find themselves in front of a big red door. Like Dee said, a star was carved onto the door. It was metallic and possibly built to prevent thieves from entering. "Wow, it's nicely built." Patricia states, tapping the door to hear the durability of it. "This is like, theft-proof! I want a door like this in my house!"
When the heroes open the door, they find themselves in a giant room. There were five beds, one for two heroes each. All were large and appeared to be extremely comfortable. The room itself had everything a normal bedroom would have; books, devices, and even a television set (cable isn't popular in the Mushroom Kingdom). The walls were decorated with red wallpaper that had a texture of golden apples. The floor was also covered by a large red carpet of a similar texture, except the fruit was of golden bananas (is there even a way to tell them apart).
There was an addition to the room to be used for showering and… using the bathroom. It was tucked in the corner of the room so it wouldn't get in the way.
Link immediately jumps onto a bed and grabs the television's remote. He has no idea how to use it, for there is no television in Hyrule. He immediately starts pushing every button except the power button. "…I think this is busted." He frowns. Patricia then sits on his lap, and takes the remote from him kindly. "Here, silly. This is a power button. This is the universal symbol for powering a machine." She says, and presses the power button.
To Link's surprise, the television turns on. "Whoa… cool." He states in surprise. In front of him, he could see the television working. He shortly learns how to switch between channels, as well. Patricia takes this opportunity to lay down on his chest. "You comfortable with me here, baby?" Patricia asks. Link nods his head. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?" He smiles. "You better learn how to use one of these things. News is important, ya know." She smiles, and kisses Link in the mouth. "Alright, babe. I bet news is important, whatever that is." He states.
Adelenn starts pacing around the room. "Whoaaa! So many beds! I dunno which one I want!" She squeals. Geno sighs when she says this. "They're literally all the same bed, just in different places. It's not THAT hard, Adelenn." Geno states. "Yeah but THIS bed is closer to the window, but this other bed is closer to the door!" She states. "I dunno which one I want to sleep in. Can you pleeeeease choose for me, Geno?"
"Hmm… take that one." Geno points at a bed that is in the corner of the room. It was red and had a big white blanket enfolding it. Adelenn immediately loves Geno's suggestion and takes it upon herself to fly to her bed, which was pretty pointless considering it was not blocked by a gap.
She sits on it patiently so that she can hear the other heroes discuss their plans. Or, their lack of one.
"Wow, she's so pretty! I think I'm a little bit envious!" Lupo says, swooning over the manager. "Yeah, I want the Dee, too." Jaraberutzu giggles. She, above everyone else, was infatuated with Dee. "That's slightly innapropriate." Geno states. "I AM innapropriate! That's just how it is, silly Geno!" She giggles again. "Now why don't you sit on this nice, comfortable bed with me and we'll talk about our problems aaaaall night!"
Geno stays silent for his own good and continues to ask Vivian for the Magical Map. He takes a quick look at it and notices something strange. "Huh. The Magical Map's showing us more details now." Geno says. His eyes darken, and he looks at the Magical Map while shaking intensely. "THIS LAZY PIECE OF JUNK!" He says, throwing it across the room where Mario catches it.
The Magical Map suddenly decides to show a more specific location of the Crystal Sun. Mario takes a closer work, and the Magical Map even shows the name of the location. "The Helping… Hand…" Mario reads from the map. "There's a Crystal Sun somewhere in the hotel." He states.
Link sits up after hearing this. "Whoa. I didn't know there'd be one in here." Link says. However, he takes a second to realize that something was fishy about the location. "…Wasn't this place just established? Why would there be a Crystal Sun here of all places?"
Vivian gasps. "That- that's right! There shouldn't be a Crystal Sun in here unless…"
"Someone took it in here." Lupo finishes. "RAWR! RAWRAWR!" RAWR agrees. "Sol Sol…" Soulola frowns. There was one thing on her mind that concerned her. She walks carefully up to Link and starts to speak. "Absol Sol Ab Ab Sol." She explains.
"You can't track the Crystal Sun because it doesn't have a scent?" Link repeats her in his own language. "Sol!" Soulola nods in agreement. Without a scent, Soulola has a hard time tracking anything. RAWR is also affected by this because both use scents to track things from afar.
Soulola was disappointed in herself, and puts her head against Link's chests, and starts moaning into his chest to muffle the sound. "Don't beat yourself up about it, baby girl. You know what you can and can't do, so we'll help out by finding the Crystal Sun." Link smiles, picking up the tiny Absol. In return, Soulola licks him in the face to show her affection.
"Yeah, but we have nowhere to start, Link. And I really don't feel like doing any exploring right now." Patricia grumbles, and lays back down on Link's lap. "I still want to see that gorgeous piece of love that's called Dee! There's nobody else like her!" Jaraberutzu swoons once again over the beautiful Dee, and begins to hold a pillow tightly in excitement.
Meanwhile, Adelenn's sharp nose discovers the refrigerator, and she opens it with carefulness so that she does not break the machine. Inside, she finds a package that contained soda of all flavors. Instinctively, she opens one of the liter bottles, and drinks an entire three liters in four gulps. "Go easy on the soda, Adelenn. It's bad for your teeth." Patricia assures her, even though Adelenn's teeth are perfect.
This only does so much as to encourage Adelenn to eat some food as well. The door of the refrigerator holds a small pepper, but Adelenn thought it was a dried-up apple. She takes it and holds it in the air. "Look at this cool apple! It's super long and not big." She states as she attempts to drop it into her mouth.
"Adelenn, wait! Rosalina said not to-" Geno attempts to say, but it was too late. Adelenn had already swallowed the pepper whole. She rubs her stomach in delight. "Mmmm! Tasty!" She smiles, and skips back to her bed gleefully.
Mario holds his cap down in fear of what will eventually come to pass. "Mama Mia… someone get her a glass of milk quickly. Who knows how powerful that black fire of hers is." He states. Immediately, Geno dashes for the refrigerator for a glass of milk. "ONE OUNCE OF THAT STUFF CAN DESTROY THIS ENTIRE HOTEL!" Geno remembers, and in a panic, shouts very loudly.
A whiff of black fire signifies the dangers that might come if Adelenn doesn't drink any milk. "U-uh oh! She's about to blow some heavy fire!" Patricia states, hurrying Geno to pour the glass of milk. "Uh oh!? WHAT'S UH OH!?" Jaraberutzu half-screeches in excitement. "You DON'T wanna know!" Vivian shivers in fear.
Before Adelenn could open her mouth to speak, Geno immediately has her guzzle down an entire cup of fresh milk. When she finishes, she giggles. "Yay! You guys did a thingy for the Queen! You guys are awesome!" She smiles.
"I think we did this less for you and more for the lives of the rest of the people in this hotel." Geno sighs in relief. He thought Adelenn would burn down the entire complex in a single breath. "All this fuss for a glass of flippin' milk? Seriously?" Jaraberutzu frowns. "I thought it would be something more interesting!"
"I can only dread in fear thinking of what you mean by that." Mario chuckles nervously.
After a short while of relaxing, Dee steps into the room and greets the heroes. "Well, it looks like you ten are enjoying yourselves here! Is your mission going well?" She asks with a brilliant smile. "My darling is here~!" Jaraberutzu squeals, her eyes full of romantic interest in Dee. "Hehe, let's not get too ahead of ourselves! I just came to say hi." She waves nervously, stepping away from Jaraberutzu.
"I was wondering if all ten of you could come here for just a second. Just sit in this yellow circle and I'll tell you a little something about this place. It might help you on your mission." Dee shortly explains.
"Cool. Some information about our mission sounds nice." Mario smiles as he enters the yellow circle. "Why don't you sit down for a spell, hot stuff? You might need it!" Dee states, winking at Mario. "…Mama Mia." He blushes.
Soon, everyone is sitting in the yellow circle together, except for Dee, who was standing up to negotiate with the heroes. During this conversation, Adelenn notices how Dee's clothing has the slight appearance of a rabbit. "Heehee, Bunny Lady's giving us a happy class lesson!" Adelenn whispers cheerfully.
"Don't be disrespectful, Adelenn. It's rude to call someone a Bunny Lady." Patricia groans, having once been a Bunny Lady herself. "Sorry, Pat." She whispers cheerfully back, trying her hardest not to call Dee the Bunny Lady once more.
"So, I thought that your mission was sort of strange to me." Dee starts to explain. "Yesterday, my associates and I discovered that in our basement that we were digging out, we found a sun-shaped stone etched into the bedrock. Upon taking it out, it was shining brilliantly. Then, a day later, you guys come in having to do something important, and it led you here. Are you hear for that stone?"
Something clicks inside of Geno's head, as he understands that she is talking about the Crystal Sun that they are trying to obtain. "That's exactly what we were looking for! Do you have it with you right now? We need that Crystal Sun to open a Thousand-Year Door!" Geno explains hurriedly, dying to get information with Dee.
"Hehehe… Sure you can…" A grin forms upon Dee's face, and she places her hands together in an awkward pose. "Wait… what's with that smile? Are you thinking of something funny?" Lupo nervously chuckles.
"Yeah, babe. I'm thinking of something funny." Dee states.
"IT'S SENDING YOU TO YOUR DOOM!"
In the instant that Dee shouts this, a barrier forms around the circumference of the yellow circle. "What!? This was a trap this whole time!?" Link shouts aloud. He knows what kind of spell this was. If he tried to attack the barrier, he could end up hurting the rest of the heroes. "Don't touch the barrier! You'll get shocked!" He shouts instead. "WAIT! I LOVED YOU! WHY YOU DO THIS TO ME!?" Jaraberutzu moans in pain, hurt by the betrayal of Dee.
"Hehehe… don't trust strangers, sugar! Don't get you nowhere!" She smiles, laughing hysterically with her hands on their hits. "Have a nice triiiip!" She smiles, and waves towards the heroes. "GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR… SOL! SOL SOL!" Soulola growls and barks angrily at Dee.
The next instant, they vanish completely from the circle, and the barrier disappears.
There was silence for a moment. Dee takes her bunny ears off, and rests on a bed. She was tired, and had an odd frown on her face. Her cellular phone rings seconds after this happens, and she picks it up.
"Excellent, Rosie. You've done well in sealing the heroes away in that place." The voice says, similar to the voice of the shady man. It turns out that Dee was actually Rosie, as well. "…Yes, sir. What's done is done." She whispers quietly, and hangs up.
Another moment of silence. There was a sense of depression in Rosie's heart. An uneasiness fell upon her the moment she had the ten heroes even fall for this plan. She looks at herself in the mirror, and growls furiously, breaking the entire wall with a single knick of her knuckle.
She hated herself. She hated how low she's stooped just to get by in life. 'Was this worth leaving the Cries of the Echoed…? Was THIS worth my life? Was this worth being a Death of Lust!? WAS THIS WORTH KILLING FOR!?' She screams in her head, and pulls on her hair excessively to try and caress herself.
She couldn't stop sobbing. She would cry for minutes on end without so much as a gasp of air. She couldn't handle the thought of killing people who didn't deserve to die. With one last sob, she looks up from her huddled position, and looks at the barrier that she placed upon the heroes.
"…What have I done by sending them there?"
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR END.