Chapter 37: Another Pack on the Poison Planet
The heroes stayed in the Drip Drop galaxy for the next three days until the water pollution had cleared out and the penguins were able to swim again. Luigi was ultimately down in the dumps from the conversation he had with Starlow. He hadn't spoken for three days; only gone over his thoughts. Starlow had told him that she had heard earthquakes almost every night for the last week. But she also said that they were most certainly not earthquakes. They weren't strong enough to be earthquakes, just barely strong enough to be heard. Luigi had asked her to go check out the underground cavern that he and Peter had fallen into so long ago now. Starlow confirmed that she would before hanging up.
So now, the waters were clear again, but Luigi was down. He knew exactly what Bowser planned to do in the Mushroom Kingdom now. Broque Madame was still underground with the resistance, which was still unaware of her allegiance. They would be wiped out almost immediately, if not both kingdoms in the process, if the amount of troops Bowser had down there was as many as Luigi thought.
"Luigi!" Polari called from the deck of the observatory, "We're about ready to go!" Luigi nodded in acknowledgement to Polari's call and turned to the penguins on the island next to him one last time.
"Remember my request," said the old penguin, "But first head to what is known as the Bubble Breeze Galaxy. There you will find the next person you seek." Luigi nodded slowly and confusedly. How did the old penguin know about his mission even though he hadn't said a word about it to any of the penguins? He clutched the two Power Stars inside of his cloak and they lifted him up slowly and surely until he had reached the deck of the observatory. He waved good bye to the penguins before the observatory blasted off.
Luigi told Rosalina they needed to set a course for Bubble Breeze and she nodded in agreement.
"That is where the fifth sage, Zachariah lives," said Rosalina, "With his pack of course." Luigi was surprised at the use of the word pack.
"What kind of pack?" asked Luigi in confusion.
"You shall see," said Rosalina, "We shall be there in a matter of moments because of the small distance." Sure enough, after just about five minutes of speed travel, they were approaching a small galaxy composed of one enormous bowl shaped planet. Purple goo leaked off of its sides.
"Poison," Luigi said under his breath. Aside from the poison, because they were approaching from the top so they could summon the light bridge, they saw a very tall mountain and multiple islands, as well as many life sized bubbles floating about, similar to Bubbles' planet in the Bubble Blast Galaxy. Rosalina waved her wand and the light bridge formed. Luigi ordered Danny and Peter to stay back so they wouldn't be in danger of falling in the poison. He quickly dashed down the light bridge to begin his search for Zachariah.
Considering the fact that he didn't know what species Zachariah was, nor if there was life on this huge planet at all, he had no idea what he was looking for as he pushed himself along over the poison in the bubbles. There weren't many hazards above the poison at all on this first set of islands. Each set of islands was enclosed by many tall rocks except for those around the mountain in the distance. Luigi figured that he would search there next since he couldn't find anybody in this set of islands.
When he reached the dead end at the end of the section of islands, he found five sling stars. He figured they would each go to another set of islands, except for one, which would go to the mountain. But the problem was, he didn't know which one to take. They were in a certain star pattern themselves so Luigi figured that they each represented the location of the set that they would take him to. Luigi decided to guess.
He floated himself over to the closest sling star to his left. His bubble popped and he found himself floating inside of it. He spun around and the star launched him out of the first set of islands, but not to the mountain. As a matter of fact, he ended up hanging for dear life on one of the rocks that made up the perimeter of the next set of islands over. The sling star hadn't shot him far enough and he crashed into the top of the stone. He was lucky he had managed to grab on he'd have been a goner.
He tried climbing up to no avail, only sliding down about a foot more to the poison. From that point, he knew he was a goner. If he couldn't climb to the top of the stone, he would plummet right into the poison. But if he stayed still, his muscles would give out. But he tried not to believe it and continued holding on. Twenty minutes passed. Luigi was just about ready to fall into the poison he was so tired. Another ten minutes passed. Luigi felt himself slipping at this point. It was start climbing futilely now or fall into the poison and give up his life. He chose the second option. He let go, relieving his muscles of their pain and fell feet first into the poison… psyche!
Out of nowhere, just ten feet above the poison, something speeding by caught him on his back. Luigi opened his eyes in surprise. He was sitting on something with golden fur and wings. A large furry brown mane was in front of him. The creature turned its head, revealing a face with a beak for a nose and lion's teeth.
"A… a griffin?" Luigi said in shock. He suddenly remembered the conversation he'd had with Daniel about a week ago when they had just left the Good Egg Galaxy for the first time. He'd said that they had relatives in the Bubble Breeze Galaxy.
"What are you doing here?" the Griffin asked angrily, not changing his course. He was heading straight for the mountain.
"I-I was just looking for someone named Zachariah and I ended up on that stone," Luigi replied, "Then I almost fell into the poison when suddenly you came along and I landed on your back!" The Griffin narrowed his eyes at Luigi then turned his head forwards.
"I guess I'll let Chief Zachariah handle you personally," he said without turning back. Luigi's heart skipped a beat. Zachariah was a Griffin? This would be a piece of cake! Well, maybe...
The Griffin landed himself on one of the many cliffs of the mountain. This cliff sported a cave right in front of where they had landed. Luigi figured that this was where the Griffins lived.
"Go on," said the Griffin, "Or do you wish me to alert Chief Zachariah of your presence?" The Griffin sounded like he still didn't like Luigi very much. Luigi walked forwards into the cave and into the presence of about thirty five Griffins. All of their heads turned as he walked inside. He was followed by the Griffin that had accidentally saved him. The leader at the head of the room raised his head to look at Luigi.
"Who is this?" he asked in a booming voice.
"This is a man who has been looking for you Chief Zachariah," said the Griffin who had saved Luigi.
"What is his name?" asked Zachariah.
"I am Luigi," said Luigi.
"Are you friend or foe?" Zachariah asked bluntly. Luigi found that to be a stupid question. After all, wouldn't everyone answer friend to that even if they were a foe?
"I am a friend," said Luigi. Zachariah glared at him.
"You're a liar," said Zachariah, "Prove your innocence." Luigi was taken aback. He most certainly wasn't lying. Of course, the Griffins didn't know that. How would he prove it? He got a quick idea.
"I know your relatives," said Luigi.
"Which ones?" Zachariah challenged.
"Canzor, Yena, and Daniel of the pack of the Mushroom Kingdom," said Luigi, trying not to sound weak. Zachariah's glare softened but then hardened even more.
"How do I know that makes you not an enemy?" asked Zachariah, "For all I know, you could be their enemy!" Zachariah's glare deepened even further as though he were trying to penetrate Luigi's soul. The other Griffins watched in amazement as the two of them conversed back and forth.
"I promise you, I am not an enemy!" Luigi argued.
"Give me better proof," said Zachariah with a tone of anger in his voice. Luigi frantically searched his cloak for anything that could signify that he was friends with the other Griffin pack.
"Hold on," said Zachariah, "What's that on the back of your hand?" Luigi lifted up his left hand with the bracelet on it.
"No, the other hand," said Zachariah, "The right one." Luigi put down his left and brought up his right.
"Come closer," said Zachariah. Luigi slowly approached the Griffin chief. Zachariah took Luigi's right hand in his paw and looked at its back closely. Luigi breathed a sigh of relief when he realized what he was looking at. He still had the symbol of both the Griffin pack and the Star Cure emblazoned there.
"This symbol can only be given by the bearer of the Star Cure," said Zachariah in amazement, "So you are a friend." Then he raised his voice. "We shall welcome this friend to our pack's quarters!" The Griffins all cheered and the one that had accidentally saved Luigi smiled in approval.
Luigi stayed a few hours with the pack before he managed to get Zachariah alone to question him in the now empty room.
"So how long have you and the rest of your family been separated?" asked Luigi.
"I left when Canzor and I were both still young," said Zachariah, "I wanted to see all of the worlds, but Canzor decided to stay put and start a pack down on Earth. And he apparently did just that. Ah, I miss them… But as for you, you are the Mage of Thunder are you not?" Luigi looked surprised.
"Uh… yes… I suppose…" said Luigi in surprise.
"Of course," said Zachariah with a smile, "She told me all about you." Luigi didn't need to ask who she was. And even if he did have to, he wouldn't have had to anyways for she appeared out of nowhere and interrupted the conversation.
"Hello boys," said Tanya, "I see that you're back to normal Luigi." Neither of them seemed surprised at all. They were just used to it.
"Hello Tanya," said Zachariah, "We were just talking about you."
"So I heard," said Tanya. She was wearing a purple dress with a light blue bow this time. "Remember what Morton recited in Good Egg," she said, "It is vitally important to know, not just for you, but for the enemy as well." Luigi knew exactly what she was talking about. It was the four shall leave, four shall die, and one shall share his father's grave thing.
"One has already left, and another already died," said Tanya. Luigi went over them in his head. Morton and Lemmy. There was definitely a pattern in there.
"Zachariah, would you mind fulfilling your part of the prophecy?" asked Tanya. Zachariah nodded.
"I would be much obliged," said Zachariah, "Are you ready?" Luigi nodded.
"Look for some of the farthest reaches in the sixth world," said Zachariah. Luigi looked rather confused again.
"You will understand," said Zachariah, "It is only figurative." Tanya nodded.
"And also…" Zachariah reached into his mane and pulled out a glowing Power Star.
"Since my distant relative gave you something, I feel as though I should give you something as well," he said.
"How did you…" Zachariah gestured to Tanya.
"This is why we sages know so much," said Zachariah, "She chose seven of her mother's most trusted friends across all of the galaxies and worlds. We all knew her that way."
"No more talk of my family," said Tanya bitterly.
"I apologize Miss Tanya," said Zachariah.
"Thank you for everything," said Luigi as he accepted the Power Star from Zachariah. He now had three. His electrical powers would be even stronger thanks to the larger amount of energy.
"I will take you back to the observatory," said Tanya.
"One more thing," said Luigi. He pulled out another bracelet from his cloak and gave it to Zachariah.
"Daniel has one of these," said Luigi, "For as long as you trust in your distant relative and have a calm mind, you will be able to communicate through it." Luigi showed the bracelet on his wrist as well.
"You may contact me as well," said Luigi.
"Thank you kindly," said Zachariah, "If I were you, I'd head out to Space Junk, for reasons only Tanya and I know." Tanya nodded.
"Shall we go?" asked Tanya. Luigi nodded and touched her hand. She spun around and they entered interspace.
Tanya dropped him off behind the kitchen dome.
"Remember Zachariah's words," said Tanya, "For they are true." She twirled and vanished. Luigi walked around to the main deck, when suddenly, Polari rushed up to him.
"Luigi, we have an emergency! Danny's running out of parts to run the engine!" Polari cried, "What do we do? What do we do?" Luigi understood fully what Tanya and Zachariah meant now. They had to get to Space Junk as quickly possible, or suffer engine failure.
A/N: Luigi had met up with the distant relatives of the former first Star Cure guardian in Bubble Breeze. But now, the engine of the observatory is about to fail on them and they must take Zachariah and Tanya's advice and head to Space Junk. Will they make it to the galaxy without breaking down? Where and who is the next sage? And why exactly did the old penguin want Luigi to see his cousin in Sea Slide?
For those of you who still don't know who Tanya is, I will be revealing it at the end of the story now that many people have guessed her identity correctly. There is a huge hint as to who her mother is in this chapter.
Bubble Breeze and Space Junk both appeared in Super Mario Galaxy, one as a hidden block galaxy and the other as the first galaxy visited in its dome. To Pearl0001, I'm afraid I do not watch Star Trek.
I do not own Mario. All characters, ideas, and places belong to Nintendo.