Chapter 14

14A - Why You Again?

"Wow. I never knew Shiver City was this far north," Bow said, having been told about Goombario's knowledge of Shiver City by Mario and Luigi. "It looks like Goombario is the king of brainiacs."

"Not really, but he does know most of everything in the whole world," Luigi replied. "I'll have to ask him what his weaknesses are."

For the last 15 minutes, Mario, Luigi, and Bow have been going due east toward Starborn Valley. There were Frost Piranhas and Gulpits that patrolled the path, but the group were able to defeat them without a problem. The only exception was that one of the Frost Piranhas nearly froze Mario but Bow barely turned him invisible in time.

"How far are we, Mario?" Luigi asked.

"We're getting close, bro," Mario answered. "But don't-"

Suddenly, a familiar voice yelled out from nowhere, "Hey hey hey hey hey!" Having recognized the voice, Mario frowned with anger.

"No... Don't tell me he's back..." Mario muttered. Seconds later, Jr. Troopa came rolling in from the right and stopped in front of the group. Mario took the short opportunity to swap Bow with Bombette, having remembered her helping during the second battle.

"Brrrraaahahaha! Brrr! I've been waiting for you guys!" Jr. Troopa cackled while shivering.

"Why?! Why you again?!" Mario demanded. "You almost drowned me in the ocean!"

"Yeah! And how are you still alive?" Jr. Troopa asked. "Did your brother-boy save you? Oh, how sweet."

"Shut up, J.T.! Can you just leave us alone?" Mario requested. "We're running errands here!"

"I'll never leave you alone! You know why?" Jr. Troopa pulled out a magic wand in the form of a wooden cane.

"What is that?" Luigi asked Bombette quietly.

"I think it's a magic stick or something," Bombette replied.

"Look at this piece of work! I've been taking a little magic course on the side!" Jr. Troopa boasted.

"No, you haven't," Luigi responded. "I know you stole it from a wizard. Since when have you taken magic school?"

"For the last year! I never steal anything that doesn't belong to me!"

"What about when you stole Goompa and Goompapa's stuff?" Mario asked.

"I didn't do it," Jr. Troopa lied. "It must've been my ally that did the job."

"I'd tease you again, J.T., but seriously, we need to go," Mario said. "Now back off."

"Not until I teach you a lesson!"

"You already did! You showed Mario how not to invade your playground!" Luigi exclaimed.

"Wrong! I showed this red dude how not to jump on my head because see these cracks up here?" Jr. Troopa pointed to the eggshell on his head; it had numerous cracks all around with small holes exposing his scalp. "That's the lesson I taught! I'm still not over the playground thing!"

Mario groaned with irritation, "Enough about the playground! I'm not asking you again! Go away or I WILL shatter all your shell!"

While Mario threatened Jr. Troopa, Luigi noticed Jr. Troopa chanting a spell loudly, "AUDITORUS BLOCKULA!" Jr. Troopa flicked his wand at Mario, releasing a magic blast that hit his head. As a result, Mario's ears rang loud enough for him to not hear anything; it also gave him a huge headache that caused him to collapse on the ground.

"MARIO!" Luigi shouted, seeing Mario hold his head and cry his eyes out. He turned to Jr. Troopa. "YOU SON OF A PARATROOPA!"

Both Luigi and Bombette began battling Jr. Troopa while Mario stayed on the ground in a fetal position. Luigi tried to use his Thunder attacks on Jr. Troopa, but they were canceled out from the magic wand's blasts.

"I'm not giving up until I win a second time!" Jr. Troopa declared while shooting at Luigi and Bombette. "Then I'll be back to make it three for three! Hahaha!"

Bombette charged toward J.T. multiple times to slowly crack the bottom eggshell, which made him angrier.

"I swear if you destroy my shell completely, I'll-" Jr. Troopa began to threaten Luigi and Bombette.

"You'll do what? Shoot us with more magic?" Bombette asked.

"Good answer! How about I get your ears too, greenhead?" Jr. Troopa taunted Luigi. Bombette proceeded to light her fuse while Jr. Troopa recited the same spell. He was milliseconds away from attacking again before Bombette finally blew up, sending him flying to the west over Shiver City.

"Please be gone forever," Luigi said after J.T. disappeared completely. He saw that the magic wand was left lying in the snow as J.T. accidentally dropped it during the final attack.

"Use that to heal Mario's ears," Bombette told Luigi. They approached Mario before Luigi tried to come up with a spell of his own.

"Hang in there, Mario," Bombette reassured Mario, who was still crying on the ground.

"Umm... Auditorus... Uh..." Luigi hesitated. "Auditorus...restoriar...?" Luigi pointed the wand at Mario at the end of his spell, releasing a magic blast in Mario's face that made his headache go away. The side effect was that Mario's ears were still ringing a bit even after his hearing was restored.

"Thanks...Luigi..." Mario sniffed while wiping his tears. "Is J.T. dead?"

"I can't answer that, Mario," Luigi replied as he helped Mario back up. "I think it's a yes and no."

"I...need a...short break..." Mario said before sitting next to the path; he took his cap off and hung his head toward the ground.

"I'm glad this wasn't as worse as what happened on the ferry," Luigi told Bombette.

"Was that when Mario almost drowned?"

"It was." Luigi let out a sigh. "Oh, mamma mia. That was the scariest thing I saw in a while. I'll never forget that evening."

For the next six minutes, the group chilled out before resuming their trek to Starborn Valley. Luigi held the magic wand in his hand during the walk because he believed Jr. Troopa stole it from someone nearby.