Chapter Fifty: Seven Stars' Interception
Recently, I've realized a slight plothole in my story. Yoshi mentions fighting Kamek to save Baby Mario earlier, however, in "Yoshi's New Island" Yoshi was shown being born as the seventh Star Child at the end of the game, thus making him actually not the same Yoshi. I honestly don't know any logical way I can explain this away, so just think of Yoshi in this story as both the Yoshi in the "Yoshi's Island" games and the seventh star child who's the Yoshi in the main series. Maybe the scene where Yoshi hatches actually occurred in the past?
The Seven Stars command centre was a darkened room, mostly dominated by the movie, movie-theatre like screen on the far wall. A large balcony faced the screen, and below it, dozens of agents scurried about, manning control consoles or speaking with each other.
Giovanni was not looking at the huge screen, which right now was showing a variety of images from different places around the world. Rather, he was looking at the Fire Bro who was standing before him, flanked by two of the Blue Star's personal agents.
The Fire Bro had a somewhat dishevelled appearance. He wore a red military jacket which was unbuttoned, and had a cocky grin that to Giovanni looked as if he was trying to appear charming. Giovanni was not charmed.
Giovanni was Antonio's younger brother, a man who had always been in his shadow but had never aspired for more. When Antonio had left Rose Town all those years ago to begin his trip around the world, becoming friends with none other than Prince Morton Koopa himself, Giovanni had stayed behind. He'd become a mechanic. He'd always had a good way with technology. It had been that, really, which had motivated him to leave his simple shop and join up with his brother's organization, Seven Stars. With the vast resources of Seven Stars, Giovanni had access to technology that hailed from every nation, even technology from other worlds such as the planet of the Shroobs. If he had been in the public eye, he would've been hailed as one of the world's great geniuses. But Giovanni didn't crave fame. His brother's ambitions were now his ambitions. To create the perfect future, the old world needed by be destroyed and all who had the power to shift the scales needed to be wiped out.
Giovanni flexed his mechanical right hand. He'd lost it in the First Koopa War, but by now he was far more accustomed to the cybernetic replacement he'd build himself. "General Fortugas Flame." Giovanni said, narrowing his eyes as he addressed the Fire Bro standing before him. "Former governor of the Mushroom Kingdom and member of Koopa High Command. You are that man, correct?"
Flame smiled with false humility. "Ah, yes yes, that's me." he grinned. "You're the Blue Star, correct? A pleasure to meet you. I'm well aware, Blue Star, that your organization holds the real power. Why should I bother fighting for Bowser or Ludwig when I can be better than both of them?"
Giovanni stroked his moustache with his cold metal hand. Flame...he was an intriguing figure. Normally, Seven Stars would've welcomed a former Koopa Troop general into their midst with open arms, but Flame's legacy was one of failure. Seven Stars had been watching the Mushroom Kingdom closely. Not only had Flame allowed the entire Kingdom to be overcome by a small resistance, he'd failed to take it back even with a full-sized army. Giovanni knew Flame's credentials. Due to his leadership, the Koopa Troop had managed to completely obliterate the Snowmad armada when the northern invaders had sailed on Neo Bowser City. But had that really been due to the Fire Bro's skill, or just luck?
"You wish to join us." Giovanni said bluntly.
Flame laughed lightly. "Of course, sir!" he exclaimed.
"Hmm." Giovanni nodded, before turning the guards. "Go and assess him. If he's as good as a general ought to be, file a report and I'll give him a good rank. If not, let him be a foot soldier."
Flame looked extremely offended. "A foot soldier?" he exclaimed. "Uh, you do know I'm the Koopa Troop's shining star, right? Blue Star?" the guards led him away. "Blue Star?"
Giovanni turned away and closed his eyes. The Koopa Troop must really be in a bad position if even members of High Command were defecting.
"B...Blue Star!"
It was the voice of one of his subordinates...a Toad, if he remembered. Giovanni opened his eyes. "Yes?" he asked, looking down from the balcony. The Toad, dressed in the blue uniform of his division of Seven Stars, looked frantic.
"T...there's been an incident, Blue Star!" the Toad exclaimed. "Something's happened at the Toad Road warehouse!"
"The warehouse?" Giovanni asked, gripping the railing of the balcony. He'd sent Toadificus there a few days ago, to stock up on weapons.
"Y...yes!" The Toad replied. "It's been completely destroyed! Someone or something lit all the Mega Bob-ombs and completely blew it up. There's no sign of the Green Star, but based on the evidence...I can say with confidence that he's dead."
Giovani gripped the railing, crushing it in his metal hand. Toadificus, dead? It had been many years since a member of the council had been lost. This couldn't have been an accident...Toadificus was too careful for that. It could only have been...sabotage.
The Green Star's death was not a major setback. He'd served his purpose well, and they had no more need of him. What was much more troubling was the fact that somebody was aware of Seven Stars, and was acting against them. The organization had worked hard to conceal it's secrecy. Even the criminals who had dealings with them had only ever met with Toadificus, Krezena, or Sthnadlash, never the other members of the board. This was...not good.
"Heh, so Toadificus has bit the dust, huh?" came a voice from behind Giovanni. The Blue Star turned to see Sthnadlash and Krezena striding in. The black Kremling did not seem to upset about his cohort's death. "Always knew one day he'd get what was coming for him. He had an over-inflated ego."
"Don't take this lightly, Sthnadlash." Krezena chided. The golden-robed Magikoopa looked far more troubled. "A member of the Board of Directors, murdered? That hasn't happened since the First Koopa War."
"Any news on the culprit?" Giovanni asked, looking back down the balcony at his subordinates.
"Yes, sir." the Toad replied. "Our cameras discovered a Magikoopa leaving the area at the time of the explosion. We believe her to be Kammy Koopa, the personal advisor to Emperor Bower."
So the Koopa Empire was involved with this, was it? Giovanni did not like the sound of this one bit. "Krezena, get rid of her." he said simply, turning to the golden Magikoopa. "I want Kammy Koopa dead."
"With pleasure, Blue Star." Krezena nodded. With a swish of her long, hexagonal-patterned robes, she left the room, leaving Giovanni and Sthnadlash alone on the balcony.
"Any other reports?" Giovanni replied.
"Yes, Blue Star." the Toad replied. "We've discovered evidence that several key figures in the Mushroom resistance are headed to Pi'llo Island. It's Koopa Empire presence is low, so we anticipate that they may be looking for the Dreamstone.
The Dreamstone! Giovanni did not like the sound of that. A wish-granting artifact of that power landing in his insignificant nephew Luigi's hands was not something that had expected. There was a chance, however slight...that it could throw a wrench in their plans.
"Sthnadlash." Giovanni turned to face the Silver Star. "Take a detachment of troops and catch up to them on Pi'llo Island. We can't allow them to interfere."
"Thank you for the opportunity, Blue Star." Sthnadlash grinned, showing his pointed teeth. "I trust you'll be very pleased."
Giovanni nodded as the Silver Star left the room. One bit of bad news after the other...his brother wouldn't take well to this.
"Was that really a wise decision, Giovanni?" came a voice to Giovanni's left.
"Skallz." Giovanni replied, without looking in his direction. He didn't like his brother's personal lackey, this psychopathic Koopa with powers not even he fully understood.
"Sthadlash is not this organization's best, you know." Skallz's footsteps sounded behind him. "You remember he failed to take out a young kid and a bunch of has-beens, off the coast of Isle Delphino. Even if he goes all-out, will it really be enough?"
"It'll be enough." Giovanni responded, looking at the white-clad Koopa for the first time. "If all we're up against is Luigi..."
"Then it's best to put our faith in our secret weapon." Skallz replied with a smug smile, snapping his fingers. Someone stepped out of the shadows.
Giovanni had never seen in out of his suspension tank before. A man who the entire world was in awe of, who everyone who had set themselves against the Mushroom Kingdom quaked in fear of, the one who had slain the Shadow Queen herself...
"Your work is excellent, Giovanni." Skallz smiled as Mario stood behind him. "The Red Star is ready. Why not use him?"
The Red Star...it was more of a symbolic title, really. While Mario would have a seat on the Board of Directors, he'd have little authority in the organization, owing that he had little free will. When once he had been the defender of the Mushroom Kingdom, now he was the Grand Star's will incarnate. But should he be revealed yet? After all, he was their trump card.
"Keep an eye on Sthnadlash." Giovanni ordered. "If he fails...unleash him. Let the Red Star's fire crush them all."
"Let me see the reports, Koopaner."
Yoshi's voice was dark and moody. Through the glass door leading to his office, he could see almost nobody in Fire Flower's main command centre. The huge image of a Fire Flower shone it's orange light over abandoned computers, some which had been turned off for weeks. In front of Yoshi's office, Koopaner sighed.
"I've already gone over this, Yoshi! There are no reports, except for more deflections! Fire Flower's done, Yoshi. Now that the princess is back, people want to stand with her. All that's left is my and my boys...the ones who want Bowser to hurt."
Yoshi wasn't looking at Koopaner. He was looking at the picture of his desk, the picture of his friends from the island. Koopaner...yeah, of course he'd stay. He was a terrorist who'd led clandestine operations against the Koopa King since even back in the good old days...supposedly he'd been quite the thorn in Bowser's side when Bowser hadn't been dealing with Mario. It was an odd thought, thinking about Bowser having his own enemies that weren't from the Mushroom Kingdom. Koopaner wasn't somebody fighting in self-defence...he'd only been acting in self-interest. How had he sunk so low? Was he really any better?
"Yoshi." Koopaner said, but Yoshi ignored him.
How had he sunk so slow? When had he stopped caring about the value of life? When he'd stomped on those Shy Guys, he'd never killed, just incapacitated. A unpleasant memory flashed through Yoshi's mind of his past, back when Mario was only a baby. When going through one of Kamek's castles, Yoshi had kicked a Shy Guy away, in self defence. The Shy Guy had ended up falling right into a pit of lava...and while the tough scales of somebody like Bowser could've survived it, for a common Shy Guy it was certain death. This event, an accidental kill that was nevertheless committed in self-defence, had taken ages for him to get over. How had he gone from that to destroying entire cities full of innocent people?
"You can still go back." Yoshi heard a voice in his mind saying. "The princess will forgive you. You can fight alongside Luigi and the rest of them, the proper way this time...and then, after that, you can turn yourself in and face proper justice for your crimes. That's what you should do, right?"
But the cries still rang in Yoshi's head, the cries of the people being cut down by the Koopa Empire, his friends, his family...he couldn't go back. He was too far gone. All that was left of the once-proud Fire Flower was murderers and criminals...but that was what he was now, wasn't it?
"Koopaner." Yoshi said, still looking at the picture. "Get everyone ready."
"For what?" Koopaner asked.
"The Beanbean Kingdom." Yoshi replied, emotionlessly. "Their fortresses is barely manned, now with the war going the way it is. Let's burn it, and free them Beanish from decades of tyranny."
"Works for me." Koopaner shrugged, before leaving the office and Yoshi alone in the dimly-lit room.
"Mario..." Yoshi thought to himself. "What would you think if you saw me now?"
The wind was peaceful and carried the scent of the sea. Luigi held Daisy's hand in his as they stood at the prow of the battleship, watching the dark peak of Mount Pajamaja appear on the horizon.
Daisy laughed. "And here is was, thinking it was hard being locked up in my room!" she said, a merry smile on her face. "To think you were fighting on the front lines, going head to head with people like Roy Koopa! My, Luigi..." she grinned, touching his face. Luigi blushed. "You haven't changed a bit."
Luigi laughed and scratched his head. Daisy always got him flustered...it seemed that time wouldn't change that! "Aww...I'm just doing it for the kingdom, Daisy! You wouldn't have thought so much of it if you'd seem how scared I was?"
Daisy shrugged. "Hey, we all get scared sometimes." she replied. "You think I wasn't nervous about knocking Bowser away back during the Millennium Star incident? Believe me, I thought I was going to get scorched!"
They both chuckled, as they drew closer to the island. A flock of seagulls flew by and Luigi once again smelt the scent of sea salt that reminded him of all his exciting vacations with Mario and the princess. It would've been idealic...if not for the fact that they were on a heavily-armed battleship, of course. Luigi turned his gaze from Daisy's beautiful face to Pi'illo Island, which was still as green and peaceful-looking as ever. This was the final step, Luigi thought to himself. Once they had the Dreamstone, it would be finally safe to make a move against Bowser himself. Then, at long last...the world would be free of the Koopa Empire's tyranny.
"Hey..." came a voice from behind Luigi. Luigi turned around to see Cobal strolling onto the deck past one of the Bill Blaster turrets, his black shades on his head and a smirk on his face. "Are you old folks ever gonna stop flirting? We're almost ready to land on the island!"
Daisy laughed. "Luigi, this kid's got spunk." she chuckled.
Luigi felt his face grow hot. "Yeah...he sure does." Luigi replied, feeling as he'd he'd just taken one of Bowser's fireballs face-first.
The city of Wakeport, Pi'llo Island's largest settlement, was extremely quiet. The brightly-coloured houses and manicured parks were as pristine as ever, but what was missing was the cheerful, exciting atmosphere and people. The city didn't seem deserted...Luigi thought he'd caught a few glimpses of people gazing at them from the windows of the buildings...but everyone was inside. Luigi didn't know the islands standing with the Koopas (he was pretty sure it was in Sector 3, which meant it was Neo Empire territory), but likely the people were nervous about their presence. While Luigi didn't doubt that the people would like nothing more than to be freed from their tyrannical rulers, they were probably nervous about a fight occurring around them. Well, thankfully, Luigi was hoping that wouldn't end up happening. With the war going the way it was, all less-important Koopa strongholds were nearly unstaffed. Likely, the Neo Empire didn't even know they were here.
"So, we've got to get to Somnon Woods, right?" Luigi asked as they walked down the Wakeport main street, the huge Mushroom Kingdom battleship hovering over the water behind them. He was speaking to Dreamburt, who was floating alongside him. Also with him were Daisy, Cobal, K Rool, Peasley, Strike, Wario, Waluigiand a few resistance soldiers. He wasn't taking any chances here.
"That's right." the Pi'llo prince nodded. "Just like old times. If you sleep and enter the Dream World, you should be able to speak with the Zeekeeper. I'm warning you, though, it might be difficult to convince him. He can be...difficult, you know."
"Yeah." Luigi nodded, remembering his experiences with the materialistic, godlike bird from back when he and Mario were fighting against the nightmare king Antasma. "But, I mean...certainly he'd want to help us save the world, right?"
Dreamburt laughed. "He should." the prince agreed. "After all, he's not all bad."
The ground continued through the streets, reaching the outskirts of the city. As they passed through the deserted and overgrown Mushrise Park, Luigi saw Dreamburt take a long look at Pi'llo Castle looming over them in the distance, the flag of Wendy O. Koopa flapping weakly from it's roof.
"Don't worry, Dreamburt." Luigi thought to himself. "This island will be free soon enough."
Suddenly, one of the Toads gave a shout. "Luigi! There's a huge ship, coming down on us!"
Luigi whipped around. There, coming at them from the ocean, was a huge silver battleship, with a design like a crab's claw and a hull covered with turrets. Flanking it were two smaller aircraft, like giant silver helicopters with four rotors, coming closer and closer...
"It's that ship!" Cobal shouted in surprise. "The ship of those Seven Stars guys!"
"Why are they here?" Strike shouted angrily.
"Is this revenge?" Peasley wondered.
The Toads looked like they were about to panic. King K Rool, Cobal, and the Wario brothers looked as if they were going to rush over and fight. Luigi knew he had to keep order, if they wanted to get the Dreamstone as soon as possible.
"We don't have time to fight!" he shouted loudly. "Come on! If we run fast, we can reach Somnom Woods in half an hour!"
Luigi began to run, dashing over the bright green grass and an ivy-covered statue of the Zeekeeper. His companions began to run after him, as the roar of the silver ship's engines filled the air.
Sthandlash lounged on his command seat, gazing over Pi'llo Island through the massive window on the bridge. He tapped his clawed fingers on the armrest. He'd got these interlopers in his sights. There was no running away from him, not any more.
Sthadlash stood up. "I'm going out." he announced. "Be ready to fire on my command." he smiled cruelly. "I'll destroy them myself."
With a swish of his silver trenchcoat, Sthadlash strode down towards the door. He wouldn't make mistakes fighting again. Oh no...he was about to show them just how powerful a leader of Seven Stars could be.
