Fighting in the Streets
Chapter 48 – Shy Guy and Lakitu
A/N: Back on to the grind! Also it's now a month since the first race began.
February 15, 2015 – 11:15PM
Peach's Castle, Mushroom City
"Luke Loggins, yes?" Peach blushed again, greeting him in to her headquarters. "You should be honoured that you are allowed to be escorted up to this room of the highest floor of my castle. What do you have to offer me today?" Luke stepped forward slowly, keeping his cool in front of her.
"I have arrived bearing glorious purpose." He began, smiling at her. "At the entrance to your castle lies a bag with an important item in it. This item is the severed left arm of Boom Boom." Luke got out a photo taken of the hand on top of the bag unwrapped. Peach backed away slightly, cowering over hearing that name. Although he didn't become as threat to her as Bowser did in the past few years, she still knew of what he did and how he managed to get away with it mostly.
After the Red Martyrs had captured them on that dreadful night, they were only sent back to Aypyidaw as captives for a matter of weeks. The reason for their escape has been a mystery ever since. The council have a few leads linking to some deserters that used to work for them, but have not been able to find the culprits involved.
"I want to commit a great act of justice for you. I want to capture him and bring him to you, because I have been told that he is still alive and walking the lands to this day." Luke continued.
"When was this picture taken? Peach asked him, moving around to take a closer look at it.
"The picture is days old, but it was cut off on January the 5th apparently, according to the doctors." Peach looked at the size of it, but noticed it was much smaller than it should be due to it decaying.
"How comes I wasn't told about this sooner?" She looked back in to Luke's eyes, slightly annoyed about some important information not being shared to her.
"This was kept between those who found it. I acted on my own behalf to tell you today." Peach paused for a moment to think about what Luke just said to her. She put her gloved right hand right up to her chin and looked down on the photos once again. "I would have brought it up here, but I thought I would have been going up several flights of stairs carrying that, and it is very heavy." Luke added.
"No it's okay." Peach said, partially overlapping Luke. "Do we know anything about who did it or how it happened?"
"No, not really... only that it must have been a swift sever."
"How do you plan on finding him then?" Peach asked. "If he is still alive, where could he possibly be? He is for sure not in the Mushroom Kingdom."
"Is there a way you could go through old surveillance footage?" Luke asked her back.
"I can redirect you to that sector of the castle. Perhaps you could speak to my head of management security: Toadheim."
"That's a good shout. I will need to ask him a few questions."
"Let me personally escort you there." Peach smiled and offered her hand to Luke. Hesitantly, he held it gently, and followed her to the door. The two headed towards the right side elevator and went all the way down to the fourth floor, to the Department of Security. This floor wasn't as open as the top floor and the ground floor. Most of it composed of offices where many of the security teams worked. Above the Department of Inquiries, the Department of Security was where manager Toadheim worked most of the time. His office, known on the floor as Room 1, sometimes occupied by Toadant in the past, was filled with screens. His desk had a main computer with three monitors attached and a universal remote which was configured for all of the screens behind him. Knocking on the door gently, Peach waited to hear from him.
"Come in." Toadheim responded from the other side. Luke opened up the door for Peach and she went in to the room slowly, with Luke heading in after her and closing the door behind him. "My Queen." He got out of his seat and kneeled down before her.
"You may rise." Peach smiled. "I am here with a new friend of mine. This is Luke, not to be confused with Enrique of similar appearance."
"It's a pleasure to see you, Luke the human." Toadheim offered a handshake to which Luke accepted.
"Luke here wants to ask a few questions regarding some security footage. Shall I let you carry on from here?" Peach looked back to him.
"Thank you." Luke said back kindly, and turned his head to face Toadheim. "Do you have any archived surveillance footage dating back to January 5th?" He asked. Toadheim beckoned Luke to over to his desk's monitors.
"Come this way." He said. "I should be able to find what I can for you. Is there any specific location you have in mind for this footage?" Toadheim sat back down at his desk and went on to this computer. Luke stood by his chair and Peach waited behind him.
"Can you get all the recordings you have of the roads of Moo Moo Meadows?" He asked Toadheim.
"Certainly." Toadheim worked at the computer and spent some time fetching the files to retrieve the footage.
"Moo Moo Meadows?" Peach wondered, looking closer at the screens.
Toadheim retrieved some footage and displayed them on the right-most monitor, the one closest to Luke and Peach. The footage had a timestamp going back to six in the morning.
"Pause it." Luke ordered. "I just need to remember which road Tom was talking about. It's one of the really quiet ones." He looked back to Toadheim. "Flick through them all." Toadheim kept clicking on his mouse, shifting through each of the security cameras in the town. Luke watched and examined each view he saw. "Keep going..." He said slowly, letting Toadheim skip them every second. "Stop, go back. That's the one." Luke found the road with the abandoned shop building that Tom mentioned to him when they first found out about the severed arm.
"Would you like me to play the footage really quickly throughout the day?" Toadheim asked him.
"Yes, I need to see the entire day's worth of footage." Luke replied, seeing the footage fast forward by a factor of 720. Every five seconds they spent watching the footage, and hour would have passed through the day. The first few hours in the day showed no difference in footage. Throughout the day, the three noticed small specks that would be cars driving on the street, normal Toad or Koopa pedestrians going through the street or doors opening at different buildings.
"Do you see anything?" Toadheim asked Peach and Luke.
"I don't see anything out of the ordinary." Peach replied immediately.
"Hmm, these started at six in the morning... Can you go back a day?" Luke asked.
"I can fetch the footage from January 4, but yes, each footage starts at 6AM of the day and ends at 6AM on the next day." Toadheim exited the video recording tab and went to find the footage of the day before. He had to flick through each camera until he got to the same one as before.
"Start it again." Luke watched as the day went by. He saw some flickers around the building he was looking on, and then in to the evening he saw another flicker, this one was more important. "Go back to the flicker." Toadheim toned down the speed and rewound back to a part showing what the flickers were. At some point in the footage, going back to the early-night phase of January 4, Luke noticed three figures standing outside the building for about a minute. He saw a short, female Koopa, a hooded figure, and Boom Boom.
"Th-that's him." Peach pointed at the screen. "And those robes... that's got to be... Marrec? I knew he was evil!"
"And you know who that short Koopa is?" Luke turned his head back to Peach. "That's none other than Jeanette bloody Asquia."
"What could she have been doing in Moo Moo Meadows on the fourth? Unless..." Peach looked back to the screen. "Play the footage at normal speed." She asked Toadheim. He began to play the footage, and the three had their eyes fixed on the monitor. They couldn't hear what the figures were saying to eachother, but the three were talking for quite some time before going in to the building to which Jeanette had the keys for, somehow.
"How does she have the keys to that place?" Peach wondered.
"Beats me." Luke kept looking at the screen, and eventually realised that they would see nothing from now on. "Up the speed of the footage." He asked Toadheim. The screen fast-forwarded another hour until Toadheim noticed one of the figures head out of the building. From what they saw on the screen at its accelerated speed, it looked like the hooded figure phased through the door and disappeared. Toadheim rewound it slightly and noticed the figure used some magic to remove the glass from the frame, step outside, put it back, and then head off to the right.
"He's left alone." Peach pointed out from the footage.
"So... the three entered the building at once at around nine at night. An hour later, what we're assuming to be Marrec, heads out alone." Luke began theorising. "Keep going with the footage." He ordered Toadheim again. About three hours later, with the footage recording being at 2:32AM, they see Marrec return to the building again, seeing the magic be used again to get past the door.
"Stop the footage." Peach ordered. "I know what that is." She pointed at a small part of the screen where she believed to be seeing a sheet of paper being held by Marrec. "I know what that is, he stole that from Yoshi. It's not the original copy... I know this for sure." Peach moved over from the paused screen. "There are seven papers that look exactly like that, and they are enveloped. An original one made for Bowser, and six addressed to everyone else. Mario and Luigi have theirs, Wario and Waluigi have theirs, Donkey Kong's was delivered to them after it was intercepted, Yoshi had his stolen, Toad's is kept in a safe place which he told me about, and the Koopa Troopas have theirs."
"What is it?" Luke asked.
"It was about the races and the trial." Peach awkwardly replied.
"Oh, that one." Luke laughed. "Yeah that's been talked about a lot." He and Peach turned back to look at the screens once again, ordering Toadheim to resume the footage to see if anything else happened in the last few hours. An hour later, at 3:28AM, they saw more flickers and slowed down the speed. Boom Boom was taken out of the building by Jeanette and another cloaked Koopa figure. The figure was holding a pistol and a machete, presumably the one used to cut of Boom Boom's hand. From the footage, it looked like Boom Boom was in intense pain, but he was also holding several tissues to stop the rest of his arm from bleeding out. As Boom Boom was being taken at gunpoint across the street, a shuriken narrowly missed the cloaked Koopa's head, hitting Jeanette instead and wounding her, pushing her back in to the doorway. The cloaked figure reacted and stared in the direction that the shuriken came from. Peach began to determine the owner of the shuriken, as it had a bow on it. It was Pom Pom's. Apparently she is still alive as well. As the cloaked figure was distracted, Boom Boom used his other arm to punch the Koopa in the face. He was knocked aside and his cloak fell off. The security footage showed that the figure was indeed Koopak Asquia II. Koopak picked up his gun and machete and tried firing back at where Pom Pom was on the street. She was briefly seen on the security camera running towards Boom Boom, throwing another shuriken towards Koopak and Jeanette. The two panicked and hid inside the building briefly. By the time Boom Boom got to cover, Koopak and Jeanette began to make a run for it going to the right of the street and in the direction of Mushroomheath. Pom Pom went to pick up her shurikens and ran back towards Boom Boom, out of the camera's vicinity.
Toadheim briefly fast-forwarded to the end of the footage, and that was the last of any action they saw in it. Luke leaned over to the mouse and repeatedly shuffled through the rest of the cameras.
"Where did Marrec go afterwards then? He's not still there is he?" Peach wondered, looking at the other monitors.
"He probably left through another part of the building, but we can't find any sort of trace of him after him leaving the town I guess. Remember, this was more than a month ago." Luke said back.
"What are you going to do with this now?" Peach asked. "How will this help you find Boom and Pom?"
"There's one piece of footage that I want to search for. It's in a completely different time frame." Luke looked back at Toadheim. "I want you to go back to the time Lakitu was kidnapped. I want you to find footage of it if you can."
"That would be the day before Luigi's Mansion... so... January 26. Why is this important to you?" She asked Luke again.
"Lakitu's kidnapping was involved with Joharnés Asquia, Koopak's brother. There has to be some link, surely?" Luke looked back to the screen.
"There's so many cameras in western Mushroom City, it's going to take quite some time for me to find any footage of him again... unless... yes, there's an individual folder for these special reports." Luckily, Toadheim managed to find a new set of files of camera recordings specific for the night. In a place in between Fathor and Mushroom City West, they found the square where Lakitu was met with several fans. With the reason for him being there in the first place being unknown, the footage clearly shows him being kidnapped by some Koopas who work for the Asquias.
"Let me take the controls for a second." Luke leaned over the desk and held the keyboard and mouse closer to him. Peach peeked in closer as well to see what he was doing. He got some of the footage from one of the cameras and used keys to take a screenshot of the footage at a certain time. "I noticed something." He said, opening up the screenshot in a different tab. He viewed the image, and scrolled to zoom in to the top right hand corner as Lakitu was getting captured. "That's Pom Pom right there."
"And the person next to her is Kromark Rovin." Toadheim informed them. "That's going to help you a lot. Kromark Rovin is the brother of Taur Rovin, an infamous black-market-slash-mafia-esque Koopa from Blockfort. They call him the Menace of Blockfort, known for stealing from Bowser and selling power-ups to Koopa families illegally." He smiled and turned his chair to face Luke and Peach. "You will be happy to know that both Taur and Kromark Rovin were arrested after the siege of Uldersal, and that they are imprisoned within the Delfino Capital's detention centre."
"Pom and Boom must have connections with the Rovins, and therefore they have connections with the Asquias. We can use the Rovins to find the whereabouts of those two, and then we can get to the bottom of this." Luke praised Toadheim and then looked at Peach again. "I do have to ask you one thing, Queen Peach. If I or anybody else finds Boom Boom, is he wanted dead or alive?"
"Dead." She responded immediately. "I don't want anything to go wrong. I can also have you armed on your search."
"I'm not going just yet. I need to speak to both Lakitu and Shy Guy about this. I need to know everything they witnessed that night. I need names, names of victims or criminals, everything."
"Well I can already provide the latter." Peach laughed.
"Where do they live?" He asked her immediately.
"They will be sleeping right now, and in the morning they have to go all the way to Shiveria." Peach responded.
"What time is the race tomorrow? I'm not going to it anyway."
"It's at 4 in the afternoon."
"That gives them enough time in the morning, where do they live?" Peach sighed, knowing she would have to give him the information eventually.
"Toadheim, check their records." She told Toadheim. The Toad got on to the computer again and minimised all of the footage tabs. He went in to a new folder and found several details of important people in the lands. He went to Shy Guy first and then Lakitu.
"Shy Guy since the Mushroom Accords now lives in Esterlan, and Lakitu... lives in Sunshine Town. You'd have to take a car there as that place doesn't have a train station."
"Will you be using Tom's car?" Peach asked him.
"No, Tom will probably be using his to get to Shiveria tomorrow..." Luke replied leaving Peach slightly worried. "...But I have my own car. Tom and I are the car owners, even though we can all drive."
"Phew." Peach swept her forehead in relief. "Will you be seeing either of them in the morning then?"
"I'm going to see Shy Guy now, and then Lakitu in the morning." Luke replied.
"I can go with you to see Shy Guy now if he is still awake." Peach smiled, happy to join him. "But I cannot go with you to see Lakitu tomorrow morning, as I too have to journey to Shiveria for this race tomorrow."
"I can find somebody else to see Lakitu with." Luke moved away from the desk. "You won't have to worry. For now, we should get moving now."
"I am going to get changed in to something more casual. I will only be five minutes." Peach started making her way out of the room.
"I will wait for you outside the main entrance to Toad Town in my car then." Luke nodded back to her in agreement. Before he started to head out of the room, he turned his head to Toadheim for the last time. "Thank you very much for sharing the footage with me. You deserve more."
"Yes, thank you very much Toadheim!" Peach appreciated.
"Anything for you my Queen, and any friend of hers." Toadheim nodded and went back to the desk in action. Luke and Peach left the department of security and parted ways at the elevator. Peach went in to it and headed up to the top floor, and Luke went straight to the stairs and went down all the floors until he got to the ground floor. Heading out of Toad Town, Luke crossed the roads and headed over to the penthouse building to search for their parked cars. Behind Tom's was his. It was literally the same make except his was green and Tom's was blue. With the time already nearing one in the morning, the city was still rather busy. Luke wanted to go and check up on the others to see if they were heading to sleep but he wasn't able to get himself to this time. He just had to make sure he was ready in time for Peach when she arrives out of Toad Town. There may still be lots of cars going about on the street, but thankfully there were little to no pedestrians out near the gate to Toad Town. Peach coming out of the gates wouldn't attract much attention from others at this hour.
February 16, 2015 – 2:00AM
Esterlan, Northeast Mushroom Kingdom
Lying in between Northeast Port and North Port, the coastal village of Esterlan was one of many lying at the foot of the Alpine Mountain Range. Luke couldn't imagine why Shy Guy would move to here of all places after having to as a result of the Mushroom Accords. Most important people who had ties with Bowser had to submit to them, for the better of them it allowed them to freely move in to society as normal people. On a clear day, people could see some parts of Sunset Ridge from the bottom of the mountains, right beside Esterlan.
Peach and Luke spent the past 45 minutes in the car, journeying up there. The roads were clear at the time of night, and Luke went as fast as he possibly could. Luke waited a few minutes more than he expected for her as well, for she managed to retrieve printed documents showing the exact address of Shy Guy and Lakitu. Shy Guy lived in a house with the address of 6 Poplar Street, residing in the northwest edge of the town, actually the closest road to the mountain slopes. Luke took an exit off of the highway and drove underneath the highway road to head east in to the town coming from the southwest. Spending a few more minutes navigating through the small town, Luke eventually found Poplar Street. Peach, dressed in a trench coat, jeans, and a buttoned white shirt, handed Luke the documents as he parked. The two got out of the car and locked it, heading over to Shy Guy's front drive. The two stood outside his front door waited for either one of them to knock. Luke eventually knocked on the door twice and kept looking at it. Peach turned away from the door and tried to divert as much attention from herself as possible. The door opened after a few seconds, and on the other side was a tired Shy Guy.
"Hello... are you one of Enrique's friends?" Shy Guy noticed Luke first, and then snapped upon noticing Peach. "Oh... have I done something wrong? It's very late to knock on my door for any other reason, right?"
"We're not going to be here for long, don't worry. May we come in?" Luke asked politely.
"...Sure." Shy Guy said anxiously, moving in slowly through his house to the lounge room. There was a campfire going on underneath the chimney and there were three large sofa chairs circling the room. There were wooden floorboards with a table on top of a fluffy carpet in the middle, several lamps both lit and unlit around the room and a large television on the other side of the room to the entrance.
"I see you hadn't gone to sleep yet." Luke noticed as he entered the living room, freely sitting on one of the sofa chairs.
"The wife and kids are asleep, but I wanted to get myself a drink before I went to sleep... been having a bit of trouble with sleep since the races began. Trust me though, I can cope with it." Shy Guy surprised Luke, but Peach understood his concerns. She moved to sit on the sofa chair next to Luke's and waited for Shy Guy to sit on the third one.
"That's good I suppose, I hope you and your family are doing well." Luke kindly wished him well. "Anyways, I'm here with Peach to discuss a few urgent matters."
"Go ahead." Shy Guy replied. "Hopefully I can help."
"This is about the kidnapping of Lakitu that occur-."
"I know absolutely nothing about it." He interrupted Luke. "I'm sorry but I was not involved in it at all and it had nothing to do with me. If you want to know more on it, you'll have to speak to Lakitu himself on that." He finished, looking paranoid to see Peach and Luke staring at a portrait of Koopas hung up in the room.
"That's fine I suppose."
"Actually I do know something, those Asquias were involved."
"Well, I already knew that but thanks anyway... On that note I am sorry for the disturbance."
"No it's okay." Shy Guy anxiously thanked the two. "It must still be important business regardless if very little is accomplished here." He became worried of the fact that Peach said nothing and instead was only looking around the room at various things. "Is this all then?" He wanted them out of his house but didn't want to tell them that directly.
"That is actually. I wish you a good night's sleep and a prosperous race tomorrow." Luke got up from his seat and started heading out of the door. Peach followed, still saying nothing.
"I will head off to sleep now, thank you for stopping by." Shy Guy quickly headed to the door with them and closed it slightly as they stepped outside.
"Bye now." Luke watched the door close on him, knowing now why he was known as Shy Guy. "So... he's basically a Koopa?" He said to Peach as they headed back to the car.
"Lots of Koopas wear those masks to cover their faces. Most of them who do are genuinely really shy." Peach laughed, going around the other side of the car to get in to her seat.
"What about the rest of them?" Luke asked Peach something she did not want to answer.
"Well..."
9:30AM
Luke's Penthouse, Mushroom City
Most of those living in the penthouse were still fast asleep. George raised his head up slightly to see Luke heading out of the bedroom. He rubbed his eyes and opened them a bit more, still half-asleep on his bed. Toby on the bed opposite was completely asleep.
"Where are you off to this early?" George whispered, getting Luke's attention.
"I'm going to see Manes for breakfast, and then we're heading out for the day." Luke said back rather quickly and quietly, opening the main door to the penthouse. "Tell Tom and Enrique I wish them good luck for today."
"I will do." George replied. "Once you've left I better wake them up. They've got a long journey to make today." He raised his upper body up and sat upright on his bed, watching Luke head out. As Luke closed the door behind him, taking the bag of Boom Boom's arm with him, George slouched back in to his bed again. He waited a few more seconds before eventually getting out of bed. The living room looked spotless. Although Will was still sleeping cold on one of the sofas, Luke's bed was already made and cleaned. George turned his head to see Tom and Enrique still asleep in the other bedroom. He went in and turned on their bedroom light, causing the two to surface slowly.
"I hate myself." Enrique said, getting up from his pillow. "My idea to tell Peach to have these every day was absolutely stupid. There's no rest."
"This was your idea?" Tom, half asleep, moaned. "Thanks a lot."
...
The streets of Mushroom City were already busy, most citizens were still commuting to their workplaces in town, and others had already started their office days. Luke looked at the streets around their building and saw traffic fill the lanes. The first stop he had to get to was Elhelm, and he needed to get there quickly, as after picking up his friend from there, he would drive all the way in to Delfino to Sunshine Town. Hopefully Lakitu wouldn't have left by the time they arrive there.
10:15AM
Elhelm, South Mushroom Kingdom
Nothing could quite beat a skyline like that of Elhelm. Even Mushroom City didn't have such a view as the one that one could get from the rooftop of Manes' apartment block. The aerial view was so good that one could see the edges of Mushroom City on the clearest days. Today, the weather was slightly cooler than usual. Temperatures would average over 40 degrees in February at this time of day, peaking at 45 in the afternoon. The lack of humidity is what saves everyone however. Today, it was only 31 degrees, which is still hot, but the sun was covered as it was cloudy.
Manes lived on the top floor, so going up to the rooftop was easy for him and in fact a common thing that he did in the mornings. Luke knew that if he wasn't at home or at work, he would be on the rooftop unless he said otherwise.
"The view isn't as beautiful as it usually is up here." Luke got Manes' attention as he noticed him on the rooftop. He spotted him on the corner facing Daisy Cruiser, Peach Beach and the sea.
"Not today, but the breeze is much better than usual. I don't feel like I'm burning when I stand up here for once." Manes turned around with a big smile on his face. "It's great to see you here unexpectedly. Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"
"I should have." Luke replied. "I need you, on an urgent matter."
"I'm game." Manes immediately responded, not even letting Luke explain the situation.
"...Well let's get in my car, I'll explain on the way. You're not working today?"
"I take any day off when a race is on. Most of us are able to anyway because they are so popular, and even if we're not attending them ourselves." Manes followed Luke to the elevator on the top floor. Quickly, the two tried to get down the building to get back to the parked car outside the building.
"Yeah, none of us even considered getting tickets for this one. Why would I want to go all the way to Shiveria just to watch this race? It's cold there as well; I love this heat so much that I'm already used to it." Luke rushed over to the car and unlocked the doors, letting Manes and himself inside the car.
"Yeah I never thought of buying tickets for Snowboard Cross when it became released to the public. Dry Dry Ruins seems like an interesting track to get, and Mario Kart Stadium. Wild Woods and Airship Fortress are too far of a trek for me."
"I have no idea why Tom chose Airship Fortress. He definitely has never been there. Funky Kong is going to have a rough time on that track. Torpedo down a massive spiral? Hahaha." Luke laughed as he started the car and headed on to the street.
"So..." Manes awkwardly began, turning his head to Luke after putting his seatbelt on. "Where are we heading off to first?" He asked looking out of the window. He had already loved how comfortable his seat was, and started to fiddle with the adjustments to it, leaning it back slightly to let him take off his shell for the journey. Manes put his red shell in the back seats, out of the way of him and Luke.
"We're going to Sunshine Town first to see Lakitu before he goes to the race today. I need to ask him some questions regarding his kidnapping last month." Luke said whilst heading on to a highway out of Elhelm, heading westwards. "Then we need to go to Delfino Capital to see some prisoners of Uldersal... and the reason this all ties together is because I am going to help hunt down Boom Boom and Pom Pom, for two reasons." Manes' eyes widened with surprise, backing away from Luke as he was driving.
"You're... you're going to hunt Boom?" He asked. "But... why?"
"Because of what he did five years ago, it is the Mushroom Kingdom's biggest failure. He has connections with Koopak Asquia and that is probably what is keeping him alive. He and Pom are equally guilty for the crime. Want to know why I specifically am doing this? Open the cabinet there." He pointed to the passenger seat cabinet in front of Manes. Inside it he found several photos of the severed arm. Manes closed the cabinet immediately upon seeing it.
"That's his arm? How did it come off?"
"My guess is a machete used by Koopak. I have no idea what happened, but I found footage yesterday of him, Jeanette, Boom and Marrec all inside an abandoned shop in Moo Moo Meadows last month. They had a fight, but Marrec wasn't involved. One thing led to another and I see Pom Pom working with the Rovins who were also involved in the siege of Uldersal... also involving the Asquias. There is a lot of mutual cooperation going on between them and those families. Things we could possibly learn from this are the whereabouts of Boom, the whereabouts of Koopak II and most importantly, the whereabouts of Koopak III. If we can get him back with his family, maybe we can shut them up and get Peach to exile them or something." Throughout the whole time Luke spoke, Manes gazed at seeing him talk like a leader. He was amazed to see his friend already climb so high in the ranks.
"Detective Loggins is right in front of me!" Manes laughed.
"Ha-ha, I'm just doing my job. I also went with Peach to Shy Guy's house last night to see if he knew anything... unfortunately he did not." The two had passed the turning to Frinméy, now heading further in to land and in between all of the other local towns leading up to the border.
"You've spoken with Peach?"
"Yeah, of course. She is very much like other humans when you get to know her more." Their entire surroundings just became beautiful green hills. Occasionally they'd see a few blocks in the air, but the road ahead was quiet, calm, smooth and all-round feel-good atmosphere.
"I wonder what it's like to speak to her directly. I may be a Koopa, but to have the opportunity to see her directly would mean so much to me... like it's an honour. What does she think of you?" Manes looked right up to Luke.
"She's really nice to me actually, but that might be because... she probably likes me. You know, really likes me." Manes began to laugh.
"Peach liking you? Come on Luke, you know that her love is only for Mario, right?" He reminded Luke of something that was no longer a thing. It was actually a long time ago Peach stopped having a love interest for Mario. Even Luke knew through Tom and Enrique telling him about it.
"Well actually, here's something you should know." Luke grinned, passing the settlement of Gurkar. "We believe that Peach doesn't like Mario anymore. They can all tell when they're near eachother on the track apparently. Maybe it's why she's been acting different around me. Perhaps she's making her next moves on someone else." Manes gasped at Luke.
"So... if you and Peach become a thing, does that make you a possible king of the Mushroom Kingdom?"
"I don't think so. I would certainly be a prince, but me... king? Come on, I'm not from around here... I'm an immigrant. If an immigrant became part of royalty from anywhere on Earth, there'd be troubles."
"But Peach would rule that out though, right?"
"I don't want to talk about it. I don't know for sure that she likes me anyway. I don't like her enough to pursue that kind of thing anyway." Manes smiled.
"Alright Luke." He said. "Only time will tell." The two remained quiet for some more of the journey, as they approached the Delfino border, they were allowed straight through without any checks. The Toad Patrol at the border recognised both of them in the car. As Luke was heading down the road from the border to the nearest city of Seven Farms, he noticed a Toad Patrol vehicle heading after him, flashing sirens as well. Luke pulled up to the side and got out of the car, waiting for the Patrol to arrive and check him.
"Could you open the trunk please?" One of the Toad Patrol guards asked.
"I feel so naked having to get out without my shell on." Manes said as he got out of the car. Luke walked over to the trunk and opened it up. Inside it were several bags, most of them were orange and empty, mainly used for shopping. The white bag in the middle however, was the one that the Toads noticed.
"We just needed to be sure that you weren't smuggling anything across the borders... wait, Enrique? Shouldn't you be making your way up to the next race today?" The Toad Patrol guard incorrectly addressed him.
"Again, I'm not Enrique." Luke grinned, opening the bag. Inside was the rotting arm.
"Arms up where I can see them!" The Patrol guard pulled out his gun and aimed it at Luke.
"Wait, why? Do you know whose arm this is?" Luke questioned the guard, putting his arms in the air and leaning against the car. "Queen Peach knows about this as well. You can relay it through to her."
"This smells like criminal activity to me. Stay against the car, I'm going to get the other guards to deal with you for now." The Toad Patrol guard backed away a bit and called some other guards with his phone. "Send 3 personnel on the D145 highway, out of Seven Farms. We have a human and a Koopa with a suspicious body part in their truck wrapped in a white bag, over."
"What body part do they have specifically?" The Toad Patrol guard heard from the other end of his phone.
"It's an arm, severed, and looking unusually big. It looks like a Koopa's arm."
"That's Boom Boom's arm then. The human in possession of it is Luke Loggins. He is carrying it for important business with the Queen's permission. You can let him go." Luke and Manes laughed as they could vaguely overhear the phone speaker from the other end.
"My apologies you two, but just know that we need to be safe and sure sometimes. I hope I haven't caused any delays." The guard said back to them, letting them close the trunk and get back in to the car.
"It's alright. At least you're doing your job." Luke smiled.
"That's right, thank you." The guard headed back to his car and left the two alone. Luke and Manes now went past the outside of Seven Farms, passing by three of them on the way to Sunshine Town, several miles west.
11:15AM
Sunshine Town, East Delfino
Most of the city composed of the airport, probably explaining why there was no regular train service there. The was only a special one-stop train service from the airport that went to Seven Farms, another massive city that is the closest to it. Besides the airport, the rest of it was a small meadow-esque village lying south of it. Few roads, few shops, many houses. Luke moved over to collect the address documents from the compartment next to his seat. There he could see that Lakitu lived in 25 Branch Close, Sunshine Town, Delfino. Luke entered the street with Manes and noticed Lakitu already outside his house. His house was surrounded entirely by thick bright clouds, and it looked like he was an owner of several Spinies, as expected. 25 Branch Close was in fact a house resembling a farm on the end of the road, with a massive fenced garden surrounding it where the Spinies could freely roam without wandering off from their owner. Lakitu noticed the car and stopped moving, noticing the people inside it.
"Shy Guy told me I would be expecting visitors. You better be quick as I don't have much time to waste. I have to head to Seven Farms within the hour, and the walk is long." Lakitu said to Luke and Manes as they parked their car. Manes rolled up the window and the two both got out of the car.
"Don't worry. I can give you a lift." Luke moved around the car and started heading up the steps to Lakitu's front gate.
"You want to talk to me you talk to me where I stand." Lakitu confronted Luke, telling him indirectly that they weren't going back in to this house.
"You need to tell me everything you remember about that night you were kidnapped." Luke headed back down the steps and went all the way to the trunk of his car again, opening it up and taking out of the bag. "There's something I need to show you but I need to ask a few questions to you first."
"Ask away." Lakitu stood idly on the pavement outside his gate.
"Did you ever see Boom Boom and Pom Pom within the time you were kidnapped and the time you were released?" Luke asked away, but Lakitu didn't reply immediately. Instead, he froze on the spot, looking straight and completely blank. "Would you like me to repeat the question?" Luke then said after ten seconds.
"I don't know, but I have names."
"What names could you give to me?" Luke asked. He stood in front of Lakitu on the pavement with Manes also looking back at Lakitu with his arms crossed and his shell back on.
"There's Joharnés Asquia, Jenna Asquia, Cyra Asquia... and a Koopa called Mikey." Lakitu looked back at Luke again, regaining his sense of awareness.
"Can you perhaps tell me anything that only you would know? Please try to remember that night when you were with all your supposed fans, because we have footage that shows Pom Pom amongst a crowd as you were captured by several Koopas and taken to Uldersal."
"She might have been there." Lakitu replied. "But if she was, I didn't see her, same with Boom. Why are you asking me so much about them?"
"Because I would like to present to you, this." Luke opened up the bag on the floor in front of Lakitu and revealed to him the severed arm.
"That's Boom Boom's?" Lakitu gasped and began to shiver in anxiety.
"Do you remember much about those two, even in the past?"
"I just know that they always used to guard Bowser's outposts. He trusted them so much, and they betrayed him."
"And now we believe that they are working for the Asquias."
"They've been working with the Asquias for a very long time. The secrecy they had between them lasted a very long time. It only became obvious after New Years' Eve."
"Right..." Luke learned from Lakitu, rubbing his shirt as an acknowledgement gesture. "I can tell from this that there's a lot the goes hidden and unspoken."
"Probably." Lakitu shrugged. "I don't want to tell people my secrets. That's why they're secrets. Mine are just legal, unlike theirs."
"Lastly, did you ever hear of the name Kromark Rovin?"
"No."
"Then we're done here." Luke headed back to his car door. "I can give you a lift to Seven Farms if it helps."
"Please, I can't afford to be late to these races. I'm sure you understand."
"No I get you, these are very important." Luke beckoned Lakitu over and opened the door behind his seat. Manes took his shell off and put in the back next to Lakitu as he got inside. Lakitu took off his shell as well and placed it gently above Manes'. They could distinguish between each other's shells as Lakitu's was green and Manes' was red. After buckling up, Luke would go on to drive with Manes and Lakitu to Seven Farms to get Lakitu on an earlier train, helping him head off to Shiveria well within time.
3:30PM
Delfino Capital Security Prison, Central Delfino
The last place on Luke's investigation journey. The Toad operatives were informed by the Mushroom Kingdom government that Luke would be arriving with the arm to question the few notable characters from Uldersal who were also involved with Lakitu's capturing. The Delfino Capital, commonly known as just Delfino City, was one of the largest cities in all of the lands. Luke had already visited it a few times within the years being here, so he knew his way around the city very well. Remembering places, including a nice restaurant where he went with Manes for lunch, was his forte.
Upon arrival, he was redirected to the sector of the prison where most of the Asquia allies were kept. Most of them were housed in cells together, but some of the most notable culprits were taken to the highest floor where they had their own individual cells. Those kept in these cells were Mikey Clagbo, Taur Rovin, Kromark Rovin, and Lujun Roskiv, another dangerous Koopa with a bloody headcount.
"You can visit them one at a time, behind each of these doors is another chamber where you can interact with each prisoner. They are kept behind bars which you will see as you go inside. I can assure you that none of them have any chance of breaking out and we will have a guard in there with you for safety." One of the Delfino security guards led Luke and Manes to the upper floor where they saw the guarded cells. There were six doors, three on each side, the left middle and the far right cell doors had no guards. Luke assumed that the ones with guards were the cells that had the criminals inside.
"Can I speak to Kromark Rovin first?" The security guard led Luke and Manes to the near right cell, housing Kromark the Magikoopa. Upon entering the room, Luke and Manes saw the Magikoopa, looking nothing like they thought he would. His robes and glasses were gone, and it turns out he looked just like an ordinary Koopa without a shell.
"You again?" Kromark addressed Luke in a rude town.
"For fuck sake." Luke laughed. "People always keep thinking I'm Enrique."
"Wait... you're not?" Said Kromark, looking at Luke more closely from the other side of the cell bars. "No, you look a little different. Your hair is shorter, and you're a bit shorter too."
"That's right." Luke pulled up a chair in the room to sit on in front of the cell. "My name is Luke, and I come here on good terms. I would like to ask you a few questions."
"About Uldersal? You're getting nothing from me with that. I've told them everything I know, and I don't know where Koopak or Joharnés are." Kromark interrupted Luke. He was surprised to see Luke's expression of disappointment once he finished.
"I have nothing to do with Uldersal. I am not in any position to ask about that. I would like you to tell me what you know about Boom Boom and Pom Pom." Kromark listened in closely, and smiled. "If you can cooperate with me then perhaps we could do something about your-."
"He's not getting early release any time soon." The prison guard behind Luke and Manes said.
"Anyways." Luke turned back to Kromark. "I know that you were with Pom on the night of Lakitu's capture." He showed Kromark the bag of the arm.
"You have his other arm?" Kromark's eyes widened. "Yeah... he's not in the best state at the moment. He never actually told us what happened to his arm... actually... when you come to think about it, Boom wasn't really around with us that day. I don't know what's happened to him. He sort of vanished days before that happened... sometime in the middle of January."
"That's actually some very useful information." Luke smiled. "Thank you! You know you've actually been more useful to me than both Shy Guy and Lakitu combined! I really appreciate that."
"That's all right, Luke. You know, maybe if I wasn't in this cell I could actually locate him for you!" Kromark said with the smallest bit of short-lived delight. "But as you can see, I'm a bit trapped right now."
"Well, I cannot do anything about that, I'm afraid." Luke apologised to Kromark, but he knew in his head that this is probably the best place to keep him and the other Koopas from Uldersal.
"Pom Pom on the other hand... she's still going at it. I don't know where she is now, but maybe one of the others know. If you find Joharnés or his cousins then you might find her as well."
"Is there any sort of place that they might be? I saw something on the news the other day. There was a body in the Delfino River north of Uldersal near a town called Sarlan. Do you think they went that way?"
"Maybe?" Kromark grinned. "You'll have to give me something more if you want that answer from me."
"What exactly can I give to you though? I'm not allowed to let you off free... unless..." Luke turned around to the security guard. "Do you think they'd allow me to take you under my supervision to investigate the north of Delfino with me?"
"I doubt it. But if you could, you'd have no problem. I'm basically harmless." Kromark held on to the bars of his cell, getting frustrated of staying in there all the time.
"Why are you acting so nice to me... just out of curiosity?" Luke asked with a concerned look.
"Acting? I'm always like this. We're not evil you know, just different to the norm." Kromark responded, making Luke pause for a few seconds. What he had just heard from the powerless Magikoopa was actually a good point, so he thought.
"But you have no excuse for the mass murder on all of those Patrol soldiers." Luke remembered, trying to recall as much as possible on his knowledge of Uldersal. He just wished that Enrique was here to give him everything on the matter.
"They shouldn't have come. Besides, I didn't give the order, that was Mikey's doing." Kromark laughed briefly. "Now I know you're definitely not Enrique. He should have come instead of you."
"Enrique's busy as you could probably tell. He's in Shiveria for the next race... which is in... good heavens would you look at the time! He's probably racing right now! I've missed it. Damn." Luke turned around and headed back to the door. "Manes why didn't you tell me... Manes?" He also realised that Manes wasn't in the room. He could see him through the tiny gap in the door behind the guard.
"It's just started, come quick." Manes called out from the other side of the chamber. "Sorry for not telling you. I thought you didn't want to have your brain disturbed during your questioning with the prisoners."
"Well they can wait." Luke closed the chamber door behind him. "I'm going to watch this now. Afterwards I can resume the questioning. Besides, I'm pretty much done with Kromark now. I'm going to speak to Mikey next." Luke and Manes proceeded further down the chamber to see a TV screen inside a smaller room at the end of the floor. It looked like a small office that was full of security guards who were also tuning in to the race.
"Just in time." Manes pointed out as the race had just started...
EOC: Relatively long chapter. Anyways, on to the next one!
See you next chapter!