Techna hovered warily over the sea. His mission had failed, but soon he
would catch up with Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and that unidentified organism
(Zoshi). Or so he thought. If Smithy found out he would be angry, and
Techna was developed enough to know this well. He believed he could cut the
four enemies off at Land's End. It was perfect because of the caverns
around it that provided ideal location to hide, snaring Mario, Luigi, and
Bowser (And Zoshi) within a second.
Techna could not move very fast. His energy was drained in the previous battle, leaving him susceptible to attack and without much booster fuel. Either way, it was looking grim; the chance he would successfully annihilate his targets was nil. But he kept on, hoping he would make it top Land's End. After all, it was not THAT far away.
Hours passed by meaninglessly, time was not of the essence for Techna. His sense of time was how long it took to fight his target or get to it; day and night had no effect on him. It could be midnight, and, if his mission has just begun, it would make no difference to him. His luminous yellow eyes allowed infrared sight, a priceless ability most stalker machines possessed. The power to see at all times was a hunter's main special capability that was useful in combat while in the dark.
Land's End came into view for Techna, and he levitated lower to the cliffs beneath him. There were caves all hidden in the cliffs' sides; some were old bases of Smithy's used in his first invasion. Others housed species of all sorts, like goombas and even chomps. There were also municipalities in top of the cliffs, too, where Techna assumed Mario and co. would pass by, because it was where he planned to ambush the "fool". He gradually made his way up to the top, where he searched around inconspicuously to find a decent stalking area, a hiding place sufficient for ambushing. Soon he uncovered a large boulder outside the village next to a path leading out of the village, and since it was the ONLY one leading out of the village, Mario and Luigi and Bowser and Zoshi would have to go by it. The giant machine waited and waited there in his hiding place, though nobody passed. Finally, conjuring that Mario and his crew would not pass, Techna edged toward the city.
For sake of stealth, Techna went into cloaking mode. He searched through the place, which was composed primarily of holes artificially created in the sides of rocks, except for some tents scattered across mountaintop fields. He had to move silently as well, for some people in the village may have had keen hearing.
Then Techna's voice receptors picked up familiar sounds coming from around a ledge's corner. He peered over cautiously to set sight upon Mario, Luigi, Zoshi, and Bowser; they were all talking amongst themselves. So as not to be detected, Techna inched back a ways, but not out of earshot. This is what he could hear from his distance:
"I never thought I would come across THE koopa king ever in my life," Zoshi, the olive colored yoshi, appeared to be saying. "Were you alive when the wars between yoshis and koopas raged on?"
"I usually do not delight in bringing something like that up," Bowser answered, "but yes, I did actually participate as a warrior. I even have a few scars."
"I'll bet," Mario said, then abruptly changed the subject, "hey, where exactly was that village with all those different creatures in here? Was it at the bottom of Land's End, or the top?"
"Beats me," Luigi responded, "You think Smithy's attacked any other places than Yoshi's Island?"
"That's what I plan to find out; even if they were pathetic yoshis they should not have been slaughtered!" Zoshi exclaimed.
"Well, you've definitely lightened up a little," Luigi said, rolling his eyes back, "when we met you in Yoshi's Island, you acted sort of callous…"
"I did not!" Zoshi said, taking it as a serious affront, "it's just that battle yoshis aren't permitted to show profuse remorse! It isn't allowed where I come from!"
'You may not be callous," Mario butted in, "but you certainly aren't what I'd called magnanimous." A couple of snickers came from Luigi and Bowser, who were fortunately out of the yoshi's reach.
"Watch it," Zoshi threatened, "disturbing MY rancor is unwise."
"Whatever," said Mario, "where almost out of here, but there's someone I want to see, whom I believe is still here. Peach spoke of him awhile ago as a sage toad, one that she said 'May help you when you may not know you need help.' Never could decipher that little riddle of hers, but asking this toad may be a good chance at some help on the current… err… situation."
"Maybe," Bowser said. He glanced around, seeing an odd tent on his side and immediately informing Mario. "Hey! Look at that! Is that the tent of that toad?"
Mario gazed at it closely. Above its tent flap there was a sign reading "Toadine's Knowledge and Assistance." Yup, it looked like it to him. The four walked into the tent; Bowser and Zoshi had to duck to enter. To remain seeing them, Techna walked to the entrance of the tent, avoiding having to go inside.
Mario and the others crept inside. In there was a wrinkly toad with an Arabian style of robes, meditating but stopping as soon as "customers" came in. "Ah are you four here for Toadine's wisdom?" the age toad asked.
"Um, yes, sort of. A friend told me that you might someday be of assistance, on a big adventure. You see, there's this terrible—
"Ahh, speak no more. Toadine knows what trouble awaits you. Go to the volcano east of Land's End. Inside sits a jewel of power. It will help you much. But you must hurry; evil forces are after this item of might too."
"Umm… Okay…" Mario answered, skeptical because he had been suddenly told all of this. "All I have is twenty gold Mushroom Kingdom coins, okay?" Mario said, flipping twenty small gold coins with stars engraved in them to the sage.
"Thank you very much!" the toad said, and the four of them began to crawl out the tent.
This was perfect, practically beyond it. If he got to the jewel first, he would be even more powerful, and not even the quad of heroes together could stop him. This would more than make up for his failure to terminate the four enemies. Techna took out his booster rockets and, charging them up rapidly, sped east of Land's End towards the volcano.
* * * * * *
"What was that?" Bowser said to himself aloud. He looked around. "I could have sworn I heard rockets shooting off… Or something…"
"You're just hearing things; none of us heard it, right?" Zoshi queried.
Luigi shook his head. "No, actually I DID hear something like steam rolling against the ground, kind of like a shuttle take-off. You think that was… Techna…?"
"No way; think about it: if all four of could beat him in a team, then why would he stick around at a place with the four of us AND a whole village of inhabitants?!"
"Yeah, good point. Hey, are we going to sit around, or go after that jewel?!"
"Yeah!" Bowser, Zoshi, and Mario agreed hastily, and set off towards the volcano by the path leading out of the village.
The dirt path was a lot longer than any of them had expected. It led into a seemingly everlasting canyon until it popped right into a rushing river. The four teammates were forced to cross the fast-running body of water, inundated and shivering due to how cold it was. Bowser even insisted that he saw a shark-toothed fish once, but Mario commented that his eyesight was going bad.
The kept close to the remaining road for the rest of their excruciating walk, for around them were dangerous forests where any tree could be a piranha plant in camouflage. The path winded upward, inclined only slightly, though it gradually led into a mountain. The mountain's dirt mixed with the path's because both were brownish in color. Soon the quad discovered that this indeed was no regular mountain; it was an active volcano.
The dirt and a crater at the top (That they uncovered soon after) were not the only things hinting that it was a volcano. The ground had begun shaking vehemently, knocking Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi off their feet almost. But they managed to reach the top, the heat dried them of their previous soaking, and they walked along the crater's edge.
There were geysers lined along the crater's surface, some big enough that you could have slipped down the hole in them if there was no steaming water confined inside of it. In fact, at the crater's lowest and center point, there WAS a geyser with a big enough hole, and after all four warriors peered over the edge and saw there was no boiling water inside, they conversed on whether or not to enter.
"There's nothing you can say, Mario, to make me go in," Zoshi argued. "Battle yoshis have boiled alive in geysers just like this in which they couldn't see any ignited water, but it was still there."
"We haven't much time; besides, do you see any other route? We have no alternate, so it's here or never. Anybody else care to chicken out?" The others shook their heads vigorously. At the words 'chicken', Zoshi looked down the tunnel going down the geyser, and then, with a forceful sigh, he hopped in the air and fell down the geyser. The remaining three followed.
The tunnel going downward was much like the first pipe in the pipe network Mario and Luigi had slid down. It twisted and turned as if it were burrowed that way, and, unlike Zoshi had thought, they came upon absolutely no steaming water, not even a trace of moisture. They landed outside of it after a sudden turn, dizzying them, but they regained their senses in time to see where they were.
It was a little like the volcano beneath Mallow's cloud town. There were small dirt platforms, and the magma was dried into a charcoal-like surface, turning the heat down thousands of degrees. A whole bed of dry magma lay before them, and there were no ways to walk around it. Even though it wasn't even half-liquid, the magma could still burn them and, if stepped on, could fall in on itself like quicksand.
The four searched around where they could for a solution to pass by. After a long search, Zoshi found stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Although they were the only way to progress, the stalactites were slippery with mineral-filled liquids, and they could easily slide off and into the body of dry magma. But because it was the only way, the four managed to get by without falling, but it was a little difficult and once Zoshi even had to extend his tongue to keep on. Eventually, after hang walking nearly a football field's length, The four found a small, seemingly adrift platform on the magma, which they dropped to. It was a tight fit, all four on it simultaneously, and if one person moved too wildly another adjacent of him would be knocked off. Luckily that never happened.
"Great, who's idea was it to land here?" Bowser complained, having the toughest of time keeping on the ground.
"Nevermind, let's just focus on getting out of here. Hmm…" Zoshi thought, but before he could continue, the dry magma before them started to ripple. They all turned to the effervescent part, when suddenly a large skeleton of a dragon appeared, levitating out of the water and into the air.
The skeleton was identical to that of the Czar Dragon, a dangerous dragon that had inhabited the volcano when Smithy had invaded originally. First Mario and his team had had to kill its living body, then destroy the skeleton. But now, for some reason or another, it had returned.
"This is impossible!" Mario exclaimed. "I remember destroying this behemoth!"
The Czar Dragon appeared to have been triggered. He had just popped up all of a sudden like he was a machine just activated spontaneously. None of the four could tell if he was staring down at them due to his lack of eyeballs.
Suddenly, in a split-second, thew skull opened wide and a fireball formed, steadily increasing in size. None of the four had time to react or think before it was hurled at them. By reflex each warrior ducked, and the fireball fulminated in the dry magna.
Sensing the animosity, Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi powered all ball of energy; Mario's was brick red, Luigi's deep green, Zoshi's was olive, and Bowser's was purple, which was the more efficient type. They released them while the skeleton tried to create another fireball. The four energy balls collided with one another inside the ribcage of the skeleton, and it shattered into hundreds of pieces.
"Good work," Mario complimented the team, looking down at the half- hardened magma as many bones fell into it and disintegrated. "But there's still something confusing me. I know for certain that years ago I destroyed the Czar Dragon; how could it have still existed?"
"That wasn't the Czar Dragon," Bowser said solemnly. The other three wheeled around at him. He the was scrutinizing one of the chipped bones. "Take a look at this." Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi edged forward as Bowser ran a claw down the side of the bone. The surface started to crumble off, and there lay what all of them least expected: wires. And metal coating, as well.
"It's… mechanical…?" Zoshi said, as puzzled as the others. "But how? Do you think Smithy placed it here as a trap?"
"Could be, but that isn't what matters. The important thing is whether or not we survive another of these. It must be some very advanced technology, to be capable of creating a mechanical skeleton, composed of bones able to generate heat and hold a hovering system. But that's not important," Bowser continued, "like I said before, safety is all that matters, so we will need to stick together."
"Then how do we get out of here?" Luigi queried.
Luigi's question was soon answered when the magma in front of them started rumbling. It gradually became drier and drier until there was a dirt walkway (Surrounded by the magma that hadn't completely dried) in front of them.
None of them moved on it for a while due to a state of shock. "Do you think it's a trap?" Luigi asked apprehensively, "'cause, I mean, magma just doesn't suddenly dry at will, y'know."
"It's our only chance to escape," Bowser stated resignedly, and the four walked along it. They all secretly thought that either the walkway was going to cave itself in, or something ahead would slaughter them, though obviously not one of them dared admit their trepidation. The path was satisfyingly not long, so their anxiety wasn't either, and before them lay a super-lengthed rope with a plaque right next to it. After stepping off of the walkway, Zoshi read the inscription on the plaque.
"Whosoever dare cometh inside thy volcano shall face three tests of moral. Thy center of thy mountain holdeth thy ultimate power. Thee must passeth three trials of character, and then thee may possess thy greatest strength," Zoshi quoted.
"What do you suppose that means?" Luigi inquired.
"Maybe we have to do three things to find the jewel. Is there anything else written on that plaque?" Mario asked.
"Just a little. It says, 'Thy first task: Time is thy essential component, so do not force thyself to make haste but hurrieth steadily.' That's all the rest."
"Darn, that doesn't explain enough. Well, the only way to go is up," Bowser said, then leapt onto the rope, a most amusing sight considering how desperately he seemed to be holding on to the rope. After a few restrained snickers, Mario, Luigi, and Zoshi jumped on the rope too, clutching it because of its width.
"What exactly did that mean?" Luigi asked for the second time. "'Time is thy essential component, so do not force thyself to make haste but hurrieth steadily' does definitely not tell enough."
"Whatever the first task is, it involves speed and wise use of time; perhaps we have to just run to a closing door and get there before it closes, you think?" Nobody answered. Bowser sighed, saying, "It's worth a shot…" then looked upward. What he saw made his heart sink.
Bowser yelled for the others to look up. They did, and saw a most horrible sight: a robotic arm had a sharp knife in its hand and was cutting their rope. All three immediately rushed up the rope, burning themselves against its strings yet not caring, and reached the top; the four found a mechanical box with one arm sticking out, then destroyed it by means of energy attacks.
"Was that the first task? If so, the guy who set these challenges had a nasty sense of humor," Zoshi commented, just now getting over the initial shock.
"Well, maybe the next trial will require less life-threatening moments," Bowser said, a little angry at the previous task himself.
"Hey, what's that?" Luigi pointed to a hall with a plaque similar to the one before on the wall beside it. "Does that have anything to do with the last one?"
"Let's find out," Zoshi said, then walked to the plaque and quoted aloud, "Thy second task: Thy strength is necessary in all aspects of thy situation, but thou shan't overlook strategy."
"Well, we don't need a rocket scientist to solve THAT one," Bowser said, "all we to do is beat up some obstacle, right? Piece of cake."
"Hopefully you're right," Mario spoke up; he had not talked since before the rope and apparently wanted to speak. "We have to hurry, remember what happened when time was spent idly?"
Bowser gulped at the recollection of watching the arm cut up the rope, then scurried along with Mario, Luigi, and Zoshi into thew corridor.
It was a long, tiresome corridor. As they came to its end several minutes later they saw an odd room. Inside it was what looked like a miniature volcano. It filled the circular room, and around its base was a moat of the dry magma. "Is this the second trial?" Zoshi asked as he came in sight of the room. "This sure doesn't look like it holds anything capable of fighting." Zoshi was right; there was nothing in there worth fearing except the magma and the minute volcano. Perhaps they had to ford the magma across to the other end (Where hopefully a new passage was)? No, the plaque had mentioned the vitality of strength, and passing through this room only required skill. There was a big difference between the two.
Suddenly the ground rumbled like many times before in the volcano. A wall appeared behind the four warriors, disabling any routes of escape. As if summoned the volcano came alive, sprouting a face complete with only two eyes and a mouth. To Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi's horror it started to chuckles, gradually the chuckles turned into boisterous guffaws, shaking the room and bubbling the magma, and then, as if to signal some extraordinary happenstance, the face disappeared as mysteriously as it came.
The volcano began moving around apart from the room, and in the next second, it erupted. Foot-big rocks burst out the top, upon falling on the ground they sprouted a face like the volcano and limbs. More and more continuously spat out the volcano's top, without ever ceasing to come faster, and gave the four heroes the trouble of a lifetime.
As the little rocks came closer, they always followed the same routine; the things jumped into the air and tackled their target, holding on as hard as possible, then smashing their bodies against their target's body. Zoshi managed to have nominal difficulty with them at first, swallowing the ones attacking him, but he got a stomachache soon, for they never digested. He regurgitated them, and they came out his mouth as full of life as before.
Bowser slashed at his, seeing no point breathing fire as his wasn't hot enough to melt the creatures. They were unmarked even when slashed; when Bowser smashed them against hard rock walls they remained untouched. Mario and Luigi's fireballs, energy balls, and even their magic attacks had no effect. Their punches and kicks knocked them away temporarily, but it didn't have any use because they were infinite and just came back unscratched.
Once, when Mario kicked one, it fell into the magma moat. It screamed and writhed in agony until it melted into the hot liquid. Surprised and pleased, Mario informed the others, and they all started chucking them into the magma. But that still didn't solve one problem: more and more were coming. Suddenly Mario got an idea. "You three hold all them off!" he yelled, then jumped over the moat and grabbed one of the walking rocks. Getting it into a headlock so it could not resist, he walked to the volcano's top and dropped the rock down the pit. After he did, the volcano stopped the rock production.
As soon as it did, it started rumbling against, more vehemently than before. Mario quickly jumped back over the moat at safe distance from the volcano like the others, and a good thing too; just then, explosions appeared all around the volcano and with one giant fulmination, the volcano was gone. The bed of magma now filling the circular room dried instantly. Reluctantly, Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi crossed the new ground to the other end of the room, with had a script on it. Next to it was a plaque. "Go on—Read it," insisted Bowser, and Zoshi walked up to the plague.
"Ahem," he quoted, "Thy final task: Thy wisdom shall always prevail over brutality." Zoshi looked over to the longer script. "What IS this?" he said, befuddled.
"Just read it!" Mario urged, as curious as the others.
"Okay," Zoshi stated again, "Ahem---
Decipher this,
And you will see true bliss…
As dark as the night,
No taller than a rat,
It sleeps upside down
And has wings; it's a __"
"Bat!" Bowser yelled out, assuming he had an answer. Instantly the wall Zoshi was reading from collapsed, the rocks falling to the ground. A short hall was there, with another wall holding a script on it. Shrugging, the four entered, and Zoshi read the next part.
"It lives off of blood
As dark as a liar
From beyond the grave
Lives the rapacious __"
"Vampire?" Luigi suggested hesitantly. The wall exploded open, and they continued, congratulating Luigi. Zoshi walked to the next wall and read it.
"A majestic creature
That cannot be forlorn
With a horn of pearl
The hoofed __"
"Unicorn," Mario said lowly. The final wall crashed down before them, and they rushed in.
There lay an altar in a circular room before them. The ceiling was very high, almost out of sight, and although the altar was there it was the only sacred-looking thing in the room; the walls were all dirt and rock. On top of the altar was something shining, preferably the jewel. All four suspected it so, and walked up the altar's slope, shaped like a volcano. But before they came to the tope, all of the warriors heard some mechanical footsteps. Suddenly the caught a glimpse of some snagging the jewel. It was Techna.
"Hey!" they all yelled, trying to catch up with him before it was too late. But before the robotic hulk even left the top, he glared back down at Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi. They stopped in their tracks, although they knew this was likely their only chance to get Techna. The mechanical giant then stuck out his hand, pointing it at each of them swiftly, appearing to count them. Then he retreated into his shell leaving only the hole for his head open, where all of a sudden four shells shot out of. They popped open at the feet of Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi, like each was for one of the warriors. In the meantime, Techna withdrew from his shell, grabbed the jewel, and ran out the other side of the room. But none of the four heroes took much notice; they were too occupied by the four miniature Technas (The only other contrast between them and their creator other than size was that they had blue shells, not green ones) that were advancing upon them.
Slowly one by one they inched down the slope toward each of the warriors. "What are these?" Luigi whispered to Mario, not taking his eyes off the little Technas for sake of being over intimidated when looking back. Mario did not reply; he was still staring at the one coming toward him.
All at once the mini Technas lunged at Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi like the walking rocks had. They attacked like Techna had, punching with the handspikes and breathing fire out of twin cannons in their mouths. They were even quicker than Techna according to their size. Fireballs were ineffective against any of them, and physical attacks were equally futile.
Bowser had the least trouble destroying his. It leapt at him, but his claws were out and he slashed it across its face, knocking it back. The little Techna came back, though, pulling its hand back to perform a spear- punch, but Bowser had already opened his jaw, clamping down on the machine's tiny head when it neared him. Zoshi lashed out his tongue at his small Techna, striking it in a weak point in its left elbow, causing the lower arm and hand to fly off. The Techna mini opened its mouth, where two rockets lay on the bed of its mandibles, and both fired off, one of the rockets scraped Zoshi's flank, leaving an oblong cut. Zoshi ran at the Techna, dodging fireballs it threw as he ran, and kicked it in the neck, causing the head to fly off.
The Mario bros. had teamed up on one of the Technas, destroying it with two giant punches on each side of its head, caving the head in. This left them vulnerable to the remaining one, which ran up to them and tackled into Mario with immense force. He fell straight into the dirt, and the Techna began swinging punches and kicks at him wildly. Luigi powered a large green energy ball that stunned the mini Techna when it hit him, giving Bowser time to get there, slamming onto the Techna with his spiny shell. At last, all four were destroyed.
"Whew!" Mario said, getting up from the ground. "At least that's over."
"Maybe," but I got a little souvenir from the battle," Zoshi said, clutching his wound with a hand.
"It isn't deep, so nothing you can't manage for another few miles or so," Bowser commented.
"Oh, YOU'RE real sincere," Zoshi snapped back sarcastically, "hey where are we going next?"
"What about the jewel we came here to get?"
"Techna swiped it, I think," Mario said in despair, "that's gonna make him even more mighty than he already is, dang it."
"You know, maybe Mallow can help," Bowser suggested, "y'know, he was a pretty good warrior a while ago, what could make him change?"
"Yeah, and if we hurry, maybe we can catch up with Techna and get the jewel back!"
"I doubt it, he can move a supersonic speed and he probably already used the jewel's energy. It may be one-time usage, just like the star."
"Oh, then it only could have helped one of us, huh?" Zoshi inquired.
"Yup."
"Well, I have to admit, I would fight for the opportunity to use that thing. I realize we all earned that power by fighting here."
"C'mon!" Mario yelled, "we have a lot ahead of us, so let's go already!"
The others nodded, and they left through the way Techna had gone, up to Mallow's city.
A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!
Techna could not move very fast. His energy was drained in the previous battle, leaving him susceptible to attack and without much booster fuel. Either way, it was looking grim; the chance he would successfully annihilate his targets was nil. But he kept on, hoping he would make it top Land's End. After all, it was not THAT far away.
Hours passed by meaninglessly, time was not of the essence for Techna. His sense of time was how long it took to fight his target or get to it; day and night had no effect on him. It could be midnight, and, if his mission has just begun, it would make no difference to him. His luminous yellow eyes allowed infrared sight, a priceless ability most stalker machines possessed. The power to see at all times was a hunter's main special capability that was useful in combat while in the dark.
Land's End came into view for Techna, and he levitated lower to the cliffs beneath him. There were caves all hidden in the cliffs' sides; some were old bases of Smithy's used in his first invasion. Others housed species of all sorts, like goombas and even chomps. There were also municipalities in top of the cliffs, too, where Techna assumed Mario and co. would pass by, because it was where he planned to ambush the "fool". He gradually made his way up to the top, where he searched around inconspicuously to find a decent stalking area, a hiding place sufficient for ambushing. Soon he uncovered a large boulder outside the village next to a path leading out of the village, and since it was the ONLY one leading out of the village, Mario and Luigi and Bowser and Zoshi would have to go by it. The giant machine waited and waited there in his hiding place, though nobody passed. Finally, conjuring that Mario and his crew would not pass, Techna edged toward the city.
For sake of stealth, Techna went into cloaking mode. He searched through the place, which was composed primarily of holes artificially created in the sides of rocks, except for some tents scattered across mountaintop fields. He had to move silently as well, for some people in the village may have had keen hearing.
Then Techna's voice receptors picked up familiar sounds coming from around a ledge's corner. He peered over cautiously to set sight upon Mario, Luigi, Zoshi, and Bowser; they were all talking amongst themselves. So as not to be detected, Techna inched back a ways, but not out of earshot. This is what he could hear from his distance:
"I never thought I would come across THE koopa king ever in my life," Zoshi, the olive colored yoshi, appeared to be saying. "Were you alive when the wars between yoshis and koopas raged on?"
"I usually do not delight in bringing something like that up," Bowser answered, "but yes, I did actually participate as a warrior. I even have a few scars."
"I'll bet," Mario said, then abruptly changed the subject, "hey, where exactly was that village with all those different creatures in here? Was it at the bottom of Land's End, or the top?"
"Beats me," Luigi responded, "You think Smithy's attacked any other places than Yoshi's Island?"
"That's what I plan to find out; even if they were pathetic yoshis they should not have been slaughtered!" Zoshi exclaimed.
"Well, you've definitely lightened up a little," Luigi said, rolling his eyes back, "when we met you in Yoshi's Island, you acted sort of callous…"
"I did not!" Zoshi said, taking it as a serious affront, "it's just that battle yoshis aren't permitted to show profuse remorse! It isn't allowed where I come from!"
'You may not be callous," Mario butted in, "but you certainly aren't what I'd called magnanimous." A couple of snickers came from Luigi and Bowser, who were fortunately out of the yoshi's reach.
"Watch it," Zoshi threatened, "disturbing MY rancor is unwise."
"Whatever," said Mario, "where almost out of here, but there's someone I want to see, whom I believe is still here. Peach spoke of him awhile ago as a sage toad, one that she said 'May help you when you may not know you need help.' Never could decipher that little riddle of hers, but asking this toad may be a good chance at some help on the current… err… situation."
"Maybe," Bowser said. He glanced around, seeing an odd tent on his side and immediately informing Mario. "Hey! Look at that! Is that the tent of that toad?"
Mario gazed at it closely. Above its tent flap there was a sign reading "Toadine's Knowledge and Assistance." Yup, it looked like it to him. The four walked into the tent; Bowser and Zoshi had to duck to enter. To remain seeing them, Techna walked to the entrance of the tent, avoiding having to go inside.
Mario and the others crept inside. In there was a wrinkly toad with an Arabian style of robes, meditating but stopping as soon as "customers" came in. "Ah are you four here for Toadine's wisdom?" the age toad asked.
"Um, yes, sort of. A friend told me that you might someday be of assistance, on a big adventure. You see, there's this terrible—
"Ahh, speak no more. Toadine knows what trouble awaits you. Go to the volcano east of Land's End. Inside sits a jewel of power. It will help you much. But you must hurry; evil forces are after this item of might too."
"Umm… Okay…" Mario answered, skeptical because he had been suddenly told all of this. "All I have is twenty gold Mushroom Kingdom coins, okay?" Mario said, flipping twenty small gold coins with stars engraved in them to the sage.
"Thank you very much!" the toad said, and the four of them began to crawl out the tent.
This was perfect, practically beyond it. If he got to the jewel first, he would be even more powerful, and not even the quad of heroes together could stop him. This would more than make up for his failure to terminate the four enemies. Techna took out his booster rockets and, charging them up rapidly, sped east of Land's End towards the volcano.
* * * * * *
"What was that?" Bowser said to himself aloud. He looked around. "I could have sworn I heard rockets shooting off… Or something…"
"You're just hearing things; none of us heard it, right?" Zoshi queried.
Luigi shook his head. "No, actually I DID hear something like steam rolling against the ground, kind of like a shuttle take-off. You think that was… Techna…?"
"No way; think about it: if all four of could beat him in a team, then why would he stick around at a place with the four of us AND a whole village of inhabitants?!"
"Yeah, good point. Hey, are we going to sit around, or go after that jewel?!"
"Yeah!" Bowser, Zoshi, and Mario agreed hastily, and set off towards the volcano by the path leading out of the village.
The dirt path was a lot longer than any of them had expected. It led into a seemingly everlasting canyon until it popped right into a rushing river. The four teammates were forced to cross the fast-running body of water, inundated and shivering due to how cold it was. Bowser even insisted that he saw a shark-toothed fish once, but Mario commented that his eyesight was going bad.
The kept close to the remaining road for the rest of their excruciating walk, for around them were dangerous forests where any tree could be a piranha plant in camouflage. The path winded upward, inclined only slightly, though it gradually led into a mountain. The mountain's dirt mixed with the path's because both were brownish in color. Soon the quad discovered that this indeed was no regular mountain; it was an active volcano.
The dirt and a crater at the top (That they uncovered soon after) were not the only things hinting that it was a volcano. The ground had begun shaking vehemently, knocking Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi off their feet almost. But they managed to reach the top, the heat dried them of their previous soaking, and they walked along the crater's edge.
There were geysers lined along the crater's surface, some big enough that you could have slipped down the hole in them if there was no steaming water confined inside of it. In fact, at the crater's lowest and center point, there WAS a geyser with a big enough hole, and after all four warriors peered over the edge and saw there was no boiling water inside, they conversed on whether or not to enter.
"There's nothing you can say, Mario, to make me go in," Zoshi argued. "Battle yoshis have boiled alive in geysers just like this in which they couldn't see any ignited water, but it was still there."
"We haven't much time; besides, do you see any other route? We have no alternate, so it's here or never. Anybody else care to chicken out?" The others shook their heads vigorously. At the words 'chicken', Zoshi looked down the tunnel going down the geyser, and then, with a forceful sigh, he hopped in the air and fell down the geyser. The remaining three followed.
The tunnel going downward was much like the first pipe in the pipe network Mario and Luigi had slid down. It twisted and turned as if it were burrowed that way, and, unlike Zoshi had thought, they came upon absolutely no steaming water, not even a trace of moisture. They landed outside of it after a sudden turn, dizzying them, but they regained their senses in time to see where they were.
It was a little like the volcano beneath Mallow's cloud town. There were small dirt platforms, and the magma was dried into a charcoal-like surface, turning the heat down thousands of degrees. A whole bed of dry magma lay before them, and there were no ways to walk around it. Even though it wasn't even half-liquid, the magma could still burn them and, if stepped on, could fall in on itself like quicksand.
The four searched around where they could for a solution to pass by. After a long search, Zoshi found stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Although they were the only way to progress, the stalactites were slippery with mineral-filled liquids, and they could easily slide off and into the body of dry magma. But because it was the only way, the four managed to get by without falling, but it was a little difficult and once Zoshi even had to extend his tongue to keep on. Eventually, after hang walking nearly a football field's length, The four found a small, seemingly adrift platform on the magma, which they dropped to. It was a tight fit, all four on it simultaneously, and if one person moved too wildly another adjacent of him would be knocked off. Luckily that never happened.
"Great, who's idea was it to land here?" Bowser complained, having the toughest of time keeping on the ground.
"Nevermind, let's just focus on getting out of here. Hmm…" Zoshi thought, but before he could continue, the dry magma before them started to ripple. They all turned to the effervescent part, when suddenly a large skeleton of a dragon appeared, levitating out of the water and into the air.
The skeleton was identical to that of the Czar Dragon, a dangerous dragon that had inhabited the volcano when Smithy had invaded originally. First Mario and his team had had to kill its living body, then destroy the skeleton. But now, for some reason or another, it had returned.
"This is impossible!" Mario exclaimed. "I remember destroying this behemoth!"
The Czar Dragon appeared to have been triggered. He had just popped up all of a sudden like he was a machine just activated spontaneously. None of the four could tell if he was staring down at them due to his lack of eyeballs.
Suddenly, in a split-second, thew skull opened wide and a fireball formed, steadily increasing in size. None of the four had time to react or think before it was hurled at them. By reflex each warrior ducked, and the fireball fulminated in the dry magna.
Sensing the animosity, Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi powered all ball of energy; Mario's was brick red, Luigi's deep green, Zoshi's was olive, and Bowser's was purple, which was the more efficient type. They released them while the skeleton tried to create another fireball. The four energy balls collided with one another inside the ribcage of the skeleton, and it shattered into hundreds of pieces.
"Good work," Mario complimented the team, looking down at the half- hardened magma as many bones fell into it and disintegrated. "But there's still something confusing me. I know for certain that years ago I destroyed the Czar Dragon; how could it have still existed?"
"That wasn't the Czar Dragon," Bowser said solemnly. The other three wheeled around at him. He the was scrutinizing one of the chipped bones. "Take a look at this." Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi edged forward as Bowser ran a claw down the side of the bone. The surface started to crumble off, and there lay what all of them least expected: wires. And metal coating, as well.
"It's… mechanical…?" Zoshi said, as puzzled as the others. "But how? Do you think Smithy placed it here as a trap?"
"Could be, but that isn't what matters. The important thing is whether or not we survive another of these. It must be some very advanced technology, to be capable of creating a mechanical skeleton, composed of bones able to generate heat and hold a hovering system. But that's not important," Bowser continued, "like I said before, safety is all that matters, so we will need to stick together."
"Then how do we get out of here?" Luigi queried.
Luigi's question was soon answered when the magma in front of them started rumbling. It gradually became drier and drier until there was a dirt walkway (Surrounded by the magma that hadn't completely dried) in front of them.
None of them moved on it for a while due to a state of shock. "Do you think it's a trap?" Luigi asked apprehensively, "'cause, I mean, magma just doesn't suddenly dry at will, y'know."
"It's our only chance to escape," Bowser stated resignedly, and the four walked along it. They all secretly thought that either the walkway was going to cave itself in, or something ahead would slaughter them, though obviously not one of them dared admit their trepidation. The path was satisfyingly not long, so their anxiety wasn't either, and before them lay a super-lengthed rope with a plaque right next to it. After stepping off of the walkway, Zoshi read the inscription on the plaque.
"Whosoever dare cometh inside thy volcano shall face three tests of moral. Thy center of thy mountain holdeth thy ultimate power. Thee must passeth three trials of character, and then thee may possess thy greatest strength," Zoshi quoted.
"What do you suppose that means?" Luigi inquired.
"Maybe we have to do three things to find the jewel. Is there anything else written on that plaque?" Mario asked.
"Just a little. It says, 'Thy first task: Time is thy essential component, so do not force thyself to make haste but hurrieth steadily.' That's all the rest."
"Darn, that doesn't explain enough. Well, the only way to go is up," Bowser said, then leapt onto the rope, a most amusing sight considering how desperately he seemed to be holding on to the rope. After a few restrained snickers, Mario, Luigi, and Zoshi jumped on the rope too, clutching it because of its width.
"What exactly did that mean?" Luigi asked for the second time. "'Time is thy essential component, so do not force thyself to make haste but hurrieth steadily' does definitely not tell enough."
"Whatever the first task is, it involves speed and wise use of time; perhaps we have to just run to a closing door and get there before it closes, you think?" Nobody answered. Bowser sighed, saying, "It's worth a shot…" then looked upward. What he saw made his heart sink.
Bowser yelled for the others to look up. They did, and saw a most horrible sight: a robotic arm had a sharp knife in its hand and was cutting their rope. All three immediately rushed up the rope, burning themselves against its strings yet not caring, and reached the top; the four found a mechanical box with one arm sticking out, then destroyed it by means of energy attacks.
"Was that the first task? If so, the guy who set these challenges had a nasty sense of humor," Zoshi commented, just now getting over the initial shock.
"Well, maybe the next trial will require less life-threatening moments," Bowser said, a little angry at the previous task himself.
"Hey, what's that?" Luigi pointed to a hall with a plaque similar to the one before on the wall beside it. "Does that have anything to do with the last one?"
"Let's find out," Zoshi said, then walked to the plaque and quoted aloud, "Thy second task: Thy strength is necessary in all aspects of thy situation, but thou shan't overlook strategy."
"Well, we don't need a rocket scientist to solve THAT one," Bowser said, "all we to do is beat up some obstacle, right? Piece of cake."
"Hopefully you're right," Mario spoke up; he had not talked since before the rope and apparently wanted to speak. "We have to hurry, remember what happened when time was spent idly?"
Bowser gulped at the recollection of watching the arm cut up the rope, then scurried along with Mario, Luigi, and Zoshi into thew corridor.
It was a long, tiresome corridor. As they came to its end several minutes later they saw an odd room. Inside it was what looked like a miniature volcano. It filled the circular room, and around its base was a moat of the dry magma. "Is this the second trial?" Zoshi asked as he came in sight of the room. "This sure doesn't look like it holds anything capable of fighting." Zoshi was right; there was nothing in there worth fearing except the magma and the minute volcano. Perhaps they had to ford the magma across to the other end (Where hopefully a new passage was)? No, the plaque had mentioned the vitality of strength, and passing through this room only required skill. There was a big difference between the two.
Suddenly the ground rumbled like many times before in the volcano. A wall appeared behind the four warriors, disabling any routes of escape. As if summoned the volcano came alive, sprouting a face complete with only two eyes and a mouth. To Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi's horror it started to chuckles, gradually the chuckles turned into boisterous guffaws, shaking the room and bubbling the magma, and then, as if to signal some extraordinary happenstance, the face disappeared as mysteriously as it came.
The volcano began moving around apart from the room, and in the next second, it erupted. Foot-big rocks burst out the top, upon falling on the ground they sprouted a face like the volcano and limbs. More and more continuously spat out the volcano's top, without ever ceasing to come faster, and gave the four heroes the trouble of a lifetime.
As the little rocks came closer, they always followed the same routine; the things jumped into the air and tackled their target, holding on as hard as possible, then smashing their bodies against their target's body. Zoshi managed to have nominal difficulty with them at first, swallowing the ones attacking him, but he got a stomachache soon, for they never digested. He regurgitated them, and they came out his mouth as full of life as before.
Bowser slashed at his, seeing no point breathing fire as his wasn't hot enough to melt the creatures. They were unmarked even when slashed; when Bowser smashed them against hard rock walls they remained untouched. Mario and Luigi's fireballs, energy balls, and even their magic attacks had no effect. Their punches and kicks knocked them away temporarily, but it didn't have any use because they were infinite and just came back unscratched.
Once, when Mario kicked one, it fell into the magma moat. It screamed and writhed in agony until it melted into the hot liquid. Surprised and pleased, Mario informed the others, and they all started chucking them into the magma. But that still didn't solve one problem: more and more were coming. Suddenly Mario got an idea. "You three hold all them off!" he yelled, then jumped over the moat and grabbed one of the walking rocks. Getting it into a headlock so it could not resist, he walked to the volcano's top and dropped the rock down the pit. After he did, the volcano stopped the rock production.
As soon as it did, it started rumbling against, more vehemently than before. Mario quickly jumped back over the moat at safe distance from the volcano like the others, and a good thing too; just then, explosions appeared all around the volcano and with one giant fulmination, the volcano was gone. The bed of magma now filling the circular room dried instantly. Reluctantly, Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi crossed the new ground to the other end of the room, with had a script on it. Next to it was a plaque. "Go on—Read it," insisted Bowser, and Zoshi walked up to the plague.
"Ahem," he quoted, "Thy final task: Thy wisdom shall always prevail over brutality." Zoshi looked over to the longer script. "What IS this?" he said, befuddled.
"Just read it!" Mario urged, as curious as the others.
"Okay," Zoshi stated again, "Ahem---
Decipher this,
And you will see true bliss…
As dark as the night,
No taller than a rat,
It sleeps upside down
And has wings; it's a __"
"Bat!" Bowser yelled out, assuming he had an answer. Instantly the wall Zoshi was reading from collapsed, the rocks falling to the ground. A short hall was there, with another wall holding a script on it. Shrugging, the four entered, and Zoshi read the next part.
"It lives off of blood
As dark as a liar
From beyond the grave
Lives the rapacious __"
"Vampire?" Luigi suggested hesitantly. The wall exploded open, and they continued, congratulating Luigi. Zoshi walked to the next wall and read it.
"A majestic creature
That cannot be forlorn
With a horn of pearl
The hoofed __"
"Unicorn," Mario said lowly. The final wall crashed down before them, and they rushed in.
There lay an altar in a circular room before them. The ceiling was very high, almost out of sight, and although the altar was there it was the only sacred-looking thing in the room; the walls were all dirt and rock. On top of the altar was something shining, preferably the jewel. All four suspected it so, and walked up the altar's slope, shaped like a volcano. But before they came to the tope, all of the warriors heard some mechanical footsteps. Suddenly the caught a glimpse of some snagging the jewel. It was Techna.
"Hey!" they all yelled, trying to catch up with him before it was too late. But before the robotic hulk even left the top, he glared back down at Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi. They stopped in their tracks, although they knew this was likely their only chance to get Techna. The mechanical giant then stuck out his hand, pointing it at each of them swiftly, appearing to count them. Then he retreated into his shell leaving only the hole for his head open, where all of a sudden four shells shot out of. They popped open at the feet of Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi, like each was for one of the warriors. In the meantime, Techna withdrew from his shell, grabbed the jewel, and ran out the other side of the room. But none of the four heroes took much notice; they were too occupied by the four miniature Technas (The only other contrast between them and their creator other than size was that they had blue shells, not green ones) that were advancing upon them.
Slowly one by one they inched down the slope toward each of the warriors. "What are these?" Luigi whispered to Mario, not taking his eyes off the little Technas for sake of being over intimidated when looking back. Mario did not reply; he was still staring at the one coming toward him.
All at once the mini Technas lunged at Bowser, Zoshi, Mario, and Luigi like the walking rocks had. They attacked like Techna had, punching with the handspikes and breathing fire out of twin cannons in their mouths. They were even quicker than Techna according to their size. Fireballs were ineffective against any of them, and physical attacks were equally futile.
Bowser had the least trouble destroying his. It leapt at him, but his claws were out and he slashed it across its face, knocking it back. The little Techna came back, though, pulling its hand back to perform a spear- punch, but Bowser had already opened his jaw, clamping down on the machine's tiny head when it neared him. Zoshi lashed out his tongue at his small Techna, striking it in a weak point in its left elbow, causing the lower arm and hand to fly off. The Techna mini opened its mouth, where two rockets lay on the bed of its mandibles, and both fired off, one of the rockets scraped Zoshi's flank, leaving an oblong cut. Zoshi ran at the Techna, dodging fireballs it threw as he ran, and kicked it in the neck, causing the head to fly off.
The Mario bros. had teamed up on one of the Technas, destroying it with two giant punches on each side of its head, caving the head in. This left them vulnerable to the remaining one, which ran up to them and tackled into Mario with immense force. He fell straight into the dirt, and the Techna began swinging punches and kicks at him wildly. Luigi powered a large green energy ball that stunned the mini Techna when it hit him, giving Bowser time to get there, slamming onto the Techna with his spiny shell. At last, all four were destroyed.
"Whew!" Mario said, getting up from the ground. "At least that's over."
"Maybe," but I got a little souvenir from the battle," Zoshi said, clutching his wound with a hand.
"It isn't deep, so nothing you can't manage for another few miles or so," Bowser commented.
"Oh, YOU'RE real sincere," Zoshi snapped back sarcastically, "hey where are we going next?"
"What about the jewel we came here to get?"
"Techna swiped it, I think," Mario said in despair, "that's gonna make him even more mighty than he already is, dang it."
"You know, maybe Mallow can help," Bowser suggested, "y'know, he was a pretty good warrior a while ago, what could make him change?"
"Yeah, and if we hurry, maybe we can catch up with Techna and get the jewel back!"
"I doubt it, he can move a supersonic speed and he probably already used the jewel's energy. It may be one-time usage, just like the star."
"Oh, then it only could have helped one of us, huh?" Zoshi inquired.
"Yup."
"Well, I have to admit, I would fight for the opportunity to use that thing. I realize we all earned that power by fighting here."
"C'mon!" Mario yelled, "we have a lot ahead of us, so let's go already!"
The others nodded, and they left through the way Techna had gone, up to Mallow's city.
A/N: PLEASE REVIEW!!
