Chapter 3: Judgement Day
After Rose, accompanied by the Goomba, Koopa, and Yoshi, had left, the man commented, "Wow. Overall I must say that was really impressive."
"Give him a break, Leo. This is his first time in out world, remember," the woman retorted.
"Look, Peach," Leo said, "if we're going to have any chance of winning against Bowser and saving our parents, we can't afford to have some weak little kid getting in our way."
"Just because he fainted once doesn't make him weak. He's probably never seen a Yoshi, Goomba, or Koopa Trooper before in his entire life," Peach replied.
"No excuses," Leo said sternly.
"Hey, go easy on the kid, Leo," the Goomba said, walking into the room.
"Why should I? This is a war, Goombard, and we don't need some wussie kid screwing up all of our work," Leo replied.
"You've gotten so cold," the Yoshi said from behind Goombard.
"Cold, Yosh?" Leo asked.
"You're acting like Bowser does," the Koopa said.
"Bowser?" Leo asked with a mix of shock and anger.
"You're being really mean to the kid, and you're not giving him a second chance," the Koopa said. Leo just sat there with a stern expression on his face.
"Hey, guys," Rose called from Mike's side a few minutes later, "I think he's coming to." All of them except for Leo rushed into the room where Mike laid. Mike's eyelids fluttered open and his head rolled to look at Rose, the first person he noticed. He sat up, looking at her, and said, "Oh man, Rose, I must have hit my head coming out of the pipe." He pointed at Rose, "You were there," he said. His finger moved to point at Peach, "And you," he continued. He moved his finger to point at the three creatures in the room, and it started shaking. "And you…" he said weakly. He swooned and fell to the bed, unconscious again.
"I'm not sure whether to feel bad for him or to be insulted," the Koopa said
"Don't take it personally, Shelly," Rose replied. "This is all very new to him. I didn't have the best reaction when I met you guys the first time either, remember?"
"Geez, how could we forget?" Goombard said.
"Look, all of you should leave. Mike knows me. It would help if I was the only one he sees. I could try to calm him down and alleviate his fears," Rose said. The others nodded and filed out of the room. Rose sat down on the edge of the bed and looked over at her cousin. She sighed, regretting somewhat her decision to bring her here. "If I hadn't," she comforted herself, "Bowser would have captured him, and he wouldn't even know why. He'd end up hating his parents and me, because we never told him. This is all for the best." She sighed again and waited for Mike to wake up. In the other room the others arguing, as usual. It seemed to be Leo versus everyone else, also as usual. Rose listened for a few minutes, trying to make out what she could. A couple of minutes later, Mike groaned, and his eyes fluttered open. "Are you okay?" Rose asked.
"I think so. Man, Rose, I had the worst dream. It was a rip-off of The Wizard of Oz. There were Yoshis and Goombas and Koopa Troopers…" Mike said.
"Oh, my," Rose said, grinning.
Mike groaned. "I think I'm starting to wear off on you."
"Look, Mike, there's something I need to tell you. That wasn't a dream. It was real."
"Oh," Mike said sheepishly. "I didn't make a good impression, did I?"
"No, not really. I'm gonna introduce you to the others. I'd appreciate it if you didn't faint this time."
"I'll try."
"Uh-uh," Rose said, waving her finger, "'Do or do not. There is no try.' Right?" Rose said, grinning.
"I knew that Star Wars comment would come back to haunt me."
"Come on. Let's go," Rose said. Mike got up out of the bed and followed Rose back to the main room. Rose opened the door and stepped into the room. Mike took a deep breath, braced himself, and followed. The five assembled in the room stopped their argument and turned to look at the two people that entered. "Guys," Rose started, "this is Mike, my cousin."
"Yeah, we know," Leo said.
"Mike, meet Leo," Rose said, motioning towards the man. Mike offered his hand in greeting, but Leo just turned away. "Peach the Third," Rose said, indicating the woman. Mike knelt in front of Peach and kissed the back of her hand. "You don't need to do that," she said, a little flustered.
"Oh, sorry," Mike said, standing back up and grinning sheepishly.
"The short guy is Goombard," Rose said.
"Hey! I prefer the term 'vertically challenged'," Goombard shouted.
"Awfully short tempered, isn't he?" Mike asked.
"Mike…" Rose rebuked.
"Sorry. I just couldn't help myself. Sometimes my mouth works faster than my brain."
"Don't worry about it, I'm used to it," Goombard said.
"The blue dino over there is Yosh," Rose interrupted.
Mike shook Yosh's hand and said, "Yosh? Is that a shortening of Yoshua?"
"Why, yes it is, Mike," Yosh said evenly.
The grin slid off Mike's face, and the only comment he had was, "Oh."
"And this is Shelly," Rose said.
"Hello," Mike said to the Koopa.
"What? No joke about my name?" she asked.
"Nah, it's just too easy," Mike responded, grinning. "By the way," he added, "do you know another koopa named Karl?"
"No…" Shelly replied slowly. "Why do you ask?"
"He's the local guard for my area."
"Local guard?"
"Yeah. They're there to make sure that everyone is being a good little citizen of King Bowser, which means no Nintendo and no bad-mouthing Bowser, whether it's true or not," Mike explained.
"So they're bad guys?" Goombard asked.
"Yes and no. Karl is an example of one of the good ones."
"There's no such thing as a good guy that works for Bowser," Leo scoffed.
"You know, Leo, some people are being forced to work for Bowser. Some are being blackmailed," Mike pointed out.
"Enough pleasantries," Leo said, ignoring Mike's last comment, "Rose, why did you even bring him here?"
"Well, he's probably smarter than everyone else here, he's a quick thinker, and besides, he is a descendant of Luigi and Daisy, like me."
"Except that you are useful, while he hasn't proven himself to be."
"Look, it's late. Let's get some sleep, and we can continue this discussion tomorrow," Peach said, trying to keep Rose and Leo out what could be a violent argument.
"Fine," Rose said angrily. She didn't like it when people judged Mike as a class clown, just because he made a few jokes. He was actually very serious, more so than she was. He just knew when whether it was better to be funny or serious. "Mike, you can sleep in the room we put you in before." Mike nodded and walked away, leaving Rose to her thoughts.