Reunited
Chapter 1: Visitors
"It's been five years, my faithful servant. Five long years since my defeat. However, Mario and Bowser both are dead as of a month ago thanks to your efforts, and Luigi's location is unknown. It is time now for you to fulfill your destiny, the soul purpose of your living young Apprentice. You must resurrect myself and he who formerly held your role and then the three of us shall rule over all."
"Yes, my honorable leader. I am not worthy of your presence."
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Goombella stands in a class room, wrapping up with her job as the teacher of a third grade class of Goombas. Her life'd gone downhill since her adventure with Mario ended; she is now near bankruptcy and desperatly hates the job that she has. She thinks about the adventure she misses so and sighs, then resumes teaching.
"Alright, your homework for tonight is to read pages 180 to 196 in your reading books. Have a nice night."
The students get up and leave as Goombella sits down and sighs. She suddenly sees a purple circle form on the floor which rises into the form of a pink-haired shadow monster.
"Vivian, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me alright," the Shadow Siren says with happiness in her voice. "I've been looking for you for ages. So, how's your life been?"
"Not too great recently. My money's nearly completely gone and I just don't like teaching school."
"Mine was okay at first, but then things started to go downhill. Marilyn started a fast food chain which quickly fell through, leaving us with very little money and to make matters worse Beldam left and joined some sort of cult in another country."
"Whatever happened with Flurrie's career? Last I heard she had a few low grosses in box offices and I haven't heard anything of her since."
"Flurrie's gone deep into the Forever Forest in seclusion trying to horde all of the money she has left. Last I talked to her she wasn't doing too well herself."
"What about Bobbery?"
"Bobbery was at sea one night and was attacked by a battle ship piloted by a mysterious Beanbean man leading a group of Ninji. The ship was sunken and when Bobbery managed to sneak aboard as the only one who didn't drown the Beanbean found and killed him."
"And Eggo(Gonzalez Jr.)?"
"He's doing well. He currently holds the title for the new X division of the Glitz Pit and is apparently very popular. He's supposed to have a main title shot soon. He is also one of the richest people in the country."
"Nice to hear some good news for a change. What about ol' Koops?"
"He lives in Koopa Village right now with Koopie Koo. The two got married recently. Koops is the mayor there though the village has recieved numerous threats from King Ludwig in the past few days."
"What about ol' Frankly? I assume that he's not doing too well."
"Quite the opposite really. Frankly is doing just fine and is rather healthy for his age. He apparently is now business partners with the guy who owns Gadd Inc. and the Starbeans Cafe."
"And how about Ms. Mowz?"
"She was arrested recently and not for burglary either."
"I figured she'd end up getting arrested but not for burglary? What'd she do?"
"She apparently failed to pay taxes on her store for the past 10 years or so. She was caught three weeks ago and was unable to pay. Even all of her property didn't account for half of it, so she had to give up the store to the government and is now incarcerated for 15 years."
"So just four of the eight are left around, huh? Times have certainly changed."
"Indeed they have. I'd have never guessed five years ago or even a year ago that Ludwig would one day rule the Mushroom Kingdom, especially at this time. Oh right, I was wondering something."
Goombella shrugs her, um, body in curiousity.
"Would you be interested in attending a brief reunion-ish thing tonight? I invited Eggo and Koops already. Here's the address," Vivian says to the Goomba, laying a card on her desk.
"I was going to grade papers tonight but I wouldn't miss this. I'll be there."
"Glad to hear it!"
A few hours later, Goombella goes to the large mansion in Twilight Town occupied by Vivian and her older sister. She goes inside and sees Koops, who is now much more confident looking, Koopie Koo, who has a large Koopa egg in a basket nearby, Eggo, who now has long green hair to compliment his green skin, Marilyn, who looks rather stressed but happy, and Doopliss who now wears a crown instead of a party hat(yeah, for some reason he's there). Goombella approaches Eggo.
"So, how have things been?"
"Pretty good. I was at Mario's funeral two weeks ago. It was a rather sorrowful occasion..."
Goombella was a bit surprised by how much mature the Yoshi'd become, but she responded, "I would have been there but I couldn't afford plane tickets to make it. How was Luigi doing?"
"He wasn't there. He's been missing ever since Mario and Bowser died and now... well, o one's quite sure where he could be."
After a few minutes of talk with the Yoshi, the two go their seperate ways and she approaches Doopliss in curiousity. "What're you doing here?" she asks the Duplighost.
"Well, I recently managed to sneak my way into becoming King of Sarashaland by weasling things out of Daisy who was fearful as Ludwig's army was preparing to march upon it and she needed to hide to avoid being captured. Well, once I took power I convinced Ludwig to change his mind about the attack. This is one of my summer homes and, in exchange for Vivian and Marilyn keeping it cleaned up, they get to stay here for free."
"So you've managed to become one of the most powerful people in the world through pure trickery?"
"No, no, not quite. Though I did trick my way to becoming ruler of Sarashaland, I did also use politics to play into Ludwig; basically I used people skills.
After talking to Doopliss for a bit she goes to Koopie Koo and Koops.
"So, what's with the egg?"
"Is that any way to get reaquainted?" Koops jokes. "Koopie Koo layed an egg a week or two ago. We're thinking of naming it after Mario if it's a boy."
"Nice idea," Goombella says to her Koopa friend. "How's that mayor thing going?"
"Not so good. I'm sure that Ludwig's going to have the village attacked and destroyed any day and neither Queen Bean nor Dais- err, Doopliss has bothered to help fight back Ludwig."
"I see. As for me, my money's nearly gone and I'm stuck with a job I can't stand."
"Tell me about it," Koops replies, "I chose a bad time to run for mayor, that's for sure. I've got the weight of a kingdom on my shoulders with the power of a village."
"I thought my job was bad," Goombella says to the Koopa. "It must be horrible having to put up with having that much responsibility in such desperate times."
After more of a discussion between Goombella and the two Koopas, Marilyn brings in the food and everyone gets to eating. After a hearty meal and a bit of talking about the possibilities of Doopliss helping restore power to Peach(though Doopliss insisted that his army would need at least a year to get large enough to stand any sort of chance), the group gets ready to leave the mansion. As they prepare to leave, a knock is heard on the door.
"I wonder who that is," Vivian says, opening the door. Outside she sees a short figure wearing a hat a lot like that of Stranger in Oddworld. The figure wears an old, grimey robe with holes in it at locations along the arms and stomach. The robe appears to be red but it also contains spots of yellow, green, black, orange, and numerous other colors, though it is impossible to tell which the robe originally was. The figure has long grey hair and a long grey beard to match it, and is most likely a bean.
"Can I help you?"
The man replies by handing her a card with an address written on it.
"Ah, you looking for this place huh? Well, it's deep in the forest but it should be about a mile behind the Creepy Steeple. I never seen someone return from there after going though."
The man takes the card back, nods gratefully, and leaves. Vivian closes the door and turns back to her guests(well, they're technically Doopliss's but... meh). Goombella walks up to her.
"Say, I forgot to ask earlier, but how did Princess Peach escape from Ludwig?"
"Peach's escape is confusing. Apparently, some bean actually snuck in during Bowser's funeral and let Peach out. He actually brought her here and told us to get Doopliss to hide her. I remember that he was fairly handsome and had long yellow hair and a goatee, though I don't remember much else about him," Vivian replies to her friend.
"Where is Peach?" asks Goombella of the Duplighost curiously.
"Not safe to say. I will tell you, however, that she is perfectly safe and that all is alright with her," answers Doopliss.
"That's good but what about your chances of helping to fight Ludwig?" asks Vivian of the owner of her house.
"As I have already explained to you quite thoroughly, my militia is simply not enough. I am currently attempting to achieve the help of Queen Bean and Princess Eclair. So far, neither has shown interest."
Elsewhere, a particular pirate captain stands among his crew of Ninji. He wears a long, blue uniform with numerous patterns in black and gold along it in ornate designs resembling numerous legendary sources of magic among Plit, such as the Beanstar, Star Pieces, and Star Spirits. He has long, green hair dangling over his shoulders and wears a pinkish-eye mask which his bright-yellow eyes show through, the right causing the light of the moon to reflect off, meaning that it is no more than glass. The figure laughs and turns to the crew.
"Lower the masts and load the cannons! We shall descend upon the Mushroom Kingdom within the hour and finally get what we deserve!"
"Aye!" reply his Ninji henchmen, all filled with intense loyalty to their captain.