Reunited
Goombella jumps into the air, barely avoiding the blast of fire that has just been shot at her. As she lands, a black ball roles out of the box and then explodes, blowing all four of the heroes into the back wall.
"What kind of powers do you have anyway?" yells Eggo, "It seems like you're just using anything that you want!"
"Well, if you must know, I'm using all of you. Your memories... heh heh. I can use the magic of anyone who's dead. I'm merely only using this stuff to remind you of Mario, Bowser, and Bobbery. Mind games, you understand."
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"Is that so?" asks the Apprentice, "You've definitly got some powerful magic up your sleeve, but you still stand no chance against me."
"Wanna bet?"
A tank emerges from the box and targets the Apprentice. As a missile launches from it, Deathnify yells out just one word.
"Magnum!"
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The heroes continue dodging fireballs and other attacks while trying to find a way to do harm to Deathnify. As the four stop to catch their breath, Vivian whispers to the others, "I think I may know how he's so hard to do any damage to. However, it'll be extremely risky for us to try to finish him up. I'll do my end, but I'm going to need a volunteer to go up there and finish him."
"I'll do it," says Eggo, "but I've gotta know: what is his secret?"
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The Apprentice dodges bullet after bullet, praying for a break in the chorus of shots from the tank, but to no avail. The Apprentice continues backing up, only to find herself trapped in the corner. She gasps and turns away with her eyes closed, hoping that something happens to save her now. The tank reloads...
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Vivian lifts into the air as high as she can get with Eggo on her shoulders before throwing the Yoshi at the wall. He kicks off of it and flutter jumps until he reaches the demon's waist. There, he reaches out, putting his arms through Deathnify, revealing that the whole thing's a hologram. He grabs his target- a small sticker placed within the wall between the two rooms- and rips it off of its location then pulls the jewel off of it before ripping it up. Upon doing this, both Deathnifys disappear and they all hear the demon's voice once again.
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The apprentice turns around upon realizing that the bullet has yet to be fired and sees that the tank is gone. She hears the same message as the heroes do.
"You proved to be quite a bit more powerful than I suspected. Oh well, Just because you defeated these pathetic puppets doesn't mean that you can defeat me. We shall meet again, and not a one of the five of you will live once you reach the Gateway. At the Gate, myself and Gateway shall have your souls."
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Vivian goes up and catches the Yoshi then sets him on his feet on the ground.
"Thanks," replies Eggo to Vivian's actions. A certain bat flies into the room as the building disappears, leaving all four of the heroes on the ground outside. The bat hangs overhead for a second before turning and flying away into the distance towards the Sea.
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A few minutes later, the heroes reach E. Gadd's house and tell him and Frankly the entire story.
"And then he mentioned something about "the Gate" and mentioned that there was a fifth person there with us somewhere before the mansion disappeared."
"The Gate? I've heard of it, but I could've sworn... anyway, that's not important right now. I believe that I know who the fifth person there was. I would say chances are that it was the bat that took the last jewel from you young'uns."
"I agree," pipes in Frankly, "For now though, I believe that you all have a map to go retrieve."
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About an hour later, just after Popple and Peasley have walked away...
The Shaman turns around to see the Apprentice standing atop the crates.
"You don't happen to be doing some work over the jewels for more than one of us, do you?" she asks firmly, as the cave walls begin to frost over a little from her right hand being on one. "I didn't see everything, but I saw enough to make me believe that you're working for that little bean freak."
"Of course not. I was merely doing an old friend a favor. Reassuring a reluctant ally of his that his way is the right one, that's all."
"Good. Now let's talk business. Our leader has told me that something interesting is waiting inside that ship for us, if you know what I mean."
"Of course I know what you mean. I have a feeling though that we may be able to use those two for our leader's purposes."
"What makes you say that?"
"Judging by what I heard, I can tell that the prince obviously is having doubts in the intentions of Mario's pals. Perhaps we can use those two to help to rid our leader of those four fools."
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Doopliss sits on his throne, reading a newspaper.
"So far the police have no leads as to the identity of the mysterious "Pirate Hunter," though a pattern has been discovered in the killings in that someone not involved with either side has also been found dead along with the pirates."
Doopliss stops reading after finishing the article and lays it down, then sighs, "I wonder what the deal is with this Pirate Hunter... I hope he doesn't try to get involved with anything around here."
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"No, no, no! I just cannot seem to get that composition right!" yells Ludwig, who is sitting at his piano, which he now has in the completely redesigned throne room of Peach's Castle. The walls are now painted black, and an expensive red carpet lay on the floor around the throne, which is Bowser's old one. Three paintings hang on the wall behind the throne, up high enough so that anyone will be able to easily spot them just by enterting the room. To the far left is a painting of Ludwig, while the middle painting is of Bowser. The final work of art is a depiction of Morton Koopa Sr. The Koopaling himself looks much the same as he did five years prior, except he is larger, obviously(though not quite as big as Bowser was), his hair is not as it was but rather it is long and drapes over the Koopa's shoulders, and the Koopa now wears a blood-red velvet cape with a silhoulette of his father on the back of it.
Suddenly a loud knock is heard on the door. Ludwig groans and then yells out, "Enter!" Just after he says this in walks a female Koopa who looks about four years younger than the King.
"Ah, Wendy. So, what is it that you want?"
"Nice to see you're in a good mood. Anyway, apparently the new king of Sarasaland has been attempting to persuade other kingdoms to offer asistance in overthrowing you. What do you want us to do?"
"Attack Nimbus Land, that's what. Invading there should cut off about all the major help he could recieve. As Prince Peasley has been missing for around a week the Beanbean Kingdom is in no condition to attack us, and we could easily take the Waffle Kingdom if they were to offer assistance."
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Our heroes sit in chairs at a table in E. Gadd's laboratory along with the two old-timers who are helping them.
"So let me see if I've got this straight," says Goombella, "We are supposed to go to the Dry Dry Desert, go beyond the Dry Dry Ruins, and eventually, if we're lucky, we'll stumble upon another pyramid. We have to use the jewel to open it, then go inside, beat the Golden Diva, take the map, and find our way back to civilization. Correct?"
"Yeah, that just about sums it up," replies E. Gadd to the Goomba.
"Good. Just checking. Wouldn't it make more sense for us to just use the jet to find it instead though?"
"Well, yes," replies E. Gadd, "But think about it: from that high up, a pyramid would be almost impossible to make out from the sand. It'd be in all of our best interests for you four to just warp to Dry Dry Outpost then walk the rest of the way."
"This is true," answers Koops, "But I think it may be in our best interests to at least wait until morning to set out. Give ourselves time to rest, you know, 'cause Deathnify was not exactly the weakest guy we've ever fought."
"You probably should wait until morning," replies E. Gadd, "but I do not suggesting waiting any longer than that. Chances are that this fifth person is already on the hunt for more, or perhaps even for the map itself. If anyone gets that map before you, well, things will become much more difficult. Or maybe not, if they happen to come looking for you after collecting the others..."
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"So, what are you going to do?" asks the Shaman of the Apprentice while the two are discussing their leader, "Are you going to go ahead and grab the jewel that is in the ship now or..."
"I was instructed merely to come talk to you; that jewel can wait until later. I am too tired from having battled Deathnify to worry about the King Kalimari for now anyway."
"What of the creature who recently established the ship as his residence?"
"Something tells me that our two Beanbean friends will handle him for us..."
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"Patience, Popple," says Peasley, "We're gonna have to be careful going through here. There are many ghosts and skeletons aboard the ship- the souls of those who lost their lives here."
"Well, nice to see you've gotten over what the Shaman said."
"Yeah. I realized that he's 100 correct and, though at first it was hard to deal with it, I accept it as an awakening now."
"Good. Then you can help me with taking out those friends of that Bob-omb's as well."
"Wait just a minute..."
"I'm joking! Let's just find our way through here. The quicker we find and kill that shark the quicker I can get my revenge and you can return home."
"True. But in order to get to Johnny we're gonna have to deal with the creature that sunk this ship."
"That giant squid? No sweat."
The two beans walk onward throughout the ship, seeing the many, many ghosts that populate the ship's many rooms and being careful to not disturb them."