Reunited
Chapter 15- Slave and Master
The door flies open to a small warehouse inside of a huge abandoned factory, and into the building comes the Apprentice. Looking around at the many pieces of machinery and deactivated robots inside, she smiles evilly. The girl then flips the switches that turn the two artificial beings on.
"Mack, awake, we are?" Bowyer asks of his fellow awakened robot.
"I guess so..." Mack answers before beginning to bounce excitedly. The two then notice the Apprentice standing before them.
"Who, you are?"
"Your new master." With that, the Apprentice launches a small blue orb at the two which disappears immediately after impact, doing no damage to either.
"What was that?" Mack asks of the woman, confused.
"Simple. You'll do as told, or you'll crash. Do as I say, and I may grant you freedom one day. Now then, go to Toad Town and make some noise. I've got commitments elsewhere."
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"And what have you been doing all of these years anyway?" Cackletta asks of the bean, her long lost assistant Fawful. He has gotten himself shaved and cleaned up, and is now in a long white robe that trails behind him.
"I was taking a job asing a merchanter in the underness of Peach's castle. However, this was changing when knowledgeness was learned by me that the masterness was in the failing to bring destructioning upon Red and Green. Depressed became I, and I lost most fury while wondering while with despair. But then, I was meeting a bean who had the name of Popple who soon was changing the life of mine. This Popple was telling Fawful of the jewelsness, and explaineded to me his planness to conquering the sea. He also was telling me of your survival, and so coming here I did."
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"Get... back... here!" the Golden Diva wheezes, exhausted from trying to keep up with the Goomba schoolteacher.
"Not on your life!" Goombella replies before jumping into the air and kicking off a wall with her left foot, kicking the Diva with the right as she lands. As soon as she does this, Goombella begins to run again, slowly but surely taking the Golden Diva out.
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Popple and Peasley pull into a small harbor on the island on which the Barrel Volcano is located. As the two walk off of the ship, they see a green Podoboo floating before them.
"Hello, welcome to Barrel Island. Can I interest you two in a tour?"
"No thank you," Peasley replies, "We're here because we need to talk to Hinopio about something important." He continues to keep his mouth shut about Popple at the moment, saving this knowledge for whenever the two reach a bigger town/
"Oh, Hinopio?" the Podoboo asks in response, "He just left yesterday on his shop's annual world tour. You should be able to catch him up in Nimbus Land if you hurry."
"Ugh," Popple moans, "this is becoming a wild goose chase. Alright, fine. Any way to get there without going through Bean Valley?"
"Well, there is a lift that will take you there, but it is found inside the volcano. We just put it in a few months ago for adventurers who pass through."
"Sounds good," Peasley answers. "We'll stop by to take you up on that tour after our goal is completed."
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Wendy O. Koopa and her Cloudrunner fly through downtown Nimbus Land, blasting bolts of lighting at the buildings below and causing utter chaos. Just as the Koopa is about to launch an assault upon the palace itself, she feels a ball of ice hit her in the back of the head. Turning around, the Koopa sees a certain short black-hatted figure before her.
"Sorry, but I can't let Ludwig take over. It'd hurt the plan, see?" says Beldam as she launches an icey flurry at Wendy's ship. Most shots hit, but then Wendy blasts her with a bolt of lightning, blowing Beldam to the cloudy ground.
"Nice try, but that won't work."
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"You know, Popple," Peasley tells his comrade as the two hop along small islands floating in the midst of the magma, "I wouldn't be surprised if that Czar Dragon thing were still here somewhere."
"Bah, I doubt it. Mario and his friends killed that thing, remember?"
"I don't know... there's bound to be another one lurking around somewhere."
As the two reach the bridge and clearly see the lift just ahead, they also see something raising from the water.
"Well, glad I didn't bet money on that," Popple says as he draws his sword and begins to get a few free licks in on the Czar Dragon. Peasley, not wanting to risk fighting the beast (or rather, wanting to hurry up and reach Nimbus Land so as to expose the truth about the Pirate Hunter), merely grabs Popple by the forearm and pulls him over to the lift, with the two exiting the Barrel Volcano as the Czar Dragon stares up at them furiously.
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The Golden Diva continues to chase after the Goomba, but soon stops dead in her tracks, completely out of energy. Goombella, seeing this as her chance, let's fly with a Headbonk into the Diva's gut which causes her to be knocked to the ground. As the Diva lays on the floor unconscious, Goombella pulls out the shard and begins to look around for the door.