Reunited

Chapter 21- The Sword and the (Philosopher's) Stone

Goombella, or rather a two-year-old version of her, walks through the empty mall of her recurring dream from younger days. She can see people outside, people in the shops, but none seem to notice her.

"Wh... where..." she mumbles as tears start to well up in her eyes. She continues to search, not finishing her sentence.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Apprentice knocks Deathnify to the ground with an uppercut before sliding in for another, which is thwarted by the demon as he bends backwards with his arms supporting him. As the girl charges a ball of ice, the demon kicks up, kicking her in the chin and taking to standing on his hands. Deathnify does a flip and lands directly on his feet, then charges in for a huge tackle, only for the Apprentice to barely get out of his way.

"You're the best opponent I've had in 70 years or so," Deathnify says mockingly before scoring with a hard kick using his right leg, "Most are dead by now. I must say, none of the things I've heard about you ever mentioned you were so capable a fighter."

"Trust me, I've fought lots of people a lot better than you."

"Like who? Your tasks for Cackletta have been ridiculously simple, besides your encounter with my illusion. And who else has really been worth mentioning? You've never done battle with anyone worthy of mentioning in the same breath as m-" but he is cut off by a furious tackle from the Apprentice which sends both into the red soil.

"All that matters now is that Cackletta gives me what I want."

"And how does that matter?" he asks before thrusting the girl off of him. "Your idiotic quest is nothing compared to my dream of immortality. In fact, I tried to convince that little green guy who works for your boss to help me out, but he turned me down. Something about not desiring gold. Can't say I blame him."

"You seek immortality? Impossible! The only way that can truly be achieved is-" but the Apprentice is cut off by an uppercut by the demon.

"Oh, I plan on doing exactly what you're thinking. I've even made arrangements for when, where, and who will be on the list. You could qualify, but I'm afraid they have to be done in order and yours would come last. So, I'll just take your soul just like I'm doing to these four."

"If you're truly going to attempt that, I hope you realize there's another trying to get the same thing. Well, doing that and killing a bunch of pirates for some reason or another." And with that, the Apprentice throws a ball of ice at Deathnify, who rolls out of the way.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Popple looks through a thick book while the ship is anchored, studying the details within the book in great detail.

"I don't know why," he speaks aloud as he skims over it, but I have the feeling there is some extremely important detail that I forgot..." He suddenly feel something cold pressed against his neck lightly and turns slightly to see what it is. In the corner of his (actual) eye, he sees Peasley with his rapier pointed at him, the tip touching his neck.

"Hold it, Popple. I know the truth about what you've been up to, and who you are. Now turn the ship around and set sail for the Beanbean Kingdom and I'll do what I can to keep you out of the gallows. Deal?"

Popple answers this in a most bizarre way by beginning to laugh uncontrollably before saying in a mocking tone, "Boy, when you've been in as many Mexican standoffs as I have you know how to get out of this kind of thing." With a burst of agility, Popple spins around and uses his glass eye to knock Peasley's rapier out of his hand. As Peasley reaches to grab it, he comes face-to-face with the blade of Popple's sword. Thinking quickly, he ducks as it is propelled toward him before kicking the Pirate Hunter in the gut. Peasley grabs his sword and gets back up.

"So, you found out, huh? Do you know what I did to the last person who found out about my plans, Peasley?"

"I have an idea, you sick, twisted freak."

"No, I didn't kill him, you simple-minded fool. I've got him held up underneath my home base of sorts up on Mount Nevermore in the Delfino Isles. I plan to sacrifice him as soon as I've got all the makings I need to create the Philosopher's Stone."

"The what?"

"Brilliant thing actually. It can cure any disease, correct any injury, bring immortality, and most importantly of all, turn any substance into solid gold!"

"I knew you were insane, but I didn't know you were stupid too. Just tell me this, why go after all the pirates? What did you have to gain?"

"Men of the seas are types who generally travel a lot, right? Well, once I started my research on the stone, I decided that I had to eliminate anyone who would be likely to spread the news around the globe. After all, if it were to be known that I had an endless supply of solid gold, the value would drop dramatically! Gold would mean absolutely nothing, probably even less than these cheap imitation coins everyone uses! Why, I'd be defeating the point! But with them all dead, there's no way the news would spread except by newspaper and PNN, and there's no way either source would bother with such a highly improbable story! But by sailor, my name and wealth could be spread. Learning of the ability to create endless gold would cause the selling price of it to become extremely low, if people were to even be willing to pay for it. That's why when I printed my research, I only gave it out to my fellow Brothers of the Stone and I used a pseudonym."

Popple then swings at Peasley, who manages to block with his rapier before grabbing Popple's arm by his free hand and throwing the Bean into the sea below. Peasley looks down, only to see Popple climbing the chain of the anchor, trying to reboard the vessel. Thinking quickly, Peasley dropped the book off the ship, hitting the Bean in the face and causing him to fall into the salty depths below. Peasley then began to as quickly as possible pull the anchor up with a crank next to it. He manages to get it back up, and Popple emerges from the ocean to see his ship leaving without him.

"This isn't over Peasley. Not yet..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------