"Tell us a story, we're tired of playing duck duck goose!" yelled a Toad kid who was with a few other Toads around his age. Toadia and Iggy were asked to watch over them by their parents.
"How on earth can you be tired of playing duck duck goose!? It's the most iconic children's game of all time!" Iggy gasped.
"Well obviously they don't know that considering they're just CHILDREN, four eyes!" Toadia spat.
"TELL US A STORY OR LET'S PLAY A NEW GAME!" yelled another Toad kid.
"Ooh! I've got a brilliant idea for a game! It's called 'The Silent Game' and what happens is, I get some duct tape and tape all your guys' mouths shut and you cannot remove the tape until morning comes or else you'll lose and I'll put a cockroach down your shirt!" Iggy growled in frustration.
"BOOOOOOOOOOORING!" yelled yet another Toad kid.
"I agree, the idea is interesting, but the execution would be very yawns-worthy. I know! How about I tell you guys the story of the most famous and hottest man to ever exist in the universe...LUIGI MARIO! I can tell you everything that happened in his life starting from his birth up until now!" Toadia said in excitement.
"You are one very creepy girl," Iggy cringed.
"Nooooooo! I hate Luigi Mario! He doesn't do anything to save the world!" complained another Toad kid.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!? HOW THE HELL COULD YOU HATE THAT GIFT FROM THE GODS!? WHAT KIND OF BULLSHIT ARE YOUR PARENTS FEEDING YOU!?" Toadia screamed in absolute shock and almost fainted at those awful words she just heard.
"How about this then, we've all been in this little group for about an hour but yet we don't know each other's names and what we like. So how about we introduce ourselves just to kill some time?" Iggy suggested and the kids surprisingly nodded at the idea.
"Ugh, fine. I'll start. My name is Toadia Malcolm and I'm the president of the Luigi Fanclub! If I ever hear any of you say anything bad about Luigi again, I will personally send a pack of TNT to your house, understand!?" Toadia threatened and everyone nodded with widened eyes.
"Me next! My name is Toady McToaderson Jr. and I'm named after my daddy who is the mayor of the city! Daddy also likes to put these paper things to his mouth and he makes smelly smoke come out of it. He also acts kinda weird and funny while he does it too. Does anyone know what that is?" the innocent child asked.
Iggy snickered a little. "Oh, you'll definitely learn what that is when you get older! Next!"
"Hello everyone! My name is Toadiana Grande and my dream is to become a super duper famous singer when I get older! Wanna hear me sing? Here I go! THE LOVERS NEED TO CLEAR THE ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD BECAUSE THIS THANG IS REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYY I SAID THIS THANG IS READY TO BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!" Toadiana literally screamed the lyrics, which made everyone around her cover their ears and cringed.
"AHHHHH! MY POOR EARS! IS THAT WHAT YOU SERIOUSLY CALL SINGING!?" Toadia cried.
"My god...well...um...you'll definitely make an 'impression' on music critics when you get older..." Iggy said with his eyes wide as if he just saw a monster.
"Aw thank you so much! My parents even told me that my voice is a one of a kind," Toadiana squealed in joy.
"Well, they certainly weren't wrong about that..." Toadia murmured.
"Hiiiiiiiii! My name is Toadessa Wu and me and my family are from the most nothernest part of Sarasaland in a town called "Cocaina". We moved to Mushroom City a few months ago because a lot of the people that live in Cocaina are very dangerous and crazy and it was a very unhealthy environment for us to live in so we had to leave. My favorite hobby is to melt action figures and stuffed animals in a container of toxic waste that's in the basement of my house," said the chunky toad gal.
Toadia and Iggy stared at each other in confusion then back at her.
"Uhh...why the hell do you have toxic waste in your house? Where did you even get it from?" Iggy asked.
"Shhhhhh! My daddy told me to never tell strangers any of my top secrets!" said the creepy toad with the finger to her mouth.
"But you just told us one of your...oh just forget it. You're next, boy with the Justin Bieber hair!" Toadia pointed.
"Ym eman si Odaot Ikamon dna I ma gniog ot elur eht dlrow eno yad dna eb a retteb nialliv naht Agnatat. Uoy lliw lla wob erofeb em ro uoy lliw eid," spoke the blonde Toad in a different language that frustrated Iggy and Toadia even more.
"Um, I don't know if you knew this, but we speak ENGLISH, not some random gibberish language from the land of Walatabo," Iggy sighed.
"Why the hell do foreigners come into a country in which said country's main language is ENGLISH and not bother to learn that language!? Don't they realize how illogical that is!? UGH! Anyways, now that we've all introduced ourselves, let's go back to me telling the story of how the sexy and famous Luigi came to be!" Toadia got back into excitement mode.
"Hey, he forgot to introduce himself!" Toady shouted, pointing to Iggy.
"Who, him? Oh no one cares about him, let's just get on to the Luigi story already," Toadia scoffed.
"HEY! I'm sitting right here you psycho stalker!" Iggy growled and tugged on Toadia's pigtails.
"YOW!" she shrieked and smacked his hand away while the children laughed at their immaturity.
"What's going on over here? Are you guys taking care of these kids?" Kylie asked and decided to sit down with the group.
"Yeah, we are...but it's not going very well since stalker chick over there is being an obnoxious twat!" Iggy yelled.
"Excuse me? Your family is the DEFINITION of obnoxious! Do I have to remind you of the time that Morton Koopa poured his chocolate milkshake all over some dude at McToads because he looked at him the 'wrong' way!?" Toadia retorted.
"Okay ENOUGH! Here, let me fix this by telling you all a story that happened in the Mushroom Kingdom many centuries ago. It's a story of magic and triumph that's been passed down from generation to generation, but since there have been many people throughout the past that have disregarded this 'story' due to them just refusing to believe any of it happened, it's rare to find in books and on the internet and whatnot...but I believe it, especially since it relates to what the heroes are going through right now in order to save the world," Kylie explained. Everyone else around her started to get interested and paid close attention to her story.
"It all started in the year 1665, right here in Mushroom City. Well...back then, it wasn't really a city since the population back then was low, just like it was most everywhere else, but it was growing rapidly. A creature that looked like it came from another world had suddenly came out of nowhere and attacked Mushroom City and the towns and villages around it. The creature was said to resemble a dragon and its entire skin was jet black so the witnesses named him 'Darktail'. It breathed and set fire to many homes and, unfortunately, also made many people...um...'perish'. Since this was 1665, a lot of powerful weapons that we have today were not invented yet so the people were mostly defenseless against this beast. Its havoc was starting to spread outside the Mushroom Kingdom now so it was officially a global threat. People were praying to the gods for any kind of help and to some people's surprise, help surely arrived. Nine heroes with these magical powers came to the rescue. Nobody knew if they were actually regular civilians that were practicing witchcraft or anything of the matter, or if they were literally sent by the gods. Whatever the case, the nine heroes built a large and powerful weapon called the Crystal Star Rod because this item would use all of their powers combined, making it not only extremely powerful but indestructible.
The first hero's name was Aqua, who controlled the power of water. The second hero's name was Plata, who controlled the weather. The third hero's name was Zarp, who controlled electricity. The fourth hero's name was Dayaman, who controlled the land by making earthquakes and shifting the lands and such. The fifth hero's name was Parle, who controlled the flow of time. The sixth hero's name was Emery, who could control nature of any kind. The seventh hero's name was Sonow, who controlled the power of ice. The eigth hero's name was Hess, who controlled fire. And the final hero's name was Rakd, who controlled the darkness and shadows of this world. These heroes set out to attack Darktail with the Crystal Star Rod, but the beast put up one heck of a fight since it took him forever to be defeated. However, in the end, the nine heroes successfully destroyed the beast with the Crystal Star Rod and the entire world rejoiced.
But...the heroes had found out where the beast came from. A very tall and old building lay in a deserted area just outside Mushroom City...with the offspring of the dragon being heard and found inside by nearby farmers. The heroes investigated and saw the inside of this place. What they saw in there had haunted them. All of the books and articles describe this place as being like an entrance to He...I mean...a place that's very...um...bad and dark. There were things in there that even the heroes could not handle and found that there were some rooms in this building that were actually portals that led to...um...some disturbing places and they figured that was probably how the dragon got into our world. For some reason, the heroes were unable to destroy this building, as if it was just as indestructible as their Crystal Star Rod was, so the only thing they could do was take the dragon's offspring, send them somewhere to someone who can teach them love and grow up not as wicked as Darktail, because the heroes didn't have it in them to kill animals whose lives just began, and lock down the entire building so that way, at least nothing more will be able to get out of there.
The civilians praised the heroes and celebrated the defeat of the dragon, however, some had known about this Crystal Star Rod and wanted it for themselves to get their own power for protection so many fights, chaos, and violence broke out all over the city. The heroes managed to put a stop to it but they realized that the Crystal Star Rod was an item too powerful to be out in the world since anyone could take it and use it for their own doing so they traveled to Isle Delfino and found an underground chamber in the plaza. They sealed the Crystal Star Rod behind a door with their magic, but they also knew that the Crystal Star Rod most likely would become in use for another time for when a huge disaster befalls the world so they decided to put their power in these beautiful gems they found in the underground chamber so that these gems can unlock the door to the Crystal Star Rod with the magic. Then they spread these gems and created portals to other worlds and dimensions where they could not be found easily but they would conjure up a spell to send a vision to a shaman in the far future about a type of apocalypse happening and this shaman would be able to see and know where to find the gems at.
Once the Crystal Star Rod was sealed and the heroes had mysteriously vanished, the violence that had been caused by it had settled and peace arrived once again. Nothing as huge as that ever occurred in the world ever again and the people lived happily ever after. The end."
The kids, including Toadia and Iggy, looked at her, completely astounded by that wicked story.
"Uhhhh...errrr...umm...wow. Just wow. Don't you think that's a little too morbid of a story to be telling these kids this?" Toadia asked.
Kylie shrugged with a slightly confused expression. "Sorry...I didn't mean to go too far into details, but the story basically represents what our heroes are doing right now. They are collecting the gems that Merlon saw in his vision from the past heroes in order to obtain the Crystal Star Rod and take down Tatanga."
"I thought it was totes cool! Especially the part when the people were fighting over the star rod!" Toady cheered.
"Do you really think that the heroes will win against Tatanga though? Will we all be saved and live happily ever after like the people in the story?" Toadessa Wu asked with such innocence in her voice.
"Oh, I know they will, sweetie. Those guys are tough and fearless. As cliche as this may sound, I truly believe that good will always triumph over evil no matter what," Kylie answered.
"I have a question though...there was a hero in your story who you described as having 'dark' and 'shadow' powers. I think his name was Rakd? How would he be considered a hero? Usually when someone has powers like that, they're pretty much considered to be evil, and it's even more confusing if he was actually sent down by some god," Iggy said.
"That's a bit of a stereotype, Iggy. Just because someone is described as 'dark', doesn't mean they're evil. Everybody has a dark side and we've had dark moments, but it doesn't make any of us evil. If Rakd truly was evil, he wouldn't have helped out in defeating the dragon and wanting to seal the Crystal Star Rod. There's a difference between being 'dark' and being 'evil' anyways. Even if someone were to...say, be a villain but were to have regrets and felt guilt about being one with committing various heinous acts, that doesn't make them evil because they know it kills them inside and they know that it's wrong. That's just my opinion, though. Take it as you want," Kylie explained.
Beldam and Marilyn returned to Tatanga's room.
"Sir! I apologize for taking so long but it's become apparent that the gem is in their hands as we heard about there being a gem, but unfortunately it was taken by some people, who all know that is by now," Beldam said.
"It's alright, I pretty much figured they got the gem when Dimentio came back and reported to me about what happened in the Spirit Temple. These guys really make me wanna strangle someone. How the hell are they able to get all through that crap without even one freaking death occurring!? Just even thinking about them gives me a headache!" Tatanga yelled and kicked his chair.
"Oh...Dimentio was too late as well? Yergh...I wish there was someway we could magically rip all of their heads off with a snap of our fingers. This is really getting to be ridiculous..." Beldam said in annoyance.
"Tatanga?" Dimentio called out and knocked on his door.
"Dimentio? That you? Come in! What are you doing back so soon?" Tatanga asked.
Dimentio entered with a confused expression. "Um...I was just about to head out when I ran into Doopliss and this other koopa along the way...Doopliss told me that this koopa...he...um...wants to be a villain. He wants to join us."
Beldam, Marilyn, and Tatanga almost fell over when they heard that. They never thought for one second that some random person would want to join the bad guys.
Tatanga laughed a little and scratched his head. "No freaking way. Oh boy, I have GOT to see this. Bring him in."
Doopliss and Roy Koopa then slowly walked in. Roy and Tatanga's eyes met and Tatanga definitely saw the fear in his eyes.
"Hey, I remember you! I captured you and all the other worthless civilians in my castle. What's your name, buddy?" Tatanga asked in an almost taunting way.
"R...Roy K-Koopa," he spoke, trying not to sound intidimated.
"Roy...interesting name. So, you wanna be one of us, huh? Pah. Really now? That's ridiculous. I really should just kill you for coming in here and asking me such a stupid offer," Tatanga scoffed and shook his head.
"NO!" Roy exploded. "I-I'm sorry, just...I have nothing left to lose now. I am tired of trying to be good for everyone...I am tired of being a part of some team whose plans to capture some stupid princess fails every single time. I wanna be evil. I wanna be like you guys. I want to have an evil plan actually succeed for once. Please...let me join. I have strength. I can help with anything you want me to."
Tatanga's smirked faded a bit. "My god...you really want this, don't you? Wow! You must've had some majorly fucked up childhood to even be considering this. You do realize what you're getting yourself into, right?"
"Yes, I do realize it. I still wanna join. Please. I'll do anything I can to help you guys take over the world," Roy was basically begging at this point. Beldam actually thought it was a bit disturbing for someone to be so desperate to join the bad guys.
Tatanga rubbed his chin and sighed in frustration. "Hmm. Well...to be honest...you DO seem like you'd be a decent asset to the team, but...I don't know...hmm...alright. How about this then. I'll let you join on one condition. You must bring Dimentio with you to where the survivors are hiding out at...and kill one person there of your choice, by your hands. This way, Dimentio will know where they are located at and it will confirm that you have what it takes to join."
Everyone else in there almost dropped their jaws. They couldn't believe Tatanga would have someone do something so immoral and vile just so they could join the gang.
But of course, the most shocked was Roy. He has actually thought about killing people before, but to actually do it? Would he even be able to handle it? Taking someone's life away...just so they could join a group of ravenous people who's hellbent on taking over the world, even though their success isn't actually guaranteed. Would it really be worth it? What about all the people that it would upset if he did kill someone? It would devastate them. How would Roy even feel? He had to give his answer right now. What he says will determine whether or not he truly is lost.
EOC.
Next chapter, you will find out Roy's answer and there will be a conversation amongst a few characters that will provide some important foreshadowing. Mario Party Deluxe will be updated in 3-5 days.
