diamondjub: No no, I said that the male that is going to die is a part of the original 13 crew (the characters that started the adventure in the beginning) AKA Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, Birdo, Daisy, Dixie, DK, Toadette, Toad, Goombella, Rosalina, Fire Bro, and Waluigi. So, one of the males from that specific group will die later on. ;D
PREVIOUSLY ON MUSHROOM WARS…
Mona and Vivian stared in shock at a poster on the wall in front of the wall. In the game, the map is supposed to be there, but now…it was replaced by what looked like a huge photo of Koops falling down from a high window of some random building.
"M-M-Mona…th-that's photoshopped, right? O-or is it a drawing? That looks so realistic!" Vivian exclaimed, getting chills at how anyone could make something so cruel.
Mona leaned over and touched the poster. She gulped and withdrew her hand.
"Yeah, th-there's no way that's an actual photo. It's impossible. How the hell could someone even take a picture from that high up anyways? Well, unless they were able to fly of course. But even then, it doesn't explain why it shows Koops falling down from some window. That window looks like it's incredibly high up so there's no way he would be able to survive that fall," Mona explained, but she was still unsure and even a bit creeped out at how the photo looks extremely realistic and for the fact that this photo is here of all places.
"Well…either way, we should keep the photo just in case. Should we, um, tell Koops about this or the others?" Vivian asked.
"I'm not sure. As much as I would like to think that this 'photo' has no relevance…I can't help but feel like we should take it with us," Mona replied and was about to grab it till Vivian shrieked.
"WAIT! What is that!? On the bottom right corner!" the shadow siren pointed to an area that was purely sky besides the building.
"Huh? That looks like…some kind of spaceship? Wait a second…I also see Tatanga in it…no! Two Tatangas!" Mona gasped.
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"H-help me, please! I can't swim!" Watt cried, struggling to stay above the surface.
"Come on! I see a landing over there where we can easily get on to! Hurry up too, because this water will pull you under FAST!" Jojora warned, having played the game and knowing the dangers. She started swimming towards the entrance area.
"WAIT JOJORA! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM! PLEASE COME BACK!" Watt cried even more.
"Just freaking pull yourself over here, it isn't that hard!" Jojora yelled back, not even turning around to look at her struggling.
"I CAN'T! I'M GOING UNDER! I'M GOING UNDER! HELP ME HELP ME PLEEEEAAAAASSSSSSEEE!" Watt screamed as loud as she possibly could and went under the surface.
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"Do you want that head removed from your body again? If not, then I suggest you better shut your fucking mouth you worthless bane of existence. I MADE you. I made all of you! Before me, you were just some stupid head jumping around all over the place and had no future at all, actually, at that point, your existence was pointless," Tatanga told him real good (so he thought of course).
"You are so full of yourself it isn't even funny. You think that just because you brought my body back and brought us all together that you can treat us like puppets?" Grodus asked.
"But you are. Don't you see that? You don't exist without me," Tatanga answered with confidence.
"Is that what you actually think? Ha! Tell me this then, what is a leader without any followers? Because it seems to me the question isn't whether we will exist without you, but whether you will exist without us. As far as I'm concerned, you seem perfectly capable to do the world domination plan all by yourself, but somehow, you need the help of other minor-league villains just so you can feel like you actually have friends for once in your pathetic life," Grodus retorted very coldly.
Tatanga has had it with him. He gave him a real powerful punch to the face that knocked him right to the ground, almost knocking him out cold.
"You are dead to me, Grodus. Leave this place and don't ever fucking come back again. Oh, and one more thing...if I do manage to see you again after this, somehow, someway...I will bury you alive," Tatanga left it at that and walked right past.
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Tatanga immediately exited his room and walked down the old and stone looking hallway to Doopliss' door. He knocked on it and Doopliss immediately answered.
"Hello Doopliss. I want you to do a favor for me. Do you think you can use the secret passage to get back into Mushroom City and get something from a drug store that can make me not fall asleep?"
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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."
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"Roy, we must to get out of here this instant. We cannot let anyone see us otherwise shit will go down," Dimentio warned and dragged him out of there, the koopa still staring at the broken window.
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Ms. Mowz sighed with a worried expression. "It's…Dry Bones is dead. Paper Yoshi told me that Sushie thinks that someone set him on fire with a blanket over him and threw him out one of the second floor windows…"
Bobbery lowered his head and shook it. He had no words for something so treacherous.
"I-I just don't understand! Why the hell would someone do this!? Especially at a time like this!?" the squeak cried. Bobbery had an idea, but he didn't want to go there just yet until proof was shown.
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The gang returned to Rusty Bucket Bay, all beyond ready and excited to head back and get some shut eye. The sky was getting darker and stars were beginning to appear.
"Man! Can you believe that we completed two worlds in one day? We just totally beat the odds right there! Some videogame players can't even accomplish that!" Kooper bragged.
"I can believe it. My entire body is killing me, ugh…if we want to perfectly succeed in getting the gem in the next world then we're gonna need a loooooooong night's rest to savor our energy for it," Dixie said and some nodded their heads.
"And hey, I just realized something…how the hell did the ship here manage to sink so far down anyways? Last time we were here, the ship was only about a foot away from the bottom…" Kazooie questioned.
"Grunty probably used some magical wonders of the great galaxy to push the bottom ground even deeper or something like that jazz…" DK tiredly responded.
"Who really cares at this point, though? Let's just get in our arwings, give the gem to Barfur or whatever his name is, and get to sleep cause I'm so tired I almost imagined that Parakarry was that leprechaun from those Lucky Charms commercials…with wings of course," Bowser said.
"Wow. That's the most random thing I've ever heard you say…" the mailman remarked.
"I'm sure we're all pretty hungry as well so I highly suggest you eat something before you sleep. I don't know about you guys, but I'm eating all the junk food I can find in the cafeteria! At this point I don't care if it's fattening, we've all done enough exercise for one day, and I just wanna eat SOMETHING!" Toadette shouted, affording to let loose on food for one night. Everyone nodded their heads again.
"Wait! Before we go…I, um, need to show you all something," Mona spoke as she got out something from her pocket. She opened it up and showed it to everybody, all of them immediately widening their eyes. It was the picture of Koops falling out of a window with the two Tatangas riding in something that resembled a spaceship in the background besides the building. "Me and Vivian found this picture in one of the rooms that we explored on the ship. Grunty told us later on that she, uhh, 'drew' it with her magic which is why it looks so realistic looking because there's no way someone took a picture of this."
"W-w-w-why does it show me falling!? A-am I going to die!? Did Grunty see my death in the future!?" Koops started to freak out and almost fainted, but Koopie and Goombella held him and kept him stable.
"No no, Koops, don't you DARE start thinking that. Grunty was just probably trying to screw with our heads. I…I don't think it means anything…" Mario said, even though he was actually unsure on how legit it could be.
"Grunty told us that she was able to see into the future with her new magic skills…she saw a vision that Tatanga would come here, and then we would come here. Apparently, in this vision she also got a random glimpse of Koops falling from a window and…Tatanga talking with, I'm guessing, um, another Tatanga…most likely a twin or a clone…" Goombario explained and shuddered at the last part. Everyone else had chills run down their spine.
"Whaaaaat!? N-no way! There's no way he has a twin, and I don't see how he could have a clone either! That's impossible considering he kidnapped me for over a day and I learned a lot of 'interesting' stuff about him, but never a twin or clone. He never even mentioned his family now that I think about it!" Daisy yelped, refusing to believe this.
"I understand that but just because he never mentioned that he had a twin or clone, doesn't mean that he actually doesn't have one…" Goombella pointed out.
"What she said. If Tatanga has a twin or clone, and I'm probably gonna go with twin cause a clone is much less likely, then that's another person that we have to face on the villains side, which means double the trouble considering twins usually have similar thoughts, feelings, and personalities," Diddy added.
"Lovely…as if one Tatanga wasn't enough to handle and be extremely ugly to look at," Wendy spat.
"But wait a second, we didn't see another Tatanga when we were held at the castle. We saw every villain there…Beldam, Marilyn, Grodus, Dimentio, Doopliss, and Tatanga himself of course. Unless he was hiding out somewhere…" Bombette said.
"Well, that might not have been the entire team right there. There could be more we don't know about…like, um, Lord Crump for example? I would find it pretty odd for him to not be on that team considering he is, or use to be, close with Beldam, Marilyn, Grodus, and Doopliss," Mario replied.
"That building in the picture though…this may seem like a stretch, but does anyone else think that this may be the hospital building?" Kammy asked, while closely examining the picture.
"HUH? D-Does that mean I'm gonna die in the hospital!?" Koops freaked even more.
"Koops, PLEASE stop saying that! You're not going to die! We'll just keep you away from the second and third floors! There's no way you'll die by falling out a first floor window," Koopie assured and gave him a hug to calm him down.
"Yeah, even though I think there's no way that her vision predicted your death, we must take precaution! Better to be safe than sorry!" Luigi said.
"But still…there must be some significance to her seeing Koops fall out of a window…there has to be more to it…" Birdo whispered to herself.
"Hey, I just realized something! Where the hell is Watt? Wasn't she with us when we went into that freaky tower?" Lakilulu asked. Everyone gave a confused expression and looked around. No sign of her.
"Huh, that IS a bit weird dearie! Has she been gone ever since we escaped the ship? Now that I think about it, I certainly don't recall seeing her during the quiz or the battle!" Flurrie exclaimed.
"Jojora! You were knocked over the ship with Watt when that bomb exploded. You must have seen where she went to!" Vivian said. All eyes were on the blue fairy. Jojora began to sweat profusely. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She had no idea what to do or what to say. If she admitted that she indirectly killed Watt, everyone else may shun her and think of her as a psychopath or murderer. However, if she lied, they would know something is up and catch on sooner or later. She had to think of something quick.
"Ummm…w-w-well, you see…um, when me and Watt fell into the water, I-I think she, um, hit her head on one of those floating boxes in the water. Y-You know what I'm talking about, right? The, um, boxes floating in front of the ship? Err, anyways…um, I-I saw her body floating but not moving when I came to the s-surface so I, um, g-grabbed her and pulled her over to land to see what happened. I did CPR to make sure she d-didn't get any water into her lungs but she still didn't move or breathe no matter what I did. I-I didn't see any blood coming from anywhere on her body s-so…um…her hitting her head on one of the floating boxes and causing internal bleeding is the only explanation I can think of for why she is…g…gone…" Jojora tried to explain as best as she could, twisting the truth a bit. Everyone else dropped their jaws and stared at her in horror.
"No…no no no no no no! That's impossible! She…she can't be…W-WHERE IS SHE!? TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" Goombario exploded.
"Oh my god…poor Watt…I can't believe we had someone actually die during this journey…*sniff* we were doing so well, too…" Goombella started to sob.
"Her body is, um, o-over there by that warehouse building thing…" Jojora quickly took the lead and everyone followed her to the scene. Gasps were heard when they saw the dead body of Watt.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WATT!" Vivian screamed in tears and couldn't help but fall down to the concrete in shock.
"O-oh my god…I…I can't see this. This is too fucking much!" Parakarry whimpered and turned away from the body as did some others. The sight of them seeing a dead body was haunting.
"That fucking bitch…she did this! GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I SWEAR TO GOD IF I HAD GOTTEN MY HANDS ON HER, I WOULD HAVE RIPPED HER THROAT OUT!" Kooper raged and clenched his fists.
"Kooper…please stop…we can't have this right now…" Birdo said.
"Don't fucking tell me to stop! That conniving little wench did this! I have every single right to be angry! In fact, I'm shocked that more of you aren't angry!" Kooper yelled.
"Oh, trust me, I am angry. If I had known that hag did this before we went into the tower, I would've…well, let's just say that the battlefield would've been a gory mess. You see Mario? THIS is what happens when you don't kill the bad guys! Your own friends end up dead and you have no choice but to mourn, grieve, and suffer from their loss!" Bowser angrily got into the plumber's face.
"DON'T!" Mario screamed incredibly loud, making everyone else jump in fright. That's the loudest they've ever heard Mario.
"Jojora, why didn't you tell us about this right after you knew she was dead?" Luigi asked.
"B-Because I, um, didn't want to keep everyone's focus off of defeating Grunty. Plus, I didn't really know how to just come out w-with it…" Jojora answered, avoiding eye contact with everyone else.
"Kammy and Rosalina, can't you use your magic to bring her back to life? That can be done, right!?" Peach asked.
"Unfortunately, it cannot. It's a bit confusing to explain, but Watt died by natural causes. Resurrecting her would disrupt the nature of our world. We cannot play the roles of God and steal Watt's soul from whatever kind of dimension her soul is in back into our world," Rosalina clarified.
"Adding on to what she said…even if we really wanted to, it would require black magic. Actually, not the regular black magic, the extremely dangerous kind that could kill the user if you make one tiny little slip up. But even then, if that magic were to work, Watt would come back wrong. Not sure if she would be like a zombie or a psychopath, but she would not be like her regular old self. It's too risky. We can't change the natural laws," Kammy explained further.
"But what if her soul was in a hell dimension!? You surely wouldn't want to keep her soul there, would you!?" Lakilulu cried.
"Did you not hear what I just said!? IT'S TOO RISKY! We don't even know where her soul went to, so drop this subject right now!" Kammy demanded.
"Can we give Watt a proper burial? I really don't feel comfortable having her just be here…she doesn't deserve that…" Bombette spoke with a shaky voice. She immediately reflected on all the memories that she had with Watt on their adventure to save the Star Spirits a long time ago with the others.
"Of course. I'll take her with me in my arwing. Let's get out of this place once and for all, you guys," DK said and picked up Watt. The group walked back to the arwings, all of them were quiet as they were traumatized by what they had just seen and heard.
"M-Mario…I…she was such a good friend. I don't know how I'm supposed to deal with her just being gone now. I already miss her so much!" Bombette let out a waterfall of tears and hugged Mario who had also cried.
"I-I don't know how I'll deal with this either. I've never have a friend of mine just perish before…right now, this feels like some incredibly long and horrifying nightmare…and I honestly wish it was. I really do, so I can just sit there in my bed and know what's real. But…this is real. Watt is gone. I really don't think there's ever a way to truly move on from something like this," he stated and wiped his tears away with his sleeve. When he joined the group for the quest, he had a goal in mind to not let anyone die, to be able to protect everyone however possible
But now, in his mind, he convinced himself that he failed that goal. He convinced himself that he became too careless and did not act like the hero he used to be.
"TATANGA!" Doopliss called out while rushing over to his room.
"Yes?" he said, sitting in one of his chairs, thinking to himself.
"I got those, uhh, anti-sleep pills or whatever they're called…I think they're called Genso? Yeah. I went searching for them again in the city right after Roy and Dimentio left. I'm sorry I took so long, sir!" Doopliss explained and tossed him a couple pill bottles. "I found these in a pharmacy store. These are the good stuff. They're actually pretty new too, I heard about them…they are very powerful, more so than amphetamines, so this will keep you awake no matter what."
"Excellent! Thank you, Doopliss. You see, in order for my plan to go through as quickly as humanly possible, I must be awake for most of the day so I can supervise and correct anything that's wrong quickly. Plus, um, I get these re-occurring, err, 'nightmares' everytime I go to sleep apparently so maybe taking these will get rid of them or something," Tatanga explained. Doopliss gave him a concerned look.
"Um…okay then…just take only take one of those every six hours, okay? Do NOT take more than 3 a day. Overdosing will get you into some deep cow dung," Doopliss advised.
"Yeah yeah, I know all the hoopla about ODing on drugs and whatnot. I know what I'm doing," Tatanga shrugged him off and immediately popped a pill in his mouth. "By the way, Doopliss, this stays between us, alright? I don't want anyone else outside this room knowing about these pills! I want it top secret!"
"Of course, Tatanga. You can count on me," Doopliss replied, still feeling slightly antsy about Tatanga keeping all those pills.
Beldam and Marilyn came into the room. "Tatanga! Roy and Dimentio are back! We shall see if the koopa truly did fulfill your request!" Beldam said in excitement. Tatanga stood up and grew a smirk. Roy and Dimentio came in, both having serious expressions.
"He…he did it, Tatanga. He killed someone just like you asked him to. He set a Dry Bones on fire and burned him to ashes. I actually didn't think he'd be able to do it, so I was almost terrified to see it really happen, like watching a scary movie with people crawling into small caves…BRRRRRR!" Dimentio shivered in fear.
"Huh, I didn't know you were claustrophobic. You learn something new everyday!" Beldam giggled.
Tatanga smirked even further and walked over to Roy. He extended his arm out with his hand open. Roy looked at him, then at his hand. He realized what he was trying to do. Roy reached out and shook his hand.
"Welcome to the team, Roy. I can tell you will be a very valuable asset in helping us conquer the world," Tatanga said. The others clapped and cheered.
"Um, th-thank you. I, um, actually feel appreciated for once, hehe. I guess this is where I truly belong," Roy said, faking his happiness since he still felt horrible about what he just did.
"Damn right you do, slick! You'll be up to our level in no time! While you're here, we'll show you a few tricks of our own to blindside the enemies in battle and show you the awesome machine the Koopatrols have been working on that will be the key in taking over the world," Doopliss said, playfully punching Roy in the arm.
"Alright now…Roy and Dimentio…tell us where the place is where the heroes were hiding at," Tatanga asked.
Roy became even more nervous. He gulped and started to sweat. He completely forgot that Tatanga needed to know where everyone was located at so he could destroy everyone and everything over there.
"Oh…um…it's…uhh…" Roy stammered, terrified to answer the question since he secretly didn't want anything bad to happen to anyone else.
"Ugh, it's in a forest on the outskirts of Mushroom City. I don't know the exact location, but I can lead you there," Dimentio rolled his eyes, answering the question for Roy.
"Fantastic. Brilliant job you two. Dimentio and Doopliss, round up some Koopatrols and wait by the teleporter till I come over there. We're going to show those fucking heroes that I am not to be messed with. We have to be there before they come back from getting the gem otherwise they'll just make this mission even more difficult," Tatanga said. Doopliss and Dimentio nodded in excitement and quickly left the room.
"Wh-what are you gonna do when you get there!?" Roy asked in horror, though he had a feeling he knew what the answer was gonna be.
"I'm gonna burn the place down with everyone inside of it. I think that'd be quite more fun and quicker than just charging in there and attempting to kill everyone in sight, no? We are going to round everyone there into the biggest room we can find, lock them in, and set the place a blazin'. Hehe. Now, since this is a pretty heavy mission, I want you to stay out of this one. Marilyn and Beldam, show Roy to Grodus' room. He'll be taking that room for now since that idiot is out of here. I want you two to stay here and make sure the Koopatrols are doing their job on the machine," Tatanga demanded.
"Yes sir! Now come on Roy…while we walk you to your room…tell us a bit more about you and your past with your family…" Beldam insisted while leading Roy and the others to the room.
"Hmm, even though he killed someone like I asked, I'm still not 100% sure on that guy. I'm gonna have to keep close surveillance on him just in case he does something 'extreme'. However, I like him a lot more than Grodus already, so that's something. And these pills…these should keep me awake till the machine is completed, assuming nothing goes wrong at all. So, it honestly doesn't matter if those guys got the fifth gem now, there won't be enough time for them to get the rest of the gems and to come over here and take me down. No…very unlikely…but…I really should come up with a backup plan just in case. Hmm. I'll think of something," Tatanga said to himself, taking another pill. He turned around and screamed when he saw someone familiar standing a foot away from him.
"WH-WHAT THE!? HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET IN THIS ROOM!?" he yelled, almost falling down.
"…Do you not remember me?" was all the person said.
Tatanga calmed down and got a better look at this character. "What…no…you're…but that's impossible…you're Rena!"
Rena smiled a little. "I actually go by Gekikara now, but otherwise, you are correct. It's me."
"Gekikara? What? But y-you're supposed to be dead though! Did someone resurrect you or something like that? And how the hell did you get in this room without me seeing you? There's only one way in and that's through the door, obviously, but…there's also the window, but there's nothing to climb up on to get in here…unless you have some kind of magical powers?" Tatanga said, absolutely confused right now. He started to think he was dreaming actually since this all seemed way too 'out there' even for him.
"I suppose you could say I have 'magical powers' hmm hmm. And me being dead…if you wanna get technical about it, yes, the Rena that you knew DID die. But I took on her form after she perished. I know all her thoughts and memories. I took her on, hoping that I would make you come to your senses," Gekikara explained.
"Come to my senses!? What the fuck are you even talking about!? Just who the fuck are you exactly!? Are you some kind of being from another dimension or world!? How are you able to do all of this? Wait a second…are you the reason why I've been having those random dreams about my past? Did you do that!?" Tatanga started getting angry.
"Hmm. If I told you everything, we'd be here till next year, my friend. But to answer one of your questions in short, yes, I did send you those dreams," Gekikara responded.
"I-I just don't understand any of this. Why the hell are you doing this to me!? I demand that you give me some damn answers right now! I don't care how long it takes to explain!" Tatanga started getting furious.
"I have a question to ask you, Tatanga. Are you happy now that your entire family is gone? I mean…your mother left you…you killed your father, and your twin, he's…heh, well, he's not in such a good place right now," Gekikara laughed a little.
"What kind of question is that? Seriously, what the fuck is your problem? Are you here to destroy me and my plans? Are you siding with those damn heroes!?" Tatanga angrily asked.
"I use to be neutral, meaning that I wasn't on their side nor yours. I didn't care whether the world was saved or taken over, considering this place doesn't mean much to me. However, after seeing what those heroes have done so far…the fact that they've gotten those precious gems so quickly…how they have proven to be indestructible time and time again…I'm slightly leaning towards them now. They support each other and know the true power and meaning of teamwork and friendship. Just seeing that actually makes me feel…warm," Gekikara explained more, and changed her expression to that of being surprised, as if she hadn't felt the feeling of being 'warm' in a long time.
"Oh, isn't that just sweet?" Tatanga mocked. "You know, you have some real nerve coming in here, looking like one of my closest friends, and telling me that you're on the heroes' side. Just…get the hell out of my face already! You know nothing about me!"
"I do know that those pills you have aren't going to help. They're just delaying the inevitable, Tatanga. You're putting yourself in some risky business with the pills. Those have very dangerous side effects, and you could potentially screw your whole plan over if you rely on them too much," Gekikara warned.
"I SAID GO! Why the hell do you care so much about what I do!? Like you said, you're on the heroes' side so go chat up with them about how much you love the group's stupid bond or whatever!" Tatanga yelled, turning away from her.
"Fine. But answer me this last question…why do you really want to conquer the world? What would you gain from doing it?"
"I don't have to tell you anything, you little trick! I suggest you disappear and never show your face here again otherwise I will kill you, understand? I'm not afraid of you!" Tatanga threatened.
"I know you're not afraid of me. But you're definitely afraid of something else…perhaps you're afraid that this plan won't work out and the heroes will destroy you? Maybe you're afraid of being in the world, all alone, with no friends, no family…no one to rely on…no one to-"
"I SAID FUCKING STOP IT!" Tatanga exploded, swiped his scepter and shot a red laser at her. The red laser ended up hitting the wall, exploding and creating a big hole through it. Gekikara was nowhere to be seen.
Grodus walked into the outside area, smack middle of the island, where the Koopatrols were working on the 'doomsday' machine. It was humongous. A white, cone-like thing built from the ground up with all kinds of additional wiring and machinery on it. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Koopatrols working on every inch of the machine, either doing actual physical labor like putting and screwing various parts in or technical work like inputting codes into computers that are hooked up to the machine. The machine itself was at least 100 feet tall and towered over all of the buildings on the island. There were many catwalks that led to the upper parts of the machine in order for the Koopatrols to work on them.
"Damn. This is moving along a lot quicker than I thought. Well, I can't just destroy it right now…I don't exactly have the power to get rid of something this big, plus these Koopatrols will come at me like a stampede if I even attempt something. I do have an idea, though…" Grodus said to himself and walked over to a Koopatrol who was taking a cigarette break.
"YOU! You're Barry, right" he yelled, startling the Koopatrol.
"AH! Oh, what's up Grodus? Yeah, I'm Barry. You seem peeved. Let me guess, Tatanga got on your ass again, huh?" the Koopatrol laughed.
"Yeah, but don't worry, I handled it. Actually, um, can I speak with you privately? I need to tell one of you guys something very important. I just can't keep it to myself," Grodus pleaded. The Koopatrol gave him a confused look and put out his cigarette on the ground.
"Huh, sounds very intriguing, champ. Alright, let's go in that hallway there," Barry gestured over to the hallway that Grodus just came out of. Grodus had to make sure no one was around.
The two stopped and looked at each other.
"Well, what is it? Stop the suspense and spill the beans," demanded Barry.
"IMPERIUM," Grodus loudly spoke. Barry suddenly froze in place, his eyes widened. This is the first time that Grodus has used this kind of spell so he had to make sure it worked. He snapped his fingers a couple times in front of Barry's face. Nothing. Grodus smirked and even laughed a bit. He was successful. This was going to work.
"Excellent. I actually can't believe it's working. Wow…now…Barry! You will do everything that I say. You will destroy the white machine that all the other Koopatrols are working on. Destroy it however you can and kill anyone that tries to stop you. This machine must not be completed," Grodus said, feeling very excited that his plan was going through flawlessly so far.
"REGELO," he spoke and snapped his fingers. Barry 'unfroze' and felt dizzy for a moment there, his body getting used to the spell. Once he realized where he was and what he was doing, he looked at Grodus with a serious expression, nodded, and went back out into the area where the machine was being worked on. Grodus couldn't help but grin.
"Hahaha! Finally. My time for revenge is finally coming. Soon Tatanga will know that he fucked with the wrong person. Now then…I must get out of here and go see an old friend."
Shy Guy, Boo, Tiny, and Wiggler came running up to Paper Yoshi, Ms. Mowz, Sushie, and Bobbery. Everyone else went back inside and has calmed down after seeing the remains of Dry Bones and learning about what happened.
"Guys, we saw the arwings. Mario and the others are finally back! Here's to hoping they got some of those gems!" Tiny celebrated in relief.
"Yeah, and it's about time too. I feel A LOT safer with having them here because some of them are able to kick some major ass in case Tatanga and his goons try to come over here…or are able to find out whichever psychopath here killed Dry Bones," Boo said and everyone else nodded in agreement.
"I hope they're all okay in some way, though. They've been gone for over 24 hours and I've been worried sick about what could go wrong in their travels. But then again, I suppose you can't expect instant success in trying to save the world. Patience is key in this," Bobbery said.
"Say, though…since this is a hospital, there has to be security cameras here, right? I mean, it would be illogical to NOT have one!" Paper Yoshi pointed out.
"Of course there are security cameras here, sweetie. There's one in the cafeteria and one by the stairwell here. I'm not sure where else they could be, though," Ms. Mowz confirmed.
"So, wait a second! If there are security cameras…then that means there has to be a security room, right!? Yeah! A room that shows videos from the camera's point of view!" Wiggler said.
"So do you guys think that whoever killed Dry Bones has to be on camera then?" Shy Guy asked.
"It's worth a shot! Come on, we have to look for the room! Let's start on the first floor and work our way up," Paper Yoshi said and led the way down the right wing hallway. The only person that didn't follow was Sushie and Wiggler noticed this.
"Hey, aren't you gonna come with us? Don't you wanna know who killed Dry Bones?" he asked.
Sushie gave him an evil glare. "No. I'm just gonna attempt to go to sleep. Tell me tomorrow." She said with an attitude and stomped her way upstairs.
"Okay then…that was kind of creepy…" he commented.
With some great luck, the small group immediately found the security room at the end of the hallway. They went in and cheered, finally being able to solve this mystery.
"Alright, let's see…gosh, there's a lot more cameras here than I thought…" Shy Guy said, not sure which one would be the right one to see if Dry Bones being killed is on there.
"Wait…that one! In the middle row, far right side! It's a hallway cam, but it shows the room number D2. Sushie mentioned to me that that was the room Dry Bones was killed in. Now, uhh, how do we, um, play back the footage or whatever?" Paper Yoshi asked.
"Let me handle this. I've dabbled in security for a short time, much long ago" Ms. Mowz winked and did her thing on the controls.
"Oh, of course you have. Being the ultimate thief has those kinds of perks, I guess…" Boo teased.
"And…AHA! THERE! Look, see those two guys walking into the room!?" Ms. Mowz shouted, pointing to the footage she played back.
"What…no…no fucking way! That's Roy Koopa and Dimentio going in there!? What the hell is Roy doing with Dimentio and how the hell did Dimentio get in this place without anyone noticing!?" Tiny screamed in shock.
"Holy shit. I'm legitimately terrified now. Does this mean Roy is working with the bad guys now? Wait, he knows where we are, and so does Dimentio…which means they're gonna send those baddies over here!" Paper Yoshi shrieked, chills going down his entire body.
Everyone watched the footage more and saw a bright flash of light come from the room, presumably the fire. About a minute passed by and Roy and Dimentio were seen running out of the room.
"So…that does it. Roy and Dimentio killed Dry Bones. Roy has joined the bad guys. And now…they're gonna come over here and try to kill us all. That's what Bleck's vision was about! Bleck said he saw the place burning down in flames, right!? THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE GONNA FUCKING DO ONCE THEY ALL COME HERE!" Tiny flipped out.
"No no no no no no no NOOOOOOOOOO! How could Roy do this!? W-w-w-we need to get everyone out of here right now!" Wiggler cried.
"Is there even gonna be enough time to get hundreds of people out of this place!? They could be literally minutes away! WE HAVE TO THINK OF SOMETHING QUICK THAT WILL PROTECT US FROM THEM!" Shy Guy yelled, rapidly pacing back and forth.
"W-wait! The guns! Do you guys remember the guns that I showed you? The ones that Arfur gave me? We can use those to kill those bastards and prevent that stupid vision from happening!" Paper Yoshi suggested.
"OF COURSE! There's plenty of them that we could use, and a lot of them are extremely powerful. Where are they at?" Ms. Mowz asked.
"Follow me. I stashed them in a secret place on the second floor. There's no time to lose!" Paper Yoshi led the way out, but Bobbery stayed behind. He looked intensely at the cam footage of Dimentio and Roy, which was paused on the two of them leaving.
"Roy…how could you do this…I thought I saved you, but I guess I was fooling myself. Maybe you're impossible to save now. What would your family think of this?" he whispered to himself in disappointment.
EOC.
Next chapter will be the variety show, so things will be light and humorous again, and all will be explained about Gekikara/Rena in future chapters. Mario Party Deluxe to be updated in a few days!
