AN – Hey everybody, I'm finally back! I decided to take Legendofzeldarocks' advice and take more time to make this chapter. Not as much time as I have, however. Due to a series of very unfortunate events, I have been unable to work on this story, let alone access the computer. But I'm finally back, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter Four – A Quest for Koopas
The morning air was warm and still as The Peach Creek kids, Mario, and Goombario waved at the house of Merluvee as they started their journey. She had let the gang stay the night at her house. As they walked away, morning conversations started up to pass the time.
"So Mario, what can you tell me about the other places in this world?" Double D asked as he and Mario led the group.
"Hmmm, I'ma not too familiar with any areas other thana my house and Toad Town, though I do know that there is a nice, peaceful village east of the city, though the name of it escapes me," Mario said as the sky changed back from a starry midnight blue to the usual rose-tinted morning sky.
"Sounds nice," Nazz said, listening in on the conversation. "Maybe we can stop there along our journey."
"Hey hey hey!" Eddy said, joining the conversation rudely. "No side-trips. I wanna get out of this weirdo world as fast as I can!"
"I don't remember anyone asking you what you thought, dork!" Kevin said angrily.
"Whoa, what is that?" Jonny said loudly, pointing to a small star just as Eddy and Kevin were about to duke it out.
A small star flew into the back of Mario's head just as they crossed the bridge leading back to the castle ruins. This star was different from the ones they had seen on top of Shooting Star Summit. It looked as if it were only a kid, and wasn't transparent like the Star Spirits.
"Oh, sorry, sorry, so sorry. I'm in a huge hurry!" the small star said quickly.
"It's OK," Mario replied, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh…it's…You're Mario, aren't you?" the star said.
"Yes, I am. And-a you are?"
"Thank the stars I found you!" the star murmured to itself. "How do you do? I'm Twink."
"Awww, you're just adorable! Twink is the perfect name for you," Nazz squealed as she stuck her face in the star's to examine him closer. Twink backed up a bit.
"Umm…who are you?"
"Long story short, we are nine children from a different dimension, reality, galaxy, or something of that matter, who have traveled here unwilling through unknown means. Now we are all traveling along with our new friend Mario here to help save this kingdom," Double D explained. Twink's face displayed a look of confusion.
"O…K, well as long as you're on Mario's side, then you're all good. Now, I really need to speak to Mario," Twink exclaimed.
"What do you-a want?" Mario said.
"Princess Peach asked me to bring something to you. Ahhh…Yes, here it is!" Twink pulled out a small, star shaped pendant that was hooked to a string. "Take it! That's the 'lucky star' from Princess Peach."
"Wow…she must really care about you, Mario. It's beautiful," Nazz exclaimed.
"That's what I call true love," Jimmy said, smiling. Suddenly, a grating voice rang out through the morning air, causing many of the children to jump.
"Here you are!" a koopa flying on a broomstick screeched. She swooped in from the air and stopped right before the group.
"Oh, what now?" Eddy said, irritated. "At this rate we'll never get home!"
"What, it can't be…Were you following me?" Twink said, a hint of fear and guilt ringing with his voice.
"What a foolish star kid! I knew that if I followed you, I'd find Mario. If defeat Mario right now, I'll be famous!" the koopa said.
"Get real, Wrinkles!" Sarah yelled. "There is no way you're gonna kick all our butts!"
"You disgraceful little child! I'll teach you who's in charge here! Here I come!" and with that, the koopa soared towards the kids to attack the group.
"Don't-a worry, guys. I'll handle this." Mario said. The koopa hovered close to the ground, staring Mario down. Mario ran towards the fiend, jumped, and bounced off the koopa's head, knocking her to the ground.
"Nice shot!" Goombario said. "Now it's my turn!" The little goomba ran towards the now grounded koopa and head butted the koopa quite hard. "Hag!" he shouted.
"NO ONE CALLS ME A HAG AND LIVES!" she exploded, fury shining in her beady eyes. The koopa drew back her wand and cast a powerful spell, but aimed in the wrong direction due to her very recent head butt. The spell flew off and nicked Rolf's shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.
"Does the turtle-witch wish to have the son of a Shepard beat her with his shoe? You have unleashed the wrath of my ancestors! Prepare to be punished!" he yelled, lunging at the koopa.
"Woah," Twink said quietly as Rolf continued to pound the koopa.
"Yea, get used to it," Kevin said, crossing his arms.
After a rather large thrashing from Rolf's various garments, the koopa fled, leaving just as quickly as it had come.
"Well done Mario! You're as strong as they say, and with your new friends, I know that you'll be able to defeat Bowser. I'm going to return to Princess Peach's side. Please be brave! You must save her!" Twink said his final good-byes and drifted back up into the sky.
"There he goes…back to Bowser's castle. What a brave little guy," Goombario said as he looked to the sky.
"So…what do we do now?" Jimmy said, looking from companion to companion.
"Well, I think we should go back to town and head towards Koopa Bros. Fortress. That's where the star spirit said he was being held, right?" Double D said. Everyone nodded and headed back to town.
As soon as the group passed the gate, the same toad who had seen the Peach Creek kids enter Mario's world rushed up to the group.
"Merlin was looking for you. He lives in that house with the spinning roof. He asked me to tell you to go meet him at his house. I was just about to go look for you…" just then, the toad caught sight of Double D, who gave him a week smile. The toad's eyes got wide, and he began to panic. "…and now I think I'll go. See you around!" he yelled as he ran off.
"Well that was odd," Eddy said, scowling at the retreating toad.
"Oooh, cool spinny roof!" Ed suddenly shouted, pointing to a large house just off the main road. Mario smiled.
"That-a must be Merlin's house. I guess he's expecting us," Mario said, starting for the blue structure. Double D, however, stopped him.
"We can't all go inside of that man's home. The proportions suggest that nowhere near the size of our party would be able to fit inside its walls. At most, only five of us can go. I suggest Mario, Goombario, and three of us kids." Double D explained. The other kids nodded.
"So who's going in?" Jonny said, holding Plank up to his ear. "Plank thinks Double D should go."
"Rolf agrees with melon head Jonny," Rolf exclaimed.
"I think Nazz should go too," Jimmy suggested. Sarah agreed.
"I'll go with them!" Kevin said, quick to pick up the offer now that Nazz was going. Eddy scowled, but Rolf's next question stopped Eddy before he had a chance to complain.
"So what is to be done while funny hat Mario man and others are in the spinny top structure?"
"Well, you guys could check out ways out of this town, but I suggest you all stay close. None of know the land at all, and there could be something dangerous out there," Double D said, looking around at the buildings of the town.
"Dangerous? Like how dangerous?" Jimmy said, quivering slightly. Sarah patted him on the back.
"Don't worry, Jimmy, we're in a town," she said, calming down her friend.
"OK, guys, we'll be back in a minute," Goombario said, as his group continued towards Merlin's house and the group of Peach Creekers made their way down the main road of Toad Town.
Several hours later, Mario, Goombario, Double D, Nazz, and Kevin all emerged from Merlin's house, squinting in the bright noontime sun.
"Well, that was a hoot," Kevin said, rolling his eyes.
"Actually, the information I gathered from that visit was quite…" Double D began, but then stopped at the sound of shouting coming from down the road. He could see Ed standing behind the others, and raced with the others to see what was going on.
A group of mean looking toads stood together, blocking the exit to toad town. Sarah, Rolf and Eddy stood with their fists clenched, yelling at the smirking gang of creatures. Ed stood behind the hotheads, observing the scene through a vacant stare. Jimmy sat on the lawn of the inn, sobbing into his knees. He looked up upon the arrival of Double D and the others.
"Those toad things, they won't move. Sarah and Eddy and…can't we all just be friends?" Jimmy sobbed loudly. Eddy glanced at the small, blue and white curled-up ball that was Jimmy.
"Get a backbone, curly." He said, but was partially cut off by Sarah.
"For the last time, move your fat HEADS!" she screamed at the toads, who only smirked back.
"And for the last time, pipsqueak, get lost! How many times do we have to tell ya, this way out of town is closed!" one of the toads said. Sarah screamed, and was about to lunge when Nazz placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Sarah, you can't just scream in people's faces and expect to see results. Watch," Nazz said soothingly, and approached the gang of toads.
"Excuse me, but do you mind stepping aside so me and my friends could pass. We need to go that way out of town." The head toad continued to smirk, and crossed his arms.
"Step it back, candy pants. You aren't going anywhere." He said.
"Candy pants?" Nazz said, enraged.
"Hey, what's up with your head? All the other toads in town have white mushrooms, but you four have gray!" Kevin exclaimed. With this the toads paused and stumbled a little, but soon retaliated.
"Dude, what's up with your face? You're totally human!" one of the toads laughed amid giggles from the other gray toads.
"Not cool…" Kevin muttered as he cracked his knuckles.
Double D frowned. Oh my goodness, before much longer there will be a fist fight! I've got to do something…maybe I should fetch Merlin. Wait a minute…Kevin's right! Those toads don't have white mushrooms, they're gray! Which means…
"Very good, Double D." The voice was loud and booming, and sounded like it belonged to a rather elderly body. However, when everybody turned, they saw that the body that actually owned it.
"Ed?" the group said in unison.
"No, it is Eldstar, only possessing your young friend's body. But now that I'm here, we can not waste time. Those four blocking your path are indeed not toads. Let their true identities be shown!" Ed yelled, his eyes glowing. That bright light from Ed's eyes beamed directly outwards and straight into the four toads, who all screamed in pain. There was a blinding flash, and suddenly, four koopas stood in front of the group of people.
The four koopas all resembled something along the lines of a ninja, and stood looking dumbfounded at the possessed Ed, whose eyes were still glowing.
One of the koopas, the one with a green shell, piped up. "But…that's impossible. We have Eldstar locked up back at the for-"he was stifled by his koopa friends, "…I mean…heh heh…Eld-who?" The large group all scowled at the koopas.
"Green you IDIOT!" the red koopa pounded on his friend. "How could you be so stupid?"
The group turned their attention back to Ed, whose eyes had stopped glowing. The serious expression slowly faded away from his face, and his usual silly grin soon spread across his features.
"Uh, watsup guys?" he said. Everyone looked at him, dumbfounded.
"Don't you remember being possessed by that star thingy?" Eddy asked. Ed shook his head, smiling.
"Do you remember any part of the last 5 minutes?" Double D questioned.
"No sir-ee, Double D!" Ed exclaimed.
"Does rocks for brains Ed boy remember anything?" Rolf said. Ed thought for a moment.
"Uh, I think I remember the time four turtles kidnapped Jimmy, just like in-"
"Jimmy!" Jonny said, "Plank says he's gone!" he cried as everybody realized what Ed had just said, and turned to see the koopas running in the distance with a bound and gagged Jimmy.
"Jimmy!" Sarah screamed, sprinting out of town after the koopas. As she did, Ed ran after her.
"Baby sister! Wait for Ed!" he yelled as he ran after Sarah. The rest of the gang ran after their two friends.
Sarah and Ed finally slowed down and came to a stop, resting before small field filled with peculiar, blue candy-cane like structures. In twos and threes, the rest of the group caught up, huffing and puffing.
"I can't believe I lost those creeps who took Jimmy…" Sarah murmured, gazing sadly at the ground. Goombario walked over and sat next to the redhead.
"It's OK, Sarah. We'll find Jimmy and make sure those evil koopas get the dose of revenge that they have coming to them!" he said. Sarah looked up and smiled.
Double D finally joined the group, the last one to arrive.
"Oh my goodness…so…much running…not enough…oxygen!" he gasped, then fainted. Unfortunately, he fell down a set of steps that were cut into a hill, and began tumbling down them like a small, lumpy boulder.
"Double D!" Eddy yelled as he and the others scrambled down the hill after him, his limp body rolling from step to step.
"Omigosh, he's probably hurt!" Nazz yelled as she raced after her friend.
Double D continued to roll as he came to level ground. He started to slow, and soon, came to a stop, hitting his head softly on the grassy earth, jolting him awake.
His hearing was fuzzy, but he could make out the various screams of his fellow travelers getting closer. He opened his eyes slowly, only to meet the face of a worried looking koopa. The creature smiled when he noticed his eyes were open.
"Welcome to Koopa Village."
A/N – Well, I hope you liked this chapter. I think it's longer than my other chapters. After only typing the first two paragraphs months ago, I'm glad I could finally get this chapter done. Please read and review and I can promise that it won't as long to get my next chapter up. Thanks!