A/N – Hello everyone! I would like to thank of all of those who have been reading and reviewing my story. It's nice to see what other people think of it. I hope everyone likes it so far. I am hoping to make this chapter the longest one yet. Please remember to read and review! Thanks to Blue Xenon for leaving me a very nice review. Again, I own no part of the Mario world or the Ed, Edd, and Eddy world. Enjoy.
Chapter Six – The Flood and the Fortress
Double D lay on the ground, his clothes dirty and grass stained. A few small scrapes were visible on the boy's legs and arms. He was staring straight up into the face of a slightly anxious looking koopa. Soon, his friends ran into view, with worried looks on their faces as they examined their friend.
"Are you alright?" Nazz said, looking over his scrapes and bruises. Eddy soon came into view, and held out a hand to help Double D up.
"You OK, sockhead?" he said as he helped his slow moving friend off the ground. Double D was still dizzy when he got to his feet.
"I think I'm fine, just a bit banged up," he responded looking to his new surroundings. As he did, the koopa began to chat with Mario.
"Can it be? Are you Mario?" the koopa said in almost disbelief. Mario nodded.
"Yes, that is me." The koopa beamed.
"Welcome to Koopa Village!" he said. Suddenly, his smile faltered, as he looked over his shoulder and sighed. "I wish we could really welcome you, but we're in big trouble. Can't you see what kind of madness is going on?" Double D and the others observed the scene that was occurring throughout the village.
There were a total of six buildings, all with roof-tops shaped like turtle shells. There were many citizens of the village out and about, but most of them wore expressions of sadness, frustration, and distress on their faces. Double D soon spotted the cause of this entire disturbance.
What appeared to be fuzzy, black balls of living soot were bouncing around the entire village menacingly. They would sneak up on a koopa, and jump him, stealing his shell off his back and placing it somewhere unreachable, such as a high tree branch. The soot ball would then spring away, cackling evilly and looking for its next victim.
"What are those things running all over the place?" Sarah asked, watching one trample a koopa in its path of mischief. The koopa gave the girl a strange look.
"Fuzzies! The village is in an uproar because of them. You…don't know what Fuzzies are like?" he said. Mario cut in.
"They-a aren't from around here." The koopa shrugged and continued.
"Well, they are Fuzzies. Mean guys. They're really naughty," the koopa explained. Just as he finished his sentence, a Fuzzy that had been eyeing the group for a while now suddenly lunged. It knocked right into the koopa, and the two fell to the ground. There was a small struggle, and suddenly, the Fuzzy bounced up and away, stealing the koopa's shell.
"Oh no! Stupid Fuzzy! Get back here with my shell!" the koopa said tearfully as he ran after the fleeing Fuzzy. The group stood dumbfounded, looking onward at the scene of pure chaos that was taking place in the village.
"So this is Koopa Village," Nazz said. "I wouldn't exactly call it nice or peaceful."
"Obviously the town is in the middle of a crisis!" Double D said, feeling sorry for the townspeople.
"Yeah, Double D's right. This village is in a bad way. I really think it would be the right thing to help these guys out," Goombario said. The rest of the group agreed. Mario looked up, and noticed the Fuzzy that had stolen the koopa's shell earlier. It was cackling, bouncing away from the koopa that was still giving chase and straight towards the group.
Mario grabbed up his hammer and swung powerfully at the Fuzzy. The wooden end made contact with the creature's face, stunning it immediately. Double D and some others winced, not used to such violence. The Fuzzy dropped the shell that it was carrying, and as soon as it got its senses back, fled behind one of the buildings and into the forest.
The koopa ran up, a smile now playing across his features. He grabbed up the shell quickly and slid it back onto his body.
"Oh, thank you Mario! I owe you one. I just can't walk around without my shell on. Talk about embarrassing!" the koopa said.
"Don't mention it," Mario said. With that, the koopa walked off, and Mario turned to the rest of his group. "Well, that's-a one Fuzzy down. Let's go save the village." The others agreed, and ran off into the chaos to help the townsfolk that were in need.
Everyone, however, except Eddy. He was slouching, with his hands shoved deep into his pockets, and walking very slowly, unnoticed in the commotion.
"At this rate we'll never get home," he said quietly to himself. "It's been almost two days and I haven't seen a single cent since I've gotten here. What am I gonna do?" He half-heartedly kicked at a small clump of grass, and as he did, a small leaf fell out of the tuft. Eddy picked it up, and a nearby koopa noticed his inquisitive expression.
"I see you've found a koopa leaf!" he said, referring to the small leaf that Eddy had found. "They're quite abundant in these parts."
Eddy kicked at the clump of grass again, a little harder this time, and two more leaves fell out. He retrieved them off the ground, and as he looked over the three small leaves in his hand, he also took notice of the situation around him. Nazz was kicking a Fuzzy that had stolen a koopa's shell, and Rolf and Kevin were chasing another. Suddenly, his mind was brought back to his earlier dilemma. A mischievous smile formed across Eddy's face as a plan formed in his mind.
Double D, Goombario, and Sarah were now closing in on one of the last Fuzzies. Almost all of the villagers who had had their shells stolen by the Fuzzies had received their belongings again. There were, however, still some lone Fuzzies running around the town. Just as Goombario was about to head-butt the Fuzzy, it bounced onto Sarah's head and off towards the other end of the small town.
"Darnit! Stupid Fuzzy," Sarah said angrily, scowling at the retreating creature. Double D also looked onward at the fleeing Fuzzy, but soon his attention was directed to something else.
Near the end of the village, under a large tree, a frantic group of koopas were gathered around something. Many of them were shouting, and the scene was one of complete disorder. Double D went to see what all the commotion was about, and scowled at what he found.
Eddy had set up a small stand under the tree. On the wooden surface of the stand sat piles of small, seemingly ordinary leaves. However, the large group of koopas were clamoring to get their hands on as many of these leaves as possible, practically throwing handfuls of golden coins at Eddy, who was all the while shouting loudly through the pandemonium.
"Get your Fuzzy Repelling Magical Leaves at the only place that sells 'em. Here! Only two coins per leaf!" he shouted as the coins continued to rain down on him.
"Eddy!" Double D shouted, looking at him with disgust. "What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing, sockhead?" he shouted back, barely audible. "I'm makin the most money I've ever made in my life!"
"Eddy, are you taking advantage of this situation? What are these things anyways? They look to me just like-" Double D started, but Eddy cut him off.
"Uh, hey folks, the shop is closed! Come back again sometime!" he shouted at the crowd. The koopas all stopped grabbing for the leaves, of which there were barely any left, and walked off in different directions. They were all covered with leaves, which made them look ridiculous. The coins had stopped coming in, and now Eddy was gathering them all up in a jar that he had set on his stand.
"Look, sockhead, just keep it down. See these things?" he said quietly, pointing to the three tattered leaves left on the table. "They're called koopa leaves. There are hundreds of 'em in all of these little clumps of grass all over the village. I just figured…"
"That you would exploit the fear and panic that these poor koopas have gone through and sell them phony merchandise? Eddy, where did you even get the supplies to set up a stand in the time that we've been here?" Double D said, looking angrily at Eddy. The money-obsessed preteen shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and his face had a guilty expression.
"Well…uh…funny story," he said as Double D looked a little closer at the stand. He could now see that it was a sign, with a large flower painted on it.
"Have I seen that sign before? Wait a min…Eddy did you steal that sign from in front of the shop?" he said in disbelief.
"No! I…borrowed it. And what's it to ya anyways? I'm gonna return it," he said, looking towards the shop.
"Hm…" Double D said, crossing his arms. Eddy scowled at his friend.
"What? Aren't you going to give me a big lecture and tell me how wrong it was to steal the stupid sign?" Eddy said, irritated. Double D gave his hotheaded companion a small smile.
"Don't look now, but I believe someone is absconding with an item of yours."
"What the…" Eddy said as he saw what Double D was referring to. A rather large group of Fuzzies stood on the other side of Eddy's stand, holding his jar that contained all of the coins he had earned. They smiled as they saw Eddy, and immediately bounced away and into the woods with Eddy's money.
"No! You can't!" Eddy cried out as he chased after the fleeing creatures. "I…but…my money!" He fell to his knees, tears welling up in his eyes. By that time, the rest of the group had managed to chase off the remaining Fuzzies. They were now all gathering near the tree. Sarah passed the tearful Eddy, and flipped her hair back with her hand.
"Get over it," she said nastily, but as her hand ran across the side of her face, she noticed an absence. "Wha…?" she said, now frantically fingering her ear. "My…earring!" she said. Suddenly, she began to growl, her fists clenching in rage. "I bet those STUPID Fuzzies stole my earring! They are going to pay!" she half screamed. Nobody moved toward the enraged girl to comfort her, for everyone, even her new friends,somehow knew better.
As the group gathered under the tree, they began to take note of a house that sat in front of them. This particular house was similar to the other structures in the village. It had a green turtle shell roof, and a small palm tree protruded through the side of the roof. However, what made the house different from the other houses is the fact that is was shaking and shuddering quite violently, and small noises were filtering through its walls. Some type of commotion was taking place inside that building.
"Plank wants to know what's up with that house," Jonny said, looking at the structure with curiosity.
"Rolf too would like to see what is going on inside the turtle top building," Rolf stated. The group made their way to the house, and then Mario knocked on the door.
"Who's there? I'm kind of busy right now!" an aggravated voice shouted through the still closed door. The noises and shuddering continued for a minute more, and then a koopa exited to stand in front of the group. He wore an annoyed expression on his face and a red bandana around his neck. Double D immediately noticed that the koopa was not wearing a shell.
"What? Wait…Could it be? Aren't you Mario?" he asked. Mario sighed.
"Yes, that's-a me."
"You are!" the koopa said happily. Eddy rolled his eyes.
"Sheesh, you must have, like, fifty imposters running around the world or something…" he said. He was ignored, however, because everyone was listening to the conversation already underway.
"My name's Kooper," the koopa said enthusiastically. "Oh, I am so psyched to meet you! I need a huge favor…I hope you'll help me out."
"Sure we will, dude," Nazz said. "We helped out the rest of the village."
"Great! Let me give you the story. This wild Fuzzy took my shell, which, next to my life, is the most important thing I have. I can't go out without my shell, period. Way too embarrassing," Kooper said.
"Well, you're not wearing one now, are you?" Sarah said with a scowl, her arms crossed.
"Good point," Kooper said, attempting to cover himself up with his arms and hands. "So if you don't mind, con you help me get my shell back? I'll guard the door while you grab him," Kooper said, looking nervously around to see if anyone could spot him.
"Sure, let's go!" Goombario said. The whole group entered through Kooper's front door, and immediately spotted the Fuzzy. However, Kooper's blue shell was not the only thing the creature had in its possession.
"Hey!" Sarah yelled, pointing at the small, golden ring in the Fuzzy's clutches. "That little idiot stole my earring!"
"Ya, and there's my money!" Eddy cried, spotting the jar that was filled to the brim with glimmering, golden coins.
"Meeeooooooork!" the Fuzzy screeched, causing many of the travelers to clap their hands over their ears. With that cry, the Fuzzy took off through the back door of Kooper's house. The gang followed in pursuit.
They had now entered into the forest that grew directly behind Koopa Village. As they chased after the Fuzzy, it laughed at them, taunting its pursuers.
"Come get it if you can!" it yelled, referring to the several stolen items in its grasp.
As the group continued to run, Fuzzies bounced from the surrounding bushes and trees, hurtling at the Peach Creek kids and company and attempting to collide with them. The group crossed a large bridge, and then ran into a small clearing surrounded by thickly growing trees.
The Fuzzy that had all of the items bounced up into a tree as he called out.
"Guess where I'm hiding!" Suddenly, the Fuzzy thief and several other Fuzzies began to bounce around the branches of various trees.
"Wow, look at them go!" Ed said as they continued to spring from branch to branch. Suddenly, all of the Fuzzies stopped, hiding among the thick leaves.
"Which one is he in?" Goombario asked, looking from seemingly identical tree to tree. Double D, however, had been following along the Fuzzy thief's trail, and pointed to the tree on the left.
"Mario, hit the tree on the far left with your hammer," he said. Mario picked up his hammer, walked over and swung at the large tree. As soon as he did, the particular Fuzzy dropped from its braches, looking a bit shook up. He recovered almost instantaneously, however, and bounced back up into the tree. Once again, the Fuzzies all began to bounce around. Jonny suddenly spoke out in a nervous voice.
"Guys, I don't think this is such a good idea," he said. Eddy looked back at him, annoyed.
"I know Mario's tree bashing is freaking you out, but relax, will ya? None of these trees could possible be Plank's relatives, baldy. We're in another dimension, remember?" Eddy said as Double D pointed out another tree and as Mario smashed another one with his hammer.
"Another dimension?" Kooper asked, but Kevin held up his hand.
"We'll explain later," he said, watching the Fuzzies practically fly from tree to tree.
"No, seriously guys! Plank has a really bad feeling about this!" Jonny pleaded, holding up the piece of wood before him. Sarah rolled her eyes, and once again he was ignored.
Double pointed out yet another tree, and before Mario hit it, Jonny screamed.
"No, don't! I think this is a tra…" he said, but before he could even finish, Mario had whacked the tree with his hammer. The second he did, an almost deafening rumble filled the air.
The sounds of thousands and thousands of cackles had filled the air, and suddenly, a large shadow was cast over the small group of travelers. They all looked up, and straight into the face of a towering column of Fuzzies that was still growing in height. Its dark color contrasted with the bright, blue tint of the sky, and soon, the Fuzzies began to block out the sun. The group gazed at the solid wall of mischievous creatures in awe. Until they realized that it was quickly advancing upon them like a black tidal wave.
"RUN!" Double D shouted, hardly audible as the group fled back across the bridge and through the woods as fast as their feet could take them. The black wave was advancing rapidly, swallowing up the bridge and all of the trees as it made its way on a collision course with the unsuspecting Koopa Village.
The group ran right through Kooper's back door and out the other end, not bothering to shut either door. When they reached the village, many koopas had their hands clapped over their ears to block out the great noise. The entire town was in a state of confusion.
"What's going on?" a koopa screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Just run!" Kooper screamed as he and the rest of his group sprinted past the dumbfounded koopa.
Suddenly, a large shadow moved over the town, casting the entire village in a gloomy dimness. Eddy looked over his shoulder, and saw the black wave looming over Kooper's house. It curled like a realistic wave, and broke in front of the house, shooting Fuzzies outward at a speed that was even greater than before. The koopa that the group had just spoken to a moment before suddenly vanished, swallowed up by the great wave just like the houses around him. Such a horrific sight caused Eddy and the others to speed up to a sprinting dash.
Screams and cries were slightly audible over the roar of cackles as koopas rushed out of homes and began to sprint in all directions, seeking somewhere to flee so as to be safe from the raging wave of Fuzzies.
However, the Fuzzies were advancing at a pace that would be impossible to outrun, and in a matter of seconds, the entire village, including the Peach Creek kids, were picked up by the raging wave, and swept away.
Double D sat on top of the wave, bouncing around roughly. He could hear the screams and cries of several koopas, and occasionally, a familiar friend. He could see several heads poking out of the wave of Fuzzies, but could only spot a few of his fellow travelers. The wave took Double D up, or really, across the large hill that sat outside of Koopa Village, and swept all of the people that it had picked up down a large path.
A large fortress was soon in sight, and at this point, the wave of Fuzzies divided into two, separate streams. One slowed down and began to drastically thin and shrink. The other continued on its raging path, speeding towards the fortress at an alarming rate, soon racing completely out of view.
In only a few minutes, the smaller stream of the once colossal wave had completely dissipated, dropping its riders under a series of rustic looking stone arches that sat before the fortress. Fuzzies immediately scattered everywhere, and soon, not one could be seen.
Amazingly, Mario, Goombario, Kooper, and every single Peach Creek kid, save Jimmy, had been dropped off before the fortress. The air was still, and all was quiet. As the group got up off of their feet and dusted themselves off, a furious Jonny confronted Eddy.
"What did I tell ya! Plank knew that you guys had walked straight into a trap!" he said. Eddy scowled as he brushed off his shirt.
"How am I supposed to believe you? Plank is a piece of wood, how did he even know?" Eddy yelled.
"Plank knows things, Eddy. Now, who knows how many people just got swept away by that wave. They could be hurt! And who knows how much damage was just caused in the village! Don't blow him off next time," Jonny said hotly. Eddy rolled his eyes, and then the group sat in silence, until something stuck halfway in a bush caught Kooper's eye.
"My shell!" he said excitedly, rushing over and quickly slipping on his shell.
"My earring!" Sarah exclaimed, picking the shining, gold ring up off of the ground and putting it back onto her ear.
"My...jar…" Eddy wailed as he spotted his jar, overturned and empty, at the base of a nearby tree. "Man, this adventure bites!" he murmured to himself as he retrieved his jar and shoved it in his pocket.
With everyone's belongings returned to them, Mario looked to the looming fortress. It appeared to be made of stone, and looked quite filthy and largely unkept.
"This is-a where the star spirit is," Mario said. Kooper looked at his companion.
"Star spirit? What makes you so sure?"
"Mario is indeed correct. I am being held captive right inside this very fortress," declared a booming voice. The voice sounded as though it should belong to an elderly man, but this time, the group realized where it was coming from.
Ed's eyes glowed a bright white, and his expression was one that would normally never cross his face.
"To save me from the Koopa Bros., you must first seek out your future friend. There are also many others besides myself that need to be saved in this fortress, so make sure you are able to assist everybody. Until we meet, I shall be waiting…" The voice echoed off the stone walls of the fortress. Soon, Ed's eyes no longer glowed brightly, and just as before, his serious expression was replaced by a more usual vacant one.
"I guess that was Eldstar again. He must know we are here," Goombario said. Double D, however wasn't listening.
'How is Ed doing that?' Double D thought, gazing at Ed intently. 'How could he possibly…Something strange is going on here' Double D snapped out of his mental trance just as Nazz began to speak.
"Enough waiting around! Is everyone ready to go in there and kick some koopa butt?" Nazz said enthusiastically. The rest of the group members cheered in agreement, and then made their way towards the entrance of the large fortress. Mario opened one of the large, metal doors, and the whole group entered into the dimly lit confines of the fortress.
A/N – Well, I'm finally finished with this chapter! This is most definitely my longest chapter for any story I have ever written on fanfic. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Please remember to read and review. Be looking for my seventh chapter. It should be up here soon, and I will upload it faster if I get more reviews. Thanks to everyone!