LiamTheYoshi
Apology accepted.
mariobroultimate
The Crystal Stars do serve a purpose regarding the Thousand-Year Door. As for the partners, stay tuned for who will be featured.
Nataly Guardado
Professor Frankly probably had girl students with the names he came up with.
…
Chapter 5: The Thousand-Year Door
"Crystal Stars? The Thousand-Year Door?" Mario asked with confusion. "I don't understand."
"If I remember correctly, they're these special stars in that old saying that super-elderly people pass down," Goombella said.
"Indeed, the same," Professor Frankly agreed. "As the saying goes, if you want to find the legendary treasure, you must first collect the seven Crystal Stars."
Goombella chimed in, "'Hold the Magical Map aloft before the entrance to the Thousand-Year Door. Then, the stars will light the way that leads to the stones of yesterday.' So, essentially, a lot of the lore I've read says that if this Magical Map is taken to the doorway, then it'll show you where to find the Crystal Stars!"
"Correct! And the Thousand-Year Door is supposedly here, deep beneath this town. Yet the critical piece of the puzzle, the Magical Map, is lost. If only we had that map!"
"But we do have the map, Professor!" Mario butted in. "I'll show you right now." He took the Magical Map out of his overalls pocket and gave it to Professor Frankly.
"WHAAAT? Hummina hubbity hubbida hippity hoobida hammala huffala hoofala... REALLY?" Professor Frankly exclaimed.
"I'm not bullcrapping you. That map is real," Mario said.
Professor Frankly looked at the Magical Map for a few seconds and became excited. "Astounding! This is it! The real thing! The one and only Magical Map! You two are my heroes! You're great! Fantastic! Wonderful, even!"
"Hehehe. Thank you, Professor," Luigi thanked Professor Frankly.
"You must be really excited about the treasure," Mario remarked.
"Like heck, I am!" Professor Frankly said. "With this, we can find the Crystal Stars just by holding this aloft before the legendary door!" He gave the Magical Map back to Mario.
"Well, what are we doing just standing here?" Goombella asked. "Let's take the Magical Map to the Thousand-Year Door pronto!"
"Right on, Goombella!" Professor Frankly replied. He led Mario, Luigi, and Goombella out of his office and spotted a green Warp Pipe behind a wood fence. "We can use that pipe to get down under the city streets! It's as simple as that!"
The group climbed over the fence and entered the Warp Pipe that took them to Rogueport Sewers. The Mario Bros gazed at their surroundings briefly.
"To be honest, this looks a bit nicer than Kero Sewers back in the Mushroom Kingdom," Luigi said.
"Technically, this is not a sewer," Goombella responded. "The current town was built on top of this ancient one. Pretty surprising to find all this down here. I mean, it kinda blows my mind. The ruins here are all crumbly and gnarly now, but it was once a great town, really."
"There's another pipe we can travel through," Professor Frankly pointed out. There was another green Warp Pipe behind a metal fence. The group hopped over the fence and into the Warp Pipe to go one story deeper.
Along the way, the Mario Bros and Goombella fought some Goombas, Spiked Goombas, and Paragoombas that roamed the area.
At the bottom left side was another Warp Pipe that led to a larger room than the last one. There was a trampoline in front of a tall ledge on the left end, a metal grate on the top center side, and a wide doorway at the top right corner.
"How close are we to the Thousand-Year Door?" Mario asked.
"Almost there," Professor Frankly answered. "There should be a hidden passage to the door…"
As the group passed the metal grate, a small creature the size of a mouse popped out for a brief second, scaring Luigi instantly.
"What the hell is that?!" Luigi yelled as he fell on his butt. His loud voice was enough to make the creature retreat into a small hole next to the grate.
"Luigi, it was just a small animal," Mario said while helping Luigi up. "There's nothing scary about it."
"I'm sorry. It just came out of nowhere."
Mario and friends pressed on to the doorway and entered a small room with a big black chest. The chest had a small keyhole in the center.
"Hmm… I wonder what's inside that chest…" Goombella wondered out loud. Just as Mario walked up to open the chest, it wriggled violently, startling everyone at once.
"Jesus! Don't scare us like that!" Mario said with irritation.
"Hey! You! Can you hear me?" a female voice called out from inside the chest.
"Yeah, we do," Luigi replied.
"You can?! That must mean you're the heroes of legend!"
"Who? Me and my brother?" Mario confusingly asked.
"Yes. Only the two great heroes of legend can hear my voice," the voice explained. "Everyone else...nothing. You see, long ago, an evil spirit cast a curse on me, locking me in this chest. I was bummed. I've been here ever since, waiting a long, long time for the heroes to come by!"
"Well…here we are, then…" Mario said.
"So, what brings a heroic duo like you to a place like this?"
"Er, Mario and Luigi…? Come over here," Professor Frankly whispered, pulling them to the side.
"What's wrong?" Luigi questioned.
"I'm not exactly confident that we can trust this…um…this chest. I think it may be best not to mention that we're looking for the Crystal Stars."
"Oh yeah? Searching for the Crystal Stars, are you, now?" the voice stated, having overheard Professor Frankly.
"Urgh! God, I just said it out loud! What's wrong with me?!" Professor Frankly cried.
"Looks like you really are heroes in this case," the voice said. "Well, you're definitely gonna need my help if you hope to get those bad boys. So, first off, you should look for the key to this chest. Then, use it to let me out."
"Well, what do you think we oughta do, Mario and Luigi?" Goombella asked. No one said anything for a few seconds.
"Well, I know my vote goes to you finding that key. I'm sure it's around here somewhere. I mean, being stuck in a box is no picnic! I'm counting on you, O' Great Legendary Heroes!"
"Okay. Whatever. We'll go find the key," Mario gave in.
The group went back into the large room to search for the key. For a while, they couldn't find anything until Luigi saw a black object behind the green Warp Pipe next to the grate.
"Is that it?" Luigi asked. He approached the object and looked at it closely. It was a black key the size of the chest's keyhole. "There we go! That should do it!"
Luigi grabbed the key and led Mario, Goombella, and Professor Frankly back to the chest.
"We found it, ma'am," Luigi told the voice in the chest.
"You brought back the key?!" the voice gasped. "Yes! Oh geez, I owe you big time!"
"Wait a second…" Luigi murmured, having thought of something. "Mario...? I don't feel good about this…"
"What's wrong?" Mario asked. Luigi tried to think of why he was getting anxious, but decided to forget about it.
"Screw it. I'm opening the chest."
"Are you sure? You sound worried," Mario said with concern.
"Mario, I'm fine."
Luigi proceeded to unlock the chest and opened the lid up.
"Hello? Anyone in here?" Luigi asked as he looked inside; there wasn't anything in the chest. "Is this a prank or something?"
Suddenly, the room darkened as if the power had gone out. Everything went completely silent too.
"Professor, what's going on?" Goombella whispered to Professor Frankly.
"I haven't a clue," Professor Frankly quietly replied.
Suddenly, the female voice screamed very loud, "WHEEHEE! FOOOOOOOOLS!"
"YYYAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Luigi shrieked over the voice; he fell backward and crawled behind Mario's back, shaking uncontrollably. Mario, Professor Frankly, and Goombella only yipped out of startlement.
A second later, a bright yellow evil face appeared above the open chest, creeping everyone out more. Mario shook almost as much as Luigi.
"Oh, you so fell for it, huh? I burned you!" the voice boomed. "Did you really think I was gonna help you?!"
"You s-sounded…so convincing…" Mario stammered.
"I did! And now you'll pay the price as no other would!"
"D-don't… Please…" Mario pleaded.
Professor Frankly and Goombella backed up against the right wall while Luigi grasped Mario's legs and peeked at the face.
"BUGGLY-WUGGLY-WOOOOOOOO!"
Four ear-piercing white flashes sounded, prompting Mario to scream too; he flew his back against the left wall and fell on his hands and knees. Luigi reacted the same way, but he clenched his fists and held them over his mouth.
"Wheeheeheeheehee! Enjoy that curse, suckers! You got what you deserved!" the female voice cackled. "Farewell forever!"
The evil face disappeared and the room lit up again. Upon seeing the Mario Bros shaking with fear, Goombella felt sorry for them and decided to walk up to comfort both.
"No, Goombella. Leave them be," Professor Frankly calmly ordered Goombella. "They got the guts scared out of them."
"I know. It's so sad."
Luigi started crying over being scared and embraced Mario tight. Mario did tear up, but he wasn't as emotional as Luigi was.
"It's okay, bro…" Mario coaxed Luigi. "That voice is gone…"
But Luigi couldn't respond due to him sobbing. Mario held on to Luigi for a little bit until Luigi calmed down.
"Are you feeling sick, Luigi?" Mario asked as Luigi took a deep breath.
"I feel it in my stomach…but not too much… I'll be fine." Suddenly, Luigi saw something on Mario's right wrist. "Mario, there's something on your wrist."
Mario looked at his wrist and saw a dark red wristband with six whitish-gray buttons and a brown depression on the top. Mario immediately recognized what it was.
"A Partner Collection Band! I remember wearing one back when we were saving the Star Spirits and the Star Rod," Mario said. "Was this the curse that voice put on me?"
"It looks like it," Luigi replied as he and Mario stood up. "The only difference is that…" Luigi looked at the number of buttons on the band. "There's six buttons instead of five."
"Hmm. That means we'll have a bigger team than normal this time."
"How are you holding up?" Goombella asked the Mario Bros.
"We're good now," Mario replied. "It was just too scary for us. Like, holy shit!"
Everyone chuckled briefly at Mario's comment.
"Sorry, guys. I tend to swear every now and then. Bad habit for me."
"No problem," Goombella said. "Now let's find the Thousand-Year Door."
Mario led Luigi, Goombella, and Professor Frankly out of the room and toward the trampoline near the high ledge. Everyone took their turns jumping onto the ledge before going through the doorway into the next room.
Inside was a squat, wide platform with a pedestal in the middle, three stone pillars on either side of the room, and a doorway atop a high ledge on the left side. Finally, there was a giant reddish-brown door with a gold pattern scattered all over. Everyone gasped at the sight of the door.
"Is that…?" Mario murmured.
"Oh, my heavens!" Professor Frankly exclaimed with joy. "There's the Thousand-Year Door spoken of in the legends! I can't believe it's real! So the legends are all true! I mean, look how big it is!"
"This is incredible, I tell you!" Goombella added in. "I've seen pictures of that door before, but seeing it in person is just… Wow!"
"Looks pretty," Mario remarked. "Can we get a closer look at it, Professor Frankly?"
"We shall! Let's go!"
The group moved closer to the Thousand-Year Door only to stop at the pedestal.
"Hey, what's the deal with this weird pedestal? What could it be?" Professor Frankly asked.
"Maybe this is where you step on it and take out the Magical Map," Luigi answered. "I mean, that's what the legend said, right?"
"I guess so."
"Let me try it," Mario said before climbing onto the pedestal. He then took out the Magical Map, turned toward the Thousand-Year Door, and held the map in front. Just then, a bright cyan star appeared on the center of the pedestal and two cyan rings formed within the platform.
"Oh my God…" Mario said with awe, looking at the light displays. Within seconds, a squiggly pattern formed around the pedestal, and seven open stars formed at the platform's rim. Everyone became mesmerized by what was happening.
Next, a white glow surrounded the Magical Map, which floated out of Mario's hands. Star-shaped glitter also appeared within the glow. A thin cyan circle faded in and lowered until it touched the Magical Map. The room then brightened up, causing everyone to shield their eyes.
Three seconds later, a star-shaped orb exploded outward and a bang sounded across the room with a final white flash. The room darkened to its normal state and the cyan lights disappeared. The Magical Map dropped into Mario's hands again.
"So, what just happened?" Luigi asked.
Mario examined the map and saw a teal and blue castle on the top right and a shiny silver star at the castle's base. "That castle wasn't on the map before. It just appeared on its own."
Mario stepped off the pedestal and allowed Luigi, Professor Frankly, and Goombella to look at the map too.
"What was with all the crazy lights?" Goombella questioned. "And how did they make the map change?"
"Hrmmm... It appears that information related to the locations of the Crystal Stars appeared," Professor Frankly replied. "And those shining lights, they looked as if a mysterious power was given to Mario and Luigi."
"Mysterious power?" Mario wondered.
"Well, one way or another, we should return to my place and study the map closely," Professor Frankly said.
"Good idea," Goombella agreed. She proceeded to lead the Mario Bros and Professor Frankly through Rogueport Sewers back to Professor Frankly's place.