CVGWJames

Thank you!

LiamTheYoshi

Well said motive. I love it.

mariobroultimate

That relationship may be unhealthy, but the one thing that matters most is that Koopie Koo loves Koops to death.

Mario bros fan4ever

If you're ready, then here we go into Hooktail's castle.

Nataly Guardado

I don't really play Pokémon, but thanks for the insight.

…

Chapter 10: Castle and Dragon

It's 11:16 AM; the Mario Bros and Koops emerged from the other end of the dark green Warp Pipe, finding themselves behind a giant purple-gray gate held by two stone walls. In front was a huge castle about twice the size of Peach's castle. The exterior comprised a mixture of dark pink and dark gray bricks and two fuchsia doors blocked the entrance on the other end of a wood bridge; a deep moat surrounded the castle.

Everyone's jaws dropped upon seeing the castle for the first time.

"Holy cow…" Koops murmured. "Hooktail's castle…"

"Look at the size of that mother!" Mario exclaimed. "No wonder Hooktail was a giant dragon!"

"So the stories were all true…" Koops said. "This place looks terrifying…"

"You're still not scared, right?" Luigi asked Koops.

"Um… No. No, I'm not."

Without further ado, the group crossed the bridge and entered the castle. The first area had a reddish-pink carpeted floor with multiple diamond and star patterns all over. There were cobwebs in the wall corners and above the open windows on the left side. Also, there were collapsed Dull Bones all over the place.

"Looks like Hooktail burned the skins off these Koopas and ate them," Luigi remarked, gazing at the Dull Bones.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to end up a skeleton…" Koops responded. He was shaking a bit but kept it together for now.

In addition, there were Red Paratroopas flying around the area; Mario and friends clipped their wings and tossed them all out the window. Entering the next room ahead, the group saw some cells to their left and more Dull Bones on the floor.

Suddenly, Koops saw a Dull Bones with scorched blue boots and became shocked. "Oh!"

"What's wrong?" Mario asked. Koops didn't listen and ran up to the Dull Bones.

"No…!" Koops started to cry, thinking of something bad. "These bones… They remind me of Dad…!"

"Does he wear blue boots?" Luigi asked.

"H-he did…!" Koops collapsed on his knees, keeping his eyes on the Dull Bones. "Th-there's… There's n-no doubt a-about it…! This is…m-my dad! NOOO!"

"I'm sorry, Koops…" Mario said with sympathy. He walked up to Koops and laid his hand on his shell, letting out a sigh. "It's very sad…"

"Was th-this…what w-we came h-here for?! To see m-my dad's skeleton?!" Koops demanded.

"It just so happened to be here," Mario answered. Just then, he noticed a white object within the Dull Bones' left wrist. "What is that?"

Mario pulled the object out of the bones, revealing it to be a small folded-up letter.

"Is that a letter…?" Koops asked as he stood back up. "What does it say…?"

Mario unfolded the note and started reading it. "I came to this castle to destroy Hooktail, but I am stuck and can go no further. So, in this letter, I shall note Hooktail's weaknesses for those who follow. The dread Hooktail cannot tolerate creatures that mostly live in the water and jump very high. They also make these croaking noises, if I remember correctly. Hidden somewhere in this castle is an item related to Hooktail's weakness. If one is to have any hope of defeating Hooktail, one must first find that item. One last thing: if faced with ultimate doom, the fiend will use any trick to save itself. If you hope to defeat it, do not give in to your kinder nature and fall for its tricks. Alas, I do not have the strength to continue writing... Already, mist veils my eyes... My last words go to my son, Jesse: I love you, and I'm proud of who you've become."

"Huh? 'My son, Jesse'? What does that mean?" Koops asked.

"Jesse… Who would name his son Jesse…?" Mario thought out loud. He figured out the answer within seconds. "Dr. Jesse Kolorado! This is the famous archeologist's father!"

Luigi approached Dr. Kolorado's father's bones and examined the letter too. "Wow. I didn't know Dr. Kolorado's dad was a knight or something like that."

"Forgive me, guys," Koops apologized. "I didn't mean to mistake this skeleton for my dad. Blue boots arecommon footwear nowadays."

"I guess so," Luigi agreed.

"But if this isn't my father..." Koops noticed a collapsed Red Bones laying in front of a locked door. "I wonder if that pile of bones over there is my dad."

"Me too," Mario replied. "But about that weakness he mentioned in the letter… Was he talking about… Uh…" Mario suddenly came up with what Hooktail's weakness might be. "Frogs! That's it!"

"That makes sense," Koops said. "Maybe Hooktail ate some frogs and they jumped in his stomach making him nauseous."

"Could there be a Frog Suit nearby?" Luigi gasped. "There better be at least one!"

"We'll see, bro."

Mario, Luigi, and Koops approached the Red Bones and stared at it briefly.

"I don't think this looks like your dad's bones, Koops," Mario said. "Why would-"

The Red Bones trembled a bit and revived itself, stopping Mario mid-sentence.

"Holy crap!" "Jesus!" Luigi and Mario exclaimed. Koops only let out a small yip.

"Blaarf harf harf HARF!" the Red Bones barked. "You clearly don't value your lives much if you've come to this castle to disturb us."

"That's not what we came here for!" Mario protested.

"You will go no farther, and from this moment on...you will be nothing but bones!"

Suddenly, tens of Dull Bones dropped from the ceiling and started beating the Mario Bros and Koops.

"Ouch! What're they doing?!" Koops yelled.

"I don't know!" Mario answered as a Dull Bones punched his shoulder. "Agh!"

Mario and friends tried to jump over the Dull Bones, but they were unable to move upward.

"It's no use! We can't jump!" Luigi cried. "What do we do?!"

"I got an idea!" Mario said as he took out his hammer. He started pounding away the Dull Bones with the hammer, shattering large segments of them at a time. Eventually, the Mario Bros and Koops managed to reach the Red Bones again.

"Out of our way!" Mario shouted, holding his hammer in front.

"Very well."

The Red Bones took out a large spiky bone in the shape of a femur and started a battle in the form of a sword fight. Luigi and Koops backed up so as to not get hit by accident; however, they kept their eyes on the Dull Bones.

Meanwhile, Mario and the Red Bones continued swinging their weapons at each other. Mario leaped up when the Red Bones decided to sweep his spiky bone under his feet; he then smashed his hammer on the Red Bones' head, officially defeating it.

The remaining Dull Bones collapsed, having heard the Red Bones' defeat.

"Great job, bro!" Luigi praised Mario.

"Thanks."

Just then, a key dropped from the ceiling and landed in front of the lock. Mario quickly unlocked the door and went into the next room with Luigi and Koops.

There were more Dull Bones up ahead that came to life, but Mario quickly smashed them to pieces with his hammer. Luckily, the door atop a rocky staircase at the front end was unlocked.

The next room had a giant black block with green edges and two green up arrows on the left and right faces. A smaller transparent green block stood next to the bigger block.

"What does this do?" Mario hammered the smaller block, triggering the bigger block to soar upward like an elevator. "Wow. That's pretty cool." He hammered the smaller block again to make the bigger block drop to the floor.

"Let's check out what's behind this door before going up," Luigi said, pointing to the fuchsia door in front.

The next room had a couple of collapsed Dull Bones and a wooden chair on the left end. But what caught the group's attention was a black chest just like the one in Rogueport Sewers.

"What kind of chest is that?" Koops asked.

"Don't ask…" Luigi answered nervously. He knew something bad was gonna happen with the chest.

Mario approached the chest, which wriggled violently. He wasn't startled by the chest, but Luigi and Koops flinched.

"What the hell?" a male voice called out from inside the chest.

"Um, whoever it is, how did you know someone was coming in?" Mario asked.

"Oh! Guests! It's been a long time since anyone came here! A real long time!" the male voice cried with joy. "Hold on… If you can hear my voice, you must be some legendary hero or something."

"Not just me. My brother's another legendary hero." Mario beckoned Luigi to come up to the chest. "Come here, Luigi."

"W-why…?"

"It's okay," Mario reassured Luigi. "He means no harm."

Luigi reluctantly walked up to the chest.

"Wait! Scratch that!" the male voice said. "To be honest, I'm sure anyone with ears can hear me. But it sure is fun zinging people with that whole 'legendary hero' bit!"

"Excuse me?" Mario asked with confusion.

"Hey, but seriously, folks, I was wondering if you could let me out of this chest... I've been locked in here so long; I'm starting to cramp up like you wouldn't believe. All you have to do is find the key and let me out. Easy!"

"B-but you'll curse u-us…!" Luigi stammered.

"Huh? Is that what you think? Bull! Who would do that, really? Wait in a box and curse folks! A real liar, that's who! But I'm no real liar, and I would do no such thing! But that should be obvious."

"Look, if you help me out, maybe I'll help you out," the male voice went on. "You know, a little 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine!' thing. Except in reverse order. Of course, you don't have to if you really don't want to. Like, finding a key is hard..."

Luigi skimmed the room for the key, standing in one place. "It's n-not…here…"

"Luigi! That's not how you look for a key." Mario noticed a cerulean door in front of the chest. "Let's look in here."

The group went through the door, finding themselves in a large room with a small black chest in the middle. Mario had a concerned look on his face upon seeing the chest.

"It better not be one of those 'treasure traps'," Mario said, pointing to the chest. "I mean, look. The chest is in the middle of this room."

"But what if nothing happens?" Luigi asked.

"We'll see."

Mario walked up to the chest and opened it, revealing a black key big enough to fit in the larger chest's keyhole. Right as he picked up the key, an alarm blared from above, startling the group. Seconds later, a spiked ceiling started falling.

"I don't l-like the look of this!" Koops said in a scared voice.

"Run! C-come on!" Mario cried. He ran alongside Luigi and Koops toward the door.

The group managed to escape the large room before the spiked ceiling impacted the floor.

"Thank God!" Mario panted. "Why is it always the spiked ceiling?"

"I don't know. There just so happened to be one above us," Luigi answered.

"At least we got the key, which is good," Koops said.

Mario, Luigi, and Koops approached the chest again; Mario inserted the key into the chest's keyhole.

"Boy, oh boy! I am so glad you found that key! Unbelievable!" the male voice exclaimed while Mario unlocked the chest. The lid opened up by itself and the room darkened completely.

"Not again…" Luigi murmured.

"WHEEEHEEHEEHEEHEE! FOOOOOOOLS!" the male voice yelled very loud.

Luigi screamed at the same level as the voice and fell on his butt. However, Koops and Mario each let out a small yip.

Next, a bright yellow evil face appeared above the open chest, scaring Koops and Luigi even more; they shook with fear. Mario only flinched at the sight of the face.

"Why, only the most idiotic, dimwitted boneheads would fall for a scheme like that!" the male voice boomed. "The castle's traps prevent anyone who's entered this place from ever leaving it!"

"But w-what if we defeat H-Hooktail…? Can we-" Koops started to ask.

"Shut up!" the male voice interrupted. "No matter which path you take, you're fated to waste away to a slow, painful end!"

"I can't l-look…!" Luigi stammered, covering his eyes.

"OOGLY-GOOGLY-BOOOOOOOO!"

Four ear-piercing white flashes sounded, making Mario and Koops cover their ears. Luigi screamed again and felt his ears ring so much to where it hurt badly.

"Wheeeheeheeheehee! Now you're cursed, morons!" the male voice laughed. "May your days be miserable for life!"

The evil face disappeared and the room lit up again.

"You okay, Koops?" Mario asked.

"I think so," Koops sighed; he noticed Luigi wincing and clasping his ears. "You might want to check on Luigi."

"Oh God…!" Luigi cried with agony.

"How hurt are your ears, Luigi?" Mario asked.

"I don't know, bro…! They're just killing me…!" Luigi answered. "Hold on…"

Luigi didn't want to sit around and relax, so he immediately stood back up and uncovered his ears. They were a bit red from being hurt by the flashes.

"Are you sure you're fine?" Mario questioned.

"Yes," Luigi replied. "I'm good."

"All right-y." Suddenly, Mario noticed Luigi's gloves had turned a pale yellow color with a transparent lightning bolt on the top of each. "Whoa! Wait a second! Your gloves!"

"Huh?" Luigi looked at his gloves and his eyes widened. "I think my electric powers have been upgraded!"

"Well, so much for being 'cursed'," Koops remarked. "I mean, it was kinda scary, but I know it'll get stale over time."

The group proceeded out of the chest's room and reentered the room with the giant green block. They climbed onto the block and Mario threw Koops at the smaller block, making the bigger block rise like an elevator. The block stopped after climbing four stories to the fifth floor.

"Well, we're almost there," Mario stated.

Koops peered down the shaft and felt a bit nauseous, clutching his stomach.

"I might throw up…"

"You're doing good, Koops," Mario reassured Koops. "Hang in there."

Mario and friends climbed two flights of stairs, reaching a large red door with a white border. To the left of the door were two Yellow Question Mark Blocks. The Mario Bros hit the blocks from underneath, ejecting two palm-sized rubber frogs.

Mario's face lit up upon seeing the rubber frogs.

"Yes! The Frog Suits!" Mario exclaimed, referring to the Frog Suit powerup from the Super Mario Bros. 3 play. He and Luigi each took one Frog Suit powerup.

"When should we use the Frog Suit?" Luigi asked.

"Probably mid-attack," Mario replied. "I'd say right before you jump on Hooktail's head."

"Good idea."

"So, what happens? Do you just turn into frogs?" Koops wondered.

"Close. It's just a special kind of frog costume that lets us jump higher and swim faster," Luigi responded.

Without hesitation, Mario led Luigi and Koops out the door and onto a narrow bridge connecting the main part of the castle to a tall tower. There were no enemies patrolling the bridge.

Upon reaching the tower entrance, the Mario Bros and Koops went up a long, winding flight of stairs to the very top.

While Mario and Luigi felt determined for the upcoming battle, Koops was feeling mixed emotions: both nervous and brave at the same time.

…

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Edited to change Mario's reaction to the spiked ceiling.