I: Explorer Detour
Having explored the structure he was sent to, Link was on his way back to Mushroom Plains, lost in thought on several things.
"Sometimes...I wonder why it is that I stay here in the Mushroom Kingdom with those four as well as the others…. Like...I do help them….somewhat...but before I came along...did they really have problems without me here? In this situation for instance...they're probably all dealing with something dire yet I don't know how it is that I can help them out…. If I really do belong here...with them...why is it that it feels like to an extent I feel almost...distant from them? Maybe it's not that...but perhaps..."
Before his inner monologue to himself could continue, nearby up ahead, he saw someone familiar.
It was a Toad, wearing pink clothing, wearing a hat with a searchlight on the top with braids and turned the other way at a village; the same one Link had been at beforehand. Link quickly identified this person.
"It's that Toad Girl...what did Toad say her name was...? Toad...ette? I think it was? What's she doing here?"
Given this, Link walked her way, preparing to greet himself and show he was there.
"Um...hello there...Toadette?"
Toadette had been in the middle of rambling about something, but quickly took notice of Link.
"Oh! Hey there, you're...that sword guy that hangs with Toad and others right?" Toadette asked.
"I suppose you could say that but...call me Link…. Anyway, what were you doing out here? Didn't I see you handing out tickets at that carnival the other day? What are you doing out here with that goofy looking light on now?"
"You would have seen me handing out the tickets I suppose...but that was then, this is today…" Toadette responded. "To answer your other questions...welllllll…. I'm out here wearing this 'goofy looking light' because I was actually about to go exploring."
"Exploring...that's what I had been doing too…. Where are you thinking of going?"
"Oh, to some old pyramid over in-"
"Wait...I was just at an old pyramid myself…" Link responded.
"Huh?" Toadette responded.
"Yeah...north of the desert in some Oasis, I found an old pyramid."
"Interesting...I was referring to this old pyramid over in Subcon actually."
"Subcon huh?" Link commented. "So there's more than one of these pyramids around huh…" he then thought.
"Yeah, and I'm going to go with a brigade of several Toads as well as Glow and Beryl, since I had heard about the place from them a few days back."
"Glow and Beryl...I think I know them, aren't one of them a large, fire breathing serpent and the other...some kind of living cactus creature?"
"...pretty much…. But yeah, I'm planning to meet with them over in a town in Subcon's desert area along with the rest of the brigade, want to come along?"
"Hmm…" Link said aloud. "I suppose so," Link then responded. "Because to be honest...what else am I going to do at the moment?" he then thought.
"Great! The more the merrier," Toadette responded.
"Where would this pyramid be in Subcon? I know you can only get there through those fancy looking doors."
"Don't worry, just follow my lead and you'll be led right to it as well," Toadette explained. "That being said, this way!"
With that, Toadette then began to head towards the direction of the door, taking Link along while doing so.
Meanwhile...
II: We Live In A (Beetle) Society
The Hoopster tribe leader had led Peach to another area of the woods; a large clearing. In this clearing were even more Hoopsters of varying colors working on a number of different things around the settlement, such as carrying rocks or blocks, guiding the others on how to go about doing things, some talking to one another casually, etc.
"Wow...this seems to be...quite an active settlement you guys have going on here…" Peach commented.
"Yeah, it's acceptable to our standards," The leader began. "And alot of us even enjoy building upon it in whatever ways that we think of or help us out."
"That's...neat…"
"Though, work hasn't been as enjoyable lately…"
"Oh? Why may that be? Is it a morale issue?"
"No...it's well…" The large insect explained, but not finishing, not being sure if he should tell his new acquaintance.
"What may it be?"
"Don't...worry about it…. Anyway, the pipe should be a couple hundred feet away over there..." the primitive clan leader told Peach, pointing straight ahead.
"Oh, well...thanks for the directions for when I want to go, but umm...you don't mind me hanging out a bit longer...right?"
"Yes! umm, I mean...not at all, take your time."
As Peach continued to follow the Hoopster leader, she had some inner thoughts.
"I may get uncomfortable around bugs a lot, especially this many at once, but knowing what problem they're having that's affecting their living conditions may be a bit more important…"
After traveling along the clan grounds for a while, before Peach and the large Hoopster sat a large stone structure, specifically a staircase leading to an elevated area of the woods up to something else.
"Oh...what's this used for?" Peach asked.
"How about taking a look, curious princess?"
"I suppose if you insist."
The two made their way up, and things immediately pieced together when Peach saw in front of her two hoopsters on either side of a large, fancy stone chair holding spears.
"Oh? Would this be your throne?" Peach asked.
"Yeah, indeed it would be," The kingly beetle answered. "Suppose you would know that."
"This is where you give all of your orders to the Hoopsters down below huh?" Peach asked.
"Well of course, what else would I use it for?"
"Isn't sitting there a bit uncomfortable?" Peach then asked.
"Maybe a little bit...I don't really mind either way though," The leader responded, and made his way to the throne, turning his full body around, sitting in it.
"And since I never got your name, would you mind telling me?" Peach asked.
"Ah sure, Oved…"
"Well alright Oved, I'll be sure to refer to you by that name going forward."
Oved gave a nod, and then continued, "Hey, Hoopster #272, hurl my staff over to me, would you please?"
"Your wish is my command sire!" The smaller hoopster responded, grabbing a dark brown cane of sorts and hurling it to his larger brethren, who caught the long cane with ease.
"Wow, that's quite a long cane you have there…" Peach commented.
As Peach examined the cane a bit longer, she realized that the top of it was slightly shiny. Curious, she gave the shine a closer look. What she found on the staff caught her attention quite a bit.
It was a crooked shard of some kind, this of which gave off a paleish blue tint.
"Wait a minute...wasn't Bowser wearing something like that?" Peach thought for a bit. "...Wait a minute; he was...it looked exactly like that...except that it was yellow...not blue…. Isn't he after these things?" She then realized. "What if he were to go after this innocent clan for the sake of getting the shard? That wouldn't turn out well…"
Given this, she decided to ask the only clear question to ask the ten-limbed creature.
"Hey so...Oved…" Peach feebly began.
"Huh, what may be going on now, miss?"
"So I was just looking at your cane, it's pretty nice and well...I wanted to ask something…"
Oved stayed silent as he awaited Peach's response.
"I was wondering if there was well...maybe some way that...umm...you could give that blue shard...to me?"
Oved remained silent, though acknowledging Peach's plee, giving it some thought.
"Hmm, so you want this sparkly, shiny thing I have?"
"Well...yeah...that is what I asked…"
"Hmm...well i'm not going to lie to you," Oved began. "On one end, I'd be willing to give this to you...however, I don't feel something as special as this thing can go off for free."
"Ah? Why exactly?" Peach asked.
"Well, observe," The bug explained, then pointing the cane at a couple stacks of bricks that laid side by side.
A blue glow surrounded one stack of the bricks, and through levitation or the sort was then piled onto the other golden stack of building blocks.
"Oh wow...he wasn't kidding about these things huh…" Peach thought.
"This shard on the cane happens to have mysterious magical properties, so it's pretty valuable," Oved explained.
"It would be…"
"Though...given you're the princess of the mushroom kingdom, I suppose if you insist on taking it you could…"
Peach was about to respond before he continued.
"And we do honestly prefer to build things by hand around here than have them be done easily with magic as it feels there's more reward to it than otherwise…"
"So, what's the catch here? You're not going to give it to me for free...are you?"
"Not this time...the request I do have for you is pretty simple…" Oved began to answer. "Do you think you can find a jewel that's equal in value to something like this magical shard?"
"Oh?"
"If you did, I'd happily trade with you," Oved explained.
"I...I suppose I could…" Peach answered. "My only question is...where do I start to find something like that?"
"That'll be no problem," Oved responded, then giving a whistle.
In this, three blue hoopsters quickly showed up next to Peach and Oved.
"May you three lead this regal highness to the Jewel Caverns?" Oved ordered.
"Oh...that place…" Peach commented. "I suppose that would make sense as a place to look…"
"Aye, aye sir…" one of the hoopsters responded, scuttling off with the other two, guiding Peach to the mining area in which their clan had become accustomed to.
Meanwhile...
III: Searcher Toad
Toad had plummeted down onto Subcon's terrain, landing face first before quickly recovering from the landing.
"That...wasn't a good landing…"
After making this comment to himself, he took a look around. Seeing all of the grass and palm trees around, Toad quickly came to the obvious conclusion.
"This...isn't the desert area like they had informed me…. Thanks for the accurate information you guys..."
Deciding to figure out the quickest way to make it to Subcon's Desert area, Toad looked around, and soon enough saw something of help, a sign reading 'Subcon Village', in the shape of an area pointing to the left.
"Maybe the townspeople will know something about getting to the desert area…" Toad deduced, deciding the best course of action was following the sign to town and gathering information there.
On route to the town, he didn't really run into much trouble. He peeked into vases here and there, he plucked up veggies and the like; typical subcon stuff. Except when he had a brief run in with several minions within the 8-bits.
With some good thinking however; they too, he found he was able to overcome.
And soon enough a good few meters away, he saw his destination right then and there; Subcon Village.
"Well...here we finally are…" Toad commented to himself. "Haven't seen these...suit wearing fairy guys for awhile...not since we saved them that one time, among other rare instances after…. Regardless...I should figure out what I can..."
Looking around the village, Toad found that it had a lot of things he'd come to expect in a civilization such as this one. Residential homes, shops, the usual; of course, coming with a dreamy feel given the dimension they were located within.
Soon enough, one of the dreamland fairies noticed Toad.
"Hey, you, you're…" they began.
"If you're going to say, 'one of the four heroes', well...I suppose you could say I was…"
"Well, what brings you here today?" The subcon asked.
"Well, I was wanting to ask if you know of any quick way to get to Subcon's Desert Area, I was looking for where Glow and Beryl were and heard they'd be over there."
"Oh! I've heard a buddy from over there mention the two sometimes. I think there should be a taxi service here that'll take you right over for just twenty coins."
"Wow...good thing I grabbed those coins on the way…" Toad thought to himself. "Ah, alright, and where is this taxi service?" he then asked aloud.
"I think it's just a block of this village or so down on top of a large building with two guys in golden suits guiding a magic carpet."
"Okay, that's where I'll go, thanks for the information," Toad responded, making his way downtown, walking fast, passing faces and he's trip bound.
"Hello, I'd like to use the taxi service?" Toad asked the carpet holding fairies.
"No problemo!" One of the Subcons responded. "Just give us the coins and we're good to go!"
"Yeah...we're good to go," the other Subcon added.
"Well I'd suppose this should make you guys 'good to go'" Toad replied, emptying some coins out of the small case he was keeping them in and giving it to the subcons.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
With that, the Subcons, using all of their might, picked up the carpet, carrying one mushroom person with them and flew up into the sky east; en route to the Desert Area of Subcon.
And soon enough, that's exactly where they made it and stopped down within the desert town that resided within the dusty landscape; the buildings characteristically built out of yellow, sandy looking blocks and the like.
"Alright buddy, we're here," one of the Subcons said to Toad, however, receiving no response.
"Huh, what's going on?" the other said, then checking the carpet, seeing that Toad was there, however he was sitting down, curled up and in a cold sweat.
"Wow...he's sweating vases...I wonder why?" the first subcon commented.
The other Subcon shrugged, then gave their piece to Toad. "Hey, buddy, we're here now, you can stop shivering."
"Oh?" Toad responded, getting out of the position he was in before. "T...Thank you for the lift guys," he began. "And...I suppose so."
"Yeah...no problem," the first Subcon commented. "Just try to stay out of trouble."
"And stay safe...especially when members of the 8-bits like Mouser or Tryclyde could be lurking around here somewhere," the second Subcon added.
"Oh...okay…" Toad replied.
"Either way, safe travels," the first Subcon continued, then giving his workmate a sign they should head back to the grassy area in a bit, which they indeed planned to do, sticking at the town they currently resided for the time being while Toad went off deeper into the town seeing if he could track down the desert duo in their usual place of dwelling.
Meanwhile at ?..
IV: Somewhat Less Mysterious Place
After wandering within his unknown surroundings for an extensive period of time and realizing that he was getting nowhere fast, Luigi eventually came to an explanatory conclusion.
"Mama-mia...I don't-a know where I am-a going, it feels-a like i'm going in-a circles…" he thought to himself. "I wonder if I'll-a ever get out of here."
As these thoughts went through his mind, he quickly picked up on a familiar noise given they were the same from earlier; rapid paced footsteps. This time however, they were a lot closer than they were before.
Wanting to know who this was; given he was worried enough about his surroundings, Luigi shouted, "W-Who's-a there?!"
Given this person had been in Luigi's area for a while watching his movements but had stayed concealed, it was then that they felt no further need to stay hidden and emerged from the shadows, where Luigi could see them in detail.
The person appeared to be humanoid and sleek in appearance; wearing some kind of blue outfit in different shades separated by different sections of cloth. The shoulder areas of the cloth appeared to be slightly raggy, the wrist areas had a bandage-like look to them, and the upper torso area was white; designed with a red eye of some kind. The person also had yellow hair and wore a white cap of matching design to the rest of the outfit.
"It's just me…" the person responded.
Luigi of course, seeing them, felt unnerved, not knowing what they'd do.
"And to ask...are you lost?"
"Y...yeah…do...do you-a have a way to help me-a out?"
"I'm pretty sure I would, just follow my lead." the person responded to Luigi, heading back down the dark, stone halls present around them, expecting for Luigi to follow; in which he did exactly that.
As Luigi followed the person, he asked a question.
"What's your-a name?"
"Well, you can call me Shiek," the person responded.
"Oh, well alright...Shiek."
Soon enough, the two made it to what appeared to be a dead end.
"Isn't this-a dead end?" Luigi asked.
"Right here…" Shiek replied.
"Right-a here?" Luigi asked.
"It's a barricade, can you help me push it?"
"Sure-a thing I suppose…" Luigi responded.
With a somewhat considerable amount of effort, the two pushed aside the barricade, revealing a secret door which gave off a triangle-shaped yellow glow.
"It's an-a secret entrance…" Luigi commented.
"Let's head inside," Shiek then stated, opening up the door, the other side flooding the dark dungeon with light.
The two entered the lit up room, and saw that it was much more open in space than the dungeon the two were exploring beforehand as well as greatly decorated, with things such as a red carpet, diamond pattern green-white tiles, golden statues, a throne, etc. and behind the throne was a large stained glass mosaic.
The peculiar thing about the mosaic was the mural portrayed. On this mural was a strange, almost mystical looking symbol. the symbol in the center portrayed what looked like a two sided spike thing of some kind, with the top one being bigger than the bottom one, and on either side of it being what looks like some kind of straight and jagged wings on either side as well as two things that looked to be some kind of mural supposed to portray talons. And finally, above all of this was what looked to be three triangles, that in of themselves, formed a triangle, the bottom left one was blue, the bottom right one was green and the top one red.
"This room has interesting-a scenery…what's it-a for? And...what's with-a that surreal mural up on the-a window?"
"I'd think that your first question would be clear, but it's the room in which-"
"Hello? Zelda? Would you happen to be here? I wanted to talk about some things," another voice suddenly came in.
Luigi looked in the direction of the voice, finding it peculiar.
"That...that-a voice…. Haven't...I-a heard it a couple times before?" he thought to himself.
The one who had spoken before then let themselves into the room, revealing who they were.
"Wait...Wait...do...do I remember you…" Luigi began to say. "MIDNIGHT!? W-what the...what are-a you doing here?"
Midnight just didn't respond, though he was notably surprised to see that Luigi of all people was in here.
"Well...to answer your question Midnight, I am right here, i'm just Sheik right now…" Shiek responded.
"W-Wait...h-hold on...what do you...what do you mean your Shiek...right...now," Luigi slowly said, trying to keep his composure as he felt him getting light-headed from the whiplash of everything that was happening.
"Well...it's because Shiek and Zelda are actually the same person...though I wouldn't expect you to know that, not knowing that is not even an issue for someone like you."
"T-They're-a what?" Luigi responded. "I...I think I'm-a gonna pass out…"
Causing what was practically a self-fulfilled prophecy, the confused plumber then proceeded to do exactly that. He collapsed on the floor, overwhelmed from everything happening around him, completely unconscious.
To Be Continued...
