Thanks... and yes I am a Koopa fan. My favorite version of the King is the all green bald headed one with the yellow spikes & teeth from the Old Super Mario Cartoon Series but I still am a fan of the newer one... He's my picks at Mario Tennis and Smash Bros. I wish there were more collectible figures of King Koopa though. I mean like who made Donkey Kong so dang popular... Am I right... :)
Disclaimer: I do not own any Mushroom Kingdom peoples or land. Those characters and places are owned by Nintendo.
Day 2-
Started with the paratroopa sitting up just before dawn. Staring at his covered body, the turtle turned seeing me blowing into my cupped hands in front of the smoldering fire pit.
"You're still here," he said in surprise.
"Yep," I answered breathing into my hands again.
"But you would have had the whole night's head start," he looked a little upset.
"I promised I wouldn't run."
The reptile paused a moment before speaking. "Why did you give me your cloth?"
"You were shivering last night. I was worried that you may freeze to death since you're coldblooded so I draped my sweatshirt over you to provide you a little more warmth," I responded with a smile. "I had the fire to keep me warm." I breathed into my hands again.
"How come you didn't wake me?"
"I'm too new to this world. I just couldn't sleep so I decided to let you rest through the night," I answered. The turtle surprised me by walking over and lowering his beak to my leg restraints. In a quick motion, the tip severed the rope freeing my legs. "Thank you."
"We have a long walk ahead of us," the reptile ordered returning my sweatshirt.
Accepting my sweatshirt back, "I'm sorry. I haven't asked your name," I said. "It's been bothering me all night."
"You've earned some respect but not enough to break that rule," the paratroopa answered. "Prisoners and captors are not allowed to learn each other's names until the king decrees.
"I can get in allot of trouble just talking to you."
I thought a moment. "Makes sense. It would prevent a friendship or mix feelings from forming," I replied rolling my sweatshirt back into my backpack's side pouch. "I'll do my best not to get you in trouble sir."
The paratroopa remained silent but his eyes conveyed "Thank you" and perhaps a hint of sorrow. I could be mistaken but maybe a friendship has already started. It's definitely more than prisoner and captor.
I volunteered to walk ahead of the turtle into the jungle. I rationalized that I should go first to test the terrain for traps and pitfalls. Also, it would prevent me from lagging behind or disappearing from his line of sight.
My captor laughed and agreed. He even added, "Get a move on maggot" in a humorous tone while we walked. It was funny. I laughed anyway.
Going several miles, we came across a red mushroom cap crying sunk halfway in some mud. The reptile used some rope hidden within his shell to pull the fungus from the waist deep pool. I had to rub my eyes when I saw it had arms and legs. Thinking back to the previous night, its head was the same mushroom top hidden among the bushes.
"Are you okay," I asked the trembling mushroom after the paratroopa tied it to me turning us into some kind of chain gang.
"No! I'm being kidnapped," the mushroom whined. "Doomed to a life of pain and slavery, I'll never see my family again."
"Quiet," the reptile ordered in a firm tone. It wasn't mean. It was meant just to assert who's in charge.
The mushroom kept falling down or trying to escape slowing our pace. I guess as a fellow prison I should have tried getting away or maybe attempted to fight for my freedom too but truthfully his antics were getting on my nerves.
Besides really wanting to meet the king, my captor wasn't so bad I thought. I liked his company anyway and I guess I'm still in awe of this land. I'm too ignorant to be afraid of my predicament.
I saw the mushroom smirk when we came across a red robed figure laying a couple feet from a large tree. Something made me uneasy when the paratroopa approached the still body. I broke my promise, "I don't like this. It feels like a trap."
I drew the attention of both the mushroom and the turtle. The mushroom shot me such a look of contempt that I knew it was a trap. "I think you should leave it alone, sir."
The turtle studied me a moment. I dodged his gaze in an attempt to appear submissive. The fungus next to me turned back toward the turtle and smiled when the reptile cautiously shook the robed figured.
Suddenly the sounds of a rope releasing rapidly through a pulley echoed the jungle and a net filled with rocks fell atop the paratroopa's head. As if a reflex, the turtle's head and appendages retracted into his shell.
"About time guys," the mushroom yelled to a 4 foot tall bipedal wolf, a 6 foot bipedal horse, and the little robed figure wearing a white mask all stood before us.
"Free them, Bain," the horse ordered.
"Roger, Ed," the wolf ran over using a claw from its pawed hand to cut the rope bounding me and the mushroom. "Are you alright," Bain started but stopped when I ran over to the turtle. "Are you alright, Jimmy" the wolf turned to the fungus.
"Yeah, thanks Bain," he responded.
I pressed my ear to the shell and exhaled a sigh of relief when I heard the rhythmic breathing inside.
"What's your name friend," the horse asked me.
"Tom," I replied looking at them.
"You're free now friend. Come with us," the horse extended his hand.
"Thank you but I'm going to stay here until he wakes up," I answered pressing my hand lightly on the shell.
"What," they all exclaimed in unison.
My head shifted to each one of them before responding, "I promised him I wouldn't runaway." I smiled "He's going to let me meet his king."
"But King Koopa's a terrible monster," the mushroom yelled.
"Jimmy's right," the horse added with the red figure and wolf nodding behind him. "He'll either eat you or make you a slave."
I shrugged. "I don't care." It was a lie. I didn't really want to be eaten. "I think this is just one of those things a person has to do.
"Besides," I looked at the turtle shell "I'm not going to break my promise."
"I think I know how you can keep your promise without becoming a slave," Jimmy said as he turned to the robed figured. "Simon, grab my sword."
The figure responded with a nod and disappeared behind the large tree trunk. When he reappeared, the little person carried a sword a little longer than himself. It was a plain sword that didn't look metal.
"Wait? What are you doing," I asked when Simon handed the blade to Jimmy.
Approaching me and the turtle "If we kill the koopa troopa, you won't break your promise," Jimmy responded. He lifted the sword over his head swinging downward.
"No," I yelled grabbing the mushroom's arm stopping the blade's descent. "I won't let you hurt him."
"What are you doing? If we kill him there will be one less member in King Koopa's army," the mushroom fumed.
"He's already knocked out and you're free," I shot back. "If you want to be free, I won't stop you from running but I won't let you kill him."
Two sets of arms pulled me from Jimmy. The wolf and horse held my arms behind my back. I could tell they weren't particularly strong. I just needed them to let their guard down.
The fungus looked angrily at me. "How could you side with a monster like Koopa?"
"I don't know him. I'm new to this world," I said feeling the wolf's grip lighten. "I haven't chosen a side but," my eyes wondered to the shell and reaffirmed, "I won't let you kill him."
"Then there is only one choice. We kill both of you," the mushroom pointed his sword at me then at the turtle. "Who's first?"
His friends were not expecting the fungus's conclusion and both of their grips virtually disappeared. Noticing Jimmy wasn't holding his sword very tightly I closed my eyes and swung my right arm with the wolf into the mushroom causing him to drop the sword.
My momentum continued the punch into the horse's abdomen. His grip released fully allowing me to immediately assume a boxer's stance. I didn't expect the wolf to recover so quickly that his claws cut into my back just under my backpack.
My guard dropped and Ed kicked me with a hind leg so hard that I thought my chest was going to cave in. Their teamwork though was out of sync and when the horse kicked again I sidestepped causing the stray ward kick to strike Bain in the face. The wolf crashed into Jimmy again.
My guard dropped again as I spent a second too long admiring the result. Ed's kick struck my ribs. I think he broke all of them in my left side. I couldn't dwell on the pain, however, as the horse swung a leg toward my head.
Breaking my left arm blocking, I countered using as much power as I could with a right hook that connected clearly breaking the horse's lower jaw. It caused all of them to gasp providing a window to escape. Picking up the sword, I started pushing the turtle's shell and ran away from my supposed heroes.
"After them! We can't let them get away," Jimmy yelled somewhere behind us.
I noticed the landscape began sloping downward. "I'm sorry, sir," I whispered as I hopped atop the shell and rode it like a bobsled down a mountainside. Using the sword and shifting my bodyweight in a haphazard way of steering, we bounced off trees and rocks.
I got a mouthful of leaves passing through some bushes when a cloud of dust kicked up around me. At one point, we even did a loop-d-loop grinding against the inside of a hollowed log. I wanted to stop but before I knew it we launched off a slanted tree high into the air.
When I looked down, I saw that we were soaring over a large canyon with a river raging below and that we weren't going to make it across. I gripped tightly to the paratroopa's shell. During our descent, our momentum slowed dramatically. I peeked behind me and saw some kind of raccoon tail whirling causing us to fall gently.
Suddenly the rodent's tail stopped rotating and we fell twenty feet like a rock into the river below. After an eternity underwater, the shell raised us to the surface holding us afloat like a life preserver.
I let the current drag us down stream, while I paddled exhausted toward the far shore. My energy renewed when the turtle's head, arms, and legs exited the shell. Pulling the unconscious reptile onto a small sandbank under a cliff's edge, I heard the voices of my rescuers echo off the canyon walls.
"We can't let them getaway."
"But Jimmy, they fell off the cliff and are being carried by the river," Bain said.
"And Ed's hurt. We should go home," the voice must have belonged to Simon. It was the first time I heard him speak.
"I want my sword back," Jimmy answered. "Follow me. I know where we can cut them off."
I turned to the unconscious reptile sighing. "I don't think I can carry us out of here. I'll do my best to protect us until you're awake." Turning to the river, I couldn't help wonder where the raccoon went. Poor thing must have been swept away.
Removing the rolled sweatshirt, I cut the sleeves off splitting them into tops and bottoms. I wrapped one piece around my broken arm pulling as tightly as I could. Next I soaked the remaining pieces draping one across the turtle's forehead. I had no idea whether it helped or not but it's always what they do in the cartoons I watched.
Dumping the contents of my bag's largest pouch, a 2000 page textbook and several dampened notebooks fell out. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything other than some soggy paper to eat since we shared the crackers on the first night.
"Hang in there buddy," I said to the resting turtle. "I'll see if I can find some food."
I put the bag over my shoulder and lifted the sword. It wasn't a metal blade but it was still sharp. I thought the hilt felt kind of like a fried chicken leg.
Climbing a small hill, I did my best ignoring the pain in my chest and ribs. I gathered wood, an applely looking thing (I think), and "YUCK" three mushrooms. I was about to eat one when I realized they didn't look like the brown one the paratroopa gave to me last night. These mushrooms were red, green, and purple capped. I figured it would be best to wait until the turtle woke up before eating one.
I returned to our little cove finding my friend still sleeping. I managed to start a fire and hung the sweatshirt on a stick by its hood. After it felt warm and dry, I covered the reptile's body as best as I could.
I stood guard again through the night just in case those rescuers arrived. Luckily they never did.