Day 93-
Loki and I continued our journey through King Koopa's keep. He was right about it being a never ending labyrinth with multiple paths leading back to the main entrance. We must have reentered it 16 times so far today.
I've seen so many new rooms going through those different paths. One of my favorites was the garage… No wait… Is it a carriage house in a castle? Regardless it's where King Koopa keeps his noble steeds by which I mean his airships and tanks… I guess it could be a hanger. Is that where tanks are kept?
All the vehicles were massive and must house thousands of his majesty's soldiers. At least that's how many koopa troopas and paratroopas looked like they were working on them. Stepping close to one of the airships, I narrowly avoided a giant hammer that landed just to the right of me.
I tilted my head skyward finding a koopa troopa almost sixty feet in the air sitting on scaffolding. It was three feet taller than Loki and wearing a helmet staring down at me.
"Heads up," it yelled with a smirk.
"Thanks for the warning, sir," I joked back silencing it.
Loki whispered in my ear, "That's Jorook. She's in the Hammer Bros. Squad."
Oh boy… I guess it's going to be a lot more difficult to tell the female koopa troopa from the male ones than I thought. It's not my fault they all look unisex.
"Yo, Loki, it's dangers in here. Maybe King Koopa's footstool should wear a helmet," Jorook shouted. She was joined by another turtle dressed in the Hammer Bros. uniform that handed her something. "Here, we have an extra."
A helmet landed upside down beside us. Loki's eyes rolled after turning it over. I laughed when he should me the image of a bull's eye painted on the top.
"Thank you ma'am," I shouted with a laugh putting the helmet on. She froze again. Ha! Appears manners are the secret weapon around here. Who needs brawn when you have "please" and "thank you"?
"Yo Loki, a little help," Jorook found her voice motioning to her hammer.
"I'll get it," I volunteered hearing her and her buddy snicker.
Picking up the easily 300 pound hammer (geez turtles are strong); I tossed it up to her. Luckily she caught it. A 300 pound hammer could have done some serious damage to her, her friend, or King Koopa's ship.
It was Loki's turn to snicker after he nudged me. Both Hammer Bros. fell dumbstruck staring at me. A quick wave goodbye, Loki directed me toward the exit.
Following my guide, I laughed when a jumbo green tea cup with a white clown face decal on the side and a propeller on the bottom caught my eye.
"That's the Clown car," Loki informed following my line of sight. "It's King Koopa's own private chariot."
It looked so small. I found it hard to believe my king could fit inside. "May I get in it, Master Loki?" I stepped onto the Clown car when he nodded.
The whole car changed and shrunk to accommodate my size. So my king has it bewitched to scale to whoever may pilot it. Studying the controls, the craft didn't look all that complicated.
There were only a couple buttons labeled up, down, and hover as well as a couple foot pedals that I assume made the car go forward and backward. I'll have to ask my king how it moves left and right since I didn't see anything else on the controls.
My eyes drifted to an assortment of smaller vehicles while I was exiting the Clown car. They looked like soapbox derby cars thanks to the detailing on their hoods and stuff but each car had its own motor and exhaust pipes.
"Those are King Koopa's and the Kooplings' Go Karts," Loki said following my line of sight.
"Wow… That's really cool," I couldn't help getting excited. "Is there a track? Is it in the castle?"
"Yes and no," the turtle replied. "The track weaves in and out of the castle running as far in as the coliseum to looping over the lava pits.
"Parts of the track are connected to some of the secret passages inside the castle. I think they're used as shortcuts."
Looking at the little automobiles, I mumbled, "I wonder if my king would allow me to race too."
"I doubt it. I don't think King Koopa would risk damaging his footstool," Loki answered me. I frowned more because I didn't mean to say that out loud but Loki added, "Unless you're on his team."
My friend must have thought his quick dismissal caused my frown. He's a good friend. I asked, "Team?"
"Yep. Each car seats two people, one driver and one passenger," Loki informed me. "Since Ludwig doesn't normally participate, the teams are always even."
I frowned again releasing a heavy sigh. "Why would you want to race," the turtle drew my attention. "The races are dangerous. Mystery boxes filled with items to disrupt, crash, or destroy your opponents are placed along the course.
"They're partly the reason only King Bowser and the Kooplings race. They're the only ones durable enough to walk from those kinds of wrecks," Loki finished clearly recalling his own memories. "I tried joining them once. I was shrunk then run over getting flatten into a pancake and ended up in the hospital for almost seven days."
"Still sounds fun though," I smiled looking at the cars then looked back at Loki. "Plus I've got a helmet." Loki laughed when I bowed pointing at the target on top of my head.
Returning to my upright position, I asked following my friend from the motor pool (?), "What's the other reason only King Koopa and his kids race?"
Loki stared at me with a straight face. "They cheat." I laughed while the turtle continued, "And Lemmy's team always wins."
I laughed even harder recalling a previous conversation with King Koopa. I couldn't seem to stop until Loki's arm moved lightning quick halting just before a seemingly dark and bottomless pit.
It was vast and shadows hid the other end obscuring any possible landing zones. I know it's too large for me to try jumping in my weighted clothing and I'm a bit too hefty for Loki to attempt flying us across.
"What is it, Master Loki," I walked to the edge staring down into the nothingness.
"Falling in that pit leads to a secret dungeon that connects you to the throne room," Loki answered.
"Really," I leaned over.
"Wait," Loki shouted nearly making me jump out of my shell then pulled my cloak hard causing me to fall on butt. "Falling in there is dangerous."
"Why," I asked standing up.
Loki helped readjusting my shell. "Once you fall in, it becomes impossible to escape," he said. He elaborated when I went to ask a question, "Even if you have wings because King Koopa bewitched the pit.
"Once a person falls below the edge, he made it impossible to get back out this way. The only option is to enter the dungeon."
"Wouldn't that be a good thing if you're heading to the throne room anyway?"
Loki shook his head. "King Koopa didn't stop at the pit. He placed a powerful spell on the dungeon itself making it an endless maze.
"If someone is unfortunate enough to fall into the dungeon, they must decipher a specific pattern or path in order to find the exit.
"If that person takes the wrong path, they'll return to the entrance and have to start the maze again. If you don't navigate the maze successfully within 300 seconds, lava floods the chamber."
Technically, a person would only have a window of five minutes to escape. "Hm, has anyone ever made it?"
"Just Super Mario," Loki pushed several blocks on the left wall opening a secret passage. "Everyone else in the castle just avoids it."
'I wonder if I could do it,' I thought following Loki. Probably not since all my clothes are weighted. I doubt I could move quick enough.
We entered a room filled potted by hundreds of red plants with white spots. There were short ones, long ones with circular tops, and a few that stretched all the way to the ceiling like some kind of beanstalk. This room must be some kind of conservatory.
As we moved deeper into greenhouse, I met the same level of uneasiness as my first night here. Back when Jimmy hid in some bushes stalking us. The fact that these plants had red and white tops didn't help. That's when I noticed some of the circular heads tilted in my direction and almost appeared to smile at me.
"Master Loki, what kind of plants are these," I asked stopping watching a plant shake its stem and leaves left and right like a belly dancer or a cobra for a snake charmer.
"Piranha plants," Loki answered. "Don't stop too long…"
My buddy's voice trailed off. Piranha plants? These are the ones King Koopa said eat meat, right? My head told my body to walk away and catch up with Loki but I couldn't turn away from this vegetation's rhythmic movements. They were hypnotic.
I motioned toward the dancer with my arm extended. Suddenly, the flower's smile veered back into a ferocious set of teeth. Moments before it clamped down, Loki had tackled me saving my hand and rocking me back to reality.
"Tom, what were you doing," he asked shuffling us away from the weed.
"I don't know," my bearings were still being collected. We were only about a foot away from the plant's pot. Apparently its range of movement was limited. "How did we get so close to it?"
"You walked up to it and tried to touch it," Loki hurried us out of the room.
"Really, I didn't even realize I was moving toward it," I smiled at Loki. "Thanks buddy. I owe you one."
He nodded. "I think that's all for today."
I agreed. No sense complaining, right? Loki's charged with showing me around until further notice. Besides since I'm a slave, I've still got a whole lifetime to learn the ins and outs of the castle.
Luckily, my sire graced me for dinner again that night. His children still declined their invitation but it hasn't dampened King Koopa's spirits. I wonder if it's because he knows it's only a matter of time or because he of me.
I know it's narcissistic but I'm a foot stool (maybe a pet) and pets are said to pick up subconscious behaviors from their masters. Maybe my king's just happy because he knows there IS someone happy and willing to dine with him every night.
"I saw the Clown car, my king," I said after our dinner "Very impressive the way it scales down to accommodate the passengers."
"Did you like that footstool," King Koopa smiled.
"Yes, sir. I just have one question. How does it turn left and right," I asked.
"It'll turn whichever way the pilot leans. When I lean left, it'll turn left and when I move right, it goes right," King Koopa informed me.
The rest of our time together we spent talking about the various other ships and my king even said he'd take me for a ride on the Clown car one day. I can't wait maybe I'll stick my head out the window with my tongue out.