Chapter Five: Queen Bean
"You truly believe that these are something I should use?" Coco looked down at the stars Kamek held before her. "I mean, they hurt mother badly the last time I used them."
"That is precisely why they are necessary now," Kamek grit his teeth. "I fear this witch may triumph over your mother. This is a safeguard against your mother's dark magic. You proved your worth in fighting through Rogueport for them. Now, you must retrain your body to use them. If your sister fails to stop this witch, you must protect your mother."
"Lucinda won't be fighting, will she?"
"Your sister possesses the blood of your father, the great Koopa King. While she is unaware of this, she is aware of a great deal of other powers she possesses. However, she is not necessarily powerful enough to stop this witch on her own or with her aid."
"I understand," The elder princess bowed her head. "Train me in their use once again, Kamek."
"As you wish, my princess."
The magician held up the yellow star to her, summoning it to her as it shot forth into her chest. It seemed to impale her, piercing her with a holy and powerful light. Her own internal power skyrocketed, bursting forth in a glorious array of light. She felt herself getting stronger and her body toughening up.
"Good," The magician sighed in relief. "Your body is still accustomed to their power. We will still go slowly so as to avoid overloading you. But, we can use this to our advantage."
Coco felt herself be pulled inside herself, seeing what she saw the last time she used the Stars.
Six hours later, the crew of Lucinda and Co had arrived in the Beanbean Kingdom. The plane touching down, Lucinda aided Prince Peasley in exiting the plane. Pink and Shroob followed, making sure they stayed with Lucinda and Peasley, the only two present that had traversed the Beanbean Kingdom before.
"Mother's castle is to the north," Peasley spoke. "However, the royal guard will escort us."
A tall, old Beanish woman in a yellow robe walked up to them, bowing low to the ground. Prince Peasley looked at her without moving.
"My prince, you have returned," She said in a jovial voice. "I'm glad you have returned. Your mother was quite upset at having heard that that ruffian from the Mushroom Kingdom beat you up."
"I was a monster," Prince Peasley shrugged. "I suppose I did break a few things. But, I looked fabulous while doing so."
Lucinda's eye roll couldn't have been louder if she'd said she was going to do it. The vizier, as her title would imply, gestured them to her procession.
"Lady Lima," Peasley spoke. "Where is my mother? At the palace still?"
"Of course, your highness. She is waiting for your safe return. We must hurry before she worries further."
The group proceeded to the castle, the town of Beanbean Castle bustling with Beanish people walking around and visiting the shops and various other things. Lucinda always did enjoy the town, its liveliness rivalling that of the Mushroom Kingdom.
They were led up the castle, straight into the throne room. A monstrous Beanish woman was there, crossing her large arms. She towered over the entire crew, her smile looking wide enough to swallow one whole, especially Pink, who was quite a bit smaller than Lucinda.
"Well, it seems as if my little angel has returned," She chortled, jumping into the air. The room seemed to shake with her jump.
"I have," Peasley bowed slightly.
"No thanks to that Mushroom Kingdom cretin they call a heroine, I would say."
"Well, without her, I would be still a monster, I would say she helped."
"And, yet you were hospitalized because of it."
"I was a monster. We'll worry about it later. We need to stop this witch."
"That is why I am glad that the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom has come. Though, why she has brought one of them, I'm not sure."
Lucinda felt her fist clench on instinct as Pink and Shroob stepped behind her.
"You take that back." Lucinda tried to keep civil. "They're both my friends. I don't know which one you mean, but you're on thin ice."
"Feisty. We'll need that. And, I am referring to the Shroob you have brought. They're nothing but trouble."
"You're one to talk."
"Enough!" Peasley shouted. "Mother, you are being quite rude to our guests. It isn't worth angering Lucinda's mother because of some petty grudge. Starting war is something you don't want to do. None of us do."
"Very well. But, keep an eye on that one. She may be trouble."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Lucinda demanded.
"It seems you don't know of the wars past," Queen Bean sighed. "I suppose they were hidden for a reason. They weren't pretty wars, whatever they were. We all lost forces. But, we must put that behind us at this moment. We have bigger problems. It's time to begin discussing what we have learned. You will begin."
After a recounting of their story, minus the parts about Lucinda being Starchild, the queen nodded.
"It would seem the two things are aligned after all."
"How so, mother?"
"That witch has taken the Beanstar by fixing the plumbing of our castle."
"Who makes that a security device?" Lucinda interjected.
"Yeah, that's pretty stupid," Pink nodded in agreement.
"Well, it was what we had. And, this witch has taken it. But, it's clear she isn't able to activate it."
"How so, mother?"
"Because she'd be nigh all-powerful. She'd have gone to attack your mother without a second thought. She would have drained her power and become the most powerful being in the universe."
"But, the Mushroom Queen isn't so weak, my queen."
"She may not be, but can she outmatch the Beanstar with her power sealed like that?"
"Sealed?" Lucinda asked.
"Without her voice, she does not have access to her full powers," Queen Bean explained. "She will be vulnerable and unable to attack to stop the witch from stealing what is your mother's. But, if we can stop her, then we will be able to restore your mother's powers."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Lucinda asked. "Let's get to restoring her."
"It will take very careful planning for us to be able to defeat this foe."
"But, my mother can't talk without exploding things."
"And, we will restore her. But, running blindly into such a battle will not get us anywhere. It will be a trap if we rush into this. We have discovered her location is that of WooHoo Hooniversity."
"Well, then let's go after her!"
"I told you, child, it will be a trap!"
"Well, we need to do something!"
"Enough!" Shroob shouted. All eyes turned to her. "We will get nowhere by arguing like children. We need a way to stop them."
"And, what is your stake in this?" Queen Bean asked the purple haired girl.
"Lucinda is my… friend," Shroob stated. "She helped me when I needed it. Her problem is my problem."
"You are noble, I must concede." The monarch nodded, crossing her arms. "Take the children to their rooms and bring them back here in three hours. We will council for war then."
"Right, my queen," Two guards escorted the princess and her entourage to a room that contained three beds.
The second they had left, Lucinda put her case down and opened it. She pulled from it her Starchild outfit. Setting them on her bed, she looked at them with a sigh. She looked to her friends, looking back to her outfit.
"I don't want to have to do this," She said. "But, I'll need to. Shroob, I trust you can keep a secret about my items here."
"I will. Please take me with you."
"It's too dangerous. I'll have to take the feather as insurance. Pink, do you know what happened to the crown? I couldn't see it. Was someone else in my room? You were last one in. Did you see anything?"
"No… no one took it from what I could tell," Pink said. "Did it find its rightful owner?"
"That's my guess," Lucinda sighed. "Hopefully, whoever is using it uses it for good."
"Yeah, hopefully," Pink nodded.
"I'm going now," Lucinda narrowed her eyes. "If Queen Bean asks where I am, tell her I'm in the washroom. I'm going to stop her. If we wait, it will be too late."
"Please don't die," Pink whimpered as Lucinda donned the mask of the Starchild, slipping out of her dress and into the plumber's gear she was so accustomed to wearing. She pulled a Tanooki Leaf from her bag, slipping the feather into a hidden pocket. She used the Leaf, a tail and ears sprouting from her body as she walked to the window. She stepped onto the ledge, falling down before bursting forth in her flight.
She flew high, remembering the geography she had learned of the BeanBean Kingdom as a child. She knew she could make it quickly with the speed of this powerup. She also knew she had the Fire Flower to fall back on in case it was needed. She saw the renowned university ahead of her as she flew, landing in front. She lighted on the first step, opening the door. Walking inside, she saw a group of running students, making their way for the exit.
Starchild felt a pang of nervousness hitting her as she walked inside. She made her way into the depths of the university, standing in the middle of the hall. She saw the monster that had attacked earlier, walking into the hidden wall Prince Peasley had mentioned in one of their conversations. She knew that she had to be careful or she could be hurt. She carefully stole into the area, following the Beanish into the room. Inside, she saw a Beanish that made her gasp in shock.
She was tall, nearly half again Starchild's height. She was incredibly spindly, long and crooked fingers curling around a thin fist. She wore a cape that made her resemble a bat more than a bean. Her face was wicked, a sickly green that looked as if she'd been covered in the blood of the Beans she shared a species with. Her eyes, those horrible eyes, were bloody red, shaped like what a bat's would look like were you to turn them sideways. Long, thin pupils shone in the center, looking as if they were piercing the soul of one. Her cackle sent a shiver down Starchild's spine. The plumber watched them from behind a pillar.
There was a large green star, at least six feet wide at the widest point, lying in the middle of the room, its power glowing brilliantly.
"Ready her voice, Fawful!" She cackled, her henchman walking closer. Starchild bit her lip behind her mask. She had barely been able to defend herself against the smaller one. This witch was clearly a powerful opponent. She couldn't just let her get away with this, but she also didn't know if she could match her power. It was beyond anything she had experienced from anyone aside from her mother. She waited, watching as the smaller Beanish, Fawful, took his headgear, which contained the voice of her mother.
"This will give us access to the Beanstar and limitless power!" The witch cackled. As the voice of her mother began to softly sing, Starchild felt her anger boil over as the star began to react. Eventually, the heroine couldn't take it anymore, rushing in to kick the headgear away from them, knocking it to the floor. With her speed, she knocked Fawful to the ground, moving in front of the taller witch.
"It's over!" She said from behind her mask. "You two are going to pay for taking the queen's voice!"
"Yeargh!" The witch exclaimed in anger. "This pest again! We must have been followed! Fawful!"
"Yes, my queen," Fawful chortled as he moved to gather his headgear. However, he was kicked to the ground by the same stranger that had intervened in his plans back in the Mushroom Kingdom.
"You're not going anywhere," She said, knocking him away. "You're fighting me now."
"You stole the crown," Starchild said her fists clenched. "Who are you?"
"That's not important," The stranger said. "Just worry about her. I may tell you everything later."
Starchild turned her attention to the tall witch, whose face was growing angrier by the second.
"Get in the way of my power, will you?!" She demanded. "I'll show you!"
Lightning shot from the witch's hand toward Starchild, the heroine dodging the bolt. She moved in close, her speed allowing her to get close enough to land a blow to her jaw. The witch recoiled, being forced to take a step back.
"You're quite strong, child. But, I'm far stronger!"
She split into three, each letting loose with a barrage of lightning bolts. Starchild dodged to the best of her abilities, a stray bolt striking her in the right arm. The current raced up and down her arm, the princess hissing in pain as she felt her arm go numb. She was now down an arm. Fortunately, she still had her powerup, which would aid her in battling this witch. Without the speed of the Tanooki tail, she would be in quite the pickle.
She quickly moved in closer, using her good arm to strike one of the three witches. The witch cackled, splitting into a huge swirling cloud of bats that all began to swirl and bite her. Starchild hissed as the bats all began to sink their poison into her. The other two witches cackled as the swirling cloud continued to attack the heroine.
The crown wearing heroine was not faring much better. Fawful was using nasty tricks and attacks to battle her. The queen lookalike ducked and weaved around him, striking with powerful attacks. She kept stealing glances at Starchild to see how she was faring.
Fawful shot a blast from his headgear at her. A solid column of power, she dodged it to move in for a blow to his face. Fawful was faster than he looked, however, and ducked and moved around the attacks. The newer heroine was moving in closer, avoiding Fawful's attacks. Both seemed evenly matched, neither giving any space for the other to land a blow.
"Fink rat!" Fawful shouted, blasting a huge wave of attacks at her. The heroine ducked around them, weaving and trying to move around them. She was struck by a blow, being knocked back. Her strength allowed her to swat away some of the attacks. A huge volley of blasts circled her, rushing in. Dodging like a game of dodgeball, the heroine moved in and around the blasts, expertly weaving to avoid the blasts.
Beneath her was an enormous hole that the blasts had left. Into this she fell, Fawful chortling as he watched. His expression turned to shock when a fist rocketed up and into his face, knocking him clean over.
"You won't beat me just yet," The new heroine floated above the hole, concentrating some unknown power into her hand. This she fired at Fawful, the power exploding into hearts. Fawful was stunned, stepping back as the heroine landed in front of him.
"Time to put an end to your plans," She growled. "You won't get away with hurting the queen."
"On the contrary," Fawful muttered. "I will."
A blast from Fawful's headgear collided with the heroine, knocking her through the wall with the force of it. The Beanish turned to watch his mistress, who was fighting with Starchild. The swarm of bats was still going, swirling around and around. However, an orange light began to pour from the column of bats.
The column exploded outward, disintegrating as Starchild stood there, overalls turned white as she glared from behind her mask, fire in her eyes.
"I'm through playing games. It's time to end this," A fireball in her hand struck one of the two witches left standing. She threw one at the other, who dissipated. Charging at the remaining witch, Starchild threw a fire laden punch to severely burn the air, flames bursting from her hand as she connected her punch. However, she looked with horror to see that the witch had caught her blow, cackling.
"And here I was worried about you being a problem," The witch said, the sizzling from Starchild's hand loosening her grip a little. "But, you're just a child. Someone who can't even stand up to me. But, I suppose that was something I had to worry about."
"And you won't beat both of us," The stranger from earlier jumped in, kicking the witch in the back of the head, flipping her over Lucinda.
"How dare you?!" The witch exclaimed as Fawful moved over to her. "I will kill both of you!"
"You can try," The two heroines stood there, prepared to do battle. Starchild rushed for Fawful, the new heroine doing battle with the witch.
Fawful and Starchild traded blows, the princess feeling her fatigue start to kick in.
"Not now," She groaned inwardly. "I've got to be able to do this!"
The new heroine was also seeming to be tired. The Beanish both were dealing them heavy blows with blasts from magic and headgear.
"It seems as if we are having problems," The witch cackled, throwing the new heroine off of her. "Well, as we've been fighting, the two of us had prepared a glorious ending to your tale.
The two heroines looked on in horror as the Beanstar floated up from behind the Beanish, glowing brightly. The witch touched it, cackling maniacally as she began to rise into the air, absorbing some of its power. She began to fly off holding the star.
"She's going back to the Mushroom Kingdom," Starchild growled. "I can't believe I couldn't stop her. Queen Bean was right."
"I can get you to the Mushroom Kingdom," The new heroine looked at Starchild.
"I can get there myself," Starchild pulled out her Tanooki Leaf. I'll have to stop her before she defeats the queen."
"Be swift," The new heroine nodded, rushing to fight Fawful again.
Fawful chortled as he continued to fire his headgear's attacks at her, the heroine dodging as Starchild flew away.
"I let her go because she cannot possibly stop my queen," Fawful grinned wider than his face.
"Well, I will stop you." The heroine moved forward to punch Fawful in the face. The Beanish was knocked backward, his headgear righting him as it fired a shot toward the heroine. She smacked it away, continuing to move forward to continue her attack. Her magic shot from her hands, striking Fawful.
"You have made my sandwich bitter, but I shall make it sweet again with the mustard of defeat," The Beanish began firing powerful blasts from his headgear. He shot them in a sweeping pattern that attacked the heroine, several smashing into her with intensity.
"I won't surrender!" The heroine exclaimed, moving forward and smashing her fist into the headgear. It sputtered, exploding and sending Fawful flying. She chased after him, attempting to catch him and stop him before he could hurt Starchild.
Meanwhile, Starchild chased the witch back toward the Mushroom Kingdom. She knew she had to stop her at all costs. The castle she resided in was in sight now, such was their speed.
The Beanstar flew faster, reaching the castle and smashing through the window. The queen was sitting on her throne, watching as it landed in front of her, the witch cackling as she stood in front of the Mushroom queen.
"You've lost most of your power, Toadstool. Without your voice, you have no possible way of matching me. I took this precaution to ensure you would not win. I know of the monster you've taken inside of you, the dark magic you wield."
The queen stood, dark magic forming in her hand as she stood in front of the witch, her glare bidding her come and take what she wanted on pain of death. However, at that moment, Starchild crashed into the room, landing in between the two.
"Your battle is with me," She growled, kicking the witch in the gut.
"I suspected you would come back here," The witch snarled, bending over slightly from the kick. "But, I didn't think you so foolish to do it alone. I've beaten you, heroine. Just give up."
"Not on your life," Starchild threw a punch with her speed, but the witch was faster, punching her in the throat, electricity shooting forth through her fist. Starchild shrieked as she felt herself be electrocuted. Her mask began to crack from the magic overload she was suffering. The electricity shot through her, her Tanooki ears and tail poofing away in a cloud of dust.
The queen gasped softly, trying not to talk too loud so as to not trigger the explosive speech spell. She threw the dark magic in her hand at the witch, who threw Starchild into the wall nearby with a sickening crunch.
"It seems like you're just a weakling after all," The witch cackled as the heroine's mask fell off, breaking in two. The eyes of Lucinda glared weakly at her opponent. The queen gasped in horror as she stared at her own daughter, in the attire of the person she had despised and berated.
Lucinda looked at her with shame and sorrow in her eyes. She knew that this was the one thing she failed to keep from her mother.
"It seems as if I'll be ending an entire family today," The witch said. "I'll start with child dearest."
Lucinda growled weakly, reaching into her pocket. She knew she had one more chance to do this and it was now or never.
"Go ahead, take out an item like that other plumber. I'll kill you just like him. I made sure to keep him nice and dead so he'd never threaten me again."
"Go to hell," Lucinda softly said, pulling the feather from her pocket. The witch and the queen stared at it in horror, the witch's fists clenching as she summoned her magic to her hand.
"I won't let you use that against me!" She shrieked, destroying the wall around Lucinda. It crumbled down onto the heroine, the queen gasping loudly in horror. The witch cackled as she turned to face the queen, her magic in her hands as she walked toward her.
"Let's make this last a bit. I'd love to hear you scream more as I remove your power from y—wait, what's that I sense?"
The castle began to shake as an odd power began to emerge from where the crumbled rocks were. They were shaking as a golden power began shining from cracks in the rocks. They were trembling as if shaken in a snow globe. A yelling sound emerged as they heard a shudder in the rocks that had crumbled. Suddenly, they exploded outward in a burst of intense magical power, golden power surrounding the battered figure of Lucinda, her head looking down at the ground. It was like a burning fire that surrounded her with intensity. Flowing behind her like the hero she was pretending to be was a cape that was golden in color and reached her ankles. It seemed to glow brightly as she stood there. It seemed to be the only thing different about her, minus the power she had received from the feather.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she looked up, her eyes blazing red with a might and fury that she'd never felt before. The Beanish witch took a step back in shock at this new powerup Lucinda had consumed. Even the queen was surprised at this.
"You took my mother's voice," She said as she glared at the witch. "Now, it's my turn to take something from you."
Woah! So that's what the feather does! Well, next chapter, we'll see it in action against this witch. How will Lucinda fare?