Chapter 34
"Where are we?"
Demyx looked around him. He sees blocks above him, and near him are blocks with question marks.
"We're somewhere." Roxas held on to his keyblades. "This world is apparently asleep. I think that if we locate its keyhole, then we can find reawaken this world.
Yen Sid had told them that they need to do some work in the realm of sleep. "There are worlds that need to be awakened. Some of the these worlds will disappear unless we help save the world."
"Well, how do we do so?" Roxas asked then.
"Just find the keyhole, and the world will awaken."
Roxas saw a few creatures headed this way. "Hey, look!"
These creatures were turtles, walking with mushroom-like beings. "So, Lord Bowser is getting angry. Mario has been able to pass through all of the stages without losing a life."
"What?" asked Demyx. "Are we in a game world?"
"A what?" asked Roxas.
"In worlds like these, the inhabitants play a role in a game. It may be a game like Tetris, or Monopoly, or Guitar Hero, but you play with their restrictions if you were to play a game."
"What do you mean 'play a game'?" asked Roxas.
"Well, imagine that you wanted to go through a stage of the game. You can fight the way you want to, but if you were to fall into a pit-" Demyx points to a pit separating their platform from another platform, "-then you would lose a life, and blah blah blah...you would end up in the beginning of the level."
"So, like a video game?"
"Exactly!"
Roxas was unsure of himself, but he knew that he had to get to this Bowser with these restrictions. He jumped, surprised that he could jump so high. He hits his head on one of the blocks, breaking it to pieces.
"Well, what a hard-headed kid," said Demyx, giggling.
"Oh, witty." Roxas slashed his keyblade at a few blocks, destroying them. Then, carefully, he hit the question box. A mushroom popped up, moving slowly ahead of Roxas. Demyx seized the thing, only to grow a bit bigger.
"Whoa!" Demyx, startled, jumped up to break multiple blocks. "This mushroom gives you powers!"
"Hey, look, another question block!" Roxas hits the block, only to reveal some coins.
"Well, you got richer, so...that's a thing," said Demyx.
"Well, we have to keep going-"
"What are you?!"
The turtle and mushroom thing from before approached them. They looked ready to battle, but Roxas noticed that they had fear in their eyes.
"Look, we aren't looking to fight you. We just want to know what is going on here-"
"LOOK OUT!" Demyx pointed behind the turtle.
A man in blue overalls, red shirt, and a red cap was proceeding their way. He is accompanied by another man in blue overalls, but with a green hat and matching shirt, and a small man with a mushroom on his head. They stopped, staring at Roxas.
"It's Mario!" cried the mushroom being. "You don't think that he's had enough of us Goombas?"
"Calm down!" Roxas stepped in between Mario and the turtle. "Look, I don't know any of your names or what is going on. Explain it to me!"
"We don't have time to explain things to you!" cried the mushroom man. "We have got to stop Bowser's minions and rescue the princess!"
"Then let us rule the kingdom, and we will be glad to return the princess!" croaked the Goomba.
"I SAID-" Roxas trembled, radiating energy from his body.
"Okay, hold on, Roxas!" cried Demyx. "Look, before anyone tries to fight-"
"Roaaaar!"
A green dinosaur appeared, charging at the Goomba. Roxas stepped in between, countering the charge with a block.
"Wait, Yoshi!" The mushroom man held his hands up to stop everyone from fighting. "Alright, I will explain to you what is happening."
They all sat down on the ground. "So, my name is Toad, the green hat man is Luigi, and the red hat man is his brother, Mario. The dinosaur is Yoshi. Those things are known as Goombas and Koopas."
"'Those things'?" cried the Koopa. "We have names, Jacob and Jared!"
"Yeah, whatever. Anyways, they work under Bowser, a sinister, evil Koopa that took our princess Peach. He wanted her for himself, so we were going to rescue her."
"Oh." Demyx stared at the brothers. "So, are you guys related to the princess?"
"They don't talk too much," Toad said. "They are the silent protagonists. But no, they are not related to the princess."
"So, why do you guys fight for Bowser?" Roxas directed his question to Jacob and Jared.
"We just to, alright?" said Jared the Goomba. "I mean, Bowser pays for us, and we don't like the other inhabitants who ruin our lives. I mean, I'd rather risk my life than live a horrible life."
"Bowser uses you guys like pawns, and you don't care?"
"As you can see," said Toad, "they have no way live-"
"I wouldn't criticize them if I were you," said Demyx. "You guys seem to kill just to get at Bowser. How would you feel if they did it to you?"
"Do you expect us to feel sympathy for them?! Every time a peace treaty is made, they break it!"
"Enough!" said Roxas. "Look, we need to be more mature about this. We should just go to Bowser's castle, stop him, and then fix that treaty and get it signed!"
"Why should we believe in you?!" said Jacob.
"Well, for starters...we aren't from around here," said Roxas. "We are foreigners who deal with problems like you guys. If you just keep finger blaming, all of you guys will keep dying, and there will never be an end! It is much better to confront your problems than to ignore them!"
Everyone was silent until Toad nodded. "Roxas is right. We should demand an end and make it an reality ourselves. We have to do it!"
"Fine," grumbled Jacob. "Let's go to the place and see what these newcomers can do."
"All right!" Demyx got up. "LET'S A-GO!"