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Author's Note:
Sorry again and in advance for the late updates for now on.
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Disclaimer: This following FanFiction story is a fan-based parody. "Mario" and all of its respectable characters are all owned by Nintendo and created by video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Please enjoy; favorite and review whenever you want.
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Chapter 96:
Over the Campfire
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"We're back,"
Luigi jerked himself awake, not realizing he had dozed off. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he blurry saw the return of Brianna, Chloe, and the other members of her clan. Their hunting efforts have proven successful from the multiple reptiles they had in their possessions.
"Guessing the hunting went well," Rocco mumbled. His voice sounding raspy; he must have dozed off as well.
"Very much so," Ranbir confirmed with a bit of pride. "We even managed to find a small spring of running water."
"Great," Rocco said, stretching his aching limbs. "Didn't wanna say anything before but I was getting a bit thirsty,"
"We use as many jugs as we can find to carry back the water," said Tapi. "You can drink from the smaller ones; however, we'll need to use the rest for skinning and cleaning the meat."
"We can handle that," Nia said with Liv nodding in agreement.
Sergeant Guy grunted painfully as Luigi and Paraplonk helped him to sit up. Once he was, the Parakoopa helped him with the water jug. Even though the jug was small, it was still a bit heavy. The last thing they wanted to do was to spill or waste any of it after the others worked so hard to retrieve it. An approaching presence catches the plumber's attention as he turned his gaze sideways.
"Hey Chloe," He greeted her with a smile. "Did you catch anything on your hunt?"
The young one nodded. "I did; I killed the cobra,"
"A... cobra?" Luigi asked, a bit baffled. His eyes widening as he turned his gaze back at the pile the group had brought with them. Brianna was holding the snake up for everyone to see and from the size of it, it was a big one.
"Only the most experience of our clan are allowed to hunt venomous snakes; how were you about to kill one?" Ranbir asked with a bit of annoyance in his tone.
"Simple...Chloe found a mystic cube," Brianna explained.
Multiple gasps filled the air. Only Luigi, Rocco, and Paraplonk were left to wonder...What's a mystic cube?
"You actually found a mystic cube?" Tegan asked astonishingly.
Chloe nodded happily. "Yes, two of them in fact,"
"Two? Oh my, that's so rare." Nia commented.
"And what present did they grant you with?" Jace asked with an excited look on his face.
"The first one granted me with a gold coin,"
"A gold coin? That means good fortune," Tapi informed them with Liv nodding in agreement.
"And the second one?"
Chloe reached into her pockets and pull out her second gift for everyone to see. "The second one gave me this."
As she held the green and white mushroom over the light of the fire, the others expressed their reactions through several surprise gasps and expressions of awe. Luigi's own reaction fell under the former category; unlike the others, he actually knew what that mushroom was.
"A mystic mushroom!" Tapi expressed. "That's a very good gift,"
"What does it do?" Tegan asked with wonder.
"I don't know what it does it," Chloe confessed, before turning back to the injured Shy Guy. "But I do know I want them to have it,"
Everyone perked up when she said that. Brianna asked,
"Chloe, are you sure?"
The young one nodded, looking towards the three. "He got injured because he wanted to save us. The Shaman did say that mystic mushrooms can recover one's physical health." she bowed, offering the mushroom as a gift. "If it will help him, then I'll be very grateful that he takes it."
Luigi blinked once before smiling softly, accepting her offer. "Thank you, Chloe. You may not know this, but this can actually help Sergeant recover,"
"It can?" She beamed while the others look both baffled and curious.
The plumber nodded. "Different mushrooms have different effects; this mushroom, in particular, is actually quite unique."
"Oh yeah? And how so?"
"Where I came from, we actually call this the 1-Up Mushroom. It's the strongest healing mushroom ever known, capable of bringing life back from the brink of death." he kneeled down and offered the fungi to the Sergeant. "Take this; it will help with the paralysis."
The Shy Guy nodded and ate the mushroom in just one bite. He chewed thoroughly before swallowing. In a few seconds, Sergeant perked up as the healing effects of the mushroom ran its course through his body.
"How are you feeling?" Paraplonk asked hopefully. He stood close to his long-time friend as the Shy Guy uses the wall to steady himself in his first attempt to stand in hours.
"Way better than before," Sergeant replied. After hours of pain and little sensation in his lower extremities, he was relieved to be finally able to stand on his own. He took a small step forward and nearly hit the floor face first. Thankfully for him, the others were around to catch him.
"Although, I am a bit wobbly," He embarrassingly admitted.
"Don't push yourself too much," Luigi advised. "The 1-up Mushroom is powerful but it's not perfect. You probably still have some muscle weakness."
Paraplonk laughed, "Nothing that a little training can't fix,"
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In just over an hour, food was skinned, cleaned and cooked on sticks over the campfire like marshmallows. Everyone was given their fair share as the remaining water jugs were passed around for all.
"Are these the same kinds of animal you hunt back at home?" Luigi asked, recalling the food he'd been given upon his arrival to their village.
"Most of them, yes, but there are some we haven't seen before."
"How do you know if it is not venomous or something?" Rocco asked. His share of food included a large scorpion. Granted, the stinger was removed but he saw no harm in asking.
"You mean poisonous,"
The blonde man raised a brow at the Shy Guy across from him. "What?"
"Poisonous," Shy Guy repeated. "Venom is injected, poison is absorbed or ingested,"
His explanation only got him a blank stare from the man. Noticing this, Luigi stepped in to explain further. "Something is only venomous when they bite or sting you. Poisonous is when you eat something you shouldn't,"
Rocco simply rolled his eyes. "Ok whatever, my question still stands,"
"We were taught how to identify the edibles ones from the non-edible ones," Brianna answered. "Brightly colored are usually a clear sign that they're poisonous. And if we weren't completely sure, we won't have cooked it at all just to be safe."
"Guess that makes sense," He mumbled, breaking off the scorpion's pincher before tossing it in his mouth. He hummed interestingly before breaking of the other one. "Uh, remind me of crab."
"You should try the monitor lizard," Luigi commented "It tastes like chicken,"
"Say, back in the truck, you mentioned getting in contact with others; is there a whole team or something looking for these kids?"
"Actually yes...We're allies with the Masrestlers and when the children were kidnapped, they asked us for aid in searching for them. The plan was to divide into multiple groups to cover more ground and to report anything that may lead to their whereabouts."
"So what happened? Besides the fact that you got caught,"
"We were given the task of a possible interception at a small outpost," Paraplonk explained. "We suspected that the kidnappers may stop there for supplies." He frowned, "We really didn't think that the outpost will be run by the kidnappers themselves."
"So you ending up getting caught and taken back to the hideout," Rocco concluded.
"Not all of us," Guy said. "Goomps wasn't with us,"
"Who's Goomps?"
"We had another member with us before we were captured. He wasn't with us on the plane ride to the hideout so we're assuming he managed to escape."
"And how long ago was that?"
"A day, maybe two,"
"Hmm," Rocco hummed as he took a sip of water from a small jug. "Yeah, I doubt he made it,"
"Goomps is stronger than you think," Paraplonk scowled the man.
The man scoffed in the Koopa's direction. "Oh yeah? Is he strong enough to survive in a dessert on his own with Scorpio's men on his tail? Yeah, I don't think so,"
"Regardless," Luigi interrupted before the argument could get heated. "I'm sure the others will realize that something went wrong on our end and come looking for us. The question is how long... We're far we are from the original search area, it might take some time. Especially since we're trying not drawing any international attention in the process,"
"International attention? What are you guys are famous or something?"
"Pretty much," Paraplonk smirked.
"I suggest we save the rest for our travels," Tapi suggested.
"Speaking of traveling, you think we'll be able to find more of those special mushrooms? They can really come in handy,"
The plumber shook his head. "I doubt it. 1-Up Mushrooms are especially rare in the Mushroom Kingdom, even more so outside of the Kingdom. It was pure luck that Chloe managed to find one in the first place."
"Figured as much," Rocco mumbled. "Still couldn't hurt to ask. Luck hasn't turned into hard cheese as of yet so I can't complain."
"Are you really from the Mushroom Lands?" Chloe asked the plumber with interest.
"I am," It was a bit surprising that they were aware of the Mushroom Kingdom, despite their isolated from the rest of society. Mushroom Kingdom may not be the biggest, but it was the most famous and popular kingdom throughout the world.
"What's it like over there? Is it really as magical as they say?"
The green man hummed. "I guess you could say that, but if you lived there long enough everything just seem normal."
"For a place so magical, they tend to fall under siege more often than not," Ranbir mumbled, only to get elbowed by Jace for this rudeness.
"Well, no place is perfect," Rocco commented while he finishes his scorpion. "Kingdoms get invaded all the time. Heck, even my own home place had been invaded once,"
"Do you mean Jewelry Land?"
The man raised a curious eyebrow in the plumber's direction. "Yeah, how'd you know that?"
"Your accent mostly; Prince Pine has a similar accent, although softer than yours,"
"Right, well," He cleared his voice as if trying to hide it. "It depends on which part of Jewelry Land you're from. I'm from the southern part of the Kingdom so we tend to sound less...charming than the fancy clean ones of the North where he's from."
"What's Jewelry Land like?" Chloe turned to him with wonder. "Is it full of jewels?"
"Yes...well, no...uhm, sort of?" Rocco shifted, feeling a bit uncomfortable under the curious gaze of a child. "I mean, it's not like we have gemstones growing out of the ground like mushrooms or anything. But... yeah, we are plentiful with it comes to gems; the majority of jewelry sold around the world came from us, after all."
He cleared his voice once more. "I can't really tell you much more about it. I haven't really been there in a long time,"
"Why not?" Chloe frowned. "Don't you miss your family?"
"My family..." Rocco scoffed in distaste. "I cut all ties from them years ago."
Looks of confusion spread across the group. Rocco stared angrily at the fire, picking at it with his stick. After a moment, Jace asked harmlessly,
"Why would you leave your family?"
"Didn't actually agree on things," He mumbled "...especially with my old man,"
"So you think that gives you the right to abandon them?" Ranbir asked rudely. Rocco shot him a heated glare.
"I didn't abandon anyone, Gobby..." He stood up sharply. "...they abandon me,"
He tossed his stick into the fire and walked around the group. He stopped by the opening they came from and lean against the wall, his back towards them. A tense silence pass before Rocco mumbled under his breath.
"Sandstorm's calming down...Looks like it'll break by dawn,"
"We should probably get some rest," Luigi suggested. "We have a long day ahead of us."
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Ending Note:
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