Last chapter: 9,072 words.
This chapter: 11,532 words.
Total word count: 20,604 words.
Yep, definitely made the right call splitting them into two chapters. :P
Enjoy the third (and final!) part of the Happy Travels mission!
Episode 2 (Part 3)
Cut stems and torn petals sprawled across the living room floor of her apartment. Sushie returned from the woman's garden with another freshly plucked handful. She shuffled past a young Toad girl, who had also accepted Goombretta's trouble and was heading to the garden as well. The Toad girl had only recently started making bouquets, but she was quickly catching up to Sushie's quota.
"And then that girl was just all up in my face, saying I gotta watch my back or something? I mean, where does she come off, just because I went on two dates with her current boyfriend?" To her dismay, the gossip had not subsided in her absence. Sushie smiled politely to her two companions, both of whom were chatting despite also having a job to do.
Sushie: Oh dear, I was definitely not in touch with any of these girls. But I wasn't here to make idle banter, and honestly neither should they. We had a job to do, even if it was absurd that our employer would allow four of us to complete one task. I swear, I hope your sister is fine with having inconsistent bouquets at her wedding tables.
"And I...am...finished!" Sushie said with a cheer. The younger helpers hardly noticed her as she tied the finishing bow on her final bouquet, making that thirty completed. She bounced happily to the kitchen, where Goombretta was busy unloading a tray of cookies from the oven.
"Oh, already!" the Goomba woman croaked hoarsely. "But how many have you made? My sister is anticipating over four hundred guests, you know. She's quite the popular one. Oh, and you're of course welcome to attend tomorrow's ceremony!"
"...yes," Sushie stammered, unsure of the proper response. "And I'm sure that it'll be marvelous. But I've finished my thirtieth, so I'll kindly be taking my sixty coins now." She held out her fin hesitantly, not wanting to come across as too pushy.
"Sixty coins?" Goombretta sputtered, nearly dropping the tray in surprise. "Good heavens, you ask too much from a woman like me!"
Sushie pursed her lips together, confused by this shift in demeanor. "Um, your flier said you'd pay two coins for every bouquet I completed," she explained slowly, wishing she had been able to bring the ad with her. "Also, up to thirty bouquets, which adds up to sixty I believe..."
"Oh dear, I apologize for the confusion," Goombretta chuckled. "I meant up to thirty as in coins, not bouquets. Although I do sincerely appreciate the added labor you put in!" She offered Sushie the batch of cookies sympathetically, but the Cheep Cheep was hardly inspired at that point to reach for one.
Sushie: Well I'll be...I got duped. For the second time today, in fact. Not only was I totally not expecting it, but I probably wasted almost an hour doing uncompensated work. I couldn't be terribly mad because it was a good cookie, but...ug. That's thirty extra coins I need to raise, and thirty minutes I can't get back.
Rogueport Airport had not developed anywhere near the extent which its sister in Toad Town had. Its size, however, was still suitable for the local population, showcasing eight different gates for planes to taxi in and out of. The passengers from a scheduled three thirty flight were grateful, therefore, that their march from the jetway to the parking lot would not nearly be as much of a zoo as it had been before.
Goombella took a whiff of the air and frowned. "You'd think living here for years would make you immune to the stench," she muttered. The airport was relatively close to the harbor, which contributed to the saltwater fumes they experienced.
"But I suppose a fresh sense of familiarity is nice," she added, looking out the airport window at her hometown. Ms. Mowz walked up behind her, simply shaking her head in disagreement.
"As someone with a much sharper sense of smell, I doubt anything fresh could ever come from the Rogueport aroma," she smirked, being a local resident herself. "But that's beside the point. We know what we need to do next, right?"
Goombella nodded as she pointed in the direction of the travel desk. "We should be able to get a rental car at that booth over there," she explained. Dimentio's brow furrowed when he heard this.
"Whoa whoa whoa, when did we decide on this?" he demanded irately. "I don't recall ever putting this decision to a group vote!"
"Yes, because I'm sure democracy has always been strongly pressed on your conscience," Ms. Mowz criticized, calling the jester out on his attitude.
Ms. Mowz: Let's have an honest conversation. It's Rogueport, so who knows the street corners better than us two women? Answer: unlikely a man.
"A legitimate question though, what argument are you making that a rental car is our best option?" Peach proposed as an attempt for compromise. "Because, if I am allowed a query, why not just hire a taxi instead?" As they were walking in the direction of the booth, she noticed a family of Doogans easily hailing one that had just pulled up to the curb.
"True, but does a rental car charge you for every quarter mile, dearie?" Ms. Mowz defended, grinning every so slightly at her cleverness.
"Yes, but doesn't the upfront cost for a rental outweigh the expenses of a cab?" the princess asked. She glanced at the fanny pack around Bree's waist, unable to calculate their coin total from the outside.
At this point, they had reached the consultancy booth, confronting with the decision to either check out the available rentals or head outside. "Look, Toad Town was your turf," Goombella interjected. "And Rogueport's ours. And not to be curt, but Rogueport's transportation industry isn't exactly booming, let alone extensive. Who knows how much luck we'll have coming up with a second vehicle?"
"Besides, we'll be able to drive wherever we want to," Ms. Mowz added. "Like, say, to another vehicle."
Dimentio watched a couple get in line for the rental desk and looked up at the clock. "Nearly four," he commented tensely. "Fine, we'll play your game this round. But just remember, it's a timed round. And the stakes are high." Peach nodded in agreement as they walked up to the counter, all aware that the next two hours were crunch time.
"I...have been at this...for so long now..."
Back at the harbor, Bandy Andy had recovered from the earlier mango disaster and only had one more crates to help unload from the ship. Sweat trickled down his forehead as took a moment to catch his breath. While Rogueport typically enjoyed a more temperate than tropical climate, the sunny skies that day varied drastically from the overcast morning back in Flower Fields, and the grueling activity which accompanied his assignment was taking its toll.
Bandy Andy: I don't even know how these sailors deal with stuff like this as a part of their daily routine. I mean, I hardly felt like thirty coins even covered the backbreaking work I did for just over an hour and half or so. I guess I was less distracted after Pennington left, but still had a ton to clean up. Ug...if only I could have been pampered with the massage after this afternoon.
"Maybe it's just the harbor, but I'm still pretty salty about all of this," Bandy Andy addressed to no one in particular. He pressed his shoulder into the final crate he had to move down the ramp, glancing up to check if his overseer was noticing.
"Hmmph...you finally finished," the sailor remarked harshly. "Took you longer than it would had my men been here. So perhaps you can make better use of yourself and also-"
"Um, no," Andy stated plainly. "I swam in your freakin' Nibble-infested waters for fruits I wasn't even offered. I'll be taking what I came here for and peacing out, thank you!" He held out his hand, motioning for the coins he was entitled too. Reluctantly, the sailor dug into his wallet and tossed over the appropriate number of coins.
"It is good to have you!" the fighter cheered as he stuffed his earnings into his pockets. He hesitated on the last coin, twirling it between his fingers as he began thinking about what to do next.
Bandy Andy: I remember, when waiting for a blimp ride back to Glitzville, I'd have an hour or two to kill. There's some decently exciting stuff that goes on in this town, but not the sort of thing that I'd want to be involved with should I want to stay at the Glitz Pit. That being said, there is one good place to let loose...perhaps even increase my pocket change if things roll my way.
An hour of cautious navigation led the van group across the Petal Meadows to the edge of Hooktail Castle Grounds. The menacing citadel loomed several stories above the ground, likely as old as the Shhwonk Fortress they had visited earlier. Despite managing to use the photos to identify this location, however, the definite location of their third ticket had yet to be pinpointed.
Having abandoned the van to make the search on foot, the players were scavenging the exterior fence in hopes that their ticket would show up. "Okay, dis idea is starting to crumble," Vinny commented with disdain. He held up their final photograph of the wedged ticket, whose zoom made it difficult to recognize as a specific part of the castle walls.
Nastasia paused from her current search to glare once more at the bodyguard. "Moan all you want, but we got here, didn't we? I'm not the one who took the crappy photos in the first place...nor am I the one who shuffled them up, mkay?" Mamar stood up shyly, having been scouring one of the walls near the entrance.
"True, but you may as well have shuffled dem when you chose which photos to pluck out of da stack to confirm dis location," Vinny rebutted. "Or da terrible directions you gave to get us here!"
"Excuse me, but we had directions originally," Nastasia exclaimed as she held up her share of photos. Each of them had taken a handful of images in case they were able to identify any other context clues from their surroundings. The one Nastasia was referring to was of the tower, which had led their decision to search the premises of Hooktail Castle.
"Could I have a closer look?" Mamar asked as she ran from her spot along the wall. She peered over Nastasia's shoulder at the photograph, which attracted the attention of both Koover and Vinny to follow suit.
"Wait, is there some reason we aren't searching on the other side of the moat?" She pointed to the drawbridge in the picture, then mentally transferred the image to what she could see ahead of them. "I mean, why have a picture of the drawbridge if we aren't supposed to cross it?" she reasoned. Vinny grabbed the picture as well, studying it himself before turning to Nastasia in disbelief.
"You mean you've been holding onto da very picture dat brought us here in da first place, but haven't thought ta take us where we need ta be searching?" he fumed, throwing it on the ground in frustration. Nastasia simply let out an antagonized groan as she stomped away from the group, heading across the drawbridge to the other side. Koover knelt to pick up the crumpled photo as he and Mamar exchanged concerned looks, holding back temporarily as their two teammates surged ahead.
Koover: It's been a long day for all of us, but this ridiculous feud only made things more difficult than they needed to be. Who would have imagined that two grown adults could make a trip more unbearable than four rambunctious kids?
Pennington closed his eyes as the water splashed against his face. He had accepted a trouble at the local inn washing the window's of Podley's tavern. His available cleaning tools consisted of a soapy bucket and sponge. He was nearly done with the windows to the tavern, which proved taxing as a recent graffiti incident had made the scrubbing more difficult. However, the four windows up the upstairs inn had not yet been touched, and cleaning those would require the trust of a ladder.
"Oh, how I don't miss the days of performing oddball jobs for spare cash," he lamented as he wrung out his sponge over the bucket. He whistled while he worked, taking another go at clearing off the graffiti. After a few more seconds of little success, he grabbed the bucket and headed up the ladder to take a gander at washing the second story windows.
"Climbing up a tower to rescue a princess?" came a voice from beneath him. Pennington glanced over his shoulder to notice Sushie stopping at the foot of his ladder. She was returning from her trouble on the west side of town and was passing by on her way back to the trouble center.
"Does that make me the humble public servant?" he joked, bowing a bit as he continued up the ladder. "You should be rolling in dough, at least. What slavish assignments did that Goomba woman demand of you to cough up sixty coins?"
"...about that," Sushie trailed, rubbing her fin nervously. "I apparently misinterpreted her offer, and ended up doing more work than what she was willing to pay for...so I only got thirty coins." Pennington's eyes widened, motivating the Cheep Cheep to look away, though she found herself unpleasantly staring at the town gallows.
"Wait, so you've spent that whole time working without pay?" he inquired concernedly. The realization that they had thirty less coins than expected suddenly dawned on him.
Pennington: To be frank, part of my frustrations were more directed to the situation that Sushie had been conned. Perhaps the woman who offered the misleading ad did not have criminal intentions, but the influence of swindling within this town is an alarming one, one which both tickled and tortured my sleuthing senses.
"I mean, she was a sweetheart," Sushie defended. "But never mind. It's already four o'clock, and I'm just hoping that I'll be able to earn a few more coins within the next hour so that we aren't late for the blimp at six."
Not having a clock to reference, Pennington was surprised by this update in time. "We only have two hours left?" he sputtered, looking frantically at the windows he still needed to complete. "Thank goodness I accepted Blue's offer in that case..."
"Wait, what offer?" Sushie inquired, her interest immediately perked by the mention of their host's name. Pennington gripped the ladder rung a bit tighter, realizing his slip of the tongue.
He thought carefully for a moment before speaking. "Let's just say...one ticket has been taken care of," he said abstrusely, dumping his sponge back into the bucket and starting up on cleaning the first window.
Sushie: Apparently, Pennington dabbled in some suspicious arrangements today with none of us knowing about it. I know his heart is very much into this game, so it does concern me a bit to know how much he's willing to push the limits to get farther. Granted, I impulsively went for an exemption last round, but I'd say Pennington is a bit more prudent in his decision-making than I am.
"Well in that case, we'd only need to raise one hundred coins, correct?" Sushie clarified, subtracting the price of one blimp ticket. "I've raised thirty coins so far, so how much do we have left?"
Pennington pondered for a moment where his decision had left them in terms of raising funds. "Well, Bandy Andy's task was also for thirty coins," he explained, "And I'll get twenty coins from Podley if I finish these windows. So, assuming that Bandy Andy finished his task at the harbor, then we have maybe twenty more coins we need to raise. Likely less if Bandy Andy took up another trouble."
"All right, I'll see if I can find a job that won't take much time to complete," Sushie reasoned as she headed off to the Trouble Center. "You do your best to finish up, too. Remember what Blue said about not being late." As she ran off in search of a job, Pennington returned to his task of window wiping. Despite having one ticket tucked firmly in his coat pocket, he could not help but pick up the pace when he thought about the looming deadline to finish.
4:00PM
The proclaimed experts of the region controlled the front seat of the borrowed sedan. Ms. Mowz took control of the driving while Goombella navigated at shotgun. In the rear, Peach sat calmly with her hands folded across her lap, whereas Dimentio leaned up against the window, tapping his fingers against the glass as scenes of Rogueport whirled past.
"Okay, you can't just drive us around like we're prisoners being transported to the electric chair," Dimentio finally spat, promptly sitting upright.
Goombella rolled her eyes from the safety of the front seat. "Look, we're not going to a penitentiary, but we do have to travel this mile somehow," she stressed. "So until we find somewhere far enough from both the airport and the station where we can switch vehicles, we gotta cruise for a bit."
Dimentio: Of course, I reckon I'm supposed to be amused by their stubborn assertions...ha! Quite unlikely. The only cards worth playing in this game are drawn from my deck only.
Peach took notice of the left turn Ms. Mowz made, quickly realizing that she was driving them to the harbor. "Um, I realize that we want to have enough distance between us and the station," she stated, "but I don't understand if you're wanting to cross land by boat."
Unable to face the princess from the driver's seat, Ms. Mowz shared her frustration with Goombella. "Yes dearie, because when I think of land travel, I dial 1-800-SUBMARINES," she chuckled, a reaction that was unpleasantly received by Peach. She exchanged glances with Dimentio, reminded of their earlier conversation on the plane.
"Alright, let's have an open conversation, Moles." Goombella sprung around at Dimentio's accusatory outburst. Peach also took surprise to this, as she mouthed a few words to him: 'what are you doing?'
"Namecalling from the backseat, huh?" Ms. Mowz said, sticking her tongue out as she searched for a place to pull over. "What, missing the power plays you get from the driver's seat?"
"Well, I certainly have a better view of your blind spot," he smirked. Ms. Mowz pulled the vehicle to a stop by a curb which overlooked the harbor below. Goombella swung her seatbelt off in fluid motion before turning around in her seat and pointing outside Peach's window.
"See those over there?" she said, prompting Peach and Dimentio to shift in their seats. Goombella's focus was directed to a pair of cabs which were parked a short distance away, their cab drivers sipping casually on colas. "There's the cabs you wanted to hop in back at the airport. There's always a few nearby the harbor, ready to swoop in on potential customers that come off the ships."
"Great, we've got our final vehicle then!" Peach said enthusiastically as she opened the side door of their sedan. Before she could get out of the vehicle, however, Dimentio gently grabbed her wrist.
"Oh by all means, let's pop open the champagne!" he chirped, a smile slowing curling across his lips. "But let's not forget we currently have a rental. Which, if I'm not mistaken, needs to be returned to its mother location, does it not?" He let go of Peach's hand to exit out his own side door, leaving Goombella and Ms. Mowz to exchange worried glances with one another. Ms. Mowz looked down at the keys in her hand: keys which she had received from the rental booth less than an hour ago.
Keys to a sedan she did not own.
"Are you sure we don't have any more specific pictures?" Mamar asked. Although they had relocated their search to the interior walls of the moat, their tactics remained equally dependent on a 3x5 inch photograph of the ticket. Vinny instinctively faced Nastasia, who didn't bother reciprocating eye contact.
Nastasia: Yeah, don't really understand how, considering Mamar screwed up the photos, I'm the scapegoat for all of this afternoon's problems? Where the hell do people like Vinny or...or others, get off shoveling the blame for simple things like me? Like I'm just some sort of...dumpster.
"...um, we could always take...yet another look," Koover proposed weakly. He shuffled over to Mamar's spot, who was the current holder of the photograph showcasing their ticket. While Vinny and Nastasia continued their respective searches along the castle wall, Koover and Mamar peered over the picture once more.
"Okay, real talk," Mamar whispered softly as she attempted to hide herself and Koover behind the tiny photograph. "How are we honestly supposed to make it in time if we're acting this dysfunctional?"
The Koopa Troopa let out a sigh of disappointment. "As a dad, it's just vexing to think that grown adults deliberately throw that much shade at one another...wait." His eyes lit up as he grabbed the photograph, holding it up against the horizion. Mamar raised an eyebrow as Koover oriented himself and proceeded to run towards a tree whose branches nestled against the outer walls.
"What's da matter?" Vinny hollered, stunned by this sudden burst of energy.
"The shadow!" Koover exclaimed, pointing back at Mamar who glanced down at their picture. "There's a faint shadow of branches near that wedge, and only one tree right by the wall!" The others stopped hopefully as Koover ran his hands across the stones. A few seconds later, his hand shot up enthusiastically, clutching onto their third ticket.
Mamar: I was just relieved that my blunder earlier hadn't fully eliminated our chances. Ug, there I go again. I'm probably doing a poor job searching for the Mole if I continue to point out my own faults rather than try to exploit others...
"Wait, what else did you find?" Vinny questioned as Koover rejoined them. In his other hand, Koover was clutching some sort of electronic device.
"I think it's a GPS," he explained, opening his palm so the others could observe. The orange contraption was pocket-size, containing only two buttons and a display screen. The screen itself was relatively blank, and only exhibited a black arrow with a number below: 12.13 m.
"So, twelve...miles?" Mamar wondered, trying to interpret this new clue. "Twelve miles from what?"
"Our final ticket, no doubt," Nastasia stated coolly. "Or should I say, your final ticket." Having taken the ticket which Koover had retrieved for herself, she squinted at Vinny as she made her way back to the van on the other side of the drawbridge. The Pianta's lip quivered as their final ticket suddenly felt much more personal.
Bandy Andy twirled the golden coin between his fingertips as he stared at the screen in front of him. After a few quick seconds of deliberation, he inserted it into a small slot on the machine and pulled a lever situated at its right. Flashy images of Piantas and stars whirled in front of him as the fighter held his breath. Three pushes of a button determined his fate.
"...damn," he muttered under his breath. The first two slots pulled up stars, but the fateful third one displayed a taunting Pianta. He stared at the slot, realizing that his coin was now lost forever.
Bandy Andy: ...so I gambled a bit. What? The first trouble took so long that I didn't think I'd have time to finish a second. And hey, I'm usually a pretty lucky guy, plus the stakes were pretty high. So...I tried my hand at the Pianta Parlor. And just like many women today, Lady Luck proved to be fairly cruel.
He emptied the remaining coins on the panel of the slot machine to count them out. Despite a few rounds of success, his total dipped slightly towards a net loss, as he had gone from thirty coins to twenty-two.
"Two hours to turn this around," he said as he bit nervously bit his lip. He reached for another coin, blowing on it wishfully as he slipped into the slot and watched the screen light up once more.
"Closed?" Sushie exclaimed, the panic rising in her voice. The walk from West to East side was more than just a simple stroll, but the Cheep Cheep had not anticipated that it would take her nearly as long as it did. When she did arrive, she was unpleasantly surprised by a locked Trouble Center door, with a sign notifying her that they had closed at four, making her late by just a matter of minutes.
Sushie: What place closes at four on a weekday? Especially when that is the one place in this wretched town where someone who needs cash fast can actually get that cash fast?
"Nope, I've come too far to not bother trying," she said with determination. Unable to detect a window to peer through, she elected to knocking on the door three times. When nobody responded, she persisted, essentially hammering her fist against the wood.
"Geez, the sign says we're closed!" Sushie jumped back in surprise as a cranky Robbo member emerged from the other side of the door, who himself appeared to be equally surprised by the woman outside. Then, to Sushie's own surprise, she did something outside her normal character: she marched inside.
"Hey, you can't be in here!" the Craw hollered, hesitant to blockade the unlikely intruder. Sushie remained steadfast, however, as she made a beeline for the board of ads.
"It has been a terribly long day," she huffed as she speedily skimmed through the fliers. Before the Craw could stop her, however, she removed one from the board and waved it in the direction of the approaching clerk.
"Ten coins to help inventory at Westside Goods. I'll take on this trouble." Realizing the boldness she just displayed, she offered a weak smile and quickly headed for the door. "See, that wasn't even a trouble for the Trouble Center," she mused, waving lightly as she hustled away, leaving the clerk alone in confusion.
"So, um, any chance you could drive our car back to the airport," Peach began, her words directed towards the Doogan cab driver, "...while we'd follow you...driving your cab."
"Have you lost your marbles?" the driver hollered, fuming at the princess's proposal. "Let you buffoons take over my taxi while I return your vehicle for you?" His laugh signaled Ms. Mowz to try working some of her magic.
"Hmm hmm, what a joker! Maybe you're willing to listen to the sound of jingling coins?" she teased, unzipping the fanny pack slightly and pulling out a small handful of blue coins.
"Get lost, lady!" he shouted. He turned the ignition and motioned for the Squeek to move out of his way. As he drove off, Ms. Mowz became aware of the wedding ring around his finger. She shrugged her shoulders at her failed attempt and looked over at Dimentio, who stood smugly against the hood of their rental sedan.
Goombella: You know, Dimentio can ride on cloud nine all he wants, but what kind of person just sits back quietly when he knows that those around him are making a mistake? If anything, he's equally at fault, if not more, for us taking the rental car as long as we did.
Goombella instinctively stepped in front of the other cab so that its driver wouldn't be tempted to burst off as well. "Okay, hotshot, what's your brilliant resolution plan?" she asked Dimentio, who perked up at the first mention of his name.
"Hmm? Come again? Has my intelligence been called upon during the eleventh hour?" He smiled broadly, dangling the keys to their sedan in one hand: an action that warranted a groan from Ms. Mowz.
"Unfortunately, it does not involve flaunting much of my creativity," he explained dismally. "But it beats thinking that a cab driver will willfully hand over the vehicle they're charging for."
"But if we drive it back ourselves, aren't we just undoing the mile we needed to travel away from the airport?" questioned Peach. She recalled their mission's parameters that each mode of transport had to be utilized at least one mile out from its epicenter.
"Way to keep up, princess," quipped Dimentio. "Especially when it's so simple: you three hop in the cab and follow me back to the airport, where along the way I'll find someone willing to take our baby out for a test ride back to the dealer." He smiled proudly, but his reception was not nearly as enthusiastic.
"...wait, that's it?" Goombella asked, her jaw slackened. "Like, congratulations: in what way does that differ from what we already know needs to happen?"
"Two ways, actually. One, I've got the keys, and two, I've got the suave speaking skills capable of convincing some rogue fellow to do a good deed this afternoon." Ms. Mowz stifled a giggle at his adjective of choice.
"'Suave', huh?" she snickered, holding Dimentio to his choice of words. "Wow, I'm very appreciative for that splash of humor after such a long day. But I suppose you can have this last hurrah." It became the silent agreement of the group to go forward with Dimentio's proposal. They quickly dispersed, with the three females negotiating price and location with their cab driver as Dimentio sat confidently in the driver's seat of their rental, anxious to speed off from the harbor.
Before he could drive off, however, Ms. Mowz had wormed her way into the passenger seat. "Oh, don't act so flustered," she teased as she reminded Dimentio to adjust his rear view mirror. "Hardly a chance that your scintilla of charm won't be desperately in need of some coaching."
The van group, led by nothing more than a simple navigational unit, were fortunate to discover that some of their distance had been reduced simply by driving away from the confines of Hooktail Castle. Without a landmark or reference point to help guide them to their fourth ticket, however, the GPS was quickly revealing its potential to be the most difficult clue they had been given the entire day.
"Okay, da arrow is tilting left again," Vinny announced as he monitored its direction. He looked to Koover as though expectant of the driver to steer accordingly.
"Oh come on, I'm on a linear highway!" Koover complained after taking notice of Vinny's targeted fixation. "What, do you want me to just off-road it across that meadow over there?"
Vinny: Koover took over my job of driver after da flat tire incident earlier, so of course I wanted ta keep him in check. I mean, dat's exactly what he was doing ta me, no?
Koover: Shouldn't have given up navigation, even at the expense of Vinny's driving. I was basically powerless at the steering wheel when it came to making decisions of where to turn, because I had to trust that those with the maps and GPS could competently find the quickest route for me to take. And trust was in short supply after a day like today.
Noticing that Vinny had set the GPS on the center console, Nastasia snatched it up for her own viewing. "Wait, seven miles still?" she demurred, disappointed in their remaining distance. "Can't we just go straight to Rogueport Station?"
"Y'know, she may have a legitimate point for once," Vinny said, musing over this statement of hers. "It's already almost five o'clock. What's da point of heading way out in da boonies if we're late anyways?" Nastasia raised her glasses in surprise.
"Whoa big guy, that was not an invitation of agreement," she protested, quickly handing him the GPS back. "Yeah, we can't just jeopardize the whole mission all because you're car sick."
"More like sick of your attitude," he muttered under his breath. He apparently wasn't soft enough for Nastasia, who let out another groan as she slunk back in her seat. Mamar squeezed her forehead at this revived sense of tension.
"Look, we don't need to make a mountain out of a molehill...no pun intended," Mamar said carefully. She looked at the map currently sprawled across her lap before quickly discarding it in favor of the one of Rogueport, realizing that they were quickly maneuvering towards the city limits. Koover took notice through his rear-view mirror as the Star Spirit gestured for the GPS.
"Wait, are you trying to orient the map?" he asked after seeing Mamar try to align the arrow with the highway they were currently on. "I remember having to do a bunch of map and compass work back when I was a Koopa Scout. What's your..." That sentence did not end, however, as Koover's face lit up in realization of what Mamar was attempting to accomplish. To Vinny's surprise, Koover turned on his emergency lights and pulled off the road into a bank so he could hop out and have a look at the map.
Mamar: All day we've been letting ourselves stress out over clues which didn't have to be. There was no need to allow this last one to be any worse.
"Okay, how is dis productive at all?" Vinny asked with raised hands. "If we're going ta stop, it might as well be at da end point."
"'Da end point' needs to be your patience," Nastasia murmured in clear mimicry of the Pianta. Nose pointed, she glanced briefly at the map which the other three were pooled over.
Although there were few intersections available to predict their location, Mamar made her best estimate to point to their current location on the map. "Well, I think we can agree that making endless turns isn't making efficient use of our time," she reasoned. "Plus, I figured it'd make sense that if all we have is an arrow, our final ticket is probably someplace more significant than, say, a groove in the fence."
"Not to mention," Koover began, a sense of excitement starting to build up, "If we're nearing Rogueport, it might be notable enough to spot on the map. And at the very least, we can have a general idea of where we need to be heading."
"Here's a general idea: Rogueport Station," Vinny said with a huff. "With da general timeline of 6PM!"
"Oh my goodness, you don't even have a ticket, and you're still proposing we throw in the towel?" Nastasia threw her hands up dramatically, but was essentially ignored by the intense fixation on the map by her companions.
Koover lined up the front of the GPS with the highway before orienting it with the map. "Estimating seven miles in that direction," he explained as he pointed with his finger on the approximate spot, "Then this is where we need to aim for." Mamar brought the map closer to her eyes.
"It...looks like some sort of tunnel," she stated. Their estimation had not lined up perfectly with a road, but the nearest one was only a short distance away, and appeared to a smaller route on the outskirts of Rogueport. "Well, whatever it is, now we know which roads to take to get there!" She managed to feign some optimism at this potential, which Koover readily accepted as he clambered back to the driver's seat. Realizing that his proposition had been ignored by the other three, Vinny forcefully picked up the GPS, much to Nastasia's satisfaction.
"You still need to turn left, dough."
5:00PM
"Blasted hooligans," Pennington mumbled as he took another gander at the graffiti stain. Podley had approved his cleaning of the inn windows, but had voiced concern over the tenacious design covering the panes on the bar. On his second attempt, Pennington added a hefty amount of soap to the bucket in hopes of greater successes.
"That orange glow...does not bode well." The longer length of his shadow concerned him as he became aware of late into the afternoon it was becoming. Behind him, the sun had lowered significantly, transforming the clear blue skies from earlier to a warmer tint of yellow an orange. This realization motivated the Bumpty to scrub at an accelerated rate.
"But honestly though, Podley should launch an investigation towards the delinquent responsible for this," Pennington said, expressing his concerns with no one in particular. "Because I'd be more than happy to loan my services."
The door to the Podley's Place swung open as the bartender made an appearance outside. "Here, I reckon you've bothered with this long enough," Podley announced, prompting Pennington to set down his bucket. "I'd be willing to compensate you for the job you've completed so far."
Pennington ran over to his employer before he could have a change of heart. "Bless you, good sir," he thanked as he swiftly collected his twenty coins worth of wages. As he removed his deerstalker hat to hold the coins in, a disturbing thought crossed his mind.
Pennington: How could I allow for such a rudimentary mistake to occur? We were so quick for cash that we never mutually arranged for a meetup time or location. So, not only was my Mole radar reduced by not being in the presence of my colleagues, but I had no way of supervising them to be prompt about their arrival at the station!
"Well, I doubt I'll be able to earn anything else en route to the blimp field," he considered. He then felt the ticket given to him by Blue in his pocket and smiled.
"That may just prove to be 5000 coins well spent," he said proudly as he waved Podley farewell and proceeded to rendezvous once more with the host who had granted him that offer.
"Hey, don't lose sight of that car!" Goombella instructed, pointing out the rental to the cab driver. She had grown concerned when the gap between the two vehicles had increased significantly.
"You don't suppose he's speeding, do you?" Peach wondered, growing concerned over Dimentio's driving.
Goombella bit her lip, hesitant to let the next words come from her mouth. "Honestly, I'm less concerned about him driving too fast, especially considering we're about to compete with Rogueport rush hour traffic." She looked outside her window, both to observe the increase of vehicles on the road as well as their approximate location in town.
"What I'm more concerned about is that we're getting dangerously close to the airport," she observed, "And they still haven't bribed a pedestrian yet." Peach held up the fanny pack, which Ms. Mowz had carefully placed in her possession for the cab ride, doing so in full awareness following the earlier havoc at Toad Town Airport.
Peach: I'll confess, I had my concerns about this mission. It never really felt like we were performing as one cohesive unit today, with disagreements seemingly present in every decision we made. I was ready to know how those disagreements might cost us in the end.
"Oh hey, they're stopping," Peach noticed. She instructed their cab driver to pull alongside their partner's rental, noticing that Ms. Mowz had hopped out of the car to interact with two Goomba bachelors on the sidewalk. Goombella rolled down her window and leaned forward, as though expecting to be able to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"Are we sure we're far enough out?" she asked, visualizing the layout of the town from memory. Her thought was cut short as Ms. Mowz ran up to their cab window.
"Good news dearies!" she cheered as she approached the cab. "These fine darlings are willing to return our rental for us! They just request a small compensation for their chivalry..."
"Compensation?" Peach asked with wide eyes. She looked down at the fanny pack, whose bulk had shrunk as the day progressed. "Do you really think it's smart for us to be throwing away cash like that when we've still got a cab fare to cover?"
Peach: I mean, 800 coins was certainly a substantial amount to be given, but when that gets spent towards plane tickets and rental cars, it pays better to be more conservative about spending.
"Please, I've been keeping an excellent track on today's expenditures," Ms. Mowz justified, "And there's certainly room in the budget for a generous tip." She promptly snatched up the fanny pack from Peach's lap and removed six blue coins, smiling as she hopped off to reimburse the two men who would return their rental to the airport. Goombella and Peach swapped glances with one another as the exchange took place. Finally, they watched as Dimentio held out the keys to the duo, breathing a sigh of relief as he and Ms. Mowz rejoined the pair in the cab.
"Easier than giving ice cream to a pudgy kindergartner on a sweltering summer morning," he bragged, taking pride in their successful transfer.
"Easy, Romeo," Ms. Mowz teased. "Remind me again, was it your woo factor that won their hearts...or was it mine?" She laughed at the jester's expense, who grumbled something under his breath as their cab pulled out.
"Final destination, Rogueport Station!" Goombella instructed excitedly. "And step on it!"
Bandy Andy's eyes widened as he looked at the clock inside the Pianta Parlor. The realization of dwindling time dawned on him as he uncomfortably returned his focus to the blinking lights of the slot machine.
"Damn it!" he shouted, pounding his fists on the panel. He hunched over sheepishly, realizing that his exclamation had resonated throughout the parlor, warranting some angry stares from other patrons. The dials on the screen, in mismatched fashion, seemed to mock the fighter's poor luck.
Bandy Andy: I messed up majorly today. Should have just taken another job rather than risk that money all for a couple of wishful thrills. I mean, I did have some lucky spins! Just...not enough to break out of the deficit I'd created. And time was running out to keep testing the waters in hopes of a sudden wave of fortune. *sigh* That left one...painful last-ditch effort.
"Just my luck that now I'm depending on...her." Bandy Andy groaned quietly as he marched out of the Pianta Parlor. His current savings had dwindled from the thirty coins earned at the docks to about twelve, achieved through a combination of wins and losses. He took a right after heading out the door, dragging his feet as he made his way to the other asset in Rogueport managed by the Don.
"Hey...wait, Sushie?" Bandy Andy, expecting to pop into a young Boo clerk at the front counter of Westside Goods, was startled by the presence of his Cheep Cheep competitor. "Why are you here? And where's Peeka?"
Sushie smiled. "Your sweetheart is over by the Dizzy Dials," she pointed out. Her smile quickly faded to a frown. "And she's only offering me ten coins to finish up a job she earns a salary for. But never mind that, why are you here? Pennington said you earned thirty coins from your first job. Are you buying your ticket?" She looked at him hopefully, wondering if perhaps he had earned enough money to help compensate for her ticket.
"...about that," he trailed guiltily, scratching the back of his neck with his hand. "I may have...blown through some of that...at the parlor." Sushie's eyes widened in response to his bashful hesitation.
Sushie: What a completely juvenile thing for him to do! I swear, today's generation has hardly a care in the world when it comes to saving and spending. His reckless behavior may end up costing us this whole mission!
"Have you lost your mind?" she scolded, almost smacking him with the clipboard she was using to inventory the stock. "We have less than an hour to catch our blimp, and you've wasted your time gambling? I've been cutting flower petals and counting Life Shrooms all afternoon, completely undoing the effects of that wonderful massage on the jet, and you've been rolling high...or should I say, rolling low?" She threw her fins up in frustration, which was due to a combination of accumulated factors throughout the day.
"Look, it's not over yet, is it?" Bandy Andy said defensively. "I just need to convince Peeka to lower her prices, maybe in exchange for a quick favor or two-"
"I'm already doing her trouble, you imbecile!" Sushie shouted tensely. She quickly apologized following her uncharacteristic outburst. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. But still, there's nothing here for you to do that I'm not already trying to earn." She paused her work momentarily as she tried to brainstorm a solution to their dire circumstances. From the corner of her eye, she observed the twelve coins that Bandy Andy had from his remaining total.
"Give me those coins," she said firmly. Bandy Andy's initial instincts had him withdraw his earnings closer to him.
"Whoa whoa whoa, just because I made a poor choice earlier doesn't entitle you to what's left of my own well-deserved earnings," he replied protectively.
"Well, do you want both of us to fail?" Sushie retaliated. "Because a ticket costs fifty coins and I'll only have forty by the time I finish Peeka's busy work. If I take ten from you, I'll at least be able to afford one. Meanwhile, you run to the station and hope to God that Pennington's there. I know he has at least twenty coins, so hopefully he's up there so you can get them from him."
"And what am I supposed to do about the other...twenty-eight?" he asked as he contritely forked over his remaining cash. Sushie quickly swept them over into her own pile as she picked up her clipboard with boosted confidence.
"I guess you'll have to beg."
After a day seemingly surrounded by patches of flowers or rolling meadows, it came to a great relief for the players in the van to discover that an ocean horizon was coming into view to the south of them. Up ahead, a simple brick skyline made for a welcoming sight that they were getting closer. Furthermore, the players could detect an underground tunnel coming into view.
"Less dan a mile," Vinny informed, looking at the reading on the GPS. "Any chance we can pick up da speed a little bit?"
"I'm already going, like, five over the limit," Koover admitted. He suddenly looked away from the camera, realizing that he was confessing to a technically lawbreaking activity to countless viewers. Mamar leaned forward as the van traveled below the tunnel, illuminating with the van's headlights.
"Well, we should be getting pretty close," Mamar encouraged. "If we're lucky, perhaps this road will take us straight to wherever we need to go."
"Don't be so certain," cautioned Vinny. He lifted the GPS for her to observe. To her dismay, the arrow was beginning to shift rapidly to the right.
"Stop the car!" Koover did his best to pull over safely following the unexpected outburst by Mamar. She showed him the GPS, whose distance read 0.31 miles, but whose arrow was now staunchly perpendicular to the direction they were traveling.
"Great, we're on the wrong road," Nastasia vocalized. "So much for that brilliant effort to make the Koopa Scouts proud!"
Nastasia: I've got no obligation to these people after today. My only obligation is to get as far away from this cramped and smelly van as possible, and clearly that's not happening very quickly.
Just before Koover could open his mouth to defend his childhood, Vinny opened his first. "Look over dere!" he said as he pointed outside the car. Although the tunnel wall to their immediate right clearly obstructed the path indicated by their GPS, a concrete door could be noticed about a few hundred meters up ahead. "Maybe da ticket is in dere?"
"One way to find out," Koover said as she shot out of the van and started sprinting for the door. Despite being a Koopa, Koover quickly discovered that he was perhaps the fastest runner in their group, and thus slowed down so that does with the GPS could catch up to him. Nastasia remained in the van, arms folded as she watched the desperate spectacle unfold.
"Please, please be open," Mamar pleaded as she joined up with Koover. The door was nothing spectacular, likely constructed as an alleyway for sewage and maintenance to access. A rotating steel knob made for a handle, and its rusty appearance did not inspire much confidence that this door had been recently utilized by anyone.
Koover: Our fate literally hinged on whether or not we could get this door open, let alone if our ticket was waiting on the other side.
"Allow me ta try," he offered, stepping in between the pair and the door as he attempted to showcase his exceptional strength. The endeavor was fairly anticlimactic, however, as Vinny was caught off guard by how willingly the dial turned with his forceful output. Grabbing the GPS from him, Mamar moseyed inside the dimly lit hallway, her heart racing with anxiety.
"Is that..." Her voice trailed as she stared up ahead to the one part of the alley where an overhead lightbulb was flickering. This light only lifted their spirits, for it illuminated a small, laminated object with an iconic Cheep Cheep logo across the front.
Vinny: Dey lucked out being able ta retrieve our final ticket...but da clock was still ticking, and we still had all of Rogueport ta traverse ta make it to da blimp field in time.
Pennington paced back and forth nervously, glancing occasionally at the tall clock next to the train platform. He looked behind at the towering figure of the Cheep Cheep blimp, which hovered about thirty feet above the ground, stabilized by the attachments of several sturdy cords. The detective's attention was quickly drawn to the sound of a gate opening, as the steward he had encountered earlier returned from his break to accept ticketed passengers.
"Pardon me," Pennington said as he approached the platform, "But I was wondering if anybody else from my party...er, I suppose a Mole party, had boarded yet?"
"Only your friend with the blue cap over there," the steward replied. He pointed to a suited figure sitting at a bench across the fence, who casually waved back at the disappointed Bumpty.
Pennington: Nearly thirty minutes remaining before our blimp for the evening embarks...and I'm the only one with a bone for punctuality? It isn't rudimentary! The blimp departs at six, so you show up early to hand in your ticket and board with ample time to spare! Granted, my ticket perhaps came easier than most...but come on! This is outrageous!
"Pennington?" The detective spun around at the mention of his name coming from below the platform.
"Oh, thank goodness somebody else expresses some bloody concern about our mission," he addressed as Bandy Andy approached him, unable to conceal his panting.
"Can't talk, just need your money," the fighter demanded in between spurts of oxygen. Already possessing his own ticket, Pennington readily obliged as he offered him the twenty coins he had raised. As Bandy Andy counted them, his face sank.
"This is all you have?" he asked uneasily, prompting Pennington to raise an eyebrow.
"Yes...but shouldn't you have at least thirty coins from your first assignment?" he inquired suspiciously. Bandy Andy tried to offer a nervous chuckle, but the urgency of the situation kept him from doing so.
"That is...factual...but Sushie also still has a ticket to afford." Pennington's face furrowed as Bandy Andy swiftly snatched up the coins. Although his instincts told him to interrogate further, the detective became more perplexed by the actions which followed. Curious, he watched as Bandy Andy ran up to a couple whose clothes seemed to flaunt wealth and, in a motion of pure desperation, fall to their knees with pleading hands.
Bandy Andy: If there's one thing I've learned about competitions in the Glitz Pit, it's that there is never an appropriate time to cry uncle. My dignity took a huge blow, but I had to roll with the punches somehow, even if the punches sucked to the maximum extreme of possible sucking.
Room was tight in the back of the cab as four players who had grown to know each other more across a wild day of travel tried to make do with the final leg of their journey. Squeezed into the middle, Peach eyeballed the fare calculator nervously, the number having spiked since they first entered back at the harbor and return to the airport.
"Y'know, I think we're close enough that we can walk there," Goombella informed their driver after noticing Peach's concerning concentration on the price of their fare. The cab driver didn't protest as he let the foursome out about a block away from the station. Ms. Mowz reached for the fanny pack and proceeded to pay him the fare: a fairly steep sum of 77 coins.
"Here's a handsome tip for getting us here on time for our blimp ride," Ms. Mowz said as she scooped some additional blue coins from the fanny pack. Dimentio raised an eyebrow inquisitively as he watched the 110 coin transfer take place.
"You honestly believe that crook of a cab driver merited compensating him with a cost equivalent to a plane ticket?" he cooed, watching as their driver rapidly sped off.
"He can count!" Ms. Mowz teased before revealing the open fanny pack him. "But seriously, relax. There's still nearly fifty coins left in here, even after the atrociously expensive cost of a vending machine lunch." Dimentio, surprisingly, chuckled a little bit, amused by their decision to binge on junk items back in the lobby of Toad Town Airport. It was hard to be satisfied on packaged peanuts alone, after all.
Peach smiled as well as Goombella led them on the short march to the station. "Well, one thing's for certain: Blue better whip out the five-star buffet after putting us through a mission as hectic as that one." The others laughed together, united at last by a shared sense of accomplishment for completing their assignment.
Ms. Mowz: It's the surefire folly of a man to be uptight all the time, so it was nice, for our group at least, to have that harmonious moment. Like I've always said, it's a game! If you're not enjoying yourself, then you're wasting your time.
"Ug, if only we could have a taste of that luxury jet our fellow players got to experience," Goombella coveted, reminiscing about the only known details they had been provided at the start of their mission regarding the travel circumstances of the other groups. She skipped forward as they made their way underneath an apartment archway, grinning as they arrived at the platform. As she looked around to see who all was in attendance, she became concerned when Pennington and Bandy Andy were the only two to be found.
"How long have you guys been here?" Peach asked as the two groups reconnected for the first time that day. "And where's Sushie?"
"Minor details," Bandy Andy interrupted, gulping so as to cover up the panic in his voice. "The important question is, do you guys still have any money?" Dimentio immediately jumped at this surprisingly frenetic statement.
"That is a very serious request to be making with absolutely zero explanation," he accused, watching as Ms. Mowz slowly drew their fanny pack closer to her. "Do you wanna phrase that better, Mole?"
"Look, what he's trying to get at is that our portion of the mission ended up being more thorns than roses," Pennington interjected, rushing to aid in this argument. "We weren't given any tickets by Blue, and he still needs to raise enough money to pay for his!"
"Sounds like your prerogative to deal with, not ours," Goombella commented skeptically. She turned to Ms. Mowz, whose fanny pack contained their blimp tickets. Bandy Andy appeared dumbfounded by her actions.
"Are you kidding me?" he exclaimed as he caught a glimpse of some of their surplus coins when Goombella retrieved her ticket. "You guys have, like, the jackpot in there!"
"Speaking of pots, how are we supposed to believe you aren't sabotaging ours right now?" Dimentio stepped in the way of Bandy Andy and the fanny pack, suspicious of the duo's ulterior motives. Peach grew alarmed by this sudden aggressive maneuver
Dimentio: Our missions are very clearly separate from one another, and to assume that they ought to overlap with one another definitely warrants concern. Don't believe for a second that I'm intimidated by a Minor Leaguer.
"Oh come on, you're gonna blockade me?" whined Bandy Andy. "I have literally been punishing my ego by begging total strangers, but there's hardly anybody here to beg because nobody takes a trip this late in the day!" He opened up his hands, revealing to the group the amount of coins he did have. Generosity was scarce in a shady town like Rogueport, but he had exhibited minimal luck raising his total from thirty-two coins to a simple thirty-five.
He peered over Dimentio's shoulder to come face-to-face with Ms. Mowz, as if bestowing the power of the decision upon her based on her possession of the fanny pack. "Look, we're just wasting time now," he trailed. "And time's about to expire before I'm able to board." Bree did her best not to appear uncomfortable with this position, carefully breaking eye contact to gauge Peach's opinion. The princess shrugged slightly, as if to suggest she too was uncertain, but a minor nod indicated that she was leaning more in favor than opposition. The group fell silent as Ms. Mowz's hand slowly traveled to the buckle of the fanny pack. When it clicked, gravity did the rest.
"Oops!" she mused, pretending to gasp at the fallen coins. "How clumsy of me! I guess that makes the second time someone's been careless with guarding our money." She smiled straight at Dimentio, sidestepping so that Bandy Andy could reach down to pick up the fanny pack. The Bandit wasted no time zipping away from the group before they could reconsider, and began sprinting south towards Westside Goods. Pennington breathed a sigh of relief at this glimmer of hope.
"I suppose a debriefing is warranted," he proposed, gesturing for the savvy travelers to get in line. "But let's at least guarantee our boarding is secured!
Peach: I have to say, I was very much looking forward to having everything laid out on the table. I was mostly just relieved that our unit had succeeded...to our best knowledge, anyway.
A car horn was not a sound familiar to Koover's ears back in his fairly serene hometown of Koopa Village. In the congested streets of Rogueport, however, he found himself depending on it more than he would have expected.
"Why is nobody moving?" he shouted in frustration, making use of the horn once more. "Can't you find a quicker route for us? One that's perhaps less congested?"
"I'm...trying," Mamar responded as she fumbled over their map. "It's more a factor of timing than which road we're on."
Koover gripped the steering wheel tightly as he restrained himself from honking yet again. "Whatever the reason may be, we could definitely benefit from taking a road where the cars are actually moving!" He impulsively glanced down at the clock despite it being broken alongside the clock: a factor he couldn't be sure was a blessing or a curse.
All of a sudden, Vinny lurched forward in his seat. "I believe dere's a side street coming up on right," he explained, pointing out the otherwise hidden alley to Koover. "Should be a shortcut to da station if I'm not mistaken." Nastasia threw her hands up, dropping her map in the process.
"Thanks for finally offering to contribute to navigating your hometown, big guy!" she jabbed. Vinny prepared to retaliate but decided against it, instead giving his undivided attention to the road ahead of them
"Dis is gonna be cutting it close," he stated blankly. He rubbed his chin anxiously as he watched the evening traffic begin to disperse in front of them, which Koover quickly took advantage of as he crossed lanes to reach the exit.
Although Westside Goods was only a number of blocks away from the station due to their shared location under the domain of the Pianta Syndicate, the distance may as well have been a marathon for Bandy Andy. He had accidentally dropped the fanny pack while fumbling to fasten it around his waist, and was fortunately too out of breath to interject an expletive.
Sushie jumped in even greater surprise this time when the front doors burst open. "I hope you had luck," she said coolly as she proceeded to restock a pantry of Honey Syrups.
"By my lucky stars," he said between breaths as he hunched over the front counter. "Now, where's Peeka?"
"Someone call for me?" answered a voice that was far too chipper for the present situation. The effervescent Boo quickly emerged from the back, but stopped in place when she noticed the customer that was calling.
"So the fighter boy's returned," she smacked. "Finally return with something you can pay for?"
"Two blimp tickets, please. And quickly!" Sushie perked up at the use of a plural.
"Two tickets?" she questioned suspiciously. "But I still have to finish up my job here! I can't cancel that!"
"Consider this a supplementary addition to your current total!" Bandy Andy withdrew the two blue coins Sushie needed to afford a ticket and tossed them in her direction, but the Cheep Cheep hesitated to catch them.
"I told you, I'm not done yet!" she stammered. "If I quit now, I'm going to be fined by the Trouble Center for cancelling a trouble!" Bandy Andy nearly collapsed at the obstinacy she was exhibiting.
Bandy Andy: Does she not realize that we are literally minutes away from missing that blimp completely?
"Peeka, how much do you owe Sushie for her current work?" he asked, hoping for a quick calculation by the clerk.
Peeka approached the front counter to scan over Sushie's clipboard and workspace. "Well, there's still two columns left to be inventoried," she noticed, pointing out the empty spaces with her pinky finger. "I suppose I could compensate you with eight coins instead of ten."
"Done and doner!" Bandy Andy answered on Sushie's behalf. He quickly dumped the contents of the fanny pack onto the counter and motioned for Sushie to do the same with her earnings. The fighter counted out one hundred coins and shoved them in Peeka's direction.
"Now, let's rock and roll and tickets and get the heck out of here!"
An apprehensive aura seemed to drift through the heads of the players as they waited powerlessly on the interior of the fenced-off blimp field. Peach and Dimentio paced nervously while the remainder of the group sat uncomfortably on a few benches. Nobody spoke to one another, and the silence only heightened their anxieties.
"Wait! We're here!" Sushie, who had been recovering after her sprint to the station, perked her head up to see where the voice had risen from. In the distance, she observed Mamar waving her arms frantically as all four members of the simpler travel group sped hastily towards the gates, each of them carrying a ticket for their six o'clock flight.
"We made it!" Vinny cheered prematurely. He tried to offer Bandy Andy a high five, but the fighter didn't even budge from his seat.
"Oh come on guys, no need to be so hostile towards us," Nastasia said, a statement which seemed to be directed at all seven players. She proceeded to hop in line to have her ticket checked, but realized that the Cheep Cheep in charge seemed to be absent.
"Okay, very funny. Now where's the steward?" She turned directly to Goombella, who rather than glare directly at her, avoided eye contact altogether. Nastasia suddenly picked up on the shared amount of tension which hung over their group.
It was Koover, however, who made the critical observation. "Wait guys, where's Blue?" he pointed out, realizing the additional absence of a host they had expected to welcome them somehow. His announcement may as well have been a stage direction for the Toad to enter stage right. His arrival, however, hardly suppressed the animosity: if anything, it only grew worse.
"How ironic that you four took your leisurely time to get here," Blue addressed them, his face stone cold. In his hand, he dangled a pocketwatch as if it were pendulum swinging back and forth. Knots turned over in his stomach as Koover made an effort to read the watch, whose displayed time gave all four of them the chills:
6:09PM.
Phew! I'm just relieved to bring an end to that behemoth of a mission! And on top of that, being able to update in under a week is definitely an exciting treat! (Just remember that for the future :P)
SHADOW OF DIMENTIO: Yay! I'm so relieved that I'm doing justice to a character as complicated as Dimentio. I appreciate that the Paper Mario series showcases some more dynamic characters compared to other Mario games, but at the same time, many of them only have a fairly minor role. It's definitely a lot of fun as an author to build up their characterization and personalize them a bit, so I'm definitely glad to hear you're enjoying the cast! Hopefully the gap between chapters was short enough to justify the abrupt cut-off last chapter, and perhaps to develop some more of your suspicions.
BRITTKIP: Spirits lifted! Mission accomplished! *high fives self* But seriously though, thanks so much for your review! It's feedback from people like you that definitely encourages me to keep going as a writer, especially given how much I've still got going on my own plate. :)
Thanks again to all of you readers! As always, I cherish your feedback, be it about characters, suspicions, or anything in between. Leave a review if you feel compelled, and stay tuned for a fresher continuation of Episode 2!