Hey guys, sorry for the longer wait this time. I've never been described as a fast worker in general, and there was a lot of stuff that I had to spend plenty of time thinkin about, plus, real life. I managed to finish this chapter, however, and now mere hours after being finalized, you all get to see it. I will be taking a small break to pursue other interests and write some other smaller fanfics. Also, some stuff later on is gonna require a bit more talent than I posses at the time of writing for me to, well, make it work, so I'm trying to take it slow and polish my writing style. I'm covering some pretty heavy stuff later on, and I also want to balance it out with slightly more humorous fics to ease back in slowly. With that out of the way, enjoy!
Summary: The meeting at Merlon's house is a very shocking one. Also, Bowser's epic speech is not going so hot.
Mushroom Kingdom
Time: 9:12 PM
"Your Evilness, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm good, Army Hammer Bro."
Except he wasn't. The stressed Koopa King hadn't even turned around to face the leader of the Hammer Bro squad when he said that. If you were in his shoes, though, you probably couldn't blame him. For all the hours that he had spent working on the speech he was about to give the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, he was still obsessively trying to iron out the finishing touches. In fact, he forgot his soldier had even spoken to him just one second later.
"This speech just HAS to be perfect. Everyone knows the most important part of being a dictator is to give badass speeches that involve just the right amount of shouting that everybody will blindly listen to them."
Army Hammer Bro nervously scratched his gray, spiky helmet, but yelped and quickly retracted his finger when he reached the spike. "Look, I'm not sure that's 100% correct, but, off topic, off topic. My point is, just ease up a tiny bit, breathe slowly, and….."
"...And do your best," interrupted the Koopa King.
Army Hammer Bro slowly glanced at the floor and chuckled under his breath. "You're stealing all my lines now, sir." He turned around to leave his master alone.
Turns out, in spite everything he and his generals suggested to himself, Bowser just went right back to worrying.
"Oh, no, no, that's not gonna do….. Oh god, where's my eraser?
Ignoring his lord's worries, Army Hammer Bro slowly turned back down the corridor, head down low. He began to briefly wonder if Bowser's current position as the Mushroom Kingdom ruler was starting to cause his lord major stress.
Nonsense. He's Bowser, baby! He may look a little troubled, but it's nothing he can't get over! Of course he's fine! Heck, I should be condemned just for thinking that!
Army Hammer Bro wisely deduced he should leave Bowser alone for the time being, going his merry way back to the main room of the massive lair.
Awaiting him was none other than one of the lord's eight children himself. The tall, lanky child stretched in one of the chairs, nervously scratching his tall, light green pineapple-esque hair. With his free hand, he slowly readjusted his falling glasses, still oblivious to Army Hammer Bro's presence.
"Hey, Iggy."
Bowser's middle child froze abruptly, clearly not expecting to see the black Hammer Bro back so soon. Hastily, he patched his hair into something he deemed close enough to it's normal appearance and shifted into a presentable pose, facing Bowser's empowered general.
"Uh… Welcome back, sir."
"There's no need for formality right now, bro. I just checked on Bowser, and he's still working on the speech."
Iggy rolled his eyes. "Of course he is."
The surprising thing was, most of Bowser's children actually weren't all that thrilled that Bowser had taken over the Mushroom Kingdom. Sure, they loved their dad and all, and were willing to carry out his orders to a degree. Plus, having the Mushroom Kingdom under their belt would provide the whole kingdom with centuries of equipment and weaponary, and offered them the opportunity to expand the Koopa Klan's territory further.
So why am I finding it so hard to find enjoyment in all of this? Iggy wondered to himself, completely oblivious to the conversation.
A few seconds later, Iggy was caught off-guard by a giant, yellow waving object moving back and forth across his face. His eyes widened, and he backed up, screaming "OH GOD, IT'S A YELLOW MONSTER CREATURE!"
"...You know I was just waving my hand, right?"
"Oh." Iggy blushed a heavy shade of red, pulling himself up and chuckling. "I… I definitely knew that." The middle child flashed a cheesy smile, turning around and slowly walking back up to his room.
Damn, I really have to stop spacing out all the time….
"Yoshi Yoshi! (How much longer, Daddy Mario?)"
"That's-a like the millionth time-a you've asked me that-a, Yoshi-a."
"Yoshi… (..How much longer-)"
"Shut the hell up-a."
It was close to midnight right now, and yet, the Mario Bros, Toad, and Yoshi were still out in the streets, walking towards the house of the famed old wizard Merlon. They had continued walking ever since Mario got the call, which was hours ago. As badly as their feet ached, as tired as they were, that was nothing compared to what would happen should they not reach his place.
Which was, exactly….. Okay, they didn't know yet. They had lots of ideas what, though, and none of them were pleasant. The possibilities bouncing in their head were still enough to keep them going.
To the red-capped Italian, it almost seemed as if coping was no longer possible. He almost felt resigned to the Mushroom Kingdom's current state, it seemed that hopeless.
Almost. Mario took one more long sweeping glance at the Kingdom behind him. It was still his home, such as it was. No matter what, he still had to fight for it until the absolute, definitive end. He had always belived that even the darkest of moments could have a spark hidden in them somewhere.
"Hey Mario-a, you coming or what-a?"
Startled, Mario immediately snapped his head back to the other three. Luigi, Yoshi and Toad had all gone quite a bit ahead, and they had just now noticed Mario hadn't been keeping up with them.
"Yeah, I'll be right there-a."
Slowly, but surely, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom silently trudged back up to the rest of the gang, only partially listening to what they said, a billion or so thoughts running through his head.
What if he failed whatever it was he had to do? What if the kingdom couldn't rely on him like they had for so long before this time?
With a weak scoff, the Nintendo mascot brushed away the intruding thoughts. Impossible! He couldn't fail this one! He was the god damn Mario, for goodness sake! He could just blow through this challenge like he had been doing for so long!
The legend threw both fists in the air, Rocky style, forgetting he was still with all of his friends.
"YO! LET'S-A DO THIS THING!"
Dead. Silence.
"...Who are you talking to-a, bro?"
Mario found himself quickly snapping to attention yet a second time in a two minute timespan, returning to a cruel, unpleasant reality.
"Uh..." It didn't take a very long time for him to realize he couldn't BS his way out of this one.
"Oh! Uh…. yeah…I'm-a totally….. Coming-a…."
"So, that's your cue. Got it?"
"Yeah… wait, could you run everything you just said by us again?"
"Son of a- do you WANT to defeat Bowser and end his tyranny?"
"W-well, of course-"
"Then you gotta listen when you're spoken to, damnit!"
The speaker paused for a bit, slowly embracing the scared reactions of the other members of their small resistance. That was what he loved most about being the leader of this small group; the power it granted you, the sense of urgency it granted. The success of this revolution would fall near-entirely on his shoulders. The speaker was a somewhat small, yet firm-standing black Toad. His sunglasses glistened in the dim light, perfectly complimenting his subtle, yet confident grin. The Toad, named Maverick, silently stood still, furiously chewing a pack of gum while waiting for the other members of the small resistance to calm down so he could resume speaking. When the volume was adequately low, Maverick picked up right where he left off.
"As all of you know, we formed this resistance earlier today to keep some of the few survivors left all in one place. At present, our numbers are small, but we plan on finding more support in the coming days."
He twirled his shotgun around with his index finger as he tried to remember what he was gonna say next. When he did resume speaking, his words remained as harsh and forceful as they were prior.
"That's not our present plan, however. Right now, our focus is simply to attend Bowser's big speech to get an idea of any future plans he's staging and give us something to work off. It's not much, but it's something-PAY ATTENTION, PENELOPE!"
The Toad Maverick was addressing shot out of her chair with a yelp in shock. She was a young, pink Toad scared out of her wits, having enlisted in this small resistance because she still believed any scenario, no matter how hopeless, could improve. This particular scenario though, had her revisiting her philosophy for the first time. Her eyes now darted back and forth, hoping there was someone else named Penelope he could be addressing.
(Also, there wasn't another toad named Penelope in the resistance)
"Yeah, you over there, with the junk in the trunk!"
The Toad next to Penelope was named Panelope, and she had…. a pretty rockin set of… watermelons. She had also been paying total attention. Unlike Penelope.
"...I was paying attention, sir-"
"Wait….. Oh, dang. Mixed up your names. How about now, I call you Big Boobies and her Sandpaper Chest?" Maverick chuckled under his breath as both Penelope and Panelope rolled their eyes.
"And now, I've given everyone clever nicknames. KING ME!... But yes, I was talking to you, Sandpaper Chest. You were not paying attention when I was delivering my plan, and I do not tolerate that-"
"What could I possibly have missed?" murmured Penelope.
"Everything. Guess who's holding the weapons?"
Judging from the pause, it didn't take Penelope very long to figure out the answer. "Wonderful."
"Hey, it's not all bad. We have plenty of grenades. Just stick two on your chest….. And I won't tell the difference."
Penelope sighed and shook her head, staring glumy at the ground.
Later, at Merlon's house…
"Took you guys long enough."
The four heroes had long since arrived at Merlon's humble little house.
To most, it was the last place they would ever even consider calling home, but to an old, frayed spirit like Merlon, it was the ultimate bachelor's paradise and then some. The aged, creaking floorboards and the dimmed and barely functioning lighting that occasionally flickered on and off were deemed creepy and major turn-offs to most, but to Merlon, they really made the atmosphere, and it highlighted his mysterious, mystery-shrouded personality.
The old, fabled sage of the Stars lay down low in his rocking chair. He had lived a long life. Even in his weary and fragile state, the resident spellcaster hadn't lost the unmistakable edge in his overall style. With his face remaining hidden behind his large cloak, only his yellow eyes and unnaturally long white mustache showing, he took an extra long sip of his coffee before finally giving the heroes his full attention.
"Hey, man," Luigi questioned. "What-a happened in Flipside-a that caused to to come back-a…. Here."
Merlon seemed to turn into a block of ice upon receiving the question. "Uhh… I…. er…"
He couldn't come up with a polite, respectful way to say "stalking a chef from the first floor who was very open about not being interested. It was all just a misunderstanding, really".
"Err… What happened in Flipside that made YOU come back here?"
"...I live-a here," Luigi replied, confused. "Now, please-a tell me what you said-a you were going to tell us when we arrived-a here….." He briefly paused to cast a glance at the clock. "...10 minutes ago-a."
"...Oh, riiight! Well… do any of you recognize this item?"
The sage rustled down below his desk, throwing trash away in his attempts to find the star fragment. He was quite disorganized, so it took him quite a while. The four heroes cast a glance in unison, wondering if they should have stayed at the casino.
"...Yoshi Yoshi? (Should we go now?)"
"I'm with your dinosaur thing. This blows," murmured Toad in agreement.
"Me third-a," said Luigi. The three of them stood still, waiting for Mario, essentially their de facto leader, to solidify their choice.
Mario himself had been lost in thought for just about the entirety of the conversation. He was still wondering if perhaps their resistance was futile. There was a nagging feeling deep down inside him that everything would end pretty much the same regardless of whatever actions he took.
"So, according to the prophecy of the stars, this is not just any old Power Star fragment. It is part of one of the 7 Star Spirits." Merlon had found the fragment while everyone else was not paying attention.
And just like that, the mustachioed plumber legend's eyes widened immensely. He had once harnessed the might of all 7 of the Star Spirits, and was the only one in his group of 4 who had ever interacted with them, so it naturally took the others a bit of time to realize what Merlon was referring to.
"Yoshi? (Mommy, what the heck is he talking about?)"
The lanky man in green simply shrugged his shoulders in response. "I-a know as much as you-a do, boy."
Meanwhile, Toad hurled a baseball up and down in boredom, his eyes tracking the ball as it went up, and inevitably down, up, and inevitably down. (There was more, but you should get the pattern by now). He addressed the rest without even looking in their direction, still lazily locked onto his baseball.
"Star Spirits? What the hell are you talking about?"
Luigi, Toad and Yoshi continued to be confused. Merlon prepared to interject to explain just who these mystical sages were, but he was beaten to the punch.
"Let me explain, Merlon."
The voice of authority was gentle, and yet firm at the same time. It caused everyone to immediately shut up, all turning to face Mario with their full attention. The plumber stood up on his chair, with a firm, unwavering, stone-cold glare.
"It was a few-a years ago-a…."
Mid-sentence, the plumber paused, head bowed low, intending to milk the suspense. The others paused, looking at him questioningly, waiting for him to continue. However, there was no response for a while. The creaking floorboards were all there was to be heard.
Right when the others prepared to tell him to get on with it already, Mario resumed, not missing a beat.
"I'm-a going to tell the story of Star Spirits-a and good wishes… Far, far away-a, beyond the skies-a-"
"Just a simple description will suffice, Mario. We don't need your life story," replied a very disinterested Merlon.
"...The Star-a Spirits are-a the seven gatekeepers of the Mushroom-a Kingdom. They are in charge-a of the kingdom's well-being and all-a wishes in the Mushroom Kingdom. They reside in the Star Haven-a."
The old sage nodded his head approvingly, shifting his focus to his beer bottle. Popping it in the air, Merlon proceeded with a hearty swig, downing about half of the bottle in a mere 10 seconds.
The others shifted awkward, uneasy glances.
Yoshi, being the young and naive one of the bunch, began to gently stroke some of Merlon's personal items sloppily hanging on his wall, but a quick head-shake in disapproval from Luigi discouraged any further activity. The green dino decided to simply slump his head down on the papers and other unusual objects strewn across the floor.
Deciding enough was enough, Luigi quickly cleared his throat again. Clearly more invested in the bottle than the conversation, Merlon continued chugging. Only after Luigi cleared his throat a second time did Merlon bother to look up.
"What do you want?!" snapped the sage.
Luigi flinched, taken aback by the sudden reaction. "WHAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed the Green Thunder, cowering in fear. The resounding scream echoed through Merlon's place and shattering some of the glass objects. The perpetual Player 2 fell flat on his back.
The others just simply stared at him, sans Merlon, who remembered he still had a bit of work left to do.
"Ohh, yeah, I gotta tell you the deal with the fact that one of the Star Spirit's pieces is on the floor, don't I? Damn it… Well, okay, I'll…. I'll just tell you guys. The Star Spirits are dying."
Mario, who had just now been lifting up his brother from the floor, dropped him right back on the floor, standing, eyes widened. While Merlon had told him over the phone that something bad had happened regarding the star spirits, he was not informed that it was THIS drastic.
"D-d-d-dying?!" Mario sputtered out, stuttering tremendously. Which was very telling, given that he normally spoke with the utmost confidence.
Merlon sighed and looked down, wishing that magically, the answer he would have to give the heroes would change, just like that. But he could have stood there until he became a skeleton, and the answer would not change for squat. Recognizing he could only say one thing in response, the sage simply took a deep breath and made eye contact with all the heroes.
"Yes. Dying. They have reached the end of their lifespan."
Not even crickets could be heard in the resulting silence. Mario, Luigi, and Toad all let that one sink in for a bit. No Star Spirits would mean no order in the Mario-verse as a whole. No Star Spirits would mean no one to….. Wait, Mario just got an idea.
"Hey, don't-a 7 more star spirits-a take their place-a?"
Merlon sighed, and slowly shook his head. "These appear to be the last of their kind. After they're gone, the species will be extinct."
Well, that did it. Luigi fell on the floor, wailing something that sounded like "We're all-a doomed!" in between furious, speech-blocking tears. Similarly, Mario's throat seemed to be all closed up for repairs, judging from his utter lack of words. Even Toad, the least sensitive of all of them, still seemed to be mortified. Out of everything that they thought Merlon could tell them, this was by far the worst out of them.
"I…..Isn't there-a anything we can do-a?" questioned Mario, finally speaking.
"Hey, how should I know? I would guess you go up to Star Heaven-
"Star HAVEN."
"Guess what, bitch? I'M DRUNK AS HELL, AND I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT I'M MISPRONOUNCING!"
Upon that statement, Merlon's eyes instantly turned a violent red. "... Anyways, I'd suggest traveling to the Beanbean Kingdom. There were birds there that transported you places, right?" Merlon smiled, immediately returning to a calm and wise look.
"Errr….. Yeah, there were-a. Sounds like a plan, I guess-a." Mario flipped his head down, to his young dino. "Come on-a. Get up-a."
To ensure Yoshi would awaken, Mario gently nudged him a few times. As per normal, that did the trick. The young green dino groggily awoke, looking up with half-mast eyes, and his attention diverted to a white-ish substance on his tongue that he had tasted right before he fell asleep.
"Yoshi? (I...I don't understand what this is, as many foods as I've eaten. It's white… but it tastes kinda acidic.)"
Merlon quickly looked up, gasping in shock. "W-where did that come from?"
Yoshi pointed to an object on the floor. It was pinkish, and it was full of the aforementioned white stuff. Mario looked up and glared at Merlon, with an unamused look.
Upon seeing where Yoshi got the…. substance from, Merlon burst into a fit of hearty laughter, complete with knee-slapping and snorting throughout. "Ohhhhh! You see, something….. Happened last night….. Involving a girl….. And I…. forgot to clean the mess."
Yoshi furrowed his brow. "Yo-shiiii? (What does that mean, Daddy?)"
The mascot of Nintendo sighed yet again. "It's-a something you're way-a too young to know, and wouldn't want to-a know anyways-a. Come on."
And with that, all four heroes walked out the door, chasing their new objective. Merlon sat in silence, waiting til all four were out of sight. The second the coast was clear, the sage mellowed his expression, then proceeded to turn to his half-finished beer bottle, which had spilled on it's side and was leaking it's contents over the floor akin to one long, beer waterfall.
"Ah, now then, where were we?" pondered Merlon, staring lovingly at his beer bottle, now on the verge of tipping over the table.
"...Oh, right! Let me tie this loose end up, babe, know what I mean?"
With that, Merlon grabbed the bottle, and stared at it intensely. A heart popped up, and with a final mighty swig, began to drown the last of the beer, not taking his lips off the bottle until the last of the liquor was gone. As soon as there wasn't anything left, he threw the empty bottle on the floor with a grunt in frustration.
"Great, now what?"
Much, much later...
It was time now. Bowser hoped this moment wouldn't come, but it was here. The time of his speech. His speech that he still hadn't really finished. His speech he'd be giving in about 2 minutes.
The crowd was very full too. Surprising in it's own right, to be sure. Nearly everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom was there. Even more surprising, the ruthless Sledge Bros hadn't really needed to force anyone to come to the speech. As much as they hated Bowser's guts, a lot of the Mushroomers were pretty interested in hearing his plans for the Kingdom. Sure, it was a foregone conclusion that they would be put through hell and back, but on that day in particular, Bowser had seemed to them to be pretty chill, and he hadn't ordered anyone killed so far. That alone made them feel so much better, even if the multiple pale white, slowly falling blankets of snow were cold enough to give anyone pneumonia.
The thick, foggy white sky left very little past Peach's Castle visible; only the faint outlines of some of the mountains and trees could be seen beyond the fog; one of which, the Mushroomers noted, seemed to be coming ever so closer…
But that outline was not one of a mountain. Rather, it was the masked silhouette of Bowser's doomship, looming ominously above Peach's Castle. Soon, it was close enough so they could make it out, but it was still mostly blocked off by the fog.
Inside the Doomship…..
"Look, Bowser, I'm telling you. This is it. You're giving your speech in two minutes….." Army Hammer Bro paused briefly to glance at his watch. "...ooh, make that one minute. Yikes."
Face-down on his desk, the King of Koopas sighed. He was not typically one to admit it, but Army Hammer Bro was right. He was one of few with the bravery to criticize Bowser's actions, and routinely get away unscathed. As much as Bowser usually wanted to pound his face in, he brought up several good points he couldn't help but consider.
Anyways, he had already told everyone he was giving a speech right there at midnight, and now it was just about time, and he was not exactly prepared with an epic speech.
...Maybe I still have enough… the Koopa King decided. He took a quick glance at his paper just to determine that.
Bowser's epic victory speech that will cement his legacy as the King of Awesome further and strike fear into the kingdom and beyond:
Yeah, that was all he had written down. Discounting part of a porno magazine that he had forgotten to take off the paper, some drool, and a Mountain Dew stain.
...Yep, I'm screwed.
"It's time, sir."
With a resounding yelp, Bowser's flew wide open in shock and horror.
"Uhh….." The king decided he had only one option. He waved his arm across his face, Obi-Wan style. "This isn't the koopa you're looking for," Bowser stated in an ominous voice.
Of course, this did nothing to fool Army Hammer Bro.
"Oh, cut the preschool crap, sir. Your grave, you dug it." Army Hammer Bro stood still, arms folded. "No way around it, you're gonna have to jump out now and give what you have."
Bowser buried his head into his arms. "This can't be happening…."
The leading Hammer Bro merely shrugged. "Well, sir, you can still nail the awesome landing you were talking about making."
Bowser looked at him as if he were speaking Chinese. "W-what awesome landing?"
"Well, I don't see any other doomships coming to drop you down, do you?"
Bowser prepared to rebut that point, but instead, his mouth kept hanging open. "Actually, I never thought about that."
"Of course you didn't. Well, it's like making an awesome landing onto a stage right before giving a speech. Only one way to do it."
"Err… okay. Any other advice?"
"Don't die."
"...Army Hammer Bro, you're a real beacon of sunshine."
Four of the only people not attending Bowser's meeting were the Mario Bros, Toad, and Yoshi, none of whom were aware of it and none of whom would likely have gone anyways. Their escape from Toad Town was pretty uneventful, all in all.
That didn't really stop Mario from bringing up the rear and silently weighing their odds of success. He tried to look for all the positives, but he really couldn't find any.
"Hey, let's-a take a rest-a by this lake-a, Mario. We'll-a need all our energy-a if we're to take on-a everything ahead of us-a."
"Huh? Oh, yeah-a, that sounds-a… good. Whatever.. you-a... said."
While confused, Luigi decided not to push it, and just went straight to sitting down and taking some sips from the cold, refreshing water. Likewise, Toad followed suit, scooping up several greedy handfuls. This was the first clean, pure water any of them had had access to for days.
Mario was a bit late to the party. He just lay down on his back, staring at the foggy-white sky, not caring for the snow falling all around him. Out of the other three, only Yoshi really took notice. The caring dino slowly walked up to Mario and tapped him a few times on the shoulder, making the latter wince a few times and get up with an annoyed look on his face.
"Yoshi! Yoshi! Yoshiiii! (Sorry! Sorry! Just seeing if you're all right, Daddy!)"
Mario sighed and gave a quick, lazy nod in response, getting back to staring at the bleak, dismal sky.
Yep. I'm all good-a. He smiled and closed his eyes.
Just fine-a... As he sunk into a deep sleep, his thoughts scattered...
TO BE CONTINUED...