This is actually the second time when two of my OCs show up in the same story!
Enjoy! ;)
Chapter 17: A second Princess Shroob?
At the top of the star-shaped staircase, there was a large castle with tall towers up ahead. The heroes glanced at the beauty this castle had: walls that looked like they were made of pure light blue glass with glittering stars printed on, deep pink rooftops with blue flags depicting a white star printed on them, and the many windows and the double doors leading to the shrine's entrance were all made of transparent glass.
"Now THIS is what I call a magical castle!" Sonic exclaimed.
"I can't say if I like this castle more than Peach's Castle…" Mario scratched his head in embarrassment.
"Man! If it's stunning from the outside, imagine on the inside!" Tails beamed.
"You're right! I bet it'll be even prettier!" Young Tails chirped.
Veronica flew to the double doors and called out:
"The doors seems to be opened. So we can go inside with no problems."
The heroes wasted no time and went inside the Shrine. And as expected, the inside was totally stunning: the walls were light blue with some star stained glass hung on, columns of glass with bubbles flowing inside, and the floor was made of light-blue glass with glittering stars printed on it.
"This place is even prettier now!" Baby Mario beamed.
"Yeah, it is very pretty." Veronica smiled. "The Cobalt Star energy is stronger… I believe the princess should be just up ahead."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's hurry and get that shard!" Young Sonic said.
They all nodded and went onward. After passing by another room where a Piranha Planet was roaming around, they reached a wide-open chamber, where they spotted someone up ahead. It looked like the figure of a woman, with her back turned.
"Is that her…?" Baby Luigi asked silently.
"Yes, that's her." Veronica nodded as everyone walked closer to the princess.
She then turned around to reveal her face: the appearance of a woman in her early 20's sharing the same height as Rosalina. She had a delicate oval face with brown eyes with purple eyeshadow and light-purple lips, and her face made her look like she was a very innocent person. She has short straight black hair that reached under her neck, and her outfit is a flowing, deep pink strapless gown with a black tulle decorated with silver sparkles. Her hot pink belt had two pink ribbons attached to both sides of her waist and there was a metallic pink rose brooch with silver leaves decorating the left side of her chest. She wore dark pink high heels on her feet, long white evening gloves beyond elbow-length on her arms, and a platinum crown decorated with black pearls was donning her head. Finally, on her ears, black pearl earrings matching the black pearls on her crown.
The male heroes looked at her in awe, because of how beautiful she looks. She smiled at the heroes as she speaks in a soft tone:
"Welcome to the Star Shrine, dear heroes." She bowed. "My name is Melissa, princess of the Star Realm. I watch over the balance of the stars in the sky and grant wishes. I'm quite impressed at how you managed to come all the way here into my realm. That proves you're indeed the ones destined to become the heroes of this land. I pray that you'll save this kingdom and free it from the Shroobs."
As she speaks the last sentence, Melissa creates a pink light orb of light by positioning her hands scoop-like, and a Cobalt Shard showed up once the orb faded.
"Because I have so much faith in you, I shall give you this Cobalt Shard." She finished as she hands the Cobalt Shard to Mario.
"Thank you so much, Melissa." He thanked.
"You're welcome." Melissa nodded. "Now if you excuse me, I have some things to do. Feel free to explore my castle as much as you want. You can go anywhere except my room." She leaves as the star-shaped door with a keyhole opened up and she went through.
"Well, that leaves us with four Cobalt Shards now." Tails said. "Only two more remaining."
"Didn't you guys thought it was weird that Melissa told us to go anywhere except her room?" Luigi thought out loud suspiciously.
"Who cares? We can at least leave this place now." Sonic shrugged.
"INCOMING!" suddenly, they heard a female voice coming from their left.
The heroes turned to the left, only to see a pink shell and a pink spiked ball launching towards them.
"WHOA!" they flinched as they quickly got out of the way.
Once the pink objects landed with a loud 'thud', they revealed themselves as Amy and Kylie!
"Amy? Kylie? What are you doing here?" Sonic asked.
"Boy oh boy! I've been shaking the BUSHES for you boys!" Kylie exclaimed. "Open them ears and listen to this! For once, it ain't got a thing to do with scoops! Get this: I stumbled onto something so big, it's even BIGGER than big! It started when I fell outta that mother ship while it was flying over Yoshi's Island… Yeah, see, what happened was, I bounced right off Amy's head!"
"Yep…" Amy stepped forward. "She landed right on me. And that's when it happened! All of it… My… My… MY MEMORY CAME BACK!"
"Really?!" the heroes exclaimed in surprise.
Amy then pulled out a neon green upside down shard from her pocket. "I was holding on to this in secret… It's a Cobalt Shard… And this part is linked to the Star's middle!" she smiled. "If you find all of the Cobalt Shards, you'll be able to save the kingdom… That's what you all believe, isn't it?" the heroes nodded. "But… But… Even if you restore the Cobalt Star… Defeating the Shroobs will…STILL BE IMPOSSIBLE!"
"WHAT?!" the heroes shouted in shock.
"You plan on scooping up all the shards, right, whiskers?" Kylie guessed.
"That's right!" Sonic responded. "We already got four shards with us!" he shows the incomplete Cobalt Star with its four shards.
"No! Don't!" Amy protested.
"Huh?" everyone except Veronica, Baby Luigi and Amy raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"DOOOOOOON'T!" Amy shrieked and she runs away.
"Hold up!" Kylie follows her.
The heroes were left speechless, until Young Sonic broke the silence:
"Well… That was weird."
"Why did Amy panic when we mentioned the Cobalt Star?" Tails asked in confusion.
"That's a good question…" Luigi scratched his head.
Suddenly, the Cobalt Star started to shake and flew into the air in circles.
"Wait, what's with the Cobalt Star?" Mario questioned.
"I think… I think the Cobalt Star is attempting to communicate with us…" Stuffwell guessed. "I, of course, am programmed for translatification…" he then translates for the heroes: "Ahead… Ahead… Something ahead… A strong power beckons… Hurry… Hurry…"
To everyone's surprise, the Cobalt Star flew to the next room by its own!
"…Did the Cobalt Star just flew on its own?" Baby Mario didn't expect that.
"Sounds like we're on the correct pathway." Stuffwell said. "BACK TO ADVENTURE!"
"Hurry! Let's chase after the Cobalt Star!" Mario demanded.
The rest nodded and went to the next room. This room had deep pink platforms. To get to the top, it was required to do the Baby Cakes ability to pass through some small openings on the far left wall with many air vents. The end of the maze of narrow paths led the infants to a closed star-shaped gate where they used Baby Drill to dig and pass under the gate.
Inside, they found a button. Baby Mario hit it with his hammer, causing a green platform to emerge out next to the deep pink platforms. They hopped on the platforms and reached another room. There, all they had to do was to press a switch on the floor to open the next star-shaped door with a keyhole. This room actually leads to Princess Melissa's room.
"YOIKS!" they suddenly heard Kylie's scream from Melissa's room.
"Was that Kylie?" Young Tails asked.
"Uh oh! They might be in trouble!" Tails said in horror as they rushed into Melissa's room.
Inside, they found Amy and Kylie knocked down on the ground, unconscious.
"Amy! Kylie!" the group cried out as they went to the girls.
"Please tell us you're okay!" Luigi pleaded with worry.
"M-M-Monster…" Kylie moaned. "D-D-Danger… The…Cobalt…Star…"
"Eh?" Luigi raised an eyebrow.
"Guys…" Amy spoke slowly. "My… My sketch…"
"Your sketch…? You mean this one we have?" Mario asked as he took out the sketch that Amy had given to them back at Yoshi's Island.
"Yes… The sketch I drew… The answer is there... The…hidden…answer… Rub…the sketch… The dust… Rub it…"
Mario did as she told and rubbed off all of the dirt covering the sketch. And what was hidden under the dust? It showed another Princess Shroob on the lower-right corner, and the identity of the mysterious woman shown on the lower-left corner that was using the Cobalt Star showed someone that was identical to Veronica!
"What in the world…?!" Mario's eyes widened at what he saw in the sketch.
"M-Mario… What you see…there…is…"
"What's going on down there?" Before Amy could finish her sentence, they heard Melissa's voice coming from above.
When she noticed that the heroes were in her room, she first became shocked before going into an angry expression.
"NO WAY! How did you manage to come all the way here?!" she yelled in unbelief. "For trespassing into my domain, YOU SHALL BE DESTROYED!"
Suddenly, Melissa started to morph into a strange red figure. Eventually, it was revealed as a red Shroob with yellow spots and spikes on top of its head. That was the Elder Shrooboid. Upon reverting, the Elder Shrooboid did a loud roar:
*ROOOOOAAAAR!*
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Sonic flinched.
"Oh no… That's the elder of all the Shroobs! The Elder Shrooboid! Also the strongest of all the Shrooboids!" Veronica told them.
Just then, two purple lightning bolts came out of nowhere and they struck Kylie and Amy, turning them into Shroob Mushrooms!
"KYLIE! AMY!" the heroes gasped in horror.
The Elder Shrooboid did another roar and the heroes glared at it while doing their fighting stances.
"Guess we have no choice. Let's take it on!" Young Sonic said.
The Elder Shrooboid took out yellow crystals and trapped everyone inside. The heroes struggled to break free as Elder Shrooboid came back with a wrecking ball. Thankfully, the heroes were able to break out from the crystals before they could get hit by the wrecking ball.
The Elder Shrooboid roared in frustration by that and kicks the wrecking ball at Luigi, but he jumped high enough to avoid the attack.
"Time to get this party started!" Sonic smirked as he Home Attacks the Elder Shrooboid, followed by Young Sonic's Spin Dash.
The Elder Shrooboid did another roar and spits fireballs at the heroes, but they dodged them. To prevent the Elder Shrooboid for spitting more fireballs, both Tailses equipped their arm cannons and shot plasma beams into the elder's mouth.
"Guys! If it's shooting fire, then that means it is weak to ice!" Veronica concluded.
"That's it! Ice Flower!" Mario pulls out the Ice Flower and he, Luigi and the babies absorbed it, changing into their Ice forms.
They charged their ice balls before shooting them at the Elder Shrooboid, freezing it in a block of ice. But then, it managed to break out by spitting another fireball from its mouth.
"What?!" Mario wasn't expecting that.
"It broke free! How?!" Luigi questioned in unbelief.
"I think the plasma from our arm cannons wasn't enough to block its flame pipe." Tails guessed.
"Watch out!" Veronica warned when the Elder Shrooboid threw a massive spiked iron ball that circled around the heroes. Luckily, Baby Mario knocked the iron ball back at the elder with his hammer, and the elder was now lying on his face to the ground.
"Now we can jump on it with no problems!" Baby Mario exclaimed.
The bros did their jump attacks at the downed Elder Shrooboid. After this attack, the elder stopped moving.
"That was it? Lame…" Sonic rolled his eyes.
But when everyone thought it was over, all of a sudden, the Elder Shrooboid got up and started to glow…becoming bigger.
"MAMA MIA!" the adult and baby Mario Brothers shouted in shock.
"It got huge!" Young Sonic's eyes widened.
But that's not all: the Elder Shrooboid spat out a Shroob Saucer and it showed a sign with the number 4 on it before dropping to 3.
"CRAP! Not this again!" Sonic flinched.
The Elder Shrooboid stomped towards both Sonics, who countered back as many time as they could by doing their Spin Charges, giving a chance for Baby Mario to whack the elder with his hammer, sending it back a few feet. The Elder Shrooboid quickly got on his feet before the brothers even attempted to stomp it, and it sent out another spiked iron ball, but this one was huge, and it once again was circling around the heroes. Baby Luigi managed to hit the iron ball with his hammer, sending it towards the Shroob Saucer, and it slammed down on the elder, causing it to lie on the floor again.
"Let's defeat it with our jumps while it's on the ground!" Baby Mario said.
"But we need enough strength so that we could defeat it with just jumps." Mario stated. "After all, it is now bigger than it was before."
Then, they heard a faint voice:
"Mario…brothers…"
"Is that Melissa's voice?" Luigi asked.
Indeed he was right; another Melissa came in while crawling on the ground, looking quite tired.
"I am the real Princess Melissa…" Melissa spoke. "The Elder Shrooboid has beaten me and disguised as me so that it could snatch the Cobalt Shards…"
"I knew that fake Melissa was suspicious…" Luigi thought.
"As weak as I am now, I'm still able to help you. I shall use my power to give you an item that will defeat the Elder Shrooboid."
Melissa then stands up and creates a pink orb of light on her left palm and a deep pink flower showed up. But that flower was odd looking: it had two heads instead of one, but the heads have the same appearance of the Fire and Ice variations of the flower.
"What's that?" Mario asked as he takes the two-headed flower. "I've never seen this type of Power Up before."
"It's a Copy Flower. When you absorb it, it will split you into multiple copies of yourself." Melissa explained.
"Sweet! Let's use that to our advantage!" Baby Mario shoved his fist into the air.
The adult and baby brothers absorb the Copy Flower, and as expected, they were multiplied to massive numbers. Then, all of the clones ran and jumped one by one on the Elder Shrooboid's head. Once the Elder Shrooboid faced defeated, the clones vanished.
"THAT. WAS. AWESOME!" Young Sonic exclaimed.
"It sure was! Thanks for helping them, Melissa." Veronica thanked.
"It is my pleasure." Melissa bowed.
"Hey, look! The Elder Shrooboid is dissolving into something!" Tails pointed.
They watched the Elder Shrooboid dissolve and the neon upside down star showed up. It was the middle piece of the Cobalt Star that Amy had with her!
"All right! We have five Cobalt Shards now!" Young Tails cheered as he took the shard.
"And just in time! The spirit told us that this shard will allow us to break the barrier of Peach's Castle!" Sonic added.
"That is the shard that was in Amy's possession, if I'm not mistaken." Stuffwell said. "I presume that monster disguised as Melissa attacked them hoping to take it for its own." He walks towards the Shroobified Kylie and Amy.
"I just hope we can get them back to normal…" Baby Luigi whimpered.
"Poor Amy… Poor Kylie… This is a travesty… I suppose there's nothing we can do for them now." Stuffwell lamented. "But hold on, where did the rest of the Cobalt Star go blastering off to?"
Just then, the incomplete Cobalt Star came back.
"There it is!" Young Tails chirped.
"Oh, happies! What a relief to see it return unharmed!" Stuffwell replied in relief.
Young Tails then inserts the middle piece of the Cobalt Star on it. Now the Cobalt Star is missing just its upper-left point. Stuffwell then puts away the Cobalt Star into him. "BACK TO ADVENTURE!"
"So if we rescue Princess Peach and defeat the Shroobs… We may be able to restore Amy and Kylie back!" Sonic confirmed.
"That could be a possibility." Melissa said.
"Hmm, now that you mentioned it..." Mario takes out Amy's sketch and looks at it again. "Guys, by any chance, have you seen this?" he shows the complete sketch to everyone, which made their eyes widen.
"Is that another Princess Shroob?" Luigi asked.
"And that woman looks like Veronica!" Tails pointed out. He then looked at Veronica. "Veronica, was it you who was fighting against both Princess Shroobs?"
"I… Well…" Veronica hesitated for a bit, but then she admitted: "*sigh* yes. I was the one who was fighting the Shroob Princesses."
"And you lost the battle? That's horrible…"
"Hold up! If it was Veronica who battled against them, then why did the Shroobs take Peach instead?" Mario questioned.
"Yet another missing puzzle piece remaining…" Sonic sweatdropped.
"Not quite." Veronica shook her head. "The reason they took Peach…is because she was the one who summoned me from Hollijolli Village so that I could battle them and protect her. As revenge, they kidnapped her and planned to take over the Mushroom Kingdom."
"So that's where it all began…" Luigi pondered.
"Well, we should leave this place. You guys want to head to Shroob Castle, right?" Veronica guessed. The boys nodded. "All right, then. We should be on our way."
"There is actually a Time Hole at the room up ahead. I'll open it for you." Melissa said as she walked towards the closer star-shaped door with a keyhole and made it open up for the heroes. "Now, this won't be the last time we'll meet. I'm sure about that. As the guardian of the stars, I shall watch over you." She smiled. "Have a safe journey!" she waved. The heroes waved back as they went through the door.
On the other room, there was indeed a Time Hole waiting for them at the middle. They nod to each other before jumping in.
To be continued…
If you read my Super Paper Mario Dimensions story, you'll probably remember Melissa. In this Saga, she's the princess of the Star Realm, possibly replacing the Star Spirits from Paper Mario (remember that the Paper Mario series takes place in a separate universe, as confirmed by Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam).
And yeah! I decided to make Melissa the ruler of the Star Realm because the color of her dress matches the color of the platforms seen in the Star Shrine and coincidentally matches the color of the Copy Flower too! And don't worry; she'll appear again much later in this story.
It's finally off to Shroob Castle! Until the next chapter! Please review.