CHAPTER
FIFTEEN: ETERNAL VOID
"It's
just as I feared," said Mario. "Yoshi is gone. The killer may
still be alive…" He, Shy Guy and Bowser wore intense, worried
expressions. One of them was guilty.
"Have
you ever considered the possibility," said Shy Guy, "that the
killer is not one of us, and the murders are coming from someone who
was here before any of us? Someone, perhaps, who invited us here with
the intention of killing each and every one of us?"
"No,"
said Bowser. "And I don't plan on thinking on those grounds at
this point. I'm sticking with the original theory."
"I
agree," Mario replied. "It's too late to change everything like
that. You may be right, Shy Guy, but a killer whose location and
identity are completely unknown… I can't deal with that. I don't
want to. It has to be one of us."
"In
that case," said Shy Guy, "we must take the necessary
precautions."
"What
do you mean by that?"
"I
don't know. Got any ideas?"
Chink!
Chink!
Three
pairs of handcuffs restrained the three men, now bonded together
constantly. They sat in a circle around a glass coffee table in the
living room, eyeing each other suspiciously. The killer was among
them, and through this method, they would either find the culprit or
do nothing until they all died. Nobody wanted either to happen.
"I'm
hungry," said Shy Guy.
"I
guess we're eating," Bowser replied irritably.
They clumsily ambled into the kitchen in a circle like a group of sky divers. Taking their chances, Bowser and Mario allowed Shy Guy free from his handcuffs until he could get food and silverware. They quietly watched him slurp large forkfuls of spaghetti under his mask. By now they no longer cared how he ate; in fact, they were rather disgusted. By the time the meal was over, Shy Guy's mask was covered in tomato sauce, which he messily smeared off with a napkin before belching loudly. They hastily snapped him back into his bonds and then went back to the living room.
It
was several hours before anyone spoke.
"Wanna
play checkers or something?" Bowser asked sarcastically.
"NO!"
Shy Guy exclaimed. This unexpected outburst caused the other two to
stare at him for several seconds before he spoke again.
"Sorry,"
he said. "I just get really moody when I'm bored. I've never
sat down doing nothing for so long."
Nobody
replied. Shy Guy began to tap his feet on the floor. Mario sighed.
"I
gotta use the bathroom," Shy Guy said after a while. Bowser and
Mario groaned.
They
freed Shy Guy for the second time and stood outside the door
silently. Several minutes passed.
"What
is taking him so long?!" Bowser complained. Mario knocked on the
door.
"What
are you doing in there?"
"What
do you think I'm doing?" Shy Guy called back.
"Wasting
time is what you're doing," Bowser replied. Shy Guy was
silent.
"Well,
hurry up in there," Mario said loudly, leaning against the
door.
Time
snailed by. Some time later, Bowser, almost asleep and sitting
uncomfortably against the bathroom door, asked Mario the time. Mario
opened his eyes and checked the clock on the wall.
"Quarter
to five," he said.
"He
has been in there for half an hour," Bowser moaned. "This is
ridiculous. Let's go in there."
"No
way, we have to respect his privacy! What if he's the killer?"
"I
don't care, this is stupid." Bowser slowly got to his feet,
bringing Mario with him, and rammed against the door with his
shoulder. It burst open with ease, nearly causing Bowser to fall
over. Mario gasped.
Shy
Guy was not on the toilet. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen. Mario
looked down at the floor to find his robes, shoes and mask lying in
front of the sink.
"He
took his clothes off?" Bowser said.
"Bowser,
I… I think he's dead!"
Large,
red letters decorated the wall opposite them:
PLUNGED INTO THE ETERNAL VOID
Neither
of them knew what this was supposed to mean.
"Why
does he say that? And where is his body, if he's dead? Bodies don't
just disappear like that."
"Who
knows," said Mario. "Shy Guy isn't human or any other commonly
found race, if you ask me. Death might be different for
him."
Depressed,
the two of them tossed the extra cuffs aside and made their way back
to the living room, bonded until confession or confirmation. Shy
Guy may have been the killer, Mario
thought. I
guess we'll find out sooner or later…
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN: SHOWDOWN
Mario
and Bowser, bitter rivals, stared at each other intensely over the
coffee table. They would not leave each other's sight.
"This
has been fun, Bowser."
"Indeed
it has," he growled.
"Bowser?"
"Yes?"
"I've
been wanting to tell you something for a long time now, and now that
either one of us may be in our last moments… I think now is the
time to tell you."
"I'm
listening."
Mario
leaned over the table with a serious expression. Bowser's grin grew
wider.
"Bowser…
you're not so bad, now that I've gotten to know you."
Bowser's
grin faded. "What… what do you mean?"
"I
misunderstood you all those years. I thought you were a terrible
monster with no heart, but… you're just like any human, no matter
what you look like. I'm sorry."
His
grin reappeared. "Thank you, Mario."
"Don't
mention it."
"Mario…"
"Yes?"
"I
have a secret, too…" Bowser leaned closer and whispered to
Mario's ear:
"I'm
the killer."
It
seemed like several hours went by before anybody spoke.
"I'm
impressed, Bowser."
"Thank
you, Mario."
"How
did you do it all?"
Bowser's
grin became wider than ever. "It wasn't easy, Mario. It began one
night when I was in my castle, plotting.
"I
knew that capturing the princess again was a no-go. You always saw
right through me when I did that before. So, I formulated a plan. I
would hire my Koopa workers to build a mansion in secret and decorate
it in a way that would hide who its owner was, then I would invite
you to it where you wouldn't be found. They finished it in record
time, and I was pleased. But, I thought, I guess I have to invite
that Luigi, too, because he was also a threat to my plans. I was hit
with an idea! Why not invite every
well-known
Mushroom Kingdom resident? The chances of anyone suspecting me were
slim, especially if I were to go too.
"It
worked perfectly. Everyone showed up. I would be able to kill each
and every person one by one, until I was the only one left and I was
free to rule the kingdom. I came prepared, of course. I brought with
me –" he held up a blue rod with a red gem on the end "—a
magic wand, capable of bending reality in a way that was under my
control. It was easy to use and easy to hide. I tested its powers by
possessing one of the paintings on the walls to follow my exact
commands at my time of choice. It worked! The painting killed Daisy,
and without leaving a mess. Beforehand, however, I played a special
trick involving the knife that killed your brother. I had hidden it
under Wario's hat in the kitchen, so that Wario may search for his
hat and discover the knife, make the connection, and use it to murder
whomever he pleased, namely you. I also tested Wario's cleverness and
persistence by filling the cupboard in the kitchen with treats and
blocking them with a forcefield with the use of the wand. But Shy
Guy, whom I had secretly given the wand without his knowledge in
order to pin the blame on him, switched the knife with the wand
before Wario found his hat. Shy Guy then created the Mario dummy and
completed his scene in the bathroom involving a puppet of your
likeness and an engraving on the wall; meanwhile, everyone else was
mourning Daisy downstairs. When the puppet was discovered, Waluigi
stole the knife in its body and violently murdered Luigi. This was
not at all part of my plan, but I was pleased nevertheless. Waluigi's
next target was you, but in order to gain your praise and lower
suspicion of myself, I stopped you from being killed.
"The
murder of Donkey Kong wasn't part of my plan either, but it was
very helpful indeed for my son to murder him at that time. He was
onto me; he had me figured out. Junior, out of spite, got rid of my
main threat and cleared my path to victory. This lead to a rivalry
between Diddy Kong and Junior. Later, I killed Toad at breakfast in
order to raise suspicion of Diddy Kong being the killer. However, I
had a plan. I deliberately made my careful choice of glass while
serving Toad a drink quite viewable by everyone else. The glass
choosing distracted them from what really killed Toad: the butter on
his toast. I had poisoned the butter but made it look like I had
poisoned the water. I was now a prime suspect, though, even when I
had proved the glass and myself innocent. For this reason, I locked
my own son in the cellar with the full intention of saving him the
moment my name was clear. I didn't think ahead, though – it was
already too late when I realized that Junior coming back to life all
of a sudden would make me even more suspicious than I was before. I
was forced to keep him in the cellar until I had devised a plan to
get him back out without the knowledge of the others. I never
completed the plan; it was impossible.
