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Teen Titans and the Thousand Year Door

Chapter 2
A Rouge's Welcome

Soft snoring could be heard from the pudgy man as the boat neared the dock of a town. A creature with a mushroom on his head, known as a toad, came up to the man and shook him.

"Excuse me, sir?"

The man rolled to the side a bit, muttering "Ah, lots-a meatballs Daisy," in his sleep. The toad shook him again.

"Please wake up sir! The town you'd been speaking of has come into view. Look! That's Rougeport!"

This got the man up. He slowly opened his as he got used to the light. And near in the distance were a small port and a stone wall surrounding the town.

"You see?" the toad spoke, "We'll arrive shortly. Please prepare to disembark."

Meanwhile, a certain someone else was waking up as well. The first sound that he heard was the sound of the seagulls' caws. As Beast Boy wiped his eyes to get used to the light, the boat pulled into the dock, letting the pudgy man off.

"I must apologize sir," the same toad said to the man, "our arrival was delayed just a bit by rough weather. Are you quite sure you want to disembark here? I did tell you all the sordid tales about Rougeport on our way here, did I not?"

BB slowly climbed to his feet as he took in his surroundings. Apparently crates surrounded him on a pier. But what he couldn't believe was the creatures that he sees. They're the occasional toads, but there were bomb like creatures with shoes and a wind up key coming out of their backs. These are Bob-ombs. BB slid back down to the ground as he tried to contemplate what was happening. Meanwhile back with the boat…

"I'm sorry? You say there's a princess waiting here for you?" the toad clarified. The man just gave a short nod. "Is that so? Er… of course sir. Well, if that's what you think, then I won't stop you. But uh, you be careful sir. Don't say I didn't warn you!"

And with that, the boat turned around and headed off. In the meantime, BB came out of the crates around the pier. Instantly many questions sounded in his head. Where is he? Where are his friends? What happened to them? How'd he get here? And why can't people believe it's not butter?

He slowly came out as a bob-omb came up to him.

"Oy! Welcome to Rougeport! Bit of a nasty place eh? You got guts comin' here. You look a bit green, so ave' a wee bit of advice on me: go to that save point to save. Cause the thing about life is that ya never know when you're gonna kick the ol' bucket."

With that, the sailor left as BB pondered. He never heard of a place called 'Rougeport' before. And he thinks that the sailor was making a jab at him being green. Before he ponders any further, a shriek sounded.

"Hey! What do you want? Get away from me freak!"

All eyes fell on the arriving scene as four figures arrived. One was a mushroom like being with a face, which is known as a Goomba. But the figure had rosy cheeks, a pith helmet with a light, a khaki shirt, a red tie, and blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. But the figures before her were much weirder. There were two figures in uniforms. They had white hats, goggles, white collars, red shirts with black x's on them, white gloves and white shoes with red soles.

The final figure, supposedly the two thugs' leader, was a bit more elaborate. He had a purple cap, goggles, a red collar with matching cape, a black shirt with a white x, white gloves, purple pants and fancy black shoes. The was the figure to speak first.

"Oh come off it you airhead! I know it's hard for you, but don't play dumb with me! I've seen you walking around for information about the Crystal Stars. Well now I'm doing the asking, so be a good girl and tell us what you know. Right. NOW!"

"Never!" the goomba girl retaliated. "I don't have anything to say to you creeps!"

"I suppose it wouldn't be right if a sassy little lass like you met with an untimely demise," the man said angrily. "Buh, buh, buh huh huh! Boys, we're taking this little firebrand to our fortress!"

The thugs stood at attention. "As you command Lord Crump! We're on it!"

"N-no!" the girl said frightened. "Stop right there you weirdos! I'll scream! Really!"

BB's eyes narrowed. It looks like even in a place that he didn't know about; he'll have to do some crimefighting. He rushed forward till he was near the goomba girl. He then looked to side in surprise as the pudgy man came up as well. The girl noticed them and ran behind them.

"Like I'd go anywhere with smelly lunatics like you! Hmph! Not likely!" she shouted at her assaults.

"Whuh?" Crump mumbled at the defenders. "What do you think you're doing chumps? You think you can screw up my plans?" BB and the man only took battle stances. "Gah! It's always something… Looks like I'm going to have to give you two a little taste of the old CRUMP-A-BOMB!"

Crump ran forward, about to do a body slam. But the pudgy man just swung out hammer from out of nowhere and knocked him back. BB then took this time and transformed into a lion. He roared proudly as he leaped forward with a swipe. However, Crump was more agile than he looked and leaped back receiving only a scratch on his chest. The girl stood wide-eyed at her defenders. Look closely and you could've sworn that there was a blush. Finally the pudgy man jumped into the air, and slammed both feet on Crump not once, but twice. Crump fell back as he was beat.

"Buh, Buh, Buh huh huh! Ok, you got a couple of decent shots in, I'll give you that. But, unfortunately for you, that means IT'S GO TIME!"

Suddenly out of nowhere, about fifty more of the thugs came out of nowhere, creating a mob around the three. "PUNISH THEM!" And just like that, they were swarmed with the soldiers colliding with them.

It looked like there was no way out. It would take a stupid miracle to escape. One stupid miracle, coming up! As the swarm continued, a new figure had appeared out of nowhere. He was of green fur, had an elephant trunk and feet, and was wearing a purple flower tourist shirt. The figure made his way through the crowd, not getting hit once, and pulled out Beast Boy. The figure dragged him off to the side.

"Wow, thanks man!" BB said with gasp to catch his breath. "Can you help me get the other two?"

"Yes," the figure said stupidly and rushed back in. He pulled the man and the girl and dragged back to BB as the attack continued.

"Thanks," BB said again. "Come on guys, let's get out of here!"

With that the trio went off, leaving the figure behind. He just blinked stupidly and stood there. Meanwhile in the crowd, Crump finally realized something.

"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

Just like that the crowd died down with Crump in the middle of the group. He looked around and was angry.

"Where'd they go, huh? You! Johnson! Did you see them? Did anyone?"

Not a soul replied as Crump's temper grew. "CRUD! They bolted!"

Then the green figure came up. "Hey, hey, Crump?"

Crump narrowed his eyes at the figure. 'Oh no, not him again.' "What'd you want now Fred Fredburger?"

"Where are the nachos?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? There are no nachos!"

"…Pizza?"

The trio entered Town Square as they have escaped. They were all panting, out of breath. The girl was the first to catch her breath again.

"Wow! You guys totally saved me! Thanks! I just got to give you a little reward!"

The girl then came to the man and gave him a peck on the cheek. BB snickered at this until the girl came to him. She then leaped up and gave a peck on his lips. There visible blushes on both of them.

"My name's Goombella," she introduced. "I'm a student at the University of Goom. Nice to meet ya! So, who are you two?"

"Who, me?" BB said with a smile. "Why, I'm Beast Boy!" he exclaimed as he took a pose. It's obvious that his ego is blowing. Goombella then turned to the man.

"Mario," he simply said.

"Mario?" Goombella spoke with surprise, "Wait, you mean like, that famous guy? Wow! I can't believe I met you here! Cool! Anyway, no offense, but it looks like the both of you just rolled into town yourself, right? Me, I already hate it here! There are freaks and weirdos everywhere! It's nasty! I mean, I know the place is called ROUGEport, so I should have expected it, but sheesh! I'd never come to a place like this if there weren't some legendary treasure here."

Both BB's and Mario's ears perked up at this. "You're-a looking for it-a too?"

"Wait, you're looking for the legendary treasure too?" Goombella repeated. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Mario confirmed. "In fact, I have-a this!" he finished as he pulled out what looked like a weathered old paper.

"Whoa whoa WHOA bucko!" Goombella said excited, "What is that? Omigosh! Is, isn't that a treasure map? You HAVE to tell me where you got that!"

"Princess Peach," Mario said with a slight loving tone.

"Wait a minute," BB interrupted. "Who? Princess Peach?"

Then a new voice sounded. "Great hoogly-boogly! If it isn't master Mario! Bit of coincidence, bumping into one another in this sort of place hm? Ho ho!"

Before them stood an aged toad with a thick white mustache, a purple vest, gray shirt, white pants and brown shoes with a scepter in his right hand. This is Toadsworth.

"So tell me master Mario, what in the world brings you to this wretched little burg?"

"A letter and a treasure map from Princess Peach telling me to meet her here," Mario replied. "So, do you happen to know where she-a is?"

"Where she is?" Toadsworth asked with a sudden tone of fright. "Erm… I was about to ask you that. We stopped in this town to acquire a spot of fuel for our ship don't you know. I only took my eye off her for a moment, but as soon as I did, she vanished."

"WHAT?" shouted Mario causing them all to jump back a bit.

"You know how headstrong she is Mario, I just assumed she'd be back momentarily, but at this point, I fear we must embrace the possibility that she may never return. I've been at a loss as to what to do. I've been fraught with worry I tell you! But I'm feeling better with you here master Mario. Surely we'll find her! Surely! But I know my place, master Mario, and this is not it. I leave this task to you. Now, if you need me, I'll be resting in the inn. I suggest you do the same if your health isn't up to standards. Especially with the rest of the town being… rough."

After that rather long speech, the elderly toad left to the nearby inn. Goombella finally spoke again, asking of Mario.

"Um… Princess Peach? Did he mean like, Peach, the Mushroom Kingdom princess? The princess who always gets nabbed by Bowser, the Koopa King? The one you rescue? Wait a sec! This is crazy! Princess PEACH sent you that treasure map?"

"Yep, that's what he said," BB answered airily.

"Whoa," Goombella continued with an amazed face. "This is really intense. Well, where could she have gone then do you think? You think maybe she got sick of waiting and went to find the treasure on her own?"

Mario placed his hand on his lowered chin as he pondered this. BB in the meantime was trying to make sense of this. Apparently this Mario guy was a big hero with his greatest enemy being an evil king. This place is called Rougeport, and there seems to be a legendary treasure here. Apparently it's because of this that Princess Peach was here before disappearing. She is also being missing, and the princess of a kingdom. He heard this before somewhere…… some kind of a video game….

"Ooh! Ooh! I know guys! Come with me!" Goombella spoke, breaking BB's train of thought. "One of my professors is here researching that treasure. We'll show him your map! If we start looking for the treasure, then maybe we'll catch up to Princess Peach!"

After a quick moment of contemplating, both Mario and BB nodded their heads in agreement.

"Great!" Goombella proclaimed. "We're all good then! Let's go guys! First off, we gotta go find my professor. Thing is, since I just got to town myself, I… don't actually know where he lives. So keep an eye out! Here's what professor Frankly looks like."

She then pulled out a wallet and opened it up to show a picture. It was a goomba that was bald with hair on the sides, bushy eyebrows, giant glasses and two bottom teeth sticking out on either end. But he had a jester's hat on, ridiculous face paint and mostly empty glasses of something near him. Something told BB that he didn't want to know the story behind that photo.

The group arrived at a house in the East Side of Rougeport. From what they heard from the locals, this should be the professor's house. They opened the door and entered. All throughout the house there here shelves of books and rolled up scrolls and only three things were noticeable. They were a yellow trash bin, a desk, and one professor Frankly. Goombella was the first to sound.

"Oh, hi! There you are professor Frankly!"

"Whuzzuh?" the goomba said confused as he took notice of his guests. "Who's there? Who wants me?" His gaze then arrives on Goombella. "Ah. Yes, you. Now, you, uh… I've seen your face before, yes that face… Wait for it! Just a moment, don't tell me now, silence! I'll get it right! Now, it's not Goombriel, it's not Elizagoom… hrrrmmmm, errrrmmm, A-HAAA! I've got it! You're Goombella, aren't you? You were in my archaeology class last year, am I right?"

"Wow, yes sir!" Goombella said beaming. "That's me! I'm Goombella, a junior at U Goom! Go Goombas!"

"Of course I remember you!" Frankly said happily. "Not to toot my horn, but I'm pretty good at remembering. You though, you stick out in my mind because you were such an exceptional student." His gaze then landed on Mario and BB. "And those men behind you are… WHO?"

ANIME FALL!

"Well the green one is Beast Boy," Goombella introduced, "and the other is Mario! You know, the famous one?"

"Oh," Frankly said humbly, "My apologies. I'm such a bookworm that I haven't a clue about what's hip right now. In any case, what sort of errand brings you three all the way to a place like this?"

"We were hoping you'd tell us about the legendary treasure said to be below Rougeport!" Goombella answered. "I thought that if anyone knew anything about it, you would professor Frankly."

"Of course I know about it," Frankly confirmed. "The reason I came here was to study that very subject. But why do you tykes want to learn about the legendary treasure? You know that most say it's little more than a fairy tale, don't you?"

"Archaeologists and historians have to search for truth in fairy tales though!" Goombella spoke, "Me, I believe the legendary treasure truly does exist! And I really want to find it!"

"Good point," Frankly agreed. "And well made! In that case, I'll cooperate with you however I can. First of all, about the treasure. There are many mysteries surrounding it. Some say it's an infinitely vast treasure hoard, while others say it's a magical item. Some books say it's actually a monster, while still others claim it's an empty chest. So many different theories, obviously it's impossible to divine the truth among them. But all agree on one point: to find the treasure, one must have the Crystal Stars!"

"To find the treasure of yore, take the Crystal Stars to the Thousand Year Door!" Goombella quoted from memory. "You mean the Crystal Stars in that old saying that super elderly people pass down?"

"Indeed, the same" Frankly said. "As the saying goes, if you want to find the legendary treasure, you first must collect the seven Crystal Stars."

"Hold the magical map aloft before the entrance to the Thousand Year Door," Goombella quoted again, "Then the stars will light the way that leads to the stones of yesterday. Yeah. A lot of the lore I've read says that if this magical map is taken to the doorway then it'll show you where to find the Crystal Stars!"

"Correct!" Frankly continued. In the meantime BB kept shifting his head to each of the Goombas as they took their turn speaking. "And the Thousand Year Door is supposedly here, deep beneath this town! Yet the critical piece of the puzzle, the magical map, is lost. If only we had that map!"

"Your turn," BB said as he turned his head back to Goombella.

"But we do have it professor! Or, well not 'we' exactly, Mario has the magical map!"

"WHAAAT?" Frankly shouted as he started to have a small conniption and everyone was blown back by the force. "Hummina hubbity hubbida hippity hoobida hammala huffala hoofala… REALLY? You, you actually have it? Could I… just take a quick look at it, if you don't mind?"

Mario slowly drew out the map, unfolded it and handed it to the goomba. The professor looked over it carefully as his face continued to grow more excited. "Astounding! This is it! The real thing! The one and only magical map! You son, are my hero!" he shouted as he handed it back to Mario. "You're great! Fantastic! Wonderful even! With this, we can find the Crystal Stars just by holding this aloft before the legendary door! Good golly, what are we doing just sitting here then? Goombella! Mario! Beast Boy! Off we must go this instant! Let's take the magical map to the legendary door!"

At once he rushed the group out the door and across the road until they arrived at a green pipe coming up from the ground.

"Come now!" Frankly rushed. "We can use this pipe to get down under the city streets! Come on! All of you! Let's get moving!"

BB stared at the pipe uncertain. "Uh, dudes? If you think you're getting to go down a pipe then-HEY!"

Goombella had bit the scruff of his jumpsuit and dragged him down the pipe.

They arrived beneath the town, the sewers to be precise. But as they looked around, it looked more like the ruins of an ancient town rather than a sewer. They moved slowly as they looked around in amazement. But a rather rude voice interrupted their gaze.

"Hey, hey! What's up man? Who's the hottie you got there with you?"

They looked to the voice and saw three normal goombas. One was just plain, another had wings, and the third had a helmet with a spike on his head. The winged one spoke next.

"Wassup baby? Why don't you hang with us for a while? We play real nice!"

"Man, what's a fine lookin goomba doin' with men like those?" the spiked one asked. "I mean one's a tubby mustache man and the other looks like he has a disease!"

While BB clenched his fists a bit, Goombella decided to answer. "Oh, it is like so sweet that you boys think I'm cute! Seriously! Yeah, guys like you make feel like TOTALLY BARFING! Now get out of our way!"

BB stared at her as her innocent disposition had switched like a light for an utter bashing. This girl had spunk! He could definitely get used to hanging around her. The goombas however weren't happy.

"Ouch!" the plain one said. "That was cold!"

"What, you're too good for us?" the winged one said angrily. "Come off it sister!"

"Nobody zings us like that!" the spiked one shouted. "Nobody! Let's get em!"

The entire group got into battle stances while Frankly stood off to the side, observing the enemies.

"A goomba, a spiny goomba and a paragoomba! The whole goomba family tree! The only one I should warn you about is that fellow in the middle: the spiny goomba. See that spike on his head? Well, jump on that and you're the one who'll take damage! The paragoomba's airborne, so your hammer won't reach. You'll have to jump for him. Always take your opponent's situation into consideration when fighting! Always!"

Once Frankly was done, both groups were at a stand off. Mario then rushed forward and leaped up into the air to the paragoomba. Goombella then rushed forward to do a headbonk on the goomba, and BB decided to follow suit and jump on the spiny goomba.

The second his foot landed, BB's eyes watered. He leaped off and rubbed his foot from the spike. The spiny goomba then rushed forward to tackle BB, but he thought fast and transformed. In that instant, BB had become a spiny goomba himself, causing the goomba to experience the pain. While the distraction happened, a hammer fell and slammed the goomba beating him. BB shifted back to normal as he noted of what he just did later. That will undoubtedly come in handy.

"Ha! Later on losers!" Goombella shouted happily at their victory. "That felt awesome!"

"Ah, but that's just the beginning!" Frankly spoke. "There are plenty more to come and they'll all have it in for us. All of you make sure to be careful so that we may get the first strike. Now let's get going."

The ruins were a maze. There was no other way to say it. There were multiple turns and twists, from blocks with faces to switches that revealed stairs. Nonetheless, … Wait a minute people, I just realized something! Goombas have no hands, right? So then, how do they pick things up? Do they have invisible hands or do they have telekinesis? I wanna know! Anyways…

After traversing the maze, they've arrived into a large room. It was darker than the others, with a pedestal in the middle of the room were. And not even a stone's throw away was a large rose red door with gold patterns on it. Once they entered, Frankly was overcome with shock and joy.

"Mario, Goombella, Beast Boy! Look at that! It's the Thousand Year Door spoken of in the legends! I can't believe it's real! So the legends are all true! There it is, big as life! I must get a closer look!"

Frankly rushed forward in excitement, causing him to run straight into the door. As he was recovering the others were coming up. They looked around while Goombella was aiding the professor. BB then accidentally bumped into Mario, knocking him onto the pedestal. He cried out as suddenly light blue lights were arriving. One was an intricate pattern around the pedestal, and the second was a ring on the outer edge with seven circles in it. They looked in fascination before glaring at BB.

"I didn't do it!"

"What's going on professor?" Goombella shouted.

Suddenly a light glowed from Mario's pocket. The map rose out of it and unfolded itself in midair. Little flashes of light were shining off of it in the shape of stars until a large pillar of light shined from the ceiling and hit the map dead on. Goombella was amazed at this rare happening and that she was one of the firsts to see it. Frankly was amazed at the opportunity of the biggest archeological discovery of all time. Mario was concerned thinking that this would lead to another massive adventure worthy of becoming a video game. BB was wondering if Raven knew anything about this. After all, mystical matters were more her areas.

Finally, just as fast as it came, the map floated down and the lights died. Mario was now looking at the map shocked.

"Professor! The map!" Goombella said unable to control herself. "And what was with all those crazy lights?"

"Hrmmm…" the professor hummed. "It appears that information related to the locations of the Crystal Stars appeared. And that shining light, it looked as if a mysterious power was given to us. Well, one way or another, we should return to my place and study the map closely."

"Hrmmm… Aha! I see!" Frankly exclaimed after popping his nonexistent nose out of his book.

"You understand it professor?" Goombella asked opening her eyes. She got so bored while they waited that she rested herself inside Frankly's trashcan. (Don't worry, it's empty.)

"My dear of course I do! Firstly, about that light we saw shining on Mario, by my reckoning Mario can now perform what is known as a special move. As for what a special move is, it requires amounts of energy (known as star energy and is expressed within units by dots.) from the party using it. And after the party has no more energy to use for them, then battling or resting must restore it. And apparently your energy will increase along with a new move if we obtain more Crystal Stars."

"So then what's the first-a power?" Mario asked while laying against the wall in a headstand.

"The move is called Sweat Treat. Summon the map and you'll get little stars. Then symbols will appear and you must hit them with the stars" Frankly explained. "Depending on what you hit, you can regain health for you or your power or energy for special moves that you can do on your own."

"So what about that thing with the map?" Goombella asked as she rocked the bin enough to have it fall over so she could get out.

"We'll I'm just about to find out," Frankly said as he turned his focus onto the map on his table. "So let's have a look at it and see what we can learn about the-"

His eyes then shot open wide.

"WOW! ASTOUNDING! (Everyone shoved their fingers in their ears at how loud he just was.) This map has radar-like functions! It now shows the location of a Crystal Star! It looks like the first is to be found in a place called the Petal Meadows."

"Petal-a Meadows?" Mario asked as he and Goombella came up to look at the map. On it was a new picture of a castle with a silver star on it to the east of Rougeport.

"Yes," Frankly answered. "The area is a vast meadow that lies far to the east of Rougeport. (Hey! Didn't I just say that?) To tell you the truth, I always thought that place was a tad suspicious. The name Petal Meadows did come up from time to time in my research."

"Great," Goombella said with impatience. "So we'll go there. But does anyone know how to get there or what?"

"If my maps are correct," Frankly said looking over his book again, "Then there should be a pipe to Petal Meadows somewhere beneath the city. If you find it, you'll get there instantly. Pipe travel's efficient!"

Frankly closed his book before he noticed what was missing the entire time.

"Now wait a minute, where's Beast Boy? He should be hearing this!"

The three of them look around and about the room, but not even a speck of green was in sight. Then a loud rush of thuds sounded from the nearby room. They jetted to the door and threw it open to see a large pile of books with BB sticking out. But the weirdest thing of it was the fact that BB had a pitchfork and a kumquat in his hand.

"…Uh, I can explain."

BB sighed as he finally placed back the last book on the shelf. Apparently he was sticking his nose in Frankly's house since he was bored. He just pulled one book out from the shelf and the whole collection fell onto him. How the pitchfork and kumquat got there, he didn't know. (I'm not telling you!) He came back into the room where they explained things to him. Frankly then turned to Mario.

"Say, by the way Mario, I'm curious. Where did you get that map anyway?"

"From-a Princess Peach."

"Really?" Frankly asked in confusion. "Her highness sent this to you Mario? This Princess Peach… she wouldn't happen to be a blonde with a crown and a pink dress would she?"

"Why yes," Mario replied in surprise. "That-a fits her perfectly! Why you ask?"

"So it IS her! Your princess came to see me the other day. She wanted to learn about the treasure. I told her about the Crystal Stars and my suspicions about Petal Meadows. It doesn't seem likely, but perhaps she tried to go to Petal Meadows on her own."

"Now hold on here a minute dudes!" BB spoke as he continued to sweep the wooden floor. "We have to remember, we're not alone in this race. That Lord Crump guy and his cronies are after the stars too. That is why they attacked Goombella in the first place."

"Yeah," Mario agreed. "But I can't-a imagine her getting mixed up with them."

"Then it's settled!" Frankly shouted as he handed the map back to Mario. "Off to Petal Meadows you three must go! If Princess Peach indeed went there, your first priority must be to catch up to her. Collecting the Crystal Stars is a means to an end; and that end is Princess Peach!"

"But professor," Goombella spoke, "aren't you coming?"

"No," replied the prof. "I'll stay in town and ask around about Princess Peach and that suspicious gang. Besides, I doubt a shriveled old Goomba like me could handle the trials of the road. Of course, if anything happens and you need some advice, come see me, OK?"

"You got it professor!" Goombella shouted happily. "Well Mario, Beast Boy, we're off!"

"But we can't-a go out now!" Mario protested as he pointed out the window. "It's-a far too late to go traveling!"

Indeed, it was late as the last rays of sunset were beginning to end.

"Hmm," Frankly agreed. "Very well then. You all can sleep here tonight and get going in the morning. I have a couple extra beds that you can use."

Later that night, the sleeping preparations were underway. The professor was to sleep in his bed, Mario was to sleep on the couch, Goombella was to sleep on the recliner and BB was content by sleeping as a dog by the fireplace. Soon BB was the only one left awake. He pulled out the communicator and tried to contact anyone else. But there were no returning signals. Their wireless coverage must not cover alternate realities.

Meanwhile, someone else was traversing the sewers. Fred Fredburger had entered a new room, holding a piece of paper and reading it to himself out loud.

"Dear Admin Fred, your next assignment is one of … re-con-ni-scence… in a place known as Petal Meadows. You are to gather information for our increasing … su-spi-cions… that there might be another Crystal Star to obtain. You must go there at once and make a final report. Signed, Master Grodus. Yes!"

By now a huge squid-like being rose from the depths of nearby water. The beast, known as a Blooper, roared at the intruder that was Fred. Fred continued to be unfazed as he jumped from one flailing tentacle to the next until he arrived at a platform with a stone brick pipe. He went into the pipe just as the Blooper slammed into the pipe, knocking itself out cold for the next five weeks.

"AAAAHHHH!" BB screamed as he dodged a spear thrown by an odd figure with a bird-like beak. In the background, Mario and Goombella burst from Frankly's house just in time to dodge BB who just rolled into the wall beside them.

"Beast Boy, what's going on?" Goombella asked.

"Well," BB began, "I saw that the next section was blocked off this morning and I wanted to know what was there so I came up only to be stopped by this guy here named Gus who said I couldn't go without paying a toll of ten coins and I thought I could fight the guy but now here I am getting my keister kicked!" he said in all one breath.

"Huh!" Gus laughed. "That hurt? You have no chance of beating me, trust me. So you'd better run. Yeah, if you don't, seriously, it'll be GAME OVER for you! You can choose to run at any time kid. Sometimes it's best to run."

"Well guess what Gus," BB called back. "I don't give up!" he cried as he leaped as a lion.

Gus quickly jumped out of the way, causing BB to run into a wall. Goombella then decided to headbonk Gus with his back turned. But Gus saw this coming and pointed his spear up causing Goombella to land helmet first on it. She leaped back to rub off the pain as Gus positioned his spear forward, charging towards Mario. Mario just stood his ground, as if to take the full hit. Just as the spear made contact, Mario spun to quick for the average eye to see. This caused the spear to spin around and strike Gus instead. Gus was sent back, straight into a ram BB's waiting horns. He threw him back to the gate, now defeated. He could only moan in pain as he got back up.

"CRUD! You dumb fanfiction authors ALWAYS pull this stuff! It's RIDICULOUS! You think violence solves everything, don't you? DON'T YOU?" And with that, Gus fled.

BB only blinked at the comment. "Fanfiction?" He was then grabbed by his collar.

"Come on Beat Boy," a slightly muffled Goombella spoke as she dragged him along with her mouth. "Let's go."

And with that, the trio went down the pipe into the sewers.

Date of Update: 6/18/2007