The Break In
Mr. Zep had just returned from finishing his task of signing up almost all of the characters. He limped into Mr. Smiley's study exhausted. Mr. Smiley greeted him accordingly
"Ah, Mr. Zep, I assumed you finished the assignment I gave you?" asked Mr. Smiley
"Well almost, I still couldn't find the Shadow Queen" said Mr. Zep carefully.
"Ah, the Shadow Queen, I've already taken care of that." Mr. Smiley pointed at the bag next to him.
"You actually kidnapped the Shadow Queen?" asked the curious Mr. Zep. He cautiously walked over to the bag and opened it. When he did, he saw the unconscious Shadow Queen in Princess Peach's form, bound and gagged by chains of light. "How did you do it?" wondered the awed bureaucrat.
"Well actually, I challenged her to a duel, her freedom and my powers were the stakes, and I have to admit, she put up quite a fight, but as always my mastery of magic toppled her powers of darkness. And of course when she refused to keep her end of the bargain, I bounded her to chains of light which made her temporarily human. HA! I like to see Mario do that without his Crystal Stars" said Mr. Smiley with a smirk.
"And Dimentio, sir?"
Mr. Smiley started to frown. "Oh right, HIM. Well, I found an ancient spell in one of my books that can temporary open a portal to the Underwhere. All we need is some 'flesh of the darkness.'"
As he said this, the Shadow Queen seemed to be regaining consciousness, and she was mad as hell. Mr. Smiley noticed her struggle against his chains, smiled and pointed his ivory cane at her. A bolt of energy tore off the Shadow Queen's ear, which caused her to make a loud muffed scream and writhe in pain.
"Oh come now, you can always grow another one back, AHAHAHA" laughed the smiling ringmaster. He picked up her ear and placed it on a magic circle. "So Mr. Zep, you'll have 30 min. to free Dimentio and get him to sign the contract, while I try to make her royal highness over there understand the situation she's in." He gives Mr. Zep a list of instructions. "Here, follow these instructions and you'll live."
"Do you wish for him to be captured and brought here before you, sir?" asked Mr. Zep.
"No, let him roam for the time being. Besides, in about 10 years or so, he will learn what it means to double-cross his superiors and also don't let Jaydes know you're alive in her realm, for that can be your only advantage, lose that and you'll never return."
"But sir, won't she know I'm alive when she looks in the Book of Fate?"
"Let's just say, you'll be referred to as 'Joe Murphy', and yes, tampering with the Book is 'cheating', but cheating death is so common these days, I guess you could say that it's just part of the game" said the devilish Mr. Smiley.
And with that Mr. Smiley stamped his cane 3 times, which opened the door to the Underwhere. Mr. Zep departs into the darkness fearing for the worst.
Mr. Zep steps out of the portal disorientated and looked at his surroundings. "Oh my head… wow, this place is so dark and depressing… heh heh reminds me of my old office cubicle up in New York." He takes out the instructions and starts to read it. "Okay, looks like I have to pretend to be a dead soul, where the guard will take me to Queen Jaydes' palace where she can tell me where they hid Dimentio."
As he stumbled towards the palace, a Skellobit guard ran towards him. "All souls must report to Queen Jaydes for judgment, come with me" said the Skellobit.
Mr. Zep follows the Skellobit guard towards the throne room and nervously bowed to the Queen.
"Ah, what do we have here? Joe Murphy, the footballer, correct?" presumed the queen of the Underwhere, not bothering to even look at Mr. Zep.
Mr. Zep gave a slight nod with a blank stare.
"Well, according to the book, you've lived a good, moral life and you've hardly sinned in your life. So now you have three choices: be free to roam around the Underwhere, go to the Overthere, or live again" said Queen Jaydes dully as she yawned. She seemed to uninterested in 'good' people, seeing as how they always pick the same choices, which was either living again or going to the Overthere. She would much rather punish sinners, at least that way she can be creative.
"I'd like to roam around if that's okay" answered Mr. Zep (as Murphy).
Upon hearing this, Queen Jaydes, for the first time in a while, was actually shocked. "Now why on earth, would you want to stay here, when you could live in paradise?" asked the curious dark Queen.
"The scenery is wonderful, and I'd like to explore more of this beautiful realm" said Mr. Zep in a flattering way.
As confused and suspicious as Queen Jaydes was, she had no choice but to allow his request. "Very well, you are free to roam about, but go find someone who can guide you around, so you won't accidentally suffer a horrible Game Over."
"I'm sure I can find a suitable guide" assured Mr. Zep. He left the palace remembering his next step of instructions, 'Find the Skellobit named Shaq, and tell him that Mr. Smiley sends his regards, he'll know what it means." Mr. Zep asked the local Skellobits, who or where Shaq was. It turns out that Shaq is a prison guard within the Underground Dungeons, which were known to be dangerous, even for the guards, not because of the prisoners, but the traps set for those who don't know their way around the dungeon. Mr. Zep walked into the outskirts of the Underwhere, where he saw the dungeon itself, which was a huge gloomy fortress painted grey with tints of purple. Seeing as how he couldn't just waltz in, he looked around for a secret entrance of some kind, when suddenly he sees a Skellobit in the distance, who looked like he was waiting for someone. Mr. Zep figured that was his contact and walked to him.
"Mr. Smiley sends his regards…" whispered Mr. Zep to the Skellobit.
The Skellobit just stared and said, "… come with me"
"So you're Shaq?"
"No I'm his mom, OF course I'm Shaq, genius" he said tersely. "And watch your step, one wrong move and you'll kill us both." He pulls on a chain that was attached to the ground and opens up a staircase towards the dungeon. "One more thing, if anyone sees us together, pretend you're my prisoner"
"You're lucky I need you otherwise you'd start wishing that you were a prisoner here" thought the annoyed Mr. Zep. As they descended towards the darkness, they came to a room, which looked like the lounge for guards, with 80's furniture and a lot of plants.
"All clear" said Shaq. They walk out into the hallway and turned left down the corridor. "Here, take this key and go to the last door on your right and tell Smiley that I've paid my debt to him." With that, Shaq ran back into the lounge pretending he didn't see anything.
Mr. Zep hurried towards the door where Shaq had pointed out, unlocked the door and snuck inside. There, he saw a weary jester with tattered clothes and a smile on his face. "Ah, a face of a human is always as refreshing as a glass of iced tea" said the worn out jester.
"Did he really just say that?" thought Mr. Zep. "My employer wants to make a proposition for you…"
"You mean, in exchange for my freedom, I'll have to swear loyalty to him? Ah ha ha! No thank you, you see, I'm not one who plays well with others you know…"
"You don't have to serve my employer… but if you'll sign this contract, all you need to do is help entertain the mass. Do you accept?" said Mr. Zep.
"Do I accept? What a silly question from a ridiculous man! As the pleaser of crowds, of course I'll accept your meager request" said Dimentio with anticipation and excitement. And so Dimentio signed the contract and possibly sealed his fate.
"A pleasure to do business with you… we'll be expecting your services in about 10 years"
"Why so long?" asked the jester.
"You know how it is with bureaucracy." Mr. Zep pulled out a bottle and tossed it to Dimentio. "Here, this will make you invisible, so that you can escape."
"Wonderful, but first, I'll have to stop by at a certain place to regain my strength"
"Whatever you need to do, but try not to die" warned Mr. Zep. And with that, Mr. Zep left the dungeon and went towards the portal. Leaving Dimentio with his invisibility potion.
I know I skipped an awesome fight scene between Mr. Smiley and the Shadow Queen, but bear with me here. In the near future, I will make a separate story describing itself, along with scenes between Mr. Zep and the contestants. Be on the lookout for "Mr. Smiley VS Shadow Queen, Mr. Zep's Rough Week" coming soon!