Queen Sunstar: I don't know for sure how long Critical is going to be, but I can say it will be close to 17 chapters long, if not longer. Once this one is done, I'm going to work on my other story on this site, and spend time on my third story on my web page, and my fourth story on another web site. Once those are done, I plan to start on two new ideas here on this site.
Twila: insert long, and hideously boring disclaimer here.
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The day exploded into a fresh new dawn. Luigi was the first to wake up, and walked down to the first floor of the inn for breakfast. Here at the oasis, the main language was Dragonese. Most of the civilians were Dragonic winged yoshies, and Parakoopa Troopas. The day before, Luigi saw a Dragonic winged paragoomba. He had noticed by now that most of Skylands residents had wings. Mckonic had told him that in one part of Skyland, butterfly winged goombas, and Parakoopa Troopas lived free, protected by the laws of the Great Lord himself. He was just finishing off a piece of toast when the rest of his party joined him. Mallow unrolled a map of the bluffs. He and Geno were arguing over something on the map.
"We need to cut across here, and drop down to here. It is our best and safest bet." Mallow reasoned.
"No, the safer way would be cutting through here." Geno shot back.
"Don't mind them. They have been at it all morning." Mckonic said, placing his order in perfect Dragonese. He had to order for Wario, and Mallow. Geno surprised everyone by ordering in perfect Dragonese, as did Solance.
"I'm a sun, and a sun must be able to speak every language on his planets." Solance said.
"Same thing goes for star guardians, except we must be able to speak every known language." Geno said, "Mallow, if we go that way, we will have to cross the rope bridge, and it is ancient!"
"Would you two stop fighting already? I've decided that I'll go ahead and warp the non flyers down to the ground. Those that fly will fly down." Solance said.
"Okay, the next stop is the Remina Fault, and Ghostly Forest. We should make it up to the edge of the forest tonight, and get through the forest tomorrow." Geno said.
"T-t-tomorrow? G-g-ghostly Forest?" Luigi asked.
"Luigi, you will be fine." Solance said.
"T-t-the place I-I-is crawling w-w-with boos! I h-h-hate boos!" Luigi couldn't keep his voice from trembling.
"Luigi, if you don't do this, the Daybreaker will win, and we can kiss our world good bye." Mallow said.
"I know, but is there away to go around the forest?" Luigi asked.
"There is no time." Geno explained, as their food arrived. Luigi had already finished his meal.
"You guys eat, and I'll go get the wagon packed and ready to go." Luigi said, still feeling afraid. He went out to the stable, and met up with Sunfire, his winged uni yoshi.
(Master, you scared?) Sunfire lowered her purple head, and nuzzled Luigi's hand fondly.
(Yes, I'm scared. We have to travel through the Ghostly Forest tomorrow. Its full of boos, and I don't like boos.) Luigi responded, wondering how he was able to use telepathy.
(Boos not scary. Angry Spitfire scary.) Sunfire said.
"Luigi, Sunfire is right. Boos aren't scary. Try this to help keep yourself calm. It is something that my mother taught me when I was young. Imagine something funny about your fear. It works." Sandbar said.
"I'll try that out." Luigi said.
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Solarton entered the secret chamber, and opened the chest sitting in the far corner to reveal the white gold winged Sunstone with a moon, and a star embedded in the face of the Sunstone. He turned toward the far wall, and took a deep breath. He raised the sunstone and whispered the two lines of ancient text. The wall slid open, and he walked through it. Behind him, the wall hissed closed. Lumin looked up. Solarton had used the secret passage to enter the CEU (Counter Evil Unit) headquarters, which was never a good sign.
"Overlord Solarton." He said.
"He is back." Solarton said.
"The Daybreaker?" a goomba asked.
"No. the other one." Solarton said.
"The Hellhound?" a black shelled Koopa Troopa asked, getting smacked by one of his own teammates, a wriggler.
"Shh! We are not to say that name, ever!" the wriggler hissed.
"You know what to do, my men! Lets get cracking!" Lumin called, standing by Solarton.
Once again, there was a mad scramble for a computer, which led to several fights that Lumin had to go straighten out. It grew silent has the sound of keyboards clicking away.
"I've got a hit!" a toad screamed.
Lumin was by his side in an instant, "Run it through the interface!"
"Darn! I lost the hit!" the toad cried minutes later.
"You did good, keep trying." Lumin encouraged.
This went on for a while.
"My hands went running off again! There go set number two, and three! Wah! Not you too, set four! I can't type with my feet!" the wriggler cried.
"I have a hit!" this came from a dragon winged black yoshi, "Running it through the interface now!"
Lumin joined him.
"Well?" the moon prompted.
"yes! Hellhound sighted with the Daybreaker! Their location, quadrant 2.1, coordinates, 567.3092! They are moving, so I'll try to stay with them!" the yoshi called.
"Goombob! Start plotting their course with the readouts from Dracut's (pronounced draw-cute) station! Zola, get me Beautron Power on the phone! I don't care if he is in bed! I need my top field agent with me!" Lumin ordered, "Tell him to get the other agents in gear!"
The ground chose then to shudder. Somebody shrieked in panic. Lumin managed to keep his emotionless mask on his face from crumbling. He took a deep breath to calm himself before addressing his team.
"Calm down. It was just an earthquake, guys! You know who is not emerging." Lumin called, as the main door opened, and seven agents came in. Lumin turned, and addressed the star in front of the other agents.
"Beau, I have a mission for you. I'm assigning you and two of your agents to go find and protect my nephew, Prince Luigi. He is our only hope to stop this madness." Lumin ordered.
"I chose Dawn, and Sparky." Beau indicated a yellow Dragonic winged yoshi female, and an electrified phantom, who both nodded their acknowledgement.
"Good, I'm assigning Pratt and Dugan to be the Overlords bodyguards. The Hellhound nearly defeated him the last time. Lastly, Lou, and Solana, you two are to go out to Clockwork Castle, and protect my brother, the Great Lord, and my sister in law, his Queen. The Daybreaker attacked him once, and will not hesitate to attack him again." Lumin ordered.
"Lumin, I appreciate the offer, but I don't think I need the extra protection." Solarton said.
"the Hellhound is dangerous, Sir. Let my agents protect you." Lumin said.
"I understand the fact that you are merely concerned, Lumin, so I'll allow your two agents to protect me." Solarton said, saving himself an argument.
Pratt stepped forward and parked himself on Solartons right. He was a black shelled Parakoopa Troopa with steel gray unfeeling eyes that swept around the room, searching out any enemies. His weapon of choice was a crossbow. Dugan (Pronounced do-can) took up position on Solartons left. He was a dark red shelled Nokis. His green eyes scanned the room, much like Pratt's had. His weapon of choice was a bow and arrows. Both men stayed silent. Lou, a green robed moon, and Solana, a periwinkle blue robed sun, both warped out to Clockwork Castle, where Twila had just received the memo about the development. She greeted the two agents, and had them sitting in chairs in the hallway, outside the bedroom. Beau and his two agents warped out to surprise Luigi.
"Lumin, sir, looking at my graph, I do not like what I am seeing! The Daybreaker is headed to Star peak!" Goombob called.
"What?" Lumin asked, moving over to the red skinned goomba. He read over the graph, and paled, "Oh no, are you sure this is where he is heading?"
"I doubled and triple checked, and I had Zola and Dracut cross check it twice. Its Star Peak." Goombob said.
"That is where Prince Luigi is heading." Lumin said.
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They had passed over the fault line the day before, and now stood at the entrance of Ghostly Forest. Luigi was flanked by all three of his bodyguards, each of them riding a yoshi. Beau had explained to him that he was there for his protection. Luigi felt better knowing that the star was right behind him, and would protect him from harm. They entered the forest, unknowing of the dangers that still lay ahead.
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Queen Sunstar: before I forget, my update schedule has been messed up royal due to the fact my break is now from 3pm to 5pm, except for every other Tuesday, when my break is from 12:30 to 5:30. I will still try to keep up the weekly updates.
Twila: insert beg for reviews here.
