Chapter 16: The Spirit Vessels
Luigi was standing outside of the Mushplex entrance, dufflebag slung across his chest and over his right shoulder. Once again dressed in his usual attire, he stood in the night with his hands in his overall pockets. Accompanying Luigi was a peculiar character. He was an old Toad with a grey beard and bushy grey eyebrows. He was wearing a red robe and a matching red cap with gold design, which concealed his mushroom cap. He stood with pride, his fists positioned together behind his back. He was known as The Master, and he was one of the most powerful martial artists in the Mushroom Kingdom.
"Thanks again for helping me train, Sensei." Luigi thanked, rubbing the back of his head somewhat shyly.
"Ho ho. It is my pleasure, Luigi." The Master assured, with a soft and pleasant laugh. "Many a good deed have you and your brother done for this Kingdom, my homeland. As a token of my appreciation, I will do whatever I can to help you reach your true potential."
"Thanks, Sensei." Luigi nodded, somewhat uneasy as he continued. "But I don't really feel like I trained all that hard."
"Today, was a day of conditioning." The Master informed, with a single raised finger.
"Conditioning?" Luigi ventured to ask, tapping his foot with his fist on his chin in thought.
"Mm. Getting your body used to the weights, to the motions... Learning to do the exercises properly." The Master explained. "Rush into it straight from day one and you'll only harm, possibly even immobilize, yourself."
"Right..." Luigi nodded in agreement. "Hey, so we'll get back at this tomorrow then?"
"Yes. But soon I would like for us to train at my Dojo." The Master admitted, looking downward with closed eyes in thought. "I am not particularly fond of the city and gym atmosphere..."
"Ohh, okay. Gotcha." Luigi consented, with a thumbs up. "Pretty soon I should be able to handle exercising on my own here. And you'll teach me how to fight back at your place, right?"
"Mm." The Master nodded. "But the path to strength will by no means be an easy one. Are you prepared?"
"I am." Luigi nodded, he looked down at his clenched fists. "I'll do whatever it takes."
"Good." The Master softly smiled. "Now then. If you'll excuse me, I must be going."
"See ya tomorrow, Sensei." Luigi concluded, with a wave.
The Master Toad wandered off frame, heading on his way. Luigi took a few steps towards his parked Vespa, the only vehicle remaining in the Mushplex parking lot this late. A green exclamation mark appeared over his head as he heard the snickering of two suspicious people who were approaching from down the street. Looking side to side, he saw a rather wide mailbox near the stairs leading to the Mushplex entrance, and decided to take cover behind it.
"Nyeah-heh-heh-heh, can you believe it Wario?" Waluigi snickered, rubbing his twiggy moustache with pride as he marched down the street with his lanky legs. "Tomorrow's the big day!"
"We're gonna blow this damn city to the ground!" Wario grinned, with a manic expression on his face as he carried a large rolled up tarp.
A green exclamation mark appeared over Luigi's head as he hid behind the mailbox.
(Those two... where have I seen them before?) Luigi thought to himself, his eyes narrowed in determined thought. He proceeded to recall where he had seen the two of them before.
{"Hey, what's this?" Luigi spotted, a green exclamation mark appearing over his head. He walked towards what appeared to be a poster for some sort of an event.
The poster featured two moustachioed men, one rather short and fat and the other one tall, thin, and lanky. The short and fat man had yellow clothes and purple overalls, whereas the lanky man wore purple clothes with black overalls. The fat man had a big open-mouth smile while pointing a gloved finger, whereas the tall and skinny man was rubbing his rather twiggy moustache between his fingers with an apparent sense of pride. The poster read:
"THE WARIO BROS. PRESENT: THE BOMBASTIC CARNIVAL! It'll be a BLAST!"
"The Wario Bros? Ugh, I know them from Sarasaland." Daisy informed, almost with a sneer. She seemed to disapprove of them. "They're conmen. This can't be any good."
"Really? Apparently they are gonna be holding this Bombastic Carnival right here in Mushroom City tomorrow." Luigi explained, rubbing his chin as he continued to look at the poster.}
(That's it! Those are the two guys I saw on that poster for the carnival!) Luigi recalled, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. (And that purple guy...)
{Luigi then journeyed outside with his hands in his overall pockets, seeing if there were any nearby stores he could inspect to kill some time as Peach went through the rigorous ordeal of setting up multiple cell phone plans. As Luigi stood outside while looking to the right, a tall lanky man in purple had bumped into him, which caused the stranger to emit a rather nasally bark of surprise.
"Wah!"
"Whoa!"
Luigi's eyes met the narrow eyes of the tall lanky man, who was preoccupied with trying to catch an object which their encounter had caused him to drop. Luigi directed his gaze on what appeared to be a strange wooden doll that was falling from his hands. The doll itself wore a blue cape, as well as a blue hat with yellow ribbon on it. It also wore dark brown boots and had a spiked yellow collar. The big, blankly staring eyes of the doll were a deep maroon.
Luigi went for a dive, and managed to catch the doll. With a bit of a mid air turn, he landed on his rump with the doll safely in his lap.
"Gotcha!" Luigi smiled, somewhat proud.
The lanky man in purple stomped forward with pointed orange shoes, snatching the doll out of Luigi's arms. "H-Huh?"
"Give me that!" Waluigi sneered, looking at the man in green down the bridge of his nose. "This, is the grand prize at tomorrows carnival! I can't have someone like you sullying it!"
"Huh? Grand prize? Carnival?" Luigi thought aloud, standing up and rubbing the back of his head. Then, it all clicked. He was the man from the carnival poster. "Oh, yeah! The Bombastic Carnival! You're the guy!"}
(Yeah, that's right... he was that rude guy from the mall earlier today!) Luigi remembered, his eyebrows narrowed in disapproval as he continued to eavesdrop on the two brothers.
"Come tomorrow, that dumb broad of a mayor won't even know what hit her!" Wario laughed, rubbing his gloved hands together as if he had some devious ploy in mind.
"All will go according to plan, and our Lord Grodus will be most pleased." Waluigi grinned, practically euphoric with fantasies of promotion and renown.
"Grodus?" Luigi barked, his eyes widened in shock.
"What was that?" Waluigi hissed, turning towards the Mushplex from the sidewalk.
"Huh? What? You hear somethin?" Wario inquired, with a rude tone. He had his head turned only partially because of the tarp he was holding which blocked his view.
"I thought I heard something, over there!" Waluigi stated with conviction, pointing towards the Mushplex.
"Yikes!" Luigi hissed in a near silent whisper, a nervous expression on his face as he kept perfectly still behind the mailbox.
"Yeah, yeah, I do hear something." Wario agreed, apparently trying to listen for more. "Keep quiet a sec."
Waluigi indeed kept quiet, as serious as ever. Luigi grew ever more nervous, sweat beads raining down his face. Then, Wario let out a long and loud fart.
"Oh, there it is!" Wario announced, grinning from grin to ear. He slapped his leg with his free hand. "WAH HA HA!"
"You utter buffoon!" Waluigi cursed, stopping a foot forward and swiping an arm.
Luigi had an expression of surprise, listening intently as their voices trailed off. Waluigi was bickering, which was barely audible as Wario guffawed. Luigi was patient, waiting until the coast was clear.
"I have to get out of here." Luigi whispered to himself, preceding to sneak towards his Vespa.
He started the vehicle and proceeded to drive out towards the street, turning the opposite direction from which he had heard Wario and Waluigi heading towards. He looked behind him for any signs of them. It was clear. He looked forward again with a closed eyed sigh of relief, but upon opening his eyes he was filled with shock. Standing in the middle of the dark deserted road, was the grimacing Wario and Waluigi.
"WHOA!" Luigi cried with a flail, losing control of his vehicle which then fell onto its side.
Luigi fell off of the bike and was lying flat on his back, the green Vespa sliding towards the Wario brothers and eventually coming to a halt before their stationary green and orange pointed shoes. After the Vespa stopped, they proceeded to march forward towards the downed Luigi.
Luigi's blurry vision eventually focused, and in his view were the grimacing faces of Wario and Waluigi.
"Ahh, I remember you." Waluigi smiled, rubbing his twiggy moustache with a tilted head. "You're the simpleton who bumped into me at the mall earlier today."
"Oh boy." Luigi fret, as Wario grabbed him by the arm and lifted him to his feet.
"Now then." Waluigi started, while leaning into Luigi's face and rubbing his pointy chin as his brother restrained Luigi's arms. "Tell us everything that you heard."
/
Mario, Link, and Rosalina were standing before their respective vehicles, which were now illuminated in the hexagonal shaped room. The mysterious and youthful androgynous voice was speaking to them once again.
"Let's start with Mario, shall we? Step forward and hop on!"
"Alright!" Mario happily cheered, unable to contain the excitement.
As he stood next to his motorcycle, the Flame Key he had received earlier took the liberty to remove itself from his pockets. Mario watched with an aweful smile as the Flame Key was suspended in the air before him. It then started to twirl around him, Mario following it with his eyes while still smiling, until it spun so fast that he could no longer follow it. He then simply looked skyward with closed eyes, clenched fists at his sides. There was a large white flash, so bright that Link and Rosalina had shielded their eyes. When the light died down, they looked with amazement upon what they had seen.
Unmistakably, there Mario was, sitting upon a flaming, ultra black coloured chopper. Mario was clasping the flaming, high handlebars with his famous white gloves. The bike was "ultra black" in colour, with large wheels that had gold plated rims decorated with flame design. The bike itself was alight with real fire and had chains dragging along the sides. There was a large skull wearing a spike studded road warrior hood with tusks coming left and right out of its open mouth as the headpiece.
"Mario! In this world, this is your vessel! It is called: Hellraiser! I think you'll find that it not only matches your inner fiery spirit, but also compliments your Goddess Star ability!"
"Hellraiser..." Mario grinned, revving the engine while remaining in place. "Yeah! I like it!"
Rosalina and Link watched as Mario drove a single fiery lap around the hexagonal chamber, stopping back at where he once begun. They had clapped for him upon his return.
"Nice!" Mario cheered, with a clenched fist.
"Next up, Princess Rosalina! Step forward and hop on!"
"M-Me? But I don't even know how to drive..." Rosalina fret, hugging herself with an expression of sadness.
"Don't you worry. Cause' this is no ordinary vehicle! You'll understand more once you mount! Go on!"
"W-Well, okay..." Rosalina hesitated, but eventually she moved forward.
As with Mario's case, the same phenomenon had happened with her. Her glowing blue Star Key flew from her pockets and hovered stationary before her, eventually twirling around her. Rosalina followed the key with calm wonder as it twirled around her at an increasing rate, eventually twirling around her so fast that she looked skyward with closed eyes. The room once again lit up with a bright flash, but this time it was only Link who shielded his eyes. As the light died down, both Mario and Link gasped in awe as they tried to comprehend what they were seeing.
It was somehow as if Rosalina was a completely different person. Sitting upon the cosmic sleek bike, her platinum blonde hair was the same way it usually was, but now she wore lovely golden four pointed star earrings, and she also had a silver crown upon her head, which was embedded with rubies and sapphires. She was dressed in a primarily white jumpsuit, with the secondary colour the same turquoise/blue that her usual dress was. Her gloves, knee high boots, belt, and scarf matched this turquoise/blue colour as well.
Her bike was aerodynamic and sleek, light, and built for speed. It's colour was cosmic blue, the paint metallic such that it glittered like starlight. The wheels were small and compact, with flashy silver rims decorated with a spiralling star pattern. The handlebars were straight and encouraged the driver to lean forward, a large golden star between the handles serving as the headpiece.
"Princess Rosalina! In this world, this is your vessel! It is called: Starman! As the Princess of the Galaxies herself, I think this dazzling ride suits you perfectly!"
"I... feel like... myself! I feel more comfortable with myself than ever before!" Rosalina awed, examining herself in the reflection of her bike. Her eyes trembled as she looked at her crown and earrings. She felt like a true Princess. "This is who I really am."
"Right? And don't you feel like you already know how to drive it?" Mario grinned, watching Rosalina as she examined her transformation and new bike.
"It's true, I do feel like I'm deeply connected to this bike somehow!" Rosalina agreed, with a nod.
"Well come on, take her for a whirl!" Mario encouraged, with a happy closed eyed grin.
"Right!" Rosalina nodded with conviction. She was acting different from her usual lazy, unmotivated self.
She revved the engine and then proceeded to zoom forward at a rather high speed. She then proceeded to drift at a sharp angle, such that she had a real lean as she circled her rather impressed spectators. A stream of blue light launched from the engine, tracing her path and quickly fading. Despite having never driven before, she was already driving like a professional. She parked back in her place with an expression of awe herself. Link and Mario gave their applause upon her return.
"This is no ordinary bike." Rosalina laughed excitedly, unable to explain the phenomenon.
"That's right, it isn't any ordinary bike. It's your Spirit Vessel!"
"Spirit vessel?" Rosalina inquired, unable to make any sense of it.
"But before I explain that, let's get Link in on the fun! Come on! Step forward and hop on!"
Link nodded, remaining patient throughout the process of Mario and Rosalina receiving their bikes. As he approached his bike, the Master Cycle Zero rune currently displayed on his Sheikah Slate and dedicated to spawning said bike, he felt an overwhelming sense of awe.
The Master Cycle Zero was an impressive vessel. Made from ancient guardian technology, it resembled a horse in its shape. It's body was covered with all sorts of glowing orange and blue technology, the most prominent of which was the blue blade horn located on the very front.
"Never in all of my years..." Link thought out loud, as he proceeded to board the bike.
As with the case of Mario and Rosalina, a blinding flash smothered the room before fading once again. Link was now wearing a forest green tunic, with white pants and brown boots. Mario recognized this outfit as one that was similar to what Saria in the Jail of Souls was wearing, although Link also had a long green tube cap upon his head.
"Oh?" Link barked, proceeding to examine himself in awe.
The three of them then looked skyward towards the mysterious voice while sitting on their newly obtained Spirit Vessels as it continued to speak.
"Congratulations to the three of you for making it this far! These are gifts from the Goddess herself! I present to The Three, your Spirit Vessels!"
"Our Spirit Vessels..." Mario thought out loud, examining Hellraiser with a grin. "Too cool!"
"Wait. You said these are gifts from the Goddess herself?" Link questioned, intrigued to learn such a fact.
"That's right! The Goddess specifically crafted these three Spirit Vessels for The Three so that they may better navigate these other worlds!"
"She made these for us?" Mario questioned, scratching his head in thought. "But why would she choose to make us these bikes?"
"And what do you mean by, "The Three"." Link inquired, eyes narrowed in interest.
"I love my crown!" Rosalina admitted, trying her best not to overly adjust it as she felt it with her fingertips.
"*snicker*... I suppose that's a conversation that we will have to have if "The Three" manage to successfully complete this final trial!"
"Very well." Link surrendered, examining the Master Cycle Zero. "Tell us about these Spirit Vessels."
"Right. These Spirit Vessels are the way that you guys are gonna navigate Spirit Realms."
"Spirit Realms?" Link inquired, listening intently.
"Yeah. You guys are in a Spirit Realm right now. It's the medium in which these trials have been conducted. Spirit Realms are connected to the real world in very mysterious ways."
"Whoa, really?" Rosalina awed, with wonder in her eyes.
"But this Spirit Realm is different from the Spirit Realms that we're gonna see later on... Anyway, the primary use of the Spirit Vessels will be for escaping these Spirit Realms."
"For escape?" Link inquired, as curious as the rest of them.
"Mm-hm. Once you steal a certain something from the Spirit Realm, it will proceed to collapse in on itself. That's where the Spirit Vessels come in!"
"Steal, huh... I don't really understand..." Mario admitted, rubbing his head in confusion.
"It'll all make sense soon enough. This final trial will serve as a practice run for such a heist!"
"So this Spirit Realm is about to collapse, and we're gonna try to escape from it?" Link concluded, his expression calm and serious.
"This one at least, catches on quickly!"
"Hey!" Mario barked, offended.
"Hmm... Ha! I'll give *you* the Treasure!"
With a magic bing, a glowing orb spawned on Mario's lap. Exclamation marks appeared over the heads of Mario and Link (a question mark for Rosalina) as they examined the glowing, golden orb resting upon Mario's lap.
"Huh? What the heck is this?" Mario questioned, gold light reflected in his eyes.
"It's the Treasure. You can think of it as... the "heart" of this Spirit Realm. Since you are stealing it from its rightful place, this Spirit Realm will start to collapse."
"Stealing the heart, the "Treasure", of a Spirit Realm causes it to be destroyed..." Link contemplated, pensively. "Interesting..."
"So we gotta escape before we get caught up in the collapse?" Rosalina lazily questioned, an expression of sadness on her face. "What a pain."
"It's even worse than that! There are a lot of things thriving within a Spirit Realm that are not happy that you're stealing the heart of their world, that is, the Treasure. Those that protect the Treasure are called "Guardians". They're going to try and stop you from stealing it by any means."
"It sounds like we are being trained to destroy these Spirit Realms..." Link realized, eyes narrowed in skepticism.
"Again, this one is sharp. That's right, you are being trained to infiltrate and destroy Spirit Realms. But not just any old Spirit Realms. In particular, the Spirit Realms of your enemies."
"Destroying the Spirit Realms of our enemies..." Link repeated, trying to comprehend the odd, metaphysical statement.
"But why do we gotta do all that?" Mario questioned, pounding his fists together. "Can't we just beat them up instead?"
"Because, by destroying the Spirit Realms of our enemies... That's how we're gonna save the world!"
"I don't get it..." Rosalina frowned, her arms folded as she slouched upon Starman.
"I already told you, these Spirit Realms affect the real world in mysterious ways. If we destroy the evil Spirit Realms, the Spirit Realms of our enemies... it will definitely have a positive impact on the world! I just know it!"
Mario, Link, and Rosalina said nothing. Instead, they exchanged glances. Once the mysterious voice spoke again, they all returned their attention skyward.
"Look, I'll explain everything after this trial, promise. Right now, I just need you guys to really focus and do this right! The fate of the world depends on The Three!"
"Well, okay..." Rosalina sighed, her engine puttering on idle.
"And with that..."
A loud rumble shot throughout the room, and a blinding line of light appeared on the floor before them. A massive door proceeded to slowly open, snow from the outside mountain top blowing into the room. Blinding light was cast upon Link, Mario, and Rosalina's determined faces.
"Here we go..." Link thought out loud, brimming with courage.
"O-One more trial..." Rosalina thought out loud, struggling to stay calm as the massive door raised higher and higher.
"You guys are gonna need to protect me, alright?" Mario firmly stated, a single sweat rolling down the side of his face. He secured the treasure he possessed.
A soft bang concluded the doors rising as the screen went black. The sound of revving engines and blowing snow could be heard.
"Let's begin the Final Trial!"