I'm very very sorry that it took me such a long time to upload a new chapter, but I had been really busy with school and other stuff. Now that I'm officially on holidays, I'll start working on this story again. The good thing is that you don't need to reread the other two chapters, as long as you remember the general idea, as this chapter takes place in a different setting once more. The important thing to mention, however, is that you will meet the protagonists of the story in this chapter.
Chapter 3: In the Sewers
A young adult Koopa with a band-aid on his nose was walking along the streets of Rogueport at a brisk pace. He looked around with a saddened expression on his face. The port wasn't any more what it used to be before the Evil King rose to power. Of course, Rogueport had the bad reputation of being home to plenty of thieves and other mischievous characters, but at least it was a bustling town with intense activity and movement. Nowadays, the streets were almost empty, with the occasional Koopa promenading around town. Koops glanced at the small park on his left, where kids of all different races used to play happily on the sandbox or the seesaw. Now it was deserted, for the exception of a Koopa taking care of her two little children, who were building sandcastles with plastic buckets. Koops continued walking along Doogans' Street. He heard somewhere that Wendy O. (the governor of their shell) planned to change the street names that weren't related to Koopas. He finally reached the end of the street, facing a small building that had a sign above the door that said "Shelley's" with big red letters. Koops hurried to get inside.
Shelley's was a chain of fast food restaurants spread all around Bowser's State. Since its inauguration in early April, Shelley's popularity steadily grew until becoming the biggest fast food franchise in the whole state. Despite Koops hated everything about the new regime, he had to admit that the food was actually good. He approached the counter at the opposite end of the door, trying to remember everything his friends asked him to order.
"Hello there, Kolorado," greeted a Koopa around his thirties that was behind the counter, "What is it gonna be today?"
Koops still felt uncomfortable when someone called him by his fake name, despite he had been using it for quite a while now.
"I will have… three Koopastas, two Courage Meals, one Healthy Salad, two Koopa Buns, two Koopa Teas and six Fresh Juices," recited Koops with a shaky voice, afraid that he might have missed something or said a wrong quantity.
"Seriously, dude, you really need to ask your friends to come along with you," recommended the Koopa with an eyebrow raised. "You must have a hard time carrying all these meals back home."
"Um… I guess," replied Koops timidly.
"So, that's gonna be…," said the Koopa computing everything on the cash register, "505 Bowser Coins."
If there was something Bowser had been lazy to change, was the currency. The inhabitants were still using the same Mushroom Coins like before, but they were renamed Bowser Coins. Koops gave the employee five silver coins and a red coin, giving him exactly 505 Bowser Coins.
"Here's the bill," said the Koopa handing Koops a small white paper, "Your order number is thirty; it's gonna take around ten minutes. Thank you for choosing Shelley's! We hope to see you again soon!" he said the last few words in a mechanized way.
Koops sat down on the nearest empty table he could find to wait for his order. A few costumers were at the restaurant, eating their food and chatting. Most of them looked like business men on their lunch break. He could also see a young couple eating two tables away from his. He wondered how young male Koopas managed to go out on dates with girls, if they barely had time as they had to assist school and fulfill their military duties. The Koopa girl was eating merrily a Peach Tart, making Koops remember their lost fair-haired friend. They still hadn't heard any news about the princess whereabouts, but he somehow sensed that she was okay.
"Order number thirty!" shouted a high-pitched female voice from the counter, making Koops jump on his seat as he snapped out of his thoughts.
Carrying around four bags full of meals and beverages wasn't an easy task, especially along the streets of Rogueport that had many forks and inclined narrow paths. After doing this task so many times, Koops had managed to find a safe route free from steep and curvy pathways, even if that meant taking longer to reach his destination. He remembered the time he slipped on a wet slope and sent the food rolling down the street; his hungry friends wouldn't forgive him. After making his way through several streets, Koops turned around a corner and into an alley. He walked towards an old TV cardboard box lying upside down on the ground. He glanced behind him to make sure that no one was around, and he lifted the big cardboard box. A green sewer pipe was hidden under the box, its opening big enough for a person to enter inside it vertically. Koops carefully put the bags he was carrying on the ground, and then he proceeded to put the cardboard box over his head upside down. He picked the bags again from the floor, struggling to balance the box over his head, and he jumped inside the green pipe. Koops and the four bags made it inside the pipe, but the cardboard box got stuck in the pipe's opening, successfully covering it again.
Koops was falling rapidly down the pipe, unable to see anything in the dark surrounding him, and holding the bags with a firm grip. The pipe turned brusquely from a vertical orientation to a horizontal one, but, unlike it would be expected, Koops comfortably changed direction inside the pipe and a second after he came out of it, not at top speeds, but slowly, and landing on his feet gently. Such was the magic of the Mushroom World's pipes.
Despite he had been living in Rogueport's Sewers for a few months now, he still didn't get use to the strong, foul odor that impregnated everything down there. At least now he was able to eat his food without throwing up, and so did his friends. The Rogueport's Sewers weren't common sewers, as it had been a town by its own many years back, before a great cataclysm struck the town and it sank into the depths of the earth. Actually, Rogueport had been built over this ancient town's ruins. Koops was now in a room with gray walls, inferring that they might have been white at some time in the past. Koops and his friends referred to this room jokingly as their "vestibule", as it didn't contain anything at all, and its only purpose was to welcome them to their refuge which they now called home. Koops proceeded to enter through an opening on the wall, where a door once seemed to stand.
"Finally, Koops!" exclaimed a small female pink Goomba with her blond hair tied in a ponytail behind her head standing impatiently in the middle of the room. "We're starving!"
"Hey, easy there, Goombella," said a green male Spike Top with a wrench instead of the usual spike on top of its shell to the Goomba girl. "I'm pretty sure it's not easy to carry all of these around town."
"It was about time for you to arrive, chump," said a deep male voice from an adjacent room. Rawk Hawk, a big, burly eagle-like creature entered the room with an air of superiority.
"At least he's being useful, idiot!" retorted a female Toad wearing glasses and with pink dots on her head who came shortly after Rawk Hawk through the door frame.
"Hey!" exclaimed Rawk Hawk indignantly to Jolene. "I would go out to buy food by myself if those Koopa jerks wouldn't start chasing after me and making me work for that asshole!"
"But I thought you were so tough," said Jolene with a hint of sarcasm. "I thought you were able to take care of them all by yourself."
"There are thousands of those freaks outside!" roared Rawk Hawk. "If those cowards would face me one by one, then…"
"But that won't happen," cut Goombella sharply, already taking her Healthy Salad from one of the plastic bags that Koops had placed on top of the large wooden table they used for eating. "So, if it weren't for Koops, we wouldn't be alive right now".
Koops felt his cheeks blushing when he heard his friend said that. After smiling shyly at her, he sat down on the chair besides her and rummaged inside one of the plastic bags looking for his Koopasta. Rawk Hawk and Jolene quickly joined them.
"I'm going to look for Luigi," advised Torque as he went towards the opening on the wall from where Jolene and Rawk Hawk had came from. This room was more spacious than the other one, and led to three other rooms through doorless openings. It had a big, comfortable-looking sofa, as well as an old shelf with a few books that they had managed to get. Torque crossed the room and went through one of the two openings. This small room had three mattresses on the floor, which belonged to him, Koops and Luigi.
A man was sitting on one of the mattresses, reading a newspaper spread in front of him. Despite he looked young, he had shadows under his eyes and his skin looked really pale. The green-garbed man peered over the newspaper to see his friend Torque, and forced a smile at him.
"Koops is back," informed Torque to Luigi. "Hurry up before your food gets cold!"
And Torque left the room hurriedly, which led Luigi to infer that he was starving madly. Instead of joining his friends, the plumber continued to read the newspaper, looking for any news regarding Princess Peach, Princess Daisy or his brother, Mario. Bowser had said that he had killed Mario in the media, but he didn't say how or where. Luigi still had hope that he was still alive, somewhere.
Luigi still couldn't believe the party with whom he was hiding in the sewers. They were such a random group of people that if someone had told him months ago this would happen, he would have laughed. Four months ago, he was at Podley's Place in Rogueport, having a drink with his friend Torque, which he hadn't seen in such a long time. They embarked together in an adventure in the Waffle Kingdom two years back, and despite Torque didn't like him very much at first, they became really good friends. They were having a good time, telling about each other's lives, with Flavio constantly interrupting their conversation. Flavio was an entrepreneur known to be the second richest man in Rogueport (or used to be). He had many expensive ships in his possession. He was an acquaintance of his brother, and when he overheard that Luigi was Mario's brother, he started bombarding him with questions about his death, which made Luigi felt angry and sad at the same time. Oddly enough, two other acquaintances of his brother were there a few tables away from them. These two, however, Luigi knew them a little bit, and he was well aware that they had been really good friends of his brother. They both greeted Luigi and told him they were sorry for his brother's death. Luigi had been used to those types of comments in the last two months, and it didn't hurt any less every time someone reminded him of his brother's supposed death.
An hour had passed, and Flavio was still annoying them. The Goomba girl was arguing with a tall, yellow creature near the entrance, which Luigi had seen sitting at a table with a Toad a while before. The door of the bar was abruptly opened from the outside, making everyone look scared in its direction. Even the Goomba girl and the yellow eagle had stopped arguing. A terrified Toad entered the bar, and warned them that Bowser's troop was attacking Rogueport. Everyone started panicking, the sound of broken glass and hurried footsteps filling the place. Flavio was shaking uncontrollably and looked as if he was about to faint, but instead he told Luigi he knew a secret place where they would be safe. Luigi and Torque followed him outside the bar, quickly followed by the Goomba girl, her Koopa friend, the beefy eagle, and the Toad. It was hard to keep up with Flavio's pace, who was running as if he were running barefoot on hot lava. He led them through several of Rogueport's streets, and Luigi started wondering if he had forgotten the location. He was pretty sure that Flavio had only invited him and Torque to his secret place, but the other four were still following them from behind. Flavio had led them to an alley where a big cardboard box laid on the floor…
Luigi had been used to live with these six people during these past few months. Goombella was doubtlessly the brain of the group. She had a sassy personality, but Luigi liked her very much and she made good jokes now and then. Koops was pretty cool, too. Despite he was a bit shy, Luigi was getting along with him very well. He was also the only one who could actually walk around the streets of Rogueport uncovered, as he was a Koopa. Rawk Hawk was a complete ass, but he was the muscle of the group, and he helped a lot in moving the furniture around. Jolene, like Goombella, was also very smart, and she engaged in arguments with Rawk Hawk constantly. Before Bowser's takeover, Rawk Hawk had become a very popular wrestler, and he had hired Jolene as his manager. But now that they were out of business, Jolene could now speak rudely at him. Luigi was glad that at least Torque was with him, and he was sure that he would be feeling very different right now if he weren't there. Flavio, on the other hand, had completely lost his mind. He spent most of the day in his room (which he shared with Rawk Hawk), not talking to anyone and contemplating the wall. He wasn't a very strong-minded person, and he had been having a hard time since they started living down in the sewers.
"Luigi, what the hell are you doing?" exclaimed Goombella as she peered over the door frame. "If you don't come soon, Rawk Hawk is going to eat your portion!"
"Okay, I'm coming!" replied Luigi, dismissively putting the newspaper away and standing up from the mattress to follow his friend. Before leaving through the opening, he glanced back at the newspaper and muttered to himself "I'm going to find you, guys."
I'm leaving on a vacation trip the last days of July, but I plan to upload another chapter before that. I know my choice of characters was a bit random, but I wanted almost unknown characters to have a key role in my story. Except for Goombella, which I know is kind of mainstream, but I like her, so I had to include her ;). And Luigi was a must. I hope you liked this chapter; thanks for reading!