YES! ANOTHER CHAPTER! ^.^ Last time we left our Heroes, they received a message from Professor E Gadd, confirming that one of their Stars was indeed in "Peach's" Castle! :D Will they find it? On with the Chapter!
The group wandered down the dimly lit hallway, for what seemed like hours….when in reality they had only been walking for half an hour. Everyone started to feel the slight exhaustion of seeing the same scenery every step they took. The group walked in silence before Luigi finally decided to break the silence and voice his annoyance.
"Does ANYBODY ever come down here? I swear it's been the same decor this entire hall!" The remaining 5 friends turned to Luigi.
"Not really, to be honest I don't recall ever coming this far before…." Peach honestly answered, also seeming weary of the reoccurring sights.
"A change in scenery would be nice right about now!" Luigi laughed, trying to hide his frustration. Peach and even Mario nodded in agreement.
"Yes….." Peach answered wearily. "That would be nice right about…." Peach suddenly trailed off, as something caught her attention. Giving her full attention to her right. She saw that the wall a few feet from the group seemed to be a little darker than the rest of the wall.
"Is something the matter Peach?" Daisy suddenly asked, somewhat concerned. For a moment Peach didn't answer, she simply stared at the wall. As the group advanced closer to the wall, Peach noticed that the darker tint to the wall was simply a old draping that hung from the wall.
"At LAST something, that doesn't resemble a brick!" Luigi laughed, legitimately happy. Mario and Daisy, even Yoshi and Birdo couldn't help but chuckle at Luigi's reaction.
"What's a thing like this doing all the way down here?" Mario asked, seeming confused. "I don't recall ever seeing this before…." The group looked at the draping, nothing seemed particularly interesting about it. Except for the fact that it was obviously old, as dust covered every inch of it.
"This thing looks so old…it could probably be as old as this Castle!" Luigi laughed as he touched the draping with his hand, covering his glove in dust.
"I don't think so…the fabric itself looks fairly new….." Peach whispered, as she too touched the draping. However to her confusion the dust didn't cover her glove as it had Luigi's. Peach stared at her glove startled, as she touched the draping again to which again dust didn't appear on her glove. "There's something strange about this draping….." Peach said aloud. Her friends turned to her. Peach studied the draping more closely to see if she could see anything that seemed off. As Peach examined the draping, Luigi's eyes wandered towards the ceiling. Staring off into space something suddenly caught Luigi's eye. Looking in the direction of the odd draping again, Luigi caught sight of two golden nails that seemed to be holding the draping in place. Not only that but the nails seemed completely FREE of dust. Luigi stared closely at it, before deciding to voice his thoughts.
"Hey, is it just me? Or do those nails up there seem a little TOO clean to be as old as this draping?" Luigi asked aloud. Everyone looked over to him, before looking up as well.
"Goodness, Luigi is right!" Peach gasped, staring at the glittering nails.
"And I don't think those are there JUST by some crazy coincidence…There's something more to this…." Luigi whispered quietly, before suddenly turning to Yoshi.
"Hey Yoshi, you think you're up for some egg tossing?" Yoshi suddenly jumped, somewhat confused and shocked by Luigi's request. Yoshi hadn't used his egg throw in years….Mainly due to the fact that most of the time he needed to use his tongue to acquire the eggs needed…And that meant reigniting Shelly's insecurities. Yoshi had forced himself to refrain from using his tongue ever since he and Birdo first discovered Shelly's inability to use her tongue. Of course Shelly wasn't here to see it, but it still didn't feel right. Yoshi was hesitant in his answer.
"What for?" He whispered slightly uneasy, Birdo too seemed uncomfortable.
"I've got a suspicion about this draping…" Luigi replied, looking up at the nails. Yoshi also looked up, then turned back to Luigi as if understanding. He however still looked uneasy and opened his mouth, maybe to object, before Luigi continued. "Trust me pal, this draping must be here for a reason…." Luigi finished. Yoshi remained silent for a few moments, he glanced up at the nails before turning back to Luigi.
"Okay….." He whispered, nodding. Despite the fact that he didn't want to do it, if it meant leading him closer to finding his daughter. "Let's do it." He finished, causing Luigi to smile. Yoshi turned towards a few broken bricks, feeling one last hesitation, he suddenly grabbed one of the bricks with his tongue and quickly turned it into an egg. "Okay…what's next?" Yoshi asked turning towards Luigi.
"We're going to knock those nails off the wall." Luigi answered, as he grabbed one of the broken bricks off the ground.
"Luigi, what is that going to do?" Mario's voice suddenly sounded. "There's nothing behind this draping." Mario finished as he grabbed one end of the draping and pulled it upward, revealing an empty wall. "See? There's nothing there….What will knocking this draping down do?" He asked confused.
"Let him do it Mario….." Peach's voice suddenly sounded. Everyone turned towards her. Everyone remained silent, Yoshi and Luigi finally turned towards the draping.
"On three.….." Luigi instructed, Yoshi nodded. "One…Two….THREE!" Yoshi chucked his egg at the right corner while Luigi threw his brick at the left corner. Both items slammed into the golden nails, however only Yoshi's egg knocked the nail off the wall. "ARGH! Not enough power…." Luigi mumbled as the draping slightly eased off the wall but not entirely. Everyone seemed slightly disheartened.
"OH LOOK!" Peach's voice suddenly sounded. Everyone glanced over as Peach ran up to the draping and tugged lightly on it. Everyone gasped in surprise as a large engraving became visible as Peach moved the draping out of the way.
"What did I tell ya Bro!" Luigi laughed, playfully elbowing his older brother. Mario couldn't do anything but smile.
"Looks like you're sleuthing skills aren't so dusty after all." He chuckled, receiving a smirk from Luigi. The group of 6 all turned to look at the engraving. It showed what looked like a crown and hovering over it was unmistakably a large Star. Mario and Peach took a step closer and stared at the engraving. The group remained silent for a while. Several more minutes of silence went by before Peach suddenly touched the engraving with her hand. Within seconds all 6 Friends covered their eyes to shield them from the light that suddenly illuminated the hallway. The bright light lingered for several seconds before it slowly faded away. Everyone uncovered their eyes, all of them gasped in amazement. As a small passage that glittered of pink stars now illuminated before them.
"It's beautiful!" Peach whispered as she stared at the passage.
"Let's check it out." Birdo suddenly said, also staring in amazement at the passage. Slowly Peach and Mario entered the passage first, fallowed by Luigi, Daisy and finally Yoshi and Birdo. The group walked slowly as there was hardly enough room for any of them to move comfortably. Finally the group came to what seemed to be a doorway. Walking through the doorway the friends were met with a breathtaking sight. On a pedestal up several gold plated stairs was a large illuminating Star.
"We've FOUND IT!" Peach suddenly gasped, her eyes almost tearing up.
"And it's No surprise who it's for." Mario's voice suddenly sounded, giving his wife a reassuring smile. The other 4 friends also nodded. Peach gave a smile, as she turned towards the pedestal. Slowly making her way up the gold plated stairs, Peach stopped in front of the Star. Taking a deep breath Peach reached for the Star. She was suddenly overwhelmed as she felt a strong power coming from the Star. Peach held the Star over her head, before it began glowing brightly. Mario and the others shielded their eyes. The light suddenly disappeared, Peach felt the power of the Star surge through her body. Mario and the others lowered their hands. All of them were speechless. Without a word the group headed back towards the exit, Peach took one last look at the pedestal before leaving the room. To the groups' shock they were suddenly back in the hallway and the draping was covering the wall again.
"That was strange….." Mario suddenly gasped. Peach grabbed the draping and lifted it. To the groups' surprise the engraving was no longer on the wall.
"It's gone…." Peach gasped, her voice sounding somewhat disappointed, as she let go of the draping. However each of the friends were shocked to see that the draping was no longer dusty in fact it had a completely different design than before. Luigi and Daisy especially stared at the draping shocked, as the recognizable designs of their emblems appeared on the draping, along with a Castle.
"It's our Castle!" Daisy suddenly gasped.
"Could it possibly be a clue?" Yoshi asked quietly. Luigi grinned, before turning to Yoshi.
"If THAT'S not a clue, I don't know what is pal!" Luigi and Daisy both turned to each other and smiled.
"SARASALAND, HOME HERE WE COME!"
WHOO HOO! 1 Star DOWN, just 5 more to GO! Sorry I made Peach's Star a bit easy (and quick) to find (and retrieve) but I kinda wanted it to poke fun at how Peach "didn't" work very much in earlier Mario games. ^.^ Also this Chapter has another reference to a certain Fanfic here on Fanfiction. :) (Is it POSSIBLY the same Fanfic I mentioned last chapter? :P ) I won't give TOO much away except that, this certain Fanfic is mentioned SOMEWHERE on my Profile. That's ALL I'm giving away, GOOD luck to you all! Hopefully somebody gets the reference.
...Sadly this Chapter does come with some bad news...It seems the inevitable has finally come...Starting today "A Complicated Destiny" is now on a official hiatus ... T.T And when I say hiatus I mean most likely I won't post for about a month. *shiver* But lately school has been a pain and I just don't have the creative juices flowing as much as I would like. Granted I'll try my very best not to make you all wait more than a month, because trust me I KNOW how much of a pain it is to wait THAT long. After that LONG month I'll probably be posting at a slow rate. Probably once every 2 weeks again. I hope that things get a lot less busy and my creative juices come back to me. (SOONER Rather than LATER would be AWESOME!) I again THANK YOU ALL for your continued support. DON'T WORRY EVERYONE, "A Complicated Destiny" WON'T be on hiatus forever.
Mario related Material Property of Nintendo
Story and O.C Characters (meaning Shelly, Dash, Ilario, Angela, Azalea, Koop, Parry, Surge, Lilli, Karrie and Phoenix) Property of MCGoldYoshi (aka ME! ^.^ )