Chapter 11: Sour Dreams
The morning was slow inside Club Wii. None of the guests that Kory, Toadsworth, and I saw earlier that same morning were there anymore. My guess is that they all had places to be. It was practically empty save for the bartender, the drunkard lyricist whose career careened after the dark take over from what I hear, and my mother who ran in through the door tying on her white apron.
"Sorry I'm late, sir!" she gasped for breaths; she had been running all the way from our house after our little argument. "I had… family… issues to attend to…"
"Oh, that's okay Lucy. I know you're dedicated to this job. Why don't you go take a breather in the back room for a few minutes? Give yourself a chance to catch your breath."
My mom's beliefs about her boss are all wrong, simply put. She thinks he's this uptight male supremacist who's keeping her down because of all these horrible things and is hiding behind this kind, sympathetic cloak of deceit. I can't say how wrong she is because there isn't a word grand enough to describe it. He's always kind and sympathetic. The reason he hasn't promoted her or given her a pay raise—giving her the idea that he's keeping her down in a no direction job—is because he does not have the resources to do any of that.
She acted nice and agreeable, thanked him for that suggestion, and completely ignored it by immediately going to work cleaning the floors and tables. As she did, one or two more customers came in and sat themselves at a table. She greeted each with a smile and friendly service, jotted the order down, and rushed to the kitchen to go cook. During her job, the quality of her food isn't as comparable to that of when she's home, but it was food nonetheless and the customers were happy to have it.
The entire morning worked like this and rolled over into the early part of the afternoon with no change in pace whatsoever. Very few customers in, those same few customers out; it was like a revolving door. Only during their lunch break was it completely empty, though. They decided to close up for an hour and get the place ready for their usual influx of customers that came in during their own lunch hour. My mom went to work cleaning again and the bartender stood at his bar and polished his glasses so that they all looked sparkling.
Once he finished, and my mom sat down on one of the bar stools, they decided to treat themselves to a little bit of television. The clock said that it was one o'clock, which was about the time I woke up from my nap that day.
"…In other news, President Antapi is expected to arrive on the tarmac any second—"
Click.
"President Antapi, the current president of Isle Delfino and sole democratic leader in the world, is scheduled to meet up with Dark Bowser later today. His arrival will likely coincide with that of the local high school's—"
Click.
"Residents are taking a grand interest in the arrival of Isle Delfinian President Antapi. Eager crowds are gathered outside of the airport with colorful banners and leis to welcome him. We can only hope that—"
Power down.
"There's nothing on television right now. It'll be disappointing for our customers, but they should be able to catch up on their new news later on in the day." The bartender said. My mother nodded and got up from her seat to go flip the closed sign to open.
Within a few minutes, the bar started to become populated with the loyal lunchtime crowd. Koopas and Toads and Goombas and all other sorts of characters flooded in, all wanting to satisfy their hunger. My mother turned into the kitchen whiz she is at home and dished out multiple orders at the same time. This lasted for quite a while with no time for a break in between. Around three thirty, though, as the lunchtime customers turned into an early dinner crowd, murmuring started to ring in the air of the usually noisy club. My mother, being a mother, naturally picked up on this and decided that she was curious enough to ask what was the popular topic of the day that deserved whispering.
"Have you been watching the news?"
"No. It's all the same stuff about the president's visit."
"You better turn the tube on, Lucy." It was said with such sorrow and graveness that it still haunts me to this day. My mother obliged and walked over to turn the television on. The same news channel that the bartender was watching earlier for a little while was now broadcasting a new, wilder piece of breaking news.
"—and for those of you tuning in now, let me recap for you all that has transpired this last half hour. President Antapi is dead and an assassination attempt has in fact been made on Dark Bowser's life." All of the bar got silent; my mother's face flushed of any color that remained from after this morning's argument with me. "We have a camera crew on the scene at the castle where Dark Bowser is now making an official report to the Toad Town Intelligence Agency of exactly what went on behind the closed doors of his private meeting room. Extra guards and troops are already being stationed all around the town so as to put a stop to these criminals as they are on the run now. Yes you heard that right folks, the criminals are out there and they are dangerous. We only have rough character sketches at the moment, but these should be enough to help you identify if that stranger you pass on the streets is in fact a wanted murderer."
The screen transitioned to show three sketches of the perpetrators. A human male with fiery red, straight, long hair, grey-colored eyes, and a yellow polo shirt was on the left, an elderly looking Toad with an exaggeratedly wrinkled coffee colored mushroom cap with brown spots and tiny glasses and a smoothed out white mustache appeared on the right, and my own portrait was centered. My mother dropped the tray of dirty dishes she was holding up in her hand at the sight of my purple and blue color schemed appearance, my locks of hair, and my caring smile. She wanted to faint, but kept herself up with the desire to know exactly what in the worlds I had done to become one of the Mushroom Kingdom's Most Wanted.
"Remember, these are only rough sketches folks, but if you do see anyone who matches these portraits even just a little slightly do not hesitate to report it. These three criminals are dangerous, armed, and are willing to strike again without a further thought. They have attempted an assassination on Dark Bowser and have also already slain the last remaining free leader in our world. Needless to say that caution is highly advisable until these terrorists are apprehended and locked up forever—"
My mother shut off the television set by throwing the remote at the screen. The set broke, dying out with electrical fizzles and a small stream of smoke. She was in a hysterical state of crying and denial. Her baby, her little Rosy… that little bundle of hope that she thought would grow up to be someone and not a hardened criminal like the television was pushing for… She couldn't be any of that, should she?
She never got her answer. While everyone was still staring at her for what she had done to the television, the wooden doors to the bar burst down and they all panicked. My mother stood there frozen like a normal Boo when it's being looked at. An entire squad of the Toad Town Intelligence Agency stormed in and seized control of bar. The squad leader walked in through the doorway last, his heavy boots clunking loud on the hardwood flooring.
"LUCY TOADINGTON." He had to shout through his protective helmet that matched the rest of his black mission ensemble. My mother didn't move; what else could she do? The only thing she had the mental capacity to do was grunt.
"YOU ARE UNDER ARREST. THE CHARGES ARE CONSPIRING AGAINST DARK BOWSER AND HARBORING ENEMIES NUMBER ONE, TWO, AND THREE TO DARK BOWSER AND THE REST OF THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM. YOU WILL BE BROUGHT IN FOR FURTHER QUESTIONING. YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY RIGHTS AT THIS TIME."
Two of the squad members approached my mother with no concern to her and forcefully grabbed hold of her arms. They lifted her up, and two other members grabbed hold of her stilled feet. They carried her out with great ease, but I was surprised that my mother didn't try to get away or even scream anything. The only thing she did was let out one single tear that dripped onto the pavement outside of the bar just before being tossed into the black van and being joined by the squad members. The van drove off from the now crowded harbor with a screech from the tires.
The good news is that she wasn't arrested for resisting.
~*-Beyond-*~
"AAAAAHHH!" My eyes lids flew back violently. I was expecting to wake up to find that I was in the cabin of the train that I fell asleep in, but no such thing happened. I found that I was floating in some sort of subspace similar to that of my earlier dream. It wasn't as black as before; there was a tint of dark purple surrounding the expanse. I tried calling out for someone… anyone at that point, but no one responded.
"Well this sucks…" I sighed. "How do I get out of this now?" Moving around in this zero gravity environment proved to be quite a challenge. I really had to work at moving to get anywhere, pumping my legs and moving my arms around as if I was swimming. Once I finally did start moving, it dawned on me that there was nowhere to go at all. All that energy wasted on nothing. I made another groan, but louder this time.
"Why do I keep having these weird dreams?"
"We aren't so bad… I thought you'd be used to us by now." I spun around trying to find who spoke inside my own head and figure out just how they got access to this most private of areas.
"Who are you?! Show yourself!"
From far away in front of me, two glowing masses started to grow; they were coming closer to me. They traveled with such ease that I was a bit jealous of. One was green and the other pink. They both reminded me of two of the figures I already had dreams of. As they both grew, the started to take on a sort of form. They looked almost like people from my vantage point. I never did get to see their faces, but they did have silhouettes shaded their respective colors.
"Please, don't be afraid." A female's voice said. I sensed it on my right side and looked over to the pink figure that floated at that point. "We're here to help ease your mind. You're greatly troubled right now."
"Troubled? What do you mean?"
"Hope," the green one on my left said, "you just witnessed your mother being captured! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"I… you mean that really happened?" I swung my vision over to the pink one wanting her to tell me that he was wrong. She only nodded. My head started reeling; I was in disbelief.
"No… that can't be… Please tell me it's not true!" I cried out. They did nothing and said nothing; my worst fears about that had come true.
"So Mihn wasn't kidding…" my voice started cracking, strained with the heavy hearted emotions rushing through my nervous systems. I tried keeping in my tears; I tried to be strong. There wasn't anything I could do to stop the waves from cresting out and I started reacting. Sniffles and harsh gasps were the only sounds I was capable of making then. I couldn't believe what I had learned, what I saw. To see her so broken like that over me… I felt beyond horrible for going on this quest and wished that I could undo everything to make things back the way they were.
They both floated down towards me and hugged me at this point, saying things like "Everything will be all right" and "None of this is your fault." Dumb clichés I feared I could never make true at that point.
"I feel so weak right now…" I finally mumbled after minutes of crying. "I feel helpless."
"That's not true, Hope." The pink one pulled away to look at me directly with her non-existent eyes. "You have us and we will help you every step of the way on your journey. It's only just beginning—"
"And I wish it would end! I want to go find my mother!"
"Hope, everything will work out in the due course of time," she continued. "You can't do anything about her right now. It's a harsh truth, but I'm afraid that's the only thing I can say right now." I sniffled hard.
"Besides," the green one spoke up, "even if there was something you could do about it, Dark Bowser would have you right where he wants you and then there would be no more chances for things to ever get better. We need you here and now, Hope."
"Why do you need me, anyway?" I questioned the spirits. "Why are you constantly bothering me? This is the kind of thing that only happens in those extreme teen fiction novels that no one takes a chance with. I'm just some random Toad girl transitioning into her senior year of high school."
They took a long sigh together. Clearly I was missing something that they thought was intrinsically believed by me. The green one came up with an answer, though: "Because you are not some random Toad girl. You have so much potential inside of you. Look at all you've done so far in just the course of thirty-six hours. Powerful allies and defenders of the Mushroom Kingdom that have been repressed of their power and significance for so long have started to come alive again. You have given them something worth fighting for. They finally have a reason again to come out and fight for what's right."
"Believe in us, Hope. We believe in you."
I floated among them for a good few more minutes digesting all of their encouraging words. To think that these beings I had no real deep connection with already had the faith of the entire world in my dedicated hands. Still I had my doubts, but that was only natural.
"But what about—" I started to ask.
"Your mother is doing well," the pink one said. "She's safe for now inside the dungeons and with a good friend of ours. She was in a horrible state of shock though, and that did wear out her heart quite a bit. She is stable, but you must act fast if you want her to for sure live on through this."
"You just said that she's doing well! Why would you lie to me first? What kind of helpful beings are you?!"
"Hope, you are not believing in us. Absolute trust is key and there is not much time left for us to help guide you further."
"Answer the question though," I demanded. "Why did you just lie about my mother?"
The pink one sighed alone this time. "Lucy is stable for now. That is the truth. Relatively speaking, that is doing well… wouldn't you say?" She had a very good and unarguable point. "If you saw a lie in that truth, then I'm sorry you see it that way. We must focus on other things though. Your next destination, for instance."
It was the green one's turn to speak again. "There is someone that you will most likely come across. They are a dear friend of mine if not more of one. If I'm not mistaken, you will meet them when you arrive at Old Bowser's Castle later tonight. Follow that guide without any second thoughts."
"Okay, I got that."
"I do have a request of you… I'd like you to give them a message." Golden shimmers started forming around nothingness. Their glowing grew and became brighter with each added orb. They all clumped up together and in a flash disappeared revealing a weathered piece of parchment paper. Words were intricately, if not a bit sloppily at times, written in ink. I reached forward and grabbed the paper and read aloud for myself.
"'To my dearest: It's been so long since you asked that question of me, if I loved you in return. I fear that now, only through my death, that I can say with full conviction that my answer is yes. I'm sorry that I have kept you waiting all these long years for the answer you deserved to have. I hope that in time you can come to forgive me and that your weeping heart can be cared for.' This is beautiful, I must say. I'm sorry that this happened to you." I couldn't tell, but I figured that he must have been blushing at this point. I took a moment to reread the message again in my head and noticed the signature at the end.
"It's signed 'Your Man in Green.' That's vague and ambiguous… are you sure that my contact will know who sent it?"
"Absolutely." He said. I nodded and pocketed the piece of paper. With a smile towards them, I started my campaign of believing in these spirits.
"I believe that this is where our time together ends, Hope." The pink one said. "Until we meet again."
Their radiant auras started diffusing into the purple expanse. They started to lose their figures, and eventually became nothing just as they had been before. I started to feel pulled myself, moving forward at a jarring pace. There was no air for me to scream with.
~*-Beyond-*~
Cold stone. I could feel it on my sensitive skin. Again I expected the comforts of that cramped train cabin, but no such luck. I slowly opened my eyes this time, taking care to be careful. The first thing I noticed was that the sky was hazy deep purple with only the red glow of lit torches along the long cobblestone path in the middle of a lava filled lake that I woke up to. I looked in either direction, forwards and back, and the path reached out onto the horizon. I turned back around and there was a kart magically waiting for me. It was a standard small class that would fit me perfectly; it wasn't my first choice, but I didn't exactly have a choice of kart.
I hopped in and started driving around. The sounds of the kart's engine revving and the wind on my face helped calm me down from earlier. I was coming into an easy state of mind. I started ignoring that my surroundings were eerily suspicious of such relaxation.
And I was snapped out at the aggressive revving of something that sounded much bigger behind me. The kart had side mirrors, and in the right one I saw a massive tire coming up from the horizon. Next a golden bumper and then a purple chassis. Finally I saw the driver in that open-top car and the first thing I saw was blue; I immediately got shivers down my spine and the need to step on that gas pedal so hard. I sped up, the sudden speed sending me swerving slightly. I got out of that, but this giant was still catching up to me. I told myself that he just got a Mega Mushroom and that the effects would go out fairly soon.
He only grew and my speed only slowed. The car started to get too wide for the cobblestone road and it started driving in the lava. Those were some pretty good tires to be able to drive in lava. Those tires started sending fireballs at me, somehow defying physics. I started screaming and panicking. I swerved and dodged all of the fireballs somehow. His car and anger only built up.
He finally got annoyed and jumped out of the car and onto the road. The sheer force of his landing sent high waves of lava my way and started cracking that path in front of me. A new obstacle I had to deal with was now not falling into the lava itself. With some divine intervention I missed all of the obstacles and stayed the course. I was praying for a Golden Mushroom to speed myself up a bit.
I was surprised to see that he had disappeared over the horizon; I checked my mirrors and saw that he wasn't behind me anymore. I took a deep breath and calmed myself again. I felt like I was home free.
Until he jumped over me and landed in front of me and sent another wave of lava towards me… right into me.
~*-Beyond-*~
I didn't bother to close my eyes that time. I found myself back in that purple expanse where I talked with the two figures before. This time I wasn't alone for so long. A tiny yellowish-black orb with what I guessed were feet and a star on its head approached me.
"HELLO YELLO!" it greeted. The effervescent cheerfulness from this other spirit made me cringe.
"Um… hi? Is there something new I should know?"
"Wow, you sure are on task. Not even a chance for me to really talk with you. I both admire and dislike that."
I blankly stared at this feminine sounding figure.
"I'm here to help, like the others, but couldn't we at least get to know each other first? I mean, I've been watching over you for years now in your dreams and—"
"Hold the fuck up. YOU'RE the one getting into my head?"
"Yep!"
There were so many things I could have said at that moment. I could have chosen any witty one-liner, any put down, any sort of phrase that could have made her question the nature of what she was doing. Had I not felt so livid towards this… whatever she was, I could have chosen one of those things. I suppose that I wasn't meant to insult her or put her down since I could not say any of those things.
"Whyyyy? Why meeeee?" I moaned.
"You're special! There's a reason why it's you specifically and not the babies born minutes before or after you. That's not important right now though."
"What, me being the 'chosen one' or whatever you wanna call it isn't important? I think I deserve some sort of explanation after you having done this for as many years as you claim."
She moved from one side to the other. I could tell I made her a little uneasy with that demand, but I felt entitled to it. If she was pressed for time, she should have thought about that before hand.
"This will cut into my time to explain other things, but you're right. You deserve to know. Is there anything specific you'd like to—"
"Why me?" I flatly asked. She gave a weak chuckle.
"I had a feeling it would be that. Alrighty then. We've chosen you specifically for many reasons and some are better than others. Firstly, the rumors are true that you were born on the only sunny day the kingdoms have seen in twenty years. The haze parted the exact moment you were born. If that isn't an omen or indicator of someone meant for something great like this then I'm sure the stars must be mistaken for choosing you."
"Isn't that a bit much though? The clouds parting on my birthday?"
"If it was a coincidence, then there would be more sunny days for you. Righty-o, next is that you possess the qualities necessary to undertake such a task. You're a natural born leader, you're able to think things through, and you're dedicated to your work."
"So? Anyone could have those qualities and do what I'm doing."
"You have had the opportunities that others have not had. Meeting Toadsworth and Toadbert was no coincidence."
"No coincidence? I can't bring myself to believe that. We happened to meet in the library, what's so fateful about that? And besides I only met Toadbert last night."
"Toadsworth is a frail Toad. He may not look it because of how active he looks, but with all the kidnappings the princess underwent over the years his heart has become weak from stress and anxiety. There's a reason he chose now instead of earlier to leave his safe confines of Bowser's insides. He was still trying to get over the loss of her. He rationalized that her death was somehow his fault and could not stop blaming himself. He also didn't find Toadbert just recently; they've been together for a long time. Toadbert was really patient with him and that helped Toadsworth to overcome his grievances. It may have taken twenty years for it to happen, but his loyal friendship kept the old man sane enough from wasting his chance at helping your cause.
"That's exactly why he's here now with you. He was looking for something in that library: Anything that would help lead him to worthy enough folks that could help him seek a way to destroy the dark reign. This is something he feels he must do in order to rectify his actions and satisfy himself. I'll admit that you and Kory being in the library that night may have seemed like being at the right place at the right time—"
"No kiddin'."
"—but I will remind you that you and Kory are the only ones attached to the library in any way. No one else could have been there when he was."
"I'm still not happy with your reasons for why it's me and not someone else."
"You're the only one who I've been able to successfully communicate with. The same goes for the other four."
That's the one that got me thinking everything over. If there was some reason that they could only communicate with me, then that meant that there truly was something special about me. I can't imagine, even to this day, how long they must have waited for someone to come along for them and their unfinished cause. Secretly I was flattered and felt my stomach do happy flips after knowing that. There was something I couldn't pinpoint about that certain comment that satisfied me instantly…
"Is that good enough of a reason, Hope?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah," I stammered. "So then, about what you said about Toadsworth, that means he lied to us a couple of nights ago?"
"Yes. He was too embarrassed at the time to fully admit to others the truth. I wouldn't blame him or hold it against him. That's the last thing he needs on his mind right now."
"Okay, that's fair enough."
"Is there anything else you'd like to know before I continue on with what I met up with you to say?" I thought and thought, but I was out of questions.
"Mkay. If you think of any, I'll know and we can go over them later, but now I must keep going. It might already be too late…"
"Too late? For what?"
"Please, I can't have any more interruptions at this point. Anyway, you're on a quest to recruit as many people as you can to put an end to Dark Bowser and Fawful."
"Obvi—" Even though I couldn't see her face in that shadow she put herself in, I could feel her glaring at me. I shivered in discomfort and apologized.
"Thank you. You're on a quest, that much is certain. You're not sure where to go though, I gather. It's understandable, most people wouldn't have a clue where to go next if they didn't have a helpful hint now and again. I can't guarantee this for you, but there may come a time where you have to travel to a different part of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's going to be much different from the side of it you're used to. Over there are different rules and atmospheres. I first want to warn you to stay cautious."
I nodded.
"Next is that you might be traveling around in that part of the kingdom more than you expect. Stay under the radar and you should prove productive. Third is that I predict that if you go to this place, things will happen that you never even imagined would happen. Terrible things, Hope. I can't warn you enough about it, yet sadly I cannot divulge specifics. Know that they involve your small group and don't try to prevent them from happening. That's the surest way to ensure they happen."
"O…kay?" I was more baffled than anything else. "If there are terrible things that'll come from this supposed visit, yet you can't warn me about what exactly they are, but you want me to be careful even though they're going to happen anyway, why in the worlds would you mention it in the first place?"
"Part of my job in helping you is to warn you! I felt it my duty to do so, despite the circumstances surrounding it."
I gave her another blank stare.
"I can't talk about that part of it anymore. The last thing I have to say before we part ways for now is that it's a test. Those future events are meant to test your will. If there was a way to not have them be a test for you, I would have done so already. There isn't a way and I know it's twisted to expect you to be tested on something, but there's no way around it."
She had only confused me at the point.
"I'd love to try and explain that further, but it's time. I promise you that you'll wake up after this. Bye-bye until later!"
"Wait!" is what I wanted to shout out to her, but it was too late. She already vanished in a puff of white smoke and I felt that extreme pulling sensation on my entire body once more. I didn't try to scream this time; I was starting to get used to it. The purple expanse disappeared, and I lurked into the blackness behind my eyelids.
~*-Beyond-*~
"…are you sure?"
"It's them. She's the one."
"Hmmm… report it. And don't stop the train."
"Sir?"
"Don't question. Just do."
I moaned lightly and awoke to the sound of our cabin door clicking shut. No shadows of anyone reflected onto the glass, and there was no sign of anyone having been in here. Everyone else was still asleep, and I am sure that they had a more pleasant nap than I had.