History in the Shadows

by Quizmo

The adventures of Super Paper Mario aren't over yet! Mario and friends discover a secret society descended from the Ancients as Dimentio creates a plan to do the impossible-escape death. Written with the same action, humor and themes as the popular game.

4. Peach Times Three

"COME BACK 'ERE YEH GHOSTY THING!"

The Heroes of Light, as well as O'Chunks, Mimi and the pixls, were still in pursuit of the fleeing Doopliss. Even though they were tired after having just collected the Pure Hearts and saving all worlds, Doopliss stole the Light Prognosticus, and there was no time to rest. Peach had activated Dashell, giving the group of heroes a better chance of reaching the shapeshifter. They were getting closer and closer to the target, until Doopliss finally put two and two together, thinking,

"Wait…why don't I just copy that fast-afying pixl?"

So, Doopliss turned into Dashell and matched Mario's speed. Not only did Doopliss now have Dashell's quickness; he also had his size. The Ancient Forest they were running in was filled with vines, roots and clumps of dirt to trip over. The heroes had to watch their every step while still running at a rapid pace, but Dashell Doopliss simply hovered over the obstacles. The one negative part about his size was that it was hard to hold onto the Light Prognosticus while running.

Peach couldn't quite maneuver around the vines as well (she refused to replace her high heels, opposing to what Mario had asked repeatedly), so Carrie had to help her. Luigi also had similar problems as what Peach was having – not because he had high heels; just because he was clumsy – so Mimi copied Carrie and helped him out. Luigi said,

"Thanks, Mimi." Mimi responded underneath his feet,

"Anything for you, Luigi!" They continued on, but stopping to carry Peach and Luigi slowed them down. Bowser complained in the midst of the chase,

"Thanks for using Dashell, Peach!" Bowser's ex-wife responded,

"At least I was using my brain, unlike some people here!"

"I use my brain all the time! Those puzzles in Super Mario Bros. were tough!"

"Except that you were too lazy to pick up all the Fire Flowers."

"Hey, I still captured you, didn't I? You have to rely on that plumber to save your life every time!"

"But he does save me every time!"

"By using the Fire Flowers I was too lazy to pick up!" Mario continued leading the chase, feeling both accomplished and agitated by their conversation. Doopliss interrupted,

"Geez, couples DO always fight when they first break up!" Peach yelled,

"THAT'S IT; WE'RE CATCHING UP TO YOU!"

Dashell Doopliss was getting further and further apart from the heroes. Mario attempted to use Thoreau to grab the Light Prognosticus, but the ghost was too far away. Doopliss mocked,

"What's the matter, you can't reach it? C'mon! Reach for it! Reach for the stars!" Bowser yelled,

"You'll be seeing stars when we catch up to you!"

"Good luck catching me! You know, getting past the vines and everything!"

Mario realized that even though Carrie gave them an extra speed boost, it wouldn't do any good to have Peach and Luigi be the only ones using her. He gave a command to O'Chunks, who repeated,

"Me carry a couple of yeh?" Bowser replied instantly,

"If you can 'carry a couple of yeh', then I can to!" While still running, O'Chunks grabbed Luigi and got on Carrie Mimi, holding the green brother high above his head (despite Luigi's fear of heights). Bowser went towards the regular Carrie, but Peach crossed her arms and exclaimed,

"I am not being carried by Bowser!" Mario sighed as O'Chunks offered,

"I cin carry her, too! I cin carry more than dat stuffed turtle!" Bowser shouted back at the Scottish brute,

"Oh, really?" Mimi shouted,

"Just shut up and carry them!"

So, O'Chunks took a hold of Peach while Bowser got on Carrie. Bowser reached to take hold of Luigi, but he climbed away from the Koopa King. Mario sighed again and jumped into Bowser's arms. Now all of the heroes were being carried by a pixl or Mimi, meaning they all got the Carrie speed boost. Meaning they were gaining on Doopliss. The runaway shapeshifter realized this and kicked it into high gear, Mario knowing how quickly he could flee. Peach was close to Mario, despite being held by a different person, and whispered to him exclusively,

"Bowser's insane. You don't think I rely on you too much, right?" Silence.

"Seriously, Mario. I don't like having to depend on you every time Bowser invades the kingdom! I feel like a damsel in distress that has to be rescued by a man! I'm not that archetypical, right?" Silence.

"It doesn't matter what you think. I'm not a stereotype and I know it." Doopliss shouted from 20 feet ahead of them,

"Even I know you're a stereotype, princess!"

While the hyper-fast chase between good and evil was intensifying in both speed and stamina, Nastasia was still sweeping up glass back at Marrymore Chapel. When she had just finished cleaning up all of it, Tom Crook, the chapel owner, went inside his building. Tom Crook wore an expensive suit, with sunglasses and a face that meant business. He said aloud while nose-deep in a schedule on his Mailbox SP,

"Alright, the divorce between Pac-man and Mrs. Pac-man was scheduled to begin 35 minutes ago, so what's the…" Tom looked up and saw the glass. Or, rather, the lack of it.

"…Hold-up…" Nastasia cleared her throat and stuttered,

"Um…well, that's an interesting-"

"What happened to my church?"

"You see, the divorce was taking place, but a shapeshifting ghost burst through the window and knocked over two wizard friends of mine, K? Then, he ran off with a legendary tome that is needed to…" Tom took off his sunglasses, revealing the enraged look in his eyes. Nastasia fumbled,

"…I've lost you, didn't I?"

"Completely. I'll have you know that I've been running this chapel since my father gave it to me on his 60th birthday. I forget what day that is, be he said he was too old to run the place, so it was entrusted to me! After putting him in a home - I forget where that home is, but that doesn't matter - I ran the Marrymore Chapel! This place is important to me, and important to the townsfolk as well! Your bill comes to about…20,000 coins. Do you have that on you?"

"Well, the maximum anyone can carry is 999…"

"Then start carrying gold bars around with you! The price is still 20,000."

"I'm not entirely sure how people can carry solid gold around with them…let me return home and get the rest of my money. I promise I can return in a timely fashion."

"Fair enough. But if you don't come back within six to seven business days, I'll find you and sue you in Isle Delfino Court - the strictest court there is!"

As Nastasia returned home with a debt to Tom Crook of 20,000 coins to pay, the heroes were still hunting down Doopliss. The combination of Carrie and Dashell was useful, but it was not enough to catch up to him. The real Carrie and the fake Carrie were both tired of lifting the rest of their team. Mimi asked,

"Can't we take a break?" Peach commanded,

"We have to catch up to Doopliss! Don't give up now!" Mimi responded,

"That's easy for you to say; it's not like you're doing any work or anything."

The irate Peach crossed her arms again as they continued the chase. Just as the heroes were starting to lose hope, Mario had an idea and whispered it to O'Chunks. O'Chunks said,

"Dat could dew it! Peach, yeh gonna 'ave to be carried by Bowser fer 'dis to werk."

"…If I must."

So, Peach was handed off to Bowser (seriously not trusting him), leaving Luigi alone in O'Chunks' arms. The Scottish brute held onto Luigi's legs and aimed him towards Doopliss. The general said,

"Luigi, it's time fer one of yer Super Jumps!" Luigi muttered,

"W-what?"

"C'mon, dew it!"

Luigi sighed, scrunched up his body and catapulted towards Dashell Doopliss at an incredibly fast pace. But, Luigi rocketed past the target, since the tiny pixl form was hard to hit. Luigi scraped across the forest floor, but O'Chunks picked him up as they dashed by. O'Chunks said,

"Whoa nelly, dat was close! Luigi, my rocketin' friend,, let's dew it again!"

The injured Luigi sighed even louder as O'Chunks aimed him towards Doopliss a second time. He scrunched up his body like before, and prepared to do another Sideways Super Jump. Only this time, he actually managed to hit Doopliss, knocking the Light Prognosticus out of his grasp. The book sprung forward like Luigi did, but hit some surface and fell to the floor. As Doopliss reverted to his normal form and scrambled to pick it up, he hit the same surface as his book did. But…he couldn't see the surface at all. Eventually, the surface turned visible – it was Francis, knocked onto the ground like Luigi was.

Ignoring the strange lizard creature that blocked him, he turned back into Dashell (shapeshifters can turn into forms they've previously copied by memory) and fled the area. Francis got up, blocked the heroes, and said,

"Greetings again, Mario! …Peach…" Peach whined,

"Not this guy again!" Francis said,

"Playing hard to get...no, focus, Francis! It's a pleasure to see you again!" Bowser rushed,

"I know it's great to see each other without creepy cat robots around, but we're kinda in the middle of a chase here! We need the book that freak was carrying!"

"Oh, no problem!"

Just then, Francis turned invisible and sped towards Dashell Doopliss. With one whip of his invisible tongue, Doopliss hit the ground, turning back into his normal form. Doopliss tried to get up, but his body was paralyzed, still clutching onto the Light Prognosticus. Francis explained,

"Ever since I bought that 'Lick' TM on eBay, my tongue has a 30% of paralyzing its target! I guess it's my lucky day!" Peach said flatly,

"It's not mine." Mimi turned back into her girl form and said,

"Peach, where are your manners? Thank you for helping us, lizard guy! Could you hand us that freak, please?" Francis clutched onto the paralyzed Doopliss like a teddy bear (or in his case, his plush Donkey Kong doll) and said,

"No way! You guys raided my fort, stole my Tippi, and worst of all, soiled my authentic Tanooki-fur rug! Don't you have the courtesy of wiping your feet when you're in someone else's castle?" Bowser said,

"I know! You'd think it'd be common sense!" Peach said,

"I figured you would have had about five of those rugs just in case one got ruined." Francis answered,

"I do, but that's not the point! Oh well, the Loons don't want me to have extras of things anyway…" No one said anything, but then Luigi finally asked,

"The Loons?" Francis explained,

"Oh, the Loons are a group of people monitoring me for my obsessive behaviors. They're from the Loon Insane Asylum, so I call them the Loons!" The heroes looked concerned, but then Francis chimed,

"Hey, why don't you come to my shop? I'm being forced to sell many of my goods, and it's only five minutes away!" The heroes looked skeptical, but then Francis added,

"You're not getting this ghost if you don't." Luigi said,

"Well, then, let's go!"

So the Heroes, the lizard and the paralyzed Doopliss went to Hut Francis. They looked at all of the items he was selling, but nothing interested them. A Penguin Suit, a Lil' Sparky in a jar (similar to fireflies in a jar), an original Donkey Kong hammer, FLUDD...not much they wanted. Peach looked through his collection posters, finding posters of Samus, Lyn, Zero Suit Samus, Chell and Zero Suit Samus again. She shuddered and went by the other heroes. Bowser said,

"Listen here, Francis. The only thing we want is that white book and that white frozen freak!" Doopliss screamed,

"HEY! …Oh, cool, my mouth is unfrozen!" Francis explained,

"You don't want anything here because you don't know its value! These things are so rare you're lucky I'm not selling them in Beanbean coins!" He confused the heroes yet again (except for Mario and Luigi, of course), so Francis yelled to the back room,

"Tiptron, get in here!" After that command was given, a small robotic creature resembling a butterfly flew in. The heroes were astonished how small it was, and how similar it looked to Tippi. Francis said,

"Tiptron, tattle on the history of these items." The robotic Tiptron stated,

"My name is Tippi, but you can call me what you want to, boss. The original Donkey Kong hammer originates from the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong…Mario used it for several purposes, including the destruction of barrels and Foxfires, the latter only appearing in the last level of the game, 100 mm…since Donkey Kong is the first of the hundreds of Mario games, along with the fact that Pauline was the damsel in distress instead of Princess Peach, makes this item a great collectible…" Peach was annoyed at Tiptron for calling her a 'damsel in distress', but then asked,

"…Pauline? Who-" Mario abruptly changed the subject and pointed at Tiptron. Francis asked,

"You want to buy Tiptron? No, she isn't for sale. She's much too valuable." Doopliss yelled,

"I bet you'd trade another Zero Suit Samus poster for it!" Francis said,

"I would, but that's not the point! It cost me a fortune to put all of Tippi's memories into a robot, especially one as tiny as Tiptron!" Peach asked, instantly forgetting about whoever Pauline was,

"It has all of Tippi's memories?" The lizard answered,

"It sure does! Although…when I was downloading Tippi's memories, I noticed that her memories were not…all there. Some knowledge of her past was locked away for some reason. But just like with Tippi, Tiptron will unlock her memory over time." Tiptron said,

"My name is Tippi…why do you keep calling me otherwise?" Mario asked for a price on Tiptron again, missing his old companion, and Francis reluctantly answered,

"Well…999 coins sounds fair, wouldn't you say?" The heroes looked at each other, dumbstruck. O'Chunks yelled,

"999 coins? Are yeh knocked in the 'ead? It's not like we carry gold bars around wittus!" Mimi yelled,

"Not even my precious rupees sell for that much!" Eventually, Bowser smirked and said,

"Well then, how about a trade?" He then used Thoreau to take Francis' laptop. Francis whined,

"Give it back! This is an indirect form of cyber bullying! …Think about it!" Bowser ignored his complaints and responded,

"Tiptron for laptop, what do you say?"

"…Fine. You win."

Bowser returned Francis' precious laptop, and in exchange, Tiptron became the newest member of the Heroes of Light. Francis said,

"Also, since you made such a high purchase, you are awarded with the Silver Member Appreciation Card." Bowser said,

"That's more like it! …What does it do?" Francis stood tall, cleared his throat and yelled,

"I APPRECIATE YOU!"

…

"That's it?"

"Hey, you're appreciated! Go have fun with Tiptron!" O'Chunks asked,

"Can we juss have dat ghost now?"

"Oh, sure!"

Francis looked behind him to grab the paralyzed Doopliss, but the shelf was empty. He looked under the counter, but Doopliss and the Light Prognosticus were gone. The nerdy lizard ran back to the counter and yelled,

"I can't believe it! He took the Frying Pan, used by both Game & Watch AND Cooking Mama!"

…

"Oh, and that ghost is gone." Bowser yelled,

"He's GONE?" Francis said,

"I guess the paralysis wore off…" Everyone glared at him.

"Paralysis is better in the card game, okay?"

Mario ran to the open window and saw a tiny red dot glowing in the distance. Luigi said,

"That must be Doopliss copying Dashell! Let's go!"

So, Mimi copied Carrie, allowing O'Chunks to get on while Bowser got on the real Carrie. The two brutes grabbed their passengers, Mario grabbing onto Tiptron, and they dashed after Doopliss. But this chase had a change of pace, for Hut Francis was at the entrance of a bustling city, filled with skyscrapers, cars and gangs.

Although the sidewalks and roads were easier to travel on than the vines and dirt, the chase still had its difficulties. Inhabitants of the town were everywhere, and crashing into someone would significantly slow the heroes down (not to mention the police joining the chase, not in the heroes' favor). Luckily, using Dashell AND Carrie gave them a faster speed combination that Doopliss could never copy.

Doopliss used the advantage of his size and swept through small alleyways the heroes couldn't all fit through. But, Dottie was quick, and the heroes didn't have to worry about being too large. Doopliss flew back out towards the people of the city again, starting to get more and more exhausted. Doopliss looked back, and thanks to Dottie, he couldn't even tell where they were anymore. He complained,

"They're so small! It's like a march of the minis or something!"

Doopliss waved in and out of the walking civilians, but the new size of the heroes became a disadvantage. Unlike Dashell Doopliss, who could float up to two or three feet in the air, the heroes were only a centimeter off the ground. Going through the hundreds of walking people oblivious to their existence could mean trouble, especially since a few Wigglers and fast-paced Bandits lived there.

The feet of the bystanders trampled along, nearly squashing the heroes dozens of times. It was all up to Mario to steer them clear of obstacles, and he was a pro at it – after all, he won all the Mario Kart tournaments. When they reached an empty spot, Dottie removed her powers, restoring the heroes to their proper size. This let Doopliss create more ground between them, but that didn't stop the heroes. Luigi asked,

"What should we try next?" Tiptron said,

"Perhaps my encyclopedic knowledge of enemies could give some insight on your trouble..." O'Chunks said,

"Juss tell us what to dew!"

"I prefer to give helpful hints and let you figure it out..."

"Juss tell us what to dew!"

"Fine…pixls that have you select certain point in your line of vision, like me and Fleep, could reach a moving object like Doopliss..."

"…So…wait, I got dis! …Uh…"

"Use Fleep to flip and confuse him…"

"Great idea, Tiptron!"

So, Mario called on Fleep, and his cursor went over Dashell Doopliss. In one motion, Dashell Doopliss was flipped through the dimensions, arriving back to the 2D world in a daze. The heroes caught up to the runaway shapeshifter, Thoreau trying to grab the Light Prognosticus. But, Doopliss had enough sense to copy Boomer first. Thoreau grabbed Boomer Doopliss instead, and Thoreau was damaged in a tiny explosion. Thoreau was momentarily dazed, reminding Mario of his original paper partners. Doopliss then copied Slim, grabbed onto the book and raced up the sidewalk.

Since Doopliss was now in 3D, the heroes had to chase him in 3D (using Slim, since Mario could only flip himself). Luckily, the heroes also used Dashell, giving them a much better chance at reaching him. However, many more civilians were blocking the 3D path. The heroes reconstructed the Carrie chasing structure they had made before, and they continued after Doopliss. Just to annoy them, Slim Doopliss flipped between 3D and 2D regularly. Bowser yelled,

"This chase is giving me a headache!" Tiptron instructed,

"Mario, since you can flip without using Slim, try to cut Doopliss off…take Dashell with you…"

So, Mario took Dashell and zig zagged through the three-dimensional crowds. He jumped over some, ducked past others and quickly double-flipped to avoid the unavoidable. Eventually, Mario caught up to the slimmed Doopliss, who tried to copy Dashell and run past him, but it was no use. Mario was in front of him and the other heroes came up from behind. Dashell Doopliss looked, and was surrounded on his left and right. They closed in on him, pressing him against a skyscraper. Carrie Mimi returned to her girl form, saying,

"It's no use, Doopliss!" O'Chunks yelled,

"Give us back dat book, yeh wee ghost!" Doopliss turned back into his normal form as well, saying,

"Alright, you guys win." Doopliss looked to his left, then to his right, and then looked up. He added, "Except for the fact that I can fly! See ya later, Slick!" Doopliss held onto the Light Prognosticus tightly and flew up the building. Mimi copied Doopliss and said,

"I think I can catch up to him!" Tiptron added,

"Mimi, you can use Thoreau to take one of the Heroes of Light with you…"

"Which one?"

"A lighter hero, preferably..."

"…Sorry, O'Chunks. Sorry, Bowser." Luigi asked,

"What about me or Mario?" Mimi said,

"Well…if you laid of the spaghetti a little…" Bowser said,

"Bring Peach! She can go across skyscrapers, and even if Doopliss copied her, he wouldn't get any good powers anyway!"

"Good idea!"

"HEY!"

Despite Peach's anger, Doopliss Mimi took Dashell while Thoreau took the pink princess. The four of them flew up to the top of the skyscraper, and they caught up with Doopliss. The ghost looked at the gaps ahead of him, copied Peach for the parasol, and glided away. Mimi also copied Peach to use her powers, and the Dashell-powered Peaches started their chase.

The three Peaches chased each other and glided over the plentiful skyscrapers. Doopliss was used to heights on account of his room in the Creepy Steeple, Mimi was used to heights on account of the suspended platforms in Castle Bleck and Peach was used to heights on account of always being locked up in the highest tower. So, none of them had a problem looking down 20 stories below them. They didn't have to chase long, because the heroes managed to catch up to Doopliss (thanks to Dashell). Thoreau grabbed the Light Prognosticus, but the Peach Doopliss swung the pixl around. When Thoreau came to his senses, he looked at the three Peaches, not knowing which was which.

"Thoreau, I'M the real Peach!"

"No, I am!"

Mimi turned into her normal girl form again, but realized that she was just as confused as Thoreau. They looked at the two Peaches (one of them grabbing the Light Prognosticus from Thoreau), and Mimi asked,

"Peach? Which one of you is it?" The two Peaches said,

"It's me!"

"It's me!"

"He's Doopliss! Only someone as childish as him would copy whatever I say!"

"You don't need to resort to insults, Doopliss! Only someone as childish as him would do that!"

"Oh, you're good…"

"And you're not good; that's why you're Doopliss!" Mimi interrupted,

"Alright, that's ENOUGH! There's only one way to settle this. I've been in the same situation where there was a women and a shapeshifter copying her…only I was the shapeshifter. So we should settle it in the same manner as that…"

THAT'S MY PEACH!

"We're going to have a contest to determine which one is actually Peach!" The Peaches said,

"We don't need to do that! Doopliss is holding on to the Light Prognosticus!"

"But I grabbed it from you when me and Mimi cornered you!" The other Peach said,

"Mimi, look into your heart and ask yourself…would I say 'me and Mimi'? I would say 'Mimi and I', right? When would I use improper grammar?" Mimi gasped and said,

"Yeah…yeah, you're right!"

Mimi and Peach turned to Doopliss, who was the Peach holding on to the Light Prognosticus. The two peaches attacked, though the Light Prognosticus marker didn't help much. Mimi accidentally hit the real Peach in confusion and shouted out,

"I'm gonna grab the Light Prognosticus, so Peach, if you get it, give it to me!"

"I got it!"

"No you don't!"

One Peach pushed the other, and the Light Prognosticus flew out of their hand. It fell down the tall skyscraper, but luckily, Thoreau and Dashell were quick enough to grab it. In that time, one of the Peaches took out a frying pan and knocked the other out cold. The two pixls came back with the Light Prognosticus, and handed it to the only Peach conscious. Mimi said,

"Good job, Peach! But shouldn't Doopliss return to his normal form after being KOed?" Peach answered,

"Not necessarily. Doopliss can maintain his form even when he's knocked out."

"Alright, then let's go back to the others!"

Mimi turned back into Peach, and the two Peaches glided away to where they came from. The rest of their group made it up to the top of a skyscraper, and Bowser said,

"It's about time! Let's give it back to Merlon and get back to the Mushroom Kingdom!"

The other Heroes of Light agreed with Bowser, so they used the Return Pipe to go back home. Peach was holding on to the Light Prognosticus, and Merlon would be happy to have it again. But, after they were long gone, the real Peach regained consciousness on the skyscraper rooftop. She mumbled,

"W-what happened?" She looked around and saw no one there.

"Hello? Hello?" She realized that Mimi, the pixls –and the Light Prognosticus- were all gone.

"Oh no…Doopliss! He's still copying me! And he has the Light Prognosticus! And he's with the others! I have to tell them!" Peach got up and tried to pull out her parasol, but it wasn't there. Instead, she pulled out a frying pan.

"Doopliss! He must have stolen my parasol and made me look guilty by giving me the frying pan he stole! But he got his own parasol when he copied me…he just took it to be mean!" The princess looked down the skyscraper and saw the long road that she chased Doopliss down. The sky was dimming and the city was even busier than before.

"No Return Pipe, no parasol…I shouldn't be traveling for these lengths without items! I'm not meant to do that! I'm not Mari…" Peach paused, then shouted with a booming voice,

"I am NOT a stereotype!"