Time- 10:45PM, Sunday, October 14, 2001 – Metallic City, Pipe Land
The three groups land in Metallic City, where almost every business decided to close their doors for the night. Because several businesses have shorter Sunday shop hours, the owners and managers are able to get a little close-eye before the rushes of Monday. Unfortunately, for the team of heroes, that means no shops are open to possibly help them; they are left to wander the dark, barely-lit streets of Metallic City.
"Oh no!" Peach gasped in a tone that seems to be in defeat, "What are we going to do? We need the technology to allow us to go faster!"
The other characters in the other groups look worried except for Ludwig. Ludwig, who took over Pipe Land back in the Super Mario Brothers 3 days, knows this city like the back of his hand. He knows that the main cities of Pipe Land, such as the capital of Electrocity, are all located inside Pipe Land's claim of the Shelley Archipelago, the same archipelago where the majority of Water Land's residents also inhabit. Metallic City, however, is located on continental Pipe Land, one of the only cities to be on the continental Pipe Land besides Port Kauwaa, Jasper and a few nomadic camps. Jasper, which is the biggest city on continental Pipe Land, owns the famous Pipe Maze.
Thanks to Metallic City's isolation, however, scientists and philosophers were cast out to Metallic City and shunned during the years when the Mushroom Kingdom Church ruled the Lands. Eventually, Church rule was taken over by the Toadstool Family, which also incorporated fair judges and justices into the Land. With the overthrowing of the possibly corrupt Church, experimental studies and other scientific-centered activities are once again legal in the Mushroom Kingdom. Due to the high concentration of genius in Metallic City, the city itself made engines that can go at thousands of miles per hour speed before the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom can even build a transcontinental road for transportation.
And now, the characters are in that city, the very city that provides the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom with important gizmos, and all the shops are closed!
"Zese shops are still used to ze Church rule, I see," Ludwig pointed out, "Church rule ended in like ze '50s!"
"But during the time of the Church rule, it was mandatory for every shop to be closed on Sundays," Bowser stated.
"Except for Metallic City," Peach added, "Where the scientists and others who fought against the teachings of the Church were thrown into. This city's always been a secular city for that reason, but they noticed that not as many people shop on Sundays as they do on every other day. The same thing still rings true throughout Pipe Land and other religious lands like Desert Land and Giant Land."
"So zey close earlier, but unlike every other city, zey kept zheir Sunday hours?" Ludwig asked.
"Precisely," Peach nods her head in the affirmative, "But let's walk around. Maybe a shop in an alleyway will be open, or maybe a factory that produces engines will be."
The three groups decide to leave Bowser's doomship behind; instead of walking or flying a giant wooden ship over a resting city, they all decide to use Alex's magic carpet to explore the city.
"Alright everyone," Nature started, "Find something that can represent an open business. Whether their doors are open, the lights are on, anything. We're on a tight schedule here, and the last thing we need is to wait ten hours for a shop to open in the morning…"
Mile after mile they traveled, with closed business after closed business rushing by the characters. Still undaunted by all the closed stores, they decide to continue their journey and to check every tiny alleyway they can find. Some alleyways they go through are empty like death itself, while other alleyways possess gang members. Each time they see a gang, the characters easily fly over them, the carpet itself saving the otherwise-captured characters, if they had walked.
"Woo! Barely passed that gang!" Toad breathed with a sigh of relief, "I don't understand why shops are closed, yet gangs are active."
Ignoring Tad's question, Wendy looks around at the city in curiosity; brownish-gray buildings, some run-down while others are renovated, are all that's seen from the port and starboard sides of the carpet. However, as Wendy turns around to look out towards the stern, she sees several of the gang members pulling out guns!
"ALEX! THEY HAVE GUNS! BOOK IT!" she yelled.
At the mention of a gun, Alex immediately speeds off. Due to the effects of inertia, the other characters grasp onto something—or even someone—to stay on the purple carpet. In fact, the pink-shelled Koopa girl fell off the edge of the carpet, the only thing dangling her on is her claw, deeply implanted into the carpet.
"AHHH!" Wendy screamed. She looks down at the ground below her and her heartbeat starts to race even faster, "HELP ME!"
While Roy and Bowser help out their distressed family member, the others are still looking around for any signs of a business being open. So far, no such luck.
"We're screwed! It's 11PM right now! Most businesses we've seen closed at 9!" Larry sputtered, "Wh-what are we going to do?!"
Nature sighs in disappointment, 'Great, we're all screwed,' she thought to herself, 'I guess we have to resort to plan B, then plan I really hate to use. However, in this current situation, is is much needed.'
Bowser and Peach nod, "We should rest up for tomorrow. It seems like it's the only option we have. Plus, we're all tired," the princess told the characters.
All the characters agreed except for Nature, "No, sleep is NOT the only option we have. We can do the unthinkable. A thing where, if we weren't in an emergency situation, I could lose my Sage abilities for doing."
The remaining characters, save for the carpet operator Alex, give Nature a weird look, "And what's that?" Daisy questioned.
"We BREAK into one of the shops."
~7~7~7~7~7
"SHADOW SIRENS!"
The three Shadow Sirens: Beldam, Marilyn and Vivian, appear from the ground in a gold-decked throne room, filled with glowing black candles. The candles themselves begin to flicker as the Shadow Sirens appear in the room, as if the flames themselves were threatening the Sirens.
"What's the current progress of those REPULSIVE Mushroomers and Koopas?" the dark figure, Jabrael, asked in a grossed out voice.
"Well Queen," Beldam addressed Jabrael as the same title as she does to Jabrael's niece, the Shadow Queen, "They are stalled in Metallic City. Poor little idiots forgot about the Sunday Rule that the city still applies!"
"Good," Jabrael smiled, "Do all you can to distract them. We need the portals in Ice Land and Serenity Isle to be charged to 100 percent power. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this. It will be charged to 100 percent 3 days after the 2001st anniversary of the uniting of the Lands. That's this Thursday!"
"Guh!"
"All right, Queen, your wish is our command. We will stop them," Vivian confirmed.
"LET ME TALK VIVIAN!" Beldam yelled, "OR YOU'RE GROUNDED! Anyway, Queen, we won't disappoint you!"
"Good, girls. Now get down there and distract them!"
~7~7~7~7~7
A figure operates under a 75 watt bulb, doing last minute edits on its blueprints to its latest invention, which has a red CLASSIFIED stamp in the middle of the blueprints.
"Okay, so instead of putting the vacuum tube right here, I should put it right there," the figure corrected itself, erasing a few lines on the blueprint, "I'm just glad this store doesn't open again until 11am. I need time to build this, and the Plit Day rush will be quite busy."
As the figure walks over towards the area where his invention's going to be built, three shadow figures surface from the ground and knocks the first figure unconscious.
"Good job girls, now drag him to the freezer. That way, if anyone should walk in here, this place won't reek of a rotting person," Beldam instructed. Marilyn picks up the body and Vivian opens the door to the freezer. Marilyn then throws the body into the freezer with great force then the red-capped Siren closes the freezer after. She closes the door quickly as if a good version of Pandora's Box will be released from the icebox.
"Let's get out of here before anyone else tries to come in," Beldam commanded her two younger sisters, "That should be the only person who's experienced enough to make boosters for those Mushroomers and Koopas."
"Guh!"
"Okay!"
"SHUT UP!"
~7~7~7~7~7
"ARE YOU PSYCHO? WE CAN'T JUST BREAK INTO A STORE!" Violent yelped, her 'feathers' rustling a little after her outburst. The others, namely the humans, agree to the protest.
"Yeah! I'm the Princess; I can't commit these crimes!" Peach agreed.
"And I don't think Sarasaland will appreciate it either if I broke into a store located in another kingdom…" Daisy added, a concerned look implanted onto her face. Nature looks at them and shakes her led, releasing a barely-audible sigh.
"It doesn't matter! Your kingdoms will be thanking you in the end!" the Sage argued back with them, "I'm a sage! You have to trust me! I won't lead you astray!"
The other characters give each other blank stares. After all, if one of the universe's most trusted sages suggest breaking in, then shouldn't they? It won't be for an evil intention; in fact, quite the opposite.
"… Okay, we'll do it," Roy said, rubbing his hands together in a menacing fashion. It is clear that the evil side of him, as well as the rest of the Koopas, is desperately wanting to burst out from within, "So, Miss Sage thing, what building we gonna break into?"
Nature pondered on Roy's question as she looks at all the buildings on the current street. One building has the title CAR REPAIR, as well as a logo of a car with bandages on it. Seeing that this building is useless to break in, the leader of the Chek Tribe passes the building and reads the name of the next building, which turns out to be a grocery store. After what seems like several buildings later, a sign finally catches the eyes of the Sage of Nature.
"AHA!" Nature realized, "E. GADD'S MACHINERY. I've heard wonders about this E. Gadd guy. Let's see if he has any inventions for the doomship, the magic carpet and the Klown Khopper in there."
While the other characters are looking forward to doing this crime, the Mario Gang and Ludwig expressed concerns.
"E. Gadd will think low of us when he finds out about this," Luigi shuttered, "I mean, the Mario Brothers and the Princesses stealing?"
"And his inventions? Vhy not mine?" Ludwig questioned, his tenor voice leaking with both curiosity and jealousy. His dad gives him a look as if to say 'duh'.
"Because your inventions always blow up, Ludwig. We can't afford to be blown up! We have until Thursday!" Bowser yelled.
Ludwig looks down at the floor, his face full of disappointment; why can't any of his family accept his inventions? They all don't blow up, actually; just look at the doomship, which, miraculously, didn't blow up yet. And the Klown Khopper? That was also an invention of his, but the Klown Khopper isn't blown up in some ditch, rusting as the elements fall onto it now, is it?
"Dad, not all my inventions blow up!"
"But I don't want to risk it. Anyway, Nature, how do we break in?" the King of the Koopas questioned.
Nature observes the door, staying quiet as she does. With her hand, Nature feels on the wooden door, trying to sense for any cracks, weaknesses or any other signs on the entryway, but no such luck. Finally, after her act, she answers Bowser's question, "There's no choice but to pick the lock, or to bust the door down."
The characters begin to talk amongst each other; some characters, mainly the Mario Gang, favored the lock-picking idea, while the others, specifically Bowser and Roy, backed up the full-on door demolition process.
Nature, however, sides with the Mario Gang this time, "We need to leave as little evidence as we can. If a passerby sees a busted door, he or she, too, will steal or call police due to suspicious behavior. Although there is still forced entry with the use of a lock-pick, lock-picking will stump even the most observant people."
The Mario Gang nods and the Koopas reluctantly agree to the idea. Not an expert at lock-picking, Bowser tries his best to stick one of his claws into the keyhole and to fool around in it. No such luck.
"I can't get it unlocked!" the huge Koopa complained as he comes up with a plan to go along with the door-demolition project, "What other methods can we do?"
That is when Wendy steps up and takes charge of the situation. She walks up to the door and forces her father's claw out of the keyhole. "Step back, daddy! I have experience with this. I steal from jewelry display cases all the time."
After uttering her words, Wendy pulls out a bobby pin from her shell and sticks the pin inside the keyhole. Turning it a few times and hearing a small CLICK, the only royal daughter of Dark Land pops the door open. A dark atmosphere full of metallic statues and sculptures is exposed, causing every characters to marvel at the sophisticated machinery.
"Nice! Part one done!" Nature congratulated all the participants, "Now, Part Two: we need to find something that can help our vehicles go faster."
"And maybe something to prevent us from falling off the carpet," Ludwig added, "We had a few close calls on our travel to Metallic City."
"Tell me about it," Wendy complained as the memory of the tough travel races back to her, "I could have died!"
The other characters roll their eyes, thinking that Wendy is doing a huge exaggeration of the whole thing. For probably the first time in his life, Roy ignores the outcry of his younger sister and suggests a marvelous idea.
"I think dats da kitchen over dere. Or whatevs dat is. Let me see if dere's some pop or some odder caffeine products fer us," Roy explains to the group, "We need some."
"… We're here to steal equipment that costs thousands of coins. We may as well steal a few sodas too. Remember, this is for the sake of Plit and its residents!" Nature acknowledged Roy's idea, "Roy, get some sodas, energy drinks or whatever else you can find. After all that, meet us back here."
As Nature wanders around the shop looking for boosters or anything else that can help the group, Roy continues walking towards the kitchen. There, in the room, rests a massive refrigerator and freezer, both of them separate from each other. Roy opens the refrigerator and sees a bunch of original Baddie Energy Drinks, as well as a few caffeinated sodas. Grabbing all he can and putting the ice-cold beverages in his shell, Roy closes the refrigerator and proceeds to curiously open the freezer. However, in the freezer, he finds something he never expected.
Professor E. Gadd is in the freezer, apparently knocked out. After a few seconds of a panic attack from the ghastly sight, Roy carries E. Gadd from the freezer to the area where the other characters are browsing. Somewhere along the way, E. Gadd slowly regains his consciousness, blubbering useless phrases such as 'I'll get 'em next time' and 'vacuum tube...'. As Roy places E. Gadd on the ground in front of the other characters, the scientist fully awakens.
"Ooh! Hello Mario! Hello Luigi!" E. Gadd greeted. However, as he looks over to his other sides, he sees the Koopas and Nature, "What do you Koopas want? And who is that strange human woman in the green?"
Luigi puts a hand on Gadd's shoulder, trying to give him comfort, "Don't worry, Professor. The Koopas and I are teaming up to defeat a force greater then the Star Spirits themselves!"
E. Gadd giggled in his crazy way for a few seconds before responding to Luigi's plan, "Haha. Anyway, how do you guys plan on doing that? If the Star Spirits can't do it, ain't nobody can."
After E. Gadd finishes muttering his Peach has a few flashbacks.
=== FLASHBACK ===
"And that is only part of the fight I can show you. There are many instances of it. Good always overpowers bad, and this case is an exception. We think there is something buried deep in the earth that is giving her power. I want you guys to go, find it and destroy it before the world is wrapped in her shadow arms." Eldstar instructed.
"Are you guys able to give us hints, clues, or anything of that possible nature?" Wendy asked.
"I am afraid not, the other star spirits and I barely know that information ourselves." Eldstar answered.
"What about the Star Rod? Isn't that thing powerful enough to stop evil from even advancing?" Inquired Daisy.
"Again, this case is an exception. There is something that is obviously giving her negative, dark energy, to the point that even the Star Rod will have a hard time standing up to it. When dealing with anything outside our dimension, the 'force field' blocking that the Power Stars cause is much more powerful than the Star Rod. In other words, the Star Rod is best used when domestic problems show up, but we cannot destroy the dark object deep in the earth. And, once the figure shows up and reunites with her energy-expelling object, the Star Rod will have few, if any, power against it."
=== FLASHBACK #2
Arthur sat up, happy that this is a history question. "Yes madam. Even I, myself, do not know much of this being, as it destroyed thousands of records after it taken over. I do not know what species it was, or if there was even a group of them, but they were otherworldly beings, as we found artificial chemical compounds not natural to this world in a few areas. Plus, even our brilliant scientists today cannot make a compound that complex, making it even more believable that it was an alien."
Peach's eyes widened. "Where is this area at?"
"This area is around an isolated island. Its name is Serenity Isle. It is rumored that the otherworldly beings found their way onto Plit through a portal contained under that island, but it is unconfirmed if they actually did. It is also rumored that the portal could also be in the mountains of Ice Land, as this certain compound is found there also." Arthur continued.
"Do you know what shape the portal is in? Is it like an actual object, or some dark energy contained deep in the earth?" Morton asked.
"I, sadly, do not know. This topic is not the strongest topic for me." Arthur replied.
=== FLASHBACK #3 ===
As the applause continued, however, Morton thought it would be a great idea to explore the library. A huge, black jewel on a high shelf captures his attention. He tries to reach for it, but it is just too top for it. He jumps for it, trying to swipe down the jewel.
It is only now that Nature paid attention to her surroundings, and the Koopaling trying to get the gem down.
"Oooh! Be careful!" Nature cried out.
But it was too late. Morton actually swatted down the gem, the gem easily breaking on the floor. As the gem breaks, a huge sound is heard, and shaking is felt. It then ends, and Nature finds herself way more powerful.
"Nice! I can teleport us out of here now! Let's go everyone!"
~7~7~7~7~7
"We cannot attack her directly, as she has a ton of power. However, her power is not coming from herself, but rather some sort of object deep in the ground. We have to find those objects and destroy them before we can do any significant damage to her," Peach stated.
"THEN we can use the Star Rod on her, to banish her from Plit once and for all!" Daisy cheered.
"… Interesting. What does this have to do with breaking into my laboratory?" E. Gadd asked in curiosity.
"Well, Gadd," Nature replied, "We need your help. You see, we don't have enough time, and we may need to do a bunch of traveling in the airship, in the Klown Khopper and on her carpet," she continued as she points at Alex, "And something to hold us onto the carpet will be nice too."
"Well… What's your name again?"
"Oh, sorry! My name's Nature!"
"Okay, Nature. Come with me, I know the perfect appliance for that problem. Be right back, let me get it."
E. Gadd leaves the room to retrieve the requested items. During the waiting time, Nature explores the variety of Gadd's inventions sitting right before her eyes. They range from miniature cranes that can almost lift a bar the weight of an elephant, to some weird dome full of strange buttons and flashing lights.
"Man, this guy is a genius," Nature marvels to herself, "I wish I can do stuff like this!"
As she says that, E. Gadd walks back towards the group, carrying twelve engine attachments and a retractable fiberglass shield, "Doomships have four engines, so put two of these on each engine. As for the carpet and Klown Khopper, just put them anywhere on the back. And here's a shield for the carpet. It can also be used in battle if you need it."
"Thank you so much, Gadd! How much does it cost us?"
Gadd smiles at Peach's selfless question, "Absolutely nothing, Princess. Not only did you guys save me from the frigid temperatures present inside the freezer, but you all are on a quest to save the WORLD! Heck, the last thing I need to worry about is MONEY!"
"Thank you so much again, Gadd!" Peach ocne again thanks as the rest of the characters head out of Gadd's lab, "We couldn't have done any of this without you! See ya!"
"Bye bye!" Gadd smiled and waves at the group as they cruise off towards the doomship, trying out the magic carpet's new fiberglass shield.
~7~7~7~7~7