Mario and Bowser: Frenemies Forever (Redux)
Ouroboros IV (Chapter 25)
Disclaimer: …You already know. Mario and co belong to Nintendo.
Author note: Sorry for delays. Alot happened along the way and this is where we're at. Let's go. Lots of references here so watch out.
Content warning: Weird, or to be more serious dark themes, some violence.
"Scram!"
Lemmy Koopa led the scatter from the trouncing ogre faced beasts. Tripping up, Larry found himself pinned against a sloping altar. With a crash louder than a doomship backfiring, his world went black. He wasn't smashed to smithereens but trapped either way.
"Heeeeeelp!" He walloped the tox box's interior walls. To feel better, sorta, he remembered it was common for princes to need rescue actually. They were vulnerable and as valuable a bargaining chip as a princess, it only didn't make headlines at the request of said distressed dudes.
"...Got ya bro!"
The teen fist pumped.
"-For five bucks."
"Wtf," Larry grumbled.
"Just kiddin. HUHGH!"
Roy pried one side up enough for Larry to snake under with a hushed little 'thanks'. The lava from the fortress towers were on their bare heels when they joined the others clanging against and shaking a closed barbed fence.
Lemmy ordered, "Punch it on three!.. 123! Go!"
Their combined punch flipped the fence around on the pivot, flinging the five face first on the frigid sidewalk. Karts with ridiculously tiny red roller wheels screeched on the street, and nightcrawlers, ninjis, gloombas, and eeries ogled at the oozing lava show, steaming fiercely against the continual wintry mix in the area. Under that commotion Lemmy sprung up and shoved everyone into the across the street mailing center subsidiary where the staff appeared to be out. Relieved, Lemmy scratched a new number on his hand drawn watch, surreally drawn to a crumpled holoflash present box at the top of the iron bins around.
'From: Koopa Klaus. To: Ian Koopa' the tag stated on bombsketball he'd wished for forever ago. -Or specifically before he dropped his non performing title.
He whipped around as the bell rang and someone in a dark tassel coat stepped in...
"Drats! I mean.. We didn't do it!"
"Wasn't born yesterday, Lem." She advanced out of the shadows, waltzing around in soggy fuzzy slippers. With a mix matched purple sleeping gown under that coat, she'd dressed in a hurry they noticed, and not as an insult to her for once.
"Wendy?" they chorused.
"~One and only!"
"Sis," Lemmy began, suspiciously.
"None of this is for the lulz, okay? The fortress is, like, gutted. Walls, insulation, leaving only support beams after that thwomp worker left. Koton wanted to install traps for the Sky Land toads tomorrow. I have plenty more tips that the corporations don't want ya to know."
Larry rolled some quip on the back of his tongue before some DK bongos in the unclaimed goods pile distracted him. The distaff koopaling was thus saved from disapprobation, the rest of her brother's eyes gleaming at free stuff. Bowser Junior found a Gaddget imitation 'Spastic Painbrush', sloshing Morton's freshly plucked obscure magazines. While they were chasing each other Roy settled on a book of all things with a label taped to the cover. (Seriously, who does that?)
"Usin' tunin' forks, the scientists of the dark ages determined dat peak frequency was an indicator of 'Obiecti Specialem' by-" He paused, brows scrunching. "What are these? Lyrics to some lame mathcore song?"
Wendy twisted the cover around. 'Rocks: What they are and where to find them'. "Brother, it's a petrology textbook you are blatantly looting. Heh, and MY business prospects are sooo debased."
"Wendy, welcome aboard but don't say I stole because I didn't," Lemmy corrected, spinning the bombsketball on his finger. "This had my name on it."
"And this has mine!" She grabbed an arm full of foundation in a faded box, recalled for allergic reactions akin to the Power Ballon treatment. This was a look folks paid for current day though, not to mention recycled for sustainability!
"Work that grift, queen!"
"-Indeed, cheat and obfuscate the ESRG for even more business funding," Morton accused, finger wagging. "You are literally worse than those Shufflegate toads!"
Lunging at Roy and Morton, Wendy slipped in Junior's paint, colliding into the bins. It was like the cymbal clash to the beat Larry was tapping at the moment.
"~You can call me L4rry, or call me king. Got 0.9144 meters, not ta be mean!"
Wendy rose from the pile, face completely powdered out as Roy and Morton hacked with laughter. "Disgusting and low vibrational. Stop!"
"That song's just about those wands we used to use!" he spat back. "Tho, you right. It's corny with conversions and math and junk. Overhearin those night school classes is cramping my style." (Roy suddenly hid the textbook behind his shell.)
"Everybody, enough! Stop telling our sister what to do!"
Roy sized his older yet littler brother up. "So you can tell us what ta do?"
"Yes." Lemmy spat himself with some camouflaging dark blue paint. "Wait outside. Peacefully."
Lava draining down sewer grates allowed spectators and him rolling on the bombsketball to get closer before going Koopa Jordan. Poor gift in postal purgatory, he lamented, lining up the shot with one eye closed. It was time to adopt the Festive Tree Day spirit in the month of Yam and be charitable.
…
Mr. Steinblock appreciated the increased maneuverability from the last minute renovations, but that unclearable until next morning molten rock was an accelerant for trouble in the form of rubbernecking citizens as the rugs and curtains.
Crash! A sizzling object burst through some. As the spindel rolled away from the reception desk, several blue ribbon wearing whomps left the elevator too late to toss it back. Ka-boom! Adjacent buildings lost their windows, park cars were smashed in, and the block was coated in glass from the pancaking explosion, driving all but six of the witnesses away.
"Lem," Roy sputtered in the dust, patting Lemmy's shell. "Ya went Banzai bill on em! Noice!"
"I was only trying to blow the doors off.." Lemmy shifted his weight uneasily. "Anyway.. Uh.. Search the rubble!"
"Just try it kid."
Steinblock dislodged from a portion that revealed that the entire top floor remained intact. Thwomps and whomps gunned out for them from there or rose from the debris piles. Roy made KoopaBall defensive and offensive plays back to back with Morton. Larry snatched the latter's dopped magazines to make ninja stars, striking down the baddies the 'Thunder Brothers' would soften up first. Junior's brush uncontrollably spewed chocolate colored goop on all surfaces, hindering everyone really, until Lemmy actually noticed him for once and turned that around, blinding foes with the paint. Wendy chased down the cylindrical creature that dared to claim she couldn't read paperwork. Petty, but he was slow and easily caught. The powder from the pallet slapped in his face made him sneeze and bang against a leaning wall. It sent others down with and suddenly the princess was facing into a roofless golden office. A wood panel fragment with ghostly hints of plaques was the backdrop of Mayor Koton, aggressively circling something in a tattered book with a nub of a pencil.
"You dropped out. Leave."
"No way."
Koton looked up, a comparatively iridescent middle spike on his head catching the Boo Moon light just right. "Yes you will, sweetheart."
The distaff koopaling understood the breadth of his power then, compelled to leave against her will. Thank G.O. and D. Lemmy dropped in then, interrupting his scheme by stepping over the flipped shelves to approach the desk at eye level.
"Great job sis. So Mr. Mayor. Hi, we're.. You know who we are. Sorry it came to this. I know you're expecting me to justify it right away and make you deal with it when we leave, but that's not how.. I operate I guess." He held out his paw optimistically. "Here's the deal. We really need the Jewel of the Stars to save the world and stuff, but we'll pay you what it's worth and fix your building if you help us with that. I pinky promise. I know you don't have fingers either but-"
He stared at him like prey. "-General Lemmy of the Koopa Troop offering a business deal to me, arbiter of Neo Bowser City, epicenter of all independent thinkers in Dark Land?"
Lemmy inhaled. "Umm. Yes?-"
"-Just like your uncle.." The thwimp mused to himself, mellowing as he detached the spike, leaving himself with a reverse mohawk. "He was blithe like you, strongly principled, but didn't let fear or pressure to conform ebb that away. Very well. You may 'rent' that for now."
Lemmy slid the heavy gem closer, sobered. "..Thanks, Mr. Mayor. What will you do in the meantime?"
The thwimp hopped out of his chair into rubble, facing the street as he laughed, "Get outta dodge!"
The World 8 Big Tanks blocked every sprawling route. The rocky wrenches allowed the bruised whomps and thwomps, and the mayor as Lemmy lost track of him, get away from the disaster zone but advanced so that the koopalings were rounded up in the center at cannon point. Lemmy knew his well of provisory leader's luck would run empty at a time like this, stumped and sweating bullets rivaling the size about to be shot at them.
A lazy image of Ludwig appeared on the barrel of the closest tank with a book, as precariously as he did that kinda thing on airships. "Tell me you are not defeated already," he snorted. "Tsk!"
That shocked something out of Lemmy, waggling, "No Luddy, however I'm seeing you. I-I'm just out of tools!"
"Reevaluate. Who is missing?"
A split second later, they all heard a call of 'FIRE'.
"Brace!" the purple capped one warned in the face of choppy dusk waters.
He and the yellow toad crashed upon the shore of a jungly environment. Bus sized ant troopers abandoned the hill they plowed into and climbed up moss covered trees that vanished into the stormy clouds, the roars of camouflaged creatures shaking the foliage. A troop of mega goombas burst out, chasing the scampering orange clad toads inland until they made their best, short legged, leap across a murky river. The goombas smirked to each other and backed off, thunder cackling. Finally the purple toad had the opportunity to pull off the snorkel and pragmatically, the thick inmate uniform as well in favor of his thinner white undershirt, clinging to his abs. The yellow less in shape toad stopped staring. Nonetheless the emergency tracker in their kit led them to the most hostile kingdom to be in late evening.
"-Mordecai..Scheiße. This is belated. Sorry," Yellow spoke up. "In my hubris I thought I'd honed in the psionic abilities I've only known I had since the brigade split up and I got myself checked out by a nose, foot, elbow, and brain specialist in Dinosaur Land.." He took another breath. "Obviously not. I'll take an L as big as Stan and in the meantime, thanks for saving me from my idiocy. I could kiss you right now."
Mailtoad flushed. " You're welcome, but -"
"I'm joshing! We'd better.. Hurry along shouldn't we?" Yellow Toad did just that..
The threat of super sized dangers, slithering wigglers, and razor toothed piranha plants increased the deeper into the jungle they went, following the river while avoiding viscous mud and man eating frogs.. It was survival time, in more ways than one.-
"-Were you really being farcical, Jörg? I wasn't uncomfortable or anything, just curious," He shrugged frankly.
Before any hero moments Yellow low-key fancied Mailtoad's 'quiet dignity and strength of character' - that was to be referential of Madame Flurrie, not to mention the physique born of rush deliveries and working off season at the apiary.
"-Yes and no. Princesses do that all the time when saved. I'm aware princes not so much, and it's moot when I'm neither but it's..The principle I guess. Okay fine and I think you're hot," he admitted, brushing his bicep.
"Thank you!" he beamed.
Indeed with that cleared up, they could focus on the weather doing the opposite. Lightning flashed heavy rains drenched them all over again, as if they chose to take a dip in the skeeter and apparently shark infested river. Yellow took a closer look at a dorsal fin crossing by.
'Nothing good ever lasts, as we all know,' squeaked the matriarch of the inland pod.
'-I didn't know, Miss Daphne.' The dolphin in the rear caught up. 'I was called in for emergency lifeguarding at the Seaside Kingdom earlier.'
The family spyhopped to look at the runt like an idiot. He got that alot, the only of the Alderson pod that intermingled regularly with the non-marine world.
'You were that close to the edge of the Earth?' the gold ribbon wearing daughter of the leader, Dora snapped.
'Why.. Sure. That's not what I asked.'
She rolled her eyes though those goggles. 'The CIA conspired against our fabulous queen Wendy O., okay? Get with the program, Donald. They're prohibited in Big Island."
"It's scientists that monitor us with satellites, not the government, moron!"
'Huh?'
'Nothing ma'am.' the bilingual cetacean muttered.
'Perfect, darling,' the leader jumped back in. 'So in case you were ABSENT for this too, a Fish Bone found a Spear Guy village! They're about to sacrifice four toads that look like those gawking cityboys!'
'Yes ma'am,' Donald cruised atop the water momentarily, apathetic to Yellow Toad reeling back from the edge. 'One day they'll understand what waterfalls are...'
"-We have to hurry!"
Yellow clambered on a hanging vine to swing away quicker, but Mailtoad remained on the ground waving at him. There were ukikis on the vines too, veering it with their weight to the side and then abandoning it before Yellow smacked against a beached steam powered cruiser. He slid off the rusted hull as Mailtoad ran over though the mud, stepping on a solid part.
"Huh?"
An unnaturally blocky part rose from the earth. "Thank Eldstar. Listen-" Sergeant Howie coughed up gravel, a bigger crack in the whomp's back than there was supposed to be. "Yer off the hook for everything, got it? We were combing the sea for ya before pirates took over. Wouldn'ta succeeded if your brigade didn't distract me with this ebook, see. Taking advantage of my multilingual abilities!"
"Officer, are you sure you're okay-"
"I am!" he shook Mailtoad, "Not the hostages."
Yellow staggered up, fighting the headache. "I know. The dolphins mentioned it."
The cop spun to him. "You talk to animals, boy? And I'm crazy? Nevermind- shh!"
Peeking around the bow, the officer spied on some Giant Spear Guys downstream. One shined around a headlamp while another attempted to fill up a F.L.A.U.D. The third one, a guard armed with, in addition to a spear, a pickaxe with a distinctive chip in the steel tied above the grass skirt, idly thumbed through a leather postman's satchel. As he tossed junk mail, Mailtoad welled with rage. That was no one's call but the intended recipient!
"Whoa nelly, cadet!.."
Mailtoad stopped crunching tree bark subconsciously and observed with the others how the trio retreated, rolled a random chomp rock over, and activated a switch. The previously solid wall of tightly arranged moss covered timbers lowered, revealing a torch lit village with straw huts. The tracker's arrow aimed right in.
"Now go!"
They dashed- or hobbled over before the timbers timed out and shot up, sealing them in with the bustling area. Their stomachs churned while sneaking behind huts. Masked natives were enraptured by dance and tambourine, in denser numbers towards the granite rocks. The Captain, Banktoad, Hint Toad, and Nass T. were individually tied to long spears behind a amber glowing, pool sized cauldron. A stash of gold- the brigade's was being melted in it under the direction of the chief, distinguished by an elaborate red feathered headdress and match horizontal stripes on his porcelain mask. The F.L.A.U.D. they saw earlier was used to fill up a second big pot meanwhile, no question of what was on the menu for that. The only delay for the ceremony then was the downpour snuffing the fires. Nothing a continual flow of matches couldn't fix…
"William.." The Captain's face was green. "They can't smelt that garbage down soon enough!"
Banktoad glanced at his uncle exasperatedly, his single earring ravished. Getting his ear pierced was the first thing he did after getting kicked out of home, so he'd rather be steam roasted with it still in, vain as it seemed. Nass agreed, throwing a huge and justifiable screechy fit when the normal sized Petal Guys found a locket they'd missed the first time, yanking it from her neck. In retaliation from the kicks sustained, they lifted the pole with her on it to the seasoning station, slathering the nurse with strange leaves and stinky herbs. The men's protests got them pummeled with fresh tomatoes.
"-I can't watch folks with a misdemeanor at most go through this!" Sergeant Howie seethed. "Wait for the cue, cadets."
He stepped out into the open with a fixed default expression, as if one of the types of slab beasts susceptible to the twilight hour, waiting for the precise moment. He tipped on one villager who stumbled into another and another. The domino pileup reached the chief, who shifted so that the final one banged into the newly boiling cauldron. While it didn't flip, much of it sloshed out, a tenuous white steam cloud blinding many.
Yellow and Mailtoad burst out of the shadows to rip off knotted vines from the brigade, rewarded with a hard stare back, like they were a mirage. The hostages snapped out of it largely when the chief howled for attack. The jungle shook from the stomps of villager bare feet on hot slick granite. The Captain used his herculean strength to push away one boulder, breaking a narrow way into the jungle again, but before he got started on another, a barrage of lances scattered the toads like micro goombas in a haystack. The Captain climbed onto one of the railed platforms moving side to side for a breather, a chaotic skirmish beneath his single boot. Hint Toad's ebook reader with the forbidden rites was long gone at this point, but as a blessing, or curse fit to be distributed by black chest inhabitants, he remembered all of the five phases the officer rather impressively translated.
"IOILNDCARET AILTCOON EOROOCMMD!"
With a brilliant flash brighter than his stolen headgear, a purple capped white spotted 'DLC' doppelganger of Captain Toad materialized on the platform.
"Ready for adventure!" The copy's gleaming smile broadened as he dropped into the fray and flung his pickaxe at the nurse's kidnappers sneaking away. It tore through the first two pedal guys, stopping and embedded in the spine of the third. The three dropped dead, coating the nurse in gore, while the clone trotted about hacked and slashed with a field knife.
"There are no truer words than, you have met the enemy, and it is you," The Captain said with almost self reflection.
Banktoad indignantly appeared under the platform, wanting to kill him. "A DHIUEASSMN EX," he uttered instead.
A snapshot was taken, pausing the world. In the void of the universe, the photo was valley folded once, opened again, the top corners creased, and the sides folded one last time. A cosmic force propelled the completed paper airplane through the rest of the interdimensional sea.
"Brother, you sure were acting pretty evil, ya know, taking advantage of folks suffering DID, inciting violence against your own kinfolk, coercion on princesses, grave robbing, and lying on medical discharge documents, to be good all along as you claim."
"I didn't say I was 'good' babe," he snipped, strapped in the backseat. "That's too simplistic to describe my project since my accident. I've worked and sacrificed nonstop to put me exactly where I am right now. K, maybe I flew too close to the sun at times with that method acting but-"
"Oh brother!"
"Exactly, mon ami." Bond ended that unexciting but highly important headset call with a mysterious person. "That hatred you had for toads and humans was real, and please stop plagiarizing the madam's book reports as well."
"Vermin.." Kylie Koopa's papers were quickly sealed away from prying, beady eyes. If she wasn't tin foil hatted, no telling what else he would have stolen.
"I wasn't, Bond. My magnum opus, the final Weegee report that'll crack open every secret known to man is written out already in my head. Years from now they'll be studying my posthumous discoveries in Mystery Land! My psychic defenses are up so you can't understand!"
"Aye aye aye. Regardless, you're paying for terrorizing Princess Peach and you will never see her again."
"Will I? And thank God you didn't say irregardless."
"This will be the only time we agree on something."
"No it won't," Mitch corrected smugly, getting out of a rebuttal as the dark warp pipe ejected the Lexus into a bright naturalistic environment with tightly packed cottages and precipitous dips where the mist settled, shortly coasting to an inn.
Jelectro had an urgent appointment, leaving Kylie Koopa with the kart, the first Mushroomite in modern record deported for tyranny, and of course the story she was going to write on that. Nervous jitters remained after the noki spy rendezvous with a utility cart driving janitor and left, but she'd consumed an energy bar earlier and was up for any fight 'that ol Mitch' might put up. He plopped into the wheelchair and knocked on his own.
A caramel skinned sky blue spotted toad answered lackadaisical like. "-Oh.. The clean up dude? Really?"
"Really," Mitch winked.
"And erm, parole officer," Kylie waved from further back.
"*sigh* Ciri, alert our King again!"
They were led by another more skittish Skylandian though the town, scorched black from a jet powered kart. Besides that, there were remnants of Koopa Troop paraphernalia from yesterday, cannons, and brickwork, and flags and whatnot, the green draining the further they went. It wasn't that Bowser funk killing all that was live and healthy however. In the copy flower farm ahead reside an half embedded, four story tall, golden phanto mask with an especially exaggerated evil grin. None of the holes could be seen through what should be a hollow entity and by the whispers of locals, anyone that dared to travel a mile down and peek on the other side either didn't come back or were too shocked to speak about it. Kylie's hasty reach for the camera and failure to snap a picture of it, confirmed her worst fear. The Skylandians farmers remaining wouldn't step any closer. It was too Special.
"Camoztar escaped the Blue Falcon in the fertile soil here, literally with the natural onyx looking mineral underground," the wheelchair bound toad said, thick eyebrows lowering. "We havta get it outta here."
The reporter dropped the DSLR. "How the heck, Mitch?"
A soldier snuck up and confiscated Kylie's camera. "Don't publicize this!"
They were forced into the cloudy village with the restless others eager to investigate, frustrated more by the flock of confused para-beetles swinging low and bumping them around. Kylie got off her shell, finding the rival journalist missing. Calming down, she scanned left and right..
"Try up, babe." Mitch smirked, looking down from the windmill. He wheeled away from the ledge the winged koopas helped him reach. He could not reach the floating red "!" block in the center of the room though, so maybe he shouldn't have forced her to chase him... This edifice was constructed of the same rune inscribed glossy black substance the fated obelisk was, one of the aerial structures that survived the plunge.
"Who's up here? Halt." A warrior class toad came up stairs, sneezing right away from the dust.
"Listen, you'll die soon if you keep at this, Ciri. You'll never retire to the Cascade Kingdom like you want, so give me the low down instead dude. "
Though they had the dagger pressed against his neck, under the jaw, they were the one shaking. Mitch didn't get offended from people being terrified of him anymore; it's how he got syndicated early in his career. Also why his parents tried to drown him when he was two.. Having his time wasted however was never acceptable. When the blade sunk deeper, an identical cut immaterially swiped across theirs. Startled, Ciri dropped the weapon, letting Mitch shove them back, hard against the block. It activated with a small chime, dimming lit and the tower rumbled as the blades outside began to circle. The warrior scuttled downstairs bleeding while the journalist remained, dapping at the red blotch on his dress shirt. He licked it, eyes clouding over.
Beyond the metallicness, saltiness, it tasted like- Elysium. Now who had swooped in and promised them that? If the turbine wasn't reaching full speed he could ponder over that better.
Besides the iced over ocean, options of entry to this harsh, but rather rural and untainted environment was traveling from the maze like Pipe Land, enemy occupied Dark Land, or expedient pipes accessible by Warp Whistle only, like the sort that sprang up out in the road, forcing a snow man on a ski and a belly sliding penguin to swerve around it. The noki and thwomp were shot out into the snow. The pipe retracted and officially they were stranded there.
The red boo watching from the igloo pulled on the tanooki fur cap and hurried over to 'greet' them. "If it isn't Mr. Bond.. Oh and TJ. Can I call you that now?"
Agent 999, or Lt. 'TJ' Stone, leaned around the boo, the tools on his janitor costume jingling from his waist. "No you cannot, M. So, you rented those accommodations?"
"Heh. Nope! Beat the buster beetle up. Bodies tied up around the-"
Jelectro grabbed him. "Trevor, I informed everyone that our secret partner cannot enter a building uninvited! Take everyone out!"
They were yanked out of that stranger's home to a camp next door with a fire, not as warm as the igloo one was, but it would have to work.
Spy Captain Agent N was catatonic, mildly alarmed face gaped, laid back first on a thick quilt next to the fire. The two of the quieter agents sat on snow covered logs right away, Andrew Borodō or Agent 0069 and Emerson, Agent Toad. They were visibly freezing, especially the purple bandit patched up enough to lose the cast. The newly on the scene inlaws to the addled, Waldo Waldo and Jellien or 'Maria' Bond, not so much cocooned in winter gear.
Jelectro was tapped before joining the circle, Agent M's touch as chilling as the scenery.
"Jeremy shouldn't have trusted Charles from the moment it came out that y'all lived together and he started looking at us all cross eyed. This blunder ain't commin' off his record whether he survives or not." M grit his jagged crowned teeth together. "-I really am sorry man."
Jelecto thawed. "Thank you…Ultimately whatever happens from there, I can recover. We all can, as long as Charles isn't the last one standing."
A yellow taxi, unmissable in the whiteout conditions swooped overhead, did a loop, and landed cushiony soft on the snow. A few local bumpties waddled beyond with no further notice, rods slung over their shoulders. The human exiting the cab with spunk for his advanced age also carried a line. He had a thinnish yet mildly pot bellied build, white trilby and cardigan contrasting his peach skin, darker long wool pants, and green loafers.
"Greetings, call me D. Zastre. Nice bunch by the way," he remarked. There was something about his thin lips curling in amusement while he slid up those repaired in the center swirly glasses. "I get it. Enough about me. The real star here is the Wakeman Spectre Rod, so here we go!"
He swung the blue glowing pole, casting the line down the spy captain's open mouth. The old man was tugged forward violently by something lurking in the yoshi's cavernous stomach, his shoe digging in the ice. Everyone sans Jelectro instinctively careened backwards. The winds intensified, everyone in the eye of a frosty storm.
"Too late to run," he grunted. "Might as well lend a- Criminy…"
D. Zastre was in full view of the eldritch filled abyss down the yoshi's esophagus. He resisted, but the agents scrambling to tug with him were pierced thoroughly and paralyzed under the fear status effect. M backed off, the only one unscathed, at least physically. Mentally he was smashed to pieces, like the ice sculptures all over the place. Should he run over, unchain that buster beetle, and use it to squeeze that diddly clan out of the captain? Should he- Don't rack up any more charges. Do this! Duh, of course. He did what Jelectro telepathically advised, poking the secret ticklish spot on Agent N's belly button. The hoarse chuckles to follow ripped out a torrent of boo diddlies. The agents regained control of their senses in time to get swarmed as they inundated the mountainside, causing mass pandemonium with the bumpty, chill bully, and snowman residents. Some light cut through before they conglomerate into an Atomic Boo, the offender Agent Toad. He wasn't hurting them, but from the ground, holding N's head gently, Jelectro noticed it distracted the boos so the ordered the the agents to scramble back and follow the gung-ho rookie's lead, luring them out of public eye.
….
From the mountain overlooking the village D. Zastre gave a chef's kiss, back 'home' instantaneously with shadow traveling techniques. The cab driver left his groceries precisely where he asked, with no snooping about his research tent by the absence of footprints. He gathered the paper Northwinds Mart bag of dry pasta when a new presence alerted him. The small boo didn't appear to be there to soak in the view down, fit for a Festive Tree Day postcard.
"I am not like them. I want to fix matters. I have no friends. Nothing. Just this." The monotonous individual revealed the chipped up green Bowser racket. "Could you help me."
"When you knew the risks of kindling those vengeful?..." He paused sympathetically. "Tell you what. That racket can be molded into something useful by 'cursing' it, the same principle as those Special Objects that are all the rage. I wish I could, ah hem, dabble like I used to, but if you found me, you have the resources already sonny."
"I need something stronger, Prof. Gadd."
Dotty eyes narrowed behind the lenses. "Careful. Old foes stalked me to hel- heck and back, took away my ability to write or publish materials in anything but blood and made me lose the rest of my hair!" Stuffily he adjusted the trilby, facing the eerie and rare red aurora borealis. "Anyway, King Boo is penniless and I've heard he gets bananaed during his awful lounge singing gigs. The last laugh was mine. The racket strat is the best you can do short notice, and no one knows time better than me, besides this one other professor that created his abominable meta device. The less said of him the better. He tends to drive-"
The piranha plant ducked into the pipe before the saucer hovered over, continuing to enrage the Pipe Land populous during its invasion of the peach tinted skies. It was long spread by chatty nipper plants that the king let that chimeric head doctor pry some land from his leafy stems for a remote research facility. There were prospects of weather machines, clone generators, and genetic alteration of consumable based powerups. To their relief the ship passed over the three distinctively shaped land bodies and ultimately grounded on a strip continental to Sky Land.
Dr. Toad strolled into dark green grass, cringing at the bluntly lopped off pipes everywhere, the silver alloy of the saucer marred with extraneous paint. Prof. X-Naut got to work with lawn equipment, unbothered. Dr. Topper was dropped off to rally additional associates, so it was only them and the younger Diddley brother descending the airstair with a sickly wobble.
"If you wish, you may remain in-"
Dr. Toad staggered back when his brother leaned over the rail and vomited in the soil. Paling, the stylus was too unsteady in his hand to make the note he wanted on Zoo's deterioration. He glanced up, finding the boo wandering paces away in the brush.
"Not too far, please!..." Dr. Toad sighed raggedly. "I swear. If you take more than two hours I will stop everything to search for you."
…
To the dismay of goonies and river piranha plants, Prof. X-Naut trimmed all the tall reeds, his movement fortuitously creating, from the aerial view the dark boo had, a hollow semi circle about to meet its other side. A silver rotating disc zipped overhead, causing the professor to kill the motor. A hatch underneath beamed beside him another x-naut.
"My dear fellow!" Prof. X-Naut evaluated his cousin distraughtly. The alien, 2D like him, wore a baggy one piece engineering uniform, a crude arrow sign split on his left leg. "What has happened? Was it worse than us losing the base on the Moon?"
Johnson replied, "?", conveying yes, the biggest conspiracy regarding the satellite was still being perpetuated and to worsen matters, a mishap with a Bone sticker and chain chomps meant he needed surgery only a mad hospital/ research facility like the one they were about to build would tackle without insurance.
"If only you had my MacGuffin to capture those beasts. Well, we can certainly assist anyway!" the professor assured him. "Didn't you want to be a bombsketball player too? Why don't we just make you six feet tall while we're at it."
Dr. Toad stepped in, very strung out. "Morris, this is quite preemptive on your part when we are less than 1 percent on this project."
The professor objected, "Dr. T is bringing the cavalry soon."
The doctor covered his face with the clipboard. "Magnificent. More people to manage..."
…
That was Zoo's cue to stray further, through thorny labyrinthine vines between him and a mountainous cliff. Nothing seemed real except that. Mesmerized, he had to reach the peak, where the air hummed with energy. There was more laced underneath, but with his powers too dull to distill it into cognizable information, it was nothing more than the roar of a waterfall. Gazing down on the three islands he knew he'd had this view before- while hurling to his death.
"Splendid, you made it. Ho ho." A radiant purple star descended from the clouds. "I beseech you for a favor, if you don't mind."
"I mind, bro." Zoo's empty eye socket twitched. Why was HE roaming here of all places? "I'm dying! Again!"
Millennium Star descended onto the same plane, where he towered over the boo. "Actually you are on the cusp of immortality!"
Those words were like salt on those aposematic wounds stretching across his body. "I ain't worth it if I look like a freak without deserving it first. It doesn't matter if it's a truism to disregard appearance. People just do. I know what I'm talking about. I'm half freaking toad!"
Millennium Star shook his head mirthfully. "Irregardless of how you appear, you are the 'Toad Town incarnate killer'. We had a deal and you have little wiggle room."
"That's not a word and I don't remember any binding agreements."
"Actually it is and I don't care. Your brother isn't far is he? Such an ambitious soul must amass many enemies."
Zoo stood up against the ancient star. "I didn't tell Drew anything! Leave him out of this!"
He clicked his tongue. "Don't tell me what to do. Where's that quote from?"
Indistinguishable in all of the brilliant light, Zoo was pounced by an oval lightning ball. His screams of agony were devoured by a white noise in his ears as his skin melted in layers down to the internal organs. He collapsed face down, pints of deep purple blood gushing from his mouth, soaking the land while a micro fractional incision in his exposed brain exorcized the last two minutes from his memory.
Millennium Star's experiment would make those mortal scientists down there blush. The last stage was trivial. A few more blasts and- Voila. Zoo's physical body was renewed, a spritely yuppie with spectacles. Or what the term now 'hipster'? Or whatever.
Zoo bewilderedly lifted up like the alarm went off two hours late. "AH I'M UP, JEEZ... Milly? Huh, oh..you."
"Why hello. I *just* returned you, and in better shape than you were on that Doomstar Galaxy. Hope you are pleased.." The star spoke in the smallest, meekest voice he could.
Zoo glanced around at the bristling grass and trees. It seemed legit. This was Earth, he felt… very funny, but of course he would, he guessed. Milly was the real deal, auspicious enough, totally ripping off Rosalina's Gravitational Pull. He could relate to the rip off part! Maybe he'd listen this one time.
The momentum Mr. Toad had bursting out of Peach Castle died before he was off the drawbridge. Pewter shaded dust matte the entire sky of Toad Town and starbits, a colorful sweet like substance showered all over castle grounds. He floundered around at the mercy of the flow of the candies, often whacked painfully against stones, abandoned guard tanks, and trees. Five bruises later he stabilized on something, the cannon. He grasped for the nearby flag pole and climbed as it swayed to get the big picture. The concentration was thinner on Royal Raceway where evacuees were bigger dots against tinier ones. He faced back to the castle getting whittled away from Star Hills deterioration and made his decision. The three flags were there, a Peach, a Mushroom Crest, and a white. Symbolically surrendering what was replaceable to the angered gods, he ripped the white flag from the ropes, tied two ends to his ankles, the others to his wrist and leapt off with the makeshift parachute.
…
"Momma mia." Luigi squinted at that poor albino waddlewing in a death spiral before abruptly dropping like a rock into what was left of the raceway lake. The starbits displaced it all over the pavement, even into the downtown so it was more of a crunch into a deep puddle, followed by the weak rising of a five digited wiggling hand out of it. "... Toad!?"
He scooped him out, bringing him back. "The King and his league abandoned us! We were going to chase, and some of your staff did anyway, but without verifying you and Toadsworth were safe the rest of us couldn't. I don't know why I assumed you two had to be out here somewhere already," he sputtered.
Toad melted into him momentarily. "Sam did make it out. In..a distant Airbrb."
"Bnb? I- didn't even know we had those-"
"-Don't worry about it, bae."
Wishing he didn't speak so soon, Toad slid to the ground on his own, approaching the princess. While her gown was tattered from the sprint, he knew she was semi hiding herself with the parasol because of her hair. Long, healthy as it always was in volume, it was pure white.
"This is your's homegirl." Toad covertly handed her a star booch from Toadsworth before piquantly spinning to the toad staff standing listlessly or afraid. "And this is for the Judas-"
He sucker punched Mr. Zeror, making them gasp.
"Toad!" Peach cried, "Rapscintillation elected to curse me. Not- Stars.."
Out of the green toad's pockets spilt hundred coin bills, documents, and an object wrapped in velvet. Peach tripped back from it like it was hissing venomous cobrat, caught by the toads remaining, the chef, the new kid and the blue toad.. Bucken-Berry got the brunt of the impact, the wind knocked out of him. That was fine. His strength hadn't waned considerably from depression or anything. Meanwhile a K64 ticket whisked over Toads shoe.
"I knew it..."
Mr. Zeror tucked his shirt back in. "I was going to get rid of that like the princess wants, Toad."
"-It's Mr. Toad to you and who authorized you to make that decision?!"
"Well-"
"No one. So you backstab him."
"Hullo, I had great affection for Master Toadsworth! Doesn't change that he was under its control as an illegitimate Toadstool himself."
"Excuse me?" Luigi's death stare made him shiver.
"-Mr. Toadsworth was the son of the Queen's.. Sister in another Mushroom territory ," Toadette explained, in the rawest educational opportunity ever. Though Toad was making a face, no one stopped her so- "That's why 'Samuel' had a human name before that was in vogue. It was scandalous of course, but when the war ramped up and our princess was born, the Queen was able to get Mr. Toadsworth away from the infantry and into the castle without the purity tests.. He confessed in his letter to me that that was never to be known before his death, so when this gets around to him-"
"-The nerve of that guy!" Toad screamed at the back of the venal banker. During that talking, what's supposed to be a free action for the civilized, he'd taken the gem and bolted towards the disarrayed city.
Peach encouraged the others to go ahead, noticing something odd about this all. The Lakitu Bros and other pedestrians were approaching from the famous big ramp, meaning there were no obstacles in the way of her sneaking off via the pitstop lane.
…
-None except herself. The Birthday Girl skid from her phantom clutch tap, ambling around like someone too used to driving four speed manuals on a racetrack. Dreadfully she sloshed someone at the bus stop.
"Oh dear!" Peach stepped out.
"S'alright!" Daisy shook the hood off, unleashing that frizz of auburn hair. "This is only like that time I was on house arrest…Kidding. Umm. What's going on?"
She laid it on her. "...Join me. Please!"
Daisy was galvanized to hop in. They sped off, whippers on high to combat the starbits. Citizens sheltered inside or pulled over so it was a straight shot to the train station. Mostly.
The white haired princess snuck a few glances over. "So.. Dear..The bus? There is no shame, but for your security."
Daisy broke out of the reverie, sitting up. "Besides King B.- that's my dad, blowing me up to come home for the weekend, don't I talk too much and make everything worse? Can't forget that cringy engagement story.."
"...Did I mention that?"
"You didn't?" Daisy sheepishly leaned back.
"No, it's.. s'alright!" she mimicked earnestly, badly either way. "That old headache of mine believed it is all that matters."
"Pfft. Imma be real," Daisy laughed, relaxing some. "He'd better. You don't need filters on your Tick-Tock Clock page like those e-thots. All you need is that super modest magenta (kinda old fashioned but it's good on you) swimsuit on the beach and those round sparkle shades, oh and waving does the trick."
"Oh Daisy," she replied, demurely. Peach had admirers and knew this abjectly, though it hit different to hear it unfiltered, the way only a hierarchical peer could deliver. -Or to be more honest with herself, in a way only Daisy would because that was just her.
Snapping back to her surroundings, she jabbed the break on purpose. A high pitched whistle preceded the K64 shuffling under the station. Noting waiting patrons, disappointment didn't cover it for Peach. Mr. Zeror didn't have one confederate. Two.
A larger purple toad left the office first, clueless until the second, a pink one tapped him. It was too late to run. Joe simply admitted that his part in the scheme involved Chef Timothy living rent free in his head as much as assisting that uppity Zeror. The heist would get him attention.. Les's excuse involved no rancor, yet publicity alike, wanting to see Gill T. and reunite classic rock band The Keptos. Peach twirled a lock, listening. It had him comfortable talking about it, all the while she knew all of her citizens and the deceased too by name. Gill T., the Mario brother's neighbor was dead. Fact checked, the large toad bolted off onto the starbit powered sidewalk.
"Yo, mind if I cut on subtitles?" Daisy broke off the fierce cornering the remaining one pose to ask.
Peach remembered her Sarasalandian friend was probably lost with half the conversation in sign language. Joe communicated something to Daisy she did understand, replying to the rude gesture by popping him. The gardener flipped over the rail, off of the station and into bushes below.
Daisy stepped back flusteredly. "Went nuclear, didn't I?"
Peach held her bronze arms, their gazes snapping together. "No. That was overdue. Like this."
Daisy seized in place as the other princess planted a gentle kiss on her cheek, the typical post rescue display of affection, but to Daisy like the first blossoms of spring in Easton, the powerful rapids of Muda, more knee buckling than the pyramids of Birabuto, more breathtaking than soaring through the skies of Chai in a SkyPop… When Peach's face was no longer brushing against her's, separating governessy, the jet plunged beautifully, fiery crash included.
"-Wait till King B. hears this!"
"Why?" she giggled.
Daisy folded her arms, cooly. "I pop off on him alot over bets. He said I'd rescue another princess before I stop being some gym rat, collecting Funko Pops, or move out- "
"Princess!" On the street, Les panted heavily. "O-over here!"
The princesses stumbled out onto Starman Lane where Mr. Zeror was on the sidewalk, holding his lower abdomen and hacking up blood. Eviscerated, a gelatinous blob left his throat, the bile from it rolling down the soft slope, beyond Daisy's sneakers, and underneath one additional legless viewer of the sick show.
"I support this ship, and you'd better not deny that chemistry. I'm a psychologist, I think. Or some other psy word."
Peach breathlessly twisted in the direction of Zoo S. Diddley, holding the bag containing the Jewel of the Stars. Zoo confirmed he picked the wrong word seeing her about to swat at him with the parasol but not dodging with that knowledge. The dark boo was flung out into the middle lane as Luigi, Toadette, Thomas, Chef Tim, and Mr. Toad struggling a bit, caught up. Zoo had a flash of something, a lost memory returning, overshadowed by the impulse to run. He sank underground before a trio of plasma beams ripped it all up. Luigi dropped his head to one area of the tar not melting as Bucken-Berry's dragon form flew over.
"He just took an underground train." He rose, mind racing. "And it's still going. Blue! Drill down twenty feet, no more!"
He jumped out of the way as the second blast blew up the spot he was on. Dirt and concrete bits raining, the green plumber careen over to investigate, seeing the strolling compartments below of the Toad Town 104, a cargo only locomotive. A spontaneous move unlike him, he dropped down into the compartment of bananas. He heard several more impacts behind him, followed by a 'we're okay!' that wasn't entirely believable. Regaining his bearings, it gave him the courage to soldier on more than ever. During his short stunt as official protector all, inspiring them to launch into danger so recklessly, but swiftly and resolutely made him feel like his brother.
"Beam me up, Iggy!"
And they were by the nerd rocketing by, the simultaneous fire of seven rockets exploding against the tractor beam barrier, smoking the city block up. Iggy Delta fanned away some, remaining in that Nerd Squad outfit, ripped up from the lightspeed travel. The joy on his visage was like the sun had emerged again.
"ZOMG, this game of chicken is over. Phew!" He swiped across his brow. "Er, I mean.. Sorry for avoiding you too. I know you were being tough with me because I just turned 18 and I'm no longer precocious and real koopa men don't get feels-"
Lemmy sprung towards him supportively. "Don't listen to that red-mega-vitamin rhetoric from Roy or Morton-" He ignored the snort from those two. " I AM man enough to admit that the feels are a-okay. I'm sorry I've neglected you and a bunch of other stuff but first- get us home!" He brought out the horn shaped jem. "We accomplished it!"
The eighteen year old nerd propelled everyone up and away. The buildings shrunk under their feet and bullet bills shot into the nothingness, going off in a fireworks like array for the city. They flew over to Bowser's New castle under a lovely scarlet sky, no Springo Candy needed to clear the moat. No more rain or snow, no more KT hostile bad guys, and no more trouble. Okay, a koopatrol instantly ran down to report them but other than that-
"Aww, daisuki!" Iggy and Lemmy pulled together into a tight squeeze with special effects, fluttering cherry blossoms and a lens flare in the pink gradient background. One by one the eye rolling sibling onlookers uttered thanks as lamely as Larry did with the tox boxes, maybe less enthusiastic, until escorted away forcibly.
Lemmy's paw covered his mouth, oblivious to all that.. "What were you doing though Hop?"
"While this might sound like a non sequitur and in fact is, at a rate of 150% I helped a scientist switch Princess Daisy, Toadette, and Bucken-Berry-chan's bodies back. Not just the heads like with us!"
They high fived. "That sounds wicked!"
"Wanna know, like, my favorite part?" He leaned in. "Beam me up, Iggy. A normie misquote but I LOVED IT-"
"I HATED IT! EVERY PART OF MY UNGRATEFUL CHILDREN BEING MISSING! YOUR'E GROUNDED!" There was an earthquake, otherwise known as wrathful King Bowser Koopa waiting at the stairs.
During their sorrowful march, he ripped that jewel away, no spoils for thee. They were shoved into their rooms and that item into a chest in his throne room. Forgetting about that, he waited anxiously for news from minions he could actually count on.
…
Hoping to put a positive spin on this, he basked in the small touches that made debilitating moldy castles home. Besides the ironed crisp Mario 'v sign' poster, shiny iron wall mounted battle axes were mounted behind his throne, jumbo gold filled treasure chests were on sturdy shelves, territory maps were tacked up on the opposite side- of which he could lawfully visit as a neutral, and the masonry of the impending lava fountain the corner. There was a scantily filled trophy case too, of course..a project for later. Peeling back his diamond hard exterior, what brought him true joy was no longer the conquest and demonstrations of militaristic prowess as satisfied young Bowser. At the age of fifty-six and four months, it was family, when behaving, travel, time with friends. The missing piece was-
"-Lord Bowser!" Kamek left his door wide open, allowing Kammy and that proselyte sentry lakitu to trail.
Bowser choked on his coffee, slamming down the mug. "I mean- about time!"
"Boss, a scout paragoomba-"
"I have a name!" Hippity Hop corrected from some hall outside.
"-Yeah yeah. This mercenary showed up with .." Sentry 11 drummed against the Koopa King's desk excitedly. "The only freak with two first names. Mario Mario!"
"I know. Get him up. Both up actually."
The moment they ran out, someone burst his window out with a brick, cracking against a wall. The psychopath. It was inches from the Mario poster! He stomped to it, flames practically shooting out of his eyes at T. Yoshisaur in his red parched lawn, motor rally helmet held against his hip. Of course, with that cannon arm of his. Kamek still ranted to this day. He and three other chumps had a four rider bike. Goombario also shed the helmet, as did the poochy but not the abnormally large koopa in a trench coat. He tried to pry it off, failing. Oddly, Bowser began to sympathize. Those things weren't made for big folks.
"Why is Mario here?"
"Because, lizard, I 'kidnapped' him!" Bowser's baritone bounced off the volcanic ranges. He moved away, ending the exchange.
…
On the ground. Yoshi gulped hard. They used superstars to keep up with the Blue Falcon, always with the back thrusters in view, except when the invulnerable hand traps sprung out. While they strafe to avoid the crash, the shy guy traitor could not.
"We need back up," Goombario stressed as minions poured out of the castle.
Everyone got on the bike again to retreat, too sluggish without a power up and prime targets for bob-ombs on parachutes. After the back wheel was blown off, they were run ragged uphill, where the minions closed an electric gate behind them, locking them out of the courtyard.
"Are we, okay?" Yoshi dialed a number in between his pants. "You in particular, Mr. X. You aren't, I believe, an adventurer are you?"
Mr. X had to be satisfied with raising the visor on the helmet, revealing eyes as deep and red as they were unreadable. "Believe it or not T. Yoshisaur, I once was very much one-"
-The call connected. "Hello? Mario is kidnapped, Luigi!... You don't think that's actually a big dea-…No, Bowser isn't being ironic!"
…
A kingdom or two away, Luigi was inching forward through the loaded train, stealthily with his boo detection skills.. "We'll sniff it out asap," he said, losing it following and unexpected deceleration.
…
"I need 100 one blue coins for the poison I had to use."
The camo green shy guy, trying to play off how much his left shoulder hurt, quivered when Bowser shot out of his seat.
"YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO HURT HIM!"
"How else do you catch Mario?"
"How do you escape my dungeon? You don't! Take him out!"
Hammer bros dragged Spy Guy out, leaving the Koopa King with the red capped bearded plumber, silent, annoyed, and arms folded in the center of the room.
"Mario-?"
"How do I feel? Ha ha..." Mario droned, taking a few wobbly steps towards the trophy case. "All he put me through is so how I wanted the day to end." He took Bowser and swung him against the case, his spiky shell shattering the first level of glass. "Look, I am outta here, or else!"
"Can I say something?"
Mario sighed, taking his weight off the koopa. "There isn't anything you can possibly say right now and yet.. I'm listening because I'm stupid enough to care."
His slurred speech was convincingly venomous the same.
"No you're not! Come on!" Bowser argued. "I shoulda vetted more. Sorry."
"Keep going."
"Well…You always said to just kidnap you, though. Right?"
He sighed.
"Sorry again. I'll get to the point. I need to talk to you about Clawdia."
Mario fizzled somewhat. That was as treacherous a topic as Bob-omb Battlefield.
"The war going south for us shafted the elites like her into the peasant class. She was a cook at a camp I was running, overqualified, loved numbers and very particular about random stuff. She was super fair for instance. She sent gifts down to her cousins that were poorer, perfectly even in value. If not she'd send the difference in coins. That kinda stuff. Relevant to us though she had the discipline to ration the food. I was pissed off at first, but when my troop had the energy to hold squads off because we all ate I got the point. You know she could throw a spike ball better than a spike, too? Now, fast forward to my shotgun crowning. You heard me. They tried to hide it, I think not to sink or morale more, but they were so disappointed they were left with me."
"..That was messed up," Mario said, air thinning.
His heavy gaze was fixed on the plumber's boots, scorched from the crash. Darn. "Tell me bout it.. I said screw that. I'll do what I want. Clawdia and I eloped and my only regret then was that Dad never got a chance to yell at me over making the 'wrong' choice. It's like this, Mario." He paused, before pressing on. "I was a doofus last night. Here's my do-over."
The Koopa King closed the distance, almost lounged, for a kiss before he could talk himself out of it. The softness of his beard brushing his snout, and the warmth from the human's hands flowing around his collar to the scales beneath, the rare opportunity to comb through the plumber's slick hair.. With the ambient temps in the nineties, Bowser had a case of the chills.
"C-can I say something?" Mario pulled back.
The roles switched, Bowser nodded gently, intently studying the plumber's reddened face.
"Bowser. I like you too. Alot. It's just, you did have a point last night. Maybe we shouldn't rush this right now. What's causing this?"
The poignant question shook Bowser out of his blank stare. He faintly made his way to this desk again. "That meditation thing! I'm the same age my dad was when was murdered, if that's not the time to gather yourself.. "
Mario sat on the edge of it. "I get that, but we can't elope if that's where you were going."
He shrugged casually. "I thought maybe I'd convince ya if we went somewhere romantic, like the Rainbow Cruise."
Cute, fine he'd give him that, alas, he slid off the desk and drifted away. "Bowser.. It's.. still a 'not now' for me."
Bowser waited until he was over a certain spot and then slapped a button. "I'm kidnapping you unironically then!"
His new and improved layer's chandelier dropped right on Mario, tangling him up before it lifted him to the ceiling again. Meanwhile lava guzzled out of the ducts for the fountain, filling the space.
"You cannot be serious right now!" the plumber growled.
Without an answer, Bowser left the throne, everything a blur. Though he didn't throw such a fit back there, in his mind the walls peeled, the floor crumbled, and the roof disintegrated. What was coiled in him all along, it snapped. He saw himself from the outside, zombied, unsure how he got down a floor with the crone and that old tube radio in the hallway.
"Dearie," Kammy began, dismayed "there's word of a train accident not too far-"
The Koopa King swatted the antique away.
Like he cared. Trainwreck would better describe his heart.
To be continued. One. Last. Time. I swear.
Author note: And the title of the next one is in the air at the moment. Still, what you were waiting for! No really, it's already done except tiny bits here and there so hopefully it's out before August is over.
-Here comes a super belated and random aside from me. Hippity Hop the paragoomba was named after the Challenge mode of Mario Super Starbaseball. When you have none of the missions for paragoomba the nickname is 'Hippety-Hop'. Yeah, misspelled all along (or rather they altered the spelling and I did it the traditional way) because in the initial chapter that character is named I was going off of pure memory. Only during this one was I watching an old LP and saw it again. D'oh.
Created: 3/9/23 3/11/23(real start) 3/12/23, 3/16/23, 3/18, 3/21, 3/24- 3/30- 4/5- 4/12- 4/27 - 5/9, 5/20 , 5/21- 5/29- 6/6- 6/14, 6/16- 6/19, (break) 7/13, 7/17- 7/21, 7/24
(note the pre June dates are really drafts and ideals that don't exist anymore. Consider the date beyond that the real ones for what you're actually reading)
