Chapter 2: The Welcoming Committee
"Rougeport?" Nazz asked. "Never heard of this place."
"I personally don't like the name. It's probably best if we remain prepared for anything around here." Double D said, knowing from reading up on history that certain towns and harbors were too dangerous to be in.
Especially two suburban kids.
They jumped out of their boat. The new environment around them was rather uninviting, as opposed to Peach Creek. Judging by the name alone only suggested of a high crime-rate.
"Nazz can you help me for a second?" Double D asked. "I want to secure a rope, so we don't lose our ship."
"Sure." She replied.
Nazz jumped back in their partially damaged craft, then threw a rope over the side to Double D. He picked it up and began tying it to a nearby pole.
"I think I got it, come back up." Double D said once he was done.
She climbed back up.
"Thanks." Double D said to her.
Double D still couldn't believe that he was alone in this new place… alone with her.
Just then, he noticed the knot was starting to undo itself, and the ocean was taking their boat.
"My knot!" Double D said.
"Ahoy, kid! You're doing it wrong!" a voice said.
They both turned and saw what appeared to be a bomb at first, but it had feet and eyes. It wore a hat with stripes and had an eye patch.
"What the?" Double D asked.
He had never seen that species before.
"Let's me show ya how a sailor ties a knot, landlubber!" The patched bomb creature began tying the rope in a new fashion.
"Double D, what is that?" Nazz asked.
"I have no idea…" Double D's mind was racing.
A whole new species, new things to document, new things to discover. He had almost forgotten entirely about being stranded.
"There's a knot." The patched bomb said.
"…thanks." Nazz said quietly. It was the only word she could manage to say.
"Hey kids, toughen up! This place is a lot more dangerous. I'm one of the more docile people here." The bomb said before walked away.
"Whatever that is it's right. We got to head for assistance." Nazz said, pointing down the dock.
They both walked cautiously down the dock. There, they saw even more bomb creatures, only these smaller and where blue colored. There where new creatures they saw too. They appeared to be mushrooms, with leg, arms, and faces.
"What is this place?" Nazz asked again.
"There's apparently more to Rogueport then meets the eye." Double D responded.
"Hey, we finally got ya!" A voice shouted suddenly.
Both turned to see a few more new creatures again. The first looked like men completely covered in overcoats and glasses with huge X's on their cloths, and another one looked like a mushroom, only this one was a tan-ish color and had no arm. It instead had a miner's hat and long yellow hair.
"What do you want?" The armless mushroom asked.
Her voice reminded Double D of Nazz's.
"I know this sounds hard for you, but don't play dumb! I heard you asked all over town about the crystal stars, but now I'm asking!" The tallest of the over coated creatures said.
"Never, I won't tell you, you creeps!" The armless one replied back.
"Okay boys, on the count of three, we say we ambush her." The tallest over coated one said.
"Stop it, I'll scream! I will!" The armless creature said back.
"Hey, lay off dudes!" Nazz shouted suddenly.
She had caught the attention of the group. Double D whimpered and stepped backwards.
"Nazz, we shouldn't get involved." Double D pleaded with her to stop before they got hurt.
The armless one saw the opportunity and ran behind Nazz and Double D.
"I'm not going to say anymore to you creeps." It said, sticking her tongue out.
"And who are you two to interfere with the high, almighty Lord Crump?" The over coated one asked, his voice loud, boisterous and condescending.
"So, you're name's Lord Crump?" Nazz asked.
"How did you figure that one out?" Crump asked sarcastically.
"Knock it off, jerk." Nazz said with a glare.
"Oh, well we're wasting time." Crump aid.
His minions quickly grabbed the armless creature and Nazz, pinning them down.
"So there, kid." Crump turned his attention to Double D, who was shivering in fear. "Care to taste my attack?"
"No! Have mercy!" Double D shouted, covering his eyes.
He was never one for physical violence, no matter how many times he might have been provoked.
"Hey!" Another voice with an Italian accent shouted.
They turned and saw a human this time, one in overalls and a red cap. He grabbed a hammer he had and rushed Crump with it, sending him flying.
"Man!" Nazz exclaimed, astounded at the power of his hammer.
"Ow…" Crump said, getting up. "Okay, no more of this foolishness. PUNISH THEM!"
A whole fleet of the over coated creatures surrounded them. They all began to attack, picking up dust and dirt to block their views. The armless creature escaped first.
"Guys, come over here!" she said.
The hammer-wielding human ran out of the fighting crowd. A second later, Nazz pulled the mortified Double D out of the ruckus.
"Come on, let's get the heck out of here." The armless creature said again.
They all nodded, they ran away from the wharf and into the town.
"Hey, stop!" Crump shouted, when he realized his minions were beating themselves up. "Where'd they go?"
He looked at his troops, checking them over.
"Yo there, Johnson!"
All of his minions tilted their heads.
"Crud, they bolted!"
They all ran until they could no longer run. Finally, they came to a halt in the town square.
"Man, that was close." the armless creature said.
"Okay, what is going on?" Nazz asked the creature.
"What do you mean?" the creature asked back.
"Me and my friend are lost. We were sailing with our friends, and we got shipwrecked here. Our other friends are missing!" Nazz explained.
"Well, you found a bad place to be shipwrecked in. This place isn't' safe, man." The armless creature said. "Gee, this whole time we never introduced ourselves. I'm Goombella." She introduced herself with a smile. "From the university of U-goom. I'm majoring in archeology."
"It's good to meet a well-educated person." Double D commented.
He held out a hand for a shake, but retaliated slowly in embarrassment when he remembered she had no arms.
"Um… I'm Edward, but you may call me Double D. This is Nazz." Double D said, politely gesturing to Nazz who smiled.
"And you are?" Goombella asked the other human.
"I'm-a-Mario." He said with a strong (cheesy) Italian accent.
His voice sounded unnaturally high-pitched.
"Mario? THE Mario, the famous Super Mario?" Goombella asked, an awestruck look appearing on her face. "Incredible!"
"I've never heard of you before." Double D said.
"Never heard of Super Mario before? Where are you from?" Goombella asked.
"Peach Creek." Nazz answered. "It's in the Southern Onondaga County of New York."
"New York? New York, Earth?" Mario asked. "I've-a heard of the place once while I used to live in Brooklyn."
"Yes…" Double D said, wondering what he meant by "Earth."
"You're-a in a new dimension. I don't-a know how, but you must have falling into some sort of portal." Mario explained.
"What?! No way!" Nazz shouted in disbelief.
"That would explain the new species. I'm starting to figure this out." Double D said, surprising Nazz and himself at how quickly he was agreeing with Mario no matter how ludicrous it sounded. "We got lost and went into the ocean. We probably impacted that place you were talking about earlier. The danger zone. Our ill-fated sailboat hit a dimensional portal or something similar to that extent. Now, we're stuck here."
Double D then paused and thought over what he had just said. "Goodness, that sounds like something Ed would say."
"I wonder, did our friends get sent here was well?" Nazz asked.
"Possibly." Goombella commented. "Granted, they could have been sent anywhere in this place. Or they could have fallen into oblivion." Mario elbowed her to note that she said the wrong thing.
"And wasn't there whole bunch of other ships that got lost in it, too? Didn't they get sent here as well?" Double D asked.
"So many questions. I'm afraid I haven't gotten an explanation for those. My professor might." Goombella said.
"Oh, that reminds me." she turned to Mario. "Why are you here?"
"Oh! I-a-got a message from Princess Peach through the mail that she found a treasure map. I came here to meet, but I haven't seen her yet." Mario answered.
"Let me see." Goombella asked.
Mario held the map in front of her, because she had no arms to hold it.
"OMIGOSH! No way! This is no ordinary map! It's a map to the Thousand Year Door! Holy-"
"What's the Thousand Year door?" Nazz asked, cutting the excited Goomba off.
"It's a place where a legendary treasure is said to be locked away in, deep underground." Goombella answered.
"Hoy there!" a voice said.
They saw another mushroom person walking towards them. Only this one was old and dressed in fancier wardrobe.
"Toadsworth?" Mario asked, apparently recognizing the newcomer. "Do you know where Peach is?"
"I was about to ask you the same thing." he said.
"This doesn't sound good. Where could she be?" Goombella asked.
"Perhaps, your 'Peach' merely became bored with waiting and went out to seek out the door herself." Double D suggested.
"Perhaps." Toadsworth agreed. "Well, I feel a little exhausted. Though as the Prime Minister of the Mushroom kingdom, I cannot leave the kingdom un-ruled, so I shall attend to the situation. Can you be so kind as to try to find Peach?"
"Yeah!" Mario shouted.
'Wow, this man's a bit eccentric.' Double D thought.
Toadsworth bowed and walked away.
"See ya, Mushroom creature." Nazz said, though Toadsworth did not hear.
"Oh yeah, you're new to this dimension. Those are called Toads." Goombella said. "I'm a Goomba, and those bomb guys down at the wharf are called Bob-bombs."
"And those guys with the X's. What are they?" Double D asked.
"I don't know." She answered, doing a Goomba impression of a shrug. "Like I said, maybe my professor can help. Let's go check it out with him."