Chapter 3: The Millennium Door
"This is my professor's house. We can get answers here." Goombella assured them.
She opened the door and showed them a room lined with books and reading material.
"Rapture…" Double D was speechless upon entering the room.
It felt as though he had entered a library.
Hopefully not one set by the Kanker Sisters again.
"Whuzzah? Who's there? Who wants me?" A voice coming from the desk asked.
He turned around. It was another Goomba, only this one male, and much older with strange looking glasses.
"Would you be Goombella's professor?" Nazz asked.
"Who?" The elderly Goomba asked.
"Huh? …yes, I am a professor. …"
"Oh, hi! There you are! Professor Frankly!" Goombella said happily.
"…ah, Yes. You. Now, you, uh..." He said, looking at Goombella. "I've seen that face before... Yes, that face..."
Goombella was about to speak when the professor silenced her. "Wait for it... Just a moment... Don't tell me, now! Silence! I'll get it right!"
Double D and Nazz glanced at each other, wondering if this Goomba was a bit…senile.
"Umm... It's not Goombriel..."The Professor spoke, looking like he was thinking really hard. "Err... It's not Elizagoom...Hrrrmmmm... Errrmmm... A-HAAA! I've got it! You're Goombella, aren't you? You were in my archaeology class last year, am I right?"
"Wow, yes, sir! That's me! I'm Goombella a junior at U Goom! Goooo GOOMBAS!" Goombella said happily and then cheered.
"Of course, I remember you. Not to toot my horn, but I'm pretty good at remembering." The professor boasted.
'Not the impression I was getting.' Double D and Nazz thought with dry looks.
"You, though... You stick out in my mind because you were such an exceptional student. You may call me Professor Frankly." The Professor said kindly.
"Man, do we have a lot of questions." Goombella said.
"Which are?"
"First off, can you help out these two?" Goombella directed him to Nazz and Double D.
"Ah, humans. You don't see much of those around here." He spoke. "But as of late, I have seen quite a few humans as of late."
"Like who? Did they leave there names?" Nazz asked excitedly.
"I don't remember their names, but they were all adults." Frankly answered.
"Those must have been the other lost sailors we heard about." Double D mused, bringing a hand to his chin.
"Lost sailors?" Frankly asked.
"I am Edward, and this is Nazz. We're from a different world, but we got sent here, and separated from our other friends. We think they are somewhere around here." Double D quickly explained.
"Quite a story." Frankly said. "That's quite a mystery. How did you get here?"
"Still not entirely sure." Nazz responded.
"Well, I'm not sure what I can do for you." Frankly said.
"Thanks for your help." Double D said with a disappointed tone.
"Oh, and Professor, I found a great key to the legend we are researching." Goombella said.
"A key? Good, like what?" Frankly asked.
"This map here." she grabbed the map by her mouth and placed it on his desk.
"Oh my… this is a map to the Thousand-Year Door!" Frankly shouted.
"So, the legend does exist!" Goombella said.
"There's a legend behind this door you keep speaking of?" Double D asked, getting interested again. "Please, tell me!"
"There was once an ancient city. However, it suddenly sank into the earth for unknown reasons and its people vanished. Nobody could explain why. Anyway, it's said there's a great treasure down there, behind a large door. The door was the entrance to the city palace, making up one fourth of the entire city. And now, we have a map telling us where that door is." Frankly explained the legend.
"Intriguing." Double D said, rubbing his chin. "An underground ruin."
"Maybe Peach went down there." Goombella said to Mario.
"Well, let's go investigate this door!" Frankly said, excited about the new find.
They all walked outside the house. Frankly reached a fence and ripped it off revealing a large pipe leading underground.
"I suppose this is where we part." Double D said to Goombella.
"You're leaving? Why?" she asked.
"We have to find our friends. They could be in danger. Sorry, but we don't have time to go treasure hunting." Double D said.
"Think about it, you two. If you leave now, you'll be alone in a dangerous town with nothing but a damaged old ship in the harbor." she said.
"Besides, guys." Mario interjected. "We could-a-find your friends during our investigation."
"Thanks, but it wouldn't be right for us to impose this on you during your own crisis." Double D said.
"Double D, I'll go with them, then. They may need our help anyways." Nazz said.
"Fine, count me in as well." Double D said. He didn't want to be left alone.
"Good, now that's that, let's go underground and find this door!" Frankly said. He jumped into the pipe.
Double D and Nazz grimaced.
"You mean you expect us to jump into that sewage pipe?" Nazz asked, shocked.
"Relax." Goombella said as Mario jumped in. "It's called a warp pipe. It just takes us somewhere else." she jumped in as well.
"…ladies first." Double D offered.
Nazz sighed, then dove down the pipe. Double D took a breath, then jumped down…
First, there was darkness, then Double D saw some light and the next thing he knew he fell onto solid ground. He got up slowly and saw the others standing nearby. They had warped into an underground chamber filled with ancient houses.
"Okay, according to the map, there should be a way down further." Goombella said, looking at the map.
"Right then, there's-a probably another pipe in here." Mario said.
In a single file line, they followed Mario. It wasn't long before they found a set of stairs, where about three more goombas waited.
"Hey, baby!" One of them said, directing its attention to Goombella. "What's a chick like you doin' with an old guy and humans?"
"What's it matter?" She asked defensively.
"Have you met?" Nazz asked Goombella.
"Never." She replied, before turning back to the three goombas.
"You pretty thing, come back with us. We can head back to my place and-"
"Oh, don't make me sick." Goombella said, pretending to gag herself. Nazz laughed a little.
"Oh, cold babe. Come on boys. If she won't come with us, we'll take her." one of the goombas said.
"More threats? Sorry, but you are very danger prone." Double D noted to her.
Mario suddenly grabbed his hammer, then proceeded into hitting one of them. It fell back, but the other two readied for attack.
"Those two are different. Perhaps different species?" Double D asked.
"The one with the spike is called a Spike Goomba. You can't jump on it, you need to hit it. And the one in the air is a Paragoomba. You have to jump, because it's too high in the air otherwise." Frankly filled them in.
"Okay." Nazz said.
Goombella jumped into the air and landed on the flying one, grounding him. That still left the spiked one.
"Can you give us a hand?" Goombella asked Nazz and Double D.
Double D shyly walked a setback. He knew he was too weak to put up a fight with his own fists.
"How about this?" Nazz ran ahead and gave the last Goomba a quick punch. It fell as well.
"Where did you learn that?" Double D asked Nazz.
"A babysitter's gotta know this stuff." Nazz responded with a smile.
"There, can we move forth?" Frankly asked.
They left and found another pipe.
"Are you sure it's acceptable to just leave those guys back there?" Double D asked, rather concerned for them.
"They'll be okay." Mario said. "Don't-a-worry."
"Man." Nazz said quietly to Double D. "This guy's really got a cheesy accent."
They reached a chamber when the traveled through another pipe.
Mario led the team through the pathway. Though he stopped abruptly causing all 5 to collide amongst each other.
"Why'd you stop?" Nazz asked.
"This is a fake wall." Mario said, directing them to yellow wall with two carvings made to look like eyes.
"There's probably something hidden beyond it." Double D said.
Mario readied his hammer and slammed it down on the wall it shattered, revealing another pipe beyond it. They all nodded, and then jumped into it again. This time, they found themselves in a larger chamber, and a set of stairs nearby. On their way up, Mario suddenly tripped.
This time the others did not collide.
"What's this?" Mario asked, holding up a key.
"My, what a nice artifact!" Double D looked at it. "Remnants of an ancient society, and a ruins city, this is all incredible!"
"You certainly seem to have quite a knack for archaeology. You would make a fine student at U-goom." Frankly said.
"You would." Goombella backed up his statement.
"Thank you." Double D said. They proceeded up to the top of the stairs and into another chamber, one with a black chest in it.
"A treasure chest!" Frankly said. "We're not even there and we have already found treasure. Shall we open it?" He was about to open the box when it shook.
"Anyone out there, save me!" a voice said from inside the chest.
"What the-" Nazz started but was interrupted.
"Thank goodness! I've been locked in here for what feels like an eternity." The voice said. "You see, I was trapped in here waiting until legendary heroes would come and unlock this chest."
"We have a key. Maybe we're the heroes?" Goombella asked.
"Yes, please unlock this!" the person in the chest said. Frankly stepped back, but the other four opened the chest. Suddenly, the voice shouted: "FOOLS!"
"What?" Double D asked.
The next thing they knew, they were surrounded by darkness, and a set of glaring eyes.
"You fools fell for my trap, and now you will ALL suffer. Be cursed!" The voice shouted.
There were blinding flashes.
"What did you do to us?" Goombella asked.
"It's not much, just an everlasting curse!" The voice said. "Now, whenever you come into contact with an airplane panel, you will instantly be transformed into a paper airplane!"
They all raised their eyebrows.
"When you turn into one, you will instantly take flight, and when you touch the ground, you shall transform back. How do you feel becoming as insignificant as a paper plane? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha …" the laughter continued until it vanished, and the room returned back to normal.
"…okay." Nazz said simply, not sure if she should be worried or not. "Could this place be any weirder?"
"Was that a curse, or a granting of special ability?" Double D asked.
"…Right then, let us head to the door." Frankly said. They all walked back into the last chamber and noticed something they didn't see before. On oddly colored decoration on the ground looking like a plane.
"A plane panel. If we touch it, we will turn into paper airplanes." Nazz said.
"Maybe we can use that to our advantage. See over there?" Goombella asked.
They looked over to a platform across the chamber risen off the ground with a pathway leading elsewhere.
"There, if we can fly over to that door from here, then perhaps we may find the door." Goombella said.
"I'll try this first." Mario offered. He stood on the panel.
Just then, they noticed all sorts of strange twisting he did, and in seconds, a paper airplane existed, taking flight in the air and across the room. He landed on the platform and instantly turned back.
"Okay, who's-a-coming?" He called from the platform.
"Fine." Goombella said.
She ran on and did the same, landing near Mario.
Double D went next. He felt all sorts of strange feeling when he was transforming, though it didn't hurt. After a shaky flight, he landed and turned back to human. Soon they all crossed and entered the next room. They were stunned at the sight they beheld.
"The Thousand-Year Door!" Frankly shouted. "It's all true, it does exist!"
They were in a large chamber that looked pristine compared to the ruins they had journeyed through to get here with white stone making up the floor, walls and ceiling. What was truly breathtaking was the massive grand looking door on the far-right wall. Etched on the door were golden lines with seven star symbols with one on the top and three traveling down the sides of the door.
"This is incredible!" Double D said. "I mean, the architecture, the design! It's magnificent!"
They all stood for about a minute all in awe of the magnificent sight before their very eyes.
"To think of what may have occurred in here 1000 years ago…" Goombella said.
"Hey dudes, what's that?" Nazz asked, pointing at something in the center of the chamber.
Their attention directed to a podium in front of the door.
"Hm… Mario, I have an idea." Goombella stated, walking up to the podium. "Stand on this."
"Why?" Mario asked.
"I'll explain later." Goombella responded.
Mario agreed and stood on the podium. Silence filled the room for a few seconds.
"Hold up the map, Mario." Frankly broke the silence.
Mario didn't fully understand why, but he held up his map. Suddenly, everything around it started to glow. The floor began to magically etch glowing ancient symbols on itself. The area surrounding the podium had by now erupted into light, and all of it seemed to be coming from Mario's map.
"Professor, what's happening?" Goombella peeped.
They starred in awe of the lights appearing, as if magic itself was filling the room. It lasted for quite a while and was bright enough for everyone to cover their eyes. Finally, the light and glowing symbols faded away. They looked at Mario, who stood on the podium examining his map.
"What's this?" He asked.
A new mark had appeared on his map. Though new to the area himself, could not determine where it located.
"Men and women, I suggest we return back to my house and examine this map." Frankly suggested.
"Agreed professor." Double D nodded.
They all returned to the house. Frankly had a magnifying glass and examined the map cautiously while the others watched him.
"Well?" Goombella asked.
"It marks a place called Petal Meadows." Frankly said. "It's a place that has come up now and again in my research. I believe it may contain a Crystal Star."
"A Crystal Star? It sounds kinda pretty." Nazz commented. "But if you don't mind, what is a crystal star?"
"They are stars with incredible magic power. I speculate they very important concerning the Thousand-Year door. I have heard there is a total of seven. I also read that they have something to do with opening the door, sort of like seven keys." Frankly said.
"This is very astounding." Double D said. "And we have a map leading to unspeakable hidden secret." he was overwhelmed about the events that had occurred during the last few hours.
"Mario, perhaps Peach found this out? Perhaps she is there." Goombella suggested.
"I seriously-a-hope." he turned to Nazz and Double D. "I-a-know you have been through quite a traumatic experience… but I encourage you two to come along. You may just find your friends along the way."
"I will do whatever I can!" Double D said confidently. "I will never let an entire kingdom fall to it's knees because of a missing princess. I will help protect your kingdom, just as you have protected me before."
"I will help too." Nazz said, walking closer to him. He blushed a little.
"Well, one more thing I wanted to say before you start your grand quest." Frankly said. "Actually two. First of all, I need to mention something about the map. Observe how it is glowing." Frankly commented. They looked and saw it was indeed illuminated.
"What does this mean?" Goombella asked.
"I think it means that Mario has gained a new ability." Frankly said. "Try holding the map over your head."
Mario agreed and held up the map. Suddenly, he noticed he was holding smaller stars in his hand. Out of nowhere, it seemed to be falling pictures. Some were of white flowers, while others had pictures of Mario, Goombella, Nazz and Double D.
"What on Earth?" Double D asked.
"Double D, you forgot. We're not on Earth anymore." Nazz said, but he didn't notice the comment.
It seemed from the start of his arrival in this new world that he was fascinated by everything he saw.
Mario took one of the stars he had and threw it at the falling icons. It hit an icon of Goombella. Goombella gasped as she glowed for a second, then stopped.
"That felt kinda good." She smiled.
"I believe this must be a healing spell." Frankly said. "Whose icon you hit is the one who is heals."
More icons fell. This time, he hit a flower icon.
"What's that do?" Nazz asked.
"Flower power, or something similar, is sort of like your shared magic power. The more you collect as a team, the more you can unleash in an attack." Frankly said.
"We can harness magic power?" Double D asked, even more astounded.
"Just about anyone can in this dimension." Frankly said.
Mario aimed at it another icon, but this time his hit a green-colored mushroom icon.
"What?" He asked. His hand stopped moving. He felt paralyzed.
"Mario?" Goombella asked, worried.
"That's called a poison Mushroom. If you hit it's icon, you apparently become temporarily paralyzed for a second or two." Frankly said.
Mario sighed in relief when feeling returned to his hand. Then the icons stopped falling.
The map also stopped glowing.
"What? Did we use up the power of the map already?" Double D asked as he saw it was no longer glowing.
"Hm…" Frankly thought. As time passed by and they started to pace, it started glowing.
"There we are." Frankly said, concluding his thought. "I feel that the more you people move, or in a battle's case fight, the more energy it builds up."
"So, what do we call this new-magic-icon-raining move of ours?" Goombella asked.
"I believe I heard of this very spell, called Sweet Treat." Frankly explained. "Now, you four should head to Petal Meadows."
"What, you don't wish to come on our expedition?" Double D asked.
"I must continue to research the door here where I can examine it properly. Besides, I am too old for that sort of thing." Frankly answered.
"Understood." Double D said. "Well Mario, shall we go? I do believe we have a star to find and a princess to save!"
"Hold on one more thing to say." Frankly said. He held out at item.
"What is that?" Double D asked.
"A badge. The power smash badge. It increases the power of a hammer at the cost of flower power." Frankly said.
"Right, if this is the case, then Mario should wear it." Double D said. "After all, it is he who wields the hammer."
"I-a-thank you all." Mario said politely to his new friends.