Chapter 7: Millennium Door Revisited

"So, must you leave?" Koops's father asked.

They had all returned to Petalburg, to bid the residents farewell.

"Yes, I must." Koops told his father.

"Koops!" A feminine voice called to him before a female Koopa ran up to them.

"Koopie koo." Koops said, looking surprised.

"I just… wanted to see you off." She said.

"Koopie, I know you're concerned for me." Koops told her. "I have to do this, though. I will go with this team on their quest. And when it finally ends, I will return to this town as a new, stronger person."

"You already sound strong. I mean, you and your friends defeated the feared dragon Hooktail. I just want you to know…" Koops's father told him. "That for this you will forever have the love of your people here. Do not forget that. If you ever need to find comfort like that, you can always find it here."

"Don't worry about me." Koops said. "Well, I got to be going."

"Thank you, son, for everything you've done." his father said.

"I'll be waiting for you." Koopie kissed him softly, making him blush.

Everyone shared a smile, bidding the villagers one last good-bye and then left the village to return to Rogueport.

"Okay, now where do we go now?" Koops asked his new friends as they walked down the pathway back to the pipe.

"To the Thousand-Year Door." Goombella told him. "Part of the legend said: when you hold the crystal star at the millennium door, then on your map will you receive the location of the next. That's what it said, I think."

"Right." Double D said.

"So, what is this Thousand-Year Door of which you speak?" Rolf asked.

"It's this huge, cryptic door underneath a city with a huge treasure behind it." Nazz told him.

"Well, let's not waste time. To the Thousand-Year Door." Double D said.

Beep!

"Mario, what was that?" Nazz asked.

"Oh, it's my Mailbox SP!" Mario said. He took out a small electronic item and opened it.

"Dear Mario,

How are you? It's me, Princess Peach. I needed to tell you, I've been kidnapped by a strange group of people called X-nauts. I'm being held somewhere, but I'm in relative comfort. Well, that is aside from the annoyance of three sisters here who are called the Kanker sisters." Mario read the message aloud for his friends to hear.

Double D, Nazz and Rolf gasped.

"Three other captives, I'm afraid. But don't worry about me, I'm in fact, more worried about you. They're after the Crystal Stars, and you have the map, AND they know it. Please be careful."

"Well, good to hear at least she's okay. But man, she, like, got kidnapped!" Goombella exclaimed.

"Again." Mario added with a sigh.

"So, these kidnappers are called the X-nauts? And they have the Kankers?" Double D asked.

"What do they need them for?" Nazz asked.

Another beeping sound alarmed.

"What?" Koops asked.

"That's my laptop." Double D told them, taking it out and turning the system on.

Three emails popped up.

"Oh jeez, the Kankers emailed me, each of them. This first one if for… ahem, 'My boyfriend, Eddy.' The next one's for me from Marie, and this last one is for Ed. I'd better not read the ones addressed to Ed or Eddy." Double D then looked at the email sent by Marie.

To my muffin 2D,

Hey ya cutie, you!

Double D groaned. "When is she going to learn?"

"Who's that, your girlfriend?" Goombella asked.

"She's not, she just thinks she is." Double D sighed before continuing to read the message. "So, how ya doing, hottie? Okay, I guess this isn't the time to be talking about our relationship. I and my sisters… kinda got kidnapped. Man, this place is weird. And these freaks who kidnapped us, the X-jerks, or whatever… that said we come from the same "dimension" as a legendary hero, and that we might know this person. I still don't get what this means. You're the smart one, you explain to me, okay? Anyway, I'll just be in this place… wherever we are, waiting for my knight in shining Armor. That would be you, muffin. See ya later!"

"Legendary hero? Who was she talking about?" Nazz asked.

"No idea, but I'd best respond to her e-mail and explain the situation at hand." Double D answered.

"Well, now that we know where the creepy-girls are held captive, we should head for this door of which you speak and try to find those stars, maybe to save them, yes?" Rolf suggested.

Double D knew there was no other way around it. "Yes, we must."

"Where are we now, I've never been around this place before." Koops asked, looking around the rough neighborhood that was Rogueport.

"Below Rougeport." Goombella answered.

"And this is the area that holds your Thousand-Year Door?" Rolf asked.

"Yes." Mario told them.

They walked down the ruins of the ancient city. The place seemed quiet, as usual.

"Man, this place still gives me the chills." Goombella said.

"How?" Nazz asked.

"Well, the reason the place is like this is because it was destroyed by something creepy." Goombella said. "Like, there was pandemonium here, right where we stand."

"Yeah, I understand." Double D said.

"Look, we're-a-coming across the door." Mario pointed out.

"Wow." Koops said as they arrived at the site, where the huge door stood, with the podium in front of it.

"This door is larger than Double D-Ed boy's brain!" Rolf starred at it.

"Thanks Rolf." Double D didn't know to take that as a compliment or an insult.

"Yes, now hold that map of your over your head and show the way!" Goombella told him.

Mario nodded and stood on the podium. He held the map aloft. The same as before happened. Light shot out of the ground and walls, as ancient designs appeared on the surrounding floor.

"Son-of-a-Shepard!" Rolf shouted as he saw it occurring.

A ray of light shone on Mario's map, and when it all cleared, Mario got off and directed everyone to him.

"Hm… I see it's showing us the way, but where is that?" Koops asked.

"Let's head to Frankly's and find out." Nazz suggested.

"Who?" Koops asked.

"Hm… this is further difficult to say." Frankly told them after they returned to his house.

"Well, it looks like it's in a forest somewhere." Double D pointed out. "But why is the area of the forest on this map black and white?"

"Ah, I know where this place is now. It's called Boggly Woods!" Frankly answered. "Everything there is pretty much black and while colored."

"Right then, we need to go there." Koops finished.

"Yes, it looks so." Frankly agreed.

"Great, now that that's established, how the heck do ya get there?" Goombella asked.

"There's a warp pipe underground." Frankly told them. "There you shall find your way to the place known as Boggly Woods."

"Thank you." Mario said.

They waved goodbye and walked away from the house.

"So, should we head there right now?" Nazz asked.

"Actually, I'm not so sure about going there just yet." Double D said. "It's getting kind of late."

It was then that they saw the sun setting.

"Right. Let's-a head for the Inn and spend the night there. We will-a head for the woods first thing tomorrow." Mario said to them.

"Fine." Double D said.

They walked over to the town inn. They found some seats and sat down. The first floor of the Inn was a restaurant.

"I'm famished." Double D said.

"Hello, and welcome to Podley's." A man behind the counter said. "Here are your menus."

"What's a Shroom cake?" Double D asked.

"Oh, it's good!" Goombella told them.

"Fine, I'll have the Shroom cake." Double D told the man.

"I'll have a mushroom." Goombella ordered.

"That goes for me too." Nazz said.

"Just a Chuckola cola for me, thanks." Koops said.

"A pasta dinner with a side of mushrooms." Mario asked.

"And I shall consume the super mushroom." Rolf asked.

"Yes, right away." Podley said.

"Ohhhhh!" A voice shouted.

"What the-" Goombella asked.

They turned and saw a strange looking yellow creature with a rather large nose and a fancy shirt and a caption's hat with a feather on top. He was sitting at a table with a red skull gem on top. He started singing.

"Skull caption cast's his gaze! Red jewel shines and plays! Boomb-bassa-boom festival! The 'Stash brothers, best of Friends! 3 times Red 'Stash lands on his end! Blue 'Stashe's belly 4 times Is whacked, so let's hear Those fireworks go BOOM! At the boom-bassa-boom Festivaaaal!"

"….ow." Nazz said, removing her finger from her ear.

"Who's that?" Mario asked.

"Flavio, the rich entrepreneur of Rougeport." Goombella said. "But apparently not that smart."

"Eddy's got a lot to learn from this man." Double D said under his breath.

"Here you go." Podley said, giving them their orders.

"Hm…" Double D thought out loud.

By now it was 10 PM, and he was looking out of the window in the inn as his friends where asleep. It normally wasn't like him to break his own curfew hour, but he was too worried for the future.

"I wonder what's in Boggly woods? What trials lie ahead. Perhaps someone else from our group is within those woods." Double D thought. "I guess those answers will be explained later."