Chapter 19: A Whole New Fight

"Way to go, little dude!" Nazz said to Eduardo Jr.

"Eh, it was kinda easy." Eduardo Jr. said proudly.

"Sirs and madam." Jolene said to team Eduardo. "Here is your pay." She gave Double D 10 coins. "Now, please come with me. We are going to make your accommodations in the major league room."

"Well, it's been real guys." Nazz said to other minor leaguers.

"Good luck with your BOMB quest thing." Master Crash said.

"Whatever." Cleftor said, turning away.

"We'll see you in that locker room soon enough." Goombella said.

"You can count on it." Koops said.

Team Eduardo said their goodbyes and departed the minor league locker room with Jolene. She led them down the hallway to Grubba's office.

"Ah, Jolene." Grubba greeted the team as they entered. "How are the new major leaguers doing?"

"We're fine." Double D said.

"So, I'll just switch you to 10th in ranking… okay, we're done. Oh, and here's a little prize for ya!" Grubba handed Double D 40 coins.

"Thank you, sir." Double D said gratefully.

"Now, please lead them to the major league room, Jolene?"

"Yes sir." Jolene straightened her glasses and departed left the room with the team.

This time, she led them to the room they saw earlier, a much more clean locker room.

"This is better." Double D commented.

"Thank you. Now, I must be going." Jolene said, walking out of the locker room.

"So?" Eduardo Jr. asked. "Ready to reserve another match?"

"Yes, I believe we can fight again!" Double D nodded.

"Hm… okay, we're in." Nazz eagerly agreed.

"Hey!" A loud voice called from the halls, followed by footsteps. "Stud coming through!"

The door opened revealing Rawk Hawk, champion of the Glitz Pit.

"There!" Double D said, pointing. "The belt he has, has that Crystal Star!"

"Hey! I heard of some rising stars ripping through the leagues!" Rawk shouted.

"That would be us." Nazz said, getting his attention.

He turned to see Team Eduardo. "You're the rising team? HA HA HA HA HA!"

"Don't you laugh! We have bested many of the contestants, and we will best you when that moment comes!" Rolf pointed at Raw Hawk.

"Please, you five wimps are so scrawny!"

"When we may lack in strength we make up for in brains!" Double D said, pointing to his head.

"Oh?" Rawk grabbed him by the hat.

Double D held onto his hat and was lifted off the ground.

"I'll be watching you, punk. You can count on it." Rawk said.

"Hey guys." Eduardo Jr said, who was right next to Rawk and looked right at his belt. "This isn't the Crystal Star."

"Hey! Keep your mitts off my belt!"

"This star is a fake. It's too small to fit your description."

"What star? This is the champ's belt, not some jewelry! I'm gone!" Rawk said, releasing Double D so he fell on his back.

"Eduardo was right. The champ's belt is just that." Double D said, having gotten a good look at the belt while being held up by Raw Hawk. "But if we have been battling for a measly champ's belt, then where is the real one?"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Double D, what was that?" Jimmy asked.

"I think… it was my laptop." Double D said.

The rest of the team sat on a nearby bench as Double D pulled out his laptop and propped it down. He woke it from sleep mode and connected to the internet.

"It appears I just got an Instant message." Double D said and looked at the typed message. "Oh, whoever it was clearly doesn't understand how capitalization works."

The message said: "iF yOu WaNt ThE cRyStAl StAr, HeEd My InStRuCtioNs. FrOm X."

"Why did someone type like that?" Double D sighed.

"X? I wonder who that could be?" Nazz said.

"Whoever it is clearly knows about the Crystal Star. The question is whether or not to trust this person." Double D said.

"I think we should trust the dude." Eduardo said. "If the star you dudes keep talking about is so important, then this is probably your only lead."

"He-who-was-hatched is correct. The one called X is our only lead." Rolf added in.

"Very well. While we wait for this 'X' to message us again, we should reserve our next match." Double D walked over to the monitor.

"What's the point of fighting now we know that it's not for the star?" Nazz asked.

"We're under contract. We must." Double D said and wrote a response to the message.

"Very well, we agree. Allow me to return to you after this next match. From, Eduardo." He used his Glitz pit name. He then returned back to the monitor to arrange a match.

"I'll finish this off!" Eduardo Jr. ran up to one of the enemies and stuffed it in his mouth, then spat it out and they both collided.

"Team Eduardo wins!" Grubba shouted, pointing to the cheerful group.

"Ha! How's the floor taste?" Eduardo jr asked.

They all shook hands and returned to the major league locker room after a successful fight.

"Here's your money." Jolene handed Double D 11 coins. "Your ranking has risen to 8. I must leave now, excuse me."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Double D opened his laptop and saw a new message. He examined it and turned back to the group.

"It's from X. It says to go to the 'watering hole.'"

"Okay, let's get down there." Nazz said.

The Team departed the locker room and headed down. They walked down the hallways and into the lobby. They ran for the door, but Nazz abruptly stopped them.

"Hey guys…" Nazz said. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but the lowest ranking team is at 20. It should be 21."

She pointed to the hologram projecting machine, showing the tourists the list of the ranking teams and schedules for some fights.

"Wait a moment, you're right!" Double D said. "Look! Bandy Andy and King K have been written off the list of fighters.

"I understand why Andy isn't here. He's probably given up after losing his whole team. But King K?" Jimmy gave the floating list a raised eyebrow.

"I heard once he said he was going to retire." Eduardo Jr. said. "When I was still in the egg."

"But he said before he would that he would look for Bandy at 6 am this morning. Even if he found him, I am assured the retirement process wouldn't be as quick as that." Double D said. "He would have to sign more than enough papers."

"How ironic. He-who-suspects goes to discover the whereabouts of missing battalion only to become absent himself." Rolf said.

"This isn't right… but we need to worry about them later. We have to head for the Juice bar." Double D said.

"Hey, what can I do for you?" The owner of the Juice bar asked when he saw five people rush in completely exhausted.

"We… are… looking for one… who calls himself X." Double D spoke, trying to regain his breathe.

"Hm? Ah yes, someone left a package by the door earlier, claiming to be simply 'X.' This X person asked me to give this to you when you came."

"I wonder what this could be?" Double D wondered, opening the wrapping around it. Inside appeared to be a mallet, similar to the hammer Mario carried.

Only this was made of stone and looked much more strong then Mario's wooden hammer.

"This hammer looks very intriguing." Double D said. "We could use this out on the arena."

"I'll take that!" Jimmy said. He needed a weapon better than the staff he managed to take from Boggly Woods earlier.

"Ah. A HAMMER WHACKA 5000 version 2.0. Very good quality. Very expensive too." The owner of the Juice bar said.

"I wonder why X gave us this hammer?" Eduardo Jr. asked.

"Oh, did you also know of it's new ability?" The manager asked. "If you spin it, it can break through larger, more durable items.

"Hm…" Jimmy said. "I guess we can try this Super Hammer out on the field, so-to-speak."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Uh, what now?" Nazz groaned.

Double D opened his laptop and awakened it from sleep mode again.

Double D sighed on seeing the bad capitalization, then read it out loud: "Smash the Blockade in the minor league locker room. From X."

"So, we're off then?" Jimmy asked, balancing himself on his new hammer.

"Guys, one question?" Jimmy asked when they were in the hallway where the entrance to the minor league locker room was. "How are we going to get in there? Security won't let us through."

As if on cue, and great fortune for Team Eduardo, Jolene entered the hallway.

"Officer?" Jolene asked the guard clocking the entrance. "I require your assistance. I need you to come and check the storage room with me. …Grubba's orders."

"Yes Jolene." He said, walking away from the door, leaving it unguarded.

"Okay, now." Nazz said and they walked into the room.

"'Oy!" Master Crash greeted them.

"What do you want?" One of the two harriers asked.

Since they lost to team Eduardo, they has fallen into 11th, and resided in the minor leagues.

"Mind your business." Nazz scolded them.

They also noticed another new fighter in the room. It was a bat, a purple-colored bat, who looked a bit timid.

"Hey, where's Mario?" Jimmy asked.

"Mario? You mean Gonzales? He's out in the BOMB arena." Master Crash responded.

"We don't have much time." Double D said. "There's the blockade."

Double D directed Jimmy to a strange looking yellow block on the wall.

"Got it." Jimmy grabbed his hammer and spun it until the yellow wall shattered before them.

SMASH!

"Good, give the yellow block brutality!" Rolf shouted.

"Rolf, calm down, dude." Eduardo said, trying to get him to chill.

They walked into the new passageway.

"…hm? What's this?" Double D picked up a paper. "I don't fully understand all of the machinery in this dimension, but I am willing to bet that this definitely has something to do with the crystal star."

"Excuse me?" A female voice asked from behind the group, making them turn to face her.

"Jolene?" Double D asked.

"I believe you belong in the major league locker room." She approached them while they remained speechless.

"What is this?" Jolene asked when she saw the paper Double D said.

"It's nothing." Double D said in a foolish attempt to hide it.

"Give it here. Sorry, but I will have to confiscate this." She took the paper and stuffed it in her pocket. "Please return to your proper room, please."

Before they could say anything else, she walked out of the room.

"Perfect!" Eduardo Jr shouted. "That could have been our only clue about the star!"

"We need to return to our room. I think we need to reserve another match. I'm not sure how, but the higher or matches, the higher chances we have of finding this star once and for all. Let's go." Double D said.

They nodded and proceeded out of the room.

"Mario!" Double D shouted.

He and his team had walked into the Major league locker room to find Mario and his team inside as well.

"That's right. It's-a-me!" Mario said.

"We finally became major leaguers." Flurrie sighed.

"Listen, Mario. I have to tell you about a contact I had earlier today." Double D said and explained to them of the mysterious 'X' who claimed to know where the real Crystal Star was.

"X? This dude sounds, like, not to be trusted." Goombella said once Double D was done.

"I know whoever X is sounds a bit fishy, be now we don't have a choice." Double D said.

"Okay. We got to follow this guy's instructions, right?" Koops asked.

"Yes. Now, in order to prevent panic, we need to keep fighting in the arena. I propose we alternate. When my team is out in battle, you will be investigating this 'X'. When you go up, we'll resume the search. We can cover more ground and time like that." Double D stated.

"Agreed. Go into your fight, we'll take things from here." Koops said.

Double D and his team nodded and returned to the monitor to set up a fight.

"Oh, Team Eduardo! I see that you have come for yet another match. Y'all have been rising very fast! Okay, let's see. You will face, ranked 7 in the pit… the Shell Shockers! Okay, in this fight, I want you to end this in 3 turns. We don't want this thing going on forever." Grubba said. "Security will come to pick ya up in 5."

"Hm… that would be me." A Koopa walked towards them with his team. He had a blue shell and slightly darker skin, and his team looked the same, tough otherwise Identical to the KP Koopas.

"Good luck before the competition." Double D said, holding out his hand for a shake.

The leader of the Shell Shockers shook it without a verbal response.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a match of the rising stars, Team Eduardo. They will be against the Shell Shockers." Grubba said.

"Prepare for defeat." The leader of the shockers said.

"Right back at ya." Nazz said.

"Now let's BATTLE!" Grubba started the match.

"Alright, we have three turns and there are three of them. Remember the plan, take them out one-per-turn." Double D said.

"Got it." Jimmy said on behalf of the others.

Double D started by running to the one in the front and jumped before he struck it. As he landed, he slammed his rod onto its head. The force knocked it over on its back.

"Alright, we knocked it down into immobilization. Change of plans, attempt to do so with the other two."

"Right." Nazz said. Rolf ran ahead and struck the next one in line, knocking it on its back as well.

"We need to knock the flying one onto the floor." Double D said.

"I got it." Nazz said.

In her agile way, she did some special, complicated move and leapt high into the air, landing on the flying one. The force knocked it down. Jimmy got his cue right then, and ran ahead, though slower than Nazz. He used his hammer to hit the last Koopa on its shell. Eduardo Jr. brought up the rear by slamming himself on the first one knocking it out of the fight.

"Alright! They're all down on the floor, so they can't attack." Double D said.

He suddenly realized that they were all spinning on the floor.

"What on earth?" Double D asked, stunned to see them moving.

Dust picked up as they spun, until they could not see them. At last, he got a visual when they were spiraling at them.

"Brace yourselves!" Double D shouted.

In a line, they hit all five of them, one by one. Afterwards, they were all on the floor. They each got up, though very weak.

"Why could you move?" Double D asked breathlessly.

"We trained ourselves for battle for years. Now, if we are on our shells, we can hit you with an even more powerful attack. You set your own doom."

"Eduardo, what do we do?" The little yoshi asked.

"Beat them, now!" Double D said. "Jimmy!"

Jimmy nodded with a gleam in his eye. They ran at one of the remaining shockers with their rod/hammer as they approached. It was still on the floor, and unable to shield himself, and thus took the hit from both, instantly falling out of the battle.

"HIYA!" Nazz shouted as she ran to the last one, kicking it and forcing it out of the fight.

"Team Eduardo wins!" Grubba shouted.

"Not so fast!" A voice shouted.

They looked and saw the Armored Harriers entering the ring.

"Oh, what now?" Double D asked.

"WHOA!" Grubba shouted, over-excitedly. "What's this!"

"You're gonna pay!" They shouted as they jumped on the arena and strait for the weak Double D.

"Rolf shan't let these scandals hurt you!" Rolf jumped in the way… and took the hit himself. He fell on the floor in pain.

"Rolf!" Double D shouted, kneeling at his side and looking at him. He didn't respond.

Double D boiled with rage and looked at the harriers. "We accept your challenge."

"Good. Now we can take you down for the fraud that you are!" One of them said.

One of them attacked Double D again, but this time, nobody could take the hit… not even Double D. He fell on the floor beside Rolf and lost consciousness…

"Is he okay" Double D thought he could hear voices around him. He could make out who was saying them, or where he was.

"He's fine."

"No, did you see the way he got hit back there. He took it worse them Rolf did."

Double D woke slowly and saw his team and Mario's team around him in the locker room.

"He's awake!" Nazz said, hugging him.

"Easy! He may still be hurt!" Mario said.

"What occurred to me?" Double D asked.

"You took a hard blow to the head." Koops said.

"Will he be okay?" Eduardo Jr. asked.

"I'll be fine."

"What a relief." Flurrie let out a deep sigh.

"You had us all scared there." Goombella said.

"What happened after I passed out?" Double D said.

"Well, you and Rolf where out of the fight, leaving Nazz, me and Eduardo Jr. to fight alone." Jimmy said.

"I took 'em on." Eduardo jr said. "I think that Grubba will give it to them."

"They will-a likely be kicked out of the Glitz pit after that." Mario said.

Beep. Beep.

"That's my laptop." Double D said.

"Maybe another message from X?" Nazz suggested.

Double D shuddered. "No. It says, Keep sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, and you are D-E-A-D M-E-E-T." Double D's voice was nervous. "It's a threat."

"From who?" Nazz asked.

"There's no name." Double D said.

"Man, sound like you got it tough." Eddy said.

After the day of fighting, they returned to Eddy's stand.

"Hey, where's that Mario and his homeys?" Eddy asked.

"…uh… the homeys are back in the Glitz Pit working on an 'X' lead." Double D answered.

"So, I missed the action. What ranking are ya in?" Eddy asked.

"1st." Double D said. Eddy gasped.

"So quickly! That means you can establish a Title Match!" Eddy said.

"I feel we are very close to the next star." Double D said.

"It's about time." Nazz said. "We've been here for, like, three days. I hope we can end this tomorrow and get the star so we can leave."

"Man, I need Ed." Eddy groaned. "With him missing and Double D on a quest, I've got no help around here!"

"If you come with us, we could find him." Double D told Eddy.

"I'm making millions and I'm not ditching this place just to find Ed!" Eddy said.

"Eddy…" Double D said, shocked. "You care about money more than your own friends?"

"Double D-" Eddy started.

"Come on. I know when we're not appreciated." Double D said and left.

The others had worried looked, but Nazz, Rolf, Jimmy, and Eduardo jr. left behind him.

Eddy sighed and looked down. "I'm no better off then when I started."

Double D couldn't sleep that night. He was worried about what would occur in the following day. It seemed too complicated. The hatching of Eduardo Jr, X, the Threat, the star, his newfound powers…

"Daddy?" a voice asked. Double D looked and saw Eduardo Jr. on his bed.

"I'm not your dad. I just found your egg." Double D said.

"And kept it safe until I hatched. You are like a father to me."

Double D didn't know how to take that. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"I'm nervous about this whole, 'Threat' thing you were talking about. It's creepy." Eduardo Jr. said with a worried look on his face.

"We'll be fine." Double D said, trying to calm down the little yoshi.

"Eh, you're right. My big, strong father will never let the bad-guys win! See ya in the AM." Eduardo Jr. walked in a circle on Double D's bed like a cat, then laid down and curled up, falling into his dreams.

"He's got the right idea. I can't worry about trivial events like that. Tomorrow will be the day this ends." He pulled himself under his sheets and slept as well.