Chapter 3: To Petalburg!

We came close to the Thousand-Year Door, which we know now is a living legend. I didn't like this though. The very same door I saw in my vision was unsettling. Something like what I saw was sealed behind it.

Goombella examined a large pedestal in the center before the dodor. "What's up with this Pedestal Professor?"

"Maybe this is where the Crystal Stars are to be presented to the door to open it." He theorized. We came up to it as Maria climbed on top of the pedestal. Suddenly, a flash of light startled us as the pedestal glowed blue, revealing glyphs and markings. It showed seven circles in a ring fashion. Then Maria's pocket started to glow before the map flew out and unfolded. "My word…it's just as the book says…" he marveled as the map floated up higher. When the glow ended it floated down as Maria took it before a popup showed a blue palace.

We came up to see what happened. "Whoa, what was all hat about professor?" Goombella asked.

"Hmmmm…it appears that information related to the location of the Crystal stars appeared." He replied curiously. "Let's head back to my place to study the map closer." We gave a nod before we headed our way out.

It was sundown by the time we returned. Professor Frankley looked over the map before gasping. "Wow! Outstanding! This map has a radar-like function! It now shows the location of a Crystal Star!"

"Wow so the door activated that ability." Goombella commented.

"According to the map, the first Crystal Star is located in a place called Petal Meadows." The professor replied.

"Huh sounds peaceful compared to Rogueport." I spoke.

"It is. It's a place with vast meadows as far as the eye can see. It is located in the east section of Rogueport." The goomba man nodded. "Though I always thought that place was a bit suspicious, it did come up a few times in my research."

"Maybe the books you read about the crystal stars were telling you hints or something where they might be." I spoke.

"Possibly." He nodded.

"So then how do we get to Petal Meadows?" Goombella asked.

"Im fairly certain their is a pipe that leads there in the ruins, if you can find that then you can get there." He replied.

I nodded. "Right…but we should start finding it tomorrow. Its getting late."

"He's right." Maria agreed. "We gotta get some rest, it's been a long day."

"Very well." Frankley spoke as he closed the book. "Head to the inn for some rest. Meet me back here in the morning and I'll give you all some supplies to help you on your journey." We gave a nod before exiting his house.

Toadsworth got us some beds for the night as he promised. They weren't A-class luxury, but it was fine. I was used to worse sleeping conditions. I was lucky to even have a mattress let alone a bed.

I had trouble sleeping while I rolled around. Goombella and Maria snoozed away. I sighed and got up before walking out to the balcony and leaned against the railing. I can't believe so much has changed in just 24 hours. One moment I was a servant to my family, now I'm on an adventure to find divine star gems to learn about an ancient door. Not that I'm complaining as it's better than being around my shitty family.

"Ace?" I blinked and turned to see Goombella, weaning a white top and black panties. "Everything alright bud?"

"Yeah…I'm fine." I sighed as I looked back out of the sleeping town. She walked up and stood next to me. "It's just a lot to process for me. So much happened so quickly." I rubbed my forehead. "My mind is in a flurry of thoughts."

"You wanna talk about it?" She asked.

"...I would rather not." I spoke. "It's…personal."

"I understand." She replied before gently placing her hand on my shoulder. I turned to her. "But if you ever wanna talk, I'm all ears." She smiled. "You are my friend after all." A friend…I never really had one as my family ruined any chance of me having one.

I couldn;t help but smile warmly. "...that means a lot, Goombella…thank you." She smiled before she gently planted a kiss on my cheek. I couldn't help but blush at the action as she had now kissed me on the cheek twice now.

"Anything to help out." She replied softly before looking out with me. "So what do you think is beyond the Thousand-Year Door?"

"Whatever it is, can't be good from what I have seen." I stated.

"Maybe you might be wrong." She spoke. "There are many possibilities to what is hiding behind the door."

I rubbed my neck. "I know but still the darkness was pretty prominent in that vision." I felt her hand gently grab mine. "It kind of scares me honestly."

"Well, whatever is hiding behind it, we'll find out." She assured me while giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "And we'll have each other's backs all the way."

"...yeah." I smiled softly. "Thanks Goombella."

"You're welcome." She spoke before she moved a bit closer to my side. I glanced at her as my eyes trailed her body. She was on the short side but she was stacked. If I had to guess, she was F-cup. I gulped a bit, A bit nervous about being in this situation for the first time. Blame my sister for ruining any chance of a relationship.

Goombella looked up at the sky. "You know…while Rogueport has its problems…the night sky here is beautiful."

I looked up and saw numerous stars and clusters. "Yeah…" my hand fidgeted a bit before it slowly reached around to her shoulder. A part of me was scared she might freak out about my action. I heard her gently hum before she gently pushed against my side.

"This is nice…" She whispered softly.

"Y-yeah….." I nodded with a stutter. She sighed before resting her head against my shoulder. I couldn't help but stroke her shirt covered back. A gentle hum rippled her throat as she snuggled closer to me. Oh man, is she really this comfortable with me?

"I'm happy to have met you Ace. Out of all the sleazy assholes I met from this place and my school, you're the first to treat me like a normal goomba girl." She spoke.

"Oh…um thanks I guess." I replied.

She giggled a bit before she pulled something out. "Here." I saw her hold out a small sheep object with a clock.

"What's this?" I asked as I took it.

"That's a Sleepy Sheep." She answered. "Normally it's used to put enemies to sleep in a fight, but I think it will help you get some good sleep."

"Oh thanks Goombella." I smiled.

She smiled before yawning. "Well…I'm going back to sleep. Goodnight Ace."

"Goodnight." I replied as she headed back inside. I couldn't help but feel all warm inside. Goombella is such a sweet girl, it helps that she's pretty sassy when she wants to be. Whatever my reason being here is for, I kinda am happy I was brought here, away from my family, living free, and I have two new friends. Maybe when this whole thing is over I can make my own life. I yawned as well before I headed back to bed.

I laid in bed while holding the sleepy sheep. It gave off gentle bleeps while a soothing tune played. I took some deep breaths and closed my eyes letting it soothe me to sleep.

"Ace…Ace….Aaaaaaaaaace." I heard Maria coo gently. "It's morning."

I groaned before rolling over, pulling the sheets over. "Five more minutes…."

I heard a mused giggle before the sheets below my feet pulled up and fingers started tickling my feet. I tried to pull my feet away but the fingers kept at it as I snorted a bit.

"Stoooooooop." I groaned with a stifled laugh.

"Come on Ace, get that booty up and running." I heard Goombella muse. "Or you're gonna keep getting tickled."

I finally gave in and sat up. "Okay okay, you two win." I rubbed my eyes and stretched.

Goombella sat up with a smile. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah, thanks for the Sleepy Sheep Goombella." I smiled back.

"Oh its nothing really." She giggled.

Maria grew amused. "Is the cute Goomba crushing on the cute boy?"

The goomba girl's face turned a dark pink. "N-no it's not like that."

"You sure? Saying his name in your sleep says otherwise." Maria grinned.

"Say what?" I blinked in surprise.

"I did not!" The girl snapped with her face burning. "Y-you must have been hearing things!"

"Whatever makes you sleep better." She mused and walked downstairs.

"Ugh, nerve of her." She scoffed and got off my bed. "Only been with her for a day and she is already teasing me."

I shrugged. "I guess its a lady thing." Again I never had a girlfriend or been around girls other than my sister or mother.

After some breakfast, which was some mushrooms and Honey Syrup, which was good by the way, we stopped by Frankley's Lab. we entered as he took notice of us. "Ah, you're all here." He approached and handed us a sac. "Take this with you. It contains a few items and a few badges."

"Thanks professor." Maria spoke as she took the sac.

"So you know where the pipe to Petal Meadows is?" I asked.

"From my studies, the pipe should be in the east section of the underground city." He answered. "So it's a bit of a trek."

"Roger Professor." Goombella saluted. "Well guys, lets get going."

Taking the pipe back down to the underground city, which I didn't slam into the all this time, we head east as the professor instructed. We had to use the airplane "Curse" to get over a gap but it wasn't hard.

We came to a new cavern but there was water in our way. "Looks like we hit a road block." I spoke.

Goombella looked ahead and gasped. "Look!" She pointed to a small platform ahead of us where a stone pipe was laid. "That must be the pipe to get to the Meadows."

"So should we swim over there?" I asked. I came to the edge and dunk my foot in. But, I saw something swim fast to me before I yelped and pulled back. No second I did, a robotic Piranha fish with massive jagged teeth emerged, snapping its jaws before submerging. "Okay what the actual hell?! Robot Piranhas?!"

"Like I said before, the mushroom kingdom is filled with many dangerous creatures." Maria explained. "But we have to figure out an alternate way."

I hummed before noticing a tentacle nearby. "Hey what's that?" We came up to it as I kneeled. "A tentacle?"

"I think that must be from a Blooper." Goombella theorized. "And from the looks of this, it's a big one."

I hummed. "Maybe this blooper could give us a ride across?"

"I don't know." Maria spoke up. "In my years of experience, Bloopers are not exactly friendly, that is if you piss them off."

"Then we simply won't, at least internationally." I replied. I gently grabbed the tentacle and gave it a few soft tugs. "Fingers cross." the tentacle jiggled a bit before it quickly slipped back into the water. A moment later, this blooper, which was a giant squid emerged. "Whoa..thats one big squid."

"Bloopbloppbloop!" The Blooper babbled.

"Huh?" I blinked.

"Uh…I think she said who would pull my tootsie like that." Goombella translate.

"Oh uh sorry about that ma'am, I was just trying to get your attention." I spoke. The blooper stared at me. "Uh…Goombella can you translate?"

"I can try." She nodded before clearing her throat and babbled. I don't know what she was saying but I'll have let translated by some good folk. "He didn't mean to grab your butt ma'am, he was only getting your attention."

"Attention for what exactly?" The blooper asked.

"We just want to ask if you can give us a lift to that stone pipe." Goombella replied pointing to the platform in the middle of the room. "We can't swim due to the other creatures, so we would like to ask for your help."

The blooper looked at us before looking to me. "Hmmmmm…Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt, considering that man dont whack or strike my exposed tentacle like other rude folk. However, I expect a favor in return. Not now, but later."

"Okay then." The Goomba girl nodded before turning to us. "Good news she is willing to help us but she wants a favor at a later date."

"Fair enough." I nodded. The blooper dove back down in the water. A moment later two stone platforms emerged to form a path. "Oh nice." We made it to the platform with the pipe. I turned back as the blooper emerged. I smiled and bowed. "Thank you, my lady. We appreciate the help." Hopefully she could understand what I meant. She babbled before one tentacle reached out and patted my head. I chuckled before she sunk back into the water. "Okay ladies, lets go." With that, we jumped into the stone pipe.

A few twists and turns later, the pipe spat us out as we landed. We were in a vast open field with grassy fields, trees and beautiful skies. "Wow, someone should make a postcard of this place." I commented.

"Looks like were in the right place." Goombella beamed. "Man this is awesome! I can't believe i'm on an adventure! Well, let's not waste time! Let's look of the Crystal Star!" We gave a nod before heading forward towards a formation of stones.

*ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!*

We froze when a shrilling roar echoed in the skies. A massive shadow flew over us. We looked up and saw a massive red scaled beast flying.

"Uh, is that what I think it is?" I asked.

"I believe so." Maria breathed. "That's a dragon."

"That is odd. The professor said this place is peaceful." Goombella added as we saw the dragon flying to a palace in the distance.

I blinked. "Wait…Mari, let me see the map." She took it out and hand it to me. I opened it before pointing the map at the palace. An image of a diamond colored crystal star emerged on said map and glowed. "I think we found where the first crystal star is held."

"So it's in that palace where the dragon lives?" The goomba girl blinked and groaned. "Oh fucking perfect. If I know dragons, they tend to protect their treasure hauls."

I folded up the map and handed it back to Maria. "Yeah and I don't think I can just punch that thing into submission."

"Least for now we know where it is." Maria spoke. "Let's move on until we find a way to get to that place." We gave a nod before we moved on. We got into a few tussles with some goomba dudes who thought they were hot stuff, but we made short work of them.

"Who would have imagined I would see a real dragon." I spoke as we were crossing a bridge.

"I guess where you're from, mythical creatures don't exist." Maria suggested.

"Yeah only in stories and media." I replied. "Still though, I wonder what powers these crystal stars hold."

"With seven, I can assume each holds a different ability." Goomblla theorized. "But we'll never know until we get it."

We soon passed by a small gate enter as we made it to what looked like a small village. "Looks like other live out here after all." I spoke as a koopa in a green shell approached.

"Welcome Travelers." He greeted us. "This quiet town is known as Petalburg. It's been a long time since we had outsiders visit. We are pretty remote."

"I'm going to assume tourists came by here, but a dragon gave a bad impression?" I guessed.

"Yeah Hooktail is just ruining the atmosphere." The Koopa nodded. Hooktal huh? Not exactly a threatening dragon name.

"Well, we're on a quest to gather something called Crystal Stars." Goombell spoke up. "We found out its in Hooktail's lair and we need a way to get to it. You know how?"

"Honestly I don't missy." He replied. "But you might want to speak with the mayor, he's old…real old but he is bound to know a way."

"You know where he is?" Maria asked.

"Yep." He pointed ahead. "Head down that path and look for a pink house. You can't miss it."

"Gotcha. Thanks mister." I nodded.

I know the chapter is short, but it is what it is as they say. I'll be sure to have the other chapters longer. Thank you for reading. Keep in touch with the story, fave, follow and comment. I love to see your responses. See you next time. :)