-o-

Taking an ambiguous Detour

Location: Still at the campfire near San (III) Lake

…

Dawn is barely breaking over the horizon; the morning is fresh since the sun's power hasn't settled in that part of the desert. Yoshi and Geno carry some water in half a coconut shell each; Yoshi goes and turns off the campfire while Geno splashes his on Johnny's back.

"Thank ye, me matey," he sighs, "Me back be dryin' up in this desert."

"No prob, Johnny. And you there, done having your fill?"

Geno looks back toward the lake shore. The Doogan Tanuki is kneeling next to the lake as he drinks some water before returning to his place next to Johnny near the drenched ashes. As soon as he sits, he jumps back up and yelps, like if something pricked his chest. He pulls the pirate's hook from within.

"Oh, I almost forgot about this. Luckily, it was just a simple poke; no blood anywhere." He sits back down and hands it over to the shark.

"And me trident, ye sea dog?"

"You were turned in by yourself and whatever else you had on. I've already sent it all to Sarasaland, so you could take it back once you arrive."

"Not that I don't want to go back yet," interjects Geno, "but we have our mission to do, and there's a Star Rod piece at Bowser's Keep right now."

"The bigger picture is important, no doubt," argues Tanuki, "but think about each component of the team. If you go knocking at their doors as you are right now, you will all be toast, and they'll have Jonathan. Take time and get the pirate to a doctor. Recover from your last assault."

Geno sighs. "Well, it may prolong our mission a while longer, but you're right… Besides, we may soon be summoned to either Sarasaland or…"

"Summoned…" Yoshi interrupts pensively. Something clicks in his mind. "That's right! The summon, uh, the letter we have for Johnny! Remember?" He runs to Stuffwell 2.0, and fumbles everywhere until he finds the crumpled letter. "Here it is!" The dinosaur then notices greasy streaks of fake, orange cheese, oily fingerprints doting the page, and a gash from Morton's claw. He glares at Daisy.

"What?" she asks. "I needed a napkin."

"Let me see it," requests Tanuki, as he looks down at the shark pirate. "You just rest down there; I'll read it out loud for you."

"You can actually read those scribbles?" asks Daisy, making an incredulous face and placing her hands on her hips.

"Yes, ma'am. I am originally from the south. Let's see here…" The Doogan takes the letter while clearing his throat. The sun eliminates the darkness of dawn, making reading possible.

Day XX, Month OO, Year ****

Donna, Daughter of His Majesty Poseid, Princess of the Same-Same Kingdom:

Greetings to you, Jonathan Jones, Captain of the Bandana Reds and Blues, hoping you are alive and well.

You are hereby summoned to the presence of His Majesty's court two months from the aforementioned date. On that exact day, yours truly will meet you at the southern port of the Ryu-Kuppa Kingdom to take you to His Majesty's castle personally. Since you will be in mine presence, you need not worry about being apprehended by the royal soldiers.

We beseech you to make haste to this reunion. May our Guardian of the Southern Sky guide you back.

…

"That pretty much sums it… Yup, this is the style of writing from the south. So rest assured, Jonathan; this letter is legit."

Johnny shark face flushes in red, as he grins. "Harr, Harr. So th' lassy wants t' see Ol' Cap'n Johnny?"

Daisy looks at him perplexed. "Lassie? Like a dog?"

"No, Daisy," replies Geno, "I'm not an expert in pirate talk, but my guess is that it's a respectful way to address a woman."

"Ye be correct, matey. Girly landlubbers be called…"

"Uh, let's go back to the matters on hand," Geno nervously says. "Anyway…" he clears his throat. "Going by the date on the letter, we have a month and… two weeks, right?"

"That sounds about right," replies Tanuki. "Three more days tops. Alright then, you all should go back to Sarasaland and rest. While some of you wait there, a group can go for this Star Rod piece in Bowser's castle. And then, you can all go south. It should give you some time to spare for this supposed meeting."

"That's sounds like a good plan," says Geno smiling, "We could have Yoshi go back and report to Toadsworth while I go to Bowser's Keep. Yoshi, everyone, what do you think?"

Morton Jr. is still snoring, and flips upside down, almost slapping Tanuki and Geno in their faces. They all laugh. Once they stop laughing, Yoshi, Johnny, and Daisy both nod in agreement.

Geno continues. "That settles it. After we rest for a few days, we formulate a plan."

Suddenly, a helicopter is heard in the distance, causing the four to look towards that direction. The 'copter sports Daisy's signature daisy symbol at the side, making them sigh in relief while Daisy jumps in joy.

"Oh, goodie! My helicopter is here!"

"Just don't you dare and touch the handles again like last time!" retorts Yoshi. "I don't want a repeat of last time."

She slaps his shoulder. "Aww, Yosh. Don't be such a worrywart!"

Right about now, the helicopter lands a couple of yards from them, but it doesn't turn off. Our heroes except Geno cover their faces to prevent any sand from going into their eyes or nostrils, or in Johnny's case, his gills. Bago, the paragoomba owner of the Spade Casino on the other end of the country, opens the door and jumps out, quickly retracting his wings and hopping over to the doll.

"No time to talk now," yells the paragoomba with shades quickly amidst the loud whirring, "We are going to Nimbus Land!"

"Wait, what?" asks Yoshi. "We already have a…"

Bago interrupts. "Get on and I'll explain along the way! We have little time!" He hops over to Morton Jr. and headbonks his belly, suddenly waking the Koopaling, who gasps loudly. "You! Get up! We need to leave pronto!"

Geno and Yoshi look at each other and shrug. Daisy helps Morton up, and both rush to the helicopter as Morton drowsily stumbles about. Yoshi carries the shark pirate on his back by himself and points backwards as he also goes to the 'copter.

"Gee, I'm not hurt anymore, so I can carry Johnny by myself like normal now. You go get Tanuki…"

"Will do," replies Geno, but as the doll turns towards where Yoshi pointed at, he finds no one there, only a lonely military print bag slowly getting covered by the sand getting blown by the propellers. The doll stands dumbfounded for a second when Bago interrupts his thoughts from atop the air vehicle.

"You staying or you're coming?"

"Uh… Give me a sec!"

Geno runs toward and picks up the bag, and runs back toward the helicopter. He looks back for a bit before he boards the ride. As they fly towards their new destination, Geno slowly closes the side door and is silently pondering about Tanuki.

'I'm sure we all wanted to say goodbye and thank you, but you were already gone. If you would have come with us, I think we would have advanced even further with our mission. Oh well! We need to get this new show on the road…'

…

Location: somewhere in Desert Hill…

Tanuki is walking southward as a strong, sandy gust blows against him. The Doogan former vice warden is wearing sunglasses and black nomadic clothing instead of his military garb. He looks back towards where he last saw everyone and smiles while reminiscing about the recent events.

'I'll sorry for my abrupt exit. I really would have liked to be able to travel with you all, but I must report to the Sandstorm of everything I've learned, especially of what I didn't tell you about Morton's story. I'll be waiting for you all the next time we meet.'

He is still grinning as he looks down at his silver crucifix. 'Leroy, I hope you can also forgive me for bailing on you at the last moment. I'm sure you'd understand that this duty has a higher priority. If we find each other again, we should have a nice chat over some Desert Lime Tasty Tonic, your favorite.'

He turns back and continues walking toward the meeting place.

…

Location: Glitzville, a registration station next to the hot dog stand…

"Congrats, Mr. Koopa, you're officially number 5," says Jolene, a female Toad and official promoter of the Glitz Pit, as she received official paperwork from Roy, completely filled out. "With that, we have four more slots left before closing the roster."

Prince Mush, the former Toad champion of the Glitz Pit, sits next to her. "I'll be looking forward to a great tournament, fighting alongside you all."

Roy pounds his fists together and growls, just as his brother Larry comes to him and hands him a hot dog. As they both walk away from the registration booth, a freelancing Lakitu reporter meets them at the town square and shoves a phone in Roy's face, greatly annoying him.

"Yo, my man, Royal Koopa!"

"That ain't mah name, foo'!"

"Coolio! Just a reporter, wanting to get the latest scoop for the tomorrow's tournament. How do you feel about joining?"

"A'ight." Roy bites half of his hot dog.

"Interesting. The former champion, Prince Mush, and the current champion, Hawk Rawk, are the favorites to win, though Gonzalez Jr. isn't trailing too far behind. How do you plan on winning?"

The pink-headed Koopaling swallows his food. "Listen here, you son of a Goomba, ain't no one gonna win but me! Tell that to those blorbs!"

The Lakitu laughs heartily. "Can't wait to hear their response, especially from the Feral Nuclear Reactor. One final question: in the wake of recent events in Desert Hill, who do you think is behind the assault? And what do you think about the release of the infamous Jonathan Jones?"

Before Roy could answer, a short fellow with a fedora, a Phanto mask and a suit, ahem, suitable for a secret agent, appears out of nowhere, and gets between them both. He has a stereotypical Italian mobster accent.

"Excuse me, boss. I'm his… manager, an' will take it from here. The tough guy came here to win; he ain't got time for the shark and raid. Leave that to the politicians."

"So nothing will happen, then? Anyway, had a pleasure talking with you. Hope to see you tomorrow."

As the Lakitu leaves to interview Prince Mush, the "manager" cracks his knuckles, revealing small, white hands.

"This is it, tough guy," he mutters. "We play nice and fair this time, and get the prize. But in case you lose…"

"I ain't not gonna lose, Albino!" Roy almost yells.

Soon, a couple of mobster piñatas, Don Pianta's henchmen surround Don Albino, still donning the Phanto mask. "I ain't taking chances, tough guy. If you lose, your brother here can nab them while no one is looking, like he did with them dogs."

Larry laughs nervously. "You saw that?"

"Perhaps, but who's gonna rat you out?" replies Don Albino. He turns to Roy again. "When someone's down, the family always got your back. As long as we do this right, an' keep the boss happy, there are no worries."

The short, white-handed mafia boss looks at his loaned henchmen. "You two, get everyone in their positions. Once this shindig starts, we get down to business."

…

-o-

Glitzville and mostly everything mentioned in that section are from the Paper Mario series. We finally see the content of the letter. What does the summons letter really mean? Now that our heroes will fly to Nimbus land, expect everything to go south… Figuratively… They'll all go south eventually too… Em, err… I'll shut up now. As the plot thickens, next time, a new story arc picks up back at the desert.