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The Castle among the Clouds
Location: Nimbusland, Royal Bus Port
…
The crescent moon peeks over the cloudy horizon, as Daisy's helicopter lands on the cloud port known for hosting the lofty Royal Bus. A couple of Nimbus soldiers arrive next to the side door as it opens, greeted by a stretching Daisy and her doogan pilot. These Nimbus soldiers seem unfazed as the pilot steps out first and holds out his hand to help his monarch out of the helicopter. Soon after, Bago, Geno, and Morton Jr. walk out as well, Geno going to the soldiers for assistance. Johnny is the last one to get off, and as soon as he does, a sudden burst of cold zips past the group just, causing everyone in the group except Geno and Johnny to shiver.
"Yo," begins the wooden doll.
"Greetings to you all, and welcome to Nimbus Land," utters one of the Nimbus soldiers.
The paragoomba casino owner waddles next to Geno as the doll replies, "We'd like to speak with your king, and also, we need to find where we can sign up for the tournament."
"In accordance to the laws of Nimbus Land, no audiences are permitted at nighttime," asserts the calm Nimbus soldier, "Also, in accordance with a treaty ratified for our local battle tournament, all inscriptions must happen in Glitzville during the day. Please follow me to the inn and rest for the rest of the night, provided free of charge by the providence of our king."
Yoshi shivers on over, having heard the conversation. "Are you sure we can't go over to Glitzville and check it out?"
The same soldier snapped, "If you decide to cross now, you're on your own. Glitzville is heavily guarded, and if you get arrested, we can't bail you out."
Yoshi clears his throat. "My bad," he mutters.
Geno retakes the conversation again. "We'll take some rooms for now." He looks down at the paragoomba. "Yo, Bago, can you handle this? Yosh and I will follow with Johnny on our shoulders."
"Sure thing, doll face," says the paragoomba. The wooden doll ignores the final remark.
The group lead by the paragoomba follows two Nimbus soldiers as they are lead to a vine covered edifice located in the western part of the cloudy kingdom and next to the entry point to Glitzville. Bago and Daisy's pilot lead the sleepy heads go to the reception desk as the innkeeper offers them a Dream Pillow.
Geno and Yoshi soon walk in with Johnny on their shoulders. Yoshi whispers to Geno, "You heard him; we'll probably get in trouble if we to sneak over there."
Geno whispers back. "We should still try. Pretty sure we'll at least find a medic because of the tournament, though, we'd be lucky to run into a doctor..."
Their whispering is heard by one of the Nimbus soldiers, who walks towards the conversing pair. "You need a doctor? Lucky for you, we just accommodated one; Glitzville inns were completely booked. He should be prepping for tomorrow with his assistant here at the inn. Follow me." Geno and Yoshi both stare at each other and shrug, and follow this guard to the end of a recently added hallway, build recently to accommodate more guests for the long-awaited event.
The soldier knocks on the last door. "Doc, you have a patient."
A male voice comes from the inside. "Cherry, can you get the door, please? I will need to disinfect my hands again."
Soon, the door opens, with a Toadette sporting a pink cap with red hearts, red ponytails resembling cherries, purple scrubs, and is slightly shorter than Geno, greets them. "Good evening," she grins. "Your local RN here. How can we help you?"
The soldier points at Geno with his head, later looking at the wooden doll and silently beckoning him to talk with his head.
"Hello, um... nurse?"
Cherry chuckles. "I get that a lot, but Cherry will be fine."
"Ah, yes. Geno here, and my friend, Yoshi. We have a patient that we rescued from... confinement." Geno and Yoshi quickly glance at each other nervously, and then at the Toad nurse.
Cherry walks over to one of the two beds, and grabs a clinic bed cover from a doctor's bag at the top left corner of the bed. She places the cover on and pats the bed. "Please come and lay him here."
The green dinosaur and Geno carry him over and shut the door behind him, leaving the soldier to guard the entryway. Both lay the shark down on the bed as the Toad nurse quickly inspects the pirate shark. He giggles as he looks up at her with his tongue out and a smile, a slight blush in his face.
"Harr, harr, harr. Ahoy there, lassie. Ye want to splice the main brace after ye done patching the ol' cap'n?"
Cherry giggles as she continues his checkup, while Geno and Yoshi sport confused looks.
"Not fluent in pirate talk? That's okay; I'll just lend you my pirate dictionary. I deal with lots of them at my workplace." Cherry chuckles, "Very simply put, he wants to take me out after the checkup, and that'll depend on the doctor's orders."
She grabs a nearby clipboard and begins writing on a sheet. "Hmm... He's had severe dehydration and malnutrition. I see he has a greenish spot under his left fin... Most likely made by a hydrating colloid used by the doogan armymen of the south, which helps alleviate bruises and lacerations in any sharkman; around 24 hours have passed since administering."
"You can tell that much from one inspection?" mused Yoshi.
"I'm a nurse with specialties in shark and doogan anatomies, from the…" she replies when the door knob to the restroom door clicks. "Oh, good! The doctor is ready."
The doctor, a Mario look-alike with a red macaw for a hairdo, exits the bathroom with the traditional white doctor garb, a head mirror, and smelling like disinfectant.
"Thanks, Cherry; I'll take over from here."
Geno and Yoshi look at each other again, feeling like they entered a parallel universe. Yoshi raises his left brow as his jaw slowly drops. "Mario?"
"Marriotta, actually," he casually replies as he snaps a couple of latex gloves on. "My macaw hair-head should be the giveaway. My aunt Valentina tried to stage a soft coup a while ago."
"I remember that," says Geno, "But this is just surreal. Garo the wax sculptor said you were fake!"
"Give him the benefit of the doubt," replies Dr. Marriotta as he takes out a scalpel from another bag, the shark not noticing yet. "He probably said something to slip out of trouble, and speaking of which, we became acquainted after Mallow's official return ceremony. I heard all she did, and came to apologize, but then heard she got away and got married to Uncle Booster."
Geno shutters. "I can still remember when he, Mario and Bowser all kissed. I wonder what happened to that picture."
Yoshi laughs heartily, forgetting it was late in the evening, and as soon as he leans on the wall to keep laughing, his left arm jolts, hurting again and making the green dinosaur bite his mouth shut as he moans in pain.
"Hey, Gee," wheezes Yoshi, "I think I may also need to get a check up, so someone else will have to fight in the tournament."
Suddenly, Johnny zips off the bed with the cover stuck to his back as he puts his back to the wall, as his gills begin to fizz. "Ye scurvy landlubber want t' blow me down? Me want to live to say me tall tales on the high seas, ye bilge rat!"
"Sir, I just need to cut off some denticles to reach your hurt skin," responds Dr. Mariotta, "Just stay still..."
"AAAARGH! Me make ye walk the plank!"
He suddenly falls unconscious, as Cherry had injected him with a tranquilizer. "He's all your's, doc. And, Yoshi, was it? I'll take a look at your arm. This will take a while, so please relax."
Dr. Marriota looks at Geno. "You there. Please help me put the shark back on the bed. I'll need you to fill me in on some things as I disinfect his wounds, especially about the fizzing of his gills and mouth. That's not natural in sharks."
And so, this continued until the next morning, in which…
Location: Lobby of the Nimbus Land Inn...
…
Everyone except Daisy and Johnny but including both soldiers were gathered at the lobby. Morton Jr. lazily hands the Dream Pillow back to receptionist as he rubs his left eye. He looks like he didn't have a good rest and is especially cranky. Geno and Bago stare at the Koopaling, noticing his demeanor, but before they could comment, Dr. Marriota and his Toad assistant Cherry walk with into the lobby with Johnny.
"Arr, harr, harr! Me be feelin' like a wee lad, matey. Thank ye fer savin' the ol' cap'n!"
"My pleasure, Jonathan!" replies the doctor, "And don't worry about the cost. It's all subsidized because of the event. My recommendations are, for everyone to hear, that you rest for at least three days before doing anything rough or heavy, and after a week passes by, you should be fine and can enjoy currant juice again." Johnny begins fizzing from his gills again. "Oh, that again... That is a strange phenomenon caused by that fruit you ate, mostly a reaction to you breathing on land."
Johnny was about to say something, when suddenly, a bubble inflates in his mouth, which he pops with his pirate hook. Meanwhile, Daisy, smiling from ear to ear, climbs up Morton's back, and hugs him around his triple-chinned neck.
"Goood morning, Mort!"
The Koopaling slowly turns towards her... He yells and jumps towards the ceiling, grabbing onto the chandelier and knocking Daisy onto Yoshi's back, who happened to stand next to them prior to the exaggerated reaction.
Everyone present nonchalantly stares up at the chandelier, which, surprisingly, holds up the Koopaling's weight... Except for Daisy, who just gives him a confused look.
"GO AWAY! You, you... CHUMP! I knowed you're really the Shadow Queen, that's what you telled me last night!"
"Huh, what?" replies an incredulous Daisy. "I was asleep last night; we didn't talk at..."
"Yah huh! You telled me so last night! You were like:..." He clears his throat. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but... And then you transformed into the Shadow Queen, and then Cackletta came in, and you fused, and then you were about to eat me, when..."
"You know something weird is bound happen when Morton Jr. is actually understandable, even if the dream didn't make any sense," interrupts Yoshi, not even trying to say it quietly.
"That's what we get for renting the Dream Pillow," adds Geno.
"Look, Morty," begins Daisy with a smile, "I'll let you have my cheesepuffs if you get down from there."
"Okay!" he replies as he magically forgets the dream, and falls on top of Yoshi and Daisy, squishing them both, both also letting out a painful moan from beneath.
One bag of cheese puffs later, the group has a continental breakfast provided by the inn. Geno and Bago became worried as Yoshi, Morton, and Johnny have a food competition to see who could eat more. The host found it amusing and flattering, reiterating that it was all paid for by the tournament. Once satisfied, the group goes outside en route to the castle among the clouds.
...
Location: Outside Nimbus Land Chateau
…
Geno feels nostalgic while the rest are in awe for seeing the country and its pink, vine covered edifices near Glitzville and its renowned arena. After a few minutes and sudden gusts, they head over to the Nimbus Land Chateau, when they are greeted by Mallow, who is being followed by two Nimbus servants.
"Hey Geno! Everyone! Welcome to Nimbus Land!"
"Look! A walking marshmallow!" blurts Morton Jr. Mallow's servants gasp loudly, causing Yoshi to grab his mouth shut.
"Aww! He's such a cutie!" adds Daisy, "I bet he's real sweet in person."
"Arr, harr, harr," bellows the shark pirate, "So ye be the crybaby fluff ball?"
"The past is in the past," replies the Mallow, while making two thumbs-up.
"Yo! Mallow! What a surprise!" exclaims Geno.
Mallow clears his throat. "That's… King Mallow, to you." He smiles smugly as he beams with pride and places his hands behind his back.
Geno is taken aback "No way! King already? Then that means that…?" The wooden doll looks somber. "Your parents… They, uh…"
"Died? Nah, Geno, that would be too dark. Fortunately, they are both alive and well. It's just that they wanted to pass on the royal duties to younger hands." Mallow sighs. "News about Mario and them already reached us, but I can't go with you on this journey; I have my country to run. What crummy timing!"
Daisy suddenly picks up the cloud monarch and pinches his left cheek. "Aaaaww! You look soooo cute up close! I wish I could take you with me to Chai; you'd fit in so well."
"Um, no thanks," retorts Mallow, Daisy letting go of his cheek. "I've heard rumors... I'd fear for my life." He squirms out of her arms and ruffles his royal cape back to normal. "Anyway, I assume you've all heard about our great event at Glitzville. With strong jet streams pushing us together, we'd thought it would be great for both countries to host a tournament at their famous Pit. I'd join, but you already know why I can't."
Our heroes stand quietly as the word 'tournament' echoes in their minds. They all look at each other, and then at Mallow.
"Um… Mallow," asks Daisy, "When does signing up stop?"
"Registration, you mean?" He looks at a sun dial recently installed on the plaza. "You have 5 minutes before it all ends."
"By Eld!" swears Geno, punching his own hand. "Sorry, Mallow, if you'll excuse us, we have to get this show on the road." With that, he, along with Morton, Daisy, and Yoshi, rush towards the Glitzville.
"WAAAAAIT!"
…
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Finally, we have reached the clouds, and got to see Mallow again as king. Will our heroes get to registration on time? Next time: we get democratic. Also, who stopped them?
PS: Remember that kissing scene in Super Mario RPG? If you took too long, Mario got kissed by both Booster and Bowser. In case anyone forgot/never played the game/never rented the Dream Pillow, the Dream Pillow caused different dreams to occur at the Nimbus Land inn. What the Toad named Cherry explained about "splice the brace" wasn't an exact translation, but it works here. Pirate talk is hard for me, so Google is your friend here. Also, denticles are the scales on a shark.