-o-

A Dark Prelude

Location: Glitz Pit; Major League Locker Room

…

While Yoshi, Daisy, her doogan pilot, and Johnny find their seats among the spectators, Bago the paragoomba and Geno arrive at the major league locker room. Bago has a white, square badge with a large black zero on his head, while Geno carries a large, cardboard plate with five hot dogs. Geno then takes the badge and pats it onto Morton Junior's belly.

"Here, Mort, your participation badge." states Geno, "I'm glad we are finally at this point in our journey…"

A gray cloud with a smiley face bobbing from side to side is raining on top of the large, depressed Koopaling, who is sitting by himself on a locker room bench. Bago and Geno look at each other, then at the Koopaling, and back at each other, grimacing the second time.

"Hey, doll face, is he usually this quiet?" whispers the paragoomba, as he flies next to Geno's face.

"This is a first for me, to be honest," replies the doll, "I mean, he's always talking, and seeing him silent with a sad, pouting face… We may need to get Daisy in here to cheer him up."

"That sounds like a plan t' me. I'll wait for you outside of the locker room," replies the paragoomba, who then stops and licks his lips as he looks at the five warm, tasty bratwurst hot dogs. "Umm, can I have a hot dog?"

"Well…" begins Geno, but then shrugs. "Why not! We can always get Morty more." Geno nods. "I'll catch up soon."

Geno walks up to Morton as Bago exits the room with a hot dog on his head. He sits next to Morton Jr., when a bolt almost strikes him. "Whoa there! Ahem… Look, cheer up. I know that being the chosen one to battle is a big burden on your shoulders, but we all believe you have a chance. We got you a snack; go ahead and eat. Bago and I need to do something quick; it won't take long."

While waiting outside of the main locker room and with no one guarding the door, Bago tries to get the hot dog in his mouth. "This dang hot dog! If I had arms… Duh! My wings!"

The paragoomba struggles for a few minutes to make his wings function as arms, but, for a few minutes, to no avail. He is finally successful when he tilts his head sideways and catches it with his right wing, but before he takes a bite, he looks around, noticing the covert presence of Don Pianta's henchmen. Everywhere he looked, he saw Don Pianta's men instead of the regular Glitz Pit bouncers.

'That's strange… Don Pianta's men, here? They should be at the parlor; I didn't see the Don's blimp at the square either… Are they…?' He begins to back into the locker room, when Geno suddenly exits the locker room, breaking the paragoomba's train of thought, who almost drops his hot dog on the floor. He whispers calmly, "Hey, doll face, come here, will ya…"

Geno ignores the nickname, paying attention the stern tone in the paragoomba's voice and being discreet. "What is it?"

"Don't make it obvious, but, do you notice anythin' peculiar about the security guards?"

Geno scans the hallway, spotting a few here and there, dressed as the Pit's security guards. "They're piantas. So?"

"I know them all, Don Pianta's men. Would have been Frankie's, but last I heard, he left the syndicate to care for his newborn children. But I digress; can't say that they are all here, but their presence is suspicious, nonetheless."

"They could just be here as spectators or have a fighter participating."

"Negative. If they were here t' watch the fights, the Don himself would see t' it t' make his presence known. I know his mafia syndicate; most are assassins, but none is a star fighter. They are blendin' in, t' perfectly, in fact. There are t' many in costume, which makes me think that whatever they are plannin', it's going t' last until the end or near the end."

Geno rubs his wooden chin. "Hmm… I'm still somewhat skeptical, but I'll take your word for it. Let's stay alert, but it may be wise to keep this to ourselves, unless push comes to shove. So let's stay with Mort for now and cheer up our big guy. Commencement starts in 10 minutes."

"Alrighty, Doll face, let's do this!"

As they head back inside the major league locker room, Draco the Fire Brother walks around the corner, as if looking for a particular room. His usual outfit consisting of a white karate robe and black belt are terribly torn, although his white turban seems intact. A blue hand grabs him firmly from behind, startling the Fire Bro and causing him to sweat. He turns to be face to face with a pair of buff, blue skinned security guards, both wearing shades, neat black suits, and extra shiny black shoes.

One of the guards scowls. "Only authorized personnel, official fighters and their managers are allowed in here. That means no groupies, bud."

The guard holding him by the shoulder continues. "Besides, show us your ticket."

Before a stammering Draco could answer, two familiar voices slowly getting louder makes him swallow hard.

"Naw, Albino, I swear I saw that pipsqueak Draco scram over here," growls Roy. He's wearing a red singlet, with a white square sporting a black five on his chest. He pounds his fists together as he scowls.

"He's made fools of us once," replies the Phanto masked Don Albino. "And now, we have to clean after the Wiseguy's failures!"

"Hey, there you are!" yells a sudden voice, startling the jittery Fire Koopa again. He swallows again, turning towards a gray doogan with a blue cape and matching red mask and singlet, a white square with a black four adorning his chest. "I wanted to go over our strategy before the ceremony begins." He looks at the two guards. "Anything wrong here? My manager was just looking for me; he was in the W.C. when I got assigned to the lower league locker room."

"Oh, our mistake," says one of the guards as they both back away.

"No worries," replies the doogan with a reassuring smile as he hugs Draco by the shoulders, who chuckles nervously. "Glad this misunderstanding got sorted out."

The guard looks at his watch. "You should both hurry. We start in 7 minutes."

The doogan flashes his left thumb and drags Draco into the other locker room. "Roger that; we'll get there in a few."

They shut the door just as Don Albino and Roy pass by, stopping right before the closed lower league locker room door. The Koopaling looks distressed, scowling again and clenching his fists tightly.

"Where is that sonuva Goomba, Draco?" He goes to open the lower league locker room. "He bettah be here, or heads gonna start rollin'!"

Don Albino looks at his Rolex and groans, putting his right hand on the pink-headed Koopaling's shoulder. "No time; the tournament is about to begin. We look for the scrawny wiggler after we advance to the next round." Don Albino's voice and footsteps fade into the distance as he yells out for the two security guards, whom had already walked away from there. "Hey, bouncer! We need to go to the arena, pronto."

Both security guards both reply, even more distant, "Right this way."

Draco, who'd listened to everything as he leaned on the door, slides down slowly, letting out a long, relieved sigh. He looks up at the intrigued, unmasked gray doogan, looking down at him while his arms are crossed.

"Name's Bernard Fox, but you can call me Bernie. You haven't been up here in the sky for long, have you? Your dried sweat smells like the salty spices you'd regularly find at a desert, and here you are now, sneaking into this venue for an unknown reason." He begins to pace. "I came to this tournament quite unprepared, blinded by my need to advance my research. I can't focus if reporters keep stalking me; if only I had a manager…" He stops in front of Draco and cocks his head to the left as he gives the Fire Bro a knowing look and smirk. "I could rat you out and go on my merry way, but I sympathize with you, a fellow, lonely traveler. I won't judge your motives for being here; just play along, and I won't say a peep. One claw washes the other, as they say. You're in?"

The Fire Brother slowly stands up and offers to shake his hand. "I have nothing to lose… I think."

"There's a good sport!" replies the doogan with a fang bearing grin and a firm grip, "Now, about your clothes… You look like you're just about my size, so you can use my spare set. But we need to hurry! Commencement starts soon."

…

Location: Glitz Pit, the Arena

Two minutes before the ceremony begins, all of the fighters and their managers have gathered around the fighting ring… except Draco and Bernie, both rushing inside, with the former desperately trying to put his left shoe on while hopping on one foot, and the later, now donning his mask again, running in but getting his blue cape stepped on by the Fire Bro, causing him to slip backwards. Draco then accidentally stomps on the doogan's chest, face planting into the ground and making the poor doogan release a high pitched yelp. No one notices because of the excited commotion echoing throughout the arena.

Since the opening act would feature one of the favorites to win, Rawk Hawk, the dynamic of the tournament was altered to allow all of the fighters to surround the ring, while all of the spectators were seated on the upper balcony, unless one had money to get a special seat next to the ring and the fighters. Since Yoshi and his group bought tickets last, they had the worst seats of the arena, really far away from the ring. However, this area helped in hiding Johnny from mostly everyone's view, given the fact that news about the recent prison breakout was already in Glitzville. Presently, they are eating, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

"Oh boy! I am so excited for this to start!" squeals Daisy, while holding a caramelized apple on one hand, cotton candy on the other, and a bag of cheesepuffs on her lap. She continues as Yoshi gobbles up his fourth hot dog. "This may not be Smash, but at least we get to see the action live."

"Arr, harr, harr, lassie!" replies Johnny, a cardboard platter of Cheep-cheep fish and chips in sailor sauce on his lap, "Ye be a tad excited fer a pint o' grog! If Ol' cap't Johnny be swashbucklin' with the scurvy landlubbers, Aye! Me be makin' the knaves walk the plank." He let's out a hearty laugh as he pulls a bottle of currant juice out of nowhere and chugs about half of the liquor.

Daisy's doogan pilot stares him down, while Yoshi just looks at the pirate nonchalantly, scarffing down his fifth hot dog. The doogan clears his throat as he whispers to the shark, "You know, erm, Jonathan, that it's a little early for…"

However, a booming voice reverberates across the entire arena, interrupting the futile rebuke, as Rawk Hawk, accompanied by Jolene and Prince Mush, takes the ring, and with a mike in hand, roars, "ARE YOU ALL READY TO RAAAAAAAAAAWK?"

The entire audience replies with a similar enthusiasm; the tournament has officially begun.

…

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I was supposed to start the fights this chapter, he, he… (A singlet is a wrestler's one piece outfit, by the way.) I was also supposed to release this chapter 18 million months ago, but it's here, an that's what matters, especially since… The long awaited fights are now here, and we start with a spectacular one; just you all wait to place your bets on who will emerge victorious! So, see you at the ring!

PS: The gray Doogan mentioned in this chapter has already made cameos in previous Calamity Castle chapters, whether personally or mentioned.