All right, fellow readers. This is the 76th chapter of this story!
Now, I don't have much to say about this chapter. This one will focus solely on the Riddle Tower, where Andrew and his friends will solve the riddles in the tower and unveil the secret passageway further down into the Palace of Shadow.
Additionally, Professor Frankly will let someone know about the tremor that Gloomtail made via talkie and will show signs that he may NOT be the real Professor Frankly. And of course, Andrew will reveal where he got his handkerchief from, and why it means so much to him.
And some other stuff will occur too. How will this go for all eight of them? Read and find out now!
AT THE SITE OF THE THOUSAND-YEAR DOOR:
Back outside of the Palace of Shadow, right in front of the Thousand-Year Door, it was 'clear' that Professor Frankly had heard the tremor caused by Gloomtail upon being defeated. This meant that Andrew and his friends had gotten quite far in the Palace of Shadow.
Realizing that they were going to move on with their plan of getting through the Palace of Shadow, Professor Frankly felt that it was best for him to make his move. With that, he got out a talkie and then started talking into it.
"Hello? Are you there, sir? Over," Professor Frankly spoke into it, as he then got a response shortly afterwards.
"Yes. I'm here, you fool," a cold callous voice spoke from the other line. "So? Did Andrew and his band of menacing friends get through the Thousand-Year Door and clear the puzzles for us to get through?"
"Yes. I am most certain that he did," Frankly nodded, sounding a little more malicious. "And I am assuming that he just took care of Gloomtail, and he'll be heading to the large tower in the palace garden, as we speak."
"Excellent! Gaaack ack ack ack!" The voice cackled madly before giving his next order. "Now wait for me in front of the door, and then we'll go through there together, along with the pure maiden in her deep sleep. You just be sure to join Beldam and Marilyn in ambushing Andrew and his friends once they're done with solving the riddles in the tower. Understand?"
"Yes," 'Professor Frankly' sighed. "I hear you, loud and clear."
"Good. Then hang up and wait for me to show up, and then we can get this plan in the making," the cold voice declared callously. "The end is near now for Andrew and his band of fools! Gaaack ack ack ack!"
And with that, 'Professor Frankly' ended the call as he got in front of the Thousand-Year Door and waited for the cold person who was on the other line of the talkie. It would appear that a plan 'really' was happening under Andrew's nose.
And that the 'Professor Frankly' that he and his friends were with wasn't the real Professor Frankly after all. The eight heroes were going to be in for a treat once they were ambushed by the Shadow Sirens...
BACK IN THE PALACE OF SHADOW:
By now, Andrew had gotten through those four corridors again along with his seven friends, as they made their way back to the palace garden. It took no time at all for them to zip through those rooms and make their way back to the palace garden.
After crossing the first bridge, the eight heroes went down to where the Boat Panel was. Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, Yoshiam, Vivian, Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz knew what this meant as they grabbed a hold of Andrew once he stepped onto the Boat Panel.
With a good amount of concentration, Andrew turned into a paper boat and sailed across the moat, with his friends riding on him. In a matter of seconds, Andrew made it to the other Boat Panel that was in front of the tower that they were going to explore. Andrew then got out of Boat Mode and returned to normal as he was standing on the panel again, with his friends letting go of him moments later.
"Well, looks like we've been making good progress," Andrew dusted his hands as he approached the building. "We cleared through those corridors, got the Star Key, and have made it to this strange tower in one piece."
"Totally," Goombella beamed before adding. "I mean, I couldn't see us coming back here in two pieces, y'know?"
"No doubt," Andrew then rubbed his hand across his handkerchief. "And I'm glad to know that my handkerchief has been holding up well since we started this adventure too."
"Y'know? I've been wondering about that," Goombella felt like asking. "Where did you get that handkerchief from anyway? From the looks of it, it 'totally' means so much to you."
"You can say that," Andrew then revealed to him. "This is a handkerchief that my mom had gotten for me on my 10th birthday. I've kept it with me ever since I got it. And I've been wearing it all the time since my mom passed away."
"So ya can keep her memory alive with your handkerchief, huh?" Goombella understood the reason now, especially after what Andrew told her and the others earlier. "Gotcha, Andrew."
"Yeah," Andrew sighed. "That's pretty much why I enjoy wearing this handkerchief."
"Y'know something," Goombella felt like sharing with him. "I betcha that your mom must be very proud of who you've become, and just how far you have gotten on not just your adventure, but in your life too."
"You know what, Goombella," Andrew had to smile. "I think she's proud of me too. I'm sure of it."
After seeing how all seven of his friends were supportive of him there, with Flurrie comparing his handkerchief to her necklace, which is her prized possession, Andrew decided that now was the best time to explore this strange tower.
"Now, don't we have this huge tower that we need to investigate?" Andrew suggested, pointing to the tower with his thumb. "Let's go check it out."
"Right," all seven of them said simultaneously, as Andrew opened the doors for them.
In a matter of seconds, the eight heroes entered the tower and decided to see what kind of mysterious and ancient secrets could be held in there that would prove to be beneficial for them later on...
INSIDE THE RIDDLE TOWER:
As soon as the eight of them were inside the tower, they were all surprised and taken aback by the massive size of the tower. There were three floors with a spiral stairway going up.
The first two floors contained four doors leading to a different room, while the top floor contained something mysterious in the center. Needless to say, this place was going to keep them busy for a while.
"Wow! Look at the size of this tower!" Andrew had to blink at this. "I had no idea that a tower such as this one could be found inside the Palace of Shadow."
"You're telling me. How could there be such a huge tower underground?" Goombella queried in agreement. "And why was it built...?"
"I dunno," Andrew shrugged. "But something tells me that something is in this tower that'll allow us to proceed further."
"Probably. Well, there seem to be a lot of rooms here..." Goombella pointed out. "And everyone contains a riddle..."
"Riddles, huh?" Andrew mused. "Well, I guess this tower might as well be the Riddle Tower, right?"
"You betcha," Goombella said with a smirk. "Y'know? I think maybe that spiral stairway will lead us to something important."
"Yeah," Koops said as he rubbed his beak. "What do you suppose could be up there, Andrew?"
"I'm not sure, Koops," Andrew rubbed his temple. "But the only way to find out is to head on up there for ourselves."
"My, my! What a splendid idea, Andrew," Flurrie had to agree with him. "That shall be our best objective thus far. Now, let us proceed up those stairs to see what's at the top, darling."
"You got it, Flurrie," Andrew walked on over to the spiral stairway. "Let's get climbing."
And with that, Andrew started climbing up the stairway. Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, Yoshiam, Vivian, Bobbery, and Ms. Mowz were following right behind him, as it proved to be quite the climb.
"Hey, Presto? What do you suppose could be at the top?" Yoshiam had to wonder. "I hope it's something cool and useful if it's making us do all of this climbing and whatnot. That would be rocking for sure."
"I'm sure it is, Yoshiam," Andrew assured him.
"Andrew? Do you want to know something?" Vivian had to admit. "This place feels rather disturbing, and yet, I feel a strange and familiar source from being in here. But why?"
"I guess it's because the Riddle Tower has kind of a shadowy feel to it, Vivian," Andrew informed her as they passed the second floor and continued up the stairs. "After all, this place hasn't seen visitors in over a thousand years."
"Well, either way, I suggest we stay on our toes for whatever is up there, Andrew," Bobbery advised him. "There's no telling what kind of ruffian or hooligan might try something with us if we make it to the top of this here tower, eh wot?"
"Right, Bobbery. We'll stay on guard," Andrew said. "And it might relate to the Star Key that we got from beating Gloomtail."
"Hmm, my nose is telling me that you're correct, Andrew," Ms. Mowz was sniffing the air. "And it also tells me that there might be some goods that we'll need to proceed through this palace."
"I can feel it too, Ms. Mowz," Andrew said as they were nearing the highest floor in the tower. "Well guys, we're nearing the top floor of this tower. Let's see what is resting on this floor."
As soon as they finished the climb up the spiral stairway, they made it to the top floor. What they were greeted to at the top left them speechless.
It was a massive orrery, which was dangling right over a huge crater in the middle of a circle. Andrew was the first to comment about it, as his friends continued to stare in awe.
"Guys, check that out!" Andrew pointed to the orrery.
"Omigosh!" Goombella felt her eyes widen. "It's 'totally' huge..."
"Wow, it's... It's 'really' huge..." Koops admitted for a lack of words.
"It's simply massive..." Flurrie rubbed her chin before crossing her arms.
"Whoa, it's gigantic, huh?" Yoshiam had to wipe his eyes upon seeing it.
"Gee whiz... It's enormous..." Vivian had to say simply.
"It's 'absolutely' titanic..." Bobbery had to tilt his head at the sight of it.
"It's so big..." Ms. Mowz adjusted her Zorro mask upon gazing up at it.
"What...[IS] it?" Vivian queried the very thought that the rest of Andrew's friends were wondering.
"I think it's some kind of orrery," Andrew rubbed his chin. "I feel like we just stepped into a planetarium. And from what I'm seeing, this orrery looks 'absolutely' cosmic in appearance."
"Totally," Goombella agreed in awe before she noticed the slot in the pedestal in front of it took the shape of a star; the same size as the Star Key. "Hey Andrew? Color me obvious, but I have a hunch that the Star Key goes into this slot. Don'tcha think so too?"
"Yeah," Andrew nodded. "I'm pretty sure your right. Let's see what happens if I push it in there."
With that, Andrew took out his Star Key, approached the pedestal, and pushed the Star Key into the star-shaped slot. Once it was completely in, the tower started shaking briefly, as if Andrew had just activated something within the tower.
In a matter of seconds, eight pillar-shaped pedestals had ascended to the surface through some rather bleak-looking shadows that were pitch black, save for the keyhole that was in front of each of them.
Once each pedestal made it to the surface, one by one, the pitch-black shadows surrounding them disappeared, making them take the shape of regular pillars. As soon as that was done, the eight heroes were curious as to what just happened.
"Ummmm... Wow," Koops wiped his eyes. "Golly... What just happened?"
"It appears that eight pedestals shaped like pillars had just emerged from the bleak shadows," Andrew deduced. "And it happened after I put the Star Key into the slot over there."
"My, my! How odd, and mysterious!" Flurrie seemed rather perplexed. "'Pray' tell, whatever may be the reason for these pillar pedestals to just appear out of the blue like this, dearie?"
"Let me check them out," Andrew then investigated and saw a keyhole in the front of each one. "Looks like these pillars have keyholes. I'm guessing that we'll need to find keys in this tower to activate whatever mysterious power they could provide for us."
"Yo, Presto?" Yoshiam decided to get his attention. "Think maybe those riddles that Goombella mentioned earlier might be where the keys are hiding out?"
"There's no doubt about it," Andrew said. "The riddles must be solved to obtain the eight keys."
"Yeah. Andrew? Didn't you notice the shadows that came with these pillars?" Vivian had to share. "I can't shake the funny feeling that those black shadows seem oddly...familiar to me."
"Maybe it might have some kind of a connection to your species overall, Vivian," Andrew took a guess. "After all, your sisters seem to know more about the Palace of Shadows than you do."
"Yeah. That's true," Vivian frowned slightly at that notion.
"In any case, perhaps it would be in our best interest to hightail it to these rooms and get to work on solving these riddles and obtaining these keys, eh?" Bobbery had suggested.
"Hmm mmm mmm mmm, yes. I do admit that this'll be a rather interesting experience," Ms. Mowz mused. "A riddle for the ages, as I'd like to call it. We'd best get started on them, sweetie."
"Right, and since we have to solve riddles," Andrew then slowly turned to face his Goomba friend. "This kind of task is perfect for an aspiring archaeologist student to look into since there's some mysteries to solve behind it."
"Darn right there is," Goombella smirked at that. "And I happen to be that aspiring archaeologist. I'll 'totally' be able to look into these riddles in the Riddle Tower."
"I know," Andrew smiled. "And that's why I'm gonna need you to help us with getting through these rooms and solving the riddles that are located in each one of them, Goombella."
"You don't even need to ask me, Andrew," Goombella assured him. "I would have been happy to help us out with this."
"That's what I thought," Andrew then snapped his fingers. "Anyway, let's head back downstairs so we can check out each of these rooms in a specific order, starting from the first floor."
"Right," all seven of them said in unison as the eight heroes went back for the stairs.
As soon as they got to the first floor of the Riddle Tower, they decided to check out each room to solve each of the riddles that were in each of the eight rooms in the tower. They were going to have their work cut out for them as they went through all of them.
The first room that they entered was the northwest room on the first floor. And in the room were two platforms with four blocks; two stone blocks, and two metal blocks.
On top of the left platform was a metal block, right underneath a blue block switch. And on top of the right platform was a stone block. In front of the left platform was a stone block. 'And' in front of the right platform was a metal block. Andrew was perplexed by this as he and his friends went into the center of the room.
"Woah. What's with this room?" Andrew queried. "And why are there four blocks in here?"
"Beats me," Goombella shrugged as she saw a message on a green plaque on the wall. "Omigosh! Look! There's a message over there!"
"Well, we better check it out," Andrew walked over and read what was written. This is what the message said that he read aloud to his friends.
"Four stones, twin stones...Two are one, one is two..."
There was an extra message in the center that was written in blue that said "Master of Shadow and Dark..."
To Andrew, it seemed 'absolutely' non sequitur as it had nothing to do with the riddle that's been written. But something tells him that it might be related to something else.
"Huh," Andrew then faced Goombella. "What do you think that means, Goombella?"
"Based on that message, I'd say..." Goombella then explained. "Maybe if we break a block here, it'll do something to a block in another room?"
"Perhaps in the room above this one," Andrew declared. "In any case, there are two metal blocks along with two stone blocks. I hadn't run into any metal blocks on this journey, and I have a feeling that my Ultra Bat can't destroy them."
"That's right. You can't break it," Goombella told him. "Seriously. No matter what you do, you can't break these metal blocks."
"I guess not," Andrew sighed as he got out his Ultra Bat. "And since that metal block is in front of the platform that one of the stone blocks is resting atop of, I'm afraid the only thing I can do is break the stone block that's in front of the left platform."
Without saying anything else, Andrew went over and smashed the stone block in front of the left platform with his Ultra Bat until it turned to rubble. Seeing that there was nothing else that he could do for now, Andrew had no choice but to leave this room and check out one of the other rooms, and then come back later.
"Well, I guess the only thing we can do now is leave this room and come back later," Andrew motioned his friends to the door. "Come on, guys. Let's go."
They all obliged as they left the room along with Andrew, and they then went to check out another room in the tower.
They checked out the northeast room on the first floor now, which was a simple room with a wall at the end, or so they thought.
Andrew then saw another message on the wall in the center, and he and Goombella decided to check it out for themselves. The message on the wall said the following.
"All you see isn't all there be...Touch it to pass through it..."
There was also another message in between that said "Stones Have Power of Stars..." in blue. Andrew disregarded it for now as he focused on the actual riddle.
"Huh? Wonder what that means?" Andrew had to wonder about the riddle in this room.
"Based on that message, I'd say..." Goombella explained it. "There's something fishy about the wall here? Uh, maybe? We oughta investigate..."
"Hmmm," Andrew was in deep thought. "But what could be suspicious about the wall in front of us?"
"Well, I think I may have the answer to that one, dearie," Ms. Mowz stepped up and approached them. "This was something that my mother told me. She said that sometimes, you're eyes can deceive you, don't trust them. The eyes can lie, as can the wall in front of us."
"Now whatcha talking about?" Goombella asked her. "Of 'course' there's a wall in front of us! Can'tcha see it right over there?!"
"I'm just going by experience," Ms. Mowz shrugged. "Believe me, as a badge hunter, I've dealt with these sorts of traps before in my time."
"Well, thanks for being vague there," Goombella said sarcastically. "Not that it matters. You're not making any sense!"
"Wait Goombella, maybe Ms. Mowz is onto something," Andrew started to get a good grasp as to what Ms. Mowz was implying. "What if the wall in front of us isn't a wall? But it is 'actually' a fake wall made to fool anyone into turning back and leaving this area."
"Well, go on ahead, Andrew," Goombella encouraged. "I'll let you check it out for yourself."
"OK," Andrew then turned to his Little Mouser friend. "Ms. Mowz, you can come with me to check this out. Come on."
"Right behind you, dearie," Ms. Mowz said seductively as she followed Andrew to the wall.
As it turns out, the wall was 'indeed', a fake, as Andrew was able to walk through it along with Ms. Mowz. Goombella had to jaw-drop at this along with the others as Andrew and Ms. Mowz came across a blue block switch hovering overhead.
"Well, what do you know? It was a fake wall after all," Andrew had to smirk at this. "You were right about that one, Ms. Mowz."
"Wasn't there any doubt in me?" Ms. Mowz shrugged as she saw the switch. "Anyway Andrew, jump up and hit that blue switch over there. It might unveil a secret for us."
"You got it," Andrew then walked over and jumped into the switch, punching it to activate it.
He had managed to activate it successfully as the switch vanished afterwards. In the other room, a brown treasure chest had emerged from the black shadows, which got Goombella's attention.
"Andrew? Ms. Mowz? C'mere!" Goombella called out. "A treasure chest just appeared from the shadows!"
Andrew and Ms. Mowz had to exchange looks for a few seconds before they went through the invisible wall and regrouped with the others to see the brown treasure chest that was there. Feeling the need to investigate it, Andrew went over and opened the chest for himself, and he then saw what was in there.
"Well? What happens to be in that chest, Andrew?" Ms. Mowz had to question.
"It happens to be a Palace Key," Andrew showed it to her. "And I think this is one of the eight keys that we need to obtain."
"Right, Andrew," Goombella agreed. "We have seven more keys before we can use them on those pedestals upstairs."
"Yeah. Hey, Ms. Mowz," Andrew then went and gave the Palace Key to Ms. Mowz. "Catch!"
Ms. Mowz was able to jump up and catch it in her little hands as she looked skeptical about this. "Wow. This is rather surprising. Why are you entrusting this key to yours truly, if I may ask?"
"Well, I feel that all eight of us are gonna work as a team here," Andrew advised her. "And since we're all in this together, and since there are eight keys and eight of us, all of us are going to be given a Palace Key to use upstairs once we all have obtained one. Does that make sense?"
"I believe so," Ms. Mowz had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, I must thank you for your consideration, given that we're all on the same team, as you would call it. Therefore, I shall hang onto this key until we need to use it upstairs with the other ones we'll be collecting."
"Yeah. I guess that's a good idea," Goombella had to admit. "Might be a great idea for all of us to pitch in and solve these riddles as a team. Since that's 'totally' what we are!"
"Exactly," Andrew nodded proudly.
"Hey ummm... Andrew?" Koops decided to get his attention. "What kind of riddle will we be solving next?"
"Only one way to find out," Andrew walked over to the door and opened it up. "Let's check out another room in the Riddle Tower."
They all agreed as they left the room to check out another room, with Ms. Mowz keeping her hands on the Palace Key she was given.
They then went into the southwest room on the first floor, which was a typical room with two red blocks. One was closest to the door, the other was farthest away from the door. As Andrew was curious about that, he then read the message that was on the wall along with Goombella. The message had the following riddle written on it.
"Beyond, beyond, beyond...Before, before..."
Additionally, a message that said "Complete All Seven" was placed in between those two lines of the riddle. Andrew scratched his head as he then faced Goombella for an answer.
"Based on that message, I'd say..." Goombella then told him. "That word 'beyond' probably refers to away from the door."
"That's the block on the left, right?" Andrew had to make sure.
"Yes," Goombella nodded. "So then the word 'before' must refer to the right block. Are you with me, Andrew?"
"Yeah," Andrew nodded. "I understand."
"Good," Goombella then gave a puzzled look towards the message. "Still, the way they repeat those words must have some meaning too, don'tcha think?"
"Probably," Andrew was able to figure it out. "So we'll have to hit the block on the left three times before the block on the right gets hit twice."
"That's what it sounds like," Ms. Mowz told him. "If it makes any sense."
"Yeah, it makes sense," Goombella rolled her eyes. "You can do that, can'tcha?"
"Of course. We can get started now," Andrew then turned towards his Koopa friend. "Hey Koops. Mind giving me a hand here?"
"Sure?" Koops wondered with a confused look as he approached him. "What do you want me to do?"
"Simple. I want you to go underneath that red block on the right and stand under it," Andrew instructed. "And I'll stand under the red block on the left."
"Ummm... Of course," Koops nodded reluctantly. "Got it, Andrew."
Koops then walked over to stand under the red block on the right side of the room, while Andrew walked over to stand under the red block on the left. Once they were both underneath the respective ones, Andrew gave his next instructions.
"Now I'm gonna hit the block on the left three times by jumping, Koops!" Andrew called out to him. "As soon as I hit it three times, I want you to do the same by jumping and hitting the block on the right twice! And I'll give you the signal when it's your turn to contribute! Do you understand?!"
"Yes! I sure do!" Koops told him. "I get it! I'll be waiting for when you give me my cue, I guess!"
"Great!" Andrew then went and jumped into the red block he was underneath three times.
Once he got down hitting it three times by jumping, he then called out to Koops. "NOW, KOOPS! JUMP!"
Koops didn't waste any time jumping up and hitting the red block that he was underneath. He did it twice in a row, as Andrew had suggested.
As soon as he hit it the second time, both red switches vanished out of thin air, which meant that they were successful in accomplishing the riddle.
"Wow! We did it?" Koops was impressed by this. "Neat! Pretty cool!"
"Yeah," Andrew agreed with him as he then witnessed something happen.
Another brown chest had emerged from the black shadows, just like the last one. And he was certain that it also contained a Palace Key.
"Gosh... Check it out," Koops pointed out. "Think it's another Palace Key that we're searching for?"
"Well, let's find out for ourselves," Andrew walked over to the chest and opened it up.
Inside was another Palace Key, which Andrew pulled out and showed to his friends.
"Well, that's convenient," Ms. Mowz mused. "So that's two Palace Keys that we have now, yes?"
"Yeah," Goombella nodded. "We got two Palace Keys. Which means there are six more to go."
"Uh huh," Andrew then went and handed the Palace Key to Koops. "Here you go, Koops. You can hold onto this Palace Key for now, as a way of showing how you contributed to solving this riddle.
"Ummm...Right. Thanks, Andrew," Koops thanked him. "I'll hold onto it until we're ready to use it..."
"Great to know," Andrew smiled.
"My, my! I already feel the need for drama, but this is something else that is quite exhilarating!" Flurrie gleamed. "I daresay, I wonder what riddle shall we run into next."
"Well, we can check out another room in the tower to see what the next one might be," Andrew had walked over to the door and opened it up. "Let's keep going."
The eight of them then left the room and decided to check out another room in the tower, as Koops and Ms. Mowz both had a key in their possession. The next room happens to be the remaining room on the first floor that they hadn't checked out yet.
The room that they went into next happened to be the southwest room on the first floor, and it was just a standard room, with some unseeable but solid objects in the center of the room.
Andrew was the first to see the message on the wall along with Goombella. So both of them walked over to see what was written on it. This is what the riddle said on the wall.
"The unseen may yet be felt...Be it here? Be it there?"
And of course, in between those two lines was another message that said "So That We, the Great Ones..." written in blue. Andrew then looked towards Goombella before he decided to ask her.
"Well, Goombella? You understand what this message is saying, right?" Andrew queried.
"Yes. Based on that message, I'd say..." Goombella then voiced her thoughts on it. "...There's 'definitely' something in the center of the room, don'tcha think? But what are we supposed to do with something we can't see? This is insanity!"
"Or maybe it isn't," Ms. Mowz mused. "Perhaps there is something that we can do. From what I can recall, one has to use the power of the wind to unveil what's there that we cannot see."
"Hey! You might be right, Ms. Mowz," Koops started to understand. "Ummmm... Andrew? We've dealt with something like this before. Haven't we?"
"Yeah, we have. We had to deal with invisible things in the past. And we always resorted to having them blown away from view. And I know the person who can do that," Andrew then turned to face his Wind Spirit friend with benefits. "Flurrie? If you wouldn't mind doing the honor and blowing this invisible object for us?"
"Why, certainly," Flurrie obliged happily. "I would be 'absolutely' delighted to remove this invisible thingy for us, darling!"
With that, Flurrie floated over to where the invisible thingy was located. Afterwards, she went ahead and took a deep breath, and then she unleashed her Gale Force move on the invisible object. Just as expected, the invisible 'thingy' was a piece of paper that was flapping in the wind until it was completely blown away.
Hidden underneath the invisible paper thing was a brown treasure chest, which caught their attention.
"Mercy me! I do believe that we just uncovered a treasure chest!" Flurrie felt like she was swooning when she said that. "I daresay, that must be another one of those Palace Keys that we are looking for, is it not?"
"Believe me, I'm fairly certain that it is," Andrew told her as he walked over and opened the treasure chest.
Inside the treasure chest was another Palace Key, which Andrew then went and showed to his seven friends, as they were all surprised that they solved yet another riddle.
"Just as I thought," Ms. Mowz proclaimed. "We got another Palace Key from solving this riddle."
"Gosh..." Koops admitted. "So now we got three Palace Keys so far."
"You betcha," Goombella gleamed. "Now we have five more Palace Keys left to obtain from the Riddle Tower."
"I can't deny that," Andrew then went over and gave the Palace Key to Flurrie. "Anyway, I'm giving this Palace Key to you Flurrie, since you gave your contribution and helped us with solving this riddle."
"My, my! Thank you very kindly, sweetums," Flurrie thanked him graciously as she took the Palace Key and held onto it. "I'll be honored to hold onto it for you until we need to use it later."
"Great to know," Andrew then walked over to the door and opened it. "Anyway, we might as well go up onto the second floor and see what riddles are written up there. We better get going."
They all nodded at this. Since the remaining riddle on the first floor couldn't be solved yet since there was no way to smash the metal blocks in that room, they had to go up to the second floor, as Ms. Mowz, Koops, and Flurrie each had their 'own' key. With any amount of luck, they might find the room above that one so they can solve two riddles at once.
As soon as they made it to the second floor, they went into the northwest room on that floor. To their surprise, the room looked identical to the north-west room that was right below it. On the platform to the right was a metal block, with a stone block standing in front of it.
Supposedly, a metal block was in front of the platform to the left, but it was gone. It was likely demolished as a result of destroying the stone block that was right underneath it. And on the platform to the left was a stone block.
Andrew and Goombella read the message on the wall, and it said the 'exact' same thing as the riddle in the northwest room on the first floor. The only difference was that the line said "Can Live Again by the Stone..." in between those two lines.
Seeing that Andrew knew what the riddle was, he went ahead and took out his Ultra Bat before smashing up the stone block in front of the platform to the right, as well as smashing the stone block that was on top of the platform to the left. Both stone blocks were turned to rubble in a matter of seconds, leaving only one metal block in the room.
"Well, as you said correctly, the blocks we smashed here will affect the one below us," Andrew proclaimed. "Meaning that the metal blocks in the room that we went through before are probably demolished from how we handled the stone blocks here."
"Omigosh! You might be right," Goombella told him. "Let's head back to the first floor and check out the room underneath this one!"
"Good idea," Andrew nodded as he went out the door along with the others.
They then went back down to the first floor, straight to the room that was underneath that one. Just as he expected, the two metal blocks were demolished and gone once they went back in there. Andrew was now able to smash the remaining stone block and hit the blue block switch on the platform to the left.
The stone block on the right side platform was turned to rubble in a matter of seconds, thanks to Andrew and his Ultra Bat. After that, he went onto the left side platform, jumped up, and punched the blue block switch.
Then just like before, the block switch vanished, as another brown treasure chest emerged from the black shadows in the center of the room. Andrew jumped down from the platform and approached it.
"I already know what is inside of this treasure chest," Andrew sighed. "But let's get this over with."
And with that, Andrew opened up the chest and pulled out what was in there.
It was another Palace Key, and Andrew then held it up for his friends to see it for themselves.
"Well Andrew, my sweet, you just earned another Palace Key," Ms. Mowz proclaimed.
"Yeah," Koops nodded. "That makes four Palace Keys, right?"
"I daresay, I believe your right," Flurrie gushed. "And that must mean that a mere four more keys are required to unlock the secret at the top of this tower!"
"In any case," Goombella faced Andrew. "Ya can keep that key. It's only fair since all eight of us need to hold onto one, y'know?"
"Of course," Andrew nodded as he kept the Palace Key in his possession. "Now that we cleared this room, that means we can get the Palace Key in the room right above this one, right?"
"Exactly," Goombella nodded in agreement. "Now c'mon! Let's go!"
With that, the eight of them left the room and went back up to the second floor. They had four palace keys in their possession, and that meant there were four more to claim. Andrew, Koops, Flurrie, and Ms. Mowz had a Palace Key, while the others were still waiting to claim their own Palace Key.
They made it back to the northwest room on the second floor and saw that all of the blocks were gone, allowing Andrew to gain access to the blue block switch above the platform on the right.
"Well Goombella, we might as well activate this one," Andrew motioned her to follow. "That way we can get another chest to emerge from the shadows and provide for us another Palace Key."
"Right, Andrew," Goombella beamed as she followed Andrew onto the right side platform.
Once they were underneath the block switch, Andrew jumped up and hit the switch, activating it and causing it to disappear. Then in the center of the room, another treasure chest had emerged from the black shadows for all eight to see.
"Jeepers, Andrew," Goombella then nudged his left leg. "Don'tcha think we should check out that chest and claim the Palace Key that's in there?"
"Great idea," Andrew jumped down with Goombella trailing behind him. "Let's claim it."
Then just as expected, Andrew pulled out a Palace Key once he opened it up. His friends were able to see it for themselves once again.
"Hmm mmm mmm, I must say, I'm impressed," Ms. Mowz proclaimed. "We have been making great progress here, no?"
"Yeah. We sure have," Koops nodded. "We now have five Palace Keys currently."
"And that must mean that there shall be three more of them to go," Flurrie declared. "My, my! I like our chances here! We shall continue to solve the remaining riddles as a collective team!"
"That's right," Andrew then handed the Palace Key he pulled out to Goombella. "Here you go, Goombella. You can hold onto this Palace Key, especially since you've been contributing effectively with this riddle and the other one."
"Aw, how very thoughtful of you, Andrew," Goombella gleamed happily. "Thank you. And don'tcha worry! I'll hold onto this key until we need it once we gather up the last three keys that are still in this tower!"
"Great to know," Andrew nodded.
"Harumph! I say, we certainly have been making capital progress here, eh?" Bobbery proclaimed. "Perhaps now would be as good of a time as any to check out another room in this tower and solve whatever riddle there might be in that particular room, is that right, dear boy?"
"Good idea, Bobbery," Andrew walked over to the door and opened it up. "Let's go check out another room on the second floor, guys."
There were no objections as they left the room collectively. Andrew, Goombella, Koops, Flurrie, and Ms. Mowz now each had a Palace Key in their possession. There were three more left, and they had confidence that they'd be able to solve the three remaining riddles in the tower.
The next room that they entered was the northeast room on the second floor. The room looked no different from the other small and empty rooms, as there was a secret in that room that needed to be revealed.
Andrew and Goombella went over to the message that was on the wall and decided to see what the riddle was for this room. The message said the following.
"Straight on, straight onward...Destroy all in your path..."
And in between those lines was a message that said "We Know the Stars Spurn Us...", as Andrew turned around to face Goombella for what the riddle was referring to.
"Well, Goombella? What do you think?" Andrew asked her.
"OK. Based on that message, I'd say..." Goombella then told him. "I guess we just have to go straight in from the entrance. And then when we get to the wall, we have to do something... Yeah... something."
"By something, you mean blast away a part of the wall," Andrew was starting to figure it out. "As in the center of the wall looks like it's weakened enough to reveal something from a single explosion."
"What?" Goombella raised an eyebrow. "Whatcha saying, Andrew?"
"I'm saying that we can blow up the center of the wall with an explosion, such as a dynamite, or a bomb, or even better, a Bob-omb."
"Hmm mmm mmm, I take it that you've figured it out, huh Andrew?" Ms Mowz mused.
"That's right. And I know who can help us with this," Andrew then turned to face his Bob-omb friend. "All right, Bobbery. I'm gonna need you to go to the center part of that wall, and use your Bomb move to blast away through it."
"Capital thinking there, old boy," Bobbery nodded as he faced the wall. "Very well then. I shall be more than honored to give it a go. Just leave it to me!"
With that, Bobbery approached the center of the wall as he lit his fuse. Once he was standing near the center of the wall, he started flashing red. Before they knew it, Bobbery unleashed his Bomb move on the wall, blasting a rather big hole in its wake.
"Well, would you look at that," Andrew smiled as Bobbery regenerated and landed next to Andrew. "There must be something in the room beyond that hole."
"Indeed. That was a pretty smashing idea you had there, Andrew," Bobbery admitted. "Now then, shall we make our way through and investigate what's in there, old boy?"
"Right," Andrew nodded as he and Bobbery went through the hole in the wall, while the others all poked their heads through the hole.
Andrew and Bobbery stumbled upon another brown treasure chest that was in there. Andrew already knew what was in there, and with Bobbery giving him a nod of approval, Andrew went ahead and opened it.
Of course, it was another Palace Key. It was their sixth Palace Key that they had, as Andrew showed it to the others who were watching them from the other room.
"Wowsers! Another Palace Key!" Goombella blinked at this.
"Yes. I am not surprised by this point," Ms. Mowz crossed her arms. "Still, we have been making some phenomenal progress."
"Wow. Good job, Andrew," Koops gave him a thumbs up. "So that makes six Palace Keys."
"My, how marvelous!" Flurrie beamed. "That must mean that there shall be two more to find."
"Andrew? Looks like we're close to solving all of these riddles," Goombella proclaimed.
"Seems like it to me," Andrew then went and handed the Palace Key over to Bobbery. "Well Bobbery, here you go. You can have this Palace Key to show that you've contributed to solving these riddles."
"I say, this has been a pleasant experience, has it not? Still, many thanks to you, dear boy," Bobbery proclaimed. "And in return, I shall maintain possession of this Palace Key until the time comes for us to use all the keys on the top floor of this tower."
"Good to know," Andrew smiled.
"Hey, Presto? What kind of riddle will we have to do next?" Yoshiam had to ask him. "Do you think that it'll be something awesome or what?"
"It might be," Andrew said thoughtfully. "We'll find out in a minute. Let's go check out another room that we haven't explored yet."
It was then the eight of them left the room and went to check out another room that hadn't been explored yet. Now in possession of six Palace Keys, Yoshiam and Vivian were the only ones without a Palace Key yet. But they will gain possession of one soon. That was a given.
The next room that they decided to check out was the south-west room on the second floor. It looked pretty typical for a room in the tower.
However, there were four piles of Koopa bones lying around. One was a Dull Bones, one was a Red Bones, one was a Dry Bones, and one was a Dark Bones.
Andrew was surprised that they hadn't come to life yet, as he walked over to the message on the wall along with Goombella. The message that was written on there said the following.
"Let fall the weakest...Then build to the strongest..."
In between those two lines was another message, which said "And That the Skies Lie...", as Andrew was still scratching his temple upon reading that.
He then turned to face Goombella yet again, knowing that she was an aspiring archaeologist and that riddles should be something that she was skilled at figuring out.
"Based on that message, I'd say..." Goombella then motioned to the four Koopa skeletons nearby. "We're supposed to defeat these guys in order, from weakest to strongest?"
"Sure seems like it to me," Andrew shrugged.
"Uh... Well, I know the weakest is the Dull Bones in the green shoes there..." Goombella told him. "That help?"
"Right," Andrew was quick to figure out. "The Dull Bones comes first. Then the Red Bones. Then the Dry Bones. And finally, the Dark Bones."
"That sounds about right," Goombella nodded.
"Hey Yoshiam," Andrew turned to face his Yoshi friend. "How would you like to give me a hand with disposing of these bone bags in the correct order, from weakest to strongest?"
"Aw yeah! I've been waiting for this, Presto!" Yoshiam jumped up and down before going to Andrew's side. "Let's rock these four skeleton chumps, starting with the Dull Bones!"
As soon as that was said, all four Bones came to life and decided to ambush Andrew and Yoshiam, as the former got out his Ultra Bat.
"Get ready, Yoshiam. Here they come," Andrew informed him as he held his Ultra Bat correctly. "Get ready to go after the Dull Bones first."
"You got it, Presto!" Yoshiam jumped out of the way as he then approached the Dull Bones.
In a swift movement, Yoshiam launched his tongue, grabbed the Dull Bones, and brought it into his mouth with his Gulp ability. Upon turning to face Andrew, he then spat out the Dull Bones towards Andrew.
As soon as the Dull Bones was within range of Andrew, the muscular man swung his Ultra Bat and sent the Dull Bones flying upward into the ceiling, where it then crumbled and turned to dust upon falling onto the ground.
Yoshiam then did the same thing to the Red Bones, and he used his Gulp to grab it with his tongue and put the Red Bones into his mouth. He then spat it out towards Andrew, who was able to swing his Ultra Bat into the Red Bones once it was close enough.
The Red Bones then crumbled once it hit the ceiling, and then turned to dust as soon as it landed, leaving just the Dry Bones and Dark Bones to take care of.
Yoshiam then used his Gulp attack on the Dry Bones, by grabbing it with his tongue and putting it into his mouth. He then spat the Dry Bones out towards Andrew, who then got prepared to swing with his Ultra Bat.
Once it was close enough, Andrew swung his Ultra Bat and sent the Dry Bones careening into the ceiling. This caused it to crumble and it then turned into dust once it landed on the ground, leaving the Dark Bones all alone.
The Dark Bones tried using its Bone Throw at the two of them. But Yoshiam swallowed one bone and spat it back towards it. And Andrew was able to smack the bone away with his Ultra Bat.
After being roughened up, Yoshiam marched over, grabbed the Dark Bones with his tongue, and used his Gulp attack to put it into his mouth. Andrew was prepared to unleash his Power Swing on the Dark Bones once Yoshiam sent it towards him.
Then right on cue, Yoshiam spat out the Dark Bones towards Andrew, who then dished out a rather powerful Power Swing on the Dark Bones, sending it flying into the ceiling. Once it slammed into it, the Dark Bones then started to crumble and fall back downwards.
Seeing that Andrew and Yoshiam had outmatched it, the Dark Bones could only fall in defeat, turning to dust moments later. Once the Dark Bones was dispatched, a blue block switch suddenly appeared on the left side of the room through purple smoke.
"Yo, Presto!? There's another one of those switches!" Yoshiam pointed out excitedly. "Go on and strike it, dude!"
"Of course," Andrew then walked over to it, and then jumped up and punched it.
As soon as he did that, the block switch vanished, and then in the center of the room, a brown treasure chest appeared from the black shadows, which got Andrew and Yoshiam to exchange looks.
Without saying anything else, Andrew walked over and opened the treasure chest. Inside the chest was another Palace Key; their seventh one.
"Well, it's another Palace Key," Andrew proclaimed proudly.
"Yes. Now it seems that we have seven Palace Keys, right?" Ms. Mowz proclaimed.
"That's right," Koops nodded. "We have seven out of eight of them. We know what that means?"
"By the stars, yes!" Flurrie then announced. "It means that there shall be only one key left! Oh, I am so awash in joy!"
"Omigosh! We've been tearing through these riddles," Goombella smirked. "Jeepers, we are 'totally' good!"
"Sounds quite pleasant to me," Bobbery nodded. "But wait a tick, could this mean that we must be closer to unlocking those pillars, are we not?"
"Yes. We only need one more key," Andrew then went and tossed the Palace Key to Yoshiam. "Well Yoshiam, you can hold onto this key for now."
"Aw yeah!" Yoshiam caught it effectively. "We're getting closer to collecting all eight of them! So yeah, I'm cool with holding onto this key until we're ready to use it, Presto!"
"That's good to know," Andrew gave him a thumbs up.
"Hey, Andrew?" Vivian got his attention. "We better solve that last riddle and get the last key to unlock those pedestals! Maybe they might reveal a secret of some kind that might get us to the cataclysm, so we can put a stop to it."
"You got it, Vivian," Andrew gave her a thumbs up before walking over to the door. "Let's go solve the last riddle, guys."
And so Andrew left the room with his seven friends behind him. They had the ambition of solving the final riddle in the tower so they could unlock all of those pillar-shaped pedestals, which could unveil the secret to continue forward in the Palace of Shadow.
Soon enough, the eight of them were in the room with the final riddle that needed to be solved. It was the southeast room on the second floor, and it was another empty room that had a secret resting inside of it.
Just like before, there was a message on the wall, and Andrew and Goombella approached it and read exactly what the riddle said. The message on the wall said the following.
"The shy one hides his shape...The shy one hides his face..."
And in between those two lines was another unrelated message written in blue that said "But the Stars Bring Balance."
Andrew still had no idea what that meant, but he wouldn't dwell on it right now. He turned to Goombella and gave her the look that was asking her for an explanation about the riddle that they just read.
"All right. Based on that message, I'd say..." Goombella exclaimed in slight confusion. "That if we can be seen, then there won't be anything to see in this room? ...Huh?"
"Wait, so let me get this straight," Andrew decided to piece it together. "Whatever is in this room is hidden from plain sight since we're here. But if we were to be hidden from plain sight, whatever's in here would reveal itself with no one being able to witness it."
"Hmmm, how intriguing. Yet very vague," Ms. Mowz proclaimed. "Care to elaborate on that, dearie?"
"Well, it goes like this: you all remember how we got Ghost T to expose himself while we were on the Excess Express, right?" Andrew asked them, as they all nodded. "If we do the same thing here that we did there, we might be able to expose whatever's hiding here."
"Omigosh!" Goombella was quick to figure it out. "You... You don't mean...?"
"That's right," Andrew nodded before he issued. "I want all of you except for Vivian to grab a hold of me!"
They didn't argue as they grabbed a hold of Andrew and hung onto him tight, except for Vivian, who was quick to figure out what it was that Andrew was planning.
"All right, Vivian," Andrew turned to face his Shadow Siren friend. "I want you to use your Veil move, grab a hold of me, and drag us into the shadows!"
"OK, Andrew," Vivian nodded. "I'll do my best!"
Vivian wasted no time in grabbing Andrew and dragging him into the shadows along with the others. As soon as the eight of them were hidden in the shadows, a blue block switch appeared out of nowhere on the right side of the message plague. Andrew had sensed its presence, so he issued Vivian to bring him and the others back up, which she complied with.
As soon as he was back up onto the surface, he saw the switch block for himself and approached it, after his friends let go of him.
"Uh huh," Andrew mused. "Just as I thought."
Without sparing a second, Andrew jumped up and hit the block switch with his fists. It was quickly activated and it then vanished entirely.
At that second, another brown treasure chest emerged from the black shadows with the Palace Key inside of it. Vivian had to frown at how it emerged from the type of shadows the way it did.
"You know, I've been creeped out this whole time with how these chests emerged from the black shadows," Vivian voiced herself. "I just can't shake this wretched feeling in my gut that I've seen these shadows from somewhere before."
"I know how you feel," Andrew approached the treasure chest and opened it up. "It might be a Shadow Siren's instinct or something. I don't know much about it, but I can see that it might be related to your species."
"Maybe," Vivian said thoughtfully.
"Well anyway, we got the last key," Andrew held the eighth and final Palace Key in his hands. "And you guys know what that means, right?"
"Totally," Goombella nodded. "Now that we got all eight of them, we can use 'em to unlock those pillar pedestals at the top of this tower!"
"Ummm... Wow," Koops smiled. "We got them all! Very neat. Now we can see what happens to those pedestals on the top floor, Andrew."
"My, my! I can simply swoon right now!" Flurrie admitted. "We shall find out what mysterious powers will be bestowed on us once we use these keys to unlock those pedestals!"
"Aw yeah! We got all eight of those babies!" Yoshiam jumped up and down. "Now we can find out if this'll allow us to continue through this creepy palace, Presto!"
"I must say, this has been quite the tremendous experience for the likes of us, eh?" Bobbery proclaimed. "In any case, we'd best make haste to the top floor and get to the bottom of that weird orrery that we've seen earlier."
"Yes. Of course," Ms. Mowz nodded. "Now that we got that done, let's go see what'll happen if we use all eight keys on those pedestals."
"Right," Andrew then went and handed the key over to Vivian. "Here you go, Vivian. You can hold onto that key since the rest of us have one already. And since you helped with giving your contribution in solving the riddles in this tower."
"Oh. Right. Thank you for this Andrew," Vivian nodded with a smile. "I'll be sure to hold onto this so we can unlock those pedestals above us."
"That's right," Andrew then walked to the door and opened it up. "Now, shall we head to the top floor now?"
"Yeah!" All seven of them cheered simultaneously as they left the room along with Andrew, as Flurrie was reminded of something from how they solved these riddles.
"I daresay, solving all of these riddles has been quite exhilarating," Flurrie had to admit. "Why, I do believe that it reminds me of a movie that I once starred in, which involved solving riddles and activating traps, if I may recall."
"And I happen to know the name of it, too," Andrew snapped his fingers. "It happens to be Marauder of the Stray Chest. Is that right?"
"Yes! That is 'absolutely' correct! And may I add that that's truly a classic that I starred in," Flurrie gushed. "It certainly was one-of-a-kind, Andrew, my darling!"
"It sure was," Andrew sighed. "Well, let's get going."
With that, they then went up the stairs and went back to the top floor where the orrery was, and where those eight pillar-shaped pedestals were resting.
Now that each of them had a Palace Key, they approached one of the pedestals individually so they could insert the keys collectively as a group. Andrew made sure he was in front of one of the pedestals and took out the Palace Key he was holding onto. He then made sure that all seven of his friends were standing in front of the remaining pedestals.
"OK! Glad to see all of us being in front of each pedestal here!" Andrew then had to ask them while showing them his Palace Key. "Now, does everyone still have their Palace Keys on them, like I still do?"
"Of course," Goombella beamed as she took out her Palace Key and showed it to Andrew. "Don'tcha worry! I wouldn't plan on losing this key, Andrew! So I still got it!"
"Yeah. I have mine too," Koops nodded as he got out his Palace Key and showed it to him. "This is the Palace Key that you gave me earlier. I didn't lose it. So that's good..."
"'Absolutely, dearie," Flurrie gleamed as she took out her Palace Key and had Andrew see it for himself. "I shan't be losing this Palace Key for just anything! And you mustn't worry about it, for I still have it, darling!"
"Aw yeah!" Yoshiam jumped and got out his Palace Key, and allowed Andrew to see it. "I have mine too, Presto! No sweat, man! There's no way that I'd lose this key that easily! So I still have mine too, dude!"
"Of course, Andrew. You just gave it to me," Vivian said shyly as she showed Andrew the Palace Key that she had been given just recently. "I wouldn't lose anything important that you'd give to me. So don't worry about it!"
"Indeed. I believe this is the key that you're speaking of, old boy," Bobbery took out his Palace Key and allowed Andrew to gaze upon it. "There is no need to be alarmed. This key wasn't going anywhere from my sight. So I must say, this truly has been the cat's meow, hm?"
"Yes. I have the Palace Key that you've given me, Andrew," Ms. Mowz took out her Palace Key and showed it to the muscular man. "As a globe-trotting thief, I haven't lost a single item that I found yet. And this key is no exception. So you will not be disappointed in me for my achievement, sweetie."
"Very good. Glad to see that we still have our keys," Andrew then gave the next instructions. "OK, guys. On the count of three, we insert our respective keys into the keyhole and turn them to unlock these eight pedestals in unison. Ready? One. Two. Three!"
As soon as 'three' was shouted, all eight of them took their keys and inserted them into the eight pedestals. Once they went into the keyholes, they turned it correctly to unlock them. As a result, all eight of them rotated in a way that the keyholes were now facing away from them.
After that, the eight of them regrouped together just in time to see some green flashy stars light up on the orrery in front of them. The orrery started moving as a result, and all eight heroes were fascinated by what they were witnessing. What was it trying to do? And what secret would it reveal to them?
Whatever the reason, they couldn't take their eyes off of it for a millisecond.
"Holy cow!" Andrew gawked in awe.
"Wow!" Goombella blinked and yelped.
"Golly!" Koops seemed completely mesmerized by that.
"Oh, my!" Flurrie gasped as she placed her right hand over her mouth.
"Whoa!" Yoshiam wiped his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Uh-oh!" Vivian squealed as she twirled her pink hair upon what she was seeing.
"Harumph!" Bobbery felt his mustache twitch as he shouted.
"My!" Ms. Mowz felt her heart-shaped tail stand up straight as she witnessed this going on.
"I know, guys," Andrew then exclaimed. "It's moving!"
In a matter of seconds, another massive earthquake shook the palace a bit, in which the orrery had something to do with it. This got Andrew and his friends to jump and be on alert as they were wondering what that was.
"What the...?!" Andrew howled as he glanced in all directions while the shaking took place.
"What?!" The Goomba, Koopa, Wind Spirit, Yoshi, Shadow Siren, Bob-omb, and Little Mouser all yelled out in unison as they were curious about it too.
As the shaking continued, it was revealed that the first corridor just past the palace garden to the right had just revealed another pathway below, as a bunch of stairs were formed as the ground was lowered to create the stairs and the lower passageway.
It seems that the Palace Keys being inserted into those pedestals had allowed the orrery to rotate and reveal the secret passageway that the eight heroes would have to take to continue through the Palace of Shadows.
Back in the Riddle Tower, as soon as the earthquake stopped abruptly, and as the orrery was coming to a stop, all seven of Andrew's friends had to wonder what that was all about.
"What was that?" The seven of them had to ask in unison.
"I dunno. I believe that the orrery we just activated must've revealed a secret passageway nearby," Andrew rubbed his chin as he guessed. "And if what I'm thinking is correct, then the secret passageway must've been revealed in the first corridor beyond the right door of the palace garden."
"You might be onto something, Andrew," Goombella said thoughtfully. "Guess it wouldn't hurt for us to check it out for ourselves, huh?"
"Yeah," Andrew dusted his hands. "Looks like our work here is done. We better get going."
"Hang on, Andrew. Before we do that, I've been meaning to share something with you," Goombella started by asking. "Didja notice the hidden messages that were in between the riddles in each room we 'totally' explored?"
"Yeah. I noticed them," Andrew nodded. "And they don't seem to make a whole lot of sense..."
"That's exactly it, Andrew," Goombella told him. "All of them seemed out of place and had nothing to do with the riddles that we solved. So you can say that they come off as non sequitur, y'know?"
"That's pretty much the best way to describe it," Andrew said in amusement.
"Well, I betcha didn't know this, but I've been trying to take those messages and put 'em together," Goombella remarked. "I don't think anyone knows for sure what the correct order for these lines is, but I 'totally' put them in a particular order. And it seems to make some sense. Or whatever I can piece from it."
"I'm not surprised that you'd attempt to do that, Goombella," Andrew crossed his arms and smirked. "Being the aspiring archaeologist, you would 'definitely' try to arrange the messages in a correct order."
"What gave it away?" Goombella asked rhetorically while smirking. "Anyway, wouldja like to hear the message I 'totally' managed to decipher from this?"
"Of course," Andrew encouraged. "Let's hear it."
"Gotcha," Goombella cleared her throat and read her interpretation of the messages together. "Here's how it goes. 'Complete All Seven...So That We, the Great Ones...Master of Shadow and Dark...Can Live Again by the Stone...Stones Have Power of Stars...We Know the Stars Spurn Us...And That the Skies Lie...But the Stars Bring Balance.' Don'tcha ask about it, 'cause I'm still not too sure about it myself, y'know?"
"Yeah. Me neither," Andrew then said. "But maybe it's possible that the 'we' part might be referring to the cataclysm and this ancient demon spirit's species. Or it might be related to the Shadow Sirens."
"Right. And as for the stones with the power of stars," Goombella then gave an estimated guess. "Think maybe it's referring to the Crystal Stars or something?"
"Probably," Andrew shrugged. "After all, the 'complete all seven' part might be about collecting the seven Crystal Stars. Which is what we have been doing since we started. Either way, we'll be able to find more about it the deeper we get into the Palace of Shadow."
"Good idea, Andrew," Vivian nodded in agreement. "Maybe we can figure out more about the message that Goombella read for us. And it'll tie into the reason as to why I feel that this place is so vaguely familiar."
"Exactly, Vivian," Andrew then asked his friends. "Now, is everyone ready to leave this tower and continue through the Palace of Shadow?"
"You betcha, Andrew," Goombella beamed and winked at him. "I'm 'totally' ready to hit the road and continue through this ancient palace, so we can stop this cataclysm from happening! And keep Grodus from proceeding with his plan!"
"I'm ready, Andrew," Koops nodded, as he gave him a thumbs up. "I feel slightly more braver now since we beat Gloomtail. So I should be able to keep up. Let's go!"
"Why, I certainly do agree with that, Andrew!" Flurrie bellowed quite excitedly. "We shall carry onward through this treacherous palace and put a halt to this cataclysm's reawakening once and for all! Come along now, darling!"
"Now we're talking, Presto!" Yoshiam whooped as he did a fist pump with his right fist in the air. "Time to crash through more of this palace, whip any punks that try to stop us, and put a stop to this cataclysm before this Grodus chump puts his plan into action!"
"Yes. I'm ready too, Andrew," Vivian nodded meekly as she smiled. "We better hurry through this palace before Sir Grodus or my sisters get to this ancient demon's spirit and put their horrible plan into action! Let's go!"
"Aye! Very capital idea, Andrew," Bobbery agreed with him. "Very well, then. We must make haste and continue on our way through this perilous palace before those ruffian swine can put forth their diabolical scheme, old boy!"
"Hmm mmm, I agree," Ms. Mowz showed that she was ready too. "We shouldn't waste anymore time. We should get through the remainder of this palace and straight to where the cataclysm is resting before Grodus beats us to it!"
"That's exactly what I mean, guys," Andrew then walked to the stairs. "Let's get out of here and continue through the Palace of Shadow!"
"Right," all of them nodded as they followed Andrew down the spiral stairway and made their way back to the first floor, and out the door that they went through to get into the Riddle Tower.
They had plans of continuing through the right door beyond the Palace Garden. But what they didn't know was that three people were planning to ambush them before they left the palace garden. And it would reveal an awful revelation as to the identity of Professor Frankly, and what happened to the real professor.
But this was something that they would find out about soon enough. That much was a given...
END OF CHAPTER 76...
Yeah. That's it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, even though there wasn't much to it, besides solving the riddles in the Riddle Tower and the hidden message.
That's right. I had decided that all eight heroes would hold onto one Palace Key each since there are eight Palace Keys with eight heroes solving the riddles together. And I had wanted the eight of them to work collectively as a team to get the riddles solved.
And frankly, I think all the riddles that each member of the heroe solved fit nicely with their personalities and abilities, such as Ms. Mowz's mysterious nature, the powers of Flurrie and Bobbery, respectively, Yoshiam's desire to fight, Vivian's shadow abilities, etc.
And the two riddles that are the same with the blocks, those keys went to Andrew and Goombella, since they were the ones in charge of solving the riddles in the first place. I hope this works as an interesting theme for it.
Lastly, having Goombella reveal that hidden message from those hidden lines in the riddles was expected since she's an aspiring archaeologist, and she is the one to look into that kind of stuff.
And given the identity of the ancient demon's spirit, as well as how it relates to the species of the Shadow Sirens, I think the message shouldn't come as a surprise.
Anyway, the next chapter will focus on the fight with the Shadow Sirens, being that the eight heroes will have to fight Beldam, Marilyn, and Doopliss before they can proceed any further. Now, a lot of character growth will be displayed for the eight heroes in the next chapter, one of which happens to be Andrew no longer feeling doubt when it comes to Doopliss.
This will especially be true after he witnesses how Doopliss went from being a dangerous threat to him, to being reduced to being Beldam's punching bag and as a complete joke, so he has no more reason to doubt himself.
The other big character growth in the next chapter, of course, will involve Vivian finally gaining the confidence she needs, so she can stand up to Beldam once and for all, something that Andrew approves of.
Other important character growths will include the massive amount of courage Koops had gotten when dealing with the Shadow Sirens, Yoshiam defending Andrew's title as he decides to show Doopliss what for, for stealing Andrew's name and identity in the first place, and Bobbery will showcase some Bob-omb techniques that he learned in the Navy, something that Scarlette 'clearly' admired about him.
And then there's the conflicting tension between Goombella/Flurrie and Ms. fight with the Shadow Sirens will result in Goombella and Flurrie finally being able to put their past experiences with Ms. Mowz behind and have come to respect her, as well as Ms. Mowz showcasing her assistance to both of them.
And several other things will occur too. How will things go between the eight heroes and the Shadow Sirens? Find out next time, readers!
For now, only if you want to, you can leave a review, and let me know what you thought of this chapter overall.
Otherwise, I have nothing else to say. So until next time, I do hope you all take care of yourselves. And on that note, thanks again for reading, everyone!