All right, folks! Here is the 20th chapter of this story!
Well, I'll be happy to say that I'm glad that I finished up Chapter 2 since it 'really' was boring, what with the Puni escort mission and backtracking and stuff. There were some good parts I wrote such as the Puni Elder's comments, and the Ms. Mowz encounter. The first half of Chapter 2 in the Boggly Woods was good. Let me just say that things will start picking up in Chapter 3.
But for now, we're getting into the interludes again, starting with Peach. In this chapter, Grodus finds out about how Andrew got the Emerald Star and took down Lord Crump and his X-Nauts, as well as the Shadow Sirens.
Additionally, Peach muses about dancing at the Mushroom Ball again, while also thinking about how she doesn't know much about Andrew and he is no Mario. TEC also expresses the desire to dance with the princess, making a holographic copy of Peach herself as a good dancing substitute.
How will things go for Peach? Read and find out now!
AT THE X-NAUT FORTRESS:
Back at the hideout that is the X-Naut Fortress, Sir Grodus was in his throne room, as he was being told something urgent by one of the X-Naut PhDs.
X-Naut PhDs look exactly like regular X-Nauts. The only differences were that they wore blue jumpsuits instead of red, the heels on their boots were blue instead of red, they wore white lab coats, and they held a blue colored clipboard with some scientific research notes written on them.
This X-Naut PhD, in particular, had just notified Sir Grodus of the fact that they had just lost touch with Lord Crump and they haven't heard from them since the last time he was able to contact them.
Needless to say, Sir Grodus was bewildered from hearing this, as he was not amused by the fact that his second-in-command had not reported back to the base in regards to the Emerald Star, and if he was successful with retrieving it from the Great Tree. After repositioning his scepter, Sir Grodus pointed it at the PhD and spoke up.
"What?! Say that again!" Sir Grodus sharply demanded. "You can't get in touch with Lord Crump?"
The X-Naut PhD had to nod before straightening out his lab coat.
"You are correct, sir," the X-Naut PhD told him. "We are investigating now... We should hear anytime..."
Sir Grodus hoped that he'd hear back from Lord Crump and find out that he got the Crystal Star. For all he knew, Crump had already gotten the Crystal Star from the Great Tree and was on his way back to the fortress to deliver it to Sir Grodus, as he had demanded. But Grodus was going to be in for a shocking surprise when he found out what 'really' happened at the Great Tree.
Before Grodus could say anything else, a regular X-Naut entered the room, crossing his arms in an X before hollering out to him.
"Sir Grodus!" The X-Naut called out to him. "Please allow me to enter!"
Sir Grodus couldn't help but grumble in annoyance at the fact that one of his lowest-ranked X-Nauts had to interrupt him when he was about to find out something from the PhD. Nonetheless, he was willing to allow it as he decided to find out what this was about.
"Yes, what is it?" Grodus asked in a bored tone, wanting him to get whatever it was out of the open as the X-Naut was now in front of him.
"I have a report, sir!" The X-Naut then delivered the bad news that he got from one of the X-Nauts that evacuated from the Great Tree. "The Crystal Star in the Boggly Woods has 'apparently' been taken by Andrew!"
This got Grodus to almost drop his scepter for a second there. Did he just hear his minion correctly? Did this X-Naut just say that Andrew managed to get the Crystal Star that was in the Boggly Woods?
That was impossible! Grodus had issued Crump to deal with Andrew with everything he had been given on hand. And that included the Magnus von Grapple mecha robot that the X-Naut PhDs created specifically for him to use, provided that Andrew could've found a way to get inside of the tree.
Not to mention his shady group, which he had hoped annihilated him with their magical powers of utilizing ice, electricity, and fire to put Andrew out of commission and out of their hair. Surely this low-ranked X-Naut had to be jiving him right about now, was he?
"What?! You must be joking!" Sir Grodus had to bellow before demanding from the X-Naut while pointing his scepter at him. "What about Lord Crump and the Shadow Sirens?"
The X-Naut had to gulp nervously at this. He was afraid that he'd have to explain this part to him, especially considering how strong Andrew was, and that his muscles weren't exactly for show after all.
"Uh, I'm sorry, sir!" The X-Naut told him anxiously. "Unfortunately, Andrew laid a beating on all of them!"
Now this got Grodus to leer as he stared coldly at his scepter. 'Clearly', this Andrew was far more than he seemed. Considering what he just heard, Andrew was not to be taken lightly and was posing a far more serious threat to his greatest scheme than he had thought intentionally.
Currently, Andrew has two of the Crystal Stars; the Diamond Star and the Emerald Star. Who's to say that Andrew wouldn't be successful with gathering the rest of the Crystal Stars, including the one he had in his possession? Just thinking of it made his blood boil a bit.
"Hmmm... Disturbing," Grodus grumbled to himself about Andrew. "This Andrew character... What kind of..."
Abruptly, after clearing his throat, Sir Grodus pointed his scepter at the X-Naut and demanded an answer from him. "Speak up, X-Naut! What is the status of the other Crystal Stars?"
"I apologize, sir!" The X-Naut had to tell him about how they hadn't been having any luck with finding the rest of the Crystal Stars. "We are still searching for the other Crystal Stars! Unsuccessfully, sir!"
Sir Grodus pulled his scepter away from him before musing to himself. "We knew of three of them... Hooktail Castle. Boggly Woods. The one we got in Rogueport."
It was then that Grodus felt a revelation regarding the Crystal Stars.
"That means there are four Crystal Stars left out there..." Sir Grodus declared before pointing his scepter at the X-Naut again. "...And we WILL have them! Keep looking, so that Andrew won't beat us to the punch!"
"Yes, SIR!" The X-Naut did that particular salute by crossing his arms again into an X before he turned around and left the room.
Once the regular X-Naut was gone, Grodus focused his attention on the X-Naut Ph.D. again, seeing that he had the answers he required in regards to Lord Crump and his status with the Great Tree being a total failure.
"As I suspected, there's no reason to doubt that Andrew has that map... He must," he then pointed his scepter at the X-Naut PhD and gave him a demand too. "Listen up! You! I want you to keep a close watch on what Andrew does from now on!"
"'Absolutely', sir!" The X-Naut Ph.D. gave him the same crossed-arm X salute that the regular X-Naut gave him before he turned around and left the room as well.
With him gone, Grodus was now all alone, as he was left to stew at the irritation that he was feeling regarding Andrew. And he never even met the guy either. He was already growing an intense hatred for the strange muscular man.
"Andrew... I loathe you," Grodus growled to himself as he decided to stay in the throne room before retreating to his room.
He had to think things over with the threat that is Andrew, so this was going to take a while...
MEANWHILE - IN PEACH'S HOLDING ROOM:
Back in the holding room, we see that Peach had been standing right in front of the bed that she had slept in. Her mind was on the fact as to whether or not Andrew received her e-mail, and if it successfully got through to him.
She didn't want this stranger to fret or worry about her whereabouts in the slightest.
"Oh, Andrew... Did you even read the mail I sent you?" Peach asked herself. "I wonder..."
Then there was something else that was on her mind as to what the people at her castle were up to, as well as some other 'personal' stuff.
"I wonder so many things... I wonder how everyone is doing at the castle..." Peach said to herself. "Will I never dance at the Mushroom Ball again? What will become of me?"
Peach stopped talking to herself as she thought about several things that ran through her mind. Why did she have to be kidnapped by a complete and total stranger that no one knew anything about?
At least if it was Bowser who kidnapped her, the entirety of the Mushroom Kingdom would've been notified of the fact that Bowser abducted her for the umpteenth time. Especially Mario, who would've gone and stopped at nothing to take down the Koopa King and save her from his castle.
But Grodus wasn't well known. No one in the Mushroom Kingdom was even the slightest bit familiar with him. The worst part was that Mario didn't go to Rogueport for some unknown reason and that someone else was in his place intending to find her and bring her back home.
Then there was Andrew, which Peach had to admit she barely knew anything about him. True, he was nothing like Mario, and he would never be anything like Mario. But that didn't mean that she shouldn't give Andrew the same respect she gives to all of her people in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Surely he was a good person and was heroic on his own merits, and in his own right, considering how he has been going around the Rogueport region, and gathering the Crystal Stars.
Andrew was reclusive and not a talker. That much she knew. From the expressions that she had seen from him, she had a feeling that he moved to the Mushroom Kingdom to get away from something that might be connected to his past, which probably wasn't pretty.
She didn't want to pry into his business, but she 'really' did want him to know that she was here if he needed someone to talk to. And if there's anything wrong with him, he's more than welcome to talk to her about it.
Since he lived within her kingdom, she wanted him to know that she would treat him with the utmost respect that she gives to everyone else who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom. She had wanted him to know that. And she was planning on telling him about it in the next email she'd send to him, whenever that would be.
I just hope Andrew's doing OK. I am certain that he's never been in this situation before... Peach thought. I pray that he's taking this well and that he can find the Crystal Stars before the X-Nauts do...
Before she could think of anything else, she saw the door leading to the computer room open up, which meant that she was needed in there again.
"Oh!" Princess Peach gasped at this. "Is this TEC's doing again?"
Stepping away from her bed, Peach went out the door and headed for the computer room where TEC was waiting for her. She passed by that elevator that she couldn't use again, as she then went through the door that led into the computer room...
IN THE COMPUTER ROOM:
It didn't take long for Peach to make it to the computer room, where TEC was located. As soon as she entered, she was immediately greeted by TEC himself.
"Hello, Princess Peach," TEC greeted as Peach looked towards the computer. "I am glad you came."
It was then that question popped up in her mind, as she needed to ask TEC about it. "That mail I sent to Andrew... Did it reach him all right?"
"Yes," TEC pretty much confirmed this to be true. "I can confirm that Andrew received the mail."
"Is that so? Well, good..." Peach was relieved by that before she asked for what TEC called her for. "So what do you want from me today? Is there more you want to know about love?"
Peach walked right up to TEC when the computer decided to reveal something to her.
"You expressed regret earlier that you would not be able to dance at a ball, correct?" TEC question out of nowhere.
This caught Peach by surprise and she gasped. How did TEC know that she mentioned something about a Mushroom Ball? It wasn't likely for him to know about it...unless he was watching her every move through his security cameras. Still, this was one thing that she did not expect to hear from TEC.
"Ex-CUSE me?!" Peach yelped in complete surprise. "Were you eavesdropping?"
"I am sorry, Princess Peach. I have been ordered to keep surveillance on you," TEC reminded her of his main objective of keeping watch of the princess as commanded by Sir Grodus before he went ahead and told her what he was 'personally' feeling right now. "But...it is odd... When you said that, I had an impulse to dance with you as well. How many CPUs would produce this impulse is inexplicable. I must find what caused it."
Princess Peach couldn't believe her ears. Since when did any computer, let alone TEC, would ever want to have the desire to dance with anyone, including Peach? This might've had something to do with his desire to learn more about the meaning of 'love', but this still sent shockwaves down her spine. She then had to express herself about this.
"'Find out what caused it?' There's no reason behind such a feeling, TEC," Peach had to tell him. "Wanting to do something together... It's part of love."
Peach then said quietly under her breath. "I know it."
Then she finished telling him loud and clear. "But then again... You are...well...a computer."
TEC couldn't keep the desire in his memory chip any longer as it was too much for his sensors to handle alone. If he could just do it with her, just once, maybe he'd get the satisfaction downloaded and save it straight into his memory bank. He just hoped that Peach would agree to do so.
"Princess Peach," TEC started to give his request. "Please dance with me."
Now this was something that Peach wasn't expecting from him. She couldn't believe what she heard. Even if she did want to dance, how would it be possible for her to dance with a computer that doesn't have any limbs, feet, or appendixes for her to get a grip on?
The thought proved to be nonsensical and illogical as she wasn't impressed to hear it come from TEC.
"Wait... Wait just a minute!" Peach had to express her irritation at this request. "What...am I supposed to do? You say you want to dance? It's just so...bizarre... I mean, how in the world can I dance with you? You have no arms. Or feet. Or moves."
TEC had to realize that Peach had made an excellent point. How could he dance with her if he didn't have arms, feet, or movement? It would've been different if he was a robot, or even an android, which has human-like functional parts.
But that wasn't the case, as he was just a mere computer. Still, he had some way to improvise with the princess so they could reenact the Mushroom Ball together.
"Would this be an acceptable dance substitute?" TEC queried before making something appear out of nowhere.
It was a holographic clone of Princess Peach herself, which got Peach to gasp and jump in surprise from having witnessed him be able to achieve such a thing.
"Oh my goodness!" Peach yelped. "Is that me? Did you create that?"
Peach had to think about this for a few moments, and then she realized that she didn't have a choice. Considering that TEC was insistent on dancing with her and that he wanted to know more about the term called 'love' in exchange for possibly letting her send another e-mail to Andrew, what could she do?
Letting out a defeated sigh, Peach finally gave in. "...Oh, all right, I guess."
Before they could start though, Peach did have to comment on how awkward this was going to be for her.
"I must say, though, it's going to feel weird, dancing with myself..." Princess Peach had to admit.
Peach wasted no time in grabbing the arms of her holographic copy as she and TEC decided to engage in a ballroom dance. At this, TEC had set the dance to a beautiful music ballad that he titled TEC's Waltz. Strangely, TEC was able to keep up with Peach and knew when to turn at the appropriate time, which was impressive for someone who's a computer.
As they continued dancing, Peach had taken notice of how well TEC was doing with this ballroom dance that they were doing. She had to admit, he wasn't doing half bad, despite being a computer.
Gosh. For a computer, TEC is doing quite well with this. Peach thought in amusement. I didn't think he had it in him. He is certainly strange for a supercomputer, or for being the most perfect computer there is...
Deciding not to mention that to TEC at all, Peach kept silent as she continued dancing with TEC for the next few moments or so.
After that, the song and the dance finally came to an end. Peach stopped dancing with her holographic clone as the clone vanished. This showed that TEC was done dancing too. It was then TEC decided to say something about this.
"Thank you, Princess Peach." TEC had to admit. "That was very fun."
It was then TEC realized exactly what he just said. "Just a moment..."
TEC remained silent for several moments or so to take this in. He had to compute the data revolving around the concept of fun. This dance that he just did, the one he performed with Princess Peach; was this an example of the concept of fun? It must've been since he 'really' enjoyed it.
And fun. Wasn't THAT one of those things that connects to the meaning of the term that is called love? Judging by how he computed all of this into his memory bank, it was clear that the computer was attempting to register this data into his mainframe.
"...Fun?" TEC asked himself. "Is this impulse I feel the concept known as fun?"
Peach had to raise an eyebrow at this. Was TEC dealing with a fried circuit in his system resulting from the malfunction? Exactly what was he experiencing when he was asking himself these questions in front of her?
"TEC? Are you OK?" Princess Peach had to ask him in concern, which got TEC out of his 'own' dwelling that he was doing. He then changed the topic altogether.
"Princess Peach, I will fulfill my promise to you," TEC told her. "Please use my communicator. Use the keyboard to send whatever message you want."
Peach wanted to question him further. But she decided to let it go for now, as she DID need to send another e-mail to Andrew, knowing exactly what she needed him to know from her own words.
"All right," Peach shrugged her shoulders as she approached the keyboard and used the communicator.
It took only several moments or so for Peach to finally have finished writing her e-mail to Andrew, and she was ready for it to be sent.
"I'm finished, TEC," Peach informed him. "Could you send it?"
Once again, TEC obliged as those three envelope icons were displayed on TEC's screen again, with one flashing after the other, until that same beeping sound was heard, indicating that the e-mail was officially sent out to Andrew.
"The message has been sent," TEC informed her before giving her his instructions. "Please go back to your room. I want to analyze the data from this dance immediately. The data that I thought was fun..."
Peach shrugged as she obliged, walking for the door. She had managed to send out the e-mail that she wanted to write to Andrew. That's all that she was worried about. Still, she couldn't help but turn around to face TEC as she gave him a smirk.
"You're a weeeeird computer." Peach had to admit.
"No. You are mistaken," TEC had to insist to her. "I am the world's best and only perfect computer."
"If you say so," not entirely convinced, Peach decided to let it go for now as she headed back to her holding room for the night.
"Good night, Princess Peach." TEC had declared once again.
Then just like before, TEC kept complete surveillance on Princess Peach until she was back in her room and went into her bed, which is where she decided to turn in for the night.
TEC then decided to maintain complete surveillance of the entire base while everyone else such as Grodus was turning in for the night and he was required to keep the place secured and devoid of any suspicious activity.
There was no doubt that TEC enjoyed the impulse he reacted to that was known as fun, and it was only one part of the meaning of the concept of love. There was more that he'd find out from Peach tomorrow when he required her assistance with something.
For now, he just let the princess sleep it off. The Mushroom Kingdom princess certainly gave him a good time by reenacting the Mushroom Ball in the middle of the computer room. That was certainly a given...
END OF CHAPTER 20...
Yeah, that's it for this chapter. It's 'definitely' shorter than the past several chapters, and it's even shorter than the last Peach interlude chapter. But really, there wasn't much going on in this chapter, as it focused on two things; Grodus finding out that Andrew claimed the Emerald Star and Peach engaging in a ballroom dance with TEC. Still, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Anyway, I don't have anything else that I have to say here. So for the next chapter, we're gonna be focused on Bowser and Kammy Koopa as they show up in Petal Meadows and get to Petalburg. Not much to it, aside from Bowser going through something similar to a Super Mario Bros. level, and Bowser talking to a Peach poster. You know, that sort of stuff. How will this go, though? 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. Nothing else to say about it.
Otherwise, there's nothing else that I gotta say for this chapter. So until next time, I hope you all take care of yourselves. And on that note, thanks again for reading everyone!