Wario's not a rainbow any more, sweating after all the running he has to do. He wishes this exertion on some men. Not to mention, he's also got several ? blocks in hand, stocking up on some broken powers.
"I don't need no star! Waha..haha..ha." He gloats, with all the power on his side.
A Lakitu floats by, holding a camera, and floating on a smiling cloud. "Welcome back everyone, we've got eyes on a runaway human! After wrecking the Kongs turf, can he get away with it? I've got the scoop."
Wario rips the camera from his hands, and spits a loogie on it! He slams it down, breaking it into pieces!
"Hey! That's my—"
Wario slugs him in the mouth, making him fall from his magic cloud! Wario decides to take his place instead, making the cloud frown as it struggles to carry him further. While he gets away, Yoshi flutters just to keep up. He's out of Wario's sight, but has run these roads before. Unlike Wario, he actually reads the road sign.
Straight, 140 Miles = Goomba Village
Straight, 158 Miles = Toad Town
Left, 80 Miles= Chimp Caverns
Right, 10 Miles= Kongo Bongo Island
Wario comes up to a four-way stop, but goes straight anyway! His negligence causes two Goombas to crash into each other!
"Yoshi?" The dino asks himself, wondering what he wants with Goomba Village. The next locations helps it all click. Goomba Village isn't attractive enough to rob, but Toad Town?
Oh no..
A wave rushes over Jumpman, desperate to find his son. "MARIO!" He calls, but doesn't get an answer back. He feels a tap on the back, and finds a disgruntled Mario, soaked mustache. "There you are.."
"When I find Wario.."
"Hey, me too, but we gotta get out of here." Jumpman says, trying to keep Mario on the task at hand. Mario drags his wounded dad through the waters, hoping to see some light soon. He spots a slight opening…at the other end. Lovely. He can also make out an old ape, desperate to drag his son from oncoming rubble.
Oh yeah! Another obstacle!
Mario's face drops, getting tired of this whole adventure for now, but his heart demands he swim over. The openings on the way, so it's convenient for them to come over.
"We leaving or..?" When Mario doesn't answer, it clicks with him. Mario's heart is winning over his brain, and who is Jump to interfere?
"C'mon.." Cranky uses his strength to force a brick off his grandson. "Not like this.." he pants, tossing more bricks to the side carelessly. "NOT LIKE THIS!" He shouts, almost swinging at the touch on his shoulder. It's Mario, with Jumpman using some of the rubble to stay afloat.
"Don't-a panic. I'm here to help.."
Cranky ignores his help to try on his own.
"Do you-a want him to live?"
"Yeah. Who do you th—"
Mario plugs his nose and dives below, ignoring his pettiness. There's little time to break a wounded DK out of this. If that ape couldn't get out because of Mario's beatdown, then Mario would never get over it.
As Mario dives below, DK's eyes open. Before the water floods them, he sees Mario swimming down. The brave man's able to move little pieces away, and takes on a large chunk. He even puts his legs into it, starting to move a piece ten times his weight! DK assists by kicking the piece up! That's one.
Still another on his chest. Mario can feel his lungs burning. Despite that, he sticks around to help get the other piece off. The ROOF of the coliseum hits the water, looking to take them down. The two grow weaker, the toll of their battle really kicking in. They're making progress on the slab, but the light above gets cut out by the golden roof…
.
.
A group of Kongs come to their aid, working together to force that roof right back up! With their efforts combined, nobody drowns, or has to sink at all. Mario points to his hand, grabbing DK's and looking to swim back up.
DK puts his core into it, helping boost the Italian up, all while his people hold up the fort.
Mario pops out of the blue, DK following! Air at last! Mario coughs any trace of inflammation out, the best he can, all while the ape turns to see his people, struggling, but resilient. "Do you need my assistance?"
A yellow one with a beach shirt shakes his head, frantic. "No! Go beat Wario. We get big bananas.."
DK gives them a little salute, before dragging Mario to the opening. He comes across Cranky and Jumpman too, using his free hand to force them out too! That's one crisis averted, but another's unavoidable.
The second they leave the castle, the four get drug through a stream! It's fast pace doesn't give the, much room to escape. Mario and DK try dragging their paternal figures to shore, but their abilities are shot, with no time to recover.
Mario grabs his dad by the collar. "You know this place! Where are we-a going?"
"To the beach."
Mario smiles. "That's-a very nice! Right?"
Jumpman turns to the oncoming path. "Hope you like heights."
The plumbers smile drops dead. "Not fantastico…"
Cheep Cheep Beach
The group of four, soaked, crawl onto shore. Cranky wrings out his beard, and Jumpman clenches the sand. Those elders long rivalry will have to be dropped. While they regroup, Mario wrings out his hat.
"There-a we go."
DK just takes a seat after the crisis. He stares at the Cheep Cheep diving in and out, thinking to himself. He isn't a philosopher, but ever since he was frozen, things have started to change for him. Mario, curious as to why he's acting this way, approaches him.
"Thank you for saving me, Mario." DK says, addressing him by name. "Even though there is sour taste..I can see how we went wrong. I failed to defeat you. I let down my people. My king. All to make the lineage proud. To think I believed Wario.."
Mario kicks his feet forward. "That's-a Wario for you. Brooklyn's boogeyman."
"He said you wanted vengeance. That was a lie." DK lowers his gaze. "You only wanted your father back..why did I try to rob you of someone..so selfless?" he asks, recalling similar experiences from a hero in his past.
"Hey man." Mario sets a hand on his shoulder blade. "You didn't fail anyone. Your people helped us get out, even when you lost. You see how Cranky checked on you? He may be-a grump, but he still loves you in there. He's-a not perfect, but at least you have somebody."
DK exhales. "WE judged your bloodline too harshly. My grandfather was lost in his rage. If..time was better, our blood would not need to continue the violence. I've wanted to scream at everyone to stop. I just did before our big fight. But the pressure kept me in so long."
Mario lets the ape ponder his next words. He's watching a future king, pressured by the past, pressured by the same old policy Cranky won't stop pushing: just let it out.
"Your father grew with age. Eight years ago he would never have taken a bullet. I felt people can change. Grandpa needed to learn." DK turns around, a little smile growing as Cranky and Jumpman..have a normal conversation? "All I want is for my family to be happy. We've been suffocated with Cranky's rule. Maybe now we can enjoy ourselves. Let others in. He has nothing to be scared of anymore."
"D.." Mario chooses his next words carefully. "I didn't know it was like that.."
The ape looks back at his new ally. "You are fresh for our world. You prefer diplomacy. You don't box your own in. You don't know when to quit. That's not just a real fighter, that is a real leader."
Mario's jaw almost hits the sand, as Cheep Cheeps collide with each other in the sea. "You..the big strong monkey want to be like-a me?"
"You could exercise." DK critiques. "I value your mindset. I'll have to carry it with me for now on." Unless a certain reptile comes back, but it's been years since he's been spotted anywhere. Maybe he's finally gone. Maybe he and Cranky can put their opinions on trust aside, to better not just themselves, but the entire kingdom.
"You been silent-a while." Mario points out.
The ape straightens up. "I will take my victory back later. For now, we destroy Wario."
"..destroy's pushing it."
"Not really."
"What do you-a mean 'not really?'"
While the futures of the family talk amongst themselves, Jumpman crawls to Cranky's side. The elder's tapping his cane on the sand, waiting for departure. Sucks for him, because a man he dislikes wants to talk to him.
"Would you look at that.."
"Don't start with me, Mario." Cranky says, calling out his last name.
"Jumpman Mario sounds wonky. Call me by my first name." Jumpman jokes. Cranky is not amused.
"You think we're gonna magically be friends?"
"No, I just think you should loosen up." Jump points to their kids. DK's actually smiling when he addresses Mario. "Your boy's not miserable. You know why that is."
Cranky scoffs. "Is this supposed to be some life lesson? I'm too old for that shit."
"Dude, nobody is." Jumpman moves in closer. "It's just crazier how much better this world is when you aren't hating on everyone."
Cranky rolls his eyes. "You've always been a cornball." Even though he's telling off his rival, he very much observant. DK actually rose up to him after YEARS of his policy, and there he is, looking happier than he ever was inside a coliseum.
"Am I really that much of a spazz?" He asks himself. His grandson said change was necessary. "These goofball Mario's proved it. They're…" no matter how many times he shakes that cranium, he can't shake off the truth. "THEY'RE RIGHT."
Jumpman taps him on the neck. "Earth to Cranky."
Cranky's back in reality. "I don't wanna speak to Earth right now."
"YOSHI!"
The four turn to see their dinosaur friend, with a couple of Cheep Cheeps riding on his back. He launches them back into sea! How did the fish get all the way in there? Who knows, and who cares?
"Yoshi, Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi.."
"Uh huh.." Jumpman follows.
"Yoshi Yoshi..
"Ok." Jumpman claps, turning to the group. "Yoshi tracked Wario down after his rampage. He cloudjacked a Lakitu. Last he knew, Wario's goin' to Toad Town.
Mario stands there in disbelief. "You can speak Yoshi?!"
DK leans in. "He could write a memoir of experience. It would be very good."
"..I thought you guys didn't know about those?"
"We can read." DK confirms. "Don't be so offensive."
"Sorry.."
Cranky uses his cane for balance. "Where are we gonna get a ride? I can't swing until I get a power."
Jumpman taps his wounded leg. "I can't hike the whole way either.."
Yoshi points to his back. "Yoshi, Yoshi!" Jumpman crawls onto it, while Cranky sits his ground.
"Not coming?"
DK lets Cranky on HIS back. "Hitched a ride, Jumper."
Mario takes the spot behind Jumpman. "So where are we-a going?"
"Yoshi found a guy." He answers. "He's pretty far. Don't know if we got enough time to catch Wario."
Cranky butts in. "Hold on. I got a place in the temple. We can make whatever the hell we want."
A couple crabs come over again, smacking their little hands together. Someone's getting picked if they have their way. Mario flexes his Triple Jump again, but doesn't even give a bow. "They're always-a so angry for no reason."
We just have a couple more chapters until this specific story is over. I'd love to explore more of the Mario universe, and actually go in depth with some locations. I pulled from some DK games for certain locations (Vine Valley), Mario Kart (Sherbet Land), and Mario (Odyssey's Sand Kingdom). However, I'm looking for more variety, which is why Toad Town (from Paper Mario) will be here.
If I do a sequel, I probably will, expect to see more RPG Locations + more iconic ones from all the games. I tried to hold back on splurging locations. Well for this one, mainly to focus on Jungle Kingdom lore, and start some relationships. Next chapter, we'll see a new location, and the result of Wario's collecting. PLUS, new vehicles :)
Chapters fourteen and fifteen are in development. Their release dates WILL vary. For now, have a good one!
