In this chapter, we'll get introduced to Kiryl. He wants to make sure nothing happens to our heroine Alena.
He's a priest, like Angelo.
So he'll be helpful in keeping the party in shape.
Chapter 10: Don't Forget to Wight
Our heroes continued through the desert.
Some Meowgicians suddenly appeared in puffs of yellow smoke.
"Meow! You think you can get past us? Cat chance!" exclaimed a Meowgician.
"There sure are a lot of words that rhyme with cat, aren't there?" noted Jessica. Heck, even the town of Baccarat rhymed with it.
Maybe that was why Dr. Seuss chose to invent the Cat in the Hat.
One of the Meowgicians bonked Mario on the head with her staff.
"Ow!" exclaimed Mario.
Luckily, that didn't make him dizzy. Otherwise he would run into a lot of problems. Though there were Refreshing Herbs if he needed them.
Angelo slashed the cat in retaliation.
"Me-ow!" exclaimed the Meowgician that had been slashed. Unfortunately, she did not know healing spells.
Another Meowgician fired a Frizz at Angelo.
But he blocked the fireball with his shield.
"Aww!" exclaimed the Meowgician.
Some Meowgicians summoned Candy Cats.
However, they seemed more interested in sleeping than fighting.
"I need better summons." remarked one of the Meowgicians.
"If you want I can show you how it's done." said Peach.
"OK, let's see you do better! Maybe you're the cat's pyjamas!" exclaimed the Meowgician.
Peach summoned a Khalamari Kid.
He shot out water at the cat.
"Meow! That's clever!" shouted the Meowgician. He was not too fond of water, hence his decision to go to the desert.
The Hocus Chimeara arrived.
"I'll use my magic tricks to make you disappear!" he exclaimed.
"We'll see who disappears." answered Jessica.
The Hocus Chimeara cast Bounce.
Mario tossed some fireballs, but they bounced off the shield.
"Oh a-no!" exclaimed the plumber.
It looked as if the Hocus Chimeara had set up a magical defense.
"What do you think of my shield?" asked the chimeara.
"We'll need to use physical attacks to get past it." instructed Jessica.
The chimeara pecked Angelo.
"Ouch." said the white-haired man.
He slashed the chimeara with his sword in retaliation.
A crack appeared in his magic shield.
Jessica then followed by kicking it.
More cracks appeared.
Mario then hammered the chimeara.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the Hocus Chimeara.
The shield disappeared.
"I guess I need to try a different tactic." noted the Chimeara. That shield cocld only so much damage before it disappeared.
He summoned some Leery Louts. They appeared in bursts of green smoke.
"I remember one of you from the first world." noted Jessica.
It seemed they were more common in the second.
The Leery Louts shielded each other as well as the chimeara.
"They're forming a defensive perimeter-a!" exclaimed Mario.
"That's a problem." noted Peach.
"Don't worry, I have an idea." said Jessica.
She decided to cast Bang.
When the Leery Louts shielded the bird, they ended up being hit twice in a row.
All three of them fainted.
"Oh no!" exclaimed the Hocus Chimeara. It seemed he had been outwitted.
Angelo slashed the bird with his sword once again.
And this time, he got a critical hit.
"My magic fizzled out!" shouted the magical bird.
"Would you like to pull on the flagpole?" asked Peach. He was the one who defeated the chimeara.
"Why are we pulling on flagpoles?" questioned the priest.
"We do that to complete the levels." explained Jessica.
They had been doing that for a while now.
Angelo pulled on the flagpole.
Jessica learned Sizz.
It would be useful for groups of icy enemies.
Now that the Chimearas have been defeated, there was nothing stopping the heroes from entering the Wight Emperor's castle.
"Enter if you dare…" said the emperor ominously.
Alistair whimpered.
"By the way, I felt weakened after using the portal." noted Angelo.
"Yeah…I lost all my levels when I first arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom." spoke Jessica.
"I see." nodded Angelo. That was unfortunate.
"Luckily, it seems the level drain depends on destination. You weren't drained as much I was. But you're still pretty drained." noted the mage.
"I guess I'm going to spend my time leveling again then." spoke Angelo.
On the lighter side, he was relearning magic.
He remembered how to heal, for one.
The party entered the castle.
Morton's Compactor Castle
"Morton is busy playing cards." explained Peach.
Wight Emperor's Compactor Castle
"By the way, does this guy have a connection to the desert?" asked Mario. Deserts and undead were associated with each other, but he felt like it was a good question.
"I used to be pharaoh here…but I passed on during the plague. Luckily the Dragonlord gave me a second chance of life." explained the Wight Emperor.
"That was surprisingly nice of him." noted Jessica. What had started the plague, anyway?
"In return, I decided to pledge servitude to him." explained the Wight Emperor.
"I see." nodded Mario.
Alistair whimpered again.
It seemed he did not like the undead.
To be fair, they didn't smell good.
Jessica comforted him.
Alistair appreciated that.
At Alena's castle…
"Chancellor Kiryl, I'm in desperate need of your help!" exclaimed the king.
"What's wrong?" asked the chancellor.
"My daughter has gone missing!" shouted Stepan.
"Alena?!" exclaimed Kiryl. All of a sudden, his heart was filled with dread. What if the princess had been abducted? Then again, she was not the type of princecss to be a distressed damsel.
He nodded. And he got the feeling she wasn't simply going to an arena this time.
This time it seemed she had gone to a faraway land.
However, he got the feeling she didn't leave him deliberately as well.
"I'll go look for her!" shouted the chancellor.
If there was a chance to save her, he was going to take it.
He checked her room for signs that could be related to her disappearance.
What he found was a portal.
And yes, it had reopened.
"So this is where Alena went." noted Kiryl.
He decided to tell the king.
He would want to know about this.
"I found a portal in Alena's room." explained the priest.
"My daughter got sucked into a portal?!" exclaimed the king.
This was terrible news.
Kiryl nodded.
"I think if I go through the portal, I might be able to find her." noted the priest. It was worth a try. Though he did not know where that portal led.
"Please, do your best to protect her! She's all I have left of her mother!" exclaimed the king. He didn't know what he would do if anything happened to her.
And besides, she was the heir of the throne. Somebody needed to rule the kingdom once he was gone.
"I'll do my best." assured the priest.
He went through the portal and found himself in Hoohoo Village.
The destination had changed, just as it had for Angelo.
It was time for him to search for the princess.
Luckily, he had brought a picture of her, like Angelo had not long ago.
He wondered why there were talking cacti in the area.
But the locals were friendly, so he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or pegasus if one preferred.
"Have you seen this girl?" asked Kiryl.
The Hoohooligan nodded. This one was wearing a pair of shades, which was appropriate since it was usually sunny in the village.
"She went climbing up the mountain?" questioned the priest. He didn't like the sound of that.
"Yeah. She was a bold girl." noted the cactus man. He admired that.
"Now I'm more worried than ever." noted Kiryl to himself. Mountain climbing was dangerous. Though it did seem like something Alena would do.
He decided he would go to the mountain after her.
Suddenly, it became very windy.
"Huh?" asked Kiryl.
He ended up being sucked into a tornado.
"Aaahhhh!" exclaimed the man.
"Strange, they don't usually come down here. I hope he'll be alright." said the Hoohooligan.
Luckily, he was unhurt.
However, he was now halfway up the mountain.
He discovered there was a statue nearby.
"What a peculiar statue." remarked Kiryl.
"Are you here to take my challenge?" asked Hoohooros.
"Did you see a princess by any chance?" questioned the priest.
"I have not. Will you take my challenge?" asked the statue again.
"I think I'll wait for Alena." answered Kiryl.
If she was climbing up the mountain, chances are she would end up here.
Meanwhile, Alena and Peasley were climbing the mountain.
They were still close to the bottom, however.
There were indeed Koopa Troopas.
"This is our mountain! Get out of here!" demanded one of the Koopas.
'Considering you're the ones who are invading the Beanbean Kingdom, I was thinking you're the ones that should leave." answered Alena.
She prepared to fight them along with Peasley.
Back at Layer-Cake Desert…
"If you're going to invade my castle, you should know that I've enchanted it to crush intruders." warned the emperor.
Sure enough, two blocks slammed together.
"Oh a-no!" exclaimed Mario.
This certainly made the castle more difficult to traverse.
If they wanted to make it to the emperor, they were going to have to proceed with caution.
Luckily, it seemed that they could get past the blocks if they timed their movements carefully.
However, there were also Restless Armours roaming the castle.
"Thou shall not pass!" exclaimed the restless armors.
"These remind me-a of the Slime Knights." noted Mario.
"I know what you mean." nodded Jessica.
These knights could summon Healslimes.
It seemed they figured that they could use a healer to help them win fights.
And to make matters worse, they could use desperate attacks.
It seems sometimes they became extra determined to stop them from reaching their master.
There were also more Mummy Boys.
One attempted to wrap Jessica up in bandages.
But she dodged the attack.
She decided to use Sizz on them.
"Not fire!" bellowed one of the Mummy Boys.
And there were Shadows.
They tended to blend into…well, the shadows. Then they launched their attack.
"These enemies are sneaky." remarked Peach.
They needed to be cautious.
Luckily, it turned out light was their weakness.
And as luck would have it, Angelo could control light.
He surrounded his sword with light, then attacked the Shadows. This technique was known as Knightlight.
"Aaaarrggghhh…" murmured one of the Shadows.
It was unfortunate that a priest was traveling with them.
There were also Spirits in the castle as well.
They wielded scythes.
"Let's cut them down to size!" exclaimed one of the Spirits.
But being undead, they were vulnerable to healing magic.
"So, you have decided to challenge me. Very well, face my might!" exclaimed the Wight Emperor.
He attacked by launching fireballs at darkness at the heroes.
Unfortunately for them, this could potentially result in blindness.
Luckily, Angelo learned a spell that he could use to cure it.
It was called Bright Eye.
Perhaps Angelo would be the MVP for this fight.
Peach cast Heal on the Emperor.
"Ouch!" exclaimed the Emperor.
But then again, Peach would likely prove helpful for this fight as well.
The Wight Emperor summoned Skeletons to assist him.
They launched their heads at the heroes.
Of course, some of them attempted to slash them as well.
Angelo blocked the skulls with his shield.
He was glad that he had chosen to bring it with him.
Unfortunately, it seemed that Jessica and Angelo had lost the legendary equipment they had gotten at the end of their journey.
But their current equipment was doing alright.
Mario hit the emperor with his hammer.
"Agh!" exclaimed the emperor.
In retaliation, he cast Sizz on the heroes.
Jessica and Angelo dodged it.
But Peach and Mario did not.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Peach.
'Ow!" shouted Mario.
Luckily, neither of them got burned.
"You should not have come to this castle!" exclaimed the Wight Emperor.
Jessica hit him with Frizz.
The Emperor screeched.
He summoned Walking Corpses to assist him.
"More undead!" exclaimed Mario.
Luckily, Jessica knew from experience that she could target multiple foes.
Likewise, healing magic worked against the walking corpses as well.
Peach finished him with another Heal spell.
The Emperor collapsed into a pile of bones.
"Now I can rest in peace..." spoke the emperor. To be honest, his afterlife was getting kind of boring. He mostly just stayed in his castle all day.
Peach learned how to use Midheal.
"I'm getting better at playing doctor!" exclaimed Peach. Then again, Mario was the one who had a doctor alter ego.
'That's the second general we've-a defeated!" exclaimed Mario.
"We're doing rather well. But the third general is going to be even tougher." noted Jessica.
According to the map, it was going to be a beach world next.
"More sand? Well, hopefully it will be cooler there." remarked the sorceress.
Mario nodded. Though he was used to the heat. He had been to desert worlds before.
Before they went to the ice world, they decided to go shopping.
Peach bought a bunny suit and bunny ears.
"How do I look?" asked the princess.
"Pretty cute!" exclaimed Mario.
"You flatter me." spoke Peach.
Angelo bought a new sword.
He went from bronze to iron.
They received another letter from the Dragonlord.
It seemed news traveled quickly around the Dragonlord's Castle.
"It appears you've defeated the Wight Emperor as well. It's such a shame. He was such a loyal servant. I suppose I'll be having Gracos deal with you next." noted the Dragonlord.
Most likely, the next level would feature sea enemies.
If any of their party members could learn lightning magic, that would be very useful.
"Are you ready?" asked Jessica.
The rest of the party nodded.
Together, they began to make their way to the third world.
Perhaps this level would be fun for them. A trip to the beach would be nice.
But they would be prepared for trouble.
I hope you liked this chapter.
Our heroes are off to the third world.
