After getting our next location from the door, we made our way back to Frankly and the others who had been hard at work, looking up what information they could gather on the Thousand Year Door and the Crystal Stars. Frankly searched through his notes, looking for some of the books he and Goombella had been looking into before Koops handed him the very text he was looking for.
"World Domination. Hrmm…this doesn't bode well." Frankly mused as he flipped through his book. "The situation has gotten much more dire than I thought!"
"How truly dramatic." Flurrie commented.
"So there might not even be any treasure behind that door?" Koops asked.
"Maybe it's a world ending treasure." Goombella offered.
"Whatever it is-" I started. "-it's not something we should let these guys get their hands on."
"Here it is!" Frankly shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. "This book claims that the 'treasure' might, in actuality, be a great cataclysm!"
"You mean the same one that sank this town?" Goombella asked.
"The very same my dear!" Peach gave out a gasp.
"How horrifying!"
"So what, they're like floodgates?" Eggi asked.
"Don't think so." I replied. "I get the feeling it would be more of a dam wall then a magic door if it were."
"Maybe the treasure is something that controls the cataclysm then!" Goombella offered.
"I still don't know exactly what it is, but we must consider all possibilities." Frankly stated. But that still ultimately meant opening up the door and finding out what's behind it.
"Well, our goal hasn't changed. Just our understanding." I said, placing the map down and pointing to our newly revealed location, "So let's keep finding the stars for now. Any idea where this is professor?"
"Hrmm…that looks like it's near Twilight Town."
"Twilight Town?" Peach asked.
"I've only heard rumors myself. But it's said that the town and area around it is perpetually dim and eerie there. People who travel the road to it usually end up back at the entrance to Rogueport within a few hours."
"Creepy." I commented. So the place isn't accessible by road…or if it is, it won't let certain people approach it, "Well, maybe someone in town has been there and can tell us how to get there."
"Where should we check?" Koops asked.
"…Maybe the bar below the inn?" Best plan I've got.
"Ooh! I'll check it out!" Goombella offered. "We've been crammed in this place for a while and I could use something to drink beside prune juice and water."
"I'll go with ya!" Eggi said. "I've always wanted to see a sleezy bar. Maybe even get in a bar fight!"
"No bar fights." Peach scolded.
"In which case, I shall procure our supplies." Flurrie announced.
"I-I'll come with you! I got mail from Koopie Koo and want to find her something nice as a present." Koops spoke up. Flurrie gave a giggle.
"Oh! How adorable you are Koops! We'll find something she'll just LOVE!" As the two pairs took off to take care of their individual tasks, I felt Peach grab my arm.
"That just leaves us! Let's head to the badge shop!"
"You're excited." I commented with a chuckle.
"With this new parasol I can only imagine the kind of ability badges I can get now! Come on!"
Stepping into the badge shop, we were immediately met with Mincy who perked up immediately upon seeing us. Her brother gave us a smile and wave as he swept up the shop with a broom.
"Hello my favorite customers!" Mincy greeted with her biggest smile.
"You know, we're more than just money." Mincy giggled and I watched her tail swish back and forth.
"I know, but I can still appreciate various aspects."
"Yeah, money just happens to be one of them." Stepping up to the counter, Mincy was quick to bring up a small display case of badges, opening it up and holding out a particularly strange looking one. It seemed to display a line of shots coming out of a sword, "What's that?"
"A projectile badge. If you swing that blade of yours and focus on this badge, you'll fire a blast of energy at your enemy." Wow, that's pretty impressive."
"Well, you guys keep coming in and out of town, I'm willing to bet you're getting stronger." She wasn't wrong about that. We had definitely seen a lot of danger and come out the other side, I was willing to bet me and Peach were getting a lot tougher along the way. Mincy reached for another badge, holding up a badge with a parasol on it, this time with a field that seemed to be sucking in energy.
"Ooh!" Peach said in amazement.
"This is a nice one to pair with his badge. When you use your parasol like a shield, you can store a little bit of the absorbed damage. After that you can use it as a charged attack or-" She reached under and pulled out two more badges. They had an arrow curved towards a figure bursting with energy, "-if paired with these, you can give that energy to Soren to make his attack even more powerful. Or Soren could charge for a turn and then give you the energy. Or you could just send your initial energy, but you'd be defenseless for a little bit." Options…interesting…
"We'll take them!" Peach said and Mincy gave her trademark grin. Anytime we came by, it was payday city for her. Reaching into my bag, I pulled out my small satchel of money. Our time at Glitzville had actually padded our coffers quite well, so I could actually afford these badges, "You sure you don't want me to cover it?"
"…How about we go half-sies." Peach nodded and we placed down the combined amount onto the table. Mincy quickly swiped it up and handed us our badges, with an extra charge Parasol badge on top.
"Thanks for always doing business with us. A lot of arena fighters favor these kinds of badges so you're making a great purchase." …
"Glad to hear we made a good move." I replied…I didn't want to jump to conclusions…but I'd better keep this in mind for later.
The inside of my jacket was lousy with badges at this point. It looked like I was some kind of weird badge collecting freak.
"Maybe we should attach them to something more secure." Peach mused as she shook her jacket and watched her pins rattle slightly.
"Maybe a belt or something?" I offered.
"Maybe…huh?" Peach came to a stop suddenly, prompting me to look over at what had caught her attention. I was equally as surprised to find Luigi near the center of town looking over a ratty old map. Next to him were what looked to be a disgruntled looking fried blooper and a cherry man with a slightly haunted look in his eye. We were quick to race over to the plumber, making him jump as he caught sight of us.
"Ah! Princess! Soren!"
"Luigi!?" We yelled in unison shock.
"What are you doing in Rogueport?" I asked.
"Oh, I'm on an adventure!"
"Is Mario with you?"
"N-No. I thought he was with you." Damn, that means he got captured along with Alice…, "Well, I'm sure bro's doing okay. He always gets in dangerous situations, but ends up coming out on top. Remember last time Princess?"
"He does seem to bounce back fairly well. Even after falling out of my castle thousands of feet in the air, he came back to save me."
"…Okay, that is very interesting and a story I need to hear later." I said, filing away that inquiry for later, "But that means you came here for your own adventure?"
"Yep! I'm on an adventure through the Waffle Kingdom to rescue Princess Éclair!"
"…I really wish we had more time to hear about this." Seriously, what is that story!?
"Is that why you have these friends with you?" Peach asked waving to Luigi's tag-alongs.
"Friends is a VERY strong word." The fried blooper replied.
"Obligated helpers would be a better title." Cherry man added. Wonder if I could get Luigi to write a book about whatever's going on here.
"Soren, Princess!" We turned around to see Goombella shouting as she and Eggi rushing up to us. "I think we have a lead!"
"Yeah!" Eggi added. "Some guy named Darkly lives in town. Apparently he was originally from Twilight Town."
"What an on the nose name." I commented.
"Now we have a lead though!" Peach said cheerfully. She turned back to Luigi, "It was nice seeing you Luigi, but we have someplace to be."
"Okay, I'll drop by when I can. Let me know if you see my bro anywhere."
"We will." I answered as Peach grabbed my arm to drag me away…was it a breakfast kingdom he was exploring?
Gathering everyone up, Goombella and Eggi led us into a dark back alley where a lone man stood in the darkest corner possible.
"If I didn't know you two personally, I'd assume you're setting up to mug us." I said to Goombella.
"Days not over yet." She replied cheekily. Out of the shadowy corner, a lanky looking man stepped forward. He was slightly hunched over and wearing a hood to cover his eyes, but beyond that there was something off about his whole demeanor, as though he wasn't used to the bright light of the sun.
"Hey, who are you guys?" He asked.
"I'm Soren." I answered. "Are you Darkly?"
"Yeah, I'm Darkly. Do you need something from me?"
"Well, me and my friends heard you were from Twilight Town. We were wondering how we were supposed to get there."
"People kept saying something about being turned around and ending up back at Rogueport." Peach mentioned.
"Oh, that. Yeah, it's a little spell put over the area. A name is pretty powerful where I come from. But to get there is pretty easy; all you have to do is be wearing something with your name on it." Oh, that's easy enough.
"Well, that makes this simple. You have a pen or marker on you?" Darkly handed me a black marker. I quickly slid off my jacket and placed my name on the small tag on the inside of the collar before handing it to Peach who did the same. Goombella wrote hers on the inside of her hard hat, Koops on the inside tag of his hoodie, Flurrie on the bottom of her high heel…why does she wear high heels when she floats everywhere…and Eggi wrote his name on the inside of his egg shorts. "Thanks Darkly."
"I don't know what business you have in Twilight Town, but I hope you find what you're looking for." For such a dark looking guy he's actually pretty nice.
"Alright, we have what we need. Everyone ready?" Everyone gave various confirmation. "Let's head to Twilight Town then."
Meanwhile
Ms. Mowz looked down at Soren and his group as they stood around writing their names onto their clothing. She'd been running into them everywhere she went and it had her curious as to what they were up to. Since they had been hitting up the same places, maybe they had a nose for treasure hunting like she did, and even if they didn't, they still came across places that were filled with rare badges. It might even be worth it to follow them on where they were headed.
"Guess I'll be following him this time instead of vice versa." She giggled to herself before pulling out a simple pen and pulling off her face mask. On the inside she wrote her name before quickly slipping it back on and standing up. As Soren and his group made their way to the west exit to Rogueport, Ms. Mowz jumped from roof to roof, keeping up with them and just out of eye shot. As she did, she caught sight of a set of three formless shadows following behind them.
Meanwhile…again
In one of the seedier ends of Rogueport, Beldam was talking with an even shadier goomba as Marylin and Vivian stood behind her.
"300 coins." The goomba said.
"Outrageous! I was told you sold this item for 200 coins!"
"Demand suddenly skyrocketed." Beldam gave out a low growl before turning to her sisters.
"Vivian! Give me your money!"
"H-Huh!? I don't have anymore!" She replied with a look of worry.
"Don't lie to me! I know I gave you some to hold onto, now where is it!"
"B-But you said I didn't need any money, because there was nothing I needed to buy!"
"Don't try to fool me with your lies!"
"I-I'm not lying!" Vivian was on the verge of tears. This happened every time Beldam didn't get her way; she always turned to Vivian and asked for something that she KNEW Beldam never gave her just to berate her. She was used to taking the heat, but after what happened in Boggly Woods she wasn't sure if this should be how she should be treated. Even though they were enemies, that boy looked at her with something she hadn't gotten from her sisters, sympathy. Ever since then she felt like the beratement she'd usually receive stung even worse, because she could be treated better than this…by better people than her own sisters.
"…Whatever." Beldam reached into the shadows of her robe and pulled out a large satchel of coins, handing them to the goomba. Vivian gave out a barely perceptible whimper, realizing that her sister just wanted to use her money instead of her own. The goomba handed back a strange looking green oblong object about the size of their hands. "I'LL hang onto this since you apparently can't be trusted with important items."
"O-Okay…" Vivian squeaked out. She didn't have the will or energy to argue back this time.
"Guh!" Marylin's strange grunt had Beldam and Vivian look over to see her point at the exit to the alley. At that moment they caught a glimpse of Soren, Peach, and their group passing by.
"Excellent Marylin! If we find out where they're going, we can ambush them and take the map and their stars!" The sisters shifted through the shadows, staying just behind them and listening in.
"Flurrie, why did you write your name in calligraphy?" Soren asked as Flurrie leisurely floated next to him, her leg crossed over and the bottom of her high heel where she had written her name was visible. She giggled and pulled out her fan dramatically.
"It's my signature autograph darling. I've perfected it and I shall not let it go to waste."
"I guess as long as it gets us into Twilight Town."
"If you'd like I can give you a copy."
"I-I'm good for now." Soren replied hesitantly.
"So what's Twilight Town like?" Koops asked.
"Not sure." Goombella said with a shrug. "Most books just describe it as a depressing and dark place. Same to the people who live there."
"Better than nothing." Soren commented.
"I just hope we don't run into any problems while we're there." Koops said with a shiver.
"Not me!" Eggi contradicted. "I want to beat up some dopes who get in our way!"
"I could do with some interpersonal drama personally." Flurrie added. "A long-lost twin or an evil clone. Maybe a torrid past lover?"
"This isn't a soap opera." Soren said with a chuckle.
"Maybe a little romance wouldn't hurt." Peach said with a dreamy look. Eggi gave out a small sound of disgust and Koops blushed a little, imagining Koopie Koo back home.
As they followed behind, Vivian felt a little jealous as she listened to Soren and his group banter back and forth on their way out of town. Even Ms. Mowz found herself a little envious of their casual conversation. Working alone didn't give her very much opportunity for conversation. In fact, her small chats with Soren and the others upon running into them was the most conversation she's had in a while. For Vivian, it was just nice to listen to a conversation that didn't end with someone getting berated or verbally assaulted…she almost wanted to be a part of it. As they walked on, the sky above became more tinged with orange with the setting sun. Yet as the moon rose into the sky, the orange only seem to darken, bathing the area twilight as opposed to night. Eventually, Soren and his group came to a stop, as they stood outside the dreary and dark town of Twilight. With their new location reached, Ms. Mowz snuck past them into the town while the Shadow Sirens used the dark to their advantage and shifted past them, leaving the group to hatch their scheme.
Soren
It almost had the feel of an old Halloween movie. The dark orange color of the sky that bathed the warmer shades of the town and the shadows that seemed even darker against the light of the moon gave it a desolate aura that meshed with the somber villagers that wandered the town. On withered trees I could see crows perching and looking down at various citizens.
"Th-This place is kind of spooky." Koops commented. I felt Peach grip my arm tightly as she looked around.
"These people don't look very nice."
"Well…so did Darkly. But he helped us." I brought up, trying to ease both of their worry. "Maybe it's not as bad as it looks." I had to try to ease their worry, this place didn't leave the best first impression upon entry and I'm guessing the rest of it wasn't much better. Although the abundance of pigs felt a bit out of place
"Hey…" One of the villagers hesitantly approached us. "It's been a long time since anyone's come from…outside. You've come from far away?"
"Yeah. We're from Rogueport." I answered.
"Yeah…those clothes of yours…you guys must be adventurers, right? It's a bad time right now…but maybe you can help!" His mutterings had me a bit confused. Everything seemed fine.
"What's wrong?" Goombella asked
"Oh, gee whiz, I dunno…it's a scary tale to hear. And scary to tell, too." As he seemed to have trouble finding the words, a chime could be heard in the distance.
"Is that…a bell?" Peach asked.
"Oh…this is so awful…who could it be now?"
"Slow down." I said, trying to calm him. "Now tell us what-" I didn't have a chance to finish, as before our eyes the man erupted in a purple smoke. When it dissipated, what was before us was a pig. Identical to the pigs that roamed around town. Peach and Koops gave out a yell while Goombella, Eggi, and I just stepped back in shock. The first one to speak after a minute was Flurrie.
"Well…I suppose this counts as drama."