I gave a small wave to Soren as we passed through the tear and found ourselves in Toad Town…or at least I was.
"What the-" I whipped my head around, finding a distinct lack of Gareth or Lily behind me, "What the hell!? We took a reliable portal! Where did she send them!?" I quickly pulled my scroll and called up Gareth, only to be met with his voicemail box; moron must have it on silent again. I tried for Lily and was met with the same result, "Why do have these things if nobody is going to pick up?" I grumbled as I pocketed the useless device, pondering my next step. Soren is waiting for us to grab Mario and meet up with him in Rogueport. Odds are that I can find Mario here in Toad town so I'll take care of that. I'm not sure where Lily and Gareth ended up but they should be fine…I'll shoot them a quick text just to be safe and grab Mario by myself.
As I approached Mario's house, I pocketed my scroll and walked up the steps to his door. I gave it a quick but forceful knock and waited for a reply. When the door opened, I was met with the taller version of Mario, his brother Luigi.
"Hello?"
"Good to see you Luigi." I said simply before stepping inside to see Mario sitting at a dining table, his feet on the edge as he reclined back in his wooden chair. "Hey bro, we've got a visitor." Mario turned to look at me and blinked before sitting up straight.
"What's up…" Mario trailed off, obviously trying to remember my name.
"Alice." I finished knowing he would never get my name right.
"Right. What's up?"
"You need to come with me."
"Really? Why?" I have to wonder why too. Soren said we should grab him but I can't for the life of me guess why.
"Don't entirely know myself. But Soren said we- I should grab you so we can meet Princess Peach in Rogueport." At the mention of Peach, Mario stumbled out of his chair, adjusting his hat and rushing up to me.
"Well then let's get going!"
"…That's all it took huh?"
"Don't judge me. I know my priorities." That's questionable.
"Whatever, let's get going."
"Going on an adventure bro?" Luigi asked with a lilt of disappointment in his voice.
"Don't worry brother." Mario replied patting Luigi's shoulder. "I'll send you pictures and letters."
"Oh…okay." Luigi said sadly as Mario and I left the house, Mario closing the door behind him.
"Little harsh on your brother there?" I asked and he shrugged.
"He's tough, he'll get over it." Yeah, not like you couldn't have invited him along…wait, why do I want a second tag-along?
After finding out the we'd have to take a boat to get to Rogueport, we made our way to the docks and chartered a ship to get us there as quickly as possible. As we waited for the guy to get his boat in order, I tried giving Gareth and Lily another call but had no luck so I just shot them a quick text of the situation and to meet up in Rogueport as soon as possible.
"So where are the others?" Mario asked as we waited.
"Not sure about Gareth and Lily right now but Soren is already in Rogueport to meet up with Peach. She sent us a map so he figured one of us should go meet up with her before she gets in trouble."
"So, they're alone?"
"Shut up." I said sharply, intent to end the train of thought he was driving at. I gave a long sigh as I stood there waiting for the boat to get ready. Soren was probably waiting for us in Rogueport…with Peach…sitting around with nothing to do…and only each other to keep them company…and he was with a princess…I moved up to the boat and started picking up the supplies he was loading onboard, "Come on, let's get everything on and get moving!"
Elsewhere
As I stepped out of the tear, I looked up to see an awesome looking black stone castle on a narrow path surrounded by lava.
"I like the Princesses redesign." I said out loud.
'Um…Gareth." Lily said grabbing my attention. "Where's Alice?" I turned around to see it was just me and Lily in a desolate land of lava and stone.
"Huh…guess we got separated."
"B-But we walked through the same portal together! H-How is that possible?" As Lily started to panic, I gave her a soft slap of the back knocking her out of her freak out.
"Ah come on. I'm sure she's fine. It's Alice." Lily gave a worried look before nodding.
"R-Right…but where are we?" Other than the lava just over the various rocky cliffs and the dark ominous AWESOME castle at the end of a narrow path, there was nothing about this place that was very hospitable.
"Not sure…but I don't think it's anywhere a Toad would live." Lily nodded before breaking out her journal and sketching the castle. I shrugged and headed up the path as Lily followed behind, sketching all the while.
As we approached the castle, I took notice of the ornate and fearsome dragon-thing heads on top of the watch towers. The castle double doors were wooden with steel on the supports and joints, with iron knockers in the shape of the same turtle-dragon thing gripping them between his teeth. I gave it a sound knock, hearing it reverberate before the doors opened slowly. Inside was a long red-carpet pathway leading up to a throne where a large turtle sat on an even larger throne.
"Hey…I recognize you!" I yelled rushing up the way as he watched us. "Long time no see Lizard Breath!" I greeted and he huffed slightly.
"B-B-Bowser!?" Lily stuttered in shock, slightly shaking. He looked us over for a moment before his eyes widened.
"You guys!?" He said in sudden realization. "What are you doing here?"
"No clue." I replied with a shrug. "But I'm glad we're here, because your castle looks really cool." Bowser smirked and stood up.
"Thank you, I think myself quite the decorator."
"There's a lot of your face everywhere." Lily said glancing around the room.
"Why not, I am king." He replied. Lily fidgeted slightly. Seems like she wanted to say something. "Now, why are you two here?"
"Like I said, don't know. We were actually looking to find Mario." Bowser snorted at this name, a small fire spurt coming out of his nose.
"Why do you want HIM?"
"Don't know. Soren said we should grab him before we meet up with Peach."
"Peach!?"
"Um, Gareth-" Lily pulled on my tattered red vest, "-maybe we shouldn't tell him everything."
"Why not?" As I asked that question, I felt the air go slightly cold and a shadow of a monster run over me and Lily. I looked up to see Bowser bearing over us.
"TELL ME EVERYTHING." Huh…guess that's a reason.
Meanwhile
We found ourselves following the old Goomba into the sewers of the town, an overlaying area of stone work and waterways that seemed to pour out of other pipes that went all over the port town. Peach stayed close, trying to avoid getting too close to any particularly rancid water while Goombella stayed next to Professor Frankly, talking his ear off with her various ideas and theories of what the treasure could be. The strangest part of the whole place was the fact that we ran into other people who seemed to live down here for some reason. A group of thuggish goombas (which feels like an oxymoron) even tried to hit on Peach and Goombella, and when that didn't get anywhere, they just tried to clobber me.
"These are weird sewers." I commented off-handedly as we moved further down.
"Welcome to Rogueport." Goombella said with a smile. "It's a well-known spot for the downtrodden and destitute to try and take from those above them."
"You mean chumps?" Goombella nodded, "Not sure that counts as people above you."
"There are rich chumps." Peach added. She had a good point…and unfortunately, she might be one of those at the worst times.
As we descended lower, the grotesque smells and goons seemed to disappear. Almost like we were entering somewhere that the unworthy were not allowed to enter. Although the alternative could have been that it was too dark to actually see anything the lower you got. Luckily, I was smart enough to bring a flashlight.
"It's gotten a lot darker." Peach said as I shined the flashlight around at the caved-out walls and cracked concrete around us. The constant sound of something dripping in the distance and the shuffling of footsteps in the dark had me on edge, leaving my free hand gripped on the handle of one of my wooden blades.
"Hmmmmmmmmmmmm…There should be a door around here somewhere." Frankly pondered as we walked farther into the darkness. Goombella rattled her hardhat, trying to get the light to turn on. When she finally got it to flicker to life, it shinned down a long path, ending at what looked to be a doorway into a larger room.
"What's that?" I asked and Frankly rushed forward.
"Here it is! Come forward!" Stepping into the doorway, we found ourselves in a large open room. I shinned my light around and found a large door at the far wall. No, maybe large was the wrong word. This door was MASSIVE. It would take all of us pushing on one end just to make it open even an inch.
"Woah." Peach said in amazement as we stepped towards it. When I stepped onto the strange podium before the door, a bright light filled the room, illuminating every corner as I stood at the center of it. As I blocked the flood of light invading my eyes, the map in my pocket fluttered out and floated above my head. I could only stand there as it absorbed a strange energy from nowhere and floated back down into my hands.
"What just happened!?" Goombella asked and I looked down at the map. An area had been added to the upper right side of the map. A castle in a field of green grass and flowers.
"Fascinating." Frankly said as he looked over my shoulder. "Seems this mystery is even more mysterious than I could have anticipated." Frankly quietly mused to himself as I felt a strange new energy in my core. It was like that light had somehow energized me as well. Peach put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a worried look.
"Are you okay?" I gave a quick nod and smile to alleviate her. I wasn't sure what happened but I was positive it wasn't dangerous.
"Alright!" Frankly shouted. "For now, let's head back to my house. We can continue this conversation there." Back through the darkness and sewer we go…
Luckily retracing our steps was the easy part of the expedition, and we found ourselves back in Professor Frankly's place shortly. We stood at the entrance and watched as the old goomba zoomed towards the bookshelves and deftly removed one of the old books, placing it down on the table.
"I know where that castle is." He skimmed through the pages, stopping on a passage that showed a green meadow with a large castle in the background, surrounded by low mountains and hills, "Petal Meadows is known for having a giant castle in its mountains. Although I hear a dragon has recently made its home there."
"A dragon!?" I asked excitedly. It's not every day I run into a dragon. "Wait, is that where the map wants us to go?"
"I believe so." Frankly replied closing the book and putting it back on the shelf. "Chances are that's where you'll find one of the keys to those doors. A crystal star." Goombella cleared her throat.
"To find the treasure of yore take the seven crystal stars to the Thousand-year Door!" So there are seven of these things…and odds are they'll appear one by one as we collect them.
"So we're on a treasure hunt." I said holding up the mostly blank map.
"This is SO exciting!" Peach said bouncing on the tip of her toes. "A full blow treasure hunt across the land!" This was kind of exciting. A full journey with a treasure waiting at the end…in this case, seven and an amazing treasure at the very end.
"This is astounding!" Frankly yelled. "I'd never expect a legend like this to be solvable in my lifetime. Astounding!"
"Shall we get going then?" Peach asked and I almost immediately said yes before remembering that we had to wait for the others to show up.
"Well…not just-" As I turned to face the princess, my eyes caught the shadow on the wall behind her. It sure as heck wasn't her shadow though. Suddenly, the shadow lurched out of the wall and lunged at Peach, prompting me to grab her and leap out the door and onto the street. I quickly got back up and turned around to see the shadow rush out the door and stop in front of me. It morphed slowly before the black extended into a robe that wrapped around a pale figure with wild pale purple hair and a long nose and a blue-white striped witch's hat.
"Sharp lad. Catching me before I could grab the princess." Her voice was withered and nasally. She was hunched over and carrying a long-withered stick. Feeling my hair stand on the back of my neck, I quickly grabbed the princess by the waist and pulled her close as I turned to see a much larger shadow morph from the ground and extend into a large figure in a black robe I might have mistaken for a bedspread. Her face was hardened and slightly darkened, her hair was a short cut, a line of orange bangs hanging over her eyes with her yellow-white striped witch's hat on her head. I pulled my wooden sword loose and pointed it at her before catching another shadow out of the corner of my eye and turned to see another shadow morph into a girlish figure. They wore a black cloak like the other two but unlike theirs it stopped just at her knees with tattered ends. She wore a black skirt with purple and white knee socks with flat uniform shoes. Her hair was a light pink that swirled, covering one of her eyes and only showing her right purple eye on her rosy skin. On her head sat a pink-white striped witches' hat that finished off her ensemble. Seems we were surrounded.
"U-Um…Soren?" I looked over to see I was still holding Peach tightly; her cheeks reddened a bit more than usual.
"Oh, sorry." I said, hastily letting her go. She brushed herself off before taking a quick breath and pulling out her parasol.
"Oh, fighting back I see. This will be fun!" The old witch said cackling. She's right though, this will be fun…just not for her.
I gave a wide swing as all three of them tried to approach us, making them stop and lurch back to avoid my strike. Peach followed it up with a quick thrust at the pink haired witch who have a small yelp and moved to the side. The blue haired crone raised her hands up and extended them outwards. As she did, the air around us become painfully cold making me go rigid as to avoid being chilled to the bone. Unfortunately, this gave the large orange haired witch the opportunity to move up and sock me in the gut with the large fist making me fall to my knees.
"What kind of witch throws a punch?" I asked trying to get back up. Before she could make a second punch, Peach moved in and extended her umbrella handle first, hooking the brute's fist and making her stumble and fall. Getting back up I smacked the orange haired witch making her yelp in pain before shifting into the ground and appearing next to her sisters.
"Guh!"
"Seems an up close attack isn't a good idea. Marilyn, Vivian, hit them with your spells!" The other two sisters raised their hands. From above us I could hear the sound of thunder growing closer and felt a heat start to move through my body.
"Oh no you don't!" I yelled arcing my blade back and throwing it at the pink haired mage. She gave a look of pure shock before getting smacked by the blade and falling to the ground. Once it hit her the blade bounced off her face and towards me, handle first. I caught it quickly and moved back into my combat stance.
"Whoa!" Peach said impressed. I didn't expect a badge to be able to do that. Peach turned her parasol upside-down and leapt forward. When she came down on the orange haired witch, her umbrella popped open upon contact with her head, making Peach bounce forward towards the crone and do the same, making both fall down. When she dismounted, she rushed back to stand next to me, "These badges are incredible."
"And possibly magic." I pondered. Peach suddenly yelped as a small flame burst on the hem of her skirt. I looked over to see the pink haired witch look happily surprised, must have been her.
"I just got these clothes." Peach grumbled putting the small flame out.
"Grrr…you won't win against us! Regardless of your luck, our magic will crush you. Girls, tri-magic!" Suddenly, the three witches all synchronized their movements, above them an ice block formed, crackling with electricity and encased in an orange flame. They swung their arms at us and the ball of magic elements collided, making Peach and me go flying backwards into the brick work.
"Damn…they're powerful." I groaned, finding it hard to get back up.
"Soren…I'm too weak to move." Peach whimpered as she looked at me sadly. There had to be something I could do; I won't lose here!
"We can't lose!" I willed myself to get up. Standing on shaky feet and gripping my wooden blade with both hands. As I stood there, I felt a small thump in my chest. Not so much my heartbeat as much as my soul resonating with something…something strong. Deciding to roll with this feeling, I raised my hand to the sky. "Sweet Treat!" As I shouted those words, a soothing light ran its way over my body, healing the pain I'd felt and making the worry melt into courage. I looked over to see Peach feeling the same thing as she got up and looked at me with a confident smile.
"What!?" The crone witch said in shock. "Nobody can get up after an attack like that!"
"Looks like we proved that wrong!" I yelled as Peach and I rushed forward. I bashed the old crone on the noggin with my blade, sending her reeling and following it up with a quick kick to the pink haired witch, making her fall to the ground in defeat. Peach followed up with a quick thrust to the orange haired with making her fall on top of her sisters. Seems like it was our victory.
The oldest witch struggled fruitlessly under the weight of her much larger sister who was knocked unconscious.
"Marilyn, get off of me!"
"Guh…"
"It's hard to breath." The youngest, pink haired witch gasped.
"Grrr…this is all your fault Vivian! You should have made your flame stronger!"
"B-But Beldam, I used all of my power…just like you two did."
"So that was a last ditch move huh?" I asked and the crone, apparently named Beldam, looked shocked.
"Now you're giving away our secrets you ugly girl!"
"S-Sorry sis." The pink haired girl, named Vivian, said with a truly heartbreaking look of sadness on her face.
"Look, you all failed." I said trying to take the heat off the poor girl. "Live with it, and don't try again." I pointed my wooden blade at the three of them. "I won't let any of you try to kidnap the princess!" Beldam just glared at me, a full tooth clenching anger across her face. Without another word, the three witches turned to shadow and fell into the floor, disappearing completely.
I gave a heavy sigh of relief as I put my blade away and turned to the princess who was dusting herself off. That was a bit too close for comfort in my opinion. Odds are if we stay here than those witches are going to come back and try to take Princess Peach again…ugh! I want to wait for the others but we can't wait around with those three skulking around!
"That was exciting." Peach said with a smile. "Although I was surprised at what you did. What was it called, 'sweet treat'?" Oh yeah, I just felt something well up in me and that came out.
"That was the power Soren got at the door!" We turned to Frankly who moved up to us, Goombella close beside him. "When the map absorbed the energy, it seemed to have affected Soren. I wasn't sure how until I saw it with my own eyes. The Thousand-Year Door seemed to have bestowed a strange power upon you. I imagine it will come in handy on your adventures." Speaking of adventures…I turned to Peach with a worried look.
"Peach we have to go now. We were supposed to wait for the others but if we stay here for too long those witches might come back." Peach nodded in agreement. She reached into her own back and pulled out her signature stationary and a pencil.
"We can leave a note though."
"Good idea." I took the stationary from her and quickly scribbled a note for Alice and the others. When I was done, I turned to Frankly and handed him the note. "A girl with black hair in a ponytail should show up eventually, her name is Alice. When she does hand her this note."
"I'll keep an eye out for her."
"Thank you. Ready to go Peach?"
"Wait, I'm coming with!" Goombella quickly spoke up. "This is the adventure of a lifetime! No way am I missing out on something this awesome." I nodded to her. The more the merrier.
"You can get to Petal Meadows from the west exit of town. Head north once you hit the crossroad." Frankly informed us. Alright, we'll be getting a bit of a head start but knowing the others, they'll be right behind me in no time.
"Let's get moving girls."
"Right!" They both said as we made our way to Petal Meadows, ready to grab this adventure by the horns!
Meanwhile
Mario and I stepped off the boat and onto the docks of the oddly raggedy looking town. Toads and Bob-ombs moved around the docks, a lot of them look swarthy and dirty.
"This is where the princess decided to stop?" I asked catching a whiff of something fowl coming from one of the crates.
"Feels like a place you would end up dead if you stepped down the wrong alley." Mario commented and I nodded in agreement.
"Well, Soren and the princess are here. We should be able to find them easily enough. Odds are, Soren already made a name for himself."
As we made our way into the main square, where dirty gallows stood in the center, I could hear a few people murmuring about a fight in the bad end of town. Guess I was right about him causing trouble.
"Apparently they pulled out some weird power and completely decimated the witches."
"Mind telling me who those weird power users were?" I asked stepping into the gossip conversation.
"No clue. I just heard about it." The weird dog man said.
"Then why bother talking about it?" I asked slightly annoyed. "Who does know?"
"Might get more info from the witches who took the walloping. They went down that alley." He pointed to a darkened alley. I turned to Mario and tapped on my boken. He nodded and pulled out his hammer as I drew my wooden blade.
Stepping into the alley, I could hear someone grumbling as another person whimpered and sobbed quietly.
"You'll be getting a punishment to end all punishments when we get back Vivian!"
"B-But Beldam…"
"Don't talk back to me! Do you want to be punished even more?"
"Excuse me. Did you have a run in with my friend?" I asked putting a halt to the beratement of the pink haired girl. "Black coat, brown hair, big idiot grin on his face."
"So you know that boy?" The old woman turned to me and looked me over. As she did, her mouth curled into a toothy smile. I put my hand tightly around my bokken and glared at her, "Well, isn't this a fun little twist of fate. Kill two birds with one stone." I turned to Mario and he rushed forward to hit the old woman. Before he could, he was quickly frozen solid.
"What the-"
"Marilyn!" Feeling something behind me, I quickly spun to face the hulking figure but was too slow to respond, as her fist came down and knocked me to the ground. As I tried to get up the old woman waved her hands, and I felt my body start to slow. "A suitable replacement host…and a fitting revenge for our loss to that brat." Before I could fully process what they said, my consciousness faded, leaving me only to wonder what they were going to do with me, and what kind of danger was Soren in if he made enemies like this already.