Chapter 9 Enter the Shadow Sirens

Keeping your eyes peeled when you traverse through the haunted part of Soda Jungle is an absolute must. This place was very easy to get lost in, TOO easy to get lost in. If you don't know where you're going, the possibility of you getting lost is way too high. In that sense, it's very similar to the Forest of Illusion, a place that Iggy was all too familiar with despite never patrolling there.

Thankfully, the amount of familiarity he had with this haunted forest was much higher than the Forest of Illusion, so there was no chance he and Armando would get lost right now. Heck, the fact that he had a dark magic tracker to guide him through this spooky land only ensured that he wouldn't get lost.

This didn't make Armando any less frightened though. "Uh… Master Iggy?" Iggy didn't even stop following the dark magic tracker, nor did he turn around. "I don't know if this is a good idea." As if to reinforce that statement, a bone-chilling laugh carried throughout the forest. Armando whimpered, and Iggy could actually hear him shaking. "Can we go back? Please?"

Iggy sighed. "Armando, there's no reason to fret." He turned and cast the young koopa troopa a smile. "I know what I'm doing."

"You sure?"

"Of course! I've been here before!" He grinned as he turned his gaze back to the path. "When I fought Mario in Soda Jungle all those years ago, I decided to explore this forest just for the heck of it. And I will let you know that it is far less ominous than it appears." He frowned. "I mean… yes, there are ghosts, and yes, you can get lost. But overall, it's manageable." He sent Armando another grin. "Maybe if we're lucky, we might even pass through the Painted Swampland."

"Painted Swampland?" Armando asked with a blink.

"Oh yes. That place is beyond gorgeous. And we're on the road that leads to it." He chuckled. "Trust me Armando, if you're feeling scared of this section of the forest, then the easiest thing to do to alleviate any worry is passing through the Painted Swampland." He looked forward. "And we just so happen to be heading toward… huh."

That "huh" was said because, much to Iggy's astonishment, the temple that he and Armando had been looking for was right in front of them. The dark magic tracker went ballistic when Iggy held it up to the gray building, constructed out of stone that looked like it was around during the origin of the world.

"Okay. Never mind." Iggy turned toward Armando. "We appear to have found the place we have set out to discover, so… I guess we won't be seeing the Painted Swampland."

"T… terrific." When Armando looked upon the temple, he sweated. And when he aimed his eyes toward the statues standing post next to the entrance, he whimpered. Said statues resembled two tall figures in dark cloaks. They had their hoods pulled up, so their faces were concealed in shadow, darker than the night sky. Each figure held a sword in their hands, facing point-down and touching the ground. The blade of the swords had these runes on them that were indecipherable, at least to Iggy and Armando.

"I don't… think we should go in." Armando's legs shook. "I think, when there's an abandoned building in the middle of a haunted forest, it would be best to leave it be."

Iggy frowned. Considering his options, he looked back down at the dark magic tracker. Admittedly, Armando did have a point. While Iggy had been ecstatic to try and locate this temple, now that he was actually here, he didn't feel that excited. The sight of the building didn't inspire any emotions except for terror. And this was just the outside; there was no telling what could be waiting on the other side of the door. Chances were likely that it would be dangerous though. Once again, Iggy thought back to the words Wendy said to him the day that they began training the recruits. Considering that he now had warnings from two different people, it was easy to come to the conclusion that this temple was bad news. But on the other hand…

"We've come this far, Armando. And besides, what's in that temple could potentially harm people if it isn't taken care of. So… we need to go in."

Armando looked ready to cry. "I… I don't…"

Iggy, without any need for permission, took his hand. "Don't worry. I'll be with you every step of the way. As long as we stick together, nothing has the potential to harm us." He gave the rookie a warm smile. "Trust me on that one."

Armando looked into Iggy's eyes before taking a deep breath. "Okay," he said as he exhaled. "I'm willing to trust you."

"Good." It really did seem like Iggy and Armando were becoming friends.

So, firmly gripping each other's hands, the two made their way to the temple. Ignoring the chills that ran down his arms the closer he got to the statues, Iggy reached out and pushed the door. He expected it to open, but instead of doing that, it fell clean off its hinges and landed on the floor. Dust flew everywhere, making both of the koopas cough. Once he recovered, Iggy saw that there was no light within the temple. Removing his hand from Armando's grip, Iggy reached into his hammerspace and pulled out a flashlight before officially stepping in.

The interior of the temple… well, there was no doubt in Iggy's mind that this place had remained desolate for quite some time. The room they walked through was completely bare, empty in the most eerie way possible. Well, except for the cobwebs and the little critters that scurried and squeaked along the edges of the wall. When Iggy turned his flashlight toward said critters, he was able to see that they were little mousers, terrified of both the light and his presence. Speaking of which, while the light of the flashlight did allow Iggy and Armando to see, it didn't make the place any less ghostly. Iggy didn't know if he would say 'terrifying,' at least not yet, but even still, he felt a little queasy as he walked to the front of the room.

"We're probably the first people to enter here in decades, perhaps even a century." He stepped forward. "Whatever magic might be stored he is without a doubt…"

"Iggy, wait!" Armando pulled him back by the rim of his shell. Iggy wondered why this was, questioning what Armando saw that could possibly make him so anxious, when he looked down. A lump formed in his throat when he saw a pentagram, sketched into the wooden floor. Despite the room being filled with dust and cobwebs, this pentagram looked untouched by said things. It laid completely spotless as if both beckoning and threatening Iggy to use it. When he shined the light on the pentagram, Iggy could've sworn that he saw the edges of the star itself glowing. He had no choice but to look away.

"Alright…" he swallowed the lump that had been building in his throat before looking back down at the magic tracker. He had almost completely forgotten about the device, but right now it was beeping not in little beeps one after the other, but as one long continuous one. It grated on the ears, it told of a dire threat that needed to be thwarted or else. The only thing about that was that the light on the device was still red. If they were right on top of the threat, the light would turn green.

"I believe we should search through the rest of the building." Armando looked ready to pass out when he said that. "There is something dangerous in here, and we need to do something about it."

"Yeah, but… what CAN we do?" Armando's legs gave out, making him collapse to the floor. He struggled to breathe as he held himself up with one hand. "It's not like you and I are demon hunters, Iggy. Besides, if you don't have any luck against someone like Mario, how are you gonna fight off against… whatever it is that might be in here?"

Iggy felt a pang. While he did feel slightly insulted by that question, he did have to admit it was a good point. The alarm bells in Iggy's head were going off louder than ever, making him feel as though he was dealing with an almost apocalyptic threat. He looked back down at the dark magic tracker, going back and forth in his head a ton. Even when he gave his final response to Armando's question, he felt queasy.

"There's no one else around to deal with this. We are the only ones present, which means the duty falls to us." Armando pulled his legs up to his chest, whimpering as he gripped the top of his head with his hands. Iggy sighed before placing his hand on his left arm. "Look, how about this; you stay here, and I'll be the one to try and find the threat."

"You sure? I mean, one person searching is far more dangerous than two…"

"True, but you aren't in any condition to do any more searching. Think of staying here as you protecting yourself. Okay?"

Armando still shook, but he was able to nod. "Of course, Your Majesty."

"Thank you." Iggy flashed him one more smile before readying his flashlight and heading toward the door on the lefthand wall. The hallway he found himself in was just as dusty as the sanctuary, if not more so. The whole place reeked of dust, death, and decay, which made Iggy have trouble breathing. At one point, Iggy stepped on something that made a crunching sound. Looking down, he was able to see it was a mouser skull.

Iggy took in a deep breath. "It's okay, it's all going to be okay." He wasn't going to turn back around, even though he was starting to believe that he was in over his head. He had made it his mission to search through this temple and find the threat, and he didn't want to turn back. Well, okay, he DID want to turn back, but he was going to push that desire to the side. He didn't want whatever was being held in here to cause trouble for anyone in the future. Especially in the near future.

He shined his light in the doors of the rooms he passed. He saw one windowless room after another, one room that looked like it belonged in Hell after another. The dark magic tracker's light still shined red, so Iggy knew he couldn't stop. He kept looking, keeping his eyes peeled for any potential threat when he came across one room at the end of the hallway. Shining his light, he saw a little table in the otherwise barren room. And on that table… a box. A simple box, one that resembled a little treasure chest that had been painted purple. It was so simple, almost comedically so given what Iggy had been expecting, but even still…

"Woah." It was like the box was calling to Iggy. He felt the overwhelming urge to go up to it, to open it and see what was inside. All other desires… nay, all other thoughts were completely gone from his normally overactive brain. There was one desire and one desire alone. This box was so tantalizing, so full of promise and potential.

In an almost daze-like trance, Iggy dropped the glowing green dark magic tracker to the floor. He took careful steps toward the box, his breathing slow as death. The box didn't move, but it didn't need to. No sounds came from it, but Iggy still heard it calling to him. It was tempting him to open it, drawing him in like a worm on a fishhook drawing in a fish.

"This is…" Iggy reached his hand out. He was so close to this marvelous box. Just a few more inches and he would have his hands on it. He was just about to touch it when…

BOOM! Iggy shrieked as he got pushed back. He landed on his shell, grunting as pain shot through the back half of his body. As he lifted his head, he saw the box glowing. It slowly rose into the air, and it shook as it did. Iggy's heart rate sped up exponentially.

"IGGY!" Armando hurried down the hallway. "I heard you scream, are you… AAH!"

Armando came to a screeching halt when he saw the box. His breathing sped up as the box's lid came flying off. A dark, purple, smog-like cloud rose from the box in a wispy way, smelling worse than any form of smoke. Iggy sweated harder than ever before. Armando actually did pass out this time. Unable to turn around, Iggy watched as the smog filled the entire room. Before his very eyes, two figures emerged from the smoke. Cackling rang through the temple as the two mysterious figures stepped out into the hallway.

"Hehehe," said one of the figures. Both of them resembled purple shadows, but other than that there was very little that was similar between the two. One was small and slim, with silver hair and a pointed blue and white witch's hat that covered all of her face except for her long pointy nose. The other figure was plumper, with hair orange hair and a yellow and white witch's hat that didn't do anything when it came to covering her plump, doughy, monstrously fat face.

"Wha… what?" Iggy asked, his heart racing.

"At long last," said the shorter figure with a crackly, nasally voice. "It took over ten years, but we're finally free." She chuckled again. "Our dear dear sister might have thought she had vanquished and defeated us, but she was wrong."

"Guh!" the rounder figure said.

Iggy wanted to get up and run, but his body wouldn't respond to his thoughts. "What… how… why…" Before he could form a coherent sentence, the shorter figure punched him with a strength far greater than what her tiny form looked capable of. He smashed into the wall, blood pouring from a cut he got from the wood and stone. His vision started growing blurry, and he could barely maintain consciousness as the shorter figure turned toward the rounder one.

"Marilyn, prepare to send out a message to everyone on this measly planet." She cackled again. "It's time that the world knew that we're back."

That was the last thing Iggy saw before everything went black.

…

"So yeah, we ended up jumping out of a cake that time." Wendy chuckled. "At the time, I thought that was a little weird. I mean, if we're gonna go through all that trouble to bake a cake that towers over Princess Peach, we shouldn't jump out of it; we should eat it!"

Pom Pom laughed right alongside Wendy. "Wow." She smiled, all semblance of discomfort from before completely gone. "You guys have had an… interesting kidnapping career."

"That we have." Wendy beamed. "Sure, it's a tiring process, but every once in a while, you get an entertaining story out of it, you know?"

"I think I do, yes." Pom Pom let out a breath. "Thank you, Wendy; I liked hearing about this."

"Anytime! I like talking about it!"

Pom Pom chuckled. This whole thing was turning out better than she expected. Things were going smoothly, steps were being taken to ensure that she became a great asset to the Koopa Troop, and above all else, she was becoming friends with Wendy! All of these developments were so good that all the less-than-desirable elements of this trip were fading in terms of importance. Pom Pom felt good, better than she had felt in…

"Ahh!" Pom Pom closed her eyes, feeling a sharp pain in her head. She placed her hand on her forehead, feeling like her brain was on fire. She grunted and groaned, and she heard Wendy doing the same. "What's going…"

She gasped. She tilted her head up to the sky, and in front of her very eyes, she saw a vision. This vision showed a little purple creature, a woman of some kind, grinning down at her with the most maniacal expression. By her side, a larger woman stood right beside her.

"People of the Mushroom World," said the little woman, her voice just as ugly as her face. "It is us, the Shadow Sirens, devout servants of Her Majesty, the Shadow Queen!" Both of the figures laughed. "We have been locked away for so long, but now we are finally free. And as such, we have a message to give to you." She sneered. "Your days are numbered. We are going to take back this world for her great and beautiful Highness, and nothing is going to stand in our way. Hear this Mushroom people; the lives of each and every single one of you are coming to and end!"

"Guh!" said the second woman.

And with that, Pom Pom fell to the ground and passed out.