All the effort had gone in vain when Daisy and Luigi returned to The Underwhere. With the help of Luvbi, will the heroes ever reunite and find the Pure Heart.
Chapter 30: Let's-A-Go Overthere (World 7 Pt. 1)
Like any other time they enter a coloured door, the group prepared themselves for the worst. However, the last thing Daisy and Luigi expected was returning to The Underwhere.
Tippi felt spooked by the unfamiliar scenery. "It's so dark here... I wonder what sort of world this is..." She looked at her companions and finally noticed Daisy's disbelief and Luigi's terrified look. "Uh... Daisy, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Daisy repeated before shouting. "What's wrong is that Luigi and I just escaped from this literal hellhole, only to find out the next Pure Heart's here!" Luigi rapidly nodded, still fearing for his safety.
"Huh? Oh, so then this would be The Underwhere place you mentioned earlier?"
"P-pretty m-much," Luigi stuttered.
The butterfly pondered out loud. "Hmm. Then I wonder why the Pure Heart led us here..."
Daisy sighed, calmed herself and said "Well, let's go ask Queen Jaydes about it. She's the leader of this realm. Maybe she might know where the others are."
The other two agreed and made their way to the temple. As they arrived, they saw her majesty sitting on her throne, bored to death(pun intended lol).
She noticed the group approach and said "Greetings. Welcome to the... Wait, why have you returned?!"
"You're Queen Jaydes?" The queen nodded. "My name is Tippi... I'm a friend of Daisy's... We... We've come to find the Pure Heart that is hidden in this world..."
Jaydes was shocked by this. "What?! You are collecting Pure Hearts?! Hmm... Now that I take a long look at you... I realize you just might be..." She took a harder look at them. "But could you really be... the heroes mentioned in the Prognosticus? As I recall, the hero was 'The Man in Red'."
Daisy replied "Yea, see the thing is we all got separated thanks to a wannabe, demented clown. Now we're trying to find them so we can save everyone."
"So... Does that mean you have a Pure Heart for us, Queen Jaydes?" Luigi asked, hoping she'd say yes.
Her majesty responded matter-of-fact "The location of the Pure Heart is a matter of utmost secrecy, I am afraid. There is nothing I can tell you... If you really must know, you will have to speak to Grambi, king of The Overthere."
"The king is over there? I don't see him..." Luigi wondered out loud.
The brunette hunched forward and sighed, her right hand covering her face. "She meant the king is in their world's version of heaven called 'Overthere'."
"Ooooohhh," Luigi sounded, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"MOTHER!"
Everyone looked at the double doors and saw Luvbi come in with a couple of bags. "My things are packed and checked thrice! I am ready to return to The Overthere! ...Oh, me! Thou returnest? Did thy game truly end this time?"
"Ooo! An idea strikes," Jaydes squealed, then explained to the group. "Could you fine heroes take Luvbi back to The Overthere for me?"
Tippi asked why. "Take her back? Why ever would you need us to do a thing like that?"
"A monster was once held beneath here...but a recent earthquake freed it. Once it escaped its prison, it began to wander this realm freely. Of course, I could never send my daughter alone with such a savage beast on the loose. If you would take her back, I would gladly open the way to The Overthere for you. I will also alert Grambi that you are coming to ask him about the Pure Heart. What say you? This is a fair bargin..." After thinking it over, the group agreed to help her out. Jaydes was happy to here this and opened a big portal in front of the throne. "...I thank you. With this monster about, my D-Men and I are busy trying to contain the damage... Just go through this door and keep heading upward to reach The Overthere. And make sure Luvbi arrives safely in the care of Grams- I-I mean...Grambi."
"Hee hee... But avert thine eyes whilst we climb, lest thou succumbeth to my cuteness!" The fairy teased.
Daisy wasn't amused. "Oh, please, we're not that superficial."
"Oh me, a sharpened tongue. Thou art jealous? For whom dost thou pine? Dost thou pine for yonder hairy man?"
"Wh-What?! I..."
"Thy cheek grows red, and thy manner flustered... A crush, hot as a thousand suns, burns deep within thy heart! Yea, verily. Alas for thee, methinks. Anyway, movest on!"
Luvbi laughed as she passed through the portal, the Pixl and plumber not far behind. Daisy was still flustered, but shook her head to relax as she stomped through, the portal closed behind her.
"At long last, we find it... Herein lies the way out of The Underwhere. This is Underwhere Road."
Tippi asked Luvbi "So, if we proceed ever upward, we'll eventually reach The Overthere?"
Luvbi seemed annoyed. She turned to look at the Pixl. "Yea, verily! One would think that to be obvious... Ugh... My heart weepeth to return to The Overthere without meeting mine one true love. Pray, speakest to me, Tippi... Believest thou in the idea of a soulmate?"
"Hm? Well, you know, I... I don't really..."
"Hmm... I shall mark that as one vote for "undecided". Or perhaps I should say 'unrequited', in thy case... Ha HA!"
Tippi felt offended for some reason. "What do you... Ridiculous! I mean, I'm not..."
Luvbi giggled. "Hee hee... Sweet Tippi! How simple it is to tweak thy chain! So... Now I must forge onward. Catchest me if thou canst!" She flew ahead from the group, excited to return The Overthere.
The Pixl sighed. "That girl is a walking mood swing... I mean, she's entirely unstable, isn't she?"
The group caught up to Luvbi and stopped in front of a large double door. Tippi used her examining powers for any solutions, however, she felt something amiss. "This door... It's no ordinary door..."
A red, glowing face appeared on the door, surprising the heroes. It yelled "Halt! What's this, then? Travelers have come?"
"Yes, we are!" Daisy confirmed before explaining. "We're here on behalf of Queen Jaydes to escort her daughter to The Overthere.
"I understand," The door said. "However! Queen Jaydes demands I guard this door, people! I'm Dorguy the First. Lotsa monsters around, folks. Lotsa monsters. So I've gotta do routine checks, OK? Sorry for the trouble, folks, but I need to make sure you're trustworthy. Just a couple questions. Answer them all correctly, and we're done here! Then you can head on through."
Luvbi sighed. "If thou must..."
Dorguy began his questioning. "Here's the first one! I'm warning you, though, these are pretty tough questions, so use those noggins. D-Man A goes to the store and buys an equal number of tomatoes and eggplants. Eggplants cost 7 coins apiece and tomatoes cost 10 coins apiece, OK? D-Man A has 50 coins when he goes into the store. He comes with out with 5 coins. Those are the facts. Now! Who is the most powerful person in The Underwhere?"
Everyone looked at each other for an awkward moment before Tippi decided to answer. "Um... Queen Jaydes..."
"DING-O! Correct! Next question! Shayde B buys 667 pens for 13 coins each and buys 108 notebooks for 42 coins each. He needs more money, so he takes out 3,756 coins from the bank and spends it all. Those are the facts. Now! What is my name?"
"Dorguy the First," Daisy responded.
Dorguy congratulated them again. "DING-O! Correct! You guys are on a roll!"
'These questions aren't even hard...'Daisy thought, dryly.
"Now for the last question. Panda A and Bear B go to Apple Mountain for a day of apple picking, right? There are 120 apple trees on the mountain, and each has a 20-apple yield. A takes 10 seconds to pick each apple, while B takes 20 seconds to pick each apple. Those are the facts. Now! How many times did I just say the word 'apple'?"
"Easy, thy answer is fiv-"
"It's seven, actually," Tippi told Luvbi.
"Ugh, art thou daft, thy answer is five!"
"No...it's seven!" Tippi was getting irritated.
"Five!"
"Seven!"
"Five!"
"Se-"
"The answer is six times."
"DING-O! Correct!"
Both Luvbi and Tippi turned to look at a sheepish Luigi. "I- I'm-a-pretty good with memory, hehe," he said, feeling happy for himself.
'Oh the irony in that statement...,'Daisy thought.
"You folks seem OK to me. Head on through." Dorguy opened itself and the group headed in, where they found three D-Men in front of a heavily-guarded door. Tippi approached the guards. "Excuse me?"
One of the D-Men looked at the Pixl in annoyance. "Huh? What do you want? Look, we'd love to chitchat, but we're crunch-time busy over here, can't you tell?"
Tippi replied "We simply must reach The Overthere... But we don't know which way it is..."
"The Overthere, huh... See that door on your left? It'll head you up there. But we can't open it right now. We've gotta guard this door. We trapped a raging beast from The Underwhere inside."
The second D-Man continued. "Yup, this thing in here is DEFENITELY the one that escaped its prison. Can't have it breaching security, so we locked both doors just in case."
The third guard was terrified. "This thing's a BEAST, lemme tell you... Real nasty. If it starts rampaging again, I don't wanna be the D-Man who has to stop it. Problem is, until someone subdues it, we can't use the door to The Overthere... So...if YOU can tame it, we can open that door for you. Wanna give it a shot?"
"Oh please, I can take it down!" Daisy confidently announced.
"Bah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! I was just messing with you. Seriously, no one would ever be dumb enough to... Wait... Did you just say 'yes'?" Daisy nodded. "Are you NUTS?! Y-Y-Y-You're SERIOUS?! You actually think you can tame that beast?!"
The second guard teased Daisy. "Well, hey, yeah, great idea. Sounds like a smart plan... Tell you what... You head on in...and I'll mail your crown to your next of kin! Look, my prediction? Your game's about to end. If not, we'll help you on your way. Give it a shot, lady!"
Daisy glared at them and was about to go through, only to hear a loud roar from the other side.
"GRAAAARGH!"
Luigi shrieked and hid behind Luvbi, who looked distasteful by the man's action.
"U-U-Uh m-maybe I-I should-a-maybe stay out here a-a-and keep Luvbi okie-dokie!" Luigi nervously chuckled,
"My hero...," Luvbi muttered in disappointment.
Daisy lightly chuckled. "Don't worry, Luigi, Tippi and I'll go ahead and take down that beast and come back, 'kay?" She winked at him before walking in alongside Tippi, not noticing Luigi's beet-red face. Luvbi, however, saw his face and gave him a knowing look.
Inside the guarded room, this so called beast was none other than Bowser, frantically looking around.
"GRAAAARGH! Where am I?! And why do these jerks in shades keep jumping me?! And what's with the dark? And Peach isn't here...and I'm hungry! What did I do to deserve this?!" The lights suddenly turned on, confusing the koopa even more.
"Bowser!?"
He turned around and shrieked at the brunette. "AH! Daisy! ...And Tippi? Just you two? Where's Peach!?"
Tippi replied "We don't know yet. We're looking for her and Mario too..."
"I don't care about the dumb plumber one bit, but what you're telling me is that Peach is definitely not here. I don't like this one bit." Bowser pondered for a moment before realizing something shocking. "AHA! I see your little plan! You wanna break up what me and Peach have going! Yeah, you've been WAITING for a chance to find Mario so he can fireball me in the back!"
"Uh...no. We truly don't know where Peach is. We merely..."
"Can it, you ugly little bug! I'll stomp the truth out of you!"
"Oh for fu-" Daisy gripped Bowser's throat with both her hands and brought his face close to hers, giving him a death glare that could scare any villain. "Listen here you six-foot, pathetic, sorry excuse for a villain, schmuck! Let's get one thing clear, Mario and Peach are engaged so your chance of gettin' with my cousin are zilch. Second, I don't give a damn whether you care about Mario or not. Personally, I'd rather be lookin' for him right now than dealing with your ugly shell, so either you come with us so we can save the others OR," Daisy narrowed her eyes. "I'll make sure every single spike, nail and horn is pulled out ONE by ONE so no one will ever. Take. You. Seriously...Capiche?"
After a long pause from a terrified Bowser, he rapidly nodded his head. Daisy let go and Bowser backed away a feet or two. Tippi looked at Daisy in both astonishment and fear. If she was able to sweat, she'd be sweating buckets after that threat.
'That was probably how she got Bestovius to cooperate back then... I'm glad she's on our side," Tippi happily thought.
Bowser was still feeling frustrated. "But dang, what is WRONG with me?! I always end up in the worst places. For all I know I could be in The Underwhere!"
"Bowser, I'm sorry to break this to you...but we're already there," Tippi nervously told him.
"What? What're you talking about?! Do I LOOK like a guy whose game is over?!"
"You and Daisy were sent here, to the land of ended games... To The Underwhere. We didn't know what had happened to any of you, not just Peach or Mario..."
"What?! So wait, Peach really is lost out there somewhere?!" The koopa king roared with determination. "Why didn't you say so, idiot?! We could've been searching this entire time!" Daisy glared at him, causing Bowser to cool down a bit. "W-What I mean is, let's go save Peach and Mario together!"
He ran off ahead and the girls looked at each other and sighed before catching up to him. Luvbi, Luigi and the D-Men saw the trio come out. Not noticing the koopa king, one of the D-Men asked "Hey, it's you! And your game isn't over... Did you run away or something?"
"AHEM!"
The guards slowly turned their heads and finally noticed an angry Bowser, which caused them all to scream in terror.
"WHAT?! You BEAT it?!"
"SERIOUSLY?!"
"NO WAY!"
The first D-Man gave Daisy a key. "I can't believe it... Wow, uh... Thanks! You're a prime go-getter, pal! This key'll open the door that connects to The Overthere! You guys go find the rest of the monsters out there! We'll just stay on watch here. Oh and lemme give you a little tip. Lots of dark areas around here, right? Solution: put a little flame to the torch sconces you see on the walls! That'll light up the place for awhile. Careful, though, they'll eventually go out. If you know someone who can use fire, get 'em on torch duty, STAT!"
With that, the D-Men ran off, allowing the heroes to pass. Daisy huffed, annoyed by the guards lack of faith. A squeak snapped her out of it and turned her head to notice a terrified Luigi stare at a shocked-look Bowser.
"W-W-WHO IS THAT!?" Luigi shrieked, pointed at the koopa king.
"I should be asking that!" Bowser shouted. "Why does Mario look green!? OR matter of fact, WHY DOES HE NOT LOOK PUDGY!?"
Angry that Bowser insulted Mario, Luigi gained confidence. "H-Hey! Don't talk about my bro like that!"
"Your bro?" The koopa was confused.
"This guy isn't Mario, Bowser!" Daisy explained "His name is Luigi. He's apparently Mario's younger twin brother."
"THERE'S TWO OF EM!? He never mentioned a brother before..."
"I didn't know either. He really never mentioned it to you?"
"Heck naw, in all our fights he never mentioned this green twig! How do we even know he's telling the truth!?"
The brunette pondered for a moment. "That's... actually a good point." She turned to look at Luigi. "Uh, Luigi. Could I ask you something if that's okay?"
"Um... Okie dokie."
"What's the last thing you remember? Y'know, before endin' up here?"
Silence filled the dim lit hallway for what felt like hours. Daisy, Bowser and Tippi stared at Luigi, expecting a simple answer. But no, the green man just stared at the wall behind the trio, really trying to remember. He remembered coming out of that pipe with Mario, the toads asking them to save a princess. There were multiple abandoned castles that they went through, however no princess... But that last one-
"AGH!" Luigi closed his right eye and gripped the side of his head. A sudden headache pulsed through, groaning in agony.
'C'mon, Weeg! We're nearly there!' The man in red said, trying to escape the castle crumbling down on him, Luigi trailing behind.
'Mario slow down!'
'The gates are not that far ahead, bro, we can make it!'
Luigi was running as fast as he could, but didn't have the same stamina as his older brother. They were both relieved as they noticed the exit getting closer, but noticed a lot of rubble about to fall onMario. 'BRO WATCH OUT!'
'Huh?'
Luigi pushed Mario ahead, causing him to go through the exit before the rocks could trap them both. A large smokescreen of dust and sand surrounded them for a brief moment, causing them both to cough from the debris. After the smoke dissipated, Mario's eyes widened at the sight of the blocked exit. Worried about his brother, he shouted for him while trying to move the rubble. 'LUIGI!'
cough* 'I-I'm okay, Mario!'
He felt relieved hearing his little brother's voice. 'Don't worry, I'll get you out!'
'Don't worry about me,' The green man reassured. 'Go save the princess!'
'I'M NOT GONNA LEAVE YOU!'
Luigi sighed, then explained. 'Come back to me after, then! I'll try to find a way out and wait for you!'
'...Okay, but you better be out of there when I come back! I promise I'll come back to you!'
Luigi heard Mario running off. He closed his eyes and smiled. 'I know you will, Mario...'
"Luigi!" Daisy ran to him, picking him up after he suddenly fainted. "Are you okay, buddy?"
"Y-yeah, I'm alright." His headache slowly subsided and felt better. A bit upset, but better. He reassured the orange princess that he was fine, but just in case, Daisy had a healing shroom on her and gave it to him. "I'm-a-sorry, Daisy, but the last thing I remember was coming to this world with Mario."
Daisy sighed, not wanting to hurt the green man further. "That's okay, but don't worry, we'll eventually find your brother and get outta here, okay?" Luigi nodded in agreement.
"HEY! Quit makin' out so we can get out of here already!"
Bowser shouted at the two, causing Luigi's face to turn red, Luvbi giggling at them and Daisy getting mad at the koopa. He noticed her face and ran ahead, the brunette chasing him with her club along with Tippi and Luvbi went behind the group to see the koopa king's demise, leaving Luigi alone. The man hated that he lied to Daisy, but something didn't seem right. Sure Mario can be full of himself sometimes, but he always had the best intentions. He'd never abandon him... Would he?
Luigi mentally slapped himself for even thinking that.
'Mario's my best bro! We'd stick together no matter what!'
Luigi ran and caught up with the others. After going through two more security doors, as well as defeating the chain chomps through the power of music, they've finally made their way to The Overthere... Not realizing the inevitable fate that lies ahead.
So what do you guys think? Better to stay on Daisy's good side if you ask me lol.
