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Chapter 3:
The Great Beyond
-Editor-
The ship was much larger than Mario had
anticipated. Since the rudder of the ship was broken, he
had togo below decks to the very back of the ship. But he
had not realized it consisted of two decks below the very
top. And to top it all off, it had been arranged in some
sort of maze like structure. After entering another room,
he suddenly heard a loud THUD behind him.
Quickly spinning around, he saw a large stone thwomp
blocking the doorway. It had a very angry face and a
ghoulish air to it.
"STATE YOUR IDENTITY." The
thwomp demanded.
"Mario..." The red clad
plumber answered uneasily, "I need to get out."
"NO. I CANNOT ALLOW YOU EXIT."
The thwomp yelled, "THE BOSS HAS FORBID EXIT."
Frowning, Mario looked at the thwomp
quizically. "What boss?"
"UNABLE TO REVEAL THAT INFORMATION..."
The thwomp answered, "BUT... MAYBE... I COULD LET
YOU THROUGH IF YOU DO ME A FAVOR."
He almost chuckled, villains were so
typical at times, "Well, what do you want?"
"WELL... I don't want anyone to
hear me..." The thwomp replied, "I
accidentally left my autographed photo of Lady Bow in the
Backroom... If you get it, I'll allow you to go by."
Mario agreed and went further into the
ship, it seemed everybody he knew was famous. But it had
been ages since anyone ever wanted his autograph. He
shrugged and went on, entering into the next room. Inside
it was pitch black, he could not even see his hand in
front of his face. With a bit of hesitation he proceeded.
Everything had become much more spookier and Mario could
feel chills running down his spine. He suddenly felt a
cold chill on his shoulder, as if something had touched
him. Twisting around quickly, he saw the ghostly figure
of a eerie. A dino-ghost with a serious expression and
hollow eyes. Behind him he heard creaking, when he turned
to see he saw a skeletal koopa... a dry bones. A mist
filled the room, as a small glint of light appeared from
above and allowed the mist to be seen.
When it stopped and the mist fell to the
ground, Mario fround himself in a graveyard. Although it
looked like it went on for miles, the area was surrounded
by a fence and the areas where the doors were had now
become metal gates. Graves had sprung up from everywhere,
in front of each one was a ghostly figure. He counted
them quickly, coming up with only twelve graves in the
area. Although it seemed stupid, Mario tried to talk to
each one. But none would make any reply, having nothing
else to do, he went on into the next room. It was back to
the wooden interior of a ship. More importantly, it was
where the rudder could be accesed at in emergencies.
Forced into a position that kept it
stuck in the ship Luigi was currently on, Mario began
moving it the other way. With some difficulty, he managed
to force it to the other side. Looking around the room,
he spied a 'Bow' picture lying on the ground. He picked
it up and headed out of the room, reentering the
graveyard. He walked halfway in, when suddenly a large
tombstone popped up from the door he was at. He shuddered
fearfully and went on to the next door, which was shut
off as the thwomp from before slammed in front of the
door.
"HAHAHA! YOU FOOL. I CAN NOT
BELEIVE YOU FELL FOR THE PICTURE TRICK." The thwomp
cackled gleefully.
The other graves then came alive, with
little ghoulish creatures popping up. On one was a Boo
Guy, a shyguy like ghost. Another was a Ghost Goomba,
then the Dry Bones returned. Followed was a Greaper with
sickle-like hands, then a Fishbone lying on the dirt
lifelessly, another was a tiny Thwimp. Then there was a
mushroom like Zombie, a Boo with a sinister grin, the
grim Eerie from before at another grave. Another was a
Big Boo, also a Spark, a electrical ball of energy and
lastly a Bony Beetle with spikes sprouting from it's back.
Including Thwomp that made...
"Thirteen of them..." Mario
said, after counting.
"Yes..." A sinister voice
cackled, "My thirteeen undead fiends... And the end
to your meaningless existence."
Mario quickly turned around, spying a
magikoopa standing in front of the largest grave. Only
different in the fact it was dressed in black clothing,
with little white rims on the hat and robe. He was much
more bony looking and sinister then any other magikoopa
Mario had ever seen. By now, some strange ghoulish
creatures Mario remembered as 'Lost Souls' now were
encircling the room, chanting some sort of ancient tongue.
"I am the Necrokoopa... Creator of
the Thirteen Fiends you see..." The creature
cackled, "And now... using the power of Necros,
the thirteen fiends and the lost souls surrounding us...
you shall meet your fate..."
-Ditto McCloaker-
With a determined glint of defiant
heroism in his eye, the outnumbered Mario balled up his
fists and stood, hopelessly, surrounded by the thirteen
fiends and deadly koopa.
It was no use. As a heavy gray cloud
slid over the moon, like a grim hand putting out the
lights, the sounds of a doomed plumber echoed through the
night. When it was over, the whole ship seemed to vanish
with it's shifty lookout, the moonlight, and, had anyone
been around to hear it, a maniacal scream pierced the
moonless midnight landscape.
The next day, the glaring sun beat down on Luigi and
Yoshi, who had awoken, miraculously, clinging to a few
loose planks that remained of their ship. After a few
hours of hopeless searching, they finally bowed their
heads and bid a tearful farewell to their lifelong friend.
And thus, in this disheartened state, they sat on their
loose boards, too racked with shock and dispair to even
attempt to paddle to find land.
The day passed like an empty, hopeless dream, and,
finally, the sun again bid farewell over the horizon as
the ominous moon again arose over the faintly rolling
ocean, an unwitting reminder of the horror that had
accompanied it's previous visit. Not a word had passed
between the two during that day, as they each sat,
wrapped up in their own mournful thoughts. As the moon
reached it's highest point around midnight, both Luigi
and Yoshi were surprised to hear a voice seeming to come
at them from the ocean.
"It's... it'ssss.... " A myserious voice
called.
"Yoshi!" Luigi exclaimed, squinting his
eyes and looking around in the darkness, "Did-a you
hear something?"
"No, Luigi. There is nothing there. " Yoshi
answered.
"It'ssss... It'sssssss..... " The
mysterious voice echoed again.
A cold chill of fear trickled down Yoshi's spine, as
the unearthly voice registered within his own brain.
"It's a..." It called again.
Suddenly, a round shape materialized from nothingness
before them, a disembodied spirit with no apparent
gravitational pull downward, floating tranquilly above
the dark purple waters.
"Agh! A GHOST!" Yoshi and Luigi screamed in
unision.
"It's-a me! MARIO!" A voice yelled out.
And sure enough, as their light-starved eyes adjusted
enough to the glow to peer through the bluish white haze
that surrounded the apparition, they realized to their
shock that it indeed did have big blue eyes, a large
nose, and a mustache.
"M-Mario?!?" Luigi questioned
fearfully.
-Editor-
"In the flesh." Mario
answered, after realizing what he said gave a slight
grin, "Sort of."
"What happened?" Luigi asked
awe-struck, "If the ghosts didn't get you, the
chilly waters would have!"
"Well, that's just the thing."
Mario replied with a nervous chuckle, "They did get
me. I'm not sure how... but somehow they didn't kill me.
Just forced me out of my body."
Yoshi had never liked ghosts, for one he
could not eat them, secondly they were creepy, "So
are you just going to uh... stay a ghost or something?"
"No... I have to rejoin my body.
Which is somewhere down.... there." Mario explained,
finishing the statement as he looked down at the murky
waters, "I tried looking for it myself earlier, but
it was impossible."
"So if we find your body down
there, you'll be ok?" Luigi asked.
"Yeah, I hope anyways." Mario
said, smiling weakly.
"We'll do it!" Yoshi exclaimed.
"Great... oh yeah, one problem. I
only have on hour left."
-lzn64-
Luigi and Yoshi looked at each other in surprise.
"One hour? It's gonna take us longer than that
to search this whole area, Mario!" Luigi exclaimed,
staring at his brother, or what remained of him,
incredulously.
"I'm not the one that makes the rules, Luigi."
Mario commented, hovering a few inches above the water.
"I barely managed the sunlight yesterday, if I get
anymore of it I'll be seperated... permanently."
"Well, we're wasting time!" Yoshi observed,
and with that, he dove under the waves. Luigi took one
final look at his brother, shrugged, and followed suit.
Luigi and Yoshi split up, with Luigi searching the
nearby coral and Yoshi plundering the many caves and air
pockets in the underwater cliffs. Luigi had to come up
for air more frequently than his dino pal, and each time
he surfaced, Mario was there, floating, with an eager
expression on his ghostly face.
15 minutes pass...
Yoshi dove under once again, and was soon enveloped
in darkness. Luigi caught his breath, and followed him.
The cliffs had been explored as throughly as possible, so
they were now searching together. They diligently
searched the sea floor, but to no avail. Suddenly, a weak
tremor passed through the ocean floor. Yoshi looked up in
surprise, succeeded in banging his head, and managed to
turn to face Luigi just as a stronger tremor ripped
through the coral. The sand on the ocean floor was lifted
into the water, and swirled around the two heroes,
blinding them. They were helplessly clawing their way to
the surface, blinded and choking, when suddenly, they
broke the surface. Gasping for air, they watched wearily
as the waves churned. The water swirled around a central
point, and from that point, a figure emerged.
Luigi and Yoshi gasped in fright, and cringed against
the driftwood, as the shark-like pirate looked around
menacingly. The pirate caught sight of them, if looks
could kill, our heroes would have been dead on the spot.
He pointed toward them, and a platoon of his gooneys
emerged from the sea, and pointed their spears menacingly.
"Wait!" Mario yelled, hovering between the
pirate and his friends. "Johnny! Jonathan Johnny
Jones, don't you remember me?" Mario asked.
"Well, if it ain't me matey, the great Super
Mario!" Johnny roared. He laughed rather heartlessly
as he realized that Mario wasn't exactly...human. Much to
the relief of Yoshi and Luigi, though, he called off his
crew.
Mario then took up the laborious task of explaining
their situation. After that was complete, roughly 45
minutes of their hour was used up.
"So, will you help us find his body?" Luigi
asked, as he prepared to dive under again.
"Of course we will! Won't we, mateys?"
Johnny bellowed. He was answered by a chorus of various
ways to say "Yes" in pirate lingo.
Johnny and his crew dove under the
waves, with only 15 minutes remaining...
-Yoshi Boy-
Luigi, Yoshi, and Johnny searched carefully, but
quickly for Mario's body. After five minutes passed,
there was still no sign of it. When Yoshi began to loose
hope for his friend, he rested on a large seaweed-covered
rock, while the others continued to search. After five
more minutes Yoshi decided to just go back up When he
said to himself "This rock feels awfully soft..."
He wiped the seaweed off it and to his surprise, the rock
was Mario's body. With less than 3 minutes left, he took
it to Luigi, and Johnny. They felt relieved, but just
hoped that 3 minutes was enough time to get to the
surface...
-Yoshiman-
3 minutes. . .
Yoshi started kicking. It was a really good thing
that the body was underwater, otherwise he couldn't lift
it at all.
He rose past the coral reef, it all had a grim eerie
feeling to it, the deep bluish tint to all that lay below.
2 minutes. . .
Yoshi, realizing there was not enough time, yelled
for Luigi, luckily only a few yards away.
Luigi and Yoshi both shot up towards the surface.
1 minute.
Only three more feet.
Thirty seconds.
they both reached the top of the waves, they headed
for the makeshift raft and ploped the body on the wood.
"Hurry, Mario!" Luigi said.
Yoshi had the oddest feeling around him. . .
ten seconds. . .
Mario reposessed the body
Three. . .
Two. . .
One. . .
Mario lay still.
Luigi took his hat and placed it over his chest.
Then there was movement.
Luigi got a closer look.
Mario's eyes opened.
-Yoshi Boy-
"Mario! You're alive!" Shouted Luigi.
"Thanks, bro, thanks, Yoshi, thanks, Johnny!"
Said Mario.
"Arrrr! Me be glad yer back, mate!" Johnny
told him.
"Johnny! All right, thanks for everything, could
you just do us one more favor?" Mario asked.
"Anything, lad! Just name it!"
"Could you tell us which direction will take us
back to The Maushroom Kingdom?" He asked.
"Just go northeast!" Said Johnny.
"Well, that's easy enough!"
Said Luigi. They said goodbye to Johnny, and headed
northeast back to The Mushroom Kingdom.
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