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Chapter 21:
Hammer Time!
~Ace Rimmer~
Mario and his party of Luigi, Mallow,
Geno, Peach, Yoshi, and Geno were just about ready to
depart when the King remembered something, right after
his wife the Queen nudged him with her elbow.
"What? Oh yes!" said the
King, "I almost forgot. Mario! I just have to
offer you and your friends some new equipment to help in
our mutual efforts, courtesy of Nimbus Land and it's
inhabitants. After all, you've saved our lives! So, would
you like to take a peek?"
"Oh, yes I would love to!"
replied Peach, "I really do have to thank you on
behalf of the Mushroom Kingdom." She curtesyed while
saying this, as a matter of royal protocol. The King and
Queen nodded and proceeded to lead the seven to their new
gifts. They decended down a staircase towards the bottom
level. Mario's mind was filled with questions about what
they could have in store for them. New armour? Weapons?
Magical oddities? Of course, everyone was thinking about
what was to come, and even Mallow was unsure.
After some walking down a wide
corridor, they came upon a large set of doors with a
golden-laced keyhole on one of them. Two guards with
hammers were keeping a sharp lookout for any who would
dare to intrude. One of the guards turned his attention
to the group.
"Good afternoon, your majesty."
said the guard with an large, insincere smile.
"Indeed it is, yes..." the
King replied concisely, yet cordially. He bore a jovial
smile on his face that did not look at all intimidating.
"Well, I trust you've kept safe our treasured
artifacts?"
"Oh yes sir. Everything's... A-OK!"
the guard proudly said. He motioned towards the door with
his free hand. "Would you like to take a peek?"
"Yes we would," the Queen
said, "we'll be loaning some of our more powerful
items to some friends. Please, do open the door."
The guard nodded, and pulled out a keychain with several
keys on it. After locating the correct key, he unlocked
the door and opened it. He signaled something to the
other guard. "All right your majesty, this way
please. And if the group could follow behind him...".
Geno raised an eyebrow and hesitated, but then proceeded
to follow the King and Queen inside of the room. Once the
entire group had been escorted outside, the second guard
seemed to flicker. Underneath the fluffly, smiling cloud,
there was a Koopa, with a large shell and a helmet to
match. The Hammer Brother shook his head, and took out a
phial of blue liquid, courtesy of a Koopa alchemy lab, if
not stolen. He drank some of it, and the flickering
stopped.
"Heh heh heh, suckers. Now we'll
get Nimbus Land's prized artifacts once they reveal the
gems from the junk." The 'guard' gripped his hammer,
and walked in behind them. The made sure the door was
locked tight.
-
Jinx was wandering the castle for
Mario and Luigi, and trying to keep Wario and Waluigi
concentrated on finding Mario.
"What are you doing?" Jinx
said for what he felt was the hundreth time.
"What? Oh, this painting... it's
looks... valuable." Wario tried to explain.
"What about this statue? It must
be ten times that!" Waluigi added.
Jinx sighed. "Where are they?"
~lzn64~
King Nimbus led the way into the
treasure, room, completely ignorant of the true identity
of his guards. The two imposters exchanged glances,
wordlessly communicating their intentions. The first
guard inconspicuously made his way to the back of the
room, while the second stayed near the door.
As King Nimbus turned around to face
the rest of the company, an odd trinket in his hands, his
jolly face changed to one of surprise and confusion as
the second guard's potion wavered briefly, revealing his
true identity. The Hammer Bro saw the look and realized
he was caught, and motioned to his brother frantically.
By then, the first had made his way behind King Nimbus,
still hidded behind his Nimbian disguise, and when he saw
the motions of his brother he acted with lightning speed.
The King gasped as he was grabbed from
behind, dropping the item he had been holding.
"Whatever are you doing?!"
Exclaimed the Queen, who saw only the facade of an
innocent smiling Nimbian taking her husband hostage.
"Release him at once!"
The Koopa standing near the door's
potion had long since worn off, but he had only been seen
by King Nimbus; as the others were all focused on him and
his attacker. He slammed his hammer into the ground to
get their attention, an annoyed look twisting his
reptalian features.
******
The force of the Hammer's Bros. blow
sent shockwaves throughout the castle, and they soon
reached Jinx and the Wario Bros, knocking them off their
feet. The loud noise made by the hammer echoed throughout
the palace as well, but eventually faded away.
"What was that!?" Jinx
cried, getting shakily to his feet.
"An earthquake..." muttered
Waluigi. He stood up and held a hand out to his brother.
Wario grunted as he was helped off the floor, then dusted
himself off.
"I bet that sound is coming from
where they are."
"Yeah, and it didn't sound like
good news!"
So saying, Jinx took off toward the
source of the blast at a quick pace. Wario and Waluigi
looked at each other, shrugged, and followed, having
nothing better to do. Of course, they each had several
various treasures in their pockets... not that that
matters, of course.
The two caught up to Jinx minutes
later, having been hindered by their theiving efforts.
The short martial arts master stood in front of a well-secured
door that Wario recognized immediately as the entrance to
a treasury.
"Hey, fine job short guy. This is
what I've been waiting for!" He tried the door, only
to find it locked.
"Quiet, you. They're in there,
and from the sound of it they're not having too good a
time."
"They're in a treasure room. How
could they not be having a good time?" Wario
questioned, genuinely confused at this new concept.
Jinx rolled his eyes, dismissing this
comment. Waluigi shoved his brother aside, and listened
at the door, placing his ear to the wooden surface.
"Sounds like trouble," He
agreed, his voice a low growl.
~Masamune~
"Heh heh" The green hammer
brother chuckled, "This is to easy! And to think we
were suboordinates to that stupid Lak!"
"Yeah... hey. Aren't we a bit
outnumbered?" The yellow one asked.
"Perhaps... just throw your
hammers like crazy! They can't avoid that!"
However, they had never before went
against a yoshi. Before 'The Amazing Flying Hammer
Brothers' had to stay on platform to avoid the quick
tongue of a yoshi. And so indeed, Yoshi came through for
the plumbers again eating several of the hammers thrown.
While they were dangerous to the others, Geno was able to
be hit be a few and take little damage. He fired one of
his fists in to the green koopa's face, sending him
flying in to the wall. Inches away from a valuable statue.
Mallow had no luck at all, he had
never been extremely fast or strong. And in a room where
such valuable items resided, weather magic would do no
good. So he was forced to reduce to supporting his fellow
allies. The two plumber brothers had both had their
experiences with these kind, but never in such a closed
in place. They could not simply go through an opening,
jump over them or even go under. They were, however, able
to gather a few hammers for theirselves and toss them
right back. Where they collided with other hammers and
fell to the ground ruined.
The princess did not seem to do much
good either. Being unable to get close enough to deliver
a sufficient attack. She ended up joining Mallow in
supporting the group. The upperhand they had was
diminishing, Yoshi was slowly but surely getting sick of
the metal-wood flavor. Geno had taken so many dents he
opted to evade to protect his wooden exterior.
Amidst the mayhem, both of the hammer
brothers grabbed the king and queen and held a hammer
above the royal nimbus's heads. The group had no choice
but to give up. Just as they were about to speak, a huge.
And to those who had never seen him, huge was an
understatement, man ran in. For he was indeed large,
dressed in yellow atire that seemed to clash with Mario's
red and blue. Following was an extremely tall, lanky man
dressed in purple that mocked Luigi's uniform. To Luigi's
delight, he hit his head on the low ceiling upon entering.
And had to duck his head to enter.
"Oh great..." Peach sighed,
"Bowser got them to?"
"Got us?" Wario chuckled,
"You insult me fair lady, I have not been 'gotten'.
No... we are here to do what... Mario... can't!"
"Indeed" Waluigi added in
his most non-nasal voice he could muster. While also
rubbing his dented head.
The two hammer brothers glanced at
each other nervously. Their four eyes instantly
transmitted their own thoughts. They then begin to edge
out of the building. Going through a secret back-exit
they had been told of when Lak recruited them. However,
as they were escaping. They bumped into a strange two-some
outside.
"Watch it!" A purple
dinosaur snapped, as he glared at the intruding koopas,
"I am conducting business!"
"Err... are you sure Booster
really needs the super Net-a-rama 3000? Aren't we good
enough?" The snifit, whom the dinosaur was obviously
speaking with, asked.
Before anything else could be done,
the Hammer brothers had been captured. Tossed in to the
castle prison and dealt with. The two conducting business
had been scared away. And Wario and Waluigi now posed a
problem for our group of heroes. Finally, to the heroes
great surpise, they found that it had been Jinx who had
brought them here.
~lzn64~
The Sparkoopa, seeing that his spells
were deflected by the quite mad-looking Toad just as fast
as he could cast them, cursed vehemetely and soon
followed his dark brother through a portal; defeated. Ten
saw him go, still dizzy and suffering from a massive
headache. He hardly noticed the pain in his leg, the
pulsing in his temples distracted him so much. Toad was
standing in the center of a whirlwind of destruction, his
chest heaving and the wands cluched in his white knuckles.
As the remaining scattered mushroom
people realized that the lightning had stopped, those who
had been wisely feigning dead got to their feet and
looked around in horror. Those who had been watching Toad
were murmuring to themselves in quiet admiration, though
underlying fear laced their praise.
The beach was strewn with the bodies
of charred, some still flaming, goombas, a smattering of
unlucky transakoopas, and a disturbing number of hapless
mushroom people. The majority of casualties had been
focused on the first group, who hadn't enjoyed the
benefits of battle gear as had the second group. Though
the Sparkoopa's deadly electricity had been particularly
effective on the metallic armor of the battle clad
mushrooms as well...
Their spirits were not as low as they
should have been, however... they had won, after all!
Thanks to the unexpected power their leader apparantly
weilded. Toad himself was looking at his hands in
bewilderment; the wands had been dropped in the sand
beneath him. Ten eyed him uneasily, unsure of how the
Koopa Magic would affect him. He was soon reassured,
however.
"Ten! Ten, hey, did you see that?"
Toad exclaimed excitedly.
"Of course I did... how could I
miss you?"
"Hey, yeah, good point,"
Toad agreed, grinning in spite of himself. His wide smile
faltered a bit as he gained awareness of his grisly
surroundings, but he was determined to remain optimistic
for the sake of his people. He turned to the considerably
smaller group of mushrooms- there seemed to be less and
less each day- and prepared himself to be a leader.
"Okay, guys. I know that was hard
on you... but we can't give up. We've come so far! Look
out there. The water is nearly gone."
Indeed it was. They were standing on
the beach of not an island, but a protruding branch of
some mainland. The mushrooms whispered among themselves
as they looked at the land that had not been there when
they had first entered the trap. The flood seemed over;
the sun was bright, not a cloud in the sky.
"The first thing we have to do,"
Toad began again, not liking what he would have to
propose, "is get ourselves some supplies. There's a
long hike ahead of us, I imagine, and we really don't
know where we are..."
"I'm not going back in
there," a hefty mushroom objected, crossing his
pudgy arms across his chest. "I'm not."
"Not all of us have to,"
Toad agreed sypathetically.
"None of us should at all."
"We'd starve. Or die of
dehydration."
"It's a bad idea. They could
still be in there."
"I don't think so," Toad
replied, gently but firmly. "I, for one, am going
back." He shuddered slightly at the prospect. Some
of the more adventurous mushrooms- parents worried for
their children, mostly- stepped forward to join them.
Rinaz and his parents were among them.
Ten agreed to stay behind and prepare
the others for the hike as best he could. Toad waved to
him as he went back in, and Ten wished quietly to the
stars that all the transakoopas had truly left.
Toad led the small company of supply-gatherers
into the castle through the main gate, since there was
presumably no need to hide in the tunnels any longer. It
was much easier to find his way above ground; in no time
they had reached the kitchens. Toad and the others begain
loading bags- which they had found in a cabinet in the
main kitchen- while Rinaz and the other children watched.
"So Toad," Rinaz began,
"Why do you think this castle didn't dissapear with
the transakoopas?"
"I don't believe the transakoopas
made this, to tell the truth..." Toad admitted
hesitantly.
"Then what...?"
"Uh, well... how to explain this?
A long while ago, before Mario and Luigi arrived..."
"Before Mario and Luigi...!"
Rinaz interrupted, aghast at the very idea.
"Yeah. Well, before them, Bowser
pretty much had this kingdom for himself, and he was
quite keen on constructing himself keeps and castles all
over the place. It was really quite disgusting."
"Whoa... before Mario and Luigi..."
Rinaz replied, still grappling with the concept.
"Of course, after the Mario
Brothers saved us all, Bowser had to abandon them. I
guess some are still around," Toad mused, shuddering
at his memories of sitting in the dungeon of a castle
similar to this. He had been so amazed to see another
human when Mario and Luigi had showed up... and with
thoughts of them, his mood became dark and gloomy. Were
those two even still alive? Toad sighed sadly; he
couldn't be sure. It was no use brooding over it.
The others had loaded up more than
they could carry and long distance; the plan was to dump
some off on the others once they got outside. As Toad had
suspected, the transakoopas were nowhere to be seen, and
they exitted the castle with their goods without any
problems. Toad informed all the mushrooms without serious
injury that they would have to carry their share; and
soon they were off, wandering into the unknown wilderness.
For lack of a better idea. It was, after all, better than
navigating the harsh Mushroom Sea in a makeshift raft.
~Ace Rimmer~
"So..." Toad started, "how
was I?"
"Well..." Ten hesitated,
"you're talking about the wands, right?" Toad
nodded, smiling. Ten didn't share his optimism. "I'm
concerned. Those wands definately have a taint of evil,
and I'm afraid it'll spread to you. I don't even know how
you managed to use them, one needs to have the power of
the stars to wield such potent weapons."
"Hey, I'm one of the keepers of
the Great Star! Maybe some of that power brushed off on
me."
"Do you feel any different?"
Ten said cautiously.
"What do you mean? Sure, I guess.
I feel a bit more confident, but who wouldn't?"
"...When's our next break? I'd
like to take a look at those wands." Ten asked after
a pause. Toad looked forward and saw a tranquil lake next
to a field of grass.
"That looks like a perfect spot."
said Toad, who anounced the brief respite that they would
soon have to the group.
"I have a small tome on artifacts.
Maybe I can decipher their writings, or even find out if
they are legendary..." Ten said. Toad smiled at the
possibility of commanding a 'legndary' wand, and almost
hoped that he would have to use them again and have its
power surge through his hands.
---
Despite their best efforts, the
treasure room was a mess. Only small areas of the room
evaded the reckless attack that quite ironically wrecked
most everything. A statue, a cabinet of small trinkets,
and a table with a small glass display case were the only
things that seemed untouched. Everyone was surveying the
damage in the room.
"This is horrible!" said
Peach, who was feeling sorry for the royal family, "I
can't help but feel partly responsible for this."
"Oh... oh don't worry about it."
the King said in a distraught manner, "These are
just things. Things can be replaced; I'm just glad we
escaped unscathed!"
"Speak for yourself..." Geno
said, rubbing a large dent on his arm, "I guess one
of the drawbacks of having a solid body is the hammers."
"I guess one of the drawbacks of
eating hammers is the tummy aches that come after..."
groaned Yoshi, gripping his stomach.
"Hey!, do we get a reward for
helping you?" said Wario in his usual deep voice.
"Yeah! This... this statue looks
quite, quite adequate." said Waluigi in a way that
could make you cringe.
"Sorry guys," apologized
Jinx, "These two were the only ones I could find."
"Hey! I think I should take some
offense to that!" Waluigi said.
"Uh... well... It's better than
nothing... I guess..." Mario tried to say sincerely
despite what he really thought, "Are they willing to
risk their lives?"
"You bet! If only to show you two
up!" Wario said with a laugh. "You're little
friend said you're in over your head."
"Well guys, should we let them
in?" Luigi asked. The seven got into a huddle and
talked it over. The group came to a concensus and Mario
walked over to the deviant duo.
"Okay. You can come with us, just
don't get in our way."
"Okay... deal..." Wario said
reluctantly. Wario and Waluigi shook hands with Mario and
Luigi repectively, almost knowing that their deal would
be broken sooner or later.
"Okay, I guess we can leave now..."
Peach said.
"Oh, I can't let you leave
without something..." the Queen said. She looked
around for a salvageable artifact as a present, even
though most things were shattered, chipped, had a hammer
protruding from it, or quietly placed in Wario's pocket.
"Ah!" she said as her eyes caught sight of an
object in a glass case, "This! This is a Star Sphere.
The powers of the stars are contained in this sphere...
use it wisely." She picked up the transperent
sphere, and it seemed to have small particles suspended
in it that twinkled as she moved it.
"Let me have it." Geno said.
"Sorry if I'm being forward, but I think I'm the
most qualified to use it." The others agreed and
carefully handed it over to him. He quitely studied the
sphere and rotated it in front of his eyes.
"All that's left is the
transportation..." Mallow said. "If you're
ready, we can depart on the next bus."
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