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Chapter 26:
Magikoopa Tower-Revisited.
~Masamune~
Little did Toad and the others realize, that without
the intervention of the koopas. Mario and the others
would have arrived in the spot they had just been in.
"Argh! This is ridiculous!" Wario muttered
as he looked at the coffins that lined the room, "There
is nothing of value here!"
Waluigi nodded in agreement, "And the company
stinks."
"Let's get out of here before we get any poorer"
Wario scoffed, as thr two brothers proceeded to leave.
None of them stopped them however, for they had
enough of them at this point. Jinx foresaw the results of
them causing trouble outside, but his fears fortunately
did not come true. For when they exited, the two had left
no trace of being there at all. Releived they proceeded
outside, but stopped dead in their tracks as they saw the
'Sparkoopa' busy conversing with two familiar Magikoopas....
Kamek and Kammy.
"So then, I turned around and there was..."
Sparkoopa trailed off as he saw Mario and company had
already made it down, "Aiee! They're already here!"
"So they are." Kamek chuckled as he turned
to the group, "I trust you enjoyed your stay in the
castle?"
Each one of them took in their own specialized
fighting stances as Geno spoke up for them, "It is
time to put your evil to rest."
"Oh, I do not think so..." Kamek replied as
e produced the Necrokoopa's wand, "With this wand, Morgress,
you do not stand a chance against us. But... we are
currently having problems, so tyou can make it to the top
of the tower..."
"And then you beat us, we'll give you entrance
to Bowser's Castle." Kammy finished, the two then
placed their wands on the ground and vanished. The
Sparkoopa likewise vanished, leaving the group alone and
bewildered.
"Do we go up, then?" Mallow asked first, as
he looked up the long spiraling tower.
"It is our only way to Bowser's Castle, I do not
beleive they would lie about giving us access. The other
alternative would be fighting hundreds of his best
soldiers all at once." Jinx observed, "But
travelling upwards will not be easy. It is bound to be
rigged with traps and ambushes."
"We have no choice." Mario saigh with a
sigh, "We'll have to go in."
The group nodded in agreement and once more entered.
---------------
Meanwhile.
---------------
"Ok, we will strike after we are all paired..."
Keiro said as he looked at Toad and Ten, "We'll hold
a better chance like that. Of course, we still have four
wands, we couldn't fit all of them in one box, so we put
three in a box here. Unfortuantely not the one we need."
Toad nodded, grateful that they had saved a few wands.
They would do them no good of course, but at least it
prevented there being nine wand bearing magikoopas.
"We will need as much weapons as possible."
Ten added, "It's bad enough we are outnumbered, but
we must have at least some weaponry."
"No problem there." Another armor bound
koopa interrupted, "We have the weapons you had
brought with you, as well as raiding the Transakoopa's
castle for anything additional. They should arrive within
a few hours."
Daisy walked up to the four and looked over them
before speaking, "I demand to know what is going on
here!"
Toad sighed, he had met Daisy on many occasions now,
but she was still always the same. "Preparing for
battle, we don't think Mario will be able to do anything..."
"Or even if they are still alive, for that
matter." Ten added, "But we don't lower the
morale of everyone by telling them what is probally the
truth."
--------------
Meanwhile.
--------------
"Hoo hoo! It's a good thing Kamek hired us, now
we'll get our revenge!" Beezo chuckled.
"Then we'll become the rulers of Subcon, since
Wart is gone now." Snifit added.
"Shhh! Their coming! Man your traps so they
won't get through!" Shyguy retorted, as the three
hid behind the walls.
As they did so, Mario and co. had just entered down
the long empty corridor.They could immediately tell
soemthing was up in the room and procceded with caution.
~Lzn64~
"What are
you talking about?" Daisy cried, horrified at this
little mushroom peasant who dared to even so much
as think such a horrible thing. "How can you
believe that they are dead!? You...you... faithless
creature!"
"Creature!"
Toad yelled angrily, his face turning red. He had met
this girl before, but really, she hadn't been this rude.
Perhaps her nerves were frayed by her situation, but
enough was enough. "I am not just a creature. I'm a
rational being like you, and I don't appreciate being
called a peasant, either. I'm a member in high standing
of the Mushroom Retainer Council."
"Everyone
knows that you don't have any real power," Daisy
replied contemptously.
Toad prepared
himself to reply, but Ten interrupted them with a worried
expression on his face.
"Hey, hey,
let's not get at each other's throats, now. We have a
bigger problem... we don't need a civil war."
"Of course
not," Daisy agreed, tossing her head back, "So
why don't you just hand over your "leadership"
to the princess, peasant?"
"Argh..."
Ten shook his head, knowing that this was going to be one
looong journey.
--------
Meanwhile
--------
Mario was,
despite his caution, completely unprepared for the attack-
if you could call it that- launched by the familiar trio.
They came charging out of the shadows haphazardly, crude
koopa weapons in hand.
He could barely
hold back a laugh.
He easily
avoided the first attack, watching out of the corner of
his eye as Luigi grabbed the princess out of the way of
the beezo, who had targetted her first with a menacing
swoop from the ceiling. The Shyguy and Snifit went for
him, though in vain; they couldn't do much against the
entire company... three against six. Of course, Mallow
wasn't really doing anything, but that's besides the
point. Soon each of the three assailants stood defeated,
their weapons confiscated and their pride almost non-existant.
"Man, this
is so embarrassing..." Beezo muttered, shaking his
wings, out with a buzz.
"You guys
put up more of a fight last time," Mario observed,
examining the new spear that had come close to skewering
right through Peach.
"It's those
darn Koopa weapons," Snifit muttered, glad to find
something else to blame. "They don't work right."
"What's to
work on them? It's not like its a technical weapon or
anything... You point and stab."
"Actually,
they are technical..." Shyguy replied, and Mario
imagined that he probably had a mischievious look on his
face.
"What do
you mean?" Luigi asked, a puzzled look crossing his
face as he examined the normal-looking standard Koopa
spear.
"Now!"
Beezo yelled, pulling a strange contraption from beneath
his robes. The other two did the same, and simultaneously
flipped miniscule switches on them up. Nothing happened
for a minute, but then the weapons flashed brightly,
causing Mario, Geno and Luigi to drop the spears they had
been holding. They writhed on the floor in a second, and
took on a reddish color, developing heads...
Mario and the
others backed away in surprise, watching the
transformation. The three Sub-Con warriors snickered to
themselves, as they disspeared out of the hall;
immediately the hall closed off, trapping them. The three
spears had long since completed their transformation, and
were coiled up in a striking position.
"Cobrats..."
Peach said quietly, remembering them from past travels.
"I hate
Koopa Sorcery!" Mallow whined, backed up against the
wall. "Yoshi, eat them or something!"
"Er..
Mallow, those things are poisonous." Yoshi rolled
his eyes.
"Oh...darn."
The Cobrats
hissed at them angrily, obviously irritated at the sounds
they were making.
Geno laughed
suddenly, and everyone focused on him.
"Those
koopas don't take much into consideration," He
observed, walking right toward the snakes.
"Oh, yeah,"
Yoshi laughed, remembering Geno's, er, wooden status.
~Masamune~
The cobrats
hissed at Geno, ready to strike if he would not turn
around. And yet he continued, each one leaped forward
biting him, their teeth sinking into his wood. One by one
he ripped them off and tossed them away. Realizing they
were doing no good, they hissed at him once more and
slithered out of sight.
"Whew, at
least that was easy." Mario sighed.
"Speak for
yourself..." Geno replied as he inspected his beaten
and dented wooden body, "I wonder if they'll be
anything left of this wooden body after this is all over..."
--- In the next
room...
"Bah!"
The Shyguy muttered, "They got through trap 1!"
"Stupid
wood-dude." Beezo replied, "But the fire traps
are sure to get them!"
"Eek! Their
coming, hide!" Snifit exclaimed, as the three
trotted out of there as Mario oand the others entered.
It was another
normal corridor, they figured the shy's had another trap
in mind though. Mario took the first step inside, and
suddenly the walls began to widen by some sort of device.
The floors lowered creating a trenc that encompased the
entire floor of the now widened room. One of the wall
bricks loosened and fell to the ground as a stone koopa
face emerged from it. Then it spewed from it's mouth hot
lava that started filing the trench. Of the platforms
that stayed above the lava, several fire traps emerged.
Some twirling around, some speweng fire like a geyser,
and others submerging into the lava and re-emerging
seconds later.
"Wonderful..."
Luigi said with a sigh, "Just like old times."
----------
"Listen you
little twerps, I am the princess of Sarasland and since I
am..." Daisy began, before getting cut off.
"That's
enough!" Kiero growled, " Titles don't mean
anything out here, only power does. So as of right now, I
am assuming command of all of you."
Daisy's face
reddeed but she kept her mouth quiet and stormed off in a
fit of rage.
"That
wasn't exactly how I wanted to handle it..." Toad
mumbled as he watched her leave.
"Something
had to be done" Kiero replied, "She was
beginning to annoy me. Anyhow, do not worry about what I
said. I have no intention of bossing your comrades around.
But now, to business... I am going to put my sister in
charge of the troops. Your freind Ten over there, he will
be her equal while leading."
"And us?"
Toad asked as he looked at Kiero.
"We will
sneak in through the back entrance with your ghostly
freinds." Kiero replied, "That is, if they can
becoem invisible?"
"Don't
worry!" Timier chuckled, "No one will know we
are here!"
"Good. Now
Toad, I will allow you to take your wand with you. But to
keep it safe and prevent the Magikoopas from getting them
all... I will entrust one to my sister, your friend and I
will have one myself. I do not think we will be able to
use them, but if they are all together..."
"I know
what you mean." Toad frowned, it was the wisest
course of action. But he would rather be keeping them
himself.
"But the
princess... We will be leaving our base unprotected..."
Kiero pointed out, "She can't very well join the
attack. Or us for that matter."
"Poochy can
take care of her if anything." Toad suggested,
"But we better take her with us in any case."
"Then it's
decided. Let us go prepare the troops, for soon we shall
overcome the Magikoopa Tower!"
-----
As plans were
made and Mario and the others faced the Shy trials, the
Koopa Castle was not empty. Inside Bowser awaited,
preparing for the battle soon to come.
In his throne,
he sat hunched over frowning over a strategist board. On
his side sat the peice of Mario and a mushroom. On the
other was a magikoopa, a peice that resembled one of the
koopa kids. A few other smaller peices for different
trials he had planned. But the closest to him was a
golden sculpted peice that had his likeness.
Oh yes... if
those did not get rid of them. He was perfectly ready to
crush them himself. He could almost feel the power of the
Great Star swelling in his palm. Aching and yearning to
be released....
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