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Chapter 11:
~Ditto McCloaker~
Together, through the dark and silent halls of the Sarasaland Palace,
Mario and Luigi dashed toward the dining room where the unofficial clandestine
gathering had been thrown together.
Inside the room, on the low table in the center of the grand room, sat
the Piopnpi in the know. Pon stood on a silk carpet near an ornate vase
with his hands hidden in his sleeves, a solemn look in his large eyes.
Mario and Luigi walked in, and, unsure of what to do, went over to the
table and joined the stoic pionpi in sitting cross-legged around the
low table. The blue faces of the people were lit almost green by the
yellow light of the candles.
"No sign of any of them,' said Mario, in a hushed voice. Luigi
shook his head in accompaniment.
Pon looked across the faces of all the guards who had been standing
watch, and spoke in his calm, level tones.
"Did any of you see or hear anything unusual going on inside
near the time of the disappearances? Further, did any of the princesses
come in or out at any time?"
The answer, of course, was no. The guard of the Treasury spoke up.
"They were somehow able to get into the treasure room, as well.
It is totally empty."
Everyone exchanged glances. Luigi was the first to speak up.
"It would appear that the most noticeable theft is that of nearly
the entire contents of the treasure room." said the leaner brother.
Mario nodded.
"Luigi is right. That is where we should start looking for clues.
Let's go over there."
The pionpi twittered amongst themselves, partly in confidential whispers,
being a private and discreet people by nature, but quickly agreed that
it would be for the best. Pon led the brothers down a series of hallways
as the other pionpi returned, silently, to their posts, with a silent
understanding that not a word should be breathed to anyone of the crisis
until such time as it became unavoidable.
At last, Pionpi reached a room with a fountain in the center, surrounded
by statues of four mean-looking turtle creatures. He went to one and
pushed the head down, and a paper mache dragon head which adorned a
wall dropped it's jaw to the floor, revealing the way into the treasury.
The three entered.
Just as they had been told, the large room was clearly emptier than
it should have been. It resembled nothing more than the world's biggest
empty closet. Walking in, as their clomping steps echoed around the
huge chamber, Mario and Luigi simultaneously observed a few tiny gray
coins lying on the floor.
"Looks like they knew what they were doing... they did a careful
job," said Mario.
Luigi looked around a bit more. Hydraulico appeared at the door behind
them, and came in, beeping and whirring in a subdued manner. He came
to a stop by Luigi, and looked up at him, as Luigi stared across the
room.
Luigi, however, was the problems solver of the group. He began to
slowly pace among the pesos on the ground, his recessive chin sunk on
his green shirt, his green eyes aimed down at the refuse of the perpetrators.
Occassionally, he looked left and right, and then... his pace began
to quicken. Hydraulico emitted a questioning beep. Mario and Hydrauico
exchanged baffled glances.
Luigi plunged his gloved hands into the pockets of his denim dungarees
and then stopped. He walked over to a corner, then to another, and then
back to the spot. Then, his thin eyebrows drew together, and he began
to walk toward the far wall. He looked up again, until he got to the
opposite side of the room, and then fixed his eyes on the floor again.
And then, his face slowly drew up, and with a solid and serious face,
looked sideways at the clueless threesome across the vast chamber. Without
a command, they knew he had noticed something, and proceeded over.
Upon reaching them, he wordlessly looked down at the floor, and pointed
down at the bare stones.
"What do you see?" he said.
Mario, Pon, and Hydraulico looked down.
"My optical sensors register nothing out of the ordinary."
beeped Hydraulico.
"There's nothing wrong," said Mario, straining to see if
there was a crack or something between the cobblestones.
"There is nothing on the floor here," said Pon, logically.
"Exactly." said Luigi.
They looked up.
"What?" said Mario.
"Coins litter most of the room," said Luigi. "But at
this part of the floor, there are fewer coins than at any other spot
in the room. I think that this is because, when leaving, they grabbed
all the coins immediately available. Which means?"
They all exchanged glances. Mario turned to him.
"Because... they left around here?"
Luigi nodded. "There must be a secret passage around here. Pon,
do you know of any secret passages in this palace?"
Pon thought, and shook his head. "I do not know, but I admit
I know little about this castle. Few people do."
"Now, the only question is, how do we find the door?" said
Luigi.
This time, Mario's eyes lit up, and he almost involuntarily snapped
his fingers. Everyone looked at him.
Without a word, he bent down and reached for the handle on Hydraulico's
chest. He opened up the mini-cabinet of plumbing supplies which was
kept within the little helper-bot, and after jumbling around, pulled
out a small jar and a brush, which he held up with a superior look on
his face. Pon looked confused, but a smile snaked across Luigi's face.
"Ah yes..."
Mario unscrewed the lid, to reveal a clear liquid. Dipping the brush
into it, he went to one side of the wall and touched the brush to it,
and then walked from one side to the other, occassionally dabbling the
brush back in to make sure the liquid formed a solid streak along the
wall. Then, he walked back across, slowly, his eye focused on the wall.
Suddenly, he stopped, and his eyes narrowed, and then he turned with
a flourish towards his companions.
"Found it." he said, casually. Luigi stepped over confidently,
followed by the baffled Pon and Hydraulico. Mario indicated a place
on the wall, along the streak. Pon looked closely and saw a bit of bubble
rising from the thick clear liquid Mario had streaked across the wall.
Mario took more, and began to brush it around the area, covering much
around the spot. Soon, bubbles began to rise from the liquid, forming
a rectangular shape. Mario quietly screwed the lid back on the jar and
replaced his tools back in Hydraulico's tool 'chest.'
"It is ordinary plumber's ooze. You spread it around pipes where
you suspect a leak. Then, you pass air through the pipe, and where there
is a leak, it will cause air bubbles to appear where the leak is. It
is the oldest trick in the book... the plumber's book, that is."
he said, proudly. Pon looked at the brothers in amazement. Here, truly,
was proof that they were super.
To make a long story short, by dawn they had managed to locate the
mechanism to unlock the passageway door, and there stumbled onto the
hidden hallways which snaked around within the inner walls of the palace.
Almost immeditely, they found a place where a hole had recently been
violently blown through a wall, and peeking in, they discovered the
recently dug tunnel. In they went, following it around and about, unsure
where it would lead, but desperately hoping it would lead to the Princesses,
thus bringing the adventure to a a successful (and early) conclusion.
~Meanwhile...~
As you may have guessed, the notion of 'adventuring' by Goombario,
Chibobuigi, and Heidi, inevitably led to going back to the Sarasaland
Academy, under the cover of darkness. Of course, that had not been the
idea at first, but as they found little to do elsewhere, they decided
to get closer to the vicinity, and closer, and then to peek in a window,
and then to sneak around the back, until, of course, they found themselves
sneaking around in the halls of the institution. And, of course, their
curiousity led them in the direction of the Headmaster's office. They
approached the area containing the office full of nervous anxiety, straining
to hear something in the silent darkness, and struggling to imagine
whether or not the fiendish Headmaster might have some bed of his own
to go to, or whether he was still in there, waiting, like all the cruel
rumors about the school's leader claimed.
Nervously, the three finally reached the long hallway which lead to
the door. They peeked around the corner down the corridor, Chibobuigi
on the bottom, Goombario over him, and Heidi craning her neck around
over them. It was dark beneath the door. Without a word, they began
to slowly sneak towards it. Heidi reaches towards the handle and nearvously
pulls it open to reveal...
...a dark, empty, silent office.
Slowly, they march in, and begin to look around the room they had
nearly been captured in earlier. On the desk, something caught Heidi's
eye.
"It's that Shield thing that Bandit had! He must have found it
and brought it back!"
They saw it, and the two mushroom creatures went to the desk to look
up at it.
"Get it!" said Goombario. "Maybe we can use it against
Smithy to get rid of him! Then we will be heroes!"
Heidi did walk over, and picked it up. It looked like a shield with
an angry face carved on it, with closed eyes, as if the object were
sleeping. In the middle, it seemed to have a mouth, which was tightly
clamped shut. She slung it over her arm, and they began to look around
a bit more. Then they looked around a bit more, for some clue to lead
them to Smithy. None presented itself. To all appearances, aside from
the slightly large size of all the furniture, the place looked like
the office of a respectable administrator.
So, naturally, the place seeming more and more harmless, the three
began to get a little silly.
They admired the paintings, the decorations, the desk, etc. Finally,
Goombario hopped up onto the large chair behind the desk, and sat there.
He tried to mimic Smithy's fierce glower, and then laughed. Chibobuigi,
enchanted by the game, hopped up too, and drew his eyebrows together
to do his best Smithy impression. Heidi giggled, clapped her hands,
the shield dangling from her arm, and then climbed up onto the chair
again. She sat down, dwarfed by the huge chair. Goombario, making room
for the lady, hopped up on an armrest. Chibobuigi hopped on the other.
They laughed, until they all suddenly noticed that, upon the three spots
on the chair being pressed, the chair was beginning to shake. Soon,
the floor panel below opened, and the chair quickly began to descend
through the floor along a metal track, towards a deep, reddish looking,
cavernous place deep below. At the bottom, it came to a stop... and
they all looked from their perches helplessly to observe that they were
surrounded by Bandits.
"Only one thing could make this worse." said Goombario.
"OH, BELIEVE ME, IT CAN GET WORSE, KIDDIES!"
With fear and trepidation, they all looked over the heads of the Bandits...
to see the flowing white beard, restless, beady eyes, and hanging, animalistic
lower jaw of... Headmaster Smith, nee, the one known as Smithy.
"Look who found our little secret place, boss?" said one
nasally-voiced bandit. Smithy ignored him, and fixed his eyes on the
trio.
"I DO BELIEVE THAT YOU, DEAR CHILDREN, ARE SITTING IN MY CHAIR...!"
he intoned, in his mocking, deep, cruel voice. They shivered, as the
large man began to slowly move toward them... Smithy, they realized,
was so large that he was easily larger than the chair... and them. He
continued in his mocking voice...
"I APPLAUD YOUR DEDICATION TO EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES... YOU
DESERVE AN 'A' FOR EFFORT... BUT I'M AFRAID THAT YOU'LL BE FLUNKING
OUT, NONETHELESS..."
Casting their eyes about, they saw that over where Smithy had previously
been busy, the familiar forms of Peach and Daisy wriggled against bonds,
strapped to chairs, as did two other ladies, whom they immediately deduced
were the other princesses. They're hearts froze to see that what they
had feared had come true. The princesses had been kidnapped.
Heidi stood forward and bravely brandished the shield. The other bandits
seemed to move away from the chair, but Smithy merely laughed.
"LOOK AT YOU! YOU THREATEN ME WITH MY OWN WEAPON, EVEN AS YOU
HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE IT!"
True, Heidi was baffled. She pointed it, but nothing happened. Smithy
whanged his hammer into the ground, causing a tremendous earthquake
to reverberate around the chamber. The bandits collapsed, and the three
heroes flew from off their chair, landing onto the hard floor below.
The shield slid from her hand across the floor.
Smithy watched, and then gestured to Squid Guy to go fetch it. Meanwhile,
he towered over the three helpless would-be heroes. At that moment,
however, came noise from another direction. As they looked up, they
saw several forms running in from another door.
"Mario!" cried Goombario.
"Luigi!" cried Chibobuigi.
Indeed, at that very moment, the brothers came charging in, but stopped
clean in their tracks as their eyes came to rest on the towering, bearded,
frighteningly familiar form of Headmaster Smith, otherwise known as
their arch-enemy, Smithy.
"AARGH!" he growled. "MORE GUESTS! AND NONE OTHER THAN
THE DISTINGUISHED MARIO BROTHERS! WELCOME! YOU'RE JUST IN TIME TO JOIN
A FACULTY-STUDENT MEETING. COME RIGHT IN...!"
Mario and Luigi looked about, and saw the Princesses bound in chairs
nearby, and then saw the helpless students on the floor before Smithy.
"Pon! Hydraulico! Lugii! Go free those girls! I'll take care
of Smithy!" cried Mario, rolling up his sleeves.
Luigi looked at him. "Are you crazy, Mario? He's huge!"
Mario waves his comment away. "Trust me," he said, confidently,
"I have more experience with him." Luigi winced at the truth
of this remark, and it's implication, but went to his work.
"Besides," added Mario, "He doesn't even have the power
of a star this time!"
Smithy cackled. "MWA HA HA... SUCH BRAVERY! WHAT YOU SAY IS TRUE.
I NO LONGER POSSESS ANY STARS. I DON'T HAVE THE ABILITIES I HAD LAST
TIME... I CANNOT CREATE MINIONS OUT OF NOTHING LIKE I COULD... BUT THEN
AGAIN, YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS TO BACK YOU UP, EITHER."
Mario gritted his teeth. The bandits began to crowd around him, but
Smithy roared for them to clear away... Mario was HIS.
As Mario dodged Smithy and the heroes busied themselves with freeing
the captives, a few other forms, aroused from their sleep by the powerful
earthquakes from this vicinity, appeared in Smithy's office above, and,
staggering about in the darkness, stumbled down through the hole which
led to the underground chamber. They spiraled down, and landed in a
heap.
"Gadzooks, Tadpoule old chap! Do get off me, will you, dear boy?
I daresay you've dented my shell!" came a familiar voice.
"I apologize," murmured Alexis de Tadpoule in a defferent
tone.
Rising and rubbing his shell, Kooper took in the scene, and recognized
Mario.
"What's going on here?"
Smithy was momentarily stunned by this turn of events, and left himself
open to Mario, who ran forward and planted his fist directly through
the beard and into the side of Smithy's large face. Smithy reeled, and
then glared back at Mario, who was blowing on his hand.
"NOT FAIR, MARIO! AS HEADMASTER, I CANNOT CONDONE CHEATING..."
As he spoke, he backed up, until he was standing by Squid Guy, who
was holding the Shield. Smithy suddenly reached over and grabbed it.
"THUS... YOU ARE HEREBY... EXPELLED!"
With that, he pressed a button on his creation. Suddenly, the eyes
snapped open, and shined a light towards the brothers. With an evil
laugh, Smithy activated the device. The jaw dropped open, and a bright
flash emerged in the direction of the Mario Brothers, like a camera.
In an instant, they were gone. Pon and Hydraulico looked over. So did
Goombario, Chibobuigi, Heidi, and the Princesses. Everyone fell silent,
as they all had just witnessed the Mario Brothers disappear into thin
air in the time it took a flash of light.
"What have you done with them?!" cried Heidi, looking over
at Smithy, who stopped laughing to turn a fiendish grin on them.
"I CANNOT TELL YOU RIGHT OFF HAND... LET US SEE, SHALL WE?"
With that, he pressed another button. From the shield's mouth emerged
what looked like a photo. Smithy grabbed it and held it up as it began
to develop.
"YOU SEE," he began, in a casual manner, "THIS IS MY
GREATEST CREATION EVER... IT IS BASED ON THE TRANSPORTATION ABILITIES
OF MY FORMER CREATION, EXOR. THIS TRANSPORTS PEOPLE TO VARIOUS LOCATIONS.
IT THEN PRODUCES PHOTOGRAPHS WHICH SHOW WHERE THEY ENDED UP... AND I
WOULD SAY THAT YOU'RE FRIENDS ARE NOW..." He squinted at the photo.
"MWA HA HA...! DEEP WITHIN THE FARTHEST, DEEPEST REGIONS OF SARASALAND...!"
With that, he held out the photo, which showed the Mario Brothers
standing in what appeared to be some swampy kingdom of Sarasaland.
"You fiend!" cried Peach, as she and the other princesses
finished getting free of their loosened bonds. Mad with rage, the four
charged at Smithy. Alarmed, Squid Guy snatched the Shield from his master,
randomly set the dial for somewhere in Sarasaland, aimed, and fired
at them. In a flash, they, too, were gone, off to some other location.
Squid Guy sighed in relief as he saw his master's attackers disappear.
He did not see Smithy looking down at him with an utterly surprised
and outraged expression. He was burning... seething... smoke poured
from his ears and a vein bulged over his outraged eyes. Squid Guy looked
up with a grin, and looked surprised at Smithy's angry face.
"YOU FOOL! YOU SENT AWAY THE PRINCESSES! WHERE DID YOU SEND THEM?!"
"Umm... I don't... k-know." stammered Squid Guy. "H-here,
I'll try to print out photos to show us..."
With that, he fiddled with the knobs, but with several more flashes,
the other interlopers, Tadpoule (alone), Kooper and Kolorado (together),
and the others vanished to different unknown sections of Sarasaland.
"Oops." said Squid Guy, as he clearly saw Smithy's rage
grow to a boil.
He didn't waste a second. Setting the dial for as far away and unreachable
region as he could think of, he turned the shield on himself and vanished.
Smithy stood there in the room, surrounded by his Bandits.
His eyes darted around at the group, smoke pouring from his ears.
"WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS STANDING AROUND FOR?! GO!!! THOSE PRINCESSES
HAVE BEEN SENT TOGETHER TO SOME PART OF SARASALAND... SEARCH FAR AND
WIDE... VISIT EVERY KINGDOM... LET NO STONE GO UNTURNED IN SARASALAND
UNTIL THEY ARE FOUND... GET ME THOSE PRINCESSES... AND IF YOU HAPPEN
TO SEE THOSE PLUMBERS... I WANT THEM DESTROYED, UNDERSTAND?! NOW, GO!!!!"
In rage, he slammed his mallet into the ground so hard the ground
began to shake. Alarmed, the Bandits scurried every which ways, to begin
their search...
~Yoshiman~
Mario and Luigi looked around their new settings.
"Mario. . . where are we?" Luigi asked him.
"Well," Mario replied, "From the looks of it, I'd say
were in the deepest regions of Sarasaland. . ."
"Oh, great," Luigi mumbled, "I *thought* you had everything
under control!"
Mario quickly replied, "But last time he didn't have that sheild!"
Luigi sighed. "Well, let's go. Level 1-1." He said with
a chuckle.
~Luigi of the Pipes~
Kolorado glared around the current surroundings. "W-where in
b-blazes are w-we?" he stuttered. "F-for t-that m-matter,
w-why is it so b-blooming c-cold?"
"Judging by the snow, ice, and freezing temperatures, I'd say
we're in the northernmost regions of Sarasaland," Kooper replied.
"Oh y-yes, b-being a h-highly-trained a-archaeologist, I already
k-knew th-that d-dear b-boy," Kolorado chuckled nervously. "W-why
aren't y-you s-stuttering old b-bean?"
"Oh, I brought a scarf."
"Y-you w-wouldn't p-perchance h-have a s-spare, w-would y-you?"
"Sure I do!" Kooper poked his arms back into his shell,
then popped them back out, a wool scarf in hand. Kolorado took it gratefully,
wrapping it around his neck with a snap of his wrist.
"Many thanks, many thanks," Kolorado mumbled thoughtfully.
"It's funny Professor," Kooper spoke. "I was under
the impression that Sarasaland didn't have an icy region like this."
"Poppycock! All places have some sort of northern area, unless
they don't reach that far up. It's basic geography, dear boy. Now the
sticky wicket of this, is that this map of Sarasaland doesn't cover
places beyond the major four kingdoms."
"You mean we aren't on the map?"
"Precisely."
Kooper groaned and kicked at a nearby snow mound with the toe of his
foot. "And in other words, we'd better start looking for a way
out of here. Before we go dormant."
"By George! It completely slipped my mind that we're cold-blooded!
Let's away with all due speed, old bean!"
"Wait a sec Professor. Did you see Alexis anywhere?"
"Tadpoule? Nay, that Smithy creature teleported him before us.
He's probably ages away, on some Muda beach. Lucky dog."
"Well, we'd better get started then." Kooper tucked his
arms into his shell, then followed by sliding all but his eyes in. He
finished by sliding the shell down to his knees.
"Clever," Kolorado mused. "Best we save what little
body heat we still have..." The older archaeologist followed Kooper's
example, then the duo waddled off toward the wild blue yonder.
~Meanwhile~
Goombario groaned and stretched his feet, then followed with his tongue.
He slowly pried his eyelids open and looked around. Chibobuigi and Heidi
were still laying on the ground, eyes closed, unconscious.
"I bet we were the only ones who got hurt when we teleported,"
the young goomba mused. "I guess that's what we get for adventuring
at such a young age..."
A proliminary scan of the area provided Goombario with about all he
needed to know. The rocky setting meant that they were probably in the
mountainous range, which better translated to Easton Kingdom. That meant
that they weren't very far from Chai and the academy. So, the options
included travelling through both Easton and Chai and the dangers included
with both, or they could just make their way to Easton Village and use
a warp pipe to Chai City. That wouldn't be a hard choice...
A low groaning turned Goombario's attention back to his two friends.
Chibobuigi was coming to his senses.
"Huh?" he groaned. "Goom? Where are we?"
"We're in the Easton Mountains, Chibo. And we'd better get moving
if we want to make it to Chai Kingdom by night."
"Wha--? Wouldn't it be a lot easier if we just went to Easton
Village?"
"Yeah, I figured that. But then...," Goombario accompanied
the statement with a mischevious wink, "where would the fun in
that be?"
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