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Chapter 12:
~Masamune~
Mario and Luigi had now been trudging through the swampy lands for
hours. It seemed as if there was no end to this horrible, mosquito-infested
place. The two had become very irritable and was ready to pounce on
the other should they so much as breathe the wrong way. Their shoes
were full of mushy gunk and 'slopped' whenever they stepped. The plumber's
pants were also soaked in the gunk, and most of their clothes had some
sort of filth clinging to it. Fortunately, the constant biting of the
bugs was enough to keep their minds occupied.
"Argh, I can't take much more of this..." Mario muttered.
Luigi tried to give a smile, but failed miserably, "It could
be-"
Before he could finish, a very heavy layer of rain started to fall
on them. Mario glared at Luigi, "Were you going to say worse?"
"No... I wasn't..." Luigi muttered.
The two continued on in the rain for hours on end. The rain never
stopped, the stench of the swamp got worse. And despite all of that,
the mosquitoes were still as hungry as ever. Luigi finally collapsed
and began sulking uncontrollably. Waving his fists in the swamp mud
over and over in anger and depression.
"Luigi! Calm down!" Mario shouted, trying to control his
brother.
"We're not getting out!" Luigi exclaimed, "If we don't
starve to death, we'll die from loss of blood!"
Mario sank down as well, unable to think of anything reassuring to
say. This place was so depressive, not even the sun seemed to bother
shining in this place. Only vines and intimidating trees grew in this
place. It seemed to be the very spot from which all mosquitoes spawned
from. It did not take long for Mario to start sulking to with his blubbering
sibling.
As the two grown men cried in a most pathetic manner, several strange
lumps emerged from the swamp. From these lumps, were small yellow eyes
watching the two with curiosity. Each one of them started coming closer,
unknown to the two miserable plumbers. As Mario was about to notice
one, the lump suddenly jumped up, spraying slimy gunk all over Mario's
face.
Before him stood some sort of slimy lizard like creature. It stood
on two legs, with two sickening arms slumped down on the ground. It's
body was green and stunk from every sort of filth known to man. And
then, to top off the gross abominations appearance... it smiled at Mario.
"Welcome strangers... we are the Mandar... this is Salla Swamp..."
It explained, as all the other lumps emerged into creatures just as
disgusting as the former.
--------------
While Mario and Luigi were occupied by these strange creatures, the
events in Sarasaland were getting progressively worse.
In a large room, full of treasure and all sorts of riches. In the
middle of the room sat a large tub full of bubbly water, inside was
the renown thief, Croco. Only his head and tail were outside of the
water. The former was adorned with a brilliant crown and all sorts of
necklaces and trinkets. The tail was covered with all sorts of rings
and anything else that would go around it. And while he was admiring
them, he was half singing/half humming a song about his riches.
"Croco my boy... this is the jackpot, I GAR-AN-TEE!" The
purple villain said to himself.
As he was busy savoring his vast riches, a small sackit crept in the
room and approached Croco.
"WHAT!?" Croco exclaimed in such a fashion, that it was
greatly exaggerated so that it went to different scenes extending to
space.
"Yes..." The sackit replied.
"Argh, can't I enjoy my treasures!?" Croco exclaimed to
nobody in particular, "Now I have to hunt down those princesses
again!?"
"Yes sir...." The sackit said timidly.
"Fine... get out while I get dressed..." Croco grumbled,
as he began crawling out of his nice, hot tub.
-----------------------------
As Croco's wonderful day was being thrown off, the princesses were
just beginning to awaken. They found themselves blanketed under a thick
carpet of trees overhead. They had ended up in some sort of thick forest
it had seemed. Peach instictively looked around to see if she could
find the others. Maple was looking around the area quietly. Plum seemed
very content and was enjoying the outdoors. But Daisy however, seemed
very irritated and unhappy about her surroundings.
Before anything could happen, they heard a loud *thud* behind them.
When they all went to look, there stood a tall man in green... Although
not exactly a 'man', he was more of a bird humanoid it seemed, dressed
in a Robin Hood style outfit. He was tall, seven foot at least. And
his sights was set on the four princesses.
"Well, well! What have we 'ere?" He asked in a curious accent,
"Couple of intruders, eh?"
Peach stood up, brushed herself off and replied, "We just arrived
here..."
"Arrived 'ere?" The bird-man repeated in shock, "No
one 'arrives 'ere'. Nobody, only the dwellers of this place!"
"Where is this place?" Plum asked curiously.
The bird-man chuckled heartily at that, "Why this is the Endless
Forest! Nobody comes here and nobody leaves."
"But we have to leave!" Maple interrupted.
"Sorry, no can do... It's a no escape sort of thing. Magic and
all that, love. You understand, eh?" The bird-man replied again,
giving a half grin, "Nobody has left, no one has came in. Never,
just a thing not done."
"What are you anyways?" Peach asked.
"What... am I? What do you mean by that?" He asked genuinely
confused." I am what I am, aren't I?"
"Well... all of us are humans." Peach explained.
"Humans, eh? Rather ludicrous if you ask me. You are all called
humans? How do you know who you're talking to?"
"We have names... I am Plum, that's Peach..." Plum replied,
then pointed to Daisy then Maple and told him their names.
"Hah! You are silly little people. Having so many names. They
merely call by Sparrow, that is enough for me." The bird man, or
Sparrow replied, "Well, you best be coming with me."
Daisy glanced at him confused, "Why?"
"Why she says..." Sparrow chuckled. "I found you, didn't
I? You are on my territory, the law of the forest says you belong to
me."
"Belong to you!?" Daisy exclaimed, "I am a princess...
not some common slavegirl!"
"Oi, again with the name thing..." Sparrow muttered, "Law
is law here. Now come on, I'll put you to work and you can forget all
of this 'getting out' rubbish."
"Oh! How irritating!" Daisy retorted, turning to the others,
"Thinking he can order US around like that."
Plum merely shrugged, "We better go with him. I'd rather be with
someone nice like him then end up with someone like that nasty Bowser..."
Reluctantly, Daisy followed the other three princesses and Sparrow.
They were led to a large tree house of sorts. The entire tree was composed
of several floors in a very complex structure of sorts. They were greeted
by another bird-man like Sparrow, only a bit larger and chubbier. He,
however, was dressed in dull brown clothing.
"Humph, those clothes are not fit for working... and you are
a bit scrawny too..." The larger bird-man grumbled.
"Tch, tch. They are good people, take good care of them, will
you?" Sparrow replied, in his typical light-hearted manner.
"Fine..." The bird man muttered, grabbing a few pairs of
dull brown clothing from a table and tossing them to the princesses,
"Put these on."
"Pants!?" Daisy exclaimed, "I cannot be wearing commoners
clothing, much less pants! It is not fit for a woman of my position!"
The bird man gave her a intimidating glance, "Just put them on,
already."
---------------------
While things were looking down for the four princesses, things were
far worse in Sarasaland... Inside the castle, in which Pon and the other
pionpi were residing. As of this time, the bandit brothers had been
pressuring them into giving up the castle.
"I will never give this castle up. I only answer to Princess
Daisy, and no other." Pon replied, in a most stubborn manner.
Pilf, very annoyed by this came closer to him, "You give up or
else..."
Glepe made a gesture across his neck, "The people will suffer..."
"I will not allow this!" Pon retorted.
"Stop this..." voice interrupted at that time, the group
looked to where it came from. There stood a large man, fitted completely
in metal armor of sorts. He seemeed mechanical in a way, and his armor
had been fashioned to be like that of a samurai. On his right shoulder
was engraved 'II'. In his hand he held a large, curved sword. "Such
behavior is unbecoming."
Glepe sneered at him, "Boomer... we can handle this."
The large metal man, or Boomeras they referred to him, merely glanced
at him, "No, I shall handle this."
"Fine..." Pilf muttered, "We have better things to
do then deal with that stiff."
Boomer nodded and turned his attention to Pon, "You are defenseless
now. In your best interest, I recommend surrender. If you do so, I shall
personally guarantee the safety of every pionpi in the city. On the
honor of my sword, not a hair shall be harmed on their head. Only on
the condition, the princesses are brought to us..."
Pon frowned and sighed, "I see... I shall discuss it then. For
now, leave us in peace."
Boomer nodded and began walking away, "As you wish."
The pionpi sighed, things did not look good for them. Was his people's
safety or his loyalty to Daisy more important?
Just outside, Glepe, Pilf and their newest 'brother, Loot watched
with jealousy. Pilf turned to the others, "Bah... stupid Boomer
II, why did Smithy bother rebuilding that jerk?"
------------------
While Pon was faced with a difficult decision, other schemes were
being hatched in the academy... Headmaster 'Smith' was in his office
attempting to calm down.
A knock interrupted his train of thought, and he muttered a "COME
IN" to the person on the other side. He glanced at the door to
see who came in, it was none other than Val Tina...
"Ah... is this a bad time?" Val asked.
"NO.... IT IS FINE..." Smithy replied, "I FORGOT ABOUT
OUR MEETING TONIGHT..."
"You seem a bit edgy..." Val pointed out, "Bad day?"
"SOMETHING LIKE THAT." Smithy answered, his back still turned
to her.
"I brought a bottle of Chaimpagne" Val replied, lifting
the bottle up, "How about you turn around and we have a drink?"
His chair slowly turned around, and she had to force herself not to
gasp when she saw him. A incredibly large man, fit with the looks of
an elderly man. His face seemed mechanical in a way, but she managed
to conceal her thoughts.
"WELL?" Smithy replied, motioning to the bottle.
"Ah yes! Sorry!" Val smiled as best as possible, while trying
to get the bottle open and pour some for the two of them.
"MMM... I HAVE NOT DRANK SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN AGES..."
Smithy mused, taking a sip from the rather small glass.
Val smiled as best as she could, "We can always do this again..."
~Later that night~
After their little 'meeting', Val Tina retired to her room where Dodo
was waiting patiently for her. When she arrived, he chirped and ruffled
his feathers.
"Yes.. yes, it went fine." Val Tina replied.
To that, Dodo chirped again.
"Love him? Yeah right." Val Tina answered, "I could
never love a monster like that."
Dodo once more chirped.
"Yes, yes... I'm in it for the money, that's all." She said
irritably.
The black bird nodded and chirped a question again.
"Booster? Ha! That fool lost his tower, he's worthless."
Dodo once more asked a question in his bird-like language that only
she seemed to understand.
"Need you? Ha! Once I own this academy, I won't need YOU to screw
things up for me!"
The large black bird chirped sadly and waddled off into another corner
of the room.
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