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Chapter 14:
~Luigi of the Pipes~
Judging by changes in the light-quality and multiple peeking from
Chibobuigi, the trio had finally determined a good place to jump from
the wagon and did so. Landing with a plop, the youngest crew watched
as Booster's Snifit-powered chariot continued on.
"Are you sure this was the right place guys?" Heidi asked
nervously.
"Of course it is!" Chibobuigi replied happily. "Look
at all these trees!"
Goombario chuckled, but couldn't help but notice that they were standing
right at the edge of a large clump of trees. "Let's go in then
guys!"
"Whoa," Heidi sighed, "can we be sure it's safe?"
"Sure it's safe!" Goombario jumped. "Here, I'll prove
it!"
The Goomba charged forward and passed between two of the trees. He skid
to a stop when he was confronted by... a clearing. Standing next to
the line of trees were a green-robed, red-ribboned Shy Gal and a Chibibo
with a white cap.
"Heh," Goombario murmured."I didn't expect to meet
some more people here..."
The Chibibo turned around. "Great," Chibobuigi groaned.
"How'd you get back there?"
"I... I dunno. Apparently, the Endless Forest can't be entered
either... I knew we should have traveled through the mountains, but
no! You guys had to convince me to take the "easy" way! Thanks
a lot! Now we'll never find a new adventure!"
"Hmm, maybe we can enter though," Heidi mused. "We
can't go in through the side, so maybe a vertical approach is fitting."
"Huh?" the mushroom-like partners queried.
"Well, you guys could fly if you had a pair of wings, couldn't
you?"
"I... I guess," Chibobuigi stuttered. "I guess Paragoombas
do that."
"And all I need is some spare metal for a propeller.
"But anyway, those Batadons back in Easton have wings. Maybe you
two could "borrow" a few pairs and we'll fly in."
"It's worth a shot," Goombario piped. "And better than
sitting here..."
~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile
~~~~~~~~~
Kooper poked his mouth out of his shell. "Professor," he
sighed, "we're getting nowhere."
"Nonsense!" Kolorado hollered, poking his mouth out as well.
"We're farther than we were before!"
"But can't we just face it? We aren't getting out of here..."
"What happened to that ol' happy-go-lucky attitude, my boy?!
Just be jolly that I haven't eaten you to save myself yet!"
Kooper looked at Kolorado aghast."Y-you want to eat me?"
Kolorado looked at Kooper's stern face, then doubled over laughing.
"Balderdash!" he moaned. "It was just a joke my boy.
You're like a son to me, old bean. And far be it from me to eat a member
of my family!"
"I'm like a son to you?"
"Of course, old bean. Ever since that blazing Star Rod event,
we've been through thick and thin together. I'd be obliged if you had
been my son."
Kooper sniffed back a tear. "Thanks Professor."
"Tut tut! That's Dad to you."
Kooper laughed, feeling like himself again.
-----------------------------------
"Cut this wood," the brown-robed bird-man said to the four
princesses, pointing to a stack of logs not far off.
To accommodate, Peach and Maple were handed a pair of axes and pushed
over to two stumps on the ground.
"I refuse to go through such labor!" Daisy yelled, as expected
by Peach. "A princess of my standing should..."
"Yeah yeah, you're a princess, sure..." the bird replied.
"I am!"
"No one comes into this forest. Therefore, you must've been here
already. And we don't have princesses in the Endless Forest."
"I already explained that! We were warped into here!"
"And so was I," the bird replied sarcastically. "Look,
you ought to be glad that you're cutting wood. I could have had you
four clean the privy..."
"The privy?! Why I..." Daisy reached for the ax in Maple's
hands, but the latter backed away. Plum ran forward and grabbed Daisy
by the arms for insurance.
The whole display was hardly comforting to Peach. Daisy wouldn't last
long here if she kept up her act. And with everyone trying to convince
them that they weren't princesses, they might actually start to believe
it...
But that wouldn't happen. Mario and Luigi would come. They always
had. But then...
---------
Meanwhile
---------
"Do you see a Batadon yet?" Chibobuigi asked quietly to
Goombario.
"No..." Goombario groaned. "Just like five seconds
ago..."
"Heh, sorry. It's just that I wanna get those wings quick. I'm
worried about Heidi..."
Goombario nodded. The Shy Gal had since split up with the two mushrooms
to find some equipment for a propeller. She had probably headed to Easton
Village, but neither could be sure.
Heidi wasn't the only problem though. Their crazy plan to get into the
forest wasn't very likely to succeed. If they couldn't get the princesses,
then they'd be in big trouble.
Not only that, but what if they couldn't find Mario and Luigi. Or what
if Pon surrendered the castle to Croco. Things definitely weren't looking
up...
Unbeknownst to the duo, something had been watching out for them.
A small metal cylinder rose from the ground and took aim, the Gira inside
it grinning in anticipation. Just a single shot...
---------
Meanwhile
---------
Squid Guy groaned and looked up from the sand. Nothing... He sadly
bounced on, looking back and forth. It wouldn't be long before his skin
dried out. Not long at all. He looked up once more, and something caught
his eye. A wall. Could it be a town? He quickened his pace.
~Later~
Squid Guy flopped up to the wall he had seen. It wasn't a mirage,
like he had been afraid. It was an actual town.
Over to the side, a white sign was hanging down. Squid Guy looked
up and read it: Birabuto Outpost.
"Birabuto?!" Squid Guy yelled angrily. "That's not
very far from Chai! I wanted to get away from there..."
Nervously, Squid Guy circled the walls of the outpost and found a
brick arch, likely the entrance to the small town. He flopped in, expecting
glares and sneers, but instead got no response at all. The people of
the town were all crowding around the center of the town square. Squid
Guy flopped over and peered over the crowd. A large frog with a white
beard and a purple hat was standing there, talking calmly.
"This is the secret to knowledge," he said in the same,
calm voice. "Remember it wisely, grasshoppers. Now, if it's not
too much a burden, could someone escort me to Sarasaland Academy? I
need to see an old pupil of mine..."
~Masamune~
When Mario and Luigi came around again, they found one of the 'mandar'
hunched over looking at them. When it saw the two awaken, it's face
twisted into a huge grin. A pionpi that was also in the room did the
same. A huge grin, one that would only come from a insane person...
or a person extremely pleased with theirself.
"Ah! You have awaken! Greetings Red M, Green L!" The pionpi
exclaimed, still grinning widely.
Mario felt strangely uncomfortable, but managed a weak smile. Luigi's
face would not allow him to do such. In fact, his mouth merely hung
open. When he managed to control his mouth, he was unable to do like
Mario and manage a weak, pitiful smile. However, he was able to begin
sweating nervously.
The mandar, still grinning widely, walked... no, creeped over to a
nearby table. It picked up a tray and returned to the two. It set the
tray in front of them. On the tray was a hollowed out shell of some
sort. It was being used to cover something. A food of sorts, which smelled
particularly good to the two starved plumbers.
The mandar removed the shell, revealing the food. The food... that
is- if you would want to refer it as such, was hard to describe. It
was brown, just like cooked meat was supposed to be. Only it seemed
glossy and jiggled like jelly. Chunks of meat filled the jelly-like
substance, as well as small pieces of green shrubs. Despite the nasty
look, the two were far to hungry to be picky about it.
Mario took a bite, blanching out of instinct. After overcoming the
urge to spit it out, he changed his attention from his imagination to
his actual taste buds. Which told his mind something completely different
than his imagination. How it happened, was something like this...
"Don't do it man! That stuff totally sucks!" said the imagination.
The mind's eyes would of widened, if not for the fact those were actually
another part of the body all together. Instead it started yelling at
the mouth to spit the stuff out.
"Yo yo yo! Spit 'dat stuff out, man!" The mind yelled, trying
to get attention from the mouth.
"Aww man! This stuff is awful! Hurry, get it out!" The imagination
pleaded.
However, the taste buds, as a peaceful group of body parts, coughed
politely to gain the attention of the frantic mind. During this, the
mouth was in a state of panic. As the throat was pleading to just get
it down as quick as possible, while the mind told him to spit it out.
The whole time, the imagination was running it's 'mouth' off to the
mind. Finally, the irritated taste buds, as a whole, punched the daylights
out of the imagination and got the mind's attention. Finally, after
all the confusion... the mind tell the mouth to swallow, and then tells
the hand to grab some more.
With that solved, Mario grabbed some more and stuff it in his mouth.
Luigi soon followed, having the same problem Mario did, only on a smaller
scale. He realized that the strange substance was good, and continued
to devour whatever it was. All this time, the mandar and pionpi maintained
wide grins that made the two rather uncomfortable. They managed somewhat
thankful smiles as they finished off the food.
-------------------------
The four princesses were not as fortunate, as their meal consisted
of some sort of liquidy substance. It did not smell good, taste good
or even appear good. But they were hungry and ate it anyways. After
the meal, they were visited once more by Sparrow. He, like always, was
in an extremely good mood.
"Ah! That was wonderful soup, no?" He asked in a jolly manner.
Daisy glanced back at him, "That was soup?"
"Ho ho, always the humorous one!" Sparrow chuckled at that,
stopping to think of some past event, then chuckling again. "So,
how is the work treating you?"
"Fine." Peach replied simply, "Are you sure there is
no way out? Can't you fly through the trees?"
"Of course we could! But it is dangerous! Don't tell me you never
heard of the kreepers up there!" Sparrow laughed, then grew serious
when he realized that they were not, "Wow, you people are more
out of touch than I thought! You been under a rock all your lives?"
Maple sighed, "Does no one know a way out?"
The bird-man frowned at that, "Well... technically... the ninjis
CLAIM they know the way out. But those devils can never be trusted...."
"Why not" asked Plum.
"They creep around at night, steal our food... I wouldn't trust
them as far as they could throw me."
"Where do they live?" Peach asked hopefully.
"Ah... they live south of here. Big hollow tree, can't miss it.
But I wouldn't go there!"
Peach nodded, "What are kreepers anyways?"
Sparrow grinned at that, finally being able to tell something he knew,
"They are large hideous bugs! They crawl all about the treetops,
eating anything, big or small, that tries to get in! Oh, horrible they
are... I would never want to meet one of them!"
------------------------------------
Kooper finally stopped, unable to continue anymore. He had to rest...
sleep. Yes, that would be nice. Just a short nap, rest his eyes a bit.
He huddled up and tried to sleep. Kolorado spotted him and ran over.
"No no, old boy! There'll be no sleeping for now! Don't want
to wake up a popcicle, do we?" Kolorado said, forcing Kooper to
get up.
Kooper nodded and stood up, following the professor through the snow.
It seemed to go on for an infinite length, never ending. But regardless,
they trudged on. On a rather uneventful trip. But, during the uneventful
trip, a interesting event did occur. While they walked, Kolorado was
unfortunate to trip over a large lump of snow.
Or, at least that is what he assumed it to be. It rose up and opened
to black dot-like eyes and stared at him.
"I say, are you alright?" Kolorado asked when he realized
the 'lump' was alive.
"No, but it doesn't matter..." It replied.
"Of course it does!" Kooper replied, "We don't want
to leave you out here hurt."
"Don't pretend like you care." It replied in a very depressing
voice, "Because I know you hate me."
Kooper blinked at that, "No I don't!"
"Well you will soon... after all, the other flurries hate me."
It replied miserably.
"Tut tut, old boy. I would not hate you for no reason!"
Kolorado chuckled, "How about a introduction, then? I am the world
renown archeologist, Kolorado Koopa! And this here is my assistant Kooper,
like a son to me, he is!"
"Hmmph, family... mine hates me." The flurry moaned, "My
name is Flik... but my names not important... since everyone hates it."
Kooper sighed, this was going to be hard talking to him. And it seemed,
that this particular flurry, had decided to follow them as well... As
if was not depressing enough, now they had the fuel for it.
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