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Chapter 18:
~Ditto McCloaker~
Mario and Luigi went back to their rooms to shave and get washed up
after breakfast, promising to meet the group as soon as possible afterward
to continue the adventure. That was the one nice thing about Pionpi
houses... they were more than just beds... the pionpi were more technologically
advanced than the Toads in many ways, and had many of the amenities
of life back in our world.
Within, the Pionpi's eyes narrowed... it was time...
Suddenly, outside the plumber's room, a loud noise came from the other
side of the door. They both turned, Luigi plucking his mustache, Mario
with his mouth full of toothpaste. They exchanged glances and went to
see what it was. They tried the handle. The door wouldn't budge. They
looked at one another again, worried.
Outside, Sonny, Frogfucious, Mallow, Squid Guy and Hydraulico were
seated outside of a nearby cafe, sipping coffee (except for Hydraulico,
that is, who enjoyed a nice motor oil smoothie). At they talked, a small,
normal, harmless fly buzzed around Sonny's face. Frogfucious looked
at it, but Sonny smacked his hand down, but missed. The fly, as flies
do, buzzed away too quick for him, but persisted to fly around his face,
almost in a mocking fashion. Frustrated, Sonny whipped his hands all
around, missing time and again, distracted so much that he barely noticed,
as did the others, that the sky had suddenly grown dark... all but Sonny
turned their heads upward, and gasped at what they saw...
The scene was reminiscent of a plague of Egypt... the skies were literally
blotted out by a large swarm of flying insects. The fly villagers of
Furai town ran in terror and hid themselves in their houses...
The swarm high above seemed to gather and fly in a circle... that
began to lengthen into a funnel like shape that extended downward...
within minutes, it was a terrifying whirling cloud of small flies...
and from the bottom emerged a shiny metal figure, with blinking yellow
eyes, metal claws, and a rocket pack beneath it's steel-plated wings...
The air was filled with what sounded like manical metallic laughter
blared from a loudspeaker.
"I'm back, kiddies... and is that... COFFEE I smell...?"
came the inhuman metallic voice of King Watinga. He buzzed down and
hovered mockingly before the seated group. "I just LOVE coffee...!"
At that moment, Sonny grabbed a club and headed toward the flying
cyberfly. This time, Watinga saw him coming, and his eyes glowed an
angry red. He raised his claws, and and a line of tiny black flies emerged
from his thorax. They flew around Sonny and began stinging him mercilessly.
He ran around and around, screaming, until he dropped to the ground,
covering himself and quivering helplessly.
Mallow leapt to the floor and stood before the mechanical pest next.
He raised his arms as though to summon another bolt of lightning. Watinga
quickly spewed another round of flies at him, this time flying kamikaze
style. Mallow gasped and ran to hide.
Finally, Watinga turned to face the tiny Hydraulico, who had hopped
to the ground before him.
"The Master has commanded that you be brought back to Chai...
he was not through with you before, little Mekabon..."
"I will not lend myself to such a use." explained Hydraulico,
matter-of-factly. "To do so would not be in Master Luigi's best
interests." To the little robot with the one-track programming,
that's all there was to it.
With that, a circle of sparks emerged from Watinga's body, one of
which hit Hydraulico, immediately short circuiting the little robot.
Hydraulico collapsed.
They all gasped as he floated in the air, surrouned by his minions.
"Take them to the Sphinx, and send the little robot to Smithy
immediately..."
The flies buzzed around him, and made little noises.
"The Mario Bros? Mwa ha ha... find them... and give them the
stinging of their lives...!"
~Masamune~
Dodo smiled the best he could with his bird bill. He was finally free
of Valentina! He could do as he wished... And not have to manage her
statue obsession. Which was rather annoying, he dented the end of his
beak testing those things.
He walked down the streets of Chai, barely noticing the rather peculiar
castle renovations. The people here were all struck with fear and filled
with a eery silence. Not that it occured to the bird, he was more concerned
with what his future held. He turned into one of the alleys to think,
only to run face flat into a extravagantly dressed purple dino.
"Hey, watch it punk!" The dino growled.
Dodo noticed right away the dino was accompanied by a rather large
group of minions. He squawked in reply.
The dino paid no mind, but turned to his followers, "So, since
'da squid is gone, who's we supposed to get now?"
All of the crooks eyes were on Dodo. The dino turned to look at him
and looked over the bird. Indeed he was bulky, slightly taller than
he was in fact. He seemed to have potential...
"Hey yous... how would you like to join me men and I?" The
dino asked, "We 'ave all kinds of benefits... such as a part of
da world once it's taken over, I GAR-UN-TEE!"
Dodo cringed at the catch phrase, but found the idea fascinating.
He nodded in agreement.
"Great! Name's Croco, Eddie Croco." The dino replied, giving
a toothy grin, "And 'dese here... are da Forty Crooks."
Dodo nodded and looked at the group. In one area was the 'Shy Squad',
which consisted of a Shyguy, Snifit, Beezo, Tweeter and a Bandit...
they all were in red. All in one little corner was Sackits, holding
little bags with stocking hats hiding their faces. Three others stood
off a bit seperated, the 'Bandit' brothers, which were two bandits...
and ironically a mushroom person. Another group consisted of seven tiny
mousers, all with little black masks on. The remaining was all bandits,
compliments from Headmaster Smith.
Croco chuckled, "Ok boys... we's gots us some Princess Huntin'
to do."
And off went the vast group of... 'Eddie Croco and the Forty Crooks'.
-------------------------
Off in Western Easton, the two 'shrooms and shy was off on their adventure.
And Chibobuigi was a nervous wreck over it. Every now and then he would
claim to see a spider, they would turn and see nothing. It was truly
maddening for the 'shroom.
They went on for some time like this, until Chibobuigi finally reached
some point of calmness. Although he was still as nervous as a gnat being
swatted, he managed not to anger his friends.
Goombario was to occupied studying the cave formations. They were
beautiful, he marvelled at one particular wall. The stalagmites had
formed what looked to be a waterfall of stone. When the latter met with
a stalactite, it made an atonishing pillar. One of the rooms they entered
was vast, comparable to the rooms of the Volcano he had been in. In
the center, had been a gigantic pillar that would of made a spelunker
mad with glee.
Heidi, likewise had been enjoying the scenery, but her mind was preoccupied
with other things. Like her family back home, her own safety... and
whether or not she was flunking all her classes now. Unlike the other
two, she was not really hyped on adventuring. The occasional swoopers
going after her ribbon was not helping either.
"Hey guys...." Chibobuigi said nervously, "Somethings
in here..."
"Nonsense! There is nothing-" Goombario started, but was
stopped as their flashlight all went out simulataneously, "...at
all?"
It was pure darkness, they could see absolutely nothing at all. They
could hear something creeping around them. Then someting brushed their
faces. Something hairy and slender... Chibobuigi was the first to scream.
Goombario and Heidi were to freaked to do so, and unlike Chibobuigi,
did not have all the scary images to fuel a scream.
Some strange scent then entered their nostrils. They inhaled it...
and soon they were off to sleep...
---------------
Melons do not taste good to insectivores. Neither do pineapples...
coconuts... oranges or any other fruit. In fact, consumption of said
food to the aforementioned insectivore results in a very miserable stomach
ache. This particular chain of events had been forced upon the said
victim, Alexis de Tadpoule. Or... as the yoshis called him, Frog Man.
They had been kind to him, sure... But they did not seem to grasp the
concept of academy, teleportation or consumption of insects.... on purpose.
He did manage to go off by himself later and find a few insects here
and there. It had been a long time since he had to fend for himself,
he was used to aquiring food through intelligence and coins. At least
after he grew up from being a tadpole. And his special tadpole coins,
or even normal coins were worth nothing to the yoshis.
Tadpoule resolved to leaving the island, surely the yoshis would know
of the closest civilization. After rejoining them later on after his
hike, he brought up the question.
"Ah... you want to leave the island?" Andy said, "Well...
we know of one place. It is full with lots of different people, it is...
None like you, I thinks..."
"Where is it then?" Tadpoule asked.
"Ah... not easy to find, one of us will have to lead you."
Andy replied."Dunno who would want to..."
"I will." Kari spoke up.
"Will what?"
"Take him!" Kari replied, "I found the frog man, so
it's my job to take him back!"
Andy sighed, "Fine... but be careful."
After some preparation, gathering of some goods and the like the two
were prepared. Tadpoule opted to just swim, so Kari (who was a slower
swimmer) sat on top of him. She was impressed by how fast he went, she
had never seen someone swim so fast. They came up closer to the port
town, Tadpoule's face went white as he saw the flag above the port.
A black flag it was... with a skull.
"These are.... pirates!?" Tadpoule exclaimed.
"Dunno what they are, but they are mean... now and then they'll
go to the islands, dig holes, throw stuff there and leave. Really weird
people I think..." Kari replied.
Tadpoule sighed, "We'll have to fit in when we get there then...."
---------
Meanwhile
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When Goombario came around, he found himself under a very dim light.
It originated from a torch a ways from him. Chibobuigi and Heidi was
unconcious, surrounded by a whites string. He soon realized he was as
well, and attached to... a huge web. Above him, a giant spider began
lowering itself on some string in front of them. It's teeth seemed to
be missing in some places, two of it's legs were pegged.
It grinned the best a spider it could, "Ethel! Git' in 'ere!"
"Whoowee!" A slightly female voice exclaimed, "'bout
time! Been waitin' fer hours!"
The female spider showed up, she was all tattered up and had a few
gold teeth. Obviously she was 'Ethel', she was joined by several more
spiders all as haggard and crude as she was. All of them looked extremely
hungry too...
"Them cityfolk 'ere will make some good eatin'!" One of
the spiders exclaimed, "Whens we gettin' to eat 'em?"
"Hold yer horses Benny!" The largest spider exclaimed, "We
gots to get to know our food first. Ain't right to just eat 'em without
knowing 'em."
The spider, Benny frowned at that and sulked in a corner of the web.
The large spider looked at Goombario, and exhaled some foul green gas,
"So little shroomy, what be yer name?"
The goomba gulped, debating whether or not he should even introduce
himself. "Ehm... Goombario... and don't eat me!"
At this, all the spiders roared with laughter. The largest spider
prodded the two sleeping victims, awakening them. They both screamed
in fright at the sight of him, but finally calmed down.
"Stop playing with 'em Jethro!" Ethel growled, then turned
to the two, "Ok then... what's yer names? Tell us so we's can get
to eatin'!"
"Heidi...."
"Chibobuigi..." The 'shroom said hesitantly, "What
are we eating...?"
Jethro grinned a toothy smile, "Why... we's gonna eat ya'll varmints!"
---------
Meanwhile
---------
Tadpoule and Kari entered the pirate haven safely and unnoticed. Most
passed them off as island natives due to their looks and the fact Kari
actually was one. Since neither of the two knew how to get to Chai Kingdom,
they were forced to get directions. The best place being the local tavern,
where all the pirates gathered to spend their shore leave.
Inside was every manner of piratical creatures one should ever hope
to avoid. An eight peg-legged octopus, mean eyed crabs, hook-armed koopas
and even a one eyed sea dog. Off at the bar were several shark pirates
telling stories to the waitresses that worked their while also demanding
service. In another corner, around one table were all little shrimpy
fellows who had to requests booster seats due to their small size. Their
was even a full set of goomba pirates who looked as if they had never
been to sea once. At one particular table was three very interesting
pirates, possibly captains.
One of them was similar to the sharks, only much larger. One eye was
covered with glass, one fin had been replaced with a hook. He was wrapped
in a red cape and held a trident at his side. The second was an ape,
a very old one at that. On top of his head was a typical pirate hat
complete with the symbol. He wore a nice suit of blue clothing fit for
a captain. His left eye was covered with a patch and his chin covered
by a well-kept beard. Lastly, the third was vastly different of all
the pirates. It was a human pirate, only a female one. She was dressed
in a yellow jumpsuit, complete with a yellow banadana around her head.
Her hair was long and brown, and despite her appearance, commanded as
much respect as the other two captains.
Tadpoule decided to walk away and ask one of the pirates, Kari however,
was a bit to straightforward for his tastes. She walked up to the group
and tapped the ape on the back.
"Excuse me... My friend was hoping you would know the way to
Chai Kingdom." Kari asked in here nicest voice. When none of them
replied, she persisted, "Well?"
Tadpoule stepped in front of her and chuckled nevously, "Don't
mind her... we'll just get directions elsewhere. Sorry to bother you
sirs... ma'am."
Th ape laughed heartily at that, "Arr! It's ok. Right Johnny?"
The shark grunted and nodded, "Syrup?" The human nodded and
looked back down at her drink, "Chai kingdom, eh? Can't say I know,
but by me name Shipley... I'll get directions."
He stood up, waled over to the bar. He pushed two sharks out of the
way and grabbed the bartender. After giving his most fierce face, then
smiled, "My friends o'er here need to know how to get to Chai...
ye know, right?"
The mandar (whom was dressed and much more refined that other mandar)
bartender nodded, "Aye.... Head a bit east of here.... you'll get
to Easton Mountains. But good luck getting through, the caverns have
collapsed. And going over is reckless.... yer best to go around through
the desert or the unknown lands."
Tadpoule frowned, this was not good. The desert was out of the question,
and the 'unknown lands' did not sound much better. He would have to
figure this out after he left the haven. But first he needed to leave
first.
"Thanks for the help, I'm sure we'll find our way..." Tadpoule
said to the bartender, then turned to the ape, "And thank you for
the help...."
"Arr! No problem! Maybe one day we'll meet again, eh scholar?"
The ape winked at that, leaving the frog in astonishment. As the captain
returned to his table, Tadpoule and Kari headed outside the tavern.
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