Chapter 24:

~Luigi of the Pipes~

The sound of each of their footsteps clattered against the cold, stone floor, creating loud claps that reverberated through the halls and echoed back into their own ears. That being the only noise in the entire place, Mario noted that it was quiet to his brother. Too quiet...

"Honestly Bro," Luigi sighed, his voice a whisper. "Don't you think that's a fairly old, and reused, stance on the situation?"

"Of course not," Mario shrugged. "Not when lives are at stake."

"Yeeeeeeeeah..."

The bros. rounded a corner, and cut their conversation short as their eyes fell upon two insectoid guards pacing back and forth farther down the corridor. Luigi, having rounded the corner after Mario, ran back first and tugged Mario along.

"I told you," Mario said, a wry, insincere smirk pasted under his mustache.

"Yeah yeah, we shoulda been expecting them. But that's in the past. The question now, is how we gonna get past 'em?"

"Hmm..."

"Didn't you pack any power-ups into these packs?"

Mario waved his hand slightly, before returning it to his chin. "Couldn't find any."

"A shame."

"Still..." Mario paced to the wall and rubbed his hand across it. "This is awfully familiar. I can't quite remember whether I explored a sphinx or a pyramid when Tatanga was here though..."

"So there's a chance you've been here before?"

"Not this part of it. I didn't stray this far into the establishment."

"Any clue if there might be a Superball Flower or something here though?"

"I just told you I wasn't..." Mario paused, his gaze falling to his hand. Underneath it was a block in the wall, which had a '?' inscribed in it. "How do you suggest we get this out of the wall without anyone hearing?"

"We could just punch it."

"Be my guest and smash all your fingers then."

"Nah, that wouldn't happen. It's all in how you curl your fist." Luigi demonstrated the proper placement of thumb and fingers, then nugged Mario aside and ground his fist into the stone. It slid straight out of its place and clattered to the floor on the other side of the wall.

"Not bad," Mario mused. "Methinks you just found a secret room. I don't know about you though, but I can't fit in that little space."

"Hmm..." Luigi gazed up toward the ceiling. If only he had that Game Boy Horror... "We'll figure something out."

---
Meanwhile
---

The frozen tundra was only beginning to take its toll as Flik skid to a stop, his skates kicking up clouds of snow particles and ice droplets.

"This is as far as I go," he sighed, his usual mopey voice. "Unless you want me to melt."

"This'll do, chap," Kolorado said, his jaw having since recovered.

Kooper leapt nimbly off of Flik's head and turned to face him. "Yeah, thanks," he said, little emotion having been used since Flik wouldn't have appreciated it anyway. Kolorado followed suit, and the two turned to walk off without any more a word.

Occasionally they turned back to look, only to see Flik standing there, a sorrowful glint in his eyes. Eventually, they had either gone too far to see him or he had just plain left, but they stopped their minute distraction and continued on.

The winds died, the snow melted, and the rocks grew. Before long, the two Koopas had found themselves at the foot of the great Eastern Mountains. After a brief reprisal of its geography from Kolorado, the duo chose the best path to reach the academy and started to it.

~Masamune~

"I say, I don't quite remember this place on the map..." Kolorado mumbled as he looked around.

Which was rather true, they were in some sort of city. A strange city that was surrounded in some sort of thick fog. It was empty for the most part, but active all the same. Signs flashed, music could be heard. Mechanical noises were present, and now and then something would be seen walking.

"What is this place..." Kooper mumbled, "This is not a Chai city, none of them are like this... and I didn't any other big cities like this were in Sarasaland."

"Hum... aha! Then it is a mystery, my boy!" Kolorado exclaimed, "I say, this may prove to be very interesting."

Kooper did not agree on that, but decided that this was the only option anyways. As they ventured farther in the city, distant noises echoed towards them. They started low at first, but eventually began to grow. It sounded like that of distant moans and heavy movement. After several tense minutes, they died as quickly as they had begun. After a little chuckle by the elder koopa, they nervously went on.

They heard frequent hissing noises, but saw nothing. Before they could take one more step, the ground around them bursted away into dust and debris. Strange coils suddenly surrounded them, tightening around their shells until it seemed they would crack. Instinctively the two retreated into their shells to hide. They felt theirselves pushed and shuffled about for a long time, neither daring to peek out. Whenever they could see something, it was only red flaring eyes.

They were both suddenly shoved forcefully out of their shells. On their knees, they slowly creeped up and held their undershirts down in embarrasment. It was dark mostly around them, except those eyes. Kooper searched around for his shell, but was unable to locate it. When he did finally find something, it was cold and scaley. He did not yank his arm back immediately, because his skin itself was not much different. But he did soon enough, for the scary eyes was a trait he did not share.

A bright light then was turned on, blinding the two. The sounds of the strange creatures leaving was also heard. Apparently they were not very fond of the sudden light either. When they opned their eyes again, they saw a small figure plodding towards them. With a large round head and small body.

When the figure got closer, it turned out to be a large mushroom hat. It was owned and worn by a mushroom man. With a long, ill-kept beard that needed a trim because it often tripped the mushroom person. He was dressed in a large white overcoat, with pens, vials and little virtual-monster keychains hanging all over it. The tail of the coat was long enough to easily catch anything from the ground. Whoever this toad was, he rarely left his home.

He looked at the two and chuckled through his thich beard, "Ho ho ho! Look at this! Two koopas without shells! Ho ho ho! Are you feeling cold yet?"

Kooper glowered, just as he did when his shell was stolen by fuzzies so long ago. "I want my shell back!"

"Ho ho ho! You shall have shells soon!" The mushroom cackled, "Ho ho ho! You are now in Dr. Gessel's power!"

Kolorado rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful... except to Kooper. "I say, who is this Gessel chap?"

The mushroom looked generally confused at that, "I am Gessel, frog man!"

Kolorado chuckled, "We are no frogs, old boy!"

Gessel growled and slammed his fist down. But when it hit with the nothingness that was below him, he found himself punching his own gut. He coughed and looked furiously at the two. "Ho ho! Gessel is not a forgiving person! It will be dinner time!"

"Jolly good! Me old tum could use a spot of something!" Kolorado replied.

Kooper could only sink his head low at the ignorance of his older 'idol'.

-------------------------------------

"WarMamu?" Tadpoule repeated to himself, "As in PRINCE Mamu?"

"You know this jerk?" Kari asked.

WarMamu glared, "You insolent little lizard! I shall crush you into dust! How about a little demonstation!"

The frog put out both of his hands, one flesh, the other metal. Magic power and Electrical energy merged into one clear, bright ball. He then snickered and threw it at the yoshi. Unfortunately, his aim had always been less than average and it fell short. Ten feet short, in fact.

Kari smirked, "Wow, real good aim Metalboy!"

WarMamu grumbled, then took a deep breath. He then belched out several, large, clear, acid bubbles. They landed all around them, burning straight into the ground. The twosome barely managed to avoid them.

Another voice, a dull one, spoke up. "Wart, it is suggested seperating would be most beneficial. WarMamu is not suited for battling multiple targets."

The large frog grumbled and nodded. The armor seperated off him and reformed into his cybernetic partner, Mamu. The two then struck up a very, very cool pose.

Wart belched up several more acid balls, then dashed at the yoshi with his claws out. As the yoshi struggled to avoid them, he managed to get one good slash on her. The attack was enough to send her reeling a good ways. He adjusted his crown, then worked on conjuring up another magical ball.

Mamu's tactics were not much different, he fired small electric orbs at the smaller frog. As he did so, he made a steady approach until he was able to simply deck the frog with one blow. Tadpoule fell to the ground, completely unconcious. The robot then turned to Wart, who was busy happily torturing the yoshi. "Master, the two were defeated."

"Great!" Wart exlaimed, "Good thing I decided we should seperate. Let's get these punks to the big guy."

"We will not be able to arrive before night. My power needs recharged and your lifesigns are decreasing. I would reccomend finding a suitable lodging where nourishment may be aquired."

"Yup", Wart replied, apparently ignoring Mamu, "I got an idea, let's stop at that Pionpi House down there"

~Ditto McCloaker~

Meanwhile, Mario and Luigi were standing around the corner leading to a narrow corridor guarded by a pair of dangerous fly guards. Finally, Mario broke the silence by stating what he had in his mind.

"I sure could go for a big plate of gooey, cheesy lasanga right now," interjected Mario.

Luigi, who had cut his eyes over Mario as he began to speak, slowly turned his head to look at his brother narrowly.

"Is that all you can think of?" asked Luigi in exhausted disbelief.

"Well, some fresh, fluffy italian bread would go great with it," he added.

Luigi sighed and rolled his head in the other direction, bringing it to rest for a moment in his gloved palm.

Desperation, however, is often one of the greatest motivators, and so it was Mario who quit pondering and began to take action. He turned to the wall with the small opening, pulled his cap down over his head, and thrust his face into the oddly shaped opening. Luigi looked at the act dismissively, but took notice as Mario pulled his head out, took off his cap, shut his eyes, and placed his hat over his face. Seeing this, Luigi wondered if the stress was weighing more heavily on Mario than he had realized and was about to feel bad for his hasty criticism. He had never known his brother to be so sensitive, but then he noticed there was something else about Mario's actions. As Mario removed the cap, his eyes were closed, but his face was composed, and even thoughtful. Purposefully, Mario turned back to the wall and patted around until he found the opening. He then stuck his face through again.

Mario opened his eyes again, having shut them in order to let them grow accustomed to the dark. When he peeked around, he was better able to discern shapes in the darkness. Shielding one's eyes from the light before peering into the darkness was an old plumber's trick for seeing in the dark. He looked down, and made out the shape of the brick. Moreover, he thought he could see something else. It was flashing light below his eyes. He pulled his face out and put his hand into the opening, feeling around, but pulled it out quickly and gestured to the puzzled Luigi to come nearer.

"Reach your hand down in there, to just below the hole," Mario instructed. "Reach as far down as you can. There's something down there."

Luigi was alert, and tried to peek in through the hole, but could see nothing. He reached his arm in and felt around, but it could only go so low. Finally, he hoisted himself up and twisted uncomfortably his upper body through the small opening as far as possible, his legs outside dangling off the floor, all his weight bearing down on his gut as he leaned into the hole. He stretched his arms down as far as they could, and he felt something brush against his gloved hand. Soon, his eyes too adjusted to the dark, and he could make out what seemed like a sparkle, or a glimmer. He reache down and grabbed the top of it. Suddenly, he felt a surge of power go up his arm, course around his shoulders, and flow into his other hand. He felt a jolt, and it surprised him. He began to wiggle his way out of the hole. Mario aided him, and helped him down. Luigi held up the object he had plucked from the ? block. It was a glowing flower. A Superball flower. It was a strange sensation to Luigi, who had only had experience with Fire Flowers. However, there was no doubt that this flower was equally magical, and Mario's expression confirmed it.

The Bunbun flies jerked their heads up in surprise to see a figure step boldly around the corner. Luigi stood there with his arms folded, the flower stuck delicately onto his green shirt like a corsage. The Bunbuns hesitated, but drew their spears and began to head in his direction.

Luigi smiled, and lifted a hand. Like a magician producing a card, he flicked his wrist and produced a large black ball in his palm, about the size of a shot put. Eager to test out the rebounding capabilities of a Superball, he reared way back and tossed it full force at the wall of the passage. Like a shot, it ricochetted off the wall and rebounded across the width of the narrow passage and slammed off the opposite wall. It bounced violently back and forth from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, down the passage. It went almost too fast for the eye to follow. With a coconut plop, it slammed with force against one of the stunned Bunbuns, and burst, sending it flying KOed against a wall. A second whizzing, richochetting orb flashed down the passage and slammed against the second Bunbun with similar results. Mario came up beside the smug Luigi. he thought about saying something, but chose merely to politely instruct Luigi to go first.

Finally, they both headed down the passage, stepping over the fallen Bunbuns, and Mario casually pressed a plunger button on the wall near the door. It swung open mechanically, revealing a chamber.

The inner sanctum which met their eyes was well lit with torches, and not abandoned. Inside was a large, expansive room, the yellow walls covered in heiroglyphics. On a raised platform in the center was a golden sarcophagus. Along the back wall, bound to two opposite pillars, were Mallow and Sonny. On opposite sides of the room were perched like loyal dogs, a pair of Gao, living, fire-breathing sphinx-like creatures. A handful of Fighter flies whirled around in surprise to see the pair.

And hovering over the sarcophagus, in the center of the room, his body armor glinting in the reflected torchlight, his metallic claws clasping and unclasping in surprise, his red eye lights taking on a dark glow, and his menacing metallic face twisting into a monstrous glower was Watinga.

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