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Chapter 26:
~Ditto McCloaker~
Little time passed before they had arrived at Birabuto Outpost and
located, amongst the Fly folk, the Nomadimouse caravan with it's ratty
leader, who indeed knew the secrets of the Pyramid (rats have a way
of knowing everything mysterious, always keep that in mind) and was
persuaded to give them a ride in exchange for something that turned
out to be rather easy for them to find.
It was late the next afternoon, in the middle of a tremendous thundering
sandstorm which whirled outisde their caravan's flaps that a Nomadimouse
wearing protective sunglasses yelled back that they were nearing the
Oasis.
Luigi peeked out of the curtains hesitantly, and was amazed at what
he saw for the few seconds before he was blasted back inside by the
whirling sand.
"The Oasis is out there," called back the Nomadimouse, "Up
ahead. Unless the Swerveling Dervish gets you, of course," he finished.
Mallow looked up questioningly. "Swerveling Dervish?"
"Yes Sahib," came the reply. "The Dervish is the creature
behind this windstorm. He is the guardian of the Secret Oasis."
"Is he pretty dangerous?" asked Luigi, nervously.
"Only if he spots you. And fortunately, he's pretty dumb."
replied the Nomadimouse, handing back pairs of shades to protect their
eyes from the sand.
They all disembarked, except for Sonny, who was going to hitch a ride
back to The Real World as soon as he could find a way out, and Frogfucious,
who would leave with the Mice and return with the NimBus.
Thus, it was Luigi, Mallow, and Watinga alone who stepped out to brave
the element and find the hidden oasis. No sooner had they walked a few
steps than the wind picked up rougher than ever, and while the other
two struggled, Mallow could see he didnt' stand a chance, and felt himself
lag behind. He stopped and tried to shout, but the others couldn't hear
them. He looked on in alarm as they disappeared into the cloud...
Inside, Luigi and Watinga fought as hard as they could against the
blinding sand. The mouse had said to move forward and they couldn't
miss it, but...
Watinga looked up. With his glowing lightbulb eyes, he could see through
the sand, and every few seconds his light detectors noted a large form
appearing to dark over them as fast as lightning now and again. He shrugged
it off and they marched onward, not noticing their lack of a critical
member of the party.
Luigi couldn't see anything ahead of him, but he marched on with pure
faith, not daring quesiton what he was told by the Mouse. He also wondered
about the...
wham
Luigi was knocked so hard he spun in place. When he brought his feet
under control in the sand, he began to reach out blindly for Watinga.
His gloved hands waved around in the air, but there was no sign of the
fly. What hit him? asked the bewildered Luigi.
Was it the Dervish? Or perhaps that fly Watinga was taking the opportunity
to carry out his long-planned treachery? In any case, Luigi flopped
around and tried to look for some direction... for he currently had
no sense of it.
Watinga looked around casually, his eyes able to see quite well through
the sand, which seemed perfectly natural to him.
To one side he saw the form of Luigi a few steps off, seemingly looking
off in another direction and waving his hands around for some reason.
Watinga shrugged, wondering what he was doing, and waddled on.
Luigi began to walk forward again, and felt something brush by him
very quickly, so much so it kicked up sand.
"Watinga?" he shouted, wondering if the fly would even recognize
his own name, as he was at the moment Luigi's only hope of straightening
up... unless it was his trap. In case it was the fly, he decided that
the fly might at least be heading in the right direction, so he began
to follow in the direction he had felt the thing go. He hadn't got more
than a few steps before something hit him in the back hard and sent
him sprawling in the sand. He had the distinct impression of tiny little
feet running over his spine and stepping on his head quite rapidly.
He was now quite sure... it was Watinga, and he was intending Luigi
harm. The plumber pulled himself up, blindly, spitting out sand and
dusting himself off. He stood forward, in an even more random direction,
his fists raised. Let him come back and he'd-
FWAM
Down again went Luigi into the sand, again hit from behind, with the
odd sensation of being trampled on, this time with the sound of a giggle.
Coward's hitting me from behind. muttered Luigi. He shouted as loud
as he could.
"Cut it out, Watinga! You wanna fight me? Come on! I know you're
a traitor! Come on, I'll swat you right now! C'mon out and fight me!"
he cried.
Watinga heard, and his antennas buzzed. "What? Why? Oh well..."
he said, and began to march toward Luigi, who he noted through the spray
wasn't even looking in his direction. Within seconds, however, he saw
a second blur in the sand, seem to pass right throuth where Luigi was...
except that Luigi was out of sight as soon as it had passed over. Watinga
was very confused.
Luigi looked up, and he could feel something sitting... no, STANDING
on his back. It was very uncomfortable. It felt like it was tapdancing.
Then it ran off, and ever minute or so, as Luigi began to get up, he
felt himself being sped over again and again. Soon, he'd be drilled
into the ground... fe felt his face pushed deeper and deeper into the
hot, grainy, suffocating sand...
"Okay, that DOES it." Mallow said, firmly. He held back
and began to look fiercely around him. The wind whipped around his little
pink curl. He concentrated for a few seconds, and then produced a pair
of cymbals.
"Wind.. now... REVERSE!" he cried, and clashed them together
at the same time. Instantly, the wind screeched to a definite halt.
Mallow looked around and grinned. He could see again, and he could easily
make out his friends at a great distance ahead. But wait... where was
Luigi? And what was THAT?
Luigi crawled up out of the sand, and noticed that he could now see
again. Also, whatever it was that kept running over him had stopped.
He looked back around him. Watinga was a short distance off, looking
out at something. Bitterly, Luigi headed for him, but he noticed something
else.
Laying in the sand, being watched by the bionic fly, was one of the
strangest things Luigi had ever seen. It was like a small child, with
short purple hair, pointy eyebrows, and a chubby pink body. It lay on
the ground as though it had had the wind knocked out of it. Luigi and
Watinga looked down in it.
It pulled itself to it's feet and they could make out a pair of tiny
red wings on it's back, above a little pointy tail. Seeing them both,
it snapped to attention. It then began the oddest performance they had
ever seen. It began to dance wildy on the spot, turning around and around,
faster and faster, it's little tail whisping behind it in a circular
fashion, as the thing picked up speed. A tiny tornado of dust began
to swirl around it. Luigi and Watinga both stepped back simultaneously
from the whirling, spitting, giggling mess.
Suddenly, it sped off between them, at the speed of light. They turned
to watch it disappear in the distance, only to be shocked to see it
pass between them and disappear into the distance AGAIN. They looked
back. Moments later, they saw it speeding toward them again, whizzing
right between them. They could also see that the wind was picking up
again, and the sand began to swirl again. Luigi caught on instantly,
and knew the Dervish would soon be making tracks over his cap again
if he didn't do something.
Quickly, he ran towards the nearest cactus, as the whirling devil
passed by three more times, each time whizzing closer and closer. By
the time he reached it, he couldn't see, but he waited casually. He
also counted to himself.
"One... two... three...!"
With that, he kicked his legs and bounced up into the air, taking
full advantage of the reduced gravity of the Mushroom World. He felt
something pass by underneath him and the sound of something shattering.
Luigi hit the ground again, and waited, with a grin. The wind died down
again. He could make out the shattered cactus on the ground next to
him. He waited a second. He perked up his ears... and then, the sound
he was waiting for came to him, from what sounded like miles into the
distance.
"YEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWCH!"
Luigi grinned. Mallow came up. Watinga approached as well, looking
in the direction of the piercing scream.
"What's the meaning of this?" asked Watinga.
"That means," said Luigi brushing the sand off his clothes,
"that the Swerveling Dervish of Birabuto Desert won't be bothering
anybody again for a little while."
He looked around. The Oasis was now as visible as daylight ahead of
them, apparently the center of the Dervish's mad whirl. It was a pleasant
walk down to the water's edge.
~Masamune~
Goombario, on the head of Samuel, raced along the rocky
ground of Easton Mountains. Goombario pointed out casually the spot
where the two kumos had been trapped by his trickery. Soon they came
to the crevice that led to the Kumo hole that Chibobuigi and Heidi were
imprisoned. Samuel formed a small strand and used it to slowly lower
himself into the hole for a better look.
Ethel was looking over the children, "Bother, bother! Those two
lazy bums are probably feasting on flies as it is..."
Chibobuigi chuckled nervously, "I know... what about you go look
and we'll wait here for you?"
The spider rubbed her chin, "Good idea, but I reckon I'll put
a small bit to that. I'll go look... but I'll have myself some viddles
first"
Goombario looked at Samuel and receid a nod in confirmation. Quickly
the 'shroom flipped down and landed on a paltform a ways from Ethel.
The slight "thump" was enough to grab her attention. She turned
and glared hatefully, "Where is my Jethro!?"
Goombario's mind spinned, "Er... still eating flies! They let
me go so I could get my pals!"
"Lying varmint! My Jethro would do no such thing!" Ethel
argued, though she doubted what she said.
The 'shroom laughed, "It's true! And you'd better look out!"
"Fer what!?"
She was interrupted a sliky web landed on top of her. In seconds Samuel
was on top of her, reinforcing the web and forcing it to stick on the
ground.
"Can she get out of that?" Chibobuigui asked as he aas beign
freed.
"In an hour or so..." Samuel replied, "And she'll be
spittin' mad!"
Heidi landed next to Goombario and on top of Chibobuigi. Not paying
attention the goomba replied: "In that case we should leave sometime
around... now"
"Now is good," Heidi agreed as she rubbed her head.
Samuel looked at the three and groaned, "FINE... climb on, I'll
get us out of here..."
The three straggled on top and were hoisted far out of the crevice,
soon they were down on solid ground again.
"Thanks Samuel!" Goombario exclaimed, he then walked over
to Heidi and produced a map, "This is a map a Moai gave us, if
you follow it to Furai town... it's full of flies, bigger than us and
by far more numerous!"
And soon they parted ways, taking up a secret route that would lead
to Muda Kingdom (as Samuel had been kind enough to show them). Goombario
wouldn't have felt as guily as he did had he known the evil the Bunbun
flies had been up to, but nonetheless he hoped the desert would at least
slow down the spider so that when all was done, they could head back
and save the village.
---------------
Luigi and Mallow took a rest and took a drink from the oasis, Watinga
though was occupied looking in the water. The nimbus looked up, "Something
wrong?"
Watinga looked at Mallow and sighed, "What am I?"
The plumber shrugged, "You are what you are meant to be... that's
what my dad used to say, at least"
The giant fly sighed, "Then I am meant to be a monster?"
Luigi shook his head, "You are what you want yourself to be,
but I suggest we begin. The entrance has to be around here somewhere..."
A rough voice answered him, "Not that you should care..."
The trio whirled around and found two familar faces, though none to
pretty. The two greedy thieves more commonly known as...
"The Wario Brothers..." Luigi muttered, "What are you
doing here?"
"As if you need to know" Wario replied, "We told you
where were going before, I am not one to chew my cud twice"
Mallow remembered the two from the Great Star event that was only
some time ago, the two pests had been a source for tension for the lot
of them. Waluigi looked down at the little creampuff, "Well Well...
if isn't little Mellow..."
Wario looked around, "Well, it seems shorty isn't around"
"He's trapped down there" Watinga answered, much to the
dismay of his two comrades.
"Izzat so?" Wario replied, "Just like the idiot to
get himself trapped!"
Luigi balled his fists, but was held back by Mallow, "You two
just shut up!"
Wario faked shock, "Tsk tsk... Usually it's Mario to be the one
to get angry, but I suppose you try to live up to his 'legacy'. But
Waluigi and me... we're feeling nice today"
Waluigi's eyes widened, "We are?"
"OF COURSE we are!" Wario retorted and elbowed Waluigi,
"We'll let you three no-hopers come along our treasure hunt!"
Luigi scoffed, "Why would we want you?"
Wario chuckled sininsterly, "Unlike you, we have a treasure map...
and the key to get in, unless you happen to have made a copy?"
Luigi kicked the dirt irritably, "Fine... but just this once..."
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