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Chapter 28:
~Ditto McCloaker~
Watinga made his way over to a wall. Quickly, his arms
began to flail as he hit a sequence of buttons really fast. Soon, the
sphinx began to shake, and everyone had that odd feeling you get when
you're in an elevator going up. The sphinx raised, but Mallow said out
loud, "How did he know how to do that?"
Watinga shrugged his wings. "I dunno. Just kinda felt like what
I would typically do at this pad. I just seemed to know it."
Mallow looked at Luigi a bit, and got a noncommital shrug.
As they walked, Luigi occassionally stopped and observed Watinga near
the ground, sniffing around. Finally he asked what he was doing, and
Watinga informed him he detected their smells. Suddenly, he cried out.
"I think I've located your brother's trail!" said Watinga
in surprise.
Luigi was equally surprised, and he scratched his sweating head under
his green cap while giving Watinga a quizzical look. "How can you
be sure it's Mario?"
"I don't know. It just smells a little like you, but different."
He sniffed again. "His blood type must be Oregano. Smells like
he eats a high concentration of tomato."
"How can you be so sure of such a faint odor?"
Watinga didn't look up from his sniffing, but muttered a reply.
"No sweat? You're that confident?" asked Mallow.
"No," Watinga said louder. "I said, I know sweat. I'm
a fly. It's my calling. I just smell this and I have this funny memory,
like I know somehow it's the smell of a brother of yours."
Everyone shifted glances. Mallow, especially, didn't like the notion
of Watinga getting his memory back, but as they fell in step behind
their bloodfly guide, Luigi leaned in close to reassure him.
"Don't worry, Mallow," he said. "Aromas have a way
of bringing up vague recollections. Has something to do with short trails
to the brain, I think," he said, glad to show off some of his trivial
knowledge. Mallow thought a while, and then came up with his own unique
response.
"Like, when I smell my favorite pizza even after I haven't had
any in years?"
Luigi thought a second. "Exactly."
Mallow smiled, and was much relieved.
It was easy for the two to make out their escape route after Watinga
began retracing it. It was still dangerous. As they turned one corner,
a fireball shot out of the darkness, missing Luigi by inches. Waluigi
was so startled he shot up into the air, and the propulsion from his
springy legs sent him into the ceiling. The expression on his face as
his head hit the brick was priceless, and he tumbled down in a heap.
To his credit, two tiny coins tumbled out and landed squarely on his
two eyes, making him look particularly dead. Wario snatched them before
Waluigi came to, while Mallow produced a cloud which glided over to
check the corner. Mallow's eyes went wide and black, as he looked around
in the darkness through the eyes of his cloud. Then, he slowly produced
a pair of cymbals, seemed to wait a second, and then crashed them together.
At the same time there came a loud crash of thunder from the corner
as the brief lightning revealed a very surprised Gao in the corner.
It tottered out, a bit charred, and collapsed, in a daze. The noise
jarred Waluigi awake, and he got to his feet.
Soon, they arrived in a chamber full of rubble. It was clearly the
room they had all escaped by earlier. Watinga sniffed the ground underneath
the now dark escape hatch intently.
"He landed here," concluded the fly. "I can smell something
like a lot of garlic pressed firmly into the floor." Wario and
Waluigi sniggled, which Luigi was getting tired of. Mallow paced forward,
and came across a small cloth thing. He picked it up and held it into
the light. It was a bright red cap, with the latter M on it. He looked
worried, but Watinga didn't. Watinga began to flit down one twist.
"He appears to have wandered off... this way," he said.
They all followed. Luigi was faintly worried. Having extra lives is
of little comfort when you're just going to spend them wandering around
trapped in a giant sphinx. Especially for Mario, added Luigi's thought.
Suddenly, Waluigi fell back behind the party, and was in darkness.
When they finally noticed the taciturn Wario Bro. wasn't with them,
they all looked back. They saw nothing at first, but then, from the
darkness glowed two twin purple orbs. Waluigi's cold voice assessed
the situation. "Flies are above us, following us around."
Everyone shifted uneasily. Then, Wario's pointy ear began to twitch,
and he put a hand up to it. He listened for a few seconds, and then
a satisfied smile came to his lips.
"He's this way," growled Wario in a reptilian fashion, pointing
in one direction. No one else heard anything.
"Mario, you fools," asserted Wario. "I can hear him...
coming from that way." He pointed, and led the way, with the others
having little choice but to follow. The path twisted once and then opened
up into a large chamber. There, in the center of the chamber, bound
to a column and gagged, was Mario. Wario smirked, and looked at the
helpless plumber while twisting his crooked mustache. Luigi rejoiced.
He ran forward and produced a pen knife and began working to free his
brother.
Suddenly, from behind came the sound of intense buzzing. They all
turned back toward the dark corridor they had entered from.
"The flies!" cried Waluigi. Instantly he began to throw
his rather inadequate weight against the heavy stone doors, trying to
shut out the Eighth Plague of Birabuto. Wario ran up beside him and
began to add his muscle. Mallow ran to the opposite of the double doors
and began to press fruitlessly. Soon, however, Mario was free and he
and Luigi ran over to help push that door shut, too. Three Bunbuns shot
in before the door could be sealed, and they shot through and looped
up around the room quickly before turning back in a dive. Everyone else
flinched, except Mario, who quickly reached into his pocket and pulled
out what looked like a wilting black flower. Mario seemed to glow for
a second.
As the Bunbuns closed in, Mario reached forward and pointed toward
the ground. From his hand fired a black ball, which riccocheted off
and slammed up into one Bunbun, knocking it out of the air. Mario repeated
with his second hand, and the ball bounced up and hit it's target with
tested accuracy. The third continued with it's spear aimed at Mario's
head. He smiled, and then... he ducked. The fly slammed into the stone
door. Mallow winced at the sound of the impact.
"Some days you're the giant stone door," said Luigi philosophically,
"and some days you're the Bunbun."
Watinga instinctively knew about another way out through this room
towards the exit, which didn't involve passing through the swarm of
flies. They followed. Little did they realize what kind of time was
passing during their little jaunt. HIgh above, what appeared to be a
giant axe swooshed through the sky at an incredible rate, and had already
over the Sphinx.
"Okay, stop," commanded the person in charge. The ship obeyed,
as it's crew made for it to slow down...
At about that time (3:00pm, Mushroom Daylight Savings), Mario, Luigi,
Mallow, Watinga, and the Wario Bros. arrived at the front door. Light
poured in through the crack, and everyone, especially Mario, felt really
really relieved.
Wario charged forward and slammed into the doors. They swung wide
open. And everyone gasped.
There, on the front porch of the Sphinx, was a hammer-headed character,
looking very VERY surprised. The doors moved back a bit, and the two
minions who had been in the process of trying to force it open, now
as flat as paper, slid out and floated away in a gust of wind.
"Watinga!" shouted Clubmin.
"Clubmin!" Watinga responded in kind.
Clubmin looked around. "Ah ha! I see! These, no doubt, are those
famous Mario Brothers! I've heard of them! You have rounded them up
already! Excellent! Master Smithy will be very proud to have them out
of the way."
Watinga grinned. "Yes, well... it wasn't hard. Rather stupid,
really."
Everyone looked up at the fly and gasped. They were betrayed.
"Very well," said Clubmin, turning his back and heading
back toward the plank of the Blade II, busy not noticing that none of
the gang was properly tied up or even the least bit unhealthy. Suddenly,
a heavy blow came down on the back of his head, pounding Clubmin up
to his hammer head in the sand.
The gang looked up at Watinga, who had done it.
"You... what's going on?" asked Luigi, astounded.
Watinga shrugged.
"You didn't have amnesia at all!" cried Mario.
Watinga looked suprprised. "No, no, I assure you, I did."
"No you didn't!" yelled Mallow. "It all makes sense!
All those things you knew! I should have known!"
Watinga put up his hands. "No, no! It was true! I just... I didn't..."
Everyone eyed him. But then came a quiet voice. "Then, grasshopper,
at what point did you come to your senses?"
Everyone turned to look. Floating towards them, sneaking stealthily
underneath the Blade II, was the NimBus, and Frogfucious at the wheel,
Squid Guy resting behind.
Watinga just looked at him. "About the moment I saw Clubmin.
Everything snapped." He turned to the gang. "The other stuff
I just knew... I don't know how. I just did. But they didn't tell me
everything. They just... loosened the jar, so to speak."
Squid Guy flopped thoughtfully. "Then... don't you plan to kill
us now?"
Watinga thought, and shook his head. "Nah. I used to hate ya,
but giving me freedom from what Smithy always told me gave me a chance
to look at like with a... new perspective. I like working with you guys.
I think I kinda wanna be good now."
Wario snorted. "Even I wouldn't attempt that big a lie,"
he lied.
Frogfucious chimed in. "I do not believe it was a lie. I was
not in there, but what you describe sound amazingly like what I once
read about in a book. Procedural memory, I believe. Amnesiacs lack the
abilty to name familiar things. However, skills such as navigation and
performing tasks remain intact."
They all eyed him.
"Well, you can't expect a clonk on the head to undo it all the
time, right?" said Frogfucious with a grin. "That only happens
in fairy tales."
Mallow stepped forward. "I believe ya, Grandpa."
Frogfucious and everyone else looked at him.
"When a frog trusts a fly, he's going to be absolutely sure,
first." said Mallow, with a wink. The old frog smiled.
"Can somebody PLEASE tell me what's going on?!" cried Clubmin
from the ground.
Watinga looked around conspiratorially. "Okay, now look. Maybe
we can get that Blade II for ourselves. It'll make the trip a lot easier."
Frogfucious chimed in. "And everyone who isn't going on I shall
take to safety on the NimBus."
~Masamune~
Wario rubbed his nose and glanced over at Waluigi, "Ahem,
as it would be..."
Waluigi unrolled a contract done up like a scroll, "As you can
see we never finished the treasure gathering, so.."
Wario suddenly grinned, "We'll cut them some slack."
Waluigi nodded, "Of cour-- What!? But the treasure!"
Wario snickered, "I'd give anything for this... and that includes
the three of their payment. If the six of ya will do the chicken dance..."
Mallow's eyes widened.
Watinga cringed.
Luigi shook his head.
Frofucius didn't move.
Squid Guy looked around questioningly.
Mario's face was unreadable.
Clubmin's face was in the ground and no one could really tell anyway.
"The CHICKEN dance?" Squid Guy asked.
----------------------------------
It was strange, it was incredible, and it was the single most exciting
thing he had ever seen.
And what with the goomba, chibobo and shygal all caught up in it,
this also happened to be the most hilarious thing as well. Had Wart
knew that two of them were the biggest fans of Mario and Luigi he should
ever have the misfortune to meet, he would have very well attacked them
right then. As it was, he rather enjoyed their pathetic attempts to
attack the Bubble Boo.
Mamu however had access to all of Smithy's records prior to his being
sent out, which included a full list of Smithy's most hated people,
but also as well, those who went missing because of the mirror. He was
charged with eliminating Mario Mario, Luigi Mario, Goombario, Chibobuigi,
Heidi, Kolorado Koopa, Kooper Koopa, Alexis de Tadpoule, and the former
servant, Squid Guy. Additionally to find and capture the four princesses
was also drilled into his database. The only reason Tadpoule was live
at the moment was because of Wart' insistance on keeping him alive.
The metallic equivelant of Wart thought it rather dull to not be able
to fully use his capabalities, but working with Wart was what he was
programmed to do. And despite the frog's horrible mannerism, Mamu rather
enjoyed his work.
When he told Wart who the three Bubble Boo victims were, Wart suddenly
had a simply horrible idea. Mamu and Wart each dropped off the captive
they both were carrying in a special place and the metal frog made special
caution that they would not wake any time soon.
As soon as they arrived at the bubble site, Mamu was forced to utilize
any forms of attack to pop any potentially dangerous bubbles. When they
approached the Bubble Boo, the students hardly took any notice of the
two. But when Chibobuigi saw one of Mamu's energy balls flying loose,
he struggled to get away but ended up tripping and falling off the building.
However the blast weakened the bubble's overall structure allowing
Chibobuigi to plop through. He toppled right onto Goombario and Heidi
who had been deep in thought, but were now deep in bubble juice. On
the other side of the Bubble Boo, Wart conjured up some of his own acidy
bubbles. He snickered in his own way as he looked up at the creature,
"Mamu! Let's give this ghoul a little 101 on bubble power!"
The two of them both released a barrage of round attacks all over
its surface. The attacks constantly began to weaken its structure that
it instinctively began to decrease in size to prevent a hole from opening.
Soon it was no bigger than Wart and Mamu. When it realized it's predicament,
it let out a high pitched squeal and began to expand again by sucking
in all the surrounding bubbles.
Mamu and Wart prepared the attack again, but however found this difficult
when the Bubble Boo spit out several more bubbles, which swirled around
and span around the two until they realized that there were now four
Bubble Boos, or so they thought at least.
Meanwhile, Goombario had recognized Wart. Though he had never actually
SEEN him, he heard him described during his dream attack and the more
recent Great Star incident. And of course, he made it a point to know
every single tidbit of Mario he could, which included enemies. So did
Chibobuigi, but distance made such information hard to find.
So they ran away from the destructive duo as fast as their feet would
carry them (all of them lacking, for the most part, legs). The three
of them finally got far enough way that hiding behind a house was good
enough for them.
"Whew..." Chibobuigi gasped, "That was horrible"
Goombario simply nodded and peeked out.
Chibobuigi glared at Goombario, "A good idea, huh?"
Goombario shrugged sheepishly, or attempted to at least, but gave
a sheepish smile instead.
"Hey guys..." Heidi interrupted, "But... there's umm..
another frog here..."
The two gulped and slowly turned around to see....
A green frog wrapped in a scarf and wearing a funny hat and a peculiar
black yoshi behind the frog... Both out cold.
They both sighed a breath of relief, but Goombario peered closer and
his eyes widened. "That's Tadpoule! He rode with me the way here...
he was a transfer student too, and was in my class!"
Chibobuigi peered at the yoshi, "And who's this?"
Goombario shrugged, "I dunno! But we better get 'em outta here
before those two get back!"
"But where?" Heidi asked.
Chibobuigi suddenly grinned, "Didn't that guy mention a SkyPop?"
Back at the town, Mamu and Wart had cleared the fake bubbles and had
become WarMamu. The bubble was completely unprepared for this, and decided
to just suck them in. As soon as they were inside, the two unfused and
split apart at rapid speed, stretching the Bubble Boo in two different
directions, until after a great deal of stress, it popped under the
pressure.
Finally Wart looked over to his metal counterpart and grinned, "It's
nice to have a good fight!" And win... He thought to himself.
Mamu did not show his enthusiasm but immediately pointed out that
not only the three students were missing, but he could not detect the
two prisoners either. What they did see, however, was a plane flying
overhead, and sticking out was a shygal looking over the duo.
Wart growled, "Argh! We gotta find out where that plane is going!"
------------------------
Wario and Waluigi finally got up after a good laugh, "Hoo boy!
That was TOO good!"
The six of them looked at eachother unhappily over their embarrassing
performance.
Wario stretched, "Well... debts forgiven, you guys sure are luck
to have nice people like us around"
Waluigi, "But we must be going!"
Wario rubbed his hands together, "Here we come treasure..."
Wit that the two returned, while Wario leaned over to Waluigi, "Heh
heh... this is the best blackmail material ever on tape!"
After the humiliation ended, Mallow looked over at Luigi and Mario,
"Me and grandpa better get going if we want to find Tadpoule..."
Mario nodded, "Good luck, watch out for Smithy minions"
Frogfucius looked down at Squid Guy and gave him a pat on the head,
"Do not forget, Grasshopper"
"I won't!" Squid Guy exclaimed, "Good bye!"
Watinga made a short farewell with Mallow, though the two barely knew
eachother. Soon the lakitu took over the driving seat of the NimBus
and they flew off. Mario looked over at Luigi and gave a mischievous
grin, "And you accuse me of bringing strange people home"
Luigi shrugged, "Hey! They ain't got nothin' on Bow! Seriously
that was the strangest person you brought back"
"Oh well," Mario replied in defeat, "You're right.
But we better get a move on. We just gotta get Clubmin to-"
"I don't think so!" A voice exclaimed. The four turned around
to find a rather unfriendly sight waiting for them. "I GAR-UN-TEE
you guys are staying here!"
Sure as the accent was, Eddie Croco and his gang of Forty Crooks.
"Ya'll will be staying with us fer awhile..."
They looked around, Clubmin was in the Blade II already ascending
away from them... leaving them surrounded in an extremely unfriendly
desert.
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