Chapter 31:

~Luigi of the Pipes~ 

"Do what you wish with me," Squid Guy coughed, looking up at the Shy Squad. "But I... but I..." The words wouldn't leave his mouth. Squid Guy shook his head a bit, trying to clear up his muddled brain.

The Bandit of the group stepped forward, holding something small, white, and round in his gloved hand. He eyed Squid Guy for a bit, then firmly pressed the badge to the mutant's robes. When he looked down to examine the piece, Squid Guy noted the crossed-eyes and open mouth etched into the pin. Like a mask... The sextet of Shys before him all had identical accessories, so perhaps that meant it was a good thing.

"We'll have to change those soggy robes to brilliant red color," Snifit mumbled in his best fashion consultant voice, walking over and pulling at Squid Guy's bluish-grey duds.

"Sew these ripped off sleeves back on," Shy Guy added, lifting one of Squid Guy's tentacles to examine where his sleeves had been ripped off at the non-existent shoulders.

"And dye his tail blue, or something..." Beezo grunted, poking at Squid Guy's brown-finned appendage.

"I dyed my feathers red," Tweeter responded. "It shouldn't be any harder for him to dye himself as well."

Squid Guy looked at the members of the Shy Squad, realization sinking into his taxed mind. They all wore red robes and blue shoes... and the pins, of course... "You want me to... join you?"

"Naturally," the Bandit replied.

"I refuse!" the squid snorted. "I'll never go back to working for... for... him!"

"Croco?" the Lantern Ghost asked. "Smithy? Don't worry. We just retired from their employments."

"Poor Eddie's gonna need six more crooks," Shy Guy added.

"You serious?" Squid Guy asked.

"Of course. We're sick and flerking tired of losing!" Something in Shy Guy's voice rang true.

"Wow... that's great! We'd better hurry to the Endless Forest, then. That's where the princesses were, and where Mario and Luigi will head."

"Shouldn't we get you dressed properly first?" Tweeter asked, glancing at Squid Guy.

"We'll worry about that after we catch up with Mario," Bandit replied.

"I meant his back... and arms... and tail... and, well, everything. He's all beat up."

"Don't worry," the squid responded. "I'm fine, I'm f–" Squid Guy howled abruptly and wrapped his tentacles around his coned head. His new partners began to ask what was happening, but Squid Guy fell into unconsciousness before the words could leave their masks.

***

Smithy or the princesses? That was their question. Luigi proposed that they go straight back to the academy and deal with Smithy first. Mario suggested that they first head to the Endless Forest and save the princesses.

So it came down to Watinga. The fly lord had insisted upon not choosing, however. He was feeling plenty strong now; in fact, he was strong enough to head back to the desert and retrieve Squid Guy, something they had almost forgotten about in the mad rush to get away.

Desperate to not make a decision that he wouldn't see the consequences of, Watinga turned to the chief of the Mad Mallets (signified by his yellow handle instead of the others' brown ones) for the choice.

"Why go to the Endless Forest when the princesses are right in Chai?" the mallet replied crankily.

They ignored him as lying. If the forest was endless, how could anyone really get out, after all? Which brought up another topic they had been putting off until the last second...

But that was for later. In the end, Watinga decided that he would have to bluntly point out the pros and cons of each situation to the bros.

They could try attacking Smithy now, but that could distract them long enough for Smithy's minions to do who knows what with the princesses. Not only that, but they still hadn't found an effective way to block the powers of Smithy's new shield weapon. And, Daisy would also be disappointed if she didn't get to dish out some revenge on Smithy.

Or they could go to the Endless Forest, but then they might get trapped in there... for eternity.

But then, they'd be sure to find a way out eventually...

So it was decided that the Endless Forest be their next stop. The Blade II was in great need of refueling, however, and the Mad Mallets claimed that the only place it could be done was at Chai. Ah well...

As Watinga set off, intent on reaching Birabuto before nightfall, Mario and Luigi settled down in the ship's cabins for some much deserved rest.

They had barely settled in, when they heard a sound against the hull of the ship. A tapping... no... a drilling sort of sound. Then the tapping sound, and the familiar hollow vibration of sound echoing. Finally, a screeching sound, like metal scraping against metal. The sound stopped, and voices followed, along with five "plops" as figures dropped into the corridor outside.

"...Better hurry," one of the voices was saying, "or the Maceins will beat us."

"Why were they taking the fighters?" another voice asked. "Unless Clubmin turned traitor too..."

"I doubt it. They just wanted to beat us here."

"Scumbags..." a third voice mumbled. "We sure show them up, eh?"

"Do we really need the Blade to carry the princesses?" yet another voice mumbled. "Wasn't there an underground passage between the castle and the academy we could've just brought them through?"

Luigi glanced over at Mario and gave him a wry smirk. The princesses were here in Chai. In the castle even. Or the academy...

"Smithy said we couldn't use that. Private reasons. It stinks of Croco, anyway..."

Mario's face suddenly contorted. He realized just who these voices belonged to...

The footsteps came closer, then finally paused right in front of their door, followed by a loud sniffing.

"What's up, Yellow?"

"I... smell something..."

"Oh, for the lovva..."

"No no, it's not food. It's..."

Before he could finish, Mario lunged at the door and flung it open. It smacked against Axem Yellow's sturdy body and bounced back into the frame, smashing Mario's face in the process and opening once again. The plumber fell face forward, landing at Axem Red's feet.

"Well well well..." the robot chuckled. "What have we here?"

"Mario."

"Shut up Yellow! I knew that!"

"Then why...?"

"YELLOW!"

"Red," Black began as Mario slowly sat up. "Blood... pressure..."

"Sorry Red."

". . ."

"He must've snuck on when Clubmin didn't realize," Pink interrupted, tossing two objects behind her into an open door. Were those... mushrooms?

Just as suddenly as his brother, Luigi dove out of the room at the assailants, feet-first. He would've hit Red dead-on, but moments before he reached the ship shuddered, sending everyone toppling to the ground.

"What in blazes?!" Red shouted, struggling to get to his feet, gyros hissing in protest as he reoriented himself.

"We shoo–" Yellow began, only to be cut off.

"Those cretins are firing upon us!" Green scowled, struggling up next to Red, only to get knocked over again by more violent rattling.

"Nice going Yellow!" Red shouted, pointing his axe accusingly.

"Sorry Red..."

"If you hadn't...!"

"Save it Red," Black interrupted. "I'd comment on your blood pressure, but you ain't in the mood. And we got other problems."

"Right. Grab the prin–," Green caught himself, noticing the Mario Brothers as if for the first time, "–ted mushrooms and bail."

"Negative," Red muttered.

"What?"

"I'm not leaving this ship. Not again."

"You'd rather go through them?!" Pink shouted, pointing toward the bros.

Mario and Luigi glanced at each other, confused by the dissension between the Rangers. Red howled with rage, like a pent-up beast, and lunged past the brothers before they could react, running as fast as his mechanical peds would take him to the deck.

No Clubmin, he thought cynically. Isn't that just typical? What's Smithy gonna do next? Drag Yaridovich out from his factory-building-place-hunting or Mack away from his factory-guarding just so that they can lose our ship to these deadbeat heroes too? Or am I just gonna sit and wait while the Macein Rangers commandeer it next?! Not Axem Red!

***

"Can anyone explain to me what just happened there?" Pink asked, watching Red.

"Red just..."

"Anyone besides Yellow?!"

"Methinks that one of the circuits in his servos just blew," Green commented.

The remaining Rangers turned to face the Mario Bros. Black grabbed a bomb out from... somewhere on his person... "Red want us to stay? Let's get this party started..."

***

Macein Red peered at the scanners of his Smithy Pop, currently displaying the damage they had just done to the enemy's vessel. Only superficial... only hull damage...

"Prepare for another pass," he commanded to his fellow Macein Rangers as he turned his ship sharply to the left. "White! Purple!"

"Violet," another voice buzzed irritably.

"Whatever. You two flank my sides. Orange. Blue. Swing in from behind and try for their engines." The quartet clicked their comlinks professionally, signaling the affirmative. Macein Red continued his turn to a full 180°, throwing himself back into his cushioned seat. He quickly checked the positions of his wingmates. "Tighter formation there, Macein White. We need to hit them dead on."

"Sorry sir," Macein White buzzed over the comlink. Putting actions to his words, like a good soldier, he nudged his Smithy Pop a few degrees sharper. "I don't mean to complain, sir, but you know that I hate flying as is..."

"Sacrifices have to be made," Macein Red replied flatly.

"Yes sir..."

They swooped in close to the larger ship, when someone dashed onto its deck. Macein Red let the CPU of his fighter run through an identity scan of the character, eyes knitting in frustration. "Pull up!" he shouted. "Abort! Pull up!"

"What?" Macein Purple asked. "Why?"

"He's a friendly down there! PULL UP!"

Macein White and Macein Purple nimbly lifted their fighters skyward. Macein Blue and Macein Orange joined them as they flew higher and higher. Macein Red prepared to do likewise, when he suddenly realized that he had miscalculated their approach velocity. He barely had time to blink before his ship smashed head-on into the other's bow, flinging him free from the wreckage and onto the deck.

"Red!" the comlink on his fighter buzzed, fighting to stay alive.

"It's Macein Red," he mumbled, more to himself than the communications device.

"...okay?!" it continued. "Report! Red! Can't... without... you!"

"Well well well..." a voice, amazingly similar to his, crowed from above. "What have we here?"

"Axem Red," the other replied, glancing up into a face almost identical to his. Only one difference really stood out. Axem Red only bore one spike on his crown, while Macein Red had three. "I had orders to destroy this ship. What are you doing on board?"

"How dare you attack the mighty Blade?!" Axem Red roared, then suddenly froze. "You attacked it? I thought Smithy said it would be invulnerable... darned time constraints... Anyway, how dare you attack the mighty Blade?!"

"We were ord–"

"You idiot! Who'd you get the order from, Croco?!"

"Actually..."

"Bah! I don't care if what I'm about to do would displease Smithy greatly. I'm going to teach you, and all your little Macein Rangers, their place in the Smithy Gang. Below us Axem Rangers!"

"Beg pardon? We're competing now?"

Red quickly swung his axe downward, but Macein Red nimbly rolled from his attack and readied his own weapon. The former charged forward, swinging his axe wildly, but Macein Red sidestepped at the last second and smashed his mace into the other's back, embedding the spikes into Red's metal chassis. Taking advantage of Red's situation, Macein Red swung his mace around hard and smashed the Axem into the guardrail around the deck, dislodging his weapon as he did. Red, electricity crackling from his back, quickly span his axe around and slashed across the other's forehead, revealing the circuitry beneath.

Skyward, the remaining Macein Rangers circled about the ship in confusion.

"Red did tell us not to attack," Macein White commented.

"But look!" Macein Blue interjected. "That guy down there is attacking Red!"

"We'll fire on him only!" Macein Orange added, swooping down and releasing a barrage of flaming pellets on the antagonists.

Both Red and Macein Red saw the fire coming at them and instinctively threw their arms over their domed heads. Macein Red scampered to get clear of Red, but the other picked up that the other's comrades were only firing on him and dogged along behind him, intent on taking them both down if needed.

Finally, Macein Red scooped up his mace and used it to swat Red across the deck, where he would be open game.

"Gira's away!" Macein Blue whooped over the comlink, pounding his blue fist down on a large red button in his cockpit. A Gira missile immediately deployed from the bottom of the fighter and swooped down on Red, smashing into the deck right in front of him and exploding. The eruption pitched Red over the ship and into the great unknown.

"That takes care of that," Macein Red sighed.

***

The Mario Bros. were easily holding their own against the remaining Axem Rangers. The fact that they were in a covered hall was the first contributor to their success, preventing Pink and Green from casting their attacking spells, lest they hurt each other in the close quarters. By fighting up next to the Rangers, they also prevented Black from using his bombs, reducing the group's attacks to their axes.

The battle was cut short by an explosion that rocked the entire ship. A few seconds later, the Rangers each gave tinny gasps.

"R-Red?" Yellow stammered.

"Blasted..." Red's voice barely hummed over the Axems' internal comlinks. "Overboard... Can't... hold... HELP!!" His voice faded to a low, buzzing crackle.

"It appears that our time has come to depart," Green said, saluting with his axe. "Rest assured, once the Maceins have dealt with you pests, the Blade II shall be ours."

The four Rangers ran down the hall and leapt from the hole they came in.

***

Mario watched the Rangers bail out, then began to follow them. "Come on," he said.

"Bro?" Luigi called from behind him.

"Unless you'd rather fight whatever these ‘Macein Rangers' are and the scads of Mad Mallets that are bound to rally behind them, I suggest we leave now, Weeg."

"You make a valid point," Luigi replied, glancing behind himself nervously as he ran ahead.

The bros. skid to a stop at the gap in the wall. The ship was several hundreds of feet above the ground.

"Over there," Mario said, pointing over to the Blade's enormous anchor. The four Axem Rangers stood there, trying to remember how they had gotten up in the first place. The plumber traced his finger up the anchor chain and along the hull, where several grooves had been drilled out of the side.

"Guess we wait and see how they get down, eh?"

"Unless you wanna go back and check the pillows for Cape Feathers."

Mario punched lightly at his brother's arm. "Shut up. That was a good idea before..."

~Sapphire~

The fight between Daisy and Boomer continued, though from her standpoint, the situation was beginning to look rather bleak in Plum’s eyes. Daisy was fading fast, that was becoming plainly obvious. Hydraulico continued to look for useful weapons, but Plum knew that there wouldn’t be enough time; if Daisy tired out, they would simply be captured again, though that wasn’t saying that they would be captured anyway..

The other options weren’t very helpful, either. The noise was bound to bring other supporters of Boomer around. What they needed was to create some sort of resistance.. something that would prevent a lot more senseless violence and losses of those good enough to stand up for something. The problem remained on how to get Daisy away from Boomer, how to create a diversion so that they could somehow escape..

..And where /were/ Peach and Maple? They might not have been able to navigate as well as Daisy through the castle, but perhaps they managed to get themselves out of trouble. After all, Maple and Peach were the quick thinkers; it probably would have been better off to have one of them here rather than herself, Plum thought, almost sadly.

“Hydraulico, if you don’t have any weapons,” She said softly to the Mekabon, who was whirring about almost frantically as Pon collected the apparently useless items, “Do you have anything that can be used for a diversion of some sort? We don’t have much time.”

Plum’s eyes darted back towards the battle. Daisy had just been pinned to the wall by Boomer, though with the robot’s back to her, Plum noticed the hole made earlier by Bo. ‘_That’s it_’ She thought, frowning. The armour of course deflected everything, but his back wasn’t protected.. ‘_You’d think that they’d go through enough trouble to realize that both front and back need protecting.._’ Glancing over to Pon, she said, “Quickly, give me whatever strong objects you have in that pile over there. You and Hydraulico need to create some sort of diversionary tatic while I’m busy, and grab Daisy and drag her out of here. Tell Daisy that the next plan of action is to go down and find the prisoners. I think I can handle things now.”

“Princess Plum, what are you doing?” Pon asked, watching almost helplessly as she ran towards Boomer with several arrows in her grasp. Daisy, breathing heavily, but still trying to keep up in her attack, noticed Plum’s approach, but couldn’t allow herself to be distracted.

Plum leapt up and plunged the arrows deep into Boomer’s back, causing him to lose his hold on Daisy and yelp out in pain, swinginging around, though Plum kept a hold on the arrows in his back. “Go, Daisy! Leave the sais!” Plum snapped to the bewildered princess, who was being helped up by Pon.

“Plum-"

But despite Plum’s action, Boomer again held his sword threateningly close to the others. “That’s enough.” He snarled. “Playtime is over.”

Suddenly the corridor filled with smoke, making it extremely difficult to see.

“Go!” Plum snapped. “I know what I’m doing—just get out, now!”

-*-

“How are we supposed to get down?” Axem Green frowned, not happy about their predicatament.

“If only we had Red, he’d know what to do..”

“Stop it Yellow,” Pink snapped, trying to keep her hold on the mushrooms. “We don’t have Red, so we are going to have to be a team without him.”

“You sound as if you miss him.” Green’s voice was almost teasing, as he tried to access the development.

“Very funny. I wanted to outrank him, but not like this. Let’s see.. for one, perhaps if we all hold on to the anchor and climb down..”

“Those Mario Brothers are trying to follow us..” Black observed, and they all looked in the direction that he was glancing in.

“Oh great,” Pink snapped. “Just what we need, those fools on our tail. How are we supposed to get our jobs done if they are going to keep getting in our way?”

“Pink, blood pressure..”

“…That wasn’t funny.”

“It wasn’t meant as a joke.” Black replied, grimacing. “But as our getaway seems halted, we might be forced to make a few decisions that we don’t want to.”

“Such as?” Green asked, glancing back over at Black.

“Well, we can’t really fight them now.. but all things considered, the Macein’s..”

“You want us to join up with the Maceins after what they did to Red?” Pink snapped, nearly dropping the two mushrooms.

“No.. but all options considered, Red walked right into that one.. We have to be focused on our best interests, here..” Black explained, his gaze flickering back over to the brothers. “We can’t let them take our glory, of course, but you’re a female.. perhaps you could charm Macein Red into listening.”

“….”

“Anything’s worth a shot..” Green said after a moment, ignoring the murderous looks that Pink was giving him and Black. “Our survivial does depend on it…”

“What do /you/ think, Yellow?” Pink snapped, glancing over at him.

“Besides the fact that I’m still hungry..”

“Yellow, if my hands weren’t full, I’d knock you off myself.”

“Pink..”

“Shut up, Black.”

“As I was saying..” Yellow continued. “It’s not what Red would have wanted us to do.. but it does give us more of a chance.”

“…”

“It’s nearly unanimous, Pink. You’re the self-proclaimed leader here.”

“I suppose,” She said flatly. “Sacrifices have to be made, after all..”

-*-

Mario and Luigi exchanged looks as they watched the apparent bickering.

“It doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere.”

“I hope they figure out something soon,” Luigi replied, glancing in back of him. “We could be attacked at any minute, really..”

-*-

In the scuffle that ensued, Daisy, Pon, and Hydraulico found themselves running down the corridor.

“This.. is..stupid..” Daisy said, leaning against the wall for a moment to catch her breath. “Plum better be right behind us.”

“She probably is.. just wanted to get a distraction going..” Pon said, looking behind him. “That smoke won’t hold for long.. “

Daisy frowned. “If I had a little more time.. I would have had him. That was my fight.”

Pon shook his head. “Princess.. we could all see that it was going nowhere. It was better that someone acted..”

But Daisy continued to stare in the direction that she knew Boomer and Plum were in, not knowing whether she would see Boomer with a satisfied smirk coming towards them.. the thought made her jump up. “I don’t think we should leave..”

“Just a little further, where we can wait, at least, until we know it’s safe..” Pon said, though feeling rather surprised at Daisy’s changed attitude, she who rarely chose ‘fight’ over ‘flight’ unless it was absolutely necessary. She turned towards him slowly, and nodded.

“Right..” Having caught her breath, the three turned a corner and glanced briefly up and down the halls. “This room over here..”

A long time passed before Daisy again began to feel uneasy and peeked her head out into the corridor. The smoke had cleared and she narrowed her eyes, scanning it, taking one of the weapons provided by Hydraulico with her as she hurried down the hall. “Plum?” She called out, still expecting to see Boomer’s leering face. She noticed a figure slumped against the wall, and gasping and following instinct-or heading into a well placed trap-the yellow-clad princess rushed over.

Plum opened her eyes at the approaching sound of the other Princess’s heels, and smiled up at her as she pulled herself to her feet. “Well,”

“Are you all right?” Daisy gasped, surprised, though she did notice something of triumph flash briefly in the other Princess’s light brown eyes before fading.

“I’m fine, Daisy..” Plum replied, nodding. “You actually seem happy to see me.”

“What were you thinking? What _happened_?!”

“About saving your skin, of course..you would have been exausted and we would have been captured..” Her gaze flitted around the hallway, “I did my best, for now. There was no way that either of us could have taken him on..”

Daisy grabbed one of Plum’s arms and started to pull her down the corridor. “Not here, we have to get moving..it’s still too open. Is he.. gone?”

“Left? Yes.. he went to nurse his wounds.. I couldn’t stop him completely, but I was able to hurt him, a little..his pride, perhaps, a silly princess like me getting an idea like that! Though he got me good also.. ouch.” The princess winced visably, pain flashing in her eyes.

Daisy's hazel eyes widened. “Plum, your arm!”

“I know.. hopefully Hydraulico might have some bandages or something.. if not, it’s okay.” The Princess turned her head sharply for a moment, as if listening for a moment. “Nothing.. it’s still safe.. let’s go.”

Daisy led her around the corner and into the room where Pon and Hydraulico were waiting, and took a better look at her wounded cousin. Aside from a lot of scratches—Daisy knew that she herself must have gotten a lot while fighting—and quite a few nasty cuts from Boomer’s blade “That’s going to scar, you know.”—“I know.” –And the fact that one of her pigtails was considerably shorter than the other—“I needed a haircut anyway”—Plum seemed a lot better off than Daisy had initially feared. Still, with what had just happened, going back to the mindless bickering that had started this whole adventure.. Daisy was growing frustrated again.

The four sat in silence for a few moments.

“What now?” Pon asked, looking between the two princesses, as Plum wrapped her wrist with a spare cloth.

Daisy frowned. “Well, we can’t stay here, that’s for sure.. who knows what else that creep is up to.”

Plum nodded, slowly. “We don’t know if he’ll recover quickly or not.. or send some others after us. Daisy, if you know how to get around this castle as well as you think you do, surely you must have some idea of how to find out where people are being held.. or maybe there are secret passages about that only you would be aware of?”

“I don’t know..” Daisy said softly. “I mean.. I know enough, that they are my walls and halls, though I never looked at every intricate design..”

“I don’t know much about the castle myself,” Pon said. “I do know that the citizens were sent to the dungeons and some strange, ominous sounding places.. the guards were everywhere. They weren’t sure what to do with us, but franky, I don’t know where we are to go from here.. we might as well still be locked up in that room.”

“So the question is how to move.. and when to move.. and which way to move. We really shouldn’t be skulking about; we have got to figure out a way to get help and contact the others. Peach and Maple are still around here somewhere.." Plum turned to look at the robot. “What about you, Hydraulico?”

“I seem to recall something about a passageway leading out from the Treasure Room,” The Mekabon replied, “The bandits had cleared it out, though there seemed to be a whole series of tunnels that they had made..”

“Then that’s where we’ll go, then.” Daisy said, grimly. “Unless we can find our way down to the dungeons..”

“You’re leading, Daisy, so please be clear on which way you’re going.” Plum said wryly as she followed her out of the door, Pon and Hydraulico following, as the strange group made their way stealthily down the halls.

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