Chapter 23: Sea No Evil
It doesn't make sense. That's all Vivian can come up with as she and her friends (including Ms. Mowz, who found them asleep in the Gate and woke them up) walk through an underground cave wherein is a warp pipe leading to their next destination, The Sea.
"Why would Cackletta's apprentice help us out?" Vivian asks aloud, though there are other matters moreso on her mind than that.
"Hard telling," Goombella answers. "My guess is that Cackletta still has some sort of use for us."
"Why wouldn't she take the jewel we had, then?" Ms. Mowz points out. "It seems to me like that reeks of some sinister plot, or perhaps pity."
"Well, we at least know she apparently took the jewel Deathnify had," Koops breaks in. "Judging from all that, I would say it was pity."
"I doubt it," Eggo adds. "If she was willing to kill Flurrie without mercy, and even attacked two old men and put them in the hospital, I doubt she has any sense of mercy. Perhaps she decided that she wanted us to live in order to do some of the work hunting them down for her, thus the reason she didn't take the map either."
"But why leave us with that jewel?" Goombella asks, puzzled. "She could have saved herself time and effort doing that."
"Well, assuming that she was the bat who took the belt in Glitzville, and the jewel she stole from Deathnify, that makes two of seven. We only have one. We need to hurry up and find-" Vivian says before being interrupted by Ms. Mowz, who has opened the map.
"According to this," the rodent begins to point out, "she apparently has more than that." The others stop and crowd around the mouse, looking at it for themselves. "See? Four of them are in the same place now, while the other two are in the same places as the last time we looked."
"Wait a second..." Vivian trails off, "I guess she attacked Beldam once she took the jewel from Insanee Dayzee then, and found another. Makes sense: the magic keeping Cackletta bound to this world enables her to be all-seeing, or at least in details dealing with her, so naturally this Apprentice person would have shown up to collect. Seeing through a window or a cracked door that there were six of us working together, she likely waited and sneak-attacked my sister on her way out the building."
"It's a stretch, but that's the best
explanation we've got," Koops answers.
The five continue on, eventually reaching
and entering the warp pipe.
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The Apprentice lays the black jewel on the pedestal with the other three, then begins to speak to Cackletta. "I decided to leave those five with their stupid map and the one jewel they have obtained. Might as well give them incentive to come here," she tells her leader.
"I question your wisdom in this matter, but I suppose we'd be better off letting them supply us with the others anyway. I've been thinking it is time we relocate now; this old, dilapidated mansion will not serve my needs for a temporary palace for my imminent resurrection. Leave them to bring the other two, as well as the one they have, to us."
"I will, Cackletta. So, what do you want me to do for now?"
"Go ahead and get the hand and the jewels packed up and get my soul attached to something more portable than this wall. Fawful, Bowyer, and Sharm have already been sent out to search for a suitable new residence."
"Pity for the Shaman, I suppose."
"By the way, whatever happened to Mack?"
"Oh yeah, him. Mack was sent to check out some forest to grab some type of rare Mushroom for me. I hear they can be sold for a decent price, and I could use some money if I'm going to blend in to handle my next undertaking after I get what I want."
"And that is?"
"I plan to launch an inside-assault on Ludwig after I'm done with your work. With the Mushroom Kingdom's leader being overthrown for the second time in just over a month, I would naturally very easily be able to take the throne."
"Good. Then I suppose you want the Mushroom Kingdom to be included as part of your share of the power?"
"Exactly. And even more importantly, I want Dark Land.
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"All right, Sugar Pirates!" Syrup shouts to her many minions as they all stand on the deck of her ship, which is docked at Sirena Beach. "It is nearing the time we have been awaiting! All proper arrangements have been made, and the destruction of the hotel shall commence in exactly three days. It would be sooner, but the bulldozer needs a new engine."
"Aye!" the troops of the pirate shout in response.
"I also learned that Doopliss has been checked into a hospital in Brookebell for an indefinite time, so this will be our perfect opportunity to escape with the jewel!"
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The heroes emerge from the warp pipe leading into the Sunken Ship and cautiously exit the door leading out into the first corridor of the ship. Outside, they immediately see that the ghouls aboard the ship are still intact as Greapers, Dry Bones, and numerous other creatures of the night all wander aimlessly as if searching for something.
"What's with the ghosts?" Eggo asks of the others, not knowing much of the ship itself.
"According to legend, they're the lost souls of those who died when King Kalimari wrapped itself around the ship. Most sacrificed themselves in an effort to imprison it aboard the ship. They succeeded, but there were no survivors. They say that they're in a vengeful search of their captain, who had jumped ship in the only raft immediately after the squid attacked," Goombella answers. The five begin to quest through the halls and are pretty much ignored by the ghouls besides eliciting a glance or two.
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The five eventually reach a cabin completely void of any ghosts, skeletons, or rats. There, next to a locked door, is a yellow pipe.
"Tell the password and you may pass!" it bellows, and Goombella thinks back to a discussion she once had with Mario about his adventure on the ship.
"Let me think... Pearls?" Goombella guesses, not entirely sure but confident nonetheless.
"Correct." The door slides open.
"King Kalimari is inside there, isn't he?" Koops asks, anxious to get the task finished with.
"Exactly," Vivian answers, "and we'd better be sure to stop that apprentice of Cackletta's from getting any more."
"I have a question, Vivian," Goombella starts suddenly. "If Cackletta can get into our heads, can't she then read our minds?"
"No, not at all. She can only enter my head because, as she is currently being powered by dark arts and I am created from them, we are united by the same forces, or basically the equivalent of blood. Even with that, there's no way she can tell if one of us has a major plan unless we say it aloud."
"I don't want to think about what might happen if she does succeed in coming back," Ms. Mowz shudders.
"Let's get goin'!" Eggo shouts as the five enter the room containing King Kalimari. There, three tentacles immediately launch, sending Goombella, Vivian, and Eggo all flying out of the room with the door slamming shut behind them.
"Guess it's up to us," Koops tells his mouse companion as the two charge at the tentacles.
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Ludwig walks through the halls of his primary military training camp, his old fortress in Pipe Land. He reaches the Lieutenant Colonel of his army, his younger brother Roy.
"What are you doing here?" Roy snaps, something he still does frequently to this day.
Ludwig would likely laugh if not for his mood, instead answering with, "Doopliss is in the hospital after an ambush. Prep the troops and take Sarasaland by force." He could do this any time, even if Sarasaland were to know weeks in advance, but Ludwig is in a mood of wanting to take his aggression out on anyone. And why shouldn't he be? His father had died, his sister was critically injured, one of his finest ships was destroyed, and now the prisoner he had planned as a scapegoat escaped.
"Kind of short notice, isn't it?" Roy mumbles before turning and walking away to do just that. Ludwig snarls a bit, then turns to leave the building.
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Koops and Ms. Mowz have successfully taken down two of the first three tentacles, and the third isn't in the best condition either. Just outside the door, the other three all have their ears (or lack thereof) pressed against the door, listening to see how things go. Koops launches a Shell Shot on the tentacle, his fourth on this particular limb, and just afterwards Ms. Mowz launches a fury of rapid bites and scratches at it. The tentacle's flailing finally ceases and it stops moving like the other two.
The Koopa and the mouse run over and unlock the door, knocking on the door before opening it so as to warn the other three.
"You two took care of those three, huh?" Goombella asks, impressed.
"Not exactly easy," Koops admits, "but we did it."
"Now let's get going, shall we?" Ms. Mowz shouts, breaking up the conversing as the five all run forward to the next three. Between Koops's shell, Vivian's fire, Eggo's eggs, Goombella's Headbonks, and Ms. Mowz's trapped-like-an-animal way of fighting, all three fall extremely quickly. The five run forth once more, reaching the head of the beast itself.
Goombella immediately hits a Headbonk on the creature, causing it to let off a terrifying wail before smacking the Goomba with one of its two remaining tentacles. She is knocked backwards a few feet, and Koops comes flying in immediately afterward with his patented Shell Shot, doing a bit of damage. He launches once more and as the shell zooms toward its target, Vivian uses her magic to light it aflame, doing a good amount of damage. Eggo then throws two eggs into the air, and Ms. Mowz and Goombella both jump up and kick said eggs directly at the tentacles. By this point the wailing of the King Kalimari is almost unbearable. It launches its two tentacles directly toward the group, only for Vivian to use her magic to light both like some kind of fuse. The fire runs up both tentacles and reaches Kalimari himself, causing the creature to finally black out. Vivian then slips into the shadows and comes out a few seconds later with the jewel that King Kalimari had hidden underneath him.
"Just one more," Goombella says while she and the others all look like they are somehow both anxious and eager, "one more and it will be time to confront them."
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"It looks like this next jewel is on Isle Delfino, specifically Sirena Beach," Ms. Mowz points out as she reads the map while the heroes walk through the streets of Rogueport.
"Great. All we have to do is go there and-" Eggo starts but is interrupted by Goombella.
"Not that simple. There are no warp pipes leading out of the country in Isle Delfino."
"Why?" the Yoshi asks.
"Simple. Warp pipes tend to crack in places when they go too long. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but with pipes going undersea this could cause a world-wide flood that would be basically unstoppable. That's why all of the pipes on the Delfino Islands only go a short distance," Koops answers for the Goomba.
"STEP RIGHT UP AND RIDE THE DEATHRAIL!!!" they suddenly hear a somewhat sinister voice shout over the train intercom set up in town. The five, knowing something is up, run to the station and immediately see that the Excess Express has been converted into a somewhat demonic form and appears to be some sort of living creature. A Beanbean man with long, green hair, a pink eye mask, and a glass eye stands on the platform holding a somewhat dim red stone in his left hand.
"It may be imitation, but this will get the job done for now!" Popple shouts to no one in particular. He then spots the five heroes.
"So someone lived, huh? Deathrail, take care of these urchins!"
The train lets out a demonic howl much like what it would sound like if a train's howl was accompanied by a pipe organ before launching at the heroes, who just barely dodge.
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Ludwig sits in his throne room with his phone in hand, eagerly awaiting the call from Roy telling him the invasion is a success. As Ludwig impatiently taps his claws on the left side of the chair, the device suddenly starts to ring.
"Roy, about time! I trust everything was a succe-"
"No, it wasn't. Doopliss was standing at the border with no army in sight. He lived, we lost thousands."
"What?! How in the name of DAD did that happen, you simple-minded fool?!"
"I'm not sure, Brother Dumbest. That scrawny little ghost had some weird clock around his neck. Almost everyone collapsed right on the spot, and almost all of those were pronounced dead about half an hour later. The others died not soon after. Doopliss has killed almost the entire military."
Ludwig has no way to respond to this, and merely hangs up the phone without a sendoff. Immediately after turning the phone off, he begins to scream, throwing the phone onto the floor and watching it shatter into millions of pieces.
"That's it! Apparently no one around
here can get anything done right! I might as well kill that sheet-wearing
freak myself!"
Chapter 24: Sic Semper Tyrannis
Popple thrusts his left hand forward, causing the former Excess Express to rocket it forward, once again barely missing the heroes but hitting a building, causing it to collapse to the ground. All five heroes notice that the mock stone in his hand is controlling the train and promptly all five take their own course of action to get up the platform. Goombella and Ms. Mowz try using their small size to sneak up but that is ruined when the two have to jump out of the way of Deathrail. Koops and Eggo try a full-frontal assault, but they are met by a blast emerging from the stone itself, sending both flying backwards. Vivian takes a different method...
"You five are so pathetic!" Popple shouts as he moves his left hand a bit to point toward a nearby restaurant, causing a bag of food left lying by a customer who panicked when Deahtrail first launched to float to him and land directly at his feet. "I think I'll have me a meal while I watch you five try to stop death from coming. The only things I like more than watching idiots suffer are food, gold, and, oh yeah, myself!"
Suddenly Popple feels two hands grab him by the back of his collar. He turns his head slightly to see Vivian, who has just emerged from the shadows, holding said collar, and she immediately throws him into the side of the now stagnant train. He bounces off like a basketball off a wall, landing in a crumpled heap, the stone shattering in his hand and the Excess Express returning to normal in the process. Vivian slides down to him and, seeing that he is showing no signs of movement, lays one hand on his wrist.
"I'm not going to claim to be an expert or anything, but I'm pretty sure he's dead," Vivian remarks.
"He deserves even worse after all this," Goombella remarks while eyeing the destruction. The five turn and walk away, heading toward a boat nearby that they've commissioned to take them to Sirena Beach. Popple's teeth suddenly press down on a pill wedged in the side of his mouth. After a liquid drains from it, he stands right back up as though nothing ever happened.
"Sic semper tyrannis," he mumbles before beginning to walk in the opposite direction of the heroes. "Sic semper Peasley." A wanted poster with his photo on it lands at his feet, but Popple ignores it and continues walking.
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Several hours later...
Deathnify sits upon Doopliss' throne in his standard form, having locked the door to keep someone from barging in. It has been rather easy to use the Doopliss transformation to put himself into power truthfully: he just convinced Doopliss's military officials into believing that the Doopliss in the hospital was a fake used to setup Ludwig as well as garner sympathy for the small, desert country.
"All is going according to plan," Deathnify mumbles as he sits upon the throne. "As soon as I get Ludwig alone, it begins." He suddenly transforms into Doopliss, then walks over and presses a red button on the wall, turning on the intercom to downstairs.
"What day of the month is today?" the demon asks in Doopliss' voice, awaiting his moment to strike, specifically Ludwig's biweekly visit, the last of which was on the 8th.
"The 15th, your highness," the secretary answers, sounding as though she was awoken by the intercom, not surprising considering the time. Deathnify takes his cloaked finger off of the button, then returns to his normal form once more.
"Just one more week. I have waited so very, very long for my time..." He then walks over and picks up the phone, dialing a number in Monstrotown, "Hey, Boo. Yeah, everything's going great. Ludwig's fate is just a week away, and after that you know what to do. So, you, Boolossus, and Van Gore interested in a game of cards tomorrow night?"
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Two nights later...
It's around 3 in the morning at Sirena Beach, literally just a few hours before the destruction of Hotel Delfino. But the pirates of the Sugar Crew are not resting up for the big day, instead they are awake for a joyous night of celebration not only at being ready to gain the Jewel of Love, but also at having successfully foiled an attempt to stop them, locking the interloper, Yoshi, in thebrig of the S.S. Teacup. Syrup herself sits on the deck of the vessel, engaging in a night of shanties among with most members of her crew. Others stand on the beach itself, dancing around a bonfire heating the cool ocean air. One of the partiers, a Wanderin' Goom named Goomer, notices a small, green ship about a mile from the shore.
"Captain," he interrupts during the chorus of the song, "someone's coming."
"Let them be!" she replies merrily.
"Tonight is a night of celebration, not violence!"
Chapter 25: Glitz and Glamour
The heroes all stand behind the pilot of the ship, Flavio, looking out to shore.
"She's still here," Koops remarks, seeing the S.S. Teacup. "I guess Yoshi failed."
"Well, we'd better hurry up and find that jewel then," Goombella muses, all while continuing to stare. "Perhaps they are asleep?"
"No, I can see a fire from here," Vivian remarks. "They're awake, and it looks like they're feeling pretty jovial."
"You know," Flavio says, "I've met Syrup a few times myself. She likes Flavio pretty well, so she might treat you five better if I come along."
"Sounds like it'd be better off to go with that than risk confrontation," Eggo replies. Suddenly Ms. Mowz gasps.
"Those four jewels Cackletta had," she suddenly begins to shout, "they moved! They're just a few islands away now!"
"Could someone have taken them from her?" Vivian wonders.
"Maybe her and her minions are on the move," Goombella answers. She then looks the mouse of the party directly in the eyes. "By the way, how do I keep failing to notice you slipping into my knapsack?"
"Pickpocket's skill," the Little Mouser answers before reaching into the pocket of the green cloak she is still wearing and handing Goombella a wallet from within it as well. Goombella looks dumbfounded upon seeing this.
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The small, green ship pulls into the harbor of Sirena Beach and anchors, the six people onboard stepping off and seeing the Sugar Pirates having a festival of sorts. Once they step off, Syrup approaches them with a glass, presumably filled with rum.
"Hey, look who it is!" she remarks upon seeing Flavio. "What's the occasion for you being here? Wanting to help out with the plan to get some 'protection' from Popple?"
"These five paid Flavio to bring them here."
"Ah!" She laughs before turning to the other five. "What's your business here?"
"We're here for that jewel underneath the hotel," Goombella answers for the party, occasionally looking back to make sure Ms. Mowz isn't robbing her again. "We need it to stop an evil tyrant from-"
"Ah, so we've got the same idea, huh? You wanna beat Popple too?"
"Who?" Vivian asks for the group.
"Maybe you know him by his alias, C.P. Cornello. Here's a word of advice: the C.P. stands for Captain Popple."
"Never heard of him."
"Maybe you know him by appearance then?" Syrup wonders before pulling a folded up sheet of paper out from her pocket and showing it to them. "Recognize him now?"
"Hey, that's the guy we saw at the train station the other day," Eggo answers. "Don't worry ‘bout it, he's dead. Let's just say he... caught the wrong train."
"Dead? Great work! I suppose him being dead works just dandy then!" Syrup chirps before guzzling down her drink. "Help yourselves to the jewel then!" Syrup turns and shouts to her crew. "Boys, I have an announcement! Thanks to these five people, as well as my good buddy Flavio, Popple's out of our lives forever! They offed him!" This stirs a loud cry of rejoicement from the crew, who begin to party that much harder.
"By the way," Koops asks, "did a green Yoshi happen to show up recently?"
"Aye!" Syrup answers, "He wanted the jewel. We locked ‘im up, but we were plannin' to let him go as soon as we got the jewel."
"Could you go do that right now then?" Eggo asks,
"Sure, why not!" Syrup turns and runs back towards the ship, and seeing this Vivian goes into the ground suddenly, coming back up a few minutes later jewel in hand.
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The Glitz Pit promoter sits at his desk, tapping a pencil on it and anxiously awaiting the man he sent out's return. Suddenly his phone rings, and he answers it expecting an offer from someone interested in paying for some ads around the Glitz Pit.
"Hello. This is-"
"Hey, it's me. Just got let go by Syrup."
"How did things go?"
"I failed, but those other five showed up. Turns out they killed her target, so she let them have it and then let me go."
"Good, good. So how many does that make it total?"
"All seven. Cackletta's got four, those five have three."
"You mean-"
"It's time. I'm going with them at the moment. Going to help out in the final confrontation, if you know what I mean."
"Got it. I'll be there A.S.A.P. Talk to you later."
"Bye."
Both hang up, and the Glitz Pit promoter stands up and walks over to a closet in the corner. He opens it up and first takes out the letter from Daisy that had been sent just before she handed over the throne, suggesting he hide to avoid meeting the same fate and giving his current position as a good way to do so. He then takes out a familiar outfit he hadn't worn in about a month and a half.
It's time, he tells himself. It's time, Luigi.