Chapter 5: Hot Chocolate
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Maria stared watched as the myriad of Yoshis squeal and delight and started to head back for their home. She wondered if Bowser hadn’t kidnapped Peach would she and Pauline known about the trapped Yoshi’s and would they have released their new friend from his prison?
“I wonder if they will ever forgive me for what I have done,” Yoshi sighed.
“These guys seem pretty young,” Maria said. Then again she didn’t know to tell the difference in age with Yoshis. “They may not placed the blame on you and if they had then they would have forgotten it by now.”
“The only one who needs to forgive you is you,” Pauline said to their green friend. “I don’t think I have ever apologized for what I said to you when I first met.”
“You don’t have to,” Yoshi said. “Your words were a kick in a tail, and I needed that.”
“Pauline’s right, you are the only one blaming you,” Maria gave him a hug. The dinosaur needed all the positive reinforcement it could get. “They were my brothers and I forgive you.” She did not blame him at all. The entire blame rested on Kamek’s shoulder’s.
“Thank you,” Yoshi hugged her back.
“What’s the next island?” Pauline shielded her eyes as she stared ahead. A cool breeze blew across the land. “Ah the scent of the sea.”
“Yeah,” Maria sniffed She smelled the familiar tang of sea air There was also the scent of candy.” Nothing like the stink of dead fish and pollution to get you going.”
“You never have been to any other seaside,” Pauline raised an eyebrow.
“You’re one to talk. Iowa is land locked.”
“I have been to the Carolina’s, Maine, Florida, and California,” she closed her eyes and inhaled. “This smells even better.”
“Oh yes” Yoshi closed his eyes and wiggled his nose.
Maria inhaled again. The salty tang in the air did smell cleaner, and there was a hint of something else. Another breeze blew and the scent was stronger. “Wait, why do I smell chocolate?”
“Because we are heading towards Chocolate Isle,” Yoshi explained.
“Chocolate isle?” Pauline repeated. Her eyes grew larger. “Is Chocolate isle anything like the Vanilla Dome?”
“Oh yes and it’s even better,” Yoshi smacked his lips. “The volcanoes erupt hot melted chocolate.”
“This sounds like my kind of place,” Maria started to run. She knew where she was going to plan her next vacation. “Last one there is a rotten egg.”
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Luigi flicked his tail as he stood in front of the lines of Dino Rhinos and Torches. “All right ladies and gentlemen I am only going to say this once and you better listen. Those girls have cleared through most of the land they have destroyed the other castles and freed the rest of the prisoners. We are not going to make that mistake. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, General Luigi.” The beasts nodded.
“Right,” Luigi nodded. “You are going to attack with all your strength. Torches, they will try to jump on your head, make it certain that they cannot clear over your fire.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” the Torches nodded.
“No more dawdling. Its time to move out. Move, move, move, I want to see your legs move people.”
“Sir, yes , sir,” the dinosaurs ran out of the training grounds.
“You certainly have motivated them,” Wendy brushed her hip against his.
“Wendy,” Luigi swallowed. She was still under age. He still couldn’t date her and he kept asking himself why he agreed to stay with her on Chocolate Isle, and the reason was always because she asked.
“Did I surprise you?” She brushed her tail against his. “You know I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“I hate to say this but you are,” Luigi closed his eyes. “You don’t know how much strength I need to keep from grabbing you and giving you a kiss.”
“Oh I am sorry that I am such a temptress,” she batted her eyelids at him.
“Did you come watch me train the troops?” He decided it would be safer if he changed the subject.
“No, I came to tell you that you have a message on the screen.”
“A message?” Luigi headed for the castle. “From who?”
“My brothers, and I am not sure what they want.”
Ludwig, along with Morton and Iggy were on the screen when Luigi and Wendy ran inside. All three appeared to be disappointed, and Morton was gritting his teeth.
“Let me guess,” Luigi sighed. “They defeated Roy?”
“I can’t believe it,” Morton shook his head. “Roy is the strongest and most undefeatable of them all. You have to be a nasty storm to defeat someone like Roy, or even dad. Why do you think I copied my style after him?”
“Easy little bro,” Iggy grabbed onto Morton’s mouth. “We think we may have found out how Pauline and Maria found out about us.”
“I checked on the surveillance videos,” Ludwig said. “ Maria, Pauline and Princess Peach arrived on the island and proceeded to have a picnic. We don’t have audio but it appears they were just here to relax.”
“Then why did they start attacking us?” Wendy asked.
“They went after us because our father kidnapped Princess Peach” Iggy said. “Both Maria and Pauline were just playing around with their capes when father and several soldiers came and nabbed Peach and returned to his castle.”
“Oh daddy,” Wendy slapped her head. “What does he see in her anyway?”
“Why didn’t Mario try and convince him that was a bad idea?” Luigi asked.
“Mario did,” Ludwig sighed. “But father refused to listen, Mario brought up the point and was berated for it. Father blames him and you for not training the soldiers better.”
“What?” Wendy screeched. “Luigi is one of the best. How could he say such things? He must be blind.”
“We have to go,” Iggy said. “Roy is about to arrive and we need to be briefed by him. We wanted to warn you about Pauline and Maria. Before I forget they are joined by a green Yoshi.”
“I can’t believe daddy has to mess things up by kidnapping Peachy” Wendy curled her fingers into fists. “Luigi what are we going to do?”
“We are going to fight,” Luigi said. “Maybe I can reason with them try to convince them that your brothers will convince King Bowser to release Peach. Then they will return to their balloon and leave. We rebuild the castles and life will go on as usual.”
“Oh Luigi,” Wendy embraced him.
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Maria removed one of the large berries from her pocket and tied a long piece of string to the stem. It had been a while since she last had chocolate fondue. She was going to take advantage of where she was and enjoy every aspect of it.
“What are you doing?” Pauline raised an eyebrow.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Maria lowered the berry into a small depression that was filled with hot bubbling chocolate.
“You know this is not the time or place for this.”
“There is always time for chocolate,” Maria waited until the fruit was completely coated before she pulled it out. “How about a picture of this masterpiece?”
“Okay, but I’m only using the digital for this one,” Pauline took a picture.
“I never had fruit dipped in chocolate before,” Yoshi stared at the berry suspiciously. “Is it good?”
“Never?” Maria raised her eyebrows. “You have never lived.” She blew on the fruit for a few seconds before she removed it from the stem. “Try this.” She tossed the fruit towards Yoshi.
Yoshi gobbled it up. “Wow, that tastes wonderful.”
“I’m seeing something that isn’t so wonderful,” Pauline pointed at several strange creatures that were heading their way. They were grayish green in color and looked like a hybrid between a dinosaur from the triceratops family and a rhinoceros. “I think there is way to stop these guys from charging.”
“You take away its credit card?” Maria asked.
“Now it’s not the time,” Pauline said. She had crouched down and was ready to leap. She jumped on one, which shrank, and she jumped on it again, knocking it out.
“I got your back.” Lovely these dinosaurs had ruined her chocolate covered snack.
Several of the smaller ones had lined up in between Maria and Pauline. As soon as Maria tried to jump the dinosaurs tilted their heads back and opened their mouths. Several different flames shot up from their mouths.
“Whoa” Maria stumbled back. “Hey Pauline, do you still have some fire?”
“Sorry,” Pauline had a foot in one of the beasts mouths.
“Great.” Maria glared at the little fire breathers. How the heck was she going to get past them?
“Rhino’s are nasty,” Yoshi said. His tongue lashed out and he gobbled one of the torches. “Torches are yummy.”
“Thanks,” Maria skipped and jumped ahead until she caught up with Pauline. She jumped on the Rhino that had Pauline pinned with its mouth and jumped on it twice.
“There is a lot more,” Pauline jumped on the next one. There were hundreds more following it.
“Son of a bitch,” Maria gasped.
“I think I see a row of question blocks,” Pauline pointed ahead to a platform.
“Time to play hopscotch,” Maria jumped on the heads of the dinosaurs in a neat path towards the platform with Pauline following behind. The avoided the fire from the torches until they made it.
“Lets see what we got,” Pauline smashed at both blocks. The first had a balloon float up. The second contained a star. “I got it.” She jumped for the star and tripped.
“You can have the balloon,” Maria grabbed the star.
“Maria,” Pauline gasped. She was surrounded by more of the Rhinos. How many times was she going to get surrounded by enemies?
“Not again” Maria cringed and grabbed the star. She felt her caffeine and sugar levels rise. She ran back towards the crowd of Rhinos and ran around in a circle defeating the beasts and then proceeded to plow through the onslaught of dinosaurs until she felt the star power fading.
“Why did you have to defeat all of them?” Yoshi asked as he finished eating the Torches.
“Sorry,” Maria placed her hands behind her head. “I got a little carried away.”
“Speaking of being carried away,” Pauline had caught up to the power balloon. She was inflated and floating in the air. “Can we continue?”
“Right,” Maria climbed on Yoshi’s back.
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Mario’s whole body felt stiff and sore as he made his way to the dungeon and Peach’s cell. He had done what he was ordered and put his soldiers through rigorous training. He made them march, practice attack and perform target practice until they started to shed some tears because they were in pain.
“Man” he groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck and shoulders. “Maybe I should have had a nice soak before I came down here.”
“Hello General,” a Paratroopa was guarding the Princess. “Ready to take over.”
“For a few hours,” Mario nodded at him. “Make certain that you take care of your drills.”
“Yes sir,” the Paratroopa saluted him before be left.
“Finally,” Mario yawned. He sat down with the chair facing the cell and felt his muscles and joins groan. “Ow.”
“Are you okay?” Peach mumbled. She had just woken up.
“I have been better,” Mario stretched out his arms and stuck out his legs. “I’m just a little sore, that is all.”
“Mario?” Peach blinked her eyes.
“Yeah?”
“How long have you been here?”
“I just got here,” he moved his legs in circles. “Sorry I couldn’t bring your breakfast today, Princess.”
“You don’t have to apologize.” Peach said. “You look exhausted.”
“Bowser ordered me to wake up early so I can train the soldiers better. So they could defeat Maria and Pauline.”
“He worked you too hard,” Peach chewed her bottom lip. “Turn your chair around.”
“What?”
“Turn your chair around. I’ll make you feel better.”
“Oh,” Mario turned his chair around and sat back down.
“Now relax,” cool finger slid under the shell and grabbed Mario’s shoulders. “I’ve never given someone with a shell a massage before.
“Hmmm,” Mario tilted his head back. “This does feel good.”
“Why is Bowser making you work so hard?”
“My soldiers are not strong enough. I have to make sure they will be able to take care of your friends.”
“They could be your friends,” Peach said. “Bowser doesn’t blame you for their triumphs now does he?”
“He does, even though if he had never kidnapped you, they wouldn’t come after us,” he didn’t care what Bowser told him. It was his king’s fault; even the Koopalings could see that.
“I’m sorry,” Peach kissed the top of his head.
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Maria watched as Pauline ran after the mushroom, half wishing that she had found something that would help them along. At least she could still throw a bunch of Yoshi eggs.
“Time to deal with the little Koopa princess,” Pauline said after she had grown several feet.
“You are going to have to deal with me first,” a tall Koopa with a green shell and face leaped down. He wore the same spiked bands as the members of the royal family. His moustache was sleek and smooth, He wore a large green hat with the letter L on it.
“Luigi,” Maria curled up her fists.
“Luigi?” Yoshi stared at the Koopa.
“Correction Miss,” Luigi frowned. His knees were bent and his hand was on the ground in a dramatic pose. “I never got your last name.” he cleared his throat. “I am General Luigi.”
“I am Maria Segal,” Maria introduced and nodded. “We don’t have to fight. We can try and reach a compromise.”
“There is no compromise,” Luigi growled.
“Pauline, you get Wendy. Yoshi and I can take care of him.”
“I got it,” Pauline ran to the door.
“No” Luigi leaped and made his ground pound move while breathing a fireball at Pauline. Pauline had ducked and avoided the fire.
“Yoshi jump,” Maria shouted as the Koopa landed and she jumped to avoid the paralyzing effect from the seismic waves. “I have remembered from the last time.”
“Luigi,” Yoshi repeated.
“Oh god” Maria gritted her teeth. “Yoshi, I’m sorry I forgotten to tell you that the generals share the names of my brothers.”
Luigi’s eyes held a look of sympathy for a few seconds before he spat out more flames.
“He has the same hat,” Yoshi closed his eyes. “He has the same hat as baby Luigi.”
“What’s he talking about?” Luigi asked.
“He’s talking about my brothers that were murdered. He tried to rescue my Luigi. He had Mario with him.”
“They both had the hats,” Yoshi said. “That is the same hat. I can smell it.”
“That’s impossible,” Luigi shook his head. “Uncle Kamek said he gave us our hats as a gift.”
“Kamek?” That name was familiar.
“Kamek was the one who killed them,” Yoshi said. “He said he killed them.”
Maria pounced on Luigi and pinned him to the ground. “Your Uncle killed my brothers.” She grabbed him by the collar. “He took their hats and gave them to you and your brother. Yoshi never saw the bodies. It gave me some hope, but now that I see my brother’s hat on your head.” She was shaking. “It’s gone.”
“Uncle Kamek wouldn’t have done that.” Luigi narrowed his eyes.
“Really?” Maria glared into his eyes. “Why don’t you ask him? Ask him about the human babies that share your and your brother’s names.
“He wouldn’t,” Luigi rolled out from under her. “He couldn’t have.”
“You smell familiar,” Yoshi frowned. “Your hat smells like Mario’s hat, and you smell a little like baby Mario, but just a tiny bit.”
“No,” Luigi closed his eyes. “It can’t be true.”
“It is,” Maria stepped back. “Now if you excuse me, I have to help Pauline.”
“You don’t need my help for anything,” Pauline stepped out of the throne room. Her hair was out of place and she had shrunk back down to side. “What about him?” She pointed at Luigi.
“Leave him,” Maria said. “We are going to allow him to leave.”
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