Part 4:
Chapter 4: Visitor from the Stars
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“That is pretty much it,” Mario said before he took another sip from the beverage called Froggy Drink. To his surprise it actually tasted good like a blend of citrus juices.
“Son of a bitch,” Luigi frowned.
“Luigi watch your language,” Wendy said.
“Sorry” Luigi sighed. “But I still can’t believe he would do that. I mean if he did kill babies, then he could have erased Mario’s memories.”
“Let me have him,” Maria cracked her knuckles. “Just put me in a room with him.”
“Me first,” Luigi said. “Although I think someone already took care of him. The last I saw was of him running and a bruise on his beak and there were cracks on his glasses.”
“Mom didn’t sound pleased with him,” Mario remembered when he received the kidnapping orders. His mother sounded like she wanted some time along with Kamek.
“Hmmm,” the old frog said. He had a long thick and white beard and wore a purple hat. “I believe this journey will help you regain your memories.”
“Do you think so, grandpa?” Mallow asked. “I mean frogfucious?” During lunch Mallow had informed Mario about him being adopted.
“You can still call me grandfather,” the frog said. “That will not change things.”
“He’s right Mallow,” Mario gave the odd kid a pat on the head. “Our mother informed Luigi and me that she adopted us.”
“She found us while still in the shell,” Luigi explained. “Never stopped the fact that she loved us from the second we hatched.”
“They are correct,” Frogfucious said. “I may be old, but I am wise the waters tell me all. I even detect whereabouts of five other Koopalings. They are located on a small island and in a town of former Troopas.”
“You said five,” Mario became alarmed.
“Larry left a few weeks ago,” Lemmy explained. “He said he is going to find a new kingdom for us to take over.”
“Oh,” Mario exhaled.
“I hate to sound rude,” Maria wiped her mouth, “But if we want to find the other six of these star pieces then we have to get a move on. I also need to find the princess.”
“And find my parents,” Mallow stood up. “And help Mario with his memories.”
“I also have to find out where Bowser is,” Mario added. He turned to face his brother. “Won’t be long Weegie.”
“Take care,” Luigi embraced him. “I want all of you to come back, even if that means you won’t be back.”
“I know,” Mario gave him another hug.
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Mario stared at the map Mallow had loaned to him. “We should be coming up on Rose Town. Does anyone have a travel guide with them?”
“Toadsworth gave me one,” Maria unfolded the pamphlet. “Let’s see Rose Town. A peaceful rustic town next to the infamous forest maze where you can easily get lost, if you don’t have a map.”
“They want to advertise that?” Mario asked. He just didn’t understand the toads sometimes.
“I bet they have tours,” Mallow said. “We have one frog who gives tours around the swamp for visitors. He’s visiting his family now.”
“I guess that would make sense,” Mario shrugged. “Is there anything else?”
“They are known for their roses,” Maria read on. “I bet they are with a name like that.”
“I think we are here,” Mallow pointed up ahead. There were several houses and a wooden flower shaped sign that said Welcome To Rose Town. “It looks pretty.”
“It does,” Mario tensed up. “Not sure how they would accept me.”
“Don’t worry a thing,” Maria placed her hand on his shoulder.
The first thing Mario had noticed about the townsfolk was their mushroom caps were striped. Instead of having caps with large spots they were colorful ring like stripes encircling each one.
“Hello,” Mallow greeted a toad woman with a yellow striped cap.
“Why hello there,” the woman smiled at him. “Welcome to Rose Town. We usually don’t get many travelers this time of year.” She nodded at Maria, but her smile faded when she saw Mario. “What are you doing here, coldblood?”
Mario tensed up even further and bit back the urge to growl.
“Huh?” Mallow blinked.
“Is there a problem?” Maria asked.
“The problem is the ugly creature that is with you,” the toad woman pointed at Mario.
“The only thing ugly around here is your attitude,” Maria said. “The three of us are on a mission.”
“Yeah,” Mallow flexed his arms. “I don’t like people who insult my friends.”
“I don’t care if the coldblood is your friend. His kind are not welcome here.”
“Is this town part of the Mushroom Kingdom?” Maria asked. “Cause I am sure Princess Peach would love to hear how this town kept Mario out, especially since he happens to be a good friend of the princess.”
“Harriet Morel,” another toad woman shouted from in front of the inn. She was sweeping floor in front of the inn. “I thought you were going to the shop for more flour.”
“I was,” Mrs. Morel pointed at Mario. “And then I saw this creature trying to trespass into town.”
“You mean that Koopa?” the inn woman asked. “Why isn’t he allowed?”
“Because of what he is,” the racist toad woman continued. “He belongs to that race of-“
“Race of what?” Maria folded her arms.
“Last I checked you were not the mayor in town, now Harriet, I think you need to be more concerned with your bakery. You wouldn’t want to have to turn customers away because you don’t have enough pies and cookies.”
“You need to mind your own business, Anna.”
“I am and I see three possible customers.”
“Trust me when I say that I will go to the mayor with-“ an arrow fell from the sky and stuck her in the cap, stopping her from moving.
“What just happened?” Maria touched Morel. “She isn’t moving.”
“Oh my,” Anna ran from the inn. “This has been happening near the woods.” She pulled the arrow from Morel’s hat. “Harriet, are you okay?”
Morel blinked. “What had happened?”
“You had an arrow in your hat,” Mallow explained. “And you stopped moving.”
“An arrow?” She glared at the arrow in Anna’s hand. “Now they are spreading around town. The authorities need to do something.” She gave Mario a disgusted look. “This town is going to hell.”
Anna sighed. “I’m sorry about that. She is very set in her ways. I don’t understand the Koopa hate myself, but then again I’m from Grass Land. I’ve only lived her for seven years.” She held out a hand. “I’m Anna Buttons. I own the inn here. Let me get you checked in so I can get dinner started.”
“Thank you,” all three of the heroes said at once.
“Follow me,” Anna lead them inside.
The inn had a sweet rose scent. There were green curtains hanging around the windows and a single large desk. Anna ran behind it and pulled out papers and keys.
“I think I’ll pick some flowers,” a small child with a red striped cap was sitting in the corner of the inn. He was surrounded by dolls. One was a plush figure of Bowser, another was a pretty doll that resembled princess Peach and a third doll looked a lot like Maria. It had its brown hair styled into a couple of braids and was dressed in turquoise shirt, blue jeans, turquoise baseball cap and sneakers. The child made the Princess doll walk along the floor. “It is such a pretty day.” He picked up the Bowser doll. “Not as pretty as you.” He lowered his voice. “Come with me Princess.” He grabbed the Princess doll and placed them in the corner before raising his voice. “Oh help me.”
“Maria,” Mallow whispered. “That one doll looks like you.”
“Yeah,” Maria nodded.
“I’ll save the day,” the child picked up the Maria doll. “You should give up now Bowser.” He set the Maria doll down and picked up the Bowser one. “You think you can defeat me?” He slammed the Bowser doll down on Maria. “There.”
“I don’t think I was ever defeated that early,” Maria chewed her bottom lip. “So who is going to save the princess now?”
“That’s easy,” the kid smiled. “It will be Ge-“ he did a double take. “Wow you look just like my Maria doll.”
“That’s because she is Maria,” Mallow pointed at her.
“Wow,” the kid dropped his dolls and stood up. “You are the real Maria? You are the one who keeps stopping Bowser and rescuing the princess?”
“That would be me,” Maria smiled.
“So cool, and you’re a real Koopa,” he pointed at Mario. “Can you growl for me?”
“Gaz, how many times have I asked you not to bother the guests?”
“It’s not a bother,” Mario said before he turned back to Gaz.” You want me to growl? Okay.” He growled.
“So cool,” he picked up the Bowser doll. “Do you want to be Bowser?”
“Gaz,” Anna sighed. “It won’t be a bother for you if you did play with him?”
“We would love too,” Maria kneeled down next to him. “Who should I be?”
“Well since Bowser defeated you, you can be the princess.”
“I don’t know these people,” Mallow sat down. “I’ll just watch.”
“Help,” Maria held onto the Princess doll. “Somebody help me and help Maria.”
“Don’t worry,” Gaz pulled out another doll. It was made out of wood and dressed in a blue cap and cloak. “I Geno shall save the day.” He put another toy in front of the Geno doll. “I shall defeat you, Bowser.”
“Lets see you try, little man,” Mario spoke in a low voice and growled.
“Time for me to use my super star shot,” Gaz as Geno said. “Take this.” A small blast fired from the toy canon, but instead of hitting the Bowser doll it struck Mario, right in the center of his forehead. “Oh no.” Gaz stood up. “Mr. Koopa are you okay?”
“You win,” Mario said as the world went dark and all he heard was Mallow and Maria call out his name.
-
Mario opened his eyes halfway. He had been drifting in and out through that evening. Maria and Mallow agreed to take turns to watch him so he wouldn’t sleep for more than 45 minutes because of his concussion. He remembered waking up the first time and Mrs. Buttons allowed apologized and told them they can stay for free as well as give them a free dinner, and Mario could never remember having a roast chicken in rose petal sauce before.
He heard the snores coming from Maria and Mallow. Great, they were supposed to make sure he didn’t fall asleep. He had to wake one of them up.
There was a flash of light coming from the floor beneath them. Mario opened the store and looked down the stairs. At first he thought he was seeing things. The Geno Doll was now as tall as him and walking around in circles. He rubbed his eyes to make certain he wasn’t seeing things and watched as the doll walked right out.
“Mario?” Mallow called out from their room.
“I’m coming,” he’ll tell them what they had seen in the morning.
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The scent of ham, sweet rolls, and coffee along with the stench of eggs hit Mario’s snout head on in the morning as he and the others made their way down the stairs. They had agreed to go into the forest maze and see what is causing the odd arrows.
“But mom,” Gaz pouted. “I did see him. Geno came to life and walked outside.”
“Gaz, how many times have I told you not to lie?” Anna was setting the table for her guests.
“I’m not lying.” Gaz said. “I really did see Geno. It’s the truth.”
“Gaz if you are not going to stop telling fibs then you are going to be grounded.”
“But mom.”
“I did see Geno walk out,” Mario said. “There was a flash of light last night. I opened the door and saw Geno walk out, and he is now my size.”
“Mario, you are not helping,” Anna said. “Are you certain it isn’t caused by your concussion?”
“I guess,” Mario shrugged.
“Lets get some breakfast and find out what is shooting those arrows,” Maria gave him a light pat on the head.
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There were several people outside, all as still as statues, including Mrs. Morel. All of them have arrows sticking out of their hats. More arrows were constantly being rained down onto the town.
“I wonder why she stepped out,” Mario pointed at the racist woman who was giving her trouble before. “I wonder if she was walking around and trying to find more people to give me a hard time for being what I am.”
“You are not thinking of just keeping her like that are you?” Mallow asked.
“Of course not,” Mario shook his head. “I have to prove them wrong.”
“Should we remove the arrows now?” Mallow asked. He had to jump backwards to avoid being struck by another arrow.
“Not until we stop what’s causing it,” Maria said. She pointed at the woods. “There is the entrance.”
“Except we don’t have a map.” Mario said.
“We’ll just have to take that chance,” Maria ducked in the woods.
Mario followed after her along with Mallow. “We don’t exactly know what we are looking for.”
“There is something we can follow,” Maria pointed at the footprints. “We just follow the tracks.”
The tracks lead to an empty tree stump. A Wriggler crawled out from the edge of the forest brush and into the trunk.
“Probably an underground path,” Mario suggested. “Like a warp pipe.”
“It still is gonna be tricky,” Mallow said. “Mario can use track the guy who made the steps by scent?”
“Not exactly,” Maria rubbed his snout. “I can tell you where stuff is, but it has to be a fresh scent.”
“Keep tracking like usual,” Maria instructed and climbed in.
“Hey,” Mario pulled her off. “Don’t forget I am in charge and I go in first.”
They ran through the various twists and turns in the underground tunnels and when they emerged they found the tracks again and continued to follow. Whoever made them seem to know where they were headed, even though he or she didn’t have a map.
“Ah found it you have,” they came a cross a slender red and yellow striped creature with green hips and shoulders and yellow limbs. He had eyes like Lemmy and a shock of wild red hair. It’s butt stuck straight up and had a long bowstring connecting the back of his head with his butt. “To me you shall bring.” The odd creature robbed his hands.
“Yes sir,” several large arrow like things with the same odd eyes as the creature approached him while carrying in a large glowing star piece.
“Guys,” Mallow whispered. “He has the star piece.”
“Happy how shall Smithy be,” the creature said.
“Too bad he is going to be disappointed,” an commanding voice said before a giant Geno doll walked out from the bushes. “That piece belongs with the others.”
“Right you are,” the bow said. “All of them, Smithy shall have, nyah.”
“He isn’t going to get a single one,” Mario marched out. “We came for that star piece.”
“We also came to stop you from your attack on the townsfolk,” Maria joined him.
“How can you understand this guy?” Mallow asked. “He talks funny.”
“Funny talk do I?” The bow asked.
“Bowyer,” one the arrows bounced. “Shall we take care of them for you?”
“Yes, all together we shall.”
“You might as well get your team together, Yoda.” Maria jumped on top of his head.
Mallow summoned another bolt of lightening onto Bowyer and Mario roared at his direction.
“Nyah,” Bowyer shouted and a flash of blue struck them.
Mallow shouted and struck him with the wooden cane Frogfucious gave him. While Maria threw something that looked like a baseball at its face.
Bowyer pointed at Mallow. A large bolt of lightening struck him head on. “Watch this now.” One of his arrows was loading into his chord. He pulled the arrow back and let it fly and land on Mario.
“Ouch,” Mario roared and removed the arrow. “Hah, you minions don’t work on me.” He snapped it half. “I can still…move.” He felt very tired. “Why am…I…so sleepy?” The soft dirt welcomed him as he curled up.
“Mario,” Maria poked him. “Wake up, we won.”
Mario raised an eyelid. “What?”
“We won,” Maria helped him to his feet “Bowyer is destroyed. We got the other star piece.”
“How?” Mario smacked his lips.
“Geno,” Mallow pointed at the animated doll. “He had this blast.”
“I missed it,” Mario sighed.
“Do not fret friend,” Geno said. “I have a feeling you will be seeing more of my attacks. We have found two of the star pieces. There are five more.”
“Grandpa was right,” Mallow said.
Geno nodded. “Lets discuss this back in town.”
-
Gaz was the first one to see them enter the inn. “Mom, come quick. Geno is back.”
“Gaz, you need to stop lying,” Anna entered the room. “Your imagination is going—oh my.”
“You see,” Gaz pointed at Geno. “He did come to life.”
“Yes Gaz I have,” the doll said.
“That is a remarkable costume,” Anna said. “So very real.”
“Thank you, but this is not a costume,” Geno turned to the others. “You are aware of the star road?”
“Only from what Frogfucious has told us,” Maria said. “It’s a road that catches wishes and sends them to Star Hill so that they can be granted.”
Geno nodded. “This creature Smithy is a ruthless figure from another dimension. That sword in the castle connects this world and his. When it fell it damaged the star road into seven pieces. If we don’t find the seven pieces then wishes will never come true.”
“You mean my wish to be big and strong to be like you will never happen?” Gaz asked.
Geno shook his head. “No, I’m sorry.”
“My wish to find my parents,” Mallow chewed his bottom lip.
“I wish to find the truth about my brothers,” Maria said.
“I wish to regain my memories,” Mario finished. They had to find those other pieces.
“I was sent by a higher authority. My goal is to stop Smithy and repair the star road. I took this form because it looked like the strongest dolls.”
“Geno is,” Gaz nodded.
“I also have another name, but it is one that you cannot pronounce,” he turned to face Gaz. “Gaz, I will have to leave now. I want you to be strong for your mother.”
“I understand,” the boy nodded. “You have to go on a quest. Wait.” He ran over to his toys and picked up the same toy that gave Mario a concussion. “Here It’s your best weapon.”
“Packs quite a punch,” Mario rubbed his head where he was struck.
“Where do we go now?” Mallow asked.
“To those hills,” Geno pointed. “I believe there is another star piece there.”
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