-
Larry spat out a mixture of saliva, dirt and blood. The battles were getting worse. The zombies and spooks were greater in number than any other town and there was a new threat. Creatures that were part old woman and part vulture were swooping down on the trio, clawing at them with their hook like talons. Silhouette called them harpies. The name seemed to fit.
“I’m out of gas,” Kamron collapsed on top of one of tombstones. His hat was on the moist earth, his shock of orangish red hair hung over. “Go on without me.”
“Kamron,” Larry set his launcher down and leaned against it. There was not a sign of a ghoul in the sky, no ghost, nor were there any zombies on the ground.
“Can’t go on,” Kamron let go of his wand.
“Will you stop with the theatrics?” Larry asked. Now was not the time or place for his wizard to be a drama queen.
“I’m not acting,” Kamron said. “I really can’t move.”
“We got rid of em,” Larry’s words were nearly drowned out by the crash of thunder. “Look around. There is nothing left and I think this is the last cemetery.”
“Good,” the young magikoopa rolled off the tombstone. “Where is Silhouette?”
“She said she was going to see if there was anything to fight at that crypt,” Larry pointed to one of the few crypts that were in the cemetery. “And she hasn’t come back yet.”
A scream cut through the air, sending a chill down Larry’s spine. It was the scream of a young woman, and the end sounded like a cat’s yowl.
“Silhouette,” Kamron tried to stand up but nearly fell face forward.
“You stay here,” Larry picked up his weapon and ran towards the crypt.
The building was a mostly empty, save for the piles of dismembered zombies and dead harpies scattered across the floor.
Silhouette was pressed against the wall, held an inch above the floor by a blond woman dressed in white. The woman did not look like a corpse. There was no sign of rot, nothing falling off of her and no places on her alabaster white flesh that appeared to have been chewed. The tips of her ears were pointy and her eyes were a strange shade of light purple.
“Little kitty wants to play,” the strange woman said in a slow tone. “Master not pleased with the kitty hunter.”
“Let her go,” Larry aimed his launcher at her.
“Who dares?” The woman did not turn to look at him. “Would it be another hunter to cause more harm for the master?”
“I’m here to make more trouble for you,” Larry pulled back on the trigger. A white rocket flew through the air. It struck the woman on the back where it disintegrated into a thick cloud of white powder.
The cloud of salt faded not long after the sound of a body slid to the floor and landed with a thump. Silhouette was on the ground, rubbing at her eyes and gasping for air.
Tears were streaming from the corners of the strange woman’s eyes as well. “Foolish lizard,” she hissed, revealing two long and curved fangs in her upper mouth.
“Dumb,” Silhouette choked. “Salt has no effect on vampires.”
“I didn’t know,” Larry stammered. He had no idea he was going up against vampires. “I’m used to zombies and ghosts.”
“Too bad,” the vampire leapt for Larry, her fingers were outstretched, claw like fingernails were curved down.
Larry swung his weapon and struck her hard in the face. It was enough force to deflect her attack and sent her to the ground. A single glass vial with a white cross on the label was thrown on the vampire.
The vampire lady hissed once the liquid hit her. Her skin bubbled and blistered as if she were struck by acid.
“I got plenty more where that came from,” Silhouette held up two more vials. Her eyes were still bloodshot from the salt. She threw another vial at the vampire where it smashed on her toes.
The vampire woman hissed and ran towards the entrance of the crypt. “My master shall know of you.” She warned.
“Stop her,” Silhouette ran after the vampire. “Whatever you do, we can’t let this one get away.”
The vampire was fast and would have gotten away if she kept running. Which was why that it came to a surprise to Larry, when she stopped all of the sudden.
“No,” the vampire gasped before the bottom half of her dress caught on fire. She turned around to face Larry and Silhouette.
“Too hot for ya?” Silhouette threw the third vial at the vampire at the same time as the monster’s upper half was ignited.
“Master I’m sorry,” the vampire cried out before she completely burned away into ash.
“Did the clouds break away?” Larry stared out of the entrance. The sky was still as thick and dark as before.
“She did it,” Silhouette pointed down the hill.
There was a short and slender woman standing on the level ground, dressed in a grayish white gown with wide-open sleeves. A dark veil covered her head and her face. Smoke was still swirling around the woman’s thin and bony fingers. There was an envelope in her other hand. She dropped it on the ground before she walked away.
“Wait,” Larry shouted. He wanted to know who she was and thank her. He ran after her only to be pulled back by Silhouette.
“I swear, you don’t know anything sometimes,” the cat girl picked up the envelope. “She wasn’t ready to speak with us.” A claw like fingernail grew from her index finger. “She might want to meet with us later, but not now.” She opened the letter with her claw before it retracted back into her hand.
“What does it say?” Larry asked.
“It’s an address and a time,” Silhouette read. “They want to meet at six. That will give us plenty of time to nap and plan, and figure out where to go.”
“You were prepared for vampires,” Larry said. “You had the holy water and a stake.”
“You always have to be prepared for this kind of thing,” Silhouette yawned. “I need my nap.”
“Me too,” Larry nodded. “Lets get Kamron and get back to the motel.”
-
Luigi was certain that it was starting. His skin did not appear to be as scaly and the orange color was already fading to a tan and peach color. The spikes on his shell seem to be shrinking. He had a feeling that by the end of the day he would be human again. He had already shown both Wendy and Kammy and they took the news well.
He wanted to ask Kammy for another vision again, right after she had finished feeding her little buds, but Bowser had plans for her. Luigi wanted to find out what happened to his mother. He had no idea if she was still alive or not. He had also wanted to inform Mario of all that he had learned, but Wendy told him that Kamek had put magical traces on the phone lines and computer lines.
“Oh Luigi,” Tethys had flagged him down in one of the hallways. “I need to ask you for a couple of things.”
“Sure,” Luigi wasn’t sure if the other could notice that he was changing or not.
“How do I look in this?” She twirled around in the cream white dress she was wearing. It was not one of the maternity dresses she had bought earlier.
“You look lovely,” Luigi said. “Is there a special occasion?”
“Roy and I are going to get eloped,” Tethys whispered. “I haven’t told my family that I am carrying an egg yet, and if they found out that I’m still not wed, then they will disown me.”
Luigi nodded. He know how some families are, he had even seen it happen in his own family. “Good luck.”
“Thank you,” Tethys smiled. “Also, Bowser wants to see Morton, and Morton refuses to leave his room.”
“I’ll get him,” Luigi said. It didn’t seem like such a bad chore; maybe it would even be easier than trying to wake Mario up in the morning.
_
Luigi knocked on Morton’s door. Keep out, show is in session, was on the sign hanging from the knob. “Morton,” Luigi knocked. “Could you go into commercial for a second?”
“Can’t,” Morton shouted at the top of his lungs.
“I have brought you a snack,” Luigi stared at the covered tray in his hands. It wasn’t much of a snack, just the classic combination of cookies and a glass of milk. “Thought you could use it during your show.”
There was the sound of feet scampering across the ground, along with the click of the lock, followed by even more scampering, before Morton shouted. “Come on in.”
Luigi pushed the door open with his backside and shell. “I hope you don’t mind cookies and milk, although these cookies are fresh from the oven.”
“Sorry about the brief pause folks,” Morton was leaning back in his computer chair in front of the flat screen desktop of his. There was a web camera placed on one of the shelves, and Morton was wearing a headset. “Please continue with your questions.” He pointed to the space in front of the screen.
“Your father needs to see you,” Luigi set the snack down and removed the lid.
Morton mouthed ‘only three?’ before he picked up one of the cookies. “How many times are you Sugarlanders going to call and bitch about your king?” Morton took a large bite out of the cookie. “He’s not being evil. He is being a strong ruler. They can’t all be weak little pushovers like King Toadstool and his daughter. My advice to you is the same to all who live in Sugar Land, and that is to suck it up.” He gobbled up the rest of the cookie and drank from the milk.
Luigi watched Morton with his arms crossed, eyes set in a glare and his tail twitching angrily. The brat was ignoring him when he gave him a treat and delivered the message. He even had the audacity to whine about how many he had received.
“Yeah the boss at level five is hard,” Morton mumbled through a mouthful of cookie. “You can bypass it if you find the crystal key in the third level. You remember the area with the silver poles that seem to go nowhere? Yeah there is an invisible block. You just got jump around in the corner after you defeated the jumping rabid squirrels.”
“Morton, your father wants to see you.”
Morton waved Luigi away and finished his second cookie. “After you find it, and jump on it then jump again to the left, another block will form, and then you do that for the third time and you will get a ladder, and that will take you to the treasure chest that will have the crystal key.” He took another long drink
Luigi had had it. He growled and grabbed Morton by the horn; in the same fashion he had seen Bowser perform.
“Hey,” Morton demanded. “What gives?”
“I’ll tell you what gives,” Luigi removed the headset. “Your father wants to see you in the throne room, now.”
“But my show,” Morton pointed to the screen. “My audience needs me.”
“Tell them you are going to commercial.” Luigi still held onto his horn.
“I can’t,” Morton whined.
“Why, are you going to loose the feed or something?”
“No,” Morton grabbed onto Luigi’s wrist. “I’ve never gone to a commercial before, besides. I have nothing to use for a commercial.”
“That is not my problem, your father has ordered you to go and see him, and he is not in the best mood.”
“I can’t loose my audience,” Morton continued to cry. “Wait, I have an idea.” He grabbed onto the headset. “Sorry about the tussle folks. This is one of my old rivals, Luigi Mario, the younger of the two famous Mario brothers. I have to leave for a few minutes, until then he will answer your questions.” Morton placed the headset on Luigi’s head.
“Wait a second,” Luigi tapped the headset with his claw.
“You are just going to guest host for a few minutes,” Morton grabbed the last cookie and his glass. “It will only be until my father is finished speaking with me, then I will take over again.”
“What do I say?” Luigi stared at the screen, there was an online chat session going on. Several people where typing Luigi’s name followed by question marks.
“Whatever is on your mind,” Morton paused by the doorway. “If they like ya enough, then you can be a reoccurring guest.” He placed the cookie in his mouth and closed the door behind him.
Luigi sighed. He had no idea how many people were watching him, seeing that he was indeed a Koopa. “Hello, audience of the Morton Show. I’m sorry if I’m not a good host. I can’t really answer a lot of questions on vide games. Now if you want to ask about plumbing, or soccer, tennis, basketball, cart racing, or even baseball, then I can answer it.”
“Are you really Luigi Mario?” Someone asked, and the voice sounded like it belonged to a child.
“Yes I am.” That was pretty easy. He sat down in the chair.
“But you look like a Koopa, and not just a Troopa, but one of the dragon types.”
“I am a Koopa.” Well he was for now. He stared at his hands; there were no further changes. “Magic happens.” He stared at the screen. There were several numbers by the names. “Okay the number one is next to someone called Fried Squid. Do you have a question?”
“Luigi it’s me, Blooey.” The Blooper on the other end said.
“Blooey?” Luigi felt a little uncomfortable. “How are you feeling?”
“Great now that I got the last skin graft, I was still thinking about getting even with you for that, but seeing you as a reptile kind of changed that.”
“Glad you are feeling better,” Luigi coughed into his hand. “Okay, next caller.”
“Hey sonny,” Gadd was heard on the other end.
“Hi professor, since when did you listen to the Morton Show?”
“I don’t,” Gadd said. “Daisy was the one who was a fan.”
“Daisy?” Luigi chuckled “Daisy was the one who used to watch?”
“Iggy and I can’t explain it,” Gadd said. “Although we can figure out what had happened with the machine. Iggy had thought that maybe it went in reverse and we checked that out. We got no results with that one, but when it did lead us to the correct discovery. It read all of your DNA and instead of just yours and changed all of your DNA.”
“So their DNA was changed to Koopa and mine was human, but that still doesn’t explain why that I am just turning back just now.”
“We are still looking into that. It could have something to do with the fact that magic was involved.”
“That would explain it,” Luigi read the screen to see who is next. “Okay grumbledrop, you are next.”
“Luigi I have heard great things about you,” the person on the other end was a woman. “I know you will listen when no one else will, not even Morton when others have asked him.”
“Go on,” Luigi wasn’t sure he was ready to face such a hard question.
“Its King Nougat” the caller explained. “Many have said there was something wrong with him ever since he was a small child, always seemed so cold, so distant, and now that he is king he is a cruel tyrant.”
“What are some things he is doing?” Luigi asked.
“No one is allowed to enter or leave the land, it was difficult to get this message out. He will be making contact with the other kingdoms forbidden. He has made it mandatory that all boys are to be drafted at 14 into his army. He has limited products on almost everything since he says he needs the materials for an upcoming war. Hospitals need medicine, more people need shelter and food and he-“ The line went dead.
“Hello caller?” Luigi was frightened. He was certain the woman did not want to end the call then and now.
“Hey,” Morton tapped Luigi on the shoulder. “Guess what, time is up and dad wants to see you.”
“All yours,” Luigi handed him the headset.
-
Bowser was standing in front of a line of Sumos, Boomerang bros, and Monty Moles when Luigi entered.
“There you are,” Bowser smiled. “Unlike my loudmouth of a son you are prompt. He told me you grabbed his horn.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Luigi lied.
“Don’t be. You have to grab his horn to get anywhere with him, now I know you are wondering why I got all these guys here.”
“My guess is you wanted them to report?” Luigi shrugged.
“Not quite,” Bowser shook his head. “I want you to take these guys and go and find out on a scouting mission, see what Princess Peach is up to, besides the upcoming nuptials.”
Luigi swallowed. He wasn’t certain how anyone was going to see him when he is spying on Peach’s castle. “When do you want me to leave?”
“Around six,” Bowser said.
Luigi nodded. Great, it wasn’t as if he had enough on his mind already.
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