-
The voice was like the wind, thin and pleasant and also distant. Mario grunted in his sleep and rolled over.
“Yoshi?” Mario reached over to the dinosaur and felt Yoshi’s stomach. “Yoshi was that you?”
The voice was almost eerie and it would have been if it hadn’t belonged to Peach. He had no idea why she was calling out to him in the middle of the night.
“Be right back buddy,” Mario crawled out from his sleeping bag and stepped out of the tent. “Peach?”
“I’m over here,” Peach beckoned him with her finger. “Come and catch me.” She turned around and ran off.
“What is she playing?” Mario snickered. She wanted to be alone with him, that was it. He put on his shoes and ran after her.
He stopped when he had found her dress hanging from a few branches in one of the trees.
“Mario,” Peach covered his eyes from behind. “You found me.”
“Yeah,” Mario turned around. Every rational thought had oozed out of his skull when he saw Peach, standing before him in only her underwear. “Uh.”
“Uh?” she kissed him. It lasted for a few minutes.
“Yeah,” Mario had felt his whole face flush. He closed his eyes as she leaned forward again. This time their kiss lasted longer. His hands brushed against her shoulders and slid down to her breasts. He felt something else, something clawing at the back of his mind. It was the same feeling he felt before he had tackled Luigi in Bowser’s fortress.
“Take me,” Peach whispered.
“Do you want to wait?” Mario asked. He shouldn’t have asked her this. He hadn’t waited.
She shook her head. “I want the honeymoon to be memorable, not painful and I have heard the first time was painful.”
“It will be painful out here,” Mario did not let go of her. His mind was struggling with the clawing feeling. A voice from within was telling him to give in and become a Koopa again.
“Maybe if I wasn’t human,” Peach stepped backwards and turned around. Her body turned pale orange. She doubled over as a pink shell grew on her back followed by her tail. Her feet shifted in shape. Toes merged into three before claws grew. Her cries mixed in with growls.
Mario couldn’t fight the feeling any more. He removed his clothes as fast as possible before the transformation started.
“Mario,” Peach grabbed onto him again and kissed the side of his snout. “Take me now.”
“Yes,” Mario spun around and kissed her.
-
The sunlight sliced through the opening in the tent and landed on Luigi’s eyes. He blinked from the feeling of the warmth before he sat up. It was time to wake up, and his stomach told him it was time for breakfast.
“Morning,” He mouthed to Iggy who was still asleep before he put on his shoes, gloves and hat.
He wasn’t the first person to wake up. Kammy was kneeling next to the fire with a pail of water and several round rocks. She waved her wand over the rocks. Circles and squares bounced out onto the rocks and changed them into eggs.
“Morning,” Luigi greeted with a yawn.
“Good morning,” she waved the wand over the bucket. The water grew thicker and turned white. “Yoshi is gathering more fruit. I thought we could also have some eggs and milk with our breakfast.”
“Sounds good,” Luigi nodded. “Iggy is still asleep.”
“So is Daisy,” Kammy said. “I don’t know where Peach and Mario are, but I assume they are together.”
“They are not in their tents?” Luigi turned towards the direction of the twigs snapping and saw Mario and Peach walking back to camp. They were holding each other’s hands and Peach had a few twigs and leaves in her hair.
“Back from your walk?” Kammy asked.
“Yeah,” Mario had a dreamy far off look in his eyes.
Oh they did not just snuck off somewhere to make love, but the way they were smiling and the glow Peach had in her face told him otherwise. She was also rubbing the back of her neck.
“I think you missed one,” Luigi removed a small twig that was ensnarled in the back of Peach’s hair. He stared down at the back of her neck and noticed the familiar bite mark of a Koopa. “Mario, can I see you in your tent? Now?”
“Sure,” Mario exchanged a kiss with Peach before he followed his brother.
“What were you thinking?” Luigi asked as soon as Mario crawled inside.
“What?” Mario tried to play dumb.
“Don’t ask me what. You were a Koopa again.”
“Yeah,” Mario shrugged.
“And you couldn’t have waited?” Luigi folded his arms.
“To become a Koopa?”
“No, with what you did with Peach.”
“Oh,” he smiled. “She also became a Koopa.”
Luigi closed his eyes. “Its not that. Grandma Mia would be rolling in the grave if she knew that you and Peach had sex before you were married.”
“Don’t give me that,” Mario frowned. “You didn’t exactly wait yourself.”
“We didn’t engage ourselves until after we had exchanged rings.” Luigi said.
“Not you and Wendy. You lost it back when we were living in Brooklyn, unless you were lying about you and Lily Fatelli and you told me it was three times.”
“Yeah,” Luigi felt himself blush at the memory of his old girlfriend. “The first time was the night after the circus.”
“I don’t think I will ever forget that night,” Mario smiled. “I mean that circus.”
“You were stuffing your face through out the whole show, at least until a certain performance involving that ape.” He remembered that night. Lily had grabbed his hand at the end of the first clown act and she had that look of desire in her eyes. He almost forgot Mario was sitting next to him and inhaling handful after handful of popcorn.
“Forget the ape,” Mario shuddered. “I wish I could forget him, but I will never forget her.” Mario had nearly dropped the bucket of Popcorn when a beautiful teenager with long brown hair stepped into the spotlight. “My first. I’m happy for her. She has her husband and her arcade business.” He shook his head. “I haven’t been a virgin for a long time, unless your are angry at me on Peach’s behalf I suggest that you lay off.”
“Sorry,” Luigi stared at his hands. “I guess I’m just angry that you were able to turn into a Koopa again, and I have been trying. I miss being a Koopa.”
“What?” Mario stared at him. “I thought you were happy to be human again.”
“I thought that was what I had wanted,” Luigi shrugged. “There are several advantages in being a Koopa.”
“You might be able to change again,” Mario gave him a pat on the shoulder. “The professor said it was an exchange with our cells and yours.”
“Maybe,” Luigi shrugged.
“Come on, let’s get some breakfast.”
-
Larry did not have any doubts about the plan, not until they were near where the theater was supposed to be and they came across several Shadow ghosts. There weren’t just a handful; there were dozens.
“Okay,” the kid in the hoodie swallowed. “How are we going to get past those ghosts?”
“By becoming ghosts ourselves,” Howls dropped the large burlap sack he had carried. He made certain that each group of hunters had also received a bag. He reached in a pulled out a glowing white mushroom. “Here you go.” He handed it to Silhouette.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” She stared at the mushroom.
“Eat it,” he handed another one to Madam S.
“I’m not eating this,” she stared at the mushroom.
“Those are magic mushrooms,” Kamron recognized before Larry. “They are found all over the mushroom kingdom.”
“There is a time and a place to get high,” Silhouette stared at the shroom. “Unless you mean it is going to make me bigger or it’s going to heal me.”
“These are the good kind,” Madam S placed her mushroom in her mouth and started to chew.
“Okay, not sure how this is going to effect me. I’m only half human.” Silhouette started to eat her mushroom.
“The half is enough,” Howls handed more to Squishy and to a few of the other toads and humans that had accompanied them.
“It’s starting to work,” Madam S was whiter than usual, and she was glowing. She closed her eyes before she was engulfed into a small cloud of smoke. When the smoke dissipated there was a Boo wearing a veil. “This is new.” Her voice seemed to have an echo.
“What did you do?” Silhouette gasped. “You killed her, and you killed me and everyone.” She turned white. “You crazy old-“ the smoke cut her off. “Toad.” She was like Madam S, except she had pointed cat ears and the tapered point was as long as her tail.
“Those are ghost mushrooms,” Kamron said. “They don’t kill people. They just turn them into Boo’s temporarily.”
“He’s right,” Howls said as several more people and toads turned into Boos. “Stay out of any lighted areas and be careful when you open up the vials of pure water, splash some on you and you will turn back.”
“How do we access our weapons?” One of the new Boos asked.
“Just think of the weapon you want and reach inside yourself,” Squishy said. He still had his thick eyebrows and chin. “Like this.” He reached into his center and pulled out a vial of pure water.
“Not enough mushrooms for everyone,” Howls stared into the empty bag. “The Boos will go in first and take care of the other ghosts.”
“Follow me,” Madam S led the group.
Every Boo had a bottle of pure water in their hands. They floated above the Shadows and dumped the contents of the vials on the other ghosts, destroying them in an instant.
“They can float through,” Howls said. “We are going to have to access through the pipes.”
-
Larry clung to Kamron’s robes as they walked through the lower levels of the theater. Everywhere there were zombies, lying on their sides and unmoving. During the day they are just corpses. It is only at night do they become reanimated, or that was the story. They might resume life if they knew he and the others were around.
“How long can you keep up the spell?” Howls asked.
“This is an easy one,” Kamron kept his wand up. “It will last about an hour. I don’t know if that will be enough.”
“We found em,” Silhouette floated through the wall. “We have found the coffins.”
“Not so loud,” Howls brought a finger to his lips.
“Sorry,” she placed her hands over her face. “Follow me.”
She led them towards a large room. Several caskets were on the ground surrounded by several sleeping zombies. Larry wondered why there were no ghosts until he stepped in a puddle of water.
“There is a lot of people to stake,” Kamron said.
“Those shrooms are making it easy for us,” Silhouette pointed to a few Boos as they flew into some of the caskets. They opened up for a few seconds and closed before the Boos floated out carrying stakes. “You see?”
“They have no idea,” Howls chuckled. “It makes things seem almost too easy.”
“Like keeping a certain casket away from the others?” Larry pointed to one casket set far apart from the nest. It was also the only one covered in black velvet and surrounded by several sleeping harpies. “I bet that is where the master is sleeping.”
“They want to save that one for last,” Howls said. “I don’t think there is a way to kill him without waking up the harpies.”
A thundering roar came from one of the other rooms.
“That’s where Madam S had gone,” Silhouette pointed towards where the roar came from.
Larry turned to the room and then backs to the master Coffin. The harpies were stirring. Groans emitted from the floor and several zombies sat up.
Another coffin opened and female vampire sat up. “ When did Boos join us?” She looked around. Her eyes widened when several Boos floated from other coffins, still holding on to their stakes. “Treacherous Boos.” She hissed. “Attack the Boos.”
“Time to fight,” Howls aimed his rifle at the nearest zombie and blasted his brains out.
Larry fired another salt rock at another zombie when he heard the roar again. “She’s facing whatever it is alone. I’m going after her.”
“You won’t be covered,” Kamron told him.
“I don’t care,” Larry ran towards the direction of the roar and entered another large room.
There was a strange wheel like object in one corner of the room, but Larry’s eyes were drawn to the monster in the center, behind a throne like chair. It looked like a cross between a werewolf and a dragon. The bulk of it’s body almost reached the roof. It had four heads attached to long necks and three of them were snapping at Madam S. The fourth was half hanging off its neck by a thick flap of bleeding flesh.
Madam S was flying around, trying to swerve out of the way of the heads while she wielded a blood stained machete.
Larry aimed his rocket launcher at the center of the beast and fired.
“No,” Madam S flew to the one hanging head and whacked again. “Hell beasts can only be killed when you cut off all the heads.” She swung the blade again; this time taking off the head completely.
“Oh of course,” Larry sighed. Something with the name of a hell beast couldn’t be easy to destroy. He aimed his launcher at it again and fired. He missed. He glared at the swirling necks and the glowing green eyes of the monster. He fired again. This time he struck one, right through the neck.
“What the hell is that?” A boo with Avery’s hair flew in.
“Hell Beast,” Larry explained as he aimed his launder at the one head again. He hadn’t destroyed it, but it was slowing down. “You have to remove the heads.” He fired again and almost took the head off.
The monster retaliated with a swipe from its immense paw. Larry barely jumped back in time to avoid the curved hook like claws on the beast.
“I see,” Avery reached into his body and pulled out two blades. He attacked sliced at one head while Madam S cut at another.
Larry fired again. He hit the center of the head. It was enough distraction for Madam S to get a good and clean cut off it. The monster swung it’s body around and waved its tail. Larry tried to duck but the tail smacked him and sent him sprawling back. He winced from the sting left by the spines.
He felt warm sticky blood ooze out from the puncture wounds. ‘Come on,’ he told himself. He couldn’t just sit their and deal with his pain, not when there was a monster like that around.
Hot fetid breath fogged his vision and he rolled away before being snatched up by the monster’s large paw. Larry fired his weapon and left a bleeding, smoking hole in the center of the paw before he stood back up. He aimed at a third head that was still half way on and fired. The shot was enough to remove it from its neck
With a few swipes of their blades, Madam S and Avery were able to take care of the fourth head.
“I got this one,” Avery sliced through the sinew of the first head Larry had struck. The second the last head fell the body fell forward and collapsed on the chair, crushing it with it’s huge weight. Dark blood oozed out of the severed ends.
Larry placed his launcher on the ground and leaned against it as he tried to catch his breath. He tried to ignore the stench from the monster’s carcass, and listened to the soft and haunting sobbing from Madam S.
“We did it,” Avery tried to cheer her up. He used his small ghostly limb to give her a pat on the head.
“Yeah, the monster is dead,” Larry, added once he had caught his breath. A new fear entered his heart. “Unless that isn’t the only one.”
“It is,” Madam S clenched her eyes shut. Tears leaked out and fell onto the floor. “That means he isn’t here.”
“Who isn’t here?” Avery asked.
“Their leader,” she bristled. “He has already left.”
“We can’t be too certain,” Larry lifted his weapon from the floor. “The battle is still going on.”
-