book 3!

[Prof. Zam]

Chapter 1 – A New Beginning…Again…
PG-Language


It was a beautiful day in the mushroom kingdom. The sun was shining, the songbirds were singing, the butterflies were drinking their fill of nectar from the flowers underneath the window sill, -sigh-, I love these warm lazy afternoons…
“Honey? Where are you?”
“I’m over here mother!”
My mother is one of the most beautiful people of her country. Koopakistan I believe she called it…
“Looking outside again?” she asks me as she approached the open window. “Why not go outside and play with your friends?”
“Because Phillip is sick, Bill is out of town, and Geoffrey is helping his parents shop.”
“Well, what about that one girl you like? What was her name again? That Koopakistany girl? You know that one that looks like you? A Kuman? Wasn’t it Win-something?”
“It was Winrey, mom, and I don’t know…”
“Well, why not start with going to see if she’s home?”
I sigh. There was no arguing against mother. She always wins-no matter what the argument is…
I grab my X-Box 360 controllers and head outside. Our front yard is gorgeous in comparison to some other yards around here. We live in Petalburg Village you see.
I head for Winrey’s house. My house is the home of the mayor’s and Winrey’s is right next door. A tall and gorgeous Kuman answers the door.
“Yes? Oh, Mr. Mario, it’s you! How may I help you today?”
Panting, I answer her question. “Is Winrey home Ms. Smith?”
She turns around and calls for her daughter. When she comes to the doorway, I feel my legs turn to jelly like they normally do.
“Uh, hi Winrey, um…” I stammer while rubbing my auto-mail arm behind my head. I was born with only a stub where my entire right arm should’ve been you see and Winrey is an expert auto-mail mechanic, so our friendship has much more meaning than any normal friendship.
“Hi Edward” she says as I start to stutter complete gibberish.
“Hi” I say again. I take a few steps back and pull out from my pockets the game controllers. “You wanna play games?”
She takes one controller and nods. “Sure! What game you wanna play?”
“Well,” I start with more head rubbing. I didn’t know what she liked to play! Barbie games? Those kinctimals, I didn’t know! “What do you want to play?”
She smiles and grabs my arm as she pulls me inside her house. “How about Halo?”
O…M…G…she likes to play Halo?! Sweet!
“Uh, sure! Co-op or what?”
“I was thinking team slayer on live.”
She likes the exact same things that I do!
“Alright!” I walk over to their large 20” television and turn on my controller. It was last in synch with her X-Box when me and my guy friends came over last time, so it turned on her console. It was set to auto-play and Halo 3 was already inside it. She turns on the other controller and I return it to the Xbox dashboard to retrieve my gamer tag. Just as the dashboard came up, something felt different…I waited, and soon enough, the very ground began shaking! Earthquakes never happen here! It isn’t possible! We live smack in the center of this tectonic plate with no faults nearby so this isn’t supposed to be able to happen!
I turn around and look at Winrey, who looks at me, as the tremors slowly worsen. When it gets bad enough that it makes a nearby lamp fall and crack, we head outside in a hurry! Her parents are close behind us.
I see a large crack forming right before my eyes! I watch the chasm as it widens. It is almost thirty feet wide now! Then, all of a sudden, the shaking stops. Winrey and I exchange glances then stare at the chasm. I notice that it stretched out all the way back to my home. I can’t shake this bad feeling from my gut that something is very wrong here…
“Winrey, I’m going to go check on my folks. You stay here where it’s safer.”
“Like hell! You’re going, I’m going!”
“No! It may be too dangerous! I can’t-“
“Quite frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn! I’m going and that’s final!”
I stop trying to persuade her. I won’t win this fight. She’s a lot like my mother that way…
“-sigh-…fine…you can come. Just be careful!”
She scoffs. “Like I’m not careful anyway?”
I stare at her.
“Actually, don’t answer that…”
I smile. She smiles back but somewhat reluctantly.
We nod and head for my house. The chasm stretches right underneath it, but didn’t do any damage at all! We rush through the front door and I gasp at the horror. I see a dark figure gripping my father by the throat!
“Dad! No!”
“So, you are his child huh?” The dark being says as he slowly turns to me. “Perfect…”
I gulp when he says that. I see Winrey beside me growing angry. “Put his dad down now!”
“Or what? What will you do little girly? Huh? Hit me with a tea cup from your tea party?”
“Don’t tempt me” she growls. The being scoffs.
“I wouldn’t piss her off” I warn.
“Pfft. Whatever. I got what I came for. See you runts later!” And with that he phases through the floor with darkness seeping through. He takes my dad with him!
“No!” I scream as I try to stop him. I managed to grab my dad’s right arm just as he was going through. “I won’t let you take him away from me! Never!”
“Ugh! Let go you stupid brat! He’s mine now!”
“NEVER!” I scream at the top of my lungs. I can feel my dad coming back upwards slowly! I’m winning!
“Damn brat! Let go! He’s mine!”
“He’s MY father! He’s MY parent! And you WON’T TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME!!!”
As I shout this, I can feel power coursing through my entire body! I feel like a God!
“I said, let go!” As the dark being says this, he shoots out something that just barely missed my face! A dark ball of energy or something of the sort! A few more whiz by me as my father comes even closer and closer. “Winrey! Help please!”
“Right!”
She rushes over and grabs hold of my dad’s other arm. We yank together and he starts coming up even faster! “Hang on dad!” I say as I pull even harder.
“Both of you! Knock it off this instant!” I hear the dark person say as he launches more balls of dark energy. This time, however, he hit me. I went flying back as it grazed my nose! What immense power! I ignore the pain from my nose and shake it off as I rush back to grab my dad’s arm. I count from one to three, and on three, Winrey and I yank as hard as we can! I feel the man pulling back on my dad’s leg and hard. Eventually, we manage to get him out of the hole. The man escapes.
“Dad, are you alright? What was that all about?”
He doesn’t move. He seems to be in a horrified state.
“Dad? Hello?”
He still doesn’t move a muscle.
I go over and tap his cheek. He jumps back into reality with a jolt.
“Hubba wha? Oh, it’s you Edward. And you too Winrey. Thanks for helping me out there. He almost had me that time.”
“That time?”
My father nods.
“Elaborate please.”
“You see, he was Merciless Mack.”
“THE Merciless Mack? The same Mack that slaughtered the majority of my country’s people mercilessly for the hell of it Mack?” Winrey asks with a little fear and anger in her voice.
My dad nods. “Yes, the very same one. That’s also how he got his nickname. He’s also the same one that worked for the Shadow Witch all those years ago. The same one that Team Elementa helped me and Maria to defeat. That VERY same one.”
Winrey seems angry. Her fists are enclosed tightly.
“Uh, Winrey, are you mad?”
“No. I’m in my happy place where unicorns eat rainbows and poop butterflies. YES I’M MAD!!!”
I smile.
“Edward.”
I turn to my dad. “What is it?”
“I need to talk to you. Privately.”
He says privately as he turns to glance at Winrey. I nod. “Alright. Winrey, I’ll be right back.”
She nods. I head with my dad to his den where his trophies are all set up. A large egg-shell with polka-dots; a pair of artificial wings from a friend recently deceased; a shred of the hide of the Shadow Witch; and a lot of other things.
“What is it dad?” I ask him when he sits down in his favorite rocking chair near the mantle. He strokes his mustache. It reminds me of a weasel due to the way it looks…
“After what he said when he found out you were my son, I’m afraid that he may come after you as well. So I’m sending you to see your grandfather. He can teach you more than I can.”
“Teach? Teach me what?”
“Teach you the techniques to provide your self-defense. Psychic abilities to be precise.”
My jaw drops. “Seriously?!”
He nods.
“Cooooollll…”
“And take Winrey with you. Since she helped you get me free, he’s bound to come after her as well.”
I nod. “I understand.”
“Good. Then you should leave immediately. I will let your mother know what happened when she gets home from Wal-Mart. I’ll tell Winrey’s parents that you and her went camping with my dad for a few months. That gives you plenty of time to get the lessons completed. The both of you.”
“So you want her to-“
“Learn the ways of us as well. Yes.”
I go to protest but catch myself. Nobody ever beats my dad at a debate. “Alright” I say instead. “I’ll take her with me…”
“Well don’t sound so disappointed. I thought you liked her.”
“I do but-“ I suddenly stop. I see the evil smile on my dad’s face. “Shut up!”
“I didn’t say anything…”
“But you were thinking it!”
“Thinking what?”
“That I lo-“
“What?”
I don’t say another word.
“Well, if you’re quite finished, then get going. That man will be back soon.”
“Speaking of him,” I start, raising a point, “I didn’t think that he had power of darkness like that. I always thought that he was a normal human.”
“He was-err, is, um…I don’t know. Maybe he snuck off with some of the Dark Star power. Who knows?”
I drop the subject and return to the front room. “Hey, Winrey, let’s go.”
She stares as I walk past her and out the door. “Go where?”
I turn around just outside the doorway. “To go see my grand-dad.”
She ooooohhhhhh’s and follows. “Okay” she says without question. We head out for the train and I quickly rush back to my dad. I forgot something important.
“What is it?” He asks me when I tell him that.
“Your…train pass…” I say panting. We both chuckle. I accept the train pass from him and head back outside. The train blows once and I hear the toad yell “ALL ABOARD” at the top of his lungs. It starts moving before I make it!
“Wait! WAIT FOR ME!” I yell. I see Winrey waving her arms at me from an open door on the train. I run and try to catch up, but the train blows two more times and picks up speed. We’re still reaching out to each other when I start losing ground. I look back, still running, and I see an open baggage car. Perfect! I keep running but that’s when I notice that I’m running out of platform! I slow down slightly and jump for it! I close my eyes and await my landing.
BAM! Rollrollrollrollroll –stop-
I slowly open my eyes and see that I’m in the baggage car. I made it! YES!
I look around. It resembles the baggage car from the Excess Express alright. I stand up and brush the dust and dirt off my clothing. After that I head out the door into the dining car. I see Winrey come into the dining car from the opposite side. We run and hug each other at the center of the car. I was so glad that we both made it on alright!
“Pfft. Get yourselves a room.”
We both quickly let go of each other and I turn to the voice. “Look man, I don’t know who you are, but…” Then I see who had spoken. It is an orange Yoshi. He resembles a famous fighter. “Wait, who are you anyway?”
He makes a flex of his muscles and introduces himself in an anime style by pointing at himself with his thumb with one eye shut. “The name’s Pyro. Nice to meetcha!”
“Pyro…are you by chance the offspring of-“
“Of Wesley? Yep! He’s my pop! How do you know him?”
I explain my father’s history with Pyro’s father. Even the part about how my dad first met Wesley and the explanation that took place there of my grandfather’s adventure.
“Wow. That’s heavy.”
“Heavy?”
“Yeah, heavy. Wicked, tubular, awesome, cool, totally groovy, etc. Understand now?”
I nod. “Ya didn’t have to be so-“
“So what? Cool? Good-looking? Rugged? Handsome?”
Winrey coughs once to get attention. “Why are you named Pyro? You’re orange, not red…”
Pyro scoffs. “Pfft. Typical…I am named Pyro because of my ability. You see, dad was a part-psychic, in a way, and mom was a red Yoshi. So, my name is Pyro, because I can-“
“Control fire? You are a pyrokinetic?”
He nods. “Exactly right girly girl.”
I take a few steps back. She clenches her fist slightly. “The name is Winrey. Got it?”
Pyro smiles. “Whatever you say girly girl…”
I back up even further.
“Do not call me that again…got it?”
“Or what?” He asks while turning to her. I wave my hand at him and he looks over. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” I tell him.
“And why not?”
“Last dude to call her that was hospitalized for half-a-year…”
Pyro scoffs. “Eh, oh well. It really is nice to meet ya’ll!”
“So, why are you here in the first place?”
He tucks in his head and crosses his arms. “I’d rather not say…”
“That’s alright with me. You don’t have to say if you don’t wanna” I tell him.
He looks over at me and I see him scanning me over. “Say, is that, a cyborg arm?”
I look at my auto-mail arm and smile. “No, it’s auto-mail actually.”
“Auto-mail?”
I nod.
“What is that?”
I smile nervously and rub my auto-mail arm behind my head. “Well, it is a little difficult to explain actually…”
He puts up a hand. “Then don’t bother. Just tell me how you got it.”
I point over to Winrey. She smiles.
“From her?”
We both nod.
“Impressive! That a mere girl-err,” he pauses when Winrey glares at him, “I mean, a mere teenager could do that by herself…” He laughs nervously. Winrey nods forcefully at him as if saying “that’s what I thought you said” at him.
“I never said she did it by herself…”
Pyro looks back at me. “So she didn’t?”
“No. She did.”
Pyro stares at me like Brian does to Peter sometimes. That blank stare as if thinking “what the hell is he thinking?”
“Anyway, what are-“
-DING-DONG!!!- “Attention passengers, lunch will be served in ten minutes. Repeat: Lunch is in ten minutes. Thank you!”
Huh. Since when did the E.E. train get a P.A. system? Eh…
“Thank goodness!” Pyro yells dramatically and playfully. “Cuz I’m starved!”
The three of us chuckle. It is kinda hard to believe that Pyro looks only like a hatchling!
Pyro must’ve caught me staring because he smiled and started talking. “If you’re wondering, I just came out of my egg about two days ago.”
My jaw dongs on the ground. I swear that people in the next two cars could hear it.
“TWO DAYS?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!”
He nods with a hearty laughter. “That’s right!”
“Hot diggity-“
“Edward…”
Before I could finish, Winrey interrupts me. “What?”
She points over to the passenger cars. I look and I notice it too. Loud rumbling. Getting louder. Closer. More dangerous.
“Hit the deck!” I yell. The three of us jump to the side just as the door bursts open and ten passengers come rushing in! Stampede of toads, Koopas, Goombas, those Penguin creatures, etc.!
“Dang!” I yell. We watch as the passengers rush around and grab their meals, scarf them down in less than two minutes flat, and then leave!
After said stampede calms down, the three of us come out. “So, anyone hungry?” I ask. I get glares from both of them. “I’m joking!” I say. Then I hear a loud rumble. This time, it was my own stomach. “Huh, maybe not…”
That time I got the reaction I wanted. They both laughed. I smile. I sit over at the nearest table to the chef’s quarters of cooking-too small to be called an actual kitchen-and a cute toad waitress brings over a menu.
“Here’s your menu cutie!” she says as she winks. Then she gives me the menu itself. I wink back. Winrey nudges me in the shoulder, hard, and takes a seat next to me while asking for a menu of her own. The waitress brings hers over and then goes over to Pyro. He is sitting at the next table over closer to the passenger car doorway.
“Why’d you nudge me that hard?” I ask my friend after the waitress took our orders.
She doesn’t reply.
“Like I said earlier, get a room!” Pyro says jokingly.
Winrey glares over at him and he laughs.
“Uh, Winrey?”
She looks over to me.
“Do you really feel that way about me?”
She looks confused but also with a slight hint of hiding something…
“Feel what way?” she asks me back.
“Well, I have heard a lot of talk about you and me, so I was wondering, if you liked me…” I say this while fiddling with my napkin.
“Of course I do! We’re the best of friends!”
I shake my head while responding. “No no no. What I meant was, LIKE me…”
“I don’t follow you Ed…”
“Well, LIKE like…you know…the “L” word.”
“Lesbian?”
Both of us quickly glare at Pyro.
“Oh, come off it! You know I was joking!”
“I still don’t get what you are asking me…” Winrey says after turning back to me. At that moment our food arrives.
“Honey, he is asking you if you LOVE him!” she says in a sing-songy cute voice.
I blush. It must have been very noticeable because she smiled at me.
“Oh…Edward…”
She leaned in and kissed my cheek! I felt the entire being of my body go boiling hot! I felt her lips softly touch my cheek then leave just as softly! I blush BIG time!
“Gawrsh…” is all I can say. I hear her giggle.
“Oh, young love…” the waitress sighs.
“Oh, my old heart…” the chef says.
“Oh, my poor stomach!” Pyro says. We don’t bother to glare at him.
That’s when I realize something.
“Wait a minute now! Winrey, how did you manage to get on board?”
“I had my own train pass.”
I stare at her. “…what?...”
“I had my own train pass!”
I facepalm loudly. “That’s what I went back home to grab! A train pass! But you had one the entire time, and due to this little unknown fact, I almost missed the train! Oh the irony!”
Everyone laughs. Even me.

After lunch…

We got done with our lovely lunch and headed for our cabins. I checked into number one, noticed that it was a bunk bed, and asked Winrey if she wanted to share a cabin. She agreed.
“Well at least you are FINALLY getting a room!”
“Shut up Pyro!” We both manage to say in unison…kinda funny…
We both enter the room and I call the top bunk. Winrey called the bottom bunk so I HAD to take the top one…
“Hey, Winrey, guess what?”
She leans out from her bed while lying down and asks what.
I lean over my side and meet her gaze. “I brought something.”
“What? Don’t leave me in the dark boy-spit it out!”
I bring out my backpack and show it to her. “Did you notice how bulgy this is?”
She nods.
I get down onto the floor and open it up. I pull out my X-Box 360! “I heard that these cars got new TV’s so I figured that to pass the time we could use this!”
“SWEET! What games did you bring?”
I pull each one out as I say their name. “Assassin’s Creed 1, 2, and Brotherhood, Halo 3 and ODST, and some other shooting games like Portal and TF2.”
“Halo?! Awesome!”
Oh yeah! I keep forgetting that she loves Halo!
“I wonder if this train has Wi-Fi…” I say as I hook up the 360 to the TV near the window and boot it up. I sign into my LIVE profile and check for any Wi-Fi. “Sweet!” I say when it does connect.

So, for the next few hours until Dinner, we played on Halo 3 ODST co-op. I was still working on the Legendary difficulty, so having her with me helped drastically! She is GOOD! She has the friggin’ Imperial Armor for crying out loud!

When Dinner does come along, the three of us wait for the crowd to get finished first. Then we head in.

“I want a double trouble with cheese but without any pickles.”
“Coming right up Cutie-Pie!”
The waitress winks at me. I feel my legs melt. I noticed from my peripheral vision that Winrey glared at the waitress. She just winked at her when she saw her glaring.
Pyro comes in.
“So, how’d you guys like the new passenger cars’ cabins?”
“Loved ‘em!” I say. Winrey just agrees.
“Eh, they ain’t half bad, I guess…” she replies.
“Ain’t half bad? Did you notice the new mattresses?! HEAVEN!!!” He says heaven in a high chorus like voice.
“I’ve had better” the waitress says.
“Better than those things?! Where and how?!”
“Ever heard of the Sandman Super Luxury brand mattresses?”
Pyro nods. “Yeah, those are the ones for those uber rich people. Why? They better?”
She simply nods.
“Oh…”
Pyro walks over to our table. He tisks once. “Well, I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I would like to come with you folks. What do ya say?”
“Sure” I say.
“Sweet!” He yells as he jumps into the air with joy. Literally.


END OF CHAPTER

[Hydrox]

This seems to be an awful lot like Fullmetal Alchemist.

Nah...

It's a great intro!

[Prof. Zam]

Thanks man!

[Prof. Zam]

Chapter 2 – Meeting up with Grandpappy
PG-Mild Crude humor and Language


We enjoy the rest of our train ride. Another day of eating, sleeping, and matchmaking, and we arrived at Riverside Station.
“Oh man, already?” I say as I see the station coming up. “And I was about to rematch against MasterChief0890989…”
“Well, maybe you can go up against him later” Winrey assures me. “This isn’t the last time that you’ll be on an X-Box 360 EVER again you know…”
I nod. “Yeah, I know, it’s just that-“
-DING DONG- “Attention all passengers, this is your driver speaking, we have arrived at Riverside Station. Repeat: Arrived at Riverside Station.”
“…curses…” I say as I save my game status and unplug the system.
After putting it all away into my backpack, I head on outside where my two friends are awaiting my arrival.
“What took ya so long?!” Pyro asks.
“Well, you have to be very delicate when it comes to handling a 360 console you know…”
Pyro scoffs and turns his head away. “So,” he starts as he turns back to me slowly, “where is your old man living at anyway?”
“He lives over at the Sanctum.”
“Sanctum?”
“Yeah. Poshley Heights Sanctum. The old house of that terrible detective penguin who guarded the Crystal Star sixty years ago.”
“Ah.”
I nod. “Yeah.”
We head inside the Station for some rest. I thought I saw something following us from the train, but I shrugged it off. “You’re just paranoid” I told myself. “Nobody is out to getcha…”
Then I remembered that shadow man Mack.
“Well, nobody besides him…”
I take a seat on the first bench inside the Station. Pyro can tell I’m paranoid.
“Hey man, what’s up with you?”
“Well I’m just paranoid is all.”
“No, I mean, what is up WITH you?”
I look at him confused. “Elaborate please.”
“Your yellow skin. Both of you have it and I don’t recall any locals to this kingdom looking like that…”
I explain about my heritage.
“Oh. Okay. And her?”
“I’m from Koopakistan.”
“Where?”
“Well, born and raised here in the Mushroom Kingdom, but my family reigns from Koopakistan. A country where everyone is a human, but with yellow skin as hard as a Koopa’s shell. Some say I’m hard-headed!”
“I agree” I joke.
She glares at me and we both smile. Eventually it turns into laughter.
“Okay, now that that’s done, what were you paranoid about?”
I explain about why we are going to my grand-dad’s house.
“…and she is coming along with me.” I say pointing to Winrey.
“Okay. But what’s with the name scheme?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I wasn’t talking to you. HEY! NARRATOR! Real original with the names man!”
(Oh shut up. This is my story, not yours, so shut up, put up, and…stick up?...Nah…just go with it will ya? I couldn’t think of anything else…)
“You couldn’t have just googled “epic names” or something?”
(I guess so…but I never thought of that till you told me just now…)
Pyro facepalms. “You, are absolutely, unbelievable…”
(Hey! I could’ve made you pink with a deep-ass voice you know!)
Pyro freezes up completely.
(Yeah. That’s what I thought…)
“…shut up…” Pyro whispers.
(Now, please return your attention to your new friends, for they think that you’re crazy.)
“So you made them do that?!”
(Pfft. No. You’re talking to a wall dude. How do you think ya look for doing that?)
Pyro looks over at me and Winrey. “Oh. ‘Sup.”
“What was that all about?” I ask him.
“Oh nothing…”
“But you were just-“
“No, I wasn’t. I’m a psychic remember? I was talking to somebody I know…”
“But you’re a pyrokine-“
“So! What time does the train leave?”
I gasp and look at my watch. “In about five minutes actually! We gotta get going!”
We rush outside and see the train already leaving. “What the hell?!” I scream. I hold up my watch to my ear. “What are the chances?!” I scream as we run to try to catch the train. “My watch died just five minutes ago!”
We keep running and manage to jump into the open baggage car like I did the first time. I managed to make it in first, then Winrey, but Pyro was too small. Just as we approached the bridge, we grabbed a hold of his hands. He’s really heavy for a 2-day old!
We continue heaving him up and into the car when we actually start over the bridge. Now Pyro is hovering over a twenty or more story drop into a dry canton! We managed to get him inside the baggage car after more heaving.
“That was too close!” I say as we shut the door. “WAY too close!”
“I agree” Pyro gasps out.
I notice something. “Well, off topic here people, but does this place seem different to you?” It feels a little colder, a little darker, and a LOT gloomier…
“What is this place? The baggage car yes, but what’s making it this way? It’s like a Dementor was just here” I say shivering with my arms crossed across my chest.
“Dementor’s ain’t real” Pyro says.
“Well, according to the internet, neither are psychics.”
“Touché” he replies.
We start to rummage around the baggage car, trying to find out what is causing this cold and grim wave, and when we find the AC, it isn’t even turned on.
“That is so weird…” Pyro says when he finds this out.
I walk over and inspect the AC. It hasn’t been turned on for some time. Then I thought I saw something behind some boxes. “Did any of you see something just now?”
They both shake their heads no. I walk over to the boxes and move them aside. When I moved the last box something dashed with incredible speed to behind more boxes in another corner!
“Okay, how about now?”
They both nod. We three decide to trap whatever it is and ambush it. Pyro takes up on its right, me on its left, and Winrey right down the middle of the box barricade. When we quietly sneak up on it I can see something small moving around. It is a hat. A dark blue striped black hat. It looks like a witch hat a little…
We three jump for it on the count of three. When we all jump it manages to snake through us three and hide behind other boxes off in another corner of the room. We all bang heads. Ow.
I think about our situation. Then, after hatching an idea, I snap my fingers. I reach into my pocket and take out some Hershey’s chocolate Dips.
“Come here, come on, we won’t hurt you. Lookie here! Ooh! What is this?” I say as I pick up a single dip. I eat it. “Mmmmm! Yummy! Here, have some! They’re really good!”
We watch as the little thing slowly comes out into the shadows. It slowly inches across the shadows with a…tentacle? Its own shadow is stretching over and touching mine! It can extend its shadow to do stuff!
“That is cool!” Pyro says a little loudly. The shadow hand quickly retreats back to behind the box along with the actual body. “Pyro!” I whisper angrily. He shrugs. “Sorry!” He says…
I reach out further and inch closer to the boxes. “It’s okay, I won’t hurt you. I just want to be friends!”
The shadow hand reaches out slowly for the dips. When it reaches just below my hand, the shadow comes out of the floor and takes a few dips. It quickly flashes back to behind the boxes. I can hear the creature-whatever it is-enjoying its little snack.
“Is it good? Huh! Yummy nummy?”
After a few seconds of silence, I see that hat again. Just its tip though. It is poking out of the box barricade slightly.
“…..yummy…..”
“That’s right, yummy. Do you want some more?”
The shadow hand reaches out for some more when it suddenly snatches them all! “Hey!”
It takes them all! Every single one!
“Jeez! Are you hungry?”
“No. I just REALLY LOVE chocolate!”
I take several steps back. “What?!”
“Dude,” Pyro starts a little spooked, “did that thing just talk like it is OUR age or something? You know what I mean…”
“Well, technically, I am only about 2,060 years old.”
I gasp. “2,060?! How the hell are you that old?!”
“Well,” –how can I put this…- “I’m from the Shadow Palace.”
I gasp again. “The Shadow Palace?! WHAT are you?!”
It comes out completely now. It is dark purple and resembles a Shadow Siren. In fact, it looks a little bit like Vivian to be honest…
“I’m what you may call a Shadow Princess.”
Winrey makes slow down gestures while saying “whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa-hold on a second here. YOU, are THE DAUGHTER of the SHADOW QUEEN?!”
It nods. “That’s right!”
Pyro immediately pins it down! “Look you little bi-“
I kick Pyro off! I didn’t know what else to do! “Pyro! What are you doing?!”
“Like mother like daughter! IT’S mother tried to take over the world! So who’s to say that she won’t try that too?!”
“Pfft. Puh-leez…I am NOT like my mother…”
“Prove it!” Pyro yells at it angrily.
“Have I tried to enslave you or try to kill you?”
Pyro freezes slightly. “…touché. But I’m still going to watch you closely. Any-and I mean ANY slightest sign of turning, and I’ll finish you off. Capiche?”
“SIR YES SIR!” She announces with a saluting gesture.
Pyro just scoffs. “Smart-ass” he says to her.
“Hot-head” she says back.
Winrey and I start to laugh.
“Hot-head?! How is that?!”
“Orange Yoshi has a short temper.”
We continue laughing.
“Why you little-“
“I ain’t little. YOU are. You’re the younger one here!”
“Ooh! You gonna take that Pyro?” I say trying to egg this on.
“Actually,” he says casually. Then he yells “NO!”
He jumps for her and she phases into the floor.
“Hey! That’s not fair!”
“Well you can manipulate fire-that’s not fair either!”
“How’d you know that?”
“I’ve been watching you all” she says as she phases back into the room from the ceiling right above Pyro. “Ever since you first got into this baggage car, Edward, to be specific.”
“So I was right! Someone WAS watching me!”
“That’s right!”
I shiver slightly. “To have a female watching me that closely…creepy…”
“Sounds like you have a stalker!”
The Shadow Princess slaps Pyro hard. “OW! What was that for?”
“You’ve had that coming ever since you first met up with these two!”
I nod. Hate to admit it, but I agree with her.
“Had it coming?! Why you…” he says while pretending to pull up sleeves.
“Now now, no need for violence.” The Shadow Princess said.
“By the way, Shadow Princess,” I start. She turns around and asks me what it was. “Is there something else we can call you? Something shorter than Shadow Princess?”
“Actually yes. I liked the name of one person I met a while ago. It’s been so long, I don’t remember her name. It started with a V though…”
“Vivian?” I ask.
She snaps her shadowy fingers. “That’s it! Yeah, I liked her name, so I wanted one like it. It was…um…ah, forget it. I want Viv. Just call me that!”
I shrug. “Okay then, Viv, I have a question for ya. Is it you making the entire baggage car cold?”
She nods. “Yeah I am. My kind-Shadow Folk I guess you could call us-prefer the cold to the warmth. Why? Is it too cold for you?”
We all nod quickly.
“Alright” she says as she spins around in place. As she does so, the room gets warmer.
“Whoa! Thanks Viv, that’s a lot better!” I say when she stops.
“Sure! NP man, NP.”
Pyro looks confused. “NP?”
“No Problem.”
“Oh.”
“Anyway, maybe you should get up there. The other passengers may be wondering where you are.”
“Nah. That cute waitress and the chef may, but that’s about it.”
We end the topic there and open the door to the dining car. Once there, the waitress sees us and goes almost ecstatic.
“Oh! Sweety! You’re alright! You DID make it!” she says as she hugs me tightly. I blush but I can’t breathe much either.
I see Winrey glowing red. “Nope! See Winrey! My hands-they’re not touching anything-not anything at all! See?”
She sighs with a harsh exhale. Pyro snickers. “So you watch Family Guy too?”
I nod.
“Pretty freakin’ sweet” he says in a decent Peter Griffin impression. I snicker back at him.
After the waitress lets go, she sees me blushing, and she blushes too. “Oh…oops…sorry about that…-ahem-…may I take your order…sweetie?”
I slowly tell her my order due to my stammering. I was still blushing. Pyro and Winrey’s orders are taken quite quickly compared to mine.
“It’ll be right with you soon.”
Me and Winrey take the usual table and Pyro joins us.
“Wait a minute. Hey, Viv, where are you?”
“Right here” we hear her whisper.
“Where?” Pyro asks her again.
“Right heeeerrrrre” she says softly and slowly.
I watch as she slowly sneaks up on Pyro in her shadow form on the floor. I try to conceal my laughter.
“I still don’t see you!” Pyro says. Then she slowly comes up through the floor and taps his shoulder. He quickly turns around and she yells, "BOO!”’He jumps and nearly makes a skylight in the dining car! That’s when I couldn’t contain my laughter anymore!
“Sorry man” I manage to gasp out between laughs. “That was just TOO FUNNY!” I finish as he lands back in his seat.
He growls. At that moment the waitress brings over the food.
“Here’s yours” she says to Winrey, “yours” towards me, “and yours” she finishes with Pyro. Then she sees Viv. “…..”
“What? Never seen the Shadow Princess before?”
The waitress’ eyes begin twitching. Then, as they worsen, she screams loudly and runs back to the passenger cabins.
“Maybe I should try to assume a different form…”
“Ya think? That last reaction was a little too much…” Pyro says with a lot of sarcasm.
She shrugs and her entire body begins to shrink into a ball-shaped form. Soon, her ball form morphs into a human-shaped form. Then, as it takes on a more detailed shape of a human, the whole room flashes brightly with white light! When the light fades away, I unshield my eyes and, in Viv’s place, is a gorgeous human female! She looks exactly like someone –except for the color of course. She still kept her black and dark purple color scheme-but I can’t quite tell who…
“Hominawha?!” is all I can say.
“I assume you like this form better?” she says in the most BEAUTIFUL voice I have EVER heard!
“Yeahahahahahahahahahaha” is all I can muster to stammer out.
“Then this form I will stay in!”
“Also,” Pyro starts, “you won’t scare people anywhere NEAR as much!”
Viv smiles but glares at Pyro. “That much is also true.”
I snap my fingers. “Nell” I say. Everyone stares at me. “That’s who you remind me of now, Nell from Bleach. That former Ispada-the BEAUTIFUL one-that knows how to kick some major ass.”
Viv smiles. “I like the sound of her! Maybe we should meet up sometime!”
We all laugh-except for Pyro who is still watching Viv very closely.
“Well,” I start, “one of us should go get that waitress.”
A fury of not it’s come from us all and Winrey was the last one to say it. We all look at her with smiles on our faces. “Ugh! Fine! I’ll go get her!” she finally says as she stomps out the door to the passenger cars and the cabins.

Five minutes later…

“And you’re sure that she’s gone?”
“I’m sure. We chased her out and she never even looked back!”
“Phew! That’s a relief!”
We see Winrey and the waitress coming through the door as it opens. She then sees Viv again and stands perfectly still. “Then who is she?” I can hear her whisper.
“The name is Viv! Nice to meet you Miss!” Viv says as she holds out a hand to her.
“Uh, thanks, I guess” she says nervously. She does shake Viv’s hand though.
“The pleasure’s all mine!” Viv says with a large smile. She sure is friendly!
“So, exactly, who are you anyway?” the waitress begins. “I never saw you get on board with the other passengers…”
I stiffen up.
“Well, to be honest, I had my pass with my cousin Edward here, when we realized that we forgot it back at home. So we ran back to grab it, and when we came back outside, the train was already moving ahead without us on it! So, we ran up ahead, jumped onto the baggage car, and here we are!”
Holy shit! Not only is she totally hot, but smart too!
“Oh. Then may I see YOUR pass please?” she says to me.
I pull out my pass and show it to her.
“Ok. Pass confirmed. But a word of advice: get a new one. Yours expired last year.”
She continues on her way to the kitchen-like area and talks to the chef. I can overhear their conversation.
“Say, Luigi, did you see that purple and black ghost thingy earlier?”
The Chef-a Toad by the way-says that he didn’t.
“Well, they say that she left, but you know how I can sense the paranormal and stuff like that? Well I sense that she is still here…”
“Well that-a is odd. Just-a ignore it alright? After-a all, you did-a say that you sensed a ghost on-a this-a train in-a that-a empty-a cabin.”
“I DID! I KNOW that there is one there-I can FEEL it in my bones!!!”
“Suuuurrre…just-a carry-a on with-a your duties for now, alright?”
“-sigh- Alright…”
I watch as the waitress walks over and asks what Viv wants to eat.
“I’ll have a bottled water please.”
“Huh? Nothing to eat deary?”
Viv shakes her head.
“Suit yourself…”
She walks over to Luigi. “Just a water for the lady.”
“Well, you-a know where the fridge is at-a don’t you?”
The waitress huffs and gets a bottled water from the fridge. She stomps over to Viv and hands her the bottle. “Here” she says with a hint of anger.
“Uh, thanks” Viv says as she huffs off in a rage. Viv looks at me as if asking what her problem was and I simply shrug in response.

Much later…

“Poshley Heights Station! All passengers please grab your luggage and depart. We thank for choosing the Excess Express as your mode of transportation. Please, come again soon!”
After hearing the PA, I grab my stuff from under the bunk bed and head outside the cabins. Pyro and the others are waiting for me there.
“So, exactly where did you say your pop lives again?” Pyro asks me again.
“At the Sanctum. Remember? I told you that three times just on the train!”
“Sorry! I forgot!”
I sigh. “Alright, let’s just get over there…”
On the way to the Sanctum I notice that nobody is around. I point this out to Winrey.
“Yeah, I noticed that too. That is really strange…”
Viv suddenly straightens. “Wait” she says abruptly. I turn around to face her and ask what was wrong.
“I sense…a presence…” she says but suddenly spins around to face a blue building near the train station. “I KNOW YOU’RE THERE! YOU MAY AS WELL COME OUT NOW!” She screams at the little house. I look at her, then back to the building, then to her again.
“Uh, Viv, what are you-“
-BOOOOOMMMM!!!-
The explosion caught me off guard! I spin around to the little house and I see that it has disappeared! I look around and suddenly I-
“Look out!”
Viv jumped at me and pushed me just as the house landed with a crash right where I was standing!
“Waitwhat-oh! Viv! Thanks for saving my-“
“SHUT UP” she whispers. “We, are not, alone.” She says louder for us all to hear.
“Pfft. No dip Sherlock” Pyro says.
“This isn’t the time for your sarcasm Pyro, I’m serious here!”
She points to the house and we all stare as it becomes enveloped in a dark aura. As it grows darker than night itself, it rises into the air, explodes again-even louder than last time, and in the place of the house is a morphing blob becoming the shape of a humanoid.
“Not again” Pyro exclaims with a sigh.
The blob becomes smaller as it lowers down to right in front of me. When it’s aura settles down a bit I can see some physical features. It’s the same guy that harmed my home and family!
“YOU!”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“What are YOU doing here?!”
“You haven’t figured it out yet?” He chuckles evilly. It sends shivers down my spine. “Heh. No matter. I will end your adventure here and now.”
We both make a battle pose and neither of us move.
“Ya too scared?” I ask him.
“Um…actually…heh, this is a little embarrassing…I was expecting a battle sequence to happen…”
“Like in Paper Mario?” Pyro asks.
The man nods. “Actually, yeah.”
“Are you crazy?! That’s just a game!”
“Well stranger stuff has happened before!”
Winrey coughs once to break the awkward silence…
“Well, if you want a fight,” I start making another pose, “then you found one!”
“You DARE to challenge me?! You are WAY out of your league! Even with your little friends!”
“What if he had someone that wasn’t a friend?”
This new voice caught everyone’s attention. We all turned around and saw my grandpa standing there behind Mack!
“Grandpa Keenan?!” I ask surprised.
“The one and only!”
Merciless Mack chuckles. “Perfect. I could use some more power!”
“What are you talking about?” Grandpa asks him.
“Think about it old man. Have you noticed that your friends haven’t been in touch with you recently?”
“What are you getting at Mack?”
Mack rises into the air and puffs out his chest. It swells drastically and shows people in it. I can make out a Yoshi and some human girl with an all purple outfit and a hat.
“You MONSTER!!! What did you do to them?!”
“I simply sucked up their power.”
“Their power? What power do they have that could possibly benefit you?”
Suddenly Mack pulls out an egg as if from nowhere and throws it. He hits my dad square between the eyes!
“That one for starters,” he says as he rises higher. “And this one I really liked!”
He suddenly starts to glow darker. He makes a position like for a Kamehameha wave!
“You sucked up Goku?!”
We all got hit with a gong.
“Pyro!!! What the hell?!”
“What?” he asks shrugging as I yelled at him.
“Not the right time!”
I hear someone facepalm.
“At any rate, this is still just as powerful…” Mack says as a large blue orb starts to power up in his palms. I thought only my dad could do that. Well, him and…oh my god…he didn’t!
“She was on vacation! How DARE YOU!!!” my granddad screams as he lunges in. “LET HER GO THIS INSTANT!”
“WOAH! Did I strike a nerve?” Mack says as he vanishes instantly at the moment that my grandpa delivered a kick to his head.
“That’s not fair!” Winrey screams.
“All is fair, in love and war” Mack’s voice echoes from somewhere.
“War yes, but how is love involved with this?”
“Winrey.”
She looks over and my head is drooped down for dramatic effect. “He is able to do that vanishing thing and the psychic abilities because of another person he got.”
“Wait, that was a psychic orb?”
I nod.
“I thought only your grandpa could do that!”
“Him, and also the one he married…”
“You mean…?”
Head still drooped down, I nod.
“That monster!”
“Uh, I’m still here you know” his voice echoes out again.
“Well it’s true!”
“No matter. I will return when I’m more prepared for this fight. For now, I leave with a fond farewell. Good bye, future slaves…”
And with that, it feels like the entire area was filled with happiness again. “He’s gone” Viv says.
Pyro walks over to my grandpa. “I’m sorry for your loss” he says. “I know how you feel. He got my dad too.”
He shakes his head. “No. Not a loss. Not yet. Not until I can’t do something about it!” He stands back up.
“But wasn’t she-“
“Sucked up? Yes. Her BODY and POWERS, but not her LIFE force. She is still alive-I can feel it. We have a strong connection-both in life and mentally. I would know if she was dead or not…”
I nod. “That makes sense.”
He walks over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “Now, back to business, I believe that you came here for something?”


END OF CHAPTER