(no subject)
Last chapter reveals the fourth Star child of legend... a human not even born of the dimension. Now the challenge stands: Can he rise to this responsibility? And further, can his girlfriend heal from her injuries and stand at his side?
Luigi had stayed at his niece's partner's side since their meeting in the courtyard. Eight hours had gone by since Dani had been admitted into the castle's medical facility... and still there hadn't been a word. She was the Crystal Star child... she couldn't die.
The two walked down the castle hallway. Luigi grabbed Brandon's wrist abruptly.
"What?" The younger human asked, caught off-guard.
Luigi tugged on a cord, and a large tapestry fell to the floor, revealing a hidden door. It had a number on it. Digging through his pockets, the older man withdrew a few Stars. The door began to glow gold, then what sounded like a lock clicked. He turned the doorknob.
"This is... was..."
Brandon's eyes widened for a moment. "Dani's old bedroom?"
Luigi smiled sadly. "Almost. It's her nursery. Or, it was. For a few months." There was a tiny crib in the center of the room, adorned with pink and gold sheets. The woodwork was elegantly carved with shapes looking like mushrooms and flowers. All along the walls were various pictures of the young heiress. The oldest portrait of the girl was at maybe two years old.
"Why would they hide it?"
"Bowser wants Dani dead. See, only one person can wield any particular Star energy. And she was bestowed the galaxy's force. If he got his hands on it, well... I'm sure you know what would happen."
"I've heard stories," Brandon said while looking away. If he'd mention that he'd played the games before, he'd get more weird stares.
"Not only that..." Luigi shivered a bit. "When we lost Dani... you know, when I sent her away... everyone was certain we'd never see her again. So the Princess had the guards put up this tapestry. She didn't want the reminders."
Brandon walked over across the room to a glass mural. He eyed it closely, then at a distance. He saw vague shapes, but couldn't make anything out of it. "What's this thing?"
Luigi walked over. "That's the legend of the Stars right there." He walked over and squinted at it. "Talks about how there are seven Star Spirits, each who have a Star crystal. Those Star crystals are handed out to the five legendary Star children."
"Weird writing."
"It's ancient. It reads, The first pair of Star children born upon the planet will be siblings. From one of the children will produce the third. The third shall find the fourth and the two be wed, bearing the last child of the Stars. Well, roughly anyway."
Toadsworth suddenly walked into the room. "Master Luigi! You know you should not be bringing visitors into this room! Out, at once!" Everyone filed out into the hallway, and the tapestry was restored. "Hmm. Now then. The Lady Danielle has come to recovery."
"Well?" Brandon asked, a bit impatient.
Luigi nudged his new friend in the side. "What he meant to say was, are we permitted to see her? How is she?"
"The Lady is fine, Master Luigi and friend," Toadsworth explained while adjusting his glasses on his nose. "Just as her father, she has pulled through wonderfully. She's scraped up and bruised, and her face is slightly disfigured from Bowser's horrid slashes. Luckily, though, the Crystal Star is perfectly intact!"
Brandon scowled. How could they be more concerned about a stupid gem than the life of a human? What sort of twisted world was this?
Luigi nodded. "Good to hear, Toadsworth. May we see her?"
"Mm, yes. Follow me, please, sirs." The elderly man led them to the recovery room. The trio would soon stop dead in their tracks, however.
All Toadsworth could murmur as he looked out the open window was, "And, in the spirit of her mother, she has disappeared whilst I was away."
***
Luigi seemed mildly amused as he and Brandon wandered back to the courtyard. "That's my Dani girl, alright. Up on her feet and off as usual."
"She's missing and it doesn't bother you?" Brandon looked panicked as he walked at a rapid pace through the gardens.
"Oh, no. Not at all. She's a strong girl. After all, she apparently remembered how to use her abilities. Besides... you blasted Bowser right back to Dark Land! He always hides out in his kingdom for a while and blows off steam. Fixes his ego, y'know. No one's gonna bother her. If anything, everyone will want her autograph or a picture!"
"Well... I don't like it. I know she can handle herself, but..."
"She has an ability to find trouble?"
"Yeah."
Luigi grinned. "Just like her mother."
***
"Aha... here we are..."
Dani crawled through the passageway, then slowly rose to her feet as the tunnel grew in size. Armed with a Fire Flower and a POW Block, she lit a lantern and made her way through the cavern. While she had been asleep, her newfound psychic abilities had kicked in, and she had overheard her mother discussing a special item hidden within this place.
The ceiling dripped with cold water, and the area buzzed with the sounds of L'il Sparky buzzing around various rocks. The cavern split off into a junction. One side seemed to crackle with electricity; the other side roared quietly and was very warm.
She paused to think about it. It was then that the invisible bond connecting her to her boyfriend quivered, and she felt his concern. She turned around.
"It's a task for another day... Now to find my way out of here..."
***
Brandon paused in mid-step and shuddered.
"What is it?" Luigi stopped, looking concerned. He saw a distant look in the other's eye. "A vision?"
The younger human's right hand pulsed for a moment, then he blinked. For a moment, the entire world seemed darker and colder. He saw a flicker of lightning, then a splash of a reddish color, then whatever had gripped his mind released him.
"What did you see?" Luigi asked.
"I don't know... I'm new to all this."
"Well?"
"Lightning, and the color red... and it was dark. Sort of cold, too."
Luigi pulled out a map and frowned into it. "I think I know what you saw. Come on."
They walked out into the middle of a deeply wooded area. Luigi pushed aside a large boulder and revealed a very small crawlspace built into the side of a small cliff. "I think this is what your mind was trying to tell you. This is Sparky's Cave. Rumor has it there's some powerful treasures down in there somewhere... Nobody goes in there, though. First of all, they can't find it. Second of all... Sparky shocks are nasty."
"Why would I care for a damn cave?" Brandon asked in annoyance at his inability to comprehend his new abilities.
"Dani might be in there," Luigi nodded. "You forget you're bonded to her now. If you think too hard about her, your mind will flash you a vague image of where she's at. It'll give clues, but it'll be up to you to decipher them."
"I'm gonna go see if she's in there." Before Luigi could protest, he was gone within the crawlspace.
"Damnit," Luigi sighed. "Not even twenty-four hours into the world and he thinks he knows it all."
***
Dani used the Fire Flower to illuminate the rocky corridor she had picked. She'd gotten herself turned around and lost. Three times now had she arrived at the same junction. The flower's heat provided warmth for her otherwise shuddering body. She put a hand on the wall and closed her eyes, trying to feel for a way out. What she felt instead were the vibrations of footsteps.
"This place is a lot bigger than I thought." Brandon muttered as he found his way into the junction. He looked down both pathways but could hardly see anything. As he started to venture towards one, a fireball bounced at his feet. Unconsciously, he turned around and, using the rest of his earlier Fire Flower's energy, fired off three in return. A female's voice yelped a bit, and out walked Dani, holding her wrist.
"Uncalled for!" She yelled.
"You started it," he replied. "What the hell are you doing down here, anyway?"
"Heard it from Mom. Some sorta hidden thing... she sounded like it was important."
He shook his head. No sense in arguing with her. "Good to see you're okay... even though the idea of you being out ticks me off a little."
"Get over it."
A loud buzzing sound roared over them and caused them both to look down into the passageway she had emerged from.
"Buzzy Beetles!" She shrieked.
"Down here?"
"They're cave creatures."
Brandon raised an eyebrow. "Can't you jump on them and defeat them?"
"Not in a pack."
"Like I played the games that much!"
Hundreds of hard-shelled creatures poured from the corridor. Dani grabbed the POW Block and intended to smash it when one of the creatures knocked her off balance. She threw the block and it landed higher than she could reach.
"Crap!" She yelled, jumping for it.
"Good shot," he sarcastically said.
"Damnit, shut up." She got up, the both of them backing up as the swarm got closer. "Hey! Maybe this is like the game... maybe you can jump higher than me, like Luigi jumps higher than Mario."
"What?"
"It's worth a shot, try it!" By now their backs were on the wall.
He shuddered a moment. "Fine." He jumped once, landing on a beetle and bouncing.
Dani smiled. "One hundred! Go on!"
He steadied himself and bounced from another. "Two hundred," he managed to himself, suddenly catching on. He bounced off several more, then managed to jump off one, and with an extra spring, bounced three times his own height, hitting the POW Block. The ground quivered violently as he landed, knocking everyone off balance.
"Weird," he commented.
Dani grabbed a shell from one of the fall beetles and kicked it. "Away!" She shouted, the beetles being promptly defeated.
"Nice. Only one problem."
"What?"
They looked up as the cavern around them was collapsing.
"You have bad luck," he yelled over the falling rocks.
"Shut up and duck!"
They ducked as far to the ground as possible, rocks shattering around them. One exploded near them, sending them tumbling down one of the forks in the cave. They rolled for a few yards before Brandon rolled back onto his feet. Dani slid a good ways before springing up herself. The cavern was pulsing a whitish blue.
"The hell is this?" He asked while flicking a pebble off his shoulder.
"I dunno," she replied with a shrug. "I do hear something pulsing up on the top of the wall, though. I wanna know what it is."
"How do you plan to get up there?"
"Well, if you got the jumping and quicker running, I must have gotten the acrobatics."
"What?"
She ran towards the wall and kicked it, flying towards the other wall. She kicked that one as well, slowly wall-kicking her way to the top of the massive cliffside.
"Impressive," Brandon murmured.
"There's a stone up here!" She shouted down to him. "Oh wow. It's got a blue light pulsing from it."
"Don't touch it, Dani. Like you need to get hurt again." He stood on his toes, trying to see her. She walked out of his line of sight. "Damnit!" He shouted up at her. "Leave it alone!"
She walked towards it, the ground vibrating and pulsing with energy. The blue pulse seemed to be drawing her closer.
Down on the ground level below, he shivered as if he'd been electrocuted. "Leave it alone!" He warned again.
Her left hand touched the orb. Instantly, millions of volts of electricity shot through her arm, rampaging through her body. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pull her arm away. She screeched so loudly it was silent.
Down below, he held his breath and winced, hearing the electricity crackling. He felt the occasional stabbing shock in his spine.
The orb suddenly exploded and launched her down from the ledge. She caught herself at the absolute last second, digging her nails and heels into the cliffside to slow her decent. She quivered and trembled.
"Dani, what happened?" He walked over, surprised she was even alive.
She held out her left hand and an orb of lightning formed in it. Both she and her boyfriend jumped back. "Whoa!" She exclaimed. "I can..."
"Did you just make a lightning bomb?" He asked in disbelief.
She pointed a finger and launched a massive strike of electricity. "I harnessed electricity. That must mean the other cavern down here is a fire essence."
"If you think I'm going to burn myself, you're crazy."
They arrived back at the junction, then started down the other corridor. She had to keep her left hand balled into a fist for fear she'd fire a bolt of lightning. This junction was extremely hot and, surprisingly, held lava along each side of the walkway. About halfway into the walk, the ground beneath them gave way.
"Stars above!" Dani cried, already adjusting to the new world's vocabulary. She pushed him forward. "Go on!"
"Won't you die?" He cried out as he stumbled forward.
"Don't worry about it." She pushed him forward again, harder. "Go!"
He ran on ahead, not bothering to look back over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Dani closed her eyes and hoped her newfound acrobatics would see her through.
He slid under a small makeshift doorway just as the ground gave way beneath him. The room he was now standing in felt like it was boiling. An orange-red orb sat nearby, flickering with energy.
"Damnit. Well, I'm already here... may as well..." He winced and put his right hand atop the orb. His body felt flushed with heat, causing him to tremble profusely. His knees buckled as the heat seared through his body. A burst of flames, then the orb shattered around him. He fell back and exhaled sharply. Surprisingly, it hadn't harmed him as bad as he feared. A flashback to him playing with the fireballs whilst in the prison cell reminded him he'd already become immune.
"Now to get back to Dani and find a way out of here..."
He found his way back out into the main portion of the cave, finding Dani sitting on a ledge a few feet above him. "How did you manage to get out of that one?"
"Backward somersaults. Can't do 'em on Earth, but I'm a natural here." She grinned and jumped down to his side.
"So how do we get out of here?" He asked her.
A voice came from behind him, low and menacing.
"You don't."
Luigi had stayed at his niece's partner's side since their meeting in the courtyard. Eight hours had gone by since Dani had been admitted into the castle's medical facility... and still there hadn't been a word. She was the Crystal Star child... she couldn't die.
The two walked down the castle hallway. Luigi grabbed Brandon's wrist abruptly.
"What?" The younger human asked, caught off-guard.
Luigi tugged on a cord, and a large tapestry fell to the floor, revealing a hidden door. It had a number on it. Digging through his pockets, the older man withdrew a few Stars. The door began to glow gold, then what sounded like a lock clicked. He turned the doorknob.
"This is... was..."
Brandon's eyes widened for a moment. "Dani's old bedroom?"
Luigi smiled sadly. "Almost. It's her nursery. Or, it was. For a few months." There was a tiny crib in the center of the room, adorned with pink and gold sheets. The woodwork was elegantly carved with shapes looking like mushrooms and flowers. All along the walls were various pictures of the young heiress. The oldest portrait of the girl was at maybe two years old.
"Why would they hide it?"
"Bowser wants Dani dead. See, only one person can wield any particular Star energy. And she was bestowed the galaxy's force. If he got his hands on it, well... I'm sure you know what would happen."
"I've heard stories," Brandon said while looking away. If he'd mention that he'd played the games before, he'd get more weird stares.
"Not only that..." Luigi shivered a bit. "When we lost Dani... you know, when I sent her away... everyone was certain we'd never see her again. So the Princess had the guards put up this tapestry. She didn't want the reminders."
Brandon walked over across the room to a glass mural. He eyed it closely, then at a distance. He saw vague shapes, but couldn't make anything out of it. "What's this thing?"
Luigi walked over. "That's the legend of the Stars right there." He walked over and squinted at it. "Talks about how there are seven Star Spirits, each who have a Star crystal. Those Star crystals are handed out to the five legendary Star children."
"Weird writing."
"It's ancient. It reads, The first pair of Star children born upon the planet will be siblings. From one of the children will produce the third. The third shall find the fourth and the two be wed, bearing the last child of the Stars. Well, roughly anyway."
Toadsworth suddenly walked into the room. "Master Luigi! You know you should not be bringing visitors into this room! Out, at once!" Everyone filed out into the hallway, and the tapestry was restored. "Hmm. Now then. The Lady Danielle has come to recovery."
"Well?" Brandon asked, a bit impatient.
Luigi nudged his new friend in the side. "What he meant to say was, are we permitted to see her? How is she?"
"The Lady is fine, Master Luigi and friend," Toadsworth explained while adjusting his glasses on his nose. "Just as her father, she has pulled through wonderfully. She's scraped up and bruised, and her face is slightly disfigured from Bowser's horrid slashes. Luckily, though, the Crystal Star is perfectly intact!"
Brandon scowled. How could they be more concerned about a stupid gem than the life of a human? What sort of twisted world was this?
Luigi nodded. "Good to hear, Toadsworth. May we see her?"
"Mm, yes. Follow me, please, sirs." The elderly man led them to the recovery room. The trio would soon stop dead in their tracks, however.
All Toadsworth could murmur as he looked out the open window was, "And, in the spirit of her mother, she has disappeared whilst I was away."
***
Luigi seemed mildly amused as he and Brandon wandered back to the courtyard. "That's my Dani girl, alright. Up on her feet and off as usual."
"She's missing and it doesn't bother you?" Brandon looked panicked as he walked at a rapid pace through the gardens.
"Oh, no. Not at all. She's a strong girl. After all, she apparently remembered how to use her abilities. Besides... you blasted Bowser right back to Dark Land! He always hides out in his kingdom for a while and blows off steam. Fixes his ego, y'know. No one's gonna bother her. If anything, everyone will want her autograph or a picture!"
"Well... I don't like it. I know she can handle herself, but..."
"She has an ability to find trouble?"
"Yeah."
Luigi grinned. "Just like her mother."
***
"Aha... here we are..."
Dani crawled through the passageway, then slowly rose to her feet as the tunnel grew in size. Armed with a Fire Flower and a POW Block, she lit a lantern and made her way through the cavern. While she had been asleep, her newfound psychic abilities had kicked in, and she had overheard her mother discussing a special item hidden within this place.
The ceiling dripped with cold water, and the area buzzed with the sounds of L'il Sparky buzzing around various rocks. The cavern split off into a junction. One side seemed to crackle with electricity; the other side roared quietly and was very warm.
She paused to think about it. It was then that the invisible bond connecting her to her boyfriend quivered, and she felt his concern. She turned around.
"It's a task for another day... Now to find my way out of here..."
***
Brandon paused in mid-step and shuddered.
"What is it?" Luigi stopped, looking concerned. He saw a distant look in the other's eye. "A vision?"
The younger human's right hand pulsed for a moment, then he blinked. For a moment, the entire world seemed darker and colder. He saw a flicker of lightning, then a splash of a reddish color, then whatever had gripped his mind released him.
"What did you see?" Luigi asked.
"I don't know... I'm new to all this."
"Well?"
"Lightning, and the color red... and it was dark. Sort of cold, too."
Luigi pulled out a map and frowned into it. "I think I know what you saw. Come on."
They walked out into the middle of a deeply wooded area. Luigi pushed aside a large boulder and revealed a very small crawlspace built into the side of a small cliff. "I think this is what your mind was trying to tell you. This is Sparky's Cave. Rumor has it there's some powerful treasures down in there somewhere... Nobody goes in there, though. First of all, they can't find it. Second of all... Sparky shocks are nasty."
"Why would I care for a damn cave?" Brandon asked in annoyance at his inability to comprehend his new abilities.
"Dani might be in there," Luigi nodded. "You forget you're bonded to her now. If you think too hard about her, your mind will flash you a vague image of where she's at. It'll give clues, but it'll be up to you to decipher them."
"I'm gonna go see if she's in there." Before Luigi could protest, he was gone within the crawlspace.
"Damnit," Luigi sighed. "Not even twenty-four hours into the world and he thinks he knows it all."
***
Dani used the Fire Flower to illuminate the rocky corridor she had picked. She'd gotten herself turned around and lost. Three times now had she arrived at the same junction. The flower's heat provided warmth for her otherwise shuddering body. She put a hand on the wall and closed her eyes, trying to feel for a way out. What she felt instead were the vibrations of footsteps.
"This place is a lot bigger than I thought." Brandon muttered as he found his way into the junction. He looked down both pathways but could hardly see anything. As he started to venture towards one, a fireball bounced at his feet. Unconsciously, he turned around and, using the rest of his earlier Fire Flower's energy, fired off three in return. A female's voice yelped a bit, and out walked Dani, holding her wrist.
"Uncalled for!" She yelled.
"You started it," he replied. "What the hell are you doing down here, anyway?"
"Heard it from Mom. Some sorta hidden thing... she sounded like it was important."
He shook his head. No sense in arguing with her. "Good to see you're okay... even though the idea of you being out ticks me off a little."
"Get over it."
A loud buzzing sound roared over them and caused them both to look down into the passageway she had emerged from.
"Buzzy Beetles!" She shrieked.
"Down here?"
"They're cave creatures."
Brandon raised an eyebrow. "Can't you jump on them and defeat them?"
"Not in a pack."
"Like I played the games that much!"
Hundreds of hard-shelled creatures poured from the corridor. Dani grabbed the POW Block and intended to smash it when one of the creatures knocked her off balance. She threw the block and it landed higher than she could reach.
"Crap!" She yelled, jumping for it.
"Good shot," he sarcastically said.
"Damnit, shut up." She got up, the both of them backing up as the swarm got closer. "Hey! Maybe this is like the game... maybe you can jump higher than me, like Luigi jumps higher than Mario."
"What?"
"It's worth a shot, try it!" By now their backs were on the wall.
He shuddered a moment. "Fine." He jumped once, landing on a beetle and bouncing.
Dani smiled. "One hundred! Go on!"
He steadied himself and bounced from another. "Two hundred," he managed to himself, suddenly catching on. He bounced off several more, then managed to jump off one, and with an extra spring, bounced three times his own height, hitting the POW Block. The ground quivered violently as he landed, knocking everyone off balance.
"Weird," he commented.
Dani grabbed a shell from one of the fall beetles and kicked it. "Away!" She shouted, the beetles being promptly defeated.
"Nice. Only one problem."
"What?"
They looked up as the cavern around them was collapsing.
"You have bad luck," he yelled over the falling rocks.
"Shut up and duck!"
They ducked as far to the ground as possible, rocks shattering around them. One exploded near them, sending them tumbling down one of the forks in the cave. They rolled for a few yards before Brandon rolled back onto his feet. Dani slid a good ways before springing up herself. The cavern was pulsing a whitish blue.
"The hell is this?" He asked while flicking a pebble off his shoulder.
"I dunno," she replied with a shrug. "I do hear something pulsing up on the top of the wall, though. I wanna know what it is."
"How do you plan to get up there?"
"Well, if you got the jumping and quicker running, I must have gotten the acrobatics."
"What?"
She ran towards the wall and kicked it, flying towards the other wall. She kicked that one as well, slowly wall-kicking her way to the top of the massive cliffside.
"Impressive," Brandon murmured.
"There's a stone up here!" She shouted down to him. "Oh wow. It's got a blue light pulsing from it."
"Don't touch it, Dani. Like you need to get hurt again." He stood on his toes, trying to see her. She walked out of his line of sight. "Damnit!" He shouted up at her. "Leave it alone!"
She walked towards it, the ground vibrating and pulsing with energy. The blue pulse seemed to be drawing her closer.
Down on the ground level below, he shivered as if he'd been electrocuted. "Leave it alone!" He warned again.
Her left hand touched the orb. Instantly, millions of volts of electricity shot through her arm, rampaging through her body. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pull her arm away. She screeched so loudly it was silent.
Down below, he held his breath and winced, hearing the electricity crackling. He felt the occasional stabbing shock in his spine.
The orb suddenly exploded and launched her down from the ledge. She caught herself at the absolute last second, digging her nails and heels into the cliffside to slow her decent. She quivered and trembled.
"Dani, what happened?" He walked over, surprised she was even alive.
She held out her left hand and an orb of lightning formed in it. Both she and her boyfriend jumped back. "Whoa!" She exclaimed. "I can..."
"Did you just make a lightning bomb?" He asked in disbelief.
She pointed a finger and launched a massive strike of electricity. "I harnessed electricity. That must mean the other cavern down here is a fire essence."
"If you think I'm going to burn myself, you're crazy."
They arrived back at the junction, then started down the other corridor. She had to keep her left hand balled into a fist for fear she'd fire a bolt of lightning. This junction was extremely hot and, surprisingly, held lava along each side of the walkway. About halfway into the walk, the ground beneath them gave way.
"Stars above!" Dani cried, already adjusting to the new world's vocabulary. She pushed him forward. "Go on!"
"Won't you die?" He cried out as he stumbled forward.
"Don't worry about it." She pushed him forward again, harder. "Go!"
He ran on ahead, not bothering to look back over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Dani closed her eyes and hoped her newfound acrobatics would see her through.
He slid under a small makeshift doorway just as the ground gave way beneath him. The room he was now standing in felt like it was boiling. An orange-red orb sat nearby, flickering with energy.
"Damnit. Well, I'm already here... may as well..." He winced and put his right hand atop the orb. His body felt flushed with heat, causing him to tremble profusely. His knees buckled as the heat seared through his body. A burst of flames, then the orb shattered around him. He fell back and exhaled sharply. Surprisingly, it hadn't harmed him as bad as he feared. A flashback to him playing with the fireballs whilst in the prison cell reminded him he'd already become immune.
"Now to get back to Dani and find a way out of here..."
He found his way back out into the main portion of the cave, finding Dani sitting on a ledge a few feet above him. "How did you manage to get out of that one?"
"Backward somersaults. Can't do 'em on Earth, but I'm a natural here." She grinned and jumped down to his side.
"So how do we get out of here?" He asked her.
A voice came from behind him, low and menacing.
"You don't."