Paper Mario: TTotS - Chapter 7, Part II

King Shroude's Fortress
12:00 Midnight

It was even scarier inside the fortress than out.

That was what Mario and the others decided the moment they were in. They jumped as the huge wooden door slammed shut behind them and the loud noise echoed through the halls, though not before it let in a cold draft of air that made the entire group shiver.

Finally, they reluctantly looked around at where they were.

First of all, it was dark, though that was hardly a surprise. Not only that, for a stronghold that was supposed to be so important, the place had a decrepit and abandoned look to it, as though it were falling apart from the inside. The floor was made of cold hard stone, as were the walls, though they were currently standing on a tattered and worn red carpet that seemed to try to signify that this was a house of royalty. There were chains hanging from the ceiling, and the only windows back into the outside world were high up on the walls and seemed to only let in more darkness.

If it weren't for the overwhelming feeling of hostility in the air, Mario would have been reminded of the Koopa Bros.' Fortress… how long ago that seemed now.

As he and his partners looked around nervously, Dulia suddenly let out a shudder. "It's… really cold in here."

"This place looks totally trashed, man," said Ferdinand, looking confused. "What's up with that?"

"If I had to guess? King Shroude probably thinks he doesn't need this place anymore," Mario muttered. "He's been wanting to get out of here forever. Once he's gotten rid of Peach, he'll never need to come back here again… anyway, the sooner we get out of here, the better."

They had nowhere to go but forward, so they walked through the entryway and over to the wooden double doors on the far end. As soon as they'd entered the next room, Mario's breath caught in his throat.

This was likely the largest, most important room in the fortress, though it was currently empty. It seemed to be a meeting hall, as it was mostly taken up by rows of long tables, and there was a huge, ornate chandelier suspended from the ceiling, though it was largely broken and none of the candles were lit.

But the one thing that grabbed everyone's attention was the huge set of doors on the other end of the room… or rather, what was behind them.

"Mario…" Stubba whispered, suddenly growing tense and gripping his club nervously. "I… there's something over there…"

"It's the Sun Soul… it's right behind those doors!" Hanner realized, and Mario knew she was right. Even from this distance they could feel its energy emanating, and they almost balked at its power. It was stronger than any of the other Sun Souls… surely only the Master of Day could wield something like that.

They quickly hurried across the room, down the rows of tables, over to the door, but slowed to a stop when they realized that they weren't getting through that easily. There was an ancient, rusty padlock over the door, bolting it shut.

"No," Mario groaned, tugging at the padlock to no avail. "Come on, come on… it's right through here… we don't have time for this…"

"Forget it, Mario… looks like we're gonna need a key," Snatchel sighed.

Mario drew back in annoyance. "A key that could be anywhere in this fortress," he muttered. "We've got no idea where to look for it."

"Uh, I wouldn't say that, dude," came Ferdinand's voice, and the group turned and saw he was studying a torn, yellowing piece of parchment on the wall. "Check this out. It's like, a map or something! Pretty nifty."

"Really?" Mario walked over to get a look, and sure enough, on the parchment was something that definitely looked like a map of the fortress. From the looks of it they were still near the very front, and behind the locked door was a very large room… but Mario was more concerned by the drawing of a large, ornate key that was placed in a room near the very back.

"All right, well, this is a start at least," he decided, drawing back from it. "Looks like the key we're looking for is at the other end of this place." His eyes were slowly drawn over to the door. "Well, I hate to leave the Sun Soul behind, but it looks like we don't have a choice. So let's hurry before it's too late."

He set off over to the back of the room, and his partners followed after him, although for some reason Goomblaine instead decided to stay where he was and scowl to himself.

Mario turned back around and frowned at him. "Goomblaine, are you coming or aren't you?"

The Goomba just rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he muttered noncommittally, though he made it a point to shove Ferdinand out of the way as he stomped off after the others. The Bumpty looked surprised, but not annoyed… which was more than Mario could say. What exactly was it going to take to make Goomblaine stop being a jerk to everyone?

There were two staircases on either side of the door, so they took the left one and went up to the next floor. They plowed through the fortress as best they could after that, but unfortunately, it didn't feel like they were getting any closer to their destination. The hallways were all dark, imposing, and all too easy to get lost in.

The walls were lined with rows of lethal-looking weapons, clubs and flails and swords and knives. There were tapestries hanging from the walls as well, and though they were all filthy and torn it was still possible to see that they depicted battle scenes, monsters out of nightmares, or else the simple image of a moon blotting out a sun.

It was obvious by now what kind of place this was; it was meant for raising an army that could take over the rest of the world. And obviously, such a place wouldn't go unguarded.

"Ugh, we should be getting somewhere by now," Mario griped as he pushed open another wooden door into a hallway with very large windows lining the walls, through which the alien stars could be seen. "At this rate we'll have to turn around and go back outside so we can – AAAHHHH!"

He shrieked and jumped backwards, and so found himself mere inches away from the face of an angry Chain Chomp, snapping furiously as it lunged at him from where it was staked into the floor.

"Oh no… now what?" he groaned as he saw there were three of them, slavering crazily as they bounced around and blocked off the group's path. "We can't fight these things like this! Their defense is through the roof."

Dulia suddenly grew an uncharacteristically firm look. "You guys had better plug your ears," she said, and suddenly a ghostly wind whipped up around her as she floated into the air and unleashed a deafening Howl on their enemies. Mario gasped as his hands flew to his ears, and the Chain Chomps all whimpered in pain at the noise as their defense visibly dropped.

"You sure are tougher than you look, Dulia," Mario observed as she landed back on the ground and his other partners raced forward to finish off the weakened Chomps.

The rest of the hallway was just guarded by more Chomps, but when Dulia wasn't weakening them right off the bat, Ferdinand was just gleefully Beak Jabbing them away. As the very last one of them fell in defeat, though, it left an item behind.

"Hey look, Mario! It's a key!" gasped Stubba, hurrying over and grabbing it up. "You think this is the one that'll open the door?"

Mario looked at it and shook his head. "Nope, that's definitely not big enough. But on the other hand, it must be a key to something else important."

It wasn't long before they found what it was for. They reached the far end of the hallway and arrived at a narrow wooden door on the side wall, covered by a small silver padlock. Mario quickly unlocked it and the group ascended a flight of steep flight of spiral steps. When they reached the top…

"Woah… look where we are!" said Mario as they all crowded together and looked around. They found themselves standing in one of the watchtowers lining the battlements of the fortress. From here they had a bird's-eye view of the entire structure.

"Well, this is lucky. Now we can see exactly where we need to go! And I bet with this key we can get up here whenever we want."

"Yeah… unfortunately, it looks like where we wanna be is clear on the other end of the fortress," said Hanner, pointing off in the distance. Sure enough, for all their wanderings they were still near the front, and there were numerous patrols between them and the door where they needed to go.

"Well, at least we've finally got our bearings. Let's hurry over there," said Mario, stepping out of the watchtower as the others followed him. "And remember to act casual… but… not too casual."

––

Dark Dimension
12:00 Midnight

The Officer was pacing impatiently around the entrance to the fortress, muttering something under his breath. He was not in the best of moods at the moment… but then, he rarely was.

"Sir! Sir!" came a gasp, and he turned to see another one of the black Wiggler-like creatures come scurrying up to him, looking panicked.

"Contain yourself, soldier. What's the problem?"

"Well, sir, I just received an urgent message," the Wiggler panted, giving a weary salute. "It sounds like Mario will be arriving here at any moment to infiltrate the fortress!"

"Mario? Oh, yes, the one our lord kept going on about," said the Officer, frowning at this development. "This is bad news… all right then, remind me again, what does he look like?"

"Uh, well… he's supposed to be a portly fellow. He's got a red hat and blue overalls, he carries a hammer with him, and he's got a… strange group of friends with him."

"Oh, well that's…"

In a bit of a delayed reaction, the Officer suddenly fell silent as he seemed to be remembering something… and then the realization hit him and his eyes bulged in horror.

"GUARDS! GUARDS!" he roared, spinning around and racing toward the entrance. "WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY! MARIO IS INSIDE THE FORTRESS! I REPEAT, MARIO IS INSIDE THE FORTRESS! APPREHEND HIM NOW!"

––

King Shroude's Fortress
12:00 Midnight

Naturally, his cry was heard by every single patrol lining the battlements… as well as Mario and the others. They hadn't taken more than a few steps out of the watchtower when they all froze in their tracks.

"…Uh oh," said Mario as they suddenly found every single patrol staring at them.

"IT'S MARIO! GET HIM!" shouted one patrol, and the next thing Mario knew every guard on the battlements was charging toward them, shouting at the top of their lungs as they bore down on the hapless heroes.

"RUN FOR IT!" the plumber screamed, and he and his partners tore off across the battlement as fast as they could, desperate to outrun their pursuers and make it over to the back end of the fortress before it was too late. His partners tried desperately to fend off the guards even as they ran for their lives, whether it was by throwing hammers, Lassoing them out of the way or keeping them at bay with a Lullaby, though Goomblaine seemed less concerned with doing that and more concerned with saving his own skin.

"Not so fast!" came an angry hiss, and Mario jolted to a stop as the black Wiggler-thing suddenly came slithering onto the battlement right in front of him – the plumber vaguely realized he must have climbed all the way up the wall of the fortress. His partners all gasped and jerked to a stop as well, which just gave the guards who were chasing them enough time to pull up right behind them.

They were surrounded.

Mario glanced fearfully back and forth at their captors. "Uh… actually, I'm his brother Luigi?" he said with a nervous grin.

That was the last thing he remembered before a fist came down over his head.

––

The next thing he was aware of was the fact that he was lying on the cold, stone ground, and how thick and rank the air suddenly seemed. He groaned in pain, reaching up and rubbing his throbbing head, and forced his eyes open.

Maizee was the first to notice him. "Oh, Mario, you're awake! Thank goodness," she gasped as she turned and hurried over to him. The others quickly followed her.

"Don't do that again, partner. You had us all worried," said Snatchel, shaking his head and looking a little amused.

"Ow…" Mario groaned, sitting up and still rubbing his head. He looked around at where they were, and his blood ran cold as he realized they were behind a set of iron bars.

"Oh no…" He ran up and looked through the bars. He didn't recognize the room they were in at all; it was even darker and more filthy than the rest of the fortress, and the only light seemed to come from torches hanging from braziers on the walls.

"Where… where are we? Where are they holding us?"

"We don't know, dude," Ferdinand sighed. "We're like, underground or something. In the cellar, I guess."

Mario covered his face in his hands. "No, no, no," he moaned hopelessly. "This can't be happening. We have to get out of here… Peach is running out of time!"

He didn't get to say another thing before there suddenly came a hearty laugh from the other side of the room.

Mario immediately spun around at the noise. "Oh, great," he muttered as he realized the laugh belonged to the Officer, who had just come walking through a large door on the other side of the cell. He strode up to the bars of the cell with a wicked smile on his face, ignoring the hostile glares he was getting from everyone inside.

"So here you are! All together, ripe for the picking! The infamous Mario and the six Guardians of Day…" His gaze fell listlessly on Goomblaine. "…and an extra, it would seem."

Goomblaine glared up at him with a look that suggested he would have tried to tear his throat out if he were able. How dare they think he was worth less than the others, even if… especially if they were Guardians!

"You have a lot more cheek than I thought, Mario, trying to pull a fast one on me like that."

"Well, it worked," Mario pointed out.

The Officer blinked once before scowling. "Yes, well… we'll see just how much cheek you have after we let King Shroude know who's decided to pay us a visit. I'm sure he'll be quite eager to give you all what you deserve." He started to turn away, giving them a nasty grin. "Until then… sit tight."

"Oh yeah? Why don't'cha let us outta here and then we'll see who's the cheeky one, partner!" Snatchel shouted after him, running up and grabbing the bars, but the Officer just waved him off and vanished out the door.

One he was gone, the sheriff let out a defeated sigh and sank to the ground. "Shoot… this just ain't our day, is it?"

"Mario, did you hear what he said? If we don't get out of here fast, they're going to bring King Shroude over here!" Dulia cried. "We can't fight him like this, not without Princess Peach!"

"I know, I know," Mario groaned, trying to remain calm. He was far less worried about himself here than his partners; they were the ones Shroude really needed out of the way, and what was he going to do when he got his hands on them…?

"Okay, Stubba… let's look for a crack in the wall again, okay? I'm sure we can break out of here. But we have to hurry."

Stubba immediately obeyed, running up and down the walls with a nervous look on his face as he looked for somewhere he could break open. He was quickly joined by Mario, while the other partners just stood there fearfully and wondered what they should do.

"Oh…! I found something, Mario!" Stubba finally piped up, pointing at a small crack in the wall. Mario and the others quickly raced over to him as he gripped his club and smashed it into the wall as hard as he could…

But as the stone crumbled away, Mario's heart quickly sank. The resulting hole was tiny… there was no way they could all get through that. This was no use at all. It was only big enough that his two shortest partners, Stubba and Goomblaine, could fit through it.

"…Is that all?" said Snatchel, looking disappointed.

"Isn't there some way you could make that bigger?" Hanner asked, sounding pretty hopeless.

"I'm trying," said Stubba as he continued repeatedly whacking the wall, but no matter what he did nothing else would give way.

Finally he lowered his club in exhaustion, giving Mario a despairing look. "I'm sorry, Mario… maybe, maybe I could go out there and look for something to help everybody?"

"No, Stubba, it's too dangerous out there for you all by yourself," Mario said, and then sighed. This went completely against his judgment, but… "Goomblaine, you're going to have to go out there and scout. And come back the minute you find a way to get us out of here."

Goomblaine just snorted, not moving an inch. "Oh, right. You're sendin' me out because I'm expendable, right?"

"I'm sending you out because you're older. Now please just knock it off and go, all right?"

But the Goomba did nothing but give him a loathing sneer, turning away defiantly. "Forget it. I'm through with you bossin' me around like some lackey. I'm not goin'."

Mario felt a very familiar twinge of annoyance. "Goomblaine, we don't have time for this! Whatever problem you've got, deal with it later! Unless you want the Guardians to all be wiped out again, after everything we've done – "

"Forget it!" Goomblaine spun back around and spat at him, causing the other partners to draw back in shock. "I'm sick and tired of you, and I'm sick and tired of how you're always goin' on and on about those Guardians like some kinda dumb fool idiot! If you're so worried about 'em, do it yourself! I'm not doin' it!"

Mario stared at him for a long moment before he found his voice.

"That's it. That's it." He got up and stormed over to the Goomba.  "Goomblaine, enough is enough!"

"Mario, I don't think this is the time or the place for this – " Maizee began, but for once, Mario ignored her. This confrontation was weeks in the making. All of his dormant frustration at Goomblaine had finally come to the surface. This was the last straw.

"I've had it with you! You have the worst attitude I've ever seen, and I've given you plenty of chances to change your tune, but you just haven't gotten in through your head! From the very start you've done nothing but be deliberately cruel and unhelpful whenever you got the chance! It's fine to be angry at me, but do you really have to drag them into it?" He angrily gestured at his other partners, who were all watching this with wide eyes, too stunned to say anything.

"You treat everybody on this team like dirt. Like you're better than the rest of us. And you don't even seem to care whether the Guardians come back or not!"

Goomblaine gave him a glare that was like ice. "You're right," he said steadily. "I don't."

Everyone stared at him.

"But – but how could you say that?" Stubba cried.

"After all this time, you don't – you don't even – " Hanner sputtered, not even knowing how to finish.

Mario was actually growing afraid. He felt like he didn't even know his first partner anymore. "What is the matter with you?!"

"The matter with me?" Goomblaine spat at him, growing visibly angrier by the second. "There's nothin' the matter with me! Why the heck would I care what happens to those Guardians, after what they did to me?"

Mario blinked. "What…? What are you talking about?"

"Y'know, I used to be like you," Goomblaine said in a condescending, accusing voice. "I used to think the Guardians would take care of everything. Heck, I thought they were great." He scowled at some memory. "But my parents sure didn't."

Mario and the others stared at him. He'd never mentioned this before…

"Your… parents…?"

"Yeah, you never wondered why I never brought them up, did you? Of course you didn't," Goomblaine sneered at him. "Y'know what they said? They said if the Guardians really were real, then our lives would be a whole lot better. We wouldn't be poor, we wouldn't be livin' in a bad neighborhood… but I just kept on hopin' and believin' in them, 'cause I was just that stupid."

He turned away with a bitter look on his face. "Yeah, and they didn't like that at all. My mom especially. She said I was no kid of hers if I went around believin' in some dumb fool superstition like that… so I got mad, and I ran away."

The silence and the tension in the cell were unbelievable. Goomblaine shot the others a glare, certain he had their complete attention, before he went on.

"Well that lasted a few days… I was just wanderin' around the streets with nowhere to go. But then I started thinkin'… weren't the Guardians supposed to represent, like, everything good in the world? Peace and balance and dumb stuff like that? And if I was just bein' stubborn and runnin' away like that, bein' mad at my parents for no reason… wasn't that goin' against everything the Guardians wanted? Wouldn't they be happier if I went back and dealt with my own problems?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that sounded good to me. So I went back home, but…"

He suddenly looked pained to go on. "Y'know, not everybody who believes in the Guardians is a flippin' saint," he said scornfully. "There's some guys out there who think that's something you have to do. Like that's the only way to be. And if you don't believe what they believe, like my parents… they try and force it on you. They get… violent."

For the first time, somebody else spoke up. "You mean like… like crusaders?" Hanner asked in a very small, timid voice. "I… Rodolfo never mentioned anything like that…"

"Well yeah, he wouldn't, would he?!" Goomblaine shouted at her. "He couldn't stand the thought that those Guardians of his were less than perfect!" He shook his head. "That dumb freak, he doesn't know a thing…"

He turned away from the others again, glaring at the floor. "But I didn't know that back then. I didn't know about any of that stuff. But by the time I got home that one night, expecting like I'd see my parents again, I… I saw…"

His face screwed up in pain. He didn't finish.

"Goomblaine…" Mario said after a moment, ever so cautiously. "What… what did you see…?"

"My house was burned down," Goomblaine said shortly. "They didn't get out in time."

There was the most ringing, hostile silence Mario had ever experienced.

"Woah… dude…" Ferdinand said softly.

"Oh, my goodness…" Maizee whispered, covering her mouth with her hand.

Stubba looked completely terrified, gripping onto Hanner's hand with both of his own.

"And that was when I stopped believing in the Guardians," Goomblaine said in a very low, very shaky voice. "I was wrong the whole time. If they really did exist, they'd never let something like this happen. Never."

Mario's chest was tight and his expression was horrified. "Goomblaine, I… I…" he began, but he had absolutely no idea where to go from there. He felt like he'd had the wind knocked out of him, like he could barely stand on his feet anymore. All of a sudden, all those past weeks of anger and arguments, of hostility and isolation, of hurting the others as much as he could and refusing to help anyone unless he was forced… all of a sudden, everything made sense. Everything was horribly, painfully clear.

Everything that had happened to Goomblaine, he blamed on the Guardians… and all this time, Mario had been forcing him to help bring those very same Guardians back…

"But… but why didn't you… you never said anything! Goomblaine, why didn't you say something?!"

Goomblaine had been looking weary and defeated, but suddenly all the hate and venom came rushing back.

"Well you never gave me the chance, did you? Naw, you just shoved me to the back of the line the first chance you got so those other freaks in this group could come and fawn over you!" He let out a laugh, scathing and bitter and furious. "Geez, Fat Man, you think there's somethin' wrong with me? You were the one who saw how messed up I was and never once even thought of just askin' what was wrong! You were too busy feelin' sorry for yourself because oh no! One of your partners isn't completely in love with you!"

Mario was shocked into silence. That accusation hit him hard. He had no idea what to say in reply, but… it wasn't true, was it? None of it was! It couldn't be…

"Well I got news for you, Fat Man. I'm the only one in this room who sees you for what you really are. You're some spoiled rotten glory hog who expects everybody to go around worshipping you, like… like a Guardian!" He spat the last word out like he couldn't even stand the taste of it. "Well I ain't doin' it. You haven't done a thing for me. And I've had it."

And without another word, he spun on his heel and began marching off toward the hole in the wall. The other partners could only stare after him in silence. They were too shocked to do a thing.

For a moment, so was Mario, but his shock was quickly replaced by anger.

"Goomblaine, where do you think you're going?" he demanded, taking off after the Goomba. "You get back here – "

Goomblaine whirled around and violently shoved Mario in the stomach, sending him staggering backwards and collapsing to the ground. He winced as his head struck hard stone.

"Get away from me! And don't ever let me see you again! I'm outta here!" the Goomba shouted at him. "Admit it, that's what you wanted this whole time, ain't it?"

"Goomblaine – " Hanner called out futilely, but he paid her no heed. Leaving Mario staring up at him with a hurt and confused look, he turned back around and stormed off, doing what he should have done weeks ago and leaving Mario and the others behind. For good.

He left the cell and marched across the room, then yanked the wooden door open and marched through it. It slammed shut behind him with a loud, echoing clang.

Everything was silent. Mario was still sitting on the ground, as still as a statue, unable to process what had just happened. Hanner and Stubba ran up to him, but he didn't even notice. He just kept staring at the doorway where Goomblaine had vanished.

"He's… gone," he said quietly. "He's gone."