Darkness, Dimensions and Death
Chapter 2: New Allies
"Ugh, my head" Piplup complained, caressing his aching spot. When Piplup returned to focus, he could see that he had landed in a field of pipes….green pipes. "Ok, where am I and where is Turtwig?" He questioned himself. Suddenly, Piplup spotted his leafy friend, metres away from him. Without thought, he rushed towards Turtwig at full speed. "Turtwig, are you ok, can you wake up?" Piplup asked with concern.
"Urgh, Piplup, is that you?" Turtwig said drowsily.
"Yes, it's me, are you ok, Turtwig?" Piplup said, slightly upset.
"I think so, but I have a splitting headache" Carefully, Piplup helped Turtwig up and together they discussed their surroundings. "Piplup, have you ever in your life seen a place with floating ?boxes and green pipes almost everywhere?"
"Can't say I have" Piplup replied. But then, out of nowhere, appeared two brown creatures with triangle like heads and no arms. Of course, they were goombas. One of them raised a suspicious eyebrow at the two Pokémon and the other beared its bottom fangs. "Erm, do you two know where this is?" Piplup asked helplessly.
"This is the Mushroom Kingdom and why do you want to know?" one goomba asked back.
"Well, we went through a dimensional hole in the Sinnoh region a.."
"We don't want to know where you came from, we want to know why you are here!" The goombas shouted in unison. Piplup and Turtwig were stunned at how angry these two were, until Turtwig finally managed to say: "We were just exploring, I guess"
"What was that? Trespassing! We'll have to take you to Lord Bowser then" the goombas misheard.
"Who's Lord Bowser?" Turtwig wearily asked.
"Well.." But the goombas were interrupted by laughing, it was Piplup.
"Hahah, how are you meant to take us to this so called 'lord' when you don't have any arms!" Piplup stated, almost in fits now.
" Oh, we don't need arms to capture you, not when we have this!" Unexpectedly, four taller underlings with hammers charged in rapidly. Piplup and Turtwig tried desperately to escape, but to no avail, they were surrounded. Boxed in and with no-one to help, they were taken at the blink of an eye, taken to Bowser's castle. But little did anyone know, that an old brown toad was watching from a nearby bush….it was Toadsworth. Meanwhile, in a house nearby, two very unfortunate plumbers were sleeping at peace. That was, until Toadsworth barged through the door. "Master Mario, Master Luigi, two innocent fellows were just…taken…by Goombas!" Toadsworth screamed, but then fainted from running. The Brothers literally jumped out of their skins and crashed on the mushroom-tiled floor. They soon recovered.
Being the hero that he was, Mario recalled what Toadsworth had just said, and sprinted out of his home to rescue these two 'fellows' However, Luigi was the opposite of Mario, almost always a coward. So he decided that the best thing was to help Toadsworth. Luigi realised after a minute or two that he could lay Toadsworth down on the spare bed, and that's what he did.
Piplup awoke and found himself inside a cell in a dungeon which could hold about a million inhabitants. He frantically searched around and found Turtwig awake in an adjacent cell. The two were about to speak when a giant, king-looking creature strode toward the cell bars. "So you two are the trespassers, huh? I haven't seen any living thing in this world like you two, I like rare prisoners. Oh, sorry, I should introduce myself first. I am the one and only mighty Lord Bowser! Pleasure to eat…I mean meet you"
"What do you want with us!?" Piplup argued.
"There's surely no need to be so rude, I just want you both to join my empire and take over the Mushroom Kingdom, a small price to pay don't you think, or would you rather rot to death in here?" Bowser questioned creepily.
"Piplup and I would never stoop so low as join your army of evil minions! "Turtwig said, standing up for both of their rights.
"You are both very persistent, but how will you get out of this one? If you want to die, go ahead and argue with me. If you want to live, join our side and believe me, you won't escape" Bowser explained again.
"We'll find a way, we always have done, me and Turtwig. Through all the adventures we've lead, by ourselves and with our old friends in the guild, every sticky situation, we've always found a way out, and now is no different!" Piplup exclaimed.
"Aww, what a touching story" Bowser said sarcastically. "But I'm afraid that words will not help y…" All turned silent, when a man with a red cap and blue overalls threw a fist straight into Bowser's ugly face. The Koopa King flew through the air and smashed into a stone wall. The wall cracked in the middle and almost toppled. Bowser didn't have to think to know that it was Mario. He countered by jumping up in the air and attempting to ground pound Mario, but as always, he was too slow as Mario evaded the attack and grabbed his scaly tail. "Oh no you don't!" Bowser yelled and tried to breathe fire on Mario, but miserably failed to do so. He fully well knew what was coming next, as he was spun round like a fairground ride and thrown straight out of his castle, destined to land in a far away field. Mario then somehow opened the safe where the dungeon keys were kept, and freed the Pokémon. Since Piplup and Turtwig had nowhere else to go, they followed this moustachioed man back to a large palace which was as beautiful as the heavens. Inside the pair was escorted to a Princess….Princess Peach. "Mario, who are these adorable little animals? The Princess asked in a polite-mannered way. "Oh, they look so tired , could you please take them to the spare rooms?" Mario nodded his head and showed Piplup and Turtwig to their new rooms. They fell asleep in seconds.
The next morning, the Penguin and the Tortoise awoke to the lovely smell of pancakes. This alerted them both, as they both wolfed down their breakfast and headed downstairs. "Thank you, your highness, it's been a pleasure to have slept and eaten here, in such a royal manner" Turtwig expressed.
"Me and Turtwig will be leaving now. If not for Mario and your kindness, we wouldn't have had anywhere to sleep. We'll never forget you!" Piplup commented as the pair exited the double-doors. "Safe travels" Peach replied. A matter of seconds later, a giant laser was fired at Marik and Piplup. Luckily they just had time to dodge it. When the dust settled, a figure that they knew all to well emerged. "I've finally found you! "He bellowed.
"DARKRAI!?" they both quoted.
How did Darkrai return from the last encounter? (Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2)
What will he do to Piplup and Turtwig?
Will the Mario Bros be able to help?
Find out in the next chapter!