Chapter 3 - Pyrope

This was an actual place in the Mushroom Kingdom... good, I wasn't dead.

"Hello-?" I said, looking around frantically. "Mario...? Waluigi!"

Nobody was here except the couple of Bulb-ulbs that were dancing around. How on earth did I get here?

I took a few steps toward the large oak tree in the middle of the fields. There was a large beanstalk in front of it. Mario had said that he's ridden it before; it went as high as the clouds.

"May as well try it," I told myself, and boarded the large leaf platform.

As soon as I set foot on the leaf, it started rising. I had to grab hold of a vine attached to the platform to catch my balance.

I sat down as the leaf kept rising higher and higher. I was starting to get a little nervous; I had to be over a hundred feet up by now.

And it truly did reach the clouds. I was a little surprised at how a cloud was not like cotton candy like so many people think, it's really just a bunch of mist...

Finally the leaf stopped. I could see the entire mushroom kingdom; the tops of Peach's castle were just visible over a large cloud. I could see the little flags at the tower tips waving.

I stood up, tightly gripping the sturdy top of the vine. This was quite a view.

I then felt three sharp taps on the side of my head. I brushed my hand there... nothing.

Tap, tap, tap.

"Cut it out-" I told whatever was doing this.

"Hello," someone said.

"Hello what-" I slowly turned around. Nobody.

"Are you dead?"

"No, I'm not dead-" I said, turning around again. Nobody was there. "I think...who's there?" I asked.

"Hellooooo..." Tap, tap, tap.

"I hear you!" I screamed, becoming a little frantic. This frantic feeling was only intensified as I noticed that the beanstalk was dissolving under my feet.

I blinked a few times. This wasn't flower fields anymore. I was sitting, staring at the floor, my head swimming terribly.

"What..." I whispered, and lifted my head off my chest. I gasped loudly, I couldn't help myself.

"Don't go dying on us, not now," Waluigi said in a monotone whisper.

Waluigi and Mario were tied up in individual chairs next to me, although Waluigi's right arm was free. He was the one who had been knocking me on the head earlier. We seemed to be in some kind of laboratory...

Mario pressed his finger to his lips. Neither he nor Waluigi were in their normal clothes... it looked like they were both about to get married.

I tried to lift my arm to rub my eyes, but found that I was so tightly bound to a third chair that I was immobilized. Looking down at myself, though, I noticed that I, too, looked like I was about to get married. All three of us were wearing black tuxedos with a single golden charm at the base of the collar. Mario's was a shine sprite, Waluigi's was a mushroom, and mine was a star. Something fishy was going on here...

I bit the inside of my cheek very hard to ensure myself that I wasn't dreaming. It hurt; this was obviously real.

Mario jerked his head toward three other chairs on the other side of the room that I hadn't noticed. They contained three very young people, I recognized them as Julie, the 14-year old radiologist, Ricky, the 12-year old who had a pet spider with ichthyic features and was as tall as a house, and Lauren, the 14-year old pyro who set everything tangible on fire. They, too, were dressed in an unusually formal way, and too had tiny golden charms at the base of their necks. Built into Ricky's bowtie was a cape feather, Lauren had a necklace with
a fire flower on it, and Julie had a necklace with a Tanooki Leaf.

Julie had been eyeing me nervously, but now that I was back in my right mind, seemed a little relieved. She twitched her shoulders; that was as much as she could move, because she seemed to be as tightly bound to the chair as I was.

"Well, well, seems we're all awake now..." said a voice from behind me. A voice that was eerily recognizable...

A woman walked out into the middle of our circle of chairs. I screamed; I couldn't jab my fist into my mouth to stop myself from doing so. It was that same woman I kept seeing... only... her hair was down and truly DID reach her feet. She was in a long, silk dress and looked almost like an angel... only, her eyes were glinting maliciously and she looked meaner than usual.

"Do you like it?" she said, holding her hand out to the whole lab.

"What do you want with us?" Mario asked calmly. "And ...who are you?"

She curled her long fingers. "I'm a descendant of Wart." she said simply. "That's all I'll say." I was shocked; Wart was a hideous, frog-looking king... his descendants are beautiful?

"Are you a princess?" Waluigi asked.

"I'll say no more than yes." she replied. "Know me as... as..." she thought a moment.

"Why don't you just tell us your real name," Ricky said irritably, shifting as though the ropes were itching his shoulders.

"No," the princess responded. "Call me... er... Pyrope. Yes."

"Pyrope?" Julie asked, confused. "But... but that's a gem. It's red. Don't you think you should go by some gem that tends to be green because you have so much green? Like Malachite, Cerussite, Phrenite or Kornerupine...oooh, or maybe even Pyromorphite?"

Pyrope shot a yellow beam of light at Julie, and in an instant she was turned into a large snail, though she kept her deep crimson hair, still tied tightly to the chair.

"There are some things wrong with your suggestion," Pyrope said. "Cerussite, Phrenite and Kornerupine aren't always green. And does Pyromorphite sound like a decent nickname to you? Malachite is a green gem, true, but it was already used in the popular Sailor Moon books and I don't want to seem like I'm cramping that style. Have I made myself clear?"

Julie the snail whimpered as a large drop of mucus fell from her tail and splatted loudly on the floor. Lauren snickered quietly and whispered "Julie's an animagus!" Julie glared at her through her four eyes.

"Um... okay," I said. "Pyrope. So... what are we doing here?"

Pyrope sat on one of the counters cross-legged. "Visiting," she said coolly. "I want to show you something. And... don't you all look pretty!"

"We're lovely," Lauren said. And indeed they were. "My hair has never looked so nice. Um... could you let us go?"

"No," Pyrope repeated simply. "Like I said... I want you to see something."

Mario and Ricky groaned in unison, petulance rising. Pyrope turned around and started mixing something in a bowl.

"Are you going to feed us?" Waluigi growled.

"Don't be discursive," she said slowly. "I'm not going to feed you, I'm going to show you something."

Ricky was craning his neck to get a closer look at what Pyrope was making, his chair being the closest to her.

"What are you doing?" she calmly yet threateningly asked him.

"Nothing." he said quietly, and settled down in his chair after an exasperated glance at Lauren. Julie the snail whimpered a little. Pyrope glanced at her for a second, but then resumed her job of mixing something.

Mario twisted his hand around and finally got a hold of one of the ropes that was binding him. Quietly he ignited it with Firebrand, and the rope burned in only a few seconds without creating any smoke or obvious smell. The rope fell to the ground, and Mario pulled himself out of it.

"Ma-" Ricky began, but Mario pressed his finger to his lips again and slowly walked up behind Pyrope. What was he going to do?

Pyrope took in a short, choppy breath and whipped around when Mario was inches from her. Pyrope quickly fastened her long fingers around Mario's neck.

"Going to see what I'm doing over here, huh?" she said in a wicked yet soft tone, and actually lifted him a few centimeters off the ground so that they were at eye level. I gasped loudly.

"I was-" Mario gasped, but it looked very hard to talk, and he didn't anymore. Pyrope suddenly gasped and slowly planted Mario back on the floor. She looked like she was about to cry.

"I'm... I'm... I'm so sorry!" she screamed. "I don't kn..know what I was th..thinking!"

"What?" Mario said, obviously a little surprised. He rubbed the back of his neck quickly and said "Oh... uh, it's no problem." He shot a confused look at me, and I shrugged as much as I could, which wasn't a lot.

"I..." Pyrope said. "I can't believe I tied you all up like this... what's gotten into me... and... oh no!" she saw Julie, who had a huge pile of snail mucus forming under her chair. "I did this to you..."

Julie obviously tried to nod, but she had no proper neck bones in order to do so.

"Yes," Ricky said quickly. Pyrope looked on the verge of tears even more. "I didn'-"

"Just fix it," Waluigi snarled.

"Yes... yes, of course..." she said, and shot a beam of light at Julie from her index finger. Clearly, she was another one of those people who could use funny powers with their hands. When the light subsided, Julie was back to normal.

"Um... thanks." Julie said, examining her fingernails. I could have sworn that Lauren mumbled "Skitz." Pyrope suddenly growled loudly.

"What is WRONG with me!" she yelled. She pointed at Mario. "You-" she said. "How did you get out of your ropes? You didn't steal anything, did you?"

"No..." Mario said quickly. Pyrope looked ready to fasten her fingers around Mario's throat again. "So how did you get out!?" she snarled.

"I..." he began, but Pyrope suddenly gasped.

"Duh..." she said. "Duh... you and this black-haired" -she glanced at Lauren- "idiot are masters of the Firebrand, aren't you... well, well."

"Yeah?" Lauren said threateningly. "So, what, if we are?"

"So, you are," Pyrope said, scratching her chin. "So's you are. Just a moment..." She turned her back and started working vigorously on something. Mario leaned around her quietly, unseen, and witnessed what she was doing. He stood next to her, undetected, for a second, then quietly walked up to me and burned through the rope around my shoulders.

"She's making some kind of potion," he whispered as he did this. I slowly pulled the ropes off and stood up. Julie and Lauren tilted their heads in unison, hinting that they wanted us to free them, too.

I pointed at Julie and then at my hand. She got the hint and gave the rope a bad electric burn, and it dissolved instantly. She stood up and did the same to Ricky's. He could cause floods with a flick of his hand, yes, but that couldn't silently break ropes.

Before long Lauren and Waluigi had had their ropes either fried or burned and all of our group silently crept up behind Pyrope to see what she was doing. It
looked like she was mixing some funny-smelling chemicals into a large pot. A thin line of steam was rising from it.

"Gas fumes..." she muttered. "I guess I did something wrong..." she turned around and noticed all 6 of us standing behind her.

"HEY!" she yelled and shot six threads of light out of her fingers. One of them hit me squarely in the chest, and I couldn't move.

"So, you all are too nosy for your own good. Too nosy to live..." Pyrope snarled.

"Hey, that was in a Harry Potter book," Lauren said. Pyrope got in her face.

"That doesn't matter," she said. "Anyway, your silly little fire powers can't break this spell. But, who cares, even if they could, I'm going to take them anyway."

"What!?" Waluigi demanded. "How!"

"This," Pyrope said with a nasty grin, holding up a small bottle. "This will make you so mortal you can't even measure it."

Lauren whimpered a little, she was obviously scared. A single spark shot out of her index finger.

Mario's lip trembled. "Oh, no..." he whispered. The entire lab rumbled.

"What's going on," Pyrope demanded.

"Y...you said there's gas in the air," Ricky said, realizing what was about to happen. "And Lauren just lit a fire..."

Julie stood up at the exact second that a deafening blast came from the walls of the lab. I kept my eyes shut tight... not even I could get out of this one alive...
And when the horrible crackling of a large fire subsided, I stayed still and listened around at things. I couldn't hear anything...

I opened my eyes and was astonished at what I saw. I wasn't dead, like I thought I would have been; rather, encased in a large, blue dome of lightning that hovered a few feet off of the ground. Julie was in the middle of it, long streams of electricity bursting out from her fingers. The rest of our party, I realized, was in here, too, and all of them had every single one of their hairs on end. I glanced at Lauren, and laughed silently at her strange
resemblance to Marge Simpson. I put my hand over my head; my hair wasn't standing. I guess I'm not affected by anyone's Thunderhand.

"Is everyone allright?" Julie asked the rest of us. Her golden necklace was acting like a lightning rod; it was shining a bright yellow. She quickly snapped her hands up, and the dome went away. We all crash-landed three feet to the ground.

"Yes," I said, rubbing my head and standing up. I looked around quickly; the burnt ashes of the lab were only a few meters away. This was a place I'd never seen before... I guess when I was thrown into my semi-conscious mind, I somehow got transported here. Waluigi groaned loudly.

"Great," he said. "We're lost in the middle of nowhere... with..." -he pointed at me with one arm and Mario with another- "These two idiots!"

"Hey," Mario said. "You asked us to come."

"And we did-" I continued in a matter-of-fact way... "Out of the kindness of our hearts."

Waluigi glared at me. "Are you saying that you think I couldn't do this myself?"

Though that was clearly not what I said, I quickly retorted "Well, gee, obviously, why else would you ask your worst rivals to accompany you?"

That was all it took. In the blink of an eye, Waluigi leapt on top of me and the both of us were knocking the stuffing out of each other. Through the mingled war, I could hear Julie just dying of laughter.

After a few seconds of confused fighting, Ricky stepped up next to us and yelled so loudly that we both froze, "COOL IT!"

Both of us turned our heads and looked at him, though this wasn't easy for me, because one of Waluigi's hands was curled tightly around my neck. He was pinning me to the ground, and my right hand was clasped against a lock of his hair.

"Now," Ricky the mediator said, "Cut this out. You did so well as a team on our last adventure. Why should this be any different." Waluigi leapt to his feet. "Because he-" he began, but Ricky raised his eyebrows at him and he shut up.

"Shake hands," Ricky said. I pushed myself off the ground and rubbed my neck. I imagined that Waluigi's handprint was still there. I held out my right hand after sighing, "Fine."

Waluigi slowly outstretched his arm to mine and grabbed my hand. With all the strength I could muster, I zapped Waluigi with my strongest thunderbrand. I heard Julie's loud shriek of laughter.

"Oops," I said innocently, when I ran out of electricity a few seconds later. "Sorry about that. I guess you grabbed my hand too hard."

"Why, you-" Waluigi growled, looking ready to pounce on me again, but Ricky stepped between us and blocked him from probably killing me. Julie was still trying to catch her breath. Obviously, the feuds between Waluigi and I were very funny to her.

"COOL IT!" he screamed again, his arms outstretched so me and Waluigi were as far away as possible. I heard Julie say quietly, "Welcome to the Jerry Springer show. Today's topic is 'I hate his guts!'" Lauren laughed hysterically and started chanting "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!" Mario sighed and buried his face in his left hand, obviously laughing. I found this pretty funny, too, but didn't have time to laugh because Waluigi had snaked his way past Ricky and had begun trying to choke me again. I could hear Julie start laughing again, but in the dust of our confused fighting, Mario stepped forward.

"Make one more move," he said calmly yet threateningly, holding out his index finger like a gun, "and the both of you are going to be scorched."

I stepped back. Mario was a little stronger than I was, and I knew to not push it.

"Whatever," Waluigi said.

"Do you want me to leave?" I asked in a pleasant tone, as though I were asking him what kind of presents he got for Christmas.

"Nah," he said, waving his hand impatiently. "I see what Homer Simpson does about choking people... it really is fun."

I scoffed loudly, but found it best not to argue. Julie snickered again.

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