7-1: Locked-in
"Kid. Lancer. Hey, Kid. Wake up." Luigi was still dozing. "The missus, uh, miss is gonna be really disappointed if everything isn't timed just right and to find you slacking off like this, Kiddo." The Left Sentinel nudged him gently. Luigi placed his hat properly on his head, got up, and listened. "It's me, Garret. The greatest ceremony in all our lives is only a couple of hours away. I brought you an invitation." "Wow. So, why are you all excited and stuff?" "Because the three of us are gonna get promotions! The higher the rank, the more they trust us, the more they trust us, the more exciting jobs we get to do! Of course, we have to have the sentencing of the prisoners and re-coronation for the solo queen first. After those, there's the Victory/Bachelor Party, then in the morning, the execution of those in the back, unless, you know, and lastly Zeihlson and Hildy's wedding; would be sooner, but Zeihlson still isn't in the best shape and he can't get married if he can barely stand up." Antonina's voice rang throughout the room on speaker, summoning all able men. "Must be us, umm...I never did find your name." Oh, it's uh, Lanza. Yep, that's totally my name." "Fits your accent all right."
The carriage stopped. Antonina stepped out followed by some of her army who blew ceremonial horns. Zeihlson came assisted by two medical workers and was getting better. She chose to walk alongside the group surrounding Mario and his friends as they all entered the castle. They passed through a segment of the Great Hall before being led into a commission room arranged to look like a court. Hildy was separated from the rest. Antonina stood in the center. "Okay, let's get this over with. You confess to bringing the king, ruler of this country, to his all too unfair end in addition to many others, attempting to rescue our prisoners, and sympathizing with the Archaeans?" "Well, sort of. I mean, we didn't do it on purpose. I would never intentionally kill someone for no reason." Mario knew nothing he could say could change their minds because she wanted them dead just because, but there was something they wanted to know about Hildy. Why did she do it? The Bacterians allowed her to confess, but she could only reveal why she revealed herself as the princess in front of the whole crowd. "To save you." The mock jury and spectators laughed, Luigi and Peach being the only ones out. A guard playfully elbowed each of them and they gave some believably fake chuckles and claps. Toad tried to walk out, using the act as a distraction, but he still was threatened with a spear to the face. Antonina saw him and stated that they will die by hands of the crown, then shouting to the wielder, "Take them away!" before they could try any more tricks. "Yes ma'am!"
Mario, Yoshi, and Toad were hauled off to the dungeon. Even after the door slammed they were not submissive and tried to push out of the way before it was locked . The guards left, jeering at Toad for fruitlessly yelling at them. The trio looked for methods of accepting reality when they saw a man a little older than Mario and a woman who reminded him of his mother; both also bearing the royal Archaean way dress and resembling Hildy. She spoke. "They've caught you too." "Yeah. You bet we're trapped." "Have you seen Hildy?" "She came with us, but they incarcerated her again too." "What about your twin?" The man spoke up and tightened his fists. "Wait, wait, wait.
You were hanging out with my sister. Why..." "Varick, calm down; Mario is very fine. You are 'Super,' aren't you?" "Hmm, yeah," She leaned over to and hugged him, crying on his shoulders. He patted her, "The four of us actually came back from the inside of one of your volcanoes and The Pit of No Return, alive." Yoshi, Varick, and Clair all became jaw-dropped. Clair was the first to speak. "You mean, you guys actually..." Yoshi interrupted. "I would've been with them if I wasn't holed up in here." "It was quite a time," pronounced Mario, "Say, you've been with them the whole time. Would you mind telling us what happened to Peach?" "No prob. You see, we spent most of our time planning to escape, until they got so annoyed with us, they separated us. I saw her once after, but she didn't care about me at all. I also heard rumors that they gave her chocolate for dinner, and he here was I, still locked in a room no bigger than this cell that got completely dark at night with no hope in sight." Varick seemed especially intrigued. "Wait, chocolate given to the princess?" "I know, talk about one sweet deal," Toad pointed out. "Doesn't opening up to the prisoner seem the slightest bit shady?" I never thought of it that way," Toad sighed. Mario defied Varick. "Well, whatever happened to her, when I saw her last in the hall, she appeared perfectly normal!" Toad made more efforts to clash the bars, before finally falling to the ground exhausted. They waited for hours, only seeing a guard who brought them dinner. Shortly after they finished eating, several clanking sounds could be heard; then a calm, feminine "Hel-llooo."
7-2: Sinister Sights
Luigi and Peach had stayed on the sidelines, listening in on people setting up for the victory party while blending in seamlessly with those working, usually far apart. When the time came, they met up with the admitter. "Ah, the fair maiden and umm,..." "It's Lanza," Luigi cleared up. "Are you two dating?" "Peach's face developed a pinkish hue. "No, we just met and I'm his performance escort." "I'm shocked by that." "What?" "That you two aren't going steady. Anyway, enjoy yourself!" They looked at each other then back at him. "Oh, I'm afraid that your friend cannot enter at this time. Our planned activities include a lot of dancing and I don't want any broken bones because they had to slam into you-An enforced "No-armor" policy!" Peach told Luigi to catch up with her later.
Luigi took another moment to relax in one of the rooms where the troops often stayed. He looked at himself once again in the garb used to fool an entire realm; the shirt and leggings fit nicely and looked decent and the green color somehow blended cohesively with his style. He also held his black box just so he could see the cute little leaf inside. His hair looked nice too. When he approached the Great Hall, there were already people from all over inside chattering away. It was only a matter of time before everyone was gawking at him. "It's Lanza-the guy who saved our souls from the Archaean Menace!" "Whaaaat? Where?" "I wanna see!" Luigi tried to act normal amidst the excitement, while edging his way behind a stage.
After some final preparations, a scene could be seen: Garret held the former king's crown and set it upon Antonina's head with great pleasure and to wonderful applause. His cousin, along with Luigi, could be seen on a pedestal beside him. He got up to his place an stood firmly with the rest of them. Antonina took Boris's sword and dubbed the trio, "I now officially declare you three royal servants of our great, soon to be-united grand Procarrian Empire!" The crowd roared with excitement, but one person was different; he clapped slower than the others and wore a black hood concealing his face. Even with it, Luigi got the eerie feeling that someone in there was giving him a dirty look. Also suspicious was that Zeihlson was still nowhere to be seen.
He was relaxing in his room, on the top floor of the castle, alone and locked in with none other than Hildy. "C'mon Hildy, I bet you're exhausted pounding on that door." "I won't stop until I...hah..get out!...hah." "Would you accept a gift?" He opened a box containing a gown, made specially just for her. "It's..hah...beautiful." "There's more sweetums. Also in the package was a heart-shaped container. Zeihlson opened it-the chocolates. "Ooh, my favorite. Wait..." Zeihlson grasped Hildy's hands. "Hildy, please! I'm trying to be nice." She crosses her arms and turns away. "They could have poison." "Now why would I want to hurt my lovely bride to be?" He notices Hildy looking back at the cloak with longing eyes and decides to have it for herself. Her disposition suddenly changed to a sweet one. "I'll take the dress, thank you very much, give me some privacy?" "Take one, take all. Let me know what you think of the candy and I'll go." She saw through the trap she was caught in, yet then again, it was just bonbons. She took one and bit into it; it was fabulous. "I love it-just like Clair's personal handmaiden makes them!" "Oh, they are. Now I'll keep my promise and leave you alone with the presents." He left.
Hildy saw her opportunity as soon as the door closed. She ran towards the door, but she couldn't leave without another chocolate. She changed into the laced white dress, stuffed five of the foodstuffs into her mouth, and barged out of the room, crashing straight into Zeihlson, startling a young lady next to him. "Ow, Hildy why so quick..." "I'm so sorry!" She gasped at her own words and bit her lips. As she digested the chocolates, she lost some of her balance. Zeihlson grinned. "
Gotcha, You, tend to her every need unless it's subversive and give her the sweets upon request unquestionably. Hildy, why don't your maidens doll you up a little? The world must know your true beauty." She fell into his arms and he escorted her back to her room, where her new servant was waiting. Zeihlson took pride in exit; now he could see what the rest of his guests were up to.
7-3: Reunion
Luigi and Peach were soon able to reunite. "Alright, you know the plan?" "Got it!" Luigi presented her with a golden key. "That will get into the alchemy lab, right?" "Yeah." "How did you..., never mind. May I have that please?" He gave it to her and she vanished into the crowd, alone towards the dungeon. She sneaked past the cameras and hit the guards over their heads with her frying pan, then covered the remainder of cameras, unseen.
"Hel-llooo," she called. Mario and the others took notice instantaneously. and fought for space near the edge of the cell. "Guys, calm down; this is super risky. Listen, I have a plan: Luigi's going to rescue Hildy while I escape here with you and we'll meet up somewhere outside-faraway, where no one can find us." They smiled and she enjoyed seeing them. Peach then leaned toward the gaps between the bars. "I wish I could just leave with you now, towards...that place." Mario grabbed her hand and she turned toward his lips. "Are you not embarrassed?" "A little," Mario said lovingly, "but I'm just glad I get to see you two, um, normal and...brave." They kiss. Toad and Clair became mushy and hugged each other, yet Varick looked as if he were sick to his stomach. After their lovelock, Peach stood firmly, whispering "Goodbye. I'll see you soon." "Now hang on, why can't you both be here," Yoshi wondered. "It's part of the idea," Peach responded before tip-toeing away.
She returned to the Great Hall excusing herself past piles of people to find her companion waltzing with several of the more distinguished women, who were waiting in lines. They winked at each other before she disappeared back into the multitude. The two continued to pretend to enjoy the festivities through the dinner and further celebration. Late into the night, Zeihlson appeared on the stage to officially close the ceremonies so people could get plenty of sleep for justice was served and for the big wedding. The time to act was now.
After he left, Luigi waddled towards his bunk, but he tripped over a table that had been left out. Exhausted and disoriented from what seemed like an eternity at the party, he nodded off again, but he stood up a while later; he was a man with a mission. He raced to the castle's top floor and sneaked into Antonina's private quarters, where he waited for Peach. Upon her arrival, the two flipped through an enormous spell book, searching for the Spelleraser, a simple antidote for everything else in the book. Peach decided to be sweet and do the work herself. Luigi read off the instructions; "First, pre-fill enchanting substance with five gallons of water," Peach did just that. "Okay, Ingredients: Apply some rock powder, half a set of rat's ribs, and three doses of wand glitter (This can easily be achieved by smacking a wand against the cauldron, pot thing, or whatever, as long as it falls in as seen in the wizard's glossary at the beginning of this book and on page 492); three times, no more, no less. Three shall be the number of times you tap the wand on the catalyst, and the number of the measured quantities shall be three. Four will make it explode, neither you will perform this task two times, excepting that you then proceed to three. Once the number three, being the third number, you will cease and move to the third step, which..." Peach, wielding a spare wand and slightly annoyed, asked Luigi if he was making that stuff up. "Nope, it's all verbatim. An alchemy book's warnings are alchemy book's warnings; now I can see why this particular edition is-a written for children." "Then why do we have this one when we're clearly fully grown?" "Because I've-a never done this before." "Calm yourself down, it's just like cooking, except you just have to be more careful because the consequences are easily more profound. Now, what was the next part again?" "Okay, umm, let's see...Ah! Wait at least two minutes, then using an 9L stirring tool, stir as recklessly as possible until the precise moment it turns white(Explanation on how why is covered in the Explanations Index),
BUT YOU MUST NOT MAKE SURE ANY OF THE POTION IS-a DROPPED OR IT WILL TAKE LONGER TIME TO REVERSE EFFECTS OF SAID SPELL, but if you say the name, it's-a supposed to be good luck." "All right." She paused and turned to Luigi. "Say, don't you want to do this last step? I mean, odds are you are stronger than I am." The two switched positions and Luigi whispered "Spelleraser", putting all of his arm muscles into brewing the potion for the exact length of time necessary. Peach quietly applauded, "Wow, just goes to show, you are more than those put-downs say about you, not that I didn't believe in you! Now you go and find Hildy." "Aren't you gonna leave?" "I just thought of something that might help my portion, I won't be here for more than a couple minutes." Luigi took a closed flask of Spelleraser and left, grabbing the confiscated items of Toad's and Hildy's too. Peach, meanwhile, made a mysterious mixture of her own, hid all evidence of her and Luigi's presence, and rushed towards the dungeon.
7-4: Are You Surprised? It's Me
Luigi knocked on Hildy's door and examined through a peephole. Not much luck. He rapped a little more aggressively, still no response. He sighed and waited quietly, thinking of more sneaky ways to get in. Peach entered with the same procedure as before and woke up Mario and the others. She opened the gate and they ran toward her. They then tip-toed over towards a set of iron chains. Peach dumped the chemical she made onto them; it slowly began to turn them brown. They surreptitiously made their way to the castle's front hall, but then a loud horn sounded. The lights came and the man with a black hood otherwise in full armor stood before them. He spoke as other concerned castle dwellers arrived on the scene, "I know what you came here for Princess."
Mario shook at the voice, "...Axton." "You know why I'm here?" Peach blanked. Mario and Toad stepped up front to confront him. Axton smirked twiddling his fingers. "So now I can finish this fight as it should have been." "It ended the right way last time-score for the nice guys; besides, you don't even have a weapon," Toad said. "That's because I was
DISCHARGED ya nitwit!" He removed the cloak over his face, just like before, only with the mark of a second-degree burn on his right cheek and several signs of extreme cold. Everyone, including all but the most stoic of Bacterians and Varick cried out in disgust. "You know how I got this, YOU, just when I had the mustachioed punks in my grasp and now I have to just wait around for some other, less deserving comrade to see you through, but I'm stronger than that, so when I saw the Peach here with whoever cares about you traitors enough to give me a second-degree burn, I knew I had my chance!!!" Zeihlson interrupted the altercation. "So, you're trying to say that any one of us here is a spy?" "Yes." "Mother, have the all palace guests over here and we'll see things that way, after we throw these prisoners back where they belong, including Peach." They wanted to fight, but even though most of the oppressors were unprepared, they had numbers on their sides.
In the meantime, Luigi had continued to wait for Hildy until Axton's alarm sounded; then he heard something else: Hildy's voice-she was waking up and planning to investigate. He tapped on her door one more time. "Who is it?" "It's me! I've got something for you!" "Lanza?" At that moment, Hildy came out of her room. She had a nightgown and the brown dye had went away and changed into a night-sky black; her lips were also more pronounced. "Have the prisoners escaped?" "Uh, sure. That's why we have to leave right now." He dragged her towards a way out. Hildy screamed "But I don't want to leave my beloved!" "Well, your kingdom needs you." "Excuse me sir, this is my realm and tomorrow, I shall share it with Prince Zeihlson." "Calm down Hildy, drink this and everything will be perfectly fine," Luigi heard rapid footsteps, "after we get out of here." "But my Zeihlson-the wedding!" "I'm saving you!" They ran towards a lower window and jumped. They got up. "Hildy,
please have this!" "What is it?" "Tea." She drank it, then she saw and hugged her Luigi. The two got down and peered through a window; they saw the others being escorted out. Someone said inside, "Hey did I just see somebody?" Luigi and Hildy ran inside a hotel for the guests nearby. The clerk was vaguely confused why Hildy was staying with her, but not suspicious enough to report anything; besides that guy with her was so cute and think of all the revenue positive feedback of a willing royal guest would bring. "We have to save them somehow," Hildy brought up to her friend, "Hm-hm. What a way to spend our last moments together, bringing peace to an entire continent." She showed him her room key (Located right next to Luigi's room) and departed to refresh herself for the rescue. Inside the locked cubicle, Mario, Toad, Yoshi, Clair, and Varick tried their best to smile. Toad asked Peach if she was sure about her part of the plan. "Of course it will. You guys are going to be alright."
