The Council Room emptied quickly once the brief was over. The heroes proved to be dutiful, immediately rushing off to get their vaccinations and convene in a world they didn’t know much about. Mario wasn’t upset for having not been selected as leader. Instead, fish girl had, and despite what anyone thought, he was okay with it. Mario had experience being a part of various parties and was confident the heroes would all prevail. Fish girl had nothing to worry about for she had
the best one of the best heroes on her team.
When Mario had joined the others on the other side of the portal, he took a moment to take in the forest…it looked somewhat normal. It was too enchanting to seem like any old forest but who was he to assume? The trees in his world had smiley faces and to Mario that was way more normal than trees without faces. How would they all know if the trees were mad? He noticed fish girl wave his way.
She found a high place so I didn’t have to go lookin’ for her. Smart girl, Mario thought as he walked over to stand below her. He had a yellow bandaid with a red mushroom on his deltoid and a red strawberry lollipop that he was happily sucking on.
“Hey Fish Girl,” he greeted her.
“Nice spot. I don’t think I would have found you in the crowd (mostly because he would have been too lazy to bother looking).”He then grinned, the sucker stick poking from his cheek.
“So I guess its me, Fox, Gordon, you, and the thief! You should feel relieved to know you have so many legends on your team. This whole mission is gonna be a cake walk!”Mario then held up two fingers at her (peace) before turning to the other members in his party.
The squad leader dove straight into business, calling for everyone’s attention with his assertive voice alone. They learned that the team leaders were free to do as they felt was necessary, but the squad leader was going to wait until daylight before he attempted to make heads or tails of the situation. They knew what was supposed to happen from the brief, but so far, they didn’t have any guidance whatsoever.
Grasping his sucker by the stick, Mario sucked on it thoughtfully as he glanced around at the other groups, and then noticed that Samus and Luigi were on the same team! The plumber frowned his brother's way, but said nothing. Mario had been planning to impress the bounty hunter by showing her his strength. He was no longer the pudgy plumber she remembered.
The bounty hunter raced over to Mario and removed her helmet. Falling to her knees she rested her hands on the plumber’s shoulders and leaned in close to him, “You’ve gotten stronger, Mario. I love strong men.”
Mario grasped her arms, sliding his hands up to take her hands in his as he stared into her beautiful blue eyes.
“That’s not all that’s changed about me,” Mario told her smoothly. He then smirked. “Come on, I’ll show you how I swing my hammer.”
“Oh!”Mario was grinning perversely at his little mental fantasy when the ground suddenly shook. The plumber was pulled from his thoughts as he spread his arms to keep his balance. The sound of tree branches snapping and leaves hissing surrounded the party and rhythmic vibrations could be felt through the ground—footsteps? Several women with knight-like helms, winged skirts, and greaves emerged from the trees. There were five total before a silhouette of a man—no, a giant! Appeared beyond the next set of trees. A gargantuan fist clenching a hammer, crashed through a branch that had been in his way. A wall of solid muscle lined with four metal shields appeared before the group before the leaves cleared from the giant’s face. Beneath a spiked helm, the man’s red eyes burned malevolently above a thick, red beard. The skins of two bears rested on his shoulders and seeing as the man was ten-feet tall, those were some massive bears.
The giant brushed some leaves from his chest, using his other hand that clenched a horn that would never run dry. His burning eyes settled on the heroes and before he even bothered to introduce himself, he brought the horn to his mouth and eased his head back as he drank heavily from the brew. His throat muscles pumped audibly as he drank to his satisfaction. Lowering the horn, a merry grin expanded on his face amidst the hair that covered it.
“So this is who they all sent?” the general said, sounding disappointed or unimpressed.
“I’m General Brigan, General of the Raganival Army. I requested for you all to be here.”Thrusting out his tree-trunk arms, a bit of his brew sloshed out of his horn, as he explained,
“This is Raganival.”He then pointed at the castle in the distance,
“And there is the Demon Lord’s Castle. Currently, Odin is there but he is planning to go to the Abandoned Castle in Elrit Forest. Gwendolyn and the ring are in that castle. The Shadow Knight, Oswald also guards that castle and won’t let us get to her so easily. If Odin gets to the castle before us, then Oswald will be murdered like the…heh. If he really thinks he can stop Demon Lord Odin alone, then he is a fool.”“These forests are treacherous and full of powerful monsters even more so since Raganival has been at war with Ringford. The fairies may get in our way, but no matter what we must get to the castle. We will need some of you to distract Demon Lord Odin to give us time to reach the Abandoned Castle. The Demon Lord is no easy foe.”General Brigan examined the gathering briefly and his grin dissolved behind a doubtful scowl.
“…I just hope The Seven have kept their end of the deal. I do not know what to make of these…warriors before me.”Mario was giving the general an ugly look:
hereThe general had quite the impressive beard and mustache combo. He raised a hand to his own mustache and started stroking it as he pondered growing a beard. Did Samus like beards? He then happened to glance over at Slayer and his mustache. It was…decent he supposed. It still wasn’t as thick as his. Mario continued to stroke his mustache and partially listen to what the general was saying.
“Who is the leader of this group?” General Brigan asked before taking another swallow from his horn.
