Paper Mario: WaE Chapter 5

Hey, everybody, FINALLY got around to drawing another chapter up this week, so here it is! Without any more stalling, here's Chapter 5!!!

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"Lady of the Forest..." Peach recited, reading the title of the old, dusty book she held in her hands. "Looks like one of the Warrior Stars is trapped in the storybook world, Mario, good luck with this one." The princess laid the book out on the floor, causing a circle of light to envelope it. Mario stepped into the center, his partners following, and one by one, they were sucked down, into the pages of the book.

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"Ughhh... Where ARE we?" Trus T stood up, adjusting his glasses, and looking around. The team had landed in a round field of beautiful, colorful flowers, surrounded by thick forest trees at every turn.

"ARF!! ARAWRF RAWF ARF!!!" Chomper happily bounced around, sniffing the flowers, as Flitter floated around, taking in the forest air.

Mario woke up, dusted off his overalls, and scratched his head, taking in his surroundings.

"So what happens now, Mario?" Officer Koopky picked up his hat off the ground, putting it on.

"Well um, we can-"

"OH MY GOD WE'RE ALONE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FOREST, WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!!" Droop's voice was cut off by Trus T screaming.

Droop sighed. "Umm, Mario... There's a-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH WHY DID WE COME HERE?!?!?"

"M-mario... I can see a castle-"

"OH MY GOD WHAT IF THERE'S BEARS, OR TIGERS, OR-" Droop sprayed Trus T with a strong beam of water, knocking him out.

"AS I WAS SAYING, THERE'S A CASTLE OVER THAT WAY, JUST PAST THE FOREST." Droop pointed her ribbon off to the north, and Mario nodded, following her directions, scared of her outbursts, the rest of the group following.

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Trus T shivered, trying to hide behind Koopky. "H-how... How much longer do we have to be in this forest?"

"Not much longer, I'm sure, Droop seems to know where she's going..." Flitter looked up, trying to see the sky through the thick mass of trees. Suddenly, Chomper sniffed something, and ran ahead of the group, causing them to run after him.

"ARF!!! ARF ARF MARF WARF!" The chain chomp dashed through a set of bushes, into a clearing. Ahead of the group, a large hedge maze awaited them.

"Woah..." Trus T's jaw dropped.

"The castle must be at the other side of this maze, let's get going, everybody, we've got a Warrior Star to find." Koopky marched on into the labyrinth. (Fighting fuzzies, piranha plants, monty moles, crayzee dayzees, shy guys, snifits, and thwomps along the way.)
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The hedge maze seemed as if it were never ending. Chomper sniffed at the floor, unable to detect what the right path was, neither Droop nor Flitter could see the correct path from above, not even Trus T's book had any information on the area.

"There's no way around it: we're lost." Koopky adjusted his bandana, scratching his head. He took a step forward, but before he could land his foot, he was knocked back by a high-pitched scream.

"NUUUUUUUUU!!!!!" The group focused directly at the source of the noise: Whacka, screaming in complete fear of being almost stomped on.

"Not this guy again..." Trus T put down his book.

"How do you keep finding us, Mr. Whacka?" Droop calmly approached the creature.

"Whaaaack-hoo! Because you folks don't whack me! And I help people who don't whack me, whaaacka-do!!!" He smiled up at the group.

"Wait, you know the way out of this maze?!?!?" Koopky leaned down to Whacka's level, as the blue creature nodded excitedly, smiling.

"Here! This should help!!!" He disappeared underground, and re-appeared, clenching a ripped, old paper page in his mouth, and spit it at the group. "Thanks for not whacking me!!!" With a smile, Whacka disappeared back underground, and Trus T picked up the page, face beaming.

"ITS A MAP!!!" He started jumping up and down. "Its a map to the maze!!! We can get out of here, now!!!" Mario and his friends began cheering.

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The group of six eventually made their way to a drawbridge, and excitedly crossed it. Inside, they were greeted by a group of guards, clad in shining armor.

"WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS HERE?" One of them shouted. Mario told them the story, and they took the group into the throne room, where the king of the castle resided.

"So, you're looking for a star shaped relic, then?" The king pondered. "Well, one fell into the forest recently, however, when I sent my men to investigate, it had already been taken in by the lady of the forest, Baba Koopa."

"Baba what now?" Flitter asked.

"Baba Koopa," Trus T looked into his book, "An ancient witch existent in Sarasan folklore, said to have lived in a vast forest, and would kidnap bad children who didn't listen to their parents. She's... Basically the villain of an old wives' tale."

"Precisely, young toad, the Baba Koopa has terrorized this forest since our kingdom came into existence, striking fear into the hearts of subjects." The king looked over at a servant, sending them a hand signal. "If you were to get rid of her, we would gladly give you the stone star. However, reaching the lady of the forest will not be an easy task, you will need some help if you are ever to find her lair."

The king's servants brought forth his jester: a small snifit, who sneezed, accidentally spitting out a small flame.

"This is Scorch, my royal jester. He has a knack for setting things ablaze by accident. Without him, it will be impossible to reach Baba Koopa, and so, I hereby banish him from our kingdom, and royally decree that he shall accompany your group as punishment for his actions." Before Mario could reject the king's offer, he released the snifit's bonds, and sent him over to the group.

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SCORCH JOINED YOUR PARTY!!!!
SCORCH'S ABILITIES: A PRIMER.
PRESS X ON THE FIELD TO MAKE SCORCH BREATHE FIRE, LIGHTING DRY OBJECTS ABLAZE.
HOLD X TO BRIGHTEN UP DARK ROOMS, OR LIGHT TORCHES, WITH A STREAM OF FIRE.
IN BATTLE, SCORCH CAN BURN AN ENEMY WITH A FIREBALL, OR TORCH ALL ENEMIES WITH HIS FLAMING BREATH.
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Mario and company left the castle, and came across a sealed cavern with two torches, one on each side. Using Scorch's power, Mario lit them, causing the pathway to open. The group traversed the cavern, (fighting swoopers, thwomps, whomps, bob-ombs, bulky-bob-ombs, and dark boos along the way) and came out the other side, following the forest trail until they came across an old, decaying, wooden hut.

"This is it, Mr. Mario, Baba Koopa's home." Scorch tugged on Mario's overalls, trying to get his attention, pointing at the old building. When the group approached it, suddenly, an old magikoopa witch flew by overhead, throwing cast spells at the heroes.

"You wretched mortals, how dare you approach my land?!? I'll grind you into cauldron powder!!!!!!!" She exclaimed, cackling.

"Get ready for a battle!!!" Scorch shouted.

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After the battle, Baba Koopa attempts to fly off, but her mortar breaks apart, and she flies to the ground, dropping the red Warrior star.

"You'll regret this day, fools!!!" She curses, and runs away, off into the darkening forest.

"Thank you for helping our people, Mario, we knew we count count on you." Scorch picked up the star, handing it to Mario for his efforts.

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YOU GOT A WARRIOR STAR!!!
END OF CHAPTER!!!
******

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The scene shifts to Daisy, who leaves her room, and fights (yes, you get to FIGHT) her way through the Shroob guards as she attempts to escape once more. She eventually meets up with the cloaked man, who momentarily joins her party, and helps her fight her way almost to the exit of her captives' fortress, until Tatanga intercepts her, blocking the exit.

"You've done well to get this far, Princess, too bad its all in vain..." He smiles, snapping his fingers, calling two Shroob guards to his side.

A boss battle initiates, and Princess Daisy, as well as the cloaked character, defeat him. They rejoice, but are ambushed by more Shroob guards, and Daisy is knocked out.

While unconscious, she dreams of an island to the south: Plushpoint Isle, and unknowingly, transmits the message to Princess Peach.

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The scene shifts again, to Luigi, who battles his way through Bowser's Badlands, until he eventually stumbles upon Flora Village, and rushes to the castle, meeting up with Princess Peach as quickly as he can, informing her that Bowser and his minions may already be on their way to Sarasaland.

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If you read through all of that, then at least I know that like the 4 hours I went through literally THINKING of what to type down didn't go to waste. XDDD I'll get around to making the next chapter soon, but with school in the way, it MIGHT take a little while. Please be patient, and until then, enjoy!!!

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The World at End concept belongs to me, , but all characters related to the Super Mario series belong to Nintendo.