The Origins Of Wonderbeasts

Ritchie ~ 3

Ritchie wasn't sure when he had fallen asleep, but he must have because Mario rudely awoke him with a kick. Despite being shorter than Ritchie, his kicks hurt quite a bit. Once Ritchie woke up, him and Mario began walking. Ritchie didn't know where they were walking or why they were going somewhere, but he could see that Mario wasn't in the mood to be asked.

"How are we supposed to find your underground burrow exactly?" Mario asked as they walked. Ritchie thought for a bit, unsure himself. He didn't know what direction the burrow was in or how they were supposed to find the hidden entrance. He snapped his fingers when he remembered the symbol of the burrow.

"The Sea Barrier! Supposedly there is a barrier above the burrow that looks like a fish, and we have it as the symbol of the burrow. It's supposed to be really big, so it shouldn't be hard to find." Ritchie told Mario. Mario nodded, stopping in his tracks with Ritchie stopping behind him. Mario looked around a bit, before spotting a semi-destroyed store and walking to it.

They walked in and passed by a few aisles until Mario stopped and pointed down one. "Down there, you should be able to find a bottle of stain remover. You grab that while I find the other stuff we need. Be quick." Mario told Ritchie, before running down a few more aisles and going down one.

Ritchie walked down the aisles, looking for a bottle that said "stain remover" on it. It took him a while, but eventually he found one among the shelfs. There were other interesting things too that Ritchie hadn't seen before, and he began looking at them. He was looking for a while before he heard an obvious cough. He turned to see Mario holding a grape juice container in one hand, his staff in the other.

"You do know what 'be quick' means, right?" Mario asked sarcastically. Ritchie gave a sheepish nod, picking the bottle of stain remover once again. He walked up to Mario who rolled his eyes before leading the way out the store to... somewhere else that Ritchie didn't know.

"By the way, why do you carry that staff with you?" Ritchie asked, now walking next to Mario instead of behind. Mario looked at him before sighing and putting the stuff in the rope so it would sit on his waist. He tightened the rope quickly, not wanting either the rope or staff to fall.

"It has the end of a deathstalker tail which has a deadly poison even when removed from the deathstalker. It's dangerous and hard to get, so I can scare off some mutes just by having it, and can use the staff on the rest of them." Mario explained, glancing at Ritchie for a few seconds.

Soon the pair came upon a giant building that was thoroughly flooded. Ritchie was honestly surprised that so much water was still inside the building. Mario walked towards it and then began wadding in the water near the door, looking back at Ritchie.

"You can swim, right?" Mario asked, to which Ritchie nodded. "Well, we need to swim up there so we can find the 'Sea Barrier' or whatever it's called." Mario said, pointing up at the building. Ritchie was a little nervous, but followed after Mario. Mario snatched the stain remover away from him and secured it with the grape juice on the rope.

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It was decided, Ritchie didn't like swimming. It had taken a bit of time for them to swim to the top of the water, but it was enough for Ritchie. Between the water pipes he went through yesterday and the building he just swam up, Ritchie had had enough water for a good while. Now he and Mario were on a giant lily pad, floating on top of the water with Mario using his staff as a paddle. Eventually Mario paddled into a room with a telescope on the other side. He paddled towards it, looking cautiously around the open room.

"You should be able to use that telescope to find the barrier." Mario said, his frown much different than Ritchie's large grin. He nodded, grabbing the telescope and looking around the ground. He would be going home soon, he could feel it! He looked around at the destroyed buildings and roads, until his eyes landed on two roads that made the fish-like symbol Ritchie's burrow had.

"There! My home should be right under there!" Ritchie said, going off the telescope and pointing in the direction. Mario used the telescope to see where Ritchie was pointing better. Ritchie could practically see Mario making a mental map to the where the burrow was, and Ritchie could feel his excitement growing with every second. Home was so close now!

"What are you two humans doing here?" A voice said behind them, sneering with the word "humans". Ritchie and Mario turned to see a talking frog who was definitely angry. Ritchie gulped, his excitement being replaced with fear.