The River Can't Hold Me

Chpt. 9

(Yo I'm not even sure if people genuinely read this- or if they can find it. I'm gonna keep writing this in the event that people do like it though ^^' Comments and such are appreciated ;;)
  
The Princess didn't wan't to believe his words. Frankly, they just sounded preposterous! Still, she couldn't help but find herself asking who was in the Mushroom Kingdom to reassure what she had just heard. Maybe, deep down, she just didn't want to believe it.
 
"What makes you say that," she asked Geno. "He's been locked up for years. I haven't heard anything about him ESCAPING! That should have been impossible!"
 
"By the looks of it, I'm afraid that it is all to real. That's why I'm here... and he must have been the one to attack Nimbus Land, and that's why I'm here! To stop him," Geno shouted, half angrily yet triumphantly. I think I saw him heading towards the Forest Maze-"
 
"But Mario's heading to the maze to find Luigi! Geno, come on! We have to help him!" Peach threw herself up and ran over to her bedside drawer to retrieve her frying pan. She thought of it as a memento, a good luck charm. Geno nodded in agreement to her determination. He straightened out his arm to check his, well, "weapon". With a hiss, the wood on his arm slid back and collapsed into itself, folding back and then burrowing in the elbow joint. The shiny base of his "gun" was emerged, and the barrel came out simultaneously and locked into place with a click. Geno held his arm up in the air and flexed his blaster arm to show off to no one. 
 
Peach bent down and slid open the drawer to grab said frying pan from earlier, but she was stopped by a hand. A fluffy hand.
 
Mallow gazed sleepily into Peach's eyes. He was half awake, but didn't appear to be able to keep his eyes open. Peach could see in his eyes that he was curious, so she leaned a little closer and whispered into his ear as to not alert Geno that he was awake.
"We're heading out to save Mario and Luigi from another villain. You need to get your rest though. We won't be gone for long, don't worry."
Mallow looked like he understood, blinked a few times, and then went back to sleep with a huff.
Goodnight, my sweet prince.
 

Peach grabbed the pan and then walked over to Geno, signalling for him to follow her. The two made their way out of the room, Peach's heels clicking against the floor as she closed the door behind them. They made their way throughout the pink halls in a sprint, flying down stairwells and rushing past pillars. You could see their reflection zoom past on the shiny mirror of the floor. Toads had nearly been knocked over, and they had all wondered why the princess wanted to head out this late at night but they knew it must have been important. When she got mad, not even Bowser could stand a chance against her fury. Peach and Geno burst out of the front gates and into a pipe yard, each pipe a different colour that symbolized the significant area they lead to. Geno was a little annoyed, but being heroic was his duty. These darn pipes needed to be fixed, but to hell with it! Pipes were not the issue at the moment. It took them a few seconds to wander the yard until they found a deep green pipe. Peach pushed away some grass, climbed up onto it, straightened her dress, and then let herself plunge into the darkness. Geno did the same, but just with minor hesitation and no dress.
 
The two were launched out of the pipe from the bushes, Peach falling gracefully down with her dress puffing up around her in mid air, and Geno falling straight onto his nose once again, practically getting a mouth full of dirt. He hurried up and started into the forest once again. It wasn't too long before they were met with more danger. Before them stood Luigi with Mario on the last thread tossed up against a tree. He noticed his two friends. Instead of a relieved expression, he let off a distressed one, reaching out and looking past the two of them. However, he was too weak to speak, and Geno was too late to react. He was smacked in the back of the head with a branch, knocked off his feet, and was back to kissing the soil. The princess whipped around and swung her arms, hitting the branch swinger right in the gut with her kitchenware. They doubled over in pain and fell to their knees, but Luigi grabbed the princess by the arms and restrained her. Peach knew it wasn't Luigi, so she kicked back without remorse into his shin and felt him crumple behind her to the ground. She adjusted her grip on the frying pan and looked at the three of them on the forest floor around her. Geno picked himself up on weak elbows. He felt his head had been knocked off...
 
The Princess rushed to her plumber's aid as Geno stood up, stumbling a few times. He looked at the attackers. One looked to be like Luigi, but his clothes were black and green, lacking overalls. The insignia on the hat, though... It had to be Luigi. The other one was indeed the one he had come here for. Clad in purple and yellow, the other attacker had stood up, adjusting the mask he wore on his face. He was just slightly taller than Mario, but not taller than Geno, judging on the removal of that stupid looking hat. The two just stared.
 
Geno stepped back and took aim with his gun. He let it charge to 3, a blue light emitting from the barrel. Dimentio still just stood there.
 
"Geno Be-"
 
Dimentio, in the blink of an eye, had appeared beside Geno and shoved a seed into his mouth as he spoke his attack words. Geno aborted the beam and began to cough, caught off guard. Dimentio didn't even attack him, or bother to move out of the way. What the hell was this?! Geno covered his mouth with his arms as Dimentio stood and watched. "Luigi", by now, had recovered, and took the opportunity to catch the princess, who had been knocked out by a red powder along with her plumber. As Geno recovered from the seed that had been tossed into his mouth, Dimentio had wound up his foot and kicked Geno in the back of the leg, bringing him down onto one knee. He then ordered "Luigi" to take the princess and Mario back to the castle, but addressed him by the name "Mr. L". Definitely not Luigi.
 
Mr. L swung Mario and the princess over his shoulders and trotted over to the pipe in the bush that Geno and Peach had entered from, jumping down into it like he had done it a million times before. It was then just Geno and Dimentio alone. Before the star could get his head up, Dimentio then kicked him in the back, which sent Geno down onto his face once again. Dimentio proceeded to keep his one foot on top of the doll as to not let him stand up. Geno knew Dimentio wasn't that strong physically, so being overpowered by someone so... weak was just sad. He struggled but it was no use. He let himself get pinned, he let his face fall down into the dirt again...
 
Having someone beneath his foot was such a rush for Dimentio. He loved being the one on top. In fact, he always was. It was just when other people get in the way that he had to lay low. But now here he stood with an angelic being, forced to lay on the ground underneath his own power. How lovely! He could use this... he could use him.
 
"Mmmhmhmhm... My, what do we have here? Is this not fate? Fate that this pitiful god compared to someone like me has to kneel? Like I, Dimentio, am some sort of... master? How sad utterly!"
 
Geno didn't buy into his taunts. He would bow for no one. He turned his head away.
 
"What's that? Do I hear annoyance ringing from the ears of the mouse?" Dimentio leaned over to face Geno's turned head. Geno was looking straight onward. He wouldn't give Dimentio the satisfaction of a response.
 
"Is your mouth glued shut? I was told you had a serious personality but I didn't take you for the boring type. What's the matter," Dimentio leaned in closer. "Cat's got your tongue?"
 
Geno could feel the jester's breath through the mask on his cheek. He shuddered. This was gross.
 
"Maybe next time the clouds will be hit harder, hmm? I was also informed that you were attached to that place. Do you know how hard it is to bargain with clouds? They do make wonderful prisoners though. Disposable, fragile... and there was royalty there, correct?"
 
Geno grabbed fist fulls of dirt. Dimentio noticed and let that sink in for awhile before continuing.
 
"They should have been taught what true loss is like many years ago, yes? They lost their prince... their kingdom was taken over, only to have been revived when he returned... Pointless, really. Wouldn't it be better if the whole place, instead of being spared, was... "
 
...
 
"Exterminated?"
 
Geno lifted up his head again but Dimentio stamped his foot down onto the back of his hat, hard enough so that Geno's nose would be buried in the dirt. This meant that the foot was off his back, so Geno took his chance to swing himself to the side and knock out Dimentio's vacant foot from underneath. The jester fell over and Geno rolled over his shoulders into a crouch, and then stood up, dashing over to Dimentio and picking him up by the neck of his... poncho? Geno wasn't sure what he was wearing other than the fact that it was atrocious. He pinned him against a tree with the Geno Beam arm jammed into the side of his skull. Geno's expression was blank, but you could see that seriousness in his eyes. Dimentio was now the one caught off guard, holding onto Geno's arms. Dimentio was now silent, almost as like the rolls had been reversed.
 
"You belong in hell," Geno had said in his native language. Dimentio didn't understand, but he didn't have to, as he was smacked in the head with two, shiny golden cymbals. His expression faded from shock, head ringing as he lost consciousness. Geno, too, was surprised. The only person he could think to use cymbals was...
 
Mallow.
 
Geno let go of the unconscious clown and turned around, immediately focusing his attention downward. Before him stood the tiny cloud prince, cymbals indeed in his hands. He looked a little angry, but it was hard to tell with such poor lighting. His cape was being dragged by the wind, and so was the curl of hair that belonged to the prince.
 
"Did I do it? Did I get him? Geno?"
 
"Yeah... I think you did."
 
---
 
Geno and Mallow had carried back the intruder to the Mushroom Castle with no sign of Mr. L. Toads have told the two of them that Mario and the Princess were left up on the front porch, and a backwards, black L with a ring around it had been stamped into their hands. They had been taken up to Peach's room to recover, just as Mallow had been. No one seemed to question the clown that the two of them were carrying, though. It was like they didn't recognize it as any threat, and just thought of it as some other... visitor that had been injured in the woods along with the others. What were they going to do with him...?
 
Tie him down to a chair in Peach's room for questioning.
 
They hadn't bothered to check if he had any sort of weapons or objects on him, but they did indeed pull up a chair from the dining room and tie him down to it with rope they had found in a gardening shed. Mallow had retreated to watch over Mario and Peach, doing his best to heal them as Geno sat on that same stool he had found earlier. He switched his focus on Dimentio now. It was a pain to tie down his hands, but they had eventually just made him sit on them due to the magical lack of wrists. How unfortunate. It may be a few hours for him to wake up thanks to Mallow, but it made the job easier for Geno. He had a feeling that the jester wouldn't comply to his demands but Geno had his ways...
 
It was currently 2 in the morning. Mallow had fallen asleep on the bed with the plumber and the princess, and Geno had stayed awake to watch for movement. The wind had turned into that of a rainstorm, and the light trickle had soon turned into pattering. It was possible to hear the shutters shake if you were quiet enough. Questioning Dimentio would be one thing, but actually dealing with him? He would need Mario for that. Hopefully he would be up for talking later. Geno sighed and diverted his attention from his prisoner over to the window. The longer he looked, the more he thought he... saw something. It looked like it had wings, and it was quite circular. It had made very insect-like movements, and looked to be on fire.
 
Once Geno blinked, it was gone.
 
(sorry this one is also pretty bad? I didn't get too into it this time :( I also dont know if this is the way I wanted this chapter to turn out, but I can always change that later)