Mushroom Kingdom Anew - Book 1

Chapter Thirteen

Well, if one thing was for certain, Dark Land was dark.

Barely any light shone through the smokey black barrier of what could be assumed as a mix of smoke and clouds. Thunder clashed at the large black dirt mountains that stretched up towards the inky black sky. Pools of lava, some small and others large, were strewn about the land, bubbling and emitting a horrible heat. Dark Land wasn't huge, but it wasn't too pretty either.

"This looks like my father's soul." Xavier jokes, hands on his hips. This stifled a laugh from the exhausted Terry, and on-his-feet Ace.

"Hey..." The blonde began, turning to her two friends. "Are we... really ready for this?"

"I mean, we kinda have to be, right?" Ace replied, stretching his calves and looking between the two humans who occupied him. "It took about a week or so to get here, but that's just beca-"

"No, I see what she's getting at." Xavier stated, his arms now crossing over his chest. "We've been knocked down in the heat of battle time after time again. Sure, we won every fight in the end, but that was either by the skin of our teeth, or because one of us gained a new ability. Exactly how many times have we fought something without being knocked down?"

"Gomba's... The Wiggler... Captain... The Dry Bones... DeathCaps... Cliff... Even when Captain returned." Ace tapped his scaly chin. "Sure, we were knocked down, but what got us back up again? Teamwork."

"He's absolutely right." Terry's eyebrows rose as she spoke.

Xavier sighed. "Yeah, I know... I'm just saying... Can we really defeat Vincent with our current track record?"

"We have to. What other choice do we have...?" Terry replied slowly.

"Mmm..." Xavier didn't say another word as he hopped down the hill they were standing on, sliding down the inky gravel-like dirt. Ace and Terry exchanged a look of worry before following suite. Hopefully everything went exactly as planned; raid the castle, find Vincent, take him down, save the day. A classic plan, sure, but a working one. The trio began making their way along the rough terrain, dodging the occasional lava creature that emerged from one of the pools, hopping onto the odd bone-train mechanism, and arriving at the castle.

The doors were humongous, a deep and menacing grey stretching way up along the castle walls, which were also laden with inky black bricks. Large torches hung at various places around the castle, casting an orange light on certain areas. A huge mantlepiece of what the trio could only think to describe as Vincent's head loomed over the doorway, it's beady yet unnerving eyes glowing a menacing red.

"Well, that was a little too easy to reach..." Xavier sighed, staring at the Paragoomba circling the largest tower of the castle. Terry nodded in agreement, but the Yoshi didn't respond. He looked concerned, and even a bit down. The two humans turned to their friend curiously, to which he huffed in response.

"Before we go in... is everybody ready?" Ace asked cautiously.

Terry was pretty banged up, bruised in several areas. Her sweater was dirty, slightly soggy and burned at the cuffs of the sleeves. Her knee had a serious gash on it, but the wound had already begun to close, the now pink mark blending closer with her skin. Her hair was amiss, her glasses were lopsided and she looked exhausted. Nevertheless, she nodded.

Ace himself wasn't as banged up as the others. He had a few cuts and bruises from past fights, but those were looking to heal. He still seemed cold, and even a bit drained, even if they had already left the Snowlands.

Finally, Xavier was limping the entire way, what with his left leg being attacked on several occasions now. His right arm was also limp, and it barely seemed to function like it used to. Sure, he'd be fine after a couple days of recovery, but still... He had a couple cuts on any areas that showed skin, in some cases his clothes were cut to reveal marks. Some fresh, others older. His left eye was also battered, and looking an awful shade of a bluish-purple. It was half closed, and looked like it was hard to see through. Nevertheless, Xavier had a look Ace could only describe as determination mixed with excitement.