Guardians of the Pink Penny (RP)

Princess Peach's Castle

Princess Peach sat on her throne, a very worried look displayed on her usually cheery face. She looked to her left and glanced out of one of the windows to take a look outside. The once bountiful, beautiful land that was Mushroom Kingdom was now fading--and fading rapidly. There used to be a gently flowing river next to the castle that Peach would look upon through that window..now there was only a small trickle of water there. Trees were slowly dying as their roots werent getting the necessary water needed to sustain them and crop fields were failing due to the extreme drought that fell upon the kingdom. If things continued the way they were going now, Mushroom Kingdom would become a vast and unforgiving desert, and its inhabitants would be forced to move. Princess Peach sat there, thinking hard about the future of her kingdom.

"Oh..what is to become of my beloved kingdom? We will be doomed if Bowser continues to rule over the Fountain of Purity, and his army will invade the kingdom and he will take over. I would ask Mario and Luigi to stop him, but they're busy defending the kingdom from Bowser's army. There's only one way left: I need someone else to take my wish to the fountain, so that Mushroom Kingdom will be saved," thought Princess Peach to herself. She opened one of the pockets on her pink dress and pulled out a single pink penny. On one side of the penny there was a picture of a mushroom, and on the other side there was a single letter P. The princess looked down at the little pink penny sitting in the palm of her hand, putting all her hope into it. She then clenched the penny tightly in her hand and closed her eyes. "I do hope someone responds to the letters I sent out throughout the kingdom. I need them to take my last remaining pink penny to the Fountain of Purity so that the future of the kingdom will be prosperous. If nobody takes this to the fountain, everything will be lost..."

Princess Peach returned the pink penny to its previous position in her dress pocket. She sat on her throne, clear blue eyes fixed on the giant oak doors hoping, praying that someone would walk through them and volunteer to take on the perilous task of bringing her penny to the Fountain of Purity to save Mushroom Kingdom.

En Route to Princess Peach's Castle

Mateo made his way through the forest, playing one of his songs on his wooden flute as he walked. He was headed to Princess Peach's castle, having received one of her letters the previous day before. Little rays of sunlight pierced through the forest canopy here and there, giving light to the lower lying trees and plants below. Mateo continued to walked through the once evergreen forest, which was visibly showing signs of being affected by the drought. Grasses and shrubs that were normally a healthy green color were now brownish, and the amount of dead leaves on the forest floor had increased considerably. After a few more minutes of walking, Mateo stopped to rest under a large oak tree. He sat down at the base of the tree, putting his flute back in its pouch and taking out a package of strawberries, along with the letter from Princess Peach. He took a bite out of one of the strawberries and read the letter. It read:

Citizens of Mushroom Kingdom,

In light of the terrible drought that has fallen upon us, I, Princess Peach have requested the help of anyone willing to undergo a special journey to save the kingdom. Our heroes Mario and Luigi are unable to do it at this time due to the fact that they are busy protecting the kingdom from the invasion of King Bowser's army, so I am asking for the help of anyone willing to take on the journey of delivering my wish to the Fountain of Purity. Please, this is the kingdom's last hope, and if someone doesn't make the journey then our kingdom will die. So once again I urge you, if you are willing to fufill the task on behalf of not only me, but on the behalf of everyone in Mushroom Kingdom, please report to my castle as soon as possible. I will notify those who arrive at my castle the entire details of the task when they arrive.

~Princess Peach

After Mateo finished re-reading the letter, he folded it back up and put it in his pocket. He stood up, stretched, and resumed his walk through the slowly dying forest that was his home. After a bit more time of walking, Mateo emerged from the forest and had arrived at the main road that led to Princess Peach's Castle. He paused for a moment and followed the direction of the road with his eyes--the direction that led to the castle.

"Well..I guess there's no point in stopping now," he said to himself. He took out his wooden flute and began to play another song. The little Toad then walked along the dirt road, headed towards Princess Peach's Castle and towards an uncertain journey he had decided he would take.

Haru walked down the long road, alongside a forest that was slowly dying out. His face was dark from long hours of walking in the sun, and his crown glinted dully from days of sitting on his head without being washed, the shiny bronze now a murky brown. The large key that hung from his back by a loose cord however, was shiny as the day his father had forged it from polishing it every now and then. it was his most prized posession.

Looking up the road to see just about how far he had to go, his hand reached into a pocket on his vest, pulling out a folded sheet of pink paper. "Could be worse...." he muttered, the fruit aeroma from the letter drawing his eyes to it from his path. "She could be named Princess Tulip"(he hates how they smell) He chuckled, re-reading the letter for the hundreth time since he set out. Sighing once he finished he tucked it away again and adjusted the strap holding his oddly-shaped sword to his back.

Looking back up to see how far he had left still, having been walking while he read, he saw that the forest thinned out ahead, and another path joined from it further along. Further up the road he saw a small shape of color among the dying lands, The Princess's castle. He had remembered meeting her once, when he was much younger(about four or five) on a trip to the center of the mushroom kingdom with his mother and father. Mind he had been a little pushy when he was younger, they had developed a small friendship from the few days they had been around eachother. He had almost forgotten her since that letter had arrived.

It was during that time he had also met Mario, who had saved him from a stray koopa that had managed to wander into the castle. It had spotted him, and charged him, only to have a foot land on it's head from the red-clad plumber and another to it's side to send it spinning into a wall and fall unconcious. The mustachio-ed hero had then smiled at the young haru and said his goodbyes as he went to see the princess. That was the part of the day haru could never forget, I mean, who forgets somone saving your life?

"Looks like i'll get to repay my debt to the guy" He chuckled, resuming his normal pace as he plodded along in the shoes that seemed far too big for him. "And once we help the Princess, maybe the oceans will return to normal" He smiled at this thought, imagining what the ocean was like before it's cruel hands battered and burned any who approached it's tempting sight.(all but those danged koopas atleast) While walking he failed to notice the small flutist walking just ahead of him as his feet carried him closer to the toad.

Rus had spent the whole day calibrating his cannon. Cannon travel was the only kind of travel for bob-bombs when it involved long distances. Rus stared into the horizon for a moment, then looked at his map.
"that should just about do it" he said with a sigh as sweat dripped off his face. Rus proceeded down the side walk towards his cottage. The cottage looked as if it was built by a guy with no hands, it could fall down at a moments notice.
"ill miss you old freind" he said to the cottage as he went inside, he took a deep breath as he looked around the messy room.
Rus put on his imperial hat and pipe and locked the door for the last time, "goodbye" he said as he waddled back to the cannon.

Rus lit the fuse on the cannon and hustled to the nozel and hopped in. The cannon adjusted its angle and fired with a deafening soundwave. Rus was sent far into the air and over the horizon. It took several minutes for Rus to adjust his flight position so he could see better.
"everything is proceeding correctly" he said with a smile. The Lustrious white castle was coming into view as Rus fell further and further. Rus noticed a pinkish Boo on the ground as she came and left his view. After a brief moment Rus realised he made a cruicial mistake
"uh oh.. I didn't count the weight of me hat! *gulp* Im gonna fall short!" he said with a face of terror. At this point Rus was flailing around and screaming, a young toad with a wooden pipe came into his line of sight.
"WATCHH OUUUTTT!!!" Rus screamed as he came within feet of smashing into the toad..

Mateo walked along the dusty dirt road, headed for Princess Peach's Castle. He played a melody on his wooden flute as he walked. During his song, Mateo heard a panicked voice from above yelling loudly. The voice sounded faint at first, but it steadily grew louder and louder as it got closer. Just as Mateo was about to look up to find the source of the voice, he felt himself being pummeled into the ground under the sudden, crashing weight of a rather heavy object.

"Oof!" said Mateo, as he was knocked face-first into the ground. He lost his grip on his wooden flute and it flew out of his hands a couple of feet away from him and skidded in the dirt. Mateo groaned in pain as he felt the weight something, or rather someone, on top of him The Toad managed to push the weight off of him and he hoisted himself up off the ground. He then retrieved his flute and looked at it carefully. Thankful that it wasnt broken, he returned the flute back to it's pouch. Mateo then proceeded to dust himself off. When he turned around to see what exactly had hit him in the first place, he spotted a rather old-looking Bob-omb. It was a rather dull-colored Bob-om, and it had a large mustache. Mateo looked curiously at it. "Um..hello?"

Rus groaned as he rolled around trying to get upright, he grumbled as he placed his hat back on. still completely covered in dust he remembered about the person he hit, and turned towards the toad. The toad was young, yet strong in stature, a ladies man if you will. though the spots on his head were a bit odd at first glance.
"Ah, yes..er.. hello!, I seemed to have miscalibrated my cannon there..." he said softly with a sweat drop. Rus took a step towards the toad
"Im Uncle Rus!, I would shake your hand if I had any, who might you be?" he said with a smile

Haru was snapped from his visionings as a greyish blob collided with the toad before him. Realising he had been walking without watching where he was going, he quickly did a survey of his area, sighing when he realised he was still on the path. Returning his attention to the toad boy and elderly bob-bom to see if they were alright.

The bob-bom had introduced himself as Uncle Rus, while the toad had yet to introduce himself. Deciding this a good a time as any, he walked forwards to introduce himself, but not before trying to polish his crown a bit. Hey, the only surviving member of the Takami family, heirs of Onitako castle had to show some decency, right? Haru simply stepped forwards, stopping about three feet from the two travelers and waiting for his turn to talk.

Mateo was in a momentary daze as he stared blankly at the bob-omb, thinking about what had just happened to him, and how extraordinary it was to be pummeled to the earth by a random flying bomb. Suddenly he felt a glint of sunlight pierce his eye, as though it were being reflected off of something. This snapped him out of his daze and he rubbed his eye a little. He saw someone else come forward, this time it was a human who wore a crown. He surveyed the crown-wearer for a moment, and then suddenly realized that the bob-omb was speaking to him. He seemed to be introducing himself, and Mateo, not wanting to be rude, decided to introduce himself as well.

"Oh! Um..sorry about that I was thinking about something. My name's Mateo," said the toad in a calm voice, looking back and forth between the old bob-omb and the crown-wearing human with his smokey gray eyes. He inclined his head to both of them in a polite way, and a calm smile appeared on his face. Mateo then took out more of his strawberries, which were his favorite food. He ate them in a pleased and content manner. He looked at the bob-omb, and then to the crown-wearer. "So you're Uncle Rus, right? And what's your name?"

Rus smiled politely to the toad
"aye, Pleased to meet you Mateo" he said softly. But the glowing crown had caught Rus's attention, he waddled closer to the human and eyed the crown from his lower stature
"hmm, that is a fine crown you have..er.. what name did you say you came by lad?" He said in a awkword tone. The dust on Rus's body had began to settle in Rus's mustache. Rus had felt a sneeze coming along, which meant nothing but trouble. Since most bob-bombs sneezes result in an explosion.
"uh-oh.. excuse me for a quick moment lad!" he said sharply as he dove into a bush. A slight huffing sound could be heard behind the bushes as Rus gre closer to sneezing.
"ah, ah, AH, CHOOO" he boomed as he exploded simultaniously, sending Rus high into the air and landing back infront of the other two.

Haru watched the small toad look at him again..and again. He introduced himself as Mateo after Uncle Rus introduced himself. It was then the two turned upon him, expectancy in their faces. Nodding, Haru brushed some of his hair behind his ear and introduced himself, or he would have had rus not hopped into a bush and exploded quite violently, before dropping back onto the ground between the two. Exhaling his held breath, he took another and spoke.

"I'm Haru Takami, former prince of Onitako Castle...or..what's left of it" He said, bowing his head to the two, a small frown on his face as he remembered the surprised looks on his parent's lifeless faces. Looking back up at the two he spoke again. "I'm guessing you two are also replying to the princess' letter?" he asked, pulling his sheet of pink paper from his pocket again and holding it up with two fingers while he adjusted the key-shaped weapon on his back.

Upon getting back up, Rus nodded at the words onitako castle, back in Rus's years of exploration he came by Onitako Castle, though the King would have been Haru's grandparents way back when.
"Tis was very Extravegant of a place back in me days" he said sadly as he knew the place was destroyed.
Rus shook his head and his pink letter popped out from under his hat, he picked it up with his mouth and nodded "aye, The princess always had a spot in me old heart" he said as he spat the note back out.

Rus turned to Mateo and asked "do you have business with the princess as well lad?"

"Yeah, I got one of Princess Peach's letters yesterday, so I thought I'd go to her castle and see what she has planned," said Mateo, taking out the folded pink letter from out of his pouch and putting his strawberries away. A somber look came over his face as he thought about the letter's contents and how sad Princess Peach had sounded in the letter. He looked over to his left at the once beautiful, but now dying forest. "That forest over there has always been my home. I was born and raised in the Hoken Village..it's deep inside the forest there. Toads and Yoshis live in it together. Things haven't been going so well though..this drought is slowly killing the forest. My people will die if this drought doesn't break soon, so I want to help in any way I possibly can.."

Mateo took out his wooden flute and stood there as he looked off into the forest for a moment, deep in thought. He turned his gaze upon his new acquaintences. "Well I suppose since we're all going to Princess Peach's castle anyway, how about we all walk together?" he asked, looking at Uncle Rus and Haru. "Is that fine with you guys?"

"It's fine by me" Haru nodded, taking off his crown and gazing at it. "And hopefully when we get this done the oceans wont be so toxic any more..." He sighed, running his finger over the ocean-like inscriptions on the inside of the small crown. Returning it to his head he looked at the forest, remembering playing in it once as a child, while on the way back from meeting the princess all those years ago. "Hopefully all our homes will get better."

As His two new freinds spoke of their homes. An agonizing memory of Rus' home came into view. It was about the time when Rus ditched on the deal young bowser assigned to him. The Bob-bombs had already joined the little monster and were informed to capture or even kill Rus on sight. Thus he was exiled from his home, to never co-exist with his own kin again.

No matter how hard Rus tried, his emotions got the better of him. A small tear drew down his face and was absorbed into his twitching mustache. Rus sighed softly "I would'nt know how my home is doing, havn't been there in almost 20 years". "But for better or for worse, I hope they are holding out" Rus tried to smile in order to hide his sadness. It was only then was Rus able to notice his surroundings properly. The trees were barely holding on, the river was but a simple trickle. Rus took a deep breath to only get a nose full of odd smelling air. He was surprised at first, but he could of sworn he just smelled black roses.

He turned downwind from where the scent came from "do you smell that?". Rus sniffed the air again "I smell black roses!" Black roses were one of the rarest plants in all of mushroom kingdom, only the kindest of hearts were able to grow them. The scent of such roses is very powerful, but also soothing at the same time.

Mateo was just about to resume his walk to Princess Peach's Castle with his new companions when he saw that they were being joined by yet another person, but this time it was a ghostly Boo. Teo had never seen a Boo this close up before, the only time he happened to see one was on a dark night in the forest sometime a few years ago. Even then, he had only caught a fleeting glimpse of the Boo and didn't get a chance to investigate the matter further. This Boo in particular was obviously a female Boo, and she was actually rather pretty one at that. She was pale lavender in color, and she carried a bouquet of black roses. Mateo began to smell the wafting aroma of the black roses as the Boo neared, just as Uncle Rus had smelled them earlier.

"Hello there," said Mateo in a calm voice, his smokey gray eyes focused on the Boo as she floated over towards the group. He inclined his head in a polite and pleased way, obviously pleased because he was getting the opportunity to actually meet a Boo. He was actually very curious about the Boo, and decided to introduce himself to strike up a conversation. The Toad took out another strawberry and began to eat it. "My name is Mateo..what's your name?"

As those in the group were acquainted with one another, they didn't notice a small pair of sneaky little eyes looking at them from the bushes. They were all being watched, and unbeknownst to any of them, they were about to be the targets of an ambush attack by a couple of Mushroom Kingdom's common pests. "Goom.." grunted the little mushroom in a low voice, watcing the group closely.

The apearence of the boo startled Rus. He had a bad experience with boos, they killed his family.. It was on the night of Rus's fifth birthday. His family scrounged what little they had to give little Rus a happy birthday. Unfortunatly on the same night, a boo blitskrieg took place. The boos were forced to fight for the koopas, because the koopas controlled the blubbas and tubbas. Tubbas and Blubbas main food source were boos. The koopas promised that not another boo shall be consumed if they attack the bob-bombs. And so they did in the most grousome ways. Posessing bob-bombs and forcing them to use their most powerful techniques on each other... thousands died this way.. taking several hundred with them. The boos did the same thing to Rus's family.

The memory was dorment in Rus's thick head for almost eighty years. It was up to Rus to decide if it were the boos fault, and that they already paid for their crimes as the tubba/blubbas drove them to hide in mansions and caves. But thanks to his encounter with princess peach years ago, she gave him the gift of forgiveness.

Rus shook his head to regain conciousness of his surroundings to see the boo was trying to say hello to him and his companions. "oh! so it was you". "I remember seeing you as a flew by" He said with a smile. Rus straightened his hat and shuffled his mustache "I am Uncle Rus, but you can call me Rus you delightful smelling boo you" he grinned.

Rus sniffed the air again "and to answer your question lass. It takes a good nose to find little goombalings when they play hide and seek, each one has a different scent you know!" Rus was very proud of his uncanny ability to smell as well as a blood hound. Back in the goombvillage after his escape from bob-bomb valley. He was "forced" to babysit dozens of goombalings, each one would be born with a natural aroma. Ranging from the sweetest honey to rotting garbage! The current scent would depict the goombas feelings. Or they would just bite you....

Rus turned to Haru "come boy! Come say hello to.. err *turns back to the boo* what name do you come back lass?"

Haru blinked as the boo revealed herself, slightly startled. He remembered being scared by a boo once while a small child, and had run screaming all the way from his room to his parent's master bedroom. When questioned he simply said he saw a boo and that was enough for them, afterall, he was a small child.

Nowadays though, boos did not frighten him. Much. Although her lavander tone was more soothing than the usual pasty white of other boos, the horns and tail were slightly disturbing. Seeing as she didn't seem a threat though, he let his shoulders loosen up. Nodding to Rus he stepped forwards also, adjusting the sword on his back.

"I'm Haru Takami, former prince of Onitako Castle....not that there is a castle any more that is....." He trailed off, his eyes now resting on the ground rather than the boo-et before him. The memories that were being dragged up just by meeting these people was almost enough to bring him to tears at his losses...almost, he was a (former) prince, so he did have some dignity to maintain.

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OOC: gah....short post....sorry, but it's all I can do till the fighting starts. xP