Soshi's Story-Fan Fiction by Monty Mole

Chapter XI-Plight of a Princess

Bound across the majestic Kryst Ocean, Soshi kept an eye out for anything suspicious. His mind was racing at this point, and wondered how many more detours he’d have to take before anyone even started to listen to him. Too many times, he felt, he had been knocked away, dismissed as noone important and he was sick of it. If things did not improve, he would have to take matters into his own hands. But for the fact that the Princess had the best army Plit had to offer, he had to press on for the time being. Soshi wondered what was keeping Koujin from implementing his plan, however.

As he swept speedily over the water, Soshi took in its wonderful properties. It wasn’t quite the Tranquil Sea, but it was the next best thing. Soshi tried to just shed himself of all worries and simply focus on the task at hand. At this he failed because he kept worrying about his mother. He wondered if he would ever see her again. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something move. Slowing down, he looked around. Nothing. Regaining his caution, he resumed his normal flight path, due south. Again, however, something caught his eye. Stopping completely, he began to get nervous.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” He called, hovering in mid-air.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” his echo came back to him.

Soshi tried to brush it off. He’d need to conserve his energy if he was to stand a chance at surviving Spire Mountain. He flew on, looking over his shoulder every now and then, but couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“CLEAR!”

BRZAP.

“…It didn’t work.” One of the Toads said solemnly.

“Now now. Don’t fret.” Toadsworth reassured, trying to conceal his own anxiety. “I’m sure the doctor has at least a few more tricks up his sleeve.”

“But we’ve been trying to awaken the princess for so long! What if…what if she never wakes up?” worried another loyal Retainer.

The doctor sighed and put away his defibrillator. “Well, I still register a pulse, and she seems to be breathing fine. In any case, I have done all I can. That “blast to the back” as you have described it may not have been that physically devastating, but the shock carried with it could have resulted in the Princess’s current state.”

“Thank you doctor. We appreciate it. Truly.” Toadsworth moved slowly toward the pink figure lying almost motionless on top of the bed. “Princess. What did you do to deserve such horror?”

“Hey, check it out, Toadsworth’s talking to himself.” a Toad said. He was immediately rapped on the knee by his elder.

Resuming focus to Peach, Toadsworth lamented “It’s all that horrible Sky Yoshi’s fault isn’t it? He got you into this. We will care for you, and when you are well again, we will, what is it you youngsters say, ‘take him down’, yes.” Turning around, Toadsworth gave some orders.

“You are not to leave the Princess’s side, do you understand? If she awakens I wish to be notified immediately. That is all.” Toadsworth promptly left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soshi had to rest. It was a farther distance than he had realized. He started to question whether there really was a volcano. He had been questioning a lot of things in his life recently. Ever since his father died. He was really beginning to dread life. Finding no trace of land anywhere, he decided just to land on the water. With slightly less grace than usual, he dipped his body into the ocean. It was no different than any other ocean, but it seemed to have an almost therapeutic effect of Soshi. It calmed him, releasing him of all tension. He lay on his back, letting the late afternoon sun warm his face, and the water cool his back. A few small Cheep Cheeps swam by and Soshi playfully swatted at them. Soshi wished he could be like them. So carefree, only worrying about their next meal and not becoming one themselves. At the thought Soshi became rather famished, and reached into his saddle-sack to see whether there was anything he had left over. A single peach and that was it. Soshi decided it was better than nothing, so he took it out and munched thoughtfully.

One hour and a discarded peach core later, Soshi bumped his head against an outcropping of rocks. Rubbing his skull, Soshi looked up to see a tall red mountain jut up into the sky. It was angled every way it could conceivably be angled and yet it still seemed to somehow twist itself upward. Soshi had no idea how such a mountain came to be, but that wasn’t important. What was important was to get what he came for and get back to the castle as soon as possible. Flying upwards, wrapping around it, Soshi soon came to the volcano’s mouth. Peering into it, Soshi saw exactly what he expected to see, a frothing pool of magma ten feet below the surface. Soshi wondered how he would get in and out alive, but didn’t have time to thing as a particularly strong gust of wind came and knocked Soshi off balance sending him tumbling in.

Outside, on the water below, a figure landed and seemed to stand on the water. Although its face was shrouded, a smile broke on its mouth.

“Good luck, Sky Dragon.” it said, and dashed off without another word.
 
Chapter XII-At Kaller’s Command

“All right men. I ‘ave come to a conclusion.” Kaller announced.

“And what, pray tell, might that be, Captain?” a pirate asked.

“We still do not know where the next part of the treasure is.”

Some of the sharks groaned. Many complaints were shouted at the Captain.

“Calm down now, ah. I ‘ave, however, discovered on our radar some peculiar activity in Spire Volcano. Someone is near there, though no one in their right mind would be. We will investigate. Perhaps whoever is there can ‘elp us.”

“But…why would they want to help us?” Ankhlos asked.

“Well, we’ll ‘ave ta keep a low profile, tha’s all. Now, men! Chart a course for Spire Volcano!”

“Aye aye, Captain!” saluted one of the sharks, and proceeded to get the ship ready for disembarkation.

Slowly, one by one, the fearsome ship slunk away from the icy shore of Proarctica. It pushed off, sailing towards the south. Soon, Proarctica had disappeared below the horizon. Kaller’s greedy gaze was directed in the opposite direction, waiting to get his hands on the precious treasure. He would have power and riches, everything he’d always dream of, and he’d be one step closer when that big, beautiful mountain peeked its head out to him. Consumed by his thoughts, Kaller didn’t even notice when the ship began to sway and rock a slight bit more than usual. One of his men screaming was the only thing that woke him up.

“Eh? What is it n-?” he was cut off by what he saw. A giant white tentacle had attached itself to his ship! He peered over the edge to see that it snaked around, off the deck, into the cloudy water below, preventing his ship from moving.

“I’ll take care of this.” he said gruffly, lighting a torch. With one brief strike he hit and burned the tentacle. To his surprise, it did not move. He only heard a muffled roar of pain. All was silent on the ship, no one quite knowing what would happen next.

Suddenly, nine more tentacles rose up out of the water in all directions. Five of them managed to grab some of Captain Kaller’s men, dragging them down to their watery deaths. The others began to thrash about, crushing Kaller’s ship, and further preventing it from moving.

“We’ve got to get out of here! Le’s go! We ‘ave to move!” Kaller ordered, trying to keep his calm during the chaos on the ship. The sound of the planks being torn off one by one was deafening. Captain Kaller was trying to yell and order over it, when at last the monstrous beast showed itself. It was nothing more than a giant head with a black ring around its glaring eyes. A giant Blooper.

“Ye’ve made a mistake showing yourself!” yelled Kaller, and struck at the Blooper’s head with his still-lit torch. The Blooper cried out in pain, but didn’t release its hold on Kaller’s ship. The shark captain was about to strike again when one of his men stopped him.

“Captain, we’ve managed to get the turbo motor attached. It’s at full power. What are your orders?”

A malevolent smile grew on Captain Kaller’s mouth. “Fry this big fish.” He said. The minion nodded in understanding and started up the motor. A high pitched whine was heard as it fully powered up. Immediately, a bright yellow flame emitted from the rear of the machine, and the ship tore straight through the Blooper, leaving a huge smoldering hole clean through it. Captain Kaller laughed hysterically as his ship continued to tear through the sea, still on course to Spire Volcano.

Some time afterward, Kaller had stopped the motor and was surveying the damage to his ship. He seemed to mourn the loss of every plank, every nail. Oddly enough, the loss of nine of his crew members did not bother him at all.

“Do you know why” he asked plainly, “I chose this ship for our quest?” Simple shrugs from his remaining minions told him the answer. “The loss of the others does not concern me. You all knew the dangers and so did I. But this ship is a different story. It was used by my father, on ‘is very first voyage to the seas. ‘E loved it. ‘E taught me to love the seas, too. But the true reason,” he paused for emphasis. “was that ‘e built this ship ‘imself.”

Murmurs of admiration from his crew erupted. “My father gave this ship to me, and in doing so ‘e gave me a part of ‘is soul. ‘E spent months sailing on it, and ‘e always maintained it well. Now, look at it. This ship, is all but unusable now.” A pool of water growing on deck reemphasized this. “When we get to Spire Volcano, we shall repair it. With such limited supplies, I don’t know how, but we will not abandon it!” The Captain’s voice grew, and with it, so did the spirits of the crew. “This ship will carry us to the ultimate treasure!” Cheers erupted from the drained crew. They were confident in their captain and themselves. The Captain took a few minutes to bask in the glory of what he had done. He felt great, quite over the despair of the damage, despite its severity.

As if to drive the point home, a few minutes later, the ship’s hull smashed into some rocks off the shore of the volcano.
 
Chapter XIII-Hostilities Revealed

Soshi tumbled headfirst into the volcano. He tried spreading his wings, but the downward drag force was too great. His wings were literally stuck to his sides. As he plunged farther down, he reflected on all the people he had let down. Peach, his father, his mother, and all of Plit. Fractions of a second away from impact, he wondered why he had ever taken this upon himself to solve. The frothing pool of magma was coming in fast, and Soshi was powerless. He could feel the heat radiating onto his face.

“Wait a minute,” he told himself. “No, I can’t.” Soshi plunged into the magma and didn’t feel heat, or even warmth. Something wasn’t right. This “magma” was actually a viscous, yellow fluid. It reminded Soshi of honey. He opened his mouth and some of the sticky fluid filled it. Soshi spat it out immediately with disgust. No, definitely not honey. As Soshi tried to get the bitter, sticky fluid off his tongue, he tried to keep his wings above it. The honey-like substance would cling to his wings, preventing him from flight. Looking down however, Soshi could see a faint network of tunnels, much like the ones on Proarctica.

“That’s strange.” Soshi said out loud, and stuck his head in for a closer look. Immediately upon opening his eyes, the fluid seeped in.

“AAAAARRRRRGGHH!” Soshi screamed, frantically pulling the slime away from his eyes. In doing so, he accidentally coughed up a fireball. He continued to do so until he could see again. He noticed immediately that he had created a gap in the slime, which immediately filled itself back up. This gave Soshi an idea. Filling his lungs up with as much oxygen as possible, he spewed his flame straight down, boring a gap through, and quickly fell, landing on the ooze at the bottom. Wasting no time, he coughed up another, just as the tunnel he had made closed up again. Soshi pulled himself through to the air pocket he had made and coughed up another fireball. In this way, he managed to eventually pull himself into one of the tunnels.

Gasping for breath, Soshi collapsed onto the cold, rocky floor, his body drenched with fluid. Wait, cold? This was a volcano. Well, sort of, at any rate. The next thing that entered Soshi’s head was why the tunnel had not filled with the same fluid that was on the outside. Soshi reasoned that the only answer was to follow the tunnel. So, bravely, he marched in. Watching the light fade from the opening, Soshi eventually had to feel his way around. He smacked himself into a wall more than a few times. By the end he could swear he had a concussion. But there was time for that later.

“I’ve got to try to keep focus. Everyone’s counting on me.” He whispered, lost in the dark. “If only I could-ARGH!” the ground suddenly slipped out from under him, and Soshi’s wings were still saturated, so there was nothing he could do. Eventually, he unceremoniously landed in a heap, presumably at the bottom of the volcano, he stood up, his head still reeling, and four dim orange lights came into view. Soshi shook his head and they merged into two. He blinked a few times and they merged again into one.

“First things first.” he thought, flapping his wings a little to get them dried off. He continued to do this as he walked toward the light. As it got bigger and brighter, Soshi noticed a shadow blocking part of the light. It was an aged, wizened Koopa, standing facing the light, which Soshi saw was coming from a candle. Even his shell had grayed a little. By his feet was a medium-sized red orb. The Koopa did nothing as Soshi approached. It merely stood there, watching as if mesmerized by the light. Soshi was right up beside the Koopa when it dawned on him: Whoever this Koopa was he was guarding whatever was inside that orb, presumably the artifact he was looking for.

“So.” The first word the Koopa spoke made Soshi jump back. The word echoed several times before dissapearing. “You have come all this way. You have braved the volcano. You have proven yourself.” Soshi opened his mouth to speak when the Koopa interrupted. “Stop, I know you have questions, and I will answer them. First, this volcano only opens to those with pure motives. To all others, it is a veritable deathtrap, like all others. You may be wondering why anyone would venture in at all. You see, this,” he indicated the orb by levitating it inches in front of Soshi. “is a treasure that, in the wrong hands, could forever plunge the world into despair, but in the right hands, can bring peace in times of need. By merely getting this far, you have proven yourself.” The candle was snuffed out, and the orb began to glow bright red, illuminating both Soshi’s and the Koopa’s faces. The orb transformed from a sphere shape to a torch shape. When the blinding light faded a little, it’s features were made out. It was a red rod, with a flame shape at the top. And set into the very heart of the flame was the biggest ruby Soshi had ever seen. “This is the Radiant Ruby. It has deemed you worthy.” Soshi stepped closer to the powerful wand in awe. As he gripped it, the light completely faded. “Good luck” said the Koopa, giving a smile as he vanished into the darkness.

Soshi felt a familiar feeling around his feet and it slowly surrounded the rest of his body. The fluid was filling the chamber. Soshi couldn’t fight it, but realized he didn’t have to. It carried him up out of the chamber, into the light, to the top of the volcano. As Soshi grabbed the mouth of the volcano and pulled himself out, he wondered if he had dreamt the whole thing. He looked at his hand. It tightly gripped the Radiant Ruby. No, it hasn’t been a dream. Soshi remembered suddenly what he needed to do. He needed to get back to the castle as soon as possible. As he shook off his wings and took flight, a cannonball flew through the air, flying over his head. Soshi looked in the direction it came and saw the same pirate ship he had landed on earlier, only now it seemed to have a bright green shimmer to it.

“Give up the treasure, ya curdled dragon! Or do I ‘ave ta blast it out of ya?” Captain Kaller waved one fist at Soshi, who flew in a circle over the ship.

“I don’t know what you want, but I never back down from a challenge!” he yelled back, and dove at one of Kaller’s crewmates, knocking him into the water.




“Grr. Fire again!” Kaller yelled, another cannonball flying through the sky. Soshi breathed a fireball at this one, but it seemed much stronger than usual. The cannonball exploded into a million pieces, sending red-hot iron raining down on the sharks. Soshi followed it up with a wing attack, right at Kaller’s gut. The shark keeled over, obviously in pain.

“That’s enough.” he wheezed. Kaller then pulled out a mysterious wand that looked like a moon. “Let me show you true power!”

He pointed the wand at Soshi, and a bright green flash of light enveloped the dinosaur. Kaller snickered as he held his stomach, but his grin was wiped away, as Soshi still hovered there having covered himself with his wings. Soshi looked at his own wand. “Let’s see what you can do.” He said. He fired five bursts in quick succession, all aimed for the shark captain. Kaller held the Essence Emerald horizontally in the air and created a forcefield around himself, absorbing the impact of the blasts. Kaller retaliated by sending out a beam of energy rings at Soshi, who dove at the last second. His wand glowing with power, Soshi fired two fireballs that homed in on Kaller. He was too slow to dodge and was consequently cooked. Soshi tried finishing him off with a series of blasts from the wand, which quickly mowed down Kaller’s men, and damaged Kaller himself. He managed to get up to his feet and cast a shield around the entire ship with the Essence Emerald. He glared at Soshi. “You win this time, but I’ll get that treasure from you yet!” Kaller’s ship slowly turned around and headed back the way it came.

Soshi looked at his new magical weapon. “If he’s talking about this, he’s not getting it.” Soshi chuckled, and flew on back to Toad Town.
 
*sweeps dust off thread*

Chapter XIV-Princess Peach-Back in Action

Soshi’s flight was erratic. The skirmish with Kaller had weakened him a bit. Still, he had to get back to Toad Town, and soon. Soshi was panting, and didn’t know if he would make it. If he could, he’d be in no shape to face Koujin for at least a day. Something dawned on Soshi, however. Looking down at the magical weapon, Soshi wondered aloud,

“Toadsworth said something about…does this thing have healing powers?” On the word “heal”, a red light sparked from the core of the ruby and enveloped Soshi. He was so surprised, he nearly dropped the wand into the water. The light cloaked him, seeming to seep into his body, mending his wings, stitching together his cuts, and restoring his strength. When it faded, Soshi stared in awe at the magical instrument. He noticed, however, that the red stone in the center wasn’t glowing quite as brightly as before. “It must have limited powers. Which means I need to get this to Peach right away.” Soshi dove toward the Mushroom kingdom’s capital, which was poking up from below the horizon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Oh, dear, oh dear.” paced Toadsworth. “We have tried everything, and still the princess will not wake up.” The doctor walked into the sitting room outside Peach’s room. Toadsworth lost his sanity and grabbed the Toad by his collar. “Well?! Is she alright? Speak, man!” The confused doctor blubbered a bit before saying, “All her vital functions are fine, we have a pulse, breathing, everything. I’m not sure why she’s not awake yet. But the mental shock was worse than he physical, as I have already said.”

“Blasted Sky Yoshi.” fumed Toadsworth. “If it wasn’t for him…”

“If it wasn’t for me what?” Soshi walked up the steps with a grin on his face.

Toadsworth nearly fainted. “You’re alive?! How? That…thing should have killed you. Or at least, the volcano-”

“Take it easy, old-timer. I told you, I don’t want any trouble. I’ll explain everything later. Right now, we have to get this,” he brandished the Radiant Ruby “to the Princess.” Toadsworth watched in silent stupor as the dragon calmly walked into the Princess’s room, and closed the door.

In reality, Soshi wasn’t calm at all. His hand was trembling as he walked over the Peach’s still frame. He looked at the Radiant Ruby. The stone was still glowing. That meant it still had magic left. Soshi waved the wand over Peach. “Heal.” he said. The red light shone again, surrounding Peach this time. After a much shorter time than Soshi’s healing, the light faded, the gem stopped glowing, and the Princess opened her eyes.

“Where…am I?” she moaned. Upon looking at Soshi, she jumped and began a barrage of questions. “How did we escape? Where’s Koujin? What am I…?” Soshi resisted the temptaion to slap her. “Peach, calm down. You’re in your castle. Toadsworth is right outside. You made it.” Peach got up, and started for the door. “Did you…save me?”

Soshi gritted his teeth and turned away in awkwardness. “Yeah. I suppose.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, Soshi was standing before Peach, but this time, on much different terms.

“Soshi, Sky Dragon.” Peach began. “I thank you for saving my life. Now, tell me. Why did you come here in the first place.”

Soshi began to tell his tale. He told of his father, Proarctica, his mother, King Toukee, Yoshi, and Koujin.

Peach started out mildly interested, then grew horrified. “That’s just awful. We have to do whatever it takes to-” Peach didn’t bother finishing her sentence. “Since you are obviously the next target, I am placing you in charge of the Mushroom Royal Army, along with Sergeant Strobel.” A purple-shelled Koopa stepped out of the double doors behind Peach. “Formulate a plan of attack. I will contact the Yoshis and we will all storm Koujin’s stronghold.”

Soshi knelt before the two high-ranks. “Thank you.”

Peach went back to her quarters, leaving Soshi with the Koopa alone. She descended down the steps. In her military uniform, she looked very official and business-like. But as soon as she spoke, she seemed as normal as anyone else.

“So, this Koujin character. How dangerous is he?” she inquired.

“Very. He kidnapped my mother. She’s probably already dead. We’ll need every ounce of strength we’ve got to beat him.”

Strobel nodded. “I’ll get the ships ready. The infantry has gathered outside. Instruct them to do whatever is necessary to defeat Koujin. Most importantly, we must have the element of surprise on our side.”

The uniformed Koopa quickly climbed the steps to the second floor. She paused and turned to Soshi. “See you around…Corporal.” And disappeared beyond the doors.
 
So, if the two of you reading this care, I haven't abandoned this. ;)

Chapter XV-The Chosen One

Kaller was bitter. He considered himself one of the best pirates ever. And yet, somehow, he had lost to a Yoshi. A Sky Yoshi. He couldn’t believe it. As he looked off the balcony of his ship, he reflected on the battle. He had panicked, and retreated when it wasn’t necessary. His crew members looked at him worryingly, and wondered if their captain would just stand there for the rest of his life. One of the sharks got pushed to the front, and was urged by the others to say something.

“Uh, Cap’n? What are we going to do?”

“Just leave me alone.” Kaller said emotionlessly. “I need sometime ‘ta think.” Kaller departed for the Captain’s quarters, leaving his crew members baffled. He closed the door and lay down on his bed, contemplating. Why had he retreated? It was something that would probably haunt him for the rest of his life. Kaller turned over. Doing so, he noticed a shaded figure standing in the corner, appearing to all huddled up, not moving an inch. Kaller stepped closer, preparing to turn whoever it was around and demand who he was and what he was doing here. As soon as Kaller made contact, however, an excruciating pain seared through his body. He tried to pull his hand back, but this proved futile. His mind felt like it was leaving him, and he slipped into a state of unconsciousness.

All of his shipmates heard the scream and came rushing into the room, only to find it empty when they arrived.

----------------------

Kaller slowly regained consciousness. First all he saw was a blur. Then as he gradually woke up, he could make out some shapes. He tried moving toward them, but was restrained by a cold, almost metallic hand. He had been chained to a board, and was looking into a drab, stone room. Kaller surveyed the situation. No doors, no windows, and he was immobile. Not too much to work with. The only thing of interest in the room was himself, the board he was strapped to, and a small console in one corner. A black hole appeared in the wall in front of him, and someone or something dressed in a pitch black cloak materialized out of it. His features were entirely hidden, except for two glaring red eyes. He looked as if he had a cloud trailing him.

Kaller eyed the figure. “Who are you?” he demanded.

It laughed diabolically. It approached Kaller, making him involuntarily wince. “My name is not important.” His voice was deep and foreboding. “But I suppose I’ll tell you seeing as how you’re going to die.” He laughed again. “My name is Koujin, but all you need to know is that you have something that I want.”




Kaller shifted into defensive mode. “What? You’ve come to steal my treasure, haven’t you? You’re not getting it! Men, attack!” Kaller ordered at the top of his lungs. As expected by both parties, nothing happened, though Kaller was slow to accept that he might not be getting out of this one alive.

“Your men are miles away. Well, not exactly, but we can’t expect your feeble mind to understand that, can we? All that’s important is that you give me what I want. Cooperate, and I will kill you painlessly.” Kaller gulped, wide eyed. “Now, hand it over. Give me the Essence Emerald!” Koujin yelled.

Kaller’s fear dissolved away. As best as could, he reached behind him and pulled out the crescent-shaped wand. “You mean this?” he asked smugly.

Koujin chuckled. “That’s it. And I’m afraid you must hand it over. Otherwise…” he didn’t bother finishing his sentence. He walked over the console, and began typing in some commands. A large metal ring broke through the earthy ceiling, and descended to eye level. Steel plates covered the ring, turning it into a wrecking ball. Kaller rolled his eyes. Was this the best Koujin could do? Koujin typed in some more commands and spikes surrounded the ball. A freezing mist began to pour into the room, and Kaller could feel his body temperature dropping already. As if that weren’t enough, the spiked wrecking ball began swinging slightly in Kaller’s direction.

Koujin arrived at his ultimatum. “Now what Captain? Are you going to give me the Essence Emerald peacefully, or are you going to give me the satisfaction of prying it out of your cold, dead, crushed fin?” the wrecking ball was swinging faster and faster, and pretty soon, it would smash into Kaller. Despite the coldness of the room, Kaller was sweating. “You see,” continued Koujin. “I searched Proarctica for many years, carving out all kinds of tunnels trying to extract the very magical artifact you now hold. You, fool, have no idea of its true power. Only I am the one destined to wield it. Along with the two other pieces of the Grand Treasure. I am the Chosen One.” Koujin paused and looked triumphantly of the shark captain. What Koujin was really doing was stalling so that he could see his prisoner be crushed. The wrecking ball was so close now that it grazed a part of Kaller’s skin. He winced and tried to flatten himself against the board. He closed one eye and stared Koujin down with the other.

“You…want it?” he rasped. “Go…get it!” with all his strength, he threw the Essence Emerald straight up. It spiraled through the air, embedding itself into the soft ceiling. Koujin eyed Kaller for a while, who already had much of the skin missing from his right hand. The wrecking ball was currently on its backswing. Koujin merely levitated toward the wand. The ball stopped and began its final descent towards Kaller. Koujin pulled the artifact from its resting point in the ceiling. He turned around just in time to see the wrecking ball crash directly into Kaller and the board, shattering them both into a million pieces. Even before the dust and smoke cleared, the familiar scent of blood filled the air.

Koujin left the room via another portal, but not before uttering a final “Fool.” To his fallen victim.
 
Chapter XVI-Ambushed

Soshi watched as Strobel quickly withdrew from the main hall. The uniform made her look very official, but underneath was something else. Something Soshi couldn’t quite place his finger on. He shook the thought from his head, dismissing it. He turned around and headed for the door.

Outside, he was met with many soldiers, all awaiting his command. Soshi felt kind of awkward, with all these soldiers dressed in uniforms. As he slowly made his way in front of the crowd, the soldiers all stared ahead at him, watching his every move. Soshi decided not to be put off by this and just do what he needed to do.

“Soldiers of the Toad Town Army.” He said. “Today we begin your training. I’m aware most of you have received rigorous training, however, now we are against a new enemy. An enemy of the kind none of you have ever faced before.” The croud was silent, but Soshi could feel the apprehension boiling inside every individual. Still, he continued. “We will be covering defense tactics, surprise maneuvers, and aerial assaults. Paratroopas may have an easier time with this. We will begin now.” Soshi moved through the croud and began attacking one of the Toad soldiers. He yelped a cry and before anyone saw what happened, Soshi had him by the leg. He snickered and released the slightly rattled Toad. “As you can see, I will be the one fighting you all. Learn to defend and attack back.”

Through the day, Soshi ran a rigorous training regimen through the army. Paratroopas followed formations to the letter, skills with weapons were increased by the land forces, and the Koopas were taught the best defense that Soshi knew. As the sun set, Soshi was winded a little. He had packed all the training he had learned in his life into eight hours. He sat down to rest, when he heard a rustling sound. He picked up the source of the sound immediately, before anyone figured out what was going on. From a bush, he could hear shaking. As he approached, the whole army followed him, as if tethered to him. All of a sudden, Soshi turned toward them.

“Get back!!” he yelled and ran in the opposite direction. Instantly, a black spider-like shadow came after him. It took the army by surprise and headed straight for Soshi, who had anticipated this. He stopped abruptly, took off, did a loop in the air, and crashed, talons first, into the spider-like shadow. He and the army looked at it. It was nothing more than a black spot on the ground. Soshi heard another sound, looking out to the horizon, he could see hundreds of the same black shadows, making their way steadily toward them.

Everyone took defensive positions. “They’ve been lying in wait for us. Paratroopas!” he ordered. “Form a sky line behind me! Everyone else, fight as if your life depended on it!” Soshi took off once again, and the two armies met. Instantly, the clink of swords striking claws, and the sound of claw striking flesh could be heard. Soshi dived into the midst of the battle, wings stiff. He took out a whole row of the creatures, but more quickly replaced them. Each paratroopa in the line did the same, but they, too, had almost no effect. Soshi made the mistake of landing. Since he didn’t have a weapon, the creatures swarmed him. He could feel each claw tearing off part of his skin. He knew he didn’t have much of a chance. Soshi closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Suddenly, the pain was gone, Soshi quickly opened his eyes to see General Strobel diligently hacking away at the intruders. Soshi didn’t have time to thank her as another spider-like shadow jumped him. He managed to tear it off, while at the same time reaching for his secret weapon. The screams of many Mushroomers could be heard in the distance, but Soshi tried not to think about that as he brandished the Radiant Ruby. That was Soshi’s second mistake. As soon as the red gem caught the fading sunlight, the creatures stopped their assault on the others and assembled straight for Soshi. Instinctively, he flew up, blasting them with energy from the wand. More still came-there seemed to be endless numbers. Eventually, one of them caught on to his tactic, and climbed on top of another, claws raised. It managed to scratch at Soshi’s side, causing him to lose his concentration. The end result was that Soshi could not keep his elevation. He desended into the throng of ravenous shadowy spiders. The army was decimated. They could only watch helplessly as their new leader was fruitlessly trying to fend them off with his weapon.

“It’s OK.” Soshi said weakly. “They only want me. They’ll leave you all alone.” Before his vision was completely blocked he turned to General Strobel. “I’m sorry…I couldn’t be of more help.” Soshi felt a tremendous pain as the creatures overwhelmed him. And then he felt…movement. They weren’t going to kill him. They were taking him away. He couldn’t see where he was going. He didn’t know where he was being taken. Soshi couldn’t fight the sheer exhaustion any longer. He let his eyes close.
 
I feel like an idiot for JUST thinking of this, an idiot for asking it (because it's not YOU), and I'll feel even dumber if I'm wrong, but are the Silver Isles loosely based on.... The Emerald City?