Role Play Pool Party!

Listening to Xiucoatl's kind words, Clive nodded and smiled.

"You're right, I may have distrusted Orinda at first but now I know that he is in our side. Whatever Bowser's reasons are for leaving, I'm sure they are valid and that he is fine. Our koopa troopa friends should be very close now."

"Nobody's perfect", Orinda said with a giggle. "But where's Kollin?"

He found a broom among the cleaning supplies and began to sweep the stone floor.

Kollin had long since departed into another one of the various rooms contained within the castle walls and was dusting the "furniture"

"Hopefully not causing too much trouble," Chugami replied, grabbing some polish and a rag from the supply kit and got to shining up the throne.

After a few moments, he decided to engage in a little small talk.

"Hm... He's still around here, but his memory seems a tad... kaput, shall we say? His mind might hold some valuable clues as to the truth of the matter, but they were locked away by another party. Friend or foe, I have no clue. If he were to remember, it would likely provide some strong leads. Of course, trying to strong-arm them out won't work; we shall just have to hope something helps remind him and triggers a recall."

Of course, what do storytellers know of small talk?

Deciding that the worn out old ladder would not be suitable to hold anyone of his weight, he took out a metal grappling hook from his shell and tied it to the long rope. Looking up, he gave it a good three swings in a clockwise motion well above his head and let it fly towards the edge of the tall cliff. The hook digging into the ground above with a loud thud, he tugged on the rope firmly to make sure it would be strong enough to hold anyone who would climb it.

"I don't trust this old ladder,", he said to Clive. "I'll climb up the rope first and then you come up after."

He began to climb up the rope, slowly making his way up the cliff, using his two feet as a support as he moved his way up the wall. Making it safely up the cliff, he climbed over the edge and looked around for a moment. There it was, as he had mentioned before, the Ghost House. Even by Ghost House standards, it was in shoddy condition. There were no visible lights coming from it, he was sure nobody would set up a post in there. Standing by the hook of the rope, he waited for Clive to climb up.

"Yeah", Orinda said looking at Kollin with a strange expression on his face. "Suppose you're right, there's hardly any furniture left in this joint. What in the heck is he dusting?"

He started to polish the gold frame of the throne with a wet rag.

Following Xiucoat's advice, Clive climbed up the rope after him and met him at the top.

Quickly walking past the Ghost House, a sign next to a mossy pond caught his attention. Why would there be a pond next to such a haunted cathedral, he wondered.. why did it look as dead as the kingdom around him? The sign read "Guardian of the Holy Spirit Koopette LeBoo". "Interesting.", he muttered to himself. Looking ahead of him, that light was only a few miles away now. It was still too dark to see the building it came from, but he knew someone had to be inside.

Turning back towards Clive, he looked at his face and wondered if he was thinking the same thing he was.. was this the post where those troopas were at or had they suffered the same fate as most of the land? Nodding to Clive, he made a jog towards the light.

Clive stared at the sign for a few minutes then looked ahead towards the light. He proceeded tp follow behind Xiucoatl.

"Hey Xiucoatl, do you know any idea who Koopette LeBoo is? I think I may have heard the name somewhere but that's as far as my knowledge goes, I'm afraid," Clive asked.

Xiuhcoatl nodded, as the light ahead got closer. "Koopette LeBoo, she was of the same species as I am", he said quietly. "She was the outside force that kept all the ghosts inside the house in peace. The pond as barren as it was, I'm sure she moved on after Bowser left."

Approaching within feet of the light, he could now see the building. It was indeed the castle that once housed Lemmy Koopa. The castle was in rough shape, as was Koopa Castle.. most likely was abandoned around the same time period. "Looks like we made it.", he said to Clive as he approached the door. Before he could knock on the door, it whipped open and hit Xiuhcoatl, knocking him to the ground hard onto his shell. A shadowy figure stood in the doorway, surrounded by the light.

Reacting to the sudden fall, Clive rushed down to Xiucoatl's side.

"Hey, are you okay buddy?"

Clive looked up with a shocked and scared expression at the figure.

"Who are you?"

link ~ https://koopaelite.forumotion.com/t7-character-sign-up#252

Crystal sat in the shadows of her home, watching the other Boo Ghosts dance around and carrying on a good time. She sighed, this saddened her for some reason. Sure they were like family to her, she had liven in this Ghost House for years.. but she was not quite like them. They were white bodied little blobs with fancy little tails.. she was a koopa troopa. Late in the night, when the ghosts would be busy at play she would stare from her window. It was her small link to the outside world in the Vanilla Dome. From this window she dreamed, beautiful dreams of meeting a koopa troopa and running off with him forever.. but with the ghosts around her, no male koopa troopa would last more than a few seconds before running away in pure terror of the living dead that had became her bretheren. Nobody ever came by the house, not since King Bowser had left the kingdom with his koopalings. Yet she would just stare into the darkness, that emptiness and the dreams that just seemed like a mere fantasy. But this night would be different...

Just another typical late evening here at home, she thought to herself as she leaned against the window sill she sat on. Escaping a sad sigh, she stared out into the darkness and began to wonder. She had began to drift off into a dream until she heard footsteps. She snapped her head down to the grounds below her window, she heard something move in the dead grass by the pond. It must of just been a cricket, she thought at first. But then she turned her head and saw a light from a few miles away. So what, somebody was at their post.. it was nothing new here. Very rarely did someone ever come out from there, she never saw someone go in.. she was too shy. She was afraid that whoever had been at that post, could never understand her. She heard more footsteps a moment later, moving away from the pond and slowly in the direction of the light. It was two creatures walking, she could detect that much.. but whom? And why, after all these years would someone walk by? Curiousity got the best of her, she could not stand it any longer.. it had been so many years since she last physically saw a koopa troopa, she had grown tired of only seeing one in her mind and in her dreams that seemed so real but so far away. Tonight, she decided it was time to leave the Ghost House and see who these two mysterious visitors were.

Exiting out the front door, she moved quietly and timidly. Looking around, she was terrified at first.. she had never stepped out into this world. Fears came through her mind, but she swept them to the side. She squinted her eyes and looked towards the post and its lone light shining on. She could not see the two creatures, but she knew that they had to be walking in that direction still. Shutting the door behind her slowly, not making anything more than a creak she moved close to the walls of the Dome that lined the back of the Ghost House and curved in a circular pattern towards the post. Moving swiftly forward, she made it about a mile and a half from the Ghost House. She didn't look back for she would soon fear the worst and be sent back running to her home, alone. Moving forward, she finally saw two figures around the post.. their silouettes being traced by the pale light of the building. She looked hard and could not believe her eyes.. one looked like a koopa troopa! Oh, how her dreams could not compare to this beautiful sight that was so close, yet so far away. She licked her lips and attempted to run her hand through her hair. This was her moment, a moment she would never get again. She was now moving just around the post, hanging around just left of the door of the post. They were standing at the door, her chance was there.. just inches away, she wanted to reach a tender arm out to that beautiful silouette. All of a sudden, the door slammed open with a thunderous boom as it hit the wall behind it. She ducked and quivered in fear.. but she saw that one of the visitors was down, clearly hurt. Looking at the light bouncing off the fallen creature, she saw a koopa shell. Ooh la la! Could it be? Two of them, Crystal could not resist no longer.

Diving out in front of the two creatures, she caressed her arms around the fallen koopa. Looking up with her deep crystal blue eyes, she cried out to the stranger standing in the doorway. "No!", she desperately pleaded. "You've injured him", she sobbed, caressing Xiuhcoatl's head in her hands. Looking up at the other creature, she saw it was a blue shelled koopa troopa. Her heart skipped a beat, as she moved her white and blue hair from her eyes and smiled shyly. Her smile quickly faded as she turned her attention back to Xiuhcoatl. "I demand to know why you've hurt this koopa! Who are you?", she screamed, with tears in her eyes that began rolling down her soft pale yellow cheeks.

(Tia. Words cannot describe that opening post. Left me without any.)

The figure blanketed in shadows became clear in the light. It was a koopa troopa, a red shelled one for that matter. He had an angry look on his face at first, then looking to the fallen Xiuhcoatl he became sad. "I am so sorry, I heard noises outside and thought they were intruders, we never get people here!", he said, sounding a bit panicky. Another koopa troopa appeared behind him, he also appeared quite sad by what unfolded at the door.

"This shouldn't of happened, we thought you were lurkers!", the other koopa troopa stated. He had a green shell, they were as standard as they got. "I seriously hope that the fallen koopa is alright, please come in. We've got ice packs somewhere."

Xiuhcoatl woke up slowly from being knocked out, moaning in pain. He saw a color of blurred crystal blue, he thought he was in heaven. Things began to focus, he saw it was a female koopa troopa with beautiful long hair and deep eyes. "Who... are you?", he asked. "My head.."

(Dammit Tia, that was beautiful.. just, wow...)

Orinda finished polishing the gold frame, the shine was so bright from it that it seemed to light up the throne room with a golden tint. He walked over to the red koopa troopa armor and began cleaning it up. "I wonder how those two are doing out there,", he asked aloud as he worked. "Hope everything is going okay."

At the sight of the two koopa troopas, Clive breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well it's nice to see more koopa troopas like myself. Firstly, this is my friend and he has not hurt me at all, I assure you. We are sorry to bother you but we have come here on an important mission. As you may be aware, our king, Bowser, has left his castle and it has now fallen to ruin. We are here to get some answers as to his whereabouts and the status of our kingdom. You may have had contact with a dragon by the name of Orinda, who claims to have met you or some other troopas who helped him. He was given information about something about a king falling from the heavens. Could you please enlighten us on this matter?"

Kollin waddled down the hallway, rag in one hand, spray bottle in the other, toward the servant quarters in the castle. Yes, while nearly everything had been stripped by the royal family, there was still furniture in various parts of the castle. After waking up from his coma a few years ago, Kollin began exploring the castle, collecting the best of it for his own personal living space. Finally arriving at room 2-3, the room he woke up in, Kollin turned the knob and went inside.

The room was decorated with many interesting things, on the floor was a white, circular rug covered in stars, fire flowers and super mushrooms with a matching pair of sheets on the top bunk of the bed, which was pushed up against the right wall. The bottom bunk of the bed had been modified into a desk with a tool set found in Ludwig's room and contained a vintage GADD-68K computer found in Iggy's room with a printer and modem, both functioning, as well as a stack of games found in Lemmy's room. (KTA Tennis '86 was his favorite.) On the far wall were three book shelves, each one built from scrap wood found about the castle by Kollin himself, and containing dozens of vintage computing and karting magazines from the early 80's to mid 90's he had found in a basement next to a box of Wendy's old clothes. On the back wall also, was a large, white refridgerator, doubtlessly filled with all sorts of goodies from the castle garden and what was left in the kitchen. The walls contained three or four posters of expensive, exotic karts.

Kollin sat down in the chair in front of his desk and started wiping down the top of his computer. It was getting a little dusty, after all.

"I'm sure they're fine," Chugami reassured the dragon. "Xiuhcoatl is a large smart fellow, he'll be able to keep Clive and himself out of trouble."

He hopped back as he examined his work, the now freshly polished throne. Its gold trim shone just as brightly in the flicking light of the fire, though its splendor was greatly reduced by the lack of the emerald, missing from its emblem.

"There," he said to himself. "Now it's truly fit for a king."

Both of the koopa troopas eyes lit up at the words of Clive.

"You mean the green winged one?", the red koopa troopa asked with a smile. "Yes, we found him out in the Forest of Illusion disoriented in the shrubbery."

"Yes, we had been scouting throughout Dinosaur Land for quite some time", the green koopa troopa said. "King Bowser and his family left the kingdom almost two years ago. He took himself and his koopa kids on a one way trip to the Koopa Virgin Islands."

The red koopa nodded. "He left on a Bullet Bill Airline Jet, there had been a station located at the top of Cookie Mountain", he said. "But with the rest of Dinosaur Land as barren as it is, I am most certain the hangar has been long closed up and deserted."

Xiuhcoatl continued to lay on the ground, still trying to shake the cobwebs out from the sudden impact of the door. He stared into the eyes of the female koopa troopa who rushed to his side, for some odd reason that he could not explain he felt some of the pain in his head subside.

The green koopa troopa peeked over at Xiuhcoatl and Crystal. "Once again, we're so sorry sir", he said in a quiet voice. "I hope that he comes around, lucky that young girl was there too." Setting his attention back to Clive, he looked at him and offered a handshake. "We found the note that King Koopa had left on the top of his throne in a brown sack. It had the letter and his crown, there was no more that we could track down. It had to have been a few days after he took off, we had not heard from Bowser for a few days, became worried and went to the castle to see what was wrong.. and that's how we found that letter."

Still holding Xiuhcoatl close to her, she looked up at the two koopa troopas and wiped away the tears from her eyes. "Thank you,", she said, her voice still quivering as she was quite nervous around so many new faces at once. "Your concern and kindness is appreciated." She looked Xiuhcoatl in the eyes, seeing he had opened his and was starting to come to. "My name is Angelee, but you can call me Crystal", she said softly, her voice the sound of angels. "You took a very hard shot from the door, is your head okay?"

Placing her palm onto the forehead of Xiuhcoatl's, she lightly trailed her fingers down his forehead humming a sweet and soft tune. "What is your name? I've never seen you or the blue koopa troopa here before."

Clive shook the koopa troopa's hand with a smile.

"Me and a lot of my friends, including Bowser has had a long running feud with the Mushroom Kingdom and in particular, the Mario brothers. But this does not seem like anything they would do. Surely not even Mario would stoop this low and force Bowser out and destroy his empire,".

Clive then suddenly realised what the koopa troopa had said.

"Wait, two years? That's impossible. I have served Bowser for seven years and he has been active in the castle for a long time. I had actually just spoken to him not long before Orinda showed up. This just gets weirder and weirder. Oh, by the way, my name is Clive by the way. I'm a senior troop working for Bowser."

"If he just disappeared recently, how would this entire place nearly be dead of life?", the green troopa asked with a stern look on his face. "We've posted here for almost two years now and you are the first koopa troopa we've seen walk by here in many, many months. Or on any of our other travels since then, either."

The red koopa troopa nodded in response to his partner. "You must of slept for long time, Clive.. and I don't mean any offense to that. The king has been gone for two years, we've checked every other week through Koopa Castle or any place for life and he has been gone. Even if it was possible, Bowser would of never let his kingdom go to such poor shape even under his rule."

"It decayed over time, like things do left deserted Clive", added the green troopa. "It takes months or years for a place to fall apart as hard as this place has. Your lines are crossed somewhere, I'm sorry.."

Xiuhcoatl looked up at the beautiful eyes of the koopa troopa, taking notice of the unique white and blue streaks in her long hair. The pain in his head was now completely gone, it was amazing to him.. she had some skill in her, this was no ordinary koopa troopa. After moments of silence, he finally spoke.

"My name is Xiuhcoatl, I come from Soda Lake.. the blue koopa troopa, his name is Clive." He got lost in her eyes, it was near impossible not to. Those crystal blue eyes, they ran so deep and were as blue as the deepest waters in the sea with the clarity of something so beautiful, so untouched by the world. "Where are you from and can you travel with us?", he asked her in a soft but firm voice.

Clive listened to the words of the koopa troopas and didn't know what to think. He sat down and remained shocked and flabbergasted by this.

"This can't be. I had literally not long come out of the throne-room prior to meeting Orinda and the castle was in perfect condition and Bowser was as happy as ever. What the hell is going on around here? All my friends can't have just disappeared in the space of just half an hour or so. It's almost as if I've walked through some kind of time portal or something."

Clive covered his head in his hands and remained in an utterly confused state.

"Bowser would never leave his kingdom like this. He had many plans for the castle and the kingdom in general and he had no intention of ever leaving. Bowser had given me a day off and relieved me of my duties so I decided to go on my own exploration. I was quite hungry so I thought I'd have something to eat in the restaurant before I took my leave. The restaurant was very empty at the time and it was in there that I met Orinda. He looked a bit shady and he had a crown. At first I was angry and even threatened to report him to Bowser. After he led me and the others back up to where I had just come from, it was all dead. How do you explain that? A very active castle and kingdom to one what is dead and ruined in the space of not even half an hour."

(Sorry guys if this and my last post seems a bit dodgy, I have not long just been made aware that Bowser was meant to be canonically away for two years and I really struggled to find a way to get round it.)

Both of the koopa troopas looked at Clive with a wierded look out on their faces.

The green koopa troopa looked to Xiuhcoatl and motioned his hand to Clive, who was clearly struggling. "Uh.. is your friend alright?", he asked in a confused voice.

Xiuhcoatl looked over to Clive as he slowly got back onto his feet. Shaking his head and smiling, he patted Clive on the shell jokingly. "Oh yeah, he just forgets where he's at every now and then!" he said with a laugh. Shaking the hands of each koopa troopa, he thanked them for the information they had given. All this lined up with that note the dragon had led them to.. it couldn't be true, but it seemed to be true.

Turning to Crystal, he extended a hand to her. "I imagine that Ghost House is lonely, would you like to join us on our journey Crystal?", he asked with a smile.

Looking at the crest that sat upon the throne, he wondered if there was any gem throughout Dinosaur Land that could fit in the vacant spot where Bowser's jewel once rested.

"If Kollin could remember anything", he wondered aloud. "He could probably tell us if there's a place with a gem that could fit there. Or maybe there's some at the bottom of Soda Lake..".

Clive just laughed slightly at Xiucoatl's joke.

"Oh yeah, eh heh heh."

Turning to Crystal, Clive said,

"Sorry, in all my confusion, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Clive. I'd also like you to join us Crystal. I don't often see a koopa troopa of the opposite gender where I come from."

Clive then turned to the two male koopa troopas and saluted them.

"Thank you for your help guys. I'm sorry if I seemed a bit confused by all this, all this news just came as a big shock to me. Wherever Bowser is right now, I hope he and everyone else is fine."

Clive decided not to continue anymore about his confusion. But he still had intentions of finding out what happened, where Bowser was, where his friends and colleagues were and if the empire was still active.