Role Play Pool Party!

Crystal walked over to the old oak tree that had barged the door down, it was just about split in two. She tugged the remains of the old climbing rope off of the center of the tree where it had been tied. She figured that regardless of the shape it was in, Xiuhcoatl would need it back.

Putting the rope in her shell as she walked over to the pipe, she smiled to Clive and hugged him gently. "You are a true gentleman", she said with a smile. "Any koopa general would be proud to have you serve beside them." With those words, she looked down into the darkness of the warp pipe and jumped in.

This warp pipe was quite different than the other one, he noticed. It began with a steep decline that went for about a mile and a half. Sliding down on his bottom, he began to pick up speed quickly as he fell. This pipe had been in much better shape than the one in the Dome, besides the occasional cobweb patches that he went through.

Hitting the end of the decline, he hit it hard on his rear. It was solid pipe still, nearly a flat leveled surface but with a small incline. The force of the collision knocked him onto his stomach as he bounced off the floor like a pinball stuck in a drain pipe. Feeling the top of his head quickly, he realized his hat was missing.. he lost it somewhere but that didn't matter, there was really nobody left to steal it. He saw a light at the end of the tunnel, though it wasn't much of one.. he finally came to a stop just at the end of the incline. He slowly scooted himself out of the warp pipe and looked around. Getting back onto his feet, he was on a very tall ledge, but finally it was home.. the Valley of Bowser laid before his eyes.

Clive smiled at Crystal's words and remembered his time alongside Bowser's troops. He remembered all his friends and he remembered Bowser. His smile turned to sadness as he realised how much he missed Bowser and all his friends. He so wished to have that time back again. He then remembered the day Bowser left and slowly all his friends too. His sadness quickly dissapeared as his confident expression came back again. He jumped in the warp pipe as he thought of the future.

She tucked herself inside her shell, this was going to be a very bumpy ride she feared. Coming down off the incline, her shell bounced hard off the pipe and collided with the sides of the pipe until she shot out of the end of the warp pipe, smacking right into the shell of Xiuhcoatl. It was like hitting a brick wall, she thought as she peeked out of her shell at him.

Shakily untucking herself from inside her shell, she got to her feet and stood on the ledge next to Xiuhcoatl. Looking at his face and then down to the Valley, she knew that it was time to restore the power of the home and also reclaim the beauty of the land that was now ravaged.

Clive landed hard on his stomach after coming out the pipe.

"Ouch," Clive said gritting his teeth. He got up as he rubbed his stomach for a few seconds before getting his composure back. He walked over to Crystal and Xiuchoatl and stood beside them and looked over to the valley.

"I don't know about you two but I can't wait to get back home," Clive said eager to get back to the castle.

"Orinda?"

Chugami was quick to perk up at the sound of the familiar voice and got up, making him visible enough in the light of the chandelier.

"Oh thank god you're here! I got lost looking for Kollin and was starting to lose it. We are contacting an electrician and getting this place completely lit the moment I get outside! I keep think there's something lurking in the darkness or something...!"

Looking down from the ledge, he calculated the drop down to the castle. It was at least a 60 foot drop, the cliff under the ledge was full of sharp, jagged rocks. He began digging through his shell for his rope, but it wasn't there. Did he leave it back at the Dome, he wondered? Oh drats, he realized that he had left it there. Approaching Clive and Crystal, he pointed down at the ground floor below.

"We've got a very dangerous situation here", he said with a sigh. "Without the rope I left behind, we'll have to very, VERY carefully climb down the cliff. One bad fall could spell the end for any of us."

Crystal smiled at the words of Xiuhcoatl as she pulled the rope out from her shell and handed it to him. "You mean this rope?", she asked with a giggle.

Looking down from the ledge, she stepped back and gasped. "There's no where near enough rope for us to climb down it, what's your plan?"

Kicking away the mess off of the floor, he nodded in response to Chugami. "Either that or at least getting this whole place cleaned up, it's just vile.."

Looking around for a moment and then looking to Chugami, he wondered about how the others were doing.. they'd been gone for quite some time but he knew that Xiuhcoatl was a strong guy and that Clive knew Dinosaur Land just as well as anybody. "You vanished along with Kollin, so I came down looking for you both", he said softly. "But he seems to have vanished into thin air, I only found you because I heard a bunch of pots and pans fall. Maybe he's already in the throne room, waiting for us."

Walking up towards the doorway back out into the hall, he turned to Chugami once more. "I think it'd be best if we got back to the throne room and waited for the others."

Taking the rope from Crystal, he smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Crystal.. you're truly one of a kind." He uncoiled the rope and found it to be in poor shape in many spots. There was only about twenty feet of rope left, he imagined the rest of the rope was torn off from the pulley back at the Dome.

"It isn't enough to climb down the rope, but if I tie it around my waist and then each of you tie it around one of your ankles we can all get down together.", he said as he sat down against the pipe. He began to tie the rope around his waist, double knotting it across his stomach to make sure it would be secure. "We'll have to be very careful still, so watch your footing and where you step. When you two tie the rope to your ankles, I'll start first and you'll both climb from above me."

"Y-Yes," Chugami stuttered, making sure to keep close to the dragon and his torch. "That sounds like a good idea. A few of the stories from my pot should help calm my nerves, I hope..."

Clive took some of the rope and tied it to his ankles. He waited for Crystal to do the same.

She sat down and tied part of the rope around her right ankle, double checking to make sure it was secure. Looking to Xiuhcoatl, she smiled. "Let's go home."

Standing up by the ledge, she waited for him to start his climb down. She was the final one to secure the rope, she would be the last one to climb down the ledge.

Using the torch's light to guide them through the darkness, Orinda stepped out into the hallway and began the trek back up to the throne room.

As they began to walk, he looked to Chugami and could see he was clearly still terrified. He couldn't blame the poor guy, this place was a mess and clearly much more frightening in the dark.

(Lol. Just on one ankle, guys. Or else you wouldn't be able to walk at all.)

Seeing that Clive and Crystal were ready to go, he started to carefully climb down the side of the cliff, watching his step and using his tail to wrap around rocks just in case he'd lose his balance.

"I'll make sure to go slow enough, that way we all make it down safely.", he said, looking up towards them.

Clive prepared himself to go down as he waited for Xiuchoatl to make his descent. He looked back at Crystal to make sure she was safe enough before starting to climb down.

With the other two starting their descend down the side of the cliff, she looked down at the ground floor for a moment. Sure she was nervous, but the end of the journey was so close too. Taking a deep breath, she began to climb down the cliff.

He was about halfway down the cliff when he noticed that part of the rope that was hanging underneath Clive was starting to rip. Just great, he thought to himself. That pulley really stretched the poor rope out, they'd be okay even if part of the rope broke but if they took one bad step, it would be a nasty fall down to the ground floor. Trying to remain positive, he continued to climb down the cliff.

Unable to shake the bad thoughts, he used his tail and wrapped it around Clive's ankle and switched to one of his hands to help navigate around the rough spots along the cliff as he descended.

Clive noticed the rope about to rip and started to panic.

"Oh god, please no," he cried as he closed his eyes. He felt something grab his ankles and he opened his eyes to see Xiuchoatl's tail wrapped round it. Clive breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Xiuchoatl, you saved my life just then," Clive said. He breathed a few deep breaths before calming down.

Crystal looked down for a moment, frightened because of Clive's cries. Seeing Xiuhcoatl get a hold onto him, she sighed in relief.

She continued to slowly make her way down the cliff.

What seemed like minutes of walking without saying a word, he turned the corner and found the hallway that Chugami had left half lit with his pot sitting up against the wall. It was underneath the last lit torch before the hallway turned into total darkness.

He stood by the pot, waiting for Chugami while he thought about the creepy music he had heard earlier. Where was Kollin, he thought.. could he somehow have just vanished? Was he sucked into an alternate dimension? That computer in the empty bedroom that he had seen earlier looked suspicious, but that would be for another tale.

"We're almost there, Chugami", Orinda said with a smile. "Just a few hundred feet left until we get back to the throne room."

Chugami had not left Orinda's side the entire trip, always keeping within the torch's halo of light and eyes constantly darting around as if looking for danger.

Upon his arrival in the hallway previously lit by Xiuchoatl's wand, as Chugami himself was too short to light any of them himself, he was quickly struck by a wave of confusion.

"...What is my pot doing here? I left it right beside the throne. Orinda, did you move it?"

Orinda scratched his head and wondered. He had seen it in this same spot the first time he passed through this way.. could Kollin have moved it for some particular reason? Or was there something else in this castle? Thinking like this was only giving him the chills, this was silly.. there had to be a reason how this ended up out here.

"It was here when I went out and looked for you and Kollin,", he said, studying the pot. "I thought maybe you left it out here and forgot about it when you were out looking for him."

After the very long trip down the cliff, he was only a few feet away. He looked up to Clive and Crystal, making sure they were doing okay. The rope was getting worse, it would definately need to be replaced. He noticed a tear or two forming on the rope between Clive and Crystal, but he was close enough to the bottom now where if they did fall, he could easily enough catch them.

Taking a deep breath, he moved around the last of the sharp rocks at the bottom of the cliff and finally set a foot on the ground. It never felt so good to be on solid ground as it did right now, hopefully this adventure had no more spills or falls in plan for Xiuhcoatl or his two companions. Setting the other foot on the ground with his tail still wrapped around Clive's ankle.. which was quite the difficult feat to do, may I add.. he was finally off of that rocky steep.

He would not let these two fall, he was sure of it. His life was on it, the Koopas would never be hurt again.

Clive remained calm as he slowly descended down with Xiuchoatl's tail supporting him. He reached the bottom and breathed a sigh of relief. He waited for Crystal to come down.