Role Play Pool Party!

"I'll go first", he said. Holding his breath, he slid inside the tunnel feet first on his stomach and vanished into its pitch darkness.

Kollin fluttered at a short distance, curious as to what was inside the door, but frightened at the same time.

Clive took a few deep breaths and waited for a few seconds. He looked back at where he and Xiucoatl came from and wondered what Orinda and Squeek were up to. He quickly turned back to the tunnel and jumped in. He slid down and into the darkness he went.

Engulfed in darkness, he felt the tunnel underneath him taking turns and picking up speed to the point where his hat nearly flew off into the wind. Using one hand to keep the hat on, he felt the pipe turn straight down. He noticed brief flashes along the pipewalls as he slid, the pipes showing their age and being quite rickety. This was an unusually long downfall, he thought. He looked down briefly and saw nothing but total darkness. Feeling a change in air temperature, he closed his eyes and screamed.

Clive withdrew into his shell as he began to fall faster and faster. Through his shell, he saw many exits on either side as he span in his shell.

Orinda brushed himself off and looked around the room. It was just as easily large as the throne room. Maybe it was where the koopas had meetings, he thought to himself. He spotted an old bed frame resting along the back wall, it was impressively large. This had to of been the king's bedroom, he imagined. What a giant he must of been. There was also an empty closet chamber on the far right side wall and more empty hangers where pictures of his family must of been. He just about passed the room off as empty but then he spotted a torn piece of paper in front of the old bed frame. Walking over to the bed frame, he picked up the piece of paper and read what was on it. It clearly was a ticket stub, with the words "Koopa Virgin Islands" typed onto it. The dragon couldn't believe it, the letter that was given to him by those koopa troopas matched up to this spot exactly.

He walked back over to Kollin and the Squeek and showed them the ticket stub he found. "Guys, hard to believe but this seems possible.", he said with a bit of sorrow in his voice. "The king, his family.. they really did abandon this empire."

Feeling himself free falling and beginning to flip, he screamed louder. Grinding his teeth, he waited for the force of the impact as he finally hit the ground hard directly onto his shell. Opening his eyes what seemed like moments later, all he could do is lay there and look around him. He saw crystal walls lining the dome, sparkling with beauty in the fairly dark surroundings. Remembering Clive jumping in just after him, he looked up and hoped that his landing would be easier than the one he just did.

Kollin rubbed his head. "I get the oddest feeling of deja vu, but of all my years living here I don't remember having known about this room..."

Clive began to spin quite faster and he saw an opening in front of him. He emerged from his shell just before exiting so he wouldn't lose control and crash into a wall. He landed flat on his stomach and was a bit dazed at first but slowly got up to his feet. He looked around him and sighed.

"So we made it, this is definetely Vanilla Dome," he said.

The Squeek took his own investigation of the room, absorbing the details. Internally, he also questioned the practicality of the placement of the sleeping quarters alongside the primary audience chamber. With the overall emptiness of the room and adjacent walk-in closet, he had to agree that it looked like a room in a house that was being moved out of. Though given it was Bowser, he would have expected the bed frame to look a little more... regal.

He looked over the ticket stub. Bullet Bill Airlines airship transportation service, by his estimation. A rather high-class airline in spite of the name.

But something didn't match up.

"Indeed, this does seem to support that," he spoke. "However, I see it more as a blatant contradiction."

Xiuhcoatl finally managed to sit up, the hard fall had left him in a bit of a daze. "You alright, Clive?", he asked, looking around for him. Slowly getting back to his feet, he looked up at the tunnel, surprised how far the drop off was. "How could anyone come down that tunnel!", he exclaimed loudly.

He pulled the map out of his shell and walked over to Clive. "Alright, there's a lot of ground to cover.", he said as he looked around at the endless catacombs that was covered with crystals that shined like they should of been in a night sky instead of lining the walls of the dome.

"Look for caves that have a light coming from them, it may have civilization inside."

Clive nodded and then said, "Maybe we'll find those koopa troopas Orinda told us about also, hopefully they can tell us what happened to the castle and what happened to Bowser." Clive then walked over to one of the walls and looked for any lights.

Orinda looked at the Squeek, confused. "What do you mean contradiction?", he asked curiously. "Nobody would kidnap the guy, this is too covered up to be much of a setup job."

"Hm, perhaps I was misusing the term 'contradiction' itself," the Squeek answered. "What I meant is that this ticket stub does not close the case. Rather, it brings up even more questions.

"Think about it, my liege," he continued in a knowing tone. "A ticket stub is proof of admission. When you go to the movies, to a theme park, or on an airline for that manner, the people at the gate tear your ticket, keep part for themselves, and give you the stub. It's proof of your claim to what you've paid for. If they, for any reason, ask later if you're supposed to be there, you just show them the stub and that's proof you are. And even if you throw it away, there's no special dump for ticket stubs; it goes where the rest of the trash you throw away goes.

Given that, if this is from the ticket a member of the royal family bought to the Koopa Virgin Islands, that leaves two questions: why is it here, and not in a landfill or the possession of the king, and how did it get here?"

From where they had came out of the pipe, they were atop the tallest ledge in the Vanilla Dome. He was glad he had came prepared and would be able to save a lot of work. Pulling out two sets of binoculars from his shell, he offered one of them to Clive.

"These will make it easier to see from farther away. If my memory serves me correctly, there was once a Ghost House and a small castle that housed one of King Bowser's kids here.", he said as he unpacked the map of the Domes out of his shell. "They are quite a long distance from us, three or four ledges or so with a lot of rocky terrain between it. Those two places would make likely places for a post if they still exist. We best get moving, we've got a lot of areas to look through."

Putting the map and binoculars back into his shell and walking to the edge of the cliff, Xiuhcoatl begin to descend down it.

Clive took one of the binoculars and put it in his shell. He waited a while to give Xiucoatl time to descend before going down behind him.

Orinda nodded, beginning to see what the Squeek meant. "Until those two get back from the Vanilla Dome, we should just put this ticket stub to the side and continue to try and tidy up in here.", he said, exiting the bedroom. "If they get the same story from the koopa troopas that the letter had, this'll become quite interesting. What is your name. anyhow.. I don't think you mentioned it."

Completing the climb down the first ledge, he walked around and waited for Clive to finish. He was looking around checking out the Dome in front of him as he noticed a small light coming from well over the other end of the Dome. It was a square light, almost like it was coming from a shelter. Pulling the binoculars out of his shell, he used them and got a closer look at it. He couldn't see what the light was coming from, it was still much too dark in the Dome to determine it. Putting the binoculars back, he said "Clive, check out that light when you get a chance. I definately think it could be where those koopa troopas are ported at."

"Indeed, our best course of action is to wait for the other two," the Squeek agreed. "As for my name..."

He skipped over to his pot and hopped on top, standing on the lid and thankfully being light enough to avoid crushing the scrolls holding it up, and tipped his straw hat to the dragon with a dramatic bow.

"I am known as Chugami, the wandering storyteller. I've made it my goal to gather all the stories in the world, which I keep in my trusty pot. However, I've decided to cease my travels for now, to be able to experience the twists and turns of the story forming here first-hand."

Clive reached the bottom of the cliff and letting go, he said to Xiucoatl,

"I'll get right to it. Those koopa troopas have to be round here somewhere and I thonk we are very close indeed to them."

Clive walked closer to the light to investigate and thought for a minute.

"Yes, I think they in here. There is definetely some kind of activity gong on in there. When you are ready, I suggest we press ahead and make our prescence known to whatever lies in here."

Xiuhcoatl began to climb down the next ledge, becoming more determined every step that he walked through this relatively quiet atmosphere. It creeped him out, thinking how what once was such a lively little place died off just as much as Koopa Castle had. If they found Bowser, could he even have a chance at fixing this mess.. or could the new King, Orinda Tarsa, help bring the great empire come back to life. Sure it wouldn't be the same as under Bowser's rule, but Xiuhcoatl had began to warm up to that dragon. He knew in his heart, that Orinda would not leave this place to die, despite how unorthodox he seemed to be.

Reaching the bottom of the second ledge and now on the ground and bottom level of the dome, he looked at all the wide open terrian. Where were all the towns, the creatures who inhabited this place? It was almost like a ghost town, besides that little light that had come from the other side of this underground, sparkling paradise. Those koopa troopas had to be inside there, he thought.. or at least in this Dome somewhere. "Clive", he asked, his voice obviously in sound of thought and wonder. "Doesn't the quietness of this place disturb you like it disturbs me? It's amazing how such a once lively place could just go dead like this." Pulling out the binoculars in his shell again, he looked forward and around the ground floor they were about to cross. If there wasn't a ladder designated like the map had shown, they would have a very lengthy and dangerous climb to get to that castle. Uncertain of what things they will face here, he began to walk on.

Clive looked at Xiucoatl sadly and as he walked alongside him, he said,

"Yeah it does seem quite dead just like the castle. It makes me wonder if there are other places in the kingdom, which are just as dead. I don't know about you but I am getting really worried now. Not just for Bowser but this whole kingdom."

"Chumagi?",he asked curiously. "Nice to meet you." Orinda saw something on the fire pit and walked over to look at it. Seeing that one of the legs was bent,, he hocked. A fire lugie at it and started bending it out with his hands. "Breathing fire like this has advantages."

Walking along, he approached the cliff of the tall ledge that separated Clive and Xiuhcoatl from the castle. Thankfully, there was a ladder built. It was crudely built, just a few foot stones embedded within the cave wall. This ladder looked well worn, probably had been there for decades if not longer.

Looking to Clive, which he noticed the sadness in his face and couldn't blame him for it. The only king that the koopas had ever known was gone, along with what seemed the rest of Dinosaur Land. He tried to smile, but it showed on his own face that even this was all affecting him. Putting a hand on his left shoulder, he said softly, "I know that its hard to deal with, Clive.. but even if we don't find Bowser, I believe in Orinda." Pulling out a long woven rope from his shell, he continued on. "He's a good dragon at heart, he wouldn't let this place slide further down.. things will get better in time, I assure you."

"Well, in my personal opinion," Chugami said as he hopped off the pot and moved a few steps toward the pit, "you sneeze fire more than you breathe it. But that would be splitting hairs, so to speak.

Now, this place is long overdue for a cleaning. Shall we get to work?"