Chapter 8: Bottled Up

Riba opened the moist, cracked front door to the farmhouse with a CREEEAAAAK. Inside, was a dilapidated entrance. The lights had long since fizzled out, drawers were ransacked, and the floorboards broken. Walls showed visible water damage as they broke to reveal cracked green pipes underneath. The wallpaper was faded in color, and everything smelled like a sewage pond.

"What would one of my Memory Fragments be doing here?" Riba asked, walking in. The floorboard beneath him sunk in like a broken button on an old controller, and dirty water rushed in between the cracks. Riba lifted his foot, with visible disgust on his face.

"So, Len, was it?" E. Gadd asked as Riba carefully took another step. "What technology do you use for those portals? I recall making portals of my own once or twice." Everybody followed Riba in.

"It's a secret," Len replied. "Riba, the Memory Fragment is upstairs. We need to find it and get out of here." Riba nodded, and went up the staircase.

Riba was afraid the stairs could fall apart at any moment. But thankfully, he made it to the top without such a thing happening. Len just floated up the staircase, with Bucken-Berry and Ala-Gold skipping up the stairs recklessly as if there was no danger to be found. E. Gadd followed soon behind.

Finally, Riba saw a glow from inside a room. "Here we are!" He exclaimed, turning the corner and walking in. He wasn't sure if he wanted to use the Memory Fragment after last time. The last had drained him mentally and emotionally. But he knew, regardless of whether he wanted to or not, that he had to. He had it in his sight. The fragment. But before he could reach the Memory Fragment, which was just laying out in the open, the ceiling caved in, along with a monster-like grunt coming from another source.

Riba jumped back. Standing in front of him was a monster unlike anything he'd ever seen. It was a turtle... no... a dragon? What was it? "Haha! It's me, Bowser!" The turtle dragon shouted in a flamboyant fashion. No way... this was the Bowser that Mario had spoken of? Riba got into a fighting stance, gripping his machete. A sweat ran down his face.

"E. Gadd! What are you and your Toads doing here with the intruders?" Bowser asked.

"We're helping Riba here regain his memori---" E. Gadd stated.

"Very good. Nice! Great even! Hmm... what could this be?" Bowser asked. He eyed the Memory Fragment.

"Don't touch it!" Riba shouted. But it was too late. Bowser took out a small bottle, and with a swing of his arm, scooped up the Memory Fragment into the bottle. He put a cork in the bottle.

"Oh, you're looking for this?" Bowser asked, taunting Riba by shaking the bottle in front of him. "Well, too bad for you! It's mine now! Gwa ha ha!"

"Hmm... a defiant one, aren't you?" Len asked, taking a step forward.

"Yeah? What are you going to do about it, little girl?" Bowser mocked, putting the bottle away and pounding his fists together.

"This," Len replied. She summoned void hands around Bowser. Bowser looked around, confused. Riba choked.

"Len, don't!" He shouted. Riba jumped and pushed Len out of the way, which surprised Len, making the void hands dissipate. Riba heard a CRACK sound from Len. Like jewelry breaking. Bowser wiped a sweat from his forehead.

"Phew... well, okay then..." Bowser said. A cartoonishly over-pompous purple car shot through the wall, without a driver. "I think I'm just gonna go, if that's cool with you. Thanks, boy who smells like fish. For making me not crushed. For that, I'll just take this shiny thing and won't kill you, I guess," Bowser hopped into the car.

"Wait!" Riba shouted.

"Smell ya' later, suckers!" Bowser mocked. The car revved itself up and ran into the other wall, breaking it open. Bowser's laugh could be heard until he left the vicinity.

"Hmm... a lot just happened right then," E. Gadd broke the silence. "I don't know if I registered it all, but that can't be good!"

Riba ignored E. Gadd, got up and reached out his hand to help Len up. She didn't take his hand. "Why aren't you letting me help you up?" Riba asked.

"You fool!" Len shouted. Riba put up his arms in defense. "You broke my earring!" She brushed her hair out of the way to reveal an, indeed, broken jewel earring. It must have been broken in the landing.

"I'm--- sorry?" Riba didn't quite know how to apologize.

"Ugh... you don't get it!" Len cried. "That wasn't just an ordinary earring! That was the earring that gave me my powers! And you just destroyed it!" Len pointed her finger dangerously close to Riba's face. "I can't turn into a cat, I can't make those hands, I can't fly, AND I can't open portals anymore!" Len stamped her foot, and looked like she was going to cry. "And worst of all, you let Bowser get away with the Memory Fragment. Meaning whoever is doing this to you will succeed, and you'll be wiped from existence!"

Riba was surprised. She hadn't even mentioned the horrible punishment she herself would go through if they didn't find the fragments. "Len, we've grown close, haven't we---?" Riba asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him angrily.

"Shut up!" Len screamed.

"You didn't let me finish," Riba replied. Len looked at him, breathing in and out heavily from stress. "So that's why I'll help you. Every step of the way. So now we just have to find Bowser and get that fragment."

"Oh! We know where he's going!" Ala-Gold exclaimed. Everybody looked over to them and Bucken-Berry, who both had been whispering amongst themselves just a few seconds prior.

"Bowser is stationed at Peachette's Castle, where he rules over the Mushroom Kingdom---!" Bucken-Berry followed up.

"So that must be where he's going! It's not too far... it's just North of here!" Ala-Gold finished. They looked proud.

"Way to go, Bucken-Berry and Ala-Gold!" E. Gadd said. "We SHOULD go North... it may take a while, but it's our only way forward!"

"I think that's a chance I'm willing to take," Riba replied. "Besides, how hard can it be?" Len groaned long and hard.