Lucas Chronicles, the Afterstory Part 2: Monster Behind Mountain Dew Interlude; Of Skillets, Waffles, and Other Things

As I hopped onto the docks, Korey asked, "So, any idea how to find this Bobbery guy?"

I smiled, "Actually, for once, yeah. Well, I have an idea. Hopefully, he's still alive..."

Fluttershy spoke in an almost whisper, "B-but... Celestia said Bobbery was already dead..."

I laughed, "No, not Bobbery. I was talking about a good friend of his named Podley. He owns the local bar/inn in town. But actually..." I paused. "I don't know how many years have past for Rougeport since Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, so I was kinda wondering if we could do some sight-seeing."

Fluttershy shrugged and smiled. "I don't really have any important things to do. I'm just along for the ride."

She wasn't the one I was actually worried about, though. The band mates were the ones I feared wouldn't like the idea. I feared they were getting uncomfortable in their pony bodies and wanted to change back as soon as possible.

I looked to them with pleading eyes as they huddled together, whispering. Then, finally, the huddle dispersed and my heart sunk as John gave a disagreeing look that just screamed 'no'.

But then, his face turned almost completely upside-down as he spoke, "I don't see why not! I mean, when are we ACTUALLY gonna be able to come back here? Never, that's when! The sight-seeing idea sounds like it ROCKS!"

I smiled. "OH WAIT! I HAVE AN IDEA!" I grasped my Chaos Emerald, opened a portal to Fluttershy's Cottage, and grabbed my iPod (which, to my relief, was still there). "Now, we have a camera!"

After exploring Rougeport for while, having Fluttershy's bits stolen from her by a local bandit, chasing said bandit down, him realizing bits were useless in Rougeport thus giving them back, having a meal cooked by Zess T., visiting the local shop, and saying hello to the goomba professor, Prof. Frankly, I told Fluttershy about the quaint, peaceful town called Petalburg. After describing what I remembered of it to her, she was SO eager to go there. In fact, she started pulling me in all sorts of different directions, trying to drag me to the village, even though she had no idea where it was.

Heck, I was almost scared to suggest something else in fear that I would collide head-on with a fluttering yellow-and-pink freight train with nothing but a frying pan.

So, we jumped down the pipe to Rougeport Sewers. The band was hesitant at first, but after I jumped in out of familiarity and Fluttershy out of eagerness to get to Petalburg, they joined us soon enough. I guided them through the treacherous Rougeport sewers (made more treacherous for the sheer fact that they were considerably older than in Paper Mario: TTYD) to the pipe that led to Petal Meadows.

When we arrived, Fluttershy nearly fainted at the sight of it. She frolicked in the fields and made friends with the various creatures around. While she did this, I snapped a picture of Hooktail's castle that sat stoically on the horizon. Even from here, though, I could tell that, after Mario dealt with the red dragonness, the castle fell into ruins.

We reached Petalburg sooner than I remembered. Then I realized, the town had grown exponentially since Paper Mario: TTYD. It was now the size of Rougeport. Although the town itself had grown, it was still as peaceful as I had remembered.

Since it's a town of flowers and plants and such, Fluttershy desperately wanted to find some seeds and the like for her garden, since many of these plants don't exist anywhere near Ponyville.

During Fluttershy's shopping trip, the band and I took pictures of us and Petalburg, even snapping a few of Fluttershy and her new flowers and seeds.

When she finished shopping, something dawned on me. "Uh... Fluttershy? How... did you pay for those?"

She blinked, "I... I had some leftover bits from our shopping in Ponyville... What's the matter?"

My eyes grew wide. They mistook her bits for coins.

We had to get out of there before they realized her bits were worthless here. I explained to her how her currency was supposed to be useless here. She gasped, "O-Oh dear... Then, shouldn't I return the seeds and flowers I bought?"

I nervously pulled her along as I stated, "No time. The popo's probably already on our tails. We gotta go."

After we hastily escaped Petalburg, we headed back to Rougeport. One place I DESPERATELY wanted to visit while we were here was Glitzville. It was definitely my favorite chapter in Paper Mario, and I was curious to see who the champ of the Glitz Pit- the fighting arena that Glitzville was famous for- was now.

As we made our way to the blimp (the only way to get to Glitzville) in the back end of West Rougeport, we ran into a slight problem.

"Tickets, please." The Cheep-Cheep- a red land-fish type creature with small wings for fins- with a white pilot's hat spoke.

My heart sank. I remembered this. Anyone wanting to go to Glitzville needed a ticket to ride the blimp... "We... we don't have tickets..."

"Then, I must apologize, but I cannot allow you on." The Cheep-Cheep stated.

I hung my head in depression as I turned slowly to walk away. I wouldn't get the chance to visit Glitzville, defeated by my own lack of memory...

"Excuse me, Mr. Fish?" That was Fluttershy. I looked back. "Um... We don't mean to bother you... but... this is our first and probably very last time in Rougeport, and we really wanted to ride the blimp... I-Is there anyway you could find it in your heart to let us go?"

"I'm sorry ma'am, but-" He started, but Fluttershy's eyes gave him the most pleading look they could muster. The fish conductor stumbled with his words. "I- I can't just- I mean, rules are-" Then, he closed his eyes and sighed. "Fine... go right ahead..." Fluttershy squee'd as she boarded. As the rest of us passed, the Cheep-Cheep shook his head. "I'm SO fired..."

As the blimp ascended into the clouds, I looked at Fluttershy and smiled. "You know what, Fluttershy? You're awesome."

She blushed. "Oh... it... it was nothing..."

"Dude. That totally rocked." John added.

"Thanks, Fluttershy!" Korey grinned.

"You were great!" Jen added in that British accent of hers.

"I totally take back everything I said back in the village." Seth stated.

Fluttershy gave a huge smile and looked down as her face grew ever redder from the compliments. "R-Really... it wasn't anything special..."

We all laughed as Glitzville came into sight and grew larger as we approached.

When we finally landed, I hopped off and grinned. "Well guys, welcome to Glitzville!"

We were all excited to see the glamour of Glitzville (although Fluttershy was slightly timid about the grandeur of it all). The first places we visited Podler's Juice Bar and the Glitzville Gift Shop. The shop actually had plushes of all the previous Glitz Pit Champions that I knew of. We wanted to buy some of those, but we didn't have any money.

Then, I had an idea. "Guys. I know how we can make money." They gave me an intrigued look as I smirked. "The fighters in the Glitz Pit make money after every fight, especially if they win."

Fluttershy, realizing what I wanted to do, looked worried, "I... I don't think that's a good ide-"

But I dashed out of the gift shop towards the arena before she could say anything. They soon followed. They walked up as I spoke the bouncer guarding the entrance to the fighter's quarters.

"So, you and your friends wanna be fighters, eh?" He asked. I nodded my head. "Right this way, then."

He led across the hallways of the Pit. Fluttershy began to whimper. "I... I think you guys should just go on without me... I'd only slow you down... I'll be sure to cheer you from the crowds! Yay!"

She started to turn back when Jen stopped her, "Oh, come on! It'll be fun! I'm sure you won't slow us down! We'll need you. We're a team now, y'know."

The red blushing returned to the shy mare's cheeks. "...do you really mean that?" The drummer nodded. "O-Okay then..." Fluttershy gulped. "I g-guess I'll try..."

The bouncer had led us to the manager's office in no time at all (some might even say in 'ten seconds flat'). Inside, a pink, female toad (when I say pink, I really mean the circles on the toad's hat were pink) with a long strand of golden hair leaking from her hat over her eyes, glasses, and a red suit sat behind the desk. I took a picture of the one who I knew (from playing Paper Mario) had to be Jolene.

She looked up from her desk. I noticed her hair was considerably grayer then in Paper Mario: TTYD. "So. You wanna be fighters?" She asked in an almost bored tone. I nodded my head. She began typing on her computer. "Alright, so you can each fight solo, or you can fight as a team. Due to rule changes, teams with bipeds in their squad can only fight in pairs of two."

I looked to the band and Fluttershy. The band glanced at each other than nodded at me. Korey spoke, "It's alright, we'll sit this one out. We're rockers, not fighters. We'll leave the fighting up to you two. Just make sure you guys give 'em a whack for us!"

I smiled while Fluttershy looked almost horrified. Jolene nodded. "Okay. Now that that's out of the way, I'll need your names."

"I'm Lucas, the EpicNinjaGamer." I offered.

Fluttershy muttered in almost a whisper, "I'm... Fluttershy..."

Jolene raised her eyebrow, "What was that?"

The mare squeaked, "My name is Fluttershy..."

"Please speak up." The toad stated, slightly irritated.

Fluttershy began to cower. Jolene rolled her eyes as I facepalmed. I finally said, "Her name's Fluttershy. As I'm sure you can tell, she's extremely shy."

"She won't last long..." Jolene said under breath. She sighed, then spoke, "Alright, due to crowd appeal, your going to need fighter's names, something sort of a household name that fans can go, 'Yeah, so-and-so fighter is my hero!', a name that's catchy, yet memorable." We nodded. "Lucas, you're going to be 'Epic L'."

"Hmm. I like it. Has a nice ring to it."

Jolene continued, "Fluttershy, you'll be 'Li'l Shy'. Ha. I know the fans will just love it. They'll eat it up like Thanksgiving Dinner."

"O-Okay... I-If you s-say so..." The pegasus stammered.

"Now, we have rules that MUST be followed if you wish to remain fighters." Jolene explained, "First, absolutely NO unsportsmanlike conduct outside the ring. Inside the ring, go ballistic, get the crowd fired up, do whatever so long as it doesn't kill someone. But outside the ring, keep it cool and level-headed."

I nodded, "Shouldn't be a problem."

"Second, you will start out in the Minor Leagues. With enough wins, you can excel into the Major League, and maybe eventually, Champion. But until then, you MUST remain in your respective locker rooms.

"Thirdly, since your other friends, the 'rockers', did not sign up to be fighters, they cannot accompany you in the locker rooms. In fact, once we are done here, they must be immediately escorted out of the Pit." Everyone was slightly disappointed at that rule.

"Fourth, leaving the ring for any reason is counted as a loss. And lastly, before each match, I will give you set conditions that must be met. If they are not, you will receive only a fraction of the prize money and you will not advance. In such a case, you must fight the same foe again. Failure to follow these rules, minus the last two, will result in disqualification and immediate eradication from the Glitz Pit."

"What happens if they lose?" John asked.

"I was just getting to that." The manager replied as she pushed up her glasses. "If you lose, you drop one position on the list. For example: Say you are ranked number 15. You lose to rank 14. You must then fight rank 16. If you lose again to rank 16, that rank will take yours, and you will then fall to that rank, thus you must fight your way back to rank 15."

I nodded and smiled. "Alright! Sounds awesome. Now, I have just one question."

She raised her eyebrow, "And that would be?"

"You see," I started, "my friends here" I pointed to Skillet, "are an extremely talented band. I was thinking, since they couldn't be fighters, you could provide them with a gig, say, between fights and such."

To my disappointment, she laughed this idea off. "Very funny. No." I sighed and looked down. "BUT," I lifted my eyes. "I'm not a cruel person, so if you could actually manage to win your way to the championship fight, I'll let them play ONE SONG as you enter the ring. Now, follow me to the Minor League locker room."

She led us out of the room. Immediately, a bouncer in a black suit immediately began escorting the band out.

"Knock 'em out!" I heard Korey shout.

"We're rootin' for ya!" John followed.

The walk to the Minor Leagues was a relatively short one. When we arrived, Jolene explained how to request a fight (of which I already knew since I played the crap out of Paper Mario), then wished us good luck.

The fellow Minor Leagers were quite interested in seeing Fluttershy. She grew extremely nervous around all of them, as other people aren't exactly her 'forte'. I pushed them all away, but that didn't stop them from staring. I quickly requested a fight for her sake.

We began our first fight, the only condition being Fluttershy couldn't fly. That was simple since all she did was tremble in a corner of the ring. Between my Chaos Emerald and Chillrend, the opponent didn't stand a chance.

After a few battles, Fluttershy had really gotten into the fighting and started helping me out. The ranks blew by quickly. That is, until one of the fight's conditions was that I was not allowed to enter the battle at all, for any given reason. Fluttershy had to fight alone.

I feared this would've been the end to our streak.

I was sorely mistaken.

Long story short, Fluttershy won her solo fight BECAUSE she was shy. She constantly ran from her attacker until she eventually collapsed. The attacker tripped over her body and flew out of the ring, resulting in a loss for him.

I congratulated her when she returned to the locker room, then we continued to fight through the ranks.

Eventually, through some form of miracle, we fought our way to the number 1 seed, with the only fight remaining being the Champion. We requested the fight, our only condition being that I couldn't use the Chaos Control to manipulate time and space.

We were preparing ourselves in the Major League locker room when a bouncer had escorted Skillet back to meet us.

Korey smiled, "Congrats, guys!"

Jen spoke in an animated tone, "You two were utterly amazing out there!"

"Especially in that fight where Fluttershy battled alone! That was awesome!" Seth added.

"In other words," John spoke, "that totally ROCKED." We thanked them all in unison. "So, what song do guys want us to play for you as you enter the ring?" John asked.

Fluttershy and I blinked. We had totally forgotten about that. We looked at each other and smiled. It was obvious, almost painfully so. We turned our smiling faces toward him and answered in agreement, "Sick of It."

He smiled back, "Alright! We're gonna go set up. You guys give it everything you got!"

We nodded as they left. Soon after, a bouncer came and escorted us to the ring. When the doors burst open, I heard John's vocals over the loud speaker, "No one can make this better! Take control, it's NOW OR NEVER!!"

As they continued to play, Jolene introduced us through the mic. "Now, raise your arm appendages for the challengers; these two excelled through the ranks faster than even the Great Gonzales himself! Please welcome the Duo of Duos! The Double-Decker Trouble Makers! EPIC L AND LI'L SHY!!"

The crowd's screams resonated through the stadium, "OMG! IT'S EPIC L! IT'S EPIC L!"

"YOU GUYS GOT THIS!"

"WILL YOU SIGN MY WAFFLES?"

"KNOCK 'EM DEAD, LI'L SHY!!!"

Jolene motioned for Skillet to stop playing as she introduced the Champ, "Alright, ladies and gentlemen. This is what you've all been waiting for... Put your hands together for the current Champion! The Heir to the name 'Merciless Executioner'! The Superstar Sequel's Protege! WELCOME... THE GREAT GONZALES JR.!!!!"

My jaw dropped as the crowd screamed, "GONZALES!! GONZALES!! GONZALES!! GONZALES!!"

An adult, white Yoshi with magenta boots and a yellow hair swirl hopped onto the stage.

I could hardly believe it. The little Yoshi kid Mario had left behind had become Champion of the Glitz Pit.

He walked over and spoke to us, "Yo! Wassup? I wanna congratulate you guys for coming this far! You would've made even Gonzales proud! I'm expecting an awesome fight, you hear?" He offered his hand in a handshake a sportsmanship. "Best of luck to you two!"

My hand met his as I answered, "We'll give it our all! You can be assured of that!"

We smiled and nodded as we returned to our respective corners. Jolene shouted into her mic, "Now, get ready to...  BRAWL!!"

That was the cue to start the battle.

As the battle drew on, our strength began to wane. There was a reason Gonzales Jr. was the Champ.

However, the turning point of the battle was when he used his 'Gulp' attack and stole away Chillrend. He put it in an egg and excreted it out of the ring. With our fatigue failing and my sword unobtainable at the moment, the tables had definitely turned in his favor.

And on top of all that, he spawned three eggs and threw them all at me. They hit me square in the face. I flew across the ring, dazed. However, luckily for me, this was his 'Mini-Egg' attack. I shrunk as I flew, and did not cost us the match by flying outside the ring.

Even so, I was in no condition to fight. My vision blurred as I saw various things flying above my head. I grabbed my head, trying to clear the dizziness as I awaited the inevitable K.O. from the Yoshi.

But it never came.

Instead, Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around his waist and shouted, "NOPONY. HURTS. MY. FRIENDS!"

Although, to me, the pegasus' muscles seemed slightly, unusually bulky as she hurled the dinosaur behind her, out of the ring.

The crowd cheered in awe. We had won.

As my vision cleared completely and the effects of the Mini-Eggs had worn off, Fluttershy trotted over to me, no longer bulky.  It must've just been the hit to head screwing with my vision...

Her face held the hugest smile as she helped me to my feet.

We walked over to Jolene, grasping my hand in her left hand and Fluttershy's hoof in her right. She shouted into the mic. "WELL EVERYONE!! WE HAVE A MAJOR UPSET!! THE ROOKIES THAT JOINED THE GLITZ PIT JUST TODAY HAVE OVERTHROWN THE CHAMPION!! EVERYONE, GIVE IT UP FOR YOUR NEW CHAMPIONS!" She raised our arm appendages. "EPIC L AND LI'L SHY!!!"

Everyone screamed their heads off as Gonzales Jr. hopped back on stage, returning Chillrend and presenting the Champ's Belt- a leather belt adorned with a huge, light-orange, sparkling star- to us.

We went to the lobby, surrounded by fans. We asked Jolene and Jr. to accompany us at Podler's juice bar. As we weaved our way through the crowd, we managed to pick up the band and the eight of us managed to cut to the juice bar. We shut the door behind us as a bouncer pushed all the rabid fans away.

I sighed in relief as I looked at John. "Is this pretty much every concert for you guys?"

He smiled. "Pretty much."

We all laughed. "Hey, Fluttershy?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"You remember that party you promised?"

"Yes..."

"Wanna have it here?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh my! That sounds like a great idea!" She shied away as she looked at everyone, "I mean... If it's okay with all of you..."

Podler shouted from behind the counter, "FREE DRINKS FOR THE CHAMPIONS AND CO.!!"

So, we partied. It was great. We had Podler take a picture of the eight of us- Fluttershy and myself holding the belt, surrounded by the band, Jolene, and Gonzales Jr.-. Then, Fluttershy and I nodded to each other. We returned the belt back to the Yoshi.

His eyes grew wide, "B-But, why? You won, fair and square!"

We explained to him that we were supposed to be on a mission for a princess and that we probably wouldn't ever be able to come back to Glitzville, so we had to step down as Champions. Jolene nodded in understanding, "If you do ever return, you are the Champions. Such a shame we've lost a second set of Champions in the same way..."

All of my comrades raised their eyebrows in confusion, but I knew exactly what she meant.

The Yoshi agreed with Jolene, "This sounds extremely similar to way Gonzales and I had to step down as Champions the first time... On a mission for a princess!" He chuckled, "Anyway, the belt is yours. I'll keep it warm for you guys."

We thanked them for everything as we fought our way to the gift shop with our new prize money, the reason we had begun fighting in the first place. We each bought a plushie of our favorite looking Champion. What surprised me most is that the shop already had plushes made for Fluttershy and me. I bought Prince Mush, the very first Champion, Fluttershy got one of Gonzales Jr., John bought Rawk Hawk, Seth got Mario, Jen bought my plushie (which killed me since I did have a crush on her), and Korey got the Fluttershy plush.

Afterwards, we decided to try some of the famous Glitzville Hot-Dogs (I didn't DARE tell Fluttershy what they were made of), then proceeded to board the blimp. As it rose into the clouds, we waved goodbye to Glitzville- fans, fighters and all- and descended back into Rougeport.

The next place I told them about was Poshley Heights. I remembered a warp pipe in Rougeport Sewers that led to the high-class city.

After getting lost for about an hour, we finally found the pipe and started our sight-seeing. There really wasn't much: Just some famous Poshley Pasta (Which was, for lack of a better term, meh) and the Poshley Sanctum. After devouring the former (using a RIDICULOUS amount of coins), we decided to visit the latter. The interior was as ornate as I remembered. After a long hallway, rested a dark-orange crystalline, star-shaped gem on a podium in front of a painting of the entrance to the Sanctum. I remembered the gem as the Red-Herring Crystal Star from Paper Mario. We all marveled at it.

"Can I help you?"

The voice startled us. I turned to face it. I smiled as I recognized the Sherlock Holmes-esque penguin, Pennington, the owner of Poshley Sanctum. I spoke to him. "Actually," I handed him my iPod. "can you take a picture of us in front of this star and the painting?"

He blinked, "Okay. Doesn't sound like a too difficult conundrum."

We all posed around the gem as he snapped the picture. We thanked him as he handed my iPod back to me. He sighed as we exited the Sanctum, "...The creatures that visit are getting stranger every day..."

We quickly returned to Rougeport Sewers. I told them about wanting to see the Thousand-Year Door. They seemed interested.

When we arrived, we were filled with shock and awe in the presence of the huge, magnificent door.

I knew we had to take a picture of this. I set my iPod's camera to 'delay' and set in a decent position in front of the door. I had us all pose, and it snapped.

Happy now with our adventures in Rougeport, I used the Chaos Control to place my iPod safely back in Fluttershy's cottage.

I sighed with a smile as I closed the portal. "Well, we should probably try to find Bobbery now, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, that's probably be a good idea." Korey laughed. So, we returned to the surface of Rougeport.