| Episode 7: Grodus's Evil Plot |
| Samus landed the gunship on the Moon and the group quickly rushed through the entrance to Grodus�s lair. Once inside, they came to another door, this one with a red lamp above it.
�Locked-a,� said Mario, before anyone tried to pry it open. �How does it open?� asked Link. �I dunno-a,� replied Mario. �Grodus-a must�ve updated his-a security system since-a I�ve last been here-a.� �Don�t worry,� said Yoshi. �Surely we can figure out how it opens.� �Who needs to?� remarked Samus, blasting the door open with a plasma shot. �We�re in.� �It sure helps to have a powerful bounty hunter on your side,� remarked Ganondorf. All of a sudden, an alarm sounded and a mechanical voice could be heard saying: �All drones to entrance hall! Intruders in entrance hall!� �Samus!� said the group in frustration. �What?� she casually replied. �. Several of Grodus�s followers, enforcers, henchmen, whatever you�d like to call them, were gathered around a large table in the center of a room with computers on the Moon. They were awaiting the arrival of their boss. When Grodus limped into the room, using his staff as support, he addressed the group in a sharp, robotic tone that startled many of them. �Greetings gentlemen,� said Grodus. �And ladies,� he added quickly. Some of them mumbled a �hello� or �how are you sir?� to him quietly, but then the room returned to silence. �You will be very pleased to know that the first phase of my plan is complete,� said Grodus. �My enemies are being slain as I speak. Two of them are already dead.� At that moment, six people staggered into the room and took their seats at the table. �How did it go?� Grodus asked the first person to enter, a witch. �Hopefully, I can trust you to kill a couple of fools.� �Uh�.Grodus�,� stuttered Cackletta, her voice uneasy for the first time. �Everything didn�t go according to plan�.� �Are you saying they�re still alive?� yelled Grodus. �Yes,� she replied. �They escaped in a red gunship with the help of Samus Aran.� �Red gunship?� asked Grodus. �They�re dead then.� �What do you mean sir?� asked Fawful, Cackletta�s most faithful servant. �My Space Pirates just went to take down a red gunship� The doors opened and a few Space Pirates entered the room, their heads hanging low. �Umm sir,� said one of them. �That gunship escaped.� �WHAT?!� cried Grodus. �I trust you people to do a few freakin� tasks and this is what I get. I will not tolerate failure!� he said, pushing a few buttons which hurled a few Space Pirates and X-Nauts into the flames below, all dead. �Is that clear?� �Yes sir,� gulped everyone in the room gulped, nodding their heads. �Excellent. Unfortunately for them, they had to learn the lesson that I don�t tolerate failure the hard way,� said Grodus. �Hopefully you will do better. If you have any doubts, let that serve as motivation.� The group nodded in general agreement. �For those of you who new, allow me to introduce the staff. And those of you who are old will have to bear with me, or just meet the new people err., or whatever most of you are. �This is Lord Crump,� said Grodus, pointing to the person on the left end of the table. He looked liked a regular X_Naut, only bigger and with glasses that stuck out like a sore thumb. �He is our chief mechanic and is very skilled at what he does. Unfortunately, he lacks in competence, as he has been defeated on many occasions by Mario. He is responsible for creating all the Magnus von Grapple robots and he has a taste in Asian cuisine. �My next enforcer, Grubba. An overweight ex-wrestler who owns a black-market battle arena that pits helpless victims against each other to make its profits. He weighs a metric ton. Grubba was also thwarted by Mario (Grubba winced at the mention of his defeat.) and his business has become much smaller scale since Mario stole the Crystal Star he was guarding. He now resorts to selling ice cream outside shops in Rogueport. Do not let his recent lack of success fool you, however; Grubba is a skilled wrestler and a competent minion, nevertheless. (Grubba looked up at Grodus and smiled.) �Next up is Doopliss. This wandering body-thief scares the people of Twilight Town for fun. He lives in Creepy Steeple, a church more terrifying than its name. Back in the day, he helped me create a gong that could transform people into pigs for a farming scheme. Doopliss specializes in taking over the bodies of his foes and shape-shifting. I believe he is a ghost, although many have suspicions he is merely a middle-aged man in a sheet. Whatever the case, Doopliss is a potent minion who now travels with the Shadow Sirens. �Speaking of the Shadow Sirens, they deserve an introduction as well: An elite trio of sisters who specialize in the Dark Arts and know very advanced dark magic. They are known for their rare and priceless hats as well, which give them the appearance of candy canes. They possess the ability to slip through walls and vanish into the shadows. They are comprised of Beldam, the bossy, nasty and outright mean leader. (Beldam glared at Grodus, but he ignored her.) Marilyn, a silent follower capable of muttering only the words �guh huh�, but powerful nevertheless. Vivian takes the brunt of her older sister�s abuse and is easily upset when Beldam is angered, but she is also a powerful fighter. �That leaves us with Cackletta. An evil witch who possesses very dark magical abilities, not unlike our friends, the Shadow Sirens. Cackletta has taken residence in the BeanBean Kingdom, where she plots her latest evil scheme. Just recently, Cackletta had a near-death experience that left her�well�.near death. She had no body, just a very small remainder of a soul. Fortunately for her, she has a very faithful servant called Fawful. Please stand up Fawful.� Fawful stood up and stared around the table, before being asked to sit down again. �Besides being a servant, he is a master technician and possesses mystical headgear that allows him to levitate. Anyway, Fawful transferred a piece of Cackletta�s soul into Bowser, forming Bowletta. That union did not last, however, as the Mario Bros. stomped Bowletta and forced out Cackletta�s soul. Bowser has since then plotted against me. But he will fail. I am sure of it. Anyway, Fawful came to me and told me the tale of his master. I pitied him. So Fawful and I combined our skills to heal Cackletta. She isn�t just good-as-new either. She�s better, virtually invincible and genetically engineered to kick butt. �Now that everyone�s been introduced,� began Grodus, ignoring the X-Nauts and other small enemies at the table. �I will now unveil my evil plan: Years ago, a mystical object known as the �BeanStar� (Grodus made his fingers into quotation marks and spoke in a dark heavy voice for words in ��) was created in the BeanBean Kingdom. It is an object of great and unimaginable power. I will send people to retrieve this �BeanStar�. But here�s the catch: The �BeanStar� can only be awoken by a pure and innocent voice. Luckily for us, one such voice exists. It belongs to Princess Peach. All we need to do is send someone to the Mushroom Kingdom, disguised as a BeanBean representative, and steal the voice. Then we will awaken the �BeanStar�! Muahahahaha!!� �Excuse me,� interrupted Cackletta. �That has already happened. I used the exact same plan to awaken the BeanStar years ago and was defeated at the hands of the Mario Bros.� �Fink-rats,� fumed Fawful. �Shoot,� replied Grodus. �Well, here�s a thought: There exists a place known as Star Haven. Inhabited by the 7 Star Spirits, this place houses an object of great and terrible power: the �Star Rod�. It can make its holder invincible. Now, we will steal this �Star Rod�, imprison the Star Spirits and seize their power for ourselves.� �Eh-hem,� coughed Lord Crump loudly. �What�s wrong now?� asked Grodus. Everyone was laughing at him hysterically, but he couldn�t understand why. He figured they were appreciating his evil genius and began to laugh with them. �Muahahahaha!!� he laughed, but everyone stopped laughing and stared at him. �Riiiight�,� he said. �Umm, sir Grodus, that too has already happened,� informed Lord Crump. �You people have to tell me these things!� commanded Grodus. �I don�t keep up with current events as you know. Plus, ever since I was beaten by Mario, my memory was destroyed and it has yet to be modified. Very well, how about this?� Everyone just stared at him because they knew he would suggest something old and used already. �Oh heck, why don�t we just hijack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage like we always do?� asked Grodus. �We don�t always do that,� said Lord Crump. �Ugh, I need an aspirin,� moaned Grodus, fumbling around for some Tylenol. �That plan might work, sir,� remarked Crump. �But how about this: On several foreign planets, there exists a powerful substance called �phazon��. He moved his hands and lowered his voice at that word, just like Grodus had. �Using this �phazon�, we can do a lot. Perhaps genetically engineer entire armies of elite, invincible warriors. Or we can improve our machinery with the power of this �phazon�. The possibilities are endless, sir Grodus.� �Go on,� Grodus urged. �I�ve designed a highly sophisticated beam weapon that, with �phazon�, can move something the size of a planet. Using the weapon, we will threaten to drag Earth into the Sun. Unless we are paid a ransom of��one hundred billion dollars.� �Excellent plan, sir,� said Grodus. �Always asking for a lot, just like Dr, Evil in those Austin Powers movies. Good films for an evil mind. Excellent work Crump. But we must defeat Mario once and for all.� �Never fear,� replied Lord Crump. �I have new robot. Say hello to Magnus von Grapple: Triple X, with three laser cannons. Not only that, but it will soon be phazon-powered and nearly impossible to stop.� �I hope for your sake that you�re right,� remarked Grodus. �Oh and by the way, where will we acquire all this phazon?� �It can all be found on many planets throughout the galaxy,� replied Crump. �Especially Aether and Tallon IV. In fact, there�s a place on Tallon IV called �Phazon Mines� that�s just dedicated to mining phazon.� �Excellent,� said Grodus. �You have done well, Lord Crump. Just be sure not to lose again.� �Yes sir,� said Crump enthusiastically. An alarm sounded out of nowhere in the main chamber: �Intruder alert! Intruder in entrance hall! All drones report to entrance hall!� �Wonder who that could be,� thought Grodus. �Mario,� murmured Cackletta. |
| Last time......... The heroes escaped the forest duel with Cackletta and headed to Grodus's Moon Base. After a quick encounter with some Space Pirates that apparently work for Grodus, the heroes make it to the Moon Meanwhile, Grodus and his minions are plotting something evil (hence the title). |