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Description
~ Chapter 2: A Twilighter's Welcome ~

Antasma flapped his wings, fluttering slowly through Twilight Town, taking it all in. The air smelled like wet wood, and it was nice and quiet.

What caught his attention the most however, was the fact that at least half of everybody he saw was asleep. In nightmares, too. As a creature of nightmares, he could tell these things.

Yes, this place would be ideal. Not only was is aesthetically pleasing to the bat king, but the entire area pulsed with potent nightmare power. All he needed was a place to roost, and he could begin to drain until he was at full power again.

The locals-- what few there were who were awake --had been friendly, but not overly so. A couple had greeted him, but that was it. No big deal, anywho; they were no threat to Antasma or his plans. The bat king doubted they would even notice his draining of their little town.

As he floated, he passed a couple buildings that looked slightly more important. One he supposed might belong to the mayor of the town, another might have been a hotel, and he saw a sign with a flower on it that he guessed might signify a general store. The hotel might be helpful if he ever needed to take a break to recharge his energies, but the store held no interest for him; as a creature of nightmares, he had no use for traditional food or healing items.

Soon enough, Antasma found a nice spot to roost: in the shade of a nice dark tree. Floating upside-down underneath a branch-- a vestige of his time spent as a bat --he closed his eyes and began draining energy.

And so he sat, in the shade of the tree, draining nightmare energy from Twilight Town. As he grew in power, he slowly morphed in shape until settling on a form closer to his Dream World body, with his typical, evil-looking eyes and face and long, gangly arms. His cape lacked the spiky bottom and the spikes behind his head were less pronounced, and he was shorter, but all in all he looked a heck of a lot cooler than he did as a bat, he thought.

Next, he could feel his power for offense returning. Soon he would be able to--

Ow.

What?

Antasma opened his eyes, although he hadn't realized they'd been closed. Something-- or someone, was in front of him.

It was round, and pitch black, with beady eyes that glowed white. It was smiling-- a freaky smile that went way too far up its face, yet certainly didn't show any joy. It had large, beefy arms that hung below its spherical body, and it had a long, wispy tail that must have been at least a Mushroom Kingdom-standard meter long.

It had friends, too. Two identical creatures floated a short distance behind it.

A moment of awkward silence followed.

"State your name, creature of nightmares." It spoke in a voice that was shrill and raspy, and its mouth didn't move when it talked.

Look who's talking. "My name is no concern of yours." Antasma answered. He could feel the creature shudder as if angry.

"...Very well." It hissed. "You are draining our nightmare energy. This town belongs to us. Stop at once, or you shall be subdued by we Boomares."

Antasma opened his eyes wide, staring down the so-called Boomare right in the eyes. "Do you haff any idea who I am?"

He flipped around, leaving his spot on the branch and turning to tower over the three Boo-creatures.

"Do not resist."

"SCREEK!"

Antasma raised his arms, pulling energy out from himself to form two shadowy orbs of darkness in his hands.

"Who are you to command me?!" Antasma shouted down to the three Boomares. "I am Antasma, the King of Bats and Nightmares!"

The Boomares said nothing. This only served to make Antasma angrier. He furled his cape around himself, glaring at the three foolish creatures in front of him.

"Very well. If you vish to die, I vill gladly oblige." Antasma muttered.

The Boomares did nothing.

"SCREEEEEAAAAIIK!"

With a screech, Antasma unfurled his cape, swining his arm out in the direction of the Boomare directly in front of him.

Nothing happened.

"Eh?"

Antasma lifted his hand to his face. A weak sizzle of nightmarey energy told him his attack had failed. Did he really not have enough power for that simple attack?

He looked back down at the Boomares. If he had had a physical form, he would have begun to sweat nervously.

"Euh... fear me?"

The Boomares' smiles grew, creeping further up the sides of their faces.

They rushed him.

The first one reared back, and swung its beefy fist, managing to catch Antasma in the chin, knocking him to the ground. They hit deceptively hard for their wispy appearance...

The second floated next to Antasma's prone form before slamming its massive arms down on his face. Antasmacried out as his energies went crazy trying to keep his body from deforming and falling apart.

Finally, the third Boomare slithered through the air and grabbed Antasma in its tail, wrapping it around and around until Antasma couldn't move. Then, it leaned right close to the bat king's face, and wrapped its arms around his head. Antasma could feel it breathing on him.

Then...

Suddenly, Antasma had a horrible sinking feeling. Everything ached, and he felt like he was slowly emptying.

Horrified, he realized that the hellish creature was draining his nightmare energy. His hands were fading, he could feel them wasting away. His arms... his cape... his body...

When he was only a head, trapped in the grasp of this horrible monstrosity, he realized he was about to die.

Well, it was probably a better death than getting curb-stomped by an angry plumber.

Sighing internally, Antasma closed his eyes and accepted his fa--

BOOM

Suddenly, the Boomare was on fire. It seperated from Antasma, letting out an angry screech as it did, and Antasma felt his body reform as his power rushed back into him. The other two Boomares were also on fire, letting out angry hisses of their own. Their smiles had actually reversed, interestingly: now they wore unhappy frowns.

Quickly, before the creatures could recover, Antasma scanned the area, looking for the source of the fire.

He quickly found it. Behind the Boomares, a short distance away, was a vision of true beauty.

It was a female, of that Antasma was certain. She was a purple-ish figure with a noticeable hourglass figure, which tapered into a siren-like stem at the bottom before melting into the ground beneath her. She had two arms, ending in delicate hands clad in stark-white gloves, and on her head she had a full head of rosy pink hair done up in a large swirl, which covered most of her face, and which went down the back of her head, styled in two more large curls behind her. Finally, her head was topped with a huge witch's hat, striped in pinkish-red and white.

The lady was frowning angrily at the three Boomares, flames dancing around her hands. The Boomares, slowly recovering from whatever her attack had been, turned toward her, seemingly forgetting about Antasma.

"You...", one of them breathed.

The mysterious siren then raised her hand again, and another fiery burst wracked the Boomares, seemingly from nowhere. The ghastly creatures screeched in anger and pain, and scattered, trying to escape the witch's wrath. She turned, and tried to catch one of them before it could escape, but failed to hit it as it swung every which way but loose as it frantically tried to escape the village.

Then, it was over. The Boomares had been chased off, and the next thing Antasma knew, the beautiful siren who had saved him was looking up at him with a concerned frown on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Antasma, still reeling from the events that had just transpired, took a moment to respond. The lady cocked her head to the side, as if trying to prompt a speedy response.

"Y-yes. Yes, I am fine." Antasma spat out, staring unfocused at nothing. He was still recovering from what had just happened. He had accepted death! You can't just casually recover from that, you know.

"Thank goodness. Those horrible Boos have been coming into town everyday since this horrible curse came to be. Everyday they come, and drain people's dreams. I've done what I can to stop them, but..." She trailed off, hanging her head.

Antasma was tongue-tied.

"Well, whatever. Those guys were beating up on you for no reason! I couldn't stand for that."

Antasma wasn't sure she was actually talking to him. Also, apparently she hadn't seen him try to attack them. He decided he would refrain from bringing that up.

"I had to help you."

Yeah, Antasma was pretty sure she was trying to talk herself calm.

"You said there vas a curse?" He asked. The shadowy siren's face lit up, but she didn't look any happier.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, you're new here, aren't you? I haven't seen you around..." She trailed off again.

...

"Oh! Um, uh." She fidgeted nervously. "Um, let's keep talking in the hotel. It... might not be safe here."

Antasma nodded.

"I'm Vivian, by the way. What's your name?"

Antasma panicked. Would she recognize the name Antasma?

I can't take that chance.

"A-...C-...C-Count... Vinny. Count Vinny."

What?!

Later, at the hotel...

Antasma and the Vivian sat at a table. Vivian was munching on a Peachy Peach, and Antasma was just sitting there because he doesn't eat.

Antasma suddenly cleared his throat. Vivian looked up from her peach.

"The curse?" Antasma asked.

"Mm!" Vivian mumbled. She swallowed her bite of peach and placed what was left of the fruit on the table.

"Yes, the curse. Well, a long time ago there was a curse on this town that caused the inhabitants of the village to turn into pigs, one at a time, whenever the nearby steeple's bell rang."

Antasma arched an eyebrow.

"Um..." she fidgeted, "but there's a new curse now. My sisters-- we all thought they'd sworn off evil stuff, but they recently put another curse on the bell. Nowadays whenever it rings, one of the inhabitants of the village is put in an endless nightmare. I heard they wanted to revive our old master. I'm technically a part of the plan, but I don't really do anything, and I've been helping the townsfolk, so..."

She trailed off again, and seemed to be interested in getting back to her peach. Unfortunately for her, Antasma was still curious.

"Old master?" He pried further. Vivian looked troubled, her mouth curling into a grimace.

"Eh..." She whined. "An ancient, 1000-year old demon." She explained, folding her arms and turning away slightly.

Antasma's jaw hung open. A 1000-year old demon? And it needed to be revived?

"How could such a creature be killed?" He asked.

Then, Vivian smiled, for the first time since he had met her.

"Oh it was Mario--"

Antasma flinched.

"--who defeated her. Perhaps you know him? She asked. Antasma quickly recovered.

"Yes. I know of Mario. Quite vell, actually."

"Oh, good! Mario and I teamed up a couple years ago. He's amazing..." She gushed, trailing off yet again. Antasma had to force himself not to gag.

"Vell, I thank you for saving my life." Antasma said, changing the subject. "You said your sisters needed the nightmares to revive your old master?"

"Yes, that's right." Vivian confirmed, wondering where he was going with this.

"In that case I vould like to help. I vill help you in any vay I can." Antasma said, grinning. Vivian's face lit up.

"Oh! Really?" She said, looking even happier than when she'd been talking about Mario.

"Absolutely." He said. Vivian's smile grew wider, turning into a full-fledged grin.

"Oh, thank you! It's been so hard, fighting them off by myself..."

A moment of silence followed, Antasma floating quietly in his seat and Vivian trying to find the words to convey her gratitude.

Finally, Antasma spoke up.

"So..." He began. "Vut do ve do?"

"Oh!" Vivian exclaimed. "Yes! My sisters are at Creepy Steeple, at the other end of the Twilight Trail. If we can make it there, we should be able to beat them and stop the curse!" She explained happily. Antasma grinned.

"Vell, let's go to Creepy Steeple, then!"

"Hey hey? What's this?!"

Antasma and Vivian both stopped. Slowly, they turned to face this new voice.

It was a Beanish, Antasma could tell that much. In fact, he thought he might recognize this one...

He was short, like most Beanish. He had a purple mask on over his eyes, and what looked like a black beret on his head, tucked in under his eyemask. He wore a magenta-lavender striped long-sleeve shirt and oversized pants, and he had the biggest, most prominent teeth of any Bean Antasma had ever seen.

Wasn't this guy hanging around Wakeport at some point...?

"You guys are headin' for Creepy Steeple too?" He asked.

Antasma and Vivian looked at each other for a second.

"Um, yes?" Vivian replied after a short pause.

Suddenly, the small Bean became very angry.

"You guys are gonna try a swipe the treasure out from under my nose?!"

Vivian immediately put her hands up in front of her.

"Uh, no--"

"Boo! Boo, I say! You chumps think you can beat the Shadow Thief to his prize, huh?"

Antasma and Vivian were at a loss for words.

"Rookie!" The Bean shouted. "Show these people why nobody messes with Popple, the Shadow Thief!"

Suddenly, a lumbering figure came out from behind the one wall in the hotel.

Antasma's jaw dropped to the floor. Next to him, Vivian had about the same reaction.

"Yes, Boss!" said Bowser.

Description
~ Chapter 2: A Twilighter's Welcome ~

Antasma flapped his wings, fluttering slowly through Twilight Town, taking it all in. The air smelled like wet wood, and it was nice and quiet.

What caught his attention the most however, was the fact that at least half of everybody he saw was asleep. In nightmares, too. As a creature of nightmares, he could tell these things.

Yes, this place would be ideal. Not only was is aesthetically pleasing to the bat king, but the entire area pulsed with potent nightmare power. All he needed was a place to roost, and he could begin to drain until he was at full power again.

The locals-- what few there were who were awake --had been friendly, but not overly so. A couple had greeted him, but that was it. No big deal, anywho; they were no threat to Antasma or his plans. The bat king doubted they would even notice his draining of their little town.

As he floated, he passed a couple buildings that looked slightly more important. One he supposed might belong to the mayor of the town, another might have been a hotel, and he saw a sign with a flower on it that he guessed might signify a general store. The hotel might be helpful if he ever needed to take a break to recharge his energies, but the store held no interest for him; as a creature of nightmares, he had no use for traditional food or healing items.

Soon enough, Antasma found a nice spot to roost: in the shade of a nice dark tree. Floating upside-down underneath a branch-- a vestige of his time spent as a bat --he closed his eyes and began draining energy.

And so he sat, in the shade of the tree, draining nightmare energy from Twilight Town. As he grew in power, he slowly morphed in shape until settling on a form closer to his Dream World body, with his typical, evil-looking eyes and face and long, gangly arms. His cape lacked the spiky bottom and the spikes behind his head were less pronounced, and he was shorter, but all in all he looked a heck of a lot cooler than he did as a bat, he thought.

Next, he could feel his power for offense returning. Soon he would be able to--

Ow.

What?

Antasma opened his eyes, although he hadn't realized they'd been closed. Something-- or someone, was in front of him.

It was round, and pitch black, with beady eyes that glowed white. It was smiling-- a freaky smile that went way too far up its face, yet certainly didn't show any joy. It had large, beefy arms that hung below its spherical body, and it had a long, wispy tail that must have been at least a Mushroom Kingdom-standard meter long.

It had friends, too. Two identical creatures floated a short distance behind it.

A moment of awkward silence followed.

"State your name, creature of nightmares." It spoke in a voice that was shrill and raspy, and its mouth didn't move when it talked.

Look who's talking. "My name is no concern of yours." Antasma answered. He could feel the creature shudder as if angry.

"...Very well." It hissed. "You are draining our nightmare energy. This town belongs to us. Stop at once, or you shall be subdued by we Boomares."

Antasma opened his eyes wide, staring down the so-called Boomare right in the eyes. "Do you haff any idea who I am?"

He flipped around, leaving his spot on the branch and turning to tower over the three Boo-creatures.

"Do not resist."

"SCREEK!"

Antasma raised his arms, pulling energy out from himself to form two shadowy orbs of darkness in his hands.

"Who are you to command me?!" Antasma shouted down to the three Boomares. "I am Antasma, the King of Bats and Nightmares!"

The Boomares said nothing. This only served to make Antasma angrier. He furled his cape around himself, glaring at the three foolish creatures in front of him.

"Very well. If you vish to die, I vill gladly oblige." Antasma muttered.

The Boomares did nothing.

"SCREEEEEAAAAIIK!"

With a screech, Antasma unfurled his cape, swining his arm out in the direction of the Boomare directly in front of him.

Nothing happened.

"Eh?"

Antasma lifted his hand to his face. A weak sizzle of nightmarey energy told him his attack had failed. Did he really not have enough power for that simple attack?

He looked back down at the Boomares. If he had had a physical form, he would have begun to sweat nervously.

"Euh... fear me?"

The Boomares' smiles grew, creeping further up the sides of their faces.

They rushed him.

The first one reared back, and swung its beefy fist, managing to catch Antasma in the chin, knocking him to the ground. They hit deceptively hard for their wispy appearance...

The second floated next to Antasma's prone form before slamming its massive arms down on his face. Antasmacried out as his energies went crazy trying to keep his body from deforming and falling apart.

Finally, the third Boomare slithered through the air and grabbed Antasma in its tail, wrapping it around and around until Antasma couldn't move. Then, it leaned right close to the bat king's face, and wrapped its arms around his head. Antasma could feel it breathing on him.

Then...

Suddenly, Antasma had a horrible sinking feeling. Everything ached, and he felt like he was slowly emptying.

Horrified, he realized that the hellish creature was draining his nightmare energy. His hands were fading, he could feel them wasting away. His arms... his cape... his body...

When he was only a head, trapped in the grasp of this horrible monstrosity, he realized he was about to die.

Well, it was probably a better death than getting curb-stomped by an angry plumber.

Sighing internally, Antasma closed his eyes and accepted his fa--

BOOM

Suddenly, the Boomare was on fire. It seperated from Antasma, letting out an angry screech as it did, and Antasma felt his body reform as his power rushed back into him. The other two Boomares were also on fire, letting out angry hisses of their own. Their smiles had actually reversed, interestingly: now they wore unhappy frowns.

Quickly, before the creatures could recover, Antasma scanned the area, looking for the source of the fire.

He quickly found it. Behind the Boomares, a short distance away, was a vision of true beauty.

It was a female, of that Antasma was certain. She was a purple-ish figure with a noticeable hourglass figure, which tapered into a siren-like stem at the bottom before melting into the ground beneath her. She had two arms, ending in delicate hands clad in stark-white gloves, and on her head she had a full head of rosy pink hair done up in a large swirl, which covered most of her face, and which went down the back of her head, styled in two more large curls behind her. Finally, her head was topped with a huge witch's hat, striped in pinkish-red and white.

The lady was frowning angrily at the three Boomares, flames dancing around her hands. The Boomares, slowly recovering from whatever her attack had been, turned toward her, seemingly forgetting about Antasma.

"You...", one of them breathed.

The mysterious siren then raised her hand again, and another fiery burst wracked the Boomares, seemingly from nowhere. The ghastly creatures screeched in anger and pain, and scattered, trying to escape the witch's wrath. She turned, and tried to catch one of them before it could escape, but failed to hit it as it swung every which way but loose as it frantically tried to escape the village.

Then, it was over. The Boomares had been chased off, and the next thing Antasma knew, the beautiful siren who had saved him was looking up at him with a concerned frown on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Antasma, still reeling from the events that had just transpired, took a moment to respond. The lady cocked her head to the side, as if trying to prompt a speedy response.

"Y-yes. Yes, I am fine." Antasma spat out, staring unfocused at nothing. He was still recovering from what had just happened. He had accepted death! You can't just casually recover from that, you know.

"Thank goodness. Those horrible Boos have been coming into town everyday since this horrible curse came to be. Everyday they come, and drain people's dreams. I've done what I can to stop them, but..." She trailed off, hanging her head.

Antasma was tongue-tied.

"Well, whatever. Those guys were beating up on you for no reason! I couldn't stand for that."

Antasma wasn't sure she was actually talking to him. Also, apparently she hadn't seen him try to attack them. He decided he would refrain from bringing that up.

"I had to help you."

Yeah, Antasma was pretty sure she was trying to talk herself calm.

"You said there vas a curse?" He asked. The shadowy siren's face lit up, but she didn't look any happier.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, you're new here, aren't you? I haven't seen you around..." She trailed off again.

...

"Oh! Um, uh." She fidgeted nervously. "Um, let's keep talking in the hotel. It... might not be safe here."

Antasma nodded.

"I'm Vivian, by the way. What's your name?"

Antasma panicked. Would she recognize the name Antasma?

I can't take that chance.

"A-...C-...C-Count... Vinny. Count Vinny."

What?!

Later, at the hotel...

Antasma and the Vivian sat at a table. Vivian was munching on a Peachy Peach, and Antasma was just sitting there because he doesn't eat.

Antasma suddenly cleared his throat. Vivian looked up from her peach.

"The curse?" Antasma asked.

"Mm!" Vivian mumbled. She swallowed her bite of peach and placed what was left of the fruit on the table.

"Yes, the curse. Well, a long time ago there was a curse on this town that caused the inhabitants of the village to turn into pigs, one at a time, whenever the nearby steeple's bell rang."

Antasma arched an eyebrow.

"Um..." she fidgeted, "but there's a new curse now. My sisters-- we all thought they'd sworn off evil stuff, but they recently put another curse on the bell. Nowadays whenever it rings, one of the inhabitants of the village is put in an endless nightmare. I heard they wanted to revive our old master. I'm technically a part of the plan, but I don't really do anything, and I've been helping the townsfolk, so..."

She trailed off again, and seemed to be interested in getting back to her peach. Unfortunately for her, Antasma was still curious.

"Old master?" He pried further. Vivian looked troubled, her mouth curling into a grimace.

"Eh..." She whined. "An ancient, 1000-year old demon." She explained, folding her arms and turning away slightly.

Antasma's jaw hung open. A 1000-year old demon? And it needed to be revived?

"How could such a creature be killed?" He asked.

Then, Vivian smiled, for the first time since he had met her.

"Oh it was Mario--"

Antasma flinched.

"--who defeated her. Perhaps you know him? She asked. Antasma quickly recovered.

"Yes. I know of Mario. Quite vell, actually."

"Oh, good! Mario and I teamed up a couple years ago. He's amazing..." She gushed, trailing off yet again. Antasma had to force himself not to gag.

"Vell, I thank you for saving my life." Antasma said, changing the subject. "You said your sisters needed the nightmares to revive your old master?"

"Yes, that's right." Vivian confirmed, wondering where he was going with this.

"In that case I vould like to help. I vill help you in any vay I can." Antasma said, grinning. Vivian's face lit up.

"Oh! Really?" She said, looking even happier than when she'd been talking about Mario.

"Absolutely." He said. Vivian's smile grew wider, turning into a full-fledged grin.

"Oh, thank you! It's been so hard, fighting them off by myself..."

A moment of silence followed, Antasma floating quietly in his seat and Vivian trying to find the words to convey her gratitude.

Finally, Antasma spoke up.

"So..." He began. "Vut do ve do?"

"Oh!" Vivian exclaimed. "Yes! My sisters are at Creepy Steeple, at the other end of the Twilight Trail. If we can make it there, we should be able to beat them and stop the curse!" She explained happily. Antasma grinned.

"Vell, let's go to Creepy Steeple, then!"

"Hey hey? What's this?!"

Antasma and Vivian both stopped. Slowly, they turned to face this new voice.

It was a Beanish, Antasma could tell that much. In fact, he thought he might recognize this one...

He was short, like most Beanish. He had a purple mask on over his eyes, and what looked like a black beret on his head, tucked in under his eyemask. He wore a magenta-lavender striped long-sleeve shirt and oversized pants, and he had the biggest, most prominent teeth of any Bean Antasma had ever seen.

Wasn't this guy hanging around Wakeport at some point...?

"You guys are headin' for Creepy Steeple too?" He asked.

Antasma and Vivian looked at each other for a second.

"Um, yes?" Vivian replied after a short pause.

Suddenly, the small Bean became very angry.

"You guys are gonna try a swipe the treasure out from under my nose?!"

Vivian immediately put her hands up in front of her.

"Uh, no--"

"Boo! Boo, I say! You chumps think you can beat the Shadow Thief to his prize, huh?"

Antasma and Vivian were at a loss for words.

"Rookie!" The Bean shouted. "Show these people why nobody messes with Popple, the Shadow Thief!"

Suddenly, a lumbering figure came out from behind the one wall in the hotel.

Antasma's jaw dropped to the floor. Next to him, Vivian had about the same reaction.

"Yes, Boss!" said Bowser.