Matt: Hello everyone, time for the next chapter. No fighting this time around, but we do have some surprises in store for you, not to mention that this will be a long chapter, so be ready for it.

The disclaimer will be at the bottom this time; just to let you all know.

Chapter 3: The Ancient Prophecy Revealed: Part the First

Arcturus ran as fast as he could, though he was badly injured, up the stairs of a creepy looking temple. Once he reached the top, he took out his golden arrow and placed it on a nearby alter. The ground began to shake when he did, and a panel that he was standing on began to move down. It went deeper and deeper into the temple until it reached a room that was entirely dark, save for a single light in the center that was shining over a small altar.

Arcturus approached the altar and kneeled in front of it. When he did, a large ball of anti matter appeared.

"Arcturus," it said in a booming voice, "I see you have failed in your mission to destroy the four chosen ones, not to mention that you let them capture Sluffy."

"I apologize, my lord," said Arcturus, in a downtrodden voice, "I accept and await my punishment."

"You presume much in thinking that I will punish you for an expected failure."

"You mean..."

"Yes, I knew from the beginning that you would not be able to defeat them, even with the powers that I had bestowed upon you. You are a very skilled hunter, but not nearly skilled enough. You let your emotions get the better of you, and that was your downfall."

"I see. Thank you for your wisdom, my master, but how are we going to free Sluffy from our enemies?"

"You will do nothing, as you have been badly hurt. I shall send another to rescue him."

"Don't tell me you're sending 'him'?"

"Why shouldn't I? We need to test his abilities, and this is the perfect opportunity."

"True, but can we trust him?"

"Allow me to worry about that. Now, I summon Zidi, master of ice!"

A strange chill filled the air as a figure stepped forward from the shadows. He was human, though his skin was light blue, and had a strong, sleek body, white spiky hair, that was in a similar style to that of a mohawk, that leaned over his left eye, and wore a blue shirt with the sleeves ripped off, a large belt around his waist that covered most of his mid section, a pair of dark blue, puffy, yet firm, pants with hard, white rims around the ankle, and had his hands and feet bandaged up. A strange mist seemed to escape from his mouth as he breathed; the look in his eyes seemed to be cold, dark and unforgiving, and the look on his face was a cross between curiosity and impatience. Arcturus sort of jumped a bit in fright when he made eye contact, but managed to regain his composure quickly.

"Arcturus, meet Zidi. He is an ice user who seeks ultimate power. If he can complete his mission, I shall bestow it upon him."

Arcturus took a few steps closer to take a better look at his new partner. However, he stopped dead in his tracks when a large, sharp ice crystal landed in the ground right in front of him.

"Heh..." Arcturus laughed nervously as a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his face, "H-he is very skilled it seems..."

"Now listen to me, Zidi! Your mission is to infiltrate Princess Peach's Castle and rescue our ally, Sluffy Ftatic. Cause as much havoc as you wish, but do not take any unnecessary risks."

"So long as you keep your end of our deal." said Zidi.

"Do not speak to me in such a manner; you should be grateful that I am even doing this! I gave you my word that you will receive the power you so desperately crave, but you will receive it only when I say! Now go and rescue Sluffy."

Zidi only nodded and walked away.

"Now that that is settled, I have one more issue that I need to bring up with you, Arcturus."

"Y-yes sir?" asked the still uneasy Koopa.

"I know that you are not truly evil, and that you only joined forces with me to get revenge on Bowser, but be warned: Darkness is a powerful force, driven by emotion. If you ever let your anger get to you, you will be lost in the darkness forever. Do not forget that."

"I shall not."

"Good, now go rest up. You will need to be at full strength for your next mission..."

Meanwhile, back at Peach's castle; Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach and E. Gadd had just finished explaining the events of the previous chapter to King Toadstool (If you wish to know what happened, go back and read last chapter).

King Toadstool took a sip of his tea, and sighed. "So, it is finally happening." he said, "I feared that this day would come, just not in my lifetime."

"What do you mean, Father?" asked Peach.

"I mean the coming of Morte, the ultimate evil of this world."

Mario, Luigi, E. Gadd, and Bowser all just looked at King Toadstool with a blank expression on their faces, but Peach's face went ghost white.

"Y-you mean the legend is true?" asked a very freaked out Peach.

"I'm afraid so my daughter."

"Um, could someone PLEASE EXPLAIN WHO THE FREAK IS MORTE?" blurted out Bowser.

"Well, to be quite honest," stated Peach, "we really don't quite know ourselves. You see, ever since the first of the Toadstool line of rulers, we have kept the legends of this beast a closely guarded secret, but over time we had forgotten all but the name of the beast, and the fear that it instilled in us. The only clue we have is a stone tablet in the dungeon, but it is written in a language so old that we cannot translate it."

"Wait a second," Luigi interrupted, "if I recall correctly, the tablet that the professor and I were translating said something about a demon..."

"Ah, yes!" realized E. Gadd, "The tablet we translated did mention a demon. Do you reckon that the demon in our tablet and this Morte character are one-in-the-same?"

"This is all so confusing," said Mario, "why don't we just find someone who is really good at translating ancient languages and have him translate the tablets for us so we can get pointed in the right direction?"

"It's not that easy, Mario. It took me and the professor at least 3 months to translate what we have so far, which is just a general idea of what the tablet says. Do you honestly think that we can just find someone too immediately translate it for us?"

"Now don't be saying that, sonny," stated E. Gadd, "Mario has a point; if we find someone who is able to translate these here tablets, then maybe we can get the basic idea of what we have on our hands, and I think I know just the person who can help."

"Really?" asked Bowser.

"Yup, an old student of mine from Toad Town University: Matt T. He's a Toad/Human Hybrid that is a technological brain child. A bit on the timid side, mind you, but he knows his ancient languages. If anyone can help us, it's him."

"You're certain he can translate the ancient text?" asked King Toadstool.

"Sure as my name is Professor Elvin Gadd."

"...Very well, we shall go meet him at once." King Toadstool then summoned a guard to bring him the tablet. After a few preparations, the group began to head out, when Bowser realized something.

"Say, Professor, do you even know where this Matt T. guy lives?"

"Course I do, sonny." He replied, "He lives in the observatory in town."

Sparing the detail of the walk over, the gang soon found themselves in front of the observatory, where Matt T. supposedly took up residents. E. Gadd walked up to the door and knocked on it.

"Matt T., Are you home?" he called, but there was no answer. He knocked and called again, but still no answer.

"Maybe he's out for a walk?" asked Mario.

"Doubtful," said E. Gadd, "last I recall Matt T. only leaves his house to go grocery shopping."

While saying this, E. Gadd leaned on the door. As soon as he put his weight against it, the door swung open, causing E. Gadd to fall in.

"It's unlocked?" asked Peach.

"Looks like it." answered Luigi.

"Then I guess that he must be home." said King Toadstool.

"Then let's go in." declared Bowser.

Everyone entered the house one by one, though Bowser had some difficulty as he was a bit too big for the door. They looked around and were amazed at what they saw: Action figures, from both the real world and the Mushroom world, as far as the eye can see, tons of advanced tech, and archaeological finds scattered around here and there. Needless to say it was a bit messy.

"My goodness," noted Luigi, "This Matt T. guy sure is a geek if he has all of this stuff around here."

"Tell me about it," said Mario, "this guy even has the Transformers 20th anniversary Optimus Prime; it's next to impossible to get one of those here in the mushroom world!"

"HIYA!"

"Um, what was that?"

"KIAAA!"

"It sounds like it's coming from over there." said Bowser.

"Let's check it out." suggested Peach.

The group moved their way over to the source of the sound, only to find someone playing a VR game (Virtual Reality to those who couldn't guess). He was swinging his arms and legs wildly around, yelling and shouting.

"RAHRGH, I WISH I COULD GET THIS STUPID THING OFF OF ME!" he yelled in extreme frustration.

"Um, excuse me sir?" said Peach, trying to get the persons attention.

"Is someone there? Please, help me; This game that I'm playing glitched on me and now I'm stuck. I've been trapped in this VR unit for the past 3 days without food, water or sleep. If you could find and pull the plug, I'd greatly appreciate it!"

"Sure," said King Toadstool, "where's the plug?"

"It's in the wall outlet by the window."

Since Peach was the closest, she grabbed the plug and pulled it out. Almost immediately afterwards, the young man fell to the ground in exhaustion. Mario immediately pulled out a Life Shroom and gave it to him; he was healed almost immediately.

"T-thank you," said the young man, still a bit shaken up from the ordeal as he pulled off the helmet, "you pant wheeze you s-saved my life." The man was a Toad/human hybrid that stood a couple of inches taller than Luigi, but not quite as tall as peach. His mushroom cap was off, revealing thick, medium-length black hair. His eyes were blue, had a thin black moustache, and wore a blue shirt, black jeans, white gloves on either hand, a red vest, and brown, steel-toed sneakers.

"Matt T., it's been a while..." said E. Gadd.

"Professor Elvin?"

"Who else would it be? Listen, we need to ask a favor of you."

"I guess I could, it's the least I could do after you guys got me out of that thing. But let's take this to the main room; it's pretty cramped in here."

Matt T. was the first out as he led everyone to the main room. The main room was actually the room where the observatories telescope was, so there was plenty of room for everyone to stretch.

"Now what did you wish to ask me?"

King Toadstool snapped his fingers and a couple of Toads carrying the 2 tablets came in.

"We were wondering if you could translate these tablets for us." he said.

"I'm pretty sure I can. Let me take a look at them."

Matt T. walked up to the tablets and took a quick glance at them. He took off one of his gloves and ran his fingers over it.

"This tablet is at least a millennium old, maybe longer, but they are both very well preserved. The language is pretty old as well, but I think I can translate this by this afternoon. I'll need to get my translation books and tools real quick. Your all welcome to head home if you wish, I'll come get you when I finish."

"Thanks for your help, Matt T." said Mario, "We'll be heading back to the castle now."

The gang got up and worked their way back down to the entrance. Mario was the first to reach the door and started to open it, but automatically froze in his tracks. When the others had caught up, they saw Mario just standing there with the door cracked open.

"Yo, Mario," asked Bowser, "are you alright."

"Um guys," said Mario, in a bit of an unsure voice, "it is currently late May, correct?"

"Yes," answered Peach, "but why would you ask that."

Mario opened the door all the way, and everyone's mouths just dropped to the floor.

"...Because it's snowing."

Disclaimer: Mario and all related characters belong to Nintendo. Arcturus, Sluffy Ftatic and Zidi belong to Tater Tot Ninja, Stupidfic, and Roxas-Star respectively. Matt T., King Toadstool, the strange, talking Anti-Matter Ball, and the story itself all belong to me.

Matt: before you read the preview for the next chapter, I just want to let you all know that Matt T. and I are not the same character. We share a similar design, pallet, and name, but that is where the similarities end.

Preview (In Luigi's Voice)

Snow in the late spring/early summer? Not totally impossible, but very unlikely. This storm is being caused by an ice user named Zidi, who has created it as a diversion so that he can break Sluffy out of the dungeon. Will we be able to stop this evil monster?

Next time on SMB: LOTSK: The Ancient Prophecy Revealed: Part the Second