In a random act of craziness, two heroes from completely different worlds swap places: one finds himself on Starship Mario, traveling to the far reaches of the universe. The other winds up in Hyrule Field, battling demons he knows nothing about, wit...
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Chapter 11
Hyrule | Castle Town
Mario and Ashei spent most of that morning gathering supplies for the long trip to Ordon Village, which lay towards Hyrule's southernmost edge. Ashei, rather determinedly, made the whole experience downright miserable for Mario.
First, she saw through on her promise to make Mario rent his own ride for the trip, which Mario tried to explain wasn't possible because he didn't have any money. But Ashei solved that problem quickly, dragging him over to a medieval-times' version of a bank and forcing him to take out a loan in his own name. It was for three orange rupees, whatever that meant — Mario usually calculated sums based on coins. But by Ashei's evil smile, three orange rupees was a fortune, one that she'd probably delight in watching him struggle to repay.
What's worse, the horse that he rented was a persnickety beast, and upon meeting him showed Mario exactly what he thought of him by sneezing in his face. On the bright side, he was a lot smaller than Ashei's brute, enough to make him a... What had the books called it? A mule or a donkey or something. So Mario didn't have to use his triple jump in order to mount him.
After that, they went to the central market, gathering foodstuff, camping supplies, and survival gear, all of which Ashei made Mario carry. In the rain, no less — last night's storm made an encore appearance around midmorning, soaking Mario's tunic down to the skin and leaving him freezing. Ashei sneered when she saw his teeth chattering.
"Sure you want to come?" she asked as she began loading her satchels onto her horse. They were back at Telma's pub, loading down their rides with supplies for the journey. "If this is how you act in a simple downpour, I'd hate to see how you'd fare out in the real elements. Maybe you should just stay here, where it's warm and safe."
Mario forced his teeth to stop chattering as he tightened the straps of his horse's saddle. Don't rise to that, don't rise to that... He would've loved to tell her exactly what he thought of her and her contemptuous attitude, but he'd agreed to go on this trip, and he wasn't going to back down because of Ashei's petty insults. If he could be civil with Midna, he could be civil with her, too.
"I'm f-fine," he said with a minimal amount of chattering. "And ready when you are."
Ashei snorted. "Whatever. Just know that this is your last chance to bow out. I'm not going to tolerate any whimpering later."
Baby Luma popped out from under Mario's hat before he could reply. "Hey, who are you calling wimpy?" he said furiously. "Mario's not a wimp! He's beaten up plenty of monsters before! And Bowser too! He's strong and brave, and he's a hero!"
Ashei treated the Luma to a deathly stare, one about as polar as the Freezy Flake galaxy. "Watch your mouth, pipsqueak," she said. "Else you're on the menu tonight."
"Pipsqueak?" Baby Luma cried as Ashei mounted her horse. He turned to Mario, appalled. "Did you hear that? She called me a pipsqueak! Who does she think she is?"
