By Pteryx
12
The Rescue
After walking through the disturbingly quiet Valley of Bowser while listening to Lakitu's description of his experience in the forest, which he hadn't gotten a chance to explain to Tineeko and Toad, the fivesome found Neon Castle. Before Luigi could go in the front entrance, though, Lakitu stopped him.
"Don't go in that way, it'll be heavily guarded!" Lakitu exclaimed in a whisper. "Let me show you the secret entrance."
"Are you still absolutely positive we can trust this dude?" Toad asked out loud. Everyone shushed him and gave him various displeased looks. He just looked down at his feet in response, avoiding looking at any of the others, pushing a pebble aside with one toe. Lakitu almost, out of exasperation, accused Toad of being much ruder than anyone he'd ever met, even Pyrime, buthe stopped himself just in time.
When the three adventurers got inside, they found that the quickest route to the dungeon was completely empty. Searching the dungeon cells, a few of which contained Koopas with various handicaps, Lakitu wondered if they were too late until Yoshi saw a gathering at one of the cells they hadn't gotten to.
"Look!" he pointed out. "There Mario and Princess Toadstool!"
"Shhh! Let's hide!" suggested Lakitu. They all slipped behind statues of the Koopa kids and listened in on what was being said. There were lots of turtles, Goombas, dinosaurs and such fighting to get to pull a switch.
"Now, now," they heard Ludwig say, "quit pushing. You'll all get a chance to turture Mario and the Princess before eight rolls around."
"As if things weren't bad enough!" Lakitu wailed. "Did they really have to usethat cell?" He went into his shell and banged his head on the inside of it. He was visibly shaking and audibly moaning.
"What's the big deal about that cell?" Toad asked.
"It's called the electric chamber," Tineeko explained. "When the switch over there is pulled, a lightning bolt shoots through the middle. Some mad turtle built it thirteen years ago." Lakitu then poked his head out of his shell.
"It was me, okay? You happy now?" He pulled his head back in, and a bit of water began to trickle out the hole it had passed through.
"But Lakitu," Tineeko cooed, sliding his hand over the hard shell that contained his friend, "you were someone completely different then. The Lakitu you are now would never do such a terrible thing. The Lakitu I know would scrap something like that in order to make go-karts and stuff for his race tracks -- wouldn't you?"
"Mm-hmm," he managed to moan.
"I agree that the Lakitu you once were was a horrid person, an evil person, but... but... I saw you hiding that day you were supposed to gather the silver switch blocks."
"You... you did?" Lakitu muttered in surprise, coming out of his shell.
"But why didn't you report him?" Toad asked.
"For exactly the same reason he was hiding," Tineeko replied. "We were both beginning to realize that something was wrong with King Koopa's ways." He turned back to Lakitu. "You're not a Koopa, and you're no longer comparable to one." Hepaused for a little while, trying to find the right words. "You are Lakitu Wytortiel. Lakitu Koopa, the turtle you were raised to be by Bowser Koopa, is dead." He looked straight into Lakitu's eyes. "Leave him behind." Suddenly, Lakitu remembered a fragment of the dream he had recently had. He remembered the instant that he saw that the thing he had killed looked like him. He remembered... and it made sense.
Luigi suddenly shouted, "Look! They're taking Mario and Princess Toadstool!"
Lakitu immediately returned to the here and now. "Quick! What time is it?"
"Eight o' clock," Toad said casually. Then, the three adventurers simultaneously gasped and screamed:
"THE LAVA PIT!"
In a huge room in the basement that would have been quite dark if it weren't for the lava, King Koopa tied the two captives up and hooked the rope to a huge chain. The chain had already been threaded through a pulley and attached to a large winch, which had most of the chain wrapped around it.
"You're finally gonna fry like an egg, drain brain!" King Koopa taunted Mario.
"Oh, but I hate eggs," Mario moaned hopelessly.
"Too bad!" King Koopa cackles as the rest of the Koopa clan filed in. Once all the Koopas had gathered and found a place to sit, King Koopa slowly began to lower the Princess and Mario down towards the lava pit. Closer and closer the bubbling lava got, making the two friends sweat from anxiety even more than from the heat. Suddenly, the winch stopped and King Koopa gasped.
"I told you I was fighting you, Bowser Koopa, but I forgot to tell you that I was going to win!" Lakitu was standing in a doorway glaring at King Koopa with a hand on his hip. The other four rescuers were right behind him.
"What?!" King Koopa shouted. "But how did you -- Ludwig, seize those five!... Ludwig? Roy? Larry? He looked around, but the area was completely empty except for himself, the two tied-up captives, Lakitu, Tineeko, Luigi, Yoshi, and Toad. "Anybody?!" He then hastily retreated into the next room.
"Stay here," ordered Lakitu. "I'm going in after him."
"But he's much too big for you!" Tineeko insisted. "How are you supposed to stomp on him if you can't even jump that high?"
"This is my fight," Lakitu replied, not answering Tineeko's question. "I need to do this. Stay here." He then marched straight towards the door into the room.
The room was small, dark, and misty. The ceiling was high, the floor was covered in an inch of neglected dirt, and the walls were cold and wet. It was clear, even through the fog, that there were no blocks around to get power items from or to get into a better position on. There were no warps, no spikes, and no lava pits. It was just King Koopa, Lakitu, the mist, and the dust.
King Koopa charged straight at Lakitu and jumped, attempting to crush him with his weight. Fortunately, Lakitu just managed to dodge. Suddenly, Lakitu got an idea. He took off his shell and threw it so that hit Bowser right on the head. That did little more than provoke him, though, and he began to advance. Lakitu's shell had landed behind King Koopa, so when hewas cornered, it looked like there was no way he could avoid the worst.
Suddenly, Lakitu saw Tineeko leap up from behind King Koopa and land on the ugly reptile. Then, his tail was yanked by Toad, Yoshi, and Luigi.
"What?!" Lakitu blurted. "I thought I asked you to let me handle him alone."
"And let him finish you off?" Tineeko asked. "No real friend would do that."
Lakitu's eyes then began to water out of happiness. "Oh, Tineeko..."
"Aw, isn't that sweet," King Koopa mocked. "Now that youhappy little friends are all together, I can crush you all into pulp at once!" He leaped for the five friends, who scattered. Tineeko and Luigi both practically flew above him and landed right on top of him. He roared and threw the two attackers off, knocking Luigi out and making Tineeko pop out of his shell.
"Lakitu!" Yoshi called out. "Got on Yoshi's back. Maybe Lakitu and Yoshi can knock Koopa out t ogether." Lakitu jumped onto Yoshi's back while dodging a football-style tackle attempt from King Koopa. They leaped, but missed.
"We need a little more altitude, but there's not enough room to get a long enough running start," Lakitu said. Toad then slid out of Koopa's way and into a hasty plan of Lakitu's.
"Hey Toad, give us a boost, will you?" Toad nodded, and Yoshi stepped back a few paces. They got a short running start which Toad was at the end of, then Toad pushed Yoshi's foot up as he jumped. They landed right in the middle of King Koopa's head, causinghim to fall, bump his head on the floor, and go down for the count. On top of that, the last medallion, the Fog one, rolled out of his claws. Lakitu and his friends had won!
Lakitu went over and picked up the Fog medallion. It was coated in sweat from being in Bowser's hand at all times. Thepicture on its face was simply a cloud taking up the whole picture area. The spell on its rim read: "Ponds and lakes, air and dust, mix and shroud the land."
[A picture of the medallion belongs here, and will be placed when I am able to scan it.]
After helping Tineeko and Luigi, they went back into the room with the lava pit, which was still empty with the exception of Mario and the Princess. The captives were still dangling just a few feet over the bubbling lava.
"Help! Get us out of here!" cried Princess Toadstool.
A large lava bubbled popped right under them, falling just inches short of their feet.
"And hurry!" Marrio added. He then muttered to himself, "Now I know what a lasagna feels like."
"Try the winch," Toad suggested.
Lakitu pulled and pulled, but only lost his grip. "I can't, it's stuck."
"Now how do we get them away from the lava?" Tineeko asked.
"Like this!" Lakitu suddenly shouted. He ran straight for the lava pit and jumped for the chain.
"Lakitu!" He was now clinging onto the bound pair of prisoners on the swinging chain. Unfortunately, he looked down.
"AAAH! M-m-maybe that wasn't such a good idea..."
"Wait," Mario interjected. "Maybe we can make this thing swing hard enough so the others can grab us, now that you've givenit some momentum. Princess, Lakitu, help me kick." They began to swing higher and higher, faster and faster. Suddenly, they stopped. Luigi and Toad had caught them. Yoshi helped hold the tied-up bundle that was Mario and the Princess while Lakitu climbed off. It took all five of them to unhook them. They were quickly untied, given quick hugs and greetings, and everyone was just about to sprint out when Lakitu stopped them.
"One moment," he interrupted. "There's one last thing we've got to do." Lakitu walked back over to the lava pit, searching his shell, and took out the four water control medallions. With a hateful glare on his face, he stared at the evil magical artifacts. With a great heave, he flung the four medallions into the lava pit, where the metal melted immediately and the black magic exploded, sending a huge, wide, black beam upward from the pit. Lakitu and the others quickly scrambled for the nearest exit, racing through the castle until they were out!
About half an hour later, King Koopa was awakened by Larry and Ludwig.
"King Dad! King Dad!"
"Ohh... What is it?"
"The plumbers got away!"
"Lakitu's gone soft for good!"
About a mile away, Lakitu and the rest of the crew were takimg their time walking back through the now-clear Valley of Bowsrr when suddenly:
"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!"
Toad jumped. "What was that?"
Lakitu stopped and listened, then thought a bit. "Oh, that. He always does that when he gets defeated. You guys are usually too far away to hear him."
The five nonturtle heroes just stared at each other.