Chapter 8: Code Red
Three hours and fifty minutes after
Lemmy sent off his distress signal, four airships were nearing the battle
site at speeds of nearly 1000 kph. Morton watched worriedly as the large
cloud grew larger and larger. He
tried to think positive thoughts. Maybe
the creatures were on the verge of defeat and all three doomships were
hardly even damaged. Or maybe, the trio was down and the survivors were
being killed at the moment.
Morton shook the thought from his head.
That didn't make since, considering that the swarm was still in the sky,
with purple explosions being emanated every few seconds. Then maybe, they
things had just allied
themselves with each other to destroy
the ships and were now fighting amongst themselves. But somehow, he doubted
it. An old-sounding voice cut in to his thoughts."All ships, prepare cannons!
We are about 100 Koopameters away from the target."
Morton took a quick look in the direction of Kamek's airship, the Mage Knight. He couldn't believe he had actually thought that they had won. He just couldn't believe it. In about ten minutes, they would be entering what looked like the abyss itself. Well, not literally.
~~~
Bowser stormed down to the cell where Ludwig was being held captive. He had no idea what was going on with Kamek's plan except for it was somehow about to fail. He had sent his kids to help, but figured they might need backup, or possibly escort, if the other seven doomships ended up too damaged to hold off another attack.
When Bowser reached the cell, the heir to the throne was curled up, sound asleep and looking famished. Bowser went inside and kicked Ludwig to wake him up. "Get up! Head straight to the Amadeus! RIGHT NOW!"
Ludwig got up and asked, "Vhat's ze matter?"
"Your siblings are under attack somewhere in between Mushroom Kingdom and Rose Town. We have to get over there and help them!"
Taking off alongside his dad, Ludwig asked, "Vhy are my siblings vay out zhere?"
"They went off on an attempt to kidnap Peach and give the town a demonstration of our military power. The kidnapping went fine, but they were attacked by some new flying creature on their way to Rose Town."
A few minutes later, they had reached the doomships. Bowser had ordered that the crews prepare the doomships a while ago, so they were all set by that time. Without another word, Amadeus and Fallen Angel took off towards the others.
~~~
Iggy watched worriedly as the attackers continued their useless assault. He and his brother had given up on destroying them and were now using a form of rapid-fire bullets to create a shield around themselves and had lowered the ships to protect the remains of the Crusher. He could only hope that Lemmy's signal had gotten through.
~~~
"How is the operation proceeding?" came the cold, menacing voice of the quarter-size hologram in front of Elias.
"Very well. We have obliterated two
continents, including Dino Land, and are currently en route to a third
one, identified as Sarasaland. We will reach it in approximately three
hours. I estimate that it will take around
three to five days to destroy, assuming
that all goes well. If not, we are looking at one to two weeks. After this,
we have plans to strike Thalidia, also known as the Mushroom Kingdom. Of
course, that will include the Koopa Clan."
"What do you mean by 'assuming it goes well'? Are you afraid the Sarasi resistance will be too great?"
"N-no, master. No matter how strong their resistance is, they will still be no match for my, I mean, our Wraith armies. They will be fully crushed by our might."
The figure looked at Elias thoughtfully, grinning under its mask. "You are still afraid of me, aren't you? As you should be. You are also not entirely speaking the truth. You are as yet unsure if you can handle the armies of the Four Princedoms. But anyways, I have sent a small ship towards you with some reinforcements. They are our new 'Elite Wraiths'. As you probably know, they don't die instantly upon exploding. Even if you fail, we still have our backup army available. They won't be at maximum strength, but they should suffice. One more thing before I must go: how are our troops holding up?"
Elias suppressed a grimace as he answered. "Out of the six billion Wraiths that were sent on the mission, only two and half billion remain. One half billion are currently spying on Thalidia as we speak. The cloning machines should be ready by the time we reach Thalidia."
"That isn't the best it could be, but the numbers should suffice. If you learn anything new, wait until tomorrow to contact me."
"Yes, Master," Elias replied shortly. As soon as he was sure that his master had turned off the projector, he let out a shudder. Although he hated to admit it, he was very afraid of both things his master had mentioned: the Sarasi armies and, of course, the masked figure he had just conversed with. He walked back up to the bridge of the Chaos Emperor, which was currently being used as a boat. The Wraith in charge greeted him.
"Hello, sir. I trust you are-"
"I am not in the mood for niceties at the moment. How much further until we reach, as you call it, 'Continent 742948, also known as Sarasaland'?"
"There is no need for sarcasm-"
"SHUT UP! HOW MUCH FURTHER?" Elias raged, preparing to kill the moron standing in front of him.
"One hundred and thirty-two miles, sir."
Elias resisted the urge to butcher the Wraith and stalked off to his chambers. He tried to think positive thoughts on the way there, but couldn't quite do it.
~~~
Lemmy was giving up hope quickly. It had been over four hours since he sent off the distress signal, and he had just learned that they only had enough ammo to last them about ten more minutes. His thoughts flashed down to the Crusher and the princess that was aboard it. If anything happened to her, not only would Bowser fry them within an inch of their lives, but the entire Mushroom Army would probably come after them as well.
He looked out towards the castle and prepared for the worst. Lemmy looked in that direction for about two minutes when he noticed a change in the scenery. One- no, three doomships appeared through the mist of attackers. For a second, he thought that they were almost certainly more creatures coming to help. That was until Larry's voice cut through into Lemmy's com.
"Need some help, guys?"
Iggy beat Lemmy to responding. "Yeah, get over and help protect the Crusher. It's right below us."
"Why isn't the Crusher defending, protecting, and shielding itself?" the ever-bigmouthed Morton queried.
"Because the... thingies brought it down. We're not even sure if there are any survivors."
"Wait a second, moment, instant... wasn't Peach on it?"
Lemmy gulped and replied, "Uh oh."
Chapter 9: Fade To Black
Mario and Luigi continued towards the giant cloud that was now enveloping seven doomships. Luigi had put all of his jealousy of Mario aside as they headed off to attempt to rescue Peach. They could only hope that she was all right.
~~~
Although the Crusher was down, half of his crew was dead, and he was bound to be sent to the dungeon for about the next few years, Lemmy couldn't help but grin as the cloud cleared enough for him to see Mushroom Castle. The nightmare that was the past few hours was drawing to a close... and a new one was probably going to begin if Peach was dead.
A few minutes later, the final phantasms abruptly flew off towards some unknown location to the south. Iggy, Lemmy, and Larry and let giant shouts of triumph, while Morton began a speech congratulating everyone for being valiant, brave, vigorous, and so on. Kamek and Wendy stayed silent, as if waiting for something to put the celebrations to an end. That "something" was Roy.
"HEY! DON'T YA CELEBRATE YET! I STILL NEED SOME HELP, DANG IT!" Lemmy's mind shifted back to the current situation. "Roy, are there any other survivors there?"
"Peach is out cold, but I think that she is still alive. That's the only survivor that I know of."
Well, at least she still seemed to be alive. He contacted the other ships for the report. "Roy is still alive, as is Peach. Everyone else is still undetermined.
~~~
Elias glared at the com in his hand,
growing more agitated as the Wraith's unnecessarily long report continued.
When it finally finished, Elias stood completely still, his yellow eyes
glowing in his insane rage. A few seconds later, "HOW DID YOU LOSE TO SOME
FREAKING TURTLES?! IN FACT, WHY DID YOU
ENGAGE IN THE FIRST PLACE? NOW THE
ENTIRE FREAKING PLANET WILL KNOW OF OUR
EXISTENCE!"
Elias panted for a few seconds as he glared at the com. The Wraith on the other end decided to take this opportunity to speak. "I understand we have upset you, sir. Our failure may be a costly one indeed. We stand ready to accept your judgment on what is to be done with us lowly failures."
Elias's psycho mind immediately wanted to tell them they were to be executed, but his semi-rational brain reminded him that his master didn't want any needless deaths. Instead, he decided on a slightly less harsh punishment. "You and your entire squad will serve four days of public shaming. Afterwards, you will be sent back to your home world and spend three years as slaves for the Emperor. After that, you will not be allowed anywhere near any form of military operations. Are you clear on that?"
The Wraith's voice didn't change one bit, despite the extreme harshness of his punishment. "Yes, sir. WRA-1004 out, sir."
Elias clicked off the com and immediately keyed in for his master. A few seconds later, "What is it, Elias?"
"Our scout Wraiths found a small group of aerial vessels and proceeded to attack it. They lost the four-hour battle and only two hundred remain. Due to their failure, all of Plit will probably know of our existence and band together to stop us. In short, the mission is in jeopardy."
His master looked at him for a few seconds before, to his surprise, the figure began to laugh. "Elias, these are only minor problems that you speak of. Plit doesn't have the resources necessary to defeat us. You of all things should know that."
"Yes, Master. I will not trouble you again."
~~~
Larry looked on as his remaining troops carried the casualties of the battle on to the wreckage of the Crusher. Or at least most of them were. Peach was instead transported to the Imperial Belle, since she was still alive and the ship had the best medical section out of the entire fleet. Peach may have been alive, but she wasn't exactly devoid of injuries. Deep gashes ran across her entire body, caused by the shrapnel from the explosion. Also caused by the blast were several burns, some bad enough to cause blisters. Several of her bones seemed to be broken, though there was no way to actually prove that until she got to the medical section of the Belle, according to Koopa doctors. Oh, and she was also unconscious, but that wasn't very hard to figure out.
Minutes later, the doomships were flying back to the castle, with the Crusher being carried by several thick ropes attached to the Rambler and the Espio. Peach was in a rather shoddy type of ICU, with several Koopa doctors on hand. Roy was being treated for various minor injuries, mostly burns. The other Koopalings, minus Larry, were simply commanding their doomships. Larry was stuck counting the number of casualties, which was rather time-consuming. And far below, the Marios were continuing their sprint to rescue Peach.
~~~
"Mario, can't-a we take-a a break?" Luigi panted as he watched the Koopa fleet fly overhead.
"ARE YOU-A MAD? WE HAVE TO-A FIND PEACH!" Mario stopped and shouted at his younger, taller brother, causing him to shrink back.
"O-okay. Uh... don't-a you think she would-a be on one of the ships?"
"IF SHE IS, THERE'S-A NO WAY WE CAN REACH HER! WE'RE JUST-A MAKING SURE THEY DIDN"T LEAVE HER ON THE GROUND!"
Luigi just stared at his brother as he stormed off and continued his hopeless search. Determined to keep as far away from Mario as possible, he wandered off towards a ridge overlooking Tadpole Pond and Rose Town. He looked straight down the cliff, thinking maybe she flew out of a ship and landed there. Mario yelled at him to continue looking, but was ignored. Luigi looked over towards Rose Town and dropped his jaw in sheer surprise. Shocked, he muttered, "Mamamia."
~~~
"Doctor" J. Koopa bolted down the corridor that led to the corridor that led to the infirmary, swearing violently under his breath. All of the doctors aboard the Imperial Belle had been summoned to the infirmary for an emergency concerning the princess. Unfortunately, J. Koopa wasn't a doctor, although the turtle he and his friends had drugged so he could catch a first-hand glimpse of the assault obviously was.
Finally, he reached the infirmary. There were about a dozen doctors there, doing something to Peach. He couldn't figure out what it was for the life of him though so he decided to sit in a corner and listen to the repetitive, seemingly useless and rather stupid beeping sound. Beep... beep... beep... beep... beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...
The false doctor's head shot up at the change of beeps. He decided to listen in on what the doctors were saying.
"... Yep, Bowser's going to have our heads for this. If only Dr. Ozzy had decided to..." The doctor broke off in mid-sentence and swiveled around to face J.
Slightly wary, he stared straight back and asked, "Can I help you?"
The doctor wasn't amused, however. "Why did you just let her die?"
J didn't know how to answer that question, so just settled for, "Um..."
A second doctor rounded on him. "Wait a sec... Since when did you have long hair? And didn't it used to be black?
"Er."
Another came up to him. "And since when was your shell dark yellow?
"Hehe."
The first one spoke again. "And since when were you three inches taller than me?"
"Um... see ya!"
The Koopa turned on his heels and ran down the corridor he came from, turning on a little walkie-talkie while a fourth doctor shouted, "GUARDS!"
A voice came through on the com link. "Hey James! How's everything going?"
To which he replied, "LARS, SHUT UP AND GET ME OUTTA HERE! I'VE BEEN CAUGHT AND AM CURRENTLY BEING CHASED AROUND BY SOME SLEDGE BROTHERS! OW! Stupid hammer."
"Freakin' James. How did ya manage to get caught?"
"BECAUSE I DON'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE THE DARN DOCTOR, KIRK!"
"Alright, we're coming, we're coming."
One of the six Bros. chucked another hammer at James, who dodged easily while silently cursing himself. Why, oh why did he have to choose to impersonate a doctor to sneak onboard the Belle? He continued running around, dodging hammers, until he reached a little platform jutting out of the side of the ship. At the end of the platform was a mini-airship. He charged madly towards the ship amidst a hail of hammers until he was in jumping range of it. He took a giant leap, got hit by three hammers, and landed onboard. The ship zipped off right away. Cliff walked over to the bruised singer and handed him a rather large bag of coins.
"There. There are your stupid 5000 coins."
James was so shaken that all he could say was, "Thanks."
The other band members walked over to him and sat down, silent. Finally, Rob spoke up. "So, what happened?"
James looked down and replied, "She's dead."
Though he felt he knew the answer, Lars asked, "Who is?"
James suppressed his rage as he replied,
"The princess."
Chapter 10: Dire Times
Mario stared in shock at the mass destruction surrounding him as he and Luigi entered the remains of Rose Town. Nearly every building was decimated, along with all of the water pumps, weather vanes, etc. The worst part of it, however, was what had happened to the slain. They had all been piled up disgracefully in the middle of the city. Mario walked around the city for several minutes, speechless at the massacre that had befallen the peaceful people. Finally, he headed towards the pile of bodies and lifted up the body of an old Mushroomer. Luigi looked over and asked, "W-What are-a you doing?"
"I'm-a going to bury them." He continued
towards the edge of the forest where the dirt was softer. After putting
the victim down, he proceeded to dig. He didn't care how long it took;
he wasn't leaving until
everyone was buried.
Thirty minutes later, Mario and Luigi managed bury the poor man. They started heading back towards the others when a voice rang out from behind them, "MARIO!"
Mario turned back and saw a young Mushroomer with purple and white stripes coloring his head running towards him. Mario blinked, shook his head, and looked forward again. Sure enough, there was an old friend running towards him. "Gaz...?"
Luigi looked stunned at the fact that there was a survivor. "How… how did you survive whatever happened to the town?!"
"I-I hid in the forest."
"But what happened?" Mario cut in.
"It was earlier t-today. A large swarm of purple… things… arrived and immediately began grabbing onto the nearest objects and b-blowing up. S-several others and me ran to the forest. A small group of creatures chased us and about fifteen of us were killed. The ones that didn't explode c-carried the bodies back."
Mario stared down at the now-weeping kid. He waited a few seconds before speaking. "Can the others help us?"
Gaz nodded and tearfully replied, "Y-yeah, I'll show y-you..."
~~~
Lemmy and Ludwig watched their father rage at the doctors who were supposed to keep Peach alive until they got back to the castle. They had never seen him so angry about anything in their life. He was nearly incoherent as he shouted at the others, all of whom were cowering in the corner.
"…NEVER FORGIVE US FOR LETTING HER DIE … THREE YEARS … DUNGEON FOR ALL OF … WHAT ARE YOU KIDS STARING AT? GET OUTTA HERE!"
The kids silently obeyed and headed back to their own ships. As soon as they turned the corner, Ludwig asked, "So how did she die?"
Lemmy didn't think the question was one that really should have been asked, but he answered anyways. "I think her body systems shut down, but I don't really know."
Ludwig thought for a moment and asked, "Was zhere really an imposter aboard ze Imperial Belle?"
That, Lemmy decided, was a better thing to ask. "Yeah, all we know is that he had a dark yellow shell and similar-colored hair that reached down to his middle spikes."
"Sounds an awful lot like ze lead singer for zat band Koopalica, doesn't it?"
"...Maybe. Though I doubt that he would do something like that."
"Well, I'll talk to you later, assuming I'm not sent right back to ze dungeon."
Lemmy wondered why he was saying he would talk to him later until he noticed they were at the shuttles waiting to take them back to their doomships. "Yeah, see ya. Don't count on not going back to the dungeon."
"Yeah, I know..."
~~~
"Finally," Mario said as they finished burying the final body. The project had taken them well into the night, but they had gotten it done. He started over to a still-erect structure, but before he had taken ten steps, Luigi and Gaz called him back over.
"Hey, Mario! There-a are some-a airships approaching. Get out-a something we can-a use as a beacon!"
Sure enough, there was a fleet of warships approaching. Mario reached into his back pocket and pulled out a flashlight, which was there for no reason in particular. He turned it on and started spelling out "HELP" with its beam. A few minutes later, the lead ship landed next to them. The captain stepped out, looked around, looked straight at Mario and asked, "What happened here?!"
"Some weird creatures attacked. We have some survivors here who need a ride to the Mushroom Kingdom. Do you think that you could take them?"
"By shuttle, yeah. We're off to Sarasaland. They sent out a distress signal saying that some odd purple creatures were attacking the Princedoms. We could probably use your help on the battlefield, Mario."
Mario thought it over. "Alright, I'll help. Meanwhile, let's get these guys onto a shuttle."
~~~
"In conclusion, the assault is going alright. WRA-2023 out."
Elias grinned as the Wraith clicked off his com. Finally, his army was about to bust through the Sarasi defenses after two days of battle. But there was still one thing bothering him, the fact that his fears about invading Sarasaland were correct. And if the info was halfway accurate, the Koopas were going to be even tougher than the Sarasis, who had taken a great toll on the assault teams.
He walked down the main hall of the
Chaos Emperor, and then headed down to the Lab sector. Once there, he observed
the "special units" his master had told him about. He snorted in disgust.
The only improvement these had was that they could blow up a couple more
times before they died. It was useful, but nowhere near as good as he figured
it would be. He crossed to the other side of the lab and activated a switch
that released the "Elite Wraiths", which looked just like the normal Wraiths
except they were electric blue in
color. He then keyed in the master
com and spoke. "Teams WRA-Alpha, -Gamma, -Pi, and -Xi report to the Lab
immediately."
He scanned the room and saw that Team EWA-Alpha had assembled already. Noting to himself that they might actually have some brain cells unlike normal Wraiths, he turned to the monitor to his right. They were about fifteen hours from Land's End, which would give them enough time to have a preliminary briefing and get some "sleep" before they arrived at their destination.
It took fifteen minutes, but all nine hundred million Wraiths managed to find their way into the Lab. It took another thirty minutes for Elias to make sure all of them were there and accounted for. Finally, he walked up to the conveniently-placed podium and began to speak:
"Alright, here is the plan..."
~~~
The Chancellor read through the letter one more time, just to make sure he had read it correctly. Toad and The King were standing off to one side, waiting to read the letter dropped in by Bowser (or at least Toad was).
Finally, the Chancellor spoke. "Peach is dead."
The reaction was instantaneous. Toad burst out with an expletive while The King, coming out of his trance-like state, shouted something incomprehensible.
"Gimme that letter!" Toad shouted as he darted forward and snatched the letter out of the Chancellor's hands. He then proceeded to read it out loud.
"Chancellor,
I regret to inform you that your princess
is dead. After we kidnapped her, a new type of flying, exploding creature
attacked our ships. She barely survived the attack but wasn't able to recover
due to the incompetence of our doctors. We would also like you to know
that we will refrain attacking the Mushroom Kingdom from now on. Oh, and
those we hold responsible have been dealt with.
Sincerely,
Lem- I mean, Bowser."
The Chancellor stepped forward and took the letter, Toad let out a loud, violent, vulgar rant, and The King seemed to go into shock. Minutes passed by before the Chancellor turned to Toad asked, "So.what do we do now?"
Toad took about a second to take in the question before exploding again. "We go kill those stupid Koopas!"
"You mean you want to fire up a full war against the Koopas, even though they have a far more powerful military and they just decided to ignore us completely?"
"Yeah!"
"What about you, Your Majesty?"
The King blinked, looked up, and, to everyone's surprise, spoke. "I agree with Toad."
The Chancellor was stunned, both at The King speaking and at his decision. He regained his composure and replied, "Are you sure, Your Highness? There are other ways of dealing with this."
"Yeah, but this is the best one!" Toad interjected.
The Chancellor could see that their minds wouldn't be changed. He stood in silence for a few seconds before suggesting, "What if we ask what the people want? They can vote on what course of action they would like to take."
"I guess we could do that," answered
Toad after a moment's consideration. The King remained silent, but simply
nodded his head.
Chapter 11: Shadows of the Future
Elias watched as his Wraiths headed off to the area of Sarasaland known as Muda. Soon the Sarasi would be overcome; their forces were all fighting the Wraiths attacking Chai. These groups of Wraiths would come up from behind and surround the defenders, leaving the final group to destroy Sarasaland without interference.
He smirked as he thought out the plan in his head. The Sarasis had one of the most powerful militaries he had ever had the honor of battling, but they were soon to be defeated. A distant roar broke into Elias's thoughts. He turned and saw a small fleet of airships headed towards the soon-to-be-destroyed country. His grin grew wider and more malicious as he brought his scythe to bear. "Comin' to play hero, eh?"
~~~
"All personnel wake up! Sarasaland is in sight! Prepare for combat! I repeat, wake up and prepare for combat!"
Mario groaned and stood up. Three days of traveling in a smelly, crowded airship was more than enough to make him irritable. Briefly wondering why he had even come on this mission, he pulled on his trademark overalls and put on his cap before dashing out to the bridge to wait for the rest of the foot soldiers to join him. Being the first one there, he proceeded to sit down and rest while the others got ready. He wondered what had happened to Peach. She was probably being held in a Koopa dungeon, with Bowser waiting for him.
Mario, growing restless, got up and leaned over the railing. Sarasaland was barely in sight, straight ahead with the series of cliffs and valleys known as Land's End off to their starboard side. He looked straight down at the rock they were just about to fly over... and a voice emitted from the far end of the rock, "BLAST!"
Without thinking, Mario jumped off the airship towards the voice.
~~~
He had asked the people what they wanted to do... and the people had chosen war with the Koopas. Now the Chancellor was watching as a fanatic attempted to drive a group of normal, everyday group of Mushroomers into a hysterical, violent mob. It was working, too.
"…They are responsible for leaving our beloved kingdom without an heir! These Koopas are soulless, vile, and twisted! We have been sitting idly and letting those horrific scumbags continue their reign of terror! And look now! Our peaceful ways have bent back far enough to stab us! The Koopas have all but murdered our dear, beloved Peach Toadstool! Friends! I ask you now, will you join me in revenging the death of our princess? Will you seek out and drive away the Koopas that befoul our home?"
The tall Mushroomer was met with wild applause and several different chants. He waited for the mass to calm down before finishing. "Then, my friends! Seek out all the Koopas in the city and cover them with hot tar and chicken feathers! Burn their houses and possessions! Drive away their minions! Do not return until every last Koopa is no longer damaging our Mushroom Kingdom! Go, my friends!"
With a thunderous cry, hundreds of insane Mushroomers ran off in every direction, each one heading towards the residence of a Koopa citizen. The Chancellor started running towards the castle, but ran straight into the mob. Bodies pushed at him from every side, until he was being smashed against a building. Just before he blacked out, he saw two thugs swoop down at him and try to lift him up.
~~~
Mario landed on the rock and turned
towards the fleet. Several bolts of purple lightning came crashing through
the ships, setting them ablaze, before connecting in the middle of the
fleet and releasing a gigantic
electric blast, decimating the entire
force. He was appalled at the sheer power of the explosion. In three seconds,
twelve of the Mushroom Kingdom's finest warships had been demolished. He
turned back at the sound of a laugh - a high, amused, cold laugh. He squinted
and saw two yellow eyes looking back at him. The voice came again.
"Well it seems like one survived. Hello, stranger."
The malicious tone of the voice chilled Mario to the bone, but he replied, "Wh-who are-a you?"
The eyes moved forward and Mario saw the figure for the first time. Except for his glowing yellow eyes, his face was completely hidden under a hood that was attached to a long, flowing cape. He wore foot-length gray robes, which seemed to conceal plate mail, judging by the electric blue shoulder plates jutting out. Held in his long, skinny arms was a long scythe. The figure walked (or did it glide?) until it was face to face with Mario, who was a whole two feet shorter.
"I am called Elias."
Mario stepped back and replied, "Are-a you one of-a the creatures that-a destroyed Rose Town?"
The being known as Elias chuckled. "No, I do not have that honor. But I did order my Wraiths to destroy it. And right now, I am in the middle of destroying Sarasaland."
Mario was stunned. "Why are-a you doing this?"
"Because my Master ordered me to. I am not from this planet; neither are my Wraiths. Our Master has been ordering us to destroy worlds for decades, centuries. Some because he had something against them, some because they posed a threat, some because he just felt like it. As to why he chose to destroy this world, I have no clue. But he told me to spare the lives of select individuals, something he never ordered us to do before. I presume that you are the hero called 'Mario'?"
Once again, Mario was shocked. "Y-yes I am-a."
"Good. You want to live, right?"
"Yes."
"Then stay out of my way. I'll spare you today, but if we cross paths again, I may not be able to hold back in killing you. Understand?"
Without waiting for a reply, he turned and started walking away. Mario stood still for a second and then shouted, "Wait!"
Sneering, Elias turned back to him and replied, "What? That wasn't a good enough goodbye for the famous Mario?"
Ignoring the smart-aleck comment, Mario said, "I am not going to just stand by while you kill my friends and destroy my world!"
Elias continued grinning, though Mario couldn't tell. "So, you are going to give up your life in an attempt to save the lives of others. You are brave and noble. But your death will be in vain. I do not want to kill you. But I will if I must. After all, I only need to keep one of the select individuals alive, though my Master wants all of them to survive. Farewell."
He turned away again, but Mario charged after him and pulled out the Masher. He brought over his head and…
WHAM!
…hit Elias over the head with it. He fell forward, but straightened up immediately while turning to face Mario.
"So, you want to play?"
~~~
The Chancellor woke up squeezed in between two large garbage bins. He pulled himself out and rubbed his head, which was in severe pain. He limped out of the alley and headed off for the castle.
When he got there, one of the attendants dashed up to him. "Mister Chancellor, so good to se that you are alright!"
Before the short mushroom could start asking questions, he went on into the throne room, where Toad dashed up to him and said the exact same thing the attendant had, but followed it with, "What happened to you?!"
"A mob broke out and I got trampled."
"As I figured," came The King's voice. "Mobs have broken out everywhere and are completely uncontrollable. I am positive that every creature associated with the Koopas has been driven out."
"Great. Where's Mario when you need him?"
"We don't know where he is. But meanwhile, we still have to write up the declaration of war."
The Chancellor nodded and followed King Toadstool to a table.
~~~
Mario and Elias stared each other down in the dead of night. Mario made the first move: a quick jump at Elias's head. The reaper dissolved into black globules before the attack could strike and rematerialized behind the plumber. "Drain Beam!"
Billions of closely packed high-speed photons began drilling at Mario. He jumped out of the beam and brought the Masher down at his foe, who blocked it with his scythe and then proceeded to slash at him. Mario jumped the blade and peppered him with fireballs. Elias jumped back and pointed the tip of his weapon forward. "Flame Wall!"
Searing flames rushed Mario, who braced himself. Five seconds of scorching later, Mario pulled out a Tanooki Suit from DAD-knows-where and launched into the sky right above a confused Elias. He felt his body stiffen until he was a living statue, and then dropped straight onto Elias's head, smashing him flat. Mario turned back into flesh and jumped off of his flat nemesis. Before he could celebrate, Elias disappeared again. Mario looked around until he spotted two glowing dots in the distance.
"Mario. I now see why my Master would want you. You are one of the strongest warriors I have ever fought. Next time we meet, however, I will probably have to kill you. Farewell."
Mario thought that Elias was running away until…
"Corona!"
Beams of solar energy burned at him, causing him to collapse.
"Solidify!"
Ice shot up all around, freezing him solid before shattering, the shrapnel cutting into him. He reached for an Ultra Mushroom in his pocket.
"Flare!"
Intense heat burned at every inch of
his body, causing pain he had never known before. His mushroom burned away
and he collapsed into darkness.
Chapter 12: War Hammer
The Chancellor sat in his office, reading the general description of the Rose Town tragedy. He was sure that the mobs that were running rampant in the city would try to place blame on the Koopas the moment they heard about it- which, he decided, wouldn't be for awhile.
He read through twice, and then left
to go the meeting room, where Toad, The King, and various military figures
were waiting impatiently. He took his seat and turned his attention to
The King, who began speaking. "Now that we have everyone present, I believe
it is time to begin the meeting. We have been attempting to form alliances
with other kingdoms and cities. Rose Town is, of course, destroyed. The
creatures are attacking Sarasaland, rendering it useless. We also can't
get through to Dino Land for some reason, leading
some of us to believe that it has been
destroyed as well. Seaside Town is unwilling to go to war with the Koopas.
However, we have both Nimbus Land's and Moleville's word that they will
help us defeat the Koopas. We are planning to attack the Dark Lands by
tomorrow."
~~~
Elias stood on the bridge of the Chaos Emperor once again, watching as his Wraiths annihilated Sarasaland. "This should have been done long ago. I still can't believe that Master had us fall back for hours when we were nearly within striking of Sarasaland. Just for some stupid Elites."
He hacked a hole through the railing of the ship in his rage. He suppressed the urge to kill… which reminded him of last night's battle. Mario had actually stood up to his attacks very well, and had proven himself decent offensively. He could have beaten Elias if he had a killer instinct, which he didn't. After the battle, Elias had found a new respect for alien races (alien to him, anyway). Naturally, a Wraith interrupted his thoughts.
"Sir Elias, Squads WRA-Alpha, -Gamma, -Epsilon, -Pi and -Xi and Squads EWA-Alpha and -Beta report that their mission is accomplished. They are requesting that you allow them to return to the airship Chaos Emperor."
Elias rolled his eyes and replied, "Yes, let them aboard."
~~~
Mario felt something sticky repeatedly brush against his leg. Unwilling to stand up, he just mumbled, "Go away."
The sticky thing didn't heed his words, and just kept on brushing. Mario opened his eyes and saw a Geckit licking away happily at his leg. He stood up, kicked it away, and looked around. In the distance, he saw the remnants of one of Bowser's old castles. Ignoring the severe pain from his burns, he started walking a ways east of it, towards the Mushroom Kingdom.
"It's-a gonna be a long-a way back."
~~~
Bowser couldn't believe what his Lakitu scout was telling him. He had thrown in the white flag, and the Mushroom Kingdom decides to come after him with all their military strength. Bowser made a go away motion to the Lakitu before turning to Kamek. "Prepare the defenses. We will meet their attack head on."
~~~
Elias grinned as the Chaos Emperor glided along past where he and Mario had fought. The imbecilic Wraiths had finally gotten the cloning machines set up and online, therefore providing him with unlimited numbers of Wraiths. Now all they had to do was launch a final attack on both Castle Koopa and the Mushroom Kingdom. He checked his chronometer and began heading down to the Lab for the final briefing.
Upon reaching it, he noticed that somehow
all the Wraiths were there, awaiting their orders, no doubt through the
Elite Wraiths' influence. Stepping up to the platform, he began what would
hopefully be his final
speech on Plit.
"The time has come. We are about to deliver a powerful blow to the overall military of Plit. The only two remaining military powers are the Mushroom Kingdom and the far more powerful Koopa Clan. We need to take these out at the same time, or else the two groups will band together to defeat us. Squads WRA-Alpha, -Beta, -Delta, and -Gamma, accompanied by Squads EWA-Alpha, -Beta, and -Delta will be attacking Castle Koopa, with Squads WRA-Epsilon and -Iota standing by as backup. Squads WRA-Lambda, -Pi, and -Xi will be attacking the Mushroom Kingdom, with Squad WRA-Upsilon standing by. You have your assignments. Go and finish the destruction of Plit!"
At these words, every single Wraith flew out of the Lab and towards their target. Elias stepped out onto the bridge- just as several giant fireballs came flying at the ship. With its shields down, the fireballs bounced across the bridge. One of them hit the pilot, causing it to self-destruct and destroy the control panel. Seconds later, the once-mighty airship Chaos Emperor slammed up against a sharp spire of rocks.
Elias surveyed the damage and came to the conclusion that his ship would never fly again. Intense anger filled him as leapt onto a nearby cliff and began searching for the source of the fireballs. It didn't take long, as he quickly spotted a short, mustachioed man in overalls and a red cap.
~~~
General Kamek watched as the mixture of Mushroomers, Moles, and Nimbians approached the fortress surrounding the castle. "Fools," he said to himself. "You shouldn't have decided to war with us."
Kamek waited for the Mushroomers to get within range before issuing the order. "Turn all Roto-Discs online!"
He was greeted by the sight of the "disco balls" slicing through the foremost troops. The rest of the army attacked the discs with everything they had. Kamek grinned and signaled to a group of Koopas. They each pressed the button in front of them. Seconds later, Thwomps whizzed through the air, pile driving entire rows into death. But the Mushroom army's weapons continued firing, destroying the Thwomps. Kamek signaled to a monitor. A swarm of Terra Cotta dashed forward, each carrying a portable Bill Blaster and the squad leaders carrying Missile Launchers. Shots rang back and forth, with the Koopas losing a lot more troops. Kamek, in his anger, did something that could cost him the battle.
"All forward troops, attack!"
Fire, Hammer, Boomerang, and Sledge Bros came dashing forward, armed only with their own projectiles. Fireballs bounced across the battlefield, frying Mushroomers, Nimbians, and tanks. The attackers, undaunted by the sudden increase of defenders, continued to fire relentlessly, slowly driving the Koopas back. Kamek couldn't believe his eyes as he watched the famous Koopa Army fall. Finally he decided to give an order.
"All forward units, retreat into the fortress!"
The Koopas turned back to the fortress and dashed in. As soon as they were in range, Buster Beetles stationed on top of the fortress walls began chucking their ice blocks while Chargin' Chucks attacked in any way possible. Koopas kicked the shells of the fallen through specially designed holes in the wall. Super Koopas dropped down and struck multiple soldiers while Lakitus and Amazing Flying Hammer Bros. rained down Spikies and hammers. Giant turrets fired Bonzai Bills, cannonballs, and sets of Missile Bills. Magikoopas warped in and out of battle, casting a spell or two before retreating to the safety of the fort. Chainless and Fire Chomps were released to wreak their own form of havoc, while Thwimps were catapulted at the advancing army.
Yet, despite the strength of the Koopa defense, the army still kept moving forward. Tanks fired away at the walls, creating holes that soldiers could fire through. Artillery fired at the center of the fortress, lighting it on fire. Inside, Moles, Nimbians, and Mushroomers clashed with Koopas, fighting to the very last breath. The battle went for hours, with enormous numbers of casualties on either side. Then, Ludwig, watching from the castle spotted something.
A large, purple cloud was making its
way to the castle.
Chapter 13: Guardian from the Heavens
Mario watched as Elias stalked towards him, pitch-black scythe ready to slash.
"I told you not to interfere, Mario. I had no intention of killing you. But now, your urge to defend your world is going to result in your death. Storm!"
Mario dodged the electric beam and shot some fireballs back at him. The final battle for one of them had begun.
~~~
Mushroomers, Nimbians, Moles, and Koopas stared as the giant cloud grew ever closer to the fortress. No one knew what it was or what it was doing. Except for...
"May I have everyone's attention?" came Ludwig von Koopa's voice from the nearby castle. Everyone turned towards it, Bowser wondering how Ludwig got out of the dungeon.
"That purple cloud in the distance is coming to destroy us all," Lemmy said. "Inside of it are millions upon millions of flying, exploding ghosts, each one bent on destroying as much as they can. People of the Mushroom Kingdom! You blame us for the death of Princess Peach, when it was those things coming at us! All you armies! You must set aside your differences and unite! If not, there will be no more Mushroom Kingdom or Koopa Castle to defend, no more cities above the clouds, no more mining towns. Join forces now, and protect everyone from these invaders!"
The cheers from the fighters below, outside and inside the fortress, were loud enough for Lemmy and Ludwig to hear. As the united army moved to defend the fortress, Lemmy turned to Ludwig.
"Alright, what do we do now?"
"Ve go get some veapons and armor and join the troops. Oh, zanks for getting me out of ze dungeon."
~~~
Mushroomers ran in terror as the phantasms swooped down, destroying everything they could. The troops that had stayed behind to guard the kingdom were panicking. Toad, the Chancellor, and King Toadstool were barricaded inside the throne room. It was holding up, but they knew it wouldn't last. Nearly in tears, the Chancellor whispered to himself, "Please, someone come save us."
~~~
Elias slashed with his scythe three times in rapid succession, each one missing the plucky plumber. Mario countered with a flurry of punches and kicks, knocking him down. He brought the Masher over his shoulder.
"Electro-Shock!"
Electricity crackled all around him before a powerful bolt slammed down and zapped him. He staggered, but came back by chucking a small hammer at the spectre, which dissolved and reappeared behind Mario.
"Water Blast!"
Water squirted from all around him, building up pressure until it exploded, leaving Mario drenched and in pain.
"Boulder!"
Boulders, some larger than Bowser, came rolling their way. They passed right through Elias, while Mario jumped from stone to stone, coming down only to smack Elias upside the head. He pulled out a Fire Flower and sent out a powerful stream of fireballs. Elias leapt away, then launched into the air, bringing his scythe down where Mario's head was. Mario jumped to the side and pounded him. The fearsome being came in close and began attacking from close range. Mario blocked each slash, but wasn't able to get in close enough to pummel him. He gave up and backed away, using a Super Leaf. He charged down towards Elias, who was preparing a powerful spell, and then bounded into the air, raccoon tail propelling him. This time, Elias was ready for him to take flight.
"Explodet!"
Multiple explosions laced the night sky, blasting Mario out of the air. He landed next to Elias and proceeded to launch a flurry of fireballs. Elias teleported up to a higher rock. Mario found him quickly and charged up to finish the battle.
~~~
In the Dark Lands, chaos reigned. The defenders of Plit fought hard against the onslaught of Wraiths, each wave more determined than the last. Batteries of Mini-Scope fire pierced the ghosts, causing detonations in the air. Cannons fired their heaviest weaponry. Thwomps flew through the air via catapults. Various projectiles flew up, destroying foes as they hurled through the sky. Yet, the determination of the assailants was enough to blast holes throughout the outer wall of the fort, causing the pandemonium to spread inside.
~~~
Kamek dashed down the halls of the fort, attempting to reach Bowser. The new army was possibly stronger than those two combined, he thought. He had thought of a way to win with minimal casualties, though it would be hard and time-consuming to pull off. Finally he reached the main hallway to the throne room... but the wall burst in and several phantoms darted through. Kamek brandished his wand. "Light Bubble!"
A large, opal-colored fire bubble shot out from the end of his wand, trapping the aggressors inside. A second later the bubble burst, destroying everything inside of it. He continued towards the throne, wand at the ready. Unfortunately for him, the door to the throne room was barricaded, preventing access.
~~~
Bowser cleaved a violent blue spirit in half, preventing it from exploding. Two more came his way but were fried in the process by a missile from Iggy's mouth. The blue-shelled Koopaling brought his old wand out, raised it up high, and shouted, "Meteorite!"
Hundreds of bright flashes filled the room, accompanied by blasts from dieing specters. The spell may have destroyed many, but many more were waiting to take their place. Bowser and the Koopalings backed up and prepared to face off with the swarm.
~~~
Mario dodged another blow from Elias, who had decided to come up close again. Elias spun his scythe around wildly, giving Mario a deep gash in the side of his face. Mario dropped to the ground, prompting Elias to swing his scythe straight down. Mario rolled and grabbed the handle, kicked Elias in the stomach, and then bounced high in the air, raining fire down on the crumpled figure.
"Arrow Rain!"
Thousands of arrows flew down at the crimson-clad plumber, piercing his body in multiple places. He swallowed his last Ultra Mushroom and jumped at his foe. Elias didn't see the attack in time and became a trampoline for a couple of seconds before slicing directly upwards. Mario forced himself to the side, bringing out his Masher again to block the inevitable hack. It came, and it was blocked. Mario launched another volley of fire, but Elias drifted off to one side, avoiding all damage.
"Bombs Away!"
Elias jumped up and launched a small blue ball of energy, which exploded upon contact with Mario. He fell to his knees, energy completely drained by the attack. As Elias began to cackle, Mario felt his pockets one last time. Inside one of them was his final hope, a Starman. He threw it into the air and absorbed its invincibility-inducing powers. Completely invulnerable, he charged forward and began attacking Elias. The reaper fell beneath the vicious blitz, being pummeled all over his body. For a glorious thirty seconds, Mario believed that he would win.
But then the Starman's effect wore off, and Elias hit him with the butt of his scythe, knocking the wind out of him. He felt himself get kicked a few yards back, and then heard Elias speaking,
"Mario, you are a fool. I warned you that I would kill you if we met again. Yet you proceeded to destroy my only way back to my world. You have proven yourself a powerful warrior. I have nothing left to say to you. SICKLE!"
Elias launched forward, drawing dark energies to his scythe. Mario got up and attempted to dodge, but the attack was faster than quicksilver. The blade struck him in the chest and came out of his side, leaving behind death-dealing energies in his body. He felt a burst of intense pain, greater than even the Flare attack, heard Elias cackling, and then blacked out for the last time.
Elias looked down at the body that had once been the great hero Mario. It was a pity he'd had to kill so skilled a warrior. Now the only thing left to do was wait for his Wraiths to finish their missions.
~~~
Toad picked up a Mini-Scope he had hidden away and then proceeded to shoot through the hole made by the Wraiths. The Wraiths, not being very bright, attempted to fly through the hole, getting slaughtered by the rapid-fire plasma in the process. Explosions rang out all around the throne room; more than once the Chancellor let out a giant squeak of terror. The King, however, stood completely still and calm in the middle of the throne room, wondering if these things were the ones that had attacked the doomships, resulting in Peach's death. Just then, a resounding KABOOM was heard as the ceiling of the castle collapsed, nearly crushing the trio. By the time they got on top of the rubble, they were completely surrounded. Toad opened fire as the phantoms dived down, while The King stood completely still and the Chancellor gave out another terrified yelp. He took one last look at the Mushroom Kingdom. Whatever these things are, he decided, they sure are efficient at destroying cities.
Just then, a brilliant red sun-shaped light appeared in the middle of the dive-bombers, pushing them back. The light expanded until it covered the entire kingdom, then burst outwards, incinerating the attackers in less than a second. The Chancellor looked up and saw a single five-point star floating above him. The star remained there for a few seconds before darting off in the direction of Dark Land. The Chancellor let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Thank the heavens, we're saved."
~~~
Bowser let loose with a blast of fire, killing two spirits instantly while a third attached to his back and blew up. The great King Koopa roared in pain and dislodged the blue shadow. Turning around, he saw several more coming at him. He fried as many as he could, and then slashed the last one into oblivion. Three blue ones attached to him and exploded at the same time, causing him to shake vigorously to remove them.
The Koopalings continued beating down on the attackers, as well. Through a combination of fireballs, slashes, and spells, the attacking army was being devastated. No matter how many there were, there weren't ever enough to break through the Koopa Kids' (plus Karma's) amazingly strong defense. Finally, the smoke cleared and no more flying bombs entered the fort. Roy, Ludwig, and Lemmy let out huge roars of triumph, while Iggy, Wendy, and Larry chanted, "We did it! We did it!"
Morton ruined their fun, however. "KING DAD!"
The other Koopalings rushed over to their beaten father. Most of his body had been burned to a crisp, leaving behind black scorch marks. His shell was cracked and had blood oozing out of it. His hair had been burned away and he had several gashes across his body. But he still smiled when he saw his kids.
"H-hey kids, how a-are you d-doing?"
All seven of them kneeled down beside him.
"I...I wish I h-had spent more time w-with you now, instead of al-always sending you to d-defeat the Marios or- the d-dungeon. Don't worry about m-me, kids. Just... worry about the Clan. Ludwig... please be the good r-ruler I never was."
Tears welled up in Ludwig's eyes. "Father..."
"No... don't say any...thing... you guys... I don't know... if I... ever... told you this... I... lo...ve... y..."
With that, one last breath escaped Bowser's lips. The Koopalings started crying. A beam of light shone down from above. They looked up and saw a star hovering overhead. A voice entered their heads.
"Children, do not be alarmed at what I am about to do. I assure you it's for the good of the planet."
The still-crying Koopas looked around confused. Bowser's body began floating up to the star and was sucked into it.
"Ludwig, go forth to the throne room of the castle and claim your heritage as the new King of the Koopas."
~~~
Elias turned off the com after wrapping up a conversation with his master. He grinned as he thought of finally returning to his home world, as he was growing sick of Plit. "It is a pity about the Chaos Emperor and its cloning machines," he muttered to himself, "but there is nothing that can be done about it. Now, how are my Wraiths doing, I wonder?"
"We have failed to destroy the Koopa Clan at Latitude 40, Longitude 30, Sir Elias. We were met with resistance from two warring factions. Our forces in the Mushroom Kingdom at Latitude 43, Longitude 45 were also eliminated by a giant blast of solar energy."
Elias was furious. "Go search the battle sites for surviving Wraiths and report back here as soon as possible."
"Yes, Sir Elias."
As soon as the Wraith was gone, Elias began hacking at rocks to vent his anger. He failed to notice a small star float above Mario's body and absorb it. It started spinning in a circular motion and became brighter, catching Elias's attention. He watched it until it became too bright to even look at. When the light faded, a funny, short man with a blue cape was standing there. Actually, it looked more like a large doll than a short man. It started moving about and blasted fire from its mouth and fireballs from its hands. Then he faced Elias for the first time.
"So you're the one called Elias who has been sent to destroy this planet. Am I not correct?"
Elias was a bit startled. "Yes, you are correct. I assume you are a guardian from the heavens sent to defeat me."
The doll-man-thing nodded. "Yes I am. My name is impossible for you to pronounce, so you can just call me Geno."
"Geno, eh? Well since I'm an invader and you're a guardian..."
Elias dashed forward, swinging his scythe with all his might. Geno simply jumped to the edge of a cliff. Elias followed and struck again, causing Geno to jump behind him. Elias smirked. 'You thought I was dumb enough to dash right off the cliff?"
Geno smirked right back. "Nope, just setting up an attack. Geno Whirl!"
Geno brought his left hand over his
right shoulder and chopped it forward. A dazzling spinning disc flew towards
Elias, whizzing through him and knocking him into the cold, dark sea.
Epilogue
The Mushroom Kingdom was in ruins. Although Geno had intervened with his awesome Geno Flash, he had been too late. But no one cared at the moment. The people of the Mushroom Kingdom felt that they had just won a victory, along with the Koopas. Therefore, they had decided to celebrate that night and mourn the fallen the next.
Luigi walked around the festivities with Geno at his side, explaining the "weird things" that worldly people did. They passed several feasts and carnivals before spotting a table with Mallow and Croco. Croco noticed them first. "Hey, youse guys, sit over here!"
They complied, just as the curtains on the nearby stage rolled back to reveal Koopalica, who were obviously full of energy and ready to play. As Luigi grabbed three slices of pizza, James began to speak. "Great to see you f- er, guys again! We're going to start it off with some old s- er, songs. How many of you guys of our album 'Ride The Lightning'?"
Several members of the crowd cheered, acknowledging that they owned the album. James grinned and continued, "Not that many of ya. Ah well. You'll learn the lyrics right now. You guys ready? For whom! The bell! TOLLS!"
~~~
Ludwig sat on the throne as Kamek gave his blessing. He was finally becoming what he had been trained his whole life to be: the King of Koopas. His siblings were standing beside him as Kamek placed the Koopa crown on top of his head. Then he turned to the assembled Koopa Troop and proclaimed, "All rise and hail the new Koopa King. Ludwig von Koopa!"
The troop began chanting, "Hail Ludwig!" as the new king walked down the red carpet leading to the cafeteria. Kamek was right behind him, followed by the rest of the Koopalings. As soon as they had all passed into the hallway, the Koopa Troop followed after them and assembled at silk-laden tables full of various delicacies (mostly meat). Kamek stepped up to a podium. "In honor of His Majesty, Ludwig von Koopa, we are to hold a feast. Everyone, dig in!"
~~~
Far, far away, in the distant uncharted islands, a pale, skinny hand holding a scythe grabbed onto the rocks on the edge of an island. The figure pulled itself onto dry land and stood up, panting. "I... will... have... revenge..."
To Be Continued In:
The Four Horsemen!
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