Chapter Twenty-Three: Darkness Maddens
MARIO
I was sitting in a restaurant in Toad Town, talking to the gatekeeper in charge of Forever Forest. "Now, have you seen my kids?" I asked.
He paused. "Gosh, didn't know you had kids!" he said.
"Their names are Holly and Dyllan." I took a bite of pizza. "I've been trying to save my wife and friends from an evil android. I was wondering if you could let me into Forever Forest?"
He looked dumbfounded. "... Sure!"
I paid the bill on our way out, and he led me to the gate. He opened it and said, "Go on in."
As I entered the gate, I sensed a feeling of dread, like something was watching me. As I trudged into the forest, the sky grew dark, like it always did. There was dark magic surrounding these woods. I knew I had been here before, numerous times, but I couldn't shake a bad vibe about this place.
"AAARRGH!!!" I fell down. Something had sliced me very hard in the back, and I was bleeding thick red blood. I whirled around to see a pack of adult Piranha Plants. Very hungry Piranha Plants.
The one that looked like the leader, who had probably been the one who attacked me on account of the blood dripping from its fangs, lunged at me, teeth bared. It caught me off guard and grazed my arm. "AUUGH! Darn it..." I prepared a fireball and shot it at the creature. It dodged, fast as a snake, and lunged again. This time, I dodged, charged a fireball in my hand, and smashed in its jaw. Green blood splattered on the ground. The creature fell over.
The other Piranha Plants looked at their fallen leader, and then at me. Hisssss... "Uh oh," I said. The Piranha Plants disappeared into the ground, super fast. SHLOOP! SHLOOP! SHLOOP! CRUNCH! "AUGH!" One of the creatures popped up beneath me and bit my leg. "Ugh. METEOR SHOWER!!!" I called. Hundreds of meteors crashed into the ground, and I waited for the dust to clear. SHLOOP! SHLOOP! SHLOOP! The creatures popped back up, unharmed.
They made a sound that was like leaves scratching a chalkboard. I could only take it for laughter. There were a whole bunch of them, and I was pretty weak. I considered my options, and then did what seemed best. Run. I ran. As fast as I could, jumping over rocks and twigs. The plants were gaining on me, burrowing through the ground. I kept running, panting, and sweating. I finally reached a dead end. They smiled evily at me. They knew they had me cornered.
"Blue BOO-merang!!!" a voice cried out. A glowing boomerang mowed down the Piranha Plants, severing them from their stalks. They twitched for a couple of moments, then lay still.
"Who are you?" I asked.
A small sky blue Boo floated down, wearing a long top hat, which he tipped and introduced himself. "Why hello, I am Blue Boo. What is your name, stranger?" he asked me.
"Um, Mario."
Blue Boo gasped. "Wait, the- Mario, Super Mario?!" he asked, astonished.
"Yup, that's me. Hey, don't I know you...? Yes! Bow told me about you, you're her cousin, correct?"
Blue Boo smiled. "Yeah, Bow is my cousin," he said.
Mario paused, and then said, "Hey, could you take me to Boo Mansion?" I asked.
He grinned. "Sure!"
~
"This is the place!" He opened the door and I walked in. "Only one more thing," he said.
"Oh, and what's that?" I asked.
"YOU KIDNAPPED MY COUSIN!!!" he said as he pulled a switch.
"Wha-" I started to say, but was cut off as the floor caved in and I fell down into the darkness...
Chapter Twenty-Four: Castle Chaos
SLIMER49'R
I groaned, and opened my eyes. I looked around me and saw the inside of a castle. I saw Bow and Mewtwo90. Where am I? I wondered. Then I remembered I had fallen with the rest of my freinds into Peach's Castle.
I stood up and gently shook Bow. "Bow, get up," I said. I went over to Mewtwo90. "Hey, Mewtwo90, get up." I shook him too. They slowly awoke.
"Ugh. Where am I?" Bow asked.
"Oooh. My head," said Mewtwo90.
Bow looked at me. "Slimer!" She jumped up. "Where's that #$% Bowser?" she said.
"Don't know, I just came to." I turned to Mewtwo90.
"I know what happened."
~
An hour earlier a new Mushroomer named Bob was guarding the castle. Bob's employer told him that nothing would go wrong. Bob was standing and looked up when the sky grew dark. "What the? They never said there would be rain." He saw a huge smoking clown head and a huge turtle falling from the sky and into the castle. "GOOD LORD!!!" Bob screamed. Then a huge clown head with a Boo, a Koopa, and a thing that resembled a Pokemon fell into the castle. "OH MY GOD! THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING!!!"
~
"...And that's how the legend of Chicken Little started," said Mewtwo90.
I paused, then whacked Mewtwo90. "Moron." I then remembered why we were here. "Bowser. Come on."
I got up and they followed me out of the room. I saw Bowser at the top of the stairs. "Oh crud."
Bowser ran up the stairs. Several Mushroomers got out of our way as we went. "Is there a parade of some sort going on?" one said.
Bowser crashed through, litteraly through the door. I followed, and had him cornered. I jumped in the air and shot my Bullet Bill Blaster at Bowser.
It hit him in the jaw and flipped him over. I stomped on his face with my boot. He flipped back over and clawed me in the face. "Augh!" He panted, as did I. He spat blood, and said, "You're not taking me down without a fight." I grinned, wiping blood from my face.
"I wouldn't expect anything less."
I stopped. All of a sudden Bowser went flying across the room into the wall. CRASH! Bow hovered forward and struck Bowser across the face.
He grinned. "My son prepared me a very nice invention just for this sort of occasion." He took a potion and drank it. I stared in horror as Bowser's skin started melting. His claws and horns grew twice their size. His scales turned dark red and wings sprouted from his back. He grew much taller, and his tail grew more spikes. Finally he stopped morphing.
"LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN TAKE ME NOW!!!" Bowser whacked me with his tail and I dropped like a brick...
Chapter Twenty-Five: Reality is the Hardest to Accept
LUIGI
I watched in horror as Yoshi fell down. I was too stunned to move. But then, a flash came out of the sky and grabbed Yoshi. Mario!
Mario set him down on the ground. "Thanks Mario, I really needed you." Yoshi sighed.
Peach came running. "What happened? Yoshi, are you okay?" she asked. Yoshi nodded. "Well that's good. Well my sister came over for a visit. She's back at the castle.
~
Daisy and I were alone. I spoke to her. "Daisy, I want to tell you something." I gulped.
"Sweetie, what's wrong?" She looked worried.
"Daisy. I love you. You know that, right?"
She nodded. "I love you too." A look of confusion and dread crossed her face.
"I love you... But you're not real!" I broke down sobbing.
"What? I don't know-" She stopped, unable to say anything.
"Daisy. You-are-not-real." I grit my teeth. "You're an illusion, created by Smithy." I pounded my fist on the table. "Darn it!" I shook, hot tears running down my face. "Smithy..." I embraced Daisy.
"Oh!" She wrapped her arms around me.
Peach came into the room, crying. "I heard it all. I'm so sorry, Luigi. No- wait, I'M JUST AN ILLUSION!!! How can I be anything...?"
I looked up. "Peach, Daisy, could you help us to get out of this place?" I asked. Peach, sobbing, nodded.
~
"Where are we?" I asked. Mario anwsered.
"We are on Star Hill. If we are to get you back to the real world, this would be the place to start." I noticed something was moving. The hill! It looked as though it was moving. When I took a closer look it actually turned out to be a bunch of Spiked Gloombas. "Not good," Mario said.
The creatures growled at us, saliva dripping from their fangs. They stepped closer. "Okay, people, let's be ready for a fight!" SSSSS...
Chapter Twenty Six: Phantom Twilight
MARIO
"Wake up. Wake up, you!" I groaned and opened my eyes. I looked around and saw bars all around me. It was dark and I could smell the aroma of rotting flesh. I also saw the Dark Crown on a table. I coughed. "Ah, good, he's finally awake." I recognized the voice and spun around. King Boo?
"King Boo, what are you doing here, another plot to finally rid yourself of me?"
He growled. "No, there are more important matters at stake. First of all, tell me... WHY DID YOU KIDNAP MY DAUGHTER?!"
I suddenly remembered how I had got here. "Not that again. How many times do I have to tell you? I-did-not-take-your-daughter. The last time I saw her was a while back on my quest to save Peach and reclaim the Star Rod. Besides, we were friends."
I looked at him, waiting for a reply. He pressed a button. ZZZZZAAAAPPP!!! "AAARGH!!!" I cried out in pain as I got at least 400,000 volts.
"If that's true, why did I get an Email that says: Hahaha, King Boo, I've kidnapped your daughter. ~Mario Mario~?" He stared into my soul with icy blue eyes.
"What? I never wrote-" ZZZZZZAAAAAAPPPP!!! "AAAAAAARRGGGGGHHH!!!" I fell to the ground.
"STOP LYING! I will continue until you tell me where she is!"
I panted. "I've had enough of this." CRUNCH! I broke the bars with my hammer and jumped over King Boo's head, grabbed the crown, donned a cape, and flew up the shaft and out of the doors.
"After him! I want his head on a stake!!!!" I flew as fast away as I could. BZZAPP! Boos were following me, and one shot a laser beam at me. I charged a pyro in my hands and shot it at the Boo, but it became intangible. I swerved to the left and tried to shake them.
I ran into the butt of a Boo's gun. "Ugh." I got knocked backwards. I looked behind me and one Boo slammed me in the back of the head. Another shot a laser at me and it tore my flesh. "AUUGGGH!!!" The pain was unbearable. It felt like a thousand red hot needles had dug into my every fiber. I swung my hammer and caught one Boo in the gut. "OOF!" I then raised my hand before giving him a knife-hand to his neck.
Another Boo came from behind and I elbowed him, before raising my hands to the air and shouting, "Meteor Shower!" The Boos were crushed into submission and flung to the ground. I landed on the ground and proudly walked towards the exit, but King Boo dropped down in front of me.
"Now you have to deal with me!" he said.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Swarm
LUIGI
I shuddered in horror as I saw how many of the creatures there were. At least over a hundred. "Stand your ground!" I yelled.
Mario looked at me. "Easy for you to say!"
Yoshi grinned. "Butt kicking time."
A Gloomba lunged at Peach. I charged a ball of electricity in my hand. I shot it at the Gloomba and it fell back, singed. I ran in front of Peach, raised my hands to the air, and called out, "SHOCKER!!!" A humungous bolt of electricity came down from the sky and fried the Gloomba. One Gloomba disappeared. He was followed by others.
"Huh? Where did they go?" Peach asked. WHUMP! "AAAAH!!!"
"PEACH!" A Gloomba had landed on Peach, knocking her down and trying desperately to sink its fangs into her. "Hold on, Peach!" I ran across the hill, grabbed the creature, and flung it into the air. "Static Bolt!" A wave of electricity went towards the thing, frying it.
"Peach, are you okay?" I asked.
She cursed. "What do I look like, some kind of damsel in distress?" she said irritably.
Another Gloomba fell out of the sky, but this time Peach bashed it with her frying pan, sending it flying. "Ah, my frying pan. Good for cooking, and other stuff. Never leave home without it." I smiled, but then frowned. That's exactly something Peach would say...
Soon Gloombas started falling like mad! "Electric Whip!" A bolt of twisting electricity snagged one Gloomba out of midair, fried it, and then tossed it into another. Yoshi ate a bean fruit and threw a multitude of Neon Eggs. BOOM BOOM BOOM!!! Meanwhile Daisy was beating the fungus out of every Gloomba she saw with her punching gloves. Mario came over to me. "Bros Attack?" I asked.
He grinned. "Yeah."
"THUNDER EXPLOSION!!!" A huge explosion resulted and the smoke cleared. Many Gloombas lay still, but still, more came.
"Man how many are there?" Mario asked. I panted hard, and prepared myself to attack again. I held Mario's hand while I built up electricity and he built fire. We ran towards the Goombas full speed. "FLAMING DISCHARGE!" We jumped into the air, still connected, and spun around super fast, then hit the ground, releasing a huge shockwave of fire and electricity. Gloombas dropped left and right.
We finally thought we had taken them all down. We were wrong. More came from over the horizon. It seemed like they would never stop. So we didn't either. We fought until we were dead tired. And then we retreated. We found a large damp cave to stay in.
We made a fire and huddled around it. Daisy cursed. "@$#$#@. Smithy probably didn't want you to get out of this illusion. What are we going to do?"
I looked at her. Her face glowed in the firelight. Even though not real, she was beautiful. Smithy had really captured her personality and looks. I sighed. "Well, I guess, somehow we'll have to outsmart them." I stopped. I heard a faint noise. It sounded like... nibbling...
"What is that?" Daisy asked. It was getting louder now, and it seemed to be coming from outside.
CRUNCH! A fang poked in through the cave wall. "EEK!" Peach screamed. With dawning horror, I realized where we were. In The Gloombas' Cave...
Chapter Twenty-Eight:The Inferno
MEWTWO90
II looked at the beast that stood before us, that was once Bowser. It roared, shaking the entire castle. "GWA-HA-HA-HA! I WILL RIP OUT YOUR HEARTS AND ROAST THEM!!! GWA-HA-HA-HA!!!" Bowser took a deep breath and a vortex of fire formed in his mouth.
"MOVE!" Slimer49'r tackled me out of the way. FWWOOOMMM!!! A large blast of fire was produced, and torched the floor and a wall.
"Are you nuts?" Slimer49'r raised his Bill Blaster and pointed it at Bowser. "EAT THIS!!!"
BOOOM!!! Bowser stumbled, but then grinned, and swiped a claw at him. Slimer jumped over it but was smacked down by Bowser's tail. I focused my mental powers. "STUPIFY!" A wave of red light smashed Bowser and sent him toppling over. SHWOOP!!! In a flash, Bowser was up, and had leaped in the air.
CRUSHHH!!! The floor colapsed from under us, and we fell down into the second floor. Mushroomers screamed and fled the castle. Bowser flew down and inhaled, preparing for another Inferno attack. Bow slashed at Bowser's neck with her fans. Bowser roared in pain and swatted her out of the air.
"Possess!" I took over Bowser's mind, and led him over to Slimer. "Slimer, attack him now!!!" I shouted at him in mental talk. Slimer raised his Bullet Bill Blaster to a gunpoint and then- SNAP! Bowser broke hold of my control, and backhanded Slimer. He coughed up blood.
"@##$. Mewtwo90, try to hold him again!" I focused my power, but Bowser spun around faster than lightning and clawed me in the face.
"Auugh!!!" I grit my teeth. "Bow, distract him!" I just dodged as a claw stuck the place I was just a second ago.
Bow spun around faster and faster. "Fan Tornado!" A gust of spinning wind forced Bowser into a wall. Slimer49'r took out his sword and slashed his belly, but Bowser's shell was too strong, and the sword blow only angered Bowser. He raised his hand and the room started to melt.
"What kind of sorcery is this?!" I looked around. A blast of dark energy knocked me over. It had come from Bowser. "ARRGH!" I screamed and then looked at my surroundings. We were in an underground cavern on a circular platform. Below us there was lava everywhere.
"GWA-HA-HA-HA!!! DO YOU LIKE MY LAIR?! THIS IS MY PRIVATE ARENA!!" Bowser laughed maniacally as lava bubbled around us and he closed in for the kill...