By Mario Fan
Author's Note: An appendix for this
volume can be found here.
Click the link to open the appendix in a new window. You can then browse
through it at your leisure without losing your place in the story.
Chapter Eighteen: Form of the Shadow
Star Hill, Mushroom Kingdom
Each volley from the primary weapons of the Indomitable careened off the surface of the massive doomship that loomed over it, even as most of them were intercepted by counter flares before they reached their target. Rising bursts of fire broke through the clouds of the early morning and set layers of thick smoke and debris crashing into the mist that covered the mountain.
“Our guns aren’t even making a dent!” Admiral Enoki said. His face betrayed no emotions as he viewed the battle from the bridge. “Any word from the Striker?”
Standing sullenly beside him, General Spore shook his head. “The reconnaissance ships aren’t reporting in either, and we don’t know which direction the Skullbasher came in from. They could’ve already been destroyed.”
“Of course we wouldn’t know with chaos exploding all around us. Our sensors aren’t picking up anything past the constant bombing, and our shield levels are decreasing faster than we can recharge them.”
The general looked away for a moment, contemplating the destruction that had once been certain victory. “If there aren’t any options left, then order an immediate retreat. We can’t do anything more for Lieutenant Tank and the Nimbians. Our best chance for a counterattack is salvaging what’s left of the fleet.”
“Agreed,” said Enoki, and he turned to give the command.
~*~*~*~
“They’ve stopped firing, sir. All power sources are being poured back into the aft shields.”
Prince Morton, Jr. listened to the words of the Skullbasher’s senior officer with half-hearted interest. Even though he was by far the most bloodthirsty and reckless of his siblings- a true testament to King Bowser’s predecessor- the massive Koopaling held a greater love for food. Images of bloody red meat, rotten Dino Rhino flanks, and other primitive delicacies consumed his thoughts.
“We’ll worry about that later,” Morton said, and waved an arm to dismiss the concern. “Right now, I’m thinking we need some brain food. It feels like a raw kipper night.”
Captain Moribond, a chubby Heavy Troopa prone to lying around, wheezed and coughed as he flipped through a pad of charts. Already bulging, his large eyes grew more prominent as he looked over the last page.
“It seems, sir, that the kipper stores have been consumed completely. There’s none left to be had.”
“What?!” Morton screamed, and scrambled off his seat. The weight of his immense body caused the metallic floor panels to creak and groan. “This is the first time I’ve asked to eat them in two days! Who ordered the last barrelful?”
“According to this record, Your Highness,” the captain continued, “it was a Private Harris, Second Class Goomba recruit.”
Morton sighed and snapped his fingers. Within another five minutes, two steel-faced Terrapin dragged in a screaming Goomba.
“No, for the love of mercy, don’t! Ahhgggh!!!”
“Private Harris,” Morton growled, craning his neck to look down at the soldier, “who cleared the order to consume an entire barrel of kippers?”
“Well, since you’d not eaten many, and, well, I was hungry and… um… Please don’t eat me!”
“Oh, but I don’t want to eat you, Private Harris,” the Koopaling said, and grinned. “Have you- if I may put it so roughly- deposited the kipper leftovers yet?”
“Have I… deposited the leftovers?” Harris stuttered, suddenly realizing something. “Oh, no, sir. It was only last night that I had them. They were quite good, too.”
“I’ll be the judge of that. Take him to the brig and extract whatever remains of my royal supply of kippers. You can throw his corpse to my Poochies.”
“No!” the Goomba shouted, writhing terribly as he was carried off. “Please have pity! Please!!!”
After the door to the bridge shut again, all the crewmembers recognized the lack of sound as their own silence and hurriedly went back to work. Once order had been restored, Morton took his seat again near the command console and scanned the ruined battleground below.
“Looks like we cleaned their clocks. There still might be a few left down there, though, so what are we waiting for? Let’s drop some bombs, do some damage!”
“Sir, perhaps we should hold off on that,” Captain Moribond said, and held out a piece of paper. “Just reported: the jamming beacon Bowser’s forces set up has been knocked out. We’ll be able to contact General Kanaye now.”
“Kanaye… sounds like one of those Ninjas carried over from Smithy’s factory. Dad never had much love for them either, but Kamek insisted we use their powers to our own benefit. Very well! Put me through.”
“Yes, sir, immediately.”
Morton growled and activated a set of buttons on the left arm of his command chair, fuming as a visual screen flipped out and tilted itself upright before him. Crackling and fizzing, the image eventually formed into the black veil that all the Ninjas wore. It was common knowledge that they only allowed each other to see their true features, and even that was a rare occurrence.
“We apologize for any inconvenience the jamming array might have caused,” Kanaye said. “I have lost all of my aerial strike force and most of my infantry soldiers, including their commander. Admittedly, it is possible that some may still be in the chaos of the battlefield, though I’m only promising the few hundred of us who made our way back to the isthmus beyond Marrymore.”
“A predictable loss, General,” said Captain Moribond. “You and your men performed admirably.”
The Heavy Troopa backed away after receiving a menacing glare from Morton. “What of the Mushroomers, Kanaye? Are any of them still living?”
“If a few were fortunate enough to survive the bombardment, then they would be so sparse as to not trouble the contingency I have left to me. We shall deal with them soon enough. I suggest you use the Skullbasher to pursue the two enemy airships that retreated, instead.”
“Obviously,” said Morton, trying to withhold a snarl. He hated being told what to do, especially from lower-ranking soldiers. “You need not worry yourself with us, General. We are more than able to deal with those you let get away.”
“Understood, sir,” the Ninja said dryly, and cut off.
“That rag-headed idiot thinks he knows more than me!” Morton screamed, ranting down the length of the bridge. He strangled one petty officer on a whim and threw the corpse against a stack of crates. “Captain! Turn the ship around this instant. We’ll blow the Mushroomer airships out of the sky, and then I’ll deal with the pathetic Ninja.”
“We will have them before the break of dawn, sir.”
~*~*~*~
“I won’t lie to you, boys,” Lieutenant Tank said. “Our position is grim.”
The near five-hundred soldiers who had survived the aerial onslaught of the Skullbasher sat huddled under a fire-blasted outcropping. Twisting and weaving through the air in patterns that cast wide shadows over the blue earth, dusty haze from the impact of heavy artillery pressed in close around them. What was once the most stunning place in the Mushroom Kingdom now seemed as wasted and toxic as Dark Land.
“You don’t have to tell us, believe me,” said Mallow as he sat wearily beside the lieutenant. “Only five of my fellow Nimbians survived. I don’t even think the doomship bothered with picking its targets. It looked like most of the enemy Paratroopas were wiped out, as well.”
“There’s something I can’t understand,” Luigi said, still pacing nearby as he had been for the past hour. “If Bowser and all his doomships were leaving for Kooparian, then whose is the ship that ambushed us?”
“The answer is far more simple than we’d like to think,” said the Nimbian prince. “Only the Koopalings have more of those cursed vessels. It could only mean they’ve reconciled with their father and united the Koopas under one banner.”
“Now that’s an apocalypse I can believe in more readily than some Breaking of the World,” Tank said gruffly. He pulled a bottle of whiskey from his belt and drank two mouthfuls. “I can’t imagine anything worse.”
“The destruction of Plit itself,” Rezan said softly, turning away.
Luigi covered the distance between himself and the reptile in the blink of an eye. Before anyone could hold him back, he had wrapped both his hands around Rezan’s neck and began shouting in a half-crazed voice.
“I’m fed up with all this mystical jargon! You know something you’re not letting on, and whatever it is, it’s way past time to tell us. Our kingdom has been ruined, the most evil tyrant this planet has ever bred is now more powerful than we could’ve imagined, and signs are pointing towards something even worse coming over the horizon. We want answers, and you’re going to give them to us now!”
Rezan’s mouth curled up a snarl, but as soon as he started to struggle against Luigi’s grip, he let himself relax. “I apologize. You are absolutely right. It is time.”
“What?” Luigi said, blood still rushing to his head. “You mean you have known something all along?”
“In my own limited way, yes,” said the Reznoth, rising. “Let me start by saying that the Reznoth as a species have been extinct for over one-thousand years. They were enslaved by the Koopas in the Origin Wars, an epic struggle that is known only through legend today.”
“When the Star Spirits first created the Mushroomers and Koopas, they each dominated half of Plit,” Mallow interjected. “Yes, I’ve heard that. The old verses also say the war was started over basic racial differences, the age-defying feelings of superiority. It’s what led to the uneasy peace between the two groups that led to the breakdown of diplomacy in Peach’s father’s time. Any person as crazed and bloodthirsty as King Morton would’ve been able to make a mess of it like he did.”
“Wait, wait!” said Luigi, frustrated. “That doesn’t explain how you could be a Reznoth when none of them have lived for a millennium.”
“As you might expect, I’m not one,” said Rezan, “or at least in the sense you think. You’ll have to follow me closely on this one. When I died a slave to the wasted purposes of the Koopas and Mushroomers during the Origin War, I worked my way up to the position of a Star Warrior in the afterlife. The one you knew as Geno during Smithy’s invasion was such an entity, able to pass back and forth through the metaphysical and physical worlds as easily as entering a house.”
“So you’ve had access to the minds of our guardians and have let us die in our ignorance?” Luigi asked, fighting back rage. “How could you?! How could the Star Spirits abandon us now?”
“They didn’t. You must understand that I left the ranks of Star Haven hundreds of years ago, torn between my love of Plit and the misery its people brought down upon themselves. I could not wait idly by while the Star Spirits awaited their creations’ ability to make peace over decades of death and suffering. So, in a simple act of disobedience, I was forever barred from entering Star Haven, sentenced to walk the lands of this planet in the body of a mortal, but without the final comfort of mortality.”
“You mean that you can bleed and endure pain like us, but it’ll never kill you?” Mallow asked.
“Never,” said Rezan, nodding. “It is a fate worse than any you can imagine. I realized that the disappearance of my own race would make me an incomprehensible anomaly in the eyes of all I might encounter, so I banished myself to the island my people once called home. There I waited until one day Eldstar approached me and told me that I might redeem myself by leading you mortals through the third and final rise of Doomstar.”
“Doomstar?” Tank said. “What in the world is that?”
“Only the Magikoopas and Shamans know him well,” said Rezan, his voice suddenly low and fearful. “He is the Enemy of Creation, the Fallen Star Spirit who has waited with jealous hatred of his brothers and sisters’ people. Two times since the beginning of Plit he has tried to obliterate the planet and its races, and in both cases he failed. Eldstar was warning me of the final chance that was upcoming, and that it would mean the Star Spirits could not interfere. It would be a conflict between a dark god and mere men, with almost no hope of surviving- the ultimate test of fate. To my great shame, I refused him initially. Only recently did I realize I had no choice but to help, but now I cannot keep from thinking it might be too late. It’s why I never said anything to any of you. Deep inside of me, I thought it might only give you false hope.”
“Then why come to our aid at all?” asked Luigi, deathly sober.
“As a judgment on myself, that I might suffer the same destiny as those I left to their demise. Sort of an end-all satisfaction of my lingering guilt.”
“Is there nothing we can do?” Mallow said. “Is this the end, then?”
“No, it isn’t,” Rezan said. “I have renewed faith in the chance of Plitians, and it has been growing ever since I arrived here. My problem has always been impatience, thoughts of regret that I can’t solve everything right away. All these years I’ve neglected the ability of every man and woman to contribute to the greater good, and I’ve forgotten to trust in the assurances of the Star Spirits. Even if things seem hopeless and pointless to us, that doesn’t mean others aren’t fulfilling their part in the larger scene, all working together and independently to push back the shadows that threaten to consume us. Our job, then, is not to despair, but to face whatever forces stand against us and topple them no matter what the risks. It is up to us to stop that doomship before it destroys the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom.”
“He’s right!” Mallow said, standing up. “After it picks off the rest of the fleet, it’ll just go to Nimbus Land and kill my friends and family, too. This is the opportunity to make our stand. We might all live a little longer if we wait here until the storm blows over, but not without regretting it the rest of our lives.”
“I have a plan, then,” said Luigi. “Rezan, Mallow, and I will take what’s left of the Nimbian cloud transports and infiltrate the doomship. That’s going to be our best chance of disabling it long enough for our airships to escape. Lieutenant Tank and the remnant of our forces will charge down the hill, plowing through what soldiers the Koopas have left, and take the ships anchored along the isthmus. They should be unharmed and ready to set sail.”
“Now we’re talking!” Lieutenant Tank roared, and stormed down the hill a ways to address the troops. “Ok, men, wake up! Rise and shine to the smog of a new day! We’re barging down the gates of the Inferno, boys, and nothing’s going to get in our way!”
~*~*~*~
The Breaking Shrine
When Mario opened his eyes he was sitting at the end of a long and elaborately ornamented dinner table. The streaming confusion of his subconscious prevented him from recognizing it at first, but as he began to piece together the familiar cloth and plates set carefully before all the many chairs, he knew he was waiting again in the Dining Hall of the Royal Mushroom Castle.
“Good, good, the final guest is awake,” a strange voice said.
The golden candelabras suspended down the center of the ceiling suddenly dimmed. After another minute of complete silence, bright light flooded the room and revealed many others all seated at the same table. Mario immediately caught a glimpse of Bowser, Kamek, Kolorado, and Goombella. There was a teal-skinned Yoshi, as well, and an Armored Ant, but he couldn’t recall either of their faces.
“For the last time, what happened to my troops?” Bowser roared, struggling against transparent bonds. “Even that dumb changeling isn’t here!”
“A moment please, Your Highness,” the voice spoke again, and soon there appeared a figure draped in flowing black shrouds. Nothing of his limbs or hands could be seen, and if anything ever embodied the intangible touch of death, it was the form now walking calmly towards them. “All will be explained in good time.”
“I’ll burst the bubble, then,” Kamek said, nothing but patience and indifference on the outside. “We’re in the Breaking Shrine, as foretold by the prophecy. I’m not sure who our delightful host is, but I’m betting he’s connected to Zarith.”
“That creepy Magikoopa I sent off with Kanaye?” Bowser asked. “Why didn’t you tell me that before I put him in charge of my navy?!”
“No need to, sir. Kammy, Vermik, and I dispatched of him before leaving to catch up with the fleet. For some reason, we’d ruined whatever plans he’d hoped to fulfill in marching on the Mushroom Kingdom. Perhaps this intriguing wraith can answer a few of our questions.”
Everyone else in the room had been silent while the two well-known villains talked unafraid. Most of them had a fair idea where they were, but a certain Koopa with a mustache was too upset not to issue a complaint.
“Would someone please just explain to me what’s going on?” Kolorado ranted. “I thought this was a treasure vault!”
“There is certainly an explanation in order,” said Shogun icily. “None of these people entered the altar alongside me, and the scrolls promised me the power to defend my race.”
“Very well,” said their host, walking behind one row of seats as he spoke. “You have all passed into a sort of physical crossover, a realm half into the plane of mortality and the timeless world beyond. After King Koopa here was thwarted in his attempt to rule the world using the Star Rod, the path to the heavens on Shooting Star Summit was closed forever. Even the Star Spirits simply couldn’t risk another invasion.”
“Misstar,” Ryok muttered. “You mean she was real?”
"Eh?” Kolorado interrupted. "You mean that wasn’t a flying starfish?!"
“In any case,” the dark figure continued, “the closing of Star Way made this shrine the only option for entities wishing to escape from one realm into the other without the aid of the Star Spirits. It was this fact that made Doomstar, as you know him, convinced the Breaking Shrine was his last hope for wresting back his rightful control from the guardians and ruling Plit.”
“So why the patience and the catastrophes and the bother of the prophecy?” asked Kamek. “I can understand it as a ruse to attract us here, but what part do we unwillingly play?”
“The Breaking Shrine was actually created by Doomstar before he fell from grace and was until recently unknown even to the Star Spirits. They considered the scrolls left by his old worshippers to be fallacious myths created in the minds of the Magikoopas in order to control their numbers.”
“As did I,” Kamek said, nodding. “I’d actually doubted Doomstar’s existence until Zarith reappeared. I knew no mortal would have found the power to resurrect him.”
“Too bad you didn’t figure it out sooner,” their host continued. “As I was saying, so that the Star Spirits would be blinded from its location, Doomstar made the shrine dependent on both realms so that it would be part of neither. It was simply further precaution that led him to divide it into four locations.”
“So then these people must be the ones your scrolls led to the other three altars,” Kamek surmised. “Brilliant, yes, but why are we here? If the transaction was completed after centuries of careful plotting, then shouldn’t Doomstar already be in charge?”
“He is, in a sense. The Star Spirits have been overthrown, and Star Haven is now under his command. There only remains a few hours until he can extract himself fully from the immortal realm and into his chosen form on Plit. It is the one of two left from the four demons he has sent to the planet and the only one which was not purposely put there as a decoy. The other was Zarith, and though none of you realize it, he is the one who identified you all long before he revealed himself. I sent him to battle you, Kamek, after I silently deprived him of my own powers, but the coward ran away once he realized my treachery. It was your senseless rambling that clued him in, so to speak, and you will receive a special death for the labor you have caused me.”
“I could have told you that,” said Kamek happily. “Zarith was executed by the Guild for betraying our base of operations to King Morton. Fortunately, I was already deeply entrenched in the Koopa Empire’s trust as a saboteur, so shifting roles was nothing more than a change of conscience.”
“It is no matter,” said the figure. “He and the other demons were physical representations of what energy we could seep through, all distracters from the main flow of power we could crossover into Plit without being noticed.”
“It can’t be true!” Goombella shouted. “The Star Spirits won’t allow it!”
“They are no more, my flower,” said the figure, and he was suddenly at her side, running a fog-like hand through her hair. “It is over.”
“You still haven’t answered Kamek’s question!” Mario said, finally fed up with what he considered to be obvious lies. “If this plan is so foolproof, then why just leave us on Plit to suffer Doomstar’s wrath?”
“Ah, now we come to it,” said their host, seeming to grow darker as he spoke. “After the second fall of my master, the Star Spirits gave seven bloodlines their own powers, to be awakened only if Doomstar were to someday rise again. Before I banished him to Plit as a mortal, Zarith found the seven of you through years of research. It has taken even more anguish to set up events that would lead you here, but you must realize that we work in mysterious ways. More came than we bargained for, of course, but they were simply not allowed entry. Vermik and all the others who are not with us are quite safe, for now, lying unconscious back on Plit outside of the altars. But now that all seven of you ‘Chosen Ones’ are trapped here with me, there is no longer any hope for Plit or its people.”
“Then will you at least tell us who you are?” Kamek asked, his voice dry.
“The Executioner,” said the figure. “Soon the meaning of my name will become more apparent, but for now, let us witness the last fall of your armies. Doomstar will very soon have enough strength to show them the meaning of agony.”
An opaque image of the battle at Star Hill appeared before them, playing out all the disastrous stages of the conflict. Only Mario seemed disinterested, staring blankly past the pictures of war as if something greater was on his mind.
How does that human remain so calm even now, when I see nothing that can be done to stop this madness? Kamek thought in frustration. There is something else, something that I do not sense. Mario may yet see a way to win!
~*~*~*~
Star Hill, Mushroom Kingdom
“This place is so boring!” a low-ranking Goomba complained.
He was standing guard on one of the many insignificant passages that ran chaotically through the Skullbasher, and had been doing so for more than eight hours. Needless to say, when one has nobody to talk to and nothing of any importance to do for that long, he becomes a little crazy. Nothing had prepared him for the whistling explosion that sounded right behind him, though.
Struggling for breath, the soldier picked himself off of the debris-covered floor and looked up to see several Nimbians, Luigi, and some reptilian mutant leaping through a gaping tear in the hull. Instead of challenging them to a fight, he thought it might be best to pass out.
“Ok, men, we have to do this as quickly and silently as possible,” Prince Mallow said to the three Nimbian soldiers who had accompanied them. “Major, you’re a technical specialist, right?”
“Trained and at your command, sir!”
“Then you’ll lead this little infiltration party. Corporals,” Mallow acknowledged the remaining warriors, “protect the major at all costs. He’s our one hope of getting to the bridge without blowing our cover.”
The two Nimbians nodded and brought their battle staffs up defensively around the technical officer. Impressed with the show of discipline, Luigi flashed a grin at his old friend and waved a hand forward. Rezan waited patiently until all of them had begun their course down the hallway, content with bringing up the rear.
As they moved rapidly through the upper corners of the doomship, they occasionally met a few small groups of guards. None of them consisted of more than one or two Terrapin, though, and were easily dispatched. Thanks to their initial landing zone, they had entered the ship fairly close to the bridge and arrived outside the main transport room that would carry them all the way to the top.
“Spread out!” Mallow called.
The warriors lay flat along the metallic, rounded surface of the elevator hatch. For a minute, Luigi thought Mallow was being paranoid, but a quick glance at the level indicator above the double-door entrance confirmed otherwise. When a mechanical bell rang, they knew someone had stopped at the floor they were on.
“No matter what comes through that door,” Mallow said breathlessly, “we must terminate it as quickly as possible. Any slip-up now might cost us the battle!”
Thin and wavering, the tension in the air could be felt as the elevator rang once more and opened up onto the bare hallway. A white-coated Koopa technician with a flat datapad stepped out, followed by a flank of three heavily armored Terrapin. The Nimbians moved faster than Luigi could track them and snapped the necks of all the guards with the sharp fluttering thuds of their weapons.
Snarling, Rezan moved in and brought out a long hunting knife lengthwise across the remaining Koopa’s throat. “If you scream, I will kill you.”
“I’m only a man of science!” whimpered the technician. “I’ll do anything you ask!”
“Oh, lighten up,” said Luigi, scowling. “It’s cowards like you that give intellectuals a bad name.”
“We want inconspicuous access to the bridge,” Mallow said grimly. “You’re no use to us if you can’t offer any aid, but I swear, if you double-cross us, it’ll be your head.”
“Here, take this keycard,” the Koopa stuttered, offering them a flat object. “It will command the elevator to take an alternate path and leads to an observation deck in a room adjacent to the bridge. Because of its frequent use by Prince Morton, the primary sensors don’t pick it up.”
“Did you say Prince Morton?” Luigi asked. “Then it’s true. The Koopalings have teamed up with their father.”
“You can’t hope to win,” the scientist said, frightened. “He is almost as massive as King Koopa and twice as vicious. There is no sympathy in that… that creature!”
“There are other alternatives to fighting,” Rezan said in a dull whisper. He removed his blade from the Koopa’s jugular.
The Nimbians trained their staffs on the technician until the elevator doors finally closed, concealing them within. Not one to bet on the underdog, the Koopa straightened his nerves out and slid another secret keycard through the control console of the transport. For the first time that day, he even allowed himself a self-satisfied little smirk.
In the elevator, Luigi stood uncomfortably as rows of clamping machinery and blaring lights passed them quickly by. Rezan and the Nimbian soldiers had their eyes glued to the door, ready and waiting for whatever might be awaiting them on the other side.
“Mallow, you do realize trusting that worm might have sealed our doom,” said the human, unable to relax.
“Maybe,” said the Nimbian, nodding. He looked around. “We don’t have much of a choice now, though, do we?”
~*~*~*~
“Sir, we have an incoming Emergency Code 132.4 coming in from Deck 12!”
Captain Moribond tore his view away from the rolling horizon before him and turned back to Morton, Jr., who was eagerly nosing through a rotten plate of mutton. Apparently the Koopaling wasn’t aware of the code’s meaning, as everyone else on the bridge was running around in a panic.
“Order, order!” the captain shouted, making his way to the command chair. “Sir, we’ve received word of infiltrators. They’re making their way up the observation transport passage.”
Morton gawked and spat up a chunk of half-digested meat. “What?! Only I’m allowed use of that corridor! Heads are gonna roll for this!”
“You don’t understand, sir,” continued Moribond. “The code signifies the transport as a deceitful detour for invaders. We must converge on the other end immediately, and once the sneaky rats who stole aboard emerge, we shall crush them utterly!”
Morton snapped to attention, rose from his seat, and jabbed a crooked knife into the slimy tendons of his uneaten meal. Bits of the salty grime dripped putridly from his blackened teeth, but he quickly wiped away the excess.
“An all-out attack, huh?” the Koopaling mused. “Now that’s more like it! Gather all the Terrapin you can find, arm ‘em with the body shields, and get them up here posthaste. Whoever was brave enough to use my personal elevator won’t stand a chance in the Inferno!”
The bridge was a flood of activity for the next minute, and soon a formation of ten shielded soldiers were positioned around the exit of the transport, their swords out and ready for anything. Captain Moribond and Morton, Jr. stood easily behind them, preferring to watch the bloodbath from afar.
As the level indicator flashed in warning, the captain raised a hand. “Here they come!”
When the doors slid open, the soldiers rushed in blindly and began slashing at everything in sight. Only after one Terrapin lay mortally wounded did everyone realize the elevator was empty. Captain Moribond stepped forward, fuming with red anger, and crushed the throat of the wounded warrior.
“You idiots! Sir, they aren’t here!”
“Quickly, find out who sent that code!” Morton bellowed. “At least someone will face the black face of Death for this outrage.”
Before anyone could respond, a metal sphere dropped from the roof of the transport and landed clattered among the throng of Terrapin. Jet-gray smoke hissed out of it and blinded the soldiers instantly, burning their eyes and exposed skin. Faltering, Captain Moribond almost fell over as the haze cleared and three Nimbians darted out of the confusion with their weapons drawn.
“Guards! Guards! Somebody do something!”
The captain engaged one of the Nimbians while the other two rushed Morton himself, hefting both of their heavy staffs back for a bone-breaking offensive. Even though they were more skilled, Morton’s stature allowed him to crush the skulls of the two warriors with a blunt swipe from each of his hands.
Overweight and out of training, Captain Moribond faired less successfully and lay dead on the floor in another minute, a thick trail of black blood oozing out of his frozen face. The victorious Nimbian hadn’t even broke a sweat, but both he and Morton knew the Koopaling was more than a match for him.
“I don’t know how you three got in here, but I applaud the effort,” Morton growled, feigning appreciation with a few sharp claps from his large hands. “There is, however, the problem of your breaking ship rules. Trust me, this’ll hurt you far, far worse than it’ll hurt me.”
Morton’s tirade was interrupted when three silhouettes stepped out of the foggy dimness of the smoke rising from the elevator. Fear shone across his face for an instant when he recognized Luigi and Prince Mallow in the group, but Rezan wasn’t exactly something to pass off either.
“That explains it, then,” said the Koopaling, and in a moment had wrapped one massive arm around the distracted soldier’s neck. “Back off or he’ll have more breathing space than any man would want!”
“You can’t escape this time, Morton,” Luigi said calmly, gesturing with a hand to Rezan as he locked down all access to the bridge. “Ludwig or one of your smarter brothers would’ve run a tighter ship. That’s what happens when you focus too closely on attack and not defense.”
“Your lectures bore me,” said the Koopaling, eyes gleaming like blood in moonlight before he ripped the captured Nimbian’s neck open.
Coughing and gurgling as life rapidly seeped out of him, the brave soldier was a corpse before he hit the ground. Mallow let out an uncharacteristic curse and gripped his own staff with a murderous strength.
“You and me, then, Morton,” said the Nimbian prince, raising his weapon with a frightening solemnity. “Only two wills against each other, the stronger over the weaker.”
“Don’t do it, Mallow,” said Luigi, the sounds of soldiers trying to break into the bridge punctuating his words. “We’ve got a job to do. Let’s take him together!”
The Nimbian was beyond counsel, though, and immediately set about his attack, lunging and parrying furiously with his staff. Morton yanked out a crude battle sword and blocked the first few desperate blows easily, relishing in the heat of the conflict. However well-trained Mallow was with his staff, the Koopaling’s overpowering weight slowly weighed down on the prince’s strength, battering away at his resolve pound by pound.
“Rezan! Help him!” Luigi shouted, and the reptile leapt into action with his glop gun charging. “The joy-luck club’s going to break through any minute. I’ll get word to the admiral to begin his counterattack!”
Mallow was forced back, breathing raggedly, after Morton’s next blow, but Rezan was there in an instant to pick up the attack. After dodging a couple of wide swings from the Koopaling’s sword, he lifting his glop gun and fired it directly into Morton’s face. Screaming and clawing the purple goops off of his head, the Koopa flailed backwards into a stack of technical supplies and made a sparkling, crackling mess.
“Bar the door, Mallow,” Luigi ordered, typing frantically on one of the many keyboards lined up across the command consoles. “I sent the encoded message. The Indomitable should arrive soon!”
The bruised Nimbian wiped a trail of blood away from his eyes and discarded Luigi’s broken words as quickly as they’d come. Though he’d kept it hidden from all involved in the mission, the last Nimbian who Morton had slaughtered had been his best friend after reuniting with his parents.
He was a fierce fighter, but the boy only wanted to serve his stint in the army and continue his apprenticeship under Garro. Now none of his aspirations would be reached, all stolen by the hand of Fate that had strangled the life out of so many. The young prince thought that if he could just avenge his fallen friend and strike back at the cruel inevitability symbolized by the hulking beast before him, then he might grab back a part of the hope that he’d sacrificed in his last visit to Nimbus Land.
“Ah, so the little orphan runt has some guts left to spare!” Morton guffawed, lacerations and frayed metal bits ripped all along his flesh. “What you see is merely the outer casing of my might, boy. I’ll make you watch as I take the first bite out of your innards!”
“No matter how strong you are, nothing of that means anything. You’re only the sum of nothing, the muscle without the purpose,” said Mallow bitterly. “This is why you will fail.”
His face screwed up in blind anger for a moment, Morton almost appeared to be struck by the truth in the words of his opponent. Whatever pain he felt, though, was soon thrown off and replaced by the same mindless drive to obliterate that fueled all of his life. Roaring, groaning in the sharp fire of his wounds, the Koopaling charged with his sword brought up and falling downward.
Mallow closed his eyes, calm, serene, and opened them with a fury never known to him since the moment of his birth. Frowning, the Koopaling shot his eyes open and bellowed as the metallic plating beneath him hefted upwards under the weight of a ripping quake and sent him spiraling against a wall.
“Leave him, Mal-” Luigi began to say, but then saw that the Nimbian seemed to have things under control. Before he could amend his warning, a flashing light beamed on the top of the communications console. “The cavalry is here! The Indomitable and Strikerare almost in firing range!”
“No!” Morton snarled and lifted himself up from the wreckage of twisted plaster and wiring. “You will not take my ship from me!”
Heaving his sword high above his head, Morton brought it crashing full-tilt against the thinning length of Mallow’s staff and pressed down with all his considerable power. With his feet gradually slipping from their weak grip on the floor, Mallow resisted failingly for a few moments before an unexplainable strength ground itself into his arms and legs. Something more horribly controlling than anything he could imagine was lending the potency of the worsening weather to his body.
Morton’s attack weakened as he saw a flaming blue aura surround the Nimbian and lift up through the air, glittering like glass caught in the sun. Halted by the freezing change surrounding him, the Koopaling screamed painfully when jagged blocks of ice began forming around his arms and crept up to meet his shoulders.
“You little freak! What have you done to me?!”
The massive beast flexed the muscles rippling along his body and finally shattered the glacial bonds into a million scattering pieces. His arms were still blue and black as they warmed up, but the pain was not great enough to prevent him from charging for a merciless tackle into his Nimbian opponent.
Distracted by the effort needed to summon the elemental magic, Mallow succumbed easily to the blow and was sent skidding across the floor, numbness washing over his paralyzed frame. He tilted his head over and saw that his left arm had been slashed by one of Morton’s claws and was now recognizable only as a mangled clump of white flesh and ligaments wrapped loosely around fragments of bone.
“Grandfather,” he muttered in a daze, slowly losing grip with reality. “Help me…”
“Mallow!” Luigi screamed and rushed from helping Rezan to aid his friend.
Morton stood bleeding and breathing brokenly aside, too battered to stop the human. “You can’t help him, Mushroomer-lover. That arm’s as good as mud, and it’ll get infected soon enough. All Koopas of the Royal bloodline have toxins infused in their claws if a wound is deep enough. I’d say I hit pay dirt.”
Struggling with the chaos of the moment, Luigi rose uneasily to his feet and prepared to give his all in a final struggle with the Koopaling. Before his mind could even wrap itself around the idea, though, a moan louder and more terrible than all the Dino Rhinos on Plit combined in one bellowing mass tore through the bridge and shattered all the windows around them. Cold air from the upper layers of the sky rushed and howled through all around them, sucking out loose items and ejecting them towards the ocean below.
Morton was grasping weakly to a welded bulkhead when a massive, night-black tentacle slithered through an opening in the hull and batted him off. He screamed in untainted terror as the ship whined and cracked under the strain, falling relentless towards the ground as if under the influence of some inescapable gravity. It was only when he found himself staring into the maw of a giant Blooper’s face that Luigi realized what had brought them down.
The rest of the roof was ripped off by the many flailing appendages of the monster, and the human could see their two airships hovering meekly in the sky above, paling in comparison to the demonic force now confronting them. Rezan and Mallow lay unmoving to either side of him, and he could only watch in deadening confusion as Morton was pulled from his ship and thrown casually into the grating teeth of the Blooper.
“Stars Above, what have you unleashed?” Luigi mumbled, wavering on the edge of sanity.
~*~*~*~
“By the Spores of Mushroomia, what is that thing?” Admiral Enoki said helplessly.
“Whatever it is, we’ll blast it out of the sea,” said General Spore, grinding his teeth. “Remember, our boys might still be alive down there!”
“Right,” Enoki nodded, his face gone white. “Primary weapons, fire!”
Flashes of intense light exploded from the tip of the Indomitable and illuminated the sky around the Striker in a dizzying conflagration of flames and sound. The full weight of the beams landed with an earth-shattering rumble against the gnarled image of the demon Blooper. Writhing, moaning under the power of the fire, it persisted even as the smoke lifted and revealed the devastated scene below.
“What sorcery is this?!” Spore barely managed to get out, hands gripped tightly on the console before him. “Sensors!”
“All vitals remain, sir,” said one of the detection officers, blank-faced. “It’s like the blast didn’t even affect it.”
The ship was rocked to its core as five immense tentacles wrapped tightly around the outer hull, already starting to pull the Indomitable towards a watery grave. All booster rockets were snapped online, but nothing seemed to overpower the godlike wrath of the nightmare creature.
“What now, General?” asked Enoki, eyes glued to the paralyzing scene below.
“Pray, gentleman,” Spore said, turning to face the bridge. “There’s nothing else we can do.”
~*~*~*~
The Breaking Shrine
“See the power of Doomstar, God of Plit, and beg his mercy!” the Executioner quavered, dropping to whatever knees he had.
The image of the coiling Blooper filled a wall of the dining room as all its ornate edges expanded before the eyes of the chosen.
“Oh, dear, what a sorry spot this is!” Kolorado said, ever the master of understatement.
“For Stars’ sake, Mario!” Kamek screamed, no longer able to contain himself. “We’re going to die! Whatever you have in mind, do it quickly!”
The human nodded with heroic determination and closed his eyes, face slowly relaxing into a serenity unmatched by anything the Magikoopa had ever seen. Gradually a glowing light formed around him and sent brightening blue flames over the length of his body, lifting him still calm and unaware over the heads of the other six.
Kamek searched the fields of warm energy radiating from the human with all his might but couldn’t detect anything until a scattered image of Eldstar appeared over his head. Every piece of the meaning behind the image filled his mind at once, flooding him with a renewed and rising hope.
Of course! thought Kamek, restraining a grin. The Executioner said that the chosen bloodlines would be given the powers of the seven Star Spirits in their darkest hour of need. Mario acquired Eldstar’s energy, which is able to float spiritually through realms without having any physical presence. Even though the Breaking Shrine stops such movement from its own realm to Plit, Mario was able to call on the Guardian from wherever he has been banished to by Doomstar!
As the demon who held them captive still thrashed in the passionate violence of his worship, the other chosen mortals of Plit watched in stunned silence as the Star Spirit’s ethereal form fused into Mario’s body and filled him with a lasting and more powerful flame. Tendrils of the yellow luminance brushed over his flesh and clothes and made him appear higher than all the world despite the fact that he was only a plumber.
“Executioner!” Mario called, but his voice was melded with the Guardian’s and forceful beyond resistance. “You’ve made your biggest mistake, but I only realized it because of your words.”
“What?!” the figure snarled, turning around with his face now registering shock at the scene before him. “How did you… Eldstar!”
“He is in me, the Guardian chosen for my bloodline, just like you said,” Mario said, grinning. “You and your god forgot that his skills include sending and directing the souls of people and even himself across different planes, like when he came to help me after Bowser defeated us with the Star Road, even though Eldstar and all the other Star Spirits were imprisoned.”
“Simple man,” said the cloaked demon, his smoke-enshrouded robes now blowing about him furiously. “My strength alone is enough to combat one mortal fueled by the failing power of an apparition. I am part of Doomstar, and so his own wrath feeds constantly into my being, making me more terrible than you can imagine.”
“You’re just so smug, aren’t you?” Mario said, laughing. “Eldstar can do more than transport himself. My friends won’t be fighting solo either!”
Bright existence pervaded the room, as each of the remaining Star Spirits were brought from the realm of their prison and wakened in the chosen blood of the Plitians: Mamar to Goombella, Klevar to Kamek, Muskular to Bowser, Kalmar to Ryok, Skolar to Shogun, and Misstar to Kolorado.
“Hello, flying starfish!” the Koopa explorer waved amiably before being filled with the power of the Guardian. “Ooh! I say, that’s a bit close for comfort!”
“Fools! Cursed fools!” the Executioner shrieked, now gathering a storm of dark energy around his glaring frame. “There is no point in continuing this display! I shall obliterate all of you by the hatred spawned from your own sin-burdened hearts!”
The Magikoopa hovered above the ground and traveled towards the demon with his newfound strength charging luminously through his robes. More profound and ageless than ever before, the light in the lenses of his spectacles roared more mightily than those of Zarith.
“Enough talk, wretch!” Kamek snapped, and he sent out a sphere of crackling sapphire that slammed into the Executioner and filled him with sparks of pain. “That’s only a taste of what’s to come!”
The demon wiped at his unseen mouth and charged forward, driving Kamek back with a flurry of inescapable strikes. Before the Magikoopa could be overcome, though, Bowser was right beside him and fighting back with the brute force of Muskular increasing the strength of his towering form. Even both of them pouring their energy into the creature was not enough, but when Mario joined the fray with Eldstar’s ancient sorcery yielding pure power from all of the world, things began to turn against the Executioner.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Goombella asked the Armored Ant, who was still waiting silently for nothing. “I don’t know what you came here for or who you are exactly, but this thing concerns all of us.”
“The Shrine was supposed to give me the power to help my people,” said Shogun emotionlessly. “I have failed, and no matter the outcome, the Armored Ants shall remain weak and destitute under the laws of a culture unknown to them. There is no point in continuing.”
“They need your help!” she shouted angrily. “Kolorado and I are fused with healers, not fighters. Don’t you realize that as long as you still live, there is hope for whatever concerns you have? To throw them away so… so carelessly is the biggest mistake you could ever make. What will happen to the Armored Ants when Doomstar possesses that squid thing completely and takes out the Mushroom Army? There’ll be no one to stop him from enslaving them for all eternity, without Star Haven to turn to after their deaths. So for the love of your people, if for nothing else, please do something!”
Shogun stared wordlessly at the now struggling trio for a while longer, contemplating thoughts that had lay barren for years. “You are right, child,” he said. “I have lost sight of what truly matters in my taste for revenge. The road to helping my race is a long one, and this is simply one path I must take. I am thankful.”
The noble warrior leapt into the battle with his mandibles clicking and sliced through the Executioner’s body in several long, jagged gashes. Caught in the throes of defeat, the demon fell to the ground and trembled for a moment, but soon a dark and hollow light flashed out of his cloak and dissipated to reveal the growing form of a devil.
Plunging horns and blackened skin draped the deformed figure as it towered over the seven and crashed through the illusory roof of the dining room. Blinding stars, vast constellations, and soaring celestial bodies wheeled overhead in the stretching universe, caught between realms and as free as the birth of a new age.
That was the image on Zarith’s cloak, Kamek thought, amazed by the scene. Reborn, a corpse that walks the land, he is like any other miracle despite the twisted malice behind the mechanism.
“Now you’ll taste the darkness that defies all things,” said the Executioner, his voice now deep and horrible. The walls of the imagined castle crumbled as he spoke, spilling and crashing over the upheaval of the floor.
Mario and the others felt themselves lift into the air and soar towards the head of the beast, dodging various limbs and claws as they sprouted haphazardly from the morphing body of the Executioner. With his might overpowering the others, Bowser was the first to break through and land a quaking blow to the demon’s head. It seemed to do little good, though, as he was knocked aside and the others were quickly caught up in a storm of thrashing and dark energy.
That’s our cue, sweetie, something said to Kolorado. It’s me, the flying starfish. You have to help them now!
“Er, I think,” said the Koopa, watching as his legs moved forward along with Goombella’s, “we’re being called to do something.”
“We have the power of healing, sir,” said Goombella. “They can’t keep fighting like that without our help!”
Beams of light emanated from the two heroes and doubled the fighters’ powers, rejuvenating the bodies that had worn down from the struggle with the massive demon. Mario nodded in thanks and led another offensive as all the chosen converged devastatingly on the Executioner, evading blows and energy bombs from his numberless appendages.
The demon resisted the full brunt of the frontal attack until Kamek rejoined the effort with a concentrated blast of energy that shattered his opponent’s defenses. Wavering, the Executioner wailed in agony and fell to the ground as he shrank into a contemptible creature that lay snarling bitterly before them.
“Yield!” Kamek shouted, floating down to grab the demon by his neck. “Let us out of here now!”
“It’s too late! Too late for saving your world!” the crippled figure said, a hideous cackle rasping from his throat. “As long as Doomstar remains partly in the realm of Plit, the Breaking Shrine is impassable. Only his defeat will lift the spell, and there is no way to reach him! Very soon now, he shall have possessed his chosen form completely, and his might will be boundless!”
Kamek raised one hand wordlessly and silenced the demon with a blast from his hand.
“It was a decoy,” Mario said, frowning. “He knew all the while that his defeat would mean nothing!”
Do not despair so easily, Mario, Eldstar cautioned him. You forgot Ryok, whom Kalmar waits peacefully within. He is no fighter, but his wisdom may help us all.
“Ryok?” Mario asked, not knowing how he realized the name belonged to the Yoshi. “You know something?”
“Yes,” Ryok said, nodding. “Kalmar has led me to discover another flaw in Doomstar’s plan. The power Eldstar possesses to move back and forth through the realms is given to your bloodline, Mario, but you cannot fight Doomstar without a physical form to use.”
“But nobody on Plit has the same powers that…” Mario’s eyes widened.
“Your brother,” Ryok said, smiling. “You two have always had a deep connection. Now it is clear where it came from. He is facing the Enemy now at Star Hill. Call out to him, lend him your power.”
Mario nodded and closed his eyes, feeling strength from the other chosen six flowing through his spirit and giving him a concentration that passed comprehension. Soon he felt the wash of the cosmos overwhelm him, and he was moving quickly through the limitless reaches of existence, heading immeasurably towards a dim and fading star in the pit of a far blackness. In one revelatory moment his eyes flashed open.
“Luigi!”
~*~*~*~
Star Hill, Mushroom Kingdom
“Mario!”
Luigi woke up in the blind pull of destiny and lifted himself to his feet. Twisted metal wreckage groaned all around him, and the nightmare Blooper had its coiling tentacles wrapped around the two airships that soared above him. Before he could despair, a burgeoning strength filled his body instantly and crashed into his mind with all the knowledge of events at the Breaking Shrine.
“Yes!” he nodded quickly, absorbing. “But what can I do?”
The answer came when he found himself luminous with yellow flames and hovering off the sinking metallic paneling he’d fallen unconscious on. After remembering the battle with Morton, he lifted his arms and poured healing energy from his distant comrades into Mallow and Rezan, raising their beaten, broken bodies into full wellness.
“Eldstar,” the Reznoth said drowsily before his eyes widened. “The strength of a Star Warrior… it’s returning to me!”
As Mallow looked around in amazement, Luigi sent the knowledge he’d gained from Mario to his partners, and they were instantly at his side, three brightly roaring flames in the stretching darkness of the storm and Doomstar’s godlike wrath.
“We have to stop that?” Mallow stammered, taking a nervous gulp.
“Yes, and we must waste no time,” Rezan said. “With each passing moment, Doomstar is calling more of his abominable hatred into that demon. Soon it will be impossible to interrupt the connection between the two, and this world will be doomed.”
“Come on, Rezan, we’ll distract him,” said Luigi, already moving forward through the air. “Mallow, harness the power of this storm. Bend it to your will!”
The Nimbian nodded as the two forms drifted quickly off towards the Blooper, his arms lifted up reverently to the awesome power of the storm that covered all the sky. He could see each of the hearts of those helping him from the Breaking Shrine, and he felt as if all the weather-sorcerers of his race were lending their knowledge to him as well, feeding it through him until the he was full to bursting.
Luigi hovered over the mountainous head of the Blooper as Rezan soared on before him, pouring out words with a voice that shook the air. “Doomstar, hear us! You will not be allowed to invade this world. By the order of the Guardians, end this madness and go back to the Inferno prepared for you!”
A mind-numbing bellow that quaked the very fabric of the atmosphere issued from the maw of the demon and consumed the words of Rezan’s speech in a wave of terror. Gouging out of the chaotic surface of the ocean, tens of tentacles as thick as Booster’s Tower and higher than Star Hill thrashed violently towards them, grasping for something to rip and shred.
“We won’t last long,” said Rezan. “Mallow must hurry. There is no other way.”
Luigi called on the aid of the Star Spirits with each glowing fireball he sent out, and soon the flaming power that poured from his hands merged to become one continuous stream of righteous fire. Its emerald heat seared the thick skin of the Blooper and bubbled ravenously through the innards of its arms, sending great fragments and whole tentacles plunging massively into the ocean below.
Rezan flew closer to the face of the demon, calling on all the past strength of Star Warriors passed down through the ages to create rapid bombs of light-filled energy. Shifting the focus of the blasts, he concentrated them all into a Star Whirl that sliced and wavered through large sections of the Blooper’s shadow-formed head.
Angered by the sudden fury of the attacks, the demon rose clearly out of the breaking surface of the sea with all of its soaring appendages floundering wildly in the air. Before Rezan and Luigi could manage escaping the infinite reach of the tentacles, the Blooper let out a massive retch and coughed out streams of thick, acidic ink. Fire and star energy burned through the dense goop and sent up foul smoke to blot out any remaining brightness in the sky, covering all the devastated land below in a shadow of inescapable darkness.
Lifting its great suction tips to the heavens, the demon seemed to vacuum the umbrageous vapors from the air and spread the empowering darkness through its many thrashing limbs. Glittering spots of black and purple energy surrounded the spear jutting prominently out of its head and finally released in a wide beam of unimaginable power.
Rezan and Luigi sent back their own strength in double fold, and the two forces collided mightily in the air. Crackling, thundering in a terrifying display of cosmic struggle, a flood of light exploded from the center of the beams and worked its way slowly against the waning power of the two heroes.
Both were defeated finally by the exhaustion of facing such overwhelming evil and found themselves wrapped in the implacable might of the creature’s tentacles. Struggling and finding no relief, they were pulled closer towards the black hole that was the Blooper’s mouth, witnessing all the mindless pain and suffering of a thousand years caused by the unholy being.
“Doomstar!” a tiny voice called from above, and they looked up, rain filling their eyes. It was Mallow, and the fierce flash of lightning thrashed above him in the blackness of the clouds. “Let go of my friends!”
All the electrical energy of Plit combined in one blinding bolt of lightning that struck squarely through the top of the Blooper’s brain and fried it instantly, causing its tentacles to flail uncontrollably and release the Nimbian’s comrades. Recalling what strength was left to them, Luigi and Rezan reformed their energy beams and enveloped the groaning beast in columns of vengeful light that shined with indefinable brightness.
In the torture that can only be understood through years of planning and failure, the Enemy of the World resisted the blinding pure energy with all fibers of his fallen, darkening divinity. Only after one last abysmal cry did he finally succumb to the might of the Star Spirits and the mortals he hated, vanishing in a silent void that felt as the burden of existence lifting, rising into ultimate righteousness.
~*~*~*~
The Breaking Shrine
The Executioner shrank into a pitiful form of ash and flowing blood, tearing at his own flesh and convulsing as the last waves of darkness emanated out of the netherworld. Released from their fusion, the seven Chosen Ones fell limp to the ground as the Star Spirits were freed from their prison beyond the realms and liberated once again to issue their swift and closing judgment upon the pawn of Doomstar.
The Star Beam issued from the heart of their formation, with Eldstar hovering sternly near the focus of the overwhelming energy, and slammed without mercy into the Executioner, fraying the fabric of his evil until all of it was converted into hollow, drifting matter.
“It is done,” Eldstar said, lowering himself under the strain of time. “The prophecy Doomstar himself concocted was fulfilled, despite all the deception and malice out of which it was born.”
Mario and the others gathered quietly around the physical forms of the Star Spirits. “Eldstar, does this mean Doomstar is gone for good? Is it over?”
“He is a deity and immortal,” said the Guardian, “but he is banished from this realm for all time. There is no hope of his returning. Of that I am certain.”
“But what we do now?” Goombella asked. “The Mushroom Kingdom is devastated.”
“The future of Plit is now in the hands of mortals, forever and always,” said Eldstar with a heavy sigh. “Bowser, you and Kamek will amass your Empire while the Mushroomers rebuild theirs. A struggle is inevitable, but who will win depends entirely on the strength of heroes both here and elsewhere. If peace cannot be reached, more violence will come.”
“Heh, hear that, Mario?” Bowser said. “It isn’t over between us. I still have a score to settle.”
“Enough!” Muskular roared, and the Koopa was quiet.
“And you, Shogun, will go back to your mission, however misguided it may be,” Eldstar said, but the Armored Ant replied with silence. “Each of you, in essence, must choose his or her own path. Our meddling in the past caused only strife. No matter what justice we may embrace, this world has grown beyond our intervention. We shall only watch now, hoping for the best, knowing that our creation will have chosen its own fate.”
Mario nodded in understanding. “Thank you for the honor. We’ll make the best of what we have. Our freedom won’t ever be crushed, not even by the Koopa Kingdom.”
“That’s Empire to you!” Bowser shouted angrily, but stopped when he saw himself vanishing. “Hey, what’s this?”
“We’re crossing over into Plit,” Kamek said, and nodded cryptically at the Star Spirits before he too disappeared.
The others soon followed them, but to the last moment Mario still looked with a deep reverence at the Star Spirits. No matter how simple he was, some part of him recognized and admired the sacrifice the Guardians were making for the future of their creations.
“Now, then,” Eldstar said, turning to the other Star Spirits. “We must destroy all traces of the Breaking Shrine. Let it never be used again to fulfill such evil. From now on, only our will shall determine the paths between heaven and earth, the connection that cannot be breached for as long as we watch over it.”
There was light, then silence, and finally nothing at all.
~*~*~*~
Tadpole Pond, Mushroom Kingdom
A week later, all the refugees from Toad Town and the Mushroom Kingdom met for a celebration at Tadpole Pond. After the Moleville moles had begun plans to force the water out of the Mushroom Valley so repairs could be made to the drowned city, everyone- even those who remained unaware of the Breaking Shrine- had cause for elation.
“I’ve been expecting you!” said Frogfucious as Mario, Peach, and Mallow walked over to his small island.
“You knew, didn’t you, Grandfather?” Mallow asked, smiling. “What happened and everything.”
Frogfucious looked around with mock surprise and stood up shakily on his gnarled cane. “Not a clue! Honest!”
Peach and Mario came and sat down cross-legged around the edges of the moss. The Nimbian was in exaggerated conversation with his adopted guardian, and the sounds of people rejoicing in the distance made all their worries seem distant.
“What happened to Admiral Bobbery?” asked Mario. “Wasn’t he here?”
“He and Ryanoshi left with Russ T. and Merlon for Rogueport. Merlon’s interested in checking up on his family, but I think all of them are going to make sure Bowser doesn’t try anything either.”
“He will strike again,” Mario said, nodding, “but he’s still pulling together his resources. I’m sure the new bond with his kids isn’t well-formed yet, and his army took a beating at Star Hill. He lost basically all of his naval power and about half of his personal army.”
“Yes, I know,” said Peach, looking off, “but I just can’t bear to see our people go through any more. This has all been so horrifying, and to think what really happened. Admiral Enoki and General Spore still think the Blooper was some freak of nature. Luckily, being crushed by tower-sized tentacles prevented them from seeing Luigi’s attack.”
“You know, he and Rezan are best of friends now,” said Mario, laughing. “Still, makes me sort of jealous. Now he’s got somebody mannered and intelligent to talk to. Since Rezan gave up his Star Warrior status for the mortal life he sacrificed before, they’re even closer.”
“Why didn’t they show up then?” Peach asked, stern-faced.
“Oh, planning a trip somewhere,” Mario said distantly.
As Mallow and Frogfucious walked off, enjoying the memories of times long past, Mario and Peach lay back easily in the sun-drenched paradise that was Tadpole Pond, watching peaceful clouds drift across the clear sky and listening to the sounds of the gentle waters lapping all around them.
~*~*~*~
The Vista Sea
Luigi found himself watching the waves of the endless water when Rezan came up behind him. Startled, he turned and grinned, taking one of the odd delicacies the Reznoth had been preparing during the trip. The large white sail of their ship fluttered quietly before him as he enjoyed the exotic taste of the meal.
“I never did things like this on Reznia, before it was invaded,” Rezan said, leaning on the railing of the ship. “I used to be afraid of water, if you can believe it.”
“I can’t,” said Luigi, laughing. “The guy that saved me from a roaring flood, running from the beach… no, doesn’t suit my mind.”
“Indeed,” Rezan said, his eyes narrowed in mock anger. “Where are we planning on going, again?”
“Sarasaland,” said Luigi, images of a certain young princess drifting lazily through his mind. “It’s a rare vacation spot, but that’ll fit our needs fine. We’ll mingle, become part of the populace.”
“Are you sure there’s no other reason?” asked Rezan, sensing something beyond mild curiosity in the human’s face.
“Well, it’s a possibility,” Luigi said, grinning as they sailed onward into the infinite blueness of the Vista Sea.
~*~*~*~
Lavalava Island
Ryok and Kino were greeted warmly by their kinsmen after they returned from the depths of the volcano. A funeral was held for Sulei, but mourning was quickly washed away by fond memories of the hot-headed dinosaur. Of course, the two Yoshis never told their families about anything else.
Kolorado and Henry also took the opportunity to rest from their endless adventuring, enjoying the generous treatment of the Yoshis on their tropical island home. The rest of the exploration caravan was only too happy to escape the mortal danger usually involved with their employer’s journeys for at least another week. It was only when a boat came in all the way from the Tropacine Isles that their ambitions for exploring were once again ignited.
A stocky Pianta by the name of Taber approached them one cool afternoon and shook the Koopa’s hands. After a long and involving exchange of stories, they discovered the meaning of his encounter with the wolf demon on Uliania and decided it was only a further affirmation of Doomstar’s deceit. Needless to say, Taber was overwhelmingly relieved that everything had turned out well, despite the Star Spirits' failed attempt to warn Plit of their error.
“Well, as long as I’m here,” the Pianta started after the hours of conversation had come to a close, “I might as well ask to join your exploration team. I’ve always wanted to see the world, and this seems to good an opportunity to pass up.”
“Another expedition, you say?” Kolorado asked, motioning Henry to stand up. “Well, my lad, I must say that strikes me as a truly capital idea!”
~*~*~*~
Dark Land, Kooparian
Kamek came in softly behind King Bowser as the proud ruler surveyed the final touches to his new castle in Dark Land. Using the strength of the combined Koopa doomships and the increase in numbers, they’d been able to salvage parts from the decaying old Keep and construct a reborn symbol of the new Empire in very little time. The guidance and cooperation of his sons and daughter, even with the painful loss of Morton, Jr, had made things all the easier.
“Our survival is an omen, sire,” said Kamek darkly. “For the Mushroomers, it means doom not even rivaled by the wrath of ageless gods. What your father once achieved, we shall not replicate, but improve upon beyond his most vicious imagination.”
“Yeah, that sounds great!” said Bowser, slapping the Magikoopa heartily on the back. “I’m sure you and Kammy will have all the planning stuff covered. The Koopa Empire, like a phoenix, rising, RISING OUT OF ARIKOOPA!”
“Yes, sire,” Kamek gulped, recovering his breath. “By the way, our forces have still not… ah… found Iggy or his despicable little familiar, Oerlikon. They escaped in the aftermath of the prophecy ordeal.”
“I’ve already heard. It doesn’t matter. He’ll come crawling back to us once he sees how cool his siblings’ rooms are. Room service, gold-plated statues; only the very best for my putrid offspring.”
“Nice to see you’ve reconstituted the familial bonds,” Kamek said wryly. “In any case, I have things to discuss with Admiral Jade about the construction of a doomship to replace the one we lost at Star Hill. I’m thinking it might be a nice present for… me?”
“You read my mind, Vizier,” Bowser grinned. “Just don’t get cannon happy.”
“Wonderful, sir,” said Kamek, and bowed deeply. “But before I go, any plans for the immediate future?”
“Now that you mention it,” Bowser said, rubbing thoughtfully at his scaly chin, “there’s a myth Kammy was telling me about concerning a legendary underwater city in the Tropacine Isles. Know anything about that?”
“Oh, yes,” said Kamek, realizing darkly what the scheming hag had in mind. “Meridian, I believe, but it is only a folktale. Probably doesn’t even exist.”
“Nevertheless,” said Bowser, grinning in that way that left room for no argument. “I’m thinking about heading over there in a few days. We might as well start this empire of ours somewhere.”
“I’ll round up an excavation party, then,” Kamek said, giving an ageless sigh.
~*~*~*~
Easton, Sarasaland
Through the mind-numbing blizzards of the highest peaks in Easton, a cloaked and hunched figure marched carefully through the snow. After months of tireless climbing and soul-searching, he finally arrived at the peak of the world, the summit of Mt. Haven, which spiraled closer to the stars than any other earthly formation.
As he sat down to meditate with the winds from all four corners of Plit flowing through his weary limbs, Zarith considered the meaning of his new life and what lay ahead for him in the fast approaching future.
My ties to the Executioner were never what they seemed, he thought, biting off a piece of dried bread. I am free now, a mortal Magikoopa liberated from his false memories and the dark god he once served. But why do I still feel the fringe of shadow and destiny weighing upon my mind? Could there still be some test, some final decision yet to be made by us all?
The End
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