Chapter 28: Scattered to the Winds
"You thought it was me all along, huh?" Beldam asks as her younger sister has her pressed down. "Then why didn't you bother telling the others?"
"I didn't want Cackletta or you to know. Figured I could gain an upper hand if I knew more than I let on."
"I'll give you credit, but how did you figure me out?"
"Several things. First, you taking the jewel at the Flower Fieldhouse. At the time I assumed it was just you in a state of power lust just like Insanee, Deathnify, and all those others we've run into. But then was the experience with Deathnify."
"You recognized my voice?"
"In all honesty, I didn't. I figured
it out through some deductive reasoning: after all, in the fight with the
fountain, the only people who beared witness were me, you, Marilyn, Doopliss,
and my friends. Mario, Bobbery, and Flurrie are dead, while it couldn't
have possibly have been Goombella, Koops, Doopliss, or
Eggo, and Ms. Mowz wasn't likely either.
And, of course, Marilyn would have been unable to say everything that had
been said. How'd you come to work for Cackletta anyway?"
"Long story. I grew furious as the Palace of Shadow was overrun, and seeing Marilyn blow all our money on that fast food idea was the last straw. I decided to seek vengeance on you and your stupid friends, Vivian, for stopping me from achieving what I had worked for for over 1,000 years! So I joined up with a sea captain named Popple, who promised to fit you and all of your buddies on his death list while on his quest to gain the Philosopher's Stone. That's when I coaxed Bobbery into going out to sea near him by acting as though Popple was bringing in a load of food and needed Bobbery to bring it the rest of the way in. Bobbery went and never came back. Well, I decided to split from the boating thing and went to the Beanbean Kingdom, there meeting up with a Shaman named Sharm. He made me an offer to supply me with supplies and a few new spells if I helped him and his leader out. Turns out he was working for Cackletta, so he brought me to our former hideout and there I met her. When I explained all of my magical expertise, she sent me on a mission to grab some scrolls for her as a test. I did it in short order, and began to gain Cackletta's trust. We made a deal that she would supply me with you and your friends' carcasses, and while doing some ‘work' for her I happened to weaken Mario before he fought Bowser and then, once Bowser killed him, I picked up the scraps. Then while I went to attack those two old men and shut down your base of operations, Flurrie showed up. That made three of eight. And the rest, as they say, is history."
"But wait-" Vivian starts, but Beldam cuts her off.
"There's more. Like you ‘guessed', or
rather pretended, I was attacked outside the Flower Fieldhouse. Specifically,
it was Donkey Kong. Apparently he had been guarding the place and fell
asleep, and then he was woken up by the fight. When I came out, he attacked.
I spared him because if there's one crime I
don't enjoy it's animal cruelty. Heh
heh." Beldam suddenly explodes into a cloud of vapor, causing Vivian to
fall off of her and land on the ground. She looks up to see the cloud of
vapor above her reforming, then as Beldam tries to use her Freezing Rain
attack Vivian ducks into the shadows to dodge.
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Goombella, Eggo, Koops, Ms. Mowz, and Yoshi all stare at the resurrected Cackletta standing before them, her arms outstretched and revealing the colorful robe she is wearing.
"Finally, back where I belong," Cackletta cackles while examining her body as if she'd never seen it before. "You five are just a warm-up." Cackletta raises both of her arms into the air, causing three strikes of lightning to appear in midair, striking Eggo, Ms. Mowz, and Koops. All three disappear in a flash of light when hit.
"My minions will handle them," Cackletta sneers before ducking into the shadows and resurfacing along with two copies of her.
"Well, let's see how long we can last at least," Goombella tells Yoshi while continuing to glare at the Bean witch. Yoshi merely nods in response.
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Eggo appears in midair, expecting to fall onto the floor of the room he is in. This does not happen, much to his confusion. The Yoshi floats in place for a second before seeing another figure, a Shaman wearing their standard blue cloak but with a medallion shaped like Cackletta's demon form around his neck, lowering from above.
"Cackletta must have sent you up here to die," he muses before his hands both go up in flames. "Well then, I hope you realize the gravity of the situation you're in, boy."
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Ms. Mowz lands on the floor of a room in the mansion. She pulls herself to her feet, eyeing the room and seeing that it appears to be some sort of archery range. She sees not a soul in front of her, then spins around to see the familiar figure of the living bow known as Bowyer staring down at her.
"Nyah! Lucky you were getting in the town of Toad. A graveyard will this building soon resemble!" The mouse soon finds herself using her superior speed to run about the room, doing everything she can to dodge the arrows fired by the insane bow.
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Mack bounces in place around the large, empty room he is within until he sees a flash of light with Koops appearing on the floor of the room. The Koopa Troopa pulls himself to his feet, seeing the knife hopping up and down while staring at him.
"Cackletta sentcha up here, huh? Well, I hope you're ready to fight because I'm ready to bounce!"
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"Vivian," Beldam chuckles before nailing her younger sister once again, "only one person could save you and the rest of this pitiful world at this moment, and he's dead! But I'll tell you what, I don't like an unfair fight, so I'm gonna give you a shot at it!"
"What do you-" Vivian starts to ask,
but never finishes as Beldam pulls into the Shadows, then emerges with
seven specific objects in her left hand. She then grabs onto her sister
with her right, and pulls her into the Shadows.
Chapter 29: Reunited
Vivian and Beldam emerge in a thick grassy field. Upon further inspection by Vivian, she notices exactly where they are, and shivers realizing it.
"Now now, Vivian," Beldam snickers, "is that any way to act when you're about to meet an old friend?" Beldam throws six of the seven jewels onto one of the graves, a tombstone bearing the name Mario Mario sitting upon it.
"Come on, Vivian," she taunts while holding out the last jewel. "All you have to do is lay this jewel with the others and you can bring him back. You want that, don't you, Vivian?"
Vivian just stares at her sister, and you can guarantee that if her eyes were visible, they would be wide. The youngest Shadow Siren stands absolutely still for what seems like an eternity, then begins to shake her head.
"No. Never."
"What?!"
"Mario used most of his life protecting Plit. He deserves to rest now. Me and my friends need to prove that we can and will move on and allow him to rest."
"You foolish girl! I'm practically handing you your only chance to succeed, and you're giving it away? Oh well, I'd just end up killing him again anyway."
Vivian responds with a smirk, then grabs the six jewels off of the grave and tucks them away. She then grabs onto her older sister and drags her into the Shadows.
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Beldam pulls herself off the ground and shivers when she sees where Vivian has brought her.
"You told me about this place before, Beldam," Vivian says. "You talked about how you feared this place. So I brought you here."
The two are in a small mountain town, not a soul in sight. The town is a complete ghost town, abandoned by all and with good reason.
"Vivian, are you mad?! Why bring the fight here?!"
"Because unlike you, I have nothing to fear here because I'm willing to confront my wrongs. You try to ignore them."
"There are other places you could have done this, Vivian. Not here though. Not here."
"Yes, here. I had to bring you to this place. You know all there is to know about fighting on Plit. But bringing you to the one place on Earth where there exists an entrance into the Shadows- that's what I needed to do."
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"You fools!" Cackletta shouts before striking both Goombella and Yoshi with another burst of lightning, sending both heroes toppling to the ground in a charred heap. "I am invincible! Do not fight what you cannot hurt!"
"Sorry," Goombella says while she and Yoshi both pull themselves off the ground, exhausted and at a point where they would normally be unconscious or immobile. "But giving up isn't my style."
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"I've always heard what great fighters your race are supposed to be," Sharm smugly remarks upon hitting Eggo with a blast of fire, "but you're not putting up much of a fight, no?"
"All I have to do is beat you, then Cackletta, and I'll have made up for losing to Raw-"
"Rawk Hawk? Heh heh. Funny story about that. See, I've been doing some craftsmanship with my spare time, and I happened to give him one of my finest works."
"What are you talking about? The guy who did that died two years ag-"
"Not quite," the magician interrupts before grabbing the sides of his hood and tightening the cloak. "I've been secretly doing some business for myself for years. Why, just about... two years ago, was it? I sent a minor minion of my sister's to do some work for me at the Glitz Pit."
"What? But what would you have to gain out of-"
"He he, easy my boy; I got to unleash plenty of chaos because of it! And even still... it came back to help me out, because it got us that first jewel!"
"You did it because you felt like it?! You're heartless! You caused Jolene's death!" the Yoshi yells, furious at the Shaman. He launches himself forward off the wall (no gravity, remember) and lunges at Sharm, who is hit and collides into the opposite wall.
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"Bounce with me!" Mack yells as Koops does everything he can to dodge the insane knife's attacks. Everything he can, of course, meaning that he is running around the room and, if it had been back before he met Mario, he would likely be screaming as well.
"Shell Shot!" Koops yells out, but Mack easily dodges thanks to the Koopa's telegraphing.
"Face it, you can't bounce with Mack the knife!" the jump-happy blade taunts, allowing an opening for Koops to shoot in and hit his blade, causing the knife to fall over. Koops quickly dodges the falling body and gets in as many hits as he can get before Mack gets up again.
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"Nyah!" Bowyer yells simply as he launches
another rain of arrows at Ms. Mowz. Using her far superior speed, the mouse
manages to dodge both the bow and his arrows, then goes behind and jumps
for the string, biting it and finding herself in pain afterwards, causing
an instant release. She notices that the side
of her mouth is starting to dribble
a little blood.
"That are you liking? Nyah! Razor wire this bow of mine now is!" Knowing a back-up plan is needed, Ms. Mowz continues to run about the room while eyeing the crossbows in the corner, plotting all the while.
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"Get up, Vivian!" Beldam yells at her sister. As soon as Vivian does so, Beldam punches her to the ground once more. "You make me sick! I should have killed you those times I had the chance!"
"You wouldn't and won't do it," Vivian answers before pulling herself up once, this time not getting hit just yet.
"Are you saying Noferis was right? Give me a break! I'll leave you for dead right her-"
"Exactly. You're willing to leave me for dead, but you can't kill me yourself. The theater, the Gate, and in your base. Three for three seems to indicate he was right."
"Enough! I have had it with you!" Beldam swings once more, only for Vivian to duck and nail her with an uppercut. Vivian then gets on top of her older sister and wraps both her hands around her throat, considering doing the same thing Beldam had in mind earlier.
"Go ahead, Vivian," Beldam snarls bitterly. "You've killed every goal I've ever had. Might as well finish the job."
Vivian takes in these words and pulls herself off of her sister, then as soon as Beldam stands up she nails her with a flaming uppercut, payback of sorts for what happened in the Flower Fieldhouse. Beldam, like what happened to Vivian before, is out cold.
"I can't either," Vivian mumbles before entering the Shadows and returning to the mansion. Another figure, a 5'10" white-faced blonde-haired demon, stands on one of the mountains just out of view. Rather than wearing his typical outfit, he is wearing a dark blue cape along with what appears to be some sort of leather armor.
"What a way to pass the time," Deathnify chuckles. "What a way to pass the time. D-Day for Ludwig, four days for Ludwig." He then pulls into the Shadows as well.
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"Eyahahahahaha!!!" Cackletta laughs as another bolt of lightning hits both Yoshi and Goombella.
"We're not giving up," Yoshi mutters as he and Goombella pull themselves up once more, completely drained of energy and trying to find some way to hurt Cackletta.
"How can you two still fight?" Cackletta asks tauntingly, growing a bit bored with absolutely slaughtering the two.
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Luigi punches Fawful in the mouth, then Fawful retaliates by hitting him with the Wand of Zomb directly in the stomach. This hit knocks the wind out of Luigi, causing the plumber to stumble backwards, stopping when his back comes within a few feet of a sharp, low-hanging tree branch. Fawful, seeing his opportunity, rushes forward, knowing that if he hits it will mean Luigi's fall, but if Luigi dodges, it will mean his own.
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Mack lunges forward once more, again being caused to trip due to Koops using his shell on the blade as it leaves the ground. This time however, Koops gets an idea.
"You like to bounce, huh? Let's see how you like to fly!" Koops carefully wraps his hands around the downed knife's handles, then with all his strength manages to recreate Mario's infamous spinning throw, tossing Mack through the sole window in the room and into the distant woods.
Having done that, Koops hurries out
the door and down to the second floor,
and there runs into the first room
he finds.
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Once inside this room, Koops feels himself lift off the ground. He then spots Eggo floating around the room, very carefully avoiding blasts from Sharm. Neither seems to notice him.
"Eggo!" the Koopa shouts, causing the Yoshi to turn his attention to the Koopa very briefly before continuing to dodge.
"Hey, help me out!" the Yoshi shouts. Koops nods, and both heroes float at the Shaman, beginning a two-on-one beating that is too much for the magician's magic to keep up with. Before too long, the two heroes find that the Shaman is knocked out. This causes the gravity to return to normal, and both leave after they send Sharm on his way much like Mack.
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The two charge into the next room, and inside see Ms. Mowz lying on the floor of the room, trying to do something to close the wound from the razor wire. Bowyer is nowhere to be found.
"I sent him into the distance with one of the crossbows," the mouse explains while finishing up sealing the cut.
"Then let's get going then!" the Yoshi shouts.
"Onward to victory!" Koops adds in before all three take off down to the first floor.
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"Face it, I am undefeatable! Why, every minute I am drawing even more power from your inner darkness!"
Goombella and Yoshi both stand hunched over, trying to catch their breath. Both are burnt, battered, and cut up, but the word "quit" is not even on their minds.
"You two are pathetic!" Cackletta yells. Just as she is about to strike both with lightning once more, Vivian rises from the floor and grabs both her wrists.
"Vivian!" Goombella shouts.
"Destroy the hand!" Vivian screams at the top of her lungs while locked in a struggle with the witch. "Do it, now!"
Yoshi and Goombella both run around behind Cackletta, who is still trying to get Vivian to let go of her. They grab the hand and Goombella Headbonks it, but that's not enough. Yoshi then gets a brilliant idea, and naturally consumes the limb. Vivian lets go of Cackletta just as the other three come rushing down the stairs.
"What'd that do?" Goombella asks Vivian as Cackletta looks irate while glancing at the six heroes surrounding her.
"Simple. She's vulnerable... for now. She still has all the power she gathered, but if we can beat her quickly enough she will die. If we don't... well, it's over."
"You know your stuff," Cackletta says sarcastically before lightning bolts begin to rain down at the heroes, with all being dodged at the last second. "Too bad it's not going to help you escape here alive!" Goombella takes the opportunity to jump and kick Cackletta in the face, and this is followed up with Ms. Mowz and Koops both tackling her, Eggo and Yoshi pummeling her with eggs, and Vivian using her fire to do some hefty damage.
"That... is... enough!!!" Cackletta thrusts her arms up and causes a huge black bolt to strike her, causing that oh-so-famous transformation of hers from a bean witch into a demon.
"Now you fall!" then demonic Cackletta shouts out, swatting all six out of her way like flies. She then begins to click her giant purple fingers, causing fire to appear and rush at the heroes, each getting hit by some and jumping over others (or in Vivian's case, moving her body to avoid them).
"I remember Mario telling me about this. We need to attack the heart!" Goombella tells her cohorts. The others nod and begin to try to hit the heart, only to be stopped every time he or she tries to score a hit.
"Give it up! I am greatness personified! I am a living legend! I am IMMORTAL!!!" Goombella opens her mouth to reply, but then sees something speeding at her from out of the room. She quickly ducks and sees the especially powerful fireball hit Cackletta right in the heart, then seeing the weakness charges in and delivers a finishing kick that stops the heart's slowed beating. Cackletta shakes for a second, then returns to her normal form before erupting in a fiery blaze.
"We did it!" Goombella shouts, and the others all begin to celebrate as well. Then the figure that shot the fireball walks in and sees what he's done. His eyes fill with tears as he drops to both knees, then he stands up.
"My Cacklettaness!" Fawful screams in
agony with the fury of 1,000 suns. He then begins to swing the Wand of
Zomb, trying desperately to score a hit and lighting the building on fire
in the process. All the heroes try to avoid the Bean, who has apparently
been driven insane by the fact that not only is his one true ally, his
one true friend, his one true love, dead once again, but that he himself
dealt the blow that sealed her fate. The heroes rather easily dodge the
Bean, who is missing and constantly hitting the walls in his rage. Goombella
sees an opening and jumps, kicking Fawful into one of the fires, and then
all six get to running out of the building and back to where Luigi was
last seen.
Epilogue
"So that's how it went," Ludwig tells his two nephews, the two sons of Lemmy, Lemmy Jr. and Bowser Jr. (no relation), of the adventure two years later. "As it turns out, Luigi did survive as the blow Fawful dealt only pierced deep enough to knock him out. Deathnify obviously failed to beat me when he attacked me in the family graveyard, and I managed to stop him from succeeding and killed him in the process. Peach came out of hiding and her and Daisy took up as the princesses of Sarasaland while Doopliss became Prime Minister. Yoshi and Luigi moved to Sarasaland as well and reside within the castle there, serving the role Mario had had in the Mushroom Kingdom before his death.
"As for the five heroes, each began to receive monthly gifts of 50,000 coins each from me in secret, mainly to keep them out of my hair. Wendy recovered obviously, and she eventually married. But what happened with the heroes after their money started coming? Vivian and Marilyn both moved out of Doopliss' house and got their own, and then they eventually got in contact with Beldam again before she disappeared again. The heroes still get together and search for her occasionally so as to keep her from trying any more plots to kill them.
"Goombella went back to college with the money, and is currently in her second year. She is trying to become an archaeologist and is currently at the top of her class. She still subs occasionally, but mainly lives off the money, and does not gamble with it either. Both Frankly and Gadd stop by to see her occasionally, and they visit the others every now and then as well. She also wound up marrying eighteen months ago, getting with a Goomba named Goombrett. I've heard Goombella may be about to have a child, but I'm not certain about that.
"Speaking of children, Koops and Koopie
Koo's egg hatched about two months after the heroes returned home, and
it was a daughter, their first of two, the other of which hatched last
year. They named the first daughter Flur in honor of Flurrie and the second
was named Maria, and you can guess where that name
came from.
"Ms. Mowz used her money to move herself out of the country and onto a tropical island in the Dino Isles. Coincidentally, the island next to her happened to have Prince Peasley's summer home on it, though he's since moved out since Popple and the Brothers of the Stone have been trying to get at him for the past two years.
"Eggo donated the money I gave him to
charity, but that's not the most interesting thing that's happened. Just
over a week after he and the others defeated Cackletta, he returned to
the Glitz Pit and did the impossible, KOing Rawk Hawk and managing to get
the spell removed afterwards by using the jewels. After
he did this, Eggo dropped the jewels
into the ocean to ensure no one would ever call on their dark powers again.
He still holds the title to this day.
"Fawful died in the fire, as discovered two days later when one Kooper Koopa was hiking up there and found the remains. There, he happened to run into Deathnify, the last person to see him before his death. Apparently, nothing happened between the two sides besides the two giving their names.
"Mack and Bowyer were both released by Beldam, who had no further use for them, and they and Sharm went out searching for Sharm's sister Shwerm. She took them in, and they say the four are busy plotting something of their own.
"Now run along, your uncle's got something very important to do."
Both of Lemmy's sons stand up and run out of the room, closing the door on the way out. Ludwig then stands up and walks over, locking the door. He then starts to change, changing from 8'4" to 5'10" and becoming a pale human-like creature wearing armor made of leather and a long blue cape. His once blonde hair is now red.
"Plit, beware, take care, because Deathnify is coming!"
The End
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