Chapter Fourty-Eight: Torturous Past
MARIO
The sky crackled above with spasms of blue lightning. I tensed as I walked down a large, spiraling, staircase-like structure made out of some kind of weird rock. I don't know why, but something told me, I would escape from this place, if I followed the current path I was on. I continued hopping down the platform-rocks until I seemed to reach some sort of bottom. I gasped as I looked around. I was sweating from the intense heat all around me. The air was red all around me. I found I was on a large, rocky platform. There were large spikes jutting about the structure, and spurts of demonic fire came from the cracks.
Hanging from above was a large, spherical object that was pulsating with many different colors. Then, from the center of the arena, a large burst of fire came out of nowhere, and when the smoke cleared, Setzuka was standing there. He threw back his head and laughed maniacally. I jumped into the air and came for him. From the ground, tendrills of fire wrapped around my legs and pulled me to the ground. I strained, but I was held back.
"Hahahahaha... You are so eager to fight. Although I am not ready quite yet. Why don't you make yourself quite comfortable, and I will tell you a story of my hometown..." he said insanely. I sighed. I guessed I had no choice.
"Well, it all started..." the demon began.
~~~
Flames roared in the background of a small city. A small boy walked along the path that led there. His eyes locked with his village. Bombs fell from the sky, people lay dying on the ground, blood everywhere, and small children ran by, flies swarming their bodies and their eyes wide and bloodshot. The boy couldn't help but laugh. In this land, the wind carried death and sickness. He had lost everything else, today was just another day in his messed up life. He walked on, and made his way to his house.
A man grabbed his leg, eyes pleading and mouth begging desperately. The boy simply kicked the man aside, for he had no time for sympathy. He walked forward, until he reached his house. He knocked on the door, and it fell over on its side. He walked into the door, and saw his dead parents on the ground. He stepped over their bodies, and he simply sighed. He went over to where a small leak was occuring. He put his mouth to the pipe, and drank the dirtied water. Then he turned, witnessing the burning flames on this abysmal plain. He laughed again, louder, with a hint of insanity in his voice.
He walked onward, the children looked at him in fear as he passed by them. He was born... with... special abilities. He had more strength then the others, he had more speed then the others, and... he had less emotion than any other. His feelings had gone at a very young age, when everyone he had ever known had died, been taken by war. Mother. Father. Brothers. Sisters. Best Friends. Pets. Relatives. Everyone. Taken. From him. He couldn't stand it. His tears were like a waterfall, or... they used to be.
A soldier looked down at the approaching boy, and tried stopping him.
"Heh... look, it's a kid. Easy prey, huh?" one asked to another. The boy grinned. This was his fruit. He had learned to kill, and learned to love it. The soldier reached for his gun and pulled the trigger after he had aimed it. The boy stood still, unmoved, head down, only a terrible smile on his face. Then he couldn't stop it. He started to laugh evilly, and tears rolled down his eyes. He grabbed a guard by the neck, and lightning coursed through his vains. He fell, dead. The other ran to his car, but with a flash of the boy's eyes it exploded with everything in it.
His soul begged for mercy, and cried and weeped, but his body was in control. He threw his head back and laughed even more insanely into the open night and stared longingly into the full moon, if looking for a purpose in this crazy world. Then, out of the shadows blazing lights come, piercing his soul for but a small instant, but then the child was in a fury. The lights came closer to him, but he knew not what they were. Only now, for the second time in his life, he was scared. Then the lights surrounded him, and overtook him.
The bright light grew even brighter, and then, there was darkness. Complete and total darkness. Then, a faint light. A faint green light. Then... blue lightning above. The sky was green. The boy found himself in some kind of evil place. Perhaps he had died. But from what? He looked ahead of him and found a tall figure before him. It reached out with a long, blood stained claw. The boy grabbed it, and twisted it around and the creature shrieked as it was fried by electricity.
And then, when the thing fell to the ground, the boy heard a faint voice behind him. He spun around to see a large, robed figure standing there.
"Very impressive, boy..." the figure said dryly.
"Who are you... Answer me now! I will kill you!!!" the boy raged. The figure just laughed.
"Don't be foolish. You don't have what it takes to kill me... although, I may let you work for me," it said.
"Hmph. What's my pay?" the boy asked, snarling.
"Whatever you want," the figure replied.
"Okay, you have yourself a deal. But one more thing. Who are you?" the boy asked.
"Alkeron," replied the man.
~~~
I lay there, breathing heavily, taking in everything I had just heard.
"So... that little boy was you?" I asked.
"Heheheheh... yes," the demon said. "I was finally released from my prison, but did not attack. I could hear only the sounds of our breaths, the fire below, and the lightning above.
"Everyone you loved... I'm sorry..." I stuttered.
"Sorry? Sorry for me? It's too late for that, and also, you will be sorry after that counts down," he said. He pointed upward to a large object hanging from above. The spherical pulsating thing from before!
"After a certain amount of time, it will explode and cause a rip in the dimensions. I'll let you guess what next..." he said grinning.
"I won't let that happen!" I shouted.
"Then fight me!" he said. We prepared for the final showdown as the sky roared with lightning above.
Chapter Fourty-Nine: All is Revealed
There was darkness all around them, and then they woke up to a dusky smell. Wario got up, rubbing his sore head as he looked around. Waluigi was next to him, and was roughly awakened by his older brother. Waluigi groaned and got up. They found that a large statue was staring at them in the faces. It had a long spear in its hand. They saw brick walls and deep pits with lava bubbling up from them. The ceiling was very high up, and ornate chandeliers hung down from it. They swayed mennacingly back and forth, as if they would fall at any second. Blue flames danced on large, tall candle holders.
"Where are we?!" Waluigi asked. Wario seemed to ignore him, and just stared around. "Hey! answer me!" Waluigi cried. Wario continued moving forwards. He walked into a large room that had a large table, and at the end, a giant mess of mangled food. Wario gasped. He remembered this horrific place. He stared at the large, deccorated table that he had seen before and gritted his teeth. He walked further into the room. His footsteps echoed off the walls and reverberated back to him.
"This place... we were here before... the castle..." Wario muttered. This made Waluigi's skin crawl, and an icy cold enveloped him. His heart almost stopped beating.
"You mean...?" Waluigi started.
"Yes," his brother replied, knowing what he would say. Then, not saying another word, they walked into the large room that they remembered most of all. The room in which they had first encountered the knight. The suits of armor surrounded the room, with its sinister fire pits bubbling. Then, out of nowhere, an explosion of blue fire appeared. Out of it came the hooded figure from Wario's dreams, his long fangs menacing.
"The time has come to tell you who I really am," the hooded figure said. Then he pulled off his hood. Wario and Waluigi gasped. Staring back at them was the face of a Yoster. His skin was black, and his eyes were dark red. He smiled evilly.
"I am Takoi," Takoi said. Bulges appeared in the back of his robes, and long feathery wings popped out. The sky Yoshi came down to the floor and smiled.
"Allow me to tell you. No. Show you," he said. One of his arms waved in the air and a light surrounded them. They gasped as large, swirling clouds of colors surrounded them. Then, they were on the ground. The sun was out, shining brightly, and sky Yoshis were flying around in the blue sky. Takoi led the two brothers over to a house. Inside, a young female sky Yoshi looked down at her new baby. A young girl was by them, and a proud father as well.
"I was born on the island of Yoshi. My parents were very happy to see their son. As we were growing up, me and my sister grew close," he said. Wario and Waluigi looked at each other. Then, there was another flash of light and the boy was seen again, but older. He was sitting in a small boat, and fishing, holding a long, wooden pole in his hands. His sister was sitting next to him, holding his hand and smiling. The boy felt a tug from within the stream, and he pulled. Then the boat rocked, and he fell in. His head came above the surface and he gasped, crying out in fear.
The girl shrieked and watched as her brother slowly went downstream. She then jumped right in. She swam forward and caught her brother and dragged him back. She pulled him to shore and breathed into his mouth. The boy coughed up water, and the two hugged.
"This happened when I was seven years old, and she was thirteen. We would always fish together, and we studied forms of alchemy. But then... the war..." Takoi muttered. Once again the light, and then they were suddenly on a battlefield. Blood was stained about it and bodies were everywhere. Projectiles screamed and weapons flew. The Yosters rushed from over the hill, coming for the sky Yoshis.
"Yes... I still remember that day. The great war. Sky Yoshis waged war against Land Yoshis and they had no chance but to accept. We always hated the Land Yoshis. We were superior... Why did we have to share the island with them? Why did they diserve that honor that we had bestowed upon them? They acted like we were equals. Those fools. Today I was twenty-three. My sister was twenty-nine. I was involved in the war, as was my sister. I had fought before, in fact I had been in a lot of fights," Takoi said.
The Yoshis screamed in a cry of battle as the two sides met. The Sky Yoshis bombed down on the Yoshis and they in return stuck their long tounges into the air and Sky Yoshis screamed as some were pulled in and others' heads were pulled off. A Sky Yoshi shot several fireballs at the Yoshis and they cried in pain. Then a wave of stomach juice flowed from the mouths of the Sky Yoshis and burned the Yoshis intensely. The Yoshis threw Neon Eggs. They exploded and blew several Sky Yoshis apart.
"Then, me and my sister planned a surprise attack on them. We were entered in the military, and we were high up in the ranks. We had a surefire plan to kill them once and for all. We would sneak into their headquarters undetected, then completely total it. We were using F1 bombs, the most powerful at that time. We had bought them from the Koopa Clan, the most powerful army at the time," Takoi, said smiling.
The past Takoi and his past sister snuck silently away from the massive battle, and went over to a group of Sky Yoshis. One of them talked. He was probably the leader.
"Okay, now we need to infiltrate the Yoshi base. We have selected you, because you are our best warriors," he said.
"Thank you, that is an honor, sir," The boy replied.
"Yes. Quite," the girl muttered. The Sky Yoshi pulled out a map of the Yoshi base.
"Now. You'll get inside, here at point A. Then move stealthily, and don't let anyone see you, and move here, to point B. And finally, place the bombs in this vent and place a hologram device over it. Do you understand?" the leader said.
"SIR YES SIR!!!" the two siblings said, saluting. Takoi turned to Wario and Waluigi.
"Let me skip ahead a bit..." he said, and then they saw a large, militaristic base with lots of gadgets spread about. The two Sky Yoshis came from a vent in the ceiling and took out the guards. Then they went forward to the vent where they opened it up and placed the bombs inside. Then the girl began to cry.
"I... I don't want to do this..." she said.
"What?" replied her brother.
"I want to end this war. I want no more deaths. Please..." she said.
"Traitor," he replied, and then frowned. "I should leave you here." She cried into her hands as the boy jumped onto the roof, then left her alone.
"And that is the story of my life," Takoi said, and the castle reapeared berfore them. "Now, I will revive the Sky Yoshis and no one will stop us." Wario and Waluigi looked at each other worriedly.
"Allow me to introduce my cousin. Jamie. She will help me with this," Takoi said as a ghostly figure of a Sky Yoshi appeared. "She is dead though." He laughed. The creature glared at Wario and Waluigi with red eyes. Then there were footsteps behind them, and standing there was Eliza.
"It's been a long time, traitor...." Takoi muttered.
"Yes... Brother," Eliza replied.
Chapter Fifty: Sibling Rivalry
Eliza stood there, a new aura surrounding her. A heroic light was shining in her eyes.
"WHAT?" Wario and Waluigi asked in unison.
"That's right. I am his sister. The reason I tried to get you to lose is because I wanted no harm to you. That's why I tried to scare you away with those creatures..." she said.
"That was you..." Waluigi muttered.
"Yes. This is my traitorous sister, and now, she will die," Takoi said.
"Not if I can help it!" Eliza declared. She lifted into the air, and was surrounded by a blue aura. Takoi lifted into the air and was enveloped in red. Then there was two flashes of light and there were two ghostly figures instead.
"Yes, we can both change into ghostly forms. It's a type of alchemy," Eliza said.
"THAT IS THE WORST DANNY PHANTOM RIPOFF EVER!!!" Wario roared. But his voice was drowned out by the firey auras of the two siblings. Eliza drew her sword, and so did Takoi. Takoi rushed forward and brought down his blade on hers. She blocked and brought it up, and slashed at him. He growled and blue and black fire came from his hands. Eliza ducked under and a cluster of ice flew at Takoi. He flew back, angered. He created an orb of shocking lightning over his head and threw it viciously at Eliza.
Eliza sliced across her body, deflecting the lightning orb and sending it spiraling off somewhere. She rushed forwards and elbowed him in the gut, before slicing him into the ground. He got up, bleeding a bit, but as a Sky Yoshi, he had a tough hide, and he was obviously not mortal anymore. He leaped into the air, and wrapped his tongue around his sister. He then threw her to the ground. She got up, groaning. She made a disgusted face at him.
"You taste good, Sis," Takoi said, grinning.
"Uggh... sicko..." she muttered. She slammed her fists into the ground. She noticed that Wario and Waluigi had run off. That was good. Maybe they would be safe now. Two pillars of stone came from the ground and smashed into either side of Takoi. He roared, letting a legion of fire flow from his maw. Eliza rolled several times before throwing her sword like a boomerang. It cut his jaw slightly, but the pain must have been tremendous and he showed it. She caught her sword back in her hand and she flipped forward and kicked her brother in the face.
He raged and sent a whip of water at her, but she jumped away and ducked. Then she raised her sword and brought it down, but he blocked. She parried away, and ducked, slashing at his belly. He growled and lightning struck inches from her feet, her dodging every bolt so that she would not be fried. She jumped high into the air and punched her brother in the face before grabbing him and tossing him over her shouder head first into the dirt. She only wished that the two brothers would be okay....
~~~
Wario ran, gasping for breath and looking for a way out of the castle. Then he and his brother saw a large door, and they ran for it. Flames suddenly leapt out everywhere and surrounded the walls and such. The ghostly figure that was known as Takoi's "cousin" appeared before them, a demonic glow in her eyes. Wario glowered and threw a mighty punch which simply went right through the creature. She then slashed Wario across the face.
"Well, this is a time to panic!!!" Wario shouted, then ran, his brother behind him. Then there was a blue flash behind them, and Eliza was standing there. Er, flying there.
"Come with me! I'll get you guys out of here," she said reasuringly. "Get on my back, and grab onto my wings."
Wario smiled.
"Oh, come on, Wario. Get those thoughts out of your head," Waluigi growled. So with that the two brothers hopped onto Eliza, and somehow, she managed to hold Wario's incredible weight. They flew up to a large vent up in the ceiling which they could fit through.
"Go through this. I'll be behind you," she said. All of a sudden, an explosion resulted from a Neon Egg, and she was pulled down to the ground. Takoi picked her up and threw her into the wall. She looked up and saw the brothers' frightened faces, but they were crawling out of there soon. Takoi sent an explosion of firey daggers at his sister. She gasped in pain, but then got up again to fight.
~~~
Wario and Waluigi hit land and ran. They shouted joyfully and with much glee.
"Don't stop running 'til we hit Toad Town!" Wario shouted. They kept running, leaving the castle behind...