Chapter 4: It's Your Funeral
They stopped in their tracks. Hesha nervously turned around, but Trace knew that voice all too well. Flashbacks of that accursed day began to flow through his mind like a whirlpool. Memories of his dead sister, Hehena, and his desist friend, Ichina, began to bring themselves to the surface of his mind. Trace started to remember what happened in the Mushroom Kingdom four years ago…
"Hurry up, Trace, they're gaining on us!"
Trace and three other Shadow Yoshis were running down the streets of the Mushroom Kingdom with two Marios hot on their trail.
"Were not going to make it!" Trace shouted, shooting a bolt of lightning down the road at the Brothers. "If only Krona was still alive."
"I'll end this once and for all!" one of the Yoshis shouted, turning around and running toward Mario and Luigi.
"No, Ichina, get back here!" Trace started to run after him as one of the Shadow Yoshis grabbed him by the arm.
"There's nothing you can do for him, he has chosen his own path."
"But he's going to die!"
"Maybe so, but you can't change the destiny of others, so En the Wise once told me."
Trace growled. "Let the old ones talk all they want, I've got to save Ichina! Let go of me, Hehena."
"It's your funeral," Trace’s sister Hehena sighed, letting go of him.
Trace drew his sword and made a giant leap, landing in front of Ichina.
"Trace, what are you doing? I'm doing this so you three can escape."
"Ichina, you're my best friend, you can't die here."
Then they both saw the two Mario Brothers land in front of them. "This-a is as far-a as you go, Koopas," shouted Mario.
Trace swung his sword at Mario but Mario rolled out of the way and slammed a fireball in his chest. Trace hit the ground, gasping for breath.
"Trace!"
Ichina charged at Mario, but suddenly stopped moving. "W-what is this?"
To his horror, Ichina saw Luigi standing below a POW Block. With one jump, the air around Ichina started to compress until it was too much to bear and caused his skeleton to give way and break.
Trace gasped and tried to get up, but Mario kicked him to the ground and used a Fire Flower to send a trio of flames at him. Trace closed his eyes and waited for it all to end. The pain never came.
Trace glanced up and, to his horror, saw Hehena's burnt corpse on the ground.
"No…"
Trace started to feel anger boil up inside him, until it was so great that he let out a loud shriek that filled the Mushroom Kingdom. With pure rage fueling him, he shot a bolt of lightning into Mario's chest, knocking him unconscious, and punched Luigi so hard it knocked the wind out of him, causing him to collapse as well. Feeling his rage subsiding, he clicked his tongue four times, and used a teleportation spell.
Four hundred miles away, a ruined Shadow Yoshi swore his vengeance…
Within a second, the flashback had ended.
"We've-a found you at-a last."
Trace smiled. This would be the day.
This would be the day that he killed them. This would be the day he avenged
Ichina and Hehena. This would be the day he rewrote the wrong that had
happened on that accursed day. Armageddon Star or no Armageddon Star, this
would be the day he finally put the dragon of rage that resided in him,
to rest...
Chapter 5: A New Threat
"Well, well, well, if isn't the famous Mario and Luigi." Hesha laughed. "I'm surprised you caught up with us even after I hid our path in a trail of magic. What's your secret?"
Then, a new voice said, "Oh, I am no secret. I am now well known throughout the Mushroom Kingdom as Toad Town's most powerful mage. You may call me Sagen." And with that, a Toad wearing a hooded purple robe stepped out from behind Mario and grinned.
"Wait a minute," said Trace, "so you're the one who placed the Inferi at the Mushroom Kingdom gates."
"Ah yes," Sagen replied, "and that means you must be the one who destroyed them."
Trace cursed himself. If he knows WHO I am, then he probably knows WHAT I am too. He couldn't have the mage blabbing out the truth in front of Hesha, so he said "Me? No, I couldn't kill an Inferi if I tried. I merely saw them there."
The old Toad said nothing, but the look in his eye told Trace that he was doubtful.
Then, Hesha spoke, "Well, you must be powerful then. Let's see which one of us is stronger, shall we?"
Ignoring him, Sagen raised his palm and, catching Trace off-guard, slammed him in the chest with a greenish-purple bolt of energy. Trace watched in horror as the energy began eating away at his disguise, until he once again was a Shadow Yoshi.
Sagen smiled. "Thought so."
Ignoring Hesha's puzzled expression, Trace unsheathed his sword and charged at his three opponents. Both the Marios raised their fists, but Sagen stopped them. "This one is mine."
He then unsheathed a pure white blade that looked like it was made of crystal, and parried Trace's blow with it. He then returned with a strike that almost knocked the sword clear out of Trace's hand. Trace tried to lift the sword up again, but was too slow, and suffered a blow in the chest by Sagen's hilt. He hit the ground with a grunt.
Sagen smirked. "Hopefully you now understand that winning was never an option for you. Now, surrender or-“
Sagen never finished the sentence, for he had completely forgotten that there was still one other threat he had yet to deal with.
"Actually, old man," Hesha replied, as he removed his hand from Sagen's head, "winning is the only option for a member of Lord Grestle's army."
Silently, the old mage hit the ground and remained motionless.
Both of the Mario Bros. looked shocked. "What-a did you do-a to him?" Mario asked slowly. "Is he-a dead?"
Hesha laughed. "No, no, I placed him in a state of paralysis. He won't be waking up for a few days. That's just what the fool gets for underestimating me."
Hesha began to walk towards the Mario Brothers and said, "Now, I suppose you had better be getting back to Toad Town before I kill all three of you."
As they scrambled about to pick up Sagen's body, Trace looked at Hesha and said, "Are you nuts? It would be better to kill them right now and get rid of them once and for all."
Hesha ignored him, grabbed him by the hand, and used a spell that teleported the both of them to a rocky area that Trace had never seen before. Trace growled, "Just what do you think you're-“ Wait a minute. I'm probably already on thin ice as it is.
"All right, Shadow Yoshi," Hesha began, "just who are you?"
Trace sighed. I guess it's time to tell him a modified version of the truth.
“My name is Trace. As you probably know, Bowser and the Koopas wiped out my species four years ago. I am the only one left, and I just thought that joining Grestle's army would be a good way to get my revenge on the Koopas."
"All right, and why did you hide the fact that you were a Shadow Yoshi from me?"
"I, umm, did it so no one in the Mushroom Kingdom would know what I really am."
"Hmm, well, I suppose that makes sense. Yeah, maybe we could use that to our advantage. You could use your skill to spy on Toad Town, assuming the Marios or Sagen don't see you."
"Yeah, I suppose I could…" What an ignorant creature…
"All right, Trace," Hesha said, stopping in front of an extremely large boulder, "just past here is the underground passage way that leads to Lord Grestle's palace, which is also underground."
Well what do you know, the earth demon lives under the earth, Trace thought to himself as he smirked.
"What?"
"Oh, it's nothing."
Hesha held out his palm and the boulder moved aside, revealing a passage. As they walked into the cave, the entrance closed behind them.
And so the two turned, and walked into the lair, of Grestle the Earth Demon…
To Be Continued...
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