Chapter 3: A Plumber’s Final Fight
Dimentio reappeared back inside the Mushroom Retainer’s house, only to find the two magical boxes he had set up, empty. “How did the two ants manage to get out of my magic?!” He growled. “I can’t worry about this now, the red one should be returning from my trick by now.”
Dimentio teleported his way out of the Mushroom House in search for his prey, the clear, yellow boxes vanishing from sight. A laugh echoed through the small house as Luigi and Toad regained their visibility, Lemmy then stepping out of his hiding spot in one of the rooms and tucking his magic wand into his shell.
“Thank you for saving us, Lemmy,” Luigi thanked the small Koopa. “But, how did you know we were in trouble?”
“Well, I had gotten lost in Forever Forest a bit ago and stumbled into town,” Lemmy explained. “I heard a commotion coming from a house that apparently everyone else ignored.”
“Whatever the case may be, thank you,” Toad said, jumping in realization. “I have to warn the princess that we’re being attacked!” He quickly scurried out of his house and towards the castle, closely followed by Luigi and Lemmy.
***
“Why would Toad lie about something so serious?” Mario asked himself as he entered the warp pipe that leads from Sky Land’s sky half to the ground. “Something just isn’t right…”
Our hero in red hopped into the pipe, warping to Giant Land. When he plopped out of the green pipe, something aroused his suspicions. All the giant enemies that would usually be seen running around were nowhere in sight.
“Well, well, well, look who we have here.” A voice laughed, echoing through the area. “If it isn’t my old friend, Mario.”
“Show yourself!” the plumber commanded the voice. The area stayed eerily silent as the voice didn’t answer. “Stop being a coward!” Mario scanned the area all around him, not seeing anyone around.
Mario was slammed out of his trance as a bolt of energy burst on the back of his skull. He turned to finally meet his guest, floating high up in the air above him.
“Dimentio! I thought we killed you!” Mario growled, narrowing his eyes at the clown.
Dimentio faked a frown at the plumber. “You mean, after all this time, you’re not happy to see me?”
“Be quiet, I beat you once, and I can beat you again.” Mario growled, jumping up at the dark jester.
“Are you this polite to all your friends?” Dimentio taunted, hiding a hand within his cloak. He pulled out the gem and held it out towards Mario with both hands. The stone began to glow a bright white before shooting out a blinding white beam of pure energy at Mario.
***
“What do you mean he’s back?!” Peach exclaimed in shock. “This can’t be possible!”
“I’m sorry, Princess, but it’s the truth…” Luigi replied quietly. “He’s responsible for the fall of the Koopa Kingdom, and he doesn’t seem to be planning on stopping his attack any time soon.”
“If I didn’t happen to find them, Toad and Luigi here would have ended up like my dad and brothers…” Lemmy sighed.
“He seems to mainly be after the ones who defeated him so long ago,” Luigi informed. “That means we need to be on the highest alert for anything that seems out of place.”
“I guess our fates rely on the sands of time now…” Toad said with a sigh.
***
Dimentio’s confident smile was broken when a boot hit him in the face. Mario jumped off the villain and back to the grass.
“You may have been able to dodge my first attack, but you can’t be so lucky forever!” Dimentio said, staring down at his rival. “Let’s see how you do when there’s a few more at this party…”
The hero in red was quickly encircled by copies of Dimentio, all laughing at his confusion. “Which one of us is real?” all the copies taunted in unison.
One of the Dimentios behind Mario held out the glowing red gem towards his target. A pulsing green light shot from the center of the stone, hitting hard into Mario’s back, a shout of pain escaping the plumber’s mouth.
***
“The only problem left is, we don’t have any way of knowing where Dimentio is…” Luigi stated, removing his hat to scratch his head. “He could be watching us right now and we wouldn’t ever know it…”
“He might be hiding while…” Toad cut himself off, fear clear on his face.
“What is it, Toad?” Peach asked the retainer.
“Mario might be in danger!” Toad yelled, jumping from his seat. “If Dimentio is taking revenge on those who defeated him and he’s not here, where is the most likely place he would be?”
“We need to help him!” Lemmy said, hopping onto his usual circus ball. “He might not be able to hold his own forever.”
With that, the small group left the castle despite the pleas of the Mushroom guards.
***
Mario lay motionless on the grass, a large round burn in the center of his back. Dimentio grinned, looking over his fallen foe as he laughed to himself. His happiness was shattered when a gloved fist hit his stomach, causing him to glide backwards a few feet.
The heroic plumber struggled to pull himself off the ground, a small dribble of blood leaving his mouth. “I swore to protect this kingdom, and I won’t let someone like you win…”
“The dog still has some bite left in him after all.” Dimentio scowled, reaching into his cloak once again. “But it looks like you need to be put to sleep.”
Mario clenched his fist tightly, a faint red light emanating from between his fingers. He opened his hand to reveal a ball of red fire slowly growing. He hurled the ball of flame at Dimentio with all his might.
Dimentio laughed, thrusting his gem at the flame, the attack seeming to get absorbed by the jewel. “Goodbye, plumber,” is all he said before discharging a black ray from the gem. The attack hit its mark on Mario’s chest, slowly changing the hero’s flesh into stone. The statue fell forward, breaking into pieces when it collided with the ground.
Dimentio laughed darkly as he stepped across the rubble that was once the Mushroom Kingdom’s greatest hero. “Two left, and my ultimate show can begin…”