Chapter Four: The Beginning of the End
Luigi
We quickly climbed out of the burrow and dashed across the field, looking for a high point to jump to one of the doomships overhead. Along the way we dodged various projectiles- crossbow bolts from our end and hammers, fireballs, boomerangs, and a myriad of miscellaneous objects from the enemy- as we sprinted, our eyes attentively searching for a vantage point.
"Mario," I said as I put a hand on my brother's back, pointing to a watchtower inside our makeshift fortress, "if we get on the roof of that, I bet we can do it!"
"You're right, Luigi." said Mario. "Let's go!"
We scurried across the battlefield, killing anyone who stood in our way. The battle was not going well for the Royal Army; I looked in horror as Toad after Toad fell before the Koopa Clan, matters not helped as the doomships were lending a hand by shelling our forces with their cannons.
Skormorak's eye was giving him massive troubles as it messed up his swings. Several times I saw him make blows that, if his eye wasn't a mangled mess, would have been excellent one-hit kills. He was forced to put away the hammer and start swinging his halberd like a wild Koopa, which worked well enough, though it lacked the flourish and skill that he had demonstrated before. It would be some time before he adapted and started fighting at maximum efficiency again.
Plus, that wreckage of an eye wasn't going to help with the ladies.
Err, ignore that. Anyway, we soon made it inside our defenses, where the situation was getting worse. Our walls were heavily damaged and hundreds of wounded soldiers littered the ground, which made movement somewhat annoying as we made our way to Weston, whose squad was firing a barrage of crossbow bolts at Koopas that had made it through the gates.
"There you are!" he shouted as he saw us. "You've got to hurry and come up with a plan to get on one of those doomships! They're tearing up our men down here!"
"We've got one," said Skormorak. "We're going to leap from the watchtower and grab on."
"Well, you'd better get going! Listen, until the Shard arrives, I want you to use the doomship to support our men. If we fight them as we are now with no aerial support, we're going to be overrun!"
"Yes, sir!" said Skormorak with a salute.
"By the way, Skormorak... your eye looks awful. When this is over, get an eyepatch. That's an order."
"Yes, sir. Mario, Luigi, we need to get going!"
We jumped a trench and each of us began to climb the ladder, one by one, and from there, we climbed another ladder to the roof. From where we were we had a commanding view of the whole battlefield, which was becoming desolate as open fires ravaged their way across the field, fueled by the lush grasses of Grass Land. Up above we saw a doomship hovering down to low altitude, no doubt to take a clear shot.
"This is it!" said Mario. "We've got to make this jump because we're not going to get a second chance. Let's do it!"
Nodding, we all leapt from our tower,
the wind rushing all around us as we made our descent.
Mario
The doomship was getting closer and closer as we fell. I braced myself for the impact and landed on all fours, the noise reverberating through the planks like a drum. Luigi soon landed but we didn't see a trace of Skormorak.
"Where'd that Koopa go?"
We saw a scaly hand struggling to climb up a chain hanging over the edge of the deck. "Skormorak!"
I ran over to the edge and peered over. Skormorak was having difficulty getting a handhold to the next link in the chain. I reached down and offered him my hand, which he took with some difficulty before pulling himself up with all his strength.
"Thanks, Mario..."
"No problem. Just consider it repayment for saving me earlier!"
"Now let's go and hijack this doomship!" he said, drawing his hammer, which he lifted into the air. "I remember how to fly one of these, so we'll be just fine."
"Hang on," said Luigi. "Who's that?"
We all turned around to see a Koopa in a leather sneaking suit coming towards us. He moved with intent and deliberation, as if he had planned even his footsteps. As he approached, he drew a combat knife from his belt and threw it up in the air several times, never failing to catch it.
"Ripper..." seethed Skormorak.
"And we meet again, Colonel Skormorak," he said. "You did very well to sneak past our squads last night... but you failed in the end. No one can stand against the Virtuous Squad!"
"The Virtuous Squad?" I asked. "What's that, Skorm?"
Skormorak sighed before speaking. "They're the ultimate assassins, Mario. Their senses are one hundred times that of any Koopa, they can see in the dark, they are experts at combat, and when they move, it is with complete silence. I hate to break it to you, Mario, but our odds of coming out of this are very low."
"He is exactly right. Mario, Luigi, Skormorak, you are coming with me," said Ripper, who approached us. We all drew our weapons and took a defensive stance, ready for anything.
"Oh, but what's this? You wish to fight me?" he chuckled with amusement. "You can't possibly survive even a minute with me in combat."
Skormorak stepped forward, his hammer drawn. "I'll face him. Get back!"
Luigi and I went towards the back of
the doomship as these two Koopas stared each other down. I noticed that
as they faced each other, a strange blue aura surrounded them. It appeared
to me that it might be their destiny to face each other atop this doomship…
Skormorak
I raised my hammer in a defensive measure, but Ripper outstretched his arm, a black knife in the palm of his hand. "Halt. Throw your weapons down and take this knife. We shall duel with the blade, Skormorak."
He threw the knife to me, it twirling around in the air. I reached up and caught it in midair, then twirled it around in my hands for several seconds. He wanted an honorable duel with me... Well then, he'd get one!
"Excellent, Skormorak. Now, have at you!"
Ripper lunged at me with his knife, which I just barely blocked with my own. He was stabbing like a wild Koopa, and I was having trouble blocking the flurry of blows. But I would not be denied success. I caught him by the shoulder and threw him over my head, then started attacking him with my knife. Ripper eventually jumped up and backflipped to get some distance from me, then resumed his barrage of attacks.
Several times I felt his blade rend my flesh, and each time, I cried out in pain. Soon I was on the ground and struggling to get up as my hated foe approached me with a wide grin and a knife stained in blood- my blood. Snarling, I sliced at his legs: an effective tactic that led to him collapsing to the deck of the airship in pain.
"I would have never thought that a mere Koopa such as yourself, with no enchantments at all, would have even lasted this long! You're pretty good!"
"Thanks," I said, wiping a trickle of blood from my lip. "You really do live up to the Virtuous Squad's reputation. But you can't even kill me."
"What was that?!" he roared, his teeth locked in a feral snarl and his eyes in a fiery gaze. "Say that again!"
"You can't kill me, Ripper. It doesn't matter how good you get; I can't die yet. The world needs me right now, and I'm not going to let you stop me or my mission."
"Let's see if your words prove true, Skormorak!"
We slowly got to our feet and I realized how much this fight was taking out of me. I was exhausted not only from all the fighting I had been doing today, but from the blood loss I had suffered at the hands of Ripper. He was in bad shape too; he was heavily wounded and the cuts easily stood out against the sneaking suit, which was slowly turning red.
I lunged at Ripper with my knife, slicing at whatever part of him got in my way, before being kicked to the ground. Just as Ripper stabbed at me, I rolled out of the way and kicked his legs out from under him, then put my knife to his throat.
"Impossible."
"Apparently not."
"No one has ever bested one of us in combat before. No one."
I helped Ripper to his feet and beheld mixed emotions in his physiognomies. There was definitely anger there, along with some astonishment, of course... but I swear that I saw a look of respect in there somewhere.
"You're not half bad. I never thought somebody would ever best me in combat, especially somebody suited to a hammer. And of all things, you don't even have two eyes!"
"I do my best."
Ripper moved to the edge of the ship. "Stay alive, Skormorak! Because we will meet again, and I will beat you!"
Ripper turned around and fell off the side of the ship, his arms and legs spread wide as the wind roared around him. As much as I hated to admit it, that fight was fun and I was indeed looking forward to our next meeting. I took another glance downward before going over to Mario and Luigi. However, the reaction I was expecting wasn't what I got. Mario reached over and seized me by the throat. "What the?!"
"I knew we couldn't trust you, Skorm! I knew it!"
"What'd I do?! C'mon, let go, you're choking me!"
Mario tightened his grasp instead. "You let him go! You had him and you could have killed him, but of all things, you let him go!"
"And after I saved your life, you're going to kill me? He was an excellent fighter and I wanted to meet him again, that's all!"
"Mario, he's right," said Luigi. "You've let Bowser go even when you've had your chance to kill him plenty of times before. And he's less of a threat than Bowser right now!"
Mario hesitated as his firm grip depleted somewhat. "Yeah, but... Listen, he let one of the most dangerous assassins in the world escape, Luigi! And I know that letting him go was a mistake that's going to come back to haunt us."
"Listen to me, Mario. Who's more of a threat: a half-blind Koopa or an evil Koopa king with one of the most dangerous weapons to ever exist? Skormorak's been a major help so far. All that we've done, from the evacuation of Toad Town to making plans to destroy the Shard, wouldn't have been possible without him. And he said it himself! He saved your life!"
Mario sighed and let me go. "Fine, Luigi."
"Mario?" questioned Luigi as he moved over to his older brother, who was slumping. "Are you all right?"
"I just... I'm nervous, Luigi. I'm afraid that we may not come out of this alive."
"Mario, you're the strongest of us here! And you've got the Star Beam, which will dispel the Shard's power! What's to worry about?"
"Something in my gut tells me that this plan may succeed... but that something will inevitably go wrong before this is all over."
"But, Mario, think about all the things you've done for the Mushroom Kingdom! You did those all b-"
"Don't tell me that I did all those things by myself, Little Brother," interrupted Mario, "because I couldn't have done half of them by myself. You were always there to help me. You were the one who saved my life nine years ago. You rescued me from that painting. It was you who saved the world when Bowser polluted the real world with all that trash!"
"Mario, I'm no hero... I'm destined to be your shadow, to never surpass you. All I have ever done is help you out in all your ordeals, no matter how much I hated them and wanted out. And I've tried to be the best brother you could ask for."
"You've succeeded, Luigi. I couldn't ask for a better brother. Every time I've needed you and every time I've needed your help, you’ve been there for me."
"Mario..."
"You're not my shadow, Luigi. You're what balances out my negative traits, allowing us to fight as brothers. The Mario Brothers, Luigi, the Mario Brothers! We complete each other and fill in the gaps that would have otherwise led to our deaths years ago."
"Mario, you're right. All this time I've been an idiot, always jealous of you, when all along we've needed each other. I love you, Bro, and I know that by working together, we're going to bring down Bowser once and for all!"
Luigi held out his hand to Mario, who pulled himself up. "You're right, Luigi. We're the only ones that can make this right! We have to succeed!"
"Now let's go get them!"
"Yeah!"
We leapt across the segmented decks of the doomship, avoiding doomcannons that shot out Bullet Bills at us. The Bullets were easily defeated whenever Mario and Luigi jumped on them, but since I couldn't jump that well, I had to dodge the shots, which wasn't much easier thanks to my wreckage of an eye.
Eventually we made it to the end of the doomship, which ended in a pipe.
"Mario, Luigi, you guys stay out here. I'll fly this baby for you."
"Be careful, Skorm," said Mario. "If it's Roy in there you whistle for us, all right?"
"All right," I said, before I plunged myself into the pipe. I landed with a thud on the wooden floor of the cabin, where Lemmy Koopa was listening to some music on the radio as he flew the doomship. He heard the thud and turned around, astonished to see me in his doomship getting to my feet, hammer drawn.
"Ahh! I-it's Skormorak!" he exclaimed before reaching for his Freeze Gun, which was resting beside him. "S-stand back! You know what this baby can do!"
"I don't think so," I said smugly, intending to scare him. This produced the desired effect: he fell to the ground, Freeze Gun pointed at me. "Do you think that little toy's going to save you?"
"Y-yes it will!" he shouted, pulling the trigger. As the ball of concentrated ice magic flew at me, I rolled to the side, then sprinted over to the young Koopaling. He tried to whack me with the barrel of the Freeze Gun, which I deflected with my hand, then knocked out of his with my hammer. I then kicked him off his ball.
He was finished. I remembered how Lemmy had difficulty walking because he spent most of his time rolling around on that rubber ball, so he had no chance of defeating me. I seized him up by his rainbow-colored hair, then threw him out the window.
"Phase one of Operation Crystalfall
complete," I said as I took the controls. "Mario, get ready charging up
that Star Beam! Luigi, get on the main doomcannon!"
Mario
Skormorak had successfully gained control of the doomship, so we were all set! I saw my brother climb the ladder above the cabin and take his place on the large cannon, where he would shoot down the other doomships and the Shard.
"Luigi!" I shouted from where I was. "Be sure you save enough ammo for the Shard!"
"I will, Mario! But ammo conservation won't be a problem! The Koopas left us plenty of ammo, with homing Bullet Bills!"
"Even still, Luigi, be careful about how much you shoot!"
"All right, Mario! Get started on that Star Beam, though!"
"This is it..." I said as I knelt my hands together in prayer, my eyes alert and scanning the skies for the Shard.
"Spirits of the Stars, I beseech you... Grant me the strength, so that I might be able to defeat my enemy. For a new threat is unleashed upon the world, and your powers are needed once again. Let me use your power so that I may preserve those who inhabit this land."
As I said these words, the sky turned dark around the doomship and my body began to glow from within. A large ball of energy was beginning to form in my hands, but that wasn't it! The Star Spirits themselves were descending from the heavens, floating about my head in a perfect circle!
"This is it, Mario," said Eldstar. "You and your friends are about to fulfill your ultimate destiny here on this desolate battlefield."
"Eldstar," I muttered, happy to see the kindly old spirit and his fellow spirits with him. "Mamar, Skolar, Muskular, Misstar, Klevar, Kalmar. It's been a long three years."
"Those three years have not distilled the amount of pride we have in you, Mario," said Kalmar. "Everywhere you go, everyone that you meet, and everything that you do benefits the world, Mario. You are a beacon that shines upon this world."
"And now we need your powers one last time," I said to the benevolent spirits that encompassed my head like a halo. "Bowser has found a weapon called the Shard of Order, and if he is allowed to use it, we're all doomed."
But then, I saw something I never thought, nor hoped, that I would ever see. Each of the Star Spirits looked genuinely shocked. "This can't be!" said Muskular. "The Shard is back?!"
"You've seen it before?"
"Seen it?" scoffed Skolar. "We were the ones who took away all its powers last time! This is terrible, Mario. Last time, forty-nine thousand years ago, the world was reduced to ruin because of that Shard. We used the powers of the Star Beam to sap its powers and buried it deep in Tutankoopa's tomb, hoping that it would never regain its powers."
"And now it rises again, by Bowser's hand."
"Mario, you and your friends must destroy that Shard here and today!" said Misstar with an air of urgency. "The Shard has power by itself, but that alone isn't what makes it such a dangerous tool."
"What does, then?"
"When used for small things, like Bowser has inevitably done so far, then you wouldn't notice it, but there are dangerous side effects to such a power," said Klevar. "The Shard of Order gets its amazing energy by stealing it from the planet."
I gasped as I realized how severe the situation was. "Then you mean..."
"Yes. If Bowser tests the Shard's full capabilities, like he is bound to do, the planet will die."
"Then we will stop it today!" I shouted. The Star Spirits all nodded as they continued channeling their power to the Star Beam.
"The Shard's coming in on radar, Mario!" I heard from below, in the cabin. "Get ready!"
However, I didn't need Skormorak tell me that the Shard was coming. For one thing, I could see the giant black crystal distinctly rotating through the air as it flew towards the center of the battlefield. For another, everyone that was involved in this fight could hear Bowser's voice, magically amplified like a megaphone through the Shard's magic.
"This is King Bowser Koopa speaking directly to you, soldiers of Princess Toadstool's Royal Army! If you look up in the sky, you will see a black jewel floating in the sky!"
Down below, I could hear the astonished gasps of soldiers as they were looking up, possibly wondering how that was possible.
"Yes, yes, I'm in here. And I have one last piece of news for you, the last piece you will ever hear," spoke Bowser from within the Shard as a large, red ball of energy formed above it. "You're all going to die!"
I looked on in horror as the most massive red beam of light fired from the crystal, flying towards the earth as fast as the eye could blink. The beam struck the ground, and I heard shrieks and screams of pain as our comrades died down below. I looked over and to my astonishment, all of the Koopa Clan forces were alive.
The beam had not killed them.
Snarling, I pushed as much of my own energy as I could into the Star Beam, watching as it turned bright red and suddenly burst into flame.
"This is it. For our land, for our people, and for those who have yet to be born..." I said as I took aim with the Star Beam. "I will destroy you!"
I flung the Star Beam with all my might, and it homed in on the Shard of Order before striking it clear in the side. The Shard dispelled a dark black gas before emitting rays of pure white light that blinded the battlefield. When the light cleared I saw that the beam had hit the Shard so hard that it had veered off course, but it steadily regaining its speed.
"Nice shot, Mario!" said Mamar encouragingly. I smiled, then beckoned to Luigi, who had turned around. He took aim with the cannon, then fired.
I watched as a golden homing Bullet Bill trailed through the sky before making contact with the Shard and exploding against its side. For nearly a minute, we watched and waited for the dust cloud that resulted to dissolve. But when it did dissolve, I gasped in horror.
The Shard had survived!
"Ahh, and what's this? Mario and his brother, Luigi, here to spoil the fun? Do you really think that you can destroy the Shard with such a lousy strategy?"
"It can't be!" protested Eldstar. "The Star Beam has never failed once since creation! That explosion should have been enough to destroy it!"
"Luigi! Keep firing and see if that works!" I shouted, anxiously keeping an eye on it through my binoculars. Luigi fired a salvo of Bullet Bills that all exploded on contact with the Shard. An even larger cloud of dust masked the Shard, and for two minutes we waited for it to clear.
"****! It had no effect!" I shouted, stomping the deck in my fury. Our plan had failed! The one shot we had at destroying the Shard had failed and Bowser had won!
"This is the end," said Kalmar with tears in his eyes. "The Shard lives once again, stronger than before."
"No, it's not the end!" I shouted as I clambered up the ladder, trying to drown out Bowser's hideous laughter. I jumped into the warp pipe to where Skormorak was keeping the doomship immobile in the air.
"How did it go?" he asked me, a nervous look in his eye.
"We've failed! Skormorak, come on, you've got to get us out of here!"
"Will do..." he said, a somber look
in his eye as he realized that this was the beginning... of the end.
Luigi
For the first time in my life, I now knew what true fear meant. This was worse than when I had to save Mario from that haunted mansion, worse than when we first came here to find a Bowser-dominated world. This was a first for me and my brother, as well as our new partner! We had always survived, we had always succeeded! For as long as we remained in the Mushroom Kingdom, we were a beacon of hope to the Mushroomers and their best chance of survival.
But that was all over now. Bowser had finally accomplished what he had planned since before we had come back to our birthplace, before any lived who could oppose him.
"What's the matter, plumbers? Traitor? Are you afraid to attack me again? Ha ha ha ha ha! You should be! I possess the power of a god as long as I am in control of this Shard! This world is mine now. And you will die."
No.
I would not die at the hands of our destined enemy! We had always survived and we were going to make it out of here alive! The thoughts of what my brother had said not long ago raced through my mind.
"I couldn't ask for a better brother. Every time I've needed you and every time I've needed your help, you’ve been there for me."
"You're not my shadow, Luigi. You're what balances out my negative traits, allowing us to fight as brothers. We complete each other and fill in the gaps that would have otherwise led to our death years ago!"
"We're the only ones that can make this right! We have to succeed!"
Summoning up more courage than I had ever shown in my life, possibly more than my brother ever had, I loaded the cannon full of smoke bombs. "I love this land," I said as I looked around at the trees, at the grass, at the hills, "and I have taken it for granted all my life, even back on Earth. This is all worth protecting..."
Nodding and tightening the cap I had since birth, I aimed the cannon in the Shard's direction. "And now I know how I can give back to it! I will protect the ones who are left to oppose you, Bowser!"
I pulled the trigger on the cannon with such force that the trigger broke off. The smoke bombs all struck the Shard and thick gray clouds engulfed it, hopefully preventing Bowser from thinking of a way to use the Shard to circumvent it.
"What is this!? Oh, crud... Ok, how can I see through this smoke? Blast it, that won't work! Darn you! You got away today but eventually I will find you and kill you, Mario Brothers! And I will make you regret that you ever betrayed your people, Skormorak!"
I leapt down and sat along the edge of the pipe, feeling great pride in what I had done. "With this, we will survive until we find a way to beat you, Bowser. And when we do, we will return one day and overthrow your reign. It is the beginning of a new age for the Mushroom Kingdom."
"You think you're a god, Bowser... but you will not succeed in your plans. The real God is on our side, heinous king."