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Chapter 35:
Final Battle.
~Lzn64~
Bowser watched the two approach, the princess
clutched in one arm, held tightly against his body, the
Weather Star hovering just above the outstretched claw of
his opposite arm. He remained perfectly still, poised
atop the tower, his cold, calculating eyes following the
plumbers almost inperceptably.
They're tired, He knew instantly, but he
refrained from letting any of his wicked happiness at
that fact show in his steely face. They're in no shape
to face me. I knew my hapless offspring would fail, as
always... yet their exploits seem to have done their job....They're
even having trouble making it up the stairs, when in the
past they could clear such trifles in near a single bound!
He carefully subdued the urge to laugh. He knew that
there was no room for arrogance in this battle, no margin
of error in which to fill with underestimation of the
brothers' resilience. He would have to pay very close
attention to both of them, at their every move, at their
every subtle signal. For, although he was the most
obvious victor for any battle between himself and his
nemeses, it was by wit and tact alone that he had been
beaten time, and time again.
But no more. Oh, no more. After so long, so many
battles, so many plans tried and tested, and found to
fail... he had developed this, this masterful work of his
that had taken him to the brink of his goal, the very
"Wa" version of every plot and scheme he had
devised in the past... For this to fail was impossible.
After all... who could contend with the Power of the
Stars?
***
Mario looked up at the battlefield the fate of the
Mushroom Kingdom would be decided on. His brother stopped
nearby, his unassuming lime eyes sweeping the area ahead
of him. They spent little time summing up Bowser himself;
they had seen him before. It was their
surroundings they were far more interested in... anything
at all that could possibly help them in this excursion
must be taken into account and stored if they hoped to
win; they had learned this from the beginning. Whether a
weak brick floor, a faulty kinklink, a multitude of handy
bombs placed at a distance.... a spiked roof whose spikes
were not secured properly, the uncanny ability of the
mechakoopas to serve some purpose other than their
intended one... there was always something the two could
use against Bowser to secure their victory.
There was nothing there, Mario knew. Bowser, it
seemed, had also learned that lesson. The floor was solid
brick, sturdy as anything. The angry clouds overhead and
their occasional electric spats provided the only ceiling.
The three walls that remained provided no help at all,
they were devoid of any useful "decoration."
There were no objects on the tower face with the
exception of the Bowser, Peach, and the Weather Star...
there was no sign of the Great Star at all.
Mario nodded once to his brother, and received a
similar gesture in return. Despite this, they would have
to try. He could feel the eyes of Peach on his every
move; her anxiety was like a living thing, writhing about
the room in anxious spasms. Nothing could stop him, them,
from trying. Not even stacked odds.
As always, Bowser broke the silence that always
preceded a stand-off. Mario smiled as he spoke. All
things had a tradition, it seemed.
"So, you've finally made it," Bowser
called, his surprise at seeing them long since slipped
into the suave, careful demeanor that was his chief
defining characteristic.
"Don't we always?" Mario replied, knowing
the drill. Rhetorical questions, unneeded statements, the
mark of the villian and the hero.
"I must really commend you this time... I do
hope you find my... new style appealing."
"I've always loved a challenge."
"I'm afraid that I've never loved an attitude,
though," Bowser sneered, flexing his muscles in a
tired, bored fashion, though his mind was working
overtime.
"You must not like yourself very much,"
Mario noted, his mustache twitching as he suppressed a
grin.
"On the contrary, I'm quite happy with myself.
It's you that I despise. You and him," He noted,
gesturing at Luigi, who had remained quiet throughout the
exchange. Bowser blinked suddenly, knowing that the green-clad
shadow had done something while he had been
occupied... He glanced down at the princess beside him.
She had long since given up the struggle against him, but
he knew that her defiant nature was dangerous to him.
He shoved her away from him, hard enough to cause her
to stumble, not quite enough to harm her. She gasped and
fell forward, and before she could quite recover herself
Bowser had, in one swift motion, contructed a prison of
ice about her, obstructing not only her escape route, but
her vision of the battle.
"Might now want to watch this," Bowser
called from the other side of the ice wall, and though
Peach could not see it, the Weather Star pulsed above
him, eager to release more of its power.
"I would love to see what they're going
do to you!" Peach retorted, her hands clenched in
anger and a thousand other feelings characterized by
general hatred. There was no reply, her voice was neither
as loud nor as penetrating as Bowser's; there was no
doubt that unless they got close, she would not be able
to make herself heard... but she would not see if they
got close... So how can I possibly tell them of the
Great Star's wherabouts?
Mario watched this with little surprise; after all,
he hadn't expected Bowser to engage them with the
plotting princess at his side. Although he probably
could have with THAT, he thought dismally, his gaze
flickering to the Weather Star. Weakened by the loss of
the Weather Nimbus, it was obviously regaining its power,
and was already as deadly as ever.
Luigi, on the other hand, was engaged in slightly
more strategic thoughts. Bowser had just given them a new
feature to work around. What could he do with a hollow
box of ice? And earlier... when Mario and Bowser had been
bickering... What on earth was she trying to tell me?
He pondered, gazing at the sheet of ice.
"Now, plumbers, that I've taken care of that
matter..." Bowser smiled. "I'd like to see what
you can possibly do against me."
She was pointing to somewhere behind him,
Luigi mused, blotting out the rumbling baritone.
"We've always done something," Mario
replied, "And it's always worked."
But there's nothing behind him...Luigi peered
past the form of the turtle, squinting his eyes.
"We'll see how far your confidence takes you
this time around, then," Bowser bellowed, gesturing
toward the pulsing mass of Star Power above him, his face
broke into a hideous grin. A gust of wind radiated out
from him momentarily, his wild red hair flying with it,
imprinting an intimidating image in the minds of the
brothers as they jumped away from the sharp crags of
stone that pushed up from the floor, carrying the promise
of premature death with them.
Peach heard the rumbling that accompanied this
offensive manuever, her breath caught in her throat,
which was by then hoarse from her yells of "Behind
him! A door...!" And similiar exclamations, none of
which had been heard. She slammed her delicate gloved
fists into the ice in insurmountable frustration,
ignoring the pain of impact and the accompanying cold. Get
over here and hear me! For all our sakes!
Mario crouched behind the stone spires that had
nearly ended the battle before it had been properly begun.
He quickly glanced to his left to ensure himself of the
safety of his brother, then quickly turned back to
Bowser, who was switching his gaze back and forth to them
in obvious amusement.
"Why isn't he coming forward?" Luigi called
over to Mario in a hushed voice, silent to Bowser's ears.
"I don't know. If he keeps it up, I'll worry."
Luigi nodded. But YOU didn't see Peach when she
was trying to get your attention, you dolt, He
couldn't help thinking fondly. That was Mario, through
and through. I have to go see what he's hiding...
Bowser glanced at the ice prison that stood not far
off from him. "That girl sure can yell when she
wants to," He muttered, annoyance tinging his voice.
"If those two hear her..." He shook his head.
Best not to think about it. Instead of brooding over it,
he turned his attention back to Mario and Luigi. He was
well aware that Luigi was either planning to do
something, or attempting to figure something out, his
contemplative expression could mean nothing else. There
is no possible way that he could know about the close
proximity of the Great Star... right? Bowser growled,
and gestured toward the Weather Star once again, his
blazing eyes for once centered on what he had long
considered to be the lesser problem.
"Luigi, watch it!" Mario yelled from his
position behind the rock, as he watched Bowser ready a
new attack. He gasped as the magically-generated spires
he had been taking refuge behind begain to combust one by
one, and ran full flight from those closes to him in
hopes of avoiding the flying rock fragments.
-------------------
Yoshi peered up toward the battlefield above, Daisy
nearby, doing much the same thing. He could see little,
but he could hear plenty, and there was no way of knowing
what was going on. Jinx had convinced them, during the
initial rush, not to follow Mario and Luigi, since Bowser
was rightfully their responsibility, and it was not what
they would want...
Blah, blah, blah, Yoshi thought irritibly,
What did that little shrimp know anyway? He glanced at
Daisy, communicating his intentions to her with a subtle
gesture that went unnoticed by Jinx, and was met with a
curt nod. At the same time, they dashed off toward the
stairs, tired of being out of action and unhappy with
their seemingly miniscule importance in regards to this
final, most important battle.
They made it to the second flight when the rock
pilliars closest to the stairway exploded. Daisy let out
a startled scream, ducking behind the stockier form of
the dinosaur, who likewise ducked and covered his head
with his arms as best he could. Shrapnel flew by, somehow
missing them, but effectively blocking their passage
forward. And, they both realized an instant later, Mario
and Luigi's way out.
After searching for a way around or over the pile of
unstable, yet impossibly heavy piles of shattered stone,
and failing to find one, they trudged back to the waiting
Mallow, Jinx and Jagger, defeated.
"Told ya," Jagger advised smugly.
"It would seem as though even the unpredictable
hand of fate is against your intervention," Jinx
observed from his place on Jagger's shoulder.
Yoshi muttered something incoherent beneath his
breath in reply, and fixed his frustrated gaze back
upward to try and decipher the meaning of the various
sounds and snatches of visuals that he recieved.
-----------------------
Luigi was tossed backward by the force of the
explosion, was stopped mid-flight by the rather cruel
intervention of a wall, and managed to get some
sort of stars in his sight, even if it wasn't the Great
Star.
He shook his head to clear it, winced as his neck
protested, and got to shaky feet. His brother seemed to
have fared a bit better, at least, he didn't seem to have
hit any walls at a fast speed recently. He edged along
the wall, hoping that Bowser would turn his attention to
his brother, like always, so that he could get a better
look at the wall behind Bowser. He inched nearer to the
ice prison that contained the princess, and so closer to
Bowser... and saw for the first time that without the
mammoth form of Bowser blocking his sight, a door to some
sort of cabinet lay embedded in the wall. From the
keyhole in the center there was emitted a gentle,
beckoning glow...
The voice of his brother, filled with warning, cut
into his thoughts. He switched his gaze from the door to
the beast guarding it, just in time to duck beneath the
sickly green-tinged gust of wind that tore the air above
him. The wind tunnel threatened to blow him clear up and
out of the tower, and Mario saw it.
So, he did the only thing he could to save his
brother- he dashed forward. Bowser grunted in surprise,
turning his attention from Luigi for a split second,
which was all the time the taller man needed to situate
himself in a safer position- that is, behind the ice
prison. He shouted out to his brother from behind the
wall, still breathless from the wind.
"Get to the door behind him!"
Mario made no indication that he had heard, as he was
far to busy with trying to stay alive. Bowser whirled
toward him, the Weather Star flashed brightly, and Mario
shut his eyes, awaiting whatever attack came.
Instead of pulsing and expelling a devastating
attack, however, the Star, after the first bright flash,
went dark. Mario peeked up, and the first thought that
entered his mind was that it had burned out, like an old
lightbulb.
The sadistic smile that had been planted on Bowser's
already overconfident face crystalized on his features,
his body suspended in an aggressive posture stiffly, and
his eyes trailed up above him.
"What...?" He growled, narrowing his eyes
in confusion, as the star dropped from the air, bounced
off of his head, and was caught and clenched in his
clawed hand. He bellowed angrily, tightening his grip on
the now-black star, an alternate strategy fuzzing on the
corners of his brain but refusing to come into focus.
"You were supposed to have enough power recovered
to get through this battle!" He roared, shaking
the entire castle with the force of the shout, and at the
same time, throwing the star with all his might at the
stone floor in disgust.
The Star bounced once, twice, and came to rest at the
feet of the dumbfounded Mario, who was still quite
surprised to find himself in one piece. He looked from
Bowser to the Star, bent down, and picked it up.
------
From inside the ice prison, Peach jerked around
toward the sound of Luigi's voice. He heard his shout to
Mario about the door, and felt her heart take flight with
wings of hope. Then, a moment later she realized that if
she could hear him, he could hear her.
"Luigi!" She yelled, crossing her fingers
as she waited for a response from outside of the thick
ice walls.
"Peach?" She heard the reply, faintly, but
it was there.
"Luigi!! You have to get the key!" She
yelled. "You can't get inside the cabinet without
the key!"
"Where is it?!"
"He's wearing it!" She cried back, coughing
as her already raw throat protested against this new
rough treatment.
"All right!" Came his reply. Peach didn't
even bother trying to continue the conversation. It hurt,
and she knew that he had gone. It suddenly struck her
that she might never have another conversation with him
again.... she rubbed her arms against the chill of her
prison and suppressed that thought.
---------
Mario stared at the Star he held in his gloved hands,
peering at it critically. As he watched, his eyes caught
something from within the depths of the dark star... a
brief flicker, nothing more.. but had he imagined it?
He had no time to wonder, as Bowser had turned his
attention back to him.
"No matter... you're still nothing to me,"
Bowser sneered, his eyes narrowed.
"Not by myself," Mario commented, watching
as his brother popped out from behind the ice that he had
taken refuge behind, and dashed toward the door.
"Do you think I have no power left?" Bowser
called, in frank disbelief. He took a deep breath, a
common prep for an attack that Mario and Luigi both were
more than familiar with.
Luigi saw the attack coming, just as he had known it
would. He ducked, sliding forward and scraping his knees
painfully on the rough surface of the floor, and felt the
searing pillar of fire pass just above him, singing his
hat and the hair that wasn't covered by it-- right into
the ice wall of the structure behind him.
Bowser gaped at what he had just done. Not only had
he missed the plumber... he had freed the princess. She
peeked out from the tunnel in the ice wall that had been
solid mere seconds ago, her eyes wide. Bowser frantically
looked from her, to Luigi, to Mario.
His plan was falling apart! Again!
"Get that key!" Peach cried, snapping Luigi
into action and causing Mario some confusion.
"Key?" He asked, as Luigi approached.
"There," he pointed, and Mario followed the
direction of his finger to a glint of metal that hung
around Bowser's tree-trunk sized neck.
"You want this, plumbers? Princess?" the
Koopa King asked quietly, suddenly calm again as he
realized that he still had the upper hand. "You want
this, don't you? Without it, the Great Star is mine,
forever. Forever." He snapped the string and held
the key in his claw, above his head, dramatically waving
it before him, out of their reach.
"Don't be so sure," Mario replied, and
Luigi looked at him quizzically.
"Hope you're the one with the idea,"
He muttered, narrowing his eyes at Bowser. Mario nodded,
sent a fleeting glance at Peach, who was hoisting herself
out of the ice trap through the hole in the wall, and
returned his gaze to the Star he held in his hands. That
flicker....
He shrugged, and held it up. He shut his eyes,
pretended that it was a normal, simple Starman that he
held in his hands, and felt the familiar feel that
accompanied any use of a "power-up."
Bowser's eyes widened as he saw that, the plumber was
using the Weather Star! But it was... it was dead!
Burnt out! It was....
Mario blinked, feeling the Star's power rapidly dimishing.
What sort of weather spell...? What could he use?
"Mario!" Peach yelled, freeing herself from
the tunnel made by Bowser's midguided fire blast. "Mario,
freeze him!" She called desperately.
Well, why not?
Mario shrugged, and wished out the very last of the
power the already exhausted Weather Star had. It flared
in his grasp, understanding his wish, gave one last
brilliant flash, and then went dark for good.
------
What in the name of the koopa does he think he's
doing? Does he honestly think that he can use that burnt
out old thing? What an absolute idiot! Bowser
thought, narrowing his eyes at Mario. That Star is
dead- He blinked as he felt something strange. He
felt.... cold. All over. He began to shiver, and suddenly
it dawned on him... his eyes opened wide with fury, and
he attempted to clench his fist around the key... if he
was going to freeze, they weren't going to get the key!
His claws moved slightly, but it was not enough... No
good! He thought frantically, realizing that he could
hardly move at all anymore. He saw a blue film come over
his vision, skewering it and dying the world not an angry
red, but an innapropriate turquoise. I've... lost,
He thought, knowing the key was dangling from his hand,
knowing that all they had to do was grab it, knowing that
his plan had, once again, despite everything,
failed.
And I've even been denied everything... even my
final bellow of anger!
--------
Mario watched as Bowser crystalized before his very
eyes. Luigi stood speechless next to him, his jaw hung
slightly open, and Peach stood near him, a triumphant
look on her face.
"We won!" She cried, clapping her hands
together joyfully. "We WON!"
Mario nodded, then looked at the Star in his hands,
now without even the slightest flicker of life. He
could't help feeling as though he'd killed it.
"Don't worry about it," Luigi said quietly,
once again demonstrating the brothers' ability to know
what the other was thinking most times.
"It's really what saved us," Mario
declared, placing it in the pocket of his overalls.
"But it was you two who let it do that,"
Peach replied gently. "Now hurry up and get that key!"
She placed her hands on her hips in traditonal princess
fashion, waiting impatiently. Mario grinned and gestured
to his brother.
"Care to lend a hand?" Mario asked, then
suddenly a micheivous look crossed his face. "Or
should I just climb him?"
"I would love to see the latter," Peach
giggled, as she pictured it in her mind.
"So would I," Luigi agreed, "But it's
probably.....safer to do it the traditional way."
"Traditional," Mario laughed. Luigi winked
at him and stood just beneath the frozen claw that held
the key, crouched down, and made a pocket with his hands.
Mario got a running start, stepped into his brother's
cupped hands, and was subsequently launched upward at
high velocity toward the dangling key. He grabbed for it,
hung there momentarily as the string stretched out, and
plummeted back to earth to land squarely on his brother
as it snapped.
They stood up, dusted off, and Mario held up the key
triumphantly.
"Let's END this, already," He called, and
the others agreed, then the three of them dashed toward
the door.
Mario held the key poised just beyond the keyhole,
stopped, and tossed the key to his brother.
"Go ahead. You do it."
"Me? All...right," Luigi said doubtfully,
accepting the key.
He stared at the key in his hand for a second, then
plunged it into the keyhole and turned it. There was a
resounding click, and Luigi opened to door to reveal the
Great Star of the Mushroom Kingdom.
The trio stood there for a few minutes, staring at it
in disbelief. After all that time, all that effort...
here it was. The object of their quest. Mario and Luigi
looked at each other... what now? Did they just grab it,
wish on it, what? Peach reacted for them, stepping
forward and reaching out toward the Star. She lifted up
the glowing Star, closed her eyes, and wished.
--------------
Yoshi looked up. Things had gotten... quiet. Could it
possibly be over...?
Daisy, Jinx, Jagger, and Mallow looked upward as
well, following Yoshi's gaze.
"Do you think...?" Daisy ventured timidly.
"I don't know," Yoshi replied.
"Wait... you guys... what on earth is THAT?"
Jinx gasped, and they all blinked as a brilliant light
radiated out and bathed them in its glow.
---------
Outside the castle, Kiero, Kadeja and Ten were
sitting on the floor, their eyes flickering back to where
the lightning had struck not long ago. There was no doubt
in any of their minds that the partially destroyed tower
resulting from the blast was the site of the final battle.
Many of the koopas and mushrooms had not torn their gaze
from that place since the blast had first hit, and the
entire crowd at recoiled as one at every boom that
sounded from above.
Now, things had gone still. The tension of the crowd
was nearly a tangible thing, and it seemed as though
everybody was holding their breath at once.
And as they watched, they wished. They wished.
And the golden light radiated out toward their awe-struck
faces as well.
-------------
And from far above the thick cloud of sun-blocking
magic and natural fumes from the volcanoes of Dark Land,
a flock of goonies passed by. The leader of the formation
glanced downward and let out a surprised "honk"--
the clouds were glowing with something from within... and
one by one, were dissipating under whatever glorious
magic it was. The birds would never understand, but as
the only witnesses that viewed the whole of Dark Land on
that day, it hardly matters at all.
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