Post by bobsnicket on Oct 19, 2008 1:17:23 GMT -5
Chapter 16: The Fortress
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{5} THE ASCENT
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18. Hideout
They came back to the big red double doors, and reentered the round center room with the Trophy Transformer. Upon turning to their left to ascend the stairs to the next floor up, however, they found themselves blocked by a single figure amid the shadowy darkness which was facing away from them, in front of the stairs.
The metallic figure turned around. It was Metal Peach, expressionless and hostile as always. One wondered what it would feel like for a normal person to wear that heavy metal dress. Unfortunately, none of them, especially Ness, were able to notice the small round badge pinned to her dress.
“Here we go!” shouted Mario, generating a burning red fireball and hurling it at the metal clone. But the Franklin Badge glinted as it reflected Mario’s projectile and sent it back at them. Ness, realizing what it was just before the fireball was thrown, was barely able to jump in front of the reverberation and use his PSI magnet to absorb it.
“This is bad,” Ness said. “With that badge attached to it, none of our projectile attacks will work…so we can’t melt it…”
But Metal Peach did not immediately fall upon them. Instead, it shook its head, metal hair shaking with it, and held up two fingers, still blocking their way up the narrow stairway.
“What’s it trying to say?” Nana asked.
But then, not unlike Mewtwo’s telepathy, a mental message seemed to connect with Metal Peach’s gesture and made itself strangely but definitely clear to each of them. Two must stay.
“Two of us have to stay here,” Popo said. “The rest of us can go on. And…I think it will fight those two…”
The force of this reality struck each of the eight heroes (the Babies didn’t have a clue about what was going on, merely content to doze on their older selves’ backs until they were needed). Their group was being narrowed down even further.
“I will stay,” Pac-man determined. “I think I have an idea as to how to deal with this iron maiden.”
And Bomberman’s determined voluntary gesture made it apparent he was desirous to remain here as well.
The two volunteers stepped aside, making themselves clearly known to the gaze of their foe.
“Ball!” Baby Mario protested, reaching out towards Pac-man, not wanting to leave him behind. Baby Luigi started crying, sharing the same opinion about Bomberman.
“Let’s eh-go,” Luigi said, bouncing up and down in an effort to satisfy his cargo.
Mario, Shadow, the Ice Climbers, and Ness agreed, and they stepped expectantly towards Metal Peach, although still tensed and ready for any sudden attacks. However, true to its word, the clone stepped aside and allowed them to enter the stairway.
Trying not to look back, the eight remaining heroes ascended the stairs, and soon began to hear loud noises coming from the room they’d just left behind. It was hard for most of them to not stop and turn around and lend assistance, but they knew that every moment they spent here, fellow Nintendonians perished in order to allow them that time. So without stopping, they continued up the stairs to the next steel door, and went through it to the next floor.
It was another circular hallway, if slightly wider. It was so dark and silent, that it was almost worse than having enemies to expect as in any Zelda dungeon. Deciding to venture left, they walked down the gloomy curved hallway until finding a door on the inner wall. But Shadow twisted the knob and found it locked with a keyhole beneath it, so it followed that they would have to find the key (Enough keys, both the Ice Climbers thought in annoyance). Always following the sparse light of the hand torches, they pressed on a bit further, the hallway always curving to the left, until it opened out into a larger room.
This room was also round in shape, but more of an oval than a circle. For the most part, it was the same as the hallways, with shadowy edges and a dark red carpet. But on the ground were traced 25 circles of some white chalk in an arrangement exactly the same as Melee’s character selection screen. However, this was not how the intruders saw it until they advanced far enough into the room to turn right and see it clearly for themselves. They were arranged in perfect intervals and rows, and although simple in appearance, seemed to draw out such a sense of foreboding from Mario, Luigi, Ness, and the Ice Climbers, that they wanted nothing more than to run out of the room now and never come back. But somehow they could tell that the key they needed to obtain would be located somewhere in this room. And there was another important fact about the circles.
Four of them were covered up.
By four trophy stands, hosting four life-sized trophies of Pikachu, Princess Peach, Samus, and Captain Falcon. They were not next to each other, but were rather placed on the circles in the positions where they were on the character selection screen. This came partly as a shock, and partly as a relief to the heroes. As long as their fellows still existed at least as trophies, and were not completely destroyed, there was still hope of bringing them back.
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But they were suddenly shaken out of their trance when the clinking of armor could be heard behind them. Turning around, they faced a tall, huge, ominous figure. He was covered with thick black armor, had a long red and black cape, wielded a massive sword with the point in the ground, and his head was covered entirely by a dark helmet inside which a face could not be seen--only blackness. He had an invisible aura of immense strength and power.
Hopefully you can infer by the number of times “black” and “dark” were used in the last paragraph that the being standing before them was the Black Knight, as would have been familiar to the likes of Marth, Roy, and Ike.
But in their terror at the sight of the Black Knight, they did not notice at first that he was standing on a Trophy Stand, and was just as rigid as all the other trophies. They soon realized this, but were perplexed at the oddity of hearing the clanking of the knight’s armor when it could not move. He still had his aura of power even in immobility.
Then, as they gazed at it, a ring of blue light appeared and descended from the top of the Black Knight’s helmet, around the entire figure, down to the bottom edge of the Trophy Stand. As it went, the colors of the knight’s armor, cape, and sword became bolder and were given life. To prove it, he flexed his limbs and traced his heavy sword a few inches along the ground, before speaking in a very deep, commanding voice to the tensed heroes.
“Two must stay.” Again, the same message as had been delivered on the 2nd floor. Now their party would become even smaller, but there seemed no way around it.
Popo and Nana nodded to each other and grasped each others’ hands. “We will stay,” they said in unison.
The Black Knight nodded, and then extended to Mario, in his left hand, a small key. Mario took it spitefully, having no desire to abandon yet another pair of their group.
“It’s time to move on,” Shadow said. And, almost as if they had no control over their own limbs, Mario, Luigi, and Ness followed Shadow back down the hallway, leaving the Ice Climbers, who showed no fear, brandishing their small wooden mallets which seemed pathetic in comparison to the broad, deadly blade. As they left towards the door, they could hear faintly the voice of the Black Knight conversing maliciously with his victims.
“Fools,” he boomed. “My armor is blessed and protected by the power of the goddesses. No weapon can pierce me but one which is bestowed with the same power!”
“That may be,” Popo replied fearlessly, although he had every right to fear. “But at least our lives will allow our friends to stop the likes of you and Master Hand!”
The last thing those going on heard before ascending yet another flight of stairs was something that frightened them more than Metal Peach, more than the idea of the Ice Climbers having no chance of surviving.
“You think that I serve Master Hand by my own will?”
It was harder than ever to continue forward at that point, but their drive to succeed pushed them on, and they knew that sacrifices would have to be made.
This next staircase ascended straight instead of curving around, and when they reached the door at the top shortly thereafter, they thought that surely they must be near the top. The only sounds being those of their own plodding on the stone ground, the soft burning of the hand torches, and the faint din of fighting below them and outside the fortress, the six remaining heroes entered the 4th floor, chilled by the cool, musty air which they were breathing in. It was but a single largish room shaped like an octagon. On the opposite wall was another staircase going back down, and to their right was still another ascending staircase. This floor was filled, basically, with all kinds of technological junk and other obscure objects. There were broken down machines of every sort stacked in towering piles (most likely built by U. Reeka), blocking their view in several places. But this mess of contraptions was so unfamiliar to the heroes that they could hardly recognize or put a name to anything. One thing that stood out, however, as they approached the staircase, was a large rectangular box with deep imprints forming a shape of some importance. They saw several of these, actually, as they moved on and the silence continued.
“What are a-those?” Luigi wondered out loud.
Ness, who had been staring long and hard at these boxes as they walked, was wide-eyed. He seemed to have a good idea of what exactly they were. “I think…they’re…molds. See, that one right there looks just like Donkey Kong’s face…and that one over there looks just like the front of Samus’s Power Suit…”
No one said anything in response to this, but upon considering the boy’s theory, it was evident that he was right. There were molds here, no doubt, for each of the Original 25, just as there had been a white circle on the floor below for each former participant. And the only things these molds could have been used to make, they realized, were copies of themselves. Clones. Metal clones. But, for some reason or other in Master Hand’s scheming mind, only one had been made to rival each of them. They could only imagine what it would have been like if, instead of an army of Wire Frames, all of Master Hand’s forces had been built of solid iron. So why hadn’t it been done?
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265 SSE Danger.mp3
Now they were close enough to the entrance to the rising stairway to see that, just like two floors below, their path of travel was obstructed by a metal figure. Only this one was taller than Metal Peach, and very broad-shouldered because it appeared to be wearing some sort of armored suit.
Metal Samus. Part of the handful of metal clones which had yet to be conquered.
The doppelganger was pointing its arm cannon directly at them, warning them not to move any closer. Those approaching stopped, and this time scrutinized their enemy closely enough to notice that Metal Samus, too, wore a Franklin Badge attached to the front. I wonder how they got their hands on those… Ness thought.
Then, as before with Metal Peach, a mental message was sent in a tone that was harsh and metallic. Two must stay.
The six heroes had expected this, but still thought grimly of the increased risk of their endeavor now that their group was nearly all split up. Mario and Luigi, piggybacking their infant selves, knew they could not leave behind the Babies to face Metal Samus alone, nor could they send them onward without knowing what perils awaited beyond. But Ness and Shadow shared a deep look of simultaneous comprehension, and nodded to each other.
“We will stay,” Shadow said with both patience and confidence as he and Ness stepped away from the icons of the Mushroom Kingdom.
Metal Samus appeared to nod, and arched up its arm/gun as it stepped back to allow the Marios and Luigis to pass. They looked back, hesitating at the thought of losing even more companions, but then turned away and proceeded upwards.
“Don’t worry, kid,” Shadow muttered to Ness as they prepared for combat. “You and I are both powerful of mind and will. We can find a way around that reflector…”
“Yes,” Ness said, although he was quivering while he said it. “I know we can.”
Now Mario and Luigi had climbed to the 5th and highest floor of the fortress. If there had been windows, they would have been able to look down at the table far below where the hundreds of soldiers were still being oppressed by the Space Pirates, and everywhere else in the room, more Space Pirates assaulting the Nintendonians from various locations--even from behind the trash can and inside the computer monitor. But the fact that they couldn’t see any of this only made their task feel more important and emergent when they had no way of knowing how quickly their side was losing numbers.
Luigi had a thought. “Mario, what if this is a trap?”
Mario stopped temporarily and turned to his brother. “Then we a-face it together.”
At last they pulled open the door at the end of the staircase, expecting perhaps Crazy Hand, or even worse, Master Hand.
But while the top floor of the fortress was indeed the common residence of the two Hands, the rectangular room inside revealed no giant white gloves to be found. This was the room with the huge map of the Nintendo World stretched across one of the walls, with certain areas crossed out or circled, and lines drawn through them. This was what the Marios and Luigis now faced. Also, in contrast to the rest of the dark gloomy fortress, this room at least was well lit with bright ceiling lights, and instead of cold stone walls, they were smooth, sleek, and painted in a way that made it look somewhat like a classroom. There was another door was to the right of the giant map. Several tables and chairs were placed throughout the room (though for what use the chairs were to Master Hand, it is impossible to guess), and on top of them were dozens, even hundreds of papers in stacks with all sorts of information which Mario and Luigi did not have time to read. For their attention (including the now-awake Babies) was focused on two figures facing the map on the other side of the room.
One was about as tall as Mario, but thinner than Luigi; they could see from behind that he wore a brown cap and shirt with yellow overalls. The other was over seven feet tall, extremely thick and muscular, and wore orange overalls with a blue shirt and cap. If Wario and Waluigi had been there they could have warned the Mario Bros. about the danger of these two, but alas, they were instead currently being used as cover for Fox from a Space Pirate’s plasma gun.
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76 Marx.mp3
After several seconds of silence as Mario and Luigi stood frozen in place at the entryway, the Mario-sized one spoke in a very non-Mario-like accent. “Ah, so our heroic guests have arrived at last. We were beginning to think the four of you would never show up, but fortunately you have not disappointed us--or Master Hand. You see, it was him who set in place this entire encounter; he ensured that by the time anyone reached the top of the fortress, only the legendary champions of the Mushroom Kingdom would be present. And that is from where you hail…is it not?” With that, the Lario Bros. turned around to face their predestined rivals--although Mauluigi, not being the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, was delayed a second or two before remembering he was supposed to follow his brother’s lead.
Lario smiled as he twirled his fancy curled mustache with his finger. “I am Lario, and this is my companion Mauluigi. A pleasure meeting you, I’m sure. We are two of Master Hand’s most marvelous creations, brought into this world for the sole purpose of defeating you. I’m sure you’ve had a delightful journey filled with wonderful adventures, but unfortunately, Superstars…this is where your adventure ends!”
Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind them. Mario and Luigi whipped around to see Metal Mario and Luigi, standing in front of the door immovably. And when they turned back around, Mauluigi was gripping a small remote control on which his chubby thumb was pressing a big red button. And the ground below them began to glow.
The Mario Bros. looked down in panic and saw they were standing on two glowing white hands, the same which had turned Wario, Waluigi, and Sonic into trophies. But their shoes seemed to be magnetized to the spot; it was all over…
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28. Cackletta Battle
An abrupt explosion burst through the wall on the left side. Pieces of debris, both large and tiny, flew everywhere. A table slammed top-first into the Marios and Luigis, knocking them off the white hands on the floor, which created a blinding flash and disappeared, leaving a Table Trophy. A hovering figure in a red cloak with a jetpack helmet burst into the room through the large hole which had been formed, cackling with vengeance.
“Ha ha ha ha ha!” Fawful laughed manically. “At last I have found you, Red and Green! The long journey here was akin to a metaphorical ice cream sundae, each layer filled with delectably innocent victims, which were delicious! But now I have reached what I have come for, what I have craved the most: the cherry on top! The cherry of inexorable requital! For in the last moments of the finale of the finale, as I, Fawful, have previously declared, negligence begets rashness…that is when I will end your worthless lives, which are as worthless as an expired packet of taco sauce…that is of no worth! And I will smear and laugh upon anyone who stands near, around, or behind my way…My diabolical, ingenious way of evil! And now, to the fighting! I HAVE FURY!!!”
Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi looked about themselves: Lario, Mauluigi, Metal Mario, and Metal Luigi all against them, and Fawful against…everyone. The stakes were high, the location precarious. This would be one heck of a battle.
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{6} MARIO MANIA
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A gust of green wind swirled next to the fallen Link. Zelda stepped out of the gust and rushed up to kneel down next to the hero. She felt his pulse, but it was gone.
“Link…” Rushes of blue magic surged through Zelda’s arms and hands into Link’s body, but after all her efforts, were still unable to arouse him. The Hero of Time was really gone. Tears began to stream down the princess’s face.
That same Link who had been separated from his mother at birth, and left to the care of the Great Deku Tree. The same Link who had wandered into her courtyard, quiet but charming, and found her watching the sociopathic deceitfulness of Ganondorf before the King. That same Link who had traversed across Hyrule as a boy, slaying gruesome monsters, in order to fulfill the quest set upon him by herself seven years ago. The same Link who had drawn out the legendary Master Sword, restored the Six Sages, and brought peace to the land of Hyrule. And now, he was dead.
Zelda saw nearby what was left of Epona, and looked across where the nearest fighting was taking place to see Young Link slashing ceaselessly next to a rhinoceros. She looked back down on Link, the setting sun shining on his brave face. Her magic wasn’t strong enough to bring him back. Her magic. And Zelda feared also that with one or more of the Original 25 struck down, victory against Master Hand would be impossible, in accordance with the prophecy.
The Triforce may not be strong enough to defeat Master Hand, but it could at least see to allowing them all a chance; just one, that was all they could ask for.
Princess Zelda raised her left hand and looked to the yellowish-orange sky. The Triforce of Wisdom glowed on the back of her hand. Ganondorf had never known, not even Link had fully understood the power of the Triforce of Wisdom. For as long as she still possessed it, it could call upon the power of the goddesses to draw the other two together. So as she did this, the Triforce of Courage and Triforce of Power glowed on the hands of Link and Ganondorf, and the two golden triangles, rotating slowly, left their hosts, and shot towards each other from across the Battlefields, becoming blurs of sparkling light. They joined together with a white flash above her, and it was then she allowed her own Triforce piece to join them. Once the golden triangle had left her hand and connected with the two above, the completed Triforce continued to rotate and shine in the air. Zelda then poured out all her energy, all her magic, and all her love into the Triforce, and prayed with all her heart that the power source would grant her wish: to have a chance.
The Triforce flashed in response, and then suddenly the three golden pieces split, and sped back to their respective hosts. Zelda gave a gasp of air as she regained the Triforce of Wisdom, and then watched as the other two, instead of simply being gold, glowed white and blue as they reentered the dead bodies of Link and Ganondorf. At first, nothing appeared to happen. But then, Link’s eyes opened slowly, and he began moving his hands and feet. Miles away, Ganondorf did the same.
Without even thinking, Zelda knelt down and hugged Link, grateful to the goddesses for the chance they’d been given—for Link and Ganondorf, a second chance. She helped him stand up, realizing that in addition to the Hero of Time, their sworn enemy had also been revived. But somehow she knew it was a necessary price.
Link shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “What…happened? Metal Link…Epona…EPONA!” The young man looked around for his horse, but found only a sad skeleton of his former steed. He saw it, and was silent, not even awake enough to notice the significance of Zelda’s presence.
“I’m sorry, Link,” Zelda said sadly and sincerely. “There was nothing I could do for her…and now, my magic is gone, for a long time if not forever. It took every ounce of power I had to bring you and Ganondorf back. But it is not for us, I feel, to return to the fortress or the room. Now all we can do is join your younger self and put all our stakes on Mario and the others…”
Link was deep in thought, recollecting old memories of his adventures with Epona. He remembered first meeting the deep chestnut-colored horse in Lon-Lon Ranch, where from the beginning she had seemed to trust him. And then, seven years later, he had returned and won her by racing the corrupted Ingo, and they had escaped together by leaping over the corral gate. And so helpful she had been in traveling to and fro across Hyrule Field and defeating certain enemies, he could never forget Epona’s sweet whinny and sleek mane, and fierce, noble eyes. It was only after paying silent tribute to his loyal horse for a good long while before he had room to consider the fact that he’d been brought back to life by the one whom he’d usually be saving.
He turned to Zelda. “…Thank you, princess. I would not be able to avenge Epona and myself if not for you. But now…” He threw the Biggoron Sword aside and drew the shining Master Sword. “…I must make sure the younger me doesn’t suffer the same agonies for himself and his animal friend as I have for mine.” He rushed forward.
Meanwhile, the King of Evil stood once more, glad to see his metal opponent vanquished, but still thirsty to take out his rage and pain on others. He knew not how he had been revived, but now all that mattered was making the most of it. With a cry, Ganondorf drew his huge, heavy blade infused with dark powers, and did the same as his green-clad nemesis.
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122 Black Knight Battle.mp3
The Ice Climbers panted with fatigue as they faced the Black Knight again in the dark elliptical room.
“What are we going to do, Popo?” Nana asked her climbing partner.
“Well, we have two options,” Popo replied, still not afraid of their opponent. “We could distract him as long as possible and then be killed, or we could find a way to defeat him.”
“How could we do that?” Nana thought the situation hopeless.
“Fools, your doom is nigh!” The Black Knight bellowed.
Popo ignored this. He only smiled at his twin sister. “By taking advantage of our resources.” The blue Ice Climber reached into his parka and took out a familiar object which they had both nearly forgotten: the Pencil.
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(0:46)
All at once, the situation was thrown into intense action. Fawful fired a green capsule-shaped laser while the Lario Bros. and Metal Mario Bros. all dived toward the same target: Mario and Luigi. But at the very last moment, the two heroes, with the Babies secured tightly to their backs, leapt backwards into the air, flipping and landing smoothly near the descending stairs. In the midst of the commotion, Mario and Luigi methodically curled together into a red and green ball, and Baby Mario whacked it squarely with his hammer. The spinning ball bounced off each of the villains in turn, Lario, Mauluigi, Metal Mario, Metal Luigi, and Fawful, knocking them down or at least temporarily stunning them, and rolled out the open door adjacent to the wall map (the door was broken by Fawful’s entrance). The Babies dashed past and followed their matured selves swiftly, bouncing with each step.
The round red and green blur found itself facing a sheer drop-off without railing, and beyond it the unfolding of the battle with the Space Pirates. From this high point, several hundred feet above the tabletop, they had a decent view of the entirety of Master Hand’s Room, and all the specks upon the table or around the room, and even Kraid and Mother Brain, seemed an insignificant part of the background compared to the perilous enemies behind them. To each side was an ascending staircase going around the Fortress and disappearing into the edge of the wall. This being their only path, the Bros. Ball awaited the Babies, who, as a matter of improvisation and keeping together, jumped on top of the ball and began rolling it unsteadily up the stairs. Each step, as a rule for video games, had a bizarrely little impact on their path of travel, and they rolled smoothly up the left staircase as if it was as flat as a ramp. Logistics aside, the Ball rolled around the curving side of the fortress, the top battlements above them drawing closer and closer as they went. There was a certain sense of heightened panic and their hearts were pounding as, finally, they reached the top of the staircase on the opposite end of the fortress. Now being level with the top, they found an open arch of stone on their left connected to the curving merlons on each side which encircled the rooftop. Without hesitation, the circus-like spectacle of the Babies rolling the Bros. Ball passed through the arch and halted in the middle of the circular roof. Mario and Luigi untwined themselves, stood, and turned slightly dizzily towards the gap in the battlements.
It was not a long wait before they heard another explosion that vibrated the entire fortress. A few seconds later, the Metal Mario Bros, clanging with each footstep, rushed up the stairs and faced them. From the other side, Fawful hovered over the battlements using his jetpack helmet, and the Lario Bros, using some sort of cooperative wall-jumping technique, had managed to use the wall of the fortress to propel themselves over the side as well. They were surrounded again.
“I say, dear fellows, prepare to suffer!” Lario twirled his mustache for a moment and then returned to a fighting stance.
The four Italians, now back in piggyback pairs, looked at each other, and nodded. Then, simultaneously…
“HERE WE GO!”
(0:46 again)
The events that followed were not much more than a blur. All four heroes raised up Copy Flowers, and instantly multitudes of each Mario and Luigi poured out from their originators. Then, Bros. items were flung out everywhere from the center, and pretty soon the mass of Marios and Luigis was raging with scrambled attacks directed at their enemies. Green and Red Shells skidded around with an occasional Baby riding it. Fireballs, Iceballs, and Smash Eggs concentrated towards the airborne Fawful. Copies bounced off of Trampolines and shot out of Cannons in order to attempt to land on the Lario Bros. Barking Chain Chomps dragged Copies across the rooftop, scraping against the battlements and sniffing out their few opponents hungrily. Several clusters of Copies began to continually feed Fireballs to huge sun-like balls of flames called Mix Flowers. It was red and green chaos, and for a while, the heroes could not see how their enemies were handling it.
But then, the sky began to glow, and an enormous blast of blue energy disintegrated all the jumping Copies. “I HAVE FURY!” Fawful screamed as he blasted Marios and Luigis into oblivion. Meanwhile, the Metal Mario Bros. executed repetitive spin attacks, knocking aside everything in their way—Copies, shells, and Chain Chomps alike. And the Lario Bros. were performing stunning cooperative maneuvers which surprised and dazzled even the original heroes. Mauluigi served as the base or powerhouse for most of these dramatic attacks, while Lario acted as the light, speedy component of the duo. Even the famous Mario and Luigi had to admit they made a great team.
In a matter of minutes, much to the Marios’ and Luigis’ dismay, most of the Copies were destroyed. Only a few remained, obliviously continuing to feed to a single Mix Flower. And the heroes watched as these too were soon gone. However, they had just enough time to dive out of the way, for the fiery result of the Mix Flower, without the Copies to hold it up, was swiftly descending towards the top of the fortress. The Lario Bros. and Fawful quickly moved out of the way, but the Metal Mario Bros. seemed to be caught in the giant red ball’s path with their weight now working against them. The two trudged, far too slowly, away from the huge shadow narrowing in on them, but it appeared obvious that they weren’t going to make it. Then, unexpectedly, Metal Luigi grabbed its iron brother by the feet and began swinging it around, finally flinging Metal Mario a safe distance away. The Mix Flower made contact with the fortress and burst apart, consuming Metal Luigi and leaving a giant scorch mark in the middle of the flat rooftop.
(stop music)
This left the original party still intact, except for Metal Mario’s companion. The clone, although incapable of emotions, appeared infuriated by the loss of its partner. It, along with the Lario Bros. and Fawful, proceeded to face the Marios and Luigis once more, who were near one of the edges.
Mario smiled, knowing that the special badges they all carried allowed them an unlimited amount of Bros. Items. “Well, let’s a-try that again.” He and the other three began to reach for another Copy Flower, but they were abruptly interrupted.
Lario, his mustache singed off on one side and therefore enraged as well, saw what they were trying to do. “Oh, bother! Mauluigi, do be a mate and confiscate those unfair badges.”
The bulky Mauluigi only grunted in reply, but complied by pulling out (from who-knows-where) a humungous magnet with red and blue tips. He pointed the metal-attracting device at the Mario Bros. and activated it. They gasped as four small shiny badges flew off of their blue trousers and stuck onto the edges of the magnet. The Copy Flowers in their hands vanished with a puff of white smoke along with the rest of their Bros. Items. Mauluigi took the badges in his fist (which was the size of a platter) and crushed them into dust, spreading the particles with his feet with a deep childish snicker. Everyone remained relatively still, Fawful pointing his helmet gun at everyone, waiting for something to happen, Metal Mario just glaring at its targets.
“Now,” Lario spoke in a soft, dangerously calm voice, “we’ve had enough games, haven’t we, Mario? It would seem that the time has arrived for us to pull out one of our gadget cheats, don’t you think? I believe you will find this object very familiar…” The half-mustachioed hireling drew out a glowing yellow object which was nothing less than the Superstar, part of the Power of the Dimensions.
Mario and Luigi cried out. “Oh no!”
“Oh, yes, I say!” Lario laughed (and one can, with some effort, imagine what laughing sounds like for someone with an accent like his). “Ironic, isn’t it, that you are to be finished by one of the very powers which have marked your history, one of the very powers you left to find! This has, unfortunately, gone on long enough to satisfy my tastes. So, in the name of the almighty Master Hand, I say, GOODBYE, MARIO BROS!”
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46. Bowsers Battle!
With that, Lario squeezed the Superstar in his gloved hand, and was covered with shining gold light, sparkling and shimmering around him. His eyes glowed with great energy, but somehow, that energy seemed…artificial. No real life could be perceived to lie behind those eyes, only the driving will of an uncompromising master. As he was supercharged, he also drew out—not a hammer—but a baseball bat. Mauluigi now had one too, except his was thicker and heavier like a club. The Lario Bros. charged forward, one of them invincible.
Meeting their strikes were two Ultra Hammers, wielded by the stars of the Mushroom Kingdom. The Babies had disembarked from their older selves’ backs, and were now hobbling away from the grown-up clash. Sneaking low near the stone ground, they crawled furtively onto the top of the battlement underneath the unsuspecting Fawful. With an infantile cheer, they demonstrated surprisingly well-developed jumping skills (they would grow to become some of the greatest jumpers of all time, after all) by leaping up and grabbing onto the Toady’s red cloak. Upon recognition of his hitchhikers, Fawful was dragged down slightly by the Babies’ combined 15 pound weight, and immediately pulled up and began flailing and writhing through the air blindly, shouting, “Fink-rats! What stale, bitter morsels have penetrated the perfect creaminess of my ice cream sundae of revenge? Abandon your spoilage, tiny Red and Green, or risk being consumed by my silver spoon of pitiless wrath! I HAVE FURY!”
In the meantime, Metal Mario, for reasons unknown, did not join the brawl, but simply contented itself to watch the climactic conflict between the two pairs of brothers. Bat clashed against hammer. Figures leapt, dodged, spun, and kicked. Lario proved to be even more physically weak than Luigi, but due to his slippery guile and elusive agility (not to mention the fact that he was glittering with invincibility), this one weakness was well made up for. And Mauluigi was another story entirely, being several times stronger than either of the Mario Bros. Teamwork played a part on each pair’s strategies, utilizing each other to add more force to their attacks. Mario and Luigi did all they could to avoid Lario, knowing they couldn’t harm him, and focused their combined efforts on Mauluigi. Several times they were able to knock him back, but never seemed to inflict any serious damage on the immense adversary. At one point they even began to use red and green Fireballs; however, they had no effect on Lario, and Mauluigi looked like he would have felt more pain from a bug bite. In response to this change of tactic, Lario and Mauluigi retaliated with (to the Mario Bros.’ extreme irritation) fireballs of their own, colored blue and brown to match their hats. The skills of both sides were so exemplary that, for quite some time, little harm was caused.
But it was too late when Mario and Luigi finally caught on to the Lario Bros.’ real strategy. All this time, bit by bit, the two brothers had been pushed towards the edge of the fortress. Although it was guarded by the battlements, the crenels were low and wide enough that either one of them could potentially be pushed through it. Both of them tried to avoid being cornered, but the point of no escape had passed. The heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom braced themselves for the fall, closing their eyes. And they weren’t disappointed. But instead of feeling the pain of the Lario Bros.’ baseball bats, they felt the bodies of Lario and Mauluigi themselves crashing upon them with great force. It wasn’t until the four of them were all free-falling when Mario and Luigi had a chance to look back up at the shrinking battlements and see the reflective head of Metal Mario peering over the edge. And as they fell, panicking, it registered somewhere in their minds that the metal clone must have pushed all four of them over the edge. Why? Well, they had no time to wonder about that at the moment.
What could have been an awe-inspiring aerial fight turned out to be just a pathetic tumble down the side of the fortress, Mario and Luigi hollering while the other two were silent. Suddenly, a huge pink beam zoomed at them from the broken computer monitor. Despite the Bounty Hunters distracting it, Mother Brain was still as dangerous as ever, for every missed shot continued far beyond into a chance target. And one of the four were nailed by this pink beam, the force of which pushed him all the way across the room, so far away he could only be seen as a minuscule speck in the distance. The fact that Lario didn’t disintegrate, however, proved that the Superstar was still in effect.
Mario and Luigi looked around and realized, somehow, that they were the only ones still falling. Luigi gulped and looked at his brother. “Well…it’s a-been nice a-knowing, you, Mario…”
“Same a-here, Luigi.” Mario smiled beneath his lush mustache. The two brothers grabbed onto each other, and, closing their eyes once more, awaited their end.
But instead of the hard, unforgiving, and probably fatal tabletop which they had expected to land on, instead the world around them seemed to suddenly grow very dark—purplish dark—for a moment, and an unearthly chill crawled up their necks. A strange yet familiar sound, like the sound a drinking straw makes when moved up and down a lid except much smoother and more musical, was heard as soon as they arrived in the dark place. Then, suddenly, they were standing on top of stone, and the light seemed to have returned from beyond their closed eyelids. Perplexed, Mario and Luigi slowly opened their eyes, still hugging one another for dear life, and found themselves in what seemed the least likely of all places: back on the top of the fortress.
www.sound-test.org/soundtracks/super-mario-bros/super-mario-galaxy/
25. Mario Flight
On the ground was Fawful, shouting out random metaphorical phrases of revenge and pain, laying on his back while Baby Mario and Baby Luigi laughed and giggled as they took turns smacking him with their hammers. Metal Mario had mysteriously vanished from the rooftop. And, soon after the Mario Bros. had stabilized themselves on the appreciated solid ground, three dark purple figures rose from the stone like shadows transferring from the ground to a wall. The Shadow Sirens grinned at them, Vivian staring at Mario dreamily.
Beldam broke the silence. “Heh…looks like you almost took quite the nasty fall, didn’t you, Mario?”
Marilyn gave some input. “Ughh….I mean…I’m hungry.”
Vivian slunk toward Mario shyly like a shadow, holding her wrist, and stopped a few feet away. “Mario! It’s…um…I mean, it’s wonderful to see you again. It was a good thing we came here at this exact time, isn’t it! I’m so glad you’re safe, Mario…and you too, Luigi,” she added as an afterthought, not wanting to be appearing to single the red plumber out. Luigi just nodded, used to being the afterthought.
www.sound-test.org/soundtracks/super-mario-bros/paper-mario-2-the-thousand-year-door/
23. Enter Hooktail
Before Mario could say anything, however, a heavy grinding, scraping sound could be heard from down the sheer wall of Master Hand’s Fortress. Leaving the Babies to their game, the five of them hurried over to the edge and glanced over the side. They jumped backwards almost immediately, for they had viewed a scene similar to but even more frightening than King Kong. Mauluigi, hat missing and face sweating drops of pure anger, was digging his fingers and feet into the wall of the fortress, clinging onto it like a leech, and climbing up with terrifying ease and speed. His enormous muscles bulged, and at the sight of them, he let out a roar of both mourning for his brother and a vow of vengeance. Not long had they backed away before one plate-sized hand followed by another gripped the battlements and pulled their furious, crazed host over the side. Mauluigi’s size 25 shoes crashed onto the rooftop, and the bulky enemy twisted one fist in the palm of his other gloved hand, ready to smash some heads.
At the same time, Fawful, apparently feigning unconsciousness, suddenly threw both Babies off of him with a wild yell and rose back into the air, ready to unleash every last bit of fury he had left in his being—which was a lot.
“This isn’t over just a-yet,” Mario said grimly.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Character Locations
NORTHERN BATTLEFIELDS:
Armies: Pokemon, Bowser's Army, Dedede's Army (fled), Mushroom Kingdom, Beanbean Kingdom, Host of Hyrule (minus Hylian Soldiers), Delfinians, Waffle Kingdom, Shy Guys
Heroes: Bowser, Ganondorf, Goombario, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, Mr. Game & Watch, Prince Peasley, Toad, Lance, Wes, Gary
Villains: (known) King Boo
SOUTHERN BATTLEFIELDS:
Armies: Kongo Jungle, K. Rool's Army, Icicle Mountains, Yoshis, Jinjos
Heroes: Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Lanky Kong, Tiny Kong, Dixie Kong, Professor E. Gadd, Banjo & Kazooie, Mumbo Jumbo, Humba Wumba, Dr. Mario
CENTER FORMATION:
Armies: Fire Emblem, Star Warriors, Hylian Soldiers
Heroes: (Master Hand's Room) Marth, Roy, Fox, Falco, Slippy, Krystal, Wolf, Leon, Panther
Heroes: (Fortress) Bomberman, Ness, Pac-man, Mario, Baby Mario, Luigi, Baby Luigi, Ice Climbers, Shadow the Hedgehog
Heroes: (Battlefields) Link, Young Link, Zelda, Peppy
Villains: (known) Space Pirates, Mother Brain, Kraid
MISCELLANEOUS/VARYING:
Armies: Cornerian Fleet, Bounty Hunters, Timber's Island, The Great Sea
Heroes: Pit, Shadow Sirens, Diddy Kong, Rito Postman, Kirby
[glow=yellow,2,300]Trophy:[/glow] Pikachu, Princess Peach, Samus, Chunky Kong, Sonic, Wario, Waluigi, Captain Falcon[glow=gray,2,300]DECEASED:[/glow] The Shadow Hand, Bottles, Orca, 49 Hammer Bro Soldiers, Pigma, Nascour, Darunia, Professor U. Reeka, Epona
^
) Remember rock, paper, scissors. Paper beats rock! 
