Super Mario Bros. 7: The Demonic Trials (Epilogue Posted!)

[shadowmarioguy]

If I was Mario, I would've just burned down the whole atrium...

Was the Mega Man X reference about Vetis being a Cresil rip-off? (Where do you come up with these names? :P) I used to play a few Mega Man X games when I was younger but I honestly don't remember that much.

Actually, the name of Mario's Final Smash was the reference.  Nova Strike was a technique you could use with a certain armor in MegaMan X4-X6.  :P

And some of the names I use come from mythological demons.  For example, Pyro is the demon of falsehood and lies.

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 17: The Unstoppable Velno

Mario stopped dead in his tracks.  He looked around in confusion for a moment.  With desperate silence, he tried to recognize the sound that had just met his ears.  "D- Did anyone else just hear a gunshot?"

"I may have heard something that resembled the sound of a firearm," Ace replied calmly.  "Even so, this forest is filled with strange creatures.  I'm sure that any normal person trekking through these woods would keep some kind of weapon with them."

Mario closed his eyes, trying hard to remember the words that Chief T. had spoken earlier.

"Our main problem is a man that wields a gun.  He seems to be searching for someone, and he kills anyone who gets in his way."

"No..." he whispered in disbelief.  "Please, no..."

"Mario!" a frantic voice called to him.  Catherine appeared from behind the nearby underbrush, breathing heavily.  "Mario!  The man that we told you about...  He- he- he came to our village!  He shot my husband and... and he kidnapped Todd!"  And then she broke down, a waterfall of tears streaming down her delicate face.

"We need to approach the situation with a cool head," Ace stated with urgency.  "The four of us need to stick together.  We're still too tired to be fighting against an enemy we know nothing about.  Glaive, you-"

Frantic Rush

"What?!" Mario thundered, his face red with rage.  Images of the helpless Todd filled his head.  "Whoever this guy is, he must be trying to lure me into something!  It's my fault that Todd got involved in this!  This is all my responsibility!" Without another word, he turned and sprinted off into the distance.

"Mario!  Come back!" Ace demanded angrily.  "That fool!  After his consecutive fights with Cresil and Vetis, he's the weakest out of all of us!  He won't have the strength to face whoever's out there!"

"Bro, don't do it!" Luigi called after him.  It was already too late.  "He's blaming himself for all of this...  By going to your village to take a break, we've attracted too much attention from whoever's after us!"

Glaive gazed at the path Mario took, deep in thought.  "Mario...  You're rushing off to protect someone again...  What makes you feel so obligated to help these people?  What is saving the lives of a few trivial Toads going to accomplish?"

"We need to go after him!" Ace screamed.  "He's an irreplaceable member of the team, and we won't be able to gather the Hero's Garbs without him!"



"He should be here any minute," Hunter chuckled, casually tossing Todd up and down.  "Since Mario must be on his way by now, I think it's safe to get rid of the kid."  He gently laid Todd on the ground.  "Sorry, kiddy.  You're no good to me anymore."  He pulled a pistol from his waist and aimed it at Todd's head.  His finger slowly began to pull the trigger...

Tension

A bullet shot up into the air as a red blur kicked the gun out of Hunter's hand.  Standing firmly beside Todd was Mario, his eyes gleaming red with a strange but familiar hatred.  Equally red was the aura that was emanating from the plumber's body, an aura that gave off an eerie feeling of malice.  He spoke with pure detestation, "Leave the kid alone."

"That's a scary look," Hunter sneered with a small trace of curiosity.  "I've read dozens of reports about you and your fighting style, but I've never heard anything about this.  I've heard about all of your battles up until the fall of Lord Shade, and I can't name a single time you've acted like this.  Maybe the reports that I've been provided with are inaccurate."

"Shut up," Mario replied impatiently.  "Are you going to leave, or are you going to force me to beat some sense into you?"

"I'm not leaving until I get what I'm after," Hunter informed him.  "I didn't go through all the trouble of luring you here only to run away.  I need to experience the thrill of the hunt first."  He bent over to pick up his gun.  In the blink of an eye, he felt a sharp pain in his cheek; the very gun that he was about to pick up was now pressed against his face.

"Did you think fighting me would be some kind of joyride?" Mario spat, his finger on the trigger.  "Do you think I'm some kind of animal that you can hunt for your own amusement?"

"How'd you... move so quickly?" Hunter inquired with pure astonishment.  "You... You're completely different from what everyone else described you as!"

"The same goes for you," Mario shot back.  "I heard you were some kind of big, bad villain.  You're nothing.  I could end your life with a single motion of my index finger."

Hunter's mind was racing.  What's wrong with this guy?  Have I really made him that angry?  Maybe he's been driven insane by his hatred, just like Nightmare.  The only way I can save myself is to try and bring back his usual self.  But how...?  Suddenly, his mouth curled into a wicked grin.  "Are you really going to end my life?  I'm a human.  Are you really going to kill a human after her death all those years ago?"  As he spoke, he was sure to put particular emphasis on the words 'kill' and 'human'.

The color in Mario's eyes changed instantly.  He released his grip on Hunter's pistol and staggered backwards, clutching his forehead.  Breathing heavily, he slowly regained his senses.  "That's... the second time..." he whispered, wiping the perspiration from his forehead.  "What's... happening to me...?  Every time I feel rage towards someone else, my hatred consumes me and takes control..."

Hunter picked up his gun and aimed it at Mario.  "This is the Mario I wanted to hunt."

"I guess I don't have time to think about my anger issues," Mario laughed weakly.  "I don't have time to worry about how you know about her, either."

"My true identity will be revealed only when you prove yourself worthy," Hunter explained.  "Until then, let's see if you're as tough as I've heard."

As Hunter loaded his pistol, Mario mulled over a possible plan of attack.  Now that I've regained my senses, I'm really starting to feel drained.  Those fights with Cresil and Vetis took way too much out of me.  Not only that, but I also had to use the Nova Strike, which always uses up almost all of my strength.  I'm feeling a little better after that meal, so maybe- just maybe- I can use what little strength I have left to use my Tri-Elemental Form.  I'd say I could maintain it for about ten seconds in my condition, if I put every last drop of my Elemental Energy into the transformation.

All or Nothing

Mario closed his eyes, concentrating on pulling all of his Elemental Energy out to the surface of his body.  "Tri-Elemental Form!" he cried as his body exploded with a wild array of vibrant colors.  A radiant light scattered in all directions as Mario summoned forth the power he had defeated the mighty Lord Shade with.  "I only have ten seconds, but that's all I'll need!"  He dashed at his opponent, leaving a rainbow trail behind him.

"The forbidden power...  Does he really... possess it...?" Hunter wondered aloud.  "This'll be interesting!"  He withdrew a second gun that was hidden behind his back.  Pointing both pistols at his foe, Hunter skillfully launched a rapid barrage of bullets, each with pinpoint accuracy.

I'm too worn out for the Nova Strike, so I'll just have to try a slight variation, Mario thought as he brought his right knee up at breakneck speeds.  The sent a powerful torrent of wind to spiral upward in front of him, deflecting each of the bullets.  And other than his guns, he has no way to attack me!  In a matter of seconds, the glowing plumber was in front of Hunter, delivering a painful assault of blows.

As the painful punches and kicks rained down on him, Hunter struggled to lift his index finger.  He carefully aimed it at Mario, and in a flash of light almost as brilliant as the plumber's transformation, Hunter's index finger launched itself from his hand as if it was a bullet.  The finger struck Mario in the chest, causing him to fall onto his back in pain.  However, Hunter had taken his share of pain before he managed to immobilize his opponent.

"I guess... it's a draw..." Hunter observed, struggling to stay standing.  "We'll settle this some other time...  Just stay alive until then..."  He bent down to pick up the finger he had shot Mario with.  With great effort, he screwed the finger back onto his hand.  "The name's Hunter...  Don't forget it..."  With that, he turned and slowly limped away.

Mario's Tri-Elemental Form faded away, along with his brilliant aura.

[End Music]

"Hey... kid..." Mario groaned, gently shaking Todd.  "Get back to your village, okay?"

"What about you?" the child asked innocently.  "You... you saved me...  I can't leave you..."

"Trust me," Mario persisted, "I'll only attract more baddies to your village.  My teammates will find me soon, and I'll have time to recover with them.  Besides, I'm sure your father is in worse shape than I am.  He needs you."

"Okay," Todd agreed.  "I have to see how my father is doing after that man attacked him.  But I'll never forget what you did for me."  He started to walk away, and then turned to face Mario.  "I'll be back with help...  I promise..."  He disappeared into the forest, leaving Mario lying on his back in the grass.

Velno's Theme

Only a short distance away, Metal Mario carefully crept toward the source of the gunshot he had recently heard.  "That must have been Hunter.  If I can find him, I'll be safe from that disgusting creature, Velno."

"Who's a disgusting creature?" a wicked voice inquired from behind him.  Metal Mario screamed in terror as Velno appeared behind him.  "You've done a great job evading me, but now your journey has come to an end.  You've been revived only to be an appetizer for my reign of terror."

Metal Mario staggered backward in fear, realizing that there was nothing he could do to stop Velno.  "No... Get away from me!"  He desperately hurled a silver Fireball at Velno, who caught the flaming sphere in his hand and slammed it into Metal Mario's face.  The metallic Mario clone tumbled onto the ground in pain. 

"It's all over...." Velno whispered triumphantly.  He dashed at his vulnerable prey and wrapped his claws around his meal.  "Say hello to the downfall of this entire kingdom!" he declared, laughing maniacally.  His mouth slowly expanded until it was large enough to devour his prey, and he began to slide Metal Mario down his throat.  Just as his victory seemed assured, he felt a sharp pain in his back and stumbled forward.  Metal Mario slipped out of his mouth and collapsed onto the muddy earth.

Exhaustion

Velno turned around in pure rage to see Mario, breathing heavily and clutching his chest.  "I heard a little scuffle going on, and I thought I'd join in," the plumber chuckled weakly.  He slowly limped over to Metal Mario and helped him to his feet.  "Don't get the wrong idea, but I don't feel comfortable with Velno devouring all of your strength.  Otherwise, I wouldn't really have a problem with letting him eat you."

"Likewise," Metal Mario grumbled.  "As much as I hate to admit it, I'm going to need some help taking this abomination down."

"How exactly did you survive?" Mario asked Velno.  "I heard from Luigi that he destroyed you with the help of the Wario Brothers.  You shouldn't be alive..."

Velno grinned, an evil glint in his eye.  "Ah, Mario.  It's so nice to see you.  To be blunt, I've been brought back the same way many of your other foes have.  Being one of Lord Shade's mechanical warriors, I was revived by the Resurrection Cannon."

"How nice," Mario muttered.  "Normally, beating you would be a piece of cake.  But I've run into a few... complications..."

"I'll say," Metal Mario agreed.  "You look like you've been through a train wreck."

Velno's Desire

"It's been a lovely reunion, but I have a duty to fulfill," Velno hissed, slowly walking toward Metal Mario.  "Once I devour Metal Mario, all will become clear to you."

Mario and his metal counterpart stood side-by-side as Velno drew closer and closer.  "So," Mario whispered with a weary grin, "any ideas?  Between you and me, I can hardly stand up right now."

"I could've figured that out on my own," Metal Mario retorted.  "It looks like we'll just have to improvise."

Velno sprinted up to Metal Mario in a flash, but Mario swiftly fired an Iceball at the predator.  Expecting Velno to be frozen in a block of ice, he breathed a sigh of relief.  However, when the icy mist cleared, he saw that he had only managed to freeze Velno's foot to the ground.

"It seems that your attacks are growing weaker," Velno observed.  "You should rest!"  He swatted the plumber to the ground with a slash of his claws, and then quickly turned to his prey.  Without wasting any time, his mouth widened and he tossed Metal Mario into his mouth.  Meanwhile, Mario struggled to his feet and tackled Velno to the ground.  The predator coughed up his food, and Mario scrambled away with his metallic clone.

"If we can just keep this up until my friends get here," Mario whispered, helping Metal Mario to his feet.  "I just wish this forest wasn't so hard to navigate.  If we were anywhere else, they would've found us by now."

"Even when you're dog-tired, you're still a nuisance," Velno sneered as he slowly got back on his feet.  "No matter.  You can't keep this up for much longer."  He rushed over to Metal Mario and kneed him in the chest, temporarily stunning him.  Next, he whirled around and delivered a surprise kick to Mario's gut.  With Mario out of the way, he grabbed his prey by the throat and stuffed him into his mouth.

As Mario slowly got back on his feet, a look of horror spread across his face.  Robotic screams of terror rang out from Velno's mouth as the predator vigorously chewed his food and swallowed.  It was too late.  Metal Mario was gone.

"This is... incredible!" Velno cried out with glee.  A radiant light erupted from his body and lit up the sky, letting the world know that a villain far more sinister than Metal Mario had been born.

At the forest's exit, Hunter noticed the flare of light.  "Ah, it looks like the real fun is about to begin.  Metal Mario had no idea that he was being used all along."

Exhaustion

Electrical sparks emanated from Velno's body as he slowly approached Mario.  Metal Mario was gone forever.  "Ahh... I haven't felt this good in quite a while..."

Mario stared wide-eyed at his new foe.  Although he looked the same on the outside, he could tell that Velno was far more powerful than before.  He staggered backward in fear, knowing that he was in no condition to fight the powered up Velno.

"There they are!" a familiar voice called out.  Mario turned around to see Ace, Glaive, Luigi, Chief T., and Todd.  The chief had bandages wrapped around his chest to cover his gunshot wound, and Mario was relieved to see that he was okay.

"We're here for you," Chief T. told him.  "You've done so much.  Now I can return the favor."

"No," Mario replied firmly.  "Please... get out of here...  The creature that you see...  He could kill you in an instant.  Leave with your son... while you still can..."

"I've waited for this day for many years," Velno stated, ignoring Mario.  "I may have been created by Lord Shade, but I was born loyal to an entirely different force.  You see, while I was being pieced together by Shade's top scientists, my master managed to hack into my database.  He made it so that I'd only obey his orders.  Why else would I have fled from Shade the moment I was given life?  I set out to wait for my master's orders, and so I passed the time by loitering around Brooklyn's sewers and the Mushroom Kingdom.  Everything was going perfectly, until I was destroyed by Luigi and the Wario Brothers.

"However, I now know that this was all foreseen by my brilliant master.  He revived all of Shade's mechanical warriors with the Resurrection Cannon, including Metal Mario and myself.  My lord needed to create a being that could, for all intents and purposes, be a superior opponent to you, Mario.  So he used Metal Mario as a pawn to set up the ultimate scheme for this kingdom's destruction, all the while making that metal idiot think he was important.  When the time was right, I was given orders to devour Metal Mario, absorb his powers, and take control of the whole Nexus scheme.

"Why would he set up such a complicated chain of events, you ask?  Why Metal Mario?  The answer is simple.  When I devour an ordinary, living creature, any energy that they are storing is instantly given to me.  However, when I consume a mechanical being, I can use much more than just their energy.  I can use their data, memories, and even switch out some of my parts for their own.  With that in mind, listen carefully to what I'm about to say.  Metal Mario was designed to be a perfect clone of Mario.  He had fought Mario several times, and so he knew plenty about Mario's fighting style.  Now that all of that knowledge belongs to me, I know everything there is to know about Mario.  And thus, my master has succeeded in creating the ultimate opponent for Mario to face."

The heroes stood before Velno, speechless at the brilliance behind this unknown genius's plan.  "Please...  Chief T., get out of here..." Mario pleaded.  "You don't understand the kind of power that he possesses...  I've faced off against people like him many times in the past...  Trust me... you have to leave while you have the chance!"

The chief shook his head defiantly.  "No.  I've sworn to my people that I would always protect this forest and the people in it."

"Old fool," Velno muttered, raising his index finger.  Time seemed to move in slow motion as a red beam launched from the creature's finger and made its way over to the chief.  In a flash of light, Chief T. was face down in the dirt- dead.

"Daddy, no!" Todd wailed, tears streaming down his cheeks.  He got down on his knees and began frantically shaking his father's motionless body.  He buried his face in his father's chest, unable to bear the death of his father.

Mario tried desperately to restrain his anger.  He was trembling with rage, but he was using all of his willpower to control his fury.  Maintaining his usual personality, he charged at Velno with absolutely no hope of winning.

Ferocious Clash

"Mario!  Restrain yourself!" Ace demanded, but it was too late.  Mario's fate had already been decided.

"What can you possibly hope to do against me?" Velno sneered as the plumber rushed at him with surprising speed.  Mario leapt into the air and threw a violent barrage of swift punches all aimed at Velno's head.  The creature effortlessly dodged each and every one of them, and quickly ended the assault with a vertical slash of his claws.  Mario tumbled onto the ground, but continued his attack with a sweep-kick.  When his foot collided with Velno's leg, it felt as if he had just kicked a brick wall.

"Bro!  Get out of there!" Luigi cried.

Velno stomped on Mario's chest, crushing him with his weight.  The plumber desperately wrapped his hands around his foe's leg and created a Thunderball.  Velno pulled his foot back in pain, giving Mario a chance to roll onto his feet.  He threw a deadly right hook at the creature, who vanished before Mario's fist could hit its target.  "Too slow!" he cackled as he reappeared behind the plumber and created a green sphere in his right palm.  Mario turned around to see dozens of tiny blue orbs launch out of Velno's sphere.  Each orb struck him in the chest, making it feel as if thousands of tiny fists were pummeling him.

Bleeding and badly bruised, Mario skidded along the dirt path as he was beaten by Velno's projectiles.  Once Velno ran out of ammunition, he appeared beside his enemy in seconds and continued the beating with his own two fists.  Mario attempted to retaliate with a kick, but his opponent quickly batted him away. 

The Mushroom Hero landed several yards away.  He had almost nothing left.  "I... can't... keep this... up..."  He cupped his hands together and fired a Super Thunderball.  With a quick gesture of his hands, he sent the Thunderball's path in a completely different direction, catching Velno off guard.  The Thunderball swung around and nailed the creature in the head, sending electric sparks in all directions.  Meanwhile, Mario created a path of ice in front of him and skidded along it toward his enemy.

"Look at him..." Glaive breathed.  "How long can he keep this up?"

"Not long.  A minute or two at the most," Ace guessed.  "We need to intervene before Mario gives out."

Mario wasn't surprised to see that his Thunderball hadn't done a bit of damage to Velno.  As he slid on the ice at incredible speeds, he brought his right fist back.  Gathering everything he had left, a rainbow aura surrounded him for a split second.  He brought his flaming right fist forward and struck Velno in the face, just before his aura faded away.  He fell to his knees, exhausted.  He had managed to power up his final attack with the Tri-Elemental Form, even if it was for just a moment.  But did it work?

Mario's Agony

He looked up to see Velno without a scratch on him.  "You did put up a good fight, but it's time to end this.  Goodbye."

"NO!" Luigi shrieked, rushing forward to stop Velno.

Ace and Glaive followed Luigi, their weapons raised.  Velno merely raised his left hand and sent the three of them tumbling backward with a gust of wind.  The three of them sprang back onto their feet, only to see that it was too late.

"Farewell, Mushroom Hero," Velno hissed as he placed his palm on Mario's chest.  In a flash of purple light, a violet beam of energy shot from the creature's hand and pierced the plumber's flesh.  Mario lifelessly collapsed onto his back, blood flowing out from his open wound.  He did not move.

"It's time for me to get going," the creature sighed.  As Velno vanished behind the thick forest trees, the only sound that could be heard was Luigi weeping for his brother.  Glaive and Ace remained grimly silent.

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 18: The Emerald Flame

Sadness

"Is... is he okay?" Luigi inquired desperately, tears streaming down his damp cheeks.  "Tell me he'll be okay..."

Ace carefully observed the gash on Mario's chest.  He slowly shook his head, holding back his own tears.  They stood in solemn silence, until Ace finally spoke. "He... doesn't seem... to be breathing..."

"It all happened so fast..." Glaive whispered in disbelief.  "Velno suddenly powered up, and he finished Mario off before any of us could do a thing to stop him...  Then, without a trace, Velno just disappeared..."  And all of this time, I was useless.  My strength is far too limited...  If only I didn't need to wear this ridiculous armor...  He turned around and began to walk away.  "I... need some time alone."  He vanished behind the undergrowth, leaving Ace, Luigi, and Todd behind.

"I'd better escort the child back to his village..." Ace said in a hoarse voice.  Todd remained at his father's side, crying hysterically.  "Let's get you out of here."  He picked the young Toad up and carried him out toward the village.

Luigi remained by his brother, realizing that Mario had unknowingly held the group together.  He fell to his knees, silently wishing that Mario's eyes would slowly flutter open.  He didn't dare to check for his brother's heartbeat.  He refused to accept the possibility that Mario had died.  "Get up, Bro...  Please..."

After several minutes of grieving, Luigi realized that Todd had also suffered a great loss.  He looked at Todd's father, lying motionless on the ground a few yards away.  Mario wouldn't want Chief T.'s death to be ignored.  With a silent prayer, Luigi began to dig into the fertile soil beneath them.  In just a short while, he had dug a hole that was deep enough for the chief's body.  He held his breath and grimaced as he slowly lowered the corpse into the gap.  Finally, he piled soil and grass on top of the chief until his body was completely buried.

He wept a teardrop from his eye and turned to his brother.  Luigi prepared to repeat the process for his brother, but he had a gut feeling that he should wait.  He still wasn't sure if Mario was dead.  He desperately wanted to check his heartbeat, but he was too afraid to discover that Mario had died.  Instead, he chose to have hope...

As Luigi sobbed beside his brother, he was completely oblivious to the upcoming danger.  Unbeknownst to him, two pairs of eyes were carefully watching his every move...



"We're sorry," Ace apologized to Catherine, trying his best to hold back his tears.  "We managed to keep your son safe, but..."  Todd rushed into his mother's arms, both of them crying hysterically.  As they embraced, Ace swallowed hard.  After a few minutes, Catherine and Todd were finally calm enough to hear the rest of Ace's grim report.  "Unfortunately...  Your husband wasn't as lucky..."

Once again, the two Toads burst into hysteric weeping.  Ace put a hand on Catherine's shoulder.  "You should know that he died for his tribe.  We confronted one of the creatures endangering your tribe, and Chief T. was the first to attack him.  After his death, Mario blindly rushed at the creature in an attempt to avenge your husband, but to no avail.  But for whatever reason, the murderous beast fled from the forest after he finished his battle with Mario.  Now your tribe is safe, for now.  If you think about it, your husband's actions did keep the tribe safe."

"Thank you... for your kind words..." Catherine said between sobs.  "Thank you... for all that you and your friends have done...  Without you, my son would have never returned to me safely..."

"You don't need to thank me," Ace murmured glumly.  "I don't deserve any gratitude for a job that was only a partial success."



Mechanical Menace

"When are Ace and Glaive going to get back?" Luigi wondered aloud.  "Should I wait for them?"

"A loser you are!" a voice sneered from behind a bush.  "Tremble in fear!  A skilled lieutenant of Smithy am I!"

Luigi turned to face his opponent.  "Who's there?  And what's with your grammar?"

"My name is Bowyer," the voice replied.  "Sent by Velno was I!"  As Bowyer came out into the open, Luigi noticed that he was far different from any other enemy he had faced before.  His body was in the shape of a bow, with yellow and red stripes running up and down his curved chest.  He had spiky red hair that rivaled even that of Bowser's, and wore white gloves and boots.

"Shut up!" a deep, hoarse voice commanded.  Out from behind the bush Bowyer had emerged from was a tall old man that almost resembled an evil, robotic Santa Claus.  He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows, a shining silver body with a star on his chest, and wore a golden crown on his head.  In his right hand he held a long, metal sledgehammer, and on his left hand he wore a red glove that had been modified to shoot bullets from the fingertips.

Bowyer instantly bowed down to the old man.  "Sorry I am, Master Smithy."

"Shade's scientists must have been pretty careless when they built you," Smithy muttered.  "Try not to talk unless it's absolutely necessary.  Your pathetic grammar irritates me."

"Silent I will be," Bowyer complied obediently.

"So why are you guys here?" Luigi demanded with his fists clenched.  "Mario is in no condition to fight you."

Smithy grinned.  "We know.  Velno had other business to attend to, so he ordered us to finish what he started.  He said that the other three members of your little team would fall apart without Mario, and it looks like he was right."

Bowyer loaded an arrow onto his bow-shaped body and fired it at Luigi.  It struck the plumber in the arm, and his body was instantly surrounded with a thick layer of ice.  Luigi fell to his knees, unable to move.

"That ice barrier was designed by our master to keep our foes frozen solid.  I can assure you that you'll never find a way to break free.  You see, the barrier will never melt at the temperature of normal ice.  This ice can only be destroyed by the power of the Emerald Flame, which you clearly do not possess," Smithy chuckled.  "Now, Bowyer, we must inspect Mario.  We must determine if he truly is dead, and we have to recover any Hero's Garbs he may be carrying."

"Too bad," Luigi snickered weakly.  "One of my other teammates is carrying the garbs..."

"You wouldn't happen to be referring to this man, would you?" Smithy inquired as Bowyer dragged a frozen Ace from behind a nearby bush.  "Bowyer caught him by surprise with one of his arrows just a minute ago."  He paused for a minute, taking note of Luigi's shock.  "I assume the surprised expression on your face indicates that this man possesses the garbs we are looking for."

Hope

"Why...  Why am I always the one that has to screw up...?" Luigi groaned.  "It's true... isn't it?  We're nothing without Bro...  No... I'm nothing without Bro...  I was tossed aside in a matter of seconds...  I know exactly what Glaive would do if he was in my shoes...  He'd draw his sword and mutter some kind of insult, even though he had no hope of winning. Why can't I be that strong...?"

"Useless your efforts are!  My arrows have trapped you within a special coat of ice!" Bowyer cried with glee.  "And the moment you collapse from exhaustion, you will never wake up!"

I can't even move anymore, Luigi thought, struggling to keep his eyelids open.  The moment I close my eyes, it'll all be over.  The only way to end the pain is to give up, and shut my eyelids for good...  But can I really just give up in front of my brother like that...?  Can I defile his legacy by willingly surrendering?

Ace struggled to his feet, attempting to shake himself free.  He fought to keep his balance but quickly toppled onto his hands and knees.  "We did all we could... It was just... too much... for us to handle..."

No... I can't give up... I've let my friends down so many times in the past...  I've forced my brother to take over for me each and every time I wasn't strong enough to do things on my own...  This time, I can't depend on him...  I need to be the hero!  Luigi began to furiously punch the barrier that surrounded him.  I need... to break out of this...  I need to do... what my brother would do...

"Don't even bother!" Smithy cackled at Luigi's seemingly futile attempts.  "There's no way that force field could be broken by any mortal being."

Luigi's fists slowly began to glow with a green aura.  As he relentlessly pounded against the barrier, a green flame encased his entire body.  Before long, Luigi was throwing fully charged Flaming Punches without even breaking a sweat.  Need to... break free...  His punches grew stronger little by little, and a small crack appeared at the edge of the force field.

"What's he doing?!" Smithy roared in frustration.  "How could he be breaking through?!  Crimson said this barrier would never break!  He said it himself:

"This force field will block out any attempts to resist its deadly effects.  The only force that could possibly pierce it is that of the Emerald Flame."

"The Emerald Flame?"

"It is said that if you possess the Element of Flames, the color of your Fireball will tell you something about your character.  A red flame represents fierce determination and a strong spirit.  A yellow flame signifies a seemingly greedy soul with a gentle personality on the inside. A purple flame shows a great amount of cunning and stealth-like ability.  And a green flame... Well... He who wields the power of the Emerald Flames contains an endless wellspring of evil that could make short work of this puny ice barrier."

"That man in green...  Could he possibly be the one Crimson is searching for?!" Smithy wondered aloud, astonished at the possibility.

By this point, Luigi had begun to charge an enormous green Fireball in his palm.  With a cry of determination, he launched the Fireball at the barrier and shattered it to pieces.  He landed safely beside Ace and melted the ice that restrained him.

"Thank you, Luigi," Ace whispered before collapsing onto the ground, unconscious.

"Sure... no prob..." Luigi replied with fatigue as he fell beside his comrade.  The green aura that surrounded him quickly died down.

"What... just happened...?" Bowyer wondered aloud, trembling with astonishment.

"We got lucky...  Very lucky..." Smithy sighed with relief.  "He was far too exhausted to control his new powers, so he fainted.  If he had been at full strength... this battle could have gone either way..."

Crimson's Theme

A walkie-talkie at Smithy's waist burst into a repetitive sequence of beeping sounds.  The old man grunted and pulled the device to his ear.  "Yes?"

"It's Crimson," the voice replied eagerly.  "What just happened out there?  I was sure that I felt the presence of the Emerald Flame."

Smithy cleared his throat.  "Yes, it appears we've located the one you've been searching for.  At the moment, he seems to be unconscious.  What do you want us to do with him?"

"Bring him to Lorne in Blizzard Fortress.  I'll meet up with you there to claim my prize," Crimson responded eagerly.

"I've been thinking about something, Master Crimson. What do you intend to do with this man?  And where did this strange power come from?"  Smithy inquired timidly.  "Unless, of course, you wish to keep this information a secret."

"Not at all," Crimson answered, mildly amused at his underling's fear.  "If you must know, Luigi's sudden power increase came from the darkness within his soul.  I believe Grambi once explained this bit to Mario:

'It is said that the younger sibling of a Hero possesses the equal potential of power the first-born child does.  However, there are a few differences.  First and foremost, the power will be harder to bring out for your brother, which would require intensive training far more brutal then what you will go through.  In addition, the younger sibling- in your case, Luigi- would not possess the Capacity of Elements.  Finally, the second-born child's power is not purified at birth.  The choice to be good or evil is theirs to make.  If he or she should choose to be tainted with evil, the effect could be deadly.'

"In other words, evil is more attracted to Luigi than it is to Mario.  This 'evil energy' has accumulated within Luigi's soul each time he got near one of his enemies.  Now, as long as Luigi's intentions are virtuous and pure, this accumulation is harmless and will have no side-effects.  During his battle with you, however, Luigi was so desperate to survive that he instinctively reached into his supply 'evil energy' in order to become more powerful.

"As for my intentions, they really aren't as obvious as you might think.  Right now, I have no interest in turning Luigi into one of us.  My true desire is to extract the evil from his soul, and perform a few 'experiments' with it.  If I can make some modifications and find a way to reproduce it, it will be a crucial asset to us in the Demonic Trials."

"I understand," Smithy affirmed.  "We'll bring Luigi as soon as we can."

"Retrieve the garbs we must!" Bowyer exclaimed.  He turned to where Ace should have been lying.  He was nowhere to be found.

"You idiot!" Smithy cursed with rage.  "You should have been watching him!  But I suppose that can wait, since there are plenty of other garbs in our possession.  If they are aiming to collect every garb, they'll eventually have to come after us anyway.  Besides, I'm sure they'll chase after us in an attempt to save Luigi."

"Sorry I am," Bowyer apologized solemnly.  He picked Luigi up and followed Smithy into the distance.

Nearby, Glaive stood silently among the treetops with Ace safely in his arms.  Sorry guys, but I've got something much more important to do.  As long as I am forced to fight with this armor on, I'll never be of any use to you.



Evil Within

"Wake up...  You cannot die..."

"I can't...  I was beaten...  I can't even move..."

"Silence.  You forget what I am capable of.  You've seen what I can make you do, and yet you question my abilities?"

"I...  I don't..."

"Don't forget that you are no longer alone.  As long as I am a part of you, I can never let you die.  Your role is far too important for that..."

"Role?  What role?  Who are you...?"

"Me?  I will soon be... you're replacement..."

The deadly silence of the forest was suddenly broken by a heartbeat.  Slowly, like gears that had just been set in motion, Mario's heart began to beat.  His eyes swung open and he leapt to his feet.  It was late at night.  Breathing heavily, he crept forward.  "Blizzard Peak..."  He mechanically walked through the east exit of the forest and past the sleeping Toad Town.  At last, he reached Blizzard Peak.  His eyes were drained of all color, and his face was pale.  It was as if some force had been controlling him.  At last, he met his match against the freezing winds and constant snowfall.  He collapsed face-first into the snow.

Trailing behind him was Ace, who had awoken shortly before the plumber.  He approached Mario's unconscious body.  "Just how did you manage to survive this time?  I was sure that you had been killed..."  He didn't take much time to mull over Mario's survival.  He was still alive, and that was all that mattered.  "Sleep well, Mario.  We have a lot of work to do when you wake up."



Flashback

Meanwhile, Glaive slept uncomfortably against the base of a tree.  He tossed and turned, trying to shake away the memories of his past.

"Have you ever wished that the fighting would all end?" a girl asked, her sky-blue eyes matching the color of the tears streaming down her soft cheeks.  She was tall for a thirteen year old, and quite pretty.  She had long blonde hair, a gentle smile, and long eyelashes.  "I just wish we could all live without having to worry about fighting...  Don't you feel the same way, Glaive?"

A slightly shorter boy sat beside her, fourteen years old.  He had spiky black hair, fair skin, and innocent brown eyes.  "Sometimes," he replied, deep in thought.  "Other times I want to be a part of it all, you know?  I just wish there was something I could do...  I feel so useless...  We're always being attacked by the Phoenix's men... And I'm just not strong enough to protect you, Sara."

They both sat high on a mountaintop far above their village.  Having been friends since their early childhood, Sara and Glaive would gaze at the sunset for hours each day, waiting for their village to be pillaged by the Phoenix's men.  It was the only thing that brought them comfort.

Sara giggled.  "So, you want to protect me?  Right now, you're just a fourteen year old boy.  We're part of the Demon Resistance, but only so we can live in peace.  If you want to fight someday, fight for our side."

Glaive nodded.  "I will.  Someday, I'll end this war with my own two hands."

How could I have known that I'd be ending it in a completely different way than I had intended?  If a war cannot end through reason, it must end with a decisive victory.  But who could have predicted the side that I would choose to lead?

Days passed.  It all seemed to go by so quickly.  Each day, various acquaintances of Glaive met their end.  In time, Glaive decided that it would be pointless to get to know anyone.  Instead of protecting many trivial lives, he chose to devote his protection to his most treasured individual.

"Damn," Glaive cursed nonchalantly.  "More and more people are dying by the day.  If this keeps up, the Demon Resistance will crumble to pieces."

Sara wiped the teardrops from her damp cheeks.  Unlike Glaive, she treasured the lives of each and every demon- friend or foe.  "This has to stop...  I can't take it anymore..."

Suddenly, they were interrupted by the bloodcurdling alarm of a nearby foghorn.  Recognizing the sound as the usual signal of Phoenix presence, Glaive grabbed Sara's arm and sprinted to the edge of the mountaintop.  Looking down, he saw a unit of no more than a dozen warriors marching toward a seemingly deserted town.  Many demons had learned to keep a low profile when Phoenix soldiers came to 'visit'.

"We should be safe here," Glaive whispered, but he was cut off by a nearby scream of terror.  He turned to see Sara's eyes wide with fear.  He traced her field of view back to a tall soldier clad in black armor.  The warrior held a long, razor-sharp sword high above his head.

"Look out!" a voice called.  Glaive shut his eyes.  Without a weapon, he didn't stand a chance.  His life was over.

Instead feeling the sharp pain he expected to, a metal clang ringed through his ears.  He opened his eyes to see a teenage boy no more than four years older than him.  The boy stood with a blue energy sword pressed against the blade of the Phoenix soldier.  In a swift motion too quick for Glaive to comprehend, the Phoenix warrior was face down on the ground- in two pieces.

"W-W-Who are you?" Glaive stammered, staring at the boy in wide-eyed admiration.

"No one special," the boy replied.  "Just the soon-to-be leader of Poker Face."  He gestured toward Sara.  "You should get her back to the village.  I assure you that my comrades will have the Phoenix soldiers cleared out by the time you get there.  Oh, and stay safe."  With that, he vanished behind the purple mountain mist.

That was the first man I ever admired.  I soon learned that idols can only make you weak.  You rely on their strength until you can't even defend yourself without the help of another.



"It's no use," Slade sighed in defeat.  "No matter what I do, the Nightmare Blade remains dull.  I've sharpened my skills as much as possible, and yet...  The one thing holding me back is the dullness of my sword."  He looked up at the full moon as if the answer he was searching for was among the stars.  "Ever since I met that man...  Mario...  My blade has forgotten its purpose..."  With great resentment, he pulled himself off of the desert sand and unsheathed his blade once again.  Closing his eyes, he heard voices from the past.

"Why do you even bother living anymore?  You're just a nuisance.  You're a nightmare."

"You don't belong here."

"Hey kid, do you have a name?  ...Nightmare...?  How appropriate."

As he was overcome with hatred, his sword began to glow a deep red color.  He grinned wickedly as his blade slowly began to sharpen before his eyes.  "Yes...  That's much better...  Here I come, Mario.  Soon I will annihilate both you and your foolish beliefs."

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 19: Storming the Fortress

Blizzard Peak

"What... happened...?" Mario groaned, his eyelids slowly fluttering open.  He had a splitting headache and struggled to analyze his surroundings.  Groggily rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he shivered.  At last, he realized that he was leaning against a wall of ice inside of some sort of cave.  Bandages were wrapped around his forehead and had also replaced the glove on his right hand.  The wound on his chest had been neatly wrapped up as well.

"I took shelter here in this cave, waiting for the blizzard outside to let up.  I had plenty of time to properly tend to your wounds," Ace explained, emerging from the darkness of a nearby tunnel.  "I found you lying in the middle of the snowstorm, so I tried to find a place for us to take cover.  The garbs in my pocket began to act strangely, and somehow they led me to this cave.  I didn't understand what was going on until I found this."  With a triumphant smile, he held what appeared to be the hilt of a katana in front of Mario's face.  "It's the Elemental Hilt.  I found it buried under a thin sheet of ice."

"It's just a hilt," Mario mumbled, still half asleep.  "It doesn't even have a blade."

"It's not supposed to have a blade," Ace replied matter-of-factly.  "Remember how you can create a Flaming Sword with your Elemental Energy?  Well, if you channel your Elemental Energy through this hilt, the blade will be much stronger at the cost of a lot less energy."

"It sounds pretty useful," Mario commented, slowly dragging himself to his feet.  "So, where are Luigi and Glaive?"  He thought for a moment, and suddenly he was filled with anger.  "And where's Velno?!  If I was at full strength when we fought, I know I could have beaten him!"

Ace sighed heavily.  "We have much to discuss.  After your battle with Velno, everyone thought that you were dead.  As soon as Velno dealt you a fatal blow, he retreated.  Smithy and one of his minions arrived shortly after, and they kidnapped Luigi.  Glaive disappeared the moment he thought that you had been killed, presumably to train on his own.  Without you, our team has fallen apart.

"Right now, we possess three Hero's Garbs: the Thermo Gloves, Awakening Glasses, and Elemental Hilt.  I do not know the total number of garbs in existence or how many are in the enemy's possession.  However, I do know that we have made a grave miscalculation.  There was a time when we believed that all we had to do was defeat Nightmare, waltz into Mushroom Castle, and effortlessly wipe Metal Mario out.  We were so naïve.  We underestimated the enemy.

"It's evident that there is a larger force at work behind the scenes.  They purposely made us believe that Metal Mario was our true enemy.  Any one of us could have easily defeated him, so we took our time and didn't worry too much about the upcoming danger.  Now it apparent that Metal Mario has been replaced by a much more formidable opponent: Velno.  Furthermore, the enemy seems to be interested in your brother.  I've located a fortress here in Blizzard Peak that they are likely occupying at the moment.  If Luigi is being held there, it is crucial that we liberate him and retrieve any garbs they may have.

"Glaive's whereabouts are a much more complex issue.  I believe that Glaive has no intentions of betraying us or doing anything reckless.  If we give him some space, I'm sure he'll reunite with us somewhere down the line.  When all of the Hero's Garbs are in our possession and all four of us are united, we can deal the enemy a lethal blow.  Do you understand the urgency of this operation?  There isn't any room for failure."

Mario nodded.  "If that's all true, then we don't have any time to waste.  Let's head for the enemy's fortress to save my brother."

Ace laid the three garbs on the floor.  "Unfortunately, we don't have enough time to wait for your Elemental Energy to be completely restored.  By combining the abilities of the Thermo Gloves and the Elemental Hilt, you should be able to fight alongside me in your fatigued state.  I will attempt to control the power of the Awakening Glasses, although I probably won't be able to use them as well as Vetis did.  Through teamwork and the use of our Hero's Garbs, we should be able to pierce the defenses of Blizzard Fortress."

"In that case, let's go," Mario urged him, slipping the Thermo Gloves on.  "I've beaten everyone in Velno's little club once before, and I'll do it again."



"Let's see... Have I managed to fortify my tolerance for sunlight at all?" Glaive wondered aloud, carelessly pulling off a chunk of armor that shielded his right arm.  He tossed it to the ground and revealed his 'experimental arm', which was wrapped entirely with bandages.  With a grunt of discomfort, he unwrapped the bandages that covered the wounds from a previous 'experiment'.  As his arm was exposed to the rays of light beating down on Mushroom Fields, Glaive cringed with familiar pain.  For a few minutes, he allowed his arm to be bathed in sunlight without once crying out in agony.  He grinned triumphantly.

"There's definitely still some pain, but I think I'm starting to get used to it.  It looks like the best way for me to be able to survive without my armor is to gradually expose more and more of my skin to the sun.  After I can't take the pain any more, I just have to bandage up my wounds and try again later.  If it worked for my arm, it should work for the rest of my body.  And once I'm done, I'll be able to help Mario eradicate Velno."

He gazed up at the clear blue sky, deep in thought.  Of course, Velno is just the beginning.  I have a score to settle with a few demons back in the Nightmare Vault.  And Mario, don't think I forgot about our little rivalry.  Our battle is still somewhere on my to-do list.



Crimson's Theme

Velno, Lorne, Smithy, and Bowyer sat patiently at a round table, a raging blizzard visible through a nearby window.  The room was constructed from blue bricks that were designed to look like chunks of ice, and the floor was painted white as if it were covered in a blanket of snow.  Luigi sat unconscious in the corner of the room, still unaware of his captivity.

"We're all set; the only person we're waiting for is Crimson," Velno groaned impatiently.  "I really wish he'd hurry up.  We went through all the trouble to bring that human here."

The four of them sat in silence, each mentally preparing himself to speak to the prestigious Crimson.  Their leader was like a god to them- incredibly wise and unimaginably powerful.  The eerie stillness was interrupted by a siren and a flashing monitor. Smithy turned to the security supercomputer and began to furiously type in various pass codes.  The screen split apart to show various areas inside Blizzard Fortress, and zoomed in to show two men running full speed toward the tower's front gate.

"Master Velno, we have two intruders," Smithy informed him grumpily.  "It's Mario and his demon friend, Ace.  What if they manage to take Luigi back?  Should I send our soldiers out to repel them?"

"That won't be necessary," Velno replied with a wicked grin.  This fortress wasn't designed for fighting.  In fact, they won't be facing any physical battles on their way up to this room."  He paused and beamed at Smithy's puzzled expression.  "In Blizzard Fortress, our heroes will only come in contact with mental obstacles.  Let me assure you, I've set up enough twisted moral obstructions to keep Mario busy for quite a while.  Or, at the very least, he'll be filled with unimaginable sorrow and regret."

Lorne nodded with approval.  "Open the gates for them, Smithy."



Blizzard Peak

"Strange... They practically invited us in," Ace whispered in confusion.  "Why would they do that when they know we must be attempting a rescue?"

Mario grinned.  "They must be pretty confident that whatever they've got inside can stop us.  Whatever it is, I'm ready."

The two found themselves in a narrow corridor that consisted of icy blue bricks.  Old fashioned chandeliers drooped down from the low ceiling and lighted their path.  As they forged on, the lighting began to gradually grow dimmer.  Before long, they were standing in a room that was almost pitch black.  This new area had a higher ceiling and was dimly lit by a line of torches running down both sides of the room.

Mario began to step forward, but Ace held him back.  "Look down," he whispered cautiously.

The plumber glanced below him and saw that he was about to step into an abyss of nothingness.  Ace pointed to a shoddy bridge at the far side of the room, and the two of them sidled along an icy path that protruded no more than three feet from the wall.  At last, they reached the ledge next to the bridge that extended to the opposite side of the room. 

Mario could faintly make out a lit opening in the wall at the other end of the bridge.  "That should be the exit, but this bridge doesn't look very sturdy..."

The room shook violently for a moment, and the path that led back the way they came shattered into tiny fragments.  Their only choice was to move forward.  "Welcome to your first stop in Blizzard Peak: The Bridge of Treachery!" a giddy voice exclaimed.

Mario recognized the voice immediately.  "Velno!" he growled through his clenched teeth.  "Where are you?!  And what are you talking about?  It's just a poorly designed bridge!"

Bridge of Treachery

"I'm speaking to you through the fortress's intercom," Velno replied matter-of-factly.  "Allow me to explain The Bridge of Treachery.  As you can see, the bridge is made of brittle stone and isn't very sturdy at all.  In fact, I'd say it would begin to crumble as soon as a single person stepped on it.  One person could probably make the journey across, but the bridge would instantly fall apart if two people attempted to stand on it. Now, take a look below you."

Mario and Ace complied and saw a red light flashing in the darkness.  "What is that?" Mario whispered fearfully.

"Attached to the bottom of the ledge you are standing on is a pack of dynamite set to explode in two minutes.  As you can plainly see, the both of you are trapped.  You obviously can't turn back because the path you used to get to your current position was destroyed.  The only way to move on is for one of you to betray the other and cross the bridge, leaving the other stranded behind.  If you insist on teamwork and try to cross the bridge together, the bridge will crumble under your combined weight and you'll fall to your doom.  Likewise, if you both stay on the ledge you are currently on, you'll both be killed by the dynamite below you.  Hence the name: The Bridge of Treachery."

Mario shuddered as the sound of Velno's wicked cackling slowly died away.  "Now what?  We don't have much time to think."

"I... don't know..." was all Ace could manage to say.  "I never anticipated a trap like this one.  I never thought we'd have to make this kind of decision..."

Mario remained calm.  "You go on ahead.  Once the bridge is out, I won't be able to go forward or stay still.  The only choice I'll have left is to go down."

"You aren't really thinking about jumping down there, are you?" Ace inquired, dumbfounded by Mario's plan.  "If you're thinking there might be some kind of hidden area down there, you're sadly mistaken.  It's a bottomless pit, and if you fall, there'll be no escape."

"What other choice do we have?  I could never forgive myself if I let you die here!" Mario replied firmly.

"You'll have to get over it!" Ace snapped as he grabbed Mario and shoved him onto the bridge.

Before Mario could regain his balance and run back to Ace, the bridge had already begun to collapse.  It was too late now.  Now that the bridge had started to cave in, Mario had no choice but to press on.  He looked back at Ace one last time before sprinting full-speed to the other end of the bridge.  Too ashamed to look back, Mario exited through the passage that awaited him on the other side.

Ace's Theme

"As if I planned to die," Ace chuckled, listening carefully to the ticking of the dynamite.  "I should have about twenty seconds left, so I'd better make this quick."  He pulled out a card from his deck, crushed it in his hand, and a red energy-whip materialized in his palm.  He scanned rugged rock ceiling of the room for a structure that his whip could latch onto.  At last, he spotted a curved rock formation protruding from the ceiling.  He skillfully tossed his whip and wrapped it around his target.  From there, he used his whip as a grappling hook to swing across to the exit.

Moments later, he heard an explosion in the previous room.  "That worked out perfectly."  He proceeded to a flight of stairs, where Mario waited at the top with his arms crossed.

"As if I expected you to die," Mario snickered, Ace's surprised face only adding to his delight.

"How did you know?" Ace asked disappointedly.  "I wanted to make some kind of cool surprise entrance later on ..."

"You're too smart to be killed in a trap like that," Mario explained.  "Besides, you're a demon, and I'm a human.  If it came down to only one of us surviving, you're demon instincts would beat my human instincts, and you would be the one to cross the bridge.  I knew that since you allowed me to go instead, you had some kind of plan to save yourself."

"Looks like I can't fool you," Ace sighed.  "To be brutally honest, if it did come down to only one of us surviving, I would have been the one to live.  You don't have the heart to sacrifice someone else's life to save your own.  I grew up with demons, so I'm much more accustomed to death.  Anyway, it's clear that Velno is trying to get us to turn on each other.  So no matter what lies ahead of us, we always have to remember that Velno is manipulating our bonds and emotions.  We can't let it get to us.  Understood?"

Mario nodded.  "Fine with me.  But I was just wondering, did you use the Awakening Glasses to escape?"

Ace shook his head and patted his pocket in a secretive manner.  "I want to keep them hidden from the enemy for as long as possible.  They'd be perfect for a surprise attack.  Besides, there was no need to use them.  It's much more fun to use my whip as a grappling hook."



Evil Theme

"Master Velno, it seems as though they made it past the first floor.  Moreover, neither one of them seems shaken up at all," Smithy informed Velno nervously.

"That's fine," Velno responded with a confident grin.  "They may have made it past the preliminary round, but their greatest challenge is about to begin."

"You do realize that we're currently on the fourth floor, and they're already on the second floor?" Smithy inquired.  "Even worse, we don't have any kind of challenge waiting for them on the third floor."

"There's no need for concern," Velno assured him.  "I wouldn't want to work Mario's brain too hard.  I've arranged for a little battle to take place on third floor.  And of course, that's assuming that Mario can make it past the second floor.  The Bridge of Treachery was just a warm up for what he's about to face."



Blizzard Peak

As they reached the top of the staircase, Mario and Ace took a moment to scan their surroundings.  Though certainly not luxurious, the second floor seemed much more presentable than the dimly lit first floor.  The tiles on the floor were arranged in a checkerboard pattern of blue and white, and the blue brick walls seemed much cleaner.  In the center of the floor were two large squares that didn't match the floor's décor.  One was striped red and blue, the other black and white.  At the far side of the room was an elevator that appeared to be shut tightly.

"That elevator appears to be operable, but I don't see any kind of switch nearby to activate it," Ace noted curiously.  "I wonder how we're supposed to use it."

"The tiles on the floor look pretty weird," Mario commented.  "I've seen some weird floor designs, but why would they bother to decorate the second floor and not the first."

"When a villain builds a fortress, he usually isn't trying to win a fashion contest," Ace remarked sarcastically.  "If I were to criticize anything about the floor, it'd be those two tiles in the middle.  They're much bigger than the other ones and their colors don't even match."

"If you two are ready to stop critiquing my fashion sense, I'll be happy to inform you about the Lie Detector Challenge," Velno hissed through the intercom.  "You two are going to step on those two squares.  The red and blue one is for Mario, and the black and white one is for Ace.  I'm going to ask you two a series of questions.  When you answer them, I'll do a quick scan with my lie detector to tell if you were lying or not.  If you answer truthfully, you move to the next round.  If not, well, just remember that the tiles you'll be standing on are placed directly above the bottomless pit in the floor below you."

"So all we have to do is tell the truth?" Mario inquired suspiciously.  "Sounds easy.  What's the catch?"

"There isn't one.  I just hope you'll be able to admit your darkest secrets," Velno chuckled, confident in the questions he had prepared.

"Let's show him what we think of his stupid test!" Ace exclaimed with determination.  The two heroes stepped onto their respective tiles, and the challenge began.

"Alright, I'll start you off with an easy one.  I want your opinion.  Are demons good, or bad?  Mario, I want you to answer first."

Mario gulped.  His gaze shifted to Ace.  "My honest opinion...?"

"Just be honest," Ace said firmly.  "I don't care what your answer is.  Just remember: He's trying to manipulate us."

Mario nodded.  "In my opinion, demons... are... well... for the most part... evil...  That's why we're fighting...  To make sure they stay in the Nightmare Vault..."

Velno shrugged.  "Fair enough.  Next, Ace will answer.  Are demons evil, or good?"

"Demons are divided among good and evil," Ace answered unwaveringly.  "I believe this with all my heart."

"Really?  Have you always been devoted entirely to one side?  Answer yes or no."

Ace began to tremble with anger.  I see what kind of game he's playing.  He really is trying to remind us of our darkest nightmares.  Not only that, but he wants to expose our most well-kept secrets and turn us against each other.  But how does he know enough about us to ask such perfect questions?  "No."

"Now I'm interested.  Explain yourself.  How did you end up on the 'good' side?  When you're finished, I'll scan both of your answers and see if any of you were lying."

Flashback

"Alright, then.  If you really want to know, I'll tell you.  Besides, I owe Mario an explanation of why I used to work with those five demons:

"It all started when I was just five years old.  It was an awful time to be alive.  The Nightmare Vault was still in the Bellum Era- an era of pure chaos.  It was before the official split between the Phoenix and the Demon Resistance.  This meant that villages were filled with demons of mixed loyalties.  The average life expectancy was one week, at the most.  It was considered common for Phoenix demons to storm into random houses and murder everyone inside.

"I can barely remember the day my house was targeted.  My dad was a powerful political leader who was fighting to gain independence from the Phoenix.  So to prevent this from happening, the Phoenix sent his Assassination Force- the group of five demons that Mario, Luigi, Glaive and I encountered earlier- to wipe out my entire family.  They came without warning, and they took my mother's life with ease.  My father grabbed my brother, who was 14 at the time, and attempted to escape.  My 14 year old brother, Jack, worked alongside my father in his political plans to separate from the Phoenix.  Therefore, my dad tried desperately to ensure that one of them escaped.

"Although my father died, Jack managed to get away.  I was left behind, helpless and abandoned.  As the five members of the Assassination Force surrounded me, I held my favorite deck of cards close to me.  They were given to me as a gift when I was only two, and I had treasured them ever since.  They were the only things that could give me comfort in this era of destruction.  I hugged them close to my heart, desperate to find some sort of happiness.  It was then that I first discovered my unique ability.

"As I felt the cards crumple up in my arms, swords, shields, whips, and various other tools of battle materialized in my hands.  It was for that reason that the Assassination Force decided to raise me themselves.  They believed that I had the potential to be a killing machine.  For the next five long years, I found myself undergoing the most painful trials of my life.  Each day I sparred with all five of them: Geryon, Pyro, Oriax, Cresil, and Vetis.  By the time I was ten, I was one of the most powerful of the six assassins.

"Five years is a long time.  It was long enough for the 19-year-old Jack to create the Demon Resistance and become the leader of Poker Face.  While I had been living in the shadows, the Dimidius Era had begun.  I'll never forget the day I was assigned to kill a 'key figure' in the Demon Resistance.  They chose their words carefully and never told me the man's name.  I finally figured out the name of my victim- after it was already too late.  Without hesitation, I had killed my own brother.  Jack, the leader of Poker Face and an important representative of the Demon Resistance, was dead.

"As I saw him lying there, blood trickling from his wound, I instantly remembered who I was.  For the five years I spent with the Assassination Force, I was just a shadow.  I was forced to forget about my past and become nothing more than a coldblooded killer.  At last, I regained my senses.  It was time for me to leave the Assassination Force forever.  That day, I never returned to their headquarters to report my success.  They never heard from me again, until our recent encounter.

"With my job as an assassin over, and Poker Face left without a leader, it was clear what my next move would be.  To repent for murdering my brother, I would take Jack's place as the head of Poker Face.  I joined their ranks and soon learned that the Demon Resistance had its share of great warriors.  After six years of rising through the ranks of Poker Face, I had finally become its leader. 

"And that's how I ended up fighting alongside Mario.  It's just another mission.  Don't bother giving me any sympathy for Jack's death; I got over it a long time ago."

"Very interesting..." Velno muttered, awed at the secrets of Ace's past.  "Well, let's take a look at the results.  Although, if you were lying and made that entire story up, I think I'd have to let you live anyway.  That would be an insane amount of improvising."

Mario and Ace stood completely still as a translucent green light traveled down from the ceiling, bounced off of the tiles, and went back up.   So that's what the tiles were for.  They reflect that strange light that checks to see if we're lying, Mario thought.

"The results are in.  You're test came back NDI, which of course stands for No Deception Indicated.  Congratulations; you've passed the first round.  Let's move on to the second question, and we'll start with Mario.  Mario, you have saved the lives of many people in your lifetime.  But I really want to know: Have you ever killed a human being before?"

Ace chuckled at the thought.  "Mario, kill a human?  What a waste of a question."

Sweat began to trickle down Mario's face.  Of all the things he could ask, why did he have to bring that up?  And the only reason he would ask me a question like that is if he knew the emotional pain it would cause me.  Where is he getting this information?

[shadowmarioguy]

For whatever reason, alot of the text seems screwed up.  I don't know if it's just me, but if you're having the same problem you can look at the chapters here:

http://nsider2.com/forums/index.php?s=8aab01f04e11f2de26631b64c9587b44&showtopic=446799

I keep the chapters up-to-date between both threads so there shouldn't be any problems.

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 20: A Taste of Armageddon

Blizzard Peak

"Well?" Velno inquired with a wicked grin.  "Do you need me to repeat the question?  Fine: Have you ever killed a human before?  I'm waiting for an answer..."

Mario's eyes were glued to the floor.  He stood completely motionless, his fists clenched in instinctive denial.  Every fiber of his being was against him answering Velno's inquiry.  Tears began to steadily flow down his cheeks as his mouth slowly opened.  Mario attempted to speak, but no sound came out.

"Whatever pain you may be going through, just remember that the truth will be revealed either way.  If you lie, Velno's machine will detect it," Ace reminded the struggling plumber.  But as he spoke, he was unsure of himself.  Can he really tell if we're lying, or is it all a bluff?  It's a hefty risk, but I may just have to lie in order to find out if this is all necessary.

At last, Mario regained some of his confidence.  "Yes, I have," he answered regretfully.  "Though I'm not proud of it, I can't deny that it happened."

"How intriguing," Velno chuckled with a hint of curiosity in his tone.  "Would you mind explaining the circumstances of this murder?"

"It was a terrible accident that should have never occurred, back when I still lived in Brooklyn," Mario replied bitterly.  "I lived in an apartment with my girlfriend, and Luigi lived next door.  One day, we were attacked by someone whose identity was never revealed.  It was late at night during a blackout, so I couldn't see his face.  Whoever it was, though, he was stronger than any human I'd ever met before.  He had me bleeding and beaten, and threatened to kill my girlfriend.  At that exact moment, the anger and rage flowing through me seemed to take control. 

"The next few seconds were a blur, but when I regained my senses, my girlfriend was dead at my feet.  I turned around just in time to see our wounded assailant flee.  I didn't have the strength to pursue him.  My girlfriend was dead.  I never saw that man again, and his motives were never revealed.  There was a lot about the incident I didn't know, but one thing was certain.  In my blind fury, I had killed my own girlfriend."

"Interesting, though your story was a bit less informative than Ace's was," Velno commented without a drop of sympathy.  "It seems Ace is more willing to talk about his past than you are."

"I told you everything you need to know, and nothing more.  The rest wouldn't matter to heartless creature like you," Mario retorted coldly, his eyes glimmering with hatred.

"Alright then, next up we have Ace.  This should be a bit less interesting because you are a demon, but have you ever killed a human?"

"Multiple," Ace answered indifferently.  "I did a lot of things that I'm not proud of while I was a part of the Assassination Force."  Actually, I only killed demons while I was a member of the Assassination Force.  I've only been to the human world a few times, and each time I was on a mission to aid humanity.  I've never actually killed a human before, but this'll be a good test to see if Velno's bluffing.

"Let's check your answers.  Of course, you know what happens if you were lying," Velno announced smugly, beginning to let his power get to his head.  Once again, a translucent green light zipped down from the ceiling, rebounded off the tiles, and went back up.  Mario and Ace stood in tense silence as they waited for the results to be revealed.  "Well, the results are in.  Once again, the results are 'No Deception Indicated'.  You've passed the second round with flying colors."

Ace grinned triumphantly.  It's settled.  Velno is listening carefully to our answers to see if they seem reasonable.  Then, he makes it look like he's checking us with that green light, and tells us if we're lying or not based on whether or not our answers are feasible.  The only problem is, I still don't know how to get that elevator to work.  We need to continue to play by Velno's rules until I can figure out a way to get to the next floor.



Evil Theme

At the top of the fortress, Ace and Mario's venture was being displayed on a computer monitor.  Lorne looked carefully at Ace's confident smile, and realized immediately that he had seen through Velno's charade.  He knows the truth, and it's only a matter of time before he does something about it.

"These fools are playing right into my hands," Velno cackled as he prepared the next question.  "I can ask questions for as long as I want, and there's nothing they can do about it!"

"Actually, one of them has already figured out that your 'lie detector' is nothing but a green light that reflects off of the floor tiles.  You need to end this game quickly, because it no longer seems to be serving a purpose," Lorne informed Velno.  "Ace and Mario aren't allowing themselves to be manipulated by your trickery.  You've only made Mario angry by bringing up his past."

"What else can I do?" Velno inquired, his confidence slowly slipping away.  "We're still waiting for-"

He was interrupted by Smithy.  "I've just received a message from Master Crimson.  He says that he'll be arriving shortly."

"In that case, I can stall Mario until he gets here," Lorne offered.  "There's no need for your silly little game."

Velno turned away, insisting on continuing his questionnaire.  "Even if they do realize that I'm bluffing, I'm still in control.  The elevator on their floor won't work unless I activate it."

BEEP!

Velno whirled around to see Lorne flicking a blue switch to the 'ON' position.  "You've failed," Lorne snapped icily.  "There's no point in carrying your foolish game any further.  I'll take over from where you left off."  He turned around and exited the room through an elevator that led to the floor below them.



While Mario and Ace waited patiently for their next question, the elevator doors on the opposite side of the room opened.  "I guess we won?" Mario inquired, surprised that the challenge had ended so quickly.  "Why would they stop now?"

"They may have realized that I knew there wasn't any lie detector in the first place," Ace suggested.  "Either way, we might as well move forward before Velno changes his mind about letting us go ahead."

"You mean- I didn't have to talk about- When did you figure this out?!" Mario exploded, not wanting to talk about his past if he didn't have to.

"I figured it out just after you answered the second question!" Ace yelped, cringing in fear of Mario's anger.

"You could've figured it out sooner," Mario shot back in a sarcastic tone.  "Heh, I'll forgive you this time."

The two heroes walked into the elevator, which instantly shut and ascended to the next floor.  The doors swung open, and they peered inside.  Ace and Mario stepped into a room that looked identical to the previous one, except the floor was a solid blue color.  On the opposite end of the room was an elevator that appeared to be operable.  "This place is completely empty," Ace observed.  "There isn't a single puzzle to be found.  And the elevator actually has buttons we can use this time."

"Looks like they ran out of ideas," Mario chuckled, confidently strutting over to the elevator.  As he was only a few steps away, the elevator doors swung open, and a young man with spiky white hair stepped out.

Lorne's Theme

"You're free to use this elevator at any time," he informed Mario dryly.  "But you'll have to find a way to get past me." His cold, sapphire eyes were glued to Mario.  The young man wore a bright blue vest and slightly torn jeans.  Icy blue earrings that matched his eyes and vest hung gently from his ears.  "My name is Lorne."

"There's no way you'd back down, is there?" Mario inquired hopefully.  "You're a human being, just like me.  I don't want to fight you."

Lorne clutched the dagger that was strapped to his waist.  "I'm afraid I cannot do that.  I have strict orders to kill you."

Shivers raced up Mario's spine.  He appeared to be hypnotized by Lorne's icy glare.  He has such piercing eyes... but I can't find even a trace of emotion in his stare...  He looks like a human on the outside, but... does this man have a soul?

"Mario!  Watch out!" Ace screamed, waking Mario from his daze.  The plumber stepped backward just as Lorne's blade slashed horizontally across the position Mario had just occupied.  Lorne pursued his foe with another slice, but this time Mario was ready.  He skillfully sidestepped out of the way of Lorne's dagger- or so he thought!  The razor-sharp blade ran in a horizontal line across his lower chest.  Blood began to flow from the open wound.

Mario performed a back-flip to put some distance between himself and Lorne.  What just happened...?  I've fought plenty of people that wield swords in the past.  Before the second slash hit me, I predicted the sword's path and dodged accordingly.  But for some reason, his dagger moved in a completely different way than I expected it to.

"You tried to predict my movements and failed," Lorne remarked.  "No one can foresee my attacks.  That's what sets me apart from any other swordsman in the world."

"The only way I can fight a sword user with my bare hands is to anticipate his movements and counterattack.  If I can't do that, I'll just have to change my strategy," Mario stated simply.  He pulled out the Elemental Hilt and began to channel his Elemental Energy into it.  Within seconds, a flaming blade shot out from the hilt.  He stared at the sword in awe.  "Wow, this is the first time I've actually used this.  Combined with the Thermo Gloves, it barely puts a strain on my body."  He took a battle stance and stared directly into Lorne's eyes.  "This time, I'm ready."

All or Nothing

"I'll end this quickly.  I can tell Master Crimson is almost here," Lorne calmly told his opponent.  He held his dagger high above his head, and a cold winter breeze began to circulate around its blade.  "With the icy winds of the mountain at my side, I can't possibly lose."

Mario grinned.  "So, we're already bringing out our favorite secrets?  All right; now I've got a trick."  Electric sparks began to emit from his body, and he charged at his foe at full speed.

Lorne accepted the challenge and rushed at the plumber with equal speed. What is he planning to do with that sword of flames?  He can't possibly hope to beat me in a contest of swordsmanship.  My Blizzard Dagger can strike and freeze multiple targets at one time.

As Mario was only a few feet away from Lorne, he put all of his might into one final swing of his blade.  If I swing my Flaming Sword instead of using a Flaming Punch, I should be able to create an attack similar to that of the Nova Strike.  "Nova Strike!" he cried, the flames of his sword growing even larger.

Ace watched in awe as several metal clangs echoed through the room.  There were several flashes of fire and ice, until the two of them stood at opposite ends of the room.  Another gash ran down Mario's arm, and the Elemental Hilt clattered to the floor.  At the other end of the room, a tiny crack ran down the center of Lorne's dagger.  "Not bad," Lorne remarked in a stoic tone.  "If you had been at full strength, we would've been even."  He pointed his blade at Mario.  "But since you weren't... you lose."

They both moved extremely fast... but Lorne was definitely faster! Ace thought, ready to come to Mario's aid.  Just as he was about to step in, the elevator doors opened once again.

Crimson's Theme

This time, a six foot tall man wearing a jet black veil over his face stepped out.  His piercing red eyes, shining through two tiny slits in his veil, began to calculate what had happened.  He wore dark gray pants and had black armor with streaks of red on his lower legs, feet, hips, forearms, chest, and back.  A cloak with shades of black and violet draped down his back, and a sword was sheathed readily by his waist.

"Master Crimson, you've finally arrived," Lorne said with a bow.  "I was just about to finish off this intruder."

"Never mind that," Crimson replied.  "I'll take over from here.  In addition to examining Luigi, I thought it would be a good idea to do a little 'assessment' of Mario's progress."  Behind him, Smithy, Bowyer, and Velno emerged.  At the rear of the group was Luigi, tied up and still unconscious.

Mario stared at Crimson, trembling with fear.  Who is this guy?  I don't think I've ever felt such an evil presence in my life...  I can literally feel a thirst for blood looming in the air.  Not even Lord Shade had this kind of aura.

"Mario!  Stay away from him!  Something about him doesn't seem right!" Ace warned him.  "Things aren't looking too good for us!  You're injured and we're up against five opponents!  It may be best for us to retreat!"

"I'll cut you a deal," Crimson told Mario, grinning under his veil.  "I'll give you your brother back if you have a little 'exhibition match' with me.  My four partners won't be allowed to interfere, and your demon friend can even fight with you.  If you can impress me, your brother will be returned to you safe and sound.  If you should fail, Luigi will belong to us."

Mario began to regain his confidence.  "You against Ace and me?  And all we have to do is 'impress' you?  Sounds fair enough.  I accept your terms."

Crimson's grin widened.  "Good.  Let's begin right away."

Duel of Tears

"I'll make this quick!" Mario exclaimed with confidence.  He launched a Fireball at Crimson, who prepared to deflect it.  Instead, it curved upward at the last second and hit the ceiling above Crimson, causing rocks and debris to collapse onto him.  Mario scooped up the Elemental Hilt, created another Flaming Sword, and stormed into clouds of smoke and debris to finish Crimson off.  He spotted Crimson's silhouette and slashed at it with all of his might.

With a loud CLANG, Mario's blade stopped dead in its tracks.  The smoke cleared, and Mario saw that Crimson had blocked his Flaming Sword with his bear finger.  "Not very impressive," Crimson sneered before batting Mario away with a powerful right hook.  Mario crashed into the stone wall of the fortress and did not get back up.  "Perhaps you aren't the hero I was looking for.  Your life is mine."  He slowly raised his palm and aimed it at Mario.

Just as he was about to end Mario's life, bricks began to rise from the floor and launch themselves at Crimson.  With a flick of his wrist, the bricks instantly shattered before they could do him harm.  He turned around to see Ace standing defiantly with the Awakening Glasses over his eyes.  "Don't forget about me." 

The chandelier above Crimson's head took on the shape of a snake and lunged at him.  Crimson caught the 'snake' by its throat and tore it into pieces.  He made a strange gesture with his arm, and a strong gust of wind blew the Awakening Glasses off of Ace's head.  Ace bent over to pick them up, but Crimson had already managed to land several punches and kicks on him before he could do so.  Ace tumbled backward against the wall, severely bruised.

"That was all it took?" Crimson inquired, disappointed.  "I really overestimated them.  Perhaps Mario isn't the one I've been searching for.  At any rate, I might as well extract Luigi's Inner Darkness."  He aimed an extended palm toward Luigi, and a dark green flame slowly began to rise from his body.  The flames gathered in Crimson's hand for several minutes until they finally compressed into a green orb.  "Ah...  Perfect...  This will greatly assist my experiments.  Unfortunately, it seems as though Mario has lost.  The Demonic Trials are over for him, and my search must continue.  It's such a shame.  Now all of these fools have to die."

Internal Struggle

"W- Wait a minute..." a hoarse voice called from the opposite end of the room.

"It couldn't be..." Crimson whispered in astonishment.  He turned around to see Mario slowly rising to his feet, bleeding and badly bruised.

"It's... not over... yet..." Mario groaned, breathing heavily.  Slowly but surely, he limped across the room toward Crimson.  "I'm not just gonna let you kill my friends..."

"You unworthy fool!  Stay down!" Crimson howled with rage.  He raised one of his arms to strike the plumber, but stopped when a red flash erupted from Mario's body.

A faint whisper echoed through Mario's head.  Let me fight him for you...  You can never escape from me...  You might as well allow me to help...   Mario clutched his head and fell to his knees in agony.  "No... leave me alone!  Get out of my head!"  He began to writhe in agony as the voice in his head grew louder.  A red aura surrounded him, and Crimson's eyes widened in amazement.

"He couldn't be...  He's the Mushroom Hero... and the..." Crimson whispered in disbelief.  "Such power... How can this be?"

Mario slowly stood on his feet, a faint red aura emanating from his body.  "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave.  Otherwise, you'll end up dead."  Though there was still clearly a mental struggle going on inside his head, Mario raised his palm and aimed it at Crimson.  "You can burn in Hell!"  A dark red flame blazed from his hand and set most of the room on fire.  Crimson stared in awe at the fiery inferno that Mario had created in mere seconds.  Afterward, the plumber collapsed onto the ground.

"He IS the one...  He DOES have the power to face me," Crimson assured himself in astonishment.  "Though his power was limited because of his fatigued condition and his internal struggle, he HAS been improving..."

"Master Crimson, the fire is going to burn the entire fortress down!" Velno exclaimed frightfully.  What just happened?  His power shot up, and I sensed a great evil emanating from his body!  Is there more to this man than I thought?

"There's no need for concern.  We're lucky that he fainted before his mental struggle became too desperate," Crimson said with relief.  "These flames will be a cinch to extinguish."  He raised his palms toward the ceiling, and the rapidly expanding fire vanished with a puff of smoke. He walked over to Mario's unconscious body.  "Very impressive, Mario.  You've captured my interest.  You and your friends can live, for now."

"But Master Crimson!  We should kill them now, while we have the chance!" Velno cried in disagreement.

For a moment, Crimson's eyes seemed to change to a dark blue color.  "A promise is a promise.  I gave my word to him that he and his friends could live if he managed to impress me."

"At least let me take their Hero's Garbs!" Velno insisted, bending over to pick up the Awakening Glasses.

Crimson shook his head firmly.  "The Demonic Trials have no room for deception.  Since you possess all of Metal Mario's data, you can bypass the barrier surrounding Mushroom Castle at any time.  If you were to take even one garb inside, it would be impossible for Mario to enter the castle for his final confrontation with you.  This wouldn't challenge Mario; it would stop the flow of the Demonic Trials altogether.  Use your head."

"What will we do next?" Smithy inquired with a bow.  We were successful in capturing Luigi's Inner Darkness."

"I'll take care of that," Crimson responded, pocketing the green orb he had extracted from Luigi's body.  "I'll have it ready for Velno within 48 hours.  By the way, Velno, Luigi would make excellent bait for Mario in the future.  You might want to equip him with this."  He pulled out a coin-sized device and tossed it to Velno.  "This is a special GPS unit that will allow you to track Luigi's location.  It also enables you to capture him at almost any time.  If you want to give Mario a little 'motivation' in the future, it'd be perfect for the job."

Velno nodded and attached the tiny device to the inside of Luigi's overalls.

"Now it is time for us to part ways," Crimson informed them.  "I need to get back to my private hideout to prepare for the Armageddon.  Velno and Lorne should be getting back to Mushroom Castle, and Smithy should try to locate and defend one of the remaining Hero's Garbs.  Bowyer can go wherever he wants as long as he doesn't come near me."  The villains each went their separate ways, and the base grew quiet.

With that, Mario, Luigi, and Ace were left unconscious and alone in the desolate fortress.

[TeChNiCaL DiFfIcUlTiEs]

I haven't had a lot of spare time lately, but I just wanted to say I'm still reading this and am enjoying it just as much if not more.  The chapters have gotten longer, and the writing has improved.  Nice job!

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 21: Rival Reunions

Hospital Theme

Mario yawned as his eyes slowly fluttered open.  He stretched for a bit, and realized that he wasn't sore at all.  At last, he discovered that he was lying in a bed in Mushroom Hospital.  He slowly rose to his feet, weary of opening any of his wounds.  "I feel... great..." he whispered, astounded at his lack of injuries.

"That's because you've been sleeping for a full day!" Ace exclaimed, eager for any sort of action.  "How can you humans sleep for so long?  I felt fine after a few hours."

"Although it's against our policy, I treated you with a few Super Mushrooms to speed up your recovery," Kay T. explained timidly.  "You should be back at full strength by now."

"Ready to go, Bro?" Luigi inquired, sitting on the bed across from his brother.  "Ace explained everything to me.  I still can't believe I slept through it all."

"Usually I'm the heavy sleeper," Mario chuckled as he slipped his gloves on.  "How'd we get back here, anyway?"

"You can thank your two brilliant children," Kay T. informed him.  From behind her, Mark and Luke rushed up to their father and gave him a bear hug.

"We saw that tall, dark guy that you were hanging out with before," Mark recalled.  "We asked him where you were, and he helped us get to that tall fortress.  Between the three of us, we carried you, Uncle Luigi, and the other demon guy back here."

Mario looked around, searching for his missing teammate.  "Glaive helped you?  Where'd he go?"

Kay T. shrugged.  "He left as soon as he dropped you three off.  He looked like he was doing something important."

"He's probably still training," Ace guessed.  "He'll join up with us eventually.  For now, we need to figure out where we're going next."

Luke suddenly piped up.  "Daddy!  Daddy!  I almost forgot!  We heard that our Yoshi friends are in trouble!  We got a letter yesterday saying that the whole island is being invaded by Shy Guys!  They asked for you to go help them."

"I have a feeling that there might be a Hero's Garb involved," Mario muttered.  "Alright, let's go.  Luigi, Ace, are you ready?" 

Mark and Luke burst into repetitive squawks of disagreement.  "We wanna go too!  Why can't we ever go with you?  You promised we could come with you on your next journey!"

Mario thought for a moment.  "Well, I guess I did promise.  It shouldn't be too dangerous if we're only dealing with Shy Guys.  Besides, it's time you two went on a REAL adventure with your father.  Promise you'll be good?"

"We promise," the brothers replied in unison. 

"Wait a second," Ace interrupted.  "We can't just take another detour.  We're running out of time!  Velno could have the Nexus Gate open at any moment!  It'd be foolish to go so far out of our way just because we have a hunch that we mind find a garb there!"

"I understand where you're coming from, but Grambi told us the Hero's Garbs were scattered across the kingdom just a few centuries ago.  They can be anywhere, and this is the perfect chance the check out Yoshi Island while also helping people in need," Mario replied firmly.  "Besides, do any of us specifically know where the garbs are located?  If we didn't go to Yoshi Island, where would we look?"

"I see your point," Ace affirmed.  "Forgive me; I just don't want to waste any more time than we already have."

"Looks like we've got a team of five," Mario observed.  As he prepared to storm out of the room, he stopped dead in his tracks.  "Err... How exactly do we get there?  I don't think that we can get there by riding on that same whale I used back when I was looking for Star Spirits."

"What?" Ace inquired, not knowing much of Mario's past adventures.

"Don't ask," Luigi mumbled.  "That was way back when I used to be a house-sitter."

"They sent someone over by boat to escort us to the island," Luigi explained.  "Of course, if you hadn't been sleeping when they first told us this, you'd already know.  We're supposed to meet our escort on the south border of Mushroom Fields."

"Then let's get going!" Mario bellowed eagerly.  "I feel incredible!"  The five heroes stormed out of the room, ready for their next adventure.

"I wonder if they should have brought those Hero's Garb thingies with them.  They look like pretty valuable treasures..." Kay T. wondered aloud.

In a room across the hallway, Wario had almost recovered from his injuries at the Smash Tourney.  His ears twitched with sudden excitement.  "Did someone say... valuable... treasure...?"



As Mario, Luigi, Ace, Mark, and Luke traversed through Mushroom Fields, the skies began to grow darker.  Black storm clouds filled the sky, and flashes of light occasionally lit up the horizon.  It wasn't long before it began to rain.  Though it wasn't more than a light drizzle, Mario began to worry about the trip to Yoshi Island.  At last, they stopped at a rocky cliff that towered above the rough waves of the sea.

"If we head east from here, we'll reach an area that's perfect for docking ships," Mario announced.  "Do you guys think we should still head for Yoshi Island in this kind of weather?"

Before he got his answer, a purple wave of energy rushed from out of nowhere and zoomed directly at Mario.  He swiftly dove out of the way, rolled to his feet, and traced the source of the attack.  Out from the darkness of the nearby Forever Forest, Slade emerged with his sword gripped tightly in his hand.

"Mario... It's been a while.  I hope you didn't expect me to just walk away after suffering that humiliating defeat.  On top of that, you spared my life.  I've never felt so disgraced in my entire life," Slade spat in disgust.  "We're going to fight again, and again, and again... until I achieve the results I'm after.  And as long as you keep me alive, there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"That's fine," Mario replied with a grin.  "I'll take you on any time."  He gestured for his teammates to stand back.  "He's only after me, so there's no point in having any of you fight him."  He turned to face his opponent.  "So, have you gotten any better?  Or do you still rely on that barrier of yours?"

Slade ran his blade across his finger, testing its sharpness.  "Hmph.  That was a mere parlor trick.  How could I call myself a true swordsman if I always hid behind a force field?"

Nightmare vs. Mario

Mario grinned as he took a battle stance.  "True.  Care to show me what you've learned since we last met?"

"Gladly!" Slade retorted, sprinting at Mario with his dagger held firmly in his grip.  He began his assault with a rapid burst of wild slashes, all of which Mario ducked, sidestepped, and jumped over.  Slade ended the combo with one final horizontal slash.  The plumber performed a perfect back-flip and launched a flurry of Fireballs at Slade.  The demon batted each of the Fireballs away with his sword, and then created another wave of purple energy with a slash of his blade.  Mario replied with an Iceball that froze the wave in place.  He dashed forward, caught the frozen energy attack, and tossed it at his foe as if it were a boomerang.

Slade darted to the side to avoid his own attack and leapt high into the air.  He pointed his sword down at Mario, and a bolt of lightning shot out at his foe.  Mario was caught completely off guard and was knocked onto his back by the blow.  He sprang to his feet and hurled another Fireball at his enemy, who had just landed.  Mario grinned as he noticed the 'ice boomerang' swerve back toward Slade.  The demon effortlessly swatted the Fireball away, but failed to notice that it had only been a distraction.  He was hit full force in the back of the head, and fell to his knees in pain.

This is... incredible... Ace thought as he watched the two rivals clash.  Mario really has improved...

"Are you finished?" Mario inquired, staring at his wounded enemy.  "I wouldn't fight with a wound like that if I were you."

"Shut up!" Slade snapped angrily, immediately standing straight up again.  "I don't need your advice."  He held his sword up, which then began to glow a bright red color.  Mario watched in awe as three transparent clones of Slade slowly emerged from the blade.  Each copy pulled out a sword of his own.  Mario was outnumbered.

"That's no fair!" Mark whined.  "That demon guy just made three copies of himself!  That means three of us should be able to join the fight on Daddy's side."

"That's how it should work," Ace said with a strange sense of understanding.  "But Slade isn't the only one out there who's fighting for their pride.  Mario is also battling to maintain his pride, and even if the odds are against him, we can't interfere.  Each fighter is limited to his own techniques, and cloning just happens to be a trick that Slade has mastered.  In Mario's eyes, this match is still a fair one."

Luigi watched in amazement as Mario materialized a Flaming Blade in his bare hands and began to duel his four opponents.  All of the fighters were drenched from the steadily increasing rainfall, but not one of them flinched.  Slowly, but surely, Mario was putting up a fight against four Slades.  "He's... actually doing it..." Luigi whispered in disbelief.

If he's using his own strength to create those clones, each individual must be weaker than the unified original.  He's dividing his full power into four smaller units, Mario concluded.  "That means he's still just as strong as he was before!"  He sidestepped a slash from one Slade, and quickly sliced across the chest of another.  The third and fourth clones attacked him at once, but Mario leapt above them and smashed their skulls together as they got close to him. 

The four copies regained their composure and charged at Mario again.  They each created another purple energy wave by slashing their swords.  Mario weaved past all of them, but turned around to see that they were heading straight for his friends.  "Watch out!" the plumber screamed in horror as one of the beams struck Mark, knocking him off the edge of the cliff and into the stormy sea.

"Mark!" Mario shrieked as he darted over to where his son fell.  He peered over the edge of the cliff and dove in after Mark without a second thought.

"Bro!  Are you crazy?!  Do you even know how high up we are?!" Luigi cried as Mario vanished into the dark blue ocean.

[End Music]

Slade merged himself into one being and silently crept over to the end of the cliff.  He carefully searched for his opponent, but found nothing.  "What a fool.  Now both of them will die."

"Take that back!" Luigi shouted angrily.  "They'll both be fine!  You'll see!"

Slade merely laughed and slowly walked away.  The storm began to pick up, and his voice could barely be heard over the roaring of thunder.  "I have no business with you weaklings.  My quarrel is solely with Mario."  He vanished behind the darkness of the storm, leaving Luigi, Ace, and Luke in the heavy downpour.

"Now what do we do?" Luigi inquired.  "Can we get to Yoshi Island in this storm?"

"This storm should pass," Ace responded as he stared into the murky sea.  "We can wait in Forever Forest for an hour or two, and then we'll meet up with our escort."



Mario coughed up a mouthful of seawater as his eyelids slowly opened.  He sat up and found himself washed up on the shore of an unfamiliar island.  Alarmed, he immediately stood up and searched for his son.  He sighed with relief.  Less than a hundred feet away, Mark was lying unconscious, face-down in the sand.   Mario knelt down next to his son and gently shook him until he awoke.  "Are you okay, Mark?"

"Daddy?" Mark murmured, salt water dribbling from his mouth.  "What happened?"

Mario peered out into the horizon.  "Slade knocked you into the sea, and I dove in after you.  I guess the storm washed us up on this island.

"You are correct," a voice stated pompously from nearby.

Tension

"Who's there?!" Mario demanded, whirling around toward the source of the voice.

"Just me," Hunter replied as he stepped in front of Mario with his pistol in his grip.  "Ah... A thrilling hunt just between the two of us...  This is something I've wanted for quite a while.  You have no idea how impatient I've been lately."

"What do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?  As a hunter, nothing thrills me more than hunting down and killing my prey.  Unfortunately, there's no fun in it if the hunt isn't a challenge.  I've waited for a worthy bounty for many years now, and I've finally found it," Hunter exclaimed with a vicious glow in his eyes.  "I started off hunting animals.  They were fun for a while and helped me hone my skills quite a bit, but they later began to bore me.  I needed to find something more intellectual, and do you know what I came up with?  Humans.  The problem is that it's so hard to find an intelligent human these days.  Most of them are fools, but not you.  You have a wonderful balance of strength and intelligence, which makes you the perfect prey."

"So you kill humans for pleasure?  You're sick," Mario spat, clenching his fists.  "More importantly, how did you find me here?  All you've done is explain how much you enjoy hunting things down."

Hunter grinned.  "It's simple.  Metal Mario used the Star Rod to create a barrier around Mushroom Castle.  It's designed so that only Metal Mario and his associates can enter.  When Velno absorbed him, Velno obtained the ability to enter the castle at will.  With his permission, I was able to make a wish to the Star Rod.  It turns out that the Star Rod had just enough power to open the Nexus Gate and grant one last normal wish.  Do you know what I wished for?  I asked for a storm to wash you up on the shore of this particular island, where we could have our final confrontation."

"Of all the things you could have asked for, you wished for that?" Mario inquired with a frown.  "You enjoy hunting a little too much."

"Allow me to lay the ground rules for our little competition," Hunter requested with a wicked smile.  "The hunt will last for three hours.  I am the predator, and you are my prey.  You can hide anywhere you want on this island, and I'll try to track you down and slaughter you.  If I succeed, I'll proceed to hunt your son.  Your child will not be harmed otherwise, so try not to worry about him.  If you can evade me for three hours, or if you manage to kill me, you will be the victor."

"How can I be sure you won't kill my son?"

"I'm far more interested in hunting you right now.  I'll only murder your son if you die and I have nothing left to hunt," Hunter replied eagerly.  "As long as you don't bore me, you have no reason to worry about your child.  Now, let's begin.  I'll give you five minutes to find a place to take cover."

"Take cover?" Mario parroted with an arrogant grin.  "Why would I do something like that?  You said that if I beat you, the hunt ends immediately.  Why would I bother hiding like a coward for three hours?" 

Demonic Trials

The plumber rushed at Hunter and threw a right hook at his face.  Hunter blocked the punch and shot his gun directly at Mario's chest.  Mario expected to feel immense pain, but was surprised to see that he was unharmed.  Instead, a strange symbol appeared in the spot that the bullet had hit.  "What's this marking on my chest?"

Hunter grinned from ear to ear. "Fool.  You should have fled when you had the chance.  When we fought earlier, I didn't show you my special pistol.  Whenever the first bullet hits you, it creates a target on your body.  Any subsequent bullets I fire will instantly lock onto that target, and I don't even need to aim.  The bullets won't hurt you directly, but if they hit a target that's already on your body, it'll do some serious damage."

"What?!" Mario thundered, his eyes wide with fear.  Hunter fired a bullet up into the air, and it instantly changed its path to strike Mario.  The plumber dove onto the ground.  The shot missed the target and instead hit Mario's back.  Another symbol appeared.

Hunter shook his head.  "Tsk, only three minutes have passed and you've already been hit twice.  Now are you going to hide, or do you still insist on fighting me?"

"I'm not scared off so easily," Mario retorted with a grin.  "I've got a few projectile attacks of my own.  They may not lock onto you, but they still pack a wallop."  He cupped his hands together and an Ultra Fireball erupted from his palms.

"You're persistent, I'll give you that," Hunter chuckled as he aimed his pistol at the oncoming Fireball.  He fired once, creating a target on the Fireball, and then again.  As soon as the bullet struck the target, Mario's Fireball instantly vanished in a fiery explosion.  "I guess that was a good demonstration on what happens if a target on your body is hit by one of my bullets."

Mario took a few steps back, trembling in fear.  Should I really run away?  Is there any other option?

"You have one minute left to find a good place to hide," Hunter informed him.  "I suggest you use it."

Grudgingly, Mario turned around and sprinted into the thick forest that covered the central area of the island.  If I can't fight him head-on, I'll just have to try a sneak attack.



"Wake up, you imbecile!" Glaive roared impatiently, shaking Luigi furiously.

"Aw... but the boat ride made me really drowsy..." Luigi groaned.  "Can I sleep a little longer...?"

"Your nephew is more responsible than you are," Glaive said gruffly, gesturing toward the wide-awake Luke.  "Get up.  We don't have time for this!  We've had enough delays as it is.  First you go and get kidnapped, and Mario has to go out of his way to save you.  And now, you're trying to screw us up again by taking a nap?!"

Yoshi Island

Luigi awoke with a frightened yelp.  Breathing heavily, he realized it was only a dream.  "I could have sworn Glaive was really with us, yelling at me for being a burden."

"Well, now that you mention it," Ace grumbled, "we did have to carry you all the way to this hut.  We arrived here in Yoshi Village about an hour ago, but we couldn't wake you up.  The Yoshi that escorted us here started to get impatient and so he told us to carry you to the village."

"Did you find Bro?" Luigi asked hopefully, though he knew what the response would be.

Ace shook his head.  "No, we haven't seen him since he dove into the sea after Mark.  I can only hope they survived."

"They'll be fine," Luigi insisted.  "After all that he's been through, he wouldn't die at sea...  By the way, have you guys talked to any of the Yoshi?  Our main priority is to help them drive out the Shy Guys, isn't it?"

The blue Yoshi in charge of the hut overheard this and walked over to them.  "It's awful!  Those Shy Guys and their leader, Chief Guy, have taken control of the island.  Each day, Chief Guy demands a feast in his honor.  We've been giving him all of our best fruits, but we're slowly running out of food for ourselves."

"Didn't you try attacking them?" Luigi inquired.  "The Yoshi tribe is definitely stronger than a bunch of Shy Guys."

"Normally, yes, we would try to rebel against them.  However, Chief Guy has the Mountain Spirit on his side.  He warned us that if we even tried to resist, he'd tell the Mountain Spirit to cause a volcanic eruption!"

"And you believed him?" Ace asked with a frown.

"Not at first.  We thought he was merely bluffing, so we attempted to drive the Shy Guys away from our island.  Immediately after we attacked them, Mt. Lavalava erupted and nearly destroyed our village!  After that, none of us had the courage to rebel again.  Since you've proven to be a great help in the past, we decided to ask for your assistance."

Luigi nodded.  "Well, I guess we are pretty good when it comes to helping other people out."

"But how are we going to stop them," Luke whined.  "If they can make the volcano erupt whenever they want, what can we do?"

Ace thought for a moment.  "Until we know what we're up against, a direct attack would be foolish.  We're going to need to think of a way to catch Chief Guy off guard.  Any ideas?"

Luigi sat back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Bro, where are you?"

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 22: Plumber Hunting

Fated Clash

"It's already been about two hours, and my body has at least a dozen targets on it from those bullets," Mario sighed. Thorns and underbrush clawed at his skin as he frantically dashed through the thick forest at the island's center.  A gunshot sang out into the silent woods, and Mario immediately took shelter behind a tree.  Tiny fragments of wood soared into the air as a bullet struck the tree that had served as Mario's shield.  The plumber swiftly launched a Fireball in the direction that the gunshot had originated from before snapping back to his shelter behind the tree.  Three more bullets whizzed in Mario's direction, each closer to its target than the last.

"He hardly has to aim to get a good shot in," Mario cursed, slowly climbing up the tree.  When he reached the top, he peered down and searched for any signs of movement.  His ears twitched at the sound of a twig snapping, and he sprang into the air at his foe.  A flurry of Iceballs erupted from his palms.  As he landed, he checked to see if he had hit his target.  Several patches of soil had been frozen.  Hunter was nowhere to be found.

Another shot fired out from a completely different direction.  Mario rolled to the side, and the bullet struck his left shoulder.  Another symbol appeared in the area that the bullet hit him.  Hunter emerged from the shadows nearby.

"At first, evading death is easy because there are only a few targets on your body that you need to keep safe.  However, as you are now starting to realize, once you have ten or twenty of those symbols covering your body, you'll be overwhelmed.  Even my greatest foes have fallen because of this weakness."

He's right, Mario thought, his mind racing.  Whenever a bullet hits me the first time, it creates a target-like symbol that any subsequent bullets will home onto.  If another one of his shots hits one of the symbols on my body, I'll take some serious damage.  And the more targets he creates on my body, the more likely I am to get hit.  More and more of those targets are covering my body, and I've still got almost an hour left.

Mario placed his palm on the ground and released a Thunderball, which traveled along the ground towards Hunter.  The plumber dashed in a different direction, and the Thunderball struck the base of a tree.  The trees leaves wilted, and it began to fall over.  Hunter was consumed by the falling tree's enormous shadow.

"Attacking the base of a tree so that it'll fall on me?  Do you really think I'll fall for such a distraction?" Hunter inquired with a wicked grin.  He fired two quick shots at the tumbling tree.  The first created a target on the tree, and the second struck the target.  In less than a second, the tree was incinerated in a fiery explosion.  He fired another shot, this time toward Mario.

Trying to search for cover, Mario dove onto a soft patch of dirt as another bullet scraped his right shin.  Breathing heavily, he got on his feet and sprinted toward a spot of light in the distance.  I can't keep this up much longer.  It's been over two hours of nonstop sprinting, ducking, dodging, and jumping.  At last, he reached a clearing in the forest.  He stopped dead in his tracks.  Towering above him was Hunter with his pistol raised.  There would be no time to evade a shot at this range.

Tri-Elemental Form

"Well, hello there," Hunter sneered.  "Looks like it's the end of the line."

Mario's eyes were wide with terror.  After a few moments of suspenseful silence, Mario regained his composure.  He grinned from ear to ear and clenched his fists.  "Looks like ya got me.  I don't have much of a choice then, do I?  I haven't used this trick in a good while...  I hope I haven't gotten rusty."  He closed his eyes and concentrated his thoughts.  A brilliant light began to erupt from his body as a rainbow-colored aura surrounded him.  "Tri-Elemental Form!"

"No you don't!" Hunter screamed, pulling the trigger on his pistol.  In the blink of an eye, Mario sidestepped the bullet and dashed behind his opponent.  He landed six punches on Hunter's back before ending the combo with a kick that sent him tumbling forward.  Mario then raised his palm and launched a Thunderball at the staggering Hunter.

"I can't maintain this form for long, so I'll have to make this quick," Mario informed Hunter as he slowly approached him.

Hunter, clutching his bleeding wounds, slowly stood up.  "What did you do to yourself?!  How is this possible?!"

Mario responded with a barrage of punches and kicks to the face.  Hunter fell onto his back in agony, but slowly returned to his feet.  As Mario approached his enemy to continue the assault, his vision suddenly blurred.  He saw a flash of red.  "Wait a minute... Something isn't right..."  He now had a splitting headache, and he began to sweat more than usual.

Internal Struggle

"What's... going... on...?" Mario groaned, falling to his knees.  "I was doing fine... until I used this form..."  His headache grew worse, and his rainbow aura became a bloody red color.  His vision blurred again.  "Every time... I try to reach deep into my power... this happens..."  He saw yet another flash of red.

Don't you understand? Do you even comprehend the power that you've been using since your battle with Lord Shade?  Your blind trust in this power will bring about your demise.  I'm getting closer... and soon... you will... disappear...

"I... can resist..." Mario muttered in agony, slowly rising to his feet.  "...I can still... fight..."

Hunter observed Mario's struggle with great concern.  This isn't good.  At this rate, he's going to be killed under the weight of the stress inside of his mind.  If this keeps up, the hunt will be ruined.  I have to fight this battle to the finish, no matter what the cost may be.  Even if I have to...  "Mario...  It's time I told you something very important..."

"W- What...?" Mario inquired, trembling.  One hand was clenched into a fist, and the other was clutching his forehead.

"Back when you lived in Brooklyn, you had a girlfriend, correct?  You were attacked by someone whose identity remained a secret for all these years, and it was this conflict that resulted in the accidental death of someone very important to you.  I know all about her.  She was your world, and you killed her," Hunter chuckled.

"Shut up!  What... are you... trying to say?!" Mario snapped.

"I'm saying that it was me!  I tried to hunt you and your girlfriend down all those years ago!" Hunter confessed, laughing hysterically.  "I'm a little disappointed that you don't remember me, but I guess that can't be helped!"

"...What did you say..." Mario inquired as his trembling stopped.  The red aura surrounding him grew brighter, and his eyes flashed red with hatred.  His voice grew deep and bitter.  "What did you just say?"

Hunter grinned.  At last, his hatred has caused his internal struggle to end.  Now that one of the opposing sides has won, I can continue the battle.  "That's right!  It's my fault that you've experienced all of this pain!  And I don't regret one bit of it!"

Mario remained silent.  For a moment, he seemed to vanish.  In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind Hunter.  Blood splattered out of dozens of wounds on Hunter's body, and several fiery explosions lit the dim forest.  The wounded Hunter's eyes met with Mario's cold stare.  "Now you've become the prey.  How does it feel to be slaughtered?" the plumber asked without a drop of emotion.

"I... didn't even see him... hit me..." Hunter gasped, blood trickling from his mouth.  I should have known better than to evoke his rage.  I couldn't even follow him...  He vanished for a second, and then reappeared behind me.  In that one fraction of a second, he cut my body and my pride to shreds.

Unbearable Suffering

Hunter fell to his knees, blood trickling from his wounds.  His eyes were bloodshot, and he was trembling with agony.  Even in all of this pain, he was still smiling.  "It... was... worth it..."

Hatred burning in his eyes, Mario rushed at his enemy to deal the final blow.  However, as he was just a few feet away from his opponent, he made a stunning realization.  "You aren't the one..." he mumbled as he stopped dead in his tracks.  The red aura surrounding him faded away, and he was back to normal.  He stood there for a few minutes, dazed and confused.  He stared at the man that he had nearly murdered.  He stared into his eyes, and saw not a bloodthirsty murderer, but a simple lonely man.  "It wasn't you...  Why did you lie to me?  You weren't the one who attacked us that night..."

"No one can understand the passion that burns in a hunter's heart..." Hunter groaned, wincing in pain.  "I dedicated my entire life to hunting down creatures.  For years I honed my skills, and it wasn't long before I could consider myself the best hunter in all of the Mushroom Kingdom.  I had always believed that this would be a gratifying accomplishment, but it just wasn't what I had in mind.  You can never understand... what it's like to be the best...  People always dream of rising to the top, but it isn't as great as everyone believes.  When you finally become the best at something, there's nothing left for you to do.  You soon become bored, and the desire to find someone better than you begins to grow.

"That's why I had to join Velno's group...  I always knew that I'd find someone worthy of my skills if I did.  Once I discovered you and learned about your past from Velno, it was easy to manipulate your feelings.  I pretended to be the one who attacked you on the day of your girlfriend's death to arouse your anger.  Your instincts took over, and your rage allowed you to give me the challenge I had been looking for.  At last, I've experienced the thrill of a good hunt one final time.  Now I can finally rest in peace..."

"No!" Mario cried in defiance.  "I fought you with all of the hatred that had built up within me since her death, and now you tell me that it was just a lie?!  I can't let you die knowing that you weren't the one who attacked us!"

"Take this..." Hunter demanded, ignoring Mario's plea.  He pulled out what appeared to be a green miniature warp pipe and dropped it at the plumber's feet.  "This pipe will take you to Yoshi Island...  Take it as a prize for winning this fight.  But just so you don't have to worry about being responsible for my death..."  He slowly reached for his pistol and pointed it at his head.  "I could survive in this condition... but I can't survive a gunshot to the head..."  Mario reached out to stop him, but it was too late. Hunter had already pulled the trigger and ended his own life.

Mario shuddered.  He scooped the warp pipe off of the ground and began to dig a hole.  With his bare hands, he dug out a hole that was large enough for Hunter's body.  With great revulsion, he dragged to corpse into the grave he created and covered it with soil.  He took a moment to honor Hunter's death.

"Is it over?" Mark inquired, emerging from behind a nearby tree.

Mario nodded solemnly.  Without another word, activated the warp pipe and hopped in.  Mark followed behind him, and the warp pipe sunk into the ground. The island was now barren, a memorial for the man who considered himself 'the greatest hunter'.



Jade Jungle

"I've done some crazy things in the past, but this takes the cake," Luigi grumbled through his white mask.  His entire body was concealed by the red robe of a Shy Guy, and his brown shoes had been replaced with blue ones.  "Why do I have to dress up like a Shy Guy?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Ace sighed wearily.  "I'm a bit taller than you, and your nephew is too short.  Besides, children aren't very good at acting.  You're the only one among us that could play the role of a Shy Guy."

Luke giggled at his disguised uncle.  Luigi gave him a dirty look from under his mask, but said nothing.  "Let me get this straight.  You want me to enter Mt. Lavalava as a Shy Guy and see what this Chief Guy is up to?"

Ace nodded.  Luigi remained silent the rest of the way to Mt. Lavalava, with Luke scoffing at him from behind his back.  At last, they reached the entrance to the tunnels that led to the inside of Mt. Lavalava.  They heard footsteps coming from the inside.

"A Shy Guy is coming this way.  Ask him to take you to the chief, and we'll follow you without being seen.  Once we reach Chief Guy, try not to blow your cover.  We'll wait until he drops his guard, and then we'll jump out and finish him off before he can cause a volcanic eruption.  Understand?" Ace whispered with a stern expression.

Luigi nodded and stepped inside of the volcano.

Mt. Lavalava

"Excuse me; could you give me directions to the chief?  I have a message for him, but I always get lost," Luigi requested.

"Go down this hall.  Take a right.  Walk down the steps.  Take another right.  Don't fall in the lava."  The Shy Guy continued without another word.

"That guy was pretty shy," Luigi commented before grinning at his corny pun.  He heard the sound of his teammates pouncing on the unsuspecting Shy Guy before he could even call for help.

So far, so good, Ace thought as he hid the unconscious Shy Guy's body.

Luigi followed the Shy Guy's advice, turning corners and traversing down staircases when necessary.  Each time a single Shy Guy was nearby, Ace and Luke would mug him and hide his body before he could attract attention from his comrades.  If they encountered a group of Shy Guys, Luigi would inform them that Chief Guy has ordered them to take a different post, and they would scuttle along to another part of the volcano.

It wasn't long before they arrived in Chief Guy's throne room.  Luigi began to sweat even more, noting that the temperature in this room was even hotter than in previous ones.

"You!  What are you doing in here?" Chief Guy demanded impatiently.  "Why aren't you at your station?"

Luigi noticed that this Shy Guy was wearing overalls not unlike ones that he or Mario would wear.  They were a bright red color and covered Chief Guy's entire body.  He wore a golden mask, signifying that he was the leader of the Shy Guys.  "I... uh... I... wanted... to ask... uh..."

"Out with it!" Chief Guy exploded.  "You're wasting my time!"

"I... uh... I wanted to ask you... uh... where the bathroom is..." Luigi stammered nervously.  I'm acting way too nervous... C'mon Luigi, just calm down... He's gonna see how panicky I am and realize that I'm a fake!

Ace frowned in frustration.  That's the best he could come up with!  He's going to blow our cover for sure!

Chief Guy stroked his chin.  None of my men act this cowardly.  "Yes, well... Oh, a bug just crawled into your mask.  That was a pretty big spider.  Or was it a cockroach?  Maybe it was just a centipede..."

Luigi yelped out in terror and threw his mask to the ground.  He ripped his disguise off and stomped on his mask repeatedly before kicking the shards into the pool of lava nearby.  Screaming all the while, he frantically brushed every inch of his face, hair, and overalls in order to ensure that the creep crawler was no more.

Maybe I would have been better off disguising Luke after all... Ace thought, hanging his head in shame.

"I'm sorry, it was just my imagination," Chief Guy apologized in a sarcastic tone.  "You wanted to know where the bathroom is, correct?"

"Never mind," Luigi grumbled, realizing that he had tore his disguise off.  "Just stop tormenting the Yoshi that live here or I'll have to force you to leave."

"Really?  What makes you think that your combat skills are any better than your acting abilities?" Chief Guy retorted.

Just then, Ace emerged from the shadows and tossed a card at the leader of the Shy Guys.  Chief Guy scurried out of the way, and the card instantly exploded the moment it touched to ground.  Luke revealed himself as well, and the three heroes began to surround Chief Guy.  The chief turned around and scurried into a nearby room that remained unexplored by Luigi and the others.

"What do you think he's hiding in there?" Ace inquired curiously.

Luigi shrugged.  "Maybe that's where this 'Mountain Spirit' is living.  Whatever it is, there's only one way to find out.  Let's go after him."

Ace stopped him.  "Wait a second!  I'm detecting extremely high temperatures from all passageways beyond this point.  Our skin would melt right off of our bones.  I don't know how Chief Guy is able to survive there, but we can't go after him."

"That's because of this clothing I found!" Chief Guy cackled as he emerged from the cave, riding on top of an enormous serpent-like creature.  It had the body of a snake, and it was as red as the lava inside the deepest caverns of Mt. Lavalava.  "These overalls are a Hero's Garb from long ago.  They were given to me by a man who wielded a pistol and had deep, emerald eyes.  They're called the Firebrand Overalls, and they allow the wearer to survive in extremely hot conditions.  The user cannot be affected by any sort of heat, including those Fireballs that you plumbers love to throw!"

Fighting Spirit

"So, Hunter orchestrated this entire thing, huh?" Mario's voice echoed from nearby.  He emerged with his son, Mark, and walked up to Chief Guy.  "Hunter gave you the Firebrand Overalls and allowed you to start wreaking havoc here, giving us a reason to come to this island.  He told Slade where to find me, so that he'd knock Mark into the sea during our battle, and he knew I'd dive in after him.  He asked the Star Rod to make it so that I washed up on an uncharted island, where we could battle while you kept my friends busy here.  It was all thought out perfectly.  It's too bad that Hunter doesn't have any use for your distraction, now that he's dead."

"You think this'll be an easy win for you?  With the Firebrand Overalls, I was able to search deep within Mt. Lavalava's caverns, where I found this enormous fire demon.  Its name is Dragoon, and he can easily cause a volcanic eruption if he gets angry enough," Chief Guy explained.  "Whenever I wanted to cause an eruption to intimidate the locals, all I had to do was smack Dragoon a couple of times.  How do you think you'll fair against such a serpent?"

"Who said that I was going to fight it?" Mario shot back.  "I've been thinking, and I decided that I'd rather let Mark and Luke take the stage.  Luigi and Ace, please stand back.  I want to give Mark and Luke a chance to be the heroes.  It's time they gained some experience."

"But Mario, Dragoon may be too powerful for them to handle!" Ace objected.  "I'd feel much safer if we all teamed up on it and killed it before the villagers' lives are put in jeopardy."

"Don't worry; I know what I'm doing," Mario assured him.  "Let Mark and Luke take care of this.  I know they can handle it."

"I hope you're right," Ace sighed.

Duel of Tears

"Mark, do you really think we're ready to fight that thing?" Luke inquired, staggering backwards in fear.

Mark nodded hesitantly.  "Dad wouldn't let us fight it if he didn't think we could win."

"Crush them!" Chief Guy commanded excitedly. The enormous serpent complied and raised its head into the air.  A few moments later, it slammed its body onto the spot where Mark and Luke had just stood. The brothers nimbly leaped out of the way, and Luke hopped onto Dragoon's back.  He wrestled with Chief Guy for control over the serpent, and the two of them toppled onto the ground.  Meanwhile, Mark leaped into the air and stomped on Dragoon's head, but the serpent's tough skin cushioned the impact.  Mark cried out in agony as Dragoon wrapped its tail around his body and began to squeeze the life out of him.

"Mario!  That monstrosity is going to crush your son!" Ace exclaimed in horror.  "You have to do something!"

Mario's face remained firm and emotionless.  They can handle this.  If I step in now, they'll never learn how to fend for themselves.  I won't always be around to protect them.  They need to see what it's like to battle on the front lines.

Luke finished his scuffle with Chief Guy and rammed into Dragoon with his fists.  He pummeled the mammoth serpent with all of his might, but to no avail.  Luke desperately threw everything he had at Dragoon, frantically trying to rescue his brother.

Chief Guy slowly pulled himself to his feet and grinned.  "Dragoon will never let go of its prey!  Those boys are finished!"

Suddenly, Dragoon let out a deafening cry.  He began thrashing wildly back and forth, ramming into walls and splashing lava everywhere.  Mark escaped from the creature's grasp, his right hand burning red with the power of a Fireball.  He stared at his hand in awe.  "I created a Fireball... without using a Fire Flower...  How is that possible?"

"It looks like they inherited my Fireball technique," Mario observed.  "This should be interesting..."

"Wow, how did you do that?" Luke asked his brother in bewilderment.  "You used a Fireball, just like Daddy does!"

"If you really concentrate, you'll start to feel a burning sensation in your hand.  It's hard to explain, but try to 'release' the fire from your hand.  Our Fireballs won't be as strong or large as the ones Daddy can create, but they'll be enough to take this dragon down!" Mark explained.  "Let's both hit him with a Fireball!  On the count of three..."  The two brothers aimed their open palms at the serpent.  Dragoon, now in control of its rage, charged at Mark and Luke.  "One...  Two...  Three!"

In a flash of red, Mark and Luke released two individual Fireballs that merged together to create an even larger one.  The enlarged Fireball struck Dragoon, and sent him flying into the rock wall.  The entire volcano shook, and it wasn't long before Dragoon was buried in falling boulders.

"Good job, but we need to get out of here!" Mario exclaimed urgently.  "If we don't, we'll end up just like Dragoon!"

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 23: Alliance of Clubbas

Victory

"Mario, you've really outdone yourself," Chief Yoshi thanked him.  "We sent a messenger to call for help, and you took care of the problem before I even noticed that you had arrived.  How can we ever thank you?"

"Actually, I can't take any credit for saving your village," Mario replied.  "Ace came up with the plan to catch Chief Guy by surprise, and Luigi carried out the plan by disguising himself.  And we can't forget that Mark and Luke were the ones that took care of the demon that caused all of those eruptions."

Chief Yoshi nodded.  "You're truly one of a kind.  You even rescued this little trouble maker, even though he was the one controlling Dragoon."

Chief Guy crossed his arms and looked away.  "Hmph.  You didn't have to save me.  Now you'll probably imprison me, and that's worse than dying."

"Nah, just give us the overalls and we'll call it even," Luigi suggested.  "After all, that's all we're really interested in."

"You'd really let me go?" Chief Guy exclaimed, pulling off the Firebrand Overalls and throwing them to the ground.  "You can keep them!"  He scurried off into the jungle, and his fellow Shy Guys followed.

"See?  We ended up getting a Hero's Garb after all," Mario chuckled.  "Even if it was bait to lure you guys away while I fought Hunter, that's not what matters.  But I've been thinking...  Hunter betrayed Velno by giving one of the garbs to an enemy we could easily defeat.  He didn't even care about the consequences; he just wanted to fight with me.  It really makes me wonder: What kind of people are working for Velno, and is he manipulating their desires in order to receive their help?"



Evil Desire

Meanwhile, a lonely Clubba sat by himself in the darkness of Forever Forest.  It was Tubba Blubba, a gargantuan blue Clubba that was at least ten feet tall.  He had bright orange hair and a shell on his back that was covered in spikes.  His face was pressed against a tree, and he was crying hysterically.  "Ever since Mario figured out my weakness, I've gone back to being a target for all the Boos in the forest.  The Invincible Tubba Blubba is no more..."

"I understand your pain, sonny," a voice chuckled from nearby.  "Yer not the only one who's had a runnin-in with that meddling Gonzales."

Tubba stopped crying and turned to face the source of the voice.  "Who are you?"

"Me?  The name's Grubba.  I reckon you've hearda me before?" the voice replied.  A blue Clubba wearing a suit, hat, and sunglasses stepped out of the darkness.  "The fella took away my fame, but not my fortune!  Money makes the world go 'round, and so it wasn't long before I found another way to gain eternal life and invincibility!  I've done some research on you, and I hit the jackpot big time!"

"What are you saying?" Tubba inquired, confused.  "You figured out a way for me to become invincible again?"

"Not just me, but the both of us," Grubba answered.  "Each of us tried our own way of gainin strength, and we each got our butts whooped by Gonzales.  I figured we could combine our methods and work as a team, and I think the results are gonna be diggety-dang DYNAMITE!  Whaddya say?"  He held out his hand.  Hesitantly, Tubba shook it., and an alliance of Clubbas was born.



"What do you mean?!" Luigi thundered, trying to control his rage.  "Explain it to us again, slowly this time.  I'm not mad at you, but try to understand... We went through so much to collect those..."

Kay T.'s cheeks were damp from nonstop crying.  "When you left with your friends to go to Yoshi Island, you left behind a pair of gloves, glasses, and something that looked like the hilt of a katana.  I left the room to help with some of the other patients, and they were gone when I came back!  I heard reports of two men- one in yellow and the other in dark blue- that left the hospital and fled west toward the boundary between Mushroom Fields and Forever Forest."

"It couldn't have been..." Mario mumbled, racking his brain over the thieves' identities.  "Kay T., did anyone by the name of Wario check out of the hospital while I was gone?"

"I'm not sure..." she replied timidly, trying to recall who had checked out that day.  She pulled out a clipboard and flipped a few pages.  Squinting down at her documents, she found the name in fine print.  "Yes, Wario did check out.  Do you think he was the one who stole your belongings?"

"I have a pretty strong feeling it's them," Mario affirmed.  "I'm almost certain that Wario and Waluigi are behind this."

"We came here to drop off your sons and pick up the garbs we left behind.  We didn't need this," Ace grumbled.  "Do we ever get a break?"

Luigi sighed.  "At this point, we don't even have time to complain.  We have to go after them before they get too far!"  He turned to face Mark and Luke.  "I'm sure Velno is gonna open the Nexus Gate any day now, so you two need to stay here just in case.  If we're not around and demons start flooding into Toad Town, it's up to the both of you to handle it."

This is getting way too repetitive, Mario thought.  Hopefully it'll all come to an end before the Nexus Gate opens.



Near the border of Forever Forest, Wario and Waluigi carried the three Hero's Garbs to a shadowy figure.  "We brought what you asked for, now you have to hold up your end of the bargain," Wario demanded in a gruff voice.

The shadowy figure took the Thermo Gloves, Awakening Glasses, and Elemental Hilt.  "Yes... perfect...  Your assistance is no longer required."  He turned and began to walk away.

"Wait a minute!" Waluigi growled, his fists clenched.  "You told us that you'd give us untold riches and heal all of our injuries if we stole Mario's Hero's Garbs.  You've helped us regain our health, but we're still waiting for our money!"

"I'm sorry, did I say that?" the wicked voice inquired.  "I meant that I'd end your game by sending you to the Underwhere!"  Two black holes opened up beneath the Wario Brothers, and they were sucked down into the depths of the Underwhere.  "I now possess three of the six Hero's Garbs.  If Grubba follows the instructions I gave him, the remaining garbs will fall right into my hands. Then, Mario, we will finish our fight."

With the garbs grasped firmly in his grip, he vanished into the depths of Forever Forest.

Just then, Mario, Luigi, and Ace stormed into the very same area.  They were near the entrance to Forever Forest; the sky was still blue, the grass was still short, and there was enough space to move around without bumping into a tree.  If they ventured a few hundred yards further, the grass would grow tall, the sky would become black, and their path would become thick with trees. 

It was from this dark area that two of Mario's old enemies emerged.

Battle of the Clubbas

"How have ya been doin, pard?" Grubba inquired, now in his Macho Grubba state.  He had grown several times his original size, and his skin was now orange.  "Never thought you'd see me like this again, didja?"

"Grubba!  What are you doing here?" Mario challenged, his fists clenched.  "And how can you maintain that form without the Crystal Star?"

"Science is the answer," Grubba replied with a wicked grin.  "As long as you've got money, you can get anythin from anyone in the whole dang world!  Scientists are willin to do anythin for me, just as long as I can pay the bill!  But more importantly, I reckon you've met my new partner before?"

Tubba Blubba stepped out from the shadows nearby.  "Not only that, but I'm invincible again!  You won't be beating me this time, Mario!  We've both regained the power that made us great, and with the ultimate secret of our teamwork, there's no way you can ever hope to defeat us!"

"Defeat you?  We don't have time for a fight," Luigi informed them.  "It'd be a waste of time.  We're looking for the Wario Brothers."

"The Wario Brothers are no longer with us at the moment," Tubba chuckled.  "Your Hero's Garbs have fallen into the hands of someone far more dangerous!"

"Besides, check out these shinin new sneakers!" Grubba exclaimed, gesturing toward a glowing pair of white shoes on his feet.  "A good pal o' mine gave me these; he called them the Olympic Shoes or somethin like that.  With these snazzy new kicks and our teamwork, you chumps are diggety-dang DONE!"

"So, you've got a Hero's Garb?" Mario inquired, gesturing toward Grubba's shoes.  "That changes everything.  Ace, Luigi, let's try to make this quick.  We need to follow the guy who stole our garbs!"

"Gotcha," Ace affirmed with a nod.  He crushed a playing card in his hand, and a blue liquid covered his right arm.  Mario and Luigi stared in awe as Ace's forearm transformed into a cannon.  He aimed and fired a blue energy blast at Tubba, but Grubba zoomed in front of his partner and deflected the blast.

"I see..." Mario observed with a grin.  "Those shoes make you incredibly fast."

Luigi dashed at Grubba, and Ace followed.  "We'll try to keep up with him while you fight Tubba."

Mario sprinted toward Tubba, but he was knocked onto his back by the speedy Grubba before he could attack.  Luigi and Ace simultaneously threw a barrage of punches and kicks at Grubba, but their opponent was far too fast for them.  Ace fired a blast from his arm cannon but cursed to himself as Grubba veered out of the way.  As Grubba dodged the blast, he collided with Luigi's fist.

Of course, Ace thought.  "Luigi positioned himself so that Grubba would run into him if he tried to dodge my attack.  If we work together, we shouldn't have any trouble with this guy's speed." 

Luigi continued to pummel his foe, but Grubba didn't even flinch.  Not showing a single sign of injury, he ended Luigi's assault by swatting him to the ground.  "What's going on?" Ace wondered aloud.  "Luigi just beat the tar out of him, and he didn't take any damage!  How is that possible?"

Meanwhile, Tubba winced in pain for no apparent reason.  Mario gave his opponent a confused look and prepared to strike.  As he stepped forward, Grubba came zooming by once again to intercept him.  What's going on? Mario wondered.  Grubba seems to be more worried about Tubba than himself.  Every time someone prepares to attack Tubba, Grubba uses his Olympic Shoes to defend him.  Why would he go to such lengths for someone else?  I doubt that he cares about Tubba's life.

As Mario faced the allied Clubbas down, Ace shot the unsuspecting Tubba in the back.  But instead of cringing in pain, it was Grubba who seemed to take the damage.  Mario grinned.  "I think I know what's going on."

Tension

"Mario!" Ace exclaimed.  "I'm not sure how, but they seem to have swapped their pain receptors!  In other words, Grubba feels pain whenever Tubba is damaged, and vice versa!"

"So that's why Grubba was so eager to defend Tubba!" Luigi gasped in realization.  "He was just trying to protect himself!"

"That's a rough explanation of our secret," Tubba admitted.  "As you found out in your first encounter with me, Mario, almost all of a Clubba's main functions are linked to his heart- including the ability to feel pain.  Thanks to Grubba's highly paid scientists, we were able to have our hearts surgically switched.  In other words, Grubba's heart is in my body, and my heart is in his.  Our hearts even act as brains, and so each of us controls our own body with our heart, which is safely tucked away in the other's body.  Plus, with the Olympic Shoes, we thought that Grubba would be too fast to be damaged, and thus I would be safe from any injuries.  In turn, Grubba also would use his speed to defend me, thus preventing himself from taking damage.  Pretty ingenious, huh?"

"Ingenious... and terribly confusing..." Mario groaned.

"Actually," Grubba began with an arrogant grin.  "That's merely what I led Tubba to believe.  Listen closely to what I'm about to say, because it can get quite tedious for the simple-minded.  The scientist that switched our hearts made slight modifications to each at my request.  On Tubba's heart, which is now in my body, I requested a bomb to be implanted.  At the same time, the scientist gave my heart, which is now in Tubba's body, the ability to change the body that it controls.  To put it simply, I can detonate Tubba's heart and obliterate my own body.  Without Tubba's heart in existence to control his body, my heart can switch from controlling my own body to controlling Tubba's."

"So basically, your heart would be in control of Tubba's body.  What would that accomplish?!" Mario snapped, the fastest one among the group to comprehend what Grubba had explained. 

"Watch, and find out!" Grubba exclaimed, pulling out a remote control and pressing an assortment of colorful buttons.

Grubba's Master Plan

"No!  You wouldn't!" Tubba exclaimed fearfully.  "We were a team!"

Grubba shook his head emphatically.  "That's how the world works, pard.  Ya can't trust no one.  See ya on the inside."  With that, Grubba burst into flames, eradicating Grubba's body and Tubba's heart.  Tubba, now silent and brainless, looked straight ahead with a blank stare.  Grubba's heart, which was in Tubba's body, activated its 'secret function' and took control.  Tubba's body came to life once again; this time, with Grubba in control.

"As you can see, I now have the body of Tubba and the heart of Grubba," Tubba explained with Grubba's voice.  "As you are aware, a Clubba will only feel pain if his own heart takes damage, whether the heart is inside of his body or out.  While my heart may be controlling Tubba's body, it isn't Tubba's original heart.  Therefore, with me controlling a body that has no heart to feel pain with, I am immortal!  The invincible 'Trubba' has been born!"  He raced over to the spot where Grubba had exploded, and grabbed the Olympic Shoes from his remains.  Strapping them onto his feet, Trubba was now ready for battle.

Luigi staggered backward, quivering in fear.  "Is he really invincible?"

Trubba raised his arm, and a spiked mace materialized in his hand.  "Let's see...  I'm unbelievably fast, wield a giant mace, and can't feel pain.  Does that answer your question, or do you need a visual demonstration?"

In the blink of an eye, Trubba was behind Mario and had already swung his mace.  Mario, caught entirely off guard, could do nothing as he was struck on the head and knocked out cold.  He collapsed face-first onto the ground.

Mario may be strong, but he's still a human!  No one could remain conscious after being struck like that! Ace thought, his mind racing.  "How are we supposed to stop someone with such incredible strength, speed, and defense?"

Luigi rushed to his brother's aid, but Trubba swung his mace once again.  Luigi swerved out of the way, but Trubba quickly took another swing.  This time, it connected.  Luigi tumbled backward, bleeding and unconscious.

Ace clutched his deck of cards, ready to defend himself.

"Don't you get it?!  I've become immortal!" Trubba sneered, two of his opponents already out of the battle.

Glaive's Theme

"So, you're immortal, huh?" a familiar voice echoed from nearby.  "That's too bad.  You'll soon wish for death to end the misery I'm about to put you through."  Glaive leapt from the treetops nearby and landed beside his allies.  "It's nice to see that Mario's alive and well, even if he's unconscious at the moment."

"Thanks for stopping by," Ace replied with a grin.  "How'd you find us?"

"I was training nearby, and I ran into this annoying freak."  He dropped Bowyer's bloody corpse beside his allies.  "I tortured him a bit, and he divulged all the information I needed.  It turns out that he met with Slade earlier, and gave him the Olympic Shoes.  In exchange, Slade agreed to kill Mario.  From there, Slade gave the shoes to Grubba, no doubt manipulating him in some sort of complex scheme.  Bowyer proceeded to explain how Grubba and Tubba would become the invincible 'Trubba' with their heart modifications.  So I killed him and decided to come here and see if you guys needed a hand."

"Well, we're going to need a pretty solid strategy if we want to take this guy down," Ace informed him.  "We haven't had much luck so far."

"I'll just have to see if Trubba is worthy of being called invincible."  He drew his sword and dashed at Trubba.  Without meeting any resistance, Glaive sprinted up to his target and slashed his blade across Trubba's chest.  Glaive stared at the area of Trubba's skin that his sword had made contact with.  There wasn't even a scratch.

"A Clubba's skin is far too thick to be cut with such a feeble blade!" Trubba cackled arrogantly.  He swung his mace at Glaive, who was too close to move out of the way.  Ace cringed at the sickening crack that erupted from Glaive's body as he tumbled onto the ground, clutching his arm.  Glaive sheathed his sword and used the trunk of a tree to support him as he attempted to stand up.

"Does that answer your question?" Ace inquired with a desperate grin.  "You said that you've been doing some training.  How has that been coming along?"

Glaive shook his head.  "I'm not quite done yet.  My training won't do any good until it's fully complete.  However...  There is still something I can do."  He drew his sword.  "Ace, how long do you think you could hold Trubba off in a one-on-one match?"

"With that enormous spiked mace and his inability to feel pain, I'd say about two minutes.  He can constantly attack with brute strength and not worry about defense, which makes him a very dangerous opponent.  Not to mention he's incredibly fast with those Olympic shoes of his."

Glaive nodded.  "It's difficult to fight someone who has no fear of dying.  Very well; two minutes will do just fine.  If I could scorch him with my flames, I'm sure I could do some damage.  The only problem is, my armor seals my flame powers away.  Since I can't remove my armor, I have to slowly draw my flames out and channel them into my sword.  It'll take some time, but it's all that we have left."

Ace pulled out a stack of cards from his deck and charged at Trubba, his eyes gleaming with determination.  Trubba's mace swung downward at him, but the demon swiftly sidestepped the weapon.  Trubba grunted angrily as his mace slammed into the ground, and Ace quickly placed his foot on it to ensure that it remained wedged in the dirt.  Trubba struggled to raise his weapon, but Ace's foot remained planted on top of it.  Ace raised his stack of cards and stared into Trubba's eyes.

"I know I may not be the strongest person in this group of heroes, and maybe I do rely on these cards a bit too much.  But one thing's for sure: if you get hit from all sides with these explosive cards, it's gonna hurt like hell." 

"Don't do it!  You'll be caught in the explosion as well!" Trubba pleaded, unsure if the explosion would cause harm to his body.

Ace tossed his cards onto the ground, and they formed a perfect circle around the two of them.  Ace held one final card in his hand, which he dropped in the exact center of the circle.  In a fiery explosion, each of the cards detonated.  Smoke blurred Glaive's vision as he tried to see who had survived the blast.  As the haze cleared, he saw Ace tumble onto his back, covered in ashes.  Trubba stood beside him, his body slightly damaged.

Glaive grinned as his sword was surrounded with a dark flame.  "Just as I suspected.  Trubba, you've made a grave miscalculation.  There's a vast difference between immortality and the inability to feel pain.  If you are an immortal, you can never die.  Your life will go on forever, no matter what damage your body may sustain.  If one simply cannot feel pain, like in your case, that's an entirely different story.

"You've simply removed your ability to feel pain.  This means nothing.  Your body is still taking damage; you just don't know it.  Pain is a warning that tells you when there's something wrong with your body that needs to be fixed.  Pain reminds you of your limits as a mortal.  The ability to feel pain is crucial to a warrior's survival.  You've blinded yourself; you don't know if you have a broken leg, or if you're about to bleed to death.  You have no idea what condition you're in, and you don't know how much longer you can fight until you die."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Trubba insisted, angrily stomping the ground.  "You just can't admit defeat!"

"We'll see about that," Glaive muttered as he launched a widespread flame from his sword.  Trubba was completely consumed by the flames, which scorched any nearby bush or tree.  The entire area was now brown and lifeless.

Trubba stepped out of the inferno with a wicked smile.  "See?  I didn't feel anything!"  He attempted to raise his mace, but couldn't.  "Hold on a second...  Why can't I lift my weapon...?  Why do I feel so drowsy...?  Why can't I move...?"

Glaive victoriously sheathed his sword.  "While you couldn't feel the pain of being scalded by my flames, your body still reacted to the increase in temperature.  When your body starts to overheat, the results can be deadly.  Like I said before, pain isn't the cause of death.  Pain helps prevent death by warning you when something's wrong with your body.  Of course, you would've been killed by my flames even if you could feel pain."

"Curses... Slade lied... to me..." Trubba murmured angrily as he collapsed onto the ground.

"That reminds me: Where is Slade?" Glaive demanded, pointing his flaming sword at the helpless Clubba.

"Went to... Dry... Desert... look for... garb..." Trubba moaned before slipping into unconsciousness.

"Well, there you have it," Glaive snickered as he helped Ace to his feet.  He walked up to the unconscious Trubba, removed the Olympic Shoes, and handed them to Ace. "That should be all the information you need.  I'd love to go to the desert with you guys, but I have to finish my training before the final battle with Velno.  Tell Mario that I'm glad to see him in good health.  I'll see you guys later."  With that, he vanished into the depths of Forever Forest.

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 24: Tears and Blood

Legend of the Greedy King

"It is said that long ago, in Dry Dry Desert, a greedy king held the entire kingdom within his evil grasp.  He enslaved the kingdom's inhabitants, forcing them to build meaningless structures and pyramids in his honor.  Those that he did not enslave were enrolled in his army, which he used to wage war against King Toadstool II.  Many lives were lost, and the greedy king's empire steadily grew.  It wasn't long before he had overthrown King Toadstool, and made the Mushroom Kingdom his own.

"As time passed, the wretched king became more intoxicated by his power.  He began to pass laws that required rituals and sacrifices to be held in his honor.  In his mind, he was gradually transforming from a king into a god.  However, the gods of the Overthere and Mt. Olympus were displeased with the man who claimed to be a god.  Soon, tragedy and misfortune were all that awaited this king.  The man was told of a treasure that was buried deep beneath the desert, its passage marked by an Egyptian Horus.  This treasure contained the abilities of a legendary man, and was extremely powerful and valuable.   However, if one without the willingness to see and hear the truth tried to enter this passage and claim the treasure, an eternity of suffering awaited him.

"Refusing to heed the warnings, the greedy king hunted the passage's entrance down.  He stormed into the room that contained the treasure, but only found an endless abyss that pulled him down into everlasting darkness.  The king was never heard from again, and the Mushroom Kingdom returned to normal over time."

Dry Dry Desert

"Well?  Pretty scary stuff, huh?" the Bandit inquired, grinning at Luigi's reaction to his tale.  "It's an old legend that's spoken of in Dry Dry Outpost.  I hear elders whispering about it all the time."  With that, the Bandit scuttled away into the blue and gold horizon.

"Well that was useless," Mario grumbled.  "Maybe paying the Bandits of Dry Dry Desert in exchange for information wasn't the best idea."

"Not necessarily," Ace mused.  "That treasure sounded like it could've been a Hero's Garb.  He did say it 'contained the abilities of a legendary man.'  Though, there was another part about the willingness to see and hear the truth...  Luigi, what do you think?"

Luigi remained silent, quivering feverishly with his cap pulled over his eyes.  "H-H-How am-m-m-m I s-s-supposed to s-s-s-sleep tonight after hearing t-t-t-that...?"

Ace frowned.  "We probably won't be sleeping tonight anyway.  There's a fowl stench in the air, and I think it's because the Nexus Gate is almost open.  Slowly, but surely, the scent of the Nightmare Vault is pouring into this world.  And if I remember correctly, there are six Hero's Garbs in all.  I don't think we have much time left, so we should dedicate ourselves to finding the final Hero's Garb before the day is over."

"What do you mean by 'final' Hero's Garb?" Mario asked grumpily.  "All of our garbs were stolen, and we've only managed to find the Olympic Shoes and Firebrand Overalls since then.  Someone else has the Thermo Gloves, Awakening Glasses, and Elemental Hilt."

Ace scratched his head.  "From the way Tubba and Grubba were talking, I'd say that Slade is the one who stole our Hero's Garbs.  They told us specifically that the Wario Brothers no longer had the Hero's Garbs, and they also made it seem like Slade was giving them orders.  Bowyer, Grubba, and Tubba are all out of the picture, and so the only one left out of their little 'chain' is Slade.  Not to mention Trubba told us that Slade came to the desert to look for a Hero's Garb."

Mario nodded.  "So what you're getting at is the fact that Slade is collecting the Hero's Garbs.  He stole ours, and he's looking for more here in Dry Dry Desert.  So if we look for this hypothetical Hero's Garb from that Bandit's story, chances are Slade has also heard about the legend and will be looking for it as well.  If that's the case, we may end up finding a new one and bump into Slade along the way.  If we can beat him and reclaim those garbs, in addition to finding the last one that's hidden in the desert, we'll have all six!"

"Err... I was just going to suggest that," Luigi muttered sheepishly.

"We might as well start looking," Ace suggested.  "At the very least, we might bump into Slade."

"Keep an eye out for an Egyptian Horus," Mario reminded them.  "According to the legend, the passage will be marked with-"

"So... What does an Egyptian Horus look like again?" Luigi inquired nervously.  "Ace, care to explain?"

Ace shrugged.  "I'm not from this world.  I don't know a thing about Egypt."

Mario rolled his eyes and began to draw in the sand with his finger.  "To be more specific, it's the Eye of Horus.  It looks like an eye with a line here and another curvy line there.  See?"  He gestured toward his drawing in the sand, which looked something like this:



"Look out for this shape," Mario instructed them.  "You should've paid more attention in high school, Bro."

With that, they began their search.  The sun was beating down on them, and most of the desert looked the same, making it hard to remember which areas had been searched.  Moreover, while they knew that they were looking for the Eye of Horus, they didn't know how it would be presented to them.  It could have been inscribed in the sand, or written on a pedestal, or engraved in stone.  At last, they found what they were looking for.  The symbol had been inscribed on a flat bed of rock partially covered in sand.

"So, this is supposed to lead us to the treasure?" Mario wondered.  "How does it work?"

"Maybe it's an elevator that leads to an underground passage," Luigi suggested.  The three of them stepped on top of the stone, and the Egyptian Horus began to glow.  "What's going on?"  A purple light began to shine from the stone.  In a puff of dark smoke, Mario, Luigi, and Ace had vanished.



Mario clutched his head as his eyes slowly opened.  He looked around and saw nothing but a valley of green illuminated by a deep purple sky.  The ground was rugged and stained with blood.  He quickly leapt to his feet.  "This looks like... the Underwhere!"  He whirled around and saw Ace, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi trapped inside of enormous globs of purple liquid, each of them struggling to break free.  Standing beside them was Slade, with all of Mario's Hero's Garbs in his hands.

Mario struggled to understand what had just happened.  "Okay, we stepped onto that stone.  I remember blacking out, and then waking up here, and then seeing that Slade has all of our Hero's Garbs!  What's going on?!"

Slade's Theme

"Isn't it obvious?" Slade sneered, drawing his Nightmare Blade.  "During your adventure on Yoshi Island, Velno decided to ask Bowyer to hire me again.  He gave me the Olympic Shoes as payment for my services.  Instead of attacking you, I decided that the stakes for our battle would be much higher.  I gave the Olympic Shoes to Grubba and tempted the Wario Brothers into stealing all of your Hero's Garbs while you were away.  It was around the same time that I heard the desert rumor- and I instantly knew that the legend was referring to a Hero's Garb.

"Naturally, I decided to investigate.  It wasn't long before I was able to decipher the meaning of the legend.  'However, if one without the willingness to see and hear the truth tried to enter this passage and claim the treasure, an eternity of suffering awaited him.'  In other words, the Hero's Garb is located in the Underwhere, and allows you to 'see and hear the truth' by letting you use telepathy to read peoples' mind.  If this ability doesn't bring you satisfaction, you'll be trapped in the Underwhere for an eternity without anything else to bring you enjoyment.

"When I learned the truth, I instantly hatched a plan for our final duel.  I had managed to steal three of your Hero's Garbs, and I had located a fourth.  First off, I disposed of the Wario Brothers by sending them here.  Then, I decided to tell Grubba about my plans to investigate Dry Dry Desert- a lie, as I had already located the garb in the desert.  As I had planned, you defeated Grubba, who then told you that I'd be in the desert.  With his Olympic Shoes plus the Firebrand Overalls from Yoshi Island, you possessed the two remaining garbs that I had not collected.

"I allowed you to learn about the desert legend so that you'd search for the 'passage', expecting to find a hidden Hero's Garb at the end.  Instead, you are now discovering that I got to the garb here before you.  During your slumber, I managed to steal the last two garbs from your pockets.  Now that I am in possession of all six Hero's Garbs, we can let the final battle between us begin!  Now I can show you how meaningless your heroic ideals are by using the garbs of an ancient hero to destroy you!"

Mario angrily clenched his fists.  "You're insane!  Hunter, Velno; all of you are insane!  Why have they been going to such great lengths just to fight with me?!"

"You could never understand," Slade hissed.  "The Demonic Trials are beyond your comprehension.  You're just a pawn in an enormous scheme that you can't even begin to fathom.  I used to be like you.  Stop asking questions, stop being observant, and move on with your life.  The more you learn about the truth, the more miserable your life becomes."

Mario grinned.  "Looks like I'm gonna have to beat some sense into you again.  Alright, then.  You didn't lure me all the way here just to talk about philosophy.  I've been waiting for an uninterrupted rematch with you."

Slade vs. Mario

"The world isn't as black and white as you think!  Heroes can turn against each other!  The fact that I'm using these Hero's Garbs against you is proof!" Slade exclaimed as he prepared to do battle with Mario.  Using the speed of his Olympic Shoes, he was behind Mario in an instant.  He swung his sword at the plumber, who sidestepped the swing and threw a Flaming Punch that connected with Slade's upper torso.

"The Firebrand Overalls keep me safe from any kind of heat, or did you forget?" Slade taunted, using the Telepathy Cap to see into Mario's mind.  "You forgot, didn't you?  Now you're starting to wonder if you can defeat me when I have the power of all six Hero's Garbs.  Allow me to answer that question!"  He pulled out the Elemental Hilt and created a second sword.  With the Nightmare Blade and a Flaming Sword, he began to strike at Mario twice as fast.

Mario performed several back-flips to put some distance between him and Slade.  "My Fireballs are useless, so I'll just have to try something else."  He gathered energy for an Iceball in one hand and a Thunderball in another.  His hands glowing with Elemental Energy, he sprinted toward his foe.  Slade's Awakening Glasses began to glow and a mammoth pillar of stone shot up from the ground and obstructed Mario's path.  Slade zoomed around the pillar and slashed at Mario with his twin blades.  With his left hand, Mario fired an enormous Iceball that froze Slade in place.  With his right hand, he unleashed a gargantuan Thunderball that struck the helpless Slade with unbelievable force.

This battle...  It's like they're expressing their conflicting beliefs as they fight... Ace muttered, still trapped in the strange goo.

Slade recovered from the blow and his Awakening Glasses started to glow once again.  The pillar that stood beside Mario instantly toppled over in Mario's direction.  The plumber leapt out of the way, only to be struck by the speedy Slade in midair.  Slade stabbed him through the lower chest with his Nightmare Blade, pinning him to the fallen pillar.

Mario's Agony

"Now do you understand?!" Slade inquired, pushing his blade deeper into Mario's chest.  "Your foolish ideals sicken me.  Up until now, you've merely been advancing by pure luck.  Your battle with Lord Shade, your victories against the demons that you've been facing for the past few days, it's all been senseless luck.  Heroics, teamwork, and loyalty- all of these words are meaningless.  In fact, it's because of your beliefs that you are here now, dying in this wretched place.  You could have killed me long ago, but you chose to let me live.  Now I'm going to cut down you and your beliefs, inch by inch."

Mario grabbed the blade that had pierced his chest, blood trickling from his mouth.  "You're right about one thing, Slade...  It's because of my beliefs that I'm here right now!  If I didn't believe in teamwork... if I didn't surround myself with friends that I can trust... I would have died long ago!  My victories haven't been just blind luck!  It was because of my friends that I was able to live through all of the horrors I've experienced...  I may have suffered, but my allies were there to accept part of the burden, and I couldn't have survived without them!"

Slade watched in astonishment as Mario winced in pain, slowly pulling the blade from his chest. Blood still trickling from his gash, Mario coughed up a mouthful of blood and took a battle stance.  "Mario... The more you talk about such meaningless things, the more my blood starts to boil!"

"I don't understand what's wrong with you..." Mario muttered, struggling just to stay on his feet.  "I don't understand you, Slade."

Flashback

"Perhaps it's time I enlightened you, then," Slade replied icily.  "They say a child grows up based on the example his parents set for him.  Looking back, I can certainly testify to that:

"The very first memory I have... is one of my parents arguing about how to get rid of me...  They despised me with all of their hearts.  I never understood why they decided to have a child.  Neither of them wanted to do the work that was required to raise a child.  Moreover, neither of them had the capacity in their hearts to give me what a child needs the most- love.  They were incapable of such trivial emotions.  Before long, I was abandoned.  I remember being brought into a dark forest, where I was left to die.

"The next thing I remember is the smell of the Nightmare Vault.  Somehow, during my stay in that dark forest, I had been found by demons and brought back into the Nightmare Vault.  Ordinarily, a child would never be able to survive in a place as cold and evil as the Nightmare Vault.  Surprisingly enough, I survived with ease.  It was my hatred that kept me alive.  The more I grew, the more I started to hate humans.

"Growing up in a world that was constantly at war had its benefits.  I was raised to be a ruthless demon warrior.  I started to earn a decent reputation, and soon became known to many demons as 'Nightmare'.  In my teenage years, I soon learned that my hatred for humans was shared by a cult of demons that followed the Phoenix.  I was eager to support them, and instantly joined their ranks.  I slaughtered many members of the Demon Resistance in those years, and it all eventually paid off, or so I thought.  It was finally time for the demons under the Phoenix rule to gather and break into the Nexus, where we could escape into the world of the humans and have our revenge.

"I had decided long ago that my goal in life was to find my parents and end their miserable lives.  At last, my dream would be realized.  Unfortunately, the Demon Resistance had been expecting us.  Their army was waiting for us at the Nexus Gate.  They slaughtered hundreds of us.  I was one of the ones lucky enough to make it through.  However, I soon realized how difficult my dreams would be to fulfill.  My parents could be anywhere.  It could take years to find them, only to kill them and experience just a moment of pleasure.

"Instead, I decided to seek vengeance by bringing about the destruction of mankind.  On that day, I vowed to find a way to set my fellow demons free, so that they could eradicate every single human in this entire world.  I searched for years, and for a time I thought I had reached a dead end.  That's when I met Metal Mario.  He explained what he was trying to do, and I agreed to help him.  If his plan succeeded, the demons of the Nightmare Vault would be free to wreak havoc on this world!

"Now do you understand my hatred?  Can you question the fact that the human race needs to be exterminated?  Killing you will assist Velno's plan to exterminate the human race, and that's why it must be done!"

"As I suspected," Mario replied with a wry grin.  "I knew you weren't a demon.  Most of the time, you conceal your true feelings pretty well.  But there have been a few times that I've looked into your eyes... and I've seen the eyes of a human begging for help..."

"Shut up!" Slade spat in disgust.  "It's time to end this."  He raised the Nightmare Blade.  "Did you know that a new power is given to someone who has all six Hero's Garbs in their possession?  It's called the Hero Burst, and it fires an enormous beam of light that demolishes everything in its path.  It'll be a fitting way for you to meet your end."  All six of his Hero's Garbs started to glow, and the Nightmare Blade began to flash every color of the rainbow.  With a cry of hatred, he swung his blade in Mario's direction, launching a gargantuan beam of energy directly at the plumber.

A Pledge for Victory

"Slade, your hatred is based on the actions of two human beings!  I can't allow you to take out your frustration on the millions of innocent people in the world!" Mario screamed, using an Iceball to create a circle of ice that shielded him from the blast.  He slowly stepped forward, using all of his might to push against the weight of the immensely powerful Hero Burst.  "Slade, I understand that there are many humans in this world that are brimming with evil.  I can understand your pain.  However, there are also thousands of good people in the world that band together to resist those with evil in their hearts."

"Shut up!" Slade shrieked.  "You don't know what you're talking about!  Each and every human deserves to die!"

"There was a time that I fit under the category of humans that you hate!" Mario continued, ignoring Slade.  "I finally realized that many people were evil, but instead of trying to kill everyone, like you, I decided to try and protect the good from the bad!  That's the reason I became the Mushroom Hero!  I made a pledge to myself that I'd protect this kingdom from any and all evil, including you!"  He charged up a colossal Thunderball in his hand and blasted it through the center of the Hero Burst.  The beam of light slowly vanished as Mario's Thunderball struck Slade, electrifying him and sending him crashing into a nearby wall.

Unbearable Suffering

"Why... why didn't I see it... before...?" Slade asked himself, tears streaming down his cheeks.  His eyelids slowly shut, and he fell unconscious.

The goo that trapped Luigi, Ace, and the Wario Brothers vanished.  Mario remained silent as he picked Slade up and threw him over his right shoulder.  "We should go see Queen Jaydes.  She should be able to bring us back to the Mushroom Kingdom.  As for Slade, we can get him medical treatment.  He isn't evil, just misguided.  In fact, he's the second person whose feelings may have been manipulated by Metal Mario and Velno.  Velno is leading people into battle by controlling their emotions.  I can't let him go on with it any longer.  We're going to Mushroom Castle."

"That's right!  We finally got all of the Hero's Garbs!" Luigi cheered.

"Let's just hope we make it in time," Ace murmured.

"About the Hero's Garbs..." Wario began, feeling guilty. 

Mario shook his head.  "Don't worry about it.  We have all of the garbs now, and that's all that matters to me."

Mario, Luigi, Ace, and the Wario Brothers remained silent the rest of the walk to Jaydes.  When they finally arrived, Jaydes seemed to be flustered.  "Oh, hello Mario.  I certainly hope your game isn't over again."

"No," Mario replied quickly.  "We need to get back to the Mushroom Kingdom.  You must be pretty busy, but we'd appreciate your help."

Jaydes nodded.  "We've been preparing for the many deaths that would result if the demons were allowed into the Mushroom Kingdom.  You're doing your best to stop it from happening, so I won't impede your progress."  With a snap of her fingers, the five heroes vanished in a flash of white light.

As they traveled between dimensions, floating in an abyss of white, Mario heard a strange voice echoing inside of his head.  Mario, I know what you've been thinking.  Now that you've collected all of my garbs, you are starting to wonder if the conflict between the Olympians and the Demons is truly black and white.  Let me answer your questions by saying that the world has done some terrible things in order to maintain peace.  All is not as it seems, and you will one day face against many of your own kind...

There's still so much I don't know about the rivalry between Demons and Olympians... or the civil war in the Nightmare Vault... or even the war that's going on inside of my own soul... Mario's eyes opened, and he found himself back in Toad Town.  "What was that all about?"

Ace's Theme 

"So, we're finally at the end," Ace observed. "We have all six Hero's Garbs, and we're only a short walk away from Mushroom Castle.  It's time for the final infiltration."

Mario looked around.  "Looks like this place hasn't become a demon playground yet.  It's good to know we still have some time.  Wario, Waluigi, I'd like you two to take Slade and meet my sons at the hospital.  Make sure Slade is treated properly, and you can team up with my sons to protect this town if we can't stop Velno in time.  We're counting on you."

Wario nodded.  "You'd better not lose.  If my secret stash of gold gets trashed by demons, you're gonna pay me back, got it?"

Mario grinned.  "Man, you haven't changed a bit...  Anyway, Luigi, Ace, and I will-" He looked around.  "Where's Luigi?"  The four of them spun around in a full circle.  Luigi was nowhere to be found.  "Maybe... Queen Jaydes accidentally teleported him somewhere else?"

"In that case, he'll catch up eventually," Ace deduced.  "We can't afford to waste time waiting for him.  The same goes for Glaive."

"Before we go, I think I'll pick up some Max Mushrooms at the shop.  I should have just enough coins to buy two: one to bring me back to full strength, and one for later."



Velno grinned wickedly from ear to ear.

"By the way, Velno, Luigi would make excellent bait for Mario in the future.  You might want to equip him with this."  Crimson pulled out a coin-sized device and tossed it to Velno.  "This is a special GPS unit that will allow you to track Luigi's location.  It also enables you to capture him at almost any time.  If you want to give Mario a little 'motivation' in the future, it'd be perfect for the job."

"Crimson, you're a genius."

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 25: Final Infiltration

Flashback

A tear ran down Glaive's left cheek as he dreamt of the past, leaning softly against the base of a tree.  He was quivering at the impact of the sickening tragedy that he faced as a teen:

"It's been three months since I first saw him," Glaive muttered, still marveling at the memory of his idol slicing the Phoenix soldier to pieces.  He sat beside Sara next to the fireplace in her house.  The room was silent except for the crackling of the fire.  It was too dangerous outside to go to their usual spot, so they had managed to make themselves comfortable elsewhere.  "What do you think, Sara?  Will I ever be as good as him?"

"Of course," she replied cheerfully.  "One day, you'll be even better than he was.  You'll find a way to lift the curse on our realm, and you'll end this war once and for all.  I just know you will, Glaive."

The two of them gazed into each other's eyes, and a tear slowly dripped down Glaive's cheek.  "This war- I swear I'll protect you to the very end," he promised.

That one promise would eventually be my downfall.

They sat for hours, waiting for someone to pick them up.  Earlier that same day, a warning had been sent to Glaive's village- Phoenix soldiers would soon arrive.  Glaive and Sara sat alone for hours, hidden in what appeared to be a dark, abandoned home.  Their hearts beating furiously, the two of them waited in sickening angst for something to happen.  Their fates were divided among two simple paths: either they would be killed by Phoenix soldiers, or their lives would be spared by pure luck.

As fate would have it, a trio of Phoenix soldiers stormed into the room at nightfall.  Without a single word, they surrounded Glaive and Sara.  One of them lunged at Sara with a tall dagger, but Glaive swiftly pushed her out of the way.  The blade sank into his upper chest, and the other warriors quickly ganged up on him.

"Glaive!  No!  Please, stop!" she pleaded.  When the soldiers were finished, Glaive was laying face-up in a pool of blood.  His body was covered with lethal gashes and bruises.  Helpless, Glaive looked up; his eyes met a pair of cold, red ones. 

The leader of the soldiers grinned wickedly and sneered, "Resistance scum.  Why would a trivial stream attempt to go against the flow of the ocean?  Why bother to fight the Phoenix?  The Nightmare Vault will always hate the Olympians.  Settling our differences without violence won't solve anything."

His soldiers turned to Sara.  Glaive furiously attempted to get up, but his body wouldn't budge.

Sara slowly backed into a corner, surrounded by the bloodthirsty mercenaries.  "Leave Glaive alone..."

That was the last time she said my name...

Glaive tried to reassure himself of Sara's safety.  "He'll be here..." he whispered.  "He saved us once, and he'll come again...  He has to..."  But his hero never arrived. 

A shriek echoed through the room.

"Damn it... I can't let them take away everything...  The only person I've had... ever since I was a child... was Sara...  They can't just... take her away..."  His intense emotions gave him a rush of adrenaline, and he was finally able to stand up.  Just as he did so, his eyes widened in fear, anguish, and sadness.  Blood stained the cold stone floor. 

Sara was dead. 

His resolve shattered to pieces, and fell to his knees.  "Sara..."

"Remember my name well.  I am Stolas, and one day, I'll stand above all other demons.  In this war, I may be fighting alongside the Phoenix, but only for my own purposes.  I don't care who wins this darned war, as long as I come out on top in the end."

Glaive collapsed onto the floor in a pool of blood. 

Stolas...  I remember now...



"Glaive, eat your breakfast," his mother urged him.  "We're lucky to have that food.  The war is quickly draining us of our supplies."

"This breakfast is crap!" Glaive cried angrily, tossing his meal to the floor.  "I hate this darned nation!  I hate the Demon Resistance!  If they're so great, why couldn't they protect Sara?!  They're just the minority, trying to fight against a larger and more powerful force!  Are the Olympians, the humans, the 'Creatures of Light', really worth all of this trouble?!  Why don't we just give in to the Phoenix?!  All we've accomplished by resisting is the sacrifice of thousands of our own kind!"

"Glaive!  Clean that up this instant!" his father scolded him.  "You're acting like a child!  What's gotten into you?  Has one person really played such a major role in your life?  Has this 'Sara' been filling your head with these terrible thoughts!  You're lucky to be alive, as are all of us!  Taking life is wrong, and so we have to fight the Phoenix for the sake of the ones who live outside of the Nightmare Vault."

Glaive marched up to a shrine at the north end of the dining room, where a sword was wedged in a golden pedestal on the wall.  He tore the blade from the wall and angrily stormed out of the house.  "Fools, all of them!  I don't want any part of the Demon Resistance!  I work alone, and I'll avenge Sara on my own!"  He strapped the sword to his waist, and wasted no time in venturing toward one of the Phoenix's main bases.

It's unfortunate that I chose the worst possible place to attack.  My worst nightmares would soon be relived.

Glaive's eyes quickly opened.  He jumped to his feet and drew his sword.  "Oh... it was only a dream..."  He sheathed his sword and gazed at the night sky.  "My training is complete.  At last, the time has come for the final showdown in Mushroom Castle.  Sara... please watch over us..."



"So, do you even know what to do now that we have all six of the Hero's Garbs?" Ace inquired, standing beside Mario at the gates of Mushroom Castle.  Surrounding the castle's perimeter like an enormous blue dome, the barrier created by the Star Rod stood firmly in place.

Mario finished chewing on his Max Mushroom and gulped it down.  He pocketed his other Max Mushroom, saving it for later.  "I dunno.   Maybe if I put all the garbs on..."  He put the Firebrand Overalls on over his normal clothes, replaced his normal cap with the Telepathy Cap, replaced his usual gloves with the Thermo Gloves, put on the Olympic Shoes, slipped the Awakening Glasses over his eyes, and held the Elemental Hilt in his hand.  Now fully clothed like the very first Hero, Mario approached the castle's front gate.

All of his Hero's Garbs began to glow with a bright white light.  The barrier surrounding the castle began to grow thinner and weaker until it finally shattered into tiny blue fragments.  Before Mario could react, the Hero's Garbs lost all of their color and became heavy stones.  Mario dropped them all to the ground, and they slowly cracked apart and vanished into thin air.

"It seems as though the garbs and the barrier cancelled each other out," Ace muttered.  "Oh well, it looks like we'll need to rely on our own skills from now on."

Mario nodded.  "Let's go."

Countdown

As the two stepped into the castle, the ground erupted with an earth-shaking rumble.  Ace and Mario staggered backward for a moment before regaining their balance.  "What do you think that was?" Mario inquired nervously.

Ace stared at the ground, unable to admit the grim truth.  "We're running out of time..."

"Don't worry.  We're going to make it.  I won't let the world end," Mario reassured him with clenched fists.

Their conversation was interrupted as Velno's voice echoed through the empty hall.  "This castle has an impressive intercom system!  But I'm sure you're in a hurry, judging by the fact that the Nexus will be open in only two hours!"

"Get to the point!" Mario screamed, waving his fist at the ceiling.

"Forgive me, where are my manners?  Welcome to Mushroom Castle!  I'm sure you know by now that this castle is an enormous labyrinth to anyone other than Princess Peach and the staff who work here.  I believe that I am hidden quite well, and to be frank, I don't think you'll be able to find and defeat me before two hours pass.  That's why I've disclosed my location to your brother, Luigi!  I've given him specific instructions on how to reach me several times, and so I'm sure he's the only one who will be able to find me before your time is up.  Unfortunately for you, I've hidden him in one of the two rear towers of the castle.  Feel free to pick him up, just as long as you can handle the 'security' I left behind."

The transmission ended with a click.  Mario sighed.  "So Velno does have Luigi!  If that's the case, we have to find him immediately!  Velno could be anywhere, and we don't have the time to blindly search the entire castle for him.  We'd be better off letting Luigi lead us to him."

"Don't let your obligation to protect your brother get in the way of your decision-making," Ace reprimanded him.  "We're running out of time.  Instead of looking around for someone that may not even be here, why not look for Velno?  Besides, the lives of thousands of people take priority over the life of one man."

Mario shook his head emphatically in disagreement.  "No.  The time spent wandering around aimlessly searching for Velno will be equivalent to the time spent searching for Luigi, whose location is somewhat known, and then traveling directly to Velno.  The only difference will be that if we do save Luigi, Velno won't have a hostage."

"I suppose, but what if Luigi isn't really in one of the rear towers of the castle?  We'd just waste valuable time looking for someone who isn't even here!  Velno could be trying to trick us!"

"Maybe," Mario replied, "but I don't think that Velno wants us to die.  Slade said something about a larger scheme at work, and another thing about the 'Demonic Trials'.  Call it a gut feeling, but the adventures we went through to get the Hero's Garbs kind of seem like tests, now that I think about it.  It just seems like Velno could have killed us all by now if he put all of his resources to full use."

"Interesting... but you shouldn't be reckless and feel invincible just because of a simple theory.  No matter what you may think, if we're dealing with the Nightmare Vault, our lives are in real danger.  In any case, I suppose we can search for Luigi."

"There are two rear towers, the East Tower and the West Tower.  If we split up, one of us is bound to find Luigi.  After we each reach our respective tower, we'll meet up at the central hallway," Mario informed Ace.  "I'll go east; you can head west."



"Yes, Mario.  You are beginning to realize the truth.  You are being tested, but that does not make you any safer than you originally thought.  You see, the test is designed to kill you.  If you survive, it only means that you passed the test.  It's that simple."



Mario sprinted down the empty hallway, his only source of light coming from the windows along the wall to his right.  The castle's electricity seemed to be out, and all of its inhabitants had been evacuated.  At last, Mario followed the red carpet into an enormous, round room.  Torches ran along the walls, lighting the area.  Tied up and sealed in an electrical jail cell, Luigi silently watched his brother enter the room.

"Hello?" Mario called out, peering into the dimly lit room.  "Bro?  ...Maybe he's in the West Tower."

Lorne's Theme

"Hello, Mario.  It seems as though you've chosen the correct tower," a familiar voice informed him coldly.  Mario's eyes widened as he saw his brother locked away with Lorne standing beside him.  "I've been left in charge of guarding this man once again.  If you want to free him, you'll have to end my life."

"You..." Mario whispered.  "I fought you... in Blizzard Peak..."

"That's correct," Lorne replied in a stoic tone.  "I'm the only soldier Velno has left, unless you count the demon that Ace will soon encounter."  His face was fairly young, and his hair was snowy white.  He wore a bright blue vest and slightly torn jeans, and icy blue earrings hung gently from his ears. His icy, sapphire eyes met Mario's, and the plumber began to quiver in fear.

Why does this guy always send chills down my spine?  I shouldn't be afraid of him...  I need to focus... He's unlike any swordsman that I've ever met.  If I'm not careful, he'll cut me to bits.

"I believe I attacked you first the last time we clashed.  This time, you can have the first strike," Lorne offered, drawing his dagger.  Several moments passed, and Mario remained motionless.  "What's the matter, Mario?" Lorne's eyes narrowed.  "Can't you attack a fellow human?  Do you still believe that you can save your brother without ending my life?"

Don't let him get to you, Mario, the plumber told himself.  I succeeded in defeating Slade without killing him.  I can beat Lorne the same way.  "Alright, if you insist.  I'll make the first move."

Fated Clash

Mario started the battle off with a bang by launching an Ultra Iceball at his foe, freezing everything in its path.  "Bad choice," Lorne muttered, swinging his sword at the Iceball.  A gust of chilling winds spiraled around his dagger as it made contact with the ball, changing its color to a slightly darker tint and sending it careening back toward Mario.

"I almost forgot: one of your special abilities is the manipulation of ice.  I won't make that mistake twice!" Mario declared, releasing an Ultra Fireball to counter the Iceball.  The two elemental blasts collided with each other, thunder crackling throughout the room as warm and cold fronts slammed into each other.  At last, the blasts cancelled each other out and caused a downpour of tiny embers and ice chunks.  In the blink of an eye, Lorne dashed behind Mario and swung his blade at him.  The plumber dove forward and rolled to his feet.  He whirled around to see Lorne hastily pursuing him with his blade raised.  Mario lunged forward to land a Flaming Punch on his foe's chest, but Lorne's blade was too quick.

Mario staggered backward as a thin slash appeared on his arm.  "Just a scratch," he muttered.  Lorne raised his blade and dashed at the plumber again.  Mario placed his palm on the floor and froze Lorne's path with an Iceball.  Without missing a beat, Lorne skillfully slid along the ice and pointed his dagger at Mario.

"He always keeps his cool, no matter what.  How does he do it?" Luigi wondered aloud.  "No matter what Bro throws at him, Lorne is always ready for it."

Mario cupped his hands together and created a Flaming Blade.  His sword collided with Lorne's, causing a metal clang to echo through the room.  Their blades clashed several more times as they both fenced with extreme accuracy.  In the end, Lorne's blade slipped past Mario's and stabbed him in the lower chest.  Mario reeled backward, clutching his wound.  When Lorne pursued him, he lunged forward and added extra Elemental Energy to his Flaming Sword, extending the blade.  Still, Lorne dodged the stab with pinpoint accuracy and countered with a slash across Mario's arm.  Mario stabbed his blade into the ground, causing it to vanish in an explosion of flames.  Lorne leapt backward to protect himself from the blast.

Mario, breathing heavily, tried to think of a flaw in Lorne's strategy.  "Why can't I land a single hit on him?  No matter what I do, he predicts my every move...  Yet whenever he attacks me, I can't seem to figure what he's planning to do until it's too late."

Lorne's Theme

"Our skill level is more or less the same.  If I wanted to be honest with myself, I'd even say that you are a bit stronger," Lorne confessed.  "However, there is one factor that you will never be able to control.  It's a flaw that has leaked all over your fighting style and can never be cleaned up: emotion."

"Emotion?!" Mario parroted in disbelief.  "That has nothing to do with it!"

"But it does," Lorne insisted.  "My lack of emotion makes me entirely unpredictable.  That's what puts my strength so far ahead of yours.  When most people fight, including you, they allow their emotions to guide them.  You instinctively rely on certain signs that your opponent shows when he attacks you, and then you react accordingly.  This is a great defensive strategy that works against almost any opponent.  Even I use this strategy."

"Then how come it's only working for you?!" Mario demanded, his fists clenched with rage.

"The strategy only works if you can read your foe's body language and emotions.  I can read yours, but you can't read mine.  That's why.  I gave up on emotions long ago, and that is why you cannot defeat me.  Even as you stare into my eyes, your body instinctively tells you that I am unlike any human you've ever encountered.  That's why you fear me so much.  It's because you can never defeat me, because I have no weaknesses to exploit.  Your emotions are your weakness, and my lack of emotions is my strength."

"I think you're bluffing...  No one can just throw away their feelings..." Mario replied in disbelief.  "I think I'll just try again...  This time, I'll hit you with everything I have."

All or Nothing

Mario stood straight up and began to charge a Fireball in his hand.  "Last time we clashed with our strongest attacks, it was a draw.  Now that I'm feeling a bit stronger, let's see who comes out on top!" Mario announced with a grin.

"Strongest attack?" Lorne parroted in confusion.  "You think I showed you the full potential of my Blizzard Dagger?  Of course not.  However, if you really want to see it that badly, I'll show it to you!"  A whirlwind of ice surrounded Lorne's blade, and he stabbed it into the floor.  In mere seconds, the floor was covered in a thick sheet of ice.  "Now let's see whose Final Smash is stronger!"

Mario's speed drastically increased thanks to the speed of the Thunder Element.  Lorne and Mario rushed toward each other at full speed, and their attacks collided at the very center of the room.  "Nova Strike!" Mario bellowed as he released a full-powered Flaming Punch, displacing the air around him and sending thousands of wind bullets at Lorne.  Mario gasped in horror as he realized why Lorne had frozen the floor: it drastically increased his speed!  Quick as lightning, Lorne batted away all of Mario's wind bullets, dashed behind him, and landed a powerful slash across Mario's back.

"Is that really as fast as you can go?" Lorne inquired, unimpressed.  His eyes wide with terror, Mario fell to the ground in a pool of blood.



Countdown

As Ace briskly jogged through the western hallway of Mushroom Castle, he began to feel uneasy.  He stopped abruptly and looked around, feeling as though someone had burnt a hole in his back with an intent stare.  "I'm not alone..." he muttered, reaching for his deck of cards.  "Who's there?"

A pair of red eyes emerged from the shadows.  "My name... is Stolas."  Ace's eyes widened in fear as Stolas stepped out into the open.  He stood at about Ace's height and had pale blue skin and spiky green hair.  Vegetation sprouted from various parts of his body, making him look like a walking plant.

"You're a demon..." Ace observed with disbelief.  "But you're different somehow...  You're far more powerful than any of the demons we've encountered so far."

"That's because all of the ones you've fought thus far were ordinary demons," Stolas sneered.  "Each of them would be considered one of the strongest demons of their class.  However, there is a class of demons that you've likely never heard of.  I am what is known as a Grimnex.  I don't know much about our creation, but I was told that centuries ago, the Grimnexes were given life through a scientific experiment that went horribly wrong. Twenty four of us were created, and we were all incapable of reproducing.  Each of us is ranked based on our skill level and strength.  These ranks are derived from the Greek Alphabet, with Alpha being the strongest rank, and Omega the weakest.  Since our birth, many of us have died, and others have been replaced or deemed obsolete.  Now, including the four obsolete ones and the missing Alpha Grimnex, I'd say only about eighteen of us remain."

"Grimnexes?" Ace parroted nervously.  "I recall hearing of them a few times in the past.  Even though I'm the leader of Poker Face, I suppose there are still many things I have to learn about the enemy.  So, since you were so kind as to tell me about how your soldiers are ranked, would you mind telling me what letter you were given?"

"Gladly," Stolas snickered.  "I am the Digamma Grimnex."

"Digamma?  Wasn't that letter deemed obsolete?" Ace inquired.

"Yes, it was.  You see, I am one of the obsolete Grimnexes.  I lost my position on the team for accusations of treachery, and so I was given a letter that is no longer used in the Greek alphabet to symbolize my demotion," Stolas explained.  "But none of that matters now!  I may have been stripped of my original rank, but that doesn't make me any weaker!"

Ace nodded.  "Very well.  I suppose you've divulged enough information for now.  Now that you've told me about the Grimnexes, I can't possibly let Velno open the Nexus."

Demon Battle

Ace started off by drawing a card from his deck.  He smiled as he realized that the card was an ace of spades.  He instantly crushed it and aimed his opened palm at Stolas.  A purple cube began to materialize around Stolas, but he dove out of the way before it could trap him.  There was a series of explosions from within the cube, and then it vanished into thin air.

"Aw, your Final Smash didn't work?" Stolas taunted.  "I've heard all about you and your special ability.  When you crush an ace of spades, you can kill any ordinary enemy in an instant.  Luckily for me, I was able to dodge it with ease.  Now you can't use that technique anymore.  In a deck of 52 cards, there is only a single ace of spades."

It's a good thing I refilled my deck at that shop in Toad Town before we came here.  I'm gonna have to use every single card I've got, Ace thought.  He tossed a handful of explosive cards at Stolas, who retaliated by deploying one of the plants from his arm and using it as a whip to bat away the cards.  He gestured toward Ace with his arm, and plant quickly took the shape of a vine and wrapped around Ace's arm.  Spikes emerged from the vine like needles from a porcupine, stabbing into Ace's arm and causing him excruciating pain.

"I forgot to mention that each Grimnex has his own unique abilities and Final Smash.  I have complete control of plants, as you may have guessed.  I have several growing from my body, and I can always borrow some from the ground if I'm running short," Stolas chuckled.  "So, how do you think you'll fair against the might of a Grimnex?"

Ace grinned.  "I think I'll do just fine."  While Stolas had been busy bragging, Ace was able to search through his deck to find exactly the cards he needed.  He tossed a handful of cards at the ground in front of Stolas: a 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of the same suite!  The cards began to glow as a black hole expanded across the floor.  An enormous disfigured hand reached from beneath the hole and wrapped itself around Stolas.  "When I was in my teens, I called this technique 'Straight to Hell', but I've since realized that the pun is pretty lame.  Basically, when I get a straight, I can open up a hole to the Underwhere and drag my opponents down to their death.  It's tough to accomplish in the heat of battle, but your arrogance gave yourself too much of an opening for me to resist."

Struggling with all of his might to resist the hand of death, Stolas made a strange gesture with his hands.  The room began to shake as Piranha Plants erupted from the floor.  They began to wolf down anything they could eat, including the cards that were generating the hole that was attempting to suck Stolas in.  One of the Piranha Plants lunged at Ace's deck of cards and swallowed it whole.  The disembodied hand sunk back into its dwelling as the black hole slowly vanished.  Stolas landed safely on his feet, glaring at his foe with pure hatred.

Ace gulped.  His cards- his only means of fighting- were gone.

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 26: Cursed Memories, Part I

Mushroom Hero

Blood flowing from his wounds, Mario soared backward into a solid brick wall.  His body hit the wall with a thud, and he bounced forward and fell face-first on the ground.  Trembling in pain and shock, Mario planted his hands firmly on the ground and slowly pushed himself up.  "He froze the floor, and the change in the environment is allowing him to move even faster...  Not only that, but his moves are impossible to predict..."

"Stay down," Lorne demanded, his voice firm and unwavering.  "Otherwise, I'll have to put you down for good."

Mario's eyes widened as he slowly staggered forward.  Visions of his training with Skulleon many years ago began to flow into his mind. 

"Mario, you are a skilled young man who has unbelievable potential.  However, as of right now, your moves are far too predictable.  You haven't managed to hit me once in this entire sparring session, and I've been able to strike you on multiple occasions.  As your instructor, I must inform you that this is a battle in which your enemy's perception surpasses your own.  You are allowing me to see too many of your emotions, whereas I'm showing you little to nothing.  If you want to win in a fight like this, you'll have to do your best to exploit your opponent's advantages and turn them into a weakness.  No matter how cold your enemy may be, turning his strength against him will evoke anger or frustration.  If he has lost control of his feelings, you have successfully placed yourself on an even playing field with your enemy."

"I remember..." Mario whispered.  "Skulleon's training..."  He clenched his fists and stared firmly into Lorne's eyes.  "Your strength... is the manipulation of ice...  But now, it's about to become your weakness."  He cupped his hands together and began to form another Ultra Iceball.

"Don't you remember what happened last time?" Lorne inquired.  "You're a fool if you think I won't be able to deflect it the same way I did the first time."

"We'll see about that," Mario retorted, grinning as he released an enormous Iceball at his foe.  Lorne gripped his dagger and stared the Iceball down.  Mario wasted no time and began sprinting toward Lorne.  With all of his might, Lorne swung his blade at the Iceball.  As it connected, steam began to rise from his sword.

"You mixed a small Fireball in with it?!" Lorne screamed in astonishment, struggling against the hybrid of ice and fire.  By the time he managed to overpower the elemental attack, Mario had already dashed behind him.

"Your strength is ice, but that means your weakness is fire!" Mario declared as he threw his strongest Flaming Punch at the preoccupied Lorne.  Just as the punch was about to connect, Lorne reached back with his free hand.  Shards of ice quickly gathered on his forearm and formed a blade, which he used to stab Mario in the chest before he could deal a fatal blow.

Flashback

Mario fell to his knees, blood tricking from his chest.  "Yet another fatal wound," Lorne observed.  "It's over, Mario."

Wiping a thin stream of blood from his chin, Mario struggled to his feet.  "Heh... How did it feel... to have your power over ice turned into your opponent's advantage...?"

Lorne's eyes narrowed.  "Silence... That was just a fluke...  You still didn't manage to hit me.  And in case you forgot, your body is near its limit.  Just a few more cuts may prove to be fatal.  How do you expect to defeat me AND Velno?"

"I'll find a way," Mario replied with unwavering assurance.  "I'm still gonna beat you, emotions or not..."  He noticed that Lorne had begun to tremble a bit.  Is he feeling... angry?

"Your persistence... is starting to irritate me..." Lorne mumbled in a surprised tone.  He glared at Mario, a strange sensation of hatred burning in his eyes. "Everything you stand for... It all seems to contradict what I've been told..."  He shook his head, as if he was denying the dreadful truth.

"Lorne... What happened to you?" Mario inquired, suddenly feeling pity for his foe.  "What happened to you to make you want to throw away your emotions?"

"It's none of your business!" Lorne howled, swinging his dagger at Mario.  The plumber quickly formed a Flaming Sword in his hand and blocked Lorne's blade with his own.  Sparks erupted from the blades as the two warriors pressed them against each other with all of their might.  Mario took a step forward, and his Flaming Sword began to grow.

"Lorne, you have to open up and tell me what happened!  Whatever made you the way you are now, I can guarantee you that teaming up with Velno won't resolve anything!  You're just a confused young adult, struggling to find his place in life.  You hide from your problems by bottling everything up inside and showing absolutely no emotion at all!  How can you expect that to help?!" Mario screamed, his eyes burning with passion.

Lorne's grip on his sword weakened, and Mario landed a slash across his waist.  He took a step back and glared at Mario.  "You could never understand how lucky you are...  You had a father to look after you.  Our fathers went to battle against Lord Shade together many years ago, and my father was the first to die."

Mario's eyes widened.  "Our fathers...  You mean...?"

Lorne nodded.  "I'm not sure if your father ever told you that he had a brother.  Anthony, or as some people call him, Grambi, had a brother named Dante.  The two of them shared a strong bond, similar to the one you share with your own brother.  However, when Lord Shade attacked Brooklyn all those years ago... my father died in the battle, and your father lived on."

"That makes us... cousins..." Mario realized, his face turning pale.  "I had an Uncle Dante... who had a son named Lorne..."

"Your father escaped the battle while Dante met his end.  From there, he quickly sent you and your brother to the Mushroom Kingdom through a pipe in the sewers.  He died soon after, but he survived long enough to bring you two to safety.  My father never had such an opportunity...  My father died, leaving me alone when I was just an infant- too young to even remember my own name.  I was left in a doomed city... alone.  As fate would have it, Lord Shade found me and decided to recruit me.  To this day, I don't know why he would decide to enlist an infant in his army, but he did...  I would have rather died.

"From that moment on, every second of my childhood was pure misery.  I was given the name Lorne, because I always seemed gloomy and forlorn.  I was too weak to battle on the front lines, so I was forced to do all of the dirty work and chores.  I was treated like scum.  When Shade was in a good mood, he'd give me more work to do, and when he wasn't, I'd find myself getting beaten by his soldiers for no good reason.  I cried myself to sleep every night for years, but I never had the courage to commit suicide.

"One day, when I was wondering around the starship, I stumbled into a hidden room.  Inside, a small group of men were discussing ideas of rebellion- and their leader was Crimson.  They had each joined Shade's army because they had been promised wealth and power, but Lord Shade was the only one who had really benefitted.  Crimson decided that he was tired of following him, and so he was trying to convince as many soldiers as he could to leave with him:

"Um, excuse me..."

"Hey kid, are you tired of being treated like dirt?  Do you want to finally gain the strength to stand above all?"

"I'm not much of a leader...  Besides, I can't fight like you guys.  I couldn't imagine taking away another creature's life...."

"Disgusting emotions," Crimson spat in utter revulsion.  "Nothing in the universe could be more worthless.  You don't have to join us, but at least take my advice.  If you're going to live here as a soldier, you'll have to make yourself useful.  If not, Shade will just eliminate you.  To be of use to him, you'll need to become a warrior.  And in order to do that, you must throw away all emotions.  Listen carefully to my philosophy, Lorne.  To show feeling is to show weakness; therefore, if you show no feelings, you'll have no weaknesses.  You mustn't hesitate to kill another being if it benefits your own existence."

"I'll try..." Lorne replied hesitantly.

"Later that same day, I was attacked by Lieutenant, one of Shade's weaker officers.  With a wicked grin that I will never forget, he told me that Lord Shade had ordered him to kill me.  I was useless to him.  I didn't have the stomach for fighting.  I had no reason to be there:

Beads of sweat dripped down Lorne's face as he sprinted down the hallway with Lieutenant hot on his tail.  "Crimson!  Help me!"  He cried desperately for help, but received no response.  Instead, he found himself at a dead end.  Lieutenant quickly cornered him, his blade raised high over his head.  "Crimson... help me..."

"To show feeling is to show weakness; therefore, if you show no feelings, you'll have no weaknesses.  You mustn't hesitate to kill another being if it benefits your own existence."

"The words flashed inside of my mind like a neon sign.  I realized then and there that only the fittest survive, and that my hesitation to kill had only been holding me back.  I seized Lieutenant's blade in mid-swing and tore it from his grip.  Blood trickling down my hand, I quickly gripped the hilt, and with one swift motion, I pierced the man's heart."

"To show feeling is to show weakness; therefore, if you show no feelings, you'll have no weaknesses.  You mustn't hesitate to kill another being if it benefits your own existence."

"As he fell lifelessly in a pool of blood before me, tears formed in the corners of my eyes.  But I held them back.  By committing that one simple murder, I had made a pact to always follow Crimson's philosophy so that I would never again show signs of weakness.  I couldn't cry.  I could never cry again.

"Before long, I found myself searching for Crimson.  I tried desperately to hunt him down, hoping he would guide me to my next destination in life.  I found him just as he was leaving in the emergency space pods with his men.  I told him about my change of heart, and he decided that I would make a fine addition to his team.  And from that day on, I worked as a part of Crimson's gang.  I dedicated myself to whatever it was that Crimson was after.  That's why I'm here right now, working with Velno.  I was ordered to."

"I never knew..." Mario whispered in disbelief.  "You lived your whole life in misery and confusion.  You thought that Crimson made your path clearer, but it did the exact opposite.  Your vision became blurred, and all you could do was blindly chase after Crimson's goals.  Crimson manipulated a young boy's feelings for his own personal use, and for that, I can never forgive him!"

"Shut... UP!" Lorne screamed in pure detestation.  "You talk about noble deeds and how you'll fight Crimson on my behalf... but that isn't how the world really works!  People don't go that far out of their way to help others!  'You mustn't hesitate to kill another being if it benefits your own existence.' Crimson understands how people truly are!  If you want to survive, the only person you can depend on is yourself!"

A Pledge for Victory

Lorne rushed at Mario with incredible speed and slashed at him with his Blizzard Dagger.  Mario swiftly sidestepped the attack. His emotions are pouring out... I can read him like a book!  Flustered, Lorne pursued his cousin and slashed several more times at him, desperately trying to end the battle.  "I understand your Final Smash's weakness!" Mario bellowed triumphantly.  "Ordinarily, covering the floor in a sheet of ice is a good idea.  But when you're fighting against the Mushroom Hero, who can manipulate the elements of fire, ice, and thunder, it'll only serve as a hindrance!"  He placed his palm on the floor, melting it with an enormous Fireball.  As the ice slowly melted into water, Lorne charged at Mario one final time.

"What's water gonna do?!  I'll prove to you that Crimson's beliefs are the only truth in the world!" Lorne exclaimed, raising his Blizzard Dagger.

"Heh, water alone won't do anything," Mario chuckled as he leapt high up into the air.  He cupped his hands together and aimed them at the ground.  "But water is the worst place to be during a thunderstorm!"  With a triumphant bellow, he launched an Ultra Thunderball at the pool of water, severely electrifying Lorne.

"Curses..." Lorne groaned as his body violently thrashed about, electric sparks erupting from his body.  He collapsed onto his back in agony.  "But if Crimson isn't right... then who is...?"

Victory

"That's something you need to find out for yourself," Mario informed him wearily.  "I don't expect you to start acting all heroic just because I defeated you.  You don't even have to stop believing in Crimson.  When two different beliefs meet, a conflict will often follow.  Velno believes that it is his job to release the demons of the Nightmare Vault into this realm, and I believe that it is my obligation to stop him."

"But why...?" Lorne inquired.  "Why do you go to such lengths to help other people...?"

"Because I feel like it," Mario replied simply.  "That's all there is to it.  I've come to believe that it's my life's purpose to protect this kingdom from anyone who wishes harm upon it.  And that's exactly what I strive to do, each and every day.  When someone gets in the way of that, and I can't reason with him, I have no choice but to fight him.  No matter how ugly things get, I do my best to move forward.  That's my philosophy."

"Moving forward..." Lorne whispered.  "...I understand now...  I'll try to do the same.  I'll keep moving on and search for my own purpose in life.  Thank you, Mario.  To be honest, I've never truly been happy with the lifestyle Crimson's gang offered."

"Sure," Mario replied with a nod.  "It's what I do."

Lorne reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden key.  "Here's the key to your brother's cell.  You'd better hurry.  The Nexus Gate is almost open.  As for me, I think I'll just wander around this kingdom for a while."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?  Those wounds I gave you..."

Lorne slowly rose to his feet.  "I'll be okay.  But before I go, I need to show you something very important.  There's always been something eerie about Velno.  He told me about a room in this castle that I should never enter.  As a loyal follower of Crimson, I obeyed him.  Now that I've decided to go off on my own, I have to know what Velno's been hiding.  Will you come with me?"

Mario nodded hesitantly.  "Before we go, I'd better free my brother."  He pulled out his Max Mushroom and split it in half, handing one half of it to Lorne.  "Here; have some."  He jogged over to Luigi's cell.  He placed the key in the lock and turned it, causing the electric bars to deactivate.  The door swung open, and Luigi embraced his brother.  "Bro, you did it!"

"I guess you heard everything that went on."

Luigi nodded.  "Yeah.  It's all starting to get too complicated.  One minute I was with you, and then I woke up in this cell.  Minutes later you came in and started fighting this guy who said he was our cousin.  It might take me a bit to assimilate."

"Lorne wants to show me something, and it sounds like it could be important.  I told Ace to meet me in the central hallway.  Will you go there in my place and lead him to Velno?  I'll be right back to join you guys."

"Sure," Luigi agreed.  "But I'd better tell you how to get to Velno so you don't get lost on the way back."



Desperate Struggle

Ace staggered backward, his body covered in vicious gashes and scrapes from Stolas' thorny plants.  I don't know how much longer I can keep this up...  Mario, I'm sorry...  Without my cards, I'm powerless against a Grimnex...

"What's the matter, Ace?  I thought the leader of Poker Face would put up a better fight than this," Stolas sneered.  A long vine extended from his palm and launched across the room at Ace.  Thorns erupted from every pore on the vine as it cracked down toward Ace's head.  The demon dove to the side, narrowly dodging a fatal blow.

Ace struggled to his feet, breathing heavily.  My power has always been sealed deep within my body, and the only way I've ever been able to bring it out is through the distortion of different symbols and shapes.  The easiest way for me to do so was to carry a deck of cards.  Without them, my best bet is to find an alternate way to use my powers...

A second whip extended from Stolas' body and lashed toward Ace.  The leader of Poker Face gradually backed himself into a corner as he dodged slashes from the two whips.  Before he could counter, he felt his back hit the wall.  Cornered, he could only watch in horror as Stolas thrust his dual whips at him.  Ace instinctively ducked, successfully dodging the attacks that had been intended to slice off his head.  Instead, the vines lashed into the wall, sending fragments of stone in all directions.  Without a second thought, Ace snatched one of the rocks and began to scrape it against the floor.  He circled around Stolas, avoiding his whips while still pressing the rock fragment to the ground.

"You're using that stone to draw pictures on the floor?  How childish.  But if that's how you want to spend your last moments, fine!" Stolas cackled, swinging his whips at Ace with all of his might.

"Please work," Ace muttered, staring at the enormous spade he had inscribed on the stone floor.  He bent over and drew a capital 'A', completing the drawing.  Moments before the whips cracked down on his position, he rolled out of the way and glared intently to see if his strategy had been successful.

Stolas' eyes widened in horror as he realized what Ace had intended to do all along.  Stolas was standing in the center of an enormous spade, which Ace had inscribed on the floor with his stone.  As his whips crashed into the space that Ace had just occupied, the force sent dozens of chunks of the floor soaring into the air, effectively 'distorting' Ace's spade.

"It's a homemade ace of spades!" Ace declared, clasping his hands together as a purple cube materialized around the astonished Stolas.  This time, he could not react quickly enough, and Stolas was trapped inside.  The room was silent except for Stolas' cries of agony.  Inside the cube, thousands of blades were slicing apart every inch of his body, similarly to how they diced Pyro in one of Ace's previous battles.  "I can't believe that worked!  I drew an ace of spades on the floor, and Stolas smashing it with his whips was the equivalent of me crushing the card in my palm."

He exhaled a heavy sigh of relief.  "A Grimnex... I can't believe I actually defeated one... and without my cards, at that."  Feeling a sudden sense of pride, he marched toward the room's exit.  "Let's just hope that I'm on my way to the correct tower..."

Suddenly, a fierce rumbling shook the entire room.  Ace cringed in fear, praying that the Nexus Gate had not been opened by Velno.  However, the Nexus was the least of his worries.  His heart leapt into his throat as he saw the ground split apart with a violent tremor.  Plants and vegetation emerged from the gap, and in the center stood a colossal Piranha Plant.  The plant's mouth opened and revealed Stolas, whose disembodied figure was bound to the back of its throat.

"Did you honestly think a Grimnex could be defeated so easily?" Stolas snickered wickedly.  "You should give me a little more credit.  A Grimnex would never die without using his 'Final Smash', as humans call it.  In the Nightmare Abyss, we call it 'Nex Mutatio', which roughly translates to 'Death Transformation'.  Each of us has a distinct transformation or ability that makes us unique.  This is mine.  I can merge myself with all surrounding plant life.  In a place such as the Nightmare Abyss, where life is scarce, my powers aren't as useful.  But on a planet with such a vast abundance of plants, I'm nearly invincible."

"So I guess I only won half the battle," Ace sighed, breathing heavily.  "I don't know how I'm supposed to fight a giant Piranha Plant that's being controlled by a Grimnex... but I have to find a way..."

"Don't be so glum," Stolas said with mock sympathy.  "After all, I am the demon that took away the one most important to Glaive.  I'm sure he'd be angry if you took the pleasure of fighting me away from him.  One the other hand, you were supposed to stop me, weren't you?  Glaive waited for you to come, and you never arrived."

A vine covered in spikes sprouted from the ground and sprang in Ace's direction.  The demon wearily prepared to dodge it, but fell to his knees in exhaustion.  "I'm sorry... I just don't have the strength to keep fighting...  Please forgive me... Mario...  And Glaive... I can never make up for what happened-"

Just as the vine was about to pierce Ace's heart, Ace felt a gust of wind rush by his head as the vine split into two pieces and fell to the floor.

Glaive's Theme

"You don't need to vent all of your problems to this scum," Glaive muttered, standing beside Ace with his blade drawn.  "We'll talk later.  Right now, I think it's about time I made up for all the battles I missed."

"Glaive, you're here!" Ace exclaimed joyfully.  "If we fight him together, he should go down easily."

Glaive took a step toward Stolas.  "No.  I'll fight this trash alone.  He took Sara away from me."  He pointed his blade at Stolas.  "You asked me to remember your name, Stolas.  How could I forget about the demon that killed the one person I cared about?  Stay out of this, Ace.  This is personal.  Besides, I don't think you'd be of much help without your cards.  I'm sure you understand."  Ace started to protest, but Glaive cut him off.  "Trust me...  I've changed..."

Ace nodded.  "Very well.  I'll leave this to you."  He turned and disappeared in the darkness of the next hallway.

Glaive stared into Stolas' eyes.  "You..."

A wide grin spread across Stolas' face.  "You shouldn't have sent your ally away.  The both of you might have stood a chance against me.  What do you intend to do alone?  In case you forgot, I nearly killed you the first time we met.  Now, years later, I'm even stronger.  How do you expect to have any chance at victory?"

Glaive's eyes gleamed red with hatred.  "You... I've made myself enemies with quite a few people in my life...  Lord Shade tried to use me by manipulating my emotions, and when Mario defeated him, he became my rival.  But you... you and the Beta Grimnex...  Both of you are at the top of my list!"

Several more mammoth Piranha Plants sprouted from beneath the ground.  "You're just one tiny demon against an entire army of plants..."

"Do you really want to know why I sent Ace away?" Glaive inquired, trembling with rage.  "I did it because I didn't want him to see what I'm going to do to you!"

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 27: Cursed Memories, Part II

Five colossal Piranha Plants sprouted from the ground, with Stolas' plant in the center.  Drowning in the darkness of their shadows was Glaive, his sword held readily in his grip.  His eyes shifted from one plant to the next, silently calculating his next move.  One of the plants lunged at him, and he quickly leapt out of the way of its wide-open mouth.  The Piranha Plant's mouth smashed into the floor, scattering debris in all directions.  Glaive raised his sword above his head and dashed toward the plant, which was now lying horizontally on the floor.  With one precise cut, he slashed the head clean from its body.

Another plant sprouted from the ground, instantly replacing the one Glaive had killed. "Not bad, Glaive, but there will always be more plants for you to fight no matter how many you kill!"

Glaive stabbed his sword into the stem of one of the Piranha Plants and used it to climb up to its head.  From there, he leapt onto the plant that contained Stolas.  Using his blade to pry its mouth open, Glaive viciously lunged at Stolas.  Just before he reached his target, the Piranha Plant spit him out and onto his back.  Like hungry predators, all of the Piranha Plants lunged at the fallen warrior to claim their next meal.  From Stolas' view, all that could be seen was a horde of massive Piranha Plants desperately fighting for their dinner.

"What a pathetic way to die," Stolas sneered.  "He became plant food.  How pitiful.  I almost wish I could have killed him with my own two hands, but it seems that my pets are feeling especially hungry today."

Fighting Spirit

A flash of red lit the room as the seemingly feasting Piranha Plants were incinerated in a burst of bluish flames.  "Don't worry; you still might get your chance," Glaive chuckled as he stepped out from the plants' charred remains.  He was wearing a silver t-shirt and black pants, and his armor lay piled up next to him.  "Ah... It's so good to finally take all of that heavy armor off." 

Stolas gasped, recognizing Glaive's face from all of those years ago.  "So, it really is you.  But I thought you couldn't live in this world without wearing that armor to shield you from the sunlight.  It may be dark in this castle, but there is still enough light shining through the windows to affect you."

Glaive pushed his spiky black bangs out of his eyes.  He smoothed his hands over his fair skin, finally feeling like a living creature again.  "You have no idea how much I hated wearing that armor all the time.  So I decided it was time for me to learn to survive in this world without it.  It took a lot of patience and a great deal of pain, but now it looks like I can say goodbye to my armor for good.  Not only will my speed increase, but I can use my flame abilities as well- I think your deceased plants are familiar with them."

"Taking off a few pieces of armor isn't going to help you," Stolas insisted, shaking his head.  "Allow my plants to demonstrate."

With a single gesture of his hands, Stolas sent a dozen mammoth Piranha Plants at Glaive.  The demon warrior held his ground and slowly raised his burning fist.  A wall of flames erupted from his palm, burning each of the plants to a crisp.  "You may have an advantage in an environment with more plant life, but none of that matters if your plants are exposed to fire."

"So my ordinary plants aren't a challenge for you?  In that case, I'll have to summon the Elite Plants," Stolas declared as a blue Piranha Plant with black spots sprouted from the ground.  It lunged at Glaive, who immediately responded with a tower of flames.  Although the plant seemed to take some damage, its tough skin allowed it to resist most of the demon's flames.

"These take longer to incinerate," Glaive noted.  "Perhaps it'd be easier just to chop them down."  Three more Elite Plants emerged and sprang at Glaive.  In a series of blurs, Glaive effortlessly dodged their strikes.  The singing of metal echoed through the room as the warrior swiftly sliced each of the plants apart.  "I'm done playing games.  Are you going to fight me yourself, or can you even fight alone?"

Stolas grinned.  "Hmph.  You thought that those weak plants were the main components of my Final Smash?  The true purpose of the plants is to distract my opponents while I attach myself to one of the plants and suck out all of the nutrients in the soil.  While you were busy showing off, I was gathering precious energy from all around us.  Now I'm ready to fight you myself."

"That's more like it," Glaive sighed, eager to slaughter his opponent.  "I've been waiting for this."

"Be careful what you wish for," Stolas chuckled as his Piranha Plant slowly sank into the ground.  He stepped out of the plant's mouth, his body glowing with a green light.  "Such power... I can feel it pulsing through my veins..."  Stolas' hand quickly reformed itself into a vine in the shape of a blade.  "Enough fooling around.  Let's finish this."

Glaive tested the sharpness of his blade.  "For once, I agree with you.  I don't have much time to waste on vengeance, so I'll have to make this a quick slaughter."



Flashback

"Empty," Ace whispered in disbelief.  "I can't believe it was all for nothing...  Hopefully Mario is having better luck than I am."  He turned around and stared at the pitch black hallway he had just emerged from.  He thought for a moment, and then shook his head.  "No... I need to make sure that Glaive relies only on himself for this battle.  For the sake of his pride... and my own..."

"That was a job well done, Ace.  You have successfully driven the Phoenix soldiers from Shambles.  You know, I've been thinking about retiring for ten years now.  Before you joined us, it was only just a dream.  I knew that I was the only one fit to lead Poker Face, and that made it my obligation to do so.  When you came along, I knew that it wouldn't be long before you became skilled enough to be my successor."

"What are you saying, Commander?" Ace inquired in disbelief.  "Are you really putting me in charge?"

"You're the Commander now, Ace.  I'm confident that you'll be a great leader." 

Just then, a solder rushed into the room, flustered and breathing heavily.  "Commander, we've received reports of an attack in Wreckage."

The Commander smiled warmly and began to walk out.  "Cole, Ace is the new Commander.  Treat him just as kindly as you treated me."  With that, Ace was left in charge of the entire Resistance military.

"I don't know why he has so much confidence in me," Ace mused apprehensively.  "What if I do something wrong?  I don't know if I can handle such an enormous responsibility."

"You'll do fine," Cole reassured him.  "For your first mission, you'll need to investigate the attacks in Wreckage.  Our sources say that the culprit isn't a Phoenix demon, but rather an Olympian."

Ace gasped.  "You mean someone from the outside world?  How did he get in here?  What does he want?"

"It's your job to find out," Cole replied.  "We're counting on you."

As Ace and Cole left the room to prepare for their mission, a distress signal echoed through the empty room.  Another Phoenix raid was occurring in Shambles- Glaive's hometown.  Not a soul was around to respond.

"I can't believe the mess I got myself into," Ace whispered, recalling events from his past.  "The Olympian that had been attacking was none other than Lord Shade.  He had broken into the Nightmare Vault in search of recruits for his own army.  Many Phoenix demons were too strong for him to approach, so he went after the Resistance ones.  I remember fighting an evenly matched battle with Shade... and at such a young age...  But how could I have ever known that as I was battling Shade, Glaive's heart was being ripped to shreds.  He waited for me to save him... but I was too late..."



Blood stained the floor as Glaive and Stolas viciously slashed at each other with all of their might.  The floor had been completely eradicated by Stolas' Piranha Plants except for the occasional chunks of debris.  Breathing heavily, the two warriors rushed toward each other once again.  The room was silent except for the metal clangs that echoed from the demons' passionate sword swings.

Glaive reeled backward, his bloody hand fiercely gripping his katana.  "I can do this alone... I have to...  It's the only way... for me to avenge Sara and to take the guilt off of Ace's shoulders..."

"My, you certainly have improved," Stolas observed with an evil smirk.  He raised his blade high above his head and prepared for one final strike.

Glaive gripped his katana with two hands and dashed toward his approaching foe.  The two sprinted at each other at full speed, sweat trickling down their foreheads and blood dripping from their wounds.  A teardrop formed in the corner of Glaive's eye as he brought his sword forward, remembering the final chapter in a tale he would never forget.  As the two warriors collided, Glaive's vision went black.

"As if it hadn't been enough to lose her once..."

Glaive travelled for days, living off of eating corpses and drinking from occasional rivers or streams.  At last, he reached his destination.  "This is where the ones who killed Sara are.  I'll slaughter any fool that dares to stand in my way!"

Glaive barreled straight through the front doors, slashing at any solder that crossed his path.  He was overcome with rage, which gave him exceptional skills with his blade.  A single demon with a burning passion was slowly doing the impossible- he was infiltrating the strongest Grimnex hideout in existence!  He slashed apart hundreds of sentries before they even had a chance to react. His invasion did not go without injury, but the pain meant nothing to him.  His body was bloodied and beaten, but nothing could douse his fiery passion. For a time, it seemed as though he was invincible.  However, it soon faded away along with any sliver of happiness that remained with him.

"I am the Beta Grimnex, Botis.  I'm in charge of this fortress, and it appears as though you've come to file some sort of complaint," a demon informed him with a wicked grin.  He stood tall above Glaive, staring down at him with a piercing glare.  His pale green skin gave him the appearance of a snake, sending chills down Glaive's spine.

"You're the one who ordered the attack on my village!" Glaive howled with rage, swallowing his fear and rushing at his new foe.

In a flash of light, Botis drew and sheathed his sword.  In this short period of time, Glaive was on the ground in a pool of blood.  "Learn your place," Botis spat as he prepared to deliver the final blow.  "Did you not hear me say that I was a Grimnex?  We are an experimental breed of Phoenix demons that are renowned as the most powerful warriors in the Nightmare Vault.  We are ranked by the Greek lettering system, and in the absence of the Alpha Grimnex, I am the strongest of them all.  You were doomed the moment I laid eyes on you.  But before you die, I have something to show you." 

Sara entered the room, dressed in a grey vest and a black cloak.  Her eyes were red, and the compassion was drained from her voice.  "Hello, Glaive.  I've decided to join the winning team.  If you were smart, you would have joined too."

Botis' sword hovered in the air for a moment, until blue flames began to erupt from Glaive's lifeless body.  Botis staggered backward in fear.  "What are you?  Where did those flames come from?"

Glaive slowly rose to his feet.  "How... dare you..."

Botis shook his head.  "What are you talking about?  I guess you can't handle the fact that Sara is now a member of my squadron.  Face it.  She no longer wants anything to do with you."

"Shut up!" Glaive exploded, the flames engulfing him growing even larger.  "How can you sit there and claim to own Sara's trust!  I knew her my entire life before you took her away from me!  I know who Sara is, and that person standing beside you isn't her!"  He rushed at Botis one final time, before being swatted away with minimal effort.

"There is no place in this fortress for the likes of you," Botis spat in disgust.  With a flick of his wrist, a portal opened below Glaive and began to suck him in.  "However, you do seem to house some strange powers.  If you can manage to come back here someday, perhaps I can get you a position in the Phoenix army."

For a moment, as I sank into that dreadful void, I could swear that I saw a tint of blue in her eyes.

Glaive awoke in a murky, rocky wasteland.  Though his eyelids were open, he could do little else with his battered body.  For hours, he lay sprawled on the ground, with Sara pervading his thoughts.  Not only had he lost his beloved, but Botis had to rub it in his face.  In time, it was his rage that allowed him to move.

Equipped with nothing but his sword, Glaive sought to survive the wilderness and find his way home.  It became evident that he would never see Sara again- the real Sara, anyway.  As soon as he came to accept that, his life gradually became less painful.  But now that he wasn't staying alive for Sara, he had to find a new goal to strive toward.  Simply surviving for the sake of living would not ease his misery.

"Of course!  One day, you'll be even better than he was.  You'll find a way to lift the curse on our realm, and you'll end this war once and for all.  I just know you will, Glaive."

"Sara..." he mumbled, remembering the words she had spoken to him long ago. Soon, his new goal became clear.  "I need to lift the curse on our land, if nothing else.  I'll never be able to live in peace with Sara, but at least I'll be able to fulfill her wish to save the Nightmare Vault."

Years passed.  After becoming accustomed to living in the wild, Glaive transformed from a teenage boy into a young man of eighteen.  Four years in the wilderness had given him maturity, patience, and- most of all- impeccable skill with a blade.  It was at this time that Glaive finally found his home.

Glaive's discoveries did not surprise him.  "My parents are dead, and there are only a few stragglers left.  But in the end, none of it matters.  Once you've lost the thing most important to you, nothing else is worth grieving over."

He ducked as a breeze rushed past his head.  A lone soldier of the Phoenix had swung his blade where Glaive's head had just been.  In mere seconds, Glaive stabbed the warrior in the heart and sliced him into tiny pieces.  "I can't be satisfied with killing such a trivial weakling.  I won't be happy until this realm's curse has been lifted.  Once that's all over, I need to make sure I pay a visit to Botis."

"So, you aspire to put an end to this land's dreadful curse?" a wicked voice from behind him inquired.  "It is a most daunting task.  I fear that even one as skilled as you could not do it in a single lifetime."

Glaive whirled around to face the abomination that would soon bring misery to his life.  "Who are you?"

"Me?" the man parroted with an evil glint in his eye.  "I am Lord Shade.  I've come to this realm looking for anyone that may be interested in joining my army.  Of course, many creatures here are too powerful for me to approach.  So, how'd you like to join me?  As a member of the Shadow Shrowds, you could have anything you desired."

Glaive's eyes widened.  "Could... Could you lift the curse from the Nightmare Vault?"

Shade's grin widened.  "Why, of course!  Join me, and the residents of this land can bathe in the sunlight whenever they please!  All you have to do is leave this realm for a bit to help me secure a position of authority in the outside world.  Is that not agreeable?"

"Very well," Glaive agreed.  "But first, I have something to do."  He turned to face the direction of Botis' fortress.



"At last, I've returned," Glaive announced as he entered Botis' fortress.  It was completely barren, and the only sound was the howling of the wind outside.

A figure stepped out of the shadows.  "Who are you?"  Glaive instantly recognized his pale green skin and unparalleled tallness.

"Botis, it's me," Glaive responded.  "I believe you made some kind of promise for a position in the Phoenix army."

Botis grinned.  "So it is you.  I just knew there was something special about you.  But... Unfortunately, there aren't any positions left..."

"Too bad," Glaive answered, turning to leave.  "I've got something else to attend to.  But I'll be back someday, and if this war still hasn't ended, I'll be taking your place.  Stay alive until then."  Without another word, he left.

Glaive's eyes slowly fluttered open.  He was lying face down in a pool of blood.  Beside him, Stolas' corpse had been split into two pieces.  "I did it... Sara...  Once this is all over, I'll be paying Botis a visit..."  He sheathed his sword and slowly rose to his feet.  "But first...  I need to take care of Velno."



Dreadful Discovery

"So, what exactly did you want to show me?" Mario inquired as he and Lorne jogged through the maze-like castle.  "You said it had something to do with Velno, right?"

Lorne nodded.  "That's correct.  It's something that Crimson once told me.  This was long ago, while Velno was still alive during Lord Shade's invasion.  When he learned that Velno was still alive, he couldn't believe it.  He told me that Velno's technology was far too obsolete for him to still be alive.  But after he was killed, Crimson used the Resurrection Cannon to bring him back.  The cannon's function is simply to piece the fragments of any of Shade's broken robots back together.  It cannot, however, extend a robot's expiration date.  For example, if Velno died twenty days before his expiration date, he'd have twenty more days to live after he was revived."

"I get it," Mario affirmed.  "You're saying Velno is long past his expiration date, and yet somehow he's still alive."

"Exactly," Lorne replied.  "It's strange...  If Crimson thought he was supposed to die soon, why would he bring Velno back with the Resurrection Cannon?  More importantly, why would Crimson put a robot who was supposed to expire in charge of such an enormous operation?  I can't seem to figure it out."

"And you think we'll find the answer inside of the room Velno told you to stay out of?"

"Yes.  There's no doubt in my mind."  Lorne stopped at an old wooden door.  It had many dents and chips, and a sign that said 'Keep Out' was posted on it.  "Here we are.  Are you ready, Mario?  I've got a bad feeling in my gut."

Mario nodded firmly.  "It's time to find out the truth."

His hand trembling, Lorne slowly gripped the doorknob.  He gently turned it and pushed the wooden door open.  The door creaked open, and Mario and Lorne stepped inside.  The smell of corpses quickly filled their noses.  Mario and Lorne gasped in horror at what they saw.  They were inside of a narrow, dimly lit hallway with a low ceiling.  Hanging from each wall were dozens of dead bodies- many of them decrepit and disfigured.

"What... what is this?!" Mario exclaimed, his face pale with horror.  "All of these corpses... Why would he be keeping them here?"

Lorne walked down the corridor, looking both ways in an attempt to identify the bodies.  Mario followed him silently.  Lorne stopped dead in his tracks.  He gasped.  His arm quivering with fear, he pointed to a familiar dead body hanging from the wall.  "It's... Hunter..."

"But I buried him!" Mario shouted, his rage growing by the second.  "Why would Velno go to the trouble of digging him up?!"  As they proceeded, Mario found another familiar face.  "Vetis... the leader of the demons we fought in the Nightmare Vault.  What is he doing here?  And Bowyer, too..."

Lorne's eyes widened as they noticed a few empty spots on the wall.  They were labeled 'Lorne', 'Slade', 'Glaive', 'Ace', 'Luigi', and 'Mario'.  "It looks like he's planning to add a few of us to his collection... What could he want with all of these bodies?  It doesn't make any sense..."

"Could he be using them to somehow preserve his own life?" Mario wondered aloud.  "Many of these corpses have missing body parts and look like they've been torn apart...  This is sickening..."

"That could be possible, considering what Velno truly is," Lorne began.  "He was an experimental creation.  Shade wanted to know what would happen if we took a human and replaced all of his organs with mechanical parts.  When he attacked Brooklyn, he captured an innocent human and ordered the experiment to be conducted on him.  The man was turned into a machine that could consume others and steal their energy in order to become stronger.  He was then covered in horrifying armor that gave him the appearance he has today.  However, Crimson said that the mechanics behind his creation were poor, and the creature's life was directly tied to the human that it was made out of.  The human's body was supposed to rot in only a few months.  Somehow, Velno has managed to live much longer."

"Then these corpses...  He couldn't possibly..." Mario muttered in disbelief.  As they moved to the end of the hallway, they reached one of Velno's first victims.  It was then that Mario caught a glance of something he never should have seen.  He stared in disbelief at the woman hanging from the wall.  His body trembling with shock, terror, and rage, Mario identified the corpse as the woman he murdered with his own two hands.  "Pauline..."

Quivering with rage, Mario understood everything at once.  "VELNO!" he screamed with pure rage, storming past Lorne toward the room Luigi had instructed him to go to.  The final battle was about to begin, and there was no turning back.

[shadowmarioguy]

Chapter 28: Sacrifice

Mario said nothing as he sprinted through the desolate castle toward Velno's location.  His fists were clenched, and beads of sweat were dripping down his face.  Velno... if I find out that it was you who caused me all of this pain... I'm going to tear you to shreds...  At last, he came to a staircase that spiraled downward into a black abyss.  The plumber furiously descended, eager to learn the truth from Velno.  His feet pounded on the steps as he made his way down, finally arriving in a cave-like corridor.  Noting that this part of the castle was entirely new to him, he followed the hallway until he emerged in a cavern of solid brownish red rock.

Velno Confrontation

"Welcome, Mario.  You're a bit late," Velno greeted him with wicked sarcasm.  "What kept you?  Your friends tried to team up on me, but they were easy to subdue with your brother's Inner Darkness."  He pointed to three glass chambers attached to the wall.  Trapped inside of them were Luigi, Ace, and Glaive. A thin purple mist flowed into the chambers through a series of tubes.  The captives' eyes were pale and lifeless.  At the opposite end of the room, the Star Rod was wedged into the ground beside a swirling purple vortex.  It wouldn't be long before the Nexus was open.

"What did you do to them?!" Mario demanded through clenched teeth.

"I used the Inner Darkness that we extracted from your brother.  Right now, they are trapped in their own bodies.  They can still see and think, but their bodies are completely paralyzed.  Soon, they will forget who they are and become mindless, sinister dolls," Velno explained with glee.  "You can save your friends from this torture.  You can save yourself from being killed by them sometime in the future.  All you have to do is murder them now, and they'll no longer be a threat to you.  Go right ahead.  I won't stop you."

"Shut up!" Mario thundered.  "I'll find a way to save them, right after I deal with you!"

"You're always so merciful.  You never want to kill anyone if you don't have to.  But on that rare occasion that you do resort to murder, it darkens your soul and sends you into a state of confusion.  The evil within you begins to grow, and you start to question who you are.  Remember your fight with Lord Shade?  You tried so hard to spare him, but he refused to change his ways and left you with no choice but to kill him.  Think back to a more recent battle.  Hunter died after you fought him.  So what if he killed himself?  Your fight with him ultimately led to his suicide.  What about all the demons you've slaughtered?  Did you even once consider their feelings?  They used to be just like you, until they were sealed away in the Nightmare Vault.  You can slay a demon without a second thought, but the moment you learned that Slade was a human you refused to kill him.  And why should that matter?  It's been that way for thousands of years.  The Olympians sealed the demons away forever in the Nightmare Vault, leaving them to die in a brutal civil war."

Mario vs. Velno

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Mario exploded, finally succumbing to his rage.  He sprinted forward and threw his strongest right hook at his opponent.  Velno blocked the attack with his forearm, and the two locked into a fierce standoff as they pushed against each other with all of their might.

Velno grinned.  "Don't you see?  You may think that you're different, that refusing to kill humans sets you apart from everyone else, but you're just like all the others.  If you can demonize someone, it instantly becomes okay to kill him.  Your definition of a 'demon' simply differs from most other humans."

"What do you know?" Mario shot back, throwing a left punch at Velno's face.  The cyborg leapt backward and fired a yellow ray from his arm.  Mario rolled to the side and hurled a Fireball at Velno, who performed a wall-kick to dodge the blast.  He zoomed directly at Mario and fell victim to a devastating Thunder Punch that sent him tumbling into the rock wall.  The plumber pursued his foe with another punch, but Velno evaded the attack.  Instead, Mario's fist smashed into the wall.

"You should really try to calm down," Velno snickered.  "You'll never hit me if you're too irate to focus."

"Me?  I'm calm.  Calm enough to tear your head off without staining my gloves!" the plumber retorted, furiously charging at Velno.  The cyborg caught his next punch, but Mario followed with a left uppercut that connected with Velno's jaw.  As he staggered backward, Velno launched another yellow beam from a pistol built into his palm.  The ray struck Mario's shoulder, tearing off part of his sleeve and leaving a minor bruise.  Velno followed up with several more yellow blasts, all of which Mario deflected by creating a shield of ice.  As he closed in on Velno, Mario created a Flaming Sword and prepared to cut his foe to bits.

"Such a primitive technique," Velno sneered as he swatted the blade away.  In one swift motion, he sliced across Mario's chest with his razor-sharp claws, leaving three minor cuts.  Mario reeled backward, clutching his bleeding chest.  He lunged forward and performed a roundhouse-kick that connected with the creature's face.  Mario prepared to follow up with a right hook, but Velno caught his arm before it made contact and tossed the plumber aside.

Mario sprang to his feet and stared into his opponent's eyes.  "I still don't understand why you're doing this.  You used to be a human, but you were turned into a robot by Lord Shade's scientists.  Now, years later, you're caught up in some elaborate scheme to wreak havoc in this kingdom.  Your goal is to open the Nexus Gate and create a passage that demons can use to travel into this world at their leisure.  Why?  What could you possibly have to gain from this operation?  What would you benefit from if hordes of demons were released into this world to destroy everything as we know it?  What do you get out of all of this?!"

"You could never understand," Velno responded coldly.

"You get... NOTHING," Mario screamed as he rushed up to Velno with breathtaking speed and unleashed a blow that contained all of his rage compressed into a single punch.  A faint red aura surrounding his fist, the plumber punched through the cyborg's chest, shattering part of Velno's armor.

Velno Confrontation

"Now you'll see... who I truly am..." Velno whispered.  He burst into insane laughter as his armor began to crack and fall apart, revealing the horrifying creature within.

Mario gasped in horror as he pulled his fist away from Velno's chest.  Before him stood a man with long black hair and cold, piercing black eyes.  His body was covered in scars, and his skin was warped and disfigured in many different areas.  Several different skin tones covered his entire body, and Mario even recognized some of his features.  He immediately knew that his suspicions were true.  "I can't believe you'd sink so low..."

"I believe you questioned my motives," Velno stated icily.  "You have no idea what it was like.  You haven't experienced the horror of being blinded as all of your organs are slowly removed.  All of my senses were gone, but I still felt alive.  I stayed in that void of darkness for hours, not able to see, not able to hear, not able to think; I could only remember that I still existed.  Somehow, I knew I was still alive.  The moment I awakened, I found a pair of red eyes gleaming down upon me.  Crimson had modified my programming to ensure that I obeyed only him.  So the moment I could think for myself, I ran away from Lord Shade.  I escaped into Brooklyn.

"Even though I had been transformed into a machine, some of my human instincts remained.  The instinct to survive burned deep within my heart, and so I searched for a way to live.  Originally being a human, I found that I could use the bodies of other humans to restore youth to my own.  It was like putting makeup on.  I would remove the flesh from another's body and add it to my body.  However, the surgical procedure that turned me into a cyborg made it impossible for my cold, nonliving flesh to merge with a living human's.  I found that I gained the best results from corpses, and the skin from young females seemed to last the longest."

"Young females..." Mario whispered.  "Young females... like Pauline...?"

Velno nodded, an evil grin spreading across his face.  "If that's what your girlfriend was called, then yes.  I attacked you on that night in order to obtain Pauline's body, which was ideal for preserving my life.  You were a bit stronger than I had expected, so I retreated into the sewers of Brooklyn for a while.  In time, I learned that you had accidentally killed Pauline at the end of my attack.  So I made my way to her grave, dug up her body, and used her corpse to preserve my own youth.

"Before long, I had quite the collection!  I stored all of the corpses in the sewers of Brooklyn, where no one dared to venture because of rumors of a man-eating beast- which was me, by the way.  In time, I grew bored of my struggle for survival.  I wanted to seek revenge on my creator and reunite with Crimson.  That's when I discovered the pipe that led to the Mushroom Kingdom.  When I emerged in Forever Forest, we had our first encounter in several years.  After a brief skirmish, I retreated to hide my precious corpses.  I buried them underground in an obscure area of Forever Forest.  Just as I suspected, no one discovered my collection.  Remember when I chased Metal Mario into Forever Forest not too long ago?  After I devoured him and defeated you, I left because I said that I had something to take care of.  Do you know what I was doing?  I was digging up my corpses so that I could move them into Mushroom Castle.  Does it all make sense now?  I have preserved my existence for years by stealing the flesh of dead humans!  And I don't plan on dying anytime soon!"

"You're really sick..." Mario whispered, gritting his teeth to hold back his temper.  "...This time, I'll make sure that I shatter more than just your armor..."

"Really?  I admire your bravery, but be warned: this is my original, strongest form," Velno informed his opponent.  "I may look human, but I'm still a machine on the inside.  I still have all of Metal Mario's data, which means I know all about your fighting style and attacks.  Can you say the same about your knowledge of me?"

Mario vs. Velno

Velno raised his right arm, and a Fireball erupted from his palm.  Mario used an Iceball to cancel it out and dashed toward his enemy.  Just as he was only a few feet from his target, Velno froze a portion of the ground with an Iceball.  The sprinting plumber immediately lost his balance and slipped directly into one of Velno's Thunder Punches, sending him soaring backward into the rocky wall.  With a loud thud, Mario bounced off the wall and landed face-down on the ground.

He struggled to his feet and stared at Velno, who was confidently making his way toward him.  Those attacks...  He used a Fireball, Iceball, and Thunderball...  Metal Mario's data even allows him to copy my moves?

"Pretty nifty, huh?" Velno sneered.  "I can mimic every technique recorded in Metal Mario's database."

"Just great," Mario groaned, preparing to continue his struggle.  "Looks like I'll have to step up my game a bit."

Is he planning to transform? Glaive wondered, lifelessly watching the battle.  This sucks...  All we can do is sit back and watch Mario handle everything on his own...  I can't take it anymore!  I want to fight alongside him!

"Tri-Elemental Form!" Mario bellowed as his body lit up with a splendiferous rainbow of colors.  Vivid lights flashed from his body, and Velno shielded his eyes from the aura's brilliance.  I don't know if that voice inside of my head is going to start acting up or not, so I'd better get the job done quickly!  He charged forward at Velno, leaving a rainbow trail behind him.  Gathering all of his might into one punch, Mario threw a bone-breaking right hook at Velno's face.

"This is the technique that defeated Lord Shade?" Velno inquired, unimpressed.  In his right palm, he had caught Mario's fist before it struck him.  Mario broke free and threw a fierce series of punches and kicks, all of them aimed at the cyborg's face.  Each and every blow was blocked by the cold and calculating Velno, who immediately ended the combo by striking Mario's chest with a devastating uppercut.  As the plumber soared upward in agony, Velno performed and roundhouse-kick that sent him tumbling onto the floor.

"This doesn't look good..." Mario muttered, coughing up a mouthful of blood.  "But my Tri-Elemental Form still has plenty of time!"  His confidence was shattered Velno sprinted up to him at record-breaking speeds and grabbed him by the throat.  Holding him up with one hand, Velno nailed the plumber in the stomach with a series of fierce right hooks.  Mario writhed in pain, coughing up blood as he struggled to break free of the maniacal machine's grasp.

"You should see how pathetic you are," Velno spat, slamming Mario into the rock-solid ground and kicking him into the wall.

Bro, how are you going to get out of this one?  All three of us are trapped, Velno is picking you apart, and time is running out.  What are we going to do? Luigi thought, powerless to stop Velno.  I... I have to find a way to help...

"Why do I always get myself into these messes?" Mario chuckled weakly as he forced himself into a battle stance.  "Velno wasn't lying...  He knows all of my moves, and he can predict almost anything I do because of the data from Metal Mario...  Wait a minute...  If Metal Mario hasn't seen it, maybe Velno won't be able to counter it!"  His rainbow aura still flowing from his body, Mario prepared to use his trump card.

"And just what do you think you can do?" Velno inquired smugly.  "There's nothing about you that I don't already know.  And I owe it all to Metal Mario."

"That's what you think!" Mario retorted, electric sparks radiating from his body as he charged at Velno.  His right fist began to burn with a bright red flame as he gathered energy for his Final Smash.

"Do you really think I didn't know about that little attack of yours?" Velno cackled, unleashing a colossal red annihilator beam from the pistols in his palms.

Mario gasped in horror, unable to slow down as he dashed straight toward the blast.  It was too late.  His attack would be wasted on getting rid of Velno's beam.  He leapt into the air and put all of his might into his last hope- his Final Smash.  "Nova Strike!" the plumber howled, unleashing a flaming punch that sent hundreds of wind bullets toward the blast.  Velno's annihilator beam was no match for the attack, and quickly evaporated under the stress of Mario's attack.  "......Double!" he continued, spinning around in mid-air to keep his momentum going strong.

"Double?!" Velno wheezed in shock as Mario brought his left fist forward and struck Velno, performing a second Nova Strike with his free hand!  Velno let out screams of pure anguish as he was pummeled by thousands of brutal wind bullets created by Mario's fierce punch.

Mario fell to his hands and knees, both of his fists bruised and bleeding.  Maybe I overdid it a little...  It's too bad...  I was planning on dedicating both of those Nova Strikes to Velno, but I had to waste one on countering his annihilator beam.

His body covered with blood and gashes, Velno staggered forward.  "Impressive...  You were planning it all along...  The power of your Tri-Elemental Form plus the impact of two consecutive Nova Strikes...  I'm lucky that I was able to stop at least one of them with my blast.  It saved my life."

Mario's eyes widened with terror.  "You mean...?  You can still fight...?"

In only a few moments, Velno regained his composure and stepped forward as though nothing had happened.  His eyes narrowed, and his voice grew deep and hateful.  "For all the damage you've caused me, I'm going to make you suffer like never before..."  He dashed forward and kicked the exhausted Mario.

The plumber landed on his back, and his Tri-Elemental Form slowly faded away.  Breathing heavily, Mario remained motionless as he tried to regain his strength.  How much longer can I keep this up...?

All of his techniques have been proven useless...  Where does Mario go from here? Ace thought, frantic to discover a way to regain control of his body.  This is a fate worse than death...  I'm forced to be a prisoner in my own body as I watch Mario take the beating of his life!  I can't stand it anymore!

Mario placed his trembling palms on the ground and, with great effort, pushed himself up to his feet.  "I'm out of ideas... I don't... have anything... left..."

Sacrifice

"Why don't you just accept your failure?  This battle is over.  There's nothing left for you to do," Velno assured him.  "You can't beat someone who knows everything about you.  Though you put up a good fight, you can never succeed."

Mario glanced over to the chambers in which Luigi, Ace, and Glaive were imprisoned.  His eyes widened.  "That's it...  Velno, you once said that your master wanted to create an opponent that was superior to me.  He sent Metal Mario after me to study my moves and abilities, and then you absorbed him and took over from where Metal Mario left off.  You know all of my moves, and you can even mimic them.  Your master succeeded.  He managed to create the ultimate opponent for me to face."

"Where are you going with this?" Velno asked, uninterested.  "Are you finally admitting defeat?"

Mario grinned.  "Your data makes you superior to me in every way.  It's a fact.  But what if you were fighting someone other than me, such as those three guys over there?"

Velno followed Mario's stare to the chambers that restrained Luigi, Ace, and Glaive.  After a moment, he began to laugh at the thought.  "Brilliant plan.  And just how are they going to regain control of their bodies?"

Mario's grin widened as a tear dripped down his cheek.  "It's simple.  You're controlling their bodies, but they can still see everything that's going on.  If they experience a great enough shock, I have a feeling their bodies will snap back into reality.  You should never underestimate their will.  I've been fighting alongside them for a while now, and I know firsthand how strong their resolve can be.  All that I need to do is cause a great enough trauma for them to find the motivation to break free."  He stepped forward, his fists clenched.

"You're not really planning to...?" Velno wondered aloud, his pompous grin turning into a puzzled frown.  "Are you really going to go that far just because you have a hunch that it will work?"

Mario nodded.  "It'll work.  Trust me.  If they experience enough emotional shock, they'll snap right back to reality.  And that emotional shock... will be witnessing my death."  His sapphire eyes lit with determination as the cave shook with a fierce rumble; the Nexus Gate would soon be open.  Chunks of rock began to collapse from the ceiling as the shaking grew stronger.  Even as the cavern began to crumble around them, the two warriors remained motionless as they stared into each other's eyes.

Luigi's face remained emotionless.  However, deep inside his heart, he was crying.  Bro!  You can't do it!  You're always the one who saves the day!  You can't put everything on our shoulders, and you can't let yourself die!  Please, reconsider this!

Glaive silently acknowledged his ally's bravery.  Mario...  What honor...  He knows he can't win, so he's passing down the torch to us...

Mushroom Hero

Mario walked toward Velno without any signs of fear or doubt.  "So, let's resume our little match.  Of course, we both know what the result will be- unless you're afraid to kill me, that is."  He sprinted up to Velno, leapt into the air, and attempted to kick the cyborg in the head.  Velno caught his foot and tossed him aside.  The Mushroom Hero nimbly rolled to his feet and charged at his foe once again.

He's going all-out without any fear of death, Glaive observed.  He's allowing himself to die, but he refuses to go down without a fight.  I want to look away...  I don't want to witness his death... But I must...  I must honor his sacrifice as he fights with everything he has, even though he has no chance of survival.

Mario!  You mustn't do it! Ace shouted from within the depths of his soul.  You can't sacrifice yourself!  You're our only hope!

Velno parried Mario's assault and retaliated with a combo of devastating punches and kicks.  As the floor was stained with Mario's blood, the sound of the plumber's cracking bones could be heard.  The robot ended the beating with a vicious knee to Mario's gut, sending him rolling onto the ground with a scream of agony.  Battered and beaten, the Mushroom Hero stood up and prepared for more.  He refused to die without a struggle.

A tear formed in the corner of Luigi's eyes.  Bro... You don't have to sacrifice yourself for us.  Just give me some time!  I'll find another way to break free!  I swear it!  Please, don't die just to give us a reason to break free...  If only I wasn't so helpless...  I always need you to help me in some way; I can never do anything on my own!  Even now, I'm among the only ones who can save you, but I can't break free without you holding my hand every step of the way!  It isn't fair!  Why can't I find the strength to come to your aid?!

Glaive's body began to tremble.  We've done so much up to this point...  Mario...  I can't believe that it all came down to this...  Isn't there any other way...?

Mario stepped forward, his fists clenched.  Tears streaming down his cheeks, he sprinted at Velno one final time, his body emanating with a blue aura of determination.  With one final smile, he glanced at his restrained allies for the last time.  With his heartbreaking farewell over, he stared directly into Velno's eyes as he drew closer and closer...  Velno nodded solemnly as his hand jerked forward...

Misery

Time seemed to move in slow motion.  The room was silent.  A fountain of blood sprayed into the air as Mario's body soared backward.  He seemed to hover in the air for a short time before collapsing onto his back with a lifeless thud.  Blood flowed from an open gash on his left breast.  In no time, the plumber was lying on his back in a pool of blood.  Velno stared at the body lying lifelessly before him, as if he was questioning his actions.

"The Demonic Trials have ended.  The challenger has failed," Velno whispered softly.

Glaive, Ace, and Luigi stared at Mario's corpse for several minutes, the color of their eyes gradually returning.  They stood motionless, as if confused by the results of Mario's struggle.  Never before had they ever imagined what it would be like to experience their hero's death.  To them, he was an invincible beacon of hope.  At last, his mortality became clear to them, and they began to view the horrors Mario had been through in an entirely different light.

The room erupted with a fierce crackling.  The Star Rod's golden brilliance faded to a lifeless gray, as if symbolizing Mario's death.  It clattered to the floor, and the purple vortex beside it expanded across the entire wall.  Their time was up.

The glass chambers shattered, and tears streamed down the heroes' cheeks- tears of blood.