DRIFTING
A Rosalina & Geno fanfic
By DinahMaryann Ranieri
It had been months since Rosalina and her Lumas sailed the cosmos in peril of the conquering race of Shroobs, and the Galactic Queen had worn herself ragged trying desperately to keep her Observatory ship safe from harm's way.
Still, even as she sailed the boundless skies, her heart pounded with the fear of a Pulsar. She knew that any moment, the pruple-spotted flying saucers could emerge from the dark abyss and claim their victory against her.
The cosmic Queen mourned the many losses of her adopted Star Children to this horrid race of aliens. Never before had she felt so desperate, so somber.
So alone.
A lone tear ran down her cheek, obscured by her bang which covered half of her face.
Perhaps it was for the best, as she did not want her little Lumas to see their Mother falter.
The Lumas.
She had to see how they were doing.
She had the remainder of them locked away in the Storytelling Room with a good ration of Star Bits for food.
She realized that it would be best to stay outside and remain vigilant instead. She prayed and hoped for something to aid her in this struggle. She paced the floor of her destroyed Lobby, and looked at the viewscreen, which had been cracked in one of their encounters.
Memories of her good friend Polari hovering beside her and making jokes as she watched Mario roam her large Observatory. She wished Polari could be here to make her laugh. She knew it was impossible, and kicked a piece of metal in frustration.
The powerless Observatory had a gloom about it that one could compare to Kingfin's Galaxy ever since the Shroobs had made off with the Power Stars that fueled it. At this point, the Observatory had slowed to a crawl, and was entirely dependent on Rosalina's magic to simply maintain Gravity.
She could not falter. She would not; for her Lumas' sakes.
The air was cold and desperate, as the small bits of plant life died in the Vacuum of space. A reminder of the evil that was the Shroobs.
That Princess especially.
Princess Shroob had laughed at Rosalina when she wailed as her Lumas were gunned down trying to protect her against the previous assault. The memory made Rosalina's lip quiver and a sob escape.
She was broken, to be sure. She was unsure, however how she could ever self-repair from the horrors.
A small spark of light came down from the sky and landed on her Lobby.
She immediately readied herself for battle. This was it. She would go down protecting those whom she loved, as a Mother would.
The spark of light seemed to take an odd shape, akin to that of a Marionette, in fact. When the light dimmed, it was in fact, a puppet with a blue pointed hat with an odd crank design on the front, obscured by his red strands of hair upturned. He wore a blue cape with yellow inner fabric and a high collar. His piercing red eyes seemed to stare through Rosalina.
She was both confused and terrified at this odd being that stood before her.
Was it yet another of the Shroobs' tricks? She would not take the chance. Immediately, she sent a blast of energy towards the blue puppet, in the hopes of annihilating him.
It would appear she had become weaker than she initially thought, as the puppet shrugged off the blast as if it were an annoying breeze.
Rosalina struggled to stand, and felt her knees themselves buckle. She had mustered the last of her energy into that attack, and it was worthless. The Cosmic Queen's vision had become blurred, and her head as light as the nebula itself. She collapsed forward, and was caught quickly by the puppet, much to her surprise.
He gently lowered her down to the floor and removed his cape, and put it beneath her head for support. He was surprised at how resilient this woman was. She had many visible wounds on her shoulders alone, some scarred, some fresh with blood. Her eyes were bloodshot from a lack of sleep and many tears.
He wondered if she could hear him still..
"You should rest," he said, his voice filled with compassion. "you cannot go on this way, Milady."
Rosalina felt a dryness in her throat, but she managed to speak through the pain. "I... I cannot. My Lumas... they..."
"Are fine for the moment." the puppet interjected.
He gently place his hand on her shoulder, keeping her from getting back up. "Please, you must rest. They need you."
"But... what if the Shroobs are to attack?" an immediate concern.
"I will protect you. All of you." the puppet said very confident and reassuringly.
"W-who are you?" Rosalina asked, weakly. "Why are you here?"
"My name is not easily pronounced, but you can call me 'Geno' for simplicity." The puppet said, smiling. "Do not be alarmed. I am not a puppet, but a powerful being of the cosmos, very much like yourself, though I am from a higher order-the Star Road."
Rosalina realized. The Star Road? Then...
"I heard your prayers for aid." Geno said. "Starlow said I was crazy for wanting to fight the Shroobs, but I could no longer watch you suffer like so, Rosalina. You have touched my heart, and that is not an easy thing to do."
The Cosmic Queen felt a little more relaxed. A state of being that she very much coveted in the last few weeks.
The endless sky was pleasant this time around. The nebula had kept her Observatory obscured from any Shroob scanners, and Geno's presence had allowed her time to recover and regain some of her strength. Soon enough, after a day's rest, she was up and about the ship. The first thing she did was give her Lumas some space to fly around and breathe. Lumas were free-spirited creatures; never meant to spend days in a room.
She was surprised that Geno enjoyed Star Bits, and she enjoyed eating them with him and speaking about their adventures. Even more, he had known and aided Mario, as she had. There was certainly some common ground for conversation between the two of them.
Her Lumas were allowed out of hiding for a temporary time, but with a curfew in place. In this time, the 12 of them were able to aid Rosalina in the reconstruction of the ship. Though, without the Power Stars, Rosalina still had to maintain the ship with her magic, but it was slightly easier this time around. Geno stood beside her and joked with her about how the Shroobs failed to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom in 2 eras, and how they were blowhards with way too much firepower for their own good. For the first time in a Month, the cosmic Queen smiled.
Geno certainly reminded her of Polari in some ways.
Polari.
A sudden sadness swept over Rosalina as a flashback of Polari getting a hole blasted through him by a Shroob laser came in.
Geno noticed her sudden change.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, now somewhat concerned.
Rosalina quickly caught herself. She knew she would need time to move on with her life. "I am sorry." She said. "I... I need to be alone right now is that all right?"
"Oh, sure." Geno said, trying not to make things worse. "Take all the time you need."
Rosalina nodded and walked to the East wing. A couple of Lumas noticed her sad demeanor and wanted to comfort her, but were bounced away by her self-imposed force field. She entered the bedroom and closed the curtains, shutting out the Universe.
The Lumas felt sad for their Mama, but realized that it took human beings much longer to cope with pain, and that they would simply remind her of what she's lost.
Geno shook his head. He wanted to obliterate Princess Shroob and her legions then and there, for what they had done. If only they would come right now, he could do it. He was ready and willing.
Suddenly, a blast.
The Observatory absorbed the hit violently, and shook.
Geno smiled.
Then another blast. And another. And another.
Rosalina came running out from her quarters and yelled at her Lumas to return to the hideaway.
The Lumas refused to leave their mother to deal with this, and formed a very broken ring around the Observatory.
Rosalina looked towards the sky and saw a Myriad of Shroob ships, accompanied by a large one, where Princess Shroob stood on the dock, laughing.
****Translated from Shroob***
"I have found you!" she said in her despicable language. "You thought you could evade me, but my Extra-Sensory scanners picked up lifeforms moving within the open nebula!"
"KILL!" The accompanying Shroobs shouted. "DESTROY!" They chanted these two words repeatedly, and Rosalina felt afraid again. She could not lose more of her Lumas.
"Please, Lumas!" She pleaded, distraught. "Please, go back into hiding!"
The Lumas shook their bodies, as if saying "No" to her.
A Shroob ship flew in close, and one of the Lumas rammed it and span, causing it to bounce into another and explode.
The war was on.
Rosalina erected a temporary force field, and Geno threw a Geno Whirl through seven ships, causing them to swivel downwards and explode.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" Princess Shroob yelled at her Shrooboid minion behind her. "ARM THE CANNONS!"
Geno Blast wiped out half of the fleet as multicoloured beams of light rained down on them from the heavens above.
Rosalina was amazed by his incredible power.
Princess Shroob looked at her failing minions and decided that she would take matters into her own claws.
She beamed herself down onto the ship, through Rosalina's force field, and she stood before her and Geno.
"I will take this observatory for myself and use it to destroy the many galaxies in this sector!" She mused. "I only need you to die first. Do that for me!"
She took out her ray gun and shot towards Rosalina. Geno took the shot and blocked it with his cape. He then extended his arm cannon towards the Shroob monarch.
"Destroy, destroy, destroy." He mocked. "Is that all you bastards know?"
Princess Shroob was visibly irritated by Geno's mockery, and she curled her mouth in disgust at him.
"Face destruction yourselves, then!" He glowed with that light Rosalina remembered. "GENO FLASH!"
He morphed himself into a cannon and blew Princess Shroob's head clean off her body, disintegrating it into the abyss.
Rosalina's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. He truly was powerful.
Geno transformed back into himself, and he spun around and gave the peace sign to Rosalina, symbolizing victory.
The remaining Shroobs panicked and screamed, as they had just lost their leader. They flew in circles and disappeared into the cosmos.
"That's right, you had better run away!" Geno shouted back towards them.
The Lumas flew down and formed a circle around Rosalina and Geno. She counted them all.
"Eleven?" Rosalina said, with dread in her voice. "Where's the twelfth?"
The Lumas started to look around in panic, as well. They did not know.
Rosalina feared the worst, when Geno noticed something orange and blobby caught in the curtains above. "Hey, could that be him?"
He pointed, and Rosalina noticed fairly quickly.
She flew up to the curtains and retrieved the blobby thing, which was in fact the Luma, and his eyes were swirling. The poor thing had suffered a concussion from hitting into the Shroob ship, and the recoil had sent him flying back into the curtain.
Rosalina cradled him and gently flew back down onto the floor.
"He looks all right." Geno said. "Just give him a bit of time to heal."
"Thank you, Geno." Rosalina said endearingly. "For everything."
"It's no trouble." Geno said, as cocky as usual. "After all, what are friends for?"
Rosalina smiled.
"If these guys ever give you trouble again..." Geno began.
"I hope they won't." Rosalina stated. "Though, I'm sure they won't for a while, seeing as their leader is deceased and their army crippled."
"True that." Geno stated. "Well, I need to return to the Star Road, continue my duties as a Guardian of Hopes and Dreams."
"Wait, Geno..." Rosalina called to him. "Do you... think you could stay a little while longer? I may need help repairing the damages."
Geno smirked. "Just wish for it."
"I wish you'd stay a little longer." Rosalina said, a small smile emerging on her, as well.
"Your wish is granted, Milady." Geno said, bowing forward politely and jokingly. "Now, where do we start?"
"The Engine room."
He followed after the Cosmic Queen as she flew towards the top of her Observatory.
For the first time in 5 weeks, Rosalina felt hope and happiness. Perhaps by repairing her Observatory and her relationships with her Lumas, she could repair her broken self.
Meanwhile, the Shroob Kingdom was panicked and in disarray.
The Shroob kingdom was dark and gloomy, as they were themselves.
"So, she failed?" A mysterious dark figure stared down the cowardly Shroobs before it. "I'm not surprised."
The figure resembled Princess Shroob, but was larger, stockier, and fatter, with sharp fangs and larger claws.
" I will destroy that cosmic queen in my sister's stead, then!" The figure said, looking up towards the purple-hazed sky. "I, ELDER PRINCESS SHROOB WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"
Her dark and sinister laughter filled the air, and some of the Shroobs were afraid. Perhaps the news was too much for her to bear. One thing that everyone knew about Shroobs, was that they would never forget, nor forgive.
What would come out of this could only be described as unbridled carnage and catastrophe should she succeed.
All would hope for her to fail.
THE END.