Lucad: Again, I need to read your reviews, and I thank Fyras14 for giving a short yet encouraging review.
Please keep those reviews/criticisms coming.
Mario and co. belong to Nintendo.
EDIT (6/7/2009): I edited a few things, some in favor of the next chapter. Please note these differences to avoid confusion.
- Chapter Two: The New Enemy -
"Here, Master Mario," Toadsworth told the suffocating plumber as he handed him a glass of slightly unclean water. "I must apologize for not giving you anything more suitable, but the castle's water supply has been affected by the fire," he continued in an excuse. The old Toad just came from Peach's bathroom and took water from the bathroom's faucet.
The place was an inferno in terms of temperature, though it was dark...only illuminated in a red-orange glow by the huge fire outside the room. Toadsworth had a hard time navigating through the blazing hot pathways in the princess' room, mostly due to both the temperature and lack of light. Peach, who was beside Mario at that time, took the glass of water and placed its rim in between Mario's lips, enabling him to drink.
She and Toadsworth were parched from sweating, and it felt like they were inside a colossal oven. They needed to prioritize Mario to quench his thirst first, though, since he was evidently in a bad condition at the moment.
"What is with Bowser, anyway!?" Peach, showing a side that was rarely seen, angrily asked to Toadsworth, who flinched at Peach's sudden outburst, as Mario started to drink. "He needs to stop doing these horrible things once in awhile! Could he even picked a worse time than this!? The people are suffering because of him. And I can't do a damn thing about it..." she added, her voice getting weaker from helplessness.
She was tired of being helpless. She wanted to do something.
Toadsworth was not able to answer.
The plumber drank all that he can manage, and was able to speak in a weak voice. "Peach...I just found out that...it was not Bowser who...did this..." Mario told the princess, pauses in between his speech.
"What!?" Toadsworth exclaimed, surprised at Mario's previous statement. Peach was equally shocked, clearly expressed through her face.
This expression then turned into realization, and then fear.
"W-Who is doing this then!?" Peach asked, her voice shaking. It was unnerving to know that someone else was causing trouble. Someone Peach was not familiar to.
Apparently, Mario was the same. "I have no idea. I saw a peculiar shadow on the castle hall on the second floor..." he muttered. "Between the flames..."
He remembered that particular incident. On the way to Peach's room, Mario was running, jumping, evading the flames, going up stairs, busting through partially burnt doors. He didn't care to glance the surroundings, for his veins had adrenaline running through them. The second floor hall caught his attention though. It was completely ablaze, the sound of burning that surrounded him blocking his ears. The ceiling reflected the color of the fire, warm colors, red, yellow, and orange. It looked like a sea of flames, with smoke coming out of it. The old color of the castle was hard to remember, the other parts that were not burning were simply as gray as ash.
He was almost blind from the flashing caused by the flames, and then something caught his attention. A shaded figure, which is bizarre, for it was supposed to at least have features in Mario's eyes, with light extremely near the figure, but it had no characteristics whatsoever. Only its silhouette is shown. As Mario curiously gazed upon the shadow, other countless figures appeared from literally out of nowhere, having the same features, though noticeably smaller in size. After what felt like a split second, the silhouettes vanished from Mario's sight, which urged him to continue on.
"But c-couldn't it have b-been Bowser!?" she interrupted, her voice still trembling. This ceased Mario's trail of thoughts. "N-no one can withstand...or even create flames besides him..."
"I'm afraid not...Peach..." Mario spoke, volume almost comparable to a whisper. "The silhouette *cough* had a different form. No horns, no shell...or anything that is similar to Bowser, only what seems to be a cloak of some sort, and hair that flows out from the top of his head," the coughing plumber continued to speak. "He looked like he had a lot of minions, too."
"This is unfortunate," Toadsworth mumbled, he, too, shaking in fear. "What if this new villain had plans a lot more awful than Bowser's?"
Peach desperately tried to hide her frightened expression. "Don't worry, Toadsworth," she tentatively assured the old Toad. "I'm sure we'll be fine."
Mario tried to speak again, noticeably hindered to do so by the room's temperature. "I *cough* told Luigi to come," he spoke, remembering his brother. "He must be in the castle, right now, looking for us. Knowing his nature, he'd be carrying useful stuff that would aid us."
Peach was glad to hear that there was still hope. "I do hope he succeeds in finding us," Peach began. "And I hope he would be careful, Mario, or else he might fail in giving you what would heal your condition, being the klutz he is."
Mario smiled, humored at Peach's claims about his younger brother. "You should have a little more faith in my brother."
Luigi was oblivious that two people were talking about him at the moment. He was panting, the inferno and severe heat getting to him.
"Argh, this place is *cough* as hot as hell," he grumbled, complaining about the excessive heat emitted by the flames that surround him. "I do hope Peach and bro *cough* survive this heat."
He had inhaled enough smoke for him to go coughing, and that's not a good sign.
The courtyard was evidently a tough place to go through, it being grassy. Almost every patch of grass that you can find there was burning, the trees were similarly in flames, the river unable to do anything. The sky was gray from the smoke, and that made it even harder. But he was able to pull it off, Flutter Jumping over the flames, towards the river. Him splashing on the river and damping up his clothes were a good thing, though, because it made him withstand the flames on the first floor at the castle. Here at the second floor, though, the flames were enough to dry him.
"Oh man..."
He was definitely situated in an unpleasant location. The flames looked like they could engulf Luigi in seconds, and it almost seemed as if there was nothing he could do. But he was so close to Peach's room. The door was only a short distance from him, only flames as tall as walls separating him from it.
"I need to get to them," he said to himself. "Here we go!"
He then attempted to do a Flutter Jump, hoping that he could flutter over the flames like he did on the courtyard. He was able to do so, but it burnt parts of his overalls in the process.
"Uwaaaaah!" he howled as the flames burnt him. He was lucky to get past the flames, and landed on burnt platform with the door in front of him.
"Hey!" he called as he hit the door with his fists multiple times. "Open this door!" he continued to yell. "It's me, Luigi!"
He noticed that no one was answering, moreover, opening the door.
"Come ON! I don't have time for this!" he shouted as he continued to hit the door. After some time, he was tired of hitting the door.
"What is going on there!?" he tried to ask, loud enough for anyone on the other side of the door to hear. No one answered.
He thought of a way to barge in. He kicked the door, but that didn't work. He touched the door, and noticed that it was freezing cold. It seemed as if the whole door was made of ice. That's crazy. How the heck would a door be as cold as this when the whole place is literally an inferno?
This made him worry more about what is happening to his brother and the princess.
Nevertheless, it made him think of a way to get through. He thought that he could melt the edges, and THEN kick it open. He put his worries aside, thought hard, and remembered. If he can control fire through fire flowers, then he can surely wield the fire that was behind him. He took his gloves off and placed his bare palms in front of the roaring fire. It stung, the burning sensation hurting like heck.
He then felt something, and saw his clothes changing color, green turning white and blue turning green. He then turned around, created a ball of green fire on his hands and threw it at the corner of the door. This made the part of the door melt, and he knew his plan was working.
Luigi, now wearing a white shirt, cap and green overalls, smirked. "Oh yeah."
As he continued to create green fireballs and blast them at the edges, he heard voices, turning louder as more holes are created through the door.
There were two voices. One was familiar, and he knew it was Princess Peach's. Then he heard a sinister masculine voice. Luigi stopped what he was doing and focused on the conversation.
"Surrender, or get your beloved ones killed," the sinister voice continued, it sounding menacing. "Which is your choice, princess?"
"I..." Peach's voice began, trembling in fear. "...sur...rend..."
"DON'T!" Luigi suddenly heard his brother's voice, Mario, yell.
Luigi then saw through the holes...the scene before him. It was dark in the room. Nothing was stirring on the near side of it. Across the room, Toadsworth was lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Mario was on the ground, too, his whole body covered in soot. Peach was standing, looking paralyzed. The being, who was apparently the one causing the incident, looked like a Duplighost, but different to normal ones, somehow. His brother continued to talk, looking like he was attempting to stand up.
"I will NOT allow you to kidnap Peach, or take over her kingdom!" Mario threatened. "You have to get through me, first!"
"Do not underestimate me," the shady figure answered, looking at the plumber. "Allow me to prove my point."
He spread his arms wide, and in seconds, a huge pillar of fire and ice formed between him and Mario. He then dropped his arms, the pillar vanishing as quick as it appeared
The red clad plumber looked dumbfounded.
"Do you wish to suffer in my own hands!?" the figure glared at him.
Luigi felt like he needed to do something. Quick. He then charged a fireball, kicked the door open, catching everyone except the unconscious Toadsworth's attention. He quickly threw the fireball at the Duplighost looking creature.
The fireball dissolved seconds before it hit the creature. It seems that the creature detected his fireball.
The creature turned around, revealing an intimidating face. It was a Duplighost's face, but it looked more intimidating. Its eyes were almost the same as the normal Duplighost's, albeit being red in color. It had a silver cloak of some sort, a crooked mouth with fangs, long red-orange hair on top of its head, and clawed feet in a huge contrast to the normal Duplighost's habit of wearing footwear.
Mario and Peach were evidently surprised to see Luigi at the time, unable to utter a word.
"I have to ask," he spoke. "Did you honestly think that a mere fireball would have an effect on Duke, king of kings, and the strongest Duplighoul!?" he shouted at Luigi. He then approached the unconscious Toadsworth.
"Then again, I guess you haven't seen everything," he spoke in a calm manner.
Duke suddenly turned into a gaseous form, and went inside Toadsworth's mouth. The unconscious old Toad opened his eyes, now red.
Toadsworth stood up, held his glasses and shattered them. He then looked at Luigi, and made a sinister smile. "You might have encountered the inferior versions of us in the past, and you have seen their abilities. But you haven't seen everything. I am at the strongest when I put beings under my curse...or as some of you might say, possess beings."
He then raised his staff, slowly developing a dark aura surrounding it. A massive sphere of dark aura was formed, slowly getting bigger as Duke continued to charge it.
"Brace yourself."
Sorry if this chapter was shorter than the first.
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