Chapter 4- Boot, Claw and Furious Fists

BOOM! SMACK! CRASH!

Mario skidded backwards, the force of the blow carrying him towards the wall. He bored his heels into the ground, grinding grooves across the once beautiful white marble floor. Instantly he came to a screeching halt.

A battle was ensuing between the saviour of the Mushroom Kingdom and the King of Koopas. And it had hardly begun.

Bowser reared his head back, his snout slightly glowing red. Mario burst forward, his eyes brimming with determination. Suddenly Bowser blasted several balls of explosive flame at the red clad smash bro. Mario blanched and ducked in mid run, as a massive fireball rocketed over his head.

Still running, Mario darted left, dodging another fireball, and somersaulted over a third. Suddenly a speedy fireball came dangerously close to his face, too near to be avoidable by jumping or hammer-smashing. Instantly, Mario's reflexes kicked in and he dropped to his knees and bent back, sliding below the fireball.

Mario bounded of the ground, flipping over a small but fast fireball, and landed lightly on the ground. Almost simultaneously, he ricocheted off the floor, twisting gracefully and dodging a couple of close speeding fireballs. A tremendous BOOM rung through the air as the dodged fireballs slammed into the wall behind, blasting it to pieces.

Mario landed directly in front of Bowser. He back flipped, slamming his foot hard under King Koopa's chin, sending him pin wheeling into the air. Mario landed lightly on the floor and jumped forward, thrusting his foot forcefully into the free falling Bowser, who was sent careening towards the wall.

Bowser slammed into the wall with a bang, sending cracks snaking across it. Suddenly he rebounded off the wall, flying high into the air, and then rocketed towards Mario. Mario blanched and bounded back. Bowser landed fist first on the floor, his large fist smashing deep into the ground with disturbing ease. Instantly he burst forward, as fast as a bullet. Mario sprung off the ground, narrowly avoiding a fast paced punch from Bowser, and landed with his back pressed against the wall behind the main table, which was lined by food.

Bowser may have looked big and burly, but was extremely fast, even though he hardly ever showed his speed.

The King of koopas spun around and pounced at Mario, who quickly kicked off the wall, twisting in mid-air. Bowser tore through the table and smashed through the wall effortlessly, just as Mario landed a couple of metres behind him. Instantly the large wall crumbled and came crashing down on top the main table, sending large clouds of dust flying into the air, almost obscuring the scene completely.

Bowser landed with a thud in the room behind the destroyed wall. Mario could only see his silhouette behind the large cloud of dust.

"Mamamia…" he muttered. Bowser had sure grown more powerful than before.

All of a sudden Bowser burst through the dust, slamming fist first into Mario. The force was tremendous, and Mario could feel pain shoot through his body as he was send flying over one of the long dining tables. He landed heavily on the ground on the other side of the table, skidding a few inches back. Slowly, he got to his feet, his body smarting by the forceful punch.

Instantly he crouched, grabbing the handles of the unhinged doors lying on the floor, and hurled them at Bowser. The doors soared across the air straight towards the King of koopas, who swung one mighty fist around, smashing the first door, and slashed with the other at the second, neatly slicing it into three. Mario lunged forward, catching hold of two cups of tea, and hurled them at Bowser. Bowser snorted, sending puffs of fire blast into the tea cups, making them explode.

Mario didn't give up yet. He placed his hands beneath the large table and, giving an amazing display of strength, sent it toppling into the air along with the food items on it, which all plummeted towards Bowser. Suddenly Bowser let out a mighty uproar, blasting the table and the food back towards Mario. Mario spun, twisted and jumped on the spot, dodging the food items, just as the large table came careening towards him. With a quick flick of his arm, his smashed the table to pieces.

"You like to battle from far, don't you?" Bowser roared, "But I don't think thats gonna happen!"

He opened his mouth impossibly wide. Mario frowned. Was he going to blast fireballs at him again? Mario couldn't be sure. All of a sudden gusts of wind blew across the room and blew into Bowser's mouth, like a vacuum. "Uh oh…" Mario muttered. Bowser was using his vacuum technique!

The next second, he felt himself skid towards Bowser. The chandeliers broke off their support. The tables blew off the ground, along with food items. Debris of shattered walls blew off the ground. All of these flew into Bowser's mouth. Somehow, large objects seemed to minimize before flying into the monstrosities mouth.

With all the strength Mario could muster, he resisted the vacuum of Bowser, and by far he was succeeding. All of a sudden "Whaaaaaaaa! Help! Help! MARIO!" a random voice screamed. It was Luigi!

Just great! Mario had forgotten all about him. Of course he wasn't ready when Bowser started to suck everything into his mouth. Luigi was flying across the air towards Bowser. There was no leverage which he could use to save himself.

Luckily, the Princess and Starlow had escaped.

Mario had to save Luigi. Without wasting any time, Mario launched himself forward. He hurtled past Luigi and careened straight towards Bowser. But he wasn't sacrificing himself. He had a plan.

Just as he came close enough to Bowser, he stuck out his legs and slammed them hard on the cheeks of king koopa. Bowser hardly cared and continued vacuuming. Mario whipped out his hammer and rammed it into Bowser's mouth. Bowser yelped and tried to spit the hammer out of his mouth. But it had lodged itself there.

Instantly, he opened his mouth larger than ever and started to vacuum again. Mario could feel himself being sucked in towards Bowser's mouth. He had to do something. His hammer still inside Bowser's mouth, he swung it upwards, slamming it hard against the roof of Bowser's mouth. Bowser blanched, stopping his vacuum instantly. Mario bounded back, pin wheeling gracefully, and landed lightly several feet away.

Now to finish this battle. He pocketed his hammer and whipped out a flower. It wasn't an ordinary flower. It had a large red face with several rings of fiery colour in it. It was the fire flower.

This was one of many powerups Mario usually uses in his many adventures, items which temporarily granted him awesome abilities. This one in particular gave him way greater control on fire.

He stuffed it into his mouth. Instantly, he felt tremendous heat build-up in his body. He suddenly felt extremely energetic, like as if he was re-born. He was suddenly engulfed in fire. His clothes changed colour. His overalls suddenly blended to red. His shirt became bright white along with his cap. The trademark 'M' suddenly became fiery red. The fire around him subsided.

"Let's-a-go!" he said, his voice now radiating power. The fire around him subsided. He rocketed towards Bowser at neck-break speeds, who stood dazed at the spot. Mario's fist blazed with fire. He thrust it at Bowser.

KAAAAABBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

A tremendous explosion rung through the air. Bowser was blasted off his feet. He smashed through several walls, shattering them, and finally slammed hard into a final one, shattering it too.

Bowser had lost, again. Mario had won, again. He smiled and triumphantly pumped his fist into the air "Wahoo!" He had saved the day, again.