"Are you sure that your plan will work out?" Nicbot asked his master, as they stood on the mountain´s summit, the Dark Stone hovering between them.
"Come on, has one of my plans ever failed?" Nico asked back, a remote control in his hands.
"Well, you might remember that one plan, with taking over the Mushroom Kingdom. The one nine months ago…" the robot replied.
"THAT one was ruined by some unfortunate events I couldn´t have foreseen, so it doesn´t count. Do you have anything else to say?" the human said and put the remote control into his pocket.
"Well…what about the plans to bury them in the Dark Stone Cave, defeating them in a battle or finish watching the Dr. Mario series?" Nicbot asked.
"They had outside help at the cave, I DID defeat them back in Bowser´s Castle, and you do know how sensitive I am about the last one…" Nico answered.
"That´s why I´m asking," the robot said and chuckled.
"Ugh…let´s discuss this topic never ever again, and wait for them here. They will return to the castle, there is no way that they won´t," Nico said confidently, and created two light blue spheres that he started joggling with.
Mario and Co. reached the mountains summit a few minutes after their battle with Bowser. The King of the Koopas would be knocked out for a while now, so they didn´t have to worry about him. They stood in front of the whirlwind, which would boost Mario and Luigi up to where they assumed Nico retreated to. The heroes looked at each other and nodded, and then Mario and Luigi performed a Spin Jump into the whirlwind. They flew upwards and landed on top of the summit, with their floating friends following.
What they saw were their enemies, the human one joggling with two blue spheres and the robotic one trying to keep a rock in the air by shooting at it. They seemed to have been doing this for a long time now, as they heard Nico counting.
"Ninety-one, ninety-two, ninety-three…" he counted, focused. When he reached 'ninety-nine', Mario spoke up.
"Nico! Stop running away and fight 'til the end this time!" he shouted, causing the human to look at them in surprise and letting the spheres fall to the ground, where they exploded. The human first looked at them, then at the place where his spheres had landed and then at the group again. Nicbot let the rock fall to the ground and looked at them as well.
"Do you know how close I was to breaking my personal record?" Nico asked them angrily.
"I bet as close as you are to being defeated now," Starlow challenged him.
"That´d be an eternity, so probably not. One-hundred was the best I managed to do until now, and now you´ve stopped me from achieving something AGAIN. Do you hate me that much that I am not even allowed to beat myself in my own challenge?" the human replied.
"Well…you still are a villain that is trying to take over everything, and you tried to kill us already, so…I guess that qualifies you as someone we have to stop at all cost. And I guess stopping you from feeling great is a part of that," Dreambert explained.
"Blah blah blah, can we get to business now? I´m tired of waiting, you know," Nicbot complained.
"Oh…right. Well then, Nico and Nicbot, are you ready to fight against us for the last time?" Mario asked them, and the five fighters of them took battle stance.
"Well…" Nico started and took out his remote control," I´d be ready to fight, but if you defeated me, everyone else in the castle would die."
"Are you bluffing right now?" Luigi asked him, sceptical.
"It´s up to you right now: either you go back to the castle in order to stop my surprise from knocking everyone out and then killing them afterwards; or you fight me right now and have the entire population of Pi'illo Island and every visitor, excluding you, killed right away. Oh, and decide quickly, because my surprise is at work NOW," he calmly explained and typed a few buttons on the control.
The heroes wondered if he was joking or not, but Starlow suddenly heard Light Nico´s voice in her mind: "Go to the castle…he is serious…"
Nico seemed to not feel good as she heard their ally speak to her, but he soon recovered from it. The Star Sprite now was certain that he would go as far as to kill an entire population in order to reach his goals.
"Guys! We need to return to the castle!" she yelled at her friends, who looked at her, but then nodded and walked backwards towards the edge of the summit.
"This isn´t over, Nico. We´ll eventually catch up to you again and defeat you for good," Mario said angrily.
"Alright then, but don´t take too long," Nico taunted them by telling them these last words happily and waving at them.
The brothers jumped down again. They were followed by the rest of the group, and they quickly made their way back to the castle again. On the way there, Kamek and Starlow levitated the unconscious Bowser with them and dropped him off behind the castle.
When they ran around the castle, they heard screaming and weaponry firing. They hurried towards the entrance to find sleeping Pi'illos, and as they approached them, Nightmare Orbs left their bodies to hover into the air, just to travel towards Mount Pajamaja. They looked up and saw more of them coming out of the castle.
"What in the world did he send down here to perform all of this?" Kamek wondered.
"I don´t even want to know…" Luigi replied and shivered a bit.
"Enough time wasted! Let´s go in and get rid of that thing, whatever it may be!" Mario told them and ran into the castle, the other ones following him.
When they entered the castle, Dreambert realised what Nico´s surprise was. They saw about everyone, Pi'illos and guests, lying on the ground, sleeping. In the middle of the main hall hovered something very familiar.
A Pi'illodium, larger than the Pi'illodium they had fought a year ago, with three wings each on both its left and right side, turned around and faced them. In the middle of its body were three purple points, on each body segment one, hinting towards its weaponry. It fired a dark blue ray from one of the segments at them, which hit John, causing him to start sleeping. Nico must have modified this Pi'illodium so it fitted his needs.
"No way…that is Pi'illodium PRIME!" Dreambert shouted.
"PRIME? So that basically is the strongest Pi'illodium that exists?" Starlow asked him.
"Unfortunately, yes. Nico must have stolen it in Somnom Woods, after he escaped from us in Nightmare Somnom Woods," the Pi'illo Prince assumed.
"Mission: Accomplished. Next Mission: Destroying Targets," the machine told them, and hovered towards them.
"We have no choice but to fight it. If we let this thing go, a lot of people will die for nothing," Starlow reminded them, and everyone prepared to fight the Pi'illodium.
The Pi'illodium opened the fight with aiming at the heroes, with three purple dots appearing at where it would shoot. The first ones appeared on Mario and Luigi, and the third one on Dreambert. The next ones showed up next to Luigi, on Kamek, and below Starlow. It then changed the angle of its wings, so they all faced forwards, and then opened fire.
Mario and Luigi jumped over the shots aimed at them, while Dreambert dropped down to the ground in order to avoid the third shot. Kamek then created a shield in front of him in order to block the next shot, and the group then went for a counterattack.
Mario took out a Bye-Bye Cannon, in which he and Luigi jumped, just to be copied and shot out into the air. Two copies each and the brothers themselves were launched out of the cannon, with the first three being Mario and his copies and the other three Luigi with his respective ones.
Mario and his clones landed on the top wing on the Pi'illodium´s left side, causing cracks to appear on them. They bounced back into the air after they landed, and Luigi and his clones landed on the wing as well, causing more cracks to appear on it. He and his copies bounced into the air again, where they met with Mario. They then stacked onto each other and started spinning, just to fall down towards the Pi'illodium again. Luigi and his copies were first in line, and one after another, they landed on the damaged wing, the brother at the bottom jumping towards their friends after they landed. They repeated doing this, until Mario landed on the wing as the last attacker, causing it to break completely. The clones disappeared, and Mario and Luigi gave each other a high-five.
While all of this happened, Kamek started summoning his magical shapes and sent them against the Pi'illodium. While the shapes confused and damaged the machine, Starlow and Dreambert fired a love beam at the bottom wing on its right side, destroying it and thereby making it unusable.
"Enemies resisting. More pressure needed…" the Pi'illodium said, and shifted into its Hammer form.
The machine´s eyes blinked green, just before it increased its altitude significantly. It almost reached the room´s ceiling, before it dashed down towards Luigi in order to smash him. The green plumber mistimed his hammer strike which could have countered the attack, and the Pi'illodium flattened him. The machine then then started hovering again, revealing a knocked out Luigi, and gained some distance between the heroes and itself, where it shifted into its normal form again. It then let its head spin in the air, so that six Mini Pi'illoids could hover out of its body. The head then attached itself back to the body.
The Pi'illodium then aimed at them again and fired rays at them in a line from left to right, then from middle to left and then from right to middle. The group successfully dodged the rays and went for counterattacking the machine again, with Starlow and Dreambert firing another beam at the bottom wing on the Pi'illodium´s left side, destroying it. Mario on the other hand fed his brother a 1-Up Mushroom, bringing him back into battle. Kamek took the last step and shifted into his green form, boosting the group´s defensive stats after his transformation.
Pi'illodium PRIME was forced to lower its altitude a bit, due to half of the wings being taken out. This didn´t stop it from attacking, however, as the heroes soon found out. It hovered backwards and started its chasing mode, forcing the group to run away from it.
"Uncertainly rising. Foes need to disappear now," it said, and began chasing them.
Since nobody wanted any of the inhabitants and visitors of Pi'illo Island to be hurt, they ran out of the castle, with the Pi'illodium flying right behind them, firing missiles at them every now and then. It tried to ram Mario once between the salvos, but the plumber in red managed to jump over it, forcing it to keep chasing them. The battlers ran around the castle several times, but Pi'illodium PRIME was a lot faster than its normal counterpart. It slowly closed the distance on them, until it almost managed to knock one of them over. That was when Kamek raised his wand and cast a spell on the group, increasing their speed for a limited time.
They managed to run away from the machine, which eventually gave up chasing them and flew back into the castle, with the heroes quickly following it as soon as they saw their foe giving up. The two parties met each other in the castle again, where the fight continued.
"How ´bout one of our older moves?" Mario asked his brother and took out a Yoo Who Cannon.
"Why not? It has been so long…almost feels like nostalgia," the green plumber replied with a little smile.
Mario activated the attack, and eight barrels spawned above the brothers. They landed on the plumbers, and they disappeared inside of them, just for 3 clones each and the brothers themselves to appear in the eight barrels.
"How do these clones even appear?" Starlow whispered to Kamek.
"Don´t question it, or he´d have to explain that whole thing somehow…" the Magikoopa replied.
"If you say so…but who is 'he'?" she wondered.
"Shh…just forget that I said anything, alright? Good," Kamek told her, and focused on the battle again.
"Man, that was close…I almost did the Fourth Wall break in front of everyone here…" he thought.
In the meantime, one barrel after another lifted itself into the air (because, you know, reasons) and had a fuse lit on its end, firing the brother (or copy) hiding in the barrel against the Pi'illodium, damaging the three remaining wings as well as the machine itself.
Starlow and Dreambert then created six love spheres and threw them at the damaged wings, which finally put them out of order as well. With no wings left working, the Pi'illodium dropped to the ground and changed its expression into the sad and weak one.
"Query: self-worth," the machine said, and Kamek used his magic to increase the groups attack stats.
The Mini Pi'illoids, which had been hovering in the background up until now, flew next to the Pi'illodium. Two each of them sent a repairing ray at the top wings, while the other ones did the same thing to the middle ones instead. They then hovered backwards again in order to cool down.
Mario now took out a Jet-Board, and he and Luigi gained some distance between them and Pi'illodium PRIME. Luigi lied down face first on the board, with Mario standing on it with his hammer ready. Luigi then started paddling in order to speed up, with the engine of the board activating after gaining a certain amount of speed, increasing the speed even further. When the board was right next to their foe, Mario swung his hammer and dealt massive damage to it. The board stopped, and they ran back towards their friends.
Luigi then took out a Dropchopper, and he and Mario once again ran far away from the machine. He then released the flying device, and they ran underneath it. Luigi was the first one to jump and grab hold of the chopper, and Mario soon jumped and grabbed Luigi´s feet. The chopper then flew upwards and nearly touched the ceiling, until it was right above Pi'illodium PRIME. Luigi let go, and he and Mario landed on top of the machine, spinning. It took a big load of damage again, and Mario and Luigi jumped of it and returned to their friends.
Kamek returned into his normal form again, and summoned three Thwomps above the machine, which fell down on it and dealt even more damage, while Starlow and Dreambert fired another love beam at it. What stopped them from firing it until the Pi'illodium was destroyed was the fact that it defended itself. It fired to rays at them, which they dodged, forcing them to stop the beams.
"Activate: regret and Repair Overload…" the machine announced, and the six Mini Pi'illoids positioned themselves next to the six wings. They then turned red and sent a ray at the wings, instantly repairing them and overheating themselves in the process. Pi'illodium PRIME started hovering again and shifted its expression into the normal battling one.
It then used its six wings and bashed its overheated assistants towards the heroes. Mario and Luigi both deflected one of them each, while two of them hit the surprised Starlow and Dreambert, knocking them on the ground and making them dizzy. Kamek created a shield in front of him which the projectiles flew into and exploded.
Mario and Luigi both played badminton with the Pi'illodium, the Mini Pi'illoids being the shuttlecocks. Everyone hit the projectiles back several times, until Pi'illodium PRIME missed them, causing the Pi'illoids to fall to the ground beneath it and explode there, knocking the machine up and letting it fall to the ground again.
The brothers used this time to set up a Slingsniper attack, with Mario pulling Luigi, who was being used as a projectile, far back. As soon as the machine got up again, he fired his brother at it, dealing a good amount of damage to it. It seemed to have been enough, as sparks started to appear all over its body.
"Boot: Self-destruct," the machine announced, and prepared to blow itself up.
The three remaining fighters panicked, as the explosion would most likely destroy everyone in this room, which would be almost everyone on this island. Kamek created both magical shapes and Thwomps in order to damage the machine, while Mario and Luigi used a Star Rocket and collected stars, with them landing on Pi'illodium PRIME together with the collected stars. The additional damage was enough for the machine´s operating system to stop working, and the heroes defeated it with their combined attack.
"Query?" was the last thing the Pi'illodium asked, before it shut down and stopped hovering.
"Is it…done? We did it, right?" Luigi asked the other ones, out of breath.
"Seems like it. We prevented another catastrophe from happening," Kamek said.
"Well then…let us look after everyone, maybe there are a few Pi'illodium PRIME didn´t put to sleep," Mario suggested.
They cured Starlow and Dreambert´s dizzy state with Refreshing Herbs first, and informed them about the won battle. They then checked the whole castle for people being awake, and they soon found someone. In the infirmary, hiding behind the door, they found none other than Dr. Toadley.
"Dr. Toadley! Are you alright?" Starlow asked him.
"Can you answer that question yourself? I think you can. Are you okay yourself? You certainly aren´t," he replied as he saw the burnt Star Sprite.
"She has been roasted by Bowser, who showed up out of nowhere. He lies behind the castle, sleeping due to being defeated in combat," Dreambert explained.
"We have also taken care of the Pi'illodium unit attacking the castle. Is there anyone else not sleeping or are you the only one who got away?" Mario added.
"Is that good to hear? Of course it is. Should you check on Princess Peach and Eldream? I think you should. And will you stay here, Starlow? Indeed you will," Toadley told them.
"Alright, thank you, doc. You guys go and check their rooms, while I´ll be busy waking the entire castle up…which will take a while," Kamek ordered them, and flew out of the room again.
Starlow and Dreambert stayed in the infirmary, while Mario and Luigi made their way to the hidden staircase leading to the private rooms. They ran upstairs and knocked at the door of Peach´s room, and after nobody answered, they opened it and stepped inside. As soon as Mario was in the room, Luigi saw an umbrella hitting Mario on the head from behind the door.
"Oh my…Mario!" Princess Peach shouted as she realised who she suspected being an attacker.
"If that´s how we will be greeted every time we come to you from now on, then you´ll need a new hero rescuing you"…" Mario complained as he rubbed the back of his head, while Luigi couldn´t help but chuckle a bit.
"Oh, I´m so sorry. I thought that you were someone who wanted to harm me," Peach explained.
"Turns out that we weren´t, and that you are still alright. I guess that includes Éldream as well," Luigi replied with a smile.
"Unbelievable…they managed to beat Pi'illodium PRIME!" Nico shouted angrily and threw his remote control on the ground, crushing it under his shoe after that.
"Hey, that means that I won the bet. Which means that I´ll get one day off whenever I want to," Nicbot replied cheerfully.
"Ugh…but only once, remember that. At least we achieved what he wanted," Nico said and looked at the Dark Stone, fully powered up and ready to fulfil one´s wishes.
"Well then," he said and grabbed the Dark Stone. "It is time for Step 3 of my plan…"
So the heroes stopped Pi'illodium PRIME from destroying every living in the castle, but Nico´s plan advances. What is he trying to do? And have the heroes the power to stop him? We will see, eventually.
Little information for you guys: Don´t expect a new chapter any time soon, because I´ll be abroad for two weeks soon, which means that I won´t be able to write anything (except I could write it on paper and then copy that onto my computer once I´m back, but nah…that´d be too much work I´d have to do :p)
But still: Review if you want to, and stay tuned for the next chapter!