Chapter 11 – Collapsed Castles
"How does Seeker – er, Matthew –"
"You can keep calling him Seeker." Flare-Up stepped out of the pipe, Myra following after her.
"How does Seeker know that Toadstool?" Myra looked at her in confusion as Crystal and Luigi climbed out of the pipe.
"He's come and helped before," Luigi explained. "He-a said Fawful was-a there when he shouldn't have-a been."
Myra blinked in confusion, only for her eyes to widen sharply when the pieces fell into place. "You mean he's a—"
Flare-Up clapped a hand over Myra's mouth, muffling the rest of what she was saying. "Yes, he is. Now keep it down – if they learn about it then we're all doomed."
Myra swallowed and nodded quickly, and Flare-Up removed her hand.
"We have a few people we need to find," Flare-Up said. "Luigi's brother, their sometimes-villain, and the rest of their allies. As a result of the World Collision, they are closer than they would normally be."
"Is it a lot of people?" Crystal asked. Her ears twitched and swiveled.
"That depends." Flare-Up looked over at Luigi. "Who's going to be closest, do you think?"
"Hmmmm." Luigi tiled his head to one side and put his hand on his chin. He straightened up and snapped his fingers a moment later. "This way!" He turned and ran up towards the collapsing palace on the other side of the courtyard.
Flare-Up bolted after him almost instantly, and Crystal and Myra followed a second later.
"Who could be in there?" Myra called out.
"Princess-a Peach!" Luigi called back.
"A princess?" Crystal repeated in surprise. "You're friends with an actual princess?"
"We're-a friends with three!" Luigi sounded quite proud as they reached the entrance of the palace. "Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina!"
"I didn't think I'd ever get to meet a real-life princess," Myra commented as they slowed down just inside the palace's entrance. A hole in the ceiling lit up the opening hall of the palace, but the rest of the area was dim and gray. "I mean, I'd heard that they existed once."
"Once?" Luigi looked at her in confusion. "You don't-a have a princess?"
"Umm…" Myra frowned, scratching her head. "I don't…think so? I can't really remember what my world was like before all this."
Flare-Up looked back and frowned. "You don't remember."
Myra shook her head.
"Then how did you know about Mako?"
"Huh?" Crystal blinked in confusion as Luigi tilted his head to one side.
"Mako?" Myra blinked. "Uh…that sounds familiar, but I don't—"
Something echoed in the hall – a footstep. The group of four turned their heads sharply in order to track the sound.
Luigi's knees knocked together, but then he straightened himself up and shook his head and muttered something under his breath. Myra wasn't able to figure out what it was that he said, but Flare-Up nodded in agreement with it.
The footsteps continued, slow and even, neither speeding up or slowing down. Myra wasn't sure what to make of them, but she knew they were making her feel uneasy somehow. The hairs on the back of her neck were sticking upright, and purple spurts of flame were shooting off the tips of her fingers.
"Something doesn't feel right," Myra murmured.
"We're on the same page," came Flare-Up's response. "Get ready."
A figure appeared at the edge of the sunbeam on the opposite end of the hall: a young woman with long, blond hair, and a pink dress that poofed out at the waist.
Her face had a horribly blank expression.
Luigi made a little, nervous sort of noise and moved from one foot to the other. Something about the situation was something he didn't seem to like.
Flare-Up muttered something under her breath, but it sounded like gears grinding together. Then she took a slight step back and clenched her right fist tightly. "Luigi, how strong is she?"
The woman in front of them clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, almost like she was praying.
"Strong!" Luigi yelped in reply.
The woman started to glow a dark purple color.
"Move!" Flare-Up barked. She pushed Crystal and Myra to the floor as Luigi leapt away with a noise that sounded like a duck quacking.
"What is—"
Myra cut herself off in alarm as a shockwave of purple energy lashed forward and hit the air where they had been a moment ago.
"Ghost-Type?" Crystal asked hesitantly.
"Dark and Ghost," Flare-Up muttered. She rose to her feet as fire started to appear on her arms. "We need to weaken her enough to get close enough to destroy that box on the back of her neck. Which means distractions – Crystal, you're with me. Myra, work with Luigi and deactivate the MindTech!"
Another shockwave lashed out at the same height as before, and Flare-Up leapt into the air in order to avoid it.
"Got it!" Crystal scrambled to her feet, hands sparking with bright yellow electricity. "Myra, move!"
Myra was already moving, crawling towards the outer edge of the room in order to get somewhere more safe. As soon as she had gotten behind a pillar, she rose to her feet and peered around right as another shockwave went off – this time at the height of everyone's feet.
Flare-Up jumped up in a backflip, avoiding the shockwave with ease. Something detached from her back, and she landed on a strip of red and orange metal that was hovering mid-air. She flew over to Luigi and caught him mid-air before he could so much as land, getting a yelp of surprise from the green-themed man as Crystal hovered in mid-air of her own power.
The woman dropped her hands from their praying position, but the purple aura stayed with her.
"I don't like this," Crystal said nervously. Her tail twitched back and forth agitatedly.
Flare-Up gave a low, dark hum that sounded metallic.
Myra looked between the woman and the others, then noticed something flare up in the woman's aura. "Everyone hide! Now!"
Crystal's head turned. "What are you—"
The aura exploded out from the woman, coating the room in dark purple energy that cause the entire palace hall to shudder. It flew past Myra as she stood in her hiding place behind the pillar, but it was close enough that it caused Myra to shudder, as well.
Something about the energy did not feel right.
The power faded, and Myra heard the sound of a grunt.
"Got the moveset; let's move in now before she does that again."
Myra looked around the pillar and stared with wide eyes as a bubble of fire faded from existence around Flare-Up, Luigi, and Crystal, who were staring at Flare-Up in awe.
Did she just protect them from the blast?
"Myra, move now!"
Myra blinked at the sudden sharp bark from Flare-Up, and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise up before she instinctively jumped to the next pillar over.
Moments later, the pillar she had been standing behind was coated in flames spewed from some monster's mouth.
"Bowser," Flare-Up snarled, "is mine. The rest of you focus on Princess Peach!"
"Bowser?" Myra repeated in alarm.
Something slammed a large, scaly foot into the ground as a shadow-hidden head reared back; flames leaked out past large fangs. Chills ran down Myra's spine, and she started to step back and away from the creature.
The monster turned its head and unleashed a stream of flames.
"Flash Fire!"
Suddenly Flare-Up was between Myra and the monster, arms spread out as she took the flamethrower head-on. Myra was about to scream in alarm when she noticed that the fire wasn't harming Flare-Up – instead, the fire was being absorbed into Flare-Up.
"Myra, go!"
Myra jumped when she saw Flare-Up looking back at her.
"I can handle Bowser; you help the others."
The flames faded as Crystal yelped on the other side of the pillars, and Myra nodded quickly before turning and running out into the open area just as a shockwave went off high above her head.
Crystal flew downwards as Luigi leapt forward and kicked Peach in the stomach, sending her stumbling back a few feet with a grunt. The expression on her face didn't change, which only caused chills to run down Myra's spine.
"Myra, get close!" Crystal pointed at Peach. "We have one shot before she sets off that mass attack again!"
Another shockwave shot out – low this time. Myra jumped up in order to avoid it, then started running in order to get around behind Peach. Purple fire flicked at her fingers as she started to gather her power on instinct, the flames crawling up her arms as she started to pull it together.
There came a loud bellow from where Flare-Up was fighting against Bowser, and more flames shot into the open area before suddenly being sucked back.
"Charged Buster Shot!"
A large blast of yellow energy slammed into Bowser, sending electricity sparking in all directions and causing Bowser flying back a short distance.
At the same time the explosion went off, Myra screamed, "Mental Shock!"
The explosion of purple flames slammed into Peach before she could release another shock wave of dark energy. Peach cried out in pain as purple electricity sparked over her body; the dark aura dissipated as she collapsed.
Myra collapsed against a pillar and tried to catch her breath after the energy explosion. Crystal and Luigi looked between her and Peach as Bowser bellowed in the background and collapsed, causing the ground to shake.
Myra looked over as Flare-Up walked up to the monster boldly and grabbed something on the back of Bowser's neck. There was a spark of fire and a grunt from the monster, and Flare-Up pulled away from him a large black box.
The crunch of it being destroyed in her grip echoed in the palace.
"Oh! Right!" Crystal ran over to Peach as she started to stir. Her hands sparked with electricity as she grabbed something on the back of Peach's neck before ripping it away.
The black box, sparking with bright yellow-white electricity, was sent flying and crunched against a nearby pillar.
"Aah!" Peach jolted up in surprise as a hand went to the back of her neck. She looked around in confusion, looking at Crystal, Luigi, and Myra in turn. "Ooh, what just – Luigi!"
"Peach!" Luigi leapt in the air, then ran towards the woman and hugged her tightly. He promptly started bawling loudly.
Peach giggled weakly. "Oh, Luigi…" She looked around again. "But…where's Mario?"
Myra blinked in confusion. "Who?"
A low growl came from Bowser, causing the rest of them to turn sharply as he started to push himself slowly to his feet.
"If I see any of those horned freaks again I'm not holding back," he growled through his teeth. He looked down at Flare-Up and froze. "Like right—"
Flare-Up turned abruptly and exposed the back of her neck.
The fire died behind Bowser's teeth as he blinked in dumbfounded surprise. His eyes narrowed. "When did that happen?"
"That depends on your view of the flow of time," Flare-Up replied as Myra blinked in confusion. "For me it's been 75 years, but most of that was spent in stasis."
"And the rest?" Bowser growled.
"We're safe," Crystal said quickly. "We're with Aura Seeker."
"Matthew," Luigi supplied.
Peach's expression brightened as Bowser's bushy eyebrows shot up. "Oh! He's here?"
"Uh-huh!" Luigi slipped out of Peach's hug. "Follow me!" He turned and ran out of the palace. Peach quickly followed after him, a happy expression on her face.
Myra moved away from the pillar she had been leaning against, having managed to catch her breath. "Seeker knows them?"
Flare-Up looked over at her as Bowser snorted.
"Kid and his sister helped us out of a bind a while back," Bowser explained with a grunt. He started after them, each step causing the ground to shake a little bit. He stopped and looked back at Flare-Up with a scrutinizing gaze. "You look kinda like her, actually. That Liz kid."
Myra blinked in confusion as Flare-Up said blandly, "I'm Matthew's other sister. Don't say my real name if you know it, I'm going by Flare-Up for now."
Bowser eyed her, then shrugged then turned and walked out of the palace without another word. Crystal quickly followed after him.
"You…have a sister?" Myra looked at Flare-Up, who hadn't moved from where she had been standing.
"She isn't in this dimension," Flare-Up replied. "I haven't seen her since before the Collision." She started towards the entrance of the palace. Myra quickly followed after her.
"The name's Liz. I'm here to help."
Myra stumbled as the voice – a girl's voice – echoed in her head; she stopped and shook her head as Flare-Up looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.
"I…" Myra put a hand to her forehead, trying to ignore the headache that was hitting her. "…I think I met her."
Flare-Up turned fully. "Where."
"I…I don't know – I-I think it's connected to the Mako thing that I can vaguely remember? I…I dunno." Myra shook her head. "I…I can't remember…."
Flare-Up walked over to Myra, her armor dropping back into her clothes. "Do you know Peach and Bowser from before?"
Myra shook her head. "I-I don't think so."
"Do you know someone named Cloud?"
Myra blinked at the name, then winced as something hit the back of her mind – a young man with a giant sword, yellow hair, blue eyes – and frowned and cocked her head to one side. "I…I think so? Maybe?"
Flare-Up's eyes narrowed as she looked away, putting her hands on her hips. "That world isn't a part of this…I would have—" She stopped, then looked back at Myra and clapped her hands on her shoulders. "You are as much a danger as you are in danger."
Myra stiffened at Flare-Up's words. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"You and I – we're the same. It should be impossible, but this scenario is impossible." Flare-Up paused. "Your powers are dormant now because you don't remember, but you have them. Something drew me to chose you as my partner here, rather than anyone else. And I know the reason now."
Myra swallowed. "What is it?"
"You're a World Jumper, too."