Hello yellow! I'm back, and I've gotten three lovely reviews since I was gone.
Anonymous Girl Gamer: Yep, despite all the times he's kidnapped Peach and all the havoc he's wreaked on so many worlds, I've always thought of Bowser as a villain, but not a monster. So he does have a bit of a soft side. And I totally agree, Nintendo needs to make that a power-up. That'd be epic!
TerminaKonata: I guess you'll have to wait and see. And don't worry about not reviewing earlier, I'm just glad you commented last chapter. Thank you! And thanks for the favorite!
TheFire-FlowerPrincess: Your review didn't make my day. It made my entire week! Thank you so much!
RisingSonic17 also followed and favorited! Thank you for that!
Only a few more chapters to go. Fair warning, though, this one is...slightly more violent than the ones before.
Without further ado, please enjoy!
Chapter 13
The ground shook beneath our feet as a roaring explosion boomed through the castle. The force of the blow knocked us all to the ground.
"Is everyone alright?" Luigi asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," I answered, slowly standing up.
"Is something burning?" Amber asked. I took a sniff. Something was burning.
"Look!" Luigi exclaimed. The end of the hallway was glowing. I squinted my eyes, wondering what on earth that could be. A huge roaring flame rounded the corner and raced down the hall. The castle was on fire. We all screamed and ran in the other direction.
We ran for about ten minutes. I'm surprised the place hadn't collapsed already. But that didn't matter now because we were completely lost. I had no idea where the exit was, and I couldn't sniff my way out. Yes, mutating into a fox had indeed increased my sense of smell. But when I tried to take a whiff, all I got was carbon monoxide, making me cough and gag.
"Daisy!" Amber screamed. I turned around, and to my horror, Amber's mother shot out from behind the flames. Her father, surprisingly, wasn't with her.
"Well, well, well. Look who's here," I sneered.
"Yeah, and look who hasn't been burned to death yet," She replied.
"I should've known it was you. You're the one who lit this place on fire," I said, shaking my head.
"Well, it didn't work, did it?" She said.
"Whatever. So where's your pretty husband, huh?" I asked tauntingly.
"Dead!" She screamed. "He was burned in the flames! This is your fault!"
"Me?!" I exclaimed. "I didn't cause this fire!"
"But if you would've kept your nose out of our business in the first place-"
"You horribly abused an innocent child! If I hadn't gotten involved, someone else would've," I yelled in anger.
"Oh, that tears it!" She lunged towards me, but I used some pretty quick thinking and hurled a flaming piece of wood at her, hitting her square in the face.
She howled in pain, and I bolted, the others in tow. We ran and ran, but we were eventually cornered. She stood in front of us, panting like a savage beast, a deranged look in her eyes. I should know. I growled at her, only for her to smirk at me. She bent down and picked up a flaming, splintering piece of wood. Luigi and I grabbed each other, Amber in our grasp. The lady lifted the wood, ready to throw it. We braced ourselves for a hot, fiery impact. I picked up my head slightly, and just when she was about to throw it, she was violently pushed to the side, disappearing into the flames.
"Bowser?!" Yes, standing behind the lady was the one responsible for launching her into the flames, none other than the koopa King himself.
"We don't have much time!" He yelled. He helped Luigi up and said, "Let's get to the roof! I can get you out of here from there!"
"Okay," I replied. "Lead the way, Bowser. Everybody go!" Luigi picked up Amber and ran behind Bowser and me.
After a couple of minutes, we made it to the roof. We took a ten second break and climbed up the one of the pillars. When we reached the top, Bowser mashed a button on the edge. A rope shot out of the outside of the pillar and landed a few yards away from the castle moat.
"Secret zip line," I said in amazement. "Nice."
"Alright, let's go," he said. He handed us a few clothes hangers and said, "See you at the bottom." With that, he jumped off the ledge, his hanger hooking to the rope, and slid down to the bottom. I stood over the edge to see him going down, grateful to see he at least made it in one piece.
"Alright, go, you two," Luigi said. "I'm right behind you."
"Okay, come-AHH!" Before I could finish my sentence, a sharp piece of hot wood pierced my lower back.
"NO!" Luigi and Amber screamed in unison. Luigi ran around behind me and pulled the wood out of me.
"Are you okay? He asked frantically.
"I'm fine," I muttered.
"We're not finished here!" I heard someone yell. I peered over the edge of the pillar, and before I could know what was going on, Amber's mother grabbed my paw and yanked me over the edge. I landed on my hurt back, of course, so I cringed in pain. It didn't help when her mom stomped on my stomach.
"No!" Luigi yelled.
"Weegie!" I called. "Go! Get her out of here!"
"Daisy, no!" Amber screamed. I jumped out of the way of an oncoming punch, only to land right into another one and fall to the ground. I looked up and could see the tears welling in Amber's eyes. I smiled warmly at her.
"Amber," I whispered. "I love you." She gasped quietly.
"I love you, too, mommy," she said, crying. Luigi held onto her, looked down at me, blew me a kiss, and jumped.
I turned my attention to Amber's mother. I lunged at her, biting down on her wrist. She jumped back and yelled. She threw her fists at me, but I saw it coming; I swung my tail around to block the punches, and when I turned around, I jumped up and bit her torso. I shook my head back and forth; the movement allowed my teeth to grind into her skin, making her scream. She tried to shake and pull me off, but I kept a tight hold on her. She punched me in the stomach. Hard. I groaned in pain, tightened my grip on her, and shook even harder. She then twisted my ear and punched me again. This time, I let go and fell to the ground.
When I picked my head up, I was kicked hard in the muzzle and yelped. I knew that would be a broken nose when I turned back to normal. When my vision straightened, I noticed she was holding another sharp piece of wood. She slashed it down several times. I was able to dodge most of the strikes, but the ones that got me left deep gashes on my body and face. Finally, she stuck it deep into my shoulder and kicked me to the ground, making me scream. I landed a few feet away, tumbling a bit before skidding to a stop. The flames on the roof got larger and hotter. As I lay on the floor, I coughed violently; the carbon monoxide level had increased when my face hit the floor. I could only barely believe how hot it was on the surface of the castle ceiling. I weakly peered up to see her standing over me. She roughly pulled the wood out of my shoulder, making me gasp in pain. She raised the stake up, ready to stab.
I love you, too, mommy.
Hearing Amber's voice, what she said to me, made my determination rise. It can't end here. I had to get back to her. I used all of my strength to roll out of the way of the stake, just as it was coming down. I stood up on my feet. The lady charged at me, but when I jumped out of the way, she tripped over my tail and found herself dangling over the edge. Below the castle, I knew a sea of lava and fire flowed below, waiting to consume her. Eventually, she lost her grip. But she didn't fall; I had my tail around her hand. Even after what she'd done, I couldn't just sit back and let her die. I pulled her up, and she stood on the edge.
"You...you saved me," she panted. I said nothing. I only sternly stared her down. Our gazes were locked for several moments, neither of us making a sound.
"...BIG MISTAKE!" I didn't even notice she still held the stake until she plunged it into my side. She leaned in so my head was on her shoulder, making me unable to strike her back. She grabbed my other side and pushed it in deeper and deeper. I was in agony, screaming and crying, blood gushing from my side. She jerked it out and stabbed me again in the same spot. It went even farther, and I was sure she struck some sort of vital organ. When she yanked it out, it was with such force that she started to lose her balance, yet again. She stumbled backwards, struggling desperately, but soon tumbled off the castle. As she plummeted to her death, I heard her screams slowly fade away and the lava splash faintly below. It was over.
I tried to stand up, but collapsed. I was in so much pain and was coughing up blood. I could feel a pool of it forming beneath me. Breathing was a chore because of how much pain it caused, moving my chest up and down. My vision was slowly starting to fade. I groaned and struggled, trying desperately to get up, but I just couldn't do it. I was too weak. Everything hurt. Eventually I gave up. And everything faded to black.