All across the Bambesh Valley there was mass belligerent chaos as if the artists own brush disliked its creation. Through the mass noise, swirling skies and rippling brown Earth little could be made out for what it was, all essentially turning into a shifting sandbox. Below them the lands shifted and swirled and Xavier grew afraid, not expecting such a scale of destruction. Indeed, his father warned of a catastrophe but he never imagined it like this.
"Come on, get dad in here!" he ordered, growing impatient with his siblings. Elizabeth and Tommy were seen trying to roll Ludwig's bed out of the emergency room with Shirley pushing Trent's bed behind them. Ludwig's bed made it out into the corridor when the castle shook violently and tilted itself at an angle, throwing most of them off their feet. Trent's bed slammed into the door frame, but Ludwig's bed wasn't so lucky and began to skid down the hall towards the supply room.
"Get him!" Xavier said, and Tommy quickly got up and stopped the bed from rolling further. Elizabeth ran over and pulled the bed upwards and with Tommy's help they managed to roll it into the escape pod. Moments later, another jolt sent it flying towards the other end of the pod and the bed smashed into the wall.
"I guess that's good enough." muttered Xavier, trying to figure out how to secure the bed in the pod. But everyone else's attention were on the sounds of metal that ripped through the hull. Elizabeth saw a large chunk of metal fly off the castle through one of the windows.
"Tommy, you need to get the others." Elizabeth said, eying Shirley and Trent across the hall. "I'll help Shirley out."
"Is it falling apart?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah I saw something fly off..." she said, her voice trailing off. Tommy ran out of the room at that, down the hall towards the supply room. He found Samantha gathering up her next load to the pod and Amy still bringing out supplies. "We need to head to the escape pod now." said Tommy. "Do we have enough for everybody?"
"Yes, everyone has a pack." said Samantha. "I'm bringing extra food up now."
"Okay, let's all bring up one more pack then." said Tommy. "I don't know what's what."
"That's food." Samantha pointed and Tommy picked up one of the food packs. "Hey Amy!"
"I heard you! I'll be there in a sec." said Amy. Tommy looked inside the room and saw her struggling with something on one of the shelves. Thinking twice, Tommy dropped the pack and went to help Amy instead.
"I got it!" Samantha called, managing to drag both packs upwards to the escape pod. She saw Elizabeth and Shirley try to push Trent's bed across the hallway, having to adjust to the tilt of the floor with Shirley pulling upwards. Eventually they managed to get Trent through the doorway and into the escape pod. Samantha followed behind them, and placed the packs inside a storage bay located underneath the floor in the center of the pod. It was beginning to get full.
Suddenly, a loud metallic noise was heard drowning out the others, immediately followed by sirens and red lights. Across the hall they saw the medical bay door close by itself. The castle had begun to free fall through the atmosphere and the spinning ground was starting to approach them.
"That's not good." Xavier muttered.
"Where's the other two?" Elizabeth asked. Samantha looked out into the hall, but they weren't there. Elizabeth ran past her and down the hall, nearly sliding down it in the process. She saw that all the doors had suddenly closed and the hall was filled with spinning red lights. Reaching the last door, she found Tommy banging on the other side, unable to get out.
"Hey!" came Tommy's muffled cry and he appeared in the door window. He pointed to his right, towards a control pad on the wall near the door. Reaching up on her toes, Elizabeth tried pushing the button to open the door. Instead, the screen flashed red with the words "Automatic override." "Override?" she said to herself.
"Override?" Tommy's voice echoed. The hull began to buckle, loud noises again flowing through the frame. The back wall next to Elizabeth started to cave in like a soda can.
"...go! Go!" she heard Tommy say, pointing back up to the pod. But Elizabeth couldn't move her feet. Her heart wouldn't let her.
"But..." she started. "You might..."
"Go!" Tommy repeated. "You can't open it. Save yourself. Go!"
Elizabeth slowly started to back away, until the back wall suddenly ripped open and she was forced to grab a post on the side wall as much of the supplies in the hallway were sucked towards it. A hand grabbed her shoulder: it was Samantha's and she slowly pulled her sister up back up towards the escape pod, where they found their other siblings strapped into their seats, including Trent.
"Where are the others?" Xavier asked, but Elizabeth shook her head, with tears forming in her eyes. Xavier looked away, now not so sure of himself.
Tommy looked back towards the room, now greatly depleted of its former stock. Amy simply watched him, too much in shock to move. Looking towards the corner, Tommy noted a pile of backpacks and walked over to them, examining one.
"We're going to die, aren't we?" Amy couldn't help but ask. Tommy said nothing, instead opening a backpack and finding a large piece of cloth inside. He swore he had seen something like this before. He pulled it out and spread it around the floor. "I saw this in a book." Tommy said. "People use it when they're falling from the sky and it makes them float to the ground. I don't remember what its called though."
"A parachute?" Amy offered. "I think dad talked about these in our safety class. Weren't you listening?"
"I didn't remember what it was called." Tommy said. "But I remember that class now. We can use these to float to the ground if one of these walls go." The walls around them were beginning to groan and creak.
"Why can't we use one of the vents instead?" Amy asked, pointing to the air vents above. Tommy looked, but found crinkles in the vents near the door. "Won't work." he replied. "All the metal is bending. We could be crushed that way." He took a pack and gave it to Amy. "Here, put it on."
Amy reluctantly took the parachute as Tommy put one on himself, trying to figure out how to adjust the straps. One of the walls caved inwards with a bang, followed by several other notches in the framework. Figuring it out. Tommy tightened his straps, but Amy looked hesitant. "You want us to fall through the air?"
"There's no other choice." said Tommy, adjusting her straps. "When you're near the ground..."
"I know, pull this." Amy said, fingering a buckle on her shoulder. "But...I don't like this. I don't like any of it." She suddenly embraced her brother. "I want it to stop."
"Me too." said Tommy. The windows began to crack.
"Where's mommy?" Amy asked
"She's at the bridge." Tommy replied.
"Oh. Can we stay like this as we fall?" Amy asked.
"Our cords would tangle." said Tommy. "That would be bad. We need to separate in the air."
"But I don't want to." Amy resisted.
"Then we would both die." Tommy said. "Our parachutes can't tangle. That's what dad said."
A part of the back wall came loose and shattered outward, sending up a gust of air into the room. "Hang onto something!" said Tommy, pulling away from Amy and taking hold of one of the shelf berms that was bolted into the wall. Amy hesitated, then grabbed hold of another shelf berm on the other side of the room. Moments later, the entire wall ripped away and hurricane force winds rocketed through the cavity, blasting away the remaining supplies into the sky. Tommy and Amy hung on for dear life as other parts of the ship began to implode, with metal and debris seen flying into the distance. On board the escape pod, Xavier grew nervous after seeing parts of the ship blow away. He had long closed the door to the pod and everyone had strapped themselves in. But he was still nervous and unsure of himself.
"I think we should launch." he suggested. Elizabeth said nothing and looked down. Trent looked at him but could not say anything, being mute. The pod rattled and a section of the room next door was seen blowing away.
"Go." said Samantha, and after a moment Xavier pulled the lever down. After a pressure release, the escape pod detached from the main hull and the Koopalings were sent tumbling through the air towards the chaos below. Tommy saw them fly off and tumble through the skies, but a loud scream snapped him back to reality. Amy had lost her grip and was falling through the air.
"Amy!" Tommy intentionally let go and flew after her, trying to navigate towards his sister who was chaotically twisting about.
"Where am I?" Amy cried, with everything too blurry to make out. Tommy tried to get closer, but she was well below him and falling fast. Suddenly, her backpack opened and her parachute deployed.
"No, it's too soon for that!" Tommy screamed, but Amy didn't seem to hear him. Amy hung on to her lines with a death grip as the winds kicked her upwards and started to blow her towards the south. "Amy!" In a desperate attempt to catch up with her, Tommy let loose his parachute as well and the wind took him on a swift course behind Amy. Below them, the mountains melted and great fires erupted from the Koopa Crags in their turmoil. The sun was broken from the sky and spun across like a potters wheel: all of reality seemed to be broken.
Suddenly, a sharp metallic object flew straight through Amy's parachute tearing open a large hole, and she screamed as she again plunged through the sky towards the chaos below.
"Amy!" Tommy cried, unable to do anything but watch as her sister plummeted towards the ground. The hurricane force winds hardly gave him the time to think as they sent him past Amy above a large swath of land over the waters of the open sea. The falling castle behind him became smaller until it was gone from sight.
Meanwhile, a blinking light on the dash caught Kylie's eye, notifying her that the escape pod had been launched. She quickly said a small prayer in her mind before she was forced to return to reality in front of her.
"Okay, so how do I land this thing?" Kylie asked Larry in her mind who had been guiding her. But Larry was occupied, seemingly talking to someone on his radio. It seemed it was every Koopa for himself now.
She pulled up the steering wheel to herself as she tried to adjust her pitch, but the weather outside was not cooperating with her. The castle continued to lean to the side as it descended towards the ground and Kylie knew she was going to have to bail.
Getting up, Kylie looked around the bridge for any sort of emergency exits that she could use. Finding a narrow door in the corner, Kylie slid it aside and found a small room inside with basic supplies and a few seats bolted into the walls. Above her was a porthole that led to somewhere unknown. Closing the door, she sat on the seat but did not have much time to think as a severe wobble hit the castle then: it had smashed into the ground and Kylie was quickly thrown from her seat, hitting the wall in front of her before losing consciousness.
"Could you please get our stuff up there?" Mona asked, not wanting to be away from the colonists.
"Alright." said Larry, deciding to go with Mona's plan. He didn't like the idea, but that was his paranoia talking to him. Taking his wand, Larry teleported to his bedroom and thought about what to bring down with him. He did have a bag for himself in the event that he needed to leave Genlic and he thought about taking that down with him. Remembering that he still needed a few more things, Larry took Mona's bag in the corner and teleported back before placing it next to her.
"That's it?" Mona asked.
"Well, it's your bag." said Larry. "Pull the engage lever to your right." he thought to Kylie simultaneously.
"I mean, there's nothing for you?" Mona clarified.
"Adjust your pitch and yaw with the red and orange buttons above you." Larry thought. "No, I have a bag upstairs. I need to add some more things to it, so I'll be a little while." he said to Mona.
"Okay." said Mona. "It's always at the last second you know."
"That's how it works." Larry replied.
"How do you control the landing gear?" asked Kylie before Larry teleported back into his room.
"That I never tried." Larry thought as he grabbed his journal. "But there's a manual lever to the right. It's probably an automatic thing too, but I haven't tried that either." He put the journal in his bag along with some smaller items from his makeshift kitchen, including some utensils. Larry reached for some medical supplies just as the rumblings suddenly increased with intensity. Getting up, he looked at the stars above and noted the blood red moon shifting in place. That was new.
"Code 1..." Larry relayed into his radio. "Moon is moving in place. Quakes are still rolling. Get your shit together. Repeat, get your shit together."
Genlic shook violently then and Larry struggled to stay on his feet.
"Roger that King Pin, we're moving bogeys to the shelters now." came the response.
"Do we have the food secured?" came another. The radio went ballistic after the call and Larry payed no attention to it as he tried to remain on his feet. He locked his journal and a few other items in his safe and walked to the other end of the room with his bag in tow, but stopped abruptly to look at the sky. The stars began to move on their own across the sky and the wind suddenly picked up with intensity.
"Code 1 Now!" he shouted into his radio before putting it away. A blast of wind blew throughout his room and Larry fought against it, now knowing it was time. All at once, he saw the minds of his family suddenly become panicked and chaotic as the Earth's crust spun upon its mantle, unleashing a voracity of destruction for all life on the surface. A roaring noise interrupted his thoughts and he snapped back to reality. Looking outside, he saw towards the sea an enormous wave rolling towards Genlic, its height far greater than he had imagined. In the distance, Larry saw it devour an entire island as it crawled over its mountains as if they were nothing. He shook his head; they were going to be engulfed.
Taking out the Blood Wand, Larry tried to cast a teleportation spell, but surprisingly found that he could not concentrate well enough to do so. The shaking Earth, the blasts of wind, the roaring seas and the chaos in his family's thoughts didn't let him concentrate well enoughand he found his arms shaking out of tension from the moment. Only able to rely on his impulse, he ran down the hallway.
The towering wave quickly approached him and its shadow crept across the floor. Larry stopped and couldn't help but look as it climbed nearly as high as Genlic itself. Larry tried his teleport spell again but it was no use, his nerves were on overdrive and his mind was elsewhere. He saw Mona huddling people together in the rooms they long ago assigned for the pole shift and surrounded by many helpers. She was more useful than he was.
The tsunami slammed into Genlic and Larry stumbled on his feet as a large gush of water flowed into his bedroom behind him. He started to run again down the hall, hoping to reach the elevator before it got worse. But the water was swift and it caught up from behind and swept him off his feet. The wave rushed through the hall and Larry nearly lost his wand in the process, slipping out of his hand for a moment before he grabbed it again. He was now helpless against the tide and wondered what to do now. Genlic had nothing easy to grab on to. Its floors and walls were slippery like glass and his claws could not hold on to anything.
The water approached the elevator shaft. Getting an idea, Larry pointed his wand back towards his room with a simple intent. The pillars of the room expanded outward and closed off the balcony to the outside. It seemed he had enough concentration to perform simple tasks with the wand. But looking ahead, he saw even more water rushing through the balconies next to the shaft with water now running down it; the elevator was not there, probably floors below. Pointing his wand again, the balconies shut and the waters recoiled against the wall, tossing Larry along with them. He frantically swam towards the left as the waters found their course towards the shaft again. However, the water was moving too fast and he tried to turn, but instead slammed against the forward wall.
Wincing at the pain, Larry tried to swim away but the current drew him towards the shaft and there seemed to be no escape now. On a whim, Larry used the wand and activated the elevator lift in an attempt to cushion his landing. Far below, the elevator began to move upwards, displacing a layer of water that had accumulated on top of it. But Larry didn't see this as he was too focused on not falling into the shaft. He managed to stand on his legs just before the drop and tried to hold onto a wall next to him, but it was slippery and he had a hard time getting a grip. Larry slowly managed to walk away from the shaft opening, trying to escape the current but debris from up the hall started to flow past him, much of which he recognized as being from his room. Something slammed into his legs and he was thrown backwards into the water which took him into the shaft. Freefalling through the air, he saw a light growing outside until the sun itself could be seen rising in the east. Funny that the new age had come so quickly, but it looked like he wasn't going to enjoy it with them. His past deeds had caught up with him.
"Sorry guys." he muttered. "I wasn't good enough." The elevator rapidly approached and Larry tried to cushion his fall using his wand, but upon meeting it he knew no more.
Duke Koopa felt worried. His mother would not stop crying as she held the now lifeless Kristin in her arms and she wouldn't respond to any of their questions. The floor wouldn't stop shaking and debris began to fall from the ceiling.
"Where's Wendy?" Beth asked.
"I don't know." Duke replied, looking towards the eastern entrance.
"Maybe we should find them ourselves." Stevie suggested.
"But what about mom?" Beth asked.
"One of us could stay with her." said Stevie.
"No! As long as Vincent is still out there, you three aren't going anywhere!" Diadora shouted before sobbing again. Wendy O. Koopa happened to walk in a moment later with a bundle of small coats and blankets, overhearing what she said.
"I didn't see him anywhere." Wendy claimed, putting the pile onto the ground. "But he's probably fine."
"I hope he goes to hell." Diadora said between sobs. Stevie pulled out a coat from the pile and the others followed.
"Your children don't deserve to die." Wendy said.
"Kristin's dead." said Diadora. "He deserves the same."
Wendy said nothing and instead sat upon the throne behind her. The kids were already trying to put their coats on.
"We should find someplace warmer." Duke suggested.
"Not with Vincent out there." Diadora reiterated. "Not until your dad comes back."
"Dad?" Stevie wondered who that was...that guy from earlier?
"You know he got turned into a dry bones, right?" Wendy stated as a matter of fact.
"You lie." retorted Diadora.
"Psh, that's what happened. You don't have to believe it." Wendy said. "He's not coming back for a while."
"Oh he'll be back, and we'll be out of here." said Diadora.
"Where are you going to run? The pole shift is all around you now." Wendy pointed out.
Duke motioned to his sisters that they should leave and they both nodded.
"Let's at least find a warmer spot." said Wendy. The children began to move towards the exit.
"Don't tell me what to do!" Diadora said, putting Kristin's body on the ground. "You guys! Get over here!" In truth, the children were growing afraid of their mother and their own instincts were growing louder than her own voice.
"Let them find someplace warmer." Wendy said, liking the idea herself now. "There's plenty of lava flows inside the walls. We just need to find one that's open." Stevie wasn't listening to their argument, and instead was looking at a window outside the room across the hall. Something caught her attention, and she ran out of the throne room to look through it.
"Stevie, get back over here!" Diadora demanded, finally getting up. But Stevie didn't listen and looked outside. At that moment, a large jolt shook the castle and many stumbled to the ground, including Stevie. Looking up at the window, she saw the day suddenly grow dark and heard the wind slam the castle walls. The next scene made her get up and see if she was seeing things, but she wasn't.
"Hey mom, this huge wall of white is headed this way!" Stevie yelled. "It's coming from-" But she never finished as ice suddenly spread through the walls where she stood, freezing everything in its path.
"Run!" Duke cried and pushed Beth in front of him down the Eastern wing. But the ice traveled so quickly that there was only a few moments before it overcame them and they both fell to the ground.
Outside, the entire Koopa Valley became flash frozen as the tectonic plate upon which it was housed quickly moved under the arctic air mass freezing everything in its path.
There was panic everywhere. Everywhere...there was people to relate with, and yet you were alone. Trapped inside of your own mind, yet knowing the thoughts of others. You think you know everything, but without that heartfelt connection with those special people, you really know nothing. It was a paradox, a harmonious paradox, yet also a sacrifice of a life that Iggy had jumped into since being resurrected. Being an observer and a teacher, and yet you were still Koopa.
The sand shifted around his feet, and Iggy remembered that there was sand around his feet. Looking up knowing what there was to see, he saw it swiftly come closer and tilted his head at the oncoming nemesis, which grew tenfold until it was larger than the sun. The doomshape spread it's fiery wings across the sky in a thunderous appearance filled with horns and trumpets announcing that the time had come.
"Hello." Iggy merely said to an old friend.
In response, the fiery corpus unleashed a barrage of lightnings across the sky, sending booming echoes across the desert. People who had remained outside now rushed inside the Temple of the Hammer now knowing the time had come.
"Iggy, I think it's about to happen." Penny relayed via telepathy, who was standing inside the entrance to the complex. But Iggy, while hearing Penny's voice could not bring himself to respond inside of his neural chaos he inevitably witnessed. Iggy almost didn't see his shadow move until it became clear that the sun was accelerating towards the horizon.
"Go in." he thought, without looking at her. Penny looked worried, he was clearly experiencing mental overload and wasn't thinking clearly. But Iggy's hand made a motion to her, suggesting otherwise. "I need to see this."
"And if you don't...well." Penny remembered that there were ways to heal other people with the wand, even cheat death. But she didn't know them herself, having only recently started to get into the magical disciplines, being more inclined towards science. Judging by what original thoughts she could see of Iggy, it was clear that he wanted to do a few more things. "Fine, but it's your life you know."
"I know." came his reply, and after a moment Penny entered the complex, closing the door behind her.
For Iggy, this was too exhilarating to miss by hiding away, though his younger self disapproved as always. The winds suddenly picked up and Iggy fought against them as he procured the Spirit Wand from his being. He pointed it at the Temple of Erzembar and all its door and windows shut simultaneously. The winds increased to hurricane force and Iggy decided that he needed to be closer to the complex. He cast a spell of teleportation, but it did not manifest.
"Huh?" He knew his concentration had been screwed for a while, but the spell went through this time and should have worked. Iggy cast it again and there was a flash, but nothing else occurred. Perhaps the crust dislodging from the mantle directly affected the interplanetary magic field? Or perhaps Naru was to blame? If either were true...
"Oh crap." Iggy bolted towards the Temple of the Hammer, now realizing that the magic field was temporarily compromised. The sands shifted all around him like a rolling sandbox and he used his jumping ability to stay in the air as long as he could, even though the wind was starting to misplace his footing. There was a great noise of trumpets, and in the distance the Temple of Erzembar could be seen being buried by the sands, presumably the Kermillion fault taking it under. That was not a good sign.
Reaching the temple, Iggy jumped up the first step before turning around after hearing a different noise altogether. In the distance came a massive tsunami hundreds of feet high, rolling across the desert as little stood in its path. Iggy sighed deeply. "Not again." he muttered. He didn't want to go out that way again. Turning back around, Iggy started jumping up the steps of the pyramid wondering of there was any other way to enter the temple save for the entrance down below. "Tsunami incoming in 3!" he relayed to Penny as he jumped up another level of stones.
"Iggy! That's the only entrance!" Penny said, but Iggy knew that he had yet to explore the upper levels of the temple. Surely there was a window somewhere up there? As he jumped, he thought he saw a narrow window situated just below the capstone of the temple. Iggy jumped up towards it, but the wave loomed closer as it now towered above him. Nearly reaching it, Iggy used the wands power and cast a glowing barrier around himself moments before the wave slammed into the pyramid. With the waters swirling around him, Iggy finally climbed to the level of the window. But his shield began to dissipate as the stored native energy exhausted itself. With no natural field to replenish itself, the shield suddenly cracked and the wave immediately took Iggy and with enormous force he was thrown through the window with a cry. He slammed against the back wall of the room before falling onto a stone seat below in a wet mess. But as he sat up, he saw his vision go strangely blurry and wondered what was happening. He was never give the time to think as he suddenly saw himself floating upwards to the top of the room with his body slumped on the seat.
"No no no no no! Stop it!" he cried. "That's not what I want! I don't want to die again! Stop it!" He didn't know what the hell just happened, but he saw himself floating out of the temple complex and into turbulent skies until the desert fell away below him. Escaping the cloud layers, he saw the whole Earth revolving about itself, the plates moving in different directions and the oceans sloshing about in reaction as mountains rumbled and other lands fell into the sea. It was as if God had spun the globe in his merriment, or perhaps all those below were to suffer his wrath.
Iggy's vision refocused after he heard a number of voices rise in frequency. He saw a number of dots floating upward along with him but more and more came into view and he guessed there were thousands, but soon it appeared to be millions. They quickly filled all the space around the planet and the time space was filled with their pleas and thoughts. Many pleaded to Iggy, who could not count the number calling his name. There were too many of them.
"Nothing's perfect in 3 dimensional manifestation, and yet it is." Iggy commented. "Your guides will help you with the rest." This quieted them somewhat as the spirit guides from the Galactic Federation reviewed their previous lives, but Iggy knew that this life would take much healing for many to get over. He wondered if he would be able to reincarnate in his current state, and still wondered what made him die the way he did. After some time, Iggy noticed that spirits began to disappear one by one but he didn't see most of them return to Earth. Iggy wondered if they were being transported to that new planet the Kappur had mentioned.
"Paradus? Paradus?" came a voice, and Iggy turned to find a spirit he hadn't seen in ages.
"Ok, I'll be right there!" Lemmy said into his radio before stepping out onto the icy front porch of his shelter, Beneth's Castle. As he thought, he had left his glass of fruit punch on the deck when he got distracted by the exercise group. You can never ignore the exercise group, because they were just as persistent with their mouths as they were with their thighs, exactly the reason why Lemmy liked looking at some of them.
He took his fruit punch and tipped it over: it was already frozen. He was going to have to go back to the kitchen and squeeze himself a new one. He almost missed those boxed fruit punches he used to have all the time, but only out of laziness.
Something in the distance caught Lemmy's eye then. The sun on the eastern horizon suddenly started to move backwards from where it came along with the Destroyer which followed it.
"Um, I don't think that's supposed to happen." Lemmy said to himself before taking his radio out again. "Hey guys, the sun is moving backwaaaaaaaaaaa-" A sudden gust of wind sent the lightweight flying backwards into the dining room and tossed him over a chair. Furniture and debris flew everywhere and Lemmy slowly got up, trying to avoid being hit by the sudden rout of chaos. "...wards...words! Guys, it's here! Go hide! Go...woah." He cut off the transmission once he saw the ice outside cracking in a million different directions and the noise sounded like the entire ground was coming apart. He couldn't help himself but watch as the ice converged upon each other with many slabs of permafrost shooting straight into the air. But the wind brought him back to reality and realized what was going on again.
"Lemmy, we're set up down here!" came a voice on his radio and Lemmy took off at that, out of the dining room and down the hallway. Through the windows he ran past, a massive river of broken ice could be seen moving around the hill of the castle and slowly gaining in height. Jumping up a large set of stone steps, Lemmy ran down another hall until he arrived at one of the castle's safe rooms, already crowded with people.
"Close the windows!" Lemmy commanded and people got up to close a number of windows around the room and sealing them with barricades. The rest all huddled together in the center of the room, waiting for the pole shift to pass.
Outside, the ice piles were seen moving all around the castle surrounded by a multitude of noises that deafened everything else. Eventually, the flowing chunks of ice engulfed the entirety of the castle until it could no longer be seen.
The oceans were in turmoil, the clouds were gray with worry and the winds were beginning to pick up with intensity. He stood looking over those chaotic waters wondering what was the point to be in a world about to end. He had no mission now, or did he? While it wasn't the void that ended everything, he still got what he wanted: the end of the world as he knew it. But he wasn't entirely satisfied.
"Cause you're missing something." came a voice from inside him.
"I'm not missing anything!" Mr. L said aloud, his voice drowned out by the noise around him. "Everything that I've wanted is right here: the destruction of the world!" But in the noise was something that tugged at him, more than the weaker voice that continued to annoy him. It felt like a voice calling out for him, a voice he couldn't hear.
"You don't listen to yourself." said the weaker voice. "That's why you always fail."
"I did not fail, loser plumber." Mr. L retorted. "I saved the woman you could never save."
"And where is she now?" the voice asked.
Mr. L suddenly realized that he had left Daisy behind in his madness. Turning back, he looked towards the mountains in the distance and tried to retrace his steps with his eyes but found he had ran far past Daisy's Castle and towards the sea, and his steps were longer than he imagined.
"You wanted the world to be destroyed? That means everyone must be killed with it." said the voice. "Including you."
"No! I will live on with Daisy beyond the veil." Mr. L claimed, though he could not see his beloved anywhere in sight.
"Then why don't you go and find her?" the voice suggested. "Or are you too selfish to do that?"
"Shut up! You were too weak to even try!" Mr. L yelled to himself.
"I could say the same about you." the voice said.
"Arrrgggg!" Mr. L ran away from the cliff back inland, running up a hill into the forest where he had been through initially. The Earth shook as he went and land started to slip in places, making his route back more of an obstacle course. He saw Daisy's Castle in the distance and wondered how he couldn't remember running past it before. Was he really losing his mind? Was the world ending too much for him? Was the voice...no! He defeated him for a reason! He was the weaker one!
But his mental debate blurred his focus and he didn't see a tree falling in front of him. He ended up running right into it, bonking his head and he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Luigi!"
Daisy frantically ran through the forest, the rocks and branches already having torn up much of her dress. Luigi...er, Mr. L had not come back and with the Earth shaking all around her she knew that he was up to no good. If this was the real Luigi, he was probably stuck somewhere, but Mr. L? The way he ran off talking to himself wasn't a good sign to begin with, but she would be damned if she were to die without seeing him one more time.
The last she saw of him, he had ran down the mountains towards her castle so she headed that way, hoping he hadn't gone very far. When she arrived, he found the castle now looked very much dilapidated from when she last saw it when she was dragged there by Waluigi. The quakes had done a number on the towers and the front entrance was blocked by stone rubble. Somehow she doubted that Luigi would hide in there.
Daisy kept going, wondering if Luigi would head towards the orchards that lay not far from the sea. She entered a forest which was now filled with many toppled trees and she darted left and right trying to find a path through them. Eventually she came across a man lying on the ground in a bloody heap and she rushed over to him. "Luigi!" she cried, but it was not him. It was one of those humans that Waluigi had sent over, now nothing more than a corpse. Inhaling, Daisy continued on towards her orchards thinking them the next best place to find him.
She heard the sound of the ocean in the distance and knew that she was getting close. To her left, Daisy saw something lying next to a fallen tree, dressed in black with green highlights. A moment of horror took her then and she stopped, unable to move as she feared the worst. "Luigi?" she called, hoping there was a response, but none came. With will power, she finally moved toward him and saw that it was indeed him. He had a large bruise on his head but no blood was seen around him and to Daisy's relief, he was softly breathing.
"Luigi, can you hear me?" Daisy asked. He did not respond, having been knocked out cold.
Meanwhile, Luigi's mind was under an intense debate with itself.
"Hey, it's Daisy!" the voice said. "If you hadn't knocked into that tree, we could be talking to her!"
"Shut up, it's not my fault a tree decided to block my path." Mr. L countered.
"You were not focused on what was in front of you." the voice claimed. "You are too concerned on shutting me out instead. Who's the weak one now?"
"I will destroy you!" Mr. L shouted.
"You can't, because this is the real me." the voice said. "If you kill me, you kill you."
"Nonsense! This is my real self." Mr. L proclaimed.
"You are my evil self. You can never be with Daisy."
"I already am! With the destruction of everything, I will live with her and rule this destroyed world with her."
"The destruction of everything? That includes you, my fake self." said the voice.
"How dare you threaten me! Why can't I destroy you for good?" Mr. L complained.
"Because there's one thing you can never destroy, no matter what you do. And it's one thing you will never have." alluded the voice.
"Oh, what's that? I have the power, I have the strength to overcome anything!"
"And a tree knocked you out. That says a lot. You were always defeated by Mario-"
"Do not say that name!" Mr. L yelled at himself.
"And you still think you're better than everyone else."
"Because I am." Mr. L said.
"No you're not. You're not the real me. You were created by Count Bleck. You are a product of his imagination." the voice explained.
"No!"
"You keep denying your real self, me. I never made you. I never wanted you. I want you to leave so I can be with Daisy."
"You will never have her!"
Daisy meanwhile was completely oblivious to the mental battle taking place in Luigi's mind, but did notice Luigi twisting his head back and forth as if he were experiencing a nightmare. Shaking his arm did nothing and Daisy wondered what to do. Eventually, she looked at his tool belt and noticed a blackened wand of Koopa origin with three gems on its end. It seemed to be pulsating and Daisy realized what was going on, at least she think she did. Slowly taking it out of his belt, she wondered how she could bring him back to normal with it as magic was not her forte. Maybe simple intention could work?
"Luigi, please return to your old self." Daisy waved the wand then pointed it at Mr. L. Almost immediately he became engulfed in a cloud of black and Daisy stepped back at the sight. "Oh god, what did I do?" she said aloud, thinking she had done something wrong. The black cloud morphed into a cloud of green meshed with lightnings, and from within a low howl was heard akin to a dying animal that forever lowered its pitch. In time it ceased and the cloud flashed, then it compressed upon itself before it disappeared altogether. In its place was Luigi, his clothes now badly weathered and his face beginning to sport a full beard. He did not seem to move.
Daisy ran to him and shook his shoulder again, hoping this time the real Luigi would wake up. At length, Luigi stirred and opened his eyes to find the love of his live staring back at him. "Am I dreaming?" he muttered, not sure if it was real.
Daisy laughed, but then collapsed on his shoulder as tears long pent up came flowing out. Luigi stared into space in a daze as his old self returned to him. His shadow self had been destroyed in his mind and the battle seemed to finally be over. Love had won out against evil once again. Luigi lay there for a moment deciding to take it all in. But as he did so, he became aware of the Earth shaking under him and the sounds of trumpets filling the air. Looking over Daisy's shoulder, he caught sight of Kamek's wand laying on the ground nearby.
"Did you cure me with that?" Luigi asked. Daisy merely nodded, still crying. "Was it a big cloud of green?"
"Yes." Daisy said in between sobs. That was it then. There was no other explanation. It seemed Kamek's vengeance reached even beyond his death.
Slowly, Luigi forced himself up holding Daisy with him, and she started to pull herself together. Luigi however broke away from her and took Kamek's wand off of the ground and headed straight for the ocean.
"Where are you going?" Daisy asked but Luigi did not answer, jumping down a small landslide. Daisy ran after him, worried what was going on in his mind. Reaching the ledge overlooking the ocean, he angrily tossed the wand into its tumultuous waves which served as a reminder of the chaos now apparent around him.
"That is the last time you hurt me, Kamek." Luigi said aloud, and it felt like a great weight was lifted from his heart and he felt like a freer spirit. His anxiety lessened and it seemed to Daisy that a great change had come over him. After a moment, Luigi turned around to face her.
"I'm sorry, Daisy." he said.
"It's not your fault." she replied. "There's so many people who hate us."
"You know...I don't care." said Luigi. "I don't care. I don't care anymore. Who cares about them? It's just us now. I went through so much just to talk with you again, from killing Kamek, to going through the Mushroom range, to going across the Koopa Kingdom and that was scary, then to making it here and finding that Waluigi had taken the kingdom for himself. Now after my episode with you know who, what can I say? Was it worth it? We might just die in a few hours anyway. Anywhere near here-"
Daisy suddenly embraced him then, shutting him up. "Come on. We've waited long enough. Let's head back to the castle and see what we can salvage."
Luigi nodded. "And find a new place to hide too." he added, already rummaging through several ideas in his head. Turning away from the shore, they headed back towards the forest. But they didn't get far when a massive quake struck below them, knocking them from their feet. The clouds above suddenly whipped across the sky in a whirl and the winds battered down upon them. Luigi helped Daisy to her feet but his heart knew that the time was now.
"Don't tell me it's right now?!" Daisy shouted in her disbelief as the forest ahead of them buckled and heaved before them, sending the foliage up into the air and burying it below the ground. The whole of the land seemed to move like the waves of the ocean, and another noise forced Luigi to turn and look behind him. An enormous wave of water was seen coming from the north and headed directly toward the shore. Daisy followed his gaze and stared at it in shock. But Luigi instead held her close.
"That's a game over," he said. "But listen. I love you. If I had it any other way, we would be in-"
He was cut off with a kiss as Daisy wrapped her arms around him. It was the end, and there were no more time for words. Indeed, there was nothing they could have done at that hour to better prepare themselves given what they've been through. As the land crumpled all around them, they felt a wave of cold air surge through their bodies just before the tsunami hit the shoreline.
And so we are at the end of The Great Destroyer. I have been planning on continuing this story with the days following the pole shift and the events of the 2nd generation of Koopalings as they struggle to live in a post apocalyptic world. Let's hope I will still do this.
This was completed in less than a year which I am very happy with. Comparatively, The Perfect World took 5 years to write and yet this story is longer than that by word count.
Again, thank you for reading this far! I know this is a long story and many may not have the time to read something as large as this, nor do they want to read something that could be considered very depressing. But to me, this is a reflection of what I see in reality and feel this must be expressed in the Mario-verse.
Coming up: Book 4 (hopefully)!