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Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story idea and any OCs.

Chapter 14:
Climbing to a Decision

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The Dotwood Tree was the biggest, tallest tree that any of our four travelers have ever seen.

"And we're suppose to climb this thing?" said Bowser.

Mario nodded. "Yup, I'm sure of it."

"This tree is so huge. It's going to take us a while to get to the top." Peach said.

"Well, we better get climbing then."

"Hey, where's Luigi?"

The three of them look around to see their traveling friend was nowhere in sight.

"Luigi! Where are you?" Mario yelled, hoping the green man will be close by.

"I swear if he decided to run off, I'm burning him to a crisp." Bowser mumbled. "Oww! What the…."

Mario and Peach turn to the Koopa King to see him rubbing his head in pain as he glare at the red Koopa shell in front of him.

"Where the shell did that come from?"

"Opps, sorry!" cried a voice from above.

Mario, Peach, and Bowser look up in the tree, where the source of the voice came from. Luigi was up there, and he has already started climbing up the first part of the tree.

"Luigi!" yelled Mario. "How'd you get up there so fast?"

"I jumped!" Luigi replied back.

"Green 'Stache! Did you drop that shell on top of me?"

"Sorry, it was an accident." It was a good thing Luigi was up in the tree, that way Bowser couldn't see the smile he had on his face. 'That was just a small payback for bumping me into the water earlier.' "I think I see an entrance to the tree further up. I'll meet you guys up there."

"Okay, but be careful." Mario said.

"Don't worry, I will."

Mario turned to the others. "Come on, we have to catch up to him."

Mario starts making his way up the enormous tree with Peach and Bowser right behind him.

"How the shell did he gets up that fast?" said Bowser.

"He said he jumped but..."

"But what? Is the hero afraid that he could be the second best jumper out there?"

"Pfft, please."

"I don't know, Mario. A normal person can't jump that far." said Peach.

"How about me?"

"Well, Mario you're special. You're jumping abilities come to you naturally. But if Luigi did get up there on his own, then it's possible that he could have some natural abilities of his own."

"So what? You're saying that Green 'Stache might be special?"

"Well, you never know?"

"Pfft, if he's so special, why haven't he done anything special?"

"Well, Luigi does seem timid and a bit shy. Maybe he doesn't know that what he could do is special."

"Or he could be faking it to spy on us."

"You still on that?" said Mario.

"And you're not? He dropped a shell on top of me!"

"Well, you were always thick-headed. And besides, he said it was an accident."

"Yeah right; admit it, you like the little troublemaker, don't you?"

"And what if I do? He's a nice guy; nobody's perfect."

"Humph, and you call yourself a hero; can't even pick out the spy among us."

"Mario, Bowser, please; Luigi's already up there and we shouldn't keep him waiting."

"You're right, Princess. Come on, I think we're half way there."

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Luigi, who had just reached the door leading inside of the tree, sat on the root as he waits for the others to appear. Some of the tree's bark was rooted into the door so he was unable to open it and proceed inside. His best opinion was to wait for Mario and his friends and see if they can come up with an idea to get the door open.

Looking up, he saw that the Void had gotten bigger in size since the last time he saw it, however the world doesn't seem to be affected yet.

'It's only a matter of time though….' He thought 'before it starts to devoir all the worlds.'

As he waits, Luigi thought it would be a good time to go think. Review the conversation he had with the Count and now he was trying to sort out his feelings through the whole thing. He was beginning to question the Count's words, but he didn't have the heart to abandon him. Even if he had lied, he was loyal to Luigi and the least he could do was to be loyal to him as well.

But still, there has to be some way to change the Count's mind about destroying all the worlds, isn't there? After all, the Count wasn't all bad; he was just driven mad by the loss of his love. But if he wouldn't change his mind, what would happen to him then? What will Mario and the others do once they found all these Pure Hearts?

Luigi sighed. Unfortunately, he didn't have all the answers and now he was left in turmoil.

"Are you okay, Luigi?"

Luigi jumped at the sound of the sudden voice beside him. He was so wrap up in his thoughts that he hadn't notice that the others had arrive. Peach and Mario were looking at him with a concern look on their face while Bowser just look like he didn't care.

"I'm fine, Princess." Luigi said getting back up on his feet. "I was just thinking; nothing to worry about."

The two nodded and turned their attention to the door. "It looks like the barks had grown through the door." examined Mario.

"Maybe we can burn it off." suggested Peach.

"Good idea, princess. Bowser..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, burn off the bark. Just step aside and let me do what I do best."

Mario made room for the Koopa as he makes work on the door. Using his fire-breath, he was able to burn off the bark and clear the door for entrances.

"Alright, Let-a go!"

Mario proceeded into the door with Bowser and Peach following behind.

"Uhm, Princess Peach...?"

Peach paused from her walk. "Yes, Luigi"

"Can I ask you a question?"

She turned to him and smile. "Of course; what will that question be?"

Luigi thought about how he was going to word his question. He didn't want to sound like he knew too much. "Uhm, I was wondering... what will you do once you found this...uhm, Count Black guy?"

Peach chuckled at Luigi's 'mistake' and corrected him. "Well, first, his name is Count Bleck, not Black."

"Oh, my mistake"

"That's okay. Second, I don't really know what we'll do once we found him. Merlon told us that the only way to stop the Void is to destroy the one protected by the dark power."

Luigi nearly flinched when he heard the word destroy out of the princess' mouth. He forced himself not to show any distress emotions and proceed on asking some more questions. "So how are you supposed to do that, exactly?"

"Well, we're supposed to collect the eight Pure Hearts so we could counteract the Chaos Heart."

'Eight Pure Hearts, uh?' Luigi thought. 'Against one Chaos Heart; it must be more powerful than I thought.'

"There's one more thing," Peach continued, regain Luigi's attention. "Merlee... she said that there are four heroes to the prophecy and Mario and I are the first two."

"Four Heroes?" Luigi questioned. 'Isn't that wonderful?' "Do you know who the other two are?"

"No, not quite; although, it might be possible that Bowser may be our third hero."

"I see." 'Well that's just super! How can an evil Koopa be destined to be a hero anyways?'

Luigi forced a smile. "Well, I hope you and the others do succeed. Death by a giant black hole in the sky doesn't sound too promising for me."

Peach smiled back. "Thank you, Luigi. Now, we should get going. I'm sure Mario and Bowser are waiting for us and... I don't think it's a good idea to leave them alone together for long."

Peach proceeds through the door, leaving Luigi alone once more. Once she was gone, Luigi cast his head down in thought.

"Okay, I may not agree with the Count's actions but that doesn't mean I want him destroyed." He said, clenching his fists out of frustration and anger. "He's the closest thing to a father I ever had and the last thing I'm going to do is let the heroes kill him."

He lifts his head back up, crystal blue eyes blazing with determination. "If there is a way to stop this, then I'll find it. This I swear!"

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Ending Note:

El Tigre quote at the end.

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