Chapter 20: VS Shadow Mario PI
Everyone glanced up at the bell tower where a shadowy Mario was standing. "Welcome," he laughed. "To your graves!"
Everyone prepared themselves for battle. Mario grabbed the fabric off of his back and threw it off, revealing a plunger. "A plunger? Couldn't you of gotten something a bit more practical, like a sword?" Link asked
"Well I am a plumber not a warrior from ancient times who really shouldn't even know what a plunger is…" Mario's voice trailed off. "But it should be enough to defeat Shadow Mario and his paintbrush!"
"Is there anything that can't be made into a weapon?" Kirby asked out loud in amazement.
"Well it looks like negotiations are beyond him!" Link drew the NES Sword, and the Master Sword. "Kirby, protect Rai and the Princess!" Kirby jumped in front of the two holding a green wand with a blue jewel on it, he also seemed to be wearing a silly hat.
"Please Link let me help I can fight!" Rai said as he formed an electric sword in his hand.
"No, it would be best if you don't get involved in this. At least not yet, you are the trump card!"
Shadow Mario began to run down the bell tower leaving behind a few spots of paint. Mario jumped towards Shadow Mario and attacked him with the plunger swinging it like a sword. He slashed horizontally while Shadow Mario slashed vertically; the two attacks collided and resulted in a stalemate. Shadow Mario landed on the ground and put some paint in the shape of a 'M' on the ground. Mario landed on the tip of the bell tower when something caught his eyes. In the middle of the city there was a giant paint pile slowly spreading out from center of the city to the rest of the island.
Down below Link had begun to fight against Shadow Mario. Something had mystified Link, any normal piece of wood, would have been cut through by either of his two swords. Yet the paintbrush was as hard as steel. Something that Link couldn't cut through. Pikachu decided to join in by firing a thunderbolt at Shadow Mario who couldn't dodge. Jigglypuff also began to do a roll out attack. She hit Shadow Mario head on and sent him flying back into a building. Mario jumped down in front of him.
"Mario," Shadow Mario's voice rang "Let me show you one of my new abilities!" he then melted away into the shadows.
"Where did he go?" Everyone said synchronized.
"My favorite new ability: Shadow Travel!" Shadow Mario said appearing behind Princess Peach. Kirby lunged at Shadow Mario but was knocked away by the paintbrush. Rai attacked Shadow Mario using his electric sword but Shadow Mario just blocked. He then knocked Rai back into the sand. Shadow Mario once again disappeared. This time he reappeared behind Mario. With one punch he sent Mario flying across the ground. "My next favorite ability is this!" His hand was stretched out from the M he painted on the ground paint began to shoot into the air and harden. Surrounding Mario and Link were several thousand paint daggers. "I can control the paint!"
With out warning the daggers went flying towards the two. Link move around his two swords in order to deflect the daggers. Surprisingly the hardened paint was also as hard as steel. What surprised Link even more was when he missed deflecting one of the daggers and it cut him. Mario was also using his plunger to deflect the daggers. Soon the daggers came at a much faster pace and neither of them were able to keep up. Jumping in front of the rain of daggers was Kirby. A silver barrier appeared around them deflecting all of the daggers at once.
"Mirror Kirby!" Kirby laughed.
"Thanks Kirby," Link gasped for air fatigued from defending himself. Mario was also gasping for air. Link looked over at Mario. He had been wounded severely by the daggers, getting hit by at least 15. Some were even stuck in him.
"Mario!" Princess Peach ran towards the weakened plumber however a dagger thrown by Shadow Mario stopped her.
"I don't want to hurt you Princess," he warned. "However if you get in the way I will have no choice!" Peach ran towards Mario despite the warning. Letting off a sigh Shadow Mario threw a paint dagger, however Kirby jumped in front and reflected it back at Shadow Mario who disappeared into the shadows to evade.
She ran up to Mario, Link was busy taking out the last dagger. "Don't worry princess he will be fine." Shadow Mario reemerged from the shadows. "Look over him while I take care of the pest." Link got up and dashed towards Shadow Mario. Peach sat beside Mario taking out a small jar of a blue gel.
"This is the Antibiotic Gel Dr. Derek Stiles gave me…" she stared at it opening the jar. "He said it could heal small wounds." As she said this her hands automatically put the gel on Mario's wounds. After applying the gel each of the wounds began to heal.
"Thanks Peach," Mario muttered getting up on his feet. "I think I should be fine right now. Save that stuff we might need it later." Mario ran towards Shadow Mario and Link.
The two were in a temporary deadlock, Link was strangely being overpowered by Shadow Mario. 'Where is he drawing this power from?' Link wondered to himself. 'Is it a Smash Shard?' Link jumped back and narrowly avoided an attack from a paint dagger appearing out of thin air. Mario had taken over the onslaught and was fighting Shadow Mario vigorously.
"I grow tired of this game!" Shadow Mario muttered. He jumped up onto the top of a building, where he raised his arms. "Now then lets end this!" there was a sudden trembling much like that of an earthquake. Despite the strength of the shaking it was a miracle that nothing fell down. But from over the buildings came a giant monster completely made out of paint. It had no definite shape, as it was changing shape at will. "Lets start off with this!" thousands of paint daggers appeared, everyone ran behind Kirby who immediately put up a barrier. Each of the daggers was launched at the exact same time and attacked the mirror barrier. None of them however were able to destroy it. The Paint monster's left hand became a giant cone and rushed down towards Kirby's barrier. This time though the barrier shattered but Link blocked the cone with the SNES Shield.
"We need a place to escape to!" Link shouted having a great difficulty holding back the paint monster. Mario scouted the area and noticed an island about 100 meters away.
"There!" Mario shouted pointing to the island. "The paint can't survive in water!"
"But I can't swim!" Rai timidly brought up. Link rolled out of the way grabbing his Longshot, and fired it at the single palm tree on the island. It of course hit the tree.
"Get on!" Link shouted, Rai crawled onto Link's back. "Anyone else coming?" Link asked. Princess Peach ran forwards grabbing onto Link. With a push of a hidden button on the Longshot they went flying towards the island. Kirby and Jigglypuff floated to the island while Pikachu swam to it. Mario stayed behind to fight Shadow Mario and the Paint Monster.
"Mario!" Luigi shouted running across the water wearing FLUDD. When he got towards Mario he took off FLUDD and threw it at him. Luigi ran across the water and onto the island. "Go get them bro!" he shouted trying to show support.
"That's easy for you to say!" Mario shouted back narrowly dodging an incoming attack, and putting on FLUDD at the same time. Mario turned his attention to Shadow Mario. "Just you and me now!"
"I think not!" Shadow Mario said as the giant Paint Monster's hand squished him. "One down six to go."
"You counted me out too soon!" Mario's muffled voice came from underneath the Paint Monster. The hardened paint began to crack and Mario stepped out from underneath the monster's grasp. However he was now a shiny metallic silver. "That was a bit too close," Metal Mario laughed. The transformation surprisingly didn't end with Mario's body but also his clothing, his plunger and FLUDD had all turned into metal.
"Is there nothing he can't do?" Link asked Peach.
"Surprisingly no." She replied. "Just wait until you see him fly!"
"Something tells me we are going to have a rivalry deeper than Kirby's and Pikachu's." Link sighed. "I also think I'm slowly beginning to hate him…"
"What's to hate?" Peach asked.
"Do you have to ask?" Link said shocked Peach nodded her head. "Well I can't wait until we switch antagonists, it's going to be so worth it to see him crap his pants!"
"Have you seen Bowser?" She inquired.
"This is going to be a LONG story ark…" Link moaned. "What's next; he can survive in space?"
"He has all ready signed the contract for that!"
Mario was rocketed into the air by FLUDD and went straight into the middle of the paint monster making a small hole that soon recovered. Mario on the other hand had gone to the other side of the paint monster and saw all of the paint across several buildings and that it was moving fast to the rest of the island.
The paint monster punched Metal Mario across the island sending him far away. If it wasn't for the metal transformation Mario would have died somewhere between being punched, smashing through several houses, going through pure bedrock, landing in the Isle Delfino amusement park while taking out one of the supports for the roller coaster, and watching as it fell down on him.
"I do not want to be him right now…" Kirby muttered. "Even if I was metal that still would of hurt"
Shadow Mario turned his attention back towards the others. Link took out the Longshot and fired it hitting Shadow Mario's paintbrush. Link then went flying towards Shadow Mario, using the momentum behind him he punched Shadow Mario square in the face sending him through the paint monster and crashing into a house. Firing the Longshot one more time Link pierced Shadow Mario's chest and reeled him in like a fish. This time Link kicked Shadow Mario, where he went flying to the mountain in the middle of the island.
"It hurts!" Shadow Mario laughed as each of the wounds he had just received healed. An ice arrow hit Shadow Mario's left arm freezing it along with the paintbrush. There was a sudden rumbling and from the top of the mountain magma could be seen. It was at this point that Link realized that this wasn't a mountain but rather an active volcano. Link escaped back to the island using the Longshot. Shadow Mario however wasn't as lucky.
As a desperate move Shadow Mario commanded the paint monster to shield him. The paint surrounded as a sphere. Soon though the magma touched the paint instantly destroying it leaving Shadow Mario with no place to run. Screams of great pain came from Shadow Mario as the magma set him on fire.
After several minutes had gone by and the magma had hardened and miraculously none had touched the town. From the hardened magma Shadow Mario appeared covered with a bit of his own paint over his left eye, and right arm. "Why am I not dead?" He questioned. "I should be!" he shouted out enraged. "Why am I bound to this place?"
"Poor thing," Peach said feeling pity for Shadow Mario.
Shadow Mario turned his attention to the 7 on the island. "Perhaps when I kill every last one of you I will be set free!" his arm suddenly stretched out. "My body is now one with the paint!" his arm stretched out towards the island. It then floated above the island as though it was going to come down when suddenly it disappeared. Shadow Mario had been hit out of the way by Metal Mario.
"I thought you were dead!" Shadow Mario said, "Or at least trapped under several tons of metal making your escape take longer than 10 minutes." Metal Mario smiled as he suddenly became transparent. He grabbed Shadow Mario by the neck and threw him down onto the ground. In an explosion of paint Shadow Mario disappeared.
"A clone?" Mario questioned, the paint daggers suddenly went flying towards Mario, however they just went right through him. Shadow Mario appeared from the shadows painting several more M on the walls. From the M a large amount of paint fell out it then reformed back into the paint monster.
"Consume this whole island!" Shadow Mario ordered. The paint monster became paint again and began to spread out across the island. Mario quickly jumped off of the beach and flew towards the island that everyone was on. When Mario got closer everyone could see on his hat two little wings. From the beach a paint arm reformed.
The paint arm rushed towards Mario who just stood at the edge of the island. With a push of a button Mario released some water from FLUDD the paint immediately disappeared. "You can't win Shadow Mario!" Mario shouted to his doppelganger.
"Under normal conditions I would have no chance!" He replied calmly. "But due to my secret weapons, the two Smash Shards I now have an advantage, the paint can evolve, and I am my own being!"
'I was right!' Link thought to himself confirming his previous belief. 'Now where are they?'
"What does that mean?" Pikachu asked
"The Normal Shadow Mario was just Bowser's son Bowser Jr in disguise. This Shadow Mario seems to be composed of something else!" Peach explained.
"The paintbrush has one Smash Shard, and the heart of that Shadow Mario also has one," Rai replied. "I can sense the Smash Shard's unique electric currents," Link looked forwards at Shadow Mario.
"The brat is right!" Shadow Mario laughed, turning around Shadow Mario faced the shine gate. "Shine Gate give me your power!" he shouted as he stroked the giant Shine Sprite with some paint. The paint then began to expand its surface area eventually consuming all of the giant Shine Sprite. Shadow Mario then touched the paint, absorbing it. "Now then Mario let us continue this battle."
Shadow Mario jumped down from the shine tower. He then emerged from the town dragging his paintbrush on the ground letting paint cover small portions of the land. He extended his left hand, and from it came several paint knives. With out warning he threw them Mario unable to react was defenseless. Link however who was prepared for an attack jumped in front of Mario with the SNES Shield defending them both. Shadow Mario however just smiled as though he was anticipating Link's courageous action. The paint slowly began to absorb the SNES Shield. Having no other option Link threw off the shield, and a giant paint hand stole it.
Shadow Mario held the shield in his hands. Showing no interest in it he threw it behind him. "I'll let the paint absorb it!" He laughed, unaware that it had landed in a small body of water. "Tell me Link how much do you know about the Seal of Smash?" Link didn't respond, instead he just stood there frustrated. "Judging by your expression I'm going to say not much. Its whole history is filled with bloodshed, wherever the seal appeared blood soon followed!"
Link loaded an arrow on his bow and fired it at Shadow Mario, it just barely missed Shadow Mario's head. "I'm not interested in the history of an evil item!"
"But you should know that it was originally created for good!" A light arrow went flying through Shadow Mario's heart, knocking out the Smash Shard, and returning the body into its former shape; shadows.
"A weapon like that could never be created for good!" Link shouted out.
"He unfortunately spoke the truth," The NES sword telepathically told Link. "The 11 Great Generals created it, but it was soon then treated like a God, and given one hundred human sacrifices. But after the hundredth sacrifice, they said something came from the crystal and killed all that were in the town in order to mute its existence."
"Now then should we continue with the battle?" Shadow Mario asked reforming.
"But how did you reform?"
"The Master formed me out of the shadows," Shadow Mario replied. "With this new body, I am stronger! Now lets finish this!" Shadow Mario commanded a giant Paint arm to rush towards them, none of them being prepared for the attack were paralyzed in fear, when Kirby jumped out in front. Kirby was holding an oversized paintbrush, almost identical to the one that Shadow Mario had, minus the E. Gadd symbol. A paint barrier appeared around them protecting them temporarily.
"We won't be able to beat him unless we all work together." Kirby said. "Two smash shards have probably quadrupled his power."
"And there is no telling what kind of power he gained from the Shine Sprites." Mario added in. Their paint barrier began to disappear.
Shadow Mario walked forwards into the water. Luigi jumped into the water realizing this was his chance to attack. In his hand was a spark of electricity. "Thunderrrrrr" Luigi said, placing his hand in the water. Pikachu realizing what Luigi was doing quickly assisted him by sending a thunderbolt into the water. The thunder attacks rushed towards Shadow Mario who was able to jump out of the way using a newfound speed, he left behind a bit of paint.
The two electric attacks hit the paint, it started off by being obliterated but quickly grew resistant to it and eventually it was able to produce its own electricity.
"Crap!" Pikachu shouted. "Nothing we do seems to hurt it!"
"Lets see what the SNES Shield can do!" Link grabbed his long shot firing it at the shield retrieving it; he then held it out in front of him. It then began to float and eventually landing on Link's chest. A bright light flashed revealing Link in a white futuristic armor, covered head to toe.
Shadow Mario sat peacefully on the ledge of a building that hadn't been consumed yet, he seemed mildly interested in Link's transformation. Using a newfound speed Link appeared behind Shadow Mario. Link took the NES sword and slashed it at Shadow Mario who used his paintbrush to defend. Shadow Mario began to fight as though his Paintbrush was a sword, his attacks were mainly to try and get paint onto the two items. However Link was able to evade and block each attack.
Mario jumped up behind Shadow Mario bringing the plunger down on his skull. Shadow Mario fell down limp onto the ground his body disappearing into the shadows once again. They soon however reformed once again. Everyone couldn't help but express their frustration.
"CRAP!"
"Din why have you forsaken me?"
"DAMN!"
"SHIT!"
"&$#"
"KITTENS!"
Everyone glared at Kirby for a few brief seconds even Shadow Mario was shocked.
"Anyways can we just continue on your defeat?" Shadow Mario asked. Mario fired another attack from FLUDD, this time it evaporated before it hit the paint. It was noticeably a lot hotter and the air around the paint seemed to be moving. From across the horizon something caught everyone's attention. It was a massive tidal wave.
Everyone braced themselves and watched as it hit the island knocking most of the warriors back onto Isle Delfino. But the bigger shock came when they looked to see what was still standing. The Paint Monster had hardly been fazed. A smile crossed Shadow Mario's face, as he broke out into laughter. "It evolved! The paint can finally resist water!" meanwhile absolute terror crossed Mario's face.
--------------------
Two cloaked figures stood at the other end of Isle Delfino, one was male and the other was female. "Well," he sighed. "We did what The Master wanted."
"Causing a stupid eruption and a pointless tidal wave," She muttered. "Only to make the paint immune and stronger, seems pointless if you ask me."
"Well might as watch the fireworks, just out of curiosity who is your money on?"
"I say Link is going to deal the final blow he has these tendencies to be Uber and God-Modded to no end."
"Mario for the same reasons," He replied. "Hey do you think we should stop him from interfering?"
"No," she replied sternly "We weren't given any orders to remove him from the battle field, and besides it should be a bit more interesting."
--------------------
Link was dumbfounded staring at the paint monster. Shadow Mario took this time to do a cheap shot and put paint on the armor and sword. The SNES Shield revered back to its original form and they both went flying into the paint monster. "This time you won't get them back!" Shadow Mario said.
"I won't need them!" Link said running towards Shadow Mario. "All I have to do is destroy your paintbrush and it will all be over!" he used the Master Sword to attack Shadow Mario, and felt no resistance. Link stared at the sword as it had just went right through both Shadow Mario and the Paintbrush. "Crap! Not now!"
Pikachu and Kirby ran up hitting Shadow Mario with a combination of Iron Tail, and multiple punches to the face. Kirby then used final cutter to cut Shadow Mario in half. Shadow Mario once again reformed but this time it seemed to take a few seconds longer than his previous regenerations, but the only one who noticed this was Rai and Luigi. "He must be getting weaker!" Rai said.
"Ya… it might finally be safe to come out now!" Luigi said walking out from behind the lone palm tree.
Jigglypuff attacked Shadow Mario with a roll out once she had gotten close to Shadow Mario she then fell asleep. Shadow Mario was then sent rocketing backwards into a follow up attack by Kirby who took out a baseball bat and knocked Shadow Mario towards Link. Link used the Master Sword, however Shadow Mario went right through it and knocked him down. Shadow Mario continued to skid across the ground. Shadow Mario then got up.
Mario ran up to Shadow Mario punching him in the face surprisingly Shadow Mario didn't budge and Mario was holding his hand as though he just hit solid steel. "The more the paint absorbs the stronger I get!" Shadow Mario explained. A fireball appeared in Mario's hand and he threw it at Shadow Mario hitting him in the face.
Link got up off of the ground and ran towards the two clashing forces. He drew an arrow and fired it at Shadow Mario upon impact it became an ice arrow freezing Shadow Mario in a block of ice. Mario created another fireball in his hand, but this time he didn't fire it at Shadow Mario. He ran up and shattering the ice with it and following through by slamming the fireball into Shadow Mario's gut. Shadow Mario then went flying from the force of the attack.
"That's it I've had it!" Shadow Mario shouted out flustered after recovering. "Its time to take out the weakest of your group first!" his head turned towards Luigi. "Luigi prepare to die!" Several pieces of paint went rushing towards Luigi; they then became about 100 long needles.
"CRAP!" Link shouted. "Luigi is going to become a pin cushion!" Link looked around trying to see if anyone could help the plumber but they were all too far away to do anything. Each of them could only watch as the needles rushed towards Luigi.
Luigi too was frozen in place. Everything had become silent, and he could hear his own deafening heart beat in his ears. In a desperate last move of defense he held out his hands and a white light appeared in front of him.
To be continued…
Notes: Derek Stiles is from Trauma Center: Under the Knife, and the upcoming Trauma Center: Second Opinion. I do not own the character.