Chapter 25: Battle with the Bros.

Mimi

Mimi soared through the skies, weightless, Dimentio's landscape far below her. Her eyes were peeled for even the slightest hint of someone familiar that she could enlist to aid them. She had seen a lot of creatures which were obviously from other dimensions. Beings which sported anatomies which were foreign to this world, shambling around in disoriented confusion. None of them would be of any help, however. Throughout her own confused dimensional travels she had met a very small number of people who had made an impression on her, so her own past experiences weren't giving her much to go on.

Despite this, the images of several people were burned into the front of her mind as she scoured the horizon. A man with skin matching Dimentio's, wrapped in a shimmering cloak, a top hat placed firmly on his head. A woman of the same race, stern, calculating, but hiding a compassionate and loyal soul under her stony exterior. Three humans, two males dressed in plumbers' outfits and sporting extravagant mustaches, the other a woman, clad in the most beautiful pink dress and carrying within her one of the most flawless voices she had ever heard. An enormous Koopa with a spiked shell, horns, and wild, red hair.

She stopped moving and hung in the air, staring into space sadly. The Count and his minions. The Four Heroes of the Light Prognosticus. Her friends. She missed them so much. She held her shoulders with her hands as she remembered the times they had shared, be it comforting each other under the threatening blanket of the Void or being locked in combat before the very same sky.

'I'll find you guys...' she murmured to herself. 'It doesn't matter how long I have to search. If I'm alive, I know you are too!'

She resumed her flight, keeping her gaze groundward. She'd find somebody soon. She only had to keep look—

Who was that?

She doubled back, looking at a figure walking shakily on the surface of the planet. The person hobbled on unsteady legs, hunched over. Even from this height Mimi could see they were shrouded in purple clothes. Frowning, she descended to the ground.

The figure didn't notice her and continued their difficult trek. 'Hey!' the green girl called.

The figure turned, and Mimi knew exactly who they were. They fixed her with a beady eye. 'Well well well,' they croaked. 'What a nice surprise.' There was venom in their voice. They shot a loathsome look at her and turned back around to continue walking.

'Uh...I said hey,' the girl repeated, putting her hands on her hips.

'Leave me be!' the person demanded in an angry hiss. 'I don't need help from the likes of you!'

Mimi lips curled in an unpleasant frown, but after a moment reversed their shape and took on a sly grin. 'I don't think you want to do that,' she said.

'And why not?' The figure said it with a bored disdain.

'I think there's someone you'd really like to see again.'

Fawful

Fawful's eyes were the widest with fear they'd ever been before. He took a step back, shivering with dread, not looking away from the eyes of the two former heroes who stood before him. Their fists were clenched, their jaws were set, and they never stopped looking at him.

Rose looked from Fawful's horrified face to the grief that was beginning to pass over O'Chunks. 'Who...' she asked, her voice becoming tainted with the fear that was taking hold over all three of them. 'Who are they?'

'Oh, an uneducated party?' Dimentio said. 'My my, Rose, you really know nothing.' He waved a hand in the direction of the brothers. 'These are two famous heroes from a long forgotten age. Whenever an evil arose, they stood up to fight it. Fawful himself is quite familiar with them, aren't you, my little Beanish friend?' The smile on his face was maddening. 'Once upon a time they fought against me too. Fortunately, injecting their souls with some of the Chaos Heart's energy seems to have solved their little allegiance issue. Ah ha ha ha.'

'We'll beat them!' the girl said firmly. 'Right guys?' She received no response and looked to her allies worriedly. 'Um...guys?'

'Oh, look at them!' the king laughed. 'They're shaking in their boots!' Fawful didn't want to show it, but he couldn't help but wear his fear plain on his face. O'Chunks also looked afraid; perspiration trailed down his face. 'Come now, surely you will steel your nerves and fight valiantly? Let loose a few heroic cries of defiance? O'Chunks? Do you not have a chunk-related quip to give to us?' His deformed teeth were showing; Dimentio was having the time of his life. 'And what of you, Fawful? Always running your mouth, talking about your dietary habits? If you don't have something to say, why, I might begin to think I've gone insane!'

All the while, the two humans simply stared at them with their unmoving eyes, waiting for the order, waiting to fight. The most horrifying thing was, Fawful had seen that look in their eyes before. They were normally more animated, but he had seen it. That look of silent determination against all odds. They wore that look when he had confronted them for the first time aboard the Koopa Cruiser so long ago. He had seen it when they had dueled in the depths of Bowser's Castle and he had lost his mistress. He had seen it within Bowser's body as he battled in desperation and breathed his last breath. He had seen it upon his return to life, and seen it as he fought alongside them against the magician who was before him. He had forgotten what it had felt like, to see that look directed at him, and it filled him with terror.

'Well,' Dimentio sighed, the sick grin never leaving his face. He stared at Fawful, intensity in his yellow and grey eyes. 'It is time to relive the past, Fawful.' He snapped his fingers; behind him, Rose and O'Chunks leapt in surprise. Two transparent boxes made of hexagonal shapes trapped them and they lifted up into the air. 'This will be a moment of true nostalgia!' he cackled. 'So why don't you two watch the spectacle unfold?' He sat on top of O'Chunks' box, slinging one knee over the other.

'Fawful!' Rose cried, pounding on the box. She took our her blaster and shot the wall; it pulsed brightly and the force knocked her against the other side, but the box was otherwise undamaged. The Scotsman roared and smashed his prison.

'Lemmie out!' he yelled. 'I won't let yeh do this!'

'Oh shut up you imbeciles,' Dimentio snapped, keeping an eye on the Bean. 'Are you ready, Fawful?'

Trembling, the Bean reached to his hip and drew his blaster. No Headgear. Only a single gun as a weapon. How was he going to win? How could he against the Mario Brothers?

The god of the world put his hands on his knees and leaned forward. His voice dropped to an evil, drawn out whisper.

'Attack.'

Fawful's heart leapt. 'Mari—' he started to plead.

Without hesitation, the Mario Bros. ran at him. The Bean turned around and sprinted the length of the shrine's peak and started going down the steps as fast as he could.

'Oh well that's no fun,' Dimentio sighed.

Mario jumped off the peak and landed on a step in front of Fawful, keeping expert footing, and threw a vicious punch at him. The boy ducked, losing his footing and falling down a few steps before stopping himself with his hands and crawling down more steps.

'Fawful!' Rose yelled at him. 'You need to fight them!'

Pillars rose into the air from the ground below the steps, creating a network of bridges that linked walkways together. Fawful ran as fast as he good along the length of the step he was on and jumped onto one. His hands clutched the edge and he hurriedly pulled himself up over the side. He was becoming more athletic, he found.

'Grrr...' he growled at Dimentio, showing his huge teeth. 'Fink-rat! How dare you have the controlling of them?!' The Bean jumped as Mario leapt effortlessly onto the step, his shoes thunking hard against the stone walkway. The plumber advanced towards him, his fists drawn. 'Red mustache!' Fawful cried. 'Do not have battle! Have remembering! You are on the side of Fawful!'

Mario dashed towards him and the boy felt the familiar sensation of a chill up his spine as memories of being under the heel of the man's shoes surfaced to his mind. Panicking, he raised his blaster and fired a shot; a glowing bolt of energy whizzed through the air towards the oncoming man. The man threw himself onto his back, sliding under the bolt, then pushed himself up with his hands and used the momentum to bring his foot into Fawful's gut, hard. The wind was knocked out of his lungs and he was sent sliding across the high walkway, struggling to stay on.

Luigi jumped onto the walkway on the other side of Fawful, the sounds of his quick feet on the stone, sparking the Bean to action. Luigi leapt over him and Mario met him in the air, grabbing Luigi's hands, spinning him around, and throwing him down at the boy feet-first. Fawful rolled himself over, narrowly missing the impact; he was just inches away from the soles of the green brother's shoes, and he felt the dust on the pillar against his cheek. He got himself to stand up, drawing his blaster and aiming it at Luigi.

Mario landed behind Fawful, who spun around a little too late and received a powerful rotating kick to the face. Luigi jumped over the rolling Bean, landing in front of his brother. Fawful's blaster flew out of the boy's hands and fell over the side of the walkway to the ground below.

'Oh, such a shocking turn of events!' Dimentio gasped in false shock. 'The boy has lost his weapon!'

'Shut up you creep!' Rose growled at him, her hands pushing against her magical prison.

The jester shot her a deadly look, then gave a crooked smile at her. 'Just think,' he said. 'If Fawful dies here I will have little need for any other plans that centre around him.' The girl grimaced.

'Well yeh'll hafta keep yer plans!' O'Chunks shot. ''Cause Fawful's gonna win! I've never been surer o' anythin'!'

'Yeah...' Rose murmured half-heartedly.

The Bean got up, shaking, and put his hand into his cloak, pressing a few buttons on his storage cube, never keeping his eyes off of the two men running towards him. He pinched a few explosives between his fingers and threw his hand out from his cloak. They rolled across the walkway for a few seconds, then exploded in a dazzling display of fire and smoke. Not waiting to see if they worked, he turned and ran.

The Mario Brothers were briefly phased by the explosion, but shook themselves off and gave chase. Fawful leapt to another walkway, hurriedly taking out an unfinished blaster he'd been working on. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do for now. The Bros. skidded on their shoes and Mario jumped through the air at him. The Bean aimed the gun and squeezed the trigger.

The gun whirred for half a second, then fired a huge, blinding projectile of energy. It struck Mario square in the chest and the red plumber flew backwards, a trail of smoke issuing from his chest. Luigi briefly looked backwards, a flash of panic and worry present on his face, then turned back to face his foe.

The blast had blown the barrel right off the blaster and sent Fawful flailing wildly backwards down the walkway. One of his feet slipped off of the stone bridge and he fell onto his back. His metal arm, though perfectly intact when flesh and bone would not have been, throbbed with very real pain.

'That new arm of his...' Dimentio muttered to himself. 'How annoying. A blast like that would have ripped a natural one out of its socket.'

As Fawful stood again, another sound alerted him to Luigi's presence on his walkway. The green brother took out his hammer, the golden head glimmering in the sunlight over the shrine. 'Green mustache!' the Bean begged. 'Please, have remembrance!' The man dragged the hammer across the ground, holding the handle by one gloved hand. 'Dimentio is your enemy of badness! Not Fawful!' The Bean was stepping backwards as Luigi stepped forwards, and he realized that he was still holding his now scrapped blaster. He looked at it for a moment, then screamed, hurling it at the approaching plumber.

The boy ran as fast as he could towards his enemy. Ramming usually worked. Usually. Luigi swung his hammer, batting the hunk of destroyed metal right back at Fawful, who swung his robotic arm, ignoring the pain that went through it, and knocked the blaster aside, never breaking his pace. The distance between them was nullified and Fawful put the weight of his entire body into a desperate body slam. Luigi jumped vertically and the Bean missed him. The plumber came down on his head and the Bean's world spun as concussive pain blasted across his skull. Luigi leapt away and landed on the ground, bringing his hammer back in preparation for a swing. The boy flung himself backwards and the man's hammer met no target. He went onto his feet and wobbled dizzily, seeing three Luigis prepare another blow. This one met its mark; the horrible, cold, dense metal smashed against the side of his body, sending a shockwave through him and him careening over the side of the walkway to the ground below.

The boy crashed to the ground on his metal arm, writhing in pain, badly battered, but still okay. Fawful made a mental note to thank whoever made the limb until he had worn out his vocal cords. He stood up, panting, groaning, slowly trudging across the ground. He increased his pace to a staggering run; he could see his blaster lying on the ground. That was the key to his victory. He ran up to it, prepared to snatch it from the ground.

A brown shoe stepped on it and the Bean was face-to-face with the elder Mario Brother once again. The man took his foot off of the gun and kicked it behind him, drawing his hammer just like his brother. Fawful could hear Luigi behind him, knocking the ground with the gold head of his own Ultra Hammer.

'Blegh,' Fawful groaned, tensing. 'Fawful is not liking this sandwich.'

Mario ran at him, jumping up in the air and raising his hammer. Behind Fawful, Luigi threw his hammer head over handle at the Bean. Fawful spun around and reached out with his durable arm, grabbed the hammer in midair by its handle, then spun back around and gave it a hard swing, the two weapons smashing together in mid air and sending ripples through the Bean's body. Mario flew back and landed on his feet, wavering slightly.

'Oh my,' Dimentio said with controlled surprise.

'Woah,' O'Chunks gaped.

'Wow...' Rose whispered.

Fawful stared wide-eyed at the hammer he now held in his hand. A wide grin crossed his mouth. 'Wowing!' he beamed.

Luigi jumped at the Bean, spinning in the air. Fawful set his face in a glare and swung the hammer at its owner; Luigi grabbed the hammer by the head as it came towards him, gripping it as it followed through. He planted his feet on the ground and lifted Fawful off of his, holding the screaming boy aloft over his head.

'Oh my,' Dimentio said with delighted surprise.

'Woah,' O'Chunks grimaced.

'Wow...' Rose whispered, hiding her face in her hands.

Luigi flung Fawful at his brother, who stepped back and jumped horizontally, colliding with the boy headfirst, spinning in the air, grabbing him by the feet, and throwing him across the shrine and into the side of the stairs.

The Bean stumbled as he tried to walk, falling onto his stomach. He began to climb the stairs, crawling sluggishly. He could feel blood trailing down the side of his head, and moving was agonizing for his chest. He must have cracked something.

This was too much. He couldn't beat the Mario Brothers. He never could, and was never going to be able to. Even under Dimentio's control they were far too powerful to best in combat. He climbed the stairs, desperately trying to get away.

Rose and O'Chunks had begun to pound on their cubes again. 'Fawful!' Rose screamed. 'Get up! Run! Do something!'

'Ahahahahahaha!' the magician laughed, jumping on top of O'Chunks' cube. 'Oh this is wonderful! If only I'd known it would be this easy! Ahahahahahaack!' The Scotsman punched the top of his prison, knocking Dimentio into the air. 'You insufferable ogre,' he snarled, stomping on the cube and sending a shockwave through it and making the man spasm.

Fawful reached the top of the steps to find Mario already there waiting for him, having been thrown to the top by his brother. Luigi trotted up the steps to join all of them. The Bean struggled to his feet, taking out a wrench from his storage cube. He clutched the handle tightly, swinging it once for emphasis.

'You're going to fight with that?' the jester snorted. 'Oh what a sad scene.'

Fawful swung the wrench at Mario, who blocked it with his hammer. Luigi advanced on him and the Bean lashed out at him. The two men circled him, holding their hammers with both hands now, eyeing him for any single misstep.

'Come now, don't keep us waiting!' Dimentio called. 'Attack him!'

Immediately, Luigi dashed at the boy and attacked with his hammer. Fawful dodged the swing and hit the man hard in the head with his wrench, making him reel from the blow. Mario punched Fawful in the back, making him lurch, and Luigi got up and delivered a swift kick to the head. The boy stumbled around the top of the shrine on weak legs, a garbled moan conveying his pain. Mario jumped over the Bean and landed in front of him; he sprinted at him, bringing his fist forward at full force. Fawful was thrown against the door to nowhere at the very centre of the shrine's peak. The stone shuddered against the blow, the door itself grinding against the frame. The Bean grabbed the edge of the frame, attempting to stay on his feet. Mario walked towards him.

'M...Mari...o...' the boy groaned, pressing up against the door in fear. 'Pl...ease...' The red plumber punched Fawful in the stomach and he grunted in pain, his face contorted. He coughed, gasping for air. Mario brought his fist back again and punched him in the face this time. A crack went down one of his glasses, fragmenting his vision in one eye. Blood gushed from his nose.

'Oh my god they're going to kill him!' Rose cried, tears falling from her eyes. 'Stop it! Stop helping Dimentio! Stop hurting Fawful!' O'Chunks roared, continuing to smash everywhere in the cube.

Dimentio made a noise of irritation. 'You are getting on my nerves, you great, furry idiot.' He snapped his fingers and O'Chunks' box disappeared, sending him falling to the ground below and Rose calling his name in horror.

Fawful was slumped against the door, resting his head against the stone. O'Chunks was lying on the ground, groaning and holding his side, trying to get to his feet to help Fawful, but to no avail. 'I...can't...' the Bean whimpered, his body completely devoid of any fight left.

'I think that is enough, my loyal subjects,' the king told the Mario Brothers. They backed up without a word, surveying the broken Bean lying against the door. Dimentio floated down to the ground, staring at his nemesis with a wide grin on his face. 'Well Fawful,' he said, crossing his arms. 'We both knew how this battle would end.' Fawful moved his head slightly, looking up pitifully at the invincible magician. 'I admit I thought you would put up more of an entertaining fight, but I suppose I was mistaken. You were utterly steamrolled, like a young delinquent up against two heavyweight champion fighters! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!' He took a few steps forward, uncrossing his arms and drawing up an explosive box around the boy. 'So this is how it ends. Defeated at the hands of the Mario Brothers, time and time again.'

Fawful grit his teeth in embarrassment and found that even that action caused him pain. 'Fink...rat...' he moaned, his voice no more than a faint whisper. He had Mushrooms in his storage cube, but they would do him no good now. He closed his eyes and relaxed, prepared to breathe his last before Dimentio revived him to do his bidding, or banished him to some unspeakable corner of his world for the rest of his nonexistence.

This was game over.

'Ciao, Fawful!' his foe beamed.

'What's that?!' Rose cried.

Dimentio's face flicked in annoyance and he looked over at the girl. 'Are you honestly attempting to use that trick on me?'

'No, really, what the heck is that?!' Rose pointed to an area behind them.

The magician sighed. 'I know as well as you do that there is nothing...what the Underwhere?'

Fawful opened his eyes to see a small flying saucer hovering over the scene, viewing them all with its wide eyes. Somebody had dropped by to see what the commotion was.

The saucer's bottom opened up and what looked like a cannon came out, aimed directly at them. Dimentio turned completely away from Fawful. 'That's...what on Earth does he think he's—'

The saucer fired, a reverberating sound paining their ears. A massive laser hit the stairs of the shrine, tearing them apart. The force of the blast threw Dimentio over the edge, screaming in rage. The door cracked and fell right over, crashing to the ground and allowing Fawful to roll over it. Rose's cube disappeared with Dimentio out of commission and she fell screaming towards the ground.

Fawful's world was spinning. The fire, debris, and smoke all melded together in one blurry vision. He laid on the ground, bleeding from two spots on his head, his chest aching. He had no idea what was going on, who that saucer belonged to, or whether or not he was going to die now. He wished if he was that it would just get itself over with.

'CHUNKS AWAY!' O'Chunks' belted out to the heavens. He blasted himself up to the top of the shrine with gas from his posterior, Rose in his arms.

'THAT IS INCREDIBLY DISGUSTING!' the girl shrieked. 'WHAT'S GOING ON? WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!'

'Calm yerself lassy, everythin's gonna be okay!' the Scotsman reassured her. He ran over to Fawful and scooped him up. 'Yeh all righ' lad?' Fawful responded with a weak moan.

The saucer fired again and Fawful winced, the sound well past the threshold of pain for his ears. Another explosion rocked the whole shrine. The stairway buckled, the intersecting bridges fell. Part of one of the walls crumbled to ruin. The entire Purity Heart shrine was being destroyed. 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!' Dimentio screamed at the saucer in white hot ire. 'I HAVE HIM! STOP FIRING THIS INSTANT!' The saucer didn't heed his words, and another cannon blast tore apart the base of the shrine's stairs. 'I NEVER ORDERED THIS ATTACK YOU MANIAC!'

The stairway began to tip. 'Uh oh...' O'Chunks said. He looked around for a moment, attempting to find a way down and finding none. 'Okay...hold on!' he told them, and ran to the edge. 'GRAAAAH GOOGLYYYYY!'

A powerful burst of gas exploded from his rear, propelling them through the air and off of the falling shrine. Rose screamed. Fawful pressed against the steel breastplate of the man's armour, his eyes slammed shut and waiting to hit the ground and die.

They cleared the wall of the shrine, hearing another blast from the saucer and another scream of fury from Dimentio. Before they hit the ground, O'Chunks let loose one more burst of gas to slow them down. They hit the grassy ground.

The Scotsman put Fawful down on the ground as lightly as he could. Rose had flung herself out of his arms and was curled up in the grass, shivering. The man fished Fawful's storage cube out from his cloak, took out as many Mushrooms as he found, and fed the Bean every single one. Their restorative properties had his wounds healed in a matter of minutes.

Fawful was shivering too. Even though the physical wounds had healed, he was shaken. He pushed himself up with his hands, looking in shocked dismay at the crumbling stone shrine. 'It...' he whispered. 'It is destroyed...'

O'Chunks stared hopelessly at the scene. ''Ow...' he said. ''Ow're we gonna get the Purity Heart now...?'

'I...' The Bean clenched his fists, his fingers digging into the dirt. 'I am not knowing...'

The saucer stopped firing. It hung there, over the ruins of the last Purity Heart trial that they would need to have completed to finally take a stand at Dimentio, surveying its work. It was a steel reaper of the hope that they had clung to ever since each of them had been given life once more, and that was now gone.

The saucer left, and with it any chance they had of killing Dimentio.