A/N: Climactic? I think yes. Enjoy! And please, please, please review!
CHAPTER 26: The Final Battle
Emmy stared in shock as Peach rode by on the shimmering white horse. She had been just about to enter the room when they'd knocked down the door. "We need to follow them!" a koopa yelled, and led the way down the hallway with shy guys and goombas following. Emmy gathered herself and ran towards the front of the mob.
"Excuse me!" she yelled as she pushed her way through.
The koopa tugged on her leg as she walked by. "Do you know which way they went?" he asked. Emmy tricked him and pointed him down another hallway. After the koopa left, Emmy burst into the room where Peach was sitting on top of the white horse.
"What are you doing?" she asked Peach.
Peach blamed her horse. "She's the one who burst out of the room. Did you free Mario and Luigi yet?"
"No… Wait, how did you know what I said to Bowser wasn't true?"
"You're just not the type of person to do that, Emmy."
Emmy smiled. "Thanks, Peach. No, I haven't freed them yet. We might not have much time. I sent the troops the opposite way, so they might take just a while to find us. But here's what I was thinking, I could have you moved out of your room early, say I found and caught you, and then wait until Luigi and Mario are taken from there rooms, and then you and Mario search for my parents and Luigi and I fight Bowser. Sound good?"
Peach nodded and jumped off the horse, as it disappeared like sand in the wind.
"Ready? Let's go." Emmy place Peach in a power bubble and then walked out the door with her prisoner. "I found her!" she yelled, and troops came running from all directions. "Out of my way," Emmy said, shoving her way past them all and into the throne room where Bowser was waiting.
The lion continued to stare at Mario from across the room. "What do you want me to do?" Mario asked. "There's nothing I can do!" The lion nodded, and Mario became confused. The lion was agreeing with him? "What do you mean…?" he began to ask, but the lion disappeared and the door to his room was opened.
Two hammer brothers rushed over and grabbed him by the arms, but Mario pushed them aside. "I'll walk," he told them. The hammer brothers exchanged looks, but agreed to let Mario walk with them to the throne room.
They led him inside, and Mario looked to see Peach and Luigi already there with Emmy.
"Do you need them restrained?" Bowser asked.
"No," Emmy replied. "This will do just fine." She turned around and faced the three. Mario, still confused about what was going on, received a trustworthy wink from Emmy, and then he understood.
Emmy put her hands together and then raised them up in the air. A golden glow came from across the room, and suddenly powers stars of all sizes floated into the room and into Emmy's hands. Peach was reminded of the time when Emmy had first taken the power stars from the Mushroom Castle, and that it had looked the same way.
Once the stars had disappeared over Emmy's hands, she turned around to face Bowser. "You've drained all their power!"
"How can you even tell?"
"How can you breathe fire?"
"…Touché."
Emmy turned back to her work and formed a small power bubble in her hands. She smiled at her companions and then whipped around and flung her power at Bowser, throwing him off his throne and onto the floor.
Everyone jumped into action. Mario grabbed Peach's hand and they ran toward the nearest door. Luigi ran towards Bowser and Emmy prepared another attack. Kammy waved her wand up in the air, and Kamek shouted orders to his troops. "Hammer brother and shyguys, don't let Mario and Peach get away! Koopas and Goombas, stop Emmy and Luigi!"
The troops did as they were told, but Mario and Peach continued to run out of the room, and down a long curving hallway. They skidded to a halt as troops began to rush towards them, and so they backtracked a ways and went down another.
"We can't hold them off for very long, Mario," Peach said, trying her best to keep up with Mario.
"I know Princess, but I'm positive I know where Emmy's parents are, I just need to figure out where we are." Mario remembered back when he was with his lion, and where the lair had been from his view when he'd slipped into the hole in the ground. And then he had to figure out how far he'd traveled below the ground…
He couldn't think about it and run at the same time. They would eventually have to fight.
Luigi ran over to where Bowser lie, jumping over the magic Kammy shot at them. And then it was as if his and Emmy's spirit guardians appeared out of nowhere. The white dappled snow leopard leaped in front of Bowser, the otter on its back. Luigi smiled as the guardians ran past him, the otter jumping off the leopard at just the right moment to scratch Bowser's forearm with his claws.
Luigi and Emmy stared in astonishment, completely unaware that their guardians could fight. Then again, Peach's spirit guardian had knocked down a door. The otter jumped back onto the floor and ran up Luigi, curling around his neck.
"You gonna help me?" Luigi asked the otter, who squealed with delight.
Furious, Bowser stood back up and filled the room with his fire breath. Luigi, distracted by his otter, found himself with no time to move out of the way of the scorching heat and flame. He shielded himself with his hat and hands, then realized there was no need to.
Beside him was Emmy, one hand outstretched, placing a force field between them and the deadly fire. Emmy's snow leopard growled and paced the edge of the field. Finally Bowser stopped and Emmy released her field, the snow leopard running and latching onto Bowser's forearm. Emmy and Luigi smiled at each other, both wondering if the whole battle was going to be this easy.
Goombas and koopas behind them, however, weren't going to let that happen. "Attack!"
They couldn't run much longer, Mario knew. The hallway they were in seemed to stretch on and on, and even Mario felt his legs grow sore.
Finally the hallway ended, but in a way that made Mario grow sick. They had run onto a balcony. A growl bellowed from behind Mario, starting off slow and growing quickly to a full lion roar. Mario and Peach spun around to see that the troops behind them were now retreating, as a white horse and a great lion were driving them back.
The minions scattered as the lion and horse trampled their comrades, and Mario and Peach ran towards their spirit guardians, eventually joining in the fight. Stomping and punching their way through, the lion and horse led their people back down the hallway, and soon there were none of Bowser's minions left standing.
"Where do we go now?" Mario asked their guardians. The lion looked at the horse and then the horse and lion galloped down another hallway that led downwards, Mario and Peach following closely and quickly.
"Why did you choose to not fight Bowser?" Peach asked as they ran. "You didn't do it just to take a break, I know that. Why'd you do it?"
Mario looked at his lion, remembering his discovery from earlier. "I know where her parents are. They're in this room down by all these tunnels that lead away from a flowing river of lava. Hopefully they're leading us in the right direction, because…" Mario never got to finish that sentence, as suddenly he felt the ground shake as his face fell to the floor.
The koopas and goombas surrounded Emmy and Luigi as quickly as possible, trapping every way of escape. Bowser laughed, then walked over to them. "Hand over the power stars, Emmy, or I won't be forced to kill you."
"Luigi, grab my hand," Emmy said, and Luigi knew right away what Emmy was doing. He grabbed a hold of her hand and then harnessed his electrical energy. To Kammy and Bowser's surprise, a green and golden electrical sphere flew out from around the two, shoving every koopa and goomba out of the way. Kammy shielded herself with her own magic, then blocked the attack for Bowser, leaving him unscathed.
With all the koopas and goombas knocked out, Emmy and Luigi smiled at each other, but Bowser took this time to attack. With a swift movement of his giant clawed hand, he hit Emmy, sending her flying across the room, where she collided with the wall with a sickening thud.
Shocked, Luigi faced Bowser and slowly backed towards Emmy. Bowser laughed at him. "Give up, plumber…"
And it was just then that Luigi and everyone else in the room experienced the same earthquake Mario and Peach had felt. Luigi, Bowser and everyone else in the room fell to the floor.
"Kammy!" Bowser yelled. "What's happening?!"
Luigi took this opportunity to shove his way past knocked out minions and crawl over towards Emmy. He shook her. "Emmy? Emmy? Can you hear me?" He sat next to her.
She wouldn't wake up.