Mario and Sonic: Heroes Unite!

Chapter 35: The Guardian!

Toad Town, Princess Peach's Castle

It was the middle of the afternoon once our heroes arrived back from their adventure in Sherbet Mountains. They had the Power Star safely in their hands. They brought along the body of Robo-Luigi with them. He was deactivated due to Ice Amy's beam attack. The ice cube he was in had eventually melted in the Chop Chop Helicopter. The heroes laid his body on Princess Peach's royal bed. They looked at his body, wondering what to do with it.

"I can't believe the horrific act the shadow figure could ever put upon ultipoor Luigi." Peach said to the heroes. She sat beside the body of Robo-Luigi, feeling the metallic arm of the robot. Luigi's soul and mind was still inside the damaged robot. How could the heroes transform their friend back to normal?

Yoshi walked up to the body of Robo-Luigi, stared into it's lifeless face and deeply sighed. He desperately wanted his best friend back. Mario walked up to Yoshi and comforted him, telling him they'll find a way to get back Luigi.

Tails began thinking of ways on how they could transfrom Luigi back to normal, but so far he had no clue on how to. "This is pretty complicated. How exactly are you supposed to change a robot into a human being? I don't know if any type of machinery could do such a thing."

Sonic shook his head in disappointment. "Well then, I'm assuming the option to go to Professor Gadd for help is out of the question." Tails nodded to him. They had to think of an alternative way.

Suddenly, Amy felt a small tingle on her right hand. Wondering what it was, she removed her glove, revealing an Ice Flower mark on the back of her hand. "Oh my. What happened to my hand?"

Everyone looked at her hand, seeing the Ice Flower mark. Tails remembered his Fire Flower mark and compared both marks. "I'm guessing the energy of the Ice Flower has finally stored itself inside you. As Professor Gadd said before, you'd be only be able to use the Ice Flower, like how I'm only able to use the Fire Flower."

"That's still pretty confusing," Sonic said. "I know that we are from another world, but why does it limit us to only using one power-up? That's kinda lame in my opinion." The others weren't sure. They never really let the subject bother them.

Toadsworth suddenly barged into the room, seemingly excited. "Jolly good! I think I have the solution!" The heroes looked at him with confused looks. Toadsworth took a minute to calm down and spoke in a calm tone. "I just got off the phone with this friendly Magikoopa. It seems that he may be able to transform Luigi into his happy-old self again!" The heroes were extremely delighted to hear the news. Toadsworth continued to speak. "The old chap told me he'd be here by nightfall. All we need to do at the moment is wait."

Yoshi's tail wagged happily. He couldn't wait to see Luigi back to his old self again. He turned to Mario, who seemed to have a smile on his face. "Isn't this great? Luigi will be back to normal! Now we'll be able to go on adventures together again." The dinosaur wished so hard for nightfall to come quickly.

Everyone decided to leave the room for now until the Magikoopa would come. They headed to the foyer of the castle when suddenly the Purple Mail Toad entered. He had an invitation for them. "MAIL FOR MARIO AND SONIC!" He went up to the heroes and handed them the invitation. It was in a pink envelope.

"This better not be another fake invitation to another mansion." Sonic joked as he opened up the envelope. He read the letter aloud:

Dear Mario and Sonic,

Hey y'all! It's me, Toadette! I just wanted to see how you guys are doing right now. I've heard a lot has happened during your search for the Power Stars. You sure are amazing heroes! Anyway, things have been going great in the Mushroom City. My very first recital was a huge hit! So many people enjoyed it and I've gotten astounding praise for my conducting skills. Ever since then, I've been conducting for orchestras every night.

I was just wondering if you had the time, you could come and watch one of my recitals. I'm sure after a long journey of finding Power Stars, you could take the time to relax and enjoy some beautiful classical music. You'd even be able to watch at no charge! I would really appreciate it.

Well, I wish y'all good luck to finding the rest of the Power Stars! Bye for now!

Sincerely, Toadette.

The heroes looked at each other for a moment and smiled. "So what do you think?" Sonic asked them. "You guys up to listening to some classical music?" Everyone agreed. It would be an enchanting experience to go to a recital and see Toadette again.

Everyone quickly got ready and prepared for their flight to Mushroom City via Chop Chop Helicopter. Princess Peach would come along with them. She told Toadsworth to keep a sharp eye on Robo-Luigi and made sure the Magikoopa would come to the castle on time. The heroes climbed aboard the Chop Chop Helicopter and began their flight to the Mushroom City, looking forward to a night of wonderful music to enchant them.

Hot Hot Desert, Wario's Palace

The temperature in Hot Hot Desert was blazing like the surface of the sun. There was hardly any breeze throughout the sun-baked desert. Somewhere though, was a golden palace. One made out of the finest gold you could ever find. The palace had sparkling golden walls, luxurious chandeliers, red royal carpets and shiny marble floors. Inside each room were piles and piles of extravagant treasures from around the Mushroom Kingdom.

The palace belonged to none other than the greedy Wario. He was in his throne room, sitting on his expensive throne chair. He was "digging for gold" at the moment. Around him was his treasures. He was proud of himself for stealing all of the jewels in front of him. To him, they were no doubt rightfully his.

"Man, I'm so awesome!" Wario bellowed in his glory. He grabbed a handful of gold from one of the treasure piles and threw it up in the air. He laughed in glory as the jewels rained around him. "I'm one of the richest men in the world! No, I'm the richest man in the world! Ahaha!"

Wario continued laughing until Waluigi barged into his throne room, tired. He had just stored in the last of the treasure they had stolen away from the Mummithwomp's Pyramid. "I'm all done, Wario!"

"Excellent!" Wario cheered. He hopped back into his throne, looking around at all of their treasures. "Now, we can bask in glory while looking at our magnificant treasures that's rightfully ours!"

Waluigi scratched the side of his head, a little confused. "But Wario, why don't we use some of this gold mine to buy ourselves something useful. Like, a pool for the palace!" He quickly got slapped in the face by Wario, who explained to him they couldn't buy a pool due to the scorching temperatures of the desert. It would evaporate the water faster than they could fill it up.

"And besides," Wario reminded him. "once that shadow thingy has completed it's task, he'll grant us unlimited power like he promised us! We won't need anymore money once we rule the world! Everyone will bow down to us and give us their treasures!" Wario dug into his back pocket and took out a shining, yellow jewel. It was none other than the Yellow Chaos Emerald. It sparkled in front of him.

"Gee, I've never seen one of those before." Waluigi spoke. "You better be right about this plan, Wario. I want to buy another casino for myself!" Wario assured him of his plan. He trusted the shadow figure. After all, once they had proven their worthiness of being a Star Children, the shadow figure let them keep the treasure they had stolen from the Mummithwomp's Pyramid. It seemed like a surefire plan!

Suddenly, the two heard a distant noise. It sound like something was falling from the sky. The sound gradually became louder. The noise stopped all of a sudden. Wario and Waluigi quickly shook it off, but then, something unexpected happened. A red comet soaring down at the speed of light crashed through the roof of Wario's palace and landed in a pile of coins. The two were comepletey awestruck to what just happened.

"Gwah! We're under attack!" Waluigi squawked out. He rushed behind Wario's throne chair, hiding from the unknown object that fell from the comet. In contrast, Wario was completely furious. Whatever came from that comet, it had broken his palace roof!

"Grrrr!" Wario growled as he hopped out of his throne chair. He shoved the Yellow Chaos Emerald back into his pocket. His face was steaming with rage. "This is unacceptable! Once I find out who broke my roof, they're gonna have a taste of my knuckle sandwich!" He headed towards where the object had landed. Suddenly, the pile of coins started to move. Wario and Waluigi watched as this red-looking creature crawled out of mess. It looked around, unaware of where it was.

"What the-who are you!" Wario shouted at the red creature and pointed angrily at it. The red creature panicked and quickly ran out of the throne room, escaping the palace. Wario snorted at it's cowardice. "Yeah, you better run! After what you just did to my palace!"

Waluigi stared up at the broken roof. It had made a large, cracked hole. He scratched his head again in confusion. "Gee, I wonder how something like that could happen." He turned to Wario, who was grumbling about something. "So Wario, who's going to fix the roof?"

Wario slowly turned to Waluigi, with a bitter look on his face. Taking the hint, Waluigi rushed out of the throne room and into the palace basement, intending to find the very tall ladder they had. Wario stared back to the broken roof, cracking his knuckles in the process.

"Whoever did this is going to pay!"

Mushroom City, Flower Concert Hall

It was evening by the time our heroes had just arrived in the hustling, bustling Mushroom City and already made their way into the Flower Concert Hall. It looked the same way they left it before. A long red, fancy carpet running through the middle of the lobby, meeting the registration desk. Comfy couches on the sides of the room, beige curtains and a large chandelier. They were sitting in the lobby, awaiting for Toadette to come find them.

Yoshi was excited for the recital. He hadn't seen one yet, so this experience was going to be very interesting for him. "Gee, I can't wait! I hope they play some rock and roll! Or perhaps hip-hop."

Tails chuckled at Yoshi's comment. "Yoshi, this is orchestral recital. I don't think they'll have any fancy electric guitar riffs or fast drum solos." Yoshi sighed. He didn't seem excited as he was before, but still he was looking forward to the recital.

Princess Peach and Amy were talking about Toadette's upcoming recital. They were hoping it would be filled with glorious musical performances that would soothe the ears. Mario was standing beside the lobby's doors. He was still thinking about his Luigi's condition. Would the Magikoopa's treatment work? What if it didn't? Then he'd have a lifeless robot as his brother for the rest of his life! Sonic noticed the glum look on his face and went up to him. "Hey, is something the matter?"

Mario shook his head, trying to deny the fact he was still a little worried. Sonic obviously knew what Mario was thinking. He patted his shoulder in comfort. "Come on, don't worry about your brother. I'm sure after the Magikoopa is done with him, he'll be back to his normal self. We should be enjoying ourselves right now."

Mario sighed. "I'm-a know you're trying to comfort me Sonic, but still, don't you know what I'm going through? This may be the only chance I'll get my brother back and if it doesn't work, my whole life will never be the same." He turned to Sonic, giving him a serious look. "Wasn't there a time in your life where you had to face a big dilemma?"

Sonic grinned and nodded to him. He remembered the tough choices he made in his past adventures. "You don't know how many times that's happened to me. But during those times, I go with the flow and that usually runs me off in the right direction. What I'm trying to say is trust yourself that everything's going to be okay, and usually it does."

Mario nodded at Sonic's words, understanding what he meant. "You know, Sonic, you're really good at giving advice." Sonic thanked him. They gave each other a thumbs-up. The two had become really good friends so far. They looked at their other friends, who seemed to enjoy talking to one another. Their friendships had grown so much over the past few days.

"Hey y'all!" someone shouted in the lobby. The heroes turned and saw Toadette waving at them near the registration desk. They were delighted to see each other again.

"Hello there, Toadette." Peach happily greeted her as she went up to them. "I've heard pleasant things about your recitals. I'm looking forward to listening to them." Toadette smiled. She was glad the heroes accepted her invitation.

"So how's conducting for you lately?" Yoshi asked her. "Is it hard? Is it easy? I wanna know!"

"It's been an amazing experience!" Toadette answered. She explained how wonderful it was to conduct an orchestra. People from all around the Mushroom Kingdom praised her conducting skills. It made her feel really important and she appreciated the compliments. "Anyway, if you guys came to watch my recital, I'm afraid you're a little too early. The recital doesn't start until one hour from now."

The heroes were slightly disappointed, not knowing what to do for the next hour. Amy quickly suggested to explore around Mushroom City a little more, and that's what our heroes did. They walked around Mushroom City, admiring the busy life it had in it. It was going to be an exciting night for the heroes.

Unfortunately, it wasn't what they had expected...

Congo Jungle, DK's Treehouse

It was a peaceful evening in Congo Jungle. Right now, the Kong's were inside their treehouse, eating a hoard of bananas they had just found. Diddy Kong took quick, small bites out of the bananas, while Donkey Kong chucked in five bananas at a time, with the peels still on.

"These are the best bananas I've had in forever!" Diddy Kong exclaimed, finishing up a banana and throwing the peel on the floor. Donkey Kong agreed with him. The Kongs ate the bananas so quickly, that they finished all of them in the blink of an eye. They stared at the pile of banana peels, wondering what to do now. They were still hungry, there bellies grumbling in hunger.

"Don't worry!" Donkey Kong assured him, heading for the door to his tree house. "I'll find us some more." He exited his tree house, jumping into the trees and swung around using the vines. He went around the jungle, snatching up hoards of bananas. Donkey Kong took a break, carefully placing the bananas he'd found onto the ground. He couldn't wait to eat them along with Diddy Kong.

Just then, something was shot in front of Donkey Kong. He jumped back, surprised from the attack. Donkey Kong looked up, and was immensely shocked to what he saw. Floating in front of him, was the shadow figure, pointing it's shadow paintbrush towards Donkey Kong. It had just shot am shadow lightning bolt. Donkey Kong remembered the evil creature and gave it an angry looking, clenching his teeth and holding his hands in fists. "What are you doing back in my jungle?"

The shadow figure gave Donkey Kong an evil smirk. "So...you are one of them." Donkey Kong was confused. What was the shadow figure talking about? Suddenly, the shadow figure shot another shadow lightning bolt at Donkey Kong, but the ape quickly dodged it. Donkey Kong rushed towards the shadow figure, giving out a ferocious gorilla roar. He jumped at him and proceeded to punch the shadow figure, but it quickly teleported behind Donkey Kong and struck him down into the ground, injuring the ape.

"You are a strong one, I admit," the shadow figure said to Donkey Kong. "which makes you perfect for my plan." Donkey Kong slowly stood up, still willing to fight the shadow figure. Suddenly the shadow figure cast a spell upon him, the same spell he had used on someone. Donkey Kong gave out an agonized scream, pained from the spell. He fought the pain.

"With your immense strength and large size, you'll have no problem in getting rid of them." the shadow figure told him. Donkey Kong continued to struggle from the spell. Suddenly, his fur began to change color. It changed from it's regular brown color to a dark-grayish tone. His eyes suddenly turned black and his pupils turned red. Donkey Kong felt his mind go insane. He began to lose his control of his body. A sudden feeling of rage filled inside of him, one that he never felt before. He felt like he wanted to kill someone.

"Good...it's working." the shadow figure said to himself, nodding while Donkey Kong transformed into a different beast. The shadow figure raised his hand in the air and made the Silver Chaos Emerald appear in it. "I just need to add one more thing to this spell." The Chaos Emerald transformed from it's jewel form into a bright light form. It floated towards Donkey Kong and disappeared inside his body. Suddenly, Donkey Kong grew in size. He grew as tall as a building. It made his change in appearance much more terrifying. Donkey Kong towered over the trees in the jungle. The pain in his body was gone. The spell was finished.

It had transformed him into a gigantic monster, the shadow figure calling him "Giga Donkey Kong."

"You are now my slave." the shadow figure said, floating up to Giga Donkey Kong's face. The giant nodded back to the shadow figure. He explained to him what he wanted him to do. "I want you to find Sonic and his friends, and bring them to me!"

Giga Donkey Kong gave out a mighty roar at the shadow figure's command. He beat his chest vigorously. His roar was twice as loud as a bullhorn. Giga Donkey Kong made it's way out of Congo Jungle and began it's search for the heroes. The shadow figure watched him leave the area.

"Hopefully, this plan will work, unlike the last one..." the shadow figure said to itself. Suddenly, the last two Chaos Emeralds appeared in front of him. It was the Red and Cyan Chaos Emeralds. "Five Star Children down, two more to go." The shadow figure disappeared from the jungle, resuming it's search for the Star Children.

Meanwhile, back at the Kong's Treehouse, Diddy Kong was extremely panicking, holding his hands to the side of his head and jumping up and down in fear. He had just witnessed everything. What was he going to do? Donkey Kong was now under control of the shadow figure! "Gahh! I need to find help!"

Diddy Kong quickly rushed back into the tree house, taking his barrel jet pack with him. He rushed out of the jungle, hoping to find the heroes in time...

.

..

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To be continued!

Giga Donkey Kong is on the loose! Will he find the heroes and destroy them? And what was the creature that Wario and Waluigi encountered? Tune in next week for the next chapter of Mario and Sonic: Heroes Unite!

Author Notes: Chapter complete. I say this chapter was alright. Funny thing, I almost completely forgot to update the chapter for today. I just remembered when I popped open my laptop. My brain is so amazing at remembering things. I got a little drowsy when I wrote this chapter, but I'm fine. But anyway, hopefully you guys enjoyed reading it.

Giga Donkey Kong was inspired by Giga Bowser. You know how in the Smash Bros. series, Bowser could transform into a more malovent and destructive form of himself? This is Donkey Kong's version. I liked the way it turned out. Gray fur, black eyes, red pupils and a larger size. It looks scary when you imagine it in your head.

Wario and Waluigi haven't appeared in the story in a LONG time, so I decided to write them into this chapter. They will be important characters soon, but right now they're taking a back seat. And I wonder what that red creature is. I know there is a character who is red, but which one again? Hmm.

Well, thanks for taking the time to read this chapter. Make sure to come back next week to read the next one. Thanks for everyone's support. Without you guys, I wouldn't be writing this story. Bye for now!

Oh yeah, Happy 1st Day of October. I just wanted to point that out for anyone who hasn't realized it yet. :P

-I do not own any Mario or Sonic related characters. They are property of Nintendo and Sega-