Flagship Fortress
"Geno, Zelda, Peach," Central Control said, you're moving awfully deep into enemy territory. You're officially in Dark Land. No one else has gotten anywhere near that far. Use extreme caution because if anything goes wrong, you're on your own."
"What's the status of the Hyrulean Forces?" Geno asked, as they went deeper into the dark clouds.
"Better than expected," Control said. "But keep pushing forward. We'll try to get some back up for you as soon as possible. How are you going so fast anyway?"
"A new trick of Peach's," Geno said. "Over and out."
"Is that the Flagship?" Zelda asked, as the tangle of Piranha Plant structures and the tall fortress came into sight.
"It's humongous!" Peach gasped. She felt the Millennium Star's energy waning. "We're going to have find a place to land."
"Go for that vine! Rail! Whatever it is!" Zelda said, pointing to a metal "vine" that wasn't thorny.
They landed safely on the rail, though Peach had a little trouble balancing since she had lost her board in the destruction of the Paratroopa Ship. She soon slipped and slid along the rail in a sidesaddle position. A small explosion of unknown origin broke off the piece of railing they were on from the rest of it. Fortunately, they were over a floating gun deck and landed safely. The gun deck began to rumble and started to quickly sink. Whatever mechanism was keeping it in the air was apparently failing.
"Run for the spring!" Geno said, pointing to the spring tucked away between two large cannons. Each hopped on and was propelled high into the air and back onto the rest of the railing. Once they were truly over the surface of the Flagship, they saw that there was actually a gigantic lake of lava in the center of it. Most of the pieces of the ship besides the rails were just platforms and large gun decks hovering hundreds of feet over the lava.
When the vine somehow began to grow thorns up ahead, they were forced jump off onto a tall, but otherwise plain, flat platform. Suddenly, a giant Titanium Knuckle dropped out of a portal and onto the platform. It was twice as large as the average Iron Knuckle.
"I'll handle him!" Zelda yelled rushing it. She dodged the slam of its ax and slashed it in the side with the magical edge of her hands. She slashed its ankle as she jumped to the side to dodge another slam. When it tried to stomp on her, she rolled behind it and jumped onto its back. She pulled herself onto its head, jamming her Gilded Sword between the gaps in its armor. When it bashed its head in an attempt to strike her, it off-balanced itself. Zelda jumped off as it stumbled back and blasted it in the face with her Shining Ray, knocking it flat on its back. Using telekinesis, Zelda slowed her descent, pulled Peach toward her, and tossed her rear-first at the Titanium Knuckle. The explosion wasn't quite enough to destroy it, so Zelda came down hard on the ground, creating a pillar of fire under the Knuckle, eventually shattering it.
"What do you call that one?" Geno asked, once the fire disappeared and there was a hole in the platform.
"Din's Eruption," Zelda smiled. "He wasn't so tough."
"Wow, you've gotten strong," Peach said. "And so gentle. That didn't hurt at all."
"It took a lot of practice," Zelda said. "Where do we go now?"
Geno looked over the edge, seeing that there were a few more platforms down below. Looking forward, there seemed to be a metal canyon. The ship was certainly large enough to call it a canyon. "Peach, about how long would it take for another…what was it…"
"Cosmic Control? Neither of us is quite sure how it charges, so don't count on it."
"In that case, get us as far as you can towards that platform over there." They took hold of Peach as she jumped off and floated toward the platform several yards away. As they neared it, the platform began to fail and sink. Once it was low enough, Peach took a second to rest on the platform. When another platform came into sight, she took them to that one. With nowhere else to go, they rode it down a short way and got off on a platform that was actually connected to the rest of the ship.
Though there was no danger of the platform falling, it was filled with cannons. They fired Bob-ombs that exploded on contact with the ground. Zelda used her telekinesis to redirect the bombs into other cannons and soon all were destroyed. As they neared the close walls of the canyon, a large metal door came up over the space.
Two large, metal Beamos clanked onto the surface out of dark portals and opened their eyes wide. Energy collected in their pupils, so Zelda quickly put up her shield. The eyes blasted out sustained particle beams large enough to engulf an entire Arwing. One beam was red. The other was green. Though their combined force pushed Zelda and her friends back, they remained unharmed.
"They spared no expense," Geno grunted. "Zelda, bring down that door. Peach, help me take care of these two."
While Zelda strained to bring the door down with her telekinesis, Geno fired off his Star Bullets at one Beamos. It simply shut its eyelid and deflected all the bullets. Peach used her Peach Bomber, but simply by closing its eye, it remained unharmed.
"It's no use," Zelda said, panting. "I can't take down the door without completely exhausting myself…and possibly destroying this whole platform."
"That's fine," Geno said. "We'll just let these two do the work for us. Stand in front of the door, and just as they fire, teleport us out of their sights." All three moved over to the door. Once the Beamos opened their eyes to fire, Zelda teleported herself as well as Geno and Peach out of the two Beamos' trajectories. The door withstood the blast for a couple seconds before giving way and flying off its hinges.
They quickly walked into the "canyon" and saw that it was filled with death traps. The walls were lined with Blasters, cannons, Chain Chomps, and obvious trapdoors that would lead one to a dip in the lava.
"Zelda," Geno said.
"I know," she said, tossing a emptied flask of Maple Syrup she had just drank. "Peach."
"Shining Star, give her strength!" Peach yelled. The Shining Star empowered Zelda as her Triforce piece glowed. Once everything completely stopped moving, Geno took both their hands and dashed across the obstacle course. He went through the small canyon so fast that time was still frozen at the end. On the other side, there was a single cannon. It looked much smaller and different from the others.
"A dead end," Geno said, looking over the edge. The nearest platform was far out of reach. It was also at a much higher altitude than them.
"I have an idea," Peach said, jumping into the cannon. "Get in."
"That doesn't even look safe," Zelda shook her head.
"It's worked before," Geno said, hopping in with her. Zelda relented and jumped in. After tilting the cannon to a proper angle, they were fired out in succession. After flying high over several platforms, they reached another stable ledge that seemed to lead to a room. As expected, another large door came up over the entrance and locked up tight.
This time, there were three large enemies that appeared. The one in the center was another giant Titanium Knuckle. The ones on the sides were what appeared to be Giga Hammer Bros. They had spiked shells, sharper beaks, narrower red eyes, and large sledgehammers.
"More company," Zelda said, enchanting her hands.
"And uninvited!" Peach yelled angrily.
"Let's take them out," Geno said, transforming into a cannon. They unleashed their attacks, only letting the enemies take a single step toward them. Zelda grunted and pushed all three back against the door. Peach flung out bomb after bomb on them. Geno detonated his Geno Flash. After the flashing and explosions stopped, there was nothing left of any the three bruisers. Even the door had fallen down, revealing a small room with some sort of control panel inside.
"We have gotten stronger!" Peach cheered, drinking a flask of Maple Syrup from her pouch.
"Well, done," Geno said, as they walked into the room.
"I knew we could do it," Zelda said confidently. "Now, what is this thing?"
Geno was reading a note that had been taped to the wall next to the device. "According to this, it's a self-destruct device."
"I wouldn't think Bowser would be quite so foolish as to put something like this on his Flagship, especially since we're not even at the main tower."
"He isn't," Peach said, looking at the note. "This is my handwriting. Morel must have arranged this."
"That would be an extreme betrayal, don't you think? Blowing up the whole ship… Knowing her, it must be a big dud."
"Just to be safe," Geno advised, "better get your shield ready." Once Zelda had activated her shield, Geno flipped open the control panel and saw another conspicuously large red button, though this one was unmarked. After pressing it, the whole room rumbled violently.
One huge explosion later, they were flying high over the lava lake. The tower they had been in had been completely annihilated, though the rest of the ship was intact.
"I didn't think it would actually self-destruct," Geno admitted as they flew to a trio of metal vines that were at a steep angle.
"The rest of the ship doesn't look like it suffered at all though," Zelda said as they landed. Geno grinded along the middle rail, Zelda along the left rail, and Peach stumbling on the right rail. "I still can't comprehend how something this colossal can stay in the air."
"A little help, please!" Peach yelped, trying hard not to fall off as they went into a steep incline.
"Here!" Zelda said, materializing a flat plate of metal. "I retrieved one from earlier."
"Thanks," Peach said, grabbing the plate and jumping onto it.
"Loop," Geno warned. The vine went into a small loop. They had enough speed to make the entire loop and grinded down toward a large bridge of metal with three heavy cannons on them. The cannons were immobile, but placed in such a way that they had clear shots at any of the rails. After a quick scan of the cannons, he yelled, "Green laser, incoming!" He jumped onto Zelda's rail just as a sustained green particle beam disintegrated the rail he was on.
"Stay on guard," Zelda said, as they passed the bridge and approached yet another one. The middle rail had been destroyed up until that point, the angle disallowing the laser from destroying the whole thing. "We're getting close to the main tower." Indeed, they were actually somewhat above the altitude of the increasingly close tower with Bowser's head on it.
"Zelda, blue laser fire!" Geno said, hopping back onto the new middle rail. She quickly flipped over to the middle rail with him as a blue particle beam destroyed her rail. "Peach, red laser!" She easily jumped to the their rail with her board as the red laser engulfed her rail. Another unexplained explosion broke off the vines from up ahead, so they jumped. Somewhat below, there were multiple vines, each of which curved in front of one of several laser cannons.
"How many are there?" Zelda shouted as she saw several points of energy building. "One, two, three…four laser cannons!"
"I see eight laser cannons!" Peach yelled.
"Twelve lasers…" Geno said, as they continued to fall. "Everyone, right to left. Follow my lead."
They landed on the right-most vine as the energy charge in front of them built up. They hopped to the left as the blue energy blasted by them. The rail to the cannon targeting to the left of them was almost fully charged. Knowing that they would be trapped, Geno led them two rails to the left, just missing the green beam, while the red one fired soon after on the rail they been on previously.
"It'll take more than that to stop us," Geno said, leading them to the left with each laser blasting each rail they left.
"They must be getting desperate," Peach said as they reached the final rail and passed just out of the final laser's range. Along the final rail, they finished their slope and grinded straight toward Bowser's face on top of the tower. As they passed the two Chain Chomp structures, the gigantic metal statues came to life, broke away from their chains, and began to chase them along the rail.
"I'll say," Geno agreed. "Just keep moving and we should be fine." Then, his eye caught the sight of the Bowser structure's eyes glowing and a very large mass of energy building in its mouth. "You've got to be kidding…"
"That's not all," Peach said, pointing to the ultimate destination of the vines. The gigantic Piranha Plant head, which was previously assumed to be inanimate and mechanical, curved the vine toward its opening maw.
"Got anything for us, Peach?" Geno asked.
"Sorry, guys," Peach frowned worriedly.
"Let's see what I can do," Zelda said, spotting a platform just behind the Piranha Plant. She took hold of both her friends as they continued to grind to their eventual doom. The Bowser head fired a bright yellowish-orange beam out of its mouth that dwarfed the previous lasers. The Piranha Plant Head disintegrated along with the giant Chomps. All the rails strewn about the ship disintegrated like lit fuses.
Zelda, Peach, and Geno got up from the platform they teleported to now that it was safe and saw that there was yet another conspicuous self-destruct device. This time the accompanying note was in Hylian.
"I hope this works," Zelda said, flipping the switch and pressing the button. The platform rumbled just as before. But instead of the platform exploding, the Bowser head exploded. "That was useful. According to the note, we need to go to where the Bowser head was."
"Hey, we're ready!" Peach piped up as she began to glow with holy power again.
"I must say, this all seems awfully choreographed," Zelda sighed.
"Don't complain until something goes wrong," Geno smiled.
Peach grabbed them and began to float. "Cosmic…Control!" They flew straight for the remnants of the tower. It had been further away than they had thought, but Peach got them there quickly. Like much of the ship, they had underestimated its size. The top surface of the tower itself would have been more enough space for a large base.
Peach landed near the center because of something very peculiar they had noticed. In the exact center, there was a single Warp Pipe. Next to it was a sign reading, "Warp to Dark World from Dark Land. Pipe reserved for heroes and damsels only."
After Geno read it aloud, Zelda frowned and asked, "Is this a joke?"
"Geno," Peach said. "We'd better tell the others about this."
"Right," he said, staring blankly ahead. "Control? Control?"
"What's wrong?"
"Something's jamming the signal," he said, folding his arms. "I can't get into contact with anyone else. We really are on our own from here."
"Do you think the others are alright?"
"You know Daisy," Zelda said reassuringly. "She and the others should be fine. They're probably on their way here."
"So the question stands," Geno said. "Do we stay here and wait for back-up? Or do we go by ourselves and hope for the best."
"I vote we go now," Zelda said. "The sooner Ganondorf and Bowser are defeated, the sooner both our realms will be at peace."
"And you, Peach?" Geno asked, turning to her.
"I agree," she said, surprising both of them. "I want to get to the bottom of all of this. There was something wrong with Bowser even before he got the Star Rod. I want to know exactly what it is! And I'm willing to bet we'll find Mario and Link there too."
"Hmm," Geno thought. "Is it really necessary that we all go? Especially you, Peach."
"Oh, no!" she said assertively. "We're not splitting up again. I'm tired of seeing you disappear, leaving us wondering whether you're okay or not. And Zelda's the one who should stay behind anyway. She has the last Triforce."
"You have a point," Geno nodded.
"I'm going whether you two like it or not," Zelda said. "This is my destiny. What about you, Geno?"
"As much as I'd like to sit around doing nothing," he smiled, "the Star Spirits and Star Rod are my responsibility. Besides, every time I leave you two, you always manage to get into some sort of trouble. I'd like to join in as much of the action as you are."
"So, it's settled," Zelda nodded.
"Let's show them the power of teamwork!" Peach chimed.