Mekarsari Bound:
Daisy did not wake up until later on in the night when she heard a knocking on her door. She had not even bothered to take her armor off when she had lay down. As soon as she had got Andrew into his bed, she went into her room and flopped onto hers. Now, as the rhythmic door knocks brought her out of sleep, she glanced around at the darkness of her room in surprise. Did I really sleep the entire day away?! Daisy thought.
She got up and opened the door, the clock in her room reading past seven at night. Andrew stood outside, tired but more relaxed than he was earlier. The light blaring from the hallways shone into her room.
"Ah – get in here! Hurry up!" Daisy yelled, shielding her eyes. She rushed him inside and shut the door, keeping out the oppressive brightness.
"Were you asleep?" Andrew asked. "My bad – I couldn't tell from the hallway."
"Nah, it's fine, man; I needed to get up anyways," said Daisy. With a yawn, she went over and turned on the much dimmer light of the lamp on her nightstand.
"Well, I'm not staying," Andrew said. "I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for earlier. When I get down, I get reeeeeal down. I try to stay laid back most of the time, but I can get a bit too...serious..."
"Don't sweat it, Shady," said Daisy. "Everyone has bad moments. And they're just that. Moments. Just know that they don't last forever."
Andrew smiled. "We're all lucky to have you with us, Daisy."
She smiled back, her eyes still not woken up all the way yet. "The feeling's mutual."
"You should just relax for the rest of the day," said Andrew. "Eh, night, I mean. Maybe stop by Starbeans. This guy there made an amazing discovery the other day. Now, I'm not gonna say his name because he wanted to keep it a private matter and prevent the fangirls from flocking to him from all sides – it was Donkey Kong – but confidentiality aside, this dude, whose name will remain unknown – definitely DK – took a Chuckochinno, mixed it with a Teeheespresso in one of those tall cups, added a bunch of spices and stuff from the counter, and then stuck extra cream and whole bananas into it. It shouldn't work, but it works. Best energy drink I can think of."
Daisy laughed. "I won't go and ask DK about it. I'm real glad to see you're feeling better."
"Don't get me wrong," said Andrew. "I'm still totally pissed about...you know. But maybe this just means I have to raise my ceiling again. I have to start over and regain what I lost. And if I can do that, then I'd be that much more powerful if I can ever get this curse mark off of me. This is really the worst thing ever though. In a way, I feel like it's giving me asthma!"
"Hey, don't you go doing anything too extensive either, then," said Daisy. "You rest up too. We'll need you for when we go to Mekarsari in the next couple days. Seriously."
"Yeah, I'm not doing anything rigorous tonight," said Andrew. "I'm going by the hospital. Not for me or anything, even though I probably should because I am feeling really broken down...but, no. I'm going there to see Neva."
"Say 'Hi' for me?" Daisy asked.
"Yeah, of course," Andrew said, heading for the door. He stopped when he turned the knob, then he looked back at her. "And...Daisy?"
"Yeah?"
"Please don't change who you are. Don't change a single bit of it."
Andrew then exited and closed the door behind him, leaving Daisy with a soft grin. Back by herself again, Daisy sat down on her bed and pondered their current situation. They had sixty-two Crystal Tears, and they had a possible lead to the Gate of Time's location. Toad and Alden likely would not have the equipment for underwater exploration ready until late tomorrow or the next day, so the Kruna's intended trip to Mekarsari – and its neighbor, Pi'illo Island, if necessary – would be on hold until then.
Independent of that, Bowser still had the Giga Soul to get rid of, Andrew still had the Gatekeeper's Seal to undo, and Neva still needed to recover and get out of the hospital. Though Marissa backed off of the Kruna and set the challenge for them to come seek her out when they are ready, it seemed like they would not be ready for another month at the absolute least.
I am getting so tired of being here, Daisy thought, stretching out on her bed. I guess in theory, we could just go find the Gate of Time and leave this world from there if it really only needs a single Crystal Tear to work. But then this world would be left under Marissa's control. We're not just gonna turn our backs on all these people here. We are one-hundred percent responsible for all of this. But man, this is frustrating...
She turned her head and looked through the gap in her window's curtains at the night sky. Who knows... The path to the Oracle of Fates is supposed to be revealed when we have all sixty-four Crystal Tears. Maybe the Oracle of Fates can do something about all this to sway things in our favor. I don't know what abilities one of that role would have...
"There have been many," Rosalina said to Daisy outside the Comet Observatory Fountain later that night. "It depends on the person. There has been an Oracle of Fates for each generation. When one dies, another one is born shortly after with a different latent power. Because of how rare it is for the Oracle of Fates to be needed – or even realize their 'trump card' role – we don't have certainty over exact abilities. What we do know is that the Oracle of Fates has tended to be a divine healer of sorts. They've eased people's maladies, lifted sufferings, and restored and reinvigorated life; and they've done so in a remarkable, divine way, but only when absolutely needed. Only when there's no other way for the world to go on does the Oracle of Fates awaken."
"And yet, the Oracle of Fates didn't do anything in the eight years we were gone," said Daisy.
"Well, maybe that's because their influence wasn't needed," said Rosalina. "Maybe the time wasn't right. They don't have conscious decision over it. Daisy, if you look out into space and beyond the stars into the black void all around us, you must realize how vast our ever-expanding universe is. Even my Lumas and I here do not hold infinite information. More and more, you must notice how limited our actual knowledge is in the grand scheme of things. Why do you think we up here of the Comet Observatory spend so much time reading the stars? Because they hold information and keys to things that we would not ever have known otherwise."
"It's those same stars that told you that you needed to recruit me?" said Daisy. "And Bowser, and Warra, and Marut, and everyone else?"
Rosalina nodded. "And now, looking at the stars, I wonder if they are trying to tell me that you eight are meant to be here in this time. I wonder. I don't know. But...it wouldn't be the first time I got a surprise or figured something out after the fact..." She changed her tone to one more solemn and muted when she continued. "Daisy, I must thank all eight of you, truly and sincerely, for everything that you have done up to this point. Everything against Elkon, King Sarasa, Marissa, Kokoro, King Boo – everyone."
"Thanks, but, we're just trying to do what we think is best," said Daisy.
"You're not giving yourself enough credit. I've asked so much of you. You're doing what I myself can not do."
"Now that's just crazy talk. You're more powerful than any of us."
Rosalina sighed and stared directly at Daisy. "Do you know why I have had you do so much...while I myself have stayed out of the way of your work?"
Daisy shrugged. "Politeness? You don't want to get in the way of crossfire? We smell funny?"
"You joke," Rosalina said in a chuckle. "But remember when I mentioned I tried to stand against Marissa?"
"Yeah," said Daisy. "What happened? You never told us. I was starting to think you would never tell us."
"I almost died," said Rosalina. "That's what happened."
"Oh..." Daisy mumbled.
"If not for Lubba, who fought alongside me, I would have died. And then no one would be here."
"But...Grand Elder, how?"
"I have a role to fill myself. I am the Elder of the Cosmos. I provide checks and balances far beyond your comprehension. That is my primary duty. I am not a fighter. I am the overseer of this galaxy, and I have no successor; so if I die and no one can take my place, then the whole galaxy will fall into chaos and disorder."
"You can actually die?"
"Daisy, I am a divine being, but I am not immortal. Just because I have lived for ages does not mean I will live on forever. Eventually, I will pass on, and someone else will have to take my place just as I took the place of the one before me. That's the nature of life. I just hope I will have a successor when that time comes, because before there was an Elder of the Cosmos, a Grand Elder, a Cosmic King or Queen – whatever title you prefer – there was nothing but chaos and discord with no rhyme or reason. The galaxy was essentially just a void holding cosmic demolition derbies. I am the one preventing that from occurring now. Well, moderating, in some cases."
Daisy nodded. "I get it."
Rosalina patted Daisy on the shoulder. "I knew you would. If not for you eight, we would have forfeited Earth. You can't imagine what it would be like to abandon a world full of people, especially when you've only saved a few hundred or so of them."
Rosalina's expression then darkened in grim intensity. "Daisy, when you face Marissa, you must all be at your absolute best. All eight of you. Take extra time to train if you need to, walk up to her with not a single injury slowing you down; don't take her lightly even in the slightest bit. Because if you lose against her this time...it's over. It's all over..."
Neva still in the hospital, the seven other Kruna Yura entered Toad and Alden's workshop a couple of days later. The two blacksmiths got the water breathing masks ready for the elemental wielders to use in their search for the underwater temple on the surface world. The navy blue and gray pieces of metal and plastic formed a grill-like screen to go over the user's mouth, while a pair of attached goggles sealed out eye exposure to water.
"These masks have a built-in filtration system," said Toad. "They're kind of like 'gills' in that they'll separate oxygen from water and shuttle the breathable air to you. This'll benefit you too, Warra, since these will work indefinitely."
"No special name for them?" asked Athelstan.
Toad shrugged. "We figured you'd only need them for this one trip. What? You want me to call them something? How about 'Fish Face?' Make sure to put on your Fish Faces before you go diving into the ocean. You happy?"
The Kruna set off for Mekarsari that afternoon, on track to arrive at the island nation in the late morning on account of time zone differences. Their trip did not go smoothly, for not long after their departure from Rainbow City, the Koopa Cruiser encountered a flight of Silver Sky Lobsters. Waluigi and Toadette put the brakes on the airship to stay behind the aerodynamic crustaceans, but the huge beasts noticed them coming and spread out. Two went to the left, two went to the right, and the middle three ascended in altitude. The Silver Sky Lobsters then entered a frenzied pattern of movement that forced Waluigi and Toadette into evasive maneuvers.
"Damn – if they're not attacking Rainbow City, they're attacking someone in the sky," said Waluigi. "Looks like we got lucky this time."
"I don't know if 'lucky' is the right word," said Bowser.
Marut and Athelstan ran for the ladder out of the cockpit room and slid down it in haste. Daisy and Warra followed them down and split for the front gunner units while the former two went for the rear gunner units. Once secured in their seats; headsets, buckles, and joysticks all adjusted; their units came out from under the hands and feet of the Koopa Cruiser's body. Daisy and Marut on the left side and Warra and Athelstan on the right, they revealed their booth cannons and fired at the lobsters.
The Silver Sky Lobsters' erratic gliding and the combination of Waluigi and Toadette's evasive piloting resulted in a lot of misses early on. Four gunner units meant four flurries of green shells, and yet the lobsters proved to be hard targets. Daisy especially had a difficult time trying to anticipate the lobsters' unorthodox flight.
"Geez, Daisy; what are you shooting at?" Marut taunted into his headset.
"Daisy, are you trying to hit them, or are you trying to hit the air behind them?" asked Athelstan.
"I don't understand why you two feel the need to berate her at a time like this," Warra said. "But they're right, Daisy. You need to adjust your aim."
"Why are y'all ganging up on me?!" Daisy snapped. "I've never done this before! You guys are missing too!"
"Yeah, but you're missing worse, bro," said Marut. "And I just got one on my end!"
Marut finished gunning down one of the Silver Sky Lobsters, cutting their number to six. One from above slammed into the ship for a rocking hit that jolted everyone inside. Bowser, Ramona, and Andrew came out onto the guardrailed upper deck of the ship to get outside and confront any of the lobsters that flew by overhead. They realized just how massive the beasts were when one soared near them, the lobster's size many times larger than Bowser.
While Bowser, Ramona, and Andrew blasted at whichever lobsters flew high; Daisy, Warra, Athelstan, and Marut dealt with all those down low and to the sides. Waluigi and Toadette kept the ship level and did the best they could to maneuver it out of the way of the ramming lobsters. The lack of actual bodily movement from the metallic-looking crustaceans in spite of their high speed and agility made them seem as though they belonged to some alien species.
"Just like a video game, isn't it?" said Marut.
"Try the Smart Bombs!" ordered Athelstan.
"Smart Bombs?" Warra mumbled.
A second slot emerged from the outer side of Warra's booth through which a Bullet Bill flew out of. Though slower than their green shell fire, the Bullet Bill picked out a Silver Sky Lobster and homed in on its movements. The bomb rocket that was the Bullet Bill exploded on contact with the lobster and put the beast into free fall, followed by one from higher up and littered with flames, burn marks, and dark wisps.
"Yeah, they're smart, aren't they?" said Athelstan.
Daisy still struggled trying to even touch a lobster on her end with her green shell shots. She activated the slot for the Smart Bombs and pulled the trigger, only for nothing to come out. "Oh – what?!" she grunted. "Don't tell me I don't have any of those!"
"I thought we had gotten all the booths loaded with them," said Athelstan.
One Bullet Bill from the Kruna of Stone's booth took down another lobster, further reducing the number remaining to three. Firing elemental blasts from their spot had been difficult for Bowser, Ramona, and Andrew because of the ship's non-constant momentum and direction paired with the lobsters' movement. If they were to get another one down, they had to do like they did before and blast the lobsters when they got close.
After failing to hit any of the lobsters, Daisy had just about gotten fed up. If you guys think you're escaping my fire forever, you'd better think again, she roared in her mind as she focused on her inner eye. Its use prompted her to alter and adapt her aiming, producing a stark change in her accuracy. All of a sudden, Daisy started getting some of her shots in on the lobsters when they flew into her scope of reach. Before long, she gunned down one of them to bring the number of lobsters on attack to two.
"Stay outta the sky, seafood!" Daisy yelled.
Another hit rocked the Koopa Cruiser, after which the remaining lobsters looped around one another and headed for the top of the ship. Bowser put out a Tavado blast, which seemed perfect for the situation with its diverging, winding trajectory. He scored hits on both of the lobsters, and Andrew forced out a weakened Gemivado to at least accumulate damage on one of the flying crustaceans. Ramona fired right behind Andrew with a burst of light on the same lobster, knocking it out of the air and onto Daisy's side. The Kruna of Earth steered her booth and shot a string of green shells to finish off the falling lobster. All by itself, the sole remaining Silver Sky Lobster fled when it noticed it was the only one that had not dropped down into the Nirvana Barrier.
"Is that it?" asked Marut. "Are they all gone?"
"They're gone!" Daisy replied, sliding her hands off the controls.
"Yeah, we shelled the shellfish!" cheered Athelstan.
Warra took off his headset and deactivated it before he said in a head-shaking chuckle, "That might be the absolute worst..."
Bowser, Ramona, and Andrew all high-fived one another when they did not see any more of the lobsters flying around. They headed back down into the main cockpit room, where Waluigi and Toadette lay back in their chairs after a trying piloting session. The other four Kruna soon joined them, all of them lively and enthusiastic over fending off the Silver Sky Lobsters. With the crustacean beasts gone, they turned their attention back onto their trip to Mekarsari.
