Hack: A great fight in my opinion, though it is a little rushed, particularly at the very end. Next chapter will be the beginning of an arc full of fights!
Enjoy it!
Chapter 55: A Hero's Death
"It's miraculous how all of us can manage to fit in this room…" Link grunted. "I'm guessing you guys had fun fighting from seeing the unconscious Donkey Kong?"
"I could say the same to you…" said Yoshi. "Looks like Fox got himself in a bad situation."
Jigglypuff, Link, and Ganondorf exchanged looks. "It's a bit of a secret thing…" said Link.
"I'm a little tired… We'll leave you all the story for later," Jigglypuff answered.
"Geez… We gotta find those Mario Bros fast before we can board the Halberd…" said Captain Falcon. "I see it right above us."
"I'm assuming we can't go with you guys to help… Is that right?" asked Peach.
Falcon shook his head. "This is our fight, and I don't want you guys to interfere, man. It's a personal thing I've got with Wolf… And Samus."
"…Samus…" many people murmured.
"I always knew that bitch was up to something at the mansion…" muttered Bowser. "She was always silent…"
"Hot-tempered too," added Ganondorf. "But we'll have to wait for Mario and Luigi. I doubt they even reached Grodus yet."
"It's about time…" Grodus said, turning around to face Mario. "It's twenty minutes until the death ray activates, shooting into the sky at the satellite mirror and into the Mushroom Kingdom."
Mario grabbed his wrist, ready to fight with fire. "Yeah? Well I'm going to beat you in twenty minutes then stop this so-called death ray."
Grodus grabbed his golden staff and looked at Mario through his glasses. "Let's see who will win: the plumber or the magician."
Grodus let loose a fierce lightning bolt from the ceiling, right at where Mario stood. Mario was flying in the air, performing various flips and tricks in midair to keep himself unpredictable. The moment he fell towards Grodus, he let lose a fierce downward punch.
CLANG!
A barrier formed around Grodus with four small robots that looked like pink X-marks. They seem to create the barrier. Mario smiled as he predicted this maneuver and kicked off of the tough barrier, charging two fireballs.
FOOM! FOOM!
The two fireballs struck two of the Mini-Yux, setting them on fire. However, they were completely unaffected! Grodus seemed to smile underneath his cloak.
Pah… Looks like he got a bit stronger too. Can't say I was seriously expecting that, though… Mario thought. He saw the four Mini-Yux pointing their mouths at him, about to fire deadly lasers at him. Without a second thought, Mario jumped to the ceiling, barely dodging the lightning fast red lasers below him.
Two more lasers were fired at him, and Mario just realized that only two of the Mini-Yux fired, allowing the other two to aim for wherever he dodged. He was in no condition to dodge in midair.
Mario flipped his yellow cape around, harmlessly deflecting the two red lasers off of it and back at Grodus's barrier.
The two Mini-Yux that just fired the lasers were destroyed by their own lasers, but by this time the other two recovered from their attack and prepared to fire even more lasers at the vulnerable Mario!
"HIYAH!"
Milliseconds before the lasers struck Mario, Luigi came flying out of nowhere and found himself between Mario and the lasers. He held out his left elbow and activated his flame shield, blocking the lasers.
"Luigi!" Mario smiled.
"You!" Grodus angrily cried out at Luigi's sudden appearance. The two brothers finally landed on the ground, each on opposite sides of Grodus.
"So it's two on one, eh?" said Grodus as two more Mini-Yux popped out from his cloak, making the number of his protectors a total of four again.
"Luigi, you've got your hammer?" Mario asked from across the room.
"Nope, afraid it broke…" Luigi sighed.
"Doesn't matter, you're strong enough without it." Mario gave Luigi a thumbs up.
Mario took out his monstrous steel ultra hammer. Its size towered over all three beings in the room, with a small handle. The head of his hammer was twice as larger than Mario. It was amazing how a plumber can wield a hammer this huge.
…Luigi, you ready?
…Yeah, Mario… I'm ready. I know what you're about to do.
These thoughts seem to travel between the eyes and ears of the two brothers, as if they could read each other's minds. Mario jumped into the air and lifted his hammer, getting his muscles ready.
"Ultra quake!" Mario cried, slamming his hammer on the ground. An earthquake shook the entire room, causing Grodus to waver and almost trip.
"You think you can destroy my guardians with this?" he laughed.
However, the Mini-Yux looked confused. They were whirling around the barrier they were protecting, losing control of themselves. Luigi was in the air, unaffected by the earthquake created by his brother's menacing hammer.
"Here's something I learned from my pokemon friend… Flame Wheel!!!!" Luigi cried. Several familiar circles of fire surrounded him, then they were tossed by an invisible arm at Grodus. Each ring engulfed all four of the baffled Mini-Yux, destroying them and the barrier they created.
Knowing that Luigi was going to destroy the Mini-Yux successfully, Mario already prepared his hammer directly behind Grodus before the barrier was even destroyed. He threw it down on top of Grodus, who swung around to block the enormous hammer with his thin yet powerful staff.
Mario simply smiled. Get him, Luigi.
Luigi jumped at Grodus with his own weapon: his electric sword in his right hand. He thrusted it through Grodus's head. Electricity surged through every inch of the magician's body, but he was resistant to special, magical attacks. Without taking in much pain, Grodus used his right hand to keep Mario's hammer in lock while he made several hand gestures with his left hand.
"Bolting!"
KRA-KOW!
Several stinging lightning bolts shot at Luigi from the ceiling so fast that Luigi was unable to react. The bolts zapped him with as much electricity as his sword gave to Grodus. Luigi screamed in pain, completely vulnerable after the attack cleared out.
"You cannot defeat me!" Grodus cried, whirling around to deflect Mario's ultra hammer. "In fifteen minutes, the death ray will destroy half of Mushroom Kingdom. Wherever it hits will destroy everything in a five kilometer radius!"
"We'll stop you then!" Mario cried, shooting several fireballs. Grodus smirked as the four Mini-Yux appeared again, deflecting all of the fireballs. "Damn it…" Mario grumbled. We used up too much time so he had time to make his barrier again…
Luigi summoned his Flame Wheel attack again, but Grodus was prepared this time. He closed his eyes, then immediately raised his staff. "Stop!"
The Flame Wheels suddenly stopped in midair, not moving at all. Taking a closer look at the fireballs forming the circles showed that not even a flicker of fire moved! In fact, nobody can feel the heat radiating from the fireballs by putting their hand near them.
In short, Luigi's attack has stopped in time.
"What?" Luigi gaped at Grodus.
"You should know better than use the same tactics…" said Grodus. "Ice Bea-"
Mario interrupted his attack with a powerful downward fist on the barrier. The attack didn't harm Grodus in the least, although the banging noise was enough to break his concentration. A beam of ice fired from Grodus's staff, but instead of shooting at Luigi, it violently aimed upward, freezing the gray ceiling.
Before Grodus could react, Mario jumped into the air and landed on top of one of the Mini-Yux. He flipped off of it with a powerful kick, destroying it with one blow, then landed on the other Mini-Yux quickly.
"Multi-Bounce!" Mario cried as he destroyed the second Mini-Yux with another bounce. When Grodus finally realized that two of his Mini-Yux were destroyed, Mario destroyed a third one.
"Not yet!" Grodus cried, shooting a lightning bolt at the bouncing Mario. Mario fell backwards in the air, narrowly dodging it, but he lost his chance to destroy the last Mini-Yux. However, he was falling… towards Luigi!
Seems like I could read your mind… Right, let's see if this'll work…
Luigi bent low, charging his bottom. Mario smiled.
Green Missile, huh? I see what it is now, so we can instantly destroy the last key to the barrier again. And to guarantee that we can hit Grodus at the same time…
By this time, Mario was directly behind Luigi and Grodus was still recharging from his previous attack. Mario held a fireball beside Luigi's butt and released it, at the same time that Luigi released his Green Missile. There was a huge napalm explosion, charring Mario, but the combination had done the job.
Flying like a missile, Luigi blasted through the last Mini-Yux, destroying it. However, he was still flying at Grodus when the barrier disappeared! Luigi's head collided with Grodus's head, blasting Grodus into the wall and almost destroying his head in the process! Rubble fell on top of Grodus, crushing him underneath several rocks.
"Luigi… You all right?" Mario asked, brushing off the charred dust on him.
Luigi smiled at his brother. "I should be asking that to you, brother… Look out!" Luigi gasped, pointing behind Mario. Mario whirled around to see several rocks flying at him. Grodus used his magic to remove all of the rocks on him, and sent them all at Mario with psychic powers.
"Look out, Luigi…" Mario muttered to his brother. With quick reflexes, he spun on the ground, creating a vortex with his fists and arms. Mario Tornado attack!
But he added an extra something to his spinning attack. He flipped his cape around at every possible spot near him. He was spinning so fast that someone looking from above would think he was a red circle with a yellow ring around him. The attack had done its job. The cape struck every rock, sending them at every possible direction, including at his own brother and Grodus.
Luigi, aware of Mario's previous warning, ducked just in time to dodge the boulder flying overhead. Grodus, caught by surprise, was struck by several boulders.
Mario stopped spinning, panting. Sweat dropped from his neck, and his cap flew off, revealing his brown hair.
Grodus staggered, his glasses and glass head completely cracked. "Ha… Ha…" he muttered. "Only five more minutes…"
The eyes of both brothers widened. Had fifteen minutes already passed by so fast?
"We have to finish him off! Now!" Luigi cried.
"I know! I know!" Mario desperately replied. A light bulb emerged from his head, lighting up. "Luigi! Get ready!"
Mario dived forward at Luigi, his body parallel to the ground. Reading his brother's mind, Luigi grabbed Mario's hands and started to spin as if he was using Luigi Tornado, except carrying his brother while spinning.
Suddenly, Luigi heard Mario's voice… inside his mind!
Luigi… I know Grodus. We can't destroy him with this attack, and five minutes isn't near enough to defeat him.
Luigi, astonished with what was happening, could only think: What the hell?
Luigi!
…Sorry. We're screwed either way?
Always the pessimistic guy, eh? I know how the laser works, and we only have one chance to do this.
How?
Luigi's spin was continuously accelerating, spinning himself and Mario around even faster.
Past that door over there is the control panel. Your goal in your quest is to destroy all members of the Ring of Darkness, right?
…Yeah.
Then we have not a second to waste. With this, we can kill Grodus and you can go up to the Halberd to face the others. We have no time. You must go into that door and set the mirror that the laser will shoot at down at this base.
…What are you talking about? We'll all die!
Exactly.
…No way. I'm not doing that.
I'm going to hold off Grodus while you find the others as soon as possible. Get everyone to evacuate. You, Fox, Jigglypuff, and Captain Falcon have to find the teleportation room that should lead to the Halberd.
Where is it?
When you're exiting the elevator on the second basement, take a left, then it should be in the second door on your left. Hurry. You only have five minutes.
But… You're going to die! What is Peach going to…
No. I'm fine. This is the only way.
But if we can destroy Grodus with our Swing Brothers attack…
No! We can't! I know we can't, Grodus isn't even halfway dead yet! He's extremely powerful! He won't go down, I guarantee you that. This attack will give you time to set the mirror down at the base.
Mario…
We'll all die if you don't do it. If we point it down, however, only the base will be destroyed.
Mario! Why can't we just destroy it…?
The mirror is extremely durable, it'll take more than five minutes to destroy it. We can't let it go off into the air either, as the chances that it'll destroy another planet is high.
But…
Mario now used his vocal cords. "Listen to me, Luigi!" he desperately cried, still spinning super fast. "This is the only choice we have, I already analyzed it!"
…Mario…
"…When we reach maximum velocity, I want you to fire me at Grodus then carry out the plan. Do you understand?" Mario asked urgently.
Luigi paused, STILL spinning. Yes… I do…
Good. And one last thing… The next time you visit the Halberd, ask Peach about the Secret Kamek Incident. Do you understand? Memorize that! Mario replied in Luigi's mind.
What the…
Don't ask questions! You'll learn about it! And once you do, you should know that I regret everything about it!
The brothers were spinning at maximum velocity now, with Grodus standing now.
"Only four minutes…" he smiled.
"Luigi… You're my brother, it's my duty to look after you. YOU must live," said Mario.
"Mario…" Luigi repeated for the millionth time.
"No buts! Do it! NOW!" Mario instructed.
…Mario, I'll miss you. I love you… And I've always looked up to you. I want you to know that.
…I love you too. My brother… A tear fell from Mario's eye. I'll die a hero's death to the end, I'll be happy. It's how I wanted to die. Do not disappoint me. Get ready… set…
"GO!!!!" Mario and Luigi both screamed at the top of their lungs. Luigi released Mario, sending him flying like a missile at millions of miles per hour at Grodus. Grodus was struck in the stomach by Mario's head, like the Green Missile, and he instantly coughed out blood, stuck against the wall. Luigi instantly rushed through the door that Mario instructed, and Grodus didn't notice.
"You little… You'll pay…" Grodus angrily muttered.
"Bring it now," Mario smiled. He looked back to see Luigi disappear into the room.
"We should get going now, we've rested enough already," Peach advised.
Fox and Donkey Kong finally woke up, and nobody mentioned Fox's insanity fit to him.
"Geez, DK…" said Bowser. "You really fucking ripped your own muscles…"
"I win in the end though," DK smiled.
"…We gotta go, dude! For Samus babe!" Captain Falcon cried.
"Still calling her babe, eh?" Fox asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Ha! Never changed, that perverted racer…" Link laughed.
"You're no different from your older self…" Ganondorf grunted. Yoshi laughed out loud.
"Let's go!" Jigglypuff cried. Suddenly, the door opened. All of the smashers whirled around, prepared to defeat whoever appeared.
It was Luigi. He wore an expression of shock and had wide eyes, but it looked as if he was sobbing.
"Luigi? Where's Mario? Where's Grodus?" asked Peach.
"This base is gonna blow in three minutes! Everyone besides me, Fox, Falcon, and Jigglypuff have to evacuate! NOW! You three, follow me, we'll get on the Halberd now!"
"But what about…" Bowser started, but Luigi beat him to it.
"Mario's holding off Grodus right now, and they'll both blow up!"
Everyone gasped.
"No way…"
"EVERYONE, JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!!! You three!" Luigi pointed at his three fellow teammates. "Follow me!"
"We're going on the Halberd?" Fox asked anxiously.
"Definitely," Luigi smiled. He led his three companions to the elevator as Peach, DK, Bowser, Yoshi, Link, and Ganondorf evacuated instantly.
"Mario… Why…" Peach muttered.
"I knew that idiot was gonna do something like this someday…" Bowser grunted.
The six left the base, with half a minute remaining on the timer.
"This is the teleportation room that'll teleport us to the Halberd?" asked Jigglypuff.
"Yeah, I don't trust you since that Doopliss shit…" Falcon muttered.
"Doopliss is dead! Just follow my lead! We'll get on the Halberd!" Luigi cried, activating the teleportation device that leads to the inside of the Halberd.
"Listen to Luigi! We have to go!"
The four stood on the platform of the teleportation device, and they instantly disappeared in blue light, with one second remaining.
Mario… My brother…
"We're both going to die, you know…" Grodus muttered, his staff in a deadlock with Mario's hammer. His glasses were completely broken, and his arm was torn off by Mario's bloody hammer.
"Just realized what Luigi did a while ago then?" Mario asked with a smile. His left hand had been completely burned off, and his legs were frozen to the ground. There was an enormous hole in his chest, signifying that he was about to die anyways.
"…Unfortunately just now."
"Then farewell, Grodus, and I hope you bandits fail at your mission."
"Should say the same to you…"
BOOM
