Really really sorry for the long wait; I've been through a lot of stress those past days... and the reason is something that I don't feel like telling.

But, I was able to recover a bit and write the next chapter! Hope this was worth the wait!

Enjoy! ;)

Chapter 10: Fighting Against the Cold

[BGM: Rosalina in the Observatory 2 – Super Mario Galaxy]

"Ah, I see that all of the three Green Power Stars have been recovered!" Polari exclaimed. "This kind of Star has a special power."

"What special power?" Mario asked.

Polari directed the group (minus Trifle, as he was sitting on the couch in front of the Library due to his injured ankle) towards the Green Launch Star at the bottom, where there were three Green Lumas next to it. "Ask the Green Lumas about them. After all, they will transform into Green Power Stars someday!"

"Alright, got it!" Kirby nodded as they went down to the Green Lumas to ask them about the Green Stars.

"Thank you all for helping us… We are the guardians of the Trial Galaxies." one of the Green Lumas said.

"Trial Galaxies?" Red wondered.

"The Trial Galaxies are galaxies on the very edges of the universe." another Green Luma said. "They are worlds that defy all sense, imagination, and limitations…"

"However, we are still working on restoring the doorway." the last one said. "So please come back to us at a later time until it's working again."

Everyone nodded in response and walked back to the map to check out the galaxies in the Bedroom. They saw that there were more Power Stars waiting to be collected at Gusty Garden, there was a Speedy Comet at Dusty Dune, a Hungry Luma was waiting outside the Bedroom, and a new galaxy called Freezeflame was available.

"A Prankster Comet already…" Ren mused. "I think I'll do that one."

"I guess I'll go for the Hungry Luma again." Neri said.

"We'll be going to Gusty Garden together!" Daisy said as she dragged Luigi with her.

"Figures." Mario playfully rolled his eyes. "I'll be joining you two if you don't mind." he smiled as they nodded.

"I'll go too!" Haru volunteered. "Plants and flowers are my thing, after all!"

"Mind if we tag along too?" Ann asked as she and Ryuji joined in.

"Of course!"

"Then we'll head to Freezeflame." Eleven said while his comrades nodded.

With that set, the groups dashed over to the Bedroom as Neri fed the Hungry Luma 800 Star Bits to blast off to Bigmouth Galaxy, while the rest went inside the dome itself to launch over to their chosen galaxies.

[BGM End]

At Gusty Garden Galaxy…

[BGM: Gusty Garden Galaxy – Super Mario Galaxy]

Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Ryuji, Ann, and Haru landed on the starting planet. "Whoa…" Daisy awed. "Luigi, you weren't kidding when you said this place is perfect for me!"

"Haven't I told you?" Luigi winked.

"A galaxy that's entirely a garden… This is amazing!" Haru squealed.

"Then what're we all waitin' for? Let's go explore!" Ryuji exclaimed.

There were two gusts of wind branching off from this planet, and so Luigi, Daisy and Haru went for the one that led them to the Stone Pieces planet while the rest went for the one that led to the Pear planets. The trios flew off into the wind with Floaty Fluffs to reach their respective planets, with Mario making sure to fly into the Question Coins on the way to the Pear planets. When the latter trio reached the last Pear planet after using Sproutle Vines to get over each of them, Mario had collected the last Question Coin and that caused a Rainbow Star to materialize at the end of the last Sproutle Vine, as his face brightened before absorbing it and flew off to the Grass Spheres planet, where he saw a Gold Chomp up ahead among the many Thorny Flowers and rolling Boulders and proceeded to quickly run towards it and destroy it, leaving behind an easy Power Star.

"Oh yeah!" Mario cheered as he took the Star while the Rainbow Star's effect wore off, before taking off back to the Observatory while back at the Grass Spheres planet, Ryuji and Ann moved on and got to the Launch Star at the end.

Meanwhile, with the other trio, they had taken out the Undergrunts roaming around the Question Mark planet and used the Launch Star to get to the first of the three Apple planets.

"Oooh, floating giant apples!" Haru exclaimed.

"…Come on, I just had lunch! Now this galaxy is making me hungry again." Luigi grumbled as Daisy laughed at that before punching down a stump really hard, causing a Big Green Caterpillar to come out and move over to the next apple planet, acting as a bridge between the two.

"Whoa!" Daisy's eyes widened.

"Mama mia, that's a huge caterpillar!" Luigi exclaimed.

"Come on! Let's get to the next apple!" Haru said as they walked over the Caterpillar to reach the following apple planet, and then Daisy did the same thing on the other two apple planets so that the Caterpillar would guide them to the Launch Star as they launched off to the Spiny planet, where they simply used the next Launch Star to fly off to the final planet.

[BGM End]

The moment they landed on this planet, which was entirely made out of dirt with a tree in the middle, they noticed a Star Bunny being chased by a large burrowed Undergrunt around the tree.

[BGM: Help! – Super Mario Galaxy]

"Somebody! Anybody! Help!" the Star Bunny cried out. "AGH! I'm gonna get eaten!"

The trio gasped by that, and before Luigi and Daisy knew it, Haru immediately went into her Phantom Thief alter ego and aimed her grenade launcher at the Undergrunt.

"You leave that poor bunny alone!" she declared and fired the grenade that exploded on impact with the Undergrunt's helmet, making him pop out of the ground dazed as Haru ran over and uppercutted him in the air with her axe.

[BGM End]

However, instead of being knocked out, the large Undergrunt, known as Major Burrows, got back up and glared at the trio. Meanwhile, the Star Bunny quickly hid in the tree for safety, watching the trio getting ready to fight Major Burrows.

[BGM: Major Burrows – Super Mario Galaxy]

Before the trio could even attack him, Major Burrows quickly dug underground and proceeded to home in on them, which they immediately knew since he was leaving a trail and braced themselves as Major Burrows popped out of the ground to try and swipe them with his claws, but Daisy kicked him up in the air when he got closer, knocking him out of the dirt completely. Major Burrows panicked and attempted to run away from them, only for Haru to unleash Tentarafoo on him with Milady to leave him confused and stop running, and then Luigi took this opportunity to whack him hard with his hammer.

Major Burrows got back up, this time becoming enraged before burrowing underground again. He once again homed in on the trio and popped out of the ground, flailing his arms about at them but they jumped away as Haru shot a grenade next to Major Burrows to knock him out of the dirt once it exploded, and then Daisy ran to him and did a few jabs before ending with a Daisy Bomber, but Major Burrows recovered and swiped his claws, hitting Daisy who had blocked with her arms, leading her to wince.

"Nnngh…! I'm gonna feel that for a while." she thought as Major Burrows was about to swipe at her more.

"Get your dirty paws off of my girl!" Luigi growled, jumping up from behind Major Burrows and hammering him to the ground, then Haru used her axe to uppercut him into the air and then attacked him with Triple Down to send him back to the ground again, and then Luigi finished him off by punching him hard in the gut.

[BGM End]

Major Burrows raised one of his hands up to try to get back up, but his arm collapsed and then exploded, leaving a Power Star behind. Seeing that Major Burrows was no more, the Star Bunny came out of hiding and chirped happily to the trio:

"Thanks! You saved me, boiyoing boiyoing!"

"You're welcome!" Haru replied as she went back to her civilian self.

Luigi looked at the claw marks on Daisy's arms and gasped horrified. "Dear god, Daisy! Look at your arms!"

"D-Don't worry, I'm fine…" Daisy replied, even though she winced a bit.

"No, you're not! I say we head back and get you patched up immediately!" Luigi said as Haru nodded in agreement, and then they took the Star before flying off.

"Luigi…" Daisy whispered as she flew off with them.

Meanwhile, with Ryuji and Ann…

[BGM: Space Athletic – Super Mario Galaxy]

"Man, I'm gonna be effin' sick…" Ryuji groaned, after he and Ann traversed around the ! and ? planets while having to constantly shift the gravity flow on them by hitting the arrows.

"I'm a bit dizzy, but I'm alright." Ann said. "We should be almost there. Hopefully."

Thankfully, they were already at the last planet as they had to dodge several cannonballs being shot out until they could see the Star trapped in a crystal at the end, and once they made it there, Ryuji swung his leak pipe to break the crystal and free the Power Star.

"Yeah, baby!" Ryuji grinned, high-fiving Ann before they grabbed the Star and took off.

[BGM End]

On to Freezeflame Galaxy…

[BGM: Interlude – Super Mario Galaxy]

Half of this galaxy consists of freezing water and ice, while the other half consists of fire and lava, hence why it was called Freezeflame Galaxy, as the name itself is a combination and oxymoron of the words "freeze" and "flame".

Because of this, the Loyal Bodyguards ended up splitting up in two groups upon arriving at this galaxy, with Eleven and Arusu heading off to the Lava Core planet while Solo and Eight were heading over to the starting planet, which was a large thin ring of ice. As soon as the latter duo landed on the starting planet, Eight immediately slipped on the ice.

"Wh-Whoa!" he yelped and fell on his butt. "Great, I had to end up at the ice portion…" he groaned.

"Oh yeah, you and cold environments don't get along well…" Solo remarked, remembering what Eight told him and the others about his cryophobia. "Let's just hope that this place won't be so bad." he said as he helped Eight up.

"I sure hope so." Eight said, and then they heard some chirping as they looked over to see a penguin.

"Hey, dudes! Do you think you can catch me?" the penguin said before sliding on his belly away from them.

"…I'll go catch him." Solo said, casting Acceleratle on himself and dashed off towards the penguin, catching him within a few seconds. "Gotcha."

"Aww, you caught me." the penguin pouted as Solo placed him down, and then a Launch Star appeared. "Oh well, you're free to head off to the Freezy Peak!"

With that, Solo and Eight flew off together to the Freezy Peak planet, where they landed on an icy slide.

[BGM: Ice Mountain – Super Mario Galaxy]

"WHOOOOOA!" they screamed as they slid down, and while Solo stopped perfectly at the bottom… Eight wasn't so lucky as he ended up sliding all the way into the freezing cold water.

"That was something…" Solo slowly got up in order to not slip on the ice, but when he looked in front of him to see Eight struggling to get out of the water, it led him to gasp. "Oh no… Eight!" he quickly ran up to help Eight out of the water, as he coughed out some water before he immediately fell on his knees to the ground.

"Ah… c-c-c…crud…" he stuttered, wrapping his arms around himself while shivering violently. "N-N-Not…a-again…"

Solo's eyes widened in horror, knowing that falling into the cold water was exactly what triggered Eight's fear of the cold in the first place, and he could not stand watching his friend suffer like that. "Stay here and hang in there for a little. I'll try to find something like an Ice Flower somewhere in here." he told Eight.

Eight did a trembling nod in response as Solo walked around, jumping across the platforms over the cold water while knocking away some Goombas and Li'l Brrs on the way until he got to a platform with a water spout in the middle and a Question Coin above it. He touched the Coin, and two Ice Flowers materialized.

"Ah, just what I needed!" he exclaimed. "This place is pretty chilly, so I'll gladly take one of them." he said, absorbing one of the Ice Flowers before taking the other one back to Eight. "Here you go." Solo smiled while offering the Ice Flower.

Eight's face instantly brightened and absorbed the Ice Flower. "Phew, the feeling is gone…" he sighed in relief as he stood back up, but then he frowned, "Still, I can't believe I had to fall into exactly what triggered my fear for the second time…"

Solo mirrored his expression. "I know. It's worse the second time it happens." he then smiled. "But hey, at least you didn't pass out this time since I was there to help you."

Eight couldn't help but crack a smile. "Yeah. Thank you for helping me, Solo."

"Anything for a friend. Now, let's explore around."

They made their way around while freezing the water by throwing ice balls at it to create a path for them to walk on, as they started to climb the mountain where they saw a split path. So they decided to split up, with Eight freezing the water spouts to get on top of them while Solo ice skated to a different path, and then Eight got into a Sling Star to launch himself to the backside of the planet. There, he made his way up by climbing up the moving Bomps and came upon a snowman.

"Hmm…" he mused, wondering how he was going to get rid of this snowman, and then an idea popped on his mind. "I know!" he exclaimed while snapping his fingers, before reaching over to his knapsack and taking out some Super Spicy Cheese. "Munchie, heads up!" he called out, tossing the cheese upwards as Munchie suddenly leapt out of his pocket and ate the cheese in one bite, before unleashing Inferno on the snowman to melt it, uncovering another Sling Star.

Munchie then went back into the pocket as Eight gave him a small petting as a form of compliment, before he got into the Sling Star to take off even higher up the summit, where he basically had to avoid several obstacles, those being Boulders and Bomps that would try to push him off the summit, and then he encountered two Ice Bats that attempted to divebomb at him but he backflipped away and used Firebird Throw with his boomerang to defeat them.

After melting another snowman with Munchie's help, Eight used the Sling Star it left out and proceeded to make his way to the very top of the summit where the Power Star awaited him.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the Star, and then looked down from the top to see Solo making his way up to the top of the Freezy Peak. "I better go check on Solo." he said as he flew down with the Star towards Solo's location.

Heading back to Solo, he had finally reached the peak where Baron Brrr resides after going up two more water spouts that he froze. He was about to take a step forward, until he looked back to see Eight flying down to him.

"Oh, hey. Where have you been off to?" Solo asked as Eight landed.

"Went off to a hidden area and found a Power Star." Eight replied. "What is this place you're on, though?" he wondered while looking around.

"That's what I was about to find out before you came back. But I'm already having a bad feeling about this place…" Solo suspected with a serious expression as he and Eight cautiously took a step forward towards the wooden fence in front of them… and suddenly a chunk of ice almost hit them.

[BGM End]

"Ah!" Eight flinched as they looked up to see a giant Li'l Brr, but had more protrusions around his body and a more symmetrical, finely cut appearance, and he sported a jeweled crown on his head.

Baron Brrr himself.

[BGM: A-wa-wa-wa! – Super Mario Galaxy]

"I think we just invaded his territory!" Solo said as Baron Brrr began firing balls of ice out of his crown at them, forcing them to quickly raise their shields to block the ice balls before the duo fired their own ice balls at Baron Brrr, but he just moved out of the way.

The duo then had the idea to ice skate over the water while dodging more ice balls from Baron Brrr, and then they got on top to where he was as he tried to tackle them, but they jumped out of the way and slashed through him.

Baron Brrr got back up while summoning two Li'l Brrs to assist him before he suddenly pounded the ground to create a shockwave, and that resulted in knocking Eight down… aaand right into the cold water again while also getting rid of his ice powers. Solo, however, had jumped over the shockwave in time but saw what happened to Eight.

"Oh no, not again!" Solo thought… and then he got hit by one of the Li'l Brrs that froze him solid, ridding him of his ice powers as well. Thankfully, Solo managed to quickly break out of his icy prison, and then he glared hard at Baron Brrr. "Alright…you asked for it." he fumed and first casted Sizz at the Li'l Brrs to melt them, then he jumped up to avoid Baron Brrr's tackle before slashing through him with Flame Slash.

[BGM End]

This resulted in Baron Brrr being sliced in half by that attack, as both halves shattered into pieces and then a Power Star was left behind.

"I guess it was good that my ice powers were removed." Solo remarked as he took the Star before he quickly rushed back down to the snowy platform, where he saw Eight crawling out of the cold water and shivering violently again.

"This galaxy really hates me…" he whimpered, crying anime-style tears.

"Eight… I'm sorry this happened to you." Solo frowned sadly. "We better return to the Observatory quickly and get you warm."

Eight immediately nodded in agreement by that, and the two took off with the Star. On their way back, though, they ended up bumping into Eleven and Arusu, who had gotten another Star by venturing around the Lava Core planet.

"Hey, there you two are!" Eleven exclaimed, and then he and Arusu looked at the shivering Eight. "Oh dear… what's wrong with Eight?"

"He had fallen into the cold water… two times in a row." Solo replied, causing Eleven and Arusu to gasp.

"Oh no… Then we better not dawdle and head back!" Arusu ushered as they all flew off.

Sometime later…

[BGM: The Library – Super Mario Galaxy]

Several dark-colored wood shelves piled with books surrounded the walls of this warm library, and there were so many that you couldn't see the wall. There was a rocking chair in the middle of the room and two round couches across from it, and right behind it was a lit fireplace, and it was casting an almost eerie glow around the place.

Eight was sitting right in front of said fireplace, with a warm blanket wrapped around him while drinking some hot chocolate in order to keep himself warm. He sighed sadly, thinking about what happened to him back then. The galaxy he just went to along with his comrades obviously did not give him a warm welcome in the most literal way possible, as he was already in dismay that he ended up at the ice portion of the galaxy to begin with and he ended up falling into the cold water not once, but twice. And to add more salt in the wound, the fact that he was standing next to a fireplace, together with having a blanket and some hot chocolate made him remember about the same event that happened to him during his first adventure in the Mushroom Kingdom, which is when he fell into the cold water for the first time and Jewel helped him get warm through the same method as of right now. All of this was like a big punch to the gut for him, and as he stared at the crackling fire in sadness, he was wondering when will this sort of bad luck end and if he'll ever overcome this trauma and fear one day.

Soon, Rosalina walked into the library. "How are you feeling?" she asked in a motherly tone.

Eight proceeded to mask his sad thoughts and looked back at Rosalina. "I'm starting to feel warm again." he replied.

Rosalina smiled a bit. "That's good to hear." she then walked over to Eight and sat next to him. "Your three friends told me about your condition, and…" she frowned. "I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Yeah…" Eight sighed, his mask instantly dismantling itself. "And what's worse is that I didn't even fear the cold until that incident happened to me…"

"I see… Do you feel like telling me about it? It's okay if you don't want to."

"No no… it's okay, I'll tell you." Eight said and proceeded to explain everything about his incident to her.

"Oh…" Rosalina whispered sadly after he was done. "Well, I don't blame you for being scared of the cold now. You were near the brink of death before your friends saved you anyways."

"I know… At this point, I'm even wondering if I'll overcome my fear in the future…"

"Hmm…" Rosalina mused, before replying with a nod, "Okay, I know what you can do about it."

Eight looked at her in surprise. "Really?!"

"Well, I'm not really a good therapist, but I can at least give you an advice. Basically, the cold is like an obstacle in your path, right? An obstacle that at first is near impossible for you to get past it. So close your eyes and try to imagine yourself standing in front of an impossible obstacle."

Eight closed his eyes. "Okay, I'm imagining it."

"Alright, now try to think of an objective right beyond this obstacle. That objective is crucial to you to reach so you can achieve something great in the end, but you're forced to find a way to pass through this obstacle to even reach it. Because… here comes the next thing you must imagine, that being the environment around you starting to slowly crumble."

A bit of anxiety came to Eight when she said that, but he imagined that anyways as she continued:

"As you might have guessed, if you don't even try to overcome this obstacle somehow and since there's no way for you to back out of it, it will lead you to an even worse consequence. But if you highly focus on that crucial objective, then surely you'll be able to prevent this terrible fate from happening, and you might even overcome the obstacle without you noticing it. Always remember this." Eight nodded at that. "Okay, you can open your eyes now." he did it so. "So, do you think that helped you?"

"Hm… Yeah, I think it did a little." Eight replied with honesty, and then he smiled at her. "I won't forget your words."

"I'm happy to hear that from you." Rosalina smiled back.

Eight then stood up and removed the blanket around him. "You know, I think I'm good to go now."

"Okay, then!" Rosalina stood up as well. "Your three companions are waiting for you right outside the library."

"Got it." Eight nodded and proceeded to leave the library, but not before stopping in front of the exit to look back at Rosalina one more time with a smile. "Thanks, Rosalina. For keeping me company and for your words of advice." he thanked.

"You're welcome." Rosalina replied sweetly, and then Eight left the library.

[BGM End]

Stepping outside, Eight looked over to see his three comrades sitting on the couches nearby as they all stood up upon noticing him.

"We've been waiting for you." Eleven said, he and the others walking over to Eight. "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better." Eight nodded. "So, where are we heading off to?"

"Well, Polari told us that there was one more Star left at Freezeflame Galaxy, but we decided to not head back there just for your sake." Solo said. "Melissa then sent the twins Jack and Eira for the job instead."

"She also informed that there were enough Stars for us to head over to the enemy base!" Arusu grinned. "And that's where we're going now!"

"Great!" Eight exclaimed energetically. "Let's go, then!"

Eleven, Arusu and Solo couldn't help but smile at seeing Eight's energetic side returning despite what happened to him before, and then they all hurried over to the Bedroom dome and blasted off directly to the enemy base: Bowser's Dark Matter Plant.

[BGM: The Fiery Stronghold – Super Mario Galaxy]

The Loyal Bodyguards landed on the starting platform, seeing a huge river of dark matter in front of them. "What's with that purple stuff?" Arusu wondered.

"Careful! That's dark matter!" a Luma nearby warned them. "If you touch it, you'll disintegrate entirely!"

The Heroes paled up a bit. "Yikes…" Eight trailed.

"We'll be fine if we use these platforms, though." Solo pointed out, looking over at the moving platforms.

"Yes, but there are a bunch of different traps here too! Just be careful of the gravity."

"Got it." Eleven nodded and then they ran up the platforms, being careful to not fall into the dark matter as the Luma had instructed while also getting past a few Dry Bones walking around. They made it to the gravity zone where they were suddenly pulled up towards the ceiling by the gravity pointing upwards, and while Eleven, Arusu and Solo landed perfectly on their feet… Eight kind of landed on his face instead.

"OOOF!" he yelled.

"Whoa! Are you okay, Eight?" Eleven asked.

"Yeah… The gravity change just caught me by surprise." Eight muttered as he got up and then they all crossed this gravity section, making sure to be mindful of the dark matter pools at some portions as they got to the moving platforms and stood on their safe sides while they moved along the zone.

"You know, I can now understand why you suddenly fell on your face before… All this gravity changing was making me dizzy." Arusu muttered once they got out of this section.

"Well, hopefully we should be near the end." Solo said as they moved onwards, kicking off the Goombas in front of them before climbing up a pole to get to the upper section, where they saw hollow holes moving along the ground.

"The dark matter is eating holes in space! Watch out for those, or you'll fall into that dark matter!" another Luma nearby warned them.

They nodded in understanding and carefully made it past the moving platforms and not touching the holes, and then they reached another gravity zone, much to their dismay. Either way, they managed to cross it in the same way as the previous one and ran up the steps up ahead until they finally reached the top, which was empty at first.

[BGM End]

"Sooo… Where is Bowser?" Eight wondered.

"Maybe he's late to the party or something?" Eleven guessed.

"Actually…" a voice said as a dimensional door suddenly appeared in front of them, and Splutterton walked out. "I'm afraid that Lord Bowser is busy with his master plan right now. So you'll be fighting me instead, Heroes!" he grinned.

"You again!" Arusu exclaimed as they glared at Splutterton.

"Heheheh… I had a sneaking suspicion that you guys would be coming here." Splutterton snickered. "Ever since I discovered that you just became Smashers during the last time we fought, I and the evil organization had been studying you from behind the scenes."

"Studying us? How?" Solo questioned.

"You see, when anyone becomes a Smasher, they are instantly given a profile that lists every personal information about them. You may call it privacy invasion, but that's how it worked ever since the first Smash tournament started." Splutterton said and then snaps his fingers. "Now that we have some information about each of you, I'm going to unleash one of you guys' weakness right in front of your eyes!"

With that, he creates a Dragon Spite, but instead of making it attack the Heroes, the Spite proceeded to unleash its icy breath all over the area, making it permanently cold around it. And because the cold is a MAJOR problem for Eight… you know exactly how he reacted to that.

"Oh no no no no no NO! NOT THIS!" he thought with his eyes wide open in horror, and his body completely immobile as he began to shiver.

"No!" Eleven, Arusu and Solo cried.

"I knew it; one of your comrades is terrified of the cold, isn't he?" Splutterton teased. "And now I shall easily destroy all of you… including your princess!"

With those words said, an additional square-shaped platform rose up from behind Splutterton, revealing none other than Jewel tied up against a pole.

"Help me!" she called out, as the Heroes gasped.

"If you want her so badly, then you'll have to beat me first!" Splutterton exclaimed.

"Oh, you… You're going to pay!" Arusu growled, his aggressiveness kicking in.

"Bring it on, losers!"

[BGM: Demystify Feast – Touhou: Concealed the Conclusion]

Arusu ran forward and slashed him, but Splutterton quickly blocked it with his parasol and countered before jumping back and aiming at Eleven and Solo to fire lasers at them, but they dodged as Eleven used Skysplitter to send a gust of wind at Splutterton to make him stumble back a bit before the Luminary Hero ran over to slash him, only for him to block and then he kicked Eleven in the knee hard enough to send him back.

"I don't even need to call forth my Spites!" Splutterton smirked, and then he saw Arusu and Solo running towards him as they both tried to slash him, but he blocked the both of them as they jumped back and fired each a Frizzle at him, but he cartwheeled away from both fireballs and shot them both with lasers.

And as for Eight? He was just standing there shivering, remembering what had happened to him back at Freezeflame and was suffering from PTSD about it… but then remembered what Rosalina told him and attempted to find some sort of objective that would help him out of this. "Come on, come on… Look for an objective, Eight…!" he thought to himself as he frantically looked around.

Splutterton caught notice of Eight and grinned, "What's the matter? Too afraid to fight?" he snaps his fingers to order his Dragon Spite to attack Eight. "Then I'll just MAKE you fight!"

Solo lightly gasped as he noticed the Dragon Spite flying behind Eight and ready to strike him. "Eight, behind you!"

Eight gasped and turned around, seeing the Dragon Spite raising its claw and ready to slash him, but Solo was quick to react and casted Acceleratle to dash over to it and Flame Slash it to knock it away, and then he ran up to it and used Gigasword to finish it off. But then Splutterton saw this and whacked Solo with his parasol before shooting a laser that hit him on the arm.

"AGH!" he yelled.

Eight could do nothing but widen his eyes, before he looked down at his feet. "Ugh, please… Move!" he thought, begging his feet to move so he could fight… but the fear was too great thanks to the PTSD taking over him.

"E-Eight…" Solo groaned, clutching on to his arm. "I know you're that afraid after what happened to you, but you need to fight back!" he encouraged.

"I… I'm trying, but…!" Eight stuttered.

Arusu let out a war cry and charged his sword with electricity to strike Splutterton with Kazap, but Splutterton jumped over the spin attack and landed behind Arusu to shoot him in the back. Eleven equipped his Greatsword and used Frost Fangs on Splutterton, only that he wasn't even fazed by the ice as he easily proceeded to beat him up and kicked him away.

"Augh!" Eleven cried. "Eight! We need your help! Do something!"

Eight didn't say anything in response as he had watched all the events unfold right in front of him in terror, and looked at his comrades that were nearly wiped out and at Jewel, who also watched all this in a similar reaction, as he saw her look at him with a begging look. His mind was desperately trying to make his muscles work, but no use.

"Nnngh…" he heard Arusu groaning as he looked down at him to see him wiping blood from his mouth before he looked at him. "Eight! I know you can't stand the cold, but you gotta snap out of it!" he demanded.

"It's too late! That wimp can't do a thing!" Splutterton declared. "I shall kill you three first before going for him! Or, even better…" he shot a glance at Jewel, and before the Heroes' very eyes, he suddenly dashed over to her and pointed the tip of his parasol at her neck as she let out a horrified shriek. "I can instead make Kamori proud of me… and so watch as your precious princess Jewel dies!"

[BGM End]

Your precious princess Jewel dies!

Those same words echoed in Eight's mind as his eyes shot wide in horror… and then he closed his eyes and stopped shivering completely… his fists clenching and his body trembling with rage.

"No one…" Eight growled quietly, but loud enough for the others to hear as they all stopped at what they were doing and looked back at him.

"Hmm? Got something on your mind?" Splutterton questioned.

Little did he know, that by threatening to kill Jewel in the first place… he just made a grave mistake.

[BGM: G Free ~ Ultimate Dream – Touhou: Concealed the Conclusion]

A purple aura suddenly surrounded Eight, his Tension of anger quickly rising up. "No one… NO ONE…!" his hair suddenly turns purple while spiking up, causing his bandana to fly off, and when he opened his eyes to glare at Splutterton… they were sharp and purple, making him highly resemble a Super Saiyan from Dragon Ball Z. "KILLS! JEWEL!" he screamed, and before Splutterton knew it, he got slashed away at a great distance by Eight after he dashed over to him at a tremendous speed.

"GAH!" Splutterton yelled but quickly recovered. "Well! About time you decided to act!"

"I couldn't just stand there and do nothing while you're threatening to kill my comrades… ESPECIALLY MY BEST FRIEND!" Eight yelled and then delivered a flurry of rapid slashes in rage at Splutterton. Meanwhile, Jewel, Eleven, Arusu and Solo looked at Eight in utter shock, as they have never seen him get so angry like this… and not to mention the fact that he looks like a freaking Super Saiyan!

"I can sense your strong will… So now I can finally have some real fun with you!" Splutterton teased as he clashed with Eight. "Where did all of that fear gone off to?"

"I don't know, and I don't give a DAMN about it!" Eight cursed, slashing Splutterton back as they both clashed again while the others watched.

Eight quickly used Hatchet Man to hit Splutterton, but he rolled behind Eight and slashed him away, only that he didn't care the slightest. Eight kept attacking with furious sword slashes repeatedly without even breaking a sweat until he managed to slash Splutterton's parasol off of his hand and then fired a more powerful Frizzle at his gut.

"ARGH!" Splutterton growled as he countered by kicking Eight, but he blocked the kick with his shield and then he ran up to Splutterton to grab him and knees him in the gut before slamming him to the ground where he slashed him repeatedly before Splutterton could even react.

Then, once Splutterton was severely weakened and injured on the ground, Eight took out his spear and made it glow with electricity before he jumped into the air. "LIGHTNING THRUST!" he yelled, coming back down and slamming his spear into Splutterton, as he was hit by a powerful burst of lightning.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" he screamed in agony.

[BGM End]

"Wow, that sure reminded me of Jade using Lightning Thrust herself…" Eleven thought as he managed to get up and quickly untie Jewel before they all watched Eight looking down at the downed Splutterton.

"Uuuurgh…" Splutterton groaned. "Looks like…you win this time… But…the next time…will be different…!" a dimensional door appeared below him and he fell into it… and dropped the fifth Grand Star in the process. With Splutterton gone, the temperature around the arena was back to normal.

"Good riddance." Eight said coldly before taking a deep breath and changed back to his normal form, the purple aura on him disappearing and his bandana magically reappearing on his head. "Oh…" he whispered while blinking, realizing what he had done and turned to face his comrades who were walking up to him along with Jewel. "I'm sorry you had to witness that, everyone…" he frowned a bit.

"You kidding, dude?! That was badass!" Arusu exclaimed, patting Eight's shoulder.

"R-Really?"

"Why, of course! You just showed Splutterton who's boss and why he should never mess with you!"

"Indeed." Solo chimed in. "And we're really proud of you, even Jewel." he smiled as Jewel nodded.

"You just showed us how strong you really are, Eight." Eleven added. "You really are a true Hero."

Eight smiled. "Thank you, guys."

"I must thank you guys for saving me, but especially you, Eight." Jewel said as she walked over to Eight and looked up at him. "The way you fought Splutterton was incredible when you unleash your true strength! And all it had to do was for him to threaten to kill me!"

"I guess I needed some motivation." Eight chuckled. "And by that, it means I had found my objective back then… to stop my best friend from being killed, and as a result, I overcame my 'impossible' obstacle; the cold. Thank you, Rosalina…" he thought.

"But… there was something I've been wondering…" Jewel mused, snapping Eight out of his thoughts. "You called me your best friend during your rant… Were you actually serious about that?"

"Well…" Eight was about to continue, until he eyed at the Grand Star next to them and looked back at Jewel. "I'll tell you back at the Observatory."

"Okay! Sounds good!" Jewel agreed.

With that, they all touched the Grand Star and flew off together back to the Observatory.

Meanwhile, in someplace unknown, Guffawin and Chuckole were watching a recording of Splutterton's fight where he gets curb stomped by Eight's powered up form, as their eyes perked up with interest.

"I must say… I've never seen anything like this." Guffawin mused, and turned to Chuckole. "Chuckole, what does the scouter say about his power level?"

"Oh, I'll tell you what it is!" Chuckole said, aaaand… wait for it… "IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!"

"What?! Nine thousand?!" a random Monty Mole from offscreen added.

Guffawin just deadpanned. "Was that overused joke really necessary?" he rolled his eyes.

"What? It makes so much sense for many reasons!" Chuckole replied.

"Yeah, I guess you do have a point. Now, let's go and get Master patched up, and then we'll resume helping Lord Bowser with his plan."

Chuckole nodded and the two walked off.

To be continued…

You might be noticing that I've been recently not showing off every Star mission in this story compared to my 64 and Sunshine adaptations, and instead they're all happening offscreen. I'm mainly doing this because not only I got nothing special to show about them, but also so that I could create some sort of storyline when the characters are not venturing around the galaxies. Hopefully you all understand.

Man, I really made Eight get the short end of the stick a lot in this chapter, didn't I? But that was purely intentional to serve as a buildup to his heroic resolve near the chapter's end, and I did my best to make that moment special.

Not only has another Grand Star been recovered, but Jewel was rescued as well! Until next time!

Trivia for this chapter:

1. In the Play Station 2 version of Dragon Quest VIII, the game Eight is from, a nice little feature was added in the Western release of the game: when the Hero's Tension is maxed out to 100, his appearance would change drastically and make him look like a purple Super Saiyan of Dragon Ball Z fame. This was done as a shout-out for fans of Akira Toriyama's work, as he was the one who did the character designs for both Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest.

2. Speaking of Dragon Ball, some bits of Guffawin's and Chuckole's (and that random Monty Mole's) dialogue at the end of the chapter are all taken from the infamous "It's OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!" meme. Although Chuckole says it makes sense for many reasons, it's actually for only one reason: it's because of, again, the same artist behind Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest.