Chapter 14 When's the Climax?

"Look! There's a cave!"

Sure enough, the party could see a cave approaching in the distance. Star felt her spirits soar in anticipation. Could this be the cave that she was looking for? If so, she just knew that she could not wait any longer. She was finally going to get home! She stepped in front of the Koopalings with a big smile on her face.

"Come on, guys! We're almost there!"

With a hop, skip, and a jump, Star dashed toward the cave. She ran faster than she ever had before. Unfortunately, Star took notice of the fact that the Koopalings weren't going as fast as she would like them to. They were all lagging behind, and there was almost a hint of caution in their steps. This, in all honesty, annoyed Star. Why couldn't they go a little bit faster? This was Star's prime opportunity to get back home, and they were moving with the speed of a snail. Why?

"Hey!" she called out to the Koopalings. "Can you guys hurry it up?" They did not, in fact, hurry it up. As a matter of fact, they stopped right in their tracks. Star let out a groan and started to march toward them.

"Guys, what is taking you so long?" she said. Each stomp filled her shoes with sand. "Don't you want me to get..."

Before Star knew what was going on, the ground under her feet started to rumble and shake. Star was so frightened that she couldn't even begin to question why. She screamed just as the ground burst open, allowing a humongous piranha plant to burst out. Vines wriggled and squirmed around the thorny plant and its many leaves. The piranha plant, which was white in color and had teeth that were an ugly yellow, looked down at Star. Its mouth was hanging open as drool started to drip from its fangs. It licked its lips, sending saliva raining down on Star. Just as she was about to start running, one of the vines wrapped around her feet and hoisted her into the air. It slowly started to lower her toward its open maw. She screamed from her upside down position.

"Help!" she cried.

The Koopalings didn't waste any time. Wendy hurled her ring at the vine holding Star hostage. The monster screamed when the ring made contact and loosened its grip on Star. The fanfiction writer fell to the ground, getting a severe concussion upon landing. As she rubbed her head, the Koopalings started to attack the piranha. Larry went into his shell, zipping around at incredible speeds. He zoomed into the base of the piranha plant, causing it to howl in pain. Unfortunately, it wouldn't go away just yet. So, Morton got a hammer out of his hammer space and started attacking the vines. The weight of the hammer's impact squished the vines, causing them to recoil back into the ground. With the plant weakened, Ludwig flew up to its head and started shooting fireballs at it. The plant screeched in pain, giving Ludwig an opening to hurl a fireball into its mouth. It howled again and started to wither into the ground.

And that's when everyone noticed something was off.

As the piranha plant wilted away, it started to glitch. Its head turned from white to red to purple to yellow. Its leaves began to shrink, then grow; shrink, then grow. By the time the piranha plant completely disappeared, it left a patch of glitching ground in its wake. Star and the others watched as the ground glitched.

"What in the world...?" Ludwig asked.

"Yeah," said Roy. "Why is the ground acting like a total weirdo?"

Iggy cast a glance at Star, who immediately became frightened. Beads of sweat started to trickle down her forehead.

"What have you done?" he asked. Star held up in her hands in defense. She heard thunder cracks in the distance as the sky grew as black as tar.

"Nothing!" Unfortunately, before she could say anything else, the ground started to crack. The pieces broke away from each other and started to float away, leaving noting but a star filled void in between the cracks. The other Koopalings were being carried away on one of the floating pieces.

"Guys!" Iggy called out helplessly. Another rumbling thunder crack sounded in the distance as Iggy and Star started to be carried away on their own little rock. Both Star and Iggy shrieked.

"What's going on?" Iggy asked. Star noticed that the sky now resembled the star filled void of space. Echoey, distant sounds ocurred all around them as all sorts of random objects floated in the nether. Iggy cast a glance at Star. Except...it wasn't so much a glance so much as it was a glare.

"What is this? Star, what did you do?"

Star cringed and shrunk back at the tone of his voice. He sounded like he wanted to wring her neck. Star felt tears build in her eyes.

"I have no clue what this is," she said.

"Don't lie to me!" Iggy said. "You obviously did something to cause this!" He squinted his eyebrows at her. "You used your powers. Didn't you?"

Star dried the tears from her eyes as she looked all around them. Lumas, warp pipes, puppies, chickens, and more floated through the void. Each and everyone of these creatures and items were glitching like there was no tomorrow. Which, Star realized, might very well be the case. She turned back to the glaring Iggy as she held her head in shame.

"Yes. I did."

Iggy shook his head.

"How could you? Now, thanks to you, this whole world is breaking apart! Is this what you wanted, Star?"

Star's tears started to flow even harder.

"No. I never wanted this."

Iggy scoffed.

"Well, then, why didn't you listen to me when I told you not to use your powers?"

Star hesitated.

"I don't know. I really don't. I just wanted to get home quicker."

"Oh yeah, that's what it's all about now, isn't it! Its all about what StarlitDuck wants! Never mind the well being of the world that she created! Never mind the fact that now, everyone here is going to die!"

Star dried her eyes.

"Iggy, I'm..."

Before she could say anything more, the ground underneath Iggy's feet started to glitch. A hole opened up, and he started to fall into the void. Star gasped.

"Iggy!" She jumped off the ground and activated her flying powers. Maybe, if she was quick enough, she could save him! Unfortunately, as she flew around the void, she saw that Iggy had completely disappeared.

"Iggy!" she called out. "Iggy! IGGY!"

It was no use. Star was all alone now. Star started to sob. She didn't even get a chance to apologize.