But the Fates Aren't Done With Me Yet
Chapter 3
Shroob Castle, 2005
(Uploaded on May 9, 2021)
Summary: The third of ten scenes, covering the end of the requiem lost to time.
Notes: This chapter is the second of two, detailing events pulled from Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time.
Some elements are pulled from Juno Songs' lyrical adaptation of 'Another Requiem', the game's final boss theme.
December 12, 19XX (2005) – Evening
Shroob Castle
Sky – Central Platform
Bolts of lightning crashed down amidst the magenta-stained stormy sky.
"I TIRE OF THESE GAMES, YOU FOOLISH MUSHROOM HEADS."
Amidst the rain and the gales going about, Mario raised his arm and glared at the titan before him.
She towered over the quartet, eyes blazing in an incomprehensible fury. Her monstrous physique and tentacled limbs made her a frightening force to behold, which was only magnified by her menacing aura.
"YOUR PERSISTANCE MAY BE ADMIRABLE… BUT IT WILL NOT SAVE YOU FROM THIS FINAL CURTAIN CALL."
Mario clenched his fists.
Anger and disgust coursed through his veins.
You're one to talk, you sanctimonious tyrant!
Like I'd let you decide how our stories will end…!
"LISTEN WELL, YOU WHO RAVAGED TIME. NO LONGER WILL YOU STAND IN THE WAY OF OUR PROSPERITY."
Beside him, Luigi stood at attention; limbs shaking, his features screaming.
On both their backs, their baby selves sat, cries of defiance exiting their mouths.
Behind the throne, Peach lay on the floor, sheer terror eclipsing her will to stay awake.
There was nowhere else to run, and no place else to hide.
And there was only one target left standing in their way.
"I WILL AVENGE MY FALLEN KIN."
She was the mastermind behind this entire operation.
"I WILL PURGE THIS PLANET OF YOUR SIN."
She was the one that struck fear into everyone's hearts.
"YOU WILL ALL LEARN WHAT LIES IN THE DEPTHS…"
She was the elder sister whose danger surpassed all others.
"…AND IN THE END, IT SHALL BE OUR EMPIRE THAT WILL RISE FROM YOUR ASHES!"
She… was Elder Princess Shroob.
"It all started when I arrived in this time period."
The completed Cobalt Star hung high above the six figures' heads.
"We were confronted by the Shroob army as soon as we landed, the Princesses Shroob among them."
As it hovered in place, a bunch of fractures appeared on its surface. They soon expanded at a rapid rate, all to the tune of Peach's harrowing tale.
"The older one attacked me immediately. She was strong—way too strong. It took me everything I had just to hold her back."
Mario and Luigi listened raptly, in spite of the disbelief written all over their faces. Stuffwell was also accompanying them, similarly in shock.
"Once I found an opening, though, I knew what I had to do. I grabbed the Cobalt Star, wished with all my heart…"
A flurry of emotions briefly appeared on Peach's face.
"…and then, I sealed her away in it."
Mario choked. "No way…"
"This can't be…" Luigi gawked.
"So, that Star Sprite, the one we talked to…" Stuffwell remembered. "That was—the elder Shroob princess?"
Peach nodded.
"Once she was in the Star," she continued, "I shattered it into pieces and sent them most of them away. The other Princess Shroob seized me right after in a rage—but without all the pieces, her sister wouldn't have enough power to break out. But now… now…"
"…now she's got all her strength back," Mario finished.
"And we just-a gave to her on a silver platter!" Luigi freaked out.
As that horrible realization hit their heads, a loud crackling noise sent their attentions spiraling. The Cobalt Star was almost fully shattered, now—and an ominous energy was beginning to emanate from it.
"This is quite the travesty," he said—"but there's nothing we can do about it now! Everyone, I recommend bracing yourselves!"
A horrific 'SMASH!' echoed through the room.
Everyone was briefly sent flying off the ground.
They picked themselves up, lifted their heads—
…and then, they bore witness to the terrifying visage of Elder Princess Shroob.
"I LAUGH AT YOU, MUSHROOM HEADS," she said. "PATHETIC THINGS. YOU GATHERED ALL THE COBALT STAR SHARDS WITHOUT EVER GUESSING THE TRUTH!"
She raised her clawed limbs to the sky, and crowed triumphantly.
"NOW I AM FREE!"
The battle that had ensued was absurdly long.
The longest of Mario's career, even.
Peach hadn't been exaggerating when she described Elder Princess Shroob as a powerhouse: she was fast, durable; the hardest-hitting of all the Shroobs—and a whole fleet of UFOs came down at her command.
She rained down hell with everything she had, throwing meteors and Shroob Chomps and good old-fashioned balls of plasma, the latter straight from her mouth. She resisted every attack tossed at her body—the Bros.' jumps; the Baby Bros.' hammers; even Ice Flowers, the Shroobs' primary weakness, barely even seemed to faze her.
In spite of that, though… both sides refused to give in.
The quartet pushed on, whittling her down and down—
(She thinks she can win, but she doesn't have our spirit—)
She seethed at their defiance, at their inability to break—
(She stands totally alone, where we fight together as one—)
She activated her crown, plumes of purple smoke introducing her true form—
(She tricked us all; she's malicious at heart—
She's every reason why the darkness refuses to die—)
—and still, the team never let up for a single second.
She growled.
"STILL, YOU CLING ON TO LIFE, IN SPITE OF THE ODDS… YOU ALL ARE TRULY FRUSTRATING FOOLS."
She stood in the center of the platform, spinning three of her tentacle legs across its surface.
Mario's feet barely whizzed by them, much as they did during the last four leg sweeps.
"WHY IS IT THAT YOU INSIST ON STANDING AGAINST US?" the alien oppressor asked. "DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE PLIGHT OF MY SPECIES!?"
("Too many tentacles, too many tentacles!" Luigi was screaming, his dodging as panicked as his overall expression. "Why is it always too many tentacles!?")
Mario's lip curled.
"Plight…? You think you've got any room for excuses…?" The legs disappeared, and Mario stood his ground. He intensified his glare, shooting back—"Don't you dare try and patronize us now, you parasite!"
"PARASITE!?" she roared. "AS IF YOU WOULDN'T DO THE SAME THING TO ESCAPE THE COMING END!"
More taloned tentacles extended from her sleeves, swiping away and decreasing the space the Bros. had to work with. They began to reach out to grab the red-and-green duo, forcing them to scramble like a bunch of fleeing Scuttlebugs.
"Waaaah! Waaaah!" the babies cried out.
Maaaaaarioooooo…! Luigi thought, through their mental link. Please tell me you've got a plan for this…!
Just hang on, Luigi! Mario replied, quickly digging into his inventory. We're not losing to her—not if I have anything to say about it!
He pulled out a Copy Flower, sending clones of him and Luigi to distract and attack the princess. They were fragile; any kind of hit would send them disappearing (and the Copy Flower itself wasn't easy to get)—but here and now, they'd be enough.
As the battlefield became ever more crowded, Elder Princess Shroob continued to rave.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LIVE ON A ROTTING PLANET!" she accused the Bros. "EVERY DAY, WE STRUGGLED TO SURVIVE! OUR RESOURCES DWINDLING, OUR LANDS SLOWLY DRYING – BUT YOU…"
Her eyes flashed.
"YOUR PLANET HAS IT ALL! EVERYTHING THAT WE NEED! EVERYTHING FOR POWERING OUR MACHINES! IT ALL RESTS IN YOUR HANDS—AND YOU'RE SIMPLY LETTING IT GO TO WASTE!"
"And that gives you the right to trample all over us!?" Mario demanded, sparks flickering around his gloves. "To just take everything by force, as if you're the only ones here that matter!?"
(Who the hell do you think you are…!?)
"IT'S WHAT WE DESERVE!" she loudly replied. "OUR SPECIES IS ON THE BRINK OF DESTRUCTION – SO IT'S ONLY RIGHT THAT WE USE THIS PLANET TO REBUILD! YOU, WHO CLAIM YOURSELVES VIRTUOUS… WOULD YOU LET OUR SACRIFICES BE IN VAIN!?"
"Sacrifices… Sacrifices!?" Luigi gaped at her, incredulity overriding fear for once in his life. "You torture us, lay waste to us, take over all our-a lands—and you have the gall to say you're the only ones who's been suffering!?"
"You don't know anything about sacrifices!" Mario retorted, angrily. "Not when you've been building your prosperity on the back of our corpses!"
An inferno flared up from behind his irises.
More and more, his heart refused to let her have the last word.
You've been going on and on, never once sparing a thought for anyone other than yourself…
He balled his hands into fists.
…well, I'm sick of it!
Sick of you, sick of these Shroobs—
But most of all…
I'm sick of you calling us out for YOUR sins, you hypocrite!
Another swarm of tentacle arms came rushing Mario's way—but this time, Mario was prepared.
"This invasion's never been about saving yourself!" he yelled.
He rolled to the side, dodging the first wave as it came.
"And it's never been about reaching prosperity, either!"
He fired up his hands—quite literally, too—and latched onto the tyrant's limbs, setting them ablaze.
"It's only ever been about sating your lust for sadism!"
She screeched in agony, scratching at her flesh as it burned unimpeded by the rain.
"YOU… YOU DARE!?"
Mario glared.
"Hell yeah, I dare!"
He grabbed a Mix Flower from his inventory and held it up high. In a flash of light, its power was transferred to the time-travelling quartet, and they wasted no time in putting it to use—all while Elder Princess Shroob was distracted by her flames.
"You could've just come here peacefully, asking for refuge!" he shouted, tossing fireballs up into the sky alongside the other three. "You could've taken this chance to redeem yourself, and we would've accepted that!
"But no!"
He put more force into his pitches, anger pushing him past his limits.
"You just had to be the bad guys! You just had to be a bunch of one—note—jerks!"
The fireballs converged into a giant one, the size of a Grand Star and then some. It started to fall onto the battlefield, to which the vile villain tried desperately to stop it—
KA-BLAM!
—and for her troubles, it blew up in her face, sending both her arms and her legs receding into her body.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAH! SILENCE, YOU ACCURSED CURS!"
She opened her mouth and summoned a large violet orb of energy, which she then propelled into the air.
"YOU KNOW NOT OF ANYTHING YOU SPEAK! NOR DO YOU COMPREHEND HOW LOWLY YOU LIE BENEATH OUR EYES!"
Smaller red and green spheres also followed from her sleeves, stuffing themselves into the great ball with apparent zeal.
"I WILL DESTROY YOU! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL! DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!"
The orb descended upon them, prompting the Baby Bros. to whip out their hammers. Together, they swung their mallets and batted the orb back into Elder Princess Shroob's face—sending her reeling in pain from the blast.
"URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!"
As she roared in pain, Luigi wiped some sweat from his forehead.
I think she's-a on the ropes now…! he stated. Mario! Let's target her crown next!
Okey-dokey! Mario replied. He bounced a Trampoline in his hand. It's-a time to finish this!
And so, the fight raged on.
The quartet went all-out: first disabling her crown and its extra defense it gave her, and then targeting her head with everything they had. She clapped back as best as she could, but by this point, the Bros. weren't about to let anything by them.
Still, she just wouldn't go down.
Despite her weakening state, the struggle remained long and arduous. Neither Mario nor Luigi could let their guard down for a single second, lest they lose the battle through one glancing mistake.
They fired assault after assault; dodged attack after attack—
—until finally, they began to reach a plateau.
"ENOUGH!" she barked.
Her sets of limbs abruptly resprouted from her body.
She took a step back, eyes flashing red.
"YOU INSOLENT FOOLS…! IF YOU WOULD SEE US ALL IN RUIN, THROUGH NO FAULT OF OUR OWN…."
"What's she doing…?" Luigi asked, worriedly.
And then, to both the Bros. surprise…
…as a swarm of Shroob UFOs flied overhead, a Time Hole suddenly appeared at the center of the platform.
"WHAT?!" Mario shouted. "You can—you can WHAT!?"
"…THEN I WILL SHOW YOU FIRSTHAND THE MIGHT OF OUR POWER!"
She fired energy blasts at every one of her minions, leaving them sizzled or electrified. The newly-spawned Time Hole then began to suck them in, creating a wind that nearly swept Mario and Luigi off their feet.
"WAH!" Luigi wailed.
Mario brought up his arm. "You…!"
"YOUR JUSTIFICATIONS ARE MEANINGLESS! OUR SUPERIORITY IS PARAMOUNT! BE JUDGED FOR ALL YOU'VE SLAIN! SUBMIT TO OUR REIGN!"
Then, all at once, the Shroob UFOs were expelled from the wormhole, spilling out onto the battlefield in a chaotic fashion. Explosions and plasma bolts were raining down from the sky, blanketing the quartet in an utterly chaotic storm—
—but for all that it was flashy, it wasn't insurmountable.
"You are not as guiltless as you claim—and you are not the be all, end all!" Mario exclaimed.
Both duos fired away at the onslaught: the Bros. with their Firebrand and Thunderhand abilities; the Baby Bros. with well-executed hammer swings.
"Everything that you've done is a crime on every level! You used the Toads as living batteries! You tore apart every part of our kingdom! Your sister tried to execute Peach, all because she and all the other Shroobs wanted to see some pointless bloodshed!"
Spaceship after spaceship slammed into Elder Princess Shroob's head. More and more, she grew weaker with every hit, further accentuating her looming end.
"YOU… YOU…!"
Mario took Baby Mario's hammer into his hand as he began to approach the weakening princess.
"No sane being, in this world and beyond, would ever consider what you've done as any sort of good!"
"You ruined your world!
SMASH!
"You're trying to ruin ours!"
SMASH!
"There's nothing more I have to say…"
He wound back his arms, and put his all into one last swing.
"…you're the ones who deserve to fall!"
SMASH!
…
…and just like that, the struggle came to an end.
The skies were emptied of all its ships.
The rain stopped falling nearly as hard.
As Elder Princess Shroob seemed to freeze in place, Mario and Luigi stood, panting heavily.
Behind the platform's throne, Peach woke up. She slowly moved out and into the foreground, staring warily at the defeated foe in the center.
The leader of the Shroobs heaved.
"FOOLISH MUSHROOM HEADS…" she said. "YOU MAY HAVE BESTED ME, BUT SHROOBS WILL LIVE ON… ONE DAY, THE SHROOBS WILL DANCE ON THE BURIED REMAINS OF THIS PATHETIC KINGDOM…"
Streaks of inverted rainbow light began to emanate from her form.
They blackened the air around them, giving off the weight of oppression.
She let out a raucous cry, in defiance of her fate—
"*#*#*#*#*#!"
—and then, she exploded into a shower of violet stars.
The five heroes covered their eyes as star after star came out.
She seemed made of them, so many was flying out. For a moment, one could imagine that it was a neverending supply.
Alas, though, the dust had to settle.
And in one final burst of stars…
…
…she left behind only a dank old mushroom.
Mario let out a small sigh of relief.
It's over.
She's done.
…we've…
…
…finally won.
…
…
…
It took the exhausted plumber a minute to process the accomplishment.
…oh, Stars… he thought.
Thank all the Stars…
…
"…with the bulk of the invasion over," Mario began, "we moved to lending some aid to the Mushroom Kingdom of the past."
"While it was an… unorthodox move, to say the least, it's not like we could just leave them alone after everything that happened. There were a lot of scars to patch over, some of which required a ton of work – and we couldn't guarantee that they'd be able to repair it all alone, given both the time period and their state of affairs."
As the report continued onward, the weariness on the plumber's face only deepened and deepened.
Every incident he had to relay seemed to physically hurt him.
Every moment he could recall was invariably framed in shadows.
(…it was heavy.
Way too heavy for him.
But he had to remember it.)
"…the architectural damage was really severe," he continued. "There were craters everywhere, and half of our cities' buildings were falling apart. Thankfully, most of the purple mushrooms were gone – but that didn't change how much work we had to do."
"Finding everyone was even worse: just about all of the population was displaced, and the record-keeping back in those days was a far cry from today's standards."
"And then there was-a Peach's Castle. Or, as the people then were calling it… Shroob Castle."
"…"
"To say things were a mess was… an understatement."
"Thankfully, E. Gadd's sensors helped a lot. Our experience in handling Bowser-related damages did-a, too."
"And of the Shroob minions who were still alive—including Yoob and Junior Shrooboid…"
"…well, we got Yoob down from the cliffs of Yoshi's Island. I won't sugarcoat it – he was braindead. Whatever we did in his belly was enough to knock him out for good. There wasn't much we could do for him, beyond… shrinking him down, and letting him rest somewhere peaceful."
"Junior Shrooboid, on the other hand, remained with E. Gadd. Compared to the rest of the Shroobs, he was small fry, so it was relatively safe for the professor to keep him for study. He sounded pretty excited about it, too – said that he had a lot of experiments in mind, and even some other things."
Mario let out a snort.
"Honestly, it's a better fate than he deserves."
"The rest of the Shroobs weren't so lucky. With their high command taken out and pretty much all of their resources stripped from them, it didn't take long for the Koopa Troop – the one from the past – to swoop in and take care of them."
"If there's one good thing I can say, it's that the Dark Lands were… surprisingly supportive of the Mushroom Kingdom. They took in a number of our refugees, shielding them from the worst of the invasion – and they managed to keep the Shroobs from gaining any territory, too."
"I don't know what they did to the Shroobs—be it ending their games, or something else."
"…maybe it's better if it stays that way. I've had enough of this invasion for a lifetime."
…
An awkward silence descended upon the recording.
The red-clad hero's face looked increasingly uncomfortable.
…there was one more kicker he needed to discuss.
"Toadbert, when he came back… well, I wouldn't say he was perfectly okay, but he was a lot better than we expected. Given that he spent most of the invasion on Yoshi's Island, which wasn't hit too bad, I suppose it couldn't be worse."
"Toadiko, though… she was traumatized. Absolutely so. She can't go out anymore without feeling some sort of helplessness."
…
He sniffled.
"…she used to be happy. Someone I could call a friend."
"Now, she's… completely different."
"And it's…"
"…"
"Toadiko!"
Mario and Toadbert stood anxiously outside Toadiko's house, worry all over their faces.
"Toadiko, please come out!"
…
"Go away!" a muffled voice replied.
Toadbert stepped forward.
"It's been two weeks since we got back, by boogity! You haven't come out of there this entire time!"
"We're all worried about you, Peach especially!" Mario spoke up. "We're here for you! Just give us a chance, please!"
…
"No!" she replied. "Go! Away!"
Toadbert frowned. "Look, I know what happened to you was terrible, but—it's safe now! There aren't any Shroobs, and Bowser's out of commission! There's no reason to hide yourself away from the world—"
The door slammed open.
Mario and Toadbert jolted in surprise.
She was as disheveled as you could get. Dark bags hung beneath her eyes, and her clothes had wrinkles all over. Her limbs were shaking, too, very much indicative of her current mood.
"What would you know about being safe!?" she screamed, in a tone of voice Mario had never heard from her before. "You weren't the one who was tortured for energy and then turned a mushroom for almost two weeks!"
The blue-capped aid looked startled.
"Toadiko, I—"
"No, you got to live it up on Yoshi's Island; free of consequence, free of your memories! You didn't have to remember being in complete agony—hell, you still don't now! Nothing's safe out there, not at all! If this happened once, it can happen again! And you think you can come up here, telling me it'll be alright…?
"Well, news flash! I and everyone else had to suffer alone!
"And I'm never going to be able to forget that!"
…
Silence passed over everyone present, with Mario and Toadbert at a loss for words.
A shadow fell over her face.
"…leave me alone, Toadbert. Don't come to my house again. And Mario?"
The plumber looked up, his heart breaking by the minute.
"…you really should've just let me die, back in that forest."
The door slammed shut.
"…"
Mario closed his eyes.
"First Rogueport, now this… Stars, I hope this isn't an omen of things to come. 'Cause if I have to keep dealing with all these calamities…"
He trailed off, and stopped speaking.
…he stayed like that for quite a while.
Partners in Time's final boss theme, 'Another Requiem', is the perfect capstone for the entire game.
If there's anything the game leaves kind of understated, it's the Shroobs' motive for invading the Mushroom Kingdom. You see it in the opening: their planet is dying. It's dry, it's decaying; it's every bit the Mushroom Kingdom's exact opposite. Anyone would naturally want to get away from that—but the Shroobs aren't just 'anyone'.
They're monsters.
The worst kind of monsters.
Worse than the villains who came before, and worse than everyone else who'll come after – Count Bleck's crew included.
Their crimes have become too much; their empathy proven to be completely nonexistent. The only recourse left is to put an end to them—for otherwise, the kingdom will become as corroded as whence they came.
That's the beauty of Another Requiem. It doesn't just symbolize a fight for the fate of the kingdom: it's the end of the Shroobs' chances for survival. In spite of how monstrous they are, this is their last-ditch effort to save themselves for extinction, and it's failing. It's sad and overwhelming, a desperate situation for both sides; and it's in that juxtaposition (and Juno's abovementioned cover) that I was inspired to write this chapter.
As the climax to this first leg of the fic, Elder Princess Shroob is epitome of everything wrong with the Shroobs. She thinks she's in the right, that her species is justified in doing all this—but she's not. They're not.
Mario knows this. He's seen this. And that's why he's here, rebutting her claims. Confronting this darkness firsthand, and being able to see what's at stake in these journeys – that's gonna be important for his character arc later, trust me on that.
…also, since PiT didn't bother resolving most of its hanging plot threads, I decided I might as well do it myself.
Look! The cost of all of this is actually acknowledged!
Look! The past isn't just left to restore their kingdom by themselves!
Look! Toadbert and Toadiko are, in fact, shown coming back!
And everything doesn't get treated as if it's one of those perfect happy endings! Because it isn't! It isn't at all! I mean, sure, they survived—but does that really mean they're all as okay as they used to be…?
Well, that's all for now. Next time: a little interlude, featuring a special guest as speedy as he is blue. See you around!