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Shards of Love: REDUX!
NOTES: Well, I finally updated! During November, I was participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge to write 50,000 words in November. Good news is I was successful, albeit in four different stories! Of course, I'm obviously not posting all 50,000 words right now, due to editing and the like, but the wait for the next few chapters of all my stories, including this one, won't be as long a wait. I can definitely squeeze in another chapter before the end of the year, perhaps even two.
Shard III: Alliances
With the 'Big Three' alliance within reach, Peach and the Koopas must, at all costs, stop the Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasalandian forces from reaching Jewelry Land and forming an alliance with King Fret.
Chapter XV
The Great Escape
Luigi steps into the castle's kitchen; only the dirty plates in the sink and an empty dining table testify of the rest of the castle residents' supper break. Ignoring the clutter and grabbing two large sacks, Luigi stuffs the salad ingredients, multiple fruits, dry foods and other foods into the sacks.
The green-clad plumber studies the castle's kitchen for the last time. He doesn't know when the next time he'll see a kitchen, or a bedroom, or anything of that sort, but Luigi knows this journey will be worth it, in one way or another.
He doesn't know how impactful this adventure will be. The younger Mario brother knows he's betraying his kin, but Luigi dislikes the direction Mario's taking the Kingdom. Under Peach's parents' rule, the Mushroom Kingdom's regarded as the lover of peace; the benevolent cradle of civilized discourse. After Daisy's criticism, Luigi now questions the upcoming war he once agreed with.
The koopas shouldn't be exterminated from their homeland. Even Bowser shouldn't devour the bitter flavour of death. They may have conquered, plundered and kidnapped, but the Mushroom Kingdom doing anything outside their need of defense wouldn't make the Kingdom the good guy either.
Either way, he must continue; he cannot turn back. In an ironic twist of fate, he must team up with the enemy in order to save the ones he loves from themselves.
"Geez, I think he packed the whole kitchen," Daisy commented, looking up at the now-exposed stars in the sky. Considering they're at the edge of the Dark Realm and not affected by its still-lingering curse, and far from civilization, the view proves to be wonderful. She only wishes she can stay behind and enjoy the light-studded canopy, but the wellbeing of her kingdom depends on her actions, "But if he did, fine with me; I wasn't hungry before, but now I can eat a damn reznor at this point."
"Me too. Did I even eat yesterday?" Bowser pondered, still not used to Jewelry Land's time zone being hours ahead of the Mushroom Kingdom's, "Oh wait, I did."
"I just wish he hurried up, more company than the few guards shouldn't be here for a few more days, but knowing Mario, anything can pop up, especially from Sarasaland—" Daisy pauses when she spots Luigi attempting to balance upright with two large sacks over each shoulder, "Phew, there he is!"
"Sorry!" Luigi starts to run and almost trips over the sagging bags, "Ucck, I got carried away."
"Yeah, I see," Peach replied as Luigi approaches them and collapses onto the ground when he meets them. She glowers at the plumber, moves her eyes to Bowser and glares at him before lowering her eyes to the bags. Figuring she's commanding him, Bowser groans and carries both bags, resulting in Peach smiling.
"Uhh, thanks. I wouldn't have survived all that," Luigi thanked before brushing the dirt off himself. He examines the crumbling second float castle; he can't believe he's rebelling against his own brother, but Luigi knows he must embark on the others' journey for peace to be restored.
"Well," Daisy scans the sky once more before eyeing Bowser, "Kiss that castle goodbye, 'cus it's our last piece of civilization for a bit. To the Light Realm's float castle we go!"
Back in Dark Land, hundreds of troops surround dozens of doomships, waiting for the final call of war. While Roy, Morton and Ludwig do inventory checks on the doomships in each of their fleets, Lemmy, Iggy and Wendy prepare the multiple tanks and trucks they'll use in their convoy towards Pipe Land. Although they each get one doomship for their armies, the three decide to only use Lemmy's and Wendy's for storage and non-combat surveillance vessels, while using Iggy's doomship as the portable hospital.
Concerned, Wendy glances towards Roy's, Morton's and Ludwig's doomships. She knows the three might have their own disputes, resulting in them seizing more supplies otherwise meant for the other Koopalings. Although Lemmy and Morton were in charge of stocking the ships, the female koopaling double-checked her ship just to make sure she had enough before those vultures took over.
"You got your ships all supplied?" Wendy questioned her two brothers, hoping they wouldn't need to fight their way towards supplies.
Lemmy and Iggy nod.
"Got mine and Iggy's stocked yesterday!" Lemmy double-checked.
"I think we have everything," Iggy noted, "Everyone's geared up. All we need is Kammy."
"No worries, I'm here!" the purple magikoopa flies towards the three, decked out in her battle-ready purple robes and her wand in hand, "Let's hit the road, Your Fearlessnesses! Oh, before I forget, you're leading us, Lemmy."
Lemmy stares at Kammy in shock, then gazes at Iggy and Wendy. The former has a small smirk on his face while the latter starts to glare at the koopaling. Wendy starts tapping her foot.
"So? Are we gonna go, or what, 'leader'?" Wendy questioned, still glaring daggers at Lemmy.
Lemmy sighs and nods his head, "Uhh, Kammy, lead the troops on the ground for me. Me and Wendy will fly the supply ships, while Iggy will control the hospital ship. We'll fly high and command you from the ground."
"Sounds good, Your Rainbowness. I'll get on that task immediately."
After Kammy's confirmation, the three koopalings make their way to each of their doomships. With three different-pitched roars in place, the vehicles in the convoy line drive off. The three doomships lift off the ground while Kammy guides the convoy on an unpaved road towards Pipe Land.
"So, uhh, where do we go?"
The crew travelled south for about an hour, and now they approach a grove of mid-sized evergreens. As they look back, they can still spot the tip of the floating castle surrounding the near-zero visibility from the trees. The four now wonder whether travelling south proves to be a good, or terrible, idea.
"Not sure," Daisy responds to Peach's question. Besides with each other's kingdoms, both Peach and Daisy have the strongest alliance with Jewelry Land, but they never visited the Dark Realm since the uniting power of the jewels been destroyed once too many. Even the Jewelry Land royalty disregards the region as little more than wastelands, although Prince Pine finds an odd, serene feel to the Forgotten Realm.
"We can't see anything ahead," Bowser sighs, placing the sacks of food on the ground then holding his hand above his eyes as if that'd help him see the horizon any better, "We need to get above the trees. Someone who's a good climber can climb the trees and see."
Peach and Daisy both eye Luigi, and Daisy giving him a little smile. The younger Mario brother looks at the ground in dejection before gazing up at a pine tree. The tree has several thick branches; he'd be able to use them as steps like a staircase.
"Okie dokie. I got this."
Luigi wraps both arms around the tree's trunk before placing his right foot over one of the branches. With full caution, he grabs onto a high branch with his right arm while stabling himself with his left before moving his left foot onto the branch. Looking up, Luigi spots about four more sturdy branches. He figured that'd be high enough to see over the woodland's canopy and its resulting mist.
After climbing each branch, Luigi looks around, being able to see farther, up until he can see across the horizon at the top of the tree. He frowns as after about a kilometer left of forest, a vast sea containing several islands lay in front of them. They'll have to get wet, but if that's the only way to continue on, then so be it.
"Well then," Luigi descends down the tree, attempting, yet failing, to not look at the ground, "Mario always said I was the better climber. But, the heights…"
"Dude, you totally rock at climbing," Daisy complimented before turning serious, "What lies ahead of us?"
"If we continue south, there's a bit more of forest, but then after, there's a giant sea with scattered islands."
Peach and Daisy nod their heads at the new revelations, while Bowser ponders over Luigi's answer. His memory's foggy; he conquered Jewelry Land once before, but those events occurred ages ago. However, he does remember a portion of the sea Luigi mentioned.
"That's the Dark Sea, if I'm correct," Bowser replied before giving a shiver, "Oh boy…"
"What?" Peach turns her focus from Luigi to Bowser, "It sounds like something bad. Oh no… Is it?"
"I can't remember… One of my koopa troopas who took that area over said something about the islands though," Bowser explained before facepalming, "Ugh, c'mon. Remember!"
"As much as I totally LOVE reminiscing past events, I'd rather get moving. It's full-blown nighttime and we're stuck in these woods," Daisy rushed, smacking a mosquito off her, "And we can't stay here forever. It's not like pine trees grow food, at least for us."
Bowser mutters something along the lines of "Damn selfish trees," under his breath before noticing a small clearing. He wants to continue on with the sojourning, but he's also exhausted, and he craves nothing but a little shuteye, "We should sleep, so we can deal with the Dark Sea without being zombies."
Luigi and Peach almost break their necks with the amount of nodding both do, while Daisy wraps her fingers around her chin. Although she wants to continue on, the Sarasalandian princess knows plenty of rest will benefit them in the long run; they can't be tired out.
"True," Daisy admitted before turning to Luigi, "Ugh, crap! I should've had you bring blankets! Dang, now we're gonna freeze!"
"We don't have to. We can make a fire," Bowser suggested as he picks up a large log.
Daisy crinkles her nose at the idea, "We don't have stuff to light fires with either. Gah, I'm so unprepared!"
Bowser scowls at Daisy as if to say 'Seriously?'. Daisy notices Bowser's stare and glares back at him for about half a minute before she does a facepalm.
"Ugh, right, you breathe fire. I totally forgot. Y'know what, we need rest. I'm mentally dead. Let's build a fire and sleep."
Daisy and Peach pick up handfuls of dead pine needles and other kindling, while Bowser picks up fallen branches and thinner logs to surround the thick log he placed. Luigi hunts for rocks to surround the pit; although they want a fire, they don't want any leakages that can turn the entire forest ablaze.
With the rocks in place and the fuels stacked up, Bowser proceeds to exhale a small fireball to the stack, resulting in flames bursting out of the logs.
"I never thought I'd be thankful for Bowser's fire," Luigi states as both he and Daisy lay down on the floor by the campfire. Peach and Daisy nod at the statement while Bowser brushes the compliment off.
"Someone should keep watch. I'll be first watch," Bowser suggested as he plops down on the ground by the fire. Within seconds, he hears the heavy breathing from both Daisy and Luigi.
"Teehee, they're cute together," Peach smiles at the two sleeping before she looks down, embarrassed. She never gets soft and open around Bowser, but, for some reason, it just seemed right. Perhaps she needs sleep also, "I'm out too. Thanks."
"Good night, Peach," Bowser sighs as Peach lies down on the ground not far from him. Not long after, three sounds of heavy breathing and snoring ring through his ears.