NOTES: This chapter marks the first chapter consisting of battles or other sorts of fighting, and it'll last through almost every other chapter from this point on. Likewise, the focuses on the romance (with Powser and Luaisy, with hints of others) and the family-oriented values also start during this chapter (hence this chapter's appropriate name) and will also continue. From putting love and war together (which require me to enter two different streams of thinking) many of these upcoming chapters, ESPECIALLY the ones coming up in Shard 4 (planned to start on either Chapter 30 or 31), were perhaps the toughest writing pieces I've EVER written, but in hindsight, I'm glad I went down this path.
I hope you guys like this chapter!
Shards of Love: REDUX!
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 XIX
All's Fair in Love and War
"So, uhh, what exactly is the plan?"
Nearing Pipe Land's fields, Lemmy sights an entire convoy occupying the Land, conducting routine exercises. He observes the fungi fighters as they slice a toppled tree's trunk with their swords; they weren't the typical Mushroomer weakings associated with screaming about their princess being in another castle, but rather ones whose life energy depends on a daily dose of some mutant steroidal medication. He didn't expect a high quality nor high quantity of troops to be present, and as a result, he failed to prepare well for this takeover.
Not to mention, Lemmy hates anything having to do with war or battle plans; he always liked peace or the more light-hearted chaos; anything involving laughter or fun. Every time the Koopalings met with Bowser, Lemmy would always zone out, instead performing acts such as juggling three circus balls beneath the meeting table. Even if he tried, Lemmy couldn't remember one plan they ever brewed during a meeting that could apply here.
"I don't know, Mister Leader, what is it?" Wendy interrogated, "That's totally your job title!"
"Hey! I didn't ask to lead!" the short koopaling replied, a defensive tinge leaking into his response.
"But you took the job anyway!" Wendy rebutted.
"What was I supposed to say? 'Ohh no Kammy! You lead for me!'?"
"Of course, idiot! Kammy at least has a plan!"
From his doomship, Iggy knows the argument will only heat up; both tend to be stubborn with their opinions, although Lemmy's more patient and understanding before his fuse blows. The middle koopaling, knowing this off-topic argument will not help them in any way, instead butts in with a few ideas.
"Guys! Back on topic! Argue when we're back in our castle!" Iggy scolded, resulting in the bickering koopalings quieting down, "Look at the southeast, then the northeast! There's less troops at the border to the northeast, so maybe we can enter Pipe Land through there, and that way we can flank them!"
"Flank them?" Wendy inquired, "How do we know that'll work?"
"We don't."
Silence comes from Lemmy's end – Iggy figures Lemmy's rolling his eye at the idea – while a long, dramatic sigh escapes from Wendy, followed by an outburst, "Then why did you suggest it?!"
"Because, look," Iggy starts to explain, "We passed by a camp, correct? Well, the armies in that camp, and whatever army goes to our castle, need basic resources like food, water, weapons and medical equipment. All the Mushroomer armies in Dark Land can only get it from one place: Pipe Land. So, if we go into Pipe Land from the north, then flank them there, we'll cut off their supply line, and that'll mess up both the armies in Pipe Land and in Dark Land. So, all in all? Out of the 27 times we flanked an enemy army's supply line, we were successful 26 of the times, so probability's on our side!"
Realizing the one failure Iggy mentions, Lemmy smirks. Never in his life had he seen Bowser, Ludwig, Roy and Morton beg for mercy more than they did when they tried disrupting a trade route between Donut Plains and Chocolate Island back in Dinosaur Land. Luckily, he oversaw Vanilla Dome; although between Donut Plains and Cookie Mountain, even the Dinosaur Land residents refuse to explore Vanilla Dome, hence he wasn't subject to punishment from the local barbaric cavepeople there.
"Yeah... And, like, how many of those flanks were destroyed by Mario?" Wendy questioned.
Iggy sighed, "All of them. But look. I know that funky, weird-haired guy you always make fun of stated that insanity is doing things over again and expecting different results, but think about it. Mario's not doing this for good intentions anymore, so whatever superpower he has, I doubt he has it right now. We need to try this again."
The two koopalings ponder over Iggy's idea; what will be the risk of all this, how many soldiers will get hurt or even killed by this? What if this flank proves to be another exception and a Dinosaur-Land-like catastrophe occurs? Lemmy doesn't want to get these mushroomers involved, else the fungi in Pipe Land will ambush the Dark Land convoy. Instead, Lemmy plans to give these mercenaries a chance to seize Dark Land and lower their guard before the convoy confronts the Pipelandian forces. After a few moments of weighing the idea and coming up with nothing better to combat Iggy's idea, Lemmy and Wendy both agree to the plan.
"Good idea. I'll phone Kammy," Lemmy suggested before once again taking charge, "Now let's go to the northeast!"
"Well, this isn't working out!"
Despite wanting Peach to be incorrect about the situation, Bowser must agree with her. Wave after wave of Sarasalandian baddies rush at the duo, doing their share of harm before Bowser's fire engulfs them. Meanwhile, bunbuns throw spears at the two, creating another atrocity the pair must avoid.
While Bowser ignites the goombos into oblivion, Peach has the novel idea of kicking back bombshell koopas to the group. The plan proves a success; the multiple detonations result in dozens of minions being launched into the air, all at unsafe velocities.
Although the duo make promising strides, King Totomesu, now lounging on a ledge surrounded by bunbuns, continues his cackling. Two against hundreds of qualified soldiers? Let alone, ONE who cannot even fend for herself, and another who gets constant slap-downs by a fat plumber? Absolutely pathetic. If worse comes to worst, he'll have to intervene, but at this moment, he's having too good a time watching this circus.
"Aww, did that hurt?" the lion cooed as Peach shakes her foot after a goombo headbutts into it, "Poor little girl!"
Picking up Totomesu's words, Peach simmers, resulting in four more bombshell koopas being kicked into the crowd. More minions fly into the air, some even breaking into Totomesu's bunbun defense and smacking him square in the face. As the king slows his laughing, the disturbed bunbuns now buzz towards Peach, spears drawn.
"Oh, no you don't!" Bowser shouts before holding his breath then exhaling a pillar of fire over the bunbuns, disintegrating the fighter-bees.
"Whew, that was close," Peach called before a hoard of goombos run between her and Bowser, creating a miniature stampede as the cursed fungi dash towards them. As an instinct, she sprints from both the goombo group and Bowser before turning around and leaping. Learning from Mario, she steps on each goombo, knocking them unconscious.
Meanwhile, Bowser proves to be less agile with his hoard. His energy too drained to jump, Bowser's limited to turning in circles, igniting anything surrounding him. This proves a good strategy, until Peach notices a rather concerning minion approaching the koopa king.
"Bowser! Watch out! Behind you!" Peach cried, sighting a bombshell koopa homing in on him. She knows she needs to stop the travelling time bomb before Bowser lights its fuse, but her stone-heavy legs prevent her from performing the vital dash. Bowser's flame lights the bombshell koopa, resulting in an explosion blowing every contender, including Bowser, into the air. Seconds later, the koopa king lands on the ground with a thud, knocking him out cold.
"Bowser!" Peach cried, perhaps for the first time having sympathy for the large koopa. He's in terrible shape; oozing blood from his forehead mixes with his fiery-red hair, while his right arm appears as if it's been caught once too many times in a Ball n' Chain; the empathetic Peach even feels the pain by just gazing at him.
She sprints towards the fallen koopa and observes him in more detail. While Bowser's in an awful condition, his shell remains intact. Koopa anatomy confuses her; a cracked shell indicates a fatal injury, yet koopas can remove their shells whenever they choose. Perhaps the cracked shell isn't fatal in itself, but rather the shell's fragments slice an essential internal organ. In that case, even an intact shell doesn't guarentee Bowser's survival.
From the ledge, Totomesu cackles at Peach's concerned crying.
"Did you see that? Cool, wasn't it? It's amazing how strong bombshell koopas' blasts are; strong enough to lift fat koopas ten meters in the air like that! Wanna go on that ride also?"
"You back off!" Peach shouted, all her anger and worry condensing into a passionate, yet tone-cracking statement, "Leave Jewelry Land. NOW!"
"Aww, why so? Who died and made you ruler here?" Totomesu retorted.
At a loss of words, Peach remains silent, although a far-off voice comes to her defense.
"Totomesu. Take the army, and leave, right now," Daisy commanded, still tied to the pole surrounded by the army, "Or I WILL have Birobuto sanctioned and occupied by Chai."
Little spouts of fire erupt from Totomesu's mouth as he bursts out laughing at Daisy's threat.
"Empty threats now, 'Dear Princess'? Do you not keep up with your own Land's news? Muda and Easton are siding with us. Chai's all alone, and soon will be invaded by us three. Frankly, we're tired of the endless crap both you and your gullible, pathetic parents utter. Your family is an absolute disgrace to all Sarasaland, and so is the kingdom of Chai. That's why we are eliminating that toxic kingdom and its rulers!"
"Oh, quit throwing a tantrum, Toto. We ALL agreed, fair and square, that Chai will have the current leading role of Sarasaland! Your changing of it is an illegal move!"
"That was before Morton Koopa's cancerous rule in Dark Land, AND before the Toadstool Dynasty came into full-swing in the Mushroom Kingdom!" the now-upset Totomesu stomps, "Sarasaland was under constant threat from Morton; agent koopas from Dark Land always threatened Birobuto and Easton with bombings and mass violence; some even happened! What did the Toadstool Family do about it? Absolutely NOTHING. What did your parents do about it? You guessed it: ZILCH. Why? Because Morton NEVER threatened Chai."
"So?" Daisy attempts to recover her thoughts after the scolding she and her family received, "You could've done this in another direction! Not one that threatens our union even more!"
"What's that? Ignore foreign policy? Dance, sing and clap as the bastard over there finishes his father's work, while Peach and her pathetic parents do nothing but ask for peace?" Totomesu scoffed, now angry at this point, "Y'know what? Minions! Shut her up! I'm tired of hearing her!"
A stray hammer brother, most likely a defect from Bowser's army, throws his notorious carpentry tools at Daisy, knocking her out on contact. Luigi, who remained quiet during the confrontation, protests the move, also earning a hard bonk from the brother.
"You heard this from Daisy," Peach tries her best to stay calm, despite the current circumstances. She admits, she's furious over the unconsciousness of Bowser, Daisy and Luigi, and Totomesu's trashing of her parents – her missing, beloved parents, "But I WILL tell you once more, and only once more. Leave Jewelry Land and let us through."
"Nope!" Totomesu grins, sensing the anger in the princess' voice.
By now, Peach trembles; her powerful, negative emotions attempt to cloud her judgment, but her parents' words returned to her mind: "if you're ever in trouble, use the jewel." Peach looks down at her gleaming sapphire and reaches for it. She wishes she used it while Mario's goons arrested her, but in hindsight, she's glad she didn't; this entire heist turned out larger than she realized, and the jewel's use may have been for naught. On the other hand, the jewel might also come in handy later, but she doesn't see herself winning a battle against a fatuous feline and his countless minions by herself.
"I wish it didn't have to come down to this, but it'll just have to," Peach sighed, clutching the blue jewel on her dress. As she rubs the jewel, a heavenward, blinding light erupts from the gem, striking the dark clouds constituting the Dark Realm and vaporizing them. Blue skies replace the black smoggy air, bringing color back to the achromatic setting and awakening the still landscape. As the sunlight hits her jewel, Peach's prized possession detaches from her dress and falls into her palm before the jewel disappears into her skin. As a result, Peach feels an immense power rush over her as her body begins flashing different colors. Her arms and legs feel capable of performing any strength-bearing duty, despite remaining the same size, while a glare remains implanted on her flashing face.
"Nice show, but nope!" Totomesu launches a large fireball at Peach. The fireball strikes her face, but she doesn't recoil in pain, "What?!"
"I've warned you. Several times," Peach declared, her voice now a few octaves lower than before. She then jumps on a wall where Totomesu shivers just above; her powers now giving her much more capability and stamina to climb up to the ledge. After reaching the top of the wall, she kicks herself to Totomesu's ledge and stares down at the frightened lion.
"P-p-please have m-m-mercy-"
"MERCY?!" Peach's bass-pitched voice booms throughout the landscape, "YOU almost killed Bowser! YOU got Daisy kicked out from her own kingdom! YOU knocked out both her and my friend Luigi over there! AND YOU are siding with those who probably kidnapped my parents! So do NOT tell me about mercy!"
After her rant, Peach throws herself onto Totomesu, throwing punch after punch on his face while not flinching at all to his clawing and firebreath. As she pins him under her, she feels the lion lose energy; only then does she step back and studies Totomesu.
She's done a number to his face: two black eyes, a large cut on his forehead, a bloodied nose, missing fangs; his cheekbones even appear to be broken. Nonetheless, he's still conscious, giving her a pleading stare as tears roll down his face.
"Crying now? 'You're pathetic'," Peach mockingly quotes Totomesu, "Now say goodnight!"
Totomesu couldn't utter the words before Peach punches him twice more in his face, knocking him out cold.
By this time, the power dissipates from her, and although all her wounds healed, her chest still heaves, shocked at what she's just done. She's dainty; benevolent. She doesn't favor beating up people, and when she needs to, she doesn't find joy in it. However, with beating the demons out of Totomesu, she's satisfied with the bloodshed she committed. She tends to sit in a jail or on her throne when the figurative trash gets taken out by Mario, hardly involved in heroic actions, but to be in the action herself is life-changing.
She knows he's not dead – a much more unfortunate reality for Totomesu rather than for her – but she should feel guiltier about finding pleasure in such violence.
However, euphoria, rather than guilt, resonates within her as she stares at her blood-soaked gloves—she can be independent and fearsome whenever needs be, and she loves that.
An estimated ten minutes away from Upper Sky Land, Larry heads into one of the doomship's cabins to change from his tuxedo to his Mushroom costume. Not wanting a repeat of the event Ludwig still teases him about, the youngest koopaling brushes out the hair gel from his Mohawk before swapping into the costume. He hates appearing in public without his gel-styled Mohawk; flat hair makes him look... Hideous. But if he keeps his disguise, he won't need to worry about his appearance.
Of course, the mushroom costume fits on much tighter than Larry remembers—he grew quite a bit since its last use in anything memorable—but nowhere tight enough to stop his current plans. With the snug suit on and the mushroom cap fitting over his now-flat hair, the koopa spy checks himself out in a mirror hanging on the door. He looks… Well, normal, albeit taller than an average mushroomer, but nothing too extreme or impossible. Likewise, his cerulean hair leaking out the cap and brushing past his shoulder blades appears exotic, but also never unheard of in Mushroomers—Toadette being the most famous example. Either way, if he acts like a typical Mushroomer, he shouldn't be discovered.
As the spy starts checking himself out in the mirror and does random poses, the doomship does a massive slowdown before it screeches to a halt. Either the doomship ran into an array of birds—a rather messy quagmire that occurred once too many times in his life—or they arrived at Upper Sky Land; as conventional knowledge dictates, Larry prefers the latter possibility.
"Lawrence, ve're here," Ludwig called from the doomship's PA system, "Of course ve're hovering over ze clouds of Upper Sky Land, so utilize a parachute."
Although alone in the room, Larry nods before grinning to himself. The young koopaling exits the room, heads back to the ship's cockpit and grabs a parachute from the chute cabinet. Although he never learned how to operate a doomship, each koopaling's been thoroughly trained on the parachute's usage in the rare case of emergency, or the much more common case of Seize The Peach. Thus, Larry has no problems gearing up, although he never skydived from this high in altitude before.
With the parachute on and ready to deploy, Larry opens the doomship's escape hatch. Although Upper Sky Land doesn't have the same allegiance to the Mushroom Kingdom as the other lands, Ludwig, Kamek and the other doomships treat the current operation as a stealth mission, requiring them to stay a few thousand feet above the clouds.
Larry glances down and gives the ant-sized mushroomers a nervous look before turning back to Ludwig with a puzzled expression. How can he, the least trusting koopaling, put this much trust in a stupid bag?
"You got zis. You've done more dangerous zings as a spy. Plus, skydiving's fantastic!"
Larry continues his concerned stare at the mushroomers. Eavesdropping's a dangerous task, but he's more at ease with such tasks than having his life depend on fabric and strings.
"If you say so…"
Larry looks down once again, this time with a bout of coerced excitement flowing through him. He always wanted to live the life of a spy thriller, and skydiving's only one of many stunts every thriller's main character does. Plus, he can't spy on the Mushroom Kingdom if he doesn't jump out.
Sighing, Larry then spreads out his arms, and with his eyes closed, leaps out the doomship.
From his initial conclusions, the youngest koopaling never thought he would equate skydiving with… Serenity. The way the air blankets him, acting as a cloud buffering his speed, he feels a strange excitation-relaxation overcome him. As the flea-sized creatures increase in size exponentially, Larry tugs his parachute open. He found the initial jarring of the transition between free-falling and smooth gliding to be rather uncomfortable and painful, but as his body adjusts, the feeling of serenity once again returns.
Looking down, the spy spots several mushroomers gathering in a field below him; some with curious demeanors while others shoot photographs of his gliding. This being Sky Land, Larry would've thought they'd be used to skydivers now, but that turns out to be naught.
"Wow, dude!" one mushroomer shouted as Larry makes a stick-it, knees-bent landing on the cloud below, "That was totally rad!"
"Uhh, thanks," Larry tried his best to sound like the stereotypical Mushroomer. Due to his disguising habits as a spy, he's able to mimic well, but at the same time he's cautious of overdoing it and raising suspicion.
"We don't get much skydivers landing in Sky Land or Nimbus Land," a blue-capped female mushroomer stated, camera in hand, "Usually the true daredevil tourists come here to dive FROM our kingdoms."
"Cool!" Larry pretended to care about the lady's statement, else he'd give away his identity, "But now I'm looking to travel back home to Toad Town. Where do I go?"
"We're actually in the field closest to the Nimbus City International Airport, dude!" the first mushroomer informed, "It's a few hundred meters away. See those towers over there in the distance? That's the airport! Sick, isn't it?!"
"Um, yeah. What about the tourist blimps?"
"Those got closed down a few weeks ago," one mushroomer stated, "The blimps didn't require ID, and that was a risk to our kingdom, so Sky Land closed it."
Larry almost always have Plan B's and C's concocted incase anything ever goes wrong with a mission. However, this time he lacks such back-ups; he relied completely on ID-free travel, and the fake ID he made also expired. Acknowledging his foolishness only amateurs do, Larry mentally kicks and shames himself.
"There's no pipe?" Larry inquired, despite knowing the dangerous situation unfolding in Pipe Land and the Pipe Maze.
"Our government closed them off earlier also," a pink-capped Mushroomer woman negated, "Apparently there's rumours of both Peach's Grass Land and Dark Land invading Pipe Land, and to protect our Land, the pipes got closed off. It's honestly a scary thought, being invaded and controlled by Bowser and his brats."
Larry expels every ounce of his being to prevent himself from knocking out the woman, although a sharp glare manages to pass through his visage. Despite the gesture, Larry smiles at them as he crumples up his parachute into the backpack.
"What about skydiving off here? Like the other tourists apparently do?"
The group of mushroomers all shook their heads before the blue-capped woman spoke again.
"If your goal's the Mushroom Province, skydiving here's a terrible idea. People forget that Upper Sky Land doesn't just float wherever it wants. Upper Sky Land's formed from the odd clouds surrounding the Nimbus Mountains, and the Nimbus Mountains of northern Sky Land are some of the highest-elevation Mountains in the world. In fact, so high that despite our latitude, Upper Sky Land stays warm year-round. Skydive here and you'll land in the Stiriacus Plateaus surrounding the mountains. Not only are the Plateaus far from the Mushroom Province, but, it being the coldest, most hostile area of the Mushroom Kingdom – even more so than Ice Land – you won't survive long in that outfit. Hence me stating only daredevils skydive from here."
Out of ideas, Larry sighs before waving to the group; he'll need to figure out another way to get down to Toad Town. Anything, just anything.
"Thanks. I'm off now, I need to be back home."
The group of mushroomers wave as Larry strolls away from them. He's relieved none of the others noticed any fishiness—he always heard about Sky Land being an accepting, judgment-free Land—although he still needs to catch a plane between here and Toad Town. With no forms of ID nor any coins on him, that task will be the toughest part, especially as Larry thought up no formidable plan yet.
Even with concern welling up in him, Larry takes time to absorb his surroundings. Despite having a small population–only Ice Land ranks smaller in the number of residents–Sky Land's capital and largest city has a rather impressive… Err, skyline. It doesn't have the majestic skyscrapers like the ones found all throughout Desert Land or Giant Land, nor does it have a technological attractiveness such as the cities in Pipe Land. Instead, a multitude of smaller businesses litter Main Street, and a variety of trees grown, bred and altered to survive in the clouds outline the businesses. Being the mecca of the Top 1 Percent and the famous from across Plit, massive mansions dot the residential side of town while luxurious vehicles dot the smooth streets.
Nimbus City has a small town taste to it; it constitutes a perfect mixture of Skylandian culture and modernist architecture. Likewise, the stress-free environment tells of why this place receives flock after flock of tourists, as well as fascination from even Roy, who now begs for Sky Land on each kidnapping mission.
Too busy noticing the surroundings around him, Larry fails to recognize a glass door before him until he crashes into the door and the recoil knocks him flat on the ground. The sudden sensation followed by multiple gasps by mushroomers now surrounding him snaps Larry back into reality. Although dazed, he's concerned about the mushroomers gathering around him: are they all this nice and sympathetic, or did the accident destroy a portion of his disguise?
"Hey!" a mushroomer man dashes to Larry's aid, "You okay?"
"Ye-" Larry initially responds before noticing the mushroomer's back pocket, where a Toad Town Airlines ticket hangs out, coupled with an ID. Relishing the sight, Larry moves his leg, pretending to feel a sudden surge of pain, "Ugh, actually no, I think I bruised my leg, or pulled a muscle."
"I'll give you a hand, or rather, a shoulder," the mushroomer offered before offering a hand to Larry. Grinning, Larry grasps his hand and gets up, albeit pretending to limp, "Be careful! Put your arm over my shoulder."
"Thank you," Larry wheezed as he puts his right arm over the mushroomer's shoulder. He wonders if the guy noticed any abnormalities with him, such as his weight, which would give his identity away. Unlike Grass Land, where any and every characteristic falls victim to scrutiny depending on the day, he's heard of the rampant political correctness culture of Sky Land resulting in not many Skylandian residents blurting out their mind in the same way; if the Mushroomer or any other resident noticed any out-of-the-blue characteristics, he definitely wouldn't be told about it.
The crowd disperses once Larry and the mushroomer walk from the scene and towards the airport terminals. Larry studies his surroundings; seeing no one behind the duo, Larry moves his hand down towards the ticket in the mushroomer's back pocket and, exercising caution, pulls the boarding pass out. With stealth, he switches the packet to his left arm before pocketing it. Now, his goal's to get away without causing suspicion.
"Thanks for the help man," Larry thanked as he moves his 'injured' leg around, "I think I regained feeling in it again. Thank you!"
"You are welcome, sir," the Mushroomer smiled before moving his hand towards his back pocket. Noticing the packet gone, the mushroomer's demeanor changes, "Dammit! Where's my boarding pass?!"
"Uhh," Larry raises one eyebrow, pretending to exhibit a confused expression, "Did it fall out when you helped me up?"
"I honestly don't know! Let me check!"
While the mushroomer hurries towards the sliding glass door Larry crashed into earlier, the young koopaling dashes towards his gate and presented 'his' ticket and 'his' ID to the flight attendant.
"Sir, your picture doesn't look the same as you."
Larry glares at the attendant before growling, "Are you making fun of my looks?! JUST so you know, I took a fire flower to the face. A FREAKING FIRE FLOWER. TO MY FACE! I've had too many reconstructive surgeries on my face to count, and now I get TOLD I am not who I am?!"
"N-no sir-"
"THEN WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"I-I-"
"DO YOU WANT A LAWSUIT?! I'LL SUE YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU'RE WORTH AND A RED COIN MORE!" Larry continues his rage.
"N-n-n-" the flight attendant stutters before replying, "S-s-sorry, S-S-sir, you can j-just get on. F-five minutes until we t-takeoff."
Larry offers the female toad a final scowl before stepping onto the plane and taking his assigned seat: an aisle seat, not far from the bathroom, and with nobody by him.
Perfect.