21st Century Yoshi presents
THE LIBERATED PASTPart 7: Edged With Dark Horses
By Sk8er Grl
DISCLAIMER: I OWN EVERYTHING! AND EVERYONE! AND THE WHOLE UNIVERSE! BWA HA HA HA! BOW DOWN TO ME, FOR I AM THE MIGHTY KING BOWSER!
*Sk8er Grl leaps into the room, bound and gagged. She spits out the gag.*
SG: No, don't listen to him! I don't wanna get sued! AAAAAAAAAAARGH!
*The lawyers come and take her away.*
SG: No! It was him! It was Bowser! He made the outrageous claims! I was framed! I was framed! Help meeeeeeeee…
Hello, and welcome to part seven of The Liberated Past. I am King Bowser and I will be your host as SG is… unavailable.
In this chapter, we will find out who the mysterious figure in the doorway is. HA! Fools! I know already, and you don't! The mysterious figure is—
SG: STOP!
*She runs in followed by a bunch of police, who tackle Bowser and handcuff him.*
POLICEMAN: You are under arrest for plagiarism, framing Sk8er Grl and attempting to give away the story and ruin it for everyone. You have no rights because this is such a heinous crime.
SG: Ahem. Okay, sorry about all that, on with the story.
*
Mario's jaw dropped. "L… Luigi?!" he stuttered. "You're alive?"
Luigi stepped through the doorway and the shadows fell away, revealing that it really was him.
"But I thought… the dragon…"
"After our fi… after I went inside, I went to shut the window, when the dragon flew over. I jumped out of it just as the house went up."
Mario stood motionless for a moment, and then the feeling returned to his limbs. He ran over and hugged his brother.
"It doesn't matter how you got out, I'm just glad you're okay!" he cried. "I'm sorry about all the things I said; I didn't mean them!"
"It's alright, Mario, I shouldn't have gotten mad over something you didn't mean."
"Don't be stupid, you were right to be mad when I was such a bastard to you!"
"Well, I forgive you, okay? Don't go beating yourself up over it."
Mario laughed through tears of relief. "You're the best damn brother a guy could have," he said.
"Yeah, you too," replied Luigi.
"Aw, gee, isn't this touching!" Bowser sneered. "Excuse me but I think I'm gunna hurl!"
Mario and Luigi stood apart as Bowser limped towards them.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you that your troubles aren't over yet!" he spat.
"Wheeeee-heeeee-toh!" (Actually, they are!)
The cry came from outside. Bowser looked up, startled, and received a blow in the face from an egg travelling at high speed.
"Whit-whitwhoh!" (But yours are just beginning!)
A green dinosaur leapt through the door and threw another egg at Bowser.
"Yoshi!" cried Mario. "What are you doing here?"
"Whiii-wheeeeeeoh whi!" (Saving your sorry arse, now lets go!)
Mario and Luigi jumped onto his back, then they helped Peach up.
"Are you sure you can carry all of us?" said Luigi.
"Wheeeeto!" (You'd better hope so!)
With that, he turned around and picked up a blue koopa shell that he had dropped outside the door, and slurped it into his mouth.
Immediately Yoshi grew a pair of feathery white wings, and leapt into the air.
He fell back to earth almost immediately.
"Wheeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooo!" he whistled. (Too much weight!)
"I'll get off," said Mario and jumped down before anyone could argue.
"Quick, take this!" Luigi called and tossed him something shiny. Then Yoshi once again took to the air, this time successfully.
Mario looked at the item Luigi had thrown him. It was the Metal Cap. Behind him, there was a loud, angry bellow.
The dragon had been too confused by the recent events to attack anyone. But now it had established that Mario, Luigi and Yoshi were clearly the enemies because they were taking his princess. It roared again and stepped over Bowser's unconscious form, and exited once again through the roof.
"Hey! Dragon! Stop!" yelled Mario. At least, it sounded sort of like Mario. But Mario hadn't had that metallic edge to his voice before…
The dragon landed on the dirt and looked down at the silvery figure before it.
Swiftly Metal Mario dove between the dragon's forelegs and grabbed one of its hind feet as it turned to look for him. Then he lunged for the dragons tail and grabbed it around the tip.
The dragon roared in frustration. Hastily Mario gave the tail a yank. It took all his strength but he managed to trip the dragon.
The dragon roared again, and Mario swore. It was too heavy to swing around by the tail.
His moment of indecision was all that the dragon needed. It flicked its tail and Mario was knocked flying. The dragon climbed to its feet and faced Mario. Then it puffed out its chest, and Mario reacted a split second before it flamed. The fire passed within inches of hitting him, and Mario cried out in surprise and pain because the heat was incredible, even to his metal skin.
He jumped up as the dragon prepared to breathe fire again, but his heart kicked in his chest because the Metal Cap fell off.
He had no time to reach it. The dragon opened its mouth.
Suddenly it jerked to the side and the fire missed Mario by millimetres. Yoshi flew over the dragon's head and threw another egg at it. Then he touched down next to Mario.
"Quick, get on," said Luigi.
"But I'm too heavy!" protested Mario.
"Whitwhitaaah!" (I'll just have to run like hell!) said Yoshi through his mouthful.
"What did you do with the Metal Cap?" asked Luigi as Yoshi bolted. Mario pulled his own cap out of his pocket and tried to put it back on as he rode.
"I don't think it's much use to us now," he replied. Luigi looked back and saw a puddle of metal on the ground.
"Holy he—"
"WHOOOOOOOOOOOAAARGH!"
The dragon galloped after Yoshi, and roared again, ferociously.
Peached squealed. "Why is it not flaming?"
"It doesn't want to hit you!" Mario answered.
"If it is only after me, let me off so you can escape!" she said.
"Oh no, we're not giving you back to the dragon!" Mario replied.
"Besides, as soon as you get off we'll be roasted alive!" added Luigi.
"It's gaining on us!" cried Mario.
Yoshi panted. "Wheeeoooeeeooooo!" (I can't run any faster!)
At that moment the dragon was upon them. It lunged at Peach, trying to pick her up in its jaws, but Yoshi swerved. The dragon roared and swiped at him with its claws. The strike connected and Yoshi screamed in pain and stumbled. He fell to the ground and Mario and Luigi fell out of his saddle.
But Peach found herself rising. The dragon once again held her in its teeth, and it transferred her to its front to hold her in its forelegs. It opened its wings and leapt into the air, circling back to the castle.
"Not again!" she wailed.
"Yoshi! Are you alright?" asked Mario urgently. The green dinosaur opened his eyes slowly. Luigi helped him to his feet. Yoshi winced. Gingerly he tried to put weight onto his right leg, but the two huge gashes were too painful.
"Oh no, you can't walk on that. Lie back down," Mario told him.
"Whee-ooh. Whit-whiteeeh whoot!" (Uh-uh. We've gotta go back and get the princess.)
"There's no time to start arguing now," said Luigi. "Before we decide anything, we've got to stop that bleeding." He took off his green shirt and ripped it at the seams to make a rough bandage. He wound it tightly around Yoshi's leg.
"How does that feel?" he asked. Yoshi nodded, grimacing.
"Whiit whii whoo." (I'll be able to fly.)
"Well, alright, but only back to our house," said Mario.
"And we're walking," said Luigi.
"Wheee whit whoo!" (Like hell you are!) Yoshi proceeded to demonstrate that he was still perfectly capable of flying.
"No, Yoshi, you're not carrying us!" replied Mario.
"Wheeet whhhiiiioooo whiii!" (Then I'm not moving,) said Yoshi stubbornly.
Luigi rolled his eyes. "Alright, you win, you can fly us all back."
~
The dragon deposited Peach gently into her tower, then flew back through the hole in the castle roof.
Bowser stirred and awoke as the dragon nudged him with its foot. He looked up at the dragon, then suddenly roared angrily. The dragon stood back and regarded Bowser questioningly. Bowser stood up and roared again. The dragon flattened its ears back and swished its tail threateningly.
Bowser turned and ran out of the castle doors. He stood on the barren ground and roared at the sky. The sound echoed and bounced off the walls of the castle.
He kept roaring and snarling bitterly at nothing, angry and confused and most of all, heartbroken. He turned and looked up at the tower that Peach watched from fretfully.
"How could you?!" he snarled at her, shaking a fist. "How dare you lead me to believe for one second that I might have meant anything to you at all! All for the sake of that miserable, wretched, pathetic plumber!!!"
He roared again, and the heartrending cries brought tears to Peach's eyes. She watched sorrowfully as Bowser stormed off toward the place where his flying island was tethered.
"It was never like that!" she cried, but it was too late.
"I'm sorry, Bowser…" she whispered.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Finished: 31/10/02
This was a short chapter, originally I intended it to be longer, but it turned out to fit better into two chapters. You knew I'd post this even if I didn't get a review about the fight scene in chapter five, didn't you? But I'm having more fun writing this than you're having reading it. NB the title for this chapter sounds weird, I know, you'd probably understand what I mean by it if I said that "dark horses" is a name for pessimists and such… yeah I know, still makes no sense. Oh well.
See that down there? Use it!
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