Could've uploaded the chapter yesterday if not for the fact that my computer wasn't working... probably need to fix that. Anyways, hope you enjoy the fight scene and not think it's cringe. =)

Chapter 21: Stuck in a Space Jam (World 4 Pt. 2)

Mario stood silently, not as aware as he should be. Before anyone could react, Mr. L sped forward, passing everyone in a split second and went towards the red plumber. He had his fist raised, flickering with green electricity, closed in on Mario and shouts "Just because you're in red doesn't mean you're strong. Have at you!"

Mr.L was just one thunder-punch away from hitting Mario, when he noticed a large amount of fire headed his way. He dodged last minute to his left side, and looked to see an angry Bowser standing between him and Mario.

"Look," Bowser said to L. "I wanna get rid of that plumber as much as the next guy, but the way I see it, there's only room for one bad guy that'll beat him to a bloody pulp, and that's me!"

L widened his eyes at him in both disbelief and confusion. "If that's your way of saying that you actually care for him, then the world clearly is ending," he said, monotone-like. "Now get out of my way if you know whats good for you!"

When Bowser refused to stand aside, the masked man wasted no time and charged straight at him. He swept him off his feet, making him topple backwards. Before the Koopa could react, L right kicked him to the side, crashing him against the maze wall. The Koopa King got back up and spat multiple fireballs at him. L used his speed to dodge them all, but had failed to realize it was a distraction. He looked behind to see Peach about to swing her umbrella at him. He reacted too late and received damage from the impact, sending him a few feet away. The masked man charged his right hand with electricity, then used his hand like a gun to shoot at Peach. She opened her umbrella to use as a shield against the electric bullets, which annoyed L a lot. He stopped shooting and went straight towards Peach, and grabbed the top of her umbrella, sending tons of volts onto her. Peach screamed in agony, then was punched to the side, knocking her to the ground. Daisy was so pissed at Mr.L that she yelled at Bowser to take care of her cousin. Bowser wanted to argue, saying that he didn't take orders from anyone, but one look at Daisy's face and he knew not to mess with her in that state, the state of wanting to rip a person limb from limb. He grabbed Peach and ran far from the area. L saw them and wanted to finish them off, but was blocked by the brunette's golf club. Looking at that golf club, he recognized it's craftsmanship.

"Wait a sec," Mr.L said to Daisy. "That's O'Chunk's club! How'd you even get that!?"

Daisy replied, gripping the golf club tightly "Peach gave it to me when she was at your boss's castle, and for the record, I ain't gonna give it back!"

L then asked her "Fine, then. But what I wanna know is why your even here? This whole thing clearly doesn't involve you, yet you choose not to act like a princess and more like a hero. All of you should leave this so called 'quest' while you're ahead."

"The hell are ya tryin' to say!? We're all here to save the universes that Count Bleck, your boss, is destroying, and I'm here cause even though I ain't a hero like Mario, I promised Toadsworth I'd bring Peach (and Bowser) back home!" Daisy stood proud with her golf club.

Mr.L was glad his mask covered his cheeks, because he was blushing a tint of pink from Daisy's fighting spirit. Snapping out of his daze, he told Daisy "Mario? A hero!? HA! That pudgy red plumber is an attention seeker with no regards for anyone else! If he's really a hero then why isn't he helping his friends right now?"

He pointed at Mario, who was still the same spot as before the fight began, seemingly in a daze, a shocked look on his face. Daisy saw him and wondered 'He was like this back at the castle, too. What's up with him?' She looked back at L and told him "It doesn't matter, the only thing that matters to me now is kickin' your ass!"

The brunette started thrashing left and right at L with her golf club. L put arms up and defended himself, however he did take a couple of hits in the process. This continued for another few seconds before L found an opening and grabbed hold of her weapon, then proceeded to punch her gut. Daisy gasped before she collapsed. Mr.L looked at his enemy with slight pity, but ignored it as he looked away from her and glanced at the man in red, only the red hero wasn't at the spot from before. The masked man was shocked and frantically looked around, and saw that Daisy was just as shocked. He, then, looked at Bowser and a now conscious Peach. Peach just smiled and the koopa gave him a 'you're fucked, bro' type of face, and pointed upwards. Confused, he looked up and saw Mario coming down at him. He got stomped before he could dodge and received tons of damage, causing him to fall over. Mario landed on the ground and faced Mr.L with an upset look on his face. The four heroes gathered together as Mr.L slowly got back up.

L laughed at them, making the group confused. "Impressive! I guess there's but one thing to do, hm? COME TO ME, METAL BRO!" He took out his remote from his pocket and pressed the red button. Nothing happened for a few seconds before the floor began to rumble. Next thing they knew, the four of them saw something flying above and landing near them. They all realized, the moment it landed, it was the same ship that attempted to attack the Mushroom Castle. L grinned at their looks of fear, and shouted "Ha HA! Recognize him?! That is my DEAR metal brother. He and I share a spiritual bond, you know. Yes, yes, and his name is... BROBOT!"

"LAME!" Daisy and Bowser both yelled out from the other side of the battlefield, making L very annoyed. He jumps up and gets inside Brobot.

"SHUT UP! It's a awesome name," Mr.L yelled back using Brobot's mic. "Enough playing, already... NOW FOR PAIN!" He pressed a few buttons, and dozens of missiles appeared around the bot. "TAKE THIS!" L pressed another button, and all the missiles are aiming towards the heroes.

All the heroes shrieked and ran away from the missiles, managing to dodge them. Bowser tried to use his flames on Brobot, but it does so little damage. Peach called for everyone to come to her, and they all hid behind some rubble.

Bowser yelled in anger "This is stupid!"

"What do we do?" Peach asked everyone.

"I have an idea, squirp!"

"SQUIRPS!" Mario, Peach and Daisy yelled in happiness, while the Koopa King just growled.

"Glad you're okay, little buddy," Mario said in relief.

"What's this idea of yours?" Daisy asked him.

Squirps replied "Use me like a gun, obviously!"

Everyone looked at him as if he grew another head, and Tippi just said "...wait what?"

Mr.L fired a few more rounds before stopping, waiting for the smoke around him to dissolve. After it did, all that he saw was just rubble and no sign of the heroes. 'Maybe I overdid it a little... oh well' Mr.L thought as looked around. Assuming the heroes have been defeated, he turned Brobot around and was about to leave when Brobot got hit from the side. Mr.L checked the damage status and it was already at 40%. He turned his view at where the attack came from, and saw Daisy holding Squirps as if he's a gun.

'...wait what?' L thought, seeing Squirps used like that. The brunette cocked one of his tentacles and fired multiple beams from the alien's mouth, and directed towards Brobot. The giant bot took more damage, and as much as Mr.L tried to put up his shield, it failed to come up. L fired a few more missiles at Daisy, all at which she dodged. He was about to fire more, when Bowser came from the side, while riding on Carrie, and continuously blew his flames at him from Brobot's left side, causing Brobot's system to overheat. Explosions came all around the mechanical machine, both inside and out. Before he got caught in the explosion, the masked man used an escape pod and ejected himself out from Brobot, but crashed down and out of the pod, and onto the ground. Daisy cheered in victory as Peach ran to hug her. Bowser felt so proud of himself that he didn't care if the others saw him doing a happy dance. Mario stared at the destroyed robot. He was more than glad that his friends and Bowser are safe, but he felt the need to dig out Mr.L from the rubble. Peach let go of her cousin from that bone-crushing hug, and looked towards her fiancé. She sees him heading towards the debris, most likely to find the enemy they've just defeated. As the blonde looked away from Mario, she noticed a figure that stood up, pulsing green energy around them. Unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to warn the plumber to dodge before he got shot with electricity, sending him a few feet back near the koopa. Everyone was surprised an ran to help up their fellow hero. Everyone gathered together and glared at Mr.L, who was limping towards the group, holding his left side. L was more than angry to say the least. He yelled them "Hey... This makes no sense! You beat Brobot?!"

"That's what happens when you try to fight the heroes of the Light Prognosticus," Tippi told him with confidence.

"Ya, you better believe we whooped your stupid green butt, alright," Bowser mad fun of him. "Plus, consider this payback from our last match!"

"Ready to give up yet, L-oser?" Daisy asked, with Peach beside her, readying her umbrella for another attack. Mario sat up from the ground, slight spasms from the shock he received, but was ready to fight again to protect his friends. Both him and Mr.L stared at each other, the latter glaring at the man in red, and said 'man in red' gave him a pleading look, as if telling... no, begging L to stop fighting.

Mr.L was hesitant at first, then sighed, releasing all the unnecessary tension from his body. He said to the heroes with annoyance in his voice "Ugh... I'll let you off the hook for the rest of today, I suppose... But remember this... When Fortunes smiles next, she'll smile right HERE! On Mr. L!" He jumped really high and far away from the heroes. Mario and Bowser wanted to go after him, but Tippi told them to worry about finding the Pure Heart first. They were reluctant to, but agreed in the end.

"Ugh... That was awful, squirp! We have to pull ourselves together, space grunts... The Pure Heart is ahead! Come on, squinkles!" Squirps ran off ahead, ignoring any sense of danger. This very much annoyed the heroes further with the alien. Peach helped Mario up and asked if he was okay. He claimed he was, but ended up being piggybacked by Bowser, who reluctantly agreed. They all eventually came across a door that led them to a private room. Everyone looked up and were in awe over the golden statue of whom appeared to be an adult female version of Squirps.

"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Squirps brought them here!"

The group looked down and saw Squirps talking to the statue. They all walked close to him and the alien turned to face the saviours. "Oh, we're finally here... Come on! Say hi to Squirps's mommy, Squirp!" Everyone stayed silent, looking at the statue as they listened to Squirps. "Yeah, this is Squirps's mommy! The queen of Squirpia! Her name is Squirpina XIV!"

Tippi asked "The queen is...your mother? So you are..."

Squirps replied "Squirps is the prince of Squipia, a once-great kingdom... My true name is... Squirp Korogaline Squipina! Sorry for not telling you... Squirps promised not to tell! It makes Squirps a target! Long ago, Squirps's mother was told that destruction would come to the world. And in order to protect us from this destruction, we needed the Pure Heart... So Mommy hid the Pure Heart in the Whoa Zone, where no one could get to it. And so, 1,500 years ago, Squirps was put to sleep in a hibernation capsule, squeeep! Squirps was meant to bring the hero here...to protect the world, squipple!"

"Ah... So that's why," Peach commented.

Squirps continued to speak. "The prince of Squirpia, Squirps, has a message from the queen to deliver... "I bestow upon you the Pure Heart in the hope that you will save the world..." Here! Take it! Squirp!" He summoned a blue Pure Heart and gave it to Mario, who gladly accepted it with a smile.

"Phew! Now that Squirps is all relaxed, Squirps feels kinda...tired..." said Squirps. He lied down in front of the statue of his mother. "Mother..." he said, quietly. "I did my best, right? Are you... proud...of me?" Squirps slowly closed his eyes, and exhaled deeply. Everyone got scared and came closer to the alien, worrying if he's alright, and the all sighed in relief to see Squirps taking a nap. This mission had took a toll on him, but in the end, it was all worth it.

Mr.L was lost in thought as he made his way back to Castle Bleck. Thanks to the heroes, his Brobot, that he worked so hard on, was destroyed, forcing him to take the long way home, even longer due to his injuries. As soon as he was inside, he went straight towards the medical bay to patch himself up. He met Mimi and O'Chunks along the way, who bombarded him with questions like 'What the heck happened!?' or 'Why are you like, this badly hurt, L?' He ignored their questions and asked them if they can send a message to Nastasia, telling her he'll have his report for her as soon as he's treated himself. O'Chunks was fine with that, but Mimi puffed her cheeks, feeling both mad and annoyed at her fellow minion, but accepted his favour. L thanked them both then continued his way to the bay. When he reached the room, he proceeded to get the necessary needs and took of his shirt and scarf, assessing his wounds. There was bruising on his lower left side, as well as multiple wounds around the upper body, nowhere near anyplace life-threatening, but still severe. He, then, looked at his other scars around his whole body. Those scars are faint and almost unnoticeable, but are still there nonetheless. L was lost in thought as to how those wounds came to be. After all the years of being lost, alone, almost dying from enemies, he felt both angry and betrayed. If Dimentio hadn't saved him from his demise, he would've died sad and alone. He knew his objective of a new world meant innocents would die, but if it meant getting the life he deserved, then so be it.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Squirps was definitely one of my faves in the game. Until next chapter!