Siege on Mushroom Castle
"Okay, everyone, listen up!" Zelda announced to the crowd. The paintings were either hanging low on the walls or lying flat on the floor. "These are the paintings designated as safe for escape. Those confident in their swimming abilities are advised to go to Wet Dry World or Jolly Roger Bay."
"Lady Bow, the mistress of the Boo's Mansion in Forever Forest," Peach began, "is waiting for us at Big Boo's Haunt. I'm pretty sure we can trust them."
"But just in case something goes wrong," Zelda added, "we also recommend that some of you chose an alternative such as the choices I previously stated as well as Cool, Cool Mountain, Snowman's Land,and Bomb Bomb Battlefield…"
"Actually it's Bob-omb Battlefield," Peach interrupted.
"Whatever," Zelda muttered. "Anyway, we discourage you from going to Shifting Sand Land and Lethal Lava Land for obvious reasons. Each group is to be escorted by at least two guards. " When she was finished, she turned to Peach and nodded.
Peach clasped her hands and closed her eyes. "Stars of the castle, your power is needed at once. Help me unseal the portals of these paintings once used for evil, but now necessary for our survival." A pink aura began to form around her.
"She has more power than she let's on," Zelda whispered to Geno, who was standing in the corner, keeping himself concealed with his cloak and hat.
"You should see her on the battlefield," he replied.
"Power Stars, come unto me!" Peach yelled as her aura suddenly turned yellow. Then she motioned toward the paintings. A giant star floated out of her and began to spin amongst the paintings until they all began to ripple. The star then returned to her and the aura dissipated. "Alright, that should do it."
"Choose your destination wisely," Zelda cautioned. "I've been told that these worlds are somewhat isolated, so you may be stuck there for a while."
Everyone looked hesitant. Some toads only touched the paintings to see if they could pass through. When the castle shook more violently than before, the toads suddenly got the encouragement they needed and hopped through the paintings of their choice.
"Ready to go?" Zelda asked Peach.
"Sure," Peach said. "Just as soon as…" She looked and saw one important person missing from her entourage. She saw Toad, the Minister, the Chancellor, Toadsworth and even King Toadstool, who was staring at another wall yet again. "Grandma! Grandma, where are you!"
"Shoot!" Zelda cursed. "All of you go ahead! I'll find her!"
"I won't leave without her!" Peach cried, running off. "She must still be in my room." Geno and Zelda chased after her.
"I'll check the rest of the castle," Geno said to Zelda. "You stay with Peach. The Power Stars made the castle all but impenetrable, but not after she absorbed the power to unseal the paintings."
"Right," she nodded. Once they exited the basement, Geno ran through the upper central door to the next floor, while Zelda followed Peach into her room. There, they found her Grandma frantically rummaging through drawers and other things.
"Grandma, what are you doing!" Peach exclaimed. "We have to go!"
"Not until I find your mother's heirloom," she replied, not even bothering to look at her. "I promised her that I would do everything in my power to keep it safe until you became queen."
"It's not worth risking your life!" Peach cried.
"Silence, child!" her grandmother yelled. "The sooner I find it, the sooner we can leave!" All three began to look for the aforementioned heirloom. Peach looked through her closet. Her grandma searched through her bedding and decorations. Zelda searched through drawers in a corner of the room. Then, she came across a chair with a drawer under the cushion. Before she could lift the cushion or pull out the drawer, Peach had already grabbed her hand.
"Don't bother looking there, okay?" Peach said, hiding a blush.
"But you've looked everywhere else," Zelda reasoned.
"Trust me," Peach said, squeezing Zelda's hand to the point that it almost hurt. "It's not there."
Zelda raised her eyebrow and was about to say something, but Grandmother Toadstool announced, "I found it!"
"Then let's go!" Zelda called, as the castle shook almost rhythmically. They ran out of the room and into the lobby just as the front door flew to pieces. As the enemy army began to storm through, Geno burst through the central door upstairs, flipped through the air and landed on the sun design, in the center of the lobby, with his arm cannon exposed. A second later, a giant blue beam blasted through the enemy ranks, disintegrating many of them into stardust.
"I'll hold them off, while you get to the basement!" Geno yelled. Zelda, Peach, and her grandmother followed suit. Geno began to back up toward the basement door as his beam began to give out. Once the last few particles of light had flown out of his cannon, he relocked his hand and took his black Star Guns off his belt beneath his cape. As the entire front wall began to collapse and enemies charged forth, Geno fired off the mini razor stars from his guns to hold back the tide as much as possible. Soon the enemies began to come from rooms off to the side, but Geno calmly held his ground, despite the increasing numbers of mutant monsters.
Grandmother Toadstool, Zelda, and Peach hurriedly ran down the stairs to get to the door to the basement. Just as Grandmother Toadstool passed through the door, a Piranha Plant burst through the floor and chomped down onto Zelda's leg, lifting her into the air with it.
"Zelda!" Peach screamed.
"Oh my!" her grandmother gasped, poking through the door.
"Don't worry about me!" Zelda yelled. "Get out of here!" Then, using her magically infused, gloved hand, she chopped at the carnivorous plant's stem, cutting a large gash into it. It bit down harder. Peach was too horrified to move.
"Peach, we have to go!" her grandmother pleaded. "There's nothing we can do for her right now." She tried to take a step toward Peach, but a second bud jutted out of the ground on the same stem and snapped at her and Peach, determined to keep them from passing. Then, a third bud rose out of the ground, clamping at her grandmother. She ran behind the door and held it closed as the newest bud repeatedly slammed against it.
"Grandma, run!" Peach screamed, dodging the snapping second head.
"I won't leave you," her grandmother said, struggling against the force of the third head.
"We'll catch up," Zelda said, struggling to use her force field to keep the top plant from devouring her any further. "Vile thing!" The third head finally broke through the door and snapped away.
"Grandma, no!" Peach screamed, smacking away the second head and diving onto the third head. She found it chewing on a shoe, much to her horror, but thankfully heard the echo of footsteps running through water deeper in the basement. Then the second head clamped onto her shoulder and lifted her up. The third head then turned around and bit onto her ankle.
"I'm glad your grandmother is safe," Zelda said, as she began to sink further and further into the Piranha Plant's gullet. "We, on the other hand, might be a in a bit of trouble. Suddenly, Geno crashed through the door to the lobby and slammed into the wall. After falling to flat on his face, he got to his knees and saw Peach and Zelda. He held out his hand toward them and the Piranha Plants until a brief glow surround him. A whirling, yellow discus flew from him and cut the plant at the stem, sending Peach and Zelda tumbling to the ground.
"Now it's our turn to leave," he said in his usual quiet voice. "We have to hurry."
"Oh, we're just fine, thanks," Zelda said sarcastically, holding her leg and helping Peach, who lost one shoe to the plant, to her feet. Just as they moved to the doorway that the Piranha Plant had blocked, a large, bolted, red-eyed Bob-omb rolled down the hallway and got stuck in the doorway. It's eyes began to scroll into a five-second countdown. Peach and Zelda scampered back up the stairs as quickly as they could and followed Geno down a hall, just as enemy forces began to pile through the lobby door. The Bob-omb exploded just as a giant Goomba saw Peach limping down the hall. The blast blew away enough of the wall to start a ceiling collapse that blocked off the hallway. The three looked back once and headed through the door at the end of the hall.
The door led to the courtyard behind the castle. It had a small path that circled around a fountain in the center that had a star statue with an inscription under it. Clouds of smoke blocked out the sun and there were many blackened spots in the grass, perhaps from poorly aimed explosives. A few small trees had been knocked over. Peach absorbed the sad state of her castle. Zelda looked into the gray sky, noticing how similar this place looked to her own home. Geno surveyed the area cautiously.
"I think we can take a moment here, for now," Geno said quietly, walking to the fountain and sitting on the edge. "Judging from that collapse, I'd say that it'd take a little over five minutes for them to get here. Just be careful of any more burrowing intruders."
Peach stared at the ruined courtyard, leaning on her shoed foot, and held her injured shoulder. Then, she closed her eyes as tears began to flow from them. She walked to Zelda, who was sitting at the edge of the fountain, nursing her leg and looking at the inscription beneath the star statue. After sitting next to Zelda, she held one hand up and briefly glowed pink. Zelda, as well as Geno and herself were all healed.
"Peach," Zelda said gently, "I don't mean to be rude…but have you ever looked at this inscription?"
Peach wiped away her tears and glanced over at the inscription below the star statue. "It's just some gibberish that's been there since before I was born."
"Do you know what it says?" Zelda asked, staring at the inscription.
"It's hardly readable," Peach frowned, kicking off her shoe. "The only thing I could make out that made sense was Eternal Star. It's either that or L is Real 2041. No one knows for sure. Not even the sculptor."
"I see," Zelda said, turning away from the statue. "You know, ever since I first came to this world, I've never been able to read any of the writing here. All I ever see are strange symbols and a few familiar designs like hearts, thunderbolts, and stars. But this…" A faint blasting noise could be heard on the other side of the door.
"That's our cue to leave," Geno said, standing up. "Peach, I heard that you have personal plane."
"Yes, that's right!" Peach said, perking up. "I can't believe I forgot about it."
"What is this plane?" Zelda asked.
"Follow me," Peach said, running to the wall at the edge of courtyard. "One of you, destroy this section of the wall." Geno stepped forward, revealed his arm cannon, charged it for a few seconds, and blasted the wall away with his beam. The resulting hole revealed the airfield just behind the wall.
"Come on, this is a shortcut," Peach said, running through on her bare feet.
"Peach, wait!" the others called simultaneously. Bright lights suddenly beamed down onto the small airfield, some of them coming from the tall light poles themselves. A blaring siren sounded off almost as quickly. Bullet Bills rained down out of the air. As the others caught up to Peach, Zelda raised her hands and blocked everything that came their way with Nayru's Love.
"What's the plan, now?" Zelda asked irritably.
"Sorry," Peach grimaced.
"Can our attacks go through this shield?" Geno asked.
"Yes," Zelda said, keeping her arms up. "But to keep this barrier wide enough for all of us, we can't move too fast and I can't use any other magic while it's up."
"Make it just a little wider, if you would," Geno asked. Zelda gave him a questioning look and focused her energy into making the spell cover a wider area. "Just a little more." Zelda grunted and strained to make the shield cover about six square feet.
"Whatever you're about to do, do it fast!" Zelda grunted.
"Thank you," Geno said calmly. As he back flipped, he transformed into a cannon. Zelda almost lost her concentration from the sight of his transformation.
"I'd close your eyes if I were you," Peach said, before covering Zelda's sensitive ears. Zelda followed her instructions and squeezed her eyes shut. The Geno cannon fired off a slow moving globule of light into the air. Once it reached an appropriate height in the smoky clouds, it began to expand into a massive circle. Soon it began to flash intensely and seemed to take on the shape and intensity of a sun. Two beady eyes appeared as if it were alive. Then they squinted as the flashing, whistling, spinning, and size of the circle increased until it exploded, annihilating all of the Bullet Bills in the air. Peach opened her eyes and took her hands off of Zelda's ears.
"Alright, let's go," Geno said, now returned to normal. Zelda dropped her shield exhaustedly.
"It's in that hangar over there," Peach said, breaking into a jog again. Once they reached the hangar, Geno kept Peach from entering so quickly. He peaked inside and frowned.
"Do you remember your Sleepy Time spell?" he asked, taking out his Star Guns once again.
"I think so," Peach nodded. "But it only works on one person at a time."
"Can't you just blow them away with one of your unearthly powers?" Zelda asked, catching her breath.
"True, my powers are suited for unearthly beings," Geno replied. "And the guards inside are similar to the mutant Koopas and Goombas that overran you in Toad Town. However, any real fighting might damage our best chance for escape."
Zelda nodded and transformed into Sheik. "Then, let me handle this one. I work best in the shadows."
"Be my guest," Geno said, standing aside. "Just know that the plane is the large pink object."
Sheik nodded and silently slipped into the dark hangar. He saw rafters near the ceiling and used his chain whip to quickly hop up there before anything saw him. The four "Koopas" looked more monstrous than the ones he had seen before. The only real differences between them and Bowser was that they were completely green, hairless, and had elongated snouts. They also lacked the Koopa King's accessories but they looked about as tough.
The three "Goombas" looked like spiked mushrooms. Their fangs seemed more like tusks. The most noticeable thing about them was the presence of their relatively puny arms that hung below their massive heads. All of the monsters were just milling about cautiously, noticing the silence outside.
Meanwhile, Peach and Geno waited patiently outside. When they heard several bodies drop, Geno pushed open the hangar door completely. Sheik was already pushing the unmoving bodies to the side.
"How did you knock them out?" Peach asked, helping him push a Koopa.
"Poison needles to the backs of their necks," Sheik said. "They were dead before they hit the ground." Peach gasped and jumped back.
"You…killed them?" Peach asked meekly.
"Better them than us," Geno said solemnly.
"Is this the plane you were speaking of?" Sheik asked, pointing to the pink and white aircraft at the other end of the hangar.
"Yes, that's it," Peach said.
"Since when did you learn to fly a plane?" Geno asked as they walked to it.
"Ah, so it's a flying machine," Sheik realized.
"Daisy taught me on one of her visits," she answered. "Of course, I've never actually landed or taken off in one of them, but how hard could it be?"
Sheik and Geno gave a nervous glance to one another.
"On that note," Sheik began hesitantly, "what is our destination?"
"It'd be best if it was someplace faraway from here," Geno noted.
"Sarasaland?" Peach suggested.
"Not that far," Geno said, going into thought. "It needs to be someplace we can reach before the day's end. And I doubt that a personal plane would have enough fuel to get us that far. Somewhere in the Southern Sea would be a good area."
"Right, there's plenty of islands down there," Peach said, stepping into the plane. A gigantic explosion rumbled the hangar outside.
"You two, get in the plane," Geno said, running toward the entrance with his Star Guns.
"What about you?" Peach called.
"Just get ready to take off," Geno called back. He could see something moving through a blasted wall in the castle. Two burning red Chain Chomps were tugging a giant Bullet Bill Blaster through the rubble, barking the whole way. The strange, red-eyed, bolted Bob-ombs were also there marching in unison, while keeping a safe distance from the Chain Chomps. Geno decided to make a preemptive strike by shooting a few star bullets at the Bob-ombs. Much to his surprise, the Bob-ombs did not react at all to the shots, despite the star bullets ability to dig into their metal plating. He heard the airplane's propellers start up behind him and realized that he would have to clear the increasingly crowded runway.
"Need a hand?" Zelda asked, standing next to him.
"You should be on that plane," Geno said.
"There's no sense in being there if it can't get in the air," she replied.
"Those Bob-ombs are heavily armored and well stabilized," Geno explained. "I can't even make them go off without getting too close."
"Bombs blow up when they are overheated, correct?" Zelda said, charging a fireball into her hands.
"Wait," Geno said, stopping her. "Aim for the Chomps." He gave off a brief flash and suddenly Zelda glowed with a power that was not her own. She glanced understandingly.
"If you say so," she said, pitching the fireball at the already overheated monsters. The fireball grew as it approached the Chomps and exploded on contact, bowling over the Bob-ombs. The Chain Chomps were temporarily stunned, but suddenly became so hot that the ground burned beneath them. They slammed into one another, broke their chains, and began to thrash about. When they touched the Bob-ombs, the bombs' metal plating was melted through, causing a chain of explosions in their ranks. The Chomps were blown sky-high. The Bob-ombs were wiped out of existence. The cannon was intact, but still not properly aimed. Unfortunately, there were other things to worry about. A giant, burning hunk of wood fell from the sky and shattered once it hit the ground. Geno and Zelda looked into the sky and saw the twin-propeller equipped Doomship that it had fallen from. More pieces of burning wood fell from it, revealing that the ship truly had a metal hull underneath.
"Yo, howsa' bout you guys throw in the towel about now?" a cocky tough-guy voice boomed. "If ya give up, I might go easy on ya…Heck, I'll let both the elf lady and Toadstool live because Roy Koopa's feelin' like bein' nice today."
"Get in the plane," Geno said, raising his hands and closing his eyes. "It's going to get a little messy out here." Zelda took the hint and ran back to the plane, which was nearing the front of the hangar. A white column of light shot out of Geno and straight into the air, narrowly missing the Doomship.
"So, that's how ya want it, huh?" the voice boomed. The Doomship armed itself with cannons and turrets all over its outer hull, immediately opening fire on the airfield. Even the dormant cannon in the castle's broken wall, shuddered to life. It fired a Bonzai Bill, which slowly readjusted its trajectory towards the hangar.
Geno didn't move an inch despite the explosions around him. He suddenly sliced the air downward, nearly pounding the ground and began to yell as the white column faded out of him.
"What is he doing?" Zelda asked, stepping inside the plane.
"You'll see," Peach answered, seated in the pilot's seat. "Roy's going to be in for a big surprise.
As Geno continued to scream his soul out, dozens of beams of light, each a different color, fell from the sky. They bombarded the Doomship as well as the airfield. When the light show ended a few seconds later, Geno looked and saw the Bonzai Bill heading for the hangar. The plane rolled out just as the black missile smashed into the hangar and exploded, annihilating the building. The metal Doomship above was smoking and slowly falling toward the ground. Geno pointed his arm cannon straight upward as the plane, picking up speed, rolled near him. In a last second decision, he stopped charging and jumped onto the wing of the plane. The plane sped underneath the collapsing Doomship and lifted off just as the hunk of metal crashed into the ground. The giant Bill Blaster began shooting off smaller, but much faster Bullet Bills. They all locked on to the plane and curved toward it, adding extra thrust as they straightened out.
"Geno!" Zelda yelled, opening the door and almost being sucked out. The plane took a dip but quickly leveled itself. It was already flying just above Mushroom castle. Zelda was a little shaken but beckoned for Geno to take her hand so that he could get into the plane.
"Don't worry about me," Geno said, in his usual calm voice. "Just stay inside the plane, close the door, and buckle your seat belt. "It's going to be a bumpy ride." So far, six Bullet Bills were on their tail. Geno charged his Geno Beam, braced himself, and fired it, managing to destroy three Bullet Bills. He then began to charge another beam. Once he fired it, he found out the hard way that these were Smart Bills. They veered away from the Beam, moving in completely different directions from one another, while still gaining on the plane. By Geno's fourth Beam, they were already over the ocean. He could sense his energy being depleted. The Smart Bills were only a few yards away now. He tried his Star Guns but saw that the Bills were dodging their shots rather easily as well. He carefully hopped to the back of the plane, near the tail.
"How close are they?" Zelda called to Geno.
"I'd say less than ten feet," Geno frowned.
"What sort of measuring system is that in?" Zelda asked.
"About three meters," Geno restated, continuing to shoot. "Tell Peach that she'd better get ready for some expert piloting." As he spoke, each Bill began to close in on a certain part of the plane. Two broke away from each other to go for the wings, while the remaining missile sped for the tail. Geno shot at the wing-bound Bills, forcing them to back off. Unfortunately, the center Bill boosted straight for the tail, beginning to show its toothy grin. The second Geno stopped aiming at one Bill to force it one away, the unrestricted Bills sped ahead. Soon it became a balancing act of keeping all the Bills away without letting one get ahead too much.
"Hey, Zelda!" Peach called. "Tell Geno I found the switch for the turbo jets." Without thinking, she flipped the switch.
"Turbo?" Zelda said, looking back at Peach from the doorway.
"Turbo!" Geno repeated. The propellers retracted into the twin engines and thrust began to burst out of the other ends, jolting the entire plane forward. The jolt of speed disoriented the Smart Bills, but caused Geno to lose his footing and slip off of the airplane. Just as he began to fall down towards, he flipped himself so that he was facing skyward and fired off both his Star Guns at the center Smart Bill. Unable to dodge two streams of bullets during its moment of confusion, it was hit and began to nosedive. In a last ditch effort to hit a target, it adjusted its fall so that it aimed straight for Geno.
"Geno!" Zelda screamed. "Peach, he fell off!"
"Oh, no!" Peach exclaimed. She looked through the window and saw Geno and the pursuing Bill plummeting toward the ocean. The nearest island, Lava Lava Island, was already far away on the horizon. Just as Peach was about to turn the plane around, she saw Geno make a peculiar movement. She could have sworn she saw him motion for the plane to stay on course and not turn back. Then, she looked and saw the remaining two Smart Bills reorienting themselves and attempting to speed up, lowering their descent enough so that they were near Geno's altitude. If she slowed down to turn, they were almost guaranteed to hit the plane. Then, she looked back to Geno just in time to see a small explosion. Already, it was a fiery speck in the background. She closed her eyes for a moment and looked straight ahead.
"Zelda," Peach said sorrowfully, as tears gathered in her eyes. "I need you to shut the door."
"Maybe I can hold off them off a bit longer," Zelda argued, looking at the Smart Bills behind them. "If I can just…"
"Please, just shut the door," Peach choked with unusual firmness. Zelda looked at her for a moment. Peach kept her teary gaze straight ahead at the empty blue horizon. Zelda punched the side of the plane in frustration and slid the door closed. She walked into the cockpit and sat in the copilot's seat.
"Isn't there anything at all I can do?" she asked, holding her forehead. Peach merely sighed. "I hate being useless," she said quietly."
"I know what you mean," Peach said with equal somberness. "You can help me worry less by buckling up. Just take that strap and put the metal part into the slot beside your waist." Zelda quietly did as she was told.
Peach looked on the radar and saw that the Bills were coming back up to the plane's altitude, giving Peach some time to think of something. She figured that the missiles wouldn't destroy the plane, but they would definitely put it out of the air. If she could just get to the Southern Sea, there would be a good enough chance to swim to shore. She just hoped that the turbo jets lasted longer than the Bills.
It had been nearly an hour since they had lost Geno. The Bills had followed the jet-powered plane over two oceans and over mainland twice after the Mushroom Kingdom. The Bills had caught up quite a bit and showed no sign of slowing. The plane on the other hand was nearing empty.
"Zelda," Peach said, worriedly. "That shield of yours…Can you make it big enough to…"
"No, I can't," Zelda answered.
"Can you swim?" Peach asked somberly.
"Well enough."
"Good. We're probably not going to make a smooth landing. I'll bring the plane low so that the impact isn't too hard. We should be near an island in a few minutes." The plane dipped slightly and leveled out close to the water. In moment, an island with a watchtower came into sight on the horizon, which was filled with dark clouds.
"Delfino Airstrip," Peach sighed with relief. "It looks like we won't be taking a splash after all." Suddenly, red cannon ports began to pop up all over the small island. A flurry of Bullet Bills was fired straight at the plane. Peach panicked and began to pull up and turn the plane.
"No, wait!" Zelda said as her ears perked up. "Get to that large island behind this one! We'll be safe there!"
"We won't make it!" Peach said, pulling away.
"Trust me!" Zelda said, grabbing the steering and turning it back toward the island.
"Zelda!" Peach shouted, trying to turn it back the other way. The effect was an out of control plane that totally confused the pursuing Smart Bills and plowed straight through the oncoming Bullet Bills. The two princesses were still fighting over the wheel even when the plane was in flames and one of the jet engines fell off. The Smart Bills backed off completely to avoid the onslaught of their counterparts. The airplane sailed over the airstrip and towards the mainland of Isle Delfino. Once the ladies realized that they had passed airstrip, they felt slightly relieved and let the plane continue. They didn't expect the airstrip cannons to turn around and shoot them from behind, which it did. Peach turned the plane enough to miss most of the Bullet Bills but lost a wing when some did hit. The plane began to spin wildly as it approached the water. Both of them screamed and held onto each other like scared little girls as the plane hit the water.
"Quickly, we have to get to the mainland," Zelda said, blasting away the door as the cabin flooded. Peach soon followed her out of the plane. They were close enough to the island to swim, but Bullet Bills were still blasting into the water around them. The remnants of the plane exploded into a burning wreck when enough missiles had slammed into it. The two princesses swam for all they were worth, despite their dresses slowing them down. As they neared the beach, it seemed as if they had just come out of the shade and into the sunlight. Eventually, the Bullet Bills stopped being fired. Soon afterward, the two washed up on the beach exhausted.
"Well," Peach huffed and puffed. "We made it." Then, they saw the two Smart Bills curving around the firing range of the airstrip cannons and jetting straight toward them. Zelda sat up, still breathing heavily. She raised her hands and struggled to bring up her barrier.
"Come on!" she yelled at the failing magic. "Focus!" A few blue sparkles appeared then fizzled as the Smart Bills began to grin once again. They were only a few yards away now. As Zelda began to work up a glow around herself, it immediately disappeared completely. The Smart Bills suddenly exploded as they reached the transition from the shaded part of the water to the sunbathed part closer to the beach. It was as if they had hit an invisible barrier.
"Did you do that?" Peach asked, mystified.
"No," Zelda said, with an odd sense of confirmation. "I just had a feeling that if we got to the beach, we would be safe. I suppose it paid off." Then, the worn out princesses fell back onto the sand and sighed.