Frost
awoke with a start, staring out at the blaring light in his eyes. It
glared angrily like it hated him, and he muttered softly at it. As
his vision cleared, he tried to move, only to realize he was pinned
quite neatly to a grey metal table pointed diagonally. The room was
dark except for the light, but rather expansive. He could hear
talking in the background.
Classic bad guy. Then again, Bowser
is -the- classic villain.. Where's Kyra and Frost?
Frost turned his head to the sides. Kyra was tied to a similar table to his left, Drake to his right. Drake's eyes were opened and he was staring at the ceiling with a slight scowl. No fear, just minor disappointment.
He
heard gasping and turned his head to the left. Kyra had awoken and
was tugging at the metal bonds holding her down. She gritted her
teeth and looked over at him. He grinned slightly back at her, and
she gave him a weird expression and slumped in the metal table,
looking at the floor.
"We're screwed, aren't we?" She
said quietly.
Frost
tensed all his muscles and pushed against the metal bars- but they
did not bend even a bit. He was surprised to a great degree- he was
far stronger then a normal human, but it seemed that in this world
his strength was diminished. That, or the metal had been tempered for
some reason to deal with ultra-strong foes. He scowled and
sighed.
"Stop trying." Drake said with amusement. "We're
quite stuck."
"Do you have a better idea, idiot?" Kyra
snapped at him.
"Of course. Wait for Bowser to come back and
tell us what he wants from us. " Drake replied.
"Some
plan."
"Only plan."
Frost idly wondered why the two
bickered like they did. Flirting, maybe.
A door boomed open in the distance. A terrible figure filled it, the massive doors only letting a little light through over his tremendous bulk. He growled low and stomped through the room towards him. He lacked subtlety or any real skill in intimidation- but his bulk and his bluntness of his ferocity was certainly enough to do his work for him.
Bowser
stopped before the three measly peasants who had tried to attack him.
They hadn't even known what they were doing. The girl was pathetic.
The white-haired one, not so much. He moved unusually fast and strong
for a human. But the tall one had given him the most trouble,
refusing to go down. He sneered and exhaled smoke onto the three,
causing them to cough.
"I'm going to make this short and
simple. I don't really care why you're in my fortress or why you
felt suicidal enough to assault me without weapons or factors. I do
intend to make use of you." He grinned. "You're going to be
doing me a little favor."
Frost laughed. "Why us?"
"Because
you are suicidal and willing to do insane things. Your attack on me
proved this."
Kyra scoffed. "Like we'd help you."
"Oh,
you would, if it were to save your own hides." This caused the
three to pause.
"You want us alive," Frost began before
being cut off.
"Long enough to offer you a deal.." He grinned
and leaned back on his tail, folding his arms. "Magikoopa!" He
barked. An old figure with giant, thick classes and blue robes
shuffled up to beside Bowser.
"Yes, my liege?"
"Your
wand." Bowser rumbled. The old creature reached within his robe
pockets and pulled out a glowing yellow stick with a red jewel
imbedded in one end. Bowser took it and held it at the three, who
cringed slightly. "I've often seen that holding something captive
tends to make people do what I want them to. In this case…" He
chuckled darkly. He held the wand back as if he were going to throw
it, then thrust it out at them. "Kalawan!"
Glowing figures
burst out of the red jewel, blinding the trio. Their forms became
immersed in the light, remaining glowing as the wand's energies
faded. Then that light, too, faded, and they were able to see just
what had occurred.
Where Kyra had been, there now was a
red-colored venus-fly trap like.. Thing. A piranha plant. Long leaves
took the place of arms, strange roots took the place of legs, and the
length of the body was a stem leading up to a giant,
red-polka-dot-spotted featureless green bulb with thick green lips.
She opened her mouth for a moment, rows of teeth inside. "…this
is.. Different.."
Drake
had been turned into what looked like a teenage version of Bowser.
While he kept many of his features, his hair was red and scruffy, and
his body was forced off the table by the shell that had apparently
spontaneously appeared on his back, small spikes digging into the
table. He had scales and green skin. "…well, this isn't so bad
in comparison to… er.. Frost?"
Frost was still, apparently,
human, for all appearances. But where there had once been pecs, there
were now breasts. His facial features had slightened, his stubble
vanished. His clothes no longer really fit upon him. He had been
turned into a she.
"..I take it back. This is heaven compared
to that!" Drake began laughing, his voice rough and deeper then it
had been before. Frost just stared at his/herself, face contorted in
humiliated shock. Kyra made a strange noise that sounded like
clicking, her 'head' bobbing up and down. She was
laughing.
"SILENCE!" roared Bowser, the force strong enough
to snap each out of their awe and laughter to stare at him again.
"You have each lost something now. And being that I have possession
of the -only- way to return you to your normal selves, it seems
you're going to have to do a little something for me." He grinned
sharply, chuckling with maniacal glee.
A long silence followed
as the three stared at- or in Kyra's case, sort of turned her head
towards, Bowser. The giant koopa stared back at them, his chuckling
dying down slowly. After a moment it was gone completely and he
stared back. "…well? This is where you ask me what it is I want
you to do."
It was
Frost who spoke up, ignoring the strange and foreign sound of the
voice coming from within the feminine throat. "What is it you want
us to do?"
"I think I already know.." Kyra muttered- or
tried to mutter. Apparently her new mouth was unsuited to muttering,
as it came out as loud as it would as if she had said it, with a
slight clacking noise accompanying it.
Bowser ignored her and let
a hearty, evil laugh burst forth. "You're going to pay a visit to
a friend of mine. For many years I've been building an army with
which to take the Mushroom Kingdom. But that blasted Mario and his
brother Luigi could defeat many of my squadrons with ease. So
whenever I need to take a place of importance, I distract him by
kidnapping his precious princess. I've done this so many times that
as of this moment, the Mushroom Kingdom is surrounded and poised to
fall. and they are none the wiser for it. I hold many key positions
and assault points.
The only.. Flaw.. is that Mario. I want him
to be distracted- VERY distracted, at the moment of my invasion. So
distracted he won't notice or help defend the kingdom. So I want
you to.. Dispose.. Of the princess." He paused a moment to let his
words sink in.
"Define dispose." Drake said with unusual
casualness, earning looks from Frost and Kyra. He merely
shrugged.
"Kidnap her, but inside her own castle. Do something
to her- torture her, rape her, I don't care. Mario will hear of it
and will come to save her. At that point I'll invade. He'll think
my attack is a cover up for the kidnapping and leave the battle to
Luigi and the toads. And once enraged he'll forget all about the
kingdom to save his princess."
"…won't he kill us?"
Kyra asked.
"Oh, he might." Bowser gestured to the magikoopa.
"Release them."
With a shink the binds holding the
three released, allowing them to slide to the ground. Frost and Drake
rubbed their wrists, while Kyra simply looked at herself, her long
stem bending and twisting flexibly.
"But if you succeed, I'll
give you back your normal forms."
"And we should believe
you.. Why?" Frost questioned.
"Because your only other option
is- huh?" Bowser stopped as Drake suddenly leaped up from where he
had been, leaping through the air with more speed and power then he
should have been able to use. Bowser watched him come towards him,
Drake's fist cocking back, scaled muscles and all his weight going
into his punch as he swung forward, coming down upon Bowser's
heard.
His fist slammed into Bowser's face.. And didn't so
much as twitch him. His knuckles throbbed from the pain, as if he had
struck a metal wall, and his weight pulled him down. He fell to the
ground, and Bowser merely looked down as Drake landed on his shell,
wincing and flipping over, getting to his feet. Only then did Bowser
move - with a speed that surprised even Frost- and backhanded Drake.
Drake flew backwards, flowing into the table he had been banded to
and crushing it under the force of his weight and velocity.
"Idiot."
Bowser growled. "Fool. Just because you're stronger and faster
now doesn't make you a god. If the fight before didn't teach you,
then I should remind you that contrary to popular belief, letting a
plumber defeat you for tactical purposes does not make you incapable
of defending yourself against threats." He sneered, then chuckled.
"But I like your spirit. You'll do well against Mario if he does
try to kill you. So what say you? Shall I kill you here, or will you
do my bidding to save your lives?"
He looked towards Frost and
Kyra, who made no move to help Drake as he got up out of the rubble,
muttering darkly to himself. What the hell is this virtual
reality? Why does that blasted crackpot want us to go through this?
Frost's expression was unreadable, a cross between distaste and
ponderance. After a moment she spat to the side and folded her arms,
but indicated no further resistance. Kyra had no face, but it was
Kyra who glided forward on her roots. "We'll do it."
Bowser roared with approval. "Excellent.."
