Reunited

Chapter 27: The Apprentice Revealed

Fawful punches Luigi, sending the plumber toppling to the ground, staining the overalls he is wearing with mud and grass. It is starting to rain as the two fight, almost as though the weather wanted to make sure the environment was as tense as could be.

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Vivian stands, looking outside at the forest, watching for in case someone else is to show up. As she stares, she hears a voice call from behind her, "Vivian!" The Shadow Siren turns, seeing the cloaked figure of the Apprentice standing behind her, all of her body obscured from vision.

"I've gotten one goal down, Vivian," the Apprentice tells her as both her hands begin to cover in green liquid, "Cackletta is alive."

"You succeeded?" Vivian asks, sounding both shocked and disappointed, "Well, you know as well as I do, 'Apprentice', that there is still hope to defeat her."

"Don't you think I know that? But they don't, and I'm afraid I will not permit you to interfere in my life's work!"

"Your life's work? What about-"

"Shut it, Vivian. Do you know how long I spent, how much time I devoted, to make that work? And then Mario and you and Luigi and Peasley and everyone else on the so-called "good" side just sweeps in and ruins it all! There is no true good or evil, Vivian. There are shades of gray, and you so-called 'heroes' fail to see that! Everything happens for a reason, and some good comes of everything, and yet Mario and Luigi and Yoshi and Peach and everyone else all failed to realize this! I've seen it happen to Bowser, to Smithy, to Popple, to the Shadow Queen, to the Shroobs, to Wario, to Grodus, to Ludwig, to Cackletta, to me, and even the idiot, and I am sick of it!"

The Apprentice turns around for a second to compose herself, then turns around to see Vivian holding... a crossword puzzle?

"What on Plit is wrong with you, woman?" the Apprentice shouts out as the green goo is overrun by ice, "Did you not understand a word I just said?"

"I just figured that, since you are apparently pretty smart, you could help me out with this one I'm stuck on. Can you give me a word for an ugly old woman?"

"I'll kill you!" Both launch into a fury of trading punches, a flurry of fire and ice blazing through the air but neither side can score a hit. Vivian eventually pulls in the shadows in order to get a few feet away, and the Apprentice moves back a few feet in the opposite direction.

"Just tell me this: why Cackletta?"

"Simple. I wanted to prove that none of my failures have been my fault, but always on the head of those simple-minded fools I've worked for!"

"So that's it, huh? Endanger the world just to prove you're not incompetent? That's kinda extreme, isn't it?"

"What about you, Vivian? What, did you think that Cackletta was just going to kill all of existence once she took over? Or that Bowser would? Or the Shadow Queen? The only so-called 'villains' that truly fit that mark are Smithy and the idiot, but it's the point of the matter!"

The ice around the Apprentice's hands suddenly disappears, and they instead start to glow a bright yellow.

"Just because you feel like you're being wronged doesn't mean-"

"Shut up!" the Apprentice yells as a gigantic yellow block materializes from her hands and launches at Vivian, with Vivian incinerating the block as it is about to hit.

"You..." Vivian starts, a bit surprised by seeing such a strange attack being employed by the figure before her.

"What's the matter, Vivian? Block got your tongue?" the Apprentice shouts as another block launches forward, hitting Vivian and knocking her to the ground, the block busting on impact. The Apprentice enters the shadows, reemerging right over Vivian. The Apprentice locks both hands around the girl's throat, and just as she is about to send her hands up in ice and kill Vivian right on the spot, she stops.

"End it," Vivian moans, knowing tempting the Apprentice will likely help to stop the planned homicide.

"I will," the Apprentice says, considering it once more before rising off of Vivian and saying simply, "I prefer an actual fight. And I know you're capable of it, Vivian. I know it."

Vivian pulls herself up, then begins to fire balls of fire at the Apprentice, who creates a block shield to repel them. Strangely, she also makes a block appear in front of Vivian, shouting, "If we're gonna have a shootout, I don't want to make it one-sided!"

While the Apprentice charges a ball of ice, Vivian suddenly rises from the shadows and tackles her to the ground.

"What can I say? Unlike you, I have everything to lose and nothing to gain," Vivian taunts, holding the Apprentice by her right arm with her right hand and using the left to push the hood off of the Apprentice's face.

"Just who I thoughtcha were," Vivian says as she lays the left hand over the Apprentice's left arm.

"Beldam."