CHAPTER 35

13 Hours Remain…

"For the Chief of the Green Toads!" the Toads chant as they slowly march toward Yashil, taking away his space to move. One of the Green Toads takes a spear and stabs it into Yashil's stomach. Yashil falls forward onto his knees with the spear still in his gut, groaning in pain.

"...Why did you all stop?" Questions Birdo. "Keep going. I want to watch him suffer."

"He's too fat!" A Toad says.

"Too bad!" Birdo laughs as they get up and walk over to Yashil. They kneel down next to him, looking at his eyes. "I always told you that you needed to go on a diet." They mock, swiping a spear from one of their Toads. "You didn't listen to me, did you? You never listen to me!" They twirl the spear in their hand. "You had to keep eating too much of that delicious food, did you? That's why you're so heavy now, isn't it? Eating all that gourmet fruit! Your lemons! Your melons! You're too fat to stab now!" Birdo raises their spear in the air. "Well maybe your fat head has enough room for me to shove this down your throat!"

Suddenly, Yashil spits his tongue out and grabs the spear out of Birdo's hand! He thrusts it into her chest, killing her instantly!

"Always thought they were a nag" Yashil quips. He turns to the Green Toads. "Your chief is dead. You are without a leader, and are left with a choice." Yashil offers. "Will you continue to serve Ganon and Bowser, knowing that in less than a day the Moon will crash into our planet? Or will you join back with me as your chief, and reclaim the world for a more peaceful civilization among the Toads?"

"We choose to be free! Oh great Yoshi Chief!" All the Green Toads chant.

"Good choices." Yashil chuckles. "I expected nothing else from you guys." Yashil takes some berries from his pouch, and smears it on the Toad's face like war paint. "It's good to have you all back." He says smiling and he applies the berries to his own face, licking his fingers when he's done. "Now let us ascend and meet with the other Toads."

"Chief?" A Toad asks.

"Yes?"

"Is this the end of the world?" The Toad continues.

"Only if we let it be." Yashil answers. "Let us build a new world together where we can live peacefully. As long as we stay united, we can defeat anything that comes against us."

"We'll lead the march! Chief!" The Toads cheer. Yashil nods as the Toads lead him out of the dungeons and up a secret passageway back up to the second floor.

While the battle between Yashil and Birdo was going on, the rest of the Rainbow Alliance on the second floor saw Yashil fall down the slide into a dark abyss. They all gasp.

"Did ye see that!? Did ye see that!?" Burnscar yells.

"I sure did!" Maxil shouts. "What happened? Where'd Mr. Big Dino go? Is he okay?!"

"I don't know!" Peach screams. Maxil starts to cry.

"You're scaring the child!" Azura says, picking up Maxil. "Come on, now little one. Don't cry, you're a big boy, remember?"

"I'm not a baby!" Maxil protests.

"I know," Azura says kindly. "Which means you don't have to be afraid. Yashil just got separated from us."

"Ok" Maxil sniffs, hugging Azura tightly.

"You think you can use that spider golem to go get him?" Naranjo asks Azura, gesturing at the being the Blue Toads have been driving.

"No," Azura says sadly. "I can't risk losing the Blue Toads for a mission we don't know will even be successful."

"Then what do we do?"

"Nothing." Azura sighs.

"But..." Burnscar begins.

"There is no time to worry about him!" Azura stops him. "We need to save the world from being destroyed! We can save him later!"

"Hold on there Fish Girl!" Burnscar interrupts, pulling out his sword. "That big dinosaur is part of our crew! We never leave a crew member behind! Ye go on ahead! I'll go get that scallywag and bring him back!"

"You can't do that!" The Red Toads say in unison.

"Why not?" Burnscar replies.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Burnscar's right" Peach retorts. "Yashil is the chief! He didn't abandon us when we needed him. We can't just leave him after everything he's done for us! I'm going with Burnscar!"

"Oh fine!" The Red Toads say in unison again. "We'll come along."

"I promise to take care of everyone." Azura assures Peach, leading the crew onwards while Peach, The Red Toads, and Burnscar head another direction.

"Where be the stairs in this place?!" Burnscar yells as he, Peach, and the Red Toads investigate the second floor. "This place is a maze!" He shouts.

Peach looks around the area frantically, trying to find the stairs.

"Hey!" She cries out. "Look over there!" She points over to a door labeled "To Lower Levels".

"Outta me way!" Burnscar shouts, opening the door and seeing a long flight of stairs descending into what looks like an abyss. He hesitates, but takes a deep breath. "This looks like where he fell." He charges at the stairs, sword at the ready. "I'll go get Yashil and bring him back to ya!"

After charging down the stairs for several minutes, Burnscar eventually hits the ground...it is almost total darkness where he stands. This looks nothing like Ganon's Tower. It's more like a dark cavernous plane.

"Yashil?" Burnscar calls out. Nothing but silence. He steps forward cautiously, feeling around the walls. "Hello? Yashil? Where are you?"

"There is no Yashil here" cries a voice from the darkness. "I have already seen what happened to him, he will rejoin with your crew shortly, Captain Burnscar."

Burnscar freezes in terror. He quickly backs up to the entrance, then turns around. "Who's there?" He demands.

"Me" A voice replies.

"I know it's you!" Burnscar holds out his blade, it's shaking in his grasp. "Show yeself coward! There be honor in what I do!"

"I am not the one who slew Yashil!" The voice calls out again.

"Ganon?!" Burnscar screams.

"Argh!" The voice yells. "No! I'm not Ganon! I'm not Phantom Ganon! I'm not Demise! Come on Burnscar! I know you're not that dumb! We worked together for the star's sake! You know just who I am!"

"The Blue Toads!" Burnscar cries out. The voice is silent for a period of time. Then a series of shadows begin to form in the cavern taking the form of Link.

"You numbskull! It's Dark Link!" The shadowy Link yells at Burnscar. "I've been waiting for you, but I guess you've got a lot to learn! I'm gonna teach you a lesson!"

"Dark Link!?" Burnscar cries out. "Dark Link!?...Never heard of ye."

Dark Link face palms. "Ok, previously I was Dark Mario before Link and Zelda shoved the Master Sword through me."

"Oh!" Burnscar says, finally figuring out who's been talking to him.

"You recognized me before in the hallway with Boolossus! You really have the attention span the size of a maggot!" Dark Link says.

"Why thank ye! I always thought I be the brains of this operation!" Burnscar says in a proud and oblivious manner.

"Well it's not going to be that way anymore!" Dark Link exclaims. "You're gonna be dead by this evening!"

"Kill me? Why?"

Dark Link lowers his sword and rolls his eyes. "Gee, I wonder. Maybe it's because you joined Peach's side after begging to have your life spared! You're a traitor to Master Ganon's cause!"

"I'm not a traitor! I hate Ganon! He fed me crew to King Dodongo!"

"I don't care what your reason is! You betrayed Master Ganon and now you will die for your treason!" Dark Link yells, he then gives a sadistic smile "I'm going to enjoy this, I never liked you anyway. So I'm going to cut you down as the one person you could never beat in a sword fight!"

"Y-you'll never win!" Burnscar says, holding up his blade defensively. "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Yeah, that's what they all say!" Dark Link laughs.

"Have at ye!" Burnscar says, setting his sword ablaze for a duel to the death!