Author's Notes: Hey guys! Sorry for the really late update... It's kinda hard for me to write this, since if I push myself to go faster, then the outcome would be a confusing chapter. And I also had writer's block... But at least it's here now...
This was originally going to be longer, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting. So I split the chapter into two segments- the first segment being this chapter. So here you have it! The second segment will come shortly.
Chapter 17
"Macabre Alphazard"
The crowd of Macabre Trees parted as the undead lizard made its way towards Mario, Luigi, Starlow, and Scuro.
The Macabre Alphazard was a black skeleton, burnt from being trapped in a forest fire. Its glowing magenta eyes studied the group with an intelligence that differenced it from its Macabre brethren. A branch stuck out from its forehead, making the dead lizard look like it had an additional horn. Magenta lights filtered through its joints and segments. Its jaws snapped every time a Macabre Tree didn't move away in time, the brief flash of its opened mouth revealing a single row of jagged daggers. Sharp and hardened claws clinked as the dead lizard walked in a phantom-like manner. Darker fog, and purple and magenta embers trailed behind it.
A deep rumble emanated from its throat as it lumbered closer towards the group.
Mario was in a tense fighting stance: two fists raised in front of his shoulders, feet planted apart, and crouched slightly. Luigi was also in a fighting stance, but his confidence was chased away by the size and ferocity of the Macabre Alphazard, and he was shaking nervously. A determined frown plastered Starlow's face, her body tense in anticipation. The Dark Star's glowing red eyes screamed for a challenge, his eagerness to fight driven by his lust for destruction.
Luigi risked a look behind him as he heard a creak. The black tree was backing away, not wanting to get in the undead lizard's way. It caught Luigi looking at it, and it bared its teeth and chittered warningly. Luigi immediately snapped his gaze back to the approaching Macabre Alphazard. He didn't want to make things more difficult for his friends by provoking the black tree.
The Macabre Alphazard stopped when it got close to the group. It stared at them, gauging them. The group had trespassed into its turf, and that was not acceptable. The dark power inside the Macabre Alphazard encouraged its wish for their extermination. To it, they were pests: annoying vermin that infested its turf.
The undead lizard reared up, pushing itself from underneath with its bony front legs. It raised its head up, and a shrill roar erupted from the Macabre Alphazard's gaping mouth. The Macabre Trees took this as a signal, and they all surged towards the group.
Mario jumped up, narrowly avoiding the white arm that came his way. He intended to land on the Macabre Tree's shoulder, but the white tree moved away in time. Another tree lunged from beside him. He jumped up just as the clawed hands grabbed at where he was mere seconds ago. Mario stomped down on the hands, reducing them to splinters. The tree recoiled and stared in bewilderment at its now stubbed arms. It grew furious and it surged madly towards Mario. The red plumber simply sidestepped, and instead, the Macabre hit and killed another white tree.
Luigi scrambled up the bony arm that tried to swipe at him. The tree, in a hasty attempt to shake the green plumber off, began waving its arm around wildly. Luigi was already at its shoulder when the tree tried to grab fruitlessly at him with its other hand. The tree began to get frustrated and it stumbled around while clawing and hitting its own body, trying desperately to hit Luigi. In its actions to remove the plumber off its body, the white tree hit some of its companions, leaving cracks or even killing the other Macabres. Luigi positioned himself where he was in front of the tree's face. The blank eyes bore into the green plumber's despite their emptiness. Luigi jumped off, just as the tree hit itself hard in the face. The force was enough to cave the tree's face in, killing the tree with its hand still inside its head.
Starlow flew above the battle scene. She eyed her friends for any help she could offer to them. Mario was trapped inside a circle of Macabre trees. Starlow dove into the circle and Mario grabbed her foot. They flew straight up just as the trees lunged at them with either their teeth, branches, arms, or additional appendages. The trees missed and instead, they hit each other, destroying whatever body part they used in attacking.
Scuro was facing the black tree, both sets of red eyes piercing through the fog. 'Yet again...', Scuro thought in dislike. As if the tree read his thoughts, it bared its teeth and rumbled knowingly.
With a roar, Scuro surged forward. The black tree bellowed and swiped at him with its larger left arm. Scuro, at the last minute, sprang to the side and hit its blind spot. The tree recoiled, a crack below its right shoulder revealing that Scuro hit succesfully. The tree, recovering quickly, attempted to grab at Scuro with both of its hands. The Dark Star simply floated up, but the tree foresaw this and it raised both of its arms, hitting Scuro from the bottom. The Dark Star, disoriented from the hit, was launched into the misty sky.
The black tree craned its trunk and stared up, expecting the Dark Star to fall through the fog. It clawed at the ground in anticipation.
It could hear the other trees creaking, screeching, rumbling, and growling as they tried to catch and attack Mario, Luigi, and Starlow. Some pained screeches and defeated moans indicated that some of them were killed or fatally injured. The Macabre Alphazard was also in on the action, snapping and pouncing on the brothers and star sprite. The undead lizard would accidentally hit some of the other trees, but it didn't really seem to care.
The black tree pounded its arms impatiently. It was getting tired waiting for its opponent. For a moment, it wondered where Scuro had gone. It assumed he ran away from the battle, too afraid to face the large undead tree. Just as the black tree thought of joining the white trees against Mario, Luigi, and Starlow, the Dark Star dive-bombed, rocketing through the air and hitting the Macabre Tree in the chest. Its right arm, right shoulder, part of its chest and splinters went sailing. The Macabre Tree wailed in pain.
The black tree stumbled down and supported itself with its left arm. As its pained wails died down, it glared incredulously at the Dark Star. Scuro gave the tree an ancient relic version of a smirk. The tree understood the Dark Star's expression and it knew that he was insulting it. This angered the tree greatly and it roared furiously, insulted from being thought of so lowly.
It surged froward, at the same time trying to balance itself. A good portion of its body had been decimated by the single yet powerful blow, but that wouldn't stop it from destroying the ancient relic. The Dark Star sprang away from the attack at the last moment. The black tree tried to stop itself, anchoring its left arm and digging its claws into the ground.
Scuro attempted to tackle the tree again, but before he could, the Macabre Alphazard pounced on him.
...(Scuro's POV)...
The black, bony, and clawed forefoot pressed against me, burying part of me into the ground. Ashes fluttered from the disturbance and they settled unto my relatively cold hull. I had been so engrossed in fighting the black tree that I had forgotten all about the Alphazard skeleton.
Through the gaps of its phalanges, the intelligent and glowing magenta eyes bore into mine. The undead lizard rumbled and the vibration rattled my body. It snarled viciously, black mist and magenta lights filtering through its clenched teeth. Even with its lack of facial expressions, I knew that it was looking down on me in distaste. It felt so high about itself. For some reason, its arrogance angered me.
The reptilian skeleton tightened its grip around me and lifted me off the ground. It smashed me back down into the ground and roared at me. Its gaze hardened when it heard my muffled roar of angered protest. It smashed me down into the ground again.
I thrusted myself upward, pushing against the forefoot with all my might. All this while, I glared into the magenta eyes, not breaking eye contact. It chittered warningly, bringing its head closer to me until I was mere inches away from its snout. It snorted, blowing some of the dark fog into my face. It felt really cold... not necessarily biting cold, but cold enough to feel it inside my body.
I pushed harder, trying my best to get out of the monster's grip. But I was getting weaker, and I felt like I could give out any minute... I stopped floating, a huff of defeat briefly crossing my mind as I was brought down to the ground.
...(3rd POV)...
A satisfied rumble emanated from the Macabre Alphazard as it kept Scuro on the ground. Here was the Dark Star... being stepped on and rubbed on the ground like the vermin he was. And now, the ancient relic was tired. He made a wrong decision defying the skeletal beast.
With its hand clenched around the limp ancient relic, it brought him closer to its face.
The Macabre Alphazard was taken aback when the Dark Star's glowing red eyes flashed to life. Scuro used the moment of surprise to surge towards the skeletal lizard's face. The hand that held him attempted to pull him off, but it was too late. Scuro hit the Macabre's face with the undead lizard's own hand, heightening the effectiveness of the blow. A crack formed on the lizard's face, and the branch on its forehead loosened up.
The Macabre Alphazard yelped in surprise and released Scuro immediately.
The magenta eyes glared daggers at the floating Dark Star who snorted dismissively at it. The Macabre Alphazard growled at him, and Scuro replied with one of his own growls.
Scuro repositioned to tackle the Macabre, but the undead lizard sidestepped and snapped at the Dark Star. Scuro flew away in time, and he did a mid air arc before plummeting down to the Macabre below. The undead lizard dodged, and used its tail to smack the Dark Star away.
Scuro sailed through the mist, narrowly missing swipes from the group of white trees he barreled into. He grunted when the black tree from earlier grabbed him and smashed him down to the ground. It raised its arm, and pounded on the Dark Star with furious punches from its single left arm. Scuro didn't have time to recover, and he ended up losing sense of his surroundings.
...(Scuro's POV)...
Everything is a blur... I don't feel anything... Only the throbbing headache and the pain in my eyes... I knew I was being pummeled into the ground... I could feel the dull thumping on my hull... I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to get dirt, splinters, and ash in my eyes.
It is peculiar to think of this... Odd even... Is this what was expected from me in battle?... Being buried... pushed down into the ground and be soiled and ruined?... Be put down... be covered in dirt and be stepped on?...
I cannot think straight anymore... I try to concentrate, but my headache was too much of a distraction... not even a stall of time would save me... Sure, I am immortal... but everything has its limits... I have been restricted of my dark powers, and that meant I was basically just a hard-hulled and rusty relic... Nothing too special anymore...
I felt myself being lifted into the air. For a moment, I thought it was Starlow flying me away from the battle. But it felt forceful, like I had been thrown harshly instead of being lifted quickly. And then I felt teeth gnawing into my shell... I risked a glance and I cracked open an eye... All I could see were a blur of whites, blacks, magentas, and brown... The swirl of blurring colors weren't enough to help me understand what was happening. It just gave me a more discomforting headache... The throbbing in my head grew and my eyes felt like they were being pounded. I squeezed my eyes close.
What happened to the Dark Star?... What happened to the powerful ancient relic that could demolish cities and plunge the world into darkness?... What happened that reduced me into an empty shell?
Ngrrh... My anger and sad reflections consumed the moment... How embarrassing... The fact that I was being beaten by an overgrown, wilted vegetable and a burnt pile of lizard bones certainly wasn't supporting my self-esteem... How I wish I still had the dark power... How I wish I still had the capability to destroy these Macabres with a simple glare... How I wish I were still the feared Dark Star...
The pounding headache and the tiresome struggle to return back to my senses proved too much, and with a tired sigh, I fell into unconsciousness... The last thing I remembered was cracking open an eye and hearing a shrill roar, a flash of green melting away into a harsh red, and a sickening crunch.
...(3rd POV)...
The black tree, after pounding Scuro, threw him into the air. The Dark Star was soiled from being smashed on. White ash and mud that rubbed on him left brown and gray stains on his purple hull. He had a few nicks and scratches on his body. One of his eyes was closed while the other was cracked open drowsily.
The Macabre Alphazard snatched the falling Dark Star in midair with its teeth and began biting down on the ancient relic. As it landed, it forcefully cocked its head back and threw the Dark Star into the ground. It clawed, bit, and gnawed on Scuro, who seemed to be very disoriented and irresponsive.
Mario noticed this, and he called out Scuro's name in an attempt to shake the Dark Star off his disorientation. "Scuro! C'mon, wake up! We still nee- Oof!" Mario failed to notice the large, white, wooden arm swiping at him until he was sent flying towards the Dark Star, the black tree, and the Macabre Alphazard's direction.
The Macabre Alphazard stopped its assault on the unconscious Dark Star when Mario landed next to him. Mario heard a crash and a distant yell getting closer and closer. Mario wondered who it belonged to until Luigi, visibly exhausted, landed on top of him. The sudden hit winded the air out of both brothers' lungs. Not long after, Starlow landed next to them. She was disoriented and her eyes were rolling dizzily.
The remaining Macabre Trees, about a dozen of them, gathered around their reptilian leader. They were spectating only, for they knew that once something was in front of the Macabre Alphazard, it goes to it. Interfering or interrupting would mean unwanted consequences.
The Macabre Alphazard growled lowly. Mario, Luigi, Starlow, and Scuro... all of them were before it. One more attack, and they would be gone. Just one snap of its powerful jaws, and its turf would be rid of these unwelcome vermin.
It puffed air through its nose at a winded Mario, a drained Luigi, a dizzy Starlow, and an unconscious Scuro, bathing them with its black fog. It bared its teeth at them, growling in distaste. It roared, blowing more black fog onto the group. Its jaws snapped inches from their faces, making them flinch back.
The proud and undead lizard took its time. It wanted to make these "puny vermin", as it called them, to have their final moments fearing the Macabre Alphazard. It wanted to be the last thing they will ever see. It wanted to be the cause of their untimely departure.
It puffed air through its nose again. Time is up... It is time for their death...
The Macabre Alphazard reared its head up and opened its jaw as wide as it can. It puffed its chest out and made a deep rumble. Its magenta eyes flickered in excitement. It lunged.
RIIAAUURRGGHH!... CRACK
Something rammed into the Macabre Alphazard's side, breaking part of its rib cage and pushing it aside.
The surrounding Macabre Trees started when something collided with their leader. They wanted to attack whatever it was, but they didn't want to interrupt. Only when they hear their leader's signal should they interfere. They could only watch tensely as their leader tried to deal with the unexpected situation.
The Macabre Alphazard staggered around and regained its footing. Magenta eyes flickered angrily, and the darker smoke spewed faster from its mouth. It screeched incredulously and glared at whatever dared to interrupt it.
There, hovering protectively over Mario, Luigi, Starlow, and Scuro, was a green Alphazard.