Chapter 22

"Welcome Back"

The Dark Star was annoyed to say the least. He was annoyed of the ringing noises as he gained consciousness. He was annoyed of the grogginess that came with waking up. He was annoyed with the loud and obnoxious calling of his name. The incessant and rather disorienting shaking was certainly annoying too.

"Scuro?"

"Scuro!"

Scuro just wanted to kill these idiots. He didn't have to open his eyes to know Luigi was screaming at where his ears were supposed to be if he had any. Scuro mumbled something incoherent at this.

"Excuse me, what?" Luigi asked.

"I said SHUT UP," his eyes flared. Sure enough, Luigi was to his side, just about to yell something at him again. Mario and Starlow were there too, of course, silently watching from a distance that respected his personal space.

Scuro groaned. The disorienting feeling was still there, but at least it wasn't as bad anymore.

In the few moments that the others were silenced, Scuro closed his eyes and regained his bearings. As his hazy mind cleared up, he tried his best to make sense of where he was or what was going on. He winced slightly when he heard small creaks and tapping noises he was sure he shouldn't hear as he floated up. Opening his eyes, he scanned the surroundings.

It was dark out, that was for sure. Not even a hint of the moon or stars. The only light source he could make out was a fire, its embers reflecting off the expectant faces of Mario, Luigi, and Starlow. They were in a meadow carpeted with smooth and even grass, where only their campsite bared any visible soil. He could make out a lake somewhere in the distance. Snow-capped mountains stood just next to that lake, their bases caressing the water's edge.

His eyes snapped toward Mario when he took an uneasy step forward. "Hey. Are you… okay now?"

Scuro sighed, steam blowing out his "nose" into the cool night air. "I want to believe I am." He took another glance around him. "Where are we?"

"Meddy Ooka Meadow, we think" Starlow answered. "That means we're halfway to the center of the island. The forests are down there."

Scuro looked back towards where the Starlow was pointing, barely making out what looked like a pine forest with mist wafting off the treetops. As lazy as that answer sounded, the Dark Star was content enough with it. "I see…"

Noticing something, the Dark Star narrowed his eyes. "Where is that lizard?"

"Oh. She left," Starlow answered simply. The look that Scuro gave her begged for more details. Starlow hummed in slight irritation. "She didn't want to leave the forests. It's her territory. She has to stay to keep watch over it. She might've just followed us to make sure we didn't mess with her home more than we should, or just to expand her boundaries."

The Dark Star snorted. He could care less about the giant lizard, but he knew Lady Lisa came for them. She fought those Macabre Trees and Macabre Alphazard alongside them, and for that, he was sensible enough to be thankful.

The giant lizard could hold her own pretty well, so there wasn't a need to worry in the first place. He could imagine her stomping through the trees, her blue eyes glowing majestically like fire. Her green scales mirrored the shrubbery around her, and her monstrous size flattened anything she passed through. Looking up to the sky, she roared and made the whole forest shudder. 'Yes', the Dark Star thought. 'She would be fine.'

Speaking of which...

'Wait… what happened, again?'

Scuro could only recall so much. The Dark Star had really good memory, and usually, he'd be able to remember what happens just after he loses consciousness. With most of his dark powers gone however, he was left with extremely slow processing capabilities. He barely remembered anything at all.

There was a fight, that much he could recall. He miscalculated and became overpowered by something. Just the thought of being beaten down irritated him, but it was the only answer that made sense. Scuro remembered that unholy skeletal lizard pinning him down, and he can only hope that the damn thing was beaten into powder.

He must have been thinking for quite a bit, Scuro thought. And he realized the others were starting to crowd over him.

He glared at them, eyes flashing threateningly.

They took the hint and backed off. Starlow rolled her eyes and floated to her spot beside the fire. Mario and Luigi sat obediently on their respective places. Several moments later, they fell asleep.

'These imbeciles forgot to assign someone for guard duty.' the Dark Star thought. He sighed. 'And they trust me enough to have me keep watch over them, despite knowing I could kill them in their sleep.'

Scuro narrowed his eyes. He watched as everyone else slept silently, imagining them actually being dead. He imagined their steady breathing gradually ceasing. He imagined the color draining from their skin as their hearts stopped beating. These kind of thoughts would have excited him, but oddly enough, it kept him on edge. He couldn't sleep like this.

"These idiots," he mumbled.

The Dark Star didn't get to sleep that night.

Dr. Toadley thought it was a good idea at the time. But alas, desperate times called for desperate measures.

Here he was, in Dimble Woods, searching for the one and only Miracle Cure. Quite a straightforward mission. If it weren't for the fact that the artifact can't be found by conventional means (ie looking under bushes and behind trees), and that the rumors of zombie trees lumbering through the forest were actually true, then the renowned doctor was sure this wouldn't have taken him so long.

It's been a whole week now and Dr. Toadley was growing frustrated. As tempting as it was to scream out for the Miracle Cure like it was going to come to him like that, he knew better than that. Making loud noises meant attracting unwanted guests, and despite it being noon when the undead trees are thought to be less active, he didn't want to take any chances.

Yet brushing past the shrubbery and under the cool shadows of trees, he felt at peace. It was silent too, for the most part. He almost forgot he was basically surrounded by deadly monsters. It was that deceptively serene. And such conditions allowed for the doctor's mind to wander. And so he did.

He thought it was ridiculous. Ridiculous that the Mushroom Kingdom is being relentlessly attacked like this. He thought so for years. First it was an alien invasion, then there was the whole fiasco with Cackletta. The whole Shadow Queen thing he had heard of must've been quite an event from what he's heard. Then there's Bowser, the brute that never ceases to amaze him with his stubbornness. The Koopa King taking the princess happened so much that no one was even surprised anymore. People hate him, and Dr. Toadley wasn't sure if he hated him himself. Sure, he blasted him with fire one time, and then punched him hard enough to send him flying, but the doctor was a very patient man. The thick angry face may say otherwise, and his patients can be a handful at times, but he could brush all that aside.

With Bowser, he felt that he wasn't completely bad. He knew what happened up at the tower: how the Koopa King faced against Fawful and Dark Bowser. The doctor had actually been pleased as he looked into his crystal ball and watched Bowser and Dark Bowser exchange earth-shaking blows, neither of them letting up. It was like light versus darkness, two powerful forces fighting ferociously for the upper hand. That time, Bowser didn't look like the villain everyone grew to recognize him as. In fact, he was the hero. He had saved everyone.

He surprised all of them, really. And when the final battle came, Bowser became more than just a fiend.

Dr. Toadley wondered if it was the same way for the Dark Star.

Dr. Toadley almost laughed at the thought. 'The Dark Star? Having a good side? No. That thing is anything but rainbows and sunshine.'

Even then, the doctor had a feeling that the damned thing was going to play a big role in the current events. This time however, the Dark Star was going to play for their side. Ridiculous as it sounded, the odds of the impossible ever happening was unnervingly high. So much so that the doctor wouldn't even know what to believe anymore.

The crystal ball had told him as much as it could. It foretold the awakening of a god, how that god wanted to destroy everything, and how the past would come into play. It was one of the most cliche things Dr. Toadley ever had the experience of foretelling, but it still scared him. It scared him enough to send people in search of the Miracle Cure, only for them to return empty-handed or never return at all. It scared him enough to stay up late at night looking for books about this so-called "progenitor god". It scared him enough to irrationally set out for the Miracle Cure himself. It was a dumb decision, but he was running out of options.

He noticed daylight hours growing shorter. He noticed the skies growing cloudier and cloudier each day. He noticed the fear in every animal he saw. Something really was coming, and time was running out.

If he was honest with himself, he wasn't surprised about all this: about the world apparently coming to an end. Millennia of foreshadowing has built up to this moment, but we people, in our ignorance, tell ourselves that it won't happen anytime soon. That armageddon is a problem for the next generation. Dr. Toadley had to admit, he should've looked for the Miracle Cure sooner.

He wasn't even sure if he'd reach it in time.

Well, guess who's back.

Yeah, I know. This was short. Too short, maybe. BUT! I'm going to be updating again, so there's that.

Yes, I know I've been gone for a while, and maybe my reasons aren't good enough, but I came back, didn't I? I am NOT going to give this story up.

Lastly, I'm not sure, but there might be some inconsistencies here, since, you know… Haven't really checked in for a while, so I might've forgotten a few things.

SO AND SO… Hope you enjoyed reading!