Chapter 3: A Deal With The Devil

Pauline was still looking through the large glass window of the Mayor's office, which was located on the eleventh floor of the City Hall building. The shadowy figure with the evil, menacing voice was still there in the office with her. He was apparently eager to strike some sort of a deal with Pauline. His side of the bargain was a Goddess Star, which of course, was no meager offer. However, it wasn't clear what Pauline's side of this deal was supposed to be. Judging by the sullen look on her face, and the amount of time that she had spent staring out through her office window, it was safe to assume that this was not a deal that she was willing to accept very easily.

"Just say the word, and this power will be all yours. As it should. I can't think of anyone more suitable for it than you, Miss Pauline." He coaxed, waving a white gloved hand over the container the golden Goddess Star was sealed within.

"Of course I want it." Pauline finally admitted, after having remained silent for quite some time.

"Oh?" He sang, his interest piqued.

"This is all just... crazy." Pauline frowned, her arms folded.

"And what do you care?" The figure laughed, stepping into her view rather dramatically. "With this, all of your troubles will vanish. You'll have all the power in the world, right at your fingertips."

He then walked away from her, his voice suddenly turning much more dark and gloomy. "Or perhaps, you'd rather stay here forever, running this dirt-hole of a city and never getting any real recognition for it."

Pauline gasped. She turned to the cloaked back of the figure, listening to him speak with trembling eyes.

"Princess Peach is the one who always gets recognized for everything, while Pauline stands in her shadow. Unnoticed, and unappreciated. As it will be." He stated, rather dramatically. There was a strange conviction in his manipulative words.

Pauline clenched her fists in agitation, remaining silent for a moment. She collected herself, and took a deep breath.

"And what happens if I refuse?" Pauline asked, calmly.

/

"I get it." Peach started, standing a few paces behind Mario, who was in a fighting stance.

The smoke from Bowsers transformation was only now starting to die down. Giga Bowser stood there with a menacing glare, listening to Princess Peach. The occasional explosive sound of Link's bomb arrow striking a cannonball could be heard in the background. At this point, the streets were almost entirely evacuated.

"You joined the X-Nauts because they offered you this power, did you not?" Peach challenged, with a hand.

"Hmm. Guess there's no point in hiding it." Giga Bowser thought to himself out loud, shaking his head. "That's right. I joined the X-Naut army because I wanted this power."

"After Mario had defeated me the last time..." Giga Bowser continued, as he proceeded to recollect what had happened.

The Previous Morning...

It was a beautiful sunny morning. Mario and his friends were currently meeting Link for the first time on the stone bridge outside Peach Castle. Bowser, however, was somewhere else.

Somewhere within the rocky highlands of the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser was lying unconscious on his stomach. He had been there since yesterday, after Mario had defeated him in their battle. Two stalky ravens were perched upon his dormant shell. Within the next moment, Bowser proceeded to wake up.

"Urgh..." Bowser groaned. He simply lied there for almost two minutes. He didn't even notice the ravens fly away as he finally brought himself to a stand. His head was pounding. "Where the heck am I?"

Bowser proceeded to survey his surroundings. As far as he could tell, he was in the middle of nowhere. It was just dirt and rock, but he could easily gather that he was on a mountain. He realized he was quite high up too, as the distant forests looked so small way down below.

"Mountains, huh?" Bowser thought to himself, his arms folded. "So I'm pretty far east... or was it west? Bah, I can't remember. Just how the hell did I end up here, anyway?"

The moment he had concluded his question, his eyes widened as the answer had come rushing back to him.

{"My new powers have only just awakened, but already I understand them." Mario explained. He looked up at Bowser with determined but calm blue eyes. "I feel as good as new! And with that fire blast you just hit me with, I'm full of energy!"

Mario then dropped down to a squat, bringing his hands by his sides as if he was charging up a ball. Bowser backed off a step with a nervous sweat as Mario's entire form ignited in energetic flame.

"Fire..."

"Bah!" Bowser dismissed with the swipe of the arm, growing angry. "So you're resistant to fire! It doesn't matter, I already know how weak you are when I'm in this form! Your attacks are useless!"

"BLAAAAST!" Mario screamed, releasing a vortex of sharp spiralled flame directly at his opponent.

The powerful flaming attack struck Bowser right in his massive stomach, and he was immediately lifted off of his feet. Time appeared to be in slow motion as Bowser's eyes widened from the shock of the attacks strength. All the spectators safely watching from within the surrounding buildings gasped in awe as they saw Bowser fly into the distance.

"GWAAAAAAAAH!" Bowser cried, a twinkle in the night sky accenting how far he had traveled.}

"That damn Mario." Bowser scowled, his eyebrows harsh with anger. "That's it! I'm heading straight back to Mushroom City! I'll kick his ass this time, for sure!"

And with that, Bowser started to stomp down the mountain. It wasn't long, however, before he was stopped by a shadowy figure with an evil, menacing voice.

"Pardon me." The voice halted. "But haven't we already seen this story before?"

Bowser barked, stopping in place. He turned almost completely behind him to find a strange, enigmatic figure standing upon a tall and jagged rock that bordered the path he was trotting down. The hooded man looked exactly like the person who was confronting Pauline in her office.

/

"If you refuse?"

Within the mayors office, the shadowy figure turned back to Pauline slowly. After staring for a brief moment, he proceeded to slowly remove the large hood he was wearing. Pauline took a step back, her heart racing. It was the first time she had made eye contact with those round spectacles. She felt like ice as she tried not to stare at the technical dome upon the head of the X-Naut leader, which blinked with square coloured lights. For the first time in her life, she felt like she was about to die.

"Then I really will blow this city to the ground, Miss Pauline." Grodus menacingly warned.

/

"Huh? What's it to you, pal?" Bowser snapped, irritated by the man. "Mind your own business."

And with that, Bowser continued his march down the mountain. There was a sudden whoosh, and before Bowser knew it, the shadowy figure was standing before him, offering an extended white-gloved hand.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Grodus. Leader of the X-Naut Army, and ruler of Sarasaland." Grodus greeted. "And you are King Bowser Koopa, leader of the Koopa Troop, I presume?"

"Err... yeah." Bowser awkwardly greeted, not shaking his hand.

Grodus retracted his extended hand without much thought. "You've been defeated again, haven't you? Aren't you tired of constantly losing to your rival?"

"Hey!" Bowser barked, angered by his intrusive behaviour. "What's it to you? I mean, I'll kick his ass this time, anyway. It doesn't matter."

"I don't think it'll be that easy." Grodus warned. "He has the power of a Goddess Star, you know."

"Yeah, I remember he was blabbing on about something like that." Bowser recalled, arms folded in thought. "Whatever that was, it definitely made him a whole lot stronger. Maybe I'll go and find one for myself."

"What if I told you, that I could give you a Goddess Star that was even more powerful than his?" Grodus offered, then revealing a glass container from within his cloak.

Bowser stared in awe at the miraculous object that was sealed inside of the vessel that Grodus possessed. It was a shining, dark green star that was burning with a purple aura. It was the most luminous, radiant object that he had ever laid his eyes upon.

"R-Really? You'll give me that?!" Bowser gawked, practically drooling over an object that he had only just discovered.

"This is the Giga Star, King Bowser." Grodus explained, while Bowser continued to stare at it in awe. "With this, you'll have no problem defeating Mario and his friends."

"Yeah, baby!" Bowser cheered with a gleeful expression, arms spread in joy. "Hand it over! I'm gonna use it to crush Mario right away!"

"Not so fast, King Bowser." Grodus eased, bringing the Goddess Star behind his back in order to regain Bowser's attention. "I'll give it to you under one condition."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Bowser entertained, not amused.

Grodus slowly stepped forward with a lean, his white gloved fist clenched before him. Beneath the large hood he wore, he was only a pair of round spectacles floating in the darkness. "Join the X-Naut army, and together we shall conquer the entire Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Hmm..." Bowser was in deep contemplation, his eyes closed as he faced downwards with folded arms. "Find the old hag for me too, and you've got yourself a deal."

"Deal!" Grodus exclaimed, failing to hold back a menacing laugh. "GACK ACK ACK ACK ACK!"

/

"So you agreed to help Grodus and the X-Nauts conquer the Mushroom Kingdom in order to get a Goddess Star from him?" Peach gathered, her expression somber as she held a clenched fist near her heart.

"That's right." Giga Bowser confirmed, with a slow nod. "But I don't intend on obeying any orders from him."

"What do you intend to do, then?" Peach continued to probe from a distance, Mario in a fighting stance before her.

"What do I intend to do?" Giga Bowser had paused for a moment after speaking. A big grin suddenly cast upon his evil, menacing face. "After I crush Mario, you'll be coming back to the Castle with me. You'll live with me there, Princess. And then... you're gonna watch as I burn this entire kingdom to the ground."

"Y-You..." Peach gasped, her blue eyes widened in shock. "You are mad!"

"As if I'm gonna let that happen!" Mario roared, charging towards Giga Bowser.

Giga Bowser didn't move a muscle. Mario jumped and landed in a squat with a thud. His right fist was clenched by his hip, his left palm open and extended before him. "Fire..."

Then, Mario launched flames from the soles of his boots and proceeded to fly forward with an extended fist. He was moving so fast, too fast for Giga Bowser to keep up. Before he could react, Mario's flaming fist had crashed into the brown, scaly belly of Giga Bowser.

"ROCKET!" Mario cried, his blue eyes burning with determination.

As Mario's fist remained unmoved against Giga Bowser's belly, it suddenly began throbbing with immense pain. His fist hadn't even sunk an inch into him. As someone who was used to pounding brick blocks with his fist, Mario was quite surprised to find his hand hurting so much from this punch.

"Bwahahaha..." Giga Bowser slowly laughed, looking down at Mario with laser red eyes. "Was that supposed to hurt?"

Mario jumped backwards with great speed, narrowly avoiding the sweep of Giga Bowsers air slicing claws. Mario was quite surprised to discover that Giga Bowser was even faster than the normal Bowser. Mario was dropped to a single knee, holding onto his hand. He was beginning to wonder if he had broken it.

"Yup. You're no match for me anymore." Giga Bowser proudly announced. "And I'll be sure to not use any fire attacks, either. Wouldn't want to power you up or anything."

(M-Mario...) Peach fret, her blue eyes trembling with worry as she watched the fight from the rear.

Mario had clenched teeth as he continued to hold onto his hand, his eyebrows narrowed harshly as he stared at his transformed opponent.

/

Back at Peach Castle, Rosalina and Daisy could hardly believe their eyes at what they had just stumbled upon. A full out skirmish was taking place here at Peach Castle. Both the Koopa Troop and the X-Naut armies were in battle against the entire Toad Brigade.

Red guards, the Toad Brigade infantry, were currently fighting against the horde of X-Naut grunts and Koopa Troopas that were trying to get across the Stone Bridge and into the castle. Katan T. and Ax T. were leading the squad here at the castle front. They were each standing in the center of their own separate dirt circles, like undefeated champions awaiting new challengers. X-Naut grunts, Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Paratroopas would come at them one after the other, and the Toad Brigade Executives would make quick work of them.

Over near the wooden bridge that crosses the moat on the castles right side, Lana T. was fighting against three X-Naut elites. X-Naut elites were more powerful than grunts and wore black gear, whereas the typical grunts wore white gear. Lana T. twirled her large lance around her at a very rapid rate, which apparently was intimidating enough to prevent any of the grunts from joining the fight.

One of the X-Naut elites revealed a red potion and raised it up high. They plugged their nose and then proceeded to drink it all in one go. Seconds after they had tossed the empty bottle to the side, they grew at least three times in size with a poof. The giant elite charged towards Lana T., the entire earth shaking as the Toad Brigade Executive stood there with an expression of determination.

"Hiii-" Lana T. sang, twirling her lance around her rapidly. "YA!"

The giant elite stopped dead in its tracks upon being struck right in the groin by the shaft of Lana T.'s lance. Lana T. waited a moment before stepping back and adjusting her hair, the poor giant X-Naut elite falling onto its side with tears streaming down its face as it clasped where it was struck with both hands. Lana T. stared down the other two X-Naut elites.

"Who's next?" Lana T. challenged, tip of her spearhead gleaming in the afternoon sun.

Intimidated, the two other X-Naut elites took a single step back in a nervous sweat.

On the grassy field near the castle front, Kammy Koopa was commanding a horde of Koopa Troop minions. They were battling against a horde of Blue guards, which were the Toad Brigades elite infantry. Commanding these soldiers was the head of the Toad Brigade, Captain Toad.

"Magikoopa squad, let's show these naive fools what true terror is!" Kammy Koopa cried, her golden wand in hand as she hovered on her magic broomstick. "Let's make King Bowser proud!"

"DA DA DA DA! All units, attack!" Captain Toad cried, blowing his whistle and pointing furiously towards the enemy horde. "Beat em' up, let em have it, show em no mercy!"

"What's happening?" Rosalina calmly inquired, as Daisy dragged her into cover by the wrist. They were hiding behind a shrub in the Castle Gardens, very near where Kammy Koopa and Captain Toad were battling.

"Shhhhh!" Daisy hissed, a white gloved finger at her hushing mouth. She spoke in a harsh whisper. "Can't you see? We're under attack!"

"Really?" Rosalina whispered, rather surprised by it all.

"Yes, really." Daisy assured, agitated. She proceeded to peer through the bush to get a better look at the fight. She could see that both the X-Naut and Koopa Troop armies were working together against the Toad Brigade.

"Pah." Daisy spat, pulling her face away from the bush and sitting down with her cellphone. She was texting as she continued to speak. "Looks like Bowser and the X-Nauts have teamed up. I have to let everyone know what's happening."

Rosalina revealed her phone and opened the group chat in order to see the text that Daisy had sent to everyone.

Group Members: Peach, Daisy, Mario, Link, Rosalina

Message Thread: OMG! Peach Castle is under attack!

Daisy: "GUYS, Peach Castle is under attack! The X-Nauts and the Koopa Troop are both here fighting against the Toad Brigade! Rosalina and I are already here, come IMMEDIATELY."

Rosalina and Daisy waited for anyone to respond. The message had been sent, but only Daisy and Rosalina had read the message. It appeared that neither Link, Mario, or Peach were checking their phones.

"Why won't they answer?" Daisy growled, irritated. "This is an emergency!"

"They must still be busy doing whatever they're doing back in the city..." Rosalina surmised, a finger on her chin in thought.

"Well, we can't just wait around here forever. And no way am I going back." Daisy sighed, her hands weakly resting upon her bent knees as she sat on the grass. She looked up at Rosalina, who was crouching to avoid being seen. "Do you know how to fight?"

"Huh?" Rosalina lazily barked, taking some time to respond. "Oh, no. Not really."

"Well, stay out of the way, then." Daisy ordered, standing tall. She started to stretch.

"Oooh, are you going to fight?" Rosalina ventured to ask, a blue question mark appearing above her head.

"That's right. I'm going to help them." Daisy informed, digging into her pockets and revealing an ice flower. "Unfortunately, I only have one power-up. So you just keep safe."

Daisy then used the Ice Flower. With glistening white light, her dress magically had changed colour. Where it had been dark orange, it was now a deep blue, like a cold sea. Where it had been a lighter orange, it was now baby blue, like the afternoon sky. Her floral earrings were now crystal snowflakes. The plain nails on her gloveless hands were now painted a bright blue.

"Whoa, you look pretty cool." Rosalina complemented, examining her transformation calmly.

"Here goes." Daisy weakly sang, doing her best to hide her nerves. She proceeded to walk out from behind the bush.

"Umm, I can help too." Rosalina halted, a fist clenched near her chin in uncertainty. "I think."

Daisy stared for a moment at Rosalina with a turned head. She faced forward again before speaking. "Well, alright. Just don't get in my way, okay? And try not to get hurt."

/

The air was so tense within the Mayors office that you could cut it with a knife. Grodus stood menacingly before Pauline, who was practically backed against the window. The look on his face was so menacing, so intimidating, that Pauline knew that the next words out of her mouth had better be precisely that which he wished to hear. Pauline cleared her throat, not meeting his eyes.

"Then you leave me no choice." Pauline eventually replied. "I... accept."

"Excellent!" Grodus exclaimed, with a white gloved fist clenched happily towards her. "Well done, Pauline! You've just saved all of Mushroom City!"

Grodus was of a much more joyful disposition now. His back was facing Pauline, and he waved a hand as he imagined the title of a news article. "The news will be all over it. Miss Pauline, saviour of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"And?" Pauline sang, hands on her hips. "Are we forgetting something?"

"Hm?" Grodus barked, turning back towards her. "Oh right. The Goddess Star. It is yours, of course."

From within his dark cloak, Grodus had revealed the golden Goddess Star which Pauline had desired. She walked up to it, accepting it with conviction.

"Just remember your part of the deal." Grodus reminded, his voice menacing and evil once again.

Pauline gave a fake toothless smile, before turning back towards the window once again. She examined Mushroom City with cold eyes. She felt devoid of emotion. She eventually directed her attention to the golden Goddess Star, the most beautiful, luminous object that she had ever laid her eyes upon. There it was. She had it. With this, she would become the most powerful, most influential, and most extraordinary person on the planet.

But at what cost?