Chapter 4: Hearts of Passion
Mario and Giga Bowser were still fighting within the nearly deserted eastern district of Mushroom City. Giga Bowser had zoomed towards Mario so fast, that to the observing Princess Peach, it appeared as though his entire mass had just been transported horizontally without any leg movement.
Time appeared to be in slow motion as Mario leaned back with clenched teeth. Giga Bowsers extended, razor sharp claw intended to strike through the heart, but instead had just grazed his arm. A few small drops of blood and a piece of torn sleeve flew from the impact point. Time resumed speed, and Mario proceeded to trot backwards while dodging the onslaught of finger stabs from Giga Bowser. The city buildings were blurry in the background as Mario struggled to keep the pace.
Mario waited patiently for the appropriate moment, and indeed, Giga Bowser had finally let up for a moment in order to charge up a punch. Mario seized this opportunity to jump high into the air. He used a burst of flames to send himself even higher, the camera panning around him 360 degrees during his ascension. Once he had reached the maximum height, he then performed a dive roll in order to reach a nearby rooftop. He stood tall, looking down Giga Bowser from the elevated position.
"Bwahaha..." Giga Bowser laughed, with dramatic hands. "Your attacks won't work on me when I'm in this form. Fire doesn't bother me in the slightest, either. You've got no way of defeating me! Give it up!"
"We'll see about that." Mario retorted. He did his best to not reveal any loss of resolve in his expression. But in truth, he had no idea how he was going to manage to defeat him.
/
Back at Peach Castle, the battle was still raging on between the Toad Brigade and the X-Naut Army, who had recently allied with the Koopa Troop. Ice Daisy, as it were, was running directly towards the skirmish that was taking place between the troops led by Captain Toad and Kammy Koopa. Rosalina was still nervously behind the bush where they had been hiding since their arrival.
"Yoo-hoo!" Daisy sang, eagerly waving her hand to gather as much attention as possible. "Over here!"
"She's just gonna run out there?!" Rosalina gawked, a blue exclamation mark and question mark above her head in a spiky white bubble. Her crownless head was peeking above the bushes just enough to see what was going on.
"Eh?! Daisy?! Is that you?!" Captain Toad gawked, with a hop. "I told you guys NOT to come back!"
"Daisy?!" Kammy Koopa gawked, as the princess in blue continued to run towards them. "You're here?! And by yourself, too? NYEAH HEH HEH!"
Kammy Koopa cackled boisterously. She pointed a gnarly finger forward. "Magikoopas! Seize her!"
In an instant, two red cloaked magikoopas flying on broomsticks had zoomed past Kammy Koopa at great speeds.
"O-Oh no, Daisy!" Captain Toad trembled, with a great leap. A hand was nervously held near his mouth. "Run! Get out of here as fast as you can!"
"Not a chance!" Daisy declined, her eyes narrowing at the two red magikoopas flying towards her.
The two magikoopas then stopped in place at the desired distance. They each raised their silver wands, which proceeded to charge with bright light. Within seconds of each other, they casted fiery orbs towards Daisy. Rosalina and Captain Toad were watching the confrontation in nervous angst. Kammy Koopa grimaced, a gnarled tooth exposed.
Daisy did a light hop. As she landed, she slid her right foot back and turned her body partially to the right. Time appeared to be in slow motion as she then did a great leap, easily clearing the first fire orb, which happened to be aimed quite low. She shot a ball of ice, which drifted forward with a baby blue aura surrounding it. She twirled in midair at an angle that allowed her to dodge the second fiery orb, which was aimed much higher. She continued to twirl, and once she was facing forward again, she shot another ball of ice.
Time resumed speed, and Daisy had landed gracefully back on her feet around the same time the two ice balls had each struck a magikoopa. The two red cloaked magikoopas were now incased in rectangular ice blocks. They each fell from their perched broomsticks and hit the grassy field with a loud thud. Daisy seized the opportunity to run over to one of the ice blocks.
"Yeah!" Daisy cheered, as she hoisted the frozen magikoopa up high.
With a determined grunt, she launched it towards the other magikoopa. The ice block slid across the plain, colliding with the other ice block with a great, frosty smash. The two magikoopas flailed about the second they had the freedom to, plopping onto the earth in defeat.
"Wooo, go Daisy!" Captain Toad cheered, hopping in place while clapping happily.
Daisy ran a hand through her hair, then checked her dress for dirt. The sudden cry of Kammy Koopa caused Daisy to jump in alarm as she zoomed around on her broomstick. Daisy turned around to find that Kammy Koopa had already sent a magical attack straight towards her. Daisy's eyes widened as she recalled their previous encounter.
{"Nyeah heh heh..." Kammy Koopa laughed, raising her golden wand. "We'll see about that. Now, witness my power!"
"Ehh?" Daisy barked, her eyes widening as she realized the attack was heading towards her instead of Luigi.
She was defenseless. Preoccupied with holding up the unconscious Rosalina, she had no time to react. She was struck with the magic, which took the form of twirling geometric shapes. A piercing sound, like deafening interference, shot through the air, and she suddenly found her form had been irradiated and was glowing. Much to her dismay, and everyones surprise, she proceeded to transform.}
Daisy found herself too shocked to react. She stood there frozen with a stunned expression. The brightness on her face gradually increased as the magical attack neared her.
"Daisy!" Captain Toad cried, reflexively reaching out to her with an extended hand.
At the last possible moment, Rosalina appeared before Daisy in a defensive stance. Her arms were crossed at the wrists, and her palms faced upward with relaxed fingers.
"O-Oh?" Daisy barked, snapping out of it.
A blue barrier had formed around Rosalina, which sent Kammy Koopas magical attack spiralling back towards her at twice its initial velocity.
"EEK!" Kammy Koopa squealed, raising herself higher into the air in order to avoid the attack. She examined Rosalina with a mean glare, positively livid. "You!"
"Rosalina? Y-You saved me!" Daisy exclaimed, her face beaming.
Rosalina stood there with her arms still in the defensive position. She tried to speak, but quickly discovered that she couldn't. The entirety of Kammy Koopas brigade now had their attention on Daisy and Rosalina. Rosalina's legs started to quiver nervously. Daisy saw this, and placed a hand on her hip with an unimpressed expression on her face.
"I shouldn't have done that." Rosalina managed to speak.
"Oh brother." Daisy sighed, rolling her eyes.
"You're the one who caused me to transform last time!" Kammy Koopa shrieked, white puff clouds of anger shooting from her old ears.
"Huh?" Rosalina sang, genuinely unable to understand. "But I don't even know you."
"Ohhh no, don't you try and play dumb now, missy!" Kammy Koopa silenced, waving a gnarled finger. "Do you have any idea what you put me through?! I was a hideous creature! Positively hideous, I tell you!"
"How is that any different from right now?" Rosalina asked, her tone genuine rather than mocking.
Daisy covered her mouth with both hands and failed to hold back a laugh. She was unsure which was more funny: the diss, or that fact that Rosalina was so oblivious of the fact that she was only making things worse for herself.
"Ooooooh, you! You... imbecile!" Kammy Koopa spat, infuriated. "You ladies are always sooo confident when you're young. But just you wait until you get older. The years will surely take that smug look right off of your face!"
"Actually, I'm technically older than everybody." Rosalina retorted, her head tilted slightly with a finger raised in protest.
"Oh, is that so?" Kammy Koopa sang sarcastically, irritated. "Well then! I guess I'll just have to turn you into the UGLIEST creature there is! KOOPA TROOP! X-NAUTS!"
Rosalina and Daisy gasped mildly. Kammy Koopa continued to holler from up above. "Change of objective! Pull back from Peach Castle, and capture Daisy and her friend!"
As the enemy army proceeded to close in, Daisy and Rosalina found themselves back to back on the grassy fields before Peach Castle, which stood strongly in the background.
"You ready?" Daisy asked, surveying the scene cautiously.
"Nope." Rosalina succinctly replied, surveying the scene nervously.
"Well neither am I." Daisy admitted, her expression determined. "But let's do this anyway."
/
Navi chimed within the X-Naut blimp as she flew towards the captured Luigi, who remained seated with his back against the pole he was handcuffed too.
"What happened to you? What are you doing here?" Navi hissed in a low whisper, still very surprised to have found him like this.
"I overheard them talking yesterday, and then they captured me." Luigi explained, in a whisper. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm coming up here to put a stop to them." Navi explained. "As I'm sure you already know, they're trying to blow up the whole city!"
"Yeah, I know." Luigi replied, with a nod. He eyed Wario and Waluigi to check if they were listening. They were too preoccupied with arguing over the next best position to fire to notice anything. He faced Navi again. "So the whole gangs here, or what?"
Navi proceeded to hastily fill in Luigi with the details. She described how Link was defending the city against the cannonballs, how Bowser had suddenly showed up and that he was now allied with the X-Nauts, and that Mario and Peach were currently battling against him on their way to check on Pauline. Finally, she mentioned how Rosalina and Daisy went back to the Castle, to check on things.
"The CASTLE?!" Luigi exclaimed, definitely loud enough for Wario and Waluigi to hear, if it wasn't for the fact that they were now arguing about who should get to fire at this awesome spot they both vehemently proclaimed to have found first. Realizing his blunder, he continued to speak more softly. "I overhead those two talking about how the X-Nauts were heading there for an attack! Rosalina and Daisy are heading straight for danger!"
"Seriously?!" Navi gasped. Her expression grew grim and bore deep concern. "And if Bowser is teamed up with them now, his troops might be there, too!"
"Navi, you gotta free me, quick!" Luigi pleaded, nodding to the handcuffs trapping him. "One of them should have the key."
"R-Right." Navi nodded, with courage. She surveyed the two bickering brothers at a distance. Sure enough, she spotted a partially revealed golden key from within Warios back pocket. It twinkled once with white light.
/
"Let's see..." Link thought out loud, using his Shiekah Slate to zoom in on the blimp up above. He was focused on the cannon. "Based on the position of the cannon, I should be good enough from... over there."
From the rooftop Link was standing on, he sprinted towards the face of an adjacent building that rose taller. With a great leap, he landed on the brick windowsill of the tall building. He proceeded to rapidly climb up the face of the building, as if it was no different than a mountainside. He would jump and grab onto the stone lip jutted from the wall above the window, bring himself to a stand upon it, and then jump up for the next windowsill.
He eventually arrived at the top of the building. He wasted no time, sprinting towards the edge and jumping off courageously. He revealed his red paraglider, which was yet another trinket of his that he had brought from Hyrule. He proceeded to glide through the air up above Mushroom City. The cannon had fired.
/
"There!" Waluigi exclaimed, as Navi nearly pulled the key out of Wario's back pocket. "I'd like to see him hit THAT one!"
She proceeded to carefully fly away from them, heading back towards Luigi with the key in both of her hands. Luigi was nodding with a big smile on his face, eager to be freed.
"It looks like he's flying or something." Wario acknowledged, scratching his butt.
"What? Where?" Waluigi whined in a nasally voice, snatching the binoculars from him again. "Oh, un-believable!"
Wario realized during his scratching that his back pocket was empty. He felt around again to be sure, starting in surprise as he realized the key was missing.
"Huh?" Wario barked, getting out of his seat.
"What is it now?" Waluigi whined, lowering his binoculars to examine his partner with contempt.
"The key, I can't find it." Wario exclaimed, flabergasted.
"What? Nonsense!" Waluigi cried, shaking his head in disbelief.
Then, the two of them faced towards Luigi, and saw that a tiny little fairy had just removed his handcuffs using the key. Their faces grew red hot with anger, steam shooting from their nostrills and ears as they muttered something Luigi and Navi could only imagine was unpleasant under their breath.
"Oh boy." Luigi gulped.
/
Link was gliding towards the incoming cannonball with the wind at his back. While in midair, he revealed his soldiers bow. Time appeared to be in slow motion as he carefully aimed a bomb arrow at the projectile. Time resumed speed as he released the arrow, which managed to successfully strike the cannonball. This caused a great explosion, due to the fact that the cannonballs had been stuffed with bob-ombs. Link resumed his use of the paraglider so that he could safely glide to a nearby rooftop.
/
Wario and Waluigi were stomping towards Luigi and Navi. Navi flew out of sight faster than Luigi could rise to a stand. Luigi shook out his wrists, and got in a fighting stance. He danced in place with his fists up.
"I'm warning you, I know karate." Luigi cautioned, with a mean glare. "Don't come any closer."
"As if we're gonna fall for that." Waluigi scoffed, as the two of them continued towards Luigi.
"Pull this, get rid of that..." Navi sang, as the sound of a system powering down could be heard.
Wario and Waluigi barked in astonishment, turning around only to find out that Navi had just unplugged a vital cord after pressing a bunch of buttons that Luigi could only suspect she shouldn't have. An alarm started blaring, and the whole room was flashing red.
"H-HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE-"
But Waluigi was unable to finish his sentence, as Luigi's boot had met the side of his head. Luigi had nailed him with a powerful roundhouse kick. Waluigi's lanky legs then lifted off of the ground, his squashed face returning to normal as he drifted away from Luigi's extended boot. He hit the floor with a thud, sliding to a halt near the far wall.
"You're gonna regret doing that, green boy." Wario growled, cracking his knuckles with a big toothy grin on his face as he approached Luigi.
"Hiiii-" Navi cried, racing lines accompanying her tiny figure as she zoomed through the room. "YAAAAA!"
The sound of a fighters bell rung three times as Navi's extended fist had nailed Wario right in the groin.
"Ooooh." Luigi winced.
"HOOOOOO!" Wario cried with a small fart, holding onto his groin with both hands as he went cross eyed. He fell onto his side, stiff as a board.
"Come on." Navi ordered, flying to a nearby emergency parachute that was hanging on the far wall. "We need to get out of here, quickly!"
"Okey-dokey!" Luigi acknowledged, running over to the parachute and equipping it immediately.
Luigi and Navi then ran across to the other side of the room, passing both Wario and Waluigi, who were downed on the ground with comedic tears streaming down their faces. They slid open a side door on the blimp canopy, and Navi flew out of it immediately.
"Luigi!" She cried, Mushroom City far below her.
Luigi's legs were trembling as he stood on the edge of the canopy. His anxiety caused the buildings below to swirl and mesh into an incoherent mess. Luigi tried to speak, but found that no words would come out.
"Luigi, jump!" Navi encouraged. "It'll be okay!"
"I-I..." Luigi stuttered, too anxious to speak.
/
"Hm?" Link softly barked, looking through his shiekah slate from a distant rooftop. The blimp was smoking black with dancing electricity all over it, which illustrated that it was malfunctioning. He could see Luigi in the canopy, equipped with a parachute but hesitant to jump.
"Oh! Navi found Luigi!" Link exclaimed, lowering the Shiekah Slate. He dug into his pockets for his cellphone. "I should tell the others that we've found him!"
Link opened his cellphone, but gasped out loud when he saw the group chat. He finally read the text Daisy had sent, his blue eyes trembling. He proceeded to text a reply.
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."
Link: "Sorry we're late! I don't know about Mario and Peach, but we found Luigi, and we'll be heading straight there! Hang tight!"
Link closed his phone, placing it back in his pockets. For the time being, he could only hope that they were okay.
/
"Luigi, we don't have much time!" Navi pressured, speaking with impatient hands. "You have to jump!"
Luigi was still hesitant, but then saw that both Waluigi and Wario were rising back to a stand. He faced forward and gulped. He closed his eyes, and didn't think about a thing. He just jumped.
"That's the way!" Navi exclaimed, darting with a chime as she started to descend with him.
"WHOOOOOOOOA-HO-HO-HOOOA!" Luigi cried, as he proceeded to free fall down into Mushroom City.
/
"You're just gonna sit up there?" Giga Bowser taunted, shaking his head.
Mario was still crouched on the nearby rooftop. His hand had started to feel better. Bowsers only ranged attacks were fire based, and he was apparently not willing to jump that high.
"Fine then." Giga Bowser calmly accepted, turning towards Peach. An evil grimace spread across his repugnant face. "I guess that just means Peach is all mine for the taking."
Peach gasped, stepping back with the Geno doll still in her arms. Mario had gasped as well. Giga Bowser proceeded to stomp towards her, but before he could even complete his second step, Mario was already charging towards him. He was like a blur as he hopped down from the building, onto the nearby street vendor, and finally onto the cobblestone street. Mario raced towards Giga Bowsers tail, his focus sharp.
"Predictable!" Giga Bowser cried, turning 180 degrees sharply and quickly.
Mario's eyes widened as a vicious punch was headed straight for him. He instinctively did a power slide right towards Giga Bowsers feet in order to dodge it, but he realized afterwards that this was a bad move. Giga Bowser used his other hand to scratch the defenseless Mario with claws that were dripping with poison.
The entire world went red, the lying Mario and standing Giga Bowser appearing as black silhouettes, which provided sharp contrast. Mario was lying with his head tilted back, torn clothes and a small amount of blood flying up from his figure. Giga Bowser was standing menacingly above him, his claws dripping with poison.
Mario had three sharp scratches across his chest, which had ripped his clothes precisely where he had been scratched. The wounds were a pale green. Mario's vision was blurry, his breathing heavy. Peach's eyes were trembling, her hands covering her mouth in sheer horror.
"That's my poison claw attack, courtesy of the Goddess Star." Giga Bowser grinned. A drop of poison had fallen from his claw and struck the cobblestone, which proceeded to corrode it. "It's not only super potent, but fast acting, too. I'd say you've only got a couple of minutes to live, at best."
"MARIO!" Peach screamed at the top of her lungs, tears flying from her face.
Mario was trying his best to concentrate on his breathing, as he could do nothing else. He was completely at Giga Bowsers mercy. He had lost. Majora and Saria from the Jail of Souls had entered his cognition for a brief moment. Then again.
"No..." Mario softly wheezed, struggling to keep his eyes open.
"BWAHAHAHA!" Giga Bowser roared, with a triumphant pose. He laughed again. "BWAHAHAHA!"
Princess Peach's eyes were concealed in shadow as she gently placed the Geno doll against a nearby building.
"You have lost!" Giga Bowser cheered, with clenched fists. "At long last, I have finally put an end to my arch-nemesis, Mario!"
Then, there was the sound of shattering glass against the cobblestone. Giga Bowser had turned his head slowly towards Peach, his menacing eyes filled with rage from what he saw.
But he wasn't even half as pissed off as Princess Peach was. There on the cobblestone before her was the pink coloured Goddess Star Link had granted her. Freed from its jar, the Goddess Star was emitting a faint but energetic wind, which blew Princess Peach's golden blonde hair gently. Her dressed swayed like a dying bell.
"You..." Giga Bowser deeply scolded. He looked so angry at the fact that Peach had a Goddess Star, as if she wasn't entitled to have one. "You have a Goddess Star?"
"That's right. And I'm going to use it to take you down, right now!" Peach challenged, with great conviction. There was a pink light cast upon her angry, determined expression.
She raised her arms up heroically, and the pink Goddess Star proceeded to lift off of the ground. Once it reached about chest level, it hovered there for a moment, rotating in place and shining a blinding light. Giga Bowser shielded his eyes with a massive forearm. Mario was cast in the bright light as he laid face up on the cobblestone. He was concentrating on his breathing, which was getting progressively harder. Peach kept her blue eyes wide open, even as the light before her got so bright that the entire world was nothing but white light.
Finally, the light had dimmed down. Giga Bowser lowered his forearm with squinted eyes. His eyes widened at what he had saw.
There Princess Peach was, yellow diamond light sparkling all around her levitating form. She was facing skyward with closed eyes, her white gloved hands clasped together. Her dress had been upgraded greatly. It was no longer the plain pink dress that she always wore. This new dress was pink as well, but it was multi-layered, with white lace along the bottom and parting from the bodice. Intricate gold designs subtly bordered the bottom of the dress on both the inner and outer faces.
She slowly lowered, her red high heels eventually meeting the cobblestone. She opened her eyes as she stood tall, her expression determined. Giga Bowser watched with a stunned look as she raised her right hand. She was looking at it, and he was stunned to see a pink parasol magically appear with yellow diamond light. She waved her left hand, and magic pink hearts of various sizes followed her hand movement.
"I have acquired the power of the Heart Star." Peach informed. She twirled the pink parasol, placing a hand on her hip. She winked with a playful giggle. "And now, it is time to bring you down!"