Chapter 16: A Change In Plans?

Geno's eyes were trembling as he peered over the edge of the Star Ship. The smoke and flames from Links bomb arrow had completely dissipated by this point. Bowser stood there completely unharmed. However, his white wedding suit could not avoid getting scorched in various places.

From behind Bowser, Peach and Daisy could see that Geno was peering down off of the edge of the vessel with a lifeless and horrified expression on his face.

"What is going on with Geno?" Daisy gasped.

"I-I don't see Mario..." Peach muttered, her eyes trembling. She wrapped herself around Daisy's arm as tears welled in her eyes. "Daisy, I think he might have fallen down!"

"What? It can't be." Daisy declined, her eyes narrowing. "He wouldn't just fall like that, would he?"

"Bwahahaha!" Bowser laughed, folding his arms disapprovingly. "Was this supposed to be a rescue? Some plan! Sorry girls, it looks like your hero just went and killed himself!"

Daisy did her best to remain calm, but was struggling. Furthermore, Peach was growing increasingly more anxious. Daisy shook her head, thinking about what Mario had said to her before.

{"My apologies, but who exactly are you, Daisy?" Link questioned, unsure of her identity.

Daisy hesitated, breaking eye contact with Link. "I am the Princess of Sarasaland. Well, at least I was."

"Wait, was? What happened?" Navi questioned, flying forward with a chime.

"Exiled." Daisy answered, her expression somber. She did her best to stay strong. "My kingdom has been overtaken by a... despicable, reprehensible villain by the name of Grodus."

"Grodus is evil." Mario added, with a clenched fist. "But don't worry. Soon enough, I'm gonna beat him up and win back Sarasaland for you. That's a promise."}

(You promised...) Daisy thought to herself, her eyes filled with determination. (There's just no way you would die here!)

"Oh ho? What's this?" Kammy Koopa giggled, marching towards Bowser's side happily. "Has Mario taken a fall? Oh, how delightful!"

"Peach..." Daisy quietly summoned, the two of them currently unsupervised behind the elated Bowser and Kammy. "Something's not right here..."

"Hm?" Peach softly barked, lifting her face up to look Daisy in the eyes. She saw that Daisy was looking at the strange ship that Geno, Rosalina, and Link were on. Peach focused her attention to the others. She saw that while Geno looked extremely distressed, Link appeared to be rather calm.

(That's weird...) Peach thought, blinking while somewhat puzzled. Her eyebrows raised as she saw Link lock eyes with her, giving her a slow but sure nod.

"Oh!" Peach softly barked. She continued speaking more quietly. "Yes, of course! That's it!"

"What? What's it?" Daisy questioned, watching Peach slowly march towards her guffawing captors. "P-Peach! Hey!"

"NYEAH HYEAH HYEAH!" Kammy Koopa laughed. "Oh, what a joyous day this is! What a moron!"

Peach's eyes were concealed in shadow from her blonde bangs as she slowly marched towards them from behind.

"Wow, I can't believe it." Bowser laughed, wiping a tear from his eye from laughing so hard. "I would have expected Mario to do a little better than this! BWAHAHAHA! Obviously I thought too highly of him!"

Peach opened her clenched fist down at her side and spread her fingers, glowing pink hearts dancing around her hand and up her arm. "Umm, excuse me... Bowser?"

"Huh?" Bowser barked, turning around with a closed eyed expression of glee. "Yes, my lovely wife? What is it?"

But there was no response. Upon feeling a strange sensation, Bowser opened his eyes and saw that Princess Peach had brought her hands together and struck him right in the stomach with a magical attack. Glassy hearts swirled around her hands and shattered around the impact point with a piercing crash.

"HEART SHARD!" Peach cried.

"U-Uuurrrk!" Bowser cried, his teeth clenched and eyes whited out. His defenses had been nullified. He fell to his knees, placing a hand on his stomach where he had been struck. (I can't... transform?)

"L-Lord Bowser!" Kammy Koopa shrieked, her hands up in alarm. "Oh no, what has happened to you?"

"Peach! What are you doing?" Daisy snapped, fists clenched at her sides. "Are you TRYING to make him mad?"

"NOW!" Geno cried, pointing forward with a wooden finger.

"H-Huh?" Daisy and Kammy Koopa barked, turning towards the floating vessel with great confusion.

Geno was no longer shocked and terrified, rather, he was standing proudly with folded arms, his blue cape blowing in the wind. Link had another bomb arrow at the ready, sparks emitting from the arrowhead. Bowser turned his head slowly with great anger in his eyes.

"Don't worry big guy, this one isn't for you." Geno smugly winked. He pointed a wooden finger at a lower point than the ledge where they all were gathered. There Mario was, hanging onto part of the castle wall for his life. He was obscured from the view from the ledge where Bowser stood. "FIRE!"

Link released the bomb arrow, which swallowed Mario in a fiery explosion upon impact. It simultaneously created an updraft, which caused the now-inflated Mario to rise up to the opening that had been created. Mario concentrated the excess flame down into his legs, which were now red hot. He stood tall in the area where Bowser and the others were gathered, smoking rising from the bottoms of his boots.

"Mario!" Peach gasped, relieved to see that he was alright.

"Jeez, don't scare us like that!" Daisy growled, fists on her hips.

"MARIO!" Bowser growled, gritting his teeth as remained on his knees from Peach's prior attack.

"I'm not here for you." Mario flatly explained. "And I'm not here for the girls, either..."

"W-What?" Bowser weakly gasped. Peach, Daisy, and Kammy appeared to be just as perplexed. "Then, why are you here?"

"I'm just here to show you that we can come up here anytime we want." Mario explained. He nodded his head back to the odd vehicle Geno and the others were hovering on.

"Speak sense, you moronic twit!" Kammy Koopa spat with fury.

"So don't get too comfortable, Bowser." Mario warned, with seriousness. "We can come crash this wedding of yours at anytime. So, bye-bye for now!"

"Damn you..." Bowser cursed, growling under his breath. "Capture him!"

But Mario had already used his fiery legs to hop all the way back to the Star Ship. It rocked vigorously as he landed.

"C-Can't... take... much more..." Rosalina whined, desperately trying not to puke over the side.

"Link, grab the Map. We're going back to Bowser's Shadow Realm." Geno ordered, speeding away from the Castle and towards he ground. "And great work, Mario. I can't imagine how hard it was for you to not try and save the others back there."

"This had better work." Mario sighed. "If we end up needing to beat him up, he'll be way more prepared for us now."

"Mm, true, he's no doubt more vigilant now." Geno assured. "Hmm... I wonder how that will impact the Shadow Realm..."

"I thought... you knew all of this stuff already?" Rosalina managed to muster.

"Well, I don't know everything." Geno admitted, with a shrug. "I'm new to this too, you know!"

"I've got the map ready." Link informed, the four of them were a good distance away from Bowser's Castle by now.

Before any of them could speak, they proceeded to vanish while sparkling with uniquely coloured light. Mario sparkled with red light, Link with green light, Rosalina with blue light, and Geno with yellow light. The magical map was sparkling as well, and all of the coloured light went into the purple Shadow Realm icon that was pulsating on the map. Once they had each disappeared into the magical map, the magical map folded in on itself until it disappeared completely.

Back in Bowser's Castle, Bowser was standing tall once again. His fists were clenched in anger, eyebrows furrowed.

"U-Umm, L-Lord Bowser?" Kammy Koopa meekly inquired, cowering in place.

"Why are you still here?!" Bowser erupted. "Tighten the defenses! Repair the castle wall! And why aren't these girls back in their rooms?!"

"Eeek! Y-Y-Yes, Lord B-Bowser!" Kammy Koopa squeaked, her arms nervously raised. She turned to the girls with a scowl on her face. "You two! Get back to your rooms already! Go!"

Peach and Daisy did not hesitate to obey. However, they were each still a little dazed from before. Why did the others come all this way just for that, they thought. Regardless, Peach and Daisy had decided to believe in them.

Bowser was now standing alone, lost in his thoughts. He looked nervous. "What am I going to do? Can Mario really ruin this wedding?"

With a flash, his Shadow appeared superimposed over himself. It looked like Bowser, but with calm purple flames surrounding his figure and golden glowing beads for eyes. A Shadow is a physical manifestation of the darkest parts of oneself, the parts that one keeps hidden, or denies outright. Bowser's Shadow reigns supreme in his distorted Shadow Realm.

Bowser's Shadow: "How dare they threaten me! Don't they know who they are dealing with?!"

A black silhouette of Bowser with folded arms, furrowed eyebrows, and a grin hovered above him. Beneath his silhouette was an empty bar with a percentage indicator in block font. An alarm sounded as the bar filled from 0% to 50%. The half filled bar was pulsating a cautious yellow.

A Hammer Bro approached Bowser from behind, confused that Bowser was just standing there in thought. "Umm, sir?"

"Hrk?" Bowser grunted, turning towards him. "What are you doing here? Can't you see I'm busy right now?!"

"Err umm, yes sir!" The Hammer Bro meekly acknowledged. He gave a salute and nodded. "Sorry to bother you, sir!" And with that, the Hammer Bro left.

Bowser sighed and shook his head. "Damn you, Mario... just what are you scheming?"