This story is about to end in two more chapters!

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Chapter 18: Shroob Castle

After the ride in the Time Hole, the heroes emerged out in the castle's sewers. They went back to the throne room to meet up with E. Gadd.

"Oh! Welcome back, fellers!" E. Gadd greeted. "You've collected quite a few of the Cobalt Shards now, haven't you?"

"Yes, professor. We now have five in total." Tails told.

"Why, if that's the case… There's only one more to go!"

"Professor! We have data! About that Cobalt Star… It appears that one of its shards possesses the power to remove the barrier from the past castle!" Stuffwell informed.

"Hmm… How'd you come to that conclusion? I mean, unless the Cobalt Star itself told you…"

"It DID! The spirit of the star materialated before us and gave us that very information!"

"I see… Well, if you got it straight from the star's mouth, it's probably accurate."

"The end's in sight, guys! We'll think good thoughts until you're all safely back here!" Toad exclaimed.

"That's how you say it!" Sonic grinned.

"Alright, the Time Hole to Peach's Castle of the Past is on the third floor." Veronica said.

"Got it! Let's storm that castle!"

The heroes followed Veronica to the castle's third floor, where there were statues of Princess Peach surrounding the Time Hole. The group looked at each other with confidence before leaping in.

They were taken to the entrance of the now named Shroob Castle: it was all dark and gloomy with Shroob Mushrooms growing everywhere and an eerie purple glow was surrounding this area.

"Ooh… This place is too dark!" Baby Luigi shuddered as he buries his face on Luigi's shoulder.

"I actually didn't remember that your main fear before your phasmophobia was nyctophobia…" Mario admitted.

"Well, it was. It's still there, though, but a lot weaker than my phasmophobia." Luigi said.

"Oh, I see."

They noticed the front gate up ahead and went closer. They noticed that the entrance was blocked by two Shroob-like arms closing it.

"By hinges and handles! The Cobalt Star's reacting with extreme agitatification!" Stuffwell exclaimed and he opens up himself, releasing the Cobalt Star.

The Star flew towards the arms, and a bright glow surrounded it. Once the glow faded, the arms disintegrated and the front door opens. The Star flew back to Stuffwell and he stores it back inside.

"Stupendemous! Now we can gain access, if you follow. The Shroobs have certainly made this their stronghold. Loathing cycle activated. Remain alert and keep your eyeballs open, all of you! BACK TO ADVENTURE!"

"YEAH!" everyone…except Luigi cheered.

"Uh…" Luigi hesitated, but that caused everyone to stare at him.

"What did you just say?" Sonic glared.

"I…" Luigi gulped. He quickly changes his attitude and spoke with determination as he cleans his throat: "Ahem! I-I mean… Yes! Let's do it!"

"Oh, good."

"Hooray!" the four kids cheered.

They wasted no time and went inside.

In general, Shroob Castle is a Shroobified version of Peach's Castle, with its interior being the same as the original, only darker, with the Shroob emblem on the floor and carpets and more violet in coloration. There were also some Shroob Mushrooms attached to walls, the floor and ceilings, and blown up and damaged walls. The castle's sewers have also changed: it now looked more like a cellar with murky waters below and more Shroob Mushrooms were growing from the water's surface. The main enemies in patrol were Shroobsworths, Shroob Rexes and Soul Bubbles.

Once they reached the first floor, they had to once again connect lasers by some monitors just like they did it in Gritzy Desert to open the passage to the Koopaseum. They split up, went to each corner with their younger selves, and navigated into the corridors until they reached the monitors and waited for Veronica to give each of them the signals.

Once all of the lasers were activated, they activated an orb that just turned into a purple exclamation point block. They hit it and gained access to the castle's second floor.

There, as soon as they arrived at the catwalk, they were surprised by two Shroob Saucers who tried to shoot them with their blasts.

"I believe those saucers overhead are preventing our progression." Stuffwell informed. "I wonder if there's any way to chase them off… For the time being, let's look for an alternativated route!"

"Sounds like a good idea." Mario nodded.

They turned back and passed by what used to be the castle's library and found an opening on the brick walls and went through. Eventually, they managed to reach the dark staircase that would lead them to the Shroob Mother Ship at the top.

Once up there, they opened the door to the mother ship and went inside.

Just then, the door shut behind them, and the ship shook a little, startling the group. The mother ship was actually taking off to the skies, something that they least expected.

"Did the mother ship just begin to move all by itself?" Young Sonic asked.

"It appears to be so." Veronica confirmed.

"Wait… That gave me an idea!" Luigi snapped his fingers. "We could try to control this ship and send those Shroob Saucers to obliteration!"

"Of course! BRILLIANT!" Stuffwell exclaimed. "And all thanks to Luigi! Quite an accomplishment!" this left Luigi speechless. "Now as for the controls…" Stuffwell walked towards the control panel and a cable that looked like a SATA data cable came out from him and connected it to the panel. "Hmm… Of course…" an exclamation point showed up on his monitor. "I've got it!"

Stuffwell explained to them about how to control the mother ship. They used it to blast against the Shroob Saucers. They succeeded and the ship went back down. Now they were able to go further on the catwalks without any Saucer stopping them.

With that, they at last reached the third floor of the castle, where a statue of Princess Shroob was replacing the main tower. They solved a couple of puzzles in order to access the statue's interior.

Inside, they stumbled upon a monitor up ahead. But what was surprising is that there was someone rather familiar being shown on the monitor. It was Princess Peach! She was pacing back and forth while saddened and she wasn't wearing her crown on her head.

"Look! There she is!" Mario exclaimed.

Everyone tried calling for her, but she was unable to listen to them.

"Hmm… It appears that she can neither see nor hear us…" Veronica pondered.

"So what do we do?" Luigi asked.

"Come on, Peach! SAY SOMETHING!" Baby Mario whacks his hammer on the panel to try to call her attention.

"Hey, settle down, me!" Mario told him.

"Ah!" just then, Peach somehow was able to hear Mario's voice! "That voice! Is that Mario? He's come for me!"

"OH!" the heroes' eyes widened, before big smiles showed up on their faces.

"Peach! Can you actually hear us?!" Baby Mario exclaimed.

"Well! It is POSSIBLE the impact completed the circuit…" Stuffwell pointed out.

"Boys! Help me! I'm locked in a room all the way at the top of the statue!" Peach told them. "But… But how are you…"

All of a sudden, the transmission ended unexpectedly.

"Oh, god damn it! Why did it have to shut down?!" Sonic complained.

"The monitorization equipment seems destructified…" Stuffwell inspected.

"Oh no!" Luigi cried out.

"And yet we've learned that Princess Peach is safe." Stuffwell finished.

"I'm pretty sure that pipe over there might lead us to the upper level." Baby Mario pointed to a blue pipe at the left corner.

"All right! Come on, everyone!" Young Sonic exclaimed as they went down the pipe.

Unfortunately, a Chain Chomp was swimming around the murky waters of the pipeline and accidentally rammed into the pipe making a U-turn, and it moved to the upside down U-turn pipe, taking the heroes to the underground instead.

"What the-?! NO!" Mario shouted in shock. "We'll be taken to the sewers!"

"SAY WHAT?!" Sonic yelled in unbelief.

"WHOOOOOOOAAAAAA!" the heroes screamed as they went down the pipe.

*THUD!*

They landed on the ground hard.

"Owch…" Sonic groaned.

"Uh… Is this actually the sewers, Mario?" Tails looked around.

"Whoa… Even the sewers has changed?" Mario was surprised.

"Now this feels more like a cellar…" Luigi said.

"Well, being the sewers or a cellar, we have to find a way to get back up." Young Sonic stated.

"But how?" Baby Luigi asked.

"Maybe we should explore this place and search for clues." Young Tails suggested.

"Good idea. Let's go." Veronica said.

As they walked around the sewers, the first thing they were disgusted about were the murky waters. They solved more puzzles, and they were even harder than the ones in the castle's upper floors. Later on, they reached a dead end, until the same Chomp came out of the water and ate a purple exclamation point block and went inside one of the green pipes above. At the same time, four Laser Blocks showed up from the other green pipes.

"Looks like we'll have to take that Chomp down if we want to get out of the sewers." Mario stated.

They went to each of the Laser Blocks and hit them. Eventually, four lasers materialized and they blasted towards the Chain Chomp, defeating it and the block fell down to where it used to be. Finally, the heroes hit the block, and the spikes on the path to the exit retreated, allowing them to cross it to reach the blue pipe, taking them out of the sewers.

"FINALLY we're out of that murky place!" Sonic shouted.

"And it looks like we've reached another part of the castle's first floor." Veronica said. "I can see two more monitors that we'll have to activate."

They once again split up to activate the two monitors. After that, the lasers met into a blue orb and it became a blue pipe. The heroes went there and went inside this newly opened pipe.

Turns out that this pipe leads to another one, and that one was a shortcut leading to the upper part of the statue. Now, all they had to do was to make their way to the top so that they could finally find Peach.

When they were halfway to the top, Stuffwell came out from Mario's pocket and told everyone:

"My sensors are pinging! Yes, no doubt about it! The Cobalt Star's acting fully insanitized!" he lets the Cobalt Star free. "It's trying to tell us something… Let me interpret. 'Thank you all for everything you've done. Now we must part.' At least, that's what I BELIEVE it's saying."

"What?!" the heroes except Veronica were surprised.

Just then, the Cobalt Star flew towards Veronica, who backed away a bit.

"W-What do you want?" she was frightened.

"Hmm, let me see… 'You boys, please continue looking for Princess Peach. In the meanwhile, I and Veronica will try to ascertain the whereabouts of Princess Shroob.' That is the generalized gist." Stuffwell finished.

The Cobalt Star makes a blue aura appear around Veronica's body and drags her to the room up ahead.

"I can't move! What are you doing?!" she yelped as she was dragged into the next room.

"Veronica!" the boys cried out.

"And it's gone…with Veronica." Stuffwell sweatdropped.

"This is so strange; why did the Cobalt Star drag Veronica like that?" Tails questioned.

"Maybe it's because the Cobalt Star has something against her?" Baby Luigi guessed.

"No way! That's impossible! And…well… Ugh! This is so confusing!" Young Sonic grumbled.

"Yeah, my head is hurting just thinking about it." Luigi threw in.

"We can worry about Veronica later. For now, we must hurry and join up with the princess." Stuffwell stated.

"You're right." Mario nodded as they went on ahead. "And maybe we can figure out the truth that Veronica kept hiding from us…" he thought.

Once they opened the final door, the group took a deep breath and went inside.

They emerged into a futuristic-looking chamber, and what was up ahead? Princess Peach! She was trapped inside a light blue ring barrier.

"*gasp* Mario! Luigi! Sonic! Tails!" Peach exclaimed in happiness.

"Peach!" the adult boys exclaimed back as they walked to the left side of the chamber and approached Peach.

"Thank you so much for coming all this way." Peach smiled. Then, she saw the younger versions of Mario, Luigi, Sonic and Tails walking towards her. "Oh!" her eyes widened in surprise.

"Hi, older Peach!" Baby Mario waved.

"Who are those adorable little tykes?" Peach wondered.

"Don't you recognize us, princess?" Young Sonic winked.

"Oh… Could you be? Why, you all are Mario, Luigi, Sonic and Tails, aren't you?" Peach guessed. The kids nodded. "Yes! The Mario, Luigi, Sonic and Tails of this past time period! So good to see you safe!"

"Hmm… How do we get rid of this barrier?" Baby Mario pondered. He then takes out his hammer. "That'll do it!" he whacks the barrier continuously.

"He and his hammer… All the time." Young Sonic rolled his eyes.

"This area's guarded by some mysterious Shroob energy field, I'm afraid..." Peach lamented. "It's not going to be easy to get around it."

"I… I guess you might be right." Baby Mario stops whacking the barrier.

"By the way, how did you manage to come this far? I thought the Shroobs put up a barrier around the castle entrance, too."

"Heh! It's all thanks to the Cobalt Star's middle shard that we were able to access!" Sonic grinned while rubbing his finger under his nose before snapping his fingers.

"What? The Cobalt Star?" Peach questioned.

"Yup!"

"No!" Peach suddenly shouted in horror as she backs away, leaving the heroes confused. "But that's… It can't… Could that…be…?" she murmured. She then let out a deep sigh and told: "Boys… You all must listen to me. I, um, you see… The Cobalt Star…"

*BOOOOOOM!*

Before Peach could explain, all of a sudden, a loud explosion came and the whole place shook, startling everyone. It turns out that the mother ship was attacking the heroes by blasting at the statue's exterior. The deck showed Princess Shroob commanding the ship for the attack.

")%*!" she yelled. The mother ship continues to attack.

"Everyone!" Stuffwell called out. "We are in a dire predicament! We must stop the mother ship or this place will squishify!"

"That reminds me, I think there's a saucer port upstairs." Peach said. "Maybe you could do something if you find a way up there!"

"Great! Let's take a look!" Tails exclaimed. "If we can get a saucer, we still may be able to stop that mother ship!"

"But… What about you, Peach?" Baby Mario asked worriedly as he walks back to Peach.

"Hurry up, all of you!" Peach demanded. She then turns to Baby Mario. "And don't worry about me. I'll stay here and wish for your safe return."

"B-But… Peach…" Baby Mario whimpered; he really didn't want to leave Peach alone.

"Thank you… Baby Mario." Peach smiled softly at him.

"Okay… We'll be back for you, Peach. We promise." Baby Mario assured as he climbs on Mario's back for a piggyback.

"Everyone… Save the Mushroom Kingdom. I beg of you!"

"We'll do it!" Mario grinned while nodding.

"Yeah!" the rest of the heroes joined in.

With that, they left the room and made their way to the very top of the statue. Once they reached the Mushroom Cap of the statue, it appears that the interior was similar to the mother ship's interior.

"So the cap of the statue is a saucer? Cool!" Young Sonic grinned.

Eventually, the cap saucer rose up and was now flying in the air, reaching the same height as the mother ship. The heroes assumed their positions and were now ready to battle against the mother ship in classic space war style.

"Let's get this baby in action!" Sonic smirked.

The mother ship's weakness was its mushroom cap-shaped dome. So the heroes had to direct their saucer to the exact height of the dome before shooting. This airbone battle wasn't going to be that easy, though; the mother ship sent out Shroob Saucers for protection. Thankfully, the heroes could pierce through multiple Saucers with their saucer's blasts.

Once this intense battle was won for the heroes, they watched the mother ship stating to malfunction as it slowly descends down towards the statue, and it collided into the wall. The saucer returned to its proper place and the heroes hurried back outside.

To be continued…

The final battles draw near... Until then! Please review.