Chapter 10: The First Trial
"Hyaaaaaaah!" Link cried, as he fell down into a dark abyss.
"Eyaaaaah!" Rosalina cried, as she fell down into a dark abyss.
"A-wa-wa-wa-whoa-whoa-whoa!" Mario cried, grasping at the air as he fell down with a surprised expression on his face.
A bright light flashed and held its intensity for a moment, and then faded. Link landed softly in a dark room with a lone grass mound that was oddly lit up, as if a spotlight was shining down on it. He landed right on the top of the short mound bare feet first. Rosalina had landed on the lower back side of the hill bare feet first. She was not wearing her usual clothes, but instead a tattered blue dress that stopped before her knees. Link had only blue shorts, his regular clothing gone. This was not the case moments before as they fell through the abyss. Finally Mario had arrived, landing on his rump near the small mounds top. Uncontrollably rolling forwards down the hill, he abruptly stopped at the foot flat on his face. He was only wearing shorts, exactly the same as Links but red. He still had his signature hat.
"Is everyone alright?" Link questioned, surveying the two of them.
"Yeah..." Rosalina softly answered, pointlessly surveying the dark. "It's really dark down here."
"Oof!" Mario barked, lifting his head from the ground and shaking it. He then brought himself to a stand and looked around with clenched fists. "Hm? Where are we?"
"I can't say..." Link had said, surveying the area as well. He looked down with closed eyes. "First that strange portal appeared below the three of us... and now we're here."
"Right." Mario recalled. "That sure was strange."
"What happened to my normal clothes?" Rosalina calmly complained, feeling the material of the tattered dress between her thumbs and index fingers. "I look... cheap in this."
"And we're barely dressed." Mario added, with a shrug.
"H-Hey, all of my stuff is gone!" Link gasped, noticing he was missing everything. He located the Sheikah Slate on his hip. "Well, except for my Sheikah Slate... Blast, even my sake is gone!"
"It's dark, cold, my butt hurts, and I can hardly see a thing..." Rosalina complained, while looking downward a hint of sadness on her face, her arms folded. "What a pain."
"Here, I can help with that." Mario assured, raising his fist. He ignited it with flame, which served as a torch. Some visibility had been provided. The silhouette of a few nearby trees and some shallow water could now be seen.
"Remarkable!" Link gasped, stepping back in shock. "How exactly can you do that? Are you some sort of a magician?"
"Hey, hey! You can do magic tricks?" Rosalina beckoned, leaning forward with widened eyes and clenched fists of excitement.
"After everything you've been through, you're interested in magic tricks?" Mario critiqued, rather skeptical. His fist remained a flame as he nodded to it. "Besides, you know very well why I can do this."
"Oh, that's right. The power of the Goddess Star..." Rosalina frowned, her face now filled with angry disappointment. "Aww, you actually had me excited for a second. But you're just a phoney..."
"I-I never said I was a magician!" Mario protested, standing back a step in alarm.
"Say, what exactly is a Goddess Star?" Link asked, rubbing his chin in curious thought.
"Oh... explaining that again would be a pain..." Rosalina sighed, defeated by the mere thought.
"Er, basically, Princess Rosalina was surrounded by "the Goddesses energy" as she soared through space for the last one thousand or so years for whatever reason." Mario proceeded to explain, with an informative hand.
"There's a reason!" Rosalina insisted, calmly pointing an assertive finger. She looked downward with a frown, mildly scratching her head. "I just... don't remember it."
"As she crashed down into our world, that energy left her in the form of Goddess Stars. If you touch one, you acquire its contained power." Mario concluded. "Is that right?"
"Close enough." Rosalina granted.
"Oh, is that so? As a matter of fact, I think I know just exactly what you are talking about..." Link informed, lightly pounding a fist on his bare palm in understanding.
"Oh really?" Mario inquired, not skeptical at all.
"I just so happened to have found one lying about during my journey to the castle." Link explained. Behind his head was a colourful child-like drawing of him marching up a blue hill with eyes towards a sparkling pink star. With his next sentence, Link swiped the star with an empty bottle and held it up high for Navi to see. "Although I don't have it on me at the moment, I did store it inside of a bottle. It should be with the rest of my belongings."
"Wait... so you didn't touch it?" Rosalina asked, finger on her chin in dopey-eyed thought.
"Nope. I could sense that it was extremely dangerous." Link answered.
"Dangerous? I don't think there's anything dangerous about a Goddess Star..." Rosalina calmly argued, looking off in the distance, her speech slow.
"Oh!" Mario barked. He paused to look down and off to the right, free hand on his chin in contemplative thought. (Would now be a good time to bring up Majora and the Jail of Souls? Hmm...)
"Hey! Are you guys just gonna talk and talk forever?"
An exclamation mark of appropriate colour appeared over each of their heads. They proceeded to look around, trying to discern where the odd voice had come from. It was a youthful voice, and difficult to tell if it was male or female.
"I mean, I'm happy you guys are getting along and all, but I need you to get really good at working together, you see."
"Who are you?" Mario demanded, his figure rather heroic despite his lack of clothing. He searched around cautiously with his fiery fist.
"I am the ruler of everything..." The voice spoke with a sarcastic, spooky tone. "*snicker*..."
"Did you bring us here?" Link demanded, his voice and posture more lax than his fiery friend.
"Yup, you bet! You three, are my "chosen ones"..."
"Again with that sarcastic tone?" Mario sighed, with a shrug of protest.
"He sounds like he is mocking us..." Link warned, his eyes narrowed.
"He?" Rosalina calmly barked, a pale blue question mark wobbling above her head before fading away. "I thought for sure that it was a she..."
"Never mind what I am! I brought you three here so that you could prove to me that you've got what it takes!"
"Got what it takes? To do what?" Mario questioned, his teeth clenched as he surveyed pointlessly in the darkness. Link and Rosalina were more relaxed, having accepted that they could not find the source of the voice.
"What it takes to help me save the world! A terrible, malevolent force is rising from the depths... If something isn't done, your world will be destroyed in a great cataclysm!"
"What? Seriously?" Mario gawked in horror, believing it immediately.
"Don't be so quick to believe them..." Link calmly warned, his back facing Mario as he stared into nothing. "Unless of course, you speak of Ganon."
"No." Rosalina declined. Her tone was much more serious than usual. She had captivated Link and Mario. She was thinking about what she had read earlier, what she had meant to tell everyone before they had been transported here. "We should believe them... just... trust me for now."
Mario and Link were silent, facing each other. They didn't say anything, not seeming to be willing to argue or refute the proposition.
"Alright." Mario surrendered, agreeing immediately.
"If you say so." Link surrendered, scratching his head while looking down with uncertainty.
"That's the spirit! Now, I've gathered the three of you here so that you could attempt my... trials, of sorts. I need to see if you three have what it takes to help me save your world!"
"There is a lot you have yet to explain..." Link calmly urged.
"I'll explain more once I meet up with you guys in your world. That is of course, if you can pass my trials."
"So wait, let me get this straight..." Mario paused, trying to contemplate. "You took us from our world, and brought us to this strange place, so that you could test us to see if we are the right people to help you save our world?"
"That's right. But not just to test. I also want you to train. You guys need to be really good at working together. I mean, really tight teamwork. That's why I borrowed all of your stuff, so that you would need to rely on each other more, and not on your trinkets."
"You certainly are a talkative one." Link playfully sniped, with a shrug of protest.
"Ha-ha."
"Well, pass or not we're kind of already planning to do the whole "save the world from an incoming evil" thing, since right now we're trying to figure out how to deal with Grodus and err... what was his name?" Mario had seemed to have forgotten the name, rubbing the back of his head with his free hand.
"Ganon." Link reminded, with a nod.
"Right, Ganon." Mario nodded. "So, we're already working on saving the world, and we're already a team. Oh! Do you want to join us?, Mr. uhh..."
"W-Wait just a sec. Look. You see, I've been listening in on you guys, and there actually might be a way to use Grodus and Ganons defeat to help us fight against this other evil I'm talking about. Again, I'll explain in more detail if you complete the trials. Right now I just need you to show me that my hunch was right!"
"What a pain..." Rosalina frowned, looking downward with a hopeless expression. "All of this work over a hunch?"
"So even if we manage to defeat Ganon and Grodus on our own, you're saying that there's something worse on the way? That you, apparently, know how to deal with?" Link summarized.
"Yup! Far worse, in fact. And you can bet your bottom dollar I know a way to deal with it. So do you want to be tested or not?"
"I mean, it's worth a shot." Mario accepted, before giving the others time to protest. "The more help we get, the better."
"But-"
Rosalina was cut off by the strange voice, who was apparently eager to get things started.
"Great! Let's begin the trials, then! Anyway, I'll be going now to observe how you do, so best of luck to you guys! I'm sure you can do it!"
With that, the area illuminated. It was no longer pitch black, but it was still somewhat dark. Mario, Link, and Rosalina discovered that the area was a small grass forest in the confines of a square. The walls were steel and endless in height, eventually rising into total darkness above. On the far wall was a drawing of a wingless, snake like dragon that was eating its own tail. There was a shallow stream across the middle, which almost served as a boundary for arbitrary halves. The far top right section had a large stone mound. Mario, Link, and Rosalina were gathered in the bottom left.
"Should we have agreed so hastily?" Rosalina pondered, in dopey eyed thought.
"Well, it's too late now." Mario shrugged. "Besides, we'll pass, and then we'll get the truth out of him."
"There are trees here. We should find something to use to cut them down, and gather some firewood." Link immediately suggested, marching forward.
"I actually think I see an axe over there..." Mario noted, hand above his eyes as he leaned forward with a point. "Behind that big stone rock."
Link directed his attention to where Mario had guided him. There was certainly a large woodcutters axe leaning against the stone wall near the large stone. It glimmered like magic, unlike the other objects here.
"Ahh, well done Mario." Link calmly praised. "This should work perfectly."
"Hey, I see apples up there!" Rosalina informed with child-like glee, her fists against her hips with pride.
"Excellent, lets gather as much food as we can." Link encouraged, walking near the stone mount now. "We might be here for awhile."
"I'll start collecting them." Mario offered, marching towards the nearby apple tree.
With that, the ground started to shake. Not vigorously, but enough to cause alarm. Exclamation marks of appropriate colour appeared over the heads of Mario, Link, and Rosalina. Link gasped as he saw silt rain from the edges of the rumbling stone mound, which proceeded to rise. It eventually stood tall as a strange faceless white stone creature, with stone legs and large boulders for fists.
- STONE TALUS -
"Hahahaha!" Link laughed, hands on his bare belly. "Well then. A trial it is indeed!"
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!" Mario screamed, still holding onto a tree after claiming some apples from its upper branches.
"Is that a big walking boulder?" Rosalina asked, finger on her chin in calm thought. "That's so cool."
"It's not just a big walking boulder!" Link sprinted, quickly claiming the axe and then sprinting away from the Stone Talus. "It's a Stone Talus. They're violent, golem-like beasts that are all over Hyrule. They're dangerous, and unfortunately we have little means to combat one right now. So let's get creative, shall we?"
"Violent?" Rosalina inquired, as it charged back it's left boulder. She had a calm tone in her voice, looking slightly skyward in wonder. "I think it's sort of cute..."
The Stone Talus then launched a rolling boulder directly at Mario.
"A-wa-wa-wa-wa!" Mario cried, jumping from the tree and landing on the ground feet first. He sprinted away as the tree was smashed into large chunks of wood.
The large boulder that had been thrown continued to roll, flattening whatever was in its path until it finally hit the far wall and smashed into smithereens.
"Wow, that was close!" Mario cried, adjusting his cap.
The Stone Talus leaned towards the earth with its left side, taking some time to pull another boulder out.
"This is our chance!" Link cried, revealing his Sheikah Slate. "Stasis!"
Then, something strange had happened. It was nothing like Mario nor Rosalina had ever seen. The Stone Talus was frozen in place, glowing yellow. Magical yellow chains from multiple directions had bounded it. The yellow energy was flashing incrementally, the rate of flashing gradually increasing with each passing second.
"Mario! Use your Goddess Power and strike it now!" Link ordered, his eyes narrowed with determination.
"What? What's happening? Attack it where?" Mario panicked, having no idea what was happening.
"Quickly! The stone! There isn't time!" Link cried, sweat present on his forehead.
"What stone? It is stone!" Mario countered, frazzled.
"Did you freeze it in place?" Rosalina questioned, stunned by the phenomenon. "How did you do that?"
Before anyone could comprehend, let alone act, the power of Stasis had worn out. The Stone Talus was free to move again, and it continued to pull out a boulder from the earth. It was now armed with two.
"Argh..." Link spat, growing irritated. "Look, we don't have time to dwell on the details. We need to act quickly!"
The Stone Talus proceeded to charge back its right boulder.
"Uhh, guys?" Rosalina intervened, nervously watching the Stone Talus ready its attack.
"Don't get so worked up!" Mario growled, toe to toe with Link. The Stone Talus had launched its boulder, which was rolling towards them. "We aren't from Hyrule, we don't know exactly whats going on!"
"Guys, watch out!" Rosalina cried while leaning forward, her fists clenched near her face.
Mario turned with clenched teeth, quick to do a backflip. He was a good enough jumper to impressively rise above the rolling boulder. Link however, was not. He tried to avoid the boulder, but was struck. It exploded on his defenseless body, causing abrasion on his back. He fell flat on his face into the nearby stream, which reddened some from the slight blood that had been drawn.
"Link!" Rosalina cried, Mario landing his backflip with a single hand against the ground.
"H-Hey, are you alright?" Mario gasped, his eyes showing slight despair.
"I'll help him, you just deal with that thing!" Rosalina ordered, dropping to a knee in the stream and lifting his face out of the water.
Mario grit his teeth, turning to the Stone Talus. It was already readying its other attack. "Damn thing. I'll take it out myself!"
Mario then ran straight for the Stone Talus, which launched a boulder at him. Mario did a single jump, the boulder rolling towards him. He landed and did another jump, landing again and then doing a triple jump. He soared directly over the boulder, and landed on top of the Stone Talus at that.
"Ha! How do you like that?" Mario smirked, bare fists on his exposed hips in pride. He proceeded to survey the top of the beast. "Now let's see..."
The Stone Talus leaned towards the right, getting ready to pull another boulder from the earth. The sudden lean had caused Mario to lose his balance a bit, his bare feet struggling to reclaim footing on the stone top.
"W-Whoa, easy there." Mario eased, his eyes meeting a strange looking stone that stuck out from the top of the beast. "Now what's this? I'll bet it's your weak point!"
Mario then went down to a squat, the Stone Talus pulling another boulder from the earth. It stood tall, but Mario was unaffected. His fist was burning a flame. He lunged towards the stone with zooming speed, animated racing lines exemplifying his movement.
"FIRE PUNCH!"
A stone crushing sound pierced the odd room as Mario struck the stone with a flaming fist. Mario was quite accustomed to smashing blocks, so punching stone did not hurt his hand in the slightest. The Stone Talus let out an eerie moan of pain, stumbling on its feet. It appeared that Mario had done some damage.
"Mario found its weakness!" Rosalina cheered while on her knees, Links head resting on her lap. They were positioned on the grass right beside the stream.
With the boulder the Stone Talus had pulled from the earth, it grabbed Mario who had spent too much time standing on its top.
"Gwah!" Mario cried, trapped in the stone grip.
"Mario!" Rosalina cried, her eyes widening some.
The Stone Talus threw Mario somewhat weakly, but the nearly naked hero smashed back first against a sturdy tree.
"Hrgh!" Mario cried, falling down onto his feet. His bare back had a bit of abrasion, but it wasn't enough to stop him.
"You okay?" Rosalina inquired, her eyes glistening with worry.
"I'm alright." Mario assured, resuming his fighting stance as he stared at the Stone Talus that only had one boulder now. "Geez, that hurt! This thing is going down!"
Just when they thought things couldn't get worse, another Stone Talus had fallen from the sky, landing far away from them. This one was black in colour, while the one they had been fighting was white in colour. It was standing tall with two black boulders already on it. It proceeded to march towards them.
- STONE TALUS -
"A-Another one?" Rosalina weakly gawked, her face filled with despair.
"Are you serious?" Mario growled, sweat present on his forehead. "There's two of them now?"
Link emit a grunt as he stood tall on his feet once again. Rosalina seemed worried.
"H-Hey, should you be standing?" Rosalina cautioned, looking up at his rough back while on her knees.
"I'm fine, thank you. That was nothing." Link dismissed, his expression dead serious. "Mario."
"Hmm?" Mario barked, directing his eyes towards Link behind him, but not facing him. He remained in his fighting stance.
The black Stone Talus continued to march towards them. The white Stone Talus was pulling another boulder from the earth below.
"I am sorry for my behaviour. I failed to keep my composure and made things difficult for us." Link apologized, his expression remaining serious. "The Stone Talus, as you now know, can be defeated by striking the stone that sticks from their tops."
Mario was silent, listening as Link continued to explain. "They are both about to throw a boulder at the same time. Get back and let me demonstrate to you what I can do with the Shiekah Slate."
"Throw a boulder at the same time?" Rosalina fret. "I don't think we'll all be able to dodge that very easily in a room this small..."
"I'm counting on you..." Mario sighed begrudgingly, not liking to retreat. He moved to the rear with Rosalina.
Link stood at the front, both Stone Talus were near. They each readied a boulder. Link lifted his Shiekah Slate, his attention directed towards the black one. "Stasis!"
Once again, the same magic happened. Yellow energy imprisoned the black Stone Talus. It was frozen in time. The white Stone Talus launched its boulder, which quickly rolled towards Link.
"That is Stasis. It is a rune -an ability of sorts- that is contained within my Shiekah Slate. It allows me to freeze time for anything, living or non-living, temporarily." Link explained, dodging the single boulder with ease.
"That's incredible!" Mario awed, his fist clenched.
"The black one will be freed soon. It will launch its boulder, so be prepared." Link warned.
Mario, Rosalina, and Link were already moved out of the way. Stasis wore off, and the black Stone Talus launched its boulder at nothing.
"That's really helpful." Rosalina calmly admitted. "But how do we fight back?"
"Well, before we can answer that, we need to figure out what everyone here can do." Link thought aloud, much more calmly than before. "I have a number of tricks up my sleeve, but lack the necessary physical power at the moment."
"I've got your physical power, right here!" Mario grinned, in a fighting stance. "Leave it to me to take them out!"
"What about you, Rosalina? What can you do?" Link asked. The white Stone Talus had launched its last boulder, and the three of them ran out of the way.
"Oh, me? Umm..." Rosalina paused, taking awhile to think. "Nothing. I think."
"I find it hard to believe you can't do anything..." Link calmly dismissed. "Try to think."
The boulder from the white Stone Talus missed them and smashed into the stone wall. It reached down into the earth to grab another. The black Stone Talus was readying the last boulder it had.
"Link! The white one is out of boulders!" Mario cried, charging towards it.
"I'll hold off the black one!" Link assured, holding up his Shiekah Slate while facing the black one with clenched teeth. "Stasis!"
The black Stone Talus was sealed once again in yellow time-stopping magic. Mario was rolling through the air in his triple jump, his right foot igniting with flame. He exited the roll with a flaming stomp that was heading directly towards the weak point of the preoccupied white Stone Talus.
"FIRE STOMP!" Mario cried, nailing the stone with a flaming kick.
The white Stone Talus moaned in pain, ripping a boulder from the earth. Mario had backflipped off of the white Stone Talus before it could perform any sort of counterattack. The stasis on the black Stone Talus had worn off, and it launched its boulder towards Link and Rosalina.
"Got him!" Mario grinned with a clenched fist as he landed on his bare feet.
"Yes, but at this rate it will take a very long time to defeat the both of them..." Link calmly fret, sprinting to avoid the boulder.
Rosalina found herself frozen, like a deer in the headlights. The black boulder was tumbling quickly towards her practically defenseless form.
"R-ROSALINA!" Mario cried, pointlessly but instinctively extending a useless hand towards her.
"Rosalina!" Link cried, stepping forward with widened eyes.
Just as it was about to strike her, she closed her teary eyes. Almost instinctively, as if the brink of death had awakened her, she brought her arms together in cross formation. Her hands were sharp, not clenched into fists.
As she performed this action, a magical clear blue barrier had formed around her. It was just like the one that formed around her when Kammy Koopa had attacked her unconscious form with her transformation magic. And just like before, the attack that struck it was sent back towards its point of origin at twice the velocity.
"Whoa!" Link cried, ducking instinctively even though he was already out of the way. If he wasn't, it would have hit him. Mario simply watched in awe.
The black boulder struck the black Stone Talus with incredible speed, causing its legs to break. It fell onto the forest green, helpless and stuck.
"Rosalina that was incredible! You beat it!" Mario cheered, his fists clenched.
"I-I did?" Rosalina calmly gawked, both stunned and amazed.
"No, you haven't. You've only managed to immobilize it temporarily." Link declined. "It's forming new legs beneath the ground as we speak. We need to act quickly."
"I'll attack it!" Mario decided, marching towards the defenseless body.
"No, wait! I have an idea!" Link stopped, extending a hand.
"What is it?" Mario asked, the white Stone Talus preparing an attack.
"I've been observing your abilities. I can sense something within you, something that you might not understand." Link reasoned, his eyes keen as he revealed his Shiekah Slate. "You don't exactly have the power to defeat this Stone Talus while it's down, so I want to try something I believe will give you more power."
With that, Link spawned a glowing blue square shaped bomb. The white Stone Talus was just about to throw the boulder it had. The black Stone Talus was still down, Rosalina nervously on the sidelines while Mario and Link were at the center of the action.
"Catch, jump, and don't be alarmed!" Link ordered, tossing the blue square bomb at Mario. Mario indeed caught it, and then he jumped. Link raised his Shiekah Slate, and the bomb detonated while the midair Mario was holding it.
"WHOA!" Mario cried, as his form absorbed the explosion without an issue. His belly was now fat, and the updraft from the explosion sent his balloon-like form slowly soaring higher. The grass was on fire below, which helped preserve an updraft which was keeping balloon Mario afloat.
"Yes, just as I thought!" Link cheered, with a clenched fist.
"Hehehe!" Rosalina laughed, animated thick yellow lines accenting her amusement. "Mario got all fat like a balloon!"
"W-What's happening?" Mario protested, mildly panicking as he continued to roll around within the updraft.
The Stone Talus launched the boulder, and Link grunted as revealed his Sheikah Slate, standing in the path of the boulder. "Stasis!"
The boulder was stopped in place, and Link drew his wooden axe. He proceeded to spin around in place with the axe extended. With each hit, the imprisoned boulder was going from being coated in yellow magic to red magic. The updraft was still strong, Mario floating higher. The white Stone Talus was proceeding to dig up another boulder, the black Stone Talus still without legs, but starting to wobble more frequently.
"What's happening?" Rosalina calmly awed.
Link concluded his spin, the rate of flashing of the imprisoned boulder increasing. "Stasis not only freezes time for an object, but also stores any kinetic energy that the object gains during that time."
"What? What's happening?" Mario barked, stuck at the top of the updraft in his balloon like state, unable to see what was happening in the damaged fiery forest below.
"So when the stasis effect wears off..." Link continued, the stasis wearing off right as he concluded his sentence.
The boulder than launched vigorously back towards the preoccupied white Stone Talus with incredible speed. It struck the white Stone Talus, which lost its legs and fell to the ground just like the black one had. Both Stone Talus were downed, their weak points exposed.
"That kinetic energy is released, in the appropriate direction!" Link exclaimed, his blue eyes narrowed and bright.
"Incredible!" Rosalina calmly awed, her blue eyes glistening in wonder. "That was so cool!"
"That's just the beginning of it..." Link smirked, then directed his attention upward at the floating Mario. "This updraft will die soon, and these Stone Talus won't remain stuck for long... We've got one shot at this..."
Link then spawned another blue bomb, although this one was a sphere instead of a square. He sent it up into the updraft, and it made it's way up steadily towards Mario.
"What's happening?" Mario repeated, stuck looking at the ceiling. He was rocking in the wind while in his inflated form. "I'm starting to get a bit sick..."
"Mario! You're about to get even bigger!" Link explained, the black Stone Talus getting ready to rise.
"What?" Mario barked. "Bigger?"
When the bomb was just below Mario, Link detonated it remotely with the Sheikah Slate. Mario increased in size, but twirled in such a way that he was now facing down at everything.
"You don't have much time!" Link cried, racing lines exemplifying his epic cry. "I know you know what to do, Mario!"
(What am I supposed to do?) Mario had a single sweat drop on his forehead. He was stuck in the air in this odd balloon shape, full of fire. He saw the black Stone Talus was rocking vigorously. He felt the pressure. His eyes lit up as memories rushed back to him.
{Citizens of Mushroom City watched with anticipation for the scorching blaze within its streets to subside. At long last, Bowser finally closed his mouth and stared ahead with deep red eyes. He waited anxiously to see if Mario had burned to a crisp. He was sure he had, as he saw the hero in red get submerged in his flames.
However, much to his surprise, Mario was perfectly fine. It seemed impossible, there was no way he wasn't hit with his fire blast. But there he stood, white gloved fists clenched at his sides, his eyes determined. Bowser's eyes were trembling with awe, his jaw dropped as he saw part of Mario's face slowly being rebuilt over flame. It was as if Mario himself was made of fire. Bowser had never seen anything like it.}
(That's right!) Mario realized, his eyes widening. (With the power of the Goddess Star, I AM fire... I can manipulate the fire within me at my will!)
"What is he going to do?" Rosalina calmly fret, looking up with a fist clenched beneath her chin.
"Don't worry." Link grinned, his eyes concealed in the shadow of his dirty blonde bangs. "I can tell he's figured it out."
"FLAMING!" Mario cried, raising his head back, then taking in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and had an expression of determined struggle as he transferred the fire in his belly into his arms. He was able to successfully do so, now having two massive arms and fists while still floating in the updraft, his torso back to a normal size.
"Whoa! He made his arms huge!" Rosalina calmly awed, her eyes lit up.
"He was able to concentrate the fire within him that I provided to somewhere more useful." Link explained, his eyes softly closed. A child like diagram was behind his head, which showed a floating inflated Mario sucking in air, and then red arrows in his body heading towards his arms. The fiery mass went from the torso into the arms, inflating the arms and deflating the torso. "Since he has the power of the Fire Star, he can store fire inside of him and move it around at will via convection. He can even use it to increase the size of his arms."
With clenched teeth and an epic expression, Mario aimed his giant fists towards each Stone Talus, prepared to crush them both into bits. Racing lines accented the giant fists as they went towards their targets.
"GIANT DOUBLE CRUSHER!"
Despite a heroic attempt, the attack did not go quite as planned. The giant fists couldn't contain the fire inside any longer, and instead, two massive energetic fire blasts launched out of his fists and towards the two Stone Talus as the giant fists lost their shape. This caused Mario to recoil and fly back in midair. Luckily, the fire blasts were strong and accurate enough to cause each Stone Talus to crumble into bits, their stones flying up high.
"He did it!" Rosalina cheered with a bright eyed smile, fists near her chin in glee.
"Excellent work!" Link praised, with a happy laugh. "I knew you could do it!"
The updraft died, and Mario proceeded to fall back down. His eyes were concealed in shadow from his cap, his fists and feet held up high. There was a grin on his face as stone rained all around him. They had successfully completed the first part of the trial.