Author's notes: I felt like writing a lot this weekend so I decided to pump out two chapters instead of just one. I felt like this chapter might have been a bit corny in the end, but tell me what you think.
The desert sun was hot as usual when the group departed from the city of Naza'rabar. Mario and his companions were determined to get to the colony of Mak-kaokao's quickly. Mi'kotyana guided them across the dunes of the desert. After about an hour of travel the group came across a very large mound with a hole the diameter of at least half a mile. Sonic peered inside of the hole and saw a path that descended diagonally downwards into a black abyss.
"It's so far down that I can't see the bottom." Sonic said as a chill went down his spine.
Mario jumped right into the fray not giving chance to any second thoughts crossing his mind about this. He was here to do a mission and he was going to accomplish that mission.
"This is the entrance to the colony of worms." Mi'kotyana told them. "I won't be accompanying you any further, but I trust that you will come back out having carried out the mission."
"You can count on us" Sonic reassured her. "We will stop this matriarch in her tracks."
With that the group said their farewells to the young nak'tol and descended into the abyss after their companion Mario. The inner tunnel system of the colony was dark, damp, and unusually warm. Mario had lit a fireball within his hand to give the group light, but the environment was very uneventful.
"What was that?" Sonic asked as a sound started to make the ground rumble.
"Hide, something is coming!" Aragonite instructed them.
Behind a side corridor the group watched as a pack of worms slithered on by.
"That was-a close!" Luigi exclaimed as he sighed in relief.
"We have to be on our toes in this place." Tails said. "There are too many enemies for us to just fight on through."
"Tails is-a right." Mario agreed with him. "We-a must be-a very sneaky."
Heading south from their hiding spot, the group started to check each an every one of the different chambers. They made sure that their movements were silent, and very strategic as not to alarm any of the sentinels and worker worms that seemed to be traversing the tunnels frequently. They almost thought they were completely lost until the stumbled upon one room that was very intriguing and provided a whole bunch of promise. It was the egg room.
It glowed with a yellowish hue and every bit of the walls were lined with sacks. Each individual sack contained a worm grub that was incubated within the egg. This chamber had no other sentinels watching over the eggs. Something caught the eye of Aragonite too. It was glinting amongst some worm slime. Interested by this discovery he decided to uncover the object. It was a great boon of a find for the entire group, because in his hands was another ring.
"What luck! Aragonite found a ring!" Sonic exclaimed.
"And in here of all places. I wonder how a ring would end up in a place like this?" Tails inquired.
"Who knows, but the rings are very old, so it's possible that they could have had previous owners that died while possessing them. A very grim thought though and I'd rather just like to think the rings just happened to be eaten by a worm instead." Aragonite theorized.
"No matter the case, we now have another ring." Sonic said.
"I-a think you should-a wear it Aragonite. Since you-a did find the ring." Mario stated.
Aragonite agreed with him and then slipped the ring on. After regrouping they started to look for another entranceway and directly the opposite side of the other side was a goo-covered entrance. Upon closer inspection the material was very thick and acted as sort of a protection measure for something within the next chamber. Without a doubt in their minds, they realized this had to be the Matriarch's chamber, or at least the path towards such a chamber.
However to no avail, they heroes could not break the thick material. Even after Mario tried his fire against it, and after Sonic had powered up his ring and slammed into it with a spin dash, the material remained unaffected. No machine that Tails created could do the trick either. Luigi unfortunately did not have a ring yet, and was powerless to do anything at the moment. This kinda made him worry about his importance within the group, as he started feeling worthless. Aragonite saw this and at once walked over to him.
"Maybe you should give this ring a try Luigi." Aragonite told him as he handed the ring over to the green capped plumber. "I can be useful without a ring, but you seem like you'd benefit more from using the ring than I would."
Luigi brightened up once Aragonite handed him the ring, and he wasted no time in putting it on and trying it out. Everyone watched as the material that they couldn't budge no matter how hard they tried, melt before their eyes in seconds. They were all astonished, and wondered what else the ring could melt and possibly do, but their curiosity of the following chamber outweighed their curiosity of the ring. Mario led the way into the next room, and discovered a spiraling pathway upwards. With a quick glance, he estimated that it was about ten stories high. Not wanting to spend time down at the bottom level, the group set out towards the top, hoping to finally find the matriarch.
Reaching about half way the group was suddenly halted by the sound of two sentinels heading their way. From both sides the sounds came, and thus pinned the group into a position void of any moves. They had to stand and fight these things. Luigi thought this would be a good opportunity to test out his new ring. As the worms approached the hero's positions the green-capped plumber readied himself for battle.
The worms then came into view, and Luigi got a good aim at the one that was descending the spiral pathway.
"Hiyahh!" Luigi called out as he let forth the power of his ring unto the unsuspecting worm. Instantly the thing's core began to melt away, not at a faster speed than the previous material, but still relatively fast. The other worm saw this and was enraged merely by the sight of it. At once it began to charge a shard storm to unleash upon the assailants that massacred it's brethren. Luigi gave it no time to fulfill it's desires to avenge it's slain comrade and cast the power of his ring once more.
The fight ended without any of the other party members even having a chance to participate. This disappointed Sonic and Mario, who were quite itching to fight. Nevertheless, the whole group was thankful to Aragonite for finding this ring and to Luigi for utilizing it's power to it's full potential. Mario believed this ring was just destine to fall into their hands in order for them to accomplish their task. Continuing on the group made it up the spiral pathway without any other problems. Upon arriving at the top they were greeted by another door. This one was of the same material as the last door they encountered and Luigi made quick work of it.
When they entered into the next chamber they were stricken with awe for what their eyes laid witness to. It was a cavern filled with chrysalis-like gels hanging from the ceiling. These gels were almost like chandeliers and lit the room up with a goldenrod like hue. At the very end of the room was a huge mound, with multiple holes in it. The group guessed this was the sleeping nest of the matriarch as it was bigger than the whole city of Naza'rabar.
"Mamamia!" Luigi frantically yelled in despair. This was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Even the tortoise that they had fought in the sewers paled in comparison to the sheer size that this creature seemed to be. Luigi was shaking in his poor plumber shoes. Bravery was not his forte, as was apparent from his openly expressed fear.
"Luigi! Let's-a do this! Do not-a be afraid of this-a thing! We can-a do it together! We-a all have each other's backs." Mario encouraged his brother.
Luigi felt better hearing his brother's words of wisdom, but it still did not overcome the fear that resided within him.
Soon the ground began to shake as an ungodly sounding crackle of a roar vibrated across the entire chamber. Aragonite stood his ground and then looked back at the others.
"It's coming! Prepare yourselves!" He called out to his companions, just as the matriarch burst out from within the nest.
It towered over all of them by a great distance, and was not at all happy with their intrusion. It's core looked different than a normal core, as it was very yellow in color, just like the yellow hue that was noticeable in all the other rooms. Around the core, were spikes pointing out of the shell for protection against many physical type assaults. Along it's back were ridges that appeared to be sharper than those around it's core. It had more teeth than a normal worm, and from what the group could see it's tail was like death waiting to smash down on any one of them and take their lives instantly.
"Holy crap! That thing is huge! Mario! What do we do?" Sonic exclaimed, even he was taken back by the sheer girth of this thing.
"Stand your ground, don't falter, this is no time to let our fortitude wither away before this matriarch." Aragonite told them. "A warrior has to fight with courage, A warrior has to fight for what he believes in, and most importantly, a warrior must never give in to fear, let bravery be the only emotion you feel when you fight!"
As everyone listened to Aragonite's words, they produced stern looks and focused them at the worm. Even Luigi, who was shaking as he did it, gave a look of newfound determination. The worm knew at once that these intruders meant to challenge it. It accepted their challenge by roaring, and at once initiated the first attack. It's charging time was swift, and took the group by surprise. Managing to jump out of the way, everyone soon became scattered about the room. Mario and Sonic, wanting to make this a swift fight, jumped into their super modes immediately.
The moment that Mario did this, he jumped with a fireball lit in his hands, and slammed it into the worms face. When the fireball hit the worms face, it seemed to only be annoyed by the attack. The mere sound of it's next roar blew Mario from it's face, as if Mario were only like a fly to him. Next up was Sonic, who prepared a spin dash, and upon completing said spin-dash, darted right at the creatures core.
Sonic managed to slam into the core, which did stun the creature a bit, but he was very careless, and brushed against one of the creature's spikes and gave himself a relatively huge gash in his side. Sonic came back down gripping his side, as it was bleeding a bit.
"Sonic be careful, this thing has many defenses against most physical attacks!" Aragonite told him as he pulled out a crystal sword he had, and slashed at the beasts spike. His crystal sword, thankfully, was sharp enough that upon hitting a few of the spikes, it had sliced them off. This left an opening to the Matriarch's core.
Tails was already inside one of his mechs, and as the spikes fell to the ground he began to fire off missiles. The worm deflected the missiles with it's tail, and then quickly retaliated with it's tail. Slamming into the ground, the tail created a shockwave and flung massive amounts of dirt everywhere. The entire group successfully maneuvered out of the shockwave's range and then began to go on the offensive once more.
Tails use a beam from a gun slot on his mech, aiming at the core. Unfortunately the beam was not strong enough to even crack the core's outer exterior, because of this, tails was completely open to the next attack the worm unleashed. Charging it up, the beast then showered the area that Tail's was at with shards. Tails quickly reacted to this by activating the shields on his mech, but they were draining his mech's energy rapidly, and wouldn't hold off the rain of shards for very long.
Mario threw a barrage of fireballs towards the creatures core to try and distract it, to no avail though, the creature merely blocked the fire with it's tail and continued to unleash hell upon Tails. Sonic even tried another spin-dash, nevertheless, the creature remained vigilant in it's attack. Aragonite went to go assist Tails, and jumped at the creatures core also. His blade sliced at the core, but again, since it was Urgotian diamond it did nothing to the creature but annoy it. Luigi realized this was the moment that he would shine, and at that moment began to activate the power of his ring. He was shaking just at the very notion of being in the combat, and even more when he thought of how the creature would react after his attack would effect it.
When he let off the power of his ring, the creatures core began to slowly melt. It was a very powerful material indeed, because this was by far the slowest melting the group had seen. Just as it seemed the Matriarch would be destroyed, it's core began to regenerate. Afterwards, the worm knew exactly who it's next target was going to be. When it swung it's tail at Luigi, a crescent shaped beam of energy came out of the mace-like end, and barreled towards him. Luigi panicked knowing full well, that this was the exact thing he feared. With quick thinking he jumped out of the way, fear guiding his quick actions.
"Mario! We need to focus our attacks! That is the only way we will be able to destroy the creature's core!" Tails said.
"Yeah! You-a are right! Luigi! Let's-a do this thing!" Mario called out in response.
When the group had a plan that they thought would work well, the worm let out a roar. This roar was loud enough to be heard throughout the entire colony. Reinforcements arrived in a matter of seconds, and blocked the exit. There were seven worms alongside the matriarch, and they were all ready to join in the fight. The reinforcements surrounded the group, and each worm unleashed several barrages of attacks that included, showers of shards, body slams, and mace swings. This kept everyone of the party busy with a worm each. Sonic and Mario dealt with the Matriarch, while Tails dealt with 3 worms. Aragonite and Luigi fought off 2 worms each. As the fight dragged on each member of the party was becoming tired. During Luigi's fight, panic filled his body, and he was almost frozen in place aside from the dodging that he continued to do.
Time went still for Luigi then, as a battle inside of himself took place. He looked around and saw all of his companions fighting hard. Each one of them exhausted and nearly depleted of all their energy. This was a problem, especially since Luigi didn't want it all to end here. He knew they all had a mission to do, but he couldn't figure out how to abandon his fear. Inside his mind, he embodied his fear into one form.
"You-a cannot control me! I will-a protect my friends!" Luigi stated to it, tired of being afraid of doing battle, tired of fear being his motive for alot of his actions.
"You will-a aways be afraid. You-a cannot defeat the-a fear that resides-a within you!" Luigi's fear told him.
"You-a don't decide that!" Luigi replied, his voice laced with anger. The world flushed back into perspective, and around him he saw all of his allies, out of energy, and backed into brink of defeat's corner. Their faces flashed through his mind, and he began building up confidence. "I will-a not let my fear control-a me! I will-a protect the people that I-a care about!"
With that statement something began to change in Luigi, his clothes instantly turned into a combination of white and green. His frame had an aura about it that was represented also by the color green in the form of a hue. Luigi stood tall against the worms, a overwhelming amount of bravery flowed from his body, and everyone could tell that not an ounce of fear was present within him at that particular moment.
As he activated the power of the ring, it effected all three of the worms that were currently targeting him. Once the power reached their cores they melted away instantly. Luigi then jumped to assist his companions. Helping each one of them out until all of them were left with one common enemy, The matriarch. It roared in discontent for what it had just witnessed. It was upset that it's children were being slaughtered so easily, and at once began to charge it's shard storm again. The green-capped plumber then activated the powers of his ring, sending waves of energy pulsating at this creature's core. Mario and the rest of the gang, saw this as an opportunity to concentrate their attacks on the core as well.
"Let's do this guys!" Sonic yelled out feeling empowered by Luigi's brimming confidence.
"Missiles go!" Tails added as he released his barrage of missiles unto the creature's core.
Mario's fireballs, Sonic's spin-dash, Aragonite's crystal sword, Tail's missiles, all focused at the core of the worm just right after Luigi's ring began to melt away material. With one last roar the matriarch began to die, it's body crashing into the ground and then dissipating into nothingness.
Mario and company looked at the defeat of the worm, and then at each other. This was a great victory indeed, and they were all exhausted from the fight. The colony was in a state of distraught as their matriarch was now dead, leaving the leftover worms to fend for themselves. It was chaos. The worms did the only logical thing that occurred inside their minds. Flee. Flee far away from the area, and don't come back.
"Luigi! You-a did an amazing job!" Mario congratulated his brother for an impressive victory.
"Mario! It was-a because you were all in-a trouble! I-a had to help and-a do my part!" Luigi replied.
"Good job Luigi I knew you had it in you!" Sonic said to him.
The rest of the group gave Luigi their thanks for him being able to pull them through this and then they all proceeded to leave the colony tunnels. When they made it to the entrance of the colony, a happy Nak'tol was their to greet them. It was Mi'kotyana.
"I felt the release of a massive and ominous energy just now, so I rushed back to find out what it was." Mi'kotyana told them, not able to hide the excitement she was feeling. "I just knew you would complete the mission."
"It was not easy, and we couldn't have done it without Luigi's confidence." Tails told her.
"I bet you are all exhausted from your battle, let me guide you all back home. Grandfather will be happy to hear the good news." Mi'kotyana said to them.
Up high in the air, floated a humanoid with blackened devil wings. These wings had patches of holes within them as if they were aged and dilapidated, but the female appeared to be very young.
"So those are the ones he spoke of." She said to herself. " 'She' is not with them though... Perhaps I am a bit early. No matter, my master wants me to watch them and 'her' so that is what I shall do."
The female smirked as she said this and then floated off into the setting sun.
Again, I hope for reviews to improve my writing, and also tell your friends, if you find the story to be interesting enough. Report any mistakes in grammar or spelling also, I may have missed some errors.